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What is behavioural assessment in psychology?
Behavioural Assessment: According to the behaviorists, personality is shaped out of the habits and behaviour of a person, which he learns through life while giving responses to the various stimuli, therefore the situations in which he finds himself in according to them the study of the behaviour of the individual is a better method to study personality. To study behaviour, the some behaviorists advocate direct observation in which the psychologist observes the behaviour of the individual in day-to-day living, their behaviour at their workplace, home, school or any other place they are in.
Behavioural therapists also use other some other methods like rating scales and frequency counts. The rating scale is one of the oldest and most versatile of assessment techniques. Rating scales present an observer with scalar dimensions along which those who are observed are asked to be placed. A teacher, for example, might be asked to rate the students on the degree to which the behaviour of each reflects leadership capacity, shyness or creativity.
The psychologist or client is asked to rate numerically some specific behaviour. Several standardized rating scales are available for describing the behaviour of psychiatric hospital patients. In frequency count, the number of times a certain behaviour is repeated in a given time limit is counted.
Both the above techniques are very much in use by educators to diagnose behavioural problems like attention deficit disorders in children.
Limitations of Behavioural Assessment: The following are the main limitations of behavioural assessment.
- The person observing the behaviour becomes biased and is not able to judge behaviour correctly.
- Since, the examiner has no control over the situation or the environment in which the behaviour of the examine is being observed, it may be a pointless task unnecessary directionless exercise. | <urn:uuid:ac982ac1-f6e1-417f-b990-fd71035c94d9> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://www.owlgen.in/what-is-behavioural-assessment-in-psychology/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764500904.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20230208191211-20230208221211-00507.warc.gz | en | 0.956103 | 352 | 4.09375 | 4 |
Since we’ve established the connection between integration and antidifferentiation, we’ll be concerned mostly with antiderivatives more directly than derivatives. So, it’s useful to have some simple notation for antiderivatives.
That’s pretty much what the “indefinite integral” amounts to. It looks like an integral, and it does (what the FToC tells us is) all the hard work of integration, but it stops short of actually calculating an integral. Given a function , we write an antiderivative as . Note that we aren’t saying which antiderivative we mean, and for the purposes of the FToC (part 2), we don’t need to be. It’s customary, though, to write the result generically by adding a to the end of it.
We know, for example, that
Then we turn this around to write
and so on.
We can also go back and rewrite the two rules of integration we found before:
Notice here that we don’t need to add the , since each side consists of indefinite integrals. We can hide these “constants of integration” on both sides. They only need to show up once we fully evaluate an indefinite integral. | <urn:uuid:b501617a-51e8-4fdb-9309-363b9995852f> | CC-MAIN-2016-36 | https://unapologetic.wordpress.com/2008/02/25/indefinite-integration/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=c589d5bcbb | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-36/segments/1471982290442.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20160823195810-00108-ip-10-153-172-175.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.895191 | 271 | 3.34375 | 3 |
カンファレンス (国際) Extracting Land-Use Patterns using Location Data from Smartphones
The First International Conference on IoT in Urban Space (Urb-IoT 2014)
"This paper proposes an approach to extract area-by-area and daily land-use patterns using location data obtained from users of Yahoo! Japan's smartphone applications. Information used for extracting patterns is extracted from only location data. In this research, a land-use pattern is defined as how the area is used throughout a day. We extract the land-use patterns based on temporal transition in the number of people in the area. In petterns extraction, a clustering technique with an infinite Gaussian mixture model with Dirichlet process mixtures is used, which can be used to discover the appropriate number of patterns. Experiments were conducted in 34 areas over 56 consecutive days. This means 1,904 conditions were studied. The results of our experiments show that our approach successfully extracts land-use patterns using the temporal transition in a population. The results also reveal that additional features which are estimated only from spatio-temporal data helps us control the extracted patterns." | <urn:uuid:5812b40d-eaee-4473-bf11-54b07c3d0faf> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | https://randd.yahoo.co.jp/jp/papers/93 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178373095.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20210305152710-20210305182710-00077.warc.gz | en | 0.918479 | 239 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Apr 05, 2019 - National Geographic Orion
The islands of French Polynesia present a wonderful variety of landscapes and scenery, from the steep green volcanic mountains of the Society Islands to the low, flat coral atolls of the Tuamotus. The Gambier Archipelago is located at the southeast region of the Tuamotu Group, which consists of five major archipelagos. Whereas most of the Tuamotus are coral atolls, the Gambiers are the remnants of a single huge volcano. A few fragments of that great mountain still rise above the waves, most notably the central island of Mangareva. A barrier reef, measuring 15 miles across, surrounds Mangareva and has created a blue lagoon that is sprinkled with small coral reefs and is a perfect habitat for pearl farms. There are three navigable entrances, and the northwest pass will allow us to bring our vessel inside the protective reef. The outer reef, home to an enormous variety of fish and corals, is often pounded by surf and drops off very steeply into the deep blue.
Once inside the lagoon, we completed clearance procedures into France, and soon after breakfast we launched our Zodiacs and landed in the main town of Rikitea. Some of us opted to make a long and very challenging hike up to the summit of Mt. Duff, the highest point in the islands, which rises to 1,447 feet above the lagoon. The trail is very steep and very demanding, and reaches the top in only two miles! Of course, the view from the summit is incredible, as we could see the entire archipelago and far out over the sea beyond. Meanwhile, others of us took more time to explore Rikitea and visit the fascinating historic sites of what was once described as a Spanish city.
Mangareva was first occupied by Polynesians that settled the islands in the 10th Century. However, evidence indicates the islands were deforested by AD 1500, which led to disastrous effects on the islands' environment and economy. The trade network broke down and Mangareva became isolated as the outlying trading partners, Pitcairn and Henderson islands, died out.
In 1834, three members of the Order of the Sacred Heart monastery in Valparaiso, Chile, led by Father Louis Honoré Laval, came to Mangareva and began to convert the Polynesians to Christianity. Once King Maputoea converted, Laval gained complete control over the populace, and during the next three decades he oversaw what historians call “the death of a people.” He established a theocratic dictatorship, including ecclesiastical police to enforce a strict moral code, and he exerted control of the trade economy of pearls with the outside world. Laval insisted on locking up the entire female population in the convent whenever whaling ships arrived. The Polynesian marae and statues were destroyed and several Christian chapels were constructed on their sites. After a vision, Father Laval ordered the construction of St. Michael’s Cathedral – the largest church in the South Pacific. All able-bodied persons were put to work on the project. It took nine years to build and when completed it could accommodate 1,200 people. In addition, a palace for the king, a monastery, a convent, a prison, a textile factory, and coastal watchtowers were also constructed. It became a city, the likes of which no Polynesian island had ever seen.
Forced labor, the loss of ancient customs, unaccustomed clothing, and tuberculosis exacerbated from living within stone walls are all believed to have contributed to a devastating depopulation of the Gambier Islands. It has been estimated that the Gambier Islands may have had a population of 9,000 people before the coming of Europeans, but by 1843, only about 1,500 people remained. And within a couple more decades the population declined to only a few hundred. Reports of the terrible loss of life and suffering within the Gambiers eventually reached the provincial government in Papeete, an investigation ensued, and Father Laval (dubbed “the mad priest”) was recalled. His infamous response to the inquiry was “they have but gone more quickly to heaven."
Nevertheless, the resulting cathedral is nothing short of magnificent, especially since its restoration within the past ten years. It is built entirely from quarried blocks of coral. Inside, we marveled at the huge columns and admired the impressive altar, richly decorated with pearls, and pearl shell. About 85% of the roughly 1,500 Mangarevans that live here today are Catholic and they still conduct their services here. We continued walking about the other remaining structures of the city built during Father Laval’s tenure, but the highlight was passing by the school when some of the children were practicing Mangarevan dancing. Our guide pointed out that they do not dance with the provocative hip swinging like other Polynesians, which is probably a leftover effect from the time of Laval’s legacy. Several of us walked up the road to see the ruins of Couvent Rouru, which is said to have housed 60 nuns at one time. We then had some free time to stroll the quiet streets before returning to the ship for lunch.
In the afternoon, we repositioned the ship to Motu Aukena, where we enjoyed several different activities, both in and above the water. We snorkeled between healthy coral gardens with lots of little fish seen among the coral. Some guests also enjoyed kayaking in this beautiful protected area, and others explored the island itself. A group of us explored the island and followed a trail inland through a beautiful mixed forest of hibiscus trees, coconut palms, pandanus trees, and casuarina trees. Along the way, we found the ruins of a boys school as well as a candlenut processing stone structure and one of the watch towers erected around the archipelago to watch for incoming whale ships and trading vessels…all from Father Laval’s time.
Join us for updates, insider reports & special offers. | <urn:uuid:5986b391-ab84-4ea4-a3cb-a499739eb1d9> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://www.expeditions.com/daily-expedition-reports/187949/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610704847953.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20210128134124-20210128164124-00074.warc.gz | en | 0.970545 | 1,255 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Perl Quick Reference
Perl rules of object-oriented programming:
- An object is simply a reference that happens to know which class it
Objects are blessed, references are not.
- A class is simply a package that happens to provide methods to deal
with object references.
If a package fails to provide a method, the base classes as
listed in @ISA are searched.
- A method is simply a subroutine that expects an object reference (or a
package name, for static methods) as the first argument.
Methods can be applied with:
method objref parameters or | <urn:uuid:4d899e8b-76fb-43e5-a81f-ec563d60274a> | CC-MAIN-2018-47 | http://doc.sumy.ua/webdesign/Web/webnut/ch15_07.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-47/segments/1542039741764.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20181114082713-20181114104713-00188.warc.gz | en | 0.796515 | 125 | 3.90625 | 4 |
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Wikipedia.
Caste System(religion, spiritualism, and occult)
Although the influence of the caste system in India is now weakening, especially since it "officially" ended with Indian independence, the system did exert a powerful hold for countless generations and continues to have an impact on Indian society. It seems to have been a product of the Aryan migration of 1500 BCE ; it was perhaps utilized to control the indigenous population. Society was divided into five groups, and it was a tenet of Hinduism that the only way to advance to a higher group was to live an exemplary life, following the rules of the caste into which you were born. Then, in your next incarnation, your good Karma would propel you toward birth into a higher caste.
At the top of the system were the Brahmins. These were the priests and scholars. (Western knowledge of the caste system was prevalent enough that in New England the term "Boston Brahmin" became synonymous with wealthy, upper-class society.)
Next down the social scale were the Kshatriyas, the rulers and warriors. They were followed by merchants and tradesmen, called Vaishyas. Lower on the ladder were the Shudras, the peasants.
The dregs of society, about 20 percent of the population, were the "out-castes," those without a caste, also known as the "untouchables."
The system functioned by popular consent. Built into the Hindu religion was the belief that you simply did not associate with people of a lower caste. Vaishyas stood aside on the road whenever a Brahmin walked by, not even letting their shadows get in the way of the person of higher caste.
Although modern Westerners shake their heads at such beliefs, it must be remembered that in pre-Civil War America, religion was used to enforce a similar pattern of social behavior between people of different races.
No one knows exactly when the caste system began. But it may be significant to point out that when Westerners first discovered its existence, during British colonial expansion, there seemed to be a direct correlation between skin color and caste ranking. The lighter the skin, the higher the caste. Even the word Varna, a collective term naming the four castes, means "color" or "appearance." If the caste system was, indeed, an Aryan import, by observing Aryan history in other parts of the world it is hard not to draw the inference that it represented a system of domination by people of white skin who used religion to enforce imposed racism. | <urn:uuid:1f5b93e9-5490-4a05-a494-651567e97ca4> | CC-MAIN-2020-16 | https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Caste+System | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-16/segments/1585371606067.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20200405150416-20200405180916-00329.warc.gz | en | 0.972883 | 534 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Your colleague at work irritates you, someone’s rude to you in a public transport, and your partner forgets to take out the garbage for the hundredth time… Wouldn’t it be great if you could just release all your anger and say all that’s on your mind, no matter the consequences?
Expressing anger seems like a healthy thing to do, yet knowing when to react can save you the trouble of having to feel sorry for the things you have done or said when you were angry. As children we are excused all sorts of angry tantrums for even the smallest reasons. As we get older and more mature, our anger gets more sophisticated, and in most cases, we tend to keep it under control.
In the situations when it all seems too much to handle, we may get the urge to forget everything and lash out on the people who did us wrong. Even though it can be extremely difficult at times, we should restrain ourselves from reacting out of anger. Namely, when we are angry, we are not thinking straight, and our emotions take over our mind. The decisions and actions we would make in this frame of mind would most certainly be regretted later, once we cool off. Therefore, once we get into a situation that makes us angry, upset or hurt, it is advised to wait 24 hours to make decisions or take action. After the initial anger reduces, we would be able to regain logical thinking and act in a more reasonable manner. It would be much easier to find a better solution after some time, even if we still disagree.
Postponing any reaction when we are angry can help us save our relationships and business deals, and also it saves us feeling regret after taking radical action.
Featured photo credit: https://unsplash.com/ via unsplash.com | <urn:uuid:9544b5d6-2774-4854-bc22-a56f6e292cf8> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.lifehack.org/536444/why-you-should-never-take-any-action-when-you-are-angry | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335530.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20221001035148-20221001065148-00033.warc.gz | en | 0.961998 | 374 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Adding pictures in Word documents can illustrate important information. In Word ClipArt is one way to make this possible.
Adding clip art and pictures to your document can be a great way to illustrate important information or add decorative accents to existing text. You can insert images from your computer or search Microsoft's extensive selection of clip art to find the image you need. Once an image has been inserted, you can format text to wrap around the image.
You can also click the drop-down arrow next to the image in the Clip Art pane to view more options.
To resize an image, click and drag one of the corner sizing handles. The image will change size while keeping the same proportions. If you want to stretch it horizontally or vertically, you can use the side sizing handles. | <urn:uuid:96808e7f-dc9c-483a-a008-1aa89f811438> | CC-MAIN-2016-36 | http://www.gcflearnfree.org/word2010/inserting-clip-art-and-pictures/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-36/segments/1471982976866.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20160823200936-00281-ip-10-153-172-175.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.82236 | 157 | 2.78125 | 3 |
How To Draw Caricatures – How To Draw A Cartoon Person
To Draw Caricatures – The Basic Poses Of A Caricature/Cartoon Person
When learning how to draw caricatures, it is important to be able to capture the unique look of a caricature figure. In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to capture the pose of the subject you are trying to draw and also how to add character and liveliness to it.
First off, let’s start by talking about…
How To Draw Caricatures – The Cartoon Skeleton
Every face, head, body or pose is constructed on the basis of a skeleton. Just like drawings of the human figure our drawing is going to stand or fall depending upon the sturdiness of it’s skeleton or basic underlying structure.
The idea of constructing a pose that is not in front of you as most of the time your subject will be seated, is a daunting task for most novice artists trying to learn how to draw caricatures. Don’t worry we are going to show you how to overcome your fears by a few simple tricks that are based on the drawing “skeleton” that will guarantee you can’t go wrong. So grab your tracing paper and do the above simple 3 step sketch.
When you get used to drawing these simple poses you will no longer have to draw a skeleton first but that will be done the track when you feel confident that your sketches will do the trick.
Also we will show you how to practice and make perfect simple little skeletons first before putting on any flesh or clothes.
The biggest mistake that the novice artist makes when drawing caricatures is to skip this vital step. In so doing they are missing the point of the cartoon pose, “Gesture”.
Take a look at the above two-step gesture based cartoon. Notice that you can really read the emotion of the sketch in step1. If you never saw (the rough sketchy) step 2, you would probably understand that this was cartoon of man in a bold stride.
- You would know from this that he is not depressed.
- You would know that he is not sneaking or acting shy.
- You could probably guess he was having fun.
- The one thing that is missing is the facial expression.
Now the only thing apart from the loose details of the clothing that has been added, is the face detail and expression. This man is happy, he is in a dashing stride, maybe he has just won a fortune or maybe he is in Broadway production. To let people in on the gag completely you simply add in some background elements.
So lets take a look at two different sets of background elements that will do just that.
The first image is going to show you the same man with a background suggesting he has won a fortune, the second one unchanged apart from the background again, the man looks like he is part of a Broadway production.
So this is a very important thing to remember when learning how to draw caricatures, if you get your set lot of poses practice and rehearsed well, then it will be a simple matter of deciding which one you will choose to “attach” to your “big head”.
Remember, Graeme’s style of “big head – facing straight ahead” portrait drawing, can be used in literally dozens of pose types:
Now if you had the person doing a side-on or 3/4 view, you will be limited with your set poses as to how to make them work easily.
Happy Smiling Faces
So it comes down to the gesture or pose and the expression on their faces. Now most of the time the expression is NOT going to change. Everyone loves to see themselves smiling when they look in the mirror and the caricature is a mirror type expression of someone, so happy smiling is what you are going to do most of the time. Learning how to draw caricatures doesn’t have to be hard. With the right instructions and a little bit of practice, you can be an expert at how to draw caricatures in no time. | <urn:uuid:e94e8872-7192-4b93-8d87-a3e716815168> | CC-MAIN-2019-18 | http://howtodrawblog.com/how-to-draw-caricatures-how-to-draw-a-cartoon-person/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-18/segments/1555578624217.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20190424014705-20190424040705-00522.warc.gz | en | 0.949624 | 857 | 3.015625 | 3 |
The failure of green-energy policies throughout Europe provides an important lesson for Canadian politicians — especially Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and his fellow Liberals, who have rushed headlong into green alternatives such as wind, solar and biofuel with as much enthusiasm (and taxpayer money) as any government in North America.
In less than a decade, Germany has given power companies and consumers $130-billion in subsidies, mostly to develop a market for solar energy. Despite all that cash, solar electricity still accounts for only 0.3% of Germany’s power supply. Because only some of that total has been covered by taxpayers, and the rest has been passed on to all electricity consumers, the cost of German green-power subsidies will add nearly $300 to the average German family’s power bill this year alone. For industrial power consumers, the added costs can run into hundreds of thousands of euros per year. Philipp Rosler, the federal minister of economics and technology, warned earlier this month that the cost of green power was a “threat to the economy.” As a result, the federal German government is looking to get out of the subsidy business, and the German solar industry is gasping for air.
Without subsidies, most forms of renewable energy would be unaffordable, both for power companies to produce and for consumers to use. Solar power is at least four times as costly as electricity produced in coal-fired power plants. Wind power is more than six times as pricey. And neither wind nor solar power is as reliable as electricity produced using fossil fuels. On calm or cloudy days, it is still necessary to generate vast amounts of conventional energy to compensate for the missing alternate sources.
Its rush to adopt alternative energy sources also has increased Germany’s reliance on foreign electricity: German purchases of power from nuclear plants in France and the Czech Republic have risen over the past five years, and are projected to rise again in the next five.
All of this might be worth it if Germany really were decreasing its output of greenhouse gasses. Yet an analysis performed by Slate magazine concludes that all of the billions Germany has spent on solar energy will cut that country’s greenhouse gas output by only about 1%, enough to slow man-made global warming by just 23 hours over the coming century. Climate Armageddon will arrive on a Wednesday rather than a Tuesday in the year 2100.
To put this analysis in dollars and cents, consider that Europe has a carbon trading market in which companies seeking permits to emit more carbon dioxide can buy credits from companies that are not producing their quota. At the moment, a ton of CO2 is selling for $9. But according to Slate, the cost to German taxpayers and consumers for each ton of CO2 reduced through green-energy subsidies is more than 100 times that amount: at least $1,100.
In Spain, too, the government is looking to end green-energy subsidies. There, the government has spent at least $25-billion over the past five or six years covering the added costs of solar and wind energy. Power rates are regulated, meaning consumers pay a fixed rate for electricity as set by a government power commission, and no more. When the actual cost of producing energy entering the grid rises above the regulated price, the national government picks up the added cost. For wind and solar power, those added costs have run to tens of billions of euros over the past half-dozen years.
And that’s not all. Two weeks ago in Britain, more than 100 government MPs publicly demanded the Tory government end or at least “dramatically cut” the $700-million in annual subsidies paid for wind farms because the unsightly turbines are expensive and produce very little power — less than one-half of 1% of Britain’s total consumption.
Ontario’s frightfully expensive green-energy campaign will almost certainly go the way of its European forbearer. The only question is how much money gets wasted in the interim.
Mr. McGuinty’s Ontario government has abandoned most of its eco-power initiatives already: Over the past 18 months, it has announced it won’t stick the provincial landscape full of giant wind tower turbines, and it will orphan the small-scale solar-panel farms it encouraged landowners to build because there is no economical way to get the power they generate into the provincial grid. About the only part of its strategy that remains is the higher power prices needed to cover development of the alternate sources that have already gone ahead.
If the Ontario government were to stop now, the province’s consumers would still likely have to pay power costs 20% to 30% higher than in 2008 — the year before the Green Energy Act — for the rest of this decade, just to pay for the failed initiatives to date. Ontarians should tell their government to take a lesson from Europe: It’s time to awaken from Dalton McGuinty’s misguided green dream. | <urn:uuid:786ee7af-9f56-4ba6-8fa4-91e660df245a> | CC-MAIN-2017-43 | http://nationalpost.com/opinion/national-post-editorial-board-european-energy-lessons-for-dalton-mcguinty | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-43/segments/1508187821017.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20171017091309-20171017111309-00373.warc.gz | en | 0.962681 | 1,014 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Whale shark found near the waters of Round Island
Friday, June 6, 2008
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) received a report about 2pm today (June 6) that a live shark had been found near the waters of Round Island by a stern trawler.
The trawler brought the shark to the pier off the Aberdeen Wholesale Fish Market for examination and identification.
The AFCD identified it as a whale shark measuring about 5 metres in length. The shark was released back to the waters of Round Island around 4.30pm.
The whale shark, Rhincodon typus, is a slow, filter feeding shark that is the largest living fish species in the world. It feeds on small shrimps, fish and plankton. The shark is found in tropical and warm oceans and lives in the open sea. The species poses no danger to humans.
A department spokesman said sharks were part of the ecological system. People should respect the existence of sharks and not try to hunt them. | <urn:uuid:38a67446-9b6d-408a-9c13-dd8006265e75> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://www.afcd.gov.hk/english/publications/publications_press/pr836.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764500094.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20230204044030-20230204074030-00310.warc.gz | en | 0.962561 | 218 | 2.75 | 3 |
Want to know the secret to sounding French?
The difference in vowels and consonants between French and English can make pronunciation very difficult. And it was precisely that: this française could not yet hear the difference in certain speech sounds – ‘h’ is not a French phoneme at all.
No matter which language we are trying to learn, accent can be the hardest aspect to grasp.
Just when you think you have the perfect French nasal, or that beautifully rounded ‘u’, you head down to the shops and ask a shop assistant for a pull, only to be met with a puzzled look as you actually said poule.
You might be trying to convince yourself that speaking with that beautiful, purring French accent just really isn’t that necessary. But it’s those perfectly articulated speech sounds that allow us to differentiate between words, and helps communication become much more fluid.
A good French accent also helps you to assimilate into a new culture, and design your own French persona or identity. A few months ago, I was running a market stall when a Frenchman approached, and after having discussed certain wares, asked me where in France I was from! Fooled him…
Before entering the world of basic phonetics, let’s take a look at some easy mistakes that English speakers make. The difference is only in one speech sound, which creates a completely different meaning.
Here, femme is articulated with a nasal consonant, whereas faim has a nasalised vowel. Imagine telling some amused French people that you “have a woman” rather than “I’m hungry”!
In this example, there is a difference in vowel height. We don’t want to confuse love and death…
Let’s first concentrate on the difference between French and English consonants.
This chart is just a general outline of French and English phonemes, therefore not accounting for variation.Click to see a larger version.
Here you will notice that in fact, we have four extra consonant phonemes in English that don’t even exist in the French language! That makes it so much harder for them!
So, when speaking French, we never pronounce the voiceless ‘th’ in ‘tooth’ or the voiced ‘th’ in ‘father’, neither do we pronounce an ‘h’.
All we have to concentrate on is the changing French rhotic, that is, how we pronounce the letter ‘r’: do we fricate (as in rester or rentrer) or trill (as in ronronner or rue).
We must always pay attention to the differences between English and French sounds – a certain combination of letters in English might be pronounced differently in French!
Here are a few examples…
Take the word maison. The written ‘s’ is pronounced /z/ or ‘z’ in French, whereas English speakers would have the tendency to pronounce an ‘s’ sound. However, if maison were to be written with a double ‘ss’ in French, the sound would become /s/ or ‘s’.
Practice makes perfect
One good way of practising French consonant sounds is through tongue twisters, or virelangues! These force you to distinguish between different consonant sounds. Try saying them slowly to start, then get faster and faster. Here’s some to try…
Ces six saucissons-ci sont si secs qu’on ne sait si c’en sont.
Trois gros rats gris dans trois gros trous creux ronds rongent trois gros croûtons ronds et trois très gros grains d’orge.
You can practice more through this link.
And, if all else fails, try this: how to fake French.
Tell us your best lost-in-translation stories! Do you find the French accent difficult to master? Join the conversation by commenting in the box below.Image credits:
1. Learn French! by Nicholas Noyes, via Flickr.
3. Amélie Poulain, via FanPop.
3. Consonant chart provided by Katerina Forrester | <urn:uuid:b9fe25f2-cd44-42b3-8330-f63fba46ebe2> | CC-MAIN-2020-40 | https://www.myfrenchlife.org/2013/09/30/want-to-know-the-secret-to-sounding-french-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-40/segments/1600400244353.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20200926165308-20200926195308-00425.warc.gz | en | 0.925974 | 917 | 2.890625 | 3 |
source (1.)adapted into HTML from notes from The
Prospecting School on the Web by Dave Watkins, Falconbridge Copper Corp
and Bruce Downing, Geological Consultant
(2.)adapted to HTML from the magazine Newfoundland Mining for The
Prospecting School on the Web
1. VMS Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide Deposits
and Ni-Cu-Co Type Magmatic Massive Sulphide Deposits
Volcanic-associated massive sulphide (VMS) deposits occur throughout
the world and throughout the geological time column in virtually every
tectonic domain that has submarine volcanic rocks as an important
constituent. VMS deposits are major sources of Cu and Zn and contain
significant quantities of Au, Ag, Pb, Se, Cd, Bi, Sn as well as minor
amounts of other metals.
As a group, VMS deposits consist of massive accumulations of sulphide
minerals (more than 60% sulphide minerals) which occur in lens-like or
tabular bodies parallel to the volcanic stratigraphy or bedding.
They are usually underlain by a footwall stockwork of vein and stringer
sulphide mineralization and hydrothermal alteration They may occur
in any rock type, but the predominant hosts are volcanic rocks and
fine-grained, clay-rich sediments. The deposits consist of ubiquitous iron
sulphide (pyrite, pyrrhotite) with chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and galena as
the principal economic minerals. Barite and cherty silica are common
gangue accessory minerals.
Schematic diagram of the modern TAG sulphide deposit on the Mid-Atlantic
Ridge. This represents a classic cross-section of a VMS deposit, with
concordant semi-massive to massive sulphide lens underlain by a discordant
stockwork vein system and associated alteration halo, or "pipe". From
Hannington et al. (1998)
VMS deposits are classified with respect to host rock type and on
the basis of ore composition. The host rock classification is a useful
field system as it can be relates to the geological environment which can
be determined from geologic maps.
The major groups are:
1.felsic volcanic hosted - 50% of deposits - eg. Buttle Lake
(Westmin - Vancouver Island, B.C.), Noranda
2.mafic volcinic hosted - 30% of deposits - eg. Anyox
3.mixed volcanic/sedimentary association - 20% of deposits - eg.
Windy Craggy, Tatshenshini Area, B.C.
Compositionally, VMS deposits form two broad
1.Cu-Zn - eg. Noranda, Windy Craggy, Britannia (Britannia
2 .Zn-Pb-Cu - eg. Buttle Lake
Economically significant quantities of Au and Ag may occur in all
the above lithological andcompositional groups. There is only a poor
correlation between the ore composition types and host rock type.
Another massive sulphide category - Pb, Zn deposits -forms in a
VMS deposits tend to occur in districts. Up to two dozen deposits,
might be clustered in an area of a few tens, of square kilometres. Known
VMS districts are good hunting grounds for new discoveries.
Deposits within a specific district tend to have similar metal ratios and
a fairly narrow range in composition. In any given district, deposits will
tend to range in size from less than one million tonnes to several tens of
millions of tonnes, with most deposits at the small end of the range and
only a few large deposits.
The development and maturation of a generic subseafloor hydrothermal
system involves three stages.
(A) The relatively deep emplacement of a subvolcanic intrusion below
a rift/caldera and the establishment of a shallow circulating,
low-temperature seawater convection system. This results in shallow
subseafloor alteration and associated formation of hydrothermal
(B) Higher level intrusion of subvolcanic magmas and resultant
generation of a deep-seated subseafloor seawater convection system in
which net gains and losses of elements are dictated by subhorizontal
(C) Development of a mature, large-scale hydrothermal system in
which subhorizontal isotherms control the formation of semiconformable
hydrothermal alteration assemblages. The high-temperature reaction
zone next to the cooling intrusion is periodically breached due to
seismic activity or dyke emplacement, allowing focused upflow of
metal-rich fluids to the seafloor and formation of VMS deposits. From
Petrologically and chemically distinctive alteration zones produced
by the reaction of ore forming fluid with wall rocks underlie, and in some
instances also overlie VMS deposits. The alteration zones may greatly
increase target size for exploration because they extend beyond the
deposit boundaries and may be several times larger than: the deposit
itself. They fall into three main groups:
1.pipes beneath deposits
a) Cu-Zn deposits: vertically
extensive conical shaped stringer zones with black colored chlorite or
talc rich core enveloped by a sericite - quartz halo; Na2O, CaO and
sometimes SiO2 are depleted from the core of the zone; K2O may be enriched
on the fringe. (Figure 1) eg. Millenbach Mine, Noranda, Quebec
b) carbonate rich volcanic and sedimentary rocks:
sericite + quartz + siderite; not zoned - eg. Misttabi Mine, Sturgeon
c) Zn-Pb-Cu deposits: zonation is
opposite to Cu-Zn deposits with sericite + quartz core surrounded by
chloritic outer fringe eg. Buttle Lake, B.C.
2.semi-conformable alteration zones - regionally extensive
semi-conformable zones at depth below deposits possibly representing a
geothermal aquifer; characterized by Fe, Mg enrichment, Na depletion;
variable silicification and quartz + epitote alteration (Figure 1) eg.
Anderson Lake Mine, Snow Lake, Manitoba
3.hanging wall alteration - occurs in some deposits as
a mineralogically defined zone of diffuse clay minerals + sericite +
dolomite in relatively unmetamorphosed rock to epidote + silica +
(sericite) in low grade metamorphic areas ea. Kuroko deposits, Hokuroko
Graphic representation of the lithological classification for VMS deposits
by Barrie and Hannington (1999), with the addition of a "high
sulphidation" type to the bimodal felsic group.
Average and median sizes for each type for all Canadian deposits, along
with average grade, are shown
Mineral and Metal Zoning
The distribution of metalss and sulphide types is commonly zoned on the
scale of an individual lens and in clusters of lenses.
Cu is usually high relative to Zn + Pb in the core of the pipe and
in the spine of the massive sulphides.The ratio of Zn + Pb to Cu increases
around the outside of the pipe and towards the upper part and margins of
the massive zone.
Au and Ag usually are highest in the fringe areas. Barite also tends
to occur at fringes. Proportions of Zn, Pb and Ba also tend to
increase in lenses peripheral to the center of the deposit, both laterally
and vertically (up-strastigraphy).
Pyrrhotite + magnetite may occur in the core zone with pyrite
usually becoming dominant at the fringes.
VMS deposits tend to cluster in districts (or camps) and locally
within districts. The average massive sulphide camp in Canada has about 9
deposits, but ranges from four (Manitowadge) to 21 (Noranda), However, an
individual deposit may consist of a number of closely associated, discrete
lenses ranging from several thousand to several million tons in size (ea.
Millenbach Mine was 16 geologically discrete ore lenses). The largest
deposits in this group may be in excess of 100 million tons (ea. Kidd
Creek, Bathurst No. 12).
Within a camp, deposits may occur laterally at a discrete time -
stratigraphic interval. However, they may also be vertically stacked
through several thousand feet of volcanic stratigraphy.
VMS deposits are spatially associated with structural features and
rock types that are reflective of the geological environment of
Common relationships include:
- synvolcanic faults and scarps that focus, channel, or trap
- dyke swarms, diatremes, ring structures and other features indicative of
proximity to volcanic centres
- features associated with rapid subsidence or collapse (ea. calderas,
grabens) felsic domes, breccia domes, etc. that occupy volcanic centers
- subvolcanic intrusions in the footwall sequence
VMS deposits are generally accepted to have formed at or near
discharge vents of hydrothermal systems on the sea floor (Figure 1) . Moat
models of the hydrothermal system accept a seawater convection cell driven
by the heat of a cooling subvolcanic igneous body with metals being
leached from surrounding rocks through which the hydrothermal fluids
Discharge is focused along fault or fracture systems. Sedimentary
structures in the massive component of the deposits may result from
mechanical reworking and downslope transportation of sulphide ores after
initial deposition. Underlying alteration and stringer mineralization
result from the interaction of hot discharging fluids with the footwall
"Black smokers" are modern day analogues to fossil VMS deposits.
They have been observed over the past several years forming in deep
submarine trenches off the Pacific Coast of North America.
There are three principal tectonic environments in which VMS deposits
form, each representing a stage in the formation of the Earth's crust.
(A) Early Earth evolution was dominated by mantle plume activity,
during which numerous incipient rift events formed basins
characterized by early ocean crust in the form of primitive basalts
and/or komatiites, followed by siliciclastic infill and associated
Fe-formation and mafic-ultramafic sills. In the Phanerozoic, similar
types of incipient rifts formed during transpressional, back-arc
rifting (Windy Craggy).
(B) The formation of ocean basins was associated with the
development of ocean spreading centers along which mafic-dominated VMS
deposits formed. The development of subduction zones resulted in
oceanic arc formation with associated extensional domains in which
bimodal mafic, bimodal felsic, and mafic-dominated VMS deposits
(C) The formation of mature arc and ocean-continent subduction
fronts resulted in successor arc and continental volcanic arc
assemblages that host most of the felsic-dominated and bimodal
siliciclastic deposits. Thin black arrows represent direction of
extension and thick, pale arrows represent mantle movement.
The three most crucial factors for the formation of large and super-large
magmatic sulfide deposits are:
(1) a large volume of mantle-derived mafic-ultramafic magmas that
participated in the formation of the deposits;
(2) fractional crystallization and crustal contamination,
particularly the input of sulfur from crustal rocks, resulting in sulfide
immiscibility and segregation;
(3) the timing of sulfide concentration in the intrusion.
The super-large magmatic Ni-Cu sulfide deposits around the world have been
found in small mafic-ultramafic intrusions, except for the Sudbury
deposit. Studies in the past decade indicated that the intrusions hosting
large and super-large magmatic sulfide deposits occur in magma conduits,
such as those in China, including Jinchuan (Gansu), Yangliuping (Sichuan),
Kalatongke (Xinjiang), and Hongqiling (Jilin).
Magma conduits as open magma systems provide a perfect environment for
extensive concentration of immiscible sulfide melts, which have been found
to occur along deep regional faults.
The origin of many mantle-derived magmas is closely associated with mantle
plumes, intracontinental rifts, or post-collisional extension.
Although it has been confirmed that sulfide immiscibility results from
crustal contamination, grades of sulfide ores are also related to the
nature of the parental magmas, the ratio between silicate magma and
immiscible sulfide melt, the reaction between the sulfide melts and newly
injected silicate magmas, and fractionation of the sulfide melt.
The field relationships of the ore-bearing intrusion and the sulfide ore
body are controlled by the geological features of the wall rocks.
The latest press releases from mineral exploration companies active
in Labrador have just come out.
Company A says that it has completed its airborne geophysical surveys and
has "several interesting magnetic and electromagnetic anomalies that
require further testing".
Company B reports five grab samples from outcrops on their Labrador claims
containing "up to 2% Ni, 0.5% Cu and 0.12% Co".
Company C reports that their latest drill hole has intersected 2 metres of
massive sulphide grading 3% Ni, 1% Cu and 0.15% Co while
Company D describes a drill intersection of 30 metres of 'disseminated
What do you make of these? How do these descriptions relate to the
possibility that any of these companies has found a potentially viable ore
Mineral exploration is a complex activity and there are many variables
that affect the potential viability of any discovery. It is important,
when attempting to evaluate the significance of any particular
announcement, to be aware of some of the fundamentals.
First, let's consider the
nature of the target.
In Labrador, the Voisey's Bay deposit serves as a model for
explorationists. The massive sulphide "ovoid" is the focus of attention;
its surface plan is roughly circular and about 300 metres in diameter and
it extends to a maximum depth of more than 100 m.
Explorationists, then, are looking for a body of rock about the size of
the "Rocks Area" in Sydney and the height of a 10 storey building, which
may be deeply buried under gravel and/or rock!
Finding such a target is not a trivial problem and is complicated by the
fact that the geological processes that formed the very rich Voisey's Bay
ovoid have also formed many smaller deposits and occurrences, most of
which will be too small or too low grade to ever be mined. It is not
always easy or even possible to tell at first glance if the mineralization
you have encountered in outcrop is or is not the tip of a very large
iceberg. The simple fact of a new discovery or an exciting drill hole does
not guarantee that a mineable deposit has been found.
How does one go about finding one of these
Orebodies such as the Voisey's Bay deposit consist mainly of sulphide
minerals in which the Ni, Cu and Co are chemically bound to sulphur.
The main Ni- and Co-bearing mineral is pentlandite [(Fe,Ni)9S2] while the
main copper mineral is chalcopyrite [CuFeS2].
The deposits also typically contain a lot of pyrrhotite, an iron sulphide
that is of no commercial value but which is an important factor in
exploration as it is magnetic and can be detected by magnetometer surveys
(see below). When a deposit consists almost entirely of sulphides, it is
termed "massive sulphide".
When it consists of clots or patches of sulphides in the country rocks, it
is termed "disseminated". The proportion of sulphide minerals, and
therefore the metal grades, are generally higher in the former. However,
it is not uncommon for disseminated sulphides to be sufficiently
concentrated to achieve ore grades.
The search for a buried sulphide deposit often begins with an airborne
Some sulphide minerals are magnetic (i.e. pyrrhotite) and therefore may
cause a measurable perturbation in the earth's magnetic field in the
vicinity of the deposit; others are good electrical conductors, and can
measurably affect the strength and orientation of electromagnetic fields
in their vicinity. In conducting an airborne survey, the aircraft
systematically crisscrosses the property while sensitive instruments on
board measure the earth's magnetic field and the intensity of
"Anomalies", or unexpected perturbations in these fields, are recorded and
compared with responses theoretically expected from sulphide bodies.
It is important to realize that magnetic and electromagnetic anomalies can
result from geological features other than orebodies. An airborne anomaly
in an area of favourable geology is a good target for further exploration
but it may or may not be caused by a sulphide body - ground exploration is
required to confirm this.
When prospectors or geologists first start to look for a sulphide body,
they pay special attention to "gossans". A gossan is simply a patch of
rusty rock in which iron-bearing sulphide minerals have been oxidized by
the action of air and water.
Gossans are easily recognized on the ground (and even from the air) by
their characteristic rusty brown to reddish colour. Because gossans have
been highly leached, some or all of the metals may have been removed or
locally concentrated by the weathering and the metal content of gossan
samples may not be representative of the fresh rock underneath.
When prospectors or geologists find a mineralized outcrop, they will
usually start their evaluation by taking a few "grab samples". As the name
implies, these are randomly selected samples hammered off (grabbed from)
the outcrop. These samples are then assayed.
An "assay" is simply a chemical analysis that determines the amounts of
easily extractable metals in the sample; assays of the base metals (e.g.
Ni, Cu. Zn, Pb, Co) are usually expressed in weight percent; assays of
precious metals (e.g. Au, Ag) are usually expressed in grams of metal per
tonne of rock.
Assays of grab samples give a good indication of the grade of visibly
mineralized samples. However, if they have been taken in such a way as to
sample the highest grade material in preference to lower grade material,
they may not be representative of the outcrop as a whole. They do not
necessarily provide systematic information about the overall grade or size
of the mineralized zone.
Three Dimensional Sampling
A more representative technique for sampling surface outcrops is taking a
"channel sample", in which the outcrop is systematically sampled by a
continuous cut with a diamond saw or hammer and chisel. A channel sample
provides both a representative assay of the outcrop and a width across
which the assay has been taken.
Observations at surface only provide two dimensional information
about an occurrence.
Eventually, a prospect must be drilled to evaluate its three-dimensional
extent and grade. The hole is drilled using a diamond bit and the core is
recovered to provide a continuous sample of the rock encountered in the
Usually, on a good surface prospect or geophysical target, a program of
several drill holes is planned to test the mineralization at various
depths and at various places along its lateral extent. The nature and
intensity of any mineralization is clearly visible in the drill core and
when mineralization is encountered, a portion of the core is sent out for
How does one evaluate the assay numbers that come out of this work? It is
important to realize that each assay consists of two important parts, the
width and the grade.
The width gives the explorationist the best idea of the size of the
deposit andby extrapolating widths of mineralized intersections from hole
to hole vertically and horizontally, it is possible to calculate the
volume of mineralized rock in the occurrence and hence its tonnage.
The grade is simply the proportion of rock that consists of payable
material, i.e: recoverable metals of value such as Ni, Cu. Co. Because
different ores contain different metals in different proportions, the
layman can not always easily evaluate the significance of grades reported
from drill holes from different areas. One way to do this is to estimate
the value of a metric tonne of rock (for massive sulphides, this would be
a cube of rock about 60 cm on a side) at the quoted grades and then
compare it with values from other areas.
Grade and Width
Consider an intersection over some significant width reported to grade 2%
Ni and 1% Cu.
The amount of Ni present in a ton of this rock is easily calculated.
One tonne contains 1000 kilograms (kg) and at 2% Ni, would contain 1000
x.02 =20 kg of Ni.
Similarly, it contains 1000 x .01 = 10 kg of Cu.
1996 Ni and Cu prices were about $3.85/lb. and $1.30/lb., respectively
($US) (we use non-metric price unit measures because metal prices are
typically quoted in $US/lb), so the value of a tonne of rock at these
grades is (20*$3.85*2.204) + (10*$1.30*2.204) = approximately $200.
This is quite valuable rock. For comparison, a tonne of rock from the
Buchans mines, some of the richest deposits of their kind in the world, at
1996 prices, would have been worth around $270, a tonne of ore from the
Daniel's Harbour Zinc Mine around $85, and a tonne of ore from the Hope
Brook gold mine around $60.
The Affect of Waste Rock and Mill Recovery
It is important to realize that grades reported in exploration drill
holes are not necessarily those that can or will eventually be mined. In
order to recover the ore, it might eventually be necessary to include a
certain amount of country rock in the mining operation. The inclusion of
waste rock in the mined product is called dilution and will inevitably
mean a lower grade for the mine overall than for the sulphide body alone.
For various reasons, not all of the metal can be recovered from the mined
ore during milling and some percentage will be lost in the tailings. The
percentage of metal that can be recovered in the mill is termed the
recovery, and incorporation of this in the mining plan will further reduce
the overall cash value of the deposit.
The Affect of Future Prices
A final point to emphasize in connection with the grades of the deposit is
that the eventual value, and therefore profitability, of the deposit will
be determined, not by today's prices, but by those in effect when the mine
is operating, which may be anywhere from 5 to 20 years hence. Metal prices
fluctuate on both short term and long term cycles with shifting demand and
the state of the world economy.
Although relatively stronger at present, most metals have just come
through a period of very low prices, principally as a result of the
economic recession in the western economies. The decline in the price of
Ni was more precipitous than others, mainly as a result of flooding of
world markets with cheap Ni from the former Soviet Union following its
collapse. To continue with our original example, the tonne of 2% Ni - 1%
Cu ore that is worth about $180 today was only worth about $90 in late
1993, when Cu and Ni prices bottomed out at about $0.75/lb. and $1.90/lb.
respectively. Of course, if prices continue their present upward trend,
that tonne of ore could be worth considerably more than its present value
when it is mined.
A few brief rules of thumb for evaluating the
of new massive sulphide discovery might be as follows:
massive sulphide deposits are small, difficult to find targets. For every
large, high grade deposit, there are likely to be large numbers of small,
lower grade deposits. Massive sulphides generally have higher grades than
Airborne geophysical anomalies may indicate the presence of sulphides and
are excellent targets for further exploration; but they may also result
from other geological features; grab samples with interesting assays
clearly indicate the presence of mineralization on the ground, but provide
little indication of the potential size or overall grade of the
occurrence; channel samples provide a good systematic sampling of
mineralization at outcrop scale and an indication of the width of the
mineralization as well diamond drill holes normally provide the first
three-dimensional picture of an occurrence. assays of drill core provide
vital grade and width information, both of which must be considered in
evaluating the significance of a result. Grades provide good information
on the relative value of the mineralized zone but are not necessarily the
grades that will eventually be mined; estimates of the value of an orebody
must include some estimate of the metal prices in the future. | <urn:uuid:b51f4b83-9ee6-40ec-af33-fade80bc3d77> | CC-MAIN-2018-05 | http://www.earthsci.org/mineral/mindep/ma_sulp/ma_sulp.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-05/segments/1516084886436.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20180116125134-20180116145134-00305.warc.gz | en | 0.900083 | 5,538 | 2.53125 | 3 |
International Symbol of Access
This page is about the meaning, origin and characteristic of the symbol, emblem, seal, sign, logo or flag: International Symbol of Access.
The International Symbol of Access (ISA), also known as the (International) Wheelchair Symbol, consists of a blue square overlaid in white with a stylized image of a person using a wheelchair. It is maintained as an international standard, ISO 7001, and a copyrighted image of the International Commission on Technology and Accessibility (ICTA), a committee of Rehabilitation International. It was designed by Susanne Koefoed in 1968. The design was modified by Karl Montan. Taking the original copy of the design, he added a circle to the top of the seated figure, thus giving it a head.
The symbol is often seen where access has been improved, particularly for wheelchair users, but also for other disability issues. Frequently, the symbol denotes the removal of environmental barriers, such as steps, to help also older people, parents with baby carriages, and travellers. Universal design aims to obviate the need for such symbols by creating products and facilities that are accessible to nearly all users from the start. The wheelchair symbol is "International" and therefore not accompanied by Braille in any particular language.
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Last year Italian company World’s Advanced Saving Project (WASP) debuted BigDelta, a 40-foot-tall 3D-printer that prints affordable, sustainable homes. Now they’re organizing workshops and inviting local makers to participate as they work towards printing their first Earth home in an Italian “technological village” called Shamballa. Constructed from a locally-sourced mix of dirt and straw, these ecological homes are notably “light and strong.”
Shamballa is located at Massa Lombarda, a commune in the Italian province of Ravenna. There, WASP is testing their 3D-printer at an open-air site. They’ve invited local makers to participate in the project, which they describe as the first house 3D-printed completely from the unique earthy mix of “terrain and straw.” The mix is kneaded with a “mixing machine and motor hoe.”
They’ve taken design into account: WASP has used the earth to 3D-print fanciful patterns. So far they have a wall about 20 inches high, and after a promising test last weekend, WASP plans to continue 3D-printing with BigDelta until their first home is complete.
WASP will be bringing their other 3D-printers to the site and will host workshops on the variety of objects that can be made with their printers, such as kilns, ceramic plates, and vertical gardens. They aim to make Shamballa a “Technology Experimentation Centre” that revolves around 3D-printing and self-sufficiency.
According to WASP, “The keyword of the technological village is ‘DIY.’ We want to build a new economy vision based on a self-sufficient society able to produce basic requirements in many fields: housing, food, employment, healthcare, education, and art.”
They aim to make Shamballa not only a 3D-printing hub, but a village where technology and sustainability reside together. Along with using eco-friendly building materials, WASP’s 3D-printed structures will function with “low energy consumption.”
Images courtesy of WASP | <urn:uuid:f7edd8ea-dcbe-4f0f-8a05-829a4ea3c88c> | CC-MAIN-2018-09 | https://inhabitat.com/bigdelta-machine-3d-prints-durable-affordable-houses-from-dirt/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-09/segments/1518891814393.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20180223035527-20180223055527-00666.warc.gz | en | 0.94996 | 471 | 2.65625 | 3 |
A lawsuit in the US has raised safety concerns over the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) – the world’s biggest particle collider – which is to be switched on later this year. The suit simply seeks a safety and environmental review and a delay of a few months before turning the ignition key, to make sure the planet doesn’t implode – but scientists are having none of it. Concerns about what could happen when the gargantuan machine – designed to replicate conditions a billionth of a second after the Big Bang – is turned on include some truly bizarre possibilities.
First, LHC could trigger millions of mini black holes that do not decay as physicists expect them to. Instead, they might congeal and eventually consume all nearby matter and continue to eat the planet or, at the very least, Geneva. This might not make the universe explode, but financial markets might, as trillions of secret funds held in Swiss banks might be spat back out by the black hole and straight into the French tax office just over the border. Mon Dieu!
Alternatively, smashing gold protons together at such high energy levels might lead to the production of particles known as ‘strangelets’. These strangelets, like Midas, would turn everything they touch into yet more gold strangelets until the Earth and everything that comes into contact with it ends up, well, strange but blinging.
Lastly, a magnetic anomaly known as a monopole could lead to bizarre conversions of matter that would at least restore alchemy’s reputation in the world of science, and at worst turn the planet into some kind of overly salty primordial soup like mother used to make.
Physicists readily admit that they don’t really know what will happen, but have that reassuring smugness that only someone who’s smashed atoms at high velocities and peered into the quantum universe can have. As the late Russian physicist Lev Landau once remarked: ‘Cosmologists are often wrong, but never in doubt.’
Whatever happens, with 14 trillion volts powering the LHC, we can at least guarantee that our power bills will go up. Sacre bleu!
This first appeared in our award-winning magazine - to read more, subscribe from just £7 | <urn:uuid:efac8467-9f2e-4813-9a10-6ac7fc79024e> | CC-MAIN-2015-48 | http://newint.org/columns/seriously/2008/05/01/big-bang/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-48/segments/1448398467979.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20151124205427-00035-ip-10-71-132-137.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957548 | 468 | 2.71875 | 3 |
What is a Tension-type Headache?
Tension-type headache is the most common type of headache and is characterized by dull pain and tightness in the head, neck, and shoulders on both sides. It may be either episodic (30 minutes to a week) or chronic (more than 15 days a month for three months) but does not usually affect activities of daily living. It is more common in women.
Causes of Tension-type Headache
The exact cause of tension headaches is not known but it may be due to an increased sensitivity to stress. Poor posture, eye strain, dehydration, bright sunlight or missed meals are some of the triggers of tension headaches.
Diagnosis of Tension-Type Headache
Tension headaches are usually diagnosed with a thorough physical examination and neurological tests that study the characteristics and location of your headaches. If your headaches have an unusual pattern, imaging tests such as CT or MRI may be performed to rule out underlying causes such as a tumor or injury.
Treatment for Tension-Type Headache
Tension headaches may be treated by making appropriate lifestyle changes and avoiding triggers. Relaxation techniques such as massage, yoga, and exercise may be suggested. Your doctor may prescribe simple pain relievers or muscle relaxants to treat headaches. If your headaches are frequent or severe, your doctor may prescribe medications to be taken regularly. | <urn:uuid:e77bb854-e09b-4607-8e75-8f4d6ea7f6bd> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | https://www.painandregenerativecarenj.com/tension-headaches/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446711114.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20221206192947-20221206222947-00176.warc.gz | en | 0.937137 | 282 | 3.296875 | 3 |
This is a new one on me — I seem to have just come across it when people are thinking of changing the rule, too. There’s no real consensus among authorities but many still recommend that, in formal writing at least, when “likely” is used as an adverb, it calls for a modifier, such as “very” or “quite.” “Probably,” on the other hand, can stand alone. However, the main reason may be to avoid arguments with sticklers.
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language:
Used as an adverb likely is most commonly preceded by a modifier such as very or quite: He will quite likely require some help with his classes. But the unmodified use of likely is common enough in educated writing, and though it might be better avoided in highly formal style, it should not be regarded as incorrect: They’ll likely buy a new car this year.
Merrill Perlman has an interesting post on this issue in the Columbia Journalism Review. Here’s her conclusion:
“Garner’s Modern American Usage, which did not separately address the question until the third edition, in 2009, says that “it is common to use likely as an equivalent of probably and not to insist on the modifier.” At Stage 5 of the Language-Change Index, Garner’s says, it is “fully accepted,” “(not counting pseudo-snoot eccentrics).”
There are apparently lots of those still out there, though, because the objections surface regularly. This will “likely” sound like a broken record, but here’s the best advice on the use of “likely”: Careful writers “most likely” should use “probably” in its place if they think their readers will “likely” object to “likely” without a modifier.”
Follow us on Twitter @tao_of_grammar | <urn:uuid:8d3585f6-a956-4d18-95e1-aeb0830abac5> | CC-MAIN-2015-22 | http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/writing-for-business/how-likely-quite/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-22/segments/1432207929956.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20150521113209-00255-ip-10-180-206-219.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95869 | 420 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Randolph Academy is WNY’s expert in Restorative Justice, an alternative to punishment-based school discipline which has been consistently shown to be ineffective.
Traditionally, when students misbehave or fail to meet expectations, a negative consequence is applied, such as detention or suspension. For students who struggle socially, emotionally, or academically, this may happen frequently — and those students might begin to develop negative attitudes, about either themselves or their school. Alternatively, Restorative Justice focuses on positive restoration rather than negative consequences.
What is Restorative Justice?
It is a sociological model that focuses on building relationships and community. When things go wrong, the members of the school community find resolution and healing through restorative practices.
When used proactively, it builds relationships, a positive climate and a culture of care. When used responsively following any instance of wrongdoing, it brings those who caused the harm together with those who were affected, so that they can understand the impact of their actions, and decide together what can be done to repair that harm.
It pairs with the concept known as Normative Culture , a way of behaving rather than a system of rules, using positive peer pressure to create shared expectations and constructive behavior.
At Randolph Academy, we use “Circles” to establish and maintain this caring, supportive environment.
Restorative Justice Experts
Our administrators and teachers are well-known Restorative Justice experts — and we’re happy to share that knowledge. We host workshops and learning labs on our campuses that draw dozens of educators from hundreds of miles away, across the state. We also travel to other districts in Western New York to help them learn about and even implement restorative practices.
Would you like to have Randolph Academy help your team in learning about and implementing Restorative Justice into your school or district? Contact our team at [email protected]. We train teachers, counselors, social workers, psychologists, special education administrators, CSE chairs, principals and superintendents!
Our students and staff engage regularly in relationship building, conflict resolution and creative alternatives to traditional discipline. For example, after one of our students became extremely frustrated by a peer, he chose to exhibit hostile behavior and proceeded to damage school property. We were able to bring both students, their parents, and their teacher together to come up with a plan to repair the harm. We gained insights into both students’ behaviors, as well as the underlying causes of each. Ultimately, both students decided to work together to clean the classroom during their lunch period — and they actually developed a friendship and long-term bond following this incident
– Laura Heeter, Randolph Academy Restorative Justice Coordinator | <urn:uuid:3eb5e2d0-2422-4f03-a91d-5bd40923a439> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://randolphacademy.org/?page_id=723 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571909.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20220813051311-20220813081311-00126.warc.gz | en | 0.959454 | 557 | 3.0625 | 3 |
September 2, 2010 - The effort to combat disease in the developing world is becoming less about killer viruses and more about killer products - chiefly tobacco. Developing countries are undergoing a rapid epidemiological transition—from infectious diseases such as diarrhea and pneumonia to chronic ones such as heart disease—that threatens to overwhelm their strapped health systems and cripple their fragile economies.
Changes in traditional diets following the arrival of western-style fast food have also contributed to rising rates of "non-communicable" diseases, diabetes and heart disease. Dr Mary Assunta, senior policy adviser to the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) - said these lifestyle-related diseases were now starting to rival the impact of infectious disease in developing nations.
Dr Assunta told AAP: "The trend that you see now in many developing countries is that non-communicable diseases - many of which are tobacco related - are actually catching up with infectious disease and this places a tremendous burden,"
"Out of the 1.2 billion smokers in the world, 80 per cent of those are actually from developing countries or poor and low resourced countries ... It is a huge challenge."
While less than 20 per cent of Australians are smokers, in Indonesia the prevalence of smoking among adults is just over 45 per cent.
Dr Assunta said developing nations, many of which have yet to impose cigarette advertising bans, were "aggressively" targeted by the tobacco industry.
Governments in developing nations were also "burdened with addressing immediate problems" and so could put off action on the longer-term health implications of smoking.
Dr Assunta was chair of a panel at the United Nations DPI/NGO (Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental Organisation) conference, a three day summit in Melbourne which is focussed on the efforts of the NGO (non-government organizations) community in tackling poverty and disease.
The panel was told how the Philippines government now faced a legal challenge from the tobacco industry, as it sought to introduce graphic warning labels like those seen on tobacco products in Australia. (Philippines - injunction regarding picture health warnings on cigarette packs nationwide..)
It also heard how some governments in developing nations relied on funding from tobacco companies - given as "corporate social responsibility" donations - to fund public services including schools. (for example: Tanzania - accepts donations from Alliance One, a leaf tobacco merchant...)
Dr Assunta said there was one "plus" to tackling tobacco as opposed to infectious disease - it did not hinge on scientists looking for an elusive vaccine.
"The plus point for addressing tobacco ... is you need to put in place comprehensive legislation to reduce tobacco use," she said. "And the single most important way is to put up tobacco tax, which must be reflected in expensive and not affordable cigarettes."
Reference: Lifestyle diseases ‘now rival infection’, Smoking-quit.info, 9/2/2010. | <urn:uuid:6a2e3fcf-762a-4ae5-b861-5359022881d9> | CC-MAIN-2017-13 | http://snus-news.blogspot.com/2010/09/developing-world-lifestyle-related.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218186608.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212946-00260-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959534 | 594 | 2.875 | 3 |
Guide to Boreal Birds
The larger of the two yellowlegs is a noisy and conspicuous bird. It is also more wary than its smaller relative and flushes at a greater distance. It often runs about wildly in shallow water or wades up to its belly and occasionally even swims. With its long legs, it easily obtains food in pools. The bill, slightly upturned, is used to skim small animals from the surface of the water as the bird swings it from side to side. This behavior, seldom seen in the Lesser Yellowlegs, makes a Greater Yellowlegs recognizable at a long distance.
14" (36 cm). A slender, gray-streaked wader with conspicuous white rump and long yellow legs. Lesser Yellowlegs is similar but smaller, with a shorter, straighter, and more slender bill and a different call.
A series of musical whistled notes: whew-whew-whew.
4 tawny eggs, heavily marked with brown, in a slight depression on the ground in a damp open spot.
Breeds on tundra and marshy ground; frequents pools, lakeshores, and tidal mudflats on migration.
Breeds from south-central Alaska eastward across central Canada to Maritime Provinces and Newfoundland. Winters mainly along coasts from Washington State and Virginia southward, and along Gulf Coast. | <urn:uuid:f8e93f5f-a7bb-4140-9591-ca556ebca33b> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://www.borealbirds.org/bird/greater-yellowlegs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233510454.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20230928194838-20230928224838-00845.warc.gz | en | 0.942196 | 306 | 3.453125 | 3 |
The standard therapy for hydrocephalus is a shunt system that drains excess cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) within the body. The operation of implanting a shunt system is generally neither dangerous nor difficult compared to other neurosurgical interventions.
The drainage systems (see below) consist of a valve to regulate the intracranial pressure and catheters (ventricular catheter and drainage catheter) through which the cerebral water is drained.
Shunts are usually implanted 1. ventriculo-peritoneal (VP) (from the head into the abdominal cavity) or 2. lumbo-peritoneal (LP) (from the spinal canal into the abdominal cavity). The most common method is the VP diversion.
For the implantation of such a shunt system, the neurosurgeon makes a few small incisions in order to be able to place the shunt system well to a large extent in the subcutaneous tissue - only the ventricular catheter has to be advanced into the ventricles and the end of the draining catheter has to be pushed into the corresponding body cavity (abdominal cavity or via one of the neck veins into the right atrium). To place the ventricular catheter in one of the lateral ventricles, the neurosurgeon drills a hole through the cranial bone.
The rest of the draining catheters as well as the valve are located directly under the skin tissue, with the valve being placed either on the skull bone in the region behind the ear, in the thoracic region or in the lumbar region.
If there is hydrocephalus, the intracranial pressure is increased regardless of body position - i.e. somewhere between a little too much and very much above 0 cmH2O. The cerebral ventricles (ventricles) expand and press on the surrounding brain tissue, which can lead to considerable problems. A drainage system is designed to divert the excess pressure from the ventricles to another body cavity, but it is also a connection between two body cavities that are not normally connected. In a simple tube system without a regulating valve, this would inevitably and completely naturally lead to undesirable physical, position-dependent side effects: A simple hose connection between two "vessels" filled with water (e.g. cerebral ventricle & abdomen) leads to the fact that the two "vessels" always try to balance each other. This means that the desired effect of 0 cmH2O can be achieved quite well when lying down. When standing, however, the natural laws of gravity cause the upper "vessel" (the cerebral ventricles) to empty and collapse (overdrainage), with dangerous consequences for the patient. A special requirement for a valve is therefore to be able to offer a different - much higher opening pressure when standing than when lying down.
This is exactly where the philosophy of MIETHKE gravitational valves comes into play.
Patients who have been treated with valve systems normally recover from the procedure in only a few days and are not restricted in their daily life afterwards. The degree of restriction is usually more likely to be determined by the other underlying diseases that may also be the cause of hydrocephalus. Most importantly, follow the instructions of your doctor, who knows best what is best. In principle, as after every operation, you should take it easy and refrain from increased exertion (heavy physical work, sports) in the first few weeks after the operation. If severe headaches, dizzy spells, an unnatural gait or similar occur, a doctor should be consulted immediately. In addition, regular medical check-ups are recommended.
All MIETHKE valves are designed in such a way that they are insensitive to everyday magnetic fields of up to 3 Tesla. However, hits or pressure of any kind on the valve directly or the catheters of the shunt system should of course be avoided. | <urn:uuid:8b035412-97c2-4492-97dd-e2cedf0109e6> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | https://www.miethke.com/en/hydrocephalus/about-hydrocephalus/treatment | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446708046.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20221126180719-20221126210719-00118.warc.gz | en | 0.944599 | 805 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Parallel Strong'sHolman Christian Standard BibleThe king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar as abundant as sycamore in the Judean foothills.
New American Standard BibleThe king made silver [as common] as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the lowland.
King James BibleAnd the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar trees made he as the sycomore trees that [are] in the low plains in abundance.
Parallel VersesInternational Standard Version
The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and made cedar trees as abundant as sycamore trees in the Shephelah.
American Standard Version
And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycomore-trees that are in the lowland, for abundance.
Young's Literal Translation
And the king maketh the silver in Jerusalem as stones, and the cedars he hath made as sycamores, that are in the low country, for abundance,
Links2 Chronicles 9:27
• 2 Chronicles 9:27 NIV
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• 2 Chronicles 9:27 German Bible | <urn:uuid:6db1f506-06a5-49fc-9646-da354c35e504> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://biblehub.com/interlinear/2_chronicles/9-27.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141169606.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20201124000351-20201124030351-00065.warc.gz | en | 0.91638 | 347 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Today, the business world is more competitive than it ever has been in the past. Therefore, all companies need to make sure they have a firm decision-making process in place. By thinking about the decision-making process ahead of time, everyone can place their company in a successful position.
Types of Decision Making
There are numerous types of decision making, and all entities need to think carefully about which type of decision-making will be most helpful for their organizations. Some of the most common examples of decision-making scenarios include:
- Major vs. Minor Decisions: This type of division pertains to the importance of the decision at hand. An important part of the decision-making process, it is critical for everyone to think carefully about how important the decision is and prioritize those that are more important. This will help everyone hone their decision-making skills.
- Routine vs. Strategic: One of the most important steps in the decision-making process; it is a good idea to divide decisions as either routine or strategic. Routine decisions are ones that might not include the involvement of the entire department; they are handled on a regular basis. On the other hand, strategic decision making in management should require a bit more thought to ensure the company moves in the right direction.
- Programmed vs. Non-Programmed Decisions: Another one of the important decision making examples includes programmed vs. non-programmed decisions. Programmed decisions are usually seen as routine and repetitive. Therefore, they likely have a set playbook to follow as a decision-making process example. On the other hand, non-programmed decisions represent a new challenge for the decision-making process in management. Therefore, it may be good to follow a decision workflow process to make sure this decision is right.
When making decisions in meetings, it is critical to think about the types of decision-making process examples and make sure to use a firm decision making process model.
Examples of Decision Making in Management
When it comes to a typical decision-making process, it is good to look at the types of decision-making models. Some of the biggest steps in this process include:
- Awareness of the Problem: This is the first step and ensures that everyone acknowledges the existence of an issue that must be addressed
- Statement and Diagnosis: This clearly defines the issue that needs to be addressed
- Development of Options: This step requires brainstorming a few options and ways to tackle the problem
- Evaluation of Options: Each member firmly evaluates the various options and helps everyone arrive at the most appropriate solution
- Selection and Communication of Best Option: This step ensures the team comes together and agrees on the best solution
- Action, Observation, and Feedback: The answer is implemented and observed closely, with continuous feedback playing a role
These are a few of the most common types of decision making in management. When it comes to the decision-making process in management with examples, there are a few common examples. Some of the most common decision making examples in business include:
- What projects need to be tackled this quarter?
- What part of the annual budget do we need to cut to make room for a new initiative?
- Who do we need to hire next?
These decision-making scenarios in the workplace are common and can allow prepared managers to apply appropriate decision-making skills.
How To Improve Decision Making Skills in the Workplace
Everyone needs to understand how to develop decision-making skills. Some of the most common areas include:
- Research Skills: One of the most important skills when it comes to decision making; this is important for identifying the causes of the problem and predicting the outcome given a certain decision.
- Communication: Communication is critical for making sure that everyone is on the same page and communicating effectively.
- Brainstorming: Brainstorming is an important part of unearthing new solutions for problems that might be present.
- Networking Skills: Networking skills are critical for expanding connections, which might provide them with potential solutions for various issues.
These are just a few of the skills that highlight the importance of decision-making in management. For those who are wondering, “what is decision-making in management,” decision-making is one of the most important processes that unfold regularly.
It is incredibly important for everyone to have a firm decision-making process in place. If people make decisions haphazardly, it can be hard to keep everyone on the same page. Furthermore, it can be even more challenging to predict the outcomes, making it hard for the company to position itself effectively. Therefore, every organization needs to have a strong decision-making process that will guide everyone efficiently, allowing them to place the company in an appropriate position to be successful. Put these skills to use and make sure that everyone can make decisions efficiently and accurately. | <urn:uuid:b7e591dd-5282-451f-82e6-b5c5777a920e> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | https://www.dockethq.com/resources/finding-a-decision-making-process-for-your-team/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224657169.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20230610095459-20230610125459-00367.warc.gz | en | 0.951927 | 991 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Dementia, chronic, usually progressive deterioration of intellectual capacity associated with the widespread loss of nerve cells and the shrinkage of brain tissue. Dementia is most commonly seen in the elderly (senile dementia), though it is not part of the normal aging process and can affect persons of any age. In 2005 researchers reported that some 24.3 million people worldwide were living with dementia. In 2010 this figure rose to an estimated 35.6 million, a number that was expected to double by 2030, in part because of anticipated increases in life expectancy in many countries.
Dementia is a condition characterized by the global impairment of intellectual capacity. Common early symptoms include personality changes, loss of interests, impairment of attention and concentration, difficulty with comprehension, and difficulty in handling abstract concepts. Later, increasing impairment of the capacity to retain new…
The most common irreversible dementia is Alzheimer disease. This condition often begins with memory loss or with subtle impairments in other cognitive functions. These changes may manifest initially as simple absentmindedness or forgetfulness or as minor problems with judgment, language, or perception. As dementia progresses, memory loss and cognitive impairment broaden in scope until the individual can no longer remember basic social and survival skills or function independently. Language, spatial or temporal orientation, judgment, perception, and other cognitive capacities decline, and personality changes may occur. Dementia is also present in other degenerative brain diseases, including Pick disease and Parkinson disease.
The second most common cause of dementia is hypertension (high blood pressure) or other vascular conditions. This type of dementia, called multi-infarct, or vascular, dementia results from a series of small strokes that progressively destroy the brain. Dementia can also be caused by Huntington disease, syphilis, multiple sclerosis, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), and some types of encephalitis. Treatable dementias occur in hypothyroidism, other metabolic diseases, and some malignant tumours. Treatment of the underlying disease in these cases may inhibit the progress of dementia but usually does not reverse it. | <urn:uuid:944afcfd-5774-4ff7-b0dd-1c99886d0fae> | CC-MAIN-2018-34 | https://www.britannica.com/science/dementia | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221218070.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20180821073241-20180821093241-00614.warc.gz | en | 0.933171 | 416 | 3.5625 | 4 |
Balancing benefits and harms in health careBMJ 2003; 327 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.327.7406.65 (Published 10 July 2003) Cite this as: BMJ 2003;327:65
- Luis Gabriel Cuervo ([email protected]), clinical editor Clinical Evidence,
- Mike Clarke ([email protected]), co-chair
- BMJ Knowledge, London WC1H 9JR
- Cochrane Collaboration Steering Group, Cochrane Collaboration Secretariat, Oxford OX2 7LG
We need to get better evidence about harms
Should kids be plastered with sunscreen this summer? Is this likely to be more beneficial than harmful? How would we know? For example, sunscreen use has been associated with overexposure to the sun, perhaps because of overconfidence in its abilities.1 2 Might there also be a potential risk of developing contact allergies, skin irritation, and rare but severe adverse effects? People making a decision about whether or not to use sunscreen need reliable evidence on the balance of benefits and harms. The same is true of all healthcare interventions, and unfortunately reliable evidence on harms is often lacking.
Great progress has been made in obtaining reliable evidence on the beneficial effects of interventions, but developments in the identification, interpretation, and reporting of harmful effects is more challenging. Randomised controlled trials are the best way to evaluate small to moderate effects of healthcare interventions, and much of the evidence for benefits from treatment comes from such studies. However, they are not always suitable to evaluate harms, and this was made clear during a recent meeting jointly organised by the Cochrane Collaboration and BMJ Knowledge in London.
There are various problems with randomised controlled trials in relation to harms and some of these problems affect systematic reviews too. Firstly, trialists may know which benefits to assess … | <urn:uuid:4b783e1e-b10d-485a-9b0f-802c9713f092> | CC-MAIN-2014-52 | http://www.bmj.com/content/327/7406/65.long | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-52/segments/1418802770400.105/warc/CC-MAIN-20141217075250-00001-ip-10-231-17-201.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944982 | 397 | 2.890625 | 3 |
quassia(redirected from quassias)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical.
quassia(kwŏsh`ə), name for several tropical trees and for a bitter extract from their bark. The extract containing complex terpenoid compounds called quassinoids is used medicinally as a bitter tonic and a pinworm remedy; it is also used in insecticides, e.g., in flypaper and against aphids. Surinam quassia comes from the tree Quassia amara of N Brazil and surrounding regions; Jamaica quassia comes from Picrasma excelsa of the West Indies. Some Old World quassia species are similarly used. The trees are related to the ailanthus. Quassia is classified in the division MagnoliophytaMagnoliophyta
, division of the plant kingdom consisting of those organisms commonly called the flowering plants, or angiosperms. The angiosperms have leaves, stems, and roots, and vascular, or conducting, tissue (xylem and phloem).
..... Click the link for more information. , class Magnoliopsida, order Sapindales, family Simaroubaceae.
1. the bark and wood of Quassia amara and of a related tree, Picrasma excelsa, used in furniture making
2. a bitter compound extracted from this bark and wood, formerly used as a tonic and anthelmintic, now used in insecticides | <urn:uuid:224b2b31-f3f7-4e81-878c-e4d5eebaae3d> | CC-MAIN-2018-34 | https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/quassias | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221215843.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20180820042723-20180820062723-00579.warc.gz | en | 0.907425 | 312 | 2.859375 | 3 |
This week in our topic, we did a role play session in pairs where one person pretended to be Orville or Wilbur Wright and the other was a reporter. The pupils were very good at remembering some key information and I was very impressed with their acting skills!
In our maths session, we worked on addition with renaming. We used concrete materials to help us understand this concept and worked on our column addition.
In our writing, we worked on using our commas in a list along with our suffix ‘ed’. We also started our new T4W story ‘Whatever Next’. | <urn:uuid:313395b9-a701-4fc6-b0b5-8a1b5f15a124> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | https://prioryschool.dorset.sch.uk/2020/10/09/w-b-5-10-20/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178364008.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20210302125936-20210302155936-00378.warc.gz | en | 0.982301 | 125 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Collaboration, community and cooperation!
After many talks with my principal, Antonio Vendramin, and my teaching partner, Hugh McDonald, we all decided to give this experiment a try! Sitting at round tables (just like the Kindergarteners) seems to be the perfect way to get students to work on projects together, and to to get rid of the mentality that school work is to be done in isolation, alone, without copying. I don't want to give them the type of work where they can copy the correct answer from their neighbour...I am striving to give them projects where they have to work together with their neighbour, not in isolation from them!
We are all enjoying the round tables and our next goal is to paint them all with white board paint. Thus far we have two tables done, one regular round table that students sit at daily and one coffee table that is used in our couch area (one of many alternative work spaces that Hugh and I have in our room). The kids love them and write/draw on them daily. Sometimes just for fun...but lately more and more for educational purposes! Here are some ways we use them...
I would love to hear from any teachers that have also painted their desks/tables/furniture with white board paint. How does it work in your classroom? What do the students use them for?
Has anyone else switched to tables recently? How else do you promote collaboration, community and cooperation?
(check with your school district policy before modifying and of their furniture) | <urn:uuid:e5e74094-4169-4c05-b717-d6a43ef9593b> | CC-MAIN-2018-26 | http://www.gallitzvi.com/my-blog/collaboration-community-and-cooperation-writing-on-tables | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-26/segments/1529267864919.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20180623015758-20180623035758-00614.warc.gz | en | 0.972302 | 313 | 2.546875 | 3 |
As electronic cigarettes grow in popularity, there is a growing debate about their health effects. Electronic cigarettes, also known as "e-cigarettes," are battery powered devices that generally contain cartridges filled with nicotine and flavoring chemicals which are turned into vapor and inhaled by their users. It is estimated that e-cigarette sales will top $2 billion in the United States in 2014.
The rise in popularity of e-cigarettes can be attributed to the notion that it is a potentially safer alternative to traditional cigarettes, a perception based on the idea that the vapor generated by e-cigarettes is safer than the smoke generated by traditional cigarettes. However, recently the health effects of electronic cigarette vapor has come into focus. While the health effects of electronic cigarette use will become clearer as further studies are conducted, it appears that as opposed to being safer than traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes may just pose a different kind of health concern.
Recent studies conducted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as the University of California, San Francisco, have shown that vapor generated by e-cigarettes contain varying levels of carbonyls and volatile organic compounds including formaldehyde and toluene; chemicals found on California's Proposition 65 list of toxic chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm. These studies have resulted in increased regulation of e-cigarettes in major cities across the country and opened the door for potential lawsuits. In April 2014, the city of Santa Clarita banned the use of e-cigarettes in bars, restaurants, and other public facilities. Earlier in the year, a class action lawsuit was filed in Santa Ana, California, (Orange County Superior Court, case no.: 30-2014-00705711-CU-FR-CXC) against a leading independent manufacturer and distributer of e-cigarettes alleging that the company deceptively markets e-cigarettes as harmless, even though they are known to contain potentially harmful chemicals. Furthermore, on August 8, 2014, twenty-nine state attorneys general, including the attorneys general for California and New York, requested the FDA increase regulation on e-cigarettes to be on par with the FDA's regulation of traditional cigarettes. This includes age restrictions, advertising restrictions, flavor restrictions, and requiring new warning labels about the potential health hazards associated with electronic cigarette use.
While the full scope of potential health effects of e-cigarette use is still unknown, it is clear that increased regulation and potential lawsuits against e-cigarette manufacturers and distributors are on the horizon. Manufacturers and distributors must tread cautiously about touting the potential benefits of e-cigarettes and should prepare for increased scrutiny by not only various levels of government, but also by consumers. | <urn:uuid:5500773b-414d-43a2-8f02-8e2bd7e3876a> | CC-MAIN-2020-40 | https://www.pooleshaffery.com/news/2014/september/an-ounce-of-prevention-increasing-regulation-and/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-40/segments/1600400222515.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20200925053037-20200925083037-00333.warc.gz | en | 0.954597 | 534 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Originally posted January 2009
Understanding Iran’s foreign policy is the key to crafting sensible and effective policies toward Iran and requires, above all, a close analysis of the profound cultural and psychological contexts of Iranian foreign policy behavior.
For Iran, the past is always present. A paradoxical combination of pride in Iranian culture and a sense of victimization have created a fierce sense of independence and a culture of resistance to dictation and domination by any foreign power among the Iranian people. Iranian foreign policy is rooted in these widely held sentiments.
The Roots of Iranian Foreign Policy
Iranians value the influence that their ancient religion, Zoroastrianism, has had on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. They take pride in 30 centuries of arts and artifacts, in the continuity of their cultural identity over millennia, in having established the first world state more than 2,500 years ago, in having organized the first international society that respected the religions and cultures of the people under their rule, in having liberated the Jews from Babylonian captivity, and in having influenced Greek, Arab, Mongol, and Turkish civilizations — not to mention having influenced Western culture indirectly through Iranian contributions to Islamic civilization.
At the same time, however, Iranians feel they have been oppressed by foreign powers throughout their history. They remember that Greeks, Arabs, Mongols, Turks, and most recently Saddam Husayn’s forces all invaded their homeland. Iranians also remember that the British and Russian empires exploited them economically, subjugated them politically, and invaded and occupied their country in two World Wars.
The facts that the United States aborted Iranian democratic aspirations in 1953 by overthrowing the government of Prime Minister Muhammad Musaddeq, returned the autocratic Shah to the throne, and thereafter dominated the country for a quarter century is deeply seared into Iran’s collective memory. Likewise, just as the American overthrow of Musaddeq was etched into the Iranian psyche, the Iranian taking of American hostages in 1979 was engraved into the American consciousness. Iran’s relations with the United States have been shaped not only by a mutual psychological trauma but also by collective memory on the Iranian side of 70 years of amicable Iran-US relations.
In spite of these historical wounds, Iranians remember American support of their first attempt to establish a democratic representative government in 1905-1911; American championing of Iran’s rejection of the British bid to impose a protectorate on Iran after World War I; American support of Iran’s resistance to Soviet pressures for an oil concession in the 1940s; and, above all else, American efforts to protect Iran’s independence and territorial integrity by pressuring the Soviet Union to end its occupation of northern Iran at the end of World War II.
A Tradition of Prudent Statecraft
Contrary to the Western and Israeli depiction of Iranian foreign policy as “irrational,” Iran has a tradition of prudent statecraft that has been created by centuries of experience in international affairs beginning with Cyrus the Great more than 2,000 years ago.
To be sure, Iran has made many mistakes in its long diplomatic history. In the post-revolutionary period, and particularly in the early years of the Islamic revolution, Iran’s foreign policy was often characterized by provocation, agitation, subversion, taking of hostages, and terrorism. Most recently, Iran’s international image was tarnished by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s imprudent rhetoric about Israel and the Holocaust in disregard of the importance of international legitimacy and the Iranian-Islamic dictum of hekmat (wisdom).
Yet it is also important to acknowledge instances where post-revolutionary Iranian foreign policy has been moderate and constructive. Ahmadinejad’s predecessor, President Mohammad Khatami, vehemently denounced violence and terrorism, promoted détente, pressed for “dialogue among civilizations,” improved Iran’s relations with its Persian Gulf neighbors, reversed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s fatwa against author Salman Rushdie, bettered relations with Europe, softened Iran’s adversarial attitude toward Israel, and, above all, offered an “olive branch” to the United States. His foreign policy restored the tradition of hekmat (wisdom) to Iran’s statecraft.
Lessons to Be Learned
There are valuable lessons to be learned by countries that deal with Iran, especially those powers that are quarreling with Iran over the crucial nuclear issue.
First, Iran’s statecraft is inextricably linked to the expectation of respect. In attempting to negotiate with Iran, pressures and threats, direct or indirect, military, economic or diplomatic, can prove highly counterproductive. When the United States says “all the options are on the table” in the nuclear dispute, for example, Iran views this as a threat of military force that must be resisted. Or when the six powers issued their joint proposal to Iran for discussion, as they did in Geneva on July 19, 2008, with an August 2 deadline for an Iranian response, Iran understood it as an ultimatum that could be followed by the imposition of greater sanctions.
While Iran’s reaction to the Geneva meeting, which included the United States for the first time, was generally positive, Iranian leaders said enough to demonstrate that they expect respect and reject threats. In addressing the Iranian people on the critical nuclear issue on July 17, 2008, the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i, rejected threats from the United States, saying that “[t]he Iranian people do not like threats. We will not respond to threats in any way.” Yet he specifically praised the European powers because “they respect the Iranian people. They stress that they respect the rights of the Iranian people.”
Following Khamene’i, on July 28, 2008 President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the anchor of NBC Nightly News, “You know full well that nobody can threaten the Iranian people and pose [a] deadline they expect us to meet.” He rejected the August 2 deadline on the same day and said on August 3, “Iran has always been willing to solve the long-standing crisis over its disputed nuclear program through negotiations.” Reportedly, Iran would make its own proposal in its own time, perhaps on August 5.
Second, Iran’s interlocutors would benefit significantly if they also understood Iran’s negotiating style. Created, molded, and honed by long diplomatic experience, Iranian diplomats combine a range of tactics in dealing with their counterparts: testing, probing, procrastinating, exaggerating, bluffing, ad-hocing, and counter-threatening when threatened.
Third, foreign powers such as the United States should recognize the fierce sense of independence and resistance of the Iranian people, regardless of political and ideological differences, to direct or indirect pressure, dictation, and the explicit or implied threat of force. With these points in mind, American leaders can still draw creatively on the historic reservoir of Iranian goodwill toward the United States to craft initiatives that will be well received in Iran.
The Way Forward for the United States
The United States should recognize the legitimacy of the Iranian Revolution unequivocally. The United States should also assess realistically Iran’s projection of power in the Middle East, particularly in the Persian Gulf, where Iran seeks acknowledgment of its role as a major player. Thirdly, the US administration should reconsider its reliance on more than three decades of containment and sanctions, which have not weakened the regime, but have grievously harmed the Iranian people, whom America claims to support. Finally, the United States should also talk to Iran unconditionally. On the nuclear issue in particular, the United States should take up Iran on its explicit commitment to uranium enrichment solely for peaceful purposes, and President Ahmadinejad’s statement that “Iran has always been willing to resolve the nuclear dispute through negotiations.”
In attempting to negotiate with Iran, pressures and threats can prove highly counterproductive | <urn:uuid:1a4cdb94-8a59-4b0d-a6c8-1453cabc165d> | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | http://www.mei.edu/node/1649 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676591575.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20180720080634-20180720100634-00505.warc.gz | en | 0.957825 | 1,642 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Sunday, September 14, 2008
The Hexagon Hunt Begans - Updated
Last year the students spent a good deal of time working with pentagons. This year the focus is on the hexagon. Last week, the first full week of school, I began the first of a series of lessons I assembled over the summer. The lesson followed the same format as last year's introduction to pentagons. I laid out several rugs and on one I placed the hexagon shape from the geometry cabinet and two of the matching cards. I also placed the hexagon box.
I slowly pieced the hexagon together from the triangles within the box. I kept the lid on the rug beside it.
Next, I placed several hexagons cut from construction paper on the second rug. I pointed out to the children that they should be placed so that at least one side of two hexagons touched. After I placed mine, I distributed the rest to the students and called them one at a time to place theirs down.
The pentagon work last year with the construction paper shapes resulted in an almost spiral pattern.
The hexagon placement was a bonded assemblage. It appeared dense and stable. It lacked a sense of motion or fluidity. Instead the hexagon formation revealed what it is often associated with - construction, assemblage, fortification. I use these words as they are what come to my mind when I think of bee hives, hornets' nests and quilting.
On Friday, I performed a science experiment for the afternoon class: I began growing a crystal garden. I used ordinary rocks (ones with noticeable white stripes or deposits) and vinegar. The children sat motionless while I poured the vinegar over the rocks. They held their magnifying glasses in hand waiting to observe the rocks fizz from the vinegar bath.
Now, we wait for the sun to evaporate the vinegar and for the residue to form into crystals. The complete directions for the incredibly inexpensive science experiment are noted below. Please be advised that the crystals take several weeks to grow. Enjoy.
To grow a crystal rock garden you will need a dish, a glass, vinegar and a handful of rocks of roughly the same size. Look for rocks that contain white streaks.
Pour a little vinegar into the glass. Drop one rock into the vinegar. If the rock starts to fizz remove it and place it on your dish. Put the rocks that do not fizz back outside. Pour vinegar over the tested rocks and into the dish until just the tops of the rocks are visible above the surface. Leave your dish in a sunny place and watch what happens over several weeks.
As long as it contains calcium carbonate - those white streaks - even an ordinary rock will sprout beautiful crystals. Vinegar reacts with the calcium carbonate in the rocks and starts to break it down. That is what makes the rock fizz. As the vinegar evaporates from the dish, tiny bits of calcium carbonate are left behind, clinging to the rocks. Over time. these bits join together and build up into lumpy aragonite crystals. To keep the crystals growing simply add more vinegar.
See: 101 Science Activities for Emerging Einsteins,
by Tracey Ann Schofield Teaching and Learning Company pg. 81 | <urn:uuid:99ca9986-5260-458e-b848-dbb218dca45a> | CC-MAIN-2014-35 | http://themoveablealphabet.blogspot.com/2008/09/hexagon-hunt-begans.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-35/segments/1409535917663.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20140901014517-00293-ip-10-180-136-8.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926609 | 672 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Clot-Busting Stroke Medicine: Mired in Controversy
An ischemic stroke occurs as a result of an obstruction within a blood vessel supplying blood to the brain and accounts for about 87 percent of all strokes, according to the American Stroke Association.
A common treatment used to break up the clots and prevent brain damage has become mired in controversy. The treatment, called tissue plasminogen activator (TPA), demonstrated in a clinical trial that the medicine could break up those blood clots and prevent brain damage. More than 20 years ago TPA was part of a large clinical trial that investigators believed was the answer to the prayers of stroke victims and their families. TPA is the only medicine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treating strokes that are caused by blood clots cutting off the supply to the brain. Despite its approval by the FDA, the data has been rejected as flawed by some emergency medicine practitioners, the New York Times reported.
In an interview with the Times Dr. Christopher Lewandowski, the principal trial investigator said they believed the data was so strong there wasn’t much need to explain it. However, as the Times noted, the data has doubters and so far, the doubters have had the stronger voice. In its report, the Times said approximately 30 percent of the 700,000 annual stroke victims in the United States arrive at the hospital in time to benefit from TPA. They often do not receive that medication due to the concerns raised by those concerned about the effects of the medication. Because the clot is not broken up by TPA, the Times said stroke patients can suffer from impaired cognition, paralysis, emotional and behavioral dysfunction or a number of other neurological issues.
TPA has been endorsed by the American Stroke Association and other medical societies for patients who arrive in time for treatment – usually within three hours of the start of a stroke. There is risk, including cerebral hemorrhage, but the Times said in most stroke patients use of TPA prevents brain injury. Additionally, the Times said the number of cerebral hemorrhages in TPA patients has declined over the years.
Those who oppose the use of TPA say the drug is more dangerous than the stroke and can cause brain hemorrhages. Additionally, the skeptics said the research from that trial Lewandowski led is “deeply flawed,” the Times reported.
That negative message regarding TPA is being shared across social media and is gaining traction in some medical schools, the Times noted.
Two years ago an article penned in Scientific American highlighted some of the shortcomings of TPA, including the narrow window in which it can be used, as well as the risks of internal bleeding. The article notes that the drug is not as effective against larger blood clots. The article went on to point to other technologies that can break up clots, including a device known as a stent retriever.
Multiple emergency medicine specialists told the Times about the growing skepticism around TPA from across the globe. From the report, it seems that more and more emergency room doctors are informing patients of the risks of the drug, but many are not even telling patients about the drug at all. | <urn:uuid:054a61a4-3ba8-4cfc-83c9-3d6ed23c21fb> | CC-MAIN-2021-31 | https://www.biospace.com/article/clot-busting-stroke-medicine-mired-in-controversy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-31/segments/1627046153392.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20210727135323-20210727165323-00233.warc.gz | en | 0.96486 | 653 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Morus alba has many claimed benefits, including lowering blood sugar and fat levels, supporting brain function, and preventing bone loss. In addition, the herb has few reported side effects. Read this post to learn about all its potential health benefits and mechanisms.
What Is White Mulberry (Morus alba)?
White mulberry (Morus alba) is a small tree native to northern China. During ancient times its primary uses were to feed silkworms and treat various illnesses.
White mulberry contains many unique active compounds and flavonoids that confer a broad range of potential benefits.
Its leaves and roots can be prepared in a tea, while its berries can be eaten whole or made into wine.
White mulberry contains many natural polyphenols and flavonoids, which have potential antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and antibacterial properties [1, 2].
Compared to the stems and fruits, the leaves contain more phenolic compounds and flavonoids .
Some of the compounds in white mulberry include [1, 4, 5, 2, 6]:
- Resveratrol (and its derivatives, like oxyresveratrol)
- Caffeic acid
- Gallic acid
- Chlorogenic acid
- Kuwanon C and G [7, 8]
Additionally, white mulberry contains many constituents that are unique to the plant:
- Moracin has potential anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancer properties
- Albanol A is toxic to cancer cells
- Albosteroid has antioxidant and anti-ulcer properties
- May lower blood sugar
- May reduce the risk of heart disease
- May help lose weight
- May support brain function
- Few mild adverse effects reported
- Insufficient evidence for most benefits
- May interact with antidiabetic and immunosuppressant medication
Possibly Effective for:
In 4 clinical trials on 101 healthy people, white mulberry leaf extract reduced carbohydrate digestion and absorption, resulting in decreased blood sugar and insulin spikes after meals [11, 12, 13, 14].
Similarly, the extract reduced fasting sugar levels and sugar and insulin spikes after meals in 3 clinical trials on 84 people with type 2 diabetes or at risk of developing this condition [15, 16, 17].
A nutraceutical complex with white mulberry extract, red yeast rice, and berberine lowered fasting glucose, blood insulin, and hemoglobin bound to sugar (glycated hemoglobin) in 2 trials on almost 400 people with high blood fat levels, possibly reducing their risk of developing type 2 diabetes [18, 19].
White mulberry leaf extract also improved insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance in obese mice. In cels, it decreased glucose levels by increasing the production of its transporter GLUT4 [20, 21].
White mulberry extract may also help with diabetic complications. It improved the antioxidant status and blood fat profile in a clinical trial on 60 diabetic people with kidney damage, possibly slowing the progression of the disease. In diabetic mice, its antioxidant and sugar-lowering activity protected the eyes against cell death [22, 23].
All in all, the evidence suggests that white mulberry may help lower blood sugar levels. You may discuss with your doctor if it may be helpful in your case. Importantly, never take white mulberry supplements in place of the antidiabetic medication prescribed by your doctor.
Insufficient Evidence for:
1) Preventing Heart Disease
In 2 clinical trials on 48 people with high blood fat levels, white mulberry extract lowered triglycerides, total cholesterol, “bad” (LDL) cholesterol, and markers of inflammation (CRP) and oxidative damage (8-isoprostane), while increasing “good” (HDL) cholesterol [24, 25].
Similarly, a nutraceutical complex with white mulberry, red yeast rice, and berberine lowered total and LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure in 2 trials on almost 400 people with this condition [19, 18]
White mulberry extract also decreased fat buildup in the blood vessels and lowered blood pressure in animal studies [26, 27, 28].
Although the results are promising, only 4 clinical trials have been carried out (two of which combined white mulberry extract with other compounds that may lower cholesterol and blood pressure). Larger, more robust clinical trials are needed to confirm these preliminary results.
2) Improving Memory and Learning
In a study of 60 adults, 1-2.1 grams per day of white mulberry leaf extract enhanced brain function and memory .
In mice, white mulberry extract increased NGF levels, leading to increased brain cell growth. The mice then had enhanced learning and memory (as seen by their improved retention and object recognition time) .
In another study, rats treated with white mulberry extract showed improved memory, as well as increased brain cell density and reduced oxidative stress in the brain .
A single clinical trial and some animal research cannot be considered sufficient evidence to claim that white mulberry improves memory and learning. Further clinical research is required.
3) Whitening the Skin
Both white mulberry root bark and leaves can whiten the skin, suggesting their potential application in skin-lightening cosmetics [29+].
A 75% white mulberry oil reduced skin pigmentation in a clinical trial on 50 people with a condition that causes dark patches on the skin (melasma) .
Mulberroside F is likely responsible for this effect. In mouse cells, it inhibited melanin formation and tyrosinase activity .
Again, only one clinical trial is insufficient to support this potential use of white mulberry. More clinical trials on larger populations are needed.
In a clinical trial on 46 overweight people eating a low-calorie, balanced diet, supplementation with white mulberry extract enhanced weight loss by approximately 3x (10 kg versus 3.2 kg in the placebo group) .
The combination of white mulberry with other plant extracts suppressed appetite and lowered fat levels in mice [35, 36].
White mulberry may also protect against obesity-related diseases. In mice, its leaf extract kept Nrf2 levels at a balance. This may balance fat production, produce antioxidant enzymes, and prevent obesity-related fatty liver diseases .
Once again, only a small clinical trial and some animal research support the use of white mulberry to reduce obesity and its complications. More clinical research is needed.
5) Bone Loss
A combination o white mulberry and Vietnamese coriander (Polygonum odoratum) extracts (1500 mg/day) increased two bone formation markers (blood osteocalcin and alkaline phosphatase) and reduced a marker of bone loss (CTX) in a clinical trial on 45 postmenopausal women .
A single clinical trial combining white mulberry with another herbal extract is clearly insufficient to back its role in preventing bone loss. More clinical trials using white mulberry alone are needed.
Animal and Cell Research (Lack of Evidence)
No clinical evidence supports the use of white mulberry for any of the conditions listed in this section. Below is a summary of the existing animal and cell-based research, which should guide further investigational efforts. However, the studies should not be interpreted as supportive of any health benefit.
Oxyresveratrol is an active component of white mulberry. It exerts an anti-inflammatory effect by suppressing various compounds and pathways (iNOS/nitric oxide production, PGE2 synthesis, and NFkB activation) .
It also inhibits MEK/ERK pathway activation, which stops white blood cells from building up in the tissues and causing inflammation .
Moracin M inhibits PDE4 enzyme activity, which increases cAMP levels and lowers the inflammatory response .
A combination of white mulberry leaf and fruit extracts improved obesity-related inflammation in mice. It also lowered inflammatory marker levels (TNF-a, CRP, IL-1, and iNOS) .
Additionally, white mulberry root bark lowered inflammation in mouse cells .
White mulberry fruits have compounds that increase the activity of macrophages and enhance the immune response .
In cells, their extract stimulated the activity of some pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-10) and messengers (NO and PGE2) .
White mulberry extract increased GABA and reduced dopamine in mice, thus reducing stress-induced behaviors and producing anti-anxiety effects [45, 46, 47].
Sanggenon G, an active compound of white mulberry root bark, had antidepressant effects in rats. Treatment with this compound reduced HPA axis activity and depressive behaviors .
White mulberry leaf tea also reduced depressive behavior in mice. However, it also decreased muscle strength and coordination .
White mulberry may help the body deal with stress by normalizing cortisol levels. Mice exposed to chronic stress for 21 days showed fewer impairments in brain function, mood, hormonal balance, and blood sugar balance when treated with white mulberry root extract .
Scientists isolated the neurotransmitter GABA from white mulberry leaves. It increased endurance in mice during exercise, as well as improving several biological indicators of fatigue (such as glycogen and hormone levels) .
White mulberry leaves contain several antimicrobial flavonoids, alkaloids, and stilbenoids .
Their extract also showed antimicrobial activity in mice (against Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans, Candida krusei, Candida tropicalis, and Aspergillus flavus) .
Kuwanon G from white mulberry root bark significantly inhibited the growth of bacteria that may cause cavities and gum disease (Streptococcus mutans, S. sobrinus, S. sanguis, and Porpyromonas gingivalis) in test tubes .
Below, we will discuss some preliminary research on white mulberry’s potential anticancer effects. It’s still in the animal and cell stage and further clinical studies have yet to determine if its extract may be useful in cancer therapies.
Do not under any circumstances attempt to replace conventional cancer therapies with white mulberry or any other supplements. If you want to use it as a supportive measure, talk to your doctor to avoid any unexpected interactions.
White mulberry extract prevented rats given a cancer-causing chemical (NDEA) from developing liver cancer .
A compound isolated from white mulberry fruits (cyanidin-3-glucoside) killed breast cancer cells in test tubes and reduced tumor growth in mice .
White mulberry bark extract stopped colorectal cancer cell growth and induced their death. It activated the production of a cell death protein (ATF3) while decreasing the levels of a protein required for cell growth and division (cyclin D1). Its compounds morusin and kuwanon C and G were possibly responsible for these effects .
Limitations & Caveats
Most of white mulberry’s potential health benefits have only been tested in animal and cell-based studies. More clinical trials are needed to confirm its effectiveness and safety for human use.
Side Effects & Precautions
Potential Side Effects
This list does not cover all possible side effects. Contact your doctor or pharmacist if you notice any other side effects.
Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. In the US, you may report side effects to the FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or at www.fda.gov/medwatch. In Canada, you may report side effects to Health Canada at 1-866-234-2345.
Oral white mulberry extract was generally well-tolerated and only caused a few mild adverse effects such as [25, 24, 56, 13]:
- Stomach pain and cramping
- Gas and bloating
- Diarrhea or constipation
- Increased appetite
A topical oil with 75% mulberry extract caused mild itching in 6% of the people applying it on the skin to improve melasma .
Supplement/Herb/Nutrient-drug interactions can be dangerous and, in rare cases, even life-threatening. Always consult your doctor before supplementing and let them know about all drugs and supplements you are using or considering.
Because white mulberry can lower glucose levels. It can increase the risk of low blood sugar in people taking antidiabetic medication. People on this medication should avoid white mulberry supplements .
In rats, white mulberry also decreased the absorption and blood concentration of cyclosporine, an immunosuppressant drug used to avoid organ rejection in transplant patients. Talk to your doctor if you are taking this immunosuppressant and plan to use white mulberry supplements .
These gene interactions have only been observed in animal studies. It is unclear if the human equivalent of these genes is affected by white mulberry.
Glucose-Related Genes and Proteins
The gallic acid in white mulberry increased GLUT4 protein production in the membrane of rat fat cells, resulting in increased glucose uptake and decreased fasting blood glucose .
White mulberry leaf powder affected the production of various genes in mice. It increased SREBF-1, which plays a central role in maintaining energy balance and promotes glycolysis-related genes .
Conversely, the leaf powder decreased PDK4 production. PDK4 deficiency lowers blood glucose and improves insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance .
White mulberry leaf powder increased CYP7A1 enzyme activity. This lowered blood and kidney cholesterol in rats .
It also blocked the production of CDKN1A, HSPA1B, DEFB1, SPON2, and TRP53INP1, providing antioxidant effects .
In rats, white mulberry leaf powder increased the production of CPT1A, ACOX2, and PHYH, which help with fatty acid breakdown. It decreased DGAT2 protein production, which is needed for fat formation lipogenesis. These effects help lower fat levels .
Because white mulberry extract is not approved by the FDA for any conditions, there is no official dose. Users and supplement manufacturers have established unofficial doses based on trial and error. Discuss with your doctor if white mulberry may be useful as a complementary approach in your case and which dose you should take.
In a clinical trial, the daily administration of 1-2.1 grams had no toxic effects .
The opinions expressed in this section are solely those of white mulberry users, who may or may not have medical or scientific training. Their reviews do not represent the opinions of SelfHacked. SelfHacked does not endorse any specific product, service, or treatment.
Do not consider user experiences as medical advice. Never delay or disregard seeking professional medical advice from your doctor or other qualified healthcare providers because of something you have read on SelfHacked. We understand that reading individual, real-life experiences can be a helpful resource, but it is never a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment from a qualified healthcare provider.
Most users took in white mulberry extract to lower their blood sugar levels. Many of them were satisfied with the results and reported improved blood sugar control.
Bloating and constipation were the adverse effects most commonly reported among dissatisfied users. | <urn:uuid:2a420dba-1fa1-4cc3-b737-5cad580059d6> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://supplements.selfdecode.com/blog/benefits-morus-alba/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296949694.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20230401001704-20230401031704-00548.warc.gz | en | 0.916727 | 3,378 | 2.828125 | 3 |
This summer is the 140th anniversary of the Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world. Tennis is played by millions of people all over the world, and is enjoyed as a spectator sport. Both lawn tennis and the older racket sport of real tennis have been enjoyed competitively and as a leisure interest by members of the Rothschild family.
Several members of the family excelled at tennis: Anthony de Rothschild (1887-1961), Senior Partner, N M Rothschild & Sons between 1942-1960 was a Cambridge Blue. Rozsika Rothschild (née Werteheimstein) (1870-1940) the Hungarian Baroness, who married the naturalist Charles Rothschild (1877-1923) in 1907 had been ladies' champion in Hungary and is credited with having introduced the overhand service into the ladies' game. Later in her life, Jacqueline Piatigorsky (née Rothschild) (1911-2012) of the French Rothschild family won the ladies' doubles of the U.S. Senior Championships, adding mastery of the court to her considerable talents as a chess player.
Real tennis is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of lawn tennis is derived. Real tennis, or ‘jeu de paume’, is believed to have originated in France in the twelfth century, and became very popular across Europe with two notable players being King Henry VIII of England and King Louis X of France. In Victorian England, real tennis had a revival, but broad public interest later shifted to the new, easier outdoor game of lawn tennis, which soon became the more popular sport, and was played by both genders; real tennis players were almost exclusively male. The term real was first used by journalists in the early twentieth century to distinguish the ancient game from modern lawn tennis.
The Rothschild Archive holds several series of receipts for purchases made by members of the Rothschild family. The payments cover every aspect of life: payments relating to property - rents, rebuilding, decorating; personal purchases - clothing, wine, horses; charitable activities and social interests. In the private receipts of Mayer de Rothschild (1818-1874) there is an itemised invoice for ‘E Tompkis & Barre’ for fees for real tennis, including booking of courts, racquet and shoe hire for June-August 1856. The total expenditure in those three months of sport came to £40-4-0, roughly £3,500 today.
Mayer, or 'Muffy' as he was known to his family, was born in New Court on 29 June 1818. He was the first of his family to receive an education at an English university, spending time at both Magdalene and Trinity College Cambridge after a spell at Leipzig and Heidelberg universities. He followed a traditional Rothschild apprenticeship and was the first of the family to commission a truly grand residence, Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire. He, his wife, Juliana(1831-1877), whom he had married on 26 June 1850, and their only child, Hannah (1851-1890), took up residence in 1855. It was a house of lavish entertaining. Visiting it in 1872, Lady Eastlake said that it was "like a fairyland when I entered the great palace, and got at once into the grand hall - 40ft by 50, and about 100ft high -hung with tapestries, floored with parquet and Persian carpets". Mayer died in 1874, leaving Mentmore to his only child, Hannah. Hannah later married Lord Rosebery, and the house remained in the Rosebery family until it was put on the market in 1977. The auction of the contents in the same year was one of the major sales of the century.
Nearly 60 years later, Mayer’s nephew Leopold de Rothschild (1845-1917) continued the family passion for the sport. Amongst Leopold’s receipts for his Gunnersbury Estate is an itemised invoice for the ‘En Tout Cas Co.,Ltd’, specialists in landscape gardening, garden furniture and ornaments, and tennis courts, 'Grass, Hard and Covered'. Leopold also had a tennis court in the gardens of his London residence, 5 Hamilton Place, which had private gardens to the north and west, and from the drawing room windows there were magnificent views of Hyde Park.
It is perhaps no surprise that one of Leopold’s sons excelled at the sport. In a letter written from New Court by his eldest son Lionel de Rothschild (1882-1942) to their French cousins on 7 July 1909, Lionel claimed that the general public were not concerned with international affairs, “they are more interested in Mrs Cornwallis West's play, which they do not think good, and in the tennis match in which my brother Anthony is upholding the honour of his University against Oxford.” The Cambridge University Lawn Tennis Club (CULTC) in England is one of the oldest lawn tennis clubs in the world, founded in 1881, and historically has had more victories than their rivals at Oxford, and boasts many Wimbledon Champions.
RAL XIII/41/5/174 and XII/17/10 | <urn:uuid:49e1db28-29df-44f3-8e69-929d1df0896b> | CC-MAIN-2020-40 | https://www.rothschildarchive.org/collections/treasure_of_the_month/july_2017_receipts_for_tennis_1856_and_1915 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-40/segments/1600400213454.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20200924034208-20200924064208-00710.warc.gz | en | 0.978495 | 1,082 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Lord Ganesha is one of the most beloved gods known by 108 different names in our culture. He is considered to be a symbol of good fortune, wisdom, prosperity and wealth. Ganesha Chaturthi festival is celebrated with extreme devotion and joy in many states of India and even outside the country. Maharashtra, Goa, Kerela, Tamil Nadu are some of the cities that have been home to these celebrations since ages.
Out of all the stories linked to the history of this festival, the most relevant one dates back to the time of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. It is believed that Parvati was the creator of Ganesha. The story says that Parvati used her sandalwood dough and created Ganesha in the absence of Shiva. She gave him the work of guarding her bathroom door while she was bathing. After Shiva returned home, Ganesha and Shiva got into a fight due to which Shiva severed the head of the child. Witnessing this site, Parvati enraged and Lord Shiva promised getting Ganesha back to life. The followers searched for a child’s head facing north, but all they could find was an elephant’s head. And that’s how our Gajanana was born.
Ganesha Chaturthi is regarded as an important festival in the region of Maharashtra and is celebrated for seven to ten days when the entire state is decorated with lights. In Mumbai, on the first day of the festival, the Pooja starts with the idol being kept over a pedestal that symbolizes a throne. This is followed by a priest performing the rituals and Puja dedicated to the idol. Then, he dips the idol in holy water. Modak, a sweet made of sweetened coconut and rice flour, is then offered to the deity along with incense and flowers. For the rest of the days, the idol of worshipped with Ganesha Stuti and devotional songs in the evening and morning. People install idols of Lord Ganesha in their houses as well.
It is believed that god returns to his heavenly abode after ten days of Ganesha Chaturthi celebrations. The city witnesses great vigour and enthusiasm for the farewell procession in which the idol of Lord Ganesha is carried by the devotees. The procession is accompanied by lot of singers, dancers, acrobats, priests and various onlookers. Sweets, coconuts, flowers and Aarti are offered to the idol prior to immersion in the Arabian Sea. This ritual is known as ‘Ganesha Visarjan’ or the immersion of Lord Ganesha and the procession flock the street with the chanting, ‘Ganapati Bappa Morya’ (famous slogan praising Lord Ganesha).
There are many things that one can learn from Lord Ganesha. Few of them are:
- Large Ears : Make an habit of listening more.
- Big Head: Thing big and high.
- Small Eyes: Concentrate More.
- One tusk : Retain Good knowledge and throw away bad one.
- Trunk : High efficiency and adaptability.
- Mouse(Mooshak Raj): Ride on desires and keep it under control.
- Large Stomach: Peacefully digest everything; Good or bad.
- Laddos/ Modak : Reward of good deeds. | <urn:uuid:f6c11da3-463d-4a5b-8b63-6509caad51ae> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | http://theincredibleindia.in/ganesha-chaturthi-specialthings-you-should-learn-from-lord-ganesha/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703512342.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20210117112618-20210117142618-00770.warc.gz | en | 0.953665 | 698 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Absorption of macronutrients and energy intake were determined in 29 children aged 24–59 months, during convalescence from acute shigellosis. A 72 h metabolic balance study was performed to determine the absorption of carbohydrate, fat, and protein. Eighteen children received a high-protein (5 g/kg/day) diet, and 11 children received a standard-protein (2.5 g/kg/day) diet. The mean × SD energy intake was 612 × 38 kJ/kg/day for children receiving the high-protein diet, compared with 633 × 50 kJ/kg/day for the standard-protein group. The coefficient of carbohydrate absorption was 89 and 92% for the high-protein and standard-protein diets, respectively (p = 0.059). The coefficient of protein absorption was 80 and 71% for the high-protein and standard-protein groups, respectively, and was significantly higher in the high-protein group (p < 0.01). Absorption of fat was similar in both groups. The results of the study show better absorption of protein from a high-protein diet during convalescence, which may have a positive impact on catchup growth of children suffering from shigellosis. | <urn:uuid:271de51d-225f-4d8d-81a9-ab8fe85fdd1c> | CC-MAIN-2019-04 | https://insights.ovid.com/jpga/199401000/00005176-199401000-00011 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-04/segments/1547583659063.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20190117184304-20190117210304-00280.warc.gz | en | 0.95865 | 256 | 2.609375 | 3 |
The UN Charter establishes that every country has the right – and obligation – to protect its citizens against acts of aggression. A military defence is the ultimate expression of this. For Sweden, a domestic defence industry is an important component in its defence capabilities, allowing it to be independent and participate in international collaborations in defence technology.
Without the ability to sell to and cooperate with other countries, Sweden could not maintain its technological expertise and defence capabilities. At the same time, the export of defence materiel carries with it a great responsibility and is therefore governed by strict rules. The largest part of Saab’s exports is from Sweden, where the Swedish Agency for Non-Proliferation and Export Controls (ISP) determines on behalf of the government which defence products Saab may sell to which countries.
What Saab sells to whom
The export of defence materiel requires a permit from the competent authority. Such permits could be issued if there are security and defence policy reasons for the export and if it is consistent with Swedish foreign policy interests. Decisions on export permits are made on a case-by-case basis where ISP weighs a number of criteria in a comprehensive assessment. ISP also takes into account the type of
product the decision involves.
In Sustainability fact book you can read about how Saab works with the issue, targets, results and planned activities.
Sustainability fact book 2017
Sustainability fact book 2017 (Swedish)
Last updated: 04 October 2018 • 10:26 | <urn:uuid:c8b90446-13d2-4278-abde-a0a80aac3909> | CC-MAIN-2020-34 | https://saabgroup.com/responsibility/responsible-business/compliance-with-export-rules/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-34/segments/1596439735867.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20200804073038-20200804103038-00369.warc.gz | en | 0.95061 | 306 | 2.671875 | 3 |
- What happens when QE ends?
- Who benefits from quantitative easing?
- What does quantitative easing do to house prices?
- What are the effects of QE?
- Can quantitative easing go on forever?
- Does QE weaken currency?
- Why don’t we print more money out of debt?
- Does QE cause inflation?
- Who created quantitative easing?
- Why is QE bad?
- Does quantitative easing add to the national debt?
- Why does QE not lead to inflation?
- How does quantitative easing affect the economy?
- Why is QE not printing money?
- Where does the money go from quantitative easing?
What happens when QE ends?
Thirdly, we can be sure that the end of QE will be deflationary, though not as much so as its actual withdrawal (when the central banks start selling assets off and raising interest rates).
For as long as banks are repairing their finances, they’ll be shrinking loans and that means the money supply is under threat..
Who benefits from quantitative easing?
Some economists believe that QE only benefits wealthy borrowers. By using QE to inundate the economy with more money, governments maintain artificially low interest rates while providing consumers with extra money to spend.
What does quantitative easing do to house prices?
As QE measures take hold, demand for property is anticipated to increase. Ongoing population growth will also contribute to higher demand for residential property. As a result, house prices are forecast to rise as construction activity slows and limits the supply of new houses.
What are the effects of QE?
The QE Effect Quantitative easing pushes interest rates down. This lowers the returns investors and savers can get on the safest investments such as money market accounts, certificates of deposit (CDs), Treasuries, and corporate bonds. Investors are forced into relatively riskier investments to find stronger returns.
Can quantitative easing go on forever?
The Inherent Limitation of QE Pension funds or other investors are not eligible to keep reserves at the central bank, and of course banks hold a finite amount of government bonds. Therefore QE cannot be continued indefinitely.
Does QE weaken currency?
Question: Examine the possible impact of an expansion of quantitative easing on the external value of a country’s currency. … Since bond prices and yields are inversely–related, QE can lead to a fallin bondyields and long-term interest rates more generally.
Why don’t we print more money out of debt?
Unless there is an increase in economic activity commensurate with the amount of money that is created, printing money to pay off the debt would make inflation worse. … This would be, as the saying goes, “too much money chasing too few goods.”
Does QE cause inflation?
Twice a month. One important way QE is meant to cause growth and inflation is by the so-called credit channel—that is, by coaxing banks to increase lending. When the Fed uses QE to expand its balance sheet, it buys up Treasury bonds and other securities from banks. These purchases increase banks’ cash reserves.
Who created quantitative easing?
When Was Quantitative Easing Invented? Even the invention of quantitative easing is shrouded in controversy. Some give credit to economist John Maynard Keynes for developing the concept; some cite the Bank of Japan for implementing it; others cite economist Richard Werner, who coined the term.
Why is QE bad?
Risks and side-effects. Quantitative easing may cause higher inflation than desired if the amount of easing required is overestimated and too much money is created by the purchase of liquid assets. On the other hand, QE can fail to spur demand if banks remain reluctant to lend money to businesses and households.
Does quantitative easing add to the national debt?
Since QE involves the purchase of higher interest rate long dated debt and financing that purchase with lower interest rate central bank reserves, it has the effect of reducing the federal government’s costs to finance its debt.
Why does QE not lead to inflation?
The first reason, then, why QE did not lead to hyperinflation is because the state of the economy was already deflationary when it began. After QE1, the fed underwent a second round of quantitative easing, QE2.
How does quantitative easing affect the economy?
Buying these securities adds new money to the economy, and also serves to lower interest rates by bidding up fixed-income securities. … Quantitative easing increases the money supply by purchasing assets with newly-created bank reserves in order to provide banks with more liquidity.
Why is QE not printing money?
The main reason is that central bank purchases of government bonds are not the equivalent of the central bank printing notes and handing them out. Asset purchases by the central bank are financed by money creation, but not money in the form of bank notes. … In contrast, bank notes never pay interest.
Where does the money go from quantitative easing?
In reality, through QE the Bank of England purchased financial assets – almost exclusively government bonds – from pension funds and insurance companies. It paid for these bonds by creating new central bank reserves – the type of money that bank use to pay each other. | <urn:uuid:5344eec1-6e0c-47ab-800e-2b8c244c8bf8> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | https://caasresearchfoundation.com/qa/is-quantitative-easing-a-good-idea-for-the-economy.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178373761.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20210305214044-20210306004044-00171.warc.gz | en | 0.945477 | 1,106 | 3.1875 | 3 |
The Iraqi War began with a historical victory for the United States. The US, not regarding the warnings of the whole world, invaded Iraq within a short time and with a significantly low loss which can be considered as a record for such a war. According to many Americans, the mission was accomplished. The Saddam’s army had been dissolved, and even his sculptures were destroyed by ‘his own people’. Later on, the thing to be done was to give a new form to Iraq. According to the neo-cons’ (or hawks) perspective, it would be easier to shape Iran, Syria and even the Middle East as a whole if Iraq was controlled. This was the reason President George W. Bush harshly threatened Syria and Iran, especially having an eye on Syria, even before the smoke over Iraq has not been cleared. The other benefit of controlling Iraq was expected to come from controlling its energy markets. The US, itself being one of the few great oil producers of the world, with a giant as Iraq could take a determining position in the energy markets. By controlling Iraq, moreover the US could make its influence over the Gulf and the Middle East, a region meeting more than half of the world’s gas and oil demands permanent. Third expected benefit from the invasion of Iraq was that it would be easier to bend ‘rogue states like Iran thereafter. And finally, probably the most important goal was ensuring the security of Israel. Contrary to what is often supposed, the security of Israel is not one of the secret objectives of the US foreign policy. The US from 1960s onwards bluntly undertook the task of protecting Israel into its foreign policy and did not feel it is necessary to hide this. In this respect, creating an Iraq which is Arab but at the same time is a friend of Israel and America, was significantly important. Iraq was not just an ordinary Arab country: With Egypt, it was one of the most valuable countries regarding to their population, size and economic power. For the US which saved Israel from the threat of Egypt through diplomacy and economic aid, yet Iraq was still the hardest Arab country to be stopped. An out of control Iraq could prompt ambiguous adventures and would put Israel in a serious danger.
As seemed, the Iraq invasion of Bush and his team seemed perfect on paper. It would possibly have been one of the great successes in the US history if President Bush could have reached the objectives mentioned above with reasonable cost. In fact, these objectives were ones the US had been trying to obtain for a long time.
The method of reaching the ones’ objectives through directly settling in the Middle East actually was not new. Nixon’s approach of conduct on through the friendly states, didn’t work in the Middle East and Carter implemented by the end of the 1970s, direct settlement in the Middle East policy as the America’s ME foreign policy. During the Reagan and Bush I eras, the US made efforts for this objective and throughout treaties concluded, especially in Gulf countries, the US constructed very large bases, and sought ways to settle all around the Middle East. In the first Gulf War, the US came closer to this objective and Bill Clinton, known as liberal, also continued this aforementioned policy, who sought the ways for how to accumulate military and artillery staffs there. As opposed to the general belief, Clinton era is too an era during which America tried to discipline the region by means of force. In Clinton era, was American aircrafts bombed Iraq again and again and the civilians had experienced serious hardships under strict embargo conditions. When these all are considered, the Iraq and Middle East policies of the Bush the son may not be regarded as a radical shift. But, Bush tried to reach these objectives in clumsy ways; he caused more shame for the US than any of the previous American presidents.
The foremost mistake of President Bush was his inability to establish a good system of alliances for Iraq operation. A few rich Anglo-Saxon countries and some so-called ‘allies’ ‘bought for short term interests’, hardly provided benefits for the US in Iraq. The countries which the US needed were the other global powers like Germany, France, Russia and China. Their neutrality, at least, would have been sufficient. At regional level, Turkey was the state that could make the most important contribution for the Americans in Iraq. Yet, America became unsuccessful at both levels. The one- sided and rakish attitudes scared the US’ fellows more than it did its enemies. So that, in the pre-war period, there were hardly any Middle Eastern states that didn’t think that the US was targeting them. Even, the Saudis, the old ally of the Americans, have been discussing how many pieces their country might be divided into by the Americans. In Egypt and even in the other Arab countries in the North Africa, the ‘secret agenda’ of the US has been discussed. The United States couldn’t get the support it expected from the international organizations too. Thereby, it went into the war whose legitimacy was disputed almost unaccompanied.
The second important mistake was the failure to understand Iraq and Iraqi people. According to the American strategists, the borders of the Middle East were artificial and it was easy to change these borders. In real, most of the borders of Middle Eastern countries were drawn by Britain, the ruler at the time. The borders are not natural borders and most of the time, there is no difference between the two sides of the borders regarding language, religion, and race etc. However, the point the Americans couldn’t understand was that is more difficult to change borders than to draw them from a scratch. Whatever the borders of the Middle East were drawn artificial reasons, today changing these borders is far more difficult than splitting the atom. The artificial character diffuses attempts to change the borders in very short time to other countries and terrific resistance come into being existence. While Palestine was the clearest example of this, the Americans targeted Iraq. The Americans, without taking the customs and traditions of Iraq into consideration involved in themselves military operation and alienated the Iraqi people.
The third important mistake was in thinking the Iraqis would not resist. From Washington’s perspective, once Saddam Hussein and his fellows were removed from power, there would be no force left in Iraq that could resist. For some, the Iraqis would even thank to the US for the democratic rights given to the people suffering under the Saddam’s rule and for the gains the people got as a result of economic liberation. While the people are dealing with democratization process and making an effort to acquire prosperity, the US would shape the Middle East and change the political direction of Iraq, and take the full control of production process of all petroleum and gas resources and the transportation of these products to the external markets. Of course, the US would found permanent military bases in Iraq, and Iraq would become a military and intelligence base of the US in the heart of the Middle East. At this point, the failure of US was that it confused elections with democracy. In an environment which is not ready, the elections and referendums that were held running, further divided the Iraqi people; Groups wanted to be protect themselves from other groups began to take up arms. At this juncture, another mistake of the US was to encourage the armament in Iraq. The US provided legitimacy to the armed groups of these factions which it could not control. It then became later on impossible to achieve order in an environment where this much weaponry existed.
Probably the most important mistake was to support centrifugal force instead of central forces. The Sunnis were the faction ensuring the unity of Iraq for centuries. The Shias, even during the Ottoman period and British colonial rule, had not taken sufficient role in the administration and there had always been more Sunnis in the Iraqi governments at anytime. This trend increased in Saddam’s period. However, the first thing the Americans did when they arrived was to treat all Sunnis as if they were ‘pro-Saddam’ or terrorists and to estrange them. With these practices, the US weakened the Sunnis physically which led to ‘blood feuds’ between them and Sunni Arabs. Another ethnic group playing important role for Iraq’s unity was the Turkmens (Turkish Iraqis), yet the US took steps that estrange Turkmen from the US. The Turkmens, since they were spread on the axis which lies from the north and to the south, and since they were not in a condition to establish a separate political structure in Iraq even in the hardest times, had not ever been involved in separatist movements. Moreover, in Ottoman period, the Turkmens had played special role in defending Iraq against the external threats and achieving internal unity. Despite these clear realities, the US did not take the Turkmens seriously, or it assumed that the relationship with the Turkmens could harm to their relationship with Barzani and Talabani. Consequently, the Sunni Arabs and Turkmens were left outside of the system, and weakened, which undermined the forces stabilizing the country and keeping it under unity. The US could fill this gap most probably with the Shia Arabs. But it couldn’t handle well it as well. The US was involved in a conflict with Sadr faction which is the most important Shia group propping up Iraq’s unity. In this way, the US in Iraq strengthened the Shia groups, supporting a separate Shia state and those who are allied with Iran. The support for the Kurds, whose separatist ambitions have not been secret for a long time, must be added to all these. In short, the US while suppressing the forces promoting unity of Iraq strengthened the separatist elements. It is a well-known fact that the US provided direct support to the coalition between the Kurds and ‘separatist’ Shias, the groups from the centrifugal forces.
Another ring of this error chain is the US’s insistence on its own mistakes and not stepping back from its errors. Criticisms intensified after the November 2006 by-elections and reached its peak with the Baker- Hamilton Iraq Report. This report showed the mistakes and the possible solutions clearly. Yet, Bush administration instituted another program which is truly opposite of those recommendations of the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Report. From then on, Bush has persisted in that he can find a purely military solution in Iraq. For months, Bush has been claiming that significant progress will be made by the autumn 2007, but these claims have been proved invalid and the situation has been deteriorating in Iraq since January 2007. The monthly America casualties in 2007 for instance have risen above 100.
Month US Britain Other countries Total
December 2006 112 1 2 115
January 2007 83 3 0 86
February 2007 81 3 1 85
March 2007 81 1 0 82
April 2007 104 12 1 117
May 2007 126 3 2 131
June 2007 101 7 0 108
Not only the military losses but the economic cost of the invasion has also rising day by day. As of the beginning of July 2007, the cost of Iraq exceeded 440 billion dollars for the American tax-payers. The additional burden of Iraq on America is over 200 million dollars per day. When we remember the White House advisors’ estimates of 100-200 billion dollars, it is clear how troubling the situation has being come. In 2003 Mr. Rumsfeld estimated the potential cost of the Iraq war as only 50 billion dollars. As a natural consequence of all these developments the reactions against President Bush in Washington are increasing. The most important element contributing to the Democrats in the coming presidential race is the Iraq War. It is expected that the new president after the 2008 elections will be a Democrat because of the effects of the Iraq War. The point that the Americans, especially those who shape American politics, pay the most attention to is the financial burden of the war. Many economists are already considering that the war with its indirect expenses, will cost over 2 trillion dollars for American tax payers. In fact this cost assumes that America withdraws from Iraq in the near future. When these numbers are considered, economic panic in America regarding Iraq can be more easily understood. Not only the public but also those steering the American economy, these in the media and others are rapidly withdrawing their support from Bush’s Iraq plans. In spite of this, the American political system does not allow President Bush to be removed at once, as would be possible in parliamentarian systems. Although the Congress is against his policies and the media does not support the Bush strategy, Mr. Bush can insist on continuing his mistakes in Iraq. The acute separation of powers principle of the Constitution gives the President the power to act independent of other branches of the state. In fact, the President can over rule Congress regarding the war. Increasing of the number of soldiers in Iraq and the military spending despite the Congress being against it and his forcing of the Congress to approve these movements despite this opposition is a clear indicator of this unilateral approach. In brief, Bush and his men have chosen unilateralism as a method not only towards other states and international organizations but also towards American institutions.
The former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright mentioned in her interview with CNN International on July 11, 2007 that the situation in Iraq is even worse than Vietnam. We do not know how much the Bush administration, which even got frustrated at the beginning, the comparisons made between Iraq and Vietnam Wars and argued that there were none, agrees with this noting. However as an individual within the system, Mrs. Albright ascertains a bitter fact. As it can be remembered the Vietnam War had an enormous impact on the global economic and political power of America. Above all else, the US lost its legitimacy in this war. In addition, the US, known to be invincible, even received a military defeat. Third, irresistible American economic superiority has started to show tendencies of decline. The US, which had been an oil exporter, creditor to the whole world and even a supplier of large grants before the Vietnam War, became net oil importer and fall into a debt and be balanced economically by other countries and regions after the Vietnam War. The Iraq War is starting to produce similar results. Perhaps the Iraq War will not be the end of the US’s position as a global super power. However the US’s invincibility myth is definitely becoming history. The weaknesses of America are now obvious as never before. Furthermore, the US has lost its ‘soft power’, meaning the power to convince other states with their democratic system and technological superiorities without use of arms. The foreign debts of the US economy have started to increase rapidly. While Middle East based capital is increasingly leaving the USA, it is too early to estimate the exact impact of this on the American economy. America has estranged her closest friends, including Turkey as well. The American policies have scared her friends rather than her enemies. Furthermore the issue of terrorism must be added to these negative developments. Wiping out terrorism, which was seen as offsetting other problems, could not be possible, as the Iraq and Afghanistan adventures have strengthened Al-Qaeda. The US has rapidly lost its legal and public support in the war against terrorism. The human rights violations which took place in Ebu Guraib and Guantanamo have caused the US’s and even the West’s ideological and moral leadership to be questioned. In addition to all this damage the ambiguity of the Middle East’s future also continues. For example if Iran remains strong after challenging Washington, it will be a lot harder to control the Middle East for the Americans. Likewise if the US leaves Iraq without taking the necessary precautions, its Middle East policies will suffer greatly too. If they remain in Iraq the damages mentioned above will continue, and probably grow exponentially. In other words either way America loses.
As a result the US is in a huge trap, and they have only themselves to think because of themselves. Under these circumstances all kinds of ideas are being mentioned in Washington DC. There is a big clash of ideas even among the Republicans. In fact the division among the neo-cons has increased. There is currently a growing opposition against Secretary of State Rice especially from groups in Pentagon. In this atmosphere, it is feared that the neo-cons in panic would get the US into an adventure in Iran as well. In other words it is said that “Those who want to clear away Iraq with Iran could get the USA into another war when they get a chance”. Against this the Democrats are looking for ways to withdraw from Iraq. It is clear that the things in Iraq will not continue as they are no matter which course of action is taken. Bush’s highly trusted general Petreaus is killing more Iraqis to turn the situation around while more and more American soldiers are getting killed. However Iraq will give birth to fundamental transformations.
20 July 2007
Translated by Ayse Banu Seker, USAK | <urn:uuid:32d773d4-b715-4b3e-95ac-70b47a7672a6> | CC-MAIN-2014-52 | http://www.turkishweekly.net/columnist/2674/iraq-even-worse-than-vietnam.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-52/segments/1418802773864.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20141217075253-00045-ip-10-231-17-201.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976632 | 3,449 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Phishing is a type of social engineering with a touch of spoofing attack that uses different means to steal confidential personal/corporate information (SSN, password, date of birth, address account details, etc.). The attacker usually masquerades as a trusted entity to deceive the victim into opening an email, instant message, or text message. The victim then clicks on the malicious link which can lead to the installation of malware or stealing of sensitive information.
The attacker uses emotions like fear, urgency, greed, curiosity to make their victims act on what they want them to do. Phishing attackers are designed to appear to come from legitimate individuals or organizations.
Phishing might take different forms.
Spear phishing. It targets specific individuals instead of a wide group of people. For example, the attacker might target someone in the finance department and pretend to the victim’s manager requesting a large bank transfer on short notice. It’s worthy of note that spear phishing is often the first step by attackers to penetrate a company’s defense to carry out larger attacks.
Whaling. It targets the CEO or someone with high-level access to a great deal of sensitive information. The attacker spends a lot of time gathering enough information about their victims.
Voice Phishing. Also called Vishing, is the act of using the telephone in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The scammer usually pretends to be a legitimate business and fools the victim into thinking he or she will profit.
SMS Phishing. Also called Smishing, is the act of using text message in an attempt to scam the user into giving private information. Often these text messages contain links which the attacker entices the victim to click.
The solution to this type of social engineering is caution and critical thinking. While this is true, avoid opening emails or clicking links from unknown sources. | <urn:uuid:18f40455-873e-4348-b982-abc2fad93129> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://www.pvt365.net/what-is-phishing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662631064.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20220527015812-20220527045812-00356.warc.gz | en | 0.931711 | 393 | 3.46875 | 3 |
HIV and AIDS
Open all pages about HIV and AIDS
HIV often starts with a flu-like illness. After that, you might have no symptoms for many years, but the damage to your immune system continues.
HIV is spread through body fluids like semen, vaginal fluids, blood and breast milk. In the UK, it's mainly caught by having sex without a condom.
You can get a HIV test in a number of places, including at a GP surgery, sexual health clinics and clinics run by charities.
There's no cure for HIV, but medicines called antiretrovirals can control the virus and prevent further damage.
HIV is a virus that damages your immune system. If not treated, it can cause AIDS, where you become too weak to fight off life-threatening infections.
Page last reviewed: 22/04/2021
Next review due: 22/04/2024 | <urn:uuid:9c355f31-bd85-46df-b633-eaa813d2f778> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://api-bridge.azurewebsites.net/conditions/index.php?uid=YWRyaWFuam9uZXNAbmhzLm5ldA%3D%3D&category=Z&p=hiv-and-aids%2F%23diagnosis&index=1&tabname=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572581.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20220816211628-20220817001628-00602.warc.gz | en | 0.953186 | 191 | 3.5625 | 4 |
Students of fashion design are given design projects by their college lecturer or by a manufacturer, a professional designer or a buyer. Each assignment will give the students of professionals the chance to design in different areas of fashion. The design briefs are presented in a concise way explaining the requirements and stages in which to work and when the project needs to be completed. It is important to understand the brief fully before commencing and interpret the requirements correctly. This will also avoid any kind of confusion or loopholes in their work.
When developing research and bring for a theme on which to formulate the basic ideas, the designer can scan following different areas :
It is important that a designer is constantly aware of the changes and influences taking place in the fashion industry. Effectiveness of fashion exhibitions, trade fairs and fashion shows. Fashion magazines and jewels should be thought of in terms of their readership and editorial context.
Students require ability to produce design ideas with clarity and speed. One should be able to sketch the figure by estimating the number of heads into the body.
During design collection student should start by entering ideas in a sketch book. A camera may also be used to record images and textures like - cloud formation, flower and plant form & architectural details. Research material is often displayed on a pin board for time to time reference. From the research, sample design sheets are produced working to the selected them and developing many design sketches. Presentation drawing is often produced, illustrating the design in full colour with samples of leather and trimmings and a fashion sketch suggesting the total image is often included.
It is an invaluable tool for the fashion design illustrator. It can be used to :-
- Reduce or enlarge drawings.
- Reproduce drawings on which to experiment with. Colour pattern and texture techniques before working on the origin.
- Produce material for background effects on presentation boards.
- Transfer drawings on to different coloured papers.
- Transfer drawings and photographs on to acetate-which is very effective for presentation work.
- Paste-up drawings when working on the arrangement of design work. Cut out the figures and general artwork, and use spray mount to fix it on to clean white card. Photocopy in black & white or colour for a clean professional look.
- Photocopy artwork for reference when sending your originals off for competitions etc.
- Enlarge sections of design drawings details of collars, pockets and style features.
- Tone : Use one colour to produce four clearways. Vary the squares from light to progressively darker tones.
- Burnishing : Colour may be smoothed out by burnishing. This is achieved by going over the colour with a white or light grey pencil.
- Mixing colours : Coloured pencils may be mixed to create a wide range of colours.
- Changing tones : Tones of colours are made by changing the pressure on the pencils.
- The drawing is sketched with a black Fine liner pen on smooth white illustration card.
- The denim jacket and trousers is coloured with an ultramarine pencil, shaded in one direction from one side of the figure in a darker tone by putting more pressure on the pencil. This gives the effect of more light falling on one side of the figure.
- In the last stage the darker tones were added to the garment under the collar, pocket, and folds in the jacket and trousers. A soft lead pencil has been used over the blue denim to give the effect of the texture and weave. The face was tinted with a burnt sienna pencil, shading the face on one side. A thick line has been added round the figure with a medium Stabilo black pen and burnished with a white pencil to smooth out the colour.
- The drawing was completed with a thick black outline round the figure, the latter being cut out and mounted using a spray mount on to a clean sheet of card.
- Technical pens
- Plastic-tipped pens
- Fiber-tipped pens
- Roller pens
- Ballpoint pens.
- Markers tend to bleed on some papers and may go beyond a line. Always experiment with pens first before applying colour to an original drawing.
- Some areas of the work will tend to look darker if these are gone over twice with the same marker.
- Always clean the nib if one colour is to be used over another.
They are available in a wide range of colours and sizes, with many different nib sizes from cylindrical shaped heads blunt bullet like points, shapes and fine points. The inks are either water soluble or spirit based. Markers can be used for filling in areas of colour or for making bold outlines, to give a clean and pleasing effect. They are very convenient as they dry rapidly and are especially noted for their clarity of colour.
The range of markers available can bewildering. Some contain soluble ink and others permanent colourfast ink. The nibs tend to be fibre-tipped nylon or foam. Sizes range from fine to broad, and they may be round, square, bullet or chisel shaped. They are also available in a wide range of colours. Note that the caps must always be replaced after use otherwise the pens tend to cry out. Spirit-based pens should always be used in ventilated areas.
Studio markers are also available in a wide range of colours and tones. Some are made with two nibs, broad and fine, combined on the one pen, and produce a clean smooth flat effect. They tend to be expensive but looked after they will last a long time. Bleed-proof paper which prevents ink passing through on to the backing sheets is available for use with permanent markers.
Although no brushes are used, the use of pastels is more akin to painting than drawing. The advantage being that there is no liquid medium and hence no drying time to consider. The range of tints in each colour is considerable. A variety of tones can be achieved by beating the tinted paper as a mid-tone, and a coloured paper may be used as a key for the rest of the colour scheme. Different effects can be created, depending on which part of the pastel stick is used.
Water colour may be bought as solid tablets or as paste in tubes thinned with water before use. Paint boxes of different sizes are easily available. Paint brushes vary in quality from sable to nylon. The paper surface is also very important. Unless you are using good quality paper, it should be stretched. If this is not done, the paper will react to the water by crackling and your work will be distorted.
Fill the sink with clean cold water. Pass the paper through the water, hold it up for few seconds to let all the excess water run off, then lay it flat on the drawing board. Fix the paper down on the board with brown gum strip round the edges. When the paper has dried it will be perfectly flat and ready for use. When the drawing is completed and perfectly dry, use a scalpel and straight edge rule to cut the paper from the board.
Gouache is the same water colour but is mixed with white pigment, which makes it opaque. When dry, gouache forms a positive film of colour. Hard divisions of solid colour are associated with it. A free style of painting may also be achieved where the brush strokes are visible, working with wet paint on wet paper. Watercolour paper or boards are most suitable for gouache. Cartridge and layout paper are not suitable. Wheather method is used, the main characterstic is the ability to provide a strong contrast of colour and tone.
Water colour broods or papers ore most suitable for gouache. Tinted papers may also be used as the paint is opaque.
Coloured pencil is easily available, graded from very hard to extra soft. Pencils offer the most versatile methods of colouring a drawing. By varying the pressure, different tone values may be obtained.
Water soluble pencils are also available in a wide colour range. To use them, the drawing is produced as normal, and then a water colour wash is applied to produce an even colour, which obliterates the pencil marks.
Coloured pencils can be graded from soft to hard. They may be purchased in boxes with a large or small selection of colours, or obtained individually. Some are water-solvent and may be combined with water for application with a brush over the pencil, in order to give a water colour effect.
Always try these pencils before applying them to the drawing. The more pressure applied to the pancil, the deeper the tone and the more intense the colour will be. It is more effective to stroke in one direction only (as illustrated).
Select a paper, from rough to smooth depending on the effect required. Remember to use an absorbent paper when applying water.
Experiment with Pencils
Coloured pencils and black fineliner pen
The sketch can be produced in four stages.
Pen and ink creates immediate visual effects, in both line and tone, which may take the form of lines, dots, hatching and cross hatching. Ink drawings combined with washes of coloured inks are most effective. Many different colours are available. Inks on either be used on their own mixed together or diluted with water.
Achieving Texture in Pen and Ink
Textures can be shown by using different line values in the same drawing. Examples are shown of herringbone, tweed, checks, ribbed and cable-stitch knitwear.
A wax crayon or candle may be used as a resistant to water colour and inks.
First draw with the candle to make the paper waterproof beneath the wax. Add a wash and the area will remain free of colour. A rubber solution may also be used to gain a similar effect.
Various selection of wax crayons is available and they come in different thick nesses. They produce a solid bright colour and the harder the pressure, the deeper the tone, but it is difficult to produce different tone with wax crayons. Experiment with the crayons on paper of different textures and colours. Some crayons are wax based, others are water solvent and may be used combined with water.
A box with a glass top containing a light for tracing. By placing the work to be traced under a sheet of paper which rests on the glass and is illuminated underneath by the light, the work is then shown clearly. These boxes are available in range of sizes.
The airbrush provides perfect even tones, graded tones and soft lines. It will also blend colour. It is operated by a motor compressor or compressed air propellant aerosols.
White layout detail paper with a surface ideal for ink and pencil. The paper is semi-transparent, which is useful when working over roughs and developing work.
Various pens used for drawing can be divided into five groups :
New types are constantly being produced. When selecting a pen, experiment with it first to see if it produces the line required. The paper or card to be used also has to be considered carefully as the surface will affect the line value.
These sketches illustrated the use of different techniques using a variety of pens with different line values, often within the same drawing.
The ink pens used by designers are known as technical pens. They produce a clear line, the nib of the pen being in the shape of a tube. The ink is fed down the tube, the size of which produces the width of the line. Technical pens are extremely accurate for very fine detailed work.
These produce very fine accurate lines.
The nibs are made from vinyl tip or nylon, and vary from firm to supple. They are made in a selection of sizes for different line values.
These have a very smooth action, producing an even flow of ink. A range of colours and widths are available.
The point is made from a steel carbide ball that rolls, and is available in a range of colours and widths.
The height of the average figure varies from between seven and a half or eight times the height of the head. When drawing a fashion sketch, the Proportions are usually eight of eight and a half with exaggeration on the length of the legs. Try not to over-exaggerate when producing sketches, however, as this may distort the proportions of your designing. | <urn:uuid:d17c81b1-9294-4742-b507-2337a1dd097a> | CC-MAIN-2019-22 | https://www.entrepreneurindia.co/book-details/315/fashion+technology+handbook | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-22/segments/1558232256858.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20190522143218-20190522165218-00423.warc.gz | en | 0.940448 | 2,529 | 3.25 | 3 |
In my rocket game, it is difficult to know when to begin a braking burn in order to land at a given target. I've been working on the math for a trajectory that lands at the nearest possible point. (To clarify: I want the nearest point that doesn't involve backtracking or waiting for the next orbit. Given unlimited fuel and time you can land anywhere.)
To start with I'm making some simplifying assumptions. These boil down to assuming you're close to the ground. Gravity is constant; it doesn't vary with position. The ground is a flat plane at y=0, and the gravity vector is pointed in the -y direction. With the constant-gravity assumption, the rocket's trajectory becomes a parabola and can be solved easily.
If the rocket starts out high enough, the trajectory is simple. The rocket is pointed completely sideways and fired until the horizontal velocity is zero. After that it is turned upright, falls a bit if necessary, and then fires vertically to brake to a soft landing.
A sample rocket trajectory of this type is plotted below. For this graph, the rocket's acceleration is 2 and its initial velocity is (4, 0). Gravity acceleration is -1. The graphs end when horizontal velocity reaches zero; they do not show the vertical braking component (if any).
Sometimes, though, canceling all horizontal velocity before addressing vertical velocity doesn't work because the rocket falls too far and hits the ground before it's done, or else there isn't enough altitude, given its vertical velocity, to complete the vertical braking. In these cases the rocket has to be tilted upward somewhat, diverting some acceleration toward staying above ground. We want to divert the minimum necessary, so as to extend the braking distance as little as possible.
In the example below, the rocket acceleration is still 2, but the initial velocity is increased to (6, 0). As a result, the rocket has to be tilted at an angle of 76.86 degrees from vertical in order to have space for the vertical descent:
Finally, sometimes the initial velocity is such that the rocket has to actually gain altitude in order to make a soft landing. Here, I've reduced the rocket's acceleration to 1.25, set the initial velocity to (6, -0.5), and put the initial rocket altitude at 1. The rocket angle is 25.84 degrees from vertical:
I've let the rocket graze the ground in the trajectory above. In reality you'd pick a safe minimum altitude and adjust the angle to keep it above that.
Thus, the rocket's trajectory consists of one or two pieces. If the horizontal velocity is nonzero, the rocket will execute a burn while tilted to the side by some amount. Once the horizontal velocity is zero, if there is remaining elevation, there will be a vertical burn to cancel that. (There may be a coasting period in between the two burns.) For simplicity I'm assuming that the rocket can change heading instantly. Time for turning could be added to the problem without too much trouble.
I've covered the coast-and-vertical-braking phase in a previous entry. The remaining problem is to find the angle for the first burn. The general approach is as follows:
For a given angle of the rocket, we can compute when it will cancel its horizontal velocity (divide horizontal velocity by horizontal acceleration). We plug this time into the equations for vertical motion to find out the rocket's elevation and vertical velocity at that time. This elevation and velocity can then be plugged into the equation for the altitude at which to begin vertical braking, developed in the above-mentioned blog entry. If the braking altitude is at or below us, we're good. If it's above us, we can't do it, and this angle is not usable.
Since we're comparing two altitudes, the natural thing to do is to make an equation which says that their difference equals zero. By solving this we get the minimum angle which will result in a successful landing. The minimum angle equals minimum distance traveled since we put as much thrust as possible toward horizontal braking.
Unfortunately since the variable we're solving for is encased in sines and cosines I don't know if there's an analytical way to solve for it. However, it should be easy to search for the value. Here's a sample plot illustrating the type of curve it is:
The curve above corresponds to the second case given earlier. It crosses the x axis at around 76.86 degrees.
The only remaining wrinkle (that I know of) is presented in the third case above. We can't ever let the rocket's elevation dip below zero. We need to determine when its vertical velocity reaches zero (this is a possible point of minimum altitude). If this time is earlier than the time for zero horizontal velocity (and greater than zero), then we need to check the rocket's elevation at that time. If it's less than zero (or whatever safe altitude we choose), then we need to search for a rocket angle closer to vertical that keeps the rocket above-ground.
I've been working this out in Excel; the next thing to do is to implement it in-game. There are a variety of ways it could be used: I could plot the earliest-landing point on the ground, or plot the trajectory to it, or have an attitude indicator showing which direction to burn. Once it's in I'll see how valid the flat-earth assumptions are. They do become more correct as the rocket approaches the ground so they may not be a problem.
Another thing this could be useful for is the beginning of a rocket AI. Computer-controlled rockets will probably have slightly different trajectory needs. They'll be wanting to land at a specific spot, rather than at the earliest possible spot. It shouldn't be too different, though. | <urn:uuid:9450ac28-8ecc-4780-af55-bdd1eb876af4> | CC-MAIN-2017-26 | http://playtechs.blogspot.com/2007/11/soonest-landing-trajectory.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-26/segments/1498128320869.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20170626221252-20170627001252-00243.warc.gz | en | 0.944811 | 1,194 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Creative ways to keep our children safe and happy in their learning environments
MEDIA: video, comic, drama, literature, art, music
LANGUAGE: Questions, answers, speaking, grammar, asking for and giving advice, storytelling, collocations
This is part one of my new series about social and emotional learning.
I recently presented at a webinar for the British Council on the subject of ‘Social and Emotional Learning approaches’ to teaching with technology. The planning of this webinar made me realize how deeply invested in this topic I really am, and it was only during the actual presentation that I realized that each slide or even each point on each slide could even become the chapter of a book. I’ ve decided to explore the issue further through my articles on a regular basis so as to share more focused ideas and lesson plans, and to respond to some requests or comments made during the webinar.
I approached the issue of social and emotional learning from three perspectives.
The brain-friendly level is my integrative teaching approach. Whenever I plan a lesson I focus on the kinds of creative activities that will maximize learning through fun experiences. I also focus on confidence-building, critical thinking and developing an appetite for learning in my students. I like to help them see the beauty in language and self-expression, above and beyond testing. This approach increases test scores in the long run.
The personal and social levels of learning are also extremely important because if students are not feeling happy and safe, their learning will be jeopardized.
As I was working on this I discovered that Nick Michelioudakis had just published something very interesting about bullying on his ‘psychology and ELT’ You Tube channel which will exemplify what I mean.
To quote Nick:
“Professor Lieberman makes a brilliant observation at the end; if a kid has cut themselves badly, we don’t expect them to sit in class and calmly go about their lesson – we try to deal with the emergency first. Yet if a child feels socially excluded or has been bullied, we expect them to carry on regardless! Unfortunately, as Lieberman’s studies have shown, social pain activates exactly the same brain region as physical pain – and it does have a detrimental effect on learning, just as physical pain has.
What is more, social pain is much, much harder to detect. So what is the moral for us teachers? Rather than focusing on being the best ‘purveyors of knowledge’ around, it might make more sense to ensure that we have created the right conditions in the classroom for our students to flourish. An awareness of group dynamics and good classroom management skills may be far more important than knowledge of content or expertise in teaching techniques”
As I said above, there is the personal responsibility one feels. Knowing that you can be a mentor in their lives, and knowing that if there’s any way you can help alleviate social problems, then there is no question that you should just do it.
Here is the powerpoint of my presentation.
The purpose of my presentation was to show how technology can be integrated into learning so as to encourage self-expression and confidence building through the visual, musical and literary arts. I painted a very big picture of possibilities, so it was really a roadmap into multi-dimensional planning.
The main request I got was to give more examples of teaching with comics. I will give some new ideas for teaching with comics and the arts here under the theme of ‘bullying’. I will show one example from this list of comic ideas from my talk. This is just a short list. The actual possibilities for teaching through comics are unlimited. Other ideas here were inspired by colleagues and mentors in ELT and I’m sharing their work also.
Lessons on bullying : Part one
I’ll begin with a video shared on facebook by Jeffrey Doonan to set the stage for today’s comic lesson series on bullying. This video is perfect for all levels as it’s very emotive and inspiring with powerful lyrics. My suggestion below would fit intermediate level and I will write up three more lesson plans on my personal blog for beginners, elementary and advanced levels. For advanced levels, students can provide all of the context and language so it’s their blank canvas to create their own stories with sophisticated vocabulary. They can even make up their own movies from this movie clip.
1) Show students the video.
2) Have an open class discussion.
(Ask questions with what, where, when, how, why)
If you are practising tenses you can frame the questions accordingly – example what happened instead of what’s happening)
What is the bully saying?
What is the bully doing?
Where are they?
When does bullying usually happen in school?
When do bullies feel safe to bully without being caught by teachers?
Why do victims never tell anyone about the bullying?
Why do the other children stay out of it and ignore the victim?
Why do some teachers think that ‘kids are kids’ and not take bullying seriously?
Why is it so hard to control bullying issues in school?
Do you think that the video shows a realistic solution?
Can you think of any other ways to prevent bullying?
Part two: pair work.
Depending on time you can go straight into part two or do it in the next lesson. You can use the printed worksheets from makebelief comix or online through virtual classrooms, asynchronous discussions, forums, wikis or learning management systems. There are five lesson plans about bullying on this website for you to choose from. Here are two examples.
For the first image below, notice that you can use it to practice structures and key phrases for giving advice; very important language aspects that are tested in the Cambridge exams. There is, of course, some deeper psychology regarding the use of a comic strip for discussing ‘taboo’ or sensitive issues. For more about psychology, watch my webinar and follow my subsequent articles about the psychology of teaching through comics.
The image below is perfect for pair work and roleplay. It’s also very interesting to see what ideas students come up with. Students can ask for and give advice in pairs. Then half of the class can form a panel of experts and share their ‘findings’ with the rest of the class which forms the audience in a ‘chat show’. The audience can ask questions and the teacher is the chat show host. They can, of course, switch roles so that everyone gets to take turns being on the panel of experts and a member of the audience.
In fact, this could subsequently turn into a drama sketch for parents. The teacher could play the video for parents and the whole school and then perform the chat show. The real audience ‘parents and other teachers’ could then ask questions which the students would answer.
For the next image I would be sure to do some research before opening up a pandora’s box. Here’s a link called kidpower, to help adults understand bullying issues. We’ve got to remember that there are probably bullies and victims in the class we are teaching. However, that’s why comics are wonderful for dealing with sensitive issues. When the comic characters are very simply drawn they become neutral and the students can identify with the theme less self-consciously.
This next image below opens up the gates to empathy. We must remember that many of these bullies are bullied by their parents at home, come from violent homes, or live in tough neighbourhoods. The bullies need some unconditional empathy and victims need to feel that it’s not their fault they are being picked on.
I would also arrange for this to be for pair work discussion. It’s much less stressful for students to speak with some ‘privacy’ – as opposed to open class and, as a teacher , you’ll know which pairs will fit well together for these discussions. If your classes are online you can use break out rooms or forums and wikis for pair work.
Image credit: Bill zimmerman @ makebelief comix
Part three: student create their own dialogues and comic strips.
During my webinar I was asked to give an example of how we can practise parts of speech through comics. I have a comic strip on this subject that I created with a student last year. The point is that parts of speech are usually represented on tables in coursebooks. It’s hard for students to remember and understand parts of speech so I like to contextualise them in comic strips.
Here’s an example.
Can you identify the parts of speech being practised?. This comic strip story is actually kind of similar to the video above ,as the ‘victims’ all club together against the bully and then go one step further, asking the bully to be one of them. The ‘victims’ are providing protection for the ‘bully’. However, here are some thoughts I shared with colleagues at last year’s EVO story telling course at digikids. It’s based on my student’s feedback.
“Actually, later I realised that the topic opens up a can of worms, so if we discuss this in class we need to give good anti-bullying advice and have good social/emotional learning tricks up our sleeves..
For example my student said that in real life the bully would not be so vulnerable and would never join ‘the nerds’ and that the only thing to do is stay away from bullies – and she was right in many ways..
I really think that if students made their own bully comics lots of things would come to light – better than a therapy session – we teachers would learn so much about what they really think…”
If you’re wondering how to create comic strips you can try making very simple yet effective and fun comics on the makebelief website. There are also many other comic sites that you can discover on my powerpoint above. If you watch the webinar you’ll hear me discuss examples of other comic strips I have made or my students have made.
The following examples are from five other sources:
Part four: integrative ideas by Luke Prodromou to help with the above or other lessons.
In a related topic, Luke Prodromou discussed ‘self-esteem’ at his webinar for EVO, which I attended yesterday.
In this inspiring webinar, Luke shared self-esteem ‘moment’ issues through literature and movie clips, and then gave some beautiful ideas for the classroom. One of my favourites was his ‘magic box’ idea, which is for helping silent students to express themselves. For all of the above discussion scenarios, I recommend using Luke’s ‘magic box’ idea to aid any open class discussion on bullying. To find out more you’ve got to watch the recording of Luke’s session above. He also gave us links to more books and resources.
Part five: A fascinating lesson plan idea on bullying from Chrysa Papalazarou.
Chrysa has included work by her students and demonstrates the power of art in fluency development and social/emotional learning. I’ll let you explore Chrysa’s blog to find the lesson plan and ideas.
Part six: Music, self-esteem, peer pressure and storytelling.
Jason R. Levine aka Fluency MC has two great songs to match any lessons about self-esteem, peer-pressure, growing up and social/emotional intelligence.
To end any lesson with the message that ‘You Have it in you’ is powerful indeed.
Of course, Jason’s songs are too educational to just use as feel-good messages. I would end the first class with this song, get them to listen to it at home with some activities perhaps, or open the next lesson as a recap on the issue and then teach them the finer nuances of the song and get them all rapping. Isn’t that perfect?
He has another song in the form of a story called ‘get a life‘ from our collaborative book, Natural English through storytelling ,which is also very good for building self-esteem and resilience in young people.
Here’s one of the strangest thing about being connected. Every time I ‘finish’ this article another amazing resource on bullying comes my way. I had originally planned to include only three extra sources of inspiration. Then I discovered more from Nick Michelioudakis above, Fabiana Casella, and the British Council Teens website.
Part seven: digital citizenship and cyberbullying by Fabiana Cassella.
Part eight: a beautiful, haunting, touching, sad, and chillingly realistic video created by the British Council.
This video lesson goes with worksheets and downloads. A powerful lesson through music and story – a very appropriate ending to my article.
May we all as teachers do our bit to stop social violence with increased awareness. Thanks to so many caring educators out there who make a difference.
Finally I’ll leave you with some announcements. Firstly I’ll be interviewing Bill Zimmerman from Make Belief Comix in celebration of MOODLE MOOC 3 with Dr. Nellie Deutsch. My presentation topic on February 15th will be ‘Creative Comic Collaboration For Fun Fluency Development, and it will include my comic strip interview of Mr. Zimmerman.
This presentation will be different in the sense that it emphasises lesson ideas for collaboration and will also share more practical ideas for teaching with comics based on activity types that were not the focus of my British Council webinar.
I will continue to explore social and emotional issues through creativity for language development on my personal website in 2014, so be prepared for more ideas, more fun, and more psychology.
My last thought on this page is that the more we teach kids to be creative, the more they’ll embrace their own uniqueness as individuals.
“I never set out to be weird. It was always other people who called me weird.”
is an online English teacher, writer and blogger who facilitates professional development online. She uses brain-friendly techniques to help students and teachers around the world. She designs educational materials, develops courses, writes resource papers and publishes ebooks. Her work is the result of much research into the psychology of learning, as well as hands-on experience with multi-media technology. | <urn:uuid:a407b02a-a36b-430e-83b1-d702423ae67e> | CC-MAIN-2017-13 | https://blog.wiziq.com/social-and-emotional-learning/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218190754.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212950-00407-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957683 | 3,033 | 3.296875 | 3 |
$375 billion? It’s more than the GDP of some small countries. That’s how much is being siphoned off from unknowing companies and their victimized customers. How much of that was taken from your company and customers?
McAfee’s 2014 paper “Net Losses: Estimating the Global Cost of Cybercrime” estimates that a minimum of $375 billion, and perhaps as much as $575 billion, is lost to cybercrime annually. Businesses suffer tremendously from cybercrime. There is, of course, the obligatory, but usually temporary, decrease in the company’s stock price once the public is made aware of the breach. Far worse, though, the corporation’s most precious possession, its reputation, sustains a shock from which it may never fully recover. And companies may face increased liability and lawsuits over a lack of due diligence.
Now, as more devices are connected online, companies are being exposed to crime in novel, expensive ways. Many industry leaders in the tech industry recognize the importance of security as the Internet of Things (IoT) expands.
Scaling the Internet of Things
Analysts and tech firms estimate that some 50 billion to 200 billion devices could be connected to the Internet in 2020. Because the IoT could quickly become a breeding ground for malicious surveillance and attacks, security and authentication need to be priorities for corporations. But how can they establish trust across connected devices on such a massive scale?
PKI certificates and security
Corporations with their customers’ interests at heart will take the lead in creating a protected environment for their own infrastructure, R&D, data, employees, and customers. The expansion of the IoT accentuates the direct relationship between keeping devices and data secure and keeping consumers content. This is where PKI (public key infrastructure) certificates bring real value and peace of mind.
A public key is a coded value that has both a public and private part; it allows information to be encrypted and decoded by one person/object only, and operates as a digital certificate. Algorithms for encryption are evolving, with the most common being RSA (developed in the late ’70s and deriving its name from the initials of its creators). Elliptical Curve Cryptography (which deals with algebraic curves) is garnering interest because it is more secure than RSA.
“Public key infrastructure” refers to the entire ecosystem devoted to digital certificates and encryption. This ecosystem encompasses, not just the software and hardware, but all of the people involved with the digital certificates. PKI certificates are issued from a CA (certificate authority), which creates and manages them. Each PKI certificate is a unique identifier and greatly aids in creating trusting relationships between customers and businesses. The creation and management of the PKI can be handled in-house or via a management company.
X.509 digital certificates have gained traction, because they represent identity in a cross-platform, cross-organizational way. Moreover, developers can choose from a myriad of certificate-processing software libraries, some built into the operating system, and others. such as OpenSSL and BouncyCastle, available for free.
Digital certificates are attractive because they do not need to be publicly trusted or purchased from “big box” certificate vendors such as Symantec, GeoTrust, and DigiCert; they can be issued by an organization’s in-house PKI. This is a scalable approach; the issued volume of certificates can easily number in the millions or even billions, depending on the implementation.
PKI certificates are an industry standard for cybersecurity, and cryptography has been rapidly evolving to introduce more hacker-proof algorithms. However, while technology is an important part of any cybersecurity infrastructure, corporate leaders need to examine their total corporate ecosystem. PKI certificates cannot solve all security issues, as noted in the meticulous paper “Ten Risks of PKI: What You’re not Being Told about Public Key Infrastructure,” by Carl Ellison and Bruce Schneier. They note: “Security is a chain; it’s only as strong as the weakest link. The security of any CA-based system is based on many links and they’re not all cryptographic. People are involved.”
There is no perfect system, but we can learn from past mistakes and press forward toward building a more competent, safe PKI that will shield consumers and businesses from at least some problems. SANS author Angela Keith takes on some of these problems in “Common issues in PKI implementations — climbing the ‘Slope of Enlightenment’.” She highlights the fact that PKIs are not perfect but that there is a sizable number of governing bodies, corporations, and individuals tackling the issues that arise from PKI implementation. (Her work also takes a hard look at the PKI implementations utilized by the U.S. Department of Defense and those used in the nation of Estonia.)
In-house PKI certificates
Handling PKI certificates in-house obviously comes with its own benefits. PKI certificates can be issued and managed very carefully. Your tech team can work closely together to keep the software up to date and ensure that all hardware is secure. The in-house PKI seems like the best in cybercrime prevention; after all, if everything is under one roof (and under your own watchful eyes), efficiency and security reign — or do they? In-house solutions can be great for very small companies, but they can become problematic for those experiencing rapid growth and those big enough to have many more locations, resources, and employees.
How your people handle PKI certificates is just as important as the technology. If you are managing PKI certificates in-house, you may be limiting yourself. “A Business Perspective on PKI: Why Many PKI Implementations Fail, and Success Factors to Consider,” from SANS, notes that part of the problem is that there are nontechnical reasons for the failure to successfully implement a PKI. People are not really a system, and they don’t behave in prescribed manners, even when policies are implemented to regulate behavior. Of course, training your team to follow the procedures is necessary, but it is undeniable that rules get broken, for reasons of mistrust, laziness, or willful negligence.
Your own team is only part of the issue, too; what about your customers? How seriously are they taking the threat to their connected devices? It all depends on your corporate reputation in regards to the management of the enterprise PKI. Don James’ “The Shortcut Guide to Certificates in the Enterprise” highlights the trust issue of going with in-house PKIs: “It’s hard to make an argument that an entirely internal PKI is a good solution for producing certificates that must be trusted by the public. … Attesting to your own identity isn’t exactly going to generate a lot of trust with users and customers.”
Managed PKI certificates
With the rapid rise of the IoT, managing security issues takes on a new dimension. If Cisco’s prediction about the number of devices online is even half right, no company can truly focus on operating its business while managing PKI certificate issues. Consumers want to know that their wearable, home-based, and connected devices are safe from unauthorized access. Corporations need to ensure that the printer sitting in Sally’s cubicle isn’t the leak in their infrastructure that is going to cost them ten years of research. Managed PKI certificates can ensure a reasonable amount of security and shelter from liability.
Managed PKI certificates are offered by a number of companies. The entity handles all aspects of the certificate security, including the initial rollout and support. Companies that focus only on managing PKI certification can provide enterprise security and equanimity while providing a more cost-effective model than an in-house solution. In SC Magazine’s “PKI for the Internet of Things,” Richard Moulds (vice president of strategy, Thales e-Security) highlights the fact that “High integrity messaging, secure communications and mutual authentication at an internet scale will be absolutely necessary for IoT to succeed.” Dedicated PKI management enterprises bring this to the table via their reputation.
What could a hypothetical managed PKI look like? One example was rolled out by Symantec. Symantec’s whitepaper on managed PKI certificates, “Reducing Complexity and Total Cost of Ownership with VeriSign Managed PKI,” explores the benefits of utilizing its system of managed PKI versus handling it in-house. Besides the obvious issues, such as maintaining a trained, dedicated staff that has a solid understanding of security issues, a serious infrastructure, and strict policies and procedures that are followed to the letter, handling PKIs in-house can be costly in terms of time and money. Symantec drew a comparison between a typical in-house solution vs. using its own Verisign solution and found that the in-house solution cost about seven times more than its Verisign service.
While money is an essential part of the concern, offloading the headaches associated with security results in less waste and a higher level of public confidence in your business. After all, a managed PKI is supported by a dedicated company that already has a solid reputation in the public mind. Aligning your company with one with a prodigious reputation for trust and security could have a halo effect, enhancing your corporate standing.
Ultimately, your firm has to assess the pros and cons of in-house vs. managed PKI service.
Shortcomings of PKI certificates
However, not everyone is a fan of PKI certificates.
Some of the concerns raised by security experts are:
- The question of whom we trust, and for what specific purpose. What makes a CA trusted?
- When a certificate is trusted, that merely means that it handles its own private keys. Itdoesn’t mean that others can trust a certificate from that CA for a specific purpose. In other words, who gave the CA the authority to grant such authorization? Who made it trusted?
- An individual’s private signing key might not be truly secure. Who is using the key, and how do you really protect it? Whether that private key resides on your network, computer, smart card, or device, it’s vulnerable to attack. And if someone gets hold of your private signing key and causes harm, you’re legally responsible, without proving fault.
- The security of the verifying computer that uses the certificate could be questionable. Certificate verification uses public keys, not a secret key. Therefore, there are no secrets to protect. It does use one or more of the root public keys. If an attacker adds his own public key to that list, then he can issue his own certificates, which will be treated as if they are legitimate certificates.
- The questions of whether identifiers are truly unique, whether the CA is truly an authority, whether the user is part of the security design, and whether the CA identifies the certificate holder.
Security is a chain; it’s only as strong as the weakest link. The security of any CA-based system is based on many links, and they’re not all cryptographic as long as people are involved.
The point is that PKI certificates, in-house or managed, are not the solution to all security matters. Vendors want you to think that if you purchase their managed PKI certificate service, then all your security headaches will disappear. This is far from the truth.
Open source projects and certificates
Red Hat, the provider of open source software products to the enterprise, has a public key infrastructure platform called the Red Hat Certificate System that provides enterprises with a scalable, secure framework to establish and maintain trusted identities and keep communications private. Red Hat Certificate System provides certificate life-cycle management: issue, renew, suspend, revoke, archive and recover, and manage single and dual-key X.509v3 certificates needed to handle strong authentication, single sign-on, and secure communications. Detailed Red Hat Certificate System 8.1 documentation on deployment, planning, and installation preparing for a PKI infrastructure can be found on Red Hat Certificate System productdocumentation page.
Another open source PKI project is EJBCA PKI by PrimeKey. EJBCA Enterprise is OSI Certified Open Source and Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 4+ (EAL4+) certified.
- Multiple CAs and levels of CAs, build a complete infrastructure (or several) within one instance of EJBCA.
- Unlimited number of Root CAs and SubCAs. Request cross certificates and bridge certificates from other CAs and Bridge CAs. Issue cross certificates to other CAs.
- Follows X509 and PKIX (RFC5280) standards where applicable.
- Supports RSA key algorithm up to 8192 bits.
- Supports DSA key algorithm with 1024 bits.
- Supports ECDSA key algorithm with named curves or implicitlyCA.
- Supports multiple hash algorithms for signatures, SHA-1, SHA-2.
- Compliant with NSA SUITE B algorithms and certificates.
- Support for X.509 certificates and Card Verifiable certificates (CVC BSI TR-03110 used by EU EAC ePassports) and eIDs.
IoT security groundwork needed
Digital certificates are a common basis for establishing trust between communicating entities, both on the Internet and within private networks. They are increasingly important for securing IoT applications employing wireless sensor networks and smart connected devices, with each endpoint representing a new attack surface. That growing attack surface is critical to consider when designing your security architecture.
Security is difficult to understand and hard to implement. There are no shortcuts to true security, and a corporate ecosystem is only as good as its foundational principles. As IoT expands, no company can discount the tremendous security risks associated with having a multitude of possible infrastructure weaknesses. Digital PKI certificates will not resolve all security problems, but they are an important part of the equation that you need to thoughtfully assess and right-size for your organization.
Refer to the full article on TechBeacon. Published on December 15, 2015. Author Scott Amyx.
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Amyx+ is an award-winning IoT business transformation firm specializing in IoT strategy, innovation & product development. As a thought leader in the Internet of Things, Amyx+ has the creative horsepower and the development prowess to execute even the most complex client engagements. Amyx+ is working with international and multinational enterprises to help 1) understand the impact of IoT disruptions, 2) formulate and sharpen their IoT strategy, 3) quantify the business case, 4) experiment, learn, validate, 5) develop game changing technologies, and 6) launch innovative IoT products and services worldwide. We employ a flexible methodology and approach to fit the client and needs & objectives while adapting to changing IoT environments. We have presence in San Francisco, NYC, and throughout Europe. | <urn:uuid:89264060-6839-434f-adbc-7f3e6172ddec> | CC-MAIN-2017-39 | https://amyxinternetofthings.com/2016/01/04/managed-pki-certificates-one-step-at-a-time-toward-securing-the-iot/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-39/segments/1505818693940.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20170926013935-20170926033935-00085.warc.gz | en | 0.939846 | 3,285 | 2.625 | 3 |
Thermal characteristics of permafrost in the steep alpine rock walls of the Aiguille du Midi (Mont Blanc Massif, 3842 m a.s.l)
- 1EDYTEM Lab, Université de Savoie, CNRS, Le Bourget-du-Lac, France
- 2Glaciology and Geomorphodynamics Group, Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- 3ARPA Valle d'Aosta, Saint-Christophe, Italy
Abstract. Permafrost and related thermo-hydro-mechanical processes are thought to influence high alpine rock wall stability, but a lack of field measurements means that the characteristics and processes of rock wall permafrost are poorly understood. To help remedy this situation, in 2005 work began to install a monitoring system at the Aiguille du Midi (3842 m a.s.l). This paper presents temperature records from nine surface sensors (eight years of records) and three 10 m deep boreholes (4 years of records), installed at locations with different surface and bedrock characteristics. In line with previous studies, our temperature data analyses showed that: micro-meteorology controls the surface temperature, active layer thicknesses are directly related to aspect and ranged from <2 m to nearly 6 m, and that thin accumulations of snow and open fractures are cooling factors. Thermal profiles empirically demonstrated the coexistence within a single rock peak of warm and cold permafrost (about −1.5 to −4.5 °C at 10 m depth) and the resulting lateral heat fluxes. Our results also extended current knowledge of the effect of snow, in that we found similar thermo-insulation effects as reported for gentle mountain areas. Thick snow warms shaded areas, and may reduce active layer refreezing in winter and delay its thawing in summer. However, thick snow thermo-insulation has little effect compared to the high albedo of snow which leads to cooler conditions at the rock surface in areas exposed to the sun. A consistent inflection in the thermal profiles reflected the cooling effect of an open fracture in the bedrock, which appeared to act as a thermal cutoff in the sub-surface thermal regime. Our field data are the first to be obtained from an Alpine permafrost site where borehole temperatures are below −4 °C, and represent a first step towards the development of strategies to investigate poorly known aspects in steep bedrock permafrost such as the effects of snow cover and fractures. | <urn:uuid:231782c1-21d6-4312-89ff-46e15719ab06> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/9/109/2015/tc-9-109-2015.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446711114.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20221206192947-20221206222947-00407.warc.gz | en | 0.882147 | 524 | 2.578125 | 3 |
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—Recent work at Indiana University (IU) has identified a genetic mechanism that likely plays a role in driving mutations that can lead to cancer.
The study, which appeared Feb. 1 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds the enzyme APOBEC3G appears to initiate these changes by mutating genes during the replication of DNA. APOBEC3G is a known trigger for mutations that occur as benign tumor cells transform into cancerous malignancies that spread throughout the body.
“There is a uniquely vulnerable point in the DNA ligand strand,” says Patricia Foster, the principal investigator on the grant and a professor in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Biology and senior author on the study.
The research was conducted in the bacteria Escherichia coli, with support in part from IU’s $6.2-million grant to investigate bacterial evolution from the U.S. Army Research Office. The Wayne State University School of Medicine, whose researchers provided expertise on APOBEC3G and helped analyze the data, also supported the study. All experiments were carried out at IU. E. coli allows scientists to monitor genetic changes over thousands of generations in a relatively short time span. The results apply to humans as well, since the basic mechanisms of DNA replication are the same across all species.
“Many tumors accumulate mutations during their growth, which leads to the subsequent characteristics that permit metastasis,” Foster said. “Based upon the results revealed in bacteria in our study, we believe that the APOBEC family of enzymes creates some of these mutations specifically during the rapid growth of these tumors.” These enzymes, she notes, target single-strand DNA.
The next step, Foster says, is how cytosine deamination, when removed in favor of oxygen, becomes uracil—which, if not repaired, introduces mutations.
The results could have implications for personalized medicine. Since it is possible to identify tumors potentially vulnerable to the enzyme by using current DNA sequencing technology, a physician treating these tumors might want to explore temporarily suppressing expression of this enzyme, Foster noted.
The APOBEC family of enzymes normally plays an important role in the human immune system by driving changes in immune cells that help in the defense against viruses. The IU researchers found that the harmful influence of this enzyme family arises from the way that two halves of every double-stranded DNA molecule must unravel to replicate—splitting into two temporarily single-stranded DNA chains thousands of “links” in length to serve as templates for the new copy.
These links are the four chemicals, or nucleobases, that comprise all DNA: cytosine (C), guanine (G), adenine (A) and thymine (T). As these paired chemicals are split in half to be copied, one of the two single-stranded bits of DNA—known as the lagging strand template—is highly vulnerable to genetic mutation, Foster said.
This “gap in the armor” occurs because the enzyme responsible for building a new string of DNA, known as a DNA polymerase, must repeatedly traverse the nucleobases in the lagging strand template thousands of times during the course of replication, stopping further down the chain from the base pair previously inserted on the past loop along the chemical chain. Each of these polymerase “hops” creates a long stretch of DNA that temporarily remains as a single strand.
Adding to the issue is the fact that the two DNA strands are oriented in opposite directions, and polymerases copy in only a single direction. The process introduces more opportunities for errors in the lagging strand template compared to the continuous, step-by-step process that replicates the other half of the split strand of DNA, called the leading strand template.
“We’re talking about thousands of bases exposed without a complementary strand throughout the whole replication cycle,” Foster said. “If I were going to design an organism, I would make two types of copying enzymes, one that could go each way. But that’s not how it works; no organism has ever evolved a more efficient way to replicate DNA.”
The APOBEC family of enzymes drives mutation via cytosine deamination, in which a cytosine transforms into uracil, one of the four bases in RNA that doesn’t play a role in DNA replication. The presence of uracil during DNA replication can cause an error when a thymine replaces a cytosine, and APOBEC enzymes specifically target the C’s in single-stranded DNA for deamination.
The disruptive effect of the enzyme on genetic replication in the study was observed in a strain of E. coli whose ability to remove the dangerous uracils had been switched off. To conduct the experiment, Foster’s lab observed the effect of APOBEC3G on approximately 50 identical lineages of E. coli over the course of nearly 100 days, with each day encompassing 20 to 30 bacterial generations.
A unique pattern of nucleotides was detected in the mutated DNA, a chain of three cytosine molecules, or C-C-C, the same genetic signature found in other studies of the enzyme family. These mutations were four times more likely to be found on the lagging-strand template than on the leading-strand template, results that “strongly suggest that these mutations occur as APOBEC3G attacks cytosines during DNA replication, while they’re most exposed on the lagging strand template,” Foster said. | <urn:uuid:868854b5-f838-4609-a3d1-4b3c001a3454> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://www.drugdiscoverynews.com/all-about-apobec3g-10435 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320301217.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20220119003144-20220119033144-00586.warc.gz | en | 0.945714 | 1,163 | 3.078125 | 3 |
Often considered among the more elusive of North America's birds,the Lincoln's Sparrow was first described by John James Audubon (“we found more wildness in this species than in any other inhabiting the same country”), who collected the type specimen during his Labrador expedition in 1833 and named it after his travel companion Thomas Lincoln. Because this species breeds only in boreal regions, exhibits a distinct preference for dense shrub cover, and is secretive in nature, much of its biology remains poorly documented.
The Lincoln's Sparrow is a distinct microsite specialist, preferring low willow cover with dense ground vegetation and building its nest in surprisingly boggy sites. Most easily recognized by its rich, warbling song, it shows less geographical variation in song than other species in its genus, perhaps a result of high dispersal rates among juveniles. Many key aspects of its natural history remain poorly quantified. Owing to its sexually monomorphic appearance, documentation of its sex-specific behaviors is also sketchy. Because of this sparrow's affinity for subalpine and subarctic ecosystems, it is an excellent model for studying the interactions between biotic and abiotic pressures on life histories of temperate songbirds. | <urn:uuid:71dac350-4ed8-43c1-b244-f172af3f36ce> | CC-MAIN-2016-40 | https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/species/191/articles/introduction | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-40/segments/1474738661640.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20160924173741-00066-ip-10-143-35-109.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962809 | 246 | 3.796875 | 4 |
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Designed to explore a variety of perspectives on issues ranging from academic freedom and free speech to campus protests, dissent and the role of “safe spaces,” the event seeks to stimulate debate and.
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There’s no debate that the Brandeis Academic Debate and Speech Society (that’s right – they’re BADASS) is as formidable a group as they come. After all, they are ranked 8th in the nation for the. | <urn:uuid:0c106772-650d-4b6f-91c2-d43c2d459879> | CC-MAIN-2019-39 | https://www.oldtownegrinder.com/what-is-academic-debate/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-39/segments/1568514574532.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20190921145904-20190921171904-00256.warc.gz | en | 0.943149 | 1,500 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Research reveals individual differences in adult male voices emerge long before puberty
New research from University of Sussex psychologists shows that voice pitch in males is determined long before a surge of sex hormones at puberty lengthens their vocal folds. In fact, the researchers found that individual differences in voice pitch that are known to play an important role in men's social and reproductive success are largely determined by age seven.
Published in the Royal Society journal Open Science, the findings suggest that the attribution of certain traits to men who have relatively low-pitched voices (such as dominance and masculinity) may begin at a much younger age than previously thought.
In order to examine vocal changes in individual subjects, the researchers utilised interview footage from the documentary series Seven Up and analysed the voices of the 10 men who took part in the programme, and who were recorded every seven years from 1964 to 2012 over a span of 50 years of their lives.
The study found that while vocal pitch does drop dramatically in males between the ages of seven and 21 (i.e. 'voice breaking'), most likely due to a dramatic increase in circulating levels of testosterone, the men's vocal pitch at age seven still strongly predicted their pitch at every subsequent adult age.
Commenting on the findings, Dr Kasia Pisanski, Research Fellow at the University of Sussex, said "These results have huge implications on how men are perceived by others throughout their adult life, as a large body of research has shown that voice pitch affects people's judgements of attractiveness, masculinity, dominance, competence, likeability and trustworthiness.
"Given that listeners also attribute certain traits to adolescents and even to babies with high- or low-pitched voices, as well as to adults, a child's voice pitch could potentially predict how that person will be perceived by their peers well into adulthood."
Dr David Reby added: "These results show that individual differences in men's voice pitch remain remarkably stable throughout the lifetime and, in fact, emerge long before sexual maturation and pubertal influences on the vocal anatomy.
"Ultimately what this means is that voice pitch in males may be linked to levels of androgen exposure early in life, possibly even in the mother's womb." | <urn:uuid:5012584c-3c85-404c-9943-b5963b47f331> | CC-MAIN-2019-04 | https://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-10-reveals-individual-differences-adult-male.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-04/segments/1547583656897.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20190116052151-20190116074151-00613.warc.gz | en | 0.970536 | 447 | 3.09375 | 3 |
St Patrick’s has a well-equipped and dynamic library that aims to develop a love of lifelong learning.
We have a wide range of books from which all students may borrow each week. We do ask that all students bring a library bag to protect their books. Our library has a large world map covering one wall to spark an interest in the world and we have recently acquired a wide range of STEM materials such as Lego, wooden blocks, connector straws, tangrams and magnetic shapes. We also have a wide range of materials to promote imaginative thinking such as puppets, a puppet theatre, animal figurines, board games and loose parts.
We have a computer lab attached to our Library with 30 new computers and we have an additional 30 laptops and 30 iPads. We have access to Beebots and Spheros to enable students to develop their coding skills. We subscribe to sites such as World Book Online to enable students to engage in quality research.
Ashton Scholastic Book Club operates within the school, providing families with the opportunity to purchase books and to encourage reading at home.
We host a book fair each year in Book Week and this allows students, parents and friends the chance to purchase quality books at very reasonable prices. Commission earned through the sale of the books enables us to acquire valuable resources for the school.
Students participate in the Premier’s Reading Challenge each year, encouraging them to read a wide variety of books. If students meet the targets of the challenge, they receive a special certificate from the NSW Premier.
Each class has one Library lesson a week where students focus on Inquiry skills, as well as developing an appreciation of literature. Students engage in visual literacy lessons and often work on research tasks that tie in with content being studied with their class teacher. In addition to this, some classes visit the Library at other times with their own class teacher.
In August each year, we celebrate Book Week where students enjoy a special book week parade that is always lots of fun! We have also been very lucky to have many visiting authors speak with us at St Patrick’s, including such notable authors as Jackie French, Deborah Abela, Yvette Poshoglian and Cameron Stelzer. We have established great links with the local Cessnock Library and we are privileged to be able to have visits from them sometimes.
St Patrick’s Learning Hub is a great place to be! | <urn:uuid:13865401-50fb-4191-a259-bf74252ee329> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://cessnock.catholic.edu.au/learning-hub | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703513144.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20210117174558-20210117204558-00311.warc.gz | en | 0.966902 | 493 | 2.625 | 3 |
Editor's note: The regulation, titled "Current Good Manufacturing Practice and Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Food for Animals," is available for review and public comment via the Federal Register. Comments will be accepted through February 26, 2014.
Update (Oct. 31): The FDA has just added to its website a Powerpoint presentation (available by clicking here) on the Proposed Rule for Preventive Controls for Food for Animals.
Source: New York Times
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed rules on Oct. 26 that would govern the production of pet food and farm animal feed for the first time.
The regulation would help prevent food-borne illness in both animals and people, officials at the agency said, as people can become sick from handling contaminated animal food and from touching pets that have eaten it.
The proposal comes six years after the biggest pet food recall in history, when a Chinese producer contaminated dog and cat food with melamine, a compound used in plastics, causing the deaths of animals across the United States.
The public outcry helped lead to the inclusion of animal food in the Food Safety and Modernization Act, a landmark food safety bill, which passed with broad support in 2010 and was the first major overhaul of the Food and Drug Administration’s food safety laws since the 1930s. It gives the FDA more control over food imports as well as broad new powers to set standards to prevent contamination of produce and processed food. The rules proposed Friday offer details on how this would be accomplished.
Jerky treats have also caused pet deaths. Since 2007, the FDA has counted about 580 pet deaths, nearly all dogs, connected to chicken, duck and sweet potato jerky treats, nearly all of which were imported from China. It is not clear if the new regulations could have prevented the deaths because the FDA is not sure yet what the hazard is.
The agency had received more than 3,000 complaints about the jerky over five years. The reports involve more than 3,600 dogs and 10 cats. One sickness associated with the treats, an illness of the kidneys known as Fanconi syndrome, appears to be concentrated more in smaller dogs, the agency said.
The proposal is open for public comment for 120 days. If passed, it would regulate the production of feed for millions of farm animals, including cows, pigs and chickens, as well as pet food. In all, there are about 78 million dogs and 86 million cats as household pets in the United States.
Much like regulations proposed for human food this year, the rules would require makers of animal food sold in the United States to develop a written plan to prevent food-borne illnesses, like salmonella, and to put it into effect. Producers would need to put protective procedures into place at critical points in the production process where problems are likely to arise.
For example, for canned dog food, producers might have to set up a system to monitor whether the food has been cooked long enough at the right temperature, said Michael R. Taylor, FDA deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine. They would also need to keep records to document it.
“We know from experience that when the system doesn’t deliver, people get irate,” Taylor said. “It’s all about having a systematic plan to make the food safe.”
The rules would also require producers to correct problems that arise and re-evaluate their plans at least every three years. And they would require them to maintain standards of cleanliness for the facilities and people who work in them. Smaller businesses would have more time to comply with the rules, once they become final. If companies do not comply, the agency said it could take any number of actions, including issuing warning letters, advising consumers, and in some cases, seizing products and prosecuting producers.
The proposal does not address the use of antibiotics given to animals, sometimes in feed. Public health advocates warn that the practice is contributing to dangerous levels of antibiotic resistance in humans. | <urn:uuid:f7399e60-f3bd-4eaa-83e8-c477b9601eaa> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.foodsafetymagazine.com/news/fda-proposes-regs-to-ensure-safety-of-food-for-pets-and-farm-animals/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281084.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00419-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971086 | 823 | 2.78125 | 3 |
HPV increases risk of HIV - study
Women with human papillomavirus (HPV), a precursor to cervical cancer, face a higher risk of HIV infection.
This is according to Professor Anan-Lise Williamson, a virologist at the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine at the University of Cape Town.
Williamson said recent studies found that the more types of HPV a woman has, the more susceptible she is to contracting HIV, while women who don’t have HPV are less likely to contract HIV.
“It can be because of the immune system’s response to HPV on the cervix (that makes) women more susceptible to HIV,” she said.
Williamson was speaking at the annual Roche Diagnostics Forum in Bryanston yesterday.
Human papillomaviruses are a group of virus types – some of which are sexually transmitted and cause cervical cancer, among other cancers. HPV can be prevented through a vaccine recommended for pre-adolescent girls before they reach their sexual debut. The vaccine is available in South Africa, but it is expensive.
Cervical cancer is the most common cancer found among women in sub-Saharan Africa, with a prevalence five times higher than that in Europe. It is estimated that about 90 percent of women will acquire an HPV infection before the age of 30.
In 2008, 67 percent of women with cervical cancer died, compared with 2.4 percent in Europe.
In South Africa, cervical cancer is more prevalent among black women and, according to the Human Papillomavirus Cervical Cancer Research Fund, causes the death of nearly 10 women a day.
Experts are calling it an epidemic. “Concern is growing as there appears to be an increasing epidemic of papillomavirus-induced disease involving not only the cervix, but elsewhere in the female genital tract and anogenital region,” said Professor Martin Hale, head of the Department of Anatomical Pathology at Wits University.
HIV-positive women have a higher prevalence of HPV, are more likely to be infected with multiple HPV types and develop cervical cancer at a younger age – on average 10 years younger than HIV-negative women.
While young girls are the focus of HPV vaccine campaigns, Williamson said boys should not be forgotten about in the HPV discourse.
A study conducted on HPV infection in HIV-positive and -negative men and women found that men have a higher rate of new HPV infection, and more incidence of HPV in HIV-negative men. - The Star | <urn:uuid:4cfd02e3-fd0f-4a84-a0ed-ce4eab753911> | CC-MAIN-2020-24 | https://www.iol.co.za/news/hpv-increases-risk-of-hiv-study-1181770 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-24/segments/1590347410535.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20200530231809-20200531021809-00113.warc.gz | en | 0.947797 | 524 | 2.734375 | 3 |
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Important Facts About Having Bad Breath
Posted on 7/10/2018 by Sundberg Office
Bad breath is one of the most common oral health concerns for patients. It is certainly possible that bad breath can be caused by some foods that you eat for example, garlic or onions, which can leave offensive odors in your mouth, however, if you have a healthy mouth and good oral hygiene habits, these odors should go away after you brush your teeth, and the food has passed through your system.
Chronic bad breath can be a sign of more serious problems such as periodontal disease. Here are some important facts about having bad breath.
What Causes Bad Breath?
Bad breath that doesn't go away or returns shortly after brushing can be caused by periodontal disease, where the build-up of plaque on the teeth irritates the gums.
Dry mouth is another common cause of bad breath, because of the reduction in saliva production that neutralizes the acids produced by plaque and rids the mouth of dead cells on the tongue, gums, and cheeks.
Poor dental hygiene can also cause bad breath, which could also be a sign of other diseases. In addition, there are other issues that cause bad breath, including dental appliances that don't fit properly, dental cavities, and yeast infections of the mouth.
How Do I Get Rid of Bad Breath?
Practicing good oral hygiene at home and keeping your regular dental checkups should help keep your mouth healthy and bad breath. If you have gum disease that is untreated, the longer it goes on, the worse the bad breath will be.
The best thing you can do to reduce or eliminate bad breath is to visit us regularly, so we can take care of all the issues related to your oral health.
If you haven't visited our office in a while, and are suffering from chronic bad breath, we encourage you to give us a call and set up an appointment, so you can get a complete Dental examination and diagnosis, followed by appropriate treatment of your condition. | <urn:uuid:7b2730ee-0485-48b5-85a6-5c0449ba8b5c> | CC-MAIN-2020-16 | https://www.pdxdentistry.com/p/BLOG-50532-2018.7.10-Important-Facts-About-Having-Bad-Breath-p.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-16/segments/1585370497309.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20200330212722-20200331002722-00291.warc.gz | en | 0.932897 | 457 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Civil War Battlefield Conservation: Mississippi
Big Black River Battlefield At Vicksburg National Military ParkWhen Grant’s army marched on Vicksburg in May of 1863, Confederate General John C. Pemberton made a desperate attempt to hold off the approaching Union forces, but to no avail. The Confederates were routed.
The Fund purchased 28 acres, using its Battlefield Revolving Fund established by grants from the Gilder Foundation, in the area where U. S. troops massed before their three-minute bayonet charge that defeated the Confederates on May 17, 1863, enabling General Grant to close in on Vicksburg the next day. The Fund worked in partnership with the Civil War Preservation Trust and the state of Mississippi, which provided state funds to match 2-1 the federal funds for the acquisition.
Champion HillThe Fund negotiated the purchase of an easement over 200 acres in the area of the Confederate retreat at Champion Hill, Mississippi. We worked in partnership with the Civil War Preservation Trust and the state of Mississippi, which provided state funds to match the federal funds.
CorinthAfter the capture of Corinth in May 1862, the U. S. forces built an arc of fortifications, including Battery F, to prevent the Confederates from retaking the critical intersection of the railroads between the industrial and shipping facilities at Memphis and the ports at Mobile and Charleston. On October 3-4, 1862, the Federals initially manned and then abandoned Battery F in their successful defense of Corinth during the Confederate attack.
With our partners, we launched the preservation of the Corinth battlefield with the purchase of Battery F. Grants from the Fund’s partners, Ringier America, the National Geographic Society and Mr. and Mrs. John L. Nau, III, made possible the donation of the battery to the Friends of the Siege and Battle of Corinth. We also donated adjacent land that had been a gift from Harold and Peggy Isbell.
Port GibsonAfter their rapid march from the Mississippi River on May 1, 1863, Major General Ulysses S. Grant’s 24,000 troops hit 8,000 Confederates in a hard fought, eighteen-hour battle in the ridges and hollows in the area of the Shaifer house and the Rodney and Bruinsburg roads. The U. S. victory gave Grant the beachhead he needed for his successful Vicksburg Campaign.
In partnership with the Civil War Preservation Trust, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, and National Park Service, we secured a 623-acre conservation easement on important buffer lands in the Port Gibson Civil War Battlefield, site of the first major battle of the critical Vicksburg Campaign. | <urn:uuid:4cd2fbed-ce19-47d8-9fc5-20472506eca9> | CC-MAIN-2016-22 | http://www.conservationfund.org/projects/civil-war-battlefield-conservation-mississippi | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-22/segments/1464049274324.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160524002114-00066-ip-10-185-217-139.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928689 | 543 | 3.078125 | 3 |
WHAT IS A CONCUSSION?
A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury—or TBI—caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or by a hit to the body that causes the head and brain to move rapidly back and forth. This sudden movement can cause the brain to bounce around or twist in the skull, stretching and damaging the brain cells and creating chemical changes in the brain. CONCUSSIONS ARE SERIOUS!
Medical providers may describe a concussion as a “mild” brain injury because concussions are usually not life-threatening. Even so, the effects of a concussion can be serious.
CONCUSSION SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
Children and teens who show or report one or more of the signs and symptoms listed below, or simply say they just “don’t feel right” after a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or body, may have a concussion or more serious brain injury.
CONCUSSION SIGNS OBSERVED
- Can’t recall events prior to or after a hit or fall.
- Appears dazed or stunned.
- Forgets an instruction, is confused about an assignment or position, or is unsure of the game, score, or opponent.
- Moves clumsily.
- Answers questions slowly.
- Loses consciousness (even briefly).
- Shows mood, behavior, or personality changes.
CONCUSSION SYMPTOMS REPORTED
- Headache or “pressure” in head.
- Nausea or vomiting.
- Balance problems or dizziness, or double or blurry vision.
- Bothered by light or noise.
- Feeling sluggish, hazy, foggy, or groggy.
- Confusion, or concentration or memory problems.
- Just not “feeling right,” or “feeling down”.
Signs and symptoms generally show up soon after the injury. However, you may not know how serious the injury is at first and some symptoms may not show up for hours or days. For example, in the first few minutes your child or teen might be a little confused or a bit dazed, but an hour later your child might not be able to remember how he or she got hurt.
You should continue to check for signs of concussion right after the injury and a few days after the injury. If your child or teen’s concussion signs or symptoms get worse, you should take him or her to the emergency department right away.
CONCUSSION DANGER SIGNS
In rare cases, a dangerous collection of blood (hematoma) may form on the brain after a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or body that may squeeze the brain against the skull. Call 9-1-1 right away, or take your child or teen to the emergency department if he or she has one or more of the following danger signs after a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or body:
DANGEROUS SIGNS & SYMPTOMS OF A CONCUSSION
- One pupil larger than the other.
- Drowsiness or inability to wake up.
- A headache that gets worse and does not go away.
- Slurred speech, weakness, numbness, or decreased coordination.
- Repeated vomiting or nausea, convulsions or seizures (shaking or twitching).
- Unusual behavior, increased confusion, restlessness, or agitation.
- Loss of consciousness (passed out/knocked out). Even a brief loss of consciousness should be taken seriously.
DANGEROUS SIGNS & SYMPTOMS OF A CONCUSSION FOR TODDLERS AND INFANTS
- Any of the signs and symptoms listed in the Danger Signs & Symptoms of a Concussion list.
- Will not stop crying and cannot be consoled.
- Will not nurse or eat.
RECOVERY FROM CONCUSSION
Rest is very important after a concussion because it helps the brain heal. Your child or teen may need to limit activities while he or she is recovering from a concussion. Physical activities or activities that involve a lot of concentration, such as studying, working on the computer, or playing video games may cause concussion symptoms (such as headache or tiredness) to come back or get worse. After a concussion, physical and cognitive activities—such as concentration and learning—should be carefully watched by a medical provider. As the days go by, your child or teen can expect to slowly feel better.
- Parents can help their child or teen feel better by being active in their recovery:
- REST IS KEY TO HELP THE BRAIN HEAL
Have your child or teen get plenty of rest. Keep a regular sleep routine, including no late nights and no sleepovers.
Make sure your child or teen avoids high-risk/high-speed activities that could result in another bump, blow, or jolt to the head or body, such as riding a bicycle, playing sports, climbing playground equipment, and riding roller coasters . Children and teens should not return to these types of activities until their medical provider says they are well enough. Share information about concussion with siblings, teachers, counselors, babysitters, coaches, and others who spend time with your child or teen. This can help them understand what has happened and how to help.
RETURN SLOWLY TO ACTIVITIES
- When your child’s or teen’s medical provider says they are well enough, make sure they return to their normal activities slowly, not all at once.
- Talk with their medical provider about when your child or teen should return to school and other activities and how you can help him or her deal with any challenges during their recovery. For example, your child may need to spend less time at school, rest often, or be given more time to take tests.
- Ask your child’s or teen’s medical provider when he or she can safely drive a car or ride a bike.
TALK TO A MEDICAL PROVIDER ABOUT CONCERNS
Give your child or teen only medications that are approved by their medical provider.
If your child or teen already had a medical condition at the time of their concussion (such as ADHD or chronic headaches), it may take longer for them to recover from a concussion. Anxiety and depression may also make it harder to adjust to the symptoms of a concussion.
While most children and teens with a concussion feel better within a couple of weeks, some will have symptoms for months or longer. Talk with your children’s or teens’ health care provider if their concussion symptoms do not go away or if they get worse after they return to their regular activities.
If your child or teen has concussion symptoms that last weeks to months after the injury, their medical provider may talk to you about post-concussive syndrome. While rare after only one concussion, post-concussive syndrome is believed to occur most commonly in patients with a history of multiple concussions.
There are many people who can help you and your family as your child or teen recovers. You do not have to do it alone. Keep talking with your medical provider, family members, and loved ones about how your child or teen is feeling. If you do not think he or she is getting better, tell your medical provider. | <urn:uuid:90d32590-1a5d-4e05-af4d-f29cd955e21f> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | http://www.wwpsa.org/Page.asp?n=153705&org=wwpsa.org | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224652207.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20230606013819-20230606043819-00110.warc.gz | en | 0.930699 | 1,554 | 3.8125 | 4 |
Encephalartos natalensis R.A.Dyer & I. Verd.
Common Name: Natal giant cycad
Distribution: Endemic to South Africa (Eastern Cape & KwaZulu-Natal)
Habitat: On cliffs in open forests and escarpments, with very hot summers & cold winters. Has a wide altitudinal range being recorded from 200 up to 1,200 m
Description: A 'living fossil' A large cycad with a trunk up to 6m tall and 40 cm across, rigid leaves grow as a rosette at the top of the trunk between 1-3m in length. A cross section of the bright green and glossy leaves forms a shallow or steep vee. Separate male & female plants with yellow/tan cones produced in the crown. Fruit bright red.
Propagation: From seed or by removing basal suckers.
Cultivation: Grow in full sun in a humus-rich very well drained compost. While they will tolerate a light frost the are best from in a cool conservatory, placing outside only in the summer.
Uses: Starch from the trunk is used as flour in times of famine. The seed are poisonous but animals such as horn-bills eat only the outer flesh and discard the seed. Used as a garden ornamental in warm climates.
RBGE Data: May 2012
- Accession #: 19380474
- Source: Mrs G Bailie donated a plant in 1938
- Provenance: Garden origin
- Location: Orchid & Cycad House
- SubClass: Cycadopsida
- Order: Cycadales
- Family: Zamiaceae | <urn:uuid:8f6283e4-a3cd-4e18-aaab-495faa0bd731> | CC-MAIN-2016-22 | http://www.rbge.org.uk/the-gardens/plant-of-the-month/plant-profiles/encephalartos-natalensis | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-22/segments/1464049277807.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160524002117-00228-ip-10-185-217-139.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.884067 | 357 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Art4art have created a cartoon around the idea of a superhero who champions antiretroviral treatment. The goal is to communicate with children from the age of 6 to 18, to use the cartoon as a vehicle for AIDS related messages. In the first episode, “The Birth of a Superhero” the audience is introduced to little Musa, a boy in Lusaka who has found out he is HIV positive. He is desperate and ready to give up when he is saved by AntiRetroviral Man who explains to him how he, AntiRetroviral Man himself, coped with the disease and how he became a super hero: faster, stronger and better!
Watch the first episode of AntirRetrovial Man
Watch the second episode of AntirRetrovial Man
Children will easily pick up the message of how anti retroviral treatment not only makes you healthy but also how to treat others with respect. AntiRetroviral Man in following episodes of the cartoon will fight his arch enemies Stigma Man, Miss Information and Miss Conception, with the help of his faithful sidekick Adherence Girl.
Cartoons can be an useful and effective tool in the prevention of HIV infection. Many AIDS related issues can be addressed in a effective way with the AntiRetroviral Man. | <urn:uuid:6da62390-0bdb-4a2d-bcb2-25d3489ac471> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | http://art4arthero.com/who-is-he/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323585181.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20211017175237-20211017205237-00415.warc.gz | en | 0.955061 | 267 | 2.671875 | 3 |
In the construction industry, it helps to develop modern devices how to start an invention idea ensure top quality projects. For instance, every road, bridge, or buildings built must be sturdy enough to prevent collapse that can lead to accidents. Moreover, a poorly constructed building or infrastructure will cost any company considerably money due to the repair. Thus, it is much better noticable any project perfectly to avoid any problem eventually. Technology brings us new inventions that make construction projects rather sturdy and reliable. Here are a few of the newest technologies in building industry.
The invention of plasma arc technology is the great solution to stabilize the weak foundations where buildings, roads and bridges should be built. In this procedure, the soil is heated enhance its strength and stability and to decrease compressibility. This thermal system in treating the soil improves the quality of the basement walls soils, thus preventing landslides. Although approach has already existed in the past, there are limitations because of the expensive treatment methods, complex procedures along with the limited construction equipment and applications.
Hence, the plasma arc technology was invented to create a powerful ionized gas called plasma. The plasma torch is used on the soil, heating it to the substantial great amount temperature. Hence, continuous heating can increase the risk for soil to be solid and good. With an intense volume heat, the swelling of the soil is reduced. Dirt begins to melt and later on fuses and InventHelp Success become harder like some brick or material.
This technology produces a more intense heating capability than electric heating sources and fossil fuels. Thus, the immense temperature creates a better result in hardening and compressing dirt. In effect, easy to the soil more solid and regular. However, more studies and research are which are designed to determine the effectiveness of plasma each morning construction industry. Research programs are placed in Japan, Switzerland, Nigeria and Australia, among many other united states.
Fiber Optic Sensors for Sturdy Structures
Every year, roads and bridges require maintenance because some deteriorate easily. The rehabilitation on the structures cost you a lot of income and effort, which can be a problem for brand new and federal sectors. Thus, researchers have proposed using smart structures to strengthen and prevent quick deterioration of construction projects. Fractional treatments is analyzed and studied at the University of Toronto, all of the Institute ideas for inventions Aerospace Investigation. The researchers propose the utilization of fiber optic sensors to line the columns from the bridges. To begin with these sensors, these are covered a few lightweight synthetic to avoid the deterioration and damage of this structure. Hence, this will hopefully preserve infrastructures and cause less need for road rrrconfort.
Although fiber optic sensors are ideal in strengthening the structures, thus preventing deterioration, these materials are extremely expensive. Moreover, there is an extensive research done to prove its effectiveness in maintaining roads and plenty other structures. Some good feedbacks are still partial by means of comes to deciding regardless if the material certainly effective or. Thus, researchers continue to find out the value and practicality in using fiber optics in resilient projects. | <urn:uuid:65e5a55f-5138-4763-b231-0632396c7def> | CC-MAIN-2019-43 | http://hopkins.megaalisveris.com/best-part-about-it-about-modern-inventions-and-technologies-for-the-construction-industry/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-43/segments/1570987829507.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20191023071040-20191023094540-00128.warc.gz | en | 0.936533 | 619 | 2.953125 | 3 |
10 Gay Myths From Antiquity
Many people who only encounter the Greek and Roman myths as children never learn just how weird some of them are. In the versions told to young people, the gods can be capricious and cruel, but the darker aspects of their actions are often hidden. Zeus’s sexual conquests alone could fill a book with bizarre forms of assault.
Yet there is another aspect of the old myths and legends that is also often left out—their homosexual and transgender themes. The Greeks and Romans were a lot less squeamish about sex than we tend to be, and they celebrated it in all its forms. Here are ten myths from the ancient world with gay and trans stories to tell.
10 Karpos And Kalamos
In Nonnus of Panopolis’s epic poem the Dionysiaca is the sad tale of Karpos and Kalamos, two young boys in love. Kalamos was a handsome youth who lived by the river Meander—in fact, he was the son of the god who lived in the river. While Kalamos was quick and athletic, his friend Karpos was more attractive than any mortal. Together, the two would play and gambol along the riverbank. When they raced on land, Kalamos let Karpos win by pretending to stumble. When they had a swimming race, however, things went dreadfully wrong.
Kalamos again held back so that his beloved could win. When a jealous wind drove a wave into Karpos’s mouth, he was washed under and drowned, leaving a heartbroken Kalamos to swim to shore and cry out for him. In anguish, he offered himself up as a sacrifice, saying, “I cannot see the light for one later dawn without Karpos. Karpos and Kalamos had one life, and both one watery death for both together in the same stream.”
Saying that, Kalamos dove into the water and drowned himself. Though he died, his body was transformed into reeds. Wherever reeds are found beside water, you will hear the sound of sighing as they brush against each other, and that is the sound of Kalamos lamenting his lost love.
There are two versions of the death of the Greek hero Hyacinthus in myth, and both involve same-sex love.
In the first, the god Apollo falls in love with Hyacinthus, a prince of Sparta, because the boy is so handsome and quick. The two lovers, mortal and immortal, would often go hunting together in the mountains. One day “when the youth and Apollo were well stripped, and gleaming with rich olive oil, they tried a friendly contest with the discus.” Apollo cast the discus up into the clouds, and Hyacinthus raced after it to show his speed. Instead of Hyacinthus catching it, the discus caught the boy full in the face and killed him. Apollo mourned his lover and commanded the hyacinth flower to grow in memory of him.
The second version of the myth tells the same story, but it is no mere accident that slays Hyacinthus. The West Wind, Zephyrus, was also a lover of the boy but had been spurned for Apollo. Unable to contain his anger at being rejected, the god of the wind blew Apollo’s discus at Hyacinthus. If he couldn’t have Hyacinthus, then no one could.
Tiresias is a figure who turns up in many Greek myths. According to legend, he was a skilled soothsayer who could predict the future with uncanny accuracy. In some stories, he was struck blind for his prophecies by the gods, who felt he was stepping on their territory, but there is another tradition.
One day while walking on Mount Cyllene, Tiresias came across two snakes mating. For whatever reason, he struck them with a stick. This upset Hera, queen of the gods, and she “punished” Tiresias by transforming him into a woman. Tiresias now went about her life as a woman—even marrying and having children. Apparently untroubled by this gender-swap, Tiresias spent seven years as a woman before returning to the spot where he had injured the snakes to see if she could become a man again. Hera relented, and Tiresias underwent a second transformation.
Unfortunately, his time as a woman would cause Tiresias greater problems. One day, Zeus and Hera argued about whether women or men had more pleasure during sex. There was only one person who could say for sure, so they asked Tiresias. Tiresias said that women had ten times more fun during sex than men, which was not the answer Hera wanted, so she struck him blind. To make up for his lost eyesight, Zeus then gave Tiresias the gift of prophecy.
7 Eurybarus And Alcyoneus
Once, there was a huge cave in Mount Cirphis that was home to a terrible monster known as Sybaris. Every day, the monster would emerge from the gloom to gobble up flocks of sheep and even the shepherds who guarded them. People were so afraid that they thought of abandoning their towns and moving elsewhere. Finally, they asked the oracle at Delphi how they could get rid of their tormentor. The oracle gave them only one solution—they must offer a human sacrifice.
The person chosen was the beautiful and brave boy Alcyoneus. The priests of the town placed a garland of flowers on his head and led Alcyoneus toward his death. As luck, or the gods, would have it, however, just as they were leaving, Eurybarus happened by. He was so overcome with love for the handsome boy that he refused to let him be killed. Eurybarus grabbed the crown of flowers and put it on his own head, telling the priests to take him as a sacrifice instead.
When Eurybarus reached the cave of Sybaris, instead of being killed, he attacked the monster and cast her down the cliff to her death.
6 Achilles And Patroclus
For thousands of years, people have been wondering just what went on in Achilles’s tent. In the Iliad, the poet Homer tells us of the love between Achilles and Patroclus but never explicitly shows them as romantic lovers—but that hasn’t stopped people from thinking there was more than friendship between the two. The ancient playwright Aeschylus apparently wrote a play called The Myrmidons, which showed the two as lovers. Unfortunately, not enough of the play survives to tell us how he envisioned their relationship.
From the Iliad, however we can see just how much Patroclus means to Achilles. During the siege of Troy, Achilles, the greatest of the Greek heroes, feels insulted, so he goes to his tent and sulks. During his absence from the battlefield, the war begins to turn against the Greeks. To put heart into the army, Patroclus puts on Achilles’s armor to make them think the latter is back among them. All goes to plan until the Trojan Hector kills Patroclus.
Now Achilles does return to the fight. Nothing will stop his homicidal rage at the death of his “friend,” except the death of Hector. Achilles manages to kill him, lashes Hector’s corpse to his chariot, and drags it around the city of Troy. Back in the Greek camp, he throws elaborate funeral games for Patroclus. Sexual or not, love can make you do crazy things.
Many people have heard of the myth of Narcissus. Because he was so attractive, Narcissus was used to being lusted after by everyone, and this made him arrogant. In the most famous tale, he ignores the love of the nymph Echo, and she wastes away, leaving nothing but her voice, which can still be heard reflecting back whatever is said to her. Many people will also know that Narcissus fell so in love with his own reflection in a pool of water that he died of starvation, unable to tear himself away. But many will not know why this happened.
According to legend, one of the people who loved Narcissus was a man called Ameinias. Narcissus cruelly gave Ameinias a sword, with the clear hint that he should kill himself. Ameinias took the sword and plunged it into his chest on Narcissus’s doorstep—as well as calling down a curse on the proud young man. Nemesis, goddess of revenge, heard his plea, and it was she who made Narcissus fall so suicidally in love with his own image.
4 Orpheus And Calais
The most famous myth of Orpheus, the greatest of all singers, is a very straight one. When his wife Eurydice dies and goes to the underworld, Orpheus follows her to win her back. He is promised that she will walk just behind him as he leaves the underworld, but if he looks back even once, she will be returned to death. Unable to resist a little glance to be sure she is there, Orpheus loses his wife.
Other myths have Orpheus as one of the famous Argonauts who went in search of the Golden Fleece. The poet Phanocles tells us that while on the ship, Orpheus fell in love with Calais “the son of Boreas, with all his heart, and went often in shaded groves still singing of his desire, nor was his heart at rest. But always, sleepless cares wasted his spirits as he looked at fresh Calais.” Other ancient sources describe Orpheus as a hater of women and someone who seduced husbands away from their wives.
Orpheus’s misogyny was apparently repaid in his death. When he refused to sing in honor of any god but Apollo, a group of female worshipers of Dionysus ripped the singer to pieces.
3 Heracles And Hylas
Heracles was quite the man. He once deflowered 49 out of 50 daughters of a king and impregnated all of his conquests. Yet there was another side to him. The ancient writer Plutarch tells us that his male lovers were beyond count. One lover, though, is worth particular mention—Hylas. One poet described how “even Amphitryon’s bronze-hearted son [Heracles], who defeated the savage Nemean lion, loved a boy—charming Hylas, whose hair hung down in curls. And like a father with a dear son he taught him all the things which had made him a mighty man, and famous.”
While on the adventure of the Argonauts, Heracles and Hylas became separated. While out collecting water at a spring, Hylas was seen by the nymphs who lived there. Falling in love with the beautiful youth, they decided they must have him. They pulled him under, and Hylas was never seen again.
Heracles was unable to leave without Hylas, so the rest of the Argonauts carried on without the great Heracles. Whether Hylas was happier with the nymphs or Heracles is not recorded.
In many museums, there are strange classical statues of a boy looking fondly at an eagle. These are images of Ganymede and the god Zeus, in avian form. Even when other stories of the homosexual loves of the gods were suppressed or ignored, the story of Zeus and Ganymede remained popular. For gay men on the Grand Tour of Europe, images of Ganymede became a symbol they could display without too much shame.
According to myth, “Verily wise Zeus carried off golden-haired Ganymede because of his beauty, to be amongst the Deathless Ones and pour drink for the gods in the house of Zeus.” Zeus did this because Ganymede was said to be extraordinarily attractive. But Zeus was not one to make his move in a normal way. Instead of simply offering Ganymede the chance for a date, he swept down on the young man while Ganymede was tending to his flock in the form of an eagle and hauled him up to heaven.
Given the role of cup-bearer to the gods, Ganymede became an immortal and was worshiped. When Ganymede’s father mourned the loss of his son, Zeus repaid the grieving father with some nice horses, which he was apparently very thankful for.
Artemis was known as one of the virgin goddesses. This hunting deity had no time for sexual relations, and she demanded equal purity in her followers. When Callisto joined the goddess’s company, she was sworn to virginity. It was not a promise that the overly sexed god Zeus would let her keep.
In some versions of the myth, Zeus approached Callisto while taking the form of Artemis. While still in the guise of a woman, Zeus seduced Callisto. Even as a woman, Zeus was potent, so a pregnancy arose from the lesbian affair. This was not something that could be hidden, as the company of Artemis often bathed together. When Artemis saw one of her maidens was pregnant, she was outraged. “Why?” asked Callisto. It was Artemis’s child, Callisto thought. Callisto had her child and called him Arcas. For her impudence, Artemis turned Callisto into a bear and sent her away.
When Arcas grew up, he became a mighty hunter. One day, he saw a bear that did not try to flee from him or attack him. As it approached, he slew it. The bear was Callisto, and she had simply been trying to see her son. Zeus took pity on the woman he had wronged and placed her in the heavens as the constellation Ursa Major—the Great Bear. | <urn:uuid:bab1ce33-3541-4ead-819e-8ae11fb907f6> | CC-MAIN-2020-24 | https://listverse.com/2019/07/10/10-gay-myths-from-antiquity/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-24/segments/1590347436828.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20200604001115-20200604031115-00488.warc.gz | en | 0.984554 | 2,927 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Forster Register B. 14 (?): ‘2 long flutes and 2 panpipes’
The panpipe consists of a total of nine bamboo segments. Arranged in one plane next to each other, the bamboo segments are bound together with plant fibre strips (probably from pandanus leaves) in a kind of herringbone technique. The longest and the second longest bamboo segments are otherwise bound with a narrow strip (probably from the epidermis of a pandanus leaf) on their upper edge and underneath the overall binding. With the exception of the longest bamboo segment where the lower internode remains visible from the outside, and where an additional small piece of bamboo cane juts out below, the eight remaining segments are cut directly at the internode and sanded down, so that the internodes are only visible from below to form the base of the pipes.
The object has no label. It seems there was one however, covering two of the smaller pipes. The most likely origin for the piece would be the Forster Collection, because the traces of the old label have the rectangular or square form of the Forster labels. The panpipe may have originated from the New Hebrides, because its form corresponds almost exactly to that of the panpipe that Cook depicted in his report (1777, II: 82). All the objects shown on this plate come from the New Hebrides. On the basis of these references, it is most probable that this is one of the two panpipes from the Forster Register and that the flute comes from the New Hebrides.
G. Forster’s report (1983: 775) regarding the circumstances in which he encountered such panpipes on the island of Tanna also supports the speculation that on this or similar occasion, he and his father traded with the natives for such a flute. With due caution, it may be assumed that the Göttingen panpipe is from the island of Tanna, in which case a possible indigenous name for it would be tarheinau.
Panpipes of a similar type may be found in collections in Sydney, Vienna, and Oxford (Kaeppler 1978a: 247f.). Volker Harms
Cook, James, A Voyage Towards the South Pole, and Round the World, Performed in the Years 1772 1773, 1774, and 1775, in 2 vols, Australiana Facsimile Editions No. 191, Adelaide, 1777.
Forster, Georg, Reise um die Welt, [1778/1780], hrsg. v. Gerhard Steiner, Taschenbuchausgabe, Frankfurt a. M, 1983.
Kaeppler, Adrienne L, ‘Artificial Curiosities’ Being An Exposition of Native Manufactures Collected on the Three Pacific Voyages of Captain James Cook RN [Exhibition catalogue], Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu, 1978a. | <urn:uuid:399a588d-9414-4fde-a98a-b3a31a5ec963> | CC-MAIN-2015-18 | http://www.nma.gov.au/online_features/cook_forster/objects/panpipe_oz156 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-18/segments/1429246660628.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20150417045740-00272-ip-10-235-10-82.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908921 | 612 | 2.90625 | 3 |
|Style[expr,options]||print with the specified style options|
|Style[expr,"style"]||print with the specified cell style|
|FontSize||12||size of characters in printer's points|
|FontWeight||"Plain" or "Bold"||weight of characters|
|FontSlant||"Plain" or "Italic"||slant of characters|
|FontFamily||"Courier", "Times", "Helvetica"||font family|
|FontColor||GrayLevel||color of characters|
|Background||GrayLevel||background color for characters|
A few options that can be used in Style.
If you use the notebook front end for the Wolfram System, then each piece of output that is generated will by default be in the style of the cell in which the output appears. By using Style[expr,"style"], however, you can tell the Wolfram System to output a particular expression in a different style.
"Cells as Wolfram Language Expressions" describes in more detail how cell styles work. By using Style[expr,"style",options] you can generate output that is in a particular style, but with certain options modified. | <urn:uuid:f3fbe009-27d4-49c4-9d4f-f933826ff9de> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://reference.wolfram.com/language/tutorial/StylesAndFontsInOutput.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00192-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.71689 | 255 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Put one of the letters C, L, X, V, I into each cell of a 5 × 5 grid so that each row and each column is a valid five-letter Roman numeral less than 300. No numeral may appear more than once; the five horizontal numerals should be in descending numerical order from top to bottom, and the five vertical numerals in descending numerical order from left to right.
What is the sum of your 10 Roman numerals (expressed in ordinary Arabic numerals)?
WIN £15 will be awarded to the sender of the first correct answer opened on Wednesday 25 March. The Editor's decision is final. Please send entries to Enigma 1533, New Scientist, Lacon House, 84 Theobald's Road, London WC1X 8NS, or to
Answer to 1527 Square from primes: (a) 11449 (b) 19881
The winner Peter Kaufeler of London, UK | <urn:uuid:d3a61567-229b-41b7-9429-13cc02ab92ef> | CC-MAIN-2014-52 | http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126961.800-enigma-no-1533.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-52/segments/1418802775348.152/warc/CC-MAIN-20141217075255-00052-ip-10-231-17-201.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.853554 | 195 | 2.578125 | 3 |
High Sugar Foods in School Vending Machines
Sugar is bad news. A small amount here and there adds taste to your daily diet, but too much added sugar can take a toll on your health, including unhealthy weight gain and increased risk of heart disease. School vending machines are one source of sugary foods, and since many children aren’t well-versed in the health dangers of sugar, this easy access to sweet treats can be bad for their health.
Banish the Baked Goods and Candy
Almost all children jump at the chance to eat a package of candy, cookies, cake or other baked treat, but these are loaded with sugar. Just one commercially-packaged chocolate chip cookie, for example, contains about 5.5 grams of sugar, which translates to about 1.5 teaspoons. A packaged cupcake with cream filling and chocolate frosting contains about 18.9 grams, or almost 5 teaspoons, of sugar. Chocolate bars, candy, brownies and packaged pies are additional vending machine options high in sugar. Limiting your child’s intake of sugary foods is a smart way to protect him from unhealthy weight gain and tooth decay, according to the KidsHealth website.
Skip the Soda
Soda is a classic vending machine treat, but it’s also one of the most unhealthy choices. The average soda contains about 40 grams of sugar, which is equal to 10 teaspoons of the sweet stuff. According to the KidsHealth website, children who drink one soda per day are at a higher risk for becoming obese. Fruit-flavored juices and flavored water are also high in sugar and don’t offer any nutrients in exchange for all the added sugar. These should also be skipped when your child heads to the vending machine for a snack.
As of 2014, changes are on the horizon when it comes to vending machine offerings in schools. An article in “U.S. News and World Report” notes that new federal regulations will ban certain items from school vending machines. The new offerings will be required to meet certain calorie, fat, sugar and sodium limits in an effort to increase the nutritional value of the foods children have access to during the school day. The U.S. Department of Agriculture notes that these new guidelines help provide foods that are lower in fat, calories, sugar and sodium, but that also supply the nutrients growing children need.
As schools make the transition to healthier vending machine fare, educate your child about making the best choices. Encourage your child to choose water or 100 percent fruit juice over soda. Teach your child to skip the sugary desserts and candy in favor of air-popped popcorn, fruit cups and whole grain granola bars. Baked chips, dried fruit and trail mix are additional options that are lower in sugar and that also supply essential vitamins and minerals.
- Harvard School of Public Health: Added Sugar in the Diet
- KidsHealth: Carbohydrates, Sugar and Your Child
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Highlights New "Smart Snacks in School" Standards; Will Ensure School Vending Machines, Snack Bars Include Healthy Choices
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: USDA Proposes Standards to Provide Healthy Food Options in Schools
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: Cookies, Chocolate Chip, Commercially Prepared, Soft-Type
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: Cake, Snack Cakes, Creme-Filled, Chocolate With Frosting
Sara Ipatenco has taught writing, health and nutrition. She started writing in 2007 and has been published in Teaching Tolerance magazine. Ipatenco holds a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in education, both from the University of Denver. | <urn:uuid:e38656b7-8b4d-445a-bf2b-4c70b19ad32d> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/high-sugar-foods-school-vending-machines-10784.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323585302.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20211020055136-20211020085136-00416.warc.gz | en | 0.930798 | 768 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Around 1.9 million years ago, something extraordinary happened to the chimp-like hominids called Homo erectus. Their brains began to enlarge, becoming double the size of those of chimpanzees. Several theories are beginning to coalesce about why this happened. One is that early people began to eat more and better meat around this time, which allowed more calories to be consumed faster. This led to a shrinking of gastrointestinal organs and an increase in brain size that essentially traded guts for gray matter.
Our big brains need this extra energy. Modern humans eat about the same number of calories as other primates that approximate their weight, but we suck up an average of 25 percent of our body’s energy expenditure, compared with the 8 percent sucked up by apes. Human babies use 60 percent of their energy to feed their heads.
Anthropologists have assumed that H. erectus ate their burgers and steaks raw, since most early fire pits discovered so far date back about 500,000 years, with the oldest, in Israel, dating back 790,000 years. Charred stones and tools associated with human sites have been discovered that date back as much as 1.5 million years, but these might have been naturally occurring fires.
Now Harvard University’s Richard Wrangham has provided some evidence that the very distant ancestors of America’s top chefs indeed may have learned to cook their antelope and rabbit. Cooking makes both plants and meat softer and easier to chew, providing more calories with less effort. What’s more, human teeth got smaller and duller at around this time, which is the opposite of what would have happened if people had had to rip and chew lots of raw meat.
Wrangham worked with Stephen Secor, an animal physiologist from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, who ran experiments to test the energy required by pythons to consume cooked versus raw meat; Secor also ran experiments on mice to gauge the impact of cooked versus raw meat. The snakes used almost 25 percent less energy chowing down cooked meat; the mice gained more weight and grew slightly longer. The fast turnaround in the mice indicates that cooked meat might have had a quick and dramatic evolutionary impact on early people.
Reducing the time and energy required to chew and digest raw meat means more energy available for other uses–such as feeding a voracious brain that’s getting bigger and bigger. Wrangham also thinks that the modern rise in the consumption of cooked meat may contribute to the obesity epidemic; the same goes for processed food, which is even easier to eat and digest. Wrangham presented his findings at a recent paleoanthropology meeting in Cambridge, in the United Kingdom.
Paleoanthropologists are excited by Wrangham’s findings and provocative ideas, but the absence of definitive proof of campfires appearing at the same time that human brains doubled in size is a problem. Many still believe that humanity’s first cooked meal came much later–about 800,000 to 500,000 years ago, when the human noggin began growing again, expanding by about 30 percent into the modern-size brain.
One question that I’d like to ask evolutionary biologists and paleoanthropologists is why the huge expansion of our brains led to such seemingly unique traits in humans like advanced language skills and acute self-awareness. Would these same traits develop in other mammals if they were fed a diet of broiled beef over several generations? I wonder how many generations of mice it would take to replicate what happened to us–that is, I’d like to see if mouse brains double or triple in size, and also what our furry little friends would do with all that extra neural material.
Science 15 June 2007:Vol. 316. no. 5831, pp. 1558 - 1560 DOI: 10.1126/science.316.5831.1558 | <urn:uuid:2b0b3490-782e-4879-a9ac-d5dcf1354bc4> | CC-MAIN-2021-31 | https://www.technologyreview.com/2007/06/18/36982/did-primordial-chefs-feed-our-giant-brains/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-31/segments/1627046154219.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20210801190212-20210801220212-00681.warc.gz | en | 0.962182 | 807 | 3.828125 | 4 |
“The more monstrous the lie, the more willing the crowd believes in it,” said the ideologist of fascism and the faithful companion and companion of Hitler, the propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.
The rise and fall of Joseph Goebbels
His talents in skilfully staging speeches before the masses of the people and praising the ideas of the Reich Chancellor of Germany Adolf Hitler, as well as the knowledge of rhetoric Goebbels, showed in 1933—1945 as the minister of the Office of Propaganda of the NSDAP. Prior to this, since 1930, having left the post of Gauleiter of Berlin, Goebbels, being the chief of the propaganda of the Weimar Republic, actively popularized the ideas of the National Socialists at the stage of the completion of the formation of the idea of the Third Reich.
Let us return to 1926 and the activities of Goebbels as Gauleiter of Berlin and Brandenburg. This post was not at that moment enviable, since Berlin was considered an ancestral lands of socialists and communists, and the cell of the NSDAP had only 500 members. But it was in this post that during the numerous campaign rallies and meetings Goebbels honed his oratorical abilities so that in the future he would receive the terrible nickname of the Bloody Romantic of Nazism.
Focusing on the levers of management of modern technology of the time, radio and television, Goebbels, including the president of the Imperial Chamber of Culture, skillfully introduced the idea of the selectivity of the German nation and the need for anti-Semitism and the Holocaust in order to maintain the purity of Germans blood. “Give me the media, and I will make a herd of pigs out of any nation,” Goebbels said.
The result of his active agitation was the November pogrom of 1938, the mass deportation of Jews and their extermination in concentration camps. Goebbels’ speech on the total war to the victorious end in February 1943, when German troops suffered the hardest defeats on all fronts in Europe and Africa, became a vivid example of the use of neo-linguistic programming through appealing to the national self-consciousness of the Germans and manipulating the notions of pride, honor and dignity. During his 109-minute speech, Goebbels was able to create an unimaginable heat of emotions and passions, leaving the podium to lose weight by seven feet.
Tragic shade had a short career of Goebbels — one day he was, according to the will of the Fuhrer, the post of the Reich Chancellor of Germany, replacing on him committed, along with Eva Braun, Hitler’s suicide. In a day, Goebbels followed the lead of the leader, taking poison with his wife and six children. The names of all five daughters and the son of Magda Goebbels, a staunch supporter of the Fuhrer, began in his honor with the letter “H” (from him Hitler). In February 1945, Goebbels invited Magde to leave with the children from Germany, but the devoted wife and fan of the ideas of National Socialism and Hitler flatly refused.
Goebbels’s childhood and youth
The biography of all the members of the Nazi Party on closer examination was not so clean with regard to the Aryan blood, as we would like. Hitler concealed his Jewish roots all his life from grandmother and grandfather, and his fellow Hess, Heydrich, Himmler and Canaris in their “blue blood” had obvious Jewish admixtures. In Goebbels, born in the family of the clerk and later the accountant of the factory of Fritz Goebbels and Maria Katarina Odenhausen, in his youth there were Jewish teachers (for example, literary critic Max Freiherr von Waldberg), and the bride and first love of Elsa Janke was Jewish by mother.
Born on a traditional Catholic family on October 29, 1897, Paul Jozef Goebbels had two elder brothers in the industrial city of Mönchengladbach, Paul Konrad and Hans, and two younger sisters: Elizabeth and Maria (another sister of Goebbels, also called Maria, died in 1896 in infancy). The ancestors of the future minister of propaganda were from the peasants, the roots of his grandmother’s grandmother on the maternal line of Maria Gervers sent any researcher to Luxembourg, but it was her origin that reproached Goebbels with blood purists, hinting at the Jewish kinship of the minister on the Dutch line. Goebbels, in order to dispel all the rumors, was forced to release in 1932 in print material with a detailed description of his family tree.
In his early childhood Joseph Goebbels suffered poliomyelitis, which determined his lameness for life (one of his legs was shorter than the second by 10 centimeters). This defect did not allow him to join the army during the First World War, but later the master of myths and propaganda Goebbels will explain to everyone around his limp injuries received on the battlefields. Josef was ugly and frail since childhood, for which he received from peers the offensive nicknames of Mephistopheles and the Rhine mummy. | <urn:uuid:cadf4af4-9024-4d12-990e-573b4185278f> | CC-MAIN-2018-47 | https://ridero.ru/books/propaganda_goebbels/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-47/segments/1542039742970.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20181116025123-20181116051123-00396.warc.gz | en | 0.970624 | 1,101 | 2.921875 | 3 |
On December 1st, the US Senate unanimously passed the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act- a bill to protect girls in developing countries from early marriages. Girls as young as twelve can be married in many countries, which puts them at a great disadvantage for their health, education, and well-being.
“Tens of millions of women and girls around the world have lost their dignity, independence and lives due to child marriage,” said Senator Durbin, who first introduced the bill. “Child marriage denies these women and girls of an education, economic independence and is the root cause of many of the world’s most pressing development issues – HIV/AIDS, child mortality, and abject poverty. This bill is a powerful statement of our priorities as a nation and something that will change the lives of millions in some of the world’s forgotten places.”
The legislation will require the
government to develop a comprehensive strategy to prevent child marriage, with the goal of eliminating the practice worldwide. The bill also seeks to promote the educational, health, economic, social, and legal empowerment of women and girls, and ensure that child marriage is globally recognized as a human rights violation. U.S.
UNICEF estimates that 60 million girls in developing countries now aged 20-24 were married before the age of 18. If current trends continue, this number will increase by 100 million over the next decade. This past summer, YUGA members learned about child marriage at YUGA Leadership Camp and several YUGA youth delivered 11,500 letters signed by our supporters to Congress. Now that the bill is on the brink of becoming law, we need even more support to ensure that it gets passed!
Urge your Representatives to approve the legislation. Send pictures, make a phone call, or find other creative ways to let your Representatives know that the bill should be passed. Make sure that everyone you know understands the importance of this bill, and that they should urge their Representatives to pass the bill, too! To find out who your state’s representative is, visit https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml.
Click here for more information about Plan’s work and the Preventing Child Marriage Act.
You may also want to read an Op-Ed in the Washington Post from Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, and Desmond Tutu, archbishop emeritus of
, about child marriage. Cape Town, South Africa | <urn:uuid:891090cd-f22a-4dc1-b873-951502d13c96> | CC-MAIN-2016-36 | http://yugacentral.blogspot.com/2010/12/landmark-legislation-to-prevent-child.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-36/segments/1471982290634.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160823195810-00263-ip-10-153-172-175.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956256 | 514 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Most people visit the Swiss Alps to ski or hike, maybe to launder money. British photographer Chloe Dewe Mathews went to find Frankenstein. Mathews, a fan, brought along her old copy to read, letting the text guide her journey through the landscape. "My eyes scanned the barren white lands for Frankenstein's creature, crossing the glacier at'super-human speed'," she writes in the introduction to her new photo book, In Search of Frankenstein - Mary Shelley's Nightmare. "I imagined catching a darting figure in my peripheral vision or coming across a makeshift cabin that had sheltered the fugitive for the night."
In 1818, the first copy of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus was published. Two hundred years later, it's still our go-to monster story, even if the cultural images we associate with it owe more to Boris Karloff's portrayal of the monster than Mary Shelley's original novel. Only a handful of books maintain relevance beyond a decade, let alone 200 years – yet Frankenstein endures to this day and still offers instant shorthand for cultural touchstones. Even the name Frankenstein conjures up images of a frightening hotchpotch concoction that isn't natural and shouldn't exist: Frankenfoods, Frankenbabies, and even Frankenalgorithms. That latter of these is important.
Frankenstein: Penetrating the Secrets of Nature is a new traveling exhibition that encourages audiences to examine the intent of Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, and to discuss Shelley's and their own views about personal and societal responsibility as it relates to science and other areas of life. Frankenstein will visit 80 libraries across the country between October 2002 and December 2005. In addition to the exhibition, participating libraries will host interpretive and educational programs that help audiences examine Mary Shelley's novel and how it uses scientific experimentation as metaphor to comment on cultural values, especially the importance of exercising responsibility toward individuals and the community in all areas of human activity, including science. Frankenstein: Penetrating the Secrets of Nature was developed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) in collaboration with the ALA Public Programs Office. It has been made possible by major grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Washington, D.C., and the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Md.
If Victor Frankenstein had created a bride for his monster, mankind would have been wiped out within 4,000 years, a new research paper concludes. Dartmouth University scientists studied Mary Shelley's 1818 Gothic masterpiece and concluded that it could have had a much more horrific ending. If the fictional scientist had acquiesced to his creation's pleas and created it a bride, mankind would have been'wiped out' by the competition from the pair, the scientists say following the'thought experiment'. If Victor Frankenstein had also created a bride, mankind would have been fictionally wiped out by the competition from the pair within 4,000 years. In the novel, the creature pleads with Frankenstein to create a female partner in order to ease his loneliness and says they will live together in isolation in the wilds of South America. | <urn:uuid:4edbc9df-0009-41b8-b1de-04eedfd2165c> | CC-MAIN-2019-51 | https://aitopics.org/mlt?cdid=news%3A869875FB&dimension=concept-tags | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-51/segments/1575540486979.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20191206073120-20191206101120-00254.warc.gz | en | 0.956063 | 626 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Postal service secrets: Why use a zip code?
Need to send a letter? Basically, all you need is a device with an internet connection. Anything else? It’s hard to believe that just a few decades ago people were using regular postal services to send a letter. Sounds weird? They might wait for the answer for weeks. Perhaps you will never understand the incredible feeling of happiness when it finally arrived. A mistake or any issue with the address might cost you too much – sometimes it took too long to deliver such letters. If you come across articles describing how a letter was received 87 years after the moment it was sent, probably, you know what it means. For more interesting details you can ask your grannies, as today’s article is going to tell you about something else.
The invention of the zip code system in the 1950s made life more comfortable. It became faster to deliver letters and fewer were lost. The Internet was invented a bit later and made our life much easier. For example, we can track anything we send via the postal service. So why are these codes still necessary?
Is your address important?
Of course, you don’t need to wait several weeks to get a letter from someone, but why do we still need these five numbers? There might be a lot of situations when you need to know the exact code of a specific location. Or, vice versa, you may know the area and nothing more. We still use mailing services to shop online, so be a loyal customer and verify your location. Moreover, people still get many paper letters, such as bills, business correspondence, invitations, catalogues, and so on. As you’ve probably noticed, sometimes registering online on a certain site or a platform requires you to enter the correct postal code, and you cannot skip it – the system won’t let you proceed further.
How often do you need to find a specific postal code, check if it’s correct, or find the exact location based on postal code only? More than 100 countries all over the world use this system, so it’s a good idea to find a good and credible zip code finder to check all the necessary info about it. It will give information about a certain location. However, it also serves as a sorting tool for a machine that automatically sorts out letters and parcels. In this case, to make sure your letter is delivered to the right person, you still need to write the full address of the destination. Even the machine can fail, and an error in distinguishing the right zip code numbers may lead to the loss of your correspondence. In this case, postal services look for the address to send it to.
So, please, writing a letter, make sure to check the correct zip code of your destination. Double check the address info and receiver’s name. World zip codes don’t replace any parts of an address, so it’s your responsibility to write the full info when sending your correspondence.
The editorial unit | <urn:uuid:06c6e315-2a0c-4fbd-b33e-37b1049e6bae> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://www.theupcoming.co.uk/2020/04/01/postal-service-secrets-why-use-a-zip-code/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320301592.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20220119215632-20220120005632-00098.warc.gz | en | 0.947968 | 623 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Peak Currents and Maximum Noise Amplitude
In a Power Integrity (PI) world dominated by i·r drop , it is common to relate peak noise in a macro power grid with peak current drawn from the supply. After all, if noise is i·r , then peak noise must correspond with peak i , yes? But is this really true? Is a power grid represented with good accuracy as a complicated mesh of resistances? We answer the first part of this exploration – the non-correlation of peak noise with peak current – in this experimental study.
Consider any interconnect segment of a macro block power grid. What are the key aspects of its electrical behavior relevant to PI? It exhibits resistance to the flow of current through it. But it also exhibits electrical inertia, a property termed inductive reluctance, that impedes change in its electrical current flow. And, an electrical capacitance, associated with the wire, reacts to any change in its electric potential. Two of these electrical aspects lead to noise, or variation in its electric potential, while the third helps mitigate it.
The electrical picture isn't all that simple! It's not just a resistance r , though we may like it so.
Equations that capture the behavior of such power grid (PG) interconnect elements aren't simple either. Equation (1) in this 2006 paper represents noise in an interconnect segment, modeled as a lumped resistance in series with an inductance, as i·r + L·di/dt . Hidden within this simple relation are more complexities.
Say instantaneous current i is a sinusoidal wave. That makes the term di/dt a cosine wave, one shifted in phase by 90o from the original sine. The di/dt component peaks when the sine wave is rising, or falling, at zero amplitude, and not at the peak of the sine. Besides, di/dt is zero at the peak of the sine wave. In simple words, peak instantaneous current and the peak rate of change of current do not coincide. The equation for noise thus combines an in-phase value, i·r, with a 90o shifted value, di/dt , which result does not correlate well with the stimulus in this case.
A continuum simulation example lights our way ahead.
A physical schematic view of a chip power grid and associated PDN [PI-FP]
Simulation: Noise Dependency on Load Wave Shape
A chip power grid segment, of ∼10mm2 area, powers a small load current circuit block within. Power pathways from an external supply connect into the chip power grid. The load block sits within an area bounded by terminals connecting to the power grid. Figure 2 displays electrical properties of the chip grid, and Figure 1 provides a 3D view.
Schematic view of a load current block connecting to a chip power grid and PDN
A true physical electromagnetic solver, PI-FP1 , assists in this experiment. As seen in Figure 2 , the power grid includes electrical R, L, and C properties of all network components. Moreover, capacitance manifests in a distributed manner in the physical schematic. Impedance and wave propagation characteristics are hence captured as determined by electromagnetic behavior. This simulation environment provides continuum modeling of PG interconnect, which is a maximal extension of distributed modeling.
Triangular load current shape and chip noise
Low di/dt triangular load wave and chip noise
Half-Sine load current wave and chip noise
The chip power grid comprises 1nF of distributed capacitance. The load block provides capacitance in its active circuits, which sums up to ∼100pF. Transmission lines of substantial inductance value connect to an external power supply. Hence, in this experiment, it is the local and distributed capacitance that provides charge drawn by the load.
The experiment varies load current shape, changing its slope, spectral components, and per-cycle-charge. Peak load current amplitude remains 400mA for all three cases studied.
The baseline load of 400mA 200ps triangular wave produced peak DVD of 191.7mv as in Figure 3 . Peak noise correlated in time with peak current in this case, though this observation is limited by the snapshot time resolution of 100ps. Figure 4 shows reduced peak noise with a 400mA 600ps triangular wave. In this case, di/dt reduced by 3X, and peak DVD was 158.7mV . Note that charge (and power) consumed has increased by 3X, corresponding to the widening of the triangular base. Thus, the benefit of reduced di/dt far exceeded any impact of increased charge draw here. Figure 5 illustrates a further reduction in noise to 153.4mV despite more increase in charge consumption. The half-sine load current wave improved upon the triangular shape in changing the overlap of resistive and reactive noise components.
All three cases employed peak load current of 400mA, changing only load wave shape. Thus peak noise amplitude shows no correlation with peak current in this experiment. Peak noise also shows no correlation with maximum power consumption proportional to the area of the current waves.
One may rightly ask: is peak noise amplitude , or peak-DVD, a true measure of overall PI degradation?
1 PI-FP True physical PI simulator, Anasim Corp. | <urn:uuid:acaf152a-0063-407f-a592-b24cdbb87eff> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | https://www.planetanalog.com/non-correlation-of-peak-noise-and-peak-current/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178362899.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20210301182445-20210301212445-00107.warc.gz | en | 0.916223 | 1,081 | 2.671875 | 3 |
In this short video, the Vicar talks about some of the history of St Mary’s. This is a shorter version of a film made for St Mary’s by Epsom Moviemakers.
A brief history of St. Mary the Virgin, Ewell
The Old Church
The date on which a church was first built in Ewell has not yet been established, but historians think it likely that there was one from early, possibly Saxon, times. Admittedly, Domesday Book (1086), William the Conqueror’s overview of the resources of his kingdom, does not record a church in Ewell. Those compiling the entry for Ewell stated “The church in Leatherhead is attached to the manor” (i.e. of Ewell), possibly because this church was on land belonging to the manor of Ewell. They also credited Epsom with two churches but, so far, the second one has not been identified. Historians have put forward the idea that it was almost certainly identifiable with a church in Ewell (c.f. Introduction to “Fitznells Cartulary”, ed. C.A.F. Meekings and Philip Shearman, Surrey Record Society Vol. XXVI, 1968; and “Early Medieval Surrey: Landholding, Church and Settlement before 1300”, John Blair, 1991).
The earliest written date so far discovered for a Vicar of Ewell occurs in the Fitznells Cartulary in the reference made to William de Alezun, Vicar of Ewell, in 1194. What happened between then and 1239 when Robert de Anketil’s name appears as Vicar of Ewell has yet to be discovered.
The board over the South Door of the present church gives names and dates, until 1381, of curates providing occasional services. The record starts again in 1458, by which time the advowson had passed to the Prior of Newark (near Pyrford, Surrey) and, in the time of William of Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester (Ewell being then in the diocese of Winchester), the endowment of a perpetual vicar was made. From 1458 onwards, the advowson was exercised by several patrons until, in the mid-eighteenth century, it came to the Glyn family (see below). After the death in 1946 of the last of the Glyns of Ewell, Miss Margaret Glyn, the next incumbent was appointed by Mrs. J. Foubister, who then transferred the advowson to the Bishop of Guildford. The previous Vicar was appointed by the Crown because the diocese of Guildford was vacant.
There is a substantial amount of information about the appearance of the old church. In “History and Antiquities of the County of Surrey”, Vol. 1 (1804), Manning and Bray give a detailed description. Paintings, for example by Holman Hunt and G.M. Waghorn, illustrate the appearance of the exterior. It was built of flints with chalk, with Reigate stone facings, and measured 96′ feet long by 31′ 3″ wide. It consisted of a nave, chancel and south aisle leading to a chantry chapel built by Sir Richard Bray, who died in 1559. There was also a porch and two galleries. A tower dated to the fifteenth century, and built of the same materials, was added later and heightened even later by a brick parapet. All that remains of the old church is this tower (a scheduled ancient monument), which has been repaired and maintained by the efforts of the Ewell Tower Preservation Trust, which opens it occasionally so that the public can see what is thought to be the oldest building in Ewell.
When the old church was demolished, some of the fittings and monuments were saved and transferred to the new church.
The New Church
The incumbency of the Rev. George Glyn, who became the fourth baronet in 1840, opened a new era in the history of St. Mary’s. He found the old church in a sad state of dilapidation and disrepair. Sir George gave land and £500 towards the cost of building a new church, employing as architect Henry Clutton of Whitehall. The foundation stone of “this handsome edifice”, to quote from a newspaper cutting, was laid on 26 June 1847. The main features of the plan for the new church were: a nave 66′ long and 24′ wide; a chancel 29′ and 24′ wide; north and south aisles 12′ wide (the north aisle being widened later); and a tower, on the western end of the north aisle, 88′ high to the top of its pinnacles. At the time of building (1847-48), it had a south porch as its main entrance, but, in 1908, a west porch was added. The exterior of the church was faced with Swanage stone, quoins and ornamental features being worked in Bath stone. The roofs were covered with plain tiles with slightly ornamented cresting. When this description was published, the estimated cost was given as “more than £5,000, £1,000 being raised by the parish rate; and the remainder by subscription and with aid from Church Building Societies”.
The parishioners then set about embellishing the interior of the new church. Fittings and monuments from the old church were installed. They included the handsome tomb of Sir William Lewen, Lord Mayor of London in 1717 who bought property in Ewell, inherited by his great-niece who married into the Glyn family; a communion table (1612), sixteenth century brasses, a ring of six bells, and a clock dated 1799. The fifteenth century rood screen was extended to fit the opening of the chancel in the new church, which is wider than the chancel in the old church.
During the second half of the nineteenth century, beautiful replacements and additions were made to the interior. Installed in 1883 was a reredos in fine Victorian craftsmanship depicting the Last Supper, with side panels containing figures of the four evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In 1897, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Martin replaced the wooden, Tudor pulpit with one carved in marble and alabaster, dedicated “to the glory of God and in memory of their son and daughter”. In 1890-92, the six bells from the old church were re-cast and two new tenor bells added; and a new oak frame constructed to hold the eight bells. Also donated during this period were stained glass windows of which one remains, the fine west window illustrating the Presentation of Christ at the temple – the Candlemas story. This was given by Augustus Gadesden of Ewell Castle in memory of his wife, Emma. In 1865, St. Mary’s acquired an organ built by “Father” Henry Willis, considered to be the greatest organ builder of the nineteenth century.
Following tradition, the walls of St. Mary’s were adorned with tablets and monuments (a source of history in themselves) commemorating members of local families, both gentry such as the Glyn family whose tablets dominate the chancel, and servants of the church and the village community such as George Scowen, parish clerk and verger; and Elizabeth Deavin, schoolmistress. The Charities Board on the wall of the north aisle testifies to the generosity of the donors.
In the autumn of 1894, a church hall was built, adding to the amenities offered by the church and providing evidence of its care for the congregation.
During the twentieth century, notable gifts and events earned their own place in the history of St. Mary’s. In 1908, Mr. W. Martin paid for the erection of the West Porch, dedicated to the memory of his wife, Jessy, his co-donor of the pulpit in 1897. In 1913, the sixteenth century brasses were grouped and mounted in the south-west corner of the church, displayed to pleasing effect after a visit by Mill Stephenson, author of “A list of monumental brasses in Surrey” (1921, re-printed in 1970). The years 1914-18 during World War I appear to have been uneventful so far as the building was concerned but an indication of St. Mary’s continuing role in the community may be found in the introduction of the “noon bell”. According to the Parish News, parishioners, when they heard it toll, were asked to “pray for King and Country”.
A milestone in the history of St. Mary’s was the year 1927 when much of Surrey, including Ewell, was transferred to the diocese of Guildford.
The years of World War II do not produce much information about the fabric of St. Mary’s, save that the East Window was damaged but was replaced in 1947 by a fine window, designed by James Hogan, with, as its centrepiece, the Blessed Virgin Mary and Child, flanked by panels depicting St.Peter, St. Paul, St. Michael and St. John the Baptist.
In the post-war period, the recurrent theme centred on appeals for funds to maintain and repair the fabric, notably in 1948 during the centenary celebrations of St. Mary’s consecration. In the early 1970s, much work was nearing completion when a disastrous fire damaged the north aisle and destroyed the greatly valued Father Willis organ, a bitter blow to St. Mary’s with its strong musical tradition. Services were continued, firstly in the church hall and then in the United Reformed Church; emergency repairs then enabled a truncated church minus the north aisle to be used until restoration was completed. By good fortune, St. Mary’s was able to purchase another Father Willis organ from a church in Highgate. In 1975, the striking Fire Memorial Window, designed by Laurence Lee, replaced a damaged window in the north aisle; and two tablets commemorating the fire were also put up in the church.
During the last years of the twentieth century, the interior of the church was re-planned, largely by the removal of some of the wooden pews to give space at the west end for a Welcome Area, and at the front of the church where the nave leads to the chancel.
The twenty-first century has opened with the installation, on the south wall, of a superb stained glass window commemorating the fiftieth year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Millennium 2000. Designed by Alan Younger, the window was funded by private subscription and, on Palm Sunday 2003, was blessed by the Bishop of Guildford, who also blessed a Garden of Remembrance in the churchyard. This window completes a quartet of beautiful stained glass windows.
A guidebook, written for the 150th anniversary of the ‘new’ church, is available for anyone who would like to visit St. Mary’s and see more of the interior. It costs £2.50 + 50p postage.
There are several churchyards adjoining the church and there is an excellent book about the old churchyard by Maurice Exwood, who described in detail graves and monuments, and supplied names and charts of those interred. It is understood to be out of print, but copies should be available in public libraries.
So after nearly a thousand years, St. Mary the Virgin, Ewell Parish Church, is continuing its purpose of
Sharing the love of Christ, the Light of the World, with the people of Ewell. | <urn:uuid:0e1e749c-ee11-475e-83b4-3615e3bb64b5> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://www.stmarysewell.com/about-us/church-history/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652663016373.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20220528093113-20220528123113-00361.warc.gz | en | 0.974325 | 2,434 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Ban on Idolatry
At the end of World War Two, Winston Churchill was asked if he was concerned about how historians would view his role in the war. He replied that he wasn't the least bit concerned, saying that, "history shall be kind to me, for I shall write it." Ultimately, Churchill's words came true; his history of World War Two became one of the most popular books on the subject.
The attempt to shape and influence events is part and parcel of the human saga. All of us want to be players in the game of life. But while we can in fact influence events, we cannot control their final outcome. Ultimately, all is in the hands of the Almighty.
A central focus of this week's Torah portion, V'etchanan, is the ban on idolatry. The Israelites are absolutely forbidden from worshiping or even making graven images. They should not intermarry with the surrounding nations lest they be drawn after their idolatrous ways. Jews are forbidden not only from making likenesses of other gods, but Jews may not even make an image which symbolically represents God Himself. This stricture is so great that a Jew should rather die than participate in pagan worship.
Why is idolatry seen as such a severe transgression? Some commentators see the Torah's stricture against making a graven image as a preventive law, to avoid the possibility that people will mistakenly come to worship this image as God Himself. The Ibn Ezra notes that our relationship with the Almighty is direct - without any intermediaries. The use of an image - even as a mere symbol to represent the Divine - would constitute an intermediary and is thus forbidden.
The commentators give another reason for the Biblical disdain of idolatry: It is perversion of the metaphysical order. Judaism teaches that we must subordinate our will to the Almighty's will. The nature of pagan worship is just the opposite. It is an attempt to influence and ultimately control spiritual forces. Jewish tradition says our purpose in this world is to achieve moral growth by emulating the Almighty's behavior - not to influence spiritual forces into helping meet our own egotistical desires.
In other words: Idolatry is wrong because it is false! A graven image is an inanimate object incapable of accomplishing anything. There is nothing "real" behind the wood and stone. Compare this to the Almighty Who is responsive to one's needs and holds the keys to all success and failure. Says the Talmud: "The seal of God is Truth."
Similarly, revisionist history is the wrong approach. We cannot escape "reality" with the stroke of a pen. So too with the Creator of the universe. We must strive not to fashion God in our own image, but rather to fashion ourselves in the image of God. | <urn:uuid:c578ab11-4b75-4ef1-b561-defc35b19f4f> | CC-MAIN-2015-27 | http://www.aish.com/tp/b/app/48960741.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-27/segments/1435375098464.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20150627031818-00157-ip-10-179-60-89.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962853 | 573 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Full course description
What you'll learn:
When it comes to email, constructing the message properly is the most important part. The message is the heart of what you are trying to communicate when sending a memo or Email to someone. There are different types of messages that are commonly used in business, and each is structured differently. This course dives into the different types including request messages, documentation messages and ‘bad-news’ messages. You’ll learn the structure behind messages and how to create effectively create them through email and memos.
Modules and Content:
Students will explore several key concepts about communicating with email and memos. As they explore the course material, students will be asked to apply what they are learning to real-world problems. Several activities in the course plus good and bad examples will guide students through this popular method of communication. Course assessments help students check for their understanding of the course material.
- Understand email messages and memos.
- Compose the main elements of messages.
- Create professional email messages.
- Construct professional memos.
- Write request messages.
- Write response messages.
- Write bad-news messages.
- Write documentation messages.
Meet the instructor
Kathryn Terzano, PhD
Dr. Kathryn Terzano is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Leadership and Interdisciplinary Studies at ASU. She is an experienced higher education professional who has also worked in the international non-profit sector. | <urn:uuid:dc262005-64db-4af8-816f-f99d2d648021> | CC-MAIN-2018-17 | https://courses.cpe.asu.edu/browse/professional-skills-mastery/courses/communicating-with-emails-memos | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-17/segments/1524125936833.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20180419091546-20180419111546-00436.warc.gz | en | 0.899194 | 299 | 3.28125 | 3 |
What is "Musicianship Monthly?" Each month, I share links to free resources you can use to focus on a specific musicianship skill with your students. (Want to see past skills we have covered? Click HERE!)
This month, we will be practicing the basics of music notation! I am sharing several free worksheets that will help students become pros at drawing clefs, time signatures, and notes on the staff.
Keep reading for your free notation worksheets!
These "Notation Station" worksheets will help give your students practice with those skills, and more! Click on the images below to download your free notation worksheets.
- Musical Jumbles: students unscramble and re-write measures from familiar songs.
- Landmark Note Worksheets: students practice identifying and drawing landmark notes on the staff. 3 sets of worksheets: Set 1, Set 2, Set 3.
- Roll the Dice Intervals: students practice drawing intervals up to a sixth on the staff.
- There are also 10 free composition worksheets on the "Free Stuff" section of my website that give students practice notating melody and/or harmony on the staff. (Scroll down to "Improv, Composition, and Theory Worksheets.")
What do you think? How do you teach the basics of music notation to your students? I would love to hear your ideas in the comments! | <urn:uuid:d800092d-b5cb-4846-823f-bd60b68f8381> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://www.chrissyricker.com/blog/musicianship-monthly-16-the-basics-of-music-notation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764500303.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20230206015710-20230206045710-00623.warc.gz | en | 0.912405 | 293 | 3.71875 | 4 |
Children with autism have behavioural problems, hyperactivity, their sitting tolerance is affected, speech deficits and repetitive behavioural issues. All these problems affect their learning, understanding, perception and comprehension. Not all children with autism have mental retardation or learning disability but many a times their autistic traits hinder learning.
Hence it is very important that to cater to their special needs they undergo special education. Children over the age of three receive assistance through school-based programs. As with early intervention, special education services are tailored to your child’s individual needs. Children with autism spectrum disorders are often placed with other developmentally-delayed kids in small groups where they can receive more individual attention and specialized instruction. However, depending on their abilities, they may also spend at least part of the school day in a regular classroom. The goal is to place kids in the least restrictive environment possible where they are still able to learn.
Firstly the child needs to be evaluated and based on this assessment; an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) will be created. An IEP outlines the educational goals for your child for the school year. Additionally, it describes the special services or aids the school will provide your child in order to meet those goals.
“If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” | <urn:uuid:e15bfd8c-bfef-4e28-8ff9-453ccc759bee> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | https://www.autismcdc.com/special-education-therapy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178363782.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20210302065019-20210302095019-00355.warc.gz | en | 0.968405 | 274 | 4.125 | 4 |
In this era where everyone claims to be a ‘feminist’, the meaning of the term has gotten lost. Feminism is not about demeaning or disparage the other gender. It purely means equality of both the genders in every aspect. It is the belief that women should be allowed the same rights, power, and opportunities as men, and be treated in the same way.
But it isn’t only women who need to believe in feminism or to be feminist. You can belong of any gender, support any political party, be of any religion, caste or creed, and still be a feminist. It all sums down to respecting, treating, and giving equal opportunities to both the genders.
But nowadays it is difficult to make one understand the true concept of feminism, especially when patriarchy and misogyny is so ingrained in daily life. In India, even as women are achieving great things, society continues to focus on the woman’s role as wife and mother.
Here are myths that need to be debunked:
1. Feminism is only about supporting women:
Feminism is not only about supporting women but treating both the genders equal. People often confuse or misinterpret feminism with being a feminazi.
2. Feminism is all about humiliating men:
Here’s where we all go wrong. If our basics of a concept are not clear, how can we jump directly to conclusions? Feminism is not about derogating the other gender, but to ensure and encourage both the genders to enjoy equal rights, opportunities, and treatment. Whether on a professional or a personal front, feminism must be implied and executed.
3. Feminism is for the weak:
This is where typical mentalities come into the picture. Believing in feminism or being one doesn’t make you weak. It makes you a broad-minded individual who stands for morality and is brave enough to raise their voice against anything wrong.
4. Riot about being a feminist:
I’m a feminist too but I have never initiated or participated in any such riots. Funny how people assume things and change the entire concept. If you believe in it, let your actions speak louder than words.
5. Social media outcry:
Adding “feminist” in your Instagram or Twitter bio won’t make you one. I’ve seen many youngsters, both men and women overusing or misusing this term to an extent that it becomes a part of their identity. Being a feminist is not supposed to be a part of your identity, it is about belief and virtue of oneself. If you see gender discrimination, moral iniquity, or come across a misogynistic individual, rather than ignoring them, correct them. That’s how our outlook towards feminism and various other things will change.
This Women’s Day, let’s try something new. Let’s inculcate feminism in our children, let’s talk to our elders about the concept, and most importantly, let’s accept that both women and men can change the world! | <urn:uuid:535477b4-4c85-443d-bbb4-326e3408a094> | CC-MAIN-2019-30 | https://qrius.com/what-feminism-does-not-mean-in-2019/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195526560.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20190720173623-20190720195623-00469.warc.gz | en | 0.950536 | 636 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Value of whey increases, so does the price
The price of whey, a dairy by product used as fertilizer and as an ingredient
in many other foods, has soared to record highs as a result from more global
demand and less supplies. "If you are a dairy farmer, you are delighted. If you
are a consumer it's going to hurt a little," said Bruce Jones, an economics
professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Alto Dairy, a
113-year-old farmers' cooperative in Waupun, produces about 80 million pounds of
whey annually at its cheese plant. Years ago, whey didn't have much value and
was spread on farm fields as fertilizer. Now, at about 79 cents a pound, it's
valuable both as animal feed and as a food ingredient exported globally. "We are
seeing a huge export demand for whey," said Karen Endres, Alto Dairy
Impact of dairy industry
In Wisconsin, the
economic impact of dairy farming is more than twice as large as the citrus
industry's impact in Florida. Dairy farming contributes roughly $20.6 billion a
year to the state's economy and employs 160,000 people, according to industry
The prices that processors pay farmers for their milk are expected
to rise significantly this year, following a down year in 2006. Whey, as part of
a federal milk pricing formula, is contributing to the increases.
for other purposes
Wisconsin cheese plants with the equipment to process
whey currently get about 79 cents a pound for it. That's nearly three times
higher than the five-year average price. But, unlike Alto Dairy, many plants
don't have whey-processing equipment because they don't produce enough of the by
product to justify the costs.
Alto plans to shut down a plant in Black
Creek that uses whey for animal feed and, instead, will sell the whey for other
purposes. Nearly all of the plant's 12 employees will be transferred to other
jobs in the cooperative.
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Presentation on theme: "Warm Up Agenda Homework"— Presentation transcript:
1 Warm Up 8-13-14 Agenda Homework Direction: Copy down the questions into your notebook and provide answers after reading the syllabusBased on the syllabus how many percent is classwork and homework worth?What format do you use to take notes in class?Can you turn in late work?If you’re tardy, how many minutes do you have to stay after the bell?AgendaSyllabus walkthroughEmergency contact infoLab safety walkthroughNotes Scientific Method WS SpongeBobHomeworkAug 15 – Spongbob Scientific method worksheetAug 15 – Signed syllabus due
2 Collab/HR Schedule for 8-13-14 9:00 -10: Period 110:22 -10:30 Passing10:30 -11:08 Homeroom11:08-11:48 1st Lunch11:16-12:37 Period 3 12:37-1:17 2nd Lunch1:17-1:25 Passing1:25-2:46 Period 5
3 Class Syllabus Please follow along: Advices Grading scale Quizzes and TestsClassworkHomeworkLate assignment policy-Extra creditAcademic dishonestyRules & ConsequencesClass websiteParents signature contact info. Due date-Pet peeve
4 Chemical Hazard Label SDS Safety Quiz LABORATORY SAFETYChemical Hazard LabelSDSSafety QuizSafety rap Video safety rapSafety rap Video
5 NFPA CHEMICAL HAZARD LABEL FLAMMABILITYHEALTHREACTIVITY(STABILITY)SPECIAL
6 NFPA CHEMICAL HAZARD LABEL LeastSerious4Most4234Flammable vapor which burns readilySubstance is stable
7 NFPA CHEMICAL HAZARD LABEL Burns readily.DiboraneMay detonate with heat or ignition.Severe health risk.Avoid water.
8 NFPA CHEMICAL HAZARD LABEL Complete Label for Phosphine
9 Write down What each symbol stands for EX = explosive atmosphere ! = warning sign
10 SDS Safety Data Sheet On file for all purchased chemicals. Includes all information shown on a chemical label and more.Different formats are used by different chemical companies.
12 Notebook Format You may write on the back Start with a new page each DateWarm up questions and answers1.2.3.Minimum 3 sentences summarizing main ideas from today’s notes and explain what they are- Main ideas- Questions related to the notes- Notes from lecture- Explanations- Diagrams- PicturesYou may writeon the backStart with anew page eachday
13 Chapter 1 Steps of the Scientific Method Identify the problemForm a hypothesisTest hypothesis by performing experimentsAnalyze dataDraw conclusions
14 The ExperimentIndependent variable: the item being tested in the experiment (What YOU change)Dependent variable: the item being measured in an experiment (DEPENDS on the independent variable)Control group: The part of the experiment that is left unchanged. (The normal group)
15 After the experiment…. Law: something that has been proven to be true -Gravity-MotionTheory: something that is likely to be true, but has not been provenKinesio TapeWork on Spongebob scientific method worksheet with a partner in class
17 Scientific Method Investigation Are there specific ratios that exist between the lengths of certain parts of the body and other parts?Create a hypothesis (a statement that answer the question above and can be tested)Make a hypothesis
18 Hypothesis The length of your arm span is the same as your height Example 1:1160cm/160cm = 1:1
19 Table 1. Data Collection Subject Index finger length Hand span (pinky to thumb)Forearm (Wrist to elbow)Arm length (shoulder to fingersArms spanHeightFoot lengthSelfPartner #1 namePartner #2 namePartner #3 name
20 Table 2. Data Analysis Subject Ratio height to forearm Ratio height to arms spanRatio hand span to index fingerRatio arm length to index fingerRatio arms span to forearmRatio of your hypothesisSelfPartner# 1 name# 2 name# 3 name
21 Conclusions What is the ratio of your height to your arms span? Is your arm span the same as your height? How about your group members?What is the ratio of your height to your forearm?What is the ratio of your hand span to your index finger?If the ratio is 1:1 what does it mean?Compare yourself with your partners, does everyone have the same ratio? Who does and who doesn’t?Does your data support your hypothesis? | <urn:uuid:7e329571-6c2f-4922-9148-999e727c68be> | CC-MAIN-2017-51 | http://slideplayer.com/slide/2557619/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-51/segments/1512948594665.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20171217074303-20171217100303-00719.warc.gz | en | 0.808845 | 979 | 3.25 | 3 |
A baby is constipated if they have difficulty passing stools or have hardened stools. A baby’s constipation may also lead to other issues, such as pain while passing stools and stomachache. Most infants younger than a year may go days without pooping. Knowing the symptoms to expect in a constipated baby may make it easier for you to differentiate regular stool motions from constipation (1) (2).
Read this post to know the causes, symptoms, treatment, and prevention for constipation in babies.
What Are The Signs Of A Baby’s Constipation?
The primary symptom of a baby’s constipation is hard and dry stools, which usually appear as individual lumps in the diaper. The baby may also show the following signs (1) (3).
- Strain while passing stool; evident from baby’s facial expressions
- Bloated belly due to gas accumulation
- Release of abdominal gas while passing stools
Severe constipation is less common and may lead to the following symptoms.
- Fecal impaction (hard and stuck stool)
- Encopresis (liquid stool around solid stool)
The reduced frequency of pooping may not always be an accurate indicator of constipation in babies, unlike constipation in children. Instead, focus on deviation from the usual pattern of pooping and the texture of the stools. Each infant has different pooping patterns, which are best known to the parents. If you notice changes in the baby’s pooping routine or diaper changes along with hard, lumpy stool, your baby may be constipated.
What Is The Normal Stool Frequency In Infants?
The normal stool frequency in a baby varies through the first year. Breastfed babies usually pass stools more frequently than those fed on formulas. Most newborns have one or two bowel movements in a day. This count may increase to five or ten per day during the first week of life. After that, the frequency may reduce as the baby grows old; they may have a stool frequency of one bowel movement a day or two by the time they become six weeks old (4).
Babies who have begun consuming solid foods may have fewer stools initially. However, the frequency sets back to normal once the gastrointestinal system adjusts to the solid food (5).
What Causes Constipation In Babies?
The following conditions may lead to a baby’s constipation (3) (6).
- Dehydration may cause constipation during warm weather.
- Unsuitable formula feed may cause constipation. Even a sudden switch to new formulas may cause temporary constipation.
- Imbalanced formula, such as adding too much powder to water during preparation.
- If a baby is being weaned, lack of fiber in solid food may cause constipation.
- A crack near the anus could make it painful for the baby to pass stools. Hence, they may refuse to poop, leading to constipation.
In rare cases, constipation in infants may occur due to the following underlying problems.
- Congenital anorectal malfunction (defects in the anus or rectum)
- Diabetes insipidus (a disorder where the body produces excess urine)
- Hypothyroidism (thyroid doesn’t produce enough hormones)
- Spinal cord abnormalities
- Hirschsprung’s disease (missing nerve cells in the colon)
- Cystic fibrosis (a condition where a few organs produce thick and sticky mucus)
- Gluten enteropathy or celiac disease (immune reaction to gluten); may be evident in babies on solids
How Is Constipation In Babies Diagnosed?
A pediatrician may usually diagnose a baby’s constipation through the following procedures (6) (7).
- Historical exam: This may include the baby’s medical history, feeding patterns, or past illnesses. The doctor may question stool frequency and symptoms. If your baby is on formula or solids, the doctor may ask about the type of formula or solid diet you feed your baby.
- Physical exam: The doctor may gently palpate the abdomen to check for any stiffness, swelling, or lumps. The doctor may also use a stethoscope to listen to the sounds in the baby’s abdomen.
Most babies can be diagnosed with constipation through these procedures. In rare cases, the doctor may suggest imaging tests (X-rays), blood tests, and urine tests, especially if the cause is suspected to be not related to diet and instead associated with some problem.
What Is The Treatment For Constipation In A Baby?
The following lifestyle changes may help treat constipation in babies (1) (8).
- Bath: A warm bath may help relax abdominal muscles and relieve any tightness.
- Exercise: Light physical activity, such as crawling and tummy time, may stimulate bowel movements. You may place younger babies on their back and bicycle their legs gently to provide assisted exercise.
- Massage: Gentle circular massage on the baby’s belly may help stimulate bowel movement.
- Hydrate: Ensure your baby is getting sufficient breast milk or formula. If the baby is older than six months, you may provide them with small amounts of water, especially if the weather is warm.
- Juices: The juice of certain fruits may work as a natural laxative. Prune juice is usually a popular remedy for constipation, including for babies younger than six months. You may give up to 30ml of homemade prune juice. You may read about how to make prune juice at home here.
- Formula alteration: Consider switching to another type or brand of formula if you suspect it to be constipation’s cause. Consult a pediatrician before changing the formula to ensure your baby gets the right formula milk for nourishment.
- Switch to high-fiber food: Babies on solids may be provided with high-fiber cereals, such as those made with whole wheat, barley, and oats. Other sources of fiber include vegetables, such as beans and broccoli, and fruits, such as apples and berries. Provide vegetables and fruits in steamed and mashed form so that the baby may get adequate fiber. Older babies may be served whole-grain porridges with finely chopped high-fiber fruits on top.
Never administer laxatives, enemas, or stool softeners to a baby unless suggested by a doctor. Avoid giving herbal remedies without first consulting the doctor. If the above tips do not work, the doctor may consider glycerin suppositories, which are gently inserted into the baby’s anal opening. Ask your doctor to tell you the correct use of suppositories.
When To Call A Doctor?
Consult a doctor if a formula-fed baby has not pooped for more than three days or a breastfed baby has not pooped for more than four days despite adequate feeding. You must also see a doctor if the baby’s constipation is accompanied by the following conditions (2).
- Blood in the stools
- Loss of appetite
- Crying or pain while passing stool
- Colic or excess fussiness
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Can I give my baby gripe water to relieve constipation?
It is not known how does gripe water work. Nevertheless, it may contain certain herbs, such as dill and fennel, which are popular remedies for gastrointestinal troubles (9). Consult a doctor before giving gripe water for a baby’s constipation since different brands of gripe water have different ingredients.
2. Can I use coconut and castor oil to ease my baby’s constipation?
It is not known if oral administration of castor or coconut oil can safely treat constipation in babies. Hence, you must not use them to treat a baby’s constipation.
3. Are probiotics, such as yogurt, safe to use for infant constipation?
Probiotics include gut-friendly live microorganisms that help maintain a healthy gut environment. Research suggests that regular consumption of probiotics may improve stool frequency (10). Probiotic sources, such as yogurt and soy milk, are usually recommended for children older than 12 months. You may consult a doctor if you wish to try probiotics for babies younger than 12 months. You may read more about probiotics for babies here.
Constipation is a common occurrence in babies. If you are baby is feeding well and not in any pain or discomfort, you need not worry about constipation. The bowel movements of infants may change as per their age and diet. However, do not hesitate to take your pediatrician’s opinion. See a doctor soon if constipation is accompanied by other potential indicators of underlying problems, such as blood in the stools, vomiting, and poor appetite. | <urn:uuid:1b90c693-571c-4a8d-b64c-b782fa3002bf> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://usparenting.com/baby/7-home-remedies-that-help-with-baby-constipation-and-causes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296950363.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20230401221921-20230402011921-00673.warc.gz | en | 0.92018 | 1,849 | 2.796875 | 3 |
The Anti-Education Era: Creating Smarter Students through Digital Learning by James Paul Gee
Gee, J. P. (2013). The Anti-education era: Creating smarter students through digital learning. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Collaborative Book Review by
Yukiko Bonnefoy, Møre og Romsdal, Norway
Miles MacFarlane, Winnipeg, Canada
LaKisha Scott, Atlanta, USA
Jenna Wallace, San Antonio, USA
With more than 20 books, almost 200 journal articles, and more than 300 conference lectures to his credit, James Paul Gee is an innovative thinker and prolific author at the intersection of linguistics, communication, cognition, identity, and technology, in both real and virtual spaces. Gee is most recently known for his application of gaming theory to learning situations. Gee is a member of the National Academy of Education and is the Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies at Arizona State University.
His most recent works include Good Video Games and Good Learning: Collected Essays on Video Games, Learning, and Literacy (2013), Collected Essays on Learning and Assessment in the Digital World (2014), and Unified Discourse Analysis: Language, Reality, Virtual Worlds, and Video Games (2015).
This review focuses on his 2013 book, The Anti-Education Era: Creating Smarter Students through Digital Learning.
Dealing with broad societal issues but focusing on the educational context, the author seems to target educators, but the subject matter could have a wider appeal. The content addresses issues far beyond the classroom showing how individuals and the broader social context affect how we think and perceive the world. More than a book of educational reform, Gee addresses the deep philosophical and psychological factors that cause us to be stupid. Anyone with an interest in how society functions and what can be done to improve the human condition will enjoy this book.
People are ill-equipped to cope with today’s fast-paced hyper-connected world and much of what we do stand in opposition to what we want. It is this, Gee suggests, that makes us stupid. Recognizing what makes us stupid is the first step toward being smart.
In our reading, Gee’s provocative and confrontational style pushes an unflattering mirror in front of the reader highlighting everything that is wrong with individuals and civilization. He then describes possible applications of technology that could direct the collective wisdom of humanity toward positive change.
In the first half of the book, Gee describes at length how people’s thought processes and behaviors result in stupidity. Gee suggests that the human brain was not designed and has not yet evolved to cope with the complexity of human relationships, society, and types of problems we now face. He suggests that we can use digital media to compensate for where we struggle and augment where we have it right. Digital media offers the means and context for coalescing human wisdom and experience into something not only manageable, but effective in helping us achieve our collective goals.
He outlines fifteen different ways in which human thought is misguided or deceived. These errors limit our ability to live in harmony with people and ideas and prevent us from approaching the world intelligently. Given the depth and pace of change, Gee says, we are, as a species, at greater risk of social, economic, and climatic catastrophe. He frames and details each of the fifteen challenges and, in the end, offers an approach to learning that leverages the collective wisdom of our species. In this way, we can overcome these challenges moving us farther from being “stupid” and closer to being smart.
The amount of ink devoted to what makes us stupid and the provocative language about human intelligence, creates in the reader a sense of discomfort and defensiveness. Gee describes numerous examples of how what we are doing is not getting us what we want. By holding up to humanity a mirror that exposes every flaw and blemish; he forces the reader to examine one’s worldview through a different lens. He offers much that is wrong, and only hints at possible solutions. For receptive readers, this will churn the ground on which belief systems are built offering an opportunity to rethink, debate, and collaborate on new foundations for a better world.
Gee suggests that our current education system needs to engage learners in more social, authentic, and meaningful learning experiences that promote reflective thinking through collaborative mentorship. Rather than trying to get our brains to work more like computers he wants us to develop the unique creative and meaning-making capacities, and let computers manage our information storage and processing needs. We tend to think of human intelligence as a measure of an individual’s cognitive abilities. Gee urges us to think beyond that to humans augmented with technology connecting with other augmented humans. In this way, we can manage very complex scenarios more effectively.
Humans are good at identifying patterns but sometimes generalize too quickly, not appreciating the broader context of that experience. Such a narrow or limited focus is a barrier to understanding. Beyond limiting our experience, Gee says who we relate to (solidarity) and who we aspire to (status) similarly limit our thoughts and behaviors and our social position further affects our ability to participate in society. In the search for solidarity and comfort stories, we can often be led to believe things that are factually wrong. This mentality can lead to “us versus them” dichotomies, marrying individuals into groups that reflect one’s own existing beliefs and perceptions. Such groups can have a negative impact when they isolate the individual from other perspectives and other opinions. Similarly, learners in highly customized, personally adapted settings are sheltered from authentic challenges and do not develop the ability to problem solve or deal with the non-customized world. Likewise, institutions can also experience limited or narrowed focus when formalized processes lock participants into thinking and behaviors that prevent the institution from evolving as needed.
In the last portion of the book, Gee points to some scenarios or structures to address the sources of human stupidity. He describes the importance of both virtual and real spaces where people from a variety of backgrounds converge, by choice, in fluid and flexible groups to explore a common issue. These so-called affinity spaces promote a synchronization of intelligence that leverages the wisdom of the group and the affordances of digital technology, to make and communicate meaning. He offers Talk, Text, and Knowledge mentoring (TTK) with digital technologies as the foundational skills upon which a smarter civilization can be built.
Analysis and Evaluation
Strengths and Weaknesses
Gee’s book evokes a visceral response from the reader as he holds the unflattering mirror to humanity in an uncomfortable confrontation with our very belief systems and worldviews. Front loaded with blunt rhetoric about humanity’s stupidity, readers seeking solutions rather than colorful commentary on how awful the world is may be turned off and abandon the book. However, we found the longer we stood in front of the mirror, the more we saw the truth of his provocative assertions.
Two-thirds of the book clearly defined and gave examples of humanity’s stupidity while the final third, rather than offering solutions, gave only suggestions of a solution. This mentality is frustrating as a reader because the book title promises that we can “Create Smarter Students through Digital Learning” yet it is consistent with his thesis. Gee says that we must create purposeful communities where everyone has a voice and put our collective minds and technologies to finding solutions - solutions will not come from one single author.
Implications for Education
Understanding the many ways people get things wrong, and the ways in which we avoid the ruth, educators can better recognize the origins of misunderstandings in students and correct them. They may also use this understanding to craft learning experiences that address these human inclinations to help learners make meaning from determined truths.
Learning experiences, Gee suggests, should make use of digital technology to create both real and virtual points of contact where individuals can gather to learn, share, debate, teach, explore, take, and contribute ideas on a particular topic. Education can be restructured to make use of affinity spaces and leverage the synchronized intelligence of a vast and diverse learning community to create even better learning experiences than exist now.
Educators should identify those strategies and pedagogies that promote empirical thinking and leverage the power of communications technology to build productive and positive affinity spaces for learners. In this context, we can even rethink the definition of learner from one who simply receives or creates knowledge to a term that embodies the notion that they are contributors and active participants.
Gee (2013) stated:
To be smarter today we need Minds, not just minds. We need synchronized intelligence we need to be able to dance the dance of collective intelligence with others and our best digital tools. Talk, text and knowledge (TTK) mentoring and digital tools can be deployed in ways that reverse our brain bugs and social bugs to make us smarter. (p.208)
This quote communicates the essence of Gee’s path away from the stupidity toward smartness. The terms he uses in this quote are elaborated on at length in the book, and his full meaning is hard to comprehend out of context. Essentially, we need to confront our flawed and narrow thinking (brain bugs and social bugs) and use the unique capabilities of our brains (Minds) and technology (digital tools) together with diverse others (collective intelligence) in a coordinated (synchronized intelligence) and collaborative (mentoring) effort to make meaning based on empirical evidence.
Book Club Questions
Gee suggests that the pursuit of empirical reasoning is critical to creating a better world. He also suggests that religion, as a complex set of mental comfort stories can get in the way of our capacity to reason. He does propose that science and religion can co-exist as complementary frameworks for understanding the world. Do you agree? Can science and religion support each other in the pursuit of truth?
Gee identifies Affinity Spaces as important elements of a thriving civilization. Understanding Gee’s vision of affinity spaces, discuss examples of affinity spaces in which you already participate. To what extent do your affinity spaces reflect the criteria outlined in Chapter 20?
Gee describes video games as potential virtual spaces for learning and describes how affinity spaces can exist in the context of a game. There is a lot of criticism about the effect of video games on today’s youth. Is Gee on to something, or is this simply a bad idea? Is there unlocked potential in virtual gaming spaces, or do the dangers outweigh the potential benefits?
Humans often seek meaning over truth. Sometimes we find meaning that is void of truth or truths that do not yet have meaning for us. Gee urges us to recognize and false meaning, and find motivation for embracing truths for which we do not yet have meaning or use. Discuss examples of meaning without truth and truth without meaning. Explore the challenges of dealing with each scenario.
Gee suggests humans have to acknowledge our penchant for mental comfort stories. Nietzche famously said, "God is dead" but went on to say how we will always invent something new to take God's place. Can humans live without mental comfort stories?
How fitting is the title The Anti-Education Era: Creating Smarter Students through Digital Learning for the book? What alternate title would you give it?
Individuals with an interest in sweeping social change will appreciate Gee’s observations and recommendations for changing the way we think to achieve a better world. Senior education leaders will find the messages a challenge to traditional learning approaches and may find Gee’s ideas useful as a framework to guide reform efforts. Educators, in general, may find the points related to society’s “stupidity” somewhat confrontational spurring reflection on their practice and experiences.
While the book proposed ways in which technology could improve education, we wouldn’t recommend it as a “how-to” book for those searching for practical strategies to implement digital technology in education settings. Rather, it serves as a conversation starter for those interested in improving education in the 21st century.
James Paul Gee. (n.d.). Retrieved February 25, 2015, from http://www.jamespaulgee.com/
DMLResearchHub. (2011, April 4). Games and education scholar James Paul Gee on video games, learning, and literacy. Retrieved March 1, 2015, from
Elbouza, M. (2014, May). The Anti-education era – Response to Gee. Retrieved February 15, 2015, from http://melscollectibles.com/?p=258
Ellis, K. (Director), & Borovoy, A. E., & Rosenfeld, L. (Producers). (2008, April 12). Big thinkers: James Paul Gee on grading with games [Video file].
Retrieved February 16, 2015, from http://www.edutopia.org/james-gee-games-learning-video
Güss, C. D., & Tuason, M. T. (1942). Fire and ice: Cultural influences on complex problem solving. In COGSCI 2009: The Annual meeting of
The Cognitive Society (Vol. 1947).
Lewis, M. (2013, July 10). Reflection on the anti-education era by James Paul Gee. Retrieved February 15, 2015, from
Lilly, T. (2013). The Anti-Education Era: Creating Smarter Students through Digital Learning. IJEP-International Journal of Educational Psychology,
Shapiro, J. (2014, July 3). Games can advance education: A conversation with James Paul Gee. Retrieved February 25, 2015, from | <urn:uuid:88871b8c-e898-4aab-99cd-2c7a33a9c884> | CC-MAIN-2019-22 | http://milestomes.com/?p=2651 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-22/segments/1558232258849.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20190526045109-20190526071109-00051.warc.gz | en | 0.92795 | 2,834 | 2.703125 | 3 |
“A black cloud of grief came shrouding over Achilles.
Both hands clawing the ground for soot and filth,
he poured it over his head, fouled his handsome face
and black ashes settled onto his fresh clean war-shirt.
Overpowered in all his power, sprawled in the dust,
Achilles lay there, fallen …
tearing his hair, defiling it with his own hands”
— Homer’s Iliad: Book XVIII
Whenever we hear of a suicide by a widely known public figure there tends to be a well-intentioned uptick in articles published attempting to destigmatize depression by reminding us that it is an illness like any other, and consequently, suicidal ideation or the act of suicide itself should not be condemned as a moral failing or a sign of weak character.
I’m happy to see such articles, because for at least a brief moment in our public consciousness we remind ourselves and others that depression is the silent killer. Briefly allowing such painful conversations a seat in our public discourse may be what those suffering from this awful condition need in order to come out and seek the help and support that is so desperately needed but often neglected due to our collective ambivalence about just what it means to be depressed.
The flipside to this is that by writing articles like these we’re furthering the misconception that depression is an illness rooted in a brain disfunction caused by a neurochemical imbalance. In our attempt to reach out and destigmatize depression, we inadvertently advance a biomedical conception of depression that is sadly mistaken:
- The chemical imbalance theory is a myth, and has been known to be so for decades.
- Talking about mental illness in terms of biology actually has no impact on levels of stigmatization. In fact, biomedical explanations of mental illness often reduce levels of empathy for those suffering from these conditions. Biological explanations for mental illness often makes stigmatization worse.
- By attributing depression and suicide to disfunctions in one’s brain, we ignore and lose sight of the psychological and social forces that play an equally powerful role in the formation of depression. If we think “poor guy, if only his brain hadn’t been broken”, we shift our focus to the underlying neurology and refrain from asking questions about the social forces that often create an atmosphere so unbearable for people that ending your life seems like the only escape. When we focus our attention on the individual’s brain, we stop caring or working towards creating a society that is more tolerable to live in. We shift the blame and responsibility to forces beyond our control and thereby do not engage in the project of altering social conditions (such as poverty) that are heavily correlated with depression. We rob ourselves of the power we have to actively make a difference and shift that responsibility over to psychiatry and medicine.
The well intentioned posts of support are a cause for optimism, but let’s try to make sure we don’t undermine our own power to make a difference by wrongly focusing on the neurobiology of the person suffering from the terrible stranglehold of depression. | <urn:uuid:33d9f25f-d0e2-4f27-89a3-a72f102e8526> | CC-MAIN-2020-40 | https://youwillbearwitness.com/2018/02/24/depression-stigma-and-our-toxic-culture-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-40/segments/1600400198942.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20200921050331-20200921080331-00014.warc.gz | en | 0.945299 | 646 | 2.8125 | 3 |
As one studies Mexico’s cartel war, it is not uncommon to hear Mexican politicians — and some people in the United States — claim that Mexico’s problems of violence and corruption stem largely from the country’s proximity to the United States. According to this narrative, the United States is the world’s largest illicit narcotics market, and the inexorable force of economic demand means that the countries supplying the demand, and those that are positioned between the source countries and the huge U.S. market, are trapped in a very bad position. Because of this market and the illicit trade it creates, billions of dollars worth of drugs flow northward through Mexico (or are produced there) and billions of dollars in cash flow back southward into Mexico. The guns that flow southward along with the cash, according to the narrative, are largely responsible for Mexico’s violence. As one looks at other countries lying to the south of Mexico along the smuggling routes from South America to the United States, they too seem to suffer from the same maladies.
However, when we look at the dynamics of the narcotics trade, there are other political entities, ones located to Mexico’s north, that find themselves caught in the same geographic and economic position as Mexico and points south. As borderlands, these entities — referred to as states in the U.S. political system — find themselves caught between the supply of drugs flowing from the south and the large narcotics markets to their north. The geographic location of these states results in large quantities of narcotics flowing northward through their territory and large amounts of cash likewise flowing southward. Indeed, this illicit flow has brought with it corruption and violence, but when we look at these U.S. states, their security environments are starkly different from those of Mexican states on the other side of the border.
One implicit reality that flows from the geopolitical concept of borderlands is that while political borders are clearly delineated, the cultural and economic borders surrounding them are frequently less clear and more dynamic. The borderlands on each side of the thin, artificially imposed line we call a border are remarkably similar in geographic and demographic terms (indeed, inhabitants of such areas are often related). In the larger picture, both sides of the border often face the same set of geopolitical realities and challenges. Certainly the border between the United States and Mexico was artificially imposed by the annexation of Texas following its anti-Mexico revolution as well as the U.S. annexation of what is now much of the U.S. West, including the border states of Arizona, California and New Mexico, following the Mexican-American War. While the desert regions along the border do provide a bit of a buffer between the two countries — and between the Mexican core and its northern territories — there is no geological obstacle separating the two countries. Even the Rio Grande is not so grand, as the constant flow of illicit goods over it testifies. In many places, like Juarez and El Paso, the U.S.-Mexico border serves to cut cities in half, much like the Berlin Wall used to do.
Yet as one crosses over that artificial line one senses huge differences between the cultural, economic and security environments north and south. In spite of the geopolitical and economic realities confronting both sides of this borderland, Texas is not Mexico. The differences run deep, and we thought it worthwhile this week to examine how and why.
Same Problems, Different Scope
First, it must be understood that this examination does not mean to assert that the illicit narcotics market in the United States has no effect on Mexico (or Central America, for that matter). The flow of narcotics, money and guns, and the organizations that participate in this illicit trade, does have a clear and demonstrable impact on Mexico. But — and this very significant — that impact does not stop at the border. This illicit commerce also impacts the U.S. states north of the border.
Certainly the U.S. side of the border has seen corruption of public officials, cartel-related violence and, of course, drug trafficking. But these phenomena have manifested themselves differently on the U.S. side of the border.
In the United States there have been local cops, sheriffs, customs inspectors and even FBI agents arrested and convicted for corruption. However, the problem is far worse on the Mexican side, where entire police forces have been relieved of their duties due to their cooperation with the drug cartels and where systematic corruption has been traced all the way from the municipal mayoral level to the Presidential Guard, and even to the country’s drug czar. There have even been groups of police officers and military units arrested while actively protecting shipments of drugs in Mexico — something that simply does not occur in the United States. And while Mexican officials are frequently forced to choose between “plata o plomo” (Spanish for “silver or lead,” a direct threat of violence meaning “take the bribe or we will kill you”), that type of threat is extremely rare in the United States. It is also very rare to see politicians, police chiefs and judges killed in the United States — a common occurrence in Mexico.
That said, there certainly has been cartel-related violence on the U.S. side of the border with organizations such as Los Zetas conducting assassinations in places like Houston and Dallas. The claim by some U.S. politicians that there is no spillover violence is patently false. However, the use of violence on the U.S. side has tended to be far more discreet on the part of the cartels (and the U.S. street gangs they are allied with) than in Mexico, where the cartels are frequently quite flagrant. The cartels kill people in the United States but they tend to avoid the gruesome theatrics associated with many drug-related murders in Mexico, where it has become commonplace to see victims beheaded, dismembered or hung from pedestrian walkways over major thoroughfares.
Likewise, the large firefights frequently observed in Mexico involving dozens of armed men on each side using military weapons, grenades and rocket-propelled grenades have come within feet of the border (sometimes with stray rounds crossing over onto the U.S. side), but these types of events have remained on the south side of that invisible line. Mexican cartel gunmen have used dozens of trucks and other large vehicles to set up roadblocks in Matamoros, but they have not followed suit in Brownsville. Cities on the U.S. side of the border are seen as markets, logistics hubs and places of refuge for cartel figures, not battlefields.
Even when we consider drug production, it is important to recognize that the first “super labs” for methamphetamine production were developed in California’s Central Valley, not in Mexico. It was only pressure from U.S. law enforcement agencies that forced the relocation of these laboratories south of the border. Certainly, meth production is still going on in many parts of the United States, but the production is being conducted in mom-and-pop operations that can produce only relatively small amounts of the drug, usually of varying quality. By contrast, Mexican super labs can produce tons of meth that is of very high (almost pharmacological) quality. Additionally, while Mexican cartels (and other producers) have long grown marijuana inside the United States in clandestine plots of land, the quantity of marijuana the cartels grow inside the United States is far eclipsed by the industrial marijuana production operations conducted in Mexico.
Even the size of narcotics shipments changes at the border. The huge shipments of drugs that are shipped within Mexico are broken down into smaller lots at stash houses on the Mexican side of the border to be smuggled into the United States. Then they are frequently broken down again in stash houses on the U.S. side of the border. The trafficking of drugs in the United States tends to be far more decentralized and diffuse than it is on the Mexican side, again in response to U.S. law enforcement pressure. Smaller shipments allow drug traffickers to limit their losses if a shipment is seized, and using a decentralized distribution network allows them to be less dependent on any one link in the chain. If one distribution channel is rolled up by the authorities, traffickers can shift their product into another sales channel.
Not Just an Institutional Problem
Above we noted that the same dynamics exist on both sides of the border, and the same cartel groups also operate on both sides. However, we also noted the consistent theme of the Mexican cartels being forced to behave differently on the U.S. side. The organizations are no different, but the environment in which they operate is very different. The corruption, poverty, diminished rule of law and lack of territorial control (particularly in the border-adjacent hinterlands) that is endemic to the Mexican system greatly empowers and emboldens the cartels in Mexico. The operating environment inside the United States is quite different, forcing the cartels to behave differently. Mexican cartels and drug trafficking are problems in the United States, but they are problems that can be controlled by U.S. law enforcement. The environment does not permit the cartels to threaten the U.S. government’s ability to govern.
A geopolitical monograph explaining the forces that have shaped Mexico can be found here. Understanding the geopolitics of Mexico is very helpful to understanding the challenges Mexico faces and why it has become what it is today. This broader understanding is also the key to understanding why the Mexican police simply can’t be reformed to solve the problems of violence and corruption. Certainly, the Mexican government has aggressively pursued police reform for many years now, with very little success. Indeed, it was the lack of a trustworthy law enforcement apparatus that led the Calderon government to turn to the military to counter the power of the Mexican cartels. This lack of reliable law enforcement has also led Calderon to aggressively pursue police reform. This reform effort has included unifying the federal police agencies and consolidating municipal police departments (which have arguably been the most corrupt institutions in Mexico) into unified state police commands, under which officers are subjected to better screening, oversight and accountability. Already, however, there have been numerous instances of these “new and improved” federal- and state-level police officers being arrested for corruption.
This illustrates the fact that Mexico’s ills go far deeper than just corrupt institutions. Because of this, revamping the institutions will not result in any meaningful change, and the revamped institutions will soon be corrupted like the ones they replaced. This fact should have been readily apparent; the institutional approach has been tried in the region before and has failed.
Perhaps the best example of this failure was the “untouchable and incorruptible” Department of Anti-Narcotics Operations, known by its Spanish acronym DOAN, which was created in Guatemala in the mid-1990s. The DOAN was almost purely a creation of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. The concept behind the creation of the DOAN was that corruption existed within the Guatemalan police institutions because the police were undertrained, underpaid and underequipped. It was believed that if police recruits were carefully screened, properly trained, well paid and adequately equipped, they would not be susceptible to the corruption that plagued the other police institutions in the country. So the U.S. government hand-picked the recruits, thoroughly trained them, paid them generously and provided them with brand-new uniforms and equipment. However, the result was not what the U.S. government expected. By 2002, the “untouchable” DOAN had to be disbanded because it had essentially become a drug trafficking organization itself and was involved in torturing and killing competitors and stealing their shipments of narcotics.
The example of the Guatemalan DOAN (and of more recent Mexican police reform efforts) demonstrates that even a competent, well-paid and well-equipped police institution cannot stand alone within a culture that is not prepared to support it and keep it clean. In other words, over time, an institution will take on the characteristics of, and essentially reflect, the environment surrounding it. Therefore, significant reform in Mexico requires a holistic approach that reaches far beyond the institutions to address the profound economic, sociological and cultural problems that are affecting the country today. Indeed, given how deeply rooted and pervasive these problems are and the geopolitical hand the country was dealt, Mexico has done quite well. But holistic change will not be easy to accomplish. It will require a great deal of time, treasure, leadership and effort. In view of this reality, we can see why it would be more politically expedient simply to blame the Americans. | <urn:uuid:7cce1169-2487-48f2-9546-eff4207ecb3d> | CC-MAIN-2017-17 | http://www.mizozo.com/world/05/2011/19/corruption-why-texas-is-not-mexico.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-17/segments/1492917127681.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20170423031207-00041-ip-10-145-167-34.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967606 | 2,604 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Today in Year 6 we have learnt all about blood. We started with plasma, which is yellow in colour. When we added the red blood cells it turned the blood red. These carry oxygen, nutrients and water around the body. Next we added white blood cells, whose job it is to take the waste away. Finally, we put platelets in the mixture. These clot our blood and heal wounds. | <urn:uuid:694deea7-7a59-4ff2-9036-3eedeb7167d8> | CC-MAIN-2020-45 | http://blog.marlfieldsprimary.co.uk/author/class-6/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-45/segments/1603107890108.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20201026002022-20201026032022-00301.warc.gz | en | 0.964448 | 81 | 3.265625 | 3 |
This comprehensive introduction to the history of life on Earth explores the basic principles and processes, the rich history of past life forms -- marine and terrestrial -- and the major events that shaped this history. Emphasizes the complexity and diversity of life through time. Considers the causes for major events in Earth history --and weighs various interpretations. Some of the many topics covered are: the organization of life, rocks and fossils, origins of the earth, oceans, atmosphere, and life, organic evolution and extinction,.marine predators, .early and advanced consumers on land. The book minimizes the use of technical terms, while providing to the reader short chapter-end lists of important key words and defines each term in a glossary. | <urn:uuid:a79f2edf-f3f2-404b-ba3c-6836f8cf76d0> | CC-MAIN-2014-10 | http://www.campusbooks.com/books/science/biological-sciences/paleontology/9780138960698_N-Gary-Lane-William-I-Ausich-Ausich-William-ILane-N-Gary_Life-of-t.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-10/segments/1394678703495/warc/CC-MAIN-20140313024503-00039-ip-10-183-142-35.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.830825 | 144 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Interesting Facts About Flies To Better Appreciate Them
Flies are two-winged insects that belong to the order Diptera (di = two, ptera = wings). They are found all over the world and are highly adaptive to any surrounding. Flies have been around for thousands of years. Around 120,000 types of flies have been listed and described to this day, although it is confirmed that there are many more waiting to be discovered. Many species of flies are considered pests to humans and animals.
Everyone has encountered flies in their day to day life. We have seen them buzzing around our food, the garbage on the streets and around the muddy fur of animals. Flies play a great role in the ecosystem being adaptive insects that have thrived for centuries. Flies are important pollinators and decomposers.
However, flies are dangerous pests as well. Houseflies have been known to cause diseases such as dysentery and cholera in humans, whereas horse flies can transmit diseases such as anthrax and tularaemia to animals. Mosquitoes can cause dengue, malaria and chicken pox, whereas bluebottle flies can cause typhoid and food poisoning.
Flies may be tiny and annoying, but they do possess a few facts that can make you raise your eyebrow in surprise.
40 Interesting Facts about Flies
1. There around 120,000 species of flies
2. Most flies don’t drink blood
Flies do not drink blood but can be found buzzing around the skin at any point in time. Of all the species of flies available only mosquitoes and horse flies suck blood from the victim.
3. They can carry almost 2 million bacteria on their skin
4. Flies have been known to cause around 65 dangerous diseases in humans. The surface of the skin of a fly is covered with bacteria that can cause these diseases.
5. The largest fly in the world (Gauromydas heroes) can grow up to a length of 2.8 inches.
6. The compound eyes of the eye allow it to have a 360-degree view around it.
7. Flies have a single pair of wings with a reduced club like halteres that give increased stability and maneuverability.
8. Flies are important pollinators and undergo complete metamorphosis during their development and transformation.
9. Most flies have sucking mouthparts or sponging mouthparts for the intake of fluids.
10. The female horse fly can bite humans and animals to get blood because it needs the blood protein in order to lay eggs.
11. Flies rub their appendages (known as proboscis) before eating food and vomit a mixture of saliva and digestive juices onto the food to make it liquidy and easier to eat.
12. Flies love filth. Many flies such as the moth fly and the house fly breed in rotting, decaying matter
13. The horse fly is the fastest flying insect. It can reach speeds of up to 90 miles an hour!
14. After bees and wasps, flies are the second biggest pollinators out there in nature.
15. Flies taste food with their feet!
16. Flies can eat anything – from the nectar of flowers to the pile of feces lying around.
17. Gnats and midges are not particularly dangerous but can cause an allergic reaction in some people.
18. Euryplatea nanaknihali is the smallest fly in the world, with a total body size of only 0.4 mm. It is as small as a grain of salt!
19. Most species of flies live for less than a year, and many die out during the winter.
20. The eggs are often laid in an environment where the larvae can eat and grow. Most flies spend most of their lives as pupa or larvae.
21. Drosophila species (fruit flies) have extensively been used for experimental research because of its small size, small genome, fast-breeding capacity and noticeable difference between the male and female member of the species.
22. Blowfly larva and other Dipteran larvae are used as bait food during fishing.
23. Blowfly larva and maggots are also used in certain medical procedures.
24. The first true Dipterans are from around 240 million years ago.
25. Perfect fossil pieces have been found of various species of flies that date back to thousands of years. Flies are seen embedded in chunks of amber in such scenarios.
26. The body of a fly is short and streamlined – this is an evolutionary aspect of its biology that has given it the ability to fly faster.
27. Flies can change direction mid-flight in 50 milliseconds. The halteres give them increased stability while flying.
28. Swarming behavior is commonly seen in flies, and many of them mate during the flight.
29. Flies act as a food source to some animals at every stage of development – from egg to adult.
30. Casu marzu is a traditional Sardinian cheese that is made using the larvae of the cheese fly. Many have raised objections to this, keeping in mind the medical point of view, but the cheese continues to be a popular item amongst the people.
31. The larvae of flies can often be aquatic, but most flies prefer to stay out of the water and above ground (except the moth fly or the drain fly).
32. Flies are often known as “filth flies” because of the various diseases they cause. They can be vectors and carriers of a variety of diseases, from cholera to typhoid. It is right to assume that flies are attracted to areas that lack in basic hygiene.
33. Entomophobia is the fear of insects or of flies.
34. The buzzing sound you hear when there is a fly nearby is generated because of the friction between the two wings during the fight.
35. Flies rely on their sense of vision more than any other insect. They can also detect the vibrations of wing beats.
36. Flies have been known to be carriers of diseases such as anthrax, leprosy and E.Coli related infections.
37. Food-borne diseases are the most common diseases spread by flies. Their quick flight and small size make it difficult for people to notice them at times – and they easily end up contaminating food.
38. Most flies prefer to fly at night or in shady places, but many are attracted to sources of light. This is why it is common to see a bunch of flies buzzing aimlessly around a light bulb. However, it has been found that flies are more active during the day, even though they prefer the shade of the night.
39. The common house fly is found on every continent on the planet, making it a worldwide household pest and a truly adaptive species.
40. Flies often have been found to mimic bees or wasps in order to be avoided by predators.
Flies, What A Fascinating Pest!
An abundance of flies, or even just one, can really drive you crazy at times. Being the common pest it is, it’s nice to sit back and learn about the interesting facts about flies sometimes. The tiniest things in life can have quite the purpose, and flies have really come a long way! Who knows what the Earth would have been without them, so for the first time, we’d like to say: Thank you, flies. | <urn:uuid:94fbdc7e-d121-4620-9afd-08d250b694c7> | CC-MAIN-2019-04 | https://www.exterminatornearme.com/flies/facts-about-flies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-04/segments/1547583658988.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20190117143601-20190117165548-00061.warc.gz | en | 0.965909 | 1,552 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Sociological Effectson Autoimmune Disease: An anthropological perspective
Taking into account musical, physical, and emotional factors unique to each patient is instrumental in changing the medical approach from reactive to proactive when dealing with autoimmune diseases.
Act 1: Music
She steps home and notices the achy muscles, the throbbing behind her eyes, and fatigue. She wishes to sleep but can’t because of the many unfinished things to do, a troubling personal life, and a racing mind. As the music plays in the background, she hears the tune, “Happy is the heart that still feels pain. Darkness drains and light will come again. Swing open your chest and let it in. Just let the love begin.”1 In that moment everything lifts, a smile grows on her face, and she feels better.
Act 2: Physical Integration
“Everybody hold hands,” says our gym Yogates coach as he gathers us after class. As we shyly grab our neighbor’s hand he goes on, “I need you to stop. Stop rushing through your daily business. Be aware every time you move, keep your chest lifted, breathe, and use your core to move your body. The way you feel grounded and centered now can be achieved more frequently if you take the time to be mindful of your body.”
Act 3: Emotion
“You guys need to get this together. It is three days before the concert and there is no passion or emotion. Do you know that when Beethoven was writing his Second Symphony, he was struggling with the idea of ending his life because of the frustration as a composer going deaf, and the isolation from the world?” says music director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. He sits on a stool and gently reads us Beethoven’s 1802 Heiligenstadt Testament. “…What a humiliation for me when someone standing next to me heard a flute in the distance and I heard nothing. Such incidents drove me almost to despair; a little more of that and I would have ended my life. It was only my art that held me back. Oh, it seemed to me impossible to leave the world, until I had brought forth all that I felt within me. So I endured this wretched existence…”2
Naturopathic practitioners are familiar with and often use nutritional supplements and diet as therapies for autoimmune conditions. However, incorporating mind/body medicine is crucial, especially when a type of disease such as autoimmunity metaphorically can be paralleled to rejecting tissue belonging to self. If social or emotional issues are present, healing in these areas is equally important to physical healing. This article will discuss how the following affect autoimmune disease: (1) music, (2) physical integration, and (3) emotion.
Norman Cousins interviewed the renowned cellist Pablo Casals in 1966 at Casals’ home for his book Anatomy of an Illness, before the musician’s 90th birthday.3 Pablo Casals seemed very frail, needing assistance to get dressed due to rheumatoid arthritis and breathed heavily from emphysema. One would think that his swollen hands and clenched fingers would keep him from playing the music he loved. With physical difficulty, Casals sat himself down at the piano, playing Bach’s Das Wohltemperierte Klavier for his guest Norman Cousins, who was astonished that the supposed painful, sickly and deformed hands “raced across the keyboard with dazzling speed…it was no longer stiff and shrunken but supple and graceful, completely freed of its arthritic coils.”4 Casals’ physical state seemed to change observably once he started playing music.
How Does Music Affect the Body?
By observing this momentary increase in range of motion and alleged decrease in pain, what conclusions can be drawn about music in the life of Pablo Casals? There are many studies that show physiological and neuroanatomical benefits with playing a musical instrument, including an increase in the size of the corpus callosum, which connects the left and right brain.4 However, since many patients may not play musical instruments, studies below were chosen to show beneficial effects with mere listening.
A study in 2008 involving elderly patients suffering from osteoarthritis showed a statistically significant decrease in pain among experimental group participants. One group listened to music 20 minutes per day for 2 weeks while the control group sat in silence for 20 minutes per day, for the same duration. The group that listened to music reported less pain, assessed by the SF-MPQ (short form McGill Pain Questionnaire),5 showing the power of music in relation to pain management.
A 2004 study showed increased opiate receptor expression and decreased IL-6 after listening to music for 20 minutes.6 An increase in opiate receptors is associated with decreased pain and an increased sense of euphoria. Since IL-6 is an inflammatory cytokine, a decrease in IL-6 decreases the inflammatory process associated with autoimmunity. A study at Wilkes University showed a statistically significant increase in immunoglobulin A (IgA) in a group of college students who listened to 30 minutes of music compared to controls.7 Another study published by the Journal of Music Therapy demonstrated decreased cortisol levels in the blood of music listeners.8 If music changes levels of cortisol, IL-6, IgA and opiate receptors, how do these changes affect autoimmune disease?
IgA and Autoimmunity
In the January 2010 issue of the Journal of Clinical Immunology, it was shown that IgA decreases the inflammatory response and plays a role in preventing development of autoantibodies.9 The same issue links recurrent respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, allergic disorders, and autoimmune conditions with IgA deficiency.10 Low IgA is associated with increased intestinal permeability. Intestinal permeability is one of the contributing factors to allergy and autoimmunity due to chains of amino acids being leaked into the blood stream stimulating an immune response.
GALT (gut-associated lymphoid tissue) is one area that IgA is found within the intestinal mucosa.11 It functions in signaling macrophages and other WBCs to scavenge foreign particles. However in patients with “leaky gut syndrome,” IgA is depleted in the process of excessive immunological activity. Contrary to the popular belief that IgA deficiency cannot be corrected, recent studies show that music can increase IgA levels,7 as can bovine colostrum.12
What Role Do Endogenous Opioids Play in Mitigating Autoimmunity?
Ever since Candace Pert, PhD discovered the opiate receptor in 1972, there has been more attention on the psycho-neuro-immunological significance of opiates. Opiates, including morphine, have been used as a prescription drug, recreational drug, relaxant, painkiller, and as a way to induce euphoria. However, it was thought soon after the discovery of the opiate receptor that if these drugs bound to it, there must be a reason for the existence of the opiate receptor, namely that the body must produce a substance similar that binds to this receptor. In 1975 the endogenous opiate enkephalin was discovered. The researchers later named enkephalin “endorphin,” meaning endogenous morphine.13
A study published in the Journal of Dermatology in 2004 investigated patients with polymyositis/dermatomyositis, both autoimmune diseases. The study showed lower levels of beta-endorphins in the plasma of patients with polymyositis/dermatomyositis compared to controls.14 Another study done in Milan, Italy showed a correlation between low hypothalamic concentration of beta-endorphin with lupus and autoimmune thyroiditis.15
Low endorphin levels seem to be associated with autoimmunity, but how? The School of Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, used rheumatoid arthritis patients as subjects and found 4 mechanisms by which opioids are anti-inflammatory and immunomodulating. Opioids (i) reduced adhesion molecule expression; (ii) inhibited cell trafficking; (iii) reduced TNF alpha release and expression; and (iv) altered mRNA expression and protein levels of substance P and CGRP (calcitonin gene related peptide) in synovial tissue.16
Research has shown that listening to music, exercise, stress reduction, and a positive attitude can increase endogenous opiates in the body, supporting an anti-inflammatory effect.
“Perfect balance of Body and Mind is that quality in civilized man… which furnishes him with all the physical and mental powers that are indispensable for attaining the goal of Humankind-Health and Happiness” Joseph Pilates17
Joseph Pilates was born in Germany in 1883. Being a sickly child suffering from asthma, rickets, and rheumatic fever, he set forth to develop methods to strengthen his body and health. Joseph Pilates was in England when the First World War broke out where British authorities assigned him to a camp on the Isle of Man. He worked with injured patients by attaching springs to hospital beds to support their limbs while he worked with them using Contrology, later named Pilates. Doctors noticed that patients who worked with Pilates had a decreased recovery time from their injuries. His patients and interns were in much better physical shape, allowing them to maintain their health through the influenza epidemic of 1918. After the war, Joseph moved back to Germany and trained the police and army. However he developed social and political differences with the German regime and moved to the United States in 1925. There he founded a studio in New York City and trained famous dancers such as Martha Graham and ballet choreographer George Balanchine.18
In his physical core muscle conditioning exercises, Joseph Pilates integrates breathing, posture, and mind/body. He says that in this modern age, we must put more thought into developing physical fitness, especially “the uniform development of our bodies as a whole.” Contrology allows the body to be “freed from nervous tension and over-fatigue.” Pilates teaches that “the body is the ideal shelter provided by nature for housing a well balanced mind that is always fully capable of successfully meeting all the complex problems of modern living.”17
Mind/Body medicine is becoming a burgeoning field of medicine. A 2010 study showed that those who have practiced yoga for long periods of time have decreased inflammatory markers such as CRP and IL-6.19 Advanced conditioned people in mind/body medicine may have increased buffers against stressors contributing to lower levels of inflammatory markers. Another study performed in India showed that yoga statistically decreased blood levels of TBARS (thiobarbituric acid reactive substance), an indicator of oxidative stress that contributes to a variety of chronic degenerative diseases including autoimmunity.20
David Eisenberg, currently director of Harvard’s Division for Research and Education in Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies, discusses his reflection on observing the Chinese perform Tai Chi:
Pilates, yoga and Tai Chi all focus on using the mind/body connection, integrating the body as a whole. This integration has profound effects on the biochemical molecules known to influence autoimmunity.
Ludwig van Beethoven expressed intense emotion in his Heiligenstadt testament. The psychological state Beethoven was in at the time could have taken one of two turns, one detrimental to his existence, namely, ending his life. However, he worked through his personal crisis in the time period of his second symphony. Beethoven said, “For a while now, I have been gaining more than ever in physical strength and mental strength. Every day I come closer to my goal, which I can sense but don’t know how to describe.”22 His next symphony, the third was about “a contest between emotion and reason, in a search of what it means to be human.”23 He reframed his view of life, choosing not to end it but to express his emotions through composing. Even though his physical condition that caused him much agony did not change, he channeled his frustrations in a healthier way. What if Beethoven hadn’t experienced such challenging emotions? There would not have been as much substance, passion, and process that enriched his life inspiring his 9 symphonies that have blessed many listeners.
How Does Emotion Affect Natural Killer Cells?
A surprising study done by Margaret Kemeny, assistant professor of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles studied the effects of short-term emotions on the immune system using actors as subjects. When the actors got into a state of sadness for 20 minutes, there was a measured increase in the number of natural killer cells.21
NK cells have a dual potential for acting as either protective or pathogenic depending on the disease, making interpretation of data from studies difficult. In general, NK cells play a role in protecting against viral infections and cancer. Levels of NK cells in relation to autoimmune disease are varied. Some studies show that excessive activation of NK cells contribute to rheumatoid arthritis or atopic conditions,24 but deficiency in NK cells are associated with multiple sclerosis.25 Furthermore, it was found that NK cells are necessary for maintaining intestinal health.11 A healthy intestinal tract decreases autoimmunity by decreasing intestinal permeability.
The second part of the study showed that when actors elicited happiness for 20 minutes, NK cells increased.21 Therefore, whether actors induced happy or sad emotional states, NK cells increased. Experiencing transient emotions stimulated the immune system.
This raises the question of immunological consequences of people on antidepressants who report feeling a flattened affect, or those who suppress their emotions in response to trauma. Being able to experience sad or happy emotions increases NK cells. The complicating factor in interpreting this data involves mixed studies; some show that increased levels of NK cells improve outcomes of certain autoimmune diseases while others show lower levels of NK cells as protective of autoimmune disease.24,25 Perhaps the key is a proper balance of the number of cells and appropriate interaction with other immune signaling cells. The beneficial effects of being able to experience transient emotions must be separated from states of depression or chronic stress. Practitioners should consider guiding their patients, or directing patients to those who would guide them to channel their emotional experiences into positive personal growth in a way that is healthful physically and psychologically.
How Does Stress Affect Autoimmunity?
Common observation and patient anecdotes point to increased stress either worsening or setting off autoimmune diseases. Cortisol is increased during times of stress. However, traditional treatment for many autoimmune diseases involves the use of glucocorticoids, such as prednisone. So why do the 2 seem contradictory? Shouldn’t stress then decrease autoimmunity?
There is a bell-shaped curve comparing stress and immune function. During the first hour of stress the immune system functions higher than baseline. Immune cells are released into circulation and B and T cells are signaled to proliferate. The stressors can be psychological, physical or infectious. Glucocorticoids and sympathetic stimulation are thought to be responsible for this immune activation during acute stress.26
After approximately one hour, sustained glucocorticoid and sympathetic activation starts to cause immune suppression. Sustained glucocorticoid release results in higher levels of cortisol in the body.26 There is a dose-dependent effect of cortisol on the immune system. Steroids that are administered in the treatment of autoimmune diseases are of large enough dosage to cause immune suppression.
Under normal circumstances, the bell-shaped curve associated with the stimulation and return to baseline of the immune system in response to stress is protective. Slight increase in immune function with a physical stressor such as exposure to a microbe is beneficial to ward off infection. After a certain period the immune system returns to baseline.
If the immune system is constantly activated such as in chronic stress, it has been shown in experiments that the compensatory immune suppression following immune activation is blocked.26 One explanation for this phenomenon is lack of refractory period where the system lacks time to return to baseline. This results in the immune system becoming more and more active, until it reaches a state of pathological overactivity such as autoimmunity.
Having a range of emotions is important in experiencing the full spectrum that accompanies living. The expectation of perpetual happiness is unrealistic. Rather, having self-awareness that allows one to work through feelings, instead of repressing them, gives room for allowing this process to occur with an underlying sense of peace, joy and hopefulness. Studies show that optimism is associated with lower health risks and lower obstacles to goal pursuit.27 Rather than mentally focusing on the past or future, or attempting to fill a void with distraction such as overworking, overeating, excessive media consumption, or avoidance, perhaps true optimism is living in the present.
Through my years of coming in contact with patients, I could not help but notice that patients who have social or emotional difficulties in life seem to experience more obstacles to cure. They get somewhat better, but may take longer to heal, or not reach the level of healing that someone with a similar condition without psychological or social difficulties would.
So I began to ask myself the question, “How exactly does our surrounding environment influence our physiology?” There have been studies on the physiological effects of cortisol, epinephrine, oxytocin, serotonin, etc., but I wanted to go beyond the biochemical pathways and try to make sense of how the sciences and humanities intersect through an anthropological perspective. There is so much more to be discovered in this field. One purpose of this article is to increase awareness towards modulating social factors in patients with autoimmune disease.
Since our bodies are a whole, and naturopathic principles stress “holism,” can we extend this concept beyond the body? Everything is interconnected. Everything affects something or someone. Since we exist in the world, can we exist without our physical, emotional, spiritual, and social environment having profound effects on our physiology?
Emily Chan, ND graduated Summa Cum Laude from California State University Hayward, with a BS in biology and a minor in music. While a doctorate student at Bastyr University she interned at the Functional Medicine Research Center and ER at Evergreen Hospital. Dr. Chan’s interest in worldwide humanitarian efforts led her to Beijing, China where she worked with disabled children. Through her efforts to further education in others, Dr. Chan currently holds numerous speaking engagements throughout Massachusetts and Washington State. Dr. Chan performs with local orchestras and appears regularly on a local access television program titled “A Healer in Every Home.” She currently practices in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1. Michaelson I. Everybody [CD]. Cabin 24 Records; 2009.
2. Heiligenstadt Testament. Encyclopædia Britannica Web site. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/259632/Heiligenstadt-Testament. Accessed February 9, 2010.
3. Cousins N. Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient: Reflections on Healing and Regeneration. New York, NY: WW Norton & Co Inc; 1979.
4. Campbell D. The Mozart Effect: Tapping the Power of Music to Heal the Body, Strengthen the Mind and Unlock the Creative Spirit. New York, NY: William Morrow & Co; 1997.
5. McCaffrey R. Music listening: its effects in creating a healing environment. J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv. 2008;46(10):39-44.
6. Stefano GB, Zhu W, Cadet P, Salamon E, Mantione KJ. Music alters constitutively expressed opiate and cytokine processes in listeners. Med Sci Monit. 2004;10(6):MS18-27.
7. Charnetski CJ, Brennan FX Jr, Harrison JF. Effect of music and auditory stimuli on secretory immunoglobulin A (IgA). Percept Mot Skills. 1998;87(3 Pt 2):1163-1170.
8. Bartlett D, Kaufman D, Smeltekop R. The effects of music listening and perceived sensory experiences on the immune system as measured by interleukin-1 and cortisol. J Music Ther. 1993;30(4):194-209.
9. Monteiro RC. Role of IgA and IgA fc receptors in inflammation. J Clin Immunol.2010 Jan;30(1):1-9.
10. Yel L. Selective IgA deficiency. J Clin Immunol. 2010;Jan;30(1):10-6
11. Vighi G, Marcucci F, Sensi L, Di Cara G, Frati F. Allergy and the gastrointestinal system. Clin Exp Immunol. 2008;153(suppl 1):3-6.
12. Brinkworth GD, Buckley JD. Concentrated bovine colostrum protein supplementation reduces the incidence of self-reported symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection in adult males. Eur J Nutr. 2003;42(4):228-232.
13. Pert CB. Molecules of Emotion: Why You Feel the Way You Feel. New York, NY: Scribner Book Co; 1997.
14. Liu J, Li J, Zhai N, Geng L, Song F. Detection of the levels of neuropeptides, ACTH and cortisol in the blood of patients with polymyositis/dermatomyositis and their significance. J Dermatol. 2004; 31(5):392-397.
15. Sacerdote P, Lechner O, Sidman C, Wick G, Panerai AE. Hypothalamic beta-endorphin concentrations are decreased in animal[s] models of autoimmune disease. J Neuroimmunol. 1999;97(1-2):129-133.
16. Walker JS. Anti-inflammatory effects of opioids. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2003;521:148-160.
17. Pilates J, Miller WJ. Return to Life. Boston, MA: Christopher Publishing House; 1945.
18. Siler B. The Pilates Body: The Ultimate At-Home Guide to Strengthening, Lengthening, and Toning Your Body—Without Machines. New York, NY: Broadway Books; 2000.
19. Kiecolt-Glaser JK, Christian L, Preston H, et al. Stress, inflammation, and yoga practice. Psychosom Med. 2010;72(2):113-121.
20. Yadav RK, Ray RB, Vempati R, Bijlani RL. Effect of a comprehensive yoga-based lifestyle modification program on lipid peroxidation. Indian J Physiol Pharmacol. 2005;49(3):358-362.
21. Moyers B. Healing and the Mind. New York, NY: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group; 1993.
22. Steinberg M. The Symphony: A Listener’s Guide. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 1995.
23. Thomas MT. Keeping Score: Revolutions in Music – Beethoven’s Eroica [DVD]. San Francisco Symphony; 2006.
24. Miellot-Gafsou A, Biton J, Bourgeois E, Herbelin A, Boissier MC, Bessis N. Early activation of invariant natural killer T cells in a rheumatoid
arthritis model and application to disease treatment. Immunology. 2010;[Epub ahead of print].
25. Yamamura T. Therapeutic strategy for multiple sclerosis targeting NK and NKT cells [in Japanese]. Rinsho Shinkeigaku. 2001;41(12):1162-1164.
26. Sapolsky RM. Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, 2nd Edition: An Updated Guide to Stress, Stress Related Diseases, and Coping. New York, NY: WH Freeman; 1998.
27. Zhang Y, Fishbach A. Counteracting obstacles with optimistic predictions. J Exp Psychol Gen. 2010;139(1):16-31. | <urn:uuid:f87e2cc3-bfe9-463b-8a94-498a5eb50b28> | CC-MAIN-2019-30 | https://ndnr.com/autoimmuneallergy-medicine/sociological-effectson-autoimmune-disease-an-anthropological-perspective/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195525355.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20190717161703-20190717183703-00321.warc.gz | en | 0.926834 | 5,058 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Adney, Edwin Tappan and Howard I. Chappelle. The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Museum of History and Technology, 1964.
Fernald, Peggy. Brief Description of Birchbark Canoe Building. Bar Harbor: Abbe Museum, 1970. Bulletin No. 9.
Gidmark, David. Birchbark Canoe: Living Among the Algonquin. Willowdale, Ontario: Firefly Books, 1997. A description of building a birchbark canoe near Quebec.
Jennings, John. Bark Canoes: The Art and Obsession of Tappan Adney. Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books, 2004.
Kent, Timothy J. Birchbark Canoes of the Fur Trade. Ossineke, MI: Silver Fox Enterprises, 1997.
McPhee, John. The Survival of the Bark Canoe. New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1975. The construction and history of a traditional birch bark canoe; a canoe trip; and diagrams of canoe models by Adney.
Poling, Jim Sr. The Canoe: An Illustrated History. Woodstock, VT: Countryman Press, 2001.
Thoreau, Henry David. The Maine Woods. New York: Norton, 1950. Includes building of Indian canoes. | <urn:uuid:6f881c14-2b33-44e4-9803-e0ea0ccfec1c> | CC-MAIN-2014-35 | http://penobscotmarinemuseum.org/pbho-1/our-maine-ancestors/canoes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-35/segments/1409535919886.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20140909044443-00167-ip-10-180-136-8.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.718986 | 284 | 2.96875 | 3 |
« 이전계속 »
1. Mr. Schrag stated to the investigating officer that the feeder cattle were sick when purchased. The claimant planned to cure the cattle prior to ultimate sale.
2. On the death of the second animal on July 16, 1963, Dr. C. R. Wilson, a veterinarian, performed an autopsy on it. The autopsy, according to Dr. Wilson, showed the calf died not from aromatic solvents, but from a bacteria-caused pneumonia.3
3. Pneumonia in cattle is contagious and could readily spread through a herd already sick and in a weakened condition.
4. Subsequently, Dr. Wilson treated the herd with antibiotics for pneumonia, this therapy being successful except for the few head that died. At no time did Dr. Wilson treat the herd for poisoning.
5. The smell of the solvents is so disagreeable that animals avoid drinking treated water except under conditions of acute thirst. Since the lateral is only a foot deep adjacent to claimant's premises, the exposure by wading would be very small.
6. Even if the cattle did drink the treated water, medical reports in general indicate these solvents are nontoxic. This is supported by experiments of the Veterinary Science Department at Utah State College which indicated that animals under acute thirst, after consuming a concentration of 800 parts per million, showed no ill effects.
It is a reasonable conclusion from this evidence that the cattle, being sick and in a weakened condition, contracted a bacterial pneumonia at some time prior to the use of aromatic solvents in the lateral. This disease being contagious spread throughout the herd. Claimant's allegation that this loss was caused by aromatic solvents rests solely on conjecture and speculation, and is insufficient to establish causation.
It is therefore our conclusion that the findings of the investigating officer are sound and based on evidence appearing in the record.
Accordingly, the claim of Palmer E. Schrag is denied under the Public Works Appropriation Act, 1964.
3 Specimens taken from the dead animal were tested for the presence of aromatic solvents hy the United States Public Health Testing Center in Wenatchee, Washington. Although no trace of solvent was found, the tests generally were inconclusive.
* Cambro Co. v. Snook, 43 Wash. 2d 609, 262 P. 2d 767 (1953).
MARY ADELE MONSON
Decided July 14, 1964
Oil and Gas Leases: Applications Applications and Entries: Generally Any name used by an individual, whether real or fictitious, by which she
may be known or by which she may transact business or execute contracts, may constitute her signature if affixed by that individual without fraudulent intent and if there is no doubt as to the identity of the individual, and an oil and gas lease offer in which the signed name of the offeror differs from the typed name of the offeror in the first block of the lease form is acceptable if, in fact, the signature is that of the offeror and the offer is, in all other
respects, acceptable. Oil and Gas Leases: Applications Where only one copy of an oil and gas lease offer is initially filed bearing
as a signature a name which differs from the name of the offeror typed in the first block of the lease form, within 30 days four additional copies of the offer are filed bearing the same typed name and signature as the typed name on the original form, and after more than 30 days from the initial filing five additional copies are filed bearing typed name and signature consistent with the original form, the offer should not be rejected if all of the copies of the offer were signed by the offeror, but the offer will earn priority only from the time that the last copies were filed.
APPEAL FROM THE BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
Mary Adele Monson has appealed to the Secretary of the Interior from a decision dated January 22, 1963, whereby the Division of Appeals, Bureau of Land Management, affirmed a decision of the Utah land office rejecting her noncompetitive oil and gas lease offer for the S1/2NW14 and the SWI4NE14 sec. 5, T. 27 S., R. 22 E., S.L.M., Utah.
On July 23, 1962, Mrs. Monson filed a single copy of her offer on Form 4–1158. The lease offer was a carbon copy except for the typed name of the offeror at the top of the form and the offeror's signature at the bottom. The word "original" appeared in the upper left corner of the form. The typed name of the offeror was "Mary Adele Monson," but the signature was "Mary Adele Gibbs."
On August 7, 1962, four additional copies of the lease offer, signed by “Mary Adele Monson,” were filed in the land office. On September 4, 1962, five more copies of the offer, bearing the signature of “Mary Adele Gibbs,” were filed in the land office.
The land office rejected the appellant's offer on August 2, 1962, because the “lease form designated the name 'Mary Adele Monson' as offeror in Block 1, but was signed 'Mary Godbe Gibbs.?” That decision was vacated on August 15, 1962, and on September 27, 1962,
the offer was rejected by the land office because “the offer did not comply with 43 CFR 192.42 (b) and (d).”
In appealing to the Director of the Bureau of land Management from the rejection of her offer, Mrs. Monson submitted an affidavit certifying that Mary Adele Gibbs was her maiden name and that Mary Adele Monson and Mary Adele Gibbs are the same person. She further stated that she signed the original lease offer and the additional copies that were subsequently filed.
The Division of Appeals, in affirming the rejection of the appellant's offer, held that the burden cannot be placed upon the Department to assume or determine that Mary Adele Monson and Mary Adele Gibbs are the same person, and, in view of the variation in the names on the lease offer, the offer did not comply with the requirements of the applicable regulation.
The appellant contends that the Bureau erred in construing the regulation as requiring that the signature must be identical to the typed name of the offeror. She contends that any signature, even the letter "X", would be valid if signed by the offeror with the intent to be bound thereby.
The regulations in effect when the appellant's offer was filed provided in part that:
Five copies of Form 4-1158, or valid reproduction thereof, for each offer to lease shall be filed in the proper land office * * *. If less than five copies are filed, the offer will not be rejected, if not otherwise subject to rejection, until 30 days from filing have elapsed and if during that period the remaining required copies are filed, the offeror's priority will date from the date of the first filing. If the additional copies are not filed within the 30-day period, the offer will be rejected and returned and will afford no priority to the offeror. Should the additional copies be filed after the 30-day period but before the offer has been rejected, the offeror will have a priority as of the later filing date. * * * 43 CFR, 1964 rev.,
192.42 (b). Each offer must be * * * signed in ink by the offeror or the offeror's duly authorized attorney in fact or agent. * * * 43 CFR, 1964 Supp., 3123.1(d), formerly 43 CFR, 1964 rev., 192.42(d).
The appellant's contention as to the validity of her signature appears to be correct as a general statement of law.
In general, in the absence of statutory prohibition, a person, without abandoning his real name, may adopt or assume any name, wholly or partly different from his own name, by which he may become known, and by which he may transact business, execute contracts, and carry on his affairs, unless he does so in order to defraud others * * * Contracts, obligations, and transactions entered into under an assumed or fictitious name are valid and binding, if unaffected by fraud, and if there is no doubt with respect to the identity of the person acting under the assumed or fictitious name. 65 C.J.S. Names 8 9a.
i The regulation has since been amended to eliminate the 30-day period for filing copies of an oil and gas lease offer. See 43 CFR, 1964 Supp., 3123.1(b).
July 14, 1964
Thus, the courts have held that: an insurance policy taken by W. E. Canady upon his own life in the name of A. S. Canady, a name under which he did business, was a valid and binding contract with the insurance company (North American Accident Insurance Co. v. Canady, 163 P. 2d 221 (Okla. 1945)); a deed is valid even though a person is designated by his proper name in the body of the deed but signs by a wrong name (Middleton v. Findla, 25 Calif. 76 (1864)); where a witness to a will signed the name of the decedent rather than his own, he had signed his name as witness under the statute (In re Jacob's Will, 132 N.Y. Supp. 481 (1911); contra, In re Walker, 12 Pac. 815 (Calif. 1895) (three judges dissenting)).
The Department's regulations provide only that the offer must be signed in ink by the offeror. In the absence of a specific regulation to the contrary, there is no basis for departing from the generally accepted standard as to what constitutes a signature. Thus, there appears to be no question as to the acceptability of Mrs. Monson's signature of either her maiden name or her married name on the lease offer if, in fact, she signed the forms as she has certified that she did.3
It does not necessarily follow, however, that copies of a lease offer in which some copies of the lease form bear one signature and some bear another are acceptable as "copies" under the Department's regulations.
Some courts have held that the word "copy" implies that the instrument so labeled is identical with another instrument. In re Janes' Estate, 116 P. 2d 438, 441 (Calif. 1941); Blatz v. Travelers Ins. Co., 68 N.Y.S. 801, 806 (1947). While the Department has not adapted such a rigid interpretation of the word "copy" and has permitted some minor deviations in the copies of oil and gas lease offers and has held that a document may qualify as a copy of a lease offer even though partially illegible (see A. M. Culver, John F. Partridge, Jr., and Duncan Miller, 70 I.D. 484 (1963)), it would seem that a document varying from another in such a substantial matter as the signature cannot be termed a "copy."
There is, however, a further basis which is dispositive of the case for 2 In construing that requirement, the Department has held that the regulation does not require that each of the five required copies be individually signed in ink, but it is suf fident if only one copy was directly signed in ink and the signature was impressed on the other four copies through the use of carbon paper. Duncan Miller, Robert A. Priester, A-28621 etc. (May 10, 1961).
3 It is by no means clear that all of the copies of the lease offer in this case were, in fact, signed by Mrs. Monson. Although she has stated in her affidavit of October 22, 1962, that she signed the original offer and all of the copies subsequently filed, a study of the signature causes serious doubt as to whether the copies filed on August 7, 1962, were signed by the same person who signed the initial offer filed on July 23, 1962, and the copies filed on September 4, 1962. There are marked differences in the handwriting. However, in view of the conclusions to be reached in this decision, it is unnecessary at this time to determine the truthfulness of Mrs. Monson's statement.
finding that the appellant's offer was not entitled to priority from the date of the initial filing. As has been noted above, after filing the four copies signed “Mary Adele Monson” and while the lease offer was still pending in the land office," the appellant filed additional copies signed “Mary Adele Gibbs” in conformity with the original lease offer form. The last filing, apparently, was to correct the discrepancy in the signatures and to cure a possible defect in the offer as it then stood. If the offer was defective by virtue of the variation in signatures in the original and the four copies filed on August 7, 1962, the defect was not cured until more than 30 days had elapsed after the initial filing. Priority was, therefore, to be determined from the date on which the defect was cured. James E. Menor, A-29006 (November 15, 1961); M. J. Stansbury, A-29699 (September 25, 1963). If, on the other hand, the discrepancy in signatures was not a defect in the offer, the copies filed on September 4, 1962, must still be construed as an amendment to the offer since they vary from the copies previously filed in such a manner as to indicate an intent to change a material item of the offer. In such case, priority of the offer will be determined from the date of filing of the amended offer rather than from the initial filing. See Samuel A. Wanner, 67 I.D. 407 (1960). In either event, the priority of the appellant's offer is to be determined from September 4, 1962, rather than from July 23, 1962, the date of the initial filing.
Accordingly, I find that the discrepancies in the signature having been corrected prior to action on the offer, did not require the rejection of the offer but that the offer should be considered as a pending offer with priority, at most, from September 4, 1962, until a lease is issued on an offer having higher priority.
Therefore, pursuant to the authority delegated to the Solicitor by the Secretary of the Interior (210 DM 2.2A (4) (a); 24 F.R. 1348), the decision of the Division of Appeals is modified and the case remanded for action consistent with this decision.
ERNEST F. HOM,
• As noted above, the appellant's offer was initially rejected by the land office on August 2, 1962, The decision of that date, however, was vacated on August 15, 1962. Thus, the offer had not been acted upon by the land office when the appellant filed her last set of copies of her lease offer on September 4, 1962. | <urn:uuid:d54e8575-f601-4ec8-987e-0195e96a3804> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://books.google.co.kr/books?id=LnEyAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA271&focus=viewport&vq=%22pursuant+to+the+Provisions+of+the+Reorganization+Act+of+1949,+approved+June+20,+1949%22&dq=editions:UOM39015065586706&lr=&hl=ko&output=html_text | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335303.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20220929003121-20220929033121-00398.warc.gz | en | 0.970772 | 3,141 | 2.65625 | 3 |
The Oxford Martin Programme on Nanotechnology was established at the Oxford Martin School in 2008, evolving from a project on nanoscience for medicine. The grant from the School ended in 2013. Although the programme no longer receives funding from the Oxford Martin School, Professor Contera and Dr Trigueros are actively involved in the School's community as Oxford Martin Senior Fellows.
What are we doing?
We are working at the interface of biology, physics, chemistry and engineering to create the tools to facilitate novel strategies for new treatments using nanostructures that target disease and promote healing.
Why is it important?
Nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionise the way we detect and treat trauma and disease. However, much work is needed to establish fundamental design principles and understand potential nano-toxicological effects before effective treatments can be developed.
How are we different?
We provide a catalysing network of expertise for Oxford University researchers who are working to understand the nanoscale effects of biomolecular interactions. We take both experimental and computational approaches in measuring and modelling these interactions to better develop new drug delivery techniques.
Antimicrobial resistance is common. It has developed against every class of antimicrobial drug and appears to be spreading into new clinical niches. We are designing new nanoparticle-based approaches to developing antibiotics. These new methods are expected to overcome the capacity of bacteria to acquire antibiotic resistance. We are developing new imaging methods based on atomic force microscopy (AFM) for high resolution imaging of bacterial cells, DNA and DNA-molecular motors to study the effect of antibiotic drugs at the single molecule level.
Biomaterials and medical devices constitute a $100 billion industry that improves the quality of life for millions of people. Nanotechnology has the potential to transform biomaterials by tuning their properties at the nanoscale to unlock the body's innate powers of organisation and self-repair, harnessing the regenerative capacity of tissues. We aim to understand the basic science of "biocompatibility" and use it to design novel materials tailored for their specific function. We are creating nanostructure-based nano-composites with biopolymers where we control the mechanical properties and the interface with biomolecules and biological fluids. These new surfaces and materials are studied in contact with proteins, DNA, living cells and in vitro tissue cultures.
Drug Delivery Systems
Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation are the chief methods for cancer treatments but are highly invasive, damage healthy tissue and induce severe side-effects. The aim of this project is to develop a new multimodal cell-specific drug delivery system that selectively targets cancer cells, improves drug stabilization and avoids damage of healthy tissues. | <urn:uuid:6e31e98b-a093-4ac8-a46d-ef9610ad1b31> | CC-MAIN-2016-18 | http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/research/programmes/nanoscience/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-18/segments/1461860118807.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160428161518-00184-ip-10-239-7-51.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932107 | 549 | 2.5625 | 3 |
An Introduction to Markov Processes
This book provides a rigorous but elementary introduction to the theory of Markov Processes on a countable state space. It should be accessible to students with a solid undergraduate background in mathematics, including students from engineering, economics, physics, and biology. Topics covered are: Doeblin's theory, general ergodic properties, and continuous time processes. Applications are dispersed throughout the book. In addition, a whole chapter is devoted to reversible processes and the use of their associated Dirichlet forms to estimate the rate of convergence to equilibrium. These results are then applied to the analysis of the Metropolis (a.k.a simulated annealing) algorithm.
The corrected and enlarged 2nd edition contains a new chapter in which the author develops computational methods for Markov chains on a finite state space. Most intriguing is the section with a new technique for computing stationary measures, which is applied to derivations of Wilson's algorithm and Kirchoff's formula for spanning trees in a connected graph. | <urn:uuid:a1e2a818-fd97-4399-a492-40c0c2ddfe0d> | CC-MAIN-2019-18 | https://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN9783642405235&oi=book_result&hl=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-18/segments/1555578530100.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20190421000555-20190421022555-00226.warc.gz | en | 0.927579 | 207 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Easter is celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. “First Sunday” is a margin of 7 days; “full moon” is a margin of 29 days; “vernal equinox” is a margin of 3 days. Thus Easter could be within a 39 day span, coming as early as March 22nd or as late as April 25th.
The Greek Orthodox Church does not always celebrate Easter on the same day as the Catholic and Protestant countries. The reason is that the Orthodox Church uses the Gregorian calender when calculating Easter and the Catholic Church the Julian Calender.
When the Greek Orthodox Church in 1923 decided to change to the Gregorian calendar (or rather: a Revised Julian Calendar), they chose to use the astronomical full moon as the basis for calculating Easter, rather than the “official” full moon. And they chose the meridian of Jerusalem to serve as definition of when a Sunday starts.
The one thing that has always amazed me is how Easter is based upon a floating date derived from a lunar cycle. This all seems a bit too pagan for me. One would think given its importance to Christians and Orthodox alike, it would be a date absolute.
The photo is showing a couple Greek Easter traditions; eating Easter bread called tsoureki and breaking red dyed hard boiled Easter eggs.
Thanks for reading and hopefully your Easter is filled with bliss and joy. για την υγεία σας “to your health” cvc
Thank you for reading this post. If I can ever be of help in finding you the perfect property here in the Napa Valley, please email me at [email protected]
Your Napa Valley Broker Extraordinaire, selling Real Estate here from its heart, Yountville
My website & blog: www.NapaValleyAddress.com | <urn:uuid:507199b5-2f92-43ed-99b6-9746a1c267c5> | CC-MAIN-2015-48 | http://www.napavalleyaddress.com/the-reason-why-greek-easter-does-not-occur-on-the-same-day-christian-easter-does/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-48/segments/1448398455135.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20151124205415-00091-ip-10-71-132-137.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94176 | 412 | 2.578125 | 3 |
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to identifying and presenting information associated with topic related discourse in forums such as social networks, blogs, and bulletin boards and the like that allow users to exchange information with other users.
Opinion polls, surveys, focus groups and other approaches are used in all areas of public interest, to identify how people perceive certain topics in various domains, from politics and economics to sports and entertainment. For example, political analysts use opinion polls to learn voters' opinions about politicians, the economy, legislation, and the like. Marketing agencies conduct interest groups and surveys to learn shoppers' opinions on products and services from one or more manufacturers.
In particular, vendors that spend huge amount of resources in building brand names and making them popular are interested in understanding how people perceive their brand names and associated products. People interested in analyzing how people perceive certain topics are also interested in knowing how the perception of people varies by demographic parameters such as age, gender, race, or geographic region. For example, information such as, how a product is received in the market, how the popularity of a product varies by geographical regions or demographics, all is useful to informing the vendor about the public's perception of the brand. Conventional mechanisms to obtain this type of information include surveys and focus groups.
Information obtained through surveys has several drawbacks. For example, it is difficult to get information from people who are too busy to respond to surveys although their feedback may be valuable. Surveys have predetermined questions that may already be biased by the opinions of designers of the survey. The context in which a person fills a survey is not the most natural setting for a person. For example, sometimes people are given incentives to fill out surveys, and people may be more interested in the incentive rather than presenting an honest opinion in the survey. Typically surveys provide a section for providing general comments in free-form text, but a person needs time and creativity to express their opinions clearly in such a section. Also, if a large number of surveys are collected, the surveyor is faced with the task of analyzing a large amount of free-form text to find the key information of interest.
Focus groups are another way vendors obtain information about their brands. However, focus groups are expensive to conduct, and by their nature are limited to a relatively small number of participants, dozens, perhaps hundreds. While attempts can be made to ensure that the focus group participants are representative of a target population at large, the resulting information is still not necessarily reflective of the actual perceptions of people in the general population. One reason for this is that like surveys, focus groups are by their nature highly controlled environments, and so the discussions and opinions of the individuals may reflect biases introduced by the questions presented to the focus group, or biases from the participants who are obtaining some form of compensation to participate.
A social networking website allows members to exchange information with other members of the website. Members of a social network have some form of social relationship with each other, such as being friends or acquaintances in some social context. The social networking website also stores demographic information about the members. Members communicate with other members using various messaging facilities in the social network, thereby engaging in conversations and other information exchanges. Members of social networks occasionally refer to certain topics during their communications with each other. For example, members may refer to brand names and products of vendors, politicians, television programs, movies, celebrities and the like. Such information is very valuable for analyzing these topics as they arise during ordinary discourse. The social networking website stores such communications (in the form of messages or other information exchanges, between users). The messages exchanged by the members are analyzed to obtain information associated with topics and such information is classified based on the demographics of the members contributing to the information. The resulting information represents how members of the social network actually use a topic in their normal discourse with other members, as well as how such use varies according to the members' demographics.
A list of keywords corresponding to topics is collected. The topic provider is interested in analyzing how members of social network perceive the topics in their normal discourse with other members. For example, advertisers provide a list of keywords that corresponds to brand names and products for which advertisers would like to get information regarding how members of the social network use the brand names and products. Other examples of topic keywords can be lists of politician's names, common terms associated with political, social, legal, or economic issues, or any other list of keywords or topics. Messages exchanged by the members that contain a particular keyword provided by the advertisers are identified. Various words and phrases that occur in the messages along with the keyword provided by the advertisers are collected. Certain words and phrases that occur along with the keyword may occur very frequently but may not be of importance because they may be common words that appear in most conversations. The frequency of occurrence of words or phrases that co-occur with the topics is analyzed and weighted based on estimated significance of the words or phrases. Only the significant words/phrases that co-occur with the topics called the top terms are identified for analytic purposes.
A mechanism is provided to analyze the words or phrases that co-occur with each topic in the conversations of the members based on demographic information associated with the member that contributed to the word or phrase. For example, the frequency of occurrence of a word or phrase based can be analyzed based on the age or the gender or the geographical location of the member that mentioned the word or phrase. The mechanism to analyze words or phrases associated with topics can be used with messages exchanged by members in any public forum. A public forum can be any system that allows members to communicate with each other using messages that may be visible to other members, for example, internet forums, blogs, and bulletin boards.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Analysis of demographic information associated with members that mentioned top terms associated with a topic can be displayed in graphical format that highlights the relationship between the age, gender, and usage of the top terms over time. One or more axes of the graph display demographic information associated with the users and the data points represent top terms. The demographic information presented includes aggregate demographic values, for example, average age of members that mentioned a top term or percentage of male (or female) population that mentioned the top term. The top terms may be displayed using icons such that the size of an icon in indicative of the frequency of co-occurrence of the top term with the topic. An embodiment presents demographic information including weighted average of demographic information associated with members such that underrepresented groups of members in the forum with regards to the demographic information are given higher weights. A user interface control to input a time value can be provided to allow graphical display of analytical information based on messages sent or received during different time intervals.
FIG. 1 is high-level diagram illustrating the interaction of users with the applications on a social networking website.
FIG. 2 is the architecture of the system that tracks brand related discourse in a social network.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the overall process used for collecting information based on topics using an embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the process used for analyzing and presenting statistical information associated with top terms.
FIG. 5 shows an example of a message posted on a social networking website.
FIG. 6 is an illustration of a graphical user interface showing age and gender distribution of top terms.
FIG. 7 is an illustration of a graphical user interface showing age and gender distribution of specific top terms selected by a user for topic “politics.”
FIG. 8 is an illustration of a graphical user interface showing gender distribution of top terms for topic “hip hop.”
FIG. 9-12 are illustrations of a graphical user interface showing selected top terms for topic “obama” for different time intervals illustrating how the statistics associated with top terms change over time.
- DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Social Networking Website
The figures depict various embodiments of the present invention for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the invention described herein.
A social networking website offers its members the ability to communicate and interact with other members of the website. In use, members join the social networking website and then add connections to a number of other members to whom they desire to be connected. As used herein, the term “friend” refers to any other member to whom a member has formed a connection, association, or relationship via the website. Connections may be added explicitly by a member, for example, the member selecting a particular other member to be a friend, or automatically created by the social networking site based on common characteristics of the members (e.g., members who are alumni of the same educational institution). Connections in social networking websites are usually in both directions, but need not be, so the terms “member” and “friend” depend on the frame of reference. For example, if Bob and Joe are both members and connected to each other in the website, Bob and Joe, both members, are also each other's friends. The connection between members may be a direct connection; however, some embodiments of a social networking website allow the connection to be indirect via one or more levels of connections. Also, the term friend need not require that members actually be friends in real life, (which would generally be the case when one of the members is a business or other entity); it simply implies a connection in the social networking website.
In addition to interactions with other members, the social networking website provides members with the ability to take actions on various types of items supported by the website. These items may include groups or networks (where “networks” here refer not to physical communication networks, but rather to social networks of people) to which members of the website may belong, events or calendar entries in which a member might be interested, computer-based applications that a member may use via the website, and transactions that allow members to buy, sell, auction, rent, or exchange items via the website. These are just a few examples of the items upon which a member may act on a social networking website, and many others are possible.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the social networking website 100 maintains a number of objects for the different kinds of items with which a member may interact on the website 100. In one example embodiment, these objects include member profiles 105, group objects 110, event objects 115, transaction objects 125 (respectively, hereinafter, groups 110, events 115, and transactions 125). In one embodiment, an object is stored by the website 100 for each instance of its associated item. For example, a member profile 105 is stored for each member who joins the website 100, a group 110 is stored for each group defined in the website 100, and so on. The types of objects and the data stored for each is described in more detail below in connection with FIG. 1.
The member of the website 100 may take specific actions on the website 100, where each action is associated with one or more objects. The types of actions that a member may perform in connection with an object is defined for each object and largely depends on the type of item represented by the object. A particular action may be associated with multiple objects. Described below are a number of examples of particular types of objects that may be defined for the social networking website 100, as well as a number of actions that can be taken for each object. These objects and the actions discussed herein are provided for illustration purposes only, and it can be appreciated that an unlimited number of variations and features can be provided on a social networking website 100.
A group 110 may be defined for a group or network of members. For example, a member may define a group to be a fan club for a particular band. The website 100 would maintain a group 110 for that fan club, which might include information about the band, media content (e.g., songs or music videos) by the band, and discussion boards on which members of the group can comment about the band. Accordingly, member actions that are possible with respect to a group 110 might include joining the group, viewing the content, listening to songs, watching videos, and posting a message on the discussion board.
Similarly, an event 115 may be defined for a particular event, such as a birthday party. A member may create the event 115 by defining information about the event such as the time and place and a list of invitees. Other members may accept the invitation, comment about the event, post their own content (e.g., pictures from the event), and perform any other actions enabled by the website 100 for the event 115. Accordingly, the creator of the event 115 as well as the invitees for the event may perform various actions that are associated with that event 115.
Another type of object shown in the example of FIG. 1 is a transaction 125. A transaction object enables members to make transactions, such as buying, selling, renting, trading, or exchanging with other members. For example, a member may post a classified ad on the social networking website 100 to sell a car. The member would thus define a new transaction 125, which may include a description of the car, a picture, and an asking price. Other members can then view this information and possibly interact further with the transaction 125 by posting questions about the car and accepting the offer or making a counteroffer. Each of these interactions—view, question posting, offer, and counteroffer—are actions that are associated with the particular transaction 125.
The social networking website 100 maintains a member profile 105 for each member of the website 100. The member profile contains demographic information such as age, gender, education, marital status, and financial information associated with the member. Members send messages to other members for interaction and any message that a particular member sends to another member is associated with the profile 105 of the member that sent the message through information maintained in a database or other data repository, such as the message log 160. Such messages may include, for example, a message posted on a discussion board, email communications with other members and the like.
The topic store 175 stores keywords provided by topic providers 185 that the topic providers are interested in analyzing. For example, political analysts may provide topics related to politics or sports enthusiasts may provide topics related to sports. Each topic provider 185 can provide one or more topic keywords that they are interested in tracking. The topic store 175 stores the association between the topics and the topics provider 185 that provided the topic.
One source of topic terms is those that are related to products and brands. Members of social networks occasionally refer to brand names and products of vendors during their communications with each other. This information is very valuable for vendors that spend significant amount of resources in advertising for building brand names for their products since such information arises during ordinary discourse between current and potential users of the vendors' products. This information represents how members of the social network actually use a vendor's brand names in their normal discourse with other members.
The messages sent by the members to other members are analyzed by the top terms generator 170 to identify the topics provided by topics provider 185. The top terms generator 170 extracts significant words and phrases (herein “terms”) that co-occur with the topics provided by the topics provider 185. The terms associated with the topics are ranked in order of their significance and the most significant terms, called the top terms 180 are computed by the top terms generator 170.
- System Architecture
The top terms 180 computed by the top terms generator 170 are further analyzed by the top terms analytic engine 190 in view of the demographics of the members that provided the messages that contained a given top term. This analysis contains valuable information, for example, the distribution of the use of a top term by the age and gender of the members that used the top term in a message. The top terms analytic engine 190 presents information in a graphical user interface that presents the information in an easy to understand fashion.
FIG. 2 is a high level block diagram illustrating a system environment suitable for operation of a social networking website 100. The system environment comprises one or more client devices 210, one or more topic providers 185, a social networking website 100, and a network 215. In alternative configurations, different and/or additional modules can be included in the system.
The client devices 210 comprise one or more computing devices that can receive member input and can transmit and receive data via the network 215. For example, the client devices 210 may be desktop computers, laptop computers, smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), or any other device including computing functionality and data communication capabilities. The client devices 210 are configured to communicate via network 215, which may comprise any combination of local area and/or wide area networks, using both wired and wireless communication systems.
The social networking website 100 comprises a computing system that allows members to communicate or otherwise interact with each other and access content as described herein. The social networking website 100 stores member profiles 105 in the member profile store 230 that describe the members of a social network, including biographic, demographic, and other types of descriptive information, such as age, gender, work experience, educational history, hobbies or preferences, location, and the like. The website 100 further stores data describing one or more relationships between different members. The relationship information may indicate members who have similar or common work experience, group memberships, hobbies, or educational history. Additionally, the social network host site 100 includes member-defined relationships between different members, allowing members to specify their relationships with other members. For example, these member defined relationships allow members to generate relationships with other members that parallel the members' real-life relationships, such as friends, co-workers, partners, and so forth. Members may select from predefined types of relationships, or define their own relationship types as needed.
The social networking website 100 includes a web server 220, a wall application 225, a top terms generator 170, a message logger 240, a top terms analytic engine 190, a message log 160, a member profile store 230, an application data store 235, a topics store 245, a group store 250, and an event store 255. In other embodiments, the social networking website 100 may include additional, fewer, or different modules for various applications. Conventional components such as network interfaces, security mechanisms, load balancers, failover servers, management and network operations consoles, and the like are not shown so as to not obscure the details of the system.
The web server 220 links the social networking website 100 via the network 215 to one or more client devices 210; the web server 220 serves web pages, as well as other web-related content, such as Java, Flash, XML, and so forth. The web server 220 may include a mail server or other messaging functionality for receiving and routing messages between the social networking website 100 and the client devices 210. The messages can be instant messages, queued messages (e.g., email), text and SMS messages, or any other suitable messaging technique.
The wall application 225 is an application provided by the social networking website that allows members to post messages for other members. A member can post on his or her own wall, as well as walls of the member's friends. Any friend of a member or a friend of a friend of the member or any member of the social network can see what is written on the member's wall depending on the privacy settings of the member. For example a member may post a message to the member's friend informing the friend about a movie that the member watched or about a restaurant that the member went to. FIG. 5 shows an example of a wall 500 and a posting 510 by an application called iLike as well as a posting 520 by a member's friend on the member's wall.
The message logger 240 is capable of receiving communications from the web server 220 about messages sent by members to other members such as the messages posted using the wall application. The message logger 240 populates the message log 160 with information about each message, including the text of each message, metadata associated with each message, and information that allows linking the message to the member profile 105 of the member who posted the member.
As discussed above, the social networking website 100 maintains data about a number of different types of objects with which a member may interact on the website 100. To this end, each of the member profile store 230, application data store 235, the topics store 175, the group store 250, and the event store 255 stores instances of the corresponding type of object maintained by the website 100. Each object type has information fields that are suitable for storing the information appropriate to the type of object. For example, the event store 255 contains data structures that include the time and location for an event, whereas the member profile store 230 contains data structures with fields suitable for describing a member's profile. The topics store contains data structures and fields suitable for describing the topics that the topics providers 185 would like to track. When a new object of a particular type is created, the website 100 initializes a new data structure of the corresponding type, assigns a unique object identifier to it, and begins to add data to the object as needed. This might occur, for example, when a member defines a new event, wherein the website 100 would generate a new instance of an event in the event store 255, assign a unique identifier to the event, and begin to populate the fields of the event with information provided by the member.
- Top Term Calculation
The top terms generator 170 uses the information available in the message log 160 and the topics available in the topics store 175 to generate the significant top terms 180 that co-occur with the topics in the messages. The top terms analytics engine 190 provides analysis of statistical information associated with the top terms 180 computed by the top terms generator 170 based on information comprising the demographics of the members that contributed to the top terms.
FIG. 3 describes the overall process used for analyzing top terms 180 associated with topics provided by the topics provider 185 to the social networking website. As a preliminary operation, the social networking website collects 300 messages provided by members on an ongoing basis and stores them in the message log 160. Each message stored in the message log 160 is associated with the member profile 105 of the member who provided the message. The social networking website also receives 305 topics from one or more topics provider 185 that each such topics provider 185 is interested in tracking. Each of the topics received from the topics providers 185 are stored in the topic store 175.
Given the message log 160 (or any portion thereof) and the topic store 175, the following process is performed by the top terms generator 170 for each topic (or for each of a selected subset of topics) stored in the topic store 175. The top terms generator 170 identifies 310 all messages in message log 160 that mention the topic being tracked, e.g., where the topic is included in the text of the message. This identification 310 may be done by a scan of the messages in the message log 160 or by use of an index. Naturally, each such message contains words and phrases other than the topic being analyzed. A phrase is characterized by a sequence of n words from the message called an n-gram. A phrase that is a sequence of two words is called a bigram and a phrase that is a sequence of three words is called a trigram. An embodiment of the invention collects 315 all the words and bigrams that occur in the messages that mention the given topic. Other embodiments may collect 315 n-grams with more than two words, for example trigrams. These words and phrases that co-occur with the topic in the message are called “terms.” The terms are preferably filtered to exclude stop words (e.g., preposition, articles, and the like) unless the stop word occurs as part of longer term.
The top terms generator 170 further computes 320 the co-occurrence frequency of terms that co-occur with the given topic by calculating the number of times a term occurs in the messages where the given topic was mentioned. This frequency provides a measure of the popularity of the term mentioned in conjunction with the given topic. The frequency of co-occurrence of a term with a topic is used to compute 325 a normalized frequency of co-occurrence of the term with the topic. In one embodiment, the normalized frequency is the ratio of the frequency of co-occurrence of the term with the given topic and the base frequency of occurrence of the term. The base frequency is computed 350 based on an estimate of the number of occurrences of the term in a sample of messages. Other ways of normalizing co-occurrence frequencies can be used as well.
All terms that co-occur with a given topic can be ranked 330 by their respective normalized co-occurrence frequency values. The top ranked terms are selected 335 and are deemed the significant terms of interest to the advertiser that provided the topic and are called “top terms” 180. Analysis may be performed to combine 340 terms that are likely to belong to a larger phrase. For example, a phrase including more than two words results in multiple bigrams formed by subsequences of two words that form part of the larger phrase. For example, the phrase “four score and seven” results in three different bigrams, “four score,” “score and,” “and seven.” These bigrams are not separate phrases but are parts of a larger phrase and should be associated together. The top terms analytics engine 190 performs analysis 345 of the top terms 180 associated with a topic Ti based on demographics of the authors of the messages containing the top terms 180.
One embodiment associates two terms t1 and t2 that are contained in a larger phrase by comparing the sets of members that authored the messages containing the terms. Assume that the set of members that authored messages containing t1 is S1 and the set of members that authored messages containing t2 is S2. A score called “set dissimilarity score” of the terms t1 and t2, SS(t1, t2) is computed for t1 and t2 based on the Jaccard distance between the sets S1 and S2 as follows:
|S1∩S2| is the number of elements in the intersection of the sets S1 and S2
|S1∪S2| is the number of elements in the union of the sets S1 and S2
The size of the intersection set of S1 and S2 is a measure of the number of members that mentioned both the terms t1 and t2 in a message. This number includes all members that used the two terms as part of a phrase, since a message containing the phrase must contain both the terms t1 and t2. The size of the union of the sets S1 and S2 is a measure of the number of members that mentioned either t1 or t2 or both. If the two terms are likely to occur only as part of a larger phrase and not as individual terms, the value of |S1∪S2| is close to the value of |S1∩S2| and the ratio of |S1∩S2| and |S1∪S2| has a value close to 1. The set dissimilarity score is computed by subtracting the ratio of |S1∩S2| and |S1∪S2| from 1.
Smaller values of the set dissimilarity score SS(t1, t2) indicate that the sets S1 and S2 are similar. If the value of SS(t1, t2) is below a predetermined threshold, the terms t1 and t2 are considered part of a larger phrase and are treated as one term t12. For example, the terms “four score” and “score and” may be combined into a new term “four score, score and”. The number of occurrences of the combined term t12 is determined using a heuristic computation based on S1 and S2. One embodiment uses the smaller of the two sets S1 and S2 as the member set for the merged term t12. The combined term t12 is then compared to the rest of the top terms 180 to find other terms that may be combined with t12. This process is repeated multiple times so as to combine all terms that occur as part of larger phrases or quotes.
- Presentation of Top Terms
Each occurrence of a term is associated with a message and therefore with the member profile of the member that provided the message. This correlation is used to further calculate statistical information relating the term to the demographic information of the member that provided the message containing the term. FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of the process used for analyzing statistical information associated with the top terms 180. Assuming the top terms associated with a topic Ti have been selected, the following computation may be performed for each top term. All messages containing a specific top term 180 are identified 410. This identification 410 may be done by a scan of the messages in the message log 160 or by use of an index. The member profiles of members that authored the messages containing the top term are collected 415. Based on the attributes of the member profiles such as their age, gender, geographical location and the like, the statistical information associated with the members is analyzed 420 by the top term analytic engine 190. The analysis of statistical information may be presented on a graphical display. An example of demographics based analysis of a top term is analysis based on gender of the authors of the messages that contained the top term 180. For example, information may be gathered that X % of the members that contributed to the term are male as opposed to 100−X % of members that are female. Similarly statistical information regarding the distribution of the frequency of the term based on the age of the member that provided the term can be presented.
FIG. 6 provides a graphical display of the statistical information related to terms obtained from a social networking website for a topic “Hancock”, which is the name of a movie released in the time frame during which the messages were collected. The X-axis 610 of the graph represents the distribution of the terms by the gender of the members contributing to a term and the Y-axis 600 represents the distribution of the term by the age of the members contributing to a term. The date 640 displays the time period during which messages used for the analysis shown in FIG. 6 were collected. The graphical display shows a circle 620 corresponding to each term and displays the normalized frequency of the term in the circle 620. Another embodiment can use a different icon to represent each data point. An embodiment displays different terms using different colored icons to distinguish them. The top terms 180 are displayed along with checkboxes 630 that enable the user to select a subset of the terms and redraw the graphical display based on the selected terms.
The top terms analytic engine 190 receives the data associated with the top terms 180 and determines how the data is presented. Instead of the entire list of top terms, a subset may be displayed based on selections of top terms indicated using checkboxes 630. The x-axis 610 and y-axis 600 may either display the entire range of possible values of the co-ordinates or a sub-range. If a sub-range of values of x and y coordinates needs to be displayed, the sub-range can be determined based on the x and y coordinate values of the top terms that need to be displayed. For example, if all top terms that need to be displayed occur within a small range of x and y coordinate values, the corresponding range of x and y axes can be displayed instead of the entire range. Alternatively, the ranges of the axes displayed can be determined based on user input. For example, the user may be allowed to specify a region of the graphical display that the user is interested in focusing on. The ranges of x and y coordinate values corresponding to the region selected by the user is presented in the graphical display.
For each top term 180 that is determined to be displayed, the x and y coordinate values, in the coordinate space, corresponding to the top term are calculated to determine the location of the term on the graphical display. For example, for the graphical display shown in FIG. 7, for each top term, the x coordinate is based on the percent of male members that mentioned the term, and the y coordinate is based on the average age of the members that mentioned the terms. Alternative embodiments can display a graph with axes based on other kinds of aggregate demographic values.
After determining the coordinate values associated with each top term, the pixel location corresponding to each axis is determined for each top term. This is done by scaling the coordinate value in the coordinate space relative to its corresponding axis into a pixel value, and using that as an offset from the origin of the display. For example, in FIG. 7, the age value associated with a top term is scaled to a pixel location along the y axis and the percent male population value associated with the top term is scaled to a location along the x-axis. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the term “sociology” corresponding to circle 730 is positioned to have a 44% x-coordinate value and 22 years average age value. The size of the icon used to display a top term is determined based on the frequency value associated with the top term. The available range of frequency values is divided into ranges where each range is assigned a size value for an icon. The maximum size of an icon is limited to a predetermined value to avoid extremely large icons due to large frequency values resulting in aesthetically unpleasant graphical display. The icons corresponding to the terms to be displayed are assigned a color value. The color values are assigned to icons to visually distinguish icons displayed close together or icons overlapping each other by displaying them with different colors. For example, in FIG. 8, the terms represented by icons 835 and 830 are displayed close together and hence have different colors. Similarly, the terms 840 and 850 are displayed by different colors to distinguish the two terms. However, the terms 840, 860, and 835 are represented by the same color since they are not displayed close to each other. For overlapping icons, the larger icons are placed behind smaller icons so as not to obscure them. For example, in FIG. 11, the icons 910, 1100, and 930 are overlapping. Of the three overlapping icons, 910 is the largest icon, 1100 the next largest, and 930 the smallest. The largest icon 910 is displayed behind the icon 1100 which is displayed behind the icon 930. The graph is then formatted for displaying based on the determined positions of the icons corresponding to the terms displayed. The formatted information is contained in a webpage and transmitted to a client.
Alternative embodiments may display different kind of demographic information associated with the top terms based on various ways of computing aggregate values. For example, the coordinate values for the top terms may be computed using aggregate values that give higher weight to members with under-represented demographics (also referred to as a minority group). For example a top term may be mentioned by a small number of members representing age greater than 65 years along with a large number of members within age group 25-40 years. If it is determined that the range of age corresponding to members over 65 years is under-represented, higher weight is given to those members in the calculation of a weighted average age. As a result the weighted average age of the corresponding term is higher than a value indicated by a simple mathematical average. For each axis representing an aggregate demographic value, the ranges of values are analyzed to determine under-represented ranges. The percentage of members of the forum in a range is compared to the percentage of population in the range based on a sample population independent of the forum, for example based on census data. The number of people that mentioned a top term in the above range is weighted appropriately to arrive at an estimate of the value that would be obtained if the population of the forum was an accurate reflection of the real world population. For example, if the percentage of people in a given range that are members of the forum is N %, and the percentage of people in the same range in a population sample is M %, then the number of members that mentioned a top term in the same range is multiplied by the weight N/M in the calculation of the weighted average.
Since the message logger 240 collects messages in the message log 160 on an ongoing basis, the computation of the top terms 180 and the statistical information associated with the top terms 180 can be repeated periodically. The top terms analytic engine 190 can perform trend analysis of the statistical information associated with the top terms 180 associated with a topic Ti. Such trend analysis shows how a specific kind of statistical information changes over time. For example, if a new advertisement is released by an advertiser, the advertiser can collect statistical information indicative of the effectiveness of the advertisement as well as the variation of the effectiveness of the advertisement over time.
FIG. 7 shows a graphical display of top terms for the topic “politics” with specific terms selected using the checkboxes 630. The frequency 750 of a term is displayed along with the term 730. In certain embodiments the frequency of a term is not displayed with the term but shown as a popup when the cursor hovers over the icon associated with the term. As shown in FIG. 7, the size (e.g., diameter) of the icon representing a term is determined by the frequency of the term. Hence the circle 720 corresponding to term “debate” is bigger than the circle 740 corresponding to the term “economic.” The x-axis 710 displays percentage of male members mentioning a term illustrating gender based demographic information of members. Another embodiment can display percentage of female members that mention a term along the x-axis. A person interested in analyzing the topic “politics” may be interested in several observations based on the graphical display of FIG. 7. For example, the term 730 “sociology” was mentioned by a higher percentage of female population compared to the term 740 “economic.” Also, the average age of members mentioning the term 730 “sociology” is less than the average age of members mentioning the term 740 “economic” as indicated by the y-coordinate of the corresponding data points.
FIG. 8 shows a graphical display of top terms corresponding to topic “hip hop.” The terms mentioned by members in relation to the term “hip hop” correspond to various types of music and dances. FIG. 8 shows gender preferences towards specific kinds of music or dances. The terms shown in FIG. 8 can be observed to be divided into two clusters, a cluster 810 of terms mentioned by a predominantly female population and a cluster 820 of terms mentioned by a predominantly male population. Examples of terms belonging to cluster 810 mentioned by a predominantly female population are terms 830 “ballet,” 840 “jazz,” and 850 “salsa”. Similarly, examples of terms belonging to cluster 820 mentioned by a predominantly male population are terms 860 “reggae,” 870 “rap,” and 880 “metal.”
FIGS. 9-12 show how a graphical display of top terms corresponding to a topic can be used to analyze variations of the demographic information over time. The graphical display of top terms for a topic provides a time slider 900 that allows the user to change the time period during which the top terms were mentioned. For example, date 930 indicates the end date of the time interval during which data displayed in FIG. 9 was collected and date 1030 indicates the end date of the time interval during which data displayed in FIG. 10 was collected. Alternative embodiments can use other mechanisms to allow a user to input the date corresponding to the end date of the time interval, for example, a calendar, a drop down list, or a text box for inputting the date in text form. The window length 940 indicates the length of the time interval during which data was collected.
FIGS. 9-12 illustrate how the list of top terms changes over time. For example, the term 920 “speech” appears in the top terms list in FIGS. 9-11 but doesn't appear in FIG. 12. Similarly, top term “biden” does not appear in FIG. 9, but appears in FIGS. 10-12. The size of the circle corresponding to the term 910 “mccain” representing the normalized frequency of occurrence of the term 910 increases with time as shown by FIGS. 9-12. During the time period during which the data displayed in FIGS. 9-12 was collected, the frequency of occurrence of term “mccain” as mentioned by members of the social network along with topic “obama” steadily increased. Also, as illustrated by FIGS. 9-12, during the same period the x-coordinate value corresponding to the term 910 mccain decreased from an approximate 74% (FIG. 9) to 66% (FIG. 12). This illustrates a decrease in the percentage of male population that mentioned the term “mccain” along with topic “obama,” or a corresponding increase in percentage of female population that mentioned the term. Similarly, analysis of other aspects of the demographic information associated with top terms corresponding to a topic can be performed.
FIGS. 6-12 also illustrate demographic information corresponding to age and gender of the members. Other embodiments can present different kind of demographic information associated with members, for example, ethnicity, religion, language spoken, location, and the like. Education of the members can be represented, for example, by associating a numeric value to the educational qualification based on the level of education. An example of demographic information based on geographic location is relative distance from a predetermined location, for example, the distance of a member's residence from the downtown of a city. It is also possible to display information other than demographic information, for example, the number of connections of a member may be used as an indication of how social the person is.
- Alternative Applications
Also, note that although FIGS. 6-12 display an x-axis and a y-axis representing demographic information, alternative embodiments may use different number of axes to represent demographic information, for example, a single axis representing demographic information or more than two axes representing demographic information. For example, a bar chart may display particular demographic information along the x-axis and the frequency of occurrence of the terms along the y-axis. Similarly a three-dimensional graph may be used to represent three different kinds of demographic information. A time slider or an alternative mechanism to input the time dimension can be presented with any of the above display mechanisms to analyze variations of top terms with time.
The foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purpose of illustration; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Persons skilled in the relevant art can appreciate that many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above disclosure.
Some portions of this description describe the embodiments of the invention in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on information. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are commonly used by those skilled in the data processing arts to convey the substance of their work effectively to others skilled in the art. These operations, while described functionally, computationally, or logically, are understood to be implemented by computer programs or equivalent electrical circuits, microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has also proven convenient at times, to refer to these arrangements of operations as modules, without loss of generality. The described operations and their associated modules may be embodied in software, firmware, hardware, or any combinations thereof.
Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may be performed or implemented with one or more hardware or software modules, alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, a software module is implemented with a computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium containing computer program code, which can be executed by a computer processor for performing any or all of the steps, operations, or processes described.
Embodiments of the invention may also relate to an apparatus for performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, and/or it may comprise a general-purpose computing device selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a tangible computer readable storage medium or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, and coupled to a computer system bus. Furthermore, any computing systems referred to in the specification may include a single processor or may be architectures employing multiple processor designs for increased computing capability.
Embodiments of the invention may also relate to a computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave, where the computer data signal includes any embodiment of a computer program product or other data combination described herein. The computer data signal is a product that is presented in a tangible medium or carrier wave and modulated or otherwise encoded in the carrier wave, which is tangible, and transmitted according to any suitable transmission method.
Finally, the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter. It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on an application based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodiments of the invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims. | <urn:uuid:ee0c201b-0701-416a-8009-0c9749f56aa2> | CC-MAIN-2016-18 | http://www.google.co.uk/patents/US20100169327?ie=ISO-8859-1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-18/segments/1461860123151.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20160428161523-00117-ip-10-239-7-51.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933581 | 9,424 | 3.171875 | 3 |
Following a divorce, everyone involved must adjust to new living arrangements. With children in the picture, their parents must make decisions about future parenting. Although both parents may want to stay active in their children’s lives, the conflict between them can make co-parenting difficult or even impossible.
Parents can show their children that, despite the high levels of conflict that currently exist between them, playing a role in their children’s lives is important to them. For those who want to maintain relationships with their children but would prefer not to directly expose them to ongoing conflict, parallel parenting could be an effective solution.
What is parallel parenting?
Parallel parenting refers to an arrangement that allows both of the divorced parents to participate in raising their children while remaining disengaged from each other. Due to their hostility and communication difficulties, parents have limited direct contact. With parallel parenting, mom and dad can contribute to raising their children without engaging in high levels of mutual cooperation.
How can parents communicate with each other?
Because of limited direct contact, the divorced couple will need to find ways to communicate that do not involve having in-person discussions. Some may find it helpful to use a communication notebook that travels back and forth with the child. At the end of each visit, they can write a summary of what occurred during their time with the child.
If they choose, those divorced can also send emails or texts to keep each other updated. This way, everyone can stay informed about the child’s mood, behavior and daily routine.
Is this arrangement permanent?
The court does not intend for parallel parenting to be a permanent arrangement. At least every 180 days, the court must hold a hearing to review the parallel parenting order and decide whether to continue, modify or end the order. In cases in which supervised parenting time is being phased out, parallel parenting could provide a replacement.
If classes are available, parents can attend to learn about cooperative parenting and conflict resolution. As they learn the necessary skills, divorced mothers and fathers will work toward becoming more effective co-parents. | <urn:uuid:13542771-3065-4275-a1d6-f03c633fc99d> | CC-MAIN-2020-24 | https://www.kmoserlaw.com/blog/2020/03/the-basics-of-parallel-parenting/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-24/segments/1590347411862.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20200531053947-20200531083947-00081.warc.gz | en | 0.964651 | 420 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Fusion for less than $1 billion?Published on August 4th, 2009 | By: [email protected]
According to a Technology Review story, a Canadian start-up company, General Fusion, is building on two decade-old research and advances in digital processing, using a fusion approach that is based on 220 pneumatic pistons simultaneously ramming a metal sphere containing lead-lithium liquid and injected plasma targets composed of deuterium and tritium.
By spinning the liquid metal, a vortex is created in the middle. A target is injected from each end of the vortex, which collide and create a single plasma ring.
The idea is that the pistons create a shock wave that travels through the lead-lithium towards the target. The hydrogen isotopes would then be fused into helium. The resultant neutron-driven heat energy would be captured from the lead-lithium by a heat exchanger. Part of the heat would be used to generate steam to power a turbine, and part would be used to reset the pistons. The process would be repeated each second.
The neutron production in fusion systems always generates concerns about radiation and mechanical damage, but General Fusion’s website claims they have that covered. “Because the fusion plasma is totally enclosed in the liquid metal, the neutron flux at the reactor wall is very low. Other fusion schemes struggle with a high neutron flux at the wall that rapidly damages the machine and also produces some radioactive material. General Fusion’s innovative use of the liquid metal wall provides a simultaneous solution of the multiple technical constraints needed to make fusion energy production a practical reality,” the company asserts.
This is quite a different approach than that being pursued by other more well-known efforts, such as the international ITER project, that use superconducting magnets or lasers to manipulate the plasma.
According to the story, if all goes well over the next five years – which requires both positive results from fundraising and prototypes – General Fusion will try to build a 100 megawatt unit. The company estimates the cost of this utility-scale system to be $500 million.
The technology behind General Fusion’s approach is being taken seriously. The general science was first identified at the United States Naval Research Lab. The idea of using rams to generate the shockwave was developed by General Atomic, but the computational power to control a network of pistons was unavailable in the 1980s.
General Fusion thinks it can get a prototype reactor operating for $50 million.
Back to Previous Page | <urn:uuid:5663582b-d7f3-4402-9360-23278e24105b> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | http://ceramics.org/ceramic-tech-today/fusion-for-less-than-1-billion | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257644271.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20180317035630-20180317055630-00099.warc.gz | en | 0.932669 | 525 | 3.078125 | 3 |
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, approximately one in five adults in the United States – approximately 43.8 million – experiences mental illness in a given year and approximately one in 25 adults in the United States – 9.8 million – experiences a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially interferes with or limits their ability to do normal activities.
In other words, if you suffer from anxiety or depression or another form of mental illness, you are not alone. Unfortunately, the statistics are quite as gruesome for children, and the question many of us have in health care is “Why?”
Why are so many people plagued by anxiety?
We may not have a concrete answer to this question, but it could just be that more and more people are living in large, busy cities, where noise and air pollution, high stress, business, and lack of nature are the rule rather than the exception. Indeed, observational and experimental studies have shown that noise exposure leads to annoyance, sleep disturbances, sleepiness, an increased incidence of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, and impairs cognitive performance in schoolchildren.
Air pollution has been associated with psychological distress and social isolation. Along with a lack of exposure to nature, it is not surprising that more individuals living in cities—which are usually loud, busy, crowded, and polluted—find themselves more depressed or anxious than those individuals who reside in more rural environments. If this pertains to you, don’t fret. A dose of nature might just be the best thing you can do to combat your anxiety.
Is nature really the best thing for my anxiety?
fMRI studies show that nature works by stimulating the release of feel-good chemicals in the brain like dopamine, which help you feel happier. Studies also show that the closer to you live to green space, the better you are at bouncing back from stressful situations. Immersing yourself in nature has been associated with less activity in fear centers of the brain, lower levels of stress hormones, steadier heart rate, lower blood pressure, and reduced muscle tension. You can’t get that from one single supplement!
Now, you might be wondering whether you should be moving out into the country to save your mental health. And while that is one solution, luckily, there are a ton of ways to bring more nature into your life. These tips will help soothe your nervous system, combat anxiety, and support optimal mental health:
1. Make time for nature.
Prioritize time away from your busy life to visit a national park, beach, or forest. Whether it is taking a hike for the day, camping, or luxuriating at a spa in a natural setting for a weekend, aim to do it at least once a week—or once a month if it’s a weekend.
2. Bring plants into your home.
To get a daily dose of the outdoors, bring nature into your home with plants, photographs of nature scenes, or by listening to guided meditations that involve scenes of nature. There are a ton of great meditation apps out there, and many of them incorporate scenes and sounds of nature.
3. Start a garden.
Start a garden outside or inside, taking 20 minutes a day to nurture the soil, water the vegetation, or simply admire what you’ve sown. If and when what you have created does grow or bloom, eat it! Eating something you have grown yourself will tie you closer to nature and make you feel more connected.
4. Head to the farmers market.
Spend time at farmers markets, which are held once a week in most towns or cities. Laze around, ask the farmers questions as you find out more about produce and how it’s grown. Buy the fresh fruits, vegetables, or meats for your home and savor the homegrown flavors. The closer your diet is to nature, the healthier your microbiome will be, which also has a strong influence on your mental health.
5. Take your workout outside.
Exercise, walk, meditate, or simply relax in the nearest park. Most cities have now designated parks for people to relax, play, and stroll. Take advantage of these areas with the aim of walking mindfully, while engaging all of your senses to be in the experience, for 20 minutes daily.
This article originally appeared on mindbodygreen.com | <urn:uuid:8cf0ac9c-ab48-4245-84a6-865f156ec5b5> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | https://www.drselhub.com/one-thing-anxiety-make/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446711344.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20221208150643-20221208180643-00750.warc.gz | en | 0.941725 | 898 | 2.8125 | 3 |
This is the second part of a two-articles series. In the first part, we introduced the Common Table Expression (CTE), a new feature available on MySQL 8.0 as well as Percona Server for MySQL 8.0. In this article, we’ll present the Recursive Common Table Expression. SQL is generally poor at recursive structures, but it is now possible on MySQL to write recursive queries. Before MySQL 8.0, recursion was possible only by creating stored routines.
What is a Recursive Common Table Expression?
A recursive CTE is one having a subquery that refers to its own name. It is particularly useful in the following cases:
- To generate series
- Hierarchical or tree-structured data traversal | <urn:uuid:064f92c3-e6d4-4360-a3f8-57d86d80e56b> | CC-MAIN-2022-27 | https://planet.mysql.com/?tag_search=20972 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-27/segments/1656104277498.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20220703225409-20220704015409-00709.warc.gz | en | 0.930036 | 156 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Transit-oriented development is the key to cutting energy consumption — even more so than Energy Star construction or green cars, according to a peer-reviewed study supported by EPA.
The report, Location Efficiency and Housing Type—Boiling it Down to BTUs, is summed up in the attached graph. The study examines the energy implications of the following scenerios:
1) Conventional suburban development (CSD) versus transit-oriented development (TOD)
2) Green building (Energy Star), versus conventional construction
3) Single-family versus multifamily residential units
4) Green versus conventional automobiles
No factor has a bigger impact than going from conventional suburban to transit-oriented design. Making that change alone results in a 50 percent reduction in energy use in multifamily buildings and 42 percent and 39 percent reductions in single family attached and detached dwellings. In fact, the most inefficient TOD beats the most efficient CSD in this study.
That said, green building and green automobiles make a significant contribution to reducing household energy use as well. If a typical suburban household were to adopt all four strategies — move to an efficient multifamily unit near transit and purchase a green car — they could reduce their energy consumption by 72 percent.
That scenario would suit some families but not others. Yet families don’t have to give up their choice of housing type to achieve significant reductions in energy use, according to the study, if a variety of multifamily and single family units are built near transit stations.
There are some caveats:
The study is based on national averages, so the individual family could do better or worse depending on their individual circumstances. Also, as the website Net Density points out, “Energy Star is not the most energy efficient way to build a home, but it’s relatively affordable and has large market share compared with other home rating systems.” | <urn:uuid:bda89ada-c76e-4565-a1b5-02aa25d09ab2> | CC-MAIN-2020-24 | https://newurbannetwork.com/study-transit-outperforms-green-buildings/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-24/segments/1590347439928.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20200604094848-20200604124848-00053.warc.gz | en | 0.94729 | 382 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Because they are fun and they can enhance kids' sentence formation skills.
By playing sentence building dominoes, kids not only learn new words but they become better at forming sentences and expressing thoughts.
Sentence building dominoes usually are designed for children who are 6 years old and up. They include hundreds of color-coded dominoes. The dominoes feature words, nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, punctuation marks, etc.
By exploring the dominoes, kids read new words and understand the different parts of speech. Therefore they dramatically improve their grammar and learn to express thoughts.
Which Dominoes Should You Pick?
We recommend sentence building dominoes made by company Educational Insights. They are designed for kids 6-7 years old. First of all, the dominoes are fun. Children will enjoy forming sentences using the dominoes. Second of all, the magnetic tiles can be used on magnetic boards, file cabinets or on fridges. Perfect if you want your child to start reading and forming sentences.
Finally, dominoes by Educational Insights are really well-designed. Children can literally create hundreds or sentences and even create short stories. Your kid could have a lot of fun leaving short messages on the fridge in the kitchen. For more information on the product or to order it online you can click here.
Whether you are a child care professional or a parent, if you have an experience to share or kid toys to recommend, don't hesitate to submit your comments. | <urn:uuid:24de2f56-42da-49ff-887d-899857777a5b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smart-kid-educational-games.com/kid-toys.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703592489/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112632-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941286 | 313 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Defensive Tactics in Football
Playing defense in football is somewhat unique compared to other sports. In hockey or basketball, for example, there isn’t much variety in terms of players’ respective defensive techniques. In football, on the other hand, each of the different position groups has a unique set of responsibilities, and uses different types of tactics to satisfy those responsibilities. This guide examines a few frequently-used examples of those tactics.
The blitz is easily one of football’s most commonly-known and recognizable maneuvers. Blitzing involves sending one or more players into the offense’s backfield as soon as the ball is snapped. Those players have one obligation: Get into the backfield as fast as possible and disrupt the play. Here are several key characteristics of a blitz:
- It’s used by both linebackers and D-backs.
- Though it’s designed to be a quick attack, it can be executed from several yards behind the line of scrimmage.
- Even if blitzing players don’t tackle the ball carrier, they can still be effective by pressuring the offense into a poorly-executed play.
Compared to most other maneuvers, blitzing involves a larger degree of risk; when a player is assigned to blitz, he foregoes all of his normal obligations. If the offense’s play happens to exploit that fact — or if the quarterback sees it coming — then the hole created by the blitzing player becomes a glaring weakness.
However, when the blitz works, it leaves the offense with a poorer field position and has the potential to demoralize the offense as a whole. A series of successful blitzes can also leave a QB shaken and prone to making bad decisions later in the game.
The stunt is part misdirection, part overloading attack. Here’s a breakdown of how stunts work:
- When D-linemen and LBs line up before the snap, each offensive lineman will take note of who lines up where. Offensive plays are created with certain blocking assignments in mind, so an O-lineman’s ability to block the right defensive player often determines the play’s effectiveness.
- However, if two defensive players act in an unexpected manner — for example, if two defensive tackles cross paths before engaging the offense — then it can potentially confuse the offensive line for a brief moment. In that second of uncertainty, the offensive line is vulnerable and more likely to make a mistake.
There are many different types of stunts. Some, like the scenario outlined above, are designed to disrupt the O-line’s blocking assignments. Others are designed to put a greater amount of pressure on one specific gap or area in the offensive line.
Like blitzing, though, there is a risk involved in using a stunt. For example, say the offense runs a sweep to the strong side, and the defense performs a stunt to the weak-side B gap. In this situation, the defense’s point of attack is opposite to the direction of the offense’s play, which would likely negate any possible benefit to using the stunt.
Disguising the Coverage
Any time a defensive player is involved in defending the pass, they will have one of two jobs:
- Defend a specific receiver
- Defend a specific area of the field
Though it doesn’t happen often, sometimes the defense will call for a D-lineman to drop back into pass coverage. Usually in these situations, the defense will be in a zone coverage, and the lineman will be responsible for covering an area of the field immediately adjacent to the LOS.
Some elements of the defense’s formation — the players involved, the formation being used, etc. — can unintentionally betray certain details about their pass-coverage strategy. The defense generally takes certain precautions, though, to make it harder for the offense (usually the QB) to pick up on those details. Here are a few ways the defense can disguise the pass coverage being used:
- A linebacker responsible for covering the middle of the field can charge up to the LOS as though he were about to blitz, and then quickly drop back into coverage once the play starts.
- A corner who’s about to blitz can line up immediately across from a receiver, making it look like he’s simply going to drop back into pass coverage.
Much like using a stunt, the key to disguising pass coverage is misdirection. The more effort that goes into the disguise, the more likely it will be effective enough to successfully trick the QB.
Keep the Offense Guessing
The purpose of using these types of tactics is to make it difficult for the offense to anticipate the defense’s collective actions. The harder that task is, the more likely the defense will be able to disrupt the play. The key is to use a variety of tactics and maneuvers — a good offensive coordinator will be able to pick up on any patterns in the defense’s strategy. | <urn:uuid:e11a5580-c540-453a-a073-441d369a3709> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://amfootball.isport.com/amfootball-guides/defensive-tactics-in-football | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936463679.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074103-00124-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950793 | 1,024 | 3.1875 | 3 |
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