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Overview > Isotropic Superfinishing
The surface finish of gear teeth is directly related to the service life and overall quality of aerospace gearing. For this reason, Arrow has added the capability of Isotropic Superfinishing.
When metal components come into contact with each other, contact stresses and friction occurs which directly impacts performance, and in time, will eventually compromise the components.
This is of particular concern with aerospace gearing applications, in which high contact stresses are present and high fatigue life is a requirement. By improving surface finish with the superfinishing process, stress concentrations and wear can be significantly reduced.
To achieve an optimal surface finish on gear teeth, grinding of the gear
teeth has historically been the chosen manufacturing process. However, as the
demands of aerospace systems become more advanced, the process of
superfinishing has become a more common specification.
With tooth grinding, the resulting gear tooth finish is typically 16 RA, or 16 micro inches. With the superfinishing process, surface finish can be reduced to as little as 2 RA. This substantial reduction has a direct benefit on the life of the gear. According to NASA testing, this type of surface finish reduction can increase the life of the gear up to 300% through the reduction of friction and increased rolling contact fatigue life.
One of Arrow's systems features an extra large capacity and can accommodate 25 inch diameter parts and shafts with lengths of 50 inches. This size capability is relatively rare in the gear manufacturing industry.
The superfinishing process is performed by placing parts in a bin which contains a mix of ceramic and plastic media of different sizes and shapes, as well as a chemical additive. A vibratory action is then used to complete the process. | <urn:uuid:5ed0b34c-0f1c-4c77-8382-9a5f542e5560> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.arrowgear.com/capabilities/isf.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943749 | 349 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Anguish, alienation and grief characterise the life of Edvard Munch, Norway’s greatest artist. ‘Sickness, insanity and death were the dark angels standing guard at my cradle and they have followed me throughout my life.’ Munch made this stark evaluation of his cursed existence in his 70th year, and in large measure the statement can be taken as a vindication of the gloomy and disquieting themes he felt compelled to explore so relentlessly in his art.
Born into a highly cultured family of reduced circumstances in Kristiania (now Oslo), Munch’s childhood was marred by a number of tragedies: his mother died of tuberculosis when he was five years old and his older sister perished as a result of the same malady nine years later at the age of 15. His father, a fervent Lutheran, believed the calamities that had befallen his family were signs of God’s punishment and he succumbed to bouts of extreme melancholy and hallucination. Alienated by his father’s fundamentalism but nevertheless deeply attached to his family, Munch gravitated to the bohemian, anti-bourgeois circle of artists and writers in Kristiania in the 1880s, during which time he was also enrolled as an art student and exhibited his earliest paintings.
Munch’s artistically formative years took place in Paris in the late 1880s and Berlin in the 1890s. In Germany he began to make a name for himself and became involved with the Jugendstil publication Pan, which actively promoted the graphic arts. In 1895 the magazine’s co-founder, Julius Meier-Graefe, published a portfolio containing eight drypoints and etchings by Munch. The set included Two human beings (The lonely ones) (opposite, below). The mood of existential loneliness is rendered all the more poignant by the presence of a man and woman staring together out to sea at the rocky beach at Åsgårdstrand, yet physically and psychically separated from each other.
Munch’s early prints are pervaded with the imagery of his paintings, and no painting was the subject of more obsessive reinvention than the canvas he completed in 1886 titled The sick child. Munch was haunted by the distressing memory of having witnessed his sister, Johanne Sophie, waste and die of tuberculosis in 1877. This experience, along with his encounters with the sick during house calls with his doctor father, provided the inspiration for the picture. Years later Munch wrote: ‘In the sick child I opened for myself a new path – it was a breakthrough in my art. Most of what I have done since had its birth in this picture.’ The original picture was followed by five more painted versions, the last completed in 1927.
About a decade after completing the prime version, Munch revisited the subject of the sick child through the medium of printmaking: the drypoint made in 1894 is closest to the painted composition, with the feverish girl shown propped up against a pillow in a large armchair while a grieving older woman holds her hand. Two more variants followed in 1896: the etching (opposite) and the lithograph. In both prints the composition is drastically reduced to focus all attention on the pain and exhaustion in the child’s face. Arguably, these are Munch’s most psychologically compelling – and confronting – renditions of the subject. Munch was a tireless experimenter, fascinated by printmaking’s unique capacity to produce differentiated impressions of the same image through the use of coloured inks, as well as conventional black and white.
In the etching printed in black, the image is pared down to the barest of essentials. Feverish lines delineate the child’s head and shoulders and capture her tired eyes and trembling lips. Scratches of drypoint along the contour of the girl’s profile accentuate her emaciated paleness against the white slab of a pillow. Another subtlety, seen in fine early impressions, is the ‘foul biting’ whereby the acid leaves pockmarks on the surface of the copper plate (evident on the girl’s cheek), quite literally conveying the corrosiveness and dissolution wrought by disease.
Peter Raissis, Prints & drawings Europe 1500–1900, 2014
The sick girl
Das kranke Mädchen (klein)
etching and drypoint
only state, Schiefler 60
13.8 x 17.8 cm platemark; 21.4 x 25.7 cm sheet
Signature & date
Signed and dated l.r. sheet, pencil "Edv. Munch 97".
Not on display
© Edvard Munch/BONO. Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney
Shown in 4 exhibitions
Prints in Germany 1880-1940, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 28 Oct 1989–07 Jan 1990
Fin de Siècle: posters prints drawings from the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 15 Jan 1994–13 Mar 1994
Professor Sadler, Japan and Australian modernism, University Art Gallery, University of Sydney, Camperdown, 03 Apr 2011–24 Jul 2011
European prints and drawings 1500-1900, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 30 Aug 2014–02 Nov 2014
Referenced in 7 publications
Nicholas Draffin, Prints in Germany 1880-1940, Sydney, 1989, p 6.
Renée Free, Fin de Siècle, Sydney, Jan 1994.
Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Western Collection: Works on Paper', pp 78-92, Sydney, 1999, illus p 84.
Peter Raissis, Prints & drawings Europe 1500-1900, Sydney, 2014, p 180, col illus p 181.
Gustav Schiefler, Verzeichnis des graphischen Werks Edvard Munchs, Berlin, 1974, p 64. no 60
Sigurd Willoch, Edvard Munch etchings, Oslo, 1950. no 47
Gerd Woll, Edvard Munch: the complete graphic works, Oslo, 2012, pp 86-87. no 59 | <urn:uuid:ac512dcc-68ab-4990-b0db-70734d8f04b1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/473.1987/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944073 | 1,320 | 2.734375 | 3 |
In 1962, several visionary Ontarians approached John Robarts, Premier of Ontario, with the idea of establishing a provincial arts council. This group, led by Arthur Gelber, represented the fledgling arts infrastructure that existed then in Ontario. On April 26, 1963, Bill 162 – the legislation setting up the arts council – was given its final reading in the Ontario Legislature, creating the Ontario Arts Council (OAC).
Ontarians, through their elected officials, had decided that the arts were important to their lives and deserved support through public funding. It was the beginning of a system that, with the assistance of other municipal, provincial, and federal funders, has enabled Ontario to flourish as an artistically rich and creative province.
The Ontario Arts Council is an arm's-length agency of the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport
. OAC's grants and services to professional, Ontario-based artists and arts organizations support arts education, Aboriginal arts, community arts, crafts, dance, Franco-Ontarian arts, literature, media arts, multidisciplinary arts, music, theatre, touring, and visual arts.
The Ontario Arts Council is directed by 12 volunteer board (council) members who come from communities throughout the province. They are appointed by the Government of Ontario for a three-year term. OAC's board is responsible for setting OAC's policies and oversees the organization's operation.
For more than 50 years, the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) has played a vital role in promoting and assisting the development of the arts for the enjoyment and benefit of Ontarians.
In 2014-15, OAC funded 1,709 individual artists and 1,078 organizations in 204 communities across Ontario for a total of $52.1 million.
The Ontario Arts Council was established in 1963 to foster the creation and production of art for the benefit of all Ontarians. | <urn:uuid:249ac870-6bdb-4962-ab4f-6a81180a591b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.arts.on.ca/Page54.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961927 | 382 | 2.546875 | 3 |
What Does Shingles Look Like? Written by The Healthline Editorial Team
Medically Reviewed on May 19, 2016 by University of Illinois-Chicago, College of
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Shingles — Comprehensive overview covers symptoms, treatment, vaccine for
this painful condition affecting the nerves. | <urn:uuid:2e01ab20-652a-4227-b108-c89ed36e7c82> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ask.com/web?q=Shingles+Look+like&o=2603&l=dir&qsrc=3139&gc=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.891099 | 457 | 2.8125 | 3 |
"Black athletic superiority" is the unscientific ... and their possible effect on sports
performance have been ...
Explore Biography's collection of African-American Firsts: Athletes. ... world
record holder "Major" Taylor was just the second black world champion in any
Feb 28, 2012 ... Black athletes hold a special place in American sporting lore, and these 20
athletes were the most influential in changing American sports ...
Struggle and achievement, prejudice and recognition are the themes that
characterize the history of black athletes in American sports. That history parallels
This page features our African American sports related art work. We feature art
work from various artists including: Frank Morrison, Ernest Watson, Earl Jackson.
Consequently, an explanation of black dominance in major sports which focuses
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Feb 5, 2012 ... February is Black History Month so Kidzworld's Sports Zone is saluting some of
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More from Tukufu about African-American Athletes. For African-American athletes
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Feb 19, 2008 ... February is Black History Month. So today, we look at the 20 most important and
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Feb 22, 2013 ... Who were the godfathers of African American sport? Basketball players? Boxers?
No, they were jockeys who reached dizzying success. | <urn:uuid:bd199956-1d13-4b8e-b4a5-86efd255d00a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ask.com/web?qsrc=60&o=41647999&oo=41647999&l=dir&gc=1&q=African+American+Sports | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902047 | 320 | 2.890625 | 3 |
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Zoonoses: Infectious Diseases Transmissible From Animals and Humans, Fourth Edition
Zoonoses are a persistent threat to global human health.
Today, more than 200 diseases occurring in humans and animals are known to be mutually transmitted. Classic infectious diseases such as rabies, plague, and yellow fever have not been eradicated despite major efforts.
New zoonotic diseases are appearing due to global conditions such as overpopulation, wars, and food scarcity, which facilitate human contact with rodents, stray animals, and their parasites. In addition, humans are unwittingly becoming accidental hosts and new links in an infectious chain by engaging in activities such as survival training, which involves camping in open areas, and consumption of raw or insufficiently cooked food.
Zoonotic infections cause a variety of symptoms that often do not provide clear evidence of a known disease. Zoonoses, Fourth Edition, describes most occurring worldwide zoonoses and facilitates the identification, diagnosis, and treatment of zoonotic infections.
Written by a team of doctors, medical microbiologists and veterinarians, this revised and updated edition—translated from the noted German reference Zoonosen—covers all aspects of the epidemiology and prevention of zoonotic diseases supported by clear descriptions of various illnesses. Specifically, this fourth edition covers zoonoses caused by:
- iruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites
- infections caused by animal bites
- infections and intoxications by animal foods
- iatrogenic transmission of zoonotic pathogens
Zoonoses is an indispensable reference for both clinicians and laboratorians.
Paperback, 532 pages, full-color illustrations, index. | <urn:uuid:8ef0176c-647f-464d-a382-7f27abc8f84e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.asmscience.org/content/book/10.1128/9781555819262 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933374 | 342 | 3.375 | 3 |
If the connection is slow, you can try a
one can find
the recent data from Jena Laboratory.
Information on the database:
What is in the database?
The database contains
to the papers,
to the Internet resources
related to measurements and calculations of the optical constants
in the wavelength interval from X-rays to radio domain.
The materials considered are
amorphous and crystalline silicates of different kinds,
various ices, oxides, sulfides, carbides,
carbonaceous species from amorphous carbon to graphite and diamonds
and some other materials of astrophysical and
terrestrial atmosphere interests.
We have comprised about 700
references to the papers, books, dissertations
where the refractive index,
reflectance, transmittance, mass absorption coefficient, etc
Most of the papers were published from the 60s till 1999.
Evidently, it was impossible for us to cite all the papers,
in particular for such materials as water ice, quartz, MgO, carbon.
In first turn, we paid attention
to astronomically interesting papers
and to papers not included in recent reviews
(though the majority of the papers referred by us
were mentioned in the reviews).
The lists of collected references for materials have a different degree
of complitness since the work is still in progress.
Filling the database was started with the data
available for us.
They are the optical constants measured
in the laboratory of the Astrophysical Institute of
the Friedrich Schiller University (Jena) as well as
the data obtained in the former Soviet Union before 1974
(when it joined the international copyright agreement)
and some often used freely accessible data.
The data we included are presented in their initial format
(table or figure) and in our standard tabular format.
In some cases we also give plots
(refractive index vs wavelength, dielectric permittivity vs energy)
and an information on how the data were derived,
what equipment was used and what samples were considered.
The service codes of the database allow one
to transfer the data from our standard format to a desirable form
(refractive index/dielectric permittivity vs wavelength/wavenumber/energy
tables with numbers given in any format).
Our scattering codes based on Mie theory and
separation of variables method for spheroids give the possibility
easily to transform the data into cross-sections,
single scattering albedo and so on.
References to some useful books and reviews on the subject
(e.g. the classical handbooks edited by E.D.Palik)
and links to Internet collections of optical constants and
personal WWW pages with related software
were also placed in the database.
You have arrived at our welcome page.
It contains a link to the
homepage of the database,
which gives a list of material groups (silicates, oxides and so on)
and a description of related topics (Internet resources, books, etc).
Each group of materials has its own page that
includes a table whose columns show:
the state of the material (amorphous, crystalline, glassy),
the quantity measured or calculated (refractive index, reflectance, etc),
the form of the data (table, figure),
the considered wavelength range (in microns),
and reference to the paper.
When the data in a paper were available
we created a corresponding HTML page
and supplied the table of references with a link to the page.
Such a page can contain
links to data and graphic files,
information about the paper (e.g. its ADS abstract),
a description of how the data were derived and so on.
We plan to continue filling in the database and
developing its service.
Certainly, many good papers and related Internet resources were missed
Therefore, we shall be very thankful to anyone who could send
more references, data files, links to be included in the database
or permission to use his/her data.
Any comments and remarks are also welcome.
The database was developed by several persons at the Astrophysical
Institute of the Friedrich Schiller University (Jena, Germany) and
the Astronomical Institute of the St.Petersburg University (Russia).
The authors are thankful to
and other colleagues for their contributions.
The work was supported by the
Volkswagen Foundation (Germany),
the "Universities of Russia - Fundamental researches"
program of the Russian federal goverment
INTAS program (grant 99/652). | <urn:uuid:8aeebddb-edfd-4981-8bc3-d1b7108dd722> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.astro.spbu.ru/JPDOC/0-entry.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.890366 | 972 | 2.65625 | 3 |
From a book I wrote for beginning teachers, here are a few suggestions -- simple yet effective. These are for ages 4-6:
8. Butterfly Wings. With the bottom of the feet together (in “frog” position), move the knees up and down. Start slowly and build in speed and number. Can count out loud.
Uses: technique, stretch, imagination
Teaches: rhythmically structured exercise
Add: a stretch over, so that the nose touches the big toes; twist over to the side so that the chin touches the knee; repeat from side to side.
9. Hide Like a Turtle. (Dévelopée and extension). The legs and knees are together with the feet pointed (good toes!), the arms being wrapped around the legs and the head down and “hiding.” Then, have them “look up out of their shells” and have the hands go to the floor beside them. Each leg is then extended all the way, straight, one at a time, repeating the same leg. Then try BOTH legs together twice, and on the third time, have the hold the legs the try to balance with their arms off of the floor à la seconde. This is a very fun game and children seem to like doing it every time.
Uses: technique, rhythm
Teaches: balance, dévelopée, trying to achieve a goal by doing their best
Hint: fall over backward yourself on occasion, so they know it is “okay” to do so themselves and that it all right not to be able to achieve the end goal immediately.
10. “Frog” Position Sit-Ups. In the “frog” or “butterfly” position, have them reach their arms forward and then roll down and up, 4-8 times.
Stretching and reaching for their toes and feet with their legs extended out in front of them is always effective.
I might suggest you made up a floor stretch routine that they do regularly as a part of their class. When they learn to limber and warm themselves up as part of their regular training, then as they get older and more advanced, they'll often just do warm ups on their own without hardly even having to think about it or being asked.
Also, ballet exercises, in and of themselves, will limber and align them. I wouldn't be too overly worried if they are not little rubber bands right away. Flexibility and strength and control to go with it are built over time.
Best wishes for happy teaching! | <urn:uuid:d6613b10-c554-4609-93c8-4dc8ddedd103> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ballet-dance.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=30813&p=190897 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965063 | 537 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Sir James George Frazer (18541941). The Golden Bough. 1922.
proclaim the new government. I then return to where the head, legs, and arms have been deposited, and, for forty slaves, I ransom them, together with the merchandise and other property belonging to the deceased, which I give up to the new Matiamvo, who has been proclaimed. This is what has happened to many Matiamvos, and what must happen to the present one.
It appears to have been a Zulu custom to put the king to death as soon as he began to have wrinkles or grey hairs. At least this seems implied in the following passage written by one who resided for some time at the court of the notorious Zulu tyrant Chaka, in the early part of the nineteenth century: The extraordinary violence of the kings rage with me was mainly occasioned by that absurd nostrum, the hair oil, with the notion of which Mr. Farewell had impressed him as being a specific for removing all indications of age. From the first moment of his having heard that such a preparation was attainable, he evinced a solicitude to procure it, and on every occasion never forgot to remind us of his anxiety respecting it; more especially on our departure on the mission his injunctions were particularly directed to this object. It will be seen that it is one of the barbarous customs of the Zoolas in their choice or election of their kings that he must neither have wrinkles nor grey hairs, as they are both distinguishing marks of disqualification for becoming a monarch of a warlike people. It is also equally indispensable that their king should never exhibit those proofs of having become unfit and incompetent to reign; it is therefore important that they should conceal these indications so long as they possibly can. Chaka had become greatly apprehensive of the approach of grey hairs; which would at once be the signal for him to prepare to make his exit from this sublunary world, it being always followed by the death of the monarch. The writer to whom we are indebted for this instructive anecdote of the hair oil omits to specify the mode in which a grey-haired and wrinkled Zulu chief used to make his exit from this sublunary world; but on analogy we may conjecture that he was killed.
The custom of putting kings to death as soon as they suffered from any personal defect prevailed two centuries ago in the Caffre kingdom of Sofala. We have seen that these kings of Sofala were regarded as gods by their people, being entreated to give rain or sunshine, according as each might be wanted. Nevertheless a slight bodily blemish, such as the loss of a tooth, was considered a sufficient cause for putting one of these god-men to death, as we learn from the following passage of an old Portuguese historian: It was formerly the custom of the kings of this land to commit suicide by taking poison when any disaster or natural physical defect fell upon them, such as impotence, infectious disease, the loss of their front teeth, by which they were disfigured, or any other deformity or affliction. To put an end to such defects they killed themselves, saying that the king should be free from any blemish, and if not, it was better for his honour | <urn:uuid:d2eb8bdf-7625-47b0-a447-e066f3cc1d85> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bartleby.com/196/pages/page272.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987413 | 675 | 2.53125 | 3 |
An apple a day …
That old saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” is a proverb backed up by science and is as good and truthful today as ever. It’s that time of year again and we love viewing all the varieties, sizes and colors of that wonderful versatile fruit.
The benefits are unbelievable. Apples may reduce the risk of cancer by preventing DNA damage. Its fibers control cholesterol levels, helping with heart disease and weight loss. Apples are a cleansing food supported by fiber, antioxidants and fruit flavonoids. Apples have been traditionally used to prevent arthritis, rheumatism and gout.
One should make a habit of eating at least one apple daily. The result in actually eating an apple is that the dietary fiber causes it to take longer for digestion and it has a low glucose level, making you feel full.
If your daily diet includes apples, you will be healthier. Apples contain 250 trace chemicals, which are responsible for the tang and aroma of the fruit. This aroma has a calming effect on us, thus lowering blood pressure. The green apples contain more fiber, but the red ones are tastier. The sugars are fructose and sucrose, and they are both natural sugars and are not harmful to the body. Apples are good for diabetics and help control blood sugar levels. Ripe apples contain 80 percent water and are virtually fat free. They contain potassium, which is needed for the regulation of water balance and muscle function, and are a good source of vitamin C.
We are very fortunate to be living in an area of fresh apples orchards. Even though most of our apples come from Washington state, the one grown here at home are special. Many yards in Lansing have good apple trees. You can make all sorts of salads and desserts with apples. I like any kind of pie as long as its apple.
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- Kansas City Connection: Library activities go way beyond books | <urn:uuid:528d697a-9824-4551-990c-84e9b9f2117b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.basehorinfo.com/news/2010/oct/28/apple-day/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948397 | 464 | 2.75 | 3 |
Reading and writing whole numbers
Reading and writing whole numbers can be explained by using the following illustration.
Take a close look and carefully study it!
Recall that the place value
for 2, 4, and 6 are the hundred-thousands,the ten-thousands,and the thousands respectively.
Again, the position occupied by 2 is the hundred-thousands and putting a 2 is this position means that there are 2 hundred-thousands or two hundred
In the same way, putting a 4 in the ten-thousands position means that there are 4 ten-thousands or forty
thousand because 4 tens is forty.
Finally, putting a 6 in the thousands position means that there are 6 thousands or six
Putting it all together, we have
) thousand +
) thousand + (six
) thousand =
(two hundred forty six
)thousand = 246
What gives us the right to just add two hundred
, and six
Try to do the following:
two hundred cars + forty cars + six cars.
Would not you agree that it is equal to two hundred forty six cars?
The above is the same, except that instead of using cars, we are using thousand.
The group name, as shown in the illustration, is 'thousand'
In general, it is unnecessary to say it three times.
When reading whole numbers, always read the numeral first, which is 246
and then the group name from left to right.
Therefore, we read
) thousand + (forty
) thousand + (six
) thousand as
( two hundred forty six
) thousand = 246
By the same token, the next group name, which is 'millions' is read
five hundred twenty
million = 520
The whole number can be read as:
(two hundred thirty four
) billion (five hundred twenty
) million (two hundred forty six
) thousand nine hundred seventy-eight =
Notice the hyphen between seventy and eight. Similarly, 45 is written as fourty-five with a hyphen between fourty and five
355,645 is read three hundred fifty five thousand, six hundred forty-five
16,006,006 is read sixteen millions, six thousand, six
25,000,000,000 is read twenty five billion
knowing place value and reading and writing whole numbers are important to understand the lessons that will follow. Study them well; It will pay off!
Reading and writing whole numbers quiz. Test your knowledge. | <urn:uuid:71a8b4f7-5e59-4b7d-a10c-fc903f58dd76> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.basic-mathematics.com/reading-and-writing-whole-numbers.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.899225 | 523 | 4.0625 | 4 |
Scientists train New Zealand bees to detect caterpillars
Has anyone else seen this news article?
The training process is very 'hands-on'. Individual bees are taught to detect chemical compounds in caterpillar spit, in particular the light brown apple moth caterpillars. I assume they then release the trained bees and observe their behaviour around the apple trees.
That's a lot of effort, considering the life span of each bee. I'm struggling to see a long term commercial benefit. Any thoughts? | <urn:uuid:c11cfa2c-6615-428f-95cd-7717f02c7217> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?276424-Scientists-train-New-Zealand-bees-to-detect-caterpillars&p=874393&mode=threaded | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915649 | 101 | 2.765625 | 3 |
On Thursday December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a seamstress and a volunteer secretary for the NAACP, was sitting in the section of a public bus reserved for black passengers. As she rode, the seats designated for white riders were filled and the driver told her and three other seated black passengers to get up so the whites could sit. She refused and she was arrested.
“People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired,” she wrote, “but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”
A young minister, new in town, the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, led the bus boycott in protest of her arrest. It is important to remember how modest the demands were. King’s group did not ask that the buses be fully integrated. They only asked that the black riders should not have to move. When the segregation was ruled unconstitutional, Dr. King circulated a memo to remind the black community that not all white people supported segregation and that they should be courteous, even in the face of insults. He urged them to maintain “a calm and loving dignity” and to “pray for the oppressor and use moral and spiritual force to carry on the struggle for justice.”
Scholastic has some good teaching materials on Rosa Parks and the boycott. Older children and adults will appreciate Angela Basset’s performance in The Rosa Parks Story and Iris Little-Thomas as Mrs. Parks in Boycott. | <urn:uuid:5f0cb828-0ebf-410a-96b7-18d7869a9844> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/moviemom/2009/12/rosa-parks-changed-history-on.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981628 | 365 | 3.8125 | 4 |
A new study by a team of researchers led by Matthew Ravosa, professor of biological sciences and concurrent professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering and anthropology at the University of Notre Dame, offers surprising insights into dietary influences on the growing skull.
Ravosa notes that the robust jaws and large, thick-enameled molars of the first human ancestors from Africa, known as australopiths, have longbeen interpreted as adaptations for hard object feeding, especially in the genus Paranthropous robustus, and to a lesser extent, Australopithecus.
Recent studies of molar surface microware indicate that only Paranthropous robustus regularly ate hard items, suggesting that the oral anatomy of other australopiths reflected rare, seasonal exploitations of hard fallback foods. Fallback foods are typically more mechanically challenging than diets exploited on a more annual basis are critical to survive seasonal periods when easier to process preferred resources are scarce. The ecological and morphological importance of fallback foods have been implicated in a number of recent studies of living and fossil mammals.
"In contrast to this highly influential hypothesis about australopith feeding adaptations, our study demonstrated that hard object feeding cannot explain the extreme morphology of Paranthropous boisei," Ravosa said. "Rather, analysis of long-term dietary plasticity in an animal model, in this case rabbits, suggests year-round reliance on tough foods requiring prolonged post-canine processing in Paranthropous boisei. Increased consumption of such food items may have marked the transition from the earlier hominids Ardipithecus to Australopithecus, with routine hard object feeding in Paranthropous robustus representing a novel behavior."
The researchers used a sample which contained 30 five-week-old weanling male rabbits divided equally into three dietary cohorts and raised for 48 weeks.
Prior research in Ravosa's lab has focused on diet-induced plasticity in the skull and feeding complex in in growing rabbits and rodents. These kinds of studies are important for evaluating the functional significance of various craniofacial features, particularly those less accessible via more direct in vivo approaches, as well as for unraveling the feeding behavior of extinct species.
"However, prior to our present investigation, we'd not been able to track dietary influences on the growing skull in the same individual (i.e., longitudinally), we'd not modeled seasonal variation in dietary properties, and we'd not tracked dietary effects for an entire year (i.e., from weaning until middle age)," Ravosa said. "These aspects of our study were novel vs. all other such work (in our lab and elsewhere) and facilitated a more naturalistic perspective on ecological determinants of postnatal and evolutionary changes in mammalian skull form. By being able to track the extent to which morphological changes in the cranium track (or do not track) dietary changes, we were also able to evaluate the extent to which skeletal structure can be used to infer behavior in the fossil record, a common assumption that surprisingly is largely untested.
"While my lab has long focused on functional determinants of phenotypic variation in skull form in primate and non-primate mammals, it has rarely focused on human evolution. However, as the notion that seasonal variation in the presence of hard/tough diets explains the robust jaws and teeth of early human ancestors (australopiths) has become widely accepted, our rabbit study is of particularly unique relevance for addressing such outstanding questions."
Ravosa was the principal investigator for the study and the research team included postdoctoral fellow Jeremiah Scott, now a faculty member at Southern Illinois University, senior research technician Kevin McAbee, and former Notre Dame undergraduate researcher Meghan Eastman. The study appears in the journal Biology Letters.
|Contact: Matthew Ravosa|
University of Notre Dame | <urn:uuid:7306fb1c-aa49-4691-b01f-66c44e2b7fee> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-1/New-study-changes-conceptions-about-the-determinants-of-skull-development-and-form-33741-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939455 | 781 | 3.78125 | 4 |
Microbial Power Storage Shows It Can Do the Job: PR&D Releases
9/18/2013 8:43:06 AM
Microorganisms turn surplus power into natural gas within seconds
Linz, 18 September 2013 - New results have proven that certain microorganisms are capable of producing natural gas under industrial conditions. The method, based on microorganisms known as Archaea, converts climate-damaging CO2 and hydrogen into storable methane (natural gas). A recently completed pilot study has impressively demonstrated how quickly microorganisms can respond to sudden peaks in power generation and produce high quality natural gas to be fed into the grid.
Large-scale power storage is a major challenge. Considering rising power generation from renewable sources, there is an increasingly urgent need for a practical, commercial solution. While oil and gas can be converted into electricity in line with demand, wind, water and sun cannot be adapted as readily to fluctuations in power consumption. Efficient power storage solutions must satisfy two essential criteria: Their own consumption of resources must be as low as possible, and surplus power must be stored within seconds. The results of a pilot study at the Vienna University of Technology have now demonstrated that a microorganism-based process developed by Krajete GmbH is unequalled in the way it satisfies both of these criteria.
The process benefits from life characteristics of microorganisms known as Archaea, which have inhabited Earth's extreme environments since the origin of life. These single-celled organisms are capable of converting CO2 and hydrogen into methane, i.e. natural gas. Commercial use of this ability has long been thwarted by the harsh living conditions under which the microorganisms feel truly at home.
Some time ago, Krajete GmbH managed to establish the process in a bioreactor under user-friendly conditions, as Dr. Alexander Krajete, CEO of Krajete GmbH, explains: "Our know-how makes it possible to run the process at moderate temperatures of around 40-60 degrees Celsius and at atmospheric pressure. Extreme heat or elevated pressure that prevails in the natural habitat of the Archaea is no longer necessary. This saves resources and satisfies an essential criterion for efficient power storage." Moreover, Archaea only need CO2 and hydrogen to produce natural gas. Production takes place with a surprisingly short response time once these nutrients have been supplied, thereby satisfying the second criterion for efficient power storage.
MICRO(BIAL) RESPONSE TIME
A pilot study, which Krajete GmbH conducted at the Vienna University of Technology, has now shown how short this response time actually is. The study has impressively demonstrated that Krajete's process can be ramped up to full load and even shut down again within one minute. The system can deliver this performance repeatedly and stable over a period of months. As a result, sudden peaks in power generation can be immediately captured and stored in the form of natural gas. The hydrogen required can be quickly and efficiently produced simply by electrolyzing water. As Dr. Krajete points out: "Our patented process is tailor-made for storing intermittent surplus power. In the waiting time between power peaks, it does not consume any power and, on arrival of surplus power, gas production begins within seconds, and natural gas ready to be fed into the grid is available after one minute. The system comes very close to the ideal situation of immediate power storage in the form of natural gas."
However, Krajete's process is not "only" suitable for intermittent power storage in a "power to gas" system - it can also directly enrich biogas and waste gas into natural gas. In fact, the process can convert gasoline and diesel combustion gases, syngas-type gases from the steel making industry or transform incineration and crude biogas into natural gas with a purity of > 95 volume percent methane. Intermittent power storage with ultra-short response times and direct utilization of genuine industrial CO2 gases impressively demonstrate the efficiency and versatility of natural processes which, thanks to the work by Krajete GmbH, are ideally suited for a sustainable energy concept.
About Krajete GmbH (status in September 2013):
The company, based in Linz in Upper Austria, offers the customer-oriented optimization of a process for the production of methane based on the metabolism of archaea microorganisms. Thanks to a complete patent portfolio, the company can also license the entire process to green electricity companies, biofuel producers and the chemical industry. The company's extensive R&D activities also ensure the ongoing optimization of the process and its application.
Contact Krajete GmbH:
Dr. Alexander Krajete
4020 Linz, Austria
M +43 / (0) 699 / 172 668 20
Copy Editing & Distribution:
PR&D - Public Relations for Research & Education Mariannengasse 8
1090 Vienna, Austria
T +43 / (0)1 / 505 70 44
Help employers find you! Check out all the jobs and post your resume. | <urn:uuid:6ccd40d0-bc72-41e8-97d5-6d61f1559e6e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.biospace.com/news_print.aspx?NewsEntityId=308979 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.89879 | 1,033 | 3.21875 | 3 |
|Location||Sierra Leone, Southern Province|
|Central coordinates||12o 55.00' West 8o 12.00' North|
|IBA criteria||A4i, A4iii|
|Altitude||0 - 10m|
|Year of IBA assessment||2001|
Site description This site is located on the southern side of the Western Area Peninsula, about 60 km south-east of Freetown. It is a shallow coastal wetland, with a 9,100 ha expanse of intertidal mudflats, that extends along 60 km of foreshore and is backed primarily by mangrove swamps covering 24,505 ha (14% of the total area of mangrove swamp in Sierra Leone), interlaced with a network of creeks. The bay’s topography and location mean that its waters are sheltered. It is therefore an important spawning ground for fish. This has led to the development of fishing communities and the establishment of commercial fisheries along its shores.
Key Biodiversity See Box for key species. Forty-six species have been recorded in the bay. The globally near-threatened Sterna balaenarum was recorded from Sierra Leone for the first time in 1994 from this site, when 40 were seen. This constituted a significant westward extension of its global range; whether the species occurs here regularly is unknown. The African Waterfowl Census in January 1995 covered 30% of the bay and recorded 13,168 waterbirds. Other areas of the bay were not accessible at that time because of poor security, but it is thought that waterbird numbers regularly exceed 20,000 in the bay as a whole.
Non-bird biodiversity: Among mammals, there are records of Trichechus senegalensis (VU) from the bay, and the duiker Cephalophus maxwelli (LR/nt) inhabits the coastal forest.
|Species||Season||Period||Population estimate||Quality of estimate||IBA Criteria||IUCN Category|
|African Spoonbill Platalea alba||winter||-||150 individuals||-||A4i||Least Concern|
|Great White Egret Ardea alba||winter||-||686 individuals||-||A4i||Least Concern|
|Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola||winter||-||3,500 individuals||-||A4i||Least Concern|
|Common Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula||winter||-||6,000 individuals||-||A4i||Least Concern|
|Common Redshank Tringa totanus||winter||-||14,000 individuals||-||A4i||Least Concern|
|Common Greenshank Tringa nebularia||winter||-||2,500 individuals||-||A4i||Least Concern|
|Red Knot Calidris canutus||winter||-||5,000 individuals||-||A4i||Near Threatened|
|Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea||winter||-||16,600 individuals||-||A4i||Near Threatened|
|Royal Tern Thalasseus maximus||winter||-||1,100 individuals||-||A4i||Least Concern|
|A4iii Species group - waterbirds||winter||-||20,000-49,999 individuals||unknown||A4iii|
|2013||very high||not assessed||low|
|Agriculture and aquaculture||annual & perennial non-timber crops - small-holder farming||happening now||small area/few individuals (<10%)||slow but significant deterioration||low|
|Agriculture and aquaculture||marine and freshwater aquaculture - subsistence/artisinal aquaculture||happening now||some of area/population (10-49%)||moderate to rapid deterioration||high|
|Energy production and mining||mining and quarrying||happening now||majority/most of area/population (50-90%)||very rapid to severe deterioration||very high|
|Human intrusions and disturbance||work and other activities||happening now||some of area/population (10-49%)||slow but significant deterioration||medium|
|Transportation and service corridors||roads and railroads||happening now||some of area/population (10-49%)||slow but significant deterioration||medium|
|Some of site covered (10-49%)||No management plan exists but the management planning process has begun||Some limited conservation initiatives are in place||low|
|IUCN habitat||Habitat detail||Extent (% of site)|
|Wetlands (inland)||Intertidal mud, sand or salt flats; Mangroves; Rivers & streams||14%|
|Artificial - terrestrial||6%|
|Land-use||Extent (% of site)|
References Schwarz (1992), Taylor and Rose (1994), Thompson (1997b), Tye and Tye (1987).
Contribute Please click here to help BirdLife conserve the world's birds - your data for this IBA and others are vital for helping protect the environment.
Recommended citation BirdLife International (2016) Important Bird and Biodiversity Area factsheet: Yawri Bay. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 26/06/2016
To provide new information to update this factsheet or to correct any errors, please email BirdLife | <urn:uuid:f2f93068-86b0-4612-9d4e-0425c3c68d07> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/sitefactsheet.php?id=6837 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.775313 | 1,175 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Changing lives: gender expectations and roles during and after World War One
Mother and child wearing gas masks
Photograph showing a mother and child wearing gas masks (detail)
Postcard of German zeppelin that crashed on Fanø
Postcard showing the German Zeppelin L3 after it crashed on the Danish island of Fanø, 1915.View images from this item (1)
Men, women, and the state
Even where women did not live with such daily reminders of war, states and agents of civil society invested considerable energy in trying to connect women who were not near war zones with the front lines via propaganda. In addition, the scope and duration of the war meant that governments enlisted women in the war effort by reorganising basic aspects of their lives. By rationing, governments could alter the food women could obtain and eat; by imposing censorship, they tried to restrict the information they could know or share. The waging of the war placed enormous expectations upon able-bodied men in the prime of life to serve in the military and upon their female counterparts to contribute to the war effort in many ways, in addition to maintaining their domestic roles.
The letter from the front - those who read
Postcard showing a family gathering around a table to read a letter sent from the Front.View images from this item (1)
Copyright: © Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België (Bibliotheque Royale de Belgique)
Did assumptions about gender roles alter during the war?Despite the upheavals that affected many women and men, basic ideas about gender remained fairly consistent throughout the war. Warring states defined the essence of male service to the nation as combat. Even those men too young or old or ill to wield arms were expected to support the war, and some men in key industries were required to stay at their jobs in order to ensure the output of basic supplies. Most nations also called upon and celebrated women as mothers, the representative of family life and domesticity. Indeed, women’s designated role as guardians of morality meant that in most countries, ‘separation allowances’ – funds paid to soldiers’ dependents – were tied to their good behaviour, including in some cases demonstrating their sobriety and fidelity. Women could support the military effort and the nation’s men in uniform as nurses, female military auxiliaries, ambulance drivers, farm workers, and factory labourers as well as in many other occupations, something evident in many of these documents. However, they were also celebrated for their quiet heroism in keeping the home intact whilst their men were absent. For all of women’s extensive and varied war work, most public celebrations of their contributions underlined that such labour was part of ‘doing their bit for the duration’.
Women’s War Work in maintaining industries & exports in the United Kingdom
Publication detailing the work carried out by British women on the home front.View images from this item (11)
The legacy of the war and assumptions about gender rolesBecause the war destroyed so many lives and reshaped the international political order, it is understandable to view it as a catalyst for enormous changes in all aspects of life, including ideas about gender and the behaviour of women and men. The messy reality of the lives of individual men and women is much harder to generalise about. There were visible changes in European politics, society, and culture but also a certain degree of continuity. Most notably, the aftermath of the war witnessed women gaining voting rights in many nations for the first time. Yet women’s full participation in political life remained limited, and some states did not enfranchise their female inhabitants until much later (1944 in France). Imperial subjects and racial minorities, such as those in the United States, continued to be unable to exercise their full political rights. Socially, certain demographic trends that were prevalent before the war persisted after it. Family sizes continued to shrink despite renewed anxiety about falling birth rates and ongoing insistence on the significance of motherhood for women and their nations. Economically, returning men displaced many women from their wartime occupations, and many households now headed by women due to the loss of male breadwinners faced new levels of hardship. Women did not gain or retain access to all professions, and they did not come close to gaining equal pay for comparable work.
Illustration entitled 'The Call' depicting an idealised Canadian man being prepared for war by women representing the Provinces of Canada, 1916.View images from this item (1)
Gender and cultural change
Cultural change may be the hardest to gauge. Certain norms of Western middle-class femininity all but disappeared, and women’s visible appearance before 1914 and after 1918 markedly differed – with many women having shorter hair and wearing shorter skirts or even trousers. New forms of social interaction between the sexes and across class lines became possible, but expectations about family and domestic life as the main concern of women remained unaltered. Furthermore, post-war societies were largely in mourning. The extent to which the process of rebuilding required the combined efforts of men and women in public and perhaps even more so in private shows the shared human toll of this extraordinary conflict.
The text in this article is available under the Creative Commons License.
This slogan was used in a recruitment campaign in World War I. | <urn:uuid:d8f5636f-dd52-445c-a4fc-d1cb7f89c50e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bl.uk/world-war-one/articles/changing-lives-gender-expectations?mobile=off | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97091 | 1,090 | 3.578125 | 4 |
Margaret Thatcher, the first woman to become prime minister of Britain and one of the most divisive political figures of the 20th century, died on April 8 after suffering a stroke. She was 87.
Margaret Hilda Roberts was born on Oct. 13, 1925, in the small town of Grantham. She came from humble beginnings; her mother, Beatrice, worked as a dressmaker, and her father, Alfred, was a grocer, a lay preacher and a local politician. She had one older sister, Muriel.
Thatcher studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford. After training under Dorothy Hodgkin, a pioneer of X-ray crystallography who won a Nobel Prize in 1964, Thatcher spent four years working as a research chemist. But her first love was politics.
Thatcher gave her first political speech when she was just 20 years old, and served as president of the student Conservative Association at Oxford. In her mid-20s, she ran for a seat in Parliament as a Conservative candidate in 1950 and 1951. Even though she lost both times, Thatcher received national publicity for being the youngest woman candidate in the country.
For most of the 1950s, Thatcher focused on raising a family. She married Denis Thatcher, a local businessman who ran his family’s firm, in 1951; the couple had twins, Mark and Carol, two years later. In her spare time, she studied to become a lawyer, and when she was admitted to the bar, Thatcher specialized in tax law.
In 1959, Thatcher was elected to Parliament representing Finchley, a north London constituency. It was the beginning of a meteoric rise.
Thatcher spent the next decade working a succession of jobs within Parliament, and in 1970, she achieved the rank of Education Secretary. Her right-wing platform did not sit well with students or academics, and it was during this time period that Thatcher developed a thick skin. When she decided to cancel a free school milk program for children over the age of 7, the tabloids described her as “Thatcher the Milk Snatcher” and “the most unpopular woman in Britain.”
Despite all the bad publicity, Conservative party members viewed Thatcher as strong, outspoken and ambitious. She engaged in an aggressive campaign against all male contenders, and in 1975, the party elected Thatcher their leader. Although she once said “I don’t think there will be a woman prime minister in my lifetime,” Thatcher made history in 1979 when she won the nation’s top job. She would serve three terms, and became one of Britain’s most influential leaders.
Domestically, Thatcher was a controversial figure. Nicknamed the “Iron Lady” in 1976, a moniker she adored, Thatcher worked hard to cultivate a reputation as a staunch conservative with an unwillingness to change her mind once it was made up. Throughout her political career, she strongly advocated for austerity measures, free-market democracies and smaller government.
“What we need now is a far greater degree of personal responsibility and decision, far more independence from the government, and a comparative reduction in the role of government,” she noted in her famous “What’s Wrong With Politics?” speech.
With this mindset, Thatcher reduced or eliminated many government subsidies to ailing businesses and tightened monetary policies. In the midst of an economic downturnn, these efforts forced a record 10,000 businesses to go bankrupt. Unemployment topped 3 million. And violent riots broke out in London, Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol and many other areas.
The Thatcher administration also instituted union reforms in 1980 and 1982, which inspired the miner’s union to launch a brutal and long-lasting strike. Thatcher remained steadfast, as was her wont, and eventually defeated the union.
During her second and third terms in office, Thatcher reformed the country’s educational system by introducing a national curriculum, and opened up the National Health Service to a measure of competition. These moves were not always popular, but their effects proved enduring.
“I am not a consensus politician,” Thatcher said. “I am a conviction politician.”
British relations with Northern Ireland were particularly contentious during this time. Hunger strikes and terrorist attacks ensued, and in 1984, Thatcher became the target of an Irish Republican Army assassination attempt. The IRA bombing at the Conservative Conference in Brighton did not harm her, but the explosion killed four people and wounded more than 30 others. Undaunted, Thatcher insisted that the conference continue, and even gave her speech as scheduled.
A fierce anti-communist, Thatcher recognized the West’s eventual victory in the Cold War. She famously invited Mikhail S. Gorbachev to Britain in 1984, three months before he even came into power as the leader of the Soviet Union. At the time, Thatcher declared: “I like Mr. Gorbachev. We can do business together.” Her rapport with this new ally and her friendly relationship with U.S. President Ronald Reagan contributed to these leaders ending the arms race of the 1980s.
Such kinship did not fade in difficult times, either. Thatcher backed Reagan’s decision to bomb Libya in 1986 — even though the mission outraged her own citizenry — and defended him during the IranContra affair that same year. When Reagan died in 2004, Thatcher was in ill health. However, she attended the funeral, and pre-recorded a video that described Reagan as “a great president, a great American, and a great man.”
Thatcher’s foreign policies did not always stand the test of time. When Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands in 1982, Thatcher ignored her allies’ calls for diplomacy and responded with overwhelming military force. During the 10-week war, 250 British servicemen and 1,000 Argentines were killed. The sinking of Argentina’s only cruiser, the General Belgrano, which left 323 Argentines dead, was particularly problematic because the attack took place outside of Britain’s declared exclusion zone. This short war cemented Thatcher’s take-no-prisoners reputation and helped her win a landslide victory for a second term in office. But the political ramifications of the conflict continue to be felt to this day.
Thatcher also came down on the wrong side of history after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. The prime minister argued against the reunification of East and West Germany, saying the change would destabilize Europe. The two Germanies reunited, to great success, in 1990.
Her final missteps involved railing against European integration, and the introduction of a poll tax on all residents rather than on property. Both actions cost her political capital within the party and led to her resignation in 1990.
Thatcher’s legacy is certainly a complicated one. She was reviled by Britain’s academic and artistic communities for cutting their financing. And progressives hated her for ending socialism, privatizing government industries and replacing compassion with greed as a core value. Yet Thatcher was respected by many, particularly in conservative circles, for leading the country out of a recession and through a war. She was credited with recognizing the dangers of global warming, and strongly encouraging other nations to repair the damaged ozone layer. She was also one of the first Western leaders to call for intervention in Bosnia after the Serb concentration camps were revealed in 1992.
Actress Meryl Streep, who won an Academy Award for portraying Thatcher in the 2011 film “The Iron Lady,” hailed the former prime minister as a pioneer for the role of women in politics.
“To have withstood the special hatred and ridicule, unprecedented in my opinion, leveled in our time at a public figure who was not a mass murderer; and to have managed to keep her convictions attached to fervent ideals and ideas — wrongheaded or misguided as we might see them now — without corruption — I see that as evidence of some kind of greatness, worthy for the argument of history to settle,” Streep said. “To have given women and girls around the world reason to supplant fantasies of being princesses with a different dream: the real-life option of leading their nation; this was groundbreaking and admirable.”
Thatcher was named Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven after stepping off the political stage. In 1991, she received the U.S. Medal of Freedom from President George H. W. Bush. Thatcher’s husband of more than 50 years died in 2003. In 2004, her son Mark was arrested for financing an alleged plot by mercenaries to overthrow the president of Equatorial Guinea in west Africa. He pleaded guilty in 2005 and was given a four-year suspended sentence.
During the final years of her life, Thatcher wrote several books and toured the world as a lecturer. Her speaking career ended in 2002 following a series of small strokes and the onset of dementia. In accordance with the family’s wishes, Thatcher will not be accorded a full state funeral. Instead, she will receive a ceremonial funeral with military honors. A service at St. Paul’s Cathedral will be followed by a private cremation.
British Prime Minister David Cameron paid tribute to his predecessor on Monday morning.
“We’ve lost a great leader, a great prime minister and a great Briton,” Cameron said.
Photo by Chris Collins of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation. | <urn:uuid:e8cbc60b-5fd4-427b-adec-2e6bdbd8689c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.blogofdeath.com/page/6/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976244 | 1,929 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Cirrhilabrus scottorum - Scotts Fairy Wrasse
Stunning Coloration and Hardiness Make this Fish an Aquarium Favorite
The Scott’s fairy wrasse (Cirrhilabrus scottorum) is a beautiful species from the group of wrasses commonly called fairy wrasses. Characterized by their stunning coloration and general hardiness, the fairy wrasses of the genus Cirrhilabrus are amongst the most sought-after fishes in the marine aquarium hobby, and the Scott’s fairy wrasse is one of the most desirable marine aquarium fishes of all.
Fairy Wrasses in General
Closely related to the wrasses from the genera Paracheilinus (flasher wrasses), Pseudocheilinus (lined wrasses), and Pteragogus (secretive wrasses), the fairy wrasses constitute the second largest wrasse genus (Halichoeres is the first—at least for now). They can be found in tropical waters throughout the Indo-Pacific where most seem to prefer coastal reef habitats. A few of the fairy wrasses are found on oceanic reefs, and many prefer deep reef ecosystems. Fairy wrasses in the wild tend to shoal above reef rubble zones, macroalgae beds, soft corals, and large-polyped stony corals where they can easily rise into the currents and feed on zooplankton or rapidly retreat to safety.
Sexual dichromatism is common amongst these wrasses, meaning, quite simply, that males and females are easily identified by way of their color. Fairy wrasses begin life as asexual individuals before developing female reproductive organs. Many will then transform into males after they have reproduced, although some may never develop fully functioning ovaries and instead transform into males directly. Technically, this means that fairy wrasses are protogynous hermaphrodites. There is at least anecdotal evidence that some species can transform from males back into fully-functioning females. In most natural groupings, female individuals outnumber the more effervescently-colored males.
Interestingly, individual Scott’s fairy wrasses from different geographical regions can display remarkably dissimilar coloration, especially the males. The males from Australia and the Cook Islands, for example, are known for a distinctive red stripe or splotch (this is especially the case with the Cook Islands males).
Scott’s Fairy Wrasses in the Wild
The Scott’s fairy wrasse is one of the larger fairy wrasses (to about 13 cm) and is indigenous to the Pacific Ocean from the Great Barrier Reef to the Pitcairn Group. The ones that enter the marine aquarium trade are commonly collected from Australia, the Cook Islands, Fiji, and Tahiti, where they are commonly found shoaling not far off the bottom on outer reefs in waters as deep as 40 meters or as shallow as 3 meters. The shoals are dominated by females and juveniles (recognizable by way of a dark spot on the caudal peduncle), and, as mentioned above, coloration can vary greatly based on geography and even amongst individuals within the same area (e.g., the Scott’s fairy wrasse from Tonga).
Scott’s Fairy Wrasse Husbandry
In the aquarium, the Scott’s fairy wrasse has a reputation for being relatively hardy, albeit somewhat belligerent. As is the case with most of the fairy wrasses, only one male should be kept in an aquarium unless the aquarium is very large (240 gallons or larger). It is most desirable to keep one male with a group of females (either one or three), as this will increase the chances that the male will maintain his eye-catching coloration over time. Dominant males may harass other fairy wrasses, especially if they are similarly colored. In fact, the Scott’s fairy wrasse is one species of fairy wrasse that can be successfully kept in a moderately aggressive community tank (most fairy wrasses should be kept in a peaceful community tank).
In terms of husbandry, the Scott’s fairy wrasse is an undemanding fish that, once acclimated, will readily feed on most commercially available foods and finely diced fresh table seafood (e.g., raw table shrimp). For optimal health and coloration, feed a varied diet, and consider soaking foods in a vitamin supplement. It is important that fairy wrasses are well-fed with two or three meals a day being appropriate in most cases. A connected, mature refugium can also help immensely when it comes to keeping these fish well-fed and healthy.
The ideal aquarium for a Scott’s fairy wrasse is a tank of at least 55 gallons with plenty of live rock and hiding places. This is generally considered a reef compatible wrasse. Brisk water movement is preferred, and a beefy filtration system (including a robust protein skimmer) should be installed to handle the twice-a-day (or more!) feedings. Fairy wrasses will jump, and all tanks housing them should be covered.
A Fantastic Saltwater Aquarium Fish
Overall, the Scott’s fairy wrasse is an ideal marine aquarium animal, especially when a group of one male and one or three females is kept together. It is beautifully colored, hardy and can be kept in a small group of one male and several females in a moderately aggressive community reef tank. With the exception of twice-a-day feeding (and the associated need for a good protein skimmer and the maintenance that goes with it), the Scott’s fairy wrasse is one of the most undemanding, brightly colored shoaling fishes frequently available to the beginning marine aquarist. | <urn:uuid:a73fcd2c-2088-4711-aef3-ddb8aef482a5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/resources.asp?show=393 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922794 | 1,181 | 2.515625 | 3 |
For about half the year the Samoans have an abundant supply of food from the bread-fruit trees. During the other half they depend principally on their taro plantations. Bananas and cocoa-nuts are plentiful throughout the year. While the bread-fruit is in season every family lays up a quantity in a pit lined with banana and cocoa-nut leaves, and covered in with stones. It soon ferments; but they keep it in that state for years, and the older it is they relish it all the more. They bake this in the form of little cakes, when the bread-fruit is out of season, and especially when there is a scarcity of taro. The odour of these cakes is offensive in the extreme to a European; but a Samoan turns from a bit of English cheese with far more disgust than we do from his fermented bread-fruit.
A crop of bread-fruit is sometimes shaken off the trees by a gale before it is ripe, and occasionally taro plantations are destroyed by drought and caterpillars; but the people have wild yams in the bush, preserved bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, and fish to fall back upon; so that there is rarely, if ever, anything like a serious famine. A scarcity of food, occasioned by any of the causes just named, they were in the habit of tracing to the wrath of one of their gods, called O le Sa (or the Sacred One). The sun, storms, caterpillars, and all destructive insects were said to be his au ao, or servants, who were commissioned to go forth and eat up the plantations of those with whom he was displeased. In times of plenty as well as of scarcity the people were in the habit of assembling with offerings of food, and poured out drink-offerings of ’ava to Le Sa, to propitiate his favour.
A story is told of a woman and her child, who in a time of great scarcity were neglected by the family. One day they cooked some wild yams, but never offered her a share. She was vexed, asked the child to follow her, and when they reached a precipice on the rocky coast, seized the child and jumped over. It is said they were changed into turtles, and afterwards came in that form at the call of the people of the village.
Cannibalism.—During some of their wars, a body was occasionally cooked by the Samoans; but they affirm that, in such a case, it was always some one of the enemy who had been notorious for provocation or cruelty, and that eating a part of his body was considered the climax of hatred and revenge, and was not occasioned by the mere relish for human flesh, such as obtained in the Fiji, New Hebrides, and New Caledonian groups. In more remote heathen times, however, they may have indulged this savage appetite. To speak of roasting him is the very worst language that can be addressed to a Samoan. If applied to a chief of importance, he may raise war to avenge the insult. It is the custom on the submission of one party to another to bow down before their conquerors each with a piece of firewood and a bundle of leaves, | <urn:uuid:0081807a-eabc-4716-8aa5-e24d43abdc3b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bookrags.com/ebooks/14224/47.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986692 | 671 | 2.84375 | 3 |
MUSC 345 - Methods of Teaching Music in Elementary School
A preparation for teaching music in the primary and intermediate grades. Activities for singing, rhythm, listening, body movement and creative activities, with emphasis on curriculum development and lesson planning. For Music major and minors only. Students must complete 20 hours of observation/teaching in an assigned field experience.
MUSC 345 - Methods of Teaching Music in Elementary School - Details | <urn:uuid:05c4a913-549c-4f6b-b8cf-ef9529613e34> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.briarcliff.edu/academics/a-z-course-listing/musc-345/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.896216 | 86 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Is good nutrition developing a bad reputation based on outrageous costs?
A growing trend of studies touts the immense cost of eating fresh, nutritious food. Conventional wisdom seems to claim that the cost can keep you from being able to eat as healthfully as you might like and worries many who would otherwise prefer to consistently buy & prepare un-processed, highly natural foods.
But is eating healthy really as expensive as everyone claims?
No. No, it’s not.
Study Claims A Healthy Diet Costs 10x More – But Is It Misleading?
Much of the recent rabble surrounding the price of food stems from a 2007 study by University of Washington researchers about the price of snack foods compared to fresh fruits and vegetables. In particular, the study claims that eating a healthy diet can cost up to 10 times as much as a diet based on junk food. Well, no wonder people don’t eat healthy! With numbers like that, who could afford to?
As it turns out, though, the study uses price per calorie as it’s only metric for determining the cost of food. This means that when comparing junk foods loaded with fat and sugar to nutrient-dense foods like spinach, broccoli or apples, the junk food is going to dominate calorie count every time!
If we discount the fact that the calories in junk food are, by-and-large, nutritionally worthless, a more appropriate metric would be price per serving. Fruits and veggies, by nature, have a much lower calorie count per serving (hint: that’s partly why they’re better for you).
Let’s look at an example:
|Nacho Cheese Doritos (11 oz bag)||$2.99||11||1540||$0.0019||$0.27|
|Twinkies (6 ct box)||$1.99||6||900||$0.0022||$0.33|
|Baby spinach (6 oz bag, 8 cups)||$1.99||8||50||$0.04||$0.25|
|Broccoli crowns (about 4 cups)||$0.99||4||120||$0.01||$0.25|
|Gala apple (6oz)||$0.24||1||80||$0.003||$0.24|
It’s pretty clear that the junk food items (that would be the Doritos and Twinkies, in case you’re wondering) are the champions of price per calorie, both coming in at fractions of a cent. But when we look at the price-per-serving numbers, all of a sudden the playing field levels, making the fresh fruit and veggies actually come out a bit cheaper!
How Much Does It Really Cost To Eat Healthy?
According to a New York Times article1 about the study, the average American spends $7 a day on food – nearly $50 a week – so I decided to put together a healthy meal plan for a day to see how it compared to the national average. While I do live in Klamath Falls, Oregon, which is less expensive than a metropolitan area, this daily plan is for a 6-foot-3, 200-pound man, so I’m not exactly skimping on calories here. Check it out:
- Scrambled eggs with cheese
- Oatmeal with raisins and honey
- Turkey sandwich with whole-grain bread, cheese, avocado, tomato and lettuce
- Grilled chicken breast
- Steamed broccoli
- Baked sweet potato
Shopping list in hand, I set out for my local supermarket, ready for the massive grocery bill I was about to face. You can imagine my relief when I found that my little shopping trip was not nearly as costly as the doom-speakers would have me believe. Fresh fruit and vegetables are actually not that expensive and even the meat and dairy is quite reasonable, if you know what to look for. Here’s the breakdown of what I bought:
|Shopping List||Price||Price per serving|
|Brown eggs (30 ct)||$3.58||$0.12 per egg|
|Frozen chicken breasts (4 lbs)||$10.72||$1.34 per 6-oz breast|
|Deli style turkey breast (1 lb)||$4.99||$0.31 per 1-oz slice|
|Mozzarella cheese (2 lb)||$4.98||$0.16 per 1-oz slice|
|100% whole wheat bread (18 slices)||$1.69||$0.09 per slice|
|Oatmeal (42 oz)||$2.18||$0.21 per ½ cup serving|
|Sweet potato (1 medium)||$0.37||$0.37 per potato|
|Gala apple (1 medium)||$0.24||$0.24 per apple|
|Avocado (1 medium)||$0.88||$0.88 per avocado|
|Broccoli (1 head, about ½ lb)||$0.49||$0.25 per cup serving|
|Roma tomatoes (5 ct, about 1 lb)||$1.19||$0.24 per tomato|
|Romaine lettuce (1 head)||$1.99||$0.20 per cup serving|
|Almonds (½ lb)||$3.40||$0.42 per 1-oz serving|
|Honey (local, 12 oz)||$3.59||$0.15 per Tbsp serving|
|Raisins (½ lb)||$1.50||$0.19 per 1-oz serving|
The meat and cheese were the most expensive part of the whole trip, but even so, they were not unreasonable. Now here’s how those prices apply to the meal plan for the day:
|1 slice mozzarella cheese||$0.16|
|1 cup oatmeal||$0.42|
|1 oz raisins||$0.19|
|1 Tbsp honey||$0.15|
|2 slices whole wheat bread||$0.18|
|3 slices turkey breast||$0.93|
|1 slice mozzarella cheese||$0.16|
|½ Roma tomato||$0.12|
|½ cup Romaine lettuce||$0.10|
|1 chicken breast||$1.34|
|1 sweet potato||$0.37|
|1 cup broccoli||$0.25|
|1 Gala apple||$0.24|
|1 oz almonds||$0.42|
Wow…so there you have it: a whopping $5.83 for me to make healthy meals throughout the entire day. That’s 17% below the national average!
As you can see, these studies that count calorie-value, and the articles promoting them, are misleading at best… and dangerously disingenuous at worst. It’s this kind of self-perpetuating nonsense that makes people give up on the notion of a healthy diet. If you have hugely-popular mainstream media like the New York Times spreading the idea that most people will never be able to afford nutritious food, what kind of chance do they have?
Healthy Meals Do Require Planning…
That said, there are some challenges to eating fresh, healthy foods that you don’t face with the prepackaged, highly-processed stuff. Often it’s these issues, not cost, that are the biggest barriers for people to make the switch.
- Fresh food goes bad quickly – This means that you have to go shopping more often and use the food you buy before it spoils.
- Requires preparation – It’s much easier to dump milk and cereal in a bowl or pop a TV dinner in the microwave than prepare a fresh, healthy, well-rounded meal.
- Requires planning – Because of the first two challenges, it’s almost a necessity to plan your meals ahead of time so you have everything you need on hand.
5 Tips For Eating Healthy on a Budget
Often eating healthy is not as convenient as buying boxed dinners or going for a quick fast food lunch, but there are a few things you can do to make it easier and more cost-effective:
- Prepare in batches – Make large quantities of soups, quiches, etc. that you can eat throughout the week. This will save you time and help you use up fresh food so it doesn’t go bad.
- Get in a routine – You’re going to have to take regular trips to the grocery store so make it part of your weekly routine. It’s helpful to set aside half a day to plan, shop for, and prepare meals for the rest of the week.
- Buy frozen – You can save a lot of money buying frozen foods and they are the next best thing to fresh. The foods will also keep longer so you may not have to shop as often.
- Buy in bulk – Like buying frozen, buying items in bulk, especially at a wholesale grocery store like Costco can save you a lot of money. Just make sure you can use it all before it goes bad!
- Shop sales – This is kind of a no-brainer, but buying food that is on sale, or produce that is in season, will not only save you money, but add some variety to your meals. I like to think of my shopping trips as hunting and gathering expeditions – I never know what I’m going find!
- A High Price for Healthy Food January 2011. Available at: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/a-high-price-for-healthy-food/. Accessed March 27, 2013. ↩
You Can Eat Healthy Without Breaking The Bank
And there you have it: it IS possible to eat healthy without taking out a second mortgage or selling your firstborn, regardless of what popular culture tells you. In fact, it can be very reasonable if you’re willing to put in the time and effort.
One last thing to consider is that the benefits of living well and eating a healthy diet are measured in years, not dollars. Years of good health. Years without relying on medications to get by. Years of happiness. One trap you should never fall into is putting a price on your health. As a wise man said long ago:
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” – Hippocrates
Do you have any tips for eating healthy without breaking the bank? Leave a comment below! | <urn:uuid:5de04721-7eec-447c-ab45-9a166b308580> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.builtlean.com/2013/04/15/healthy-food-budget/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916376 | 2,268 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Earth Day is April 22. The 43-year-old tradition, started in the spring of 1970, signaled the rise of the modern environmental movement.
Around 20 million people across the United States took to the streets to demand cleaner water, air, and the protection of forests.
In honor of Earth Day, the Giraffe Blog has put together 50 awesome facts about space, the atmosphere, the sea, and what's under the earth.
It's an easy reminder that our Blue Marble is an incredible place to live. | <urn:uuid:3f5dca7d-2862-4c56-b61f-6982a21981a5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.businessinsider.com/50-facts-about-earth-2013-4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937797 | 106 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Throughout the nineteenth century, European powers were fighting insurgencies within the urban and rural fringes of their colonial empires while protecting their expanding capital cities from home-grown rebellions and revolutions nourished by class struggles.
In 1840, a French army of 100,000 troops lead by Marshal Thomas Bugeaud was sent to Algiers to subdue Abdel Kader's Berber and Arab tribal army of 10,000 men, after the latter had surprisingly managed to destroy much of the standing French colonial army. In one of the first examples of counter-guerrilla tactics, Bugeaud dispensed with large and heavy military formations in favor of small, fast-moving task forces that he called flying columns. These flying columns terrorized the population with razzias1 in which massacres of the civilian population and the burning of whole villages and crops would routinely occur.
Bugeaud managed to regain control over Algiers's dense Kasbahs only after destroying entire neighborhoods, in reprisals for guerrilla attacks, and breaking the resistance by cutting routes through the neighborhoods where insurgents were hiding. In the process Bugeaud reshaped the city, making it more manoeuvrable for the military. This was among the first instances in which demolition was used as a means of military urban planning. Kader's resistance was broken, but the European project in Africa sought to further civilize the local population by upgrading their primitive habitat according to the rules of modern design. Through a system that would later be perfected in General Galliéni's method of progressive occupation, markets and roads were built as a means of convincing the local tribes of the benefits of modern French rule.
Bugeaud further imagined Roman style colonization, with large estates handed out to demobilized officers that would double as military bases and as an outpost of civilization where modern services could be provided to the surrounding rural areas. But most often the population of these early colonial settlements consisted of poor European peasants and, after 1848, of urban deportees referred to as workers' battalions.
Alexis de Tocqueville may have represented the wide-spread sentiment of many in Paris who were disturbed by Bugeaud's tactics in Algeria. Commenting on the Marshal's proposed resignation, he wrote: When I hear that a resignation offered by Marshal Bugeaud was not accepted, I cannot help supposing that Marshal Bugeaud is being left in Africa far less for the good one expects from him there than for the evil that is feared of him here in Paris. But it was too late as Bugeaud was on his way back to France. Together with Bugeaud, the tactics of urban warfare and military urban planning skipped over the Mediterranean, from the Algerian county-side, where they were experimented with, to the streets and alleyways of Paris.
In Paris, both conservative and progressive elites considered the city congested, filthy, decadent, and, above all, dangerous. The bourgeoisie feared the revolutionary ferment that was generated around the densely populated, desperately poor, and rapidly growing workers' slums.
As a royalist who opposed the Industrial Revolution, which he thought was physically and morally toxic, Bugeaud personified the anti-urban attitudes of the French Restoration. Before leaving for Algiers, he embarked on a course of agricultural innovation aimed at reversing the migratory trend from the county-side to cities by making land cultivation more efficient and by dispersing the urban working classes in agricultural villages across the French countryside and the colonial world.
With a feeling of desperation about the state of security in cities and having retired to his estate, Bugeaud wrote what would become the first manual for the preparation and conduct of urban warfare, La Guerre des Rues et des Maison. In this text, he outlines the geography of the dangers of pre-Haussmannian Paris and proposes new urban typologies on different scales to address them.
As a preventative measure against future barricades, Bugeaud proposed a radical reorganization of the city's fabric. Having tested the tactic during his battles in Algiers, he proposed that new routes for military manoeuvres be cut through the city and military regiments positioned within it (Haussmann, his avid reader, would later implement this plan).
In opening large public spaces within the city and segregating classes and functions within it, and by further submitting the city to the logic of the efficiency of troops and supply movement, Bugeaud, the anti-urbanist or great head gardener, as he was called in Paris, had in effect drawn the blueprint for the first modern city. He has since become the inspiration for many urban-rural (one might say suburban) utopias that perfected classification, segregation, and hygiene in their attempt to merge city and country-side.
The application of the principles of concentration and unity of action, which has been talked about so much recently, is of less importance in street warfare than in ranked battles. In ranked battle, the efforts must develop in harmony in order for the engaged troops to be properly supported on the right, the left and in the rear. It is only in this way that one can successfully overturn the formidable lines upheld by the reserves; it is only in this way that one can repair setbacks and catastrophes that befall those who make up the first line of attack.
These necessities are met only to a small degree in street warfare, where one only fights against barricades and musketry fire from houses. There is no need to be afraid of a serious and prolonged offensive from an enemy who, in fighting in or among the buildings, is clothed in obstacles; if the enemy takes cover, or wants to ambush, it is an interest in self-preservation that makes him aware of his weakness in open and mass offensives.
This type of war amounts to an intelligent war of tirailleurs.1
Ordinary tactics and theory cannot be applied here.
Although the streets could be compared, up to a certain point, with corridors, one must refrain from attacking them with shallow, ranked columns. This is sometimes done in ordinary war because it acts as a means of opening up the enemies' ranks and because, faced with the possibility of finding a strong enemy beyond the corridor, one must meet him with a force strong enough to clear the passage and to hold it long enough so that the troops, when their time comes, can draw in to unblock and quickly reinforce those who passed first. Thus one tightens the ranks in order that the tail approaches as close as possible to the head.
The same necessity is not met in street warfare against a riot. One should completely avoid approaching the barricade with columns; one must attack them only with the tirailleurs. The tirailleurs' conduct should be very audacious; they should convince themselves that one does not remove barricades with gunfire. To fire upon them is a fool's game, since the defenders are covered and because the assailants are visible from head-to-toe. It is by means of running and climbing that one removes barricades. When the summit of the barricade is reached, material equality is established, but the moral superiority is on the side of the assailant because he has given his adversaries a strong sense of his courage by braving their fire and by crossing the obstacle. It is thus twenty, thirty, or forty men at most (depending on the length of the street), commanded by a vigorous officer, who must launch a campaign against the barricade, but as they can receive gunshots from the windows of the houses on the right and left, they must protect themselves from behind with two ranks of tirailleurs, advancing rapidly along the houses to the left and right. The right flank fires upon the rioters who come to the windows on the left; the left flank does the same to those on the right. Past experience has shown that in this way one extinguishes or cancels out the crossfire; this strategy is easily understood if one recognizes that when the entire body can be sheltered, it is then difficult to resolve to expose any portion of that body; it is this natural feeling that makes troops battle more poorly behind entrenchments than in the open countryside. However, to maneuver the troops in the street, one must display the entire upper body. Generally this is dangerous; however, because the enemy releases their fire from the windows either without appearing or appearing only momentarily, their fire cannot be fatal. The projectiles that are dropped from the windows, such as furniture and bricks, are more to be feared than the gunfire; the tirailleurs will protect themselves from the projectiles by staying close to the walls, because the launched object can only fall a certain distance from the wall, since it can only land on the ground after having cleared the balcony or the balustrade and we must still add the force added by he who throws the projectile, which carries it even farther out. The troops who support the tirailleurs' attack should remain at a great distance from the musketry, or better still, remain covered in the adjoining streets, so as not to be exposed to their own fire.
As in the sieges, one must maintain the goal of protecting, as much as possible, the men's lives; however one must get things done quickly since one does not have spare time as in an ordinary war, as the prolongation of the fight constitutes a political danger. To move quickly and to handle the soldiers carefully are not irreconcilable tasks, as it might at first seem. To accomplish this, the proper intelligence must be given to all the officers, the non-commissioned officers and soldiers in advance.
As soon as the barricades are removed and the street is cleared of enemies, the supporting troops can advance. If there are adjoining streets that have been barricaded, the barricades can be removed in the same manner. If one sets fire to some of the houses, the houses must be entered and the defenders must be attacked and captured. Humanity demands that one recommend to the troops, in advance, that they should spare the women, the young, and the old and to fire only on those who are armed.
While the doors of the houses are broken down, by means of levers and pliers, the tirailleurs should maintain control of the windows by firing on anything that presents itself. The use of explosives in creating passageways is even faster but it is difficult to have explosives everywhere they are necessary. There must, however, be a certain amount with each column, as well as trained men entrusted with setting them off when necessary.
Once a house is taken, if there is a need to pass into the neighboring houses, one can facilitate this by piercing the thin walls of separation between them, particularly those of the higher floors. One must, however, avoid as much as possible attacking houses, since it is a loss of time and always results in casualties.
One must also neglect scattered gunners because one can be assured that as the barricades are surmounted and the majority of insurgents chased from the streets, the rioters will take care not to begin fighting again for fear of attracting the vengeance of the vanquishers; attacks should be restricted to the buildings where the gunfire has been strong enough to indicate that the building contains a large number of defenders. If one attacks many houses without a serious motive, there will be a successive reduction in troops, because a number of the soldiers would not be remaining in the compact formation.
As the columns make progress, they leave behind small garrisons in the houses that command the occupied territory to prevent the barricades from reforming behind them. Some small columns of the national guard and the ranked troops should, toward the same goal, remain behind. These detachments are easily formed if, as I stated previously, in attacking the barricades one employs only the forces that are absolutely necessary to assure possession of the occupied territory. This task falls especially to the national guard who link the moral influence of the city's men with the force of the tirailleurs.
Up until this point, I have not spoken about the cannon because I generally believe it to be of little use and sometimes even bothersome when the riot is met fast enough to prevent it from perfecting its defense; in the span of time that it would take to employ the cannon, the barricade would have already been taken by the tirailleurs. Nevertheless the columns must have a cannon, for regardless of the speed of the initial attack, obstacles can be met, which it would be imprudent to challenge and remove with a live force before first attacking them with cannon fire.
When the object upon which the artillery should fire is in close range, as is often the case in narrow streets, one must not place the cannon at the bottom of the street, as ordinary procedure dictates; the cannoneers and the horses would be killed by the fire from the barricades and houses; under these circumstances, the cannons are loaded in hiding and then pushed by hand as quickly as possible into a position within sight of the barricade or house that must be attacked. The aimer should be very agile, firing his weapon accurately, because the cannon is not fired simply to make noise it is needed to produce an effect.
The means that I indicated above are sufficient when the riot has not had more than two or three hours to prepare itself. If, on the contrary, one lets it organize, gain manpower, and fortify itself at leisure, I will not say that one must work with more method, for the method is the art of action conforming to circumstances, but with more precautions, meaning one must move less quickly. It is then a type of siege that one must carry out.
One can be sure that the more the insurgents are fortified, the more difficult it is for them to rise and take the offensive; they reduce themselves behind the fortification to a defensive position. All the moral advantages are thus on the side of the defenders of the law and of society. They will advance less rapidly in the initial system but they will make constant, safe progress that will gradually throw the insurgents into despair. It is necessary to proceed with the cannon in order to bring the action into the interior of the houses; this action is more powerful than that of the cannon. The cannon will not produce a great effect on barricades constructed with ten or twelve layers of brick.
The shells will be effective if the streets behind the barricades are filled with insurgents; however, with the first blast of shells, the insurgents will disperse to take shelter in the houses and cross-streets. Thus one must not assign too much importance to the effect of the artillery; the effect is rather moral than material. It would be instructive to find the number of dead and wounded in the June Campaign2; I would dare to venture that it was not more than 50 that died for that cause. In war fought inside villages, the cannon cannot be very efficient when the enemy emerges in mass from the boulevards, the public squares, the docks and the avenues; outside of the villages, it is the sappers3 and the soldiers fighting on foot who make up the infantry, and who do the majority of the work through their daring intelligence.
What is to be done if the barricades are too strong to be broken down by the tirailleurs? Under such circumstances, one enters into the first houses that line either side of the street, and it is here that the troop's detonator is a great advantage because he quickly achieves the goal. He climbs up to the top floor and systematically blasts through all the walls, finally managing to pass the barricade. As soon as he has succeeded in this task, the barricades are taken, because the infantry, situated in the houses that look onto the barricades from behind, can gun down the defenders, or throw furniture, tiles and other projectiles at the their heads.
To the ranks of these most efficient techniques, we should add grenades, as much because of the effect produced by their explosions as because of how easy it is to use them from windows, allowing the troops to remain unexposed to the enemy stationed in the street.
In speaking on this subject we should also note the great and widely acknowledged service of the firemen, whose rapid advance along the rooftops allows them to pass the barricades with the greatest promptness.
As soon as the barricades are evacuated, the reserve troops advance, taking possession of the streets that are still occupied by rioters (the columns' commanders make new formations to seize them).
The troops' commanders should carefully regulate the detachment force called upon to enter the houses; if the process is not carefully regulated, more men will be used than are necessary, causing clustering, confusion, and making the work progress less quickly and less well. In this war of details and allotment, if the typical tactics, as we have described above, do not apply, one must nevertheless maintain rules. Organization and discipline play a strong role; it is by these grand means that one brings order upon disorder. Without order, great confusion will quickly be established and the heads, no longer knowing where their soldiers are, will be exposed because they are almost completely alone in the streets.
We do not think more than twenty-five or thirty men, plus one officer, are needed to move to the top floor of a row of houses. It is clear that few people are needed since only two or three men can make holes in each wall. One needs only the number absolutely necessary to relieve the tired workers and protect them against attacks, which can befall them from the insurgent's house into which they have bored.
Several similar attacks directed in the same way, or nearly the same way, within the same district should soon bring good results; these attacks through the houses progress more quickly than one might initially think, provided that the assailants have good tools and that within the detachment there are men well-versed in the proper tactics.
The direction of diverse attacks of this nature should come from above, that is to say from the superior commanders of the troops who are given the task of invading the district; without the proper direction, the efforts would be divergent, incoherent, and might not produce, or produce to a lesser extent, the desired result. Properly giving orders allows one to bring order to disorder, or, perhaps to speak more accurately, order to the scattered state of the means.
This rule should still allow for great initiative among the diverse troop detachments; given that accidents will occur, it is necessary for lower ranked officers and even foot soldiers to know how to handle these setbacks. The unexpected plays a great role in this war. It is for this reason that one must rely on many intelligent and courageous individuals. And it is advisable to provide even the last ranks with detailed instructions. Providing men with the details of the battle at the moment of combat would be an impossible option.
Translation by Eric Nylund
- Dating from the Napoleonic period, tirailleurs is a term used to define the group of light infantrymen fighting ahead of the main columns. In French colonial campaigns, these troops were often drawn from Algerian and sub Saharan African populations.
A revolt lead by the Parisian working classes in 1848. The resistance was quickly overcome by the Parisian National Guard and the Mobile Guard.
- A soldier working to undermine enemy fortifications.
Cabinet is published by Immaterial Incorporated, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Cabinet receives generous support from the Lambent Foundation, the Orphiflamme Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Opaline Fund, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Danielson Foundation, the Katchadourian Family Foundation, and many individuals. All our events are free, the entire content of our many sold-out issues are on our site for free, and we offer our magazine and books at prices that are considerably below cost. Please consider supporting our work by making a tax-deductible donation by visiting here | <urn:uuid:545a0811-20e5-4bc3-8da2-51632a9a6384> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/22/bugeaud.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965285 | 4,127 | 3.671875 | 4 |
Packed with more vitamin C than an equivalent amount of orange, the bright green flesh of the kiwifruit speckled with tiny black seeds adds a dramatic tropical flair to any fruit salad. California kiwifruit is available November through May, while the New Zealand crop hits the market June through October making fresh kiwis available year round.
The kiwifruit is a small fruit approximately 3 inches long and weighing about four ounces. Its green flesh is almost creamy in consistency with an invigorating taste reminiscent of strawberries, melons and bananas, yet with its own unique sweet flavor.
Native to China, kiwifruits were originally known as Yang Tao. They were brought to New Zealand from China by missionaries in the early 20th century with the first commercial plantings occurring several decades later. In 1960, they were renamed Chinese Gooseberries.
In 1961, Chinese Gooseberries made their first appearance at a restaurant in the United States and were subsequently "discovered" by an American produce distributor who felt that the U.S. market would be very receptive to this uniquely exotic fruit. She initiated the import of these fruits into the United States in 1962, but to meet what was felt to be burgeoning demand, changed its name from Chinese Gooseberry to kiwifruit, in honor of the native bird of New Zealand, the kiwi, whose brown fuzzy coat resembled the skin of this unique fruit. Currently, Italy, New Zealand, Chile, France, Japan and the United States are among the leading commercial producers of kiwifruit.
How to Select and Store
When selecting kiwifruits, hold them between your thumb and forefinger and gently apply pressure; those that have the sweetest taste will yield gently to pressure. Avoid those that are very soft, shriveled or have bruised or damp spots. As size is not related to the fruit's quality, choose a kiwifruit based upon your personal preference or recipe need. Kiwifruits are usually available throughout most of the year.
If kiwifruits do not yield when you gently apply pressure with your thumb and forefinger, they are not yet ready to be consumed since they will not have reached the peak of their sweetness. Kiwifruits can be left to ripen for a few days to a week at room temperature, away from exposure to sunlight or heat. Placing the fruits in a paper bag with an apple, banana or pear will help to speed their ripening process. Ripe kiwifruits can be stored either at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
A Few Quick Serving Ideas:
Kiwifruit are so delicious, they can be eaten as is. One of our favorite ways to do so is to peel with a paring knife and slice.
Add kiwifruit to tossed green salads.
Serve sliced kiwifruit and strawberries, fruits whose flavors are naturally complementary, topped with yogurt.
Mix sliced kiwifruit, orange and pineapple together to make chutney that can be served as an accompaniment to chicken or fish.
Blend kiwifruit and cantaloupe in a food processor to make a chilled soup. For a creamier consistency, blend yogurt in with the fruit mixture.
Kiwifruit have a wonderful flavor and appearance for use in fruit tarts.
Do you like kiwifruit? | <urn:uuid:3832f167-3ccb-470f-97f1-364eaaafe8c4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cafemom.com/group/112067/forums/read/16893258/Ingredient_of_the_Week_July_8_Kiwifruit | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961494 | 691 | 2.546875 | 3 |
It's Australia Day and you're several drinks down at a party in eager anticipation to see whether the next song on the Triple J countdown is the one you voted for. Suddenly you overhear that same old argument between two people over whether the day should be called Australia Day or Invasion Day. Not this one again. Frustrations aside, it always makes you feel a little weird.
Well, it should, if you're Australian.
Whether it's Invasion Day or discussions of treaties and Indigenous sovereignty, it makes many of us non-Indigenous Australians feel a little uncomfortable. And here is why.
As historian Patrick Wolfe argues, Australia, for its legitimacy as a state, has always fundamentally depended on the dispossession of the Indigenous nation – Australia simply cannot exist without this invading process in play. Now, as a member of the Australian state, you owe your very existence to this process of invasion. From the land you grew up on to the dividends of your mining shares, it is all a result of the invasion process. This is not a thesis on white guilt. It is a statement of fact.
It is for this reason that so many non-Indigenous Australians find it impossible to genuinely and critically discuss Indigenous issues. Accepting any of these truths questions our individual identity and legitimacy. We cannot handle the truths of Australia's historic and continued dispossession of Indigenous peoples and so we try to alleviate the situation by half-baked solutions such as land rights, constitutional recognition and reconciliation action plans.
This is not to take anything away from these efforts – but our problem is that we are seeking short-term solutions without knowing the more fundamental question to be asked.
What is the right relationship for Australia to have with its Indigenous nations and peoples? This is the question we should be asking.
Many other countries have asked this question. Canada did, in its Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, asking "what are the foundations of a fair and honourable relationship between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people of Canada?" The result is that Canada engages with Aboriginal peoples on a nation-to-nation basis (or is at least meant to).
It is because of this lack of a relationship that non-Indigenous Australia has never taken to a treaty. This is because the relationship that would underpin a treaty has not yet been perceived to exist by non-Indigenous Australia – you cannot negotiate with someone you don't think worthy of being the other party to that negotiation.
So how does non-Indigenous Australia ask this question and establish this relationship? The first and most important step is to retract our desire for self-legitimisation and accept that as non-Indigenous Australians we have a confused identity. It is only from this more neutral position that we can learn a new perspective, that Indigenous people in Australia are distinct nations and people possessing the inherent right to determine their own affairs.
It is from here that we can possibly develop a new relationship with Indigenous nations and peoples, one that results in a new political engagement such as a treaty. This is a process, and certainly not a clear-cut one.
So on January 26, if you're asked whether you think it should be called Australia Day or Invasion Day, don't back up into the hole of self-preservation and say "get over it, it's Aussie Day!" Similarly, don't align with lefty anti-establishment mantras and deny your Australianness. Accept your confused identity and commit to a critical assessment of the true relationship Australia should have with Indigenous nations and peoples. This, in turn, will redefine your own identity as an Australian, for the better.
James Dwyer is an Australian legal professional working in Aboriginal self-government in Canada. | <urn:uuid:937943e8-fc67-4b06-af3b-6a5176cac17a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/australia-day-or-invasion-day-its-the-wrong-question-20160125-gmdfz0.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963905 | 761 | 2.671875 | 3 |
You have the power to end brain cancer.
A risk factor is something that increases the risk of developing cancer. It could be a behaviour, substance or condition. Most cancers are the result of many risk factors. But sometimes prostate cancer develops in men who don’t have any of the risk factors described below.
The risk of prostate cancer increases as men grow older. Prostate cancer is not very common in men under 50 years of age. The chance of having prostate cancer increases after 50. It is diagnosed most often in men over the age of 65.
Men of Asian ancestry have lower rates of prostate cancer, while men of African ancestry have a higher risk of developing prostate cancer. Men of African ancestry have higher rates of prostate cancer and are more likely to be diagnosed at a younger age than Caucasian men. Men of African ancestry also tend to have more aggressive tumours that are diagnosed at an advanced stage. The reason for these ethnic differences is not clear.
Risk factors are generally listed in order from most to least important. But in most cases, it is impossible to rank them with absolute certainty.
*You may wonder about alcohol, benign prostate hyperplasia, and frequency of sexual activity and ejaculation. There is significant evidence showing that there is no association between these factors and prostate cancer.
There is convincing evidence that a family history of the disease increases your risk for prostate cancer.
The risk of developing prostate cancer is higher if a first-degree relative (your father, brother or son) has been diagnosed with the disease. The more first-degree relatives with prostate cancer a man has, the greater his risk of developing prostate cancer.
Risk is also influenced by your relative’s age at diagnosis. If your relative was diagnosed with prostate cancer before the age of 65, your chance of developing prostate cancer is higher than if your relative was diagnosed at an older age.
The following factors have been linked with prostate cancer, but there is not enough evidence to show they are known risk factors. Further study is needed to clarify the role of these factors for prostate cancer.
A diet high in fat, especially animal fat, may increase the risk of prostate cancer. Animal fat is found in milk and other dairy products. Some studies suggest that men who eat larger amounts of dairy products may have a higher risk for prostate cancer. Milk products also have calcium. Some studies suggest that a high calcium intake may increase the risk of developing prostate cancer.
Some studies show that eating a lot of red meat like beef or pork, especially when it is cooked at a high temperature, may increase the risk of developing prostate cancer. Eating a lot of processed meat like bacon or hot dogs may also put you at higher risk. Eating white meat doesn’t increase your risk for prostate cancer.
Studies show that some inherited gene mutations may increase the chance of developing prostate cancer. But only a very small number of cases of prostate cancer are linked with these gene mutations.
Men who inherit mutations of the BRCA2 gene may have a higher risk of developing prostate cancer. This gene mutation also increases a woman’s risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer. Researchers are also studying other gene mutations that may affect the risk of developing prostate cancer.
Inflammation of the prostate is called prostatitis. Many studies show that long-term inflammation of the prostate increases the risk of developing prostate cancer. It also makes prostate cancer grow and spread more quickly.
Androgens are a type of male hormone. They are responsible for the growth, development and function of the male reproductive system, including the prostate. Testosterone is the main male hormone. When the body uses, or metabolizes, testosterone, it creates dihydrotestosterone (DHT).
Some evidence suggests that androgens are related to the growth and development of prostate cancer. Long-term exposure to higher levels of testosterone and DHT may increase the chance of developing prostate cancer. Hormonal therapy that blocks the body’s production of these hormones is one of the treatments for prostate cancer.
Studies show that developmental factors that influence growth in the womb, during childhood and in adolescence are linked to a higher risk of prostate cancer. The findings show the taller a man is, the greater his risk of prostate cancer.
Studies suggest that farmers and workers who spray pesticides on crops have a slightly higher risk of developing prostate cancer. The risk may be even higher for men with a family history of prostate cancer.
Researchers don’t know which specific chemicals may be responsible for this increased risk. Pesticides have a large number of different chemicals, but only some of them may be related to prostate cancer.
Some evidence suggests that occupational exposure to the following chemicals may increase the risk for prostate cancer.
Cadmium is a metallic element known to cause cancer. Some studies show that men exposed to cadmium in smelting or battery manufacturing industries have a higher risk of developing prostate cancer. Further research is needed to determine how cadmium exposure affects prostate cancer risk.
Chemicals in rubber manufacturing may increase the risk for prostate cancer. There is some evidence that workers in the rubber manufacturing industry have a higher risk of developing the disease.
It isn’t known whether or not the following factors are linked with prostate cancer. It may be that researchers can’t show a definite link or that studies have had different results. Further study is needed to see if the following are risk factors for prostate cancer:
Seeing my sister Erin – a young mother – struggle with the emotional blow and then the physical toll of cancer treatment made me want to do something to help women feel confident.
The Canadian Cancer Society’s Community Services Locator helps cancer patients and their families find the services and programs they need in their community. | <urn:uuid:81ff89fe-492f-413d-bf43-10989173df26> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-type/prostate/risks/?region=on | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957644 | 1,178 | 2.859375 | 3 |
The Onion Router (Tor) - an open source software- uses a concept called onion routing, which ensures the entry node to a network is not the same as the exit node. This process creates anonymity for the client when interacting with the destination system. By hopping among internal nodes, it could theoretically be impossible to detect the origin of the request.
However, while it provides a blanket of anonymity for Internet users, it also provides a safe haven for malicious actors who want to exploit anonymity in order to perform illegitimate actions against web applications.
Download this whitepaper to explore:
- The benefits of anonymity for Tor users
- The risks of allowing Tor traffic to websites and the potential impact on business
- Tor attacks broken down by category, target industry and target country | <urn:uuid:53484efc-2621-485b-b2c1-becc054894ad> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.careersinfosecurity.com/whitepapers/internet-anonymity-pros-cons-tor-network-w-2120 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908083 | 155 | 2.859375 | 3 |
The Quest to End the Flu
On April 28, 2009, a box containing a newly isolated virus showed up at Doris Bucher’s lab. She and her colleagues at New York Medical College opened it up right away. Thousands, or perhaps millions, of lives might depend on what they did next.
The virus was a new kind of influenza, known as 2009 H1N1. It had abruptly started spreading across North America in the previous month, and was beginning to appear in countries around the world. Once scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed it, they realized that the vaccine already in production for the next flu season probably wouldn’t be effective against it. And because it was so new, people’s immune systems might also be unable to stop the virus, which meant that it could become a global outbreak—a pandemic.
No one knew how bad 2009 H1N1 might prove to be, but the experts did know that the virus had the capacity to be very bad. Flu pandemics had occurred three times in the previous century, and the worst of them, the so-called Spanish Flu of 1918–19, had killed an estimated 50 million people. It, too, was an H1N1 virus. Once researchers at the CDC got hold of the 2009 H1N1 virus, they had one urgent mission: make a new vaccine.Read the rest atThe Atlantic
In the Human Brain, Size Really Isn’t Everything
New York Times,
December 26, 2013Link
There are many things that make humans a unique species, but a couple stand out. One is our mind, the other our brain.
The human mind can carry out cognitive tasks that other animals cannot, like using language, envisioning the distant future and inferring what other people are thinking.
The human brain is exceptional, too. At three pounds, it is gigantic relative to our body size. Our closest living relatives, chimpanzees, have brains that are only a third as big.
Scientists have long suspected that our big brain and powerful mind are intimately connected. Starting about three million years ago, fossils of our ancient relatives record a huge increase in brain size. Once that cranial growth was underway, our forerunners started leaving behind signs of increasingly sophisticated minds, like stone tools and cave paintings.
But scientists have long struggled to understand how a simple increase in size could lead to the evolution of those faculties. Now, two Harvard neuroscientists, Randy L. Buckner and Fenna M. Krienen, have offered a powerful yet simple explanation.
Learning From the History of Vitamins
New York Times,
December 12, 2013Link
Our health depends on vitamins, and to understand that dependency, it helps to understand the history of vitamins. As I wrote in an article in Science Times this week, our ancestors have probably needed vitamins for billions of years. By studying how we and other species make vitamins, scientists hope to find new ways to keep us healthy — perhaps even by using vitamins as a weapon against our enemies.
There are two ways of getting those vitamins: making them or eating them. Our microbial ancestors probably made many of their vitamins, but later much of that ability was lost. Our primate ancestors lost the ability to make their own vitamin C about 60 million years ago.
Those ancestors didn’t need to make vitamin C, however, because they regularly ate fruit. More recently, our hunter-gatherer ancestors got an abundant supply of vitamins from the game they killed and the plants they collected. But with the rise of agriculture, people began to eat more vitamin-poor starches like wheat and corn. And as we’ve transformed our diet even further, we’ve put ourselves at risk of vitamin-related diseases.
Vitamins Old, Old Edge
New York Times,
December 9, 2013Link
In 1602, a Spanish fleet was sailing up the Pacific coast of Mexico when the crew became deathly ill. “The first symptom is pain in the whole body that makes it sensitive to touch,” wrote Antonio de la Ascensión, a priest on the expedition. “Purple spots begin to cover the body, especially from the waist down; then the gums become so swollen that the teeth cannot be brought together, and they can only drink, and finally they die all of a sudden, while talking.”
The crew was suffering from scurvy, a disease that was then both bitterly familiar and deeply mysterious. No one knew why it struck sailors or how to cure it. But on that 1602 voyage, Ascensión witnessed what he considered a miracle. While the crew was ashore burying the dead, one sick sailor picked up a cactus fruit to eat. He started to feel better, and his crewmates followed his example.
“They all began to eat them and bring them back on board so that, after another two weeks, they were all healed,” the priest wrote.
Baffling 400,000-Year-Old Clue to Human Origins
New York Times,
December 4, 2013Link
Scientists have found the oldest DNA evidence yet of humans’ biological history. But instead of neatly clarifying human evolution, the finding is adding new mysteries.
In a paper in the journal Nature, scientists reported Wednesday that they had retrieved ancient human DNA from a fossil dating back about 400,000 years, shattering the previous record of 100,000 years.
The fossil, a thigh bone found in Spain, had previously seemed to many experts to belong to a forerunner of Neanderthals. But its DNA tells a very different story. It most closely resembles DNA from an enigmatic lineage of humans known as Denisovans. Until now, Denisovans were known only from DNA retrieved from 80,000-year-old remains in Siberia, 4,000 miles east of where the new DNA was found.
Linking Genes to Diseases by Sifting Through Electronic Medical Records
New York Times,
November 28, 2013Link
The days of scrawled doctor’s notes are slowly coming to a close. In the United States, 93 percent of hospitals are now using at least some electronic medical records and 2.2 percent have given up paper records completely, according to the consulting firm HIMSS Analytics.
The federal government has been pushing for electronic medical records for a decade, arguing that they will improve health care and bring down costs. That is still a matter of debate. Critics charge that the system is hobbled by poorly designed software and that some hospitals are using electronic medical records to bill more for the same services.
But a new study suggests that electronic medical records may have another, entirely different use: as a Rosetta Stone for our DNA. Researchers are using them to trace links between genes and disease.
It has been 13 years since scientists first published the rough draft of the human genome and yet they are still just beginning to work out how our DNA influences our health. Most insights in recent years have come from so-called genome-wide association studies.
Fast-Paced Evolution in the Andes
New York Times,
November 7, 2013Link
In 1799 the great naturalist Alexander von Humboldt and his companions set out from Caracas, Venezuela, to climb the Andes. They struggled up a mountainside enveloped in mist so thick they had to clamber over rocks by hand. When the fog cleared, von Humboldt was left astonished by the view. Vast grasslands stretched all around him, home to an astonishing number of different trees, shrubs and flowers.
“Nowhere, perhaps, can be found collected together, in so small a space, productions so beautiful and so remarkable in regard to the geography of plants,” he later wrote.
Von Humboldt had stumbled into a remarkable ecosystem, known as a Páramo. Páramos blanket the Andes in Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia, growing at altitudes 9,200 to 14,800 feet above sea level.
“They’re like islands in a sea of forest,” said Santiago Madriñán, an expert on Páramos at the University of the Andes in Colombia. All told, Páramos cover about 13,500 square miles — an area the size of Maryland. In that small space, Dr. Madriñán and other researchers have found 3,431 species of vascular plants, most of them found nowhere else on Earth. The Páramos are home to strange variations on familiar forms, such as a daisy known as Espeletia uribei that grows as tall as trees.
Afraid of Snakes? Your Pulvinar May Be to Blame
New York Times,
October 31, 2013Link
Multiple Walter Whites will walk the streets on Thursday in search of candy. But some frights endure the fashion cycle and never go out of style.
This week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of scientists examines one particularly long-lasting source of fear: snakes. The researchers found that certain neurons in the brain only respond to these legless reptiles. These snake-dedicated neurons, they argue, are a legacy of our distant primate past, when the animals posed one of the greatest threats to our survival.
The new study builds on years of experiments by psychologists. They found that the widespread fear of snakes stems from a perceptual bias: people recognize snakes faster than other objects.
Christening the Earliest Members of Our Genus
New York Times,
October 24, 2013Link
Around 1.8 million years ago, human evolution passed a milestone. Our ancestors before then were little more than bipedal apes. Those so-called hominids had chimpanzee-size bodies and brains, and they still had adaptations in their limbs for climbing trees. But the fossils of hominids from 1.8 to 1.5 million years ago are different. They had bigger brains, flatter faces and upright bodies better suited to walking.
Their geography changed, too. While earlier hominid fossils have only been found in Africa, the newer ones also turn up at sites stretching across Asia, from the Republic of Georgia all the way to Indonesia. These cosmopolitan hominids are so much like modern humans that paleoanthropologists consider them the earliest members of our own genus, Homo.
But they didn’t belong to our species, Homo sapiens. After all, their brains were still no more than two-thirds the size of our own, and they could only make simple hand axes and other crude stone tools. But if not Homo sapiens, then Homo what? What species did these fossils belong to?
That turns out to be a remarkably hard question to answer — in part because it is difficult to settle on what it means to be a species.
Key to Ants’ Evolution May Have Started With a Wasp
New York Times,
October 17, 2013Link
How should we judge the success of an animal? Philip S. Ward, a biologist at the University of California, Davis, offers what could be called the Picnic Test. “Have a picnic anywhere in the world,” he suggests. “Who would pick up the crumbs?”
Unless you happen to lay down your picnic blanket in Greenland, Antarctica, or a few remote islands in the Pacific, the answer will be ants. Ants have spread to just about every corner of earth’s dry land, colonizing virtually every imaginable ecosystem. By one rough estimate, there are 10,000 trillion ants on earth at any moment. In one study in a Brazilian rain forest, scientists discovered that the total mass of the ants that lived there was about four times greater than that of all the mammals, reptiles and amphibians combined.
One factor in the spectacular success of ants is their social life. They live in large colonies in which they divide the labor of finding food, rearing their young and defending their nests. Their societies are so complex that some scientists have studied ants as a way to understand the factors behind our own evolution into a social species.
It’s thus no surprise that many biologists — Dr. Ward among them — have long wondered how ants evolved. In the journal Current Biology, Dr. Ward and colleagues at the University of California, Davis, and the American Museum of Natural History, have now published an evolutionary tree of ants and their closest relatives that may provide the answer.
Elephants Get the Point of Pointing, Study Shows
New York Times,
October 10, 2013Link
We point to things without giving much thought to what a sophisticated act it really is. By simply extending a finger, we can let other people know we want to draw their attention to an object, and indicate which object it is.
As sophisticated as pointing may be, however, babies usually learn to do it by their first birthday. “If you don’t get that they’re drawing your attention to an object, they’ll get cross,” said Richard W. Byrne, a biologist at the University of St Andrews.
When scientists test other species, they find that pointing is a rare gift in the animal kingdom. Even our closest relatives, likes chimpanzees, don’t seem to get the point of pointing.
But Dr. Byrne and his graduate student Anna Smet now say they have discovered wild animals that also appears to understand pointing: elephants. The study, involving just 11 elephants, is hardly the last word on the subject. But it raises a provocative possibility that elephants have a deep social intelligence that rivals humans’ in some ways.
Earth’s Oxygen: A Mystery Easy to Take for Granted
New York Times,
October 3, 2013Link
To Donald E. Canfield, there’s something astonishing in every breath we take. “People take oxygen for granted because it’s just there and we breathe it all the time,” said Dr. Canfield, a geochemist at the University of Southern Denmark. “But we have the only planet we know of anywhere that has oxygen on it.”
What’s even more astonishing is that Earth started out with an oxygen-free atmosphere. It took billions of years before there was enough of the element to keep animals like us alive.
Although scientists have been struggling for decades to reconstruct the rise of oxygen, they’re still making fundamental discoveries. In just the past two weeks, for example, Dr. Canfield and his colleagues have published a pair of studies that provide significant clues about some of the most important chapters in oxygen’s history. They’re finding that our weirdly oxygen-rich atmosphere is the result of a complicated dance of geology and biology.
In Fragmented Forests, Rapid Mammal Extinctions
New York Times,
September 26, 2013Link
In 1987, the government of Thailand launched a huge, unplanned experiment. They built a dam across the Khlong Saeng river, creating a 60-square-mile reservoir. As the Chiew Larn reservoir rose, it drowned the river valley, transforming 150 forested hilltops into islands, each with its own isolated menagerie of wildlife.
Conservation biologists have long known that fragmenting wilderness can put species at risk of extinction. But it’s been hard to gauge how long it takes for those species to disappear. Chiew Larn has given biologists the opportunity to measure the speed of mammal extinctions. “It’s a rare thing to come by in ecological studies,” said Luke Gibson, a biologist at the National University of Singapore.
Over two decades, Dr. Gibson and his colleagues have tracked the diversity of mammals on the islands. In Friday’s issue of the journal Science, they report that the extinctions have turned out to be distressingly fast.
“Our results should be a warning,” said Dr. Gibson. “This is the trend that the world is going in.”
New Approach to Explaining Evolution’s Big Bang
New York Times,
September 19, 2013Link
The name Myllokunmingia may not ring a bell, but it is worth knowing. This 520-million-year-old creature was the size of a guppy, with a tiny swordfish-like fin running high over its back. The fossils it has left behind preserve traces of a skull.
Humans have a skull, too. This and a number of other traits we share with Myllokunmingia reveal it to be one of the oldest, most primitive vertebrates yet found. It is, in other words, a hint of where we came from.
Myllokunmingia emerged during one of the most important phases in the history of life, an evolutionary boom known as the Cambrian explosion (named for the geological period when it took place). Over the course of about 20 million years, the oldest known fossils of most of the major groups of living animals appear, revealing a rapid diversification of life that led directly to humans.
“It’s rapid in geological terms, but it’s probably not rapid to anyone who’s not a geologist,” said Paul Smith, the director of the Oxford Museum of Natural History.
By some estimates, the first animals evolved about 750 million years ago. But it’s not until around 520 million years ago that many major groups of living animals left behind their first fossils. For decades, scientists have searched for the trigger that set in motion this riot of diversity in the animal kingdom.
DNA Double Take
New York Times,
September 16, 2013Link
From biology class to “C.S.I.,” we are told again and again that our genome is at the heart of our identity. Read the sequences in the chromosomes of a single cell, and learn everything about a person’s genetic information — or, as 23andme, a prominent genetic testing company, says on its Web site, “The more you know about your DNA, the more you know about yourself.”
But scientists are discovering that — to a surprising degree — we contain genetic multitudes. Not long ago, researchers had thought it was rare for the cells in a single healthy person to differ genetically in a significant way. But scientists are finding that it’s quite common for an individual to have multiple genomes. Some people, for example, have groups of cells with mutations that are not found in the rest of the body. Some have genomes that came from other people.
“There have been whispers in the matrix about this for years, even decades, but only in a very hypothetical sense,” said Alexander Urban, a geneticist at Stanford University. Even three years ago, suggesting that there was widespread genetic variation in a single body would have been met with skepticism, he said. “You would have just run against the wall.”
But a series of recent papers by Dr. Urban and others has demonstrated that those whispers were not just hypothetical. The variation in the genomes found in a single person is too large to be ignored. “We now know it’s there,” Dr. Urban said. “Now we’re mapping this new continent.”
A Far-Flung Possibility for the Origin of Life
New York Times,
September 13, 2013Link
“We’re All Martians, Scientist Claims,” The Telegraph wrote on Aug. 28. Similar articles showed up in newspapers and on Web sites around the world.
The scientist who inspired all the headlines is a chemist named Steven Benner. Headlines notwithstanding, Dr. Benner is not a wild-eyed U.F.O. advocate claiming to have seen Little Green Men. Instead, he is one of the world’s leading experts on the origin of life.
“Steve is one of the master organic chemists tackling this problem,” said Robert M. Hazen, a mineralogist at the Carnegie Institution and the author of “The Story of Earth.”
The cause for Dr. Benner’s new-found celebrity is a lecture he delivered at a geology conference in Florence on Aug. 29. During his talk, he did not wave satellite pictures of canals on Mars, or of Martian hills that vaguely look like a human face.
Instead, he challenged his fellow scientists to look hard at the evidence we have about how life began.
A Catalog for all the World’s Viruses?
New York Times,
September 5, 2013Link
Viruses have a knack for ambush. Time and again, they have struck our species without warning, producing new diseases. H.I.V. burst on the scene in the early 1980s, and it took years for scientists to figure out that it had evolved from a chimpanzee virus in the early 1900s. In 2003, a previously unknown bat virus in China began to cause SARS in humans. Today we are in the midst of yet another ambush, as a new virus called MERS is infecting people, mostly in in Saudi Arabia. Scientists have yet to definitively pin down its origin, although preliminary evidence points to another species of bat.
We might be able to take away this element of surprise if we had a catalog of all the viruses lurking in mammals. As soon as a mysterious epidemic broke out, scientists could turn to the catalog to figure out where the virus came from, potentially gaining some crucial clues to the virus’s biology. But few scientists have ventured to build such a catalog, perhaps because there seemed to be such a vast number of viruses to contend with.
“No one’s really been addressing this question, even though it seems like such a fundamental one,” said Simon J. Anthony, an associate research scientist at Columbia University and a researcher at EcoHealth Alliance, a New York-based scientific research organization.
Human Microbiome May Be Seeded Before Birth
New York Times,
August 29, 2013Link
We are each home to about 100 trillion bacteria, which we carry with us from birth till death. But when Juliette C. Madan was trained as a neonatologist in the mid-2000s, her teachers told her in no uncertain terms that we only acquire those bacteria after we are born. “It was clear as day, we were told, that fetuses were sterile,” she said.
Dr. Madan is now an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, and she’s come to a decidedly different view on the matter. “I think that the tenet that healthy fetuses are sterile is insane,” she said.
Dr. Madan and a number of other researchers are now convinced mothers seed their fetuses with microbes during pregnancy. They argue that this early inoculation may be important to the long-term health of babies. And manipulating these fetal microbes could open up new ways to treat medical conditions ranging from pre-term labor to allergies.
As Humans Change Landscape, Brains of Some Animals Change, Too
New York Times,
August 22, 2013Link
Evolutionary biologists have come to recognize humans as a tremendous evolutionary force. In hospitals, we drive the evolution of resistant bacteria by giving patients antibiotics. In the oceans, we drive the evolution of small-bodied fish by catching the big ones.
In a new study, a University of Minnesota biologist, Emilie C. Snell-Rood, offers evidence suggesting that we may be driving evolution in a more surprising way. As we alter the places where animals live, we may be fueling the evolution of bigger brains.
Dr. Snell-Rood bases her conclusion on a collection of mammal skulls kept at the Bell Museum of Natural History at the University of Minnesota. She picked out 10 species to study, including mice, shrews, bats and gophers. She selected dozens of individual skulls that were collected as far back as a century ago. An undergraduate student, Naomi Wick, measured the dimensions of the skulls, making it possible to estimate the size of their brains.
Two important results emerged from their research. In two species — the white-footed mouse and the meadow vole — the brains of animals from cities or suburbs were about 6 percent bigger than the brains of animals collected from farms or other rural areas. Dr. Snell-Rood concludes that when these species moved to cities and towns, their brains became significantly bigger.
Watching Bacteria Evolve, With Predictable Results
New York Times,
August 15, 2013Link
If we could somehow rewind the history of life to the dawn of the animal kingdom, it would be unlikely that we humans would ever evolve, the evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould argued. The history of life was shaped by too many flukes and contingencies to repeat its course.
Scientists can’t turn back the clock 700 million years, so we can’t know for sure whether Dr. Gould was right on that particular point. But in experiments using bacteria and other fast-breeding organisms, scientists can replay evolution many times over in their labs. And the results of a new experiment published Thursday in the journal Cell Reports demonstrate — with movies — that evolution can be astoundingly predictable.
The experiment was carried out by Joao Xavier of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and his colleagues. They studied a common species of bacteria called Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These microbes live pretty much everywhere — in dirt, in water, on our skin. Under certain conditions, they also invade our bodies and cause dangerous infections. People with cystic fibrosis, for example, can get P. aeruginosa infections in their lungs, which are often impossible to eradicate.
A Family Consents to a Medical Gift, 62 Years Later
New York Times,
August 8, 2013Link
Henrietta Lacks was only 31 when she died of cervical cancer in 1951 in a Baltimore hospital. Not long before her death, doctors removed some of her tumor cells. They later discovered that the cells could thrive in a lab, a feat no human cells had achieved before.
Soon the cells, called HeLa cells, were being shipped from Baltimore around the world. In the 62 years since — twice as long as Ms. Lacks’s own life — her cells have been the subject of more than 74,000 studies, many of which have yielded profound insights into cell biology, vaccines, in vitro fertilization and cancer.
But Henrietta Lacks, who was poor, black and uneducated, never consented to her cells’ being studied. For 62 years, her family has been left out of the decision-making about that research. Now, over the past four months, the National Institutes of Health has come to an agreement with the Lacks family to grant them some control over how Henrietta Lacks’s genome is used.
Monogamy and Human Evolution
New York Times,
August 2, 2013Link
“Monogamy is a problem,” said Dieter Lukas of the University of Cambridge in a telephone news conference last week. As Dr. Lukas explained to reporters, he and other biologists consider monogamy an evolutionary puzzle.
In 9 percent of all mammal species, males and females will share a common territory for more than one breeding season, and in some cases bond for life. This is a problem — a scientific one — because male mammals could theoretically have more offspring by giving up on monogamy and mating with lots of females.
In a new study, Dr. Lukas and his colleague Tim Clutton-Brock suggest that monogamy evolves when females spread out, making it hard for a male to travel around and fend off competing males.
On the same day, Kit Opie of University College London and his colleagues published a similar study on primates, which are especially monogamous — males and females bond in over a quarter of primate species. The London scientists came to a different conclusion: that the threat of infanticide leads males to stick with only one female, protecting her from other males.
Even with the scientific problem far from resolved, research like this inevitably turns us into narcissists. It’s all well and good to understand why the gray-handed night monkey became monogamous. But we want to know: What does this say about men and women?
As with all things concerning the human heart, it’s complicated.
The Fall and Rise of Gene Therapy
Rarely does a whole life’s work crumble in a single week, but james wilson’s did. The first glimmer of impending ruin came on a Tuesday morning—September 14, 1999—as he sat in his office at the University of Pennsylvania. In his role as founder and director of Penn’s Institute for Human Gene Therapy, Wilson was one of the most prominent researchers in the nascent field, which sought to put genes into patients to repair their faulty DNA.
Wilson and his colleagues were adding the final patients to a two-year clinical trial, the ultimate goal of which was to treat a rare but devastating disorder. Called OTCD, or ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency, the genetic disorder renders its victims unable to process nitrogen in their blood. Nitrogen is created when protein is broken down, so the blood of OTCD sufferers becomes poisoned when they eat protein-rich foods: One bite of a hot dog can bring on a coma. As a result, just half of children born with OTCD—estimated at roughly one in 80,000 babies in the US, or 50 per year—live to the age of 5. Wilson and his colleagues hoped to treat this disease by giving sufferers a working copy of the defective gene they carry. To accomplish this, they engineered a virus carrying the functional gene; after successful trials of the virus in mice, they launched a clinical trial to test its safety in humans suffering from OTCD.
The Surprising Origins of Evolutionary Complexity
Quanta Magazine and Scientific American,
Charles Darwin was not yet 30 when he got the basic idea for the theory of evolution. But it wasn't until he turned 50 that he presented his argument to the world. He spent those two decades methodically compiling evidence for his theory and coming up with responses to every skeptical counterargument he could think of. And the counterargument he anticipated most of all was that the gradual evolutionary process he envisioned could not produce certain complex structures.
Consider the human eye. It is made up of many parts—a retina, a lens, muscles, jelly, and so on—all of which must interact for sight to occur. Damage one part—detach the retina, for instance—and blindness can follow. In fact, the eye functions only if the parts are of the right size and shape to work with one another. If Darwin was right, then the complex eye had evolved from simple precursors. In On the Origin of Species, Darwin wrote that this idea “seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree.”
But Darwin could nonetheless see a path to the evolution of complexity. In each generation, individuals varied in their traits. Some variations increased their survival and allowed them to have more offspring. Over generations those advantageous variations would become more common—would, in a word, be “selected.” As new variations emerged and spread, they could gradually tinker with anatomy, producing complex structures.
Despite Two New Studies on Motives for Monogamy, the Debate Continues
New York Times,
July 30, 2013Link
The golden lion tamarin, a one-pound primate that lives in Brazil, is a stunningly monogamous creature. A male will typically pair with a female and they will stay close for the rest of their lives, mating only with each other and then working together to care for their young.
To biologists, this deeply monogamous way of life — found in 9 percent of mammal species — is puzzling. A seemingly better evolutionary strategy for male mammals would be to spend their time looking for other females with which to mate.
“Monogamy is a problem,” said Dieter Lukas of the University of Cambridge in a telephone news conference on Monday. “Why should the male keep to one female?”
Looking at Oil Palm’s Genome for Keys to Productivity
New York Times,
July 24, 2013Link
You may have never set eyes on an oil palm tree, but it’s probably an intimate part of your everyday life. Whether you start your day with a shave or an application of lipstick, you are probably putting the oil from the tree’s fruits on your face. You buy a donut on the way to work, and with each bite, you swallow some of the palm oil in which it was cooked. After work, you stop at the supermarket, and about half the products on the shelves contain palm oil. Before bed, you scrub your face with soap and brush your teeth with toothpaste. They’re both palm oil’s way of wishing you good night.
In just the past few decades, the oil palm tree Elaeis guineensis has become a huge global industry. In 1961, the world’s palm oil plantations produced 1.7 million tons of oil; today that figure is up to 64 million tons a year. A single acre of oil palm trees can generate up to $4,500 annually. Those prices will probably stay high in decades to come, as demand for the oil increases. China and India are now shifting to using palm oil for cooking food, for example, and some countries are exploring palm oil as a biofuel.
But the oil palm tree industry is also an environmental disaster, according to many conservation biologists. The tree “grows best in those parts of the world that support tropical rainforests,” said Ben Phalan of the University of Cambridge. “Oil palm expansion in recent decades has been one of the main drivers of deforestation in Southeast Asia.”
Changing View on Viruses: Not So Small After All
New York Times,
July 18, 2013Link
There was a time not that long ago when it was easy to tell the difference between viruses and the rest of life. Most obviously, viruses were tiny and genetically simple. The influenza virus, for example, measures about 100 nanometers across, and has just 13 genes.
Those two standards, it’s now clear, belong in the trash. Over the past decade, scientists have discovered a vast menagerie of viruses that are far bigger, and which carry enormous arsenals of genes. French researchers are now reporting the discovery of the biggest virus yet. The pandoravirus, as they’ve dubbed it, is 1,000 times bigger than the flu virus by volume and has nearly 200 times as many genes — 2,556 all told.
Making the discovery all the more startling is the fact that, of all the genes that pandoraviruses carry, only six percent match any gene known to science.
“We believe we’re opening a Pandora’s box – not so much for humanity but for dogma about viruses,” said Dr. Jean-Michel Claverie of the University of Mediterranée, co-author of the paper that was published online Thursday in the journal Science. “We believe we’re touching an alternative tree of life.”
Looking for Ways to Beat the Weeds
New York Times,
July 16, 2013Link
Depending on your point of view, barnyardgrass is a nightmare or a marvel.
A cotton field was sprayed with residual herbicides before planting to counter glyphosate-resistant weeds.
That’s because it’s a supremely triumphant weed. Barnyardgrass can swoop in to fields and outcompete planted crops. It is particularly devastating on rice farms, where losses sometimes reach 100 percent. It has evolved resistance to a number of herbicides that farmers rely on to control weeds. Even when farmers think they have rid a field of barnyardgrass, they may not have actually won the battle. Each weed can produce up to a million seeds, which nestle into the soil, waiting for a chance to regrow.
Barnyardgrass is but one of many kinds of weeds found around the world. All told, they result in a 10 percent reduction in the productivity of crops. In the United States alone, they cause an estimated $33 billion in losses each year. Herbicides can reduce the toll, but within a few years of the introduction of a new chemical, weeds evolve resistance to it.
Unraveling the Pollinating Secrets of a Bee’s Buzz
New York Times,
July 11, 2013Link
Now is the time of year when bees buzz from flower to flower. And for many plants, the very survival of their species depends on that buzz. The flowers and the insects are joined together in a partnership of sound.
Bumblebees and other insects use buzzing to shake pollen out of flowers for food — and they fertilize flowers along the way. Scientists are exploring this acoustic feat to figure out how it has evolved, and how it helps sustain our own food supply.
Flowering plants typically reproduce by delivering pollen to each other to fertilize seeds. Some flowers, like corn and ragweed, cast their pollen to the wind. Others depend on animals like bees, bats or birds to do the job.
How Simple Can Life Get? It’s Complicated
New York Times,
July 4, 2013Link
In the pageant of life, we are genetically bloated. The human genome contains around 20,000 protein-coding genes. Many other species get by with a lot less. The gut microbe Escherichia coli, for example, has just 4,100 genes.
Scientists have long wondered how much further life can be stripped down and still remain alive. Is there a genetic essence of life? The answer seems to be that the true essence of life is not some handful of genes, but coexistence.
E. coli has fewer genes than we do, in part because it has a lot fewer things to do. It doesn’t have to build a brain or a stomach, for example. But E. coli is a versatile organism in its own right, with genes allowing it to feed on many different kinds of sugar, as well as to withstand stresses like starvation and heat.
In recent years, scientists have systematically shut down each of E. coli’s genes to see which it can live without. Most of its genes turn out to be dispensable. Only 302 have proved to be absolutely essential.
Swan Song for Cicadas, but Many Missed the Show
New York Times,
If you are still waiting for Swarmageddon to break out in your backyard, it is time to stop. The great cicada invasion is winding down for 2013, and it will not be back for another 17 years.
After dwelling in the ground since 1996, the insects began to emerge in May from North Carolina to the Hudson River Valley. In yards, forests and fields up and down the coast, they trilled by the billions, mated, laid their eggs in branches and left exoskeletons on bushes and walkways. Now their song is fading.
But while many people were kept up at night by the roar of this arthropod flash mob, others were left to wonder what all the fuss was about.
“People are disappointed, because the cicadas just aren’t everywhere,” said Chris M. Simon, a biologist at the University of Connecticut.
Studying Tumors Differently, in Hopes of Outsmarting Them
New York Times,
Bert Vogelstein, a cancer geneticist at Johns Hopkins University, says he is haunted by three pictures.
The first shows a man’s upper body studded with large melanomas. The second shows what happened when the man took a drug called vemurafenib. Vemurafenib belongs to a relatively new class of drugs, called targeted cancer therapy. Unlike earlier chemotherapy drugs, they attack specific molecules found only in cancer cells. In response to the vemurafenib, the tumors shrank in a matter of weeks, to the point that the man’s skin looked smooth and healthy.
The third picture is a case of déjà vu. After 16 weeks of treatment, the melanoma returned. “All the lesions reappeared — every single one,” said Dr. Vogelstein. “That struck me as nearly as amazing as the fact that they had disappeared.”
The Man Who Wasn't There (a review of "Permanent Present Tense," by Suzanne Corkin)
The Wall Street Journal,
In 1962, a young graduate student at McGill University named Suzanne Corkin met a 35-year-old man named Henry Molaison. Molaison and his mother had come to Montreal from their home in Connecticut so that Ms. Corkin and her colleagues could run a week-long series of psychological tests on him. Molaison was a sweet, cooperative subject. Ms. Corkin and Molaison talked a lot that week, mostly about Molaison's childhood. Beyond his early years, though, Molaison's recollections faded away.
The reason was both simple and profound. As a child, Molaison had suffered from severe epilepsy. In 1953, a surgeon took the drastic step of removing the part of his brain that was believed to be the cause. While the surgery helped reduce the seizures, it also had a devastating side effect: For the rest of his life, Molaison could hold most new information in his mind for only 30 seconds or so.
After that first meeting in 1962, Ms. Corkin continued to meet with Molaison—first at McGill and then at MIT, where she is a professor—until his death in 2008. In those 46 years, the two of them made scientific history, finding answers to some fundamental questions about how the brain works.
In Glittering Gems, Reading Earth’s Story
New York Times,
A jewelry store is an archive of the Earth. Every gem fixed to every ring or necklace was forged deep inside our planet, according to its own recipe of elements, temperature and pressure.
But it has taken a while for geologists to decode the cookbook for gems. Jade, for example, puzzled geologists for decades. “For a long time people looked at this crazy rock, and it didn’t make any sense,” said George Harlow, a geologist at the American Museum of Natural History. But thanks to the research of Dr. Harlow and other geologists, jade now has a back story: It formed in dying oceans.
The discovery of gems like rubies and jade thus signifies more than just a new supply of bling in jewelry stores. It tells geologists some important things about the planet.
Comfortable in the Cold: Life Below Freezing in an Antarctic Lake
A big part of Ricardo Cavicchioli’s job as a biologist is finding new species. And Cavicchioli, a professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia, has had particular good fortune at a place called Organic Lake, in the Vestfold Hills. “We discovered things we were never even looking for,” Cavicchioli says.
If you actually tagged along with Cavicchioli on one of his trips to Organic Lake, however, you might be deeply skeptical that this was a place where anything could live. The Vestfold Hills are not a rolling tropical landscape. They are located in East Antarctica. Organic Lake gets as cold as -20˚ C. The only reason it doesn’t turn to ice is thanks to its staggering concentration of salt.
Despite these unbearably cold conditions, Organic Lake is home to all manner of microbial life, from fungi to bacteria to viruses. It even has viruses that infect other viruses. Though life in Organic Lake is in many ways the same as elsewhere on Earth, it is also profoundly different in some ways. If Cavicchioli—a warm-blooded mammal—were to fall into the lake, he might die of hypothermia in a matter of minutes. But for the species in Organic Lake, frigid temperatures are comfortable. Warm them up to room temperature, and many would die in the scorching heat.
The Genius of Getting It Wrong (a review of "Brilliant Blunders," by Mario Livio)
New York Times,
In a letter to a fellow physicist in 1915, Albert Einstein described how a scientist gets things wrong:
“1. The devil leads him by the nose with a false hypothesis. (For this he deserves our pity.)
“2. His arguments are erroneous and sloppy. (For this he deserves a beating.)”
According to his own rules, Einstein should have been pitied and beaten alike. “Einstein himself certainly committed errors of both types,” the astrophysicist Mario Livio writes in his enlightening new book, “Brilliant Blunders.”
Apes (a review of "Primates," by Jim Ottaviani)
New York Times,
The stories of scientists create new scientists. Alexander von Humboldt — the most famous naturalist of the early 19th century — chronicled his epic expeditions, between 1799 and 1804, in his “Personal Narrative of a Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent.” When a nature-loving student at Cambridge named Charles Darwin read the book, it changed his life. He read passages aloud to his professors and learned Spanish so that he could follow in Humboldt’s footsteps. Humboldt’s “Personal Narrative,” Darwin later wrote, “stirred up in me a burning zeal to add even the most humble contribution to the noble structure of Natural Science.” At age 22, he embarked on his own voyage around the world, out of which he would develop his theory of evolution.
For a long time, such life-changing stories were mostly the stories of men. Biology has changed since the days of Humboldt and Darwin in that respect: today, the majority of Ph.D.’s awarded in biology in the United States go to women. Women regularly head out to sea or into jungles to make new discoveries. They return with their own stories, which can inspire girls and boys alike. And no women have more gripping stories than Dian Fossey, Biruté Galdikas and Jane Goodall, who in their respective ways profoundly changed our understanding of the great apes.
The Sex Life of Birds, and Why It’s Important
New York Times,
For a strange sexual history, it’s hard to beat birds. In some lineages, bird penises have evolved to spectacular lengths. Ducks, for example, have corkscrew-shaped penises that can grow as long as their entire body. They use their baroque genitalia to deliver sperm to female reproductive tracts that are also corkscrew-shaped — but twisted in the opposite direction.
In other lineages of birds, however, the penis simply vanished. Of the 10,000 species of birds on Earth, 97 percent reproduce without using the organ. “That’s shocking, when you think about it,” says Martin Cohn, a biologist at the University of Florida.
Research on the sex life of birds has come under fire from critics who claim that it’s unimportant and a waste of federal money, particularly in times of lean spending. In April the criticism from Fox News and conservative pundits became so intense that Patricia Brennan, an expert on bird genitalia at the University of Massachusetts, wrote an essay for Slate defending the value of her research.
The mystery of the vanishing bird penis is actually an important question — not just for understanding the evolution of our feathered friends, but for clues it may offer to little-understood human genetic disorders.
Growing Left, Growing Right
New York Times,
One day in 1788, students at the Hunterian School of Medicine in London were opening a cadaver when they discovered something startling. The dead man’s anatomy was a mirror image of normal. His liver was on his left side instead of the right. His heart had beaten on his right side, not his left.
Situs inversus, a condition in which the major organs are on the reverse side of what is normal, as seen in an X-ray. Though it is the most dramatic of the left-right disorders, it is not harmful.
The students had never seen anything like it, and they rushed to find their teacher, the Scottish physician Matthew Baillie, who was just as stunned as they were. “It is so extraordinary as scarcely to have been seen by any of the most celebrated anatomists,” he later wrote.
His report was the first detailed description of the condition, which came to be known as situs inversus and is thought to occur in about 1 in 20,000 people. Baillie argued that if doctors could figure out how this strange condition came to be, they might come to understand how our bodies normally tell the right side from the left.
Mountain Populations Offer Clues to Human Evolution
New York Times,
In the hearts of evolutionary biologists, mountains occupy a special place. It’s not just their physical majesty: mountains also have an unmatched power to drive human evolution. Starting tens of thousands of years ago, people moved to high altitudes, and there they experienced natural selection that has reworked their biology.
“This is the most extreme example in humans that you can find,” said Rasmus Nielsen, an evolutionary biologist at the University of California at Berkeley.
Humans have adapted to mountainous environments just as Charles Darwin predicted. To discover how this occurred, scientists are now examining the DNA of people who scaled mountains in different parts of the world.
“There’s this beautiful experiment in natural selection going on,” says Anna Di Rienzo, a professor of human genetics at the University of Chicago. “You can really ask questions central to evolutionary biology.”
Chlorine, Swimming Pool Helper, Has a Checkered Past
New York Times,
With the unofficial start of summer on Monday, many people will get up close and personal with the element that carries 17 protons.
I speak, of course, of chlorine.
Over the next few months, chlorine will ensure that countless swimming pools don’t turn into microbe-choked petri dishes. That’s only one of many uses we’ve found for the element. We sprinkle it on our food as table salt — a k a sodium chloride. We pump water through pipes made of polyvinyl chloride. Perchlorate, a combination of chlorine and oxygen atoms, fuels rockets and ignites fireworks.
But in other incarnations, chlorine is a bane of our existence. In World War I, the German army unleashed clouds of chlorine gas and killed or injured thousands of enemy -soldiers. The Hudson River is burdened with cancer-causing dioxins, chlorine-bearing compounds dumped from factories along its banks.
Still, chlorine’s threats today are nothing compared with its menace on the early Earth.
The Girl Who Turned to Bone
When Jeannie Peeper was born in 1958, there was only one thing amiss: her big toes were short and crooked. Doctors fitted her with toe braces and sent her home. Two months later, a bulbous swelling appeared on the back of Peeper’s head. Her parents didn’t know why: she hadn’t hit her head on the side of her crib; she didn’t have an infected scratch. After a few days, the swelling vanished as quickly as it had arrived.
When Peeper’s mother noticed that the baby couldn’t open her mouth as wide as her sisters and brothers, she took her to the first of various doctors, seeking an explanation for her seemingly random assortment of symptoms. Peeper was 4 when the Mayo Clinic confirmed a diagnosis: she had a disorder known as fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP).
The name meant nothing to Peeper’s parents—unsurprising, given that it is one of the rarest diseases in the world. One in 2 million people have it.
Peeper’s diagnosis meant that, over her lifetime, she would essentially develop a second skeleton. Within a few years, she would begin to grow new bones that would stretch across her body, some fusing to her original skeleton. Bone by bone, the disease would lock her into stillness. The Mayo doctors didn’t tell Peeper’s parents that. All they did say was that Peeper would not live long.
“Basically, my parents were told there was nothing that could be done,” Peeper told me in October. “They should just take me home and enjoy their time with me, because I would probably not live to be a teenager.” We were in Oviedo, Florida, in an office with a long, narrow sign that read The International Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva Association. Peeper founded the association 25 years ago, and remains its president. She was dressed in a narrow-waisted black skirt and a black-and-white striped blouse. A large ring in the shape of a black flower encircled one of her fingers. Her hair was peach-colored.Read the entire article at The Atlantic
From Fearsome Predator to Man’s Best Friend
New York Times,
Imagine a wolf catching a Frisbee a dozen times in a row, or leading police officers to a stash of cocaine, or just sleeping peacefully next to you on your couch. It’s a stretch, to say the least. Dogs may have evolved from wolves, but the minds of the two canines are profoundly different.
Dog brains, as I wrote last month in The New York Times, have become exquisitely tuned to our own. Scientists are now zeroing in on some of the genes that were crucial to the rewiring of dog brains.
Their results are fascinating, and not only because they can help us understand how dogs turned into man’s best friend. They may also teach us something about the evolution of our own brains: Some of the genes that evolved in dogs are the same ones that evolved in us.
To trace the change in dog brains, scientists have first had to work out how dog breeds are related to one another, and how they’re all related to wolves. Ya-Ping Zhang, a geneticist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has led an international network of scientists who have compared pieces of DNA from different canines. They’ve come to the conclusion that wolves started their transformation into dogs in East Asia.
17 Years to Hatch an Invasion
New York Times,
From North Carolina to Connecticut, billions of creatures with eyes the color of blood and bodies the color of coal are crawling out of the earth. Periodical cicadas are emerging en masse, clambering into trees and singing a shivering chorus that can be heard for miles.
What makes this emergence truly remarkable, however, is how long it’s been in the making. This month’s army of periodical cicadas was born in 1996. Their mothers laid their eggs in the branches of trees, where they developed for a few weeks before hatching and heading for the ground. “They just jumped out and rained down out of the trees,” said Chris Simon, a cicada biologist at the University of Connecticut.
Those Clinton-era larvae then squirmed into the dirt and spent the next 17 years sucking fluid from tree roots. Now, at last, they are ready to produce the next generation. The adult males are snapping rigid plates on their abdomens to produce their courtship song. The females are clicking their wings to signal approval. They will mate and then die shortly afterward. Their time in the sun is short, but their 17-year life span makes them the longest-lived insects known.
The Rise of the Tick
I’m tailing a Ford pickup truck along the eastern bank of the Connecticut River. When we reach a sign for Lord Creek Farm, the pickup turns off the road and I follow up a dusty driveway. We park in the shadow of an enormous red horse barn, next to paddocks full of jump gates, where riding lessons are under way.
I get out of my car and climb into the passenger side of the pickup. It’s driven by Scott Williams, a wildlife biologist from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven. Williams, 38, has the poise and scale of a bear standing upright. He wears a faded peach T-shirt that reads, DO I LOOK LIKE A @@& PEOPLE PERSON? Next to him is Megan Floyd, 24, and riding in the bed in back is Michael Short, 51, both research technicians.
Williams drives us across the farm, past freshly groomed meadows, and into the forest. The morning is magnificent, the sunlight slipping through gaps in the canopy. But we’re not here to admire the scenery. We’re here on a hunt, and our quarry is the black-legged tick. If you want to find black-legged ticks, you could not ask for a more spectacularly infested piece of land than Lord Creek Farm.
“You get absolutely astronomical abundance here—maybe 1,000 ticks an acre,” Williams declares. He sounds both appalled and delighted.
Lord Creek Farm holds another attraction for Williams: it is located in the town of Lyme. As in Lyme disease, caused by bacteria known as Borrelia burgdorferi. As in the town where Lyme disease was first discovered in the late 1970s, before it was recognized across the United States, from New York to California. Today, a quarter of a century after its discovery, Lyme, Connecticut, is still a great place to study Lyme disease. Seventy percent of the ticks on Lord Creek Farm are infected with Borrelia. I’m hoping one of them doesn’t find me today.
Williams, Floyd, and Short climb out of the truck and grab blue plastic crates from the back. I follow Williams into the woods, walking over jewelweed, wine raspberries, and Japanese barberry, which stabs our legs with hypodermic thorns.
A Virtual Pack, to Study Canine Minds
New York Times,
In 1995, Brian Hare began to wonder what his dog Oreo was thinking.
At the time, he was a sophomore at Emory University, where he was studying animal psychology with Michael Tomasello. Dr. Tomasello was comparing the social intelligence of humans and other animals.
Humans, it was known at the time, are exquisitely sensitive to signals from other humans. We use that information to solve problems that we might struggle to figure out on our own.
Bringing Them Back To Life
On July 30, 2003, a team of Spanish and French scientists reversed time. They brought an animal back from extinction, if only to watch it become extinct again. The animal they revived was a kind of wild goat known as a bucardo, or Pyrenean ibex. The bucardo (Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica) was a large, handsome creature, reaching up to 220 pounds and sporting long, gently curved horns. For thousands of years it lived high in the Pyrenees, the mountain range that divides France from Spain, where it clambered along cliffs, nibbling on leaves and stems and enduring harsh winters.
Then came the guns. Hunters drove down the bucardo population over several centuries. In 1989 Spanish scientists did a survey and concluded that there were only a dozen or so individuals left. Ten years later a single bucardo remained: a female nicknamed Celia. A team from the Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park, led by wildlife veterinarian Alberto Fernández-Arias, caught the animal in a trap, clipped a radio collar around her neck, and released her back into the wild. Nine months later the radio collar let out a long, steady beep: the signal that Celia had died. They found her crushed beneath a fallen tree. With her death, the bucardo became officially extinct.
Interbreeding With Neanderthals
David Reich, a geneticist at the Harvard Medical School, has redrawn our species’ family tree. And today, in his office overlooking Avenue Louis Pasteur in Boston, he picks up a blue marker, walks up to a blank white wall, and shows the result to me. He starts with a pair of lines—one for humans and one for Neanderthals—that split off from a common ancestor no more than 700,000 years ago. The human branch divides into lineages of Africans, Asians, and Europeans, and then into twigs for smaller groups like the people of New Guinea or the residents of the remote Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean. Reich also creates a branch off the Neanderthal line for the Denisovans, a paleolithic lineage geneticists discovered only a few years ago.
All well and good. This is the sort of picture you’d expect if we and our humanlike relatives diverged neatly through evolution. It looks a lot like the tree of life that Darwin included in The Origin of Species. But then Reich violates his tree.
Can Boosting Immunity Make You Smarter?
After spending a few days in bed with the flu, you may have felt a bit stupid. It is a common sensation, that your sickness is slowing down your brain. At first blush, though, it doesn’t make much sense. For one thing, flu viruses infect the lining of the airways, not the neurons in our brains. For another, the brain is walled off from the rest of the body by a series of microscopic defenses collectively known as the blood-brain barrier. It blocks most viruses and bacteria while allowing essential molecules like glucose to slip through. What ails the body, in other words, shouldn’t interfere with our thinking.
But over the past decade, Jonathan Kipnis, a neuroimmunologist in the University of Virginia School of Medicine’s department of neuroscience, has discovered a possible link, a modern twist on the age-old notion of the body-mind connection. His research suggests that the immune system engages the brain in an intricate dialogue that can influence our thought processes, coaxing our brains to work at their best.
Pigeons Get a New Look
New York Times,
In 1855, Charles Darwin took up a new hobby. He started raising pigeons.
In the garden of his country estate, Darwin built a dovecote. He filled it with birds he bought in London from pigeon breeders. He favored the fanciest breeds — pouters, carriers, barbs, fantails, short-faced tumblers and many more.
“The diversity of the breeds is something astonishing,” he wrote a few years later in “On the Origin of Species” — a work greatly informed by his experiments with the birds.
Raising Devils in Seclusion
New York Times,
In November, a team of biologists journeyed to Maria Island, three miles off the Australian island state of Tasmania, taking with them 15 plastic cylinders. They loaded the cylinders into S.U.V.’s, drove them to an abandoned farm and scattered them in the fields.
Before long 15 Tasmanian devils emerged from the containers, becoming the first ever to inhabit the island.
“All indications are that they’re doing very well,” Phil Wise, a government wildlife biologist who leads the project, said of the devils — fierce-looking, doglike marsupials that have become an endangered species on the much larger island for which they are named.
Black Carbon and Warming: It’s Worse than We Thought
Yale Environment 360,
It rises from the chimneys of mansions and from simple hut stoves. It rises from forest fires and the tail pipes of diesel-fueled trucks rolling down the highway, and from brick kilns and ocean liners and gas flares. Every day, from every occupied continent, a curtain of soot rises into the sky.
What soot does once it reaches the atmosphere has long been a hard question to answer. It’s not that scientists don’t know anything about the physics and chemistry of atmospheric soot. Just the opposite: it does so many things that it’s hard to know what they add up to.
To get a clear sense of soot — which is known to scientists as black carbon — an international team of 31 atmospheric scientists has worked for the past four years to analyze all the data they could. This week, they published a 232-page report in the Journal of Geophysical Research. “It’s an important assessment of where we stand now,” says Veerabhadran Ramanathan of the Scripps Institution for Oceanography, an expert on atmospheric chemistry who was not involved in the study.
February 2013 Link
On September 19, 2011, Evan Snitkin sat staring at a computer monitor, its screen cluttered with Perl script and row after row of 0s sprinkled with the occasional 1. To Snitkin, a bioinformatician at the National Institutes of Health, it read like a medical thriller. In this raw genetic-sequencing data, he could see the hidden history of a deadly outbreak that was raging just a few hundred yards from where he sat.
Snitkin was, in a sense, a medical historian: a genetic epidemiologist who traced the paths of disease outbreaks. But now, for the first time in history, he was trying to use his genetic toolkit to reroute an outbreak while it was in progress—and before it turned disastrous. A few weeks earlier, a handful of patients at the NIH Clinical Center, a 243-bed research hospital on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland, had been hit by a vicious strain of bacteria known as KPC. Shorthand for carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae,
KPC can hitch a ride on healthy people, setting up residence on their skin. From them it can spread to people with weak defenses—like hospital patients—and bloom into an overwhelming infection that spreads via the bloodstream into the whole body, swiftly shutting down one organ after another. In the past decade, KPC has evolved the ability to withstand every known antibiotic. As a result, roughly half of people who develop an active infection of KPC will die.Read the entire article at Wired | <urn:uuid:4b4d069f-0d19-4251-91b2-55ae924b671d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.carlzimmer.com/articles/2013.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95873 | 13,983 | 3.296875 | 3 |
The Western vicariate and the Central prefecture, although different in name, are virtually one. From 1874 to 1882 the Central prefecture was under the charge of the Missionary Fathers of Lyons ; on their withdrawal part of it was committed to the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, and became the Orange River prefecture; the rest was incorporated in the Western vicariate. This now has an area of 82,757 square miles. It is bounded on the north by the Olifants River, on the east by the Roggeveldt Mountains and the Gouritz River, on the south and west by the sea. The islands of St. Helena and Ascension are included in this vicariate. Bartolomeu Dias first planted the cross on South African soil at Croix Island, Algoa Bay, in 1486; and the Cape soon became a place of frequent call for Portuguese ships. From the well-known habits of this people we may conjecture that Mass was thenceforth celebrated frequently on these shores. The great missionary work of the Portuguese on the Zambesi did not extend to the Cape. The first Dutch governor, van Riebeek, arrived at the Cape in 1652; but under his regime and that of his successors, the public profession of the Catholic faith was forbidden. A new spirit animated the Dutch high commissioner, de Mist, who, in terms of the Treaty of Amiens, took possession of the Cape, after a brief British occupation. Under very slight restrictions he issued an edict of religious toleration.
The first English governor reversed these measures, and later Lord Charles Somerset showed bitter hostility to Catholics. But through the good offices of Bishop Poynter of the English Midland District, the government agreed to salary a Catholic pastor for the Cape. On New Year's Day, 1820, Bishop Slater, Vicar Apostolic of Mauritius (which vicariate included the Cape), installed Father Scully in Cape Town. For the next eighteen years the ecclesiastical history of the colony is one of pitiful squabbles between pastors and people, with a short truce in the time of a Dutch priest named Wagenaar. On 6 June, 1837, Gregory XVI formed the Cape of Good Hope into a vicariate separate from Mauritius. In August following, Patrick Raymond Griffith, O.P., was consecrated Bishop of Paleopolis, in the church of St. Andrew, Dublin ; and on 20 April, 1838, he set foot in Cape Town with Fathers Burke and Corcoran. After his first visitation, which was made chiefly in the labouring ox-waggon, and extended as far as Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown, he estimated the Catholic population of the Country at 500. Worse than the paucity of numbers, were the lax morality and poor Catholic spirit of so many. A first painful duty of the bishop was to depose a body of churchwardens, who claimed to act as a board of directors of the vicariate. Some seceded, but this prompt action restored peace and Catholic order. In 1851 he completed the fine church which is still the cathedral of Cape Town. At his death in 1862 his flock was united and no longer ashamed of their faith, several schools and churches having been established throughout the vicariate.
Dr. Grimley was appointed coadjutor to the first vicar Apostolic in 1861, and succeeded him in 1862. He brought out the Dominican Sisters and Marist Brothers; and died in 1871, just after his return from the Vatican Council. The name which is connected with the greatest progress of the Western vicariate is that of the Right Rev. John Leonard, D.D., who was curate at Blanchardstown, Dublin, when appointed to succeed Dr. Grimley. Nearly all the works recorded in the next paragraph were accomplished during his episcopate of thirty-five years. He was succeeded in 1907, the year of his death, by the Right Rev. John Rooney, who had been his coadjutor for twenty-one years.
There are 33 priests in the Western vicariate, of whom three are regulars (Salesians). Out of 153 religious, 28 are Marist Brothers and Salesians ; the rest are nuns — Dominicans, Sisters of Nazareth, and Sisters of the Holy Cross. There are 19 churches, 10 convents, an orphanage, an industrial school and 29 elementary schools. The only organ of Catholic opinion in South Africa is the Catholic Magazine for South Africa, founded in 1891 by Rev. Dr. Kolbe, now edited by the present writer. The Catholic population of the vicariate is over 8000 — mostly of European descent.
The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed between 1907 and 1912 in fifteen hard copy volumes.
Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.
No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.
Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912
Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online | <urn:uuid:72ae5ec2-f8a7-4c28-b0ee-01d81a86bd40> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=5262 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968863 | 1,342 | 2.828125 | 3 |
An Italian painter, founder of the Umbrian school, born at Città della Pieve in 1446; died at Fontignano near Perugia in February, 1524. He was called Perugino, although he often signed his name Petrus de Castro Plebis. He studied art at Perugia, where he found an earlier school, that of Nicolo Alunno and Boccati da Camerino, already remarkable for the pure expression of the sentiment and animation of the interior life. Perugino adopted this tradition, adding to it the decorative taste of his master, Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, and influenced by the powerful style of Piero della Francesca. In 1472 he went to Florence, where he was the comrade of Leonardo in Verrocchio's studio, the most active centre and laboratory of the methods of the Renaissance. Here Perugino acquired knowledge whereby he expressed his ideas in an imperishable manner. He learned construction, became a master of perspective, and in style followed a fixed formula, which was much admired. Unfortunately his early works are lost. His frescoes in the Palazzo Pubblico in Perugia (1475) and those in Cerqueto have been destroyed or ruined. His earliest extant picture is the "Delivery of the Keys to St. Peter" (1482), in the Sistine Chapel at Rome, where three other frescoes were later destroyed to make room for the "Last Judgment" of Michelangelo. Perugino then held a foremost place in the Italian school, and today his one remaining fresco shines as a masterpiece among the more brilliant inventions of the Florentine school. It engendered numerous works of art, and Raphael, Perugino's great pupil, was mindful of it in the "Sposalizio", the most exquisite work of his youth.
Within the next fifteen years (1484-99) Perugino attained his greatest success. His work was most in demand for religious pictures, and he went from city to city painting altar-pieces or ecclesiastical frescoes. In 1491-2, having gone to Rome to paint the decoration (no longer extant) of the palace of the Cardinal de' Medicis, he executed the delightful picture in the Villa Albani, the "Adoration of the Holy Child" (1491). Except for some journeys to Perugia, Venice, and Tano, Florence was his centre of operations for that period. To it belong the "Crucifixion" and the "Gethsemane" of the Florence Accademia; the famous "Pietà" of the same museum; the "Taking down from the Cross" of the Pitti (1495); the "Vision of St. Bernard" in the Museum of Munich ; but the most wonderful of these works is the great fresco of the "Crucifixion" in Sta Maddalena dé Pazzi (1496). The beauty of the faces, the stirring gravity of the scene, the finish of the colouring, and the perfection of the landscape rank this picture first among Perugino's works in Italy. The triptych of the "Nativity's (1500) at London is a miniature of this fresco almost equal to it in beauty. Perugino shows himself an incomparable landscape artist in the pictures of his best period; he was an eminent master of the painting of the atmosphere. He derives his expression from the rarest artistic qualities, from a finished composition, spacing of figures, use of oils, and deep, harmonious colouring, thereby achieving an effect of depth and fullness. In his masterpieces, though he transforms the reality to a great extent, he is nevertheless very true to nature. He copies the nude quite as accurately as the most able of the Florentines, as is seen in the wonderful "St. Sebastian" of the Louvre, and he is capable of the most exact and close veracity, for example, the two admirable heads of Carthusians at the Florence Accademia, which suffice to place him in the front rank of portrait painters. Perugino is one of the greatest and most popular artists of Italy and his work is distinctive for the creation of the "pious picture".
The decoration of the Cambio, or Bourse of Perugia (1499), marks the beginning of a period of decline. The effect of this hall decorated with frescoes on the four walls and with arabesques on the ceiling is very charming, but the conception is extremely arbitrary, and the composition worthless and insignificant. Ancient heroes, prophets, and sibyls all have the same disdainful expression; the whole is neutral, abstract, vague. The artist replaces all semblance of thought, conscience, and effort with an appearance of sentiment which is merely sentimentality. Thenceforth Perugino is a deplorable example of a great artist who destroys himself by subordination to mere handicraft. Unquestionably he had a sublime period in his life, when he first endowed incomparable plastic bodies with an unlooked-for expression of the infinite and the divine, but he soon abused this oft-repeated formula, the arrangement became purely schematic, the figures stereotyped, the colouring sharp and acidulous, and all emotion evaporated. The only part of his genius that persisted to the end was an eye enamoured of the skies and light. This decline was clearly evident in 1504, when Isabella d'Este ordered the artist to paint the "Combat of Love and Chastity ", now in the Louvre. At this time art was achieving its most glorious conquests, as testified by the two famous cartoons of Leonardo and Michelangelo (1506) at Florence. The works of his last twenty years, frescoes and altar-pieces, are scattered through Umbra, at Perugia, Spello, Siena etc. They add nothing to his glory. The ceiling which he painted for Julius II in 1508 in the Camera dell' Incendio at the Vatican has at least a high decorative value. In 1521 the old artist worked once more in collaboration with Raphael. The latter had left an unfinished fresco at S. Spirito at Perugia and after his death Perugino was commissioned to finish it. Nothing shows more clearly the moral difference between these two geniuses, the wonderful progress and self-development of Raphael, the immobility and intellectual apathy of his master. The latter died of the pest at the age of seventy-eight.
The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed between 1907 and 1912 in fifteen hard copy volumes.
Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.
No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.
Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912
Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online | <urn:uuid:485ec78f-55fd-4661-b868-21d67727b473> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=9202 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960464 | 1,727 | 3.015625 | 3 |
With so much focus on water availability and cleanliness outside of the United States, it is hard to imagine that similar issues could be impacting our nation soon. However, it's not too far out of the realm of possibility, especially in drought-stricken regions.
American Rivers, an organization dedicated to protecting U.S. waterways, released their annual list of endangered rivers. Their list named the Colorado River as the most endangered river in the nation due to outdated water management, increased drought and overuse.
"This year's America's Most Endangered Rivers report underscores the problems that arise for communities and the environment when we drain too much water out of rivers," said Bob Irvin, president of American Rivers in a statement. "The Colorado River, the No. 1 Most Endangered River in the nation, is so over-tapped that it dries up to a trickle before reaching the sea. We simply cannot continue with status quo water management. It is time for stakeholders across the Colorado Basin to come together around solutions to ensure reliable water supplies and a healthy river for future generations."
The Colorado River runs through seven states and even into Mexico. The water is used for over 36 million people, and irrigates close to four million acres of land. Not only do those populations use the river for day to day needs, but it also helps to support around 15 percent of crops grown in the United States.
Current drought conditions are increasingly putting stress on quantities available for human use, but it is also causing major problems for the flora and fauna of the area. Researchers suggest that the flow of the Colorado River will reduce by 10 to 30 percent by 2050 due to climate change, limiting the amount of water available to all living things in the southwestern United States.
People not only use the water for drinking and agriculture, but a large part of the Colorado's use for residents is because of leisure activities. The river itself supports a huge recreational industry and the economy of the surrounding states will be greatly impacted as the access to the river shrinks.
"Flowing across seven states, a healthy Colorado River system drives a quarter of a million sustainable, American jobs in a $26 billion outdoor recreation economy," said Nazz Kurth, president of Petzl America in a statement. The company produces outdoor equipment for sport and professional use.
"Demand for Colorado River water now exceeds supply. Yet, for Petzl and hundreds of companies across the Southwest, the people we hire, the products we make, and the places we live depend on water for habitat, wildlife and outdoor recreation," explained Kurth.
America Rivers also points out that the Colorado River is not on its own in its shortcomings and in fact many other waterways on their list are subject to harm by outdated water management systems. Also falling on the list are the Flint River in Georgia, the San Saba in Texas and the Little Plover River in Wisconsin.The group points out that half of the rivers on their list suffer from contamination from mine discharge. | <urn:uuid:6fcbbfae-a9a4-439c-9fed-fff826d1188b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cbsnews.com/news/colorado-river-named-nations-most-endangered-waterway/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955253 | 608 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Our Beliefs about Evaluation
By the Noyce program evaluation group.
Evaluations of teacher education programs can take on a variety of formats. The different formats are related to different philosophies of, approaches to, and uses of, the evaluation processes and outcomes. Therefore it is important to articulate the beliefs about evaluation that underpin our project. Overall we believe evaluation can have three major orientations: improvement, knowledge and judgment. Improvement oriented evaluation includes formative evaluation and notions such as total quality management and quality assurance. Knowledge oriented evaluation is more akin to research and is used to influence thinking, test models and generate lessons learned. Judgment oriented evaluations are summative in nature and determine merit or worth in comparison to other approaches or to standards and is similar to the notions of quality control.
Our working definition of evaluation is that it is the process of delineating, obtaining and providing useful information for decision makers (Stufflebeam et al, 1971). The belief that evaluation is a process means that it is dynamic, can be modified as it progresses and is responsive to changing priorities. Delineation is one of the most important aspects of the evaluation process. It encompasses the communication among the evaluation team and the stakeholders of the evaluation to facilitate the expression of what is desired from the evaluation and in what format. It defines what the evaluation should accomplish. The process of obtaining information refers to all of the rigor related to methodological issues including such things as instrument development, data collection techniques, ethical considerations, and efficacy. The provision of information is tied to the delineation phase in terms of what sort of information and what communication formats would be most effective in accomplishing the agreed upon purpose for the evaluation. The notion of useful information reflects our belief that evaluation should be aligned with the needs of the stakeholders in mind. In other words that the evaluation should be utilization focused (Patton 1997).
The application of our definition implies close connections with the evaluation stakeholders, methodological approaches aligned with evaluation questions and multiple communication streams. We also believe in adherence to the Program Evaluation Standards throughout the entire process. The development of evaluation questions is a contextualized process dictated by the needs of the situation and the various stakeholder groups. We view evaluation as a contract between the participating groups with all sides having responsibilities vital to ensuring the success of the evaluation. We believe the selection of a model for evaluation should be based on the needs of the situation. Some evaluation models we support are Management oriented/CIPP model (Stufflebeam, 1971), Consumer Oriented/quality control (Scriven, 1967), Expertise Oriented (Eisner, 1991), Naturalistic, Participant Oriented (Fetterman, 1994), Responsive (Stake 1975), Educative Values Engaged (Greene, in press), and Deliberative Democratic (House & Howe, 2000).
We believe evaluation methods should be selected to provide the optimal answers to the determined evaluation questions and not restricted to particular methods. This means that evaluations are generally a combination of different methodologies and care must be taken to determine the best ways to combine the results obtained from the different methods (Greene & Caracelli, 1997; Lawrenz and Huffman, 2002).
We also recognize that the different scale of the projects involved in an evaluation from small local projects to large multi-site projects would affect the types of methods used. Additionally in order to help guarantee that the evaluation be utilized effectively, the methods used should be aligned with the beliefs of the stakeholders.
In summary we see evaluation as a process of delineating, obtaining, and providing useful information for judging decision alternative.
Eisner, E.W. (1991). Taking a second look: Educational connoisseurship revisited. In M.W. McLaughlin & D.C. Phillips (Eds.), Evaluation and education: At quarter century. Ninetieth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part II. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Fetterman, D.M. (1994). Empowerment evaluation. Evaluation practice, 15, 1-15.
Greene, J. C. and Caracelli, V. J. (1997). Defining and describing the paradigm issue in mixed-method evaluation. In J. C. Greene & V. J. Caracelli (Eds.), Advances in mixed-method evaluation: The challenges and benefits of integrating diverse paradigms. New directions for evaluation, No. 74 (pp. 5-18). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
House, E. and Howe, K. (2000). Deliberative Democratic Evaluation. New Directions for Evaluation, 85, 3-12
Lawrenz, F., & Huffman, D. (2002). The archipelago approach to mixed method evaluation. American Journal of Evaluation, 23, 331-338.
Patton, M. (1997). Utilization-focused evaluation (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Scriven, M. (1967). The methodology of evaluation. In R.E. Stake (Ed.), Curriculum evaluation. (American Educational Research Association Monograph Series on Evaluation, No. 1, pp. 39-81). Chicago: Rand McNally.
Stake, R.E. (1975). Program evaluation, particularly responsive evaluation (Occasional Paper No. 5). Kalamazoo: Western Michigan University Evaluation Center.
Stufflebeam, D.L., Foley, W.J., Gephart, W.J., Guba, E.G., Hammond, R.L., Merriman, H.O., and Provus, M.M. (1971). Educational Evaluation and Decision Making. Itasca, Illinois: F.E. Peacock.
© 2016 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer. This page is subject to change without notice. Last modified: 14 June, 2012. For questions or comments, contact Frances Lawrenz, at [email protected] | <urn:uuid:9b6f3d16-ef10-410f-849d-e7000968e591> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cehd.umn.edu/EdPsych/NOYCE/beliefs.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.884656 | 1,243 | 2.9375 | 3 |
For courses in American Government and Texas Politics. This balanced and exceedingly readable text uses Harold Laswell's classic definition of politics--Who gets what, when, and how--as a framework for presenting a clear, concise, and stimulating introduction to the American political system. Updated with discussions of recent events in our country, well-known political scientist Tom Dye has written a lively and absorbing narrative examining the struggle for power: the participants, the stakes, the processes, and the institutional arenas. An abundance of feature boxes explore timely issues and opinions, draw cross-cultural comparisons, and introduce important people.
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Rent Politics in America 6th edition today, or search our site for other textbooks by Thomas R. Dye. Every textbook comes with a 21-day "Any Reason" guarantee. Published by Prentice Hall PTR. | <urn:uuid:f7883bfd-a7b4-4d3b-baff-01577656cbe2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.chegg.com/textbooks/politics-in-america-6th-edition-9780131917392-0131917390?ii=4&trackid=6299d6d2&omre_ir=1&omre_sp= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.897544 | 171 | 2.65625 | 3 |
PinwormsSkip to the navigation
What are pinworms?
Adult pinworms are about 0.5 in. (12.7 mm) long and look like little white threads. Pinworm eggs are so tiny, you'd need a microscope to see them.
What causes pinworm infection?
Most people get infected by accidentally swallowing pinworm eggs. Anyone can get pinworms, but they are most common in school-aged children. They are usually spread like this:
- A child swallows pinworm eggs, and they travel to the child's intestines. In about a month, the eggs hatch into worms. At night the female worms crawl out the rectum and lay eggs around the child's anus.
- When the worms lay eggs, it can cause itching. If the child scratches, the eggs can cling to the child's fingers and get stuck under the fingernails.
- The eggs then stick to things the child touches, such as clothing, dishes, toys, and furniture. The eggs can live 2 to 3 weeks outside the body.
- When you touch something the child has touched, the eggs get on your hands. Then if you touch food or your mouth, you can swallow the eggs. This starts the cycle over again.
Pinworms spread easily in homes, day care centers, schools, and other places where groups of people spend time together. So if one person in your family has pinworms, others probably do too.
It's possible to get pinworms by inhaling airborne eggs, but this is rare. It's also rare to get pinworms from a swimming pool.
Pinworms are spread from person to person. Pets don't get pinworms and can't spread them to humans.
What are the symptoms?
Many people with pinworms don't have symptoms and don't know that they're infected. When symptoms occur, the most common ones are:
- Itching around the anus.
- Restless sleep, because itching is often worse at night.
Pinworms can be annoying. But they don't carry disease, and they rarely cause serious health problems. Sometimes people get a skin infection from scratching.
How are pinworms diagnosed?
To find out if you have pinworms, your doctor will ask about your past health and check the skin around your anus.
The doctor may ask you to do a transparent tape test at home. To do the test, you press a piece of clear, sticky tape on the skin around your anus in the morning before you get up. The doctor will put the tape under a microscope to look for pinworm eggs. You might need to repeat this test a few times.
How are they treated?
You can treat pinworms with over-the-counter or prescription medicine that kills the worms. Treatment can help keep you from getting infected again and from spreading the infection to other people.
You will probably need two doses, 2 weeks apart. That's because the medicine kills the worms but not the eggs. The second dose will kill any worms that hatch after the first treatment.
Pinworm medicine may not be safe for children younger than 2 and women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. So to reduce their risk of infection, a doctor may recommend that all other household members be treated with medicine.
Call your doctor if:
- Medicine hasn't cleared up the infection.
- The medicine is causing side effects.
- You have new or worse symptoms.
How can you keep from spreading pinworms or getting them again?
Pinworms spread easily and often come back. To reduce your chances of spreading the infection or getting infected again:
- Wash your hands carefully and often. Teach your children to do the same, especially after they use the toilet and before they handle food.
- Keep your fingernails short, and don't scratch the itch. Wearing gloves at night may help prevent scratching.
- Bathe or shower every day.
- Don't share or reuse towels or washcloths.
- Change your underwear and bedding each morning.
- Wash clothes, bedding, and towels regularly. Dry them in a hot dryer.
If anyone in your household gets pinworms again, the whole family may need to take medicine.
Frequently Asked Questions
Learning about pinworms:
Other Places To Get Help
Other Works Consulted
- American Academy of Pediatrics (2015). Pinworm infection. In DW Kimberlin et al., eds., Red Book: 2015 Report of the Committee on Infectious Diseases, 30th ed., pp. 621–622. Elk Grove Village, IL: America Academy of Pediatrics.
- Drugs for parasitic infections (2010). Treatment Guidelines From The Medical Letter, 8(Suppl): e1–e20.
- Hotez PJ (2009). Parasitic nematode infections. In RD Feigin et al., eds., Feigin and Cherry's Textbook of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, 6th ed., vol. 2, pp. 2981–2996. Philadelphia: Saunders Elsevier.
- Van Voorhis WC (2010). Helminthic infections. In EG Nabel, ed., ACP Medicine, section 7, chap. 35. Hamilton, ON: BC Decker.
Primary Medical Reviewer John Pope, MD - Pediatrics
Specialist Medical Reviewer Susan C. Kim, MD - Pediatrics
Current as ofNovember 20, 2015
To learn more about Healthwise, visit Healthwise.org.
© 1995-2016 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated. | <urn:uuid:39a2509e-9cc1-4f70-8ac3-096559e05bb2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cheshire-med.com/health_wellness/health_encyclopedia/hw50481 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912371 | 1,165 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Glossary of Cigar Terms
A program officially begun in Cuba in 2005 to create small-batch cigars for sale only in specific geographic areas. These cigars, known as regional editions, are sold with two bands, the lower one bearing the word “Exclusivo,” or exclusive, followed by the country or region for which the cigar was made.
Retail Tobacco Dealers of America (RTDA)
The former name of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers (IPCPR), the leading trade association for retail tobacconists.
A measurement for the diameter of a cigar, based on 64ths of an inch. A 40 ring gauge cigar is 40/64ths of an inch thick, a 64 ring gauge cigar would be one inch in diameter (see photo). Cigars have grown very fat in recent years. Diamond Crown, made by Tabacalera A. Fuente for J.C. Newman Cigar Co. in the mid-1990s, made headlines in year 1995 when it debuted with all 54 ring gauges, considered quite fat at the time. Today it is not uncommon to see cigars with ring gauges of 60 or more.
A substantial, but short cigar; traditionally 5 to 5 1/2 inches by a 50 ring gauge. Robustos have become the most popular cigar size in the world. For Cigar Aficionado ratings on robustos, click here.
A worker in a cigar factory who makes a cigar. In factories where the rolling and bunching is divided, rollers put the outer wrapper leaf on a cigar.
A name for the area in a cigar factory where cigars are made by hand (see photo). The production is often split between cigar rollers and cigar bunchers. Bunchers work with filler and binder to create the bunch, rollers wrap the cigar leaf around the finished bunch, creating the cigar.
The way a cigar is rolled by hand. There are three main styles: booking, which involves laying each leaf atop one another, as pages of a book would lie; the accordion method, which involves layering each leaf in a wavy pattern that resembles an accordion when finished; and entubado, or entubar, where each component filler leaf is rolled like a straw or tube before being wrapped in the binder and then the bunch.
The station, typically made of wood, where a cigarmaker sits and works.
A Spanish term that means "rose-colored." It is used to describe the reddish tint of some Cuban-seed wrapper.
Search our database of more than 17,000 cigar tasting notes by score, brand, country, size, price range, year, wrapper and more, plus add your favorites to your Personal Humidor. | <urn:uuid:befe6c39-b76d-4b78-9a69-2ae3ecdcd109> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cigaraficionado.com/glossary/index/word/R | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924449 | 569 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Local Action Plan to Reduce Emissions of Greenhouse Gases
Sustainability steps of Recreation & Parks
Existing Reduction Measures in Winston-Salem Government Operations
- Use composite lumber made of recycled plastics to replace worn park benches and trash can containers in various park locations.
- Reduced the number of take-home vehicles for employees to decrease gas consumption.
- Use electric golf carts instead of gas carts at Winston Lake Golf Course
- Maintain greenways to allow people to use alternative transportation that will allow citizens to bike to work, shop, exercise and get to school.
- Continue to work with Property Maintenance to increase the efficiency of lighting and HVAC systems at existing recreation facilities.
- Built and improved the drainage filtration of all the water run off with stone at the Dog Park before the water drains into the creek.
The Spring/Summer 2010 edition of WePLAY, the 24-page printed publication that lists activities and events at city recreation centers, was printed on FSC certified paper. FSC paper comes from well-managed forests, controlled sources, and recycled wood or fiber. The entire chain-of-custody channel from forest to printer is controlled and certified.
Future Reduction Measures for Winston-Salem Government Operations
- Develop an Environmental Management System (EMS) to prompt us to set department- and division-level goals for rainwater harvest and impervious surface reduction.
- Implement recycling of aluminum cans, plastic bottles and paper products at select recreation facilities.
- Plant more trees in parks and around recreation facilities.
- Implement environmentally-friendly maintenance practices at Winston Lake Golf Course. E.g., allow “natural” growth in certain areas so mowing and fertilizing no longer required.
- Minimize use of chemical pesticides – use IPM (Integrated Pest Management) to prevent pest problems. Reduces water pollution and helps improves soil life.
- Use pervious asphalt, pervious concrete or other pervious material to build new or resurface existing access roads or parking lots.
- Increase connectivity of greenways so citizens have more opportunities to bike to work, shop and schools.
- Maintenance staff moves to a four-day work week. Would reduce fuel usage and GHG emissions. Reduced crew would work the additional day with park sites.
- Reduce frequency of mowing at lesser-used park facilities.
- Buy promotional/marketing items that are eco-friendly.
- Capturing rain water to use for irrigation; pressure washing.
- Using synthetic turf on ball fields that will reduce the amount of mowing, water, and daily maintenance on fields.
Read the Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Local Action Plan to Reduce Emissions Report July 2008 [pdf/1mb/43p] | <urn:uuid:efd6c741-3076-425d-9b25-e38e1f2a1034> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cityofws.org/departments/recreation-parks/sustainability?skinsrc=[l]/skins/WinstonSalem/print | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.890805 | 565 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Although "The Gallant Pelham" served the entire war with the artillery, he was destined to fall while moonlighting in a cavalry charge.
A native Alabamian, he withdrew from West Point upon the outbreak of hostilities and joined the Confederate army. His assignments included: lieutenant, Wise (Va.) Artillery (early 1861); captain, Stuart Horse Artillery (March 23, 1862); major, Artillery (August 9, 1862); lieutenant colonel, Artillery (April 4, 1863, to rank from March 2); and commanding Horse Artillery Battalion, Cavalry Division, Army of Northern Virginia (August 1862-March 17, 1863).
After fighting at lst Bull Run, he became the captain of the first horse artillery battery that served with JEB Stuart, becoming close friends with the general. Commanding his unit, he saw action at Yorktown and during the Seven Days. Promoted, he commanded all of Stuart's horse batteries at 2nd Bull Run and Antietam. At Fredericksburg he held up the advance of a Union division against the Confederate right with only two guns. With only one gun left, he continued to shift positions despite the fact that 24 enemy guns were now concentrating their fire on him. Disobeying repeated orders to withdraw, he only did so upon running out of ammunition. General Lee observed and said, "It is glorious to see such courage in one so young!"
Known as the "Boy Major," he heard of an impending action at Kelly's Ford on March 17, 1863. Away from his battalion at the time, he joined the fray with the cavalry. He fell victim to a shell fragment while directing a column past a fence. Thought to be dead, he was thrown over a horse and led from the field. Quite a while later he was lowered to the ground and found to be still alive. He died shortly thereafter. Some believed that prompt attention might have saved his life. (Hassler, William Woods, Coloneljohn Pelbam, Lee's Boy Artillerist)
Source: "Who Was Who In The Civil War" by Stewart Sifakis
The Gallant Pelham Great write-up from the Southern Histiorical Society Papers | <urn:uuid:f7fa60f3-9337-45a9-aeda-2afa42a050cb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.civilwarhome.com/pelhambio.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978173 | 449 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Developmentally, it is natural for very young children to be quite self-centered in getting what they want and doing what they want to do. Much to the dismay of parents and caregivers, toddlers can often seem mean and hurtful as they follow their impulses without thinking of those around them or of the consequences.
When a child hits, grabs, destroys others' work or says mean things, often the adult's immediate impulse is to stop him physically, use angry threats and demands for explanations and apologies. When we become hung up on these reactions, we are not helping the child want to change his behavior. Instead of feeling bad about what has happened, the young child feels he's the one being attacked. He feels angry that his actions have been thwarted or not understood. It is almost impossible for him to feel truly remorseful or apologetic.
For the toddler who is as yet unable to tame his impulsive behavior, a calm removal from the situation or a distraction is probably the best first course of action to take.
Toddlers are not yet ready to feel for others and be sincerely sorry, but can begin the process by witnessing the adult apologize and sympathize with the victim. Around the age of 3, a child has the ability to be more in control of hurtful impulses. He begins to relate to those around him outside his immediate family. He can begin to have regard for the feelings of peers and want to choose their companionship over indulging in hurtful impulses for his own gratification. But he needs help.
To feel sorry and want to make a meaningful apology, a child must first feel remorseful, feel bad about what he has done or caused. This feeling is not inherent in the very young child but the capacity for it is there to be helped along and nurtured by the adults in his life. To feel sorry for his victim and take responsibility for causing a hurt, he needs a feeling of compassion.
This takes knowing something of what his victim is feeling. It takes wanting to preserve the relationship he's had with the one he's hurt and wishing he hadn't. It takes not liking the feeling of being that person who does unkind, hurtful things. We must also remember how readily children identify with and imitate the actions of the grown-ups in their lives. If they grow up seeing their role models put-down or abuse others physically or verbally, they will most likely mimic this behavior and make it a part of their own personalities.
To feel and use the qualities of compassion, remorse, apology and wanting to make his victim feel better, the young child must first have experienced them for himself. He needs to have had sympathetic attention when he's been hurt or when someone has been mean to him. He needs to feel concern and protection from those around him. If he has been dealt with compassionately on these occasions, he is better able to be receptive to feeling for the one to whom he's been unkind.
He is able to listen to reminders like, "Remember when Joey pushed you and took away your sand pail -- how bad you felt and how mad you were? That's the way Mary feels now because you've been mean to her and I know you don't like being an unkind friend. Let's think of something we can do to make Mary feel better, then you'll like yourself better, too. I'll help you draw a picture or write a note to Mary that lets her know you're sorry."
When the young child cannot like the "self" he is when he is mean and hurtful; when he can feel with the child he's been unkind to and wish he hadn't been; when he can participate in an apology that can help his victim feel better, he is well on his way to putting the desire for good relationships with others ahead of his selfish impulses. He is moving toward the next step in healthy development.
The Grandmothers are early childhood educators Kathy Baker, Maria Kaiser, Georgianna Roberts, and Ginny Steininger. We meet with Barbara Streeter, education director and child analyst at the Hanna Perkins Center (19910 Malvern Road, Shaker Heights, 44122), which houses the Hanna Perkins School, the Hadden Clinic for children and adolescents, and the Reinberger Parent/Child Resource Center, our community outreach arm. Reach them at [email protected], or call 216-991-4472. | <urn:uuid:e0c944f1-3008-40e9-9aa1-27ab1602e1bb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cleveland.com/parents/index.ssf/2012/02/when_your_child_is_hurtful_to.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982478 | 900 | 3.40625 | 3 |
After a ballot-tampering scandal in Cleveland’s August 1928 election, the enterprising Automatic Registering Machine Co. of Jamestown, N.Y., sensed a chance to win new customers. Ohio’s decades-old ban on voting machines would be lifted at the end of 1929. So in July of that year, the company set up a demonstration of its mechanical voting booth, first in a downtown bank lobby, then at the board of elections. What better way to highlight the machine’s modernity than to photograph fashionable young women flicking the levers? They were a novelty too; women had only been casting ballots for nine years.
“Voting machines will not lie, forge or perjure themselves,” a Plain Dealer editorial declared. “They do not record as voting voters who do not vote.”
But the Great Depression sank the chance to buy the machines. Funds went to relief for the poor instead. Cuyahoga County kept hand-counted paper ballots for decades. It slowly converted to mechanical booths between 1958 and 1972, granting contracts to the same company that tried to woo its business in 1929.
The county switched to punch-card voting in 1981 and voting on computer terminals in 2006. Two years later, after electronic voting proved error-prone, it went back to paper ballots — though optical scanners count our votes now. | <urn:uuid:d5110f93-c024-425b-9add-9767e813de14> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.clevelandmagazine.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=1578600D80804596A222593669321019&tier=4&id=6D9D680EC9CB46479480210D14F01C20 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946305 | 285 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Maintenance managers and their staff are on the front line of the battle to rid their facilities of poor indoor air quality (IAQ).
Pressure is mounting from building owners and occupants, concerned parents, government agencies, and environmental groups to change how we think about cleaning.
There are hundreds of variables at play, but a quality, high-efficiency vacuum cleaner is considered to be one of the most effective tools for achieving green standards of indoor cleanliness.
Environmental Protection Agency data show that indoor air pollutants are up to five times higher than outdoor levels.
Some studies have found that between school, work and home, people spend up to 90 percent of their time inside.
That makes for a very good chance of developing breathing disorders, such as asthma, or other illnesses and allergies.
Biological pollutants, such as bacteria, yeast, pollen, and fungal spores, lurk and thrive in every corner, especially in damp settings.
Vehicle emissions combine with volatile organic compound (VOC) pollutants, such as cleaning supply residue and emissions from office equipment.
Insulation and fabric fibers, sloughed skin, and decaying organic matter comprise much of the dust that accumulates on desks and in hallway corners.
These larger particulates can attract the aforementioned biological and VOC particles, giving these irritants another means to become airborne and reach the lungs.
If dust quickly gathers on surfaces or plumes out of drapery and upholstered chairs, it’s a good bet that your cleaning regimen is not working.
Setting the bar
Many builders and building managers are using the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System as a guide to improving IAQ.
Certain baseline requirements must be met for consideration.
These include removing asbestos and PCBs, as well as controlling tobacco smoke.
Next is to evaluate the heating and ventilation system for optimal circulation and filtration for the building size, location and number of occupants.
Is enough outside air being circulated inside, and if so, is it prone to pollution?
Are there ways to limit those sources of pollution?
For instance, most schools don’t allow buses to idle while on the grounds.
Once these tasks are complete, establishing a comprehensive cleaning program will help ensure that indoor pollutants are kept in check.
A program such as Team Cleaning is a flexible and cost-effective system that groups tasks into four functions.
Employees are cross-trained on light duty, vacuuming, restroom cleanup, and utility tasks.
But, this coordinated effort can only be successful when using the right tool for the right job.
The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill conducted a study that compared two cleaning methods — Zone Cleaning with upright vacuums and Team Cleaning with backpack vacuums.
They measured airborne dust levels, fungal spore counts, bacteria levels and VOC emissions before and after cleaning.
Team Cleaning convincingly prevailed in the tests as hard floor dust levels dropped by half, carpet floor dust levels dropped by a factor of four, and fungal spore levels were reduced by 90 percent.
Very versatile vacuums
The facilities you manage are a diverse landscape of carpeted cubicles, laminate hallways, and desk-filled classrooms.
Your vacuum should adapt to the varying terrain.
Plus, the staff doing the cleaning should find them comfortable and easy to use.
An ideal vacuum is a combination of high-powered suction, an exceptional filtration system, and good ergonomics.
Larger facilities with a wide range of flooring types are well-suited for canister and backpack vacuums.
A study by ISSA’s Cleaning Times found that backpack vacuums clean 10,000 square feet per hour.
Canisters cleaned 3,000 square feet per hour and upright vacuums 2,850 square feet per hour.
If you are considering a backpack vacuum, look for models that are lightweight, have good weight distribution, and properly fit the members of your staff.
Repetitive motions over long shifts are a real issue and can lead to muscle fatigue and stress injuries.
Using backpack vacuums has helped to reduce the occurrence of these medical conditions.
To make the job even easier, some manufacturers have adjustable wands, a range of accessory kits, and an easy-access carrying belt at the waist for attachments.
Most uprights have a beater bar, so they are best suited to unseat dirt trapped in mid- to high-pile carpeting.
For sensitive areas where a high standard of cleanliness is necessary, uprights may not be the best choice since beater bars can throw more dirt into the air than a vacuum with straight suction.
Models with a floating powerhead automatically adjust to different flooring types, while others need to be manually adjusted.
Also, consider models that have a dual motor system — one powering the suction and the other turning the beater bar.
This technology improves performance over models with just one motor powering both mechanisms.
Further advancements in vacuum technology and accessories give you more to think about.
Some models have a quiet mode for daytime vacuuming that brings decibel levels down to 50 or less (as loud as conversational speaking).
Other options to look for are wall-mounted storage stations, power nozzles, full filter bag indicators, and air freshening agents.
A vacuuming plan is pointless if the machine you use allows the dirt it captures to escape.
With powerful motors that can achieve 100 to 150 cubic feet per minute of airflow and 75 to 100 inches of static lift, the vacuum should have a solidly built body and several levels of filtration to back that power up.
Quality filters can have up to eight layers to afford more surface area to collect particles — about 2,400 percent more than single-ply bags.
Some companies include further lines of defense like a micro cloth filter, a dome filter, and an exhaust filter.
And, lately, a lot of attention has been placed on HEPA-level filtration vacuums.
They are intended to remove a minimum of 99.97 percent of particles, .3 microns or larger, which can include smoke and carbon.
HEPA filters are a must in environments such as industrial clean rooms and asbestos cleanup projects, but are now making their way into buildings that seek optimal IAQ.
However, if the HEPA vacuum isn’t sealed by industry standards or the filter is improperly disposed of, it will not provide the benefits people expect.
Filters must be emptied and cleaned frequently.
Full filters restrict airflow, putting stress on the motor and reducing suction.
Some vacuums have a thermal protector device that automatically shuts off the motor if it overheats.
Given five to ten minutes to cool and a good filter cleaning, the vacuum can be turned on again.
The seal of approval
Look for companies that have put their products through testing, such as the Carpet and Rug Institute’s Green Label program.
The CRI tests vacuums for filtration, soil removal levels and carpet appearance retention.
Since the launch of this test in 2000, CRI has certified more than 100 backpacks, canisters, central systems, and uprights.
Other third-party testing results that measure both airflow rates and extraction levels will be provided by some manufacturers.
Another way to measure the quality of a vacuum is the warranty provided.
A three-year warranty on parts, labor, and motor is a good standard to go by.
Added repair costs and time wasted waiting for replacement parts to be shipped significantly subtracts from the bottom line.
There are many factors when it comes to achieving a higher standard of indoor air quality.
Proper planning with your staff, building owners and the people who work, live, and learn in your facilities will help create a healthy indoor environment.
Dave Jansik is a freelance writer focusing on the JanSan industry. He resides in Boise, ID. | <urn:uuid:b8b71bcb-d167-450c-9ac8-606456bbd60f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cmmonline.com/articles/care-for-your-air-3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939992 | 1,664 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Lunchtime seems to inspire Gloria Lee and Marie French. While eating lunch, the Lake Braddock Secondary School eighth-graders came up with the idea for their award-winning science project: a security device that would use advanced equipment to track and identify intruders using information about their brain waves. When sixth-period science teacher Lynn Henson asked them to come up with a catchy name for their project, it was over lunch that they thought of the name "B.R.A.I.N.S. — Brain Reading Alarm: Invincible Neural Security."
"Lunch is very useful," said Marie.
ON TUESDAY, March 21, Gloria and Marie, both 14, received the first prize for their region and age group in the 2006 Toshiba/National Science Teachers ExploraVision Awards Program. The contest, in which students compete to develop a scientific invention that could exist in 20 years, drew nearly 14,000 students from across the country. Gloria and Marie won first place in their region, and will now compete with five other teams in grades 7 to 9 for the national prize. If they win that, they receive $10,000 each, as well as a trip with the other winners to Washington, D.C.
"When I read their project I said, 'This definitely could be a winning project,'" said Henson.
"I'm amazed," said Janet French, Marie's mother. "A lot of their teachers have been very good along the way."
Marie coined a word to describe how she felt winning the contest: "happyful." However, said Gloria, the win came as a complete surprise.
"We really weren't expecting it," she said.
As part of her science class, Henson had students choose from four science project contests to enter. Marie and Gloria chose the ExploraVision contest, they said, because it was the only one that allowed them to work together. They were sitting at the lunch table thinking of ideas, when Marie recalled a book she had read.
"I threw out a random idea. I said, 'Hey, I was reading this book,'" said Marie. "That's what most of my sentences start out with these days."
In the book, she said, intruders were able to trespass onto a property by tripping the motion sensor so often that the security guards thought that animals were tripping the alarm and began to disregard the alarm. The girls wondered whether they could make a motion sensor that could distinguish between animals and humans, said Marie.
As their project progressed, said Gloria, they learned that there is a difference between animal and human brain waves. They learned about the four different types of brain waves and the levels of alertness they signify. Beta waves, she said, signify an alert brain; alpha waves, a more relaxed state; theta waves, drowsiness; and delta waves, sleep.
The end project was a device that uses technology in a combination of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and electroencephalogram (EEG) to monitor the brain waves of intruders. The device would then detect and sort information gleaned from the intruders' brain activity and the frequency of their brain waves, such as their gender, age, and emotional state.
"I like science," said Marie. "We had just never ever done anything about brains in class."
THE PROJECT INVOLVED making an abstract, listing present and technologies and the history of EEGs and brain waves, imagining future uses for the device, as well as scientific breakthroughs that would have to happen for the device to work. The girls agreed that the most challenging part, however, was the design process, where they had to describe how they came upon the idea for their project, because their idea had been spontaneous.
They are currently working on the next step of the process, which involves creating a Web site detailing the project and a prototype, or a model of what the alarm would look like. The girls are also trying to come up with a way to make the EEG monitors on the alarm work wirelessly. Currently, said Gloria, EEG monitors only work when attached directly to electrodes on the skull.
Luckily, Gloria and Marie work well together. It helps that they are best friends, they said.
"We had fun writing it, cause we were writing it together and we talked," said Marie. "We talk a lot."
Her love of writing complements Gloria's talent with graphic design, which made the project run much smoother.
One of the most important aspects of the Exploravision contest, said Linda Heller of the National Science Teachers Association, is that it is grounded in real science.
"It is not a science fiction project," she said. At the same time, however, it encourages students to think futuristically. Because of the advancement of technology and science, said Heller, inventions like Gloria and Marie's may soon become possible.
"Many national and regional winners have come out from this school [Lake Braddock]," said Tokiko Soma, a representative of Toshiba, who came from Tokyo to present the award to the girls. Aside from the ExploraVision contest, which Toshiba has sponsored with the National Science Teacher's Association for the past 14 years, Toshiba also offers programs for children at the Toshiba Science Museum in Tokyo, she said.
"We want to build up a new generation, so this is a good program for kids to know about science and be comfortable with science," said Soma.
"We are always pleased to see students like Gloria and Marie that not only have developed a really good project, but that enjoy doing it," said Henson.
As for Marie and Gloria, they both have the same goal no matter how the contest turns out: to go to Thomas Jefferson School of Science and Technology. They are currently in the middle of the application process, and hope their scientific experience will help them at a science-focused school such as Thomas Jefferson. | <urn:uuid:453f782e-6481-4c56-b2a6-1d1b8ba73a69> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2006/mar/22/brains-prove-invincible-in-science-contest/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980055 | 1,228 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Process analyzers are critical components in many advanced process control and environmental monitoring applications. Besides being critical, they're often complex, or at least if the analyzer is not complex, the associated sample system can be. However, just as we often overlook the infrastructure necessary to support other field instruments, the same happens to the protection of the analyzer system—the shelter and its design. But designing a suitable process analyzer shelter, even for a complex system, does not have to be an intimidating task. What follows are some basic guidelines.
In most installations, process analyzers are dedicated to one process stream, and if the signal is used for closed-loop control, especially if a chromatograph or analyzer with a longer analysis time is used, this is certainly true. With the increasing use of spectroscopic analysis, there's a tendency to having multiple streams connected to one analyzer, though the price is added complexity with the sample system.
When designing an analyzer system, the following points are important considerations:
- Correct location and orientation of sample point;
- Proper design of sample transport and sample conditioning systems;
- Availability of reliable and clean utilities;
- Environmental protection against heat/cold, humidity, solar radiation, rain, dust and corrosion;
- Ease of accessibility for maintenance of all the analyzer system components;
- Proper design of validation and calibration facilities;
- Adequate preventive maintenance.
Note that in this list only the first two bullets relate to the measurement itself. The balance of the list addresses what I refer to as "ancillary systems," since they're not directly in contact with the process. In general, these items are also normally associated with the analyzer housing.
Because on-line analyzers tend to be more complex and large, they usually require environmental protection in housings to ensure reliable operation. Once it's determined that some added environmental protection is required for the analyzer, the first decision that needs to be made is the form of that housing. The IEC 61831 standard defines the following four types of housings:
- Analyzer case—An enclosure forming part of the instrument. In other words, no additional equipment other than the case in which the analyzer is built.
- Analyzer cabinet—A small, simple housing in which analyzers are installed singly or grouped together. Due to the size of the cabinet, maintenance is carried out from outside the cabinet.
- Analyzer shelter—A structure with one or more sides open and free from obstruction to the natural passage of air, in which are installed one or more analyzers. Maintenance of the analyzer is normally carried out from within the shelter.
- Analyzer house—An enclosed structure in which are installed one or more analyzers. Either natural or forced ventilation is used. The maintenance of the analyzer is always carried out from within the house (Figure 1).
Once you know the size and type of housing the next consideration is its placement. The preferred location is always an unclassified area. This not always possible, either because of the type of process and general layout of the unit operations, or as is often the case when an unclassified area is not an option, because the lag time of the sample system and analyzer would be too long to be useful for control.
Air should enter and leave the house by entry and exit ports from outside the classified area. The air intake should be through a stack provided with a weather protection cowl (rain hood), and sourced from a non-hazardous area where corrosive or toxic gases don't occur. The house should be ventilated with air to keep flammable or toxic gases, which are either lighter or heavier than air, out of the house and to dissipate any leakage inside the house. This not only provides sufficient building ventilation, but it also dissipates any gases that may enter the shelter due to leaks from equipment inside the shelter. To insure that hazardous gases don't enter the shelter, the minimum differential pressure under operating conditions should be 25 pascals (0.25 mbar), effectively creating a purged enclosure. It is normal practice to operate at an overpressure of 2 mbar to 5 mbar with a typical air flow of 10 changes/hour.
The air exchange system, which is normally part of the shelter HVAC, will have to be able to:
- Dilute escaping vapors (those liquids which vaporize at ambient temperatures) from the rupture or failure of the most hazardous sample or service line to less than 20% LEL around any potential means of ignition;
- Dilute to below the occupational exposure limit any toxic gases/vapors introduced into the house by accidental rupture of any one sample or service line within the house;
- Dilute to below the asphyxiant level any asphyxiant gases/vapors introduced into the house by accidental rupture of any one sample or service line within the house.
It should be noted that many substances will reach the short-term exposure limit or asphyxiant levels long before the lower flammable limit value. As a general rule, the overall system design should eliminate or minimize the emission of hazardous or noxious gases and vapors and the possibility of liquid spillage inside the housing.
Despite the 10 air changes/hour requirement and the need to adequately purge any accidental releases, the design of the intake duct and the diameter of the stack should be sized to limit air velocity to a maximum of 15 m/s since higher velocities not only create a feeling of being in a wind inside the shelter, but also can cause quite a bit of noise. Any ducting to the analyzer house which passes through hazardous areas should be leak-tight. Ducting through Zone 1 hazardous areas should be avoided where possible.
All the above needs to occur while the HVAC unit maintains the temperature inside the house within limits specified by the user and required by the analyzer itself. Rate of change of temperature in the building is also a consideration, since some analyzers are affected by and unable to compensate for changes in ambient temperature.
The housing needs to be designed to permit maintenance, adjustments and repairs to be carried out quickly and preferably without affecting analyzer operations. All components likely to require attention should be accessible without the aid of portable ladders or other temporary means, and shall have mountings and fittings located so that they are front-accessible. In the case of cabinet-mounted systems, this includes sufficient room within the cabinet for the technicians' hands, tools and light to see what they are doing or working on. All shelters and houses should have unobstructed internal headroom of at least 2 m, as well as a workspace (bench as a minimum) for support staff to perform maintenance tasks.
Dead zones such as corners and trenches that may collect gas should be avoided. One way this is accomplished is to mount the majority of the sample system "outside" the shelter containing the analyzer(s) proper and then putting in restriction orifices to limit the maximum flow rate through the bulkhead in the event of a catastrophic failure. For this reason equipment such as sample conditioning units, gas cylinders, calibration sample containers and laboratory sampling points are normally located outside the housing with appropriate weather protection.
Besides being protected from exposure to gases that may be in the shelter, personnel working with analyzer systems must be protected from injury from other hazards, such as burns (sample or process lines greater than 40 ºC should be insulated), electric shock (proper grounding of all circuits and the building itself) and cuts from exposed sharp edges.
Manual shutdown devices for the incoming power, sample, carrier gas and other potentially hazardous utilities should be clearly identified outside the housing. These isolation devices should be fitted close to the analyzers. Also, a separate shutdown device should be fitted for any associated house ventilation fans.
Fire detection may be provided in the form of smoke or heat detectors and should be included for all liquid service analyzers. Because not all fires burn the same, be sure to select the right type of fire detector, as you may need to use UV and IR detectors, depending on the fluid. Smoke detectors often help detect fires early in the fire cycle, especially for non-fluid materials.
Of course, if something happens while someone is in the shelter, they'll need a safe exit. Outward-opening doors should be provided at both ends of the housing to permit easy escape in an emergency and include safe egress to the unit's muster point. The position, size of doors and access to them should permit removal of equipment housed. Lockable doors should be avoided, or if they are used, the doors must be capable of being opened from the inside in the locked condition, and they should have crash bars. Manual call points should be provided on the outside of the house next to the doors, so operators can initiate an alarm should the automated systems fail.
Protecting your analyzer investment involves more than "just putting the equipment in a box," regardless of the size and type of box. It also includes providing a safe work environment for the people required to keep that equipment in good working order so that you continue to get highly reliable process analyzer systems as well. | <urn:uuid:0359dcf1-a2e8-4c14-98f2-cfa1a5f11de7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.controlglobal.com/articles/2012/verhappen-gimme-shelter/?show=all | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94081 | 1,890 | 2.578125 | 3 |
|CSABA CSAPODI: HISTORY OF THE BIBLIOTHECA CORVINIANA|
An unparalleled achievement of Hungarian Renaissance culture was the library of King Matthias Corvinus (1458-1490). It was worthy to rank with the highest contemporary manifestations of European culture, and north of the Alps at that time its like was nowhere to be found.
How did Buda, the court of the Hungarian king, come to be the place where a sovereign founded the first great humanist library in the world outside Italy? Did the king merely wish to display his power or was his motive a love of pomp? Was the library of Buda the result of chance, did it come into existence through the intelligence, the will or perhaps the whim of a single outstanding individual? Did these precious manuscripts, fascinating rather by their outward splendour than by their contents, constitute a carefully guarded collection of works of art, created almost in a moment out of nothing, and then after a brief life passing out of existence without having exerted any noticeable influence? Or was perhaps the library no more than an obligatory feature of a court formed after the Italian model to please the queen, Beatrice of Aragon, who came from Naples in 1476?
The explanation given by the facts of history is quite different. The Corvinian Library is an integral part of the history of Hungarian cultural development, of the history of Hungarian books and libraries. When we trace previous and contemporary causes and motives in their logical connection, we find that the Bibliotheca Corviniana was very far from being some lifeless museum of books; it was, on the contrary, a library whose founder aspired to collect the supreme achievements of the human mind. The volumes were sought for the value of their contents, of which the bindings and the covers were to be worthy in their beauty and magnificence.
It was about A.D. 1000 when the first Hungarian library of a few dozen books was established in a modest niche at the St. Martin Monastery of Pannonhalma; it was in 1489 that the Florentine humanist Bartolomeo della Fonte declared that Lorenzo de'Medici had been inspired to found his Greek and Latin library by the example of the Hungarian king.
During the intervening period of nearly five centuries book culture followed a similar path in Hungary as in other European countries. Increasing numbers of manuscripts were required for the use in churches, convent schools and chapters, and in monastic life. Hungarian undergraduates became familiar with books on philosophy, theology; and law while studying at foreign universities, but the Hungarian universities and colleges (Pécs, Veszprém, Óbuda) could not be left without books either. From the time of the Anjou kings in the fourteenth century, splendid manuscripts have come down to us, proving the Hungarian court illuminators to have been in every way the equals of the artists of other countries. When writing became general in the management of affairs, the royal chancellery and other offices needed an adequate number of scribes proficient in reading and writing Latin, and who could also copy manuscripts. Thus by the beginning of the fifteenth century any earlier differences in the standard of books between Hungary and the western countries had disappeared.
This only showed, however, that the soil was favourable for future growth. That a humanist concern with books manifested itself earlier in Hungary than in other countries was the result of a fortunate combination of circumstances. One such contributory cause was the fact that between Italy and Hungary in the fourteenth century there was not a mere occasional contact, but a close, permanent and many-sided relationship. Not only did new incentives and impulses reach the country again and again through the relatives of the Neapolitan Anjous and as a result of the Italian campaigns of Louis the Great (1342-1382), but in the south-western parts of the medieval Hungarian monarchy, in Dalmatia and Slavonia, the doors were flung wide open to Italian influences. It was therefore no accident that the leading personalities of the early period of Hungarian humanism, the founders of the first libraries, came from these south-western regions.
The period of Sigismund, king of Hungary and sovereign of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Council of Constance, which was held during his reign, were both highly significant. It was at this time that Buda became the permanent capital of Hungary – sometimes, it seemed, for occasional brief moments, the capital of the world. When Sigismund appeared at the Council of Constance he was attended by professors of the University of Óbuda; in his retinue, in the management of world politics, of affairs of the Empire and the Church, he was surrounded and supported chiefly by Hungarian councillors. Though the king himself as well as his entourage retained to the end a medieval intellectual horizon, the continuously broadening relations with every part of the world and the regular contact with the humanist movement opened up fresh channels for the inflow of the new learning. Among the ambassadors who visited Hungary were such men as Ambrogio Traversari, Antonio Loschi, Francesco Barbaro, Francesco Filelfo, Poggio Bracciolini, Ciriaco da Ancona.
Nor was it only humanist ambassadors who came to Hungary, but also growing numbers of Italian artists, among them Brunelleschi's pupil, Manetto Ammanati, and Masolino da Panicale. These men gave a new impetus to Hungarian pre-Renaissance art which had long before begun to take form under Italian influence and had produced such works as the bronze statues of the brothers Martinus and Georgius Kolozsvari (their statue of St. George still stands in Prague). The imposing edifices erected by King Sigismund at Buda were built in Gothic style, but their magnificent metal doors and bronze sculptures were made in workshops under Italian Renaissance masters.
It was in this period that the opportunity first arose to found a royal library at Buda, since Sigismund had inherited the famous collection of beautiful books from his elder brother Wenceslas, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia. However, Sigismund was not one of those monarchs who cherished a special interest in books. Under the reign of his successor, Albert Habsburg, the books were taken to Austria, where in all probability most of them remained, though in 1455 Albert's son, Ladislas V, King of Hungary and Bohemia, made an attempt to recover them from his guardian, the Emperor Frederick III.
Thus in the opening decades of the fifteenth century everything favoured the success of individal initiative in the new cultural field of books. These initiatives came principally from two celebrated personalities: one was Pier Paolo Vergerio, the other Iohannes Vitéz, Bishop of Nagyvárad, later Archbishop of Esztergom.
Vergerio was the pupil and friend of Giovanni da Ravenna, a great figure of early Italian humanism. The latter's career, curiously enough, had begun in Buda, where he was born as the son of Louis the Great's Neapolitan physician, Conversino da Ravenna. In his childhood, however, he was taken to Italy, and it was here that he pursued his important activities. Of his pupils the most celebrated were Guarino Veronese and Pier Paolo Vergerio. At the Council of Constance Vergerio stood in the service of the Emperor Sigismund, whom he followed to Hungary; and here he lived from 1418 until his death about 1444. It was of the greatest importance that such an outstanding representative of Italian humanism came to settle down in Hungary.
His close relation to Vergerio exerted the profoundest influence on Iohannes Vitéz who had brought with him Dalmatian-Italian traditions from his native land, Slavonia, and who had abundant opportunity to meet Italian humanists visiting King Sigismund's chancellery as ambassadors. Later, when he became the chancellor of Iohannes Hunyadi and Ladislas V, he not only held in his hands the intricate threads of Hungary's foreign policy while she was fighting against the Turks for her existence but he also formed the closest personal relations with foreign humanists, especially with Aeneas Sylvius, later Pope Pius II.
As Bishop of Nagyvárad, Vitéz succeeded an Italian predecessor, Andrea Scolari, who had created a veritable Italian atmosphere at Nagyvarad, one of the most important centres of the Hungarian pre-Renaissance. It was here that Iohannes Vitéz set up the first Hungarian humanist library. The first Polish humanist, Gregorius Sanocki, also stayed here for some time, and it was in Nagyvárad that the Cypriot Filippo Podocataro found refuge and a home. Vergerio was a frequent visitor; most likely it was Vitéz who bought his valuable library. Callimachus-Buonacorsi describes as an eyewitness the debates on literature and philosophy which took place in the presence and with the participation of Iohannes Vitéz. The library as the setting for symposia – here already was the world of a true humanism. Nicolaus, Bishop of Modrus, a native of Cattaro, who spent the winter of 1463 at the episcopal court of Nagyvárad, looked back on his stay there with pleasure: "At your place in Várad we often sat together with many scholars in your magnificent library and spent a pleasant and happy time among the innumerable volumes of illustrious men." The owner of the largest copyists' shop of Florence, Vespasiano da Bisticci, declared that there were few Latin books of which Iohannes Vitéz did not possess a copy.
Regular consignments of books from Janus Pannonius greatly contributed to the enrichment of Vitéz's library. It was Vitéz who had sent his nephew, Janus Pannonius, to Ferrara to the renowned school of Guarino Veronese where he soon became known for his extraordinary talents, excelling as he did in the composition of poetry and in the study of Greek which he mastered in a remarkably short time. Some years later, and still quite a young man, he came back to Hungary as a celebrated Latin poet and a scholar completely imbued with the new humanist learning, to enter on his duties as Bishop of Pécs. His library of Pécs became the second humanist collection of Hungary and the first to contain not only Latin, but also Greek books. We may again quote Vespasiano, who spoke of Janus Pannonius as having established for his bishopric a splendid library which contained the material of every faculty of a university.
At the same time it should be recalled that during the first years of the reign of the young King Matthias, Iohannes Vitéz and Janus Pannonius were his principal political supports and councillors. A case in point will illustrate their close cooperation. The delegation sent to Pope Paul II in 1465 to solicit help against the Turks was headed by Janus Pannonius. When he came home he not only brought with him the confirmation of Vitéz as Archbishop of Esztergom and the authorization to set up the University of Pozsony (with Vitéz as its organizer and chancellor) but he also availed himself of the opportunity to make extensive purchases of books, inasmuch as “he bought in Rome every book that he could obtain, Greek and Latin works on various branches of science”.
When it is furthermore taken into consideration that Matthias's education during childhood was directed by Iohannes Vitéz, the closest adherent of Matthias's father, Iohannes Hunyadi, that already as a youth Matthias was so proficient in Latin as to be able to act as his father's interpreter in conversations with ambassadors and that in later years he liked to recall the books he had read as a young man, the acquisition of an ever more magnificent royal collection of books, the foundation of the Corvinian Library, seems entirely natural.
There is no direct evidence to show when King Matthias first began regularly to collect books. Nor is it possible to establish the date when the library may be said to have been actually founded. It is clear from what has been said that no sudden decision or formal foundation was made; rather, the king's personal collection, consisting of the volumes he had used in his youth, a few books left by his father, and manuscripts which had come down to him from his royal predecessors began to grow into a true library under the influence of Hungarian and Italian humanists, following the similar development of the libraries of Iohannes Vitéz and Janus Pannonius.
The first mention of the systematic collection of books and also of the activity of copyists working for the king is to be found in the reply sent by King Matthias to Pomponius Laetus, president of the Academy of Rome, in 1471. This letter has preserved a record of four important facts concerning the library. First: Matthias was at this time buying books in Rome through his own agent, who had just returned from a journey made for this purpose; secondly: this agent was Blandius, “miniator noster”, that is to say, the king had by this time his own miniaturist; thirdly: since Italian humanists offered books to King Matthias, his interest in books must have been well known in Italy; finally: Matthias did not regard books merely as ornaments, for even when he was taken up with wars abroad and difficulties at home he found time to read. Thus his collection of books satisfied a personal, inner need. (“These days we frequently read Silius Italicus,” he wrote, “because we enjoyed Silius in our youth, and now that we are engaged in wars we like him still better, for he sings of wars.”)
The letter of 1471 does not indicate the time when the activities to which it refers first began, but the date must have been considerably earlier than that of the letter. For we know of literary works which were dedicated to King Matthias in 1464 and 1466. One is the Elegy of Antonius Constantius Fanensis, the other the “Quare Christiani truduntur in manibus paganorum et Thurcarum?” by Frater Christophorus Carthusiensis. A phrase in the poem of Constantius Fanensis is of particular importance: “te memorant musas coluisse Latinas”; hence in Italy Matthias was known to be interested in Latin literature.
After the first slight indications, evidence becomes increasingly abundant from 1467 onwards. It was in this year that Andreas Pannonius, a Carthusian monk of Ferrara hailing from Hungary, made a present to Matthias of his work on the virtues of kings. On the last page of another Corvinian manuscript, the Ptolemy codex of Vienna (a translation of Trapezuntius), produced in the same year, the constellation of the stars is represented at the moment of the inauguration of the University of Pozsony, and there are three Corvinian manuscripts, copied by Petrus Cenninius at Florence, bearing the date of 1467.
The repeated occurrence of the date 1467 in the surviving books of the Corvinian Library cannot be regarded as accidental. Apparently it was the year when copyists and purchasing agents commenced to work for Matthias in Italy. This point of time coincides with the opening of the University of Pozsony and it accords with the new picture which gradually resulted from the change in Matthias's interests and conduct. After the restoration of his authority at home and abroad, the king turned his attention with increasing eagerness to the new learning. The first Italian humanists appeared at his court, and instead of pursuing an aggressive policy against the Turks the king concentrated upon making his power felt in the West. The first important success of this new trend hailing from Hungary was that, after having acquired Moravia and Silesia, he was crowned king of Bohemia in 1469. It is noteworthy that representations of Matthias's arms in Corvinian manuscripts almost all contain the crowned, doubletailed Czech lion. On the vaulting of the library itself the constellation of the stars represented the moment when Matthias became king of Bohemia.
In connection with the first period in the development of the library a third name has to be added to those of the Hungarians Iohannes Vitéz and Janus Pannonius – the Italian Galeotti Marzio. A friend and fellow-student of Janus Pannonius at Ferrara, he had visited Hungary at the invitation of the latter in 1461, and from 1465 he lived for a long time at Buda and became the first librarian of the Bibliotheca Corviniana.
The first phase in the development of the library lasted until the fall and death of Vitéz and Janus Pannonius in 1472. At the close of this period we may assume that there was in existence a royal library of considerable size and completely humanist in character. There are, it is true, very few books whose addition to the library can be dated accurately and with certainty within this period, yet it cannot be accidental that about one-third of the authentic Corvinian manuscripts which have survived were made before 1470. Moreover, most of these are decorated with plain white Florentine foliated scrolls. Incidentally, the date of a manuscript does not necessarily imply its addition to the Corvinian Library in the very same year; it is nevertheless improbable that his agents should for the most part have bought old manuscripts for King Matthias.
Apart from systematic acquisition, pursued before 1472, the large number of manuscripts illuminated with white foliated scroll and made between 1450 and 1470 may have another explanation, namely the confiscation of books which had belonged to Iohannes Vitéz and Janus Pannonius. In contemporary Italy it was not unknown for royalty to obtain possession of books by seizing volumes which had belonged to notables who had fallen into disgrace. In the light of such a procedure it is understandable how it happened that several manuscripts of Iohannes Vitéz have come down to posterity in Corvinian bindings.
The confiscation of the Greek books of Janus Pannonius is only one of the reasons of the unusually high proportion of works by Greek authors among the books of the Corvinian Library. Although in 1472 there was a large increase in the number and value of the volumes in the royal library, this seems to have been followed by a pause; the downfall of Iohannes Vitéz and Janus Pannonius and the king's temporary disillusionment with humanists were naturally not without their effect on the fate of the library: there is hardly any Corvinian manuscript or volume which can be dated as having been acquired in the period between the death of Vitéz and the king's marriage to Beatrice. This situation may have been the cause of the failure of the first printing press in Hungary, which was established at Buda by Andreas Hess. He could not have chosen a more inauspicious time (1472) for arriving in Buda from Rome. Since King Matthias had nothing to do with the founding of the printing press, it could not hope to subsist on royal patronage or from the execution of royal orders. For a year or two Hess managed to survive, but he was then compelled to give up Hence his printing press cannot have played any role in the list of new additions acquired by the Corvinian Library.
It was only the king's marriage to Beatrice of Aragon in 1476 which brought a favourable turn in the life of the library. The handsome volumes imported from Naples and the fame of the magnificent Library of Aragon revived the king's interest in his own collection. The strengthening of Italian influence is known to have brought about a complete change in King Matthias's way of life and in his household; it was contact with Italian humanists which gave a new impetus to the development of the library rather than the personal influence of Queen Beatrice herself. There are three grounds for this conjecture.
In the first place, the library entered upon its heyday not in 1476, but in 1485, and its expansion was most rapid in the last years of the king's life, when questions concerning the king's illegitimate son, Iohannes Corvinus, and the succession caused ever deepening discord between the royal couple.
Secondly, Queen Beatrice possessed her own personal collection of books, which suggests that she could hardly have regarded the Corvinian Library as her own. There is much evidence to support the assumption that apart from the Bibliotheca Corviniana Queen Beatrice possessed a library of her own. There are manuscripts still in existence which bear not only King Matthias's coat of arms, but also the shield of the Hungarian king and that of Aragon combined in one achievement. This double shield is usually referred to as the coat of arms of Matthias and Beatrice, but this is an error; it was not the joint coat of arms of the king and queen but that of the queen alone. The same seal was used by Queen Beatrice on her charters, while the seal of King Matthias on royal charters and deeds never included the arms of Aragon. In this respect Matthias and Beatrice faithfully followed the example of their predecessors: neither earlier nor later can the consort's arms be found in the seal of the Hungarian king; the queens, on the other hand, invariably used a seal uniting their own arms with those of the king. That contemporaries knew about Beatrice's separate collection of books is proved by the two manuscripts of Agathias, one of which, with the double shield and Beatrice's portrait, the translator dedicated to the queen, whereas the other, with Matthias's shield and imagined portrait, was dedicated to the king.
The third and weightiest argument against any personal role of Queen Beatrice in the development of the Corvinian Library is that no special relations were established between the library and Naples after the Neapolitan marriage. On the contrary, it was the connections with Florence which were strengthened and now became the closest. In the history of the Bibliotheca Corviniana this was the golden age of Florentine illumination and copying.
The strengthening of Florentine relations is indicated by three names: Marsilio Ficino, Francesco Bandini and Taddeo Ugoleto.
Ficino, in the Latin form Ficinus, the founder and leader of the neoplatonic academy of Florence, sent to Hungary his life of Plato as early as 1477. In its introduction, addressed to his friend Bandini who was already staying at Buda, he wrote that he was sending his Plato, not to Athens, because that city was ruined, but to Buda, to King Matthias who "with marvellous power and wisdom has restored in a few years the temple of the great and wise Pallas". From this time a permanent, close connection was maintained between the circle of Ficino and Buda where Bandini, following the Florentine pattern, gathered around himself a firm circle of neoplatonists who looked forward with keen interest to the new works of Ficino, particularly to his translations of Greek writings. As regards the developments of the library itself, the greatest credit must go to King Matthias's new librarian, Taddeo Ugoleto.
Unfortunately much less is known about Ugoleto's life in Hungary than we would wish in order to gain a better insight into the events which shaped the history of the library. There can be no doubt that he was the tutor and master of Iohannes Corvinus. That it was he who reorganized the Bibliotheca Corviniana is known from his own statement to this effect. It is also certain that he was sent by the king to Florence to arrange for the copying of manuscripts, and it was he who established the fame of the library. Moreover, in all probability it was he who commissioned Naldus Naldius to write a laudatory account of the library, having first himself supplied the necessary information. Most likely it was in the service of King Matthias that Ugoleto made the study tour in the course of which, as he wrote, he visited nearly all the libraries of Europe. At all events, a humanist librarian cannot be imagined in the modern sense of the word as a cataloguing expert doing administrative work during office hours; he should much rather be thought of as a court humanist who travelled, negotiated, searched everywhere for manuscripts, while organizing and supervising copyists and miniaturists.
Ugoleto's journey to Florence presumably did not take place until 1485-6, in the truly glorious days of the Corvinian Library. However, four important steps may be supposed to have been made before 1485, in the first phase of Ugoleto's activities as an organizer. The first was the acquisition of the Greek manuscripts, the second the superb furnishing of the library premises, the third was the painting of the royal arms on the title-page of every manuscript, the fourth the introduction of typical Corvinian bindings.
Most probably the first group of Greek volumes came to the Corvinian Library from the confiscated estate of Janus Pannonius. However, the Greek manuscripts of Janus, which he had brought from Italy, could not have made King Matthias's library famous for extraordinary wealth in Greek books or raised it to the rank of a model Latin and Greek library in the eyes of the Medici. Both contemporaries and posterity found evidence of King Matthias having acquired his large Greek collection from the Ottoman Empire, from within Greece itself. This enterprise could hardly have been carried to a successful conclusion during the librarianship of Galeotti who knew little Greek; its achievement may be much rather attributed to Ugoleto, who knew Greek well and taught this language to Iohannes Corvinus. It may have been carried out prior to Ugoleto's journey to Florence, since in Naldus Naldius's catalogue the volumes are divided into Greek and Latin groups and the Bibliotheca Corviniana's wealth in Greek authors is evident.
The luxurious furnishing of the library, mentioned for the first time in Naldus Naldius's panegyric, may also be presumed to have been accomplished during the librarianship of Ugoleto.
The highly vaulted premises of the library on the first floor of the royal palace of Buda in the wing overlooking the Danube were situated in the immediate vicinity of the royal chapel. An adjoining room was added later when the increase of the collection made it necessary. Light streamed into the room through two stained-glass windows, between which stood the king's couch covered with a golden cloth. Gilded shelves in three rows ran all around the walls. On these lay the manuscripts, grouped according to content, in brilliant glittering, gilded bindings of leather, or of red, green, blue, violet silk or velvet, bearing the owner's arms, with gilded silver studding and clasps decorated with enamel. Curtains woven of coloured and golden yarn protected the precious volumes from dust. The rest of the books, for which there was not enough room on the shelves, were kept in richly carved chests beneath the shelves. There were three-legged chairs in the room for readers.
It has been mentioned as the third merit of Ugoleto as a librarian that every Corvinian manuscript was decorated with a miniature of the royal arms. For a long time it had been the custom to paint the owner's coat of arms in an ornamental frame on the title-page of a manuscript prepared to order, and generally intended as a present. Numerous such manuscripts of Iohannes Vitéz are known to posterity. However, this occasional use of a coat of arms – encountered in a few early Corvinian manuscripts – was very different from the custom now first introduced in the Bibliotheca Corviniana of systematically decorating volumes with the owner's coat of arms, virtually his ex-libris.
In nearly one quarter of the preserved Corvinian manuscripts arms of uniform type may be seen, done bythe same hand: a shield divided into four fields, with the Hungarian arms in red and silver in the first and fourth, the Bohemian silver lion on a red ground in the second and third, and in the middle the arms of the Hunyadi family, a black raven on a blue ground. The lion's body is massive and stocky, the golden crown on his head disproportionately large. The shield and the frequently added, more or less elaborate, ornaments around it often clash with the colours of the original illumination. In the relevant literature the master of these shields and decorations is referred to as "the first heraldic painter of King Matthias". There are Corvinian manuscripts of which the whole modest illumination is the work of this master,bg and which were therefore executed entirely at Buda.
The arms in about twenty-five manuscripts have been identified as the work of another heraldic painter. Their composition is similar to that of the examples we have just described, but instead of silver the miniaturist has used white, and the lion has exceedingly slender, delicate lines. It is a characteristic feature of these shields that they occur together with coloured (red, blue, violet, green) silk or velvet bindings, the gilt edge of whichis sumptuously decorated with coloured floral design, found nowhere but in Corvinian manuscripts. Hence there can be no doubt that this heraldic painter, too, was active in Buda. It is a typical feature of these arms that the letters M and A may be frequently seen on either side of the shield. These letters have been interpreted as the initials of "Matthias Augustus", the title of Matthias as emperor. On this basis the date of these arms would have to be put after 1485, the year of the occupation of Vienna.
Neither this interpretation of the letters M and A, nor the dating of the shields subsequent to 1485 is acceptable. In the first place, King Matthias did not use the expression "augustus" among his titles at any time. Even the colophons of the manuscripts produced for the king between 1488 and 1490 contained only the title of "serenissimus rex", nor did the greatest flatterers among the humanists address Matthias as emperor in their dedications. In the second place, the occupation of Vienna did not make King Matthias emperor; moreover, Vienna was not at that time the seat of the emperor. In the third place: the letters M and A on either side of the shield are nowhere to be found in the richly illuminated manuscripts prepared for King Matthias at Buda and in Florence after 1485, not even in those including the arms of Vienna and Austria as acquired possessions. What is more, these letters are absent from the Philostratus manuscript, in which the principal miniature represents the entry into Vienna. The letters M and A may be regarded merely as the first two letters of Matthias.
Thus there is no justification for putting the date of the "second" heraldic painter after 1485. On the contrary: most probably it was these small, unassuming arms which were painted earlier.
Be that as it may, the two kinds of shields executed in a different manner certainly suggest two major undertakings in heraldic painting, both carried out after 1469, since the Bohemian lion is present in the arms. One undertaking included the application of coloured gilt edges and the binding of the works in a silk or velvet cover; this was the work of the so-called "second" heraldic painter, presumably produced in the late 1470s, which may have been connected with the cataloguing of volumes originating from the collections of Iohannes Vitéz and Janus Pannonius. The other undertaking was carried out by the "first" heraldic painter, most likely about 1480. The volumes supplied with coat of arms of the latter type are of as early origin as those from the years between 1450 and 1470, but they have no delicately coloured floral patterns on their gilt edge, and instead of silk covers they have in most instances a gilded leather binding with arms, if any binding still exists. It may be assumed from the date 1481, which is to be seen on one of these covers, that the production of these typical Corvinian leather bindings now became customary.
The armorial bearings on the binding of Corvinian manuscripts was the quartered Hungarian-Bohemian shield of King Matthias, found also inside the manuscript, as a sign of ownership; therefore it was also the ex-libris and .ruper ex-libris of the Bibliotheca Corviniana. (In all probability both occurred for the first time in the Corvinian Library, to become conventional in other collections later.)
In addition to this mass of routine work done by the two heraldic painters, shields were still fitted also into the border decoration of manuscripts produced at Buda or abroad to the order of King Matthias. In their varying type and composition these shields were always characteristic of the miniaturists who illuminated the volume.
Besides the painting of shields, the appearance of a style of binding peculiar to the Corvinian Library has been mentioned as the fourth achievement of the Ugoleto period; the close correlations between shield painting and bindings have also been pointed out. It must be briefly remarked here that evidence obtained by recent research has made it possible to trace the antecedents and also the sequence of the motifs and arrangement of gilded Corvinian covers in earlier Hungarian monastic bookbinding. The early stage of Corvinian bindings is marked by a Renaissance arrangement of blind-stamped Gothic elements; this stage was followed or accompanied by the development of the peculiar gilded, later occasionally also painted, chased, gilt-edged Corvinian leather bindings bearing the shield, elaborated with the assimilation of Neapolitan and oriental effects, which may be said to constitute a special chapter in the history of the art of bookbinding.
King Matthias must have felt it to be the highest moment of his triumph when he marched into conquered Vienna at the head of his eight thousand armed warriors on 1 June 1485. More than twenty-five years had gone by since, as a mere boy, he had ascended the throne of his country harassed by confusion and threatened by enemies. In the meantime he had overcome anarchy, put down conspiracy, settled accounts with pretenders, and made the Turks feel his power. Now, as the sovereign of the strongest country between the two Emperors, between East and West, in possession of Bohemian provinces and Austrian territory, conscious of his own talents and successes, in unbroken health, he felt that the time of unlimited opportunity had arrived and at last he could approach the goal, the imperial crown, an aspiration encouraged by his humanists for ten years.
The occupation of Vienna brought a turningpoint in the history of the Bibliotheca Corviniana. However, as in the case of the king's marriage to Beatrice, when interest in the library was revived not by the personal influence of the queen but by the resulting change in the king's way of life and the quickening of cultural relations with Italy, so the turning-point of 1485 cannot be ascribed to any Viennese influence on the development of the Corvinian Library. Matthias's library far surpassed that of the Habsburgs, and humanism had advanced much farther in Hungary than in Austria. But the growth of the Bibliotheca Corviniana was still further stimulated by the enhanced respect in which humanism was held and by the tremendous efforts devoted to its development in the years preceding and following the occupation of Vienna. These tremendous efforts soon turned into what may be termed feverish anxiety. As the years passed the health of the king deteriorated, his vital energies declined and at the same time one could see him making an enormous effort fully to realize his aims.
Never before had such planned methodical activity been noticeable in the organization of the library as became apparent after 1485. The introductory stages of this period were Ugoleto's abovementioned journey to Florence and Naldius's description of the library. From 1485 there was a noteworthy change in the outward appearance of the volumes. Earlier manuscripts with predominantly plain illumination were succeeded by gorgeous Renaissance masterpieces from the hands of such Florentine masters as Attavante dei Attavanti, Giovanni Boccardi, Gherardo and Monte di Giovanni and Francesco Antonio del Cherico. Border decorations begin to display emblems encountered nowhere in earlier Corvinian manuscripts, the symbolical emblems of King Matthias: a sandglass, beehive, casket; ring, dragon, a well, an astronomical celestial globe. Dating of manuscripts is more frequent. Miniature portraits of Matthias and Beatrice are also novel features in the new manuscripts.
The development of the library is furthermore marked not only by endeavours at greater luxury in the execution of the volumes; Matthias evidently wished to build up a library which would be outstanding for the number of its volumes and for the range of their content. Hardly half a year before the king's death, on 16 September 1489, Bartolomeo della Fonte wrote from Florence, "the king intends to outshine every other monarch with his library as he does in all other points, and I think he will".
In what way was the Bibliotheca Corviniana to overshadow every other collection? Not only in outward appearance, but also in completeness. For the humanist library was not a scientific library in the modern sense of the word. Stress was laid not on a steadily widening organization capable of amassing works embodying the latest results and the most recent achievements of science; but on the achievement of completeness. The ideal of humanism was classical antiquity. In the eyes of humanists it was antique literature which was truly valuable, particularly the works of classical Greek and Latin authors, including the Fathers of the Church during the first centuries of Christian literature. Here was the treasure-house of knowledge, the supreme source of all value. The discovery of unknown works and the making of arrangements for their copying were the task of the librarian, while it devolved upon the scholars to render the contents of these writings more accessible by the addition of commentaries and to ensure as far as possible that all corruptions in the text had been emended. The works of Greek authors were to be put before the reader in Latin translation, if practicable.
Thus the most extensive and most important fields of humanist literary activity were and remained translation and commentary. The rest conaisted mainly of occasional verse and prose, of panegyrics and correspondence which the humanists themselves do not seem to have taken very seriously, except, perhaps, correspondence which they collected and circulated in volumes. Apparently such activities were pursued chiefly because they afforded opportunities for attracting attention, as well as chances to acquire a reputation and to obtain pecuniary support. It is characteristic that Naldius's catalogue of authors of the Bibliotheca Corviniana does not contain the name of any contemporary writer.
In fact the importance of a library of this kind depended on the completeness of its collection of works recognized as valuable literature. Hence perfection was, in principle, attainable. This may have been the ideal which inspired Matthias, and which he strove to accomplish with feverish haste in the last years of his life. Commissioned by the king, Fontius, too, did his best "to finish completion of the library as soon as possible and without wasted effort". To this end copying and illumination were carried on with increased energy in Florence; they were also started in Vienna, and the work at Buda was doubtlessly accelerated.
We now come to the question of the workshop of Buda, whose part in the history of the Corvinian Library remains mysterious. In art history it has been recognized for a long time that some Corvinian manuscripts were executed in a mixed style which cannot be attributed to any foreign workshop; the very mingling of various elements suggests that these volumes were produced on this side of the Alps, obviously at Buda. In the available sources three names occur which are often mentioned in connection with the illumination of Corvinian manuscripts, notably Blandius, Cattaneo, Abbot of Madocsa, and Felix (Petancius) Ragusinus. However, there is no agreement concerning the attribution of any special work to any of the three men.
The problem is rendered exceedingly difficult by the fact that we do not know of a single manuscript whose colophon explicitly states that the volume was copied or illuminated for King Matthias at Buda. On the other hand, as early as 1471, in one of his letters the king alludes to Blandius as "miniator noster". In a laudatory speech delivered in 1489 Ransanus praised Matthias for employing from every part of Europe carpenters, sculptors, silversmiths, painters, and "transcriptores librorum", i.e. copyists of books. The reminiscences of Nicolaus Olah are well known: "I have been told by my predecessors that towards the end of his life King Matthias employed about thirty copyists of whom I knew several after his death. Nearly every Greek and Latin manuscript was the work of these scribes. At their head was the Dalmatian Felix Ragusinus, whom I knew personally as an old man who knew not only Greek and Latin but also Chaldean and Arabic. Moreover, being well versed in painting, he took very good care that the copying of books should be faultless."
Thus there can be no doubt that manuscripts were actually produced at Buda, even if we are ignorant of the origin of the material from which they were copied. So far as we know, the stock of books in Hungary was too small to give work to thirty copyists for several years and, what is more, relatively few of the works required for the Corvinian Library may be presumed to have been available in the country. Of course, it is not clear whether the miniaturist Blandius, who came from Rome laden with manuscripts and printed books, worked at Buda or in Italy. From the words of Nicolaus Olah it does not follow that Matthias employed all his thirty copyists at Buda, for he only says that according to rumour thirty copyists were working for the king. Some of them may have done their copying in libraries of other countries. Cattaneo, Abbot of Madocsa-proved from the evidence of his original Italian name Zoan Antonio Cattaneo to have been Iohannes Antonius Cattaneus de Mediolane – is mentioned in King Wladislas's account books of 1494 as "miniator librorum regiorum". From this entry it was concluded for a long time that Cattaneo must have been the king's most eminent illuminator, and the finest manuscripts from the time of King Matthias were attributed to him.
However, "liber regius" does not denote a library but a register used in archives. Therefore the entry in the account book provides no information about the library and the king's copying workshop. It is possible that Cattaneo copied manuscripts during the reign of Matthias, but there is no proof; we only know that several years after the death of King Matthias he was active in the chancellery.
The role of Petancius likewise awaits elucidation; presumed to be identical with the Felix Ragusinus Dalmata in Nicolaus Olah's records, he has been regarded as the leading master of the workshop in Buda and the miniaturist who developed the new style of the Bibliotheca Corviniana. Tempting though it is, this assumption still requires thorough investigation. For, when speaking of the merits of Felix Ragusinus, Nicolaus Olah emphasizes his extraordinary proficiency in languages and his zeal in watching over the authenticity of texts, but not a word is said about the splendidly illuminated volumes which he painted. The phrase "ipsa quoque in pictura exercitatus" may merely mean that he was an adept in calligraphy and could make corrections to manuscripts himself in his own beautiful hand, implying certainly no more than experience and skill in illumination. Olah does not say that he was one of the most outstanding miniaturists.
Lately it has also been questioned whether Felix Ragusinus and Felix Petancius were in fact the same person. On the evidence revealed by recent research Petancius first acted as clerk of the chancellery and officer of the court of justice. Having arrived in Buda at the close of 1487, he had few opportunities to establish the new style whose introduction is in any case dated much earlier by art historians. It is much more likely that as head of the royal workshop of copyists and illuminators he was a humanist employed as organizer and philologist rather than an artist. This assumption is supported by the fact that his name does not appear in any of the magnificently illuminated manuscripts produced at the workshop of Buda. While the existence of a royal workshop of copyists and miniaturists at Buda is beyond doubt, none of the manuscripts produced at this workshop can be attributed with certainty to any one of its illuminators. The results of investigations into the respective styles of Cattaneo and Petancius have been vague and contradictory. Owing to the disastrous lack of sources we are reduced to hypotheses concerning the artists who were active at the workshop.
The Bibliotheca Corviniana was at the peak of its magnificence and growth when the great king's sudden death interrupted its rapid development. It has always been felt to be an intriguing question how many manuscripts and printed volumes the Bibliotheca Corviniana may have actually comprised. The fabulous number of 50,000 books'g first mentioned in the seventeenth century is, of course, very remote from reality. The later estimates of 400 to 500 volumes err no less in the opposite direction. This wide variation is the result of the lack of any positive proof regarding the actual number of the volumes owned by the Bibliotheca Corviniana. When every circumstance is carefully weighed – the remarks of contemporaries, the facts known about the libraries of Italian sovereigns, the probable size and furnishing of the premises which held the Bibliotheca Corviniana, the manner of storing volumes, the presumable number of manuscripts inherited from predecessors, the probable number of books copied and purchased at the different stages of development – the total number of manuscripts and printed books in possession of the royal library may be conjectured to have been between 2,000 and 2,500 volumes. (This number probably included relatively very few printed books.)
So the account of Brassicanus, the German humanist, does not appear to have been exaggerated, though he saw the Bibliotheca Corviniana in 1525, when it had been neglected and plundered. "I have looked at all the books. But shall I say books? Every book I saw is a treasure... It seemed in truth as if I were not in a library but – as it is customary to say – on the lap of Jupiter. There were more Greek as well as Hebrew volumes which King Matthias had bought for immense amounts of money in the interior of Greece after the fall of Constantinople and the destruction of many other Greek cities ... And more ancient and new Latin books here ... than anywhere else within my knowledge."
Beside the royal library, Queen Beatrice's own smaller, personal collection of perhaps 50 to 100 volumes also was kept in the palace, as were an approximately equal number of ornamental ritual books used in the king's chapel, and especially the 600 to 800 volumes of predominantly theological, canonical, liturgical and ministrative volumes supplied to the religious body founded by King Matthias and dependent on the royal chapel. All things considered, the total stock of the different collections of the Buda palace may have numbered about 3,000 volumes.
On the whole these figures do not tell us much. More revealing than the number of volumes is the number of works. Very often a volume contains not one but several works, and, what is more, by different authors. When the material of the Bibliotheca Corviniana is considered in terms of works and not of volumes, when account is taken not only of the fragments which have been recovered but also of the works which we know from available evidence to have been lost, then the wealth and variety of the library become apparent, and the project of a library which would be, in the humanist sense of the term, "complete", is seen to have been more than a mere dream. According to the present state of knowledge, the number of surviving or authentically known works from the Corvinian Library may be put around 650, and on this basis the stock of the royal library about 1490 may be estimated to have numbered between 4,000 and 5,000 works. This figure does not include the theological material of the abovementioned religious body.
Thus the fame of the Bibliotheca Corviniana was due to its numerous authors and works, to its rich content, and not merely to the splendour of the bindings and the sumptuous decoration of its premises. In the fifteenth century it was not only in Italy that there were sovereigns who had libraries rivalling the Corvinian Library in beauty (the Medici, Sforza, Este, the House of Aragon, Federigo de Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, etc.), but also north of the Alps, for instance, Wenceslas, German and Bohemian king, the elder brother of the King and Emperor Sigismund. Moreover, when we think of the finest manuscripts of the Hungarian Anjou era (the Illuminated Chronicle, the Vatican Legendary, Nekcsei's Bible), we realize that among King Matthias's books there seem to have been relatively few which could equal these volumes in the splendour of their execution. Indeed, even in the magnificent manuscripts produced in the last five or six years of Matthias's reign in Florence or at Buda, most often only the first page or the first two pages are profusely illuminated; apart from a few initials of wonderful delicacy and some floral border decoration, the inner leaves of the manuscripts rarely contain anything but the text in handsome uniform handwriting. Many of the Corvinian manuscripts are illuminated with white foliated scrolls of average workmanship, demanding no special skill in execution.
From the viewpoint of content, on the other hand, it is beyond doubt that north of the Alps no other collection could compare with the Bibliotheca Corviniana. Even Italian libraries, except for the Vatican collection, could hardly do so, when we remember its wealth of Greek manuscripts and its rich variety. Today it is impossible to assess how near the Corvinian Library came to the contemplated target of completeness, or possession of the whole of known literature, but the very fact that until the death of King Matthias almost two-thirds of the works known from the Corvinian Library had not appeared in print is highly significant, supporting the assumption that it was not a collection consisting mainly of works which were generally known and easily available. Therefore it was not for aesthetic reasons alone that the Corvinian Library was for the most part a collection of manuscripts, with only a small number of printed books.
Several of the manuscripts of the Bibliotheca Corviniana which have survived ruin and destruction are the sole copies of the works they contain. Such are not only the volumes dedicated to King Matthias by Naldus, Carbo, and by Cortesius, but also the work of Constantinus Porphyrogenitus dealing with the customs of the Byzantine court and the ecclesiastical history of Nicephorus Callistus.
There are records of manuscripts whose disappearance involved the loss of the sole existing copy of the work in question: Brassicanus claims to have seen in the Corvinian Library a complete Hyperides with an extensive commentary; the only existing manuscript of Cresconius Corippus' "Iohannis" (an epic poem on the Libyan war) contains only seven books. Cuspinianus saw eight books "in the royal library of Buda". It was he, furthermore, who borrowed from the library the original "marvellously ancient" Greek manuscript of Procopius whose text he declared to be better and more complete than the surviving Latin translation. He returned the manuscript, but it later perished.
Philologists have so far made scarcely any attempt at the textual evaluation of surviving Corvinian manuscripts. It is certain that in most cases the texts contained in these volumes are not the best and most complete versions at present known. This is natural. It is not astonishing that today, after five hundred years of research, we are in possession of older and more authentic texts of classical authors than could be acquired by King Matthias's librarians. The Corvinian manuscripts were copied from the texts which were available at the time; they are no worse than the texts of the manuscripts in contemporary Italian humanist libraries. Even so, there are particularly valuable pieces among them, for instance the Sylvae manuscript of Statius is one of the best versions of the work.
At any rate noticeable efforts were made to obtain several, and if possible the best, texts. How else is one to explain the survival of certain works from the Corvinian Library in more than one specimen (e.g. Livy)?
As regards the rich content of the Bibliotheca Corviniana, the large number of works by Greek authors in their original form and in Latin translation is particularly remarkable. Of the 650 known Corvinian manuscripts about one-third are of the works of Greek authors of Antiquity – apart from a few late Byzantine writers. This number almost equals that of works by ancient Latin authors and exceeds the total of medieval and humanist writings. Of course, it should be borne in mind that the foreign humanists who visited the library invariably strove to acquire in Buda from the library or wrote in their records about the works which they considered to be the most valuable. Yet the proportion cannot have been merely accidental. To mention only the more important Greek authors, the Bibliotheca Corviniana contained works by Aeschylus, Aristotle, Athanasius, Basilius, Dionysius Halicarnasseus, Diodorus Siculus, Eusebius, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory Nazianzen, Hesiod, Homer, Hyperides, Isocrates, Constantinus Porphyrogenitus, Origen, Philostratus, Plato, Plotinus, Polybius, Plutarch, Ptolemy, Sappho, Sophocles, Strabo, Theophrastus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Zonaras. As stated by Naldus Naldius in his description of the library, the names of Greek authors defied enumeration.
In connection with the Greek manuscripts it is important to note that they included hardly any marked with a shield, the authentic book-plate of Corvinian volumes. Except in two instances, the authenticity of the Greek Corvinian manuscripts at present known is confirmed only by historical records and not by any shield. Most of the Greek manuscripts removed from Buda will therefore be impossible to identify as having once belonged to the library of King Matthias. Still less has been discovered about the Hebrew manuscripts, known from statements by Brassicanus to have been of considerable number. The plain exterior of the Greek manuscripts which have come down to us – there is not a single profusely illuminated specimen among them – again proves that in setting up the library content was the first consideration. These old volumes, most of them damaged, were certainly bought not for their beauty, but only for their contents, and chiefly to increase the stock of the library after they had been translated.
As a matter of fact, few fifteenth-century humanists, either in Italy or in Hungary, understood Greek. We do not know of any Greek manuscript copied at Buda, but there is abundant evidence that much translation was done. At the king's wish, Bonfini made for the library translations from Greek into Latin of Aphthonius Sophista, Hermogenes Tarsensis, Herodianus and several works of the two Philostratuses. The volume containing the translations of the two Philostratuses is one of the most magnificently illuminated Corvinian manuscripts; the presumably plain Greek original has been lost. After a veritable battle possession of the translation was finally secured by Gremper on instructions from humanist circles in Vienna; he even resorted to tears in order to persuade the emotional King Wladislas into making a gift of the volume. So this copy survived.
Angelo Poliziano offered from Italy his services to King Matthias to do much translation from Greek. Thus the Corvinian Library, it may be said, contributed to bringing nearer to humanist Europe the vanished world of ancient Greece.
Besides translation, the emendation of texts was an important humanist activity. Such work was carried on also in the Corvinian Library. This is evidenced not only by the emendations and notes, written in Iohannes Vitéz's own hand, which are to be found in numerous Corvinian manuscripts, but also by the allusions of contemporaries. Naldus himself wrote that at the order of King Matthias he was engaged in the emendation of manuscripts preparetd a Florence. From the records of Nicolaus Olah, mentioned earlier, it emerges that the principal activity of Petancius, the last head of the Buda workshop of copyists, was to check the accuracy of texts. The very fact that emendations, so detrimental to the beauty of a page, are to be found in the most lavishly illuminated Corvinian manuscripts provides incontrovertible proof of the high value attached to textual accuracy.
Besides the translation and emendation of texts, use was also made of the material of the Bibliotheca Corviniana in the literary activities which were pursued at the court of King Matthias. Ransanus claims to have been encouraged to write his Hungarian history by Queen Beatrice, who lent him a manuscript to read, a "series principum", containing the history of Hungary from Attila to Matthias, in order that he might treat the subject in a more literary style – "stilo paulo cultiore". It was at the commission of King Matthias that Bonfini began to write his Rerum Hungaricarum decades which he finished much later, in the reign of King Wladislas. His book could not have been produced without the Bibliotheca Corviniana, nor could the chronicle of Iohannes Thuroczy. There are records of King Matthias having himself given instructions to Petrus Varadi, Archbishop of Kalocsa, desiring him to collect the epigrams of Janus Pannonius who, accused of conspiracy, had killed himself rather than face trial.
These instructions by King Matthias are proof of his personal participation in the affairs of his library. His directive influence is also apparent from a letter of the librarian Ugoleto, in which he informed the king that certain manuscripts copied "at your order" in Florence were finished.
The king made as much use of his library as his busy life permitted. He liked to read the works of historians – Livy, Caesar, Curtius and Silius Italicus. Being well versed in philosophy and theology, he could join in discussions on questions arising in these fields. He was familiar with works on military science and tactics and was interested in astronomy, even in astrology. (It was in the king's presence that his court astronomer, Martinus Ilkus, had a debate on astronomical problems with Iohannes Stercze.)
The king tried to persuade the noblemen of his court to read books, but he had little success. Galeotti describes an incident when Matthias rebuked those who laughed at Nicolaus Báthory, a bishop, for devoting the time before the meeting of the council to reading while Bonfini describes how on his arrival from Italy he presented to the king the books which he had brought to him as a gift: after having examined the volumes with close attention, the king distributed them for study among the prelates and the great men of the country who were present. Though he failed to induce Marsilius Ficinus to visit Hungary, the philosophy of neoplatonism found a home at his court in the circle of humanists headed by Bandini, whose symposia, attended by the king, we may suppose to have been held in the premises of the Bibliotheca Corviniana. In the library all branches of literature and science were represented: poetry and drama, philosophy and theology, astronomy, medicine, geography, rhetoric, grammar, architecture, military science, mathematics.
The library included works by writers of many peoples and ages, ancient classics, medieval scholastics and humanists in Latin, Greek and Hebrew. Hungarian literature was also represented, partly in Hungarian-for instance, the Latin poems of Janus Pannonius and the Hungarian Bible of Ladislas Bathory. A large and rich collection, well suited to become in later centuries the basis of the first national library, provided that it fell into the hands of worthy successors ...
Let us trace the destiny of the library after the death of King Matthias.
The library remained in its original premises from 1490 to 1526, that is to say for a period longer than the whole of King Matthias's reign. But in reality it was undergoing a slow death. Only a personality of similar stature could have carried on the policy and life-work of Matthias and continued to maintain and develop his library. The successors of King Matthias, Wladislas II (1490-1516) and Louis II (1516-1526), were entirely unfit for the task. From the time of King Matthias's death until the battle of Mohacs penury was the constant partner of the Hungarian crown. Beset by nagging financial cares, it was impossible to make any additions to the Corvinian Library or even worthily to maintain it.
It was a heavy loss that a large number of handsome manuscripts remained at Florence in an unfinished state and subsequently came into the possession of other owners. In a letter addressed to the town of Florence in 1498, Wladislas professed himself to be "filled with the same desire to improve the library", and he declared his intention to have the manuscripts completed but these were no more than empty words.
Nor did the contents of the library escape untouched. King Matthias had wished to settle the succession by having his illegitimate son, Iohannes Corvinus, acknowledged as heir to the crown. After the king's death, when Iohannes Corvinus had to flee from Buda, together with other treasures he took with him manuscripts from his father's library. But Iohannes Corvinus was defeated by his enemies, and having seized the volumes among the other loot, the conquerors returned most of them to the library. Meanwhile, there were opportunities for plunder, and therefore the councillors adopted a resolution enforcing "a restraint on the alienation of any piece belonging to the library which has been set up to the glory of the country". Iohannes Corvinus was given permission, of which he presumably availed himself, to borrow books for his own use.
After its first losses, the affairs of the library seem to have been managed in an orderly manner in the early years of Wladislas's reign, although no more is heard about a librarian. Nor did the copyists' workshop immediately cease its activities, since several manuscripts which had been begun at Buda for King Matthias were completed for Wladislas; as a result the black raven of the Hunyadi family was replaced in the escutcheon on the shield by Wladislas's emblem, the white eagle of Poland. The evidence, however, suggests that after 1492 the royal workshop of copyists was no longer active. Now and then King Wladislas may have received a manuscript as a present, but these were not the products of the royal workshop. Most probably several of the scribes and miniaturists returned to Italy together with the departing Italian humanists, while others were given posts in the royal chancellery. Finally, they may have got work at the brilliant courts of humanist prelates where the collecting of books continued without any setback. The art of book production was decentralized among these episcopal courts, as was in general the early humanism of the king's court.
This, however, must remain no more than surmise, since all the episcopal libraries were destroyed in the fighting against the Turks in the sixteenth century. When a town (Pécs, Veszprém, Győr, Esztergom, Eger, etc.) fell into the hands of the Turks, the conqueror set it on fire. The volumes which together with the most important treasures of the churches were rescued from destruction can hardly have been more than a few elaborately illuminated ritual books. It is appalling that from all the material of medieval episcopal libraries almost nothing has survived. We thus have no basis for any comparative studies by which to trace the influence exerted in Hungary by the Bibliotheca Corviniana and the further activities in the country of the scattered members of the workshops of Buda.
As regards the royal library itself, it seems certain that from near the end of the last decade of the fifteenth century no further additions were made, either from the royal workshop or by purchase or by having manuscripts copied abroad. Neglected, the library fell into utter decay. From contemporary sources we learn that the illuminated manuscripts were left to lie about in dust and dirt, gnawed by vermin, and that if a volume was needed, it could hardly be found.
What would now have been the sense of producing splendidly illuminated manuscripts with gorgeous bindings, only to be consumed by mice and worms? Already in the reign of Wladislas the most precious volumes were being carried off, and the library was still further ransacked under Louis II. Astute ambassadors and foreign humanists gained possession of a number of Latin and Greek manuscripts, which may be said to have been fortunate, since these volumes have at least survived. Viennese humanists (Cuspinianus, Gremper, Brassicanus) in particular spared no effort to acquire the treasures of the Bibliotheca Corviniana.
The bulk of the library, in terms of quantity, was nevertheless still housed in the old premises when the Sultan Solyman entered Buda in 1526. Pest and Buda were reduced to ashes, but the royal palace was spared. "Since he took up his residence in it he did not deem it proper to have it burnt down." But "the immense wealth, household chattels, the cannon and shells of the miserable king were seized".
The magnificent volumes of the Corvinian Library must have been among the mass of plunder carried off, for Corvinian manuscripts repeatedly made their appearance from this time forward in Constantinople. The last such discovery was made in the rooms of the Seraglio by a deputation of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1862. Except for a few specimens, these volumes have since been sent to Budapest as gifts of the Turkish Sultans Abdul Aziz and Abdul-Hamid II.
Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the destruction of the library could hardly be credited either at home or abroad, though the evidence was only too clear. In the autumn of 1527, Nicolaus Olah, having spent two weeks in the entourage of the widowed Queen Maria, wrote: "After the death of King Louis on 29 August 1526, on the battlefield near Mohacs, the Turks, having occupied Buda on 8 September, tore up many [of the books] and used the rest for other purposes, ripping off the leaves from the silver [chains]." In his preface to an edition of Brandolinus Lippus, dated 1 August 1541, that is to say directly before the final loss of Buda, Martinus Brenner says that "in the preceding years [the library] had been destroyed by Asian barbarism, for when I carefully examined it two years ago I could hardly find a trace of its former brilliance, except for a few Greek authors".
Despite such records, the belief grew stronger with the passage of years after the Turkish occupation of Buda that the library of King Matthias was still in being, and where it always had been. Many attempts were made to acquire, or at least to see, the library. As early as 1605, when the Turkish Grand Vizier crowned István Bocskai on the field of Rakos, Peter Alvinczi, a preacher from Kassa in the retinue of Bocskai, went to Buda to see King Matthias's library, but he was denied admission to the palace. About two decades later Pal Enyedi writes with joy: "The library of King Matthias is still in Buda, in its old place as before, and it has not suffered any loss, being watched by guards. When the Germans wrote that the library had been burnt down by the Emperor Solyman, bringing about its complete destruction, it was not true."
According to later, unconfirmed reports Gábor Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania (1613-1629), and his contemporary, Péter Pázmány, Archbishop of Esztergom, made attempts to obtain possession of the library. There is, however, fully authenticated evidence that Bethlen's successor, Prince György Rakóczy I, tried on four occasions to acquire from Hussein, the Pasha of Buda, and even from the Sublime Porte, the remnants of the Corvinian Library for the school of Gyulafehervar. The efforts of György Rakoczy I were doomed to failure, as were those of the foreigners Count Althan and Corderius, who endeavoured to gain access to the library by making intercession to the pope and to the palatine of Hungary, Miklós Esterházy.
It is nevertheless certain that during the Turkish occupation of Hungary there were books in the palace of Buda, and in no small number. From time to time released prisoners brought with them a volume from Buda (but not a single Corvinian manuscript bearing Matthias's arms). Finally Peter Lambeck, court librarian of Vienna, was sent in 1666 to Buda to acquire the remnants of the Bibliotheca Corviniana for the imperial library of Vienna. He saw books lying about in heaps and in a deplorable condition, but he was allowed to take no more than three volumes (none of them bearing a shield).
Immediately after the recapture of Buda in 1686, the Italian military engineer Marsigli, to his great sorrow, saw the books under the smouldering ruins of Buda Castle. Of the volumes which were still usable approximately three hundred were catalogued and taken to Vienna, to the imperial library, where they still are.
However, the books that survived the 150 years of Turkish rule had never belonged to the Corvinian Library. They had been part of the library of the religious body housed in the palace, as mentioned earlier, which consisted of plain manuscripts, most of them written on paper, and printed books, including a few theological works. These books of unassuming exterior, kept in modest surroundings, presumably escaped the notice of looters and were left behind because Solyman and his retinue did not think it worth while to carry them off.
Thus the pride of Hungarian humanism, the volumes of the Corvinian Library, were scattered to the four winds, and most of them perished. When speaking of this destruction, even the foreigner Brassicanus was moved to quote the words of Virgil: "On hearing this, who could retain his tears ?"
And what a loss for the Hungarians! It would, however, be wrong to conclude that the Corvinian Library perished without leaving any trace, or that it exerted no influence. Nor was it only memory of the library which kept alive in Hungarians and foreigners alike their admiration for it, but certainly also the volumes which were taken from it to the West and which greatly contributed to the advancement of Central European humanism. It is precisely from among the most valuable Corvinian manuscripts that quite a number has survived; indeed, foreign scholars made the strongest efforts to acquire these, since they regarded the library as a treasure-house of classical authors, waiting to be exploited. There are a number of Greek authors whose works came to be used by scholars in the original version or in translation from the Corvinian copy. In Europe north of the Alps the Bibliotheca Corviniana thus became a fountain-head of the works of Greek authors.
After the death of King Matthias the focus of Central European humanism shifted from Buda to Vienna, and credit for the publication of formerly unknown works went to German, chiefly Viennese, humanists. The "Aethiopica" of Heliodorus, five books of Polybius in Greek and in a Latin version, two works of Bessarion, works of Diodorus Siculus, Nicephorus Callistus, and Salvianus, the correspondence of Basilius and Gregory Nazianzen were published from the Corvinian copies. Since the seventeenth century the imperial library of Vienna has referred to the books of King Matthias as constituting an important part of its basic material.
Few volumes have survived from the Bibliotheca Corviniana, but the existing manuscripts preserve much from the treasures of old Buda. The inscription on the palace, composed by Bonfini, proclaimed that the glory of Matthias would live for ever, being guarded against oblivion by "metal, marble, and writing". The metal has vanished without trace, of the marble, only fragments still remain; but writing and books still bear witness to the grandeur, to the brilliant erudition of a vanished age, to the life-work of a great king. | <urn:uuid:c02f6af8-c9b0-47fd-b078-d94ddf9e605f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.corvina.oszk.hu/studies/csapodi_eng.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974705 | 15,565 | 2.796875 | 3 |
In one of his most famous writings, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said of injustice, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” In other words, the very existence of injustice has implications for us all. Thus, we each have a responsibility to actively challenge unjust power structures wherever they should surface. According to the United Nations, “the immortal words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. have never been more relevant than they are today.” Structural injustices are pervasive in the United States, perhaps more than in any other Western industrialized nation. They include record levels of economic inequality and mass incarceration and attempts to slash entitlement programs, restrict women’s reproductive rights, and erode voting rights. Globally, injustice exists more frequently in other forms, such as poverty, hunger, worker exploitation, sex trafficking, resource privatization, and severe restrictions on women’s and gay rights. In every corner of the world people’s rights and dignity are under constant assault by different forces.
Numerous definitions of social justice can be found in the literature. Some are more comprehensive than others. An inclusive definition may draw from several perspectives. This piece integrates a few such perspectives – an approach which will inform the later discussion on the importance and significance of social justice. Hopefully this examination will grow our understanding of why we must strengthen progressive campaigns that are confronting various ongoing efforts to deny or strip fundamental rights. Such an understanding may help us build a stronger and more ubiquitous nonviolent social change movement.
The United Nations (UN) considers social justice to be “an underlying principle for peaceful and prosperous coexistence within and among nations.” These principles are upheld, according to the UN, “when we promote gender equality or the rights of indigenous peoples and migrants…when we remove barriers that people face because of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture or disability.” More specifically, the UN believes social justice can be understood as “the principle of positive peace that complements the notion of peace as the absence of direct and institutional violence (negative peace).” Johan Galtung, known as the father of peace studies, distinguishes between the two types of peace: Negative peace is simply the condition under which there is an absence of violence, including war. Positive peace, however, while requiring the absence of direct violence, goes much further. Positive peace can be attained when we identify and prevent the root causes of violence in order to end violence and the unjust policies/practices that fuel it. It is the absence of structural (systemic) violence (violence that interferes with the ability to meet basic needs and preserve dignity). It is the “integration of human society,” according to Galtung. Positive peace is the condition under which a more just and equitable society can be secured for all.
In his 2007 bestseller “Blessed Unrest,” environmentalist Paul Hawken defines social justice as “the implementation and realization of human rights as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” We can assert, therefore, that the condition of positive peace necessarily includes respect for and preservation of human rights. The Albany Social Justice Center, a grassroots community organization located in Albany, NY, is among the many organizations confronting the roots and structures of oppression. The Center’s definition of social justice incorporates militarism and imperialism, and calls for the cessation of both: “We are working for a world in which international conflicts are settled without war, in which people treat each other with love, dignity, and justice…We are working to stop harmful U.S. military and economic intervention in the affairs of other countries.”
In summary, social justice can be achieved when social conditions are such that universal human rights are recognized and upheld, without discrimination, for every individual, group and community. This type of justice is served when the inherent dignity of all persons is respected and protected and every man, woman, and child has equal and unfettered access to basic human needs. The formation and growth of socially just contexts and identities require life sustaining resources to be distributed in a fair and equitable manner, regardless of socio-economic status and geographic location.
In November 2007, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly announced February 20 would be celebrated annually as the World Day of Social Justice: “The observance of the day should,” the UN proclaimed, “contribute to the efforts of the international community in poverty eradication, promotion of full employment and decent work, gender equity and justice for all.” This inclusion of some of today’s biggest social problems facilitates our ability to focus our attention and develop and employ creative, strategic nonviolent action plans that can dismantle unjust systems.
Economic inequality was the focus of World Social Justice Day 2013. A statement released last year by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon read, in part, “…we see far too many places where there are increasing opportunities for a few and only rising inequality for the many. Growing inequality undermines the international community’s progress in lifting millions out of poverty and building a more just world…The fault lines are visible in falling wages for women and young people and limited access to education, health services and decent jobs.” While the poorest and most unequal nations should be our priority for humanitarian aid and assistance and resistance campaigns, we must not lose sight of the fact that whatever democracy we have left in the United States is currently under direct threat by certain political factions and special interests that place profits over people and what they believe to be “security” over what we hold as our most cherished freedoms and liberties.
The pursuit of social justice for all is at the core of the United Nation’s global mission to promote development and human dignity. International guidelines and road maps have been established to help steer us toward achievement of these goals. In addition to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization and the Millennium Development Goals are two solid representations of the UN’s commitment to social justice. Other declarations that concentrate on social justice as part of their global frameworks for peace and sustainability include the Earth Charter and the Blue River Declaration.
Some of the most dedicated and impactful workers for social justice in the United States have included Henry David Thoreau, Helen Keller, Dorothy Day, Susan B. Anthony, Zora Neale Hurston, César Chávez, and Daniel Berrigan. Their indomitable spirit and courage and impassioned support from people of conscience enabled them to build robust coalitions against structural violence and for civil and human rights. Their work must become ours at this critical time. It is our moral and civic responsibility. And as we challenge and work to end new and longstanding injustices, we should remember a major precept of peace education: peace and justice are interconnected and interdependent – working for peace should go hand in hand with working for justice, and vice versa. As Dr. King said, “There can be no justice without peace. And there can be no peace without justice.” Accordingly, it could be advantageous to social justice activists and the movement in general to embrace this principle when resisting unjust and oppressive systems.
Brian J. Trautman is a military veteran and an instructor of peace studies at Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield, MA. He is also a peace activist involved with a number of groups, including Veterans for Peace and Berkshire Citizens for Peace and Justice. On Twitter @BriTraut | <urn:uuid:53221c5f-b5e3-4ea2-9f8f-40c99de57282> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/02/18/positive-peace/print | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939346 | 1,582 | 3.859375 | 4 |
The Flower that Favors Bumblebees
The tropical looking flower Virginia Meadow Beauty offers some rare tricks for those who would pollinate it. A honeybee can poke around the flower all day and never get any pollen from the gaudy pink flowers. In fact, researchers report that honeybees don't seem to know what to do with the flowers. Rather, the Virginia Meadow Beauty is pollinated by bumblebees, not honeybees.
The pollen of a newly opened pink flower is good only for that day. But the flowers stay open for several days. It signals the bumblebees that the pollen in old flowers are not good by changing colors. Yet, the spent flowers are serving one more purpose. Researchers report that large displays, even if mostly spent flowers, attract more bumblebees than small displays of all fresh flowers.
How is it that the bumblebee can get the pollen and the honeybees can't? They just buzz. And when a bumblebee buzzes, the flower ejects its pollen at 30 times the force of gravity – a force greater than any astronaut must endure! It's not that the bumblebee gets the pollen because it is larger than a honeybee; no, even bumblebees no larger than the honeybee's head can get the pollen. It's the frequency of buzzing. The Lord has abundantly provided for the Meadow Beauty. And He has provided for your forgiveness and salvation in His Son, Jesus Christ. | <urn:uuid:d452f74d-4802-4fa4-8f32-a56234c8cb1e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.creationmoments.com/radio/transcripts/flower-favors-bumblebees | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949195 | 297 | 2.96875 | 3 |
A Justice Site
CSUDH - Habermas - UWP - Archives
California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Soka University Japan - Transcend Art and Peace
Created: September 7, 2003
Latest Update: September 7, 2003
Site Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata and Individual Authors, September 2003.
"Fair use" encouraged.
When you say "I don't understand." And offer nothing further. That is monologic non-answerability.
Think about it. "I don't understand. Period." is a statement of frustration. It reflects a normative expectation that it won't matter how frustrated you are, if you don't understand, it must be your fault. When I speak of our schools as teaching learned incompetence, about which Velma asked last Wednesday, this is an example of what I mean.
Think about the affect involved. The statement "I don't understand" is rarely a positive statement. The utterance is usually abrupt and ends as quickly as it started.
Now think about Bolman and Deal (Text for Agencies class in Fall 2003.) referring to "cluelessness" on p. 6: "It's true that psychic flaws have been apparent in such brilliantly self-destructive individuals as Adolph Hitler, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. But on the whole, intellectually challenged people have as many psychologoical problems as the best and the brightest. The real source of cluelessness is not personality or IQ. It's in how we think and make sense of the world around us.
"I don't understand" leaves the teacher clueless. It's a little like being handed a big chunk of cotton candy, not knowing where to start, and saying "Well, what am I supposed to do with it?" Start unraveling it somewhere. Find something you can ask about. Can I take a bite out of it just anywhere or do I have to start at the top? Try an example and say "Do you mean . . . ." That gives the teacher a clue as to how you're thinking. And it does something else. It let's the teacher know you're trying to figure it out. That's positive feedback. It's not a sullen challenge of "go ahead teach me, see if you can."
Now granted that the examples I'm giving you occur more in K -12 than in college. But the behavioral patterns stick with you. If you've been saying "I don't understand. Period." for years, and no one's tried to relieve the cluelessness in the classroom, you're likely to say "I don't understand. Period." out of habit. And the teacher who knows that that leaves him clueless is likely to give up and say "Read the third chapter." which is no help to either of you.
Understanding is a process that starts with a frame of mind that wants to understand. I suspect, though I don't have a source for this at the moment, that answerability is essential to that process. In a world where the learner doesn't answer, the teacher makes the unstated assumption that everyone understands, and develops what she considers a normative expectation that concepts she taught last week were understood. Because she develops it as a normative expectation, she will experience considerable affect when she finally realizes that they weren't understood, usually after giving a test. Can you see how this leads to the seemingly objective conclusion that students who understand are "good" and students who don't understand are "bad?" Students who seem to understand on the test aren't denying her normative reality. Students who don't seem to understand on the test are denying her normative reality. And there is little attempt to understand precisely what those who didn't understand missed, and to correct that misunderstanding. Instead, they're "not good students." So much eaiser. And doesn't mess with the teacher's reality.
Can you see that once again I end up at a moral and ethical issue in answerability? If I choose to label students as "good" and "not so good" I can maintain an illusion of answerability and use the labelling to deny my complicity. If I admit that there was nothing not easily intelligible in the concepts I sought to teach, then I have to admit my own part in the non-learning, and go back and attempt to correct it.
Find alternatives to "I don't understand. Period." so that you won't risk labelling instead of teaching.
Let's take answerability as an example. I talked about it in class, and you just didn't get it. What to do?
Assuming dialogic answerability:
- You could simply tell me that you didn't get it at the time and ask me to explain it in different words.
- Why "at the time"? Because if I don't get the message until two days later, when I'm already on several different topics, I don't have the same facility of materials at my fingertips. The day I explained it I had a copy of aglect06.htm, but when you ask a few days later, I don't have that copy of the lecture. Also, you've left me some time in which to draw the normative conclusion that you got it. Affect.
- Maybe you don't realize until a couple of days later that you didn't get it. Then, find the lectures on answerability by linking on Lectures on the Site Map, and ask about something in the lecture you don't get. Keep at this until you get the whole concept straight. Remember that every tiny clue you give me as to what you're thinking helps me correct the misunderstanding.
- Don't let the misunderstandings build. They damage the aesthetic process of building a learning committee.
Assuming monologic non-answerabilitiy:
- The difference is in affect. The normative expectation for monologic non-answerability is that you will not challenge the academic authority. This means you really don't want to say "I don't understand. Period." That will challenge the normative expectation that the teacher has been understood by all students.
- If there is a portion of text or an online assignment to which the concept you didn't get corresponds. Read it. Use that to ask short simple questions on the concept, and see if that helps."We discussed dialogic answerability in class last week. "Dialogic answerability" refers to the fact that for every utterance (or act) there is an Other who shares our human qualities and the capability of answering our utterance or act. Nielsen links this to the social theory of Bakhtin and Habermas by reminding us that Habermas' main question is "how shall we live together in such diversity as the world now exhibits?" Habermas' answer is a system of law that respects the right of every citizen to have his/her validity claim heard in good faith. Habermas believes that the recognition of such a system of law will permit us to reach consensus and act in ways that will not harm humans of the present and the future." Dialogic Answerability in Hierarchical Institutions
According to Nielsen, however, Bakhtin asks a different question, and so finds a different answer. Bakhtin asks "What shall I say, when the Other can answer? and how, then, shall we live?" What a powerful difference! Habermas' approach to difference is that we must reason until we can come to a consensus.
Recognition and Recall Practice:
Try these questions:
- I'm not quite sure what you mean by utterance?
- If you can add to that "Do you mean "whatever you say" by utterance?"
- Why is it called "dialogic" answerability?
- Why do you say "utterance or act"?
- I'm not sure I see the difference between Habermas' and Bakhtin's questions.
- What do you mean by a "validity claim"?
Each of these questions makes it clear that you consulted the textual reading. So you didn't just say "I don't understand," without trying to use the appropriate study materials.
Now, I bet that if I try to answer all these questions, some of you will discover that you weren't sure of the answers either. Check out my answers at jeanne's answers. | <urn:uuid:2e8b98b7-f94f-42ed-a6d1-f5f949fb45de> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.csudh.edu/dearhabermas/thlect01.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970483 | 1,726 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Melissa Lem is a Toronto family physician who also works in rural and remote communities across Canada. Much of her childhood was spent exploring the beautiful parks and green spaces of Ontario. She holds a faculty appointment with the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto, is a regular guest blogger on the environment and health for Evergreen, and enjoys being the resident medical expert on CBC television's lifestyle show Steven and Chris. Docs Talk asked Dr. Lem how contact with nature can affect child development.
Docs Talk: What are some of the problems you are seeing in children who don't have a strong connection to nature? How common are these kinds of health issues in children?
Dr. Lem: Time spent in nature is essential for healthy psychological and physical development in children. In fact, some researchers suggest that daily doses of "green time" can be used to prevent and treat many medical conditions.
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Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder gets a lot of attention in the media and occurs in five to 10 per cent of Canadian children. Continuous immersion in urban environments can overstimulate youth with and without ADHD, leading to symptoms of inattention and impulsiveness. The substitution of active outdoor play with indoor sedentary behaviours is also a major culprit in weight gain and obesity, which affect one in four Canadian children. This is raising the childhood incidence of traditionally adult diseases like hypertension, diabetes and cholesterol issues.
Other ailments including myopia, asthma, depression and slower social and motor skills development have also been linked to reduced nature exposure.
Docs Talk: What kind of research has been in done in this area?
Dr. Lem: Green space exposure has a wealth of positive effects on pediatric health outcomes.
The existing research is impressive regarding mental health benefits. For example, ADHD symptoms improve significantly after children spend time in nature, with increased benefits seen in more green locations. Girls with greener views from their home windows score higher on measures of self-discipline. Also, depression and anxiety disorders are less prevalent in youth who have greater amounts of nature in their living environments.
Connection to nature also improves indicators of physical health. Studies show that children who spend more time outdoors and live closer to parks engage in more physical activity. It follows that proximity to green space significantly improves the likelihood that a child will maintain a healthy weight. What's more, regular childhood exposure to green space fosters increased preference for nature-based recreation. Natural settings are ideal for children to cultivate creativity and social skills as they enjoy their recommended one hour or more of unstructured playtime per day.
Docs Talk: What kind of activities do you recommend parents do with their children to help them connect with nature?
Dr. Lem: There are two major concepts to consider: role modelling and active involvement of the child. One of the most effective ways parents can strengthen their child's connection to nature is to minimize screen time and embrace green time themselves. The other is to promote a mix of both parent-supervised and independent outdoor play, which encourages children to form and build upon their own nature experiences.
Fun family activities can range from planting a garden to a weekend camping vacation in a provincial park. The backyard is a safe and stimulating place for younger children to explore green space. Encourage them to cloud watch, build a fort, collect stones or come up with their own nature-based games. Outdoor, environment-based volunteering can be an effective way for younger and older children to build self-esteem and strong family and peer relationships.
Docs Talk: What more needs to be done to convince parents, doctors and educators of the benefits of connecting children with nature?
Dr. Lem: It can be hard to see the forest — or the trees, for that matter — for adults who are accustomed to living in spaces defined by asphalt and concrete. The keys to change are clear education about the benefits of nature exposure and reducing social and economic barriers to change.
Doctors should remember to integrate counselling about screen time and outdoor activity into routine checkups. Nature prescriptions may also motivate children to increase their green time. If the pediatric obesity epidemic continues, scientists predict that this generation may be the first with a shorter life expectancy than their parents. This should be a huge wake-up call for all of us.
Author Richard Louv coined the term "nature deficit disorder" to describe the health issues linked to the modern divide between children and the outdoors. His award-winning book Last Child in the Woods is an important resource for parents and educators.
Docs Talk: What can we do to make our communities more "nature-friendly" for kids?
Dr. Lem: Our physical and cultural environments must be designed to allow children to benefit from natural settings during recreation and everyday life. Mixed-use residential areas with green corridors increase the likelihood that children will walk or bike to school and play. Protected urban green spaces have also been shown to reduce health inequalities between children from low- and high-income families. Communities can create natural playscapes that reflect the area's environmental heritage instead of building artificial playgrounds.
Changes in school and educational culture are also vital. Simple measures like planting trees and grass in sight of classroom windows can promote more effective learning. Green time ought to be incorporated into physical education, recess breaks and even regular class hours.
The importance of childhood nature access should be reflected in government policy, whether it be through bylaws mandating child-friendly green space in new urban development projects, tax credits for enrolling children in nature-based recreational programs or ensuring affordable family access to national parks. Now is the time to invest in communities that will raise healthy and resilient stewards of the environment. | <urn:uuid:a0f16810-b386-47d6-a94c-c712bcb38579> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/docs-talk/2012/03/replacing-screen-time-with-green-time-is-good-for-kids/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950018 | 1,158 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Three cases of chronic wasting disease have been discovered in New Mexico mule deer near the Texas border.
Texas officials are monitoring the situation closely and examining their testing procedures, according to a report in Lone Star Outdoor News. No whitetail deer in Texas have been found to have CWD during the 10 years that Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has been conducting tests for the fatal disease.
The mule deer with CWD were discovered in the Hueco Mountains of New Mexico. The rugged, sparsely populated range extends into Texas northeast of El Paso. The LSON report noted that deer from area are tested annually but it’s tough to get many reports due to fewer hunters and the rugged terrain.
According to the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance, a mule deer with CWD was discovered at White Sands Missile Base in New Mexico in 2002, the first reported finding in the state. That also was the first year CWD was detected in Oklahoma, in a captive deer facility. A second mule deer was reported with CWD in 2006 on White Sands Missile Base about 75 miles north of the previous infected location.
The three latest findings in the free-range mule deer have Texas wildlife officials on alert, as would be expected.
“While this finding is not a big surprise, we’re not going to ignore it,” said Mitch Lockwood, Big Game Program Director for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said in the LSON report. “We are working with TPWD’s Wildlife Health Working Group to develop a more intensive strategy for sampling, and to determine the geographical extent of the disease if it is detected in Texas.”
To read the full Lone Star Outdoor News report, click here. | <urn:uuid:27d59a91-f7dc-4080-9385-ffa4ea38295f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.deeranddeerhunting.com/articles/cwd-deer-discovered-near-texas-border | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966782 | 355 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Definitions for kaiser wilhelm
This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word kaiser wilhelm
Wilhelm II, Kaiser Wilhelm, Kaiser Bill(noun)
grandson of Queen Victoria and Kaiser of Germany from 1888 to 1918; he was vilified as causing World War I (1859-1941)
Irvin Key "Kaiser" Wilhelm from Wooster, Ohio was a pitcher and manager in Major League Baseball. Wilhelm's debut came in 1903 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he played off and on until he retired in 1915 at the age of 38. In 1921, Wilhelm became the manager for the Philadelphia Phillies and, at age 44, pitched in four games during the season.
The numerical value of kaiser wilhelm in Chaldean Numerology is: 5
The numerical value of kaiser wilhelm in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1
Sample Sentences & Example Usage
Modern tourist guides have helped raised tourist expectations. And they have provided the natives -- from Kaiser Wilhelm down to the villagers of Chichacestenango -- with a detailed and itemized list of what is expected of them and when. These are the up-to-date scripts for actors on the tourists stage.
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"kaiser wilhelm." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2016. Web. 26 Jun 2016. <http://www.definitions.net/definition/kaiser wilhelm>. | <urn:uuid:7de0dceb-0802-4e40-b8d9-e13f8ae82579> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.definitions.net/definition/kaiser%20wilhelm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.834539 | 376 | 2.921875 | 3 |
China blocks Google on anniversary of Tiananmen Square
Jeff Widener, Associated Press
One faceless man represents the events of June 4, 1989 in China's Tiananmen Square. Known to the world mostly as "the tank man," the figure stood in front of a line of Chinese tanks sent to break up student demonstrations demanding democratic rights.
But as Quartz reported on the eve of the incident's 25th anniversary, just 15 out of 100 university students in Beijing are familiar with the iconic photograph. Since an official death toll was never released, it's unknown how many Chinese demonstrators were killed during a military crackdown at the square.
The decision has incited online discussion about the state of China's policy and silence about the protests. Some, like Chinese media activist Jeremy Goldkorn, are bemoaning China's apparent success in keeping about one-third of its population (those under age 25) ignorant of the event.
"The education system and the vast apparatus that censors the Chinese media and Internet have done such a formidable job at eliminating references to the events of 1989 that many young people are unaware of what happened or have only a faint notion of what happened," Goldkorn told AFP.
One of these people from the "jiulinghougeneration" (the about 135 million Chinese born in the 1990s) wrote an anonymous column for Foreign Policy Magazine recently. In it, he describes how he didn't learn the whole truth about Tiananmen Square until coming to the U.S. for an education.
"It was not until I had lived for years in the United States, and become fluent in English, that I finally uncovered more facts through foreign journalists' accounts," he wrote.
He also wrote that the Internet age has endangered rather than enabled any sort of resistance in China.
"Before the digital era, officials didn't have the ability to eavesdrop on every conversation. But now, if I post something politically sensitive online, the conversation is digitally recorded. Everything becomes part of our permanent record," he wrote.
With restrictions tighter than ever, Mashable reported that censorship watchdog website GreatFire.org is providing a loophole for the curious in China.
"GreatFire.org has built a website that mirrors Google's capabilities. It's hosted on the cloud, which is used by many national companies, meaning Chinese authorities would risk damaging business interests if they were to take it down," Colin Daileda wrote.
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- Trump, in Scotland, links Brexit vote... 26 | <urn:uuid:9750d351-9a67-459c-abab-05bf366db65e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865604426/China-blocks-Google-on-anniversary-of-Tiananmen-Square.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950417 | 680 | 2.5625 | 3 |
As the news of overheating lithium-ion batteries continues to surface, the industry is working to develop fuel and energy cells made of different materials. And a group of US and UK researchers has made a breakthrough in the development of batteries that use bacteria as their reactive material.
Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington state and the UK's University of East Anglia have found that it's possible to produce an electrical current by touching proteins on the surface of bacteria to a mineral surface, thus paving the way for the creation of microbial fuel cells.
The scientists said in a press release that they created a synthetic version of the marine bacteria shewanella oneidensis using proteins that are thought to move electrons.
They inserted these proteins into the lipid layers of vesicles, which are small capsules of lipid membranes such as the ones that make up a bacterial membrane. Then they tested how well electrons travelled between an electron donor on the inside and an iron-bearing mineral on the outside.
Researchers have found that they can create an electrical current when proteins on the surface of bacteria
(like shewanella oneidensis, shown here) touch a mineral surface. The research
shows that it is possible to develop microbial fuel cells.
(Source: University of East Anglia/Alice Dohnalkova)
Tom Clark, the lead researcher on the project from UEA’s School of Biological Sciences, said in the release:
We knew that bacteria can transfer electricity into metals and minerals, and that the interaction depends on special proteins on the surface of the bacteria. But it was not been clear whether these proteins do this directly or indirectly though an unknown mediator in the environment.
The researchers found that it's possible to place bacteria directly on the surface of a metal or mineral and transfer electricity through their cell membranes, therefore tethering bacteria directly to electrodes.
"This is the first time that we have been able to actually look at how the components of a bacterial cell membrane are able to interact with different substances, and understand how differences in metal and mineral interactions can occur on the surface of a cell," Clark said.
Though there is still a ways to go before batteries can be developed using this method, "these bacteria show great potential as microbial fuel cells, where electricity can be generated from the breakdown of domestic or agricultural waste products," he said. | <urn:uuid:f02acf45-caaa-42c5-92aa-5ce9f3f8f23a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&piddl_msgorder=asc&doc_id=261858&piddl_msgpage=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93449 | 477 | 4.03125 | 4 |
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
What is IDEA?
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a federal law that requires states to provide a "free, appropriate public education" to children with disabilities so they can be educated to the greatest extent possible along with all other children. Qualifying children are entitled to special education and related services at no cost to their parents/guardians.
Who is covered?
To receive services under IDEA, a child with with a disability must show that he or she needs special education and related services in order to benefit from education. An evaluation of the child must show that, because of the child's disability, the child's educational performance is harmed. There are three situations in which a child with diabetes might be covered under IDEA:
- The child has another disability which impacts his or her ability to learn, but diabetes itself does not cause an impact in learning. For example, a child with Down syndrome might have an impact in learning.
- Both diabetes and another disability combined impact the child's ability to learn. For example, it might be determined that a child's ability to learn is impacted by both autism and diabetes.
- The child's diabetes, by itself, causes an impact on learning. This is categorized as an "other health impairment" under the IDEA.
While it is most common for a child with diabetes to qualify for IDEA because of having another disability in addition to diabetes, it is also possible that diabetes itself can cause an impact in learning. For example, it is often difficult to learn when blood sugar levels are either too high or too low. If a child with diabetes is having difficulty managing his or her blood sugar level, this may hurt how well the child does in school. Academic progress might also suffer if a child with diabetes misses a significant amount of classroom instruction each day in order to attend to diabetes care tasks.
What help does a child receive under IDEA?
Special education means adapting what is taught and how it is taught in order to address the child's unique needs. The child must have access to the same general curriculum (or coursework) so that the child can meet the same educational standards (tests and other measurements used to pass children from grade to grade) that apply to all children in that school district. For example, a child with diabetes might need a tutor or a classroom aide to help the child catch up with missed schoolwork.
Related services include such things as school health services. For example, a child with diabetes requires that there be trained staff available at all times who are knowledgeable about diabetes and the child's specific plan for diabetes care. Such staff must know how to recognize and treat high and low blood sugar levels. Younger children may require assistance in blood glucose checking and administering insulin.
Least Restrictive Environment
IDEA requires that children with disabilities be educated in the least restrictive environment (LRE). This means that, to the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities are educated with children who do not have disabilities.
What rights do parents and guardians have under IDEA?
One reason some parents and guardians like IDEA is that this law offers numerous specific protections and procedural safeguards. These include:
- Parent/guardian consent before evaluation (or the district must request a due process hearing from the state education agency).
- Parent/guardian involvement including inspecting and reviewing all of their child's education records and participating in meetings about their child.
- Notice to parents/guardians of decisions and plans before the district puts the proposed actions into effect.
Is a written plan necessary for protection under IDEA?
Yes. Under IDEA, a student is entitled to develop an Individualized Education Program (IEP). An Individualized Education Program or "IEP" is the document that sets out what the school is going to do to meet the child's individual educational needs. There are a lot of specific rules about developing an IEP, reviewing it (which must be done at least once a year), and what an IEP must contain. Visit our page on Individualized Education Plans for more information.
Where can I find more information?
Most students with diabetes are protected under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and therefore this website focuses more on this law. However, the Center for Parent Information and Resources has many excellent resources on IDEA in both English and Spanish. | <urn:uuid:a414f903-6705-4539-b893-7852e033f744> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/parents-and-kids/diabetes-care-at-school/legal-protections/individuals-with-disabilities.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958654 | 898 | 4.09375 | 4 |
Led by Dr. Petra Rettberg
In the last decades the number of organisms discovered in regions on Earth, which would have been classified still recently as life-hostile, has increased enormously. Examples of such extremophiles are microorganisms found in hot springs, hydrothermal vents, hot and cold deserts, permafrost soils, glaciers, salt deposits, very acidic or alkaline lakes. The investigation of the fundamental molecular processes responsible for the resistance and adaptability to harsh environmental conditions results in a deeper understanding of the physical and chemical limits of life on Earth and of the habitability of other planets and moons in our solar system.
Projects focussing on research on the viability and adaptability to extreme environmental conditions as they occur in space or on others planets like Mars are accomplished in the research group ‘Astrobiology’ of the Radiation Biology Department. The molecular and cellular mechanisms for the resistance to space-relevant parameters like ionising and non-ionising radiation, desiccation, low pressure/vacuum, temperature extremes and the capability to repair different kinds of damage are investigated in several microbial model organisms. Experiments in space on the International Space Station and on satellites complement laboratory experiments and field research in Mars analogue sites.
The results of these ongoing investigations are also important for the further development of the COSPAR (Committee on Space Research) planetary protection guidelines for the future exploration of our solar system. | <urn:uuid:7f6c64ce-8b1b-416c-8a64-664288b51300> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dlr.de/me/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-2016/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912657 | 291 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Measuring True “Affordability” in El Paso
The rule of thumb for measuring housing affordability has been that a household should not pay more than 30 percent of its income for rent or mortgage payments. This measure used by all levels of government fails to incorporate the cost of transportation, which is the second-biggest expense for U.S. households.
Recently, El Paso, Texas became the first city to incorporate a new measure of affordability created by the Chicago-based Center for Neighborhood Technology. Their H+T Index includes both the cost of housing and the cost of transportation when determining affordability. No more than 45 percent of household income should go towards these combined costs, CNT concluded.
The old measure of affordability tends to give new developments on the outskirts of metropolitan areas an advantage when competing for government subsidies and loans for affordable housing. Since land on the outskirts tends to be cheap, the cost of that housing appears to be less. But when transportation costs are factored in, developments near the center of town begin to become more affordable, especially if these developments are close to mass transportation or are in walkable neighborhoods.
CNT looked into housing and transportation costs in El Paso and found that under the traditional affordability measure much of the city and surrounding county were considered “affordable.” But transportation costs in much of the city eat up between 24 and 28 percent of household budgets, making most of the city unaffordable in reality.
El Paso will use the new measure when distributing loans for affordable housing and will ensure that households will not be saddled with excessive transportation costs. This is a model for other cities to consider and adopt. | <urn:uuid:93e43be8-ddc7-4620-acfd-35c10f1afbb4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dmiblog.com/archives/2010/09/measuring_true_affordability_i.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971057 | 335 | 2.96875 | 3 |
AIDS Treatment Data Network
AIDS treatment information organization.
AIDS Treatment Information Service (ATIS)
Provides information about federally approved treatment guidelines for HIV and AIDS.
Critical Path AIDS Project
AIDS treatment information from the point of view of persons with AIDS (PWAs) and AIDS treatment activists.
Forum for Collaborative HIV Research
Forum for Collaborative HIV Research develops strategies to address unanswered questions about optimal treatment of HIV disease.
HIV / AIDS Medical Practice Guidelines
Treatment guidelines for HIV infected adults and adolescents.
HIV and AIDS treatment
Elementary information about anti-HIV drugs, combination therapy, groups and names of antiretroviral drugs. UK-based.
HIV Drug Interactions
Laboratory and clinical findings relating to potential drug interactions between medications used to treat HIV infection. University of Liverpool maintains this site.
HIV Medication Guide
The guide includes patient education, medication schedules, and drug interaction information.
HIV/AIDS Surveillance Database
A compilation of information from studies appearing in medical and scientific literature and other places.
NATAP (National AIDS Treatment Advocacy Project)
Reports on the latest HIV drug treatments, therapies, and conferences.
Physicians' Research Network
Provides HIV/AIDS treatment information, tools and support to HIV/AIDS health care providers.
Starting antiretroviral treatment
Information about HIV treatment, CD4 count, viral load, starting treatment, and adherence
Surviving AIDS - NOVA Online
The companion Web site to a program originally broadcast on NOVA on February 2, 1999, providing a look at the cutting edge of AIDS research.
Last update:November 19, 2015 at 13:15:08 UTC | <urn:uuid:1d76f574-7e05-4b07-8e5e-d1866a240b53> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dmoz.org/Health/Conditions_and_Diseases/Immune_Disorders/Immune_Deficiency/AIDS/Treatment_and_Therapies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.836111 | 351 | 2.65625 | 3 |
by Stephen Downes
July 6, 2010
In this blog post, I try to explain the importance of semantics, why we are studying critical literacies, and how this relates to knowledge and learning. "The whole concept of 'having reasons' is probably the deepest challenge there is for connectivism, or for any theory of learning. We don't want people to simply to react instinctively to events, we want them to react on a reasonable (and hopefully rational) basis." Stephen Downes, Half an Hour, July 6, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Connectivism, Semantic Web, Semantics, Web Logs] [Comment] [Tweet]
More Google Chrome web apps for you to enjoy!
I don't know - you begin to feel you've got a handle on things and the whole landscape changes again. Apple apps, Google apps - the shape of both the web and the desktop are changing as we speak. Lee Mathews, Download Squad, July 6, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Apple Inc., Google, Google Chrome] [Comment] [Tweet]
Free Google Guides for Teachers
It's nice that Richard Byrne has published a Guide to Google for educators. It's less nice - and downright weird - that it's published in Flash on DocStoc and Yudu. Are you kidding me? Angela Maiers, Weblog, July 6, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Books, Google, Open Access] [Comment] [Tweet]
On note taking
I agree with D'Arcy Norman - note-taking is an important part of learning, not just a way to record a lecture or event. "Note taking is not primarily about manual duplication of a set of resources produced by a teacher. It's an active process of sensemaking and internalization. Of visualizing the processes of thinking. There is no part of the valuable process of note taking that can be obsolesced by mere content being posted online." D'Arcy Norman, Weblog, July 6, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Visualization] [Comment] [Tweet]
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Know a friend who might enjoy this newsletter? Feel free to forward OLDaily to your colleagues. If you received this issue from a friend and would like a free subscription of your own, you can join our mailing list. Click here to subscribe. | <urn:uuid:35c2f2c5-63e3-4a98-a773-4c52be22a8d3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.downes.ca/archive/10/07_06_news_OLDaily.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941676 | 499 | 2.53125 | 3 |
How to Diagnose Calcium and Magnesium Problems for the Physician Assistant Exam
Understanding the evaluation of abnormal calcium and magnesium levels is rather straightforward and important for the Physician Assistant Exam (PANCE). Knowing how to treat these electrolyte abnormalities, especially hypercalcemia, is really important. Calcium metabolism is intricately involved with the parathyroid gland. Magnesium is an important co-factor for more than 300 enzymatic reactions in the body. Having labs that are wonky can affect the heart, increasing the risk of dysrhythmias.
A normal calcium level on reference labs is usually 8.5 to 10.2 mg/dL. Higher levels than this are called hypercalcemia. The symptoms of hypercalcemia depend on the calcium level:
At levels of around 11 to 12 mg/dL, common complaints include fatigue, weakness, and constipation.
At levels around 14 to 16 mg/dL, someone may experience changes in mentation, difficulty thinking, and polyuria. There can also be abdominal pain.
Because calcium is a potent vasoconstrictor, very high levels can cause peptic ulcer disease and pancreatitis as well. Hypercalcemia can also be a cause of acute kidney injury (AKI).
Causes of hypercalcemia
The two most common causes of hypercalcemia are primary hyperparathyroidism (PHP) and malignancy. Remember the triad of primary hyperparathyroidism:
The calcium level is normal or elevated.
The parathyroid gland value is normal or elevated. (Note: In the setting of hypercalcemia, the intact parathyroid hormone [PTH] level should be depressed, so even a normal level would be abnormal in this situation.)
The 24-hour urinary calcium level is elevated (hypercalciuria).
The most common cause of primary hyperparathyroidism is a parathyroid adenoma, which usually affects one of the parathyroid glands. The initial evaluation, in addition to biochemical testing, can include obtaining an ultrasound of the neck as well as a nuclear scan to get a better look at the parathyroid glands.
The treatment is usually surgical removal of the parathyroid adenoma once identified. Common indications for parathyroid surgery include an elevation in the serum creatinine level, recurrent kidney stones, osteoporosis, and hypercalcemia.
Many of the malignancies that cause hypercalcemia are solid-organ tumors and do so either by directly invading the bone or by secreting a parathyroid-like hormone. This is why part of the workup for hypercalcemia can involve checking not only an intact PTH level but also a PTH-related peptide.
Examples of common malignancies that can cause hypercalcemia include lung, breast, and prostate cancer. In addition, if a solid-organ malignancy is suspected, a metastatic workup is undertaken. It can involve CT scans of the thorax, abdomen, and pelvis; a bone scan; and brain imaging.
Here are a few key points concerning the evaluation of hypercalcemia:
Differential diagnoses for a high calcium level include a plasma cell dyscrasia like multiple myeloma, vitamin D or vitamin A excess, and medications like hydrochlorothiazide, lithium, and theophylline.
Granulomatous diseases such as sarcoidosis can also cause hypercalcemia and hypercalciuria. The mechanism of hypercalcemia is increased 1,25-hydroxyvitamin D3 from the granulomas themselves. Thus, checking a 1,25-hydroxyvitamin D3 level can be part of the initial lab evaluation for hypercalcemia.
On an ECG, hypercalcemia can cause a shortening of the QT interval.
Milk alkali is a funky cause of hypercalcemia that consists of the triad of ingesting lots of milk, taking a lot of antacids, and having kidney failure or kidney stones. Many patients also have a metabolic alkalosis.
How to treat hypercalcemia
Many, if not all, patients who present with hypercalcemia are significantly volume-depleted. The first line of treatment consists of intravenous hydration with normal saline.
Other treatments include the use of furosemide (Lasix) and calcitonin-salmon (Miacalcin). Give this subcutaneously if and only if you first do an intradermal test dose and it’s negative. In addition, bisphosphonates can be administered intravenously. In rare instances, if the calcium level is very high (that is, > 20 mg/dL), the patient may need dialysis to remove the calcium.
The bisphosphonates administered intravenously, including pamidronate disodium and zoledronic acid, both have the potential to cause acute kidney failure. If kidney disease is present, the doses may have to be reduced or delayed until the kidney function is better. And if the GFR is < 30 mL/min, these medications should not be given.
Which one of the following represents symptoms and/or complications of hypercalcemia?
The answer is Choice (D). Hypercalcemia is a vasoconstrictor and can cause hypertension.
Hypocalcemia, usually defined as a corrected calcium level < 8.5 mg/dL, is relatively uncommon. However, you should be aware of some key points about hypocalcemia:
If the corrected calcium level is low, first check a magnesium level. A very low magnesium level (usually <= 1.4 mg/dL) can cause hypocalcemia.
Your initial workup includes checking vitamin D levels, phosphorous, magnesium, and an intact PTH level.
Hypomagnesemia is defined as a magnesium level of < 1.6 mg/dL. Very low magnesium levels can contribute to both low potassium and low calcium levels. Like hypocalcemia, low magnesium levels can cause QT interval prolongation on the ECG.
The most common cause of hypomagnesemia is renal losses, usually from medications like diuretics, amphotericin B, and cisplatin.
GI losses like those found in certain malabsorption syndromes and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) can also cause hypomagnesemia.
Therapy consists of either oral magnesium replacement such as magnesium oxide or intravenous replacement with magnesium sulfate. You need to watch some of the oral magnesium replacements because they can cause diarrhea.
The kidney is the main organ of excretion for magnesium, and normally your kidney is pretty good at getting rid of it. Thus, the primary cause of hypermagnesemia is excessive magnesium intake in the setting of kidney failure. Therapies to help with the renal excretion of magnesium include intravenous fluids, high dose furosemide (Lasix), and, when needed, dialysis. | <urn:uuid:999139e1-ea25-4a4a-a98a-afd15d9efa26> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-diagnose-calcium-and-magnesium-problems-for.navId-814822.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.878653 | 1,466 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Web hyperlinks — the connections that let you go from one Web page to another with a single click — are the key to what makes the Web great. They also can be a bit complicated to create, test, and maintain. The basic idea, remember, is for your HTML document — the core of your Web page — to refer to another file. The user is either going to see that file in your Web page, for instance as in a graphic embedded in the page, or click something in your Web page to leave it and link to the other file.
One of the biggest problems users have on the Web is broken links: a link that doesn't do what it says it does. Encountering a broken link is very frustrating, and you, as the Web page publisher, may not find out about the problem for a long time. Create and test your links carefully and repeatedly, fixing any problems, to avoid broken links.
Understanding how links work
The basic mechanism for creating a link from one Web page to another is simple. You use the <a>, or anchor, tag to begin the link. Within the anchor tag, you can specify where the link goes to, using the HREF attribute to specify the Hypertext REFerence, or destination, of the link. Some text within your document usually follows the anchor tag. An </a>, or end-of-anchor, tag then follows that text.
Here's an example of a typical anchor tag within a sentence of text:
Visit the <a href="http://www.dummies.com">For Dummies site</a> for more information.
Here's how this tag displays in a typical Web browser:
Visit the For Dummies site for more information.
In a typical Web page, the underlined text — called the link text, because it's where the user clicks to follow the link — displays in color as well as being underlined.
The other kind of link you commonly create in your Web page is an image link. You begin this kind of link with the image tag, <img>. You use the src attribute, which nearly always appears within the <img> tag, to specify where the image lives. For simple sites, store the image in the same folder as the HTML file that links to the image. Then the src option is very simple:
Making mistakes in your Web site when you're specifying links is easy, and "good" links can easily become broken because of changes in the Web site you're linking to. Here are some ways to prevent problems, and to manage problems when they do come up:
- Keep your whole Web page in one folder. When your whole site is just one Web page, your only links are to the graphics images that display as part of your page. Put the graphics images in the same folder as the HTML file that defines your Web page. That way, your links to graphics files are simple — just the filename — and when you publish the site, you just move a single folder from your machine to the Web server.
- Keep your whole Web site in one folder. When you grow your Web page into a multipage site, you can keep all the HTML files that define your Web pages, as well as all the graphics files they use, in a single folder, again simplifying links. This method does get crowded after a while, though.
- Avoid internal links to Web pages on other sites. Linking directly to a spot within a Web page on another site is fun, but you're depending on an anchor that may go away as the Web page is updated. Try to only use internal links within your own site, wherever possible.
- Check all links before you publish. Before you publish your Web page or Web site, try every single page to make sure that graphics load properly, and try every single link to make sure it works correctly. If you find a problem, make the change while it's still easy — and then recheck to make sure you got it right.
- Check all links after you publish. Some of your Web links — both links to graphics within the Web page and links to other sites — may break when you publish your site. Check to make sure. If you do find problems, fix them, test on your local machine, and then republish and recheck.
- Check all links every couple of weeks. Other Web publishers can easily make changes in sites you depend on — and it's a sure bet that the minute you decide that the site you link to will never change, it does. Keep checking your links every couple of weeks to make sure they're all good. (And update any out-of-date content in your site while you're at it.) | <urn:uuid:44f6cbfc-7689-47cd-8659-bed405d9384f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/linking-basics.navId-405064.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911154 | 972 | 3.703125 | 4 |
Expository Essay Sample, Exposing The Secrets Of Writing And Analyzing An Expository Essay
Expository Essay – Definition
An expository describes events, objects, process, gives instructions and presents ideas.
Why Expository Essay Samples?
It always benefits you to see and examine a sample of the writing piece of the same genre what you are going to write about. Having a look at the expository essay sample will surely be an advantage and will make you avoid any sort of errors.
Expository Essay Example Analysis
There is a critically done expository essay example analysis which will make you aware of the detailed parts of an expository essay.
This essay describes the process of making a cake. Read carefully to understand how a process is described in order.
Sample Of Expository Essay– Introductory Paragraph
In this sample expository essay, introductory paragraph has the topic introduction and ingredients information.
“It gives an immense pleasure to celebrate the happy moments of our loved ones, and birthday is one of those happy moments. Your loved ones appreciate if you prepare the cake at home for them instead of buying it from market. To enhance your pleasure, here is a recipe to make a birthday cake. You will require grocery items including a boxed cake mix, shortening, eggs, oil, flour, and number-shaped candles. Besides you will need a large mixing bowl, a large cake pan, a mixing spoon, and measuring cups and spoons.
Expository Essay Sample – Process Description/ Body Paragraph
In the body paragraph of expository essay, the process of making cake is explained describing every step taken.
The use of transition words while describing process is inevitable.
Firstly, preheat your oven to make its temperature reasonable. Secondly, put the dry cake mix into mixing bowl. Now, add required amount of water, oil, and eggs into the mix. Next, mix it all with mixing spoon until it gets smooth and free of clumps. Then, grease the cake pan with the shortening. Now, flour the pan gently. Next, put the cake batter into cake pan making its surface even. Then, place the cake in the oven and bake it for around 30 minutes.
Take the cake out of the oven when it is baked. To check it if it is baked enough or not, put through it a needle or something like it to the bottom. If it comes out clean, the cake is fully baked. Leave the cake to cool.
When the cake is cool, spread the icing on it. After the icing is done, place the number-shaped candles on the cake according to the age of the person for whom you have made the cake. Your birthday cake is ready to serve.”
Expository Essay Sample – Ending Note
The final paragraph of this sample expository essay has a brief review of the process. It also has the possible reaction and comments to the prepared cake.
“Finally, what you started from collecting mixing, and baking grocery items to decorating, has now turned into a delicious cake. It is a birthday cake that your loved ones would die for. Preparing cake on your own will prove to be the simplest and sweetest gift to show your love and care for your loved ones on their birthday and they will flood you with admiration and love.” | <urn:uuid:bf0a374b-1e40-43d8-bbf7-34a06e710822> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.educationalwriting.net/resource_center/Essays/Free/Expository_Essay_Sample.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92343 | 694 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Much of Learning Gap Blamed on Summer
Rich-poor reading divide in Baltimore linked to what happens over break.
It’s been a truism for decades that students’ learning slips during the summer, and that low-income children fall farther behind than their classmates, but no one had connected the longitudinal data dots to show just what the cumulative consequences of the summer slide might be. Until now.
A recent study by sociology professor Karl L. Alexander and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore concludes that two-thirds of the reading achievement gap between 9th graders of low and high socioeconomic standing in Baltimore public schools can be traced to what they learned—or failed to learn—over their childhood summers.
The study, which tracked data from about 325 Baltimore students from 1st grade to age 22, points out that various characteristics that depend heavily on reading ability—such as students’ curriculum track in high school, their risk of dropping out, and their probability of pursuing higher education and landing higher-paying jobs—all diverge widely according to socioeconomic levels.
“I call this the Harry Potter divide,” said Alan B. Krueger, a professor of economics and public policy at Princeton University, referring to a 2000 poll by the Princeton, N.J.-based Gallup Organization that asked adults if any of their children were reading the wildly popular series of eponymous books. The poll results showed a wide gap in the responses, based on income.
“Children from low [socioeconomic-status] backgrounds don’t get that reading enrichment,” said Mr. Krueger, who was chief economist of the U.S. Department of Labor in the Clinton administration.
Pace Parallel During Year
The study, which appeared in the April issue of the American Sociological Review, makes use of data from reading tests that were administered to the same students twice yearly, enabling researchers to isolate reading comprehension gains made during the school year with those made—or lost—during the summer.
Although the limited national data available on the subject had suggested that the gap between rich and poor would be wide, Mr. Alexander said the numbers on summer from his Baltimore study took him aback.
“What surprised me was the size of the summer learning difference,” he said.
By the end of 5th grade, the differential in cumulative scores reflecting what students of high and low socioeconomic classes learned outside of school in the summer was stark.
The summer learning among students in relatively well-educated, economically secure homes had effectively added a total of about 47 points to their test scores by that point in their school careers. Students in relatively low-income, poorly educated families had been reduced by about 2 points over that period.
By contrast, in data covering five winters, when test scores reflect mostly classroom learning, the socioeconomically disadvantaged students kept pace with their more-advantaged classmates.
“Schools are in fact compensating for a shortfall of quality learning experiences outside of school,” Mr. Alexander said. “I don’t fault parents—parents by and large are the best advocates for their children—but the reality is that many parents lack the effective tools for helping.”
Daria L. Hall, the assistant director for K-12 policy development for the Washington-based Education Trust, a nonprofit group that promotes high academic standards for disadvantaged children, worries that the findings will take policymakers’ focus off the need to close a different kind of gap.
“We can’t allow the problems of the out-of school inequities to overshadow the problems of the in-school inequities,” she said. “However way you look at it, low-income kids and kids of color get less than their fair share of quality teaching, curriculum, and resources.”
Mr. Alexander’s research has also attracted interest outside of academia. Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois is co-sponsoring the Summer Term Education Programs for Upward Performance Act of 2007, a bill that cites Mr. Alexander’s research.
The legislation would authorize $100 million to be divided among five states selected by the U.S. secretary of education for summer programs that combine fun and academics for children who are eligible for the federal free-lunch program. States would have to match the federal contribution of $1,600 per child per summer.
“That would be wonderful if the states would actually sponsor high-quality programs,” said Meredith Phillips, a professor of public policy and sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
About the study itself, Ms. Phillips said the methodology is sound and the data depth is enviable, even if the sample size is small and all drawn from one place. “This is the only data set available to study this question—we can’t do any better than this,” she said. “The one limitation is that we don’t know how generalizable the results are from kids in Baltimore to kids nationally.”
Mr. Alexander acknowledged such limitations but said he was sure “that you’d see much the same results in high-poverty school systems across the country.”
Asked what would ameliorate the problem his study highlights, Mr. Alexander suggested two words: more school.
“Most advanced industrial countries have more schooling than we do—230 to 240 days a year, some of them,” he noted. “The key, though, is that whatever we do, it needs to be done well.”
Vol. 26, Issue 43, Pages 5,15 | <urn:uuid:23402f52-cf31-4dc8-80e0-6ecb4190d02a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/07/18/43summer.h26.html?tmp=899108260 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965717 | 1,172 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD)
Twenty Lutheran, Reformed and United regional churches (Landeskirchen) form the Evangelical Church in Germany (Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland - EKD). German Protestant church structures are based on federal principles at all levels. Each local congregation is responsible for Christian life in its own area, while each regional church has its own special characteristics and retains its independence. Without in any way diminishing this autonomy, the EKD carries out joint tasks with which its members have entrusted it. The EKD has the following governing bodies, all organized and elected on democratic lines: the Synod, the Council and the Church Conference. They are responsible for fulfilling the EKD's tasks as laid down in the constitution of the EKD. | <urn:uuid:4166d029-701e-4eef-a806-4861e6ea32ce> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ekd.de/english/about_ekd.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946196 | 167 | 2.75 | 3 |
The powers over commerce and money granted by the Constitution are very limited. The Congress can:
- Borrow money.
- Coin gold and silver money.
- Tax imports and exports.
- Tax income. (The 16th amendment.)
- Regulate interstate commerce, which obviously means the Congress can make laws to settle disputes and inconsistencies between the states.
Of course, the government now exercises absolute power over commerce. For example, the Supreme Court recently ruled that the power to tax justifies forcing everyone to buy health insurance or else pay a fine. Even though this new precedent gives the Congress a way to force us to buy products and services, it was still not satisfactory to the four so-called “liberal” justices because they wanted the decision to include a direct assertion that the commerce clause empowers the Congress to force us to buy products and services. How is it that so-called “liberals” want to force the little guy to buy products and services?
The so called “liberal” Clinton administration argued before the Supreme Court that the power to regulate interstate commerce justified banning the presence of guns in homes within 1000 feet of a school because guns impact education, and education impacts the economy, and the economy impacts interstate commerce, and the Congress has the power to regulate interstate commerce! Amazingly, five of the Supreme Court justices disagreed with the Clinton administration. Of course, once one of those five justices has been replaced by Obama, his plan to ban guns everywhere within, not 1000, but 5000! feet of a school will pass the Supreme Court.
Given the new precedent that Congress can make us buy products and services, the many existing bans on products and services, the millions of pages of regulations, the fact that our money is printed out of thin air without competition, and the federal debt; I think it is fair to say that government now exercises absolute power over commerce and is not wielding that power in good faith.
Such extreme power and corruption requires an extreme remedy. Therefore, I propose a new Freedom Amendment – The Separation of Commerce and State:
Separation of Commerce and State
The Congress shall make no law with respect to commerce.
Given that money is part of commerce, the Congress shall not borrow money and shall make no law with respect to money.
Given that labor is a part of commerce, the right of everyone to keep the fruits of their labor shall not be infringed.
Given that trade is a part of commerce, the right of everyone to trade the fruits of their labor for the fruits of another's labor shall not be infringed. Nor shall the Congress compel the states or the people to trade the fruits of their labor. | <urn:uuid:6305c1b2-4075-4fe2-856e-37344bc961e7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.endofinnocence.com/2014/04/separation-of-commerce-and-state.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953917 | 547 | 3.046875 | 3 |
THE FLYING PALACES OF ANGKOR by Shaun MacLoughlin
The Churning of the Sea of Milk and the Fertility of Angkor
|MAHA EYSEI:||(Continued) Sanskrit was the language of the superior caste, the consumers, who kept order and who ruled; while Khmer was the language of the producers who grew rice and who fished in the Tonle Sap.|
Music 6. Dramatic Churning of the Sea of Milk Music
|MAHA EYSEI:||Whenever Mother Earth has needed help, the superior caste had called on the God, Vishnu to restore peace and order, as he had during the Churning of the Sea of milk, when the Gods had to regain the elixir of immortality.|
|Picture 11 (4 pics): The Churning of the Sea of Milk|
The Dragon King, the Princess and the natives unwind a long snake like rope. The following may also be choreographed by dancers. Images from Angkor Wat will illustrate the following, including the wonderful carvings of the chopped up fishes.
|MAHA EYSEI:||To obtain this heavenly drink, they took the Great Naga, as a rope, twisted it around the world-mountain, Mandara, as the pivot and started churning the sea which frothed like milk.|
|Ninety two asuras - or demons - pulled on the head of serpent and eighty eight devas -
or demi-gods - pulled the tail. Realizing that thousands of years of work were unsuccessful, they sought the help of Vishnu.
He advised them to work together and to organize themselves.
But at this point Mount Mandara suddenly began to sink and Vishnu, in his incarnation as the tortoise Kurma, had to support the mountain with his shell, while Indra squeezed down the top of the mountain with his foot. The spinning of the mountain caused such a violent whirlpool that the fishes around it were torn to pieces.
The sea of milk was churned for another thousand years and then, to the delight of the gods, the heavenly nymphs or apsaras were born of the waves and finally they created the Amrita, the much desired elixir of immortality.
|MAHA EYSEI:||And so Kambu married the Dragon Princess - or he married Mera. (smiles) Perhaps he married both.|
Meanwhile Mera has entered again on the other side of Kambu to the Dragon Princess.
Kambu and the Dragon Princess leave the stage. Some back projections of the Churning of the Sea of Milk bas reliefs from Angkor Wat, and of more apsaras flying above them.
|MAHA EYSEI:||Mera was the greatest of the Apsaras, sometimes called Lakshmi. You can see thousands of these apsaras on the walls of Angkor Wat.|
For the first time Mera speaks. Please note we need an excellent dancer who can also act and speak excellent English.
Music 7. Khmer Classical Dance, illustrating the following:
At this point we might have a few steps of a classical dance by other dancers while she explains.
|MERA:||The Apsaras guided the Kings of Angkor on their journey to become Gods. But while they were still on this earth each year the Kings would conduct a ceremony to ask the heavens for help when the country faced floods, droughts, wars, and diseases. Girls were trained as dancers and divine spirits would possess these dancers. And when the dance was concluded, the prayers of the king would be granted. These dances also symbolized the connection between heaven and earth.|
Time allowing Mera might join the dance. As the dancers conclude and leave the stage, Mera continues:
|MERA:||(Continued) It is not only the apsaras who can fly. Our temples too are flying palaces. Let me explain. (She smiles at Kambu, as if he too might be the object of her story) There was once a young Cambodian prince, who was so beautiful and so perfect, that the God Indra, living on Mount Meru in the sky came to earth to abduct him. We might mime or even dance this with Indra and the Devatas and with Nanda, the sacred ox. To be discussed. After a while the Devatas, the female goddesses, complained of his smell.|
(Kambu looks a little put out. We now have a succession of stills of Angkor Wat)
|MERA:||To placate the Devatas, Indra had to have the Prince sent back to earth. However to comfort him, he had a palace, exactly like the one in the sky that the prince appreciated so much, built by the celestial people. The location was decided by Nandi the sacred ox of the God Shiva. It became the temple of Angkor Wat.|
|Picture 12: Yoni and Linga|
Kambu and the dancers leave. We mix from back projections of stills of Angkor Wat to the Kulen hills, to gushing water, to the linga and yoni under the water of Kbal Spean.
It would be good to have a video of the water flowing over them to illustrate its life collecting power.
|Picture 13: Carving of Vishnu at K'bal Spean|
Our temples are purified by the waters of the sacred Siem Reap River, rising in the Kulen Hills.|
Here at K'bal Spean the waters flow over the life giving images of Vishnu and Shiva and draw fertility from the phallic symbols of Shiva and from the yoni of his consort.
© 2013 Shaun MacLoughlin
If you are interested in this project, please contact Shaun MacLoughlin at [email protected]
we recommend the following books which helped with our rersearch: | <urn:uuid:b9d2bee2-230c-48d6-8cf3-0dc8ba9afea0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.englishwordplay.com/cambodia5.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964242 | 1,271 | 2.78125 | 3 |
1 Answer | Add Yours
Nature occupies a central role at the start and at the end of the story. At the outset of the story, nature is described in a condition as posing challenges to the postmaster. In order to convey how out of place the postmaster feels in Ulapur, nature is used to accentuate the disconnect he experiences: "He felt like a fish out of water in this remote village. His office and living-room were in a dark thatched shed, not far from a green, slimy pond, surrounded on all sides by a dense growth." The "slimy pond" and "dense growth" helps to communicate the postmaster's fundamental disconnect to the world of Ulapur and his yearning to go back to the metropolitan setting of Calcutta. As the rainy season continues on, the postmaster falls ill, almost blaming the natural conditions in Ulapur for his illness. Here again, one notices how weather and natural conditions seek to enhance the disconnect that the postmaster feels in Ulapur.
The ending is where nature acquires a particular thematic significance to the story. Upon reflecting how Ratan's heart must be broken, and hearing "the great unspoken pervading grief of Mother Earth herself," nature takes a critical role in the text:
At one time he had an impulse to go back, and bring away along with him that lonesome waif, forsaken of the world. But the wind had just filled the sails, the boat had got well into the middle of the turbulent current, and already the village was left behind, and its outlying burning-ground came in sight.
The combination of the "turbulent current" and his own powers of rationalization help the postmaster overcome his momentary feeling of pain in his actions towards Ratan. This is accented with "the swift flowing river" that continues on, regardless of human affairs. The postmaster uses nature as a way to enhance a justification for why he did what he did. The postmaster uses nature as a means to deny, to forget the transgression he committed. The postmaster ends up using nature, the same force that troubled him so much in Ulapur, as a means to make himself feel better about his actions. In this, the reader sees an added significance to nature in the text.
We’ve answered 327,613 questions. We can answer yours, too.Ask a question | <urn:uuid:1d3451a9-09ed-43ff-ae7f-53a27d9a2192> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-role-nature-story-postmaster-by-rabindranath-444342 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966351 | 503 | 2.734375 | 3 |
The bright white area in this ASAR image is the city of St. Louis, Missouri, USA. According to the United States Census Bureau, St. Louis has a total area of 66.2 square miles (171.3 km²), of which 61.9 square miles (160.4 km²) is land and 4.2 square miles (11.0 km² or 6.39%) is water. The city is built primarily on bluffs and terraces that rise 100–200 feet above the western banks of the Mississippi River, in the Midwestern United States just south of the Missouri-Mississippi confluence. Much of the area is a fertile and gently rolling prairie that features low hills and broad, shallow valleys. Both the Mississippi River and the Missouri River have cut large valleys with wide flood plains.
The Missouri River forms the northern border of St. Louis County, exclusive of a few areas where the river has changed its course. The Meramec River forms most of its southern border. To the east is the City and the Mississippi River. Near the southern boundary of the City of St. Louis (separating it from St. Louis County) is the River des Peres, virtually the only river or stream within the city limits that is not entirely underground. Most of River des Peres was confined to a channel or put underground in the 1920s and early 1930s. | <urn:uuid:e53c5dff-7fc4-46f4-b7ea-c08e4690934e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eosnap.com/tag/st-louis/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941284 | 285 | 2.953125 | 3 |
'Large' Games and their Multiple Applications
by Andrzej Wieczorek
A recent project at the Institute of Computer Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences looked at games and models with infinitely many participants, constructed in a manner allowing for practical applications.
'Large' games include finitely many types of infinite populations whose members have the same characteristics (strategy sets and preferences over possible outcomes), and finitely many large players ('atoms'). The reported studies concern:
- theoretical foundations, including a definition of a 'large' game and results on the existence, properties and procedures (static or dynamic) for finding the equilibria of a game
- applications of the former to models of labour markets, household economies, the global economy, spatial allocation of species, general elections and road traffic, and
- computer packages to search for equilibria in selected models.
Mathematical game theory deals with the modelling of various schemes, which describe the actions - and their consequences - of several decision subjects (eg single persons, teams and societies, but also animals, their populations or even automatons and specialised computer programs). Game theory analyses such schemes, with special attention paid to situations arising after a choice by the respective subjects regarding their actions. Some of these situations are called equilibria; in these situations there is no decision subject who, knowing that the situation has taken place, is able to find out that a different previous action would have made him better off.
The decision subjects are usually called players (or sometimes coalitions). Players choose their strategies, and a choice of strategies by all players leads to a concrete situation; various situations are evaluated, in a (possibly) different manner, by the players. Mathematically, such evaluations are done by means of preference relations or utility functions.
Classical game theory, the roots of which are usually associated with the names of John von Neumann and John Nash, has dealt with games with finitely many players, as is usually the case in real-world situations.
However, the number of decision subjects in the real world is so large that in many extended decision schemes it does not make much sense to take into account the precise characteristics of each subject involved; rather it makes sense to introduce a procedure of aggregation (of the description of the subjects' characteristics) in a manner allowing for efficient analysis, eg by means of appropriately constructed computer programs. Mathematical ways of constructing such aggregation (especially when the influence of individual actions on the overall outcome is negligible) are based upon the assumption that the number of decision subjects is infinite and one can observe only a distribution of their strategy choice, rather than any actual choice made by an individual.
The first mathematical models of decision schemes with infinitely many participants were created in the 1960s. These models tended to be fairly general, and knowledge of the characteristics of all participants was generally assumed. Their advantage, implied by generality, is the possibility of deeper understanding of the case being modelled, usually economic and social phenomena; however, due to the amount of data necessary (including the characteristics of each individual), it is difficult to apply such models directly to specific 'everyday' problems.
Various games and models with infinitely many participants, constructed in a manner allowing for practical applications, are being studied at the Institute of Computer Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences. This work falls within the scope of research projects sponsored by the Polish Council for Scientific Research (KBN). Games and models of this kind, usually referred to as 'large', take into account the activity of a number of types (obviously finite in real applications) of infinite populations, and a number of 'large' players (also called 'atoms'), whose decisions have a significant influence on the final outcome of a game. It is also assumed that all players in a given population have the same characteristics and therefore the same strategy sets and preferences over the set of final outcomes, also depending on their individual choice of strategy.
The theoretical part of the research included the construction of a 'large' game, formulation of the concepts of equilibria and other solutions (which in some sense are optimal), a study of conditions implying the existence of equilibria and their properties, and algorithms for finding such optimal solutions.
In choosing practical applications for study, we looked at those for which the occurrence of a large number of decision makers is typical (in some cases 'atoms' are also present). These included:
- labour markets
- household economies
- the global economy
- spatial allocation of species
- general elections
- transportation networks.
For instance, in the model of spatial allocation of species, two special cases have been studied in detail - a single population model and a two-population 'predator-prey' model. Members of each population choose their habitation (which is a point in a given set on the plane). Individual preferences depend on the distance of the chosen habitation from an 'ideal' reference point and also on the parameters of distribution of one's own (and the other) population. The obtained theorems guarantee the existence of equilibria and give a characterisation of the set of all equilibria. Under some assumptions, equilibria are given by distributions on circles (one or two, depending on the number of populations) with given radii and centres in the 'ideal' point; the mean of those distributions being simply the 'ideal' point.
Computer packages have been constructed to find equilibria in the models of household economies and the spatial allocation of species. Finally, it is worth noting that attacking and efficiently solving the problems of game theory with large databases (as well as their applications) is closely related to the increased power of contemporary computers and to the creation of new computation techniques.
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SMOS science overview
Water in the soil and salt in the oceans may seem to be unconnected, however, in fact both variables are intrinsically linked to the Earth's water cycle and climate.
The SMOS mission is a direct response to the current lack of global observations of soil moisture and ocean salinity which are needed to further our knowledge of the water cycle, and to contribute to better weather and extreme-event forecasting and seasonal-climate forecasting.
The variability in soil moisture is mainly governed by different rates of evaporation and precipitation, so that for example, severe drought can result in features such as hard, dry, cracked soil, while floods and landslides can be a consequence of very heavy rainfall. Less obvious perhaps is the fact that some areas of the Earth's oceans are significantly 'saltier' than others.
Changes in the salinity of surface seawater are brought about by the addition or removal of freshwater, mainly through evaporation and precipitation, but also, in polar regions, by the freezing and melting of ice. Variability in soil moisture and ocean salinity is due to the continuous exchange of water between the oceans, the atmosphere and the land – the Earth's water cycle.
Fact: 'About one-third of the Earth's land surface is desert'
The importance of estimating soil moisture in the root zone is paramount for improving short- and medium-term meteorological modelling, hydrological modelling, the monitoring of plant growth, as well as contributing to the forecasting of hazardous events such as floods.
The amount of water held in soil, is of course, crucial for primary production but it is also intrinsically linked to our weather and climate. This is because soil moisture is a key variable controlling the exchange of water and heat energy between the land the atmosphere. Precipitation, soil moisture, percolation, run-off, evaporation from the soil, and plant transpiration are all components of the terrestrial part of the water cycle.
There is, therefore, a direct link between soil moisture and atmospheric humidity because dry soil contributes little or no moisture to the atmosphere and saturated soil contributes a lot. Moreover, since soil moisture is linked to evaporation it is also important in governing the distribution of heat flux from the land to the atmosphere so that areas of high soil moisture not only raise atmospheric humidity but also lower temperatures locally.
Fact: Between latitudes of 35°N and 35°S, the Earth receives more heat from the Sun than it loses to space. Poleward of these latitudes it loses more heat than it receives. The tropics would keep getting hotter and the poles would keep getting cooler if heat were not carried from the tropics by wind and ocean currents. Ocean currents are driven by temperature and salinity variations in the seawater.
In the surface waters of the oceans, temperature and salinity alone control the density of seawater – the colder and saltier the water, the denser it is. As water evaporates from the ocean, the salinity increases and the surface layer becomes denser. In contrast, precipitation results in reduced density, and stratification of the ocean.
The processes of seawater freezing and melting are also responsible for increasing and decreasing the salinity of the polar oceans, respectively. As sea-ice forms during winter, the freezing process extracts fresh water in the form of ice, leaving behind dense, cold, salty surface water.
If the density of the surface layer of seawater is increased sufficiently, the water column becomes gravitationally unstable and the denser water sinks. This process is a key to the temperature- and salinity-driven global ocean circulation. This conveyor-belt-like circulation is an important component of the Earth's heat engine, and crucial in regulating the weather and climate.
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5a - An Esoteric Theory of Everything
For many decades, scientists have been trying to devise a single unified theory to explain all known physical phenomena, but a model that appears to unite the seemingly incompatible String Theory and Standard Model has existed for 100 years. It described baryons, mesons, quarks and preons over 50 years before conventional science. It stated that matter is composed of strings 80 years before string theory. It described the existence of anti-matter 30 years before conventional science. It described the Higgs field over 50 years before Peter Higgs. It described the existence of isotopes 5 years before conventional science. Could this be the beginning of a Theory of Everything – the holy grail of modern physics?
Quantum foam, also known as space-time foam, is a concept in quantum physics proposed by Nobel physicist John Wheeler in 1955 to describe the microscopic sea of bubbling energy-matter. The foam is what space-time would look like if we could zoom in to a scale of 10-33 centimetres (the Planck length). At this microscopic scale, particles of matter appear to be nothing more than standing waves of energy. Wheeler proposed that minute wormholes measuring 10-33 centimetres could exist in the quantum foam, which some physicists theorise could even be hyper-spatial links to other dimensions. The hyper-spatial nature of the quantum foam could account for principles like the transmission of light and the flow of time. Some scientists believe that quantum foam is an incredibly powerful source of zero-point energy, and it has been estimated that one cubic centimetre of empty space contains enough energy to boil all the world's oceans.
So, if we could describe a microscopic standing wave pattern that appeared particle-like and incorporated a vortex within its structure, we might have the basis for a theory that could unite all the current variants in modern physics. Figure 1 appears to meet these criteria – it is a drawing of a subatomic particle reproduced from Occult Chemistry by Charles Leadbeater and Annie Besant, which was first published in 1909, although a similar diagram was published in a journal in 1895. Leadbeater explains that each subatomic particle is composed of ten loops which circulate energy from higher dimensions. Back in 1895, he knew that physical matter was composed from "strings" – 10 years before Einstein's theory of relativity and 80 years before string theory.
Figure 1 - Subatomic Particle
String Theory and the Standard Model
According to Leadbeater these particles are composed of 10 vibrating strings, which are in turn composed of even smaller particles, which are in turn composed of even smaller strings, etc... This suggests that the seemingly incompatible standard model and string theory may in fact be two sides of the same coin.
String theory proposes that everything is composed of incredibly minute strings or loops of energy-matter vibrating in ten (or more) dimensions. Our brains can only comprehend four dimensions – the three spatial dimensions (length, width and height) plus one temporal dimension (time). So according to string theory, six (or more) hidden spatial dimensions must exist beyond our perception. It is interesting to note that the ancient cosmologies of eastern religions are based on seven planes of existence, with our physical plane being the lowest.
According to Leadbeater the fundamental particle shown in Figure 1 is merely the fundamental particle of our physical dimension (plane 1) – for this reason I will refer to it as the 1-atom. 1-atoms are so small that modern science has not yet detected them, but they were theorised back in 1974 by Jogesh Pati and Abdus Salam, who referred to them as "preons". According to Leadbeater, two varieties of 1-atom exist (positive and negative), each with the same basic structure but the spirals spin the other way in the negative variety (see Figure 2). This is due to zero point energy flowing down through the negative atoms and up through the positive atoms.
Figure 2 - Positive and Negative 1-atoms
The negative particles are not electrons; they are antiparticles. A particle of antimatter has the same mass and magnitude as an equivalent particle of regular matter but an opposite charge. For example, the antiparticle of an electron is a positron. A positron is identical to an electron in every way except that it has a positive charge. The existence of antimatter was not predicted by conventional science until 1928 and confirmed experimentally in 1932, yet Leadbeater knew about it over 30 years earlier.
Even More Fundamental
1-atoms are far from being the ultimate fundamental particle from which everything in the universe is composed. Each 1-atom is composed of ten separate "strings" (closed loops) which are in turn composed of coiled loops of even smaller particles – see figure 3.
Figure 3 - The Microstructure of "Strings" in a 1-atom
1-atoms are the fundamental particles of the physical plane (plane 1), 2-atoms are the fundamental particles of plane 2, 3-atoms are the fundamental particles of plane 3, etc. According to Leadbeater, each 1-atom is composed of forty nine 2-atoms, each 2-atom is composed of forty nine 3-atoms, each 3-atom is composed of forty nine 4-atoms, etc. The matter of the lower planes is composed of the matter of the higher planes, so all the planes can interpenetrate each other and occupy the same space. Figure 3 shows the number of fundamental atoms from the various planes that make up one fundamental atom of the physical plane.
Figure 4 - The Number of Subtle Atoms in a 1-atom
Phases of Matter
In addition to the four phases of physical matter (solid, liquid, gas and plasma) recognised by modern science, the alchemists of old recognised a fifth element. They believed everything was created from the five elements: Earth (solid), Water (liquid), Wind (gas), Fire (plasma) and Aether (ether). They recognised aether as a phase of subtle matter that filled all space and supported the propagation of electromagnetic waves (e.g. light and magnetism). According to Leadbeater there are actually seven phases of physical matter; and where that ends different kinds of even subtler matter begin. The three lowest phases of physical matter (1:1, 1:2 and 1:3) broadly correspond to solid, liquid and gas. The four higher phases of physical matter (1:4, 1:5, 1:6 and 1:7) are etheric, and are what science refers to as subatomic particles or dark matter. 1-atoms belong to the 1:7 phase and combine in many different molecular permutations to produce the hundreds of sub-atomic particles and chemical elements known to science.
Figure 5 depicts the subatomic structure of a hydrogen atom as described by Leadbeater a hundred years ago. The nucleus is composed of six units (in two groups of three), and each unit is composed of three 1-atoms. According to conventional science the nucleus of a hydrogen atom is composed of only three units called quarks.
Figure 5 - The Subatomic Structure of a Hydrogen Atom (not to scale)
Figure 6 shows that Leadbeater's model has precisely twice as many particles as the standard model suggests. This is because 50% of the 1-atoms in Leadbeater's model are negatively charged (antimatter).
Figure 6 - Subcomponents of a Hydrogen Nucleus
Conventional science doesn't consider it possible for antimatter to be a constituent part of physical matter because the matter and antimatter would annihilate each other if they ever touched, but they have no reason to touch under normal circumstances. According to Leadbeater, even the 10 strings of a 1-atom never touch each other. If a positive 1-atom (matter) did come into contact with a negative 1-atom (antimatter) each would breakdown into 49 2-atoms. 2-atoms are so subtle that conventional science regards them as pure energy (dark energy).
Conventional science cannot account for the disappearance of all the antimatter that was produced in the Big Bang. According to the Big Bang theory, equal amounts of matter and antimatter were created at the birth of the universe, but scientists can't explain why so little of it exists today. Could it be that all the "missing" antimatter is hidden within regular matter?
Figure 7 depicts the subatomic structure of a hydrogen atom (in the 1:3 gaseous phase) and its decomposition through four etheric phases:
Leadbeater did not state what the membranes surrounding the molecular structures are composed of, but they are probably 2-atoms or 3-atoms.
Figure 7 - The Decomposition of Hydrogen
Figures 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7 are extracted from Occult Chemistry by Charles Leadbeater and Annie Besant. The book depicts the subatomic structure of every element in the periodic table from Hydrogen to Uranium, including various isotopes (atoms with the same atomic number but different mass numbers). Leadbeater knew that isotopes existed in 1907 – five years before conventional science discovered them.
The Higgs Field
The Higgs field is a quantum field that is believed to permeate the entire universe. The theory was proposed by physicist Peter Higgs in the 1960s to account for the fact that that particles have mass. Particles of matter that interact with the Higgs field are subject to resistance, which shows itself as mass. Particles that interact strongly with the Higgs field are heavy, while those that interact weakly are light. The Higgs field has been compared to treacle through which every particle in the universe has to "swim". Small particles can easily move through the Higgs field so they appear to have negligible mass, but large particles create more drag so appear to be heavier.
Leadbeater described something very similar to the Higgs field over 50 years earlier in Occult Chemistry. He explained that an incredibly dense substance, which he called koilon, permeates the entire universe, and that every atom of matter corresponds to an empty bubble in this incredibly dense substance. It helps to think of the universe as a mirror image of another reality (the anti-universe) where empty space is not empty but is filled with dense koilon, and where particles are not matter but are empty bubbles. If our universe is positive existence, then the anti-universe is negative existence (see Figure 8).
When a particle moves, its corresponding bubble must move through the dense koilon and this causes resistance. This resistance manifests as inertia in the particle, and inertia gives the appearance of mass. Large particles correspond to large clusters of bubbles which are subject to greater resistance, giving the appearance of a large mass. Small particles correspond to small clusters of bubbles which are subject to less resistance, giving the appearance of a small mass.
Figure 8 - Empty Bubble in Koilon in the Anti-Universe correspond to Particles of Matter in our Universe
The koilon (or Higgs field) that fills the anti-universe is an incredibly dense, homogenous and fluid "sea" of negatively existing matter. Everything is reversed in our universe, so matter is incredibly subtle in the higher planes and increasingly dense in the lower planes. It therefore follows that something corresponding to the incredibly dense, homogenous and fluid "sea" of koilon should exist below the physical plane. In 1924 Satyendra Bose and Albert Einstein predicted the existence of just such a phase of matter – they called it Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). But it was not until 1995 that the technology existed for it to be produced in a laboratory. Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman, of JILA at the University of Colorado, cooled rubidium atoms to less than 170 billionths of a degree above absolute zero, which caused the individual atoms to condense into a collective "superatom" which behaved like a single fluid entity. Bose-Einstein condensate is not physical matter but something just below it. It is a phase of matter that has completely different properties to any other kind of matter known to science.
Atoms in a gas at room temperature move at about 1,000 miles per hour. They slow down to about 1 metre per hour as the temperature approaches absolute zero, but the atoms in a BEC barely move at all. When the atoms stop vibrating they are able to share the same space, since atoms are 99.999999% empty anyway. Bose-Einstein condensate can only exist at absolute zero (-273°C); a temperature so cold that the energy aspect of energy-matter becomes zero. Absolute zero is the baseline that prevents creation from descending any lower – it is quite literally the bottom of the universe.
The Sanskrit word "Avichi" (meaning waveless) describes the lowest possible state of existence and clearly refers to the non-vibrational state of Bose-Einstein condensate. The ancient Hindu scripture the Srimad Bhagavatam 5.26.5 states that the "Garbhodaka Ocean" lies at the bottom of the universe – this clearly refers to the "sea" of Bose-Einstein Condensate that exists below the physical plane. In Kabbalah, "Klipoth" (the abyss that lies below the physical plane) also refers to the Bose-Einstein state.
It seems that conventional science can learn a lot from unconventional sources!
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EUFIC’s mission is to provide science-based information on food and food-related topics to the media, health and nutrition professionals, educators, opinion leaders and consumers and to contribute to raising consumers' awareness of the active role they play in safe food handling and choosing a well-balanced, healthy diet. In that context it is important to understand the contribution and potential of nutrition labels in consumers’ decisions of choosing a healthy and balanced diet.
Consumer research conducted by EUFIC in 2004 revealed that consumers have significant issues with nutrition labelling as a tool to help them manage their diet. A full summary of the results of this research was published in a EUFIC Forum, “Consumer Attitudes to Nutrition Information & Food Labelling: results of the EUFIC consumer research 2004”.
The key outcome of this research was that many consumers do not understand the language and the principles of nutritional measurement and that the nutrition labels do not play a real role in their assessment of the nutritional qualities of foods or the management of their diets. The poor design of the nutrition labels and their technical language are discouraging consumers from reading them and using them in their daily life. The “nutrition system” is seen as very technical and somehow disconnected from eating, which is simple and immediate. Confusing communication, fads, and little formal nutrition education are cited as additional complicating factors.
Yet the principles of healthy eating (varied diet, moderation, lots of fruit and vegetables, not too much fat etc.) are generally well understood.
Whilst only a few consumers had a full understanding of the whole range of nutrition terminology, calories are widely understood. The notion of “energy” and its measurement in calories appears to be relatively well established and is perceived as appropriate for nutritional assessment and measurement.
Overall, nutrition labelling is definitely seen as a positive and even necessary piece of information but participants express their need for more clarity as to the exact role of these nutrition labels, the need for a better design and easier understanding (see table 1).
|Table 1. Key Consumer Expectations From Good Nutrition Labelling (EUFIC Research – 2004) |
|EXECUTION ||UNDERSTANDING ||ROLE |
- Clear presentation and stands-out
- Attractive (nice colours)
- Consistency, uniformity across all products
- Understandable terminology
- Clear references
- Not too much information
- Focus on most important information (ranked)
- Help available
- Something one can trust
- Source of authority
- A clear sender
- Positive, helpful
- A link with food, life
ON-PACK NUTRITION COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS RESEARCH
The objective of this research was to identify the potential of a number of on-pack nutrition communication concepts to engage consumers and to help them understand nutrition information on food labels.
This potential was assessed in absolute terms and against current on-pack communication across a number of European countries.
The research also addressed the following specific issues:
- Is energy (calories) a relevant area of focus for onpack nutrition communication to consumers?
- Are consumers interested?
- Do they understand the information provided?
- Will they work with it?
- Can these changes contribute to better understanding of nutrition?
- Can these changes contribute to a change in behaviour?
Qualitative research was performed, using recommended methodology, with 12 focus groups of 8-10 consumers (2.5 to 3 hours each).
The respondents were recruited according to a set of socio-demographic criteria, as well as to their usage of nutrition labelling:
- Young adults: 18-24 years old
- Families: 25-55 years old (with children 4-18 years old)
- Empty nesters: 55+ years old
All respondents were from the middle social groups BC1C2D and evenly split male/female and professionally employed/unemployed.
Three focus groups were organised in each of the following locations:
- France (Paris)
- UK (London)
- Germany (Hamburg)
- The Netherlands (Amsterdam)
While not entirely representative for all of Europe, these countries give a good mix of population mass, different eating habits and nutrition “culture” in Europe.
The stimulus material included a 2-dimensional set of eight front-of-pack flags, all focussing on energy, a set of corresponding back-of-pack nutrition labels, and “full executions” (front and back of pack together).
1. Front-of-pack (FOP) flags
- Cal per 100g
- Cal per portion (per portion, per unit – bar, can…, per a certain weight or volume)
- Cal per portion and a phrase referring to healthy eating (different phrases were used)
- Cal per portion and daily energy needs for men and women
- Option 4 plus graphic representation of % of daily needs
- Option 4 plus % of daily needs (no graphic representation)
- Cal per portion plus exercise needed to burn those calories (energy in/energy out)
- “Full option”, i.e. option 5 combined with option 7 old)
2. Back-of-pack (BOP) nutrition labels
The current “standard” nutrition tables were shown as appearing on existing products, but with addition of the FOP flags and a reference to a help website. The actual content of the nutrition tables was left untouched.
3. Full executions
The FOP and BOP options were shown side-by-side (graphical 2-dimensional integration with existing brands respecting their look and feel) to assess the quality of the approach as a whole. These were then discussed in comparison with current nutrition labelling as appearing on the same products.
All options were executed on a variety of well-known brands across different product categories and nutritional qualities. The products consisted of a mix of single-serve items, ready meals, spreads and toppings.
RELATIONSHIP WITH NUTRITION
Before the actual discussion on the stimulus material, consumers were asked to comment on their relationship with nutrition and nutrition labels. Just like in 2004, there were very few differences between the countries and the different audiences.
Healthy eating is very top-of-mind among respondents
All respondents considered quality (origin of the food, ingredients) and nutritional considerations (content of fat, sugar, salt…) as key criteria for healthy eating. A varied diet including lots of vegetables and fruit, together with eating in moderation are seen as other important factors. Eating habits and lifestyle are cited as main causes of current issues like obesity, diabetes, or cardio-vascular diseases. Regarding the sources where respondents find their health and nutrition information, the media continue to play an important role but respondents felt the information is not always clear and sometimes even contradictory. Doctors and dieticians are still the most trusted sources of health and nutrition. Also the power of hearsay and tradition in nutrition should not be under-estimated.
The nutrition labels are claimed to be important and necessary
Nearly all respondents agreed with this, but when prompted to explain this further, the nutrition labels do not play a big part in their food selection process or dietary habits. Lack of time while shopping and poor execution of the nutrition labels (poor design, reduced space on pack, and complex terminology), are cited as the main causes. The absence of nutrition labels on certain items was also mentioned as an issue, except in the UK.
Respondents claim they use the nutrition labels mostly for new items. Some simply used the on-pack marketing communication as their main source of nutrition information and do not bother to read the nutrition label.
The information mostly looked for varies by individual: calories, fat, salt and sugar were named most, together with additives (E-numbers) and information on origin (biological origin, genetically modified organisms, allergy information), all of which are felt to belong to the field of nutrition labelling.
This exchange confirmed the challenges that nutrition labels are facing and set the right mindset for assessing the quality of the proposed options in the stimulus material.
ENERGY (CALORIES) IS THE KEY MESSAGE
The notion of energy is well understood and calories are generally known as the measure for energy. There are many positive connotations around it (often described as “fuel for the body”) and most respondents think the calorie content is the most essential and necessary piece of information to measure and assess the nutritional qualities of foods.
But not everything is positive, calories are also strongly linked to weight control, a positive aspect for most but also a negative for some (mostly women) who feel the focus on calories is too narrow and even potentially dangerous in the case of certain conditions like anorexia. A few also see calories as a bit outdated, as a measure from the past. Some of the respondents, particularly in the empty nesters group, consider the information about calories as less useful and sometimes even somewhat misleading for them. They see information about salt or fat as much more important for their health. For them, calories address only the weight loss aspect of their diets, which they consider a lower priority in their battle against cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes etc.
But overall, the majority of respondents consider calorie communication as an essential element of effective nutrition communication and feel it gives a good idea of the overall nutrition value of a food.
FRONT-OF-PACK FLAGS ARE A USEFUL NEW TOOL
Respondents see the front-of-pack flags as a true innovation and liked them immediately. Most respondents in the groups would like to see them on all packs.
They are seen as solving the issue of time constraints for checking on nutrition qualities of foods while shopping. The FOP flag gives them a quick overview of the nutrition quality of the product without having to turn the pack around for detailed information.
The FOP flags were clearly seen as a complement and certainly not a replacement for the current “back-of-pack” nutrition labels.
Having the information in a consistent way on the front of all packs is seen as a huge improvement over the current nutrition information.
Nearly all respondents in all four countries like this idea. Although some do prefer other information rather than just calories – mostly salt or fat, the majority felt having front-of pack flags is the right way to go and they assume that this will happen sooner rather than later.
Although qualitative research cannot predict behaviour, there was a shared feeling among the respondents that they would use this information more actively than current BOP labels.
Keep it simple on the front
The most appreciated FOP flags by consumers in these focus groups are the simpler flags:
- Cal per portion/per serving/per unit (can, pack…)
- Cal per 100g
With or without reference to daily calorie needs.
Respondents generally react extremely positively to these two propositions because they are so simple and they convey the key nutrition information in a quick and efficient way.
The “calories per WELL-DEFINED consumption unit” is ideal for most, while “calories per 100g” is a valid alternative (especially in Germany).
The need for a well-defined consumption unit
For single-serve items (can, bar, etc) the notion of Cal per unit is very clear and helpful, but many respondents struggle with the vagueness of “Cal per portion/per serving”. The word “per portion/per serving” is seen as adding to the confusion rather than trying to solve it. Particularly the German respondents felt that in that case “Cal per 100g” is more helpful. The clearest examples among the exhibits shown were single-serve items (e.g. chocolate bars, soft drinks and prepared meals).
Two different insights
It should also be mentioned, however, that those two options do correspond to two quite different insights:
- Cal per portion/per serving/per unit is clearly seen as an instrument to assess the nutritional value of what one is actually buying or consuming.
- Cal per 100g is mostly cited as an instrument for comparison between different products – the actual specific nutrition value is hence more described in terms like “more or less healthy than…
So which of these two is the preferred solution? Qualitative research cannot give an exact answer to this, but if the “per portion” issue could be solved, that option would certainly appear to be the strongest contender.
Although these two options were liked and preferred by the majority of the respondents, those who had earlier indicated their preference for specific nutrients generally stayed with their opinion and continued to have mixed feelings about the calorie information.
A close second
The FOP-option with an upfront reference to daily needs is much liked, mostly so in the UK and by younger consumers, but it is also seen as becoming somewhat redundant after a while. Most respondents do not quite know their daily needs and find the information very helpful. Yet, the concept of daily needs will require some explanation, particularly in the three continental countries where this notion is less established than in the UK. Also some consumers find it to be too much information for a front-of-pack. Respondents still clearly see it as belonging to backof- pack information.
Overall, for most respondents, all three of the above solutions would be well-received additions to the current on-pack nutrition communication.
Complex front-of-pack flags and “encouragement” are not liked
Already with a simple calorie message many consumers have the feeling that they have to think too much about what they are eating and that it is too complicated or time-consuming, or just no fun to do that all the time. This feeling increased when graphical representations or more complex messages were shown on the FOP. The engaging phrase (option 3) was seen as too dictatorial and very few respondents in the groups liked the percentages numerical or graphic representation (options 5 and 6). They were all seen as too technical and complex for quick assessment while shopping and many found them visually unattractive and taking up too much space on the packs. Surprisingly enough, the “full option” (8) is liked much better than the other executions because of its completeness and the fact that “there is something for everybody in it”. Yet most also agree that it is too much information and does not really belong on a front of pack.
In general, consumers do not like complexity and visual “overload”. Many respondents feel that there is already too much to read on the packs and state that they do not want to spend time reading all that information in the store or at home. Younger targets are slightly more open but they also prefer the simpler solutions.
Exercise is a polarising message
Whilst all consumers agreed on the relationship between the intake of food and the need for “burning off” excess energy through exercise, most respondents felt uncomfortable with this message on the front of the packs. They do think this flag sends a clear message but most respondents find the numbers hard to believe or they cannot put them into perspective. Also this kind of information on the front of the pack is seen as confrontational and particularly older consumers feel they are not up to the task. It was also seen as propagating guilt and taking away the pleasure of choosing and eating food.
The biggest challenge appears to be that consumers take this information in absolute terms, i.e. they translate all the calories into exercise (without taking basic metabolic rate into account) and end up with very daunting athletic targets! As a consequence most respondents would not take this option seriously or find it extremely demotivating. Yet some were very positive about this approach. It appears an interesting route that should not be abandoned forthright but a clearer execution is necessary.
CURRENT NUTRITION LABELS (BACK-OF-PACK) DO BENEFIT FROM ADDED FLAGS
The repetition of the FOP calorie flag on top of the traditional nutrition labels on the back of the pack is seen as a helpful addition by most, redundant by some.
Whereas the front-of-pack flagging is seen as a true innovation this is much less the case here; respondents find it quite normal and logical that the front-of-pack information is repeated on the back. Once prompted however, they like it better than a simple table without the additional information.
Respondents find the reference to a “help” website interesting and they expect it to give clear help and neutral guidance about calories and other elements relating to their diet. They feel this also gives a clearer role and a sense of authority to the nutrition label. Some, especially older respondents, do not have Internet access and feel excluded – their preferred solution would be a phone number. The name of the website is considered less important as long as the information it contains is clear, accessible to all and in the local language.
Some old issues remained unsolved:
- The legibility (this was valid for FOP and BOP) was still seen as far from perfect on many of the proposals.
- There were still confusing factors e.g. “Cal” on the front and back flags, but kcal on the nutrition label (the actual nutrition labels were unchanged for the research, hence they contained the less user friendly kcal and kJ terminology).
As already indicated by previous EUFIC research, respondents want terminology to be used consistently, and want to be given the tools to understand what is meant by it.
The general feeling was that the new options did a better job than the current BOP-nutrition labels, but the failure to avoid “old” mistakes (tone-on-tone colours, legibility…) was seen as irritating.
FOP FLAG + BOP LABELS HAS GOOD POTENTIAL
The overall most preferred options were the combinations of the winning FOP flags with their clearly legible corresponding BOP labels.
A CLEAR STEP FORWARD
A better answer to consumer needs
Overall, respondents find this a better approach than that currently in use. When comparing the new options with current product labels, they clearly prefer the nutrition labelling on the test proposals, in particular the front-of-pack flagging. The fact of having additional off-pack “help” (website and/or other, e.g. phone) is also clearly appreciated. Many respondents claim they will go and have a look.
As stated before, qualitative research cannot predict behaviour, but it is at least encouraging to hear that most respondents claim they will look more often and pay more attention to these labels while shopping.
The results were remarkably consistent across the countries. There were few major differences regarding the overall perspectives on healthy eating and nutrition labelling.
The preferred FOP/BOP solutions were also very similar:
- France/UK preferred front flags with daily reference values.
- Germany/Netherlands preferred simple roundels with Cal information on front but considered information on daily amounts more appropriate for BOP.
- Respondents in Germany were least positive towards the “energy-out/exercise” labelling.
The results were also quite consistent among age groups. There were some differences: the empty nesters were less positive about focus on calories than other age groups and the younger respondents were more open for flags/labels with graphs or scales. Also the younger respondents were more open and eager to look for additional information on the Internet.
As a general conclusion, we can say that this EUFIC research has provided some good insight in what works or does not work in nutrition labelling. It has laid out some interesting directions that appear to work for a wide range of consumers in various countries and offers very promising prospects for further development.
Click here to access the peer-reviewed paper. | <urn:uuid:d0abe206-e93e-4c47-90a1-b69cb60f4b83> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eufic.org/article/el/show/consumer-insights/expid/forum-energy-nutrition-information-food-labels/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955537 | 4,115 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Wayne Morse Center Grant Application
Areas to address:
- New Media as in Digital Materialization.
- How it is a democratizing influence?
- How we are using New Social Media to do outreach?
- How do we reach our race gender and class target demographics?
- Show results from previous outreach efforts in the supporting documents area.
Components of the Application
New media has been strongly associated with social media, blogs, and other information technology based content. This content is supposedly unrestricted and free. But in fact it is moderated by the medium of the internet itself, which has inherent and profound limitations. With the advent of maker/hacker spaces and their growing prominence in communities around the world, the phenomena of new media bridging the digital-physical divide -- through digital materialization, and it’s compliment material digitalization -- creates a new reality that transcends the purely digital modes of supposedly unrestricted production.
Digital materialization a la 3D printing, computer controlled machining, and embodied computing (robotics) has become inexpensive and accessible to non-specialists. Increased accessibility is largely due to the continual development of better methods of abstracting details and essentializing the process of production into an intuitive activity. The consequence of this is that people no longer must be geniuses in order to program computers. This creates a strong democratizing influence on the fields of information technology, computer science, and engineering. Given this reality, people can now produce for themselves the objects that they once were reliant on corporations to produce for them. Hence, these objects have gone from impersonal artifacts to the epitome of self expression.
Material digitization is the compliment of digital materialization. It entails mapping the attributes of an object into a computer model. While at first this technology seems less crucial for creativity and the generation of new media, it enables the replication of material objects in a digital form and thus their alteration and reproduction. This is central to creativity in the context of new media. Furthermore, material digitization renders the digital to material creative process bi-directional, invertible, and recursive; recursion being important in philosophy, art, and engineering.
Eugene Maker Space (EMS) is part of a worldwide social movement of makers and “Maker Spaces” - facilities established to enable the community to have access to tools and the technologies which are revolutionizing society. EMS provides a workspace, tools, equipment, and the knowledge of its members in order to create a community of collaboration and hands-on learning.
Kassie: make the connection between EMS and 3D printing stronger.
With the support of the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics, the Eugene Maker Space proposes to hold a series of seminars, presentations, demonstrations, and workshops focused on 3D printing, 3D scanning, and technological literacy; where technological literacy encompasses new media literacy, the amplification of action via cognitive extensions, e.g., computers, cell phones (ubiquitous computing), and embodiment in the post biological world.
Association with the UO Science Library and their 3D compliant TV with active shutter glasses allows additional 3D imaging capabilities. Additionally, the library is supporting 3D imaging technology such as AGIsoft Photoscan allowing for the creation of 3D printed objects based on a simple series of photographs of an object.
In 2014, we are entering a period in which technological advances in rapid prototyping, commonly called 3D Printing, are entering into the mainstream in the United States. Numerous companies exist that will take computer files representing a physical 3D object and produce those items for a fee that is within the budget of most individuals. Furthermore, other companies are producing 3D printers priced for the consumer to bring into the home. The future portrayed in science fiction shows such as Star Trek is very nearly here.
However, this advance in technology is coming in an inequitable and uneven manner. Certain populations have greater access to the tools and skills necessary to take advantage of these advances, putting other populations at a comparative disadvantage.
The purpose of this grant request is to address the topic of technology and class, race and gender – access, use and impacts.
Eugene Maker Space (EMS) is part of a national movement of “Maker Spaces” - facilities established to allow the population at large to have access to the latest developments in this area. EMS provides workspace, tools, equipment, and other resources while creating a community of collaboration and hands-on learning.
With this grant, EMS will sponsor a series of courses in 3D Printing for local area residents, free of charge to attendees. The courses will cover the basics of creating 3D models using open source software (6 hours of instruction), plus training on use of consumer grade 3D printers, including printing of student’s models (3 hours of instruction). EMS requests $XXXX in order to hold a total of 3 sessions of this course, including costs for advertising and promotion.
Where are lectures going to be held to deal address the gender, race, and class issues? If at the EMS then how will attract the patrons to cover the race, gender and class issues. Taking a class to Girl Scout troop would work. Taking programs to needy schools be done too.
The contact person for this grant is Mark Danburg-Wyld, who can be contacted at:
687 McKinley Street Suite #2 Eugene, Oregon 97402 541-513-2945 (cell) [email protected]
Description of Project
This project will reduce barriers to advanced technology that may be due to class, race, or gender, by providing both instruction and hands-on education in 3D printing. This will be accomplished by providing a series of courses on 3D modeling and printing. The courses will cover the basics of creating 3D models using open source software (4 hours of instruction) per talk, plus training on use of consumer grade 3D printers, including printing of student’s models (3 hours of instruction).
The target audience is the population of Eugene, Oregon. The intention is to especially engage women, minorities, and low income individuals who would otherwise lack access to these technologies. Participation will not be limited based on any demographic criteria. Our intention is to do some outreach to the 4J title 1 schools.
The courses will be taught mostly by members of Eugene Maker Space with expertise in the relevant areas, and we will also bring in some outside speakers for more general talks on a range of subjects.
There are no co-sponsors for this project.
Depending the the awarded grant, the classes will be scheduled for three consecutive weekends, for three months during the funding period, with time allotted between sessions to incorporate improvements based upon student feedback. The first course will be scheduled for August 2014, the second for October 2014, and the third for February 2015. Classes will be held at the EMS shop. Pre- and post- assessments will be given to all participants to measure learning outcomes. De-personalized data on those outcomes will be published to the EMS website at the conclusion of the project.
Publicity will consist of newspaper advertising, online advertising, and outreach efforts to local schools.
Statement of qualifications and resume
(resumes limited to 2 pages per person). Please describe your qualifications to carry out the project. Explain your experience in administering similar projects and your capacity to complete the project. University applicants should demonstrate departmental support for the project.
Project Budget and Amount Requested
(Grant Request). Please include a budget for the project and the amount requested from the Wayne Morse Center. Please indicate other sources of support and any cosponsors. Be sure to include expenses for outreach and publicity.
UofO SPICE Science Night
EMS being a non-profit has a decent track record of community outreach. Here are a few examples.
Several EMS members attended the SPICE Science Nights held at the University of Oregon. This event was geared towards young children. Members set up a small table showcasing a few member projects. These projects included a 3D printer, Lock pick box, and a home made vortex cannon.
Eugene Public Library
On February 3, 2013, six members from EMS went to the Eugene Public Library to host a fun event for children ages 3-7. We thought that building and launching paper rockets would be a great event for this age group. It's also relatively inexpensive for us to host since we already have two available rocket launchers and the rockets themselves are made from just computer paper and masking tape. Mark and Taper helped teach people how to build the paper rockets. Once the rockets were constructed, the kids could take them over to Bob and Cord who would get the rocket launcher setup. A few strokes of the bicycle pump was enough to send the rocket flying across the room towards the garbage can at the other end. There were a few mishaps of failing rockets, but that's part of the fun and the learning experience. A few people managed to hit the targets. All in all, people seemed to have a great time.
We also brought a few other toys for the attendees to check out and play with. Rick was working the makerbot 3D printer, printing whistles and other fun objects. It's great to see that both adults and kids as young as a few years old are both interested in seeing how the printer works. The 3D printer always draws interest and it's a great way to get people's attention and teach them the basics of how the machine works. James brought a home built hexapod robot and let the kids control it via laptop. They had a lot of fun making it walk around, dance, etc. Bob brought his Blinkenlights project, which was an attention getter for sure. Who doesn't love blinking LEDs?
Eugene Mini Maker Faire
EMS has worked with The Science Factory in both 2012 and 2013 to hold Eugene's first and second annual Mini Maker Faire. The original Makerfaire is held annually in San Mateo, California and is often considered to be the world's largest show and tell. The Mini Maker Faire aims to showcase local talent in creativity, ingenuity, science, technology, art, and similar. EMS had one of the largest booths at both faires, showcasing activities like paper rocket launchers, paper airplane launchers, lock picking tutorials, 3d printing, and more. Our intention was to get people of all ages involved in making things, whether it be something as simple as paper airplanes, or as complex as a 3D printer. We hope to work with The Science Factory again in 2014 to host the third annual Eugene Mini Maker Faire.
Punkin' Chunkin' Contest
On November 23, 2013, Eugene Maker Space held its first ever punkin' chunkin' competition at The Science Factory! It was such a fun event with a fantastic turn out. We had five teams enter the pumpkin chunking contest, with a 6th last minute entry. The last entry was a much smaller machine that threw apples instead of pumpkins. This machine was measured but competed in it's own "apple class". It was much smaller than the other chunkers but it was no less impressive. All of the teams put a lot of effort into their machines and it was fantastic to see the different types of machines. There were three trebuchets, a mangonel, and a three armed slingshot. They all performed fantastically. The competition had three heats. Each team got to fire their chunkers one time per heat. The furthest distance out of all three heats was the one that was counted for the contest results. We had a great turn out of competitors, volunteers, and spectators, even considering the cold weather. We look forwarding to host this competition annually.
Speakers / Teachers:
Subject: Digital Materialization.
Modeling with Blender and 3D printing.
Developing in Python.
Jher Swartz: Advisor
Dean Walton: Information specialist advisor.
Helpful with race class or gender outreach.
- Here are two stories about our printer. One ran in Library Journal a few weeks ago and the other was on Oregon Public Broadcasting.
- Also, here is some story on the AVID program to work with financially challenged kids in the Eugene area. Mentioning the program and trying to tie you program to it would be good.
- And the program page (this is basically some background info)
- And some places to target. This shows a school that would benefit from an EMS intervention to spark student learning.
- Here is a link to the TITLE ONE schools in Eugene. These are the school identified as having students with the greatest financial need:
Paul Bloch: Advisor
Raquel Gwynn: 4J School contact
Workshops or Classes?
- Be more clear about where the lectures are held
- how many lectures per cost.
- how do approach issues of race gender or class?
- How do we include Democracy? , "Media and Democracy"?
- Use MOOCs or the like in our outreach. (New Media)
Hold some at schools? bring some lectures to the target groups.
How are we going to hit the target audience?
Low level workshops are one or two very long days.
Higher level classes are over several weeks.
6000 for more workshops and some fundamental class to get through part of a curriculum.
10000 follow entire track intro plus a little hands on plus workshops then classes.
theory-practice. build the bridge between both worlds. don't limit one group to just one end of the spectrum.
bring knowledge base to disadvantaged folks.
Possibly approach girl scout troops to address gender issues
Saturday workshops have a list of ongoing classes would help bring people in.
Safety checks and equipment to help.
Kelly MS and Madison MS. one or a series.
Put school plus coordinator. Kristina Jameson:
4:30 to 5:30 enrichment classes.
How many clsasses
Kelley and Madison middle schools various ethnicities and races. Kelley is a title 1 School.
Invite parents to come. Parents welcome to come as well.
Open source online education
- Trimble Sketch up
- Rhino CAD. you get a demo version which will let you save something up to 25 times.
District Afterschool BEST Coordinator &
Staff Development Specialist
Eugene School District 4j
200 North Monroe Street
Office- 541-790-7572 Cell- 541-729-2428
Would be happy to add our logo as a partner.
- 28 Jan 2014 | <urn:uuid:fc40b6fb-d0fa-401d-ac12-78df8666c89c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eugenemakerspace.com/wiki/Sites/WayneMorseCenter?rev=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939148 | 2,997 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Consumption of sugar sweetened soft drinks and fructose is strongly associated with an increased risk of gout in men, finds a study published on bmj.com today.
Gout is a joint disease which causes extreme pain and swelling. It is most common in men aged 40 and older. It is caused by excess uric acid in the blood (hyperuricaemia) which leads to uric acid crystals collecting around the joints.
In the United States, levels of gout have doubled over the last few decades, which coincided with a substantial increase in the consumption of soft drinks and fructose (a simple sugar and the only carbohydrate known to increase uric acid levels).
Conventional dietary recommendations for gout have focused on the restriction of purines (found in high levels in meat and meat products, especially liver and kidney) and alcohol but with no restriction of sugar sweetened soft drinks.
So researchers in the US and Canada examined the relation between intake of sugar sweetened soft drinks and fructose and the risk of gout.
They followed over 46,000 men aged 40 years and over with no history of gout. The men completed regular questionnaires on their intake of more than 130 foods and beverages, including sugar sweetened soft drinks and diet soft drinks, over a period of 12 years. Different types of fruits and fruit juices (high in natural fructose) were also assessed.
At the start of the study, and every two years thereafter, information on weight, regular use of medications and medical conditions were also recorded. Gout was diagnosed according to American College of Rheumatology criteria.
During 12 years of follow-up, the researchers documented 755 newly diagnosed cases of gout.
The risk of gout increased with increasing intake of sugar sweetened soft drinks. The risk was significantly increased with an intake level of 5-6 servings per week and the risk was 85% higher among men who consumed two or more servings of sugar-sweetened soft drinks per day compared to those who consumed less than one serving per month.
These associations were independent of other risk factors for gout such as body mass index, age, diuretic use, high blood pressure, alcohol intake, and dietary factors.
Diet soft drinks were not associated with the risk of gout.
Fruit juice and fructose rich fruits (apples and oranges) were associated with a higher risk of gout. However, the authors stress that this finding needs to be balanced against the benefit of fruit and vegetable intake to prevent other chronic disorders like high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, stroke and certain types of cancer.
In conclusion, our findings provide prospective evidence that consumption of sugar sweetened soft drinks and fructose is strongly associated with an increased risk of gout, say the authors. Furthermore, fructose rich fruits and fruit juices may also increase the risk. In contrast, diet soft drinks were not associated with the risk of gout. | <urn:uuid:2e77ec60-d834-465f-91b8-eef33855d980> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-01/bmj-ssd013108.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966682 | 596 | 3 | 3 |
After half a century of debate, a University of Alberta researcher has confirmed that dome-headed dinosaurs called pachycephalosaurs could collide with each other during courtship combat. Eric Snively, an Alberta Ingenuity fellow at the U of A, used computer software to smash the sheep-sized dinosaurs together in a virtual collision and results showed that their bony domes could emerge unscathed.
The computer simulations by Snively and his co-author Andrew Cox of Villanova University offer clues as to how the dinosaurs (between 80 and 65 million years old and native to Canada, the United States and Mongolia), might have survived head-to-head combat like modern marine iguanas and musk oxen.
Some researchers have suggested that pachycephalosaur domes, which ranged from one to 20 centimetres thick, enabled head-butting contests as a way to attract mates, similar to the contests bighorn sheep engage in today. "Pachycephalosaur domes are unique and we can't yet tell for certain if they butted heads, but we can test their capabilities for the behaviour with math and physics," says Snively. He and Cox did just that by constructing three-dimensional computer models and then putting them to the test in virtual smash-ups.
In a study published in the journal Palaeontologica Electronica this month, the authors used a method called finite element analysis to simulate collisions in three kinds of pachycephalosaurs. Dome shapes immediately dropped stresses below those that would break even spindly struts of bone in some domes, and the collisions were mild enough to avoid concussions. "It turns out that nearly-adult pachycephalosaurs would be best at handling collisions," Snively said. "Other researchers have shown that big adults and young juveniles would be worse off, because they couldn't heal as well. We think young adults could go at it, and older adults might intimidate youngsters with their giant domes."
The key to safe collisions wasn't just in the domes, but behind them in the body. Special sliding joints in vertebrae of pachycephalosaurs, including Stegoceras at the University of Alberta, show their backbones could buckle from collisions and then spring back into position. "It's a little like in giraffes, who have sideways springiness in their neck ligaments and smash the heck out of each other with their heads," Snively noted.
For more information on the study contact:
Department of Biological Sciences
Faculty of Science
University of Alberta | <urn:uuid:4b62b6fd-1120-4cc8-9d2c-9b01af01f17d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-03/uoa-vss032808.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955037 | 525 | 3.71875 | 4 |
DALLAS - July 1, 2008 - The current standard practice of giving infants and children 100 percent oxygen to prevent brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation may actually inflict additional harm, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.
Brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation, known as hypoxic-ischemic brain injury, is one of the most common causes of death and long-term neurological damage among infants and children. This can happen during birth trauma, near drowning and other crises.
The UT Southwestern researchers found that mice treated with less than a minute of 100 percent oxygen after a hypoxic-ischemic brain injury suffered far greater rates of brain-cell death and coordination problems similar to cerebral palsy than those allowed to recover with room air.
"This study suggests 100 percent oxygen resuscitation may further damage an already compromised brain," said Dr. Steven Kernie, associate professor of pediatrics and developmental biology and senior author of the study, which appears in the July issue of the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism.
Most of the damage involved cells that create myelin, a fatty substance that insulates nerve cells and allows them to transmit electrical signals quickly and efficiently. Infants have much less myelin than adults; as myelin develops in children they become more coordinated. Areas of the brain with dense areas of myelin appear white, hence the term "white matter."
"Patients with white-matter injuries develop defects that often result in cerebral palsy and motor deficits," Dr. Kernie said.
Myelin comes from cells called glial cells, or glia, which reach out and wrap part of their fatty membranes around the extensions of nerve cells that pass electrical signals. The brain creates and renews its population of glial cells from a pool of immature cells that can develop into mature glia.
In their study, the researchers briefly deprived mice of oxygen, then gave them either 100 percent oxygen or room air, which contains about 21 percent oxygen, 78 percent nitrogen and 1 percent other gases.
After 72 hours, mice given 100 percent oxygen fared worse than those given room air. For example, they experienced a more disrupted pattern of myelination and developed a motor deficit that mimicked cerebral palsy.
The population of immature glial cells also diminished, suggesting that the animals would have trouble replacing the myelin in the long term.
"We wanted to determine whether recovery in 100 percent oxygen after this sort of brain injury would exacerbate neuronal injury and impair functional recovery, and in these animals, it did impair recovery," Dr. Kernie said. "Our research shows even brief exposure to 100 percent oxygen during resuscitation actually worsens white-matter injuries."
Dr. Kernie said adding pure oxygen to the damaged brain increases a process called oxidative stress, caused by the formation of highly reactive molecules. The researchers found, however, that administering an antioxidant, which halts the harmful oxidation process, reversed the damage in the mice given 100 percent oxygen.
"Further research is needed to determine the best possible concentration of oxygen to use for optimal recovery and to limit secondary brain injury," Dr. Kernie said. "Research is now being done to determine the best way to monitor this sort of brain damage in humans so we can understand how it correlates to the mouse models. There are many emerging noninvasive technologies that can monitor the brain."
Other UT Southwestern researchers involved in the study were Dr. Joshua Koch, a pediatric clinical care fellow and lead author of the study; Darryl Miles, a pediatric clinical instructor; Jennifer Gilley, a student research assistant in pediatrics and developmental biology; and Dr. Cui-Pang Yang, a postdoctoral researcher in pediatrics and developmental biology.
The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
This news release is available on our World Wide Web home page at
To automatically receive news releases from UT Southwestern via e-mail, subscribe at www.utsouthwestern.edu/receivenews
Dr. Steven Kernie -- http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/findfac/professional/0,2356,13845,00.html
Dr. Darryl Miles -- http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/findfac/professional/0,2356,55956,00.html | <urn:uuid:117e8de2-99a1-44b2-990e-233bb8fa809d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-07/usmc-rta063008.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933778 | 881 | 2.96875 | 3 |
PITTSBURGH--NASA's Mars Rover Curiosity fired its first laser beam in August, blasting a space rock at more than one million watts per shot to determine whether the red planet could be habitable. The method, called laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), is used to detect not only the composition of space-related soils but also an array of foreign materials. Now, with the help of a $1.12 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, an engineer from the University of Pittsburgh will build upon the LIBS technique and related instruments to dramatically improve the detection sensitivity of the technology for substances of interest to Homeland Security.
"Our main objective with this project is to develop a technique to enhance the emission process so we can properly analyze samples at a distance with much greater sensitivity than current technology or, in the case of Homeland Security, even pick up trace amounts of conceived substances of interest," said Kevin Chen who received the grant and is serving as a co-principal investigator of the study. He's an associate professor of electrical engineering in the Swanson School of Engineering.
One of the main challenges for the LIBS technique, says Chen, is what's known as the matrix effect. This can occur once a laser is shot, and the material begins to evaporate. In some cases, the composition of the evaporated substance changes in the emission process, no longer resembling the contents of the actual material, resulting in questionable material and potentially spotty analysis. Together with co-principal investigator Yongfeng Lu, professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Chen hopes to fine-tune the LIBS process by engineering laser pulses on a femtosecond time scale, which is 10-15 of a second--a speed much faster than the reaction time most molecules have to light. By engineering a laser with such intense speed, the team will be able to more easily blast heavy atoms, helping improve detection. Then, they'll work toward building a compact, ultra-fast fiber laser.
"Nothing quite like this exists with the kind of performance we'd like to achieve," said Chen. He foresees his compact shooter wheeling its way into distant and dangerous spaces, allowing scientists to conduct remote measurements on potentially toxic or nuclear materials with ultimate sensitivity. Eventually, he hopes its portability will contribute to a deeper understanding about substance composition and better assist officials with disaster preparedness.
The Department of Defense grant began in May 2012 and will extend until 2015 with the option of a two-year extension. | <urn:uuid:2b2849d2-9b96-46e1-a39b-1c20744fed04> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-09/uop-pfl092712.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941421 | 518 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Remote acoustic monitoring among endangered whales is the subject of a major article by two doctoral students in Syracuse University's College of Arts and Sciences.
Leanna Matthews and Jessica McCordic, members of the Parks Lab in the Department of Biology, have co-authored "Remote Acoustic Monitoring of North Atlantic Right Whales Reveals Seasonal and Diel Variations in Acoustic Behavior." The article appears in the current issue of PLOS ONE, an inclusive, peer-reviewed, open-access resource from the Public Library of Science in San Francisco, Calif.
Susan Parks, assistant professor of biology for whom the lab is named, says the article confirms what many conservationists fear--that Roseway Basin, a heavily traveled shipping lane, off the coast of Nova Scotia, is a vital habitat area for the endangered North Atlantic right whale.
"Remote acoustic monitoring is an important tool for understanding patterns in animal communication, and studies on the seasonality of context-specific acoustic signals allow inferences to be made about the behavior and habitat use of certain species," says Parks, an expert in behavioral ecology, acoustic communication, and marine science. "Our results support the hypothesis that the North Atlantic right whale's breeding season occurs mostly from August to November and that this basin is a widely used habitat area."
More than 30 percent of all right whales use Roseway Basin, part of a larger geological formation called the Scotian Shelf, throughout the year. With only 400-500 in existence, these whales, says Parks, must congregate in the basin to feed and find mates.
Already, the U.S. and Canadian governments have taken steps to redirect shipping traffic, in response to several fatal collisions with right whales.
Matthews, whose research includes animal behavior and physiology, says the object of the article is to determine how and when Roseway Basin is used for male breeding activities.
"Part of the answer lies in a loud 'gunshot' sound, made by the male whale," says Matthews, the article's lead author. "We're not exactly sure what the gunshot is, but we think it may be a male-to-male antagonistic signal or an advertisement to females. ... During a two-year period, we used non-invasive acoustic monitoring to analyze gunshots at two locations on the Scotian Shelf. The resultant data has provided tremendous insights into the whales' feeding and mating habits."
Matthews and her team found that gunshot sound production occurred mainly in the autumn and, more often than not, at night. Researchers say this kind of information is essential to not only the individual fitness of each whale, but also the survival of the species, in general.
McCordic, whose research spans animal behavior and communication, says the observed seasonal increase in gunshot sound production is consistent with the current understanding of the right whale breeding season.
"Our results demonstrate that detection of gunshots with remote acoustic monitoring can be a reliable way to track shifts in distribution and changes in acoustic behavior, including possible mating activities," she says, acknowledging David Mellinger, associate professor of marine bioacoustics at Oregon State University, who collected and provided access to the recordings used in the study. "It also provides a better understanding of right whale behavior and what needs to be done with future conservation efforts."
Parks, who assisted with the article, is proud of her students' accomplishments.
"Right whales are increasingly rare, and Leanna's and Jessica's research helps us understand how to better protect them," she says. "By identifying potential breeding areas, we might be able to save this critically endangered species."
Located in SU's Life Sciences Complex, the Department of Biology offers graduate and undergraduate programs in cell biology, development, neuroscience, ecology, evolution, pre-medical education, and environmental | <urn:uuid:4fc3ecbe-f293-4b98-b0fd-14ba61769f27> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-03/su-sbu032514.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946402 | 769 | 3.515625 | 4 |
SAN DIEGO, CA -- CRISPR/Cas9 is hot. News of the revolutionary gene editing technique that is already shaking up bioscience has finally reached the news media and the public. Now comes a first rate example of how CRISPR is changing the pace of biomedical research by linking up with another cutting edge technology -- human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). Benjamin S. Freedman, now at the University of Washington, and his colleagues in Joseph Bonventre's lab at Harvard Medical School, have used CRISPR/Cas9 to guide hPSCs into becoming a human cell-based lab model system for polycystic kidney disease (PKD). The most common inherited kidney disorder, affecting one in 500 Americans, PKD currently is not curable and, without long-term dialysis or kidney transplant, can be fatal. Freedman will speak about the PKD model at ASCB 2015 in San Diego on Monday, Dec. 14, 2015, following its earlier publication in Nature Communications.
PKD's hallmark is the formation of damaging, balloon-like cysts in kidney tubules. In the early 2000s, cell biologists linked cyst formation to gene mutations that affect the primary cilia, hair-like projections from cells that seem to act as sensory antennae. These fundamental discoveries were made in non-human organisms such as the algae, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, and the zebrafish, Danio rerio. But the exact disease mechanism in humans is still not well understood in part because there hasn't been a good human model of PKD in kidney cells.
CRISPR gave Freedman et al. a more precise tool to remodel the hPSC genome to include PKD mutations in the disease-linked genes, PKD1 and PKD2. The researchers then used a 3-D cell culture system to coax their mutant and healthy hPSCs down the differentiation pathway into becoming kidney progenitor cells and finally the proximal tubule cells found in kidney nephrons. In the mutant tubule cells, they observed the formation of large, translucent cyst-like structures but not in their healthy controls. These observations and others have convinced the researchers that their CRISPR/Cas9 and hPSC system produces a stable, biologically accurate human model for a common genetic disease where new understanding and new therapies are desperately needed.
Modeling Polycystic Kidney Disease Cystogenesis with Genome?Modified Human Pluripotent Stem Cells
B.S. Freedman1,2, T.I. Steinman3, J. Zhou2, J.V. Bonventre2
1Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
2Department of Medicine, Renal Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA,
3Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Benjamin S. Freedman
At ASCB 2015
Microsymposium 8: The Role of the Cytoskeleton in Disease and Repair
Monday, Dec. 14, 2015
Microsymposia Room 2
Journal citation: http://www. | <urn:uuid:6c382d2a-9388-4387-94f1-10770b1abd3a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-12/asfc-aa2121115.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908305 | 672 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Old World & Medieval
information gathered from many different sources.
ABJURATION: A renunciation, under oath, of heresy to the Christian faith, made by a Christian wishing to be reconciled with the Church.
ADVOCATE: Cleric with a doctorate in Roman or Canon Law with a monopoly of pleading in the Church courts.
AFFOREST: To make into a forest by application of forest law.
'AHD: Covenant or pact, usually used for political treaties and arrangements such as the appointment of an heir apparent, the safeguards conceded in a surrender on terms, and the limited rights granted to non-Muslims
ALDERMAN: Most towns were divided into wards, and each ward had its own elected alderman. The names and functions of Borough Courts varied slightly from town to town, but generally the courts of the aldermen (often called a ward moot) dealt with the settlement of minor offences.
ALIEN PRIORY: A religious house subject to control of a monastery on the Continent.
AMERCEMENT: A financial penalty inflicted at the MERCY of the king or his justices for various minor offences. The offender is said to be IN MERCY and the monies paid to the Crown to settle the matter is called amercement. See also: "Fines."
ANATHEMA: A condemnation of heretics, similar in effect to major excommunication. It inflicts the penalty of complete exclusion from Christian society.
ANCHORITE/ANCHORESS: A person (not necessarily a cleric) living a solitary religious life involving abstinence, chastity, and solitude. Sometimes they are attached to a monastery or church, living in a cell attached to the structure, and sometimes they live alone in the wilderness.
ANGYLDE: The money compensation which a wronged person is entitled to receive.
ANNONA: Annual levy on the wheat crop; tribute levied on proprietors of land to sustain the army.
APOSTATE: The term used to describe one who leaves religious orders after making solemn profession. It is considered a serious crime in the eyes of The Church, being not only a breach of faith with God but also with the founders and benefactors of the religious house.
APPEAL: Private accusations by an injured party or his or her kinsmen for a criminal offence. Through the Middle Ages, the majority of criminal cases were brought on appeal.
ASCETICISM: Severe self-denial undertaken for spiritual reasons.
ASSART: To turn woodlands into pasture or cropland. To assart lands within a forest without license is a grave offence.
ASSIZE: The meeting of feudal vassals with the king; it also refers to decrees issued by the king after such meetings. In English contexts it can also signify an inquest into certain matters held under authority of an Assize law, such as the Assize of Bread and Beer, or the Assize of Weights and Measures.
ASYLUM, Right of (also called Right of Sanctuary): The right of a Bishop or Abbot to protect a fugitive from justice or to intercede on his behalf, provided he has fled to the altar of a church and claimed sanctuary. Once asylum is granted the fugitive cannot be removed, until after 40 days' time in some cases.
ATTORNEY: The attorney represented clients in formal aspects of litigation, managing suits for absent clients, representing their interests in the various Courts of Law, taking out writs, and instructing pleaders.
BAILIFF: (1) A manorial official, frequently charged with collecting rents for the landlord or exercising other administrative responsibilities, including the oversight of the agricultural and pastoral activities of the manor.
BAN: A King's power to command and prohibit under pain of punishment or death, mainly used because of a break in the King's Peace.
BENEFICE (L. "beneficium"): A grant of land given to a member of the aristocracy, a bishop, or a monastery, for limited or hereditary use in exchange for services.
BORHBRYCE: Breach of surety.
BRYCE: Breach, violation.
BURDATIO: A tax corresponding to the English relief or heriot; a tax, tribute, rent, or burden.
BURGESS: The holder of land or house within a borough.
BOROUGH COURTS: These were developed forms of hundred, county, or manorial courts, with some additional privileges granted by charter. The precise rights and constitution of these courts varied from borough to borough. Generally, the aldermen (ward-moots), bailiffs, and mayors had their own courts, with additionally a Hustings Court (or its equivalent with a different name) which acted similarly to a county court. Boroughs with their own sheriffs, such as London, also had courts presided over by the latter officer.
CALIPH: An Arabic term meaning both deputy and successor, adopted as a title by the successors of Muhammad.
CANON LAW: The system of governing The Church, including its clerics and lay persons in areas governed by Church jurisdiction.
CAPITALE: Capital, property in cattle or other chattels.
CARTULARY: Volume containing copies of charters, deeds, and other legal documents giving title to property.
CAVAGIUM: Head tax.
CENSITAIRE: One paying a fixed quit-rent.
CHANCERY: Originally part of the Household, by the thirteenth century it had gone "out of court." Its function was to issue charters, letters, and writs under the Great Seal of England. In combination with the Office of the Privy Seal, it provided the essence of a Department of State, Interior, and Defense.
CHARTER: This is a public letter issued by a donor recording a title to property, frequently addressed to the general public.
CHARTULARIUS: An officer who drew up documents; a serf freed by charter.
CHURCH COURTS: The system of courts set up by the Church to enforce Canon Law. Generally deacons trained in the law served as the judges, advocates pled the cases, and proctors prepared the cases. Summoners served, in essence, as process servers. Church Courts had jurisdiction over most family matters and wills, sexual offences, marriage and divorce, bastardy, testate and intestate succession to personal property, defamation, battery of a cleric, and breach of faith. In case of conflict, the king's law prevailed.
CINQUE PORTS: From the time of Edward the Confessor, these boroughs located on the English Channel gained special privileges in return for providing ships in time of war.
CODEX: The usual form of book in the middle ages was the codex--the typical modern book. In medieval times this would consist of gatherings of parchment sewn together.
COMMON LAW: The term referring to laws and procedures common to the entire realm; often also known as "Royal Law."
COMMUNE CONCILIUM: Norman equivalent of the Anglo-Saxon Witan. Decisions taken at such meetings, either judicial or military, are binding on the vassals. This later developed into the "King's Council."
COMPURGATION: The clearing of an accused by the sacred oaths of others as to his or her innocence.
CORONER: There were four coroners for each county (though many boroughs also had their own coroner). Their primary duties were to keep a separate roll of the pleas of the Crown (or Corone--hence Coroner) as a check on the Sheriff.
COUNTY or SHIRE COURTS: From Anglo-Saxon times, each shire had its own court to which all freemen of the county had an obligation to attend. Its jurisdiction was originally limitless, including the right to outlawry, but these did not develop into royal courts until Angevin times.
COURT OF CHANCERY: In the fourteenth century, the Chancellor, sitting in Chancery, began to hear various pleas for legal redress either not actionable in any other court (such as suits against the king or his officers), or for which no remedy existed (since the Chancery issued the writs which began every legal case in the royal courts--there existed a specific form of writ for each action, so where no writ existed the Chancellor might order one granted to fit the facts of a peculiar case).
COURT OF COMMON PLEAS: In England, a court applying Common Law to hear disputes (or "pleas") between individuals but not involving the king.
COURT OF EXCHEQUER: Probably the oldest of the three "central royal courts," it normally held pleas relating to revenue or debts owing the king (or those where a plaintiff claimed to be "in debt to the king").
COURT OF KING'S BENCH: In England, a court applying Common Law to hear disputes (or "pleas") between individuals and the king, or in cases in which the king had an interest (thus including criminal law).
COURT OF THE EARL MARSHAL: This began in the mid-fourteenth century with jurisdiction over martial affairs such as treason, prisoners of war, ransom, and army contracts. It was presided over by the Marshal of England.
DANEGELD: Tribute originally paid to the Danes (Dane Gold); later the system of personal taxation used to finance the king's activities.
DANELAW: That part of England roughly North and East of a Line from London to Chester where the Danes settled and hence where Danish Law held sway.
DESCRIPTIO: A tax on city property according to old valuations which were too high after the pestilence in the Eastern Empire.
DILATURA: Damages; a plea designed to create delay, generally founded upon some matter not connected with the merits of a case.
DOWER: In England, an amount of property or money or goods conveyed as a gift from the bridegroom to his bride upon marriage.
DRINCLEAN: Payment due from tenant to lord for ale.
EALDORMAN: The chief magistrate of a shire. "Earl."
EARL: The highest title attainable in medieval England by a nobleman not of royal blood.
ESCHEAT: The right of a lord to confiscate property held by a free tenant found guilty of a felony.
EWAGE: Obligation of military service to a lord.
EXCHEQUER: The financial department of the royal government, originating as an office in the twelfth century.
EXTENT: Valuation of land for tax purposes; value assigned to such land and property; the tax itself; to seize in satisfaction for debt; a survey.
FARM: A fixed sum, usually paid annually, for the right to collect all revenues from land; in effect, rents or taxations paid in advance. Lords may farm land to vassals, receiving a fixed annual rent in place of the normal feudal obligation.
FEOH, FIOH: Money, payment.
FELONY: In feudal law, any grave violation of the feudal contract between lord and vassal. Later it was expanded in Common Law to include homicide, arson, rape, robbery, grand larceny, and aiding and abetting.
FICHT-WITE: Fine incurred for homicide.
FIEF: Heritable lands held under Lordship tenure; the lands of a tenant-in-chief. Sometimes this can apply to an official position
FLEMENEFERTHA: The sheltering or harboring of outlaws.
FLYMA: Runaway, fugitive.
FLYMANFYRMTH: Harboring a fugitive.
FOLKRIGHT: In Anglo-Saxon times, the term applied to Customary Law.
FORATHE: Oath taken by plaintiff and defendant at the beginning of the suit.
FOSTERLEAN: Remuneration for rearing a child.
FRANCHISE: A grant of royal judicial authority to a private individual. Over and above the right of each lord/bishop/abbot to exercise judicial authority over his or her own vassals or tenants (both free and servile), some exercised the authority of royal jurisdiction as limited or unlimited according to the nature of the original grant.
FREDUM: A fine for disturbing the public peace.
FRITH-BRICE: Breach of the peace.
FRUMTYHTLE: First accusation.
GAIRTHINX: Donation, gift.
GAOL: Jail, prison, detention for persons awaiting trial... (Gaiole, Jaiole, Jaile) often miss-spelled GOAL
GRITHBRECH: Breaking of the peace.
GYNAECEA: Women's quarters.
HALSEANG: A fine to avoid punishment.
HAMSOCNE: Breaking into a man's house.
HERESY: Any religious doctrine inconsistent with, or inimical to, the orthodox beliefs of The Church.
HIGH COURT OF ADMIRALTY: This began in the mid-fourteenth century with jurisdiction over naval affairs, but also many mercantile matters, especially involving those between foreign merchants on English soil, or between foreign and English merchants.
HIGH COURT OF CHIVALRY: This had jurisdiction over disputed coats-of-arms, and followed Roman Law.
HLOTH: A following, any number of men from eight to thirty-five.
HUE AND CRY: The requirement of all members of a village to pursue a criminal with horn and voice.
HUNDRED: An Anglo-Saxon institution, and subdivision of a shire. Theoretically, it equaled one hundred hides; but hardly ever did so in practice. Generally each hundred had its own court which met monthly to handle disputes between its residents.
HUNDRED COURTS: Dating from ancient times, these met every three weeks or so in each hundred, and were attended by 40-50 people (those owing suit of court, bailiffs, various officials, and others with business to be heard), presided over by the hundred's bailiff.
HUSTINGS COURTS (O. Eng., "House-Things"): Often but not always found in most boroughs, this court originally was set up for the settlement of trading matters and disputes arising from trade.
IMPOSITIO: A tax on lands deserted by owners because of death or departure.
INFANGENTHEOF: Jurisdiction over a thief caught within the limit of the estate to which the right belonged.
INFIDEL: Any one having a strong adversity to Christianity.
IN-LAND: Demesne land; land retained by the lord instead of being let out.
INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY: By the mid-fourteenth century the professional attorneys and pleaders of the central courts in Westminster had formed themselves into a kind of guild, based around their residences in various inns located in and around Chancery Lane in London
JIERESCHEVE: A payment made by burgesses to a royal official.
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE: Essentially a fourteenth-century creation, and originally known as the Keepers of the Peace, these were lawyers, magnates, and especially members of the Gentry appointed to suppress disorder, seek out and try felonies and trespasses, and enforce labor laws.
JUSTICIAR: The head of the royal judicial system and the king's viceroy when absent from the country. After the time of King John in England, there were no more Justiciars.
KHARAJ: A generic term for taxes and tribute, later coming to mean the land tax as opposed to the poll tax
LAHSLIT: Fine for offences committed by Danes, corresponding to Anglo-Saxon wite.
LANDCEAP, LANDCOP: Purchase of land.
LAUDATICUM: A tax of unknown nature.
LOGRIA: Gain or profit.
LOT: The share of taxation imposed upon an individual payer toward making up the aggregate required of the community.
MAEGBOT: Compensation paid to family.
MAN-AT-ARMS: A soldier holding his land, generally 60-120 acres, specifically in exchange for military service. Sometimes called a Yeoman.
MANORIAL LAW: The system of law controlling tenure of servile land, inheritance, marriage practices, and personal relationships within a manor.
MANORIAL COURTS: Usually each manor held its own court, which regulated the agricultural affairs of the community and the enforcement of the bye-laws, labor services, transfer of manorial land, petty offences within the manor and against the servile dues, election of a reeve, etc.
MISKENNINGA: A penalty for a mistake in repeating the set formula in which a litigant was expected to state his case.
MORGENGIFU: Morning-gift, gift from husband to wife on the morning after marriage.
MORTMAIN: The grant of land into the "dead hand" of a corporate body, which, on account of its perpetual existence, could not be liable for the payment of succession dues.
MUND: The Old English term for the King's Peace. Breaches of the mund were punished by a fine called a mundbreche.
MUNDBRECHE: Violation of the king's protection.
MURDRUM: Originally, a heavy fine of 46 marks assessed on the hundred which did not apprehend the killer of a Norman in its area. Later, a killing done in ambush or in secret.
OFERHYRNES: Contempt; disobedience; also, penalty attached thereto.
PALATINATE: In England, a county in which the tenant in chief exercises powers normally reserved for the king, including the exclusive right to appoint judges, hold courts of law, and coin money.
PANNAGE: The privilege or money paid for the privilege of feeding swine in the woods.
PASCUARIUM: Payment for pasturage.
PIE POUDRE COURTS: Courts held during the course of a fair, for resolution of disputes between merchants.
PEDAGIUM: Toll on those using a public highway or crossing a bridge.
PRECARIUM: A charter whereby land is received in usufruct on condition of an annual payment; a customary tax originating in a payment on the request of the lord; corvee; payment in kind.
PRIMOGENITURE: The right of the eldest son to inherit the estate or office of his father.
PROCTORS: Legal representatives of individuals or corporate bodies, usually in association with the Church Courts, but also to the king's council. Effectively the equivalent of the attorney.
REGALIA: Royal rights.
RELIEF: Monetary payment by the heir to a freehold tenement, paid to the lord for permission to enter into the property.
SAC or SACCUS: Jurisdiction in matters of dispute.
SCOT-ALE: Payment demanded of the vassals for entertainment in which they shared.
SELION: A narrow strip of land of variable length lying between two furrows in the open field.
SERF: A semi-free peasant who works his lord's demesne and pays him certain servile dues in return for the use of land, the possession (not ownership) of which is heritable.
SERJEANT: A servant who accompanies his lord to battle, or a horseman of lower status used as light cavalry.
SERVI: Slaves or serfs.
SERVILE DUES: Besides labor duties on the landlord's demesne and public roads--which usually amounted to three days of work per week, except during planting and harvesting, servile tenants were usually required render other rents and fines
SHAHID: A witness, more specifically one whose name appears on the list of trustworthy witnesses drawn up under the qadi's authority. See also: "'adala."
SHERIFF (from "Shire Reeve"): The official who is the chief administrative and judicial officer of a shire. Many of the sheriff's duties were taken over by the royal justices, the coroners, and the keepers (later justices) of the peace.
SHIRE COURTS: From Anglo-Saxon times, each shire had its own court to which all freemen of the county had an obligation to attend. Its jurisdiction was originally limitless, including the right to outlawry, but these did not develop into royal courts until Angevin times.
SIMONY: The buying or selling of spiritual things, particularly Church offices and benefices.
SOC: Jurisdiction; a liberty, privilege, or franchise granted by the king to a subject; also the area within which that franchise is exercised.
SOKEMAN: Another name for a free tenant.
SOR-PENNY: Customary payment for pasturage.
STERMELDA: Court officer (?).
STEWARD: The man responsible for running the day to day affairs of the lord's lands.
SURSISE: Penalty for contempt of court.
TABULARIUS: A serf freed by charter.
TAILLE: Any imposition levied by the king or any other lord upon his subjects; a tax upon the profits of the former; a property tax.
TAKBIR: To pronounce the formula Allahu Akbar, "God is very great."
TALLAGE: A tax levied on boroughs and on the tenants living on the royal demesne.
TEAM: The right of compelling the person in whose hand stolen or lost property was found to vouch to warranty, i.e., to name the person from whom he received it.
TEMPORALIA: Possessions such as land, rent, mills, etc., from which income is derived
THELONY: Toll levied on imports and exports.
THEODEN: Chief, lord, prince, king.
THEOW: A slave.
THING: A law-court or assembly. (a Viking term)
TIHTBYSIG: Of bad repute.
TIHTLE: Accusation. A Furmtihtle is the first accusation, a Withertihtle is a cross-action.
TRESPASS: The medieval term for our modern "misdemeanor." In the Middle Ages these included assault, wounding, damage to property and others down to selling bad beer and bread. Most of these were heard in the various local courts.
USURY: The interest charged on a loan. Forbidden by Canon Law (based upon biblical injunction) to all Christians.
UTFANGENTHEOF: Jurisdiction over a thief caught outside the limit of the estate to which the right belonged.
VASSAL: A free man who holds a fief from a lord to whom he pays homage and swears to be faithful. He owes various services and obligations, primarily military.
VENALITII: Dealers (in slaves).
VICARIUS: A deputy.
VIEW OF FRANKPLEDGE: A court held twice annually (at Easter and Michaelmas) by the sheriff in the hundred court in his tour (or "tourn") of the county or, especially by the thirteenth century, by a manorial lord including the right to oversee the activities of the members of local tithing groups and the enforcement of the assizes of bread and beer.
WARD-MOOTS (or COURTS): Usually found in most boroughs, each ward usually had its own court over which its alderman would preside. These courts dealt with the settlement of minor offences.
WED: A pledge.
WER: The pecuniary estimation of a man, by which the value of his oath and the payment for his death were determined.
WERGILD: In Anglo-Saxon times, all society was graded according to blood-price or wergild- the sum of money reckoned as proper compensation in case of homicide.
WITAN (also called the Witenagemot): Council composed of nobles and ecclesiastics which advised the Anglo-Saxon Kings of England. By custom it also "elected" or ratified the successor to the throne. | <urn:uuid:013fdfcb-d263-4433-9179-d3663be0d2fb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.everingham.com/family/data2/rec0032.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946849 | 5,120 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Stress can take a toll on heart health in more ways than one. And while blood pressure might be the first thing you think about, emotional strain can influence your cholesterol, too.
"Stress of all kinds has a negative effect on the cardiovascular system," says Dearing Johns, MD, director of preventive cardiology at the Midlife Health Center at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Dr. Johns cites increased risk of heart attack in people with high stress or low socioeconomic status. "There are epidemiological studies showing that in emerging nations, the greatest cause of death is infectious disease, but as they become more industrialized, heart disease becomes the number one killer," he says. "Stress may play a role in that."
Researchers have also found that people respond differently to similar stress levels over time. Some, called "low reactors," can sail through high-stress situations with no ill effects, while others, the "high reactors," feel both physical and emotional afflictions. "There are high reactors whose hormones and lipid levels change under acute stress," Johns says. "Researchers followed a group of people over a period of years and found that the high reactors did indeed have higher LDL [bad cholesterol] levels than low reactors."
The Inner Workings of Stress
In the midst of a stressful situation, here's what's happening inside your body:
- A flood of hormones. The release of sympathetic hormones in response to stress may cause blood pressure to rise and negatively affect cholesterol levels. Particularly harmful is the so-called stress hormone cortisol, which can increase belly fat over time, contributing to metabolic risk factors such as increased LDL (or "bad") cholesterol, lower HDL (or "good") cholesterol, and increased insulin resistance.
- A change in cholesterol levels. "Mental stress can raise LDL and lower HDL," Johns says. "Both of those features have a negative effect on the vascular system from the standpoint of heart attack." This can be a vicious cycle because one of HDL's tasks is to mop up excess LDL. If stress is reducing the HDL in your body, the remaining HDL can't work as effectively on the cleanup.
- Increased oxidation and inflammation. Stress can cause an increase in oxidative damage throughout your body and increase in inflammation. According to a study published in the journal Free Radical Biological Medicine, oxidative stress seems to alter the biology of the blood vessels and blood, increasing unhealthy fat levels, such as LDL cholesterol, and the buildup of cholesterol plaque on artery walls as part of atherosclerosis, which increases heart attack and stroke risk.
What's Stressing You Out?
We all get caught in stressful situations every now and then, but there are certain life events and circumstances strong enough to cause serious heart-damaging stress:
- Work. An analysis of heart-health information from 8,312 British civil service employees showed that those who reported high job stress with few rewards for their work experienced an increase in LDL cholesterol.
- Socioeconomic status. People of low socioeconomic status have an increased risk for high cholesterol and poor heart-health outcomes.
- Emotional stress. Grief, divorce, and high-conflict relationships all can increase your stress levels. Caregivers, for example, face a significantly higher risk of heart attack during the week following a loved one's death, according to a study published in the journal Circulation.
Managing Your Stress
Don't wait until you reach your stress saturation point to react. Try these strategies to ease stress and improve heart health:
- Meditate. Meditation, prayer, yoga, and martial arts such as tai chi, all force you to slow down, breathe deeply, and gain a fresh perspective, will help reduce your stress.
- Laugh. You may not think you're in the mood to chuckle, but that's precisely what you need: People who look for opportunities to laugh seem to have better cholesterol profiles. Physiologically, laughter may undo the effects of stress by flooding your body with relaxing chemicals.
- Exercise. Exercise is especially good for physical health, but it can give you a mental boost, too. Aerobic exercise in particular may help reduce your body's stress response and be particularly beneficial to the high-reactors among us. "It's good for your blood vessels, causing an endorphin rise that's usually acute, but also has long-term effects on the ability of blood vessels to relax that helps you be less of a reactor to stress," says Johns.
- Sleep. Getting enough sleep is crucial for heart health and ability to manage stress.
Last Updated: 10/5/2012 | <urn:uuid:03f42885-8a4c-437b-8e64-04c6ee3f2d73> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.everydayhealth.com/high-cholesterol/lower-your-stress-lower-your-cholesterol.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948354 | 939 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Amino acids are the basis of life as we know it on Earth. They make up proteins, which provide structure to living organisms, as well as provide energy. They can be produced artificially at a very low cost, creating myriad business opportunities in many sectors. I don't know if the below processes are actually used. I thought these up using information gleaned from the reading of my chemistry textbook.
Example 1: Glycine
Glycine is the simplest amino acid. It can be produced from acetic acid, chlorine gas, and ammonia.
Step 1: Chlorine gas reacts with acetic acid to form chloroacetic acid. Hydrogen chloride is formed as a by-product.
CH3COOH + Cl2 ----> ClCH2COOH + HCl
Step 2: The chloroacetic acid reacts with ammonia to form glycine. Hydrogen chloride is again formed as a by-product.
ClCH2COOH + NH3 ----> CH2NH2COOH + HCl
To make a different amino acid, just substitute acetic acid with another organic acid. The rest of the process is exactly the same. If you make a combination of amino acids and heat them, there is a good chance you will end up with protocells. The above processes are probably the closest one can come to making life from simple household chemicals. (acetic acid is vinegar, ammonia is window cleaner, and chlorine can be made by mixing muriatic acid and household bleach together.)
Note: It was brought to my attention that artificial amino acids might have different chirality than their natural counterparts. This may be true (especially for the more complicated ones) but there is not much one can do about that (aside from nanotechnology), and I doubt it would make much of a difference. | <urn:uuid:cd558bff-a0a7-4b1b-9cd3-2b8730837d0a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.everything2.com/title/Artificial+Production+of+Amino+Acids | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951844 | 381 | 3.3125 | 3 |
In meetings who is it that you’ve observed as having the most admirable demeanor? More importantly, what do they do that gives you that impression? It often boils down to their body language and the quality of their spoken words. What’s so interesting is that usually there are so few of each and yet it still leaves others with a positive imprint. It seems that these suave individuals pack a punch by maximizing on the less is more philosophy. There are specific reasons behind the impressions made by others and it stem from how we perceive body language.
Research from Albert Mehrabian on the topic of body language has shown the correlation between a person’s command of the spoken word and the number of gestures used to communicate their message. These polished pros learned to speak in short sentences, revealing little emotion requiring minimal gesturing. Even at times of high pressure, they remain relatively motionless. The impact on others is the person has a sense of control and confidence. From these impressions, it’s easy to attribute judgments of their higher intelligence and status. The image maybe greater than reality, but this could be a safe assumption.
In contrast, this same research revealed that a person who is highly animated using a lot of gestures can actually be emphasizing their lack of power and aptness for intimidation. This body language displays a reactionary stance. Regretfully the judgments made by others from these impressions are that the person is lower status and lesser skilled. Again, it may not be true, but it may contribute to an observer’s intuition. The pattern that constitutes the use of one’s body language follows the thinking process and emotions of the person. Think it first, respond in gestures second. You can change your body language, and therefore impressions made on others by changing your thoughts of how you view yourself. | <urn:uuid:8bb58907-b6d1-4318-b334-b2d31c06680c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.examiner.com/article/body-language-influences-how-others-form-their-impressions | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959524 | 371 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Jacob S. Coxey formed Coxey’s Army and marched to Washington, DC in 1894, demanding Congress apportion funds to create jobs. He presented ‘A Petition in Boots’ as a publicity campaign to promote two bills in the U.S. Congress he supported. One bill was titled ‘The Non-interest Bearing Bond Bill’, and the other was ‘The Good Roads Bill.”
Coxey’s experience with the nation’s roads convinced him they needed improvement. He also believed that non-interest bearing bonds would help the economy. During the World’s Fair in Chicago, he met Carl Brown, and they discussed these ideas. Brown agreed to assist him, and he solicited the American Federation of Labor and received their endorsement. Coxey founded the Good Roads Association of the United States. Both men obtained the support of Kansas Senator William A. Peffer, who introduced the bills in the Senate.
To promote public consciousness, Coxey declared himself a general and formed an army of the unemployed to march to the capital. Before the march, he went to Chicago to sell horses and finance his campaign with his creditors. While in Chicago, he recruited nearly a hundred unemployed Chicago workers to join his army during meetings at the 35th Precinct and Hyde Park Police Stations and various saloons.
Coxey’s Army left Massillon, OH on Easter Sunday night on March 25, 1894, with 86 marchers and 42 reporters. They were joined by the ‘Army of the Commonweal’ in West Virginia. Coxey and his family rode in open, horse-drawn carriages, and the marchers walked except for their ride on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. When they reached the Capitol Building their numbers had soared to 4,000, there were 12,000 more marchers waiting for them when they arrived.
To be continued…
Enlighten your life with history.
Use this link to become an Examiner, http://exm.nr/NDivQU . | <urn:uuid:3a1bcb9b-d0bc-455b-bc8d-e86f772851d0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.examiner.com/article/coxey-s-army?cid=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972313 | 424 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Leonardo Pisano Fibonacci was born in the year 1170 (possibly in Pisa, Italy) and died in the year 1250. He was born thye son of Guilielmo who was a member of the Bonacci family. Leonardo was better know as ¡ §Fibonacci ¡ . He also used the name ¡ §Bigollo ¡ which meant either ¡ §good for nothing ¡ or ¡ §a traveler ¡ . Fibonacci was educated on North Africa, where his father Guilielmo held a diplomatic post. He worked in a Mediteranean port in Northern Algeria as a representative of the nerchants of the Republic of Pisa. They were trading in Bugia, which changed its name to Bougie and then to Bejaia Bejaia. Febonacci traveler extensively with his father where he recognized the many advantages of the nathematical system that varies countries used.
Quotes from the book ¡ §Liber abaci ¡ (1202) he said:
¡ §When my father, who had been appointed by his country as a public notary in the customs at Bugia and was acting for the Pison merchants who went there was in charge, he summoned me to him while I was still a child and having an eye to usefulness and future connivance, desired me to stay there and receive instruction in the school of accounting. There when I had been instroduced to the art of the Indians ¡ ¦ nine symbols through remarkable teaching, knowledge of the art very soon pleased me above all else and I came to understand it for whatever was studies by the art in Egypt, Syria, Greece, Sicily and Province in all its various forms. ¡
Around the year 1200, Fibonacci ended his travels in Pisa. While he was there Fibonacci wrote a few important books. These texts were used in reviving ancient mathematical skills, plus enabling him in making a few contributions of his own. All of his books were hand written because printing hadn ¡ ¦t been invented yet. So if a person wanted to copy it, they would have to copy it by hand. To this day there is still copies of | <urn:uuid:9e193cb0-abdb-4da0-acd8-97111df40eb7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.exampleessays.com/viewpaper/64289.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987109 | 456 | 3.28125 | 3 |
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Identification and Management of Turfgrass Diseases
Symptoms and signs | Conditions | Management
Brown patch is a sheath- and leaf-blighting summer disease that is common on tall fescue and bentgrass. It is particularly severe on tall fescue. With increased use of tall fescue in urban and commercial landscapes, brown patch has become a significant management problem.
Brown patch is caused by the fungus Rhizoctonia solani, which is classified into subgroups on the basis of anastomosis groups (AG). Subgroup AG-1 is the most common on tall fescue. Other anastomosis groups are found on bentgrasses, zoysiagrass and perennial ryegrass. The efficacy of some fungicides may vary among anastomosis groups.
- Tall fescue
- Kentucky bluegrass
- Perennial ryegrass
- Fine fescue
Symptoms can be confused with those of
Symptoms and signs
Brown patch in tall fescue is first noticed as areas of the turf that turn purple to gray-green, resembling moisture stress. These areas quickly fade to light tan or brown as infected leaves dry out. The symptoms sometimes occur as discrete circular patches ranging from a few inches to several feet in diameter (Figure 1). More commonly, symptoms occur in large, diffuse areas (Figure 2).
Foliar symptoms in tall fescue are easy to see. Straw-colored foliar lesions with dark brown borders are apparent at the transition zone between healthy and diseased turf (Figure 3). Once the lesions have completely girdled the leaf sheath or leaf blade, the entire leaf quickly fades to tan or brown. Foliar symptoms are sometimes confused with those of dollar spot; however, dollar spot is rare on tall fescue.
Symptoms on bentgrass putting surfaces appear as copper-colored circles ranging in size from several inches to several feet in diameter (Figure 4). Foliar symptoms are not commonly observed on creeping bentgrass.
During weather that is favorable to brown patch, mycelium (mass of fungal vegetative growth) can sometimes be seen in the early morning. It is found at the transition zone between healthy and affected turf and can be seen growing over and between the leaf blades (Figure 5). When the disease is active, there is often a dark gray border at the margin of the patch where mycelium can be detected. Hyphae (individual fungal strands) have a predominantly right-angled branching pattern in contrast to that of the dollar spot fungus, which is predominantly Y-shaped (Figure 6).
Rhizoctonia solani survives in the thatch and soil as bulbils (resting structures). During favorable weather, hyphae from bulbils begin active growth and infect grass leaves. Brown patch develops rapidly when night temperatures exceed 70 degrees F and duration of leaf wetness exceeds 10 hours. Brown patch can be severe following extended periods of hot (70 to 90 degrees F), rainy, humid weather. High levels of available nitrogen increase disease severity on both tall fescue and creeping bentgrass.
On tall fescue
Avoid seeding rates greater than 6 to 8 pounds per 1,000 square feet when establishing or renovating lawns. A higher population density makes it physically easier for R. solani to move from leaf to leaf and increases humidity and duration of leaf wetness periods.
Most tall fescue cultivars are susceptible to R. solani. Some newer cultivars have a higher level of resistance but can still be severely blighted under heavy disease pressure. Recovery, however, may occur more quickly than with older cultivars.
Brown patch occurs less frequently when available nitrogen is adequate to low and phosphorus and potassium levels are adequate. Apply the majority of the nitrogen fertilizer in the fall. Applications of more than 4 pounds of actual nitrogen per 1,000 square feet per year will predispose the turfgrass to increased brown patch activity. Don't apply nitrogen fertilizer when brown patch is active. A light fertilization (less than 1/4 pound nitrogen per 1,000 square feet) after a brown patch outbreak may speed turfgrass recovery.
Maintain height of cut at 3 to 3-1/2 inches. Returning clippings does not increase brown patch severity.
Some research results indicate that the use of organic composts (turkey litter, cow manure, brewery waste, etc.) reduces brown patch severity. Other studies resulted in no significant control of the disease with these types of organic amendments.
Do not irrigate turfgrass in late afternoon or evenings if possible. This increases the duration of leaf wetness and increases the likelihood of brown patch development. Irrigation after midnight to early morning is preferable. These are the hours the turf would normally be wet from dew, and irrigation at this time does not extend leaf wetness periods.
R. solani usually infects only the leaves and leaf sheaths, so there is a high potential for recovery with moderating environmental conditions. The turf often fully recovers from blighting in two to four weeks without the use of fungicide. But many homeowners are unwillingly to accept the unsightly appearance of their lawn during this time. Also, with extended periods of weather favorable to brown patch, the crown may also be killed.
The use of fungicide is almost always needed on high-profile, high-visibility lawns, green surrounds and fairways. Refer to Table 5 for a list of fungicides labeled for control of brown patch. Some of the newer combination products (e.g., Armada or Headway) also fit well in this market. When used in combination with the cultural practices outlined above, these products can provide three to five weeks of disease suppression. Two to three applications may be adequate to provide season-long control. Begin preventive sprays just before the most likely time period for infection in your region.
Another option is to apply a fungicide as soon as symptoms appear. This curative program will suppress growth and development of R. solani, but the turf will not recover from brown patch until temperatures are less favorable for the fungus and more favorable for growth of the cool-season grass.
On creeping bentgrass
Brown patch on bentgrass putting greens is best managed with a preventive fungicide program. Many of the cultural practices outlined above for tall fescue can be adapted for use on higher cut creeping bentgrass on tees and fairways.
Page: « First ‹ Previous Next › Last » | <urn:uuid:dd2cedc5-0b5b-439f-9cc1-d50dbecaad3e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.extension.missouri.edu/p/IPM1029-5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9263 | 1,354 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Introduction lung cancer, cancer
that originates in the tissues of the lungs
. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States in both men and women. Like other cancers, lung cancer occurs after repeated insults to the genetic material of the cell. By far the most common source of these insults is tobacco smoke, which is responsible for about 85% of U.S. lung cancer deaths (see smoking
). The incidence of lung cancer in other countries follows their smoking patterns. Some other carcinogens known to cause lung cancer are found in the workplace. These include bischloromethyl ether and chloromethyl ether in chemical workers, arsenic in copper smelting, and asbestos
in shipbuilders and other asbestos workers. Radon
poses a risk to uranium and fluorspar miners and may pose a risk in some private residences as well. African Americans have a higher incidence of lung cancer than European Americans, even after adjusting for smoking.
Sections in this article:
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Pathology | <urn:uuid:6b416547-dc98-4727-90d8-b57db15d81af> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/science/lung-cancer.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926064 | 235 | 3.453125 | 3 |
Living in a bubble for two years would drive most of us batty. For biologist Jane Poynter, it has driven her life's work. One of eight scientists chosen to reside in and research the 3.15-acre Biosphere 2 in the early '90s, Poynter parlayed what she learned from that experience into a firm that bridges the gap between the life sciences and aerospace engineering. Paragon Space Development Corp., which she cofounded with chemist Taber MacCallum, a fellow Biosphere 2 crewmember and now her husband, has supplied hardware equipment to more than 70 spaceflight missions involving, among others, the International Space Station and Mir. Paragon's patented Autonomous Biological System has allowed the first aquatic plants to be grown in space—and the first animals to be bred through complete life cycles in space. Last year, Paragon announced a joint venture with Odyssey Moon Ltd. to put a biological greenhouse on the moon's surface, in which Paragon will attempt to grow and flower a mustard plant within two weeks. Though small in scale—the greenhouse itself is about the size of a shoebox—the project could have huge implications for creating a plant-filled habitat on the moon. Or on Mars, which is the stuff of Poynter's science-fiction-laden girlhood dreams. "I've been wanting to see us in Mars for an awfully long time," she admits. Another big project, though less romantic, could very well put Paragon's stamp on all future spaceflight missions: a $1.4 million grant from NASA to develop from scratch a life-support system that maintains temperature, humidity, and oxygen levels for astronauts in space.
1 minute read
THE MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY 2010 - Jane Poynter
cofounder of Paragon Space Development | <urn:uuid:b2b2c8df-0c8c-4437-9344-594cec5179a4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.fastcompany.com/3017272/women-in-tech-2010/the-most-influential-women-in-technology-2010-jane-poynter | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941961 | 380 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Midwives as Educators: Teaching in the 21st Century
by Daphne Singingtree
© 2006 Midwifery Today, Inc. All rights reserved.
[Editor's note: This is an excerpt of an article which appears in Midwifery Today Issue 78, Summer 2006. View other great articles and columns in the table of contents. To read the rest of this article, order your copy of Midwifery Today Issue 78.]
All midwives are educators. While not all midwives are preceptors (clinical teachers who train students), educating birthing families is an integral part of midwifery care. As such, learning principles of adult education can help midwives become more effective for their clients and also will help those who train students to be better preceptors.
Parents will most often parent their children the way they were parented; our early experiences, good or bad, influence us. It can be the same in clinical midwifery education; we often train midwives the same way we were trained. If weak areas existed in our own clinical training, we have to work hard to improve and create better learning experiences for our own students.
Being a good midwife does not necessarily make one a good teacher. Knowledge of basic educational principles will help a person be a more effective teacher. Theories of education regarding how people learn best are tremendously varied. Some of the early work focused on Bloom's Taxonomy of Intellectual Behavior (1956), which defines the three overlapping learning domains: cognitive, affective and psychomotor. Further research by Howard Gardner (1983) led to the proposal of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, using seven styles of learning: verbal/linguistic, logical/mathematical, visual, kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal and intrapersonal. A more modern approach focuses on only four types of learners: visual, aural (hearing), read/write and kinesthetic. Many educators theorize that when students know their learning style and use it to help them study, their learning, will improve. The theory of hemispheric dominance—how the right or left sides of our brains affect learning—is often used in midwifery programs because it emphasizes intuition and empathy.
Midwifery programs are often written using woman-centered learning, which is more empathic and connected. It involves the learner in the process and is less hierarchal. Many of the concepts in woman-centered learning also are present in constructivism (Bruner 1990), which is the belief that people actively construct new knowledge as they interact with their environment. When people take notes or use learned material in a practical way, such as to restate or teach, they learn it better.
Constructivism Promotes Learner Involvement
A constructivist perspective views learners as actively engaged in making meaning based on their prior knowledge and experiences. Teaching with that approach focuses on what students can analyze, investigate, collaborate, share, build and generate, based on what they already know, rather than what facts, skills and processes they can memorize and regurgitate. Some of the ways the tenets of constructivism apply to training midwives are:
- Students' prior experience and learning is recognized and valued.
- New knowledge is constructed using the individual student's prior knowledge.
- Students learn from each other as well as from the teacher.
- Students learn better by doing.
- Allowing and creating opportunities for all to have a voice promotes the construction of new ideas.
- Learning is particularly effective when constructing something for others to experience.
Ways to Incorporate Constructivist Learning Principles in Clinical Education:
- Observe students teaching clients.
- Role-play complications. For example, get out the pelvis and baby and have the student show you how to get some pesky shoulders unstuck.
- Ask her, "How would you handle this?" at every opportunity. And listen to the response.
- Provide opportunities for hands-on involvement, early and often.
- If you have more than one student, have the students work together. They can practice clinical skills on each other, do group research projects, etc.
- Recognize that your student has her own world-view; respect it and know that changing it takes work.
Being an effective clinical teacher is important, no matter what type of midwife you are or where you practice. Clinical experience is the core of midwifery education. All midwifery educators can improve in this area.
I was trained much the same way as most direct entry midwives (DEM) in the US in the early seventies: a combination of self-teaching and informal apprenticeship. Many of us started attending births with very little experience and even less training. We learned from experience and shared knowledge with our peers, doctors, chiropractors and anyone else we could. Very soon we had our own students. Our students had advantages we did not, especially more formal one-on-one apprenticeships. Some midwives included classes and directed learning activities. Others focused only on the clinical aspects of training; and their students relied on self-study, distance learning and any related training they could find.
The midwife credentialing process of the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM) was designed to fully incorporate and support the apprenticeship model of training through the Portfolio Evaluation Process (PEP). As direct entry midwifery schools formed, the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council (MEAC) began accrediting schools and NARM included a track for those who graduated from an accredited program. While NARM remains committed to the PEP, the philosophical trend is toward all midwives attending an accredited school, regardless of whether they are direct entry midwives or nurse-midwives.
Some have expressed concern about the loss of the "apprenticeship model" of training. Midwives have been trained throughout the ages using the apprenticeship model. While the science of midwifery is taught in the classroom and in books, the art of midwifery is taught in a one-on-one relationship between preceptor and student. We are fortunate in this country to have such a diverse range of training options for women to become midwives. As long as NARM continues to offer the PEP, the apprenticeship model will remain a viable method of becoming a midwife.
The Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) created the core competencies, or standards of learning, for direct entry midwives. It also provides clear and written objectives for clinical practice that were written largely by early midwives, most of whom were self-taught and apprenticeship-trained. The values of the apprentice model are built into the system.
One of the drawbacks to the apprentice model has been the reliance on only one midwife for the bulk of a student's education. Midwifery is so complex, and so many diverse approaches are possible for handling the same situations, that the more places students can learn from the better. Today's midwifery students have more options. They may get their didactic instruction or academics from one place, their clinical training from a number of places and their one-on-one training with one or two midwives, in a high volume birth center or from working in hospitals in the developing world.
Nurse-midwifery students have long had the advantage, in the clinical part of their training, of clear written objectives, skill check-off sheets and other written guidelines. Now, with NARM and MEAC, direct entry students have the same options. These are important tools for clinical training.
Direct entry midwives in the US face an uphill battle to have our training models recognized with the same validity as the American Council of Nurse Midwives (ACNM) models. American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) recently released a Statement of Position which essentially says that all midwives who do not graduate from a program accredited by ACNM's agency, the American Midwifery Certification Board, are "lay midwives" and are unsafe and not trained. This is a slap in the face to all the work that direct entry midwives have done with our training models and our credentialing processes.
The MANA study (Johnson and Daviss 2005) was an important step in demonstrating the safety of midwifery care by certified professional midwives (CPMs). More research needs to be done on the effectiveness of various educational models. Since ACOG has recognized that midwives do not need to be trained as nurses first, with the certified midwife (CM) recognized by ACNM, the next step is just a turf battle between accrediting agencies.
Unfortunately, research is limited on midwifery education for direct entry midwives in the US. If our position in relation to out-of-hospital deliveries is that mandatory CPM training is as valid as that required for a certified nurse midwife (CNM), we need to ask whether the evidence supports our assumptions. We do not truthfully know. We can make educated guesses, but we do not have the research to support our position either way.
In my experience as a midwifery educator over the last 30 years, I have witnessed tremendous growth and change in how we train midwives. MEAC and NARM have helped us raise the bar. However, I still see the quality of direct entry midwifery education all over the map, from excellent to poor. This includes those who graduate from MEAC programs and those who don't. We still need to ask: How do midwives think their training prepared them for practice? Are students learning what they are taught? How do students graduating from self-study and apprenticeship-only models hold up in comparison to graduates from accredited schools? How does distance education compare to onsite programs?
To answer some of these and other questions, I conducted a short, informal study that focused on the clinical aspects of training midwives. However, we still need more formal and detailed research.
- Bloom, B., ed. 1956. Taxonomy of educational objectives: the classification of educational goals. New York: Longmans, Green.
- Bruner, J. 1990. Acts of Meaning. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Dougiamas, M. 1998. "A journey into constructivism."
- http://dougiamas.com/writing/constructivism.html. Accessed 26 Feb 2006.
- Gardner, H. 1983. Frames of Mind. New York: Basic Books.
- Johnson, K., and B. Daviss. 2005. Outcomes of planned home births with certified professional midwives: Large prospective study in North America. BMJ 330:1416.
- Sharif, F., and S. Masoumi. 2005. A qualitative study of nursing student experiences of clinical practice. BMC Nurs 4:6.
Daphne Singingtree, CPM, is the author of the Birthsong Midwifery Workbook and Training Midwives: A Guide for Preceptors. She is now retired from clinical practice. Currently she is a part-time student and is a course developer for online midwifery programs. She lives in Eugene, Oregon, with her family.
If you enjoyed this article, you'll enjoy Midwifery Today magazine! Subscribe now! | <urn:uuid:bfea0018-4911-4b9f-8d33-ba4a423a3690> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.findamidwifetoday.com/articles/21stcentury.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959432 | 2,347 | 3.09375 | 3 |
This page presents a derivative glossary of derivatives-related terminology that will make the other articles in the Financial Pipeline’s Derivatives section easier to understand, hopefully. It is not an exhaustive list. It will be updated from time to time. One of the characteristics of new financial products is the proliferation of different terms used to describe the same instrument, as each financial institution tries to brand its product name onto the financial community’s awareness.
Financial instruments that exist in one of the four main asset classes: interest rates, foreign exchange, equities or commodities. Typically, derivatives are used to hedge actual exposure or to take positions in actual markets.
All or Nothings (see also Binary; Digital)
An option whose payout is fixed at the inception of the option contract and for which the payout is only made if the strike price is in-the-money at expiry. If the strike price is out-of-the-money at expiry, there is no payout made to the option holder.
American Style Option
An option that can be exercised at any time from inception as opposed to a European Style option which can only be exercised at expiry. Early exercise of American options may be warranted by arbitrage. European Style option contracts can be closed out early, mimicking the early exercise property of American style options in most cases.
Accreting Swap (see also Interest Rate Swap)
An exchange of interest rate payments at regular intervals based upon pre-set indices and notional amounts in which the notional amounts decrease over time.
Arbitrage (see also Correlation)
The act of taking advantage of differences in price between markets. For example, if a stock is quoted on two different equity markets, there is the possibility of arbitrage if the quoted price (adjusted for institutional idiosyncrasies) in one market differs from the quoted price in the other. The term has been extended to refer to speculators who take positions on the correlation between two different types of instrument, assuming stability to the correlation patterns. Many funds have discovered that correlation is not as stable as it is assumed to be.
Closing out exposure to fluctuations in interest rates by matching the timing of cashflows associated with assets and liabilities. This is a technique commonly used by financial institutions and large corporations.
At-the-Market (see also Market Order)
A type of financial transaction in which the order to buy or sell is executed at the current prevailing market price.
An option whose strike price is equal to the current, prevailing price in the underlying cash spot market.
An option whose strike price is equal to the current, prevailing price in the underlying forward market.
Average Rate Options
An option whose payout at expiry is determined by the difference between its strike and a calculated average market rate where the period, frequency and source of observation for the calculation of the average market rate are specified at the inception of the contract. These options are cash settled, typically.
Average Strike Options
An option whose payout at expiry is determined by the difference between the prevailing cash spot rate at expiry and its strike, deemed to be equal to a calculated average market rate where the period, frequency and source of observation for the calculation of the average market rate are specified at the inception of the contract. These options are cash settled, typically.
Backwardation (see also Contango)
A term often used in commodities or futures markets to refer to markets where shorter-dated contracts trade at a higher price than longer-dated contracts. Plotting the prices of contracts against time, with time on the x-axis, shows the commodity price curve as sloping downwards as time increases.
Barrier Options (see also Knock-In Options, Knock-Out Options)
An option contract for which the maturity, strike price and underlying are specified at inception in addition to a trigger price. The trigger price determines whether or not the option actually exists. In the case of a knock-in option, the barrier option does not exist until the trigger is touched. For a knock-out option, the option exists until the trigger is touched.
Basis (see also Index)
The difference in price or yield between two different indices.
A benchmark is a reference point. Benchmarking in financial risk management refers to the practice of comparing the performance of an individual instrument, a portfolio or an approach to risk management to a pre-determined alternative approach.
A closed-form solution (i.e. an equation) for valuing plain vanilla options developed by Fischer Black and Myron Scholes in 1973 for which they shared the Nobel Prize in Economics.
A call option is a financial contract giving the owner the right but not the obligation to buy a pre-set amount of the underlying financial instrument at a pre-set price with a pre-set maturity date.
A cap is a financial contract giving the owner the right but not the obligation to borrow a pre-set amount of money at a pre-set interest rate with a pre-set maturity date.
Some derivatives contracts are settled at maturity (or before maturity at closeout) by an exchange of cash from the party who is out-of-the-money to the party who is in-the-money.
An option that gives the buyer the right at the choice date (before the option’s expiry) to choose if the option is to be a call or a put.
Collar (see also Range Forward; Risk Reversal)
A combination of options in which the holder of the contract has bought one out-of-the money option call (or put) and sold one (or more) out-of-the-money puts (or calls). Doing this locks in the minimum and maximum rates that the collar owner will use to transact in the underlying at expiry.
A contract in which counterparties agree to exchange payments related to indices, at least one of which (and possibly both of which) is a commodity index.
Contango (see also Backwardation)
A term often used in commodities or futures markets to refer to markets where shorter-dated contracts trade at a lower price than longer-dated contracts. Plotting the prices of contracts against time, with time on the x-axis, shows the commodity price curve as sloping upwards as time increases.
A financial instrument is said to be convex (or to possess convexity) if the financial instrument’s price increases (decreases) faster (slower) than corresponding changes in the underlying price.
Correlation (see also Arbitrage)
Correlation is a statistical measure describing the extent to which prices on different instruments move together over time. Correlation can be positive or negative. Instruments that move together in the same direction to the same extent have highly positive correlations. Instruments that move together in opposite direction to the same extent have highly negative correlations. Correlation between instruments is not stable.
Covered Call Option Writing
A technique used by investors to help fund their underlying positions, typically used in the equity markets. An individual who sells a call is said to “write” the call. If this individual sells a call on a notional amount of the underlying that he has in his inventory, then the written call is said to be “covered” (by his inventory of the underlying). If the investor does not have the underlying in inventory, the investor has sold the call “naked”.
Credit risk is the risk of loss from a counterparty in default or from a pejorative change in the credit status of a counterparty that causes the value of their obligations to decrease.
Currency Swap (see also Interest Rate Swap)
An exchange of interest rate payments in different currencies on a pre-set notional amount and in reference to pre-determined interest rate indices in which the notional amounts are exchanged at inception of the contract and then re-exchanged at the termination of the contract at pre-set exchange rates.
The sensitivity of the change in the financial instrument’s price to changes in the price of the underlying cash index.
The risk of loss due to an inadequacy or other unforeseen aspect of the legal documentation behind the financial contract.
A weighted average of the cash flows for a fixed income instrument, expressed in terms of time.
Embedded Derivatives (see also Structured Notes)
Derivative contracts that exist as part of securities.
Equity Swap (see also Interest Rate Swap)
A contract in which counterparties agree to exchange payments related to indices, at least one of which (and possibly both of which) is an equity index.
European Style Option
An option that can be exercised only at expiry as opposed to an American Style option that can be exercised at any time from inception of the contract. European Style option contracts can be closed out early, mimicking the early exercise property of American style options in most cases.
Exchange Traded Contracts
Financial instruments listed on exchanges such as the Chicago Board of Trade.
Exercise Price (see also Strike Price)
The exercise price is the price at which a call’s (put’s) buyer can buy (or sell) the underlying instrument.
Any derivative contract that is not a plain vanilla contract. Examples include barrier options, average rate and average strike options, lookback options, chooser options, etc.
Floor (see also Cap; Collar)
A floor is a financial contract giving the owner the right but not the obligation to lend a pre-set amount of money at a pre-set interest rate with a pre-set maturity date.
An over-the-counter obligation to buy or sell a financial instrument or to make a payment at some point in the future, the details of which were settled privately between the two counterparties. Forward contracts generally are arranged to have zero mark-to-market value at inception, although they may be off-market. Examples include forward foreign exchange contracts in which one party is obligated to buy foreign exchange from another party at a fixed rate for delivery on a pre-set date. Off-market forward contracts are used often in structured combinations, with the value on the forward contract offsetting the value of the other instrument(s).
Forward or Delayed Start Swap (see also Interest Rate Swap)
Any swap contract with a start that is later than the standard terms. This means that calculation of the cash flows does not begin straightaway but at some pre-determined start date.
Forward Rate Agreements (FRAs) (see also Interest Rate Swap)
A forward rate agreement is a cash-settled obligation on interest rates for a pre-set period on a pre-set interest rate index with a forward start date. A 3×6 FRA on US dollar LIBOR (the London Interbank Offered Rate) is a contract between two parties obliging one to pay the other the difference between the FRA rate and the actual LIBOR rate observed for that period. An Interest Rate Swap is a strip of FRAs.
An exchange-traded obligation to buy or sell a financial instrument or to make a payment at one of the exchange’s fixed delivery dates, the details of which are transparent publicly on the trading floor and for which contract settlement takes place through the exchange’s clearinghouse.
Gamma (see also Delta)
Gamma (or convexity) is the degree of curvature in the financial contract’s price curve with respect to its underlying price. It is the rate of change of the delta with respect to changes in the underlying price. Positive gamma is favourable. Negative gamma is damaging in a sufficiently volatile market. The price of having positive gamma (or owning gamma) is time decay. Only instruments with time value have gamma.
A transaction that offsets an exposure to fluctuations in financial prices of some other contract or business risk. It may consist of cash instruments or derivatives.
A measure of the actual volatility (a statistical measure of dispersion) observed in the marketplace.
Any security that includes more than one component. For example, a hybrid security might be a fixed income note that includes a foreign exchange option or a commodity price option.
Option pricing models rely upon an assumption of future volatility as well as the spot price, interest rates, the expiry date, the delivery date, the strike, etc. If we are given simultaneously all of the parameters necessary for determining the option price except for volatility and the option price in the marketplace, we can back out mathematically the volatility corresponding to that price and those parameters. This is the implied volatility.
In-The-Money Spot (see also Intrinsic Value; At-The-Money; Out-of-The-Money)
An option with positive intrinsic value with respect to the prevailing market spot rate. If the option were to mature immediately, the option holder would exercise it in order to capture its economic value. For a call price to have intrinsic value, the strike must be less than the spot price. For a put price to have intrinsic value, the strike must be greater than the spot price.
In-The-Money-Forward (see also Intrinsic Value; At-The-Money; Out-of-The-Money)
An option with positive intrinsic value with respect to the prevailing market forward rate. If the option were to mature immediately, the option holder would exercise it in order to capture its economic value. For a call price to have intrinsic value, the strike must be less than the spot price. For a put price to have intrinsic value, the strike must be greater than the spot price.
Index-Amortizing Swaps (see also Interest Rate Swaps; Accreting Swaps)
An interest rate swap in which the notional amount for the purposes of calculating cash flows decreases over the life of the contract in a pre-specified manner.
Interest Rate Swap (see also Forward Rate Agreements; Index-Amortizing Swaps; Accreting Swaps)
An exchange of cash flows based upon different interest rate indices denominated in the same currency on a pre-set notional amount with a pre-determined schedule of payments and calculations. Usually, one counterparty will received fixed flows in exchange for making floating payments.
International Swaps Dealers’ Association (ISDA) Agreements (see also Legal Risk)
In order to minimize the legal risks of transacting with one another, counterparties will establish master legal agreements and sidebar product schedules to govern formally all derivatives transactions into which they may enter with one another.
The economic value of a financial contract, as distinct from the contract’s time value. One way to think of the intrinsic value of the financial contract is to calculate its value if it were a forward contract with the same delivery date. If the contract is an option, its intrinsic value cannot be less than zero.
Knock-in Option (see also Knock-Out Option; Trigger Price)
An option the existence of which is conditional upon a pre-set trigger price trading before the option’s designated maturity. If the trigger is not touched before maturity, then the option is deemed not to exist.
An option the existence of which is conditional upon a pre-set trigger price trading before the option’s designated maturity. The option is deemed to exist unless the trigger price is touched before maturity.
Legal Risk (see also International Swap Dealers’ Association Agreements)
The general potential for loss due to the legal and regulatory interpretation of contracts relating to financial market transactions.
LIBOR London Interbank Offer Rate
The rate of interest paid on offshore funds in the Eurodollar markets.
The risk that a financial market entity will not be able to find a price (or a price within a reasonable tolerance in terms of the deviation from prevailing or expected prices) for one or more of its financial contracts in the secondary market. Consider the case of a counterparty who buys a complex option on European interest rates. He is exposed to liquidity risk because of the possibility that he cannot find anyone to make him a price in the secondary market and because of the possibility that the price he obtains is very much against him and the theoretical price for the product.
An option which gives the owner the right to buy (sell) at the lowest (highest) price that traded in the underlying from the inception of the contract to its maturity, i.e. the most favourable price that traded over the lifetime of the contract.
A credit-enhancement provision to master agreements and individual transactions in which one counterparty agrees to post a deposit of cash or other liquid financial instruments with the entity selling it a financial instrument that places some obligation on the entity posting the margin.
Mark to Market Accounting
A method of accounting most suited for financial instruments in which contracts are revalued at regular intervals using prevailing market prices. This is known as taking a “snapshot” of the market.
The exposure to potential loss from fluctuations in market prices (as opposed to changes in credit status).
A participant in the financial markets who guarantees to make simultaneously a bid and an offer for a financial contract with a pre-set bid/offer spread (or a schedule of spreads corresponding to different market conditions) up to a pre-determined maximum contract amount..
Naked Option Writing
The act of selling options without having any offsetting exposure in the underlying cash instrument.
When there are cash flows in two directions between two counterparties, they can be consolidated into one net payment from one counterparty to the other thereby reducing the settlement risk involved.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (US).
Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (Canada).
Exchanges are required to post the number of outstanding long and short positions in their listed contracts. This constitutes the open interest in each contract.
The potential for loss attributable to procedural errors or failures in internal control.
The right but not the obligation to buy (sell) some underlying cash instrument at a pre-determined rate on a pre-determined expiration date in a pre-set notional amount.
Out-of-The-Money Spot (see also At-The-Money; In-The-Money)
An option with no intrinsic value with respect to the prevailing market spot rate. If the option were to mature immediately, the option holder would let it expire. For a call price to have intrinsic value, the strike must be less than the spot price. For a put price to have intrinsic value, the strike must be greater than the spot price.
Out-of-The-Money-Forward (see also At-The-Money; In-The-Money)
An option with no intrinsic value with respect to the prevailing market forward rate. If the option were to mature immediately, the option holder would let it expire. For a call price to have intrinsic value, the strike must be less than the spot price. For a put price to have intrinsic value, the strike must be greater than the spot price.
Any transaction that takes place between two counterparties and does not involve an exchange is said to be an over-the-counter transaction.
Path-Dependent Options (see also Knock-In Options; Knock-Out Options; Average Rate Options; Average Strike Options; Lookback Options)
Any option whose value depends on the path taken by the underlying cash instrument.
An assessment of the future positive intrinsic value in all of the contracts outstanding with an individual counterparty who may choose (or may be unable) to make their obligated payments.
The cost associated with a derivative contract, referring to the combination of intrinsic value and time value. It usually applies to options contracts. However, it also applies to off-market forward contracts.
Put Option (see also Call Option)
A put option is a financial contract giving the owner the right but not the obligation to sell a pre-set amount of the underlying financial instrument at a pre-set price with a pre-set maturity date.
Put-Call Parity Theorem
A long position in a put combined with a long position in the underlying forward instrument, both of which have the same delivery date has the same behavioral properties as a long position in a call for the same delivery date. This can be varied for short positions, etc.
An option the payout for which is denominated in an index other than the underlying cash instrument.
The potential for loss stemming from changes in the regulatory environment pertaining to derivatives and financial contracts, the utility of these instruments for different counterparties, etc.
The sensitivity of a financial contract’s value to small changes in interest rates.
RiskMetrics (see also Value-at-Risk)
A parametric methodology for calculating Value-at-Risk using data conditioned by JP Morgan’s spinoff company RiskMetrics that is most useful for assessing portfolios with linear risks.
The risk of non-payment of an obligation by a counterparty to a transaction, exacerbated by mismatches in payment timings.
Taking positions in financial instruments without having an underlying exposure that offsets the positions taken.
The price in the cash market for delivery using the standard market convention. In the foreign exchange market, spot is delivered for value two days from the transaction date or for the next day in the case of the Canadian dollar exchanged against the US dollar.
The difference in price or yield between two assets that differ by type of financial instrument, maturity, strike or some other factor. A credit spread is the difference in yield between a corporate bond and the corresponding government bond. A yield curve spread is the spread between two government bonds of differing maturity.
Standard Deviation (see also Volatility; Implied Volatility)
In finance, a statistical measure of dispersion of a time series around its mean; the expected value of the difference between the time series and its mean; the square root of the variance of the time series.
The act of simulating different financial market conditions for their potential effects on a portfolio of financial instruments.
The price at which the holder of a derivative contract exercises his right if it is economic to do so at the appropriate point in time as delineated in the financial product’s contract.
Fixed income instruments with embedded derivative products.
Swap Spread (see also Plain Vanilla Interest Rate Swap)
The difference between the swap yield curve and the government yield curve for a particular maturity, referring to the market prices for the fixed rate in a plain vanilla interest rate swap.
Swaptions (see also Plain Vanilla Interest Rate Swap)
Options on swaps.
The sensitivity of a derivative product’s value to changes in the date, all other factors staying the same.
Time Value (see also Intrinsic Value; Premium)
For a derivative contract with a non-linear value structure, time value is the difference between the intrinsic value and the premium.
Value at Risk or VaR (see also RiskMetrics)
The calculated value of the maximum expected loss for a given portfolio over a defined time horizon (typically one day) and for a pre-set statistical confidence interval, under normal market conditions
Value of a Basis Point
The change in the value of a financial instrument attributable to a change in the relevant interest rate by 1 basis point (i.e. 1/100 of 1%).
The sensitivity of a derivative product’s value to changes in implied volatility, all other factors staying the same.
Volatility (see also Standard Deviation; Implied Volatility)
In finance, a statistical measure of dispersion of a time series around its mean; the expected value of the difference between the time series and its mean; the square root of the variance of the time series.
For a particular series of fixed income instruments such as government bonds, the graph of the yields to maturity of the series plotted by maturity.
Yield Curve Risk
The potential for loss due to shifts in the position or the shape of the yield curve.
Zero Coupon Instruments
Fixed income instruments that do not pay a coupon but only pay principal at maturity; trade at a discount to 100% of principal before maturity with the difference being the interest accrued.
Zero Coupon Yield Curve
For zero coupon bonds, the graph of the yields to maturity of the series plotted by maturity. | <urn:uuid:cdac8f4f-0373-4fc0-93aa-efbef93a5224> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.finpipe.com/derivative-concepts-a-to-z/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930275 | 5,009 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Test area for muon cooling recycles equipment for a new concept
by Kurt Riesselmann
It takes great ideas to make technological advances. And it takes experimental setups to test great ideas.
In the past one hundred years physicists have relied mostly on beams of electrons, protons and their corresponding antiparticles to advance our knowledge of the universe and its building blocks. Now physicists think that it’s time to introduce a new type of charged particle to the bag of particle projectiles: the muon, a short-lived particle two hundred times heavier than its cousin, the electron.
The 130 members of the Neutrino Factory and Muon Collider collaboration have worked for about five years on the design of very intense sources for producing muons, suitable for subsequent acceleration to high energies.
If the design of such machines succeeds, scientists may some day turn to muons as a new surgical tool to probe deep into the structure of matter. In addition, experimenters can use muons to produce very intense beams of neutrinos, another particle that is causing much excitement amongst particle physicists.
At present, the Muon collaboration is getting ready to test its ideas and designs. Two small new buildings, located at the southeastern end of Fermilab’s Linear Accelerator, will host the infrastructure for the new lab for accelerator R & D. The cost of the new construction, called the MuCool project, is about two million dollars. It is paid by DOE funds provided directly to the Muon collaboration, which primarily consists of particle-and accelerator physicists from U.S.laboratories and universities, but also has some participation from institutions in Japan and Europe.
Much of the equipment that will go into the new buildings is either recycled (an old cryogenic plant at Fermilab will be moved to the new location), donated (a transformer from Northwestern University has already arrived), already exists in the adjacent Linac (radiofrequency tubes and klystrons)or will be built by collaborating institutions (an RF cavity, for example, will come from Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory).
“The power source for the RF cavity would have been the most expensive piece,” said Fermilab physicist Steve Geer, cospokesperson of the Muon collaboration.“The Linac has two spare stations that we can use without affecting its operations and maintenance requirements.”
When complete in 2004 the MuCool laboratory will offer radiofrequency power of 200 and 800 megahertz, and cryogenic equipment to provide cooling with liquid helium.
“It will have all the things that you need for accelerator R& D,” said physicist Milorad Popovic, who is overseeing the MuCool construction at Fermilab. “The collaboration spends two million dollars and gets a ten-million-dollar test area.”
The Muon collaboration, which includes ten Fermilab physicists, will use the MuCool lab to test how to pack a large number of muons tightly together to create a narrow, high-density beam. “A muon beam would initially be large, like the size of a basketball,” said Popovic.“But such a big, fat beam wouldn’t fit into an accelerator.”
To solve this problem, the Muon collaboration has developed a design that relies on two components: liquid hydrogen absorbers, which reduce the spread of the beam in transverse direction, and radiofrequency cavities, which reaccelerate the muons in longitudinal (forward) direction.
Theoretically, an alternating series of absorbers and cavities is the right idea to tame a large, diffuse group of muons, transforming it into a densely packed muon train moving at high speed. Practically, the idea needs to be put to the test.
“Demonstrating the beam-cooling capabilities of the hydrogen absorbers and RF cavities is the critical item,” said Steve Geer.“Developing these components is the critical path before you can do more extensive tests. We need to start engineering tests without beam. If successful,we hope to use a muon beam line at the Rutherford laboratory [in the U.K.] to test this system. Rutherford has an eight hundred MeV proton accelerator that would create one hundred to two hundred MeV muons.”
To secure funding for its R & D program, the Muon collaboration is breaking new ground. Traditionally, R& D for accelerators has taken place at national laboratories, with little participation from university scientists. Tight budgets at accelerator laboratories, however, have led project leaders to look for more funding and manpower from universities.
Members of the Muon collaboration receive money from the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and some modest funds from Japan. Individual institutions have obtained additional funding. The five member institutions of the Illinois Consortium for Accelerator Research, for example, have gotten money from the state of Illinois.
“We are doing this on a shoestring,” said Geer. “The biggest asset we have is the enthusiasm of the people.”
ON THE WEB:
|last modified 12/06/2002 email Fermilab| | <urn:uuid:0bf7ad76-a536-4f92-9824-ca13328e6af6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.fnal.gov/pub/ferminews/ferminews02-12-06/p4.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934828 | 1,078 | 3.140625 | 3 |
|In this Aug. 26, 201 file photo, fisherman Choji Suzuki sorts out fish he caught aboard his boat Ebisu Maru in the waters off Iwaki, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, Japan. Suzuki's boat is one of 14 fishing boats at his port recruited by Fukushima Prefecture to conduct once-a-week fishing expeditions in rotation to measure radiation levels of fish they catch in the waters off Fukushima. South Korea is banning all fish imports from Japan's Fukushima region because of what it calls growing public worry over radiation contamination that has reportedly prompted a sharp decline in fish consumption. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said in a statement Friday, Sept. 6, 2013 that it made the move because of insufficient information from Tokyo about what will happen in the future with contaminated water leaking from the a crippled nuclear plant into the Pacific. (AP Photo/Koji Ueda, File)|
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea announced Friday that it was banning all fish imports from along Japan's northeastern coast because of what officials called growing public worry over radioactive water leaking into the Pacific Ocean near the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
Fisheries in Fukushima prefecture (state) are nearly all closed, and fish caught in nearby prefectures are sold on the Japanese market only after tests have shown them to be safe for consumption.
However, South Korea's ban applies to a total of eight prefectures with a combined coastline of more than 700 kilometers (430 miles), regardless of whether the fish pass safety standards or not.
The South Korean government made the move because of insufficient information from Tokyo about what steps will be taken to address the leakage of contaminated water from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, according to a statement by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.
Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant's operator, acknowledges that tons of radioactive water has been seeping into the Pacific from the plant for more than two years after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami led to meltdowns at three reactors at the plant. Recent leaks from tanks storing radioactive water used to cool the reactors have added to fears that the amount of contaminated water is getting out of hand.
Japan's chief Cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said Friday that fish and seafood that go to market are tested for radiation and shown to be safe. Suga also stressed that the contaminated water flowing into the ocean is limited to a small area off the coast of the Fukushima plant.
"There is an international standard on food, including fish, and we are carrying out stringent safety controls based on those standards. We ask South Korea for a response based on science," he told reporters.
South Korea Vice Fisheries Minister Son Jae-hak said in a briefing that the eight prefectures in 2012 exported to South Korea 5,000 metric tons of fishery products, or about 13 percent of the 40,000 total tons imported last year from Japan. Fish will be banned from the following prefectures: Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Gunma, Tochigi and Chiba.
Hisashi Hiroyama, a Japanese Fisheries Agency official, said Japan exports about 9.2 billion ($92 million) of fish a year to South Korea. The most common fish exported from Japan to South Korea was Alaskan Pollock.
Japan bans the shipment, or sale locally, of food products whose radiation levels exceed 100 becquerels per kilogram. The government has been carrying out radiation checks on various types of food in the disaster-struck northeastern part of Japan.
For Fukushima, the latest food check was carried out Sept. 4, and a flounder, for instance, was found to have 110 becquerels of radiation per kilogram.
Scientists have long believed that contaminated water was reaching the ocean, based in part on continuing high levels of radioactive cesium found in fish living at the bottom of the sea. Scientists have also noted a rise in strontium-90 and tritium levels in the past few months. Strontium accumulates in fish bones and remains longer than cesium in fish and the humans that eat them.
Hiroshi Kishi, chairman of the Japan Fisheries Cooperatives, called on Energy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi Friday morning to tackle the contamination issue as soon as possible, and to release appropriate information to international community to avoid the further negative groundless reputation over Japan fishery products.
"This is a structurally difficult and complex issue. We will not rely on TEPCO, but the government will come to the forefront in resolving the issue," Motegi said.
Earlier this week, the Japanese government announced that it would spend 47 billion yen ($470 million) to build an underground "ice wall" around the reactor and turbine buildings and develop an advanced water treatment system in an attempt to contain the leaks and limit the amount of contaminated water.
Associated Press Writer Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo contributed to this report. | <urn:uuid:fd051c69-0444-45b8-940f-f862b5cc34ae> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.foodmanufacturing.com/news/2013/09/south-korea-bans-fish-ne-japan-amid-radiation-fears?cmpid=related_content | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947783 | 1,045 | 2.546875 | 3 |
A few characters scratched into the side of an ancient earthenware jug have archaeologists scrambling for their dictionaries -- and wondering if it corroborates the Bible's stories of King Solomon.
The Ophel inscription -- 3,000-year-old characters found in Israel in July -- is the earliest alphabetical written text ever found in Jerusalem. It proves the real basis behind the parables and stories in the world’s most famous book, said Gershon Galil, a professor of ancient history and biblical studies at the University of Haifa.
"We are dealing here with real kings, and the kingdom of David and Solomon was a real fact," Galil told FoxNews.com, in a phone call from Israel.
But the world's leading archaeologists are still hotly debating the meaning of the inscription. Gershon offers what he calls the "only reasonable translation," noting at the same time that the very existence of the text is as important as its meaning.
'If Obama were to achieve something, he would not claim that Bush did it. It's not in human nature!'
- Haifa University professor Gershon Galil
"The most important thing this tells us is that somebody during this time knew how to write something," he said.
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Three letters of the inscription are incomplete, and Galil translates them to read, "yah-yin chah-lak," which is Hebrew for "inferior wine." The first half of the text indicates the twentieth or thirtieth year of Solomon's reign -- making the entire inscription a label of sorts for the jug's contents.
He explains that the text must be written in an early form of southern Hebrew because it is the only language of the time to use two yods (Hebrew letters) to spell the word wine. Galil also suggests that the "inferior wine" was probably given to laborers who were helping to build the burgeoning city of Jerusalem.
If Hebrew as a written language did exist during the time of the inscription, it places the ancient Israelites in Jerusalem earlier than previously believed, under a time the Bible indicates was King Solomon's rule.
According to Galil's understanding of the text, the writing ability demonstrated by the inscription proves the existence of a fully functioning administration that collected taxes, prepared storage jars and performed other duties as early as the second half of the 10th century BC.
"The Bible claims that Solomon built the temple and that he was the man that enlarged the city," explained Galil. Outside of biblical texts, there has not been any evidence that Solomon in the mid-10th century BC ordered the building of the First Temple, the ancient Israelites' place of worship where the Dome of the Rock currently stands.
Some suggest Judean King Hezekiah actually built the temple in Solomon's name. Galil scoffed at the suggestion.
"If Obama were to achieve something, he would not claim that Bush did it. It's not in human nature! Solomon built the temple, not Hezekiah."
"Even if my reading is not the right one, the fact that somebody knew how to write [in Hebrew] during this time, shows that somebody could have easily written a book a little while later like [the Old Testament's] book of Samuel and Judges."
Galil hopes that in years to come, more evidence will be found to support the Kingdoms of Solomon and David.
"The evidence that we have today and each year we have so much more that David and Solomon were real and important kings and not just tales of the Bible," he said. | <urn:uuid:09d70797-8997-4430-8b4c-9f43d5abfa2a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/01/27/message-decoded-again-3000-year-old-text-may-prove-biblical-tale-king-solomon.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969056 | 802 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Tips for healthier kids’ lunches.
When chef extraordinaire and all-around nice boy from Essex Jamie Oliver went on a solo crusade to rid England’s school canteens off junk food and unhealthy choices from its menu, it made some parents stand up and take notice. For better or worse, while highlighting both parents’ and government’s lackadaisical attitude on food and nutrition, Oliver managed to teach Great Britain – and the world – one thing: Instill good eating habits among the young now or face a growing problem of childhood obesity and health problems.
Statistics from the American Obesity Association shows an alarming increase in childhood obesity among American kids in the past two decades. In Malaysia, available data points to as much as 15 percent of toddlers and preschoolers being overweight and obese; and the numbers double for primary school children.
Kids depend on grown ups to nudge them to the right path when it comes to good foods to consume. Today’s working parents may find it a challenge to pack their kids with homecooked meals and lunches but, says nutritionist Abby Advani, parents can adopt healthy habits that make packing school lunchboxes less time consuming.
“A healthy kids’ lunchbox need to have two things: free of fat and a balance of protein and carbohydrate.” The latter is especially important as it gives children the energy to last the day in school. There are plenty of options to fill in their lunchbox that don’t require much cooking or preparation.
For example, you can swap white bread with whole grain options. Whole grains offer complex carbohydrates that take a longer time to break down which in turn, let children finish the day with some energy left to spare. Make it interesting by going beyond breads by providing them whole grain tortilla or even crackers.
The same goes with rice. “You can still give them rice but switch to brown rice or brown rice noodles,” says Abby. “These are some of the best energy-packed foods kids can have during the day.”
Fruits are also an easy option to pack and prepare. Give them as many colourful fruits as possible. They’re not only appeal to their appetite, but colourful fruits are full of phytonutrients that protect against the body’s oxidation. Try to give them whole fruits without cutting them up, as fruits lose some nutrition after being cut up. Apples are a good choice; or consider strawberries, peaches, bananas or pears.
Cheeses are another easy go-to foods for packing. However, they are also high in saturated fasts. Opting for lower fat choices such as Edam, Camembert and Brie can give them plenty of calcium without compromising their health.
It goes without saying that you should be choosy about beverages, too. Encourage your kids to drink lots of water and avoid sodas and other sugary drinks as much as possible. “Once parents teach their young the value of having a balanced and nutritious meal, these children will grow up to make the same responsible decisions,” adds Abby. And that’s how we can hope to break the cycle of childhood obesity. | <urn:uuid:394ce6ad-ae74-4073-ac38-2dc7016c3182> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/leisure/2012/08/16/pack-smart-lunchboxes-for-kids/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947397 | 701 | 2.625 | 3 |
Lianas are vinelike plants that grow in the rain forest and require some type of support to grow toward the canopy of the forest, where more light occurs. Lianas play an important role in rain forests, where they make up about 20 percent of the woody plants. Besides helping form bridges between different plants in the canopy, lianas also provide flower and fruits for wildlife and form important walkways for a variety of animals.
More than 2,500 species of vines from about 90 families of lianas thrive in the canopy of the rain forest. The plants range from small vines to gigantic lianas that appear as thick as tree trunks. Some of the vines grow to more than 3,000 feet in length.
One of the best-known families of liana plants, the rattan (Rhapis humilis blume), is used in furniture, ropes and baskets. The rattan also produces large fruits that primates prefer.
The scraped-off bark of another type of liana, the garlic liana (Mansoa alliaceae), is used to alleviate colds and fever after it's cooked in water. A steam bath of the leaves of the garlic liana also helps with arthritis pain and fever.
When cooked in water, the red wood of the cat nail liana (Uncaria tomentosa) makes a liquid that treats asthma, stomach ulcers, and bladder and kidney diseases.
Very few plants grow at ground level in the rain forest because the area receives only 1 percent to 2 percent of available sunlight. Liana, however, becomes rooted in the soil at ground level as a small shrub. The plant then uses the trees or other nearby vegetation to climb to the canopy, using its triangular leaves to cling to its host. Because the plants stay rooted in the ground, they take no resources from the trees except support.
One way to tell lianas apart from the trees and shrubs it grows on requires testing the stiffness of the plant's stems. While trees and shrubs feature flexible young twigs and branches as well as stiffer, older growth, liana grows differently. Its newest growth tends to be stiff while the old growth at the base of the stem tends to be more flexible.
The web of woody liana vines provides a variety of animals with mobility across the rain-forest canopy. Some animals, such as sloths and spider monkeys, rarely touch the ground, using lianas and other trees and plants to get them from one place to another. Lemurs also rely on trees with liana wrapped around them as preferred nesting sites. | <urn:uuid:7b8f472b-b889-4e39-99b7-48abb62b6aa4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.gardenguides.com/103647-liana-plants-rain-forest.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941418 | 538 | 3.859375 | 4 |
Subcategory (RNA class) for MIR23C Gene
Quality Score for this RNA gene is
External Ids for MIR23C Gene
ORGUL Members for MIR23C Gene
Previous GeneCards Identifiers for MIR23C Gene
microRNAs (miRNAs) are short (20-24 nt) non-coding RNAs that are involved in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression in multicellular organisms by affecting both the stability and translation of mRNAs. miRNAs are transcribed by RNA polymerase II as part of capped and polyadenylated primary transcripts (pri-miRNAs) that can be either protein-coding or non-coding. The primary transcript is cleaved by the Drosha ribonuclease III enzyme to produce an approximately 70-nt stem-loop precursor miRNA (pre-miRNA), which is further cleaved by the cytoplasmic Dicer ribonuclease to generate the mature miRNA and antisense miRNA star (miRNA*) products. The mature miRNA is incorporated into a RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC), which recognizes target mRNAs through imperfect base pairing with the miRNA and most commonly results in translational inhibition or destabilization of the target mRNA. The RefSeq represents the predicted microRNA stem-loop. [provided by RefSeq, Sep 2009]
GeneCards Summary for MIR23C Gene
MIR23C (MicroRNA 23c) is an RNA Gene, and is affiliated with the miRNA class. Among its related pathways are MicroRNAs in cancer. | <urn:uuid:2bbd4f72-ca9b-4079-af2b-ee2de156688a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.genecards.org/cgi-bin/carddisp.pl?gene=MIR23C | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918012 | 340 | 2.5625 | 3 |
What's in the print version of Geotimes this
Click the image above to view a high-resolution
version of the cover.
vol. 49, no. 11
18 Methane Hydrate
and Abrupt Climate Change
Large release of natural gas from ice-like structures located on the seafloor
may have played an important role in global change millions of years ago.
Gerald R. Dickens
Gas Hydrates as a Future Energy Resource
With natural gas prices on the rise, many researchers are looking into the potential
of making gas hydrates, both onshore and offshore, a viable resource.
Timothy S. Collett
28 TECHNOLOGY: Detecting
Marine Gas Hydrates
So they may be a future
energy resource and indicators of past climate change, but how do we find them?
Building an Earth Observation System
The thousands of observation
platforms monitoring the worlds oceans, land and air, need to join
together as a system of systems.
Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbaucher Jr.
8 NEWS NOTES
Genesis crashes with pieces of the sun *
Impacting the origin of life *
Monitoring aboriginal rock art *
Taking the fossil out of fuels *
Parenting Psittacosaurus *
Fuel economies, Part II *
Fish advisories on the rise *
Restricting satellite data access *
Mount St. Helens erupts in activity
17 POLITICAL SCENE
Open Access: Open Debate?
Giving free and open access to any published research paid for with taxpayer
dollars is more complex than it may seem.
Emily Lehr Wallace
Beneath the Bermuda Triangle
Could giant bubbles of gas released from the seafloor be responsible
for the infamous disappearances of ships and planes in the Bermuda Triangle?
Connecting People to Science in the Himalaya
One geologist took her work to the next level bridging both cultural
and scientific gaps between students in Nepal and the United States.
In Search of the Goodwill Moon Rocks: A Personal
An undercover agent for NASA recounts his experiences tracking down both
bogus moon rocks and real moon rocks smuggled out of the countries that
Joseph Richard Gutheinz
42 ENERGY & RESOURCES
A takeout nuclear plant
Mineral of Month: Indium
Ernie Mancini: Bridging oil research and politics
Books: The End of Oil?: An analysis of five recent books on world oil
Books: Uncertain Weather: A review of Our Affair with El Niño
Maps: Digital Mapping in Kentucky
On the Web: Teaching and tectonics
68 GEOLOGIC COLUMN
Pick Up Your Pencils Please
From war to the SATs, modern pencils have a fascinating history that dates
back some 500 years.
Lisa A. Rossbacher
6 Letters: Perspectives
32 Where on Earth?
52 Classified Ads: Career
Want to attend a geoscience meeting? Visit the online
here to subscribe. | <urn:uuid:a8a8f946-68b6-4f67-83bd-aaca1bf63d9b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.geotimes.org/nov04/printTOC.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.812127 | 637 | 2.640625 | 3 |
June 14, 2014
BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Aristotle's Poetics
“Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Aristotle’s Poetics.
“The Poetics is, as far as we know, the first ever work of literary theory. Written in the 4th century BC, it is the work of a scholar who was also a biologist, and treats literary works with the detached analytical eye of a scientist. Aristotle examines drama and epic poetry, and how they achieve their effects; he analyses tragedy and the ways in which it plays on our emotions. Many of the ideas he articulates, such as catharsis, have remained in our critical vocabulary ever since. The book also contains an impassioned defence of poetry, which had been attacked by other thinkers, including Aristotle’s own teacher Plato.
“Translated by medieval Arab scholars, the Poetics was rediscovered in Europe during the Renaissance and became a playwriting manual for many dramatists of the era. Today it remains a standard text for would-be Hollywood screenwriters.”
Posted by Ghost of a flea at June 14, 2014 08:48 AM | <urn:uuid:b4241396-e7c0-4e96-9801-c35234c72427> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ghostofaflea.com/archives/021036.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980828 | 241 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Round stone found on Grand Mesa likely is weaponry from Spanish era
The history of a carefully rounded stone that lay for centuries just beneath the surface of the volcanic debris on the south slope of Grand Mesa is beginning to come to light.
The stone, which was discovered last year by a Mesa State College student intern with the Western Investigations Team, firms up suspicions of the military interest in the Kannah Creek area, and hints that the history is more than one of occupation, but one of combat.
Sometime in the 1600s or 1700s, the stone was fashioned into a sphere, smoothed and jacketed in an iron-copper alloy.
At some point, it was carried into the Kannah Creek area, where, the evidence suggests, it was fired by a Spaniard, presumably in battle.
How exactly it came to be on the hillside where Brandon Mauk found it is a mystery.
Mauk, a 36-year-old biology and forensic student, was sifting through gravel and debris on a hillside overlooking Kannah Creek, where an ancient wall once stood.
“I looked down and saw the ball and it just looked too round to be natural,” Mauk said.
Mauk watched Monday as what’s known about the history of the stone and its covering was unwrapped at Mesa State College by Rick Dujay, director of the center for electron microscopy, and David Bailey, curator of history at the Museum of the West.
The Western Investigations Team is a joint project of the college and museum.
An examination of the ball using a digital microscope showed traces of iron crystals and copper, which match what is known about how the Spaniards of the era fashioned their ammunition, Dujay said.
The Spanish in the 1600s began adding copper to the iron they used to coat stone shot so as to minimize the damage to the barrels of their weapons, especially small cannon, Bailey said.
Some of the crystals, moreover, had a flattened, “polished” appearance, just what would be expected if the ammunition actually had been blasted from a firearm of its day, Dujay said.
The museum’s collection includes an ancient Spanish swivel cannon, just the kind of weapon from which the stone ball might have been fired, Bailey said.
Had the ball been fired from such a cannon, it most likely would have been part of a payload of shot, Bailey said.
The swivel cannon amounted to “an oversized shotgun with very little accuracy,” Bailey said.
It had a range of about 90 feet, but it could fill a wide area with a hail of iron-jacketed stone, regular rock, nails, whatever could be stuffed down its barrel, Bailey said.
The shot from a swivel-cannon blast could have shattered on impact with the surrounding rock, splattering a cloud of lethal, razor-sharp shrapnel back into the air, Bailey said.
The stone eventually will be displayed at the museum as part of the “Distant Cities in the Mist” exhibit, along with a documentary by Michael Combs of Grand Junction.
How it was that the stone shot found by Mauk stayed relatively intact despite a gunpowder blast and the ravages of at least three centuries remains a mystery, one that remains to be investigated and, Bailey said, “I’m working on that.” | <urn:uuid:657965ea-45d8-4d3e-98b7-736838e3c1d8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.gjsentinel.com/entertainment/articles/round_stone_found_on_grand_mes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973008 | 707 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Devices combining multiple elements of motion control, such as a motor, controller, and drive, into unified single-axis or multi-axis packages.
CNC Controllers (163 suppliers)
CNC controllers are used to control machines and processes. They provide capabilities ranging from simple point-to-point linear control to highly complex algorithms with multiple axes of control. CNC controllers are used to retrofit many types of machine shop equipment.
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Control Panels (755 suppliers)
Control panels are used to receive inputs, trigger outputs, and monitor systems and instrumentation. They are used in a variety of industrial, manufacturing and process control applications.
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Machine Controllers and Monitors (272 suppliers)
Machine controllers and monitors use electronic numeric control and monitoring interfaces for programming and calibrating computerized machinery.
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Motion Control Systems (301 suppliers)
Motion control systems contain matched components such as controllers, motor drives, motors, encoders, user interfaces and software. Components in these systems are optimally matched by the manufacturer.
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Motion Controllers (473 suppliers)
Motion controllers range from simple linear controllers to complex, user-programmable modules that act as controllers within complex integrated multi-axis motion systems.
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Motor controllers receive supply voltages and provide signals to motor drives that are interfaced to motors. They include a power supply, amplifier, user interface, and position control circuitry.
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Predictive Maintenance and Condition Monitoring Systems (271 suppliers)
Predictive maintenance (PdM) systems and condition monitoring systems are used to predict equipment maintenance, and to monitor corrosion, oil condition, bearing wear, overheating and other parameters than can lead to the breakdown of capital equipment.
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Process monitors measure and analyze temperature, pressure, flow and other processing parameters to maintain product quality and safe production operating conditions.
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Programmable automation controller (PAC) modules are add-on devices that perform a specific control function in PAC systems.
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Programmable Automation Controller (PAC) Systems (59 suppliers)
Programmable automation controller (PAC) systems consist of PAC modules, each of which performs a specific function. PAC systems are used in motion control, machine control, machine vision, and other industrial control applications.
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Programmable Automation Controllers (PAC) (91 suppliers)
Programmable automation controllers (PAC) are compact industrial controllers used in applications such as data acquisition and control, machine vision control, and process control. PACs are functionally similar to programmable logic controllers (PLC), but provide the advanced software features of personal computers (PC).
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Programmable logic controllers (PLC) are the control hubs for a wide variety of automated systems and processes. They use a wide variety of inputs and outputs and provide network capability.
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Servo Drives (464 suppliers)
Servo drives provide electrical drive outputs to servo motors in closed-loop motion control systems where position feedback and corrective signals optimize position and speed accuracy.
Search by Specification | Learn more about Servo Drives | <urn:uuid:315ee578-7479-4134-a83a-dbb306e5e15a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.globalspec.com/productfinder/motion_controls/integrated_motion_control | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.846299 | 828 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Many of us enjoy and find inspiration in TED Talks. You may be surprised how many TED Talks are about the importance of play. Some are posted below. Also interesting is that few of the speakers are part of our industry.
We need to find ways to promote play as something good for you like eating vegetables. (Have you had your four to six servings of play today?) You’ve heard me say that toy/game inventors should be celebrated as authors, musicians, chefs, etc. Celebrating our inventors publicly is just one way to raise the profile of our industry and the importance of play.
Steve Keil and other TED speakers believe play can change the world for the better. It is documented that it can make you healthier, smarter, more productive, more social and happier (did you know most serial killers did not play as children – check out Stuart Brown’s TED talk).
Steve says we need a Play Revolution and that it can revitalize the economy, education and society. I’m with him. Watch his video below.
TED Talks on play. Bios taken from TED:
-We need a revolution. That the more we play, the bigger our brains are… and we develop more emotional maturity if we play more.
-We develop better decision-making ability if we play more.
-Bears that play more survive longer, not the bears that learn how to fish better.
On play, Hillel says, "The Dark Ages are the time between when you put away the Lego for the last time as a kid and [when] you decide as an adult that it is okay to play with a kids' toy."
For her PhD work, she studied social behavior (and play behavior in particular) of wild bonobos in DR Congo. There are unique aspects of bonobo lives (imaginary play and laughter to inter-group encounters to accidents and death) that challenge & illuminate our understanding of human evolution. She links the play of adult bonobos to insights on human laughter, joy, creativity and our capacity for wonder & exploration.
Tim is the CEO of innovation and design firm IDEO, taking an approach to design that digs deeper than the surface. Having taken over from founder David E. Kelley, Tim Brown carries forward the firm's mission of fusing design, business and social studies to come up with deeply researched, deeply understood designs and ideas -- they call it "design thinking."
Dr. Stuart Brown came to research play through research on murderers -- unlikely as that seems -- after he found a stunning common thread in killers' stories: lack of play in childhood. Since then, he's interviewed thousands of people to catalog their relationships with play, noting a strong correlation between success and playful activity. His book Play describes the impact play can have on one's life. With the support of the National Geographic Society and Jane Goodall, he has observed animal play in the wild, where he first conceived of play as an evolved behavior important for the wellbeing -- and survival -- of animals, especially those of higher intelligence. Now, through his organization, the National Institute for Play, he hopes to expand the study of human play into a vital science -- and help people everywhere enjoy and participate in play throughout life.
Scott G. Eberle, Vice President for Interpretation at Strong National Museum of Play® in Rochester, develops exhibits on toys and play, and writes about these topics. To quote Scott, "Once we were all experts at play; as children it was our preoccupation and our main mode of learning. Play was the way we built our muscles, and it was through play that we knitted our friendships. Through play we learned to navigate the social world. We learned the rules. And play helped us imagine our future. Even if we did not grow up to be Jedi knights, or beautiful princesses we learned to envision adult power and responsibility. But imaginative play and rough and tumble play, because they are the work of children, tend to slip beneath our notice as adults."
This video is not a TED Talk, but could be one. Dr. Jaak Panksepp on the Primal Power of Play. He shows rats laughing. Who knew? http://vimeo.com/12121483
There are many more TED Talks on play, creative play, toy design, toys in education, etc. I chose only some of the videos that were about the importance of play. Some of the others are posted to my Pinterest page http://pinterest.com/marycouzin/ under TED Talks. | <urn:uuid:1cacd35b-0b80-489b-850e-b048dbeae585> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.globaltoynews.com/2012/02/ted-talks-on-play.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962435 | 934 | 2.53125 | 3 |
The ice traveler should look for bluish ice that is at least 4 to 6 inches thick, in order to support people and their gear. Even if the weather has been below freezing for several days, don't guess about ice thickness. Check ice in several places. Use an auger, spud, or axe to make a test hole, beginning at shore and continuing as you go out. If ice at the shoreline is cracked or squishy, stay off. Don't go on the ice during thaws. Watch out for thin, clear or honeycomb-shaped ice. Dark snow and dark ice are other signs of weak spots.Choose small bodies of water. Rivers and lakes are prone to wind and wave action, which can break ice up quickly. Avoid areas with currents, around bridges and pressure ridges.In the wintertime, outdoor enthusiasts frequently need to know how thick the ice is and whether it is safe to walk across it. The American Pulpwood Association has published a hand reference chart that gives a good rule-of-thumb for ponds and lake ice thickness.
"Wait for a long cold spell, then test the ice thoroughly."
What if I break through the ice??
If you break through the ice, don't panic. Don't try to climb out - you'll probably break the ice again. Lay both arms on the unbroken ice and kick hard. This will help lift your body onto the ice. Roll to safety.
To help someone who has fallen in, lie down flat and reach with a branch, plank, or rope; or form a human chain. Don't stand. After securing the victim, wiggle backwards to the solid ice. The victim may need treatment for hypothermia (cold exposure), artificial respiration or CPR.
- Travel in groups and inform some responsible person of your plans. Fill out a Trip Itinerary.
- Know your machine and its capabilities.
- Respect the rights and property of others.
- If it is necessary to travel on frozen bodies of waters, do so with extra caution.
- When crossing a highway be sure the way is clear and cross as directly as possible.
- Know and obey Maine snowmobile laws.
- Do not use your machine to harass wildlife, or in areas frequented by game.
- I will always operate at a reasonable and prudent speed for trail conditions;
- I will always drive to the right side of the trail and park to the right in single file or stop off the edge of the groomed surface;
- I will not pass unless recognized and motioned to pass by the snowmobile operator ahead;
vI will respect the trail groomer operator and leave the trail in the same condition I found it;
- I will not drink and drive;
- I will not ride on plowed roads except at legal crossings. | <urn:uuid:5a0d0665-0bfe-4a71-b454-964bb112d02e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.greenedragons.com/safety.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94791 | 585 | 2.734375 | 3 |
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