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For Immediate Release
December 17, 2010
Illinois State Board of Education encourages students to have fun with science over winter break
Parents can help their children succeed in science
SPRINGFIELD - The Illinois State Board of Education is suggesting families hone their science skills during winter break to help students maintain academic gains made so far this school year. Parents can help their children sharpen their science skills through games, museum trips and everyday activities such as walks in nature, star gazing and experiments with common household items.
“Science makes us think differently, developing our problem-solving skills and curiosity so that one question leads to several others,” said State Superintendent of Education Christopher A. Koch. “Such inquiry-based learning and thinking will help prepare students for college and careers in any field.”
The Illinois Science Teachers Association, a 43-year old organization that promotes excellence in science education across the state provides links to teacher and state resources for science education at http://www.ista-Il.org/resources-illinois.htm.
The ISTA encourages parents to talk about science involved in everyday activities. A walk in the woods can serve as a good time to search and identify animal tracks while sledding can become an exercise in measuring and controlling velocity. Instead of asking children “How was school today?” parents might ask “What did you ask in school today?” Parents can also tell their children how science is a part of their own work lives.
For more ideas, visit ISTA and the following web sites:
- National Geographic for Kids, http://www.kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/activities
- Try Science, http://www.tryscience.org/parents/parent.html
- Kids Cooking Activities, http://www.kids-cooking-activities.com/food-science-experiments
- Identifying Wildlife Animal Tracks, http://www.ehow.com/how_4926329_identify-animal-tracks-snow.html
- Night Sky Observation, http://astronomyonline.org/Observation/NightSky.asp
Museums and science centers:
- Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, http://www.msichicago.org
- Sci-Tech Hands-on Museum, Aurora, http://scitech.mus.il.us
- Science Center of Southern Illinois, Carbondale, http://yoursciencecenter.org
- St. Louis Science Center, http://www.slsc.org
- Adler Planetarium, Chicago, http://www.adlerplanetarium.org
- John Deere Planetarium, Augustana College, Rock Island, http://helios.augustana.edu/astronomy/
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| 0.90006 | 578 | 3.296875 | 3 |
This introduction to statistics presents balanced coverage of both the theory and application of statistics and at the same time helps students to develop and enhance their critical thinking skills. It shows students how to analyze data that appear in situations in the world around them and features an abundance of examples and exercises - nearly all based on current, real-world applications pulled from journals, magazines, news articles, and commerce.
Back to top
Rent A First Course in Statistics 8th edition today, or search our site for other textbooks by Terry Sincich. Every textbook comes with a 21-day "Any Reason" guarantee. Published by Prentice Hall.
Need help ASAP? We have you covered with 24/7 instant online tutoring. Connect with one of our Statistics tutors now.
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| 0.945644 | 156 | 3.078125 | 3 |
By John Rosenow
When we think of forests, majestic trees, precious wildlife, and clean, fresh air might come to mind. We probably don’t think about the water we drink.
When you turn on your faucet this Arbor Day, take a moment and think about the important role trees play to make sure what comes out of the tap is healthy and clean.
Most people know that trees produce oxygen that we breathe and clean the air by acting as giant filters, removing harmful particles and pollutants. But you may not be aware that trees work just as hard to protect and purify our water sources, including those that provide drinking water for millions of Americans every day.
Trees improve water quality by slowing rain as it falls to the earth, and helping it soak into the soil. They also prevent soil from eroding into our waterways, reduce stormwater runoff, and lessen flood damage. They serve as natural filters to protect our streams, rivers, and lakes.
Forests in the United States are the source of drinking water for more than 180 million people, 59 percent of the U.S. population. Forests help protect vital water sources such as sparkling mountain streams filled with melting snow, healthy reservoirs and lakes, and our nation’s vast web of rivers.
Our forested areas are shrinking at an alarming rate. The U.S. Forest Service estimates that more than 40 million acres of private forest could be lost in the next 40 years.
Why is that important to us? As U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said, “While most Americans live in urban areas, most of us depend on rural lands, particularly forest lands, for clean water and a healthy climate.”
One example of an urban area that depends on forested land for water is New York City. In the late 1990s, New York City leaders balked at a $6 billion water treatment system and instead opted to go with natural landscape management to clean the water it receives from the Catskill/Delaware watershed in upstate New York. The focus is on creating conservation easements along streams and reservoirs, and protecting forest lands to keep sediment and runoff from entering the water supply.
The watershed provides most of New York City’s daily supply of drinking water, more than 1 billion gallons each day. New Yorkers enjoy some of the cleanest, healthiest drinking water in the world.
Millions of Californians rely on crystal-clear water flowing from Plumas and other National Forests to quench their thirst. Melting snow and rain water flow from the Plumas into the Feather River and eventually winds up in the Sacramento River. Water from the Plumas relies on the entire ecosystem, which includes trees, to keep it pristine until it reaches taps throughout central and northern California. This is just one example of how our national forests help clean the water.
These solutions are an alternative to manufactured water treatment systems, and are beneficial in so many ways. Unfortunately, the conventional response is too often to pay for expensive artificial treatment systems rather than rely on natural resources.
One way to protect and clean our water supply is to plant trees, and the need to replant our nation’s forests is vitally important. The U.S. Forest Service has identified a backlog of 1 million acres in national forests alone that are in need of replanting because of damage from recent wildfires, insects, and disease.
There is no substitute for clean water. Water is a vital resource that we rely on every day. We can’t create something else to take its place.
But we can plant trees.
We enjoy trees for many reasons – their shade on a warm day, the energy they save when they’re planted around our homes, the bountiful food they provide, the songbirds they bring close by.
Remember the role trees play in keeping our drinking water clean. As you celebrate Arbor Day this year, don’t take your clean drinking water for granted when you turn on the tap. America’s trees worked hard to help deliver that refreshing glass of water.
John Rosenow is the founder and chief executive of the nonprofit Arbor Day Foundation.
Connect with NJTODAY.NET
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| 0.945547 | 891 | 3.625 | 4 |
Michiganians are justifiably proud of their natural surroundings. They prize the recreational opportunities available throughout the Great Lakes, and many residents depend on the state’s unique geography and abundant resources for their livelihoods. Not surprisingly, concerns about pollution, non-native species and land use run strong.
Despite these concerns, however, there is plenty of good news about Michigan’s environment. Consider the following summary of findings from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ third biennial report on the state of Michigan’s air, water and forests.
Conventional wisdom holds that forestland is disappearing fast. In fact, stands of maple, birch and beech trees increased by 1 million acres between 1980 and 1993, and overall, the state netted 538,000 acres of forest (on nonfederal lands) between 1982 and 1997. Moreover, the volume of standing timber increased from 18 million to 30 million cubic feet between 1980 and 2003.
According to the report, "(M)ore growth has been continuously added to the forest than what has been removed or died through natural causes. Annual growth has steadily increased over the past 50 years."
The bald eagle population is soaring in Michigan. In 1961, when the Department of Natural Resources launched its annual census of eagles, the number of nests was just 50. In 2004, the figure reached 427. During the same period, the number of bald eagle fledglings per nest increased 50 percent, from 0.42 to 0.63. Also noteworthy is the dramatic decline in levels of polychlorinated biphenyl — PCB — in eagles’ blood during the past decade.
Forest maturation and the alteration of habitat have contributed to a decline in the numbers of grassland bird species, including the eastern meadowlark, bobolink and vesper sparrow. But population increases have occurred among "generalist" species, such as the house finch, northern cardinal, house wren and eastern bluebird.
Mercury and PCB levels in Michigan fish have declined significantly, according to extensive tissue testing by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. PCB levels peaked at nearly 24 parts per million in 1975, but declined to just 1 part per million in 2000. Mercury levels also have plummeted, from a high of 0.45 parts per million in 1993 to less than 0.25 parts per million in 2000.
The number of walleye in Michigan has fluctuated during the past three decades. The walleye population was small in the 1970s and early 1980s; peaked in 1989; declined between 2000 and 2003; and rebounded in 2004 to its highest level in a decade.
The number of lake trout in Michigan has increased dramatically. Restrictions on commercial fishing, stocking from trout hatcheries and efforts to control sea lampreys have helped the population rebound. According to the report, "By the mid-1990s, wild lake trout abundance increased to a point where stocking of hatchery-produced fish was discontinued in all areas of Michigan’s waters of Lake Superior, except in Keweenaw Bay and Whitefish Bay."
Brook trout and brown trout populations in the Au Sable River also have expanded significantly since the early 1990s, signaling habitat improvements.
Wolves, bears and deer are plentiful in Michigan, according to the report. In particular, the steady increase in the number of gray wolves indicates that declines in wildlife populations are reversible, despite alarmist claims to the contrary.
The state routinely monitors six pollutants designated as hazardous to human health under the federal Clean Air Act: carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter. As the findings below suggest, state monitoring indicates that Michigan’s air quality has improved steadily in the past three decades.
Carbon monoxide levels in Michigan register far below the concentrations deemed unsafe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — two-thirds less, in fact. Carbon monoxide levels in the state have fallen by 20 percent since 1990.
All metropolitan areas in Michigan have met the air quality standard for lead since 1985. According to the report, current levels of lead throughout Michigan are "50 times less" than the level deemed unsafe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Much of this reduction is attributed to the removal of alkylated lead from gasoline.
Nitrogen dioxide levels in Michigan hover near 0.01 and 0.02 parts per million, which is less than half of the amount deemed unsafe by the federal government.
All Michigan counties were in attainment for the federal ozone standard. In July 2005, the EPA designated 25 Michigan counties as in "nonattainment" for a new, more stringent 8-hour ozone standard. However, in 2006, all but one of the state’s 27 monitoring sites were meeting this more restrictive standard. When data for Michigan’s ozone monitoring sites is averaged for the period from 2003 to 2005, 24 of the state’s 27 sites met the newly imposed more restrictive federal standard.
According to the report, sulfur dioxide levels in Michigan have decreased to less than one-fourth of the maximum amount deemed unsafe by the federal government.
Particulate matter is comprised of solid particles, fine liquid droplets or condensed liquids absorbed into solid particles. Across Michigan, levels of particulate matter less than 10 micrometers in diameter have remained well below the maximum amount permitted by the federal government. State data also indicate that xe "only"only Wayne County is not meeting federal standards for particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrometers or less.
In summary, the data suggests a significant and widespread rebound in Michigan’s environmental quality since the 1950s and 1960s. Even as Michigan confronts ongoing environmental challenges, state residents can know that the natural surroundings in which they take pride are not just beautiful, but much cleaner, too.
Harrison, K.G. (ed.). 2006. "State of Michigan’s Environment 2005, Third Biennial Report," January 20006. Prepared by KGH Environmental PLC for the Michigan Departments of Environmental Quality and Natural Resources, Lansing, 100p. The full report can be found at http://www.deq.state.mi.us/documents/deq-osep-ftp-deqdnrei05.pdf.
The DEQ has collected and analyzed more than 17,000 fish tissue samples from more than 800 locations since 1980.
Most lake trout in Whitefish Bay originated from hatcheries, according to the DEQ.
Ozone is formed when nitrogen oxides react in the presence of sunlight with volatile organic compounds, such as paint solvents, vehicle exhaust and degreasing agents.
The original standard was based on concentrations exceeding 0.12 parts per million in the course of one hour; the stricter standard is based on concentrations exceeding 0.08 ppm over eight hours.
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| 0.947042 | 1,410 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Hello raza9990Here's some basic stuff on probability. And here's something about vectors.
(i) The probability is
(ii) In the same way, the probability that the first one supports City is . If he does, there are then 10 boys left, 3 of whom support City. So the probability that the second supports City also is .
So the probability that they both support City is
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| 0.947848 | 84 | 2.671875 | 3 |
An asphalt plant will produce 180 tph for a highway project. The mat will be 12 ft wide and 1½-in. thick, and will have a density of 115 lb per sy-in. A vibratory roller with a 66-in.-wide drum will be used for compaction. Assume a 50-min hour efficiency factor for the roller. The overlap between adjacent laps and overedges will be 6-in. minimum. It is estimated that nonproductive travel will add about 15% to total travel. From a test mat, it was found that three passes with the roller are required to achieve density. To account for acceleration and deceleration when changing directions, add 10% to the average roller speed to calculate a running speed. If it is desired to keep the rolling speed under 3 mph, how many rollers are required for the project?
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<urn:uuid:9b1bdb6d-19e5-4aaf-8114-1c6107ff96fd>
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http://www.chegg.com/homework-help/asphalt-plant-produce-180-tph-highway-project-mat-12-ft-wide-chapter-15-problem-9-solution-9780073401126-exc
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| 0.935874 | 175 | 3.078125 | 3 |
For years it was believed to be a collapsed salt dome (hence the name),
but later research, starting with Eugene Shoemaker, shows that nearly all
the evidence points to an impact origin. Recent (2008) research by
Thomas Kenkmann and Elmar Buchner have finally put the matter to
rest, finding planar
deformation features in quartz crystals embedded in the Kayenta
sandstone of Upheaval Dome's outer ring.
Here's their paper in GeoScience World:
Dome, Utah, USA: Impact origin confirmed.
(I hope someone tells the national park service; their sign at the overlook still emphasizes the salt-dome theory.)
That it is an impact crater should come as no surprise to lunar observers, since Upheaval looks remarkably like a terrestrial version of the Orientale Basin, which we see in profile on the southwestern limb of the moon, or like the Nectaris basin which is more subtle than Orientale, but has the advantage of being visible face-on from earth.
|Compare this aerial photo of Upheaval Dome:||with this face-on satellite shot of Orientale:|
For further reading, Kurt Fisher has an excellent Bibliography of Upheaval Dome references.
|Around the South Rim of Upheaval Dome|
|Upheaval Canyon and the center of the dome: a hike up into the center of the crater|
The first time we encountered Upheaval Dome, after spending a
while at the overlook staring amazed at the spectacle,
we attempted to hike the trail that winds downhill just inside the
first shock ring to the bottom, where a spur trail heads inside
the crater. Unfortunately, we
ran out of water before we got much more than halfway to the bottom.
The trail continues down toward this canyon (carved by a tributary
of the Green River) then bends around the bottom part of the outer
shock ring -- the big red rocks looming just right of center --
and the trail to the center would be just on the other side of those
Looking up from different vantage points at various parts of
the outside of part of Upheaval Dome's first shock ring.
Left, another view of the outer shock ring, and the way the terrain
beyond it drops off into the canyon; right, concentric shock rings.
Other links on Upheaval Dome, including some great aerial shots showing the double-ringed basin structure:
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<urn:uuid:0f42e005-1488-4b4f-a3f1-1f1d0fd24b5e>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.shallowsky.com/upheaval.html
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en
| 0.906816 | 510 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Unplugged: Energy Guide vs. Energy Star
If you know the difference between the Energy Guide label and the Energy Star label, you are in better shape than many consumers, even many energy-conscious ones. (If you can explain why it makes sense to have three different federal agencies administer two separate labeling programs with names and purposes so similar that even retailers get them confused, you’re a genius.)
The Energy Guide label is a yellow-and-black sticker or hang tag that tells consumers the estimated annual energy use and operating costs of new household appliances.
The label is legally required to be on refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers, washing machines, room air conditioners, water heaters and other products. Among other things, it includes a comparison scale that consumers can use to judge a product against similar models.
The blue-and-white Energy Star label, on the other hand, is a voluntary program available to a much broader range of products than just appliances. (It even includes buildings.) An Energy Star label identifies the product carrying it as more efficient than most of its peers. For appliances, the cut-off a product must reach varies. An Energy Star dishwasher, for example, must be 10 percent more efficient than the least efficient unit, while washing machines must be 37 percent more efficient.
Both labels have their problems. Energy Guide labels often convey outdated information that makes products appear misleadingly efficient relative to others. And they are frequently missing from products in stores and online. Energy Star labels can remain on products that no longer qualify for updated standards. And pilot testing has shown that significant numbers of products that carry the label don’t actually meet the Energy Star requirements.
Earthjustice is working to remedy these problems so that consumers can rely on these labels and receive the energy savings they expect. But knowing the difference between the two labels is half the battle.
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<urn:uuid:7fd6a797-cdfa-4b07-93ba-a36c34939fc8>
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http://earthjustice.org/blog/2011-may/unplugged-energy-guide-vs-energy-star
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| 0.934918 | 385 | 2.78125 | 3 |
RCArduinoChannels by DuaneB is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
RC Transmitters multiplex as many as 9 channels onto a single radio signal. Your RC Receiver decodes this single signal to obtain the individual channel signals for your servos and electronic speed controllers.
If we reverse part of this process we can read all of the incoming channels using just two Arduino Pins.
Not only does this keep our pins free for more important tasks within our projects, but it is also more efficient to read them this way, we simply need to count the pulses to know which channel we are looking at.
This is a technique I have been using in the development of the RCArduino library.
The library uses just two interrupt pins to read as many as six RC Channels. The library is also able to generate upto six RC Channel outputs in its current form. I will soon be adding the capability to drive 9 servos using only 3 Arduino digital pins.
UPDATE : The library has been reworked so that it now supports three output modes -
1) Generate six outputs using a selected port
2) Do not generate any outputs, but operate in a mode compatible with the existing servo library and all of the flexibility that it offers - also suitable for working with H-Bridges etc.
3) Serial servos, use less pins and less code to drive more servos - details soon.
So, if you want to be able to do more, with less, with a library that is smaller and faster than the existing general purpose libraries, read on.
The RC Arduino Channel Multiplexer
Some high end receivers offer a 'raw' output, mine don't and yours don't need to either. Instead of modifying the receiver we will simply create a small hardware 'RC Channel multiplexer'. The multiplexer is basically a single diode for each channel.
The key to the multiplexer is that we route all of the even numbered channels 0,2,4 to INT0 (digital pin 2) and all of the odd numbered channels 1,3,5 to INT1 (digital pin 3).
How does it work ?The diodes stop interference between the pulses - if one channel is high and the others are low, the low channels will sink some of the current from the high channel, this would be sufficient to stop the Arduino from detecting the pulse. However adding a diode to each channel prevents any current from the high channel sinking back into the low channels and ensures we can detect all of the channel pulses.
An RC Arduino Channel Multiplexer - 3 Channels into two pins, as simple as that.
There is an interesting effect where a charge gets trapped between the diodes and the Arduino pins. To overcome this effect a high value resistor can be place between the point where the diodes meet and ground. I am using a 1M resistor. Picture below -.
Schematic - The even half of the channel multiplexer, the odd half is a duplicate but is connected between the odd numbered channels and INT1 (digital pin 3).
The next post in this series will be a conversion of a previous project to use the new library, as always the post will include the full source code of both the library and the project.
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<urn:uuid:80823d76-bf32-422b-a563-13f6853f7eb8>
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en
| 0.932554 | 692 | 2.734375 | 3 |
I was recently watching a presentation with a friend who believes that the global warming crisis is overblown. The presentation was from a skeptic scientist, and it was full of misleading statements and graphs.
Not surprisingly, I ended up with a very negative impression of the presentation and of the scientist himself.
My companion, on the other hand, liked the presentation. Not because he thought the talk was much more accurate than I did, but because the talk raised issues with observations and consequences of climate change that alarmists tend to gloss over.
He gave the lack of accuracy a bit of a pass because, on the whole, the audience was probably made aware of issues it hadn’t previously considered.
My response was that any time someone is presented with misleading information, their ability to consider its meaning is severely compromised. Two bits of wrong and conflicting information simply don’t allow someone to draw the correct conclusion.
Which of us do you agree with?
If you agree with me, now consider the following: suppose the presentation was by someone claiming that all sorts of extreme weather were increasing in frequency in the United States because of climate change. The list includes tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and droughts.
In reality, those things are either not increasing in general or they’re increasing so slowly that it would take another half-century or more to detect such an increase. In the case of floods, for example, infrastructure and public safety improvements seem to have kept pace with the climate-induced increase in heavy downpours.
But, you might say, at least this is raising the public’s awareness of climate change and countering the false impression left by skeptics that climate change is not real or not a big deal.
Which of us do you agree with now?
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<urn:uuid:0fbdc114-6116-49b7-9929-77ffa901f77e>
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| 0.977583 | 366 | 2.515625 | 3 |
An enriched environment that includes exercise, social interaction and mental stimulation has been proven to help prevent or reverse depression. But it’s not clear exactly when in life an enriched environment has the most anti-depressive effect.
Kazuko Sakata, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), has received a two-year grant totaling $147,500 from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to research whether an enriched environment early in life is more effective than later in improving or preventing depression. She is also studying gene mechanisms in the brain that respond to the enriched environment. The goal is to develop effective interventions that can not only treat depression, but provide resilience in the brain to keep depression from developing.
“We know that an enriched environment is effective in preventing depression, but when is it most effective?” Dr. Sakata said. “We think that maybe when we give enriched environments early in life, the effect can last longer.” Plasticity in the young brain may allow for changes that may have a protective effect throughout life.
Her research with mice involves giving enriched environments at three stages in life — infancy, young adult and middle age — and monitoring the effects. “We hope this could be the fundamental study to apply to humans, too,” said Dr. Sakata, who joined the faculty of UTHSC in 2008 following postdoctoral work at the NIH. “Many laboratories study the effect of stress and how stress can cause depression or depression-like behavior in adults. But the unique point of this study is that we are focusing on the positive environment, not the negative environment, and its effects.”
Major depressive disorder is the leading cause of disability in the United States for people age 15-44, according to the NIMH. It affects roughly 14.8 million American adults annually at a cost of approximately $83 billion. Better treatment options are necessary, according to Dr. Sakata.
“The ultimate goal is to find out the mechanisms that can provide resilience in the brain against depression,” she said. “If we can find the mechanism, if we can support the mechanism, then we can prevent depression or treat depression.”
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<urn:uuid:b50637d1-8997-4066-a210-0500bfc70fba>
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en
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Indian Public Schools' Conference, formed in 1939 is known for its glorious traditions. The Indian Public Schools' have a distinct identity and it should not be confused with the large number of schools, which have liberally adopted the words 'Public School' with their name. The Indian Public Schools are 'private, independent and secular institutions of secondary education. The Sainik and Military Schools, which form part of the public school complex have been established by the government and receive annual grants-in-aid. They are, however considered to be 'private' and 'independent' because they are managed by the autonomous Boards of Governors and are not obliged to follow the regulations of the grant-in-code.
Technically, an Indian Public School is one, which is a member of the IPSC. The IPSC which started in 1939 with a few residential schools has now strength of 79 schools including Sainik Schools and Military Schools. The conference has deliberated on the educational problems of residential schools and it endeavors to promote the efficiency of such schools keeping in mind the changing trends in the educational technology and maintaining our age old traditions and heritage. IPSC is considered as an "integrative" organisation in the sense that directs "Motivation to the fulfillment of institutional expectation". The primary aim of Public School as stated in the IPSC Articles of Association is, "To prepare students of ability for positions of service and responsibilities in all walks of National Life".
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As a follow-on to last month's discussion of joins ("Data Retrieval with Joins," June 1999), this month I examine subqueries. You will see how, in some cases, you can replace subqueries with joins for more efficient code. Also, I examine simple and correlated subqueries and explain why a correlated subquery can drastically affect query performance.
What Is a Subquery?
A subquery is a query that SQL Server must evaluate before it can process the main query. Consider an example from the Pubs database. If someone asks, "Which books cost more than the average price?" the first step in finding the answer is to determine the average price of all the books. Only then can you look through the Titles table and find the books that cost more than the average. Screen 1 shows this query as a SQL statement and the Results Grid.
You can use a subquery anywhere you can use an expression. Always enclose a subquery in parentheses, so that the query parser can tell where the subquery begins and ends. In the SQL statement in Screen 1, the subquery is
(SELECT AVG(price) FROM titles)
The parser evaluates the subquery and substitutes the result into the main query. Running the subquery for this example gives you a value of $14.77. Therefore, the main query is asking
SELECT title, price FROM titles WHERE price > $14.77
In this simple subquery, the query optimizer evaluates the subquery once and uses the result to evaluate the outer query. In other words, the result is one value. For a slightly more complex example, say you want a list of books sold on a particular date. The Sales table refers only to the title_id, so you first have to get the list of title_ids for books sold on that date and then relate those title_ids to the titles in the Titles table. Screen 2 shows the SQL statement and the Results Grid for this query.
If you run the subquery
(SELECT DISTINCT title_id FROM SALES WHERE ord_date = 'Sep 14 1994')
separately, you get three title_id values—BU1032, MC3021, and PS2091—for books sold on the date specified. In other words, those books have entries in the Sales table for that date. So now the main query evaluates the SQL statement as if it reads:
SELECT title_id, title FROM titles WHERE title_id IN ('BU1032', 'MC3021', 'PS2091')
Although the subquery returns three values, they are all from the title_id column. This happens because a SELECT statement within another SELECT statement cannot return values to the outer SELECT statement from more than one column. It must return either a single value, a list of values from a single column, or a true or false (which is itself a single value). Running this query as a JOIN statement might be more efficient. This JOIN statement would be
SELECT DISTINCT titles.title_id, title FROM titles JOIN sales ON titles.title_id = sales.title_id WHERE ord_date = 'Sep 14 1994'
Screen 3 shows the SQL statement and the Execution Plan output for the subquery. The Execution Plan shows how the optimizer processes the query. If you compare the Execution Plan for the subquery and JOIN statements, you will see that the optimizer processes these queries in an identical manner. Keep in mind that these examples are simple queries against a very small database. The optimizer might handle the queries differently when dealing with a large database.
From a programmer's perspective, think of a subquery as a subroutine that the optimizer must run before the main routine can complete. A correlated subquery is one that depends on a value in the outer query. In programming terms, you pass the subroutine an argument, then the subroutine evaluates the query and returns a result. You move on to the next record and repeat the process. The net effect is that the subquery runs once for every row in the main query; this situation is inefficient.
A possible alternative is to rewrite the correlated subquery as a join. However, some situations require a subquery.
Suppose you want a list of all the authors in the Pubs database who have written books. Because you're not concerned with how many books each author has written or what the titles are, you can use the WHERE EXISTS command to see whether the author has an entry in the Titleauthor table. Screen 4 shows this SQL statement, which returns a list of 19 of 23 authors who have written books. Notice that in the subquery, the SELECT statement uses the asterisk, which ordinarily means return all columns. But the convention with EXISTS is that you use an asterisk, rather than specifying a column, because you do not expect SQL Server to return any data values—EXISTS returns only Boolean values (i.e., true or false). What makes this SELECT statement a correlated subquery is that the optimizer evaluates it for each au_id in the Authors table. The optimizer passes each au_id value in the outer query to the inner query, where the optimizer uses that value to run the SELECT statement. The correlated subquery will not run alone, unlike the simple subqueries you looked at earlier. If you try to run a correlated subquery alone, SQL Server tells you that you have referenced the authors.au_id column without specifying the Authors table in the query.
Rather than incur the overhead of this correlated subquery, you can write it as a join. The SQL statement for this join operation is
SELECT distinct authors.au_id, au_lname, au_fname FROM authors INNER JOIN titleauthor ON authors.au_id = titleauthor.au_id
The INNER JOIN, as I discussed last month, gives you the rows in which a match occurs between the two tables. So the results will show only the 19 published authors. What about the four authors who don't have published books? You can easily get a list of those authors by adding a NOT condition to the correlated subquery:
SELECT au_id, au_lname, au_fname FROM authors WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM titleauthor WHERE titleauthor.au_id = authors.au_id)
But any time you see a NOT in a query, think twice before accepting it as the best approach. NOT conditions are usually inefficient. You get the required results, though.
Writing this query as a join is a little trickier:
SELECT DISTINCT authors.au_id, au_lname, au_fname, titleauthor.au_id FROM authors LEFT OUTER JOIN titleauthor ON authors.au_id = titleauthor.au_id WHERE titleauthor.au_id IS NULL
This query retrieves a list of all the authors and then looks for the rows where the inner table—in this case Titleauthor—shows a NULL value. Be careful with this query; you must run it using the ANSI (SQL-92) JOIN syntax rather than including the JOIN in the WHERE clause.
Also, take care that what you are writing is a correlated subquery and not a simple subquery. For example, this query returns all 23 authors, which you know is not correct:
SELECT au_id, au_fname, au_lname FROM authors WHERE EXISTS (SELECT DISTINCT au_id FROM titleauthor)
This incorrect result occurs because the programmer did not pass the author ID into the subquery. This is a simple subquery, which can run alone without reference to the outer query. The simple subquery runs once, and as long as it finds even one row in the Titleauthor table, it evaluates as true. So for each author, the query simply asks for the three columns. It runs quickly, because it does not evaluate the subquery multiple times. If a correlated subquery runs a lot faster than you expected, check to see whether the subquery is correct.
It All Bad News?
So, are correlated subqueries always inefficient? No, their practicality depends on how you use them. For example, suppose the Pubs database is very large, with thousands of authors. If you want to find out who has written books, the correlated subquery is inefficient because it would run thousands of times. An INNER JOIN might work better based on the comparative results of the estimated execution plans.
But what if you want to search for just one author and see whether that author has written a book? Screen 5 shows the SQL statement for that query. In this case, you have a WHERE clause in the outer query, and you have to evaluate only one row in the correlated subquery. That's acceptable. Nothing is wrong with a correlated subquery when you are performing a specific search. Problems arise only when you are looking at many or all of the rows. So don't think that you always have to avoid correlated subqueries.
Subqueries in UPDATE Statements
You can use subqueries in SELECT statements for searching on specific records and for UPDATE statements. You might need to update data based on the results of a query, but typically you need to update only one row at a time. Often, you can control the update (insert or delete) based on data values from another table. For example, suppose you want to drop from the database the authors who have not delivered on their book contracts. As Listing 1 shows, first identify the authors, and then delete the authors who have not written a book.
This DELETE statement changes the Authors table based on data from the Titleauthor table. DELETE works because you have specifically requested authors who do not have an entry in the Titleauthor table.
If you tried to delete an author who had written a book, the referential integrity (RI) constraints would prevent you from deleting the author and leaving orphan entries in the Titleauthor table.
If you keep in mind the basics of when to use (and when not to use) subqueries, you will find them a useful tool in your SQL Server programming toolkit. You can often write subqueries as joins, which typically results in better performance. Simple subqueries are relatively fast. Correlated subqueries evaluate once for each row of the outer query, so use these queries only for single-row results.
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Films in BOLD will Air on TCM * | VIEW TCMDb ENTRY
Marie Curie was a Polish physicist working in France when she, along with her husband and partner Pierre, discovered the scientific element radium. The discovery opened up the science of radioactivity. Radium proved key in the development of many scientific technologies from wartime bombs to medical breakthroughs such as using radiation to treat cancer. Marie Curie was the first woman in France to receive a Ph.D., the first woman ever to receive a Nobel Prize, and the first person ever to receive two Nobel Prizes.
Curie's daughter Eve published a well-received book on her extraordinary mother's life in 1937 called Madame Curie: A Biography. Hollywood's interest was peaked, and Universal Studios quickly bought the rights with Irene Dunne in mind to play Marie. Dunne traveled to Europe and met with Eve Curie to discuss the project, but nothing ever came of the meeting. A few years later Universal sold the property to MGM, who wanted it for their star Greta Garbo. Writers such as Aldous Huxley and F. Scott Fitzgerald took a stab at adapting the screenplay for Garbo, but the project again was shelved when Garbo left MGM in 1941 and the country was thrown into World War II.
Meanwhile at MGM actors Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon had been making names for themselves as a popular onscreen duo. Audiences loved them together in such hits as Blossoms in the Dust (1941) and Mrs. Miniver (1942). MGM resuscitated the Madame Curie project for them with Garson as Marie and Pidgeon as her husband Pierre. This was the fourth onscreen pairing of the duo. Mervyn LeRoy, who had directed them in their first movie together Blossoms in the Dust, was named director with Sidney Franklin, who had produced Mrs. Miniver, producing. Franklin very much wanted to keep the events in the film as historically and scientifically accurate as possible. To do this he brought in Dr. Rudolph Langer, a physicist from Cal Tech, as an official technical advisor. In addition to providing input on the script, Dr. Langer also contributed by re-creating some of the Curies' experiments for the screenwriters to observe.
The biggest challenge for making a movie of Madame Curie was in making the unlikely subject of the discovery of radium interesting and entertaining for audiences. The film managed to adhere to the facts more than most biopics of the 1930s and 40s, and it also took time to develop the sweet romance between Marie and Pierre, two shy scientists fiercely dedicated to their work. This balance between showing the Curies' personal lives and scientific work was key to its success. Director Mervyn LeRoy, who considered Madame Curie to be among his personal favorites, was careful to keep the complicated scientific material easy to follow. "I didn't let a scene go by unless I understood it myself," Mervyn LeRoy said in his 1974 autobiography Mervyn LeRoy: Take One.
The science meets Hollywood strategy worked, and audiences and critics alike loved Madame Curie. Bosley Crowther of the New York Times said, "It has made their (the Curies') absorption as comprehensible as the urge to read good books. Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon are ideal in the leading roles." Eve Curie even wrote a letter of approval to Mervyn LeRoy saying how much she had liked his film adaptation of her book. Madame Curie was honored with seven Academy Award® nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Actress. Ultimately, however, it took home none, losing out to Casablanca (1942) for Best Picture.
In some ways, Madame Curie was a mixed blessing for Garson who, prior to playing the role, was quoted as saying, "Here am I, possibly the only natural redhead in Hollywood, mildewing away the years in shawls, shrouds, and chignons in unrelieved black and white. I hope that Madame Curie will be my last heavy dramatic role I shall play for some time." (from Michael Troyan's biography, A Rose For Mrs. Miniver: The Life of Greer Garson). Garson was equally concerned about audiences "believing" her transition from youth to old age in the course of the film. "When I'm 62, they'll probably cast me as an ingenue. At 70, I'll be in pigtails. Anyway I can dream can't I?"
After Madame Curie, Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon went on to make five more features together; they were teamed on the screen a total of nine times. Also included in the cast of Madame Curie are Robert Walker as a young lab assistant, Van Johnson as a cub reporter, and Margaret O'Brien as the Curies' daughter Irene.
Producer: Sidney A. Franklin
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Screenplay: Paul Osborn, Paul H. Rameau
Cinematography: Joseph Ruttenberg
Film Editing: Harold F. Kress
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons
Music: Herbert Stothart
Cast: Greer Garson (Mme. Marie Curie), Walter Pidgeon (Pierre Curie), Robert Walker (David LeGros), Van Johnson (Reporter), Albert Bassermann (Prof. Jean Perot), Henry Travers (Eugene Curie), C. Aubrey Smith (Lord Kelvin).
BW-124m. Closed captioning. Descriptive Video.
by Andrea Passafiume
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Food Safety, Preparation and Storage Tips
Cooperative Extension, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, the University of Arizona
Food Additives - Are They Safe?
Adding substances to food for preservation, flavor, or appearance is a centuries old practice. Before refrigeration, salts were used to preserve meats and fish, and sugar was added to preserved fruits. In ancient cultures sulfites were used to preserve wine and spices and colorings were used to enhance flavors of foods. Today, there are thousands of food additives found in foods. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) maintains a list of over 3,000 ingredients in its food additive database. Many7 of these are found in our own kitchens, like salt, sugar, and baking soda. Still, some consumers have concerns about food additives and their safety.
WHAT IS A “FOOD ADDITIVE”?A food additive is any substance added to food that changes its characteristics. There are two types of food additives, direct and indirect. Direct food additives are those added to a food for a specific purpose in that food, such as sugar or salt. Most direct food additives are listed on ingredient food labels. On the other hand, indirect food additives are those that become part of the food in trace amounts due to package storing or other handling.
WHY ARE ADDITIVES PUT IN FOODS?
HOW ARE FOOD ADDITIVES “APPROVED” FOR USE IN FOODS?
Today, food and color additives are more strictly studied, regulated and monitored more than any other time in history. The FDA sets safety standards, determining whether a substance is safe for its intended use. Rigorous testing is done to determine the amount of safe levels of different food additives. Additionally, food manufacturers must prove to the FDA their product is safe before it is put on the market.
CAN FOOD ADDITIVES CAUSE ILLNESSES?
On rare occasions some individuals can experience adverse reactions to food additives. A small percentage of asthmatics can react to sulfites, substances used to prevent certain foods from browning. Also, a very small number of individuals, one or two of every ten thousand, are sensitive to FD&C Yellow # 5, used as a food coloring, causing itching and hives.
Monosodium glutamate (MSG), commonly found in Chinese foods, can also cause adverse reactions in small groups of people. The symptoms, usually mild, include body tingling or warmth, and chest pain. These symptoms are usually mild and often last less than an hour.
Lastly, people with a rare genetic disease known as phenylketouria (PKU) should avoid foods sweetened with aspartame (Equal). Aspartame is made from two amino acids, one being phenylalanine. Individuals with PKU cannot metabolize this amino acid, and if consumed can cause serious side effects including tissue damage.
The best advice to any individual that has adverse reactions to any food additives is to read labels carefully and avoid these products whenever possible. If an adverse reaction does occur, be sure to contact your physician immediately.
HOW CAN I MINIMIZE MY EXPOSURE TO “ACCIDENTAL" CONTAMINANTS?
To minimize the amount of accidental contaminants on your food you can:
ARE "NATURAL" ADDITIVES SAFER THAN "ARTIFICIAL" ONES?
No. Nothing about a natural additive makes - it safer than an artificial or man-made additive. An individual food additive consists of chemical elements combined in a particular way. Whether it is grown in a garden or manufactured in a laboratory, the chemical structure and composition is the same.
Curtis, C., Meer, R., and S. Misner. 2006. The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, Department of Nutritional Sciences
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How a Normal Distribution Affects the Shape of a Sampling Distribution
In statistics, when the original distribution for a population X is normal, then you can also assume that the shape of the sampling distribution, or
will also be normal, regardless of the sample size n.
For example, if you look at the amount of time (X) required for a clerical worker to complete a task, you may find that X had a normal distribution (refer to the lowest curve in the figure).
If you refer to the other curves in the figure, you see the average times for samples of n = 10 and n = 50 clerical workers, respectively, also have normal distributions.
When X has a normal distribution, the sample means also always have a normal distribution, no matter what size samples you take, even if you take samples of only 2 clerical workers at a time to calculate the sample mean.
The difference between the curves in the figure is not their means or their shapes, but rather their amount of variability (how close the values in the distribution are to the mean). Results based on large samples vary less and will be more concentrated around the mean than results from small samples or results from the individuals in the population.
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Recognizing the early signs of autism in children
BATON ROUGE - Dr. Mindy Calandro, a pediatrician at The Baton Rouge Clinic, visited the station Thursday afternoon to discuss the signs, symptoms and statistics that accompany Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in children.
From a statistical standpoint, 1 in 68 child have the disorder and ASD is five times more common in boys when compared to girls. Research continues to unravel the facts surrounding autism, but studies have tied the disorder to a genetic component as well as environmental factors. Many of these contributors to ASD occur in the child prior to birth. Dr. Mindy Calandro says the idea that vaccines cause autism is not true, according to extensive studies.
During her visit, the pediatrician listed some "red flags" that parents should keep an eye out for when trying to determine if their children have ASD, which usually makes itself apparent in the early years of life. Common signs and symptoms of the disorder in children include:
- No eye contact, smiling or expression of emotion by six months of age
- No spoken words by 16 months of age
- Not pointing at things or looking at things others point out
- No showing of objects to parents
- No expressions of emotion
Awareness and diagnosis of autism have been improving in recent years, and research into the disorder is advancing every year. Much of what we know about what causes autism has only been revealed within the past five years.
Dr. Mindy Calandro says it is important to monitor your children's development closely, and increasingly accurate screening tools are becoming common every year. The pediatrician advises that your own attentiveness and regular visits to the proper medical professionals during your child's early life are also key.
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Roman carriages, an ancient travel
In fact, there were a number of different roman carriages types. More than that, there were names for them, which cannot, interestingly enough, be brought in conjunction with the actual appearance of the carriages.
Roman carriages were not very popular – not by those who used them, nor the ones that suffered from the noise of the iron-shod wheels on the basalt pavement, especially at night. Even though the road system had developed very well the drivers of the carriages still suffered considerable hardships and had to be patient.
Roman carriages – and now fast
The average speed was about five miles per hour, or about 7.5 km / hour There was a day driving ban in the fashionable seaside resort of Baiae or in the capital city of Rome so the strepitus rotarum (noise of the wheels) focused on the hours of the night and terrorized many residents with insomnia.
Goods for Roman carriages “without toll”
Romans mostly used the plaustrum (plostrum) and the carus for the transport of goods. The plaustrum was a two-wheeled, heavy lorry, usually drawn by two oxen, which was usually on disc wheels with iron rings. It was used in the agriculture to transport important foods such as olive oil, wine, cereals, fruits and vegetables into the cities. In addition, building materials and rubbish were carried away with it as well. The sometimes mentioned sarracum probably only slightly differed from the plaustrum maybe because it could carry heavier loads.
The carrus a, with oxen, horses or mules, strung elongated wagon with four large spoke wheels. Both sides could fold down. Sometimes he was converted to the covered wagon, but usually remained open the cargo area. The Roman carriages carrus served in both civil and military transportation of goods of all kinds, partly lashed with nets and protected with covers from the dust of the road.
Roman carriages as a coach
The rheda Carruca dominated in people travel business amongs the four-wheel cars. Whomever was traveling with luggage and in company, chose the robust rheda, a vehicle type that the Romans had taken over from the Gauls. The traveler sat with four to six people on opposite or successively arranged benches, in the front was the driver (mulio). The heavy roman carriages was run with two or four horses. Up to ten mules or donkeys were used for the Roman carriages when the roads were bad or the legally established maximum load of 1000 pounds (330 kg) was exceeded – which happened often enough. The less comfortable Rhedae rarely had a hood. In addition, it was slow, because of their severity. Nevertheless, they were high in demand as a rental roman carriages – certainly also because of their reliability. That Caesar once travelled in a rheda over several days – of course at constant exchange of draft animals – with a daily distance of 150 kilometers, was considered a record “incredible speed” (Suetonius Caes 57th). The Norm was around 36 miles per day.
Fast, faster, Carruca …
In a sense, the Porsche of the rheda was the Carruca. Two passengers had plenty of space on the backseat. The coachman sat on the front seat. These Roman carriages (Carruca) were often used by high officials for business trips and these carrucae were accordingly decorated with reliefs and bronze and silver applications. Covers made of leather or canvas carrucae dormitoriae (sleep carrucae) were great protection against weather and dirt and possessed some means of an elastic structure made of metal straps and leather straps with a suspension attached to the body of the carriages. This was an added plus to the comfort that were very appreciated versions of a “Nobel Car” for the rich and powerful. The carpentum was the distinguished model under the two-wheeled chariot, one with two mules with a vaulted roof covered Roman carriages (Currus arcuatus) in which often women drove – female members of the imperial family as well as ladies of the demi-monde of the caliber of Cynthia, which had silk padded carpentum borrowed from a wealthy admirer (Prop. IV, 8, 23).
The luxury class, the convertible
The essedum was available for fast travel to Overland or simple joy rides, it was a product derived from the Gallo-Britannic chariot easily opened carriages for two people. This Roman carriages was was usually also driven by a coachman, but it was also common for one of the travelers to take the reins himself. An even lighter and therefore faster “convertible” was the CISIUM. The traveler could direct it himself, as well as the related covinnus. Increased speed was even then very typical for the profession in the cisiarius (professional driver).
Since traveling was always bumpy, difficult and long-winded at that time the dilapidated Emperor Claudius had his touring car rebuilt into a game room that was secured with technical devices so even with the dice do not become a mess with the poor road conditions. (Suetonius Claud . 33, 2).
QQ to roman carriages : Prop. IV 8, 20 ff.; Hor. Sat. I 5; Verg. Catl. 8, 1 ff.; Ov. am. II 16, 49 ff.; Mart. III 47; III 72; XII 24; Juv. III 232 ff.; VIII 146 ff.; Cod. Theod. VIII 5; 8; Isid. Etym. XX 12; CIL I 206, 56 ff.
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We all know that some peppers are hotter than others. Bell peppers and banana peppers are called sweet peppers. Jalapenos and various other peppers are called hot peppers. The compound that makes peppers hot is capsaicin. The amount of capsaicin in the pepper governs how hot we perceive it to be.
The heat felt when a pepper is consumed is measured by the Scoville scale. Bell peppers are a zero on the Scoville scale. Pure capsaicin is 16,000,000 or more. It is so hot and burns so bad it is used in the pepper spray police spray in the face of criminals to subdue them.
If you like the taste of hot peppers, then you know that the jalapeno, at 2,500-5,000 Scoville units, is only the beginning. Thai peppers are very hot, at 100,000-350,000 units, as are Scotch bonnet peppers. Habanero peppers used to be considered the hottest pepper in the world, at 200,000-300,000 Scoville units. Recently, however, a pepper was found in India that is now called the Naga Jolakia. This pepper measures1,359,000 Scoville units.
You will notice that all of these measurements give a wide range of heat level. That is because the growing conditions can have a major effect on the capsaicin level of the pepper. Drought concentrates the levels so the peppers are hotter. Very wet conditions tend to dilute the capsaicin levels. This effect is not precise enough to tell you how much to water a given pepper to obtain a given heat level. It does exist, however, so be aware of the water the plant is getting and the probable effect on the heat level.
When you grow hot peppers and sweet peppers, it is best not to plant them right next to each other. They can cross pollinate and the sweet peppers will become hot. Put them at opposite corners of the garden, like children who do not get along, and everyone will be much happier. Also, be sure to either wear gloves to pick the hot peppers or wash your hands with soap afterwards, as the capsaicin will rub off onto your skin and when you rub your eyes, you will be sorry. It will also rub off on other vegetables, so do not pick a handful of this and a handful of that and a pepper.
Good luck with your peppers and feel free to ask any questions you have.
For more help gardening, buy my book, Preparing A Vegetable Garden From The Ground Up
Available in print or ebook from Amazon.com or other retailers, this book walks you from choosing the site of your garden all the way through what to do after the harvest. Buy a copy for yourself or a friend today!
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April 7, 2011
Biodiversity Improves Water Quality In Streams
Biologically diverse streams are better at cleaning up pollutants than less rich waterways, and a University of Michigan ecologist says he has uncovered the long-sought mechanism that explains why this is so.
Bradley Cardinale used 150 miniature model streams, which use recirculating water in flumes to mimic the variety of flow conditions found in natural streams. He grew between one and eight species of algae in each of the mini-streams, then measured each algae community's ability to soak up nitrate, a nitrogen compound that is a nutrient pollutant of global concern.He found that nitrate uptake increased linearly with species richness. On average, the eight-species mix removed nitrate 4.5 times faster than a single species of algae grown alone. Cardinale reports his findings in the April 7 edition of the journal Nature.
"The primary implication of this paper is that naturally diverse habitats are pretty good at cleaning up the pollutants we dump into the environment, and loss of biodiversity through species extinctions could be compromising the ability of the planet to clean up after us," said Cardinale, an assistant professor at the U-M School of Natural Resources and Environment.
Why are more diverse streams better pollutant filters? Niche partitioning, Cardinale said.
In the stream experiments, each algae species was best adapted to a particular habitat in the stream and gravitated to that location---its unique ecological niche. As more algae species were added, more of the available habitats were used, and the stream became a bigger, more absorbent sponge for nitrate uptake and storage.
Think of niche partitioning as a division of labor among specialist organisms.
"People as far back as Darwin have argued that species should have unique niches and, as a result, we should see a division of labor in the environment," Cardinale said. "But demonstrating that directly has proven very difficult.
"And so one of the primary contributions of this study is that I was able to nail the mechanism and show exactly why streams that have more species are better at removing these nutrient pollutants from the water," he said.
In the experiments, the channels inside each flume were lined with a continuous slab of molded plastic. The plastic provided a growth surface for the algae, and variations in the shape of the slab's surface created a variety of water features---riffles, pools and eddies, for example---found in real streams.
Evidence supporting the finding that niche partitioning was responsible for the results includes the fact that different morphological forms of algae dominated unique and complementary habitats in the streams, as predicted by ecological theory. High-velocity habitats were dominated by small, single-celled diatoms that latch onto the streambed in a way that is resistant to displacement by shear. Low-velocity habitats were dominated by large, filamentous algae that are susceptible to shear.
When the streams were simplified so that they contained just one habitat type, the effects of diversity on nitrate uptake disappeared, confirming that niche differences among species were responsible for the results.
The algal species used in the study included eight forms of diatom and green algae that are among the most widespread and abundant species in North American streams. The experiment was performed in the stream flume facility at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Nitrate is an ingredient in many fertilizers and is found in surface runoff from agricultural land that makes its way into streams, lakes and coastal zones. It is a leading cause of degraded water quality worldwide.
"One of the obvious implications of this study is that if we want to enhance water quality in places like the Chesapeake Bay watershed or around the Great Lakes, then conserving natural biodiversity in our streams will have the added benefit of helping to clean up these larger bodies of water," Cardinale said.
The work was funded by grants from the National Science Foundation.
Image 1: Streams contain a variety of types of algae that remove pollutants from the water. This microscope image shows several species of algae similar to those used in the University of Michigan biodiversity study. Credit: Danuta Bennett
Image 2: New research suggests that streams and rivers that have more species are better able to remove pollutants from water. Credit: Bradley Cardinale
Image 3: This research facility contains 120 artificial streams, known as stream mesocosms, used in the study of biodiversity and water quality conducted by University of Michigan ecologist Bradley Cardinale. Credit: Bradley Cardinale
On the Net:
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Like the 1918 flu, which first appeared in the U.S. summer, the H1N1 swine flu arrived in the spring, well before traditional flu season.
And like the 1918 flu, the H1N1 flu currently seems most likely to infect older children and young adults, notes Lone Simonsen, PhD, adjunct professor of global health at George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
"What we see is the new H1N1 flu is not dissimilar to that first wave of 1918 -- which had so few deaths it was a mild pandemic wave," Simonsen tells WebMD. "That is the worst-case scenario, that we might be looking at something similar to that. Or it could be this new flu is something we have never seen before and nothing bad will follow. We cannot learn from the past exactly."
Simonsen and colleagues have studied past flu pandemics. A report on their findings appears in an early release issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The researchers show that flu pandemics hit different places with different severity at different times. For example, the first wave of the 1968 H3N2 flu pandemic was severe in the U.S. and Canada, but was mild in England -- which experienced a severe second wave in the winter of 1969.
Another feature of flu pandemics is that they don't happen all at once. The 1957 H2N2 pandemic is a case in point. It hit the U.S. in three waves, with most deaths occurring in 1959 and 1962 -- the last wave five years from the initial 1957 wave.
"The way the world thinks of flu pandemics is like a tornado: It swipes though and maybe it's too late to make a vaccine," Simonsen says. "But that is not true. Sometimes considerable burden falls on later flu seasons."
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A block is a contiguous set of bits or bytes that forms an identifiable unit of data. The term is used in database management, word processing, and network communication.
By submitting your email address, you agree to receive emails regarding relevant topic offers from TechTarget and its partners. You can withdraw your consent at any time. Contact TechTarget at 275 Grove Street, Newton, MA.
1) In some databases, a block is the smallest amount of data that a program can request. It is a multiple of an operating system block, which is the smallest amount of data that can be retrieved from storage or memory. Multiple blocks in a database comprise an extent.
2) In word processing, a block is a contiguous set of characters. Often it consists of a phrase, a sentence, a paragraph, or a set of paragraphs that is selected by the user for copying/pasting, cutting, or moving. But a block can consist of any contiguous set of characters, whether or not it forms a logical unit of text.
3) In network communication, a block is a group of data bits or bytes that is transferred as a standard unit. The size (or length) of such a block depends on the communications protocol.
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Women Veterans Health Care
Health Awareness Campaigns: Preconception Care
A Healthy Pregnancy Begins with a Healthy You
Women who are healthy before becoming pregnant have healthier pregnancies and give birth to healthier babies. It is important for you and your provider to address any health issues and questions before you get pregnant.
Not everyone may be trying to get pregnant or want to become pregnant. However, almost half of pregnancies in the United States are unplanned. Therefore, whether you are trying to get pregnant or just thinking about it, it is never too late to be aware of your overall health and prepare yourself for a safe and healthy pregnancy.
VA is committed to making sure that you have access to the full range of reproductive health services including preconception care.
What is a preconception care-check up?
Preconception care can occur over several visits. These visits are to discuss your health before your pregnancy. Your health care provider will ask you about the foods you eat (nutrition), history of smoking, drugs or alcohol use, your weight, and use of medications that may be safe or unsafe to take during pregnancy. You may be asked about you and your partner’s family genetic history to see if genetic screening is needed. If you are not planning pregnancy right away, your provider may ask about your family planning needs.
Reproductive Life Plan
Thinking about your goals for having or not having children and how to achieve these goals is called a reproductive life plan. There are many kinds of reproductive life plans. Your plan will depend on your personal goals and dreams. Download and utilize the Reproductive Life Plan. This document will serve as a guide for you as you plan for your future. Click here† for additional information about planning a pregnancy.
If you are not ready for pregnancy
Contraception (birth control, family planning) is important to consider if you are not planning to get pregnant immediately. Preventing pregnancy when you are not ready to be pregnant is an important part of preconception health. Work with your healthcare provider to choose contraception that is right for you. VA offers contraception care. Speak to your provider about which methods are best suited to you and your lifestyle.
- Click here† for Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) information about contraception.
- Click here† for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) information about contraception and its effectiveness.
- Click here† for CDC preconception health information designed to improve the health of women and babies by promoting preconception health and healthcare.
Preconception Health Checklist
There are many ways to become a healthier you before pregnancy. The following checklist contains some of the first steps to stay healthy before getting pregnant. These ways are also important to your overall health even if you choose not to have a baby.
- Eat a low fat diet.
- Exercise regularly (for 30 minutes, at least five days a week).
- For help with diet and exercise, VA established the MOVE! weight management Program to help Veterans achieve their goals. Click here for more information.
- Get adequate sleep (seven or eight hours a night for most people).
- Start taking a prenatal vitamin that contains 400 mcg to 800 mcg of folic acid.
- Do not take any illegal drugs or any legal drugs that have not been prescribed for you.
- Discuss family planning and birth control with your healthcare provider.
- Manage and reduce stress.
- Discuss with your health care provider how health problems that you or your family members may have affect or are affected by pregnancy.
- Address social support concerns you may have, including domestic violence.
- If you have had any problems with prior pregnancies, discuss them with your healthcare provider.
- Address hazards in your home or workplace that could affect pregnancy.
- Stop drinking alcohol.
- Quit smoking. Click here for more information.
- Talk to your healthcare provider about any other medical or mental health conditions you may be concerned about.
- Ask your healthcare provider about medicines you use, including prescription, over-the-counter and herbal or natural supplements.
*By clicking on these links, you will leave the Department of Veterans Affairs Web site.
†VA does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of the linked Web site.
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When Frank Brennan positioned his remote controlled “Copter Cam” 50 feet above a endangered fin whale surfacing off Dana Point on Jan. 26, he might have started a new style of whale watching.
Brennan, a 16-year boat captain at Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Whale Watching, is believed to be the first to use a drone for recreational whale watching in the United States.
He said the idea to video tape whales via drone came to him while watching one hover over a surf contest at Trestles.
Since purchasing the drone in December, Brennan has taken his quad-propped model out on his whale watching tours a handful of times, launching the 3-pound aircraft from the deck, attempting to capture unique footage of the whales.
“With my current setup, it’s hard to see where the camera is actually facing, and if it’s even over the whale,” Brennan said, but everything lined up for him during the fin whale sighting, as he was able to position the drone to record both the whale and his boat during its five-minute flight.
But his use of drones for capturing aerial views of whales could spark a review of the current regulations on whale watching guidelines, as officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association are expected to start weighing in on whether the activity could harm or impact marine mammals.
“When it comes to drones, it’s a new technology and we’re trying to keep up,” said Monica DeAngelis, Marine Mammal Biologist at NOAA.
“If you were to have a bunch of these things flying around at the same time above a whale, it could become an issue,” DeAngelis said. “We want to make sure it doesn’t lead to some kind of harassment.”
Currently, NOAA Fisheries Service guidelines for whale watching require boats to stay at least 100 yards away from the animals, and airplanes and helicopters must stay at least 1,000 feet above the water. But as far as unmanned drones, rules don’t exist.
“It’s really just a toy hovering out there, it’s not obtrusive to the whale,” said Dana Wharf general manager Donna Kalez, who uploaded the video of the whale on the company’s Facebook page, sparking both interest and concern from the community on the use of unmanned aircraft near marine mammals.
DeAngelis expects discussions to start in the next few weeks on the issue, as both NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement and the Protected Resources have been made aware of it.
NOAA has already started testing out its own unmanned craft for carrying out sperm whale monitoring. Wayne Perryman, research scientist with NOAA, said the drones are used precisely to avoid disturbing the animals.
“With the aerial views you get from drones, they produce great images to determine the size, shape and grouping numbers for whales,” Perryman said. “You can fly right over them, get your data and get out of there without disturbing them.”
Contact the writer: [email protected] or 714-796-2468
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The IS/LM model combines the goods and money market equilibrium’s to form an aggregate model that describes a general equilibrium setting in the macroeconomy. This post will use a graphical approach to establish the intuition behind the building of the IS/LM framework which describes the money and goods markets. A later post will develop the IS/LM model by using matrix algebra and derivatives to analyze the interactions between the money and the goods markets in the macroeconomy.
GENERATING THE IS CURVE GRAPHICALLY
The IS curve graphically shows the relationship between the interest rate and aggregate output from the demand side of the model. The derivation of the IS curve can be taken from the dynamics of the aggregate demand function Y = C + I + G, where output (Y) is equal to consumption (C), (I) represents Income (I) and government expenditures are denoted by (G). To incorporate the interest rate into this model a slight modification will have to be made to the equation above which entails making consumption and investments a function the interest rates; Y = C(r) + I(r) + G. The graph below represents current consumption on the Y-axis and current income on the X-axis along with a graphical representation of the equation Y = C(r) + I(r) + G.
An increase in the interest rate reduces consumption as consumers put more of their disposable income into savings to take advantage of higher returns. Like consumers, businesses reduce their investment on plant and equipment with as the interest rate increases. Equilibrium in the graph above is achieved when the current income equals current consumption or Y = C(r) + I(r) + G. As the graph shows, an increase in interest rates reduces current income/output as both consumers and business reduce consumption and investment. This relationship can be visualized by plotting the real interest rate and current income, this relationship is the IS curve.
GENERATING THE LM CURVE GRAPHICALLY
The assumption is that the money supply is a fixed quantity in the short-run and is determined by the government. The demand for money is a function of prices, income/output, and the real interest rate. The money market is in equilibrium when the money supply equals money demand under the assumption of equilibrium. Using the equilibrium condition in the money market the LM curve can be derived graphically which shows the relationship between interest rates and output.
The graph above shows how an increase in income (Y) increases the demand for money. In order to restore equilibrium to the money market the interest rate increases. Similar to the IS curve, this relationship can be captured by plotting income (Y) on the X-axis and interest rate on the Y-axis This relationship derived from the money market is called the LM curve and is picture below as an increasing function of the real interest rate.
COMBINING TO GET THE IS-LM MODEL
The graph above represent the goods and money markets in the economy. The intersection of the IS and LM curves represents the macroeconomic equilibrium in the goods and money market. If either the real interest rate or output deviate from this equilibrium market forces will drive the both variables to back to their equilibrium. In a subsequent post the dynamics and interaction of the money market and the goods market will be examined through more graphical analysis. Once the intuition of the dynamics of the ISLM model has been established the topic will advance to understanding this model via matrix algebra and differential calculus.
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According to the Korean Muslim Federation (KMF), founded in 1967, there are some 120,000-130,000 Korean and foreign Muslims living in the country. Migrant workers from Pakistan and Bangladesh make up the majority of the Muslim population. The number of Muslims of Korean origin is estimated to be around 45,000.
The wealth of racial and ethnic differences in Muslim society in the largely Buddhist country is striking. Muslims from 14 countries, including America, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia and Uzbekistan all live together there. There are also tens of thousands of Muslims in the region who have come to work or for asylum from South and Southeast Asia.
The Muslim population in the port town of Busan is growing rapidly, and work is being carried out to open a school providing an Islamic education.
Haseeb Ahmed Khan, a businessman of Pakistani origin who has lived in South Korea for some 10 years, says that there were not enough mosques when he first arrived in the country, and adds, “But now there are many mosques in the country.”
The country’s largest mosque is the Seoul Central Mosque in the Itaewon area of the city. There are mosques great and small in all the country’s main cities. There are more than 10 mosques in towns such as Gwangju, Busan and Daegu. Mosques are not just places of worship for Muslims in South Korea. Haseeb says: “The Friday prayer brings people together. And they come together after that act of worship in order to establish a better community. People learn to speak and listen to live and share, during the Friday prayers and sermons.” Mosques are a center of community and education. Mosques are also institutions that help those wishing to learn about Islam. Haseeb says that mosques in the region provide written and audio materials and help people who want to learn about Islam. Such people can obtain educational materials free of charge.
The many colors of Islam in South Korea
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Our prayers are with Syria & Refugees everywhere;
Tune into our Spotlight On Syria page
Some June Interfaith Inspirations:
Islam Ramadan Begins ~ June 6 (Depending on location & moon ~ June 5~7)
9th month on Islamic calendar, devoted to the commemoration of Muhammad's reception
of the divine revelation recorded in the Qur'an. The event begins when authorities in Saudi Arabia
sight the new moon of the 9th month. It is the holiest period of the Islamic Year lasting 29-30 days.
There is strict fasting from sunrise to sunset as well as observed prayer times.
JudaismShavuot ~ June 12-13
Jewish celebration of Moses' descent from Mt Sinai with the ten commandments.
Plants and flowers are used in decorations.
Sikh Guru Arjan Dev Martyrdom ~ June 16
Sikh time of remembering those who have suffered for the faith.
Observed by reading the Guru Granth Sahib.
Christianity New Church Day & Sacred Heart Of Jesus ~ June 19
New Church Day: Swedenborgian Christian (Church of the New Jerusalem) annual commemoration of the vision document, "The True Christian Religion", by Emanuel Swedenborg in 1770.
Sacred Heart Of Jesus: Roman Catholic occasion to pay homage to Christ's all encompassing love
for humanity. Solemn worship is observed.
Wicca/Pagan Summer & Winter Solstice ~ Litha & Yule ~ June 20
Solstice is the time when the earth is most inclined away from the sun.
It is the most southern or northern point depending on the hemisphere.
In the Southern hemisphere, the observance is Litha, Wicca celebration of the sacred marriage
in which energy of the gods is poured into the service of life.
In the northern hemisphere, this is the shortest day of the year.
It marks the first day of the season of winter. Winter Yule is the time when the sun child is reborn,
an image of the return of all new life born through the love of the Gods.
Within the Northern Tradition Yule is regarded as the New Year.
Also a Norse pagan celebration of the winter-born king, symbolized by the rebirth of the sun.
A present day Wicca event.
Christians celebrate Yule as the light dawning (birth) of Jesus.
Celebrate with us here!
Christianity Saint Days ~ Peter & Paul ~ June 29
Christian honoring of the disciples chosen by Jesus to give leadership to the church.
Brief definitions and dates from the Interfaith Calendar by Delton Krueger ~ many, many thanks!
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From today’s editorials: Leaks at a Vermont nuclear plant and revelations that the operator misled the government raise questions about just how clean and safe nuclear power is.
A report that radioactive tritium may be leaking from at least 27 of the nation’s nuclear power plants would be worrisome in itself. But news that a leading nuclear energy company misled regulators about the matter should raise a red flag for Congress and the Obama administration as they consider building more reactors.
Mr. Obama must see to it that in following through on his call for “a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants” that the government puts a particular emphasis on “safe” and “clean.”
It’s important to note — as the nuclear energy industry surely will stress — that tritium in groundwater is not necessarily a public health hazard. The naturally occurring radioactive isotope of hydrogen gives off weak beta particles that are not considered to be a major health threat. Scientists say it must be ingested, inhaled or otherwise absorbed in relatively large quantities to be dangerous. It is used in various commercial products, such as gun sights and clocks, to provide illumination.
But it is a carcinogen, and the fact that it is leaking from at least one fourth of the nation’s 104 nuclear power plants indicates that those plants are not as safe and clean as they should be. That is, perhaps, not surprising, considering that the last construction permit for a nuclear plant in this country was issued in 1978. Most received their operating permits in the 1970s and 1980s.
Four of the six plants in New York were issued their first operating permits in the mid-1970s; one, R. E. Ginna, 20 miles north of Rochester, received it in 1969. The newest, Nine Mile Point near Oswego, received its original permit in 1987.
Beyond tritium leaks, what other problems do aging plants have? What challenges remain to building new ones that are safe and clean? Can we trust the nuclear energy industry to answer such questions?
That last question becomes all the more pressing in light of revelations that Entergy, the company that runs the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, admitted that officials with the firm misled state regulators and lawmakers by saying the plant did not have underground pipes carrying radioactive material. It does. Entergy — the nation’s second largest producer of nuclear power — has since overhauled the plant’s management in an attempt to restore public trust, but has yet to explain why the statements were made in the first place.
Meanwhile, the leak hasn’t been found, and tritium levels in one monitoring well have reached four times what the Environmental Protection Agency considers to be a safe level for drinking water.
Safe? Clean? Apparently not.
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Sudha Murty is a trailblazer. In 1968, she was the only girl in her engineering college. After standing first in Karnataka University, she joined the Indian Institute of Science for further studies. It was while studying here that she saw an advertisement about the TELCO company wanting trainee engineers. Women, however, were asked not to apply.
Sudha, indignant at such blatant discrimination, wrote a letter to J.R.D. Tata, expressing her surprise at the attitude of the company. A week late, she was called for the interview.
The interview was not easy. After Sudha had sat for two-and-a-half hours answering questions, one of the panelists told her that the reason TELCO did not employ women engineers was that on getting married, they left their jobs to live with their husbands.
Sudha, annoyed at this injustice, politely asked the panelists if any of them had left their jobs to join their wives at their place of work when they got married. Surprised at her question, they answered that they had not. She then told them that like the other women she too would follow the age-old tradition and move to her husband’s place of work when she got married. She further added that unlike most men, however, she would not leave the company merely because someone offered he a little more money.
Sudha Murty got the job. She became the first woman to work on the TELCO shop floor.
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Apple's iPhone SDK and the Xcode development environment are a powerful and very easy way to develop incredible mobile applications. The facilities they provide (in ease development, debugging, and the rich Cocoa Touch libraries) far exceed what was available on desktop platforms only a few years ago.
However, there is still a natural bias to simple stand-alone application development - you cannot build your own shared libraries to reduce memory footprint; you can only create applications or simple static libraries. There are some good reasons for this, security and ease of installation being two of the most obvious.
However, seasoned Apple developers are not used to simple static libraries; they are used to Apple's OS X Frameworks (essentially a shared library on steroids, see the sidebar) which are a very convenient method for code sharing and reuse.
Despite the restriction, with a little elbow work and some simple scriptery it is possible to enjoy most of the benefits of a Framework on the iPhone platform. This article explains how to build your own framework for Apple's iPhone OS. I presume a level of familiarity with static and shared libraries. You'll also need to understand bash shell scripting. Understanding the rudiments of Apple development is useful, particularly the Xcode development environment.
|What is a framework?|
Although the Apple build technologies for Mac OS and iPhone OS are essentially Unix-like (using the gcc compiler and binutils linker) Apple have applied a number of tucks and tweaks. The addition of Frameworks is one such addition; support for Frameworks has been added into the Apple versions of gcc and binutils.
Frameworks are hierarchical directory structures grouping related but separate items, for example: dynamic libraries, header files, user interface assets and documentation. They provide an internal versioning facility (defined by the directory hierarchy). The OS provides support for loading items from a framework directory, ensuring only one copy is in memory at any time.
Almost all Mac OS and iPhone SDK services are packaged as Frameworks and most third party Mac OS libraries also ship as frameworks. Using a framework in Xcode is as simple as a drag-and-drop operation; header paths and linkage are looked after for you automatically.
Frameworks (and the "Bundle" directory format they are based on) date back to the NextStep platform, which was acquired by Apple and used as the foundation for OS X. More on information frameworks can be found at Apple's Developer Connection site [Apple].
Apple's Xcode development environment does not let programmers create their own framework for use in iPhone OS applications. As you can see from Figure 1, when targeting the iPhone you can only create an Application, a Static Library, or a Unit Test Bundle (I have to give Apple credit for including the last item, and for its integrated support of unit tests in the Xcode IDE. But that's a different article). This has caused many iPhone developers great frustration, although the restriction is for fairly sensible reasons (Figure 1).
So why this restriction?
A framework usually contains a dynamically loaded shared library, and the associated header files a client application requires to be able to access its facilities. iPhone OS keeps applications very separate from one another, and so there is no concept of a user-created dynamic library shared between applications. There is no central library install point accessible to the developer. Indeed, managing such a software pool would be rather complex on iPhone-like devices (the OS hides the file system from developer and user alike). Preventing developers from installing their own shared frameworks neatly sidesteps a whole world of painful shared library compatibility issues, and simplifies the application uninstall process.
It's one, fairly final, way to avoid DLL hell [DLL]!
All applications may link to the blessed, system-provided frameworks1. The only other libraries they may use must be standard static libraries, linked directly to the application itself.
For most simple application developers this situation is perfectly fine. However, those of us who'd like to supply functionality to other users in library form are left at somewhat of a disadvantage. Most Apple-savvy application developers are used to the simplicity of dragging a framework bundle onto their application target in Xcode, and not worrying about header paths or link issues. #include magically works, and the linkage issues are sorted out under the covers.
As a library provider, it is nowhere near as neat to have to provide a static library and a set of associated header files in a separate flat directory. Doing this requires your clients to work out how to integrate your library in their application by hand. And it'll make integrating a new version of your library into the application more work. Granted, it's not hard (for people who know what they're doing), but it is tedious. That's not the Apple Way, is it?!
When shipping a static library, you will also have to ship a library version for each platform the developer will need (at the very least, an ARM code library for use on the iPhone OS device itself, and an i386 build for them to use in the iPhone simulator).
As you can see, static library usage on the iPhone is clumsy. But fear not, there is a way...
How to build your own framework
I have worked out how to create a usable Framework that you can ship to other iPhone OS application writers. You can ship libraries that are easy to incorporate into other projects, and can exploit the standard framework versioning facilities.
There is one caveat: because of iPhone OS limitations the framework will not be a shared library; it will only provide a statically linked library. But the application writer need not be concerned about this issue. As far as they're concerned everything will just work as if they were using a standard OS framework.
Here's how to do it:
1. Structure your framework's header files.
Let's say your library is called MyLib. Structure your project with a top-level directory called Include, and inside that make a MyLib subdirectory. Put all your public header files in there.
To be idiomatic, you'll want to create an umbrella header file Include/MyLib/MyLib.h that includes all the other headers for the user's convenience. See Figure 2.
Set up your Xcode project Header Search Paths build parameter to include Include (note, do not include the MyLib subdirectory) as in Figure 3.
Now your source files can happily #import <MyLib/MyLib.h> in the same way they'd use any other framework. Everything will include properly.
2. Put your source files elsewhere
I create a Source directory containing subdirectories Source/MyLib and Source/Tests. You can put your implementation files (and private header files) wherever you want. Just, obviously, not in the Include directory!
3. Create a static library target
Create an iPhone OS static library target that builds all your library sources. Call this target MyLib, and by default it will create a static library called libMyLib.a.
4. Create the framework plist file
Create a plist file that will be placed inside your framework, describing it. Plist files are Property Lists, used to store settings about an object (in this case the details about this framework).
I keep my plist file in Resources/Framework.plist. It's a piece of XML joy that should look like Listing 1.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0 //EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList- 1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>CFBundleDevelopmentRegion</key> <string>English</string> <key>CFBundleExecutable</key> <string>MyLib</string> <key>CFBundleIdentifier</key> <string>com.MyLovelyDomain.MyLib</string> <key>CFBundleInfoDictionaryVersion</key> <string>6.0</string> <key>CFBundlePackageType</key> <string>FMWK</string> <key>CFBundleSignature</key> <string>????</string> <key>CFBundleVersion</key> <string>1.0</string> </dict> </plist>
5. Construct the framework by hand
Now this is where the real magic happens. Create a shell script to build your framework. I have a Scripts top-level directory that contains it, because I like to keep things neat like that. Make sure your script file is executable2.
The first line is the canonical hashbang [Shebang]:
Following this there are two parts to the file...
5a. Build all the configurations that you need your framework to support
There must be at least a build for armv6 for the iPhone device itself, and an x386 build for the iPhone simulator. Application developers will require both of these to be able to work. You'll want these to be Release configuration libraries.
xcodebuild \ -configuration Release \ -target "MyLib" \ -sdk iphoneos3.0 xcodebuild \ -configuration Release \ -target "MyLib" \ -sdk iphonesimulator3.0
So that's our libraries built. That was the simple bit. Now...
5b. Piece it all together
With a little understanding of the canonical structure of a framework directory, our ability to write a plist, and the knowledge that putting a static library in the framework instead of a dynamic library works fine, you can create your framework using the script in Listing 2. The comments in the listing describe exactly what's going on.
# Define these to suit your nefarious purposes FRAMEWORK_NAME=MyLib FRAMEWORK_VERSION=A FRAMEWORK_CURRENT_VERSION=1 FRAMEWORK_COMPATIBILITY_VERSION=1 BUILD_TYPE=Release # Where we'll put the build framework. # The script presumes we're in the project root # directory. Xcode builds in "build" by default FRAMEWORK_BUILD_PATH="build/Framework" # Clean any existing framework that might be there # already echo "Framework: Cleaning framework..." [ -d "$FRAMEWORK_BUILD_PATH" ] && \ rm -rf "$FRAMEWORK_BUILD_PATH" # This is the full name of the framework we'll # build FRAMEWORK_DIR=$FRAMEWORK_BUILD_PATH/$FRAMEWORK_NAME.framework # Build the canonical Framework bundle directory # structure echo "Framework: Setting up directories..." mkdir -p $FRAMEWORK_DIR mkdir -p $FRAMEWORK_DIR/Versions mkdir -p $FRAMEWORK_DIR/Versions/$FRAMEWORK_ VERSION mkdir -p $FRAMEWORK_DIR/Versions/$FRAMEWORK_ VERSION/Resources mkdir -p $FRAMEWORK_DIR/Versions/$FRAMEWORK_ VERSION/Headers echo "Framework: Creating symlinks..." ln -s $FRAMEWORK_VERSION $FRAMEWORK_DIR/Versions/ Current ln -s Versions/Current/Headers $FRAMEWORK_DIR/ Headers ln -s Versions/Current/Resources $FRAMEWORK_DIR/ Resources ln -s Versions/Current/$FRAMEWORK_NAME $FRAMEWORK_ DIR/$FRAMEWORK_NAME # Check that this is what your static libraries # are called FRAMEWORK_INPUT_ARM_FILES="build/$BUILD_TYPE- iphoneos/libMyLib.a" FRAMEWORK_INPUT_I386_FILES="build/$BUILD_TYPE- iphonesimulator/libMyLib.a # The trick for creating a fully usable library is # to use lipo to glue the different library # versions together into one file. When an # application is linked to this library, the # linker will extract the appropriate platform # version and use that. # The library file is given the same name as the # framework with no .a extension. echo "Framework: Creating library..." lipo \ -create \ -arch armv6 "$FRAMEWORK_INPUT_ARM_FILES" \ -arch i386 "$FRAMEWORK_INPUT_I386_FILES" \ -o "$FRAMEWORK_DIR/Versions/Current/$FRAMEWORK_NAME" # Now copy the final assets over: your library # header files and the plist file echo "Framework: Copying assets into current version..." cp Include/$FRAMEWORK_NAME/* $FRAMEWORK_DIR/ Headers/ cp Resources/Framework.plist $FRAMEWORK_DIR/ Resources/Info.plist
In summary, this script:
- Cleans up any existing Framework (this is cleaner than simply building over the top of anything that may be already there)
- Creates the canonical directory structure for a Framework.
- Creates a single library file that supports all necessary platforms using the lipo tool.
- Copy header files into the Headers directory.
- Copy the plist file into the Framework.
This script generates a fully usable Framework bundle in the build/Framework directory. It is called MyLib.framework. This bundle can be shipped to your external application developers. They can incorporate it into their iPhone OS applications like any other framework.
I have presented here the most basic structure of a shell file. My production version includes more robust error handling, and other steps that are relevant to my particular project.
I also have a build script that automatically creates documentation for the framework that I can ship with it. Indeed, I have a release script that applies versioning information to the project, builds the libraries, creates a framework, assembles the documentation, compiles release notes and packages the whole thing in a pretty DMG.
If calling scripts from the command line scares you, you may choose to make a 'Run Script Build Phase' in your Xcode project to call your framework script from there. Then you can create a framework without having to creep to the command line continually.
In summary, the final file layout of my project looks like Figure 4.
I hope you have found this tutorial useful.
1 Indeed, they may only use the public, documented methods of the system frameworks. Applications that discover and use undocumented APIs will not be allowed onto Apple's carefully policed App Store. This seems draconian, but again, is for fairly obvious reasons.
Overload Journal #94 - December 2009 + Programming Topics + Design of applications and programs
|Browse in :||
All > Topics > Programming (724)
All > Topics > Design (179)
Any of these categories - All of these categories
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Although there are many different types of hedgehogs in Africa, Europe and other areas of the world, none are native to the United States. In the early 90s the importation of hedgehogs from Africa ended, so any that are here now have been bred as pets. The hedgehogs you find here are African white-bellied hedgehogs. They have spines (modified hairs) with a soft, white fur underside. They will fit in the palm of your hand and will typically weigh between 1 to 11⁄2 pounds (450 to 700 grams).
Choosing A Hedgehog
Where do you get a hedgehog? There are three choices: a breeder, a pet store or a rescue. A breeder should be willing to let you see their facility when you pick up your hedgehog. You’ll have to fill out USDA paperwork (unless the breeder is very small, in which case they do not have to be USDA-licensed). The breeder should give you some type of guarantee as to the health of the animal and be able to supply you with a family history at least several generations back. Get a small amount of the food the hedgehog was fed to make the transition to whatever you choose to feed easier on the hedgehog.
For the full article, pick up the 2012 issue of Critters USA or click here to buy the issue.
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Tracking Maternal Mortality Rates in Rural India
India has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world – 300 per 100,000 live births. In fact, over 20% of the world’s reported maternal deaths occur in India, most of which are preventable, given the proper infrastructure and resources. The majority of these maternal deaths occur in poor, rural areas, where access to proper healthcare is unavailable.
Oftentimes, the number of maternal deaths - especially in remote rural areas – remains under-reported, thus resulting in mortality ratios that are often based on estimates rather than verifiable evidence. Conventional surveillance systems, unfortunately, are inaccurate and prohibitively expensive, and as a result, “there have been only three published trials that have attempted to measure population maternal mortality ratio.” In an attempt to effectively monitor the impact and progress of maternal interventions, therefore, researchers from India and the UK have developed a low-cost, “key informant” maternal mortality surveillance system. According to OneWorld South Asia, here’s how the the study was conducted in the states of Jharkhand and Orissa:
Click “Read More” to continue reading this post.
In their surveillance system, the researchers recruited key local informants —mostly traditional birth attendants — to record all births and stillbirths, and deaths of women of reproductive age (15–49 years).
By asking the causes of death from relatives of women who had died, deaths were classed as maternal, pregnancy-related or late maternal. Doctors then verified causes of death by examining the verbal autopsies.
A maternal mortality ratio of 722 per 100,000 live births was found. And the cost of the system was just US$0.02 per person per year, the researchers noted.
According to Prasantha Tripurthy, an author of the study:
“We always need to stress the difference between estimating — as most people do —and measuring, which is what we did,” he said.
In the future, “the method could be used to monitor trends in maternal mortality and test the effect of interventions in large populations with poor vital registration and thus assist policy makers in making evidence-based conclusions.” For the full text of the study, published in the journal BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, go here.
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Webster's Way, Or, The Power of the Syllabary
Reading and spelling were taught quite differently for most of history, with a method that focused on first learning what is called "The Syllabary," a table of syllable sounds to be mastered before learning to read. While almost forgotten, this method is still powerful today. 40L volunteers have taught scores of students to read using this method, using Webster's Blue Backed Spelling Book with great success. The focus on spelling and syllables has allowed these student to be able to read and spell years above their grade level.
As Geraldine L. Rodgers says in her article "Why Noah Webster's Way Was the Right Way,"
The teaching of beginning reading remained unchanged until the eighteenth century A. D. Children first learned the alphabet, and then learned the syllabary, but they continued to spell each syllable as it was practiced, using the current letter names (which still did little to demonstrate their sounds: ell, oh, gee = log). It was only after they learned the syllabary that they read connected texts, usually Latin prayers after about 300 A. D. They then read those texts syllable by syllable until they became proficient readers.
Until the sixteenth century A. D. in English-speaking countries, beginning reading was taught in Latin, and, in much of Europe, beginning reading continued to be taught in Latin until the eighteenth century. Since beginning reader did not yet know Latin, obviously they were reading print purely by its “sound”, and not by its “meaning” (such as Pa - ter nos - ter for Our Father.)
The classical method of teaching reading used syllables, first with Latin, then later in English. Noah Webster used Pascal's invention of letter sound approximations in his syllabary, allowing children to learn phonics and spelling at the same time while keeping to the true sounds of syllables instead of the approximate sounds of letters. (For a full discussion of letter sounds verses syllable sounds with graphs depicting the nature of sound, see 40L's dyslexia page. Rodgers also has a good short explanation of letter sound approximations in the third paragraph of the second page of her article.)
As the preface to his 1851 Reader states, R.G. Parker, like many others committed to the use of Webster's Speller and a syllabary, wanted readers to be able to spell every word before they attempted to read it. In fact, Parker believed,
I have little doubt will be found true, and that is, that it is scarcely possible to devote too much time to the spelling book. Teachers who are impatient of the slow progress of their pupils are too apt to lay it aside too soon. I have frequently seen the melancholy effects of this impatience. Among the many pupils that I have had under my charge, I have noticed that they who have made the most rapid progress in reading were invariably those who had been most faithfully drilled in the spelling book.
The syllable pages with the “abs” [ab, eb, ib, ob, ub] in such spelling books after 1826 were seldom used, even at the fourth grade when such spellers were usually introduced. The fact that such syllable pages were not used is shown by their excellent condition in surviving spellers printed after 1826. Yet, in spelling books surviving from before 1826, the syllable pages are often tattered or missing. Before 1826, the syllable pages became tattered or worn out because little beginners were using them very heavily in learning to read by “sound.”
A short version of this history of reading instruction and the demise of the syllabary is available on our website. However, readers desiring a full explanation should read Geraldine E. Rodgers' "The History of Beginning Reading," available in an e-book at Author House for only 8.95.
With younger students, we recommend using a small whiteboard as a slate for work with Webster, it's much more interactive and useful than working from a book or a printed page. Syllables that end in a consonant have a short vowel sound: ab, eb, ib, ob, ub. Syllables that end in a vowel have a long vowel sound: ba, be, bi, bo, bu, by. Students should be able to sound out and spell all the syllables in the syllabary (Lessons 1 -12, page 13 – 14) on their own before they move on to learning words. Teach them in order, randomly, and also contrasting syllables: ob, bo; ip, pi. Older students can work from a book. For older remedial students prone to guessing, we recommend the uppercase version, the format helps reduce guessing.
Younger students may need to see a word broken up by syllables with hyphens (i.e. be-fore) a few times before they can figure out how to divide it on their own. First grade readers in the 1700's and early 1800's also had words broken up by syllables. Don Potter's version of Webster's Speller has spaces (i.e. be fore), which usually works for an older student but for can confuse young students. 40L volunteers recommend working on a whiteboard--it holds interest better and also emphasizes the left to right factor as you're writing letters one by one from left to right. Also, working from a whiteboard allows you to write them words out with hyphens.
It can take students a month or two to finally get ca, ce, ci, co, cu, cy (kay, see, sigh, ko, cue, sigh) down pat. If the rest of the syllables are mastered, you can move past the syllabary at that point and go on to the rest of the Webster lessons, reviewing ca, ce, ci, co, cu, cy daily until your student can read and spell these syllable with ease.
For a remedial student, 40L volunteers recommend all uppercase to help prevent B/D confusion. Also, the uppercase letters are much clearer and easier to read, especially for a young student. Don Potter likes to use cursive, another way to prevent B/D confusion, and it also helps keep focus on left to right reading and writing.
When teaching students of several different ages or ability, you can do a little bit of group work on the syllabary each day, then have each student move on to work on spelling and sounding out the section to which they have progressed. When students get stuck, point them to the appropriate part of the syllabary and have them say the entire row, then the syllable with which they are having troubles. Then, have them go back to the word. Eventually, they will be able to work out their own difficulties using this technique. Your syllabary will soon be as tattered and worn out as the syllabaries of those children who learned to read using the classical method of the syllabary in ages past.
For some audio and video files to help you understand how to use Webster's Speller, you can watch 40L's 6.2mB, 20 minute QuickTime movie explaining how to use Webster's Speller. There is also a version for iPods in m4v.
Because of its focus on spelling and its foundation of the syllabic nature of sound, Webster's Speller may prevent and cure dyslexia. It also teaches in a method that avoids the poor reading habits caused by sight words and guessing from context. 40L volunteers have found with their remedial students that they do best when they are taught single words and syllables in isolation. We recommend that you do not move on to stories or sentences until they have learned to properly sound out words from left to right and have practiced this for a while. Webster's Speller works on words in isolation before moving on to reading selections. Writing the words in uppercase is also helpful for remedial students, it helps break the guessing habits developed from sight words because uppercase hides the word shapes made with lowercase letters.
A course of study that focuses on syllables looks like this:
The speller was designed both as a book to teach beginners to read and spell [see 2 below], and for review and advanced spelling work for older scholars.
All words of two or more syllables are separated into syllables. Most of the reading selections impart useful knowledge or teach a moral lesson. The introductory lessons are a review of the spelling book, with this cautionary note: "Designed as a review of the spelling-book,--not to supersede it.
Difficult words are separated into syllables before each lesson, and those that are not phonetically regular are followed by their pronunciation with diacritical markings. Difficult words also include a short definition shown before the lesson. As with the First Reader, most selections teach a moral or practical lesson.
On page 12, there is a form of the syllabary called “Tonic and Subtonic Combinations” for review before the reading lessons. The book begins with elocution exercises, then moves on to teaching grammar, then has reading exercises, most of which teach a moral or practical lesson.
This reader teaches even more elocution lessons. The reading selections still are mainly practical and moral in nature, but with a branching out into more poetry and a deeper study of history. Words that are phonetically irregular are marked diacritically to aid pronunciation.
The Fifth Reader also begins with elocution exercises. It then moves on to biographies, Shakespeare, and poetry. There are a few teaching passages, especially in history. Each passage concludes with a short Biography of the author. Again, phonetically irregular words are diacritically marked to show pronunciation. Here is the first two paragraphs of an early selection by Edward Gibbon on reading: the words fellow and gross are marked to show a long o sound, phonetically ambiguous in fellow and phonetically irregular in gross:
1. READING is the nourishment of the mind ; for, by reading, we know our Creator, his works, ourselves chiefly, and our fellow-creatures. But this nourishment is easily converted into poison. Salmasius had read as much as Grotius,--perhaps more ; but their different modes of reading made the one an enlightened philosopher, and the other, to speak plainly, a pedant, puffed up with a useless erudition.
2. Let us read with method, and propose to ourselves an end to which all our studies may point. Through neglect of this rule, gross ignorance often disgraces great readers, who, by skipping hastily and irregularly from one subject to another, make themselves incapable of combining their ideas. So many detached parcels of knowledge can not form a whole.
Note the high reading grade level achieved with a thorough study and review of syllables. The reading grade level of the Fourth Reader would challenge many high school students and the Fifth Reader would challenge a few college students today.
In the late 1800's, a series of books with words divided into syllables based on the divisions in Webster were developed. You can purchase a few reprints of these books and download many for free from Google Books.
40L hopes you have as much success teaching Webster's Speller as our volunteers have had. We would like to see this 18th Century masterpiece flourish in today's 21st Century schools. Designed for use in One-Room Schoolhouses, Webster's Speller can be used in any type of instructional setting. It can be used for one-on-one tutoring, for homeschools with students of several different ages, or in today's public and private schools. Webster's Speller is a powerful method combining phonics and spelling that teaches children to read at advanced reading grade levels at a young age through its use of syllables.
1. Syllables were so important that they have a very long entry in Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language. In fact, they were assigned names according to the number of syllables in the word, according to the entry for syllable.
2. Spelling Books in the 1700's and early 1800's were used for both phonics and spelling purposes, and were used to teach children to read. Noah Webster himself explains this in his 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language. The entry for spelling-book reads, "n. A book for teaching children to spell and read."
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|Purple, Green and Yellow by Robert Munsch|
Brigid is a little girl in want of colouring markers, her mom isn't so sure. Eventually Brigid convinces her mom to buy her some washable markers. After a successful run with those, Brigid convinces her mom to buy her some scented markers. And eventually, Brigid convinces her mom to buy her some super-indellible-never-come-off-till-you're-dead-and-maybe-even-later colouring markers.
Brigid quickly learns about water soluble and water insoluble and your students can too. In fact, your students can do Brigid one better and learn what makes those super-indellible-never-come-off-till-you're-dead-and-maybe-even-later colouring markers come off.
Place a paper towel over a short length of PVC pipe (or a small plastic container).
Finally, complete the process one more time using permanent marker and drops of rubbing alcohol.
If time and budgets allow, students can create the Pinwheel t-shirts using the same process on shirts instead of paper towels.
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C++ Programming: Language Standard Headers< C++ Programming
|Standard Template Library|
|Standard C Library|
- In C++11 only
Everything inside C++'s standard library is kept in the std:: namespace.
Old compilers may include headers with a .h suffix (e.g. the non-standard <iostream.h> vs. the standard <iostream>) instead of the standard headers. These names were common before the standardization of C++ and some compilers still include these headers for backwards compatibility. Rather than using the std:: namespace, these older headers pollute the global namespace and may otherwise only implement the standard in a limited way.
|Non-standard but somewhat common C++ libraries|
- Streams based on FILE* from stdio.h.
- Precursor to iostream. Old stream library mostly included for backwards compatibility even with old compilers.
- Uses char* whereas sstream uses string. Prefer the standard library sstream.
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| 0.789857 | 210 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Peeing in the pool not only has an ick factor, but also produces a surprising health hazard when urine combines with pool chemicals, a new study says.
The results show that uric acid, a compound in urine, combines with the chlorine used to disinfect pools to produce potentially hazardous compounds called "volatile disinfection byproducts."
One byproduct is cyanogen chloride, a compound that is known to be toxic to many human organs if it is inhaled. Another compound, trichloramine, has been linked with lung injuries from exposure to chlorine-based disinfectants.
Researchers knew that chlorine could react with urine, sweat and other organic matter to produce contaminants in swimming pools. But the new findings show definitively that uric acid is a precursor to cyanogen chloride and trichloramine, the researchers said. [7 Common Summer Health Concerns]
"Given that uric acid introduction to pools is attributable to urination, a voluntary action for most swimmers, these findings indicate important benefits to pool water and air chemistry that could result from improved hygiene habits on the part of swimmers," the researchers said.
"A common misconception within the swimming community is that urination in pools is an acceptable practice, although signs and placards are posted in many pools to encourage proper hygiene," said study researcher Ernest R, Blatchley III, a professor of civil engineering at Purdue University. "It is also well known that many swimmers ignore these warnings, particularly noteworthy among these are competitive swimmers," Blatchley said.
A 2010 study suggest that disinfection byproducts can cause genetic mutations when tested on cells in a lab dish.
The new study was published in the February issue of the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
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en
| 0.959138 | 353 | 3.03125 | 3 |
The Danube Transnational Programme (DTP) gathers one of the highest numbers of participating countries among all the Interreg programmes: 9 EU countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany - Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria-, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia) and 5 non-EU countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Ukraine - four provinces: Chernivetska Oblast, Ivano-Frankiviska Oblast, Zakarpatska Oblast and Odessa Oblast).
Geographically, the DTP area overlaps with the territory addressed by the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR), comprising also the Danube river basin and the mountainous areas (such as the Carpathians, the Balkans and part of the Alps). It is the most international river basin in the world. The area makes up one fifth of the EU’s territory and it is inhabited by approximately 114 million people. The variety of natural environment, the socio-economic differences and cultural diversity of the various parts of the area may be perceived as major challenges but actually represent important opportunities and unexploited potential.
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| 0.897119 | 250 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) refers to a chronic inflammation of the intestines not due to infections or other identifiable causes. There are two main types of IBD: ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Ulcerative colitis affects only the lining of the large intestine (the colon), while Crohn’s disease can involve any part of the intestine, small or large, and irritate not only the lining, but also deeper layers.
Having clear answers to your questions is often the first and most important step when your child has been diagnosed with IBD. We have compiled answers to the questions we hear most often. To read our Q&A, simply click on each of the questions below.
The following information is adapted from the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition. For more information visit the Children’s Digestive Health and Nutrition Foundation, the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America - Central Ohio Chapter or NASPGHAN.
It is estimated that about 1 million Americans suffer from IBD. Males and females are affected equally. Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease may occur at any age, including young children but occur most often in young adults. Most cases of Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are diagnosed before age 30. Crohn’s disease tends to occur in families and in certain ethnic groups, such as Eastern European Jews. About 5 percent to 8 percent of patients may have a family member with IBD and about 20 percent to 25 percent of patients may have a close relative with the condition. However, it can occur in any ethnic group and in members of families where no one else is suffering from these diseases.
It is currently believed that IBD occurs in individuals as a result of genetic and environmental factors. For unknown reasons, the immune system becomes abnormally active against the individual’s own system. It targets not only the intestine, but sometimes other organs such as the skin, the eyes or the liver.
The most common symptoms are:
Diarrhea, sometimes with blood and mucus
Loss of appetite and weight loss
Unexplained fever and tiredness
Delayed growth and maturation, particularly with Crohn’s disease
The diagnosis of IBD may be suspected on the basis of the medical history, but the final determination depends on the results of diagnostic tests. The work up may include:
Stool cultures to rule out infection
Endoscopy with biopsy of the upper and lower intestine
The aim of treatment is to decrease the inflammation causing damage to the intestines. Even though a medical cure is not yet possible, control of symptoms can be very effective in most patients. The number of medications available continues to increase and new treatments can be expected in the future. The most common medications used to treat IBD are:
Antibiotics such as metronidazole and ciprofloxacin
ASA anti-inflammatory drugs such as Asacol®, Azulfidine®, Colazol®, and Pentasa®
Steroids, such as prednisone, prednisolone, or budesonide immunodulators such as Imuran®(azathioprine), Purinethol®(6MP), and for Crohn’s disease methotrexate
Biologicals, such as Remicade®
Intensive nutritional therapy can be used for those with Crohn’s disease.
Because there is a high risk of recurrence after surgery, this option is reserved for complications such as an obstruction from a narrowed area of the intestine, chronic pain, bleeding, or when using all other medicine does not work.
Yes. The cure for ulcerative colitis is the complete removal of the large intestine. This is called a total colectomy. It is possible in most patients to reconnect the small intestine to the anus, so that there is no need to wear a permanent bag (ostomy), although a temporary ostomy is generally needed. This second operation is called an ileo-anal pull through, and is expected to offer continence and normal defectation.
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en
| 0.939615 | 883 | 3.734375 | 4 |
Perspectives on Health/Medical Information Systems
This course serves as an introductory course in the Health and Medical Informatics curriculum. The focus is on health and medical informatics as a discipline and includes the coverage of major healthcare policies and standards that affect the health information industry, patient care systems (computerized patient records, delivery and monitoring systems), and modeling concepts and applications. Students will explore the impact of Information Technology (IT) on healthcare and analyze real applications of health informatics. Other topics include: healthcare system reform/accountable care, mobile health devices, telehealth and HIEs. This course also provides the opportunity for students to explore their own interests in sub-specialties of health informatics through a research project that will be shared and reviewed by other students in the class at the end of the semester.
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
Understand the fundamentals of healthcare systems including providers, payments and spending.
Be able to assess the impact of technology on healthcare and the role of health informatics in improving patient care, administration and education.
Describe computerized patient records, interoperability and adoption issues.
Identify the principles of health information technology including IT infrastructure.
Discuss risks and privacy issues in introduction to health information security.
Analyze various types of health information including data, vocabularies and standards.
Apply the use of clinical information systems and decision support systems to improve healthcare.
Describe implementations of actual health informatics technologies.
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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en
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The Arabic script is used by speakers of the Arabic languages in countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq, and by speakers of Urdu (spoken mainly in Pakistan), and Farsi or Persian (spoken mainly in Iran). Arabic script is cursive in nature, that is, when presented the characters appear as if hand written. Every character is interconnected with each other in most of the situations and may assume different shapes depending on their position in the word and on the connectivity properties that they and adjacent characters have. This is the only way in which Arabic script is presented, whether in printed form or on screen displays. Cursiveness implies that every Arabic character can assume up to four different shapes depending on its location.
The four possible shapes are:
Example of the four possible shapes of the Arabic character Ghain (U+063A (PDF, 107KB)):
Some Arabic characters never connect to their following (left) characters. Not all Arabic characters have all four shapes. Arabic characters may be stored in unshaped form, but they must be shaped prior to any presentation.
Need assistance with your globalization questions?
- Guidelines quick reference
- A: User interface
- B: Writing for an international audience
- C: Respect for culture and conventions
- D: Product structure in a globalized environment
- E: Input and output interfaces
- F: Coded character sets
- G: Introducing Asian ideographic scripts
- H: Languages with a bidirectional script
- I: The cursive Arabic script
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en
| 0.920615 | 317 | 3.5625 | 4 |
If you have high blood pressure, also called hypertension, it means that you have elevated levels of pressure of blood in your arteries. Prolonged periods of high blood pressure can cause serious damage to the heart and blood vessels.
After a diagnosis, you probably have a lot of questions about your risks, and your next steps toward recovery. We have answers.
What Do the Numbers Mean?
Your doctor should take your blood pressure every time you have an exam, but you may be confused by the results. What’s the difference between systolic pressure and diastolic pressure? Our expert explains all in High Blood Pressure: By the Numbers.
Why Do I Have High Blood Pressure?
Age is one of the major factors, as blood pressure increases as both men and women get older. Gender, ethnicity, genetics, weight, and the existence of other medical conditions can all play a role in increasing your risk. Read about the causes and risk factors for hypertension.
What Are My Risks?
High blood pressure is called “the silent killer” because it typically shows no symptoms. However, it can place stress on important parts of your body, causing them to deteriorate over time. This stress can result in conditions such as stroke, heart disease, sexual dysfunction, kidney disease, and even neurological problems. Find out more about complications related to high blood pressure.
What Do I Do Now?
One of the first steps you should take after your diagnosis is working with your doctor to establish blood pressure goals and creating a treatment program to help you achieve them. Your plan will be unique to you, but may include taking steps to living a healthier lifestyle by eating right and exercising, as well as taking medication to lower your blood pressure. You can find out what treatment options may be best for you by reading our guide to prevention and treatment.
Hypertension can be a very serious condition, but with the help of your doctor, you can keep it from causing other health issues so that you can live a healthy and happy life.
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http://www.healthcentral.com/high-blood-pressure/find-32202-5.html
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The head of ancient Egyptian sphinxes portrayed the reigning pharaoh but also, when featuring the head of a falcon, represented the sky-god Horus or Amun-Re, with the head of a goat. When the Greeks adopted the sphinx it became a female monster.
According to Greek legend the sphinx put a riddle to all who passed by and devoured those who failed to guess it. Getting it right meant the death of the monster a claim to the throne and the hand of Queen Jocasta. After many had died, one got it right: Oedipus.
What was the riddle that Oedipus solved?
The riddle that the sphinx put:
What animal walks on four legs in the morning, on two at noon, and on three at night?
Man, for in the morning, the infancy of his life, he creeps on all fours; at noon, in his prime, he walks on two feet; and, when the darkness of old age comes over him, he uses a stick for better support as a third foot.
Oedipus, a mythical Greek king, was the son of Queen Jocasta and therefore had to marry his mother.
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| 0.975392 | 255 | 3.46875 | 3 |
Cell phones and other portable devices are ideal for on-the-go and emergency situationsunless the battery's dead. In the growing field of battery alternatives, including fuel cells and solar cells, a tiny, longer-lasting solution is on its way. Engineers at MIT and the Georgia Institute of Technology are developing a microengine that is essentially a fuel tank. About the size of two dimes, it could potentially deliver enough juice to power a notebook.
"With the device we have now we've generated 1.1 watts," says David Arnold, a head researcher at Georgia Tech. "You need more like 20 watts for a laptop, but 50 or 100 watts would be even better. It's feasible."
The microengine will work by using a microturbine to power the microgenerator. The microturbine spins a magnet above a bunch of coils, converting the microturbine's mechanical energy into electrical energy. For anyone who stresses over the dead cell-phone scenario, the researchers are brainstorming a fix for that too, and it's not as high-tech as it sounds.
"It would involve compressed air that you could blow through some blades to turn the magnet," Arnold says. "You could turn a crank in emergency situations."
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http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1755280,00.asp
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en
| 0.954692 | 256 | 3.578125 | 4 |
The curiosity of kea is putting the native parrot at risk of lead poisoning, according to new research.
Endemic to South Island hill country, kea are known to pick and pull at objects with their beaks.
However, research published by the New Zealand Journal of Ecology has found the kea habit of eating lead-head roof nails and flashings is putting the rare bird at risk of lead poisoning.
A survey of the parrots in seven South Island locations - Fox Glacier/Franz Josef area, Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park, Golden Bay, Hohonu Range, Arawhata Valley, Rob Roy Valley and Treble Cone ski field - found all keas tested in populated areas had elevated lead levels.
According to the study, undertaken by researchers from the Department of Conservation and the New Zealand Wildlife Health Centre at Massey University, 64 per cent of kea in populated areas had blood lead levels high enough to cause poisoning and 22 per cent had elevated levels.
Those in populated areas had significantly higher levels than those in remote areas.
A blood sample was taken from 88 birds between April 2006 and June 2009. A further 20 kea were autopsied and 11 of those had liver and/or kidney lead levels reported to cause lead poisoning in other birds.
Lead is reported to have a sweet taste that is appealing to kea.
Beak marks have been found on nails, and researchers believe lead shot from kea carcasses may also be being consumed by kea.
Lead that has serious effects on the nervous, renal, gastrointestinal and reproductive systems of birds. Even at low levels, lead can have effects on the bird's peripheral and central nervous system.
One kea with levels high enough to cause lead poisoning had uncoordinated movements, and another was unable to fly. One exhibited abnormal behaviour - such as staying out in full sun at a time of day when kea would normally seek shade in the beech forest and making strange sounds.
Lead poisoning has also been reported in wild kaka and in one case, a wild kakapo.
Department of Conservation wildlife veterinarian Kate McInnes said the research was sparked by necropsies on kea 10-15 years ago, which had determined some birds had been killed directly from lead poisoning.
Ms McInnes said researchers were surprised to discover how many kea were affected by lead poisoning.
"When we got the first result that was really high, we had a little blood lead analyser machine that we could take into the field - it was beyond the scale of that machine, we were quite shocked by that. We managed to catch 12 birds on that trip and all of them had lead levels, so it became very quickly apparent that in that particular place (Aoraki/Mt Cook village) there was a problem.
"We then went the next step - if this place is a problem, where are the other places where there will be problems as well and what are the common features of the problem places that mean we can target in some way to get rid of the lead."
With only an estimated 3,000 of the native birds left in the wild, even a small decline in the population of the slow-reproducing species could have a major impact on the bird's survival.
Ms McInnes said it would be hard to tell just how much of an impact lead poisoning is having on kea population.
"Keas nest on the ground and in burrow so they're very vulnerable to predation, so we've always concentrated on predators as the main cause of decline in New Zealand.
"We definitely do have animals that die from [lead poisoning] and we just don't know how much it affects their ability to survive."
As well as directly killing the birds, lead poisoning inhibits the kea's remarkable intelligence, hindering its ability to survive in its harsh habitat, Ms McInnes said.
"If we're affecting their intelligence through lead poisoning ... we could be seeing kea that basically aren't as smart trying to survive in an environment that has set up a challenge for them already."
The researchers are calling for an urgent reduction in the use of lead in areas where human settlement overlaps with kea habitat.
Fortunately, lead nails and flashing are no longer used on modern buildings.
Ms McInnes said DOC is replacing lead nails and flashing on their huts as part of maintenance, and the Kea Conservation Trust is working on mustering volunteers to replace lead fixtures in kea areas.
She recommends bach and hut owners in kea habitat areas also replace any lead on their buildings.
The research also reinforces the importance of the public not feeding kea in the wild.
"If you've got lots of people around and potential food sources, the kea get hooked into hanging around and eating people's left-over meat pies and muffins, and they've got such a high energy level they've got so much more time just to play. It's when they're playing that they do stupid things like eating lead-head nails."
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en
| 0.981251 | 1,047 | 3.25 | 3 |
About the Profession of Occupational Therapy
The profession of Occupational Therapy (OT) is grounded in the fields of science and psychology. Occupational Therapy is a health profession which utilizes every-day life activities to help people of all ages prevent, lessen, or overcome challenges that interfere with their ability to lead independent and satisfying lives. Occupational Therapy makes it possible for people to regain independence and to enjoy life to its fullest. Learning, growing, playing, working, managing our homes, and caring for our families and ourselves are among the "occupations" of life. Stroke, injury, depression, and developmental disabilities, for example, can make it difficult for people to do everyday tasks or be as active and as independent as they would like. With a career in Occupational Therapy, you will impact the lives of children, young people, and adults.
Occupational Therapy Practitioners
There are two levels of OT Clinicians: occupational therapist and occupational therapy assistant.
Occupational therapy assistants are educated at the associate degree level and work in collaboration with a supervising licensed occupational therapist to provide hands-on services to people of all ages who are learning new ways to succeed in the occupations of life.
PhilaU’s Occupational Therapy Assistant Studies Program is delivered through the School of Continuing and Professional Studies.
Occupational therapists are educated at the master’s level as a graduate student after having completed a bachelor’s degree (click here for information about the MSOT program in the School of Science, Health and Liberal Arts).
Many OT practitioners help children thrive in the "occupations" of childhood - learning, playing, and growing. Some work in schools with students who have learning disabilities or behavioral problems. Others work with children who have cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome, and other disabilities.
OT practitioners also work with individuals in their homes, community centers, rehabilitation hospitals, and nursing homes. In these settings, they may support people with traumatic injuries, strokes, Alzheimer's disease or mental health problems.
Annual earnings for COTAs in the Philadelphia area are approximately $45,000.
For additional information about Occupational Therapy visit the American Occupational Therapy Association website (www.aota.org) and the Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association website (www.pota.org).
Please call or email Philadelphia University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies: Phone- 215.951.2900 or email- [email protected]
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| 0.944418 | 503 | 3.3125 | 3 |
Cold knife cone biopsy
A cold knife cone biopsy (conization) is surgery to remove a sample of abnormal tissue from the cervix. The cervix is the lower part of the uterus (womb) that opens at the top of the vagina. Abnormal changes in the cells on the surface of the cervix is called cervical dysplasia.
Cone biopsy; Biopsy - cone; Cervical conization; CKC
How the Test is Performed
This procedure is done in the hospital. You will be placed under general anesthesia (asleep and pain-free), or you will be given medicines to help you relax and feel sleepy.
You will lie on a table and place your feet in stirrups to position your pelvis for exam. The doctor will place an instrument (speculum) into your vagina to better see the cervix.
A small cone-shaped sample of tissue is removed from the cervix. It is examined under a microscope for signs of cancer. This biopsy may also be a treatment if the doctor removes all of the diseased tissue.
Most of the time, you will be able to go home from the hospital the same day as the procedure.
How to Prepare for the Test
You may be asked to not eat or drink for 6 - 8 hours before the test.
How the Test will Feel
After the procedure, you may have some cramping or discomfort for about a week. For about 4 - 6 weeks avoid:
- Douching (douching should never be done)
- Sexual intercourse
- Using tampons
For 2 - 3 weeks after the procedure, you may have discharge that is:
Why the Test is Performed
Cold knife cone biopsy is done to detect cervical cancer or early changes that lead to cancer. A cold knife biopsy is done if a test called colposcopy cannot find the cause of an abnormal Pap smear.
Cold knife cone biopsy may also be used to treat:
- Moderate to severe types of abnormal cell changes (called CIN II or CIN III)
- Very early stage cervical cancer (stage 0 or IA1)
A normal result means there are no precancerous or cancerous cells in the cervix.
What Abnormal Results Mean
Most often, abnormal results mean that there are precancerous or cancerous cells in the cervix. These changes are called cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). The changes are divided into three groups:
- CIN I -- mild dysplasia
- CIN II -- moderate to marked dysplasia
- CIN III -- severe dysplasia to carcinoma in situ
Abnormal results may also be due to cervical cancer.
Risks of cold knife cone biopsy include:
- Incompetent cervix (which may lead to premature delivery)
- Scarring of the cervix (which may cause painful periods, premature delivery, and difficulty getting pregnant)
- Damage to the bladder or rectum
Cold knife cone biopsy may also make it hard for your health care provider to interpret abnormal Pap smear results in the future.
Noller KL. Intraepithelial neoplasia of the lower genital tract (cervix, vulva): etiology, screening, diagnostic techniques, management. In: Lentz GM, Lobo RA, Gershenson DM, Katz VL, eds. Comprehensive Gynecology. 6th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Elsevier Mosby; 2012:chap 28.
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Practice Bulletin No. 131: Screening for cervical cancer. Obstet Gynecol. 2012;120:1222-1238.
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. ACOG Practice Bulletin No. 99: Management of abnormal cervical cytology and histology. Obstet Gynecol. 2008;112:1419-1444.
Reviewed By: Susan Storck, MD, FACOG, Chief, Eastside Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound, Bellevue, Washington; Clinical Teaching Faculty, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Washington School of Medicine. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Isla Ogilvie, PhD, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
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http://westernbaptist.adam.com/content.aspx?productId=109&pid=1&gid=003910
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en
| 0.875852 | 916 | 2.640625 | 3 |
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – We call it hyperlipidemia — an elevation of the lipids in the blood that can be linked with cardiac issues down the road.
Over the years we have learned that for many people lifestyle changes, diet and exercise, can make a big difference but for others it may require the use of medications.
Of all the drugs out there, the statins have the most convincing studies to show that there are benefits — especially for high risk patients.
Another group that has been helpful are the Omega-3 fatty acids. These are good especially for those who have trouble taking the statins.
Why is this so important? Put simply, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and it has accounted for more than a third of all deaths since 2007. Need I say more?
Reported By Dr. Brian McDonough, KYW Newsradio Medical Editor
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| 0.948035 | 189 | 2.609375 | 3 |
A NASA satellite has captured stunning views of a partial solar eclipse and a stormy eruption on the sun as seen from space, two amazing events that occurred on the same day last week..
The space agency's sun-watching Solar Dynamics Observatory saw the dual phenomena on Jan. 30, as this video of the solar flare and partial solar eclipse shows. During the solar eclipse, called a lunar transit, the moon took two and a half hours to cross —the longest transit ever recorded by the satellite.
The crisp silhouette of the moon creeps in front of the sun starting at 8:31 a.m. EST (1331 GMT), creating a partial solar eclipse from SDO's viewpoint. Near the end of the moon's crossing, a mid-level M6.6-class flare erupts from a giant cluster of sunspots that's been quite active recently. The flare peaked at 11:11 a.m. EST (1611 GMT), NASA officials said. [Photos: Biggest Solar Flares of 2014]
M-class solar flares are relatively medium-strength sun storms that can amplify Earth's northern lights displays when aimed at Earth. The most powerful solar storms, called X-class flares, can endanger astronauts in space and interfere with satellite operations in orbit when they are directly aimed at Earth.
The sunspot cluster that fired off the Jan. 30 solar flare is an area formerly called Region 1944, but now dubbed Region 1967. The same area unleashed the first major solar storm of the year, in the form of a huge X-class flare in January that postponed the launch of a private cargo mission to the International Space Station over fears of harmful radiation. (Orbital Sciences successfully launched its Antares rocket and robotic Cygnus spacecraft after the 24-hour delay.)
Solar flares occur when the twisted magnetic field lines in active regions of the sun cross and reconnect, creating powerful explosions. When pointed directly at our planet, intense solar flares can pose a threat to satellites, trigger radio blackouts and even put astronauts in orbit at risk.
The SDO spacecraft, which launched in 2010, is in a geosynchronous orbit that traces a figure-eight path every day and allows the satellite to keep a perpetual watch on the sun.
The moon passes between the $850 million Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft and the sun about two to three times each year, according to NASA. The outline of the moon appears sharp in the images because it has no atmosphere to warp the light from the sun, NASA officials noted.
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| 0.921431 | 512 | 3.515625 | 4 |
Why target early adolescents and parents in alcohol prevention? The mediating effects of self-control, rules and attitudes about alcohol use
Version of Record online: 9 NOV 2010
© 2010 The Authors, Addiction © 2010 Society for the Study of Addiction
Volume 106, Issue 3, pages 538–546, March 2011
How to Cite
Koning, I. M., van den Eijnden, R. J. J. M., Engels, R. C. M. E., Verdurmen, J. E. E. and Vollebergh, W. A. M. (2011), Why target early adolescents and parents in alcohol prevention? The mediating effects of self-control, rules and attitudes about alcohol use. Addiction, 106: 538–546. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.03198.x
- Issue online: 7 FEB 2011
- Version of Record online: 9 NOV 2010
- Accepted manuscript online: 15 SEP 2010 05:03PM EST
- Submitted 2 December 2009; initial review completed 18 February 2010; final version accepted 9 September 2010
- Alcohol use;
- early adolescents;
- randomized trial
Aims To examine the effects of a parent and student intervention offered separately and simultaneously (PAS) on onset of weekly drinking via its putative mediators.
Design A randomized trial with four conditions; (1) parent intervention, (2) student intervention, (3) combined parent–student intervention and (4) control group.
Setting High schools selected randomly, located in different areas.
Participants A total of 2937 early adolescents (mean age = 12.6, standard deviation = 0.49) and their parents.
Measurements Mediation effects were analysed using pretest data and two follow-up measurements (10 and 22 months after baseline). A path model was estimated (Mplus) to examine the effect of the interventions on adolescent-reported mediators (self-control, perceived parental rules and attitudes about alcohol) and parent-reported mediators (parental rules and attitudes about alcohol). Outcome was onset of weekly drinking.
Findings The parent intervention modified rules and attitudes about alcohol as reported by parents. An indirect effect of the parent intervention via parental rules was found. The combined intervention affected both adolescent-reported and parent-reported rules and attitudes about alcohol and adolescents' perceived self-control, yet only perceived rules and self-efficacy, as reported by adolescents, and parental attitudes mediated the association between the combined intervention and onset of weekly drinking. No significant effects were found of the separate student intervention on the mediating factors.
Conclusions The PAS programme proved to be effective as predicted by the theoretical assumptions underlying the interventions. Interventions with parents and adolescents to prevent adolescent alcohol consumption may usefully target parental rules about alcohol and adolescents' self-confidence.
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The irritating humming noise coming from a new wind farm built nearby disrupts his peaceful existence. It keeps him awake at night, while two other village residents experience growing discomfort and irritation due to the shadowing effects caused by the moving wind turbine blades on their lawns. Interestingly, a clear majority of the village residents initially appear totally unaffected by the wind farm. For the butcher a continuous lack of sleep causes him to gradually lose control over his work and the once undisputed quality of his pate. Initially causing a minor local health issue it later develops into a destructive and irreversible sequence of catastrophic events affecting almost everyone in the village.
Back in 1999 I read a book called Transforming Electricity by veteran UK-based energy expert Walt Patterson. His vision, still highly relevant, is of a global electricity business in transformation, fuelled by a combination of liberalisation, changing technologies and environmental pressure. He explains that people in developed countries take electricity for granted because of its instant availability and because nothing tells us directly that we are using it or that it costs money. The consumers of the central electricity network are almost entirely passive participants, he says, but this would be different if each electrical device had a small meter showing each time how long a device has been used and what cost this represents.
Large-scale centralised power generation often takes place in remote areas causing massive and disruptive local environmental and other impacts for little, if any, local benefits in return. As electricity typically flows in a single direction from power plant to consumers, benefits are thus largely enjoyed by groups of consumers far from the power-generating source. Inflicting the disadvantages on one group of people while offering the advantages to another group is inherent to such systems, Patterson says.
But decentralised power systems in combination with so-called smart grids are on the increase. They are typically characterised by the incorporation of various renewable generating sources like wind turbines, and non-renewable sources such as on-site co-generation, and/or a power-storage capability. Another key characteristic is a two-way electricity generation and supply transport system. Patterson points out that combining power generation and power use at local or regional level has a democratising effect as local environmental and other burdens have a direct link with the local benefits of useage.
Technology should be viewed in a much wider context than technical aspects alone and must incorporate historical, ethical and societal dimensions, said US technology historian Rosalind Williams, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Some of her research covers specific periods in history, and offers insight into ordinary people's views on technological developments and how these affect daily life. Such human stories show how technology might inflict emotions and the multiple roles different people play in them, displaying a full spectrum of human interaction with technology.
Wind power has already been affecting people's lives for centuries. The Netherlands for instance once employed thousands of wooden windmills across the country for pumping water from reclaimed land, for milling grain, pressing oil seeds and sawing timber. With limited alternatives for generating mechanical power, these windmills allowed the Dutch to live in the lowlands, the power source actively contributing to economic development and prosperity. It is likely that such concentrations of windmills were at the time not commonly appreciated but were accepted as an economic and therefore also socially accepted necessity.
These latter aspects together show the biggest contrasts with the fictional Belgian village. The modern village people did not suffer from a lack of electricity before being involuntarily confronted with the new wind farm owned and operated by an outside project developer who reaps all financial benefits.
The historic lesson, particularly from Germany and Denmark, is that if wind projects are to gain essential socioeconomic acceptance, they must offer real added value. Cooperation as a key enabler for wind project acceptance can be instrumental in maintaining the current impressive global wind industry growth path for the foreseeable future.
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Type 88 K1 Main Battle Tank
North Korea quantitatively leads South Korea in most classes of military equipment, such as number of personnel, tanks, artilleries, tactical missiles and operational aircraft. However, the South is qualitatively considerably stronger. It operates modern tanks such as the Hyundai-built Type 88 introduced in 1988, compared to North Korea's T-62, which made up the major component of the former Soviet Union's tank force during the 1970's. The K1A1 remained in production at Rotem until 2010 to meet the needs of the ROK Army, in 2011 production of the new XK2 Black Panther tank then commenced.
Tank developments in Korea show how the capabilities of the Korean defence industry have evolved. In the 1970s the ROK Army was looking for a new tank that would meet its exact operational requirements under the name of ROKIT (ROK Indigenous Tank). In 1980 they negotiated an agreement with Chrysler (now General Dynamics Land Systems), which had designed the M1 Abrams tank, whereby the US company would design a tank to meet the ROKIT requirements and then transfer the technology to Korea to allow local manufacture. The ROKIT prototype was completed in 1983 and went into production at Hyundai (now Rotem) in 1984 as the K1 tank.
The K1 tank made its first appearance in September 1987, by which time several battalions had been equipped with it. The first production batch of 210 vehicles was completed in 1987 with the second batch consisting of 325 vehicles. The South Korean Type 88 K1 Main Battle Tank, which was developed indigenously, is system-integrated in Korea by Hyundai Precision using major components from several different countries. Ssangyong Heavy Industries' military diesel engines for K1 tank are manufactured under license from MTU of Germany. In May 1996 Hughes Aircraft Company awarded a contract to Kuchera Defense Systems to manufacture electronic assemblies for programs such as the the Korean K-1 Tank Program.
Deliveries of the 105-mm K1 to the South Korean army were completed in 1997. Hyundai also successfully undertook the development of the K-1 Armored Recovery Vehicle and Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge both based on the K-1 main battle tank. Rotem would manufacture in excess of 535 K1 tanks, as well as a family of special vehicles based on the K1 chassis including a recovery vehicle and a bridgelayer. In the South Korean inventory, K1 replaced a part of the fleet of the M47/M48 and one estimates that approximately a thousand of K1 and variants were produced. K1 ARV is a tank of breakdown service which uses the components hydraulics of the German BPZ3: winches, crane of 30 T and shovel of anchoring. It was produced with 149 specimens. K1 AVLB is a layer of bridge. It launches under ballistic protection a bridge scissors of design Vickers Defence Systems (VDS) making it possible the armoured tanks to cross breaches of 20 m width. The two vehicles were developed and produced by Hyundaï precision and Industry Company Ltd.
This set the stage for the next evolution in the ROK tank program with the development of the K1A1 tank, which entered service in the South Korean Army in 2001. Work on the K1A1 program started in 1991 with the aim of providing the ROK Army with a tank that offered increased firepower (the 120 mm M256 44-calibre gun was selected) and more protection, the fire control system of the K1A1 was developed in Korea by Samsung Thales. The evolution from the K1 to the K1A1 saw the evolution of tank design and building skills in Korea, this was a true indigenous tank. Equally important was the development of Korean capabilities at the systems and sub-systems level. This further enhanced the local technology base and provided the basis for future growth. By one account, the total requirement was for about 300 K1A1 tanks, scheduled to be in service by 2010. K1A1 production ended in 2010, with 484 units produced.
K1 tank - 105mm gun
The K1 tank was developed incorporating the latest technologies in fire power, armor protection and mobility. The K1's unique compact design, low-profile and state-of-the-art fire control system coupled with its extraordinary maneuverability make it exceptionally suitable to any tactical mission. The K1 tank is operated by a crew of four: a commander, a gunner and a loader are seated in the turret while the driver is positioned in the front section of the hull.
The K-1 rolls across the ground on hard rubber tracks at 40 miles per hour. Its crew sits inside a four-inch thick aluminum alloy shell. The laser sighting system guarantees the highest level of accuracy in any conditions. This "hunt or kill" targeting system can even account for wind velocity. The targeting system is proven to be perfect between 400 and 8,000 meters.
To deliver the maneuverability on demand, the K1 is equipped with a turbo-charged 1200 horsepower diesel engine providing a power to weight ratio of 23 hp/ton. The transmission has a planetary gear train with 4 forward and 2 reverse speed-modes. Shifting the transmission through the various speed ranges requires only a slight force applied to the shift selector. This shifting arrangement allows the driver to concentrate completely on his driving and tactical maneuvers. In high gear, the K1 can attain a maximum road speed of approximately 65km/h. However, for lower speed maneuvering, the low gear provides a continuous speed of 4km/h.
To further enhance the K1's maneuvering capability, the vehicle can pivot around its vertical axis within its own length at the driver's discretion. This maneuver is accomplished by permitting one track to move in the forward direction while reversing the other. Also, its ground pressure of 0.90kg/per square centimeter, which is equivalent to or lower than that of any 40 tonne-class tanks, enables it to successfully maneuver in swamp/marsh zones.
The K1 is a fully tracked vehicle supported by hybrid suspension system (combination of hydropneumatic suspension and torsion bar springs). This unique suspension system provides the capability of high speed cross-country travel and vehicle attitude control (kneeling) capability which increases the main gun depression angle to a maximum of minus 10 degrees. With its extraordinary maneuvering ability and low profile, the K1 can ford rivers up to 1.2 meters deep. With an additional kit, the K1's fording depth can be increased to 2.2 meters.
The K1 tank supported by the state-of-the art dual-axis stabilized fire control system which is combined with the electro-hydraulic gun laying system makes it capable of acquiring and destroying even a moving a target accurately in a short time on the move. The Gunner's Primary Sight Subsystem (GPSS) consists of laser range finder, thermal imaging and daylight visual imaging subsystems integrated with a 2 axis space-stabilized sight platform which permits the gunner to detect, identify, acquire and track a target during day and night combat conditions, The thermal imaging system can acquire aoo targets within the K1's firing envelop in all weather conditions. The laser range finder can accurately measure distances up to 8,000meters.
The Commander's Panoramic sight (CPS) mounted on the turret roof provides day vision and a dual-axis stabilized head mirror assembly with 360 degree panoramic observational viewing independent of turret orientation. Combined with the GPS, the CPS assembly provides the hunter-killer capability which allows the K1's crew to rapidly acquire and destroy multiple targets ; while the gunner is engaged in destroying his primary target, the commander can automatically bring the main gun in line with the next target for the gunner to engage while continuing to seek out yet other targets to destroy.
The Gun/Turret Drive System (GTDS) provides control of the main gun and coax in the stabilized, emergency, and manual modes of operation. In the stabilized (normal) mode, the gun and turret are electrically slaved to the GPS, in the target designate override mode, to the commander's panoramic sight. The electrically controlled emergency mode provides a highly reliable powered backup for manual commands performance.
The digital Ballistic Computer System provides point-mass solution for SABOT, HEAT, and HEP ammunition and polynomial solution for BH ammunition, by processing a mixed set of information generated by up-to-date subsystems; Vertical Sensor Unit (VSU) senses the roll(cant) and pitch; Crosswind Sensor measures the crosswind components of the wind at the vehicle; Azimuth Encoder produces a serial digital signal in Gray code that represents the angle of the turret with respect to the hull; Muzzle Reference Sensor (MRS) compensates for gun barrel droop.
The K1's main armament is a 105mm (KM68A1) cannon supported by a 7.62mm (M60E2-1) coaxial machine gun and turret mounted 7.62mm (M60D) and 12.7mm (K6) machine guns. The 88 Tank's 105mm gun is an improved version of the same caliber gun that was standard on South Korea's M-48A5 tanks. Normally the commander operates the 12.7mm weapon while the loader fires the 7.62mm weapon. Additionally, the K1 tank has two smoke grenade launchers, mounted on each side of the turret for instant concealment.
The K1's unique compact configuration provides the tank with a low silhouette, total height of 2.25m from the ground to the top of turret roof. It has a chassis ground clearance of 0.46 m, exceptionally high in comparison with other tanks. ballistic protection. Crew survivability is maximized by the adoption of the Special Armor Package in major areas, which offers greater protection for crew and equipment against chemical and kinetic energy projectiles.
With an Automatic Fire Suppression System built-in, any fire in the crew compartment is automatically detected by Infrared Detectors and is automatically suppressed within 0.025 second by a Halon fire extinguishing system. The engine compartment has a two-shot system automatically actuated by a Firewire detector fitted around the compartment. As a back-up system, the vehicle is also equipped with manual extinguishers located in the driver's station and outside the vehicle.
In 1997 Malaysia announced a plan to purchase about 210 tanks worth $730 million by the end of the century. Hyundai Precision offered to sell 105 mm K1 tanks. Its competitors were Poland"s T-72 and Germany"s Mark 3 (M). As of early 1999, the K1 MBT and its variants had not been exported. A variant of the vehicle, designated the K1-M, has been designed and manufactured to meet the future Malaysian MBT requirement. Malaysia is the other operator of the K1 series, this in the form of the K1M.
By 2010 the Malaysian defense chief expressed keen interest in establishing a mid- to long-term partnership with Hyundai Rotem over the country's defense modernization program. Saudi Arabian delegates showed their interest in the K1A1, which will be further upgraded by 2012, she said. Under the upgrade program, the K1A1 will have network-centric battlefield management systems that allow the vehicle to share its data with friendly units and other vehicles on a real-time basis.
South Korea signed a contract regarding the transfer of tank development technology with Turkey, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) announced 29 July 2008. The deal, valued at $400 million, is the nation's second largest arms export after a $1-billion license deal over the indigenous K-9 self-propelled howitzer, again with Turkey in 2001. Under the deal, South Korea will help Turkey develop a semi-indigenous main battle tank by 2015 through the transfer of its technology related to the design and development of K1A1 and XK2 tanks. South Korea will transfer key technologies regarding engine, gunnery and snorkeling systems to Turkey, which initially wants to build about 250 advanced main battle tanks.
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| 0.946482 | 2,529 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Hammer, chisel needed for space station battery work
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
Posted: September 13, 2000
It was an unusually low-tech approach to solving a problem in the high-tech space station. But in the end, U.S. and Russian engineers agreed that sometimes, the simplest solution is the best solution.
"The big picture is we're going to want to use the chisel to sever the head of the rivet," radioed Rex Walheim from the space station mission control center in Houston. "That would be the crimped part of the rivet, not the head of it."
"Understand that," astronaut Daniel Burbank replied from orbit.
"You're going to get the one-half-inch chisel and the dead blow hammer and the flat head punch from the ISS took kit," Walheim continued. "That'll be kit K and the location for that is Node 1, D4, G2."
Burbank, a former Coast Guard "Perfect Storm" helicopter pilot, and physician-cosmonaut Boris Morukov were attempting to replace one of six batteries in the Russian-built NASA-financed Zarya propulsion module when they ran into trouble.
Four of the module's six batteries were replaced during a shuttle flight in May. The other two are being replaced during Atlantis' current mission.
The bracket, it turned out, was held in place by screws as well as rivets securing four nut plates. The nut plates inexplicably blocked access to screws that helped hold the bracket in place. The only way to move the bracket, then, was to chisel the offending rivets out.
After collecting the proper tools, Burbank and Morukov did just that, with Burbank holding the chisel in place while Morukov hammered it in. After repeated blows, they were finally able to remove all four nut plates and move the offending bracket out of the way.
"And Houston, Atlantis, we just got the bracket out and it looks like we're ready to go with the BUPT now," Burbank reported.
"We copy that, Dan. Excellent work," Walheim replied.
"Yeah, thanks for your ideas and working all that with Moscow. It worked out real well."
A bit later, Russian flight controllers began charging the new battery and U.S. mission managers were pleased with the crew's impromptu efforts.
Meanwhile, working in the new Zvezda command module, astronaut Edward Lu and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko pressed ahead with work to install three new batteries and associated controllers.
To save weight, the 42,000-pound Zvezda module was launched with just five of its eight batteries in place. Unlike their crewmates in the Zarya module, Lu and Malenchenko sailed through their battery installation work with no major problems.
With the battery installation complete, the astronauts will focus Wednesday night and Thursday on transferring supplies and equipment to the station; assembling an Elektron oxygen generator; hooking up a holding tank to the station's toilet; and installing battery chargers for use by visiting Soyuz and Progress spacecraft.
"There's a lot of activity yet to go," said Sharon Castle, overseeing logistics transfers from the shuttle to the space station. "We wanted to get some of those (battery) installations done first so we could get those down under the floor before we started transfers in earnest.
"In the next couple of days it's going to be hot and heavy."
Atlantis made a safe touchdown at 3:56 a.m. EDT today at Kennedy Space Center.
Shuttle Atlantis has successfully completed the deorbit burn, beginning the trek out of orbit.
Weather conditions at the Kennedy Space Center will cooperate today for landing.
See the Status Center for full play-by-play coverage.
Upcoming major events for the crew of Atlantis:
10:49 PM Deorbit preparation timeline begins.
12:09 AM Close Atlantis' payload bay doors.
02:29 AM Mission Control "go/no go" for deorbit burn.
All times EDT (GMT -4 hours).
Flight Data File
Quick look data - Facts, figures and important information about the mission.
Flight plan - A detailed day-by-day timetable of the major mission events based on NASA's official flight plan.
Landing opportunities - The available deorbit and landing options to bring Atlantis home, plus entry timeline.
NASA TV - The schedule for NASA TV programming during the STS-106 mission.
Tracking spacecraft - Latest orbital data for tracking the shuttle, station and other satellites on your computer.
The crew - Meet the seven astronauts who will fly aboard shuttle Atlantis.
Space demographics before and after - How the space explorers numbers will stack up before and after STS-106.
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On April 26, 1819, Thomas Wildey, the English carriage-spring maker, together with John Welch, John Duncan, John Cheatham and Richard Rushworth, instituted the first lodge of Odd-Fellows at the Seven Stars Tavern in Baltimore, and it was given the name of Washington Lodge No. 1. From this feeble beginning has grown the immense organization of today. The Odd-Fellows claim a venerable antiquity for their order, the most common account of its origin ascribing it to the Jewish legend under Titus, who, it is said, received from that Emperor the first chapter, written on a golden tablet. The earliest mention made of the lodge is in 1745, when one was organized in England. There were at that time several lodges independent of each other, but in a few years they formed a union. Toward the end of the century many of them were broken up by state prosecutions, on suspicion that their purposes were seditious. The name was changed from the Patriotic Order to that of the Union Order of Odd-Fellows. In Manchester, England, in 1813, some of the lodges seceded from the order, and formed the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows.
The order’s first appearance in America was in 1819. The purposes of the order were so changed by the founders here, that it is said to be almost purely an American organization. It was based on the Manchester Unity, which was really the parent institution. In 1842, this country severed its connection with that of England.
Lodges connected with either those of England or America are established in all parts of the world. The real estate held by the organization exceeds in value $20,000,000, and there is scarcely a town in the country that has not its Odd-Fellows Building. The total revenue of the order is nearly $10,000,000 per annum. Yearly relief amounts to nearly $4,000,000 a year.
The Jericho road
“A traveler passed down the Jericho
He carried of cash a pretty fair load
(The savings of many a toilsome day),
On his Jericho home a mortgage to pay.
“At a turn of the road, in a lonely
Two villainous men met him face to face.
‘Hands up!’ they cried, and they beat him sore,
Then off to the desert his money they bore.
“Soon a priest came by who had a
He sheared his sheep of silver and gold.
He saw the man lie bruised and bare,
But he passed on by to his place of prayer.
“Then a Levite, temple bound, drew
He saw the man, but let him lie,
And clad in silk, and filled with pride,
He passed him by on the other side.
“Next on the way a Samaritan came
(To priest and Levite a hated name);
The wounded man he would not pass,
He tenderly placed him on his ass.
“He took him to an inn hard by;
He dressed his wounds and bathed his eye;
He paid the landlord his full score;
If more was needed would pay him more.
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| 0.984511 | 679 | 2.640625 | 3 |
It is our hope to include web sites, original articles, and general information that can assist faculty in improving their teaching. Please submit information to: Robert Kehle at [email protected].
Stanford Teaching Commons
The Stanford Teaching Commons site is a great tool with many ideas and it is a must read for all faculty. It includes sections on: Planning Your Approach, Teaching Strategies, Student-Teacher Communication, Small Groups and Discussions, Evaluating Your Teaching, and Evaluating Students, as well as resources and examples of Course Profiles and TA Training.
Active and Cooperative Learning for the College Classroom
This paper discusses ways to engage the student using various active and cooperative learning methods. Topics include:
1. The "One Minute Paper"
2. Muddiest (or Clearest) Point
3. Affective Response
4. Daily Journal
5. Reading Quiz
6. Clarification Pauses
7. Response to a demonstration or other teacher centered activity; Questions and Answers; The "Socratic Method"
8. Wait Time
9. Student Summary of Another Student's Answer
10. The Fish Bowl
11. Quiz/Test Questions; Immediate Feedback
12. Finger Signals
13. Flash Cards
14. Quotations; Critical Thinking Motivators
15. The Pre-Theoretic Intuitions Quiz
16. Puzzles/Paradoxes; Share/Pair
18. Note Comparison/Sharing
19. Evaluation of Another Student's Work
20. Cooperative Groups in Class
21. Active Review Sessions
22. Work at the Blackboard
23. Concept Mapping
24. Visual Lists
25. Jigsaw Group Projects
26. Role Playing
27. Panel Discussions
One Line Tips
- Care about your students and show it.
- Speak effectively.
- Engage the students in the topic and learning.
- Maintain a balance between criticism and encouragement
- If you don't like your subject, do something else!
- Share your ideas and listen to the ideas of others.
- Constantly reexamine your teaching techniques and methodology
- Remember that you are not omniscient.
- Never view a disagreement as a personal attack.
- Technology is great, but what happens when the computer goes down? Plan on it.
- Questions can help spark interest. Wait for the answer. Keep waiting and then wait some more if needed as someone will finally speak up.
- Have the students, perhaps in groups, to give presentations on topics. This can be particularly effective with power point.
- Ask the students in the group to grade each other.
The Lecture Class
- Speak effectively. Lecturing is a performance art like in theater or music
- Modulate your voice.
- Do not always stand in one spot anchored to the podium. Move around the class. It keeps the student more alert and engaged.
- The greater variety of delivery approaches the greater the student interest.
- Being a "little off the wall" can be a positive.
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Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Financial, Acronyms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
The symbol for nitrogen.
1. Printing en
2. knight (chess)
3. needs improvement
6. N Chemistry normality
Contraction of and: scratch 'n' sniff.
n 1or N (ĕn)
n. pl. n's or N's also ns or Ns
1. The 14th letter of the modern English alphabet.
2. Any of the speech sounds represented by the letter n.
3. The 14th in a series.
4. Something shaped like the letter N.
5. An unspecified number or variable, usually an integer.
6. Biology The haploid number of chromosomes.
1. Grammar neuter
3. n Chemistry normal
n, pl n's, N's or Ns
1. (Linguistics) the 14th letter and 11th consonant of the modern English alphabet
2. (Phonetics & Phonology) a speech sound represented by this letter, usually an alveolar nasal, as in nail
1. (General Physics) neutron
2. (General Physics) optics index of refraction
an indefinite number (of): there are n objects in a box.
1. (Chess & Draughts) chess Also: kt knight
2. (Units) neper
4. (General Physics) newton(s)
5. (Chemistry) chem nitrogen
6. (Physical Geography) North
7. (Chemistry) Avogadro's number
8. (Grammar) noun
(Automotive Engineering) Norway (international car registration)
n., pl. Ns N's, ns n's.
1. the 14th letter of the English alphabet, a consonant.
2. any spoken sound represented by this letter.
3. something shaped like an N.
4. a written or printed representation of the letter N or
conj. Pron. Spelling.
and: Look 'n listen.
1. the 14th in order or in a series.
4. an indefinite, constant whole number, esp. the degree of a quantic or an equation, or the order of a curve.
5. Print. en.
6. Avogadro's number.
1. Physics. neutron.
2. Optics. index of refraction.
2. born. [< L nātus]
8. normal (strength solution).
The symbol for nitrogen.
Switch to new thesaurus
|Noun||1.||N - a common nonmetallic element that is normally a colorless odorless tasteless inert diatomic gas; constitutes 78 percent of the atmosphere by volume; a constituent of all living tissues|
chemical element, element - any of the more than 100 known substances (of which 92 occur naturally) that cannot be separated into simpler substances and that singly or in combination constitute all matter
azote - an obsolete name for nitrogen
air - a mixture of gases (especially oxygen) required for breathing; the stuff that the wind consists of; "air pollution"; "a smell of chemicals in the air"; "open a window and let in some air"; "I need some fresh air"
gas - a fluid in the gaseous state having neither independent shape nor volume and being able to expand indefinitely
liquid nitrogen - nitrogen in a liquid state
|2.||N - the cardinal compass point that is at 0 or 360 degrees|
cardinal compass point - one of the four main compass points
|3.||N - a unit of force equal to the force that imparts an acceleration of 1 m/sec/sec to a mass of 1 kilogram; equal to 100,000 dynes|
force unit - a unit of measurement of physical force
dyne - a unit of force equal to the force that imparts an acceleration of 1 cm/sec/sec to a mass of 1 gram
sthene - a unit of force equal to 1000 newtons
|4.||N - (of a solution) concentration expressed in gram equivalents of solute per liter|
relative quantity - a quantity relative to some purpose
solution - a homogeneous mixture of two or more substances; frequently (but not necessarily) a liquid solution; "he used a solution of peroxide and water"
|5.||n - the 14th letter of the Roman alphabet|
Latin alphabet, Roman alphabet - the alphabet evolved by the ancient Romans which serves for writing most of the languages of western Europe
Nn [ˈɛn] n (= letter) → N, n m
N for Nellie, N for Nan (US) → N comme Nicolas
N[ˈɛn] abbr (=north) → N
Nn [ɛn] n (letter) → N, n f or m inv
N for Nellie (Am) N for Nan → N come Napoli
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NASA's newly launched lunar probe has begun testing what could eventually become an outer space Internet.
NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) observatory said the probe on Thursday night began a limited test of a high-data-rate laser communication system. It's the U.S. space agency's first laser communications test.
If it works as planned, NASA plans to use similar systems to speed up future satellite communications and deep space communications with robots and human exploration crews.
The spacecraft, which launched on Sept. 6 from the Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va., reached lunar orbit on Oct. 6. A series of maneuvers put the probe into the proper orbit for engineers on Earth to check out its instruments and set up the laser communications test.
The test is expected to run through the middle of November, said Dewayne Washington, a spokesman for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
"They're testing from different vantage points, different weather conditions," Washington said. "We want to gauge how well it would work under different conditions. it'll take a while to do that."
"Everything, so far, is going well," he added.
The space probe's main mission is to study the moon's atmosphere, though officials say testing the laser communications system also a major undertaking.
Using laser communications instead of radio systems would enable robots, such as the Curiosity Mars rover and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and astronauts to send and receive far greater data loads fron space, whether in orbit around Earth, on the moon or on a distant asteroid.
Two-way laser communications systems can deliver six times more data with 25% less power than the best radio systems, Don Cornwell, Lunar Laser Communications Mission Manager at Goddard, said in an earlier interview.
Laser communications uses devices are half the weight of today's radio devices on rockets, rovers and spacecraft, Cornwell said. Weight is a critical factor in the performance of on such craft.
Once the laser communications test is complete, NASA engineers will adjust the spacecraft's orbit to better position it for it to begin scientific experiments on the moon's atmosphere.
Sharon Gaudin covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter at @sgaudin, or subscribe to Sharon's RSS feed . Her email address is [email protected].
Read more about emerging technologies in Computerworld's Emerging Technologies Topic Center.
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| Unitary Executive Theory
By Cartoon: RJ Matson of The New York Observer
Project: Cynthia Kirkeby, ClassBrain
Feb 23, 2006, 09:06 PST
| RJ Matson of The New York Observer|
Unitary Executive Theory
According to Wikipedia, "the unitary executive theory (UET), ... is a theory of Constitutional interpretation that ... argues that the power of Congress to divest the President of control of the executive branch is limited."
"Proponents of the theory argue that the President possesses all of the executive power and therefore he can control subordinate officers and agencies of the executive branch. This implies that the power of Congress to remove exective agencies or officers from Presidential control is limited. Thus, under the unitary exective theory, independent agencies and counsels are unconstitutional to the extent that they exercise discretionary executive power, not controlled by the President (Wikipedia)."
"Critics of the theory point out that
- the Constitution grants Congress the exclusive power to "make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution... all... Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof";
- that the Constitution grants Congress the exclusive power "To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces";
- that the Constitution specifically obligates the President to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed", where the "Laws" are defined as that which the Congress has the exclusive power to pass;
- that in every single Supreme Court case involving a statutory restriction of the power of the President, the statute has been upheld, including several in which the statute was only held to imply the limitation on Presidential power, ...;
- and that the phrase "unitary executive" that was discussed in the Constitutional Convention referred merely to having a single individual fill the office of President rather than have a voting body in charge of the executive branch....(Wikipedia)."
Questions to Ponder
How much power should the President have?
Do you think that the President should hold the ultimate power as proposed by the UET, or is the traditionally viewed division of power within the US government a more reasonable approach?"
What are the pitfalls of the UET?
What would the benefits of the UET include?
Would adoption of the UET further weaken states powers?
How much power should be invested in any one man/woman?
Do we have enough safeguards in place to protect us from a President that was unethical or perhaps even mentally unstable if the US actually adopted the view of the UET?
Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
This special section devoted to this issue is extremely thorough and informative. This is a must read for anyone interested in the issue.
The Unitary Executive Theory
Read the rest of the arguments related to the UET. This article also includes a look at how Presidents have overstepped their boundaries during their terms.
The Unitary Executive: Is The Doctrine Behind the Bush Presidency Consistent with a Democratic State?
Source: Jennifer Van Bergen, Findlaw
Supreme Court Testimony Of Laurence H. Tribe
Source: Laurence H. Tribe, Professor of Constitutional Law, Harvard Law School
© Copyright 2006 by Classbrain.com
Top of Page
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A team attempting to recreate an entire human body on a chip has scored its first major success - building miniature 3D-printed versions of the heart and liver.
Anthony Atala and a group at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina created a cluster of tiny hearts by reprogramming skin cells into heart cells. The "organoids", as the team calls them, were then given a size and shape by a 3D printer fed with cell culture.
The resulting hearts measure about 0.25 millimetres in diameter - slightly wider than a strand of human hair. A liver, created using the same process, was also fused to the side of one of the hearts.
The team was funded to the tune of $24 million (£16m) in late 2013 by the US government. When the funding was announced, Atala said: "Miniature lab-engineered, organ-like hearts, lungs, livers and blood vessels - linked together with a circulating blood substitute - will be used both to predict the effects of chemical and biologic agents and to test the effectiveness of potential treatments."
The aim of replicating a human body on a chip is to create cheap systems that can test new treatments or the effects of diseases without resorting to animal testing - which is slow, costly, ethically controversial and not always the best analogue of the human body.
Via New Scientist
Article continues below
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|Better Farming Series 36. Raising Rabbits 1: Learning About Rabbits; Building the Pens; Choosing Rabbits (FAO, 1988, 56 p.)|
|Learning about rabbits|
40. Rabbits eat almost any kind of plant that is not sour or spoiled. Much of the food that they eat is not needed for anything else.
41. So, you can raise rabbits, using very little of the food that you need for your family or for your other farm animals.
42. Rabbits mostly eat green plant materials such as leaves or stems, or parts of green plants that you do not use. They also eat many kinds of weeds.
43. If you have nothing else, you can feed your rabbits only green plants and weeds.
44. However, if you want them to grow very well and fast you will also have to feed them some richer foods.
45. In many places, you can buy good, rich foods made especially for rabbits. These are called rabbit pellets.
46. Some farmers feed only pellets, and their rabbits grow very well. However, rabbit pellets cost a lot of money.
47. There are many other rich foods that you can give your rabbits, which do not cost so much or which you can grow yourself, such as wheat, barley, beans, maize, sorghum, millet or soybeans.
43. You will learn more about what to feed rabbits and when and how to feed them in the next booklet in this series.
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From urban spaces to urban ecosystems
- Bulgarian (bg)
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- English (en)
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- Estonian (et)
- Finnish (fi)
- French (fr)
- Irish Gaelic (ga)
- Hungarian (hu)
- Icelandic (is)
- Italian (it)
- Lithuanian (lt)
- Latvian (lv)
- Maltese (mt)
- Dutch (nl)
- Norwegian (no)
- Polish (pl)
- Portuguese (pt)
- Romanian (ro)
- Slovak (sk)
- Slovenian (sl)
- Swedish (sv)
- Turkish (tr)
Instead of damaging ecosystems, why not start creating them?
Prof. Jacqueline McGlade
'Instead of damaging ecosystems, why not start creating them?' says Prof. Jacqueline McGlade. 'We have the technology and the design skills. There are examples of the future all over Europe but these are pockets of innovation. We have to move from pockets of innovation to cities of the future.'
'Take light — it’s a natural resource. People like working and living surrounded by natural light. Building can easily make much better use of natural light. Or take vertical gardening. Vertical gardening means turning our cities into sustainable urban farms where crops are grown on and in our buildings.'
'The idea of living walls and vertical allotments is very old, going back to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. It's amazing we haven’t done more of this before but now there is a new urgency to change our habits because of climate change,' Prof. McGlade says.
Higher temperatures in cities, caused by concrete and tarmac absorbing heat and releasing it slowly, would mean a longer growing season and improved yield. Rainwater could be harvested on roofs and networks of pipes would allow it to drip through each level. The plants would also have an insulating effect, keeping the living space inside the building cool in summer and warm in winter.
Populations on the move
The global population is congregating in our cities. Eighty per cent of the world’s estimated nine billion people in 2050 are expected to live in urban areas. Many of our cities struggle to cope with social and environmental problems resulting from pressures such as overcrowding, poverty, pollution and traffic.
The trend towards urban living is set to continue. Around the world, cities occupy 2 % of the earth's surface but account for half of the global population (20). In Europe, 75 % of us live in cities. This is likely to rise to 80 % by 2020. Europe’s cities and towns currently account for 69 % of our energy use and thus most greenhouse gas emissions.
The environmental impacts of cities spread far and wide as a result of their reliance on outside regions to meet demand for energy and resources and to accommodate waste. A study of Greater London (21) estimates that London has a footprint 300 times its geographical area — corresponding to nearly twice the size of the entire United Kingdom. Pollution from cities also often impacts areas outside the city.
Climate change is a new and ominous threat to city living. Some cities will suffer considerably as a result of climate change. This could aggravate social inequalities: the poor are often most at risk and do not have the resources to adapt. Climate change will also affect the urban environment: air and water quality, for example.
From adaptation to new thinking
So, our cities and urban areas have many problems ranging from social to health to environmental. However, the proximity of people, businesses and services associated with the very word city, means there are also huge opportunities.
Urban settings offer important opportunities for sustainable living. Already, population density in cities means shorter journeys to work and services, greater use of public transport, and smaller dwellings requiring less lighting and heating. As a result, urban dwellers consume less energy per capita than rural residents (22).
Our cities also exist in a unique position with regard to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Physical characteristics, design, governance and location of a city are just some of the factors that can contribute to or alleviate both.
Clearly, engineering approaches — such as flood barriers — are only a part of the solution. Adaptation also calls for a fundamental rethinking of urban design and management, and it should be 'mainstreamed' in all related policies, including land use, housing, water management, transport, energy, social equity and health.
Rethinking urban design, architecture, transport and planning we can turn our cities and urban landscapes into 'urban ecosystems' at the forefront of climate change mitigation (better transport, clean energy) and adaptation (floating houses, vertical gardening). Better urban planning will improve quality of life across the board and create new employment opportunities by enhancing the market for new technologies and green architecture.
The key lies in planning cities in ways that facilitate lower per capita energy consumption, using means such as sustainable urban transport and low-energy housing. New technologies for energy efficiency and renewable resources, such as solar or wind energy and alternative fuels, are also important, as is providing opportunities for individuals and organisations to change their behaviour.
Designing the future
'The future will turn out different than we expect — that is all we can be certain of. We are planning for that uncertainty,' says Johan van der Pol, deputy director of Dura Vermeer, a Dutch construction company currently designing and building IJburg, a new floating district in Amsterdam.
IJburg is one of the most ambitious projects the municipality of Amsterdam has ever undertaken. An expanding population and rising water levels have forced the heavily populated city to be creative: experimenting with novel types of architecture on the water itself. The new houses are 'docked' to floating walkways and hooked up to electrical, water and sanitation services. They can easily be disconnected and moved somewhere else — bringing a whole new meaning to ‘moving house’. The developing town includes eco-friendly floating greenhouses where all manner of fruit and vegetables are growing.
The floating houses of IJburg are just one example of a new movement in architecture and city planning. Climate change impacts range from drought and heatwaves in southern Europe to flooding in the north. Cities must adapt. Rather than simply strengthening flood barriers or shipping in water, some architects, engineers and city planners are looking at a whole new approach to urban and city living. They are approaching urban landscapes as urban ecosystems of the future.
Exchanging knowledge and good practices
'European cities face different challenges which demand different responses' says Ronan Uhel, head of the Natural Systems and Vulnerability programme at the EEA.
'Those cities initiating measures early on are bound to see the best returns on their adaptation investments. Yet to date, only a few European cities have developed strategies enabling adaptation to the "new" climate change conditions — and actual implementation of measures is, as yet, mostly limited to small scale projects,' he says.
Other cities may not be so fortunate in terms of knowledge and resources and will require ongoing support and guidance. At this stage, improvement in the exchange of experience and best practices among cities would be most valuable.
'Thisted is a small community in western Denmark that provides all of its energy itself. Sometimes, it even feeds energy in to the national grid. This community is reclaiming its destiny. It sounds philosophical but that's what we're talking about: reclaiming who we are', says Ronan Uhel.
'We have created societies of assisted people. We often only have a virtual connection to our natural surroundings, our shrink-wrapped food, our water. We need to rediscover ourselves and our place in nature.'
Paris is buzzing
Bees have been kept on the roof of the Paris Opera house for 25 years. The colony at this most Parisian institution is thriving and produces almost 500 kg of honey every year.
The city bees are flourishing and there are as many as 400 colonies in the city. New hives are now in place in Versailles Palace and at the Grande Palais. Indeed cities provide an abundance of flowering plants and trees in our gardens and parks. And while there is pollution there are much fewer pesticides in cities. Urban bees appear to be doing better than their country cousins in Europe.
The French National Union of Beekeepers started a campaign — 'Operation Bees' — in 2005 with the goal of integrating bees into the urban landscape. It seems to be working. The beekeepers union estimates that each Parisian beehive produces a minimum of 50–60 kg of honey per harvest and the death rate of the colonies is 3–5 %. That compares to country bees that produce between 10 and 20 kilograms of honey and experience a death rate of 30–40 %.
Bees are also busy in London. According to the London Beekeepers Association, urban bees appreciate the abundance of flowering plants and trees combined with relatively low pesticide use. This, and the slightly milder weather, means that the bee-keeping season is longer and usually more productive than in rural areas. A perfect example of the potential of our urban ecosystem.
Keeping an eye on the earth
At the EEA we believe that if we are to tackle our environmental problems, we must engage with ordinary people and ask how they can 'inform' us. Farmers, gardeners, hunters, sports enthusiasts — all have ready local knowledge.
Eye on Earth — a collaboration between EEA and Microsoft — provides fast, interactive, near real-time information on bathing water and air quality across Europe, with more services to come. And it allows users to have their say, supplementing and validating (or perhaps refuting) official information. By engaging citizens as contributors and empowering them with relevant and comparable information, services like Eye on Earth can contribute significantly to better environmental governance.
For references, please go to www.eea.europa.eu/soer or scan the QR code.
This briefing is part of the EEA's report The European Environment - State and Outlook 2015. The EEA is an official agency of the EU, tasked with providing information on Europe's environment.
PDF generated on 01 Jul 2016, 10:15 AM
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A centerpiece exhibition, Sacred Writings: Extraordinary Texts of the Biblical World, highlights the many ways the Bible—and stories akin to those in the Bible—have been represented over time and across continents.
In honor of the first visit by Pope Francis and the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, the Penn Museum offers a special focus on the ancient Near East, Egypt, and the Bible Lands—with a limited-time-only display of rare artifacts from the collections of the University of Pennsylvania, on view August 15 through November 8, 2015.
Treasures from the Penn Museum:
- One of the world's oldest fragments of the gospel of Saint Matthew, written on papyrus and dating to the 3rd century CE, was once part of a codex (book). This fragment, written in ancient Greek, contains the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew (Ch 1. Verses 1-9, 12, 14-20), which begins with the lineage of Jesus, then describes how Mary became with child by the Holy Spirit.
- An ancient clay tablet in Sumerian cuneiform from the site of Nippur in Mesopotamia (now in Iraq), ca. 1650 BCE, contains the earliest version of the Mesopotamian flood story. A version of this tale becomes incorporated into the Epic of Gilgamesh, and tells of a flood that destroyed humankind; the story closely parallels the biblical story of Noah.
- Two folios from a richly decorated, illuminated Qur'an from Iran, copied and signed by its scribe in Hamadan in 1164. The copy is written with black ink in cursive Naskh Arabic script, and features the complete text of the Qur'an, with commentary in red script. The exhibited pages feature the Surah Nuh (Noah), with a mention of the Flood and Noah's role as admonisher.
Treasures from the Penn Libraries' Collections:
- The first authorized Roman Catholic translation of the New Testament Bible into English, printed at Reims, France, through the efforts of English Catholic exiles, in 1582.
- The first complete Bible printed in the New World, a monumental translation of the Bible into the Native American Massachusett language, by Puritan missionary John Eliot, in 1663.
- A polyglot New Testament Bible compiled by German scholar Elias Hutter with side by side text in twelve languages—Syriac, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German, Czech, Italian, Spanish, French, English, Danish, and Polish—printed in Nuremberg in 1599.
- A late 15th century Italian illustrated manuscript copy of Werner Rolevinck's history of the world detailing events from the creation to the election of Pope Sixtus IV.
- An early 16th century Rabbinic Bible from the famed Hebrew printing house of Daniel Bomberg in Venice, Italy.
- A limited edition contemporary Bible from the Pennyroyal Caxton Press, 1999, designed and illustrated by Barry Moser.
Bible Era and Bible Region Galleries
In addition to the special exhibition, visitors interested in the biblical era and region can step back in time to explore rare art, artifacts and large-scale photographs in several galleries: the Museum's renowned Egypt (Sphinx) gallery and a side gallery, Amarna, Ancient Egypt's Place in the Sun; Iraq's Ancient Past: Rediscovering Ur's Royal Cemetery; Canaan and Ancient Israel; and Sacred Spaces: The Photography of Ahmet Ertug, featuring spectacular large-scale photographs of Byzantine-era churches in Constantinople (Istanbul) and the Cappadocia region of Turkey.
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How to Use a Career Plan
People you know use career plans to get ahead. Think about famous people. What about business owners or community leaders in your area? They did not get a good job by accident.
How did these people gain career or financial success? They likely thought about what they wanted their lives or work to be like in the future. Then they wrote down those goals and the actions needed to make them happen. Those goals and actions are called a career plan.
Here are ways to help you set goals and stick to them.
|Step 1: Make a career plan||
Think about your long–term career goals. Next, think of the tasks you can do in the near future to get your long-term goals done.
|Step 2: Follow your career plan||
You've written down your career plan. Now follow your plan.
|Step 3: Review and update your career plan||
You may run into roadblocks or want to change your mind. Don't be discouraged!
When you achieve one or more of your career goals, reward yourself. Tell other people what you accomplished and how you did it.
After a little while think of new goals for the next phase of your career.
Remember: planning your career will last for your whole life. You will make new goals several times.
Use the Career Plan Worksheet (pdf) to track your long-term and short-term goals.
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Signal mechanics install, maintain, and repair signal equipment. Today's signal equipment includes computerized and electronic equipment detection devices and electronic grade crossing protection. To install signals, workers travel with road crews to designated areas. They place electrical wires, create circuits, and construct railway-highway crossing signals, such as flashers and gates. When signal mechanics install new signals or signal equipment, they or other crew members may have to dig holes and pour concrete foundations for the new equipment, or they may install precast concrete foundations. Because railroad signal systems are sometimes installed in the same areas as underground fiber-optic cables, signal mechanics must be familiar with marking systems and take great care in digging.
Signal mechanics who perform routine maintenance are generally responsible for a specified length of track. They are often part of a team of several signal mechanics, called a signal construction gang. They drive a truck along the track route, stopping to inspect and test crossings, signal lights, interlock equipment, and detection devices. When servicing battery-operated equipment, they check batteries, refilling them with water or replacing them with fresh ones if necessary. They use standard electrical testing devices to check signal circuits and wiring connections, and they replace any defective wiring, burned-out light bulbs, or broken colored lenses on light signals. They clean the lenses with a cloth and cleaning solution and lubricate moving parts on swinging signal arms and crossing gates. They tighten loose bolts, and open and close crossing gates to verify that the circuits and connections in the gates are working.
Signal mechanics are often required to travel long distances as repairs are needed. Many are assigned to a large region by their employer, such as the entire Midwest, or may even be on call to work anywhere in the nation. Generally, employees are responsible for providing their own transportation from their home to the work location. The railroad company pays the cost of hotel rooms and provides a meal allowance. When signal mechanics are required to travel, their workweek may begin on Sunday, when they travel to the work site so they can start early Monday. The workweek may then include four 10-hour days, or may be longer, depending on the urgency of the job.
Sometimes signal mechanics are dispatched to perform repairs at specific locations along the track in response to reports from other rail workers about damaged or malfunctioning equipment. In these cases, the worker analyzes the problem, repairs it, and checks to make sure that the equipment is functioning properly.
Signal mechanics also compile written reports that detail their inspection and repair activities, noting the mileage of the track that they have traveled and the locations where they have done work. Some mechanics may use hand-held computers to prepare reports and record data.
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| 0.951839 | 602 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Research Institute (KARI) Director Ephraim Mukisira
told journalists here that the screening of inbred
lines has already shown positive signs.
has already generated three promising lines and so we
are optimistic that a Maize Lethal Necrosis resistant
maize variety will be released to farmers within the
next three years," Mukisira said during a regional
conference on fighting the MLN disease in Nairobi.
The three-day forum
brought over 100 scientists to chart way forward on
how to address the maize disease. MLN is a viral
disease caused by a combined infection of the Maize
Chlorotic Mottle Virus (MCMV) and Sugar Cane Mosaic
Virus (SCMV). The disease was first detected in Kenya
An estimated 26,000
hectares was affected in 2012 by the virus,
translating into a loss valued at 23 million U.S.
dollars or 1.7 percent loss of 38 million bags
Mukisira said that the
disease has since spread into neighboring Tanzania,
Uganda and Rwanda.
"In response to the
outbreak, a multidisciplinary team comprising KARI,
international research organizations, seed producers,
regulatory agencies was formed to find ways of
managing the disease," he said.
According to KARI,
maize is an important staple crop to the majority of
people in east and central Africa.
"In Kenya, the maize
per capita consumption stands at 98 kilograms, while
90 percent of the population depends on the crop
either directly or indirectly," he said.
Mukisira noted that the
lowest income quartile of the Kenyan population spends
28 percent of its income on maize.
He said that Kenya has
already developed six wheat varieties that are
tolerant to the Ug99 wheat rust disease in less than
International Maize and
Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) Global Maize Program
Director Prasanna Boddupalli said that the demand for
maize seed has decreased in the MLN-affected regions
as a result of the disease.
"We are therefore
encouraging the use of seeds that have been treated
with systemic insecticides," he said. "However, this
could lead to an increase in cost of seeds."
According to CIMMYT,
the disease is also endemic in Peru, Argentina, the
United States, Mexico and Thailand.
He added that
investigations of commercial maize varieties released
in Kenya indicate that a majority of them are very
vulnerable to the virus.
Boddupalli said that in
order to curb the spread of the virus, all
international maize seeds shipment from an MLN-endemic
country can only be produced in an MLN-free location.
Strengthening Agriculture in Eastern and Central
Africa (ASARECA) Executive Director Fina Opio said
that continuous mono cropping of maize over a long
period makes the grain susceptible to the virus.
Opio said that a state
of the art maize breeding facility will be established
in Kenya next month.
operates in countries including Kenya, Uganda,
Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of
Congo, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Madagascar.
"Each of these
countries have good research programs but need to work
collectively in order to address some cross cutting
issues as the MLN disease," she said.
She added that there is
still widespread cultivation of susceptible germplasm
that has never been screened for MCMV.
ASARECA Program Manager
for Staple Crops Dr Ivan Rwomushana said that the
integration of MLN resistance is a critical component
of maize breeding strategy. He called for the
harmonization of all maize plantings so as to ensure a
maize free period.
seriousness of the disease there is urgency for the
implementation of short, medium and long term research
interventions," he said.
Rwomushana said that
common symptoms include the maize combs that have poor
seed set as well as shortened internodes..
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en
| 0.936269 | 891 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Transit service1 interruptions due to mechanical failures remained relatively level from 1995 through 2000,2 averaging between 18 and 19 mechanical problems per 100,000 revenue vehicle-miles [1, 2] (figure 8-7).
Among transit vehicles, buses and light rail had the highest rates of mechanical failure in 2000. Buses broke down an average of 28 times per 100,000 revenue vehicle-miles, while light-rail vehicles broke down 15 times per 100,000 revenue vehicle-miles. Light-rail vehicle breakdowns have changed the most since 1995. In that year, there were 32 mechanical failures per 100,000 revenue vehicle-miles. The rate of failure then dropped 56 percent to 14 per 100,000 revenue vehicle-miles by 1998.
1. U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, National Summaries and Trends (Washington, DC: Annual issues), also available at http://www.ntdprogram.com/, as of April 2003.
2. U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, National Transportation Statistics 2002 (Washington, DC: 2002), table 1-32 and Transit Profile, also available at http://www.bts.gov/, as of April 2003.
1 Here transit service includes light rail, commuter rail, heavy rail, and demand-responsive vehicles (see glossary for definitions).
2 Data prior to 1995 and later than 2000 were collected using different definitions of what constitutes an interruption of service and are not comparable.
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en
| 0.926522 | 310 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Is the 'Clean 15' just as toxic as the 'Dirty Dozen'?
Recently, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) released its annual “Dirty Dozen” and “Clean Fifteen” lists of produce with the most and least pesticide residues. My reaction was: Well done, but what about farm workers? The EWG lists provide an invaluable tool to help consumers reduce pesticide exposure, but tell us nothing about the folks who grow and harvest the great bulk of food we consume.
Well, over on Pesticide Action Network’s Ground Truth blog, researcher Karl Tupper shed some light on the murky question of farm worker exposure to toxic pesticides. Tupper stressed that pesticide residues pose a real threat to consumers. However, he adds “It’s the farmers, farm workers, and residents of rural communities who are really most at risk from pesticides, not consumers.” Tupper explains:
While these folks are exposed to pesticides from food like the rest of us, they also must contend with pesticide fumes drifting out of fields, exposure from working directly with pesticides, and pesticide-coated dust and dirt tracked into their homes from the fields.
Tupper cross-referenced the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists against USDA numbers for total pesticides applied per acre of each item. He found that from the perspective of farm workers, the Clean Fifteen just aren’t much cleaner than the Dirty Dozen.
Overall, the two lists don’t look that different from the standpoint of pesticide use. The average pesticide use intensity for the list are quite similar: 26.2 lbs/acre for the Clean Fifteen and 29.8 lbs/acre for the Dirty Dozen.
Disturbingly, two Clean Fifteen items — sweet potatoes and mushrooms — land on top of Tupper’s list of most pesticide-intensive crops. And the least pesticide-intensive crop by Tupper’s calculations — spinach — took fifth place on EWG’s Dirty Dozen. In short, what’s clean for consumers is too often dirty for farm workers, and vice-versa. One main reason for the dirty-but-clean nature of so many vegetables that reach consumers’ plates: widespread use of highly toxic fumigants. Tupper describes them like this:
They are very drift-prone and very toxic, and they are applied at very high rates compared to non-fumigant pesticides. But because they are applied to soil before crops are planted, and because they are so volatile and so reactive, they don’t stick around on growing plants and they don’t end up contaminating the food you buy at the market.
As Tupper sums it up, “We can’t shop our way out of this: pesticides are a public policy issue.” Currently, public policy around fumigant use is egregious. Nearly a quarter century after it was banned globally by the Montreal Protocol (1987), a fumigant called methyl bromide remains in widespread use on U.S. tomato and strawberry farms. That’s because the United States keeps negotiating “exceptions” to the ban deemed necessary for industrial-scale production of these crops. Methyl bromide is vile stuff — it has been shown to attack the central nervous system, damage the lungs and kidneys, and is linked to reproductive disorders, including birth defects. It also destroys the ozone layer, which is what got it banned by the Montreal Protocol in the first place.
Over the outraged objections of a range of scientists, first the EPA and then the state of California has approved an even more toxic alternative to methyl bromide called methyl iodide. It’s Montreal-friendly, because it doesn’t harm the ozone layer. But methyl iodide will be a disaster for humans who come into contact with it, scientists warn.
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| 0.926489 | 811 | 2.640625 | 3 |
How can you make something invisible, that is, without using a cloak? This easy experiment just might be the "solution."
A new YouTube video from At-Bristol, a science center in England, shows how you can use light to make something disappear in the blink of an eye. Just check it out above.
All you need is a couple of pyrex glasses and a sweetener called glycerol -- if you can't find that, vegetable oil and baby oil will also work. You might want to grab a pair of gloves too, because the experiment can get a bit sticky.
"Here I have a beaker full of glycerol," science educator Ross Exton says in the video. "If I take a pyrex test tube and place it into the beaker, we can still see it because of the air in the tube -- but if I dip it just below the surface, it vanishes."
But as Exton explains, the reason for this isn't magic. See, in a beaker of normal water, "as light passes from one material to another, it changes speed and direction," Exton says in the video, "allowing us to the see edges of the tube."
That's because the beaker and the water have different so-called refractive index, meaning light travels through them at different speeds.
What makes glycerol so special is it has the same refractive index as pyrex glass -- so when light passes through a beaker full of glycerol, it doesn't change speed and direction. And as a result, it doesn't reveal the test tube hidden inside. Voila!
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| 0.94191 | 341 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Current food labeling leads to under-consumption of calcium, according to this study. Those who were taught how to translate the information consumed more. Researchers believe the same is true for other beneficial nutrients.
A woman at risk for osteoporosis is told by her doctor to get 1,200-1,500 milligrams of calcium every day. But when she looks at the Nutrition Facts panel on a carton of yogurt or a jug of milk, she finds that calcium is only listed by "Percent Daily Value" (%DV).
How does she convert that to milligrams?
If she's like most of us...she can't. And neither can her doctor.
Those were among the findings of research conducted by Laura A. Peracchio, professor of marketing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), and Lauren Block, professor of marketing at Baruch College (CUNY). The results were so compelling that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration added information to its Web site on how to translate %DV to milligrams.
The research, which involved three separate studies and a follow-up, is discussed in "The Calcium Quandary: How Consumers Use Nutrition Labels for Daily Diet," published in the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing. Peracchio and Block found that:
- In Study 1, only two of 37 respondents correctly translated the calcium information on a carton of yogurt from %DV to milligrams.
- In Study 2, when 20 physicians were shown the same label, only six gave the right answer in milligrams. (Asked how the calculation was done, one physician who gave an incorrect answer replied: "I have no idea. I made it up.") Yet most doctors dispense calcium recommendations to their patients in milligrams.
The central question of the research, Peracchio and Block write, is: "How do consumers make food consumption decisions when product information falls short of providing the nutritional knowledge needed for personal health consumption goals""
And the answer
The answer is found in Study 3, which involved 41 women who were pregnant or breast-feeding. All had been told by their doctors or had read independently that they needed 1,200-1,500 milligrams of calcium a day.
Half of the women were given a one-page calcium fact sheet including the formula for converting %DV to milligrams. The formula is simple - %DV is based on the average recommended calcium intake of 1,000 milligrams daily. To convert %DV to milligrams, just add "0" to the percentage on the label. For example, a carton of milk delivering 30% DV contains 300 milligrams of calcium.
The women who were given the fact sheet consumed significantly more average daily calcium (a mean of 1,429.78 milligrams) than women who were not given the fact sheet (a mean of 988.24 milligrams).
Current labeling leads to under-consumption of calcium, the research showed. The women who were not given the fact sheet may have consumed close to 100%DV of calcium daily, but it fell short of the 120-150% DV they really needed.
"This is particularly worrisome with at-risk populations such as those over 55 years of age, or pregnant or lactating women," says Peracchio.
Teenage girls also need extra calcium, she points out, and a study reported this summer in The New York Times suggests that consuming high levels of vitamin D and calcium may offer some protection against the most aggressive kinds of breast cancer.
Other nutrients affected
Peracchio and Block point out that the difficulty in translating the Nutrition Facts panel on food products goes beyond calcium.
"The challenge of using the Nutrition Facts panel to make adequate food consumption decisions is similar for other nutrients that consumers often do not consume enough of, such as dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, and iron...."
The Nutrition Facts panel is separated into two categories: the top of the panel lists nutrients that should be limited (fat, cholesterol, sodium, etc.); "good" nutrients are listed at the bottom (calcium, fiber, iron, vitamins A and C, etc.).
"Much more attention and educational efforts have been paid to the former than to the latter," the research concluded.
"Helping people better navigate the consumer environment" is extremely rewarding work, Peracchio says. She teaches courses in consumer behavior, marketing strategy and nonprofit marketing at UWM's Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business, and also serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Consumer Research, one of the top three journals in the marketing field.
A member of the UWM faculty since 1990, Peracchio received her Ph.D. in marketing from Northwestern University. She was one of two Roger L. Fitzsimonds Scholars in the Lubar School of Business for 2004-06. She has advised many organizations on marketing issues, including Hormel Foods, S.C. Johnson and the Betty Brinn Children's Museum of Milwaukee.
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en
| 0.953178 | 1,050 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Animal Mutilation n : a term which
refers to cases of animal corpses (usually cattle), which have been found
with strange injuries. These injuries are often difficult to explain
in terms of accident, predators and illness. Often the corpse has
missing body parts (e.g. genitals), has been drained of blood and many
injuries appear to have been carried out with surgical precision.
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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en
| 0.963084 | 81 | 2.578125 | 3 |
||New York: Penguin Books (2006)
|Nathaniel Philbrick. Mayflower. (New York: Penguin Books (2006)).|
Mayflower is the account of the Pilgrim settlers from their time in Leiden in the 1610s until King Phillip's War in 1675-76.
It is written as a popular historical non-fiction book, and the text is thus not cluttered with footnotes or especially specific on dates or places. There is however a 30 page bibliography, over 50 pages of notes keyed to the text, a passenger list, and a fairly detailed index.
Genealogical details in the book include:
- "A few weeks after Bradford's election to governor, Edward Winslow and Susanna White showed the rest of the settlement that it was indeed possible to start anew. Susanna had lost her husband, William, on February 21; Edward had lost his wife, Elizabeth, on March 24. Just a month and a half later, on May 12, Edward and Susanna became the first couple in Plymouth to marry. Six weeks may seem too short a time to grieve, but in the seventeenth century, it was quite normal for a widow or widower to remarry within three months of his or her spouse's death.... In accordance with 'the laudable custom of the Low Countries,' Edward and Susanna were married in a civil ceremony." (p. 104)
- In February and March 1621: "Almost everyone had lost a loved one. Christopher Martin, the Mayflower's governor, had died in early January, soon to be followed by his wife, Mary. Three other families-the Rigsdales, Tinkers, and Turners--were entirely wiped out, with more to follow. Thirteen-year-old Mary Chilton, whose father had died back in Provincetown Harbor, became an orphan when her mother passed away that winter. Other orphans included seventeen-year-old Joseph Rogers, twelve-year-old Samuel Fuller, eighteen-year-old John Crackston, seventeen-year-old Priscilla Mullens, and thirteen-year-old Elizabeth Tilley, who also lost her aunt and uncle, Edward and Ann. By the middle of March, there were four widowers: Bradford, Standish, Francis Eaton, and Isaac Allerton, who was left with three surviving children between the ages of four and eight. With the death of her husband, William, Susanna White, mother to the newborn Peregrine and five-year-old Resolved, became the plantation's only surviving widow. By the spring, 52 of the 102 who had originally arrived at Provincetown were dead. And yet, amid all this tragedy, there were miraculs exceptions. The families of William Brewster, Francis Cook, Stephen Hopkins, and John Billington were left completely untouched by disease." (pp. 89-90)
- Regarding the Fortune, which arrived with 37 passengers in November 1621: "[A]lmost immediately after coming ashore, Martha Ford gave birth to a son, John....With the arrival of the Fortune, there would be a total of sixty-six men in the colony and just sixteen women...For young girls such as fifteen-year-old Elizabeth Tilley, nineteen-year-old Pricilla Mullins, and fourteen-year-old Mary Chilton (all of them orphans), the mounting pressure to marry must have been intense....There were some familiar faces... the Brewsters welcomed their eldest son, Jonathan, a thirty-seven-year-old ribon weaver....Others from Leiden included Philip de la Noye, whose French surname was eventually anglicized to Delano and whose descendants included future U.S. president Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The newly remarried Edward Winslow greeted his twenty-four-year-old brother John. There was also Thomas Prence, the twenty-one-year old son of a Gloucestershire carriage maker, who soon became one of the leading members of the settlement." (pp. 124-25)
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en
| 0.977079 | 839 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Mounting solar panels on the flat rooftops of commercial installations typically involves anchoring long metal racks to the roof to create a framework that will angle the panels toward the sun and hold them together. Installers bolt the panels to this frame, wire the panels together, and electrically ground the racks.
Trina's design gets rid of most of this metal framework. It starts with some simple changes to the solar panels themselves. Solar panels resemble framed pictures—they consist of solar cells sealed behind a piece of glass and held in place and protected by a metal frame. This frame is typically bolted to the metal rack framework that angles the panel toward the roof. Trina uses the frame of the solar panel itself to provide the framework.
The company says this reduces installation time by two-thirds, and reduces the chance that stray bolts and screws might get caught under the framework and damage the roof. Savings in materials and labor costs can add up to a 10-cent-per-watt reduction in costs for solar power, a significant drop considering that solar panels now sell for less than $1 per watt.
While Trina modifies the solar panel's metal frame, Solon eliminates it altogether. It takes an array of solar cells that have been sealed behind a layer of glass and then glues that to a plastic form that angles the cells toward the sun. This complete module is assembled in a factory, reducing the amount of work that needs to be done on site.
Solon says the design reduces the time needed for mechanically mounting the panels by 75 percent, and the time needed for making the electrical connections by half. (Solon says that the impact on costs varies widely, depending on factors like labor costs.)
If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on ycombinator or StumbleUpon. Thanks
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en
| 0.923584 | 371 | 3.03125 | 3 |
When formulating methodology, it is critical to consider the types of methods that will answer the research questions. For example, if one wishes to assess the efficacy of an educational intervention the “change in knowledge” must be measured. This lends itself to a pre-test/post-test methodology in which the research will determine the knowledge of study participants on a topic prior to the intervention and then again after the educational intervention has been implemented. However, in order to determine the actual impact of an intervention, a pre-test/post-test methodology must always be compared with a control group. For more information about this, please see the section on Assessing Behavioral Changes: The Importance of Having a Baseline For Comparison.
Measures are the items in a research study to which the participant responds. They can be survey questions, interview questions, or constructed situations, to name a few. When constructing interviews and surveys, it is important that the questions directly relate to the research questions. Furthermore, it is important that the surveys and interviews are not extremely time-consuming (ideally within a 20-30 minute limit). If an interpreter will be used, simple questions are always better and easily interpreted questions that avoid ambiguity will lead to more accurate results. Lastly, instead of creating a survey it is better to do research to find out if a similar study has been conducted. If so, previous surveys should be used to yield standardized measures for comparison. Irrespective of the form that these measures take, there are several important design elements that are required to make the study effective.
Study measures should:
Self-report measures, whether in survey form or in interview form, are easily affected by several biases that the participant may exhibit, and for this reason must be designed carefully by the researcher. The researcher also must be cautious about what kinds of conclusions are drawn from self-report measures. Some potential issues with self-report are:
Social desirability bias: Participants are usually uncomfortable or unwilling to share information that does not reflect well on them in their social environment, even if they know their responses are entirely anonymous. For example, participants may understate or overstate the extent to which they experience a certain feeling, depending on how socially appropriate or desirable that feeling. Researchers must do their best to make it abundantly clear that anonymity will be preserved for the participant, and honesty must be encouraged. Researchers should also lead with less-intimidating questions to make the participant feel more comfortable before asking anything that might be more difficult to answer honestly. Another option is to structure the question in such a way as to normalize the behavior: “As you know, many people do X… To what extent do you do X?”
Self-evaluation biases: Participants will sometimes bend their answers on self-report measures to better reflect how they “think they should be” rather than how they actually are. This is similar to the social desirability bias, but is more difficult to overcome because anonymity is not the issue here. Instead, bias results from the participant’s evaluation of him or herself. The researcher’s best course of action is to encourage honesty and normalize the behavior or feeling as reviewed above.
Forgetfulness: Sometimes researchers ask participants about their past experiences or feelings without considering the fact that human memory is very plastic. People’s recollections may be inaccurate, and it is important for a researcher to consider this when designing study measures. Self-report measures do play an important role in research, although they should be used with caution. They are essential in situations where the researcher is asking about a participant’s self-concept or seeking to study the specificities of a participant’s experience. Self-report is also very useful for logistical reasons, as it is often the simplest of methods to implement and requires the least resources.(4)(5)
(1) Eibach, R. “Scale Questions: Simple Questions, Complex Answers” Lecture at Yale University 10/2/08.
(2) Pelham, B. W.; Blanton, H. Conducting Research in Psychology: Measuring the Weight of Smoke, 3rd Edition. Wadsworth Publishing (February 27, 2006).
(3) Trochim, W. M. K. “Survey Research” Research Methods Knowledge Base 2nd Edition. Accessed 2/24/09.
(4) Pelham, B. W.; Blanton, H. Conducting Research in Psychology: Measuring the Weight of Smoke, 3rd Edition. Wadsworth Publishing (February 27, 2006).
(5) Eibach, R. “Scale Questions: Simple Questions, Complex Answers” Lecture at Yale University 10/2/08.
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| 0.936589 | 977 | 3.5625 | 4 |
A major sixth is the chord you get when you take a major triad
and add the sixth note of the major scale
. They're notated C6
For example, an F major triad is F A C. The sixth note of the F major scale is D, so the F6 chord consists of F A C D.
Compare with the minor sixth: the only difference is the underlying triad.
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| 0.938363 | 86 | 3 | 3 |
The internet is now social, but the tools and theories we use to understand it are rooted in a pre-social past. Much of the psychology inspired interaction design draws on information processing models from desktop application design. Perfect for shopping carts, not so good for understanding the social web. Newer psychological theories like Activity Theory or Actor Network theory can help us understand our need for tools like Twitter and Facebook. This world of post-cognitive theories understand social relationship and move beyond the simple world of goal directed tasks with neat closure. The social object is a great framing device for current applications, but Activity Theory has more to offer us. Every act is social in nature. Using this as a starting point this talk will explore how relationships form and how our interactions with each other on the internet form part of our wider experience. Learn how to pick the key objects and actions for your application. Understand the important social aspects of the interactions you support and how privacy affects these exchanges. The coming distributed social web are based on social objects, activity streams plus much protocol glue to connect them. These post cognitive theories are the framework from which they were derived, but there is much more to them that you can apply to your own projects.
11th–15th March 2011
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| 0.949821 | 251 | 2.75 | 3 |
This latest result is very important, since it marks the first time that any approach to fusion has generated a greater amount of energy than was initially absorbed by the fuel.
Bellingham, WA (PRWEB) February 13, 2014
Researchers at the U.S. National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore (California) National Lab (LLNL) have reported an important breakthrough in the work toward producing energy through fusion, imitating the process occurring inside the Sun. Leaders of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, commended the work, aimed at developing technology to be applied in converting abundant hydrogen – from seawater -- into helium, to generate energy.
The work was reported in a paper by Omar Hurricane and other authors from NIF published 12 February in the journal Nature.
“The NIF team members are working their way toward solving a noble challenge of benefit to Earth’s inhabitants and its ecosystems, through replicating the Sun’s natural fusion process to generate new sources of clean, sustainable energy,” said SPIE CEO Eugene Arthurs. “This latest breakthrough is an important step. Even as they work toward that goal, their work is already benefitting industry through the development of new materials and manufacturing processes and stimulating job creation, and providing other research groups with a unique state-of-the-art facility for other laser-based research.”
NIF’s 192 laser beams create temperatures and pressures similar to those that exist only in the cores of stars and giant planets, and inside nuclear weapons. The goal is to focus the intense energy from the laser beams on a BB-sized target filled with hydrogen fuel, fusing the hydrogen atoms’ nuclei and releasing energy. NIF’s first major goal toward fusion is to pass the break-even point – to generate more energy from the reaction than was required to initiate it.
“This latest result is very important, since it marks the first time that any approach to fusion has generated a greater amount of energy than was initially absorbed by the fuel. In fact, in the most recent experiments of the past few weeks, the fusion energy output was more than double the input,” said NIF Program Director for Fusion Energy Systems Mike Dunne. “Of course, we still have some work to do to get to ignition.”
Ignition – defined to be when a megajoule of fusion energy is released – is a threshold process and needs exquisite control of the initial conditions, he explained. “Fortunately, the astounding level of agreement between simulation and experiment in these latest results provides a robust platform for future studies for the very first time.”
The facility is providing additional benefits beyond its fusion research.
“As SPIE have recognized and are helping to drive forwards, there are many benefits that spin out from a high-power laser project such as the NIF,” he said. “It has helped enable the development of a new generation of laser technology for advanced material processing and exploration of applications to homeland security and clinical diagnostics, as well as studies of fundamental science and the pursuit of fusion energy. The work on the NIF was a partnership between 3,000 industrial vendors, and now attracts scientific collaborations with dozens of universities from across the world. Such strong and mutually beneficial links between academia, industry, and government are at the heart of the National Photonics Initiative, which I hope our whole community will rally behind to demonstrate the impact of our field on society.”
The National Photonics Initiative is an industry-driven campaign to guide photonics research and funding. SPIE is a Founding Sponsor.
In the work reported this week by NIF, the hydrogen isotopes fused, generating new particles and heating the fuel further and generating still more reactions, particles and heat. The experimental results have matched computer simulations much better than previous experiments, providing an important benchmark for the models used to predict the behavior of matter under conditions similar to those generated during a nuclear explosion, a primary goal for the NIF. The key to the improved results was a modification of the laser pulse used to compress the fuel, a press release from LLNL explained.
SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1955 to advance light-based technologies. The Society serves more than 256,000 constituents from approximately 155 countries, offering conferences, continuing education, books, journals, and a digital library in support of interdisciplinary information exchange, professional networking, and patent precedent. SPIE provided $3.2 million in support of education and outreach programs in 2013.
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| 0.948116 | 954 | 3.09375 | 3 |
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), greenhouse gases (GHGs) are contributing to temperature rises that will present challenges to society and the environment.
These temperature changes may also affect crops key to confectioners, such as cocoa. We look at what the big firms are doing to cut emissions.
Estimated CO2 emissions: 416,281 metric tons CO2e* (North American plants only – 2011 data)
Progress: 15.2% reduction in emissions from 2008 baseline
Future target: Cut emissions 13% by 2015 from 2009 baseline
Hershey is reporting its CO2 emissions to the independent Carbon Disclosures Project (CDP) and also communicates progress in its Corporate Social Responsibility Report . However, it only reports levels in North American plants.
The company is using compressed-air systems, biogas recovery and boiler control efficiency projects to slash emissions.
Scope 1 - direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by the organisation
Scope 2 - indirect emissions that the company has caused through its consumption of energy
It has installed wastewater treatment facilities at four plants to capture methane gas to use as a fuel and has converted a boiler at a plant in Hawaii to burn macadamia nut shells resulting from processing.
Hershey receives rebates of $133,857 from utility partners for its environmental efforts. The company said it saved $21.3m from all its environmental initiatives in 2011.
Estimated CO2 emissions: 3.3 million metric tons CO2e* (2010 – Kraft Foods)
Progress: 5% reduction on 2010 baseline
Future target: Reduce GHG emissions by 15% compared to 2010 baseline
Data for the newly inaugurated Mondelez International is not yet available, so the figures above relate to Kraft Foods prior to the split.
Kraft is another confectioner reporting emissions to the CDP. The vast majority of its emissions come from the US.
It has reduced CO2 emissions by replacing ozone-depleting refrigerant chillers with energy-efficient anhydrous ammonia systems.
The company has also moved to smaller high-efficiency boilers and new energy-efficient lighting that uses a new type of metal halide to allow for more efficient T5 tubes to be installed in older T8 fluorescent light fittings in distribution centers and factories.
Estimated CO2 emissions: 7.1 million metric tons CO2e*(2010)
Future target: Reduce emissions 5% by 2015 compared to 2010 baseline
Nestlé also reports to CDP and is taking a taking life-cycle approach from farmer to consumer to reduce emissions. The figures presented above represent the company’s emissions for its entire operations and not only confectionery.
Nestlé is using natural refrigerants to reduce F-gases and is also deriving energy from spent coffee grounds. Around 12% of the energy used in Nestlé factories comes from renewables.
The company has also shifted from road transportation to rail and short-sea shipping, which has helped to slash 2,400 tons of CO2 equivalent in 2011.
Estimated CO2 emissions: Mars Incorporated - 1.8 million metric tons CO2e (2011) / Mars Chocolate – 599,000 metric tons CO2e (2011)
Progress: Emissions reduced 5% between 2007 and 2011 (Mars Incorporated)
Future target: Cut operational emissions 25% by 2015 compared to 2007 baseline
Mars has failed to respond to CDP requests to report CO2 emissions, but has communicated levels in its recently published Principles In Action Summary 2011.
The company says that 56% of total GHG emissions relate to products and services it purchases and agricultural raw materials.
Mars says it is working with partners such as the University of California to reduce emissions in the supply chain.
Estimated CO2 emissions: 407,963 CO2e (2010)
Progress: 14% reduction between 2009 to 2010.
Future target: Cut 40% of emissions from operations by 2020 compared to 2007 levels
Ferrero has no obligation to report CO2 emissions to the CDP as it is a private entity - however it communicates progress in its corporate social responsibility reports.
In 2007, Ferrero set up a subsidiary called Energhe to boost efficiencies with thermal energy.
Ferrero uses mainly natural gas cogeneration for energy at its plants, but also uses liquid biomass cogeneration and some photovoliac and windpower.
Also in 2007, Ferrero partnered with energy company Egea, to create a high efficiency cogeneration plant “Alba power”.
This tele-heating scheme uses hot water as a heat fluid transfer to provide all the energy to heat the city of Alba in Italy, including Ferrero’s factory.
*Carbon Disclosures Project Scope 1&2 emissions
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| 0.931648 | 992 | 3.1875 | 3 |
One of the most interesting parts of astrology is learning about aspects planets form to one another as they're moving through the sky, or transiting, and how these planets affect the planets in your own individual birth chart.
There are many aspects in astrology, but the main ones are:
The Conjunction: This occurs when two planets are in the same sign and come within three degrees of one another. Conjunctions double the energy of that planet, so all the qualities associated with them will seem even more powerful.
The Opposition: This occurs when one planet is exactly opposite a particular planet or point in the chart. An opposition often feels like two forces pulling in opposite directions, and has the effect of dividing your focus.
The Square: Squares occur when one planet is 90 degrees away from another planet. They are considered challenging aspects because they feel like two forces that simply don't get along. One side wants what it wants now, and so does the other. Oftentimes, squares come about to give us challenges to overcome. This builds confidence over time.
The Trine: Trines occur when two planets are 120 degrees away from one another. This is considered a harmonious aspect because trines facilitate the exchange of energy, making it easier to meet new people, make more money, or achieve your goals. However, too much of a good thing can be detrimental, as you never have to overcome anything on your own or learn anything new.
The Sextile: A sextile occurs when two planets are 60 degrees from one another. Though slightly less strong then trines or squares, they also facilitate the flow of energy and are considered positive in nature.
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| 0.960154 | 342 | 2.921875 | 3 |
From Egyptian mummies to Ötzi the Iceman, human remains are a common, if macabre, feature of museum exhibits. Writing in Clinical Anatomy, Dr. Philippe Charlier explores the argument that curators have an ethical obligation to return these bodies to their native communities for burial.
The recent case of the ‘Irish Giant’ Charles Byrne reveals that this is not an issue limited to cadavers from pre-antiquity. Byrne found celebrity in the 1780s and while his skeleton remains in the Royal College of Surgeons in London, ethics experts argue his remains should be buried at sea in accordance with his wishes.
Dr. Charlier argues that human remains in museums and scientific institutions can be divided into four categories, ‘ethnographical elements’ such as hair samples with no certain identification; anatomical remains such as whole skeletons or skulls; archaeological remains; and more modern collections of skulls, used in now discredited studies in the early 20th century.
After exploring case study examples from around the world, Dr. Charlier argues that the concept of the body as property is anything but clear and depends heavily on local political views and the administrative status of the human remains. The author proposes that the only precise factor permitting restitution should be the name of the individual, as in the case of Charles Byrne.
“The ethical problem posed by the bones of this 18th century individual approximates to that of all human remains conserved in public collections, displayed in museums or other cultural institutions,” said Dr. Charlier. “In the near future, curators will have to choose between global conservation of all (or almost all) anthropological collections on the one hand and systematic restitution to their original communities or families on the other.”
Header Image : CC Wikepedia
Contributing Source : Wiley
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| 0.929729 | 375 | 3.125 | 3 |
Okay…so I was kind of joking about doing a regular weekly gardening column, but having spent rather longer weeding and feeding this week than I intended to, I need to get something written for Sciencebase today that wouldn’t be too demanding. So here’s a quick guide to composting your kitchen and garden waste.
These are the fast-rotting greens that should definitely be in your compost heap. These all provide moisture and the all important organic matter and nitrogen for your compost. They also quickly accumulate bacteria and fungi that start the rotting process – the aerobic decomposition process – and generate necessary heat to get the compost heap going and produce rich humus from the break down of plant cellulose and the other complex molecules
in your kitchen and garden waste.
- Grass clippings
- Tea bags
- Egg shells
- Raw vegetable peelings
- Fruit skins
- Unused salad leaves
- Dead flowers
- Rhubarb leaves
- Spent bedding plants and annuals
You must also add materials such as cardboard and fallen leaves, sawdust, twigs, bark, and crumpled or shredded paper as much more slow-to-rot materials to build up air spaces in the compost heap and to add fibrous bulk to the compost. A good balance of these so-called green and brown waste products in your compost bin, will produce nice crumbly, but moist compost that earthworms love within 9-12 months. Speaking of earthworms red wigglers (Eisenia foetida or E. andrei) are great composters.
Get the balance badly wrong (too much grass, too many banana skins) or to much leaf waste and you’ll end up with either a dry pile of leaves and twigs or a smelly sticky mass, that is rotting but on the whole anaerobically. 50:50 green to brown is about right and don’t forget to fork it occasionally, but try to keep it nice and warm too. A good compost heap will get up to 77 Celsius through the heat generated by aerobic activity. Cornell University has the figures on carbon and nitrogen content of particular waste products.
The plant remains (including any that have passed through an animal gut) contain organic compounds: sugars, starches, proteins, carbohydrates, lignins, waxes, resins and organic acids. The process of organic matter decay in the soil begins with the decomposition of sugars and starches from carbohydrates, which break down easily, while the remaining cellulose and lignin break down more slowly.
The overall humification process leads to humus, which is a stable organic substance that essentially decays no further but fertilises soil with which it is mixed and provides nutrients for the next generation of plant growth.
There are some things you should not add to a compost heap or bin, partly because they reduce the quality of the compost, lead to the spread of weeds, or attract rats, foxes, and cats:
- Cooked vegetables
- Dairy products, particularly lumps of cheese
- Animal and human waste
- Perennial weeds and seed heads
- Sanitary and infant hygiene products
Of course, if you have chickens or goats to feed (we don’t…yet) then most of your kitchen scraps can be used to augment their growth rather than feeding the soil. Chicken guano is great for compost heaps by the way, full of nitrogen and phosphorus and minerals. As too is fairly well-rotted horse manure, but don’t add too a high a proportion.
Finally, a compost heap needs potassium and trace minerals, such as calcium, iron, boron, and copper. These are all essential to microbial metabolism and are usually present in sufficient quantities in the waste materials you add to your heap.
Compost also needs phosphorus and adding a source can help the composting process considerably. It’s a very good idea to make sure there’s a good supply of this essential element being added regularly to your compost bin. There’s no need to rush out to the garden centre to pick up a bottle of “phosphorus”, you release adequate quantities at just the right concentration, together with nitrogen in your urine. I don’t need to spell it out do I? Just make sure the neighbours don’t get a nasty surprise and if you’re a female gardener perhaps invest in a SheWee…
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| 0.93217 | 922 | 2.890625 | 3 |
There are two algorithms for computing the prime form of a Pitch Class Set. The first was introduced by Allen Forte in The Structure of Atonal Music and the second is used by John Rahn in his book Basic Atonal Theory and is also used by Joseph N. Straus in his Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory.
The difference between the two algorithms is apparent when examining Pitch Class Set 6-31. The Prime Form using the Forte algorithm is (0,1,3,5,8,9), and the prime form using the Rahn algorithm is (0,1,4,5,7,9). As you can see, the Forte algorithm puts a priority on making the small numbers smaller (i.e. 3 instead of 4), whereas the Rahn algorithm wants the larger numbers to be smaller (i.e. 7 instead of 8).
Which is better? Well, it depends on who you ask. Computer programmers and computer music people will typically prefer the Rahn algorithm because it is computationally more elegant. However, the Forte algorithm has the more established pedigree, and so it tends to be preferred by academics.
Fortunately, this is usually a minor issue because it only affects the following 5 sets:
|Pitch Class Set||Forte Prime||Rahn Prime|
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| 0.933242 | 271 | 2.921875 | 3 |
From echoing mausoleums and groaning icebergs to reverberating stalactites and humming sand dunes, the world is awash in majestic hymns. Some of the most glorious sounds are crafted by the marvels of human architecture, but many others are natural splendors, songs caroled by Mother Nature herself.
But what are the grandest sounds of them all? That's what acoustic engineer Trevor Cox wanted to find out. So he embarked on an incredible journey led not by his eyes, but by his ears, to discover the most compelling sounds on Earth: the sonic wonders of the world.
"They're places that you want to visit not for the more typical reason, that they've got beautiful views, but because they've got beautiful sounds," he said, according to the Smithsonian.
A few of the destinations Cox has identified are easy guesses. Take, for instance, the famous St. Paul's Cathedral in London, which houses a room called the Whispering Gallery. This echoing chamber is so flawlessly spherical that sounds whispered against one wall can be heard clear across the room against the opposite wall, and with near-perfect clarity.
Other destinations, though, are not so well-known. A Cold War-era spy listening station in Berlin, used by British and American spies to listen in on East German radio communications, operates in a fashion similar to the Whispering Gallery. Its walls, too, are spherical, creating an effect equal to (if not greater than) the one at St. Paul's. But the spy station has an additional fascinating effect: By making noise in the center of the room, bizarre distortions can be created from the sounds bouncing off all the walls in equal measure. You can listen to a clip of these distortions thanks to the Smithsonian here:
Perhaps the most interesting sounds on the planet, though, are those that have a natural component. Cox's acoustic travels have led him as far afield as Iceland, where he encountered icebergs that groan and croak, and the Mojave Desert, where sand dunes hum eerily when small avalanches of sand cascade down their slopes. He has visited a specialized organ built into a cave in Virginia which harnesses the reverberations of stalactites, and he has meditated in an Egyptian canyon that might just be one of the quietest places on Earth.
Cox has also listened in on the vocalizations of living things. One of the most unusual voices in the animal kingdom, he says, belongs to the bearded seal.
"The bearded seal produces incredibly complex vocalizations, with the long drawn out glissandos that trill and spiral down in frequency," Cox wrote.
You can listen to these alien-like vocalizations from the male seals here:
So which sounds are the best of the best? It's difficult to pick and choose. Cox's primary aim is just to inspire others to explore the world themselves, to travel with a new kind of tourism in mind: acoustic tourism.
You can view all of the places Cox has explored at his website, and even vote on which ones you think are the most wondrous.
Related on MNN:
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| 0.967272 | 647 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Fiber May Cut Risk of Kidney Cancer
Eating plenty of fiber and fiber-rich foods may reduce the risk of kidney cancer among those at a healthy weight, suggests a large new study of almost half a million people. The study was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
AICR’s expert report and its updates concluded that excess body fat increases kidney cancer risk; the limited evidence linking diet to risk has produced inconsistent findings. The new study investigated renal cell carcinoma, the most common type of kidney cancer.
The study used data from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study: Participants filled out answers about their diet and lifestyle when they entered the study in 1995-96. The researchers divided participants into five groups, depending upon how much fiber they consumed. After an average of nine years, participants who consumed the most dietary fiber had a 15 to 20 percent lower risk of kidney cancer compared to those who ate the least. When the study analyzed fiber intake by foods, legumes independently linked to lower risk. Comparing the highest to lowest conusming groups, the study also found that whole grains along with the cruciferous vegetables cauliflower, broccoli and Brussels sprouts also linked to reduced risk of kidney cancer.
This association held when the researchers adjusted for sex, race, alcohol intake, and a history of hypertension. But when the study adjusted for weight, they found a difference: there was link between fiber intake and lower risk of kidney cancer among those who were of normal weight and overweight (BMI less than 30), but not among people who were obese (a BMI over 30 or higher). There was also no association seen among participants with a history of diabetes.
It’s possible that fiber plays a role on cancer risk through its positive effect on obesity, insulin-related factors and blood glucose, note the authors.
Source: Carrie R Daniel et al. “Intake of fiber and fiber-rich plant foods is associated with a lower risk of renal cell carcinoma in a large US cohort.” Am J Clin Nutr May 2013
Published on 04/24/2013
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| 0.961663 | 431 | 2.59375 | 3 |
After setting the all-time record for the lowest recorded pressure in the Atlantic basin as a powerful Category 5 hurricane in the western Caribbean, Hurricane Wilma weakened to a still-powerful Category 4 storm. On October 21, 2005, Wilma slowly crossed over Cozumel as a strong Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds reported at up to 230 kilometers per hour (144 miles per hour) by the National Hurricane Center (NHC). The center of Wilma then drifted over the far northeastern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula delivering torrential rains and strong winds.
Before being caught up in the westerlies, Wilma stalled out over the Yucatan, resulting in a sustained period of heavy rain and flooding. The rainfall was observed by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center provides estimates of rainfall over the global tropics. MPA rainfall totals due solely to Wilma are shown for October 17-25, 2005, with storm symbols marking the storm track. Rainfall totals on the order of 300 to 400 millimeters (12 to 16 inches: darker red areas) are located over the northeastern part of the Yucatan Peninsula.
After drifting over the Yucatan and weakening to a Category 2 storm, Wilma was picked up by a mid-latitude weather system known as a “trough.” The storm accelerated off to the northeast across the southeastern Gulf of Mexico toward Florida, where it made landfall on the morning of October 24 just south of Marco Island. Wilma raced across southern Florida with winds in excess of 160 km/hr (100 mph) in just 6 hours. This quick transit kept rainfall totals down. MPA rainfall amounts over Florida are generally 150 mm (6 inches or less: green areas).
TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA.
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| 0.935032 | 405 | 3.078125 | 3 |
The National Soil Survey Handbook (NSSH) is a subdivision of the NRCS directives system. It consists of parts 600 through 659 of Title 430, Soil Survey. The NSSH provides the main operational and procedural guidance for conducting the NRCS portion of the National Cooperative Soil Survey program.
Several part numbers are intentionally omitted to allow for expansion. The format is intended to allow flexibility for additions and updates and to provide an overall structure for all soil survey handbooks within the 600 series of the NRCS directives system.
Staff at the National Soil Survey Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, are the primary editors of the NSSH. Comments or questions on this handbook should be addressed to the National Leader for Soil Survey Standards at the National Soil Survey Center.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. National soil survey handbook, title 430-VI. http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/ref/?cid=nrcs142p2_054242 accessed (month/day/year).
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| 0.818814 | 239 | 2.703125 | 3 |
- App Store Info
DescriptionHebrew (עִבְרִית, ‘Ivrit) is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Hebrew in its modern form is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel while Classical Hebrew has been used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world for over two millennia. It is one of the official languages of Israel, along with Arabic. Ancient Hebrew is also the liturgical tongue of the Samaritans, while modern Hebrew or Palestinian Arabic is their vernacular, though today about 700 Samaritans remain. As a foreign language it is studied mostly by Jews and students of Judaism and Israel, archaeologists and linguists specializing in the Middle East and its civilizations, by theologians, and in Christian seminaries.
The modern word "Hebrew" is derived from the word "ivri" which in turn may be based upon the root "`avar" (עבר) meaning "to cross over". The related name Ever occurs in Genesis 10:21 and possibly means "the one who traverses". In the Bible "Hebrew" is called Yehudith (יהודית) because Judah (Yehuda) was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation, late 8th century BCE (Is 36, 2 Kings 18). In Isaiah 19:18, it is also called the "Language of Canaan" (שְׂפַת כְּנַעַן).
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http://www.appspy.com/app/154522/hebrew
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| 0.958443 | 325 | 3.09375 | 3 |
My first two science loves are, in order, astronomy and geology. If you combine the two your options are limited. You can observe the Earth from space, you can collect meteorites, or you can soak in the beauty of landscapes on other worlds provided by spacecraft.
I have a deep affection for all three, and which one I like best depends on when you catch me. For example, today, I’m fond of that last one, due to this gorgeous picture taken of ridges and gullies on Mars:
This shot shows some of the terrain (or aresain or whatever term you use for Mars) inside Gasa crater, a 7 kilometer (4 mile) wide crater in the southern mid-latitude of the red planet. Weirdly, Gasa sits inside a larger 20-km-wide crater; whatever impact formed it happened in the same place as a larger impact a long time before. Gasa is young, probably less than two million years old.
The edge of Gasa is heavily scalloped, clearly caused by the rim eroding away. There’s a lot of carbon dioxide ice in this location, much of it beneath the surface. Every summer the ground warms up, the ice sublimates (turns directly into a gas) and some of the crater rim collapses inward.
Over time this forms gullies, erosional channels. They’re not terribly hard to find in some craters, since they look like, well, gullies: nearly straight channels in the crater wall dug out by material flowing downhill. There are fan-shaped regions surrounding them, and in the top image, which has been color enhanced, the fans are bluish, showing fresh deposits of carbon dioxide.
How fresh? This picture was taken in the austral spring of Mars, and those deposits weren’t there the year before! So the CO2 ice was laid down last winter in the Martian southern hemisphere, just months ago.
Mars is not a dead planet, at least not geologically. It changes year by year, even month by month.
Here’s a close-up, taken from the full-res image:
You can see how sharp the ridges are. The Sun is shining down from the upper left, and the tops of the ridges look like a knife’s edge. You can also see boulders dotting the landscape as well, casting long shadows. That’s convenient, since the size of the boulders can be directly measured, and the angle of sunlight is known. That means the slope of the ridges can be determined, too. It’s amazing what you can squeeze out of an image like this.
It gets better, too. Here is a wider shot, showing more of the crater rim:
See how the scalloped region with gullies is on the right? That’s the northern rim of the crater. Now think this through: In the southern hemisphere summer, when it’s warmer, the Sun will be shining more directly into the northern rim of the crater (just like having southern exposure in a house in the northern hemisphere on Earth gets you more sunlight). That’s why there’s more erosion there on the northern rim; the ground gets warmer and frees more carbon dioxide. As you look around the crater rim in both directions (east and west, heading south) the scalloping gets weaker, because the ground doesn’t get as much direct sunlight, and so is somewhat cooler.
That’s evidence of seasonal variation in the erosion, just like you’d see on Earth!
Mars is such an odd place. Thick gray basaltic sand is everywhere, covered itself by fine dust (tinged red due to iron oxide: rust). Cratered, battered, barely holding an atmosphere, yet it still has ways of reminding us of home. Comparative planetology is a fascinating field.
Huh. I may have to make that Number 3 on my list.
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/03/29/mars_gullies_channels_carved_into_a_crater_rim_less_than_a_year_ago.html
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| 0.940872 | 833 | 3.09375 | 3 |
The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and NOAA Fisheries remind the community that sea turtles remain protected under State and Federal laws. In Hawaii, sea turtles are protected by the Hawaii Revised Statutes (Chapter 195D) and Hawaii Administrative Rules (13-124).
Although Federal and State wildlife conservation laws differ in some respects, all prohibit actions that can harm, injure, kill, or otherwise disturb sea turtles without a permit.
The two types of sea turtles most frequently observed in Hawaii nearshore waters are the green and hawksbill sea turtle.
The green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) is listed as threatened and the hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Three other listed species – loggerhead, leatherback, and olive ridley sea turtles – generally inhabit offshore environments in the region and are very rarely seen in Hawaii’s coastal waters.
“We want to remind the community that all sea turtles are still protected, and that both State and Federal consequences apply to anyone harming a green sea turtle,” said DLNR Chairperson William J. Aila, Jr.
The public is urged to act responsibly and not attempt to touch, disturb, feed, pursue, ride, harass, harm, or otherwise injure these animals.
On Feb. 16, 2012, NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (jointly referred to as the Services) received a petition to classify the Hawaii population of green sea turtle as a Distinct Population Segment (DPS) and evaluate that population for de-listing under the ESA.
The contents of this petition are currently being reviewed to determine if the petition warrants further consideration. If so, a scientific review of the status of the species will be initiated.
While any person or organization may submit a petition to list or de-list a species, this action alone does not affect the legal status of that species. If the Services propose any changes to the listing status of green sea turtles in the future, public comments will be requested and considered before any final decisions about de-listing are made.
“Even though a petition for de-listing was filed, green sea turtles in Hawaii remain protected under State and Federal laws,” Aila said.
Sea turtles across the U.S. face threats including, but not limited to, illegal harvest, destruction and alteration of nesting and feeding areas, incidental capture in commercial and recreational fisheries, entanglement in and ingestion of marine debris, disease, vessel strikes, and climate change.
To effectively address all threats to sea turtles, the Services have developed recovery plans to direct research and management efforts for each sea turtle species.
In Hawaii, on-going sea turtle recovery activities include efforts to reduce and eliminate direct harvest of, and interactions with, sea turtles in nearshore and commercial fisheries; eliminate the threat of fibropapilloma (a tumor disease that can be harmful to sea turtles); protect important nesting and feeding areas; and reduce impacts from boat strikes, disturbance, and marine debris.
To report a sea turtle in distress, call (808) 983-5730 or visit NOAA’s sea turtle stranding website at: www.pifsc.noaa.gov/psd/mtrp/tu…
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| 0.908739 | 707 | 3.40625 | 3 |
Syria is one of the five countries that have not ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention, which outlaws production, storage and use of poison gas. The U.S. now believes that President Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime has used the chemical agent sarin against its own civilians.
The news isn’t all too shocking. After all, last year Syrian officials did not deny that they possessed such weapons and threatened to use them in the event of “foreign intervention” in Syria’s ongoing conflict with domestic opposition forces.
Despite all this talk about chemical weapons, how much do we really know about them? Here are 5 things you should know about chemical weapons and their use in Syria:
1. The History Of Chemical Weapons
The first recorded use of chemical weapons was by Germany. In 1915, the country used poison gas during the second battle of Ypres, resulting in an estimated 6,000 deaths. Subsequently, both Germany and the Allied Forces used this weapon in World War 1, resulting in an estimated 90,000 deaths.
Since then, Italy has used mustard gas in Ethiopia, Japan has used various gases in China, and the U.S. has used Agent Orange in Vietnam. More recently, Iraq used various gases against Iran and the Kurds in the 1980′s; the Aum Shinrikyo cult in Japan launched a sarin attack in the Japanese metro in 1995, and now the Assad regime has allegedly attacked its own people in Syria.
2. What Chemical Weapons Do to People
According to Mother Jones:
Chemical weapons wreak havoc on the body, but are not always lethal. Nerve and choking agents hit hardest. When you inhale a choking agent—such as chlorine gas, which was used extensively during World War I—it forces fluid into your lungs, and that basically drowns you. Nerve agents can kill within minutes, and cause twitching and seizures prior to death. Symptoms of mustard gas include skin blistering, burning eyes, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and swelling of the respiratory tract that can seal the victim’s airway. They take 2 to 24 hours to appear and are not usually lethal if adequate health care is available.
3. What Chemical Weapons Are Made of
Outlawing chemical weapons is tricky because many of the ingredients that go into making them are routinely traded internationally. The blue in denim jeans is one example; thiodiglycol is the quickest way to make mustard gas, but if it were banned, we’d have to do without those jeans. Nerve gas is basically bug spray used on people rather than bugs. Outlawing these chemicals, known as pre-cursors, is out of the question because many of them are widely used in manufacturing.
4. The Chemical Agent Allegedly Used in Syria
Sarin gas was the chemical weapon that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad allegedly deployed against rebel neighborhoods in Damascus. Sarin is a vicious poison that attacks the nervous system and can kill a person in five to ten minutes.
“Just a fraction of an ounce of this stuff, of sarin, on your skin could potentially be fatal,” said CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta in an interview Thursday on ‘Piers Morgan Tonight.’ “It can be absorbed across the skin, it can be absorbed into the lungs, across the eyes. It’s pretty gruesome stuff.”
“It is so indiscriminate. It is tasteless. It is odorless. You can’t see it. And, so you don’t even know that you’ve been exposed, necessarily, until you suddenly start to get sick. And then, it starts pretty quickly and can degrade pretty quickly as well,” Gupta explained.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), exposure can result in a myriad of symptoms, including contracted, pinpoint pupils, foaming at the mouth, muscle rigidity, respiratory difficulty and failure, burning eyes, confusion, drowsiness, weakness, nausea, vomiting and other symptoms of nervous system failure.
Scientists in Nazi Germany first synthesized sarin in 1938, intending to use it as a pesticide. After discovering its potency as a human poison, even the Nazis decided it was too vicious a weapon to deploy.
5. Who Still Has Chemical Weapons
The crisis over Syria has raised fresh questions about how that country built its vast arsenal of chemical and biological weapons. Iran, Russia and North Korea have been accused of supplying Syria with materials and expertise. But back in the ’70s and ’80s, Damascus is believed to have received a helping hand from western business.
As of February 2013, Albania, India, Iraq, Libya, Russia and the United States still have declared chemical weapons stockpiles. This doesn’t count the five countries that have not signed nor ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention, or nations that may have secret stockpiles.
An Impetus for War?
It is clear that chemical weapons are ghastly tools of war, but they aren’t Syria’s worst problem. According to experts, at least 100,000 people have died in Syria since the conflict began, and another 2 million are currently refugees. Of those who’ve died, just about 1,500 may have died as a result of chemical weapons.
Is launching military action against Syria the best way to respond to their use?
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http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/18643-5-things-you-should-know-about-chemical-weapons
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| 0.956302 | 1,123 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2004 April 25
Explanation: These bacteria could survive on another planet. In an Earth lab, Deinococcus radiodurans (D. rad) survive extreme levels of radiation, extreme temperatures, dehydration, and exposure to genotoxic chemicals. Amazingly, they even have the ability to repair their own DNA, usually with 48 hours. Known as an extremophile, bacteria such as D. rad are of interest to NASA partly because they might be adaptable to help human astronauts survive on other worlds. A recent map of D. rad's DNA might allow biologists to augment their survival skills with the ability to produce medicine, clean water, and oxygen. Already they have been genetically engineered to help clean up spills of toxic mercury. Likely one of the oldest surviving life forms, D. rad was discovered by accident in the 1950s when scientists investigating food preservation techniques could not easily kill it. Pictured above, Deinococcus radiodurans grow quietly in a dish.
Authors & editors:
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040425.html
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en
| 0.917542 | 280 | 3.8125 | 4 |
When dropping Jamie off at preschool, Jamie's grandmother,
Mrs. Edwards, usually appeared to have a stern expression. Jamie's
teacher, Miss Vickie, found Mrs. Edwards to be aloof and thought she
seemed uncomfortable with the day-in and day-out routine of transporting
Jamie. When the pair would arrive at school, Miss Vickie would exchange
only a few spoken words with Mrs. Edwards. It seemed as though the two
adults never moved past the awkwardness of meeting someone for the first
Although most early childhood providers realize the importance of
developing and maintaining respectful and collaborative partnerships
with their students and families, it can be difficult to establish and
maintain these relationships with parents, extended family, or unrelated
guardian caregivers. When people are called into early childhood
teaching professions, they generally want to work with children and
often do not realize it means working with both children and adults
(Gonzalez-Mena & Eyer, 2004). As the traditional nuclear family
structure is less common today than diverse or blended families,
educators are more unsure of how to properly respond and to what degree
family collaboration can occur. Nevertheless, all families share the
expectation of a "partnership" with their children's
teachers that will enhance the children's early learning
experience. Understandings about what that "partnership"
should be, however, can vary greatly between parents(s), extended
family, and/or unrelated guardian caregivers.
The Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP), led by Heather Weiss
(Weiss, Caspe, & Lopez, 2006), suggests that a shared belief of
active involvement between families and teachers can lead to greater
exchanges of information, improved demonstration and modeling of
respect, and clearer learning expectations, which will positively
influence a child's early learning experiences. With this said, it
becomes more important than ever that teachers, parents, extended
families, and unrelated guardian caregivers are involved in a mutual
understanding of collaboration and partnership. In what ways can early
childhood providers better communicate and build relationships with
families? This article will investigate a teacher-family partnership
contract as one method to help communicate about and prioritize
teacher-family collaboration as a valuable component of a child's
early learning success. Four aspects of building a partnership contract
will be examined: benefits of having a written partnership contract, the
early childhood educator's role, the family's role, and the
three main components of a teacher-family partnership contract.
Why Is a Teacher-Family Partnership Contract Beneficial?
The teacher-family partnership contract is a formalized written
document specifying a collaboration agreement
that will clearly indentify the roles of the family and the teacher
in supporting a child's early learning experiences. It is adapted
from the research on learning contracts from Huff and Johnson (1998) and
Parsons and Durst (1982), along with research on teacher-family
partnership from Ratcliff and Hunt (2009). The word "family"
refers to all participants involved in the direct guardianship and care
of the child. The agreement will help family members to understand that
they are respected and recognized as vital partners in their
children's learning. Too often, family members involved in the
daily care of children feel awkward in a partnership role, or not up to
the task of offering suggestions. This written contract should clearly
specify that family suggestions or comments are welcome, and reiterate
that no one should feel disrespected or unqualified to engage in their
child's learning experiences.
While Miss Vickie was drawing conclusions about Jamie's
grandmother, Jamie's grandmother was drawing conclusions about Miss
Vickie. Without a shared belief for involvement, communication is often
broken and a relationship does not grow (Weiss et al., 2006). A
teacher-family partnership contract could help to reduce tension and
Miss Vickie was pleasantly surprised that Jamie's grandmother
was receptive to her invitation to talk about a teacher-family contract.
Once an invitation to discuss a teacher-family partnership is offered,
the teacher can begin the collaboration process and misconceptions can
Miss Vickie was able to tell Jamie's grandmother that she
values and understands her important role and that she relies on her
contribution to Jamie's education. In this example, the
teacher-family contract was the catalyst to begin building a partnership
between the child's guardian caregiver and the teacher.
Conversations around the contract agreement remind teachers that the
child's first teacher is their parent or guardian caregiver, and
they may view this relationship as a supportive springboard for parents
to participate in choosing learning goals and support school success
(Weissbourd, Weissbourd, & O'Carroll, 2010).
In the words of Fred Rogers (2003), we are called to act: "We
live in a worm in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy
to say 'It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not
my problem.' Then there are those who see the need and respond. I
consider those people my heroes." This action can begin with a
teacher-family contract that promises to incorporate families as
partners in their children's learning.
What Is the Early Childhood Providers Role in a Teacher-Family
The role of the teacher in facilitating a teacher-family
partnership contract is to first engage the family as active
participants in all aspects of a child's education (Hearron &
Hildebrand, 2011; Keyser, 2006; Souto-Manning & Swick, 2006). Once a
family is made aware that they are valuable contributors to the
learning, the teacher can begin sharing goals that can lead to
involvement or increase the family's ownership of the learning
experience. To assist in engaging families, the teacher should consider
the environment and their personal attitudes, and consider involving
families in decisions without instigating conflict.
Once families are vested into their children's learning and
the involvement is present, teachers can expect that they will
experience better teaching effectiveness, fewer conflicts with families,
and a school environment that fosters respect, support, and greater
What Is the Family's Role in a Teacher-Family Partnership
The family role in the partnership contract is also very important,
but sometimes difficult to encourage if the family is more removed than
most (Hearron & Hildebrand, 2011; Keyser, 2006; Souto-Manning &
Swick, 2006). Often, teachers can help more reluctant families share
valuable information and insight about family history, dynamic, culture,
and realistic goals, based on newly gained knowledge of school standards
from the family's perspective.
Once families become involved in a teacher-family partnership
contract, they will benefit from having the sense of security and
respect from the teacher, have greater understanding of regulations and
standards, and feel welcome as a part of their children's learning
experience. While this may be a new and unfamiliar role for some
families, it will improve the teacher-family relationship and help
foster better receptivity toward learning at school and home.
How Is a Teacher-Family Partnership Contract Developed?
Although the following quote is humorous, it does speak to the
trust and open communications called for by a contract of this nature:
If you promise not to believe everything your child says happens at
school, I'll promise not to believe everything he says happens at
Any contract between a child's family and the teacher should
include three components: the teacher's role, the family's
role, and combined agreements. All three components should be brief in
nature and speak to general ideas that can be altered or adapted as
needed. The purpose of the contract is to provide the means to bond for
the benefit of the child and not to create a legal binding document.
Lemieux (2001) calls contracts tools of both empowerment and
Family/Teacher Contract Between: Jamie's Family and Teacher
1. Teacher's role.
I, Miss Vickie (Jamie's teacher), will do my best to:
* Communicate and listen openly to concerns, opinions, and
* Provide information and include parents/guardians in decisions
concerning their child.
2. Family's role. We, Lee and Nancy Edwards (Jamie's
grandparents), will do our best to:
* Provide the teacher with background information about our family
dynamic, history, and cultural beliefs that could affect our child.
* Share our concerns and goals for our child in an open manner with
3. Combined agreement. Together, we will do our best to:
* Communicate openly and always place the focus on building a
supportive, nurturing, cooperative environment for Jamie to learn and
* Place the needs of the child before any personal agendas.
The actual contract contents should be brief, sincere, and based on
what is appropriate for the teachers and families involved. A
teacher-family contract can be the beginning, renewal, or validation of
a strong partnership (Richman & Cook, 2004).
After Miss Vickie had asked Jamie's grandmother, Mrs. Edwards,
to sit with her and consider a teacher-family contract, she was relieved
to learn that Mrs. Edwards and her husband were very interested in
becoming involved. After reviewing and signing the contract, Nancy
Edwards realized that Miss Vickie did respect and rely on her to
contribute to Jamie's education. Her demeanor was much friendlier
and more relaxed from that day on. Miss Vickie no longer avoided her and
they developed a strong cooperative relationship that focused on
Too often, written paper contracts are considered too formal or
"binding" and tend to put people on the defensive. However,
they can be a positive tool, if designed thoughtfully and explained
clearly. Teachers can benefit from knowing that they can rely on
families for support while families can benefit from knowing that they
can trust the teacher. The teacher-family partnership contract is one
mechanism that will reinforce a respectful and collaborative partnership
designed to support and benefit not only the child, but also the family
and the teacher (Decker & Decker, 2005). All parties involved in
well-designed teacher-family partnership contracts will be placing
children in an environment that models healthy relationships (Keyser,
Decker, C. A., & Decker, J. R. (2005). Planning and
administering early childhood programs (8th ed., pp. 350378). Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Gonzalez-Mena, J., & Eyer, D.W. (2004). Infants, toddlers, and
caregivers: A curriculum of respectful, responsive care and education
(6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hearron, P. F., & Hildebrand, V. (2011). Management of child
development centers (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Huff, M.T., & Johnson, M. M. (1998). Empowering students in a
graduate level social work course. Journal of Social Work Education,
Keyser, J. (2006). From parents to partners: Building a
family-centered early childhood program. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.
Lemieux, C. M. (2001). Learning contracts in the classroom: Tools
for empowerment and accountability. Social Work Education, 20(2),
"'Neighbor' Fred Rogers dies at age 74."
(2003). Retrieved from http://wtae. com/news/2007669/detail.html.
Parsons, J. E., & Durst, D. (1992). Learning contracts:
Misunderstood and underutilized. The Clinical Supervisor, 10(1),
Ratcliff, N., & Hunt, G. (2009). Building teacher-family
partnerships: The role of teacher preparation programs. Education,
Richman, J., & Cook P. G. (2004). A framework for teaching
family: Development for the changing family. Journal of Teaching in
Social Work, 24(1/2), 1-18.
Souto-Manning, M., & Swick, K. J. (2006). Teachers'
beliefs about parent and family involvement: Rethinking our family
involvement paradigm. Early Childhood Education Journal, 34(2), 187-193.
Weiss, H., Caspe, M., & Lopez, M. E. (2006). Family involvement
in early childhood education. Family involvement makes a difference:
Evidence that family involvement promotes school success for every child
of every age. Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP), Spring(1), 1-8.
Weissbourd, B., Weissbourd, R., & O'Carroll, K. (2010).
Family engagement. In V. Washington & J. D. Andrews (Eds.), Children
of 2020: Creating a better tomorrow (pp. 114118). Washington, DC:
Council for Professional Recognition.
Kathleen H. Beining is Instructor of Early Childhood Education, St.
Vincent College, Latrobe, Pennsylvania.
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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| 0.929256 | 2,809 | 2.625 | 3 |
A sandstone bed strikes 067 and dips 21 degrees SE. In the bedding plane we find ripple marks trending 123 and plunging 21 degrees. What is their pitch in the bedding plane? Pitch is the angle between a line in a plane and the horizontal, measured in the plane. Thus, this problem is nothing more than determining the angle between two lines: the measured line and a horizontal line.
Right away we have a problem. A line in a plane can never plunge more steeply than the plane, and can only have a plunge equal to the dip if the line plunges exactly down dip. Since the downdip direction on the plane is 067 + 90 = 157, clearly the actual plunge of the ripple marks must be less than 21 degrees. The plunge measurement must be in error.
Almost always, the measured orientation of the line will never coincide exactly with that of the plane because of observational error and variability in the data. So the solution is to plot the data as measured and then adjust accordingly.
1. Plot the plane and the line.
2. It turns out the line as measured lies about 3 degrees off the plane. This is not a serious disagreement and can easily arise in actual field measurements. So plot the point on the plane nearest the measured orientation of the line (shown in blue).
3. Rotate the overlay so the bedding plane lies on a great circle, and measure the angle between a horizontal line and the line in the plane.
4. Rotate the overlay to its original position and note which strike direction the pitch is measured from.
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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https://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/structge/SL85FindPitch.HTM
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| 0.936123 | 325 | 4.125 | 4 |
Sunday, August 18th, 2013
The Queen Anne’s Revenge, the flagship of the notorious English pirate Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard, has been lying on the ocean floor off the coast of Beaufort Inlet in the Inner Banks of North Carolina since it ran aground in May 1718. It was discovered in 1996 by Intersal Inc., a private research firm that has searched for several shipwrecks under the oversight of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources (NCDCR). The wreck and all artifacts belong to the state and in 1997 NCDCR archaeologists began a long-term project of exploring, mapping and documenting the debris field.
Starting in 2006, the NCDCR’s Underwater Archaeology Branch added a program of artifact recovery to the ongoing study of the wreck site. Fifteen years after the initial discovery, the program was able to confirm that the wreck was indeed that of the Queen Anne’s Revenge, a certainty they had scrupulously avoided expressing because none of the artifacts offered a smoking gun, so to speak, like the name of the ship. The large size of the ship, the great number of loaded cannons of different makes found, French artifacts and depth markings on the stern (it was a French slaver before being captured by pirate Captain Benjamin Hornigold in 1817 who gave it to one of his crewmen, Edward Teach, to captain), a date of 1705 on a ship’s bell: all the evidence added up to this being the QAR.
More than 280,000 pieces have been brought to the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort for conservation and display, but that’s just a third of the estimated total. Now the Underwater Archaeology Branch has announced that they plan to recover the entire wreck, from dishes to weapons to the ship’s planks, by 2014.
“The project calls for the recovery of all the materials. Everything. All the weapons, all the bits of the ship, all the personal items. Everything. If it’s down there, it’s coming up,” project leader Billy Ray Morris told FoxNews.com on Wednesday.
Morris and a group of 14 marine archaeologists, technicians and restoration experts from the Underwater Archaeology Branch of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources believe the Queen Anne’s Revenge itself is a treasure trove, a unique repository of history from centuries ago. They plan to salvage the entire remains of the pirate ship by 2014. Cannon by cannon, plank by plank.
This will be a uniquely rich source of information about life on an 18th century pirate ship. There aren’t any shiny chests of treasure to hog the spotlight (Blackbeard and his crew had time to unload high value items after the ship ran aground which seems to have been a deliberate choice). It’s a treasure trove of social history with the additional cachet of association with and use by one of the famous pirates ever.
Once the wreck is salvaged, years, probably decades of conservation work will follow. Many of the artifacts can’t even be immediately identified because of concretions. Over the centuries spent in the ocean, artifacts become encrusted with sand, marine critters and other artifacts locking them together like concrete. It takes a lot of work to reveal the objects trapped in concretions. Here’s a cool example of one that has been cleaned enough to identify the different parts:
Check out the Queen Anne’s Revenge Project website for more information about the wreck, including a killer interactive site map, pictures (small ones, tragically) of the artifacts and a regularly updated blog.
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Describe the increasing level of political organization in the American colonies between 1763 and 1773. What conditions provoked each successive step?
During the period from 1763 to 1773, opposition to British actions developed from the disorganized clamor of scattered mobs to a highly organized, highly connected network of political leaders. The first signs of growing political organization arose during the Stamp Act crisis. The Loyal Nine, a group of Boston merchants, took the first step by uniting antagonistic factions in Boston and channeling their collective energy against the city's stamp distributor. Though successful, the Loyal Nine's followers worked without discipline and were unnecessarily violent. The Sons of Liberty addressed the problems of recklessness and disorganization by taking charge of the anti- British protests, adding an element of order and purpose to the actions of the masses. Finally, convinced that the masses would not ruin the colonial rights movement through unnecessary violence and disorder, the political and economic elites took control of the opposition, giving a more sophisticated and powerful voice to the masses through governmental resolutions and a policy of non- importation. The final step in increasing political organization took place in 1772, with the creation of the committees of correspondence. The committees linked political leaders throughout the colonies, enabling widespread unity of political thought and action.
The period 1763 to 1773 has been called the prelude to the American Revolution. How did events early on in this period mold the colonial perspective in regard to Anglo-American relations?
As soon as the French and Indian War came to a close, it became clear that the colonists had a distinctly different idea of the role of the British government than did the government itself. The Proclamation of 1763, which named Britain as the sole arbiter of land transactions to the west of the Appalachian Mountains, was the earliest manifestations of this conflict. The colonists saw the proclamation as a direct threat to the independence they had traditionally enjoyed on the continent, and many opposed the measure, asserting the belief that Parliament should stay out of North American affairs. The advent of the writs of assistance convinced many colonists that not only did Parliament intend to wield a strong hand in colonial life, but that that hand was prone to tyranny. Although he lost the case against the writs of assistance, James Otis hit upon precisely the ideological cornerstone that would lead the colonies up to and into revolution. The British Constitution was not a written document; it was an unwritten collection of customs and traditions guaranteeing certain rights, and therefore an abstract and fungible thing. Most British subjects assumed that all laws made by Parliament were incorporated into the Constitution, and thus that Parliament could alter the Constitution as it wished, without question. However, Otis' primary argument in front of the supreme court centered on the growing sentiment in the colonies that even Parliament could not infringe on certain basic rights. Otis contended that in the principles of government there existed certain limits "beyond which if Parliaments go, their Acts bind not." This claim echoed and helped crystallize the growing conception of the great majority of colonists as to the proper role of Parliament under the British Constitution. In the years to come, the colonists continued to complain that the British government had infringed upon this set of "inalienable" rights. This infringement was commonly claimed as the motive for revolution.
Prime Minister George Grenville advanced the argument that the colonies were "virtually represented" in Parliament. What was the basis of this theory and how did the American colonists respond to it?
The theory of virtual representation held that the members of Parliament did not only represent their specific geographical constituencies, but rather that they took into consideration the well-being of all British subjects when deliberating on legislation. During the Stamp Act crisis, Americans refuted as invalid the theory of virtual representation. In the common colonial view, unless a legislator shared, to some extent, the interests of his constituents, he could not be expected to consider their welfare. Since the needs of the American colonists differed substantially from the needs of inhabitants of England, the colonists feared that if Parliament were permitted to legislate for the colonies, its members would be easily persuaded to vote against the Americans' best interest, especially if England stood to gain. Many colonists believed that such a scenario played out in the case of the Stamp Act.
Revisionist historians often claim that the actions of the American colonists in defense of colonial rights were more a result of greed than of high-minded political ideas. What evidence is there to support this claim?
It has been claimed that many of the acts passed by the British were unnecessary and misguided, either working contrary to their intent or producing such strong backlashes that the government would have been better off not passing them. Apply this argument to the Sugar Act and the Townshend duties, detailing the intent and results of each.
Historians argue over when the colonists became emotionally committed to rebellion, but most agree that they were not prepared for revolution as of 1773. What was the common colonial view of the Anglo-American relationship in 1773 and how did the events of the years from 1763-1773 inform that view?
What were the conditions in Boston that led to its role as the center of colonial opposition British meddling?
What were Lord Hillsborough's options in responding to the Massachusetts and Virginia circular letters? What was the result of his chosen course of action and how might that result have differed had he chosen differently?
Explain the difference in interpretation of the Declaratory Act between the colonists and the British Parliament. How did this difference of opinion factor into later interaction?
What role did the British army play in the development of colonial opposition to British authority?
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Connecticut Reads 2010: The Governor’s Summer Reading Challenge journal accompanies the summer reading list that students have brought home. As educators, we hold literacy in the greatest regard, encouraging everyone to find joy in reading. Kindles and other eBook Readers (some reviewed on TopTenReviews) are now used in some schools and homes. How will this impact student reading? Listening through an audiobook requires some different skills than reading the text, but are there times when this might be worthwhile? Similarly, reading the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and viewing the movie (from Discovery Education) are both engaging to children and will provide a rich environment for exploring the alphabet.
Many teachers are also determining their reading lists. As well as books related to technology in education, I also like to find books that have been recommended just for pleasure. Our state government provides funds to support iConn: Connecticut’s Digital Library that not only provides a rich database of magazines, journals and more, but allows me to check local libraries to see if the books I want are currently available. I find the Useful Links section is especially interesting. For younger children, KidsInfoBits has audio accompanying the article text.
I also love the Project Gutenberg — it’s an old favorite established in 1992 before there were Internet browsers. I used the site recently to find a passage from Shakespeare’s Tempest. The passage I was looking for, Tricullo’s first speech, does not have the typically poem form and difficult to determine how to perform the piece. AudioBooks are also available here and I downloaded one with the cast lead by Sir Ian McKellen. I continued my Shakespeare search on Discovery Education where I found some wonderful resources for teaching Shakespeare at the high school level from Standard Deviants, an award-winning educational video producer.
Will eBooks replace the children’s picture book? Would I want to read Eric Carle’s Very Hungry Caterpillar or Demi’s A Grain of Rice? If you compare the aesthetic quality of Jan Brett’s The Mitten in its board book form and picture book form, the picture book has finer lines and a greater color palette. Purpose will determine whether to use books, audio, video, or emerging and future technologies.
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Massachusetts has reached the target it set for solar four years early, so they are upping it from the current 250 megawatts (MW) to 1600 MW by 2020.
The state had just 3 MW installed in 2007, but that changed under Governor Patrick, who established strong incentives that have led to significant cost reductions in solar electricity, creating a positive feedback loop.
Much of the growth can be attributed to the state's Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) which has a cap of 400 MW of solar. That will now be expanded.
In 2012, prices for residential solar electricity dropped 28% in Massachusetts, the second biggest decline in the US last year, says the Solar Energy Industries Association.
Also, the state's Green Communities Act, signed into law by Governor Patrick in 2008, provides grants and tech support to support solar development in municipalities. Nearly half of Massachusetts residents live in one of the 110 designated Green Communities.
Funding comes from auctions of carbon emission permits under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Towns are designated as Green Communities if they meet five clean energy benchmarks:
- Adopt a local zoning bylaw or ordinance that allows "as-of-right-siting" of renewable energy projects;
- Adopt an expedited permitting process;
- Establish a municipal energy-use baseline and a program designed to reduce use 20% within five years;
- Purchase only fuel-efficient vehicles for municipal use
- Require all new residential construction over 3,000 square-feet and all new commercial and industrial real estate construction to reduce life-cycle energy costs
This creative program also has the most aggressive targets for energy efficiency in the country through its Energy Efficiency Resource Standard (EERS), which has helped make the state #1 in the US on energy efficiency.
These targeted investments have led to economic growth and job creation. Clean energy jobs grew 11.2% from 2011-2012 and about 5000 companies employ 71,000 employees in the field, according to the 2012 Massachusetts Clean Energy Industry Report.
Installed solar in the state powers more than 37,000 homes and when the new goal is reached, solar will supply 240,000 homes.
Massachusetts ranks #6 in the nation for solar installed in 2012, #7 for total installed solar and #2 for driving down costs.
Massachusetts sits at the end of the energy pipeline, spending billions of dollars annually to import all of its fossil fuel based energy sources from places like South America, Canada and the Middle East. That is lost economic opportunity that Massachusetts stands poised to reclaim through investments in home-grown renewable energy programs.
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Over the past nine months, I learned first hand the truth of one well-worn cliché -- a picture really is worth a thousand words. In this case, it's a select group of photos of young girls from around the world that forcefully convey their struggles for basic human rights. These vivid photos tell the girls' stories so much better than even their own words that accompany them. The pictures are the core of a children's book that Plan is publishing on March 8 to mark International Women's Day. That book is aptly titled Every Day is Malala Day.
Together my colleagues and I spent hours laying out, re-arranging and then choosing the finalists from among 300 intimate pictures from Plan's extensive photo library for this book. These photos were taken by staff and volunteers who live and work in the 69 countries where Plan delivers its programs and projects -- and who meet, every day, children and families who live in poor or challenging circumstances and yet still strive to claim a better future for themselves. In the end, we narrowed the list to 30 photos that best expressed the book's mission: girls asserting that nothing, not bullets, nor other harmful practices against girls like early and forced marriage, bullying, and gender exclusion, will stop them from demanding what is rightfully theirs - especially the right to go to school.
These photos tell diverse stories. We see a forlorn child pulling a cart with her belongings on a Manila street and a girl sitting alone on a classroom bench in Myanmar. But we also witness a Kenyan girl, microphone in hand, telling a crowd of young people that, "We must shout for change." We see smiling children from Nepal, Uganda, and elsewhere raising their hands in salutes to Malala and, of course, we see Malala, herself, the now 16-year-old activist who survived a Taliban assassination attempt two years ago for daring to speak out about every girl's right to an education.
Even now, after living with this project for so long, I am moved every time I pick up the book. It is a powerful reminder of why we do what we do, especially organizations like Plan that focus on children. When it comes to girls, we know that education can turn them into empowered women who will assert their rights, and not just on International Women's Day.
When Malala was shot, I feared that the world's attention would be focused solely on her fate at the exclusion of countless other anonymous girls around the world who that same day were also suffering, and continue to suffer, from violence. Girls whose names we'll never know or hear about through news headlines. But Malala, herself, and others have made sure that we are still made aware of these girls.
Dedicated to the 65 million girls around the world who should be in classrooms, but aren't, Every Day is Malala Day provides a voice for some of those girls who are discriminated against simply because of their gender. Their words commend Malala's bravery and leadership, but we also see and hear their optimism, energy, and determination.
It is fitting that we are launching this book on International Women's Day. For more than 100 years, the world has annually marked this important occasion, but its annual themes -- this year's theme being "equality for women is progress for all" -- rarely reflect the unique and distinct plight of young girls who are themselves on their way to becoming women.
Originally, International Women's Day took up such basic causes as working conditions, better wages, and women's right to vote. Progress has been made. But 100 years on, there are still harmful, and often fatal, practices and norms impacting women, and particularly girls, in the world. Along with being denied the right to an education from elementary through secondary school, too many girls receive inadequate health care, are forced into dangerous labour, and experience gender-based violence. They are often compelled to marry someone not of their choosing, when they are far too young.
So in thinking about this book in light of International Women's Day, I imagine and hope several things. I imagine adults, particularly mothers, sitting with their sons and daughters - here in Canada or in other parts of the world -- reading it together. I hope it inspires more girls to approach womanhood with the courage, determination, and confidence to insist on their fundamental human rights.
I hope people are reminded that ending gender inequality, stopping violence against females of all ages, and guaranteeing girls' educational opportunities continue to be universal struggles.
Finally, I hope it will prompt young people and adults, men and women, to talk more about the challenges girls face today and about what we all can do to accelerate efforts to confront these remaining challenges - and end them.
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The Pedagogical Paradox
Two human inventions can be regarded as the most difficult, — namely, the art of government and that of education; and yet we are still contending among ourselves as to their fundamental nature.
– Immanuel Kant
Kant here is referring to the pedagogical paradox presented by education. This paradox of moral authority most often occurs in the context of schooling: How does education, in the sense of external regulation), lead to the internally regulated autonomy of thought and action? Stated more generally, the pedagogical paradox is assuming the existence of something for which education is the precondition. For example, can someone declare oneself to be a biologist and launch an independent course of inquiry without recognized credentials? The pedagogical paradox is also a question of legitimate knowledge; in this case, who may speak the truth of biology?
I am not interested in defining education since, as Kant implies, that is a fool’s errand, but rather in focusing on the ongoing deliberations implied by the verb “educates.” As problematic as education may be, it is an unavoidable constituent of everyday life. This sentiment was expressed in passing by Edgar Hewett in his 1905 article when he wrote: “Pedagogy has no special body of facts or phenomena of its own as material for investigation; it depends for its structure on the conclusions of contributory sciences. Its ‘sphere of influence’ being coextensive with all human welfare, no necessity exists for examining limits, but emphasis must constantly be placed on organization.” Or think here of Garfinkel’s (2002) reworking of ethnomethodology around “instruction and instructed actions.”
Why an old concept for a new phenomenon? Beyond the substantive problems of figuring out how an equipment or recalcitrant bacteria can be made to function (an interesting question in itself), there is the question of which experiences inform the sentiments of technologists. A broad form of this question might ask about the role of the bildungsroman, taken broadly, in the formation of the intellectual sensibilities. One thinks of Goethe’s novel Elective Affinities in which human relations are described in terms of chemical bonding subject to combination and recombination. The metaphor put forth in the early 19th century to explain a fictitious affair of the heart is taken up by Max Weber in the early 20th century to explain the complex interplay between capitalism and protestantism across several centuries. But, the metaphor also thinks its way through our conceptualization of DNA.
A mundane, yet profound, example of how experience informs the sentiments might be: What, if anything, is to be written in a laboratory notebook? As Shapin and Shaffer’s work on Boyle’s (1985) experimental program demonstrates, the success or failure of an experimental program rests on the literary technologies used to effect the virtual witnessing of experiments. Boyles’s literary technology describes how the end of an experiment is to be witnessed both substantively and sentimentally by specifying what should be recorded and what should be excluded, as well as the tone of voice to be assumed and a genre to be used. Taken together, this technology regulated who may, and may not, participate in the experimental program by serving as witness and de facto gatekeeper. This prevented those lacking the sensibilities and social standing of Boyle’s circle, such as Boyle’s technicians (1989) from being credited or participating.
Today in the United States, the common pattern for training laboratory scientists involves a lengthy apprenticeship. This often begins in high school (or earlier through science fairs) and extends through graduate school and post-graduate training, but this pattern was established by Justus Liebig early in the 19th century. In Liebig’s laboratory, apprentices practiced organic analysis using a specific apparatus, the Kaliapparat, to analyze the amount of carbon in organic compounds. This was one of the key breakthroughs that allowed the development of organic chemistry. Apprentices in Liebig’s laboratory used the Kaliapparat to work within experimental programs outlined by Liebig as especially promising, making only small and measured forays beyond the ground prepared by Liebig. Liebig’s laboratory was key to the spawning of the German chemical industry (Holmes 1989). It was one of Liebig’s students, trained in his cautious and thorough approach, who discovered aniline, which would a few years later launch the German chemical industry.
Liebig was an adolescent during 1816, the year without a summer. This cataclysmic year was marked by a volcanic winter precipitated by the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia. No doubt this formative experience played a guiding role in Liebig’s later experimental program. Space prohibits tracing the contours here, but throughout his career, Liebig pursued scientific inquiry for the manufacture of useful inventions, not for disinterested inquiry. This led Liebig to develop among other products, Oxo cubes and Marmite. But his most influential contribution by far was his discovery of nitrogen’s role in plant growth and his dissemination of Sprengel’s law of the minimum. Without Liebig, modern agriculture could not exist in its present configuration.
Synthetic chemistry is often invoked as a model and precursor for the development of synthetic biology, the most formative discipline influencing DIYbio (Yeh and Lim 2007; Keasling 2008). Synthetic biology has as also positioned itself as a discipline of combination and recombination, using DNA to effect the creation of synthetic organisms (GMOs) to further the useful inventions. The continuation is also seen in DIYbio projects deriving from synthetic biology, the most well-known being the Glowing Plant project. But there are many other projects at varying stages of development, proceeding along the same lines such as: work with algae bioreactors, open source GMO crops with creative commons style licensing, and GMO honeybees resistant to colony collapse disorder.
In an earlier post, I argued that the frontier metaphor loomed large in the controversy over the Glowing Plant project. Anthony Evans, the project founder, explained in the Kickstarter video that “our generation’s frontier is synthetic biology, our guide nature itself.” Evans’ call to let nature be our guide invites us to consider that the nature of Evans’ experience is not the nature of Liebig’s experience. The irony here is that Evans’ 21st century nature has been formed and cultured in no small measure by the work of Liebig and those in his laboratory. Yet, nature, however cultured it may be, is still a force that educates and shapes the dispositions and sensibilities of amateur biologists, as strongly as the events of 1816 shaped Liebig or ideas about the naturalness of class difference shape Boyle’s program.
Edgar L Hewett
Ethnic Factors in Education. American Anthropologist 7(1): 1–16.
Garfinkel, Harold, and Anne Warfield Rawls
Ethnomethodology’s Program: Working Out Durkheim’s Aphorism. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Holmes, Frederic L.
The Complementarity of Teaching and Research in Liebig’s Laboratory. Osiris 5. 2nd Series: 121–164.
Keasling, Jay D
Synthetic Biology for Synthetic Chemistry. ACS Chemical Biology 3(1): 64–76.
The Invisible Technician. American Scientist 77(6): 554–563.
Shapin, Steven and Schaffer, Simon
Leviathan and the Air-Pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the Experimental Life. Princeton University Press; Reprint edition.
Yeh, B. J., and W. A. Lim
Synthetic Biology: Lessons from the History of Synthetic Organic Chemistry. Nature Chemical Biology 3(9): 521–525.
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Information identified as archived is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been altered or updated since it was archived. Please "contact us" to request a format other than those available.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Canadians are making greater and more diverse use of the Internet, but a digital divide persists among various groups, according to new data for 2007 from the Canadian Internet Use Survey.
Almost three-quarters (73%), or 19.2 million Canadians aged 16 and older, went online for personal reasons during the 12 months prior to the survey. This was up from just over two-thirds (68%) in 2005 when the survey was last conducted.
For the first time, the survey covered young people aged 16 and 17. They accounted for almost one of the five percentage point increase in Internet use between 2005 and 2007.
Survey results showed that the digital divide, or gap in the rate of Internet use, still existed among certain groups of Canadians on the basis of income, education and age.
The survey also showed that people living in urban areas continued to be more likely to have used the Internet than those from smaller towns and rural areas. Only 65% of residents living in small towns or rural areas accessed the Internet, well below the national average, while just over three-quarters (76%) of urban residents did so. Both proportions were higher than in 2005.
Among people who used the Internet at home, 68% went online every day during a typical month and 50% for five hours or more during a typical week. On average, men were online more often and for longer periods than women.
Findings reveal gaps in the rate of Internet use among certain groups of Canadians, specifically on the basis of income, education and age.
Households were divided into five equal groups, or quintiles, based on income.
The vast majority (91%) of people in the top quintile (more than $95,000) used the Internet. This was almost twice the proportion of 47% for the lowest quintile (less than $24,000). This gap in use has narrowed slightly since 2005.
Note to readers
The 2007 Canadian Internet Use Survey was conducted in October and November 2007 as a supplement to the Labour Force Survey. More than 26,500 Canadians aged 16 years and over were asked about their Internet use, including shopping, for the past 12 months. Estimates of Internet shopping (e-commerce) will be released in November 2008.
Caution is required comparing these results with those from 2005, when the survey was restricted to persons aged 18 years and older. In 2007, respondents aged 16 and 17 accounted for almost an entire percentage point of the overall increase in Internet use since 2005. They also affect estimates of online behaviours.
An Internet user is someone who used the Internet from any location for personal non-business reasons in the 12 months preceding the survey. A home user is someone who reported using the Internet from home, for the same reasons.
Urban boundaries are based on Statistics Canada's census metropolitan areas (CMA) and census agglomerations (CA). The rural and small town category consists of Canadians living outside CMAs and CAs.
In terms of education, 84% of individuals with at least some post-secondary education used the Internet in 2007, compared with 58% of those who had less education. Again, this gap has narrowed slightly since 2005.
Age remained an important factor. In 2007, 96% of persons aged 16 to 24 went online, more than three times the 29% among seniors aged 65 and older. However, Internet use increased among all age groups since 2005.
The proportion of men and women using the Internet during 2007 was just below three-quarters for both.
Among people born in Canada, 75% used the Internet, compared with 66% of those born elsewhere. However, the rate was 78% among immigrants who arrived in Canada during the last 10 years. Most of these recent immigrants live in urban areas.
The vast majority of Internet users aged 16 or older, 94%, reported personal Internet use from home during 2007, while 41% said they used it from work, 20% from schools and 15% from libraries.
High-speed connections are becoming far more prevalent. An estimated 88% of people who accessed the Internet at home did so with a high-speed connection in 2007, up from 80% two years earlier. This growth was driven by new users and by existing users switching from a slower service.
Over 9 in 10 urban home users reported using a high-speed connection, compared with just over 7 in 10 home users in rural areas. More than one-half of rural and small town residents using a slower service reported that a high-speed telephone or cable service was not available in their area.
E-mail and general browsing continued to be the most popular online activities from home. The web remained popular for finding government or health information and making travel arrangements. And many Canadians also used it for banking, paying bills and ordering goods or services.
However, survey data show that more Canadians are participating in additional activities.
For example, one-fifth (20%) of home Internet users reported contributing content by posting images, writing blogs, or participating in discussion groups. Of these people, over one-half were under the age of 30.
Some 50% of home Internet users used an instant messenger during 2007. Again, relatively more young Canadians reported going online for this reason.
The increased use of broadband has also meant a rise in downloading or watching movies or television, and downloading music.
In 2007, the survey estimated that approximately 50% of Canadians (Internet users or not) were very concerned about online credit card use, 44% about online banking transactions and 37% about online privacy.
While all three estimates are below 2005 levels, they do not necessarily indicate that online privacy and security threats have declined. Other factors may be at work.
For instance, the 2007 survey included individuals aged 16 and 17 who, on average, expressed lower levels of concern. Canadians have also become more experienced online, with 54% reporting five or more years of Internet use in 2007, up from 45% in 2005.
Survey data show that the proportion very concerned about security was lower for people who had used the Internet longer and for more activities.
Rates of Internet use among Canadians increased in every province between 2005 and 2007. Rates were above the national average of 73% in three provinces: British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.
Rates in the two western provinces were boosted by high usage in major census metropolitan areas. In Calgary, 85% of people aged 16 and older used the Internet, as did 83% in Victoria, and 78% in both Vancouver and Edmonton.
Urban-rural differences in Internet use persisted during 2007. In Quebec for example, rates ranged from 58% in small towns and rural areas to 78% in Quebec City.
In general, cities have younger populations and proportionately more residents with higher levels of income and education. These concentrations of population are attractive markets for Internet service providers.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 4432.
For further information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, please contact Larry McKeown (613-951-2582; [email protected]), Science, Innovation and Electronic Information Division.
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| 0.964289 | 1,532 | 2.71875 | 3 |
How can I use Chunking as an Effective Memory Strategy in the Classroom?
Memorizing and recollecting information is a challenge in every classroom. Remembering dates, long lists of numbers and events can be taxing for some students. For students with such difficulty, learning the memory strategy “chunking” may prove very useful.
Chunking is the technique of organizing or combining individual pieces of information into “chunks.” This facilitates easy retrieval of the information as students have to memorize the chunks instead of the individual information. These chunks also act as cues, allowing for easy recollection of information.
How to Chunk
While teaching students how to chunk, it is important that we teach them the three main parts, i.e. identifying the chunks, grouping and memorizing the chunks, and retrieval of chunks.
Identifying the chunks: The students here have to identify similarities or patterns in the information based on which they can group it. For example, they can categorize information based on events, dates, influencing factors, etc.
Grouping and memorizing the chunks: Once the similarities have been identified, students can group or organize the information into chunks and memorize them.
Retrieval of chunks: When necessary, students have to remember the type of chunk in order to retrieve the information. For example, what events happened in 1947? Or, what are the factors that influence digestion? In these examples, ‘1947’ and ‘factors’ are the chunks or the cues by which students can easily recollect the information learned.
Integrating chunking as a memory strategy
Here are some tips on integrating chunking in your classroom:
Pictorial method: Display pictures of various objects like a pen, eraser, pencil, spoon, knife, fork, etc. Ask the students to find a common link between 2 or more objects, i.e. pen, eraser and pencil may be chunked as ‘stationary’ and fork, spoon and knife as ‘cutlery.’ Now show the student a picture of these two chunks at the end of class and ask them to recollect the objects that fall under these two chunks.
Index card method: In this method, students are required to memorize a list of historical events. Distribute a few blank index cards (as needed) to the class. Instruct students to chunk the events based on a pattern that emerges for them. Once this has been done, ask them to lay the cards face down on the table and list the events. If they require some help, they may use the index cards as cues. This method of writing down the chunks helps students memorize better and should be incorporated in daily learning.
Rapid fire round: Students can also use chunking in pairs. Just like in the previous methods, students have to chunk the information, note it on an index card and give it to their respective partner. The other student may quiz them on their index cards and students will know how much they have learnt.
As students learn the process of chunking, it will become easier for them to apply it in class and can, therefore, enhance learning.
Learn More… Take a course
Discuss Here: How have you incorporated chunking as a memory strategy in your classroom?
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| 0.938461 | 682 | 3.8125 | 4 |
Promoting First Relationships: A Program for Service Providers to Help Parents and Other Caregivers Nurture Young Children’s Social and Emotional Development
by Jean F. Kelly, PhD, Tracy G. Zuckerman, PsyD, Diana Sandoval, MS, and Kim Buehlman, MA, of the Department of Family and Child Nursing at the University of Washington, Seattle.
The Promoting First Relationships Curriculum covers issues critical to supporting and guiding caregivers in building nurturing and responsive relationships with children, including:
- Theoretical foundations of social and emotional development in early childhood (birth to 3 yrs.)
- Consultation strategies for working with parents and other caregivers
- Elements of a healthy relationship
- Promoting the development of trust and security in infancy
- Promoting healthy development of self during toddlerhood
- Understanding and intervening with children’s challenging behaviors
- Developing intervention plans for children and caregivers
- Individualizing Promoting First Relationships for your setting
Program materials include a 198-page revised Second Edition manual, a colorfully illustrated packet of handouts to be used with parents and other caregivers, and a 28-minute videotape or DVD.
Promoting First Relationships Social-Emotional Cards
Set of illustrated cards with examples of how caregivers can meet, in everyday interactions, the ten social-emotional needs of infants and toddlers.
Promoting First Relationships Parent/Caregiver Book
This book gives parents and other primary caregivers (child care providers, grandparents, close family and friends) practical information about how to support their young child’s social and emotional growth. Learn how your day-to-day interactions with your child directly shape their thoughts and feelings about who they are and what to expect from others. This book will help you appreciate how you are already nurturing your child’s development and also give you ideas of what else you might try.
Promoting First Relationships Parent/Caregiver DVD
The Promoting First Relationships Parent DVD gives a brief explanation of the various elements of a healthy parent/caregiver and child relationship. This DVD is a wonderful addition to a consultant’s library, to share easy to understand information with parents and other caregivers. It can be left with parents to view on their own, or can be watched and discussed in a brief home visit. (This DVD is a shortened version of the full length PFR video, excluding the various consultation strategies).
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| 0.910066 | 509 | 2.75 | 3 |
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