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The archive, called "Uigwe" in Korean, is from the Joseon Dynasty (1392~1910) and is now preserved at Japan's Imperial House in Tokyo. The U.N. cultural agency UNESCO is reviewing Uigwe
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The archive, called "Uigwe" in Korean, is from the Joseon Dynasty (1392~1910) and is now preserved at Japan's Imperial House in Tokyo. The U.N. cultural agency UNESCO is reviewing Uigwe and may register it as a World Heritage artifact. Copies of the originals are held in a Seoul library.
Uigwe contains records and pictures of marriages, funerals and other rituals and administrative records of the royal court of the Joseon Dynasty. There is no known archive similar to this elsewhere in the world, historians say.
The South Korean government alone cannot ask for the repatriation of historic artifacts from Japan, according to a 1965 treaty with Japan, said Rev. Hyemun, who led the inter-Korean meeting.
"Because North Korea hasn't yet signed a treaty with Japan in that matter, if North and South join hands we could possibly find an effective way to resolve it," he said.
North Korea also has historic artifacts that it wants to claim from Japan, including a rare Buddhist scripture from the Hwajang Temple in Kaesong, North Korea, that is now preserved in the Tokyo National Museum.
The monks on the South Korean side were from temples nationwide that have been commissioned to preserve the artifacts of the Joseon Dynasty. Their campaign led to the return of a UNESCO World Heritage item, Sillok (t
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In medical research, biomarkers can be used as indicators of many different disease states. Treatment-selection markers are biomarkers that indicate how well a given disease treatment is working; for some diseases, treatments are not equally effective in all individuals. Understanding variability
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In medical research, biomarkers can be used as indicators of many different disease states. Treatment-selection markers are biomarkers that indicate how well a given disease treatment is working; for some diseases, treatments are not equally effective in all individuals. Understanding variability in treatment effect is essential for clinicians to effectively select individuals who will benefit from a given treatment and avoid unnecessary or harmful procedures on others. To date, treatment-selection markers have been chosen solely by their interaction with treatment, an important criterion, but not directly related to marker performance.
VIDD assistant member Dr. Ying Huang, associate member Dr. Holly Janes and member Dr. Peter Gilbert developed new statistical measures to compare and contrast treatment-selection biomarkers based on a potential outcomes framework, a statistical model for determining cause and effect, and applied their technique to the example of the Step trial, an HIV vaccine trial that was halted in 2007. In the Step trial, vaccine recipients who had previously been infected with the virus Ad5 were more likely to be infected with HIV than placebo recipients infected with Ad5. The statisticians evaluated whether baseline measures of Ad5 were predictive of vaccine-induced risk in HIV infection, and found that baseline Ad5 may have a weak capacity to discriminate those with increased risk of HIV infection from the trial vaccine. – RT
Huang Y, Gilbert PB, Janes H. Assessing Treatment-Selection Markers using a Potential Outcomes Framework. Biometrics. 2012 Feb 2.
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Orion Star Count
March 22, 2006
What does it mean to REALLY watch the stars? When you look at the night sky, do you see an endless swath of glittering jewels set against a deep velvet black sky?
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Orion Star Count
March 22, 2006
What does it mean to REALLY watch the stars? When you look at the night sky, do you see an endless swath of glittering jewels set against a deep velvet black sky? Or do you see only a dozen or so pinpricks of light doggedly shining through the soft amber glow of streetlamps? And how could streetlamps make a difference in the way the sky looks?
The GLOBE program is holding an astronomy event from March 22 to 29, where people from all over the world are encouraged to find the constellation of Orion (pictured above) in their night sky and report the amount of light pollution using an interactive tool as a guide. See "More About This" link below.
Join thousands of other students, families, and educators by participating in GLOBE at Night – an international event designed to observe and record the visible stars as a means of measuring light pollution in a given location. Participation is open to anyone – anywhere in the world – who can get outside and look skyward during the week of March 22-29, 2006! There is no cost to participate in GLOBE at Night. Help us reach our goal of 5000 observations from around the world!
The quality of the night sky for stellar observations is impacted by several factors including human activities. By coun
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SCARING AN EAGLE OFF OF A DYING DEER
By S. C. Turnbo
What is known as Big Buck Creek, a small water course which runs through Keesee Township in Marion Oounty, Ark., has
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SCARING AN EAGLE OFF OF A DYING DEER
By S. C. Turnbo
What is known as Big Buck Creek, a small water course which runs through Keesee Township in Marion Oounty, Ark., has its source in Taney County, Mo. This little creek was once a prairie valley. The writer remembers that in the fall of 1853 when my parents moved from the mouth of Elbow Creek to the farm opposite the Panther Bottom we struck this creek at the mouth of the second hollow above where the division line between Arkansas and Missouri crossed this stream and traveled down it to where the main road crosses the creek now just above the mouth without having to out down only a few small saplings for the wagons to pass, which was done where the Henry Lewellen homestead now is; one mile or more north of the state line is the Hester Schoolhouse which is situated on the main wagon way leading from Protem to Dugginsville. Just across a hollow south from the schoolhouse is an old settled farm where there is a beautiful spring of living water, but before this land was settled this spring run only during wet weather. At the mouth of the hollow mentioned is another spring of living water, but the vein is weak. Martin Johnson was the original settler on this land which was in the fall of 1856 and cut out a small basin in a solid rock at this last named spring in order to dip up the water. The names of other settlers who lived on this land from the time it was vacated by Johnson until the breaking out of the Civil War were John Fritts, Dave Anderson, (D.A.),Winters and the writers parents.
Returning to the spring of water at the mouth of the hollow where Mr. Johnson cut the basin in the rock reminds me of an account that Johnson told me about an eagle catching a deer, which he said was in December, 1856. "I was at work improving my claim and one day while I was cutting logs to build my cabin with I heard what I supposed was a calf bleating in the creek valley just below the spring. Thinking a wolf or panther had caught it I ran down the hill with axe in hand and discovered that it was not a calf though, but a deer which had been attacked by a monster eagle. The deer was lying broadside on the ground and the eagle was on the deer and had sank its ta
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Inspired and led by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, more than a million Black men gathered in Washington, D.C. to declare their right to justice to atone for their failure as men and to accept responsibility as the family head
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Inspired and led by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, more than a million Black men gathered in Washington, D.C. to declare their right to justice to atone for their failure as men and to accept responsibility as the family head.
On that day, Monday, October 16, 1995 there was a sea of Black men, many who stood for 10 hours or more sharing, learning, listening, fasting, hugging, crying, laughing, and praying. The day produced a spirit of brotherhood, love, and unity like never before experienced among Black men in America. All creeds and classes were present: Christians, Muslims, Hebrews, Agnostics, nationalists, pan-Africanists, civil rights organizations, fraternal organizations, rich, poor, celebrities and people from nearly every organization, profession and walk of life were present. It was a day of atonement, reconciliation and responsibility.
“The Million Man March was one of the most historic organizing and mobilizing events in the history of Black people in the United States,” said Chicago-based Dr. Conrad Worrill, who was a main organizer of the March and the current president emeritus of the National United Black Front.
Congress shut down that day and President William Clinton was “out of town.” Mainstream media in American and media outlets from around the world were watching. The world did not see thieves, criminals and savages as usually portrayed through mainstream music, movies and other forms of media; on that day, the world saw a vastly different picture of the Black man in America. The world saw Black men demonstrating the willingness to shoulder the responsibility of improving themselves and the community. There was neither one fight nor one arrest that day. There was no smoking or drinking. The Washington Mall, where the March was held, was left as clean as it was found. Two of the best descriptions of the Million Man March include the word “miracle” and the phrase “a glimpse of heaven.”
Along with those who attended, many men, women and children spent the day at home watching the event on television and participating in the day of fasting and absence. Workers did not go to work that day, children did not go to school that day and no one engaged in sport or play.
During Min. Farrakhan’s message to the millions gathered in the mall and those watching on television around the world that day, he explained to the world the need for atonement and he laid out the eight steps of atonement. Th
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Spelling Dictation Sentences... Find Printable 1st Grade – 5th Grade Spelling List Worksheets at http://www.k12reader.com... The radio company owns several factories near the capital city of our state.
dictations for practice
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Spelling Dictation Sentences... Find Printable 1st Grade – 5th Grade Spelling List Worksheets at http://www.k12reader.com... The radio company owns several factories near the capital city of our state.
dictations for practice in spelling and punctuation. This program... Capitalization: Sentence, Pronoun I, and Poetry. 63.
Word and Sentence Dictation – 2nd grade. Grade... b) Students were awarded points for correct spelling, capitalization,.
GRADE 4. GRAMMAR DICTATION SENTENCES. Theme 1. A. Objective: Identify... Use the correct capital letter.
By the end of Level 1, first grade students will be able to:... -Sentence dictation procedures; capitalization, period, word...
Grade 2 Spelling Dictation/Grammar. Teacher... Teacher should check to see if the months are correctly capitalized.
Use sentence dictation task. (Enclosed)... Provide the student with a word list for his or her grade level. Reveal one column at a time..... Used capital letters at the beginning of sentences. Used correct...
14 Aug 2012... The dictation sentences will include both... capitalize and use the correct
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Copyright © University of Cambridge. All rights reserved.
It is known that given any three non intersecting circles in the plane there is another circle or straight line that cuts the three given circles at right angles. (The circle or straight line is said
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Copyright © University of Cambridge. All rights reserved.
It is known that given any three non intersecting circles in the plane there is another circle or straight line that cuts the three given circles at right angles. (The circle or straight line is said to be orthogonal to the 3 original circles.)
Given three circles with centres $(0, 0)$, $(3, 0)$ and $(9, 2)$ and radii $5$, $4$ and $6$ respectively find the centre and radius of the circle that cuts the three given circles at right angles. Draw the circles to check that the circle you have found appears to be orthogonal to the others.
What happens in the case of three circles with centres at $(0, 0)$, $(3, 3)$ and $(8, 8)$ and radii $1$, $2$ and $3$ respectively?
Given three circles, how can you tell without calculating which of the two cases applies, an orthogonal circle or an orthogonal straight line?
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The United States Department of Agriculture offers many programs and services which include grants and loans, disaster assistance and insurance programs. The Conservation programs consist of restoration and conservation, eco system markets, water resources and wildfire prevention.
Food and Nutrition programs offered through the
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The United States Department of Agriculture offers many programs and services which include grants and loans, disaster assistance and insurance programs. The Conservation programs consist of restoration and conservation, eco system markets, water resources and wildfire prevention.
Food and Nutrition programs offered through the United States department of Agriculture include SAAP, which provides low income households with benefits such as food assistance for those making the move from welfare to employment. WIC is another well known program developed to provide federal grant money to states for food, nutrition education, and health care referrals for low income pregnant and post partum women and their children who are at risk. The Child Nutrition Program proposed rules that would increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, and low fat milk in school lunches. There has also been an effort to
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|Title:||Simple justice 6 : Justice Warren reads the decision | American experience (Television program). 1993-01-18, Simple justice--excerpts|
When Brown v.
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|Click here to view the item|
|Title:||Simple justice 6 : Justice Warren reads the decision | American experience (Television program). 1993-01-18, Simple justice--excerpts|
When Brown v. Board of Education was first heard in 1952, the Supreme Court was so divided that the justices rescheduled the case. Two years later, on May 17, 1954, the Court ruled unanimously that segregated schools were unconstitutional. This video segment from American Experience: "Simple Justice" examines the individual justices, key events and issues for the Court, and how the jurists arrived at their final decision.
Includes a background essay, discussion questions, and alignments to teaching standards.
Major funding for this project is provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Supported in part by a grant from the Open Society Institute.
Collection funded by: Opensource.
Grade range: 6-12.
Lesson plans using this resource: Re-Examining Brown.
Part of the series "Simple Justice" series : 1. A Han
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Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
From Wikipedia - "Admiral Sir George Cockburn commanded a British fleet blockading Chesapeake Bay. In early 1813, Cockburn
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Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
From Wikipedia - "Admiral Sir George Cockburn commanded a British fleet blockading Chesapeake Bay. In early 1813, Cockburn and Admiral Sir John B. Warren planned to attack the Gosport Shipyard in Portsmouth and capture the frigate U.S.S. Constellation. Brigadier General Robert B. Taylor commanded the Virginia Militia in the Norfolk area. Taylor hastily built defenses around Norfolk and Portsmouth, but he had no intentions of letting the British penetrate as far as those two cities. Instead Taylor commandeered several ships and created a barrier across the Elizabeth River. He next built fortifications on Craney Island at the mouth of the Elizabeth River near Hampton Roads. Since the Constellation was already penned up in the Chesapeake because of the British blockade, the ship's crew was used to man some of the redoubts on the island. In all, 150 Americans were defending the fortifications on Craney Island.
On the morning of June 22, 1813, a British landing party of 700 Royal Marines and soldiers of the 102nd Regiment along with a company of Independent Foreigners came ashore at Hoffler's Creek near the mouth of the Nansemond River to the west of Craney Island. When the British landed, the defenders realized they were not flying a flag and quickly raised an American flag over the breastworks. The defenders fired, and the attackers began to fall back, realizing that they could not ford the water between the mainland and the island (the Thoroughfare) under such fire. British barges manned by sailors, Royal Marines, and the other company of Independent Foreigners then attempted to attack the eastern side of the island. Defending this portion was a company of light artillery under the command of Captain Arthur Emmerson. Emmerson ordered his gunners to hold their fire until the British were in range. Once they opened fire, the British attackers were driven off, with some barges destroyed, and they retreated back to the ships.
The Americans had scored a defensive victory in the face of a larger force. Norfolk and the Gosport Navy Yard were spared from attack. Having failed in their attempt to attack Norfolk, Admirals Warren and Cockburn moved north for actions in the Chesapeake Bay, including an attempt to attack St. Michaels, Maryland, in August.Two days later, the British crossed the Hampton Roads from Craney Island to take revenge on Hampton, Va. — the town was burned and left in ruins. Most of the atrocities were committed by men of the Independent Companies of Foreigners, former French prisoners of war recruited from British prison hulks. While they were renowned for indiscipline, their actions at Hampton were not entirely unprovoked. During the landing, a boat containing 17 men of the Independent Companies became stranded on a shoal off shore, and the men were massacred by the American defenders despite their attempts to surrender. Enraged by the merciless treatment of their comrades by the Americans, the remainder of the Independent Companies ran amok when they landed. A British officer recorded the result in his diary: "Every horror was perpetrated with impunity — rape, murder, pillage — and not a single man was punished."
Sunday, September 6, 2009
"William Booth Taliaferro (who pronounced his Italian surname as "tah'-liver") was born in Gloucester County, Virginia, to a prominent family of English origin who settled in Virginia in the 17th century. He was the nephew of James A. Seddon, who would become Secretary of War for the Confederate States of America under Jefferson Davis. Taliaferro attended Harvard University and William and Mary College, graduating from the latter in 1841.
Taliaferro joined the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American War, fighting in both the 11th and 9th U.S. Infantry regiments. After the war, Taliaferro entered public life, serving as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates and as a prominent backer of James Buchanan's presidential campaign in 1856. He also continued his military service as commander of a division of the Virginia state militia; he commanded at Harpers Ferry following the raid of that town's arsenal by John Brown.
Taliaferro became commander of Virginia's state mil
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In Mastermind, it's the codemaker against the codebreaker! To play, the codemaker sets up a code of color pegs under the shield. Then the codebreaker takes a guess by lining up rows of pegs at the other
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In Mastermind, it's the codemaker against the codebreaker! To play, the codemaker sets up a code of color pegs under the shield. Then the codebreaker takes a guess by lining up rows of pegs at the other end of the board. With every guess the codebreaker gets clues from the codemaker while working towards cracking the code. After both players have taken turns being the codebreaker, the one who broke their code in the fewest moves is the winner!
Test your code-cracking prowess with Mastermind, "the challenging game of logic and deduction." The codemaker sets a code of four colored pegs – choosing from yellow, red, orange, blue, green, or white – and conceals it behind a flip
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Territorial A-ZA | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V |
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Territorial A-ZA | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0-9
35 results for Free state movement (see also Topeka Movement): |
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Authors: Reeder, Andrew H. (Andrew Horatio), 1807-1864
Date: February 18, 1856
On February 18, 1856, a concerned former governor, Andrew Reeder, wrote Charles Robinson again from the nation's capital. Reeder advised Robinson of the current situation in Washington, D.C., and urged caution; Reeder believed the Topeka movement/legislature and Robinson must clearly state that they were organizing a "state government" solely for the purpose of being ready to assume authority if/when Congress admitted Kansas to the Union. Reeder believed the "state movement" was on solid constitutional ground if this was its official position in the meantime; they must not usurp the power and authority of the territorial government.
Keywords: Free state movement (see also Topeka Movement); Reeder, Andrew H. (Andrew Horatio), 1807-1864; Robinson, Charles, 1818-1894; Topeka Movement (see also Free state movement); Washington, D.C.
Letter, W. A. Gorman to Speaker of the House of Reps [Minnesota Territory]
Authors: Phillips, Wendell
Date: February 18, 1856
In response to a January 22, 1856, appeal from free-state leaders in Kansas, the governor of Minnesota Territory, Willis A. Gorman (St. Paul, February 18, 1856), conveyed the appeal to his territory's House of Representatives and encouraged Minnesota officials to follow a policy of "Non in
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Find out about Radon in your home
January is designated as National Radon Action Month by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. E.P.A.). The Westport Weston Health District (WWHD) encourages all residents to test for
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Find out about Radon in your home
January is designated as National Radon Action Month by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. E.P.A.). The Westport Weston Health District (WWHD) encourages all residents to test for radon in their homes. A limited number of do-it-yourself radon testing kits will be available at no charge to residents during the month of January.
Radon is an invisible, odorless and tasteless radioactive gas that is formed from the radioactive decay of radium and uranium, which occur naturally in bedrock worldwide. Radon is drawn into the home through cracks and other openings in the foundation, and can accumulate within homes, especially in winter months when the heating system is on and the windows and doors are closed.
Should you be concerned about radon in your home? Yes, the U.S. Surgeon General has warned that exposure to elevated levels of radon in indoor air is the leading cause of lung cancer deaths each year in nonsmokers. Data shows compelling evidence of an association between lung cancer and prolonged residential radon exposure. The EPA estimates that approximately 25,000 lung cancer deaths each year in the United States are attributed to radon in indoor air
Exposure to radon does not cause any symptoms, and since it is odorless, you may not know you are exposed. Therefore, all homes should be tested and action should be taken to reduce high levels. The test is simple; itís as easy as opening a package, placing a radon detector in a designated area, and after a set number of days, sending the detector back to a lab for analysis.
The WWHD will have available a limited number of free radon testing kits in January during work hours, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Otherwise, you may obtain kits for a fee from the American Lung Associat
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Even a few years of formal musical training pays mental dividends, a new… (Ricardo DeAratanha )
Lapsed musical instrumentalists (and their disappointed parents): Take heart! The child that gets even a few years of formal musical
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Even a few years of formal musical training pays mental dividends, a new… (Ricardo DeAratanha )
Lapsed musical instrumentalists (and their disappointed parents): Take heart! The child that gets even a few years of formal musical training before quitting those weekly lessons continues to show evidence that his or her brain has been changed in ways that improve mental function, says a new study.
The latest research found that even years after they stopped practicing, young adults who had taken as little as two or three years of instrumental music training in their elementary or middle-school years showed a more robust brain response to sounds than those who had no formal musical training. The study compared 30 former instrumental students to 15 young adults of similar age and intelligence who had had no music training.
The echo of music lessons past began to fade as adults grew more distant from their days of piano (or cello, trumpet or saxophone) lessons. But it was still there an average of seven years later, and whether the subject had taken three years of instrumental training or eight did not seem to make much difference in the strength of the effect.
The heightened neural response to sounds in a lab means something in the real world, past research suggests: Prior research has linked the kinds of brain signals seen in those with musical training to heightened auditory perception, better auditory-based communication skills and improved executive function. The last of these -- executive function -- encompasses such key learning skills as attention, organization, short-term memory and reasoning. So boosting that in enduring ways could arguably give the kid who took music lessons an academic edge for years after the lessons ended.
The study also suggests that formal musical training was not wasted, even when your budding Yo-Yo Ma or Lang-Lang gives up the lessons in favor of, say, basketball, cheerleading or socializing. It does suggest that starting early in life and quitting late may confer a more lasting mental advantage. But even "a little" formal musical training, say the authors, "goes a long way."
Playing along with the Mozart effect
Effect of music on cognitive function
The hope of music's healing powers
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(Italicized terms are also defined within this glossary or the glossary of Selected Diseases Related to the Immune System.)
active immunity: usually long-lasting immunity that is acquired through the production of antibodies and memory T cells within the
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(Italicized terms are also defined within this glossary or the glossary of Selected Diseases Related to the Immune System.)
active immunity: usually long-lasting immunity that is acquired through the production of antibodies and memory T cells within the organism in response to the presence of antigens.
adaptive immune system: also called the acquired immune system, this component of the immune system comprises white blood cells, particularly lymphocytes. When it is presented with a new microbe or vaccine, it may take days or weeks to respond or adapt, but the resultant improved immune readiness, or “memory,” is sustained for long periods (years).
adenosine deaminase (ADA): an enzyme found in mammalian tissues that is capable of catalyzing the process in which adenosine is split into inosine and ammonia. A deficiency can cause problems with metabolic reactions in cells, which leads to the destruction of B and T cells. ADA deficiency can lead to one form of severe combined immunodeficiency disease.
allergy: a misguided reaction by the immune system to harmless foreign substances.
antibody: a protein on the surface of B cells that is also secreted in large amounts into the blood or lymph in response to an antigen, a component within an invader such as a bacterium, virus, parasite, or transplanted organ. Antibodies neutralize the antigen, and thereby the invader, by binding to it, often directing it toward a macrophage for destruction. Also called an immunoglobulin.
antigen: a foreign substance (usually a protein or carbohydrate) capable of triggering an immune response in an organism.
antiretroviral drugs: drugs that act against retroviruses (such as HIV ).
autoimmune disorders: conditions in which the body’s own immune system acts against it.
autoreactive: describes immune cells that mount a response against the body’s own cells or tissues.
B cell: a type of lymphocyte that produces antibodies, which bind to free-floating microbes circulating in the blood so that they cannot infect other cells.
biochemicals: chemicals produced within living organisms. Many coordinate to fight off invasion in an immune response.
biological barriers: the body’s first layer of protection against harmful microbes; skin is a prime example.
blood-brain barrier: a tight layer of cells and tissue that separates the brain from the rest of the body; a physical roadblock that normally keeps immune cells outside the brain.
blood-forming stem cells: immature cells in the bone marrow that multiply extensively and produce red and white blood cells and platelets.
CD4+ helper T cells:T cells with CD4 receptors that respond to antigens on the surface of specific molecules by secreting a certain type of cytokine that stimulates B cells and killer T cells. Helper T cells are infected and killed by HIV; people who develop AIDS have no more than one-fifth the normal number of helper T cells.
central nervous system: the brain and spinal cord, to which sensory impulses are transmitted and from which motor impulses emanate. The central nervous system supervises and coordinates the activity of the entire nervous system and interacts with the immune system.
clones: copies that viruses make of themselves.
cytokine: a class of substance secreted by cells of the immune system to regulate immune cells.
dendritic cell: an antigen-presenting immune cell that initiates the immune response by activating lymphocytes and stimulating the secretion of cytokines. Dendritic cells also prevent autoimmune reactions by instructing the T lymphocytes to be silent or tolerant to the body itself.
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid): nucleic acid that carries the cell’s genetic information and is capable of self-replication and the synthesis of RNA.
DNA vaccine: vaccines that often use “naked” DNA (DNA not associated with a cell or a virus) with instructions for making protective antigens. When injected, the DNA is taken in by other cells, which then produce protective antigens.
E. coli: a bacterium that is used in public health as an indicator of fecal pollution (as of water or food) and in medicine and genetics as a research organism. E. coli occurs in various strains that may live as harmless inhabitants of the human lower intestine or may produce a toxin causing intestinal illness.
enzymes: complex proteins produced by living cells and that catalyze specific reactions from biochemicals.
epidemic: an outbreak of disease that simultaneously affects an atypically large number of individuals within a population, community, or region.
estrogen: a steroid hormone produced chiefly by the ovaries, responsible for promoting development and maintenance of female secondary sex characteristics. Estrogen may play a role in certain immune system diseases.
genetic engineering: deliberate alteration of genetic material by intervention in genetic processes.
granulocyte: a type of phagocyte with cytoplasm that contains grainlike particles.
highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART): a treatment to combat AIDS using several antiretroviral drugs at the same time.
histamine: a compound found in mammalian tissues t
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Last month, the CBO released a report on historical effective tax rates. I ran through the data with an odd goal in mind. I wanted to see if I could replicate the existing tax burden with a simple flat tax. I don’t mean
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Last month, the CBO released a report on historical effective tax rates. I ran through the data with an odd goal in mind. I wanted to see if I could replicate the existing tax burden with a simple flat tax. I don’t mean to say that I’m a flat tax advocate. I simply wanted to look at what Americans actually pay and see if I could mimic the real thing with the simple rules of a flat tax.
The answer is, not really, at least not very accurately. The CBO report only gave me eight data points to work with. Still, this type of analysis has value. In fact, there are emerging fields of study, like Chaos Theory, that look to find simple rules that lie beneath highly complex structures.
Here’s what I was able to come up with. The graph below is my Faux Flat Tax going back to 1979. The blue line follows the left scale and is the flat tax rate. The black line follows the right scale and is the standard household deduction. The deduction is in 2005 dollars.
For 2005, I come up with a tax rate of 31.85% and a deduction of $35,725. So every penny a household makes under that, is completely tax free. Every penny above it is taxed at 31.85%. That includes everything—income taxes, social security, Medicare, corporate taxes, the whole shebang. And most importantly, we can abolish the IRS (wait for applause).
I realize these aren’t quite the numbers that most flat taxers have in mind, but my goal is mimicry. I took the current tax code "as is" and tried to be revenue neutral. Obviously, if I had more data points I could be more accurate.
Looking at the table does reveal some interesting information. When the two lines rise, the tax code becomes more progressive (higher taxes on the rich and less on the poor). When both lines fall, the reverse happens.
What I find interesting is that despite using just eight data points, there seems to be some continuity through the years. So even if I had many more data, I think this is a reasonable approximation of what a clear-the-table flat tax would look like.
Notice, for example, how the two lines tended to track each other for most of the 1980s and early 90s. So there was some method to the madness. I’ve scaled the graph so when the lines follow each other, the tax changes had minimal impact on a household making about $80,000. I’m sure no one planned it that way, but that relationship held up for several years and a few tax overhauls. The relationship only broke down over the past few years as we’ve seen larger deductions and lower tax rates.
One of the drawbacks of my flat tax is no matter how impressive my R-square is (.9994 in 2005), any small deviation can be rather unpleasant for certain taxpayers. That’s the messiness of using a simple model to replace a complex one. The flat tax doesn’t quite capture the right “bend” of the current tax burden. For example, under my flat tax, households making $123,500 would have a tax hike of nearly $3,000. I don’t think they would be terribly impressed by my stab at being revenue neutral.
As a general rule, my flat is close to the current burden but it tends to be slightly more progressive. The major reason is due to social insurance taxes. Since so many lower income workers are completely exempt from any taxation under my theoretical flat tax, it’s made up for with higher taxes at the upper end. The Top 1% pays about 30% more taxes while the other groups in the Top 20% pay about 5% to 10% more taxes.
Let me explain how I got my numbers. I apologize but this is going to get mathy. In the data files of the CEO report, Table 1A has the effective tax rates and Table 1C has the pre-tax income for eight subsections; the five income quintiles, plus the highest 10%, 5% and 1%.
Since those last three groups are included in the Top Quintile, I used some basic math to extrapolate four new subgroups; the highest 1%, 1% to 5%, 5% to 10% and 10% to 20%. So now I have a grand total of eight data points with which to replicate 114 million households. Here goes.
If you run a scatter plot with the X-axis being the eight income points and the Y-axis being the tax paid (income times effective tax rate), you get this:
That's for 2005. Using the trend line function, I added a linear trend line and the linear equation is also included. In the equation, y = mx + b, m is our flat tax rate and b/m is the deduction. As you can see, that's how I got 31.85%.
Here's a spreadsheet I used for the computations. Columns B through I have the effective tax rates for the eight income groups. Columns K through R have the household incomes (note that the definition for household income changed in 1986). Columns T through AA are the taxes paid. In column AC, I used the LINEST function to get "m" which is the flat tax rate. Column AD has "b," and Column AE has the deduction (AD/AC).
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Better Students Ask More Questions.
Thesis statement for HamletDiscuss the idea(s) developed by Shakespeare about...
1 Answer | add yours
High School Teacher
This is an excellent topic for a paper on Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Hamlet is
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Better Students Ask More Questions.
Thesis statement for HamletDiscuss the idea(s) developed by Shakespeare about...
1 Answer | add yours
High School Teacher
This is an excellent topic for a paper on Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Hamlet is often seen as a tragic hero, whose tragic flaw is "indecision," or his inability to make up his mind about when to kill his uncle to avenge his father's murder—which took place at his uncle's hands. Personally, I struggle with this perception for exactly the topic you have listed: Hamlet's desire for self-preservation.
Hamlet does not kill his uncle (the new King) Claudius right away because he has received word of his father's murder from a ghost. Elizabethans believed in ghosts, witches, fairies, demons, etc. And while they believed that ghosts could not do things for themselves or make humans DO things, they could encourage humans to do things for them.
With this in mind, Hamlet is not sure if the ghost who presents himself as Old Hamlet (Hamlet's dad) is a true ghost or a ghost that serves a darker purpose: to win Hamlet's immortal soul to eternal damnation if he unrighteously kills a king. This shows Hamlet's need to "preserve" his soul.
Hamlet is not the only one who is compelled to act in the name of self-preservation. Claudius believes that Hamlet must die so that no one discovers how Claudius became King. As time goes on and Hamlet seems more and more crazy, Claudius' plans to do away with Hamlet become more aggressive: sending him to England to be executed there, and having Laertes poison a sword for the "sword play" between Laertes and Hamlet.
Gertrude, the widow of the old king, is also motivated by self-preservation. She does not remarry for a love Claudius, as far as we know. There is no suggestion that anything existed between them before she wed Claudius. However, without a man to protect her, Gertrude may well have married quickly not only to guarantee that she would have a home and food, but to also guarantee a good life for her son Hamlet.
There are a number of other character who act out of a need for self-preservation. Polonius, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, are all interested in remaining in favor with the King, to guarantee themselves comfortable lives. Ironically, with all these many characters in the story with a desire to protect themselves, the actions they take do not, in fact, protect them at all.
If I were to write a thesis statement based on your topic, it might be similar to the following:
In Shakespeare's tragedy of Hamlet, several characters are motivated by the need for self-preservation; ironically, however, their actions do anything but guarantee their survival.
Posted by booboosmoosh on April 26, 2011 at 7:35 AM (Answer #1)
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Online Resources and Documents
Resources for Writing PapersA large research project can seem so overwhelming that some students procrastinate, then panic. But if you begin early and break it down into manageable steps and stages, you can survive even the most challenging project
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Online Resources and Documents
Resources for Writing PapersA large research project can seem so overwhelming that some students procrastinate, then panic. But if you begin early and break it down into manageable steps and stages, you can survive even the most challenging project! If you start with a topic you like, you'll be motivated to do research and make discoveries. The more material you have, the easier it is to focus and organize it. Then you're less likely to face "writer's block." Finally, the more time you take to revise, edit, and proofread, the more polished your final paper will be.
Successful writers usually do five things:
Learn more with our Survival Guide to Research Papers (PDF).
Lasell students are encouraged to use Microsoft SkyDrive, a free program used to access and share files anywhere, through multiple devices, including your mobile phone.
Benefits of collaboration
SkyDrive enables users to access the latest version of all of their files in different locations, as well as share and collaborate with any other user with Internet access. Learn more with this Introduction to SkyDrive video:
Knowing APA formatting is critical to getting a good grade as an online student. Professors expect correct formatting, and there are many resources for ensuring students understand APA. Our internal website has a document laying out various examples of APA citations, the Brennan Library also has additional resources, as do professors and the Academic Achievement Center.
Moodle is the platform students use to access their course assignments and to interact with their professors and classmates. It is the online forum through which students will discuss course contnet, post questions to the professor or their classmates, turn in homework assignments, and receive feedback on their progress.
Once a student has enrolled, they will have access to step-by-step instructions on how to best use the instructional technology available at Lasell.
These Brennan Library resources are provided to guide you in your course research:
- Online catalog: search for books, films, etc.
- Article databases: find journal, magazines and newspaper articles as well as electronic books
- Journal Locator: see if we have "full-text" access to an article you've found that you want to read
- Interlibrary Loan:.request articles from other institutions
Lasell College uses Adobe Connect to create webinars that stream on-campus events online for out-of-area students. The College also uses Adobe Connect to create online tutorials for using our resources.
Graduate Online Orientation
The information provided in the Graduate Online Orientation will help ease the transition to graduate student life. The orientation includes a welcome from the Dean of Graduate and Professional Studies and Graduate Program Chairs, who also provide program overviews. Also included is a presentation on the importance of academic advising and degree planning, Brennan Library tutorials and an orientation to Moodle, the Lasell College online course management system.
For your convenience, the Graduate Online Orientation is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Lasell's "What If" feature in our Self Service program allows a student to create possible scenarios of the academic plan. The "What If" plan will compare your current coursework against the degree requirements for a different major or minor. The "What If" plan helps match up what you have taken with what you need to take for all programs and degrees.
Want to know what learning style is best for you? Lasell's Online resources provide information on how best to apply your learning style to online courses. Take our Identify Your Learning Style quiz to find out what kind of learner you are.
Once you have discovered what type of learner you are, it is important to find how this information can best be applied to your course studies. Read our Strategies for Specific Learning Styles to find out how to get the most of your classes.
Technology Help Desk
Students earning their degree online have access to our Technology Help Desk team to answer questions, connect students to our systems and to assist with any technical issues. To support our diverse and growing graduate student body, the Technology Help Desk is available 24/7 by phone (617) 243-2200 and email [email protected].
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10 / The Natural World
|Artist / Origin||
Jacob Isaacksz. van Ruisdael (Dutch, 1628/9–82)
Period: 1400 CE - 1800 CE
Oil on canvas
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10 / The Natural World
|Artist / Origin||
Jacob Isaacksz. van Ruisdael (Dutch, 1628/9–82)
Period: 1400 CE - 1800 CE
Oil on canvas
|Dimensions||H: 24 5/8 in. (62.5 cm.), W: 21 ¾ in. (55.2 cm.)|
|Location||Kunsthaus, Zurich, Switzerland|
|Credit||Courtesy of Giraudon/Bridgeman Art Library|
|Alan ChongCurator of the Collection, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum|
Alpers, Svetlana. The Art of Describing: Dutch Art in the Seventeenth Century. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984.
Gibson, Walter S. Pleasant Places: The Rustic Landscape from Bruegel to Ruisdael. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2000.
Mitchell, W.J.T., ed. Landscape and Power. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002.
Schama, Simon. Landscape and Memory. New York: Vintage, 1996.
Slive, Seymour. Jacob van Ruisdael: Master of Landscape. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005.
Sutton, Peter, et al. Masters of 17th–Century Dutch Landscape Painting. Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 1987.
Bleaching Ground in the Countryside Near Haarlem
Seventeenth-century Dutch landscape artists did not paint en plein air (“in the open air”).
When Jacob van Ruisdael set out to produce an image such as the Bleaching Ground, he might have gone to the location, chosen a vantage point, and sketched the scene. The final work, however, would have been created in his studio. There he combined his observations with artistic convention. In the Bleaching Ground and similar works, the result was an image that appeared to be directly and meticulously copied from nature. Scholars often refer to this kind of representation of perceived reality as a “reality effect.”
A blue sky filled with puffy cumulus clouds dominates Ruisdael’s Bleaching Ground in the Countryside Near Haarlem. Depicted from a raised vantage point, the landscape, occupying the lower third of the canvas, is flat and expansive. In contrast to the large, amorphous clouds above, the land is marked by carefully plotted fields, tidy houses, and detailed greenery. Sky and earth are separated by a nearly straight horizon line, broken only by the towering architecture of St. Bavo’s left of center and the silhouette of another smaller church in the distance. Sunlight touches the clouds as it streams down, illuminating the bleaching field in the landscape’s middle ground.
Like similar paintings of the period, Ruisdael’s Bleaching Ground is not an image of nature unmediated, but of natural resources harnessed for the benefit of civilization. It is an image that speaks to the harmonious, but hard-won relationship between the Dutch and their land. From the 1560s until 1648, when the Treaty of Westphalia was concluded, the Dutch fought against the Spanish for self-sovereignty. Their fight for land was a matter of politics as well as one of geographic adversity. At or below sea level, the Dutch landscape in the seventeenth century was in large part c
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Rooftop farming has proven that the top of buildings are great places to grow food, utilize space, and cut down food miles. However, this new idea might sound crazy to even the most innovative green thinkers: rooftop fish farming.
Ant
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Rooftop farming has proven that the top of buildings are great places to grow food, utilize space, and cut down food miles. However, this new idea might sound crazy to even the most innovative green thinkers: rooftop fish farming.
Antonio Scarponi and Conceptual Devices have created a prototype rooftop fish farm design, made as a “bamboo greenhouse designed to organically grow fish and vegetables on top of generic flat roofs.”
An aquaponic farming technique was used to fuel the idea, where the fish feed off the plants and the plants clean the water for the fish. So far, the system is designed to produce 400 kilograms of veggies and 100 kilograms of fish, which can feed four families of four members year–round.
In the summer, the dome-like structure harvests tomatoes, eggplant, squash, cucumber, and melons, and in colder seasons grows carrots, broccoli, cabbage, and peas. Several fish species such as salmon, tilapia, and trout are grown.
The structure runs on minimal resources to keep it as environmentally friendly as possible, and can even be equipped with solar panels and cooling turbines. Water from the tank pumps into the upper grow bed, which trickles down into the lower grow beds. Clean water is then pumped back into the tank, creating a loop that recycles as many resources as possible.
Roofs will not need any structural changes in order to support the tank, which is built out of completely biodegradable and sustainable organic bamboo. Beds can be easily installed in varying formats to cater to a building’s environmental needs. Apparently, it’s even easy to have shipped right to your door, with everything packing right inside the tank for easy transportation.
Scarponi is hoping to sell the tanks for about the same price as a small car, making it affordable and easy to make up the cost. If it gets past the concept stage and is available to building owners around the world, it will could make eating locally and sustainably much easier for many people.
If you own a business,
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This is the first part of a three part tutorial covering Android’s content providers. Here I’m going to introduce content providers and to cover the basic concepts you need to make use of existing ones or to write content providers on your own.
What are
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This is the first part of a three part tutorial covering Android’s content providers. Here I’m going to introduce content providers and to cover the basic concepts you need to make use of existing ones or to write content providers on your own.
What are content providers?
Content providers are Android’s central mechanism that enables you to access data of other applications – mostly information stored in databases or flat files. As such content providers are one of Android’s central component types to support the modular approach common to Android. Without content providers accessing data of other apps would be a mess.
Content providers support the four basic operations, normally called CRUD-operations. CRUD is the acronym for create, read, update and delete. With content providers those objects simply represent data – most often a record (tuple) of a database – but they could also be a photo on your SD-card or a video on the web.
Android provides some standard content providers to access contacts, media files, preferences and so on. I am going to show you how to use these content providers in the second part of this tutorial.
In the third part I am going to explain the basics you need to write a content provider yourself. Your content provider makes accessing your data that much easier for developers of other apps. Furthermore using content providers also makes the development of widgets easier.
The most important concept to understand when dealing with content providers is the content URI. Whenever you want to access data from a content provider you have to specify a URI. URIs for content providers look like this:
They contain four parts: The scheme to use, an authority, an optional path and an optional id.
- The scheme for content providers is always “content”. The colon and double-slash “://” are a fixed part of the URI-RFC and separate the scheme from the authority.
- The next part is the authority for the content provider. Authorities have to be unique for every content provider. Thus the naming conventions should follow the Java package name rules. That is you should use the reversed domain name of your organization plus a qualifier for each and every content provider you publish. The Android documentation recommends to use the fully qualified class name of your ContentProvider-subclass.
- The third part, the optional path, is used to distinguish the kinds of data your content provider offers. The content provider for Android’s mediastore, for example, distinguishes between audio files, video files and images using different paths for each of these types of media. This way a content provider can support different types of data that are nevertheless related. For totally unrelated data though you should use different content providers – and thus different authorities.
- The last element is the optional id, which – if present – must be numeric. The id is used whenever you want to access a single record (e.g. a specific video file).
There are two types of URIs: directory- and id-based URIs. If no id is specified a URI is automatically a directory-based URI.
- You use directory-based URIs to access multiple elements of the same type (e.g. all songs of a band). All CRUD-operations are possible with directory-based URIs.
- You use id-based URIs if you want to access a specific element. You cannot create objects using an id-based URI – but reading, updating and deleting is possible.
The path of content URIs can contain additional information to limit the scope. The MediaStore content provider for example distinguishes between audio and other types. In addition to this it offers URIs that limit its operations to albums only or others to genres only. Content providers normally have constants for the URIs they support. You will see some examples of URIs in part II and part III.
A content type consist of a media type and a subtype divided by a slash. A typical example is “image/png”. The media type “image” describes the content as an image file which is further specified to be of the Portable Network Graphic variety by the subtype “png”.
As with URIs there is also a standard for content types in Android. Table 2 lists the only two media types that Android accepts for content providers. As you can see, those two media types match the two types of URIs mentioned above.
|vnd.android.cursor.item||Used for single records||ContentResolver.CURSOR_ITEM_BASE_TYPE|
|vnd.android.cursor.dir||Used for multiple records||ContentResolver.CURSOR_DIR_BASE_TYPE|
The subtype on the other hand is used for content provider specific details and should differ for all types your content provider supports. The naming convention for subtypes is vnd.yourcompanyname.contenttype. For our sample project the subtype is “vnd.cpsample.lentitems”.
Most content providers support multiple subtypes. In the case of a media player for example you might have subtypes for genre, band, titles, musicians and so on.
Which standard Content Providers are available?
A number of content providers are part of Android’s API. All these standard providers are defined in the package
android.provider. The following table lists the standard providers and what they are used for.
|Browser||SDK 1||Manages your web-searches, bookmarks and browsing-history.|
|CalendarContract||SDK 14||Manages the calendars on the user’s device.|
|CallLog||SDK 1||Keeps track of your call history.|
|Contacts||SDK 1||The old and deprecated content provider for managing contacts. You should only use this provider if you need to supp
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|START Conference Manager|
ASIST 2012 Annual Meeting
Baltimore, MD, October 26-30, 2012
Follow the Data: How Astronomers Use and Reuse Data
Ashley Sands, Christine L.
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|START Conference Manager|
ASIST 2012 Annual Meeting
Baltimore, MD, October 26-30, 2012
Follow the Data: How Astronomers Use and Reuse Data
Ashley Sands, Christine L. Borgman, Laura Wynholds and Sharon Traweek
Libraries are collecting many types of materials other than traditional, formal publications. Many research libraries have begun to curate, preserve, and provide access to datasets. Our research assesses what new infrastructures, divisions of labor, knowledge, and expertise are necessary for the proper care of data. Between May 2011- February 2012, we conducted fourteen interviews employing Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data use as the focus. SDSS is a multi-faceted, multi-phased data-driven telescope project with hundreds of collaborators and thousands of users of the open data. The Follow the Data interview protocol identifies a single publication authored by each interviewee and uses it as a lens looking backward and forward to identify data uses leading into and out of the publication.
We have four preliminary findings from this research. Astronomy has three distinctive kinds of publications: traditional research articles, technical papers, and data description papers. One finding is the distinct publications reflect different practices associated with data citation in astronomy. Whether or not these practices scale has implications for information scientists working on establishing data citation standards. Second, individual research articles may draw upon multiple distinct datasets including: catalogs, source lists, data releases, value-added catalogs, cross-match catalogs, simulation outputs, data papers, technical papers, as well as data contained within science papers. A third finding is there are multiple wa
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Listening to music while driving doesn't seem to curb response time and might
even boost your focus in certain conditions, new Dutch research suggests.
For younger but experienced drivers, loud music from a CD or radio is not a
safety concern on
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Listening to music while driving doesn't seem to curb response time and might
even boost your focus in certain conditions, new Dutch research suggests.
For younger but experienced drivers, loud music from a CD or radio is not a
safety concern on par with talking on a cellphone behind the wheel, a
simulated-driving study of about 50 college-aged students found.
"Speaking on a cellphone or listening to passengers talking is quite
different to listening to music, as the former types are examples of a more
engaging listening situation," said study author Ayca Berfu Unal, an
environmental and traffic psychologist who was a doctoral student at the
University of Groningen when she embarked on the research.
"Listening to music, however, is not necessarily engaging all the time, and
it seems like music or the radio might stay in the background, especially when
the driving task needs the full attention of the driver," Unal said.
She acknowledged, however, that her observations are in many ways preliminary
and still await publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
Distracted driving is a serious public health issue. Each day in the United
States, more than nine people are killed and more than 1 000 are injured in
crashes that involve a distracted driver, according to the US Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
To study music's influence on driving performance, Unal enlisted 47
university students between 19 and 25 to engage in a series of
simulated road tests. Participants had more than two and a half years' driving
experience on average.
First, they were asked to create their own playlist, to make sure the music
they listened to was familiar and well-liked.
Computerised driving simulations then surrounded the motorists with four
large screens to create a 240 degree view of traffic. Conditions included
driving with loud music, driving with moderate-volume music and driving with no
music. No sound adjustments were allowed while the tests were under way.
Participants took the virtual wheel for about a half-hour, twice in two weeks
along a monotonous, non-threatening and predictable drive in two-way
Unal monitored heart rate changes at five-minute intervals and assessed the
drivers' car-following behaviour as they adjusted to the changing speed of
vehicles ahead of them. Drivers also were asked to report levels of arousal
(feeling energised, bored, fatigued or sleepy) while on the road.
The result: Neither the presence of music nor its volume had any ill effect
on the drivers' ability to properly follow the car ahead of them.
What's more, those who drove with music responded faster to changes in the
speed of the car ahead than those driving without music. And the louder the
music, the faster the response, Unal said.
Music also seemed to enhance drivers' energy and arousal, helping to
alleviate boredom without siphoning off critical driver focus, she found. Louder
music prompted more energy than moderate-volume music, the research showed.
Nonetheless, Unal cautioned that music may have a different impact under more
strenuous driving conditions and might even be distracting in a hectic
environment. "Yet we see that drivers try to prioritise the driving task in such
settings by, for instance, blocking out radio content and trying to focus their
attention only on driving-related tasks," she said.
Also, older drivers might react differently than the young adults she tested,
and trips longer than 30
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“Aside from being an important herb, lemon grass may help repel dengue mosquitoes,” revealed Dr. Manuel Mapue, Department of Health (DOH) Regional Medical Dengue Coordinator for Metro Manila during the Ovicidal/Larvic
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“Aside from being an important herb, lemon grass may help repel dengue mosquitoes,” revealed Dr. Manuel Mapue, Department of Health (DOH) Regional Medical Dengue Coordinator for Metro Manila during the Ovicidal/Larvicidal (OL) Mosquito Trap Orientation held in Caloocan City on 28 May 2012.
Lemon grass (Cybopogon citrates) is a perennial herb widely used in Asian cuisine. It is commonly used for teas, soups and curries. In the Philippines lemon grass is called “tanglad” commonly used to savour Filipino delicacies.
In a study Evaluation of Herbal Essential oil against Mosquitoes by the Department of Plant Production Technology and Faculty of Agricultural Technology in Bangkok Thailand affirmed that lemon grass indeed contains organic repellents against mosquitoes.
In a laboratory experiment, volunteers were instructed to apply oil extracts from different target crops including lemon grass on one of their arms, while the other was untreated (control). Both hands were inserted in a cage containing 250 nulliparous female mosquitoes ageing 5-7 day old. Mosquitoes were observed in terms movements and behaviours.
Results showed that oil extracts from lemon grass, peppermint, eucalyptus, citronella, and cloves were effective to repel both dengue and malaria mosquitoes. However, the repellent effects of these oil extracts do not last longer compare to synthetic chemicals, thus, further study to improve its formulation and efficacy is needed.
Another study on “The Effectiveness of Lemon Grass as a Natural Mosquito Repellent” by the University of Southern California (USC), comparing the repellent efficacy of lemon grass extract to the DEET (N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide) based repellents or the leading commercial brands for insect repellents has found that lemon grass extract could be used as an alternative to chemical insect repellent.
According to the study DEET-based repellents has 81% efficacy compare to 51% efficacy of lemon grass extract. However, the study concluded that although lemon grass has lower efficacy, many people are too sensitive to the DEET chemical used in repellent.
Lemon grass as farm pest repellent
According to Dr. Marilyn Patricio, professor from the Central Luzon State University, lemon grass is being used to repel pests in organic farming as part of the integrated pest management (IPM) strategy in agriculture. “Planting lemon grass as border crop is very effective to prevent the entry of insect pests in the farm. In fact, aside from lemon grass, we also plant peppermint and other aromatic herbs to detract insect pests from destroying the crop,” said Dr. Patricio.
Like farm pests, Dr. Patricio believes that dengue mosquitoes are detracted with the pungent aroma of lemon grass. She also recommends planting lemon grass on backyard, especially near doors and windows to shoo dengue mosquitoes in entering the home.
On the other hand, in an interview with Mr. Ferdinand Salazar, Supervising Science Research Specialist from the Department of Medical Entomology, Research Institute of Tropical Medicine, Department of Health (RITM-DOH) said that, planting lemon grass on backyards could help repel mosquito, however it will not guarantee prote
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Diabetes Mellitus has been termed as the deadly silent killer, in that the disease affects each and every part of our system and gives rise to several health complications. The fact that uncontrolled sugar levels can be a risk factor for heart problems is
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Diabetes Mellitus has been termed as the deadly silent killer, in that the disease affects each and every part of our system and gives rise to several health complications. The fact that uncontrolled sugar levels can be a risk factor for heart problems is a known fact, but not many might be aware that Diabetes is also a major risk factor for Cardio Vascular Disease (CVD). Through this blog I will be discussing the various links between these serious diseases and sharing some compelling evidences of risk of CVD in Diabetes Mellitus patients.
All forms of Diabetes are characterized by either lack of insulin, insulin resistance, or inefficient insulin action leading to increased blood sugar levels. However, the insulin hormone is not only involved in sugar metabolism, but also essential for other metabolic activities too, for example insulin helps:
- Stimulate Lipogenesis
- Stop or reduce Lypolysis
- Transport amino acids into the cells
It is also involved in other essential activities like cell multiplication, DNA synthesis, and various transcription processes.
As a result, Diabetic patients not only show high blood sugar levels (the classic diabetes symptoms) but also manifest other blood aberrations like Hypercholesterolemia, Increased LDL and VLDL levels, Hyper-triglyceridemia, etc. – the known risk factors for CVD.
Several predisposing risk factors simultaneously affect the development of Type II diabetes Mellitus and CVD. Some of the common concomitant factors include Obesity, Sedentary lifestyles, Smoking, Heredity, and Advancing Age. Moreover, several studies have reported that diabetic women tend to lose their natural protection against CVD and Heart Disease risk, thus increasing their susceptibility to the disease condition. According to a recent data, almost 65% of all diabetes patients in the US die of CVDs. Keeping these factors in mind, the new guidelines for CVD support and care (issued by the American Heart Institute) suggest that diabetes is a direct and independent risk factor for CVD.
However, one need not despair; being diabetic need not predestine you to CVD. There are several ways in which one can reduce and even eliminate the risk of CVD in diabetes Mellitus patients:
- Keep the blood sugar levels under control: People with uncontrolled diabetes have double as much chances of developing CVD and other other heart problems that the people with better sugar control.
- Maintain a healthy height to weight ratio: Being overweight and obese is not only a major risk factor for CVD, it also exacerbates the hyperlipidemia symptoms caused by insulin deficiency.
- Exercise regularly or be physically active: Several forms of exercise like aerobics and an active life style has been linked with reduction of risk for both diabetes and CVD.
- Eat healthy: This will serve many a purpose, including help maintain weight, keep sugar levels under check, and keep hyperlipidemia at bay. Thus reducing the risk of CVDs.
Apart from the aforementioned tips, there are several intervention studies being carried out to study the efficacy of various drugs in treating CVD in diabetic patients. For instance a clinical trial is underway near Detroit, MI to explore the use of a DPP-IV inhibitor in reducing CVD risk in patients with Diabetes.
- Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Clinical Trials, Investigational Treatments, Researchers and Research Sites
- Larry Brandwein, From Denial to Survivor of a Silent Killer, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
- Understanding What is Type 2 Diabetes and Why Does it Need to be Treated?
- DPP-4 Inhibitors (Sitagliptin, Alogliptin, Saxagliptin, Vildagliptin) in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
- Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes
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Collective responsibility and Ministers 5.22 The principle of collective responsibility underpins the system of Cabinet government. It reflects democratic principle: the House expresses its confidence in the collective whole of government, rather than in individual Ministers. Similarly, the Governor
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Collective responsibility and Ministers 5.22 The principle of collective responsibility underpins the system of Cabinet government. It reflects democratic principle: the House expresses its confidence in the collective whole of government, rather than in individual Ministers. Similarly, the Governor-General, in acting on ministerial advice, needs to be confident that individual Ministers represent official government policy. In all areas of their work, therefore, Ministers represent and implement government policy. 5.23 Acceptance of ministerial office means accepting collective responsibility. Issues are often debated vigorously within the confidential setting of Cabinet meetings, although consensus is usually reached and votes are rarely taken. Once Cabinet makes a decision, Ministers must support it (except as provided in paragraphs 5.25 - 5.27), regardless of their personal views and whether or not they were at the meeting concerned
2. To avoid any doubt, collective Cabinet responsibility applies to Ministers outside Cabinet (Cabinet Manual 2008):
2.27 Ministers outside Cabinet have full legal powers as Ministers, and may be appointed to full portfolios. They have the same role, duties, and responsibilities as Ministers inside Cabinet, and are also bound by the principle of collective responsibility. (See paragraphs 5.22 - 5.28.) They do not attend Cabinet, but, with the agreement of the Prime Minister, may attend for particular items relating to their portfolio interests. They are usually members of one or more committees, attending other committees where relevant.
3. The only exception to this principle is "agree to disagree" regime implemented in the recent era of coalition government. The exception is, however, narrow and is not a blank cheque for Ministers from coalition parties to dissent at will (Cabinet Manual 2008):
5.25 Coalition governments may also decide to establish "agree to disagree" processes, which may allow Ministers within the coalition to maintain, in public, different party positions on particular issues or policies. Once the final outcome of any "agree to disagree" issue or policy has been determined (either at the Cabinet level or through some other agreed process), Ministers must implement the resulting decision or legislation, regardless of their position throughout the decision-making process. 5.26 "Agree to disagree" processes may only be used in relation to different party positions within a coalition. Any public dissociation from Cabinet decisions by individual Ministers outside the agreed processes is unacceptable. 5.27 Ministers outside Cabinet from parliamentary parties supporting the government may be bound by collective responsibility only in relation to their particular portfolios. Under these arrangements, when such Ministers speak about issues within their portfolios, they speak for the government and as part of the government. When they speak about matters outside their portfolios, however, they may speak as political party leaders or members of Parliament rather than as Ministers, and do not necessarily represent the government position. When such Ministers represent the government internationally, they speak for the government on all issues that foreign governments may raise with them in their capacity as Ministers.
4. The Maori Party and the National Party have adopted "agree to disagree" processes in their confidence and supply agreement (Relationship and Confidence and Supply Agreement between the National Party and the Māori Party):
Collective Responsibility The Māori Party agree to be bound by collective responsibility in relation to their Ministerial portfolios and their Associate Minister responsibilities. When the Māori Party Mini
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Can bees meet their nutritional needs in the UK?
A new project is studying the nutrition of bees in the UK in a BBSRC initiative that aims to understand the decline of pollinators in Britain.
18 Oct 2011
Euc
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Can bees meet their nutritional needs in the UK?
A new project is studying the nutrition of bees in the UK in a BBSRC initiative that aims to understand the decline of pollinators in Britain.
18 Oct 2011
Eucera bee feeding on mustard flower (Image: G. Wright, Newcastle University)
Kew is a partner on a new BBSRC funded Insect Pollinators Initiative project. This initiative aims to understand the reasons for the decline in pollinator species in Britain.
The project, with Newcastle University, University of Sydney, University of Pretoria and the Hebrew University, Israel, asks whether bees can meet their nutritional needs in the UK. The current UK landscape is dominated by a few large scale, short-lived crops, which provide less diversity in food sources for pollinators than in the past. The research will determine the optimum nutrition for honeybees and bumblebees, and whether temperature, disease, toxins, or stress change the bees’ nutritional needs.
The project will also determine how nutrition influences bee foraging behaviour and whether nutritional deficits or plant toxins influence bee communication within the colony. The work will build an online pollen and nectar nutrient database that will help to predict nutritional shortfalls when they occur and advise stakeholders about the best plant species to cultivate.
The nutritional information on pollen and nectar will be used to develop an optimal bee food supplement.
Item from Dr Phil Stevenson (Natural Product Chemist, RBG Kew/NRI)
Originally published in Kew Scientist, issue 39
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Food is the primary source of BPA for preschoolers
New study finds that 95% of BPA in kids' bodies comes from the foods they eat.
Mon, Jun 06 2011 at 2:00 PM
It
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Food is the primary source of BPA for preschoolers
New study finds that 95% of BPA in kids' bodies comes from the foods they eat.
Mon, Jun 06 2011 at 2:00 PM
It's everywhere — in our air, on our countertops, and in our kids' toys. But researchers have found that kids get the most BPA from the foods they eat.
In a previous study
published in 2007, researchers collected samples of solid and liquid foods, air, dust and soil from the homes and daycare centers of 257 children between the ages of 2 and 5 in North Carolina and Ohio. At the time, researchers were able to show that the foods eaten by the children contained more BPA than any of the other sources. At the time, researchers were not able to determine if the BPA in the children's urine was the BPA that came from those foods.
Now they can.
In a new study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology
, researchers used statistical analysis to show that the BPA that the children were excreting via BPA correlated with the doses they were ingesting through their food. The study's authors were able to determine that food accounted for more than 95 percent of the BPA excreted in the preschoolers’ bodies.
The opinions expressed by MNN Bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of MNN.com. While we have reviewed their content to make sure it complies with our Terms and Conditions, MNN is not responsible for the accuracy of any of their information.
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(High-tech parenting writer Scott Steinberg, a professional keynote speaker and business consultant, is launching a new book series, “The Modern Parent’s Guide,” and a companion video show, “Family Tech: Technology for Parents and Kids.” The following
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(High-tech parenting writer Scott Steinberg, a professional keynote speaker and business consultant, is launching a new book series, “The Modern Parent’s Guide,” and a companion video show, “Family Tech: Technology for Parents and Kids.” The following is excerpted from “The Modern Parent’s Guide to Kids and Video Games,” which will be free to download at www.ParentsGuideBooks.com in February 2012.)
Opinion by Scott Steinberg:
Video games are often used as a convenient scapegoat for many of the issues affecting today’s youth. Advocates for outdoor play often lament that kids spend too much time indoors playing games. Health experts say that kids need to get up off the couch, put down the video game controller and start moving around. Politicians and parenting groups say games desensitize children to violence, expose them to questionable content and/or promote addiction.
While blaming video games seems an easy way out sometimes, it’s important not simply to dismiss the questions and concerns that so many parents have raised about video games today. Many of these issues are perfectly valid and legitimate, and only through understanding what causes such apprehensions to arise, and persist, can parents discern ways to deal properly with them.
Some of the common concerns many parents have about video games include:
- Amount of Play Time
- Age Appropriateness
- Health and Obesity
- Safety Concerns
- Violence, Aggression and Misbehavior
Here, we’ll take a closer look at each of these issues.
- Amount of Play Time – How much is too much? Ask yourself: What is the appropriate amount of time children should be allowed to spend playing video games? Although this is a highly personal decision, based entirely on your family’s needs, most experts agree that setting limits on all screen time is important for healthy development. Many families start with a daily screen time allowance, such as one hour per day, and add or subtract time as a reward or punishment for good or bad behavior. Note that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting a child’s use of TV, movies, video and computer games to no more than one or two hours a day. The National Institute on The Media & Family further suggests offering no more than an hour of video game time daily. Whichever advice you choose to follow, beginning at a fixed base level, such as an hour per day, can make a good starting point, giving you some wiggle room to add or subtract time based on children’s behavior.
- Age Appropriateness – Although it seems obvious to many parents that different content is appropriate for different ages when they think about movies or music, many parents struggle when figuring when and how to introduce their kids to video games. There are not only a vast number of different video game titles available to choose from targeted at multiple age groups, but also many different ways to play that appeal to kids of different ages.
Parents further disagree as to when it’s appropriate to introduce a child to gaming. Many parents allow their one- and two-year-olds to play games on their smartphones — a concept that may seem foreign to other families. Others wait until age four, five or six, as preschoolers begin to master the hand-eye coordination nece
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Soaking Hay: How Much Sugar is Actually Removed?
Grasses and hays high in water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) can spell disaster for horses with laminitis or insulin resistance (IR). Some veterinarians and nutritionists suggest soaking
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Soaking Hay: How Much Sugar is Actually Removed?
Grasses and hays high in water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) can spell disaster for horses with laminitis or insulin resistance (IR). Some veterinarians and nutritionists suggest soaking hay to reduce the amount of WSC in the hay (because water-soluble means these simple sugars dissolve in water), but how much WSC content does soaking actually reduce? According to one team of researchers, it varies depending on how long the hay is submerged.
High WSC levels markedly affect blood-insulin responses in horses and often cause an exaggerated response in laminitic or IR horses. Exaggerated insulin responses can lead to potentially life-threatening bouts of laminitis.
Led by Annette Longland, BSc, PhD, DIC, of Equine and Livestock Nutrition Services in Wales, U.K., a group of researchers recently set out to test the effects of soaking on the WSC and crude protein (CP, to see how much protein was leached during hay soaking) of nine different hays from England and Wales.
The research team completely submerged two kilograms of the mixed species meadow or ryegrass hays either compacted in the flakes or shaken loose of the flake in large plastic tubs filled with 24 liters of 8°C (46°F) tap water. Hays were soaked for 20-minute, 40-minute, three-hour, and 16-hour periods. The researchers then dried the hays in an oven before analyzing them chemically.
As it turns out, soaking hay in water does reduce the WSC, which are comprised mostly of fructans and the simple sugars glucose, fructose, and sucrose, but "there was great variation between individual hays in the amounts of WSC leached," the team reported.
Key findings in the study included:
"For owners of laminitic horses, get the hay tested for WSC... content--preferably after soaking it--so you know exactly how much your hay contains," Longland recommends. "Otherwise, if hay is tested before it is soaked, use soaking as an added safeguard if necessary."
The study "Effects of soaking on the water-soluble carbohydrate and crude protein content of hay" was published in June 2011 in Veterinary Record. It can be viewed online.
Disclaimer: Seek the advice of a qualified veterinarian before proceeding with any diagnosis, treatment, or therapy.
Copyright © 2013 The Blood-Horse, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Putting Myths To Rest: Green In All Grades Makes The New Case For Recycled Paper In Magazines
A Fresh “Green Paper” Debunks Myths and Supports a Sustainable Publishing Industry
DENVER, July 23, 2012
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Putting Myths To Rest: Green In All Grades Makes The New Case For Recycled Paper In Magazines
A Fresh “Green Paper” Debunks Myths and Supports a Sustainable Publishing Industry
DENVER, July 23, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Green America Better Paper Project released its latest “green paper,” Green in All Grades, which debunks recent myths and proves that recycled paper is always the best environmental choice, especially when used in magazines.
Green in All Grades dissects the key arguments from recycled paper detractors so that paper purchasers can best understand and remain confident and comfortable that purchasing and using recycled paper is the best choice for the environment, climate, and people. In fact, the benefits are wide-ranging from mitigating climate change impacts to creating more jobs while also protecting biodiversity and improving air and water quality.
Frank Locantore, the director of the Better Paper Project, remarked, “Over the past few years, we’ve heard a lot of misinformation and unsubstantiated claims that recycled paper is a poor environmental choice for magazine paper, so we wanted to clear up confusion and present science-based facts to support magazines that want to do the right thing for the planet by using recycled paper.”
Green in All Grades proves:
- There is no shortage of wastepaper available for recovery and recycling, so there’s no need to allocate recycled content to only certain paper grades.
- When comparing the same grade of paper (“apples to apples”), recycled paper environmentally outshines its virgin counterpart.
- The greatest environmental savings occur when recovered paper is used to make recycled printing-writing paper, instead of recycled newsprint or packaging.
- Adding “request” to “reduce, reuse, recycle” can spur more paper recycling and a green manufacturing industry to support thousands of jobs.
- Collaboration between industry and non-profit organizations is the solution to growing a green and profitable magazine industry.
Scientists have estimated that human activity has degraded almost 80 percent of what remains of the planet’s forests. Producing more virgin paper, which requires further harming our natural ecosystems, is not a sustainable solution to the growing global paper demand. However, a solution is within reach – utilizing the vast reserves of recoverable paper that are not currently being collected and turned into recycled paper.
To help magazine publishers stand out as environmental leaders, Green in All Grades offers a step-by-step plan to increase the recycled content in their magazines, attract green consumers and support a sustainable 21st century economy.
Green in All Grades can be downloaded here: http://betterpaper.ning.com/page/green-in-all
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A vocation is a calling, an occupation, or a large undertaking for which one is especially suited. It can be roughly synonymous with career or profession, though vocation connotes a seriousness or a commitment that these words don’t always bear.
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A vocation is a calling, an occupation, or a large undertaking for which one is especially suited. It can be roughly synonymous with career or profession, though vocation connotes a seriousness or a commitment that these words don’t always bear. An avocation is something done in addition to one’s vocation—usually a hobby.
Both are rooted in the Latin vocāre, meaning to call. In its early English use, vocation usually had religious implications. One who had a vocation was called by God toward a certain line of work, often the priesthood. The word was in use without the religious overtones as early as the 16th century, and today it is commonly used for both religious callings and secular ones.
In avocation, the prefix a- is shortened from ab-, which means away, so, considered etymologically, an avocation is a calling away.
That’s her job, but her avocation is her 12-year-old son, Edward; her dogs; her husband … ; and gardening. [National Post]
Given this mindset, we are tempted to believe that we can work at our occupations to pay the bills and turn to our avocations to live out our callings. [Reclaiming the V Word, Dave Daubert and Tana Kjos]
[S]tories that roil Washington for days or even weeks barely create a ripple with most people who don’t follow politics as their job or their avocation. [Washington Post]
A local sensor technology specialist is using some of the know-how from his vocation to pursue an unusual avocation: photographing American bald eagles from afar. [Dayton Daily News]
The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has recounted how his priestly vocation developed in the midst of Soviet persecution. [Catholic Culture]
Yes, nursing has now become a degree-based profession but it is no less a vocation than it was in Nightingale’s day. [Express]
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INDICE DE GALERIAS
Today is Tuesday, June 11, the 162nd day of 2013. There are 203 days left in the year.Today’s Highlights in History:
On June 11, 1963,
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INDICE DE GALERIAS
Today is Tuesday, June 11, the 162nd day of 2013. There are 203 days left in the year.Today’s Highlights in History:
On June 11, 1963, in one of the most shocking images of the Vietnam War era, a Buddhist monk, Thich Quang Duc (tihk kwang duk), set himself afire on a Saigon street to protest the government of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem (noh deen dyem). (The scene was captured in a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph taken by Malcolm Browne of The Associated Press.)On this date:
In 1509, England’s King Henry VIII married his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.
In 1770, Captain James Cook, commander of the British ship Endeavour, discovered the Great Barrier Reef off Australia by running onto it.
In 1776, the Continental Congress formed a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence calling for freedom from Britain.
In 1913, football coach Vince Lombardi and opera singer Rise Stevens were born in New York City.
In 1919, Sir Barton won the Belmont Stakes, becoming horse racing’s first Triple Crown winner.
In 1938, Johnny Vander Meer pitched the first of two consecutive no-hitters as he led the Cincinnati Reds to a 3-0 victory over the Boston Bees. (Four days later, Vander Meer refused to give up a hit to the Brooklyn Dodgers, who lost, 6-0.)
In 1942, the United States and the Soviet Union signed a lend-lease agreement to aid the Soviet war effort in World War II.
In 1962, three prisoners at Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay staged an escape, leaving the island on a makeshift raft; they were never found or heard from again.
In 1971, the year-and-a-half-long occupation of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay by American Indian activists ended as federal officers evicted the remaining protesters.
In 1977, Seattle Slew won the Belmont Stakes, capturing the Triple Crown.
In 1987, Margaret Thatcher became the first British prime minister in 160 years to win a third consecutive term of office as her Conservatives held onto a reduced majority in Parliament.
In 1993, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people who commit “hate crimes” motivated by bigotry may be sentenced to extra punishment; the court also ruled religious groups had a constitutional right to sacrifice animals in worship services.Ten years ago: A suicide bomber killed 16 victims in a Jerusalem bus blast; two Israeli rocket strikes against Hamas fugitives killed 11 Palestinians in Gaza City. Houston’s Roy Oswalt, Pete Munro, Kirk Saarloos, Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner combined for the first no-hitter against the New York Yankees in 45 years, winning 8-0. Pioneering broadcast journalist David Brinkley died in Houston at age 82.
Five years ago: President George W. Bush, during a visit to Germany, raised the possibility of a military strike to thwart Tehran’s presumed nuclear weapons ambitions; Chancellor Angela Merkel joined Bush in urging further sanctions against Iran if it failed to suspend its nuclear enrichment program. For his part, Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (ah-muh-DEE’-neh-zhahd) called Bush a “wicked man.” Four Boy Scouts were killed when a tornado hit the Little Sioux Scout Ranch near Blencoe, Iowa.
One year ago: Testimony began in the trial of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, accusing of sexually abusing 10 boys over 15 years. (Sandusky was later convicted and sentenced to at least 30 years in prison.) Rafael Nadal won his record seventh French Open title, defeating Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5. The Los Angeles Kings won their first NHL championship, beating the New Jersey Devils 6-1 in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals. Ann Rutherford, 94, the demure brunette actress who played Scarlett O’Hara’s youngest sister in “Gone With the Wind,” died in Los Angeles.Today’s Birthdays: U.S. Rep. Charles Rangell, D-N.Y., is 83. Actor Gene Wilder is 80. Comedian Johnny Brown is 76. International Motorsports Hall of Famer Jackie Stewart is 74. Singer Joey Dee is 73. Actress Adrienne Barbeau is 68. Rock musician Frank Beard (ZZ Top) is 64. Animal rights activist Ingrid Newkirk is 64. Rock singer Donnie Van Zant is 61. Actor Peter Bergman is 60. Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Montana is 57. Actor Hugh Laurie is 54. TV personality Mehmet Oz, M.D. (“Dr. Oz”) is 53. Singer Gioia (JOY’-ah) Bruno (Expose) is 50. Rock musician Dan Lavery (Tonic) is 47. Country singer-songwriter Bruce Robison is 47. Actor Peter Dinklage is 44. Country musician Smilin’ Jay McDowell
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Agriculture is a major land use in North County, therefore special attention has been given to how to address farmland in the North County Multiple Species Conservation Program (MSCP) Plan. The North County MSCP Plan area has nearly 9
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Agriculture is a major land use in North County, therefore special attention has been given to how to address farmland in the North County Multiple Species Conservation Program (MSCP) Plan. The North County MSCP Plan area has nearly 9 times as many acres in agriculture as the South County MSCP Subarea Plan.
Just as the South County MSCP Subarea Plan streamlined the regulatory environment for landowners applying for land use permits, the County is trying in the North County MSCP Plan to streamline the regulatory environment for farmers while conserving habitat. The County of San Diego has been working with the San Diego County Farm Bureau to address conservation of habitat and farming. Farms, ranches and orchards can contain habitat value for local endangered or threatened species.
The County, in cooperation with the Farm Bureau, is developing a County-wide Farming Program. One of the components of the Farming Program will address
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We use hemp because it's a great alternative to plastic and it is a fabulous eco textile.
(Check out the video at the bottom if you don't want to read.)
I. The Basics:
Hemp is one of the oldest and most
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We use hemp because it's a great alternative to plastic and it is a fabulous eco textile.
(Check out the video at the bottom if you don't want to read.)
I. The Basics:
Hemp is one of the oldest and most versatile crops in the world. For thousands of years hemp seeds, stalks and flowers have been used for nutritious, medical, spiritual and industrial purposes. The seed oil is rich in essential fatty acids (including gamma linoleic acid (GLA), a very rare nutrient, also found in mother's milk) and vitamin E.
The fibers from the stalks boast an unusually high tensile strength, leading to incredibly high-quality, durable and wearable clothing items. Hemp fiber is one of the softest and most durable fibers produced by any natural product and it perfect for surfboard bags and surf accessories.
Hemp was first cultivated by the Chinese in the 2nd century B.C. At that time, the fibers where used for paper and textile and the seeds for food and in medicines. The Chinese played a significant role improving the growth, harvesting and processing techniques of hemp. Besides its propagation in China, the cultivation and use of hemp has, since the beginnings of recorded history, also been documented by many other great civilizations, including: India, Sumeria, Babylonia, Persia, Egypt, and other nations of the Near East; and the Aztec and Mayan civilizations of South America; as well as by native cultures in North America and Europe. Indeed, it might be said that over these thousands of years, hemp has always followed humankind throughout the world.
In the 15th century hemp was introduced in the American colonies. After that time much of the paper and clothing in colonial America was made from hemp, with the textiles being recycled into “rag paper”, known to this day as one of the strongest and most long-lasting papers in the world. During colonial hemp shortages it was a punishable offense for landowners (sometimes by death) for refusing to grow hemp.
Most of the seagoing nations would never have been as successful without the strong fibers with which to craft 90% of sails, plus ropes, rigging, and even the ‘oakum’ that sealed cracks in the boats watertight. In basic terms, if it was not made of wood on a ship, it was made of hemp. Hemp rope and sails were incredibly strong and resisted the salt water damage and mold that were among the common wear and tear experienced in the nautical industry.
Even flags, uniforms and fishing nets were fashioned from the fiber, and all these were above decks. Below, ships’ logs, maps, charts and bibles were printed on hemp paper as it was up to 100 times stronger than traditional papyrus preparations, and many of the lamps that lighted the dark evenings were dependent on hemp oil fuel. In fact, prior to 1883 between 75% and 90% of everything made of or printed on paper was from hemp, and before petrochemical companies most paints, oils, varnishes, and even glues and adhesives were manufactured from hemp.
Use hemp and not plastic.
Hemp is a wonderful alternative to plastic because of these following reasons:
• Hemp grows naturally without pesticides
• Hemp is mold resistant
• Hemp is strong and durable
• Hemp is biodegradable
• Hemp reduces heat and remains cool
• Hemp protects against the sun's harmful rays
• Hemp is straight up COOL
But most importantly, at the end of its life-cycle hemp would go back into the earth and decompose, it wouldn’t rot in some landfill for the next thousand years like plastic.
II. Digging Deeper Into Hemp
Ok, those are the basics, let's dig a little deeper. Hemp is among the oldest industries on the planet, going back more than 10,000 years to the beginnings of pottery. The Columbia History of the World states that the oldest relic of human industry is a bit of hemp fabric dating back to approximately 8,000 BC---that's cool!
The main uses of European hemp is in France for cigarette papers. In the ‘new’ hemp producing countries such as the UK, Germany and Netherlands, the main markets are insulation (about 40%) and bio-composites (40%). The main use of bio-composites are for the automotive industries. Other niche applications including the garden markets for non-woven mats. Most seed production happens in Canada. A new (European) decortication* machine located in Alberta is about to begin so they will be making fibers as well.
United States Presidents Washington and Jefferson both grew hemp. Americans were legally bound to grow hemp during the Colonial Era and Early Republic. The federal government subsidized hemp during the Second World War and U.S. farmers grew about a million acres of hemp as part of that program.
Hemp seed is nutritious and contains more essential fatty acids than any other source, is second only to soybeans in complete protein (but is more digestible by humans), is high in B-vitamins, and is a good source of dietary fiber.
Hemp seed is not psychoactive and cannot be used as a dr
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Burma/Myanmar is a country in mainland Southeast Asia. The total territory of the country is 261,969 square miles (676,580 square kilometers) and its 2004 population is estimated to be 49,362,000
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Burma/Myanmar is a country in mainland Southeast Asia. The total territory of the country is 261,969 square miles (676,580 square kilometers) and its 2004 population is estimated to be 49,362,000. Although a mid-range country in territory and population, the Burmese miltiary is the 11th largest in number of service personnel. With 595,000 people in uniform it ranks just behind Turkey with 665,000 people in uniform and Brazil with 673,000 people in uniform. The burden of miltiary expenditure in Burma is greater than in Turkey or Brazil because it is a relatively poorer society. According to the CIA Factbook the total size of the economy was estimated at $74.3 billion in 2004 with a purchasing power parity of $1,700 per capita. The comparable figures for Turkey are $508 billion and $7,400 per capita, while the comparable figures for Braz
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Definition: 'Abstinence Syndrome'
abstinence syndromeType: Term
1. a constellation of physiologic changes undergone by people or animals who have become physically dependent on a drug or chemical who are abruptly deprived of that substance. The intensity of
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Definition: 'Abstinence Syndrome'
abstinence syndromeType: Term
1. a constellation of physiologic changes undergone by people or animals who have become physically dependent on a drug or chemical who are abruptly deprived of that substance. The intensity of the syndrome varies with the drug or chemical. Generally, the effects observed are in an opposite direction from those produced by the drug; the withdrawal syndrome from CNS depressants (barbiturates) consists of insomnia, restlessness, tremulousness, hallucinations, and, in the extreme, potentially fatal tonic-clonic convulsions. Onset time and severity of the syndrome depend on the rate at which the drug disappears from the body.
The information shown above for abstinence syndrome is provided by Stedman's.
* Stedman's, part of Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, provide a comp
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Humor and Kids
According to KidsHealth, children laugh about 200 times each day; adults laugh only 15 to 18 times. Laughter can help you and your children communicate better and build emotional bonds. "Laughing Is Good
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Humor and Kids
According to KidsHealth, children laugh about 200 times each day; adults laugh only 15 to 18 times. Laughter can help you and your children communicate better and build emotional bonds. "Laughing Is Good for You and Your Child" from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), states that having a sense of humor is good for a child’s mental and physical well-being.
- Relieves stress.
- Loosens muscles.
- Lowers blood pressure and may lower hormones that create stress and weaken immunity.
- Helps move blood to your heart and lungs, boosting energy and making you feel better instantly.
- Triggers a point in the brain that helps a person feel pleasure and want to have that same feeling again.
Studies show that laughing is key to positive parenting, helping families have fun and come closer together.
KidsHealth gives you parenting tips to encourage your child’s sense of humor.
- Model humor. Make jokes, tell stories, laugh out loud.
- Encourage your child to be funny. Laugh at his or her attempts at humor—jokes, silly pictures, funny noises.
- Fill your home with fun. Read funny stories, joke books, silly picture books, nonsense rhymes, and comics.
Family Activity: Make Them Laugh
Quiz for Parents: Positive Effects of Laughter Quiz
Related Article for Educators: Kids' Humor
- Laughing Is Good for You and Your Child, from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Family Guide, provides a clear rationale for using humor to help your child stay healthy.
- Articles on Children’s Humor, by Dr. Paul E. McGhee, show how children’s intellectual, social, and emotional growth and well-being can be fostered through humor.
- Encouraging Your Child’s Sense of Humor from KidsHealth says that helping children maintain their playful outlook and encouraging a sense of humor can help children stay healthy, emotionally and physically.
- American Red Cross: In the Aftermath—Mind-Body Connection (PDF) “Have You Heard the One About the …?” (activity 3 within the PDF) shows how you can use humor to help children stay healthy after a disaster.
Reprinted with the permission of the Department of Health and Human Services.
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March 4, 2011
The federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was enacted in 1996 by large bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. It ensured that states would not
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March 4, 2011
The federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was enacted in 1996 by large bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. It ensured that states would not have to recognize same-sex marriages from other states, and that the federal government would recognize only the union of one man and one woman as marriage.
Yet now, DOMA is under the sharpest attack in its historydespite the fact that four federal courts have already upheld its constitutionality, and no federal or state appellate court has ever said that it violates the U.S. Constitution. In July 2010, however, a single federal District Court Judge in Boston, Joseph L. Tauro, ruled in a pair of cases that the federal definition of marriage in DOMA is unconstitutional. In November 2010, two more federal court challenges to DOMA were filed in New York and Connecticut. In total, there are no less than ten currently pending federal court cases which involve some form of challenge to DOMA. Here are some key questions and answers about the current status of this law:
Q: What did Attorney General Eric Holder announce on February 23 about the administrations position regarding the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)
A: In a press release and in a letter to Congress, Mr. Holder said that he and President Obama have concluded that one of the provisions of the Defense of Marriage Actthe one which limits the federal government to recognizing only marriages between one man and one womanis unconstitutional. This marked a sharp reversal, since the Department of Justice has submitted several briefs defending the constitutionality of DOMA in previous court cases.
This decision represents a shocking abdication of the Attorney Generals, and the Presidents, constitutional responsibility to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and sets a dangerous precedent for future executive refusals to defend existing law.
Q: What motivated this change of position?
A: Politics likely played a major role, as the Obama Administration has been under intense pressure from pro-homosexual activists to stop defending DOMA. There is also evidence which suggests collusion between the Justice Department and attorneys who are challenging DOMA and the definition of marriage in court. Attorneys in the case of Perry v. Schwarzenegger, who seek to overturn Californias marriage amendment (Proposition 8) and establish a federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage, filed a Motion to Vacate Stay with the Ninth Circuit, containing detailed citations from the Attorney Generals letter, just hours after the letter was released.
Family Research Council has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for any communications between the DOJ and litigants and attorneys in this case or in the cases challenging DOMA in other courts.
Q: Hasnt President Obama opposed DOMA all along?
A: Yes, Mr. Obama favors the repeal of DOMA. However, it is possible to believe that a law represents bad public policy, while at the same time believing that it does not violate the Constitution. This had been the position of the Obama administration until February 23, 2011.
QHow can the Administration justify such an about-face?
A: Earlier cases challenging the constitutionality of DOMA (such as the Massachusetts cases decided by Judge Tauro) had been filed in federal court circuits in which there was controlling precedent saying that classifications based on sexual orientation are subject only to a rational basis testthe most lenient level of scrutiny, under which legislative choices are accorded the greatest deference. The DOJs briefs had argued that DOMA was constitutional by this standard.
The new lawsuits challenging DOMA in New York and Connecticut, however, were filed in federal courts located in a circuit (the Second) without any such precedent. Mr. Holder claims that this caused the DOJ to re-examine the question of the appropriate standard of inquiry, and that in turn led him to declare that classifications based on sexual orientation warrant heightened scrutiny.
Q: What does heightened scrutiny mean?
A: When a law creates a classification that treats some individuals or groups differently from others (in this case, treating opposite-sex couples differently from same-sex couples), it may sometimes be challenged as violating the Constitutions guarantee of the equal protection of the law. However, most laws are judged under a rational basis test, meaning that a legislative enactment will be upheld as long as there is any conceivable rational basis for the classification.
However, heightened scrutiny usually applies to classifications based on characteristics considered immutable and irrelevant to legitimate policy objectives, possessed by groups who are minorities or politically powerless and have been subject to a history of discrimination. The classic examples are race and sex. The Supreme Court has never said that this standard applies to sexual orientation. It would increase the chances of a court striking down laws which limit marriage or its benefits to the union of one man and one woman, such as DOMA.
Q: How did the Attorney General justify this call for heightened scrutiny.
A: Mr. Holder asserted that a growing scientific consensus acce
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|the state of balance, or equilibrium, which sections of the earth's lithosphere (whether continental or oceanic) are thought ultimately to achieve when the vertical forces upon them remain unchanged. The lithosphere floats upon the semifluid asthen
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|the state of balance, or equilibrium, which sections of the earth's lithosphere (whether continental or oceanic) are thought ultimately to achieve when the vertical forces upon them remain unchanged. The lithosphere floats upon the semifluid asthenosphere below. If a section of lithosphere is loaded, as by ice, it will slowly subside to a new equilibrium position; if a section of lithosphere is reduced in mass, as by erosion, it will slowly rise to a new equilibrium position|
|isostasy (ī-sŏs'tə-sē) Pronunciation Key
Equilibrium in the Earth's crust, in which an elevated part in one area is counterbalanced by a depressed part in another. Is
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posted on Apr, 1 2011 @ 03:24 PM
Originally posted by RoyalBlue
reply to post by mileslong54
But there is a difference between radiation, and radioactive contamination, right?
Radiation is energy
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posted on Apr, 1 2011 @ 03:24 PM
Originally posted by RoyalBlue
reply to post by mileslong54
But there is a difference between radiation, and radioactive contamination, right?
Radiation is energy that comes from a source and travels through some material or through space. Light, heat and sound are types of radiation. The
kind of radiation discussed in this presentation is called ionizing radiation because it can produce charged particles (ions) in matter.
Ionizing radiation is produced by unstable atoms. Unstable atoms differ from stable atoms because they have an excess of energy or mass or both.
Unstable atoms are said to be radioactive. In order to reach stability, these atoms give off, or emit, the excess energy or mass. These emissions are
called radiation. The kinds of radiation are electromagnetic (like light) and particulate (i.e., mass given off with the energy of motion). Gamma
radiation and X-rays are examples of electromagnetic radiation. Beta and alpha radiation are examples of particulate radiation. Ionizing radiation can
also be produced by devices such as X-ray machines.
Contamination occurs when material that contains radioactive atoms is deposited on skin, clothing, or any place where is it not desired. If is
important to remember that radiation does not spread or get "on" or "in" people; rather it is radioactive contamination that can spread. A person
contaminated with radioactive materials will be irradiated until the source of radiation (the radioactive material) is removed.
A person is externally contaminated if radioactive material is on skin or clothing.
A person is internally contaminated if radioactive material is breathed in, swallowed, or absorbed through wounds.
The environment is contaminated if radioactive material is spread about or uncontained.
In simple terms unless you are within a 100 to 150 miles radius from where the contaminated site was your going to be fine. They have been firing off
nukes since before we were kids ie..Hiroshima + 1000 or so more...and they use DU (depleted Uranium) weapons now so...what can you really do, cancer
rates will go up but they have been ever since I was alive, so yea it sucks but there is no immediate cause for panic.
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From Dayton, Ohio, USA:
Can you tell me about any known issues with giving IVIG to a child with Type 1 diabetes? I am wondering if Type 1 diabetics need any special treatment when receiving IVIG or are more
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From Dayton, Ohio, USA:
Can you tell me about any known issues with giving IVIG to a child with Type 1 diabetes? I am wondering if Type 1 diabetics need any special treatment when receiving IVIG or are more prone to any adverse reactions with IVIG. Are there any special tests that Type 1 diabetics should undertake before receiving IVIG, to ensure that there are no other underlying conditions?
About five years ago there were several reports from Europe about the use of IVIG (IntraVenous Immune Globulin) in the early treatment of autoimmune diabetes. No particular ill effects were reported; but at the same time there were no benefits either. From these studies however it would be reasonable to assume that there would be no ill effects of giving gamma globulin for some other purpose.
Original posting 8 Apr 2000
Posted to Other
Last Updated: Tuesday April 06, 2010 15
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The key objectives of setting up the the conservancy were:(a) to conserve the biological resources and the socio-cultural heritage of the conservancy area;
The economic objectives revolve around the creation of employment possibilities for the local communities. It is necessary
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The key objectives of setting up the the conservancy were:(a) to conserve the biological resources and the socio-cultural heritage of the conservancy area;
The economic objectives revolve around the creation of employment possibilities for the local communities. It is necessary to ensure the broad-based distribution of economic benefits amongst all stakeholders. This will be achieved through the development of sustainable livelihoods and steady employment for the local community, ensuring minimal underemployment and unemployment. In creating employment, it is important to encourage the use of local knowledge, skills and traditions, and to offer a sense of fulfilment and satisfaction to the people of Mara Naboisho.
The key economic objective of providing steady and sustainable employment leads to the possibility of creating an improved standard of living for the community as a whole. However, it is important to protect the sensitive and indigenous cultures of the local people against any adverse impact. This means ensuring that tourism activities and behaviours respect the cultural heritage in Mara Naboisho.
The overall objective is to contribute towards the social development of the community, through community empowerment and wealth creation. The obvious approach in achieving this goal is through the creation of employment opportunities for the local community. In addition to this, there are supporting actions which will educate and empower the community. These include water conservation programs that support access to clean water, access to renewable energy, education programs, and the promotion of female empowerment.
Environmental and Wildlife Conservation
The Mara Naboisho Conservancy provides a significant wildlife migratory corridor for the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem, supporting both the north and south wi
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Recent investigations suggest that the retroviruses Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus (HTLV-III) and Lymphadenopathy Associated Virus (LAV) may be the agents (or agent, if they prove to be identical) responsible
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Recent investigations suggest that the retroviruses Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus (HTLV-III) and Lymphadenopathy Associated Virus (LAV) may be the agents (or agent, if they prove to be identical) responsible for AIDS (Centers for Disease Control, 1984). Large-scale production techniques to produce virus and virus antigens in sufficient quantities to develop diagnostic kits for detection of antibody already are under licensure from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to at least five commercial companies. Panels of scientists at the NIH and the Food and Drug Administration are proceeding as rapidly as possible with studies of the relevant etiologic relationships, and their results could provide the information necessary to begin development of possible vaccines.
Consideration of a candidate AIDS vaccine under the formula developed by the Committee would be influenced markedly by the high mortality rate associated with AIDS as studied to date. Two years after diagnosis, more than 70 percent of patients have died. Estimates indicate that the total number of persons affected is now about 5,000.
The availability of stable cell lines and a lymphoblastoid cell line in which HTLV-III and LAV replicate further augments the capacity for vaccine development. Robert Gallo and his colleagues at the National Cancer Institu
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|Taetae ni Kiribati
(or te taetae n aomata)
|Native to||Kiribati, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu|
|Native speakers||unknown (72,000 cited 1987–
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|Taetae ni Kiribati
(or te taetae n aomata)
|Native to||Kiribati, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu|
|Native speakers||unknown (72,000 cited 1987–1999)|
|Writing system||Latin script (Gilbertese alphabet)|
|Official language in||Kiribati|
|Regulated by||Kiribati Language Board|
Gilbertese or Kiribati (or sometimes Kiribatese) is a language from the Austronesian family, part of the Oceanian branch and of the Nuclear Micronesian subbranch. It has a basic verb–object–subject word order.
The word Kiribati is the modern rendition for "Gilberts", so the name is not usually translated into English. "Gilberts" comes from Captain Thomas Gilbert, who, along with Captain John Marshall, was one of the first Europeans to discover the Gilbert Islands in 1788.
The official name of the language is te taetae ni Kiribati, or 'the Kiribati language'.
The first complete description of this language was in Dictionnaire gilbertin–français of Father Ernest Sabatier (981p, 1954), a Catholic priest. This dictionary was later translated into English by Sister Olivia (with the help of South Pacific Commission).
Over 99% of the 103,000 people living in Kiribati are ethnically I-Kiribati (wholly or partly) and speak Gilbertese. Gilbertese is also spoken by most inhabitants of Nui (Tuvalu), Rabi Island (Fiji), Mili (Marshall Islands) and some other islands where I-Kiribati have been relocated (Solomon Islands, notably Choiseul Province and Vanuatu) or emigrated (to New Zealand and Hawaii mainly).
Unlike many in the Pacific region, the Kiribati language is far from extinct, and most speakers use it daily. 97% of those living in Kiribati are able to read in Kiribati, and 80% are able to read English.
Countries by number of Gilbertese speakers
- Kiribati, 58,300 (1987) 103,000 (2010)
- Fiji, 5,300
- Nauru, 1,700
- Solomon Islands, 4,870
- Tuvalu, 870
- Vanuatu, 370
Linguistics and study
The Kiribati language has two main dialects: the Northern and the Southern dialects. The main differences between them are in the pronunciation of some words. The islands of Butaritari and Makin also have their own dialect. It differs from the standard Kiribati in vocabulary and pronunciation.
- Banaban (Banaba Island and Fiji)
- Northern Gilbertese (Makin, Butaritari, Marakei, Abaiang, Tarawa, Maiana, Kuria, Abemama, Aranuka, Tabiteuea, Nonouti, Beru Island and Nikunau)
- Nuian (Tuvalu)
- Rabi (Fiji)
- Southern Gilbertese (Tabiteuea, Onotoa, Tamana and Arorae)
- /t/ is lenited and assibilated to [s] before /i/
- The labiovelar fricative /βˠ/ may be a flap and an approximant, depending on the context.
- /ɾ/ does not occur in the syllable coda
- Short /i/ and /u/ may become semivowels when followed by more sonorous vowels. /ie/ → [je] ('sail'). Kiribati has syllabic nasals, although syllabic /n/ and /ŋ/ can be followed only by consonants that are homorganic.
Quantity is distinctive for vowels and nasal consonants but not for the remaining sounds so that ana (third person singular article) contrasts with aana ('its underside') as well as anna ('dry land'). Other minimal pairs include:
|te ben ('ripe coconut')||te been ('pen')|
|ti (1st person subj marker)||tii ('only')|
|on ('full')||oon ('the/some turtles')|
|te atu ('bundle')||te atuu ('head')|
|tuanga ('to tell someone')||tuangnga ('to tell')|
The Kiribati language is written in the Latin script and
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TONY COX, host:
I'm Tony Cox, and this is News & Notes. Even some hip-hop fans won't play the music for their kids. Especially if you're listening to the radio, you don't know what kind of
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TONY COX, host:
I'm Tony Cox, and this is News & Notes. Even some hip-hop fans won't play the music for their kids. Especially if you're listening to the radio, you don't know what kind of language or lyrics you're going to get. But poet Nikki Giovanni thinks hip hop is critical for children. She's put together poetry and hip hop that's suitable for young ears. It's called "Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat." I got a chance to sit down and speak with Nikki Giovanni about putting a spin on children's lit.
Unidentified Man: (Reading) Allow me to introduce myself. They call me the show-stopper, the dime-dropper, the spin move to the left, reverse jam popper.
Mr. NIKKI GIOVANNI (Poet; Author, "Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat"): This is a multimedia book. And so we have the poems and we have illustrations, which are fantastic. We have a CD, and then we have, I think, 34 tracks on that CD. So, we wanted to bring a whole package so that, you know, an 8-year-old can sit and listen to it. But more, because I'm a parent, my son is old now, but I wanted a book that if my kid was younger, I could look at it with him and learn something, and recognize what's good and what's maybe not so good, what I would let him listen to and what I would prefer that he didn't.
COX: I wasn't sure what to expect and then when I opened it and read it and listened to it, it's wonderful.
Ms. GIOVANNI: Thank you.
COX: How did you come up with this idea?
Ms. GIOVANNI: Hip hop is a legitimate artistic form and it just appeared to me that there was a hole in the market someplace. And it seemed to me that parents wanted to say to themselves, you know, should I let my children listen to this music? Well, this is wonderful music, and you can't let some of the other ends of hip hop determine, you know, how we look at it. So, I wanted to put a book together that I thought gave us some historical foundation, taking it back to its origins and bringing it up to, essentially, Tony, the future.
COX: One of the things that was really interesting about it, even for me, as a person who sometimes cannot figure out what is being said in hip hop, the lyrics in here make it really clear. And you have so many different people. I see Kanye West, A Tribe Called Quest, you have Queen Latifah, you've got the old Sugarhill Gang.
(Soundbite of song "Rapper's Delight")
SUGARHILL GANG: (Rapping) I said a hip hop, Hippie to the hippie, The hip, hip a hop, and you don't stop, the rockin' To the bang bang boogie...
COX: How did you decide who to put in here and who not to? Because the - it's such an eclectic mix.
Ms. GIOVANNI: Well, there was no way to get everybody. But we actually wanted to start with the origin of the vernacular. But hip hop, being a vernacular, goes back to opera. So, we went back to the square and we tried to deal with the origins coming out of the square, which is just going to lead us into a flow. So then we come to, of course, the sermon, God's trombones, we come to the creation, and we have Val Gray Ward, you know, preaching that. So, we're beginning to move it on up. We're going to have Langston Hughes. You know, you just - they're stair steps. And so, we just continue to bring it out. Now, when we get to the modern word, I always knew, of course, that would be Tupac, or I always knew that there would be Eleanor Greenfield or, of course, you had to have Harlem Hopscotch. I mean, how could you not have Maya? But when we get beyond - for me, beyond Tupac is about the limits. And so, I had a really good crew, to use the hip-hop term. I had a really good crew to help me weed out some things because we wanted to cast as wide a net as possible.
COX: You know, one of the examples that you have in here that is not associated with hip hop of the modern era, but it certainly is hip hop from an earlier generation, is the song, the collaboration between Bobby Timmons and Oscar Brown Jr., "Dat Dere." Talk about that one a little bit.
Ms. GIOVANNI: Oscar was the master of the oral tradition. And, of course, everybody loves "Dat Dere" because that's what fathe
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Break a sweat
"Physical exercise may be one of the best ways to maintain cognitive function as you age," says Fred H. Gage, Ph.D., professor of age-related neurodegenerative diseases at the Salk Institute in La J
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Break a sweat
"Physical exercise may be one of the best ways to maintain cognitive function as you age," says Fred H. Gage, Ph.D., professor of age-related neurodegenerative diseases at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California. His landmark research showed that exercise significantly increases the rate of blood flow to the hippocampus, a brain region vital to memory, which generates new cell growth and improves mental pro
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Two years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, a new phenomenon is on the rise: atomic divorce. Abigail Haworth reports on the unbearable pressures and prejudices being faced by those caught in the radiation zone
The stress on family life for all two million
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Two years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, a new phenomenon is on the rise: atomic divorce. Abigail Haworth reports on the unbearable pressures and prejudices being faced by those caught in the radiation zone
The stress on family life for all two million people across Fukushima has been immense. Marital discord has become so widespread that the phenomenon of couples breaking up has a name: genpatsu rikon or “atomic divorce”.
There are no statistics yet, but Noriko Kubota, a professor of clinical psychology at the local Iwaki Meisei University, confirms there are many cases. “People are living with constant low-level anxiety. They don’t have the emotional strength to mend their relationships when cracks appear,” she explains. Couples are being torn apart over such issues as whether to stay in the area or leave, what to believe about the dangers of radiation, whether it is safe to get pregnant and the best methods to protect children. “When people disagree over such sensitive matters, there’s often no middle way,” adds Kubota, who also runs a counselling service.
Moreover, now that what Kubota calls the “disaster honeymoon period” of people uniting to help each other in the immediate aftermath is over, long-term psychological trauma is setting in. “We are starting to see more cases of suicide, depression, alcoholism, gambling and domestic violence across the area,” says the psychologist. The young are not immune either. In late 2012, Fukushima’s children topped Japan’s obesity rankings for the first time due to apparent comfort eating and inordinate amounts of time spent indoors avoiding contamination. “From the point of view of mental health, this is a very critical time,” says Kubota.
A Tokyo maternity hospital advised a new mother not to let her Fukushima-based parents visit their new grandchild, “just to be safe”. Prejudice against women is the most pervasive: many negative comments in the media and on websites insinuate that Fukushima women are “damaged goods”. Even some people who are supposedly on the side of radiation victims are prepared to throw them on the reproductive scrap heap.
Last year, prominent anti-nuclear activist Hobun Ikeya, the head of the Ecosystem Conservation Society of Japan, said at a public meeting: “People from Fukushima should not marry because the deformity rate of their babies will skyrocket.”
Read more at After Fukushima: families on the edge of meltdown
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NMFS scientists collaborate with experts from numerous nations to assess migratory fish, invertebrate, marine mammal and turtle stocks that live and travel across international water boundaries. This international science collaboration is a significant component of NMFS efforts to better understand
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NMFS scientists collaborate with experts from numerous nations to assess migratory fish, invertebrate, marine mammal and turtle stocks that live and travel across international water boundaries. This international science collaboration is a significant component of NMFS efforts to better understand stock dynamics and the impacts that climate, habitats, and socio-economic activities have on fisheries and protected species.
As an example of this work, this June, SWFSC researcher, Barbara Taylor collaborated with international experts in a risk assessment of Maui's dolphin, a subspecies listed as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Experts from the U.S. and New Zealand met to consider the risks to this subspecies of which only 55 individuals remain. Results and recommendations from this meeting will be used to establish new protection measures for these animals, which occur only off New Zealand.
To learn more, please check out the following links:
Photo by Steve Dawson
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New chemical analyses have found that Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Diet Coke, and Diet Pepsi contain high levels of 4-methylimidazole (4-MI), a known animal carcinogen. The carcinogen forms when ammonia or ammonia and sulf
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New chemical analyses have found that Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Diet Coke, and Diet Pepsi contain high levels of 4-methylimidazole (4-MI), a known animal carcinogen. The carcinogen forms when ammonia or ammonia and sulfites are used to manufacture the “caramel coloring” that gives those sodas their distinctive brown colors, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the nonprofit watchdog group that commissioned the tests. CSPI first petitioned the FDA to ban ammonia-sulfite caramel coloring in February 2011.
CSPI today reiterated its call to the Food and Drug Administration to revoke its authorization for caramel colorings that contain 4-MI, and in the interim to change the name of the additive to “ammonia-sulfite process caramel coloring” or “chemically modified caramel coloring” for labeling purposes.
“Coke and Pepsi, with the acquiescence of the FDA, are needlessly exposing millions of Americans to a chemical that causes cancer,” said CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson. “The coloring is completely cosmetic, adding nothing to the flavor of the product. If companies can make brown food coloring that is carcinogen-free, the industry should use that. And industry seems to be moving in that direction. Otherwise, the FDA needs to protect consumers from this risk by banning the coloring.”
CSPI collected samples of Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi, Dr Pepper, Diet Dr Pepper, and Whole Foods 365 Cola from Washington, D.C.-area stores. Pepsi’s products had 145 to 153 micrograms (mcg) of 4-MI in two 12-ounce cans. Regular Coca-Cola had 142 mcg per 12 ounces in one sample and 146 mcg in another. Diet Coke had 103 mcg per 12 ounces in one sample and 113 mcg in another.
To put those levels into context, the state of California has a 29-microgram benchmark for 4-MI. Levels above that in a serving of food or beverage may be required to bear a warning notice. Based on California’s risk model, CSPI estimates that the 4-MI in the Coke and Pepsi products tested is causing about 15,000 cancers in the U.S. population.
While federal law bans food additives that cause any number of cancers, the FDA has an exception for contaminants of food additives, for which it tolerates a lifetime risk of one cancer in one million people. Three of four samples of Dr Pepper or Diet Dr Pepper that CSPI tested had low levels of 4-MI, with about 10 mcg per 12 ounces. But even those levels pose a cancer risk of seven in one million—seven times greater than what FDA allows. The lower levels in those three samples indicate that it is possible to lower, if not eliminate, the amount of 4-MI.
Pepsi told CSPI that it has switched to a coloring in California that contains much less 4-MI and plans to do the same in the rest of the country.
“When most people see ‘caramel coloring’ on food labels, they likely interpret that quite literally and assume the ingredient is similar to what you might get by gently melting sugar in a saucepan,” Jacobson said. “The reality is quite different. Colorings made with the ammonia or ammonia-sulfite process contain carcinogens and don’t belong in the food supply. In any event, they shouldn’t be obscured by such an innocuous-sounding name as ‘caramel coloring.’”
As troubling as
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|Noah Webster's Dictionary|
1. (v. t.) To pronounce to be wrong; to disapprove of; to censure.
2. (v. t.) To declare the guilt of; to make manifest the faults or unw
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|Noah Webster's Dictionary|
1. (v. t.) To pronounce to be wrong; to disapprove of; to censure.
2. (v. t.) To declare the guilt of; to make manifest the faults or unworthiness of; to convict of guilt.
3. (v. t.) To pronounce a judicial sentence against; to sentence to punishment, suffering, or loss; to doom; -- with to before the penalty.
4. (v. t.) To amerce or fine; -- with in before the penalty.
5. (v. t.) To adjudge or pronounce to be unfit for use or service; to adjudge or pronounce to be forfeited; as, the ship and her cargo were condemned.
6. (v. t.) To doom to be taken for public use, under the right of eminent domain.
Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia
1. In the Old Testament:
(1) The causative stem of rasha` "to declare (or make) wrong," "to condemn," whether in civil, ethical or religious relations. Taken in this sense the word needs no comment (Exodus 22:9 Deuteronomy 25:1 Job 40:8); "Who then can condemn?" (Job 34:29, the King James Version "make trouble").
(2) `anash, "to fine." "Condemned the land" (2 Chronicles 36:3 the King James Version; the King James Version margin "mulcted"; the Revised Version (British and American) "amerced"; the American Standard Revised Version "fined"); "wine of the condemned" (Amos 2:8; the Revised Version (British and American) "fined" (unjustly)).
(3) The active participle of shaphaT, "to judge." "From those that condemn his soul" (Psalm 109:31 the King James Version; the Revised Version (British and American) "that judge his soul").
2. In the New Testament:
The New Testament usage is much more complicated, both because of the greater number of Greek words rendered "condemn" and "condemnation," and because the King James Version translates the same word in several different ways, apparently with no rule whatever.
(1) The most important word is krino, "to judge." From it are a number of derivative verbs and nouns. the Revised Version (British and American) has rigidly excluded the harsh words "damn" and "damnation," substituting "judge," "condemn," "judgment," "condemnation." This is proper, since the word damn (Latin, damnare, "to inflict loss" upon a person, "to condemn"), and its derivatives has, in process of time, suffered degradation, so that in modern English it usually refers to eternal punishment. This special application of the word for some centuries ran side by side with the original meaning, but even as late as Wycliffe's version the word "damn" is usually employed in the sense of condemn, as in Job 9:20, "My mouth shall dampne me." It is even applied to the condemnation of Jesus by the chief priests and scribes (Mark 10:33). This degeneration of the word is perhaps due, as Bishop Sanderson says, "not so much to good acts as to bad manners." Krino is rendered uniformly "judge" by the Revised Version (British and American), even where the context. compels the thought of condemnation (John 3:17, 18; John 12:47 Acts 7:7; "might be damned," 2 Thessalonians 2:12 the King James Version; Romans 14:22 James 5:9).
(2) The more specific sense of condemn, however, is found in katakrino, "to judge one down" (Matthew 12:41, 42 Mark 14:64): "is damned if he eat" (Romans 14:23 1 Corinthians 11:32 the King James Version; the Revised Version (British and American) "condemned"). See also Mark 16:16 2 Peter 2:6.
(3) For "condemnation" there is the noun krima, or krima (for accent see Thayer's Lexicon), in a forensic sense, "the sentence of the judge" (Luke 23:40 Matthew 23:14, omitted in the Revised Version (British and American); "condemnation of the devil" 1 Timothy 3:6; 1 Timothy 5:12 Jude 1:4).
(4) Much stronger is katakrima, "condemnation" (Romans 5:16, 18; Romans 8:1) with reference to the Divine judgment against sin.
(5) krisis, "the process of judgment," "tribunal" (John 3:19; John 5:24), with reference to "the judgment brought by men upon themselves because of their rejection of Christ."
(6) A stronger word is the adjective autokatakritos, "self-condemned" (Titus 3:11; compare 1 John 3:20, 21).
G. H. Trever
Condemn (43 Occurrences)
Matthew 12:41 The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here. (WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)
Matthew
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The beginning of 2013 has found three of Minnesota’s most iconic animals receiving critical attention. Of course there is still a big spotlight on the recent completion of the state’s first wolf hunt after the animal was taken off the federal endangered and threatened
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The beginning of 2013 has found three of Minnesota’s most iconic animals receiving critical attention. Of course there is still a big spotlight on the recent completion of the state’s first wolf hunt after the animal was taken off the federal endangered and threatened species list. A new $1.2 million study is starting this month to try to determine why the population of moose in the state is falling so precipitously. And the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may allow a new “incidental take” permit for a proposed wind farm in Goodhue County on a limited number of bald eagles.
Although the DNR’s controversial wolf hunting and trapping season could have lasted until the end of this month, the limited quota of 400 wolves allowed to be taken basically happened by the start of January. As it turned out, almost twice as many wolves were taken by trapping than shooting. The wolf population of around 3,000 in the state was estimated to be “safe” by the DNR, even if up to 900 wolves annually were legally taken for a number of years. Nationally-recognized wolf researcher, David Mech of the University of Minnesota, generally agrees with the taken quota.
Minnesota’s moose population has decreased almost by half in the past five years – from about 8,000 to 4,000. If this continues, the DNR estimates that the moose population could totally disappear in 20 years. While male moose can legally be hunted in 30 northeastern zones in the state, only 46 were taken during the 2012 season. The new study, being funded by the Legislative Citizen-Commission on Minnesota Resources, will use GPS tracking devices on about 100 moose and will build on existing studies being conducted. Hopefully the study results can determine if the population decline is mainly due to disease, deer parasites, or the continued warming caused by climate change.
As we know, Minnesotans have gotten somewhat used to seeing bald eagles again, especially along the Mississippi river and within the twin cities metro area. They were delisted as a “species of special concern” in 2007. So the federal “incidental take” permit being proposed, for a limited number of 8-14 eagles possibly killed by wind turbines, is somewhat controversial in southeastern Minnesota. As one local official said, it would be a “license to kill” one of the symbols of this country, which recently was an animal deemed a threatened species. Estimates are that there are 12 bald eagle nests and around 400 total eagles in the area of the proposed wind farm.
So I find it ironic that in the past 40 years, these three iconic species once severely threatened in number are under some threat again. Whether the threat is very limited, as in the case of the bald eagles, more moderate, which is the situation in the continuing wolf hunting scenario, or possibly destructive, with the terrible moose decline in northern Minnesota, people experience great joy and even love seeing them or knowing they exist in our hinterlands. That’s why Minnesotans will always deem wolf, moose and bald eagles as species of special concern to them, and will continually stay abreast of government actions to manage them.
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Changes in sheep farming may be a mixed blessing for members of the crow family, according to recent studies.
Choughs seem to be on the increase in Britain and Ireland, while ravens appear to be declining. The surveys were carried out for
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Changes in sheep farming may be a mixed blessing for members of the crow family, according to recent studies.
Choughs seem to be on the increase in Britain and Ireland, while ravens appear to be declining. The surveys were carried out for the RSPB and the British Trust for Ornithology. Both groups point to sheep farming as one of a number of likely causes.
Both birds nest on cliffs and feed on grazed land, but the choughs eat insects while the ravens feed on carrion.
Improved husbandry means fewer sheep die in the fields, especially during winter when the ravens breed, and traces of sheep-dip on those that do die may poison the ravens. The birds have also been hit by changes in farming subsidies, which have reduced the numbers of sheep and encouraged forestry.
But moves towa
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A Brief Sketch
by: Henry Higgins Hurlbut
By: Stanley Yavneh Klos
Edited By: Naomi Yavneh Klos, Ph.D.
Among the curiosities of -newly-discovered America was the Indian
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A Brief Sketch
by: Henry Higgins Hurlbut
By: Stanley Yavneh Klos
Edited By: Naomi Yavneh Klos, Ph.D.
Among the curiosities of -newly-discovered America was the Indian canoe. Its slender and elegant form, its rapid movement, its capacity to bear burdens and resist the rage of the billows and torrents, excited no small degree of admiration for the skill by which it was constructed.
|Painting showing the arrival of Samuel de Champlain on the future site of Quebec City, 1608|
but for the mistake of Champlain, and the unwise treatment of the Five Nations that followed, the government of the continent would have fallen to the French rather than to the English.
The whole confederacy, except a little more than half of the Oneidas, hung like the scythe of death upon the rear of our settlements, and their deeds are inscribed with the scalping-knife and the tomahawk in characters of blood on the fields of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, and on the banks of the Mohawk.
"but for a headwind when off Cape Cod, sailing southward in 1605, Champlain might have reached the Hudson, and instead of planting Port Royal in Nova Scotia, he might have established its foundations on Manhattan Island, and that this would have made the greatest city in America a French city."
"He was wise, modest, and judicious in council; prompt, vigorous, and practical in administration; simple and frugal in his mode of life; persistent and unyielding in the execution of his plans; brave and valient in danger; unselfish, honest, and conscientious in the discharge of duty."
|The Defeat of The Iroquois on Lake Champlain drawn by Champlain|
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Tools in place to help kids with FCAT
By MARYAN PELLAND
Published February 22, 2007
Hernando County School District Testing Specialist Linda Peirce can tell you the best way to do well on
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Tools in place to help kids with FCAT
By MARYAN PELLAND
Published February 22, 2007
Hernando County School District Testing Specialist Linda Peirce can tell you the best way to do well on the FCAT is to get to school on time, fortified by a good breakfast and a good night's sleep.
FCATs, which begin for most students next week, weren't designed to create stress, although they do. They're often referred to as "high stakes" tests.
Third-graders must achieve a 2 or above FCAT score in reading to go on to fourth grade. Tenth-graders must, for now, receive a qualifying score on both reading and math to graduate from high school. As of next year, high-schoolers also have to qualify in writing.
New programs in schools are helping raise scores. Though there is some controversy about the tests and their efficiency, Peirce sees a downward trend in the number of elementary schools that don't meet state-mandated scores.
High school is a different story, with 60 to 70 percent of students in all Hernando County high schools failing the FCAT their first time through. That segment reduces to about 12 percent who don't receive a diploma on time because of the FCAT. And most often, it isn't math that shoots them down; it's reading, says Peirce.
Peirce says there are lots of tools in place to help students. Elementary kids who fall short are invited to summer reading camp. They receive remedial assistance in school. There are frequent workshops for parents as well.
Every school has an assessment teacher and a reading coach. Each principal must submit a comprehensive reading strategy to the state each year.
The tests can be retaken as often as needed. High-schoolers can replace FCAT scores with ACT or SAT scores in certain circumstances. There are several exceptions, at both grade levels, to minimum state-required scoring rules.
This year, for example, Peirce helped design a software program, called "Aim High."
In use districtwide, it can, among other things, alert teachers to children who need additional help in given subject areas.
This year, both Central and Deltona will hold pep rallies for the FCAT. At Deltona, third- through fifth-grade students can enjoy marching band music and other activities, aimed at getting everyone psyched to take the test.
Families can help, too, says Jan Oppedal, J.D. Floyd's assessment teacher. She says kids get valuable tips to take home, and the Florida Department of Education has a wealth of resources at www.fldoe.org - look for the FCAT
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CHESS –A GAME OF ROYALS
ORIGIN OF CHESS AND CHANGES THEREAFTER…
According to chess historians, chess is one of the oldest games in existence, that originated around 6th century AD.
In those times
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CHESS –A GAME OF ROYALS
ORIGIN OF CHESS AND CHANGES THEREAFTER…
According to chess historians, chess is one of the oldest games in existence, that originated around 6th century AD.
In those times, The Indian Rajah (King) believed that war was the most effective school to learn the values of valor, decision-making, endurance, circumspection and bravery. Because of this it is believed that war was chosen as the model of the game.
The most fascinating and frequently repeated story credits the invention of the game to the holy saint, Sissa, at the courts of the Indian King, Balhait. The King was disturbed by the prevalence of gambling and the addiction with the games of pure luck. He summoned Sissa and requested the wise man to create a game, which would require pure mental qualities of prudence, foresight, valor, judgment, endurance, circumspection and analytical and reasoning ability, to oppose the teaching of games in which chance (luck)
decides the outcome by the throw of dice.
At some time thereafter, Sissa returned to the court of the King with a board (Ashtapada) consisting of 8x8=64 squares with rules not much different from the ones we use today. There were two armies of different colors consisting of 32 men each in which the object was to capture or slay the king of the opposing army.
In this game there used to be four participants due to which it was named ‘CHATURANGA’ meaning ‘four bodies’ to be elephants, Horses, chariots and foot soldiers. Another name for this game was Ashtapada meaning ‘eight steps’.
Sir William Jones, laid that chess under the Sanskrit name Chaturanga was exported from India into Persia in the 6th Century AD and by the natural corruption, the old Persian changed the name into Chatrang; but when their country was afterwards taken possession of the Arabs, who had neither the initial nor the final letter of their alphabet, they altered it further into ‘SHATRANJ’.
The Persian Poet Firdousi, in his historical poem, ‘The Shahnama’, gives an account of the introduction of Shatranj into Persia in the reign of Chosroes I Anushirwan, to whom ambassadors from the sovereign of Hind (India), with a chessboard and men asking him to solve the secrets of the game, if he could or pay tribute. The King asked for seven days grace, during which time the wise men vainly tried to discover the secret.
Finally, King’s minister took the pieces home and discovered the secret in a day and a night.
Shatranj as Forbes has pointed out, is foreign word among the Persians and the Arabians, whereas its natural derivation from the term chaturanga is obvious.
Even the word ‘check-mate’ is derived from the Persian term ‘Shah-mat’, which means ‘The King is Dead’. The Sanskrit translation of this term would be Khastra Mruta.
1400 years went by before the game reached the western world. The Moors brought it to Spain; the Italians learned it from the Saracens with remarkable speed.
In India His Majestic Beneficence and his Vizier led the pieces represented division of the king’s army – Elephant, Horse, chariots, and foot soldiers, into battle. The Vizier was to become a Queen in the European version of the game and in the course of history The Indian Elephants metamorphosis into Bishops and the Chariots into Rook.
One of the set of counters used in the chess are ‘The Rooks’. Rook is similar to Indian chariot, protecting the army’s flank. The term originated from the Persian term ‘Roth’ that means a Soldier. The Persian term is derived from the Indian term ‘Rukh’, which is obviously seems to have generated in the Sanskrit word Rakshak which means a soldier which means, “to protect”.
‘The Bishop’ amongst the Persians was called Pil (Elephant) but the Arabs not having the letter ‘P’ in their alphabet, wrote it ‘Fil’, or with their definite article, Al-Fil (The Elephant). It was the next in command and a force assisting counselor or minister.
The elephant were represented by short upright pieces deeply split on top, symbolizing the tusks of these animals. This shape was erroneously interpreted as ‘a fools cap’ in France and as ‘a Bishops miter’ in Portugal and in many English-speaking countries.
‘The Queen’ in Europe where women did not play the subordinate role assigned to them in the orient represented ‘The Advisor’. The Queen
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Macbeth Unit Plan
For this unit, you are to work within your assigned group to develop a lesson plan where
your group will teach an act from the play to the class. You will have 3 class periods to
work on this
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Macbeth Unit Plan
For this unit, you are to work within your assigned group to develop a lesson plan where
your group will teach an act from the play to the class. You will have 3 class periods to
work on this project; however, you are expected to work at home on this project as well.
After discussing the plot and characters of the play, each group will be responsible for the
1. Developing a Vocabulary list for your act. A vocabulary worksheet or puzzle
should be part of the lesson.
2. Character analysis. Specific quotes from the play must be used to highlight the
character’s attitude as well as role within the play.
3. Plot development. A series of events must be delineated to show the action of
your act. The setting of the act must also be included. A worksheet must be
provided for the class.
4. Literary Devices. Each group must provide examples and explanations of at least
10 literary devices used within your act. Specifically, the group must analyze
how the device enhances the scene.
5. Performance. All students within the group must participate in a re-enactment of
a specific scene within the play. The scene must be one that has the greatest value
to the specific act. Props and dramatic readings are part of this grade.
6. Quiz. Students will develop a quiz that will encompass all aspects of the above
Students must provide me with copies of all the worksheets prior to the class. If you
want me to print the worksheets, I will need three school days prior to your presentation
to make the copies. I will also provide transparencies for each group.
A. One quiz grade for each act following the presentation.
B. One test grade for the presentation of information. A list of what each person was
responsible for must be provided. Also, during the presentation, students are to
present only the work they were responsible for.
C. A presentation quiz grade for performance. This will include attempts at
performance, props, clarity of speech, variance of tone, and projection of voice.
D. A final test grade on the play.
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|Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York|
Secretary-General, in Message, Urges Push to Cut Tobacco-related Deaths, Enliven
Battle against Other Non-communicable Diseases, Create Healthier World for All
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|Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York|
Secretary-General, in Message, Urges Push to Cut Tobacco-related Deaths, Enliven
Battle against Other Non-communicable Diseases, Create Healthier World for All
Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for World No Tobacco Day, 31 May:
This year’s observance of World No Tobacco Day falls in the midst of preparations for September’s United Nations high-level meeting on non-communicable diseases. By controlling tobacco, we can go a long way towards addressing many of these chronic ailments, including cancer and heart disease.
The use of tobacco, which is highly addictive, killed approximately 100 million people in the twentieth century, and unless we act, it could kill up to a billion in this century.
The greatest tool in our arsenal is the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Since it was opened for signature in 2003, more than 170 countries have become parties, making it one of the most rapidly embraced treaties in United Nations history.
From reducing demand through higher prices and taxes to restricting advertising and sponsorship, from warnings on packages to prohibitions against sales to minors, countries are using the Treaty’s provisions to protect their citizens. They are sending a clear message that tobacco use makes us poorer — in health and economic terms. The Treaty’s comprehensive defence against industry tactics includes measures to reduce the illicit trade in tobacco products, address issues of liability, support economically viable alternative crops and protect public health policies from undue pressure.
The Framework Convention is clearly working to safeguard health in all countries that have adopted and enforced it. Yet, as the reports from States parties show, we have a long way to go. I urge all parties to fully meet their obligations under the Treaty, and I call on the few countries that have not yet become parties to do so. Together, we can halt the tobacco epidemic and the many problems it brings.
On this World No Tobacco Day, let us push for progress that will cut tobacco-related deaths and enliven the battle against other non-communicable diseases, helping to create a healthier world for all.
* *** *For information media • not an official record
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This article might stray a bit from the theme of this blog, but there is a connection in the sense that just as most Westerners do not realize that the various Khoisan peoples were the original inhabitants of the southern portion of Africa - most folks
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This article might stray a bit from the theme of this blog, but there is a connection in the sense that just as most Westerners do not realize that the various Khoisan peoples were the original inhabitants of the southern portion of Africa - most folks also similarly do not often realize that the Solutreans: a stone aged people from Europe, were the first people to settle & inhabit the North American continent.
New archaeological evidence suggests that America was first discovered by Stone Age people from Europe – 10,000 years before the Siberian-originating ancestors of the American Indians set foot in the New World.
A remarkable series of several dozen European-style stone tools, dating back between 19,000 and 26,000 years, have been discovered at six locations along the US east coast. Three of the sites are on the Delmarva Peninsular in Maryland, discovered by archaeologist Dr Darrin Lowery of the University of Delaware. One is in Pennsylvania and another in Virginia. A sixth was discovered by scallop-dredging fishermen on the seabed 60 miles from the Virginian coast on what, in prehistoric times, would have been dry land.
The new discoveries are among the most important archaeological breakthroughs for several decades - and are set to add substantially to our understanding of humanity's spread around the globe. The similarity between other later east coast US and European Stone Age stone tool technologies has been noted before. But all the US European-style tools, unearthed before the discovery or dating of the recently found or dated US east coast sites, were from around 15,000 years ago - long after Stone Age Europeans (the Solutrean cultures of France and Iberia) had ceased making such artefacts.
Most archaeologists had therefore rejected any possibility of a connection. But the newly-discovered and recently-dated early Maryland and other US east coast Stone Age tools are from between 26,000 and 19,000 years ago - and are therefore contemporary with the virtually identical western European material.What’s more, chemical analysis carried out last year on a European-style stone knife found in Virginia back in 1971 revealed that it was made of French-originating flint.Click here for the rest.
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Dreyfuss modernized the appearance of Honeywell’s thermostats in the 1930s; among the first was the Chronotherm, which incorporated a “digital” clock into its display. Dreyfuss was frustrated,
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Dreyfuss modernized the appearance of Honeywell’s thermostats in the 1930s; among the first was the Chronotherm, which incorporated a “digital” clock into its display. Dreyfuss was frustrated, however, that rectangular thermostats never seemed to hang squarely on the wall. Work began on a round thermostat in 1940. Placing all the elements in a circular form was more difficult than it first seemed; attempts to make a curved thermometer were especially problematic. World War II halted the development program but helped provide technical solutions.
Henry Dreyfuss, Honeywell, thermostat
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Sausages are a suitable carried for lutein, the carotenoid linked to eye health benefits, says a new study which reports higher lutein uptake than from vegetables.
Spanish researchers report that 30 per cent of the lute
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Sausages are a suitable carried for lutein, the carotenoid linked to eye health benefits, says a new study which reports higher lutein uptake than from vegetables.
Spanish researchers report that 30 per cent of the lutein added to sausages was accessible to the body, and result in a significant source of the carotenoid in the diet, according to findings published in Food Chemistry.
Bangers good for your blinkers
"Our results support the suitability of meat products as lutein carriers and as a means to increase the systematic intake of lutein," they wrote.
Lutein, a nutrient found in various foods including green leafy vegetables and egg yolk, has a ten-year history in the dietary supplement market as a nutrient to reduce the risk of age related macular degeneration (ADM).
The global lutein market is set to hit $124.5 million (€93 million) in 2013, according to a 2007 report from Frost & Sullivan, with skin health offering a major new avenue for the carotenoid.
According to the report, manufacturers need to address this growing maturity in dietary supplements by identifying new and potentially lucrative application segments that offer opportunities for the continued growth of the lutein market.
The Spanish researchers, led by Fernando Granado-Lorencio from Madrid’s Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro, formulated frankfurter-style sausages with different fat contents and fortified them with lutein-enriched olive oil.
Their results showed that increasing substitution of fat for the lutein-enriched olive oil detrimentally affected the stability of the sausage emulsion, but improved the colour by making it redder.
At least 30 per cent of the lutein was bioaccessible, added the researchers, which represented “a higher percentage than has been reported for fruits and vegetables under the same simulated conditions”.
Under storage conditions, the samples were found to have high stability.
“In this study, we have shown the efficacy of a meat product as a carrier for lutein, and, more importantly, we have shown that the higher the amount of fat in the product, the more free lutein will be micellarized and available for absorption, a result that is consistent with the factors affecting the bioavailability of carotenoids from foods,” wrote the researchers.
“The amount of lutein available for absorption per serving ingested (ie, 100 grams of sausages) could be significant within a dietary context and comparable to or higher than the amounts supplied by the ingestion of 100 grams of significant contributors to lutein intake in different European diets,” they added.
Source: Food Chemistry
Published online ahead of print, doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2009.11.005
“Lutein-enriched frankfurter-type products: Physicochemical characteristics and lutein in vitro bioaccessibility”
Authors: F. Granado-Lorencio, I. Lopez-Lopez, C. Herrero-Barbudo, I. Blanco-Navarro, et al.
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caring for sick animals, all veterinarians eventually find themselves
faced with a patient that has anemia of such severity as to require a
Access to blood products has improved in the past few years.
Veterinary blood banks can supply canine
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caring for sick animals, all veterinarians eventually find themselves
faced with a patient that has anemia of such severity as to require a
Access to blood products has improved in the past few years.
Veterinary blood banks can supply canine, feline, and even ferret
blood within 24 hours via overnight mail.
For animals that need blood more immediately, however,
veterinarians have to be more resourceful.
Canine blood is usually obtained from another donor dog, often a
young, healthy large-breed dog owned by a member of the veterinary staff,
such as a technician, receptionist, or doctor.
Sometimes, the client of a dog requiring a transfusion offers the
services of one of their other dogs in an attempt to provide the
life-saving blood that their sick dog requires.
Obtaining feline blood can be more of a challenge, as the demand
for feline blood products is much greater than the supply.
Some veterinary clinics utilize a so-called “hospital cat”.
This invariably turns out to be a cat that was either abandoned by
a client or left on the doorstep of the hospital. Rather than being
surrendered to a local shelter, these cats, through their sweet
dispositions, manage to win over the hearts of the hospital staff,
becoming adopted mascots of sorts.
They live a life of relative luxury at the hospital, entertaining
clients and staff alike.
Occasionally, they get called into duty, donating blood to a
desperately ill patient in time of need. Unfortunately, most cats can
donate only small volumes of blood (35 to 50 milliliters) every four weeks
human medicine, there has been an increased demand for blood and blood
demand has been driven by the need to support procedures with heavy
transfusion requirements, such as total hip replacement, organ
transplantation, and coronary bypass surgery.
The need for blood for sophisticated procedures, coupled with the
risk of viral transmission via transfusion, has led to a quest for a blood
substitute in human medicine.
This endeavor has been beneficial for veterinary medicine.
In 1998, the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of
by Biopure Corporation, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Oxyglobin is the first
“blood substitute” approved for use in the dog.
is an iron-containing molecule found in red blood cells that is
responsible for binding oxygen.
Oxyglobin is a purified hemoglobin solution.
It has the ability to deliver oxygen from the lungs to the tissues.
Because Oxyglobin does not contain red blood cells, white blood
cells, platelets, or clotting factors, the term “blood substitute” is
somewhat of a misnomer.
The preferred term is “hemoglobin based oxygen carrier”, often
abbreviated as HBOC.
with any therapeutic product, there are both advantages and disadvantages
to its use. Advantages
include the fact that blood-typing and cross-matching is not required
Adverse transfusion reactions occur because the red blood cells of
the donor are incompatible with those of the recipient.
Oxyglobin contains hemoglobin only; red blood cells and membranes
are removed during ultrapurification, eliminating the need for typing and
cross-matching and eradicating the occurrence of adverse transfusion
advantage is the long shelf life: Oxyglobin can be stored for 36 months
has some disadvantages that veterinarians and clients need to be aware of.
When administered, Oxyglobin expands the total blood volume, and
close monitoring is necessary to prevent development of pulmonary edema
(fluid in the lungs) and pleural effusion (fluid in the chest cavity),
both signs of fluid overload.
The distinct purple color of Oxyglobin will temporarily impart an
unusual color to the gums and the urine.
Some blood parameters may be affected after administration of
Oxyglobin, temporarily affecting our ability to use these parameters as a
diagnostic or monitoring tool.
Despite these shortcomings, Oxyglobin has become a useful product
in canine transfusion medicine.
a veterinarian, I was certainly thrilled when news of the availability of
this product was announced.
As a cat specialist, however, the first thing I focused on was the
labeling: Oxyglobin is approved for use in dogs only.
Despite the label, when faced with a cat that is imminent danger of
dying from severe anemia and with compatible cat blood not readily
available, my colleagues and I have found ourselves cautiously reaching
for the Oxyglobin.
As with any off-label usage, we inform our clients that the product
is not approved for use in cats, warn them of the potential risks and
benefits as best we can, and obtain their written consent before
no reason to suspect that Oxyglobin would work differently in cats
compared to dogs, but with limi
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Entomologist Shaun Winterton has discovered a new species of Malaysian Lacewing from the comfort of his computer. Idly browsing Flickr, he came across Guek "Kurt" Hock Ping's snap of an insect taken while hiking
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Entomologist Shaun Winterton has discovered a new species of Malaysian Lacewing from the comfort of his computer. Idly browsing Flickr, he came across Guek "Kurt" Hock Ping's snap of an insect taken while hiking in the Malaysian jungle, which bore an unfamiliar black-and-blue pattern along its wings. When his colleagues couldn't identify the markings, he realized he was staring at a new species and hurriedly emailed the photographer -- who, a year later, had captured one of the elusive creatures. Sent to Simon Brooks at the Natural History Museum, the suspicion was confirmed. The armchair explorer named it Semachrysa jade after his daughter and promptly used Google Docs to co-author the paper with Guek and Brooks on opposite ends of the world. If your mom complains that you're spending too much time on your computer, you can tell her you're searching for strange life-forms and old civilizations with a straight face.
[Image Credit: Guek "Kurt" Hock Ping, Flickr]
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Q: What Is Drug Addiction?
A: Drug addiction is a complex brain disease. It is characterized by compulsive, at times uncontrollable, drug craving, seeking, and use that persist even in the face of extremely negative consequences. Drug seeking
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Q: What Is Drug Addiction?
A: Drug addiction is a complex brain disease. It is characterized by compulsive, at times uncontrollable, drug craving, seeking, and use that persist even in the face of extremely negative consequences. Drug seeking becomes compulsive, in large part as a result of the effects of prolonged drug use on brain functioning and on behavior. For many people, drug addiction becomes chronic, with relapses possible even after long periods of abstinence.
Q: How Quickly Can I Become Addicted to a Drug?
A: There is no easy answer to this. If and how quickly you might become addicted to a drug depends on many factors including your genes (which you inherit from your parents) and the biology of your body. All drugs are potentially harmful and may have life-threatening consequences associated with their use. There are also vast differences among individuals in sensitivity to various drugs. While one person may use a drug one or many times and suffer no ill effects, another person may be particularly vulnerable and overdose with first use. There is no way of knowing in advance how someone may react.
Q: How Do I Know if Someone Is Addicted to Drugs?
A: If a person is compulsively seeking and using a drug despite negative consequences, such as loss of job, debt, physical or mental problems brought on by drug abuse, or family problems, then he or she is probably addicted. We don't have a perfect screening tool quite yet, but health care professionals who screen for drug use often ask questions like these to detect substance abuse in their adolescent patients:
Q: What Are the Physical Signs of Abuse or Addiction?
- Have you ever ridden in a car driven by someone (including yourself) who had been using alcohol or drugs?
- Do you ever use alcohol or drugs to relax, feel better about yourself, or fit in?
- Do you ever use alcohol or drugs when you are alone?
- Do you ever forget things you did while using alcohol or drugs?
- Do your family or friends ever tell you to cut down on your drinking or drug use?
- Have you ever gotten into trouble while you were using alcohol or drugs?
A: The physical signs of abuse or addiction can vary depending on the person and the drug being abused. In addition, each drug has short-term and long-term physical effects. For example, someone who abuses marijuana may have a chronic cough or worsening of asthmatic conditions. Stimulants like cocaine increase heart rate and blood pressure, whereas opioids like heroin may slow the heart rate and reduce respiration.
Q: Are There Effective Treatments for Drug Addiction?
A:Drug addiction can be effectively treated with behavioral-based therapies and, for addiction to some drugs such as heroin or nicotine, medications. Treatment may vary for each person depending on the type of drug(s) being used and the individual's specific circumstances. In many cases, multiple courses of treatment may be needed to achieve success. Research has revealed 13 basic principles that underlie effective drug addiction treatment. These are discussed in NIDA's Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment: A Research-Based Guide.
Q: Isn't Drug Addiction a Voluntary Behavior?
A:A person may start out taking drugs voluntarily. But as times passes, and drug use continues something happens that makes a person go from being a voluntary drug user to a compulsive drug user. Why? Because the continued use of addictive drugs changes your brain - at times in dramatic, toxic ways, at others in more subtle ways, but often in ways that result in compulsive and even uncontrollable drug use.
Q: Isn't Becoming Addicted to a Drug Just a Character Flaw?
A: Drug addiction is a brain disease. Every type of drug of abuse has its own individual mechanism for changing how the brain functions. But regardless of which drug a person is addicted to, many of the effects it has on the brain are similar: they range from changes in the molecules and cells that make up the brain, to mood changes, to changes in memory processes and thinking, and sometimes changes in motor skills such as walking and talking. And these changes have a huge influence on all aspects of a person's behavior. A drug can become the single most powerful motivator in a drug abuser's existence. He or she will do almost anything for the drug. This comes about because drug use has changed the individual's brain, their behavior, their social and other functioning in critical ways.
Q: For Drug Treatment to Work, Doesn't the Person Have to Really Want It?
A:Two of the primary reasons people seek drug treatment are because the court ordered them to do so, or because loved ones urged them to seek treatment. Many scientific studies have shown convincingly that those who enter drug treatment programs in which they face "high pressure" to confront and attempt to surmount their addiction can benefit from treatment, regardless of the reason they sought treatment in the first place.
Q: Shouldn't Treatment for Drug Addiction be a One-shot Deal?
A: Like many other illnesses, drug addiction typically is a chronic disorder. To be sure, some people can quit drug use "cold turkey," or they can quit after receiving treatment just one time at a rehabilitation facility. But most of those who abuse drugs require longer-term treatment and, in many instances, repeated treatments.
Q: Shouldn't NIDA Strive to Find a
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Weekly column by Fyodor Lukyanov*
Five years have passed since the death of the first Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, and twelve years have passed since he quit politics. Yet it’s still too soon to judge Yeltsin
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Weekly column by Fyodor Lukyanov*
Five years have passed since the death of the first Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, and twelve years have passed since he quit politics. Yet it’s still too soon to judge Yeltsin and his political era objectively.
This is because the Yeltsin era never ended: not emotionally (fierce debates about the 1990s still rage), not psychologically (the trauma of the Soviet Union’s collapse has not healed), not even politically (the man who owes his first term as president to Yeltsin will soon return to the post). Yeltsin is a symbol of Russia’s difficult and tragic transformation into a new kind of state. This transformation continues to this day, and we still don’t know how long it will take.
Yeltsin held power during a unique, dramatic and radical transformation of one of the pillars of the geopolitical order, which, significantly, did not cause Russia to lose its global status. Yeltsin’s legacy is not simply a new Russian state that emerged from the remnants of the Soviet Union, but a new great power that managed to survive what could have been a fatal shock.
In modern European history there are only two other leaders that met the same challenge – Charles De Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer. Both were considered contradictory men. Their actions caused stormy and often negative reactions both at home and abroad. Both assumed responsibility for their homeland when it was at its lowest point. Both had to make tough decisions and sometimes go against the majority. Both managed to restore their nations’ sense of identity and preserve the key roles their states played in international politics.
De Gaulle used to say that the French suffered more during World War II than other European nations – many were occupied, but France had betrayed itself by aligning with Germany. France emerged from the war a victorious power thanks solely to this implacable and stubborn general, even though by and large France had no right to this.
In the late 1950s, France was being pulled apart by its attitude to its colonial heritage, and the country suffered through a further collapse of its position in the world. De Gaulle managed to create a new state system, to put an end to the Algerian war, and even to make his compatriots believe in the greatness of France through his extravagant foreign policy.
Meanwhile, Adenauer was the leader of what was left of Germany as a result of the Nazi catastrophe. By the end of his 14 years in power, West Germany had become an economically successful, politically significant and self-sufficient state, which seemed unimaginable when it was formed in 1949. Both De Gaulle and Adenauer were subjected to fierce criticism. For many opponents they were nothing more than a collection of political vices.
De Gaulle was accused both of being a nationalist and of betrayal France’s national interests. In addition, he was criticized for rigidity and a hypertrophied commitment to political and economic dirigisme, for authoritarianism verging on despotism and for a tendency to suspect everyone around him of scheming. Clementine Churchill, the wife of De Gaulle’s loyal ally, once cautioned him, “General, you must not hate your friends more than you hate your enemies.” That said, De Gaulle was a skillful diplomat who knew when it was worth forging ahead and when he ought to compromise.
Adenauer was criticized for his die-hard conservatism, his excessive loyalty during the Nazi years, his lack of principles and his unwillingness to denounce Germany’s crimes. Moreover, he was reproached for his betrayal of the national idea, because initially he sought to consolidate the country’s split although many in the West and in the East still believed in the possibility of unification in the fist half of the 1950s. Several decades later, it became clear that it was precisely the choice to forge a successful West German state that eventually allowed for the unification of Germany.
Both leaders were forced out of politics in a wave of desire for something new and of weariness of their political style. History passed its verdict. De Gaulle and Adenauer bequeathed to their descendants great powers that rose from the ashes – new and modern states that did not forget their history.
Russians associate Yeltsin with the collapse of the Soviet Union. A minority considers this an achievement but the majority considers it a crime. No doubt, he personally played a big role in this, compelled by his lust for power. And the first president of Russia will always be dogged by the view that he destroyed the Soviet Union for the sake of removing his rival Mikhail Gorbachev from power.
But acceptance of the fact that the country’s former greatness could not have been preserved will come when Russia sees itself not as a remnant of a collapsed empire but as a fully self-sufficient country. It will be also possible to assess how difficult it was to maintain Russia as a world power in the 1990s under the circumstances and how much the country’s leadership
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Due to its high toxicity, fluoride has long been used as a pesticide. In the United States, there are currently two fluoride-based pesticides that are allowed to be sprayed on food. These are: cryolite and sulfuryl fluoride.
5
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Due to its high toxicity, fluoride has long been used as a pesticide. In the United States, there are currently two fluoride-based pesticides that are allowed to be sprayed on food. These are: cryolite and sulfuryl fluoride.
5 Facts About Fluoride Exposure from Cryolite
1) The main way people are exposed to fluoride from the pesticide cryolite is through consumption of grape products, particularly white grapes, grown in the U.S. This is because cryolite use is widespread among U.S. vinyards.
2) According to data from the USDA (2005), the average fluoride levels in grape products are as follows:
- White grape juice = 2.13 ppm
- White wine = 2.02 ppm
- Red wine = 1.05 ppm
- Raisins = 2.34 ppm
3) Many juice drinks that are not labeled as “grape juice” use grape juice as a filler ingredient. The use of cryolite thus contaminates many juices with fluoride.
4) Cryolite is also allowed to be added to the following products (although it is unclear how many producers actually do so, and what the resulting fluoride levels are):
- Apricot, Broccoli, Brussels Sprout, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Citrus fruit, Collards, Eggplant, Kale, Kiwifruit, Kohlrabi, Lettuce, Melon, Nectarine, Peach, Pepper, Plum, Pumpkin, Squash (summer & winter), Tomato, and a number of Berries (Blackberry, Blueberry (huckleberry) Boysenberry, Cranberry, Dewberry, Loganberry, Raspberry, Strawberry, Youngberry).
5) The key way to avoid exposure to fluoride from cryolite is to avoid buying non-organic grape products, particularly beverages made out of white grapes.
10 Facts About Fluoride Exposure from Sulfuryl Fluoride
In 2005, the U.S. EPA granted a request from Dow AgroSciences to use sulfuryl fluoride as a fumigant in food-processing facilities as a means of killing bugs, rodents, and reptiles. Although EPA granted FAN’s request in January 2011 to rescind its approval of Dow’s request, this is currently being challenged by the agribusiness industry. Thus, as it currently stands, sulfuryl fluoride is still being sprayed on food products made in the U.S.
The EPA allows sulfuryl fluoride as both a fumigant of food-processing facilities (while food is still on the premises) and as a direct fumigant of food. Both forms of fumigation result in the contamination of food with fluoride. Here’s what you need to know about both:
Fumigation of Food Processing Facilities
1) Structural fumigation is done for the purpose of killing pests in the facility where the food is stored. It usually is performed twice a year in a given facility.
2) Unlike virtually every other western country, the EPA does not require that food processors remove food prior to the fumigation. As a result, any food that is being stored in the facility during a structural fumigation will be contaminated with fluoride.
3) The level of fluoride contamination that EPA allows for wheat flour (125 ppm) and dried eggs (900 ppm) is sufficient to cause symptoms of acute fluoride toxicity (e.g., nausea, vomiting, etc) in children.
4) Although less than 0.1% of wheat flour and dried eggs will be contaminated with sulfuryl fluoride (due to the infrequency of structural fumigations), several hundred, if not thousands, of children will be exposed each years to doses of fluoride from these products that can induce temporary food poisoning-type symptoms. No other country allows this.
5) There are hundreds of other food products that EPA allows to be contaminated with sulfuryl fluoride.
Direct Fumigation of Food
6) The EPA also allows food processors to use sulfuryl fluoride as a direct fumigant of certain foods. This means that food processors can purposely spray sulfuryl fluoride directly onto certain foods.
7) Unlike structural fumigation (which takes place once or twice a year), direct fumigation is a routinely performed procedure. Thus, foods that can be directly fumigated with sulfuryl fluoride will consistently have elevated fluoride levels.
8) According to EPA’s estimates, some of the foods that will be most commonly fumigated are cocoa powder, dried beans, walnuts and dried fruits.
10) When fumigated the average fluoride levels in fumigated food is:
- Brown rice = 12.5 ppm
- Cocoa powder = 8.4 ppm
- Almonds = 5.3 ppm
- Tree nuts = 5.3 ppm
- Dried beans = 4.5 ppm
- White rice = 4.5 ppm
- Walnuts = 2.4 ppm
- Dried fruits = 1 ppm
Industry-backed bill protects pesticide profits over children's health
Dow AgroSciences, one of the nation's largest pesticide makers, along with various food companies, have persuaded several members of Congress to endorse a bill that directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reverse a proposed phaseout of sulfuryl fluoride, a highly toxic food fumigant and potent greenhouse gas. If passed,
No Link Found Between (Low-Fluoride) Bottled Water and Tooth Decay
Over the past decade, there has been a steady drumbeat of press warning of the risks from drinking bottled water. The idea -- kept alive by press releases from dental associations -- is that because most bottled waters have low levels of fluoride, people switching from tap water (which is usually fluoridated) to bottled
Some Young Children Get Too Much Fluoride
THE FLUORIDATION of public water systems in the U.S. since 1945 is often hailed as one of the great public-health
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In previous Articles, I’ve discussed highway evolution in the United States. A previously used example is the 500 or so year metamorphosis starting with pre-human animal tracks from today’s southern Oregon to the Sacramento River Valley.
After the first animals
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In previous Articles, I’ve discussed highway evolution in the United States. A previously used example is the 500 or so year metamorphosis starting with pre-human animal tracks from today’s southern Oregon to the Sacramento River Valley.
After the first animals came the native Americans (who themselves actually came from elsewhere), the horse and wagon Siskiyou Trail, the 1923 Pacific Highway, 1926 U.S. Route 99 and most recently in the 1970s, Interstate 5. All of that happened along a fairly narrow ribbon of land extending more than 1,600 miles between our Canadian and Mexican borders.
According to an Associated Press piece I saw on the Internet today, this evolutionary process has been going on for centuries, indeed millennia.
Greek construction workers recently dug down more than twenty feet in the middle of a Greek city while working on a municipal subway project where encountered a 2,000 or so year old road. It is still being intensely studied, of course, but people who specialize in such things presently believe it was built by the Romans. It ran through the middle of a Greco-Roman town back then and, just like U.S. Route 101 in downtown San Francisco, still does. The former Roman settlement is known today as Thessaloniki.
Okay, so they dug up an old Roman road. But it gets better. While workers were carefully removing the carefully made and remarkably well preserved mostly marble road surface, they discovered remains of an even older road, apparently of pre-Roman origin still lower in the ancient cultural strata. This was pretty amazing and, as one might expect, the subway project was delayed while all this was going on.
Consider this situation where you live. Mentally speaking, look beyond (or below) what you see on the surface today and ask yourself what might be buried beneath, just waiting to be rediscovered. Even if you live in an archaeologically “young” area, wonderful highway history discoveries might lie beneath your feet just waiting to be uncovered and appreciated anew.
Before I retired from the 9 ro 5 world, I lived in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley (named after the Spanish mission built in the 1793). For a time, I lived just off Woodman Avenue and, over a period of two or three weeks, I observed the progress of a new asphalt coating being put on the street. It had been re-paved many times previously, so this time the City decided to remove as much of the old asphalt as possible to lower the street surface for drainage or whatever.So the scraping began.
Beneath the wide asphalt street was a narrow (I didn’t measure it) double slab concrete street!
Walking along it, because I sensed I was looking at local history, I found the medallion of the company that poured the concrete street. It identified the Contractor, whose name I’ve long since forgotten, but the date “1923” was clearly impressed into the then-wet concrete.
Knowing something of the history of the San Fernando Valley, the 1923 concrete most likely was preceded by a dirt road through the fields and orchards of a very different place than it is today.
Many towns in the eastern U.S. used brick for early street surfaces. If you live in such a place, it might be fun to become a weekend Urban Explorer and see if you can find any traces of what came before whatever is there now.
Good places to do this are where road repair or construction work is happening.
Sometimes this work requires the existing surface to be removed (as in the Woodman Avenue example) or “trenched” to install underground utilities or similar.
“Trenching” can give Urban Explorers a sometimes surprising cross-section view that extends down several feet below the current road surface. One might encounter, like a slice of layer cake, one or more layers of asphalt on top, then perhaps concrete then brick or just compressed gravel then untreated dirt, clay, rock sand or gravel.
Like the situation in Greece, so much of our history is just sitting there waiting to be uncovered and appreciated. But you don’t have to travel to Greece or England or Italy to see it.
If you have the time, know where to look, what to look for, and how to recognize it, you just might embark on a richly rewarding hobby starting right there on the street where you live.
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A three-fold increase in prices has seen the spending power of money fall by two-thirds over the past 30 years, meaning a pound today can only buy as much as 33p could in 1982.
As prices rise, the value
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A three-fold increase in prices has seen the spending power of money fall by two-thirds over the past 30 years, meaning a pound today can only buy as much as 33p could in 1982.
As prices rise, the value of money has eroded at an average rate of 3.7% a year in the past three decades, according to research by Lloyds TSB Private Banking.
During this time, the average price for a loaf of bread has moved from 37p to £1.24, while the price of 100g of coffee has risen 176% from an average price of 97p to £2.68.
But it is the price-tag of homes and gold that have experienced the most dramatic increases. The average cost of a detached house is now six times higher than it was in 1982, while the price for a troy ounce of gold has risen by 439%.
[Related feature: How much UK house prices have really risen]
Fuel costs have also become markedly more expensive; diesel prices are now 294% higher than in 1982.
Retail prices rose fastest in the 10 years between 1982 and 1992, at an average annual rate of 5.5%. The lowest period of inflation was between 1992 and 2002, when prices increased by 2.4% a year on average. Between 2002 and 2012, retail prices rose at an average of 3.3% a year.
[Related feature: What a pound could have bought you – and what it still can]
Nitesh Patel, economist at Lloyds TSB Private Banking, said: "Looking to the future, even if inflation is kept firmly under control and rises only in line with the Government's target, it is likely that the value of money will continue to reduce significantly and decline by more than half its value by 2042."
In 30 years’ time, Lloyds TSB calculates you will need £229 to have the same spending power as £100 today.
The changing cost of everyday items 1982 – 2012:
Source: Lloyds TSB based on ONS, Halifax and Thomson Reuters data.
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Infrared Thermometry has become the
fastest-growing segment of the temperature measurement industry. This is
largely due to its convenience – sub-second response, self containment,
non-invasiveness and accuracy when properly used.
Accurate aiming of
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Infrared Thermometry has become the
fastest-growing segment of the temperature measurement industry. This is
largely due to its convenience – sub-second response, self containment,
non-invasiveness and accuracy when properly used.
Accurate aiming of the instruments’ invisible
infrared “beam” is an ongoing issue that detracts from its usefulness as a
thermometer, but not necessarily as a heat sensor.
Many users are frustrated by the fact that they
can’t “see” where the instrument is pointing, because the I.R. “beam” is
invisible. Therefore, the position and physical characteristics of the target
spot being measured, such as its location, shape, size, surface texture, etc.,
cannot be ascertained by the operator. It’s like playing baseball in the dark!
Users of conventional Infrared Thermometers (IRT)
often realized that their results are not repeatable for any apparent reason.
Readings that should be identical can often be divergent by 20% or more.
It is very important for the operator to know
where all parts of the target spot are located, because, if any part of the
infrared beam is off the edge of the target surface, serious reading errors will
ensue. An accurate temperature reading can be made only if the target
completely intercepts the instrument’s field-of-view (FOV) anywhere
along its length. The shape of the FOV cross-section changes along its length,
however. It is square near the instrument’s focal plane and circular afocally.
Also, this is true only if the target’s surface is perpendicular to the
centerline of the FOV.
If the target’s surface is tilted at an angle
to the FOV centerline, the resulting spot shape is rectangular or oval. The
reading is still quite accurate, but the longitudinal dimension has increased
considerably (+40% at a 45° tilt). It is critical to know if all parts of the
FOV are still within the target confines.
All of the above considerations are relevant
for each individual focus of a variable-focus instrument. The size of the FOV
changes for each new focus chosen by the operator; hence, it must be monitored.
Laser sights are an insufficient, paraxial,
one-dimensional attempt to answer the problem, showing only a single point on
the target that is offset from the target area being measured by parallax error
and cannot be focused. This is like playing baseball in the dark with
“Parallax Error” is illustrated in Figure 1.
The sighting system (laser) and the operational optics (infrared field-of-view)
use two entirely autonomous optics systems. Even the optical centerlines are
displaced by as much as 50 millimeters (the “Parallax Error” of Figure 1).
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In 1965, Congress passed the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act that requires that all consumer products in interstate commerce to be honestly and informatively labeled, including food. The underlying principle embodied in this act of Congress is that we have the right
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In 1965, Congress passed the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act that requires that all consumer products in interstate commerce to be honestly and informatively labeled, including food. The underlying principle embodied in this act of Congress is that we have the right to know what is in our food for the purpose of making informed decisions regarding our own health.
The long-term effects of genetically engineered foods on both our bodies and the environment are entirely unknown — yet we are one of the only industrialized nations that does not require that GE foods be labeled as such. Currently, roughly 90 percent of soybeans, cotton, and field corn cultivated in the U.S. were genetically engineered. I have the right to know what's in my food. I will vote for Initiative 522 requiring the labeling of all genetically engineered food in Washington state.
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A recent discovery of a dinosaur fossil hidden in a museum in China has scientists trying to solve a hair-raising mystery: Did the earliest dinos have fuzz on their bodies? And if they did, was that fuzz an early type of feather?
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A recent discovery of a dinosaur fossil hidden in a museum in China has scientists trying to solve a hair-raising mystery: Did the earliest dinos have fuzz on their bodies? And if they did, was that fuzz an early type of feather?
The dinosaur that started scientists talking has been named Tianyulong confuciusi. It lived between 144 million and 99 million years ago. It's a lot smaller than the massive Tyrannosaurus rex. The fossil is of a dino that was a little less than three feet long, with sharp, fang-like teeth. Scientists say the creature walked on two legs and had a tail. No one is sure what it ate. The fossil has three patches of stiff, hair-like fuzz on its body and tail. Some dino experts think the fuzz might have been early feathers. These patches are about 1.5 inches to 2 inches long.
Scientists already know that some dinos, called theropods, had feathers. These dinos walked on two legs. They ate meat and were the early ancestors of birds. (The giant T. rex was a theropod.) But what's unusual about the China fossil is that it isn't a theropod. Instead it is a member of another branch of the dinosaur family. (Dinosaurs divided into two branches more than 235 million years ago.)
If Tianyulong had feathers, it might mean that feathers cropped up in dinos much earlier than scientists had thought. Feathers may have started to grow on some dinosaurs before the branches split. Then, scientists say, the theropods may have kept their feathers. But other dinos may have lost their feathers during millions of years of evolution.
Not everyone agrees with this idea. Lawrence Witmer of Ohio University said no one can be sure that Tianyulong's fuzzy patches really are early feathers. It's possible, Witmer says, that the patches are some sort of tissue that may have been inside the dinosaur.
"Little Tianyulong has made an already confusing picture of feather origins even fuzzier," noted Witmer. One thing is certain, however: Dino experts say they'll be looking more closely at any new fossils they dig up as they search for clues to when dinosaurs started growing feathers.
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Soldiers to Citizens:The G.I. Bill fueled not only the development of the middle class: it also revitalized American democracy. Americans who came of age during World War II joined fraternal groups and neighborhood and community organizations and took part in politics
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Soldiers to Citizens:The G.I. Bill fueled not only the development of the middle class: it also revitalized American democracy. Americans who came of age during World War II joined fraternal groups and neighborhood and community organizations and took part in politics at rates that made the postwar era the twentieth century's civic "golden age." Drawing on extensive interviews and surveys with hundreds of members of the "greatest generation," Suzanne Mettler finds that by treating veterans as first-class citizens and in granting advanced education, the Bill inspired them to become the active participants thanks to whom memberships in civic organizations soared and levels of political activity peaked. Mettler probes how this landmark law produced such a civic renaissance. Most fundamentally, she discovers, it communicated to veterans that government was for and about people like them, and they responded in turn. In our current age of rising inequality and declining civic engagement, Soldiers to Citizens offers critical lessons about how public programs can make a difference.
Back to top
Rent Soldiers to Citizens 1st edition today, or search our site for Suzanne textbooks. Every textbook comes with a 21-day "Any Reason" guarantee. Published by Oxford University Press, USA.
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Functions to manage the verbosity of a console program by storing the quietness level in the system environment, specifically in the $QUIETNESS variable. This lets you avoid creating a StateT monad to hold the quietness level. Note that you
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Functions to manage the verbosity of a console program by storing the quietness level in the system environment, specifically in the $QUIETNESS variable. This lets you avoid creating a StateT monad to hold the quietness level. Note that you don't attach a verbosity level to individual message commands, you control the quietness level for entire regions of your program and messages only appear when quietness is less than one.
- ePutStr :: MonadIO m => String -> m ()
- ePutStrLn :: MonadIO m => String -> m ()
- eMessage :: MonadIO m => String -> b -> m b
- eMessageLn :: MonadIO m => String -> b -> m b
- initialQuietness :: MonadIO m => m Int
- quietness :: MonadIO m => m Int
- quieter :: MonadIO m => (Int -> Int) -> m a -> m a
- quieter' :: MonadIO m => (Int -> Int) -> m a -> m a
- qDo :: MonadIO m => m () -> m ()
- qPutStr :: MonadIO m => String -> m ()
- qPutStrLn :: MonadIO m => String -> m ()
- qMessage :: MonadIO m => String -> a -> m a
- qMessageLn :: MonadIO m => String -> a -> m a
- q12 :: MonadIO m => String -> m a -> m a
- q02 :: MonadIO m => String -> m a -> m a
- v1, v3, v2 :: MonadIO m => m a -> m a
-
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In reading of Arctic exploration one is struck with the ill-fate which has often beset the dogs accompanying the explorers. Recently Baashuus-Jessen (1935) has carefully studied the accounts of many of these important expeditions and
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In reading of Arctic exploration one is struck with the ill-fate which has often beset the dogs accompanying the explorers. Recently Baashuus-Jessen (1935) has carefully studied the accounts of many of these important expeditions and, according to this author, the lack of proper food containing right amounts of fat, minerals and vitamins was the principal cause of nervous diseases and malnutrition in the animals. In the Arctic and Antarctic regions, nevertheless, some most successful journeys have been accomplished with the aid of dogs. Unfortunately, it should be added that though the explorers reached their goals, it was often at the expense of their animals. Without doubt, also, when a stage is reached where dogs have to b
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Lego Man Blasts Into Space
Two teens launch a Lego astronaut miles into the stratosphere
A home science experiment recently took the world by storm. Two teens from Toronto, in Canada, sent a Lego man soaring above the Earth and
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Lego Man Blasts Into Space
Two teens launch a Lego astronaut miles into the stratosphere
A home science experiment recently took the world by storm. Two teens from Toronto, in Canada, sent a Lego man soaring above the Earth and captured their tiny astronaut’s trip on film.
Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad, both 17, used a weather balloon to launch their plastic Lego figurine from a soccer field in Toronto. The balloon rose up to 16 miles (85,000 feet) above the Earth. This is inside a part of Earth’s atmosphere known as the stratosphere.
The two teens were inspired by a similar project performed by students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The MIT students had launched a weather balloon with a camera into near space and taken numerous striking images of the Earth. Mathew and Asad then spent four months figuring out how to launch their own spacecraft into the stratosphere.
Traveling to space is expensive for NASA, but Mathew and Asad worked hard to keep their costs down. They bought much of their equipment used and even sewed the Lego man’s parachute by hand. In total, the project cost only $400.
“We had a lot of anxiety on launch day because there were high winds when we were going up,” Mathew told reporters. They had to pump extra helium into the balloon so that it would rise quickly and avoid being blown too far off course by the strong winds.
The toy astronaut’s journey lasted 97 minutes before the balloon popped and he fell back to Earth. Mathew and Asad then spent two weekends looking for their spacecraft. It had landed 76 miles away
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I have a question regarding the hist() function with matplotlib.
I am writing a code to plot a histogram of data who's value varies from 0 to 1. For example:
values = [0.21, 0.51,
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I have a question regarding the hist() function with matplotlib.
I am writing a code to plot a histogram of data who's value varies from 0 to 1. For example:
values = [0.21, 0.51, 0.41, 0.21, 0.81, 0.99] bins = np.arange(0, 1.1, 0.1) a, b, c = plt.hist(values, bins=bins, normed=0) plt.show()
The code above generates a correct histogram (I could not post an image since I do not have enough reputation). In terms of frequencies, it looks like:
[0 0 2 0 1 1 0 0 1 1]
I would like to convert this output to a discrete probability mass function, i.e. for the above example, I would like to get a following frequency values:
[ 0. 0. 0.333333333 0. 0.166666667 0.166666667 0. 0. 0.166666667 0.166666667 ] # each item in the previous array divided by 6)
I thought I simply need to change the parameter in the hist() function to 'normed=1'. However, I get the following histogram frequencies:
[ 0. 0. 3.33333333 0. 1.66666667 1.66666667 0. 0. 1.66666667 1.66666667 ]
This is not what I expect and I don't know how to get the discrete probability mass function who's sum should be 1.0. A similar question was asked in the following link (link to the question), but I do not think the question was resolved.
I apprec
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Acknowledgements All materials included in this unit are derived from content originated at the Open University. Andy Capp cartoon: “The Boss wants us at the ground early” © Mirrorpix 1. Join the 200,000 students currently studying with
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Acknowledgements All materials included in this unit are derived from content originated at the Open University. Andy Capp cartoon: “The Boss wants us at the ground early” © Mirrorpix 1. Join the 200,000 students currently studying with The Open University. 2. Enjoyed this? Browse through our host of free course materials on Author(s):
Don't miss out
All materials included in this unit are derived from content originated at the Open University.
Andy Capp cartoon: “The Boss wants us at the ground early” © Mirrorpix
1. Join the 200,000 students currently studying with The Open University.
2. Enjoyed this? Browse through our host of free course materials on Author(s):
Basic Right Triangles (Interactive)
Compare attributes of two-dimensional shapes (square, rectangle, triangle, and circle). Identify the properties of two dimensional figures using appropriate terminology.
Private Universe Project in Mathematics: Workshop 1. Following Children's Ideas in Mathematics
An unprecedented long-term study conducted by researchers at Rutgers University followed the development of mathematical thinking in a randomly selected group of students for 12 yearsfrom first grade through high schoolwith surprising results. In an overview of the study, we look at some of the conditions that made the students math achievement possible.,5 min. Mathematics in Free Play? Prof. Herbert Ginsburg, a psychologist at Columbia University Teachers College, finds that when you exam
Say What?: -ink- (Interactive)
In Say What, the goal is to find the right word family to finish the word. The goal for this game is word family -ink-. Other ending sounds are also reviewed.
Día mundial del Agua (en español)
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Learn Phonic Sounds at www.turtlediary.com
This is a lesson to teach preschoolers the basic phonic sounds. The video goes through the entire alphabet giving a picture of the big and small letter, the sound, and then an example word. Everything is spoken by a kid. NOTE: the "x" sound is a tad hard to decipher. (04:53)
Truman Announces Japan's Surrender
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Flight Engineer Don Pettit downloaded a video of the sun seen from the International Space Station as it orbits the Earth in a phase of continuous twilight.
Episode 83 - Windows Azure June 2012 Release | Cloud Cover In this episode Nathan Totten, Nick Harris, and Michael Washam introduce the newest features of the Windows Azure. Michael shows off the new portal and gives a demo of Windows Azure Virtual Machines and the
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Spreaker Web Radion Information Tutorial--Get on Air in 60 seconds
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Bernini, St. Peter's Piazza, 1656-67 - Smart History at Khan Academy
Gianlorenzo Bernini, Saint Peter's Square (Piazza San Pietro), Vatican City, Rome, 1656-67 Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker (02:51)
William Henry Harrison's Presidency
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Reagan Speaks on 40th Anniversary of D-Day
On June 6, 1984, in Normandy, France, President Ronald Reagan honors the heroes of D-Day, a pivotal moment during World War II. (0:41)
Newbie Lesson S5 #5 - Whoa, What’s That in Your Japanese Lunchbox?
Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com! You picked up two Japanese boxed lunches on your way to work for yourself and your friend. When you picked up the lunches, you told the caterer in Japanese, “Just give me your best dishes.” You’ve always had good food from this place, so you figure it’s safe to offer to [...]
At the Origins of Modern Atheism [Audio]
Speaker(s): Rev Dr Giles Fraser, Professor John Gray | In the first event of the Programme for the Study of Religion and Non-Religion, Giles Fraser examines the links between Enlightenment thought and theology, reflecting on how theology frames the very ways in which we can understand the denial of God. Giles Fraser is the former canon chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral. John Gray is emeritus professor of European Thought at LSE. This event is supported by the LSE Annual Fund.
Looking at Learning...Again, Part 1: Workshop 8. The International Picture
This workshop offers an opportunity to investigate
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The Meanings of the Runes
SourcesThere are several historical runic inscriptions, found on everything from swords to stones to bronze pendants, which list the entire runic alphabet in order. One of the oldest and most complete of these
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The Meanings of the Runes
SourcesThere are several historical runic inscriptions, found on everything from swords to stones to bronze pendants, which list the entire runic alphabet in order. One of the oldest and most complete of these is the Kylver stone, found in Gotland, Sweden and dating from the fifth century c.e. Others are less complete, but show a remarkable continuity in the order in which the runes are listed. The only surviving written accounts of the actual names and meanings of the runes, however, were not recorded until the advent of the Christian era. Some of these manuscripts, which date from the 9th. century until well into 12th, are known as rune poems. These poems have a verse for each rune, each of which begins with the rune itself and its name. Some of these poems are more Pagan than others, particularly those from Iceland, where Christianity was not yet as widespread as it was in the Anglo-Saxon regions.
The rune names themselves appear to have been passed down relatively intact, and although no manuscript exists listing the names of the older, Germanic runes, the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian rune poems agree to such an extent that their common origin can be deduced. These names are probably our best clue as to what the individual runes actually meant to the people that used them.
InterpretationThe unique order of the fuþark and their traditional division into three 'aetts' (a word meaning 'families' or 'groups') may be of some significance in decyphering the complex interrelationships between the runes. Several authors have noted certain pairings and groupings within the order (cattle / aurochs, hagalaz / nauthiz / isa, etc.), but so far the meaning of the overall pattern has remained a mystery. Recently, a few authors (notably myself and Freya Aswynn) have independantly developed systems of interpreting the fuþark as a whole, using Norse mythology and literature as a guide, and division into aetts as the underlying structure. Although these efforts are mostly speculative, they do provide some insight into how the Norse might have used the runes as a symbolic key to their understanding of the physical and spiritual world.
I tend to approach the fuþark as a journey - a spiritual odyssey in which the traveller encounters obstacles, receives gifts, and learns vital lessons that will aid in their development as a human being. This process is at once personal and mythic, following cycles and patterns that reflect the Norse world-view. This world-view was fundamentally different from that of the average 20th century Westerner, so a thorough understanding of the myths, culture and lifestyle of the ancient peoples of northern Europe is vital to a complete understanding of the runes. Please see the online resources on these subjects, as well as the Runic Reading List Site for more information.
It should be noted that the following interpretations of the meanings of the runes, while firmly founded in historical evidence and understanding of the Norse culture, are at least partially speculative and should not be taken as the "True and Original Meanings of the Runes". Given that so little is actually known about the runes, it is to be expected that even the most cynical scholar writing about them will inevitably bring their own theories and biases to their subject. I am no exception. To make things a little clearer, I have tried to distinguish hard fact from my own speculation wherever possible.
Each rune is listed with its Germanic name and its literal meaning. If you click on the rune name you can hear how, to the best of my knowledge, it should be pronounced (my apologies for the sound quality). The runes and their interpretations are divided into the three 'aetts':
To download a text version of this site, click here.
The information on this site is adapted from
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Nov. 10, 2011 A new study reveals the role of the daily biological clock (circadian rhythms) in the regenerative capacity of skin stem cells. Disruption of this rhythm results in premature tissue ageing and a greater predisposition
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Nov. 10, 2011 A new study reveals the role of the daily biological clock (circadian rhythms) in the regenerative capacity of skin stem cells. Disruption of this rhythm results in premature tissue ageing and a greater predisposition to the development of skin tumours. The proper reestablishment of the biological clock increases the long-term regenerative capacity of the tissue and decreases the probability of developing tumours.
Researchers from the Epithelial Homeostasis and Cancer group at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) have carried out a study which is to be published in the journal Nature, describing how circadian rhythms, that is the internal biological clock which controls our behaviour during the day and night, regulate the function of the cells which are responsible for the daily regeneration of the skin (the skin stem cells).
Stem cells regulate cell replacement in tissues. In the case of the skin, they are responsible for constantly producing new cells to replace those that deteriorate through daily use. Correct function of the stem cells is essential for maintaining healthy tissue throughout the life an organism. The skin is exposed to various harmful agents through the day, such as ultraviolet light during daylight hours, and pathogens such as bacteria and viruses.
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1913 Massacre – A Film Inspired by a Woody Guthrie Song
Produced and Directed by Ken Ross & Louis V. Galdieri
We came together from very different places. One of us — Ken — has worked as an experimental
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1913 Massacre – A Film Inspired by a Woody Guthrie Song
Produced and Directed by Ken Ross & Louis V. Galdieri
We came together from very different places. One of us — Ken — has worked as an experimental filmmaker, director and cinematographer and has taught film to university students; the other — Louis —taught history and literature at the university level, and then began producing and directing.
While working on another project together, we discovered our common love of Woody Guthrie’s music, and our individual stories, our pasts, started making sense together. The more we talked about the idea for 1913 Massacre — a musical film about the ways people make and remake history —the more common ground we found.
Working together, we have discovered that we have different ways of putting the world together and telling a story.
Roughly, Ken makes up the world first visually and then finds the language for what he sees; Louis, first in words, then in pictures. Our different strengths, our different approaches, are evident when we are working apart: one of us works a DP/Director; the other, a Writer/Director. But they are also evident when we are working together, whether we are lighting, shooting, interviewing, writing or simply talking about 1913 Massacre.
Our film is in a very real sense the fruit of a dialogue, not only between two filmmakers but also between two ways of going about things, composing a picture or making a narrative. The film happens at the place where our two points of view — and our two lives — converge, where we are not just two individuals but a collaborative artistic energy.
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Podcasts & RSS Feeds
Most Active Stories
Fri February 4, 2011
Winter storm packs economic punch
Ok, so we all know that this week's winter storm caused copious amounts of snow and ice to blanket much
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Podcasts & RSS Feeds
Most Active Stories
Fri February 4, 2011
Winter storm packs economic punch
Ok, so we all know that this week's winter storm caused copious amounts of snow and ice to blanket much of the state. And, of course, we couldn't forget the school closings and sore backs (hey, shoveling a foot of snow out of a driveway is strenuous!).
But, what about the actual financial impact of a huge winter storm? Just how much money did all that snow cost the state? Hard to quantify? It sure would seem like it. But, one firm, IHS Global Insight, has decided to go ahead and try to figure the economics out.
In a report released this week titled, The Economic Costs of Disruption from a Snowstorm, IHS said the storm had a $251 million a day economic impact in Michigan. The study took into account both direct (think loss of income because of a missed day of work) and indirect effects (such as lost sales in the local economy) of the storm into account when figuring out the numbers.
Aside from the actual economic data, IHS also reached three conclusions about the financial impact of winter storms, and I quote:
- Among all economic classes, snow-related shutdowns harm hourly workers the worst, accounting for almost two thirds of direct economic losses.
- The indirect economic impacts of snow-related shutdowns, including loss of retail sales and income and sales tax revenues, roughly double the initial economic impact.
- The economic impact of snow-related closures far-exceeds the cost of timely snow removal. Although states and localities may be hesitant to expand significant upfront resources in the short-term, the long-term payoff more than justifies the expense.
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New research shows correlation between online shopping and keeping up with the Joneses
BINGHAMTON, NY -- Online retailers have long wondered if trumpeting consumer-behavior statistics on their websites could hurt business. New findings from Binghamton University
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New research shows correlation between online shopping and keeping up with the Joneses
BINGHAMTON, NY -- Online retailers have long wondered if trumpeting consumer-behavior statistics on their websites could hurt business. New findings from Binghamton University should ease their fears, just in time for Cyber Monday.
Qi Wang, an associate professor of marketing at Binghamton University, studied the effects of user comments and sales statistics that accompany products offered on e-commerce sites. While the impact of positive and negative feedback has been well understood, much less was known about so-called “observational behavior” - aka a person’s tendency to adopt the same habits as his or her peers. Wang’s findings were published in the Journal of Marketing Research.
“Households make decisions by following what they see their neighbors doing,” Wang says. “People learn from their peers what to buy.”
For online marketers, word-of-mouth recommendations are displayed in the form of customer reviews. If the site also reveals statistics on how many users purchased the product, the shopper also can be influenced by observational behavior.
Wang analyzed data on 90 brands of digital cameras from Amazon.com, which includes a section disclosing the percentage of people who bought the product after viewing it. She and her colleagues found that positive observational behavior data boosted sales, while negative observations had little influence.
The results dispel a myth in e-commerce that consumers are likely to be discouraged if they see a low percentage of peers following through with the purchase.
“It’s good news for manufacturers who haven’t had a lot of people buy their product,” Wang says. “If it’s a niche market just targeting a small group of consumers, they don’t have to worry because there is no harm in releasing this type of information.”
Wang also identified a synergy between the two concepts. “What’s most surprising is the interactions of word-of-mouth and observational learning,” Wang says. “They strengthen each other.”
Previous market research indicated that consumers often dismiss highly positive product feedback, realizing that a person writing favorable comments may be biased. Highly critical product feedback is viewed as more reliable. For observational learning, the opposite is true.
“Negative word-of-mouth affects people more than positive word-of-mouth. This is not new,” Wang says. “With our study, we are the first to show the influences of observational learning. This is very important to companies thinking about what types of information can be posted on their websites. Our study gives them the evidence.”
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Middle school is a time for expanding social skills and exploring different areas of interest. ASTEC offers challenging interactive education with an emphasis on critical and creative thinking, problem solving, team work, communication, and responsible decision making to help ASTEC students become
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Middle school is a time for expanding social skills and exploring different areas of interest. ASTEC offers challenging interactive education with an emphasis on critical and creative thinking, problem solving, team work, communication, and responsible decision making to help ASTEC students become tomorrow’s leaders. At ASTEC, students master skills introduced at the elementary level, then expand to more complex skills and knowledge.
Technology is integrated in all five of the core curriculum classes to enhance learning. The core classes consist of: English, Math, Science, Social Studies and Technology. ASTEC Middle School students learn Keyboarding, Word Processing, Desktop Publishing, Telecommunications, Multimedia and much more. ASTEC Middle School students enter high school skilled in the use of technology, media and the world wide web.
Each teacher has a website to better assist and communicate with parents and students.
Electives & Character Education
ASTEC Middle School sixth graders have “Exploration” as an elective. Each nine weeks students explore a different topic. The year always begins with nine-weeks of Character Education.
The Learning Environment
The appearance of the school enhances the learning environment. ASTEC makes it a priority to have a building and classrooms that are well maintained, functional, and clean. In addition to administrative offices and classrooms, the ASTEC facility has 6 stationary computer labs, numerous mobile labs, a multi-purpose room, SMART Boards in every classroom and much more. Middle School students play in a small, park-like area adjacent to the school during recess. Parent volunteers work with the teachers, students and administra
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Compound exercises – those that involve more than one muscle or joint – should form the foundations of any strength training programme because of their tried and tested ability to bring about rapid gains. Exercises such as the squat and deadlift have been used by lifters
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Compound exercises – those that involve more than one muscle or joint – should form the foundations of any strength training programme because of their tried and tested ability to bring about rapid gains. Exercises such as the squat and deadlift have been used by lifters for many years to increase muscle mass and strength for the simple reason that they work. Over time a multitude of exercises have been developed to isolate small muscles or specific parts of a muscle, using a variety of different pieces of equipment, however these exercises may never be able to deliver significant increases in the same way as compound exercises. If you’re looking to make fast gains then get back to basics.
In order to appreciate why compound exercises are so crucial, a basic understanding of the how the body responds to exercise is necessary. Weight training represents a stress to the body, causing a series of events that lead to the adaptations commonly experienced; increased muscle size and strength. Whilst in the gym, a workout causes disruption and damage to muscle fibres. As part of the recovery process, an inflammatory response follows, then hormones are released which interact with muscle tissue and finally synthesis of new proteins (muscle growth) occurs. The endocrine system, responsible for the release and regulation of hormones within the body, therefore plays a crucial role in the adaptive process, yet research has shown that differences exist in the ability of training programmes to elicit these positive effects (Fleck & Kraemer, 1997).
The main anabolic (muscle building) hormones are testosterone, growth hormone, insulin, and insulin-like growth factor. These hormones are released as a result of weightlifting, yet not every session will have the same effect, the type of resistance training workout dictates the hormonal response (Kraemer et al., 1993; 1991). By applying the findings of research into this area you can ensure that your training produces the gains you are after in the shortest possible time.
The stress from exercise and the hormonal responses generated combine to shape the training response of the muscles. The body’s hormonal response occurs as a result of the stress caused by the significant force produced during resistance exercise. In order to make rapid, significant gains, the training stress needs to be at the optimum level; too little and no adaptations are made, too great and you risk overtraining and injury. The magnitude of the hormonal response depends on the amount of tissue stimulated and only the muscle fibres activated during training will adapt. Studies have demonstrated that the training volume and type of exercise are pivotal to the hormonal response and therefore the adaptations that occur.
Only the muscle fibres activated during a workout will adapt, so in order for training to have the maximum benefit the exercises should involve the greatest number of muscle fibres. Compound exercises recruit a far greater muscle mass, and therefore more muscle fibres, than isolation exercises. For this reason, compound exercises are much more effective at eliciting a hormonal response and the associated gains in strength and size.
Benefits of compound exercises
• Allows you to lift greater loads, creating a greater training-induced stress on the body
• Greater amount of muscle fibre stimulation so higher metabolic cost and more calories burned during exercise.
• Time efficient – target multiple muscles in one exercise
• Improves coordination, body awareness and balance.
• Improves joint stability and muscle balance across a joint.
• Creates a greater training stress so gains are more significant and more rapidly delivered.
Essential compound exercises to include in your programme:
Clean and Press
One of the Olympic lifts, the clean and press involves the majority of the major muscles of the body. The lift is quite tech
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Need to make our youngsters more aware.
Image Courtesy: ikea.com
The most pertinent question vexing everyone these days is the question of environment and its protection. The question of global warming and greenhouse effects are on everyone’s mind these days. Thinking
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Need to make our youngsters more aware.
Image Courtesy: ikea.com
The most pertinent question vexing everyone these days is the question of environment and its protection. The question of global warming and greenhouse effects are on everyone’s mind these days. Thinking about it alone is not good enough. We should be taking actions to help in whatever way possible.
One of the most important things to do is to make our younger generation more aware of the environmental issues that are troubling the world at the moment. This should be done at a young age. At the moment this initiative is missing in India. There are no organisations or associations which try to get the message across to the kids and if at all there are such associations then they are too insignificant to make a difference.
In the west there are organisations like the nature detectives which help young kids to learn and observe the natural world around them. They then record their findings in a national database. This helps schoolchildren to learn everything from seasons to various species (plants and animals) and more importantly climate change and its impact on the environment. More information about them can be found at http://www.naturedetectives.org.uk/.
Image Courtesy: treedictionary.com
Schools in India have a major role to play in inculcating this awareness in the next generation. They need to come up with programs that are both fun and educational to the kids. Outdoor activities like trekking, camping etc should be encouraged and facilities for the same made available. This would help the kids develop an affinity with nature and help them appreciate the environment a bit better.
When I look at the activities of most of the schools these days I am sad to see that most of them do not have such clubs or associations as NCC or the Boys Scouts and the Girls Guides. These associations help inculcate a sense of serving the society in some way or the other. They help the kids realise the importance of cleanliness and waste management. I am sure everyone of my generation who had the good fortune of being a part of such activities looks back at those days spent cleaning the neighbourhood, or volunteering for some good cause, or the trips taken to various camps with joy and pride. Let us not deny that to our kids as well.
Image Courtesy: kv1nbvizag.ap.nic.in
Spreading awareness should not be a job left to the adults alone. It can be taken up by teenagers and young adults as well. Thanks to the explosion of the internet in our country the educated urban youngsters now have various opportunities to learn and spread the message around the environment and the challenges our planet is facing. The best way to do so would be to make a post at least once in a while about environment in an environment blog or at least read these post when you come across them in a blog. Blogs have become the best way to put your ideas and thoughts across to the whole world. Can’t we then spare a thought for this planet that we live in?
There are many ways to make these topics interesting. You don’t have to always start off the topic using numbers and charts and graphs. Environment blogs could highlight the happenings in popular culture itself to keep the topic interesting. You could start off by talking about the latest hybrid car that some celebrity used to get to a red carpet event or the latest trend in natural cosmetics. You could discuss about the events depicted in a movie (even if it’s not a masterpiece) like ‘The day after tomorrow’ or about a novel like Michael Crichton’s ‘State of Fear’.
I remember that in my childhood I used to go to the neighbourhood shop at the junction in my bicycle. The shopkeeper would wrap the things I bought with an old newspaper and tie it with a thin rope made out of coir. I would put that in my bicycle carrier and I would ride back with it. We would then either burn the newspaper or give it for recycling. Now the bicycle is
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Image: Courtesy of WHITEHEAD INSTITUTE for BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH
On solid surfaces, many pathogenic bacteria and fungi are able to grow in thin sheets called biofilms. These films can readily form a slick on artificial hips, contact
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Image: Courtesy of WHITEHEAD INSTITUTE for BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH
On solid surfaces, many pathogenic bacteria and fungi are able to grow in thin sheets called biofilms. These films can readily form a slick on artificial hips, contact lenses and in catheters. And as such, they can be very dangerous: antibiotics cannot reach the cells inside them very well to kill them off. Each year, thousands of deaths result from these infections.
Baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), a harmless fungus used to make bread and beer, has now given researchers from the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research a molecular clue about how biofilms form. In today's Science, they report that yeast cells lacking a gene called FLO11 no longer stick to plastic. This adherence is the first step bacteria must take to form biofilms.
The gene encodes a cell surface protein and has relatives in a biofilm-making pathogenic yeast of the Candida type. Moreover, the crippled baker's yeast cells are unable to form dense, flowerlike "mats"¿which are similar to biofilms¿on the surface of petri dishes that contain a special growth medium (see image).
FLO11 is only one gene that fungi seem to need for a biofilm. But because all the genes of baker's yeast are known, researchers can hopefully now use it as a model to find the other molecules involved. If the plan works out, drugs against these molecules could someday prevent biofilms from forming in the human body.
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In machining centers employed on production lines, it is important to obtain maximum speed from the machine without sacrificing accuracy. One of the limiting components for both of these parameters is the spindle used for axis movement. Conventional machines employ a rotating threaded spindle to
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In machining centers employed on production lines, it is important to obtain maximum speed from the machine without sacrificing accuracy. One of the limiting components for both of these parameters is the spindle used for axis movement. Conventional machines employ a rotating threaded spindle to move the tool carriage back and forth as required. An alternative method, developed by Bosch Rexroth AG, uses a non-rotating spindle. A nut in the carriage, rotated by an alternating current servomotor, produces the relative tool carriage movement along the spindle.
The MHS 40 includes an ac servomotor that
directly drives a nut supported in a bearing. This bearing is resistant to
axial forces that occur during high acceleration along the spindle.
A stationary spindle and tool
carriage driven by the motor/nut can give a faster drive with more
Particularly attractive for applications where spindle lengths as long as
7.5m are involved, the MHS 40 direct-drive system offers several advantages:
The system keeps rotating mass to a minimum. In addition, the dynamic effects of the spindle, including the resonances, are minimized. This means that linear speeds as high as 120 m/min can be achieved.
Since the spindle does not rotate, no expensive thrust bearings are needed to support the spindle under high axial forces. These forces can arise when the system is subjected to extreme acceleration conditions.
With the spindle stationary, it can also be optionally cooled by coolant fluid fed through a central axial hole.
Where one tool head is not enough, a number of tool heads can be employed on a single spindle. In another configuration, it is possible to mount the servo-motor/nut unit in a stationary position and allow the spindle to be driven up and down.
In this machining center, a stationary
MHS 40 motor/nut unit powers the vertical axis. The spindle moves up and
down to provide Z-axis movement. On the X-axis, the spindle is completely
stationary and the tool carriage moves along it, directly dirven by the
Although the servomotor/nut configuration gives a faster drive, Bosch Rexroth has achieved this without sacrificing positioning accuracy. This is at least in part due to the direct drive which needs no couplings or drive belts. When the servomotor/nut is used in combination with a glass scale, or when it is used with a measurement system integrated into the guide rails, the system has a specified accuracy for linear positioning of more than one micrometer.
Truchard will be presented the award at the 2014 Golden Mousetrap Awards ceremony during the co-located events Pacific Design & Manufacturing, MD&M West, WestPack, PLASTEC West, Electronics West, ATX West, and AeroCon.
In a bid to boost the viability of lithium-based electric car batteries, a team at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has developed a chemistry that could possibly double an EV’s driving range while cutting its battery cost in half.
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This discussion will examine what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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NEW DELHI: Days before the Copenhagen conference on climate change kicks off, a major study by a group of 100 international scientists has said that sea levels are likely to rise by as much as 1.4 metres (more than 4
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NEW DELHI: Days before the Copenhagen conference on climate change kicks off, a major study by a group of 100 international scientists has said that sea levels are likely to rise by as much as 1.4 metres (more than 4 feet) by the end of this century. That's twice as much as previously predicted in IPCC's fourth assessment report of 2007.
The report released by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is the first comprehensive review of the impact of global warming on Antarctica. The IPCC's 2007 report had projected that sea-levels could rise by 18cm to 59cm by 2099. Subsequent studies of glacial melts in Greenland and Antarctica had raised fears that sea rise could be much higher than that.
``We can see the west Antarctic glaciers are shrinking at a rate fast enough to contribute to a sea level rise of 1.4 m by 2100, but it will be no more than that,'' SCAR executive director Colin Summerhayes told reporters at a media briefing in London.
If these projections come true, most areas in low-lying island nations like the Maldives would go under the sea. Based on earlier studies, the UN's environmental panel has already warned that sea levels would be high enough to make the Maldives uninhabitable by 2100. The new study also significantly enhances the threat to the Indian coast — and cities like Mumbai, Chennai and the low-lying Kolkata.
``Anybody who lives in coastal cities needs to be slightly worried by projections of 1 metre or more,'' Summerhayes said.
Since 1870, global sea level has risen by about 20cm at an average rate of 1.7 mm/year. But in recent decades, the rate has risen sharply to 2.5mm/year, according to the latest figures. The rise in sea level is mainly a result of thermal expansion of the ocean due to global warming as well as increased water inflows from melting glaciers and ice caps.
The reports says that central Antarctica, that has so far been protected from warming due to a hole in the ozone layer, will also see the full effects of greenhouse gas increases as the ozone hole heals.
The scientists found that there has been significant thinning of the west Antarctic ice sheet and 90% of glaciers across the Antarctic peninsula had retreated over recent decades. But the bulk of the Antarctic ice sheet has shown little change over recent decades.
However, the report says, historically, small-scale climate variability has caused rapid ice loss, shifts in ocean and atmospheric circulation in the continent. This shows Antarctica is highly sensitive to even minor climate changes. It says studies of sediments under recently lost ice shelves suggest ice shelf loss in some regions is unprecedented during this time scale.
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Morals and Morality
Reflecting on his friends and especially on Robert Cohn, who is becoming a major annoyance, Jake reflects on his moral code, “That was morality; things that made you disgusted afterward. No, that must be
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Morals and Morality
Reflecting on his friends and especially on Robert Cohn, who is becoming a major annoyance, Jake reflects on his moral code, “That was morality; things that made you disgusted afterward. No, that must be immorality.” Jake is more interested in his own concerns and, secondarily, Brett’s. Cohn was fortunate enough to have a holiday with Brett but he is not smart enough to accept that it meant nothing. Because Cohn cannot create his own version of the group’s code, he becomes the subject of persecution. Jake is bothered by it but he is more disgusted when he knowingly violates the code of aficionado by setting up Brett with Romero. This disrupts his friendship with Montoya and with Cohn. Respect is betrayed and lost. The garbage that is visible at the end of the fiesta only compounds his self-disgust. However, instead of leading to an epiphany he simply decides to develop his own code of style more thoroughly. That style is a hard-boiled self-centeredness.
Brett is lost throughout the novel. She is disgusted with herself and those around her, especially Jake—through no fault of his own. The only moment she exerts herself in terms of morality is to get rid of Romero. Throughout the novel, Brett defies conventional morality by having short, meaningless affairs. Because of her self-centeredness and unhappiness, she is unable to stop this self-destructive behavior and is often passive to events. The affairs...
(The entire section is 739 words.)
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News Stories relating to "Near Earth Asteroids"
Monday, October 21, 2013
Prophets and soothsayers have been predicting the end of the world for thousands of years, with possible extinction-level events cited as super
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News Stories relating to "Near Earth Asteroids"
Monday, October 21, 2013
Prophets and soothsayers have been predicting the end of the world for thousands of years, with possible extinction-level events cited as super-volcanoes or earthquakes, giant solar flares, pollution, plague and pestilence, and the favourite of the 20th century, nuclear war. There is no doubt that planet Earth is currently under-going what...
Monday, July 22, 2013
Near-Earth asteroid 2013 NE19, which is about the size of a football field, passed within 2.6 million miles of Earth on July 22. There was no danger that it would strike Earth, but there is a concern because it was discovered just last Monday (July 15). Had it been aimed at Earth, we would have had just eight days to prepare. An object that size...
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
NASA has finally decided to try to do something about dangerous asteroids that may be headed for Earth
. They have announced a new "Grand Challenge" to find all dangerous space rocks and figure out how to stop them. But...
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Mice Make Their Own Morphine
Illicit drug use and poppy seed bagels may not be the only sources of opioids that turn up in people’s urine.
Scientists have known for decades that people excrete some morphine in their urine
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Mice Make Their Own Morphine
Illicit drug use and poppy seed bagels may not be the only sources of opioids that turn up in people’s urine.
Scientists have known for decades that people excrete some morphine in their urine, but most people assumed that the pain-killing drug came from the diet or drug use. A new study shows that mice, and probably humans and other mammals, can make morphine from scratch.
“This paper now really shows that the whole pathway [to synthesize morphine] operates in the mouse,” says Heinz Floss, an emeritus biochemist at the University of Washington in Seattle who was not involved in the work. The study, published online the week of April 26 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also shows that the body rapidly uses up morphine’s building blocks by breaking them down or converting them to other chemicals, which helps explain why it has been difficult to determine whether people make the compound, says Floss.
No one yet knows why the body makes morphine, but researchers suspect it could be a natural painkiller or perhaps is used to help nerve cells communicate with each other. Where the morphine is made also remains a mystery.
To learn whether mammals can synthesize morphine, researchers led by Meinhart Zenk, a biochemist at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, injected a mouse over the course of four days with a chemical called tetrahydropapaveroline, or THP. The compound is found naturally in human brain cells and is one of the chemicals that is altered to build morphine in plants.
Using a supersensitive mass spectrometry instrument that precisely elucidates a molecule’s chemical composition, the researchers found that the mouse metabolized most of the THP into several different chemicals including salutaridine. In morphine-producing poppy plants salutaridine is then converted to thebaine, which undergoes further reactions to become morphine. The researchers show that mice can also do that chemical conversion, as well as others needed to generate morphine.
The earliest stages of the morphine production pathway differ slightly between plants and animals, the team found. Those differences show that “morphine has obviously been discovered twice in evolution,” Zenk says.
Floss thinks more data is needed to determine whether plants and animals independently evolved the intricate, multistep biochemical pathways used to make morphine, or if the synthesis pathway was already present in ancient ancestors of both plants and animals and has been modified since the two kingdoms split.
Now that scientists know mammals can make morphine, the challenge will be to figure out what purpose the compound serves, Zenk says. He and his colleagues want to pinpoint where in the body morphine is made and learn whether it plays a role in regulating pain.
Image: Rick Eh?/flickr
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How to Read the Rests in Music
9 of 9 in Series: The Essentials of Reading Piano Music
Knowing when not to play notes during a song is as important as knowing the notes you do play. Understanding how to read rests will
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How to Read the Rests in Music
9 of 9 in Series: The Essentials of Reading Piano Music
Knowing when not to play notes during a song is as important as knowing the notes you do play. Understanding how to read rests will help you keep up with the beat and pacing of the music. Sometimes the most important parts of a conversation are the things that aren’t said. Likewise, many times, the notes you don’t play can make all the difference in a piece of music.
These silent notes are called, quite fittingly, rests. When you see a rest in a piece of music, you don’t have to do anything during it but keep on counting off the beats. Think of the rests as the spaces between words in a written sentence. If those spaces weren’t there, you’d just be stringing one long word together into gobbledygook.
But don’t let the name fool you. A rest in a piece of music is anything but nap time. If you don’t continue to steadily count through the rests, just as you do when you are playing notes, your timing is going to be off, and eventually the piece will fall apart.
Look at the relative values of rests, ranging from a whole rest at the top to sixteenth rests at the bottom.
From top to bottom, this figure shows a whole rest, 2 half rests, 4 quarter rests, 8 eighth rests, and 16 sixteenth-rests.
Telling th
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Florida Panther Population Up to a Whopping 160; Everything Is Wonderful Now
The hunters shot back. "Hunting has never caused the extinction of an animal," said Rich Gotshall of Safari Club International, who wore a drab-colored vest
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Florida Panther Population Up to a Whopping 160; Everything Is Wonderful Now
The hunters shot back. "Hunting has never caused the extinction of an animal," said Rich Gotshall of Safari Club International, who wore a drab-colored vest. "When the antis see the words 'No Hunting,' they are going to jump on that even though it's an illegal process," said Lyle McCandless, who later told the Pulp that the government intentionally hides the true, healthy population of panthers "on a regular basis, in an effort to restrict us."
Well, it turns out the panther population is higher than that previously quoted 100 figure... by as much as 60 percent. So there could be 160 panthers in Florida.
That's almost... well... OK, no, it's still shockingly low, leaving the species severely endangered. And where do we get these newfangled numbers? A government agency, of course, but one run by the state: the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Hunters seem to vastly prefer that local body to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and the commission includes Ron Bergeron -- the local developer and self-fashioned cowboy who made a star appearance at the meeting and was greeted warmly by the hunters. Personally, Bergeron advocated for a hunting plan in the area that includes a quota.
"Panthers are very difficult to count, but there is no question that conservation efforts have reversed the downward spiral toward extinction of this imperiled species," said Kipp Frohlich, head of the Imperiled Species Management Section at the FWC, in a news release.
In the 1970s, the commission says, scientists believed the population to be as low as 20 panthers due to overcrowding and hunting. The genetic mix and population were recharged with the introduction of lady pumas from East Texas, making the lonely Florida males come out of their hiding places in the swamp in a mix of cracker and cowgirl that would make Ronnie Bergeron proud.
Speaking of cows, southwestern Florida's cattle ranchers aren't too excited about the slight uptick in the panther population. The big cats have been known to chew on errant cattle who wander into their path on unguarded ranch land. Now the state and federal governments are proposing a $25,000 fund to compensate ranchers who lose animals to panthers. We're wondering about the claims process on that one -- do they need to show bite marks?
Panthers, of course, wouldn't be so hungry for livestock if their natural prey, like deer, were in larger supply. With humans likely to start competing for deer in the entire Big Cypress preserve, the problem is likely to get even more difficult.
Follow The Pulp on Facebook and on Twitter: @ThePulpBPB. Follow Stefan Kamph on Twitter: @stefankamph, and Facebook.
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September 07, 2012
The frog, named the Kakachi Shrub frog (Raorchestes kakachi), is endemic to the the region. It is described in the journal Zootaxa.
Raorchestes kak
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September 07, 2012
The frog, named the Kakachi Shrub frog (Raorchestes kakachi), is endemic to the the region. It is described in the journal Zootaxa.
Raorchestes kakachi males attain a length of 2.5 cm (1 inch), while females can reach a length of 3.5 cm. Frogs of the Raorchestes are notable for bypassing the free-swimming tadpole stage of metamorphosis. The tadpole metamorphoses into frog inside the egg, avoiding the need for water.
Raorchestes kakachi (a) male (b) female. Courtesy of Seshadri
"Every year, over 10 new species of frogs has been described in India. Paradoxically enough, amphibians are on the decline across the world," Seshadri said in a statement. "We might simply be losing species that we never knew that they existed. In this backdrop, knowledge on the ecology and means to conserve these species is lacking and it is imperative to being studies in that direction."
CITATION: Seshadri. K.S., Gururaja. K.V., Aravind. N.A., 2012. A new species of Raorchestes (Amphibia: Anura: Rhacophoridae) from mid-elevation evergreen forests of the southern Western Ghats, India. Zootaxa 3410: 19–34.
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Is it necessary that rate of evolution of longer lived trees will be lesser than that of annuals? I understand that new individuals will come up faster in annuals and it may adapt to varying conditions faster but does it necessarily imply that long lived trees
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Is it necessary that rate of evolution of longer lived trees will be lesser than that of annuals? I understand that new individuals will come up faster in annuals and it may adapt to varying conditions faster but does it necessarily imply that long lived trees will evolve slower?
That is true to a certain extent in normal environments, where there is not an excess prevalence of mutagenic elements. The "Generation Time Hypothesis" explains why a smaller generation time and hence a higher reproductive rate ( as in annuals) corresponds to a higher rate of mutation (substitutions in DNA) and therefore have a faster evolutionary rate as compared to slow reproducing and longer generation time individuals(for example, long-lived trees).
Since "fitness"-increasing adaptations produced by somatic variations are very less, the formation of new offsprings giving rise to individuals carrying a DNA which has been subjected to processes (Repeated divisions, replications and translations, amphimixis, and different environment) making it more vulnerable to mutation, becomes mandatory to effect evolution. This process is much faster in annuals than in long lived trees like Sequoia. Moreover Sexual selection (especially in animals) operate at a much slower rate in longer-generation time individuals. Next, smaller individuals, having higher metabolic rates usually have shorter generation time (more pronounced in case of animals). Higher metabolic activity is linked to greater mutation rate (Due to metabolic intermediates acting as mutagens) and hence faster evolutionary rate. Higher metabolic rate also is linked to higher temperature (faster mutation) and these individuals have a geographic distribution favouring the tropics.(Again increases evolutionary rate)
All these, imply faster evolution for short lived individuals(which usually have higher reproductive rate) as compared to long lived trees. But under "normal" environmental conditions (not drastic and fast changes), the evolutionary rate of large individuals is fast enough to prevent their existence (as the Sequoia prevalence indicates). However, in fast changing environment, larger and long-lived individuals are more likely to be wiped out (probably, this applied to Dinosaurs!).
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Full tables: 5x5 puzzles with negative numbers
Full tables: 5x5 puzzles with negative numbers.
Actually, in this site, there are not puzzles of the type, for instance, -3 to +3 (7x
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Full tables: 5x5 puzzles with negative numbers
Full tables: 5x5 puzzles with negative numbers.
Actually, in this site, there are not puzzles of the type, for instance, -3 to +3 (7x7 puzzle), so in this topic we will limit the comments to the 5x5 puzzles with negative numbers (-2 to +2). The idea is to help a little (comments and observed mistakes welcome) in the quick determination of the possible combinations for the 2-cell and 3-cell cages (4-cell cages are not included here though the philosophy would be the same).
(this was the Puzzle id: 403420 appeared on Monday Jan 30, 2012)
Some initial comments:
In the puzzles with positive numbers, when we have a subtraction cage, we always start with the higher number and then subtract the others until we arrive to the result shown in the cage (later we may permute, inside the cage, the position of the candidates, considering the rest of the restrictions). For instance, a 3-cell L-shape cage “3-“ in a 9x9 puzzle has the possible combinations [1, 1, 5], [2, 2, 7], [3, 3, 9] (these with the repeated number in the corners) or [1, 2, 6], [1, 3, 7], [1, 4, 8], [1, 5, 9], [2, 3, 8] and [2, 4, 9] (these combinations may rotate the candidates). The result (3 in this case) is always lower than the size of the puzzle.
The main difference now, with the negative numbers, for the subtraction cages, is that we may start in “any” number inside the cage, being the result negative or positive (and the value of “r” in an “r-“ cage may be equal or higher than the size of the puzzle, as we see in the tables, when 3 cells are in-line or 3 cells are in L-shape). Mathematically, if we have an expression like this:
diff = a - b - c - d then |diff| <= |a| + |b| + |c| + |d|
(the absolute value of the difference is minor or equal to the sum of the absolute values of the numbers involved, being those numbers themselves positive or negative),
so it may happen, for instance for a 3-cell L-shape cage with the combination [-2, 2, 2], that the result is the cage “-6-“. The important thing with the subtractions is to be careful with the signs since two consecutive “-“ produce a “+”.
For the multiplication (and exactly the same for the division) it is necessary to remind the rule of the signs, which is also “iterative”:
(+) x (+) = (+)
(+) x (-) = (-)
(-) x (+) = (-)
(-) x (-) = (+) but, for the result of the cage, we may operate first with the absolute values of the operands and later consider the signs because if
prod = a x b x c then |prod| = |a| x |b| x |c|
i.e. a 2-cell cage “-4x” would only admit [-2, 2] with the same rules applying to the division, for instance, a 3-cell L-shape cage “-1:” = [-2, -2, -1], [-2, 1, 2], [-1, 1, 1], [-1, 2, 2]. It would not be very significant to give all combinations for the multiplication and the division cages so we will include only the addition and subtraction cages in this topic. A zero “has not sign” (we may assign to it a + or a -), the result in a
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It's a given that criminals such as arsonists and serial murderers often return to the scene of the crime -- sometimes to relive the crime. But not only criminals do so. Think of letting off an insect bomb in your apartment -- millions of
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It's a given that criminals such as arsonists and serial murderers often return to the scene of the crime -- sometimes to relive the crime. But not only criminals do so. Think of letting off an insect bomb in your apartment -- millions of particles create a fog, and the resulting cloud settles on all objects in your apartment. With HDS, instead of millions of data particles settling on the objects, those data points are bounced back to the receiver, collected, converted and used to create a virtual image of any location.
Detectives, prosecutors and juries must also revisit the crime scene. Detectives may need to re-examine the evidence, prosecutors may return for case preparation and jury members may need to review the crime scene to make a decision.
To do their re-evaluations, investigators typically rely on photographic evidence and two-dimensional drawings. Since we live in a three-dimensional world, however, it can be difficult to visualize the positional relationships of evidence with two-dimensional tools.
What if agents could measure with extreme accuracy thousands of data points per second in a crime scene? What if an agent could capture that information, recall it and create his or her own virtual representation for use during a trial?
Through a combination of laser and computer technology, high-definition surveying (HDS) creates a virtual crime scene that allows investigators to maneuver every piece of evidence.
HDS reflects a laser light off of objects in the crime scene and back to a digital sensor, creating three-dimensional spatial coordinates that are calculated and stored using algebraic equations, said Tony Grissim, homeland security and law enforcement liaison for Leica Geosystems HDS, based in San Ramon, Calif.
"An HDS device projects light in the form of a laser in a 360 degree horizontal circumference," he said "The HDS is measuring millions of points, creating a 'point cloud.'"
An average desktop personal computer can now take the data file and project that site onto your screen. Not only has the scene been preserved exactly, but the perspective can also be manipulated. For instance, if the crime scene were the front room of an apartment, the three-dimensional image allows the investigator to move around and examine different points of view.
Or perhaps the victim was found seated. An investigator could see and show a jury what the victim might have seen. If witnesses outside said they looked in a living room window, an investigator could zoom around and view what the witnesses could or could not have seen through that window.
Cloud of Information
"Understanding evidence documented on a 2-D drawing of a staircase is difficult," said Derry Long of Plowman Cr
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The Cyberbully Report - 7 Tips to Teach Children Internet Safety by Judy H. Wright
Approx. 740 words.
Published on November 14, 2011.
Studies show that between 15-25% of U.S.
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The Cyberbully Report - 7 Tips to Teach Children Internet Safety by Judy H. Wright
Approx. 740 words.
Published on November 14, 2011.
Studies show that between 15-25% of U.S. students are bullied daily. One study reported that the bullying had lasted six months or longer. Even though each child is different, those who bully others share some common characteristics.
This report contains the Who, What, Where, How, When, Why, and What's next of bullying. Learn to be proactive as a caring parent.
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Who owns the world's oceans? It's a legitimate question. We divvy up Earth's terrain through war, conquest and colonization. We use rivers, mountains and entire continents to establish geographic boundaries on land. The oceans have no apparent surface features
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Who owns the world's oceans? It's a legitimate question. We divvy up Earth's terrain through war, conquest and colonization. We use rivers, mountains and entire continents to establish geographic boundaries on land. The oceans have no apparent surface features -- just a flat, vast, briny expanse. They're also all connected; the world's five oceans are technically one single ocean that covers 71 percent of the planet [source: NOAA].
This makes it difficult to divide, and so ultimately, you own the oceans. You and the rest of the 6.6 billion people swarming over Earth's face right now [source: CIA]. All of us own the oceans, and yet none of us do. It's a conundrum.
For centuries, beginning with the Age of Exploration when ships were developed that could convey humans across the globe, the governments that represent people like you, the oceans' owner, agreed that no one owned the oceans. This informal agreement was referred to as the Freedom of the Seas doctrine. This concept is also referred to more swashbucklingly as the Law of the Sea.
The doctrine granted exclusive rights to the three-mile buffer of ocean that abutted a coastal nation's boundaries. These waters given to coastal countries extend those nation's terrestrial boundaries into the sea; when any foreign nation enters these waters belligerently or without permission, it's tantamount to an invasion of sovereign soil. The remaining majority of the sea was to be shared by all nations -- including landlocked ones -- for trade and commerce. Since the oceans are international waters, one nation attacking another's ship on the open sea could be construed as an act of war.
This provision drew the United States into two wars: the War of 1812 and World War I. The United States took the Freedom of the Seas doctrine seriously and defended it with its military. But it was also the U.S. that ultimately undermined the doctrine when it unilaterally expanded its coastal waters in 1945 from three miles offshore to a 200-mile boundary that approached the continental shelf [source: Water Encyclopedia]. It set off a massive sea grab among coastal nations, and relations became tense among nations whose new enlarged marine boundaries overlapped.
At the root of this shift in perception of ownership of the world's oceans was, as with most things, money.
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APRIL 1, 1946
NEW YORK, Sunday—At my last lecture, in Omaha, Nebraska, a question was asked me which I have been thinking about a great deal ever since. It ran about like this: "
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APRIL 1, 1946
NEW YORK, Sunday—At my last lecture, in Omaha, Nebraska, a question was asked me which I have been thinking about a great deal ever since. It ran about like this: "Do you think that the war has increased religious and racial intolerances; or do you believe that we have a greater realization, because of the war, of our need to work as one nation and to have no 'inferior' people in our midst?"
It was a difficult question to answer because I think the tensions of war enhance racial or religious prejudices wherever they exist, for the time being. I am not at all sure but that the tensions which exist in the readjustment period, when people are getting back to peace conditions, are not almost as conducive to heightening our prejudices as the period of the war itself.
Yet when the history of the war is really written and people can look back on it with comparative calm, I think the realization of our great accomplishment will carry with it the understanding that the accomplishment was great because on the whole our differences, both racial and religious, were ignored, were swallowed up by the great objective of winning the war.
It will be difficult to gauge what the people of the country really feel because at present the questions that are coming up are very largely dealt with by our political representatives in Congress. Many of them are far removed from the reactions of the soldier or of the worker; and if these two sections of the constituency are not accurately represented, Congress may not be aware of it until the next election.
Some people tell me that the next elections are going to show that the whole country has gone extremely conservative; and, in fact, if we could repeat the Harding and Coolidge administrations, we would do so. Others tell me that the young people who fought the war, in many and varied capacities, have shed a great many prejudices and acquired a great understanding and courage about the future. These young people may not be so easily classified in any political party. But they will vote for the men and women whom they feel represent the liberal points of view which most of them have come to think are a necessity to insure economic and political stability in the future.
Two things, I found, are much in the people's minds. One is the Poll Tax bill, and the other is the Fair Employment Practices act. Curiously enough, the colored minority, whom one would expect to be chiefly concerned, rarely mentions these two bills. It is nearly always in groups of white people that someone asks a question about them.
Getting a truthful answer to that first question which was asked me will be difficult until after the next election, and then perhaps we will find that the answer varies in different parts of the country.
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