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Listening for Bowhead Whales
ABOARD THE USCGC HEALY, ON THE BEAUFORT SEA– Now that we are aboard the HEALY and settled in, while we slept a survey was done running roughly offshore of Barrow. The principal work along this leg was mapping of the seafloor bathymetry with the ship’s multibeam acoustic system, which records echos of sound emitted from the ship and reflected by the seafloor. The return time of the echo, once corrected for water column temperature and salinity, provides depth along the ship’s track. In addition, a series of CTD casts (described in Kevin’s last dispatch) was made to measure water column properties, with additional sensors for measuring fluorescence of chlorophyll in the water column, an indication of the abundance of phytoplankton, the single celled plant life which floats in the oceans, and is an indication of the productivity of the ocean.
The principal work of the first evening included the project of Kate Stafford from the University of Washington, who is retrieving and redeploying moorings placed on the seafloor which are equipped with hydrophones to listen for the sounds of various marine mammals, including seals, walrus, and beluga whales, but with particular emphasis on recording the sounds of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus), the sounds of which can be heard at: http://www.dosits.org/gallery/marinemm/15.htm.
The bowhead whales are one of the key marine species in the ecosystem, and important for traditional Inuit culture — their meat and blubber a source of food, and their bones used as sled runners and in house construction. Their baleen (the horny plates in their mouths with which they filter the small shrimp-like euphausiids and copepods — their main food), as shown in the baleen model boat in Day One’s blog, was put to many traditional uses in Inuit culture: as a tough cordage for seal and fish nets; for short lanyards and lashings on sleds; as the tip of dogsled whips; for hunting snares for birds and rabbits; bent into boxes for keeping harpoon heads; made into traditional Inuit snow goggles to prevent snow blindness from glare off snow and ice; as a brow on hats for kayakers to keep spray out of their eyes; as fletching on spears and arrows instead of feathers; and as large knives for cutting ice for igloos, and smaller story knives used to tell stories by ‘drawing’ in snow or dirt. Baleen was also woven together without being cut to form racks hung from the ceiling for general storage, and as floorboards in the traditional semi-subterranean Inuit houses shown in the Day One blogs: a sort of Inuit linoleum! And, in earlier times when warfare between native groups existed, it was also used as plates woven together in the construction of armor. Making of woven baleen baskets was an innovation of the late nineteenth century begun by Barrow resident Charlie Brower.
The bowhead whale is still the principal whale hunted off Barrow. Getting an accurate count of bowhead whales has been a key issue for scientists and the Inuit people for many decades to ensure their proper management and conservation. Preliminary information on the results of the annual aerial survey, along pictures of bowhead whales may be found at: http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/nmml/cetacean/bwasp/index.php. Kate’s hydrophone arrays are deployed offshore of the 100 meter depth line at two locations along the coast in groups of three to allow tracking of whales passing along the coast. Their batteries allow them to operate for a year. In the first day of science, the arrays already deployed from the previous year are retrieved by positioning the ship over their location and generating a specific series of tones which activates an acoustic release. Floats which had remained submerged with the hydrophones are then released from their bottom weights, and the hydrophone and floats drift up to the surface where they are located by a small boat, and passed off to the ship, which then hoists them back onto the deck.
Once the hydrophones are retrieved, Kate downloads the data from the past year collected by the hydrophones, changes out the batteries and data recording computer hard drives, and later in the cruise will redeploy them. Of concern when retrieving the hydrophones is the ability to find them if there is heavy ice. High resolution (100 meter) satellite images have been requested by the ship showing where the ice is located.
This imagery is from a Radarsat satellite, which is particularly useful as it can see through the ubiquitous fog. In areas where ice concentrations are heavy, hydrophone retrieval can be delayed until the ice has moved away, and the likelihood of retrieving the moorings is more certain: better to wait a bit for conditions to improve than risk a full year’s data.
The principal components of hydrophone mooring array, shown in the photo below being disconnected from the cable by Kate Stafford of the University of Washington and John Kemp of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, are the hydrophone and acoustic release. When the mooring array is redeployed, a float is put over the side first. It is the float which provides the lift to allow the hydrophone and acoustic release to surface, be located by a small boat and retrieved. After the float goes over the side, the hydrophone, and then acoustic release go over, and last of all the weight for the mooring anchor is put over the side. When everything is in the water, the ship is positioned precisely over the desired mooring location, and a manual release is used which, when a rope attached to it is pulled, drops the weight at the correct location, and the entire array is pulled downward to the bottom, where it remains until the ship returns to ‘ping’ the acoustic release with the precise acoustic series of tones to retrieve it a year hence.
Bowheads were among the whales fairly heavily hunted during the golden days of whaling in the second half of the nineteenth century. Bowhead populations in advance of this period have been cited as about 16,000 animals, although of course, it is impossible to know for certain their historical abundance. The current estimate of the Beaufort-Chukchi-Bering Sea bowhead population is about 8,000-10,000 animals. The numbers of these whales seems to be stable and actually increasing. It is important to get good data on their numbers and habitat use as changes occur in sea ice and ship traffic in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas.
Each year the bowhead whales migrate south through the Bering Strait in the winter to avoid seas completely covered with heavy ice, so that they can continue to surface and breathe. In the spring they migrate north from the ice edge in the Bering Sea into and through the Chukchi Sea, and many migrate north around Barrow and then east along the coast toward the Canadian arctic and Northwest Passage channels. Maps of the migration routes of some whales tagged by Alaska Fish and Game Department personnel can be seen at http://www.wildlife.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=marinemammals.maps&name=8-10.jpg. As winter arrives, the whales return south along the coast to the Bering Sea.
Interestingly, the bowhead whales are often accompanied north by beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas), the truly “white whales” of the northern seas. Because of their much smaller size, the belugas cannot easily break through the ice to make breathing holes themselves, and follow the bowhead whales using them as their own ‘icebreaking vessels’ to access more northerly waters in spring. Once in the Beaufort Sea the bowhead whales appear to distinctly prefer the waters closer to shore along the Alaskan North Slope, while aircraft sightings and tagged animals show that belugas remain further offshore in deeper waters, with a fairly distinct separation of habitat use. The fact that bowheads prefer the more nearshore waters along the North Slope makes them potentially more susceptible to increased human activities, and Kate’s project all the more important to contribute to continued monitoring of population levels.
Hunting whales by certain arctic peoples is much more than simply an avocation or way of harvesting food. This is perhaps difficult for outsiders to fully comprehend, but whaling in traditional Inuit and other arctic whaling cultures was, and still is, almost a religious or deeply spiritual enterprise, surrounded with rituals of moral purification and behavioral restrictions. It is still emphatically pointed out that one does not actually hunt whales, but one simply goes hunting for whales: it is the whale that gives itself to the hunter and whaling crew which has strictly maintained the traditions associated with successful whaling. In the arctic this invariably includes, among many other things, widespread distribution of the animals taken to everyone in the community, and other communities as well, practices which are still sustained. George Naekok, who is with us as an Inuit observer on this cruise, has been whaling most of his life. | <urn:uuid:ca2147d0-05ab-442d-b375-ba3b456f67a8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/listening-for-bowhead-whales/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391766.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00132-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955058 | 1,933 | 2.78125 | 3 |
What is in this article?:
Laser mapping can be used for surveying building conditions and exterior elevations, which then can be integrated into building information models.
The million-dollar question is how do you know if a BIM project is a good candidate for laser mapping. Key considerations are:
• Requirements. Has the owner or agency operating the building requested 3-D mapping? Increasingly, 3-D modeling is being required, especially by government agencies that have to maintain and operate buildings over many decades while administrating renovation projects. For many government buildings, CAD drawings are lacking, which makes identifying areas during the troubleshooting and concept phases difficult. In such situations, 3-D mapping can be particularly useful.
• Time and cost. What is the opportunity cost of not using 3-D laser mapping? When you consider the time it takes experienced designers to verify and document all existing conditions, especially with multiple utilities in a condensed area, 3-D modeling becomes much more cost-effective. The use of laser mapping frees up resources for valuable tasks, such as preparing preliminary calculations and developing conceptual layouts, and it expedites coordination of disciplines. Manipulation of a building information model to test-fit various design scenarios is paramount to productivity and quick client turnaround. Whether a project is of considerable size or has been fast-tracked, the time and efficiency benefits of using 3-D modeling can outweigh the expense of the technology itself.
• Product quality. Will laser mapping lead to a better end product? If a renovation is extensive and there are potential conflicts with existing utilities, 3-D laser mapping can make the design more accurate while minimizing cost overruns and delays. | <urn:uuid:3ad7421d-a291-48ce-b4ce-80ec2da56002> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://hpac.com/archive/laser-mapping-and-building-information-modeling-bim?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395548.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00118-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936573 | 340 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Slaves and Slaveholders of Wessyngton Plantation
Tennessee State Museum Through August 31
By: Charles Giuliano - May 12, 2014
Slaves and Slaveholders of Wessyngton Plantation
Tennessee State Museum
February 11 through August 31, 2014
During a recent road trip we visited plantations and mansions in Natchez, Mississippi. During a tour of Longwood, which remained unfinished because of the outbreak of the Civil War, the guide referred to the “workers” and “helpers” of Dr. Nutt.
The emphasis was on architecture and not the human misery that spawned these grand and elegant Southern homes. Longwood was funded by five plantations and the hard labor of as many as 800 slaves.
In Charleston and Louisville we encountered metal relief signs that document slavery in those cities. I don’t recall such signage in Savannah.
It is a troubling aspect of American history that presidents owned slaves including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Martin Van Buren (not while president), William Henry Harrison (not while president), John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson (not while president). This legacy is downplayed in visits to Washington’s Mt. Vernon, Jefferson’s Monticello and Jackson’s Hermitage. Both Jackson and Jefferson owned about 200 slaves each.
When Washington was twelve years old, he inherited ten slaves; by the time of his death, 316 slaves lived at Mount Vernon, including 123 owned by Washington, 40 leased from a neighbor, and an additional 153 "dower slaves." In his will the slaves were to be freed following the death of his widow. She did this while still living.
Northern framers of the Constitution deferred to the south on the matter of slavery. Without this concession there would have been no union.
Touring the beautiful cities and monuments of the south evokes complex emotions. The experience in Natchez was particularly unsettling and creepy. As a friend from Charleston put it “nothing has changed.”
It was fascinating in this context to visit the Tennessee State Museum and meet for an interview with a curator Rob DeHart and publicist Mary Skinner. The museum has mounted a well researched exhibition that focuses on the surviving documents of an enormous plantation and presents a dual chronicle of both its slaves and their owners. It is a non polemical, meticulously researched project that invites visitors to view the reality of slavery and draw their own conclusions. For this exhibition families of both slaves and slave owners came together to tell their stories. What follows is a statement by the museum.
The exhibit, Slaves and Slaveholders of Wessyngton Plantation, looks at the lives of both enslaved African Americans and their white owners on the 13,000 acre plantation in Robertson County, Tennessee.
Through first and third person accounts, the exhibit reconstructs the lives of several enslaved people, providing names, faces, and the details of what happened to them before, during, and after the Civil War.
Among the slaves profiled in the exhibit is Jenny Blow Washington. The founder of Wessyngton Plantation, Joseph Washington, purchased 10-year-old Jenny and her sister from a Virginia planter in 1802. The sisters traveled to Wessyngton Plantation in Tennessee with Washington, never to see their mother again. Although slaves could not legally marry, Jenny had a lifelong relationship with a slave named Godfrey Washington and gave birth to at least nine children. Jenny and her family performed the chores involved with maintaining the large Washington house. Her known descendants number in the thousands.
Most museum exhibits cannot provide an in-depth look at individual enslaved people because there is little information available. Because of fortunate circumstances of record-keeping and photography by the Wessyngton owners and a wealth of research and oral history by one of the slave descendants these otherwise forgotten people are brought to life.
The plantation was established in 1796 by Joseph Washington, who moved to Tennessee from Virginia, and was later inherited by his son, George A. Washington. The Washingtons, through their business dealings, became wealthy, owning not only Wessyngton but also property and slaves in Kentucky. Wessyngton was one of the largest plantations in Tennessee in 1860 and the largest producer of tobacco in the U.S. In 1860, the Washingtons were one of the wealthiest families in Tennessee.
The Washingtons, with two exceptions, never sold their slaves, and by 1860 owned 274. Slave families at Wessyngton had three to five generations living together, remarkable in a system that often separated enslaved families, including selling children away from their parents.
The Washingtons, who held on to their wealth during and after the Civil War, retained detailed records about their plantation and slaves. These records, along with letters and diaries, survived into the 20th century and were later donated by Washington family descendants to the Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA).
These records were researched at TSLA by a descendent of the Washington slaves, John Baker, Jr., who had seen a photograph of the former Wessyngton slaves in his seventh grade history book. His interest was stimulated when his grand mother told him that he was related to them. He later met a Washington descendant, who invited him to visit Wessyngton.
John said “visiting Wessyngton was like stepping back in time.” There he saw a portrait of his great, great grandfather hanging on the wall, along with portraits of other slaves.
As an adult, Baker spent years going through the Wessyngton records at the TSLA. He also interviewed many individuals, ranging from 80 to 107 years old, who were children or grandchildren of the Wessyngton slaves. Baker wrote The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation, about his lifelong research. This book inspired the Wessyngton exhibition.
Baker located photographs and drawings commissioned by the Washington family of the former slaves who remained on the plantation after the Civil War. These drawings and photographs remained in the Washington and slave descendant families.
The exhibit also looks at the important roles of the white women of the big house They supervised the production of finished clothing for the family and slaves. Such a large labor force meant hundreds of garments had to be produced each year. They also oversaw the food rations for the slaves which totaled 42,000 pounds of pork per year.
At the end of the exhibit, a section called “Legacies” traces what happened to several of the slaves after the Civil War.
Between 1841 and 1863 some 21 slaves including five women were whipped for various offenses. These included running away, losing or damaging tools or not working hard enough. Plantation owners balanced cruelty with incentives. The slaves had Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday off. The Washingtons didn’t sell their slaves. Except for two slaves that made repeated attempts to run away Davy White and a man known only as Henry.
Rob DeHart It is most unusual that so many records and documents survive which is why it was possible to put this exhibition together. A lot of the furniture and artifacts on view are from our collection. When the Washington family sold Wessyngton in 1983 they had an auction. Things went all over the place. Some things we brought back and some we couldn’t.
One example is this portrait of George A. Washington when he was 15-years-old. It was painted in about 1830. It was painted by Washington Cooper who was a very popular portrait artist in Nashville.
The other pieces we base on receipts in the Washington papers. For example this is a list of household items which George’s wife made during the Civil War. They were trying to protect their items from looters during the Civil War. They crated them and shipped them to Louisville. Ironically the warehouse burned down so they lost them anyway. But we are able to take these lists and match them up. We also put the shackles in there because we always want visitors to see the connection between slavery and these luxury items.
Charles Giuliano Because as you say the Washingtons sold only two slaves we would assume that through a natural process the population increased.
RD Yes. These are lists of all of the slaves that they acquired either through purchase or birth.
CG Looking at the prices why is one 500 and another 100? (records on display)
RD Well this is 100 English pounds in 1802. So some of the currency depended on where you bought them from. Some states were still using pounds. It also varied by the year.
CG Here I see $1,500.
RD That’s for six, a whole family. Here’s a purchase for $240 but this is the early 1800s. When the slave trade with Africa ended in 1808 it became much more expensive. It’s when it was supposed to end. There was still an illegal trade which went on.
Astrid Hiemer It became more expensive.
RD Yes, by 1823 a family of seven cost $2,600.
CG Considering that in 1861 the net value of their 13,000 acre plantation was $550,000 an individual slave was a relatively expensive investment.
RD It was a lot of money but for Washington it wasn’t too bad. The average person in American made perhaps $500 a year. That’s why only wealthy people could afford to own slaves. Most slave owners had between one and ten slaves. It was most unusual to have this number of slaves. Only a small percentage could afford that many.
CG How does Wessyngton compare to Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage which is also located in Tennessee?
RD Jackson had about 200 slaves on average. He was pretty much bankrupt by the end of his life. His son had to sell off things. Mostly it was a matter of mismanagement. He was gone for eight years in Washington. A lot of people blame his son but I don’t know if that’s really fair.
CG Jackson was one of the largest plantation owners.
RD Yeah. He ranked up there. Until the presidency he was a wealthy man. In the last years from what we know the Hermitage got kind of shabby.
CG Talk about the treatment of slaves.
RD I can show you some records on that. As historians are starting to look at it plantations were a negotiation between the owner and the slaves. The owners knew that if they were too brutal the slaves would not work and take off. Owners used different methods of control to try to keep them working. The slaves practiced resistance in ways that worked for them. In this part of the exhibition we show the task system, medical treatment and punishment.
The task system was when he or she finished a task they would be able to work on their own plots of tobacco. Those plots the owner would sell and take two thirds of the proceeds. It gave the slave incentive and a little bit of money. Here is a record from 1846 which shows how many pounds, who got money, and in some cases what they purchased with the money. That includes hats, shoes. I’ve seen records of pots and pans.
CG We also assume that they grew their own food.
RD Yes but the main meat, the pork, was provided. It’s something like 14,000 pounds a year which they consumed.
CG Not the hams but everything the masters wouldn’t eat like ears, feet, organs. Which of course became the basis of soul food. They say that you can eat anything off the hog but the squeal. Lyrics of a Blind Blake song says “Taters in the ashes, possum on the stove, save me the head and claws…”
RD Medical treatment which we see was another means of control. Of course keeping slaves healthy was in their best interest. Medical treatment at this time consisted of blood letting, blistering, leeching, induced vomiting and enemas. Medical treatment cost the slave owner about $300 a year. In our currency about $8,000.
CG For over 200 people that’s miniscule.
RD Of course punishment was a big part of it. We have numerous accounts of slaves being flogged, handcuffed, collared for various offenses. In the records you see references to “genteelly whipped, moderately whipped, severely whipped.” It depended on what they did. Of course running away produced the most severe punishment.
In terms of resistance they would ride work animals at night to wear them out. They would do anything to slow down the pace of work. They were very good at that; finding deceptive ways to slow down. To take some control of their lives.
A big part of this exhibition is about resistance and how they were able to build their own lives.
CG Where do Nat Turner and slave rebellions come into this exhibition?
(Nat Turner (October 2, 1800 – November 11, 1831) led a slave rebellion in Virginia on August 21, 1831 that resulted in 55 white deaths. Whites responded with at least 200 black deaths. He gathered supporters in Southampton County, Virginia. Turner was convicted, sentenced to death, and hanged. In the aftermath, the state executed 56 blacks accused of being part of Turner's slave rebellion. Two hundred blacks were also killed after being beaten by white militias and mobs reacting with violence. Across Virginia and other southern states, state legislators passed new laws prohibiting education of slaves and free blacks, restricting rights of assembly and other civil rights for free blacks, and requiring white ministers to be present at black worship services.)
RD Nat Turner changed the Tennessee constitution. Basically it made it almost impossible to emancipate a slave. If you emancipated one you had to leave the state because everyone was so paranoid about slave rebellions. The Washingtons were from Southhampton County which is where the Nat Turner rebellion occurred.
One thing the Washingtons did, which was kind of unusual, they didn’t allow religious services for their slaves. We speculate that because of Nat Turner they were so frightened of a gathering.
From oral histories we learn that the slaves did worship but they did it in secret.
CG I’ve always understood that it was in the interest of plantation owners to Christianize their slaves.
RD Exactly, which is why I find this strange. We’ve had to say in this exhibition that every plantation was unique. We learn some lessons from Wessyngton but you can’t apply them to slavery as a whole. It was different everywhere.
AH The Washingtons were British. When did they come?
RD The earliest ones came in the 1650s. They were very very distant relatives of George Washington.
CG What happened to the family after the war?
RD Amazingly they were more wealthy than before. Washington spent most of the war in New York investing. He was all for secession until Nashville was occupied by the Union Army in 1862. He was like a lot of owners who went from strict Confederates to “I’m just trying to save my property.” His son went to college in Canada. He and his wife spent most of the war in New York. After the war, even with the loss of all of his slave property and his livestock, within a couple of years he has even more money. His kids inherited huge fortunes and built their own mansions. These mansions survived until the Great Depression of the 1930s. They were on Wessyngton property but different parts of it.
After the war it turned into share cropping. Another name for slavery. At least 20 former slave families returned. Or worked as domestic servants. Many left. The black population of the county decreased by 12 to 18% after the war. Some left for Chicago and Indiana to find better opportunities.
CG We’re looking at a diorama of the site.
RD One of our curators did this based on topographical studies. When you’re standing down here (points) it’s truly like looking at a castle on a hill. The slave cabins were located on the hill. The kitchen and smoke house are still there.
CG Do the slave quarters still exist?
RD They existed until the 1980s. There is just one which has been moved. So we get at least a partial idea of their dwellings.
CG Was it through shame that the slave quarters were torn down?
RD No. It had more to do with property taxes. For every structure you had you had to pay taxes on it. When the Roberts purchased the property they let them decline.
CG Is this a typical slave cabin that we’re looking at?
RD Yeah. Our designer Mark Cooper did that with foam believe it or not. Stage craft did an awesome job and we use it to show daily life on the plantation.
CG When we visited the Hermitage we saw the slave quarters and were amazed at how many people were crammed into them. It was very dense and unhealthy.
RD They had a decent amount of space with yards. But you’re absolutely right. We had a teacher’s workshop here and they were surprised that share croppers were living in the former slave cabins all the way to the 1980s. There was a woman at the workshop and she was the daughter of the last black caretaker at Wessyngton. She was in her 80s. We were talking about the cabins and someone asked “How big were they?” The guide said “Ask Narcissus because she was born in one of them.” She said “Well. There was a kitchen. There was a room. There was a loft (for sleeping). There was a porch.” That was basically it just like you saw. (At Hermitage)
AH At Hermitage we saw a number of two family cabins.
RD It varied. Even in the model we tried to put different cabins. They weren’t all uniform. At Jefferson’s Monticello they were like row houses.
CG Going back to Nat Turner you have the family living in the mansion surrounded by some 200 people who really don’t like them. One would image a lot of paranoia.
RD That’s the thing about control. It’s punishment combined with a little bit of paying them. What we do know is that after the war the plantation owners were surprised when their former slaves left in droves. That shows that the slaves were very good at deceiving their owners. They were acting content a lot of times. As soon as the war comes they’re gone. Most of them.
Ones that came back were often the same ones that ran away. They came back, according to John Baker, because Wessyngton was wealthy and still the best employer in the county.
(“The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation: Stories of My Family’s Journey to Freedom” Simon and Schuster, 2009, 417 pages, illustrated, with bibliography, notes and index. ISBN 9 781416567417)
He thinks that economics trumped feelings. Which is why a lot of them were willing to come back and work as share croppers.
CG In the films of the past two years Twelve Years a Slave and Django Unchained we have seen the incredible brutality of the slave owners including the wife of an owner. One would imagine that this inhumanity would inflict severe psychological damage on the owners as well as their victims.
RD Exactly. I wish we knew more about that. First off they thought of it as a moral and ethical institution. Many southerners who didn’t own slaves saw the Bible as justifying it. It had been done for generations. There were passages in the New Testament. In fact we have a book on display “The Bible’s Justifications of Slavery” that was written in the 1850s. There are parables about honoring your master just as you would honor God. Of course there are lots of references to slavery in the Old Testament as well. I’m not saying that it’s not flawed logic.
CG It’s the Bible.
RD There was the feeling that if we do not elevate these people they will just run amuck. They were exploiting them. No doubt about it. But they were uplifting them and giving them a place.
CG Jefferson’s recorded remarks about the inferiority of blacks were horrendous. Horrifying when you consider that he was President of the United States.
RD You have to think that at first and second that we wish we knew more of how people thought about it. Similar to Twelve Years a Slave we know that the women of Wessyngton were involved in the management of the plantation as well as punishment. We don’t know if they enjoyed the power or sometimes thought I hate that I’m in this position. As you remark about the psychological aspect of this.
CG So women were whipped.
CG Then what we saw in Twelve Years a Slave has a factual basis.
CG In terms of a relative scale of the horrors of slavery how would you rate this plantation? We assume that some slave owners were more severe than others.
RD That’s really hard to do.
Mary Skinner (Museum’s publicist) That’s not what we are trying to do with this exhibition. The exhibition is based on the book by one of the slave descendants (John F. Baker, Jr.) and his research. We’re not making a universal statement here. We don’t feel like that’s our job.
CG Let me rephrase then. How would slavery on this plantation be viewed relative to others?
RD In Tennessee, according to John’s research, in terms of material items they possessed he felt like they were doing pretty well.
CG What you’re saying is that through the task system with a third of the profit of the sale of the tobacco in their own plots there was some money to buy things. So it was possible to obtain some necessities beyond what was provided.
RD That’s correct.
CG Can you describe meals? Were there three a day?
RD I’m not sure that we know that. Pork was the main thing in their diets and we know that they all had their own vegetable gardens. They grew their own greens. We have records where the families would periodically go to the smoke house and collect their rations.
AH In other words they didn’t eat meat unless it was given to them. They worked from dark to dark. So what was their breakfast to start a day of labor? Did they have lunch and when was it served?
RD A good question but I don’t know. The day varied with the season. During the summer there would have been long, long hours. I was just talking with my Mom last night. She grew tobacco in Kentucky and said it was the exact same way for her.
MS My mom grew up on a tobacco farm in Kentucky. Her brothers fought in the war (WWII) so she and her sisters had to take over the tobacco production. She talked about it being the hardest thing she ever did in her life. One time I told her I wanted to do it for some extra money and she said to me “You wouldn’t last one hour.”
RD This is the final room of the exhibition where we deal with the Civil War. We wanted to talk about how European and African American cultures merged to create the unique southern culture through music, food and story telling.
CG (Looking at a display of simple, home made stringed instruments) This is unique. Look at the homemade cello. Amazing.
RD This is a book from Wessyngton with recipes. Here’s one for ketchup. Some strange things with calf’s heads and turtles. There are not a lot of meat recipes. I think the meat they knew how to do so these are more baking things. Half of the book is food recipes and half of the book is medicinal recipes.
As I said I love that we can talk about the families after the war. There is a variety of names. Many of the families kept the names of previous owners. Even back to the 1820s a lot of them took that name. It gets really confusing. On the census records in 1870 and 1880 sometimes they used different names. In 1870 they may be Washington and in 1880 they may be Terry.
CG Is this woman (looking at a photograph) the descendant of a slave? She looks very fair skinned.
RD She is. That’s because her father, Granville, by oral tradition was the son of George A. Washington and a slave woman named Fanny. So yeah, that family was very fair skinned.
CG Thank you for taking the time to meet with us. | <urn:uuid:0aa94a91-21e1-4eb3-9dfb-23830bbbc8a9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.berkshirefinearts.com/05-12-2014_slaves-and-slaveholders-of-wessyngton-plantation.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399425.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00000-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983779 | 5,235 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Need HELP on THIS PLEASE!!!!!!
I'm stuck and I hate this. Someone help me out please.
Write a graphics program that asks the user to specify the radii of two circles. The first circle has center (100,200), and the second circle has center(200,100). Draw the circles. If they intersect, then display a message "Circles intersect." Otherwise, display "Circles don't intersect." Hint: Compute the distance between the centers and compare it to the radii. Your program should draw nothing if the user enters a negative radius.
I need a Circle.java file and a CircleIntersectApplet.java file.
Here is what I have so far:
public class CircleIntersectApplet extends Applet
String input1 = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter the Radius of the first circle");
init_radius1 = Integer.parseInt(input1);
String input2 = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter the Radius of the second circle");
init_radius2 = Integer.parseInt(input2);
public void paint(Graphics g)
Graphics2D g2 = (Graphics2D)g;
final double x1Center = 100; //Fixed Center Point
final double y1Center = 200; //Fixed Center Point
final double x2Center = 200; //Fixed Center Point
final double y2Center = 100; //Fixed Center Point
double radius1 = init_radius1;
double radius2 = init_radius2;
//Draws the first circle
= new Ellipse2D.Double(x1Center - radius1, y1Center - radius1, 2 * radius1, 2 * radius1);
//Draws the second circle
= new Ellipse2D.Double(x2Center - radius2, y2Center - radius2, 2 * radius2, 2 * radius2);
private final double init_radius1;
private final double init_radius2;
When this is ran in an Appletviewer, it asks the User to input the First radius, then the Second Radius. After it is inputed, it draws two circles with the inputed Radius'.
Now, I still need the if statements to compute the distance between the two centers = d, and the two Radius = r1 and r2.
something like: if d > r1 + r2 then they don't intersect.
I don't know how to write If else statements and don't know where I should plug it in.
Also, I have to submit in 2 files... not 1. So I don't know what should be in the first file and the second one.
Lastly, if they do intersect, it needs to say "Circles intersect." and if they don't intersect, it needs to say "Circles don't intersect." in the applet with the 2 circles showing.
Please help. I've been on my *** tryin to do this for hours now...
-- Android Development Center
-- Cloud Development Project Center
-- HTML5 Development Center
-- Windows Mobile Development Center | <urn:uuid:cecdfb76-a791-4160-99e3-cee83c6b8aef> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://forums.devx.com/showthread.php?137798-Need-HELP-on-THIS-PLEASE!!!!!!&p=407480&mode=threaded | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399428.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00017-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.76345 | 662 | 3.359375 | 3 |
April 12, 2004
Opportunity for Media to Photograph Brown v Board Supreme Court Decision
WHAT: This will be the only opportunity for the media to film/photograph the original Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Supreme Court Decision before it goes on public display at the National Archives. Original photographs of two public high schools in Prince Edward County, Virginia, will also be on view. These photos were presented as evidence in the district court case Davis et al. v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, VA, et al. to illustrate the inequality of the all-black Robert Russa Moton High School and the all-white Farmville High School. The Davis case became part of the Brown case when it when it was appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court Decision and the photographs will be on display in the West Gallery of the National Archives, April 16, 2004 through July 5, 2004. The exhibition is free and open to the public. The public should use the Constitution Avenue entrance to the building. Hours are: 10:00 A.M.–7:00 P.M. April 1 through the Friday before Memorial Day Weekend; 10:00 A.M.–9:00 P.M. Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day.
WHEN: 10 AM Wednesday, April 14, 2004.
WHERE: The Jefferson Room, The National Archives Building, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC.
PLEASE NOTE: Available light only. No flash photography will be permitted. The media should use the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance.
BACKGROUND: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was actually a consolidation of five separate cases that challenged the constitutionality of racial segregation in public schools. One of them, Davis et al. v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, VA, et al., originated in the rural Virginia community of Prince Edward County, 170 miles south of the nation’s capital. These photographs, presented as evidence in that case, illustrate the inequality of two of the county’s public high schools: the all-black Robert Russa Moton High School and the all-white Farmville High School.
On April 23, 1951, the students of Moton High School went on strike to protest the shabby conditions of their school. Intending to sue their county to obtain a new building, the student strike committee asked for help from the NAACP’s Richmond office. The NAACP agreed to help by suing the county—not just for an improved facility—but for the end of segregation. On May 23, 1951, Davis et al. v. The County School Board of Prince Edward County, VA, et al. was filed in the Federal District Court in Richmond demanding the immediate integration of the county’s schools. Photographs from all three of the county’s public high schools—Moton, Farmville, and the county’s second, less affluent, all-white school, Worsham—were submitted as evidence.
On March 7, 1952, a three-judge panel ruled in favor of the school board, upholding segregation. They found, however, that the school buildings and curricula of the African American students were inferior to those of the county’s white students, and ordered that the schools be equalized. In 1954, the Moton School moved into a newly constructed, modern school building that could accommodate 700 students.
The NAACP lawyers appealed the district court decision; the Davis case with its challenge to segregation became part of the Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, that found segregation in the nation’s public schools to be unconstitutional. Despite the Brown ruling, the schools of Prince Edward County remained strictly segregated as late as 1959. Rather than comply with the Court’s orders to integrate the schools, the county Board of Supervisors closed them. The schools of Prince Edward County remained closed for five years, reopening in 1964 by order of the Supreme Court.
For press information, contact the National Archives Public Affairs Staff at 202-501-5526 or 301-837-1700. | <urn:uuid:61536057-e6e0-42e1-ba26-a1682a69a117> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2004/nr04-46.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00034-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949496 | 843 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Definitions for knoutnaʊt
This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word knout
a whip with a lash of leather thongs twisted with wire; used for flogging prisoners
A leather scourge (multi-tail whip), in the severe version known as 'great knout' with metal weights on each tongue, notoriously used in imperial Russia.
To flog or beat with a knout.
Origin: Via , from кнут, from knútr.
a kind of whip for flogging criminals, formerly much used in Russia. The last is a tapering bundle of leather thongs twisted with wire and hardened, so that it mangles the flesh
to punish with the knout
Origin: [Russ. knut'; prob. of Scand. origin; cf. Sw. knut knot, knout, Icel. kntr knot: cf. F. knout. See Knot.]
A knout is a heavy scourge-like multiple whip, usually made of a bunch of rawhide thongs attached to a long handle, sometimes with metal wire or hooks incorporated. The English word stems from a spelling-pronunciation of a French transliteration of the Russian word кнут, which simply means "whip".
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
nowt, n. a whip formerly used as an instrument of punishment in Russia: punishment inflicted by the knout. [Russ. knute.]
The numerical value of knout in Chaldean Numerology is: 6
The numerical value of knout in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9
Images & Illustrations of knout
Translations for knout
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
Get even more translations for knout »
Find a translation for the knout definition in other languages:
Select another language: | <urn:uuid:760b5e32-cffd-484c-baf9-48cf3e6df135> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.definitions.net/definition/knout | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00137-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.796303 | 386 | 2.75 | 3 |
Have you ever wanted to annotate pictures, slideshow presentations, class readings, or any other files during a lecture? For example, say you’re examining a work of art that is full of visual symbolism. When discussing this art work, it would be helpful to highlight the symbolic objects in the painting for the whole class to see, right? Now, using only an iPad, ePodium, and two apps…you can very easily do this!
The video below shows the process of turning your iPad and projector into an interactive whiteboard. Before you get started following the tutorial, you will need to download two apps to your iPad: Dropbox and Airsketch. Note that you will need to create a Dropbox account. You will also need to convert the file you wish to annotate to PDF format and upload the file to Dropbox. Here are links to tutorials from the Learning Technologies website that will guide you through this process: | <urn:uuid:7c4e659a-76d5-47e4-bd75-9d5913abf851> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://depts.washington.edu/etuwb/ltblog/?p=2208 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395160.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00089-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928054 | 189 | 3.15625 | 3 |
On Aug. 25, the New Mexico Game Commission will decide whether to release fish-killing poison into a Rio Grande tributary—all with the ironic goal of protecting the state fish.
The commission will vote on whether to use a piscicide (pronounced PISK-icide) to kill nonnative fish currently living in Las Animas Creek, near Truth or Consequences. The measure may be an important step in the effort to keep the native Rio Grande cutthroat trout—also the New Mexico state fish—from becoming listed under the Endangered Species Act. But it also means killing all the fish and insects in the treated section of the stream with an undiscriminating poison.
The piscicide rotenone enters fish’ systems through their gills and stops their cells from converting energy for their use, causing paralysis and death. A few minutes after its application, the poison is chemically neutralized so it doesn’t flow downstream and affect other reaches. Physical barriers are erected upstream so that nonnative fish can’t repopulate the area.
Nonnative fish can displace native trout by moving into their habitat. Nonnative species that are sufficiently similar to the Rio Grande cutthroat, such as rainbow trout, dilute the native stock’s genes by breeding with them to produce a hybrid trout.
Las Animas Creek is part of the Rio Grande cutthroat’s natural habitat, and the rotenone treatments can be expected to kill some of the species they’re aimed to save before the stream is restocked with native fish from a hatchery.
Currently, Rio Grande cutthroats aren’t listed as endangered or threatened, but they are estimated to be present in only 10 percent of their historical habitat, which is mostly in New Mexico and southern Colorado. The project would treat portions of 40-mile Las Animas Creek, which lies partly on National Forest Service land and partly on media mogul Ted Turner’s 210,000-acre Ladder Ranch.
One of two other ongoing piscicide projects in New Mexico is underway at Turner’s Vermejo Park Ranch near Raton, where Turner Enterprises lead biologist Carter Kruse says 14 miles of the Rio Grande cutthroat’s habitat has been restored so far using rotenone. New Mexico Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office Project Director Jim Brooks touts another rotenone success: The native New Mexico Gila trout was taken off the threatened species list after 20 miles of its habitat on the west fork of the Gila River was restored.
Turner’s camp and New Mexico Game and Fish have been interested in treating Las Animas Creek for about the past 10 years, but the project has always run into snags, Kruse says.
“There’s been a lot of hesitancy about ‘How effective are these projects? What are you trying to do? Are there chemicals left over in the water?’” Kruse says. “So the [Game Commission] just started to be very cautious in their approval of the project…I think the climate has become more favorable, but there are still some people philosophically opposed, just like they are to spraying weeds or application of any chemical in the environment.”
Former Game Commissioner Dutch Salmon, a vocal opponent of piscicide use, was instrumental in postponing the project. So was WildEarth Guardians (at that time known as Forest Guardians) founder Sam Hitt, who believes the negative effects of the project far outweigh the positives.
“This is a very important stream that’s in very good condition…the last thing you want to do with a high-quality stream like this is to kill everything, and that’s what they’re going to do,” Hitt says.
Although insects killed by rotenone repopulate quickly, according to state Game and Fish fisheries Chief Mike Sloane, there are more concerns regarding a threatened native frog species. Although Brooks says the amount of rotenone needed to kill a leopard frog is about 50 times higher than the concentration used to treat the streams, as a precaution, biologists had to search the river for any tadpoles or adult frogs before beginning the west Gila treatment, Brooks says. Kruse confirms leopard frogs live on the upper Las Animas, and similar precautions would have to be taken there.
WildEarth Guardians Wild Places Program Director Bryan Bird says that, although his organization doesn’t reject the idea of any rotenone use, it is concerned about correct execution of the project and believes the poison should be applied only once per area. The Las Animas project is expected to take at least two applications, as one application typically doesn’t kill every fish in a stream. In addition, Bird believes it’s important to address the underlying issues of habitat degradation and to keep nonnative fish from being accidentally restocked.
“[Game and Fish] often make[s] blunders that negate the whole thing,” Taos fishing guide and owner of Taos Fly Shop Taylor Streit says. Streit, who has closely followed the Vermejo Park Ranch project, says that, during that project, nonnative rainbow trout were actually put back into treated areas—a risk if projects aren’t carefully controlled and protected.
Hitt says there’s nothing inherently wrong with “hybrid” versions of Rio Grande cutthroat that may have some rainbow trout in their pedigree. The so-called hybrid fish are, he argues, just Rio Grande cutthroat specifically adapted to the part of the Rio Grande they inhabit, and are superior to the farm-raised Rio Grande cutthroat that would be replacing them.
“We’re talking about a trout that looks like Rio Grande cutthroat, acts like Rio Grande cutthroat, and certainly has been in this stream in its current genetic configuration and seems to have adapted and thrived,” Hitt says. “And we’re talking about killing them all.”
But to some, the end justifies the means. According to a recent article by national trout fisherman’s group Trout Unlimited, Turner created one of the largest habitats in Montana for the native westslope cutthroat trout through the use of rotenone and antimycin, another piscicide, at his 113,000-acre Flying D Ranch.
New Mexico Council of Trout Unlimited Chairman William Schudlich confirms TU’s support of the Las Animas plan. But for sportsmen, preservation of the Rio Grande cutthroat means not only protection of the species, but also prevention of the onerous restrictions that would come with an endangered species listing. Should Rio Grande cutthroat become listed as threatened, sport fishing of the species would be suspended, and cumbersome water and land use restrictions would be placed on all of its habitats.
“Everyone worries that the Endangered Species Act can close down an entire watershed to fishing or other use,” Streit explains.
Although many sport fishermen were opposed to the Gila trout project, Kruse says public opinion in New Mexico seems to be shifting, as Montana’s did.
“The transition New Mexico is going through, [Montana] went through a few years before,” Kruse says. “They got past that initial ‘Oh, my goodness, what are you doing?’ type of reaction. We’ve done a lot of work in an attempt to answer questions that we thought were appropriately raised.”
In an editorial in sportsmen’s magazine Outdoors Unlimited, angler and writer Ted Williams argues that to fish for “junk” nonnative species is just a sport, while fishing for native fish represents a meaningful communion with nature. Though he might not go that far, Streit understands the draw of the New Mexico state fish: When he spoke with SFR for this story, he was winding his way along a road near Tres Piedras, in search of a remote stream where Rio Grande cutthroat are rumored to roam. He says that there’s really no alternative to piscicide for getting rid of introduced and hybrid fish and making way for the real thing.
“The thing about fish poisoning is that it’s the only—unfortunately, the only—thing that works to accomplish that goal,” Streit says. | <urn:uuid:9b8f7917-78ea-4f71-a567-ce70b039991e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/article-6232-deadliest-catch.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397842.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00070-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95436 | 1,756 | 2.640625 | 3 |
The biologist Lewis Wolpert calls it "Thales's leap."
It is to Thales of Miletos, who lived about 600 B. C., that Wolpert gives credit for being the first to suggest that the world is primarily matter, not mind. Thales chose water as the primary substance. A reasonable guess, to be sure: water exists as a solid, a liquid and a gas; it is manifestly essential to life, and hence to mind. Understand water said Thales, and you are on you way to understanding the world.
It was a daring suggestion that ran counter to every prior explanation that we know about, all of which invoked an animate and intelligent creative force. In place of the Ionian pantheon of gods, Zeus and all his cohort, including the spirits of rocks and pools and trees, Thales said "water."
Of course, Thales was himself a creature of his time, and he almost certainly had precedents that we don't know about, but give him his leap. Start with "stuff." Stuff has one great advantage over mind as an explanatory principle: it can be described mathematically, and Thales was no slouch as a mathematician. With the union of stuff and mathematics, science as we know it began.
We have come a long way from water as the primary stuff. We now understand that water molecules are composites of atoms of hydrogen and oxygen, which are composed of electrons and protons. And even these subatomic particles are...
No more hard little particles rattling around in the void, as proposed by Democritus, Lucretius and Newton. Matter, as it shows itself at the turn of the millennium, is a thing of astonishing, almost "immaterial" subtlety, with a built-in capacity to complexify and diversify, to spin out stars and galaxies, hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and ultimately life and consciousness.
As physicists probe the structure of atoms, the fundamental particles dissolve into a kind of cosmic music, all resonances, vibrations and spooky entanglements. There is nothing at the heart of matter that is quite "material" in the way we previously understood the word, but we only got to this place by taking Thales's leap and committing ourselves to a materialist philosophy. | <urn:uuid:284cdf2b-6635-4704-83d9-874c2114b5eb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blog.sciencemusings.com/2008/01/heart-of-matter.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397565.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00105-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970927 | 468 | 3.0625 | 3 |
English Grammar: Prepositions
About the English Grammar: Prepositions Lesson
Introduction to prepositions.
• Students will be able to state the definition of a preposition and object of a preposition.
• Students will be able to recognize prepositions and their objects.
• Students will be able to recognize prepositional phrases and state that they are composed of prepositions and their objects.
• Students will be able to distinguish prepositions of time and place from each other and from other prepositions.
• Students will be able to use prepositions and prepositional phrases in sentences.
1. Read lesson and discuss examples.
2. Allow students time to complete the exercises.
3. Discuss answers to exercises.
A preposition is a word that relates or connects words in a sentence to each other. Prepositions can show direction, place, or time as well as other relationships. All prepositions have objects. The object of a preposition is the word or phrase it refers or relates to. A preposition and its object together are called a prepositional phrase. In most cases, the preposition comes just before its object.
Ashley and Carlos went to school. | <urn:uuid:369b9213-e461-4a60-b8f9-f773f4fe8744> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.lessonsnips.com/lesson/prepositions | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397795.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00093-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908384 | 257 | 4.90625 | 5 |
Language Arts Classroom Competition
WordMasters: Grade 6 Gold Division Jan-Feb '09
All of the words listed here will appear in the second WordMasters Challenge, which will be held at your school between February 2 and February 20. (Your teacher will tell you exactly when.) The WordMasters Challenge is an analogy-solving contest. The contest will challenge you to use the words from your list in logical pairs that will look like this:
MIND : EDUCATE :: TALENT : _______________________
(a. acclimate / b. cultivate / c. pamper / d. invigorate / e. manipulate)
To do this well, you will have to understand the exact meanings of all of your words, and you will have to reason carefully about the relationships shown in the pairs.
Here is how you should get ready for the Challenge: After you have learned the meanings of these words, think about possible relationships among them. Which words have similar meanings? Which words have nearly opposite meanings? (Of course, some words have more than one meaning.) Think of some categories under which several words might be grouped.
Be sure you understand the part of speech of a word—whether it's a noun, a verb, or an adjective. (Some words, such as "heed" and "scheme" and "maneuver" on this list, can be either a noun or a verb depending on how they are used.) Pay attention to the prefixes and suffixes of words, because they are often clues to meaning and part of speech. And try to familiarize yourself with other forms of these words—not just "oblivion" but also "oblivious," not just "heed" but also "heedless," not just "desolate" but also "desolation," not just "animation" but also "animate" and "animated," not just "cultivated" but also "cultivate" and "cultivation," not just "deceit" but also "deceitful," not just "exhilarate" but also "exhilaration," not just "inert" but also "inertia," not just "flamboyant" but also "flamboyance," not just "forthrightness" but also "forthright," not just "jaded" but also "jade," not just "scheme" but also "schemer," etc.
(Click here for the word list.)
Note: Some of these words will also appear in the third WordMasters Challenges, scheduled for later this year. | <urn:uuid:9151a49d-4e1a-448a-bd15-79a9efc2517f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordmasters/wordmasters-grade-6-gold-division-jan-feb-09/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00139-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960373 | 540 | 3.515625 | 4 |
Artificial life: not in outer space, but in a petri dish, right here on Earth
After countless science fiction films and novels, we’ve come to assume that if alien life exists, it exists in outer space. Well now, it could be the case that the first place we encounter alien life is right here on Earth. Chemists and biologists are closer than ever to producing artificial life right here from chemicals in a petri dish. While scientists do not always agree on the definition of life, most agree that something is alive if it is able to evolve and adapt. And in fact, researchers have created an RNA, or ribonucleic acid, molecule in a test tube that can replicate and evolve, with a little nudging from researchers. The goal is to get the molecule to evolve all on its own, without human assistance. If this RNA molecule can’t do it, several other alternatives are being tried out such as reconstructing the genome of an E. Coli bacterium and a bacterial goat parasite so that it can reproduce itself. Why create life? Scientists say that once they’ve done so, they will better understand how life began and how to recognize life if it does in fact exist in outer space. Is there and will there be resistance to creating artificial life? If we create life, what will we do with it? Is there more to gain or more to loose from venturing into this unknown world? | <urn:uuid:6b12cf90-bed7-40a4-ac6d-8b844a787bfa> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.scpr.org/programs/patt-morrison/2011/08/12/4609/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397696.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00031-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939383 | 295 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Eco-cities are in vogue. Renown eco-architect William McDonough has long been a champion, global engineering firm Arup is building a high-profile one near Shanghai, and earlier this year, Abu Dhabi announced its own eco-city intentions through the Masdar Initiative.
The Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city is among the latest projects to join this growing movement. First announced last November (click here for an interesting piece on how Tianjin was first selected as the site for the eco-city), the Tianjin eco-city projecy is jointly planned and managed by the governments of Singapore and Tianjin, and will cover an area of 30 square kilometers and is projected to be inhabited by some 300,000 residents. A master plan is to be completed by March, and ground is to be broken by July. The eco-city will integrate sustainable design and engineering covering at least 18 aspects, including public transportation, buildings, waste management and recycling, energy efficiency, air quality.
While the design of utopic eco-cities have been the stuff of science fiction for decade, commitments to actually make such science fiction reality is a more recent phenomenon, but one stemming out of imperative rather than coincidence. China is witnessing the largest scale of rural-to-urban migration in history. As of the end of 2006, some 44% of China’s population lived in urban areas; that figure is set to grow to as much as 70% by 2050, consisting of 1.1 billion people engaging in economic activities that are more energy intensive than rural activities and will put a heavy strain on resources unless more sustainable paths to development are deployed.
According to this piece from WorldChanging, if McDonough’s and Arup’s experiences are to be any indication, execution of the best-laid plans to build an eco-city may prove challenging. For an eco-city to truly come alive, green living must capture the hearts and minds of all levels of government and a significant portion of the residents, otherwise, the purpose and function of the city’s green infrastructure will not be fully utilized or properly maintained. It is important to realize that a city is not merely a static collection of buildings and roads, but consists of an organic, dynamic and evolving living space in which people adapt to or modify over time. If such adaptations or modifications are not consistent with the ecological design, the eco-city is doomed to fail. Viewed another way, that would be like installing the eco-city hardware with faulty software, causing the system to underperform, or worse still, overheat. | <urn:uuid:93670fd9-ef68-45a5-9f6e-15c6d9f7db92> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://greenleapforward.com/2008/02/04/singapore-and-china-to-build-tianjin-eco-city/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397744.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00172-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96054 | 539 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Washington DC, March 8, 2011 -- Today is International Women's Day. The Global Population and Environment Program honors this day each year -- and every day –- by supporting the rights, freedoms, and accomplishments of women around the world. There are many ways that you can honor International Women's Day, including attending an event in your local community (like a bridge event), and supporting improved access to education, reproductive health services, economic development and more. We also invite you to participate online, by signing the million for a billion campaign petition. Signing this petition helps urge Congress and other world leaders to make universal access to family planning and reproductive health services a reality. There are over 215 million women who lack access to family planning around the world. Ensuring access to voluntary family planning is the best way to give women choices about the timing and spacing of their births, which has been proven to result in healthier children, families, communities, and a healthier planet.
International Women's Day began in 1911, notably at a time of increased population growth, industrialization and polarizing inequities. As we mark the 100 year anniversary of this celebration -- in the year when our world’s population will reach 7 billion -- we reflect on the significant achievements women have made and acknowledge the principal role that women and girls will play in the future of our changing world.
On March 8, the Senate is slated to vote on H.R. 1, a bill that blatantly attacks the rights of women around the world. Contact your Senator today and tell them to vote against H.R.1 and stand with women on International Women’s Day. | <urn:uuid:8ec02d5b-d250-48e8-80e7-77c4495c14e9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://action.sierraclub.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=198863.0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399385.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00094-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954409 | 330 | 3.15625 | 3 |
What Life is Like for a Kid with Diabetes
If your child has been recently diagnosed with diabetes, you may have some concerns about how it will affect his or her childhood. What may surprise you to learn is that kids with diabetes can do everything regular kids do, and live a normal, active life – they just have to be more careful about planning their daily activities.
According to Debbie Butler, L.I.C.S.W., C.D.E., Clinical Social Worker in Pediatrics and Behavioral and Mental Health, Joslin Diabetes Center, “Children with diabetes should be able to do all of the activities that they would have done if they were not diagnosed with diabetes. It is our job as healthcare providers to adjust your child’s diabetes management plan around your child’s daily routine.”
A common misconception is that kids with diabetes can’t eat anything with sugar, including things like birthday cake, cookies, and ice cream. The truth is that kids can eat these foods in moderation; they just need to carefully plan what else they eat that day, and adjust insulin doses accordingly. A healthy meal plan for a child with diabetes is actually the same for a child without diabetes.
Kids can also play sports and take part in physical activities just like other children. Once again, you just need to plan – first talking with their doctor, and then learning the routine of glucose testing, planned eating, and insulin, that works best for them.
Of course children, can’t, and shouldn’t, be dealing with their diabetes alone. Diabetes affects the whole family, and it’s very important that all members of the family take an active role in your child’s diabetes. “One of the most important things parents can do to help their child with their diabetes is to continue to stay involved with day to day management tasks and find ways to work together as a team with your child,” Butler states.
It may seem overwhelming now, but diabetes care will quickly become part of your child’s everyday routine.
Page last updated: June 28, 2016 | <urn:uuid:f21bd271-b6d9-4c81-a6c7-40dc281d97cf> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.joslin.org/info/what_life_is_like_for_a_kid_with_diabetes.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397562.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00133-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968932 | 434 | 2.828125 | 3 |
NASA Chat: Landing on Other Planets -- How Hard Can It Be?
A lot of people grew up watching the popular Star Trek series that made space travel look easy. The show is entertaining, but in reality simply landing on another celestial body is a highly sophisticated task that takes a lot of science and engineering know-how. And, lots and lots of testing to work out any hardware or software glitches.
On Thursday, Oct. 13, from 3-4 p.m. EDT, chat experts Dr. Barbara Cohen, planetary scientist, and Dr. Greg Chavers, lead systems engineer for the Robotic Lander Project, both at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., answered your questions about why it's important to send spacecraft into the unknown to explore other destinations within our solar system and the engineering challenges of doing so.
› Chat Transcript (PDF, 275 Kb)
More About the Chat Experts
More About Landing on Other Planets
NASA knows the complexity of space exploration and a team of engineers and scientists at the Marshall Center have developed a robotic lander prototype that they're currently testing to mature the capability needed to successfully land a spacecraft on another planetary body. The lander they're testing is proving to work well and they've learned that the final landing step, setting a craft down on a foreign body, is one of the most complex -- and important. The team knows a simple error could result in mission failure.
The robotic lander team at Marshall has spent countless hours testing a lander prototype, dubbed Mighty Eagle, to ensure it will be able to perform a precision autonomous landing when it comes time to execute a real space landing. During each tests, the lander fires an onboard gravity canceling thruster to simulate the gravity of another planet. These lander tests go a long way in providing the team with key data about important aspects of the lander system, such as algorithms, sensors, avionics, software, landing legs, and integrated system elements that will enable the lander to one day touch down gently and safely.
Kim Newton, 256-544-0371
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. | <urn:uuid:f14495f6-1c7e-4960-80b3-eca06c797894> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/landing_chat.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396029.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00005-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907027 | 443 | 3.078125 | 3 |
We may not yet know which candidates will win. Nevertheless, it seems the people are a bit more victorious. Countless pound the pavement. The electorate runs, walks, bikes, and drives to the polls in numbers never seen before. People hope to make history, to bring about change, to secure a sense of commitment to country such that America has never known. An expanded opportunity to contribute to the choice of President has an effect on the possible outcome of this election. The chance to speak through a ballot, coupled with what some express as, a greater need to voice personal preferences, the public heads for the poll en masse.
The Success of Early Voting
The New York Times
October 30, 2008
A lot is going wrong in this election, from malfunctioning electronic voting machines to voters being purged mistakenly from the rolls. But one thing is going very right: early voting. In the more than 30 states that allow early or no-excuse absentee voting, voters have been casting ballots in record numbers. Early voting has many advantages. The main one is that it makes it likely that more eligible voters will participate in democracy.
Election Day has traditionally been held on a single day - a Tuesday. Congress scheduled federal elections on Tuesdays because they worked well for farmers and Sabbath observers. But in the 21st century, having one day to vote is an antiquated relic. Voters have to fit in a visit to the polls with their work, family and other responsibilities. Many cannot find the time, particularly when lines are as long as they have been in recent times.
The answer, as many states have discovered, is to move away from a single day of voting and allow voters to cast ballots over a period of days or weeks. . .
Some people are wary of early voting. As Susan Saulny reported in The Times on Wednesday, there are rumors in the African-American community in Jacksonville, Fla., that early voting is a scam and that the votes cast early would be discarded. Given Florida's history with electoral mischief, some skepticism about election procedures is not only understandable, but necessary.
But the truth is that early voting actually makes it harder for the forces of disenfranchisement to stop eligible voters from casting ballots. If election officials try to require voters to present ID when it is not required by law, early voting gives voters a chance to simply return the next day. Dirty tricks are also harder to pull off. If political operatives want to jam get-out-the-vote telephone lines, as they did on Election Day in New Hampshire in 2002, it would be harder to do if people voted over two weeks.
Tittle-tattle, tales of what will go wrong, or has, may be unfounded, or at least far less dire than reported. While problems still exist, purged ballots, misplaced tickets, and other antics are less likely when the time to vote is spread over days, and even weeks. Challenges can be corrected. Dilemmas dealt with. Quandaries quickly resolved. Hence, eligible voters enjoy.
Chat with those in your community while you wait to cast a ballot for your county and for the children who cannot yet legally speak for the concerns that will transform life for them. Take comfort in the knowledge that time will pass and you can be a part of what will be better for the Seventh Generation. Settle in as you sit with your absentee form and do the research. Remember, the young, the old, those soon-to-be born, the ill, the impoverished, even the affluent will be affected by your decision. Be part of the choice this country makes. Feel empowered. Make history. Vote early.
Reference: for a newer reality . . .
- The Success of Early Voting, Editorial. The New York Times October 30, 2008 | <urn:uuid:7541f74b-536b-4b09-9d03-dcedf4d97abf> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://be-think.typepad.com/bethink/2008/10/make-history-vote-early.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402516.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00072-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964272 | 774 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Phyllis Cohen Stevens
Deputy Director of News Services
FIRST-TIME BIO BLITZ TO DOCUMENT JAMAICA BAY AREA
-- 24-Hour Study of Urban Park’s Thousands of Acres Will Record Its Biodiversity; Public Invited to Participate in September 7-8 Activities --
FLUSHING, NEW YORK, August 27, 2007 -- Equipped with nets, notebooks, and insect repellent, Queens College researchers will descend on the wildest reaches of New York City on the afternoon of Friday, September 7, and they won’t emerge for 24 hours. They’re not filming an episode of Survivor; they’re staging the first BioBlitz—a round-the-clock tally of flora and fauna—of the Jamaica Bay area. Queens College is the lead institution for the event, sponsored by the college, the Jamaica Bay Institute, the Gateway National Recreation Area of the National Park Service, the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities, and the North Atlantic Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit.
Organized by Queens College biology professor John Waldman and assistant earth and environmental sciences professor Gillian Stewart, the BioBlitz targets thousands of acres within the federally protected Gateway National Recreation Area, which straddles New York and New Jersey. Despite its urban location, Jamaica Bay is rich in wildlife, from red foxes and horseshoe crabs to invasive species, like Western jackrabbits. It also serves as a major flyover for hundreds of migrating visitors, such as hawks, ospreys, and monarch butterflies.
To document this biodiversity, “we’re going to take a team of scientists with different specialties in plants and animals, and survey the hell out of a plot of land,” says Waldman. “It’s a quick and dirty look at what’s there, giving us a baseline for the future.”
Planners hope that the event will also meet the goals of educating the public and celebrating biodiversity. “There will be a festival atmosphere,” says Stewart, who notes that the excitement will begin on September 7 at 3 pm with the ringing of a bell at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge visitor center, the BioBlitz base camp. New York City Councilmember James Gennaro, chair of the Council’s Committee on Environmental Protection, will speak. Author of many progressive environmental bills, Gennaro spearheaded efforts to protect and restore Jamaica Bay, and takes great pride in the role he has played in preserving the city’s water supply. Barry Sullivan, general superintendent of the Gateway National Recreation Area and Kim Tripp, director/research coordinator of the Jamaica Bay Institute, will also address the participants.
The schedule of free activities on Friday evening and Saturday morning will include guided field walks, a workshop on sketching plants and animals in the wild, and a junior BioBlitz for children. Meanwhile, professional naturalists will be staking out parts of the park in four-hour shifts, returning to the wildlife center to file regular reports. The final species count, and other interesting findings, will be announced at closing ceremonies on September 8 at 3 pm, when Congressman Anthony Weiner will say a few words. A member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce—and its energy and air quality subcommittee—Weiner has made Gateway one of his top priorities, securing nearly $66 million for the park since he was elected in 1998.
A limited number of positions on field teams are open to volunteers, who will be expected to bring their own water and snacks; camping will be permitted at Floyd Bennett Field, but no bedding will be provided. To learn more about the BioBlitz or register as a volunteer, visit the project’s Web site at | <urn:uuid:51598ce3-c0f2-48ab-a2ee-7623210ab6d9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.qc.cuny.edu/communications/news_services/releases/Pages/NewsArchive.aspx?ItemID=1008 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394605.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00001-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911305 | 780 | 2.765625 | 3 |
It has been suggested that the regular icosahedron, not being found in nature, is the first example of a geometrical object that is the free creation of human thought. Regardless of the truth of this, it is interesting to try to track down the origin of the icosahedron. A scholium in Book XIII of Euclid's "Elements" speaks of "the five so-called Platonic figures which, however, do not belong to Plato, three of the five being due to the Pythagoreans, namely the cube, the pyramid, and the dodecahedron, while the octahedron and the icosahedron are due to Theaetetus." More recently, Atiyah and Sutcliffe have claimed that a regular icosahedron appears among a collection of stone balls in the Ashmolean Museum - balls that were unearthed in Scotland and may date back to 2000 BC. However, Lieven le Bruyn has argued that these authors are the victims of a hoax. We examine the evidence with a critical eye.Click here to see the slides of this talk:
The dodecahedron and icosahedron are the most exotic of the Platonic solids, because they have 5-fold rotational symmetry - a possibility that only exists for regular polytopes in 2, 3 or 4 dimensions. The dodecahedron and icosahedron have the same symmetry group, because they are Poincaré duals: the vertices of one correspond to faces of the other. But the icosahedron was probably discovered later. As Benno Artmann wrote:
The original knowledge of the dodecahedron may have come from crystals of pyrite, but in contrast the icosahedron is a pure mathematical creation.... It is the first realization of an entity that existed before only in abstract thought. (Well, apart from the statues of gods!)
I'm not sure it's really anything close to the first "realization of an entity that existed before only in abstract thought". But it may have been the first "exceptional" object in mathematics - roughtly speaking, an entity that doesn't fit into any easy pattern, which is discovered as part of proving a classification theorem!
Other exceptional objects include the simple Lie group E8, and the finite simple group M12. Intriguingly, many of these exceptional objects" are related. For example, the icosahedron can be used to construct both E8 and M12. But the first interesting classification theorem was the classification of regular polyhedra: convex polyhedra with equilateral polygons as faces, and the same number of faces meeting at each vertex. This theorem appears almost at the end of the last book of Euclid's Elements - Book XIII. It shows that the only possibilities are the Platonic solids: the tetrahedron, the cube, the octahedron, the dodecahedron and the icosahedron. And according to traditional wisdom, the results in this book were proved by Theatetus, who also discovered the icosahedron!
Indeed, Artmann cites an "an ancient note written in the margins of the manuscript" of Book XIII, which says:
In this book, the 13th, are constructed the five so-called Platonic figures which, however, do not belong to Plato, three of the five being due to the Pythagoreans, namely the cube, the pyramid, and the dodecahedron, while the octahedron and the icosahedron are due to Theaetetus.
You may know Theaetetus through Plato's dialog of the same name, where he's described as a mathematical genius. He's also mentioned in Plato's dialogue called the Sophist. In the Republic, written around 380 BC, Plato complained that not enough is known about solid geometry:
... and for two reasons: in the first place, no government places value on it; this leads to a lack of energy in the pursuit of it, and it is difficult. In the second place, students cannot learn it unless they have a teacher. But then a teacher can hardly be found....
Theaetetus seems to have filled the gap: he worked on solid geometry between 380 and 370 BC, perhaps inspired by Plato's interest in the subject. He died from battle wounds and dysentery in 369 after Athens fought a battle with Corinth.
But how certain are we that Theatetus discovered - or at least studied - the icosahedron? The only hard evidence seems to be this "ancient note" in the margins of the Elements. But who wrote it, and when?
First of all, if you hope to see an ancient manuscript by Euclid with a scribbled note in the margin, prepare to be disappointed! All we have are copies of copies of copies. The oldest remaining fragments of the Elements date to centuries after Euclid's death: some from a library in Herculaneum roasted by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, a couple from the Fayum region near the Nile, and some from a garbage dump in the Egyptian town of Oxyrhynchus.
There are various lines of copies of Euclid's Elements. Comparing these to guess the contents of the original Elements is a difficult and fascinating task. Unfortunately, in the fourth century AD, the Greek mathematician Theon of Alexandria - Hypatia's dad - made a copy that became extremely popular. So popular, in fact, that for many centuries European scholars knew no line of copies that hadn't passed through Theon! And Theon wasn't a faithful copyist: he added extra propositions, lengthened some proofs, and omitted a few things too. It seems he wanted to standardize the language and make it easier to follow. This may have helped people trying to learn geometry - but certainly not scholars trying to understand Euclid.
In 1808, Francois Peyrard made a marvelous discovery. He found that the Vatican library had a copy of Euclid's Elements that hadn't descended through Theon!
This copy is now called "P". It dates back to about 850 AD. I would love to know how Peyrard got his hands on it. One imagines him rooting around in a dusty basement and opening a trunk... but it seems that Napoleon somehow took this manuscript from the Vatican to Paris.
In the 1880s, the great Danish scholar Johan Heiberg used "P" together with various "Theonine" copies of the Elements to prepare what's still considered the definitive Greek edition of this book. The all-important English translation by Thomas Heath is based on this. As far as I can tell, "P" is the only known non-Theonine copy of Euclid except for the fragments I mentioned. Heath also used these fragments to prepare his translation.
This is just a quick overview of a complicated detective story. As always, the fractal texture of history reveals more complexity the more closely you look.
Anyway, Heath thinks that Geminus of Rhodes wrote the "ancient note" in the Elements crediting Theatetus. I'm not sure why Heath thinks this, but Geminus of Rhodes was a Greek astronomer and mathematician who worked during the 1st century BC.
In his charming article "The discovery of the regular solids", William Waterhouse writes:
Once upon a time there was no problem in the history of the regular solids. According to Proclus, the discoveries of Pythagoras include "the construction of the cosmic solids," and early historians could only assume that the subject sprang full-grown from his head. But a better-developed picture of the growth of Greek geometry made such an early date seem questionable, and evidence was uncovered suggesting a different attribution. A thorough study of the testimony was made by E. Sachs, and her conclusion is now generally accepted: the attribution to Pythagoras is a later misunderstanding and/or invention.
The history of the regular solids thus rests almost entirely on a scholium to Euclid which reads as follows:
"In this book, the 13th, are constructed the 5 figures called Platonic, which however do not belong to Plato. Three of these 5 figures, the cube, pyramid, and dodecahedron, belong to the Pythagoreans; while the octahedron and icosahedron belong to Theaetetus."
Theaetetus lived c. 415-369 B.C., so this version gives a moderately late date; and it has the considerable advantage of seeming unlikely. That is, the details in the scholium are not the sort of history one would naively conjecture, and hence it is probably not one of the stories invented in late antiquity. As van der Waerden says, the scholium is now widely accepted "precisely because [it] directly contradicts the tradition which used to ascribe to Pythagoras anything that came along."
But probability arguments can cut both ways, and those scholars who hesitate to accept the scholium do so primarily because it seems too unlikely. There have been two main sticking places: first, the earliness of the dodecahedron in comparison with the icosahedron; and second, the surprising lateness of the octahedron. The first objection, however, has been fairly well disposed of. The mineral pyrite (FeS2) crystallizes most often in cubes and almost-regular dodecahedra; it is quite widespread, being the most common sulphide, and outstanding crystals are found at a number of spots in Italy. Moreover it regularly occurs mixed with the sulphide ores, and underlying the oxidized ores, of copper; these deposits have been worked since earliest antiquity. Thus natural dodecahedra were conspicuous, and in fact they did attract attention: artificial dodecahedra have been found in Italy dating from before 500 BC. Icosahedral crystals, in contrast, are much less common. Hence there is no real difficulty in supposing that early Pythagorean geometers in Italy were familiar with dodecahedra but had not yet thought of the icosahedron.
Indeed, while I've heard that iron pyrite forms "pseudoicosahedra":
I've never seen one, while the "pyritohedra" resembling regular dodecahedra are pretty common:
The puzzle of why the octahedron showed up so late seems to have this answer: it was known earlier, but it was no big deal until the concept of regular polyhedron was discovered! As Waterhouse says, the discovery of the octahedron would be like the discovery of the 4rd perfect number. Only the surrounding conceptual framework makes the discovery meaningful.
So far, so good. But maybe the Greeks were not the first to discover the icosahedron! In 2003, the mathematicians Michael Atiyah and Paul Sutcliffe wrote:
Although they are termed Platonic solids there is convincing evidence that they were known to the Neolithic people of Scotland at least a thousand years before Plato, as demonstrated by the stone models pictured in Fig. 1 which date from this period and are kept in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
Figure 1. Stone models of the cube, tetrahedron, dodecahedron, icosahedron and octahedron.
They date from about 2000 BC and are kept in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
Various people including John McKay and myself spread this story without examining it very critically. I did read Dorothy Marshall's excellent paper "Carved stone balls", which catalogues 387 carved stone balls found in Scotland, dating from the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age. It has pictures showing a wide variety of interesting geometric patterns carved on them, and maps showing where people have found balls with various numbers of bumps on them. But it doesn't say anything about Platonic solids.
Maps by Dorothy Marshall.
Left: balls with 3 or 4 knobs. Right: balls with 6 knobs.
In March of 2009, Lieven le Bruyn posted a skeptical investigation of Atiyah and Sutcliffe's claim. For starters, he looked hard at the photo in their paper:
... where's the icosahedron? The fourth ball sure looks like one but only because someone added ribbons, connecting the centers of the different knobs. If this ribbon-figure is an icosahedron, the ball itself should be another dodecahedron and the ribbons illustrate the fact that icosa- and dodecahedron are dual polyhedra. Similarly for the last ball, if the ribbon-figure is an octahedron, the ball itself should be another cube, having exactly 6 knobs. Who did adorn these artifacts with ribbons, thereby multiplying the number of "found" regular solids by two (the tetrahedron is self-dual)?
Who put on the ribbons? Lieven le Bruyn traced back the photo to Robert Lawlor's 1982 book Sacred Geometry. In this book, Lawlor wrote:
The five regular polyhedra or Platonic solids were known and worked with well before Plato's time. Keith Critchlow in his book Time Stands Still presents convincing evidence that they were known to the Neolithic peoples of Britain at least 1000 years before Plato. This is founded on the existence of a number of spherical stones kept in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. Of a size one can carry in the hand, these stones were carved into the precise geometric spherical versions of the cube, tetrahedron, octahedron, icosahedron and dodecahedron, as well as some additional compound and semi-regular solids...
But is this really true? Le Bruyn discovered that the Ashmolean owns only 5 Scottish stone balls - and their webpage shows a photo of them, which looks quite different than the photo in Lawlor's book!
They have no ribbons on them. More importantly, they're different shapes! The Ashmolean lists their 5 balls as having 7, 6, 6, 4 and 14 knobs, respectively - nothing like an icosahedron.
And here is where I did a little research of my own. The library at UC Riverside has a copy of Keith Critchlow's 1979 book Time Stands Still. In this book, we see the same photo of stones with ribbons that appears in Lawlor's book - the photo that Atiyah and Suttcliffe use. In Critchlow's book, these stones are called "a full set of Neolithic 'Platonic solids'". He says they were photographed by one Graham Challifour - but he gives no information as to where they came from!
And Critchlow explicitly denies that the Ashmolean has an icosahedral stone! He writes:
... the author has, during the day, handled five of these remarkable objects in the Ashmolean museum.... I was rapt in admiration as I turned over these remarkable stone objects when another was handed to me which I took to be an icosahedron.... On careful scrutiny, after establishing apparent fivefold symmetry on a number of the axes, a count-up of the projections revealed 14! So it was not an icosahedron.
It seems the myth of Scottish balls shaped like Platonic solids gradually grew with each telling. Could there be any truth to it? Dorothy Marshall records Scottish stone balls with various numbers of knobs, from 3 to 135 - but just two with 20, one at the National Museum in Edinburgh, and one at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow. Do these look like icosahedra? I'd like to know. But even if they do, should we credit Scots with "discovering the icosahedron"? Perhaps not.
So, it seems the ball is in Theaetetus' court.
Here are some references:
The quote from Benno Artmann appeared in a copy of the AMS Bulletin where the cover illustrates a construction of the icosahedron:
5) Benno Artmann, About the cover: the mathematical conquest of the third dimension, Bulletin of the AMS, 43 (2006), 231-235. Also available at http://www.ams.org/bull/2006-43-02/S0273-0979-06-01111-6/
For more, try this wonderfully entertaining book:
6) Benno Artmann, Euclid - The Creation of Mathematics, Springer, New York, 2nd ed., 2001. (The material on the icosahedron is not in the first edition.)
It's not a scholarly tome: instead, it's a fun and intelligent introduction to Euclid's Elements with lots of interesting digressions. A great book for anyone interested in math!
I should also get ahold of this someday:
7) Benno Artmann, Antike Darstellungen des Ikosaeders, Mitt. DMV 13 (2005), 45-50.
Heath's translation of and commentary on Euclid's Elements is available online thanks to the Perseus Project. The scholium crediting Theatetus for the octahedron and icosahedron is discussed here:
8) Euclid, Elements, trans. Thomas L. Heath, Book XIII, Historical Note, p. 438. Also available at http://old.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0086&query=head%3D%23566
while the textual history of the Elements is discussed here:
9) Euclid, Elements, trans. Thomas L. Heath, Chapter 5: The Text, p. 46. Also available at http://old.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Euc.+5
Anyone interested in Greek mathematics also needs these books by Heath, now available cheap from Dover:
10) Thomas L. Heath, A History of Greek Mathematics. Vol. 1: From Thales to Euclid. Vol. 2: From Aristarchus to Diophantus. Dover Publications, 1981.
The long quote by Waterhouse comes from here:
11) William C. Waterhouse, The discovery of the regular solids, Arch. Hist. Exact Sci. 9 (1972-1973), 212-221.
I haven't yet gotten my hold on this "thorough study" mentioned by Waterhouse - but I will soon:
12) Eva Sachs, Die funf platonischen Koerper, zur Geschichte der Mathematik und der Elementenlehre Platons und der Pythagoreer, Berlin, Weidmann, 1917.
I also want to find this discussion of how Peyrard got ahold of the non-Theonine copy of Euclid's Elements:
13) N. M. Swerlow, The Recovery of the exact sciences of antiquity: mathematics, astronomy, geography, in Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library and Renaissance Culture, ed. Grafton, 1993.
Here is Atiyah and Sutcliffe's paper claiming that the Ashmolean has Scottish stone balls shaped like Platonic solids:
14) Michael Atiyah and Paul Sutcliffe, Polyhedra in physics, chemistry and geometry, available as arXiv:math-ph/0303071.
Here is le Bruyn's critical examination of that claim:
15) Lieven le Bruyn, The Scottish solids hoax, March 25, 2009, http://www.neverendingbooks.org/index.php/the-scottish-solids-hoax.html
Here are the books by Critchlow and Lawlor -speculative books from the "sacred geometry" tradition:
16) Keith Critchlow, Time Stands Still, Gordon Fraser, London, 1979.
17) Robert Lawlor, Sacred Geometry: Philosophy and Practice, Thames and Hudson, London, 1982. Available at http://www.scribd.com/doc/13155707/robert-lawlor-sacred-geometry-philosophy-and-practice-1982
Here's the Ashmolean website:
18) British Archaeology at the Ashmolean Museum, Highlights of the British collections: stone balls, http://ashweb2.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/ash/britarch/highlights/stone-balls.html
and here's Dorothy Marshall's paper on stone balls:
19) Dorothy N. Marshall, Carved stone balls, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scotland, 108 (1976/77), 40-72. Available at http://www.tarbat-discovery.co.uk/Learning%20Files/Carved%20stone%20balls.pdf
Finally, a bit of math.
In the process of researching my talk, I learned a lot about Euclid's Elements, where the construction of the icosahedron - supposedly due to Theaetetus - is described. This construction is Proposition XIII.16, in the final book of the Elements, which is largely about the Platonic solids. This book also has some fascinating results about the golden ratio and polygons with 5-fold symmetry!
The coolest one is Proposition XIII.10. It goes like this.
Take a circle and inscribe a regular pentagon, a regular hexagon, and a regular decagon. Take the edges of these shapes, and use them as the sides of a triangle. Then this is a right triangle!
In other words, if
is the side of the pentagon,
is the side of the hexagon, and
is the side of the decagon, then
P2 = H2 + D2
We can prove this using algebra - but Euclid gave a much cooler proof, which actually find this right triangle hiding inside an icosahedron.
First let's give a completely uninspired algebraic proof.
Start with a unit circle. If we inscribe a regular hexagon in it, then obviously
H = 1
So we just need to compute P and D. If we think of the unit circle as living in the complex plane, then the solutions of
z5 = 1
are the corners of a regular pentagon. So let's solve this equation. We've got
0 = z5 - 1 = (z - 1)(z4 + z3 + z2 + z + 1)
so ignoring the dull solution z = 1, we must solve
z4 + z3 + z2 + z + 1 = 0
This says that the center of mass of the pentagon's corners lies right in the middle of the pentagon.
Now, quartic equations can always be solved using radicals, but it's a lot of work. Luckily, we can solve this one by repeatedly using the quadratic equation! And that's why the Greeks could construct the regular pentagon using a ruler and compass.
The trick is to rewrite our equation like this:
z2 + z + 1 + z-1 + z-2 = 0
and then like this:
(z + z-1)2 + (z + z-1) - 1 = 0
Now it's a quadratic equation in a new variable. So while I said this proof would be uninspired, it did require a tiny glimmer of inspiration. But that's all! Let's write
z + z-1 = x
so our equation becomes
x2 + x - 1 = 0
Solving this, we get two solutions. The one I like is the golden ratio:
x = φ = (-1 + √5)/2 ~ 0.6180339...
Next we need to solve
z + z-1 = φ
This is another quadratic equation:
z2 - φ z + 1 = 0
with two conjugate solutions, one being
z = (φ + (φ2 - 4)½)/2
I've sneakily chosen the solution that's my favorite 5th root of unity:
z = exp(2πi/5) = cos(2π/5) + i sin(2π/5)
So, we're getting
cos(2π/5) = φ/2
A fact we should have learned in high school, but probably never did.
Now we're ready to compute P, the length of the side of a pentagon inscribed in the unit circle:
P2 = |1 - z|2
= (1 - cos(2π/5))2 + (sin(2π/5))2
= 2 - 2 cos(2π/5)
= 2 - φ
Next let's compute D, the length of the side of a decagon inscribed in the unit circle! We can mimic the last stage of the above calculation, but with an angle half as big:
D2 = 2 - 2 cos(π/5)
To go further, we can use a half-angle formula:
cos(π/5) = ((1 + cos(2π/5))/2)½
= (½ + φ/4)½
D2 = 2 - (2 + φ)½
But we can simplify this a bit more. As any lover of the golden ratio should know,
2 + φ = 2.6180339...
is the square of
1 + φ = 1.6180339...
So we really have
D2 = 1 - φ
Okay. Your eyes have glazed over by now - unless you've secretly been waiting all along for This Week's Finds to cover high-school algebra and trigonometry. But we're done. We see that
P2 = H2 + D2
2 - φ = 1 + (1 - φ)
That wasn't so bad, but imagine discovering it and proving it using axiomatic geometry back around 300 BC! How did they do it?
For this, let's turn to
20) Ian Mueller, Philosophy of Mathematics and Deductive Structure in Euclid's Elements, MIT Press, Cambridge Massachusetts, 1981.
This is reputed to be be the most thorough investigation of the logical structure of Euclid's Elements! And starting on page 257 he discusses how people could have discovered P2 = H2 + D2 by staring at an icosahedron!
This should not be too surprising. After all, there are pentagons, hexagons and decagons visible in the icosahedron. But I was stuck until I cheated and read Mueller's explanation.
If you hold an icosahedron so that one vertex is on top and one is on bottom, you'll see that its vertices are arranged in 4 horizontal layers. From top to bottom, these are:
- 1 vertex on top
- 5 vertices forming a pentagon: the "upper pentagon"
- 5 vertices forming a pentagon: the "lower pentagon"
- 1 vertex on bottom
Pick a vertex from the upper pentagon: call this A. Pick a vertex as close as possible from the lower pentagon: call this B. A is not directly above B. Drop a vertical line down from A until it hits the horizontal plane on which B lies. Call the resulting point C.
If you think about this, or better yet draw it, you'll see that ABC is a right triangle. And if we apply the Pythagorean theorem to this triangle we'll get the equation
P2 = H2 + D2
To see this, we only need to check that:
- the length AB equals the edge of a pentagon inscribed in a circle;
- the length AC equals the edge of a hexagon inscribed in a circle;
- the length BC equals the edge of a decagon inscribed in a circle.
Different circles, but of the same radius! What's this radius? Take all 5 vertices of the "upper pentagon". These lie on a circle, and this circle has the right radius.
Using this idea, it's easy to see that the length AB equals the edge of a pentagon inscribed in a circle. It's also easy to see that BC equals the edge of a decagon inscribed in a circle of the same radius. The hard part, at least for me, is seeing that AC equals the edge of a hexagon inscribed in a circle of the same radius... or in other words, the radius of that circle! (The hexagon seems to be a red herring.)
To prove this, we need a wonderful fact: the distance between the "upper pentagon" and the "lower pentagon" equals the radius of the circle containing the vertices of the upper pentagon!
Can you prove this?
I just found a very beautiful proof. I could explain it easily with lots of pictures, but I'm too lazy to draw them electronically. I don't feel too guilty about this, though: I've given enough clues for you to figure everything out and draw the pictures yourself. It's lots of fun. And if you draw nice electronic pictures, I'd love to include them here and credit you!
Okay, okay... I'll give you one more hint. Consider the "top" vertex of the icosahedron and the 5 vertices forming the "upper pentagon". Let A be any vertex on the upper pentagon, and let B be the top vertex. Drop a vertical line from the top vertex until it hits the plane of the upper pentagon; call the point where it hits C. Prove that the triangle ABC is congruent to the right triangle ABC. And using this, show the distance between the "upper pentagon" and the "lower pentagon" equals the radius of the circle containing the vertices of the upper pentagon!
So, we also get:
- the length AB equals the edge of a pentagon inscribed in a circle;
- the length AC equals the edge of a hexagon inscribed in a circle;
- the length BC equals the edge of a decagon inscribed in a circle.
I thank Toby Bartels for help with some of this stuff.
Addendum: Kevin Buzzard explained some of the Galois theory behind why the pentagon can be constructed with ruler and compass - or in other words, why the quartic
z4 + z3 + z2 + z + 1 = 0
can be solved by solving first one quadratic and then another.
He wrote:Now, quartic equations can always be solved using radicalsThat's because S4 is a solvable group, and all Galois groups of quartics will live in S4 (and will usually be S4)...Luckily, we can solve this one by repeatedly using the quadratic equation!
("this one" being z4 + z3 + z2 + z + 1 = 0.)
...and that's because the Galois group of that specific irreducible polynomial is "only" cyclic of order 4. The splitting field is Q(ζ5), which is a cyclotomic field, so has Galois group (Z/5Z)*. No Z/3Z factors so no messing around with cube roots, for example...
So while I said this proof would be uninspired, it did require a tiny glimmer of inspiration.
With this observation above, I'm trying to convince you that the proof really is completely uninspired To solve the quartic by solving two quadratics, you need to locate the degree 2 subfield of Q(z) (z=ζ5) and aim towards it (because it's your route to the solution). This subfield is clearly the real numbers in Q(z), and the real numbers in Q(z) contains z+z*=z+z-1. So that's sort of a completely conceptual explanation of why the trick works and why it's crucial to introduce z+z-1. | <urn:uuid:74983325-a7db-4808-a044-d1bff74c07a9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/icosahedron/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391634.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00077-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942004 | 6,715 | 2.953125 | 3 |
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, most Americans consume too much sodium - the average intake at 3,400 mg for those 2 years and older.
Current dietary guidelines recommend consuming less than 2,300 milligrams (mg) of sodium a day or reducing to 1,500 mg for those who are African American, have hypertension, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and/or are over the age of 51.
While these have been the recommendations for years, controversy surrounds the topic of sodium. Some scientists say the current recommendation is too high, others say higher levels are safe. One thing they all agree on is certain populations, like those at risk for cardiovascular disease or who have high blood pressure or diabetes, should avoid excessive amounts.
In 2013, the Institute of Medicine, an independent, nonprofit organization that works apart from the government, examined recent research to determine if evidence supported the current recommendations. The expert committee reported research does show that reducing sodium intake (from very high to more moderate levels) did improve health. But they also stated that lowering sodium too much could actually increase a person's risk of some health problems.
The 2015 Dietary Guidelines, still in draft form but set to be released later this year, look as if they will keep the 2,300 mg limit but drop the stricter 1,500 mg limit.
Many of the studies surrounding sodium vary based on the way they are conducted and are limited in quantity and quality. There is more research that needs to be done when considering sodium's ultimate impact on health. Other variables exist that should be considered when looking at an individual's salt intake.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), some individuals are more salt sensitive than others. The Harvard Health Publications state, "Those most prone to salt sensitivity include the elderly, African Americans, and people with hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease." However,there is currently no test to determine an individual's salt sensitivity.
Other factors include lifestyle and/or existing conditions. Brian Strom, MD, MPH professor of public health and preventive medicine and executive vice dean at the School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania noted, "Changes in diet are more complex than simply changing a single mineral."
Are You Consuming too Much Sodium?
Take a look at your health, your diet, your lifestyle - think about the big picture. Do you have high blood pressure? Are you at risk for cardiovascular disease? Get regular physicals and talk with your doctor and/or dietitian to see if you should be monitoring your salt intake more closely.
Sources of Sodium
Even if you avoid using the salt shaker, you can still be consuming a lot of sodium in your diet. The top 10 sources of sodium, according to the CDC, are
- Bread and rolls
- Cold cuts and cured meats
- Pasta dishes
- Meat dishes
How to Reduce Sodium
Increase your Potassium intake (unless your doctor says otherwise).
According to the American Heart Association, the more potassium we eat, the more sodium we pass out of the body through urine. Potassium plays a role in reducing sodium, but it doesn't mean it will do all of the work.
Learn to read food labels.
Check the serving size for the food, then look at the sodium percent. If a food is 5% or less, it is a low sodium food. If it is 20% or higher, it is a high sodium food.
Consider the DASH diet.
The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension is an eating plan designed to improve blood lipids and lower blood pressure, which reduces the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
Use spices, herbs, and citrus to flavor foods instead of salt.
Create flavorful and satisfying meals without using any salt. Get creative!
For those who fear the reduction of salt, there is good news according to the American Heart Association, "Studies show that when people are given a lower sodium diet for a period of time, they begin to prefer lower-sodium foods and the foods they used to enjoy taste too salty."
Mandy Seay is a registered and licensed dietitian and certified diabetes educator who holds both a bachelor's degree in nutrition and in journalism. Mandy currently works as a nutrition consultant and freelance writer in Austin, Texas, where she specializes in diabetes, weight management, and general and preventive nutrition. If you would like to learn more, please visit Mandy's website at Nutritionistics.com. | <urn:uuid:e12e4481-fce5-4765-b32e-4ea7597204b4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/are-you-eating-too-much-salt-in-your-diet.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393997.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00095-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936559 | 916 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Neuroblastoma is one of the most common cancers in infants and young children, and is rarely found in children older than 10 years of age. It is a cancer of immature nerve cells and can occur anywhere in the body but most often occurs in the adrenal glands within the abdomen. The treatment of Neuroblastoma depends on many factors such as the age of the child at diagnosis, the stage of the tumor and the presence of certain biological characteristics. A major goal of current neuroblastoma research is the precise assessment of each individual patient at diagnosis to select the optimal treatment. One way to assess patients is by their response to treatment and markers for following the response to therapy are needed to find the optimal treatment strategy for each individual patient.
The Center is collecting samples from Neuroblastoma patients and of healthy children, which are used as controls in a clinical trial at Riley Hospital for Children. Throughout chemotherapy and for several months afterwards, a small amount of extra blood is collected each time blood is routinely drawn. For more information please contact Joy Rupenthal at (317) 274-4415. | <urn:uuid:b63a38ba-d235-4e8d-9669-225baa3ea4a8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.iupui.edu/~compdiag/patients/neuroblastoma.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397873.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00103-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949523 | 220 | 3.046875 | 3 |
A recent discovery by a team of researchers from the BC Cancer Agency and the Indianapolis School of Medicine in the U.S. is causing scientists to rethink how breast cancer develops.
The team has discovered normal cells with faulty telomeres, or chromosome ends.
“We are used to seeing such short telomeres almost exclusively in cancer cells armed with complex molecular machinery to survive short telomeres,” Dr. Raj Kannan said. “But here is a normal cell isolated from a healthy woman, and it contains these short telomeres.”
The cells are a type of cell researchers call “luminal progenitors.” There are other progenitor cells — a type of cell that can form one or more different kinds of cells — in the breast that don’t have the flawed telomeres.
Typically, in healthy cells with critically short telomeres, the dysfunctional telomeres trigger DNA damage in cells. Healthy cells are forced to molecularly compensate for this telomere crisis. When they under-compensate, they typically die or stop dividing. When they overcompensate, they generate what Kannan calls “immortal malignant clones.”
As a notable exception, breast luminal progenitor cells have demonstrable potential to multiply in spite of flawed telomeres and DNA damage.
This makes the cell highly vulnerable to cancer-initiating mutations in the breast, Kannan says.
“They have proliferative potential, and they have dysfunctional telomeres,” he said. “It is logical to assume that these cells may act as a breeding ground or launch pad for cancer to initiate if the DNA becomes unstable because of these short telomeres.”
A researcher at the BC Cancer Agency Research Centre working in Dr. Connie Eaves’ stem cell biology laboratory, Kannan has received a Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation Fellowship and, more recently, the Mitacs Fellowship. Mitacs is a Canadian not-for-profit research organization that partners with government, companies and academia to encourage innovation.
Kannan has been with the BC Cancer Agency since moving to Vancouver from New Zealand five years ago to work under Eaves, a leader in blood and breast stem cell research.
From the Terry Fox Laboratory at the BC Cancer Agency, Eaves and her team pioneered methods to isolate single cells and separate them into different populations, and identified breast stem cells.
After 100 years of breast cancer research, scientists are still attempting to discover which cells are responsible for the disease, Kannan says, and what goes wrong with the cells that leads to cancer initiation. Isolating and separating cells brings researchers closer to this holy grail for research scientists, he says.
Understanding the various types of cells and their functions “is at the heart of what we’re trying to do in our lab,” Kannan said. “When we are able to purify various cellular compartments, we are then able to subject these cells to various functional assays.”
Breast cancer is a clonal disease, he says.
This means that cancer “starts from a single breast epithelial cell. We may have better rationale to prevent cancer if we understand which cell seeds the disease.”
At present, nothing appears certain about the potential of any cell to lead to breast cancer. Even the presence of the most-cited genetic suspect in breast cancer, the defective BRCA1 gene, although it increases cancer risk, is not a guarantee the disease will develop.
“If you get a variant copy of this gene, still it’s not 100 per cent you get breast cancer, it’s 87 per cent,” Kannan said. “There are unknowns. We are trying to identify this gap.”
Billions of cells are produced in a breast over a lifetime, making identifying the exact cause of breast cancer something like looking for a needle in a haystack.
“It’s still that one high-risk cell that is needed to cause cancer,” he said. “When every cell in that breast has BRCA1 mutation, or has inherited a mutated copy, still it is that one cell that causes cancer. That tells you every cell has different potential. How do we tell which cells lead to cancer?”
The ultimate goal of his lab and other cancer research labs is more than to discover what cells have the potential to become cancerous.
“We need to understand how cells function in the breast, and identify the state of cells prone to transforming events, which is where cancers really take off,” he said.
If those cells can be discovered and isolated, they can be targeted.
“Finding the cellular source of cancer is not the ultimate end, but will lead us into a new era in cancer prevention and treatment research. My feeling is that we have not even scraped the surface of what is possible in cancer treatment.”
Along with our understanding of breast progenitors, another recent discovery may advance breast cancer.
Working in San Francisco and Kyoto, a team led by Dr. Shinya Yamanaka successfully reprogrammed mature human skin fibroblast cells “to become unspecialized human embryo-like cells within a few weeks,” Kannan said.
These induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), capable of making all human body parts, are now derived from various types of mature cells in our bodies.
These embryo-like cells are capable of making all human body parts.
“Muscle, bone, blood — all those very complex tissues can be derived from skin. The potential that every cell carries is incredible and humbling.”
The discovery means that “it is not unthinkable that breast cancer cells could be developmentally re-wired to behave normally with no side-effects,” Kannan said.
By isolating more and different kinds of cells, Kannan says he is hopeful we’ll soon be able to “coerce immortal breast cancer stem cell clones to differentiate into normal cells with limited lifespan.”
The more research there is in this area, the faster we may get there, he says.
“Every researcher has his or her view of how cancers arise and progress, and they go after it and try to find ways to manage it,” he said. “Not every approach is successful. There are a lot of failures in research. We learn from those failures and learn from each other’s research. Once in a while you come across these findings that totally change the field, that change the way you look at the disease.” | <urn:uuid:4e226de0-e535-4aa9-afea-c37e7349aacc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.canada.com/health/Breast+Cancer+Research+leads+discoveries+faulty+cells+normal/9089809/story.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396538.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00179-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94932 | 1,404 | 3.421875 | 3 |
Ivanhoe Theme of Foreignness and 'The Other'
There are lots of novels out there that pick on one group as evil or wrong – they're 'Other,' or different from 'us.' And there are plenty of characters in Ivanhoe who try to treat Isaac and Rebecca as Other, less than human, because they are Jewish. Not only does Scott portray this anti-Jewish prejudice, but he also tries to imagine how being treated as Other would affect the psychologies of his Jewish characters.
For example, Isaac is so used to being abused by Christians that he always assumes they are out to get him. (Sadly for Isaac, he's often right.) While Rebecca worries less than her father, she also exhibits humility toward Christian ladies like Rowena. Life has taught her to expect prejudice from the people around her, and she bears it patiently when it comes her way. Isaac and Rebecca's humility is at least partly a symptom of how badly they have been scarred by anti-Jewish hatred.
Questions About Foreignness and 'The Other'
- How does Scott's representation of Rebecca differ from that of Isaac? Why is her characterization so particular and unique?
- How do the Jewish characters in Ivanhoe talk about non-Jewish characters? What kinds of prejudice do you see among Isaac and his friends? How do these prejudices reflect Isaac's own experiences of anti-Semitism hatred?
- Rebecca and Isaac are not the only outsider characters in this novel. How does Brian de Bois-Guilbert's characterization mark him as Other? How does Bois-Guilbert's identity as a Templar set him apart from English knights such as Ivanhoe?
Chew on This
In a novel that strongly emphasizes the moral importance of loyalty, Brian de Bois-Guilbert's lack of loyalty to anyone marks him as Ivanhoe's ultimate Other.
By idealizing Rebecca, Ivanhoe exposes the offensiveness of anti-Jewish prejudice. At the same time, her extremely positive characterization draws attention to the otherwise stereotypical portrayal of Isaac and the other Jewish characters in the book. | <urn:uuid:990a6443-7883-4c80-8938-c133c8c93372> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.shmoop.com/ivanhoe/foreignness-other-theme.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00054-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970286 | 425 | 3.375 | 3 |
April is National Financial Literacy Month in the United States. In most cases, schools do not extensively teach financial skills. Teenagers, highly susceptible to messages from the media, often do not have guidance from teachers, who are not trained to teach financial skills, or from parents, many of whom do not model healthy financial behavior. This series of articles at Consumerism Commentary serves to help inspire discussion about basic financial concepts. Please feel free to forward this article to someone who might benefit from a basic financial overview.
This article covers the staple financial resource for anyone seeking long-term financial stability, the savings account. This is the second article in the Money Basics series; this first article covers checking accounts.
What is a savings account?
Like a checking account, a savings account is a service offered by a bank or credit union for the purposes of keeping your money safe, secure, and accessible. While the purpose of a checking account is to allow frequent transactions, through checks, debit cards, or electronic transfers, the purpose of a savings account is long-term holding. If you have predictable income and predictable expenses, and you aim to spend less than you earn, you should be left with extra money at predictable intervals. This extra cash is the perfect candidate for deposit into a savings account.
One important aspect of savings accounts should be mentioned up front, and I emphasize this because it was never brought to my attention until I received a nasty letter of warning from a bank at which I broke this rule: you may only make up to six withdrawals per month (or statement cycle) from a savings account. If you choose to break this regulation or otherwise neglect to acknowledge it, your bank may penalize you by charging you a fee, disallowing the transaction, or even closing your account.
Savings accounts also earn interest. Every month, if you do not withdraw from your savings account, your money will grow. By giving your money to a banking institution in the form of a savings account, you are allowing that company to lend a portion your money to businesses and other individuals. Banks pay you for granting this privilege through interest payments to you.
Why do I need a savings account?
Any money that you do not need for immediate and expected expenses within one month, but that you might need in less than a year should be deposited in a savings account. This is the perfect place for a good portion of your emergency fund, money that you will use to pay your expenses if your income were to unexpectedly disappear or if an unpredictable expense were to arise.
For a suburban teenager in the United States, the first major expense might be a car. If you are like many, the first car will be purchased used (or “previously owned” as the salesmen like to euphemize). As you earn money from working during spring break or the summer, put as much from your paycheck into the savings account as possible. The more you keep in the bank, the more interest you will earn.
How do I manage my savings account?
My girlfriend has a passbook savings account. Every time she visits the bank to make a deposit, withdrawal, or transfer from or to her checking account, she hands the teller a booklet about the size of a passport. The teller uses a special printer to record the new transaction, any transactions that have not been recorded since the last printing like earned interest or ATM transactions, and the current account balance. While old-fashioned, this is a convenient way of managing a savings account. As more transactions are performed electronically or otherwise without the aid of a teller, the passbook is falling out of favor.
The popular alternative to the passbook is to receive a statement, mailed from the bank, each month. Like with the checking account, I recommend keeping your own record of every transaction that takes place within your savings account. Computer software like Quicken or Mint.com will allow you to do this, and in many cases, automatically compare what you have entered with the bank’s own records once they are available.
Almost all banks now offer online access, as well. If you ever want to check your bank balances, not trusting what you have entered in Quicken, your bank will allow you to visit a website where you may pass a security test and be granted access to view your account online.
How do I choose a savings account?
If you have previously opened a checking account, you may wish to open your first savings account at the same bank. This will allow you to perform immediate transfers from your checking account to your savings account. The benefit is your money will begin earning interest much faster than if you transferred money from one bank to another. The unfortunate down side is that most brick and mortar banks offer low rates of interest.
For this reason, I suggest opening a second savings account at a bank that offers high-yield online savings accounts. This option did not exist much more than ten years ago. A number of new online-only banks have been established since the dawn of the World Wide Web, offering great products and services with low overhead costs, creating an opportunity for them to offer better interest rates. Not to be outdone, old-fashioned brick and mortar banks are determined to compete in this new environment and have established online-only subsidiary companies or simply created savings accounts to compete with these higher interest rates.
When choosing a bank account, the interest rate offered should not be the only factor you consider, but it should be one of the most important. Look for a history of offering competitive rates as well as highly-rated customer service and an online interface with which you feel comfortable. I have reviewed the best online savings accounts, and my favorites include FNBO Direct for its consistently high interest rates and ING Direct for its above average rates and customer service record.
Once again, work to avoid fees. Some banks, particularly the antiquated branch-based banks, want you to maintain a minimum balance every month in order to avoid a monthly fee, while others don’t offer this avoidance option. These rules can get tricky. Some banks want you to have a combined balance between your checking account, savings account, and possibly even a line of credit for avoiding a fee.
Another popular fee is related to software. I mentioned Quicken above for keeping track of your savings account, but some banks will charge you a monthly fee if you connect to your bank’s electronic records directly from the program. In 2007, Wachovia charged me a surprise $5.95 for using Quicken, as I had been for several years. The bank changed their policy for some types of accounts, but the policy wasn’t intended to apply to the type of account I had. I was able to talk to a customer service representative to have the fee removed and a note placed on my account that would supposedly prevent that fee from ever being charged to me again. You might be able to talk your away out of these fees as well, but it’s better to avoid them in the first place.
When you compare interest rates between banks, you should look for the annual percentage yield (APY), not the annual percentage rate (APR) of interest. This allows a fair comparison between banks thanks to differences in compounding methods. This and more about interest will be explained in further detail later within the Money Basics series.
Updated September 23, 2015 and originally published April 21, 2009. If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to the RSS feed or receive daily emails. Follow @ConsumerismComm on Twitter and visit our Facebook page for more updates. | <urn:uuid:b579e832-585e-4a38-bfae-8f4d6f8ebf79> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/money-basics-savings-accounts/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397636.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00016-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955815 | 1,549 | 3 | 3 |
I think you are asking about the graphical implementation of an overshoot, commonly used in typography. In short, overshoot is added to letters like
O (pointy or round—like circle in your example) to visually make them look the same height as f.ex.
X ("flat", rectangle-like).
The sources of the Wikipedia article suggest overshoot of 1–3 % or 5 % for
O. Keep in mind these are suggestions for typefaces and differ from font to font. You're better of trying different ratios and choosing one that is the most æsthetically pleasing in your opinion. Of course you could use the given percents as a starting point.
- Align your rectangle and circle by their centers
- Choose a ratio—say, 5 %
- Resize the circle by its center using double the value you've chosen (ie. 10 % in this example) as in typography the 5 % is added only vertically with the baseline as pivot point. | <urn:uuid:0db159fe-0776-4826-8ff3-8e99b62b4b49> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/1187/rectangle-and-circle-shapes-alignment-sizing/1192 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00100-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945235 | 206 | 3.34375 | 3 |
(image from exactbuilt.com)
Laser technology has a 30 year history of using co2 power as an engraving tool across an ever growing list of materials. In that time span, there have been massive improvements in how the machines work to improve the quality of output — and the price has dropped a lot too.
Laser engraving machinery used to be a curiosity seen only in labs and high-end facilities; now CO2 lasers are both wallet and user friendly. There are even 3D laser engraving machines that create floating 3D images at the push of a button.
Laser Technology Background
Lasers first appeared in labs in the late 1950s. Between 1953 and 1955, teams led by Charles Townes in the US and Aleksandr Prokhorov in the Soviet Union produced a remarkable device called the “maser.” Leading physicists of the time claimed it violated the laws of physics and could not work.
By 1959 a Columbia graduate student named Gordon Gould described the “laser” as we know it today. When Gould filed for a patent, the US patent office turned him down and in 1960 gave the patent to Bell Labs instead. Of course, none of them had actually built a laser yet… that honor went to Theodore H. Maiman, whose 1960 ruby laser design took just a little tuning before it could punch holes in metal.
And the laser business was just getting started!
The first laser engravers used a stencil to mask out the beam of a super-high-powered laser. This was not much of an improvement over acid etching, and carried the key downside requirement of a hulking and phenomenally expensive laser.
The second generation machines were a little better, using a photosensor to scan black and white artwork. They were very much the optical heirs of the engraver’s pantograph. Unfortunately, laser systems were still at the point where they required skilled maintenance on a regular basis. That changed with the introduction of sealed CO2 laser tubes and RF laser excitation.
The combination of sealed glass tubes and RF metal tubes with excitation changed the engraving industry. Sealed tubes were largely maintenance free and lasted a very long time. Combined with Peter Laakman’s RF excitation technology, it was now possible to make lasers that packed tremendous power into a very small package at an extremely low price. That’s precisely what Laakman did, eschewing the $25,000 “fair market” price that was common at the time and instead selling his systems for $6000 directly to the engraver market in 1988 — taking over the market and making himself a fortune.
Engraving has never been the same since.
Laser Engraving Machine Advantages
Engravers almost immediately discovered the advantages that a laser offered. By engraving with a beam of light instead of tools, there’s no tooling to get dull or wear down. There are no lateral forces on the work, which prevents damage and deformation. Laser engraving also has none of the frequently replenished consumables of other methods — at most, the optic must be changed every once in a while due to smoke build up.
Compared with other engraving techniques, laser engraving machine marks are permanent, concise, and clean. They’re also much faster and more convenient than traditional engraving, with much less time to change a design and far fewer limits on material and product.
Laser Engraving By Computer
Computers were the single most dramatic thing to happen to laser engraving. With a computer, it became possible to draw designs on a PC and feed them to an engraving machine with no intermediate steps. Eventually, lasers became compatible with industry standard software and graphics formats, so users had the freedom to choose their design package of choice. The software used to drive a laser became much more user friendly as well.
Today’s computer driven laser systems are very easy to use. The engraver is connected to the computer as if it were a printer. Some specialized software is installed on the computer, which (in larger shops) is usually dedicated to the laser. Vector graphics or illustrations are generated using a suitable program on the PC, and then sent to the engraving system with a ‘print’ command.
The relevant speed, power, and resolution controls are either edited using the driver software on the computer or with the laser’s front panel controls. Most lasers do not require the newest and fastest computers to run, as the computational demands are minimal. If you have any doubts, the laser manufacturer can help you choose a computer that will work best with your system.
Lasers are an extremely intense light source classified as a source of radiation by the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH). As their use in cutting and engraving organic materials might suggest, you do not want to put your hand in the way of a laser beam. Both manufacturers and users of laser systems have certain regulations to comply with.
Manufacturers have to build safe equipment, appropriately decorated with warning labels. Users have to understand the hazards and proceed with suitable caution. Users should also be aware of possible fire hazards associated with vaporizing wood using a ray of heat. Having a fire extinguisher close at hand is a good way to protect your laser investment should a combustion event occur.
The laser also uses high voltage internally. To avoid problems, it’s best to be mindful of this when doing any maintenance or work nearby.
Lastly, a laser engraving system requires good ventilation. To ensure a pleasant breathing environment for users of the laser as well as any visitors or neighbors, be sure to install a good exhaust system. The laser may have specific requirements in this regard. If so, expect the necessary blower to be louder, bigger, and more expensive than those you may be used to — and for good reason.
When working with certain materials and laser processing the fumes produced can both damage the laser optics as well as the lungs of the user. Therefore, it is essential to understand just what happens when you laser process a particular material. Caution is an excellent watchword and the original manufacturer’s recommendations are generally a great guide.
Laser engraving equipment today is very versatile. Many industries make use of lasers. For engravers, common uses of their laser might be:
– Plaques and awards
– Advertising specialty items
– Craft items
– Stationery and greeting cards
– Flexible circuits
– Gift items
– Rubber stamps
– Photography and picture frames
– Memorabilia and point of sale displays
For laser engraver reviews you can see Epilog, Trotec, Universal, or Full spectrum laser. | <urn:uuid:cad71c76-14ea-49ad-af20-37a5c6108349> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.imonitorpc.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397428.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00034-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948615 | 1,411 | 3.203125 | 3 |
|remote monitoring||computing dictionary|
<protocol> (RMON) A network management protocol that allows network information to be gathered at a single computer. Whereas SNMP gathers network data from a single type of Management Information Base (MIB), RMON 1 defines nine additional MIBs that provide a much richer set of data about network usage. For RMON to work, network devices, such as hubs and switches, must be designed to support it.
(01 Aug 2003)
|Bookmark with:||word visualiser||Go and visit our forums| | <urn:uuid:f24ed009-30c8-4b7c-9057-1a3054c0b5c2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mondofacto.com/facts/dictionary?Remote+Monitor | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00086-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.866096 | 117 | 3.03125 | 3 |
A range of measures have been introduced to ensure the Three Gorges reservoir will keep the Yangtze River flowing despite the vast volumes of silt which build up each year.
After the damming on November 6 of the man-made diversion channel built for the passage of ships during the second-phase construction of the Three Gorges Project, the natural flow of the Yangtze will be stopped.
But Yangtze water will be discharged from 22 diversion holes, each six meters wide by 8.5 meters high, on the lower part of the Three Gorges Dam.
Zhang Chaoran, engineer-in-chief of China Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation, said that another 23 flood discharge holes in the lower part of the dam would release a large amount of silt during the annual flood season from June to September.
Each year's flood season brought 61 percent of the annual water inflow and 84 percent of annual silt in the Yangtze. From October to May, silting in the Yangtze reduces, so water could be stored for power generation and navigation, Zhang explained.
The annual average amount of silt carried into the reservoir is estimated at 530 million tons. If the problem is not solved, the normal functions of the reservoir will be affected, its life span shortened, and the river will cease to be navigable, experts warned.
Zheng Shouren, engineer-in-chief of the Yangtze River Water Resources Committee, said the discharge of floodwater and storage of cleaner water to the level of 175 meters would ensure the reservoir's long-term service, as well as guarantee power generation and navigation of the Three Gorges Dam.
The method has proved quite successful with Sanmenxia Reservoir on the Yellow River. Sanmenxia lost 62 percent of its water storage capacity in four years after it was put into service in 1960.
With the application of the method, the capacity of the reservoir has restored from 2.21 billion to 3.1 billion cubic meters and has remained at the higher level for three decades.
Simulated experiments in the past three years have proved that the method of storing cleaner water and discharging muddy water will allow the Three Gorges to retain over 90 percent of its designed capacity even after 80 to 100 years. The Chinese government made the prevention of silting a priority in the Three Gorges Project. A panel of specialists has been set up under the Committee for Construction of the Three Gorges Project under the State Council to be responsible for silt-control.
The China Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation has granted the Yangtze River Hydrological Bureau 200 million yuan (US$24.1 million) to monitor silt removal in the reservoir until 2009 when the Three Gorges Project will be completed.
In the meantime, China has also increased investment in protecting the natural forests around the banks of the Yangtze, stepping up afforestation around the river's upper reaches and reservoir so as to control soil erosion.
Spending on water and soil preservation works in the past 13 years has exceeded 2 billion yuan (US$241 million).
The latest monitoring results prove soil erosion in the Three Gorges reservoir has been decreasing at an annual rate of 1 percent.
The State Council, the country's highest governing body, has approved plans to build large reservoirs around the Yangtze's upper reaches and its tributaries, to help reduce the amount of silt that will be swept into the reservoir.
Construction on the Three Gorges Project began in 1993. The first two phases were concentrated chiefly along the northern bank. The mainstream of the Yangtze, China's longest river, was first dammed in November 1997.
The project is expected to be completed in 2009, when 26 power-generating units with a combined capacity of 18.2 million kilowatts will go into operation. The permanent locks will also be able to accommodate ships of more than 10,000 DWT (dead weight tonnage).
The first group of four power-generating units will begin operation next year.
(Xinhua News Agency November 4, 2002) | <urn:uuid:86e6be1d-085e-493a-9ad9-6513b5a6e026> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.china.org.cn/english/China/47882.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00012-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948715 | 865 | 3.125 | 3 |
Trees fulfill a number of purposes in landscapes. These large plants provide shady areas, as well as form windbreaks and visual barriers between structures. Willows (Salix) enhance an area with their quick growth and long, narrow leaves. Like other trees, willow trees require certain elements to thrive and grow. Many willow trees grow to a mature height of nearly 30 or 40 feet. Some types of willows, such as Pacific willows and Peachleaf willows, can grow up to 60 and 70 feet tall. Properly care for your willow trees to encourage healthy, tall growth.
Select a location that receives full sunlight to partial shade for your willow tree, to provide adequate light for tall growth. Do not plant willows in areas near large trees that block the sunlight and rob the soil of necessary nutrients. For the tallest growth, select an area that is near a water source, such as a spot along a stream bank or near the edge of a pond.
Loosen the top 8 to 12 inches of soil in a diameter equal to the canopy of your willow tree. Dig a hole twice the width of the rootball and deep enough to allow the surface of the rootball to sit level with the surrounding surface area. Place your rootball in the hole, and fill in with soil.
Pile up a 3 to 4 inch rim of soil in a circle near the outside edge of the planted rootball. This dam will help direct moisture downwards, to the tree's roots. Soak the soil around the roots of your newly planted willow tree.
Grow a tall willow tree by keeping the soil slightly moist at all times. Check the amount of moisture near your willow tree's roots. Dig a small hole near the base of the tree to the level of its roots. Use your finger to feel for dampness at this level. Add water if the soil feels dry. Apply about 2 inches of water every week to satisfy your willow tree. Trees growing near streams and ponds seldom require supplemental watering to keep the soil moist.
Fertilize your willow tree to encourage healthy growth. Use a liquid fertilizer formulated for use on willow trees. Mix and apply your fertilizer according to the package instructions. Apply your fertilizer about once a month during the active growing season. | <urn:uuid:d0ede23a-a7a3-4d43-a13a-d174bf5b49e9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.gardenguides.com/112086-make-willow-trees-grow-tall.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396100.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00037-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933325 | 470 | 3.46875 | 3 |
year, more than half a million babies are born too soon, too small and
often very sick. Babies who survive often face serious health
challenges and can suffer from lasting disabilities.
November is Prematurity Awareness Month, Nov. 17 is Prematurity
Awareness Day, and MUSC is partnering with the March of Dimes to
protect our smallest patients and reduce the rate of premature birth.
There are several contributing factors to premature birth, such as
women of childbearing age who are uninsured and those who smoke.
Recommendations for improvement are given in each of these areas, for
example, federal and state support of smoking cessation as part of
maternity care. Another key recommendation is for hospitals and health
care professionals to voluntarily assess Caesarean-sections and
inductions that occur prior to 39 weeks to ensure consistency with
professional guidelines. Babies born even a few weeks early are at
greater risk of serious problems and re-hospitalization.
“The medical treatment of preterm labor has largely not been very
successful, particularly as the cervix becomes more dilated,” said Jill
Mauldin, M.D., Perinatal service line medical director. “As a result, a
patient’s best weapon to preventing preterm birth is knowledge of the
signs and symptoms of preterm labor so that she can adjust her activity
level accordingly and contact her provider when she has those symptoms.”
To educate more women in the community on those signs and symptoms,
Mauldin gives a weekly update on what to expect in pregnancy in her
“Pregnancy Week by Week podcast series;
http://www.muschealth.com/women/pregnancy_weekly.htm. Women and Infant
Services and the MUSChealth Web site recently took silver for the Best
in Class Innovators Award category at the Greystone Client Conference
for these weekly pregnancy podcasts.
In addition to educational efforts, MUSC bolsters March of Dimes’
mission through fundraising. The MUSC March of Dimes team, March for
Babies, hosts several fundraising events throughout the year, such as
Blue Jeans for Babies and various bake sales. This year’s Chef Auction
held Oct. 29 raised more than $83,000 for March of Dimes.
For more information about premature birth, to find out what you can do
to help raise awareness, make a donation, or create a virtual band to
honor a baby visit http://www.marchofdimes.com/fightforpreemies.
Friday, Nov. 13, 2009 | <urn:uuid:4ab2da8c-d8ce-4659-a274-fd21599af693> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://depthtml.musc.edu/catalyst/2009/co11-13joins.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398516.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00124-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933497 | 554 | 2.5625 | 3 |
This “Internet of Everything” has the potential to transform dozens of industries and create innovative ways of working, manufacturing, learning and managing complex systems. With these changes come opportunities to create new businesses, new innovations, and new jobs. Cisco estimates that there is some $14.4 trillion in value at stake over the next ten years with the adoption of the “Internet of Everything.” This means a potential 2 percent increase of global GDP every year for the next decade.
In agriculture, for instance, this means that real-time decisions can be made about irrigation water flows to maximize crop yields. In the oil and gas industry, this means that operations can be made more efficient so that fuels get to where they are needed at the right time, with increased safety, minimal leakage and reduced downtime. And in transportation systems, this means streamlined traffic and safer highways, as well as supply chains that are more efficient, less wasteful, and less costly.
America has historically been the leading driver of technological change. This time, however, there's no guarantee that the next game-changer will come from a garage in Palo Alto or a loft in SoHo. It could just as easily come from a lab in Bucharest, or Bangalore, or Beijing.
So the U.S. needs to act now, to best position our country for this next wave of technological innovation, job creation and economic growth. Policymakers should focus on five fundamental areas:
1. Talent – Our country has to do a better job of training the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs. India and China graduate nearly 1 million engineering students annually, compared with 120,000 in the U.S. We have to focus on improving STEM education in America and attracting students to these fields at an early age.
At the same time, we have to ensure that America attracts the best, brightest and most ambitious minds from around the world. Consider these two facts: 28 percent of all companies started in the US in 2011 had immigrant founders, and immigrant-owned businesses generated more than $775 billion in revenue for the economy in 2011. So, high-skilled worker reform is not only the right thing to do, but it will create jobs and spur innovative companies.
2. Telecommunications and Broadband– Mobile data in the United States in 2017 will be 687 times greater than it was in 2007, largely due to increased consumption of mobile video. New applications associated with the Internet of Everything will require high-speed broadband not just in urban areas but in rural areas as well. That is why it is so imperative that Congress and the FCC continue to support broadband infrastructure and more licensed and unlicensed spectrum for broadband and Wi-Fi.
3. Trust – The Internet of Everything will only reach its full potential if businesses and consumers have confidence in the security and privacy of the systems they are using. This is especially important given the very real cybersecurity threats that exist today with the increasing importance of “big data.” The federal government should deepen public-private partnerships, as well as encourage the private sector to continue to drive innovation and security into products and the network, based on interoperable global standards.
4. Tax – Our tax system is broken. We need a system that encourages businesses to invest in this country, driving new rounds of research and development and innovation. To accomplish this, we need a lower, more competitive corporate tax rate and move to a modern international tax system that will encourage investment and job creation in the U.S. If we do not, our global competitors will have a significant advantage.
5. Trade – Free trade is absolutely critical to opening new markets and new opportunities for American companies. Free trade agreements, such as a proposed one between the U.S. and E.U., can help level the playing field and open the door to substantial opportunity, helping ensure American leadership.
The simple truth is that the Internet of Everything represents another tipping point when it comes to technology innovation. The countries and companies that adapt to this changing world will win the lion’s share of growth and opportunity, while those that don’t will face stiff headwinds. We stand ready to work with our leaders to understand these changes and prepare for the future.
Lloyd is the president of Cisco. | <urn:uuid:44d09d32-36d8-4349-bbf3-cf10677e7b02> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/321757-driving-american-innovation-and-growth-for-the-next-generation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00121-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953801 | 872 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Wednesday April 23 2014
Some flowers were found to have high levels of antioxidants
“Eating flowers grown in British gardens could help to reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer, according to a new study,” The Daily Telegraph reports.
However, the study the news is based on did not actually involve any humans.
So while the flowers may be edible, claims they prevent cancer are unproven.
The study in question measured the levels of one group of antioxidant chemicals called phenolics in 10 edible flowers. It found that there are high levels of these compounds in tree peony; a group of plants native to China. Tree peony extracts also had the highest levels of antioxidant activity.
As mentioned, the study did not assess the effects of the flowers on human health outcomes.
While antioxidants have been suggested to have various health benefits, a review of antioxidant supplements found no evidence of a beneficial effect on survival. In fact it found that some compounds might actually be harmful.
The review highlights the importance of not assuming that compounds will be beneficial just based on their antioxidant levels.
This doesn’t mean people can’t continue to enjoy edible flowers for their beauty and taste. However, some flowers are poisonous, so people should be careful not to eat flowers unless they are certain they are safe.
Current methods known to reduce the risk of cancer, such as not smoking, eating a healthy diet and regular exercise, may not be particularly newsworthy, but they are tried and tested.
Where did the story come from?
The study was carried out by researchers from Zhejiang University and other research centres in China. It was funded by Foundation of Fuli Institute of Food Science, Zhejiang University, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The study was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Food Science.
The Daily Telegraph reports on this story briefly and non-critically. The suggestion in their headline that edible flowers may reduce cancer risk is unproven by this study.
What kind of research was this?
This was laboratory research looking at the antioxidant chemicals in edible flowers found in China. The study measured the amount of a specific group of antioxidant compounds called phenolics, which includes flavonoids.
The authors say that increased consumption of phenolics has been associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and certain cancers.
While this study can tell us how much of these compounds are present in the flowers, it cannot tell us what effect they have on human health.
What did the research involve?
The researchers measured the level of phenolic compounds in 10 edible flowers commonly found in China:
- Paeonia suffruticosa (tree peony)
- Lilium brownii var. viridulum (a type of lily)
- Flos lonicerae (Japanese honeysuckle)
- Rosa chinensis (China rose)
- Lavandula pedunculata (French lavender)
- Prunus persica (peach)
- Hibiscus sabdariffa (a type of hibiscus)
- Flos carthami (safflower)
- Chrysanthemum morifolium (a type of chrysanthemum)
- Flos rosae rugosae (a type of rose)
They also looked at exactly which phenolic compounds were found in the flowers, and measured their antioxidant activity.
What were the basic results?
Paeonia suffruticosa (tree peony) had the highest levels of phenolic compounds and Flos lonicerae (Japanese honeysuckle) had the highest levels of flavonoids. Paeonia suffruticosa and Rosa chinensis extracts had the high levels of antioxidant activity. Overall, higher levels of phenolic compounds in the flowers was associated with high levels of antioxidant activity.
How did the researchers interpret the results?
The researchers concluded that the 10 edible flowers tested were rich sources of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity. They also suggest that the flower extracts have potential to be used as food additives to prevent chronic diseases and promote health.
The current study has identified the levels of phenolic compounds in certain edible flowers. These compounds have antioxidant compounds, and antioxidants have been suggested to have various health benefits, including fighting cancer and heart disease. However, the current study has not assessed whether eating these flowers could have effects on human health, or at what levels they would need to be consumed to have any effects.
A Cochrane systematic review pooled data on the effects of antioxidant supplements tested in clinical trials and found no evidence of beneficial effects on survival in healthy people or people with specific diseases.
Certain antioxidant supplements (beta-carotene and vitamin E) appeared to potentially slightly increase the risk of death during the trials.
While the trials in this review may not have tested edible flower extracts specifically, the review does highlight the importance of testing compounds to be sure of their effects, rather than assuming that simply because they have antioxidant properties they must be beneficial.
Just because a substance comes from a plant you should never assume that it is guaranteed to be safe. Some of the deadliest poisons are derived from plants.
Similarly, despite claims to the contrary, it is untrue that science looks down its nose at substances derived from plants. Many widely used drugs, including aspirin, warfarin and some chemotherapy drugs are based on plant chemicals.
Analysis by Bazian. Edited by NHS Choices. Follow Behind the Headlines on Twitter. Join the Healthy Evidence forum. | <urn:uuid:dc1abc34-98b7-47af-8ea0-43b515b5287b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nhs.uk/news/2014/04April/Pages/Edible-flowers-not-proven-to-prevent-cancer.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404826.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00117-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963062 | 1,133 | 3.359375 | 3 |
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Concentration camp survivor Inge Auerbacher has turned an image of degradation, the star that she was forced to wear, into a symbol of hope as she speaks to groups and spreads her message through social media.
Ms. Auerbacher of Jamaica, Queens, author of "I Am a Star -- Child of the Holocaust," was the keynote speaker at the 18th annual Yom Hashoah-Holocaust Commemoration Program for the Staten Island Jewish Community on Sunday at Temple Israel Reform Congregation, Randall Manor.
"I turned the meaning of the yellow star, which was supposed to be a negative symbol to brand the Jews as subhumans, to a positive symbol that indeed every human being is a star and deserves the right to live and be happy," Ms. Auerbacher said.
A subject of documentary films, Ms. Auerbacher travels the world speaking to Jews and Gentiles about her experiences in the Terezin transit camp in Czechoslovakia. She especially likes to address youth groups and has even spoken to them in her native Germany. She reaches out to youth through Ingeauerbacher.com and on social networking sites such as Facebook, which was filled with Yom Hashoah references.
"While I will never forgive the ones who did the Holocaust, I believe in reconciliation with the young people," Ms. Auerbacher said.
She was the last Jewish child born in Kippenheim, Germany, and vividly recalls at age 3 hearing the sounds of marching boots and broken glass on Kristallnacht in 1938.
Fearing for their safety, her family sold their house and moved in 1939 to Jebenhausen, Germany, to live with her grandparents. As with other Jews in Nazi-occupied countries, she was required to wear a yellow cloth Star of David on the left side over the heart.
She received her star in 1941, at age 6, and ripped it off her clothes at age 10, when the Russians liberated Terezin on May 8, 1945. By then, she and her parents, Berthold and Regina, were among only 13 survivors of their original transport of about 1,200 people in August 1942.
Of the about 140,000 people sent to Terezin from 1941 to 1945, malnutrition and disease claimed the lives of about 35,000, while another 88,000 were transferred to their deaths at camps such as Auschwitz.
A film of a Red Cross visit to Terezin that is on YouTube literally is a whitewash, with the camp painted for the occasion and detainees served sardines. The reality was that somebody died almost every night and those who didn't lived in fear of being transferred to Auschwitz. Terezin was overcrowded and filthy, infested with rats and other vermin; epidemics were rampant, and detainees waited for hours in long lines for scraps of food.
Ms. Auerbacher immigrated to America in 1946 and spent two years in a hospital recovering from tuberculosis. She graduated after three years with honors from Bushwick High School, Brooklyn, earned a bachelor's degree and completed postgraduate work. She was a chemist for 38 years.
Arden Heights Boulevard Jewish Center dedicated an outdoor tribute to the victims of the Holocaust on Sunday. Sponsored by the synagogue's Garden Club, the memorial was a weeping cherry tree and a granite stone with the English inscription "In memory of the holy and the pure who perished in the Holocaust," and the Hebrew initials Z'L, which means, "May their memory be a blessing."
Rabbi Stephen Stern spoke of the weeping tree as a symbol of the tears shed for the victims of the Holocaust. "At the same time, the tree also blooms with hope and courage of survivors and future generations," Rabbi Stern said.
Mark Hirsch, chairman of the Garden Club, read a poem, "The Flower that Blooms Again," penned by his late Uncle Walter Fisher. Gregory Banaska, 11, a Hebrew School student, read a famous poem, "The Butterfly," written by Pavel Friedman, who was incarcerated in Terezin and died in Auschwitz.
To rectify Pavel's lament that no butterflies were found in concentration camps, the synagogue's Sunday School children released butterflies into the air as a gesture of life and rebirth. | <urn:uuid:8e719ec0-c789-4817-9db3-ebd07a5486e6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/holocaust_survivor_now_celebra.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00024-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978079 | 892 | 2.53125 | 3 |
The Collections Framework (or Data
How you organize data in your classes depends on the application:
- Do you need fast access to an element at a specified
- Do you need to be able to insert and delete elements
quickly in the middle of a list?
The answers to these types of questions determines the type of
collection you should use.
Fundamental interface: Collection<E>
The Set<E>, List<E>, and Queue<E> interfaces are all
subinterfaces of the Collection interface. The Collection interface
contains methods that apply to all types of sets, lists and queues.
The Map<E> interface is part of the Collections Framework, but
does not inherit from Collection.
- set - an unordered collection of elements which does
not contain duplicates.
- list - an ordered collection of elements which are
indexed by integers.
- map - an unordered collection of key-value pairs.
- queue - an ordered collection in which new elements are
added and removed from only one end of the list.
Two Basic Methods from the Collection
- boolean add(E item)
- Iterator<E> iterator()
There are others that we will talk about more later.
The add() method
This method adds an object to the collection - it returns true if
adding the object actually changes the collection, and false otherwise.
The iterator() method
This method returns an object that implements the Iterator interface.
You use the iterator object to visit the elements in the collection,
one at a time.
The Iterator Interface
method - returns the next element in the collection if there is one.
method - returns true if there are more elements left to visit.
method - removes the last element that was returned by next(). Only one
call to remove() is permitted before next() is called again. Only use
this method to delete collection elements while iterating through the
Note: If you call next() on a
collection, and you have reached the end of the collection, next()
throws a NoSuchElementException. Call hasNext() before calling next().
Example: To look at all
elements in a collection, request an interator and keep calling next()
as there are more elements in the collection.
c = new ArrayList<String>();
iter = c.iterator();
String str = iter.next();
// do something with str - remove it if it starts with a particular
Advancing an iterator - think
of an iterator as being between elements. When next() is called, the
iterator jumps over the next element, and returns a reference to the
element it jumped over.
Example: Remove the first
element in a collection
c = new ArrayList<Circle>();
... // add to
it = c.iterator();
// I saw the first element
remove the first element
Example: What happens when I
run this code?
c = new ArrayList<Circle>();
...// add 10
elements to the collection
it = c.iterator();
Another Example: A First Look at a Generic
- A method can have a type parameter just like a class.
Example: Write a
generic method addEm() that adds all objects in one collection to
<E> boolean addEm(Collection<E> to, Collection<E>
... // the
return value should indicate whether or not the collection has changed
as a result of the method call.
... // finish
writing this method, and then write code that calls it
- A very similar method called addAll() is
part of the Java library
- It's not part of the Collection interface, since an
interface cannot contain implemented methods
- Since methods like addAll() will be useful to many
collection classes, it would be useful to have the implementation for
this and other routine methods available.
- Collection cannot provide an implementation since it is
- So the abstract class AbstractCollection implements
- this class leaves the fundamental methods add() and
iterator() as abstract methods
- implements other methods, like addAll(), in terms of
those fundamental methods
- If you want to write a concrete Collection class, you
probably want to extend AbstractCollection rather than implementing the
- public abstract class AbstractCollection<E>
- To create your own collection class by extending
AbstractCollection, you must implement size() and iterator(), and
possibly other optional methods.
the Collection Interface
iterator() - returns an iterator that can be used to visit the
elements in the Collection
- returns number of elements in the collection
isEmpty() - returns true if collection contains no elements
contains(Object o) - returns true if this collection contains an
object equal to o
containsAll(Collection<?> other) - returns true if
this collection contains all elements in other
-- The type Collection<?> is called a wildcard
type, and is the super type of all Collection types.
-- The type of its members match any element type.
obj) - adds obj to collection, and returns true if collection
changes as a result of the call
addAll(Collection<? extends E> other) - adds all elements
of other collection to this collection. Returns true if this collection
is changed as a result of the call.
-- Collection<? extends E> is a bounded wildcard.
-- ? stands for an unknown type that inherits from
-- E is called the upper bound of the wildcard.
remove(Object obj) - removes an object equal to obj from this
collection if such an object is in the collection. Returns true if a
matching object was removed.
removeAll(Collection<?> other) - removes all elements in
other from this collection. Returns true if this collection was
modified by the call.
- removes all elements from this collection.
retainAll(Collection<?> other) - removes all elements
from this collection that are not equal to an element in other. Returns
true if this collection was changed by the call.
toArray(T arr) - returns an array containing the elements in
this collection. If the specified array arr is large enough to hold the
elements, then the elements are stored in arr (and any unused entries
in arr are set to null). Otherwise a new array containing this
collection's elements is returned.
Note about constructors in Collection
implementations: A class that implements Collection must have a
constructor that takes a Collection argument. This constructor
initializes the new Collection to contain all elements in the specified
Example: Suppose you have a
collection c of Strings (which could be a List, Set, etc). To create a
new ArrayList containing all elements of c.
l = new ArrayList<String>(c);
Recall the Collection methods:
Determine number of elements in
Determine if an object is in
Add or remove an
Visit elements in | <urn:uuid:fd7cb285-7b65-42a4-8eca-9c50c2f82f24> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~eberlein/cs313e/collections.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402746.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00099-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.717874 | 1,472 | 4.09375 | 4 |
August 14, 2014
Depth of Knowledge is a conceptual framework and a vocabulary reference developed by Webb (1977) to help with analyzing the cognitive demands and expectations students are to meet when engaged in Common Core learning. DOK categorizes the curricular activities into four major groups with each one of them corresponding to a particular cognitive level it addresses.
DOK looks into the kind of thinking and cognitive rigour required for students to complete a given task. There are four major DOK levels:
- DOK1: elicits recall and reproduction
- DOK2: focuses on basic application of skills and concepts and simple reasoning
- DOK3: expects strategic thinking and complex reasoning
- DOK4: requires extended thinking
Rigorous instructional materials should include a mixture of tasks from across DOK levels. Watch the video below to see an example of how DOK levels are represented in a social studies task.
Here is a great Guide available for free download in PDF format that will help you better understand Webb's Depth of Knowledge.
I am also sharing with you this excellent article by John Walkup that discusses some of the fallacies included in those DOK charts you see online. | <urn:uuid:2f10e3a3-a993-4c0a-a8a9-842de8c52285> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2014/08/what-teachers-need-to-know-about-depth.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396222.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00057-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926712 | 242 | 3.53125 | 4 |
Selections from MHS in the New "Remembering Lincoln" Digital Collection
By Nancy Heywood, Collection Services
On 14 April 1865, while attending a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., President Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth. The event was tragic and shocking. Lincoln died the next morning, 15 April, and people all over the country struggled to comprehend what had happened.
Ford's Theatre, a National Historic Site and a working theatre, has recently launched a new digital collection, Remembering Lincoln. Two dozen institutions, including the Massachusetts Historical Society, have contributed digital images, metadata, and transcriptions of materials about the assassination of President Lincoln to this online collection. Researchers can read first-person accounts of the startling event, examine newspaper articles, explore printed documents and broadsides, and look at artifacts.
Several remarkable manuscripts from the collections of the MHS are included in the Remembering Lincoln collection. Two letters were written by Augustus Clark, a War Department employee, who was one of the men who moved Lincoln after he was shot from Ford's Theatre to Petersen's boarding house. One of Clark's letters (addressed to S. M. Allen) fully describes his impressions of the evening and the tragic event. In the other letter, written to Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew, Clark mentions enclosing a piece of cloth with Lincoln's blood with the correspondence. Both letters (letter to S. M. Allen and letter to Gov. Andrew) and also the towel fragment are viewable on the website.
Another item featured in the digital collection is an excerpt from the young Boston diarist, Sarah Gooll Putnam. Only 14 years old in April of 1865, her reaction was poignant. She drew a shocked face on her diary page along with the following words:
Now guess my feelings, when coming down to breakfast, at mother's saying "The president is killed!" I stared so [handwritten mark pointing to illustration] for a few minutes without speaking. I cannot realize it yet. Poor, dear, old, Abe.
Please explore the whole Remembering Lincoln website: http://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/
A browse display of the items that MHS contributed to Remembering Lincoln is also available: http://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/contributor?uid=40
| Published: Tuesday, 14 April, 2015, 1:00 AM
Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch Diary, Post 42
The following excerpt is from the diary of Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch.
Thursday, March 2d.
Thank God for the triumphant progress of the Union arms, the occupation of Savannah, Columbia, Charleston, and Wilmington.
| Published: Tuesday, 31 March, 2015, 12:00 AM
Newly Digitized Photograph Collection
By Peter K. Steinberg, Collection Services
Collection Services at the Massachusetts Historical Society has recently created a collection guide for, and fully digitized, the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment carte de visite album, ca. 1864-1865 (Photograph Collection 228).
The 5th Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment was a "colored volunteer" regiment active from 9 January 1864-31 October 1965. Formed at Camp Meigs, Readville, Massachusetts, was commanded by some notable sons of Massachusetts including Charles Francis Adams Jr., Henry S. Russell, Charles Pickering Bowditch, and Henry Pickering Bowditch. The regiment saw some action in the war, notably in a battles which took place at Baylor's Farm and the Siege of Petersburg in Virginia.
This collection consists of a photograph album containing 46 carte de visite photographs of officers from the regiment. In addition to those named above, the regiment included Edward Jarvis Bartlett, Daniel Henry Chamberlain, Patrick Tracy Jackson, and others. The album includes a two-page handwritten index which identifies all but one of the photographs. Each image appears on a page beautifully bordered, as can be seen in the examples presented here.
The cover of the album, also stunning, is embossed: "Col. H. S. Russell. 5th Mass Cavalry" and features the original, still-functioning brass clasps to keep the album closed. Henry S. Russell (1838-1905), an 1860 graduate of Harvard University, served several ranked positions in the Union Army reaching Lieutenant-Colonel of the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry and Brigadier-General of the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry. In 1864, Russell married Mary Hathaway Forbes, the daughter of the influential Boston businesman, railroad magnate, and abolitionist John Murray Forbes, and was a cousin of Robert Gould Shaw, Colonel of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
Another family connection, but this time within the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment, were the brothers Henry Pickering Bowditch (1840-1911) and his younger brother Charles Pickering Bowditch (1842-1921). Both were Harvard educated; Henry being a physician and physiologist as well as dean of Harvard Medical School, and Charles becoming a financier, archaeologist and linguistics scholar.
This is the seventh fully digitized Civil War photograph album at the Massachusetts Historical Society. The MHS has additional fully digitized Civil War materials available, as well. Further Reading: Morse, John T., Jr. "Henry Sturgis Russell." In Sons of the Puritans: A Group of Brief Biographies. Boston: American Unitarian Association, 1908:153-162.
| Published: Tuesday, 17 March, 2015, 8:00 AM
Memories of the Civil War
By Susan Martin, Collection Services
John Hill White (1835-1920) served as a hospital steward in the 13th Massachusetts Infantry during the Civil War. His collection at the MHS contains a lot of fascinating material, including four diaries he kept from 1862 to 1865. But I was particularly interested in his personal copy of the book Three Years in the Army: The Story of the Thirteenth Massachusetts Volunteers by Charles E. Davis, Jr. When White’s collection was acquired, the MHS already held a copy of this regimental history as part of its reference collection. But White’s copy is unique because he annotated many of the pages, adding valuable and sometimes hilarious running commentary in the margins.
Title page autographed by veterans of other regiments
Many of White’s notes, probably written about 1903, identify individuals Davis had left anonymous. White also underlined and bracketed passages and added some specific dates, presumably by consulting his own diaries. But it’s his longer annotations that make for the most entertaining reading. Take, for example, this anecdote he scribbled at the bottom of page 40:
Capt Joe Coburn [Colburn], Ned Frost, John Saxton, & myself went to the hotel in town. The landlady asked Coburn if he was General Abercrombie & staff. Joe said yes, and she informed him that supper was all ready. The General had ordered the supper. We ate it, you bet, and as the general appeared at the front door we made a masterly retreat out the back door, & the general never found out who ate his supper, and did not pay for it.
And another a few pages later:
It was at Middleburg that Bryer, John King, & “Polly” Waitt got 24 good fat chickens for me. I had to present a revolver at the head of the man who owned them who politely informed me he would smash the head of the first man who took one, but the cocked revolver that he was looking into quieted him and he dropped his axe.
White had often been present at the events described in the book and used his notes to elaborate or add context. For example, a story on page 57 involves Gen. George L. Hartsuff, a kettle of beans, an irascible cook, and a case of mistaken identity. Here’s White’s version:
I saw the whole transaction. When Henry [the cook] turned around & saw the Gen’l, he straightened himself up, & saluting the Genl with the long iron spoon he held, said to him, “was that you general who wanted some of those beans?” I was the man said the general, & you can bet he got enough for a feast. The general married a Mass’t lady and there learned to love his beans.
These nostalgic “Humor in Uniform” style accounts are interspersed with others of the more heartbreaking variety. On page 78, next to the description of a particularly grueling march (at times through knee-deep water), White added:
I lost 20 lbs on this march, and was nearly starved during our 10 days marching. I was wet to the hide, for I did not have a blanket or my overcoat and the nights were cold as the devil.[…] Not a bit of fun being hungry & wet.
White’s notes reveal a lot about him and transform this printed volume into a kind of personalized history or mini-memoir. For example, he proudly starred and underlined a reference to the regimental glee club, of which he was a member. He also marked his birthday and commented on fellow soldiers. George M. Cuthbert was apparently a “great cribbage player” (p. 410), and the young drummers Ike and Sam Webster were “2 brothers who lived in Martinsburg Va. Little freckeled face boys, but good soldiers, true to the old Flag” (p. 465). Col. Richard Coulter of the 11th Pennsylvania is praised fulsomely in Davis’s text: “a better fighting man never lived” (p. 63). White agreed in the margin: “That is so.”
Unsurprisingly, White was not a fan of Gen. Jeb Stuart, who captured him with nearly 100 others on 30 Aug. 1862. According to White (p. 119), Stuart “was a damn coward, for the first shell that came from our side sent him down the hill as if the devil was after him.” But another Confederate general, Roger A. Pryor, “was a perfect gentleman and did all he could to make our wounded as comfortable as possible, under the circumstances.”
When I compared White’s annotations to the corresponding entries in his diaries, I appreciated this volume even more. In most cases, what he wrote here is much richer in detail. However, one fascinating fact is revealed in his diaries: he was present at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. on 14 Apr. 1865 and witnessed the assassination of Abraham Lincoln! Here’s his description of that event:
Went to Fords Theatre. Miss Laura Keenes Benefit. Mary C. with me. At 25 minutes past 10, heard a pistol shot and immediately J Wilkes Booth jumped from the box in which the President and wife were, exclaiming, “Sic Semper Tyrannus, Virginia is avenged.[”] He had shot the President in the head, and stab[b]ed Major Rathborn [Rathbone] with a dirk. He escaped by the stage door. All was excited. Men & women shed tears. Got home at 11 p.m. No sleep all night. Secretary Seward and sons stab[b]ed by an accomplice of Booth. A general slaughter of the whole Cabinet attempted.
The next day, he wrote:
The President died at 20 past 7 am. Went to town saw the body of the President being conveyed to the White House. Went to town in the afternoon. All business suspended and all the public buildings stores and houses dressed in mourning. Sad, sad day, for our Country.[…] Report of Booth having been captured. Andrew Johnson took the oath of office as President at 11 am this day at the Kirkwood House.
| Published: Saturday, 14 March, 2015, 1:00 AM
Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch, Post 40
The following excerpt is from the diary of Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch.
Sunday, Jan. 1st
In public affairs, the success at Savannah is rendered more decided by the acquiescence of the people; and our northern people are doing what is right by contributions for the suffering population there. There is, on the other hand, to be recorded, the failure at Wilmington.
Sunday Jan. 15th, 1865
The only marked public news is the superseding of Gen. Butler. What is earthly greatness or popularity!
Jan. 23d 1865
My P.M. sermon had reference to the recent death (Sunday morning previous) of the illustrious Edward Everett.
| Published: Thursday, 29 January, 2015, 1:00 AM | <urn:uuid:57330b54-3325-4dda-94c5-d14cfa1a51e7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.masshist.org/blog/index.php?series=56 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399425.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00192-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960388 | 2,666 | 3.125 | 3 |
We’ve all heard tales of the physical preparation Olympic athletes undergo during their training. Athletes, at that caliber, have to train more than five or six hours per day and even that does not guarantee a medal.
There’s another side to Olympic training, the mental side. This training is meant to give you a mindset of a winner. Coaches often structure routines with the purpose of effectively allowing the athletes to increase their focus gradually until the athlete understands and is in control of all their daily actions – nothing is wasted, everything is done with a reason.
Shannon Miller, an Olympic Gold Medalist in gymnastics, agrees that mental preparation is the key to success. According to Shannon, nobody can get into the Olympics on physical ability alone. “The physical aspect of the sport can only take you so far. The mental aspect has to kick in, especially when you’re talking about the best of the best,” she says. “In the Olympic games, everyone is talented. Everyone trains hard. Everyone does the work. What separates the gold medalists from the silver medalists is simply the mental game.”
Mental training has been applied in sports psychology for many years and is now seen as an essential part of top athlete training. Since there’s rarely any major physical difference between top athletes, the difference lies on the cognitive level.
Just like athletes, often there’s not much separating us from the Gold Medalist in Personal Productivity, we just need to step up our mental game!
1# The Power of Practice and Repetition
Over-thinking and over-analyzing are an athlete’s biggest enemies. That’s why they train repeatedly so their muscles will remember the movements and their body will react to the environment without activating the brain.
You see, our movements are based on neuron networks that “remember” previous similar actions. This “memory” allows us to repeat actions again and again without straining our brain, preventing fatigue and allowing us to keep our focus on several channels (just imagine how hard it is if we would need to remember all the muscles that would be required to perform a simple task such as smiling).
Now, the more you repeat a certain action, the better that neuron network becomes at performing it. Once you have your productivity method and solution in place, don’t think about being more productive. Commit to it, practice and repeat. Don’t over-analyze your methods and solutions.
2# Gathering Required Motivation
Your ability to focus on a goal is directly influenced by your motivation. Before you find what motivates you, you’ll need a better understanding how motivation works.
Motivation is a part of a reactionary system that has a purpose; it helps us fill a need and gives us a sense of futuristic gain as a result. Do you remember the carrot and the stick? Well apparently it can inspire only immediate action and not long term achievements. Real lasting motivation that can support an Olympic athlete on his quest for the gold can only come from an inner fulfillment sensation and not from external motivation.
Let’s try to simplify this. We are all trying to be more productive. In order to achieve this life lasting result, our motivation should not be “to finish my project by Monday morning”. Our inner drive, speaking for experience, should sound more like “be someone that can be counted on”, “have time to spend with my family without feeling guilty”, “reducing the stress in my life”, “being successful”, “being happier”. This is what drives me as I constantly practice the art of productivity. This is what keeps me focused and driven. Michael Phelps doesn’t want to swim a particular race and win; he wants to change the face of swimming.
3# Train For The Gold – Work in a vacuum
Olympic athletes tend to isolate themselves before big tournaments because any interference with their training regime has the potential to steal their focus. They enter a bubble-like state in which they try to avoid media, outside influences and lean on people who will improve their chances to win the medal.
A lot of great minds used this technique while on their ways to achieve the greatest inventions and accomplishments surrounding us today. Among those minds you can find people like Albert Einstein, Leonardo de Vinci, Mahatma Gandhi, Sir Isaac Newton and Larry page.
I am not suggesting we take vows of silence. But when we want to focus, whether for an hour or a day, we have to work in a vacuum. Just like Olympic athletes, we need to protect ourselves from distractions – don’t check email every minute, don’t take coffee and bathroom breaks, try to close the door to your office, and use the Do Not Disturb feature on your office phone. Again, everyone will have different lengths of time in their respective vacuum based on their job. But it’s hard to imagine being productive without some time in the proverbial vacuum.
Have fun watching the Olympic Games, we hope that we helped you appreciate the athletes’ achievements not only on a physical level. And while we are talking sports, be sure to exercise which has been proven to enhance productivity. | <urn:uuid:c0c74194-6596-4415-a270-73dc0b2f4ae4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://iqtell.com/2012/07/how-olympic-athletes-train-for-the-gold/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393463.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00172-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956536 | 1,095 | 3.0625 | 3 |
In March 1948, in a small factory in Gmünd, Austria, Ferry Porsche, son of engineer Dr. Ing Ferdinand Porsche, designed and built a small two-seater sports car, which would be the first car to bear his family’s name. At the time, it was an utterly unique design of smooth lines, it was devoid of a grille, and it had an engine that was behind the rear passenger compartment. Little did Ferry know that his design would be regarded as the quintessential German sports car to this day, and it catapulted the family concern into becoming one of the most well-respected sports car manufacturers in the world. Its iconic shape would remain largely unaltered for 65 years and counting; it was a design of such simplicity and perfection that any deviation from the norm would be considered automotive sacrilege.
This automobile, designated the 356, came to define Porsche until 1965, and it would create the blueprint for both the appearance and technical layout of Porsches for years to come. While the 356 saw a variety of different body variations and engine options over the course of its production, the sunroof coupe stands out as the most desirable. Combining all the visual elements of the coupe and providing the possibility of open air motoring, it offered its driver the comfort of the coupe and the freedom of the speedster.
The most potent mechanical variation of the 356 was the Carrera model, which was powered by the slightly detuned, Fuhrmann-designed four-camshaft, 1,600-cubic centimeter racing engine. Available in both “GT” race specification and “GS” touring specification, Porsche made sure that their new engine could be marketed on a platform to individuals who were looking to spend time on the track, or to those who were looking to drive down the Autobahn in style. The engine quickly found acclaim from enthusiast groups.
While many Porsches of this type were campaigned on the track, it appears that this 1959 Porsche 356 A Carrera 1600 GS ‘Sunroof’ Coupé was specified by its first owner, Robert Blackwood, of Atlanta, Georgia, for long-distance touring. It was delivered with a long list of factory options, according to its Porsche Certificate of Authenticity, including a Blaupunkt radio and two loudspeakers, a rear luggage rack, an electric clock, an 80-liter fuel tank, a factory-installed roll bar, and a very desirable and rare sunroof. When considering these options, and also the Carrera 1600 GS-specification drivetrain, this Porsche would certainly have been one of the priciest and most desirable examples delivered stateside that year.
The car passed through two owners after Blackwood, before being purchased by H.D. Clark, also of Atlanta, Georgia. The 356 remained in frequent use in the Clark family for the next 10 years, until H.D. grew ill and was no longer able to drive his Porsche. As a result, the car remained in storage before it was purchased by a Porsche enthusiast in Chattanooga, Tennessee, who commissioned a concours-quality restoration.
Beginning in 2002, this 356 went through a complete restoration by Porsche specialist Gary Kempton, at GK Restorations in Florida, while Porsche specialist Vernon Crotts was tasked with rebuilding the engine (number 93126, with transmission number 28925). The car was completely taken apart, and every nut and bolt was restored to concours standards. Repainted in its original shade of Porsche Silver Metallic (5706), with an interior finished in dark blue leather, this example exudes a subtle elegance that does nothing to distract from the body’s flowing lines.
The current owner has driven the car only sparingly since acquiring it, and he has exhibited the car proudly and very successfully. Winning Best in Show honors at the 2010 Saint Louis Regional Porsche Car Show certainly spoke to the car’s condition and authenticity. In October 2011, it was invited to take place in Rennsport Reunion IV & Porsche Race Car Classic, hosted at The Quail Lodge in Monterey, California, where it was displayed alongside many other world-class four-cam and racing Porsches.
Of all the Porsche 356 body styles that have appeared over its 22-year production run, the Carrera 1600 GS models are among the most valuable, the most thrilling to drive, and the most beautiful to behold. Meticulously restored and presented in Porsche’s trademark color, this is a prime example of Stuttgart’s finest. It has been over 65 years since the first Porsche hit the road, and the 356 still has visible ties to current 911 models, proving that the apple has never fallen far from the tree. Revered for its innovative engineering and timeless styling, the 356 A Carrera 1600 GS ‘Sunroof’ Coupé is, quite simply, automotive perfection incarnate. | <urn:uuid:0299c3dc-b24c-4c05-8a72-5cc3b5896c25> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2013/automobiles-rm-auctions-in-association-with-sothebys-n09045/lot.116.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398216.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00140-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969691 | 1,018 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Sharing in Science
The Survey Results
The population of geneticists used in the study was drawn from a stratified random sample of 3,000 respondents to a larger survey of university-based life scientists. The subsample of 1,820 members of genetics and human genetics departments used for this paper excludes people not currently active in research—clinical faculty members who had not published at least one article in the National Library of Medicine's MEDLINE database in the three years preceding the study. Of the qualifying sample, 50 percent are full professors, 28 percent associate professors, and 22 percent are assistant professors; 75 percent are male, and 25 percent are female. Respondents were administered an anonymous, largely closed-ended survey. The response rate for the overall survey was 64.5 percent. Key results are as follows:
Sharing research with other scientists
There is evidence of continuing normative ambivalence about openness and disinterestedness. Virtually all geneticists believe that scientists should share their results freely with all peers (49 percent "agree completely," and 42 percent "agree somewhat" on a 4-point scale) and should be motivated primarily by a desire for knowledge (73 percent "agree completely" and 24 percent "agree somewhat"). In addition, 68 percent indicate that they are personally "very willing" to share with other academic scientists. Nevertheless, a substantial proportion also believe that scientists should keep their newest findings secret to protect their priority (51 percent "agree completely" or "somewhat") and should also receive direct, personal benefits from their scientific discoveries (47 percent "agree completely" or "somewhat").
A significant proportion—approximately 30 percent—also report that, within the past three years, they have withheld research results from other academic scientists prior to publication on at least one occasion. The most common reasons given for withholding were to protect their own ability to publish (67 percent of those who withheld indicated that this was "very important") or that of their students (75 percent responded "very important"). In contrast, 21 percent indicated that it was "very important" to withhold to honor agreements with industry sponsors.
Practical constraints other than scientific priority or potential commercialization enter into the decision to share or not. More than two-thirds indicated that the extra effort involved in sharing prepublication results was a "very important" or "moderately important" factor in influencing their behavior. Distrust of other academics is also a salient issue for many. For example, 28 percent indicated that they did not share because they believed that others would not reciprocate ("very important" or "moderately important").
Sharing and relationships with industry
Most university-based geneticists—79 percent—have some financial relationship with industry. We asked respondents to indicate the industry roles that they had in the past three years that had potential for personal gain through financial remuneration (company ownership, service on a board of directors, consulting, etc.), and 35 percent reported one or more. We also asked about industry support for faculty work (grants, gifts, etc.), and 70 percent had received some professional support within the past three years. Nearly all of those who had personal-gain relationships with industry also had private research support.
Relationships with industry are weakly associated with attitudes about openness and personal interest. For example, there was no difference between those who have no industry relations and those who have them when asked about willingness to share "information, data or materials with other academic scientists," nor was there any difference between the groups regarding the importance of keeping their newest findings secret to ensure priority. The only area of difference is that those who had no industry relationships were more likely than their peers to "agree completely" with the statement that "academic scientists should be motivated by the desire for knowledge and discovery rather than by financial gain."
Relationships with industry are associated with more secretive behavior. We defined secretive behavior as self-reports that the respondent "usually" or "always" intentionally withheld pre-publication information from other scientists. Geneticists with industry relationships were somewhat (but significantly) less likely to share with their university peers and students than were scientists with no relationships or relationships that were limited to funding their university work. This includes venues such as seminars in their own departments, at other academic institutions and at professional meetings. We emphasize, however, that the percentage of faculty members that always or usually withheld information is a minority in all groups. For example, 12 percent of those with no industry relationships, 15 percent with professional funding, and 19 percent with personal gain relationships reported "usually" or "always" holding back at professional conferences.
The main disruption in scientific communication owing to secrecy and self-interested behavior is between university and industry scientists. The nearly 80 percent of faculty members who had any financial relationship with industry are less likely to share with their industrial counterparts than those who had no relationship (31 percent compared to 16 percent), and those who have personal-gain relationships are less likely to share than those with only professional support (34 percent contrasted with 29 percent). | <urn:uuid:a017b88f-ad85-4c9a-8f3c-874f789aab9a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/2002/7/sharing-in-science/2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396538.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00103-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977323 | 1,023 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Evropi Theodoratou from the Centre for Population Health Sciences at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and Oscar H. Franco, Professor of Preventive Medicine at the University Medical Center Rotterdam in Holland, both presented papers in the April 1, 2014, edition of the British Medical Journal that indicate no conclusive evidence concerning the health benefits of vitamin D can be proven. The papers can be read here and here.
While more than 137 studies indicate that vitamin D has some health benefit only seven percent could be substantiated by clinical trials and only one could replicate any benefit from vitamin D.
Vitamin D was not shown to have any preventative effect on heart disease or cancer by comparison of the rates of death in controlled trials that lasted between three and seven years.
Vitamin D has been claimed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, prevent cancer, reduce dental caries in children, prevent kidney disease, and to control birth weight. The researchers found that the claim that vitamin D may control birth weight has some basis in fact but that all the other claims of the benefits of vitamin D could not be proven.
The researchers suggest a healthy lifestyle as opposed to taking a vitamin with the expectations of miraculous results. | <urn:uuid:55907d0c-767e-40c1-9e15-637ccc8d82de> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.examiner.com/article/vitamin-d-may-be-good-for-your-health-but-no-one-can-prove-it?cid=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00139-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947667 | 245 | 3.3125 | 3 |
Having a valence of six.
- More than 95 percent of leather produced in the U.S. is tanned using trivalent and/or hexavalent chromium, the latter of which is an EPA-recognized carcinogen.
- Chromium occurs in both trivalent and hexavalent (Cr VI) forms.
- Zinc-based materials and polymers are replacing hexavalent chromium.
For editors and proofreaders
Definition of hexavalent in:
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed. | <urn:uuid:2212f8f0-8e0b-4907-9f8d-45cd1820734c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/hexavalent | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402746.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00128-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.85016 | 133 | 2.8125 | 3 |
IBM’s Optical Modulator
Date added: 06 Dec 2007
IBM’s optical modulator uses “silicon nanophotonic waveguides,” to control the flow of light on a silicon chip. The waveguides are made of tiny silicon strips (marked by purple color) with dimensions 200 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair, in a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer. Light is strongly confined within the silicon nanophotonic waveguide as shown by the colored concentric ellipses overlaid with the waveguide image. The strong confinement of light allows the IBM modulator to be dramatically scaled down in size. | <urn:uuid:c12ab3ed-90c2-4bdb-8929-1f6da0057ae9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/photo/22810.wss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00080-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.855083 | 143 | 2.8125 | 3 |
The Chinese government has effectively blocked the encrypted version of Wikipedia, cutting off easy access to the free online encyclopedia via its alternative HTTPS address which has been supported since October 2011.
China’s move comes ahead of the anniversary of the sensitive and highly controversial Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident in Chinese.
Users could previously circumvent the Chinese government’s ban of hundreds of articles on the HTTP version of Wikipedia with the HTTPS web address, but according to Chinese web monitoring site GreatFire, the government has put an end to this starting May 31.
The Great Firewall (as China’s censorship mechanism is commonly referred to) started banning access to the encrypted version of Wikipedia through port blocking – by blocking port 443 where HTTPS connections are typically established, users can only visit port 80 where HTTP connections are on.
“The HTTPS version of Wikipedia is blocked while the HTTP version is not. This method forces users in China to use the unencrypted HTTP version, which is subject to keyword filtering,” says GreatFire in a report.
The Great Firewall has taken nearly a year and a half to respond to the existence of Wikipedia’s encrypted version, which is likely because the site uses HTTP by default, GreatFire says. It is urging Wikipedia to now switch the default to HTTPS to force the Chinese government to have to make a decision on whether to fully block the site or leave Wikipedia alone.
“Based on the existing evidence, it’s more likely that GFW would leave Wikipedia alone,” says the company, which closely monitors China’s censorship activity and other Internet issues in the country, citing examples of Gmail and Github when the government also ultimately left the sites alone.
Earlier this year, social coding site Github had been blocked by the Great Firewall of China.
Headline image via Thinkstock | <urn:uuid:6658acb1-9b7a-4358-90db-67995e8455fc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://thenextweb.com/asia/2013/06/03/china-blocks-encrypted-version-of-wikipedia-ahead-of-june-4-tiananmen-anniversary/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397795.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00042-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940481 | 384 | 2.515625 | 3 |
The Apostle's Creed The First Article- Lesson 2
The Apostle’s Creed
The First Article
I Believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth?
What does this mean?
I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them.
He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life.
He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil.
All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true.
God as Father
God as Creator
“Here attention must also be called to this, that the words “Let there be light” are the words of God, not of Moses; this means that they are realities. For God calls into existence the things which do not exist (Rom. 4:17). He does not speak grammatical words; He speaks true and existent realities. Accordingly, that which among us has the sound of a word is a reality with God. Thus sun, moon, heaven, earth, Peter, Paul, I, you, etc.—we are all words of God, in fact only one single syllable or letter by comparison with the entire creation. We, too, speak, but only according to the rules of language; that is, we assign names to objects which have already been created. But the divine rule of language is different, namely: when He says: “Sun, shine,” the sun is there at once and shines. Thus the words of God are realities, not bare words.” Martin Luther, Luther’s Works Vol. 1 pp. 21-22
*We confess that the 1st Person of the Trinity is the Father.
*He is Father and defines what a father is.
*We are His children by creation and by His adopting us through the blood of Jesus.
*We reject any attempt to make the 1st Person of the Trinity gender neutral or female.
*We confess that God created all things in six days out of nothing. He spoke all things into existence by His Word.
*We confess that God created invisible beings known as angels. All were good. Satan and his demons rebelled. The other angels serve God and help us.
1. What does it mean that God is our Father?
2. What comfort do we receive from God speaking things into being?
3. What goes on between good and evil angels and what does it mean to us?
Gracious Father, we thank You for Your creation, and that we are Your children. Bless us and keep in Your loving care. Amen. | <urn:uuid:2c9ff1fe-8a41-489e-b53e-4b23db5468c2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.stpaulsindy.com/index.php/pastor-shadday-s-blog/teachings-top | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394937.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00111-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959408 | 638 | 2.578125 | 3 |
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This practice covers the measurement of the mechanical properties of materials during charged-particle irradiation, with the test materials designed to simulate or provide understanding of, or both, the mechanical behavior of materials when exposed to neutron irradiation. This practice includes requirements for test material and particle beam characterization (such as for strain, load, temperature monitoring and control, and specimen environment monitoring), and recommended procedures for measuring mechanical properties and for calculating radiation damage (such as particle ranges, damage energy, damage rates, and damage gradients). Methods for comparing ion damage with neutron damage are also recommended.
This abstract is a brief summary of the referenced standard. It is informational only and not an official part of the standard; the full text of the standard itself must be referred to for its use and application. ASTM does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents of this abstract are accurate, complete or up to date.
1.1 This practice covers the performance of mechanical tests on materials being irradiated with charged particles. These tests are designed to simulate or provide understanding of, or both, the mechanical behavior of materials during exposure to neutron irradiation. Practices are described that govern the test material, the particle beam, the experimental technique, and the damage calculations. Reference should be made to other ASTM standards, especially Practice E 521
1.2 The word simulation is used here in a broad sense to imply an approximation of the relevant neutron irradiation environment. The degree of conformity can range from poor to nearly exact. The intent is to produce a correspondence between one or more aspects of the neutron and charged particle irradiations such that fundamental relationships are established between irradiation or material parameters and the material response.
1.3 The values stated in SI units are to be regarded as standard. No other units of measurement are included in this standard.
1.4 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.
2. Referenced Documents (purchase separately) The documents listed below are referenced within the subject standard but are not provided as part of the standard.
E170 Terminology Relating to Radiation Measurements and Dosimetry
E521 Practice for Neutron Radiation Damage Simulation by Charged-Particle Irradiation
UNSPSC Code 26142000(Irradiation equipment)
|Link to Active (This link will always route to the current Active version of the standard.)|
ASTM E821-96(2009), Standard Practice for Measurement of Mechanical Properties During Charged-Particle Irradiation, ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, 2009, www.astm.orgBack to Top | <urn:uuid:ea47a5cb-01f9-4a1a-b146-677303fe0249> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.astm.org/Standards/E821.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398075.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00102-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.899608 | 637 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Eight Chippewa bands have the right to hunt, fish and gather off their reservations in a portion of east-central Minnesota that includes Lake Mille Lacs. At Mille Lacs, the bands use nets to take fish, mostly walleyes, and their plan for the future is to take more, which would cut into the share available for sport anglers.
Richard Sennott, Star Tribune
Anderson: How to share Mille Lacs walleye?
- Article by: DENNIS ANDERSON
- Star Tribune
- April 29, 2012 - 4:32 PM
The eight Chippewa bands that just now are concluding their spring netting of Mille Lacs are proposing to increase their annual walleye quota over the next five years to as much as 169,000 pounds.
The bands' quota this year -- the last in a five-year agreement reached with the state in 2007 -- is 142,500 pounds, up from 122,500 pounds in 2008, the first year of that agreement.
The higher amount -- 169,000 pounds -- is detailed in a draft report submitted to the state Department of Natural Resources by the bands. The document was obtained by the Star Tribune following a request to the DNR under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act.
The DNR has not yet responded to the Chippewas' planned harvest.
In their latest proposal, the bands reserve the right to further increase their sport-fish harvest in Mille Lacs and throughout the portion of east-central Minnesota covered by an 1837 treaty their ancestors signed with the federal government.
In 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed in a 5-4 decision that the bands reserved in the treaty the right to hunt, fish and gather off their reservations throughout what is now an approximately 12-county region of Minnesota.
In subsequent court orders, the state, through the DNR, was directed to share the Mille Lacs game-fish harvest with the bands.
To that end, DNR biologists meet at least annually with their counterparts from the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission to assess fish population and other data, and to set "safe harvest limits'' for the coming year.
The limits, measured in pounds for northern pike as well as walleyes, represent the biologists' best estimate of the amount of fish that can be taken from the lake each year without adversely affecting brood stocks.
Since 1997, the bands and the state -- negotiating on behalf of hook-and-line sport anglers -- have divided the safe harvest, with the smaller share so far going to the bands.
For example, in 2008, the bands' walleye quota was 122,500 pounds out of a total safe harvest that year of 430,000 pounds, meaning 307,500 pounds were reserved for sport angling.
In some years, neither the bands nor the state reaches its Mille Lacs walleye quota. The closest the bands came in the past five years was in 2010, when they netted 124,000 pounds out of a quota of 132,500 pounds.
Last year, because of a late spring and ice-out on Mille Lacs, their walleye take was far less: 61,000 pounds from a quota of 142,500 pounds.
Headed to 50 percent?
The concern has long been that the Chippewa eventually would claim as much as half of Mille Lacs' annual walleye safe harvest. If they do, restrictions on anglers likely would tighten.
This summer, for instance, anglers will be limited to keeping Mille Lacs walleyes less than 17 inches long. Last year, the mark was 18 inches. But the DNR anticipates good fishing on the lake when the season opens May 12, and the 17-inch restriction is in place to ensure to the greatest degree possible that walleye fishing on Mille Lacs will remain open all year, and that the state's quota of 357,500 pounds won't be met prematurely.
One walleye 28 inches or longer also can be kept by anglers.
Much of the latest Chippewa plan details how the eight bands -- two of which, Mille Lacs and Fond du Lac, are from Minnesota; the rest are from Wisconsin -- will divide the harvest among themselves.
Example: The largest share of next year's Chippewa Mille Lacs harvest quota, which is 147,000 pounds, will go to the Mille Lacs band, with 28,500 pounds. Close behind is Fond du Lac, with 27,500 pounds. Unused allotments can be traded among bands. The bands' walleye quota will remain 147,000 pounds throughout the five-year agreement, except that in any year a band reaches 90 percent of its quota, its quota for the subsequent year would increase by 2,000 pounds.
Similarly, if all eight bands reached 90 percent of their quotas, the group's harvest the following year would rise by 2,000 pounds per band, or 16,000 pounds total, to a maximum of 169,000 pounds during the agreement's five years.
(If the Mille Lacs walleye safe harvest falls below 348,000 pounds, or double the bands' proposed 169,000 quota, the bands' quota under the proposal would be half the safe harvest amount.)
The bands indicate in the proposal that they intend to increase their walleye harvest over time. From the report:
"The courts in the Mille Lacs and Fond du Lac cases have not made a judicial allocation of fishery resources in the Minnesota 1837 ceded territory. Like the 2008-2012 Plan, this management plan does not purport to provide for the full harvest of what the Bands believe to be their full treaty share of such resources. The Bands' management approach, as set forth in this plan, is intended to provide for the continuing gradual development of treaty fisheries in the Minnesota 1837 ceded territory during its five-year term, commensurate with the interests, needs, and desires of Band members. This management approach is not intended to limit, waive or modify the Bands' full treaty entitlement and any such construction of this plan is improper and unauthorized.''
Unknown is what effect new studies planned by the DNR to determine the abundance of certain year classes of Mille Lacs walleyes might have on future safe-harvest levels for that lake. The DNR is concerned that numbers of male walleyes in particular from the 2005, 2006 and 2007 year classes appear unusually low. These fish -- 15 to 19 inches long -- are the same ones generally targeted by sport anglers and Chippewa netters.
Dennis Anderson • [email protected]
© 2016 Star Tribune | <urn:uuid:042d5f2a-6f10-4392-bd09-0dc344cd30a4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.startribune.com/printarticle/?id=149383675 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397565.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00058-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952534 | 1,407 | 2.671875 | 3 |
With warm weather on its way, I thought a review on hydration, the risks of dehydration and overhydration, and proper rehydration might be useful to all of us as Tennis Server readers. In this column we'll discuss how proper hydration enhances performance on the court, how to stay hydrated, getting rehydrated and concerns for special populations (kids, seniors, wheelchair players).
When I think of hydration issues and tennis, one person's name comes to mind as the expert -- Dr. Michael Bergeron. Dr. Bergeron is an applied physiologist and member of the USTA Sport Science Committee. As an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Georgia and a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, his interests include sports performance and nutrition, with an emphasis on the effects of exercise in the heat on fluid and mineral balance. Dr. Bergeron has worked with junior, collegiate, and touring professional tennis players on various aspects of training, match preparation, nutrition, and playing in the heat.
I asked Dr. Bergeron if he would share the latest information on the effects of heat on tennis players.
The Balance Of Body Fluids
Body fluids account for over 70% of an average human's body (and even a larger percentage of an infant's body). Our body fluids are composed of water and substances called electrolytes. Dissolved in water these materials develop tiny electrical charges. Some electrolytes have positive charges (sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium), others have negative charges (chloride, sulfate and phosphate). These electrical charges stimulate and regulate many of our body functions - like heart rate.
As long as the volume and chemical composition of our body fluids remain in a balanced prescribed range we enjoy health. Conversely when this balance is disturbed, disease can take over.
Our bodies have several mechanisms for eliminating fluids including tears, excretions from the bladder, bowels and through perspiration. Even our lungs expel water and electrolytes along with air as part of the respiratory process. Although the bladder and bowels are responsible for the removal of body waste products, the primary function of perspiration is the regulation of body heat. Our bodies create great quantities of heat from internal chemical reactions.
Perspiration or sweat is part of our body's mechanism of cooling itself. Sweat is primarily water and the electrolytes sodium and chloride. As the sweat is exposed to the air it evaporates, cooling our bodies. Evaporation is our body's major mechanism of dissipating heat when we exercise. This is why on hot, humid days we have more difficulty cooling down. The humid air is already saturated with moisture inhibiting the evaporation process. If our bodies can not cool down, our core body temperatures increase which in turn has a negative effect on different body functions.
Dehydration Affects Performance:
When sweat losses are greater than fluid intake players become dehydrated. Dehydration of 1-2% of your body weight begins to significantly affect some of your body's functions and negatively affects performance. (So if you normally weigh 150 pounds, that calculates to a loss of 1.5-3.0 pounds of fluids. Keep in mind, a cup of water weighs a little over half a pound.) A 3% loss of body weight increases the risk of developing heat cramps, heat exhaustion or heat stroke. These levels of dehydration are common in sports, including a 1-2.5 liter per hour fluid loss in tennis.
"Many athletes start an event already dehydrated", said Dr. Bergeron. When this happens you may experience the effects of dehydration rapidly. A common scenario for dehydration in tennis - you played a match earlier in the day but have not completely rehydrated yourself before playing again that same day.
Our body's systems are very interrelated -- one system affects another. In particular, dehydration affects our cardiovascular system. The heart rate rises 3-5 beats for every 1% of body weight lost! In the heat, heart rate goes up even more. The reduction in body fluids also affects the heart stroke volume (the amount of body fluids we pump through our body). Peformance implications include decreases in muscle strength and endurance, aerobic power, physical work capacity, and increased fatigue. There are also psychological effects such as decreased time to exhaustion, feelings of exertion and impaired mental functions.
Recognizing Hydration Problems In Yourself Or Others:
Players, parents and those supervising athletes should be able to recognize the basic signs and symptoms of dehydration.
Initially you may just feel thirsty. As dehydration progresses you may have a headache, grow irritable, begin to make errors in judgement, feel apathetic, confused, weak, experience decreased performance, dizziness or muscle twinges. In advanced stages you may experience heat sensations on the head and neck, chills, nausea, vomiting and muscle cramps or dyspnea (shortness of breath).
Okay! We all agree. We need to stay hydrated! How do you do that? Dr. Bergeron provides these tips:
- Drink water, juice, milk, or sports drinks throughout the day. Avoid
alcohol or excessive caffeine (coffee, tea, soft drinks).
- Drink regularly during practice and warm-up.
- Check your urine: it should be light-colored or clear. If you need frequent bathroom breaks to urinate (every 45 minute) you may be drinking
- Drink at each changeover. Adults and older adolescents can comfortably drink 48 ounces per hour to prevent significant fluid deficits.
- Weigh yourself before and after play. Drink about 150% of any remaining
fluid deficit to rehydrate yourself.
- If you are prone to heat-related muscle cramps, add salt to your diet by eating high-salt foods, or adding salt to your food or drinks. This will help your body retain fluid.
As Dr. Bergeron has pointed out, a 1-2.5 liter per hour sweat loss in tennis is common. To become rehydrated, it is not enough to drink plain water. Water does not contain the electrolytes our bodies lose through sweat. The electrolytes sodium and chloride are necessary for proper body function and can prevent heat-induced muscle cramps. Adding potassium to your diet (for example, by eating bananas) will not prevent or resolve heat-related muscle cramps.
There are so many individual differences that it is hard to generalize a rehydration plan that will work for every tennis player. Players sweat at varying rates under the same conditions - in part, due to a difference in individual genetics. Environmental conditions (temperature), length, frequency and intensity of play and how acclimatized you are should all be incorporated into your rehydration plan.
The National Athletic Trainers' Association provides some examples of creating
an individual rehydration plan. One key element is understanding your fluid losses. One simple way to calculate this is by weighing yourself before and after a match.
Yes, it is possible to drink too much water. As we've learned, sweat is composed of water and electrolytes. Subsequently, simply drinking water does not replace the electrolytes lost through sweating. Excessive water or low-sodium fluid consumption teamed with heavy sweating rates can lead to "hyponatremia" (low blood sodium), a dangerous and potential threat to all tennis players. This can easily happen in tennis, particularly when playing multiple, long matches on successive days in the heat," said Bergeron.
He reported "a 17-year old, nationally ranked tennis player drank an excessive amount of water, after playing a 4-hour tournament match in the heat. The player had a seizure, slipped into a coma, and spent 2 days in the hospital, before he recovered and his serum electrolytes were stabilized."
Special Populations (Kids, Seniors, Wheelchair Players):
Certain player populations -- kids, seniors and wheelchair tennis players -- may be at greater risk for dehydration.
Adolescents: As we have discussed, the primary purpose of sweating is to regulate body temperature. Hydration is especially important for pre-adolescent children. Generally smaller in stature, children have a larger surface area to body mass ratio than adults and are more vulnerable to heat absorption and increasing body temperature. Their sweat glands are not fully developed and are not as active, so body cooling through sweating is not as effective. Alternative measures to reduce the core body temperature during play in adolescents include: drinking cool liquids, shade, proper clothing (loose, cotton/polyester mix, white clothing) and monitoring the environmental conditions.
Seniors: As we age some of our body functions are often not as effective, including our ability to sweat. Muscle mass and body fluid volume is reduced. As well, seniors may voluntarily choose to restrict fluid consumption due to urinary incontinence concerns. All of these create a higher potential for dehydration.
Wheelchair Players: Based on the neurological level of injury, some wheelchair players (often quad players) lack the ability to sweat. Although tournament directors often try to schedule quad matches early or late in the day or evening, players always have to be prepared to play. Players should drink fluids, wear appropriate clothing, stay in the shade during changeovers, use spray bottles to mist themselves, or keep a container filled with ice and cold towels. One ingenious wheelchair player sewed pockets into a towel attached to his cap. He placed ice in the pockets which lay on the back of his neck. As the ice melted, it trickled down his back to cool him.
"More research needs to be conducted to find other effective ways to keep
these players [kids, seniors and wheelchair players] cool," says Bergeron.
A Good Source of Information:
The National Athletic Trainers' Association has a position statement on fluid replacement which can be downloaded from
their website. The statement includes a great deal of practical information, excellent overview material on the physiological and performance degradation caused by dehydration and outlines and provides additional references on developing a personal rehydration program.
Ellen Satlof from the NATA tells us that the NATA will be releasing a
position statement on heat illness this fall. (I'll include a note in
this column when this is available.)
Larry Armstrong's book, Performing in Extreme Environments (Human
Kinetics) includes a urine color chart. Based on urine color you are able
to determine whether you are well hydrated or not (the darker the urine
the less hydrated you are)."
I also like the Sports Science Center at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute web site. They have a lot of practical information on the latest research written by many of the top experts in the field.
High Tech Monitoring Device
I did want to mention one other interesting aspect of hydration research and a little space age technology used in monitoring athletes. How do you measure core body temperatures on the court or field? One way is through a wireless sensor originally developed for NASA to monitor core body temperatures of astronauts.
An encapsulated sensing crystal is ingested - yes - you swallow the sensor like a pill. The ingested sensor monitors the body temperature and transmits the core body temperature data to an external receiver. What happens to the sensor in your body? It passes through and out your body via the bowels. (Yes - we definitely refer to this as a disposable and nonretrievable sensor.) The device is available through HQ, Inc. of Palmetto, Florida.
I hope we've included some useful information for you on hydration, dehydration and rehydration. I want to thank Mike Bergeron again for his knowledge, time and assistance in the preparation of this column.
Until next month --- Jani | <urn:uuid:3a5fab5b-3ea0-4b75-bd1f-2f28264d4c46> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.tennisserver.com/set/set_02_04.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00134-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939512 | 2,406 | 3 | 3 |
The Greeks clearly saw that if men were to find out what is good, by the use of their intelligence, they must learn to think clearly, courageously, dispassionately, alone. They must be able to recognize an idea when they had one, to know what it included, and what it excluded. They must be able to free their thinking from their wish fancies. They must find it possible to be above saying things were so merely because they wanted them to be so. They must emancipate their thought from the tyrannies and the vulgarities and the prejudices and the infantile wishes of the herd. Socrates is a good example of this procedure. Of all the thinkers of antiquity, Socrates has been regarded as the wisest — perhaps the greatest teacher who ever lived. Yet Socrates has no gospel, he commands nobody, he never tells one what to think or to believe. In fact, this greatest of all teachers never taught anybody anything; he merely gave men exercises in "conversation with intellectual good manners." Such conversation was called dialectic, and dialectic is philosophy. Socrates asked just one important question, "What do you mean by what you say?" If you know what you mean by what you say, you at least have knowledge of ideas, or, in other words you have 'found' the things you are talking about.
For instance, there is the dialogue between Socrates and Thrasymachus at the beginning of The Republic. Socrates has wandered down to the port of Athens. He is sitting on the sunny side of a garden wall in the evening as the setting sun casts long shadows on the lawn. Socrates and the elderly proprietor of the estate where he sits are discussing the question whether or not it is more just for a man to inherit his wealth or to amass a fortune himself. They are about to decide that inherited wealth is more just, inasmuch as a man who is busy making a fortune has very little time to be just.
While they are discussing this subject, in walks young Thrasymachus. You probably know Thrasymachus. He has just come from college. He is probably a junior now. He has just found out that there are poor people in the world and that there is a social problem. So this young reformer, with typical adolescent disillusionment, crashes into the old gentlemen's conversation with the words: "Justice is the bunk; justice is nothing but the will of the strong." Now Socrates did not agree with this idea. He had lived too long, and he had seen too much. But Socrates was a gentleman and a scholar. He didn't say to this young man, "Here, you young anarchist, get out of my college." He said, "Now, Thrasymachus, that is an interesting idea. Will you please tell us what you mean by the will means by the will of the strong. So Socrates says, "Now, Thrasymachus, you led us down a blind alley; we couldn't find justice on that path. Let us see if we can find justice on another road." All the rest of The Republic is merely an attempt to find out what men mean by what they say when they talk about justice.
Back Issues Menu | <urn:uuid:5f61b7a0-eef6-4e7b-9ed7-69cc83d675a7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/sunrise/01-51-2/s01n03p087_blind-alley.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00062-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982228 | 658 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Brain asymmetry improves processing of sensory information
Our brains are asymmetric but does this matter for effective cognitive function?
Elena Dreosti, Steve Wilson and colleagues think it does.
By imaging activity of individual neurons in larval zebrafish they found a region of the brain in which most neurons responding to a light stimulus were on the left whereas most responding to odour were on the right (Figure 1). In brains that were symmetric with either double-left or double-right character, they observed that responses to odour or to light were almost absent. These results show that loss of brain asymmetry can have significant consequences upon sensory processing and circuit function and raises the possibility that defects in the establishment of brain lateralization could be causative of cognitive or other symptoms of brain dysfunction.
Figure 1. Examples of neuronal activity in the left and right habenular nuclei (L Hb and R Hb) of four different four-day old fish with normal left-right habenular laterality (LR), reversed laterality (RL), symmetric double-right (RR) and symmetric double-left (LL) habenulae showing lateralization of neuronal responses to light and odour. Neuronal cell bodies are shown as dots colour-coded in red, blue, violet, or white depending on whether they responded to light, odour, both light and odour, or were non-responding.
Original article: Dreosti E., Llopis, N., Carl M., Yaksi E. & Wilson S.W. (2013) Left-right asymmetry is required for the habenulae to respond to both visual and olfactory stimuli. Current Biology http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.01.016 | <urn:uuid:ba769e7e-6c25-4707-bc2a-cd62962e95ff> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ucl.ac.uk/zebrafish-group/newsSingle.php?postId=584 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397864.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00193-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9058 | 373 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Snow Measurement Guidelines
The following procedures were developed from previous National Weather Service procedures and input from a broad array of expertise from climatologists, snow specialists, weather observers, and data users. Some of the materials have been extracted from "The Snow Booklet" by Nolan J. Doesken and Arthur Judson, CSU, 1996).
Each season before the first snows come: Review these instructions for measuring snow. It is easy to forget what needs to be measured, especially in those parts of the country where snow falls infrequently.
At the beginning of each snowfall/freezing season, remove the funnel and inner measuring tube of the eight-inch manual rain gauge to expose the 8-inch diameter overflow can so that it can more accurately catch frozen precipitation.
Put your snowboard(s) out and mark their location with a flag or some other indicator so they can be found after a new snowfall. They should be located in the vicinity of your station in an open location (not under trees, obstructions, or on the north side of structures in the shadows). Once your equipment has been readied for winter you are prepared for taking snowfall measurements.
Observers should determine three values when reporting solid precipitation. They are:
Measure and record the greatest amount of snowfall that has accumulated on your snowboard (wooden deck or ground if board is not available) since the previous snowfall observation. This measurement should be taken minimally once-a-day but can be taken up to four times a day, (every 6 hours) and should reflect the greatest accumulation of new snow observed (in inches and tenths, for example, 3.9 inches) since the last snowfall observation. Snowfall amounts can be measured hourly or at any interval as long as the snow measurement board is NOT cleared more frequently than once every 6 hours. If you are not available to watch snow accumulation at all times of the day and night, use your best estimate, based on a measurement of snowfall at the scheduled time of observation along with knowledge of what took place during the past 24 hours. If you are not present to witness the greatest snow accumulation, input may be obtained from other people who were near the station during the snow event. If your observation is not based on a measurement, record in your remarks that the "snow amount based on estimate". Remember, you want to report the greatest accumulation since the last observation. If snowfall occurred several times during the period, and each snowfall melted either completely or in part before the next snowfall, record the total of the greatest snowdepths of each event and enter in your remarks "snowfall melted during the OBS period". For example, three separate snow squalls affect your station during your 24-hour reporting day, say 3.0, 2.2, and 1.5 inches. The snow from each event melts off before the next accumulation and no snow is on the ground at your scheduled time of observation. The total snowfall for that reporting 24-hour day is the sum of the three separate snow squalls, 6.7 inches, even though the snow depth on your board at observation time was zero.
Snow often melts as it lands. If snow continually melts as it lands, and the accumulation never reaches 0.1 inches on your measuring surface, snowfall should be recorded as a trace (T) and record in your remarks that the "snow melted as it landed".
It is essential to measure snowfall (and snow depth) in locations where the effects of blowing and drifting are minimized. Finding a good location where snow accumulates uniformly simplifies all other aspects of the observation and reduces the numerous opportunities for error. In open areas where windblown snow cannot be avoided, several measurements may often be necessary to obtain an average depth and they should not include the largest drifts. In heavily forested locations, try and find an exposed clearing in the trees. Measurements beneath trees are inaccurate since large amounts of snow can accumulate on trees and never reach the ground.
If your daily schedule permits, you may wish to make a snowfall observation every 6-hours, beginning with your regularly scheduled time of observation. This is the procedure followed by National Weather Service Forecast Offices. Follow the same rules for a once-a-day observation, but the snow accumulation reported will be the greatest for the previous six hours instead of 24 hours. If you take your observations at this frequency, make sure that you clear your snowboard (or other measuring surface) no more than once every 6 hours. Record the frequency of observations during the day in the comments section of your report. Never sum more than four, six-hourly observations to determine your 24-hour snowfall total. If you use more than four observations, it would falsely increase snowfall totals.
Freezing rain (glaze ice) should never be reported as snowfall. This precipitation type is liquid precipitation and should be reported as such.
Determine the total depth of snow, ice pellets, or ice on the ground. This observation is taken once-a-day at the scheduled time of observation with a measuring stick. It is taken by measuring the total depth of snow on exposed ground at a permanently-mounted snow stake or by taking the average of several depth readings at or near the normal point of observation with a measuring stick. When using a measuring stick, make sure the stick is pushed vertically into the snow until the bottom of the stick rests on the ground. Do not mistake an ice layer or crusted snow as "ground". The measurement should reflect the average depth of snow, ice pellets, and glaze ice on the ground at your usual measurement site (not disturbed by human activities). Measurements from rooftops, paved areas, and the like should not be made.
Note: Hail accumulation is not entered with snow and ice pellets. Hail accumulation is entered in the ?/remarks/? section with the amount and diameter (inches and tenths) of the stones.
Report snow depth to the nearest whole inch, rounding up when one-half inch increments are reached (example 0.4 inches gets reported as a trace (T), 3.5 inches gets reported as 4 inches). Frequently, in hilly or mountainous terrain, you will be faced with the situation where no snow is observed on south-facing slopes while snow, possibly deep, remains in shaded or north-facing areas. Under these circumstances, you should use good judgment to visually average and then measure snow depths in exposed areas within several hundred yards surrounding the weather station. For example, if half the exposed ground is bare and half is covered with six inches of snow, the snow depth should be entered as the average of the two readings, or three inches. When in your judgment, less than 50 percent of the exposed ground is covered by snow, even though the covered areas have a significant depth, the snow depth should be recorded as a trace (T). When no snow or ice is on the ground in exposed areas (snow may be present in surrounding forested or otherwise protected areas), record a "0".
When strong winds have blown the snow, take several measurements where the snow was least affected by drifting and average them. If most exposed areas are either blown free of snow while others have drifts, again try to combine visual averaging with measurements to make your estimate.
Water Equivalent of Snowfall:
Measuring the water equivalent of snowfall since the previous day's observation. This measurement is taken once-a-day at your specified time of observation. Melt the contents of your gauge (by bringing it inside your home or adding a measured amount of warm water) and then pour the liquid into the funnel and smaller inner measuring tube and measure the amount to the nearest .01 inch (use NWS provided measuring stick) just as you use for measuring rainfall. Do not measure the melted precipitation directly in the large 8-inch outer cylinder. Make sure the inner measuring tube can't fall over when pouring the liquid back into it. If the melted water equivalent (including any added warm water) exceeds two inches and cannot fit into the measuring tube all at one time, then empty the full measuring tube and pour the remaining liquid from the large 8-inch outer cylinder into the emptied measuring tube. Then, add and record the water equivalent of the multiple measurements.
If you added warm water to the gauge to melt the snow, make sure you accurately measure the amount of warm water added before pouring it into the gauge. Then, when you take your liquid measurement, subtract the amount of warm water added from the total liquid measurement to get your final liquid water equivalent of the snowfall.
As winds increase, gauges collect less and less of the precipitation that actually falls. Generally speaking, the stronger the wind and the drier the snow, the less is captured in the gauge. If you notice that less snow is in the gauge than accumulated on the ground, you should first empty any existing snow from inside the 8-inch cylinder, then use it to take a snow sample, sometimes referred to as "take a core" or "cut a biscuit" from your snow board with the 8-inch overflow can. Melt the biscuit of snow, pour the liquid into the small measuring tube to measure the water equivalent. | <urn:uuid:4aa91146-a3ea-418f-a49c-757a94332aa1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.weather.gov/gsp/snow | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397864.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00185-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947514 | 1,900 | 2.609375 | 3 |
A student study in a Unicef-supported school.
UNICEF assessments conducted during the reconstruction period found that many children and teachers continued to suffer symptoms of psychosocial stress, with symptoms including withdrawal, anxiousness, fear, denial and depression. With schools consolidated and reorganized after the earthquake, and students moved around, often to schools where teachers were not familiar with them, the needs for psychosocial support were enormous.
Recognizing that schools are both a place for learning and a place for children to overcome the psychosocial stress of emergencies, UNICEF supported training for teachers and principals to help them recognize signs of distress or impaired daily functioning among their students. Today, all 60,000 children aged 6–12 in Beichuan, Qingchuan and Shifang, three of the most severely affected counties, are able to regularly access psychosocial support.
According to Xiong Tingjun, the principal of Leigu Central Primary School, “It was chaos after the earthquake. I was so busy at that time, and didn't really understand psychosocial support, so I thought it was of secondary importance. After participating in UNICEF-supported training, I realize now that psychosocial rehabilitation is crucial to the reconstruction of a society. It is especially important for children.”
More than 100 students in Leigu Central Primary School were identified as exhibiting signs of psychological distress. In order to help these children recover, a room was set up at the school for trained teachers to provide the children with psychosocial support and counselling. Today, most of the students have recovered.
At Yongchang Primary School, fifth-grade teacher Dong Jing said, “Before receiving the UNICEF training, I didn't know how to provide psychosocial support to my students. With the training, I've learned to improve my listening and communication skills and help students to deal with the pressures that they feel after the earthquake. The training helped me to help the children.”
By Cheng Jing | <urn:uuid:da6e369e-ec4c-4c00-9d66-0d194a19aab2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.unicefchina.org/en/index.php?m=content&c=index&a=show&catid=51&id=520 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397864.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00068-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976294 | 419 | 2.703125 | 3 |
From Our 2008 Archives
Kids Who Wheeze With Rhinovirus at Higher Asthma Risk
Latest Asthma News
THURSDAY, Oct. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Young children who wheeze when they have rhinovirus infection -- the most common cause of colds -- are at much greater risk of developing asthma later during childhood, a new study says.
Previous research had shown that infants who experience viral respiratory illnesses with wheezing are more likely to develop asthma. But, until now, it has not been clear whether all types of respiratory viruses that produce wheezing are associated with this increased risk.
A new study published in the first issue for October of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine found that it is rhinovirus-produced wheezing that parents should be most worried about.
"We have found that rhinovirus, the most common cause of colds, contributes a disproportionate amount toward future asthma development in comparison to other viruses that also cause childhood wheezing," principle investigator Dr. Robert F. Lemanske Jr., head of the Division of Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, said in an American Thoracic Society news release.
The researchers followed a group of nearly 300 newborns with one or both parents who have allergies or asthma, making the newborns at increased risk for asthma. The children were followed until they were 6 years old, while the researchers evaluated them for the presence of respiratory viruses and the development of asthma.
At age 6, 28 percent of the kids had asthma, with a disproportionate amount of them having wheezed from rhinovirus.
The children who wheezed with rhinovirus during the first year of life were nearly three times as likely to have asthma when they were 6 years old, compared with children who wheezed with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV, another common respiratory ailment) who did not have increased asthma risk.
The older the children were when the rhinovirus-associated wheezing occurred, the greater the effect, the study found.
Children who wheezed with rhinovirus in their second year of life were more than six times as likely to have asthma, and rhinovirus-associated wheezing at age 3 was associated with a more than 30-fold increased risk.
While these findings provide important information about the type of wheezing-inducing virus that is associated with an increased risk of asthma, the researchers said they can't say whether rhinovirus causes asthma to develop or simply reveals children who will develop the disease.
"In genetically susceptible children, [rhinovirus] wheezing illnesses could cause airway damage as well as subsequent asthma (virus-related factors)," Dr. Daniel L. Jackson, Allergy and Immunology Fellow at the University of Wisconsin, said in the news release. But Jackson pointed out that additional research is needed to determine whether rhinovirus leads to asthma development.
-- Krisha McCoy
SOURCE: American Thoracic Society, news release, Oct. 1, 2008
Copyright © 2008 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:b43cc5ac-f586-4105-be80-9575dd96a4fc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=93153 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00132-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967345 | 672 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Castle Drawing in Pencil.
This castle drawing was completed with a 2B pencil on murano textured paper. Follow it to learn how to draw a castle.
The subject is Conisborough Castle. It was originally a Norman stronghold made of wood, an early type of defensive building in the motte and bailey style. Later it was replaced by a stone building. I think construction of the Keep was started about 1180 and went on for many years. The keep didn't see much action so it has survived largely intact. When a ransom was raised for Richard the Lionheart it was kept in the keep chapel which speaks for its former importance and impregnability. I am lucky enough to live quite close to it.
1. I start with the ground level and sketch in a bush on the right. I'm working from a distance so I can get the entire castle in the drawing.
2. I sketch the basic shapes of the ruined towers and walls.
3. I sketch the keep. It is a more complicated building than the other parts and isn't ruinous. I take my time but keep my lines light.
4. I start to add details including the single window.
5. More detail on the keep.
6. I go over the partially ruined towers. The stonework is jagged.
7. This section is what is left of the gatehouse, the area that visitors would have used before entering the inner bailey through a building called a barbican. Unfortunately a lot of the stone was taken once the castle lost its importance and some of it had fallen into the massive ditches that make up a lot of the defences.
8. I draw detail on the wall.
9. I sketch in some of the detail outside the castle.
10. I draw some of the brickwork on the keep.
11. I add some of the larger stones on the walls and towers.
12. I finish the castle drawing by adding some tone to the bushes outside the building.
Check the rest of the site for more cool drawings.
Free Drawing Lessons from castle drawing | <urn:uuid:e659f76a-2eb0-4d5c-b669-38f463ccce1e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.from-sketch-to-oil-painting.com/castledrawing.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398873.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00196-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979659 | 435 | 3.125 | 3 |
The following post first appeared on the Huffington Post.
Half the world's adults, approximately 2.5 billion individuals, do not have an account with a formal financial institution. Lack of access to finance is disproportionately skewed towards the poor, women, youth, and rural residents. Defined as the proportion of individuals and firms that use financial services, financial inclusion is increasingly seen as critical for ending extreme poverty and supporting inclusive and sustainable development. It provides people with the tools to invest in themselves by saving for retirement, investing in education, capitalizing on business opportunities, and confronting shocks (Global Financial Development Report, 2014). According to the World Bank Group's newly launched Global Financial Development Report 2014 on Financial Inclusion, most of the unbanked cite barriers such as cost, lack of documentation, distance, lack of trust, or religious reasons.
At the firm level, increasing access to finance encourages innovation, creates jobs and fosters growth. However, entrepreneurs and micro, small, and medium enterprises in developing countries point to poor access to finance as the biggest constraint to firm growth. According to the International Finance Corporation, the estimated financing gap globally for micro, small, and medium enterprises is more than 3.1-3.8 trillion dollars. Approximately 70 percent of micro, small, and medium enterprises in the developing world do not use external financing. Another 15 percent are underfinanced, despite some form of access to formal financial services. Micro, small, and medium enterprises have the potential to expand their activities, take on new workers, and generate income, and alleviating their credit constraints will be part of the solution.
Many of the financially excluded use the informal sector for financial services. Moving transactions from the informal to the formal sector increases a country's capacity to leverage domestic financial resources, strengthen its investment climate, and improve asset and tax management. The appeal of financial services in the formal sector have to be more competitive and agile relative to informal alternatives, by providing easy access, low transaction cost and adequate financial services that help address people's needs.
What is encouraging is that policy solutions can address most barriers to access. Reflecting its importance for households, firms, and governments, over 50 countries have recently set targets for improving financial inclusion. These efforts are supported by the Alliance for Financial Inclusion, the Consultative Group for Assisting the Poor, and the World Bank through its recently launched Financial Inclusion Support Framework. The implementation of the country targets is informed by the financial inclusion indicators developed by the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion.
Governments have an important role to play in developing appropriate legal and regulatory frameworks that reduce barriers and ensure effective regulation of competition, as well as educate and protect the users of financial services. The Global Financial Development Report shows new evidence that governments have a particularly critical role in overseeing the standards and flow of information.
Broadening access to finance must also be done prudently: overextending credit has repeatedly led to crises of over-indebtedness at the household, business and government levels when not accompanied by financial management skills and fiscal prudence to ensure productive investments and financial sustainability.
Fostering financial literacy matters. In Brazil, for example, a National Strategy for Financial Education partnered with the Ministry of Education to teach high school students financial concepts, with some activities meant to be completed at home, jointly with the parents. The results revealed sizeable improvements in financial knowledge, as well as significant changes in financial behavior. These policies are already being scaled-up to 5,000 high schools, with research exploring the potential impact of pilot programs in other countries as well.
There is a critical role for technology in expanding financial inclusion. Mobile banking, borrower identification using biometric data, electronic payments, and related technologies are revolutionizing access to finance. Technological innovations significantly lower the cost of accessing financial services, while minimizing the impact of geographical isolation. Mobile banking has been perhaps the most visible new technology to expand financial inclusion. A notable private sector example is "M-PESA", a mobile-phone based money transfer and microfinance service adopted by mobile companies in Kenya and Tanzania. But new and improved technologies also have the potential to facilitate access to government services. Government-to-person (G2P) payments bring in previously unbanked individuals into formal financial services by consistently channeling government payments directly into the beneficiary's financial account. Colombia and Pakistan have fully digitized disbursement of G2P payments, which reduces administrative costs and increases transparency, while expanding the number of people with access to a formal financial institution. Another example is found in Malawi and India, which are expanding biometric forms of identification in order to improve transparency and reduce information challenges in the credit market. Evidence in Malawi reveals that using biometrics tripled repayment rates for those at highest risk of default. The transformative nature of new technologies must be leveraged to maximize impact and ensure that services reach the most isolated people while minimizing costs and barriers of delivery.
Policy approaches derived from cultural and local contexts have the potential to create impact as well. Core to the principles of Islamic finance, for example, are the ideas of risk-sharing and redistribution of wealth. Islamic finance instruments that share risk and reward amongst participants and link financial transactions directly to the real economy are increasingly being used in recent years. Financial cooperatives, based on the notion of communities overcoming barriers in the marketplace by grouping together, are currently one of the largest providers of financial intermediation to the poor, serving approximately 78 million people globally who live on under $2 a day. Overcoming their governance challenges will enable them to live up to their full potential.
As we look ahead to the Post-2015 development agenda, the international community must devote its efforts to addressing the root causes of poverty, exclusion, and inequality. Although global development goals have historically been based on proportions and absolute figures, what will truly reflect success is our ability to harness the productive potential of every individual -- irrespective of gender, ethnicity, region of residence or familial background. One sure way to achieve this entails allowing people to define their own future, and providing them with the opportunity to do so. | <urn:uuid:963dabbd-fb3a-47a3-bbed-0f2daa365038> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blogs.worldbank.org/developmenttalk/comment/reply/1046 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397795.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00185-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942937 | 1,233 | 3.3125 | 3 |
Black Heritage Stamp Series: Origins
U.S. postage stamps were in use for nearly a century before Booker T. Washington became the first African American to appear on one. A handful of additional black history-related designs appeared between 1940 and 1978, when the U.S. Postal Service introduced the Black Heritage series. Today the Black Heritage issues are the longest-running U.S. stamp series.
5¢ Emancipation Proclamation Concept Stamp Art by Georg Olden, c. 1963
This bold, allegorical commemorative for the hundredth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation was the first U.S. postage stamp designed by an African American. A marginal notation indicates that the design was approved by President Kennedy.
25¢ Frederick Douglass Approved Stamp Art by Walter DuBois Richards, c. 1967
The Douglass stamp marked the first time an African American was included in a “regular” stamp series; that is, one meant for everyday postal use. The dramatic portrait was based on a photograph approved by Douglass’s descendants.
10¢ Salem Poor Concept Stamp Art by Neil Boyle, c. 1975
The U.S. bicentennial was the occasion for this stamp, part of a series that honored little-known figures of the American Revolution. Salem Poor was a slave who purchased his freedom and later participated in the battles at Bunker Hill, Valley Forge, and White Plains.
15¢ Martin Luther King, Jr. Approved Stamp Art by Jerry Pinkney, c. 1979
Illustrator Jerry Pinkney’s designs for the first Black Heritage stamps set the tone for the series and were emulated by later illustrators Thomas Blackshear II and Higgins Bond. They feature a central portrait surrounded by symbolic vignettes of the subject’s primary accomplishments.
13¢ Harriet Tubman Die Proof, c. 1978 | <urn:uuid:c8090f19-cb08-4100-a727-374b87f4ca08> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://postalmuseum.si.edu/freedom/p13.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398216.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00097-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951066 | 386 | 3.609375 | 4 |
Results: MIT engineers have designed a retinal implant for people who have lost their vision from retinitis pigmentosa or age-related macular degeneration, two of the leading causes of blindness. The retinal prosthesis would help restore some vision by electrically stimulating the nerve cells that normally carry visual input from the retina to the brain.
Why it matters: The chip would not restore normal vision but could help blind people more easily navigate a room or walk down a sidewalk. "Anything that could help them see a little better and let them identify objects and move around a room would be an enormous help," says Shawn Kelly, a researcher in MIT's Research Laboratory for Electronics and member of the Boston Retinal Implant Project.
How it works: Patients who received the implant would wear a pair of glasses with a camera that sends images to a microchip attached to the eyeball. The glasses also contain a coil that wirelessly transmits power to receiving coils surrounding the eyeball. When the microchip receives visual information, it activates electrodes that stimulate nerve cells in the areas of the retina corresponding to the features of the visual scene. The electrodes directly activate optical nerves that carry signals to the brain, bypassing the damaged layers of retina.
Next steps: The research team, led by John Wyatt, MIT professor of electrical engineering and computer science, recently reported a new prototype that they hope to start testing in blind patients within the next three years, after some safety refinements are made. Once human trials begin and blind patients can offer feedback on what they're seeing, the researchers will learn much more about how to configure the algorithm implemented by the chip to produce useful vision.
Source: "Development and Implantation of a Minimally Invasive Wireless Subretinal Neurostimulator," Douglas Shire, Joseph Rizzo, et al.
IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, October 2009
Funding: VA Center for Innovative Visual Rehabilitation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Catalyst Foundation and the MOSIS microchip fabrication service. | <urn:uuid:cbe923a8-e23b-4156-86b0-d9f0f52a9be7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-09/miot-mri092309.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392159.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00095-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931902 | 421 | 3.515625 | 4 |
Coughing is a normal reflex made by the body to ensure the airways remain clean and protected from any foreign material that accumulates in the airways. This may include irritants like smoke or dust, or excess secretions such as mucus, sputum and phlegm.
Coughing can affect children and adults of all ages. Duration and severity will depend on the type and cause of the cough. Coughing can be a part of a wide range of unrelated diseases, from the common cold to hayfever.
Depending on the symptoms, coughs can be divided into different types and this will determine which treatment is most suitable. | <urn:uuid:0740db8c-7eb4-4cee-b057-ae58e67fc60a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.robitussin.com.au/coughs/what-is-cough.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396887.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00001-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943573 | 134 | 3.9375 | 4 |
- ›› Coverage Geographical : Morocco
By the time Jefferson entered the White House, Congress was shelling out nearly one-fifth of the national budget to buy off the Barbary pirates. Jefferson wanted war, but was convinced that Congress would not support it. He therefore asserted an executive privilege: by executive order he sent a small fleet of American warships to the Mediterranean with instructions to protect US commerce.
Glossary Term – Event
Roosevelt and Churchill met in Casablanca, Morocco, and approved the policy of unconditional surrender. The trip made Roosevelt the first sitting president to both travel to Africa and leave the country during war. | <urn:uuid:572ade7c-0a6c-4c72-aa95-b5425234aa6b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.gilderlehrman.org/category/coverage-geographical/morocco | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00011-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944339 | 130 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Aging and HIV
November 27, 2015
Life expectancy: In most countries, women in the general population live four to five years longer than men. Women living with HIV, however, have life expectancies equal to men living with HIV. In other words, women living with HIV lose their usual longer life expectancy compared to men.
Co-morbidities: Co-morbidities refers to medical conditions that people have in addition to HIV. These include things like diabetes, liver disease, anemia, and high blood pressure. Compared to HIV-negative people, people living with HIV are more likely to have co-morbid conditions.
Heart disease: As people get older, their risk of heart attack and stroke goes up. Among post-menopausal women, heart disease can be especially serious because most women who die suddenly from heart disease had no previous symptoms.
Recent studies suggest that persistent immune activation and inflammation in people living with HIV may contribute to the development of plaque in blood vessels, which can increase the risk for heart attacks and strokes. Early studies show that statins, a type of cholesterol-lowering drug, can reduce the build-up of plaque in the arteries of people living with HIV. Based on these promising early studies, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) is now conducting large-scale trials to examine the ability of statins to reduce cardiovascular disease in people living with HIV.
For good heart health, people living with HIV should talk with their health care providers about checking cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and blood sugar. Also consider heart-protective habits such as exercising, stopping smoking, and eating a healthy diet. For more information, see The Well Project's article, Caring for Your Heart.
Cancers: HIV has long been recognized as increasing the risk of certain AIDS-related cancers. Research now shows that HIV also increases the risk of non-AIDS-related cancers. These cancers include anal cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer, and Hodgkin's lymphoma.
It is important to get regular screening for cancers known to occur more often in people living with HIV (such as cervical cancer) and for common cancers that do not appear to occur more frequently in people living with HIV (including breast, colon, and prostate cancer).
Anemia: While anemia is no longer as serious a problem as it was early in the HIV epidemic, close to one-third of all women living with HIV still experience mild anemia due to a variety of factors. Even mild anemia has been shown to decrease the chances of one's survival while living with HIV. In older people, anemia is associated with less muscle strength, difficulty thinking, and an increased risk for falls.
Blood tests for anemia are fairly simple, and can help point to its cause. Depending on the source of your anemia, your provider will recommend appropriate treatment. Most providers regularly screen for anemia when doing routine blood work to monitor HIV disease. For more information, see The Well Project's article Anemia and Women.
Bone disease: Weakened bones can occur with age, especially in women after they stop having menstrual periods. Loss of bone density can lead to osteoporosis, which weakens bones and raises the risk that bones may break. People living with HIV of both sexes are more likely to develop osteoporosis than HIV-negative individuals.
An easy and painless test called a DEXA scan can help you and your health care provider monitor your bone health and determine if you are at risk for a serious fracture. Vitamin D and calcium supplements may be recommended. Prescription medications to help reverse bone loss are also available.
For more information on specific conditions for which people living with HIV are at risk, see The Well Project's articles in the Health and Medical Issues section of our website.
While these health challenges may seem discouraging, they really show that people living with HIV are now living long-enough, healthy-enough lives to die of the same types of conditions that cause death in the general population. Because people living with HIV may encounter these medical issues sooner, it is important that both people living with HIV and their providers stay aware of them and take appropriate action. There is still plenty you can do to stay healthy and live a full life. Here are some suggestions to get you started:
"You Are Only as Old as You Feel"
Psychologists have shown that there is actually some truth in this. Having a positive attitude toward one's age can have a positive effect on one's health. Additionally, those who feel younger than their actual years tend to avoid many of the downsides associated with aging. The more credit you give yourself for wherever you are in life and the more you highlight what you CAN do, the more likely you will be to remain 'young at heart.'
Recent US treatment guidelines recommend that all people living with HIV start HIV treatment, regardless of their CD4 cell count or their age.
Many older people are already taking medications for other conditions. It is important to know if HIV drugs will interact with these medications, such as those used for high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Therefore, it is important to tell your health care provider about any over-the-counter medications, prescription drugs, herbs, vitamins, or supplements that you take so that you can identify any possible drug interactions.
Monitoring Your Overall Health
It is important for anyone over 40 to pay close attention to their health and get regular checkups. If you are living with HIV, it is important to keep an eye out for problems early so that you can make healthy choices as soon as possible. In addition to getting regular checkups that look for signs of the conditions listed above, be sure your checkups also look for cognitive problems (changes in thinking or memory), liver disease, kidney disease, metabolic and body shape abnormalities, diabetes, and mental health issues, including depression.
This article was provided by The Well Project. Visit The Well Project's Web site to learn more about their resources and initiatives for women living with HIV. The Well Project shares its content with TheBody.com to ensure all people have access to the highest quality treatment information available. The Well Project receives no advertising revenue from TheBody.com or the advertisers on this site. No advertiser on this site has any editorial input into The Well Project's content.
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The scientist who first warned of climate change says it’s much worse than we thought
The rewards of being right about climate change are bittersweet. James Hansen should know this better than most — he warned of this whole thing before Congress in 1988, when he was director of NASA’s Institute for Space Studies. At the time, the world was experiencing its warmest five-month run since we started recording temperatures 130 years earlier. Hansen said, “It is time to stop waffling so much and say that the evidence is pretty strong that the greenhouse effect is here.”
Fast forward 28 years and, while we’re hardly out of the Waffle House yet, we know much more about climate change science. Hansen is still worried that the rest of us aren’t worried enough.
Last summer, prior to countries’ United Nations negotiations in Paris, Hansen and 16 collaborators authored a draft paper that suggested we could see at least 10 feet of sea-level rise in as few as 50 years. If that sounds alarming to you, it is — 10 feet of sea-level rise is more than enough to effectively kick us out of even the most well-endowed coastal cities. Stitching together archaeological evidence of past climate change, current observations, and future-telling climate models, the authors suggested that even a small amount of global warming can rack up enormous consequences — and quickly.
However the paper, publicized before it had been through peer review, elicited a mix of shock and skepticism, with some journalists calling the news a “bombshell” but a number of scientists urging deeper consideration.
Now, the final version of the paper has been published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. It’s been reviewed and lightly edited, but its conclusions are still shocking — and still contentious.
So what’s the deal? The authors highlight several of threats they believe we’ll face this century, including many feet of sea-level rise, a halting of major ocean circulatory currents, and an outbreak of super storms. These are the big threats we’ve been afraid of — and Hansen et al. say they could be here before we know it — well before the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s sanctioned climate models predict.
Here we help you understand their new paper:
The scientists estimate that existing climate models aren’t accounting well enough for current ice loss off of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. Right now, Antarctica and Greenland ice sheets both contribute under or near 1 millimeter to sea-level rise every year; they each contain enough stored ice to drive up ocean levels by 20 and 200 feet, respectively.
This study suggests that, since the rate of ice loss is increasing, we should think of it not as a straight line but as an exponential curve, doubling every few years. But how much time it takes to double makes a big difference. Right now, measurements of ice loss aren’t clear enough to even make a strong estimate about how long that period might be. Is it 10 years or is it 40? It’s hard to say based on the limited data we have now, which would make a big difference either way.
But then again, we don’t even know that ice loss is exponential. Ian Joughin — a University of Washington researcher unaffiliated with the paper and who has studied the tipping points of Antarctic glaciers — put it this way: Think about the stock market in the ’80s. If you observed a couple years of accelerating growth, and decided that rate would double every 4 years — you’d have something like 56,000 points in the Dow Jones Industrial by now.
Or if stocks aren’t your thing, think about that other exponentially expanding force of nature: bacteria. Certain colonies of bacteria can double their population in a matter of hours. Can they do this forever? No, or else we’d be nothing but bacteria right now (and while we’re certainly a high percentage of bacteria, there’s still room for a couple other things).
Nature tends to put limits on exponential growth, Joughin points out — and the same probably goes for ice loss: “There’s only so fast you can move ice out of an ice sheet,” Joughin explained. While some ice masses may be collapsing at an accelerating rate, others won’t be as volatile.
This means, while some parts of ice sheet collapse may very well proceed exponentially, we can’t expect such simple mathematics to model anything in the real world except the terror spike of the Kingda Ka.
Mmm mm, ocean turnover: Is it another word for a sushi roll or a fundamental process that keeps the climate relatively stable and moderate?
That’s right — we’re talking the Atlantic Meridonal Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, and other currents like it.
As cold meltwater flows off of glaciers and ice sheets at enormous rates, it pools at the ocean’s surface, trapping the denser but warmer saltwater beneath it. This can seriously mess with the moving parts of the ocean, the so-called “conveyor belts” that cycle deep nutrient-rich water to the surface. These slow currents are driven by large-scale climate processes, like wind, and drive others, like the carbon cycle. But they also rely on gradients in temperature and density to run; if too much cold water from the glaciers pools at the surface, the whole conveyor belt could stutter to a stop.
In the North Atlantic, this would mean waters get colder, while the tropics, denied their influx of colder water, would heat up precipitously. Hansen says we’re already seeing the beginnings of AMOC’s slowdown: There’s a spot of unusually cool water hanging out off of Greenland, while the U.S. East Coast continues to see warmer and warmer temperatures. Hansen said it plainly in a call with reporters: “I think this is the beginning of substantial slowdown of the AMOC.”
Pointing to giant hunks of rock that litter the shore of the Bahamas, among other evidence of ancient climates, the study’s authors suggest that past versions of Earth may have featured superstorms capable of casually tossing boulders like bored Olympians.
And as the temperature gradient between the tropic and the polar oceans gets steeper, thanks to that slowing of ocean-mixing currents, we could see stronger storms, too.
This is surprisingly intuitive: Picture a temperature gradient like a hill, with the high temperatures up at the top and the low temperatures down at the bottom. As the highs get higher and the lows get lower, that hill gets a lot steeper — and the storms are the bowling balls you chuck down the hill. A bowling ball will pick up a lot more speed on a steep hill, and hurt a lot more when it finally runs into something. Likewise, by the time these supercharged storms are slamming into coasts in the middle latitudes, they will be carrying a whole lot of deadly force with them.
So what does it all mean?
Whether other scientists quibble over these results or not — and they probably will — the overall message is hardly new. It’s bad, you guys. It might be really, truly, deeply bad, or it might be slightly less bad. Either way, says Hansen, what we know for sure is that it’s time to do something about it. “Among the top experts, there’s a pretty strong agreement that we’ve reached a point where this is truly urgent,” he said.
So Hansen is frustrated once more with the failure of humanity to respond adequately. The result he’d hoped for when he released an early version of the paper online last summer was to get world leaders to come together in Paris to agree on a global price on carbon. As he told Grist’s Ben Adler at the time, “It’s going to happen.” (It didn’t happen, but some other stuff did.)
Still, true urgency would require more of us than just slowing the growth of emissions — it requires stopping them altogether. In a paper published in 2013, Hansen found that we have to cut 6 percent of our use of carbon-based fuels every year, if we want to avoid dangerous climate change.
Carbon prices and emissions cuts are more the purview of politicians and diplomats, but if anything, Hansen has shown he is unafraid to stray beyond the established protocol of academic science.
“I think scientists, who are trained to be objective, have something to offer by analyzing the problem all the way to the changes that are needed in order to address it,” he said on a press call. “That 6 percent reduction — that’s not advocacy, that’s science. And then I would advocate that we do that!”
And to pre-empt the haters, Hansen wants you to remember one thing. “Skepticism is the life blood of science. You can be sure that some scientists will find some aspects in our long paper that they will think of differently,” he said. “And that’s normal.”
So while scientists continue their debate over whether the ice sheets are poised to collapse in the next 50 years or the next 500, the prognosis is the same: The future is wetter, stranger, stormier unless we make serious moves to alternative energy sources now. Will we? Maybe. We’ve started but we still have a long, long way to go. If it’s a race between us and the ice sheets, neither I nor James Hansen nor anyone else can tell you for sure who will win.
Hey, no one said telling the future was easy. | <urn:uuid:74d88a05-0ea3-495c-a80f-978c42ea2c1d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://grist.org/science/the-scientist-who-first-warned-of-climate-change-says-its-much-worse-than-we-thought/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00146-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944899 | 2,054 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Cesar Estrada Chavez saw the light of day on March 31, 1927. He was born on a small farm in rural Arizona to Librado and Juana Chavez. Injustice entered his life early on, when he looked on as his family‘s goodwill was used and abused during a “land deal“ that left them heavily mortgaged. During the depression era, when many a family lost all but the very clothes on their backs, Cesar and his family were forced to sell back their farm and leave.
Cesar‘s family sought to make its fortune in the Golden State, and in 1939 they moved to San Jose, California. Work was hard and scarce, forcing the family to labor in the fields around Atascadero, Gonzales, King City, Delano, and Selma as migrant farm workers. The 12-year old Cesar soon found the odds stacked against him when he attended California schools where his native tongue, Spanish, was not spoken. Additionally, his difficulties compounded when he had to change schools time and again in an era of “whites only” signs on the doors and water fountains. He quit school in 1942 after barely finishing eighth grade, taking on the lifestyle of a full-time migrant farm worker. This life was full of prejudice, racism, disadvantage, and outright animosity toward him and his colleagues.
In 1946 Cesar enlisted in the U.S. Navy, served two years in the Western Pacific during the aftermath of World War II, and then went back to his regular life. In the meantime he met, and in 1948 married, Helen Fabela. The two packed up and moved to Delano to settle down. Ordinarily one might now expect the story to continue in line with the elder Chavez’ life, but Cesar refused to let injustice stand unchallenged, and his name became soon known when in 1952 he joined up with the Latin civil rights group named Community Service Organization.
During his tenure with this organization, Cesar Chavez fought to counteract racism and financial injustices. Through iron determination he later founded the National Farm Workers Association (also known as United Farm Workers of America) in 1962.
In spite of financial setbacks, Mr. Chavez kept the union going, and by 1970 he was able to get union contracts accepted by local grape growers. Relying heavily on non-violent methodology, and instead giving power to the people (as could be seen in the Delano Grape Strike) to stand up for themselves, he was able to direct the population’s attention to the suffering the farm workers endured for the sake of the little monies they were paid. What wagging tongues considered a publicity stunt, propelled him into the limelight in 1968, when he staged a 25-day water only fast to bring attention to the dismal working conditions farm workers faced.
Because of his tireless efforts, farm workers were able to share in the profits of their labors on a more equitable basis, and soon fairer wages, medical coverage, and even pensions were among the benefits they could enjoy.
Sadly at age 66, on April 23, 1993, Cesar Chavez died. Nonetheless, thanks to the impact his life and struggles had on his immediate family and also his friends, his legacy lives on in the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation which was established in 1993. One year later his memory was honored with the posthumous award of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which Mrs. Chavez accepted from President Clinton.
Remember Mr. Chavez' achievements in your home: | <urn:uuid:a1432b90-2b81-4754-a68c-6b9586948386> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art32934.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00139-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987181 | 725 | 3.859375 | 4 |
Here come the 100-year retrospectives and revisionisms on World War I. Scores of books are planned to commemorate the remorseless battles, the fetid trenches, the mass slaughter, the broad disillusionment, and the grave implications of the conflict that stretched from 1914 to 1918 and haunts us to this day.
But few of those volumes will have the breath and depth of “The Long Shadow,” David Reynolds’s masterly look at what the war meant and how its meaning changed decade by decade.
In this war, the Romanov, Hohenzollern, Habsburg, and Ottoman empires lay in ruins, along with the governing assumptions of the war’s combatants, its politicians, and its poets. The war’s losers were left hungry and living in rubble, the winners haggling over borders of a world remade by violence and reduced to penury.
“The Long Shadow” isn’t a history as much as a meditation on the place of the war in history — and the implications of the war for the future.
In the book’s first half, Reynolds, a Cambridge University historian, examines the seismic geopolitical shifts of the first two decades of the aftermath. He argues that the war produced a fundamental departure in world history: While states such as Germany and Italy, for example, were founded through the unification of various European polities, the new states after World War I were created out of the division of old states or empires.
“A process of state building and national mobilization that had taken decades, even centuries, in Western Europe,” he argues, “occurred almost overnight from the Baltic to the Adriatic, often with horrific violence.”
And while the French justified their loses by reclaiming territory they had earlier lost to Germany, Great Britain had no such tangible byproduct, which is one reason why the war there seemed so worthless, the huge and painful losses of men so pointless, the poetry so hopeless.
In the United States, the rationale for its (late) entry into the war was principle, primarily Woodrow Wilson’s concept of global democracy.
Breaking up the empires brought tumult, trouble, and ultimately another great war. Even so, the British and French empires actually grew and so did, fatefully, Japan’s. These and other betrayals of Wilsonian idealism sent some activists (China’s Mao chief among them) into communism, and the increased role Britain played in the Middle East sowed immense problems that have lingered for decades.
The postwar period was marked by deep reflection and, across Europe, depression, followed of course by the Depression. The conflict known as the Great War for civilization produced a wreckage of civilized values.
In his history’s final portion, focusing on the 20th century’s second half, Reynolds provides a brisk survey of postwar art, literature, and poetry, some of the best known of it viscerally antiwar, but he concludes, darkly, “[u]ltimately the meaning of the War would depend on the persistence of the Peace.”
In one of the most bracing assertions of this volume, he argues that Franklin Roosevelt’s move toward war — his heightened rhetoric, his support of Lend-Lease — represented “a fundamental reinterpretation of America’s war in 1917-18.” Part of it was due to the fact that the fall of France “removed the Western Front that had been central to the Great War.” But he also argues that FDR’s insistence on unconditional surrender, a phrase borrowed from Ulysses Grant and America’s Civil War, was intended to prevent a repeat of Germany’s post-World War I trauma about a “stab in the back” — claims that led to the rise of Hitler and Nazism.
This is history from 30,000 feet, a view that leads Reynolds to argue that Winston Churchill’s “iron curtain” speech in Missouri that reflected the beginning of the Cold War grew more out of worries that America might again, as it did after 1920, turn away from world responsibility than out of worries about Soviet adventurism in Eastern Europe.
He contends, moreover, that the advent of World War II, and the atrocities prosecuted by the Nazis, changed the world’s view of the earlier war. “They helped give the Second World War a moral clarity that the conflict of 1914-18 had lost and never thereafter regained,” he writes.
The decisive end of World War II and the moral superiority of the Allied cause stood in stark contrast with what he calls “the equivocal ending and moral ambiguity of the Great War.” The message is that what followed the war — a fraught peace, a difficult interregnum, the appeasement crisis, another war, the Holocaust, and then the Cold War — changed the world’s view of World War I.
“The Great War,” he argues, “took on a different aspect once it became the First World War, always to be contrasted with the Second.” Reynolds helps us see that changed aspect with clarity, and his book is a warning that our view of the war, and of the world it produced, is itself tentative. History is ever changing, and World War I will change many times before our descendants mark its bicentenary.David M. Shribman, for a decade the Globe’s Washington bureau chief, is executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He can be reached at [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:b077dd60-f715-4171-b905-9891f2eb6cb9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2014/05/31/review-the-long-shadow-david-reynolds/QtdoNBML1tbjqMp7NZVF9I/story.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397562.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00188-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952417 | 1,182 | 3.25 | 3 |
Also found in: Thesaurus, Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
These verbs mean to represent something as being larger or greater than it actually is: exaggerated the size of the fish I caught; inflated his own importance; magnifying her part in their success; overstated his income on the loan application.
ex•ag•ger•a•tion(ɪgˌzædʒ əˈreɪ ʃən)
all one’s geese are swans A proverbial expression said of one who is prone to overexaggeration and overestimation. Geese are rather unattractive, common birds in comparison to the rarer, more elegant swans; thus, to turn one’s geese to swans is, figuratively speaking, to color reality considerably. Use of this phrase, which is infrequently heard today, dates from at least the early 17th century.
The besetting temptation which leads local historians to turn geese into swans. (Saturday Review, July, 1884)
draw the longbow To exaggerate or overstate, to lay it on thick; to stretch the truth, to tell tall tales. The longbow, a weapon drawn by hand, was of central importance in the exploits of Robin Hood and his band. The farther back one stretched the bowstring, the farther the arrow would fly. It is easy to see how this literal stretching of the longbow came to mean a figurative stretching of the truth. This expression, in use since at least the latter part of the 17th century, appears in Lord Byron’s Don Juan (1824):
At speaking truth perhaps they are less clever,
But draw the long bow better now than ever.
fish story A tall tale, an exaggeration; an absurd or unbelievable account of one’s exploits. This colloquialism, in use since at least the early 19th century, derives from the propensity of many, if not all, fishermen to exaggerate the size of their catch. An important element in many fish stories is the angler’s lament, “You should have seen the one that got away.”
ham See OSTENTATIOUSNESS.
hyped-up Overblown, overly touted, inordinately promoted or publicized; artificially induced; bogus, contrived. The term’s origin stems from the use of a hypodermic injection to stimulate physiological response. In a 1950 syndicated column Billy Rose said of a movie:
No fireworks, no fake suspense, no hyped-up glamour.
The term has now given rise to the truncated form hype, used disparagingly both as noun and verb.
lay it on See FLATTERY.
make a mountain out of a molehill To make a to-do over a minor matter, to make a great fuss over a trifle. Although this particular expression did not appear until the late 16th century, the idea had been expressed centuries earlier by the Greek writer Lucian in his Ode to a Fly; it subsequently became the French proverb faire d’une mouche un éléphant ‘make an elephant of a fly.’
[This is] like making mountains out of molehills. (James Tait, Mind in Matter, 1892)
megillah See ANECDOTE.
shoot the bull See TALKATIVENESS.
snow job See MENDACITY.
song and dance A misleading, false, or exaggerated story designed to evoke sympathy or to otherwise evade an issue; a rigmarole; a snow job. Though the derivation of this expression is unclear, it probably alludes to the “song and dance” acts that introduced or filled in between the main attractions in a vaudeville show.
Labor leader Preble … was not impressed by the song and dance about [Stefan’s] mother and sister being persecuted and murdered. (Time, September 5, 1949)
spin a yarn To tell a story, especially a long, involved, exaggerated account of one’s exploits and adventures, both real and imagined; to tell a tall tale. Originally, spin a yarn was a nautical term that meant ‘to weave hemp into rope.’ Since this was a tedious, time-consuming task, sailors often traded tall tales and adventure stories to help pass the time. Thus, these stories came to be known as yarns, and their telling as spinning a yarn, by association.
Come, spin us a good yarn, father. (Frederick Marry at, Jacob Faithful, 1835)
talk through one’s hat To talk nonsense, to lie or exaggerate, to make farfetched or unsupported statements.
But when Mr. Wallace says that … he is talking through his hat. (The Chicago Daily News, December, 1944)
Use of this expression, whose origin as yet defies explanation, dates from the late 19th century.
talk through the back of one’s neck To use extravagant, flowery language, often sacrificing accuracy; to make unrealistic, illogical, or extraordinary statements.
“Don’t talk through yer neck,” snarled the convict. “Talk out straight, curse you!” (E. W. Hor-nung, Amateur Cracksman, 1899)
Through the back of one’s neck is here opposed to straight, which connotes directness, straightforwardness, and truthfulness.
Anybody who gets up in this House and talks about universal peace knows he is talking through the back of his neck. (Pall Mall Gazette, 1923)
|Noun||1.||exaggeration - extravagant exaggeration|
|2.||exaggeration - the act of making something more noticeable than usual; "the dance involved a deliberate exaggeration of his awkwardness"|
|3.||exaggeration - making to seem more important than it really is|
restraint, understatement, underplaying, meiosis, litotes
"An exaggeration is a truth that has lost its temper" [Kahlil Gibran Sand and Foam] | <urn:uuid:d4c57fc0-0435-4e74-91fd-d61364f2285a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.thefreedictionary.com/exaggeration | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393463.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00167-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938913 | 1,292 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Driving home from east side of Vermont a week ago, it was all I could do not to stop the car to photograph the stunning ocres, yellows and oranges of the tamaracks that were by far the dominant colour in the forest alongside highway 10 and the interstate 91. I can’t promise you that the colour is still there. It may well have pooled in rusty puddles of needles at the foot of these unusual conifers, unusual because they are one of only two conifers (trees with cones), native to North American, that lose their leaves.
Yes, these conifers that turn yellow, then orange, in the fall, then drop their needles are not sickly; they’re just doing what larches do. Larch is the European name for tamarack. Tamarack, or the related name Hackmatack, are likely both derived from the Abenaki work akemantak, meaning a supple wood used for making snowshoes.
The genus Larix, in all of its 12 species, circumnavigates the world within the boreal forest, and is one of the world’s most northerly of trees; in Canada, our native species Larix laricina (mélèze laricin) grows in every province and territory. Within Quebec, this tough conifer makes it all the way to the Arctic ocean. In fact, the tamarack, like the service berry I wrote about two weeks ago, would also have made a good symbol on our flag.
For all its toughness, this tree emanates a fragile grace. Slim and feathery, long branches clad with tufts of needles, varying in number from 15 to 60 per bundle, the tamarack is living proof that delicacy and toughness co-habit happily.
The cone too, the tiny (1 x 1.5 cm) wooden rosebud you see above, conveys the same theme. Remaining on the tree throughout the winter, the cone will help you distinguish our native tamarack from the widely planted Japanese and European larch both of which have larger cones. In the photo below is the European larch, its secondary branches fluffier and more yellow than the two tamaracks on either side. All three grow in a small larch grove in Parc La Fontaine east of École Le Plateau.
While the European and Japanese larches are frequently planted as ornamental trees, the native tamarack is more likely to grow in the wild, in wet, acidic areas such as peat bogs and in muskeg country. However, it also thrives in moist, well-drained soils on the side of the highway where they get lots of sun. The reason it is rarely seen in Montreal may be that it is hard to maintain the degree of acidity preferred by the tamarack. It may also be that a conifer that loses its needles may seem like a wasted conifer to some.
The wood of the tamarack is highly valued due to is resistance to rotting which explains why it is commonly used for bridges, foundations and boat timbers. According to the book Aboriginal Plant Use in Canada’s Northwest Boreal Forest, the inner bark may be used as a poultice to treat cuts, infected wounds and frostbite. Tamarack leaves, twigs, bark and seed are food for wildlife; porcupines are particularly fond of tamarack bark sometimes to the detriment of the tree! Generally the first tree to take root in open bogs and burned peat land, the tamarack’s needles enrich the soil paving the way for other conifers such as black spruce, balsam fir and white cedar. | <urn:uuid:a12380a3-a5bf-4584-8d74-b755ae48e537> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://spacing.ca/montreal/2008/11/19/tree-tuesday-a-laise-with-the-meleze/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403502.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00109-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953767 | 785 | 3.046875 | 3 |
No firm predictions on how much, or how little, snow we could get. In fact, they say there is an “equal chance” that we could get more, or less, precipitation between December and February.
And temperatures? Same deal. For southwestern Connecticut, there is an “equal chance” that it will be colder or warmer.
We fall into the “equal chance” category, meaning, according to the NWS, “there is not a strong or reliable enough climate signal in these areas to favor one category over the others, so they have an equal chance for above-, near-, or below-normal temperatures and/or precipitation.”
“It’s a challenge to produce a long-term winter forecast without the climate pattern of an El Niño or a La Niña in place out in the Pacific because those climate patterns often strongly influence winter temperature and precipitation here in the United States,” said Mike Halpert, acting director of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.
“Without this strong seasonal influence, winter weather is often affected by short-term climate patterns, such as the Arctic Oscillation, that are not predictable beyond a week or two. So it’s important to pay attention to your local daily weather forecast throughout the winter.”
The NWS says its winter outlook “does not project where and when snowstorms may hit or provide total seasonal snowfall accumulations. Snow forecasts are dependent upon the strength and track of winter storms, which are generally not predictable more than a week in advance.”
To read the full “prognostic discussion” of the winter outlook forecast, click here.
You’ve got to give the National Weather Service credit for saying they really don’t know what will happen.
But that hasn’t stopped other forecasters …
The Old Farmer’s Almanac predicts that “Winter will be colder and drier than normal, although snowfall will be above normal in most of the region. The coldest periods will be in early and mid-December and in early to mid-February. The snowiest periods will be in early and mid-December, and in early and mid-February.”
The other almanac, The Farmer’s Almanac, says there may even be a snowstorm on Super Bowl Sunday, (Feb. 2, Groundhog’s Day).
“Over the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, we are “red-flagging” the first ten days of February for possible heavy winter weather. More importantly, on February 2, Super Bowl XLVIII will be played at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey’s Meadowlands—the very first time a Super Bowl will be played outdoors in a typically cold weather environment. We are forecasting stormy weather for this, the biggest of sporting venues. But even if we are off by a day or two with the timing of copious wind, rain, and snow, we wish to stress that this particular part of the winter season will be particularly volatile and especially turbulent.”
The Weather Channel says “A winter of extreme cold or extreme warmth is not expected during the months from December to February. For the Northeast, the best chance for extended cold temperatures is expected to be late in the winter.”
Accuweather: “Winter weather lovers will have to be patient this year, as the start of the season in the East certainly won’t pack a punch in terms of cold or snowfall. Winter will begin mildly, with a long duration of above-normal temperatures. One snow system and some chilly air could come at times during November, however.
“Temperatures will fall in the latter part of the season, likely the beginning of January, allowing snow to fall along the I-95 corridor.”
So there you have it. Not too much agreement on the winter outlook.
I’ll stand by with the National Weather Service’s outlook of … who knows what will happen. | <urn:uuid:c79b5522-1270-4b8b-b971-e280755a5355> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blog.ctnews.com/weather/2013/11/22/lots-of-uncertainty-in-winter-forecast/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396027.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00197-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934935 | 843 | 2.75 | 3 |
We differentiate between peer-to-peer (p2p) techniques and p2p systems. The former refers to a set of techniques for building self-organizing distributed systems. These techniques are often useful in building datacenter-scale applications, including datacenter-scale applications that are hosted in the cloud. For instance, Amazon's Dynamo datastore relies on a structured peer-to-peer overlay, as do several other key-value stores. People often use "P2P" to refer to systems that use these techniques to organize large numbers of cooperating end hosts (peers) such as personal computers and settop boxes. In these systems, most peers necessarily communicate using the Internet, rather than a local area network (LAN). To date, the most successful peer-to-peer applications have been file sharing (e.g., Napster, BitTorrent, eDonkey), communication (Skype). and embarrassing parallel computations, such as SETI@home and BOINC projects. Limitations
The main appeal of p2p systems is that their resources are often "free", coming from individuals which volunteer their machines' CPUs, storage, and bandwidth. Offsetting this, we see two key limitations of P2P systems. First, p2p systems lack a centralized administrative entity that owns and controls the peer resources. This makes it hard to ensure high levels of availability and performance. Users are free to disable the peer-to-peer application or reboot their machine, so a great degree of redundancy is required. This makes p2p systems a poor fit for applications requiring reliability, such as web hosting, or other sorts of server applications. This decentralized control also limits trust. Users can inspect the memory and storage of a running application, meaning that applications cannot safely store confidential information unencrypted on peers. Nor can the application developer count on any particular quantity of resources being dedicated on a machine, or on any particular reliability of storage. These obstacles have made it difficult to monetize p2p services. It should come as no surprise that, so far, the most successful p2p applications have been free, with Skype being a notable exception. Second, the connectivity between any two peers in the wide area is two or three order of magnitude lower than between two nodes in a datacenter. Residential connectivity in US is typically 1Mbps or less, while in a datacenter a node can often push up to 1Gbps. This makes p2p systems inappropriate for data intensive applications (e.g., data mining, indexing, search), which accounts for a large chunk of the workload in today's datacenters. Opportunities
Recently, there have been promising efforts to address some of the limitations of p2p systems by building hybrid systems. The most popular examples are data delivery systems, such as Pando and Abcast, where p2p systems are complemented by traditional Content Distribution Systems (CDNs). CDNs are used to ensure availability and performance when the data is not found at peers, or/and peers do not have enough aggregate bandwidth to sustain the demand. In another development, cable operators and video distributors have started to test with turning the set top boxes into peers. The advantage of settop boxes is that, unlike personal computers, they are always on, and they can be much easily managed remotely. Examples in this category are Vudu, and the European NanoDataCenter effort. However, to date, the applications of choice in the context of these efforts have still remained file sharing and video delivery. Datacenter clouds and p2p systems are not a substitute for each other. Widely distributed peers may have more aggregate resources, but they lack the reliability and high interconnection bandwidth offered by datacenters. As a result, cloud-hosting and p2p systems complement each other. We expect that in the future more and more applications will span both the cloud and the edge. Examples of such applications are:
- Data and video delivery. For highly popular content, p2p distribution can eliminate the network bottlenecks by pushing the distribution at the edge. As an example, consider a live event such as the presidential inauguration. With traditional CDNs, every viewer on a local area network would receive an independent stream, which could lead to choking the incoming link. With p2p, only one viewer on the network needs to receive the stream; the stream can be then redistributed to other viewers using p2p techniques.
- Distributed applications that require a high level of interactivity, such as massive multi player games, video conferences, and IP telephony. To minimize latency, in these applications peers communicate with each other directly, rather than through a central server.
- Applications that request massive computation per user, such as video editing and real-time translation. Such applications may take advantage of the vast amount of computation resources of the user's machine. Today, virtually every notebook and personal computer has a multi-core processor which are mostly unused. Proposals, such as Google's Native Client aim to tap into these resources. | <urn:uuid:460706b6-612e-4e0c-865a-9eda86bb8c27> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://berkeleyclouds.blogspot.com/2009/06/clouds-and-peer-to-peer.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403502.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00162-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945776 | 1,035 | 3.5625 | 4 |
Officer Rodney Brown
Spring means many cyclists will be dragging out the bicycles, dusting them off, or perhaps learning for the first time.That is why the North Platte Police Department would like to remind the public of a few tips.
Children riding bicycles create special problems for drivers because they are often inexperienced and not capable of proper judgment in determining traffic conditions.
On most roadways, bicyclists of any age have the same rights and responsibilities as other roadway users and often share the same lane. Bicyclists can be hard to see. The riders are exposed and easily injured in a collision.
Pay particular attention at intersections. Some tips are:
• The most common dangers are cyclist failing to yield the right of way to vehicles, or vice versa, and not riding with traffic the flow of traffic.
• The most common causes of collisions are drivers turning in front of an oncoming bicycle, or turning right, across the path of the bicycle. Wait for the cyclist to pass before attempting to turn.
• When passing a bicyclist proceeding in the same direction, do so slowly and leave at least a distance of at least 3 feet between you and the bicycle. Maintain this clearance until you have safely passed the bicycle.
• Watch for bicycle riders turning in front of you without looking or signaling, especially if the rider is a child.
• Take extra precautions in school zones and neighborhood areas where children and teenagers might be riding.
• Watch out for bikes coming out of driveways or from behind parked cars or other obstructions.
• Although safety helmets are not required by law they are a good precaution and prevent head injuries.
Please be safe and follow the rules of the road. | <urn:uuid:6a935de7-3a37-49ec-9b83-8142b8d443df> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.northplattebulletin.com/index.asp?show=news&action=readStory&storyID=27629&pageID=6&ajaxShowTB=hidden | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00044-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948353 | 348 | 3 | 3 |
Use vi -x filename to edit a new file. vi prompts you to set a password, after which it encrypts the content of the file. Whenever you access this file, vi requests the correct password.
For even more security, you can place the encrypted text file in an encrypted partition. This is recommended because the encryption used in vi is not very strong. | <urn:uuid:3c2991a9-5ef4-472c-a6ed-c827d8a4e9c6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://linuxpoison.blogspot.com/2009/01/using-vi-to-encrypt-text-files.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392527.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00138-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.885113 | 74 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Keeping Impact As Low As Reasonably Achievable
Radioactive sources are all around us: the sun and the cosmos, medical tests, building materials, the foods we eat, and the air we breathe. Mammals, including humans, have adapted to living with radioactivity throughout our evolution.
A key element in the Long-Term Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability Strategy is to keep the impact of past, present, and future operations as low as reasonably achievable.
Examples of the implementation of this strategy include:
- Pollution prevention projects that actively eliminate or reduce waste generation
- Executing a Site Sustainability Plan to reduce greehouse gas emissions
LANL strives to keep the potential and actual radiation dose to the public and the effect on the environment as low as possible by:
- Reducing airborne dose from stack emissions
- Reducing radioactive inventory by shipping transuranic waste to Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) in Carlsbad, NM
- Reducing the total number of outfalls and the amount of water discharged into canyons
- Installing features to keep sediments on-site | <urn:uuid:b01cea01-48d3-4da0-b2c9-5a66c388db1a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.lanl.gov/projects/long-term-environmental-strategy/control-the-present/air/10-alara.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397213.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00196-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924487 | 232 | 3.359375 | 3 |
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9 Answers | Add Yours
This depends on what it is precisely you are writing about, but the biggest fact you need to remember is that quotes should be used as proof of the main points you are trying to make about the texts you are writing about. I always teach my students the following way of writing essays: Point, Proof, Deduction. You make a point, support it with some proof (normally in the form of a quotation from the text) and then give an analysis of that proof, relating it back to your point.
How and where you use quotations depends on the purpose of the essay, but it is evidence. Evidence is just as necessary when writing about a short story as a novel. It does not matter if it's a novel, poem, or short story. The important thing is how you use them.
The post by kplhardison sums it up best. Quotation marks are used to differentiate your own words from other textual evidence that you may use to support your work. Using no quotation marks implies that the textual evidence that you have borrowed is actually your own. Teachers are particularly strict about this, since a lack of quotes can also imply plagiarism--deliberate or not. You may have also noticed that different types of literature uses quotations in the titles (such as short stories and poems); others use italics (novels, anthologies).
I agree with the posting kplhardison offers. Textual evidence is of the utmost importance when writing an essay about a short story, or any story in fact. The essay reader needs to understand from what point-of-view you, as the essayist, is writing, the text in content, and the essayist's interpretation of said text. The only way to do this is to provide quotations which allow the reader to understand where the essayist is coming from.
If you are writing a literary analysis essay about the specific literary device choices of the author, then you would need quotes to even present your examples, and then you would need your own words to analyze those examples. For example, if you are going to analyze the author's use of a particular word choice/diction used, then you need to provide the context and use the quote. It would make an essay stronger to quote the use of color imagery that provides context than to merely mention the color by itself.
All the answers given above are extremely helpful. I would add that quotations can add to the interest of an essay by giving us a very exact sense of what the short-story writer actually wrote and how, precisely, the writer wrote what s/he did. In this sense, quotations are much preferable to paraphrasing. Judicious use of quotations can also add, quite simply, to the literary interest of any essay about short fiction. When quotations are used we are, in a sense, getting "two writers for the price of one": the writer of the essay and the writer of the story. In addition, there is some phrasing in some short stories that is much more effective when quoted that when paraphrased. For instance, the grandmother in Flannery O'Connor's short story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" emerges from a car wreck and memorably says, "I believe I have injured an organ." Quoting her exact words would be much more effective that writing something like this: "The grandmother states that she thinks some part of her body has been hurt."
Both previous posts cover pretty much every reason for quotes in essays. I'll just add this: we can see the influence of college-level essays in news stories across the world. When we read a story, we take it for granted that the writer has done the research and taken the time to verify his facts. When quotes are used in the body of the text, it adds another layer of verisimilitude ("the appearance of, or resembling, truth") to the story; we see a person's actual words and believe that the writer is fairly analyzing the context. In the same sense, when we write an essay, we want the grader to believe that we know what we are talking about, and applying knowledge of the text -- in quotes to separate it from our opinion -- gives both context to the argument and another layer of verisimilitude.
The primary reason for using quotations in essays about short stories or any other literary work is to provide support for your argument by providing textual evidence for your ideas and assertions.
Your argument is the thesis statement you present (thesis is a shortened form of hypothesis) about what you will examine, analyze and prove.
Your thesis is the statement of your argument, which may be a claim or question about a piece of literature. Your argument is something with which other people might disagree. Therefore it requires proofs. These proofs come in the form of critical opinion, literary background--and--quotations from the text.
For instance, if your argument is that Finney is wrong to suggest in "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket" that marital entertainment time is more important than time spent successfully running a business--an argument many people would disagree with--you will present a stronger and more convincing case by using quotations from the story that show the mistake of Finney's thematic assertion. Your quotations will prove your argument and provide textual evidence for your thoughts, ideas, assertions, and claims.
"You won't mind though, will you, when the money comes rolling in and I'm known as the Boy Wizard of Wholesale Groceries?" (Finney, "Contents of the Dead Man's Pockets")
Your question is a little confusing as worded. Do you mean to say, Why are quotations necessary in literary essays about a short story?
I will just answer the general question of whether or not quotations are necessary in literary essays.
I would say they are not absolutely necessary, but usually preferable. A teacher may require them, but that is different from saying they are necessary. It is certainly possible to write a good literary essay without quotations.
Whether or not quotations are necessary, or preferable, largely depends on what you are examining. If you are looking at plot or dramatic structure or theme, for example, there may be no good need to include quotations. On the other hand, if you are examining dialogue or imagery, it would be difficult to write a good essay without quotations.
We’ve answered 327,804 questions. We can answer yours, too.Ask a question | <urn:uuid:5bd8b3e0-cc5f-474a-bc27-cc755054d0f6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/why-quotations-necessary-literary-essays-abou-403003 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396887.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00188-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956362 | 1,330 | 3.46875 | 3 |
reports that the bone house found in Moldova, decorated elaborately with carvings and pigments, was up to 26 feet across at the widest point.
The new finding, details of which will be published in the scientific journal Quaternary International, is now the earliest known example of a home built by humans. Researchers at the Museum National d'Histories Naturelle, say it suggests that early Neanderthals were not entirely nomadic hunters. Laetitia Demay, an archaeologist and leader of the research team, told The Telegraph
: "This mammoth bone structure could be described as the basement of a wooden cover or as a windscreen. Neanderthals purposely chose large bones of the largest available mammal, the woolly mammoth, to build a structure.The use of bones as building elements can be appreciated as anticipation of climatic variations. Under a cold climate in an open environment, the lack of wood led humans to use bones to build protections against the wind."
reports that the circular house was made up of 116 large mammoth bones including skulls, jaws, 14 tusks and leg bones. Researchers also found 25 hearths filled with ashes inside the house. This confirmed that the owners of the home were settled and used the house for a fairly long period of time.
The new findings suggest that Neanderthals were far more advanced that they have been thought to be and may have used language and communicated culture.
Experts believe that Neanderthals hunted and used the meat of Mammoths for food. Indeed, there is evidence that early humans liked mammoth meat so much that they hunted the mammoth to extinction in the Middle East.
The Telegraph reports that Simon Underdown
, an expert in Neanderthals at the Oxford Brookes University, said: "It's another piece in the newly emerging Neanderthal jigsaw puzzle. Far from being the stupid cavemen of popular image it's becoming increasingly clear the Neanderthals were a highly sophisticated species of human. We can now add shelter building to the list of advanced behaviors that includes burying the dead, spoken language, cooking and wearing jewellery."
The oldest known remains of a building discovered are more than 500,000 years old. The house was built by the ancient human ancestor Homo erectus
on a hillside outside Tokyo using wooden posts sunk into the ground. | <urn:uuid:110d845f-087a-437c-9a14-a7b3c9abf26e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/316356 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00056-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964529 | 473 | 3.640625 | 4 |
A manager is the head coach of a baseball team. His job is to tell the players on the team what to do and make decisions about how the team should play, like who will play in what position. In the past, managers were usually players. Since they were players, these managers wore the same uniform as the rest of the team. Managers who were not players, such as Connie Mack, would not be dressed in uniform. Today, managers dress in the same uniform as the team, even though most managers today are not players. Managers in Major League Baseball and for many other teams as well are usually former players themselves. Their playing experience may give them more knowledge on the game that they can use to help their team. | <urn:uuid:d012c113-4ebc-432a-99ba-3f26ce4523c8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manager_(baseball) | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00016-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.995696 | 148 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Celebrations of festivals are common in Hindu temple. Diwali and New Year (It is called Bestu Varas) are major festivals. Different type of rituals can be performed on each Hindu festival. The Ankot ceremony is a time for the worshippers to offer food to Lord Vishnu. Devotees make all types of delicious food that offered to Lord Vishnu called Ankot. Ankot can only celebrate once in a year in Hindu temples.
Celebrations of Ankot Mahotsav
Oct. 19, 2009, Monday, 1st day of New Year Samvat 2066, Ankot was celebrated at Shri Devendra Naginbhai Patel’s house Gorel. There is a reason why Ankot was celebrated in house. 50 years ago Shri Jethabhai Motibhai Patel (Gorel) went to Mahi River. He found Murti (statue) of Lord Shree Vishnu at Mahi River Gokadia Pat (name of river bank). He accepted that Murti as blessing of GOD and made Murti Pratistha at his home. Since that day he and his family (Shri Jethabhai Motibhai Patel and their sons Bhanubhai, Arunbhai, Naginbhai, vinodbhai) celebrates each festivals, rituals, aarti and pooja the way it celebrates in temple. He made his home as temple. You can find how they celebrate Ankot at Devendra Naginbhai Patel’s house Gorel. | <urn:uuid:bf3993fe-9961-487f-9517-3c97054f83c6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.14gaam.com/news/ankot-mahotsav-celebrations.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00075-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95196 | 325 | 2.625 | 3 |
An emergency star compassJan 1, 2003
In what situation can you imagine yourself at sea without a compass? Failure of that reliable instrument on board and no spare available? Adrift in a liferaft? Whatever the reason, it is possible to find oneself at sea without a compass. Here is a way to use the navigational stars for finding direction that will be good enough to get you to a place where your compass can be fixed.
For any mariner used to taking star sights, the selected stars of the Nautical Almanac should be familiar. Perhaps not all of them have been used during your past experience but a sufficient number spaced around the horizon should have been seen on enough occasions to be recognizable without reference to a star chart, should you find yourself in that situation as well.Selected stars
Each daily page and the Index to Selected Stars table in the Nautical Almanac give the declination for the 57 tabulated stars. This declination, when viewed from the equator, can be used to determine the azimuth at which the star will rise in the east and set in the west. For example, a star with a declination of 40° N will rise at an azimuth of 050° and set at an azimuth of 310°. Except for stars with a declination exactly on your latitude, the star will move to the north or south as it makes its transit of the sky. But viewing the star within a few degrees above the horizon provides an azimuth with reasonable accuracycertainly enough for an emergency situation. As you move away from the equator, the stars to the east and west retain nearly the same azimuth as they do at the equator.
The accompanying table shows the azimuth for some of the selected stars as they rise and set from five latitudes: the equator, 15° north, 30° north, 15° south, and 30° south. Some special cases are discussed below.The Southern Cross (Crux)
The paucity of stars near the southern horizon means that we must find other ways of determining azimuths toward the south. Traditional navigators in the Caroline Islands use the Southern Cross (which they call Uup) in various configurations with respect to the horizon to determine some intermediate azimuths. Though they use different names for the stars, they, in fact, use the rising and setting azimuth of the star Gacrux. As Crux makes its transit around the pole, its configuration with respect to the horizon is used for other directions. We can draw on these directions used by the traditional navigators for our emergency compass.
When the Southern Cross makes an angle with the horizon of 45° from the east, the point on the horizon directly under Gacrux bears 159°. This configuration is visible from latitudes up to 21° N, after which it becomes too low to view the bottom of the cross. When the Southern Cross is vertical, as shown in figure 1, the point on the horizon directly below the vertical (longest) staff of Crux is at an azimuth of 182°. This configuration is visible from latitudes up to 26° N, after which it becomes too low to view the bottom of the cross. As the Southern Cross continues to the west and forms an angle of 45° from the west, an azimuth of 205° lies directly beneath Gacrux. This configuration is visible from latitudes up to 17° N, after which it becomes too low to view the bottom of the cross.Polaris
Of course, there is good old reliable Polaris, which is on an azimuth no more than 2° either side of true north. If precision beyond that is required, Polaris lies exactly above or below the celestial pole when either of two conditions exists: when either Epsilon Cassiopeia, the trailing star of Cassiopeia, or Alkaid, the trailing star of Ursa Major, are directly above Polaris. Only in these cases is the azimuth of Polaris exactly 000°. For an emergency, however, it is unlikely this precision will be required.
When you are at about 1° north latitude, Polaris is so low in the sky it just peeks above the horizon. South of that, to about 27° south, when the pointers (Merak and Dubhe) in the constellation Ursa Major (or Big Dipper) are vertical with the horizon, they point to Polaris beyond the horizon at its northerly azimuth. This situation is shown in figure 2.
Another set of pointers exists in the constellation Auriga: Theta Auriga and Menkalinan. If neither set of pointers is aligned with the vertical, note that lines through each set can be mentally intersected to locate a fix on Polaris below the horizon. These pointers in Auriga are shown in figure 2.Mintaka
Bowditch describes Mintaka, the northernmost star in Orion's belt, as within 0.3° of the equator and useful for finding 090° and 270°.Pleiades
An object that isn't useful for sight reduction but is easy to identify is the Messier object M45, the Pleiades. Its lack of a pinpoint of light and tabulated ephemeris data in the almanac has kept it out of the realm of celestial navigation. As an emergency compass direction, however, it is sufficient for determining an azimuth and is included in the table. This is another star borrowed from the traditional navigators of the Caroline Islands. | <urn:uuid:a30f1cbf-0985-4a8f-8a95-471ed4193cf9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.oceannavigator.com/January-February-2003/An-emergency-star-compass/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00123-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928635 | 1,145 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Each school board is required to have approved and in operation by
September, 1981, procedures to identify each child's level of development,
learning abilities and needs and to ensure that educational programs are
designed to accommodate these needs and to facilitate each child's growth and
development. These procudures are a part of a continuous assessment and program
planning process which should be initiated when a child is first enrolled in
school or no later than the beginning of a program of studies immediately
following Kindergarten and should continue throughout a child's school life.
It is expected that school boards having adopted procedure known to be in
tune with the development characteristics of young children will continue to
refine them as staff knowledge and experience increases.
Some Principles for Early Identification
- Language development is a major component of early identification. It is
important, therefore, that procedures used be in English for an English
speaking child and in French for a French speaking child. Where a child's
language is other than English or French, a reasonable delay in the language
based aspects of assessment should be considered.
- Teachers in consultation with parents must strive to know each child as
soon and as thoroughly as possible in order to provide learning opportunities
that will help each child. It is imperative that children and their parents do
not feel that they are in an "examination-test" situation when
information related to the provision of learning opportunities is obtained.
Where necessary other professionals may assist in this process.
- A variety of strategies should be used to maintain an ongoing review of
each child's emotional, social, intellectual and physical development.
- Continuous assessment from different perspectives should be followed up
with suitable programs that reflect what is known about each child at any point
in time. Such programs should be provided in an environment wherein the child
- Information derived from assessment should be treated as tentative and
temporary; it is not appropriate to use these data to predict children's
- Teachers may identify some children with special needs who require further
assessment. Teachers should consult with other professionals to determine
appropriate learning programs.
Some Resources for Early Identification
- In recent years there has been much activity in the development of
instruments for use in early identification procedures. Careful analysis and
review of these instruments in the context of primary education is essential.
- Research consistently confirms that a supportive teacher who implements
programs suited to children's individual needs and who provides immediate,
positive reactions about developing competencies and attitudes, is a very
reliable authority for deciding what a child can and cannot do.
- Teachers may need to reinforce their interview skills, their skills in
interpreting different facets of child behaviour, and their abilities to
recognize when other professional assistance is necessary.
activities should be developed to accommodate these needs. Professional
activity days could be used most effectively for this purpose.
- Personnel within Ontario's 43 public health units may be able to assist
school boards with relevant social and health information. Contact with the
local medical officers of health is encouraged.
In jurisdictions where
parents provide teachers with social and health information, parents must be
assured that the information will be kept confidential, and that it will be
used in establishing good educational programs for children.
- Within regional offices of the Ministry of Education, designated staff
members have responsibility for assisting boards with matters relating to early
- A resource guide to The Formative Years, tentatively entitled
"The Beginning Years of School" is being prepared by the Ministry of
Education. This guide will provide suggestions for implementing early
identification procedures within the context of early childhood programs.
- The Ministry of Education has initiated a number of research studies
designed to provide up-to-date information meeting the needs of young children.
The reports are available either in microfiche or as bound copies from:
Ontario Government Bookstore, 880 Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario M7A 1N8
Learning abilities: identification and intervention practices (1981)
Mr. Iain Davidson, Dr. Margaret Hughes, Dr. Harry Silverman, Ontario Institute
for Studies in Education. $5.00
This study describes early identification procedures and intervention
programs being used in Ontario, evaluates the reliability and validity of these
techniques, and outlines criteria for choosing appropriate instruments and
The Windsor early identification project (1976).
Dr. K. G. O'Bryan, Ontario Educational Communications Authority
The approach used in the Windsor Project was multi-disciplinary, involving
educators, psychologists, the medical profession and the research team. The
tests developed were designed for Windsor but have general applicability with
some local modification. Bound copy $2.50 Microfiche (ON00565) $1.50
Le projet de dépistage précoce de Windsor (1976)
Dr. K. G. O'Bryan, Ontario Education communications Authority
Bound copy $2.50 Microfiche (ON00565) $1.50
Children's characteristics on school entry (1980)
(Junior Kindergarten, Senior Kindergarten and Grade 1)
Dr. G. A. V. Morgan, University of Guelph.
The research team developed a set of instruments and used them on a
representative sample of children entering school for the first time to
identify the skills and abilities that they had acquired. Data was also
collected on parents' expectations of the school program well as the schools'
expectations of the beginning children. $5.00
Identification of learning disabilities in Ontario: A study of thi
validity of assessment instruments and procedures (1980)
Dr. Robert B. MacIntyre - Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
In addition to examining instruments and procedures, the researchers studied
the process used in schools to generate, apply and interpret data. The report
includes an annotated list of major tests with a validity summary for tests
specific to the learning disability issue.
Early childhood education: perceptions of programs and children's
Dr. M. W. Wahlstrom, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
Ontario programs for children aged three to eight are described and
analysed. Issues relevant to Early Childhood Education are outlined and related
to the delivery of services through the programs of various agencies. $5.00
Kindergarten programs: effects of regular half day, alternate full
day, and daily full day programs
Dr. Andrew Biemiller, University of Toronto.
The study examined the effects of the three types of program on the
children's health, temperament, preferences and their skills in a variety of
academic and social situations. Microfiche (ON01480) $1.50
- Many school boards have had early identification procedure in place for
some time; they can provide valuable information to boards wishing assistance.
A random sample of early identification programs around the province is
presented in Curriculum Connections No. 14, October 1979, a publication
available from the Ontario Association for Curriculum Development, c/o Edgewood
Junior Public School, 230 Birkdale Road, Scarborough, Ontario, M1P 3S4. A
reference copy is held by the:
Ontario Ministry of Education | <urn:uuid:0c3d96e0-7b09-4601-bc9b-f0aaf8a0a201> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/extra/eng/ppm/11.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397636.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00097-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916247 | 1,517 | 3.609375 | 4 |
In my experiences as an SAT tutor, I’ve found SAT reading comprehension to be one of the most undervalued skills in test-taking.
Without a strong SAT reading comprehension strategy, you have very little chance of answering the questions correctly.
You can read as fast as you want, but if you don’t understand the passage, you’re just going to be rushing into a lot of WRONG answers.
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have 1 correct answer (+1 point) than 10 wrong answers (-2.5 points). So, here are some of my top SAT reading comprehension strategies!
Note: All of these SAT reading comprehension strategies should be practiced with the Official SAT Study Guide!
Taking good notes is an important SAT Reading strategy:
To boil it down: focus on taking 1-5 words of notes for each paragraph.
I know, I know – at first, this seems like a waste of time, but here’s why it’s great: Since you’re limited to only a few words per paragraph, you’re forced to figure out the central idea of each paragraph and boil it down into a few simple keywords.
A good note-taking method is one of my top reading tips, an effective SAT reading comprehension strategy that acts like a self-check: did you actually comprehend the paragraph you just read?
If it’s easy to take notes, then yes, you probably understood the paragraph pretty well. If it’s hard to take notes, then your understanding of the paragraph is probably shaky, and you should look at the paragraph again.
Your SAT reading comprehension improves because the note-taking calls your attention to the parts you didn’t understand so you can figure them out.
I do have a longer article on note-taking as an SAT Reading strategy, so check it out if you’d like more help with this.
It is strategic to read SAT passages purposefully:
In my Top 10 SAT Critical Reading Tips article, my tip #2 recommends “reading for the right stuff.”
If you have a purpose in mind and know what information you’re trying to get out of the passage, you won’t get caught up in pointless details, and this greatly improves SAT reading comprehension and speed because you are able to skim effectively.
If you don’t know exactly why and what you are reading for, it’s easy to get sidetracked or miss the central points of the article. It’s like grocery shopping – a lot more efficient and effective if you make the shopping list before you head out to the store.
Are you reading about the author’s view, or is author actually talking about someone else’s point of view?
The SAT reading section delights in dishing out passages that switch confusingly between viewpoints and theories without making it super-obvious that we’re now getting someone else’s point of view.
You should know at all times which viewpoint is the author’s.
Don’t get hung-up on tough vocabulary – figure it out in context.
I’m not going to lie, vocabulary is extremely important to SAT Critical Reading comprehension. However, worrying about a word you’ve never seen before is a huge waste of time. Most of the time, the context around the word will give you a very good idea of the meaning, even if it’s not perfect.
My favorite SAT reading comprehension strategy, when it comes to tough vocabulary, is simply to ask myself “is this word more positive or more negative?” Often, that’s just enough information to get the idea, and get on with your reading.
Don’t get overly hung-up about not knowing a few words from the passage (although you should prepare ahead of time to minimize the number of times you don’t know a word).
Enroll in my Conquer SAT Vocabulary video course for 2 hours of hi-def video (and additional materials) to build your vocabulary!
Is the reading taking place in the present or the past…
… and does this change at any point? True SAT reading comprehension strategies often rely on identifying subtle time cues about present, past, and future.
Sometimes the passage will start out with a memory, or a fantasy, and then jump back into the present. Other times, we’ll begin in the present and jump into a nostalgic recollection, or get a prediction about the future.
Looking for time-related details is an important SAT Reading Comprehension strategy!
What kind of emotion – if any – does the passage or author show?
An excellent “big-picture” SAT Critical Reading Comprehension strategy is to identify the author’s attitude, tone, emotion… call it whatever you like, but definitely get an idea of how the author was feeling when they wrote this.
Is the passage mainly positive (optimistic), negative (pessimistic), or neutral? Was the author furious? (and about what?) Were they cheerful? (and for what reason?) Maybe they didn’t show any emotion whatsoever, and the article was a purely factual report on a topic.
When you grasp the tone and emotion behind a passage, it becomes much easier to eliminate ridiculous answer choices. Understanding the big picture is a solid SAT reading comprehension strategy.
SAT Reading Strategies Are Important:
You simply must have a strategy for how you will read the SAT reading passages. Know what you’re there for – look for the things that are important (especially main idea and tone), and don’t waste time worry about SAT vocabulary words you don’t know!
Enroll in my Conquer SAT Vocabulary video course on Udemy.com for more verbal-score building tips in high-definition video! | <urn:uuid:f85671be-6ec1-4b24-bb9b-8641b45efed5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.esatpreptips.com/sat-reading-comprehension-strategies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399522.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00131-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917211 | 1,228 | 2.5625 | 3 |
A team of students and faculty at Cornell University claim that their Ranger robot has set a new record for nonstop distance walked by an untethered, legged robot: 23 kilometers or 14.3 miles.To see video of the robot, click here.
The previous record was held by BigDog from Boston Dynamics, which walked 12.8 miles.
Andy Ruina is in charge of the university's Robotics and Biomechanics Lab and headed up the development team. He said that they've been working on Ranger for about four years and that it helps them understand the way people and animals work.
"You can't come up with solutions until you understand the problems," he said in a phone interview. The long-term benefit to research like his is overcoming diseases and building better prostheses, he said.
The robot took 65,185 steps over nearly 11 hours before running out of battery power and collapsing. It was powered by a 25.9 volt lithium ion battery and used 262 watt-hours of energy or about three cents worth during its run.
"Our next challenge is to make it walk much further. We think it can do a full marathon," Ruina said. (A full marathon is 26.2 miles.)
After that, he hopes to make a biped robot. He and his team are waiting on a grant from the National Science Foundation, but hope to develop a successful two-legged robot in the next two to three years. He admits that biped robots have already been created, but "none of them work well."
Ranger weighs 18.5 pounds or about 8.5 kilograms. It runs on six computers using mostly ARM7 processors with it's "main brain" using an ARM9 processor. It uses a variety of sensors and runs on about 10,000 lines of code, a few hundred of which are responsible for controlling the bot.
"We take pride in the simplicity of this robot," Ruina said.
Two days before the robot completed its record, it walked another 13 miles on one charge. While it doesn't count toward the record, that means the bot walked more than 27 miles without failure. | <urn:uuid:8c32e5a1-d822-4053-9bea-25ab121f8b47> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/354908/ranger_robot_breaks_record_walks_23km_single_charge/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00119-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974135 | 440 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Caribbean Current variability and the influence of the Amazon and Orinoco freshwater plumes
Cherubin, L. M.
Richardson, Philip L.
MetadataShow full item record
The variability of the Caribbean Current is studied in terms of the influence on its dynamics of the freshwater inflow from the Orinoco and Amazon rivers. Sea-surface salinity maps of the eastern Caribbean and SeaWiFS color images show that a freshwater plume from the Orinoco and Amazon Rivers extends seasonally northwestward across the Caribbean basin, from August to November, 3 to 4 months after the peak of the seasonal rains in northeastern South America. The plume is sustained by two main inflows from the North Brazil Current and its current rings. The southern inflow enters the Caribbean Sea south of Grenada Island and becomes the main branch of the Caribbean Current in the southern Caribbean. The northern inflow (14°N) passes northward around the Grenadine Islands and St. Vincent. As North Brazil Current rings stall and decay east of the Lesser Antilles, between 14°N and 18°N, they release freshwater into the northern part of the eastern Caribbean Sea merging with inflow from the North Equatorial Current. Velocity vectors derived from surface drifters in the eastern Caribbean indicate three westward flowing jets: (1) the southern and fastest at 11°N; (2) the center and second fastest at 14°N; (3) the northern and slowest at 17°N. The center jet (14°N) flows faster between the months of August and December and is located near the southern part of the freshwater plume. Using the MICOM North Atlantic simulation, it is shown that the Caribbean Current is seasonally intensified near 14°N, partly by the inflow of river plumes. Three to four times more anticyclonic eddies are formed during August-December, which agrees with a pronounced rise in the number of anticyclonic looper days in the drifter data then. A climatology-forced regional simulation embedding only the northern (14°N) Caribbean Current (without the influence of the vorticity of the NBC rings), using the ROMS model, shows that the low salinity plume coincides with a negative potential vorticity anomaly that intensifies the center jet located at the salinity front. The jet forms cyclones south of the plume, which are moved northwestward as the anticyclonic circulation intensifies in the eastern Caribbean Sea, north of 14°N. Friction on the shelves of the Greater Antilles also generates cyclones, which propagate westward and eastward from 67°W.
Author Posting. © Elsevier, 2007. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers 54 (2007): 1451-1473, doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2007.04.021. | <urn:uuid:875af5be-04ae-44b4-bf0f-9ada19248eb4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://darchive.mblwhoilibrary.org/handle/1912/1845 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396875.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00061-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92316 | 631 | 2.625 | 3 |
Under Protest Definition:
A qualification made to a legal action taken by a person that the action is contrary to the intent or desire of the person making the protest.
Arguably, the word has no legal significance other than to place on the record the reluctance of a person who takes some legal action, such as paying a fine under protest.
A statement of something done under protest is significantly different to the qualification of something done without prejudice, as the latter does have legal significance.
As to the legal insignificance of under protest, in the 1845 case of In re Massey, a creditor of an estate accepted a payment under protest. The London, England Court wrote:
"The receipt (was) given under protest. These words are often used on these occasions but they have no distinct technical meaning .... unless explained by the proceedings and circumstances."
In Castano v Gabriel, New York City judge Wahl wrote:
"The naked assertion of under protest ... is merely an assertion that what is being done is contrary to the desire or intent of the protesting party.
"There is no magic in the term under protest."
However, in The Queen v Premier Mouton, the corporate taxpayer paid its taxes under protest. In a dissenting reasons, Justice Abbot wrote that under protest:
"... implied a reservation by (the taxpayer) of its right to claim repayment of the amounts paid."
The nebulous import of the term arose in R v Talbot where Mr. Talbot paid his motor vehicle violation ticket using the words under protest. This caused Justice Martin of the British Columbia Court of Appeal to adopt these words:
Under protest is an improper expression because fines cannot be paid in that way; they are paid or they are not paid.
"It is a growing practice which should be sharply discountenanced."
French: sous protêt.
Categories & Topics: | <urn:uuid:c7077b4e-6bdd-4c60-94ee-a7d6a2125964> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.duhaime.org/LegalDictionary/U/UnderProtest.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00035-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947773 | 388 | 3 | 3 |
Theme for English B Theme of Visions of America
Even before we get on down to line 33 in "Theme for English B," where America is specifically mentioned, we know that this is a poem that deals with what it means to be American. Our speaker lives in the North now (Harlem), but was raised in the South. He's living as a young adult in a time when what it meant to be black and American was about to change. The Civil Rights movement was about to jump off, but equality was a long way off. Still, our speaker realizes that, as segregated as the two races are, it's American to be wrapped up in the identity of someone you don't necessarily get along with. Even in a melting pot, some ingredients just don't match all that well. Yet, there they sit, stewing together in the grand recipe that is America stew. Yummy!
Questions About Visions of America
- How do different locations in America come into play in this poem?
- How would this poem be different if it were set in another country?
- What is the role of race in our speaker's vision of America?
- How do you think our speaker's vision of America will change as he gets older?
Chew on This
All together now! Despite their inequality, the speaker's vision of America calls for the races to come together, rather than remain separate.
I heart NYC. The speaker's vision of America holds New York City up as a model for the rest of the country to follow, even in terms of race relations. | <urn:uuid:0488f3df-5225-4a87-a40d-fbc0901bfb92> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.shmoop.com/theme-english-b/visions-america-theme.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396875.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00161-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979713 | 323 | 3.671875 | 4 |
Ciência & Saúde Coletiva
Print version ISSN 1413-8123
NEVES, Ricardo F.; AMARAL, Fernanda D. and STEINER, Andrea Q.. Survey of cnidarian accident records in some beaches of the coast of Pernambuco (Brazil). Ciênc. saúde coletiva [online]. 2007, vol.12, n.1, pp.231-237. ISSN 1413-8123. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1413-81232007000100026.
Cnidarians are among the most venomous organisms known to man. They are characterized by stinging cells called cnidocytes, and several species, such as the Portuguese-man-of-war and the jellyfish, can cause harm to human beings. Despite not attracting () much attention on the Brazilian coast, the studies that have been carried out to date show that the occurrence of this kind of accident is significant. The aim of this study was to survey cnidarian related accidents with beach goers on some beaches of the state of Pernambuco, as well as to investigate the knowledge of relevant professions on this theme. () Archives of hospitals and life guard posts were visited for the survey, and 17 professionals were interviewed. During the visits, records were obtained for a total of 35 accidents at Boa Viagem Beach (Recife) over a two-year period, as well as informal records of an average of four to five cases a week at Piedade Beach and an average of two to three cases a week for Pontas de Pedras Beach. As to the knowledge of the professionals interviewed, most answers agree, in general, with the literature available, despite a certain level of inadequate or insufficient information on the theme.
Keywords : Dangerous marine animals; Accidents; Cnidarians; Pernambuco. | <urn:uuid:766c6ce2-0267-47e7-a95e-e8cdaca044cc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S1413-81232007000100026&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00007-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944087 | 408 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Female Genital Mutilation on Trial
On Wednesday, April 24, Fauziya Kasinga, a nineteen-year-old African woman who is seeking asylum in this country in order to avoid forced ritual female genital mutilation by members of her tribe, was released from detention by Federal immigration authorities. She had been held for more than a year in several prisons and a detention center while waiting for her case to be heard.
An April 15th article in The New York Times outlining Kasinga's case and describing the harsh conditions of her confinement had drawn extensive public attention and sparked protests by a number of advocacy groups. Many now speculate that the immigration authorities arrived at the decision to free Kasinga only in response to this negative publicity.
Kasinga's case is scheduled to come before the Board of Immigration Appeals on May 2, and is expected to set a precedent for women hoping to escape female genital mutilation by seeking asylum in this country.
As growing numbers of Africans migrate to the United States, awareness in this country of the ritual of female genital mutilation--common in some parts of Africa--has steadily increased. While some defend the practice as a cultural tradition deserving of respect, many others denounce it as an especially brutal form of child abuse. In the October, 1995, issue of The Atlantic Monthly, Linda Burstyn addressed the issue in "Female Circumcision Comes to America," describing the efforts of one highly committed activist, an immigrant from Ethopia who underwent the ritual herself as a child, to combat the practice among African immigrants in America.
Copyright © 1996 by The Atlantic Monthly Company. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:cb987c03-2159-40f6-a0f5-0f39e487037c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/flashbks/fgm/fgmint.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402516.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00116-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95796 | 331 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Prepared by the Swedish scholar Olaus Magnus over the course of twelve years, the Carta Marina was published in Venice in 1539. This woodcut map on nine sheets was one of the most celebrated and influential representations of the north produced during the Renaissance period. The detail of Finland shown here exemplifies the map's fantastic artistry: reindeer sleighs transport passengers across the ice-bound Gulf of Bothnia, boat-builders ply their trade in the northern region of Lappia, and a battle rages across the ice at the head of the Gulf of Finland. Indeed, the pictorial vignettes are so abundant that the map is accompanied by an alphabetical key that explains the various scenes appearing in each of the nine sheets.
This magnificent map will be discussed in Volume Three of the History
of Cartography series by William R. Mead in his chapter on Scandinavian
Some thirty essays have been commissioned for the volume from leading
art historians, historians of science, social and political historians,
and literary critics. These interpretive essays are meant to be thought-provoking
rather than exhaustive. They will provide a new service to our readers:
a way to consider the authority of maps as central to how Renaissance Europeans
both saw and imagined the world as an object and subject of representation.
In addition, they will illuminate several levels on which the object of
the map can be studied and understood as a form of historical evidence.
The section should raise important issues in the history of cartography
that will both set a future agenda for research on Renaissance maps and
take stock of the growing role of cartography as a way to organize social,
political, and cultural space.
Once the books and articles reach the History of Cartography Project
offices, full bibliographic information is noted and titles of cited works
are checked against those in the chapter. To ensure consistency throughout
the History, the names of authors and editors in cited works are
made to match the standard entries used in the Online Computer Library
Center (OCLC). After this bibliographical work is completed, we check all
references including page numbers, paying particular attention to quotations
and verifying that they appear in the places cited and that they follow
the precise spelling, capitalization, and punctuation of the original.
Next, we check all historical individuals discussed in the chapter and
compile standard spelling and date information, consulting a variety of
reference sources. Finally, we modify all parts of the chapter to conform
to Press style following the Chicago Manual of Style, and a fresh
copy of the updated manuscript is sent to its author for review and approval.
The result is a chapter that reflects the high standards of the History
NSF is sponsoring a three-year research
initiative under which Volume Six (Cartography in the Twentieth
Century) co-editors David Woodward and Mark Monmonier will be recruiting
and mentoring eleven scholars. These scholars will research and write articles
that will form the basis of much larger and more fully developed chapters
in Volume Six. Our immediate goal is to produce a special issue of a scholarly
journal devoted to the history of twentieth-century cartography that will
encourage feedback and further interest in this period. (We are fully aware
that a comprehensive history such as we have planned for Volume Six is
not possible without a body of secondary literature.) Both NSF's Geography
and Regional Science Program and its Science and Technology Program are
providing funds for this project.
The bibliography will be useful to the editors as well as to scholars
recruited to work on the volume. Next year, Mark hopes to extend the bibliography
through 1980. Because the cartographic literature became markedly richer
and more diverse during the final quarter of the century, extension of
the bibliography beyond 1980 as well as further development and verification
for earlier decades will depend heavily on subject-specific searches by
scholars working on various aspects of Volume Six.
Samir Murty is a recent graduate of the economics and history programs at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. His senior honors thesis examined variations in the 1482 and 1486 editions of the Ulm Ptolemy atlases and was supervised by David Woodward. Sam's research, funded in part by a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates grant, has uncovered some interesting aspects of these significant Renaissance atlases, and his findings will be incorporated into David Woodward's chapter on map printing methods in our forthcoming volume on Renaissance cartography. Sam recently spoke with us about his thesis research.
How did this project come about and what was involved?
I examined the 1482 and 1486 atlases for their variations in color, print block impressions, and written introductions. In terms of color, I found that there was a good deal more variation within and between the print runs than scholars have previously suggested. The chief cause of these variations seems to be that many of the 1482 atlases were not colored by the publisher but were colored after they were purchased by wealthy clients. Variations in print block impressions were also noted; in fact I have identified fourteen variations that have never been documented. Most variations can be found in the tabulae modernae (modern maps) section of the atlases, which suggests that these maps served a different purpose than the twenty-seven Ptolemaic maps located at the beginning of the atlases. Identifying these print block variations helps place the Ulm atlases in chronological order. Finally, variations can also be noted in the written introductions to the maps. On the verso of most maps are the parts of the eighth book of Ptolemy's Geography that correspond to the maps. Variations in these introductions have been noted by other scholars, but I have found instances where they are identical between atlases. This information also helps place the atlases in chronological order. I hope that my primary research findings will be helpful to others interested in the Ulm editions of Ptolemy’s atlas.What were your favorite and least favorite aspects of this project?
My favorite part of the whole process was getting the opportunity to meet and discuss my research with curators and librarians all over the United States. I found it very rewarding to share my findings about the Ulm editions with these interested and knowledgeable scholars. To all of these wonderful people who offered their kindness and generosity throughout the course of my research, I extend my sincerest thanks. Very little of this project was tedious or trying, but my least favorite aspect of the research was spending hours studying photographs of the maps in minute detail in order to identify print block variations. That was not a task that I relished, but the results, I feel, were worth the effort.
The History of Cartography Project also received mention in a Washington Post article, "North Is Up?" by William C. Burton, on Wednesday, 9 June 1999 (page H03).
Return to the Newsletter Archive
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Find over 200 print-friendly fact sheets about heart disease and related health topics.
Optic neuritis is inflammation of the optic nerve, which lies at
the back of the eye and carries visual information from the eye to the brain.
Optic neuritis may cause partial or total loss of vision, usually in one eye,
and is often associated with pain when the eye moves.
When optic neuritis causes partial vision loss, effects may
Symptoms of optic neuritis usually develop over a period of a few
days to a week and stabilize for several weeks or months. In many cases vision
then improves on its own. If not, steroid treatment usually works to relieve the inflammation.
Optic neuritis can be linked with other neurological and
inflammatory conditions, such as multiple sclerosis.
February 15, 2012
Adam Husney, MD - Family Medicine & Anne C. Poinier, MD - Internal Medicine & Barrie J. Hurwitz, MD - Neurology
To learn more visit Healthwise.org
© 1995-2012 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated. | <urn:uuid:654a6dd5-9072-438c-8bf7-ad5d744be4d6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.cardiosmart.org/healthwise/sto1/6759/1/sto167591 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397795.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00171-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.896732 | 245 | 2.984375 | 3 |
The Age of Quantum Information Teleportation Dawns
Aug 19, 2013 7:00 AM PT
Researchers at ETH Zurich, a university of science and technology, have teleported information from one end of a superconducting circuit to another -- a distance of 6mm.
The experiment has two unusual features: 1) It is the first time quantum teleportation was conducted over a circuit without the use of a powerful laser beam; and 2) the information was relayed making use of the laws of quantum physics rather than classical physics.
This achievement is "extraordinarily impressive," remarked Carl Williams, chief of the quantum measurement division of the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology.
"Anybody who understands how to do the coherence and other aspects understands how difficult it is to achieve that at that level," Williams continued.
What the Scientists Did
The researchers created two small superconducting circuits on a chip measuring 7mm square. They cooled the chip to very close to absolute zero using helium in order to access the system's quantum properties.
The researchers then created quantum entanglement between the superconducting circuits.
Quantum entanglement results when particles such as photons or electrons interact physically and then become separated but remain in the same quantum state. A quantum state is a set of mathematical variables, including position, momentum and spin, that fully describes a quantum system.
Once the circuits were in an entangled state, information programmed into the sending circuit vanished, to reappear in the receiving circuit when it was read out. The information did not travel from one circuit to the other, said Andreas Wallraff, who headed the study. Think of Star Trek's transporters beaming people up to the mother ship or out of the vessel.
If the concept of spooky entanglement sounds puzzling, rest assured it is: Albert Einstein derided it as "spooky action."
Length Doesn't Matter
Other teleportation experiments have moved information over far greater distances. For example, scientists in China transmitted quantum bits, or qubits, over a distance of 97 km, or roughly 60 miles, and European scientists moved information x143 km, or 89 miles, between the Canary Islands of La Palma and Tenerife. Both experiments were conducted last year.
However, both of those experiments used beams of light from lasers to encode qubits, which are quantum bits.
Although the ETH experiment teleported data over only 6mm, it is "a truly impressive experiment using superconducting electronic circuits, a couple of Josephson junctions, and a planar array," NIST's Williams said. The Institute first demonstrated quantum teleportation back in 2004 and has a US$20 million budget for quantum research.
Possible Uses for Quantum Teleportation
Quantum information processing allows for more storage density and lets information be more efficiently processed than when classical bits are used.
However, "in classical computing, we use different technologies to access RAM or a USB drive or cache memory or do actual processing," Williams pointed out. The technology used in the ETH experiment "may win a specific piece or place in a quantum computer, although it may not end up being the technology primarily used in the processor or cache memory."
Quantum technology "is futuristic," observed Williams, "and we are beginning to see some of the first small spinoffs." | <urn:uuid:74d562c1-2cd4-41eb-ac29-0423ebffb28b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.technewsworld.com/story/78741.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404405.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00069-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912864 | 678 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Flu vaccine required for many area health workers
As winter approaches, people may be weighing whether to get a flu vaccine. That is, unless you're a health worker at one of at least two dozen hospitals around Philadelphia. Policies mandating that staff get vaccinated for the flu have taken greater hold in recent years, according to state health surveys.
One of the region's earliest proponents is the University of Pennsylvania. And while it's difficult to track the direct health impact of the policy, leaders there have been touting the pay-offs.
"We know that we have a lot of patients who are particularly vulnerable to complications from influenza – they're more likely to get more sick, more likely to get pneumonia, even more likely to die," says Dr. Amy Behrman, director of occupational medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. "And we were confident based on what's known about influenza that we could reduce that risk – not completely, but significantly if we could improve that vaccine rate."
So if enough people are vaccinated, they won't get sick and spread the disease. Behrman says that's important because nationwide, the flu causes upwards of 200,000 hospital admissions and anywhere from 3,000 to 50,000 deaths annually.
The hospital tried for years to improve vaccine rates through voluntary approaches, like making the vaccine easily and readily available. There were education campaigns. Even a cappella. But vaccine rates "hit a wall," Behrman describes, of under 60 percent.
So in 2009, the hospital approved a policy mandating that everyone, with some religious and medical exemptions, get vaccinated. Behrman says the hospital has experienced a near 99 percent vaccination rate of its 18,000 workers each year since then.
"Somewhat paradoxically, I think that making the vaccine a norm - which is another way of thinking of it, it's a normal thing to do - has actually to a larger extent reduced anxiety about the vaccine among our own population," says Behrman. "Not entirely, but significantly."
Behrman says no one has been fired over the policy; staff first get warnings if they don't comply.
Skeptics of this approach, like Dr. Will Offry, a casualty nurse at Vancouver's General Hospital, point to a lack of scientific evidence that vaccinating health care workers reduces flu transmission risks and questions whether that should override employee choice. Vaccine effectiveness varies by season, he wrote in a recent essay partnered with one by Behrman, and a majority of "influenza-like illness" come from other bacterial and viral pathogens, "none of which is prevented by seasonal influenza vaccines."
Behrman says a combination of factors - like complimentary hand washing policies, seasonal flu variation, and difficulties tracking flu transmissions - make it hard to measure the full impact of Penn's policy at this point, but she's convinced it has contributed to "a noticeable drop-off" in hospital acquired flu infections, with neither of the hospital's two identified cases directly traceable to a health care worker. Of the more than 40,000 immunizations done over three years, the hospital received eight medical complaints of systemic symptoms possibly related to the vaccine.
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was another place to mandate vaccines early on in Philadelphia, and the policy has since spread. Chester County Hospital joined the ranks last year. Charlee Faucette, director of infection prevention at the hospital, says those hospitals' examples helped with their own implementation.
"A lot of education, one-on-one coaching, and a lot of precedent helped us not have as difficult a time as thought we might," says Faucette. | <urn:uuid:9dd8576e-dcb1-406f-acbd-40753d959840> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/health-science/item/61992-flu-vaccine-required-for-many-area-health-workers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396959.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00171-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972297 | 746 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Growing and transforming like a living organism, the Silk Pavilion created by the MIT Media Lab is a collaboration between digital and biological fabrication. The basis of the pavilion is a network of silk threads made by a CNC machine, which has become a cloud-like structure with the addition of natural netting from the dozens of silk worms that squirm all over its surfaces.
Twenty-six polygonal panels with silk thread stretched between them form a sort of scaffolding that enables the silk worms to work their magic of naturally produced architecture. The geometry of the base structure was created using an algorithm that routes a single continuous thread across the open sections to provide varying degrees of density.
The silkworms were deployed as a biological ‘printer’ to create the secondary structure. If the sculpture, which is installed at MIT, were allowed to remain in place indefinitely, the moths could produce 1.5 million eggs with the potential of constructing up to 250 additional pavilions.
“Affected by spatial and environmental conditions including geometrical density as well as variation in natural light and heat, the silkworms were found to migrate to darker and denser areas. Desired light effects informed variations in material organization across the surface area of the structure. A season-specific sun path diagram mapping solar trajectories in space dictated the location, size and density of apertures within the structure in order to lock-in rays of natural light entering the pavilion from South and East elevations.”
“The central oculus is located against the East elevation and may be used as a sun-clock. Parallel basic research explored the use of silkworms as entities that can “compute” material organization based on external performance criteria. Specifically, we explored the formation of non-woven fiber structures generated by the silkworms as a computational schema for determining shape and material optimization of fiber-based surface structures.”
via design boom | <urn:uuid:171ef1d1-e07a-4a64-9793-da7d2f21fe36> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://weburbanist.com/2013/06/05/living-architecture-evolving-pavilion-made-by-silk-worms/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394987.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00114-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956788 | 396 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Profile of windsurfer Gonzalo Giribet as part of the Practice series.
Mary Caswell Stoddard of Harvard’s Society of Fellows is bringing an interdisciplinary approach to her study of bird eggs.
When compared with a solitary strategy of producing offspring who then go on to produce their own offspring, a new Harvard study has found that eusociality is a high-risk, high-reward gamble.
Using simple hydrodynamics, a team of Harvard researchers was able to show that a handful of principles govern how virtually every animal — from the tiniest fish to birds to the largest whales — propel themselves through the water.
A new study conducted by Harvard scientists shows that in deer mice, a species known to be highly promiscuous, sperm clump together to swim in a more linear fashion, increasing their chances of fertilization.
A Harvard program that welcomes high school interns to learn science in the lab often sets them on new academic and career paths.
Five species of giant, long-lived Galapagos tortoises are thought to have gone extinct, but recent DNA analysis shows that some may survive on other islands in the archipelago, according to work by Michael Russello, Harvard Hrdy Fellow in Conservation Biology.
Tim Laman, an associate of Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology and an award-winning wildlife photographer, was part of a two-man team that helicoptered into a remote Australian rainforest earlier this year, coming out with three new species: two lizards and a frog.
Harvard researchers have solved the nearly 200-year-old mystery of how Rafflesia, the largest flowering plants in the world, develop.
Researchers have long understood that genetics can play a role in susceptibility to cholera, but a team of Harvard scientists is now uncovering evidence of genetic changes that might also help protect some people from contracting the deadly disease.
Spurred by increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, forests over the past two decades have become dramatically more efficient in how they use water, a Harvard study has found.
As part of Professor Gonzalo Giribet’s Biology of Invertebrates class, students make closely observed, highly detailed sketches of animals they study in the lab.
Adam Cohen, professor of chemistry and chemical biology and of physics, and Hopi Hoekstra, professor of organismic and evolutionary biology and molecular and cellular biology, are among the 27 scientists nationwide to be appointed as investigators by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
An organismic and evolutionary biology course this semester has formed a virtual classroom with other universities to examine the holdings of museum collections and the vast amount of data they contain and integrate them into the classroom.
In a new paper, Christopher Marx, associate professor of organismic and evolutionary biology, says that beneficial mutations may occur more often than first thought, but many never emerge as “winners” because they don’t fall within the narrow set of circumstances required for them to dominate a population.
In a new paper, Harvard researchers show that changes in coat color in mice are the result not of a single mutation, but of many mutations, all in a single gene. The results start to answer one of the fundamental questions about evolution: Does it proceed by huge leaps — single mutations that result in dramatic changes in an organism — or is it the result of many smaller changes over time?
Work led by Yun Zhang, associate professor of organismic and evolutionary biology, shows how the pathway of insulin and insulinlike peptides plays a critical role in helping to regulate learning and memory.
Record warmth in 2010 and 2012 resulted in similarly extraordinary spring flowering in the eastern United States — the earliest in the more than 150 years for which data is available— researchers at Harvard University, Boston University, and the University of Wisconsin have found.
Harvard researchers are challenging the popular portrayal of Ebola and other viral hemorrhagic fevers. In a new paper in Science, researchers present evidence that the diseases may be more common — and much older — than previously thought.
Harvard researchers have found that a new investigation of tissues and signaling pathways in finches’ beaks reveals surprising flexibility in the birds’ evolutionary tool kit.
Harvard researchers, captivated by a strange coiling behavior in the grasping tendrils of the cucumber plant, have characterized a new type of spring that is soft when pulled gently and stiff when pulled strongly.
The dramatic diversity of columbine flowers can be explained by a simple change in cell shape. To match the pollinators' probing tongues, the flowers’ cells in floral spurs elongate, driving rapid speciation.
Using genetic tools, researchers at Harvard and collaborating institutions have completed the most comprehensive evolutionary tree ever produced for mollusks. Described in the Nov. 2 issue of Nature, the work also serves as a proof-of-concept, demonstrating the power of genomic techniques to answer difficult evolutionary questions.
Biologists from around the world are on campus this week for an international conference on invertebrate morphology sponsored by the Museum of Comparative Zoology, the Harvard Museum of Natural History, and the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology.
Researchers at Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum have highlighted female competition among plants, saying it is a new factor that could have driven the mystifying diversity of flowering plants.
An important new finding by Harvard researchers indicates that cellular mutations responsible for an organism’s successful adaptation do not, when combined over time, provide as much benefit as they would individually be expected to provide.
A project details changing levels of mercury in endangered albatrosses and highlights the importance of museum specimens in understanding past conditions.
Michael Canfield, a lecturer on organismic and evolutionary biology, visits an eclectic range of scientific disciplines, offering examples that professional naturalists can emulate to fine-tune their own field methods, along with practical advice that amateur naturalists and students can use to document their adventures.
Scientists are advancing in their understanding of the biology of the deep sea, which still remains largely unexplored and mysterious, according to Associate Professor Peter Girguis.
Only 39 percent of the nearly 10,000 North American plant species threatened with extinction are being maintained in collections, according to the first comprehensive listing of the threatened plant species in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
On February 15, 2001, a decade ago, the first draft sequence and analysis of the human genome—the blue print for a human being—was published in the journal Nature. On the tenth anniversary of that transformative moment, Harvard hosted an interdisciplinary, multi-institutional forum on the genome project’s origins, promise, and significance to society.
Assistant professor Arkhat Abzhanov looks to birds’ relatives by way of dinosaurs — alligators — for clues to their evolution.
William “Ned” Friedman, an evolutionary biologist who has done extensive research on the origin and early evolution of flowering plants, has been appointed director of the Arnold Arboretum.
Researchers discover how fungi developed an aerodynamic way to reduce drag on their spores so as to spread them as high and as far as possible.
Lichens provide an avenue for student scientific exploration of plant complexity.
Biology Professor Anne Pringle is taking the study of one of the world’s most poisonous mushrooms out of the realm of adventure stories and into the world of ecology, in an attempt to better understand how it spreads.
Assistant Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Kirsten Bomblies is among 70 new faculty members who are joining the University’s various Schools this year. With the start of the new year, Harvard has hired 41 new assistant professors, six associate professors, and 23 new full professors, and promoted 20 existing faculty members to tenured professor positions.
Since the 1859 publication of Charles Darwin’s “Origin of Species,” efforts to trace evolutionary relationships among different classes of organisms have largely relied on external morphological observations.
In this 10th anniversary year of the prestigious Harvard College Professorships, five FAS faculty members have been honored for their particularly distinguished contributions to undergraduate teaching, advising, and mentoring.
They might be giants, but many dinosaurs apparently had genomes no larger than those of a modern hummingbird. So say scientists who've linked bone cell and genome size among living species and then used that new understanding to gauge the genome sizes of 31 species of extinct dinosaurs and birds, whose bone cells can be measured from fossilized bones. | <urn:uuid:1b62266c-daaf-454d-926a-914b65f6dd35> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/tag/organismic-and-evolutionary-biology/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00078-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932083 | 1,755 | 2.625 | 3 |
The Ganges has always been more than just an ordinary river. For millions of Indians, she is also a goddess. According to popular belief, bathing in “Mother Ganga” dissolves all sins, drinking her waters cures illness, and dying on her banks ensures freedom from the cycle of death and rebirth.
Yet there remains a paradox: while Ganga is worshipped devotedly, she is also exploited without remorse. Much of her water has been siphoned off for irrigation, toxic chemicals are dumped into her, and dams and barrages have been built on her course, causing immense damage. Ganga is in danger of dying—but if the river dies, will the goddess die too?
The question took journalist Julian Crandall Hollick on an extraordinary journey through northern India: from the river’s source high in the Himalayas, past great cities and poor villages, to lush Saggar Island, where the river finally meets the sea. Along the way he encounters priests and pilgrims, dacoits and dolphins, the fishermen who subsist on the river, and the villagers whose lives have been destroyed by her. He finds that popular devotion to Ganga is stronger and blinder than ever, and it is putting her—and her people—in great risk.
Combining travelogue, science, and history, Ganga is a fascinating portrait of a river and a culture. It will show you India as you have never imagined it.
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Rent Ganga 1st edition today, or search our site for other textbooks by Julian Crandall Hollick. Every textbook comes with a 21-day "Any Reason" guarantee. Published by Island Press.
Need help ASAP? We have you covered with 24/7 instant online tutoring. Connect with one of our tutors now. | <urn:uuid:17e81f28-4e46-43ca-a7a2-177ed4778844> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.chegg.com/textbooks/ganga-1st-edition-9781597263863-1597263869 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399106.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00078-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958625 | 371 | 2.734375 | 3 |
As the 20th century was approaching, an imaginative and original style of jewelry-making burst forth from the vibrant European arts scene. The Art Nouveau (literally “New Art”) era, lasting from 1890 to 1910, overlapped with the Edwardian and Victorian eras and was relatively brief, though it made a lasting contribution to the meaning of magnificent jewelry. Art Nouveau was actually a broad artistic movement, with one of its key tenets that art should be a part of daily life. Thinking of themselves as artists more than jewelry-makers, Art Nouveau jewelers took extra care to craft exquisite, breathtaking jewelry.
The mood of Art Nouveau jewelry is soft, mystical, and romantic. Pale colors and flowing, undulating curves helped to establish a soothing aura. Victorian and Edwardian jewelers often borrowed ideas from ancient and classical art and architecture. Art Nouveau jewelers, greatly influenced by depictions of nature in Japanese art, looked to the natural world for inspiration. Orchids, irises, lilies, ferns, snakes, dragonflies, and butterflies were all prevalent motifs in Art Nouveau jewelry, as were depictions of the female form.
The established viewpoint during the 1800s had been that a gemstone was the most important element in a piece of jewelry. Breaking from tradition, Art Nouveau jewelers placed more emphasis on settings. This philosophy gave jewelers The mood of Art Nouveau jewelry is soft, mystical,
and romantic. license to experiment with beautiful enameling techniques as well as with different gemstones and materials. Diamonds were used cautiously, while moonstone, amethyst, opal, amber, citrine, peridot, and freshwater pearls became common in Art Nouveau rings and jewelry. Materials such as horn, shell, and copper also were sometimes used, all in pursuit of the jeweler’s artistic vision.
Today is an important day for pandas, elephants, and other members of the plant and animal kingdoms. It’s Endangered Species Day. Since Congress... Read More
Gold jewelry is a symbol of love and admiration, a precious possession with a high financial value and usually an even higher personal value... Read More | <urn:uuid:9f94876c-0ebb-4256-a009-4b988ab470dd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.brilliantearth.com/art-nouveau-jewelry/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403823.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00166-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961309 | 458 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Burn Season Brings Concerns About Smoke
Flagstaff, AZ – Smoke is a mixture of particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and other components that can cause a number of respiratory problems especially for elderly people and children. Pulmonologists say children breathe up to 50 percent more air per pound of body weight than adults.
But in northern Arizona's forests, fire and smoke is inevitable.
SUMMERFELT: It's not a question of preventing smoke it's really a question of when and where and how long do we want to have smoke.
Paul Summerfelt is the fuel management officer for the Flagstaff Fire Department.
SUMMERFELT: Wildfires produce far more smoke. They do it for a much longer time and they have a far greater impact on a population than prescribed fire.
But northern Arizona residents haven't always understood that. People who live near the Apache Sitgreaves National Forest complained about prescribed burns before the Rodeo Chediski Fire.
The Coconino National Forest recently held a meeting to discuss how to notify people when smoke from prescribed fires may impact their neighborhood. Sara Mushro requested the meeting. She says she understands the importance of prescribed burns, but she would like better communication especially when the smoke reaches dangerous levels. Mushro would like smoke to be considered as dangerous as icy roads.
MUSHRO: Instead of saying there's so much snow on the roads we're asking you to stay at home, instead we say there's so much smoke we're asking you to remain inside you're home and close you're windows just let people know.
Prescribed fire specialists with the Coconino National Forest say they won't know how bad the smoke is until the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality checks their data. The ADEQ monitors the smoke level for wildfires and prescribed burns but it's slow to detect when smoke exceeds its clean air standards.
Last March the Coconino National Forest violated ADEQ's standards - its only violation on record. Fire managers say they didn't hear about it for two weeks.
Beale Monday, the prescribed fire and fuel specialist for the Peaks and Mormon Lake Ranger Districts, says they take many precautions before lighting a prescribed burn. He says weather is their primary concern. They burn in the fall and the spring when weather conditions are optimal.
MONDAY: We have to send what they call a burn request to ADEQ and ADEQ does modeling on how many acres we're going to do, the area we're going to do it, the drainage the smoke is going to flow, the night time ventilation the daytime ventilation for that day and the next day.
Then ADEQ decides whether or not to approve the burn. Even after approved, fire managers say sometimes the weather changes mid burn. That could potentially blow the smoke in a completely different direction than planned.
At the end of the meeting the forest service said it would consider notifying people of possible prescribed burns and their locations a week ahead of time, even though they have a chance of being canceled by ADEQ.
Kimbal Babcock is the emergency preparedness manager for the Coconino County Health Department. He says people need to do their own monitoring.
BABCOCK: If you can smell it, you're ok. If you can taste it, you're still ok. If it's impacting your visual, it's right in front of you, then you need to get inside.
In addition health experts suggest using the recirculation mode on the air conditioner in your home or car, using a HEPA filter to reduce smoke indoors and avoiding strenuous outdoor activity.
For Arizona Public Radio I'm Laurel Morales. | <urn:uuid:4442b30d-4aec-4cec-9b37-8727bc5621dc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://knau.org/post/burn-season-brings-concerns-about-smoke | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397213.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00123-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953336 | 762 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Authentic Assessment Overview
Page 1 of 2
How well do multiple-choice tests really evaluate student understanding and achievement? Many educators believe that there is a more effective assessment alternative. These teachers use testing strategies that do not focus entirely on recalling facts. Instead, they ask students to demonstrate skills and concepts they have learned. This strategy is called authentic assessment.
How can you encourage students to apply their knowledge and skills to real-world tasks?
What is authentic assessment?
Authentic assessment aims to evaluate students' abilities in 'real-world' contexts. In other words, students learn how to apply their skills to authentic tasks and projects. Authentic assessment does not encourage rote learning and passive test-taking. Instead, it focuses on students' analytical skills; ability to integrate what they learn; creativity; ability to work collaboratively; and written and oral expression skills. It values the learning process as much as the finished product.
In authentic assessment, students:
- do science experiments
- conduct social-science research
- write stories and reports
- read and interpret literature
- solve math problems that have real-world applications
Why might I use authentic assessment methods in my classroom?
Many teachers are dissatisfied with only using traditional testing methods. They believe these methods do not test many skills and abilities students need to be successful. These educators assert that students must be prepared to do more than memorize information and use algorithms to solve simple problems. They believe students should practice higher-order thinking skills, and criticize tests they feel do not measure these skills.
If you need to teach it, we have it covered.
Start your free trial to gain instant access to thousands of teacher-approved worksheets, activities, and over 22,000 resources created by educational publishers and teachers.Start Your Free Trial | <urn:uuid:d93a9fe9-a957-4592-b06c-420dfb6be0a2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.teachervision.com/teaching-methods-and-management/educational-testing/4911.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392159.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00151-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946633 | 368 | 4.34375 | 4 |
Study and practice of good writing: topics derived from a variety of personal, academic, and public subjects. Cannot be taken if student has already received a grade of 2.0 or higher in either ENGL 111, ENGL 121, or ENGL 131.
The themes of this section of English 131, broadly speaking, are genres and institutions. In the first half of the course, students pick a genre to explore -- this can be a genre of writing, of music, of art, of film or TV, etc. In the second half, we will examine the nature of institutions, as manmade systems and customs. Students will then select a type of institution (like marriage or the university, for example) to research throughout the final section of the quarter. Finally, we compile all of our writing into a portfolio and reflect on our process. This section of 131 is geared towards students who enjoy selecting their own topics within broad guidelines, and thinking critically.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Class assignments and grading | <urn:uuid:59b521bc-99db-4069-84ad-13ad58906564> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.washington.edu/students/icd/S/engl/131navide.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398516.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00086-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924024 | 207 | 3.4375 | 3 |
HOT Topic: How Does a Volcano Become An Island? by Linda Tagliaferro
The world's largest island that is almost entirely made up of active (still capable of erupting) volcanoes is Iceland, a country in the north Atlantic Ocean. Iceland formed millions of years ago from underwater eruptions.
With Iceland's notorious Eyjafjallajokul still spewing a plume of ash all over western Europe, volcanoes are a real, um, hot topic just now. Linda Tagliaferro's newest, How Does A Volcano Become An Island? (Perspectives) (Raintree, 2010), offers an timely, absorbing, and informative look at the role of volcanic activity in the creation of Earth's landforms.
Tagliaferro opens with "What's Inside Earth?" a chapter which covers the basics of geology, including the planet's inner and outer core of molten iron, the mantle, and the crust, of which only a small part constitutes the solid portion of our world. From this basis the author moves to a discussion of the movement of tectonic plates, the consequent earthquakes they may cause, and the rise of earthquakes at certain weak spots in the crust, with special attention to the Ring of Fire, noted dormant and currently active volcanoes, and the development and study of underwater volcanoes by the submersible ROVs, (Remotely Operated Vehicles). The textbook types, shield volcanoes, cinder cone volcanoes, and composite cone volcanoes, are described and their role in constructing islands such as Iceland, Sicily, and the Hawaiian chain are introduced, amplified by full-color photographs on each page.
The author then turns her attention to the development of plant and animal life on volcanic islands over time, as birds drop seeds, coconuts float up on cinder cone beaches, and stowaway plants and animals ride flotsam on ocean currnts until they fortuitously wash up onshore. The Galapagos Islands and their exotic lifeforms, such as the marine iguana, giant tortoises, up to six feet in length and living 100 years or more, lava gulls and waved albatrosses, are given special coverage. Iceland, with its newest volcanic islet, Surtsey, dating back only to 1963, is discussed, with photos of its new inhabitants--seagulls, grasses, and, yes, dandelions. Historic eruptions, such as that of Earth's most memorable modern island volcano, Krakatoa, are also described.
The final chapter, "How Else Do Islands Form?" briefly covers islands produced by the flooding of lowlands, coral atolls, and offshore barrier islands. Appendices include a glossary of the terms introduced in boldface in the text, a bibliography ("Find Out More"), books and a trio of "hot" websites for further research, and a complete index.
With a crisp and highly readable and informative text, plenty of diagrams and color photos which illustrate information as it is presented, and useful backmatter, this latest title in Raintree's wide-ranging Perspectives science series is particularly useful for curriculum support, research, and browsing by students intrigued with the volcano currently in the news. | <urn:uuid:53d9078f-b73e-407d-bc36-a4a40d49a95a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://booksforkidsblog.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397428.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00046-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92955 | 670 | 3.859375 | 4 |
Posted by Tammie on Thursday, February 19, 2009 at 9:38pm.
Could you check my answers by the way they have to do with the Missouri State Missouri State Constitution.
Missouri State Constitution.
1. What is the Preamble?
Answer: The Preamble is the first paragraph of the Constitution, and it states why the Constitution was written.
2. Where deos the government get it's power?
Answer: From the people.
True or false
3a. The people have the right to get rid of the old constitution.
3b. The states can write any constitution they want.
3c. The constitution does not protect people.
3d. People must be the religion that the government tells them to be.
3e. People have to give money to churches, priests, ministers, etc. every week.
3f. In the United States there is a seperation of church and state. True
3g. Section 8 tells that people can not speak out against the government is this true.
4. What is the right to assembly and petition (section 9)?
Answer: The people can meet together (assemble) or ask (petition) the government for changes.
5. Explain due process of the law (section 10)?
Answer: The government has to go through certain steps and do things in a certain way before people can be arrested or put in jail. Such as they can't be sentenced to prison unless they've had a trial.
6.Can people be put in jail for owing money?
7. What is it called when people can no be put in jail for crimes committed "after the fact" a law was made?
Answer: Ex Post Facto
8. Explain why the police can not go in your pockets without a warrant.
Answer: The police can't go in your pockets without a warrant because the person has to have evidence to show what they did wrong.
9. Explain the difference between a petit jury and a grand jury?
Answer: A petit jury doesn't discuss an indictment and a grand jury does.
Yes Or NO
10a. Are we guilty until proven innocent?
10b. If you commit a serious crime, must the government indict you?
10c. Does the accused have the right to an impartial jury?
11. What is change in venue? Give one example.
Answer: A change in venue is the case will be tried in another city, or town away form where the crime happened. An example is the Casey Anthony case because the trial can't be held in Florida, and it won't be a fair trial if they held it in Flordia.
12. Is excessive bail allowed?
13. ------- is when a prisoner is beaten and not fed.
Answer: Cruel or unusual punishment
14. A person can have a ------ trial or a ----- trial.
Answer 1: Jury
Answer 2: Judge
15. Can a perosn protect there home with a gun? ---- If so is thee lwas surrounding gun usage?-----
Answer 1: Yes
Answer 2: Yes
16. People who are not in the military are called --------.
17. All ---------- in the United States are civilians.
Answer: Government Leaders
18. The military is -------- to the civil government which meants the military must obey the civilian government.
19. Having the right to vote is called -----.
20. Land and houses on the land is called -------
21. What is eminent domain?
Answer: The governments right to take property for the good of all the people.
22. What is collective bargaining?
Answer: Workers can bargain as a group for improved working conditions.
Answer This Question
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Here are a few sidewalk design features to consider for preventing future problems:
Making The Grade
- Spacing it out: Placing a sidewalk and tree right on top of each other is a recipe for disaster. They should be a significant distance apart so that expanding roots don't eventually disrupt the pavement when the tree grows to adulthood.
- “Meandering” sidewalks: Acurving pathway can provide ample room for trees, and the contours provide a unique aesthetic feature.
- “Reduced” sidewalks: These straight lines have notched areas to allow room for tree growth.
- Ramped sidewalks: An inclined path can give tree roots sufficient room to grow underneath; these are often used as a way to install a sidewalk in proximity to an established tree without disturbing roots.
- Rubber sidewalks: A relatively recent development, these flexible pathways give to allow for root growth. An added benefit: precast panels can be lifted to maintain roots or infrastructure underneath, then simply dropped back into place—a feature that traditional concrete doesn't offer.
A good forester monitors and evaluates the health of his city's trees. Gonzalez uses a five-point grading scale to gauge whether a tree is the picture of health, needs “medical” attention, or should be taken down:
A: exceptionally healthy, structurally stable, and attractive.
B: healthy, stable, and has a useful lifespan of five years or more.
C: in decline, creating extensive structural damage, and/or is the wrong species or size for its site.
D: declining, structurally unsound, and there's a good chance it'll die.
F: the tree is dead.
To preserve a tree, Gonzalez's team seeks to avoid cutting roots, compacting the surrounding soil, or changing drainage or grade within the root zone. Pruning, the most common maintenance, can be called for if the tree's crown is too high, low, or thick. The practice also can be used, after pavement is removed, to prevent future sidewalk damage. The risk: If not done properly, the branches could die, the tree could become unstable, root regrowth may increase, and the susceptibility to various conditions (drought or insect attack, for example) increases. Gonzalez recommends evaluating root-pruned trees periodically in the months after treatment to gauge their continuing health. | <urn:uuid:6b33205f-6c38-42bd-911f-a87d52c37c17> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.pwmag.com/attached-development/good-neighbors_2.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00043-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923146 | 485 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Click ESCAPE to quickly leave this site at any time. Learn more
For immediate assistance, please call the Florida Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-500-1119 or TDD (800) 621-4202
Spread the Word
Social networking is a great tool to tell people about your meeting or event. You could also post flyers around your school or community, get a message placed in the daily announcements, get listed in a community or school newspaper, send out an email or use any other resources to let other youth know about the club or program you are interested in. Spreading the word allows for other passionate youth to hear about your club and gives them the opportunity to join. Good luck!
Social networking is a great tool to assist you in getting the word out about your event. There are many ways to use social networking. Listed below are some websites and information that may help you to utilize social networking to get the word out!
- Sending a message – Inform your friends by sending out a message with information about the idea, program or event.
- Making an event – Are you planning an event? You can send out an invitation with details about your event to your friends and request an RSVP to see how many people are coming to your event.
- Creating a fan or group page – Here people can like your page and show their support for your idea or program. People can become fans and see information.
Tweet your events! Twitter allows you to craft a 140 character message, so say it quick! Your followers can view your tweets!
Allow for an opportunity to share your thoughts about different topics. Blogs are similar to online journals and can be used to raise awareness about different current events, issues, debates or thoughts.
Check to see if your school has a listserv that sends an e-mail to multiple people. They are a great way to communicate with a lot of people.
Learn more about how to use social networking here. | <urn:uuid:59c490db-973c-47b6-a6f1-939aa281474c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://fcadv.org/projects-programs/teen-dating-violence/spreading-the-word | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399106.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00126-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923794 | 404 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Ralph Waldo Emerson—a New England preacher, essayist, lecturer, poet, and philosopher—was one of the most influential writers and thinkers of the ...
Yale Book of American Verse. 1912. Ralph Waldo Emerson. 1803–1882. 43.
In 1837, this
Jan 22, 2015
Discussion of themes and motifs in Ralph Waldo Emerson's
Meaning. A line from Emerson's
He wrote this poem, which was sung as a
American poet, essayist, and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson was born on May 25, 1803, in Boston, Massachusetts. After studying at Harvard and teaching ...
the British defeat at the bridge at Concord and their retreat to. Boston. His ride ...
When he came to the bridge in Concord town. He heard the ... | <urn:uuid:79202292-fd3b-4fdf-a8a2-3b090fd8a280> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ask.com/web?q=Concord+Hymn&oo=2603&o=0&l=dir&qsrc=3139&gc=1&qo=popularsearches | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00093-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.889604 | 168 | 4.25 | 4 |
A pictorial view of the coupling mechanism between hard and soft ferrimagnetic alloys with perpendicular magnetization. Picture: RUB/Abrudan
Nature Communications - Perpendicular exchange bias in ferrimagnetic spin valves
The researchers just wanted to create a structure in which a magnetic characteristic within the material changes in a well defined way. Experts in this field define this as magnetic hysteresis. It describes the behaviour of magnetic substances vis-à-vis an externally-applied magnetic field. However, the task proved to be much more difficult; the magnetic energies at the interfaces turned out to be so powerful that the magnetization of the films reverses together. It was necessary to place an additional, non-magnetic layer made of tantalum between the ferrimagnetic layers in order to diminish this effect.
What the scientists saw next was truly astounding; the system behaved fundamentally differently as compared to the conventional systems made of ferromagnetic and anti-ferromagnetic layers. The ferrimagnet described as magnetically “soft”, which consists of the chemical elements iron and gadolinium, unexpectedly indicated an alteration in the hysteresis, while the existing magnetism remained unaltered for the “hard” ferrimagnetic film that consists of the chemical elements dysprosium and cobalt.
This discovery paves the way for an even more vigorous research in the field of spintronics. “Know how, Show how!”, thus proclaims the research maxim of Radu. “I would not be surprised to see this discovery implemented into PC’s, smart phones and tablets in the future”, he predicts. For his invention the so-called spin-valve the HZB filed a patent application this week.
Nowadays, the data storage units are either volatile or non-volatile. For the former, the information is lost as soon as the device is switched off, and for the latter the information remain intact for many years. Due to thermal effects, they are also practically unusable after about ten years. In particular, when the bits are only a few nanometres in size, they lose stability. Once lost, the magnetization direction of the hard magnetic layer cannot easily be set again in the original direction. This leads to irretrievably loss of data.
This stability issue can now be addressed with the new spin-valve concept. By tunning the magnetic properties of the hard ferrimagnetic layer, the so-called RAM memory building-blocks (RAM stands for random access memory) can be manufactured with controlled life-time of the stored information of weeks, months or years. Thereafter, the magnetic orientation can be reset in the original state, which increases considerably the overall life expectancy of the information as compared to the existing non-volatile MRAM (Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory). These memory building-blocks are now certainly highly sought-after in the field of micro-electronics, but have not been able, to date, to be established in the markets due to high costs and technical problems.
With the spin-valve concept by Radu and his colleagues, electronic devices can now be developed that, similar to the MRAM technology, are operable immediately after being switched on and allow their data storage units to be re-written more or less indefinitely.
The exchange bias effect refers to the shift of the hysteresis loop of a ferromagnet in direct contact to an antiferromagnet. For applications in spintronics a robust and tunable exchange bias is required. Here we show experimental evidence for a perpendicular exchange bias in a prototypical ferrimagnetic spin valve consisting of DyCo5/Ta/Fe76Gd24, where the DyCo5 alloy has the role of a hard ferrimagnet and Fe76Gd24 is a soft ferrimagnet. Taking advantage of the tunability of the exchange coupling between the ferrimagnetic layers by means of thickness variation of an interlayer spacer, we demonstrate that perpendicular unidirectional anisotropy can be induced with desirable absolute values at room temperature, without making use of a field-cooling procedure. Moreover, the shift of the hysteresis loop can be reversed with relatively low magnetic fields of several hundred Oersteds. This flexibility in controlling a robust perpendicular exchange bias at room temperature may be of crucial importance for applications.
Perpendicular unidirectional anisotropy with ferrimagnets. - (a) Schematic view of a compensated AF interface. The interfacial energy is zero for this configuration, therefore no EB is allowed to occur. (b–d) A schematic view of a compensated hard ferrimagnetic interface in contact to a ferromagnet
3 pages of supplemental material
If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on ycombinator or StumbleUpon. Thanks | <urn:uuid:00ab409c-9b16-4163-97eb-4404e5f26a17> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://nextbigfuture.com/2012/03/resetting-future-of-mram-and.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402479.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00049-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914459 | 1,018 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Guaicaipuro (c. 1530–1568) was a native (indigenous) Venezuelan chief of both the Teques and Caracas tribes. Though known today as Guaicaipuro, in documents of the time his name was written Guacaipuro.
Guaicaipuro formed a powerful coalition of different tribes which he led during part of the 16th century against the Spanish conquest of Venezuelan territory in the central region of the country, specially in the Caracas valley. He commanded, among others, Cacique (Spanish: Indian chief) Naiguatá, Guaicamacuto, Chacao, Aramaipuro, Paramaconi and his own son Baruta. Guaicaipuro is one of the most famous and celebrated Venezuelan Caciques. The area occupied by the Teques was populated by several native groups each with its own cacique. Guaicaipuro's tribe, which was located in what is now San Antonio de los Altos, was the largest one. He had a son named Baruta, himself a Cacique. The name of two is his sisters is also known: Tiora and Caycape.
The Spaniards discovered gold in the area of the land of the Teques, and as they started to exploit the mines, Guaicaipuro attacked, forcing the Spanish to leave. Following the attack, the governor of the province of Venezuela sent Juan Rodríguez Suárez to pacify the area, which apparently he did after defeating Guaicaipuro in several engagements. Believing he had achieved his task, the Spanish commander and his soldiers left the area leaving behind miners and three of his sons. Once the Spanish soldiers had left, Guiacaipuro assaulted the mines killing all the workers as well as the sons of Rodríguez Suárez. Immediately thereafter, Rodríguez Suárez who was on his way to the city of Valencia, with a small contingent of only six soldiers, with the purpose of meeting Lope de Aguirre, another Spanish conquistador, was ambushed by Guaicaipuro and killed.
After these successes Guaicaipuro became the main and central figure in the uprising of all the native tribes in the vicinity of the Caracas valley, and managed to unite all the tribes under his command. In 1562 they defeated an expeditionary force led by Luis Narváez. Due to the fierce attacks, the Spanish retreated away from the area for several years.
In 1567 the city of Santiago de Leon de Caracas was founded in the Caracas valley. The Spanish worried about the nearby presence of Guaicaipuro and his men, and given his previous attacks, they decided not to wait for him to attack, and as a preventive move Diego de Losada, (founder of Caracas) ordered the mayor of the city, Francisco Infante to undertake Guacaipuro's capture. In 1568 Infante and his men were led by native guides to the hut where Guaicaipuro lived and they set it on fire to force the native cacique out. Guaicaipuro stormed out and found death at the hands of the Spanish soldiers.
Amidst the new policy started by former president Hugo Chávez of re-assessing and valuing the role of Venezuela's Caciques and indigenous peoples in a historical narrative which has traditionally given greater prominence to the Spanish conquistadores, Guaicaipuro's remains were symbolically moved (his remains have never been found) under ceremonial pomp to the national pantheon on December 8, 2001.
Under the same new policy president Chávez often mentioned Guaicaipuro and other native chiefs in his speeches with the purpose of inspiring Venezuelans to resist what he called the policies of American imperialists and interventionists directed towards Venezuela. Most notably, he did it every year during the October 12 holiday, which after being renamed several years ago Dia de la Raza (previously America's Discovery Day), was recently renamed as Día de la Resistencia Indígena (Day of Indigenous Resistance).
The Venezuelan government named as Mission Guaicaipuro one of its ongoing Bolivarian Missions; this specific program seeks to restore communal land titles and human rights to Venezuela's, still remaining, 33 indigenous tribes.
- Venezuela Tuya Short biography of Guaicaipuro (in Spanish).
- Guaicaipuro County Guaicapuro's life (in Spanish).
- Misión Guaicaipuro Website for the Venezuelan government's project for the native tribes (in Spanish).
- Guaicaipuro's gold coins (in Spanish) | <urn:uuid:e41eb1dc-4731-4b27-8068-c2d72b3a107b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.digplanet.com/wiki/Guaicaipuro | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00018-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969254 | 972 | 3.734375 | 4 |
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