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TRADITIONAL FILE BASED SYSTEM ::
A collection of aplication programs that perform services for the end users, such as
production of reports….
LIMITATIONS OF FILE BASED SYS ::
1. separation & isolation of data :: data s isolated n diff files n FBS
2. sharing:: can't share different files on a network…..
3. duplication:: to enter the data more than once can wastes time , money & space..
4. data dependecy::: depend of prog & field…changes to existing str r difficult….
5. incompatible file format:: we can't merge different files data in one file due to difference
6. fixed queries / poliferation of application prog :: all the queries had to be written by
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Popular Science Monthly/Volume 42/April 1893/Popular Miscellany
Meeting of the American Psychological Association.—The first regular meeting of the American Psychological Association was held in Philadelphia, at the University of Pennsylvania, on December 27th and 28th. President G. Stanley Hall, of Clark University, presided at the meetings, and the papers presented gave good evidence of the variety and value of the work in experimental psychology which the laboratories of the various colleges are producing. Among the general papers presented, that of President Hall, giving a synopsis of the history and prospects of experimental psychology in America, was perhaps of widest interest. The important steps in the development of this movement within recent years were carefully traced, and various measures of credit judiciously assigned. The effect of the entire presentation was an extremely satisfactory one, showing that in America perhaps more prominently than elsewhere the laboratory method of instruction in psychology was becoming widely adopted, and that the general outlook for the steady development of psychological study was particularly hopeful.—Another very interesting presentation was that of Prof. Muensterberg, who has recently been called to take charge of the graduate work in psychology at Harvard University, and, upon request of the president, addressed the association in German. While the object of his remarks was to outline the problems upon which his students at Cambridge were at present working, the introduction of this description dwelt upon the general point of view that directs the choice of subjects and the method of investigation. Dr. Muensterberg laid stress upon the necessity, not only of accurate answers to problems already stated, but particularly on the discovery of new problems. The difficulty here is more that of asking significant questions than of answering them. The question of the investigations themselves shows what a wide field was being touched upon in various points by the Harvard men—investigations of the methods of localizing sounds in space, a new method of determining when differences of sensation are to be regarded as equal, an elaborate series of experiments on the nature of the association of ideas, of the daily change in mental condition, of complex forms of reaction in which various subjects take part at the same time, and others.—Prof. Jastrow, of the University of Wisconsin, gave some account of what was to be attempted in the laboratory of experimental psychology which has been founded in connection with the World's Fair. The general plan of this exhibit includes a collection of the various types of apparatus that are employed in psychological research; also those that are used in connection with laboratory courses in psychology. A great variety of apparatus gathered from all portions of Europe and America will here be collected, and will cover such branches of the subject as the tests of the senses, the powers of judgment, the times of mental processes, the nature of the association of ideas, the limits and varieties of memory, the effects of fatigue, the relation of mind and body, and so on. A second important part of the exhibit will consist of a working laboratory, in which tests will be made upon all who choose to subject themselves to them. The tests are necessarily simple in character, and have for their object the determination of normal averages in respect to various forms of vision, of tactile sensation, of times and accuracy of judgment, association and reaction, of the nature of association, and the like. And, thirdly, a department in which results will be exhibited, will attempt to show the practical importance of these investigations and their various applications in the study of child growth, the study of abnormal forms of mental phenomena, and the like.—Dr. Sanford, of Clark University, gave an account of some of the studies in progress there. One of these related to the fluctuation in mental power at different portions of the day, as determined by the capacity to remember a series of arbitrary impressions. Another research gave an account of the frequency and character of the dreams of subjects who at once record their dreams upon awakening from them. The frequency of dreams and their concentration in the early hours of the morning, the large factors that recent events contribute to them, appeared as some of the results of this investigation.—Another interesting paper, presented by Dr. Witmer, of the University of Pennsylvania, gave an account of the research upon the æsthetics of visual form and attempting to answer the question, What are the most pleasing forms and proportions in the great variety of figures and conditions?—A paper by Prof. Bryan, of the University of Indiana, giving an account of the development of motor power in children at different ages, and bringing out many significant and important results, was presented; also papers by Dr. Nichols, of Harvard University, presenting some novel experiments upon illusions of rotation and upon the sense of pain; by Prof. Pace, of the Catholic University of Washington, on the power of judging the thickness of surfaces held between the thumb and forefinger; and papers by Dr. Chamberlain, on the Relation of Psychology and Anthropology, and by Dr. Aikens, on An Analysis of Cause.—The meeting adjourned to next December at Columbia College, New York, the officers of the association being: President, G. Stanley Hall, of Clark University; vice-president, George T. Ladd, of Yale University; and secretary, Joseph Jastrow, of the University of Wisconsin.
Arbitration with English Trades Unions.—The English Labor Commission has completed its examination of the conditions, etc., of every branch of labor, except agriculture, in the kingdom. Its results, embodying the testimony of more than four hundred and thirty witnesses, as summarized by Mr. John Rae, in the Contemporary Review, make it clear that there has been during the last twenty years a remarkable growth in all parts of the kingdom of the institutions that make for industrial peace—the Board of Arbitration, the Joint Committee of Conciliation, and the sliding scale. The Board of Conciliation, the essential feature of which was a full interchange of views between the representatives of the parties—employers and hands—face to face, was started in 1866. The original board, formed by Mr. Mundella for the hosiery trade, was short-lived, but the principle was adopted, and still prevails. The first Board of Arbitration, which provides for binding reference to an umpire in case the conference fails, started in the iron trade by Sir Rupert Kettle in 1869, is still efficient; and a second board, started in 1872, has likewise proved its usefulness and its right to live. Since the establishment of these boards in the northern and midland counties of England, respectively, there has been no strike in the northern district, and only one insignificant strike in the middle district. In fact, "strikes, and even the very disposition to strike, seem to be thoroughly stamped out in this [the iron and steel] industry." In many trades there is a great belief in conciliation, but a great dislike to arbitration. Many think the "long jaw" (as the Conciliation Conference is called) "sufficient to remove all difficulties, and make both parties in the end see eye to eye; but the members of the manufactured iron trade are most decided in counting conciliation incomplete and of very uncertain efficacy without the reference to arbitration in case of disagreement. Employers and employed were equally emphatic on this point. They thought the knowledge of an appeal to arbitration being in reserve was absolutely essential to a successful negotiation at the Conciliation Board. The right of appeal might seldom be used, but in their opinion it must always be there, otherwise, though things might not go so far as a strike, there would be constant worrying and keeping up of a contention." Two rules contribute greatly to the smooth working of the system: one, forbidding any suspension of work at any place under the jurisdiction of the board before the cause of dispute has been submitted to the consideration of the board; and the other, making the board's decision retrospective, so as to take effect from the date of the raising of the point. Both these rules have been observed by both sides in good faith. These boards have further exercised a salutary influence in promoting a more reasonable spirit among employers and employed. "There is very much more reason than there used to be formerly; so much so, indeed, that more disputes are now settled at home without going to the board at all than were settled at home before its establishment, and all in consequence of the growth of habits of reasonable consideration and mutual forbearance, which have been bred through the board."
Symbolical Communication.—Writing of the language of signs or the symbolism in ceremonial and current use among the lower tribes of Farther India, General A. R. MacMahon says: "The chief's special messenger, carrying his carved and ornamented spear as an emblem of authority—potent as a magistrate's seal in other countries—dumb though he be in presence of people to whom his dialect is a foreign tongue, metaphorically speaks in accents that can not be mistaken when he flings down the gauntlet in the shape of the war-dah with strip of crimson cloth in token of defiance, or produces the cross or dagger-shaped plurvi or wand, made of strips of bamboo, which, simple as it may appear to the uninitiated, under some conditions furnishes the materials for a lengthy dispatch, if reduced to a written medium. If the tips of its cross-pieces be broken, for instance, it signifies a money demand for each fracture. If one cross-piece be charred, it means an urgent summons, directing people to come by torchlight if it arrives at night. A capsicum fixed on the plurvi signifies that disobedience to the order will 'make it hot' for the recipient. If the plurvi be made of cane instead of bamboo, it betokens that this punishment will take the form of flogging. The smooth, round stone which was all that Lieutenant Wilcox received from the Abora, in reply to interminable verbal negotiations suggesting the advisability of their submission to British authority, was utterly meaningless to that very intelligent officer till interpreted by a rude native of the jungle who happened to be present when the mission arrived. The translation ran thus: 'Until this stone crumbles in the dust shall our friendship last, and firm as is its texture, so firm is our present resolution.' . . . Captain Lervin's policeman, when required to explain why he . . . desired a week's leave, said, 'A young maiden has sent me flowers and birnee rice twice as a token, and if I wait any longer they will say I am no man.'"
Animals and Music.—A curious account of the effects of various kinds of music on different animals is given by a writer in the Spectator. The general order of the experiments, based upon the supposition that animal nerves are not unlike our own, was so arranged that the attention of the animals should be first arrested by a low and gradually increasing volume of sound, in those melodious minor keys which experience showed them to prefer. The piccolo was then to follow in shrill and high-pitched contrast; after which the flute was to be played to soothe the feelings ruffled by that instrument. Pleasure and dislike were often most strongly shown where least expected; and the last experiment indicated stronger dislikes, if not stronger preferences, in the musical scale, in the tiger than in the most intelligent anthropoid apes. With "Jack," a six-months-old red orang-outang, "As the sounds of the violin began, he suspended himself against the bars, and then, with one hand above his head, dropped the other to his side, and listened with grave attention. He then crept away on all fours, looking back over his shoulder, like a frightened baby," and covered himself with his piece of carpet. Then his fear gave place to pleasure, and he sat down, with smoothed hair, and listened to the music. The piccolo at first frightened him, but he soon held out his hand for the instrument and was allowed to examine it. "The flute did not interest him, but the bagpipes—reproduced on the violin—achieved a triumph." The capuchins were busy eating their breakfast; "but the violin soon attracted an audience. The capuchins dropped their food and clung to the bars, listening, with their heads on one side, with great attention. The keeper drew our notice to the next cage. There, clinging in rows to the front wires, was a silent assembly of a dozen macaques, all listening attentively to the concert which their neighbors were enjoying. At the first sounds of the flute most of these ran away; and the piccolo excited loud and angry screams from all sides. Clearly, in this case, the violin was the favorite." When the flute was played to the elephant, he stood listening with deep attention, one foot raised from the ground, and its whole body still. "But the change to the piccolo was resented. After the first bar, the elephant twisted round, and stood with its back to the performer, whistling and snorting and stamping its feet. The violin was less disliked, but the signs of disapproval were unmistakable." The deer were strongly attracted by the violin, and showed equal pleasure at the tones of the flute. The ostrich seemed to enjoy the violin and flute, though it showed marked dislike at the piccolo. "The ibexes were startled at the piccolo, first rushing forward to listen, and then taking refuge on a pile of rock, from which, however, the softer music of the flute brought them down to listen at the railing. The wild asses and zebras left the hay with which their racks had just been filled; and even the tapir, which lives next door, got up to listen to the violin; while the flute set the Indian wild ass kicking with excitement. But the piccolo had no charms for any of them, and they all returned to their interrupted breakfasts." A sleeping tiger was awakened by the soft playing of the violin near its cage; listened to the music for a time "in a very fine attitude," then "purred," lay down again, and dozed. At the first notes of the piccolo, it "sprang to its feet and rushed up and down the cage, shaking its head and ears, and lashing its tail from side to side. As the notes became still louder and more piercing, the tiger bounded across the den, reared on its hind feet, and exhibited the most ludicrous contrast to the calm dignity and repose with which it had listened to the violin. With the flute, which followed, the tiger became quiet, the leaps subsided to a gentle walk, and coming to the bars and standing still and quiet once more, the animal listened with pleasure to the music."
The Observatory at Arequipa, Peru.—Prof. Pickering, of Harvard Observatory, is well satisfied with the advantages of the South American branch observatory near Arequipa, Peru, eight thousand feet above the sea. During a large part of the year, he says, the sky is nearly cloudless. A telescope having an aperture of thirteen inches has been erected there, and has shown a remarkable degree of steadiness in the atmosphere. Night after night atmospheric conditions prevail which occur only at rare intervals, if ever, in Cambridge. Several of the diffraction rings surrounding the brighter stars are visible, close doubles in which the components are much less than a second apart are readily separated, and powers can be constantly employed which are so high as to be almost useless in Cambridge. In many researches the gain is as great as if the aperture of the instrument was doubled. The observatory is also favorably situated with reference to the southern stars, most of which can not be seen at all from the United States.
Ashamed, yet Faithful.—We have received from Dr. John S. Flagg, of Boston, a curious incident illustrating the operation of something like a moral sense in a dog. One rainy morning in October, 1891, Dr. Flagg observed a setter dog in front of himself, slinking along with his tail and head depressed, and his whole gait one of dejection. He proved to be following a seedy-looking man in a state of reeling intoxication. Being impressed that the dog's trouble was caused by shame at the intoxication of his master and the attention he was attracting, Dr. Flagg followed the case up. "On reaching the crossing at the head of Hanover Street," he says, "where the traffic is large, the dog lost a little of his dejected air and occupied himself chiefly in getting the man safely across. When his charge was finally over, and meandering down the left-hand side of Hanover Street, then the dog slunk to the opposite side and resumed the shamefaced air I had at first noticed, keeping constant watch with furtive glances on the staggerer opposite. Where Hanover Street crosses New Washington Street, the dog again piloted the man with anxious care. This done, he again declined to be seen on the same sidewalk with him, but slunk along in the shadow of the building opposite. The master turned into Prince Street, when the sense of degradation seeming to be somewhat lessened by familiar surroundings, the faithful animal trotted ahead as pilot to the door. I could not perceive in the dog's attitude any sign of fear of his master, or any evidence of wrong-doing on his own part; everything seemed to show that the one explanation of the dog's behavior lay in his appreciation of the common disgrace caused by the man's condition."
The Use of Lightning Rods.—A discussion, by Alexander McAdie, of the question, Shall we erect Lightning Rods? (Ginn & Co., Boston), in which the arguments on both sides are presented, leads the author to an affirmative answer; and he suggests, to those contemplating the erection of a rod, that they get a good iron or copper conductor, weighing six ounces to the foot of copper, or thirty-five ounces if of iron, preferably of tape form. The nature of the locality will determine in a great degree the need of a rod, as some places are more liable to be struck than others. The very best ground that can be got is after all but a very poor one for some flashes, so that the ground can not be too good. If a conductor at any part of its course goes near water or gas mains it is best to connect it with them, but small-bore fusible pipes should be avoided. The tip of the rod should be protected from corrosion or rust. Independent grounds are preferable to water and gas mains. Clusters of points or groups of two or three along the ridge rod are recommended. Chain or link conductors are of very little use. Slight faith is to be placed in what is called the area of protection. Lightning is much more indifferent than has been supposed to the "path of least resistance." Any part of a building, if the flash is of a certain character, may be struck, whether there is a rod or not; but such accidents are rare with the comparatively mild flashes of our latitudes. The widespread notion that lightning never strikes the same place twice is erroneous, and plenty of cases are recorded to show the contrary of it.
Irrigation in Australia.—Australia, great as is its extent, has but one river system carrying any really important volume of water to the sea. This is the Murray and its large tributaries, which water portions of the three colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, in the southeastern corner of the island-continent. Want of rain and the absence of perennial streams constitute one of the greatest difficulties that settlers on the land, whether pastoralists or agriculturists, have to contend with. Subterranean supplies are, indeed, being found in the form of running rivers from sixty to a hundred feet below the surface, but not hitherto in sufficient quantities to compensate the lack of rainfall and surface water for ordinary purposes in years of drought. Still less is there enough such water to be found to irrigate the arid plains. The only supply at all adequate for purposes of irrigation on any extensive scale is afforded by the surplus water of the Murray system, now carried to the sea, and this surplus is obviously a limited quantity. An attempt to fertilize by irrigation some portion of the land lying within reach of this supply of water has been made in the last four years at what are known as the irrigation colonies or settlements of Renmark in South Australia and Meldrum in Victoria. The scheme was started in 1887 by two brothers, the Messrs. Chaffey, who had had experience of fruit-raising in California, who have obtained the grants and means necessary to enable them to carry out their plans. The properties are subdivided with a view to settlement by individuals on small sections, each cultivator enjoying, upon a co-operative system, the use of the fixed plant of the settlements, not only for irrigation, but for rendering the fruits of the soil marketable, by processes of drying, canning, wine-making, etc.
The Love of Nature in America.—The London Spectator has learned from the evidence of books on the subject that there now exists in New England a counterpart to the great and growing appreciation of wild Nature which has left such a mark on recent English literature. Even Fenimore Cooper, it admits, "painted the wild life of the woods with a minuteness of detail and depth of feeling that suggests that the readers for whom he wrote were not less in sympathy with the subject than himself. The works of Thoreau and John Burroughs are now American classics; and to judge by the number of recent works similar in kind and object, the appetite of New England grows by what it feeds on. The coincidence by which people of the same race, and living in the same latitude, but on different sides of the globe, are now eagerly expressing in a common language their pleasure and interest in exactly the same kind of subjects and scenes, though the actual birds and beasts, trees and plants, are often as distinct as the two continents in which they are found, is probably unique. There is no such analogy in taste between England and any of her colonies as this common love of Nature which finds almost identical expression in the prose idylls of Jefferies and of Burroughs, and the engravings of Wolf and of Mr. Hamilton Gibson." The Spectator goes on to cite from the books of two or three of our Nature-loving authors, without giving anything like an adequate exemplification of the list. It might also have extended its studies and brought in other sections than New England. Where, for instance, can we find more faithful portraitures of hill and ravine, forest and field, and the moods of Nature in sunshine and storm, frost and flood, than Charles Egbert Craddock has drawn of her loved Tennessee mountains?
The Brooklyn Institute Biological Laboratory.—The last, its third, was the most successful season of the work of the Biological Laboratory of the Brooklyn Institute, at Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y. During its three years of existence more than sixty persons have made use of the advantages afforded by the laboratory, either in study or investigation; and among these have been college professors, public-school teachers, physicians, and students of various grades of schools. Of the three classes of students using the marine laboratories—those seeking a general knowledge of zoölogy and botany, including medical students; college students desiring to do miscellaneous work of a higher character than that of their college, or to study embryology from the practical side; and those who desire to undertake original research—the course of this school has been especially planned for the first two classes. An elementary course in zoölogy is arranged, lasting six weeks; courses of scientific lectures are given by well-known experts; a special line of work in bacteriology methods is offered; and at a certain point students who have taken the elementary course or its equivalent are allowed to plan their work each for himself.
Home Landscape.—An editorial article in Garden and Forest aims to show how beauty in landscape and in our home surroundings grows out of our honest attempts to adapt the conditions of Nature to our wants. In our clearings, orchard and garden planting, and building, so long as we are honest and straightforward in our work, Mother Nature "stands ready to adopt it as her own, and to make of it landscape rich in meaning and pathos, such as no primitive wilderness can show." Look for a moment upon a typical valley of the interior of New England. "We are standing upon the eastern wall of upland. The village, with a mill or two and a church or two, lies below us at the mouth of a gap in the northern hills. Southward the valley broadens to contain a fresh green intervale. Opposite us the western wall of the valley is an irregular steep slope of rising woods, with numerous upland farms scattered along the more level heights above. The central intervale, the flanking woods, the village gathered at the valley's head—the whole scene before us possesses unity and beauty to a degree which interests us at once. And how was this delightful general effect produced? Simply by intelligent obedience to the requirements of human life in this valley. The village grew what it is for the sake of nearness to the great water power which rushes from the gap in the hills. The intervale was cleared and smoothed for raising perfect hay. The steep side hills have been maintained in woods because they are too steep for agriculture, and because, if they were cleared of trees, their sands and gravels would wash down upon the fertile land of the intervale. Similarly upon the upland farms the greenery along even the tiniest brooks has been preserved in order to obviate that wasteful washing away of soil which results from carrying plowing to the edges of the water-courses. Throughout the landscape before us it is most interesting to note how beauty has resulted from the exercise of common sense and intelligence. The every-day forces of convenience, use, and true economy have here conspired with Nature to produce beauty, and this beauty is of a very different and much more satisfying kind than that which tries to found itself on mere new caprice or fashion."
Perversity conquered.—The story of successful dealing with two cases of idiocy manifesting itself in violence is related by Margaret Bancroft, of Haddonfield, N. J. The first case was a deaf-mute, twenty years of age, "a sickly, wild, destructive, disgusting specimen of humanity," who had to be taken charge of day and night. He would tear or destroy three or four suits a week. An attendant, having noticed that he was fastidious about the color of the things he wore, suggested having fine clothing for him. He was fitted with a suit, and "the success was wonderful. He was perfectly delighted, blew and puffed on his clothes, and from that time, unless some very serious trouble arose with his care-taker, he never destroyed anything unless it was ugly. He was gradually led on from one step in good behavior to another—sitting to witness a play, being photographed, sitting in school during the opening exercises, drawing lines, and mat-weaving, in which, when he threaded his needle and put in one row without help, the whole school set up a hurrah. "There were many ups and downs, but from that time improvement was constant" till boy and teacher were separated in consequence of the burning of the school building. The success is a subject of wonder to all who know of the case. "It has taken unbounded patience, hopefulness, and trust, but the great secret has been love, our love for him and his love for us and trust in us." The other case was a boy who had been hurt mentally by a fall, a destructive, murderous savage, with whom, "for some time after his arrival, we felt that we had a young tiger in our peaceful home. . . . The first attempt to have him in the schoolroom was a tempest." He was tied in a chair and had to be held by two persons; then he had only to be tied; but, "after six months of this work, we could have him in the schoolroom untied for a short time. It was so in everything we attempted to do with him; in teaching him we were obliged to have one person hold him while another directed his hands. So on until we gradually got him to like his work. In marching, calisthenics, games, kindergarten work, chart work, board work, slate work, there were the same battles week after week; but now he leads the marching. . . . He is trying in all his work to use his right hand, but it is a great effort, and requires the exercise of patience on his part. He is loving and neat, takes great pride in his clothes, says his prayers, and tries to please. . . . We are proud of his table manners."
Plains in Cold Countries.—In his book on Ancient and Modern Steppes and Tundras, Prof. A. Nehring undertakes to show that such formations are marks of the post-glacial transition period, the analogues of which can be found in the central regions of Europe and North America, and even in the South. The heaths of central Europe, the puszten of Hungary, the African deserts, North American prairies and savannas, and the pampas and llanos of South America, are, according to his view, all of one class with them. Their common characteristic is not the desolation we usually conceive when the steppe or the tundra is mentioned, which is only a topographical incident, but the limitation of vegetation to herbaceous plants with scarcity of trees, and a general flatness or moderately undulating character of the surface. Sometimes island elevations occur in them, which are covered with trees, and whence streams flow. They are not depressions, but often constitute table-lands or cap the tops of mountains or high hills. As described by Prejevalski, some of the Siberian steppes in spring appear like immense flower beds of various colors, with wood-clad hills of dark pines or dwarf birches rising from among them. Our prairies present this floral exuberance through most of the summer, but on the thinner soil of the steppes it usually dies out under the intense heat, while in winter the region is subject to the other extreme of excessive cold. Rain is more abundant in the steppes than in the northern tundras. It falls chiefly in summer, in violent showers, which do little permanent good to vegetation. In the north, the water, prevented by the perpetual ice in the subsoil from percolating through it, forms the marshes characteristic of the tundras. Another feature common to steppes and tundras is that of raging snow-storms or buranes (blizzards?), or high winds with or without snow. These winds, charged with sand, dust, and snow, sweep away or destroy everything they meet, and deposit in curious formations alternate strata of sand and snow. The animal life of the tundras includes animals that live in them constantly, and those that visit them from other regions. Of the former class are the lemming, the arctic fox, and the snow hare in the tundras, while the characteristic animals of the steppes are the arctomys, the jerboa, and the spermophilus. It was the discovery of numerous remains of these animals in central Europe that suggested to Nehring that all the prairie formations may have had a similar origin. The objections which have been brought against this theory, which are not without weight, are ingeniously answered by Prof. Nehring in his book.
A River's Work.—Regarding the varying phases of a river's work in its passage from the form of a mountain torrent to that of a broad estuary, Mr. Albert F. Brigham remarks that transportation begins at the head waters, and continues, always important, to the ocean. Corrasion (wearing away) is active in the torrential stage, and passes practically down to zero in the lower course of the stream. Deposition begins at the end of the torrential section, and prevails strongly to the ocean. In the middle or terrace section the forces approximate an equilibrium. The river lays up its waste in its banks, only to load it up again after months or years, and carry it a stage farther toward its destination. Somewhere in descending our stream we pass the critical point between land destruction and land building. Above this point materials are gathered up; below they are strewn down."
Surviving Superstitions.—The more sober and matter-of-fact the people, says an essayist in the London Spectator, the more curious are the superstitions that survive among them, in spite of their common sense. It is not only the ignorant sailor before the mast who regards Friday with superstitious dread. His captain and several other well-educated men share in the feeling. The superstition concerning thirteen at the table is perhaps more widespread than any other. A hostess who deliberately made up a party of thirteen would be a bold woman indeed, for two or three of her company would object to dining at her table. Many people will positively assert that they have actually known cases in which one of a party of thirteen at dinner has died in the course of the year—and with perfect truth, probably; for, taking the average age of the assembled guests to be thirty-five or over, the mathematical chances of death occurring among them within a year are rather more than one in thirteen. The chance of a death would be even greater if there were twenty, and would amount to almost a certainty in the case of a hundred—an excellent reason for abstaining from public dinners! The same writer gives as the origin of the superstition against passing under a ladder the circumstance that in the old days the man to be hanged had to pass under the ladder which stood against the gallows for the convenience of the executioner; "and he passed under that ladder with the fair certainty of being immediately hanged." The superstition concerning the spilling of salt dates from the most distant antiquity. "Salt, the incorruptible and the preserver from corruption, the holy substance that was used in sacrifice, could not be rudely spilt or wasted without incurring the anger of all good spirits and giving an opportunity to the evil ones. Now, the evil spirit lurks, as a rule, somewhere behind a man upon the left side, so that it is desirable, if one wishes to avoid the consequence of carelessness, to throw the salt over the left shoulder three mystic times and discomfit the wicked one exceedingly. It is interesting to view the grave solemnity with which the intelligent and well-educated woman of to-day will perform that ceremony."
Rock Striation by River Ice.—A study of the striation of rocks by river ice has been made by Mr. J. E. Todd in the Mississippi and other Western rivers. While not much attention has been paid to this agency, the author finds that planation and striation are sometimes the work of river ice armed with erratics; that the situations most favorable for the phenomenon seem to be on the outside of a bend, or near a strong current, near low-water mark, and below a point where siliceous erratics lie near the water-level. The dynamical conditions necessary are probably a sudden breaking up of the ice before it is rotted by thawing and a flood to wield it. The proper conditions do not often occur in our present Western streams. Usually the striæ are parallel, as much so as in glacial action, and commonly on surfaces dipping up stream, but occasionally upon limited areas dipping down stream. While these facts, the author observes, may have no direct significance of practical value, they indirectly throw much light upon the possible origin of the extra-morainic drift and of some ancient striated surfaces outside of the moraines.
Animals not Afraid of Man.—Mr. W. H. Hudson's observations of birds in La Plata lead him to different conclusions from those which Darwin and Herbert Spencer have reached respecting their supposed instinctive fear of man or birds of prey antecedent to experience or parental teaching. The one thing that is instinctive, says Mr. Alfred R. Wallace, in his review of the book, "is the alarm caused by the warning note of the parent. This produces an effect even before the chick is hatched, for in three different species belonging to widely separated orders Mr. Hudson has watched the nest while the young bird was chipping its way out of the egg and uttering its feeble peep, when, on hearing the warning cry of the mother bird, both sounds instantly ceased, and the chick remained quiescent in the shell for a long time, or till the parent's changed note showed that the danger was over. Young nestling birds take their food as readily from man as from their parents till they hear the warning cry, when they immediately close their mouths and crouch down frightened in the nest. Parasitical birds, which do not recognize the warning cries of their foster-parents, show no fear. The young parasitical cowbird takes food from man, and exhibits no fear, although the foster-parents are hovering close by, screaming their alarm notes, So a young wild dove, reared from the egg by domestic pigeons, which, never being fed, were half wild in their habits, never acquired the wildness of his foster-parents, but became perfectly tame and showed no more fear of a man than of a horse. He had none of his own kind to learn from, and did not understand either the voices or the actions of the dove-pigeons. Mr. Hudson has also reared plovers, tinamous, coots, and many other wild birds from eggs hatched by fowls, and found them all quite incapable of distinguishing friend from foe, while some, such as the rhea and the crested screamer, are much tamer when young than domestic chickens and ducklings. Mr. Hudson concludes that birds learn to distinguish their enemies, first, from parental warnings, and later by personal experience.
The Truffle.—In a book on that vegetable, lately published in France, M. Ad. Chatin defines the truffle as a mushroom, which is not a parasite, though it grows by preference in the immediate vicinity of certain kinds of trees; and like its congeners, the tuberaceous mushrooms, instead of living in the air it is hypogeous. The truffle is first mentioned by Theophrastus, who calls it mizy and mison, and regards it as a rootless plant engendered by the thundershowers of autumn, but capable, according to many observers, of reproducing itself from seeds brought by storms from Tiaris, on the shores of Mitylene. This truffle, that of Lesbos, was an inferior variety to the truffle of Périgord, which is so highly prized by epicures. The truffles of Algeria, called terfas, and those of western Asia, called kamés, although not equal to those of France, are of considerable importance as food to the Arabs. M. Chatin has added several species, previously unknown, to the truffle of all these countries, and a new genus, the Tirmania, to those of Africa. The history of the truffle, as old as that of civilization, begins with the most brilliant days of Greece and Rome, was lost in the darkness of the middle ages, and revived with the Renascence; and at a later period the delicacy spread from the court to the tables of the rich, and is now known in all ranks. Scientific acquaintance with the plant has enjoyed a growth parallel with that of its alimentary use, and with methods of cultivation, which are wholly of modern origin, having been established as the result of the scientific investigations of the present century. According to the latest statistical report of the truffle crop, the total production was valued, for the year 1889, at $500,000.
Superstitions about Saturn.—The somewhat dull and heavy appearance of the light of Saturn as compared with that of the other planets and of the stars of the first magnitude may, according to Paul Stroobant, of the Royal Observatory of Belgium, help to account for the baleful influence which the ancients attributed to it. Recognizing it as the most remote of the planets with which they were acquainted, they paid it a special regard. The Assyrians included the sun, the moon, and the five planets known to them among the superior divinities, calling them the interpreting gods; and of these Saturn was the chief interpreter or revealer. They called it Nisroch or Asshur, the god of time or the year. Similar ideas prevailed in ancient Egypt. Julius Firminius, speaking of astral influences over the dispositions of men, says, "if one is born under the influence of Mercury, he will be addicted to astronomy; if under Mars, he will embrace the profession of arms; if under Saturn, he will devote himself to alchemy." This planet was regarded by the Egyptians as a foreign divinity, for its altars were built outside of the cities, among those of the adopted gods. Probably this usage came from the North, for Plutarch, who locates the island of Ogygia in the North, says that its people, every thirty years, when Saturn went into the sign of Taurus, sailed away to sacrifice in another country. The Greeks regarded Saturn as the god of time. Latin texts represent Saturn as a planet dangerous to human life, and say that it brings rains and four-day fevers. This planet likewise played an important part in the astrology of the middle ages. It was certainly known to the Chinese 2500 years b. c, for they then had ephemerides of the five older planets. Egyptian monuments of the fifth and sixth dynasties mention it. The most ancient precise observation of Saturn known was made by the Chaldeans in the year 579 of the era of Nabonassar. Ptolemy fixes this on March 1, b. c. 228. Ptolemy observed an opposition of Saturn a. d. 127, which was the basis for his determination of the elements of its orbit. The sign , employed to designate Saturn, was not known to the ancients. Laland derives it from the sickle of time. Some persons believe that it stands for the figure 5, answering to the place of the planet in the order of the system, as the sign of Jupiter may stand for 4. Alexander von Humboldt says that the signs for the planets are no older than the tenth century. Different opinions prevail as to whether or not the ancients had any knowledge of Saturn's ring. It is hardly probable.
Jokes by Animals.—Among the incidents of jokes played by animals upon one another cited by a writer on The Animal Sense of Humor, in the London Spectator, is that of a jackdaw which, whenever it found its setter dog companions asleep, would steal up to them and pull at the little fluffy tassels of hair between their toes—where the animal was more sensitive than in other hairy parts of its body—unpleasantly waking them up. At a certain house, a tame magpie was kept in the stable yard with two kestrels. The kestrels were in the habit of sitting on the sides of the water pails that stood outside of the stable doors. At one time the magpie approached a kestrel from behind, seized its long tail in its beak, jerked it violently, and pushed it over into the pail; but the kestrel afterward caught the magpie and punished it well. A cat expressed its dislike of a peacock by jumping through its spread-out tail when the bird was displaying its beauty and exhibiting its own vanity, to the great discomfiture of the fowl. The writer's dog, which was accustomed to hunting rabbits, showed its displeasure when its master had shot a bullfinch by going into the hedge, finding a rabbit, and bringing it to him. Another dog, which knew tame ducks and that they were not hunted, but had no acquaintance with wild ones, was much disgusted when its master shot a teal, believing he had made a mistake, and would have nothing to do with the game. "He behaved in exactly the same way when we shot a black rabbit; nothing would persuade him that it was not a cat; and he would do no serious work for the rest of the day." The writer tells also of dogs that thought it beneath their dignity to chase rats, except when their masters were engaged in the sport; and he speaks of the very obvious dislike of dogs to be laughed at.
Suicidal Ingenuity.—A curious list and description of ingenious methods which insane patients with suicidal tendencies have adopted for disposing of themselves is given by Dr. H. Sutherland in a paper on the prevention of suicide in the insane. Patients with suicidal tendencies should be put under surveillance and constant attendance at once. Care must be taken against all imaginable and even some unimagined things with which they might contrive to kill themselves—medicines, pills, lotions, and plasters, and the patients' taking the prescribed doses, should be looked after, lest they by some craft accumulate a quantity sufficient to kill and take it all at once; keys, razors, knives and forks, fire-irons, even brooms, broken glass, and crockery, should be kept out of their hands; and nails, wires, ropes, sash-lines, bell-pulls, tapes, and string, lest they hang themselves. Even a piece of slate pencil or an old spoon may be used for the purpose of strangulation, by being attached to a string and then pushed through a keyhole and pulled taut. Patients working at their trades require constant watching and daily examination, for their tools and materials may be made to afford facilities for killing themselves. In fact, the ingenuity of these people can be matched only by ingenious vigilance and alertness.
Camphor.—The camphor tree, according to the United States consular report from Osaka, Japan, is a tree of the laurel family growing in southern Japan, the wood of which is valuable in ship-building. It grows in mountainous regions far from the sea. It is a well-proportioned, handsome evergreen, its elliptical, slightly dentate leaf turning a lighter color for one or two months in the spring. The berries grow in bunches. The tree is cut down for the collection of the camphor, but the law requires that it be replaced by another. It is then cut up into chips and steamed. The camphor and oil extracted by the steaming are passed through a connecting tube into a second receiver, and thence into a third, which is divided into two compartments, one above the other. These compartments are separated by a perforated partition, which gives passage to the water and the oil, while the camphor is deposited on a layer of straw provided for it. It is then separated from the straw and prepared for sale. The oil which is drawn out from the lower compartment is used for illumination. | <urn:uuid:bcd219d3-5114-47f1-8714-6c90fa5d0e7f> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Popular_Science_Monthly/Volume_42/April_1893/Popular_Miscellany | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257825124.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071025-00149-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974077 | 9,829 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Embroidery - Mirror Embroidery
The craft of mirror work, also known as Sheeshadar, is closely associated with embroidery. In this art, sewing mirror discs are neatly intricated onto the fabric. This art form is carried out in combination with other forms of embroidery in order to add more effects to the designs. The incorporation of the sheesha or the mirror is supposedly one of the most attractive features in Indian embroidery, as it considerably enhances the general effect of the pattern.
The glass is first cut into different shapes before it is embroidered into the fabric. Very, very miniscule embroidery is carried out on heavily encrusted yoke with white thread, mingled with red, orange, blue and green. They are specially used for the eyes of birds and the center of flowers. | <urn:uuid:7ed5b1cd-6aa6-4364-a15f-5b94e9e06a40> | CC-MAIN-2014-35 | http://www.designersalwarkameez.com/embroidery/embroidery-mirror.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-35/segments/1409535921869.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20140901014521-00015-ip-10-180-136-8.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958584 | 175 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Inside the Curriculum
The relevant sample is below the explanation.
Blueprint for Reading
Background Bytes provides useful and interesting information that may be drawn from biographical information, history, science, geography, or other appropriate disciplines. The student is grounded in the substance of the piece they are about to study.
Into the Selection helps students think about the thematic focus of the piece. What drives the action and the characters? What compels the author to write? What is the author trying to tell us? Into the Selection helps the students distinguish between topic and theme. Students may also be asked to think about, predict, look for, make notes, or find the answer to a question, as they read the selection.
Focus considers the specific literary component that is defined for the student. How has the author used the literary component? How does the literary component influence subject, theme, style, and genre? In Focus, the students see how writing comes to be! | <urn:uuid:edc08e55-1fdd-4501-9fbf-227464a79f3a> | CC-MAIN-2019-26 | https://mosdospress.com/reading-curriculum/8th-grade-gold/inside-the-curriculum/gold-student-edition/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-26/segments/1560628000609.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20190626234958-20190627020958-00004.warc.gz | en | 0.94808 | 199 | 3.75 | 4 |
Colonisation or colonization is the process in biology by which a species spreads to new areas. Colonisation often refers to successful immigration where a population becomes integrated into a community, having resisted initial local extinction.
One classic model in biogeography posits that species must continue to colonize new areas through its life cycle (called a taxon cycle) in order to achieve longevity. Accordingly, colonisation and extinction are key components of island biogeography, a theory that has many applications in ecology, such as metapopulations.
- The term can be used to describe colonisation on:
- biofilm scales: the formation of communities of microorganisms on surfaces.
- small scales: colonising new sites, perhaps as a result of environmental change.
- large scales: where a species expands its range to encompass new areas. This can be via a series of small encroachments or by long-distance dispersal. The term range expansion is often used.
The term is generally only used to refer to the spread into new areas by natural means, as opposed to introduction or translocation by humans, which are called introduced species and sometimes becoming invasive species.
Species colonisation events
- Some large-scale notable colonisation events in the 20th Century are:
- the colonisation of the New World by the cattle egret
- the colonisation of Britain by the little egret
- the colonisation of the East Coast of North America by the Brewer's blackbird
- the colonisation-westwards spread across Europe of the collared dove
- Wilson, E.O. (1962) The nature of the Taxon Cycle in Melanesian ant fauna http://www.zoology.siu.edu/sears/Wilson1961.pdf The American Naturalist
|Look up colonise in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.|
|This ecology-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.|
||The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (April 2014)| | <urn:uuid:291a3dfc-42b2-40d6-8672-924c46acb582> | CC-MAIN-2015-18 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonisation_(biology) | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-18/segments/1430459005968.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20150501054325-00034-ip-10-235-10-82.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.897974 | 430 | 3.515625 | 4 |
Acute sinusitis describes the sudden onset of cold like symptoms which include a stuffy nose and facial pain which usually last for no longer than a week, but can last up to 3 weeks
Subacute sinusitis defines an infection as lasting over 1 month but less than 3 months.
Recurrent sinusitis is when a person experiences several attacks in one year.
Symptoms of sinusitis include:-
If you go on to develop any of the following symptoms seek urgent medical advice or help. They could indicate complications of a sinus infection which, although rare, could lead to far more serious infections such as meningitis, orbital cellulitis or brain abscess:
Sinusitis can be infectious and non-infectious. Infectious sinusitis can be caused by a viral infection, bacterial infection (less frequent) or a fungal infection (rare). Non-infectious sinusitis is caused by irritants or allergies. Allergic fungal sinusitis (not to be mistaken with fungal sinusitis) is caused by an allergic reaction to fungi that are found in the air.
A sinus infection may be caused by anything that interferes with the airflow to the sinuses and drainage of mucus out of the sinuses. Common colds, flu, allergies and irritants such as cigarette smoke can cause swelling of the tissue lining and may block the sinus openings. Blocked sinuses provide an environment for viruses, bacteria and fungus to grow within the sinus cavity.
Fungal sinusitis is very rare. Also known as zygomycosis or mucormycosis, this infection is caused by breathing in fungi from soil or water. Over a few days the fungi can grow and cut off blood supply to tissue, most commonly the nose and eyes. Such infections are very serious and can be fatal and are a medical emergency. It most likely to effect victims injured in disasters such as tsunamis, hurricanes and earthquakes or in rare instances those with depressed immunity.
There are a number of factors that can make you more prone to sinusitis:-
Common contributing factors to children suffering with sinusitis are allergies, illnesses caught at nursery or school, dummies, drinking from a bottle while lying down and cigarette smoke in the environment.
The most common factors contributing to adult infections are smoking and viral infections. Other less common contributing factors are bacterial infections, pollution and allergies. Sometimes an infected tooth can lead to the sinuses becoming inflamed.
Anyone can suffer with allergic fungal sinusitis (AFS) but people who have hayfever or asthma and are in their early 20’s appear to be most at risk. It is also believed to be more common in hot and humid countries.
Most cases of sinusitis will clear up on their own, however, your symptoms are severe and causing a lot discomfort or have not gone after a week or so, see your GP.
Your GP will ask about your symptoms and conduct an examination, looking for signs of facial swelling and tenderness around the sinus area. They may want to examine a nasal secretion to help differentiate between infectious and allergic sinusitis.
If the infection has not responded to initial treatment, diagnostic tests such as nasal endoscopy (a flexible fibre optic tube is used to examine the interior of the nose and sinus openings), allergy testing, CT scan of the sinuses and blood tests may be done.
In the rare case of a fungal nasal infection, early diagnosis is essential. Diagnosis is made by examining a tissue biopsy or fungal culture by a microbiologist or pathologist.
Symptoms can be eased with over the counter painkillers such as paracetamol and ibuprofen. Decongestant medicines can help but must not be used beyond the recommended use as they can make symptoms worse. You may find using a vaporiser or inhaling steam from a bowl more helpful.
If bacterial sinusitis is suspected or symptoms have persisted past 10 days or symptoms are getting worse, you are likely to be prescribed antibiotics. The antibiotic amoxicillin is often prescribed. If, however, you are not improving after 5 days, or you are allergic to penicillin, another antibiotic will be prescribed.
You may also be advised to use nasal sprays, which may contain steroids, to reduce congestion and inflammation together with painkillers to treat headaches, high temperature and facial pain. Mucolytic medication which dissolve or breakdown mucus, may also be recommend.
If treatments have not helped or you have chronic or recurrent sinusitis, your GP may refer you a specialist to consider surgery. Surgery for treating chronic sinusitis is called functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) and is conducted under general anaesthetic. The surgeon will widen your sinuses either by removing tissue (nasal polyps) or by inflating a tiny balloon in the blocked sinuses to open up drainage passages, then removing it.
Where your GP believes your sinusitis has been brought on by an allergy, you are likely to be recommended antihistamines. If, however, you are suffering with AFS, antihistamines will not work. Once AFS has been diagnosed both surgery (to clear out build-up of fungus and mucus) and drug treatment will be prescribed to reduce inflammation, prevent the fungus from returning and treat any secondary bacterial infection.
Successful treatment of fungal sinusitis relies on early diagnosis followed by surgery to remove the unhealthy tissue in addition to antifungal drugs and antibiotics.
Although sinusitis itself is not contagious underlying causes, such as colds and flu, can be contagious. Take steps to avoid catching such infections by strengthening the bodies immunity. Get regular exercise and maintain a healthy diet. An annual flu vaccination can protect you against the most common flu viruses.
If you suffer with recurrent sinusitis it is a good idea to undergo an allergy test. If you do discover you have an allergy you can take steps to avoid or reduce contact with the allergen and get advice on the most appropriate treatment to ease symptoms. | <urn:uuid:a2a262bb-5695-4540-81e0-4a86132283b9> | CC-MAIN-2019-26 | https://homehealth-uk.com/sinusitis/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-26/segments/1560627999946.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20190625192953-20190625214953-00264.warc.gz | en | 0.948554 | 1,257 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Data is the most valuable assets of an organization that need to be secured. Due to limited computational resources, Customers outsource their workload to cloud and economically enjoy the massive computational power, bandwidth, storage, and even appropriate software that can be shared in a pay-per-use manner. Despite of tremendous benefits of cloud computing, protection of customers’ confidential data is a major concern. Data leakage involves the intentional or unintentional release of secure or confidential information to non-trusted environment. Data leakage poses a serious issue for companies as the number of incidents and the cost to those experiencing them continue to increase. Data leakage is enhanced by the fact that transmitted data (both inbound and outbound); including emails, instant messaging, website forms and file transfers. Data leakage prevention system (DLPS) is a strategy for making sure that end users do not send the confidential data or information outside the corporate network. This review paper aims to study data leakage prevention through some challenges and data protection approaches as well as considering some limitations. This survey of DLPS can benefit academics as well as professionals. | <urn:uuid:adcd3a3f-faa5-4609-8509-a44b5c882594> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/02fe042ac3debddbd257cb0dabf93598 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267158205.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20180922064457-20180922084857-00100.warc.gz | en | 0.939457 | 217 | 2.625 | 3 |
Although the majority of British government debt is issued as bonds, known as “gilts,” the UK Treasury gets some short-term cash by issuing treasury bills. These are short-term government bonds which usually expire in 91 days, which is three months. Occasionally, the Treasury issues treasury bills of 28 days, 63 days and 182 days.
One apparent disadvantage of treasury bills is that they do not pay any interest. They are called “zero-coupon.” On the positive side, you can still make money out of the bills because, to compensate buyers for the lack of interest, the government sells the bonds at a discount. That means you pay less to buy them than the government will give you to buy them back on the expiry date.
One complication of treasury bills, which makes them difficult to judge as an investment, is that they do not have a fixed price. Even when they are first issued, the Treasury cannot tell you how much they are worth and does not fix a price. Instead, they declare how many bills they would like to sell and then invite bids for them.
The process of buying treasury bills is not easy. You cannot go to the Treasury and put in a bid yourself. They will only accept bids from a list of approved institutions, who it calls “primary participants.” Dealing with one of these institutions acting as an intermediary will incur a commission charge. The price you pay for the bills will only pay off if the discount you bid for is more than the commission. You can't buy one or two bills, but have to bid for a minimum of £500,000 worth, although this is calculated on the face value, not the discounted price. An easier way to buy the bills is on the open market, because the bills can be traded after their issue by the Treasury. However, you are likely to get a better price buying direct from the Treasury and you also have to pay a broker a commission if you buy them on the market.
You do not have to wait for the bills to mature before taking your money back. You can sell them on. However, this process requires the services of a broker again, so the profit you make on the bills would have to be more than the commission you pay to sell, as well as the commission you paid to sell. The selling price depends on the market's opinion on that day and the overall favour that investors have on the security of British government debt. There is a risk that the value of the bills could fall to a lower price than you paid to buy then. However, there is also no upper limit; the bills can even rise in price to higher than their face value. | <urn:uuid:266e4bab-b747-4c28-85f1-c7271fc6bc23> | CC-MAIN-2018-17 | http://www.ehow.co.uk/info_12256877_advantages-disadvantages-treasury-bills.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-17/segments/1524125945222.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20180421125711-20180421145711-00597.warc.gz | en | 0.980944 | 550 | 2.6875 | 3 |
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A bedside manner refers most often to the way a medical professional interacts and communicates with patients. Sometimes the term is used in a positive way only. A doctor with a bedside manner is a good communicator, while one without one may offend or may be overly abrupt with patients. The term can also be described as good or bad.
A good bedside manner might include showing empathy, being open to communication, involving the patient in health decisions, and helping the patient feel at ease. A poor one can manifest as arrogance, failure to listen to a patient, abruptness, dismissal of a patient’s fears, and rudeness.
Concern about how medical professionals interact with their patients has increased in the past few years. Many medical schools for nurses and doctors now offer specific courses in practicing an empathetic approach to patients. In some hospitals, doctors are tested with mock patients who are meant to test their tolerance. These courses and tests hope to improve the behavior of doctors who are not good communicators and who have little sympathy for patients.
Another issue that reflects on bedside manner is the time crunch of the modern physician. Doctors now regularly see far more patients per day than most did in the past. Therefore, some are curt and abrupt because they do not have time to listen. This remains a problem because crucial information can be missed when a patient is not given enough time.
The same holds true for many nurses who are now taking care of more patients in hospital settings than before. Where nurses were once expected to be the support to hospitalized patients, often there is not enough time in the day to give such support.
Bedside manner can affect the quality of care a patient receives and also patient compliance on taking recommended medicines or following through with a doctor’s instructions. Physicians who interact with patients poorly may find they lose patients to other doctors or they may find their patients tend not to listen to their suggestions.
As well, approaching a patient with no empathy or sympathy has a tendency to intimidate or cause the patient fear. A doctor with a poor bedside manner may actually cause a patient to perceive more pain, if the patient is wracked with fear or anxiety. A positive interaction, on the other hand, may help a patient recover more quickly. Recovery can be related to positive attitude, which can be facilitated by both doctors and nurses.
Even with more demands on their time, physicians who strive for a good bedside manner are likely to retain their patients, and also to have their directions followed. Despite poor behavior, some physicians are so adept at their jobs that they are worth seeing even if this means putting up with rudeness.
A caricatured version of the worst bedside manner possible can be seen on the popular show House. Each week Dr. House is horribly abusive to his patients. Yet his behavior is tolerated because he is a fantastic diagnostician.
There are some watered down versions of Dr. Houses in real world settings, and most people can recall having seen a doctor with a poor bedside manner. Surgeons are the frequent targets of such accusations, although this is over generalizing. Some surgeons are terrific at talking with their patients and helping to allay fears regarding upcoming surgeries. Others are not particularly good with patients, but what they lack in communication skills is made up for by skill in the operating room.
It is helpful to choose a doctor whose interaction level fits one’s own personality. Just as one will not like every person he or she meets, one will not like every doctor. Finding a physician with a good bedside manner is helpful because one is more likely to feel comfortable telling one’s physician about private health matters, and as well, one is more likely to feel comfortable seeing a doctor when needed. A doctor who does not communicate well may inadvertently discourage patients from seeking medical advice when they should.
I had surgery 15 days ago and the doctor has yet to speak with me once. After I awoke from the anesthesia, I asked to speak with him and asked if all went well and he said that he had 15 seconds and then without speaking walked away. This guy should retire. Obviously he cares nothing about his patients.-- Sarasota, Florida
Momothree- I agree nurses should be commended for the hard work that they perform day in and day out. Proper bed side manner includes a greeting and a gentle explanation of diagnosis treatment options.
Proper bed side manner is especially appreciated during delicate procedures that may concern a patient. A doctor also needs to display a level of patience as not all patients have the same tolerance to pain.
During my first delivery, I had an incredible nurse that displayed excellent bed side manner. She thoroughly explained everything that was happening and even stayed with me the entire day, instead of going to see other patients.
By contrast, when I had my son, the experience that I had with the admitting nurse was not pleasant. I was in a lot of pain and she was not very tolerant. She did not display proper bed side manners in my opinion.
As the article stated, nurses are held accountable for their “bedside manner” as well. The nurse is the one that spends the most time with the patient and nurses are expected to provide reassurance and an acceptable level of comfort for the patient.
Many times, it is the nurse that takes the scrutiny when things don’t go as well or as fast as the patient or their family wants it to. More often than not, the nurse can only do certain things as the doctor orders them. Nurses really deal with a lot more than the doctors do and most of them still display a great bedside manner.
Sadly enough, it is the negative bedside manner that gets spoken of more than the positive. We are often quick to complain when something is wrong but we don’t give praise enough when things go right.
One of our editors will review your suggestion and make changes if warranted. Note that depending on the number of suggestions we receive, this can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Thank you for helping to improve wiseGEEK! | <urn:uuid:36935ad8-ec3a-4017-a419-2b957b82c340> | CC-MAIN-2015-40 | http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-bedside-manner.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-40/segments/1443736680773.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20151001215800-00210-ip-10-137-6-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972749 | 1,260 | 3.53125 | 4 |
What's the problem?
Although fertilizer is essential for producing food across the globe, crops take up on average only 40 percent of the nitrogen applied to them each growing season. The remainder can run off and pollute water and air. Runoff from row crops (corn, soy, wheat, etc.) can lead to algae blooms in lakes, rivers and the Gulf of Mexico.
This outgrowth of algae renders drinking water unsafe and kills countless fish, leading to 'dead zones' devoid of oxygen.
How can we improve the situation?
The best solution is the one that most efficiently solves the problem on a large scale, and provides incentives for businesses to become more sustainable.
We're doing this by increasing demand for grains grown using optimal fertilizer and best practices for soil health by addressing every point in the supply chain. Our goal is to change the way all grains are produced in the United States.
Example: We worked with Walmart, one of our largest corporate partners, to set aggressive greenhouse gas reduction goals.
One way the retailer is meeting this goal is by asking suppliers to cut emissions via better fertilizer use.
Walmart's enormous purchasing power makes it worthwhile for suppliers to comply. So far, over 20 food companies have committed to using fertilizer more efficiently on 34 million acres, and those commitments are yielding measurable changes.
In 2018, Smithfield exceeded its grain sustainability goal, working with farmers and EDF to reduce fertilizer loss and improve soil health on farms supplying 80 percent of its direct grain purchases.
Efforts like these to improve water quality, soil health and fertilizer efficiency create shared value throughout the supply chain, from grain buyers, to agribusiness companies, to farmers themselves.
Across more than 3.6 million acres of corn, EDF’s partnerships have:
- Reduced fertilizer loss, while maintaining or increasing crop yields.
- Improved soil health to reduce erosion and better replenish groundwater.
- Implemented conservation practices, such as cover crops, to help protect farms from the effects of extreme weather.
Thanks to new technologies and programs, farmers now have many different tools to help optimize their fertilizer use.
Act when it matters most
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If you go back to the origins, the difficulty in merging gravity with the other forces mostly stems from general relativity being a purely geometric theory -- again, that's in its original form -- and all the other forces being quantum, by which I mostly mean they are conveyed by well-defined force particles. The photon as the particle that conveys the electromagnetic field is the simplest example, but the idea carries over very well to both the weak and strong forces.
General relativity in contrast works very, very well without even invoking such concepts, or for that matter particles in general. As Einstein formulated it, GR really, truly is all about curved spaces.
By analogy it was subsequently assumed -- I think sometime back in the 1960s or perhaps 1950s? -- that gravity must also have a quantum form, but it's always been an assumption, not an absolute proof, a sort of "it worked here, and here, and here... so surely it also works just as well for the last force, gravity?"
But it's a bit tough to bridge such a huge gap. It's reasonably easy to provide a general description of gravity as a universally attractive force, although even there you quickly get into odd infinity problems not seen with other forces. But if you do that... what happened to all that part about the space being curved? The simplest possible all-attractive quantum force model would simply keep space as a rigid framework and do everything pretty much as with the electromagnetic force, only with a single type of charge (mass).
So, you can do one (curved space), or you can do the other (universal graviton-mediated quantum attraction), but it's not trivial to do both. And no matter how you do it, the other forces don't directly bend space, which keeps gravity pretty unique.
Consequently, the details never seem to work out quite right, and many books have been written about why that might be. | <urn:uuid:a182b84e-a3bb-42f6-afea-3edeba9fd045> | CC-MAIN-2015-40 | http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/55213/why-is-gravity-so-hard-to-unify-with-the-other-3-fundamental-forces/55225 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-40/segments/1443736676622.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20151001215756-00060-ip-10-137-6-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971343 | 393 | 2.609375 | 3 |
The First Day of Second Grade
- Grades: 1–2
The pencils are sharpened, the name tags are written, and butterflies are dancing in your stomach. It's the First Day of Second Grade for your new students, and you are probably as nervous as they are going to be. Every year, some things change and some things stay the same. This year, it's possible that I will have up to twenty-nine students. I've rearranged my furniture and organized and planned. Now, I'm ready. Are you?
BLOG CANDY WINNER ANNOUNCED.
The 1st Day of 2nd Grade
The first day — even the first week — of school is an adjustment period. The students are getting to know me and I am getting to know them. We learn the procedures for things in our classroom and the rules for out on the playground. We settle into an easy routine before the beginning of the year assessments begin and the curriculum becomes fast paced and demanding. Many times, students are still trying to enroll, and the staff in the office (bless their infinite patience) send students to their new classes all of that first week and partly into the second.
A Peek Into My First Day of School
When the students come in, they find their name tag on a table near the door and then choose a desk. The students' desks are in two large table groups. On their desks are two easy worksheets, a small tub of Play-Doh, and a pencil box with two pencils, an eraser, and a small box of crayons.
Parents are invited to come in the first day to take pictures and say the pledge with us. I ask them to tell their children what they are doing for lunch and where they are going after school to get picked up. Then the kids say good-bye and get started on their math worksheet. After Back to School Night, we will begin study hall in the mornings. There will be dedicated posts on Back to School Night and study hall in September.
Patchwork Math is an excellent sponge activity and can be used at many times during the year. The kids get a review of addition and subtraction and look forward to coloring the page according to the key. The coloring greatly motivates kids to finish the math problems.
After everyone is working quietly and I am done taking roll and the lunch count, we have our Morning Meeting. We talk about student numbers, sitting on the carpet, lining up, and hanging up our backpacks. Then we practice each of these things.
We play a game called Mingo that is great for grades 2–5. I downloaded it from Scholastic when they had some free back-to-school printables last year. You can download it here. There are some other great first day/first week activities included with the Mingo directions and black line master.
After the icebreaker, I will choose some procedures to model and practice with my students. The first day, it's usually where and how to line up in class, lining up after a recess, sitting on the carpet, and my attention signal. We will also talk about school rules and classroom consequences. Every day, I choose about five procedures to teach, model, and practice with the students. We also play a quick icebreaker game or complete a get-to-know-you activity every day the first week of school.
Before recess, we take a tour of the school and playground. We review the rules for playing on the equipment. This helps little ones who have forgotten the rules, minimizes the number of playground incidents, and helps the teachers on recess duty. It also allows students new to our school to get a preview of the rules. I assign a buddy to any new students, and I hand out their snacks as I release them to recess.
When recess is over, we have P.E. I will show them their assigned spot and we will do a little stretching. My first unit of P.E. is Playground Games. We learn how to play handball, as well as other recess games, and how to use all the equipment properly. We pick a different game to play as a class, and learn and practice the school rules together.
After P.E., the students come into class and join me on the carpet for Read Aloud time. Below are some of my first week read-alouds. These titles are also on a downloadable booklist I created on Scholastic's List Exchange.
After lunch, my class has silent reading. At the beginning of the year, we read for about 10 minutes. Gradually, I increase the time until we are at about 30 minutes. During this time, I will pull students to a corner of the room and take their pictures.
After silent reading, we will draw self-portraits, and I will share my "All About Me" poster. If I have time, I have them do some writing about themselves to go with their "First Day of School" photos. Writing usually takes a long time at the beginning of the year, so I do a lot of modeling.
By late afternoon of the first day, the kids are wilted and their attention is flagging. Most of them are showing me signs that they need a little down time. So, I show a short video. The Scholastic Teacher Store has a nice selection of DVDs by Weston Woods. The DVDs have three or four books that are animated. They are available throughout the year in the book catalog, so I use my bonus points to purchase them. I like to have these on hand for our parties, a sub, and the first week of school. I like to use Back to School Stories and Stories About Growing Up the first week. If your school subscribes to Discovery Education, all of the Weston Woods videos are available to download or stream.
I hope that you feel excited, organized, and prepared for your first day and first week of school. Thank you for visiting. Join me next week as I take you on a tour of my finished classroom.
BLOG CANDY WINNER!
The winner of 20 Judy clocks is . . . Rebecca!
Thank you for your comments! Rebecca, please post your mailing address in the comments, and I will ship it out to you. (I will not make your comment with your address public for others to see.) Congratulations! | <urn:uuid:5943775b-cea7-49a4-b287-dbd84f64f017> | CC-MAIN-2015-18 | http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/classroom-solutions/2010/08/first-day-second-grade | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-18/segments/1429246651873.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20150417045731-00233-ip-10-235-10-82.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971801 | 1,324 | 3.015625 | 3 |
I have a new article out co-authored with Peder Roberts (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) on the many attempts and plans by Norwegians to move animals to and from the Arctic during the Interwar period. We teamed up together on this because while I had looked into the muskoxen relocated from East Greenland to Svalbard and the plans to introduce lemmings and rabbits as fox food on Svalbard, Peder had done work on penguin, seal, and reindeer relocations involving the Antarctic. The sheer number of these attempts was mind boggling.
In 1922, the Arctic explorer and ethnographer Vilhjalmur Stefansson published his book The Northward Course of Empire in which he argued that the North had been greatly misunderstood and could become a seat of great civilisation. After all, he argued, civilization had been moving further and further north into the colder regions over human history.
The North, rather than being a barren wasteland devoid of vegetation, was a green space. The trick, Stefansson argued, was to turn the vegetation to productive use:
The realization kept gradually growing on me that one of the chief problems of the world, and particularly one of the chief problems of Canada and Siberia, is to begin to make use of all the vast quantities of grass that go to waste in the North every year. The obvious thing is to find some domestic animal that will eat the grass. Then when the animal is big and fat it should be butchered and shipped where the food is needed. (48)
Stefansson believed cattle and sheep were not the answer to this problem because of the problem of feeding and sheltering them during the winter. Traditional crop plants could also not withstand the frosts. Instead he decided that the solution to this waste was the widespread domestication of reindeer and muskox in the North.
Stefansson began actively promoting the animals after World War I. With his encouragement, the Canadian Department of the Interior set up a royal commission in 1919 to study the possibilities and they issued their final report in 1922. The report comes out more in favour of reindeer than muskox because of prior work domesticating reindeer, but it also encouraged further investigation of industrial possibilities for muskox domestication.
Stefansson may have first become acquainted with muskoxen (which he called ovibos based on the Latin name because he disliked the ‘musk’ and ‘ox’ connotations of the regular name) during his time in the Mackenzie Delta of Canada in 1906-1907. The presence of a hand-colored lantern slide of a muskox herd dated 1906 in his collection at Dartmouth College makes this likely. Stefansson had eaten plenty of muskox on his various Arctic expeditions and offered the opinion that “not one person in ten could even when on his guard tell an ovibos steak from a beefsteak” (The Friendly Arctic, 585). He also noted that muskox wool (qiviut) was high quality, although it was difficult to collect and spin because it was mixed with longer hairs. In his descriptions of muskox in The Freindly Arctic (1921) and The Northward Course of Empire (1922), he claimed that the animals do not roam in search of pasture, seldom attack, and seldom flee. All in all, the muskox was the perfect animal to make the North productive:
When we sum up the qualities of ovibos, we see that here is an animal unbelievably suited to the requirements of domestication–unbelievably because we are so habituated to thinking of cow and the sheep as the ideal domestic animals that the possibility of a better one strikes us as an absurdity. We have milk richer than that of cows and similar in flavor, and more abundant than that of certain milk animas that are now used, such as sheep and reindeer; wool probably equal in quality and perhaps greater in quantity than that of domestic sheep; two or three times as much meat to the animal as with sheep, and the flavor and other qualities those of beef. When you add to this that the animal does not roam in search of pasture, that the bulls are less dangerous than the bulls of domestic cattle because they are not inclined to charge, and that they defend themselves so successfully again packs of wolves that the wolves understand the situation and do not even try to attack, it appears that they combine practically every virtue of the cow and the sheep and excel them at several points. (The Friendly Arctic, 587)
With a pitch like that, it’s a wonder everyone didn’t run out and buy a muskox! Although Stefansson may sound like he is overselling his product, others would adopt very similar language in touting the muskox as Svalbard’s future meat supply in the late 1920 and the next knitting industry of northern Norway in the 1960s. Even in 1946, Stefansson was still promoting muskox as a domestic animal, this time saying that it was “the most promising animal for New England” in an article in Harper’s Magazine. Stefansson’s vision was directly transmitted to John Teal Jr., who started an experimental farm in Vermont in 1954 to raise muskoxen and later moved his operation to Alaska.
The vision of turning the ‘unused’ land of the North into a fruitful Arctic was powerful. It encouraged both domestication and reintroduction projects of muskoxen in Norway, Alaska, and Canada over the course of the 20th century. The land of snow and ice would be a land of meat and wool.
Engineering nature has been a long-term preoccupation of humans. In my research, this is most obvious in the case of muskoxen, which were imported to the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard in 1929 primarily as a future meat source (although politics certainly factored in). As in many 19th century acclimatisation projects that had gone before in North America and Australia, establishing muskox on Svalbard was believed to be the way to make the barren landscape productive. Many people adopted positive outlooks toward nature-improvement schemes, like proverbial lemmings following each other off a cliff (which, by the way, lemmings don’t actually do).
Adolf Hoel, the founder of the Norwegian Polar Institute, and other scientists of the early 20th century didn’t stop at relocating muskox onto Svalbard. They were ready to re-make nature into desirable and productive landscapes with intervention even further down the food chain.
In a meeting of scientists at the Svalbard office on 19 September 1937, Hoel led a discussion about the possibility of bringing lemmings from East Greenland to Svalbard. Although lemmings existed on the Norwegian mainland where they are prey for the Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus), no rodents lived on Svalbard. On Svalbard as well as Iceland and northern and western Greenland, Arctic foxes live off of seabirds and their eggs. The “coastal foxes” which feed on birds/eggs and the “lemming foxes” which predate mainly on lemmings are the same species, but they exhibit different life-history traits, reproductive strategies, and movement patterns.
Hoel’s thought was that a lemming population would provide food for the Svalbard foxes, which were a primary target of Norwegian fur hunters, leading to both an increase in the fox population and a decrease in the fox predation on seabird eggs, which were also valuable for hunters.
The zoologist Dr. Ole Olstad expressed some concern about the fox population becoming more variable if it switched prey from birds (which had stable reproduction cycles) to lemmings (which have boom and bust reproductive cycles). Hoel assured Olstad that East Greenland foxes did not have large population swings, at least as shown by the numbers of foxes killed by hunters which appeared extremely consistent from year to year. Olstad then agreed that he had no objections to importing lemmings to Svalbard. There were no comments on the lemming importation from the other meeting participants.
Nothing seems to have come of the proposal. My guess is that Hoel and the associated scientists were too busy with other animal translocations like bringing more muskoxen to the Dovre mountains to follow through with the idea. In the end, no lemmings were brought to Svalbard. Although a small population of sibling voles (Microtus rossiameridinalis) was accidentally introduced some time before 1960, perhaps by Russian supply ships to their colonists per Fregda et al. 1990, there are still no large colonies of rodents on Svalbard. Yet the foxes seem to be doing just fine without them, with stable abundant populations across the islands. The foxes didn’t need lemmings as much as Hoel and the others thought they did.
Sometimes not following the crowd ends up on a better path.
Thanks to Peder Roberts for copying documents in the Norwegian State Archives, Tromsø, that brought the lemming scheme to light.
All of the muskox calves that eventually came to Norway and Sweden as reintroduction objects originated in East Greenland. So it is there that the return of the Nordic muskox begins.
East Greenland first became a Norwegian whaling location then seal hunting grounds in the late 19th century. During the winters on Greenland, hunters and their dogs required food – and the muskox became their favorite prey. According to a hunter’s account quoted in Elisabeth Hone’s The Present Status of the Muskox in Arctic North America and Greenland (1934), sled dogs needed 2 pounds of muskox meet every day, which for a team of 8-12 dogs, meant consuming 20 pounds a day. Such a high demand and the lack of other suitable prey led to a literal muskox slaughter.
Particularly in the 1920s and 1930s, when the rising value of arctic fox pelts encouraged fox farming in East Greenland, the killing of muskox for meat escalated. In addition to muskox feeding the men and dogs, they were also consumed by the foxes. In one 12-month span, an estimated 130 muskox were consumed to support an operation raising 60 foxes. In his comprehensive history Muskoxen and Their Hunters (1999), Peter Lent estimated 12,000 muskox were killed in East Greenland between 1924 and 1939.
It was within this context that muskox calves were captured alive for translocation. Approximately 350 calves were taken alive from East Greenland prior to 1940, some destined for zoos or private collections and others headed for release in Alaska and Norway (including Svalbard which was claimed by both Norway and Russia). The Norwegian releases included: 10 released on the island of Gurskoy near Ålesund in 1925 & 1926 (all died by 1927); 17 released on Svalbard in 1929 (the last of the Svalbard herd was seen in mid-1980s); and 10 released in 1932 in the Dovre mountains (all died by end of WW2, but more brought afterward and they are still present).
I’d previously asked why these animals were brought to Norway and wrote that the newspaper sources suggested meat was the primary answer. An unpublished manuscript in the Norwegian Polar Institute Library from 1933 by Adolf Hoel, founder of the Norges Svalbard- og Ishavsundersøkelser which became the Norwegian Polar Institute, and the instigator of the muskox reintroduction project, confirms that economic interests — the muskox as meat — played a big role in the project, but it seems keeping muskox as meat in East Greenland rather than having the muskox meat in Norway was paramount:
In recent years people have continuously discussed the best way to preserve the rare species, musk ox, from becoming extinct. In Norway, this query has also aroused great interest both because we are like other cultural people interested in nature conservation and animal protection, and because Norwegians more than other people move and live in the areas in Greenland where musk oxen live.
In Norway it is thus not just for curiosity’s sake that you want to keep it interesting and useful species, but for us Norwegians there is also a major financial interest that a rich population of musk oxen is preserved in Greenland – as large as it can be to utilise the available rangeland. Such a muskox population would not diminish with harvesting for fresh meat along with bear and seal meat for the people living in those areas where the musk ox live. We therefore need to to protect this animal population not only for curiosity’s sake, but also for its economic importance and the enrichment of Greenland’s complete nature and wildlife.
The way to achieve this conservation, according to Hoel, was knowledge, “But if it could happen, but first and foremost acquire knowledge of the muskox’s nature and living conditions in Greenland.” Thus, Hoel actively promoted scientific ventures to East Greenland to study muskox, but in addition, he brought muskox to Svalbard and Norway as other “measures to preserve the musk ox population from extinction.” These reintroduction projects included scientific monitoring and oversight, particularly in the Dovre mountains case in which a zoologist and a veterinarian were charged with monitoring the project. It was indeed a “Norwegian Musk-Ox Experiment,” as John Teal titled an article in 1954.
The East Greenland hunt for muskox dominated the thinking about muskox conservation in Norway. To this day, the hunt surrounds the visitor to the Polar Museum in Tromsø, as muskox skulls, skins, and stuffed bodies seem to stand out in every corner. The hunt becomes the mode of telling the muskox’s story, but does that mode make us more or less aware of the muskox’s history? Take a look at some pictures of the muskox in the Polar Museum and see what you think. And compare those with the graphic display of a seal hunt in the same museum, a display which upset my 6-year-old who is peering over the wall in shock that a man would kill a baby seal. Do the muskox become specimens extracted out of time or are they still grounded in the great Greenland hunt?
Because the archive didn’t open until noon today, I stopped by the Frösö zoo, a local privately-owned zoo which opened in 1960. The zoo has a “Nature room”, which the owners label as the only biological museum in northern Sweden. So I wanted to pop in and see if they happened to have beavers or muskox in their display, since I knew that they did not have live specimens of either one in the zoo.
I had expected to see the beavers. They are a common component of museums in Sweden as far as I can tell. At Frösö, the group of beavers inhabiting the “Middle Northland” (basically meaning ‘local’) section of the packed-to-the-teeth diorama was pretty standard, happily chewing on wood. No surprises there. More interesting was the muskox, whose placement was much more surprising.
The muskox stands in the last section of the exhibit in the area labelled as ‘Svalbard’. A sign upon entering said that the exhibit was set up as a journey from ‘Skåne to Svalbard’ — which is a nice alliteration but kind of silly since Skåne and Mid-Sweden are in, well, Sweden and Svalbard is not. In any case, that’s how they set up the exhibit and the muskox appears as one of the largest animals in Svalbard (there is also a polar bear which is standing so it looks exceptionally large).
What’s exceptional about this is that the exhibit was opened in 1986 … and the last known sighting of muskox on Svalbard was in 1985. The first reintroduction of muskox had taken place in 1929 with the release of 17 calves captured in Greenland. The herd appeared to thrive: according to reports in 1936, the herd had grown to 30, and by the mid-1960s, there were anywhere from 50 to 100. Suddenly the population declined in the 1970s and the whole group died out by 1985. At the same time, the breakaway herd of muskox from Norway had come over to Härjedalen (the adjacent county) in 1971 and stayed. So in 1985, there were actually muskox in the neighborhood, so to speak.
Thus when the exhibit opened, this muskox was placed in exactly the wrong place. Although muskox had been reintroduced to Svalbard, they were no longer there, so did the muskox belong there? At the same time, live muskox were currently inhabiting mid-Sweden, so did the muskox belong in that part of the exhibit instead?
Some reintroduced animals, like the beaver, have quickly been integrated into exhibits. I’ve seen them in lots of museums in Sweden. But clearly the muskox wasn’t seen as a Swedish animal by Rune Netterström who set up the exhibit. In the Biologiska Museet in Stockholm, muskox appear only as part of the ‘Greenland’ diorama rather than in the Swedish landscape because they were not in Sweden at the time the museum was designed. Nothing has been changed since that initial design even though the animal’s ranges have changed.
More broadly, this should make us think harder about how animal exhibits are put together. Where do we place animals whose geographies have changed, whether by our doing or theirs? If animals move to new places because of climate change (and let’s hope they do so that they don’t die out), will we be willing to relabel our exhibits? Because our named places (like Mellan Norrland) are associated with particular habitats, are we going to have to rethink which habitats and animals we show in the future? Are we willing to place ‘exotic’ species that are a common occurrence in the landscape in our dioramas so that we show what’s really out there?
The Frösö zoo muskox stands among Svalbard’s animal life as the last muskox, gazing toward the Mid-Sweden exhibit where muskox currently live. It is a misplaced specimen without a home. | <urn:uuid:81ecf437-5923-49d6-a20d-2faa8a661850> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://dolly.jorgensenweb.net/nordicnature/?cat=22 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593655886706.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20200704201650-20200704231650-00440.warc.gz | en | 0.973952 | 3,929 | 3.171875 | 3 |
Anthony Smith, an academic counselor at Berkeley High School has been helping teachers prepare for parent conferences for more than a decade. When it comes to teachers making these conferences meaningful for all parties involved, here are some tips to help teachers prepare.
- Parents are your friends and want to partner with you to help their children succeed academically. These conferences might be an opportunity for you to reflect on your beliefs about parents. However, you want to remember to put those beliefs aside when you engage with them and welcome them as your ally.
- Make sure you know what your objective is for the time you have with the parents. Be clear on what you want to communicate and what you want the outcome of the meeting to be. Make sure you prepare your materials ahead of time so you can make the most of your time.
- If you are having a specific issue with a child, you need to be able to offer specific actionable solutions to the parents. You have to be specific when you are asking for change.
- Show that you care about them and their child’s success. Be specific in the positive data that you share with the parents and make sure that you truly feel this positivity.
These conferences are a way for you to communicate with your student’s parents and learn a little more about them. Take the time to prepare and get the most out of every meeting. Antony Smith Berkeley has been working with parents and teachers as an academic counselor for more than a decade. | <urn:uuid:0c5536cf-70ca-404a-b35a-e00dc4afd4fd> | CC-MAIN-2017-22 | https://anthonysmithberkeley.wordpress.com/tag/communicate/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463608652.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20170526090406-20170526110406-00401.warc.gz | en | 0.969492 | 303 | 2.625 | 3 |
There has been significant technology advances in fabrication of biomaterials for use in various medical prosthesis applications. Unfortunately, most of the available biomaterials are susceptible to numerous infections which render most of them unfit for medical use. This has resulted in unsafe repeated surgical operations and permanent malformations. This has attracted significant attention of many researchers with the aim of reducing infection resulting from the biomaterials.
Despite the use of strict aseptic surgical procedures and antibiotic prophylaxis, the infection rate has still been on the rise. To this end, researchers have been looking for an alternative method for developing biomaterials with surface antibacterial functions to prevent bacterial infections. Among the available materials for the joint prosthesis and fracture fixation, silver nanoparticles are the commonly used antibacterial agent owing to its excellent properties including low resistance and longer lifespan. However, the addition of silver to titanium material has been identified as a good approach not only for improving the antibacterial property but also to reduce corrosion and release of ions in the surgical wounds.
To this note, several techniques such as plasma injection and ion-beam-assisted deposition have been developed for producing nano-silver coatings on the titanium surface. However, the methods are associated with some limitations like poor bonding of the coating to the substrate and uncontrolled release of silver ions which may result in further infections and medical complications. Friction stir processing technique for processing matrix nanocomposites has been recently identified with the potential of overcoming the aforementioned limitations. Even though it has been widely used in other applications like aerospace, its applicability in the medical field has not been fully explored. Consequently, the effects of surfaces modified by friction stir processing method on adhesion and increase of bacteria have not been investigated.
Recently, a group of researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University led by Professor Liqiang Wang and Professor Yuanfei Fu utilized friction stir processing method to deposit silver nanoparticles on titanium substrate. They further investigated the effects of friction stir processing and the addition of silver nanoparticles to titanium surface on the microstructure, corrosion, and antibacterial properties. They managed to improve the antibacterial property of the nanocomposite. The work is published in the journal, ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.
The authors observed that the silver nanoparticles were homogenously distributed on the titanium surface. Both friction stir processing and the addition of silver increased the corrosion resistance of the modified samples. For instance, the sample reduced the bacterial strain and adhesion with no any resulting cytotoxicity to the bone stem cells. Furthermore, the release of silver ions had negligible effects on the antibacterial effect as compared to the number of deposited silver nanoparticles on the surface.
The study by Zhi Yang and colleagues will therefore advance fabrication of biomaterials with high-level biocompatibility and improved antibacterial properties for medical applications. The approach is promising for efficient controlling the cytotoxicity of the infection-related biomaterials due to its excellent properties like good corrosion resistance, cytocompatibility and desired antibacterial capability.
Yang, Z., Gu, H., Sha, G., Lu, W., Yu, W., & Zhang, W., Fu, Y., Wang, K., & Wang, L. (2018). TC4/Ag Metal Matrix Nanocomposites Modified by Friction Stir Processing: Surface Characterization, Antibacterial Property, and Cytotoxicity in Vitro. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 10(48), 41155-41166.Go To ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces | <urn:uuid:e5f81194-d5b6-4931-a542-3faced7e4035> | CC-MAIN-2019-04 | https://advanceseng.com/noble-biomaterial-tc4-ag-metal-matrix-nanocomposites/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-04/segments/1547583658702.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20190117041621-20190117063621-00472.warc.gz | en | 0.920703 | 718 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Examples of types of habitats and vegetation on the Manhood coastal plain
Woodland, hedgerows and road verges
Woodland and hedgerows are vital habitats for much of our wildlife. Unfortunately, many have disappeared from our countryside over recent years. Those remaining should be treasured! Road verges have become increasingly important as alternative habitats to intensively farmed fields and many Counties now manage these sympathetically for nature.
Saline lagoons and reed beds
The Severals, just behind the shingle bank on the Selsey side of Pagham Harbour, are good examples of saline lagoons, providing protected nesting sites for waterfowl and swans as well as being home for a strong water vole population.
Rifes ponds and ditches
The Manhood area has many rifes and ditches crossing and bordering the large areas of agricultural land and these can provide a rich habitat for many voles and plant species. Surveying have revealed good populations for bank and water voles in many areas along these channels. Ponds are also very important habitats, not just for amphibians and voles, but many birds and bats depend on the insect life found over open water. Many ponds have fallen into neglect in the past and one of the group’s projects is to resurrect and manage them to reclaim the valuable habitat.
Tidal Mud Flats
Pagham Harbour is a wonderful example of tidal mud flats, providing rich feeding grounds for wading birds, both native and migrant when the tide is out.
Arable land and urban wildlife areas.
With many modern agricultural practices wildlife gets squeezed out of the countryside and into more urban settings. Foxes and Sparrow Hawks are two species seen more and more commonly in our gardens. | <urn:uuid:bbf6c436-b8f9-4092-a5e0-a883a6aa555b> | CC-MAIN-2017-39 | http://mwhg.org.uk/coastal-plain-habitats/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-39/segments/1505818691830.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20170925130433-20170925150433-00233.warc.gz | en | 0.941849 | 362 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Cells derived from pig bladders served as surgically implanted scaffolding to recruit native stem cells to help build muscle in the legs of five severely injured soldiers and civilians, researchers reported.
Three out of five patients with lower limb volumetric muscle loss experienced a measurable improvement in the ability to stand, walk, and climb stairs 6 months after surgical placement of porcine extracellular matrix (ECM) scaffolding, according to Stephen F. Badylak, MD, of the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues.
The pig cells boosted ability of native stem cells to form dense muscle tissue, he said.
Procedural implantation of porcine ECM scaffolding showed promise in rodent testing prior to this small pre-clinical human trial, which researchers presented online in Science Translational Medicine.
"When you lose so much muscle that the gap is too large for the normal restorative processes to occur, the end result is typically filling that gap with scar tissue," Badylak said in a press conference. "[We found] an effective method for restoring ... new functional enervated and vascularized muscle tissue, using an approach that does not involve the delivery of any cells."
Badylak said that as the pig cells degraded they released peptides, which served as a homing device to recruit the body's endogenous stem cells to the injury site.
All five of the patients were male and had experienced anywhere from 58% to 90% of leg muscle loss from a serious injury at least 6 months prior to the experimental procedure.
For example, two men were injured by an IED while on active military duty, two had serious skiing accidents, and one had an exercise-related injury. Each patient also underwent unsuccessful multiple surgeries and physical therapy prior to receiving ECM scaffolding.
Prior to the scaffolding procedure, all of the patients participated in a custom-designed 12 to 16 week physical therapy program, and post procedure had additional physical therapy beginning 24 to 48 hours after surgery. Post-surgical physical therapy ranged from 5 to 23 weeks.
"The shortest time from injury to treatment for one individual was 13 months, and the longest was 7 years," Badylak said.
"As the stem and progenitor cells are recruited into the remodeling site, when those cells get there they depend upon local environmental cues to say, 'OK, now that I'm here, what do you want me to do?' and one of the most important cues is the mechanical force that is asked of the site.
"If that doesn't happen when they [the cells] get there, and they don't get those signals, they can turn into anything else: fat tissue, cartilage, bone," Badylak said.
The researchers stressed the need for a scar tissue-free area, with adjacent healthy tissue for the ECM scaffolding to take. "It's got to have a blood supply; [it's] got to be enervated," Badylak said. "If you put this material in the middle of a scar, all it's going to do is turn into more scar."
Success was measured by 25% improvement in day-to-day activities like getting out of a chair, taking steps, and being able to walk up stairs. All functional metrics were achieved by three of the patients. However, the two patients who were called failures obtained more than 25% improvement in all of their tasks except one, according to Badylak.
MRI, CT scans, and naked-eye observation confirmed the density of new tissue growth in the muscles.
While working on the rodent model, the Brian Sicari, MD, and Badylak identified perivascular stem cells, which were used in the remodeling process for the scaffold. "What's unique about these cells is that they're found in all vascularized tissues of the bodies," Sicari said in the press conference.
The researchers told reporters porcine ECM materials are being used in other surgeries including repair of abdominal wall hernias, breast reconstruction, and repair of chest wall defects caused by tumor resection.
Funding support was provided by the Department of Defense, the US Department of the Interior, National Business Center, Acquisition Services Directorate, Sierra Vista Branch. Authors were supported by National Institute of Medicine grants. Badylak reported receiving honoraria from ACell for seminars. No other authors declared relevant financial conflicts of interest.
Science Translational Medicine
Source Reference: Badylak SF, et al "An acellular biologic scafforl promotes skeletal muscle formation in mice and humans with volumetric muscle loss" Sci Transl Med 2014; DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3008085. | <urn:uuid:f4af3fa8-0a1b-4985-af9d-1379dc5cec49> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://www.medpagetoday.com/neurology/generalneurology/45509 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764499695.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20230128220716-20230129010716-00196.warc.gz | en | 0.965511 | 977 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Chemical structure of oleic acid
Oleic acid (18 carbon atoms) was recognized in pork fat by Chevreul M.E. in 1823 while the structure was elucidated later by the works of Baruch J. (1894) and Edmed F.G. (1898); it was synthesized for the first time by Noller C.R. et al. in 1934.
It is a monounsaturated (one cis double bond, from the methyl end is in n-9 or omega 9 (ω-9) so in shorthand 18:1n-9) fatty acid member of the sub-group called long chain fatty acids (LCFA) (from 14 to 18 carbon atoms).
Properties of oleic acid
Molecular weight: 282.46136 g/mol
Molecular formula: C18H34O2
IUPAC name: (Z)-octadec-9-enoic acid
CAS registry number: 112-80-1
In the pure form is a colorless or nearly colorless liquid insoluble in water, with boiling point at 286 °C (546.8 °F; 559.15 K) at 100 mm Hg. In the solid state its melting point is at 4 °C (39.2 °F; 312.35 K) (ref. Merck, thirteenth edition; other sources report a melting point at 16 °C (60.8 °F; 289.15 K), likely referred to not pure form available in commerce and containing 7-12% saturated acids, e.g., stearic, palmitic and also some linoleic, etc., unsaturated fatty acids).
Other names of oleic acid
- cis-9-Octadecenoic acid
- 9Z-octadecenoic acid
- 9-octadecylenic acid
Synthesis of oleic acid
Oleic acid is by far the most widely distributed and abundant fatty acid in nature (few fats known to contain less than 10%) where it is mainly found as glycerol ester. It is a Δ9 desaturase product of stearic acid and is the the precursor of most polyunsaturated fatty acids (or PUFA): plants produce both omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids from it while animals can elongate and desaturated it to form a variety of omega-9 fatty acids. The high content is found in olive oil, about 60-70%, but is present also in nut oil and almond (abundant), canola oil, sesame oil, cocoa butter, lard and, to a less extent, in palm oil, tallow, safflower oil and soybean oil.
Note: the chief sources of oleic acid in foods must be extra-virgin olive oil, the tastiest cooking oil.
Health benefits of oleic acid
From the health standpoint oleic acid, that is extra-virgin olive oil, when replaced saturated fats lowers total cholesterol and LDL (acronym of Low Density Lipoprotein) levels, bad cholesterol, while raises HDL (acronym of High Density Lipoprotein) levels, good cholesterol, and slows the development of heart disease.
Oleic acid, with linoleic and palmitic acids, is one of the three most abundant fatty acids in triacylglycerols of the fat and plasma lipoproteins.
Akoh C.C. and Min D.B. “Food lipids: chemistry, nutrition, and biotechnology” 3th ed. 2008
Chow Ching K. “Fatty acids in foods and their health implication” 3th ed. 2008 | <urn:uuid:eeafe831-4b35-4fe7-8c50-f234e8d3767e> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | http://www.tuscany-diet.net/lipids/list-of-fatty-acids/oleic/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257644701.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20180317055142-20180317075142-00212.warc.gz | en | 0.89156 | 789 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Breast milk contains almost everything your baby needs for development and good health, including water, protein, carbohydrates, fat, minerals, active enzymes, hormones, growth factos, antimicrobial factors, and vitamins.
However, breast milk typically only contains about 25 IU of vitamin D per litre, or less – much lower than the daily recommended dietary intake. That’s why Health Canada recommends that all breastfed babies receive a supplement of 400 IU of vitamin D every day until their first birthday, or until their diet provides 400 IU of vitamin D from other sources.
Health Canada recommends giving breastfed babies 400 IU (10 mcg) of vitamin D per day until the age of 1, or until the infant’s diet includes at least 400 IU (10 mcg) of vitamin D from other sources.
That means that if you’re breastfeeding, you should begin giving your baby a vitamin D supplement from birth.
Every child is different, which is why PediaVitTM offers two ways to deliver the recommended daily intake of vitamin D.
PediaVitTM Vitamin D3 Drops provide the full daily dose of vitamin D (400 IU) in a single drop. The drop is administered using a specially designed gravity bottle, which ensures a precise dose of vitamin D every time – no measuring required.
PediaVitTM D3 also provides the full daily dose of vitamin D, with 400 IU of vitamin D3 per millilitre. PediaVitTM D3 is administered using a dropper, and the supplement can be added to your child’s beverage or food, or directly into their mouth (it has a cherry flavour).
Absolutely. PediaVitTM D3, PediaVitTM Multi and PediaFerTM Iron Supplement can all be added to beverages or food – do whatever works best for your routine and your child.
PediaVitTM Vitamin D3 Drops should be administered with a single drop on either a nipple (breast or bottle) or fingertip, rather than added directly to food or beverages.
PediaVitTM Multi contains 750 IU of vitamin A, 30 mg of vitamin C and 400 IU of vitamin D. There are no mineral supplements in PediaVitTM Multi.
The dose recommendations for PediaVitTM supplements are based on Health Canada’s daily recommended dietary intake of vitamin D, vitamin A, vitamin C and iron. Those recommendations are based on age, not weight. However, if you are concerned that your child may be getting too much or too little of a specific vitamin, or iron, talk to your doctor.
PediaVitTM Vitamin D3 Drops do not contain:
artificial flavours, artificial preservatives, gluten, lactose or milk, corn or starch, sugar, sweeteners, wheat or yeast.
PediaVitTM D3, PediaVitTM Multi and PediaFerTM Iron Supplement do not contain:
peanuts or nuts, aspartame, shellfish or fish, gluten, lactose, parabens or soy.
If you are unsure if your child has an allergy to one of the other ingredients in a PediaVitTM product, consult your doctor before use.
PediaVitTM supplements should be stored upright at room temperature (between 15 °C and 30 °C).
PediaVitTM Vitamin D3 Drops should be stored out of reach of children.
PediaVitTM D3, PediaVitTM Multi and PediaFerTM Iron Supplement come with a child-resistant package and dropper. | <urn:uuid:bd31592f-3710-40df-93b6-c5b46992a41e> | CC-MAIN-2018-09 | http://pediavit.ca/en/faq/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-09/segments/1518891813109.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20180220224819-20180221004819-00305.warc.gz | en | 0.89431 | 743 | 2.578125 | 3 |
This page is a shortened and simplified version of the paper by Davies et al. 2013, published by the Geological Society of London.
Glacial landsystems | | Methods | Sediment-landform assemblages | Processes of landscape evolution | Glacial-paraglacial-periglacial interactions | Character and behaviour of the LGM ice sheet | Conclusions | Full citation | References | Comments
A landsystems approach encourages looking at the whole of a landscape to understand how it formed. A landsystems approach means understanding the landforms around, how they were formed (process-form relationships), through analysing both the sediments and the landforms. A series of sediment-landform assemblages make up a landsystem. Landsystems use modern landscapes to understand geomorphological processes, and characterise the terrain with repeated patterns of these sediment-landform assemblages 1,2.
Polar deserts were widespread during the time of the last glaciation, and are present today, both in the Arctic and the Antarctic. However, geomorphological processes are poorly understood in polar deserts, and the interrelationship between glacial, periglacial and paraglacial processes is poorly understood. The ‘paraglacial period’ responds to that period of readjustment from glacial to non-glacial conditions, with the reworking and relaxation of glacial sediments and landforms, such as steep, debris-mantled cliffs and large fluvial systems3. The ‘Periglacial environment’ refers to environments where the ground remains frozen for more than two years in a row, typically with the upper metre of so of the ground thawing in the summer season.
James Ross Island
James Ross Island is located on the northern Antarctic Peninsula. It lies east of the Trinity Peninsula mountains on the Antarctic Peninsula, and these mountains shield the island from precipitation. This is one of the reasons why the island has large ice-free areas. You can use the Google Map below to explore the ice-free portions of James Ross Island.
View Larger Map
The Ulu Peninsula on James Ross Island is relatively accessible, and is one of the largest ice-free regions in the northern Antarctic Peninsula. It therefore provides an ideal opportunity to investigate palaeo- and modern geomorphological and sedimentological processes. This holistic study presents a new conceptual landsystem model for James Ross Island. The aim of this work4 is to provide a modern analogue to aid the interpretation and understanding of ancient polar deserts, and through interrogation of this, to present new data regarding the character and behaviour of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet through the Last Glacial Maximum and Holocene Epoch.
Study area characteristics
James Ross Island (NE Antarctic Peninsula) has a cold, polar-continental climate5, and it is strongly influenced by the large mountains on Trinity Peninsula. These mountains form a barrier to the relatively warm, moist air on the western Antarctic Peninsula6,7. James Ross Island is separated from Trinity Peninsula by the deep Prince Gustav Channel, which is 4-8 km wide and 450-1200 m deep8. Mean annual air temperatures are around -7°C, and can reach up to +8°C in January, with more than 200 positive degree days and 100 freeze-thaw days per year9,10. It is a semi-arid environment, with precipitation estimates ranging from 200 to 500 mm per year11,12. However, strong winds and dry air result in the removal of snow by snow drift and sublimation. Snow and ice melt is restricted to the short summer season, with strong temperature fluctuations each night and day.
Trinity Peninsula, northern Antarctic Peninsula, is made up of hard igneous and metamorphic rocks, including granites, granodiorite, quartz monazite and gabbro13-15. James Ross Island, in comparison, comprises Late Cretaceous sedimentary strata, which occasionally bears fossils, overlain by the Neogene James Ross Island Volcanic Group13-19. You can read more about volcanoes on James Ross Island on the Cambridge Volcanology Group website and on our Subglacial Volcanoes page.
During glaciations throughout the Quaternary, James Ross Island was overwhelmed by ice sheets from Trinity Peninsula, which deposited numerous granitic erratics across the island14,20,21. Glacial drift, drumlins and moraines have been described from Ulu Peninsula22-26. Prince Gustav Ice Stream developed during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), diverting ice flow north and south around the island27,28. This ice shrank back from the continental shelf edge around 18,000 years ago, with recession to the inner continental shelf between 17,500 and 9100 years ago20,21,29. Mean ages from cosmogenic nuclide dating of boulders on Cape Lachman indicate that the ice sheet had disappeared from northern James Ross Island by around 8,000 years ago20.
Geomorphological mapping was achieved through the visual interpretation of satellite images and aerial photographs, and through an intensive field campaign that covered 200 km2 on Ulu Peninsula from January to March 2011. Glaciological structures, sediments and landforms were identified on remotely sensed images and in the field according to standard procedures, using previously defined criteria30-35.
Sediments were characterised quantitatively through the collection of numerous samples of 50 pebbles. Stone lithologies were identified, and pebbles were measured for shape-roundness data36,37.
As a result of these analyses, six sediment-landform assemblages were identified, and they are summarised in the table below. They represent landforms dating from the Neogene to the present day, under a range of different environmental conditions.
|Assemblage||Principle land elements||Age of formation||Interpretation|
|Glacier snow and ice||Glacier ice (cirque, tidewater, valley, dome); snow patches||Holocene to present day||Contemporary glaciation. Small cold-based cirque and plateau glaciers dominate.|
|Glacigenic||Erratic-poor drift; erratic-rich drift in coastal regions and cols and passes; moraine fragments||LGM||James Ross Island overwhelmed by Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet. Erratic-rich drift from the margins of Prince Gustav Ice Stream.|
|Boulder train||Boulder train, Brandy Bay moraine, IJR-45 Glacier moraine||Mid-Holocene||Readvance of IJR-45 to form a marine-terminating glacier in Brandy Bay|
|Ice-cored moraine||Ice-cored moraines in front of cirque glaciers||Late Holocene||Late-Holocene readvance of small glaciers|
|Paraglacial||Scree slopes, boulder lags on beaches, ventifacts, spits and beaches, marine terraces, rivers and streams, mass movements||Holocene to present||Paraglacial reworking of glacigenic sediments and landforms|
|Periglacial||Rock glaciers, nivation hollows, protalus ramparts, freeze-thaw shattering, solifluction, mesas, blockfields||Holocene to present||Periglaciation of James Ross Island, with a deep permafrost and a seasonal active layer.|
Glacier snow and ice assemblage
James Ross Island has numerous small cirque, valley, tidewater and plateau dome glaciers. Most of these are receding38,39, but the land-terminating glaciers have only small rates of recession. 100-200 m of recession has occurred since the most recent readvance, when prominent ice-cored moraines were formed39. Davies Dome and IJR-45 Glacier (also known as Whisky Glacier) are thinning40. Glacier surfaces are layered and supraglacial debris is common. Most of the small glaciers are free of crevasses.
Perennial snow banks lie in the lee of hill slopes, and feed small streams on positive degree days. These snow banks are sometimes associated with protalus ramparts and nivation hollows.
The small cirque glaciers have little evidence of modern thrusting, and are passively downwasting and receding, with a negative mass balance39. Some of the glaciers have become detached from their plateau accumulation areas, which has further encouraged ice stagnation.
Ulu Peninsula is covered with a superficial drift sheet dominated by basalt pebbles and occasional erratics, which together form an armoured surface that overlies sand. In some coastal areas, this drift sheet is overprinted by marine terraces. Three principal glacial drifts are identified, and they are summarised in the table below.
|Land element||Sediments||Landforms||Process and interpretation||Age|
|Erratic-poor drift||Basalt pebble-cobble gravel; in paces with local sandstone and siltstone||Smooth, flat surfaces. Widespread across Ulu Peninsula.||Deposition beneath a cold-based, slow-moving ice sheet||LGM|
|Erratic-rich coastal drift||Abundant erratics. Found along western coast of Ulu Peninsula.||Constructional ridges, moraine fragments, smooth slopes.||Deposition beneath a fast-flowing ice stream. Lateral moraines.||LGM|
|Erratic-rich patchy drift in cols and passes||Numerous erratic boulders on a basalt pebble-cobble gravel||Occasional moraine fragments; streamlined bedrock ridges||Deposition beneath wet-based ice sheet; sheet flow.||LGM|
A erratic-poor drift is widespread across Ulu Peninsula, and comprises unlithified (loose, not rock-like) subangular basalt pebbles and cobbles forming a lag on the surface, which frequent basalt boulders and rare granite erratic boulders. It is typically more than 90% basalt. Boulders can be faceted and striated. Periglacial stone stripes or patterned ground are often well developed on this surface.
Drift sheets such as these are often found in deglaciated Antarctic regions, including the Dry Valleys41, where they are inferred to have been deposited by cold-based ice (see Glacial Thermal Regime). The climate of the Dry Valleys is probably comparable with the climate on James Ross Island during the Last Glacial Maximum. Silt, clay and fine materials are typically absent. This erratic-poor drift is interpreted as being deposited by slow-moving, cold-based ice during the Last Glacial Maximum.
In some coastal regions adjacent to Prince Gustav Channel, such as Lewis Hill, there are drift sheets comprising poorly compacted, unsorted sandy boulder gravel with high percentages of Trinity Peninsula erratics and increased silt content in the matrix. These erratic-rich sediments are associated with constructional ridges and moraine fragments, such as at Kaa Bluff. Erratic-rich drift also occurs patchily in cols and passes, such as Baloo Col and San José Pass.
During the LGM, Prince Gustav Ice Stream flowed northwards along the north-western coast of James Ross Island28,42, and impinged upon its coastal regions, resulting in the formation of lateral moraines and the erratic-rich drift.
Patches of erratic-rich drift also occur in cols and passes. The large accumulations of erratics indicate enhanced deposition and wet-based subglacial conditions. As ice flowed over the passes, it became focussed and compressional stresses increased. Pressure melting point was reached, allowing subglacial deposition and resulting in the erratic-rich sandy boulder gravels and further erosion of the cols43. Both ice deformation and frictional sliding can increase basal ice temperatures44. These patches of erratic-rich drift are therefore interpreted to be a result of changes in the subglacial thermal regime of the ice sheet during LGM glaciation, which can create mosaics of selective erosion and deposition45,46.
Boulder train assemblage
The Boulder train assemblage comprises the boulder train and glacial drift, and the Brandy Bay Moraine. It also includes the IJR-45 Glacier Moraine. These features are associated with a mid-Holocene readvance of IJR-45, dated to ~5,000 years ago24.
Boulder train and glacial drift
A train of large (7-10 m across) boulders of hyaloclastite and diamictite stretches from the western side of IJR-45 Glacier Moraine to a low ridge flanking Brandy Bay. The sediments associated with this boulder train are a sandy boulder gravel, with rare granite boulders. The surficial sediments are similar to the LGM erratic-poor drift. They are stratigraphically younger than (i.e. lie on top of) the coastal erratic-rich drift. The large, intact hyaloclastite boulders are perched on, rather than lodged in, the surficial sediments. These friable boulders would not survive subglacial transport or reworking, and it is likely that they were transported supraglacially by a mid-Holocene readvance of IJR-45 Glacier. The boulder train was probably formed by marginal dumping. Rapid (possibly cold-based) recession may have protected these boulders.
Brandy Bay Moraine
The ridge bounding the SW coastline of Brandy Bay is ~30 m high with a rounded, undulating crest. It is ~3.5 km long and up to 0.7 km wide. It declines in elevation seaward (east to west). The surficial sediments are a basalt pebble-cobble lag with a fine silt matrix buried beneath the cobble armour. There are rare granite boulders, increasing in number seawards. Hyaloclastite boulders decrease in size and number seawards, and weathering and degradation of the boulders increases.
This ridge has previously been interpreted as a moraine24, and we name it ‘Brandy Bay Moraine’. Drumlins have been reported in association with this moraine22, but here they are interpreted as remnants of a formerly thicker drift sheet, that has since been dissected by ephemeral streams and periglacial slope processes.
The basalt drift and rare granite erratics were derived from reworking of LGM drift sheets, and the hyaloclastite boulders can be traced to source at Lookalike Peaks.
The photographs below illustrate the various facies of the Boulder Train Assemblage.
IJR-45 Glacier Moraine
IJR-45 Glacier Moraine is up to 1 km wide, with low slope angles until the edge of the moraine, where it drops off sharply. The glacier trunk has clean ice and ice with a thin debris cover. The lateral-frontal complex (closest to the current ice margin) comprises a chaotic assemblage of small, sharp-crested ridges 1-3 m high and up to 1 m wide, often with lines of boulders on their crests. Ice scars are often visible. This region of ice-cored moraine extends ~50 m from the glacier snout.
The next 50-160 m are characterised by increasingly degraded down-wasting back scars of ice, with exposed stratified white and blue ice and small, sharp-crested ridges 1-3 m high. There are numerous small perched ponds.
From 160-400 m from the glacier snout, there are subdued, crescent-shaped scars, circular niches and ridges with no ice visible. There are numerous large hyaloclastite boulders, weathering and downwasting in situ. From 400-1000 m from the glacier snout, the ridges widen and flatten downslope into a 100 m wide ridge, sometimes with small 5 m high ridges and isolated mounds. Stone stripes and patterned ground are well developed. From 1000 m to the edge of the moraine, the moraine is characterised by smooth, steep slopes with loose scree, frost-shattered boulders, well-developed stone stripes, drained lakes and subdued ridges.
IJR-45 Glacier Moraine is characterised by five different zones, ranging from fresh, actively back-wasting ice scars in the frontal-lateral complex, grading outwards to increasingly smoother slopes, more uniform and compacted sediments, and increasing weathering, disintegration of hyaloclastite boulders, and periglacial development. These features suggest that the outer parts of the moraine have an older age than the other smaller ice-cored moraines on Ulu Peninsula.
Ice-cored moraine assemblage
Ice-cored moraines in front of small cirque glaciers and abandoned cirques are the youngest landforms on Ulu Peninsula. They date from a readvance of small glaciers in the last 1000 years39. The cirques have steep backwalls, a rounded, over-deepened basin, and some are occupied by small glaciers or occasionally by lakes.
The ice-cored moraines have multiple sharp-crested ridges, numerous small lakes and ponds, and surficial sediments ranging from sandy boulder gravel through to openwork basalt boulders and diamicton. Exposures show stratified ice (layered blue, white, bubble-poor and bubble-rich ice), sometimes with debris in.
These hummocky moraines are primarily composed of stratified glacier ice. The stratified ice contains basal ice (with debris) and surface ice (white, bubble-rich). Ice with laminated debris is formed though the attenuation by ice creep47,48.
The debris on the moraines is mostly basalt, primarily derived from rockfall from the headwalls onto the glacier surface. The terminal moraines contain more rounded pebbles (occasionally striated), indicating greater distances of subglacial transport, whilst the high lateral moraines contain very angular pebbles, indicating a higher input of supraglacial material.
Paraglacial processes, meaning processes which are involved in the readjustment of a landscape from glacial to non-glacial conditions, are strongly apparent on James Ross Island. Here, they include fluvial and marine transportation of sediments, relaxation of steep slopes, mass movements, and aeolian (wind-blown) processes. On Ulu Peninsula, paraglacial sediments and landforms overprint the glaciological story.
Marine terraces and raised beaches
Below 30 m above sea level on Ulu Peninsula, there are smooth, flat slopes, an absence of large boulders and more rounded pebbles. In some places there is a series of flat terraces with rounded pebbles. These are marine terraces, formed during and after deglaciation, following isostatic uplift of the land.
Spits and modern beaches
Northern James Ross Island is fringed with beaches, some with sandy spits. On some of the beaches there are large numbers of erratic boulders. These spits were formed by the reworking of glacial and fluvial sediments in the littoral zone (wave-washed zone on the beach). Littoral longshore currents transported formerly deposited glacial and fluvial material along the beach. Glacially transported boulders are left behind as a lag on the beach. Unstable steep slopes behind beaches are subjected to solifluction and over-steepening, and erosion of these cliffs may also contribute erratic boulders.
Rivers and streams
Ephemeral (temporary, seasonal) streams and braided streams on Ulu Peninsula typically have multiple channels, with an active river width of up to 100 m. There are incised stream cuts, small islands, point bars and longitudinal mid-channel bars49. The pebbles are typically rounded and clast-supported, and incision is typically around 1-2 m.
These small streams are fed by perennial snowfields and small glaciers, and their discharge varies considerably during the day/night (diurnal) cycle, and on weekly and monthly timescales. On warm days, with increased melt, they are capable of winnowing glacial sediments and incising Cretaceous bedrock.
The photographs below show a number of paraglacial phenomenon on Ulu Peninsula, James Ross Island.
Aeolian sediments and landforms
Glacial drifts on Ulu Peninsula are frequently covered by a basalt pebble-cobble armour, commonly only 1-2 pebbles thick, with sand beneath. Accumulations of sand are also found on snowfields. Many of the boulders have smooth, plano-concave sides, and red staining is common on many granite boulders.
The lag of pebbles is due to winnowing by strong winds. These winds remove fines from the surface, leaving behind only those protected underneath the pebble-cobble armour. The dry, unvegetated climate makes the island susceptible to aeolian deflation like this, and strong katabatic winds exacerbate the process.
The boulders with smooth plano-concave and convex sides are ventifacts, moulded by the wind and sand-blasted into new shapes. They are typical of recently deglaciated, periglacial environments, where there is a large availability of unburied boulders, strong winds and readily available sand50. In some places, the wind has created beautiful shapes and curved on the boulders.
The red staining on the boulders is a red desert varnish, enriched in iron. Iron oxides are leached out of the rock and deposited on the surface as a varnish51. Well-developed desert varnish occurs in semi-arid, sheltered areas, away from wind abrasion.
Scree slopes are common beneath the steep basalt cliffs, and are an important input into moraines, rock glaciers and protalus ramparts. The pebbles from scree slopes are more angular than those from the glacigenic drifts and are similar to the high lateral moraines on small cirque glaciers.
The steep basalt cliffs contain vertically jointed hyaloclastite deltaic deposits, which are particularly susceptible to rock weathering and scree slope formation. After recession of the glacier ice, fracturing occurs due to stress release. The exposure of the cliffs to the air makes them vulnerable to freeze-thaw activity in the periglacial climate. This has resulted in rapid readjustment and the formation of new scree slopes.
Large scale mass movements
Large-scale mass movements are evident on Ulu Peninsula were the James Ross Island Volcanic Group rests on gently inclined, poorly consolidated Cretaceous mudstone. These large-scale mass movements involve volcanic blocks many tens of metres high (the full thickness of the local volcanic sequence), and a few hundred metres long, forming enormous jumbled heaps.
These large scale mass movements are controlled by gravity acting on steep-fronted brittle rock masses (delta margins), resting on soft, ductile, Cretaceous sediments. They are geologically controlled, with the upper surface of the Cretaceous muds representing a slip-surface (décollment surface) on which the volcanic blocks can slide. Instability probably occurred after the removal of surrounding ice, and many of the mass movements may span several interglacial periods.
Periglacial and paraglacial processes are intertwined on James Ross Island, and massive ground ice and glacier ice underlie many of the landforms. The active layer here is approximately 1 m thick52-54.
Rock glaciers are lobate or tongue-shaped landforms comprising a mixture of rock and ice, typically with a furrowed form, ridges, ponds, and a steep terminus and sides. They can be derived from scree slopes (talus-derived) or glacier-derived. Glacier-derived rock glaciers form part of a continuum with, and can evolve from, ice-cored moraines55,56.
There are six rock glaciers near Lachman Crags alone. Some are located near the end of ice-cored moraines, and merge with these moraines12,26,57. The rock glaciers are distinguished from ice-cored moraines by evidence for down-slope movement, including arcuate ridges and furrows. Rates of flow have been measured at ~0.2 m per year58.
Protalus ramparts on James Ross Island are curved, flat features on steep slopes, found in association with scree and perennial snow banks. They have a sharp break in slope on their down-slope side, where the talus rests at the angle of repose. Numerous protalus ramparts are found on Ulu Peninsula, along Johnson Mesa, the western slopes of Lachman Crags and below Davies Dome mesa. They form by pebbles rolling down the snow banks. A mesa is a high, flat mountain; in this case, flood basalt deltas form flat-topped mountains.
Solifluction lobes are apparent on many moderate and low-gradient debris-mantled slopes on the island. Many boulders on these slopes are ‘ploughing’ into the sediment, with a keel at the down-slope edge.
Alluvial fans and valley-fills are also important on James Ross Island, with streams, snow avalanches, debris flows and solifluction resulting in gentle fan-shaped sediment accumulations in many valleys. Some of this valley fill has been dissected by rivers and streams, with sorted material being deposited downstream. Rock streams (sensu59) were seen in small valleys, with coarse rock debris forming a linear deposit with a down-slope alignment. They typically have a single thread down the valley axis.
The photographs below show a series of periglacial features on Ulu Peninsula, James Ross Island.
Frost creep is one of the main components of solifluction, with melting ice lenses within the sediment providing water, which reduces the internal friction and cohesion within the regolith. The sediments are slowly deformed through freeze-thaw activity under the influence of gravity, and slide downslope in a series of lobes.
Unvegetated slopes with thick glacial drifts are susceptible to erosion by slope failure, debris flows, tributary streams and surface wash, resulting in gullying, slope-foot debris cones and valley floor deposits3.
Freeze-thaw sediments and landforms
Evidence for modification of surface sediments by freeze-thaw includes frost-shattered boulders, nivation hollows and nivation processes, sorted stone polygons and stripes (sometimes vegetated by lichens and mosses), and surface cracks. Nivation hollows are common, and are related to small, late-lying snow patches. Shattered boulders occur through mechanical weathering induced through freezing and thawing in a periglacial environment60.
Sorted polygons (cf. 61) comprise hexagonal cells of sand and fine to coarse gravel, surrounded by angular coarse gravel and boulders. Pattern widths are 0.4-4 m. They are particularly prevalent in areas with abundant water, such as near streams and snow banks. Stone stripes with alternating coarse and fine sediment are well developed on some slopes. Weathering and down-slope transportation of basalt cobbles on Cretaceous sandstone bedrock has resulted in some striking black stone stripes. Patterned ground overprints most landforms on James Ross Island.
Polygons on the ground surface may form through the development of vertical ice wedges in the ground. Sorted polygons and stone stripes both form through diurnal needle-ice growth. Freezing and thawing of needle ice results in creep on sloping surfaces61. Networks of cracks are interpreted as being the product of the fissuring of seasonally frozen ground.
The availability of water may be a limiting factor in the freeze-thaw cycles that form these features, which are generally more common near streams, nivation hollows and snow patches. More liquid water is present downslope of snow banks, resulting in ice wedge growth and more well-developed polygons and stripes.
Mesas and blockfields
The surface of Lachman Crags mesa (400 m high) is smooth and flat, with stone stripes and stone polygons across its surface. The surficial sediments are mostly basalt clasts, with rare, well-embedded, rounded granite boulders. Above 380 m, the sediments form a blockfield of large, angular basalt boulders, which are not faceted nor striated, and many are subvertical as a result of frost upheaval.
Blockfields develop under periglacial conditions on level or gently undulating relief. They form as a result of in situ weathering of bedrock, with limited downslope movement of blocks62,63. The blockfields on James Ross Island have developed on the Neogene basalt plateaux, where there is abundant periglacial frost action. The presence of granites suggests that at some point, the high mesas may have been overridden by ice from the Antarctic Peninsula.
Processes of landscape evolution in a semi-arid polar environment
Using the glaciological, geological and geomorphological studies undertaken on James Ross Island, we present a new landsystems model for landscape evolution, which will aid the interpretation of past, present and future glacierised and glaciated environments (note: glacierised means currently with glaciers; glaciated means it once had glaciers but doesn’t any more).
A key feature of this new model is the multi-temporal approach. Six sediment-landform assemblages were described and interpreted in the above sections, and they mark a change from landscape dominance by large-scale glaciation during the LGM and Mid- and Late-Holocene glacier readvances, and paraglacial and periglacial processes throughout the Holocene and into the present day.
The polar desert landsystem on Ulu Peninsula is strongly controlled by the geology; basalt flood-delta mesas dominate the landscape, while being underlain by softer Cretaceous marine deposits; a basalt pebble-cobble gravel covers most land surfaces. The large scale mass movements are predicated by the presence of basalt deltas, likely to be uncommon in other polar environments, although similar features have been noted elsewhere (e.g., Skye).
The landscape was overprinted by ice from the Antarctic Peninsula during the LGM. This ice sheet, and previous incarnations, has sculpted and moulded Ulu Peninsula. Variations in its thermal regime and ice-stream activity have resulted in differences in the glacial drift. Following deglaciation, paraglacial and periglacial processes immediately began to modify the landscape.
A latitudinal transect from northern Chile through to the Dry Valleys of Antarctica highlights the changing dominance of different processes, driven primarily by the availability of water. Meltwater is increasingly available important at more northerly latitudes (i.e., closer to the equator). The fast-flowing, temperate glaciers of the Northern Patagonian Icefield produce large volumes of meltwater, which rapidly rework and remove fines generated subglacially. Subglacial landforms are rare, because after glacier recession they are removed by proglacial meltwater32, but there are large glaciofluvial ice-contact landforms. The meltwater also facilitates basal sliding and enables glaciers to flow quickly, resulting in abundant ice-scoured bedrock.
In contrast, the sediment-landform assemblage near Tierra del Fuego, southern Chile (53°S), is dominated by abundant subglacial till, flutes, drumlins and moraines, deposited by temperate glaciers with reduced proglacial meltwater, which aids the preservation of these landforms. There is discontinuous permafrost only, resulting in fewer rock glaciers, protalus ramparts, frost-shattered boulders or stone polygons than on James Ross Island. Aeolian processes are also comparatively less important; ventifacts and pebble-cobble lags are more important in Antarctica because of the faster, sand-bearing winds, less vegetation and less fine-grained, muddy, sticky surficial sediment than in temperate regions.
On James Ross Island, freeze-thaw and fluvial activity have far greater importance than the colder, drier Dry Valleys (cf. 64-66), which significantly aids the development of patterned ground and solifluction landforms. The prevalence of moisture-driven periglacial processes on Ulu Peninsula contrasts sharply with their absence in more southerly, colder parts of Antarctica. In contrast, the glacigenic assemblage on James Ross Island more closely resembles the cold-based glacial sediment-landforms assemblages recognised in East Antarctica43,67-69, perhaps indicating similarities between climate during the LGM on James Ross Island and the climate in East Antarctica today.
Some paraglacial processes, such as glacio-isostatic adjustment and marine terrace formation, and relaxation of rock walls, occur throughout the transect, although marine terraces are more prevalent in regions close to the sea and at sea level.
The scope for landscape modification at the intersection of a paraglacial-periglacial-glacial landsystem is of great importance. Ground ice is prevalent on James Ross Island today, in the form of permafrost, rock glaciers, buried glacier ice and ice-cored moraines. However, despite the wealth of research on glacial and periglacial processes, there are relatively few papers that discuss the actions of one set of processes upon the other.
The presence of permafrost beneath cold-based ice on James Ross Island during the LGM may have facilitated forward movement, as high porewater pressures beneath subglacial permafrost can reduce the shear strength of unfrozen substrate. This may also help initiate large scale mass movements. Proglacial permafrost can also reduce effective stress by over-pressurising groundwater70. Entrainment of debris occurs through the transmission of basal shear stress from the glacier bed into the frozen subglacial sediment71.
Character and behaviour of the LGM ice sheet on Ulu Peninsula
The basal thermal regime of ice sheets represents important empirical data required for numerical ice-sheet models. The subglacial thermal regime on Ulu Peninsula comprised four principal types: a wet-based ice stream, warm-based sheet flow, cold-based sheet flow and cold-based plateau ice caps. Each leaves a distinctive sediment-landform assemblage behind in the geological record. There is evidence of frozen-bed patches with slow sheet flow. Marine geological evidence has been taken to suggest that there was cold-based ice on Antarctic Peninsula mountains during the LGM72,73. The mesas may have harboured ice domes during the LGM period, if they were above the height of the LGM ice sheet. Ice streaming and rapid basal sliding may have been encouraged by slippery marine sediments in Prince Gustav Channel.
The table below summaries some of the key features and inferred thermal regimes of different glacial drifts found on Ulu Peninsula.
|Glacial drift||Characteristics||Inferred thermal regime|
|Erratic-poor glacial drift||Sandy boulder gravel, found widely across Ulu Peninsula||Cold-based sheet flow|
|Erratic-poor glacial drift||On mesas and around Davies Dome. Smooth and flat, no landforms||Cold-based plateau ice cap|
|Erratic-rich drift (in cols and passes)||Sandy boulder gravel in cols and passes with Trinity Peninsula erratics.||Warm-based sheet flow|
|Erratic-rich drift (in coastal regions)||Sandy boulder gravel, up to 50% erratics, associated with moraine fragments||Ice stream (warm-based streaming flow)|
The glacial sandy boulder gravel that characterises James Ross Island today is significantly different to the Neogene diamictite logged in many places across the island19,74,75. Similar contrasts have been noted in the Dry Valleys, where pebble gravels deposited by cold-based glaciers differ from the Neogene Sirius Group diamictons68. This is indicative of changing climatic regimes, with diamicton, silt and clay forming only under the warmer conditions of the Neogene (cf. 76,77). Warmer atmospheric temperatures encouraged basal sliding, erosion, transportation and deposition under a wet-based ice sheet, with abundant production of fines through glacial abrasion, producing diamictites (note: a diamictite is a lithified diamicton). Abrasion under cold-based glaciers is insufficient to produce the large quantities of fines needed for subglacial till formation, which is associated with warm-based glaciers above the pressure melting point. As well as warmer atmospheric temperatures, geothermal heating may also have helped Neogene glaciers reach pressure melting point.
This study has shown that cold-based ice sheets are capably of entraining and moving subglacial sediments, and supports a new and emerging paradigm of sheet flow in high latitude regions. The old paradigm suggested that ice sheets comprised a patchwork of cold-based ice on mountain tops, with little or no erosion or deposition, surrounded by highly active warm-based ice that typically occupied valleys78,79. New and emerging research suggests that this is an oversimplification, and that sheet flow is more complex. Although cold-based glaciers are weak erosional and depositional agents compared with warm-based glaciers, their thermal regime and their beds is more subtle than previously thought43,80.
The ice sheet that overwhelmed James Ross Island during the LGM was a composite of ice streaming in the trough of Prince Gustav Channel, which impinged on the coastal margins of Ulu Peninsula. Sheet flow occurred on the main part of the peninsula, with both warm- and cold-based ice flowing across the island, and cold-based and stationary ice domes on high plateaux blockfields. The lateral margins of Prince Gustav Ice Stream were likely to have been dominated by warm-based sheet flow; the evidence for this includes moraine fragments and enhanced deposition of erratics.
This holistic and systematic study of Ulu Peninsula on James Ross Island has used detailed sedimentary descriptions, clast lithology, shape-roundness data and geomorphology mapped from both remotely sensed images and in the field to discriminate six sediment-landform assemblages and thus to present the first landsystem model from a semi-arid polar environment from the Antarctic Peninsula.
The conceptual model emphasises the interrelationship and importance of glacial, periglacial and paraglacial processes. We identified, (1) a glacier snow and ice assemblage; (2) a glacigenic assemblage; (3) a boulder train assemblage; (4) an ice-cored moraine assemblage; (5) the paraglacial assemblage; and (6) a periglacial assemblage. Analysis of these assemblages provides a detailed understanding of landscape evolution on James Ross Island. Analysis of these assemblages provides a detailed understanding of landscape evolution on James Ross Island.
Sediments and landforms were deposited during LGM glaciation and during mid- and Late-Holocene glacier readvances. They were subsequently reworked and deposited by periglacial and paraglacial processes, throughout the Holocene and into the present day. Crucially, when compared with other landsystem models, we find that the availability of meltwater encourages strong landform modification by periglacial processes. These processes would have been similarly important during Late Pleistocene glaciation in the Northern Hemisphere. Therefore, the landsystem model presented here is a modern analogue to be used in the interpretation of past glaciated environments.
This paper presented new information regarding the thermal regime of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet during LGM glaciation. The data and the model for the interplay between cold-based, warm-based and streaming ice challenges the theory that cold-based glaciers do not erode or deposit. Finally, this paper presented important new data regarding the thermal regime and character and behaviour of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet during the LGM, which will aid reconstructions of the LGM ice sheet in the northern Antarctic Peninsula.
- Little Ice Age ice-cored moraines
- Glacier change on the Antarctic Peninsula
- Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet Evolution
- James Ross Island photographs
- Subglacial Volcanoes
- Antarctic Periglacial Environments
Please cite the paper as:
Davies, B.J., Glasser, N.F., Carrivick, J.L., Hambrey, M.J., Smellie, J.L. and Nývlt, D., 2013. Landscape evolution and ice-sheet behaviour in a semi-arid polar environment: James Ross Island, NE Antarctic Peninsula. In: M.J. Hambrey et al. (Editors), Antarctic Palaeoenvironments and Earth Surface Processes. Geological Society of London, Special Publications, volume 381, London, pp. 1-43.
The full paper can be downloaded from the link above. Please email the authors if you cannot access this publication.
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79. Hättestrand, C. & Stroeven, A.P. A relict landscape in the centre of Fennoscandian glaciation: Geomorphological evidence of minimal Quaternary glacial erosion. Geomorphology 44, 127-143 (2002).
80. Cuffey, K.M., Conway, H., Gades, A.M., Hallet, B., Lorrain, R., Severinghaus, J.P., Steig, E.J., Vaughn, B. & White, J.W.C. Entrainment at cold glacier beds. Geology 28, 351-354 (2000). | <urn:uuid:8ac2a048-c619-4c77-a7cb-0f21cc2dc268> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.antarcticglaciers.org/glacial-geology/glacial-landforms/glacial-landsystems-on-james-ross-island/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280834.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00285-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.868465 | 13,918 | 3.703125 | 4 |
Operation Provide Comfort
Following Desert Storm, the entire Kurdish population of Iraq attempted to flee the country to the north out of fear that Saddam Hussein would attempt to exterminate their entire population. Because of political concerns, Turkish officials refused to allow these desperate people permission to cross the border into Turkey. The result was that hundreds of thousands of Kurds were essentially trapped on barren and rocky hillsides, vulnerable to not only Hussein's forces, but to the harsh elements as well. Without basic necessities, to include access to water, food and medical supplies, hundreds of Kurds were dying each week. In April of 1991, President George Bush made the decision to provide relief and protection for these beleaguered people. Smith was given the task of rapidly establishing and deploying a Joint Force whose mission was to "stop the dying." Literally overnight, Operation "Provide Comfort" was born. In less than 48 hours from receiving the order to "do something", cargo and fighter aircraft were re-deployed to bases in southern Turkey where they began delivering humanitarian supplies. Over a period of a few weeks a US led coalition force was deployed into northern Iraq, resettlement areas constructed and a de-militarized zone established for the protection of the Kurds.
The massive defeat of the Iraqi military machine tempted the Iraqi Kurds to revolt against the Baghdad regime. Encouraged by American radio broadcasts to rise up against their 'dictator', the Kurds of northern Iraq rebelled against a nominally defeated and certainly weakened Saddam Hussein in March of 1991. Shortly after the war ended, Kurdish rebels attacked disorganized Iraqi units and seized control of several towns in northern Iraq. From the town of Rania, this sedition spread quickly through the Kurdish north. Fear of being drawn into an Iraqi civil war and possible diplomatic repercussions precluded President Bush from committing US forces to support the Kurds. Within days Iraqi forces recovered and launched a ruthless counteroffensive including napalm and chemical attacks from helicopters. They quickly reclaimed lost territory and crushed the rebellion.
Knowing the possible repercussions of further actions by Iraq, more than one million refugees headed toward the mountains of Iran and Turkey. Conditions deteriorated rapidly as crowds grew by the hour. There was no food, shelter, or water. It was still winter in the mountains, with temperatures plunging far below freezing each night. Press reports indicated as many as 3 million people fleeing, with the Iraqi Army still in pursuit. By April 2nd over a million Kurds had fled Iraq (approx. 800,000 Kurds in Iran, 300,000 in southeastern Turkey and another 100,000 along the Turkish/Iraq border. By the first week of April, 800 to 1,000 people, mostly the very young and the very old, were dying each day.
On 3 April 1991, the Security Council passed United Nations Resolution 687. This document reaffirmed the need to be assured of Iraq's peaceful intentions in the light of its unlawful invasion and occupation of Kuwait, and prohibited Iraq from manufacturing or using weapons of mass destruction.
The United Nations then passed resolution 688 on 5 April 1991. This document condemned Iraqi repression and asked member states to assist the Kurds and other refugees in northern Iraq with a demand for Iraq to cooperate with these relief efforts. The dilapidated conditions of some 500,000 refugees in the freezing remote mountains in southeastern Turkey prompted President Bush to order the United States European Forces to direct immediate relief assistance.
Joint Task Force Provide Comfort was formed on 6 April 1991 and deployed to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, to conduct humanitarian operations in northern Iraq. Maj Gen James L. Jamerson, the USAFE deputy chief of staff for operations, commanded the effort. After British and French cargo aircraft arrived the next day, he redesignated the organization as a Combined Task Force. The task force dropped its first supplies to Kurdish refugees on 7 April. The result of President Bush's order and UN resolution 688, culminated in a coalition of 13 nations with material contributions from 30 countries working under the command and control of the Coalition Task Force. Although many nations ultimately contributed to the operation, the primary countries involved were the US, the United Kingdom, France, and Turkey.
On 16 April 1991, the President of the US, authorized by UN resolution 688, expanded Operation Provide Comfort to include multinational forces with the additional mission of establishing temporary refuge camps in northern Iraq. This unit was first labeled "Express Care." On 17 April, when it had become apparent that a ground presence in northern Iraq was necessary, Lt Gen John M. Shalikashvili, US Army, replaced General Jamerson as commander.
Two subordinate joint task forces (JTFs) were also established to facilitate the mission. JTF 'Alpha' spread throughout the mountains of southeast Turkey, headquartered in Silopi, was responsible for alleviating the dying and suffering while stabilizing the situation. Commanded by BG Richard Potter, USA, JTF Alpha was composed primarily of the 10th Special Forces (SF) Group.
The second component, JTF 'Bravo', centered on the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) commanded by MG Jay Garner, USA. Its mission was to prepare the town of Zakho, in northern Iraq, for the incoming Kurds and facilitate their eventual transfer back to their homes. An important part of this mission was the 'seamless' transfer of responsibility over to NGOs. Task Force Encourage Hope (later renamed Joint Task Force Bravo), was formed to construct a series of resettlement camps where dislocated civilians could find food and shelter and a secure environment. Encourage Hope was designed to integrate civilian relief agencies into the support, organization, and administration of the camps. The Kurds were expected to assist in the planning, construction, administration, and sustainment of these camps. The camps each held about 25,000 people and were initially supplied by the military. They eventually-became self-sustaining and were transferred to Kurdish or non-government agency control as soon as possible. It was hoped that Joint Task Force Encourage Hope could be dissolved after about a month.
Task force members on the ground built refugee camps and maintained a security zone in northern Iraq to protect the Kurds from the Iraqi military. Air units operating from Incirlik enforced a no-fly zone above the 36th parallel while providing air cover for friendly forces on the ground. Aircraft from Incirlik and other bases in eastern Turkey dropped desperately needed supplies to the Kurds.
No one knew what Iraq's reaction to this "invasion" would be. Therefore, the task force left nothing to chance during the airdrop missions. Flights of A-10s preceded the cargo planes, looking for any sign of resistance on the ground. Meanwhile, F-15s and F-16s patrolled the skies above to negate any threat from the air. An E-3 orbited the area to observe the situation and control the fighters, while KC-135s provided aerial refueling. Once a forward airstrip opened in late April, however, airdrops were no longer necessary.
Operation PROVIDE COMFORT (OPC) sought the achievement of two goals: To provide relief to the refugees, and to enforce the security of the refugees and the humanitarian effort. These two goals were maintained from April to September 1991 by the CTF. During this time it flew over 40,000 sorties, relocated over 7000,000 refugees, and restored 70-80 percent villages destroyed by the Iraqis. In addition to these achievements, the aircraft participating faced many dangers.
Combined Task Force (CTF) Provide Comfort would oversee the building of shelters and distribution of supplies, ensure order, and provide security throughout this area. The provision of security was essential to get the Kurds to move from the mountains back to their homes and transfer the responsibility for them from the military to international agencies. The camps were designed to reflect the cultural realities of the Kurds. They were built around five-person tents, a 66-person tent neighborhood (Zozan); a 1,056-person tent village (Gund); a 2,500-person tent community (Bajeer) and in the center, the community center and administration area.
Two disparate types of operations were being conducted simultaneously during Operation Provide Comfort. One was the humanitarian effort and the other the security operation. In many ways they competed and conflicted with one another. The staff ran these as concurrent operations and often had to set aside specific times to focus totally on one operation or the other. Because of conflicting priorities, movement of relief supplies and humanitarian forces competed with the movement of security equipment, ammunition, materiel, and forces. Security operations had to precede humanitarian operations to dear areas of mines and potential hostile forces. While most civilian relief agendas grew more comfortable working alongside military forces performing humanitarian tasks, they were not comfortable around gun-toting security forces.
As Operation Provide Comfort matured, many GO, IO, NGO and PVO participating independently in the relief/humanitarian efforts eventually, if somewhat reluctantly, demanded access to the JTF CMOC so they could coordinate their efforts and thus reduce redundancy within their area of responsibility (AOR). Their access to the JTF commander was unobstructed; the CMOC, located across the street from the JTF HQ at Incirlik Air Base, facilitated 24-hour access. The CMOC comprised an augmentation element of USAR CA personnel from the 353rd CA Command which operated under the staff supervision of the JTF Civil-Military Operations officer, BG Don Campbell (commanding general of USEUCOM aligned 353rd CA Command). This JTF CMOC received data from the JTF Joint Operations Center, GO, IO, NGO, and PVO, and developed CMO-related plans in support of the JTF objectives.
By mid-July, the task force pulled out of Iraq but left a residual force in southeastern Turkey to keep the Iraqis in check. A military coordination center remained in Iraq to liaise between the armed forces and civilian relief workers. The UN had assumed responsibility for the refugee camps.
Operation PROVIDE COMFORT I ended on 24 July 1991, and PROVIDE COMFORT II began. Up until this point the task force airdropped 6,154 short tons of supplies, flown in another 6,251 by helicopter, and delivered a further 4,416 tons by truck
- Statement of Lt. Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, USA Commander, Operation Provide Comfort House of Representatives, Committee on Armed Services, Defense Policy Panel -- Rep. Les Aspin, chairman of the panel, presided over the review of Operation Provide Comfort. Washington, D.C., September 4, 1991
- ANALYSIS OF PROVIDE COMFORT MINORITIES, APRIL 1991
- FM 100-23 PEACE OPERATIONS Department of the Army 30 December 1994
- USAFE Humanitarian Operations 1945-1997
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She was the first woman to hold the office of Assistant to the President of the United States, when President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the position of Assistant to the President for Public Liaison in 1977. For the first 20 months of the Carter Administration, she received national media attention as Carter's outspoken and committed "Window on America."
Midge served as a link between the President and a wide range of groups who previously had limited access to the White House, including women, youth, seniors, minorities, gays and lesbians, and the disabled. She was particularly active in fighting for women's equality, advocating for many issues, including the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, for the protection of women's reproductive rights, and for the appointment of more women to high office.
USA Gay News American News American Gay News USA American Gay News United States American Lesbian News USA American Lesbian News United States USA News
Pacific Northwest News in Seattle News in Washington State News | <urn:uuid:02ec8527-4e82-466b-923a-74232f41da53> | CC-MAIN-2020-24 | http://www.sgn.org/sgnnews38_12/page2c.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-24/segments/1590347385193.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20200524210325-20200525000325-00038.warc.gz | en | 0.970179 | 191 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Technicians are fueling the space shuttle Endeavour after a one-day delay to make sure nearby lightning strikes on Friday hadn't affected critical systems on the orbiter and its twin solid-fuel boosters.
During a severe storm on Friday afternoon, sensors recorded 11 lightning strikes within 0.3 nautical miles of the pad. Seven of those strikes hit the pad's lightning-protection system.
The system "did what it was designed to do," noted space shuttle payload integration manager Mike Moses, who also heads the mission-management team, during a briefing on Saturday. But, he added, engineers needed time to ensure that voltage spikes the lightning induced didn't fry on-board computers and sensitive electronics on the boosters.
An added benefit: Weather for today's scheduled launch at 7:13 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time stands only a 30 percent chance of violating launch requirements. On Friday, forecasters had predicted that conditions during the original launch time, 7:39 P.M. yesterday, stood only a 40 percent chance of meeting launch requirements.
During the 16-day mission the orbiter and its seven-member crew will spend 12 days at the space station to install the last major portion of Japan's laboratory module and perform a variety of maintenance tasks on the station. It's going to get quite chummy: During Endeavour's stay, the space station's population will expand from six to 13.
One of Endeavour's crew members, Timothy Kopra, will remain aboard the station as part of the normal crew-rotation process. Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, who has served at the orbiting outpost since March, will return with the shuttle. | <urn:uuid:65098bfa-47ca-45b5-8153-a7ccca2c3fba> | CC-MAIN-2016-22 | http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/Discoveries/2009/0712/for-space-shuttle-edeavour-its-fill-er-time | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-22/segments/1464052946109.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20160524012226-00193-ip-10-185-217-139.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945674 | 340 | 2.515625 | 3 |
“You simply cannot beat Google. He is a giant, even bigger than giant!”.
Thats what people say when we talk about Google. But not for Wolfram Alpha. Wolfram Alpha is a website that answers queries and questions based on user inputs. The website was developed by Wolfram Research.
It doesn’t simply return documents that (might) contain the answers, like search engines do. It isn’t just a giant database of knowledge, like encyclopedias. It doesn’t simply parse natural language and then use that to retrieve documents, like Powerset. Instead, Wolfram Alpha actually computes the answers to a wide range of questions — like questions that have factual answers. Wolfram Alpha doesn’t simply contain huge amounts of manually entered pairs of questions and answers, nor does it search for answers in a database of facts. Instead, it understands and then computes answers to certain kinds of questions.
How it works?
Users submit queries and computation question by typing them in a text box. Wolfram Alpha then computes the answers and displays visualizations from a large core knowledge base of structured data.
Wolfram Alpha has been bulit upon Wolfram’s earlier product, Mathematica, which uses computer algebra, symbolic and numerical computation, visualization and statistics. This is run in the bacground of the answer engine so it is able to solve all kinds of mathematical questions providing it in a way that is easy to read. The answer engine is also able to answer natural language fact based questions. For example “How many calories in a Mars Bar?” or more complex questions like “How old was Charles Darwin in 1850?”. It solves this using standardised phrases. For example, “How many calories in a Mars Bar?” is rephrased into “Mars almond bar|amount|one bar|total calories” so the answer engine can display the answer at the top of the page it generates.
The current database that Wolfram Alpha includes thousands of datasets, including all Current and Historical Weather. The datasets had been collected over two years, before the answer engine was opened to the public, and now more information is being added to it, providing an ever expanding number of datasets and knowledge database.
In a nutshell
There is no doubting the complexity and commitment of Wolfram Research, however it needs serious upgrades and modernisations to become the ultimate knowledge database.
For example, if you pit it against Google at the present moment then Google will come away victorious, this is because Wolfram Alpha only provides answers to certain questions, whereas Google provides page after page with information on the subject, albeit the information will quite often be repeated over the numerous pages. Another good example of this are encyclopedias, Wolfram Alpha can be compared to Wikipedia because both display and project their information over the internet. Wolfram Alpha finds the answers to specific questions, however Wikipedia can provide the same results as well as show excellent detailed information and description about the same data subject, as well as background information about links to the main data subject.
SO, this tool will NEVER be able to KNOW EVERTHING. However, it will go mighty close. | <urn:uuid:8a2f1bfb-1340-4b45-a3a3-a0fe296e116c> | CC-MAIN-2017-30 | http://techviewznetwork.blogspot.com/2009/07/wolfram-alpha-claim-to-beat-google.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-30/segments/1500549448146.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20170728083322-20170728103322-00400.warc.gz | en | 0.921077 | 665 | 3.125 | 3 |
This electricity originates from the heart's sinoatrial node, also known as the heart's pacemaker, which is found in the right atrium at the top half of the heart's upper right chamber. The rate of electrical current discharged by the sinoatrial node, together with nerve impulses and hormone levels in the blood, determines a person's heart rate or heart rhythm.
IRREGULAR HEARTBEAT SIGNS AND SYMPTOMSThe normal heart rate for adults runs from between 60 to 100 beats per minute when at rest. This rate is lower for younger people who are more physically fit than most. Each person's heart rate responds differently during exercise, exertion, or other stimuli which include intense emotions.
When the electrical impulses that govern the heart rate start to malfunction, the heart may either start to beat too fast (tachycardia), too slow (bradycardia), irregularly (dysrhythmia), or even pass through abnormal electrical pathways. These group of heart conditions are called arrhythmias, or abnormal heart rhythms.
Arrhythmias are a common occurrence and are normally harmless. People who have irregular heartbeats experience a fluttering or racing heart, or a sensation as if their hearts may have skipped a beat or two. Even children experience a normal kind of irregular heartbeat called sinus arrhythmia, which is characterized by a slight acceleration or slowing of the heart rate in relation to the rhythms of their respiration. This condition normally lessens as they grow up.
IRREGULAR HEARTBEAT CAUSESHowever, there are some arrhythmias, that can cause annoying, and worse, even seriously fatal symptoms, like coronary heart disease and cardiac arrest. Some arrhythmias can be signs of other dangerous illnesses, like a stroke or embolus (obstruction of the blood flow). In the U.S. alone, over 850,000 people are treated for these types of arrhythmias each year.
Other causes of irregular heartbeat include an imbalance of electrolytes, like sodium and potassium in the blood; injuries stemming from a heart attack; changes in the heart muscle, and as part of the healing process after heart surgery. Smoking can also result in arrhythmias, as well as caffeine use, and alcohol or drug abuse. In some cases, prescription or over-the-counter medications, some dietary supplements and herbal remedies can trigger irregular heartbeat, as well.
If a person’s heart has incurred some scarring from a previous ailment, like a heart attack, or if there is a pre-existing heart condition like inadequate blood supply, coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathy (enlargement of the ventricular walls), or valvular heart disease (narrowing of the heart valves), these can cause a destabilization of the electrical impulses in the heart, resulting in the development of arrhythmia.
IRREGULAR HEARTBEAT RISK FACTORThe risks for developing an arrhythmia increases with age, when the heart muscle starts to weaken and affects the way electrical impulses pass through the pathways. People who have congenital (at birth) heart problems, thyroid conditions (hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism), high blood pressure, digestive disorders like diarrhea, obesity, diabetes, and obstructive sleep apnea have a higher risk of acquiring an irregular heartbeat.
Even fatigue, hunger, pain, exercise and emotional stress can trigger arrhythmia, although in these cases, the irregular heartbeat tends to resolve itself after the affecting stimuli has ceased.
Other symptoms include a fluttering sensation of the heart, pounding in the chest, shortness of breath, a feeling of discomfort in the chest, and fatigue.
Some arrhythmias do not carry any symptoms and are not a cause for concern. The most common symptom is an increased awareness of heartbeat, also known as palpitations. Palpitations can occur either frequently, infrequently, and can also go on continuously. These type of arrhythmias can cause annoyance, and are mostly harmless.
When an arrhythmia causes the heart to beat too slow or two fast to be able supply what the body needs, a person may suffer from low blood pressure and experience lightheadedness, dizziness, and may even faint.
Some arrhythmias signal the presence of more serious ailments, and some even increase the risk of certain conditions, like strokes or embolisation, heart failure and cardiac death. Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndome (SADS) is sudden death from a cardiac arrest caused by arrhythmia. Although SADS can also be due to other causes, it commonly stems from coronary artery disease.
Image: Irregular Heartbeat
IRREGULAR HEARTBEAT DIAGNOSISThe doctor can determine whether the arrhythmia is acute or chronic by taking the person’s medical history, and to determine whether they are sensitive to certain substances like alcohol, caffeine and other drugs. The doctor can also take a persons pulse or use a stethoscope to determine whether the heart rate is regular or irregular.
IRREGULAR HEARTBEAT TESTThe most specific test to assess a person’s heart rhythm is through an electrocardiogram (ECG). Another method is through Holter monitor, an EKG which can be worn for a day to record any instances of irregular heartbeat as they occur during a 24-hour period.
Other tests used to diagnose arrhythmia include a Stress Test (monitoring the heart during exercise), the use of an Event Monitor (a portable ECG), an Echocardiogram (uses sound waves to take images of heart’s movements, size and structure), cardiac catherization (thin tubes with electrodes are threaded into some blood vessels of the heart), an Electrophysiology study (EPS), and a head-up tilt table test (used for patients who suffer fainting spells).
IRREGULAR HEARTBEAT TREATMENTTreating arrhythmias will depend on the type of irregular heartbeat a person has, and how serious the case is. Some arrhythmias will not require treatment at all, while others necessitate major surgical procedures, medication and a change in lifestyle. Irregular heartbeat can be treated using Cardioversion, where an electrical current is applied across the heart’s chest wall to treat pulsed ventricular tachycardia (fast heartbeat caused by abnormal electrical impulses). Defibrillation, where even more electricity can be delivered, is used to remedy ventricular fibrillation, a condition where a confusion of electrical impulses trigger the heart's ventricles to quiver uncontrollably instead of pumping blood. Ventricular fibrillation is believed to be one of the causes of sudden cardiac death (SAD) that kills around 300,000 Americans each year. Cardiac pacing may also be applied for sufferers of bradycardia, or very slow hearbeats. This is usually indicated for arrhythmias caused by a drug overdose or myocardial infarction (heart attack). Sometimes, a pacemaker has to be inserted into the heart for patients who have severe bradycardia.
A cardiologist, who specializes in heart ailments, may also treat a patient with pulmonary vein isolation, a procedure used to treat atrial fibrillation, which is a kind of arrhythmia which causes the heart's atrial chambers to beat abnormally.
Other treatments include implanting a cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) to monitor the heart's rhythm and to deliver a spurt of energy to the heart when it stars beating irregularly; catheter ablation, where electrical energy in high frequencies is directed through a catheter and targeted at areas of the heart with irregular rhythms; in cases where there is a pre-existing heart condition which causes the arrhythmia, surgical procedures like the Maze procedure, ventricular aneurysm surgery or a coronary bypass may be needed to correct the problem.
There are also many drugs that doctors prescribe to treat troublesome arrhythmias. These include antiarrhythmic medications which are used to control a person's heart rate, like beta blockers. Anticoagulants and antiplatelet drugs lower the risk of blood clots. Examples of these are blood thinners like warfarin, and the generic aspirin.
IRREGULAR HEARTBEAT PREVENTIONTo prevent and lower the risks of life-threatening arrhythmias, especially those that are caused by underlying heart conditions, certain lifestyle changes should be affected. This includes avoiding activities which can trigger the onset of irregular heartbeat, cutting down on alcohol or caffeine intake, stopping a smoking habit, and avoiding cough or cold medicines that may contain alcohol or stimulants.
The doctor may also recommend a healthy diet rich in food that is good for the heart, regular exercise, and reducing the levels of stress in a patient's life.
The prognosis for arrhythmia will depend on the kind of irregular heartbeat a person has, whether is harmless or potentially dangerous, like ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation that can cause sudden death. It will also depend on the heart's pumping ability, and a person's response to the arrhythmia.
A new system has recently been developed to combine computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the heart during the performance of a catheter ablation procedure. Current research at the University of California in San Francisco Medical Center is looking at mapping and ablation of patients diagnosed with atrial arrhythmias. It is also trying out new drug therapies to remedy potentially dangerous arrhythmias which cause sudden cardiac death.
Medication commonly used for these disease:Irregular heartbeat drugs
Blood Pressure Test
Blood Test for Heart Disease
C-Reactive Protein Test
Complete Blood Count Test
Coronary Calcium Scan
CT Heart Scan
Diagnostic Medical Sonography
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Nuclear Stress Test
Prothrombin Time Test
Tilt Table Test | <urn:uuid:43ed7ad0-7183-4661-aee7-734c4f3f2971> | CC-MAIN-2016-40 | http://www.medicalook.com/Heart_diseases/Irregular_heartbeat.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-40/segments/1474738663308.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20160924173743-00238-ip-10-143-35-109.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.886751 | 2,087 | 3.578125 | 4 |
Wednesday, 2 January 2013 - Annual Climate Summary for South Australia - Product code IDCKGC23R0
South Australia in 2012: Warm days, cool nights and below average rainfall.
With a La Niña event in place at the beginning of 2012, the start of the year saw cooler and wetter than usual conditions for South Australia. The La Niña had decayed by April while rainfall deficiencies became established across large parts of the state. From mid-winter, daytime temperatures were above average and nights were generally cooler than average.
The Indian Ocean influenced South Australia rainfall from September onwards with a positive phase of the Indian Ocean Dipole. This led to decreased rainfall exacerbating rainfall deficiencies and resulting in the third driest spring on record. Also, a new state wide record was set for spring mean maximum temperatures.
- Rainfall for South Australia as a whole for 2012 was 77% of average, the driest since 2006.
- 54% of the state had below average rainfall, with some areas very much below average.
- Temperatures for the year across South Australia as a whole were 0.5°C warmer than average after a cooler than average start and warmer finish to the year.
- South Australia had its warmest spring on record (previous being 2006).
- Third driest spring on record after 1963 and 1967.
- The wettest location in the state was Bridgewater in the Adelaide Hills, recording 946.1 mm of rainfall for the year.
South Australia as a whole received 77% of the long term average rainfall throughout 2012 (i.e., 23% below normal), the lowest since 2006. While parts of the northeast pastoral received above average rainfall, totals for the year were below average across large areas of the agricultural districts.
The most significant rainfall event for the year was observed between the 27th of February and the 4th of March as a low pressure surface trough combined with a slow moving upper level trough and a moist tropical airmass over the northeast of the state. This system produced heavy rainfall with new daily and multi-day rainfall records at a number of locations across north-eastern districts. Marree (Mundowdna Station) received 125.6 mm on February 29, which was the wettest day of the year for any location in South Australia. Further details on this event are available in Special Climate Statement 39.
For cropping areas, April to October growing season rainfall averaged across the agricultural districts was 82% of average, the driest since 2008. The season was particularly notable for a lack of more traditional frontal weather.
The most significant rainfall event through the growing season came in the third week of June when a strong low pressure system with an associated cold front crossed the southern coastal regions producing significant totals, particularly in the Adelaide Hills. The wettest day in this event was observed at Belair (State Flora Nursery) where 70.4 mm was recorded in the 24 hours to 9am on the 21st, a record high June daily rainfall observation for this location in 125 years. Blackwood (Wittunga) also had a record highest June daily rainfall with 65.4 mm.
Rainfall for Adelaide ( Kent Town) in 2012 was 527.2mm compared to the long term average of 550.1mm.
The wettest location in South Australia for 2012 was Bridgewater, in the Adelaide Hill, with 946.1 mm of rainfall throughout the year.
The mean temperature (the average of daytime maximum temperatures and overnight minimum temperatures) for South Australia as a whole for 2012 was 0.5 °C above the long term average. In comparison, 2011 was equal to the long term average, and 2009 was the warmest year on record with mean temperatures 1.2 °C above average.
Adelaide (Kent Town) had an annual mean temperature of 17.6 °C, 0.3°C above the long term average of 17.3 °C. By comparison, during 2011 the annual mean temperature at Adelaide (Kent Town) was 17.8 °C, or 0.5 °C above the long term average.
The annual maximum temperature across the state for 2012 was 0.9 °C above average. Maximum temperatures, averaged for the year, were up to 0.5 °C above normal across most districts, though in excess of 1.0 °C warmer than average in the far west and the far northeast.
The year started with cooler than average daytime temperatures, due to a La Niña event in the Tropical Pacific. April saw a warm start to the growing season though days were generally near average from May through to July. Temperatures became warmer than usual at the end of winter with drier than average conditions persisting across large parts of the state. Well above average maximum temperatures from September and prolonged heat in the last week of November, resulted in the warmest spring on record for South Australia.
The highest maximum temperature during the year was observed on the December 23rd at Tarcoola Aerodrome with a maximum of 47.1 °C.
Adelaide had it warmest start to the year since 1900 with a maximum of 41.6 °C observed on January 1st. Adelaide saw maximum temperatures averaged across the year of 22.8°C, 0.5 °C warmer than average. In comparison, 2011 averaged 22.7 °C.
The state wide annual minimum temperature for 2012 was equal to the long term average. Minimum temperatures, averaged for the year, were about 0.5 °C below normal across most parts of the state, and 1.0 °C cooler across parts of the pastoral districts. Western and southern eastern coastal areas and parts of the far northeast saw average minimum temperatures up to 0.5 °C above average.
Adelaide saw minimum temperatures averaged across the year of 12.4°C, 0.2 °C warmer than average. In comparison, 2011 minimum temperatures averaged 12.9 °C
2012 started with minimum temperatures above average through January but were generally cooler than average from February through to August. May was particularly cool with the state wide average minimum temperature being 1.5 °C below average, the fourth coolest May nights on record (since 1910). Very cool nights persisted through July when the state wide average minimum temperature was 1.3 °C below average, the coolest July since 1997. The cooler nights, owing mostly to generally clear conditions as high pressure systems dominated the weather, saw temperatures get to as low as -7.5 °C at Yunta in the east, while Marla Police station observed a record lowest overnight minimum of -5.0 °C on July 7.
The second half of November saw a heatwave across northern South Australia during which Oodnadatta set a new state-wide November overnight minimum temperature record, only reaching a minimum of 32.3 °C on November 29. Further details on this heat event are available in Special Climate Statement 41.
Marla had their lowest temperature on record in July 2012.
Notable events through 2012
- January 7th - Thunderstorms developed over southern parts of the state as a prefrontal trough moved across in a moist and unstable environment. High 30 minute rainfall rates that were recorded in the early evening in the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges included 27 mm at Little Para Reservoir, 21 mm at Golden Grove, 20 mm at Kersbrook, 24 mm at Ironstone Road, 30 mm at Kuitpo.
- Jan 27th to 30th - Severe thunderstorms produced heavy falls, localised flash flooding and felled trees across parts of the state.
- Feb 27th to Mar 4th - Record highest daily rainfall totals reported across the pastoral districts as a low pressure surface trough combined with a slow moving upper level trough and a moist tropical airmass over the northeast of the state.
- March 14th - Thunderstorms formed ahead of an approaching front during the afternoon across the southern parts of the State producing damaging wind gusts across Adelaide, the Mount Lofty Ranges, Mid North and Flinders districts.
- May - Minimum temperatures for the month were well below normal for most of South Australia, averaging 1.5 °C cooler across the state, resulting in the fourth coolest May on record.
- June 20 and 21st - A rainband developed across the south of the state in the afternoon and evening of the 20th with rain persisting through to the afternoon of the 21st producing 2-day rainfall totals in excess of 100 mm in the Adelaide and Mount Lofty regions.
- July 12 - Severe thunderstorms across Adelaide and the Mount Lofty Ranges produced falls up to 50 mm and an extensive area of hail covered the hills around Rowland Flat, with hailstones measuring up to 2 cm in diameter. Flooding was reported in Mount Barker.
- August 16 and 17th - Minor flooding in the Mount Lofty Ranges and Onkaparinga catchment from isolated thunderstorms. Damaging winds in excess of 100km/h observed across coastal and hills locations.
- September 4th to 7th - A deep low to the south of the state generated strong to gale force winds, squally showers and isolated thunderstorms across the southern districts. Cape Borda observes the strongest wind gust for the year at any location across the state with 119 km/h on the 5th
- September 27th to 28th - Thunderstorms with damaging wind gusts developed about the Pastoral districts in a hot and marginally unstable environment ahead of a weak trough.
- October 11th - An upper cold pool and associated surface trough brought scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms to the agricultural area and southern parts of the Pastoral districts. The cold outbreak produced snow which was reported at several locations across the Adelaide Hills and Flinders Ranges including Mt Lofty, Crafers and Hallett.
- November - Prolonged heat at the end of the month results in the record warmest November night in South Australia at Oodnadatta and the second warmest November days for the state as a whole. Adelaide had its second longest run of November days above 30°C.
- December - The year ended with above average temperatures across the state, the warmest December in 9 years and the fifth warmest on record. Rainfall remained below average for most parts of the agricultural districts, and for the state as whole it was the driest December in 18 years.
|Extremes in 2012|
|Hottest day||47.1 °C at Tarcoola Aero on 23 Dec|
|Warmest days on average||30.0 °C at Moomba Airport|
|Coolest days on average||16.9 °C at Mount Lofty|
|Coldest day||5.0 °C at Mount Lofty on 23 Aug|
|Coldest night||-7.5 °C at Yunta Airstrip on 6 Jul|
|Coolest nights on average||7.4 °C at Yongala|
|Warmest nights on average||14.4 °C at Oodnadatta Airport|
|Warmest night||32.3 °C at Oodnadatta Airport on 29 Nov|
|Warmest on average overall||
22.1 °C at Moomba Airport|
22.1 °C at Oodnadatta Airport
|Coolest on average overall||14.2 °C at Parawa (Second Valley Forest AWS)|
|Wettest overall||946.1 mm at Bridgewater|
|Driest overall||33.8 mm at Leigh Creek (Pfitzners Well)|
|Wettest day||125.6 mm at Marree (Mundowdna Station) on 29 Feb|
|Highest wind gust||119 km/h at Cape Borda on 5 Sep|
Click on a map to show it full size in a pop-up window
|Month by month|
January 2012 started with very high temperatures being experienced across South Australia. Highest maximum temperatures were observed on the 1st with 46.2 °C at Ceduna AMO, while Adelaide had it warmest start to the year since 1900 with a maximum of 41.6 °C. Overall, the month was warmer than normal for the State with maximum and minimum temperatures up to 3 °C above average at several locations across southern parts of South Australia.
Rainfall was mostly above average across the state, though below average across southern parts of the agricultural districts. Many locations recorded most rainfall on the 7th and 8th as a low pressure trough crossed the state. At the end on the month, a monsoon trough located across the northeast produced severe thunderstorms for central and eastern districts. Falls up to 70 mm were observed in the Flinders Ranges with reports of localised flash flooding in the Northeast Pastoral.
|Rainfall rank||Maximum temperature rank||Minimum temperature rank|
February was cooler than average with respect to both maximum and minimum temperatures across South Australia. Maximum temperatures were 1 to 2 °C cooler than average throughout central and eastern districts with coolest days occurring at the end of the month. Minimum temperatures were below average across the northern pastorals, owing to mostly cloud free skies though the early part of the month.
The wettest period for the state occurred between the 26th and 29th. A low pressure surface trough that combined with an upper level trough over northern and eastern districts produced severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall. Arkaroola reported the highest overall rainfall total with 184.6 mm, 106.6 mm of which was recorded to 9 am on the 29th.
March saw cooler than normal conditions continue with daytime temperatures close to 4°C below average across large areas in the northeast of the state, grading to slightly above average for coastal areas. Average monthly maximum temperatures ranged from 20.4 °C at Mount Lofty to a below average 31.3 °C at Marree Comparison in the Northeast Pastoral.
Some locations observed highest on record total rainfall during March, with most of the eastern half of South Australia receiving very above average throughout the month. The wettest period occurred in the first week of March as an extensive cloud band generated widespread falls across the eastern districts. 24-hour totals of up to 90 mm were observed in the northeast of the state.
April kicked off a warm start to the growing season with maximum temperatures 1 to 2 °C above average across the southern half of the state. In the Adelaide region, maximum temperatures were up to 6 °C above average through the first week of the month. Minimum temperatures were generally near average, tending below average across central and eastern districts.
Apart from the far northwest of state, where rainfall totals were slightly above average, most of South Australia reported average to below average rainfall through the month, with very little observed throughout the first 3 weeks of April. The passage of a cold frontal system between the 21st and 24th produced falls of up to 40 mm for several locations across the Mount Lofty Ranges.
May had cold nights and average to warmer than average days. Despite most coastal districts experiencing cooler than average maximum temperatures, days were 0.7 °C warmer that usual across the state as a whole. Minimum temperatures for the month were well below normal for most of South Australia, averaging 1.5 °C cooler that normal across the state.
Less than half of the average May rainfall for the State as a whole was observed with some sites in the pastoral districts having lowest total May rainfall on record. Most falls were observed between the 24th and 26th as a cold frontal system and weak low pressure trough brought falls up to 60 mm for southern agricultural areas.
June was cooler than average for South Australia with cold nights for large parts of the state. The minimum temperature at Yunta fell to -6.6 °C on the 11th, the coldest night for the month in the state. Marla Police Station also observed a record lowest June minimum temperature of -4.0 °C on the 26th.
Rainfall was just above average for June, with the wetter than normal parts of the state being across southern parts of the agricultural districts and in the northeast pastoral. The total rainfall at Adelaide (Kent Town) was well above average with 126.4 mm received on 16 rain days, half of which was recorded on two days. This resulted in Adelaide having is wettest overall month since June 2005.
July daytime temperatures were generally near normal, though nights were colder than normal across the state. Coldest nights were observed in the first week on July across northern parts of the state in clear skies and light winds. Marla Police Station observed another record lowest daily minimum temperature with -5.0°C on the 7th.
The wettest periods of July for much of the State occurred between the 10th and 14th and again between 26th and 28th. In the earlier period heavy rain and hail affected parts of the Barossa Valley and Adelaide Hills. Despite below average rainfall across most of the state, Adelaide observed its wettest July in 3 years with 64.8 mm.
August daytime temperatures were generally average while nights were colder than normal across the state. For the third consecutive month, Marla Police Station observed a record lowest daily minimum temperature with -2.3 °C on the 12th.
It was a dry finish to winter for South Australia with less than half of the long term average August rainfall being received. Southeast agricultural districts were the wettest, whereas falls over the pastoral districts were mostly below average tending to very much below average across the western half of the state.
September was warm across South Australia with several locations observing record warmest daily maximum and minimum temperatures. Much of the state observed maximum temperatures well above average on the 27th with several locations observing record highest September maximums since observations began.
It was dry across most of the state through September with record lowest falls at several locations in the Mount Lofty Ranges and central districts. Adelaide observed its driest September in 4 years, receiving just 21.8 mm received on 12 rain days, very much below the long term average of 60.3 mm.
October saw warmer than normal daytime temperatures persist across the state with many locations across northern parts in excess of 2.0 °C above the long term October average. Despite the warmer than usual month, a cold outbreak in the second week saw well below average temperatures across the state and a rare snow event for the Mount Lofty and Flinders Ranges.
Almost the entire state saw below average rainfall through October owing to the dominance of high pressure systems affecting the state throughout the month. The wettest period for much of the State occurred between the 10th and 11th resulting in snow falls and hail at Mt Lofty, Lobethal, Gumeracha, Mt Remarkable, Hallett, and Mt Bryan.
November ended with prolonged heat in the last week of the month which resulted in the second warmest November on record and the second longest run of November days above 30°C for Adelaide. The above average temperatures contributed to the warmest spring days on record for South Australia. During the heatwave, a new state wide November minimum temperature record was observed at Oodnadatta Airport with a minimum of 32.3 °C on the 29th.
Below average rainfall persisted across most of the state, resulting in the driest November in 16 years and contributed to the third driest spring on record for the state. Most of the month’s rainfall was associated with a cold frontal system in the first week of the month, and with a tropical feature in the last few days of November.
December The year ended with above average temperatures across the state, the warmest December in 9 years and the fifth warmest on record. Daytime temperatures were fourth highest on record, averaged across the state it was the warmest December days since 2005 while nights were the warmest in 5 years.
Rainfall remained below average for most parts of the agricultural districts, and for the state as whole it was the driest December in 18 years. Most of the month’s rainfall was associated with low pressure troughs in the first week of December and again in the middle of the month.
|Rainfall rank||Maximum temperature rank||Minimum temperature rank|
|Record highest daily rainfall|
Highest daily rainfall
in 2012 (mm)
|Marree (Clayton)||121.4||on 29 Feb||113.4||on 31 Jan 1974||58|
|Blackwood (Wittunga)||65.4||on 21 Jun||55.0||on 31 Oct 1997||34|
|Adelaide (Clarence Gardens Bowling Club)||55.0||on 21 Jun||51.0||on 14 Dec 1993||31|
|Marree (Mundowdna Station)||125.6||on 29 Feb||103.4||on 6 Feb 1957||30|
|Lowest total annual rainfall for at least 25 years|
for 2012 (mm)
Most recent annual
at least this dry
* note: there are gaps in the historical record at this site, so it is possible a lower value has gone unreported.
|Record lowest temperature|
in 2012 (°C)
|Marla Police Station||-5.0||on 7 Jul||-4.0||on 21 Jun 2007||28||13.6|
|Summary statistics for 2012|
|Northwest (district 16)|
|Andamooka||27.8||+0.3||44.5||19 Feb||13.8||+0.1||0.6||17 Jul||120.0||194.8||low||62%|
|Coober Pedy Airport||28.1||45.1||23 Dec||13.8||1.3||1 Aug||90.4|
|Ernabella (Pukatja)||27.5||41.8||25 Nov||12.6||-4.2||8 Jul||216.8|
|Roxby Downs (Olympic Dam Aerodrome)||27.8||44.7||3 Jan||11.4||-4.0||1 Aug||134.2|
|Tarcoola Aero||28.0||47.1||23 Dec||11.2||-2.3||19 Jul||84.6|
|Woomera Aerodrome||26.5||+0.8||43.8||23 Dec||12.6||-0.1||0.9||23 Jun||114.2||184.1||low||62%|
|Far North (district 17)|
|Arkaroola||43.2||29 Nov||11.2||-0.3||-2.9||2 Aug||390.5||258.7||high||151%|
|Leigh Creek Airport||26.9||+0.7||43.1||29 Nov||12.2||-0.6||-1.2||23 Jun||260.8||227.2||average||115%|
|Marree Aero||28.9||45.5||26 Nov||13.0||-1.0||3 Jul||144.8|
|Marree Comparison||29.6||+0.9||46.0||29 Nov||1.0||3 Jul||137.9||162.4||average||85%|
|Moomba Airport||30.0||45.7||30 Nov||14.3||0.8||3 Jul||187.6|
|Oodnadatta Airport||29.8||+0.8||45.6||25 Nov||14.4||-0.2||-0.7||4 Jul||93.6||178.8||low||52%|
|Western Agricultural (district 18)|
|Ceduna AMO||24.1||+0.6||46.2||1 Jan||10.5||+0.1||-1.9||12 Aug||159.8||294.9||v low||54%|
|Cleve||22.5||+0.4||43.3||23 Dec||11.8||+0.5||1.7||11 Jun||345.8||399.7||average||87%|
|Coulta (Coles Point)||21.8||+0.3||41.6||1 Jan||11.0||-0.2||1.4||10 Jun||434.4|
|Cummins Aero||23.1||44.7||1 Jan||9.1||-2.5||10 Jun||319.4|
|Elliston||21.9||+0.5||42.7||1 Jan||11.9||+0.1||1.6||11 Aug|
|Kimba||23.7||+0.2||43.0||23 Dec||0.0||7 Jul||266.8||346.1||low||77%|
|Kyancutta||25.8||+0.7||46.3||23 Dec||9.3||0.0||-2.1||11 Jun||262.7||313.7||low||84%|
|Minnipa Pirsa||24.6||44.3||23 Dec||10.9||2.5||31 Aug||237.0|
|Neptune Island||19.1||+0.6||33.5||25 Feb||14.1||+0.4||6.4||23 Aug||360.8||446.9||low||81%|
|North Shields (Port Lincoln AWS)||21.8||41.7||23 Dec||11.1||2.8||7 Jul||308.2|
|Nullarbor||24.0||+0.4||42.8||4 Nov||10.5||-0.2||-2.2||7 Jul||135.2||249.2||v low||54%|
|Port Augusta Aero||26.4||45.7||23 Dec||11.5||-2.7||7 Jul||216.0|
|Streaky Bay||23.8||+0.8||44.0||1 Jan||12.4||+0.2||2.6||12 Aug||275.8||378.3||low||73%|
|Whyalla Aero||23.8||+0.1||44.9||23 Dec||11.5||+0.1||-1.4||7 Jul||260.4||263.8||average||99%|
|Wudinna Aero||25.5||45.9||23 Dec||9.5||-2.3||12 Aug||240.4|
|Upper North (district 19)|
|Hawker||25.7||+0.5||42.5||29 Nov||10.4||-0.2||-2.0||7 Jun||214.0||308.3||low||69%|
|Yongala||22.5||+0.7||40.5||23 Dec||7.4||+0.1||-5.1||10 Jun||281.9||365.5||low||77%|
|Northeast (district 20)|
|Gluepot Reserve (Gluepot)||25.1||44.4||29 Nov||8.7||-6.5||6 Jul||236.7|
|Yunta Airstrip||24.6||42.8||29 Nov||8.9||-7.5||6 Jul||167.0|
|Lower North (district 21)|
|Clare High School||21.4||40.5||23 Dec||8.8||-2.5||10 Jun||450.4|
|Port Pirie Aerodrome||24.6||43.3||23 Dec||10.9||-0.6||1 Sep||365.6|
|Snowtown (Rayville Park)||24.0||43.7||23 Dec||8.9||-2.6||11 Jun||275.2|
|Yorke Peninsula (district 22A)|
|Edithburgh||20.8||43.2||23 Dec||11.9||1.8||10 Sep||331.6|
|Kadina AWS||23.7||43.5||23 Dec||9.3||-1.2||1 Aug||283.2|
|Maitland||22.2||+0.5||41.9||23 Dec||11.8||+0.5||3.0||8 Jun||429.4||503.7||low||85%|
|Minlaton Aero||22.3||43.9||23 Dec||10.7||1.5||10 Sep||282.8|
|Stenhouse Bay||20.7||40.4||25 Feb||12.9||2.9||1 Aug||386.6|
|Warooka||21.5||+0.3||40.6||1 Jan||11.7||+0.2||3.6||7 Jul||355.0||445.3||low||80%|
|Kangaroo Island (district 22B)|
|Cape Borda||19.1||37.4||1 Jan||11.4||4.7||6 Jul||452.4|
|Cape Willoughby||18.7||+0.6||36.8||25 Feb||13.2||+0.4||5.1||11 Oct||496.8||540.1||average||92%|
|Kingscote Aero||21.3||40.8||23 Dec||8.8||-2.1||7 Jul||408.0|
|Parndana Cfs AWS||19.9||40.6||1 Jan||9.4||2.6||23 Jun||535.2|
|Adelaide Plains (district 23A)|
|Adelaide (Kent Town)||22.8||+0.5||42.0||23 Dec||12.4||+0.2||2.2||1 Aug||527.2||550.1||average||96%|
|Adelaide Airport||22.0||+0.5||41.7||23 Dec||11.8||+0.4||1.1||9 Jun||414.2||442.2||average||94%|
|Edinburgh RAAF||23.1||+0.5||42.6||23 Dec||11.1||0.0||0.1||1 Aug||398.4||430.3||average||93%|
|Parafield Airport||23.3||+1.0||42.2||23 Dec||11.0||-0.2||-0.9||9 Jun||407.2||453.4||average||90%|
|Roseworthy AWS||23.7||44.3||23 Dec||9.4||-0.9||9 Jun||307.2|
|County Light (district 23B)|
|Nuriootpa Viticultural||21.8||41.2||23 Dec||9.0||-2.5||11 Jun||330.1|
|Rosedale (Turretfield Research Centre)||23.2||+0.7||43.0||23 Dec||9.7||-0.3||-1.0||9 Jun||380.8||467.2||low||82%|
|Mount Lofty Ranges (district 23C)|
|Hindmarsh Island AWS||40.4||23 Dec||11.8||2.0||6 Jul||494.4|
|Kuitpo Forest Reserve||19.1||38.3||23 Dec||10.2||2.6||7 Jul||807.4|
|Mount Barker||20.2||+0.2||40.5||23 Dec||9.1||+1.1||-0.3||11 Jun||776.6||764.4||average||102%|
|Mount Crawford (Mt Crawford AWS)||19.2||39.2||23 Dec||9.6||1.1||11 Oct||534.8|
|Mount Lofty||16.9||35.6||1 Jan||8.7||0.4||11 Oct||789.4|
|Noarlunga||21.5||40.9||23 Dec||12.6||3.8||10 Jun||551.8|
|Parawa (Second Valley Forest AWS)||18.0||38.8||23 Dec||10.4||2.5||7 Jul||805.6|
|Victor Harbor (Encounter Bay)||20.7||41.4||23 Dec||10.0||-0.8||11 Jun||606.4|
|Upper Murray Valley (district 24A)|
|Loxton Research Centre||24.4||+0.6||43.6||29 Nov||-3.6||11 Jun||181.5||261.1||v low||70%|
|Renmark Aero||25.0||45.3||29 Nov||9.2||-4.9||6 Jul||225.8|
|Lower Murray Valley (district 24B)|
|Eudunda||21.8||+0.8||40.2||23 Dec||9.5||+0.3||-0.2||11 Jun||322.6||447.5||low||72%|
|Meningie||21.4||+0.6||40.8||1 Jan||10.6||+0.4||0.7||7 Jul||490.2||468.3||average||105%|
|Murray Bridge (Pallamana Aerodrome)||23.0||43.4||23 Dec||8.8||-3.8||7 Jul||361.2|
|Murray Bridge Comparison||23.5||+0.6||43.7||23 Dec||10.1||+0.2||-1.5||7 Jul||428.4||349.7||high||123%|
|Strathalbyn Racecourse||21.5||40.9||23 Dec||10.5||0.5||11 Jun||504.2|
|Murray Mallee (district 25A)|
|Karoonda||23.4||42.9||2 Jan||9.1||-1.2||7 Jul||307.9||342.0||average||90%|
|Upper Southeast (district 25B)|
|Keith||22.6||+0.4||43.4||2 Jan||9.5||+0.4||-0.2||1 Aug||376.6||462.6||low||81%|
|Keith (Munkora)||22.8||44.3||2 Jan||7.8||-1.8||20 May||395.8|
|Lameroo (Austin Plains)||23.3||42.8||2 Jan||8.4||-0.8||25 Sep||246.0|
|Lameroo Comparison||23.3||+0.4||42.4||2 Jan||9.5||+0.8||0.3||7 Jul||250.0||384.1||low||65%|
|Lower Southeast (district 26)|
|Cape Jaffa (The Limestone)||19.5||+0.3||38.1||12 Dec||10.6||+0.3||1.4||7 Jul||524.4|
|Coonawarra||20.9||+0.5||41.0||2 Jan||8.3||+0.3||-2.0||1 Aug||467.2||571.8||v low||82%|
|Mount Gambier Aero||20.0||+1.1||41.7||2 Jan||8.7||+0.6||-0.3||6 Jul||645.4||710.0||average||91%|
|Naracoorte Aerodrome||21.5||42.6||2 Jan||8.3||-1.5||11 Jun||388.6|
|Padthaway South||21.6||42.3||2 Jan||8.4||-1.6||8 Jun||395.4|
|Robe Airfield||19.7||37.2||25 Feb||9.6||-1.0||6 Jul||575.4|
|Robe Comparison||18.7||+0.6||34.9||25 Feb||11.6||+0.7||2.9||6 Jul||627.6||632.5||average||99%|
A Annual Climate Summary is prepared to list the main features of the weather in South Australia using the most timely and accurate information available on the date of publication; it will generally not be updated. Later information, including data that has had greater opportunity for quality control, will be presented in the Monthly Weather Review, usually published in the fourth week of the month.
This statement has been prepared based on information available at 8 am on Wednesday 2 January 2013. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.
Averages are long-term means based on observations from
all available years of record, which vary widely from site to site.
They are not shown for sites with less than 20 years of record, as they cannot then be calculated reliably.
The median is sometimes more representative than the mean of long-term average rain.
The Rank indicates how rainfall this time compares with the climate record for the site,
based on the
(very low rainfall is in decile 1, low in decile 2 or 3,
average in decile 4 to 7, high in decile 8 or 9
and very high is in decile 10).
The Fraction of average shows how much rain has fallen this time as a percentage of the long-term mean. | <urn:uuid:6c0b93b1-8a8d-456f-b479-39d69ecc4c88> | CC-MAIN-2016-18 | http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/annual/sa/archive/2012.summary.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-18/segments/1461860114285.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20160428161514-00122-ip-10-239-7-51.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916398 | 8,190 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Quality is a sum of the characteristics of the product or characteristics of the activity leading to it. It is usually associated with evaluation (good ~, bad ~, high ~, low ~). Today we define quality as a group of product characteristics (features) that guarantee fulfilment of the requirements, needs and expectations of external and internal customer.
5 types of quality definitions
D.A. Garvin in his paper distinguished 5 approaches to quality definition:
- transcendent - excellence, property of things,
- product based - measurable variable describing product, presence of absence of features,
- user based - fulfilling the needs and requirements of customer, fitness for use,
- manufacturing based - conformance to requirements, do it right the firs time,
- value based - achieving good product at acceptable cost.
In practice, those approaches are mixed by different authors. The organization should choose definition that best suites to its customer and product. The understanding of quality should be different depending on customer. If our customers are enterprises (professionals) they can define very precisely attributes of the product they need. Then organization can switch more to the manufacturing based definitions. However, if organization produces for wide range of customers, it should take more from user based definitions.
Different definitions are important on different stages of product development. Designers should look more on features and consumer needs (see also designed quality), while in production workers should conform with requirements.
The more sophisticated the product and the more complex organization is, the more difficult it is to deliver high quality product each time. To solve the problem, the idea of quality management and quality management systems was created.
Quality in services
Definition of quality in services is not different from products. However, there are important differences in a way that quality is created. In case of product, organization can produce, inspect and then sell. There are many opportunities to check the quality. In case of services, organization can design the service, but then the quality is created during the service, in the presence of the customer. You won't have time or possibility to inspect quality. It is possible to analyse errors only after the service (that means: when you already lost you customer due to low quality). Therefore, high quality design of the service is essential.
Historical meaning of quality
In western culture the term quality is usually attributed to Plato and Aristotle. Plato has defined quality in terms related to excellence. Aristotle has defined main categories describing that allow to describe the world. One of those categories was quality, which was defined as this what makes thing different from another. This definition was later extended to distinct people. Parameters of quality were:
- habits and disposition,
- natural capabilities and incapabilities,
- affective qualities and affections,
This leads to the sentence quality is not an act, it is a habit, which is attributed to Aristotle, but in fact was coined by one of his critiques, Will Durant. However, it is consistent with Aristotle thinking. Due to understanding of quality, Aristotle claimed that each thing is different, therefore each thing requires distinct definition of quality. General definition of quality was not possible.
In eastern culture, quality was defined differently. Lao Tzu in book Tao Te Ching has defined quality as a road to excellence. The quality is understood as dynamics, changes over time. Knowing this definition of quality it is easier to understand why quality movement, e.g. Total Quality Management, has developed so well in Japan and not in Europe or USA. However this doesn't explain why it developed so late.
Quality and quality level
We should distinguish quality and quality level. Customers aren't one homogeneous group. They have different requirements, needs and expectations. And what's the most important - they have different purchasing power. Therefore, producer cannot create only one product that fits all. It creates different products for different customers.
Let's take the car market. Each producer offers different models of cars. Customer can buy smaller and cheaper one or bigger and more expensive. We shouldn't compare quality of those cars directly, as they belong to different quality class. In other words: they are on different quality levels. However, we can compare different models of the same class (same quality level). Example:
- Renault Clio and Renault Espace - different quality levels, we can't compare quality directly,
- Renault Clio and Ford Fiesta - the same quality level, we can compare quality directly.
Quality and economics
The only effective way to not release to the bankruptcy of the company is to give it a real progressive development. The Executive Board should therefore take such decisions that will make that revenues will exceed the costs and guarantee level of profit necessary for self-financing development. Profit is allowed thanks to continuous improvement of the products corresponding to the needs of customers on a competitive global market. Investment of profits in raising quality of work and the processes quality guarantees the success of the company, which will be able to sell its products at higher prices.
At the same time, we must remember that there is no profit without continuous improvement of the quality of work of the Board of Directors, who should make rational decisions based on the results of the careful economic analysis.
Setting a program of pro-quality activities and their implementation enables complex improvement of quality of work across the board, which ultimately will assure high level of final product. Improvement of the quality of work "blindly", without understanding the situation, according to certain stereotypes and even ISO standards, without due consideration of the economic side of decisions, can be a counter-productive activity which brings more losses than gains.
Owners engage their capital and time to reach the financial benefits, that satisfy a needs of other actors of social life. Creating high quality products is therefore dictated by the desire to achieve financial success, measured in excess of revenues over expenses and the adaptation of products to the requirements and expectations of customer that is the only means of achieving owners' fundamental goal. Naturally, manufacturer implements parallel other goals, but he realizes that they won't be reached, if he fails to implement the fundamental goal measured by profitability of engaged capital.
- Sudoł S., Przedsiębiorstwo. Podstawy nauki o przedsiębiorstwie. Teorie i praktyka zarządzania, Wyd. Dom Organizatora, Toruń 1999
- Garvin D.A.: What does product quality really mean, Sloan Management Review, 1/1984, Sloan Management Review, Cambridge 1984
- Aristotle's categories
- It’s a MUCH More Effective Quotation to Attribute It to Aristotle, Rather than to Will Durant
- Translation of Tao Te Ching
Author: Slawomir Wawak | <urn:uuid:ceb61bd8-d09c-4a3f-891e-415b4bf9239f> | CC-MAIN-2019-35 | https://ceopedia.org/index.php/Level_of_quality | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-35/segments/1566027315558.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20190820180442-20190820202442-00132.warc.gz | en | 0.950118 | 1,389 | 3.046875 | 3 |
‘Are Neonicotinoids Killing Bees?’ This was the provocative title of a conference held recently in London. Organized by SCI’s AgriSciences group, the conference was attended by EU experts from academia, the crop protection industry, farming community and government agencies, who gathered to hold a balanced and constructive debate about this controversial question. For the participants, pollinator health is of key interest, since bees and other pollinating insects are key contributors to sustainable agriculture as pollinators for many food crops.
Bee health has become an issue of public interest in recent years – receiving plenty of media coverage. Unfortunately, this coverage has been largely focused around individual studies on the alleged impacts of pesticides, and particularly neonicotinoids, and the topic has often gained attention due to sensational headlines or misleading language. Scientific publications on studies performed under field-relevant conditions and showing no effects, mostly remain unnoticed.
Bee health is a complex topic, influenced by multiple stressors. For the honey bee, the parasitic Varroa mite and associated viruses are recognized as a common and widespread threat in Europe and North America. For wild pollinators, habitat loss is a key factor. Despite these facts, pesticides remain the focal point of attention. In 2013, increasing public pressure led the European Commission to restrict certain uses of some neonicotinoid insecticides after the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) highlighted perceived risks and alleged data gaps for their use in bee-attractive crops.
The aim of the AgriSciences conference was to encourage participants to explore and critically review the data behind these restrictions and new scientific evidence related to the bee safety of neonicotinoids, analyze the impact of alternative control methods and consider options for the future. This by offering well-rounded scientific information to the participants to aid decision-making.
The crop protection industry highlighted the continuous work to prevent any risk to bees from pesticides, through extensive testing, risk assessment and stewardship measures. Crop protection products have to undergo comprehensive ecotoxicological tests before they can be authorized, including numerous in-depth bee safety tests. It was noted that neonicotinoids in particular have been subjected to very thorough and intensive testing procedures ranging from simple laboratory tests to field studies, some of which were conducted over several years under realistic conditions.
“Many field trials from different groups of scientists have proven that crops that have been seed-treated with neonicotinoids do not harm the health of honey bee colonies under realistic conditions,” says Dr Christian Maus, Global Pollinator Safety Manager at the Bayer Bee Care Center, Germany. During his presentation he explained the complexity of field studies and presented the latest results from one of the largest field studies of oilseed rape that has recently been conducted in Northern Germany. The study showed that there were no signs of harm of a neonicotinoid seed treatment in oilseed rape for honey bees, bumble bees and a solitary bee species. “The feedback on our study was very positive. We also discussed many other critical studies and interpreted data, which are often looked at just from a single perspective,” he stated.
Data on neonicotinoids and bees is overwhelming, with scientific publications currently coming out almost weekly, most of them highlighting effects. Most published studies are laboratory-based or otherwise look at exposure scenarios that do not accurately reflect field conditions. A problem with some other studies is that an impact is suggested based on correlation, not causation. The conference participants considered an analogy based on a graph showing levels of autism and levels of organic food sales during a particular time period: though both rose in the same time frame, does this mean that one affects the other? Can correlations have an impact? Politically they can, as learned from the discussion about the neonicotinoids.
Besides what is already known, a number of areas for further research were suggested during the conference which would complement our current knowledge. These included the topic of non-Apis bees; mechanisms behind observed sublethal effects and, moreover, a comparative approach balancing alleged effects of neonicotinoids with those of other, alternatively used chemistries.
Conference attendees learned how the crop protection industry is diligently working to prevent risk from pesticides – including neonicotinoids. A specific point of consideration was how Bayer and other producers of crop protection products have been working intensively with the seed industry to reduce the risk of exposure of pollinators to pesticides, for instance through dust drift that could affect pollinator health during sowing of pesticide-treated seeds. The outcome of these efforts has been a number of effective safety measures including development of new technologies to avoid dust emission such as SweepAir and deflectors, higher quality standards for treating seed and improvements in seed coatings themselves.
An important take-away from the conference was that monitoring data indicates that there is no systematic evidence of a spatial or temporal correlation between the use of neonicotinoids and increased honey bee colony mortality. Conference presenters Norman Carreck, from Sussex University, UK and Peter Campbell, of Syngenta, UK, both highlighted the Defra/MAFF monitoring data on honey bee pesticide intoxication incidents in the UK, indicating no incidents linked to approved uses of neonicotinoids in the last 10 years, a period in which their use as seed treatment increased dramatically along with an almost doubling of oilseed rape hectares during this time.
The importance of seed treatment with neonicotinoids for crop protection becomes clear now that it is no longer readily available. UK farmers indicated trouble combatting aphids and the cabbage stem flea beetle in oilseed rape crops, resulting in an increased use of insecticide sprays with older products.
Summarizing her thoughts following the event, Coralie van Breukelen-Groeneveld, Head of the Bayer Bee Care Center, said, “It has been a long time since an event like this has taken place in Europe, where so many different stakeholders come together and really discuss and exchange on the latest updates regarding bee health from multiple perspectives in a constructive way. What really struck me was all the work that has been done on the safety of neonicotinoids. Like Peter Campbell, I can’t help but wonder what we could have achieved if all the money spent on focusing on pesticides had been invested in finding solutions to the key factors impacting bee health.” Bayer’s Bee Care Program goes far beyond activities related to pesticide safety testing and stewardship for bees. In collaboration with many partners, we contribute to bee health and pollinator research.
To get more information on neonicotinoids, you can download our latest BEEINFOrmed fact sheet “The Bee Safety of Neonicotinoid Insecticides”.
You will find detailed information about our study in northeastern Germany in our BEENOW article “Rapeseed: A Safe Source of Food?”.
In addition, results of the above study have just been made public as a series of articles in Ecotoxicology journal.
In a related article in Forbes, Henry Miller gives “Six Reasons Not To Worry about the Bees”. | <urn:uuid:4969a92a-9798-45ac-a09e-f11a1a8231e5> | CC-MAIN-2019-47 | https://www.beecare.bayer.com/media-center/news/detail/neonics-and-bees-a-balanced-debate | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-47/segments/1573496664808.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20191112074214-20191112102214-00538.warc.gz | en | 0.953607 | 1,457 | 3.1875 | 3 |
LadderMath brain teasers require computations to solve.
Assume the ladder is NOT an extension ladder.
A 25 ft ladder is placed with its foot 7 ft away from a building. If the top of the ladder slips down 4 ft, how many feet will the bottom slide out?
HintIt is not 4 ft. Try some Pythagorean theoreming.
First triangle: 7 squared + 24 squared = 25 squared, so the top of the ladder was 24 feet high.
24 - 4= 20. 25 squared - 20 squared = 225. Take the square root of that and you get 15: the new base of the triangle. 15 - 7 (the old base) = 8ft
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Back to Top | <urn:uuid:0f950f7f-5d92-4bc8-b424-4d98ad16ba5f> | CC-MAIN-2015-35 | http://www.braingle.com/brainteasers/teaser.php?op=2&id=29344&comm=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-35/segments/1440645151768.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20150827031231-00250-ip-10-171-96-226.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915336 | 200 | 3.015625 | 3 |
SynapDx searches hundreds of thousands of genetic markers, looking for clues about autism in 880 children across 20 states. A few years ago, this would be the task of a major company or research institution. Thanks to cloud computing, the start-up in Lexington, Mass., does it with 22 people, a few laptops and an Internet connection.
“Without the cloud I’d need $1 million, plus staff, just for the computer,” said Mark DePristo, a vice president for SynapDx. Instead, his company spends $25,000 a month on computing and steadily gets more computer power as it needs it.
You already work in the cloud, too, if you use a smartphone, tablet or web browser. And you’re using the cloud if you’re tapping online services like Dropbox or Apple’s iCloud or watching “House of Cards” on Netflix.
Cloud computing, an airy term for real systems of cleverly networked computers, powers thousands of mobile games, workplace software programs and advanced research projects. These services harness global networks of millions of computers, renting and using huge amounts of computing power.
An inside look at how technology is remaking an industry, lowering costs for some and handing even more influence to a handful of powerful companies.
For the half-century that computers have been part of the workplace, companies have bought their own machines for corporate data centers. But that may be about to change. Industry analysts at IDC figure that if largely cloud-based things like mobile apps, big data, and social media are counted, over the next six years almost 90 percent of new spending on Internet and communications technologies, a $5 trillion global business, will be on cloud-based technology.
Technically, cloud computing refers to an efficient method of managing lots of computer servers, data storage and networking. More than a decade ago, engineers figured out ways that data and software could be distributed efficiently across several machines and their power pooled for collective use.
It no longer mattered which servers were running a job; it was just inside this “cloud” of machines. There were immediate performance gains, since stand-alone servers typically used only a fraction of their capacity in case there was a surge in demand. By linking the machines together into a larger “virtual” system, the surge problem eased and a lot of computation was freed.
And it became available to anyone able to pay the rent.
“The biggest events in the world, the World Cup, the Super Bowl, the big reality shows, all use the cloud” for various online services, said Andy Jassy, the head of Amazon Web Services, or AWS, the largest cloud computing company. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration broadcast the Mars Lander using AWS, and the Obama campaign used it to place a million calls on Election Day 2012. Even part of the Central Intelligence Agency is inside AWS.
A handful of big companies dominate this new sort of technology. Customers like Netflix and Shell run on AWS. In Shell’s case, it’s for seismic research. For Netflix, it’s for all those movies and television shows streaming to your television and computers.
Google has a big cloud, too. You’re on it if you use any sort of Google service like email and photo editing. Seventy million Nigerians recently registered for local elections on Google’s cloud and millions more people study on Google’s cloud through the online educational service Khan Academy. The young messaging app Snapchat grew to millions of users overnight, without spending millions to support them, by running on Google’s cloud.
Microsoft tapped cloud technology for running email accounts and Xbox games. Now it sells its cloud resources. For example, the Chinese automaker Qoros uses Microsoft’s cloud, called Azure, to connect its cars to social media and provide entertainment. Google and Yahoo developed cloud techniques for their search businesses, along the way pioneering big data analysis inside their clouds. IBM even made it possible to use its Watson supercomputing technology through a cloud service.
And Apple, of course, supports millions of customers through its cloud services.
A great deal of this power in the so-called public cloud where other companies rent usage will be controlled by just a handful of companies. That means two things: First, individuals and small teams are uniquely empowered by this trend. Without the cloud, it would be almost inconceivable to fund a start-up like Pinterest, which now loads 60 million photos a day onto AWS but employs 300 people.
But it’s likely that fewer than a dozen companies will really understand and control much of how the technology world will work.
“There will always be national boundaries, geopolitical distortions,” said Yousef Khalidi, who holds the title of distinguished engineer at Microsoft. “There are maybe 200 telephone companies in the world, but only a few global ones that are dominant.” Within five years, he said, “the actual design of these things will be understood by just a few hundred people.”
That ability to pool tremendous processing power is also leading to innovations thought impossible just a few years ago, like a real-time translation of any human language, self-driving cars and thermostats that learn our behavior and adjust themselves accordingly.
“The fact that it’s been said a million times doesn’t make it any less true: We’re still at the very beginning of this,” said Greg DeMichillie, the director of product management for Google’s public cloud. “Doing something that reaches 100,000 people is no longer in the realm of corporate data centers. Two or three people can build something on a global basis.”
There Is a Private Cloud
Here’s where describing what the cloud is gets tricky. Many corporate data centers have adopted cloud-based computing architecture — that method of making many computers in far-flung places efficiently work together — but they have no intention of offering that technology to other companies. Others, like Apple, don’t rent capacity to other companies, but offer a variety of cloud services to consumers.
Interestingly, Facebook, which operates large data centers around the globe, does not use cloud computing technology, its executives say, but rather uses aspects of it for the specialized use of a social network.
Eight years ago, Amazon got the idea of turning some of its internal cloud over to the public, starting with the most basic kind of computing and storage. Amazon was also fierce about cutting prices and finding more efficient ways to run systems. Since then, AWS has added hundreds of capabilities and features, like data analysis tools.
Amazon and Google won’t say how many servers they run in linked data centers around the world, but estimates are as high as 10 million computer servers, for each. Microsoft’s Azure service runs close to one million servers.
Renting other companies’ machines for their computing, the public cloud, is what most people now think about as cloud computing. And the scale at which the big companies operate creates all sorts of advantages.
“We see folks at traditional computing companies, and we can’t even have the same conversation anymore,” said David Campbell, who oversees technology at Azure. “They’re just not learning what we do about power and software when we get past one million servers.”
Google has developed its own semiconductors optimized for the cloud, executives say, while Amazon has in at least one case re-engineered how a 50-megawatt power substation feeds one of its computing centers.
As these companies learn how to cut costs and increase performance, they pass along at least part of that gain and costs go down for everyone.
Take data storage, now as low as a penny a gigabyte on AWS. That is about one-hundredth of its cost when AWS began. That kind of price collapse is about six times faster than posited by Moore’s Law, a rule in computing (named for its creator, Gordon Moore, one of the co-founders of the chip maker Intel) that says the same amount of money buys twice as much capability every 18 to 24 months.
Economists say Moore’s Law is the reason our world has been transformed by technology. People inside the public cloud companies, flush with the scale and cost savings they have already seen, think they can keep crushing costs indefinitely, increasing the impact of Moore’s Law.
Besides making it much cheaper to experiment, do research and even fail at starting a new company, the cloud is what is enabling the so-called Internet of things, with billions of sensors measuring huge amounts of data and shaping the performance of connected objects.
“Now you can get microprocessors for 25 cents that have a network connection to the cloud, where computing systems can understand context, and how to optimize behavior,” Mr. Campbell said. “We’ll create an amazing amount of economic value.”
Mr. Jassy of Amazon, who was once technical assistant to the company’s chief executive, Jeffrey P. Bezos, thinks that AWS will eventually be as big as Amazon’s book and reselling businesses. Microsoft’s new chief executive, Satya Nadella, was formerly the head of Azure, and has reorganized Microsoft to move faster to the cloud.
“Microsoft has good relations with companies; good for them. We’re growing in that,” Mr. DeMichillie of Google said. “Amazon has a head start. We’re in the position of building on the capabilities of Google.”
While Amazon, Google and Microsoft enjoy a lead in offering public cloud services, others are looking to close the gap.
IBM, long a leading light of tech, has spent over $2 billion on cloud technologies and services in the last year. CenturyLink, a provider of telecommunications and Internet services to business, is rushing to add public cloud services to its 520,000 miles of fiber around the world. Hewlett-Packard, until recently the largest technology company by revenue, has a deal with a Chinese manufacturer to supply other people’s clouds under its brand and hopes to develop new kinds of clouds that push even more cheap computing everywhere.
Upending Old Businesses
By now, many consumers know they no longer have to buy that expensive desktop software from Microsoft, Adobe or any number of software companies. Instead, they can find free, nearly as good alternatives that work over the Internet. Yes, that’s probably a cloud app. Even Microsoft and Adobe are offering lower-cost cloud alternatives to their traditional software.
But more dollars could be involved in the cloud’s impact on software for businesses. Selling software via the cloud, called Software as a Service, has upended one of the biggest businesses in tech. Software companies like Oracle (and much of Microsoft) were used to selling software in packages, frequently loaded onto computers, along with costly service contracts.
New business software companies, like Salesforce, Workday or Concur, instead rent data storage and software via the cloud. It is a lower-margin business that can grow quickly, challenging the incumbents, and it is gradually winning share.
Salesforce, one of the pioneers of software as a service, has increased in value 1,200 percent since going public in 2004, to a market capitalization of $33 billion, though it has generated scant profits over the years. Most of these “software in the cloud companies” still work on their own private clouds, since many of their customers aren’t yet comfortable with putting everything on Amazon or Google, but it’s likely that they will follow the consumer companies to the public cloud.
In the last few years, Oracle has spent over $4 billion acquiring cloud software companies and billions more building out its own cloud. SAP of Germany, the world’s second-largest maker of software to run companies, has spent even more. Venture capitalists in Silicon Valley are frequently torn about whether to sell their cloud start-ups to these giants or fund new cloud-based companies that will bury them.
Among the cloud giants, it is all more demand, abetted as wireless networks put more people in places like India and Africa into the cloud. “Our companies come into it for cost savings,” Mr. DeMichillie said. “We didn’t build this to enable Nigerian voter registration, but that is very gratifying.”
He added: “Historically, we’ve been in a world where computing was a scarce resource. Now it is moving to being an abundant resource. Anybody who claims to have a crystal ball about where this is heading is kidding themselves.” | <urn:uuid:50d77b1c-540d-4ca8-89b8-147c5e9e389a> | CC-MAIN-2019-04 | https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/11/the-era-of-cloud-computing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-04/segments/1547583884996.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20190123023710-20190123045710-00214.warc.gz | en | 0.949595 | 2,668 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Crossing the Danube, a way to freedom
For Ingrid Popa’s family the instauration of the communism in Romania meant the beginning of a harsh persecution with many of her close relatives kept under surveillance, interrogated, and imprisoned by the regime. As a result, after her father’s arrest and imprisonment in 1947, the parents decided to clandestinely cross the border from Romania into Yugoslavia. They made a perilous crossing of the Danube in the spectacular area knew as Cazanele Dunării in a group consisting of twelve persons: besides the Popa family, there was another family of two parents and three sons, and three men who helped with the launch and also who took advantage of the opportunity to flee the country. “Then they planned to flee. Where? Because Romania was surrounded by countries dominated by Soviet troops, the only possibility was Yugoslavia. And then they decided to flee on the Danube. They paid somebody to help us cross the Danube. This was in August 1948. (…) The arrangement was to go to Băile Herculane because in those times you didn’t had permission to freely circulate in the country. My mother obtained from the doctor a certificate that she had arthritis and needs to go to Băile Herculane. So we all went to Băile Herculane with a family, Bezi, husband and wife. There, we met another family with three boys. It was an extraordinary amusement for us children because we were going on a trip with a boat to Cazane. And I remember that we were waiting the boat on the Danube bank eating fish. And the adults… the mothers were laughing, joking, but my father and Mr. Bezi were livid… looked like some ghosts. (…) The boat came, we got in it fast, and we looked at the water. Afterwards we found out from our parents that the man that should have taken us to Yugoslavia didn’t come. Somebody else showed up, one of his relatives, tall, bearded, fearsome. My parents told me that they gave them beer and wine. My mother had sleeping pills, and she gave them to him with the hope they would do something. But he was holding up, and there were three young men that were helping him manage the boat who realized that we wanted to flee and decided on the spot that they also did. Thus, they fought with the boat’s captain, but couldn’t defeat him. Then they cut the connection between wheel and helm and pushed us to the Yugoslavian shore across the streams of the Danube in Yugoslavia. So we arrived in Yugoslavia,” she recalled. | <urn:uuid:d7891dd7-fa22-4078-8210-18ebb92c5983> | CC-MAIN-2019-04 | http://www.ironcurtainstories.eu/?lc=en&id=1038&rt=37 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-04/segments/1547583667907.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20190119115530-20190119141530-00011.warc.gz | en | 0.989877 | 552 | 2.59375 | 3 |
While there have been demonstrations of swarms involving up to 1000 UAVs, there are few examples of use in practical scenarios. One reason for this is the difficulty of effectively organising and controlling the swarm using a standard transmitter and laptop computer.
Command and Control of UAV Swarms with the Wing GCS Ground Control Station
Contributed by | Worthington Sharpe Ltd.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs or drones) are now reasonably well established in a number of areas including inspection, mapping, and search and rescue. In some situations it would be beneficial to simultaneously operate a swarm of multiple aircraft. While there have been demonstrations of swarms involving up to 1000 UAVs, there are few examples of use in practical scenarios. It is possible that one reason for this is the difficulty of effectively organising and controlling the swarm using a standard transmitter and laptop computer. An alternative approach to commanding and controlling a swarm using the Wing control device is presented here.
The Wing, shown in Figure 1a, is a 6-axis control device that combines full three-dimensional (3D) control with the precision of a laser mouse. Current uses include control of single UAVs, and use with Computer Aided Design (CAD) computer visualisation software.
The Wing GCS, shown in Figure 1b, was developed around the Wing control device to enable manual piloting and mission planner control with one hand. The other hand is then free to operate aircraft systems and camera gimbal through the keyboard and secondary joystick. Further details are described at worthingtonsharpe.com.
A total re-design of the current Wing GCS is proposed to create a new Swarm Control Station (Wing SCS). The internal computer and telemetry systems will need to be specified and integrated to meet the needs of multiple aircraft. Developments will also be required to increase the robustness and make the system suitable for use in all weather conditions. The Wing will still be used as the primary input device.
In addition to the work on the ground control station hardware, it will be necessary to modify the ground station software program to work optimally with the new human interface. Other work will include developing or integrating swarming algorithms, modifying the UAVs and flight control system as required, and optimising the systems and sensors to meet the objectives of a specific operational task.
The features of the current Wing GCS and how they might be applied to the command and control of multiple UAVs are described in the table below. It is likely the new Wing SCS design would be based on a similar hardware layout.
The Wing incorporates a high resolution mouse sensor and standard mouse buttons and scroll wheel.
This is ideal for point-and-click tasks. Alternative input methods such as touch-screens suffer from a lack of precision, user fatigue, and problems with unintentional command input.
Display is much larger than most UAV ground station displays and is ideal means it can be used for accurate waypoint manipulation, First Person View (FPV) from the on-board camera and detailed checking of aerial footage and data both during and post-flight.
The screen’s brightness and large viewing angle make it practical to use even in direct sunlight, typically a major problem with a conventional laptop or tablet computer.
An integrated secondary joystick enables independent control of the camera gimbal or panning the map view.
The full-sized waterproof keyboard provides usability similar to a desktop computer.
A six-position rotary switch can be configured for changing flightmodes and six three-position switches are fitted for userdefinable functions.
The large component bay can be configured with a powerful computer such as an Intel NUC or HP Z Series workstation
Space is available for multiple aircraft telemetry systems and RealTime Kinematic (RTK) systems.
Benefits for Command and Control of Multiple UAVs
In order to illustrate the potential benefits, a number of different mission planner and piloting operations are presented and discussed in the following table.
Mouse functions can be used to define a boundary for a simple grid search pattern.
Keyboard short-cuts or the scrollwheel can be used to define grid spacing. The numeric keypad can be used to set altitude.
Mouse functions can be used to quickly select a group of aircraft.
Right-button menu or keyboard shortcut to assign commands.
Mouse functions offer necessary precision and speed for selecting aircraft and assigning different waypoints.
24” screen allows large area to be displayed in detail.
Pitch, roll & yaw functions or secondary joystick used for view manipulation.
The mouse functions can be used to select an individual aircraft then pitch roll yaw and throttle functions used to pilot lead aircraft.
All this can be done without having to change input devices.
Secondary joystick for gimbal control of selected aircraft.
Keyboard short-cuts to rapidly assigning aircraft formations or search altitude.
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This talk by Jesse Jenkins at UPENN is one of the best looks at what doing deep decarbonization of the grid really looks like. Jenkins is a PhD candidate at MIT researching realistic paths to get our electricity sector down to zero carbon emissions.
Price vs. Value
He starts with the common and simple refrain we all have, which is that research investments in solar have driven down the cost below that of fossil fuels, that cross over point has happened, and renewables will just take off and take over.
But that’s the wrong model. Because of the intermitency of Wind and Solar, after a certain saturation point the wholesale value of a new MWh of their energy keeps decreasing. This has already been seen in practice in energy markets with high penetration.
The biggest challenge is not all sources of energy are the same.
Jenkins bundles these into 3 categories. Renewables are great at Fuel savings, providing us a way not to burn some fuel. We also need a certain amount of fast burst on the grid, today this is done with Natural Gas Peaker plants, but demand hydro and energy storage fit that bill as well. In both of these categories we are making good progress on new technologies.
However, in the Flexible base camp, we are not. Today that’s being provided by Natural Gas and Coal plants, and some aging Nuclear that’s struggling to compete with so much cheap Natural Gas on the market.
How the mix changes under different limits
Under a relatively high emissions threshold the most cost efficient approach is about 40% renewables on the grid, some place for storage. The rest of the power comes from natural gas. 16% of solar power ends up being curtailed during the course of the year, which means you had to overbuild solar capacity to get there.
Crank down the emissions limit and you get more solar / wind, but you get a lot of curtailment. This is a 70% renewable grid. It’s also got a ton of over build to deal with the curtailment.
Because of the different between price and value, relatively high priced Nuclear makes a return (Nuclear is a stand in for any flexible base source, it’s just the only one we current have in production that works in all 50 states). There still is a lot of overbuild on solar and wind, and huge amounts of curtailment. And if you go for basically zero carbon grid, you get something a little surprising.
Which is the share of renewables goes down. They are used more efficiently, there is less curtailment. These are “cost optimal” projections with emissions targets fixed. They represent the cheapest way to get to a goal.
The important take away is that we’re in this very interesting point in our grid evolution where cheap Natural Gas is driving other zero carbon sources out of business because we aren’t pricing Carbon (either through caps or direct fees). A 40 – 60% renewables grid can definitely emerge naturally in this market, but you are left with a lot of entrenched Natural Gas. Taking that last bit off the board with renewables is really expensive, which means taking that path is unlikely.
But 100% Renewables?
This is in contrast to the Mark Jacobson 100% renewables paper. Jenkins points out that there have really been two camps of study. One trying to demonstrate the technical ability to have 100% renewables, the other looking at realistic pathways to zero carbon grid. Proving that 100% renewables is technically possible is a good exercise, but it doesn’t mean that it’s feasible from a land management, transmission upgrade, and price of electricity option. However none of the studies looking at realistic paths landed on a 100% renewables option.
When you pull out the flexible base you end up with a requirement for a massive overbuild on solar to charge sources during the day. Much of the time you are dumping that energy because there is no place for it to go. You also require storage at a scale that we don’t really know how to do.
Storage Reality Check
The Jacobson study (and others) make some assumptions about season storage of electricity of 12 – 14 weeks of storage. What does that look like? Pumped hydro is currently the largest capacity, and most efficient way to store energy. Basically you pump water behind a dam when you have extra / cheap energy, then you release it back through the hydro facility when you need it. It’s really straight forward tech, and we have some on our grid already. But scale matters.
One of the larger facilities is in Washington state it is a reservoir 27 miles long, you can see it from space. It provides 3 1/2 minutes grid average power demand.
Does it have to be Nuclear?
No. All through Jenkins presentation Nuclear was a stand in for any zero carbon flexible base power source. It’s just the only one we have working at scale right now. There other other potential technologies including burning fossil fuels but with carbon capture and storage, as well as engineered geothermal.
Engineered Geothermal was something new to me. Geothermal electricity generation today is very geographically limited you need to find a place where you have a geologic hot spot, and an underground water reserve, that’s turning that into steam you can run through generators. It’s pretty rare in the US. Iceland gets about 25% of it’s power this way, but it has pretty unique geology.
However, the fracking technology that created the natural gas boom openned a door here. You can pump water down 2 miles into the earth and artificially create conditions to produce steam and harvest it. It does come with the same increase in seismic activity that we’ve seen in fracking, but there are thoughts on mitigation.
It’s all trade offs
I think the most important take away is there is no silver bullet in this path forward. Everything has downsides. The land use requirements for solar and wind are big. In Jenkins home state of Massachusetts in order to get to 100% renewables it would take 7% of the land area. That number seems small, until you try to find it. On the ground you can see lots of people opposing build outs in their area (I saw a Solar project for our school district get scuttled in this way).
In the North East we actually have a ton of existing zero carbon energy available in Hydro Quebec, that’s trapped behind not having enough transmission capacity. Massachusetts just attempted to move forward with the Norther Pass Transmission project to replace shutting the Pilgrim Nuclear facility, but New Hampshire approval board unanimously voted against it.
Vermont’s shutdown of their Yankee Nuclear plant in 2014 caused a 2.9% increase in CO2 in the New England ISO region, as the power was replaced by natural gas. That’s the wrong direction for us to be headed.
The important thing about non perfect solutions is to keep as many options on the table, as long as you can. Future conditions might change in a way where some of these options become more appealing as we strive to get closer to a zero carbon grid. R&D is critical.
That makes the recent 2018 budget with increased investment credits for Carbon Capture and Storage and small scale Nuclear pretty exciting from a policy perspective. These are keeping some future doors open.
Jenkins presentation was really excellent, I really look forward to seeing more of his work in the future, and for a wider exposure on the fact that the path to a zero carbon grid is not a straight line. Techniques that get us to a 50% clean grid don’t work to get us past 80%. Managing that complex transition is important, and keeping all the options on the table is critical to getting there. | <urn:uuid:f7fc9176-22cd-43a0-9159-f40833771d4e> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | https://dague.net/2018/02/11/getting-to-a-zero-carbon-grid/?like_comment=498&_wpnonce=06a310af41 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579250607314.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20200122161553-20200122190553-00006.warc.gz | en | 0.952775 | 1,602 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Second March Northeastern U.S. Flooding Event Covered in 'GOES' Movie
New England received a second week of flooding from March 21-31, 2010 when a parade of three large storms flooded the upper Midwest and Northeast in the second half of the month. The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite called GOES-12 captured a movie of those storms as they dumped heavy rainfall during the last 10 days of March.
"The normal three-day repeat pattern of spring storms was provided by the prevailing westerly winds," said Dennis Chesters of the NASA GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The rainfall in this week's New England storm was enhanced by moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and the Bahamas that traveled up the East Coast. The GOES-12 movie clearly shows the clouds and moisture streaming in from the Gulf and adding power to the storm, especially during March 28-30.
The GOES-12 operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) captures images of U.S. East Coast weather. Those images from March 21-31, 2010 were compiled into a movie by the NASA GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
The movie was created by overlaying the clouds observed several times per hour by NOAA's GOES Imager onto a true-color map previously derived from NASA's Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land-mapping instrument. The infrared channels on GOES detect clouds day and night, which are portrayed as grey for low clouds and white for high clouds. The movie compresses 11 days into about two minutes. It illustrates how continental-scale land/sea/air phenomena come together to make large early springtime storms.
The first round of storms that ended March 19 left Boston with a monthly total of 7.45 inches; Bridgeport, Conn. at 4.02 inches; and Portland, Maine reported 3.57 inches of rain.
On March 30, the rainfall total in Boston, Mass. was 2.94inches and since March 1, the total rainfall was 14.83 inches. That indicates that since March 19, over seven inches of rain fell in the second round of storms. Record rainfall was also recorded at the Blue Hills Observatory in Milton, Mass., where the storm total rainfall through 2 p.m. EDT on March 30 was 5.22 inches. The March total rainfall for that location was18.39 inches and is far over the previous record for the month of 13.07 inches recorded in 2001. Meanwhile, farther north in Portland, Maine 2.73 inches of rain fell on March 30, bringing the rainfall total to 10.88 inches for the month of March.
The National Weather Service noted that March has been the wettest on record for Boston; Bridgeport, Conn.; New York City; and Islip, N.Y.
The National Weather Service extended flood warnings for rivers in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. During the week of March 29, the Pawtuxet River in Cranston, R.I. was experiencing major flooding.
GOES-12 continues to keep an eye on the eastern U.S. as New England begins clean up this weekend with a warm, dry forecast.
› View video (30 MB mp4)
› Information on GOES programs
› FEMA information about the flooding
› Updated flood map of river stages
Dennis Chesters / Rob Gutro
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center | <urn:uuid:bd3e6094-baf5-4f53-bb88-a4d3570ab8fc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GOES-P/news/northeast-flooding.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00088-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948353 | 730 | 2.765625 | 3 |
The anniversary has a complex legacy in Germany, where right-wing extremists have tried to use the devastating Allied air raids to play down Nazis war crimes.
In a speech at Dresden's Palace of Culture, Steinmeier sought to strike a balance between remembering the 25,000 people who died, while stressing Germany's responsibility for the war.
Steinmeier warned against the "political forces" that sought to "manipulate history and abuse it like a weapon".
"Let's work together for a commemoration that focuses on the suffering of the victims and the bereaved, but also asks about the reasons for this suffering," he told an audience that included Britain's Prince Edward.
Steinmeier later joined thousands of residents in forming a human chain of "peace and tolerance".
As in past years, neo-Nazis were gathering in Dresden to hold "funeral marches" for the dead. The far-right AfD party meanwhile set up an information booth to tell the supposed "truth" about the bombings and demand a grander memorial for the victims.
Hundreds of British and American planes pounded Dresden with conventional and incendiary explosives from February 13 to15 in 1945.
Historians have calculated that the ensuing firestorm killed some 25,000 people, leaving the baroque city known as "Florence on the Elbe" in ruins, and wiping out its historic centre.
The devastation came to symbolise the horrors of war, and was the at the centre of Kurt Vonegut's acclaimed novel Slaughterhouse 5. (AFP) | <urn:uuid:5e6e3806-3313-4dc7-b0a2-600418150e6b> | CC-MAIN-2020-34 | http://7thspace.com/headlines/1101907/rthk__sorrow_and_warnings_75_years_after_dresden_bombing.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-34/segments/1596439739328.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20200814130401-20200814160401-00562.warc.gz | en | 0.959368 | 314 | 2.875 | 3 |
For years, people have called marijuana a “gateway drug”. The implication has been that marijuana is risky because it can lead to other, more damaging drugs. Any drug is theoretically a gateway drug-very few people start with one and never try another.
Recent media reports have described a major problem with heroin and opiate overdoses in the greater Boston area. Since the beginning of the year, there have been 123 opiate overdoses in the small industrial city of Taunton alone, 7 of them fatal. There have been 185 opiate related deaths across the state in just the last three months. The number of emergency room admissions for opiate related overdoses has doubled over the past year.
What is apparent is that marijuana is not the gateway drug of concern. Many people smoke marijuana and never have problems related to their use. What is clear is that the new gateway drug is given out by physicians. Opiate based painkillers such as Vicodin, Percocet and Oxycontin have become the gateway toward heroin use and this process plays a large part in the recent heroin related deaths. Opiates are sometimes referred to as narcotics and are widely used to manage pain.
Vicodin contains a combination of acetaminophen and hydrocodone. Both medicines are pain killers. Hydrocodone is an opioid pain medication. Acetaminophen is a less potent pain reliever that increases the effects of hydrocodone. The major brand name for this drug is Tylenol. Vicodin is used to relieve moderate to severe pain.
Percocet contains a combination of acetaminophen and oxycodone. Oxycodone is an opioid pain medication with fewer side effects of another typically used painkiller, morphine. Acetaminophen is a less potent pain reliever that increases the effects of oxycodone. Percocet is used to relieve moderate to severe pain.
OxyContin (oxycodone) is an opioid pain medication. OxyContin is used to treat moderate to severe pain that is expected to last for an extended period of time. OxyContin is used for around-the-clock treatment of pain. It is not to be used on an "as-needed" basis for pain.
Morphine is another opiate class drug and is used to treat moderate to severe pain, usually in a hospital setting. Short-acting formulations are taken as needed for pain. The extended-release form of this medicine is for around-the-clock treatment of pain. This form of morphine is not for use on an as-needed basis for pain.
The symptoms of opiate withdrawal may include anxiety, panic attack, nausea, insomnia, muscle pain, muscle weakness, fevers, and other flu-like symptoms. Respiratory arrest and death can occur in cases of overdose.
More trouble is on the way. The FDA, despite opposition from the drug research and treatment community, recently approved the release of a powerful new pain killer, Zohydro. Zohydro's easily crushed capsules will contain up to 50 milligrams of pure hydrocodone; that's 10 times more hydrocodone than a regular Vicodin. One capsule will pack enough hydrocodone to kill a child. An adult lacking a tolerance to opioids could overdose from taking just two capsules.
Law enforcement and treatment professionals are anticipating a marked increase in overdoses and opiate related fatalities when this drug hits the market in the next few weeks. | <urn:uuid:57c8ab17-4543-488b-8ac9-39926cd590ba> | CC-MAIN-2015-06 | http://www.examiner.com/article/new-gateway-drug?cid=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-06/segments/1422122238667.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20150124175718-00195-ip-10-180-212-252.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946816 | 709 | 2.578125 | 3 |
The beauty of art history is its infinite variety of different styles, movements, and types of the visual arts. From the figurative the monumental, the site-specific to the expressive, there are more ways of making different art forms than you’ve had hot dinners.
And you’ll walk into a museum of art and be confronted with all of these different artworks and movements, each with its own recognisable style and a language of its own.
If you want to get into this art world, or more specifically into the world of sculpture and sculptural history, then you need to learn this language.
You’ll need to learn the difference between one sculptor and many similar sculptors. You’ll need to be able to tell the masterpieces of modern art apart. You’ll need to understand where contemporary art comes from – and how it draws its inspiration from the Italian Renaissance, say, or the Romanesque styles you’ll see.
But, honestly, this whole enterprise is absolutely fascinating. It’s a ride through history as much as through aesthetics – as each style tends to reflect the different social and scientific concerns of its time.
So, enjoy. And whilst we’re missing some – those prehistoric styles, say, those ones from the Paleolithic or Mesopotamia – there are enough here to get you going.
And you can learn everything about sculpture here.
The Major Sculptural Styles – in Rough Order.
We’re going to begin by looking at sculptural styles through western art up until the twentieth century in chronological order.
After this, sculptures experience a massive proliferation of styles, innovations, and concerns. When we get to the twentieth century then, we’ll drop the chronological structure and look at some of the major things going on – which were roughly contemporaneous to each other.
So, let’s start – with Ancient Greece.
As a bit of a disclaimer, the expression ‘Greek sculpture’ is necessarily going to be a generalisation: the civilizations that we refer to as ‘ancient Greece’ lasted between about the tenth century BC and 600AD. That’s sixteen hundred years. Things change a lot in that amount of time.
The sculpture that we talk about when we talk about Greek sculpture is from the classical and Hellenistic periods. This means the fifth and fourth centuries BC, and the third, second, and first centuries BC respectively.
Greek sculpture developed into idealised but naturalistic representations of people and deities in this period. Figurative sculpture was the main concern, and people like Phidias are the big names.
Find the best art courses near me here.
Often, Greek and Roman sculpture, the two major arts of the ancient world, are lumped together. This is because Roman art was heavily influenced by the Greeks (and most of the sculptors in Rome were actually Greek).
However, the main difference is that, where Greece aimed for idealisation – making the perfect form of the thing sculpted – Rome was more deliberately representational. These guys preferred detail and historical events, rather than beauty for beauty’s sake.
This one is a bit out of place, but we should take a moment here to consider the equestrian statue as a discrete art form. Simply put, these are just guys on horses. However, the social significance of these is not to be understated.
There are very few surviving equestrian statues from antiquity. Yet, they were used – and have been used ever since – to convey power and prestige.
To make a life-size horse in bronze or white marble just required a huge amount of stuff. And this stuff has always been quite expensive.
For a few examples, look at the Statue of Marcus Aurelius, Donatello’s Statue of Gattamelata, or Verrocchio’s Bartolomeo Colleoni.
Reliefs, Carvings, and Architectural Sculpture.
During the period between the fall of Rome and the beginning of the Renaissance, we don’t know a huge number of names of sculptors. However, we do know that their main concerns were in the decoration of religious institutions, including cathedrals, abbeys, and churches.
Reliefs – in which sculptors would work on raising images from a flat background – and carvings were the main techniques used in this architectural sculpture. And we refer to this period (roughly 600 to 1200) as Romanesque or, later, Gothic art.
Check out the Chartres Cathedral for an excellent example of gothic art.
High Renaissance Sculpture.
The Renaissance began in Italy, drawing on classical techniques and themes. Really, it changed the way we thought about art – and still has an influence to this day.
Moving away from the religious concerns that dominated the art of the first millennium, it instead looked at the human figure, taking its knowledge and detail from the developments of science.
Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Donatello are all names from this period.
Whilst High Renaissance sculpture valued naturalism, mannerism attended instead to artificiality and exaggerated beauty – all to compete with the sculptors of the preceding movement.
Benvenuto Cellini’s Perseus with the Head of Medusa (from 1554) is one of the iconic sculptures of mannerism.
And if Renaissance sculpture in general was concerned with a sense of stability, baroque, which followed, wanted to import dynamism and movement into sculpture. It was characterised by great decoration and energy.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini is the name you need to know, as his sculptures, fountains, public art, and architectural projects transformed Rome in the seventeenth century.
Rococo, or ‘Late Baroque’, was the extreme end of this movement. It was theatrical, incredibly detailed, and colourful.
As usually happens, history’s response to this movement was to return to simplicity. This is what neoclassical sculpture – obviously taking its name from the classical period – did in the eighteenth century.
Antonio Canova was the main figure in this movement, returning to the principles of design of ancient art.
At the turn of the twentieth century, painters, musicians, writers, and sculptors were galvanised by a different way of doing art. This was what was known as modernism and, for the arts, it was a colossal break from tradition.
In sculpture, the primary figure in this movement was Auguste Rodin, who introduced an impressionistic quality into sculpture. He threw away the sharp lines and chiselled features and focused on a realism, rather than an idealism. A famous work of his is The Thinker.
His student, Constantin Brancusi, was also hugely influential. His outdoor sculpture and more abstract sculptures had a massive influence on the modern and contemporary artists that followed.
Learn more about famous sculpture artists!
The Variety of Contemporary Sculptural Types.
Contemporary sculpture is hugely multifaceted, incredibly diverse, and unbound from the strict rules that characterised art sculpture up until the nineteenth century. This is because the boundaries of what art and sculpture are have been pushed by artists throughout this period.
Here are some of the directions in which sculpture has been pushed in recent years. They can’t really be detailed chronologically, as many are contemporaneous.
Find out more about the most famous sculptures.
Assemblage / Found Objects.
Started by the likes of Pablo Picasso and the Dadaists in the first half of the twentieth century, assemblages are thought of as collages but in three dimensions.
These developed out of an artistic interest in ‘found objects’ – items usually used for quite different purposes, but, in these cases described and presented as art.
Marcel Duchamp’s famous Fountain (1917) is one of the most original versions of this. The artwork is a urinal bought from a hardware and placed on a pedestal. At the time, this piece posed fascinating questions about the nature of art.
Abstract sculpture came primarily out of the work of Brancusi, one of the fathers of modernist sculpture. Rather than figurative art, which sought to represent to greater or lesser degrees of details an object, abstract art did away with the concern for representation.
Brancusi’s work was all about ‘essences’, the simplest possible forms of things. It was hugely influential, inspiring artists like Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, and Alberto Giacometti.
An incredibly ambitious and monumental style of contemporary sculpture is what is known as land art. This seeks to create sculpture and art out of the land itself.
Take a look at Robert Smithson’s piece Spiral Jetty in the Great Salt Lake in Utah, or Charles Jencks’s Landform in Edinburgh.
Art historians like to argue. And one such argument in the art world regards the start of the movement or kinetic art. Generally, it’s agreed now that it was the brainchild of Naum Gabo, whose Kinetic Construction has been the inspiration for many.
Kinetic art describes works that use movement in their construction and form. In almost any art museum, you’ll find an example of this style.
Find the best places to see sculpture! | <urn:uuid:c0617347-47fa-429e-9afb-2d7beeb3e611> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://www.superprof.us/blog/sculptural-styles-movements/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593655884012.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20200704042252-20200704072252-00081.warc.gz | en | 0.957752 | 1,968 | 3.328125 | 3 |
She was a fighter. She fought for the people in her country. She does not live for wealth, prosperity and fame. She was imprisoned for reasons that are not clear. Denied her right to form a government. Her country is not developed and its people are still living below the poverty level while they are able to live better. She needs the support of the international community to change the current situation towards a better life. Let her free, gave her the opportunity to bring a better life to the people of her country.
International Human Rights Activist and Democracy Leader Nobel Peace Prize, Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award, Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient .
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. The decision of the Nobel Committee mentions:
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 1991 to Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar (Burma) for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights.
...Suu Kyi's struggle is one of the most extraordinary examples of civil courage in Asia in recent decades. She has become an important symbol in the struggle against oppression...
Aung San Suu Kyi is one of the world's most prominent figures in the struggle to advance democracy and human rights. In response to the tyranny and brutality of the military regime ruling her native Burma, she has become a unifying voice for the oppressed. She founded the National League for Democracy (NLD) and led it to a landslide electoral victory in 1990; the Burmese government has never honored that election. Despite enduring house arrests, separation from her loved ones, and threats against her life, she has refused to be silenced. Her unwavering commitment to securing a free Burma through non-violent means is an inspiration to people around the world.
She is a peace hero in every sense and as Vaclav Havel said, "an example of the power of the powerless." Her fear did not stop her from doing what was right, even if it meant her life. She knew what was important and realized the sacrifices that have to be made. Aung San Suu Kyi still fights to this very day for democracy to come to Myanmar, and wants to be able to enjoy it with the people.
September 6. Marriage of Aung San, commander of the Burma Independence Army, and Ma Khin Kyi (becoming Daw Khin Kyi), senior nurse of Rangoon General Hospital, where he had recovered from the rigours of the march into Burma.
June 19. Aung San Suu Kyi born in Rangoon, third child in family. "Aung San" for father, "Kyi" for mother, "Suu" for grandmother, also day of week of birth.Favourite brother is to drown tragically at an early age. The older brother, will settle in San Diego, California, becoming United States citizen.
July 19. General Aung San assassinated. Suu Kyi is two years old. Daw Khin Kyi becomes a prominent public figure, heading social planning and social policy bodies.
January 4. The Independent Union of Burma is established.
Daw Khin Kyi appointed Burma's ambassador to India. Suu Kyi accompanies mother to New Delhi.
Suu Kyi at high school and Lady Shri Ram College in New Delhi.
Oxford University, B.A. in philosophy, politics and economics at St. Hugh's College (elected Honorary Fellow, 1990).British "parents" are Lord Gore-Booth, former British ambassador to Burma and High Commissioner in India, and his wife, at whose home Suu Kyi meets Michael Aris, student of Tibetan civilisation.
She goes to New York for graduate study, staying with family friend Ma Than E, staff member at the United Nations, where U. Thant of Burma is Secretary-General. Postponing studies, Suu Kyi joins U.N. secretariat as Assistant Secretary, Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions. Evenings and weekends volunteers at hospital, helping indigent patients in programs of reading and companionship.
January 1. Marries Michael Aris, joins him in Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, where he tutors royal family and heads Translation Department. She becomes Research Officer in the Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
They return to England for birth of Alexander in London.
Michael assumes appointment in Tibetan and Himalayan studies at Oxford University.
Birth of second son, Kim at Oxford.While raising her children, Suu Kyi begins writing, researches for biography of father, and assists Michael in Himalayan studies.
Publishes Aung San in Leaders of Asia series of University of Queensland Press. (See Freedom from Fear, pp. 3-38.)
For juvenile readers publishes Let's Visit Burma (see Freedom from Fear, pp. 39-81), also books on Nepal and Bhutan in same series for Burke Publishing Company, London.
Visiting Scholar, Center of Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, researching father's time in Japan. Kim with her, Alexander with Michael, who has fellowship at Indian Institute of Advanced Studies at Simla in northern India.
On annual visit to grandmother in Rangoon, Alexander and Kim take part in traditional Buddhist ceremony of initiation into monkhood.
With fellowship at Indian Institute Suu Kyi, with Kim, joins Michael and Alexander in Simla. Travels to London when mother is there for cataract surgery.Publishes "Socio-Political Currents in Burmese Literature, 1910-1940" in journal of Tokyo University. (See Freedom from Fear, pp. 140-164.) September. Family returns to Oxford. Suu Kyi enrolls at London School of Oriental and African Studies to work on advanced degree.
March 31. Informed by telephone of mother's severe stroke, she takes plane next day to Rangoon to help care for Daw Khin Kyi at hospital, then moves her to family home on University Avenue next to Inya Lake in Rangoon.
January 2. Funeral of Daw Khin Kyi. Huge funeral procession. Suu Kyi vows that as her father and mother had served the people of Burma, so too would she, even unto death.January-July. Suu Kyi continues campaign despite harassment, arrests and killings by soldiers.
May 27. Despite detention of Suu Kyi, NLD wins election with 82% of parliamentary seats. SLORC refuses to recognise results.October 12. Suu Kyi granted 1990 Rafto Human Rights Prize.
July 10. European Parliament awards Suu Kyi Sakharov human rights prize.October 14. Norwegian Nobel Committee announces Suu Kyi is winner of 1991 Peace Prize.
December. Freedom from Fear published by Penguin in New York, England, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. Also in Norwegian, French, Spanish translations.December 10. Alexander and Kim accept prize for mother in Oslo ceremony. Suu Kyi remains in detention, having rejected offer to free her if she will leave Burma and withdraw from politics. Worldwide appeal growing for her release.
Suu Kyi announces that she will use $1.3 million prize money to establish health and education trust for Burmese people.
Group of Nobel Peace Laureates, denied entry to Burma, visit Burmese refugees on Thailand border, call for Suu Kyi's release, Their appeal later repeated at UN Commission for Human Rights in Geneva.
February. First non-family visitors to Suu Kyi: UN representative, U.S. congressman, New York Times reporter.September-October. SLORC leaders meet with Suu Kyi, who still asks for a public dialogue.
July 10. SLORC releases Suu Kyi from house arrest after six years of detention.
In the last four years her movements have still been restricted. While she has had some opportunities to telephone her family in England, she is regularly denounced in the government-controlled media, and there is concern for her personal safety. Efforts to revive any NLD party activities have been balked, and its members have been jailed and physically attacked. In the first months after detention was ended, she was able to speak to large gatherings of supporters outside her home, but this was stopped. Yet her popularity in the country has not diminished.
Aung San Suu Kyi may be released "so she can organise her party," for the upcoming Burmese general election. Though, it is unclear if she will be allowed to run as a candidate.
Burma's relaxing stance, such as releasing political prisoners was influenced in the wake of successful recent diplomatic visits by the US and other Democratic governments, urging of encouraging the Burmese towards democratic reform. U.S. President Barack Obama intends to personally advocate on the behalf of all political prisoners especially Aung San Suu Kyi, during the US-Asean Summit of 2009.
Democratic governments hope that successful general elections would be a optimistic indicator of the Burmese governments sincerity towards eventual democracy. . The Hatoyama government which spent 2.82 Billion yen in 2008, has promised more Japanese foreign aid to encourage Burma release Aung San Suu Kyi in time for the elections; and to continue striding towards democracy and the rule of law..
Free bird towards a free Burma
A free bird...which is just freed | <urn:uuid:4c8a88d7-5beb-41d9-9208-228980809232> | CC-MAIN-2017-47 | http://roslihamidputerajejawi.blogspot.com/2009/11/aung-san-suu-kyi-her-story.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-47/segments/1510934808742.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20171124180349-20171124200349-00238.warc.gz | en | 0.954716 | 1,938 | 3.296875 | 3 |
If you listen closely, you can almost hear the whistle and feel the breeze. Walk in the direction of that faint noise and that gentle blow, cross wavelike prairie and untamed forest, walk until you can’t walk any farther, and you’ll have found it. Wind Cave, a natural wonder, one of the world’s oldest caves and the first to be endowed as a national park. She’s one of those unexplainable phenomena that baffles man and questions faith, and she rests in America’s backyard.
The miracle of Wind Cave National Park
In the southwestern corner of South Dakota, just down the road from Mount Rushmore, clear of the hustle and bustle of manmade everything, Wind Cave National Park unfolds like a wild blanket across the eastern shoulder of the Black Hills. Currents of tall grasses move in the wind, and somewhere at the heart of the prairie, an underground world beckons to be noticed. Miles upon miles of explored and unexplored caves stretch beneath this portion of the great state, where natives lived for centuries and thanked the gods for their bounty.
And to think, Wind Cave may never have been discovered by the white man, were it not for two hunters, the Bingham brothers, having their hats blown off by a strange wind emitted from a hole in the ground. In the years that followed, explorers came from around the country to uncover the mysteries that lie under the surface at Wind Cave National Park, including Alvin McDonald, the 16-year-old adventurer who first plunged into the depths of Wind Cave.
Nowadays, more than one million visitors make their way to Wind Cave National Park to venture into the darkness of Wind Cave to witness the almost magical formations and hidden secrets that await miles below Earth. Take your trip to Wind Cave National Park today, and see what the breeze has to say! | <urn:uuid:2cf8546e-1b68-4442-8e1e-eb4f657aec8e> | CC-MAIN-2019-39 | https://www.fixmyhog.com/video/heed-the-call-of-the-wild-at-wind-cave-national-park-011963/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-39/segments/1568514572439.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20190915235555-20190916021555-00297.warc.gz | en | 0.926418 | 387 | 2.546875 | 3 |
NASA managers have approved Orbital’s Cygnus spacecraft for a second attempt to rendezvous and berth with the International Space Station. Cygnus required one line of code to be updated to its software, following a GPS discrepancy between the spacecraft and the Station. The successful action resulted in approval to press ahead with berthing on Sunday morning.
Following its successful launch on Orbital’s Antares rocket on September 18, Cygnus ably pressed through its opening COTS milestones designated to its ORB-D mission.
Closing in on the ISS from behind and below, the spacecraft continued towards the orbital outpost with no technical issues until a discrepancy in the GPS readings between the Cygnus and the ISS was noted.
The problem is no “fault” of the Cygnus, but more to do with an issue that would only come to light during an actual mission – in turn showing the value of a demonstration mission such as ORB-D.
The issue, which is rather complicated, relates to the facts that GPS time is specified using week numbers, and that this number is transmitted by GPS satellites as a 10 bit number that ranges from 0 to 1023. In 1999 this number reached 1023 and the next week was again “week zero”.
This is similar to two-digit years in normal dates where year ’00 follows year ’99 and ’12 could mean 1912, 2012 or any century’s year 12. If the user of this two-digit date knows that the date is in the 21st century, he/she adds “2000” to the two digit number and gets the right year, 2012.
Similarly, each group of 1024 weeks forms a new GPS “century”, and these start 1980, 1999 (current “century”), 2019, etc.
As long as the GPS receiver knows the approximate date, it can work out which GPS “century” it’s in, and derive an unambiguous 13 bit number of weeks since the start of the 1980 epoch. This is like converting a short date into one that includes the century.
Cygnus uses GPS to sample its position at various times, and these samples are used to determine its trajectory. Cygnus also receives “position versus time” information from the Japanese PROX system on the ISS, providing the ISS’ location and trajectory over time. By comparing the two, Cygnus knows relative distance and speed, and can rendezvous.
Unfortunately, the time data that PROX transmits uses the raw 10 bit short format for number of weeks – while Cygnus was expecting a 13 bit “weeks-since-start-of-the-1980 epoch” value.
Cygnus therefore misinterpreted the ISS data as a position from 1024 weeks – 19.7 years – previously. As such, the spacecraft couldn’t match this with its own navigational data and rejected it.
The solution was known almost immediately, requiring one line of code to be inserted into Cygnus’ software, allowing for commonality between the GPS data sent from the ISS and its own GPS software.
As of Sunday morning, Orbital began running regression tests to ensure no systems would be adversely affected as a result of what was a minor change. However, in order to execute the new code, Cygnus required its avionics to be reset – an action that had to be conducted several hundred miles away from the ISS.
All associated actions were completed successfully, with Cygnus healthy and in position to reattempt the rendezvous and berthing on Sunday morning.
“The Cygnus spacecraft remains healthy in-orbit, with all major onboard systems performing as expected. Over the past several days, the Cygnus engineering team has developed, validated and uploaded the one-line software “patch” that resolved the GPS data roll-over discrepancy that was identified during the initial approach to the ISS last Saturday,” Orbital noted.
“Orbital and NASA are currently discussing the best rendezvous opportunity, with the current trajectory plan supporting Sunday morning, September 29 as the next opportunity to rendezvous and approach the ISS. This schedule is still subject to final review and approval by the NASA and Orbital teams.”
That approval came on Friday morning, following a review by the International Space Station’s Mission Management Team.
With Cygnus patiently waiting for the second attempt, 2,400 km behind the International Space Station, Orbital gave the spacecraft permission to perform the first of a series of thruster burns to begin the journey back towards the ISS to be in the right position for a rendezvous during Sunday morning.
“Cygnus mission operations team has been monitoring the spacecraft 24/7 with two operational teams – the blue team and the green team – pulling alternate shifts,” Orbital added. “Program personnel are well-rested and fully prepared for Sunday’s approach and rendezvous.”
(Images: via L2’s Antares/Cygnus Section – Containing presentations, videos, images, interactive high level updates and more, with additional images via Orbital and NASA).
(Click here: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/ – to view how you can support NSF and access the best space flight content on the entire internet). | <urn:uuid:5a7fa257-66e3-4d7f-b7ee-158a51b31b6e> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/09/green-light-cygnus-re-approach-iss-sunday-berthing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764499966.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20230209112510-20230209142510-00878.warc.gz | en | 0.945705 | 1,125 | 2.625 | 3 |
Together with our partner Aerodyne Research, we are constantly supporting the operation of our mass spectrometers in remote and demanding settings. In late 2014, 3 research groups deployed their instruments to Antarctica as parts of different studies. To our knowledge, this was the first time our technology has run on that continent.
As part of the 2ODIAC campaign, Prof. Peter DeCarlo and his research group from Drexel University set-up a mass spectrometer in a fish hut on the ice of Antarctica to measure the compositions of aerosols that may be associated with ozone depletion events. We caught up with Prof. DeCarlo after his return to discuss why and how he took his research equipment to this remote destination.
What are the major themes of your group’s research?
My group is part of DARRL (Drexel Air Resources Research Laboratory). We are interested in measuring the composition of trace gases and aerosol particles in the atmosphere, with applications to ambient air quality, formation and fate of atmospheric aerosols, and emissions from anthropogenic activities including natural gas development. We use an array of advanced analytical instrumentation including mass spectrometry.
What questions took you to Antarctica?
Our collaborator, Dr. Lars Kalnajs, has been making measurements in Antarctica for over a decade. On a recent measurement campaign he noticed a relationship between aerosol particle concentration and ozone depletion events. While the relationship was clear, there was no chemical information on the aerosol particles from these preliminary measurements. Linking the chemical composition of these particles to ozone depletion events was one motivating factor for the study, which was funded by the National Science Foundation (Award #: 1341628 and 1341492).
Are there more convenient locations where you might have been able to make these same measurements?
There aren’t really other places that this type of measurement could be made. Antarctica is extremely remote and there are atmospheric phenomenon (e.g. the ozone hole) which make it unique. Further, we had 24 hours of sunlight per day for most of our study (this year). Additionally, the facilities maintained by the US Antarctic program make the logistics of these measurements easier than similar measurements would have been elsewhere. From a logistical standpoint, fieldwork in Antarctica is easier than some other places I have measured.
What mass spectrometer did you take? And what was it used to measure?
We deployed an Aerodyne SP-AMS (Soot Particle Aerosol Mass Spectrometer) equipped with a TOFWERK HTOF. This instrument can measure the quantity, size and chemical composition of aerosol particles in ambient air, with the sensitivity necessary for the pristine environment of Antarctica. Continuous measurements were made for weeks, so as to observe changes in aerosols across time. These measurements are compared to data from other instruments that were run in parallel in order to determine (or rule out) correlations between aerosols and other factors.
Can you describe the field site?
The field site was a spot on the annual sea ice (meaning it melts and re-freezes every year) about 30 km from McMurdo Station. The instruments were housed in a “fish hut” equipped with a particle inlet and a gas measurement inlet. Power was generated by diesel generators housed in a separate fish hut ~150 meters away and in a direction that was seldom if ever upwind of out measurements. We had a direct communication link to McMurdo which provided access to the internet. This allowed us to monitor our instruments remotely, and maintain our Facebook page.
We typically traveled to the site with snowmobiles, but if the weather was bad, or we needed to bring equipment, we used a PistenBully. The instruments were all placed in the fish hut prior to the fish hut being dragged behind a bulldozer to the field site. The fish hut was on big skis, and the sea ice is pretty flat, so the ride was smoother than it would have been in a different vehicle.
What did you consider when determining whether your mass spectrometer would be able to run at the site? Without FedEx, what was your “plan B” for any supplies you might need?
One of our biggest concerns was low temperatures, which turned out to not be an issue. The power was adequate, and we had a large battery backup system in place to keep essential instruments running in the event of a generator problem. We did have a few issues early on with our power, and the backup system worked quite well. We reviewed our packing list many times, and liberally added items to the boxes while packing. We didn’t have much of a “plan B”, although we did find out that a friend of ours was also coming down to McMurdo a few weeks after we got there, so if we needed something that wasn’t too big, we could have requested he hand carry it.
Did your work schedule allow any time for play/exploration?
There was some downtime for team members to enjoy the area. There are some historic supply huts in the area which were used to store food and supplies for early Antarctic explorers. In addition to the historic sites there are also a few trails around the area that can be explored, and for those wishing to remain on base, there were 3 bars as well.
How easy was it to communicate with the real world?
Surprisingly easy! We had satellite phones, VHF radios, beepers, but what was actually one of the most useful forms of communication was iMessage. All of the team members had iPhones, so with wifi at the field site, it was actually one of the simplest and most direct forms of communication. Several of our Facebook posts were made from a fish hut in the middle of the sea ice 30 km from anything resembling civilization. On base there were also telephones that we could make calls to the US, and all you needed was a calling card. For those in the 303 or 720 area codes, the calls were free.
The obvious question: Were you cold?!
Yes and no. The first couple of weeks we were there the weather was pretty awful. A lot of incoming flights were cancelled due to lack of visibility from blowing snow. Windchill got down into the -40 C/F range and people weren’t allowed to leave the base. After those initial couple of weeks, the weather improved significantly, and by the time I left, the temperatures were 20 F with sunny skies.
We are in the process of analyzing the data and are already finding some exciting trends and observations. We still have a lot of work to do, but we’re excited about the ~5 weeks of data we currently have, and are looking forward to the next trip down in September of 2015. This year will be a little different since we will be arriving in the total darkness. Stay tuned for part 2! | <urn:uuid:ea5269cb-50a6-40f6-b3cc-72fcd0300f5d> | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | https://www.tofwerk.com/measuring-ions-in-antarctica-4/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676591578.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20180720100114-20180720120114-00257.warc.gz | en | 0.975417 | 1,421 | 2.5625 | 3 |
What is it: I have complied about half of my independent literacy tasks aimed at primary / elementary students . The activities are included as a PDF with instructions and are very easy to follow all related to reading and literacy. The activities are: Make a puppet; Same story different Words; Picture Mobile; Mobile Building; Word Puzzles, Wanted Poster; So you want to be a Poet; Letter to the Editor; false Advertising; letter to a Friend; Radio Play; Going to the Theatre; Personality Plus; Don't Judge a book by it's cover; Illustrations; collages; Time lines, Larger than Life; Fables; Crosswords; I've lost my Page; I agree; They did what;
How can I use these in my classroom: You can use these as either group or individual tasks for your students to work through over a period of time. they are applicable to any text so you can ask students to relate them to a book being read as a whole group or as an individual text. See how you go.
Download the PDF here. I have a load more of these available also that I will add. | <urn:uuid:6596e8f9-6e45-4357-ba75-cb5cba40cb0a> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | http://www.edgalaxy.com/journal/2010/9/21/30-reading-group-activities-for-your-students.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886104631.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20170818082911-20170818102911-00305.warc.gz | en | 0.960786 | 230 | 3.171875 | 3 |
The Perspective tool is one of those Illustrator tools that once you master how to learn, you'll wonder how you ever managed without it. At first glance it may look daunting and complicated but it's actually pretty easy to get to grips with.
In the easy-to-follow Illustrator tutorial above, we introduce you to the Perspective tool which allows you to create graphics in perspective, using the perspective grid. (Have we said 'perspective' enough?)
The tool works on established laws of perspective drawing, with the grid allowing you to approximately represent a scene on a flat surface, as it is naturally perceived by the human eye.
How to get rid of perspective grid in Illustrator
As incredibly useful as the perspective tool is, you may also want to switch it off while working on your designs. To view the default two-point perspective grid in a document, you can Click View > Perspective Grid > Show Grid.
You can also use the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+I to show - and also hide - the Perspective Grid. | <urn:uuid:cab5402a-e9a1-40f6-be9a-42e1a9bc2f3b> | CC-MAIN-2019-04 | https://www.creativebloq.com/illustrator/how-use-perspective-tool-81412542 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-04/segments/1547584547882.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20190124121622-20190124143622-00042.warc.gz | en | 0.938678 | 212 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Two years ago, I noticed that one of my daughters, now 15 years old, had developed stretch marks from her knees to her thighs. She has not been overweight, nor has she lost any weight (she's 5 feet 4, 105 pounds). Recently, I noticed that my other two daughters, 11 and 9, are also beginning to get stretch marks on their thighs; they have no weight issues either. Is there something I can do to remedy this? I would also like to know the cause, if possible.
Stretch marks, also known medically as striae, are remarkably common, even among teenagers: 70 percent of teenage girls and 40 percent of teenage boys develop them. They are caused by the stress of stretching skin, which releases substances that damage proteins in the skin, and are often seen during adolescents' growth spurts, in women who are pregnant, and in overweight individuals. Stretch marks can also be caused either by steroid medications taken orally or by strong steroids used topically on the skin. Occasionally they are caused when the body makes abnormally large amounts of steroids, in a condition known as Cushing's syndrome.
Your children most likely have stretch marks because they are going through their growth spurts. Such stretch marks are most commonly seen on the outer thighs and the back and buttocks. They can also be seen on the breasts of girls and occasionally on the upper arms. Stretch marks are usually just a cosmetic problem and often fade with time. Topical medications like Retin-A have been shown to help improve stretch marks, especially if used early. Other treatment options include pulsed-dye laser and chemical peels. If you would like your children's stretch marks evaluated further, I recommend that you take them to a dermatologist.
Learn more in the Everyday Health Kids' Health Center.
Last Updated: 10/8/2007 | <urn:uuid:064c3273-f9c0-4e14-917b-3cdc96514a59> | CC-MAIN-2015-48 | http://www.everydayhealth.com/specialists/pediatrics/hammond/qa/children-with-stretch-marks/index.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-48/segments/1448398464396.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20151124205424-00332-ip-10-71-132-137.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977404 | 374 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Everyday life is somewhat nuanced and complicated when orthodontics are introduced into the equation. This is no different during the holidays, and some holidays require special attention to the braces, as they may involve foods that are sticky, hard, filled with nuts, or otherwise harmful to the braces. Christmas is one of those holidays.
Christmas Foods To Avoid
Christmas foods vary from country to country, but almost all variations are if not outright bad for your braces, at the very least requiring some degree of circumspection. Traditionally many involve gooey sweets, and of course nuts galore, as traditionally nuts played a very important part in European winter cuisine, moreso the farther North you go. Nuts are hard, so they can dislodge brackets and damage the wires, not to mention that the small particles can get stuck in the nooks and crannies between the teeth and the braces, or even damage the surface of a tooth.
Gooey fruit pastes and fruit breads are also to be avoided, a certain hazard, and holiday toffee is also a no no.
Many Eastern European Christmas diners involve soups and cooked cabbage, which is not dangerous at all. Just make sure that the cabbage is properly cooked, otherwise there may be some fibers that can get stuck in the apparatus which may be complicated to get it out; endeavours to that end may dislodge a bracket or two, or bend the wire.
When it is cold outside, it can feel really nice to drink something toasty warm, but beware! Your braces are made out of metal, thus are affected by changes in temperature. Metals expand a little bit from heat, and contract when it is cold. This is why when you go outside the cold can make the wires shorten, and this will exert force and pressure on your teeth, pulling them together a little bit. It is also possible, but very unlikely, that a sudden change in temperature can damage your braces. At any rate, even if they do not get damaged, constant shrinking and expanding of the wires is not good for them, and they may become less able to fulfill their function, which means that the treatment time may be longer. In order to avoid this, simply wait a few minutes for your braces to warm up before taking that first sip of hot cocoa.
The third no-no is opening presents with your teeth. This can damage your teeth, your braces, and your periodontium. Scissors, my friends, scissors. | <urn:uuid:7bad3a0a-efa5-420a-9146-3525359855c1> | CC-MAIN-2018-43 | https://orthodonticsinlondon.co.uk/blogs/christmas-in-braces.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583510893.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20181016221847-20181017003347-00482.warc.gz | en | 0.951199 | 508 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Although they prefer not to publicize it too loudly just yet, Shell Oil Company and the U.S. government have taken steps toward tapping into the world’s largest known oil shale deposits using an innovative in-ground heating method.
The Green River Formation of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming “holds the equivalent of 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil—as much as the U.S. would use in 110 years, at current consumption levels, and three times the proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia,” according to a Nov. 13 press release from the Bureau of Land Management.
“More than 70 percent of the Formation, including the richest and thickest oil shale deposits, lies under federally managed lands,” the release said. The federal government has a critical role in determining the future of the U.S. oil shale reserve, and it has quietly taken steps to support oil companies in accessing this resource.
In 2005, the Energy Policy Act “liberalized the lease ownership provisions of the Minerals Leasing Act of 1920, thereby removing a major deterrent to private-sector investment in oil shale development,” according to a 2005 study produced by the RAND think tank for the Department of Energy.
Photo courtesy of Shell
In 2006, the Bureau of Land Management granted approval for five 160-acre leases for oil shale research, development and demonstration in Colorado. Three of the leases went to Shell, one to Chevron and one to EGL Resources.
Of the three companies, Shell has the technological advantage, with successful tests already completed that offer promise of an economically competitive way of accessing the resource.
Shell successfully tested in situ (in-ground) methods that involve heating the shale with massive electric heaters below ground for a few years and pumping the oil out after conversion.
“On only a 30 x 40-foot testing area, Shell successfully recovered 1,700 barrels of high quality light oil plus associated gas from shallower, less-concentrated oil shale layers, thus determining our technological design works,” Shell’s website said.
Production of a barrel of oil requires approximately a ton of oil shale, and it creates byproducts that are potentially hazardous to the surrounding environment.
To contain those byproducts, Shell is testing an underground “freeze wall,” made of ice, that will separate the production zone’s possible contaminants from the groundwater. Early tests of the freeze wall approach have been successful.
This complex approach should be profitable as long as oil costs at least $25 to $30 per barrel, Shell predicted. This represents a huge economical improvement over past methods, which used an expensive and environmentally-damaging open-ground mining and surface retorting (heating) process.
Oil companies implementing the costly surface retorting approach poured billions of dollars into Colorado’s Piecance Basin in the late 1970s and early 1980s, creating jobs, spurring the local economy and straining the local infrastructure. Real estate prices jumped as towns expanded. New businesses cropped up to service the many new residents employed by the oil companies.
Map courtesy of Oil Shale & Tar Sands Leasing Programmatic EIS Information Center
In order for surface retorting to be profitable, oil barrel prices had to stay in the range of $70 to $95. When barrel prices dropped in the early 1980s, oil shale was deemed unprofitable and abandoned. On May 2, 1982, a day locally known as “Black Sunday,” Exxon shut down its $5 billion project in Colorado.
The negative impact on the local economy has not been forgotten, and nobody wants to repeat that scenario—least of all Shell.
It is no surprise then that Shell and the U.S. government have been cautious with publicizing recent developments. It remains to be seen whether Shell’s in situ approach will be successful on a larger scale, so Shell has not yet committed to a commercial venture.
According to the 2005 RAND study, “A firm decision to commit funds to such a venture is at least six years away.” Even then, “at least an additional six to eight years will be required to permit, design, construct, shake down, and confirm performance of that initial commercial operation.”
Ultimately, the study concluded, “Under high growth assumptions, an oil shale production level of 1 million barrels per day is probably more than 20 years in the future, and 3 million barrels per day is probably more than 30 years into the future.” This means that any investments based on oil shale’s future are significantly speculative and long-term.
The government supports oil shale as a way for the U.S. to achieve energy independence. The Department of Energy compares shale oil to the Alberta tar sands, saying that “Oil shale in the United States, which is as rich as tar sand, could similarly be developed and become a vital component in America’s future energy security.”
The process for production could eventually prove cheaper and more environmentally friendly than extraction from tar sands, also known as oil sands.
The oil produced from oil shale is a similar product to that produced from oil sands, according to the Department of Energy.
Oil sands and oil shale require massive amounts of water to produce oil, and the Alberta oil sands and the Green River Formation are both located in areas where water is a limited and precious resource.
Shell’s in situ oil shale process would also require electricity that exceeds the capacity of the existing local infrastructure. At least one huge new power plant would be needed of unprecedented size in the area.
However, Shell expects that it would extract 3.5 units of energy in return for each unit used in production.
Oil shale towns that suffered from the 1980s bust went through a boom process similar to the one currently occurring in Fort McMurray, Alberta.
Oil sand production has brought money flowing into Fort McMurray, a city that increased in population by 67.2 percent between the years 1999 and 2005, from 36,452 to 60,983, according to Syncrude, a major oil company in the area.
Property values in the Fort McMurray area have skyrocketed during the past few years as oil sand production became more profitable and more oil companies and their many employees moved into the area. Property is scarce, and prices have risen so high that it’s hard for investors to justify investments in Fort McMurray now.
Local infrastructure is taxed to its limit with the sudden population influx and the needs of the large oil companies. For example, the city is now dealing with a homeless problem and heavy traffic along the two-lane highway connecting Fort McMurray with the oil sands and with Edmonton.
In light of the Fort McMurray example, investors will do well to keep an eye on U.S. oil shale development. If it follows a path at all similar to oil sands development in Alberta, properties in the Green River Formation area and nearby towns could offer a compelling opportunity for investors looking to get in on the ground floor of a boom.
Southwestern Wyoming and northeastern Utah would be particularly appealing, since prices in those areas are currently very low.
Northwestern Colorado would also be attractive, although it would be starting at higher property values because it is already home to more industries.
Oil companies and the U.S. government are currently taking a slow and cautious approach to oil shale, but the development process could likely be expedited if global factors made it politically and/or economically advantageous to put more money and energy into accessing this resource. If oil shale were to become commercially profitable, its impact on surrounding towns would be immense. | <urn:uuid:1648fcb4-dadb-4676-a963-f7b2651ff4f4> | CC-MAIN-2013-48 | http://www.nuwireinvestor.com/articles/rocky-mountain-oil-51062.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386163065206/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204131745-00060-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964337 | 1,577 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Motivation concerns the “why” of behavior
Motivaiton is a psychological state that influences goal directed behavior
3 types of influences
Activates goal directed behavior – iniatates or begin the behavior
Sustains goal directed behavior – keeps its going after it begisn
Regulates goal directed behavior – causes person to develop plans and
strategies about achieving the goal
We can define motivation as a psychological state that activates, sustains and
regulates goal directed behavior (influences)
Factors that influence motivation
2 basic perspectives
Behavioral perspective – Behavior is controlled by its consequences.
Behavior followed by rewards – inforcing. Punishments – less likely to perform
again. Behavioral perspective says we can control behavior by controlling
consequences. Punish undesirable behavior to decrease motivation and visa versa ie
rewards and desirable behavior.
Research shows theres danger in using rewards to increase motivation. Originally
demonstrated in preschoolers who were selected because they liked playing with
magic marker pens. Study had 2 phases. First phase – kids randomly assigned one of
three groups. First group led to expect an external (extrinisic) reward for playing
with pens – told on outset that they would receive good player award by drawing
picture. Second group similar but different that they received good player award
unexpectedly. Third (control) group – no good player award. Phase 2 – observed
during free play period – reward is removed. Q – How long would kids play with MM
pens. Results – kids in group 1 – played ½ the time as the student sin the other two
groups. Expecting reward undermined intrinsic motivation when rewards were
removed. Implications – motivation may decrease when rewards (good grades) are
Extrinisc rewards don’t always reduce motivation – must be used properly in
the classroom. Not all students are intrisiclly motivated to learn material. When
intrinsic motivation is low, rewards can increase motivation until the end of the
course. Assuming they are intrisicly motivted – must be selective. When intrinsic
motivation is high – rewards may increase intrinsic motivation as long as they are
used selectively. Rewards can increase intrinsic motivation or keep at high level
when given for quality of performance – not just performance – but quality.
Cognitive perspective – 3 different perspectives
1) Expectancy x value theory – motivation is influenced by 2 cognitions (thoughts).
A) persons expectancy of achieving the goal. B) Value of that goal. If both are high –
person is motivated. If either is low – motivation is also low.
2) Albert Bandura’s Self Effecacy Theory – People will be motivated to achieve
goals when they believe they have the ability to achieve goals. High self efficacy
needed to want to achieve goals. 4 sources of self efficacy. Most important is
mastery experience – past experience with success or failure. Can also stem from
vicarious experience – performance of models who are similar to us. (Effecacy – belief you can do something)
3) Interpretation of emotional arousal – students get emotionally aroused before
exams but people interpret it differently. Some as anxiouxity – decrease self efficacy.
Some may interpret same arousal as excitement – increase self efficacy.
4) Social persuasion – Pep talk
Self efficacy also influenced by specific goals we set for ourselves. If students set
goals that are too easy – they achieve goals – experience self efficacy – don’t learn
very much. If students set goals that are too difficult – not likely they will achieve –
undermine mastery experience and therefore undermine self efficacy. Teachers can
help set appropriate goals. Goals should be moderately difficult. Goals are still
challenging but attainable. In addition, teachers should set clear performance
standards so students can see whether goal was achieved.
Attributional approach – whether motivated in goal directed behavior depends on
how we’ve explained our ast behavior. Specifically, motivation depends on
attributions or causal inferences of past successes and failures. 3 causal dimentions.
One dimention is causal locus. Causes perceived as internal or something is external.
Causal locus – external vs internal – not important about motivation but it increase
self esteem. Failure for internal resaons opposed to external, decreas | <urn:uuid:f6f979cf-e6fc-4ee9-b9a5-2bca3fc25cc2> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | https://oneclass.com/class-notes/ca/western/psyc/psy-2990ab/215284-psych-2990-ch-5-lecturedocx.en.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257647406.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20180320111412-20180320131412-00080.warc.gz | en | 0.936269 | 919 | 3.46875 | 3 |
The Rise and Influence of Rap: A Cultural Phenomenon
Rap music, a genre that emerged from African American and Latin American communities in the United States during the 1970s, has since become a powerful cultural phenomenon that has influenced music, fashion, language, and even politics. This article explores the rise of rap and its substantial influence on society.
The Origins of Rap
The roots of rap can be traced back to the streets of New York City, where DJs began looping and mixing beats to create a unique musical style. These DJs, such as Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash, laid the foundation for what would become rap music.
The Rise of Hip-Hop Culture
Rap music became an integral part of the wider hip-hop culture, which encompassed not only music but also breakdancing, graffiti art, and DJing. Hip-hop culture provided a platform for marginalized communities to express themselves and address social and political issues.
The Mainstream Breakthrough of Rap
In the 1980s, rap music began to gain mainstream popularity. Artists like Run-D.M.C., LL Cool J, and Public Enemy brought rap music to a wider audience with their unique styles and powerful lyrics. This marked a turning point for rap as it started to transcend its initial underground roots.
Cultural Impact of Rap Music
- Rap’s lyrical content often addresses social issues, such as racism, poverty, and police brutality.
- Rap music has influenced mainstream fashion trends, with artists like Kanye West and Pharrell Williams becoming fashion icons.
- Rap has given a voice to marginalized communities and has become a platform for social and political activism.
- The rise of rap has led to the establishment of hip-hop education programs, where students can learn about the cultural and creative aspects of the genre.
- Rap music has become a lucrative industry, with numerous artists achieving commercial success and financial stability.
Successful Rap Artists
Over the years, rap has produced numerous talented and influential artists. Some notable names include:
- Jay-Z: With his captivating storytelling and business ventures, Jay-Z has become one of the most successful rap artists of all time.
- Eminem: Known for his technical skills and thought-provoking lyrics, Eminem is regarded as one of the greatest rappers in history.
- Tupac Shakur: Tupac’s raw and introspective lyrics made him a revered figure in rap, addressing themes of violence, racism, and inequality.
- Notorious B.I.G: Known for his smooth delivery and vivid storytelling, Notorious B.I.G left an indelible mark on the rap industry before his untimely death.
- Cardi B: As a female rapper, Cardi B has made significant strides in the industry, using her lively personality and unique style to capture mainstream attention.
Influence on Language and Slang
Rap music introduced a vast array of slang and linguistic innovations into the mainstream. Words such as “bling,” “lit,” and “dope” originated in rap culture and have since become commonplace in everyday language.
Rap’s Influence on Politics
Rap’s powerful influence extends to politics, with artists often using their platforms to raise awareness and advocate for change. From Public Enemy’s critique of systemic racism to Kendrick Lamar’s commentary on police brutality, rap music has played a significant role in social and political movements.
Rap music has risen from its humble origins to become a global cultural phenomenon. It has not only shaped the music industry but has also influenced various aspects of society, including fashion, language, and politics. With its powerful storytelling and ability to address social issues, rap continues to evolve, leaving an indelible mark on the cultural landscape. | <urn:uuid:47158a53-06f7-4e01-8a67-ba063d4a590f> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://sound-library.net/the-rise-and-influence-of-rap-a-cultural-phenomenon/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100399.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20231202105028-20231202135028-00820.warc.gz | en | 0.94982 | 780 | 3.578125 | 4 |
The Crisis in Rural Health Care
What if you had an accident and the closest Emergency Room was over 30 minutes away?
What if you were sick and there were no physicians or hospital beds in your community?
Millions of Americans live in rural communities that don’t have essential healthcare services such as a hospital, an emergency room, or a primary care clinic. They face long delays in getting care if they’re in an accident or have symptoms of a heart attack, stroke, or an infectious disease such as COVID-19. Even if they have insurance to pay for health care services, there is nowhere in their community they can use it.
More and more Americans are facing this situation because rural hospitals are being forced to close. Many small rural hospitals not only provide access to prompt emergency care in case of an accident or sudden illness; they are often the principal or sole provider of all healthcare services in their community, including laboratory testing, maternity care, rehabilitation, and even primary care. When these hospitals close, all healthcare services in the community can disappear.
More than 130 rural hospitals have closed over the past decade, and nearly 900 additional rural hospitals — over 40% of all rural hospitals in the country — are at risk of closing in the near future. Over 400 hospitals are at immediate risk of closure because they have experienced large financial losses over multiple years. Over 400 additional hospitals are at high risk of closing due to low financial reserves or high dependence on local taxes or state grants. Millions of people could be directly harmed if these hospitals close.
Locations of Rural Hospitals in the U.S. | <urn:uuid:18709004-ea59-407d-9cd5-00e6569ad129> | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | https://ruralhospitals.chqpr.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964361169.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20211202054457-20211202084457-00202.warc.gz | en | 0.969437 | 328 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Mental health in the emergency services
Our emergency services face difficult situations every day. Research shows that emergency service staff and volunteers are more likely to experience a mental health problem than most of us, but are less likely to seek support.
Things are changing, though. In 2019, 53% of staff and volunteers say their service supports people with mental health problems, compared to 34% in 2015. There’s a long way to go—but there are plenty of ideas and examples that can help.
We asked experts from the Blue Light Programme atto recommend some particular tools, resources, interventions and information that can help support the mental health of police, fire, ambulance and search and rescue service staff and volunteers. Some of them are aimed just at the emergency services and some are relevant for other workplaces too, but each of them has something relevant to offer.
Elsewhere on Mental Health at Work, you’ll also find a blog from the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, and a set of videos from four first responders explaining how they’ve made changes in their services.
So, the picture is improving. In 2015, just under one in three (29%) of staff and volunteers said their service encouraged them to talk about mental health. Four years later, that figure has risen to almost two in three (64%).
No two services are the same, and supporting the mental health of emergency services teams needs a combined effort: from charities to employers to government.
We hope you’ll find a starting point here.
Figures quoted are from Mind’s, 2019
Resources in this toolkit:
Almost nine in 10 blue light personnel have experienced stress and poor mental health. This report from Mind shows it's possible to put targeted mental health support in place.
Emergency services staff and volunteers are more at risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than the general population. This website offers information on the condition that you may find useful. | <urn:uuid:b020f4dd-aba1-49a4-be61-0cfbc44b3a22> | CC-MAIN-2020-16 | https://www.mentalhealthatwork.org.uk/toolkit/mental-health-in-the-emergency-services/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-16/segments/1585371806302.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20200407214925-20200408005425-00192.warc.gz | en | 0.963611 | 407 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Many people who are hungry feel the consequences of climate change in their stomachs. A changing climate is pushing many vulnerable people further into poverty and hunger.
The smallholder farmers we work with tell us they are experiencing more extreme weather, including droughts and floods. They tell us seasons are becoming increasingly unpredictable, making it harder to know when to plant their crops. And they tell us they need support in adapting to this new reality.
The Climate Fund is a practical way to respond to the needs of those who are already being affected by climate change.
How it Works
By donating to the Climate Fund, you can acknowledge your personal contribution to the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change—things like travel, heating and electrical use. Your donation can be based on the amount of carbon you and your family produce each month or year.
Donations will go to Canadian Foodgrains Bank-supported projects that work with smallholder farmers on techniques to adapt to climate change and improve their ability to feed themselves, their families, and their communities.
To help you with this, we have provided links to carbon calculators that give an idea of how our various activities impact the environment. We suggest a donation of $25/tonne, which reflects the market for offset-type payments.
Or, simply make a donation of any amount to the Climate Fund.
Air travel, driving, heating, and electricity are some of our most carbon-costly activities. If you want to make a donation to compensate for travel or energy use, we suggest using the table below to give you an idea of what you might like to give. Of course, keep in mind these are averages and suggestions.
• Short flight (0-2 hours) = approximately 0.4 tonnes of carbon, suggested donation of $10
• Medium flight (2-5 hours) = approximately 0.8 tonnes of carbon, suggested donation of $20
• Long flight (5+ hours) = approximately 1.4 tonnes of carbon, suggested donation of $35
• 10,000 kilometers in a mid-size car emits about 2.5 tonnes of carbon, suggested donation of $62.50
• Electricity and heating for an average Canadian household for a year = 3.2 tonnes of carbon, suggested donation of $80.a
For a more precise idea of how much carbon your lifestyle generates, we recommend using one of the calculators below. Simply input your information then return here to make your donation.
Click here to make a donation online with your credit card. Donations can also be made by sending a cheque to Box 767, Winnipeg, MB, R3C 2L4, or calling 204-944-1993 / toll free 1-800-665-0377. Please indicate that the donation should be directed to the Climate Fund.
Contributions to the Climate Fund are used to support Foodgrains Bank projects that help farmers in the developing world adapt to the effects of a changing climate.
Donations in 2017-18 will go to a PWS&D Agro-Ecological Production for Food Security project in Guatemala. Donations in 2016/17 went to an MCC Agroforestry, Farmer Support, and Natural Resource Management Training project in Haiti.
We hope you will contribute generously to the Climate Fund! We also encourage you to continue caring for all of creation through prayer and worship, by advocating for an end to hunger, and by taking steps to live more sustainably on God’s good earth. | <urn:uuid:57ce7c52-c0e6-418c-a8fd-b5809d839f5f> | CC-MAIN-2017-39 | http://foodgrainsbank.ca/get-involved/the-climate-fund/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-39/segments/1505818686034.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20170919202211-20170919222211-00651.warc.gz | en | 0.941309 | 719 | 2.78125 | 3 |
“Soc-k,” a first grader at Thomas Elementary said Wednesday, punching out the final “k” sound with his fist and punctuating it with a wide grin.
Across the room, another student held both palms up: “base,” she said with a small pulse of the left hand, “ball” with the right hand and finally pressing her palms together to form “baseball.”
And with that, their mentors, mirroring these actions, moved to the next words on the list, helping students through different practice exercises in the 15 minutes they had together during extra instruction time at the end of the school day.
Every Monday through Thursday for the last month, this group of about 15 first-graders has met with volunteers from the Literacy Center as part of the “Raising Readers” pilot program, which uses sound-based curriculum to help students strengthen the skills they need for reading.
Each volunteer works with three students a day, helping them practice their sounds through exercises like separating out the sounds within different words, combining sounds into words and finding rhyming words. Most exercises have accompanying hand motions.
“The hand motions make it kind of fun for them and help cement it in their little brains,” said volunteer Mary Poore, a retired naturopathic physician. “They’re really, really good kids and they get excited about what we’re doing. It’s very rewarding.”
Raising Readers, funded by a grant from Coconino County, is the Literacy Center’s first initiative with early childhood literacy. Volunteers have committed to working with their students for the entire school year.
“Serving adults is our primary focus, but we definitely saw the need to also support our children in the community,” said Dianna Sanchez, executive director of the Literacy Center.
Student participants were selected based on exam scores that suggested a need for additional support in the area of phonemic awareness: familiarity with the individual sounds that make up words. In Raising Readers, their progress is measured daily by their volunteers and is assessed at the beginning and end of the year.
“I can see progress and it’s only been a few weeks,” said volunteer Marilyn Schwind, a former preschool teacher. “Even at the end of the day, they’re still ready to learn.”
Rachel Gregory, program director at the Literacy Center, said the program is more than a grammar lesson, much like the concept of literacy itself.
“Literacy is such a broad term; to me, it means reading, writing, listening and speaking. That’s pretty much everything,” Gregory said.
In school settings, reading is even valuable in math, where word problems could trip up those who cannot read the prompt.
“It’s a critical component that will make or break not just a student’s success in school, but how much they like school, which I feel is ultimately what we want for our children: for them to love school and to love learning,” Sanchez said. “And if literacy is frustrating, that’s through every subject.”
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Principal Ginni Biggs said another goal of Raising Readers is to create students who not only have the ability to read, but also have the desire to do so.
“A love of reading is being instilled by the attention and the support they are getting from these one-on-one relationships [with volunteers] but also by the books that are being gifted to them through the Literacy Center,” Biggs said.
At the end of each session with their volunteer, students are given a sticker. When they earn 10 stickers, they receive a free book to keep, allowing them to begin building their own libraries at home. The Literacy Center is accepting book donations to provide for these students.
“I want these children to be readers and just to help them succeed,” said volunteer Jan Newton, who said she and her now-grown children have always loved reading. “I can’t imagine not knowing how to read.”
Before they can work with students, volunteers must attend two training sessions and submit a volunteer packet to Flagstaff Unified School District for approval.
About a third of the Raising Readers volunteers are former educators; however, they all had to learn the curriculum.
“One of the tricky things is getting familiar with the hand motions, but once you get it down, it’s not difficult,” Poore said.
Although the nine Raising Readers volunteers, just a sliver of nearly 200 active Literacy Center volunteers, work with three students each for 45 minutes each day, the students have two separate volunteers -- one on Monday and Wednesday and another on Tuesday and Thursday. Counterparts share notes on each student’s daily progress so they know where to start the next session.
Sanchez hopes to use the program as a launching point for future childhood literacy efforts.
“If this program proves to be successful at Thomas, we hope to expand it to other FUSD schools and to continue offering this level of support for students across the district,” Sanchez said.
Biggs, too, is considering expanding the program within the school, using similar curriculum and the help of Literacy Center volunteers to provide students support in other pre-reading skills like phonics, the relationship between letters of the alphabet and the sounds they make.
“There’s something pretty special about getting to sit down and spend 45 minutes with a really excited 6-year-old,” Biggs said. “You can see the light bulb going off and the wheels turning. You can feel the energy and the enthusiasm.” | <urn:uuid:f9fda9a7-14a1-4a77-99fc-a0678c8d6417> | CC-MAIN-2019-51 | https://azdailysun.com/news/local/thomas-elementary-pilots-literacy-center-program/article_3f082611-b159-5128-9885-d27dbf9dedb0.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-51/segments/1575541310866.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20191215201305-20191215225305-00180.warc.gz | en | 0.969252 | 1,222 | 3.09375 | 3 |
OSAKA – Local and prefectural governments and businesses surrounding Mount Fuji welcomed the news that the World Heritage Committee is expected to designate Japan’s most famous and popular mountain as a World Heritage site, despite concerns about what it will mean to the local environment and questions about how its preservation will be funded.
Long the most recognizable symbol of Japan, Fuji has been revered as a sacred mountain since ancient times. In the early Heian Period (794-1185), a Sengen Shinto shrine that enshrines Konohana-sakuya-hime, the goddess associated with volcanoes, was built at the base of the mountain’s north side.
In spiritual terms, Fuji is divided into three zones. The bottom, or Kusa-yama, is said to represent the everyday world. The forest line, or Ki-yama, represents the transient area between the world of humans and the world of gods, and the “burned” area, or Yake-yama, at the top is said to represent the realm of the gods, Buddha and death.
Thus, to climb Mount Fuji is to descend from the living world to the realm of the dead and then back, by which pilgrims can wash away their sins.
Efforts to get Mount Fuji, which drew more than 318,000 hikers last summer, listed with the World Heritage Committee date back to the mid-1990s, first as a U.N. Natural Heritage site.
However, when representatives from UNESCO visited Fuji in 1995, they were greeted with a sea of garbage and the smell of human excrement due to the lack of public facilities, and told Japan not to apply until the mountain was cleaned up.
After years of effort, there were toilets for about 15,000 climbers a day as of 2012. In the end, however, the government decided to try to get the mountain listed as a cultural, rather than natural, heritage site.
“The garbage problem was the reason why we applied for registration as a cultural site, and I have to say, it’s a great relief that we’ve been accepted,” said Shoichi Osano, a senior member of Fujiyama Gogo-me Kanko Kyokai (Mount Fuji Fifth Station Tourism Association).
For his part, Toshiyuki Kashiwagi, head of the industry and tourism department in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi Prefecture, gave credit to the younger generation for pushing to clean up the mountain and get UNESCO’s approval.
“People in their 20s worked especially hard, showing just how conscious they are of its natural beauty and cultural importance,” he said.
The two tough questions Mount Fuji area residents and the central government now must answer are how to protect the mountain once it officially becomes a World Heritage Site and who to bill for those measures.
Discussions are under way in Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures on such issues as entrance fees for climbers. Although no rates have been set, the fee system could begin on a trial basis as early as this summer’s climbing season, which begins July 1.
“It’s likely we’ll ask that mountain climbers to help financially with keeping the mountain clean,” Yamanashi Gov. Shomei Yokouchi said in February.
In addition, in an issue sure to divide environmentalists and local businesses heavily dependent on the tourist trade, there is the question of what kinds of limits, perhaps legal in nature, to place on the number of climbers per day.
“Placing limits or restrictions on the number of entrants is something that still has to be discussed,” said Tetsuya Ikegaya, of Shizuoka Prefecture’s World Heritage office. | <urn:uuid:301ffb36-cd61-4868-8e59-e03215be6808> | CC-MAIN-2016-07 | http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/02/national/heritage-status-will-mean-big-changes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-07/segments/1454701162648.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20160205193922-00165-ip-10-236-182-209.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964223 | 788 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Commentary on the Gospel of
Believe it or not, in the text of the Spiritual Exercises, by St. Ignatius, there is a section of “Rules for Eating”. The main thrust of his thinking is that when we are seated at the table for meals, Jesus is seated with us. This image would increase reverence for the food and others at the table with us.
We are preparing to celebrate the wonderful mystery of Jesus’ presence at the Eucharistic Table with us in his Body and Blood. We could prepare for this feast by our calling to mind each time we gather for meals, whether at home or in a restaurant, that grace is not a pre-meal ritual, but an experience of relationships. We give thanks for the food we are about to receive, but even more, the conversations, the grace offered us in the holy exchanges of love and reverence experienced between and among family and friends.
As we eat our way toward this solemn celebration of Christ’s presence, we could imagine his real presence among ourselves and receive more reverently what we are eating of food and taking in as nourishment, what we are sharing by word and gestures. God is always setting us a table to receive life, hope and love.
We hear in today’s First Reading part of a victory-celebration liturgy. For the previous thirteen years there has been a war between kings. Abram, in the fourteenth year assisted in retaking property and people from the enemies. He returns to the king of Jerusalem, (Salem). Melchizedek is both king and priest. He is grateful to God for this triumph. In a gesture of recognition to God for divine help, does a gesture of praise with words of blessings. Then Abram offers the king a gesture of reverence, a tenth of his goods.
What we do not hear is at the end of the chapter. Abram is offered all the recovered possessions won in his victory while the king would take the recovered persons. Abram raises his hand and states that nothing will be his; he is not to be enriched by the victory brought about by God. Gestures and words are how humans celebrate. Melchizedek and Abram do something and say something. Melchizedek takes bread and wine, which are signs of God’s abundant kindness and while offering them he says a blessing by which he asks God to allow Abram to experience God’s love and care in his life. Abram makes a gesture of thanksgiving by offering the king a present of his own goods. Then Abram raises his hand in a gesture of praise to God Who has given the victory and his words declare his refusal to profit personally from the victory.
The Gospel has several important features. The scene for the miraculous feeding of thousands takes place in a desert as did the miraculous feeding of the Israelites with manna. The inability of the apostles to find enough food relates directly to the missioning of the same twelve which opens this chapter of Luke’s account. They are learning to depend on the abundant care which God has for them. Jesus has the power and love to provide. There are twelve baskets of leftovers which do represent the new Israel founded on the preaching and good deeds of these same twelve.
It is important to notice that the preaching and healing of Jesus is tied closely to the feeding. It is quite beautiful that Jesus gives the duty of distribution to his friends whom he also gives the mission of distributing the teaching and healing work Jesus had begun. The apostles are being prepared to be the leaders who serve as Jesus claims he is by his being not the one who sits at table, but the One Who serves. Lk. 22, 24
There were six of us children growing up and each night we would sit down for a dinner my dear mother had prepared. There was one thing we could not say upon arriving at our chair. Eventually one would slip and mistakenly say the magic words and be quietly, but definitely, dismissed from dinner and advised to take up occupancy for the rest of the evening in our respective bedroom. This banishment allowed a larger portion for each of the wiser. To this day and I speak honestly here, when asked if I would like some of this or that, I cannot say those words of selection. I fear writing them. Here goes, “I don’t want…”
My mother was the preparer, my father the distributor; we were the served, the fed, the receivers and the nourished. What we celebrate each time we gather for the Sacred Meal of Jesus’ preparation and distribution, we mind our manners, relinquish our selectivity and we say the proper words which I learned early at our family table, “Thank you” which is our liturgical “Amen!” There are those who say interiorly, “I don’t want” about the Real Presence in the Eucharist of the Catholic Church. They are saying they do not want the mystery, the incomprehensible, the mind-stumping reality which Jesus handed over. God, like my own mother, prepared this meal for us by his whole life, given once and for all. It is easier to accept and receive symbols; they are understandable. To receive and “want” the tangible and consumable reality of his Body and Blood is sometimes more than we can handle, yet are invited to more than handle, but hand on in our daily lives.
His Sacred Body and Blood are the “Real Presence” of his continual desire to serve us, nourish us so that we might be and live what he claims us to be and which we receive at each Sacred Meal. We are the served by our being “cum Panis” or “bread-withers”. As receivers we are moved to gratitude and then move to be his Body by being sent to serve all who are in various deserts or deserted by life’s false attractions.
We are not banished to our rooms, but sent to “love and serve the Lord” as he dwells in his sisters and brothers. What I “don’t want” is to be confined to my room of shame, because I forgot to say “Thank You” for who God has given me to be. At the Sacred Table Jesus gives himself to us so that through us, he may give himself to others. This is what he “does want.”
“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood will live in me and I in him, says the Lord. Jn. 6, 57 | <urn:uuid:360c968f-eaf6-4c94-a091-e5b5b571ee02> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | http://www.godgossip.org/calendar-of-readings/daily-gospel/commentary-homily/?f=2013-06-02 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257650262.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20180324112821-20180324132821-00371.warc.gz | en | 0.978346 | 1,364 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Several new electroconvulsive therapy treatments, while still unproven, are available to patients with mental illness, including veterans.
Too many Americans are seriously depressed, and the mental health profession has been looking for better cures.
Among all Americans, suicide rates have been increasing steadily by 2 percent a year, reaching 30-year highs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Post 9-11 veterans especially have suffered enormously from depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury, and anxiety.
Many people have heard of electroconvulsive therapy treatment (ECT), or “shock” therapy. Among the new cures on offer are a number based on electrical gadgets, some applying electricity to the brain in milder doses than ECT. For instance, at the Collateral Damage Project, which aims to provide a four-week on site program in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Forest, Va., veterans may receive cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES), and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), alongside training in neurofeedback as well as brain wave entrainment — all influenced by input from “LoRETA Brain Mapping.” To veterans accustomed to high-tech military equipment, this approach may be attractive or at least not scary.
How much is known about these electroconvulsive therapy treatments? Let’s start with CES: pulses of low-intensity current applied to the earlobes or scalp. The Fisher Wallace Stimulator, which costs $699, can be used at home, and the manufacturer claims that a number of studies demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of the device. When the prestigious Cochrane group reviewed the evidence in 2014, however, researchers found no high quality clinical trials comparing CES against sham CES in people with acute depression. So any benefit could be attributed to the placebo effect. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considered holding CES devices to a tougher standard — but received enough comment that it decided to classify them as “moderate to high risk” – meaning that doctors could use them at their discretion. In November 2015, results appeared from a double-blind, sham controlled study backing CES for patients with bipolar disorder — but it involved only seven patients who reported feeling better up to a month later.
With tDCS, patients receive a continuous low current to a particular part of the brain via electrodes on the scalp. The treatment is not FDA-approved, and considered experimental. Its effectiveness remains “unclear,” according to a 2013 review of the data. A 2015 study found that it basically didn’t do anything of relevance to the brain. That fits nicely with the idea that the procedure can sometimes succeed because of a placebo effect — people feel better because they’re hopeful.
Neurofeedback, when you receive real-time feedback on your brain responses, has helped some people, according to an exhaustive review, but remains unproven, expensive, and time-consuming. The benefits may take months to set in and tend not to last.
Brain wave entrainment involves wearing earphones and goggles that stimulate different kinds of brain waves through sound and light. You’ll feel like you’re watching a light show with moody music. A research review found three studies of its effect on mood, none of which reported any benefits.
What about that claim to tailor treatment through brain mapping? There does seem to be early evidence that brain scans can guide treatment on exactly one point — which depressed patients are more likely to benefit from Lexapro and which from cognitive behavioral therapy over three months.
The Veterans Administration reports that the most effective treatment for PTSD is cognitive behavioral therapy, which is also recommended by the American Psychological Association for depression. The electrical devices may be attracting attention because they could be cheaper and faster ECT, which in effect induces mild seizures, does provide short-term relief for many severely depressed people. However, according to a 2013 study in Nature, as many as half of people who respond to ECT relapse by the end of the first year. If you’re severely depressed, the hope of being in the half who continue to feel better is not a small thing. Getting milder currents or flashes of light and sound could also induce hope, for the same reason the Wizard of Oz made Emerald City look green: It’s different. (In the first book by author Frank Baum, the Wizard requires everyone to wear green-tinted glasses.)
August 30, 2017
Christopher Nystuen, MD, MBA | <urn:uuid:984b47c8-d2b7-4709-bb5f-3ea62c6a6425> | CC-MAIN-2018-22 | https://www.yourcareeverywhere.com/research-mental-or-behavioral-health/veteran-s-behavorial-health/electroconvulsive-therapy-for-mental-illness.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-22/segments/1526794867559.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20180526151207-20180526171207-00329.warc.gz | en | 0.950385 | 937 | 2.75 | 3 |
Happy Endings: A Story about Suffixes
Written by Robin Pulver
Illustrated by Lynn Rowe Reed
Happy Endings: A Story About Suffixes is a fun and wacky introduction to the way words end and what that does to the meaning of each word. Mr. Wright has the audacity to try to teach something the last day of school: suffixes. The kids don’t want to learn anything, forcing Mr. Wright to yell that they will tackle word endings after lunch. The Words Endings not only get their feelings hurt, they worry about getting tackled, so they hide. This has turned into a complete disaster. Now Mr. Wright threatens to cancel summer vacation unless they get this situation under control! The kids start looking for those missing word endings, patterning their search after the detective they read about. Even though the Suffixes have been working out and have a fighting chance in case they get tackled, they would rather give clues than get physical. Now that the kids are looking, they see the word ending clues in plain sight, even though they have been mixed up within each of the words. Summer vacation is saved and the kids have learned about suffixes.
There are so many ways to use this book. It is a good class read aloud. It is also a good choice for a center because the graphics and the text work so well together to illustrate the concept. Whimsical illustrations are very kid-friendly. The lower third grade reading level will challenge most second graders, but not overwhelm them. Students could make posters or write clues similar to the examples in the book as literacy activities. There are worksheets at the publisher’s website: ( http://www.holidayhouse.com//docs/HappyEndings.pdf ). Students will have so much fun with this book that they won’t realize that they are learning about suffixes. | <urn:uuid:68a43a3a-c2f3-4cf9-b5c1-7658efbe82e0> | CC-MAIN-2021-39 | http://2ndgradereading.net/blog/2012/12/28/happy-endings-a-story-about-suffixes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-39/segments/1631780057018.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20210920040604-20210920070604-00268.warc.gz | en | 0.955897 | 389 | 3.671875 | 4 |
Running head: FOUNDATION OF CRISIS MANAGEMENTFoundation of Crisis ManagementNameInstitution1FOUNDATION OF CRISIS MANAGEMENT2Foundation of Crisis ManagementIntroductionThe United States has from time to time been experiencing disasters, emergencies,technological, and natural hazards. These events leave many people homeless, jobless, and dead.There are several agencies for responding to these eventualities. However, there are times whenthese agencies are overwhelmed. In this regard, the government has been focusing on improvingits emergency management. This aims at limiting the damage caused, saving lives as well asreducing the cost of dealing with emergencies. To this end, the government has been using manystrategies from internet technology to geospatial tools. Most importantly, the government hasbeen using a legal framework to address various emergencies. In this regard, various legislationsare outlining how the government will respond to various emergencies. Example of suchlegislations are the Stafford Act, Sandy Recovery Improvement Act of 2013 and Post-KatrinaEmergency Management Reform Act.Stafford Act of 1988Stafford Act outlines how the U.S. government should respond to disasters. The Actsought to change how the government responds to various disasters (Reeves, 2011). BeforeCongress passed this law, other laws governed emergency responses and recovery. However,those laws were not effective. Congress identified the deficiencies and sh ...
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Concord grapes were once the grape everyone grew in the backyard as a source of fruit for homemade wine, jams, jellies and juice. It is an easy grape to grow and can withstand abuse for years. Planting a vine is not difficult, and it will grow rapidly as long as you have prepared the right environment for the plant. Typically this is done in early spring before the plants bud out.
Select a sunny spot; avoid the shade of buildings or trees. Concord grapes like well-draining soil, so don't plant your vines in a low area. Check the pH of the soil if you can. Concord grapes prefer a somewhat alkaline soil between 5 and 6.5.
Soak the roots before planting, especially if you bought the vines through the mail and they arrived as a bareroot plant. Let them sit in the water for a couple of hours.
Meanwhile, dig the hole. Make it the same depth as the root ball, because the vines should grow at the depth as as they did before transplanting. Make the hole a little wider so the roots can stretch out once the soil is back in place. Don't add fertilizers or compost at this time.
Set the plant in the hole, fanning the roots out in a radial curve. Fill in with dirt, firming it down over the roots to eliminate air pockets. Once the hole has been filled to within about an inch of the soil surface, add a few gallons of water and wait about 15 minutes as the dirt settles around the roots. Then add the rest of the soil and firm it in around the plant.
Trim the concord grape plant back to 2 or 3 buds. This will force it to produce new growth and minimize the stress on the roots. Plant other vines 6 to 8 feet away. Water regularly until you see signs of new growth. | <urn:uuid:e2bcb967-e490-4409-a0a5-f39527a9b46e> | CC-MAIN-2015-32 | http://www.gardenguides.com/91109-plant-concord-grape-vines.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-32/segments/1438042990112.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20150728002310-00164-ip-10-236-191-2.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94991 | 379 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Rural DevelopmentKHVGarant předmětu: doc. Mgr. Helena Hudečková, CSc.
|Zařazení do semestru:||8.|
|Zkouška:||písemná a ústní|
|Předpoklady:||economics, methods of social reserach|
|Popis, cíl a formy výuky:||The objective of the course unit is to educate the experts for rural development. They should be skilled to apply theoretical knowledge provided by social sciences (mostly economics and sociology) in concrete strategies and projects of rural development in order to make this development sustainable (economically profitable, environmentally friendly and socially acceptable). That is why the course unit aims at understanding the role of people in this development (for them the development is implemented and they are involved in its implementation). It also promotes the skills to use human and social capital in rural development. Framed into the concept of integrated endogenous rural development, the students acquire the knowledge and the skills about the possible solutions of unacceptable (cummulative) rural-urban inequalities. The course unit is realized in lectures and seminars. While the lectures are of theoretical background, the seminars are of practical nature and require active participation of students based on materials they learned during their out-of-class preparation. The multimedia tools and examples of actual problems of rural development (as they were found by department members during their research) are exploited for the seminars. |
The course unit starts from outlining the frames of rural development form the point of view of social sciences. It refers to the issues rural space (the countryside in the space) and the issues of the change in the countryside, incl. its development (the countryside in time). Also the theoretical backgrounds of social sciences are explained. Students are educated to apply these backgrounds in the practice of rural development (during seminars), especially as for the use and support of human and social capital. The core issue addressed is the questions of rural-urban inequalities and inequalities among various rural regions. That is why the reasons of inequalities are explained and different ways of their solutions are presented. To achieve this goal, the model of integrated endogenous development is used as the base of modernization strategy, which also aims at supporting rural specificities and maintaining its original character. The economic, environmental, political, social and cultural dimensions of this model are explained. The course unit also addresses the issue of multifunctional agriculture as one of the crucial elements of contemporary rural development. The course unit is based on concrete principles and content of regional policy and common agricultural policy (incl. rural development) in EU and in the Czech Republic. | <urn:uuid:96d4a4c8-e9cb-48bd-bb9a-edf5ae68dba4> | CC-MAIN-2018-22 | https://student.czu.cz/popup.php?id_menu=1&id_subject=12988 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-22/segments/1526794865928.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20180524053902-20180524073902-00480.warc.gz | en | 0.905516 | 562 | 3.125 | 3 |
An induction loop or hearing loop is a type of Hearing Assistive Technology (HAT)/Assistive Listening Device (ALD) that works with hearing aids and cochlear implants (CIs). Hearing loops pick up the intended signal (music or speech) via a microphone and transmit the signal wirelessly. People with hearing loss switch their hearing aids or CIs to T-coil mode to receive the signal directly.
How does this work?
The hearing loop is a type of copper wire that encircles a room and connects to a loop (sound) amplifier, which is then routed to a microphone, TV, or PA system. When aids or CIs are set to the telecoil (T-coil) setting, the listeners enjoy a clarity that simply doesn’t exist with just their hearing instruments alone. With a certified hearing loop system installed, the loop user’s telecoil functions as an antenna, relaying sounds directly into the ear without background noise, echoes, or unwanted noise.
Hearing aids amplify all sounds, even ones you don’t want to hear, like someone coughing or whispering, background noises like HVAC systems, or other ambient sounds. The loop isolates the sounds from the PA system. Loop listeners have said it’s like someone is talking inside your head.
What does a looped community look like?
A looped community means the places we live, work, go to school, play, shop, and seek care are accessible via the most discreet, simple hearing-assistive technology available: the induction loop.
Hearing aids aren’t enough to keep people with hearing loss thoroughly engaged with their communities, though this isn’t widely known. “Particularly in situations where my clients wanted to hear their best (houses of worship, high school theaters, and large meeting rooms) the hearing aids I so carefully fit were unable to deliver,” writes Juliette Sterkens, audiologist and national loop advocate, in the May/June 2014 issue of Audiology Today.
But with looping, “the result is a dramatic improvement in signal-to-noise ratio on the order of 15-25dB, an improvement that can never be obtained with hearing aids alone,” Sterkens continues. “Even the most advanced hearing aids improve SNR less than 3-5 dB in the real world.” Loops have so much impact that Sterkens encourages her fellow audiologists to foster looping in their communities, offer patients education and guidance on their T-coils, and even to loop their own offices.
For more on how audiologists (and others!) can help loop a community and for technical details, see Sterkens’ full article, courtesy of the American Academy of Audiology. | <urn:uuid:c0176972-4fe9-4b76-9d83-4490e834259f> | CC-MAIN-2018-26 | https://loopseattle.org/loops-in-seattle-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-26/segments/1529267861899.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20180619041206-20180619061206-00071.warc.gz | en | 0.943746 | 579 | 3.265625 | 3 |
The apples are dropping, the squash is ripening, and its tomato harvest time! If you are one who enjoys putting up your fresh food for winter, your kitchen may be a busy place this time of year. Between harvesting, canning, pickling, and freezing, it’s inevitable that a drip of this or that or an overripe fruit will attract and breed fruit flies. Are you brewing cider or beer? Perhaps you can relate. (And, even if it is not harvest season, fruit flies will enjoy an overripe banana nearly any time of the year.) Arm yourself with these natural methods to get rid of pesky fruit flies in the kitchen, especially during harvest time.
Fast Facts About Fruit Flies
- Female fruit flies can lay up to 500 eggs at one time!
- Fruit flies will live for approximately one week.
- Fruit flies do not like cold temperatures; they prefer the 75-80F range.
- Fruit flies can enter the home through poorly sealed doors and screens.
How To Get Rid Of Fruit Flies
Before doing anything, though, first try to isolate the source attracting fruit flies. Fruit flies are especially attracted to the ethanol that develops as glucose and fructose in the cell walls of fruit degrades, and other raw foods containing sucrose can also develop this byproduct, which is alluring to fruit flies.
Fruit flies love the following things, and will continue to breed here:
- Ripening (or overripe) fruit (compost this!)
- Dirty dishes, especially with food scraps (keep up on dishes!)
- Damp kitchen rags (wash these daily!)
- Within a kitchen drain in which rotting food products are lingering (clean with white vinegar!)
- Trash cans or recycling bins with food waste (keep these clean daily!)
- In pantry-stable food items like potatoes and onions (keep these in the fridge or remove damaged spots and use immediately!)
- In decomposing compost (freeze it or keep it well covered and remove it daily!)
How To Trap Fruit Flies
Once removing any source of fruit fly breeding grounds, implement a trapping method of your choice. Consistency is key! Be sure to implement eradication methods as well as any of the prevention methods regularly to avoid supporting a fruit fly breeding ground in your kitchen.
How To Make Fruit Fly Traps: Vinegar/Banana/Wine [with soap] Trap
Use your choice of bait! Fruit flies will be attracted to any of the items listed above. Be sure to use a vinegar that is NOT white vinegar; select a cider, red wine, or balsamic vinegar that is made with the fermentation of fruit. A mushy banana or other piece of fruit works great, and stale wine of any kind will also attract fruit flies. Find some images of various traps here.
- Place 1/4 cup of the bait in a cup or glass that is taller than it is wide.
- If you would like to add soap (basically, a poison for the fruit flies that also serves to break the surface tension on the liquid of choice) to the bait, put a few drops into the bait and mix together.
- Use a funnel, a rolled-up piece of paper, or plastic wrap pulled tight with holes poked in it as a way to entrap the flies. Ensure that the seal of any of these items is secure. If using the plastic wrap method, a rubber band can support this seal; if using the funnel method, insert the small end of the funnel into the mouth of the cup or glass so that the wide end is open to flies in the room.
- Place the trap or traps in areas proximate to the infestation.
- Change trap at least every other day to maintain a sanitary kitchen.
If you’re not feeling so crafty, leave out a bottle of nearly empty wine or beer. The fermented beverages will attract fruit flies, and the neck of the bottle will serve as a “trap” to make it difficult for them to escape feasting on the liquid. To add some security that the flies will die, add a few drops of dish soap to the wine/beer bottle.
How To Prevent Fruit Flies
- Eliminate any of the breeding grounds listed above: remove trash and compost; clean kitchen rags daily; store produce in the fridge; keep up on dishes; clean the sink, drain and countertops; etc.
- Place strongly scented herbs, like a basil plant, in the kitchen. Fruit flies do not like strong smells.
- Soak a kitchen cloth or sponge in a few drops of lavender, lemongrass, or other pungent antibacterial essential oil (another strong smell).
- Burn incense in the kitchen area (again, a strong smell).
- Wash produce as soon as it enters the home. Sometimes fruit fly nests can travel on fruit from the grocery store, or fruit flies can breed on garden produce. Washing fruit and vegetables and storing them in the fridge can keep fruit flies at bay. | <urn:uuid:bf4e0fbe-9818-455a-a53d-654db12d559a> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | https://basmati-9ac9.kxcdn.com/2019/10/03/natural-ways-eradicate-fruit-flies | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323587908.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20211026134839-20211026164839-00695.warc.gz | en | 0.931305 | 1,048 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Today in American history…Jane Appleton Pierce was born on March 12, 1806 in Hampton, New Hampshire. She served as our First Lady when her husband, Franklin Pierce, became our 14th US President (1853-1857).
“I have known many of the ladies of the White House, none more truly excellent than the afflicted wife of President Pierce. . . . She was a refined, extremely religious, and well-educated lady.” – Mrs Robert E. Lee
“…I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And, by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.” – Abigail Adams in a letter to her husband John Adams dated March 31, 1776.
Today in American history…President William Henry Harrison’s inauguration was held on March 4, 1841 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. He still holds the record for giving the longest inauguration speech of 8,445 words. Unfortunately he was also the first President to pass away in office on April 4, 1841 which made his term the shortest in American history.
Also today, President George Washington’s second inauguration was held on March 4, 1793 at Congress Hall in Philadelphia. His inauguration speech remains the shortest on record.
Today in American history…President Herbert Hoover signed a congressional act making “The Star-Spangled Banner” the official national anthem of the United States of America on March 3, 1931.
Francis Scott Key composed the lyrics to “The Star-Spangled Banner” on September 14, 1814 after he personally witnessed the massive overnight British assault of Fort McHenry in Maryland during the War of 1812 and he observed in awe that Fort McHenry’s flag survived the massive assault by the British.
Today in American history…the beginning of the interrogations which would in turn lead to to the Salem Witch Trials began on March 1, 1692 when Salem authorities interrogated Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and an Indian slave named Tituba, to determine if they were practicing witchcraft.
By the time the trials were concluded in May of 1693, more than two hundred people were accused of practicing witchcraft.
Thirty people were found guilty and nineteen of those were executed by hanging. Giles Corey was pressed to death by boulders for refusing to plead and at least five people died in jail.
In honor of George Washington’s Birthday today we made his favorite breakfast: Hoe Cakes. President Washington loved to have his favorite breakfast topped with a lot of butter and honey along with a cup of hot tea.
Washington Irving once wrote that our founding father’s favorite meal often included “two small cups of tea and three or four cakes of Indian meal (called hoe cakes).”
Here is the recipe we used today:
1 cup flour 1 cup cornmeal 2 eggs 2 1/2 Teaspoons baking powder 2 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup milk 1/2 cup water 1/3 cup melted butter 1 teaspoons vanilla 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (we used cinnamon) Butter or oil for frying
In a large bowl, mix cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt.
Make a well in the center, and pour in milk, water, egg, vanilla and melted butter . Through mix until pancake mixture is smooth.
Heat a lightly oiled cast iron or frying pan over medium high heat. Scoop about 2 tablespoons each of the batter onto the cast.
Fry each Hoe Cake until brown and crisp; turn with a spatula, and then brown the other side.
Remove and serve immediately with syrup and/or butter.
I made Barbara Bush’s Chocolate Cookies at home today. It’s a simple and easy recipe that you can make in your own kitchen! Isn’t it wonderful that we can make cookies that a First Lady once made for her family? You can watch the video right here https://youtu.be/WNXtq7C7i8E
Barbara Bush’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
½ cup butter, softened ⅓ cup packed brown sugar ⅓ cup white sugar 1 egg
1 ½ teaspoons hot water
1 ⅛ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon vanilla extract ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and egg until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in hot water and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour, baking soda, and salt, until well blended and smooth. Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop dough by well-rounded teaspoons onto greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 10 minute, or until golden. Cool cookie sheet on a wire rack for 1 minutes, then remove cookies to a rack to cool completely.
***I baked just a few minutes longer because my husband loves well done/brown bottom cookies 🍪❤️ | <urn:uuid:c89bcd64-7e20-4d10-a75d-2b205889c8d9> | CC-MAIN-2021-31 | https://thehistoricalhomemaker.com/page/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-31/segments/1627046154089.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20210731141123-20210731171123-00203.warc.gz | en | 0.956021 | 1,130 | 3.109375 | 3 |
A forest in South Carolina, a supercomputer in Ohio and some glow-in-the-dark yarn have helped a team of field ecologists conclude that woodland corridors connecting patches of endangered plants not only increase dispersal of seeds from one patch to another, but also create wind conditions that can spread the seeds for much longer distances.
The idea for the study emerged from modern animal conservation practices, where landscape connectivity — the degree to which landscapes facilitate movement — is being used to counteract the impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation on animal movement.
Gil Bohrer, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Civil, Environmental & Geodetic Engineering department at The Ohio State University, and colleagues led by Ellen Damschen, Ph.D., an assistant professor of Zoology at the University of Wisconsin, wondered if similar interventions might aid plants that rely upon wind currents. The study, “How fragmentation and corridors affect wind dynamics and seed dispersal in open habitats,” was published in the March 4 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America and referenced in the February 27 issue of Nature.
The field experiment involved connecting open patches of land by cutting gaps and corridors out of a longleaf pine plantation around the Savannah-River National Laboratory near Jackson, S.C. A network of sensors was erected to provide observations on wind speed, turbulence, temperature and humidity at roughly 20 points throughout the experimental landscape. Seed traps sampled seed arrival at many points in and around the gaps and hundreds of artificial seeds made of black-light fluorescent yarn were released and recovered in several controlled experiments.
These very large experimental efforts provided a novel dataset of observations of seed movement and wind in patch-corridors landscapes. However, the researchers understood that reality is always much more detailed than can be observed. Therefore, to comprehend the fine details of the relationships between the forest gap structures and the wind, the scientists leveraged the physical model to generate a virtual and complete environment, where every detail of the wind and seeds movement and the forest structure are known.
Bohrer ran the dataset through a high-resolution atmospheric model that he had developed on OSC’s IBM Opteron 1350 Glenn Cluster. The Glenn Cluster provides users with a total peak performance of 54 teraflops (tech-speak for making 54 trillion calculations per second), and the center’s Mass Storage System provides more than 2 petabytes of storage.
“The massive simulations used the Ohio Supercomputer Center to provide a detailed understanding of how corridors change the movement of the wind, and seeds that disperse with it, through a forest,” Bohrer said.
The model resolves the wind flow and includes the effects of canopy leaves and tree stems on the wind. The simulations include a virtual domain of roughly 6.5 million pixels, each representing a volume of air (or air mixed with forest leaves) of about 10 cubic meters. It also represented millions of dispersing virtual seeds. The model calculated the movement of the air and virtual seeds 20 times per second, over four hours.
“We found that corridors could affect the wind direction and align the wind flow with the corridor, that they accelerate the wind and provide preferable conditions for ejection above the canopy, where long distance dispersal could occur,” said Bohrer.
Reprinted from Ohio Supercomputer Center. | <urn:uuid:1ad2635e-38fb-4f2e-8f53-e89b5e9eec6c> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://tek-tips.nethawk.net/forest-corridors-help-plants-disperse-their-seeds/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719155.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00292-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940396 | 685 | 3.640625 | 4 |
For a nation built on a bedrock of capitalism and free trade, America’s intentionally inefficient system of buying and selling alcohol feels counterintuitive. After all, alcohol distribution in the United States is closely regulated. Its three tiers, comprised of producers, importers and distributors, and retailers, purposefully add cost to the consumer.
Many argue that the system is well-intentioned and exists to combat the risk of alcohol abuse. Others argue that this policy reflects antiquated, Prohibition-era ideologies.
At more than 80 years old, many feel that it’s high time for a change in legislation. Understanding each aspect of the three-tier system is essential to see why both sides of this argument are valid, and offers a look at what the future might hold for alcohol distribution in the United States.
After Prohibition’s repeal in 1933, state governments devised a new set of distribution laws that aimed to tackle the nation’s drinking problem by increasing the price of alcohol. Called the “three-tier” system, it added cost by ensuring alcohol flowed from producer to consumer through a minimum of three separate businesses. Unfortunately, for responsible and modern consumers, each layer by necessity marks up the price.
Tier one is producers and consists of grape growers and wineries. Producers sell their bottled or bulk wine to tier two, wholesalers. At tier two, importers supply foreign wines to distributors.
At the third tier, retailers purchase international and domestic wines. Retailers can be anything from local independent wine shops, to grocery stores, restaurants, and bars; and only they can sell wine to consumers. (There are a few exceptions, of course. We’ll get to them later.)
With alcohol legislation dictated at the state level, each one has a unique set of laws regarding the import, export, and sale of alcohol.
The Price of Wine
At each tier, companies must apply a percentage markup to the price of a bottle in order to remain profitable. Distributors generally double the price they pay for a bottle, while retailers add a further 150 percent to the price.
In other words, if a winery sells a bottle for $5, distributors sell the same bottle for $10, and retailers for $15.
When it comes to restaurants, the markup is significantly higher. For by-the-glass sales, a general rule is that the price of the glass is equal to whatever amount the restaurant paid for the entire bottle. The markup is less intense for bottle sales and ranges from two to five times the price paid to the distributor.
These are among many considerations that influence the cost of a bottle of wine. Other factors, such as the size of a retailer or restaurant, as well as its overhead (rent, staffing costs etc.), add to the price consumers pay.
Pros and Cons
Large-scale distribution enables wineries to sell and market their bottles nationally. As a result, smaller regional wine producers can reach consumers across the country, giving consumers all sorts of options they might not have otherwise.
Robert Tobiassen, a legal consultant and former chief counsel for the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) believes that national distributors benefit local economies by creating jobs and supplying extra income to state governments via taxes.
“The middle tier of the three-tier system does employ a large number of people and contributes financially to many community charitable efforts,” Tobiassen said, calling the three-tier system “a good neighbor.”
While some might view the added cost as a negative aspect of the system, Tobiassen believes it’s advantageous, as it succeeds in lowering the potential for alcohol abuse. “The lowest possible price is not always the benchmark goal,” he says.
Those in favor of changing the three-tier system believe that it’s skewed in favor of distributors and retailers, while wineries see smaller profits.
Distributors’ and retailers’ operating costs are the same for a $5 bottle as they are for one that costs $50. More expensive bottles receive higher markups, which in turn translate to greater profits.
For wineries, however, producing higher-quality, more expensive wines means additional costs due to lower yields, hand-harvested crops, and barrel aging. After deducting these costs from the price they can charge, producers receive a much smaller slice of the profit than wholesalers and retailers.
Others argue that the three-tier system provides an advantage for domestic wineries over foreign producers.
“Your main challenge is finding distribution,”Victor Urrutia, CEO of renowned Spanish winery CVNE, says. “Depending on the size of the company, some distributors may be too small to carry two producers from the same region,” he explains.
But choosing to work with a large distributor means running the risk of becoming lost in an extensive portfolio.
When CVNE worked with large importers and distributors, its sales were “terrible,” Urrutia explains. That’s because its wines weren’t sold or marketed with the attention a smaller distributor could offer. “We were insects in these distributors’ [portfolios], without a hope in hell of getting any attention,” he says.
The Fourth Tier
To help small international and domestic wineries navigate the challenges of the three-tier system, a fourth, unofficial tier exists.
Made up of national marketing companies that also work as importers and brokers, this tier helps ensure that small producers are well represented throughout the United States. By not having to worry about marketing or distributors, wineries can instead focus solely on producing quality wine.
Fourth-tier marketing companies maintain relationships with distributors on behalf of wineries, and ensure distributors and retailers are accurately portraying the story behind the wines.
“It’s impossible for [small-scale producers] to get into every market, communicate the message of their properties, and work directly with wholesalers,” Rocco Lombardo, president of fourth-tier marketing company Wilson Daniels, says.
Companies like Wilson Daniels are beneficial to consumers as well as wineries, Lombardo says. “We’re representing families who own their own vineyards. Their product literally goes from their hands to our hands to the customer. We’re ensuring 100 percent provenance,” he explains.
The Future of the System
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales and online wine retailers are two hot topics currently threatening the foundations of the three-tier system.
In most states, it is now legal for consumers to buy wine directly from wineries, provided that the purchase doesn’t breach interstate shipping laws. Online retailers, on the other hand, do not enjoy the same freedoms as wineries when it comes to shipping wine across state lines.
Nevertheless, many options exist for buying wine online. From subscription wine clubs, to “flash” sale sites, each model of online wine sales has its own established methods of exploiting loopholes in state law, ensuring they don’t break three-tier legislation. Yet selling wine online remains extremely complex.
The National Association of Wine Retailers (NAWR) and grassroots organizations like “Free the Grapes!” want to make online retail easier by bringing about the free movement of wine across state lines. They face tough opposition from tier-two-backed trade organizations, like the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA), which continue to oppose any initiatives to alter the three-tier model.
At the time of writing, this issue is in the spotlight after the Supreme Court recently announced it will hear a high-profile case that many believe could have a huge impact on shipping bans on out-of-state retailers.
Supreme Court battles and evolving wine retail notwithstanding, many remain staunch in their belief in the three-tier system.
“We’re on the forefront where this industry will evolve,” Lombardo says, “but there will always be a need for the three-tier system.”
That said, ours is a transitional time. It is tough for any winemaker, retailer, politician, or citizen to predict the next stage in American policy. | <urn:uuid:e8688cb2-e132-4af8-a3f7-c7d8e5b4f445> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://vinepair.com/articles/three-tier-wine-selling-supreme-court/?amp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593655897027.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20200708124912-20200708154912-00164.warc.gz | en | 0.943696 | 1,713 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Mises Daily Articles
The Misnamed Conflict
Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation: The Economics of the Civil War, by Mark Thornton and Robert B. Ekelund. Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources, 2004. xxix +124 pages.
The continual stream of books about the Civil War generally focus on soldiers, generals, weapons, uniforms, medical procedures, and battlefield maneuvers—along with the usual accounts of suffering, misery, and death.
The calm picture of businessmen and clerks engaged in their business of buying and selling cotton at the New Orleans Cotton Exchange is not the typical image one finds on the cover or dust jacket of books about the Civil War. But the Edgar Degas painting that graces the cover of Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation: The Economics of the Civil War tells the reader that this is no ordinary book on the Civil War.
This is an insightful book that breaks much new ground. The authors apply economic theory to historical events to illuminate the causes and consequences of the Civil War as no other book about that misnamed conflict. Although more accurate names would certainly be the War Between the States, the War of Northern Aggression, or more simply, Lincoln’s War, in keeping with the book’s title, I will use the more common term throughout this review.
Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation is part of the American Civil War Series—books that offer concise overviews of important persons, events, and themes in the Civil War period of America’s history. The authors, Mark Thornton and Robert Ekelund, have collaborated on many articles on the Civil War era in a variety of publications. They believe that the Civil War drastically altered “the very substance and concept of the American nation.” It was “a watershed in our nation’s development.”
Although the authors do acknowledge that “slavery and its opposition were interwoven into the economic, political, social, and religious fabric of America,” they do not consider slavery to be the sole cause of the war. Instead, they emphasize politics and economics as the major factors that led to the war. This does not mean that the issue of slavery is ignored. To the contrary, Thornton and Ekelund acknowledge that many economic interests were indeed “at least somewhat related to slavery.” But instead of the Civil War being about just slave holders and abolitionists, the authors see the war as a sectional conflict with a number of related parallels: free trade vs. protectionism, Jeffersonians vs. Hamiltonians, agrarian society vs. industrial society, states’ rights vs. strong central government. These dichotomies are all explored in the book along side of the misguided economic policies that both sides undertook to their detriment.
The strength of this book lies in its introductions. The introduction that precedes the four chapters that make up the book is especially crucial. Entitled “How Economics Illuminates the Civil War,” it imparts to the reader, with clear explanations, the basic economic principles necessary to begin the book on a firm economic footing. Those trained in economics will certainly feel right at home when they read of normal goods, inferior goods, rent seeking, agency problems, the free rider problem, price discrimination, mercantilism, elasticity of demand, and opportunity cost. But to the neophyte whose only introduction to economics might be this small book, there are also basic descriptions of supply and demand, shortages, inflation, wealth, tariffs, trade, money and banking, the division of labor, specialization, subsidies, and the gold standard. Each chapter also contains a brief introduction that not only introduces, but surveys, the contents of the chapter.
This is a book that actually makes good on its title, for tariffs, blockades, and inflation are indeed the focus of the three main chapters in the book. The tariff question in chapter one is really a study of the cultural differences between the North and South. The agrarian South, which relied heavily on imports of finished goods, saw high protective tariffs as a detriment to its economy. The authors argue that economic interests “were a major factor in the emergence of the conflict.” With no income tax, the tariff was the primary source of revenue for the federal government, but it was also means by which politically connected Northern businessmen sought to dampen foreign competition and enrich themselves. The agrarian economy of the South had always resisted high protective tariffs. This resistence was later enshrined in the new Confederate Constitution. In this chapter, Thornton and Ekelund review the antebellum tariff while explaining the economics of tariffs in general.
The Union blockade of the South is the focus of chapter two. The authors make the case that the most important battle that took place was that one at sea between the blockade runners and the blockading fleet. The blockade resulted in not only reduced production and trade, but hoarding and speculation. In addition to the economics of the blockade, Thornton and Ekelund discuss the effectiveness of the blockade and the peculiar effect of the blockade on the supply of “luxury” goods. This is not dry reading, for here we read of the Anaconda Plan, the “King Cotton” strategy, and the Rhett Butler Effect—not the terminology one usually finds in an economics book.
How both sides used inflation—the creation of new money—to finance the war and disguise its costs is explained in chapter three. Inflation hampers the ability of producers and consumers to make sound economic decisions by distorting capital values, prices, and wages. The authors relate how the South in particular resorted to the printing press to help disguise the cost of the war, devastating its economy. But in addition to illuminating the Civil War monetary policies of the Union and the Confederacy, this chapter also explores money and banking in the United States before the war, as well as its monetary legacy. The authors trace inflation and financial panics to the federal government intervening into banking, which had up until that time been primarily a state matter. The book by Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, is shown to be an allegory to the growing monetary concerns of Populist movement of the late nineteenth.
Following the three main chapters, there is an extra chapter on the economic consequences of the war. Here is exploded the myth that the scourge of war can actually benefit the economy as a whole. Like about the Civil War itself, what has been written about the post-war period we call Reconstruction is likewise “rarely from the perspective of economic theory.” The authors go about to correct that as well. They see technological improvements, the intercontinental railroad, large-scale heavy industry, and the basic national science institutions as beginning before the war. The Civil War retarded economic development, but because of the exclusive focus by historians on the abolition of slavery, it has been viewed as a national benefit instead of a national disaster. The war also caused distortions in the economy that harmed rural populations and led to the rise of Populism.
The book concludes with a bibliographical essay that discusses and recommends additional books on the topics of slavery, secession and war, money and banking, reconstruction and racism, war and the economy, the growth of government, and the blockade. The book is very well documented, with notes at the end of each chapter. Numerous figures and tables and a detailed index serve to enhance this slender volume even more.
Features that further enhance the book are numerous tables and figures, a detailed index, and a bibliographical essay that recommends enough additional reading on slavery, secession, banking, and war to keep one’s mind intellectually stimulated for quite some time.
There are a number of topics that Thornton and Ekelund explore in detail that relate to the economics of the Civil War. Pre-Civil War political and economic interest groups are perhaps the most important of such topics. The authors see the ideological origins of the war as stretching back to the early part of the 1800s. Thus, instead of the exploits of Lee and Grant (who are not even mentioned in the book), we are introduced to the politics and policies of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun. And instead of the traditional Democratic/Republican division, we read of the Democratic-Republicans, Federalists, Anti-Federalists, Free-Soilers, Whigs, and anti-immigrant parties.
The authors correctly view the mercantilist agenda of the new Republican Party (protective tariffs, national bank, and public works) as being anathema to the agrarian South, and reminiscent of the policies of the Federalist Alexander Hamilton and the Whig Henry Clay. The Southern States saw the election of Lincoln as harmful to them economically, and left the Union—an action that Lincoln himself endorsed in a speech in Congress on January 12, 1848: “Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable, a most sacred right—a right which we hope and believe is to liberate the world. Nor is this right confined to cases in which the whole people of an existing government may choose to exercise it. Any portion of such people, that can, may revolutionize, and make their own of so much of the territory as they inhabit.”
Because of the new role of government that emerged from the war, the authors make the case that the Confederate defeat resulted in an “ideological downfall” for the limited government established by the Founders. They view Lincoln’s massive intervention of the federal government into the economy and subsequent increase in the size and scope of the national government as the starting point of the growth of the federal leviathan. The great emancipator was an even greater centralizer.
An interesting comparison is made between the economic policies of Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. Thornton and Ekelund compare the “flurry of new laws, regulations, and bureaucracies” created by the Lincoln administration to that of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1930s. Indeed, they point out that the term “New Deal” was actually coined by a newspaper editor in 1865 to characterize Lincoln and the Republicans. They also take time out to comment on the origin of the term Dixie.
One does not have to be particularly fond of economics to benefit from this book. It will be valuable to anyone with an interest in American history, culture, or politics. Although it is only 124 pages, Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation is an extremely penetrating work that goes along way toward furthering our understanding of the great sectional conflict we call the Civil War—a war that not only altered the culture of the United States, but fundamentally changed the role of government envisioned by the Founders. This is a scholarly book that deserves an equal place on the shelf next to the recent books of Thomas DiLorenzo, Jeffrey Hummel, Charles Adams, and Clyde Wilson—works that question the traditional establishment view of the conflict that forever changed the course of American history. | <urn:uuid:6279ee8a-da4d-474f-9979-0463c7efdfd1> | CC-MAIN-2017-30 | https://mises.org/library/misnamed-conflict | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-30/segments/1500549426372.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20170726182141-20170726202141-00229.warc.gz | en | 0.946239 | 2,305 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Two Unknown Soldiers From WWI Discovered In The Alps
The block of ice was airlifted to the nearby city of Vicenza. Inside were two soldiers who had fallen at the Battle of Presena in May 1918 and were buried in a crevasse. Their uniforms and their location indicated that they could well have been Kaiserschützen, specialised mountain troops who fought on behalf of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to defend these mountains from their Italian equivalent, the Alpini.
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ABOUT WHAT IS DUB TO THE BODIES OF THE DEAD AND
OF THE LIVING (i.e. ABOUT BURYING AND SUICIDE).
In the most ancient times the bodies of the dead were Primitive
exposed to the air by being thrown on the fields without customs.
any covering; also sick people were exposed on the
fields and in the mountains, and were left there. If
they died there, they had the fate just mentioned ; but
if they recovered, they returned to their dwellings.
Thereupon there appeared a legislator who ordered Page 283.
people to expose their dead to the wind. In conse¬
quence they constructed roofed buildings with walls of
rails, through which the wind blew, passing over the
dead, as something similar is the case in the grave-
towers of the Zoroastrians.
After they had practised this custom for a long time,
Narayana prescribed to them to hand the dead over to
the fire, and ever since .they are in the habit of burn¬
ing them, so that nothing remains of them, and every
defilement, dirt, and smell is annihilated at once, so
as scarcely to leave any trace behind.
Nowadays the Slavonians, too, burn their dead, whilst Greek par-
the ancient Greeks seem to have had both customs,
that of burning and that of burying. Socrates speaks
in the book Phaedo, after Crito had asked him in what
manner he wanted to be buried : " As you wish, when
you make arrangements for me. I shall not flee from
you." Then he spoke to those around him : "Give to
Crito regarding myself the opposite guarantee of that | <urn:uuid:0bac52b1-22da-47fd-a805-3c7cdae66e50> | CC-MAIN-2015-40 | http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/collections/cul/texts/ldpd_5949073_002/pages/ldpd_5949073_002_00000175.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-40/segments/1443737896527.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20151001221816-00033-ip-10-137-6-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979244 | 372 | 2.890625 | 3 |
continuation of #1 and #2. The Idea of the Body in Japanese Culture and its Dismantlement by Hiroyuki Noguchi published in 20041.
The Idea of the Body in Asceticism
With the arrival of Buddhism fifteen hundred years ago, the era of kings, symbolized by the great tombs, came to an end, and Japan was ushered into a new era, ruled by religion. As with the Meiji Restoration, the lifestyles of the Japanese people were dramatically transformed. Curiously enough though, in contrast with the Meiji Restoration, the changes that occurred with Buddhism’s arrival actually seemed to clarify the distinct nature of Japan’s culture.
Fortunately for Japan, Buddhism was not transmitted directly from India, coming through China instead. During its travels in China, Buddhism had no choice but to merge with the antecedents of China’s indigenous Taoism, such as the va-rious practices of mysticism including fangshu, and the philosophies of Lao-Tzu and Chuang-Tzu. These practices, which were later integrated into Taoism, all involved ascetic practices for the purpose of cultivating longevity. Therefore the Buddhism that arrived to Japan was one already baptized by the Chinese, meaning that it was characterized by a strong emphasis on Taoist-like ascetic practices [Sekiguchi, (1967)].
Although its purpose may have differed from Taoism, Japan’s native religion, Shinto, was also a religion fundamentally centered on practice rather than doctrine. Both were religions that emerged as spontaneous occurrences more than anything else, with neither possessing any founding person. And the two have much in common, such as their sense of pure and impure Ki or energy and their methods of utilizing Ki. They also shared the fate of being forced to present distorted images of their practices by arming themselves with awkward theories in attempt to resist being overtaken by Buddhism. This however, was only because both religions, by nature, valued expe-rience over speculation, perception over theory. Taoism’s pursuit of longevity and immortality was entirely different from the pursuit of healthiness by people of today. Taoists proclaimed “Tao” as the Source that brought harmony to all things, and sought the genuine experience of being one with it [Maspero, (1983)]. Meanwhile, Shinto was not the animism that became the favorite label for all primitive religions. It was a religion that did not seek the divine outside of one’s self, instead taking the inner experience of Kashikoki (reverence or awe) and cal-ling it Kami (the divine) [Kageyama, (1972)3.
Such religions, which place importance on inner expe-riences, will inevitably arrive at various practice methods that use the body as intermediates for their aims. In the case of Japan, these methods, called Gyo, became the common denominator that would enable the Japanese to accept the essentially academic and speculative religion of Buddhism, and let it take root in its culture.
At first, Buddhism was established as an official religion during the Nara Period (710-784) through the diligent effort of Shotokutaishi (574-622). However, because it leaned heavily towards politics and placed little importance on practice, it did not capture the hearts of the Japanese people. The increasing population of monks and nuns became a financial burden for the government, while the successive building of provincial temples and the construction of the great statue of Buddha at Todaiji Temple impoverished the people. During this time, it was not Buddhism, but rather Shugendo, a blend of Shinto and Taoism founded by En no Ozunu, that was wholeheartedly welcomed by the people of Japan. In Shugendo, practitioners isolated themselves in the deepest wilderness of the mountains – an area feared tremendously by the general population – in order to test their discipline and receive power from the mountain deities [Wakamori, (1972)]. It was not so much a religion as it was a set of ascetic practices, or Gyo, which sought a specific kind of religious experience. The great respect given the mountain ascetics by the people of the time demonstrates how religion for the Japanese was fundamentally not about religious texts and doctrines, but was based on veneration and awe for Gyo. And it was not the seeking of reward in this life that resulted in this sense of respect. Rather, it stemmed from the historic inclination of the Japanese towards inner observation.
It was the widespread popularity of Tendai and Shingon, two sects of Mikkyo (esoteric Buddhism), both founded during the Heian Period, that pointed out this inclination in clear terms. The Shingon sect, founded by Kukai (774-835), placed its headquarters on Mt. Koya, and proceeded to gain great popularity among the public with its heavy leaning towards esoteric and ascetic practices not found in previous forms of speculative Buddhism during the Nara Period. Furthermore, it possessed a philosophy – lacking in Shugendo – to back its faith in supernatural mysteries, and thus fulfilled the conditions for gaining official recognition as a religion from the government, despite being a teaching that centered on Gyo.
Meanwhile the Tendai sect, founded by Saicho (767-822), established its headquarters in Mt. Hiei. Saicho’s tenets incorporated the four studies of En (also Hokke, the Lotus Teachings), Zen (meditative disciplines), Kai (Buddhist Precepts), and Mikkyo or esoteric practices. But sensing that his study in the esoteric aspect of Buddhism could not stand up to Kukai’s, he attempted to create a system of esoteric Buddhism distinct from Kukai’s Shingon. His wish would finally be realized through his disciple, Ennin [Katsumata, (1972)]. The Tendai sect selected the mountains as its training grounds and sent many excellent disciples into the mountains. As a result, the Tendai practitioners mixed with the mountain ascetics of Shugendo, who were still revered by the general population, to such an extent that it eventually became difficult to distinguish between Tendai and Shugendo practitioners. Even with Saicho’s first-rate knowledge of Buddhist teachings, the Tendai sect had to emphasize aspects of the teachings that went beyond language and speculation – the esoteric practices – in order to gain popularity among the general population.
As for the reason why religions centered on asceticism were preferred, and why they emerged in the first place, some say that it is because the people of those days believed in, and feared, supernatural phenomena such as curses and evil spirits. But such things are also of religion. Religion is, simultaneously, the source from which curses and evil spirits arise, and the power that releases people from those things. The presentation of a certain set of values necessarily includes the act of defining the obstacles that stand in way of its realization. This is not li-mited to religion. When we discover new possibilities, we also define our limits. In establishing what is normal, we define abnormality at the same time, which is why the number of di-seases always increases as new cures are developed. The issue, then, is not what the Japanese people feared, but what they felt reverence and awe for. It was not belief in the Buddhist doctrines or love of incantations that moved the people of traditional Japan. What they had was simply a feeling of reverence for ascetic practices. It was the focused intensity involved in Gyo and the non-ordinary experiences it brought about that they worshipped.
This special adoration of the Japanese for Gyo further crystallized with the development of the Zen sect, which began with Eisai and Dogen during the Kamakura Period. Zen – the focusing of one’s awareness in sitting meditation until entering a state called Shikantaza (just sitting) – perfectly matched the sense of Gyo sought by the Japanese, and was a religious teaching that was deeply assimilated into Japanese culture.
Zen was more than a religion that centered its practice on Gyo. It was Gyo itself. Its doctrine explained that which it sought through the use of a single word – Mu (nothingness) – and its denial of all thought and speculation possessed a sense of purity similar to Shinto. While Shugen and Mikkyo demanded worship and total reliance on the spiritual or sorcery powers of the ascetics and priests, Zen refused reliance on anything other than the self. This religion, which suggested the possibility of deliverance through nothing but the cultivation of one’s own powers by means of one’s own practice of Gyo, strongly appealed to the inclinations of the Japanese people. In the end, Japan’s culture was so deeply influenced by Zen that it has become impossible to separate Zen from the concept of “Japanese” that we hold today. Its style, its doctrines, and its practice of Gyo did not remain within the bounds of religion. The Zazen mind was directly assimilated into the everyday life and work of the general population, greatly contributing to the formation of various Ways or Do, such as Kendo, Sado, and Kado, and furthermore to the Waza, or art, of the craftsman.
The underlying current of Gyo seen in Shinto, Shugendo, Mikkyo, and Zen reveals not only the Japanese view on religion, but also tells us of the inner experiences cherished and sought by the Japanese people. The mighty tranquility of Shinto, the supernatural experiences of Shugendo, the viscous undulating quality of Mikkyo, the cutting purity and somberness of Zen – the Japanese people delighted and cherished these inner experiences at a distance of one step from the religions themselves, and through this, were able to furnish their culture with a sense of depth and expansion.
The above four systems of Gyo can be divided into two categories. The practices of Shugen and Mikkyo aimed to acquire powers beyond the ordinary, seeking the transformation of the self from a state of powerlessness to divine strength. The existence of adverse conditions is a given here, and what we see is the powerful conviction to overcome all adversities. The Gyo of Shinto and Zen, on the other hand, was of clearly different nature. Their practice was not for the sake of supplementing that which the practitioner lacked, nor was it for driving growth towards a more powerful state of being. They were rather for the return to one’s original nature by the shedding off of all that is extraneous. Theirs were Gyo of subtraction rather than addition, of returning the colorful to the transparent. The inclinations of the former two are for invigoration; they are Gyo of the Sun. The latter two have inclinations towards detachment and placation; these are Gyo of the Moon. Both went through repeated ups and downs in accordance with the times and helped to establish the underpinnings of Japanese culture. For example, Kabuki, which derives its name from the word “kabuku” (to tilt/slant), was born out of the discovery of beauty in being off-balance. Its underling tone is one that can be found in the Gyo of Shugendo and Mikkyo. Meanwhile, the aesthetics of Yugen established through Ze-ami’s Noh, shares a common ground with the Gyo of Shinto and Zen.
In the end, the stream of Gyo from Shinto to Zen refined the Japanese concept of ascetic practices and contributed to the formation of the Japanese idea of the body. Although each of the four religions possessed distinct views on ascetic practices, a common thread can be found when seen through the idea of the body.
In Gyo the body is utilized as a tool to break through volitional concentration. Its method is to focus one’s awareness on certain perceptual occurrences in the body, and to switch the attention, for a while, from one’s thoughts to one’s body. The various ways in which the hands and fingers are held during meditation, known as Inso, are a typical example. The delibe-rate forcing of the body into conditions of stress, strongly associated with the practice of Gyo, is another. By repeatedly imposing great burden onto the body, the practitioner’ s attention is forced to switch from mental concentration to bodily concentration.
In the next step, the aim is to separate the self from the body, to which we normally suppose it belongs, in order to encounter the body that is apart from the self; or in other words, to encounter pure Body. This is the body that belongs only to Nature itself: the body “as is”. To encounter the body “as is” means that all sensations of the flesh disappear. What emerges instead is a body of mist or air-like quality. The nature of this newly emerging body is one of total passivity; it can fluctuate with the true sense of being “alive” only after inviting or welcoming into one’s self what is not of the self. The practice of Gyo sought the entrance into this sublime state of passivity. The contrast between the two categories of Gyo then has its roots in exactly what they decided to “invite”. For the practices of Shugendo and Mikkyo, it was Unwavering Mind, while for Shinto and Zen, it was the Source of all things. In this way, when the practice of Gyo is understood as a phenomenon of the body, it then becomes possible for four different religions to emerge while sharing the same structure of ascetic practice.
One could say that this inner state of “inviting” or “wel-coming” was the essence of the idea of Nature held by Japan’s culture. The Japanese word, Kangaeru (to think) was originally Ka Mukaeru (to welcome in that which is there). Thus for the Japanese, the thinking process itself was a passive activity, lite-rally meaning the “inviting” or “welcoming” in of its object. And it was this “inviting”, this entering into a state of passivity or receptivity, which the Japanese called “natural”. They placed more value on the “seeing” or “coming into sight” of things while one was in a non-self state than on the volitional act of looking or observing. They valued the receptive state of “hea-ring” over the volitional act of listening. And such states were to be reached by means of concentration through Gyo.
The Tsugaru jamisen is a musical instrument, a three-stringed lute, from the northeastern parts of Japan. What is demanded from its players is to acquire an original piece of music that they can call their own. Traditional Japanese music, unlike Western music, does not boast a great variety of musical pieces. Rather, performers are to cultivate the improvisational ability to play the same single piece in varying ways according to the time and place of the performance. The late Takahashi Chikuzan, master Tsugaru jamisen player, carried out a Gyo, in which he played his instrument for eight days and eight nights without rest. According to Chikuzan, by the eighth day, all awareness of his own playing had disappeared. He could no longer hear the sound supposedly coming from the instrument he was playing, and he began to see his body as a field of white light. From the depths of this whiteness, he heard a song he had never once heard before. It was this song that was to become Chikuzan’s original composition. In this way, musical pieces in the art of Tsugaru jamisen were not creations by the artists, but something the artist invited into his or her self, something that arrived from somewhere unknown. The practice of Gyo gives birth to different outcomes depending on what the practitioner invites within. In this case it was music.
It would not be an exaggeration to state that the idea of the body in Japanese culture was shaped by the practice of Gyo. For the Japanese, the body was not merely a tool to be utilized for daily life. It was a place in which the abstract was to be received. Unlike the Western view of the body, it was not something that could be managed by the person’s will, but could be brought to a state of harmony through the focusing of Ki, which occurs when one breaks away from a state of volitional concentration. Furthermore, the workings of such a body are not of machine-like automaticity. By nature, it can only improvise its every movement. It fluctuates in resonance with the vibrations of life, in a world where everything is alive. And when it moves, through the receiving of a force from outside itself, its movement is not the self-oblivious trance-like movement of the possessed – its center is never lost.
To reiterate, the body for the Japanese was a place for receiving life. Life, in this case, is not the life of the individual person or creature, but the Life that flows through all beings in a world where everything is alive. This Life has never died. If the union of sperm and egg is the beginning of individual life, then Life is what makes that union possible. Both sperm and egg must be alive to begin with for their union to occur. Thus Life exists beyond the individual. Life is a formless current that never ceases, and the individual’s body is but a boat riding this current. The boat cannot move on its own. The body can move only because it is riding the current of Life at large.
The concept of Gyo, which underlay the four religions of Shinto, Shugen, Mikkyo, and Zen, penetrated into the daily lives of the general population by the time of the Kamakura and Muromachi Periods. This should not be understood as the spreading of religious teachings, but as the dissemination of Gyo itself. The practice of Gyo then was able to break out beyond the field of religion to become the foundation for a certain view of the body, and would further give birth to the concept of Kata, or form. Kata is the symbolic expression of the Japanese view on the body, born from Gyo. The Japanese reve-rence for Gyo would eventually shift into a sense of respect for Kata.
Next chapter : #4. The Philosophy of Kata
1Journal of Sport and Health Science, Vol. 2, 8-24, 2004. http : //wwwsoc.nii ac jp/jspe3/index.htm.
Sources des images
- Estampe : La cascade au claire de lune Auteur : Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858).
- Vieil Ainou extrait de « Japon » de Fosco Maraini. 1959 Ed. B.Arthaud
- Morihei UESHIBA avec son fils Kishomaru, pratique sous la cascade
- Jeune femme jouant du Shamisen (détail) Kitagawa Utamaro – 1805 | <urn:uuid:b4bb3d11-2499-4b14-8f98-763f2e1ebcdc> | CC-MAIN-2021-25 | https://www.ecole-itsuo-tsuda.org/en/3-idee-du-corps-dans-la-culture-japonaise-et-son-demantelement/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-25/segments/1623487622113.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20210625054501-20210625084501-00461.warc.gz | en | 0.970377 | 3,998 | 3.265625 | 3 |
All of us had to start somewhere learning about antennas, and mostly
without a formal technical education in the subject. Here is what has
worked for me over the years:
(1) We start with the simple, easily-memorized rules. The formula for
the length of a dipole, for example. These give us general guidelines
to work with, even though we discover later that they are wrong.
(2) Read whatever you can find on the subject. True, much of this may
be hard to understand, but try to extract one or two glimmers of
enlightenment out of each article.
(3) Experiment. Try building antennas using your understanding. Wire
antennas are cheap and you can reuse the same materials. Sometimes
the results won't be what you expected - the dipole may have a high
SWR even though it is cut to the calculated length, or your fancy new
antenna may not work as well as a simple dipole.
(4) Think about what you learned in step (3). What concepts do you
need to understand better? Find some more articles and go back to
step (3). Over time the various concepts start to sink in.
(5) Don't be afraid to discover that the general rules you learned in step (1)
were wrong. Or to find that you've gained better understanding of how
things work than popular writers on the subject. After a while you will
find that you can judge a writer's level of understanding, and whether
their advice can be trusted. The truth is that there is a lot of garbage
and bad advice floating around based on a flawed or incomplete
understanding of the subject. Find writers who are both clear and
technically competent and use them as your guide.
is a good place to start.
(7) If you aren't making mistakes, you aren't learning anything. | <urn:uuid:d1618ee5-f46d-42f6-bc0d-d70ba107441b> | CC-MAIN-2016-50 | http://www.eham.net/ehamforum/smf/index.php?topic=32953.msg203447 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-50/segments/1480698542712.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20161202170902-00211-ip-10-31-129-80.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951186 | 399 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Adolf Hitler In this encyclopedia you will find: Life and death, struggle of one of the most powerful person in the world and controversial emblematic; their political views their reasons for war and fight to the death, Mein Furer, Nazi Germany and all its influence to the neo-nazi wave: Adolf Hitler.
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And of course your comments and emails are always welcome for updates, suggestions and provide a better service for you. | <urn:uuid:806d75f2-1379-4006-ac02-d049f69f99e0> | CC-MAIN-2020-10 | https://www.148apps.com/app/395074017/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-10/segments/1581875143784.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20200218150621-20200218180621-00433.warc.gz | en | 0.880083 | 246 | 2.578125 | 3 |
The Quran has talked about pre-life existence in mineral form such as dust, dry clay, wet clay. Then, it cited creation of non-transgressing barrier or membrane linking it with the beginning of life.
By Ghayur Ayub
A well-known British naturalist, Sir David Attenborough gives an interesting narration of life on earth. He says that if we consider the duration of the earth as one year, the life appeared in the middle of August in the sea. Towards the end of November, the first animal left the water and colonized the land. The backbone animals invaded the land by the beginning of December. On December 25th dinosaurs disappeared and were replaced by mammals. In early morning of December 31st, apes and ape-like man called hominids appeared. And human or homo sapiens appeared about a minute or two before the end of December.
Now let us see what the Quran says about creation of life on earth and find out if there are any similarities or dissimilarities between the two narrations. To start with, it challenges our intelligence about our existence in pre-life form when it says, “Does not man remember that We created him before, while he was naught (nothing, non-existent)?” (19:67). This verse clearly points at existence in non-life form. What was that non-life form? Quran puts it in chronological order by saying: (1) “He created you of dust,” (30:20) corresponding to the initial phase of earth when its atmosphere was filled only with dust. (2) “We created man from sounding (noisy) clay,” (15:26).
Creation of Man Out of Clay
It corresponds to the phase when the dust turned into dry clay, floating in the air with thundering sound. (3) In the next phase, when the torrential rains poured down the clay, settling it on the surface of earth, the Quran says, “Allah is He who perfected everything and began the creation of man out of clay” (32:7). This verse points to two things: (a) First, it is using the word clay instead of sounding clay, meaning by, it is not floating, but static at a different stage of evolution; (b) Second, to confirm its point, Quran uses the word ‘began’ or ‘Bada’a’ for creation of man after God perfected everything else. It means that human creation happened as part of a continuous process in time, that had a beginning and not just at once.
(4) In the next phase, as some of the clay settled in the sea and became sticky in nature in the primordial soup, Quran says, “Indeed, We created man from sticky clay”. (37:11), or “We created the human being from smooth, (and wet) clay.” (15:26) (5) In the next phase, as fat-which is sweet and palatable, and sulphate”which is salty and bitter, made an impermeable membrane, Quran says, “It is He who has let free the two bodies of flowing water, one palatable and sweet and other salty and bitter. Yet He has made a barrier between them. A partition (membrane) that is forbidden to be crossed” (25:53). Here, Quran uses the term ‘non-transgressing barrier’ for impermeable membrane.
Pearls and Corals
(6) In the next phase, Quran talks of appearance of life in general, “with water did We create every living thing”¦(21:30). Then it becomes specific, linking the impermeable membrane or ‘non-transgressing barrier’ with corals. “He has let free the two bodies of flowing water meeting together between them is a Barrier, which they do not transgress. In the same verse it further says”¦.Pearls and corals come forth out of the twain.” Scientists, in recent decades, have discovered that coral belongs to the animal kingdom and is intimately linked to algae which is a plant. In this verse, Quran has created a close link between plant and animal life.
(7) Then, in a progressive continuity, it talks about animals by saying, “Allah has created every animal out of water.” (24:45). Later, it categorises them and takes them out of the sea and puts them on land by saying, “Of them (is a category which) walks upon its belly, (another which) walks upon two legs, and (a third which) walks upon four. Allah creates what He wills. Allah is Able to do everything (He wants)”
(8) Going further, it talks about human life by saying “He it is Who has created man of water.”(25:54). Then, ingeniously it links human life with plant life as earlier it linked plant life with animal life by saying, “And Allah has caused you to grow out of the earth like plants” (32:7). In this way, it created a chronological mosaic of three basic forms of life-plant, animal, human-1500 years ago, discovered by science in the last few decades. Thus far, we have seen Quran has talked about pre-life existence in mineral form such as dust, dry clay, wet clay etc. Then, it cited creation of non-transgressing barrier or membrane linking it with the beginning of life. Going further, it linked life in a mosaic of plants, animals and humans.
Who says Islam, which gets nourishment from Quran, is on collision course with science? | <urn:uuid:b56f2387-da70-4e31-8ec4-00a34003da7e> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | https://islamicvoice.com/islamic-science/science-and-quran-on-life-creation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323584567.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20211016105157-20211016135157-00170.warc.gz | en | 0.950561 | 1,204 | 3.09375 | 3 |
The dominant theme in “Morning Song” is alienation and the process by which it is overcome. A woman’s poem, it deals with maternal instinct and its awakening. Plath avoids sentimentality in taking up a subject-becoming a mother-that is too often treated in our culture in a fluffy way. A woman-certainly an ambitious poet such as Plath-does not come to motherhood merely by giving birth. New behavior is learned. The being of the mother is as new as the being of the child. Readers can appreciate Plath’s honesty in dealing with her subject.
It also takes a certain amount of courage to admit to a colossal lack: “I’m no more your mother/ Than the cloud.” The alienation in the poem is overcome by such acute delineation of the feelings. Instinct has a role to play as well: The speaker finds herself listening to the child’s sounds. This is not self-willed or under her control. She follows her instinct: “One cry, and I stumble from bed.” In the end, she is rewarded. Alienation is overcome in her connection to her baby. Her own child serenades her with a “morning song” and a bond is formed through language, the quintessential human act.
The third tercet, with its convoluted imagery, introduces a secondary theme: the speaker’s awareness of her child as potentially marking her insignificance, her erasure as a poet: “I’m no more your mother/ Than the cloud that distills a mirror to reflect its own slow/ Effacement at the wind’s hand.” Can a woman be both mother and famous poet? Plath, writing in 1961, had few predecessors who managed to achieve both. In engaging this theme, she is dealing with one of the major issues that faced women poets in the twentieth century. If mothering absorbed her attention, would she still be the poet-artist she longed to be? This superb poem answers her implied question. Further, the joyous ending proclaims the arrival of both a new singer on the scene and a mother proud of her child’s vocal bravura.
Critics are in general agreement that “Morning Song” expresses Plath’s conflicted feelings at the birth of her first child, her daughter Frieda, in particular her sense of the diminishment and servitude that motherhood can involve. What has not been observed is the way in which the poem’s last line must have determined much of Plath’s choice of words throughout the entire poem. Of the baby’s early morning cry Plath writes, “The clear vowels rise like balloons.” Not yet able to formulate words, the baby’s cries resemble some conflation of the vowels a, e, i, o, and u. But the simile “like balloons” implies a particular circular resemblance with the o vowel. With that identification in mind, it is immediately apparent that a vowels rise, balloon-like, from the poem’s last line up to its title. Simply put, the poem is remarkable for the number of words – some no doubt accidental but many deliberately chosen – that contain the letter o, including “Took” and “balloons,” each with two os, and “footsoles” with three. Indeed, it is as a result of her slapped “footsoles” that the baby emits a first and particularly loud and lusty cry – “ooo!” perhaps.
As for any symbolic import, although the circle form is traditionally associated with notions of perfection and infinity, in the context of “Morning Song,” it is the equation between o and zero (with its connotations of nihility, ephemerality, futility, and the void) that seems most apposite. The baby’s open mouth, “clean as a cat’s,” is a void waiting to be filled, a black hole mimicked by the whitening, swallowing window. Admirers of the baby can only “stand round blankly” (my emphasis). Perhaps the title should be understood punningly and somberly as “Mourning Song.” Nevertheless, the poem’s developmental sound sequence – “cry,” “voices echo,” “wind,” “breath,” and the culminating song – suggests something like the music of life – the music of the spheres, perhaps.
(Source: Masterplots II: Poetry Series © 1992) | <urn:uuid:f63d8957-b72b-4ca6-b4ed-9fa55893f1a8> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://poemsense.com/morning-song-themes-meanings.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662534693.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20220520223029-20220521013029-00586.warc.gz | en | 0.96346 | 981 | 3 | 3 |
In this MOOC, we will learn the basic concepts and principles of crytography, apply basic cryptoanalysis to decrypt messages encrypted with mono-alphabetic substitution cipher, and discuss the strongest encryption technique of the one-time-pad and related quantum key distribution systems. We will also learn the efficient symmetric key cryptography algorithms for encrypting data, discuss the DES and AES standards, study the criteria for selecting AES standard, present the block cipher operating modes and discuss how they can prevent and detect the block swapping attacks, and examine how to defend against replay attacks. We will learn the Diffie-Hellman Symmetric Key Exchange Protocol to generate a symmetric key for two parties to communicate over insecure channel. We will learn the modular arithmetic and the Euler Totient Theorem to appreciate the RSA Asymmetric Crypto Algorithm, and use OpenSSL utility to realize the basic operations of RSA Crypto Algorithm. Armed with these knowledge, we learn how to use PHP Crypto API to write secure programs for encrypting and decrypting documents and for signing and verify documents. We then apply these techniques to enhance the registration process of a web site which ensures the account created is actually requested by the owner of the email account. | <urn:uuid:8bff3701-bf06-42af-89fd-e2cc1c03ee61> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://de.coursera.org/lecture/basic-cryptography-and-crypto-api/course-overview-1W0Os | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030338244.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20221007175237-20221007205237-00608.warc.gz | en | 0.880612 | 245 | 3.0625 | 3 |
The quality of education in the Kyrgyz Republic was dramatically impacted by the collapse of the Soviet Union. To reverse the decline in education quality, the government and development partners began working together to modernize the Kyrgyz education system. A number of reforms were implemented by the Ministry of Education and Science in an effort to strengthen the system and improve quality.
Given all of these targeted efforts to improve education quality, the country was shocked when it received the results from the 2006 and 2009 PISA exercises and discovered that, in each instance, the Kyrgyz Republic ranked last out of all participating countries. The government realized that, in addition to collecting system-level data on learning outcomes, there was a serious need to actively monitor and support the education process in classrooms. With the support of the READ Trust Fund, the Kyrgyz Republic has been placing an even greater emphasis on regular, high-quality, formative assessment in the classroom. A new national assessment strategy highlights the importance of formative, summative, and system-level assessments all working together to reach the government’s goal of quality learning for all Kyrgyz children.
The main objective of the READ Trust Fund program in the Kyrgyz Republic in the first stage of the Program was to strengthen the capacity of institutions responsible for measuring student learning outcomes, and improve the use of information from those assessments to improve teaching and learning.
The READ Trust Fund program in the Kyrgyz Republic played a catalytic role in promoting the importance of assessment and monitoring student learning outcomes. The new strategy document provides a clearer vision and roadmap for developing a national assessment system and KAE, the NTC, CEATM, and teacher training institutions all have more clearly defined mandates. Due to the training provided in classroom assessment, more than 6,200 primary school teachers are better equipped to incorporate formative assessment into their teaching practices. The new guidelines for teachers, other materials, and training courses for both in-service and pre-service teachers better ensure that teachers will develop the requisite skills and provide more regular and systematic monitoring of learning in the classroom.
During the second stage of the READ Trust Fund program in 2016-2019 Kyrgyz Republic implements project “Strengthening Student Assessment for Improved Learning”.
FOCAL AREAS OF THE PROJECT
UP TO DATE ACHIEVEMENTS
Trained four Kyrgyz psychometricians at Cito on the technical aspects of secondary analysis of the 2017 National Sample Based Assessment (NSBA) results, including on Item Response Theory (IRT) modeling and on designing sample based national assessments
Discussed the draft secondary analysis of the NSBA 2017 with a group of key experts
Conducted the third round of trainings for 40 test developers and National Testing Center (NTC) staff on the basics of item writing for multiple-choice questions for all grade 11 subjects, with a focus on the evaluation of test items developed and quality assurance steps
Supported development of the Concept Paper on the National Assessment for general education, and presented a new scoring scale of learning achievements
Provided practical support to 14 pilot schools’ 14 mentors and 28 teachers on tracking the Emotional Support domain of classroom practice (including cycle tracking forms and video segments of the classroom practice)
Conducted trainings on the Classroom Organization domain of classroom practice for selected teachers, mentor and Deputy Directors of 14 schools
Monitored the training and coaching processes of the teacher professional development models (CLASS and Coaching) with international technical assistance from the University of Virginia | <urn:uuid:c4b58ea2-de58-4287-893e-d97db515cc0a> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | http://www.readprogram.org/countries-read/kyrgyz_repuplic/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233511424.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20231004220037-20231005010037-00555.warc.gz | en | 0.939404 | 718 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Create a unique piece of art with this easy flower garden stamp and cotton bud painting tutorial. Learn how to make a beautiful work of art with simple materials and a few steps. Perfect for all ages and skill levels.
Welcome to our flower garden stamp tutorial for kids! With just a few simple materials, you can create a beautiful and vibrant flower painting that is sure to win the hearts of your near and dear ones. This craft is perfect for bringing life and color to any room. Kids will love this amazing technique of stamping and they will also get to learn about the art of blending and smearing the paints using cotton buds. So get ready to start this delightful journey and explore the world of art with us!
DIY Unique Flower Garden Stamp And Cotton Bud
Read More: Easy Craft Paper Flower Making For Kids
- Craft sheet(Blue)
- Paint Brushes
- Cotton buds
Step 1: Preparing The Stamp Color
Let’s begin our craft by taking a blue craft paper. Cut it into a circle. This will become the base of our craft. In a bowl, pour blue color in the center and magenta color on the sides of the blue circle. Take a wide base brush and dip it in the paint carefully.
Step 2: Making The Stamps
Dip the wide paint brush in the stamp color and make the stamps on the blue circle as shown in the image.
Step 3: Adding Effects With A Cottonbud
Use different color combinations to make the stamp such as pink and blue, dark blue and light blue, orange and yellow. You can also use various color combinations of your own. Take a cotton bud and dip it in white paint. Gently dab the cotton bud on each stamp making white dots and blending and smearing the colors to create a beautiful pattern.
Step 4: Drawing The Stem
Now, draw a stem below the flower stamps. The color of the stem should match the color of the flower stamp. Extend all the stems to the bottom of the circle.
Step 5: Drawing All The Stems
Similarly, draw the stems for all the flower stamps. Extend the stems to the bottom of the circle. The color of the stem should match the color of the flower stamp.
Step 6: Decorating The Background
To decorate the background, dip the cotton buds in different colors. Stamp the cotton buds on the blue circle forming small dots as shown in the image.
Congratulations on The Unique Flower Garden Stamp And Cotton Bud Painting Art Is Ready!
Congratulations on completing this beautiful artwork! It is very vibrant and perfect for your home decor.
This tutorial is a great example of the need to bring diversity and modification into the art. An aspiring artist should incorporate new drawing and coloring techniques to make the art look more lively and inspiring. The different colors used bring out the smearing and blending effect nicely. Through this art, kids will be able to creatively express their emotions and feelings in a more meaningful way. The flower stamp technique and the cotton bud technique will surely create a dynamic effect on the whole painting.
Keep visiting our website for more such creative and innovative ideas that will inspire you to always think out of the box so that you can create astonishing crafts on a regular basis!
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- Colorful Dandelion Artwork Step-by-step Tutorial for Kindergartners | <urn:uuid:df5c118e-7ae2-4ac7-a5d7-403500cd14f3> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://www.kidsartncraft.com/flower-garden-stamp-cotton-buds-artwork-tutorial/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233506399.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20230922102329-20230922132329-00764.warc.gz | en | 0.869219 | 767 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Many consumer electronics such as cordless hair trimmers, remote control vehicles, and holiday light displays utilize rechargeable batteries connected by solder tabs to the circuitry of the device. YouTube member toddrharrison demonstrates in the video above that you can easily replace the Ni-Cad or NiMH batteries in these devices with a soldering iron.
As explained in the video, you must disassemble the device and figure out what type of replacement battery you need. Once you've obtained a replacement you'll snap off the solder tabs holding the old batteries in place and quickly solder the new batteries to the wiring. If your soldering iron heats up the chemicals in the batteries too much there is a chance they can explode, so make sure you use proper safety equipment including gloves and safety glasses or mask.
Replacing batteries attached via solder tabs is only slightly more complicated than replacing standard batteries. As long as you make sure you are taking safety precautions there is no reason why anyone who can solder should avoid trying to replace these batteries. | <urn:uuid:9c11dd48-01bc-48c8-8e53-4c262d030b60> | CC-MAIN-2015-32 | http://lifehacker.com/5862851/how-to-replace-solder-tab-rechargeable-batteries?tag=batteries | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-32/segments/1438042986615.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20150728002306-00249-ip-10-236-191-2.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933191 | 205 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Investigate Activity: Observing Shadows Caused by Sunlight
Students use a piece of string and a metric ruler to measure the length of shadows made from the sun at different times of the day. Materials list, advanced preparation instructions, lab hints and tips, safety notes, rubric, worksheets, and answer key are provided in this science printable.
Provided by Scott Foresman, an imprint of Pearson, the world's leading elementary educational publisher. Its line of educational resources supports teachers and helps schools and districts meet demands for adequate yearly progress and reporting.
FREE Article - 1st of 3 Free Items
View 2 more resources at no cost, and then subscribe for full access. | <urn:uuid:cdf6ea44-064e-4c31-8de2-4a6ab7c6d48b> | CC-MAIN-2017-17 | https://www.teachervision.com/sun/investigate-activity-observing-shadows-caused-sunlight | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-17/segments/1492917121869.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20170423031201-00474-ip-10-145-167-34.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927106 | 142 | 3.828125 | 4 |
There was a time – before the advent of synthetic fibres based on plastics and petrochemicals - when the wealth and security of nations depended on tough, coarse plant fibres that provided rigging for sailing ships and the raw material for countless other essential objects - like sacks and sails for example - so explorers were always on the look-out for new supplies of this strategic material.
Joseph Banks, travelling on Captain Cook’s first voyage to the South Seas in 1769, had high hopes that he might make a fortune from growing New Zealand flax Phormium tenax that he found in those Antipodean islands, as a substitute for cannabis fibre which, up until then, had provided most of the fibre for rigging naval vessels. Maoris made their traditional textiles from the Phormium fibres but Banks envisaged a thriving industrial market for the product, whose fibres are much stronger than those of cannabis, and an attempt was made to use convicts to grow the plant as a fibre crop on Norfolk Island. Banks was destined to be disappointed - you can read an account here - but it did become an important source of fibre for rigging in the 19th. century..
The image above shows a transverse section of a New Zealand flax leaf, using the fluorescent dye auramine O to stain the lignified fibres, which show up as the transverse yellow-green bands in the image. I've turned the natural orientation of the leaf 90 degrees clockwise, to fit the page.
The thick-walled fibres have a tiny central cavity (the lumen), which is typical of sclerenchymatous fibres.
The transverse red bands are photosynthetic parenchymatous cells - chlorophyll fluoresces red in the blue light that was used to illuminate the specimen.
The bright blue cells are bundles of thin-walled phloem, which has no lignin in its walls, and the brighter yellow cells surrounding the phloem will be lignified xylem, conducting water.
The lower surface of the leaf, to the left of the image, has a lignified hypodermis, below the epidermis.
The natural function of the fibres and lignified hypodermis is to provide structural rigidity for the long, narrow, sword-shaped leaves, which are held upright in the living plant, which is illustrated below (public domain image from Wikipedia Commons http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/NZflaxPiha02.jpg
Today Phormium tenax is mostly grown as a decorative garden plant. | <urn:uuid:b2f66ecd-770b-4aa3-a5a0-cc27d26d166d> | CC-MAIN-2017-39 | http://beyondthehumaneye.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-39/segments/1505818689028.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20170922164513-20170922184513-00287.warc.gz | en | 0.941568 | 551 | 3.375 | 3 |
“Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion” (Jude 11).
A murderer might seem like an odd choice for a Biblical character study, yet there is something fascinating about criminals: they pique our curiosity because their crimes exist on the periphery of our imaginations. Among the pantheon of Bible villains, Cain, as the world’s first murderer, ranks among the most notorious. Yet in spite of his notoriety, there is not a single reference to him or his crime in the Old Testament beyond the account in Genesis 4. That fact alone may strike us as surprising: however even more remarkable is that after 4,000 years of absence from the Biblical record, there are multiple references to Cain in the New Testament.
“Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous” (1John 3:12 NIV).1
“By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead” (Heb 11:4).
“Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion” (Jude11).
“And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar” (Matt 23:35).
“Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary” (Luke 11:50-51).
“You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Heb 12:23-24).
Several questions arise concerning these references about Cain in the New Testament: Why did New Testament writers consider Cain relevant to their first century audiences when none of the Old Testament authors, other than the author of Genesis, refer to him in a 2,000 year-period of divinely-inspired writing? What is it about Cain that was particularly significant to the first century ecclesia? And what does Jude mean when he refers to Cain’s “way”?
In order to understand Cain’s new relevance in the first century, we must peer back through antiquity and examine in detail who Cain was; his relationship with his brother and with God; his offering; the murder of Abel, and his legacy. The difficulties in undertaking such a task are obvious: Cain lived approximately 6,000 years ago and the truth of who he was has been obscured by tradition and myth. Further digging, however, unearths a wealth of information; not only about Cain, but also about the antediluvian era in which he and succeeding generations lived; an era, like the murderer himself, about which we know so little.
(1) Cain: The Messiah
“Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, ‘With the help of the Lord I brought forth a man’ ” (Gen 4:1).
The Bible is extremely economical with its choice of words. There is no better demonstration of this in the Old Testament than in Genesis, which devotes a mere four chapters to the period of time from Adam to the Flood. The smallest, most mundane details must be carefully examined in order to illuminate approximately 2,000 years of history. One way Genesis conveys information without a great deal of text is through people’s names. Unfortunately, readers often pass over names included in genealogies, because they seem to be mere lists.
Names are important because much can be derived from their meanings. For example a name can indicate how that person was remembered, as is the case of Tubal-Cain, a descendant of Cain. His name means “smithy” or “metal-smith,” since he was the first to work with metal, particularly bronze and iron (Gen 4:22). Names can also reflect historical moments. Such is the case of Peleg, a descendant of Shem, whose name means “division,” because “the earth was divided” during his life (Gen 10:25). Names can also reflect a parent’s hope or expectations. Noah’s father, Lamech, gave him a name that means “comfort” (Gen 5:29), in the hope that his son would alleviate “the labour and painful toil” of his hands, which he experienced as God’s curse upon the earth came to fruition (Gen 5:29; 3:14).
Concerning Cain’s name, one might expect that it would reflect his infamy as the world’s first murderer. Instead, it reflects his mother’s hope for salvation from sin and death, which had entered the world through her action in eating the fruit from the Tree of Good and Evil (Gen 3).
Even the coming Lord
Eve gave her firstborn son the name Cain: “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord” (Gen 4:1). Interpreting Cain’s name has been problematic for translators. In The Creation Text: Studies in Early Genesis, David Levin sums up the confusion surrounding the interpretation of his name:
The exact meaning of her [Eve’s] proclamation is ambiguous. The Hebrew text reads, ‘I have gotten a man the Lord.’ Translators’ efforts to fill in the apparent gap include… ‘from the Eternal’ (Moffatt), ‘with the Lord’ (Alter), ‘with the help of the Lord’ (RSV, NIV, JPS, NASB), and ‘with the help of the Lord’ (RV, bold indicating words not in Hebrew).” (p. 306)
In An Old Testament Commentary for English Readers, Charles John Ellicott suggests that Gen 4:1 — the passage concerning the birth of Cain — is more accurately translated as: “I have begotten a man, even Jehovah” (p. 27). He further notes that the Hebrew word eth, which is translated in Gen 1:1 as “even (eth) the heavens and even (eth) the earth,” should continue to have the same meaning in Gen 4:1: “even Jehovah.”
Obviously, Eve did not birth the Lord himself. Therefore she must have intended the meaning of her words to suggest that her offspring would share the name of the Lord at some future time. Ellicott suggests that the phrase, “even Jehovah,” might also be interpreted as “even the coming Lord,” a title that later came to be associated with Jesus as the Messiah. (p. 177)
A mother’s hope
If Eve believed in the concept of a Messiah (a coming Lord), how might she have arrived at this conclusion? Recall the words of the Almighty when he cursed the serpent in the Garden:
“I will put enmity between you [the serpent] and the woman [Eve], and between your offspring and hers; he [the woman’s seed] will crush your [the serpent’s] head, and you [the serpent] will strike his [the woman’s seed’s] heel” (Gen 3:15).
In this verse, God promises to destroy the power of sin and death through Eve’s offspring. Having been witness to this prophecy, what conclusion could Eve have reached other than that her son would redeem the earth from the curse she had brought upon it through her disobedience?
Consider Mary, the mother of Jesus, who found herself in a similar situation. In response to the angel Gabriel’s message about her unborn son, “Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). Undoubtedly, Eve reacted in a similar way. God’s words influenced her faith, which she expressed by naming her son “even Jehovah.” As further evidence of Eve’s faith, Paul writes:
“Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman [Eve] who was deceived and became a sinner. But women [Eve] will be saved through childbearing — if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety” (1Tim 2:14-15).
The translators of the NIV note that “women” in this verse should be translated as “she” and suggest it refers to Eve, since she is the subject of the preceding verses. Therefore the verse should be read: “Eve will be saved through childbearing.” At first glance, it might appear as though Paul believed that Eve (and women) would be saved only through procreation, rather than through belief, baptism, and in following Christ’s example. If this is what Paul espoused, then he would be contradicting himself since, in writing to the Galatians, he wrote that there is “neither male nor female . . . for you are all one in Christ” (Gal 3:27). Thus the verse in Timothy cannot refer to her procreative abilities, but must instead refer to Eve’s faith: her belief that her seed, as promised by God, would bring about a Messiah and through him, she and the world would be saved from the conditions brought about as the result of her error.
This interpretation credits Eve with a degree of spiritual understanding and faith: two characteristics that are not often attributed to this ancient woman. Instead, she has traditionally suffered the ignominy of her transgression. Paul’s comment in his second letter to the Corinthians takes this view:
“But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be somehow led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (2Cor 11:3).
Eve has also been remembered for her procreative abilities as “the mother-of-all-living” (Gen 3:20).
Eve did disobey the Lord by eating of the forbidden fruit. Moreover, as the first woman to bear children, she was, quite literally, “the-mother-of-all-living.” Nonetheless, we should also view this woman as a person of faith, who placed her hope in God that he would restore the earth to its former glory through her son.
Eve had a second son called named Abel. Levin notes an oddity in the announcement of his birth: “Remarkably, the text does not record that she conceived first. It might seem obvious that women conceive before giving birth, but Genesis accounts almost always specify this sequence” (p, 307). He suggests that this could indicate that Cain and Abel were twins.
Regardless, Cain was the eldest, whether he was birthed first as a pair of twins, or whether he was the sole result of Eve’s first childbirth. Given the ancient hierarchical system whereby the first son inherits the father’s birthright and is typically esteemed greater than subsequent children, Abel would have been regarded as an afterthought.
The more common interpretation of Abel’s name is “a thing unstable, not abiding, vapor,” which reflects the fact that Abel’s life was cut short. Thus his name is a product of remembrance and was most likely attributed to him after his untimely demise. Ellicott affirms this conclusion:
“We can scarcely suppose that Eve so called her child from a presentiment of evil or a mere passing depression of spirits; more probably it was a title given to him after his untimely death.”
Although Abel lived for only a short time (relative to the abnormally long life spans of most antediluvians), his life was marked by faith. In testifying to this, Hebrews says:
“By faith he was commended as righteous when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith, Abel still speaks, even though he is dead” (Heb 11:4).
Moreover, God directly endorsed Abel’s faith by “accepting” his offering (Gen 4:3).
The cast of this antediluvian drama
Eve, Cain, and Abel — these are the key players in this antediluvian drama. The meaning of their names reveal much about the awful events that transpired: Eve’s expression of faith in salvation was placed upon her firstborn son.
Consequently, Cain grew to believe that he was a man of destiny, the coming Lord, the Messiah, whose appearance had been foretold in Gen 3:15. His belief, however, was based on a faulty assumption that God assigns people honor regardless of their character or actions. This set him up for a fall, since it was only a matter of time before God revealed to Cain that he was not the man he thought he was. This occurred when God accepted Abel’s sacrifice and rejected Cain’s; a decision that had profound consequences — not only for himself, but also for his brother, Abel, who Cain perceived as having stolen or usurped his namesake.
Likewise Abel’s name reveals much about his fate. Not only was Abel born second, but his mother had already placed her hope in Cain, and as such he was perhaps regarded as an “afterthought.” Perhaps “vapor” better expresses Abel’s fate, given his untimely death at the hands of his brother.
With the cast assembled, the drama unfolds “in the course of time,” when, upon reaching maturity, Cain and Abel “presented offerings to the Lord” (Gen 4:3).
Matthew Harrison (Ottawa, Quebec)
1. All Translations are from the NIV except where indicated. | <urn:uuid:98df2060-d325-4a7d-a9e2-4b4cfedbaca7> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | https://tidings.org/articles/the-way-of-cain-life-and-legacy-of-the-worlds-first-murderer/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323585178.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20211017144318-20211017174318-00656.warc.gz | en | 0.977971 | 3,101 | 2.890625 | 3 |
|Scientific Name:||Urolophus armatus Müller & Henle, 1841|
|Taxonomic Notes:||The holotype is the only known specimen (Séret and Last 2003). It could possibly represent a new genus (Séret and Last 2003).|
|Red List Category & Criteria:||Data Deficient ver 3.1|
|Assessor(s):||Last, P.R. & Marshall, L.J.|
|Reviewer(s):||Kyne, P.M., Fowler, S.L. & Compagno, L.J.V. (Shark Red List Authority)|
Known only from the holotype (a 17.4 cm total length immature male) collected in New Ireland, Papua New Guinea during 1822 to 1825. Surveys adjacent to this area have failed to locate additional material. Thus, it possibly has discrete habitat requirements within a very narrow geographic range. This species may be an indicator of restricted evolutionary processes and the existence of a discrete faunal unit in the area. There is little fishing activity in the locality and lack of habitat requirements make it difficult to predict where threats may come from, however oil and gold exploration in the region may pose a future threat by way of habitat degradation. The type locality is amongst one of the most poorly surveyed regions on earth, thus biodiversity surveys are urgently needed to evaluate habitat requirements, distribution and population size in order to establish an accurate level of threat. Potentially at risk by the nature of its restricted distribution, however the lack of available information precludes an assessment beyond Data Deficient at this time.
|Range Description:||Known only from New Ireland in the Bismark Archipelago, Papua New Guinea. Possibly has discrete habitat requirements within a very narrow geographic range. Surveys adjacent to the region have failed to locate additional material.|
Native:Papua New Guinea
|FAO Marine Fishing Areas:|
Pacific – western central
|Range Map:||Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.|
|Population:||Unknown. Biodiversity surveys are needed in this region to evaluate habitat requirements and population size. Potentially at risk by its restricted nature.|
|Current Population Trend:||Unknown|
|Habitat and Ecology:||Nothing known of habitat, depth distribution or biology. Known only from one specimen, a 17.4 cm TL immature male, caught in New Ireland (Bismark Archipelago, PNG) (Séret and Last 2003). Likely to have low fecundity (1 to 2 young/year) as with other urolophid species (for example see White et al. 2001).
The type locality is amongst one of the most poorly surveyed regions on earth and this species may be an indicator of restricted evolutionary processes and the existence of a discrete faunal unit in this area.
Life history parameters
Age at maturity (years): Unknown.
Size at maturity (total length cm): Unknown.
Longevity (years): Unknown.
Maximum size (total length cm): Unknown.
Size at birth (cm): Unknown.
Average reproductive age (years): Unknown.
Gestation time (months): Unknown.
Reproductive periodicity: Unknown.
Average annual fecundity or litter size: Unknown.
Annual rate of population increase: Unknown.
Natural mortality: Unknown.
|Major Threat(s):||Limited based on the lack of fishing activity in this region. The absence of information on habitat requirements makes it difficult to predict where threats may come from, however oil and gold exploration in the general region could result in degraded habitat, the effects of which (for example, chemicals used in processing and potentially released in the environment) would need to be evaluated.|
|Conservation Actions:||Urgent need to evaluate habitat requirements and distribution to establish accurate levels of threat. Given the morphological uniqueness of this species there is a need to establish its phylogenetic position within the family.|
IUCN. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group. Specialist Group website. Available at: http://www.iucnssg.org/.
Séret, B. and Last, P. 2003. Description of four new stingarees of the Genus Urolophus (Batiodea: Urolophidae) from the Coral Sea, south-west Pacific. Cybium 27:307–320.
White, W.T., Platell, M.E., and Potter, I.C. 2001. Relationship between reproductive biology and age composition and growth in Urolophus lobatus (Batoidea: Urolophidae). Marine Biology 138:135–147.
|Citation:||Last, P.R. & Marshall, L.J. 2006. Urolophus armatus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2006: e.T60086A12237400.Downloaded on 21 August 2018.|
|Feedback:||If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown on this page, please provide us with feedback so that we can correct or extend the information provided| | <urn:uuid:1b88d966-cd70-45bc-bc42-9b9ee7b1a3de> | CC-MAIN-2018-34 | http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/full/60086/0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221218122.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20180821112537-20180821132537-00523.warc.gz | en | 0.826112 | 1,092 | 2.5625 | 3 |
BLACK LIVES ARE PRECIOUS WORKSHOPS
Institute of Black Culture, Media and Sport in association with Decolonising the Archives and Black History Studies presents
BLACK LIVES ARE PRECIOUS WORKSHOPS
FREE WORKSHOPS starting Friday 20th July 2018 in Brixton, Camden and Dalston
The Institute of Black Culture, Media and Sport CiC presents the ‘Black Lives are Precious’ Workshops delivered by Black History Studies and Decolonising the Archives.
Accompany your child/ren to our FREE Black Lives are Precious Workshops!
Learning as a family encourages, enables and empowers parents to develop a deeper understanding of how to expand your children’s learning at home. Family learning raises academic achievement; and enhance family wellbeing.
Make History come to life with a ‘Black Lives are Precious’ workshop led by Connie Bella of Decolonising The Archive and Charmaine Simpson of Black History Studies.
There are six workshops aimed at young people aged 8 – 16 years old.
You can book for individual sessions or book to attend all 6 workshops.
Session 1: Determining Existence
Exploring what is the definition of living from a personal viewpoint and space, exploring the relation of plant life to its habitat, exploring the relation of life and habitat and the formulas the two need to coexist. This will be a drama exercise and discussion.
Session 2: What does culture look like?
Exploring the concept of African Culture and how it came to be known as Black Culture. This will be done through digital media film, music etc.
Session 3: Role Models Matter
In this session we will identify what are role models and do they matter, the importance of role models, designing what makes a role model. Then to get young people to think about their legacy and how do they want to be remembered.
Session 4: Important Black Britons of the 18th and 19th centuries
In this session, we will explore the important Black Britons of the 18th and 19th centuries. People of African origin have been part of English history since Roman times. By the latter half of the 18th century, England had a Black population of around 15,000 people.
Session 5: The British Black Power Movement
In this session, we will explore UK Radical Black British Social Movements their histories and their rationales. This will be comprised of films clips and followed up with a debate and discussion.
Session 6: Power to the People: The History of the Protest Song
Exploring the roots of Black Music, the role of music in social movements and how music can be used for social change.
The 6 workshops will be held in Brixton, Camden and Dalston over the following dates:
- BRIXTON – Friday 20th July 2018 and Saturday 21st July 2018 at The Black Cultural Archives in Brixton. To book your free ticket, go to https://blacklivesbrixton.eventbrite.co.uk
- CAMDEN – Monday 23rd July 2018 and Tuesday 24th July 2018 at The Caraf Centre in Camden. To book your free ticket, go to https://blacklivescamden.eventbrite.co.uk
- DALSTON – Thursday 26th July 2018 and Friday 27th July 2018 at the Dalston CLR James Library in Dalston. To book your free ticket, go to https://blacklivesdalston.eventbrite.co.uk
Please arrive at 15 minutes before each session for registration. Workshops will starts promptly.
This project is funded by the Awards for All Big Lottery Fund.
As a requirement, we will be taking photographs and filming testimonials.
By booking onto the workshops, you are giving us permission to capture your image.
Any questions, please contact Charmaine Simpson on 07957 184770 or [email protected]
BRING YOUR CHILDREN!!
SPACES ARE LIMITED. BOOK YOUR FREE TICKETS TODAY! | <urn:uuid:2fc77ec8-864e-43ac-b320-8d55a020714f> | CC-MAIN-2019-43 | https://blackhistorystudies.com/childrens-workshops/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-43/segments/1570987833089.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20191023094558-20191023122058-00294.warc.gz | en | 0.89908 | 832 | 3.359375 | 3 |
(Coinciding with Trump’s first 100 days in Office — a period of time historically used as a benchmark to measure the potential of a new president — PRA will share readings, videos, and tools for organizing to inform our collective resistance based on principles for engaging the regime, defending human rights, and preventing authoritarianism. Daily readings will be posted on our Facebook and Twitter accounts and archived HERE.)
Week 6: Racism and White Supremacy
White supremacy is a term is used in various ways to describe a set of beliefs; organized White hate groups; or a system of racial oppression that benefits White people. As an ideology, it is the belief that the socially constructed “White race” is superior to other “races.” As a system, White supremacy in the U.S. is maintained when White people defend, deny, or ignore the reality of the continued systematic subordination and oppression of people of color. White supremacy is the most powerful form of racism in the US, and it has two major forms: racism by Whites used to justify the oppression of people of color; and the racialized construct of antisemitism in which Jews are falsely claimed to be a distinct non-White race, and are then deemed a sinister race.
Racial inequality remains deeply embedded within U.S. social and economic structures, even as its forms and justifications are in flux. Claims to White racial superiority, though not entirely dead, were largely washed aside by the civil rights struggles of the ’50s and ’60s. Since that time, so-called “colorblind” racism has become the dominant racial ideology in the United States. Opposition to affirmative action, indigenous treaty rights, and other government programs is commonly justified with the claim that equal rights among racial groups have been achieved and that we as a society are, or should be, “beyond race.” This belief in the diminishing importance of race makes it more, not less, likely that stark racial inequalities will persist since they will remain unchallenged.
To bolster their colorblind rhetoric, some sectors of the Right promote spokespeople – and provide patronage to conservative intellectuals and institutions – from communities of color. Growing immigration, especially from Latin America and Asia, threatens Whites’ numerical majority, and, along with the government’s massive post-911 campaign of racial profiling, is inspiring a nativist and White supremacist backlash. Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories have also experienced resurgence since the 911 attacks.
- How Colorblindness Co-Evolved with Free-Market Thinking by Michael Omi & Howard Winant
- Terror Network or Lone Wolf: Disparate Legal Treatment of Muslims and the Radical Right by Naomi Braine
- 35 Years of Demonization: The Criminalization of Black Women By Victoria Law
- 5 Right-Wing Media Narratives Attacking the ‘Black Lives Matter’ Movement by Spencer Sunshine
- See our Racial Justice Portal Page!
Via The Movement for Black Lives: “Almost two years ago, Kalief Browder died after suffering abuse and torture at Rikers Island for three years - all while he was waiting for a court date. This gross injustice happened because many of our towns still rely on money bail, a broken system that keeps Black people in jail even before they are ever convicted of anything.” Check out the interactive Transformative Bail Curriculum that M4BL co-created with partners across the country HERE. | <urn:uuid:b204199d-bff0-44a7-9a54-95271e5dd265> | CC-MAIN-2020-16 | https://www.politicalresearch.org/2017/03/06/first100days-crash-course-week-6 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-16/segments/1585370497042.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20200330120036-20200330150036-00548.warc.gz | en | 0.943022 | 710 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Regular eye exams have always been an important part of maintaining healthy vision, but it turns out they can help keep your brain healthy, too. New research is revealing just how connected eye health and brain health are, and how receiving regular eye treatment might mean the difference between a healthy brain and cognitive decline.
That’s according to the authors of a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Ophthalmology this summer. Researchers examined 2,520 adults age 65 and older over the course a decade and found a link between failing vision and mental decline. The exact nature of the relationship still needs to be better understood, but one thing is clear: Research shows that taking care of your vision is extremely important for maintaining good cognitive function.
The reasons behind the connection might be that declining vision discourages people from activities like reading and crossword puzzles that challenge the brain and keep it active. But whatever the root cause, the key takeaway stands out: older adults should get regular eye checkups and undergo treatment right away for any issues.
The good news is that maintaining eye health is well within most people’s grasp.
Two of the most common age-related vision problems — cataracts and age-related macular degeneration (AMD — have common treatments available that can help keep vision crisp, and potentially help reduce the risk of associated mental decline. Even the relatively simple act of keeping eyeglass prescriptions current can help, the research suggests.
The Mayo Clinic recommends that people 55 to 64 see their eye doctor every one to three years, and those 65 and older go once every year to two years. People who wear glasses or contacts, or have either a family history of eye disease or a chronic disease that puts them at greater risk, meanwhile, should schedule more frequent exams.
For some older and visually impaired people, however, it can be hard to get to appointments for exams or treatment. Transportation can be a major hurdle. A recent study by the Angiogenesis Foundation, for example, found that for 41 percent of people living with wet AMD, getting to and from appointments is their biggest challenge with making regular eye doctor appointments.
Thankfully, there is help for those who no longer drive: Rides in Sight, a senior transportation information and referral service operated by ITNAmerica and sponsored by Regeneron, has the nation’s largest database of every possible kind of senior transportation option available. Accessible via a toll-free telephone hotline (1-855-607-4337) or their website (ridesinsight.org), Rides in Sight helps seniors and visually impaired adults get the rides they need to ensure healthy eyes every day. Rides in Sight customer service representatives are ready to take your call at 1-855-607-4337 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST Monday through Friday.
Don’t put off treatment for age-related macular degeneration, cataracts or other eye conditions. Your vision – and your brain health – matter. | <urn:uuid:aeca21cf-8aaa-4698-bf82-df39f72128b3> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.philasun.com/seniors/regular-eye-checkups-key-to-cognitive-health/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337836.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20221006124156-20221006154156-00017.warc.gz | en | 0.944861 | 619 | 3.0625 | 3 |
The Development of Individual Rights
Americans in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries believed that each individual has certain rights just because he or she is a human being. They also believed that while government is necessary, it is the greatest threat to people's rights. This fear of government came from the Founding Fathers study of history and political philosophy, and from their own experiences. Because of this fear, the Founding Fathers thought the most important thing the Constitution should do is to limit the powers of the government in order to protect individual rights.
This reading will help you understand how the Founders developed their ideas on rights. They were influenced by their study of philosophy and their understanding of history from ancient times to their own time.
How Our Ideas About Individual Rights Developed
The emphasis on individual rights is relatively recent in Western history, dating from the early sixteenth century. In ancient Greece and Rome and during the Middle Ages, individual rights were not thought to be as important as they are now. People emphasized the duties imposed on citizens by law, by God or by society -- not their rights.
Rights and duties were usually spoken of as belonging to members of various groups in society. The emphasis was upon the rights of groups, not the rights of individuals. For example, people spoke of the rights of royalty and the nobility, the rights of the clergy, and the rights of tradesmen and craftsmen in groups called guilds. Any rights and duties individuals might have were usually related to their membership in such groups.
Ideas and Rights found in Classical Republicanism
The Founding Fathers had studied the history of the classical periods of ancient Greece and Rome. The society that had the greatest influence on their ideas was the Roman Republic. This republic lasted for almost 500 years. Many philosophers and historians believed the Roman Republic had provided Roman citizens with the greatest amount of liberty under government that the world had ever known. It was also widely believed that the Roman Republic promoted the common welfare, that is, what was best for the entire society. The theory based on this form of society became known as the classical republicanism.
Classical Republicanism is a theory that e the best kind of society is one that promotes the common welfare instead of the interests of only one class of citizens. In a classical republic, citizens are supposed to work cooperatively to achieve the common welfare rather than their own personal or selfish interest. The Roman Republic was thought to be one of the best examples of this type of society. Americans in the eighteenth century shared the view that citizens should work to promote the common welfare. They also believed that a republican government was the best type to serve the purpose. They thought that for a republican government to work, a society had to have the following characteristics:
1. Civic virtue: The classical republics demanded that their citizens have a high degree of civic virtue. A person with civic virtue was one who set aside personal interests to promote the common welfare.
Citizens were expected to participate fully in their government to promote the common welfare. They were not to be left free to devote themselves to their personal interests. They were discouraged from spending much time doing such things as making money or caring for their families. They were also discouraged from traveling or reading and thinking about things that had nothing to do with their government. If citizens had the freedom to do such things, it was feared, they might stop being reliable and fully dedicated to the common welfare.
To make sure citizens participated in their government, the classical republics often drastically limited individual rights. There was little concern with protecting an individual's family privacy, freedom of conscience or religion, or non-political speech or expression.
There were certain rights, however, that it was important for citizens to have in order to participate in governing themselves. These were political rights such as the right to vote, to express ideas and opinions about government, and to serve in public office.
2. Moral Education: People who believed in classical republicanism were convinced that civic virtue is not some-thing that comes automatically to people. Citizens must be reared and taught to be virtuous by moral education based on a civic religion.
The classical republicans believed that young citizens must be raised to develop the right habits. They should learn to admire people with civic virtue who were described in literature, poetry, and music. Children as well as adults should be encouraged to practice virtues such as generosity, courage, self-control, and fairness. They should learn the importance of their responsibility to take part in political debate and military service. The whole community must therefore closely super-vise the upbringing of the next generation of citizens and the daily lives of one another.
3. Small, uniform communities: The classical republicans also believed that a republican government would only work in a small community. A small community is necessary if people are to know and care for each other and their common welfare. The classical republicans believed that people must be very much alike and that a great degree of diversity should not be tolerated. They did not believe, for example, that people should be very different in their property ownership and wealth, religious or moral beliefs, or ways of life.
The classical republicans believed that if people differed greatly in such things, they would not be concerned with each other's welfare. Instead, they would begin to divide into fac-tions or interest groups competing to dominate each other, rather than working together for the common welfare. To prevent this from happening, the classical republicans believed citizens should be supervised to avoid the development of great differences among them in their ownership of property, religion, and way of life.
Their fear of diversity led the classical republicans to be wary of money-making and economic growth. Since only a few people can ever be wealthy, it is better for all to be somewhat poor but equal. To prevent diversity in religious beliefs and lifestyles, the community needs to have one official, established religion and one set of family and moral customs to which all conform.
How Ideas About Group Rights and Individual Rights Change
The classical periods of ancient Greece and Rome had an important influence on the ideas of the Founders. There were three other periods of history that were also critical in the development of ideas about rights.
1. The Middle Ages. The Middle Ages lasted from the fifth century, when the Roman Empire ended, to the fourteenth century. The political and military structure of medieval society was characterized by feudalism.
Feudalism was a system in which all land was considered to belong to the king and queen and everyone was subject to their rule. The king gave the land to his nobles in exchange for military or other service. The most important characteristics of feudalism that affected the way in which people thought about rights included the following:
Society was divided into different classes and groups such as royalty, nobility, the clergy, tradesmen, craftsmen, and serfs. Some of these classes and groups had special privileges. There was no notion of rights possessed equally by everyone. If you were born into one of these groups, you had little chance of changing the group to which you belonged.
Any rights and duties you had were usually spoken of in terms of the group to which you belonged. They were not commonly thought of as belonging to you as an individual member of society.
Feudalism was brought to England by William the Conqueror in the eleventh century. The three classes of English society were the
Royalty, which included the king, queen, and their family.
Nobility, which were the lords and ladies, the major followers of the king, who held such tides as earl or baron.
Commons, which consisted of different groups such as knights, merchants, craftsmen, and large landowners who were not members of the nobility. It did not include the serfs.
Each of these classes had certain rights and responsibilities. For example, the king gave land to the nobility and the right to collect rents from the common people living on their land. The nobility, in return, were responsible for supplying a cer-tain number of knights to serve in the king's army.
It was during the Middle Ages, in 1215, that the English barons forced King John to sign the Magna Carta. Among other things, the Magna Carta protected the rights of the nobility from the king. This feudal contract, which set forth the rights and obligations of the nobility and the king, contained basic ideas that influenced our system of constitutional government. The importance of this document in the history of rights and government will be examined in a later lesson.
2. The Renaissance. The Renaissance began in Western Europe in the fourteenth century and lasted until the seventeenth century. The term Renaissance means rebirth. It refers to a renewed interest in classical Greece and Rome. People began to study history, science, literature, art, and philosophy. They expanded their knowledge and view of the world. This led to an increased interest in the rights of individuals and their relationship to religion and government.
As a result, people in Europe began to develop new ideas about the world in which they lived. These ideas were stimulated by a new economic system called capitalism. Capitalism is an economic system in which the means of producing and distributing goods are privately owned and operated for profit in a competitive market, rather than being owned or controlled by the government. Under capitalism, people gained more freedom to choose their occupations, start their own businesses, and own personal property. More people had a greater degree of control over their lives and how they made their living than had been possible under feudalism in the Middle Ages. This new economic system led people to pay more attention to their private interests in gaining property than to the common welfare.
In all areas of life, greater importance was placed on the individual, rather than the group into which he or she was born. People could work to improve their position in society. As a result, a middle class of successful citizens developed which gained political and economic power.
3. The Protestant Reformation. Early in the sixteenth century the Protestant Reformation, a religious reform movement, resulted in the development of new ideas about religion and government. Up to this time, Christianity in Western Europe had been dominated by the Church of Rome (the Roman Catholic Church). Many of the governments of Europe had also been closely tied to the Church.
During the Reformation, other Christian religious groups challenged the authority of the Church of Rome. Protestant churches were established which began to question the relationship between church and government. John Calvin, Martin Luther, and other Protestant reformers also questioned what authority religious institutions should have over the lives of individuals. A number of the governments became independent of the Church and a limited amount of religious freedom developed.
The printing press was developed and books that formerly only a few people could own became more available. The Bible was one of the most important of these books. For centuries the Bible had been printed in Latin, which few people other than priests could read. Christians relied upon the Church to convey the word of God to them. During the Reformation, Bibles were printed in English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish. Individuals were encouraged to read the Bible in their own language to determine for themselves what it meant.
Protestant religious doctrine emphasized the direct relationship between the individual believer and God. The result was to reduce the importance of the Church and to increase the importance of the individual. All individuals were seen as equal in the eyes of God. Each individual was to be respected and to be held accountable by God as an individual.
However, the new religious beliefs continued to emphasize the importance of working for the common welfare, as had the classical republicans. For example, it was during the Reformation that the Puritans settled in New England. They emphasized the duty of each individual church member to be virtuous and work for the common welfare of the entire church and community.
The Puritans believed that every person was called upon by God to do a particular job. Whatever the task, the good Christian was expected to work hard at his or her calling. The practical result was that by the 1700s, the Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony had prospered. They lived well and had gained a considerable amount of property.
With their newly gained wealth and prosperity, people became less concerned with working for the common welfare and more interested in pursuing their own personal interests. This change brought about a new way of looking at the relationship between individual rights and the common welfare.
The Renaissance and Reformation Contribute to the Growth of Individual Rights
The Renaissance and Reformation led to a greater emphasis on the importance of the individual than had existed in the Middle Ages or in classical Greece and Rome. The ideas and opinions of individuals were thought to be more important than before. As the Renaissance emphasized individual economic activity and creativity, the followers of the Protes-tant Reformation emphasized the relationship between the individual believer and God. Both developments contributed to an increased emphasis on individual rights.
Americans were greatly influenced by these new philosophical ideas as well as the historical developments.
Taken from, With Liberty and Justice for All
Identify and questions from the reading. Answer all questions in complete sentences.
Define or Identify
1. individual rights
2. rights of groups
3. Roman Republic
4. common welfare
5. classical republicanism
6. civic virtue
7. moral education
9. established religion
10. Middle Ages
1. What changes occurred in the way people thought about rights for the time of the classical republics to the Reformation?
2. How did the economic changes during the Renaissance appear to affect people's ideas about rights?
3. How did the religious beliefs on the Reformation appear to affect people's ideas about rights? | <urn:uuid:89c8cec7-fe0e-4c0a-83ab-72ee14d4e926> | CC-MAIN-2016-18 | http://politicalsystems.homestead.com/Article1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-18/segments/1461860126502.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20160428161526-00014-ip-10-239-7-51.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982195 | 2,805 | 3.921875 | 4 |
Going Healthy For National Nutrition Month
Are you ready for National Nutrition Month March 2015? This important month is all about educational awareness and the importance of eating healthy while simultaneously making sure your family eats healthy as well. We understand this is often easier said than done, which is why we have gathered a list of quick nutrition changes you can make:
- Your plate should consist of at least half fruits and vegetables. Veggies to enjoy more include sweet potatoes and broccoli. If you find it difficult to skip dessert each day, try switching it up and having delicious fruits as your sweet treat!
- Half of the grains you eat on a daily basis should be whole grains. This means enjoying oatmeal, bulgur, brown rice, wild rice, quinoa, rolled oats, and other whole wheat items more regularly.
- If you are still enjoying whole milk or 2 percent milk, it is time to make the switch. You can likely get the same satisfaction from a tall glass of fat-free milk or 1 percent milk. There are also healthier milk options that you can enjoy, including coconut milk, almond milk, and soy milk.
- When you look at the nutritional table of an item, are you only looking at calories? One of the most important lines to look at is the sodium content. You should be eating foods labeled reduced sodium, no salt added, and low sodium. Keep in mind that most packaged foods have extra sodium for preservation.
- Water, water, and some more water! Rather than enjoying diet sodas and sugary fruit drinks, indulge on water instead. It may help to carry around a reusable water bottle with you so that you are reminded to hydrate.
Join us in celebrating National Nutrition Month March 2015! Contact Scautub Agency in Scotia for all of your New York insurance needs. We will be your guiding hand to ensure that you receive the protection you deserve! | <urn:uuid:caf218ab-2c52-4a2a-b1bc-337d908f069b> | CC-MAIN-2017-22 | http://www.scautub.com/national-nutrition-month-march-2015/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463607786.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20170524035700-20170524055700-00238.warc.gz | en | 0.944773 | 384 | 2.640625 | 3 |
A direct relationship refers to an individual relationship that exists between two people. This can be a close relationship where the romantic relationship is so good that it may be regarded as as a family relationship. This kind of definition will not necessarily mean that this is only between adults. A close romantic relationship can are present between a kid and a grown-up, a friend, and perhaps a spouse and his/her spouse.
A direct relationship is often reported in economics as one of the more important factors in determining the importance of a item. The relationship is usually measured by simply income, wellbeing programs, consumption preferences, and so forth The research of the relationship asianmelodies between income and preferences is named determinants of value. In cases where there are usually more than two variables scored, each with regards to one person, consequently we consider them while exogenous elements.
Let us take advantage of the example believed above to illustrate the analysis of this direct marriage in economical literature. Expect a firm market segments its widget, claiming that their widget increases their market share. Assume also that there is not any increase in production and workers are loyal towards the company. Let us then plan the fashion in production, consumption, work, and serious gDP. The rise in actual gDP plotted against within production is expected to incline together with increasing unemployment rates. The increase in employment is definitely expected to incline downward with increasing lack of employment rates.
Your data for these assumptions is as a result lagged and using lagged estimation techniques the relationship between these variables is difficult to determine. The typical problem with lagging estimation is usually that the relationships are actually continuous in nature considering that the estimates happen to be obtained by means of sampling. In the event one adjustable increases as the other lessens, then both estimates will be negative and in the event one varied increases while the other diminishes then both estimates will be positive. Therefore, the quotes do not immediately represent the real relationship among any two variables. These problems happen frequently in economic literature and are often attributable to the utilization of correlated parameters in an attempt to get hold of robust quotes of the immediate relationship.
In cases where the straight estimated relationship is undesirable, then the relationship between the immediately estimated variables is actually zero and therefore the quotes provide only the lagged effects of one varied on another. Related estimates will be therefore simply reliable if the lag is certainly large. Also, in cases where the independent adjustable is a statistically insignificant point, it is very challenging to evaluate the robustness of the romantic relationships. Estimates within the effect of say unemployment on output and consumption is going to, for example , demonstrate nothing or very little importance when joblessness rises, but may point out a very huge negative impression when it drops. Thus, even if the right way to estimate a direct relationship exists, one must nevertheless be cautious about overdoing it, lest one build unrealistic beliefs about the direction of the relationship.
It might be worth observing that the correlation between your two factors does not need to be identical designed for there becoming a significant direct relationship. In so many cases, a much more powerful romantic relationship can be established by calculating a weighted suggest difference rather than relying totally on the standard correlation. Weighted mean variations are much more accurate than simply using the standardized relationship and therefore provides a much larger range in which to focus the analysis. | <urn:uuid:7d38feec-3352-4144-a34a-fdcad17ae0e3> | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | https://www.bereketkuruyemis.com.tr/2021/05/11/the-analysis-of-correlation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964363149.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20211205065810-20211205095810-00590.warc.gz | en | 0.952087 | 672 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Of unknown origin. Suggested by R. Lowe Thompson to derive from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- (“horn”), which would mean it is related to English horn. Others have suggested that it comes from Old English Herian, literally "warrior-leader", which is a name for Woden. Another theory is that it derives from the surname Horne.
- Herne the Hunter, an English mythological figure.
- A city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Herne ? (genitive Hernes) | <urn:uuid:94076d9b-8390-4037-a6ec-8fe13ed48a84> | CC-MAIN-2014-15 | http://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Herne | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-15/segments/1397609523265.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20140416005203-00366-ip-10-147-4-33.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.87977 | 121 | 3.0625 | 3 |
All too often a busy parent may disregard a teacher’s note sent home from school with a child. But sometimes those notes offer helpful insight into a child’s learning aptitude or information about potential academic obstacles.
To avoid missing out on these golden nuggets that can pave the way to your child’s educational success, here are a few tips about what to do with those seemingly endless pieces of paper sent home by the teacher.
- Search and destroy. Train your child to bring each day’s papers to a specific location by a certain time, for example, the kitchen counter by 6 p.m. At your convenience, quickly glance through the list to sort the vital from the pointless items. Forms requiring signatures, health record requirements, voucher slips, and other materials requiring feedback or your name should be placed in a stack for further action. Announcements about picture day, field trips, and “no school” days can be noted on the calendar and discarded.
- Address urgent items first. A handwritten or typed note from the teacher or an administrator requires your earliest attention. Read it through for the gist and ask your child for clarification if any is needed. If the teacher explains an academic procedure that may directly impact your children, such as the California Achievement Test (a national standardized test) or a skill assessment (such as reading, writing, or math), note it duly and file the form for later reference or discard it.
- If the note requires a response, set it aside until you can give it some thought, perhaps after dinner, or when the kids are in bed. The teacher may have expressed concern in little Sarah’s lack of concentration during class reading time or the fact that Sarah has displayed a host of allergy symptoms recently. Read the note carefully to find out what the concern is and how you are expected to respond.
- In some cases, a note is for information only to let you know something about your child that requires further observation. Personal behavior, social attitudes, or health symptoms fall into this category. Write a short note in response to thank the teacher for pointing out this concern. Indicate that you will keep an eye on the situation at home or would be willing to come to school and observe your child in the classroom.
- If the instructor is asking you to provide information or to come in for a conference, respond promptly and politely. Even though an appointment may pose an inconvenience to your schedule, your child’s well-being and educational success may depend on it. Plan to be on time and take the required information, if any is needed, with you.
- When a negative note comes home bringing bad news about your children, such as a problem behavior or a pending disciplinary action, stay calm. Rather than becoming defensive, remind yourself that the school must deal with hundreds of children each day, and staff undoubtedly remain objective in assessing each child’s needs and behaviors. Write a note in response to thank the teacher for expressing concern. Suggest that you are willing to work with the school to supply whatever support may be needed, such as a tutor for academic weaknesses or disciplinary consequences for disobedient behavior.
While it may be tempting to let the school handle your child between eight and three o’clock each day, a parent’s responsibility cannot afford to be lax at those times. With your school by responding to home-going information that has your child’s interests at heart. | <urn:uuid:e73a4da4-e274-4c5b-96d3-8ca26a58ee92> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | https://www.howtowise.com/how-to-respond-to-a-teachers-note-about-your-child/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178350942.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20210225095141-20210225125141-00297.warc.gz | en | 0.942709 | 705 | 2.609375 | 3 |
In this digital age, it is becoming more and more difficult to track whether your kids are being safe online. Making sure your children know the dos and don'ts of the internet isn't as daunting as it may seem, and there are lots of tools and tricks out there to make your job even easier.
Cyberbullying, inappropriate content or even grooming is at the forefront of parents' minds and to help you get that peace of mind, here are five ways to make your children's online lives safer this summer:
1) 'Stranger Danger' is the same online as off - don't reveal personal information to anyone you don't know
The internet is often used to escape reality, but be careful the lines don't blur too much. We teach our children from a very young age not to speak to or go anywhere with people they don't know - but this basic rule of 'stranger danger' can feel like it doesn't apply when the person you are interacting with isn't stood next to you. People feel much more comfortable doing things online, which they might otherwise not do in person, and will take information they are given at face value.
Reminding children that their actions online have real world consequences ensures that they understand their online life is an extension of their physical life.
2) Use parental controls and never let young children browse alone
Parental controls top most of the lists of tools for staying safe and for good reason. Not only are they free, they are also extremely effective at blocking harmful content from your children's monitors.
The controls are often provided by your internet provider, and allow you to filter out harmful content, control the amount of time your children spend online, stop in-app purchases or downloads and review what your children are doing on the internet. It's also wise not to let children under 10 browse the internet alone.
3) Be involved in your children's online life
Making the internet a taboo subject can be disastrous when trying to teach children the dangers of online browsing. This is because it makes the child feel as if they are doing something they shouldn't be, and as most parents will know, kids love to do things they shouldn't! This is why the approach you take when outlining the rules of the internet can be vital to guaranteeing your children's future safety.
I always suggest a warm, non-judgemental approach to open a trusted line of communication with them. Building trust is key to making sure your children feel that they can come to you with any problems they encounter whilst browsing online. If you know what's happening, you can nip any problems or potentially dangerous situations in the bud.
4) Make lessons about online safety regular and simple, without making it a big deal, from an early age
Don't sit children down for a long-winded, flustered or embarrassing talk about the dangers of the internet as key points can get missed and forgotten about when you're done.
Keeping the conversations simple, regular, and from an early age, allows children to grow up with a good understanding of the internet, without feeling intimidated by it. Consistent messages and regular conversations will remind them of how to stay safe and, coupled with tip number 3, they'll know they can come to you with any problems or questions they have as they arise.
5) Ask older children to add you on social media platforms - and remind them that anything said or done online could be permanent
When your children move into their teenage years, they will want to be involved in social media and use sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram. This presents a new online challenge for parents - ban them from using the platforms all their friends are on, or stop policing their use of the internet and accept it as part of life?
One of the biggest worries for parents in the UK is cyberbullying, however there are ways to counteract this and put yourself at more ease. Allow them to set up accounts if they agree to accept you as a friend/follower and/or give you the password to their accounts. By agreeing this with them from the outset, you can keep an eye on their online life without breaching their privacy.
Teenagers should also be taught to consider how their activity online now could affect them in the future. Remind them that anything they do or say on social media platforms, forums, blogs and comment sections could be permanent, and may impact them when they're older.
Keeping your children safe online can seem like a daunting and insurmountable task, but done well the lessons you teach them now will continue to protect them well into their adult life. If you'd like to read more advice articles like this head over to Childcare.co.uk's safety centre. | <urn:uuid:6e484bf0-9bca-49fe-819c-446ba59e4ab5> | CC-MAIN-2021-25 | https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/richard-conway1/parents-heres-how-to-make_b_17751404.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-25/segments/1623487626122.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20210616220531-20210617010531-00166.warc.gz | en | 0.966479 | 968 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Wood Stove Problems
It is important to check the various problems with wood stoves and to help solve the problems. Since having effective measures in place would help with reducing pollution in the atmosphere.
We all need to all contribute to improving the air quality and the problems associated with wood stoves must not be taken lightly.
Important steps to take to help with wood burning stoves
It is a necessary requirement for wood burning stoves to have a sufficient supply of air to work. So before installing a wood burning stove, it is a good idea to get an expert opinion if the property is adequately suited to have a wood stove installed. As with the right amount of draw, there is a risk of the smoke may not be able to be contained and risk the chance of a breakout of a fire within the property. It is important not to underestimate any issues of malfunction of a wood stove as it could prove to be dangerous for the property. There is not the issue of lack of air for the proper draw which is needed to control the wood burning stoves but also other issues which can affect the stoves which include discolouration.
Solve the wood stoves issues by taking effective measures
It would be useful to observe the surface of the stove as a porcelain surface would be affected in a different way as to a stainless steel surface.
In considering the details of the stove the issue of how must it cost may play a part in deciding the right stove for your property. However, the issue of selecting a stove must not just be based on cost and it is a good idea to take into consideration the other features of the stove to select the right stove for your property.
The issue is any form of the wood burning stove would pose real challenges for the environment. The agenda of most governments is to help reduce the realise of carbon fuels which are termed as toxic in the atmosphere.
The right approach to take in order to help the reduction in pollution in the air is to use logs and wood pellets which care termed to be organic and environmentally friendly.
The use of wood stoves is considered to be a factor in the release of the thick cloud of smog which can have a detrimental effect on human health and be an underline cause for the increase in cancer, heart problems, stroke and other serious health issues.
It is important not to underestimate the problem of chimney obstruction as it can be caused by the accumulation of various items and result in the excess build-up of creosote. The restriction in the release of debris from the chimney could cause a problem with the drafty wood stove.
Some of the ways to help reduce the problems wooden burning stoves are to make sure there is the flow of air in the property and an air vent would be a good idea to help with the stove as it needs air to burn the wood.
Furthermore, a simple way of helping to make sure the wood stove is effectively functioning is to clean the stove and it can help with the draw.
It is worth remembering there are various health hazards in using wood stoves as wood is considered to be a toxic waste. It is harmful as it can accumulate in the chimney as creosote and is the result of the wood stove not working effectively.
It needs to be taken into consideration the use of not well-serviced wood stoves can release harmful particles which can contribute to breathing problems and lung diseases.
Safety measures for effective and well-performing wood stoves
There are certain effective measures which can be put in place to help reduce the chances of risks associated with wood stoves.
It is foremost important to make sure all wood stoves are fitted properly and it is important to seek advice as to the length of periods by which they need to be serviced.
It is important to ensure there is sufficient flow of air within the property as it would help to sully the stove with enough oxygen for it to function effectively.
There is a need not to use old wood but to all ways use clean and dry wood for the stove.
Regular clean the stove and remove any ashes.
While you are using your stove make sure the door of the stove is kept shut as to stop from fumes being released in the property.
Jordan Brothers offer free advice on issues associated with wood stoves.
Call the following number for friendly advice.
0208 360 1515 | <urn:uuid:18e1c961-7c57-47d4-a09d-72c842118cd1> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://www.thechimneysweepers.co.uk/chimneysweepers/wood-stove-problems-chimney-sweepers-jordan-brothers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593655887319.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20200705090648-20200705120648-00001.warc.gz | en | 0.961842 | 893 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Hanuman Jayanti is observed on the occasion of the birth of Hanuman, 11th Rudra Avatar of Lord Shiva.
Hanuman Jayanti is observed by the people of India every year on varying dates depending on their rituals and customs.
Lord Hanuman is considered a great devotee of Lord Ram and is a symbol of energy, devotion and strength. Devotees of Hanuman go to the temples early in the morning after taking a holy bath to worship. People visit temples and worship to Hanuman with prayers and chants. Peoples also apply Tilak on their foreheads from the Hanuman idol present in the temples. Then, peoples distribute foods as Prasad to everyone gathered for the occasion. On this day, Hanuman Chalisa can be heard everywhere as it can conquer the evils and fill the mind with peace and strength. | <urn:uuid:c36ca497-b0e6-46d4-87fe-2965e94aac31> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://importantindia.com/26831/short-paragraph-on-hanuman-jayanti/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100057.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20231129073519-20231129103519-00452.warc.gz | en | 0.956224 | 170 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Can You Read This? Nearly 780 Million People Around the World Cannot
We need to talk about worldwide illiteracy.
Right now 780 million people on this planet can’t read. Two-thirds of them are women and girls. Imagine not being able to send an e-mail or a text, fill out a form or get around on your own because you can’t read a map or directions.
Being able to read and write is the quickest and most efficient way to improve the world we live in today. It means you’re able to look after your health, understand and fight gender inequality, help protect the environment and take an active role in society. However, there are many obstacles that stand in the way of a literate world.
One of the greatest challenges to getting children reading in developing countries is a lack of children's books in the local language.
Room to Read quickly discovered that children’s books are extremely limited or non-existent in the countries they work in and responded to this need with an innovative solution: going into the publishing business themselves! Since entering the publishing game, Room to Read has published more than 1,295 titles. All books are produced in the countries that they work and support the local publishing industry.
Room to Read founder John Wood often jokes that Room to Read is the biggest children’s publisher you’ve never heard of: “This is because you and your children probably are not reading in the languages that we’re publishing in. But, those children in Vietnam, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, South Africa, they deserve to have books in their mother tongue, too.”
Most of those books are published in overlooked languages — Lao, Hindi, Tamil, Afrikaans, SeSotho, Kiswahili, Chinayanja and 20 others.
Quang and Lien are two young Vietnamese authors whose talent Room to Read helped develop through their workshops. Last year Quang and Lien took their careers a step further by entering a competitive Scholastic Asia contest for which they created a children’s book in just two weeks and won first place!
Room to Read’s local language books have consistently been recognised over the years for their superior quality, having received several national book awards, industry praise and even the UNESCO 2011 Confucius Prize for Literacy.
Fighting illiteracy is key to breaking the cycle of poverty. This International Literacy Day, it's time to ensure that no child is denied the chance to read, learn and build a better future for themselves.
Find out more about Room to Read here. | <urn:uuid:dc460fbc-1c84-44db-bd98-ab162888c525> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/international-literacy-day-illiteracy-room-to-read/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593657140337.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20200712211314-20200713001314-00029.warc.gz | en | 0.9573 | 540 | 2.53125 | 3 |
The Leviathan gas field is situated near Israel, away from its cost in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located about 29 miles to the southwestern end of Tamar gas field. Existing right in the Levantine Basin, the Leviathan gas field is situated about 81 miles to the west of Haifa in the water. This gas field boasts off an area that is Very rich in hydrocarbons. It could very well be the largest gas finds of the decade.
As a result of the year 2017, it was estimated that the Leviathan gas fields could produce enough gas for meeting all the domestic needs of Israel for the next 40 years. It is expected that this field will start operating near the end of the year 2019.
In order to further explore the prospects of the area with respect to gas drilling, Delek drilling joined hands with Noble Energy and the two companies cooperated in this entire venture of gas exploration.
Back in the year 2010, it was announced that according to what the seismic studies indicate, there is about 50% probability that the Leviathan field is rich in natural gas. It was estimated that the size of the reserve would be around 16 trillion cubic feet. In cubic meters, this would be 450 billion cubic meters. Indeed, this is quite a huge reserve.
In the initial exploration, drilling was done about 16,960 feet deep after which the gas was discovered. It was more like a test drill that was done in order to confirm the presence of natural gas. Quite fortunately, natural gas was found in abundance. This was announced around December 30th, 2010. The total drilling costs incurred in this exploration were around $92 million.
In the second part of the exploration, the drilling was intended to be about 23,600 feet deep. This was an extra reserve of a natural gas, which was expected to hold roughly 600 million oil barrels. However, reaching the deeper layers could not be possible as a number of technical issues arise in the process. These issues were faced because of the extreme depth of the basin and harsh conditions underneath.
Indeed, the Leviathan gas field possesses huge prospects for Israel in terms of natural gas. Considering the depleting reserves of naturally occurring resources all over the globe, the recent discovery of this natural gas reserve could play a big role in improving the economy of Israel. As a result of this, a number of projects have sprung up in the last decade and many more plans are expected to be put forward in the coming few years. It is expected that the plant will start operating in the year 2019, near the end. | <urn:uuid:c57bf4dc-11ab-4622-846b-7a6e8cd9d660> | CC-MAIN-2019-35 | http://www.wecaregreen.com/leviathan-gas-field-a-brief-history/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-35/segments/1566027313987.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20190818165510-20190818191510-00216.warc.gz | en | 0.978149 | 515 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Aspects of a Good Training Program
Your forklift training program shouldn’t be treated as a mere formality. To reap the benefits, aspiring operators should receive comprehensive training that covers all the important aspects of forklift safety.
Forklift training should result in a demonstrated ability to operate powered industrial trucks safely. If not, drivers will get certified but won’t get the full knowledge they need.
Here’s what to include in your training program:
How To Avoid The Primary Causes of Forklift Deaths
Sure, everyone keeps on saying that operating the forklift is “dangerous;” however, a good training program doesn’t just allude to the risks, it identifies the main causes of accidents related to powered industrial trucks.
According to the National Traumatic Occupational Fatalities (NTOF) surveillance system, there are four types of incidents that lead to forklift mishaps:
The forklift overturns. This represents 22% of related deaths. Loss of forklift control could cause the vehicle to overturn and smash objects nearby. The main cause of this is a lack of familiarity with how the vehicle works.
A nearby worker is hit by the forklift’s moving parts. In 20% of forklift accidents, the driver’s life is spared, but an unlucky nearby worker gets hit fatally by the moving parts of the vehicle or its load.
The driver or a nearby worker gets crushed by the forklift. This is, by far, one of the most brutal ways to perish from a powered industrial truck mishap. The reality though, is that it happens in 16% of all forklift-related deaths.
A person falls from the forklift. This is the cause of 9% of all forklift fatalities.
By helping trainees identify the main causes of forklift injury and death, steps can be taken to prevent these conditions from happening. Your training program should then focus on showing trainees how to take precautions in order to avoid the top 4 causes of forklift deaths.
The Principles Of Physics That Empower The Forklift
While there’s no need for a physics class, a good training program should orient trainees on the basic principles that allow the forklift to lift heavy materials and loads. All employees should understand the weight of the forklift truck and how it affects its ability to slow down and stop.
Operators should understand the significance of the hydraulic and pulley system, the mechanisms that power the forklift, and the tipping risks involved with overloading the fork. They must also understand the stability triangle of forklifts and how the center of gravity impacts the handling characteristics of the forklift.
An understanding of the physical laws that govern the operation of the equipment will significantly reduce risk of personal injury.
How A Forklift Operates
The bulk of the entire training program should focus on teaching trainees how the forklift operates. It might seem “easy”, but it’s trickier than it seems. There are various types of forklifts. This means, there is no one-size-fits-all kind of training that teaches how to operate a specific brand or truck model.
A good training program discusses the important functionalities of the specific forklift that the worker will use. This can be done instead of showing general instructions on how to operate all kinds of forklift brands.
Here are some of the basic skills your training program must cover:
Pre-Shift Forklift Inspections
Forklifts must be inspected before each shift. Teach your employees to use your forklift inspection log to run a:
- Visual check of all operational components, including lights, tires, hoses, mirrors, fluid levels, filters, and fork and mast condition.
- Operational check to ensure proper working controls and functions.
Instruct your employees to document their pre-shift inspections and to immediately remove questionable forklifts from service. Your employees should understand the dangers of operating a faulty PIT and/or not labeling the forklift correctly if removed from service.
How To Move With and Without a Load
Trainees should be taught how to drive a forklift when carrying heavy loads. A powered industrial truck is in greater danger to cause accidents when it is moving with a heavy object. If the bulky load drops, property can be damaged, or lives can be lost. Moreover, if the driver doesn’t know how to move with a heavy load, the forklift may lose its balance and smash nearby objects and people.
On the other hand, drivers should also be oriented on how to move without a load. Driving the forklift too fast or turning too rapidly can present a lot of hazards. Therefore, best practices should be communicated to trainees, so they are able to prevent those hazards in the future.
How To Approach, Pick Up, and Stack A Load
The OSHA has recommended best practices on how to approach, pick up and stack heavy loads into the forklift. To summarize, here are the basic guidelines for approaching and picking up loads:
- Approach the load slowly and with caution
- Ensure the forklift is at a full stop and brakes are set
- Check if there is enough overhead clearance before picking up and lifting the load
- Make sure the vehicle is in the proper position
- Put the fork into proper position
- Pick up the load by adjusting the forks to distribute weight evenly
- Lift the load carefully and slowly
- Ensure the load is secure before moving
Of course, there are more specific instructions and practices needed to be learned in order to properly implement the above. The ideal training program should cover all the required steps outlined by the OSHA for full compliance.
Powered Truck Operation Under Special Considerations
Aside from the usual movements, lifting, lowering, loading and unloading, there are other special considerations that a forklift driver must be familiar with:
Working With Trailers. Drivers should be trained on how to load and unload trailer trucks using a forklift. There are many safety considerations when using powered industrial vehicles for trailer loading and unloading. A good training program should cover the best practices as well as the most common hazards that must be avoided.
Driving Across Ramps. Drivers should understand how to operate forklifts across ramps or elevated surfaces. The OSHA has specific requirements and measurements for dock ramps that can be used for forklift operation.
A safe distance must then be maintained from the forklift to the edge of the ramps. Ramps should also be ascended or descended slowly with the load facing uphill while the forklift is loaded and counterbalance facing uphill while unloaded.
There are other OSHA guidelines that govern the use of forklifts across ramps. For example, driving in reverse when going up on a ramp incline is recommended for forklifts without a load. This and many other compliance guidelines must be discussed in a forklift safety course or certification program.
Using The Elevator. A good forklift training program also shows how to use a powered industrial truck with elevators. Checking the overhead clearance and weight capacity of the elevator is mandatory. Safety precautions must be performed to avoid floor damage, overloading, and elevator accidents.
Back to Table of Contents | <urn:uuid:e81d2d1c-feb6-43f3-b50d-e6f0d5e5bcdb> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | https://safesitehq.com/forklift-training/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178376006.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20210307013626-20210307043626-00324.warc.gz | en | 0.931072 | 1,487 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Last fall, we posted a fun video exploring the scientific plausibility of a real-life zombie apocalypse. Now, a Popular Science article asks the question, “Do zombies experience consciousness?” The query was prompted by the new movie, “Warm Bodies,” in which a zombie has feelings and falls in love.
So, what’s the verdict? According to some scientists, the answer is yes. After all, as Harvard psychiatrist and author Steven Schlozman, MD, says, zombies are really just sick people who got infected with a virus. And: “We would never say that somebody that is sick with another kind of disease isn’t conscious.”
The rest of the piece, during which other scientists weigh in on the issue and offer their philosophies and methods to test zombie consciousness, is entertaining and worth a read. I liked this part:
“We can establish — as we largely have done already — which parts of the human brain are critical for the kinds of consciousness that we have and see if they are intact in a zombie,” says Daniel Bor, a scientist at the University of Sussex’s Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. “If we could ever get a zombie in a brain scanner.”
If we could see that they didn’t have a thalamus, for example, scientists would agree that zombies probably wouldn’t be conscious. If there were a lot of complex interactions between regions of their zombie brain, that would imply a high level of consciousness. | <urn:uuid:72ec7df1-c167-45b8-bf17-d61b03d29a0e> | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2013/02/08/zombies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501171163.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104611-00490-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968549 | 321 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Gum disease is a serious condition that affects many Americans each year. At its mildest, it can result in painful, swollen gums. At its worst, it can lead to tooth loss. At Curtis Family Dentistry, we carefully monitor each of our patients for any signs of gum disease. The earlier we notice the signs of gum disease, the easier it is to treat. In many cases, we can reverse the course of gum disease and protect your smile.
Often, one of the first signs of gum disease is receding gums. While gums can also recede as a result of vigorous brushing, this usually happens when bacteria along the gumline has developed from plaque in to tartar, a harder material that irritates gums. When this occurs, Dr. Curtis and our team will often begin periodontal treatment to help restore the health of your gums.
Treating Receding Gums
Once we spot receding gums, our team will remove the plaque and tartar that is irritating your gums through a deep cleaning. If we find that your gums are infected or that gum disease is progressing into gingivitis, we may use medication to treat this issue. Luckily, we are often able to reverse gum disease if we can detect and treat it in its early stages.
Monitor Your Gum Health
One of the keys of early detection is knowing which symptoms to watch for. If you notice any changes in your gums like tenderness, swelling, or bleeding, these are early warning signs of gum disease. To reduce your risk of gum disease, practice a good oral hygiene routines that includes brushing twice daily for two minutes each time, flossing every day, and visiting our office regularly for cleanings and exams.
To ask our team any other questions about treating gum disease or to schedule your next visit, contact our office today! | <urn:uuid:a2a7735e-dfe1-4379-b6e6-42b10a8afb05> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.curtisfamilydentistry.com/combat-early-signs-gum-disease/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337531.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20221005011205-20221005041205-00320.warc.gz | en | 0.943881 | 385 | 2.53125 | 3 |
When discussing Nintendo’s rise as a digital dreamsmith in the ‘80s, game designers like Shigeru Miyamoto and Gunpei Yokoi get most of the limelight. But it was the hardware designed by Masayuki Uemura that served up their fantasies to millions around the globe.
I spent 2019 criss-crossing Japan researching my book Pure Invention: How Japan’s Pop Culture Conquered the World, in search of the country’s architects of cool. In March of that year I came face-to-face with a true legend: Masayuki Uemura, the engineer who designed Nintendo’s first cartridge-based game system, the Family Computer, aka the Famicom, aka the Nintendo Entertainment System.
With a design based on the arcade hardware that powered Donkey Kong, the Famicom quickly revolutionized home gaming in Japan when it was released in 1983. As the NES, it revitalized the home video game market in the United States after the Atari market crashed. From then on, it proceeded to deliver a steady stream of Japanese fantasies into the hearts and minds of people around the world. It’s hard to imagine a world today without Uemura’s machine.
Masayuki Uemura joined Nintendo in 1972. Gunpei Yokoi, the inventor and toy designer whose products like the Ultra Hand had transformed Nintendo from a humble maker of hanafuda, Japanese playing cards, into a well-known toy and game company, recruited Uemura away from his previous employer, the electronics company Hayakawa Electric, known today as Sharp. Uemura retired from Nintendo in 2004, and currently serves as the director for the Center for Game Studies at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. The university’s leaf-covered Kinugasa campus is a quiet oasis in what is—or was, before COVID-19—a bustling and tourist-packed city. It is also a 10-minute walk from the ancient Zen rock garden of Ryoan-ji temple, whose evocatively arranged boulders and artfully raked gravel seem to me one of Japan’s earliest “virtual realities.”
Departments that teach students how to make video games abound in higher education today, but the Ritsumeikan Center for Game Studies is one of only a handful of academic efforts specifically designed to preserve home video gaming equipment and ephemera. Its archives contain everything from early home versions of Pong to the latest consoles, every controller variation under the sun, and an ever-expanding library of software on tapes, cartridges, and discs. The packed shelves of its climate-controlled storage facility look like something out of a kid’s dream, organized with the obsessive rigor of the Library of Congress. The scent in the air is that paper from countless magazines and strategy guides, tinged with the nostalgic ozone smell of vintage electronics.
Uemura was 75 years old at the time of our interview, but seemed much younger. A benefit of a life spent making playthings for the world? Whatever the case, there is no mistaking the amusement and restless curiosity in Uemura’s eyes as we sit down over a round of Famicom Donkey Kong to talk about the little beige and burgundy machine that touched so many lives.
Kotaku: What was Nintendo like when you joined the company?
Masayuki Uemura: One of the things that surprised me when I moved from Sharp to Nintendo was that, while they didn’t have a development division, they had this kind of development warehouse full of toys, almost all of them American.
Kotaku: What were your impressions of Nintendo’s former president Hiroshi Yamauchi, who ran the firm from 1949 to 2002?
Uemura: He loved hanafuda and card games. I remember once, early on, a birthday party for an employee and he showed up and got right into hanafuda with everyone.
He was a Kyotoite. It’s a city with a lot of long-running businesses, some maybe five or even six hundred years old. In the hierarchy of the city, traditional craftspeople rank at the top. Nintendo, as a purveyor of playthings like hanafuda or Western playing cards, originally ranked down at the very bottom. Doing business in that environment made him very open to new ventures. He wasn’t interested in specializing. He was keenly interested in new trends.
Here’s an example of what I mean. In 1978, he bought around 10 tabletop versions of Space Invaders and placed them in headquarters and our factory. The idea was that we’d playtest them as a form of research. But what ended up happening was the entire company got so obsessed playing it that we couldn’t get a turn in. It was like a fever. Everyone abandoned their posts and stopped working. I was just bummed out that we hadn’t made it ourselves. Shocked and annoyed [laughs].
Kotaku: Did you feel behind the curve compared to other game companies back then?
Uemura: In the 70s, we had no idea what was going on with companies like Namco or Atari because we were here in Kyoto. If you lived in Tokyo, you’d probably pick up lots of things about companies like Taito or Sega or Namco or even what was happening in America. But none of that filtered down to Kyoto at all. That’s Kyoto for you—a little standoffish, going its own way, and proud of it. To a certain degree, not even caring about the outside world. A little conservative when it comes to new things. When I worked for Sharp, I took many business trips to Tokyo. But when I started working for Nintendo, that completely stopped. It’s pretty shocking when I think back on it, but Kyoto has always been kind of closed off that way. So no, there wasn’t any sense of us being behind.
Kotaku: I’ve heard that the atmosphere inside the company was very competitive, with a big rivalry between Nintendo’s two R&D divisions.
Uemura: There wasn’t really any R&D 1 and 2! It was just Yokoi and Uemura. There wasn’t any rivalry! Yokoi found me and recruited me to Nintendo; he was my senpai. It was Yamauchi who set us up as rivals. It was symbolic, which is important in any corporate organization. That’s why he created R&D 1 and 2.
Kotaku: How did the Famicom project come about?
Uemura: It started with a phone call in 1981. President Yamauchi told me to make a video game system, one that could play games on cartridges. He always liked to call me after he’d had a few drinks, so I didn’t think much of it. I just said, “Sure thing, boss,” and hung up. It wasn’t until the next morning when he came up to me, sober, and said, “That thing we talked about—you’re on it?” that it hit me: He was serious.
Kotaku: Were you influenced by other companies’ machines?
Uemura: No. I mean, after I got the order I bought every single one, took them apart, analyzed them piece by piece. I looked at the chipsets, saw what CPUs they used, checked out the patents, all of it. That took about six months. Most of it I did myself, but I did have some help from outside resources, people who worked at semiconductor companies. I looked into Atari’s machine, of course—it was the biggest—and the Magnavox machine. Because those two were the biggest hits, and Atari’s biggest of all.
Kotaku: How did you analyze rivals’ game consoles?
Uemura: I had a semiconductor manufacturer dissolve the plastic covering on the chips to expose the wiring underneath. I took pictures, blew them up, and looked at the circuitry to understand it. I had some experience with arcade games, and right away I knew that none of what I was looking at would be any help in designing a new home system. They simply didn’t have expressive enough graphics. They had a monopoly on patents for them, circuit structures and features such as scrolling. And they were simply old-fashioned. That’s why I couldn’t use anything from them.
Kotaku: Did America’s game industry crash scare you?
Uemura: Japan didn’t really experience a video game industry crash like America did. What we had was an LCD game crash. They stopped selling at right around the same time—Christmas of 1983.
Kotaku: In US the crash made the very concept of games taboo in the industry for a while. What about Japan?
Uemura: In Japan, the issue was that toy stores didn’t know how to carry them. Toy stores didn’t carry televisions. So they didn’t see game systems as things they should carry, either. That’s why a lot of companies tried positioning their products as educational products, with keyboards, more like PCs than game systems. The thinking in the industry was that was the only way to go, back then. The only way to sell a video game was showing it on a screen, and it was a big ask of toy stores, making them purchase TVs. LCD games had their own screens; you could just put them out and they’d sell themselves.
Kotaku: Is that why you chose to style the Famicom more like a toy?
Uemura: It was less of a choice and more that this was the way it had to be.
Kotaku: Why is that?
Uemura: Because that was the cheapest way to do it [laughs]. The colors were based on a scarf Yamauchi liked. True story. There was also a product from a company called DX Antenna, a set-top TV antenna, that used the color scheme. I recall riding with Yamauchi on the Hanshin expressway outside of Osaka and seeing a billboard for it, and Yamauchi saying, “That’s it! Those are our colors!” Just like the scarf. We’d struggled with the color scheme. We knew what the shape would be, but couldn’t figure out what colors to make it. Then the DX Antenna’s colors decided it. So while it ended up looking very toy-like, that wasn’t the intent. The idea was making it stand out.
Kotaku: And it did. Were you surprised when it became a societal phenomenon?
Uemura: I didn’t have time to be surprised! When it really took off, I was totally focused on making the NES for the American market, and also on making the Disk System. I had my hands full. And we were swamped with defective returns. At first we had a very high percentage of defective machines being returned to us. We were just getting so many returns, far more than anything we’d ever seen before. That’s when I realized just how many people out there were playing with them; there hadn’t ever been a system this popular before. That was about the time Super Mario Bros. came out, 1985. Everyone in the company realized we were going to be swamped. Super Mario was fuel on the fire of the fad.
Kotaku: Mario arguably became even more of a phenomenon than the Famicom itself.
Uemura: Super Mario Bros. was the first to really bring a kawaii perspective to game characters. Actually, Donkey Kong was first to do it, in the arcades, and it established that unique sense of design. Until that point, most games followed the arcade style of shooting game design. Super Mario is often cited as the very first game to connect that style of cute character and cute music together. I’m not sure who specifically on Miyamoto’s team connected the dots, but that’s what happened. Probably Miyamoto himself.
Kotaku: After Nintendo went from 3rd or 4th place to 1st in the ‘80s, was there a sense things changed, among people inside the company?
Uemura: No! We’re in Kyoto [laughs].
Well, my salary went up. That’s a fact. So I was getting paid more, but the flip side was my job got a lot harder. President Yamauchi’s attitude played a big part in this, but my feeling was one of “seize the day.” Just go for it. You have to remember, there was a time, after Donkey Kong, that we really didn’t make another game for about two years. Well, not exactly, but pretty much. That’s the period Super Mario Bros. was being developed. That game basically ended up including everything and the kitchen sink, gameplay-wise.
Kotaku: What led to the decision to export the Famicom abroad?
Uemura: There’s a rule in the game industry that fads last for three years. That’s why President Yamauchi targeted America—to get around that. The prevailing sense at the time was that television games would fade into history as they were replaced by personal computers. So we were shocked that the fad kept going. It was Kudo-san, the president of a company named Hudson, one of the Famicom’s first licensees, who said to Yamauchi, “this is a culture.” Yamauchi was like, “What are you talking about?”
Kotaku: Japanese games swept the globe starting in the late 70s: Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong. Why do you think this made-in-Japan culture resonated with people all over the world?
Uemura: Actually, that’s what I want to ask you [laughs].
Super Mario Bros. isn’t set in Japan, but the character’s Japanese. The name Mario sounds Italian, but he isn’t Italian. They were really able to capture that ambiguity. The number of dots you could use to draw the characters was extremely limited, so Miyamoto was forced to use colors to differentiate them. He spent a lot of time working on the colors. In the end, it became the template for how a designer might express themselves through a game. It was a whole new world.
Until video games became able to portray characters, they were nothing more than strategy games like shogi or chess. Once hardware developed to the point where you could actually draw characters, designers had to figure out what to make. Subconsciously they turned to things they’d absorbed from anime and manga. We were sort of blessed in the sense that foreigners hadn’t seen the things we were basing our ideas on.
Matt Alt (@Matt_Alt) is a Tokyo-based writer, translator, and game localizer. He is the author of Pure Invention: How Japan’s Pop Culture Conquered the World, coming 2020 from Crown Publishing. | <urn:uuid:908f0b34-2e86-4ce3-9c54-79b589cc78a6> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://kotaku.com/the-designer-of-the-nes-dishes-the-dirt-on-nintendos-ea-1844296906 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320303864.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20220122134127-20220122164127-00014.warc.gz | en | 0.977857 | 3,248 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Hydrogen atoms have a neutral charge, containing a single proton with a positive charge and a single electron with a negative charge. Unlike all other elements, hydrogen atoms contain no neutrons.
The term "atomic hydrogen" refers to single, unbonded atoms of hydrogen. Atomic hydrogen makes up 75 percent of the mass in the universe. On Earth, hydrogen is typically found in a diatomic state, meaning that two hydrogen atoms are bonded together. Diatomic hydrogen is expressed by the molecular formula H2. Bonded hydrogen only disassociates at extremely high temperatures, with the disassociation rate at 4,940 degrees Fahrenheit at 7.85 percent. | <urn:uuid:c7c7fcb3-a092-4a83-89b6-e24c8f201033> | CC-MAIN-2019-30 | https://www.reference.com/science/many-protons-hydrogen-atom-be56d8d5f0ba0403 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195526818.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20190721020230-20190721042230-00163.warc.gz | en | 0.911357 | 135 | 4.09375 | 4 |
Recent studies in leptospirosis
Pharmakis, Thomas Liberty
MetadataShow full item record
The leptospiral infections from the aspects of the characteristics of the aetiologic agents, pathogenicity, immunity, diagnosis, treatment and epidemiology have been discussed. The type organism (Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae) which belongs to the order Spirochaetales and family Treponemataceae is a strikingly flexible, motile microorganism measuring seven to fourteen microns in length with exceptionally long forms measuring from thirty to forty microns due to delayed transverse fission. The organisms are finely coiled with regular spirals measuring 0.45 to 0.5 micron in amplitude, and 0.3 micron in depth. There are one of more undulations throughout the entire length and the body culminates in finely pointed ends. The organism may be demonstrated as a fine tapering filament which may assume the forms of semicircles, figures-of-eight, and S-shapes from a liquid culture medium, and serpentine, undulating or bent forms from a semi-solid medium. The leptospira may be stained by Giemsa's or Fontana's silver impregnation methods. The leptospi rae are morphologically undistinguishable. They are facultative aerobes and require one or more of the thermolabile factors in the serum of rabbits, horses, guinea-pigs or humans for growth. Optimal growth occurs at a pH of 7.2 and a temperature range from thirty to thirty-seven degrees Centigrade. The pathogenic leptospirae live exclusively on proteins. Optimum growth requires a period of seven days to reach its peak in contrast to twenty-four hours for most of the other microorganisms. The media in use today are either liquid or semi-solid that contain a 10 per cent concentration of suitable animal serum and are buffered to a pH of 7.2. Examples of these are Schuffner's liquid and Chang's (1947) semi-solid media. Studies of the antigenicity of the leptospirae show that they may arbitrarily be placed into two groups. The first group is called the Cosmopolitan group, which includes Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae, Leptospira canicola, and Leptospira grippotyphosa. The second group is called the Far East Group, which includes Leptospira auturnnalis, Leptospira hebidomadis, and Leptospira febrilis (Leptospira pyrogenes). The organisms are all antigenically related since they show varying degrees of antigen-antibody reactions in their heterologous antisera. One species of leptospirae (Leptospira piflexa) is unique in its non-pathogenicity, simple growth requirements, and distinct antigenicity. The pathogenicity of the two groups of leptospirae depends upon the species (and even strains) in question and the host infected. The wild rat (Rattus species) is an asymptomatic host of the organisms. The organisms attack the liver, kidneys, and capillaries causing icterus, uremia, and haemorrhage in the susceptible host. Guinea-pigs, hamsters, and young albino mice (Mus musculus) are susceptible hosts to Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae, and Leptospira canicola. They may be used as test animals for diagnosis of these agents. Lepto-spira canicola and Leptospira grippotyphosa, and the miscellaneous leptospirae of Asia seldom show icterus or the severe symptoms t hat the other leptospiral agents demonstrate in man and test animals. In leptospiral infections, the aetiological agent may be demonstrated in the blood during the primary toxemic stage. The organisms are found in the liver and kidneys in the secondary stage. This stage is manifested by icterus, hemorrhage into the subcutaneous tissues, and uremia. Postmortarn examination shows hemorrhages of the internal organs. Agglutinins may be demonstrated in the tertiary stage (seventh to twentieth day of infection), and can be detected in incr easing titers for weeks thereafter. Lasting immunity is established after an attack, and agglutinins have been detected as long as twenty years after the initial infection. The diagnostic agglutinin titer is 1:300 and may run as high as 1:30,000. Diagnosis of a leptospiral infection is confirmed by darkfield examination or culture of the blood during the primary stage. Inoculation of emulsions of kidney or liver from infected hosts into test animals will reproduce the disease. Antibodies may be detected during convalescent and latent periods. Effective treatment must be started before the onset of icterus for the best therapeutic response. Serum therapy has been used experimentally to protect guinea-pigs, hamsters and young white mice (Mus musculus) from infection. Penicillin in concentrations of 0.4 u/ml. has been shown to have a leptospiristatic effect on the organisms in vitro. Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae has been shown to have a sensitivity variance to 0.1 - 70.5 u./ml. of penicillin when tested in vitro. Leptospira grippotyphosa was found to be sensitive to 0.25 u./ml., Leptospira canicola to 0.5 u./ml., and Leptospira bataviae to 0.1 u./ml. when tested in vitro. Guinea-pigs have been effectively treated against Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae when 1500 units of penicillin a day was given early and in maintained doses. General treatment consists of intravenous fluids and the administration of agents that will ameliorate the symptoms. Leptospirosis is endemic in Japan, Holland, South Central Europe, England, and in parts of the United States. The disease prevails in groups that are in proximity to the infective agents. Lepta-spira canicola infects dogs and those who are closely associated with dogs, i.e., veterinarians, and dog owners. Weil' s disease is seen in persons who are in proximity to infected rats. Leptospira grippotyphosa and Leptospira hebdomadis are neted among field workers who contact the disease from infective soil. Wild rats (Rattus species) have been shown to be infected with Leptospira icterohaemorrhagia in incidences of ten to thirty per cent from surveys conducted in Japan, Holland, England, and some of the major cities in the United States. Prophylactic measures should include rat proofing and extermination. Occupational groups should wear gloves to protect themselves from leptospirae-containing urine. Field workers should protect their feet with boots. Rat excreta may be sterilized with sodium hypochlorite 1:64. Health education should be stressed in endemic areas.
Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University | <urn:uuid:14146022-b7c5-40aa-9358-d82db269bca6> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | https://open.bu.edu/handle/2144/5296 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267158691.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20180922201637-20180922222037-00499.warc.gz | en | 0.900127 | 1,538 | 3.125 | 3 |
GRUB in non-graphical mode
1.96 / February 3, 2008
|License||GNU General Public License|
GNU GRUB ("GRUB" for short) is a boot loader package from the GNU Project. GRUB is the main example of the Multiboot Specification, which allows a user to have more than one operating systems on their computer at once, and to choose which one to run when the computer starts. GRUB can be used to select from different kernel images available on a particular operating system's partitions, as well as to pass boot-time parameters to such kernels.
Functioning[change | change source]
When a computer is turned on, the computer's BIOS finds the primary bootable device (usually the computer's hard disk) and loads the initial bootstrap program from the master boot record (MBR), the first 512 bytes of the hard disk, and then transfers control to this code.
The MBR contains GRUB stage 1. Because of the small size of the MBR, Stage 1 just loads the next stage of GRUB (which may be physically elsewhere on the disk). Stage 1 can either load Stage 2 directly, or it can load stage 1.5: GRUB Stage 1.5 is located in the first 30 kilobytes of hard disk immediately following the MBR. Stage 1.5 loads Stage 2.
When GRUB Stage 2 receives control, it presents an interface to the user in order to select which operating system to boot. This normally takes the form of a graphical menu, although if this is not available or the user wishes further control, GRUB has its own command prompt, where the user can manually specify the boot parameters. GRUB can also be set to automatically load a particular kernel after a timeout period.
Once boot options have been selected, GRUB loads the selected kernel into memory and passes control on to the kernel, which then continues to start itself. At this stage GRUB can also pass control of the boot process to another loader, using chain loading, for operating systems such as Windows that do not support the Multiboot standard. In this case, copies of the other system's boot programs have been saved by GRUB; instead of a kernel, the other system is loaded as though it had been started from the MBR. This may be yet another boot manager, such as the Microsoft boot menu, allowing further selection of non-Multiboot operating systems. (This behavior is often automatic when modern Linux distributions are installed "on top of" existing Windows systems, allowing the user to retain the original operating system without changes, including systems that contain multiple versions of Windows.)
Other pages[change | change source]
- Comparison of boot loaders
- Das U-Boot Universal Bootloader
- Ncurses and Ncurses package for Windows in GnuWin32
- xOSL Extended Operating System Loader
Other websites[change | change source]
- Official GNU GRUB project
- Documentation for forks:
- Grub tutorial for beginners
- GNU GRUB (0.97) Simplified for Newbies
- Structure at the start of a hard disk in a PC and how GRUB fits into that structure.
- WINGRUB: a GRUB installer for Windows
- LILO and GRUB: Boot Loaders Made Simple by Judith Myerson
- Boot with GRUB, Linux Journal - A good tutorial
- How to install and boot 145 OS in a PC (using GRUB)
- How to add GRUB to your USB thumb drive. | <urn:uuid:6bdbb750-16a7-49c5-9d38-241fead56f0b> | CC-MAIN-2017-39 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_GRUB | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-39/segments/1505818688208.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20170922041015-20170922061015-00634.warc.gz | en | 0.849917 | 736 | 3.5 | 4 |
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