text
stringlengths 188
632k
|
|---|
Primary liver tumors in children are rare with malignant hepatoblastoma being the most common neoplasm. In this report, we describe the diagnosis and clinical management of a large liver tumor in a 3-year-old child that displayed the features of both, conventional hepatoblastoma and malignant teratoma. Pathological assessment on a pre-operative bioptical specimen showed an immature teratoid tumor with no area of hepatoblastic differentiation present. Histological and immunhistological examination of the resected tumor specimen additionally showed tumor areas of very different differentiation pattern intermixed with each other, namely areas of hepatoblastoma-typical and neuroblastoma-like morphology as well as areas of rhadomyosarcomatous differentiation.
After chemotherapy the tumor size increased and an extended right hemihepatectomy was performed. Post-operatively, the general condition of the child improved and adjuvant chemotherapy was started two weeks later. 36 months after initial diagnosis the patient is healthy, in good general condition, and without any sign of residual tumor disease.
Overall, we describe the diagnosis and clinical management of a large liver tumor in a 3-year-old child that displayed the features of both, conventional hepatoblastoma and malignant teratoma and was designated as mixed hepatoblastoma and teratoma. Though mesenchymal tumor portions can occur within hepatoblastomas, most commonly osteoid or chondroid, our case is different as it presents a large spectrum of mesenchymal and epithelial differentiation pattern in most of the lesion.
Primary liver tumors in children are rare. The liver is embryologically derived from both meso- and endodermal tissues and, thus, can develop a wide variety of both benign and malignant neoplasms. Hepatoblastoma is the most common malignant hepatic neoplasm of childhood, representing about 75% of the primary liver tumors in children in Western countries. Hepatic (benign or malignant) teratoma is an extremely rare tumor with only single cases reported world-wide [1-4]. In this report, we describe the diagnosis and clinical management of a mixed hepatoblastoma and teratoma of the liver in a 3-year-old boy.
Clinical History and Histological Findings
A critically ill 3-year-old boy presented with a hard mass beneath the right costal margin. Magnetic resonance tomography showed a large, inhomogeneous mass measuring 10 × 9.5 × 7.3 cm with an intra- and extra-hepatic portion (fig. 1a-c) and a partial compression of the vena cava inferior, but no metastatic disease. Laboratory tests revealed an increase of liver transaminases and a strong increase of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and neuron-specific enolase.
Figure 1. MRI shows a large tumor in the right upper abdomen originating from the right liver lobe. The tumor has two main parts and seems to contain different parts of tissue. The coronal view showed that the tumor is mainly situated outside the liver (a: T2 sequence). The transversal view reveals that the ventral tumor part has a cystic appearance, whereas the dorsal part appeared more solid (b: T2 sequence). The T1 sequence after contrast application (c) showed an inhomogeneous contrast enhancement. The ventral part of the tumor is enhancing a lot, the dorsal solid part does not enhance in the lateral regions. d: Macroscopic appearance of the resected tumor specimen.
Pathological assessment on a bioptical specimen showed an immature teratoid tumor with no area of hepatoblastic differentiation present. After a 5-day PEI chemotherapy following the MAKEI 96 protocol of the German Society for Pediatric Oncology and Hematology (GPOH) AFP decreased, but the tumor size increased to 14 × 14 × 20 cm. An extended right hemihepatectomy was performed. The gross surgical specimen measured 23.5 × 16.8 × 11 cm (1915 g) with a lesion size of 16 × 14 × 11 cm (fig. 1d) and a minimal tumor-free margin of 0.3 cm. The tumor was encapsulated and macroscopically showed multiple cysts with a diameter of up to 1.5 cm, about 40% of the tumor was necrotic.
The patient recovered well and showed no signs of further tumor disease 36 months postoperatively.
Histological examination showed tumor areas of very different differentiation pattern intermixed with each other (i. e. not representing a collision tumor). Roughly, a fifth of the examined tumor displayed a hepatoblastoma-typical morphology partly resembling embryonic and fetal hepatoblastoma (fig. 2a, b). About 15% demonstrated a neuroblastoma-like morphology (fig. 2e) and 5-10% spindle-shaped areas with cross-striation being visible in single cells (fig. 2h). The remaining tumor showed necrotic tissue or grossly fibro-myxoid stroma-like areas as well as multifocally mostly cystic epithelial structures (fig. 2m). Rarely, squameous differentiation or osteoid formation (fig. 2o, p) was seen.
Figure 2. Conventional HE-staining demonstrated areas of embryonic (a) and fetal (b) hepatoblastic cells, which were positive for HepPar-1 (c). Of note, the tumor cells in the necrotic tumor portions were also focally still HepPar-1 positive (d). Other tumor areas showed tumor cells embedded into a fibrillar matrix (e) and revealed a strong positivity for synaptophysin (f) as well as partly S-100 protein (g). In other areas a rhabdomyosarcomatous tumor cell differentiation (h; insert showing focally visible cross-striation) with expression of myogenin (i), desmin (j) as well as sarcomer actin (k) was visible. Cytokeratin 5/6 expression was restricted to small foci of squameous differentiation (l). Areas of cystic epithelial differentiation (m) showed positivity for cytokeratins 7 (n) and 19 (o). Focally, osteoid formation was observed (p). (a,b,e,h,m,p: hematoxylin eosin; c,d,g,h,i-l,n,o: immunostainings with antibodies as indicated). (magnification bars a,b,i: 50 μm; c-h,j-p: 100 μm; l: 300 μm)
Immunohistochemical analysis (antibodies are listed in table 1; results in table 2) revealed expression of HepPar-1 selectively in the hepatoblastic cells (fig. 2c) including a significant amount of the cells within the necrotic tumor areas (fig. 2d) suggesting that mostly the hepatoblastic tumor portions were showing regression after chemotherapy. No expression of AFP was found in any tumor portion. The spindle-shaped cells presenting focally cross-striation (fig. 2h: insert) expressed strongly desmin (fig. 2j), sarcomer actin (fig. 2k) and partly myogenin (fig. 2i) in line with the rhabdomyosarcomatous phenotype of the cells. The gland-like structures expressed epithelial cytokeratins (KL-1), particularly cytokeratins 7 (fig. 2n) and 19 (fig. 2o) similar to bile duct epithelia. CK5/6 was specifically positive in the areas of squameous differentiation (fig. 2l). The small cell tumor component embedded in a neurofibril-like material was positive for synaptophysin (fig. 2f), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), S-100 protein (fig. 2g), and CD56, which confirmed its neuroblastic differentiation. CD-99 as well as TTF-1 (thyroid transcription factor-1) was negative. The proliferation rate was 5 to 10% except for in the spindle-cell areas, which showed an increased proliferation rate (up to 30%).
FISH analysis demonstrated no amplification of the MYCN-oncogene, which would have been an indicator of a poor prognosis.
Post-operatively, the general condition of the child improved and the first of four 10-day IPA chemotherapy cycles following the HB 99 protocol of the GPOH was started two weeks later. 36 months after initial diagnosis the patient is healthy, in good general condition, and without any sign of residual tumor disease.
Hepatoblastoma is a rare, but the most common hepatic malignancy of childhood with a peak incidence from 6 months to 3 years. The etiology of hepatoblastoma is unknown, but it has been associated with Wiedemann-Beckwith syndrome, familial adenomatosis polyposis coli, prematurity and low birth weight. Hepatoblastomas are well-defined, solid, mostly intrahepatical lesions. Lymphatic and hematogenic metastases occur in advanced disease stages with the latter mostly involving the lungs. AFP levels are nearly always elevated in hepatoblastomas and are correlated in most cases with the stage of the disease ; also the rate of decline of AFP during treatment is of prognostic value. The decrease of AFP during chemotherapy, despite an increase in tumor size in our case, is at first sight unusual, but most likely reflects a rather high chemosensitivity of the hepatoblastoma tumor portions. In the teratoma, areas kept proliferating and were hardly affected. Correspondingly, the cells in the areas of tumor necrosis were at least in part still positive for HepPar-1.
Teratomas are rare neoplasms (incidence 0.7/100.000 children/year) with tissue derivatives of all three germ layers. Teratomas mostly occur in the ovaries, the sacrococcygeal region, the testes, and the central nerval system and only rarely in other locations with less than 5% occurring in the abdomen . Teratomas are thought to have been present since birth, or even before birth, and are therefore considered as congenital tumors. In the liver, only single cases of (benign or malignant) teratomas have been described [1-4].
Our case represents a nearly unique combination of both tumor entities, hepatoblastoma and malignant teratoma in a young boy. Though mesenchymal tumor portions can occur within hepatoblastomas, most commonly osteoid or chondroid , our case is different as it presents a large spectrum of mesenchymal and epithelial differentiation pattern in most of the lesion. Obviously, the dispute whether to call such a lesion mixed hepatoblastoma and teratoma or teratoid hepatoblastoma might be mostly semantic. In our case, in which most of the lesion represented teratoma, however, we clearly prefer to talk about a mixed or combined neoplasm, namely mixed hepatoblastoma and teratoma.
The treatment of the presented mixed hepatoblastoma and teratoma of the liver was based on a combined systemic chemotherapy and surgery. Therapies of such a mixed tumor tissue have not been described yet, but children with hepatoblastomas have nowadays, due to the new therapy modalities, a rather good prognosis with a 5-year survival rate of over 70% with curative surgery being the primary treatment of all pediatric liver tumors especially in the absence of metastatic disease. Systemic chemotherapy is beneficial as metastases are detectable at diagnosis in about 20% of all patients and most children suffer tumor recurrence after surgery alone.
In summary, we report on the diagnosis and clinical management of to our knowledge the second case of a mixed hepatoblastoma and teratoma in a young boy . Clearly, this represents a rare facet of embryonic tumors within the liver. This case as well as similar cases with a very peculiar tumor biology documents the importance of adequate sampling of tumor material in all cases of heterogenous tumor differentiation in order not to miss minor, but relevant tumor portions. Management, as far as it can be estimated from a single case, appears to be along the guidelines valid for hepatoblastoma alone with, however, the caveat that the (applied) chemotherapy was only effective in the hepatoblastoma areas and not the teratoma portion of the tumor.
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
AM collected data and was the main author of the manuscript. AK helped with evaluation of the data. UB was the treating pediatric oncologist, HT the operating surgeon, WH the responsible radiologist, IL the consiliary pathologist, NS helped writing the paper and CW and TA were the local pathologists making the primary diagnosis. TA was the senior supervisor of the work performed. All authors critically reviewed the manuscript.
Indian J Pathol Microbiol 2003, 46:658-9. PubMed Abstract
Schneider DT, Calaminus G, Reinhard H, Gutjahr P, Kremens B, Harms D, et al.: Primary mediastinal germ cell tumors in children and adolescents: results of the German cooperative protocols MAKEI 83/86, 89, and 96.
Ortega JA, Krailo MD, Haas JE, King DR, Ablin AR, Quinn JJ, et al.: Effective treatment of unresectable or metastatic hepatoblastoma with cisplatin and continuous infusion doxorubicin chemotherapy: a report from the Childrens Cancer Study Group.
Armah HB, Parwani AV, Perepletchikov AM: Synchronous primary carcinoid tumor and primary adenocarcinoma arising within mature cystic teratoma of horseshoe kidney: a unique case report and review of the literature. |
Papillary carcinoma of the thyroid (PTC)
More than 80 percent of thyroid cancer patients will develop papillary-type cancer, three times as common in women as men.
You can find below:
- 1. What are the signs of the disease.
- 2. Genes in papillary thyroid cancer.
- 3. Diagnosis of the diseases.
- 4. Treatment of papillary thyroid carcinoma.
Thyroid (also known as the thyroid gland) is located in the lower part of the neck and produces hormones that influence body temperature regulation, metabolic processes, and new cell differentiation. New patients that are diagnosed each year with four major types of thyroid cancers. The most common of them (more than 80%) is papillary thyroid carcinoma. These tumors are three times more common in women than in men, and are usually diagnosed in a young population aged 30-40.
In the past the doctor would feel the neck and discover only large lumps. Today ultrasound and CT neck and chest can found mostly small nodes, some of which will not cause problems without treatment. The problem is that we do not know which tumors may grow and cause health problems, whereas tumors are “sub-clinical” and do not require treatment. Therefore, in cases where small tumors appear to be non-dangerous, our doctors try to perform the minimal treatment – the removal of half of the node, and in more advanced cases the tumor will be treated both in surgery and complementary treatment.
It is important to note that thyroid cancer is different from other cancers, in most cases the disease is not life-threatening, and after proper treatment you can come back to normal life, usually taking one pill a day of thyroid hormone.
1. What are the signs of the papillary thyroid carcinoma?
A cancerous tumor in the thyroid gland tends to develop in a subtle and slow manner. A warning be lit with the appearance of a lump in the neck or the development of other symptoms, such as hoarseness, swollen lymph nodes in the neck, difficulty swallowing or breathing, pain in the throat or neck that is not cold.
2. Genes in papillary thyroid carcinoma
Few chromosomal rearrangements were detected in papillary thyroid carcinoma. RET fusion proteins (RET / PTC family) seem to play an oncogenic role in about 20% of papillary thyroid carcinomas. In addition, NTRK1 and the MET proto-oncogene can be over-expressed and / or enhanced. Studies data also suggests that physiological growth regulators of thyrocytes, such as interleukin-1 and interleukin-8 or insulin-like growth factor-1, transforming growth factor-beta, epidermal growth factor may play a role in the pathogenesis of this cancer.
BRAF mutation in the gene is characteristic of papillary thyroid carcinoma as well. The BRAF V600E mutation is associated with aggressive clinical and pathological characteristics of papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland, including metastases to the lymph nodes, thyroid invasion, lack of response to radioactive iodine treatment and recurrence of the disease.
Radiation exposure (from radiation therapy) may cause papillary thyroid cancer based on gene expression patterns involving seven genes (SFRP1, MMP1, ESM1, KRTAP2-1, COL13A1, BAALC, PAGE1).
3. Diagnosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma.
The medical examination begins with an ultrasound, when a problem with the gland is suspected. It is important to know that thyroid links are very common and about 95% of cases are benign (non-cancerous). Therefore, only if the ultrasound test identifies suspicious factors a biopsy should be performed by means of a fine needle aspiration (FNA). It is recommended that you do not pry in lumps smaller than 1 cm, since they are usually of no health importance.
The biopsy result may be benign, suspicious of cancer or cancer. For cases where the pathology result is not unequivocal, new molecular tests are being developed to help determine if these are benign or cancerous lumps.
4. Treatment of papillary thyroid carcinoma.
When the biopsy results confirm the suspicion of a papillary cancer, individual risk is assessed. The treatment is adapted to it, considering the extent of the disease, age, and the concomitant diseases. The main components of papillary treatment include surgery, radioactive iodine therapy, Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) and, if necessary, systemic therapies. These treatments are managed by a our israel multidisciplinary team consisting of an expert endocrinologist, a thyroid surgeon, a nuclear medicine physician. Patients with advanced disease should be consulted by an israel oncologist – an expert on head and neck tumors.
Tanks to the most effective and targeted treatment, most patients with papillary disease recover from the disease (survival rate of 95% after 5 years, 87% after 20 years). Even if the disease returns with new tumors in the lymph nodes or the gland (occurring in 15% to 30% of the cases diagnosed), there is an effective treatment for the disease.
Surgery for papillary thyroid cancer (partial or total thyroidectomy)
Surgery is done under complete anesthesia. The tumor is excised with the entire thyroid gland or half of it, depending on the spread of the tumor. After complete resection of the tumor treatment with calcium and active vitamin D will be given, which will be gradually reduced for several days according to calcium tests in the blood. After complete removal of the thyroid gland, thyroid hormone therapy should be started (Eltroxine, Eutirox or Synthroid).
Thyroid hormone pills provide the body with the missing glandular hormones and ensure excellent quality of life even without the existence of thyroid gland in the body. The doctor determines the dose of thyroid hormone therapy according to the desired TSH target (a hormone that stimulates the growth of thyroid cells for growth and activity). Therefore, after thyroid cancer is removed, the aspiration is that the TSH level is low. The greater the dose of pills, the lower the level of TSH. Many patients return to work about two weeks after surgery.
Risk of recurrence after the surgery: The initial risk assessment after surgery predicts the likelihood of relapse. This assessment is based mainly on the pathological report that indicates the degree of risk: size, type of tumor, vascular infiltration, extrusion of the gland, number and size of lymph nodes, etc. It is very rare for a low risk patient to become a high risk patient during follow up. On the basis of an individual risk assessment, the doctor decides whether complementary treatment should be needed for surgery using radioactive iodine (ablation) and also determines the frequency of the necessary medical follow-up.
Radioactive iodine treatment for papillary thyroid cancer
Thyroid cells are the only cells in the body that are sensitive to iodine. After ingestion of iodine, about 99% of the body’s material is absorbed by the thyroid gland and the rest of the material is excreted in the urine. Like normal thyroid cells, papillary cells also tend to absorb iodine from the bloodstream, so radioactive iodine can be used to destroy residual cells left in the body after surgery and to follow the patient after initial treatment.
The treatment of radioactive iodine excels its ability to focus on the thyroid gland and in a small number of side effects. The treatment is given by taking a pill and then the patient must remain isolated for three or seven days (depending on the dose taken) to prevent further exposure to radioactive radiation from the body. The side effects of radioactive iodine therapy (nausea, loss of appetite, dry mouth, salivary glands) are not common, but each patient should consider the expected benefits of treatment compared to possible side effects.
After the initial treatment phase of the disease, which includes the surgery and, if necessary, radioactive iodine, the doctor adjusts the daily dose of thyroid hormones necessary for the patient. The patient continues to perform a long-term follow-up at the endocrinologist. Neck ultrasound and blood tests should be performed as well.
Precision treatment of papillary thyroid cancer
The main emphasis of our doctors now is on personalized treatment – patients with small, non-hazardous lumps will be able to undergo small surgery, and in the future may also have a local burn, and patients with more advanced disease will undergo new techniques to prevent complications, receive radioactive iodine with a preparation that will improve its effectiveness and develop new drugs for advanced disease.
Thyroid cancer is a common cancer, but usually not dangerous. The current treatment is adapted to the degree of risk of the disease, ranging from luteal resection only to surgery combined with complementary treatments for radioactive iodine, TSH suppression and systemic treatments. Under this approach we achieve healing in most patients, while minimizing side effects and maintaining the quality of patients’ lives.
Should you have any question or you want to make an appointment to one of our leading doctors please contact us at +972 54-803-4532, email: [email protected] or fill out the application form.
We will contact you as soon as possible and will be happy to help. |
Sometimes called the “winter blues,” seasonal affective disorder affects millions of people each year. Symptoms may include fatigue, oversleeping, food cravings, seasonal depression and irritability.
Causes of SAD
Modern technology could play a part in SAD. Before Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in 1879, most of people worked outside during the day and slept nine to 10 hours at night. Sunlight kept people awake during the day, and darkness helped them sleep at night. Today, however, most people work indoors, wear sunglasses when they go outside and get six to eight hours of sleep a night. For people who are prone to SAD, this absence of bright light during their waking hours can lead to fatigue and depression.
As it gets dark in the evening, a hormone called melatonin increases in our blood stream. This increase in melatonin leads to a decrease in body temperature and makes us feel tired. When exposed to bright light, our melatonin level decreases. This increases our body temperature and makes us more alert.
If you have trouble waking up in the morning, try watching the sunrise. The sunrise is 10,000 lux (a measurement of the brightness of light); indoor lighting is only 500 lux. When we stay indoors in the winter, our bodies think that it’s night. That makes some people feel tired, irritable, sluggish and…sad.
Because most of us can’t work outdoors (or watch the sunrise daily), successful treatments for SAD may include:
- Light therapy (phototherapy) using indirect bright electric light for 30 minutes every morning during the fall and winter
- Certain medications
- Behavioral therapy
Light therapy equipment available with or without a prescription
Fairview Home Medical Equipment carries light therapy equipment used to treat SAD. You can buy the equipment with or without a doctor’s prescription. In most cases, medical insurance covers the equipment cost (when prescribed by a physician). And, if you buy the equipment without a prescription, we’ll offer you a 10 percent discount.
To consult with a primary care physician, contact a Fairview Clinic near you.
For a consultation on any sleep-related concerns, contact Fairview Sleep Centers. |
The Logical Learner
The ability to solve problems mentally, to make inferences allows a person to think logically. This valuable intellectual quality helps assess situations, make decisions, separate secondary moments from the main ones, and connect facts.
Features of logical thinking
Logical thinking is a chain of thought processes that allows to trace the relationship between the objects under consideration. This intellectual ability is necessary for the person to analyze and apply in practice the received conclusions.
This type of thinking activity is formed at the age of 7 to 20 years, and it is improved throughout life.
Distinctive features of logical thinking from other types:
- Empirical knowledge. The laws of logic are based on practical information. Conclusions are made on the basis of experiments, experiences, events, facts and figures.
- Acquired innate. Logical thinking is not “born” together with a person, it is formed and developed throughout life.
Elements of logic: concept, judgment, inference
Concept is a thinking operation that unites subjects and phenomena on certain characteristics into one class. It has two main characteristics: content and volume.
Judgment (statement) – a form of thinking that denies or asserts a certain phenomenon, attitude or supposition.
Inference – a logical conclusion, the simplest reasoning made on the basis of assumptions.
Thinking processes are divided into the following varieties:
- Comparison – identification of common and distinctive characteristics of objects and phenomena.
- Abstraction – mental activity that allows to separate these or those properties of an object from others. To separate the main from the secondary, to abstract, to draw conclusions.
- Generalization – association of similar features and phenomena. It is used to identify patterns.
- Analysis – thinking process dividing the object or phenomenon under consideration into parts.
- Synthesis – unification of separate elements in the whole. Logical operation, reminiscent of puzzles.
Argumentatively arguing, finding connections, seeing the unobvious allows logical thinking. You can learn this by performing daily tasks on the development of logic.
Reading. Despite the abundance of modern books, give preference to scientific and fiction literature. Read at least 10 pages each day, analyzing each chapter. Try to predict what the protagonist will do, what this or that action will lead to before it all ends. Read the detectives, meet the heroes of Agatha Christie, Conan Doyle.
Logic games. Perfectly develop the logical thinking of chess and checkers. To win, you need to calculate the moves a few steps forward, guess what your opponent is up to. And it does not matter if there is no one among the entourage, to keep company. You can play chess on your computer or phone.Go to the site and find out morehttps://argoprep.com/blog/learning-styles-series-the-logical-learner/
Another no less popular game that develops logic – erudite. The essence of it is to make up words from a set of letters. Such a logical simulator to make the gyrus actively work.
With the benefit of time can be, solving crosswords, Sudoku, guessing puzzles, puzzles, solving riddles. All this can be found in the paper version or on the Internet. |
A man runs. He falls down. He struggles back onto his feet and he runs some more. It's a simple narrative. Even without much detail, you can understand what's going on. Pause the video, though, and the scene isn't nearly as clear. Movement makes up for the lack of other visual information. Your brain can read and understand a video at much lower resolution than it would need to make equal sense of a still frame.
Meet Jim Campbell, a former Silicon Valley engineer turned visual artist. Inspired by early Bell Labs experiments with pixelated images, and by his own engineering work with digital filters, Campbell makes art that toys with the human brain.
I first saw Campbell's work in early October, at a conference about LED lighting. He was there to teach the techie types about art--which is somewhat ironic because, in Campbell's case, art comes from a very techie place. Specifically, the November 1973 issue of Scientific American. Much of the inspiration for Campbell's current work comes from a story in that magazine, written by Bell Labs' Leon Harmon, about low-resolution images and the minimum threshold of information the human brain needs to recognize faces. The now-classic example Harmon used was a 252-pixel, grayscale portrait of Abe Lincoln.
Since the '70s, plenty of artists have worked in pixel mosaic, but Campbell was more attracted to the the question Harmon was asking: How low resolution can an image or video be before we no longer recognize what's going on?
This boxing match video--using only 88 pixels--is probably the furthest Campbell has pushed the idea. "Most people still get it, but it might take some people 10 minutes. I don't think anyone would get it at all if it were in black and white," he says. "With color you need fewer pixels total, because there's more information per pixel."
It's that extra information per pixel--particularly the information provided by movement--that makes Campbell's art understandable at all. While he's read a little about brain science, most of Campbell's theories about what's going on between his art and viewers' heads is based on simple observation and guesswork. The way he sees it, his art is tapping into a more primitive sort of seeing. "It's pretty well known that there are different parts of your brain that are just looking at movement and rhythm. Just as there are parts that only look at color or just at analytical things," he says. "I think when you take away the detail and it's just movement, the image doesn't have to be analyzed as much. It's just there. You're getting at that primal vision, the simple job of hunting and survival."
To see it in action, just look at a still image from the "Running and Falling" video. The extra information of movement makes all the difference between completely clear, and completely abstract.
The other big thing Campbell has noticed is that low-res images--even moving ones--make a lot more sense once you've put them through a filter. At the end of the boxing match video above, Campbell comes into the shot and removes a plexiglass panel, revealing the blinking LEDs underneath. Suddenly, even if you were getting the idea of a fight before, the image loses most (if not all) of it's meaning.
Filtering is important to Campbell's art. The idea is based on what he used to do, back when he was a full-time Silicon Valley engineer, with digital reconstruction filters for processing sound and images in a computer. According to Campbell, a digitized image has a "stair step" effect. It's essentially broken into a bunch of individual pieces of information that are next to each other, but not really connected. Reconstruction filters take these pieces and smoosh and blend them, combining a bunch of separate dots into a coherent whole. "I took that idea and just created an optical process, instead of an electronic one," Campbell says.
He does this in several different ways. Besides the literal plexiglass filter used in the boxing match video, Campbell has also found that simply turning the art away from the viewer can have a similar effect. That's what's going on in this last video. Campbell has a square panel, with LEDs around the edges of it. He hangs it up, with the lights facing the wall. Instead of seeing the individual dots of light, you see the smoothed out, low-resolution video projected on the wall. If you didn't know ahead of time that the piece was cycling through scenes of a fire, freeway traffic and a walk through a park, you'd probably still have trouble understanding what you were seeing. But without the filter, you'd likely never get it.
Videos and still frame used with permission of Jim Campbell. |
Simple Blood Test Could Spot Alzheimer's Risk
FRIDAY Sept. 19, 2008 -- A simple blood test to identify people at risk for Alzheimer's disease may be close at hand, according to researchers at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.
They found that blood plasma levels of a peptide called Amyloid Beta (AB42) appear to increase before the onset of Alzheimer's and decrease shortly after a person develops the disease, which may be because AB42 becomes trapped in the brain.
"To date, AB42 levels have measured most reliably in the cerebrospinal fluid, which is more difficult to collect than blood. Blood draws can be done with relative ease and greater frequency than spinal taps, which is typically the way cerebrospinal fluid is collected," study lead author Nicole Schupf, associate professor of clinical epidemiology, said in a Columbia news release.
The study was published online Sept. 8 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The finding is similar to that seen in heart attack patients, who typically have elevated lipid levels in their bloodstream before a heart attack but lower post-heart attack lipid levels, said study senior author Dr. Richard Mayeux. He is professor of neurology, psychiatry and epidemiology, and co-director of the Taub Institute of Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center.
Currently, Alzheimer's-related cognitive impairments can be monitored throughout the course of the disease, but there's no reliable method of tracking the pathologic progression of Alzheimer's.
The ability to reliably measure AB42 levels in the blood could enable doctors to predict the onset of Alzheimer's much earlier, which may help in efforts to fight the disease, according to the researchers.
The U.S. National Institute on Aging outlines the stages and symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.
Posted: September 2008 |
Mizoram is one of the smallest states in the north-eastern India having an area of only 21,000 sq. Km. It is located in the extreme North East of India bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh. The state is entirely mountainous covered with lush green vegetation. The mountains range in a North - South direction and the rivers flow in either a North or South direction. The highest peak namely Blue Mountain is only 7100 feet high and the climate of Mizoram is moderate. Towns and villages in Mizoram are mostly located on hilltops or on the upper reaches of the hills. Since perennial streams and rivers are located much below the habitations, scarcity of water in the dry season is very common. The whole state enjoys abundant monsoon rainfall during the rainy season extending five or six months in a year.
Springs on the hill slope and valleys are the main water supply sources in the villages. In the dry period the yield from springs gets reduced drastically. During the worst dry periods one has to wait long hours to obtain just a bucketful of water from the spring sources. Spring water supplemented by rainwater harvesting still remains today, the main means of water supply in many villages and outskirts of towns.
Through their skill and experience, the people living in hills and mountains of North-eastern India have developed a number of novel practices of farming, checking soil erosion, preventing landslides, and yes – of conserving water. Cropping in terraces along hill slopes is an age-old practice developed by tribal people. Tribals of Mizoram and Nagaland are expert in cutting beautiful terraces along mountain slopes. This system of cropping is beneficial in retaining fertility of soil; preventing land slides and checking soil erosion. Secondly, it is helpful in retaining the moisture of soil and conserving water, also. How are the terraced fields irrigated? Well, here is the answer.
Tribal people in the north-eastern India are expert in cutting beautiful terraces on hill slopes
The terraced fields are irrigated by a network of water- channels of bamboos that reach to every field. The terraces are graduated in so nice and scientific ways that water flows conveniently through the bamboo channels and irrigates the crop fields. Sometimes holes are made in the bamboo-pipes that facilitate the flow of water in drips. Thus the water is saved against any wastage during the process of irrigation. This system of irrigation is called as “Bamboo-drip Irrigation System”.
The Bamboo Drip Irrigation (source- CSE )
The loss of forests and less density of trees in certain regions has altered the pattern of rainfall in some districts of the North –eastern India including Mizoram and Nagaland. The water cycle in these regions has badly been altered and the sources of water have become inefficient. With the skill and experience, the people of these areas have developed a novel method of rain water harvesting and water conservation which is called as Zabo System of Rain water Harvesting.
The word “Zabo” means – impounding of water. The indigenous system of conservation of rain water in Mizoram and Nagaland, through which water is collected and stored in ponds for irrigation and other purposes, is called as the Zabo system of water conservation. The harvesting of water through this system is done by collecting rain water in catchments along mountain slopes. A Pond is dug to store water of the catchment area and all the water flowing down through terraces is facilitated to accumulate into it. The water thus accumulated in ponds is used for various purposes including irrigation. The Government of Mizoram has started a number of projects of water conservation. Rainwater harvesting and spring developments were taken up as a Government Programme. The Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission, aiming at providing drinking water to every person, sanctioned a substantial fund for rooftop rainwater harvesting tanks. As many as 198 villages in Mizoram have benefited from the scheme.
Impounding of rain water falling on terraces cut on hill slopes
The Government of Mizoram has started a number of projects of water conservation |
Windows are the worst energy thieves in a building. 30–50% of the heating costs are due to heat loss through the windows, which amounts to approximately a loss of 5000 kWh in an average house each year. In public and commercial buildings such as schools, offices and other industrial buildings, the percentage of heat loss through windows is even greater, especially if there is a lot of glass in the structure.
A new generation of smart curtains
Climate Curtains is the solution. Our curtains retain the heat energy effectively inside the building. At the same time, solar energy is harnessed and transferred into the building (as Climate Curtains function like a return valve for energy). With its automatic motorised system, Climate Curtains will cover a whole building in a matter of seconds.
How many windows are there on the planet?
Climate Curtains can be useful for many different user groups, as many different areas can benefit from this solution. Examples of these are: family homes, residential buildings, office and industrial buildings, schools and especially holiday homes, which are generally heated with electricity even if they are not in use for extensive periods of time.
Interested in joining us?
We are looking for driven individuals who are interested in investing or participating in our exciting journey. For more information about the company, the patent and our vision, please click on the button below. |
The Western Province in Sri Lanka is the most urbanised province in the country. Rapid urban growth has posed a number of problems. Ever-increasing vehicle traffic and commercial industries have contributed to increased environmental and air pollution. Food and construction are two major sources of greenhouse gas emissions, including those generated through transport. Large areas of agricultural lands have been converted for residential and commercial land uses, significantly altering natural water flows and drainage. This, coupled with an increase in average rainfall as well as heavy rainfall events, has resulted in recurrent flooding and related damages to infrastructure, utility supply and the urban economy.
With support from UN Habitat and the CDKN-Climate Development Knowledge Network, RUAF Foundation in collaboration with local and international partners such as Janathakshan, The University of Moratuwa, The University of Colombo, RUAF’s member The International Water Management Institute IWMI, the Kesbewa Urban Council and the Western Province, promotes development of urban and peri-urban agriculture and forestry as a city and provincial climate change strategy.
Key messages highlighted in the policy brief are:
- The Western Province in Sri Lanka is the first provincial government in the country to include urban and peri-urban agriculture and forestry in its climate change adaptation action strategy.
- The province is promoting the rehabilitation of flood zones through their productive use as a strategy to improve storm water infiltration and mitigate flood risks.
- It also supports local agriculture to reduce dependency on imports, to lower greenhouse gas emissions and energy requirements for food production, transport and storage, and to improve food security and livelihoods.
- Future upscaling of these interventions will need new urban design concepts and the development of a provincial climate change action plan, in parallel with a revision of local and national policies.
- Achieving this progress on policy will require improved impact monitoring and awareness raising at all levels of government, partnership and capacity building and local financing.
This brief is one of CDKN’s Inside stories on climate compatible development.
It was produced by CDKN’s project partners as part of the CDKN-ICLEI project on Subnational climate compatible development: learning from CDKN’s experience.
Please download the full brief here: Integrating urban agriculture into climate change action plans-Lessons from Sri Lanka. |
The star Arcturus is among the brightest infrared sources in the sky, which makes it possible to observe the star at very high spectral resolutions. The infrared spectrum of Arcturus serves as a standard for our understanding of red giants (Arcturus is a K0III star). A very comprehensive spectral atlas of Arcturus was published by Hinkle, Walllace, and Livingston (1995). The observed spectrum is available through VizieR. Here for convenience, I’ve converted the appendices of atomic and molecular lines into comma-separated text files and converted the line centroids into microns. Lines are at vacuum wavelengths. |
Make a Rice Paper Lantern
Lanterns have been used in Japan and China for hundreds of years—during religious ceremonies, to advertise for businesses, and to light up the home. Many people hang their lanterns outside their doorways from the roof for luck, or carry lanterns in festivals and parades to celebrate. Here's an activity that can bring the warmth and light of these lanterns into your home.
Paper lanterns make beautiful decorations and are a summer art project your child can easily make and enjoy. Your child will love choosing the right paper, stringing the lantern together, then hanging it for all to see. It's also a great experience in teaching her how to carefully measure, cut, and assemble something hand-made.
What You Need:
- Art paper or rice paper (Note: If you plan to light the lantern from within, a light-colored paper is best to allow more light through.)
- Sturdy cardboard or heavy duty card stock
- Hole punch or a thick, sharp sewing needle
- Utility knife
- Crochet or embroidery thread or thin yarn
- Optional: Small beads
- Optional: Light bulb on a long cord, found in any hardware store
What You Do:
- Cut four cardboard or card stock rectangles so they measure 12” x 6”. These will form the structure and hold your lantern together.
- For each rectangle, measure 1/2" in on all sides, and cut out the interior rectangle with a utility knife.
- Cut four rectangles from your art paper measuring 13” x 7”. These will be mounted to your cardboard, and need to be larger so you can fold the paper over and glue the structure together.
- Carefully place one of your cardboard pieces in the center of one cut piece of art paper. Fold the art paper so it overlaps the cardboard on either side. Use your ruler or fingernail to help crease the paper if needed. Be careful not to tear or wrinkle the art paper on the other side—you are mounting the paper to the inside of the lantern structure so that the cardboard won’t show.
- Trim the paper to fit neatly, then glue it to your cardboard. Repeat steps four and five with each piece.
- On the long edges of each of the rectangles, measure and draw a small dot every 2" to 4". Make sure the dots are in the same place on each of the rectangles.
- At each dot, use your hole punch or sewing needle to make a hole large enough to pull string or yarn through.
- Now you’re ready to assemble the lantern! Take your thread, and cut 4 strips that are about 40” long.
- Gather these 4 threads and bundle them. Make sure they’re of an even length. Then fold the bundle in half so all the ends line up.
- Knot your thread bundle near the fold on top to form a loop. This is the loop you’ll hang your lantern from. You should now have a thread bundle with a loop on top and with all the strands hanging down toward the ground.
- Separate the dangling strands into four groups of two. These strings will be used to thread your lantern with.
- Place two of your rectangles side by side, and lace them together with two strands of thread, just as you might tie a shoelace. Make sure to leave at least four inches in your thread from the top knot before the lacing begins to ensure that your rectangles can hang evenly.
- Repeat step two until your rectangles are all assembled. When done, they should look like a square from the top and hang together in a lantern formation!
- Make sure the lantern sides hang evenly, and tie off the ends of the strings so that the edges are secure. You can cut the ends of the strings or leave them to dangle. If you like, you can even tie beads on them for decoration.
- Optional: You can light up your lantern with by attaching a light bulb on a long cord to the inside of the lantern when you hang it. The bulb will provide a lovely ambient light when illuminated through your art paper.
Now all you have to do is hang your finished lantern from a hook in the ceiling, sit back, and enjoy! |
Concepts, Strategies and Skills Needed to Become Effective Readers
Functions and Value of Print
Perhaps the most important concept that children need to develop
is what is frequently referred to as the functions of print.
When children understand this concept, they have begun to understand
that printed language is related to oral language, that print is a
form of communication, and that print and books are sources of
enjoyment and information (Brown, 1991; Heath, 1982; Schicken-
danz, 1978; Teale & Sulzby, 1989). Children who do not understand
the functions and value of reading are unlikely to become successful
Oral Language and Listening Skills
Oral language is the critical foundation upon which reading and
writing build. Glazer (1989), Strickland (1991), and Teale and
Sulzby (1989) have all discussed the critical
importance of oral language as it relates to beginning reading and
writing. Learning the meanings of thousands of words and developing
an understanding of the way words are ordered to make sense (syntax)
are extremely complex processes that take place in oral language
development and transfer to reading and writing. Cognitive activities,
such as understanding cause-and-effect relationships or chronological
order, that are established through listening and communicated through
speaking are the same cognitive processes used in reading.
All children who enter kindergarten have some foundation of oral
language skills that can serve as a foundation for their reading and
writing. Oral language skills can be expanded and further developed
through listening activities, especially the reading aloud of stories,
and eventually through reading experiences (Galda & Cullinan, 1991;
There is a strong, significant relationship between listening
comprehension and reading comprehension. Listening to stories is
an excellent vehicle for expanding oral language patterns, for
extending thinking skills, and for building vocabulary (Eller,
Pappas, & Brown, 1988; Ellery, 1989; Leung & Pikulski, 1990).
Understandings About Language
To grow as readers and writers, young children must develop other
understandings about language, often referred to as metalinguistic
awareness. They must, for example, develop a concept of what a word is,
both printed and spoken, and know how it is different from numbers, letters,
sounds, and sentences. They must learn that print is read from left to right
and from top to bottom (Downing, 1989; Yaden, 1989).
Learning Letter-Sound Associations
To grow as readers and writers, children must also develop an
understanding of what Adams (1990) refers to as the alphabetic principle.
When first introduced to print, children often think that the printed word
is a concrete representation of an object. For example, they expect cat to be
a longer word than mouse because cats are bigger and longer than mice
(Ferreiro & Teberosky, 1982; Schickendanz, 1989). Instead, they need
to develop the idea that spoken words are composed of identifiable
sounds and, further, the idea that letters of the alphabet represent
those sounds. In order to develop an understanding of the alphabetic
principle, they must become familiar with letter forms (Adams, 1990;
Barr, 1984; Schickendanz, 1989) and with the idea that spoken words
have identifiable sounds in them -- referred to as the concept of phonemic
awareness (Adams, 1990; Griffith & Olson, 1992; Lundberg, Frost,
& Peterson, 1988; Tunmer & Nesdale, 1985).
Importance of a Rich Literacy Environment
All of these understandings and skills need to develop in classrooms
that present a rich literacy environment, one filled with books,
posters, art, children's work, and so forth (Morrow, 1989).
Go on to Appropriate Literature for Emergent Readers
Back to How Young Children Become Readers and Writers
Reading/Language Arts Center |
Education Place |
Copyright © 1997 Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.
Terms and Conditions of Use. |
Ben Evans presents at World Congress on Biosensors
The assistant professor of physics presented "An optical biosensor for point-of-care medical diagnostics" at the 24th Anniversary World Congress on Biosensors held May 27-30, 2014, in Melbourne, Australia.
Biosensors are devices that detect and report the quantity of a particular biomolecule. The most comercially sucessful examples are the home pregnancy test, which measures the concentration of the 'pregnancy hormone' hCG, and the glucose monitor, which indirectly measures glucose levels in the blood.
New generations of bioensors are able to detect an enormous variety of materials, from hazardous bacteria to pollutants. They may enable real-time monitoring of drug concentrations in patients, or may even be able to sequence single strands of DNA. These sensors will enable enormous advances in food safety, environmental monitoring, and personalized medicine.
Evans' paper decribed a new biosensing mechanism which may enable the detection of a broad range of targeted biomolecules in a platform that is both inexpensive and portable. This new device may be useful in providing rapid medical diagnostic procedures in remote regions of the world without access to diagnostic laboratories.
Work on the biosensor began as a SURE project with Elon College Fellow Jaden Wilkes '13 and continues under the efforts of chemistry major Aaron Neaves '15. |
It’s no secret that North Dakota is a flat place. Flatness does not excite sledding enthusiasts. It might be alright for fans of cross country skiing and snow shoeing, they probably prefer the flat lands. But if you want to find a decent sledding hill in eastern ND, you might have to drive a couple hundred miles. That is, unless you live near the Coteau des Prairies!
On August 16, 1839, the famous map maker and explorer Joseph N. Nicollet wrote in his journal while encamped on the shores of Sprague Lake (just south of present day Rutland): “The head of the Coteau [des Prairies] is very near us. It presents an imposing mass, beautiful to eyes which have seen nothing but plains and rolling plateaus. It is the Alps of this area.” The native of France was obviously dreaming about skiing the slopes of the Coteau des Prairies, or at least sliding with a toboggan. But alas, he would never make it back the the head of the Coteau again, in the winter or otherwise.
On Christmas Eve Day some of the Gordon Phillips Family grandkids and great grandkids took to the sledding hill next to Coteau des Prairies Lodge. It was a beautiful day for sledding at a gorgeous location. We have a beautiful sledding run out the west door of the lodge. It is perfect for kids who have extra energy to burn off on a mild winter day. For advanced sledders and speed freaks, we feature a ‘double black diamond’ run out the east door of the lodge. But beware of the moguls on the north slope, they are actually large rocks! |
It may be wise to cut down on exposure to fluoride
Fluoride has been touted for a long time as being an optimal substance to use to cut down on cavities. Although concerns have arisen about the potential for toxic effects from overexposure to fluoride, it is generally added to drinking water supplies and to tooth pastes and mouth rinses. However, recent studies indicate being exposed to high levels of fluoride may be associated with adverse health effects.
FluorideAlert.org writes that fluoride is an extremely toxic substance. For example, consider there is now a poison warning that the FDA now requires on all fluoride toothpastes which are sold in the U.S. And there have been reports of tens of millions of people throughout China and India who are suffering from serious crippling bone diseases due to drinking water with elevated levels of fluoride.
A consideration of acute toxicity, or the dose which can cause immediate toxic consequences, finds that fluoride is more toxic than lead, but slightly less toxic than arsenic. In fact this explains why fluoride has long been used in rodenticides and pesticides to kill pests such as rats and insects. Furthermore, accidents which involve over-ingestion of fluoridated dental products, which includes fluoride gels, fluoride supplements, and fluoridated water, can cause serious poisoning incidents, including death.
There are also serious concerns about the possible chronic toxicity of fluoride, or the dose of fluoride that if regularly consumed over an extended period of time can cause adverse effects.Fluoride advocates claim that the safety of fluoride in dentistry is well documented and “beyond debate.” However, the Chairman of the National Research Council’s (NRC) comprehensive fluoride review, Dr. John Doull, has stated that, ”when we looked at the studies that have been done, we found that many of these questions are unsettled and we have much less information than we should, considering how long this fluoridation has been going on. I think that’s why fluoridation is still being challenged so many years after it began.”
Fluoride exposure has been implicated as a cause or a contributor to various chronic health ailments. The union of scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Headquarters Office in Washington D.C. stated in 2001, “We hold that water fluoridation is an unreasonable risk.” A growing number of health professionals are beginning to share these concerns about the potential for adverse health effects from fluoride exposure.
The Technical University of Denmark has reported, "Extensive use of fluorinated substances with potentially harmful effects." There have been a significant number of scientific studies which have indicated that perfluorinated substances are carcinogenic or otherwise hazardous to health. In the Nordic countries, new per- and polyfluorinated substances are now being used to replace the ones which are known to be harmful. However, there remains a need for new detection methods and greater knowledge on their exposure and toxicity.
Many ordinary consumer goods contain fluorinated substances in various forms. It is believed that some fluorinated substances, such as the so-called perfluorinated substances, may be problematic to the environment and health. These substances are not found naturally in nature, and they are extremely persistent and accumulate in humans and animals.
A study which has been performed by a number of Nordic research institutions including the National Food Institute, shows the few toxicological data which are available indicates specific toxic effects on humans and on the environment. This study also shows that there are considerable knowledge gaps in regard to most fluorinated substances as to exact chemical composition which is used in commercial products, quantities which are produced and the extent of use in the Nordic market. A possible explanation may be protection of trade secrets of companies which are in the Nordic market.
Xenia Trier,Ph.D., a research chemist at the National Food Institute, has commented, “Currently we lack the methods to detect most of the commercially used fluorinated substances which can end up in food and the environment. Therefore, there is a need to develop such methods and to better understand the biological mechanisms behind the potentially harmful effects of various fluorinated substances." Generally, when a fluorinated substance is considered toxic, it will be substituted with
other fluorinated substances which have similar technical properties. It is necessary to test and understand the mechanisms which make fluorinated compounds toxic, so the mistake of substitution with another similar harmful chemical is not made.
There is some good news to consider in regard to concerns about toxicity of fluorinated substances. Because these substances are created by humans it is possible to decrease their use and thereby exposure to people. Stefan Posner, senior researcher at Swerea IVF AB and lead author of the Nordic study, has said, “There is a need for further regulating the use of fluorinated substances in consumer products both nationally and globally." In the meantime a heightened awareness of the potential for sometimes serious adverse health effects from overexposure to fluorinated substances should alert everyone to be cautious about too much exposure to these substances. |
The flashcards below were created by user
information stored about specific events
knowing how to do something or learning connections between stimuli and responses.
Factual information stored; knowledge about the world.
short term memory
type of memory that keeps information retrievable for up to 30 seconds.
It will be lost if it is not repeated or rehearsed.
It is though to be about 7 bits in length (we remember 7 things)
long term memory
Information that has been stored in the brain that has moved from STM.
It has unlimited capacity
The information is stored permanently.
The conscious, intentional recollection of past experiences or information.
remembering something without being aware of it. Automatic or unconscious form of memory.
repeatedly verbalizing or thinking about a piece of information. Increases the time short term memory can hol info by 10 sec.
categorizes memory according to length: sensory, short term and long term
involves thinking about the meaning of the term to be remembered
Level of processing model
proposed by Craik and Lockhart (1972) which rejected the idea of the dual store model of memory. This popular model postulated that characteristics of a memory are determined by it's "location"
iconicmemory = visual sensory memory
Sensory memory related to sight; lasts less than one second.
echoicmemory = auditory sensory memory
Sensory memory related to hearing; lasts less than four seconds.
Memories for texture, how something feels.
flash bulb memory
Vivid, long-lasting memories of when you first heard surprising and emotionally
Miller's Magic Number
George A. Miller argues that humans can hold 7 +/- 2 chunks of information is short term memory |
This week I had the incredible fortune of working with the teachers and students of Richmond-Burton Community High School in Richmond, IL. I facilitated two assemblies of my workshop, “The Wall,” and I led a student leadership training with an AMAZING group of young people. I also had the unique opportunity to lead a professional development session for teachers based on the feedback I had gotten from students about what could be improved in the school. The professional development was entitled, “Best Practice in Serving Diverse Student Populations.”
One of the things that I stressed in the PD is something I firmly believe about diversity in our schools: there is no social issue or form of diversity that will affect your classroom more than class. Class, indeed, is the great, oft-unspoken divider in our society. Though we like to think of our society as one built upon equality, the reality is that we live in a class-divided country (and world), and it has been that way since the U.S. was founded.
Take, for instance, the reality that approximately 13% of the American population is officially classified as living within 125% of poverty level, where a family of three earns approximately $17,163 per year (and those statistics come from 2008, a time in which the U.S. economy was doing much better than today). The statistics for child poverty are even more alarming.
Children Under 18 Living in Poverty, 2008
|Category||Number (in thousands)||Percent|
|All children under 18||15, 451||20.7|
|White only, non-Hispanic||4, 850||11.9|
SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2009, Report P60, n. 238, Table B-2, pp. 62-7. Accessed here. |
UN-REDD Highlights Key National Legal Issues for REDD+
30 April 2013: The UN Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD) has released a publication, titled ‘Legal Analysis of Cross-cutting Issues for REDD+ Implementation: Lessons Learned from Mexico, Viet Nam and Zambia.' The purpose of the report is to identify key legal issues impacting REDD+ and highlight lessons learned and messages from legal reform and development in the case study countries.
The report is based on three country-level assessments of REDD+ legal preparedness as well as national stakeholder consultation workshops. Main conclusions include: the need to recognize customary rights; the importance of clear definitions of forests and REDD+; and the value of cross-sectoral approaches to addressing deforestation and forest degradation.
The report also stresses the importance of addressing contradictory laws in order to ensure harmonization across sectors and levels of government, as well as the need to enhance institutional coordination, stakeholder participation, and both public and private investments in REDD+.
Finally, the report explores issues related to decentralization, benefit sharing and national priorities for further legal analysis or reform in the focus countries. [Publication: Legal Analysis of Cross-cutting Issues for REDD+ Implementation: Lessons Learned from Mexico, Viet Nam and Zambia] [UN-REDD Press Release] |
An explanatory sequential mixed method design was employed. This is particularly true with regard to quantitative research techniques for two reasons: first, scientific and lay cultures are quite enamored by quantitative research techniques and tend not to look deeply at the design and mechanics of such procedures, and secondly, it is inordinately easy to design a quantitative research effort badly. This is why mixed methodology is often the direction of choice allowing the researcher to achieve the best of both worlds. For example, constructing an effective survey with closed-ended questions about how people fall in love would be difficult. I operate using a different theory, according to which financial markets cannot possibly discount the future correctly because they do not merely discount the future; they help to shape it.
Because the data is straightforward, the results can be easily compared with other data. Moreover, it was concluded that factors such as heavy workload, stress and problems with managing work-life balance are associated with the auditing profession, especially by respondents working within Big Four audit firms in Malta. The lancet, 358 9280 , 483-488. But what does a qualitative researcher do? In Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change in Bangladesh: Processes, Assessment and Effects Springer Theses. A researcher may be looking at the health outcomes for the children of low income families living in a particular neighborhood. Benefits of Quantitative Research In addition to providing researchers with a fast and efficient way of studying a large sample size, quantitative research yields objective results.
. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, the peer of reflexivity in the field of physics, is also relevant in this context. The use of IoT has a mediating role in the model. A problem or question is examined by deductively forming a hypothesis derived from theory. Some dissertations and research studies take a mixed method approach, which incorporates qualitative and quantitative methods in different phases to obtain a broader perspective. Placement testing is a crucial issue in Japanese universities. However, the following introductory video, A Brief Introduction to Research Design, offers a brief explanation of each method and a comparison.
The interviewer plays a vital role in the investigation. The first objective of the study is, therefore, to examine how far the course objectives are reflected in the contents of the existing tests. Reasons being, either the officials have changed or the development scenario have changed from too effective to minimal effective or vice versa. Qualitative research creates openness during research. It can explain why a particular response was given. To determine whether or not these trends exist at the group level, researchers must use a large sample size to compare results to other groups in the population.
Most people know that quants are somehow engaged in and portfolio evaluation. Given the unique benefits of qualitative research methods e. It records and analyzes feelings, behaviors and attitudes, thus covering the issue in depth and detail. Quantitative results indicated significantly greater self-oriented perfectionism compared to other-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism. This study indicated that administrators could make valid Japanese university students' placement decisions with this test. Therefore, it is evident that within these two phases, there likely to have limitations which are beyond our control Simon 2011.
Quantitative Disadvantages While quantitative research methods work well in the laboratory under tightly controlled conditions, measuring phenomena like human behavior in natural settings is trickier. Among these two research paradigms, the quantitative one is dominant in the context of language testing and assessment research. While the necessity to sample a large population size can be a benefit of quantitative research, it can also be a negative factor. In many developing countries, interested parties e. Dissertation and scholarly research: Recipes for success, Seattle, W. Lastly, the data that researchers collect through quantitative research can be put to future use by creating campaigns and programs targeted to the studied group.
Nominal and ordinal data can be either string alphanumeric or numeric. This is more powerful an easy to deal with than those questions that focus on what, when and how much. Improper representation of the target population As mentioned in the , improper representation of the target population might hinder the researcher for achieving its desired aims and objectives. Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Handbook of research for educational communications and technology, 1196-1212. Beyond being Margaret Mead, that is, what role is left to a qualitative researcher? Researchers might take surveys of citizens, for example, to determine the presence of certain behaviors and attitudes in relation to the broader public. Some of these researchers like to be known as qualitative researchers; others like to be regarded as quantitative researchers.
It is ideal for understanding the relationship between a dependent and an independent variable. This type of research is planned carefully in order to ensure complete randomization and correct designation of control groups Morgan 1980. Drawbacks include relatively rigid methods and lack of behavioral analysis on subjects. This enables the researcher to collect more accurate data because the answers are first hand and there is room for clarification. Scientific research adopts qualitative and quantitative methodologies in the modeling and analysis of numerous phenomena. The three main types of research design methods are qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods.
Hypothesis is proven with few experiments due to which there is ambiguity in the results. But most people — particularly experts —- are blind to black swans. This paper explores the institutions and governance structures for coordinating transactions and interdependences between actors in linked value chains of wastewater treatment and crop production. Interpretivism is, therefore, characterized as a postmodern research philosophy. Mary Dowd is a dean of students who holds a doctorate in educational leadership from Minnesota State University. Students and researchers of different disciplines — such as sociology, psychology, health care, nursing, education, arts and humanities, and so on — employ qualitative methods for their research project.
Key Words: Argumentation - Constructs - Reliability - Technology -Testing —Validity. Secondly, the study makes an assessment of how well these tests measure the abilities they are intended to measure. She is fluent with data modelling, time series analysis, various regression models, forecasting and interpretation of the data. Quantitative methods are used to examine the relationship between variables with the primary goal being to analyze and represent that relationship mathematically through statistical analysis. Each step is standardized to reduce bias when collecting and analyzing data. |
Each year slips, trips and falls result in thousands of preventable injuries. The most common ones are musculoskeletal injuries, cuts, bruises, fractures and dislocations, but more serious injuries can also happen.
Over the 12 years between 2003–15, slips, trips or falls:
- caused the death of 386 workers
- led to 23% of serious claims
- were caused by environmental factors* 56% of the time.
Environmental factors can include slippery surfaces following rain or spills, poorly designed or maintained walkways, poor lighting on stairs and walkways and trip hazards for example from poorly stored materials.
Slips, trips and falls: a definition
- Slips occur when your foot loses traction with the ground surface due to inappropriate footwear or walking on slippery floor surfaces that are highly polished, wet or greasy.
- Trips occur when you catch your foot on an object or surface. In most cases people trip on low obstacles that are hard to spot such as uneven edges in flooring, loose mats, open drawers, untidy tools or electrical cables.
- Falls can result from a slip or trip but many occur during falls from low heights such as steps, stairs and curbs, falling into a hole or a ditch or into water.
Types of injuries
Table 1: Most common injury locations
|Body area||Injury numbers||% of all slips, trips and falls|
|Back—upper or lower||3,000||12.6%|
PCBUs must manage health and safety risks associated with slips, trips and falls by eliminating the risk so far as is reasonably practicable. If that is not possible, you must minimise risks so far as is reasonably practicable.
For more information on the risk management process see the model Code of Practice: How to manage work health and safety risks, Identify, assess and control hazards and our fact sheet Slips and trips at the workplace and the model Code of Practice: Managing the risk of falls at workplaces.
The model Code of Practice: Preventing Falls in Housing Construction also provides useful information for this sector.
Tips for eliminating hazards
You should consider the design of floors, stairs, lighting, drainage and storage.
Work procedures can also impact on the incidence of slips and trips. For example, develop procedures that avoid the build-up of rubbish throughout a production process.
When selecting and buying footwear, think about whether it has good slip resistance properties along with any other safety features you need. For example:
- In wet conditions the shoe sole tread pattern should be deep enough to help penetrate the surface water and make direct contact with the floor.
- In dry conditions the shoe sole tread pattern should be a flat bottom construction that grips the floor with maximum contact area.
- Urethane and rubber soles are more effective than vinyl and leather soles for slip resistance. Sole materials that have tiny cell like features will be slip resistant.
A risk analysis and strong policy around what is acceptable footwear for the job being performed will help prevent slips, trips and falls.
SWA is not a regulator and cannot advise you about slips, trips and falls in the workplace. If you need help, please contact your state or territory work health and safety authority. |
PublicationsBack To Publications
Movement on the MarginsLivelihoods and Security in Kitgum District, Northern Uganda
The protracted conflict in northern Uganda has created profound insecurity, brought the widespread loss of agrarian livelihoods, and pushed nearly two million people into internal displacement camps. With the current cessation of hostilities between the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army and the government of Uganda, many people are increasingly on the move in northern Uganda, whether moving in and out of camps on a daily or seasonal basis, moving between camps and semi-settled villages, or returning to their pre-war homes.
Central questions: How do households maintain themselves under these conditions? How do they adapt their livelihood strategies to ensure the household members survive? What mechanisms do individuals, households and communities employ in an effort to ensure physical safety?
The report uses field data collected during research with conflict-affected households in Kitgum district to examine these and other questions.
- How movement, social networks, gender and age influence and shape household strategies to ensure survival and to improve levels of human security.
- Why people stay in camps, leave camps, re-enter villages or re-establish villages.
- How different categories of people have developed livelihood and protective strategies to meet their needs and the needs of their households, identified though a careful gender and generational analysis.
- Where protective strategies are working and why, where they fail and why, and who is at heightened risk when these strategies fail.
The report ends with a forward-looking conclusion that underscores the study’s main findings and reflects on how these findings can be applied to on-going and future work in northern Uganda. |
Graphics can be used to brighten up any web page, adding pictorial content to enhance the viewer's experience. Creating graphics for your web page can be done through many different software applications that can be purchased either online or in the store. However, before purchasing software designed to create graphics for web pages, check the system requirements to ensure that the application will work properly once you install it on your machine.
The particular application that you use will depend partly on the operating system, hard disk size, and RAM that you have for your computer. It will also depend on your budget and the specifications for the graphics that you are looking to embed into your web site.
Additionally, it is possible to obtain graphics for your web page from a diverse assortment of online resources including icons, animations, images, wallpaper, clip art, and more. Specially designed web templates are also available for those computer users who prefer to obtain something ready made.
In addition to web page graphics, web page backgrounds can be used to enhance the look of your web page. Backgrounds for web pages come in an assortment of textures, designs, patterns, bordered, and themes. Web graphics encompasses a wide array of buttons, banners, ornamental bars, special fonts, and more that can be used to spruce up the look of a web page.
Two basic types of graphic images are often used in the creation of web page graphic. These include vector based and pixel based. Vector based graphics utilizes a text-based language that details what is drawn. Pixel based graphics use small dots to create bitmap-based images.
Popular software applications that are used to create web graphics include InkScape, CorelDraw, Freehand, and Adobe Illustrator. Gimp is another site that provides freely distributed software for GNU Image Manipulation Program. This software can be used to change image composition, photo refinishing, and more. Certain software applications include graphics for the web.
Some graphics are available to the public for no cost. In some cases, it is necessary to provide credits if required by the original owner or creator of the graphics. A number of graphic tutorials are also available online that will teach users how to create and edit web graphics of all types.
It is possible to hire a graphics designer's services to create a specialized look for your web page. Customized graphics often take a great deal of time and expertise. Anyone who decides to go this route should obtain the details such as fess and the estimated time needed in writing. This might be the best route for someone who is developing a professional web site.
Selecting web graphics is a very personalized decision. Classes are offered both online and offline to teach individuals both the basic as well as the finer points of graphic design. Learning how to use graphics to enhance your web site can be fun as well as educational. |
Past and Present
by Janet McNeilly © 2002
21 October 2003
An officer of the sheriff, a land steward acting on behalf of the Landowner or Landlord.
A fellmonger was a remover of hair or wool from hides in leather making.
A person who worked on an estate and protected the game and livestock from poachers.
GREAVE or GRIEVE
Bailiff, foreman, sheriff.
1 Street seller who cried his wares in town.
2 Often applied to country peddlars as a term of abuse.
3 Itinerant dealer who carried his wares on his back.
1 A household or domestic servant.
2 In Scotland a skilled farm labourer.
HOSTLER / OSTLER - cares for horses, stableman, groom.
A tenant farmer who cultivated the land.
A craftsman who had served an apprenticeship and was no longer bound to serve a master.
A person who attended a woman for a month after giving birth.
1 A person who worked clay into puddles.
2 A person who worked with puddle to make things water tight e.g. canal walls.
3 A person who worked in puddling iron.
A wool stapler.
WOOLCOMBER ( Taken from Family Tree magazine November 1996 Vol 13 no 1)
Woolcombing was part of the process of worsted manufacture. In the manufacture of woollen textiles the raw wool was carded to lay the tangled fibres into roughly parallel strands so that they could be more easily drawn out for spinning. Wool used for worsted cloth required more thorough treatment for not only had the fibres to be laid parallel to each other but unwanted short staple wool also had to be removed. This process was called combing. It was an apprenticed trade, a seven year apprenticeship being the norm in the mid 18th century with apprenticeship starting at about the age of 12 or 13.
The comb, which was like a short handled rake, had several rows of long teeth, or broitches - originally made of wood, later of metal. The broitches were heated in a charcoal fuelled comb-pot as heated combs softened the lanolin and the extra oil used which made the process easier. The wool comber would take a tress of wool, sprinkle it with oil and massage this well into the wool. He then attached a heated comb to a post or wooden framework, threw the wool over the teeth and drew it through them repeatedly, leaving a few straight strands of wool upon the comb each time. When the comb had collected all the wool the comber would place it back into the comb-pot with the wool hanging down outside to keep warm. A second hank of wool was heated in the same way. When both combs were full of the heated wool (about four ounces) the comber would sit on a low stool with a comb in each hand and comb one tress of wool into the other by inserting the teeth of one comb into the wool stuck in the other, repeating the process until the fibres were laid parallel. To complete the process the combed wool was formed into slivers, several slivers making a top, which weighed exactly a pound. The noils or noyles ( short fibres left after combing) were unsuitable for the worsted trade so were sold to manufacturers of baize or coarse cloth.
1 A freeholder, the next class down from the gentry.
2 An assistant to an official.
3 A ships officer in charge of stores. |
Definition - What does Gross Income mean?
All income received by a taxpayer before deductions for taxes.
Testopedia explains Gross Income
Gross Income and taxable income are different levels of income. Gross income is all income received before tax deductions such as mortgage interest, and other standard deductions. Taxable income is used to assess a person's tax liability. |
Salters Horners Advanced Physics
The Salters Horners Advanced Physics (SHAP) course development began in January 1996. For the first time, another Livery Company, the Horners’ Company, joined Salters in sponsoring a curriculum development project.
Salters Horners Advanced Physics is a context-led course placing students’ learning in the environment and in situations in which physics is met in real life. In total there are eleven context areas through which the physics is developed. The examinations, and indeed the course materials, point to other places in which the same physics is used.
Edexcel examines SHAP as the context-led approach within the Edexcel GCE Physics specification. Topics covered in the Course each start with a context storyline or contemporary issue that is related to the modern world and the application of Physics. Physics principles are introduced when required to aid understanding of the storyline so that the theory always has an obvious relevance.
The Salters Horners Advanced Physics Project
Science Education Group
Alcuin D Block,
The University of York
York, YO10 5DD
Tel: 01904 432601
To learn more about the resources and to order a free evaluation pack, visit the Pearson website >
Alternatively ring customer services on 0845 630 333
Assessment for students following SHAP is provided by Edexcel. Since 2008, Edexcel has operated a single asessment scheme for SHAP students and for students following other routes to AS and A-level physics. For full details of the Edexcel specification and assessment scheme, and support and training available from Edexcel, visit the Edexcel website. |
Subversion is a popular version management system which is similar to CVS – only better in features. If you are looking for a quick crash course in using Subversion(SVN), then this can help you.
Here is a comprehensive tutorial which teaches the new linux user – who has always used GUI tools to do his stuff. It starts with a nice example which can make a complex C++ program to find out how much space each user uses into a simple one line bash command. Just go and learn shell programming which can really improve productivity.
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs(popularly known as 6.001) has been an important subject in MIT. There has been a text book which has been followed by many universities around the world. If you wanted to know how to program using Lisp/Scheme, then this book is a must have for all the Computer Science Students. Here are a set of video lectures for the book. There are 20 lectures – each about 500mb totalling to around 10GB of video.
You might have used a variety of online services to maintain your todo list. But there are variuos reasons to use a text todo file which is stored on your own PC. You just have to use a single
todo.txt file which contains your list of items. Todo.txt shows you how to maintain your todo list.
The file contains one item per line. The items can be categorised under variuos projects using the tag p:project. For eg. if I want to categorise a particular item under college, then I tag it as p:college. There are also contexts which show when/where the particular item has to be done. Eg. if I have to make a phone call, then I would tag it as @phone.
An example todo.txt file may be
write blog entry about todo.txt p:fslog
clean up room
call broadband provider for connection @phone
The site also has shell files which can be used to maintain the todo.txt files. You can download them and use it to maintain your own todo list. One advantage of using the text files are that you could just grep the file to find what tasks are pending.
I told previously that I would spend the holidays learning Ruby and Rails, for Rails Day 2006. But, unfortunately I couldn’t learn much to build a really nice app in Rails. And Rails Day 2006 has finally ended. I think the prime reason for my failure was that it was difficult for me to get to learn Ruby. I have been a python guy and love the whitespace and clear syntax it provides. I mean, why should there be two ways to run a simple loop or a if condition.
Also I see no use for blocks. It just makes reading someone’s code more difficult. But thats not the case with python. The code is easier to understand. Infact I could easily learn the language less than a week(even less).
So, here I am trying to stay with Python and try my hand at some of the web frameworks.
UnixLite is a lightweight unix/linux compatible operating system written in C++. Just like Linux, it is just a kernel – written from scratch and most of the part is written in C++. However the library used by UnixLite comes from uClibc and applications running comes from the GNU project. UnixLite kernel implements some frequently used system calls of linux, furthermore, it is binary compatible with linux, and some GNU software have been ported to unixlite.
Due to the small size(the kernel is made up of about 20000 lines of code) and the object oriented programming using the c++, the kernel becomes more modular and easy to understand.
- Support paging and flat memory model, nearly same as linux
- Implements about 80 posix compliant system call
- Binary compatible with linux
- Able to run bash/gcc, and some other common UNIX tools
- Very rudimentary TCP/IP support, able to run a simple http server
- Very small, about 20000 lines of code
- Written in c++, highly modular and extensible
- Minix’s 32-bit file system
Webrick is the built-in Ruby web server that is the default for each Rails app you create or download
Of late I have been using SciTE, a lightweight text editor available for both Windows and Linux. It is based on Scintilla – a free source code editing component for Win32 and GTK+. It features syntax highlighting for many popular languages and also automatic indenting of source code. Also you can export the source code into many formats like: |
Caleb is currently attending Covenant Theological Seminary in St. The Trivium for Today But, as homeschoolers, we have a unique and God-given window of opportunity to rectify matters in education, at least for our own children. Our limited cognitive processing capacity is being bombarded in many directions with data and limiting our ability to correctly process this information. Teachers and scholastics have found these seven and their general order to be of great utility. At this critical time in history, the common twelve-year educational paradigm cannot begin to prepare your children for the calling on their lives. Times and seasons are understood by contemplating astronomy. We could call it the public square, where the public meets to discuss the usual topics of the day: the weather and harvest.
To the ancients, the focus of the Trivium was language used in pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness. All they asked of the high schools was the pursuit of knowledge and the exercise of the mind in the cause of judgment. Erasmus himself wrote several on the. ××× ××× ××× ××× ××× ××× ×× ×× ×× ×× ××. In it, she suggests that each subject in the curriculum be divided into its grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric stages; and it is true, since the trivium describes the laws of learning, that each subject has a grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric aspect. Before the Prussian model, students were given large chunks of time to study a single subject: Greek and Latin grammar.
Consequently, when information overload occurs, it is likely that a reduction in decision quality will occur. If you can get children in this stage to sing or chant something, they will remember it for a lifetime. This new ideal of man, influenced by the Romans, would continue into medieval education and from it would come the ultimate man, the rhetorician. In my opinion, Steiner gives helpful information where we do not see the many dualistic tendencies that modern scholars place on Greek education. Written in 1159 and addressed to Thomas Becket, John of Salisbury's The Metalogicon presents—and defends—a thorough study of the liberal arts of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The quadrivium-the classical curriculum-comprises the four liberal arts of number, geometry, music, and cosmology. These branches are like rooms in a magnificent garden in which we should daily stroll.
To learn another language, grammar and structure are essential. Students learned history and literature by way of Greek and Latin grammar, as they read for practice things like Caesars De Bello Gallico Concering the Gallic War and Homers Iliad and Odyssey, and other works. We are charged to be good men and true. When I got into Freemasonry, I got an introduction to the Trivium and the Quadrivium through Geometry but it was not something that most of the Freemasons I came across actually seriously studied. They continue to attract our attention today. How could one effectively understand or be inspired by geometry if one did not know how to use his arms and legs properly? Together, the and the quadrivium comprised the seven based on thinking skills , as distinguished from the practical arts such as and. Greek was not studied during the Middle Ages, for the most part.
Over the next several weeks, I hope to provide you with a brief historical outlook on the development of the quadrivium education taught in the medieval period as part of a liberal arts education. In the beginning there was The Trivium The Trivium comes from the Latin for Three Vias or roads. The maids congregate around Wisdom. He plans on majoring in History and working in the public policy field. There is no moral relativity here.
We will look at the origins of its four subjects, how it was Christianized, and then we will explore how it would have looked in the medieval university. It is the knowledge grammar now understood logic and being transmitted outwards as wisdom rhetoric. Logic gives us the ability to think rightly and arrive at valid conclusions, which develops our reason used in mathematics, science, and in evaluating what we read in history, literature, etc. In looking at the medieval concept of the trivium, then, C. As we improve in rhetoric, we captivate the hearer with both the strength of our arguments and the beauty of our expression. This is not why a liberal arts education was originally developed. If you were indentured as an apprentice, you were not free to study what you wanted.
In turn, the Quadrivium prepared students for the pinnacle of educational studies—the pursuit of philosophy which was then inseparable from science and theology. Caleb Skogen is a graduate of Lee University. We are charged to polish and adorn the mind by studying them. Rhetoric colors words -- it gives what we have to say, built by grammar and dialectic, structure and style. This leads us to a second print, which also is German from about the same time.
For the most part, a liberal arts education in America has been hijacked into a career-oriented education where students are more prepared to receive the feelings of security than they are ready to be good citizens. Grammar has been the first study of children from antiquity, and the term grammar school, commonly used in the past, still means a childs first school. It is believed that Pythagoras lived in Egypt for over twenty years and was educated within the Egyptian temples. Many readers will recognize elements of this book: parts of speech, syntax, propositions, syllogisms, enthymemes, logical fallacies, scientific method, figures of speech, rhetorical technique, and poetics. The Trivium consists of Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic. They are expected to write persuasive essays, research papers, and original poems and short stories and to engage in policy and Lincoln—Douglas debates. |
What did the Han created that was more advanced than what was being produced in Rome?
1 Answer | Add Yours
This is an interesting question and not easy to answer, because of historial issues. Anytime you deal with ancient societies, things get tricky. Here are few things that the Chinese built around this time:
1. Part of the great wall of China.
2. Some military innovations such as the battering ram.
3. Some say the compass.
4. Mandarin Chinese language,
5. Mini hot air balloons.
Now the question is whether these were more impressive than what the Romans built. If I had to take a guess, I would say that the only two things that the Chinese made that probably exceeded the Romans are: (1) The Great Wall of China (probably more impressive than Hadrian's Wall. (2) Mandarin Language.
In the end, they were both great civilizations.
Join to answer this question
Join a community of thousands of dedicated teachers and students.Join eNotes |
This month, the 7th grade classes were in charge of crops for F2T. Students spent time working with Ms. Flaig on finding the perfect crops to withstand the chilly October and November temperatures. Students researched different varieties of greens and radishes to plant for this month’s harvest. We planted a variety of things including Dwarf Siberian Kale, French Breakfast Radishes, and Kohlrabi. The students harvested the crops and created posters, table readings, and presentations about our growing process. The crops were used to make a Spring Green Salad and a Vegetable Stir Fry! |
- 1) Alternative spelling of dryer.
- 2) Any substance that accelerates drying.
- 3) Catalyst used to promote the drying of paints and varnishes by oxidative crosslinking.
- 4) One who, or that which, dries; that which may expel or absorb moisture; a desiccative.
- 5) (Paint.) Drying oil; a substance mingled with the oil used in oil painting to make it dry quickly.
- 6) Comparative and superlative degrees of dry.
- 7) One who or that which dries or is used in drying.
- 8) comparative form of dry: more dry
- 9) of dry, a.
- 10) ofdry,a.
- 1) Any other device, household or industrial, designed to remove water, or humidity.
- 2) A household appliance that removes the water from clothing by accelerating evaporation, usually though heat and a tumbling motion.
- 3) An electric hair dryer.
- 4) An appliance that removes moisture by heating or another process.
- 5) See drier.
- 6) an appliance that removes moisture
- 7) US Alternative spelling of drier.
- 1) In the drier lands to the east, the clearance of the forest to make way for cattle had caused catastrophic soil erosion.
- 2) They could hear the drier voice of Justice Page behind them, instructing the gentlemen of the jury.
- 3) As the ground grew even drier and rougher, Maram's sorrel slowed his pace even more.
- 4) kukum hot-air drier, the Chula copra drier, the Seychelles Calirifre, or the oil-fired hot-air drier marketed by M/S Premier Engineering Company at Cochin (India).
- 5) Had to go appliance shopping yesterday – our 14-year-old drier is in the process of giving up the ghost.
- 6) Without frequent rains such soils become droughty and don't offer much growth potential in drier times of the year, ie, summer.
- 7) Paspalum pulchellum, Tonina fluviatilis and Utricularia subulata and in drier areas the grasses Fimbristylis paradoxa and Declieuxia fruticosa with palm thickets Acoelorraphe wrightii and Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis, 20-25 m tall.
- 8) Salient but unanswered question – for those of us living in drier country, will a toilet tank provide the necessary tidal frisson?
- 9) With global warming likely to create long-term drier conditions here in the Northwest, we can probably expect to see slow trends away from water-intensive cash-crop human chow like sweet corn and towards towards less lucrative, but less thirsty crops.
- 10) Agaves are often mistakenly classed as cacti, leading many people to refer to tequila as "a drink made from cactus", but while both agave and cacti species thrive in drier, more arid conditions, agaves are botanically unrelated to their thorny bedfellows.
- 11) Bassists like to use the terms drier and more bite to describe this phenomenon.
- 1) They went downstairs and he was going round and round the tumble dryer.
- 2) Behind the scenes, the washing machine or the dryer is always whirring away.
- 3) Dry using the diffuser nozzle on your hair dryer.
- 4) Which tumble dryer you buy also makes a difference.
- 5) The washing machine and dryer were neatly tucked away under the stairs.
- 6) Better to stay home and watch the spin dryer.
- 7) Life in the clothes dryer gets stifling.
- 8) Does this spell curtains for the trusty tumble dryer?
- 9) It resembles the inside of a clothes dryer.
- 10) Yet he had great difficulty sleeping and could only sleep at times with the motor of a hair dryer running near his bed.
- 11) It also has a washing machine and a dryer, an oven and a microwave.
- 12) Better switch that hair dryer off, sir.
- 13) Well, you can buy a more efficient tumble dryer.
- 14) But as he leant against a clothes dryer, lightning struck.
- 15) I think boss gave u the hair dryer!
- 16) If buying a new tumble dryer, think about one with a sensor that switches off when the laundry is ready.
- 17) I still can't look at a working tumble dryer.
- 18) Fewer buttons, more thoughtful design, such as a clothes dryer that reduces wrinkles in shirts and a wine cooler unit in the fridge.
- 19) A HOUSE caught fire when a can of hairspray left next to a hot hair dryer blew up.
- 20) I stripped off and invited the others to do the same so that I could put their clothes in the dryer.
- 21) Socks getting lost in the dryer is a commie fascist plot!
- 22) The conditions where a person lives might dictate whether a dryer is the best way to go too.
- 23) Talking to an insurance agent I recently found out that too much lint in the dryer is the number one cause of home fires.
- 24) Plus, what happens in a conventional dryer is also steam on this view, making all dryers steam dryers.
- 25) Bad news: I think the washer as well as the dryer is kaput.
- 26) I plug back in (I cant even tell if it worked because I am behind the stinking dryer) and I attempt to climb back over with no success (I have the bruises to show from my midnight dryer dance) FINALLY I get out and thank goodness the dryer is fixed!
- 27) Also, the guy to fix the washer and dryer is coming this afternoon. rikibeth, this means Indian food for lunch instead of sushi.
- 28) A dryer is typically the second-biggest electricity-using appliance after the refrigerator, costing about $85 to operate annually.
- 29) My dryer is 25 years old and when I open the dryer door it still keeps on spinning.
- 30) ‘The bathrooms are fully tiled while the fitted kitchens have a full range of appliances including washing machines, dryers and integrated hobs and ovens.’
- 31) ‘Many of the laundromat's washing machines and dryers are near the front of the building and appear to have avoided damage.’
- 32) ‘Then I returned to the laundry and found the dryer was done tumbling, but the heating element had failed.’
- 33) ‘Most newer refrigerators, dishwashers, washing machines, and dryers let you reduce the energy they consume.’
- 34) ‘Kitchen items, clothes, washing machines, and dryers must be disinfected with bleach, and all surviving interior surfaces should be cleaned to prevent mold growth.’
- 35) ‘There are two washing machines and two dryers and all users pay.’
- 36) ‘Mr O'Connor's support team are still looking for a washing machine, a dryer and a colour TV.’
- 37) ‘The adjoining utility room has further storage units and is plumbed for a washing machine and dryer.’
- 38) ‘We slept in twin bedded rooms, with sheets and duvets provided, and the bathrooms were stocked with soap, towels, hair shampoo and dryers.’
- 39) ‘I've never really worked a washing machine or dryer before, so I wasn't quite sure just what to do.’
- 40) ‘Maybe someday computers will last as long refrigerators, washers, driers or other home appliances - but not today.’
- 41) ‘In American homes, natural gas is used in furnaces, stoves, water heaters, clothes dryers, and other appliances.’
- 42) ‘Often-overlooked sources of interior heat gain are lights and household appliances, such as ovens, dishwashers, and dryers.’
- 43) ‘I'm thinking I'll cut the laundry shelf in half, get the dryer mounted on the wall and put the dishwasher underneath it.’
- 44) ‘All refrigerators, dishwashers, and dryers display an energy guide label indicating the annual estimated cost for operating the appliance or a standardized energy efficiency ratio.’
- 45) ‘According to the U.S. Department of Energy, electric clothes dryers use more energy than most other home appliances.’
- 46) ‘When I grew up in the 1950s, only the wealthy owned color TVs, clothes dryers, stereos, dishwashers and disposals.’
- 47) ‘Commander McQuade said that winter was a peak time for house fires because people were using heaters and dryers.’
- 48) ‘Electrical dryers are expensive and unaffordable to most small farmers.’
- 49) ‘Gas dryers are less expensive to operate than electric dryers.’
- 50) ‘The nonaqueous media include linseed or stand oils, dryers, varnish, alkyds, molten wax, organic solvent-based acrylic, epoxy, stains, and lacquers.’
- 51) ‘In fact, any such improvement conferred on the paint medium was probably due to the incorporation of driers into the oil used in the varnish production.’
- 52) ‘She sat William down in the seat next to Amy and told him about the paints and the dryer.’
- 53) ‘For solvent-based paints, mildewcides, driers, and antiskinning compounds are added.’ |
Cholangiohepatitis is a common form of liver disease that can affect cats of any age or breed. Cats with this disease develop
inflammation of their liver and bile ducts (small vessels within the liver) that is sometimes associated with other concurrent diseases. Inflammation is an invasion from the bloodstream of different types of white blood cells that are active in the immune system. Cholangiohepatitis is classified as either an acute disease (termed suppurative) or a chronic disease (non-suppurative). Younger male cats seem to get acute cholangiohepatitis more commonly than female cats.
The liver is responsible for a variety of important functions including the metabolism of carbohydrates and fats, the synthesis of proteins and vitamins, the storage of vitamins and iron, the production of substances necessary for blood clotting, and the removal or breakdown of toxins. Because the liver is involved in many crucial biologic functions, a cat with liver disease may show a wide variety of symptoms. These may include lethargy, anorexia (loss of appetite), weight loss, weakness, jaundice (yellowing of the skin, eyes and gums), vomiting, diarrhea and behavioral changes. Some cats are diagnosed early in the course of the disease before they develop clinical signs.
The suspicion that a cat is suffering from liver disease is confirmed by physical examination, a thorough history including diet and medications, comprehensive bloodwork and abdominal ultrasound. The definitive diagnosis of cholangiohepatitis requires a biopsy of the liver. A biopsy can be performed surgically, via laparoscopy, or through the skin using a special needle under ultrasound guidance. Ultrasound-guided biopsies regrettably are not as informative as surgical or laparoscopic biopsies. The information obtained from the biopsy is necessary to determine the type and severity of liver disease, as well as allow an assessment of your cat’s prognosis and outline appropriate treatment options.
Some cats with cholangiohepatitis have concurrent chronic pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas) and/or inflammatory bowel disease (inflammation of the stomach and small intestines). When a cat has all three diseases simultaneously, it is termed “triaditis”. There are special blood tests that help your veterinarian determine if your cat might have this combination of diseases. Often, small biopsies of your cat’s intestines are obtained at the time of liver biopsy for analysis.
Treatment of cholangiohepatitis can be complex and is determined by the severity and type of disease process in the liver as well as the other associated organs. Hospitalization, intravenous fluid therapy, and supportive care may be necessary in severe cases. Acute cholangiohepatitis is often treated with longer term antibiotics, medications to help support liver regeneration, antioxidants and sometimes other supplements. Medications commonly used for chronic cholangiohepatitis include immunosuppressive or anti-inflammatory medications in addition to the medications listed above. Treatment plans for cats with other concurrent diseases, such as chronic pancreatitis or inflammatory bowel disease, involve a combination of medications and diet that help treat each of these disease processes.
The liver has an amazing ability to regenerate itself if the underlying disease can be treated. Cats with an infection of the liver can fully recover with the appropriate long-term treatments. The prognosis for cats with chronic cholangiohepatitis is more guarded. Some cats can be clinically healthy for long periods of time while other cats can have intermittent episodes of illness. Most cats require close monitoring by a veterinarian for the remainder of their lives. This might include periodic physical exams with blood work, changes in medications, and occasionally repeat diagnostics, such as an abdominal ultrasound.
For more information on this subject, speak to the veterinarian who is treating your pet. |
O'Hara, Frank 1926–1966
American poet, playwright, and art critic. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 9-12, rev. ed.; obituary, Vols. 25-28.)
O'Hara had the ability, and the power, to use in a poem whatever occurred to him at the moment, without reflection. It is not that he lacked selectivity or discrimination, but rather that his poems grew out of a process of natural selection—discrimination conjoining civility of attention—so that any particle of experience quick enough to get fixed in his busy consciousness earned its point of relevance. He was always, in the painter Willem de Kooning's words, "out buying some environment."…
[His] is a poetry of nouns and pronouns; the verbs often doubtful, in quotes, adornments after the fact (for the names contain actions), or simply useful connectives, reduced to prepositions….
He wrote quickly, revised little but, as his manuscripts show, brilliantly. He had an inventor's sense of when to be tactful and when to be ruthless towards his inspiration. Reading his poems, you find yourself participating in a number of intricate calculations made at breakneck speed. Things add up and cancel out—a new trigonometry of the emotions with each poem. The poet does not deduce, but he is thinking. You are getting the language first-hand, where it begins to be put together in the mind. The words are impetuously themselves, caught on the surface, newly amplified, with new resonance.
One learns from O'Hara how to think a poem through word-by-word to the point where the graph (or ellipse) of a set of perceptions is utterly exposed. With him, composition was a matter of performance, of "staying on the boards." The trick was to maintain a voice, to give it enough force, or gusto, so that the lyric occasion might absorb all contradictions and interruptions—subject to both the poet's will and his fancy. The voice he invented is readily identifiable. It abounds with personality, revealing personal habits of inflection, irritability and jauntiness. On the other hand, it does not seem affected or eccentric; its peculiarity is the peculiarity of authenticity….
As to subject, the "confessional" is his mode—at least that is the outward stance. The "confessional" involves a strong autobiographical tic, straightforward (hopefully) revelation, uniqueness bounding towards universality. Few can attempt it without going haywire. But there is little verse that can be called "lyric" that stands up without it….
Part of his method had to do with Surrealism. But he never "did" Surrealism. He wasn't a buff of the unconscious (he kept from taking naps, he said, because he disliked dreaming) and paranoia (his or anyone else's) generally irritated him. What he learned of Surrealist tactics he applied to his vision of the "personal," to his ideas of what an artist should be, and to what he might do to encourage the flow of inspiration….
O'Hara's sense of tradition, of the good old American-eclectic brand, could be corrupted as little by Surrealist lab-work and "azur" as by Beddoes or "bad Keats." He called Whitman his "great predecessor." An early notebook shows studies of Ronsard, Heine, Petrarch, Anglo-Saxon charms, Rilke, Jammes. There were imitations of Coleridge, translations of Hölderlin, a liking for lines out of Garbo movies, for "Mi Chiamano Mimi" and Das Lied von der Erde. The sly courtliness of his love lyrics (even their occasional nastinesses) found affinities with Wyatt and the "silver" school; his candor looks first to Archilochus and Catullus, then to Blake and Joyce. Pasternak (that torrential sympathy) became a hero, tempering sharpness of invective (Rimbaud and Mayakovsky). He overtakes Baudelaire for disgust, closes in on Verlaine for delicacy. Yeats and Eliot were admired from afar; he didn't buy their principles but he knew what they had done. Rather, he accepted Williams as a master and Stein as a deep source of inspiration, although he might argue that the latter's writings were not really poetry. He once said that Auden's poem 1929 (beginning "It was Easter as I walked in the public gardens") showed him the possibility of writing down one's metropolitan experiences in a manner neither sentimental nor dreary….
The lavishness of some of his poems is almost unbearable. We labor under an indigenous half-sense, always "boiling things down to brass tacks," that mixes metaphors daily and hates ideas. O'Hara openly defied this zombie-nature, casting abstractions all over the place as accomplished facts in the mind….
Frank had a fabulous scope—atypical in a parochial age. The effect of his presence, like that of his work, was to shake us loose from obviousness and affectation, to prompt us to think with every gesture, to be impatient with our tragical conventions.
Bill Berkson, "Frank O'Hara and His Poems," in Art and Literature, Spring, 1967, pp. 53-63.
O'Hara was probably the first poet to ignore taking the traditional step away from undigested daily experience in order to refine it into formal art. In brief, he was the first and he remains the best of the poets of the impure…. [Reading] … an O'Hara poem [is] usually like trying on a new pair of glasses. What had been dim or ignored out of habit or prejudice or preconception suddenly [becomes] incandescent with poetry….
Wit is another part of his example and legacy. Again, O'Hara's edgy, sometimes corny but always very genuine wit is as commonplace as the time of day or the mildly good high one can feel at a cocktail party. It is, as he might say, "real."
At other times, however, O'Hara hides behind a kind of adolescent Wow! and smarty-pants posturing and fails to get at or get across the complex of feelings which clearly originated the poem. Instead, he remains entangled by New York chic and hysterical activity—an acting-out of feelings on the page instead of an exploration into their reality. But at his best, the man speaking in many of O'Hara's poems possesses that rare quality: charm.
Paul Carroll, in his The Poem in Its Skin, Follett-Big Table, 1968, pp. 221-22.
During the halcyon days of the Abstract Expressionist and Imaginative Realism movements, Frank O'Hara was the laureate of the New York art scene. From his posts as critic for Art News and curator at the Museum of Modern Art, he moved as a mercurial presence through the galleries and the studios of such painters as De-Kooning and Larry Rivers, writing monographs about the new masters, encouraging the young, amusing with his talk—and dashing off his poems at odd moments with an insouciance that was legendary. A fascinating amalgam of fan, connoisseur and propagandist, he was considered by his friends, in an excess of enthusiasm, the Apollinaire of his generation, an esthetic courtier who had taste and impudence and prodigious energy….
Because he is at heart a sentimentalist, O'Hara strives for a "clear architecture of the nerves" and half succeeds. Between the lines of his prankish behavior and his celebrations of love and art and friendship, of "all dear and singular things," one reads a plaintive anxiety. The brittle, decorated surfaces of his poems, the droll humor, cloak a Pierrot who is easily wounded. As a distant cousin of the Dadaists, he indulges a talent for spoofing all that intimidates him: the fear of death and failure, the loss of love. But daily ordeals, like hallucinations, break down the witty protocols the poet has built up for self-protection….
By a cruel whim of fate, O'Hara died young. The pleasures of the "Collected Poems" confirm his place as one of our best minor poets.
Herbert A. Leibowitz, "A Pan Piping on the City Streets," in The New York Times Book Review (© 1971 by The New York Times Company; reprinted by permission), November 28, 1971, pp. 7, 28.
Frank O'Hara's work has already influenced a generation of young poets; some of those who are not poets may find it hard to judge the importance of what he has done when critics so often mistake solemnity for seriousness, obscurity for profundity, and the expression of pain for intensity of feeling. O'Hara's poems are buoyant, exuberant, wild, personal, open in troubling and trouble-some ways, sometimes humorous, often about seemingly ordinary or trivial things, and radically original in form. They are the result of an unfamiliar aesthetic assumption: that what is really right there, in the poet's thoughts, fantasies, and feelings, is what is richest in possibility and worth the most attention. Beginning with whatever is there, if one's feelings are stirred by it, is the best way to get anywhere—
That's not a cross look it's a sign of life but I'm glad you care how I look at you….
The honesty and immediacy of the poems are communicated in a verse which has seemingly learned plainness from Williams, variety from Pound, grandeur from Whitman, and music from all three; the result is a poetic line with more capability for drama, more flexibility, and more delicacy in rendering nuances of the speaking voice than any I know in modern poetry….
Frank O'Hara wrote his poems quickly, unexpectedly stirred by something he was thinking or feeling, often when other people were around. The speed and accidental aspect of his writing are not carelessness but are essential to what the poems are about: the will to catch what is there while it is really there and still taking place….
The form of Frank O'Hara's poetry is flexible and consistently experimental—flexible, to accommodate the poem to whatever is taking place; experimental, perhaps for a number of reasons, among them to help awaken, by strangeness of form, new perceptions while he is writing.
For all their use of chance and the unconscious, Frank O'Hara's poems are unlike Surrealist poetry in that they do not programmatically favor these forces (along with dreams and violence) over the intellectual and the conscious. He must have felt the power and beauty of unconscious phenomena in surrealist poems, but what he does is to use this power and beauty to ennoble, complicate, and simplify waking actions. His poems are like atoms for peace rather than for war; he brings unusual powers to everyday activities….
Along with his brilliant intellect and his wide-ranging knowledge of music, dance, art, history, and philosophy, Frank O'Hara had an ability to fantasize himself to be almost anybody, anything, anytime, anywhere; and he also had an unusual gift for friendship and for love, for identifying himself with, and for transforming other people and their concerns. None of which detracted of course from his passionate concern about himself and his own life, and about all this he was always thinking, meditating "in an emergency." It was always an emergency because one's life had to be experienced and reflected on at the same time, and that is just about impossible. He does it in his poems. The richness of his perceptions gives the poems their characteristic dazzle….
Historically, his work seems to me to represent the last stage in the adaptation of twentieth-century avant-garde sensibility to poetry about contemporary American experience. In its music and its language and in its conception of the relation of poetry to the rest of life, it is a poetry which has already changed poets and others, and which promises to go on moving and changing them for a long time to come.
Kenneth Koch, "All the Imagination Can Hold," in The New Republic (reprinted by permission of The New Republic; © 1972 by Harrison-Blaine of New Jersey, Inc.), January 1 and 8, 1972, pp. 23-5.
As a literary artist [Frank O'Hara] was a sort of latter-day Chekhov on the New York scene. When we read O'Hara we are going along and everything seems very casual, but as we come to the end of the poem we hear the gunshot of The Sea Gull. There is no time to analyze, to evaluate. We are faced with something as definite and real and finite as a sudden death….
Unlike Auden or Eliot, who never stopped writing for the undergraduate, Frank O'Hara dispenses with everything in his work but his feelings. This kind of modesty always disappoints culture, which time after time has mistaken coldness for Olympian objectivity.
Morton Feldman, "Frank O'Hara: Lost Times and Future Hopes," in Art in America, March-April, 1972, pp. 52-5.
[It is ironic that] O'Hara's poetry, largely ignored by the Establishment during his lifetime, should win the National Book Award for 1971…. For the New York poets, O'Hara is the Hero: he is invoked, eulogized, and openly imitated on page after page, and his untimely and bizarre death at the age of forty-two has prompted a flurry of O'Hara elegies….
Until very recently … O'Hara was regarded as something of an enfant terrible, a Pop Poet who claimed, in his "Personism: A Manifesto," that "I don't even like rhythm, assonance, all that stuff. You just go on your nerve."… The Collected Poems belies this brash assertion at every turn. O'Hara was nothing if not learned. His command of language and verse forms, his knowledge of European literature rivaled not only Lowell's but Eliot's and Pound's; he could, when he wanted to, write fine sonnets …, aubades …, or eclogues…. His aesthetic, for that matter, was no more revolutionary than Wordsworth's….
But although O'Hara's poetics is essentially romantic, he parts company with Wordsworth on one important point. For him, poetry, far from having its origin in emotion recollected in tranquillity, is the expression of what is happening now. Unlike the confessional poets, who find the meaning of their present existence to be firmly grounded in the past, O'Hara seeks to remove what Coleridge called "the film of familiarity" by placing the poet's self squarely at the center of the poem, in the very process of discovering his world. Not analysis of feeling but its coming into being is what counts, and the reader's job is, accordingly, to participate in the poet's act of discovery.
Marjorie G. Perloff, "Poetry Chronicle: 1970–71," in Contemporary Literature (© 1973 by the Regents of the University of Wisconsin), Vol. 14, No. 1, Winter, 1973, pp. 97-131.
With Frank O'Hara the actual innovations he made (most notably the racy jumbling of random speech-inflected moments of recall and ephemera) seem minor, and only part of a general pattern that in terms of metrics and linear expression ambles garrulously back through Ginsberg, Cummings, Sandburg home to Whitman. The string of random in-party salutes and invocations in Biotherm is not so far removed from the Great American Catalogues; like film clips the pace is hotted up, but the need to get the poet and all his friends into the poem (into the moment) is only a few steps out of the shadow of The People Yes and Song of Myself.
The surprises, in Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara, are not in the surprise poems, but very often in the smaller lyrics that were done between the big set-pieces. Perhaps inevitably, this is more so in the early section of the book, where the set-pieces (Oranges, Easter, Second Avenue) are so intrusive and ill-digested, and the small poems virtually unknown….
I think there is a danger, particularly in the poems leading to his 'middle period' (In Memory of My Feelings, the James Dean elegies, the Lunch Poems), of paying more attention to the early Major Project Works Easter and Second Avenue, rather than their less strident neighbours. Read within their chronological context, though, they appear clearly for what they are: performances, one-night stands. It's not that they betray some artistic inconsistency or even dishonesty, it's that we have to accept them as experiments only, proving merely that O'Hara was no Lorca or Mayakovsky. Their neighbour poems return us again and again to a more convincingly perceived world (Lorca's Poet in New York is also a perceived world: the matter is of personal vision), a Second Avenue that does not blot out everything with bombast but is human, spontaneous in off-guarded moments, repetitive, lonely, predictable, and utterly untranscendental. The shorter poems of this formative period also emphasize one quality of O'Hara's use of language that remains persistent, though naturally subject to modifications: this is a literary rather than an anti-literary approach to what words have to offer, and expresses itself as much in cadence as in stance…. The surrealism [in Second Avenue] seems as tired as the first English surrealism, and for the same reason, the sludginess of the cadence. And, even further, despite a learning of how to turn the deft knife through the fixed glare of an attitude, the middle period poems still continue to derive their essential nourishment from a thoroughly literary source….
I think many of the poems of the period … which climaxes with For the Chinese New Year & for Bill Berkson, and includes most of the Lunch Poems, must be considered among the most fully characteristic and completely integrated of O'Hara's poems. I suggest they are as much sustained by an underlying pace that is elegiac, as by a surface of chatty immediacy, and their particular charm is in the counterpoint the poet makes between the two tensions thus implied….
The very last poems do reach a sort of elegy that, though close to self-pity avoids this by carefully managing tone and the interplay between speech rhythms and an undertow of feminine-cadence stops. I feel they are somehow more fruitful as bearings for successors of his work than the louder pieces.
Thomas Shapcott, "Two Tombstones," in Poetry (© 1973 by The Modern Poetry Association; reprinted by permission of the Editor of Poetry), April, 1973, pp. 41-7. |
Sierpinski's Triangle: Rolph Literacy Academy students' creation
One of the best parts about working at Fundamental Learning Center is seeing what our Rolph Literacy Academy students, ages 5-10, are learning in class. The way our instructors teach core subjects using multisensory teaching — visual, auditory and kinesthetic methods — is creative, fun and truly works.
Teacher Miss Dorothy teaches a class using German educator Frederich Froebel's gifts, which are a set of materials used to teach the children the foundational skills of math, physics, science and design. In that class the students started folding shapes using a two-dimensional circle, and today they presented a Sierpinski's triangle. In the video below, the students will share what they learned about this type of triangle. |
Zieria granulata (Illawarra Zieria) Recovery Plan
NSW Department of Environment and Conservation, 2005
ISBN: 1 7412 2143 9
2 Legal Status
- 2.1 Recovery plan preparation
- 2.2 Recovery plan implementation
- 2.3 Relationship to other Legislation
- 2.4 Key threatening processes
- 2.5 Critical habitat
- 2.6 Environmental assessment
Zieria granulata is listed as an endangered species on Schedule 1 of the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (NSW TSC Act) and as an endangered species under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).
Among the consequences of a species being listed on the schedules of the NSW TSC Act are the following:
- a recovery plan must be prepared;
- consideration must be given to the species when assessing the impacts of developments and activities, with the aim of minimising adverse impacts; and
- other actions that are likely to result in the harming or picking of that species or damage to its habitat must be licensed.
The NSW TSC Act provides a legislative framework to protect and encourage the recovery of threatened species, endangered populations and endangered ecological communities in NSW.
Under this legislation the Director-General of the Department of the Environment and Conservation (DEC) has a responsibility to prepare recovery plans for all species, populations and ecological communities listed as endangered or vulnerable on the NSW TSC Act schedules. Similarly, the EPBC Act requires the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment to ensure the preparation of a recovery plan for nationally listed species and communities or adopt plans prepared by others including those developed by State agencies. Both Acts include specific requirements for the matters to be addressed by recovery plans and the administrative process for preparing recovery plans.
This recovery plan has been prepared to satisfy both the requirements of the NSW TSC Act and the EPBC Act and therefore will be the only recovery plan prepared for the species. It is the intention of the Director-General of DEC to forward the final version of this recovery plan to the Commonwealth Minister of the Environment for adoption.
The NSW TSC Act requires that a public authority must take any appropriate measures available to implement actions included in a recovery plan for which they have agreed to be responsible. Public authorities identified as responsible for the implementation of recovery plan actions are required by the NSW TSC Act to report on measures taken to implement those actions. In addition, the Act specifies that public authorities must not make decisions that are inconsistent with the provisions of the plan.
The public authorities relevant to this plan are the DEC, the Department of Infrastructure Planning and Natural Resources (DIPNR), the Department of Lands (DOL), the Department of Education and Training (DET), the Rural Fire Service (RFS), Kiama Municipal Council and Shellharbour City Council. Consequently, the actions outlined for each of these public authorities must be implemented as described in the plan.
The EPBC Act specifies that a Commonwealth agency must not take any action that contravenes a recovery plan.
The lands on which Z. granulata occurs include those that are owned or managed by the DEC, DOL, RTA, Kiama Municipal Council, Shellharbour City Council, and private landholders.
Relevant NSW and Commonwealth legislation includes:
- Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979;
- Local Government Act 1993;
- Native Vegetation Act 2003;
- National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974;
- Rural Fires Act 1997;
- Rural Fires and Environmental Assessment Legislation Amendment Act 2002;
- Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995;
- Threatened Species Conservation Amendment Act 2002; and
- Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
A key threatening process (KTP) is a process listed under the NSW TSC Act that threatens, or has the capability to threaten, the survival or evolutionary development of species, populations, or endangered ecological communities.
Clearing of native vegetation has been observed to affect Z. granulata. The Final Determination for this KTP defines clearing as the destruction of a sufficient proportion of one or more strata (layers) within a stand or stands of native vegetation so as to result in the loss, or long term modification, of the structure, composition and ecological function of a stand or stands (NSW Scientific Committee 2001).
Other KTPs that may affect Z. granulata include:
- High frequency fire resulting in the disruption of life cycle process in plants and animals and loss of vegetation structure and composition;
- Invasion of native plant communities by bitou bush and boneseed;
- Invasion of native plant communities by exotic perennial grasses; and
- Anthropogenic climate change.
In addition to these key threatening processes, a number of other threats to the survival of Z. granulata exist (see Section 8.3).
The NSW TSC Act makes provision for the identification and declaration of critical habitat. Under the NSW TSC Act, critical habitat may be identified for any endangered species, population or ecological community occurring on NSW lands.
Once declared, it becomes an offence to damage critical habitat (unless the action is exempted under the provisions of the NSW TSC Act) and a Species Impact Statement is mandatory for all developments and activities proposed within declared critical habitat.
Under the EPBC Act, critical habitat may be registered for any nationally listed threatened species or ecological community. When adopting a recovery plan, the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment must consider whether to list habitat identified in the recovery plan as being critical to the survival of the species or ecological community. It is an offence under the EPBC Act for a person to knowingly take an action that will significantly damage critical habitat (unless the EPBC Act specifically exempts the action). This offence only applies to Commonwealth areas. However an action which is likely to have a significant impact on a listed species is still subject to referral and approval under the EPBC Act.
To date, critical habitat has not been declared for Z. granulata under the NSW TSC Act or the EPBC Act. However, this recovery plan identifies the habitat features and locations (Sections 5 & 6; Appendices 1 & 2) that would contain habitat that is critical to the survival of the species, as required by the EPBC Act.
It is not currently considered a high priority to nominate critical habitat for Z. granulata, as no demonstrable conservation outcome would accompany its identification and declaration. Action
1.5 in this recovery plan provides a mechanism for the recovery team to reconsider the need for a critical habitat nomination during the third year of implementation of the plan.
2.6.1 New South Wales
The New South Wales EP&A Act requires that consent and determining authorities, and the Director General of DEC, as a concurrence authority, consider relevant recovery plans when exercising a decision-making function under Parts 4 and 5 of the EP&A Act. Decision-makers must consider known and potential habitat, biological and ecological factors and the regional significance of individual populations.
The following public authorities have a decision making function in relation to Z. granulata:
- DIPNR as a consent authority, in the making of Environmental Planning Instruments under the EP&A Act and in relation to private land that is subject to the provisions of the Native Vegetation Act;
- DEC as a land manager, licensing authority and in a concurrence role under the EP&A Act;
- RTA as a land manager and determining authority;
- The Department of Lands as a land manager;
- Kiama Municipal Council and Shellharbour City Council as land managers, consent and determining authorities, and in the making of Environmental Planning Instruments under the EP&A Act;
- The Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority, in relation to land that is subject to the provisions of Native Vegetation Act; and
- The Rural Fire Service as a determining authority and when issuing Bush Fire Hazard Reduction Certificates.
Additional public authorities may have responsibilities if the species is located in other areas in the future.
Any activity not requiring a consent or approval under the EP&A Act, and which is likely to affect Z. granulata, requires a Section 91 licence from the Director General of DEC under the provisions of the NSW TSC Act. Such a licence can be issued with or without conditions, or can be refused. If a significant effect on Z. granulata is unlikely, the Director General can issue the applicant with a Section 95(2) certificate, which acts as a defence to prosecution under sections 118A-D of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974.
A scientific licence issued under Section 132 (c) of the NP&W Act is required to pick Z. granulata or damage its habitat for scientific, educational or conservation purposes.
Routine agricultural activities are exempt from the provisions of the NSW TSC Act. This means, for example, that where Z. granulata occurs on private rural land, in some circumstances it can legally be subject to grazing by livestock under the provisions of the NSW TSC Act.
The EPBC Act regulates actions that may result in a significant impact on nationally listed threatened species and ecological communities. It is an offence to undertake any such actions in areas under State or Territory jurisdiction, as well as on Commonwealth-owned areas, without obtaining prior approval from the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment.
As Z. granulata is listed nationally under the EPBC Act, any person proposing to undertake actions likely to have a significant impact on this species should refer the action to the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment for consideration. The Minister will then decide whether the action requires EPBC Act approval.
The Commonwealth Department of Environment and Heritage has prepared administrative guidelines (www.deh.gov.au/epbc) to assist proponents in determining whether their action is likely to have a significant impact. In cases where the action does not require EPBC Act approval, but will result in the death or injury to Z. granulata in a Commonwealth area, a permit issued by the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment under the EPBC Act will be required.
The Commonwealth Minister for the Environment can also delegate the role of assessment and approval to other Commonwealth Ministers under a Ministerial Declaration and to the States and Territories under bilateral agreements. The development of a bilateral agreement between NSW and the Commonwealth is not complete at the date of this publication, but when in place may avoid the need for duplication of environmental assessment. |
The demand for more environmentally-friendly building materials and techniques is at an all-time high and will, in all likelihood, only continue to increase. Since buildings account for 38% of the total carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S., it’s obviously time for us to take a step back and rethink the way our buildings affect the environment. Among the new, greener building materials and techniques is a material that’s not so much new as it is rethought: hemp.
We have, of course, known about and used hemp for thousands of years. It’s one of the oldest known cultivated crops, and it can be used for everything from textiles to paper to food and beyond. It’s also extremely renewable, with crops maturing after just 14 weeks. And now, you can make buildings out of it. Tradical Hemcrete is a fascinating material designed by UK company Lhoist, made of hemp held together with a lime-based binder. It’s durable, strong, just as easy to use as conventional building materials, and actually good for the environment.
Not only is Hemcrete carbon neutral; it’s actually carbon negative. CO2 from the atmosphere is trapped in the hemp plants as they grow, and remains there after the plants are harvested. During their grow cycle, the plants also release oxygen into the atmosphere. Even when combined with the lime binder, the overall product takes more CO2 out of the atmosphere than it puts into it.
As if that weren’t enough to make the construction industry take notice, Hemcrete is also recyclable. When a Hemcrete building is torn down, the remnants can amazingly be used as fertilizer. And this isn’t one of those great ideas that’s completely impractical to use, either – the material is fireproof, waterproof, a great insulator, and resistant to rotting (as long as it’s above ground), making it a viable choice for any number of construction applications.
Unfortunately, because the species of hemp used in Hemcrete is illegal to grow in the U.S., it’s not yet widely used here. The construction industry is feeling increasing pressure to green up their practices, though, and Hemcrete is finally available in the U.S., though not without a significant cost. Hopefully this will change as the government seeks to open up new avenues to climate change. |
You are here because you have been tasked to complete an assignment. This sample guide (Sample Essay on Capital punishment essay) illustrates what is expected, and how you are expected to complete your assignment. You can use this sample guide with a proper reference; if you are looking for an assignment to submit, please contact us for a non-plagiarized paper written by our professionals.
Capital punishment refers to a legal process in which a death penalty is applied on an individual as a punishment by the state for a committed crime. Capital punishment has been applied in most cultures for years. However, the question that most people ask is whether capital punishment logical and if it works. There has been a heated argument against this punishment and some democratic countries are now abolishing it.
While some people are in favor of capital punishment, others are against it. Abolitionists of capital punishment argue that it is a form of violence. Killing or tolerating the act of killing another person is inhuman. They say that it is paradoxical for a state to believe and allow execution of a person in finding a solution to violence or crime.
Some abolitionists call capital punishment a legalized homicide that is inconsistent with values that its protagonists presume it protects. In broader context, capital punishment demeans human life’s dignity. They argue that violence can never be a solution to violence and the rising cases of crime.
On the other hand, protagonists of capital punishment argue that death penalty is beneficial to the society. They say that apart from preventing criminals from committing the crime again, it deters would-be criminals from committing a similar crime.
However, it is important to note that no scientific study has proved a casual connection between commission of crime and capital punishment. In addition, most crimes in the contemporary society are not planned or premeditated. They are passion crimes.
As such, capital punishment will not serve as a deterrent to would-be criminals because when the crime is committed the offender is not in a position to make rational calculations or decisions on the basis of the advantages and disadvantages of their actions. In addition, an inmate on a death row can be found innocent since flaws are common in criminal justice systems.
In conclusion, capital punishment is perceived as an illogical violation of fundamental human right to life by most people.
We can write a capital punishment essay for you
Do you have a capital punishment essay to write but you are lacking time or information for writing it? Here at abcd.com we can write it for you. We have been writing essays on capital punishment for students at different levels of study for many years.
Today, many students are celebrating their victory after hiring our writing services. We can also write a quality essay on this topic for you. You just need to give us details of your essay.
Order your capital punishment essay now
There is no need to continue straining as you try to write your essay on capital punishment. If you do not have time or information on this topic, just talk to our experts. We will write an excellent capital punishment essay for you that will earn you the best grade in your class.
Contact us here at www.globalcompose.com for help in writing a capital punishment essay now!
Was this Sample Essay on Capital punishment essay useful? Would you like to get further assistance with your assignment? Contact us today; We are a leading academic research company, with a range of specialized services. From General Essays to Ph.D. Thesis, we guarantee your holistic help. Our prices are affordable and competitive. What is more, we have a collection of sample papers in every field just for you. Place your ORDER NOW! You may want to consider checking our Essay Writing Services, Research Paper, Thesis Writing Services, Coursework Help, among others.
If you consider this article on Sample Essay on Capital punishment essay useful, share so that others may get a chance to read. Thank You.
We do not share your personal information with any company or person. We have also ensured that the ordering process is secure; you can check the security feature in the browser. For confidentiality purposes, all papers are sent to your personal email. If you have any questions, contact us any time via email, live chat or our phone number.
I appreciate help on the assignment. It was hard for me but am good to go now
Am happy now having completed the very difficult assignment
Your writer did a fine job on the revisions. The paper is now ok
The paper was so involving but am happy it is done. Will reach you with more assignments
I expected perfection in terms of grammar and I am happy. Lecturer is always on our head but was pleased with my paper. Once again, thanks a lot
The paper looks perfect now, thank to the writer
You helped me complete several other tasks as you handled paper. wonna thank you
Call Now! +1-315 515-4588 |
WHO: Sixty-first session of the World Health Assembly Adopts Resolution on Climate Change
24 May 2008: Warning of the potential risks of climate change to human health, the sixty-first World Health Assembly adopted a resolution (WHA61/19) urging member states to take decisive action to address the health impacts of climate change. Climate change was discussed on Thursday, 22 May, when the plenary considered the Executive Board resolution on health and climate change (E122.R4) and a report by the WHO Secretariat.
Over 45 member states called upon WHO to accelerate research, strengthen public health systems, enhance capacity building, coordinate efforts among UN organizations and non-governmental organizations, and ensure effective financial assistance to address climate change and health. Various amendments to the existing resolution were put forward, notably by the Maldives on behalf of the South-East Asia Region, introducing specific actions required on the part of member states. The resolution calls on the health sector to scale up adaptation projects that would limit the impacts of climate change on health; raise global awareness of the impacts of health from climate change at national and international levels; and boost political attention and action. Member states also called on WHO to develop and strengthen the evidence base of the links between climate change and health, and to help developing countries address health impacts from climate change. The sixty-first session of the World Health Assembly took place from 19-24 May 2008, in Geneva, Switzerland. [World Health Assembly resolutions] |
1. Being essential or decisive for determining the outcome or future of something; extremely important.
2. slang Term of approval, particularly when applied to reggae music.
3. archaic Cruciform or cruciate; cross-shaped.
4. Archaic Having the form of a cross; cross-shaped.
5. Extremely significant or important.
6. Vital to the resolution of a crisis or the determination of an outcome: synonym: decisive.
7. Having the form of a cross; appertaining to a cross; cruciform; intersecting.
8. Severe; trying or searching, as if bringing to the cross; decisive.
9. having crucial relevance
10. Decisive, as between two hypotheses; finally disproving one of two alternative suppositions.
11. Pertaining to or like a cross as an instrument of torture for eliciting the truth; excessively strict and severe: said of a proceeding of inquiry.
12. In anatomy, specifically applied to two stout decussating ligaments in the interior of the knee-joint, connecting the spine of the tibia with the intercondyloid fossa of the femur.
13. Of or pertaining to a crucible; like a heated crucible as a utensil of chemical analysis.
14. Having the form of a cross; transverse; intersecting; decussating: as, a crucial incision.
1. Successive monarchs and other members of the royal family have played crucial political roles in our past.
2. She is doing that by cutting out a seemingly crucial part of selling expensive clobber: shops.
3. The crucial moments always go against you when you're second in a two-horse race.
4. He said:'The first goal seems to be crucial at the moment.
5. The Government's sugar tax will play a crucial role.
6. Perhaps more importantly, he played a crucial role in 1986 in organising the first papal visit to a synagogue.
7. With a semi-final place on the line for both players, the champion was by far the more composed at the crucial moments of her win.
8. There are three elements crucial to recovery.
9. The prize then will be crucial financial backing.
10. The timing of the coronation was of crucial moment.
11. There have been friends and family who have played their crucial parts.
12. The relationship between these two roles is crucial.
13. There are two crucial differences in our backgrounds.
14. They also serve to remind us that political liberties are crucial for economic growth and cultural confidence.
15. The banking sector is crucial to economic recovery.
16. She was popular precisely because she erred at crucial moments.
17. Parents obviously play a crucial role in shaping these goals.
18. The resulting insights and goodwill may be crucial in resolving differences.
19. That will be the crucial issue of economic policy and politics next year.
20. His support was crucial during my recovery.
21. The crucial part is writing a really great book.
22. The crucial difference between a retirement village and a nursing home is that you own your home.
23. Now it continues to push forward crucial economic reforms in a broad range of areas.
24. Confidence is crucial to recovery and investment.
25. crucial moments in history call for great leaders.
26. It formed a crucial part of the evidence against him.
27. There is a scene in which a Belgian lorry driver plays a small but crucial role.
28. MI5 bosses have given their crucial backing to the new package of powers agreed by the Cabinet yesterday.
29. America's backing was crucial to the British campaign.
30. Averroes has, unlike Avicenna, made the way something is picked out by the term crucial in determining what kind of modal proposition is produced.
31. Graham fears deep newsroom cuts would eviscerate local reporting, which he called crucial to "the health of the city."
32. Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign-policy representative, welcomed Tuesday what he described as a crucial step in a "historic process" to bring stability to the troubled Caucasus region.
33. BASH: McCain says he's going to Colombia to spotlight his support for free trade, which he calls crucial to jump-starting the U.S. economy -- a sharp difference with Barack Obama.
34. BASH: McCain says he's going to Colombia to spotlight his support for free trade which he calls crucial to jump-starting the U.S. economy.
35. BASH: McCain says he's going Colombia to spotlight his support for free trade, which he calls crucial to jump starting the U.S. economy, a sharp difference with Barack Obama.
36. BASH: McCain says he's going to Colombia to spotlight his support for free trade, which he calls crucial to jump starting the U.S. economy.
37. France in a bid to drum up support for the plan, which he called a crucial part of efforts to lead the world's poorest continent down the path to economic prosperity.
38. Mark D. Wallace, president of United Against Nuclear Iran, said in a telephone interview that the group might seek Congressional hearings on Iran's Swift membership, which he described as crucial to the country's economic survival.
39. ‘Bad management and bad cost control will be crucial in deciding success or failure.’
40. ‘We have reached a crucial stage and now tenants and residents will begin to see real improvements on their estate.’
41. ‘His appointment comes at a crucial stage in this long-running drugs war.’
42. ‘Ambitious plans to complete a town centre pedestrianisation zone have reached a crucial stage.’
43. ‘The committee is asking for continued support as we are at a crucial stage in the campaign.’
44. ‘His error was made at a crucial stage in the match but he couldn't deny the funny side.’
45. ‘A near doubling of the share values would be a crucial factor in any decision that is made.’
46. ‘Williams now faces a crucial decision as to which direction he takes his career.’
47. ‘The decision on where to film was crucial to the success of the dramas.’
48. ‘This could mean that wrong decisions are made at crucial moments - and these cannot be reversed.’
49. ‘The chemistry so crucial to the success of any screen romance is absent.’
50. ‘I see the next 18 months as crucial to the long-term development of the game.’
51. ‘We do appear to be at a crucial juncture, to say the least.’
52. ‘Ultimately, these incidents probably did not prove crucial to the outcome.’
53. ‘God knew all logic flew out the window that crucial moment.’
54. ‘Coach Gary Moorby was particularly pleased with this crucial factor in the Cougar victory.’
55. ‘A crucial factor in the rise was the growing number of women who smoke.’
56. ‘There are no elements more important than others, but timing is crucial.’
57. ‘Watson believes conceding a goal so early on Tuesday was crucial to the outcome.’
58. ‘Certainly, Conroy's interventions were crucial to the outcome of the game.’
59. ‘If you want to lose weight, it is crucial to maintain low insulin levels.’
60. ‘It is crucial to keep your head covered when running outside in winter.’
61. ‘Only 15 percent mentioned domestic policies as being most crucial to them.’
62. ‘I make no apologies for this because it is absolutely crucial to the future economic success of the nation.’
63. ‘One crucial element of the luxury shopping experience is the service and setting.’
64. ‘Once he understands that crucial difference, he should get off to a good start.’
65. ‘Participation by trustees is crucial to their understanding of the issues before the board.’
66. ‘Since variation was the essence of evolution, it was crucial to understand its nature.’
67. ‘All low-carb foods are not created equal, and it's crucial to understand the differences.’
68. ‘Improved road links are crucial to developments in Pembroke Dock and the Angle peninsula.’
69. ‘Monitoring blood lipids is crucial to ensure that the diet is having the desired effect.’
70. ‘Solidarity through donations is crucial to ensure the strike does not fail through lack of money.’
71. ‘All the time, it is crucial to remember that we are never alone.’
72. ‘Insight, understanding and enjoyment are the keys to making newspapers crucial.’
73. ‘Finding species that are unknown to science is crucial to their continued survival, he says.’
74. ‘Strategies for effective communication and involvement are crucial at this stage.’
75. ‘For, low as this may seem, the most crucial industries had been successfully moved.’
76. ‘He was singled out by the judge for stinging criticism, and accused of removing crucial evidence.’
77. ‘Everyone was aware that those games weren't crucial, and it was just the group stage.’
78. ‘Sesame is great for iron, a crucial mineral for maintaining vital energy levels.’
79. a crucial election
Other users have misspelling crucial as:
1. crutial 10.77%
2. cruciale 5.27%
3. crusial 3.74%
4. curcial 1.98%
5. Other 78.24%
Use Linguix everywhere you write
Get your writing checked on millions of websites, including Gmail, Facebook, and Google Docs. |
The Schwarzes Gold Lamp's sole purpose might be to provide light, but it does so in a dark and mysterious way. This is due in large part to the materials it is made out of. A mixture of ground coal, flour and water, the deep black of the lampshade is a natural result of such organic materials.
The final project of industrial product design student Ingo Schuppler, who attends the Coburg University of Applied Science in Germany, the Schwarzes Gold Lamp encourages people to think differently about the energy they use on a daily basis. The Schwarzes Gold Lamp is a sustainable design that is "durable yet refined, symbolic but fully functional," as written by Fast Co. Design.
More Stats +/-
5 DAYS LEFT to Save Up to 70% on Future Festival
Inside-Out Light Fixtures
Bulbous Disaster Lighting
Geometric Neon Desk Lamps
Multiplied Source Illuminators |
This installment of the SAMHSA Disaster Behavioral Health Information Series (DBHIS) presents information specific to particular kinds of disasters, as well as general preparedness and response information. Topics covered include but are not limited to the following:
- Information about a range of natural disasters (such as drought, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes) and human-caused disasters (such as mass violence, terrorism, and technological disasters)
- General disaster preparedness and response
Use the menu bar on the left to narrow the results by professional and research topic, types of intervention and treatment, and more. |
Can you see the colours?
Ever wondered what these funny looking charts are used for? They are called Ishihara charts.
Dr Shinobu Ishihara introduced them in 1917—almost 100 years ago—the most well-known color blindness test. Each of his tests consists of a set of colored dotted plates, each of them showing either a number or a path. Since then this is the most widely used color vision deficiency test and still used by most optometrists and ophthalmologists all around the world.
If you have a colour deficiency or are colour blind, everyday life will present itself with many challenges and difficulties which normal sighted people are totally unaware of. Think about it. Even the most simple of activities including choosing and preparing food, gardening, and sport, driving a car and selecting clothing can be difficult. It’s like what if you don’t notice your child getting sunburnt?
Here are a few examples of typical problems:-
Most red/green colour blind people won’t know if they have cooked a piece of meat rare or well done and they are unlikely to be able to tell the difference between green and ripe tomatoes or between ketchup and chocolate sauce.
Colour blind people often try to eat unripe bananas because they can’t tell the difference between a green unripe banana and a yellow ripe banana – to them because both of the colours are the same shade they think they are the same colour.
Some food can look repulsive if you are colour blind, and colour blind children can seem particularly fussy over green vegetables – spinach can look like cow pat and colour blind children probably mean it if they say their food looks like poo!
Colour blind people can get quite cross with electrical goods which have red and green LED displays to indicate either that a battery needs charging or the machine is on standby. An example might be a handheld games console with an indicator light which changes from red to green depending upon whether the unit is fully charged or needs recharging. This can be very frustrating, particularly for a child.
The simple test can be performed to check if you or your child have a colour deficiency or not and suitable adaptations can be made to help in everyday life.
Your in Eye Care Madhu |
Winter clouds may help the Mojave Desert bloom but they can be a burden for concentrated solar power (CSP), Energy Information Administration figures show.
According to the EIA’s Electric Power Monthly report, U.S. CSP or solar thermal plants had a capacity factor of less than 22 percent in 2017, the lowest of any renewable energy technology in the country.
The figure is 5 percent below solar PV and also much less than typical CSP capacity factors found in other published sources.
In theory, CSP under sunny conditions should be able to beat PV’s capacity factors because it is not as directly dependent on sunlight for electricity generation, even without storage.
Under normal operations, the temperature of a CSP plant’s heat transfer fluid and the inertia of its turbine could potentially give the plant a measure of ride-through capacity that might enable it to carry on generating electricity during moments of cloud cover.
For this reason, published sources usually give even moderately inefficient CSP technologies a capacity factor equal to or higher than that typically achieved with PV.
The International Renewable Energy Agency, for example, estimates an average capacity factor of between 25 percent and 28 percent for zero-storage parabolic trough CSP, the most commonly used plant design in the U.S.
The EIA’s low capacity factors for CSP led some experts to question the data.
“I have no idea how they determined the capacity factor for CSP, but I do know that for Solana it is 41 percent and for Mojave it is 29 percent,” said Fred Morse, president of clean energy consultancy Morse Associates.
The Mojave figure is significant because it is for a parabolic trough plant that does not have thermal storage, which is the case for most of the U.S. CSP fleet.
It is also consistent with published figures for CSP capacity factors in other plants without storage, including PS 20 in Spain, with a capacity factor of 27 percent, and eSolar’s Sierra SunTower in California, with 30 percent.
But there could be good reasons for the EIA to be recording a figure that is significantly lower. For a start, the EIA data set includes output from the oldest commercial CSP complex on the planet, the Solar Electric Generating Station (SEGS).
The plants that make up SEGS were designed and largely commissioned in the 1980s. Although a couple of units have now been decommissioned, there are still 310 megawatts of operational plant, National Renewable Energy Laboratory records show.
The SEGS parabolic trough complex has an admirable operational record but is unlikely to boast the efficiency of newer projects such as Mojave. And closer inspection of the EIA data shows that its location may not be helping.
Although SEGS’ siting in the Mojave Desert was intended to capture some of best solar resource in the U.S., clouds start to roll into the region from November and by February the location can be overcast more than 50 percent of the time.
This coincides with a significant dip in the monthly CSP capacity factors recorded by the EIA. In January 2016 and 2017, for example, the average U.S. capacity factor for CSP was only around 7 percent.
Meanwhile, PV, which is able to produce some electricity even under cloud cover, mustered more than a 15 percent capacity factor nationwide in January 2016 and nearly 17 percent over the same period in 2017.
For CSP advocates, the answer to low capacity factors is simple: Adding thermal storage can completely change the picture. Solana, for example, gets its 40+ percent capacity factor largely thanks to 6 hours of molten salt storage. And the CSP industry is well aware of this value.
“We see no reason any future CSP projects will be built unless they have significant storage,” said Kevin Smith, chief executive officer of SolarReserve, the developer of Crescent Dunes, a project with a 10-hour thermal store.
The problem CSP faces in the U.S. is that there is not much appetite to build new plants. And when the data makes it look as though it will deliver less energy for more than the cost of PV, there may be little incentive to change that. |
Leadership is a widely known topic that has been researched an debated for years. We will take a look at a leadership style that is becoming more popular and that companies are realizing is a successful type of leadership.
Master the elements of Servant Leadership in order to become a better leader in your personal and professional settings. Become a better leader by putting others first. You will see the difference you can make in other people's life while becoming a successful leader.
This course is structured in a self-pace learning style. You are able to watch each lecture at your own pace and even re-watch lectures as needed. There are also activities throughout the course to help you evaluate your strengths and areas of opportunity as a leader.
After taking this course you will be able to:
1) Explain what Servant Leadership is
2) Explain the history of Servant Leadership
3) Understand the Principles of Servant Leadership which include, People First, Character/Doing The Right Thing, Leading with Humility, Leading with Effective Listening and Empathy, and the Commitment to the Growth of Others.
4) Understand how moral purpose is needed in Servant Leadership
Approach this course with the readiness to understand the concepts and be able to start applying them in your everyday life.
Welcome to the first lecture of Servant Leadership! We will dive right into the philosophy of Servant Leadership. This lecture will teach you:
*The definitions of both leadership and servant leadership
*Introduction to Robert K. Greenleaf, the founder of Servant Leadership
*A dive into what Servant Leadership is all about
*Topics that will be discussed in future lectures
Are you a Servant Leader? Answer these questions honestly and determine areas where you can be more like a Servant Leader. The following lectures will help you hone in on these skills and help you become a better servant leader!
This lecture will take a look at the most important principle of servant leadership. We will take a look at:
-Why it is important to put people first
-Benefits of putting people first
-Consequences of not putting people first
-Example of a company who puts people first
Take a few minutes to complete this activity to help you understand the concepts of the People First lecture.
This lecture will jump into another important principle of servant leadership which is character and doing the right thing when leading. We will look at:
-The definition of character and what it means to have character
-How to determine character
-Why it is important to have character when leading
Next, we will take a look at the importance of leading with Humility. We will:
-Describe Humility in Leadership
-Look at Humility in Business
-Determine why it is important to lead with Humility
There are not right or wrong answers to this quiz. It is to help you determine your level of humility. Answer honestly to be able to discover areas of strength and areas of opportunity when it comes to humility.
This lecture will examine the significance of listening and empathy in Servant Leadership. This lecture will:
-Define effective listening
-Discuss the importance of effective listening in leadership
-Discuss the vitality of empathy when leading
In this lecture we will take a look at a core component of Servant Leadership which is the commitment to the growth of others. This lecture will cover:
-Why it is important to commit to the growth others
-The challenges of committing to the growth of others
-The benefits of growing others
-Examples of commitment to the growth of others
This activity will help you determine if you are already committed to helping others with their goals. It will help you determine areas of opportunity for you to focus on.
This lecture will dive into an aspect of servant leadership. You cannot be a servant leader without moral purpose. This lecture will discuss what moral purpose is and how to lead with moral purpose.
Savannah has a passion for teaching and helping people. Her main passion is learning more about leadership and being able to teach others how to become great leaders.
Savannah has over eight years of hotel management experience in which she held leadership roles. She is aware of the difficulties of leading in corporate America and wants to help other leaders in any way she can. Savannah was in charge of training in the hotel setting and was fortunate to have experience teaching employees across three different brands.
Savannah has her undergraduate degree in Hotel Management from Northern Arizona University and her Master's degree specializing in Leadership also from Northern Arizona University.
Savannah's passion in life is to be a lifetime learner and help others receive education in areas that interest them. Be on the lookout for more leadership courses focusing on other areas of leadership soon! |
Materials While rubber is often made with synthetic material, natural latex is preferred. Natural latex is harvested because of its elasticity. It can be stretched beyond its natural length and return to normal shape. When the latex is harvested from trees, it is mixed with alkali materials to prevent coagulation. Before the latex is used in the balloon process, it is mixed with multiple ingredients. Pigments are also added to produce a myriad of colors. Preparation Before even being used, the latex has pigment added to it. Molds are then made. They are placed into a latex, where they then stick to the molds. After the molds have been dipped, they're then heated. Finishing The ring of the balloon is created by using cone-shaped brushes that turn in opposing directions. After this process, the balloon will then be submersed into water to remove excess material. The balloons are then dried and cured. The balloon is removed from the mold and ready for packaging. |
There is a pattern in the way that studies on the effects of playing video games are presented in the news media, and it’s a pattern with some serious flaws. It begins with academic publications boiling down long and detailed studies into a few short paragraphs for a press release, with a title that’s tantalizing enough to attract interest from editors (bonus points if the title rhymes).
If the press release does its job then it will get picked up by a number of news outlets. Very few – if any – of the writers charged with turning the press release into a story will actually read the full study, and will instead use only the quotes and results offered up by the publication. In turn, these are spun into something that the average reader will find interesting with a headline designed to get people clicking (or buying the newspaper, if you’re feeling old-fashioned).
Here’s a recent example. A team of researchers from Brock University conducted a study into the effects of violent video games on children’s attitudes towards violence and the maturity of their sociomoral reasoning. The results were mixed and inconclusive: on average, there was no difference in stages of sociomoral reasoning found between the children who played mostly non-violent video games and those who played mostly violent video games. However, children who played violent video games for more than three hours each day were found to score lower on the sociomoral reasoning test than those who played only one or two hours.
Since the words “mixed” and “inconclusive” do not look at all good in a headline, this study – the conclusion of which was well-balanced and recommended simply that parents and teachers better familiarize themselves with the games that children were playing – was inevitably going to get skewed to one side or the other. Somewhat predictably, it was skewed to make the effects sound clearer and more significant than they actually were. Any results that suggested video games might not have a negative effect were omitted from Routledge’s press release, and were subsequently left out of news reports as well. Add in a little bit of editorial embellishment and you get headlines like “Violent video games leave teens morally immature” and “Playing too much GTA can actually make you a sociopath.”
This week another study on violent video games has been making the headlines. Douglas Gentile and Craig Anderson, of Iowa State University, analyzed a set of data from a three-year longitudinal study of 3034 Singaporean youth aged 11-17. The children were asked about their gaming habits and also given questionnaires designed to measure their behavior and their attitudes towards violence. Overall the children’s reported aggressiveness decreased over time, normal for teenagers whose self-control is maturing, but those who played more hours of video games were more likely to demonstrate increased aggressive attitudes. For Anderson, it was pretty clear what had happened:
“What this study does is show that it’s media violence exposure that is teaching children and adolescents to see the world in a more aggressive kind of way. It shows very strongly that repeated exposure to violent video games can increase aggression by increasing aggressive thinking.”
Those who have studied sociology, psychology or statistics in any capacity are no doubt already raising their eyebrows at this bold violation of the “correlation does not imply causation” rule. It could just as easily be the case, for example, that children who were more aggressive were more likely to take an interest in playing violent video games. It’s also possible that the time spent playing violent video games and the attitudes towards aggression were both caused by another factor or mix of factors. It’s worth noting that another study of 11,000 children in Scotland failed to find even a correlation between time spent playing video games and behavioral problems, let alone anything to suggest a causal link.
Gentile and Anderson’s peers have levied their own criticisms of the study. Psychologist Christopher Ferguson, a familiar name in such debates, told Reuters that it is simply “not a very good study” and that “this data set has been criticized before.” Science Media Centre collected responses from several different academics, and none were particularly convinced. Andrew Przybylski, a University of Oxford research fellow who has previously studied attitudes towards violent video games, argued that the results themselves don’t seem to show the significant effect that the study’s authors claim:
“Working backwards from some of the statistics present in the figures and tables it appears that violent game play accounts for a very small amount of variability in self-reported aggressive behavior. Said differently, imagine a Venn Diagram. The circle on the left represents all the variability observed for violent game play and the one on the right represents all of the variability observed in self-reported aggression: This research suggests that the overlap between these circles is in the neighbourhood of half of one percent.”
David Spiegelhalter, a statistician and Winton Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk at the University of Cambridge, criticized the study for claiming a causal link between video games and aggression without proper evidence of one:
“This study shows an association, of unclear magnitude, of violent video game-playing with subsequent aggressive behavior. It does not, and cannot, show that the association is causal. The authors assume from the start that violent game play is what is influencing aggressive thoughts — the possibility that kids with latent aggressive tendencies tend to play violent video games does not seem to have been considered.”
Patrick Wolfe, a Professor of Statistics at University College London, also criticized the paper for claiming that correlation implied causation, and for treating questionnaire answers as an accurate measure of real-world behavior:
“It is important to note what was measured: answers to questions about aggressive behavior — not the behavior itself… Of course, it could be that there is an additional unseen factor which is mediating both aggressive game play and the youths’ answers to questions about aggressive behavior. There is no way to tell from this study and so the study cannot justly conclude that video game play “influences” or causes aggressive behavior, or even answers to questions about aggressive behavior.”
It probably doesn’t need to be said that the majority of news reports on Gentile and Anderson’s study did not critique it in a similar manner or even include any of the criticisms from other academics. Sample headlines include “Violent video games makes [sic] children grow up into aggressive adults, “Violent video games teach children aggressive thought and behavior patterns,” and the straight-forward, “Kids learn violence from video games.”
Science and journalism are two fields that are ostensibly dedicated to a similar pursuit: finding out facts and sharing them with anyone who will listen. When the desire for a clickbait-y headline takes priority over transparency and full disclosure, it creates a certain narrative about video games in the news media, and it’s a narrative that could have a damaging effect.
It scarcely needs to be said that there’s more to violent video games than just violence. Sucker Punch’s latest open-world superhero/villain game inFAMOUS: Second Son is set in a version of the USA where government fear-mongering over terrorism has led to some serious sacrifices of personal liberty. Upcoming Ubisoft title Watch Dogs has strong thematic links to the recent NSA scandals. Spec Ops: The Line takes the assumption that the crusading American soldier is always the hero and brutally subverts it.
When video games carry messages as strong as those in books or films, it’s unnerving to see headlines like “Little By Little, Violent Video Games Make Us More Aggressive” in the news media, because these end up being used as the fuel for video game burnings and calls for government control and censorship of the medium. All because the problem of violence – a problem that has been around for thousands of years – is rather dubiously being blamed on a medium that didn’t even exist until a few decades ago.
One thing’s for sure: until this broken cycle gets fixed, stock photos of children holding video game controllers and looking angry are where the money’s at. |
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) refers to a group of lung diseases that block the airflow and make breathing difficult. Emphysema and chronic bronchitis are the two most common conditions. In chronic bronchitis, the lining of the bronchial tubes becomes inflamed, while emphysema occurs when the air sacs (alveoli) at the end of the smallest air passages (bronchioles) in the lungs are gradually destroyed.
The main cause of COPD is smoking tobacco. However, it also often occurs in women exposed to smoke from burning fuel for cooking and heating in poorly ventilated homes. COPD has a dear cause and a dear path of prevention. The best way to prevent COPD is to never smoke or to stop smoking.
• Exposure to tobacco smoke
• A combination of asthma and smoking increases the risk of COPD.
• Exposure to dust and chemicals
Shortness of breath (especially during physical activities), wheezing, tightness in the chest, need to clear the throat first thing in the morning (due to excess mucus in the lungs), a chronic cough that produces sputum, blueness of the lips or fingernail beds (cyanosis), frequent respiratory infections, lack of energy and unintended weight loss
Tips to feel and get better
• Clear the airways - mucus tends to collect in the air passages and can be difficult to clear. Controlled coughing & drinking plenty of water may help.
• Exercise regularly - it may seem difficult if one has trouble breathing, but regular exercise improves the overall strength and endurance and strengthens the respiratory muscles.
• Eat healthy foods - A healthy diet helps maintain strength.
• Lose excess weight - It can significantly help in breathing, especially during times of exertion.
• Avoid smoking - Smoking the main cause of many lung diseases. Avoid places where others smoke too, as secondhand smoke or passive smoking also causes lung damage.
• Keep the house dust-free; use a damp cloth instead of dry dusters as this prevents dust from spreading in the rooms.
• Occupational exposure to chemical fumes and dust is a risk factor for COPD. If working in such conditions, use respiratory protective equipment.
• Keep the kitchen ventilated while cooking; cooking gas contains carbon monoxide, which can damage the lungs and cause various health problems. |
“In a ‘country without pyres’ one could freely profess Lutheranism and Calvinism, Anabaptism and Arianism, the Unity of the Brethren and Mennonitism (to name only the most widespread sects and churches), but towards atheists a much different measure applied.”
J. Tazbir, ‘Unpunished Blasphemers’, Science, 1/2011
Exactly 382 years ago, on March 4, 1634, Kazimierz Łyszczyński of Łyszczyce (Łyszowice), one of the most distinguished thinkers of this period, was born. In his youth, as a younger son, he was destined by his family to join the Jesuit Order, but before taking his vow, seceded from this and took on care of the homestead instead. In 1986, a document signed by the King Jan III Sobieski was found and published, in which Łyszczyński’s merits for his homeland were mentioned, emphasizing that “since his young age [Łyszczyński] served in the crown military under the banner of Jan Sapieha, and later in the Lithuanian forces under the Duke Sub-Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (at this time Lew Kazimierz Sapieha), taking part in the war against the Moscovian, Swedish and Hungarian invasions”.
Repeatedly elected as MP, as a Royal Commissioner and Supply Judge in Brest (appointed by the King Jan III Sobieski), Łyszczyński was in charge of compensation trials against church institutions and passed judgements, among others, against the Jesuits, who were accused of illegal appropriation of two gardens belonging to a certain burgher. Łyszczyński ordered the Order to return the seized land.
Already unpopular among the Catholic clergy, Łyszczyński was ceremoniously excommunicated (30.08.1668) by the bishop of Lutsk, Stanisław Jan Witwicki, for ignoring the ecclesiastical injunction banning marriages between close relatives (this matter concerned the marriage of his daughter) and, in particular, for “blasphemous” contention that church prohibitions were irrelevant, as marriage was a ‘civil contract’ (‘contractum civile’). His work ‘De non existentia Dei’ was written in the seventieth of the XVII century and it remained in the form of an unpublished manuscript for several years, until it was denounced by Jan Kazimierz Brzoska, a neighbour who owed Łyszczyński a substantial amount of money and thus stole the book, accusing him of atheism.
Arrested by the bishop of Vilnius, Konstanty Kazimierz Brzostkowski, Łyszczyński was brought to trial in Warsaw, given that he was a nobleman and therefore could only be judged by the parliamentary commission. Prior to this, however, a church trial took place. Despite the official abolition of the inquisition in Poland, the main roles in the trial were played by inquisitors nominated by the Vatican. The parliamentary commission confirmed the sentence. The prosecution evidence was the hand-written treatise ‘De non existentia Dei’ (On the Non-existence of Gods). Sentenced to death for atheism, he was beheaded on Warsaw’s market square on 30 March 1689. According to another account (Bishop Załuski’s): “He was led to the execution site and his tongue and mouth, with which he used to cruelly go against God, were first treated with cruelty. Later his hand, a tool of deadliest fruit of the womb, was burnt, alike his papers full of blasphemy and, finally, he himself, the monster, was engulfed in flames, meant to propitiate God, if such turpitude could at all be propitiated by the God.”
“Łyszczyński’s atheism was not a primitive anticlericalism, but knowledge with philosofical basis, supported by solid studies. He was one of the most distinguished minds of the XVII-century Poland. In the history of the atheist idea, Łyszczyński’s role was exceptional. He was the first to use the category: ‘Us, the atheists’. Hundreds of treatises on the existence of God had been written across the world. On non-existence – just one, and this exactly in Poland” (prof. Andrzej Nowicki for Polityka)
The treatise ‘De non existentia Dei’ by Kazimierz Łyszczyński was not preserved; just the excerpts quoted in the Great Duchy of Lithuania Lord Prosecutor Szymon Kurowicz Zabistowski’s* prosecution speech, found in the Kórnik Library, which follow:
- I – we beseech you, o’ theologians, by your God, if in this manner do you not extinguish the light of Reason, do you not oust the sun from this world, do you not pull down your God from the sky, when attributing him the impossible, the characteristics and attributes contradicting themselves. The treatise ‘De non existentia Dei’, 1674
- II – the Man is a creator of God, and God is a concept and creation of a Man. Hence the people are architects and engineers of God and God is not a true being, but a being existing only within mind, being chimeric by its nature, because a God and a chimera are the same. The treatise ‘De non existentia Dei’, 1674
- III – Religion was constituted by people without religion, so they could be worshipped although the God is not existent. Piety was introduced by the unpietic. The fear of God was spread by the unafraid so that the people were afraid of them in the end. Devotion named godly is a design of Man. Doctrine, be it logical or philosophical, bragging to be teaching the truth of God, is false, and on the contrary, the one condemned as false, is the very true one. The treatise ‘De non existentia Dei’, 1674
- IV – simple folk are cheated by the more cunning with the fabrication of God for their own oppression; whereas the same oppression is shielded by the folk in a way, that if the wise attempted to free them by the truth, they would be quelled by the very people. The treatise ‘De non existentia Dei’, 1674
- V – nevertheless we do not experience within us and within any other such an imperative of reason, which would ensure us of a truth of divine revelation. Alas if they were present in us, then everyone would have to acknowledge them and would have no doubts and would not contradict the Writings of Moses and the Gospels – which is not true – and there would be no different congregations and their followers as Mahomet etc. Such an imperative is not known and there are not only doubts, but there are some who deny a revelation, and they are not fools, but wise men, who with a proper reasoning prove what? the very contrary, what I also prove here. Concluding, that God does not exist”. The treatise ‘De non existentia Dei’, 1674
(excerpts translated from Latin by Prof. Andrezj Nowicki)
Kazimierz Łyszczyński was the most prominent, but not the only person murdered for atheism by the Christian Courts in the ‘country without pyres’. In Kraków, a townswoman Katarzyna Weiglowa, who performed apostasy and publicly denied Christ’s divinity, was burnt in 1539. Similarly, the gamekeeper from Łomża, Krzysztof Przyborowski, who ended up on a pyre in 1700 for profanity.
The Lithuanians maintain Łyszczyński was one of them, the Belarussians that he was a Belarussian, and Poles that he was a Pole. Yet to us, he was just an atheist.
“Concluding, God does not exist” was the ending of the treatise by Łyszczyński, the patron of our Foundation, burnt three ages ago, and so we finish our reminiscence of him: Concluding, God does not exist.
* Źródła do dziejów polskich Mikołaja i Aleksandra Przeździeckich, Wilno 1844, vol. 2, pages 433-449
*Document signed by the king Jan III Sobieski, actually in the State Central Archives of Belarus in Minsk. Excerpts of this document were published by Prof. Jekaterina Sergheevna Prokoshina in 1986. |
Immature and Mature Insulin
Majid Ali, M.D.
Insulin is produced as a prehormone and is matured through a series of enzyme (catalystic) reactions. The evolutionary wisdom in this design goes unrecognized. I explain this with an analogy. What would happen if all the gasoline in an automobile engine was suddenly ignited? A massive explosion. Engineers designed a carburetor to assure a steady mixing of gasoline with air and a highly controlled ignition of the mixture. One of Nature’s master metabolic strokes is the creation of a prehormone-hormone design for slow and steady production of the mature hormone.
Insulin is composed of 51 amino acid units strung into a chain with a molecular weight of 5808 daltons. It is produced in specialized cells in the pancreas called the islet cells of Langerhan. The word insulin is derived from the Latin insula for “island”. Insulin is derived from a precursor called proinsulin. The human insulin gene has several regulatory components (sequences) in a region of its structure called the promoter region. The insulin receptor embedded in cell membranes is about sixty times as large in size as insulin.
Insulin is derived from a prohormone called proinsulin, which is synthesized in a compartment of beta cells called the endoplasmic reticulum. Proinsulin is folded and its disulfide bonds are oxidized. Next it is transported to another compartment called the Golgi apparatus, where it is packaged into secretory vesicles. A series of enzymes called proteases work on the prohormone to form mature insulin, which has 39 fewer amino acids. Insulin C-peptide is formed when four amino acids are removed.
In health, insulin is a guardian angel of life; in excess, it is a molecular monster. This is a crucial point since nearly all cases of Type 2 diabetes start out with excess insulin (hyperinsulinism). Diabetes is primarily misunderstood and mismanaged because insulin toxicity is not taught nor recognized in clinical guidelines of the ADA. Nearly all untruths and outright falsehoods about the cause of diabetes and most clinical errors in caring for people with insulin disorders can be traced to the ADA’s neglect of the long-term dangers of insulin toxicity. “Eat whatever you want, and we will cover it with insulin” was the advice that many of my patients received. Insulin toxicity that occurs almost invariably with this approach was not mentioned. |
Mihai Eminescu, born Mihail Eminovici; (15 January 1850 – 15 June 1889) was a romantic poet, novelist and journalist, often regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet.
Eminescu was an active member of the Junimea literary society and he worked as an editor for the newspaper Timpul (“The Time”).
His poetry was first published when he was 16 and he went to Vienna to study when he was 19.
Notable works include Luceafărul (The Vesper/The Evening Star/The Lucifer/The Daystar), Odă în metru antic (Ode in Ancient Meter), and the five Letters (Epistles/Satires).
In his poems he frequently used metaphysical, mythological and historical subjects. In general his work was influenced by the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer.
Eminescu was only 20 when Titu Maiorescu, the top literary critic in 1870 Romania dubbed him “a real poet” and Eminescu’s notability as a poet grew continually thanks to the way he managed to enrich the literary language with words and phrases from all Romanian regions, from old texts, and with new words that he coined from his wide philosophical readings
Nicolae Iorga, the Romanian historian, considers Eminescu the godfather of the modern Romanian language. He is unanimously celebrated as the greatest and most representative Romanian poet.
The most realistic psychological analysis of Eminescu was written by I. L. Caragiale, who, after the poet’s death published three short care articles on this subject.
Caragiale stated that Eminescu’s characteristic feature was the fact that “he had an excessively unique nature”. Eminescu’s life was a continuous oscillation between introvert and extrovert attitudes.
The poet’s Manuscripts, containing 46 volumes and approximately 14,000 pages, were offered by Titu Maiorescu as a gift to the Romanian Academy during the meeting that was held on 25 January 1902.
Doina (the name is a traditional type of Romanian song)
Lacul (The Lake)
Luceafărul (The Vesper)
Floare albastră (Blue Flower)
Seara pe deal (Evening on the Hill)
Epigonii (Epigones), 1884
Scrisori (Letters or “Epistles-Satires”)
Și dacă (And if…)
Odă în metru antic (Ode (in Ancient Meter)
Mai am un singur dor (I Have Yet One Desire)
La Steaua (At Star)
Făt-Frumos din lacrimă (The Tear Drop Prince)
Geniu pustiu (Empty Genius)
Sărmanul Dionis (Wretched Dionis)
Link of english translated poems: http://www.romanianvoice.com/poezii/poeti_tr/eminescu_eng.php
- Ion Creanga
Ion Creanga was a Moldavian-born Romanian writer, raconteur and schoolteacher. A main figure in 19th century Romanian literature, he is best known for his “Childhood Memories” volume, his novellas and short stories, and his many anecdotes.
He was born in Humulești in March 1, 1837 in a former village which has since been incorporated into Târgu Neamț city and after an idyllic period, which is recounted in the first section of his Childhood Memories, Ion Creangă was sent to primary school where he became noted for his rebellious attitude and appetite for truancy. His childhood period was the main inspiration for his later “Childhood Memories” volumes.
After a short period as a priest, teacher, the autumn of 1875 is also often described as his actual debut in fiction prose, with “The Mother with Three Daughters-in-Law”. In all, Convorbiri Literare would publish 15 works of fiction and the four existing parts of his Childhood Memories before Creangă’s death. During his literary consecration he became a friend with Mihai Eminescu who later would be named as the Romanian national poet.
His literature activity is probably one of the most creative in Romanian history, many of his tales remain up to date symbols of everyone’s childhood.
Some of his works:
– The Mother-in-law and her three daughters-in-law
– The Story of the Pig
– The Goat and Her Three Cubs
– Harap-Alb’s Story
– The Old Woman’s Daughter and the Old Man’s Daughter
– Memories of my Boyhood
and many more.
Link Childhood Memories: http://www.tkinter.smig.net/romania/Creanga/index.htm
- Ioan Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale was a great Romanian playwright, short story writer, poet, theater manager, political commentator and journalist. He is considered one of the greatest Romanian playwrights and writers, a leading representative of local humor, and a main representative of Junimea, an influential literary society with which he parted during the second half of his life.
Caragiale’s work, spanning four decades, covers the ground between Neoclassicism, Realism, and Naturalism, building on an original synthesis of foreign and local influences. His plays constituted an important venue for criticism of late 19th-century Romanian society, while in later works of fiction Caragiale adopted the fantasy genre or turned to historical fiction.
Caragiale oscillated between the liberal current and conservatism. Most of his satirical works target the liberal republicans and the National Liberals.
He made his literary debut in 1873, at the age of 21 and according to Tudor Vianu, Caragiale’s writings signify “the highest expression” of Romanian theater, mirroring and complimenting the contribution Mihai Eminescu had to Romanian-language poetry.
His role in the Romanian context was likened to those of Honoré de Balzac in France, Charles Dickens in the United Kingdom, and Nikolai Gogol in the Russian Empire.
Caragiale was an enduring influence on both Romanian humor and the views Romanians take of themselves. His comedies and various stories have produced a series of catchphrases, many of which are still present in both cultural reference.
O noapte furtunoasa [A Stormy Night] (drama)
Conul Leonida fata cu reactiunea [Mr. Leonida and the Reactionaries] (drama)
O scrisoare pierduta [The Lost Letter] (drama)
D’ale Carnavalului [Carnival Scenes] (drama)
Pacat (short stories)
Note si schite (short stories)
Sketches and Stories (short stories and sketches)
- Mihail Sadoveanu
Mihail Sadoveanu; occasionally referred to as Mihai Sadoveanu; (November 5, 1880 – October 19, 1961) was a Romanian novelist, short story writer, journalist and political figure. He was one of the most prolific Romanian-language writers, he is remembered mostly for his historical and adventure novels, as well as for his nature writing.
His books, critically acclaimed for their vision of age-old solitude and natural abundance, are generally set in the historical region of Moldavia, building on themes from Romania’s medieval and early modern history. Among them are Neamul Şoimăreştilor (“The Şoimăreşti Family”), Fraţii Jderi (“The Jderi Brothers”) and Zodia Cancerului (“Under the Sign of the Crab”). With Venea o moară pe Siret… (“A Mill Was Floating down the Siret…”), Baltagul (“The Hatchet”) and some other works of fiction, Sadoveanu extends his fresco to contemporary history and adapts his style to the psychological novel, Naturalism and Social realism.
A founding member of the Romanian Writers’ Society and later President of the Romanian Writers’ Union, Sadoveanu was also a member of the Romanian Academy since 1921 and a recipient of the Lenin Peace Prize for 1961.
Often seen as the leading author of his generation, and generally viewed as one of the most representative Romanian writers, Mihail Sadoveanu was also believed to be a first-class story-teller, and received praise especially for his nature writing and his depictions of rural landscapes. An exceptionally prolific author by Romanian standards, he published over a hundred individual volumes.
Each year, Iaşi commemorates the writer through a cultural festival known as the “Mihail Sadoveanu Days”.
-Venea o moară pe Siret…
– Drumuri basarabene
– Ţara de dincolo de negură
- Emil Cioran
Emil M. Cioran (8 April 1911 – 20 June 1995) was a Romanian philosopher and essayist, who published works in both Romanian and French.
Cioran was born in Rășinari, Sibiu County and after studying humanities at the Gheorghe Lazăr High School in Sibiu (Hermannstadt), Cioran, aged 17, started to study philosophy at the University of Bucharest. Upon his entrance into the University, he met Eugène Ionesco and Mircea Eliade, the three of them becoming lifelong friends.
His first studies revolved around Immanuel Kant, Arthur Schopenhauer, and especially Friedrich Nietzsche. He became an agnostic, taking as an axiom “the inconvenience of existence”. During his studies at the University he was also influenced by the works of Georg Simmel, Ludwig Klages and Martin Heidegger, but also by the Russian philosopher Lev Shestov, who added the belief that life is arbitrary to Cioran’s central system of thought. He then graduated with a thesis on Henri Bergson (however, Cioran later rejected Bergson, claiming the latter did not comprehend the tragedy of life).
Professing a lack of interest in conventional philosophy in his early youth, Cioran dismissed abstract speculation in favor of personal reflection and passionate lyricism. “I’ve invented nothing; I’ve simply been the secretary of my sensations”, he later said.
His works often depict an atmosphere of torment, a state that Cioran himself experienced, and came to be dominated by lyricism and, often, the expression of intense and even violent feeling. The books he wrote in Romanian especially display this latter characteristic.
Cioran’s works encompass many other themes as well: original sin, the tragic sense of history, the end of civilization, the refusal of consolation through faith, the obsession with the absolute, life as an expression of man’s metaphysical exile, etc. He was a thinker passionate about history; widely reading the writers that were associated with the period of “decadent”.
Cioran became most famous while writing not in Romanian but French, a language with which he had struggled since his youth. During Cioran’s lifetime, Saint-John Perse called him “the greatest French writer to honor our language since the death of Paul Valéry.
– Pe culmile disperării (literally On the Summits of Despair; translated “On the Heights of Despair”)
– Cartea amăgirilor (“The Book of Delusions”)
– Schimbarea la față a României (“The Transfiguration of Romania”)
– Lacrimi și Sfinți (“Tears and Saints”)
– Îndreptar pătimaș (“The Passionate Handbook”)
– Histoire et utopie
– La tentation d’exister
and many more.
Sample Link in English: http://www.nietzschecircle.com/Cioran_Hyp_May_10.pdf
- Vasile Alecsandri
Vasile Alecsandri, born at 21 July 1821 in Bacau (Romania) was a Romanian poet, playwright, politician and a diplomat. He was a very active militant of the Romanian heritage collecting Romanian folk songs all over the country and was one on of the principal animators of the 19th century movement for Romanian cultural identity and union of Moldavia and Wallachia.
His education background goes from an elite boarding school for boys in Iasi (as a young boy) and different studies in Paris, dabbled between chemistry, medicine and law. His attempt to choose one of this studies for his future failed, he soon abandoned all in favor of what he called his “lifelong passion”, literature.
As a public figure in the cultural life of Romania, Vasile Alecsandri was noted as a member of the directorate of the National Theater from Iasi and many publications.
He debuted in literature in 1840 with the romantic novel “Buchetiera de la Florenta”, but he is best known as one of the pioneers of pastels in Romanian literature. Alecsandri’s pastels evoke so-called domestic nature, the idyllic and patriarchal lifestyle. Descriptive elements don’t appear here incidentally, they are basic purpose of this poetry. Nature is no longer, as in other romantic poetry, a getaway, but the natural landscape objectively described.
Some of his works:
– Chirita in provintie (1852), Chirita in voiagiu (1864) and Chirita in balcon (1874)
– Poezii populare (Folk poetry), Poezii populare II (Folk poetry II )
– Buchetiera de la Florenta, O plimbare la munti (A walk in the mountains), Borse, Balta-Alba etc.
– Cetatea Neamtului (Neamt Castle), Despot Voda, Ovidiu etc
In 1860 he settled in Mirceşti for what would be the rest of his life and between 1862 and 1875, Alecsandri wrote 40 lyrical poems, in 1879, his “Despot-Vodă” drama received the award of the Romanian Academy and in 1881 he wrote Trăiască Regele (Long Live the King), which became the national anthem of the Kingdom of Romania until the abolition of monarchy in 1947.
Long suffering from cancer, Alecsandri died in 1890 at his estate in Mirceşti.
- Ioan Slavici
Ioan Slavici born in January 18, 1848 – August 17, 1925 was a Transylvanian-born Romanian writer and journalist. He made his debut in Convorbiri literare (“Literary Conversations”) (1871), with the comedy Fata de birău (“The Mayor’s Daughter”). Alongside Eminescu he founded the Young Romania Social and Literary Academic Society and organized, in 1871, the Putna Celebration of the Romanian Students from Romania and from abroad.
At the end of 1874, he settled in Bucharest, where he became secretary of the Hurmuzachi Collection Committee, then he became a professor, and then an editor of the newspaper Timpul (“The Time”). Alongside I. L. Caragiale and G. Coşbuc, he edited the Vatra (“The Heath”) review.
His first book, “Nuvele din popor”, a collection of short stories, was published in 1881. It included Moara cu noroc (The Lucky Mill) and Budulea Taichii, two of Slavici’s most well-known and crafted works.
In 1888 he moved to Bucharest and, in 1894, he began publishing the first parts of his most famous novel, “Mara”, which was published as a single volume 12 years later. This is also the period of his activities as editor of Vatra magazine, alongside George Coşbuc and Ion Luca Caragiale.
His close friendship with many of the great Romanian writers inspired him to write some very appreciated works.
– Moara cu noroc.
– Doi feti cu stea in frunte
– Din batrani
– Din doua lumi.
- Liviu Rebreanu
Liviu Rebreanu (November 27, 1885 – September 1, 1944) was a Romanian novelist, playwright, short story writer, and journalist.
Born in Târlișua (currently Bistrița-Năsăud County), Transylvania, he was the second of thirteen children born to Vasile Rebreanu, a schoolteacher, and Ludovica Diuganu, descendants of peasants.
Liviu Rebreanu went to primary school in Maieru (where he was taught by his father), and then in Năsăud and Bistrița, to military school at Sopron and then to the Ludovica Military Academy in Budapest.
His first published in 1912 with a volume of novellas gathered under the title “Frământări” (“Troublings”). During World War I Rebreanu was a reporter for Adevărul, and he continued publishing short stories: Golanii (“The Hooligans”) and Mărturisire (Confession) in 1916 and Răfuială (“Resentfullness”) in 1919.
In 1920 Rebreanu published his novel “Ion”, the first modern Romanian novel, in which he depicted the struggles over land ownership in rural Transylvania. For Ion, Rebreanu received a Romanian Academy award – he became a full member of the institution in 1939.
Between 1928 and 1930 he was chairman of the National Theatre of Bucharest, and from 1940 to 1944 he was President of the Romanian Writers’ Society.
In 1944, aged 59, he died of a lung disease in his country house in Valea Mare-Podgoria, Argeș County.
Catastrofa (“The Catastrophe”)
Norocul (“The Fate”)
Cuibul visurilor (“Nest of Dreams”)
Ițic Ștrul dezertor (“Iţic Ştrul as a Deserter”)
Răscoala (“The Revolt”)
Pădurea spânzuraților (“Forest of the Hanged”) |
Ever since I was little, I have loved bananas. One of my favorite recipes is banana chocolate chip bread that I make every summer. Sometimes, for breakfast, I eat a banana right off the stem to get my day started. There are countless ways to enjoy this delicate fruit, and you can enjoy all of them. The health benefits of bananas are considered to be a superfood for the body and here is why.
Bananas are Rich in Potassium
First, bananas are probably best well-known for their potassium. This potassium helps to keep our nervous system under control. When we exercise, it’s a good idea to eat a banana after your workout. Doing so will help prevent your body from experiencing muscle cramps. Also, the carbs contained within bananas are going to refuel your body after a workout, giving you the energy to go on with your day.
Another Health Benefit of Bananas is Helping with Insulin Sensitivity
Bananas may also help to improve insulin sensitivity. When a body becomes resistant to insulin, it may be an open door to diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, of which 1.4 million Americans are diagnosed each year. If you have or are at risk for developing diabetes, bananas can be a useful part of your healthy meal plan for diabetes prevention. Bananas safeguard against diabetes, however, and may regulate the body instead of increasing the chances of it contracting diabetes. Unripe bananas—those bananas that are green—are the best to eat, but for now, more studies are needed.
Bananas are Heart Healthy
On another note, bananas may support a healthy heart. This is because eating bananas keep blood pressure under control. This is due to the potassium within the banana, but even then, a regular-sized banana only contains around nine percent potassium. If your goal is to prevent heart disease, it’s necessary to eat a potassium-rich diet. It lowers your chances of a heart attack by up to twenty-seven percent.
Being Happy is Another Little-Known Health Benefit of Bananas
Furthermore, eating bananas makes you happy. This is because it increases the tryptophan within your body. You’re less likely to have depression or be moody once you eat them. Tryptophan is known as a happy hormone, and it also helps us to keep our stress levels low. When you find yourself worrying about the small things, pick up this delicious fruit, and all your worries will go away. If only life was that simple, right?
Bananas Can Help Reduce Symptoms of PMS
Finally, if you have bad PMS symptoms, bananas can assist in your relief. Eating a banana is going to regulate your blood sugar and reduce your stress by providing stress-relieving relaxation to your body. It’s also going to take away the risk of anemia that many women are at risk of while on PMS, because eating is nearly impossible when cramps take over. But bananas are easy on the digestion system. If you have the runs on PMS, this is going to help PMS move along much quicker.
How do you enjoy this fruit? You can make a fruit salad, eat it right off the vine or put into bread. Bake it into pies, cookies or cakes but however you eat bananas, know that your body is getting lots of vitamins and minerals. This has always been—and continues to be—my favorite fruit and the health benefits of bananas are a bonus to the flavor. I don’t think anything could change that. |
International housing organization Habitat for Humanity urged the government in a recent campaign to take legislative measures to create a transparent and sustainable housing scheme amid an ever-growing housing crisis in Hungary. The current unregulated conditions are disadvantageous for both the tenants and the property owners, states the communique published by Habitat for Humanity Hungary.
The campaign includes “black apartments” — public installations that are intended to raise awareness of the ongoing crisis — and an online petition calling for the implementation of the three most necessary measures to tackle the issue.
According to Habitat for Humanity, the lack of transparent and comprehensive rental regulations puts tenants in extremely vulnerable positions because rent rates and terms and conditions are determined solely by agreements between tenants and owners. The current rough-and-ready housing policy also discourages property owners from offering long-term rental, since there is no means of legal remedy in case of a dispute apart from the lengthy and expensive judicial proceeding that could take years to settle, Habitat says.
According to Habitat’s own survey and data from the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), rents increased by 87 percent nationwide and doubled in the inner districts of Budapest over the last 5 years, while incomes have only risen 22 percent.
According to a 2015 KSH survey, about 840,000 people spend more than 40 percent of their income on rents. The groups most affected by the crisis are low-income families, college students and rural workers who struggle to find housing near their workplace.
The Hungarian branch of the international NGO drew up an action plan that calls for regulation on real-estate rental, tax cuts for property owners who lend their real estate under market prices, and the creation of non-profit property management as an alternative for council housing, which provides housing for the most vulnerable groups that struggle to find housing from the market.
According to Habitat, the current housing crisis is caused by changing demographics, the appearance of a so-called real estate sharing economy, exemplified by websites such as airbnb.com, the growing rate of foreign real-estate investment in the inner cities, and the steadily decreasing quantity of council housing. Taxes on income from property lending also contribute to the high rent prices.
According to KSH’s 2016 report, nearly 90 percent of Hungarian housing is inhabited by the owners of the properties, which, with the small number of council housing, leaves a very narrow market for potential tenants.
The number of state- and council-owned real estate has been decreasing since the privatization of council housing in the 1990s. Housing policies implemented since then did not include rent aid but encouraged property ownership instead, and were aimed almost exclusively at wealthier segments of society. |
The area known as Kreta Ayer encompasses Smith, Temple, Pagoda, Trengganu and Sago streets. This was the area that Raffles marked out for the Chinese kampong and it became the hub of the Chinese community, deriving its name from the ox-drawn carts that carried water to the area. Renovation by the URA has meant that these streets still retain their characteristic baroque-style shophouses, with weathered shutters and ornamentation.
After Raffles' initial foray to Singapore in 1819, he left the fledgling colony in the hands of Major Farquhar with instructions on how it should be developed. When Raffles returned
from Bengkulu in October 1822, he was horrified to find his instructions being ignored and the city expanding in an alarmingly haphazard fashion with the settlement gaining a reputation
for crime and thuggery. He countermanded Farquhar's plans and orders and established a committee with even more explicit instructions. The committee allocated an area to each ethnic group and the Chinese were awarded this slice of land, southwest of the river.
Immigrants from China settled in Singapore in the latter half of the 19th century and recreated much of what they had left behind. Clan groups began migrating from the southern provinces of China to the Nang Yang or 'Southern Seas' in successive waves from the 17th century. By 1849 the Chinese population had reached 28,000, but the area they inhabited was largely confined to a settlement between Telok Ayer and Amoy streets. The greatest numbers migrated in the 40 years after 1870, mostly coming from the southeastern coastal provinces, with the Hokkiens forming the majority. Each dialect group established their own temple. The Hokkiens
in 1821, the Cantonese established
on Telok Ayer Street around the same time, as did the Teochews who built
on Philip Street. Streets, too, were occupied by different Chinese groups, with clubs and clan houses (
) aiding family or regional ties. The
were often affiliated with secret societies (
), which controlled the gambling and prostitution industries and the drug trade.
Expansion of the financial district meant that Chinatown was being demolished so rapidly that by the time the authorities realized that tourists actually wanted to see its crumbling buildings, many of the streets had already been destroyed. In any case, Chinatown had become a slum, with overcrowding and poor sanitation being very real problems. A clean-up campaign was undertaken; its markets were cleared out, shops and stalls relocated, shophouses refurbished and the smells and noises of Chinatown banished to a world that only a few confused grandparents care to remember. Many residents have moved out to new, modern flats in HDB (Housing Development Board) estates scattered around the island. To preserve what was left of the city's architectural history, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) was established in the 1970s to list old buildings and provide a framework for restoration and conservation.
The typical Straits Chinese house accommodated the family business on the ground floor, leaving the second and third floors as family living quarters - sometimes accommodating two families (and in later years, as Chinatown became desperately overcrowded, up to five families). A few wealthy Chinese merchants (
) built their houses according to traditional Chinese architectural conventions, but almost all of these have long since been demolished. One which has survived is
on Tank Road, at the eastern end of Orchard Road. Another is the
Thong Chai Medical Institute
on Eu Tong Sen Street, at the corner of Merchant Road. It was built in southern Chinese palace style with three halls, two inner courts and ornamental gables, and was completed in 1892. By the late-19th century it had become a centre for traditional medicine, offering its services free to the poor;
means 'benefit to all'. In 1911, during a malaria outbreak, it distributed free quinine. The building also became a focal point for the Chinese community, being the headquarters for the Chinese guilds. The Chinese Chamber of Commerce began life here (its headquarters are now on Hill Street). The building was made a national monument in 1973 and has been expertly renovated.
(or 'death house alley' as it was known in Cantonese, after its hospices for the dying),
, there are shops making paper houses and cars, designed to improve the quality of the after-life for dead relatives (by burning the models after the funeral, it is believed that one's worldly wealth hurries after you into the next world). Also on these streets, shops sell all the accoutrements needed for a visit to a Chinese temple. At Number 36 Smith Street there is a three-storey building that was originally home to a famous Cantonese opera theatre - Lai Chun Yen - and formerly Smith Street was also known as 'Hei Yuen Kai', or Theatre Street. The English probably gave Sago Street its name in the early 19th century, as Singapore became a centre of high-quality sago (a multi-purpose palm yielding starch) production for export to India and Europe. By 1849, there were 15 Chinese and two European sago factories here.
Perhaps because death and health go hand-in-hand, there are also a number of
in this area - for example, Kwang Onn Herbal at 14 Trengganu Street and others on Sago Street. Chinese traditional medicine halls still do a roaring trade, despite the advantages of Medisave schemes and 21st-century pharmaceuticals. On show are antlers and horns, dried frogs and flying lizards, trays of mushrooms and fungi, baskets of dried seahorses and octopus, sharks' fins and ginseng. Presumably more rare, and because they are illegal, body parts such as tiger penis and ground rhino horn are kept out of sight. Looking at this cornucopia of the dried and the pickled, it is easy to wonder how the Chinese ever discovered that flying lizard seeped in tea is good for athlete's foot. The
has several more such medicine halls. There are also a few skilled Chinese calligraphers still working from shops around Upper Cross Street.
Due to habitat loss and demand for shark-fin products, many species of these magnificent predators are now severely endangered. Please do not encourage the continuation of this business by purchasing shark-based products in any form. Hunting has reduced Javan rhinos to around 50 and Sumatran rhinos now number a few hundred. Please report any incidents of illegal wildlife trade to the Singapore authorities.
Sri Mariamman Temple
For anyone looking for a full range of Chinese products, one of the best bets is to visit the
on the corner of Eu Tong Sen and Upper Cross streets. Yue Hwa is an Aladdin's Cave of Chinese goodies, from silk camisoles, to herbal medicines, to beaded bags and Chinese tea. Just north of here, between Upper Pickering Street and North Canal Road, is a small area of green called
As if to illustrate Singapore's reputation as a racial and religious melting-pot, the Hindu Sri Mariamman Temple is situated nearby at 244 South Bridge Road. There was a temple on this site as early as 1827, making it Singapore's oldest Hindu place of worship. Stamford Raffles is said to have granted the land to Narian Pillai, a Tamil who accompanied Raffles to Singapore during his second visit on board the
, and set up Singapore's first brickworks. The basic layout of the present, gaudy Dravidian (South Indian) structure dates from 1843, although it has been much renovated and extended over the years. The temple shop is piled high with books on Hindu philosophy and cosmology and, unsurprisingly, is run by a Chinese family. The building is dedicated to Sri Mariamman, a manifestation of Siva's wife Parvati. (She is believed to be particularly good at curing epidemics and other major health scares, which at that time in Singapore were the norm rather than the exception.) The gopuram, or tower, here is particularly exuberant and the sacred cows seated along the top of the boundary wall add a rather pleasing bucolic touch to the affair. The temple is the site of the annual Thimithi festival, which takes place at the end of October or the beginning of November. Devotees cleanse their spirits by fasting beforehand and then show their purity of heart by walking over hot coals . To the north of the temple, also on South Bridge Road, is the
, built in 1826 by the Chulias from
southern India. It harnesses an eclectic mix of Anglo-Indian, Chinese and Malay architecture.
Chinese temple-carvers still live on
, which also has a number of
along it. Many buildings along
were originally stables. It was also home to Hakkas, who traded in second-hand paper and scrap metal - today it is better known for its Chinese restaurants. Number 37 Pagoda Street was one of the many coolie quarters in the area - home to Chinese immigrants, who lived in cramped conditions, sleeping in bunk spaces.
Telok Ayer Street
Also on Pagoda Street (No 48) is the
Chinatown Heritage Centre, www.chinatownheritagecentre.sg
, which is well worth a visit. The centre evocatively captures the lives of early Chinese settlers with mock-ups of boats, coffee houses, opium dens and squalid housing through the ages including kitchens, bedrooms, and even a prostitute's boudoir. Everything is captured down to the finest detail, including fake cockroaches in the kitchens and soiled toilets. Electronic sensors that switch on swinging lamps and start taps make the experience a little creepy.
This street is full of shophouses and fascinating temples of different religions and was once one of the most important in Singapore. The city's oldest Chinese temple, the Taoist
, or Temple of Heavenly Happiness, is a gem (notwithstanding the naff fibreglass wishing well in one corner). The temple is also very popular;
the coaches lined up outside give the game away - but don't let this put you off. Telok Ayer Street was the perfect place for merchants and traders to establish themselves, as it was right on the seafront. (It also became notorious for its slave trade in the 1850s.) The temple was funded by a wealthy merchant of the same name and building commenced in 1839. Skilled craftsmen and materials were all imported from China, the cast-iron railings came from Glasgow and the decorative tiles from Holland. The building was modelled on 19th-century southern Chinese architectural traditions, with a grouping of pavilions around open courtyards, designed to comply with the dictates of geomancy (feng shui).
The main deity of the temple is Tien Hou (Tin Hau), the Goddess of Seafarers, and she is worshipped in the central hall. The image here was imported from China in the 1840s and the temple soon became a focal point for newly arrived Hokkien immigrants who would gather to thank Tien Hou for granting them a safe journey. In the left-hand hall there is an image of the Lord of Laws (Fa Zhu Gong) and in the right is the Prince of Prominence, Zai Si Xian He. The ubiquitous Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, is also here. The temple's position on the waterfront quickly came to an end, in the 1880s, when one of Singapore's first land reclamation projects moved the shore several blocks east. It's well worth a visit.
A little way north of Thian Hock Keng is another much smaller Chinese temple, the Fuk Tak Chi temple. This is situated in an area that has been gentrified and is now known as
. Within the square is a jumble of renovated shophouses, with bars and bistros and a handful of shops. The two buildings of interest here are the
, one of the first free schools in Singapore - although sadly only the façade remains - and the
, (now a museum) one of the oldest of Singapore's temples, restored in 1998. Coolies arriving in Singapore made this their first stop, giving thanks for safe arrival. This modest but elegantly proportioned temple, with just one court and shrine
room, was built in 1824 by the Hakkas and Cantonese. Telok Ayer means water bay in Malay; before land reclamation, this temple stood on the waterfront and was constantly under attack from processes of coastal erosion. It's a little oasis of calm amidst the frenetic life of the city and holds a limited display of exhibits, including some Peranakan jewellery, Chinese stone inscriptions, a pair of porcelain pillows, a model of a Chinese junk and an excellent 'diorama' of Telok Ayer Street, as it must have been in the mid-1850s.
, also within the square, is on the site where Chinese opera was once performed and is now used as a centre for the performing arts.
, also on Telok Ayer Street, was built between 1850 and 1855 by Indian Muslims, who were also responsible for the fancy turrets of the
- a little further up the street - which was built in 1829. Designated a national monument, the shrine is a blend of architectural styles - Palladian doors and Doric columns combined with more traditional Indian-Islamic touches like the perforated roof grilles ... and then there are the fairy lights. An intriguing architectural sight is the
Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church
. The church was built in 1924 and combines a mixture of Eastern and Western influences. There is a flat roof with a Chinese pavilion and a colonnaded ground floor. It is all rather odd. During the Second World War it was used as a refugee camp.
One of Chinatown's more interesting places to visit is the Tea Chapter where visitors are introduced to the intricacies of tea tasting in elegant surroundings. You are invited to remove your shoes (sometimes an aromatic experience in itself) and can choose either to sit in one of their special rooms or upstairs on the floor. Relaxing Chinese plink-plink music, muffled feet, a tiny cup of delicious Supreme Grade Dragon Well, Scarlet Robe, Dong Ding Oolong or Green Iron Goddess of Mercy at your lips and the cool atmosphere (it's air conditioned upstairs) all add towards a soothing experience. As the brochure rather extravagantly puts it: “It is a mythical dream come true for those seeking solace from a harsh and unfeeling existence”. This is a popular place for young Singaporeans to visit on a Sunday afternoon. There is also a range of teas available to buy in the shop. For those interested in learning more about Chinese tea culture, there are workshops held. Check the website for more details.
West and south of Chinatown
The white building on the corner of Tanjong Pagar and Neil Road was the Jinriksha Station, built in 1903, and now the
Dragontown Seafood Restaurant
. It served as the administration centre for the
(rickshaws) arrived from Japan via Shanghai in the 1880s and soon became the most popular way to travel. By 1888 there were 1800 in use, pulled by immigrants who lived in Sago and Banda streets. By the 1900s, the fare for a 30-minute trip would have been 3 cents.
On Sunday mornings, bird lovers gather at the corner of Tiong Bahru and Seng Poh roads for
traditional bird singing competitions
, where row upon row of thrushes, merboks and sharmas sing their hearts out, in antique bamboo cages with ivory and porcelain fittings, hung from lines. The birds are fed on a carefully controlled diet to ensure the quality of their song. Owners place their younger birds next to more experienced songsters, to try to improve their voices and pick up new tunes. Birds start twittering at 0730 and are spent by 1000. On the opposite side of the road, there's a shop selling everything you need for your pet bird - including porcelain cage accoutrements. Come here early and combine a visit to hear the birds with breakfast in one of the traditional coffee shops nearby: fresh baked roti
washed down with sweet black or milky coffee. If you walk on down Seng Poh Road you will come to a fabulous
; every conceivable vegetable, fruit, fish, meat, beancurd you could ever want to purchase is available here.
- apparently inspired by Helsinki's - opened in 1932 and was renovated in 1990, though you wouldn't know it. The design, with its rubber-covered walls and their images of rubber tappers, tin miners and other Malay scenes, was heralded when it opened. Also notable are the four fine art deco images on the front of the station depicting commerce, agriculture, industry and shipping - suitably industrious for the new, as well as the old, Singapore. The station is notable in another respect too: the building and the land are Malaysian, not Singaporean. This was contrived as part of the deal when Singapore left the Malaysian Federation in 1965 and Malaysia ended up controlling the KTM. The two countries have been wondering how to handle this oddity of history ever since. In August 1998, Singapore moved its immigration officials from the Tanjong Pagar station to new purpose-built facilities at Woodlands, near the causeway on the Straits of Johor. But Malaysia refused to do the same. They are still trying to sort out their differences.
This is edited copy from Footprint Handbooks. For comprehensive details (incl address, tel no, directions, opening times and prices) please refer to book or individual chapter PDF |
(Image courtesy of Enterprising Barnsley)
We aim to provide a service that specifically tackles the following NHS Outcomes, currently out of reach of most Deaf patients
“Preventing people from dying prematurely”Similar to many disadvantaged communities, mortality rates are too far above average for Deaf people. With improvements in health literacy Deaf patients would be able to access the right life-saving service at the right time. Developments in self-care and use of preventative services will also increase the life expectancy which is limited due to access and knowledge barriers
“Enhancing the quality of life for people with long-term conditions” For the Deaf patients who are aware of any long-term illness or health conditions they may have, understanding how Primary Care services can help them grants a significant enhancement in the quality of life. Comprehending and relating to these important services on their own terms, through culturally appropriate and fluent BSL visual explanations we aim to provide, is essential in making these life-enhancing connections.
“Ensuring that people have a positive experience of care” The Health Needs Assessment we carried out in 2009 with NHS Wakefield, showed that any positive experiences were few and far between, many hesitated attending GP appointments and that information about how to use the services on offer was not accessible. Through fluent BSL and visual education, Deaf patients can know more of what to expect and what is expected of them, planting the seeds of positive and constructive Deaf patient and doctor relationships.
Evidence based commissioning:
The 2009 Health Needs Assessment’s chief finding was that what 92% of respondents wanted most from their health service was information in the right format. The multitude of conversations we have had with Deaf people since 2007 indicate that the right format for them is fluent, visual BSL
British medical research carried out in the deprived area of Sandwell, also showed that Deaf patients are significantly disadvantaged in terms of health and self-care because of a lack of accessible information in their own language. We aim to develop fluent-BSL education, that also develops signs that can convey often complex medical terminology.Our services also come strongly recommended by healthcare professionals and the community. Additional academic evidence, from the US also supports the effectiveness of educations that is sign language based. A Journal of Cancer Education study on colorectal cancer found the Deaf patients “demonstrated significantly higher scores” when tested on knowledge gained through watch sign language-based video presentations. Medical scientists at the University of Rochester in New York also found that “accessible information and peer support”, in a group counselling setting that used sign language provided significant gains in behaviour and weight loss. The American Heart Association reported that this weight loss programme offered in American Sign Language (ASL) was vastly more successful than support or interventions typically offered to Deaf people struggling with being overweight or obese. One of the counsellors involved stated the following, “Participants were comfortable in the culturally affirming environment in which everyone signs. This setting, along with accessible information and peer support, contributed to the positive experience of participants.”
Plenty of negative evidence validates the necessity of the service we offer. Current health information translations from English do not provide a path away from current health inequalities, they only serve to perpetuate confusion and mistrust that many Deaf patients have of GPs and NHS services that they need! (See the Deaf Health Inequalities section for an overview.)
Further evidence is needed through a trial commission to create a competitive standard; we offer the NHS a community-based, but professionally produced and medically accurate solution to this challenge |
On 1900‐10‐09 a large ( 7.6–8.0) earthquake occurred in the Gulf of Alaska and strongly shook the port town of Kodiak. Some damage occurred to buildings and the wharf, and dozens of aftershocks were felt over the next several hours and days. Global seismic stations recorded the earthquake from as close as Victoria, western Canada, to as far as Capetown, South Africa. Here we collect an expanded set of felt reports and instrumentally recorded arrival times to estimate an epicentral area centered at (, 57.4°), north of the subduction plate boundary, and about 95 km southeast of Kodiak. We propose three possible source regions for the 1900 earthquake: (1) the subduction interface (which hosted the 1964 9.2 earthquake), (2) subducted oceanic lithosphere, hosting a strike‐slip earthquake, or (3) active faults within the accretionary wedge. Lack of evidence of any significant tsunami provides an important constraint for future modeling to discriminate among the three source regions. The earthquake occurrence adds to a complex tectonic setting offshore of Kodiak Island. The incoming deforming Pacific plate meets an actively faulted overlying accretionary wedge, with the subduction interface between the plate and the wedge being capable of earthquakes. |
There are various good reasons for incentivising cultural built heritage. The top five reasons for privately maintained heritage buildings are:
Firstly, the majority of listed heritage places are in private ownership (homes, offices, factories, religious buildings).
Secondly, the cost of maintaining a listed heritage place is higher compared to the average more contemporaneous building stock. Older buildings have more systemic dilapidation issues and are required to be repaired using traditional building materials which are more expensive in material and labour – the latter of which draws upon an increasingly rare set of skills and knowledge.
Thirdly, owners of heritage listed places are hampered by restrictions on what they can do on their land. Most commonly, they will be prevented from demolishing their buildings unlike their non-listed neighbours and they will be limited in what can be modified, added on or extended. This usually brings them into protracted negotiations with planning authorities which need to carefully assess impacts and closely scrutinise the details. Such processes are costly for both owners and the authorities. In the case of the latter, planning authorities need to employ specialist heritage practitioners who are capable of understanding arcane heritage discourse and who are required to be sufficiently experienced in planning and historic building fabric matters to be able to make balanced, equitable and timely decisions. In reality, this cost is largely shifted onto the private sector and owners foot the bill for the majority of specialist heritage consultancy advice.
Fourthly, heritage buildings are more fragile than ecologies. A demolished historic building can never be brought back whereas; an endangered species conceivably can be rehabilitated under careful management. This factor alone ups the ante when it comes to decision making. The precautionary approach ushers in a level of conservatism premeditated largely by a general reluctance on the part of authorities to make mistakes – ones that cannot be reversed. In so doing, it slows the process down. Applicants become anxious about inordinate time wasting and escalating costs as a result of which, the entire heritage development process is perceived to be negative and vexatious. Owners along with developers and politicians take a dim view of authorities which appear to act against owners’ interests, but in reality, such authorities are simply trying to do their jobs albeit with minimal resources and little moral support.
Lastly, cultural built heritage is by nature a public interest concern. Unlike the non-listed heritage stock, decisions concerning listed properties and contributory items in conservation areas are in essence decisions about public goods. Cultural built heritage albeit largely in private ownership is deemed to be the property of the community; ostensibly held in trust by private owners for the benefit of the public in perpetuity. Such multiplicity of ownership invariably entreats strong community interest. It impedes expeditious decision making; slows down approvals on heritage sites; adds to the cost of owning or changing a heritage property and further frustrates owners, investors and developers alike.
Paul Rappoport – Heritage 21 – 16 September 2014 |
It’s important to maintain the health of your eyes as their condition can have an effect on your vision and overall well-being. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, nearly 50% of all eye injuries that occur each year are related to accidents at home.
What are some common eye injuries?
- Using harsh cleaning chemicals can cause serious injury if they are accidentally splashed into the eye. This includes cleaning products containing bleach.
- Mowing the lawn, trimming weeds and working on landscaping projects can be dangerous when rocks, dirt, twigs or other debris are thrown into the air.
- Working on home improvement projects may result in nails, screws, dust, dirt or wood and metal shavings getting projected into the air.
- Wear the right type of protective eyewear for the job. Understand what you will be doing and know which type of protective eye or face wear is right for the task at hand.
- Be sure that your eye or face wear fits snugly and securely. Never depend on goggles or face wear that is not adjustable. There is not a one-size-fits-all approach to safety.
- Schedule regular annual appointments with your optometrist.
It’s important to wear protective eye or face wear when performing tasks that could be dangerous for your vision. Wearing the right kind of protection can decrease your risk of an eye injury by nearly 90%.
Get more eye safety tips from the American Academy of Ophthalmology. |
Oozing sap or pitch, to some degree, is a normal condition for all shrubs and trees. However, it can also be an indicator of other, more seriouis problems such as injured bark, disease, or insect infestations.
Under normal conditions drops of milky whitish, clear to amber sap may appear on seemingly healthy bark. If there are no signs of damage close to the ooze, the condition should be considered the normal process of a healthy tree.
Bark injury from borers can cause ooze. Borer damage to the bark is fairly easy to detect. Small holes which appear to have been drilled mechanically will be scattered around the trunk and limbs. These borer holes may have signs of sap or sawdust around the opening.
Fungal and bacterial infections can also cause the tree to ooze. These infections will often travel below the bark, causing sunken areas in the bark where the infection has decimated the sapwood. These cankers may be on twigs, branches, limbs and trunk. For more information, see Canker.
Mechanical injuries to the bark will cause most trees to ooze sap. This will be particularly apparent as the sap begins to rise in the spring, after an overwinter injury. Mechanical injuries include chafing, gouges, cuts which penetrate the bark to the cambium layer, and can be caused by cables, chains, or fence wire wrapped around, or tensioned against the tree; scraping from lawnmowers, weed eaters, or other lawn care equipment; screws, nails, hooks and other mechanical fasteners which have been inserted into the tree; and any other non-pest related penetration of the bark.
Stress from environmental conditions can also cause a tree or shrub to ooze sap. Poorly drained soils, dramatic changes in temperature or soil moisture can trigger oozing sap. If the affected tree is repeatedly subjected to overly wet soil, measures should be taken to improve drainage.
The most important care practices for the long-term health of your trees are to keep them consistently fed and watered. |
There are many different ways to reduce your household's energy use, some of which are very straight forward.
Read our top tips on how to conserve energy in your home below:
Simply turning off lights or appliances when you do not need them can make an impact in reducing energy costs. For example, do you leave your television on standby when you go to bed or go out for the day? Leaving an appliance on standby will still use energy. According to TheGreenAge, if your television is 10 years or older, it can cost around £15 per year extra when left on standby.
Your home should already be fitted with energy saving light bulbs, however by getting into the habit of turning lights off when you leave a room, a family could save between £50 - £90 per year according to npower.
When heating your home, ensure that all radiators are clear of washing or furniture to allow the room to be warmed effectively. By reducing the temperature in your home by just 1°C, you could reduce your heating bill by up to £85 each year (according to npower). Please note, the recommended temperature is 18 -21°C, and 21°C for young children and older persons.
Have you explored your washing machine's settings? Many will have an eco option, low temp option or even a 'half load' option for small amounts of clothes. Washing clothes at 30 degrees rather than 40 degrees can be a third cheaper, meaning savings of up to £52 per year, according to MoneySuperMarket. Running a hot wash occasionally will help to keep the machine clean however.
Not every home will be completely airtight, and draughts are common in older homes. Purchasing a draught excluder to help block these out can help keep heat in. These can be purchased from most value home stores.
If you have any top tips for saving energy in your home, let us know by clicking here. |
“Od” is a manifestation of the aether as discovered by Baron Karl Von Reichenbach.
This simple motor is a worthy experiment and this is the only information we have been able to find on it. Those daring enough please take the plunge and report your findings.
In the book “The Inner Earth” by Doreal, he mentioned that there are 144 separate and distinct types of magnetic current. The Ancients called this sub-Pranic or sub-aetheric, which can be used for superhuman powers and levitation or for control of the mind.
The following is a description of how we make a machine to allow anyone to work with each of the individual magnetic currents.
In the book “Vital Force” by Baron Charles von Reichenbach, he shows the chart of these forces:
Take a metal disk and put the N or S pole of a magnet in the center. Then place the disk horizontally. Use a compass to line up the dark blue at 90 degrees and red at 270; then you can map out the rest of the lines.
If you can see magnetic auras then you will not need a compass.
Fig. 2 shows how to make a very powerful magnetic spectrum device. The 44-inch diameter disk is made of 10:0:8 soft annealed steel approximately 3/16 inch thick. Between them are placed 16 to 28 ceramic magnets approximately 2 inches in diameter, with a hole in the center and magnetized with the poles across the faces. The blue pole is placed under the top disk and the red pole is placed down on the bottom disk. The top and bottom 2 to 4 magnets are placed so their poles repel, but when put on top of the metal disk they will still attract to the metal disk so as to compress the field out away from the center to the edges of the disk. A brass or copper tube is forced through the holes in the magnets to align them and give them support. A plastic stand or motor is used under the bottom plate.
Fig. 2: Magnetic Spectrum Device
An iron triangle was placed on one of the disks to draw off the color to work with it. The width of the triangle helps to draw off more or less of the colors nearby. The triangle is connected to a copper and iron wire to draw off the energy you want to work with. The cone on the other end increases the efficiency. An iron rod can be placed at the edge just between the top and bottom so you can draw color from the bottom and top plate at the same time.
Fig. 3 : How the colors look coming out from the machine: very concentrated near the edge and slightly inside (Geographic N: dark blue ray)
As the distance between the plates is increased the separation of the colors increases and the stinging sensation increases to a point where it decreases with further separation.
A jar placed between the disks can be used to charge water or seeds in water. 2 to 4 hours are needed for good results. If the disk is turned slowly by motor or hand (every 10 minutes by hand), all the colors will fill the water. Seeds treated for 1 hour or longer showed up to 5 times as much root growth as compared to untreated. The disk is turned every 15 minutes. When you use the red or blue pole of a magnet you still have the complete rainbow in each color. Now as with color therapy you have each color at your command and it is already in its aura form which makes it more effective and potent than the aura which is attached to color.
On the back of most old TV picture tubes is a gray ferrite collar over copper wire. Remove them and place 2 or more over the copper tubing on the top disk. With three of these ferrite collars the odic field coming from the area between the two iron disks will be extended 10 to 100 times.
Our guess is that the field of energy may be equal to a 16-layer Reich accumulator, but it is of Od (cf. von Reichenbach) rather than Orgone.
Orgone moves west to east; Od moves south to north. They cross each other. We think that Orgone’s physical counterpart is electricity, and Od’s physical counterpart is magnetism.
When a person sits in an orgone accumulator his body generates a larger aura. When that person puts his hands near the odic disk the orgone aura collapses and a new aura appears that seems different from the orgone aura. Carbon seems to be able to break orgone into its different colors. Reich found red and blue energy under the microscope, and between red and blue is a rainbow. Now that you have electricity and magnetism (orgone and odic) the sky is the limit. Go after it! |
"I shall never henceforth give quarter to any Spaniard whatsoever."
Jean-David Nau, later known as François l'Olonnais (circa 1630 - 1669) was a French buccaneer and pirate captain active in the Caribbean in the 1600s. After suffering a massacre of his crew by Spanish soldiers early in his career, he developed a vehement hatred of the Spanish that he carried with him all his life. L'Olonnais was known for his extreme cruelty, routinely torturing and even eating parts of captives.
Most of what is known about l'Olonnais comes from Alexandre Exquemelin's book The History of the Buccaneers of America. Exquemelin claimed that l'Olonnais, born Jean-David Nau, was born in les Sables-d'Olonne in France, traveling to the Caribbean in the 1650s as an indentured servant. When his service expired in 1660, l'Olonnais traveled to Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti) to become a buccaneer (predominately French pirates operating in the Caribbean during the 1600s).
About a year after becoming a pirate, l'Olonnais was shipwrecked off the coast of Mexico, where Spanish soldiers attacked him and his crew. All of l'Olonnais' crew were killed, with l'Olonnais himself only escaping by covering himself in blood and hiding among the bodies of the dead. After the Spanish left, l'Olonnais joined up with some escaped slaves and traveled to Tortuga, where he held the town hostage, demanding a ransom from the Spanish. They sent another raiding party, but this time l'Olonnais killed them all save one, whom he sent to deliver a message to the Spanish that he had vowed eternal enmity to them.
In 1666, l'Olonnais assembled a fleet of eight ships and 440 men to attack Maracaibo in what is now Venezula. The city was defended by a fortress with a battery of sixteen cannons, but l'Olonnais simply went around the city and attacked from the undefended landward side, capturing the city in a few hours. Discovering most of the city's inhabitants had hidden their gold, l'Olonnais had them tracked down and tortured so they would tell them where they had hidden their wealth. Captives were burned alive, had pieces of flesh cut off with a sword, and had ropes tied around their heads and tightened until their eyes popped out.
After two months of pillaging, l'Olonnais moved on to San Antonio de Gibraltar, where his men killed five hundred of the city's garrison and captured the city. Though a substantial ransom was paid, l'Olonnais plundered more from the city's inhabitants and took them as slaves. After his successful raids, an additional seven hundred men signed on with l'Olonnais for an expedition to Honduras. In 1667, l'Olonnais' crew was ambushed by Spanish soldiers and he barely escaped with his life. Taking two captives, l'Olonnais cut out one of their hearts and ate it, threatening to kill the other man in the same way if he didn't show l'Olonnais a safe way to the city of San Pedro.
Although the surviving captive did as he was told, l'Olonnais was still repulsed by the defenders of San Pedro. Forced to retreat, l'Olonnais and his men continued to raid the region until he was captured in Panama by the Kuna tribe, who killed and ate him. |
One of the most important skills for a kid to build up in early stages is knowledge of computers. Regardless of what vocation they choose in existence, they will have to be confident with the fundamentals of navigating on the computer and taking advantage of a mouse and keyboard. All educational software helps you to educate these skills whether or not the software is built to educate them another thing, like history or math. Kids will obtain a comfort with studying and understanding menus, which is necessary in the majority of the programs they’ll encounter afterwards in existence. They’ll also gain the critical thinking abilities required to make use of the software correctly. Various kinds of educational software act like games, using the benefit because they strengthen problem-solving abilities and contain the child’s interest in a manner that complements other teaching tools like books and videos. They offer all of the entertainment advantages of a video game (immediate feedback, scoring in exchange and also to motivate a student) while supplying training.
The different challenges found in instruction program, actually reinforce training learned by standard methods, also to introduce new regions of learning.
You will find programs around that educate numerous regions of math, varying in the basics like addition and subtraction for pre-school students, to more complex subjects like calculus. One thing to consider with math software is it offers training a number of skill-levels so when children’s ability grows, the training will end up harder. Many programs will instantly adapt to the youngsters abilities according to their performance.
Whether a young child will be trained about ancient Egypt or American history, you will find choices for history software that gives that may give them the right learning atmosphere for fundamental or advanced historic details. In addition, history education is frequently tied with geography to ensure that history software frequently offers an education in places and individuals too. You will find programs that educate about history in many parts around the globe.
Studying and writing British is, obviously, probably the most fundamental regions of children’s education. British software might help a young child learn from phonics basics to advanced writing and vocabulary programs targeted at students. These programs may either be employed to provide instruction for a kid being home schooled or like a remedial tool or study aid.
Programs like My First Amazing Science Explorer are best ways to create a child’s curiosity about science by using highly interactive and entertaining training for youthful children. The amount of science software available vary from fundamental chemistry to twelfth Grade physics.
Educational Software programs are helpful for both homeschooling parents who choose their child would like to pay attention to learning for hrs at any given time. The program can also be for moms and dads who would like to give the youngster an additional academic edge, whether they homeschool. These programs obtain a child in to the practice of learning just for fun even if they don’t have a grownup there to pressure them to get it done. |
Self Instructional Language Program (SILP)
Description of the Program and Student Responsibilities
(Revised in September, 2018)
The Self-Instructional Language Program (SILP) provides students with the opportunity to study critical languages via an academically rigorous program that combines self-study of appropriate texts with audio and visual materials, conversation, and drill sessions with an instructor who is a native or a near-native speaker of the target language. Participation in the Self-Instructional Language Program is a privilege and as such entails certain responsibilities.
Classes, which consist of less than ten students, meet for two hours per week. Unscheduled class times are decided at a mandatory meeting with the instructor and the SILP coordinator. Students will not be guaranteed a place in the class if they do not attend this meeting.
Instructors are generally native speakers with experience in language teaching who bring to the classroom a wealth of cultural and linguistic knowledge. Their role is to provide communicative opportunities to the students, and to create a self-guided environment for students to work on their language learning.
Not every student is ready to be an independent language learner. Students who have been successful in regular language courses, who enjoy figuring things out for themselves, who are comfortable with less instructor interaction, and who have a strong motivation to learn the language are good candidates for SILP.
Students are expected to work independently with limited supervision. Student motivation and discipline are essential to the successful completion of the course and acquisition of the language.
Students are required to attend all meetings with the instructor and must complete all assignments. The instructor should be contacted directly if a student is unable to attend a session. It is at the discretion of the SILP coordinator in consultation with the instructor to withdraw a student from the course if assignments are not completed when due.
The final grade for the course is weighed as shown below:
Attendance and participation 10%
Homework and assignments 20%
Midterm and/or quizzes 20%
Final exam 50%
Two consecutive 2-credit SILP courses or one 3-credit SILP course would fulfill Skidmore’s language requirement.
Students may take 300-level SILP courses (WLX371/372) upon demonstrating requisite linguistic proficiency. These are independent study courses comparable to other 371/372 courses at Skidmore. Students are therefore expected to do advanced work in the target language. Students must discuss the project and/or goals with the instructor and complete an Independent Study Proposal Form to be signed by the department chair prior to registration. Work in such courses generally consists of a combination of reading, writing, and conversation with the instructor. There are no external exams for these courses, and the instructor assesses student performance to determine the final grade.
Statement of Policies
Eligibility policy: All students who have successfully completed their first semester at Skidmore are eligible to participate in the program. Native speakers of the target language are not eligible to participate in the SILP program.
Placement policy: Students must present in writing a description of their prior study or knowledge of the foreign language for which they are registering. The instructor will determine the appropriate level of placement for the student no later than the first class meeting of the semester.
Any student who deliberately, knowingly, and willfully enrolls in a class below his or her language proficiency level is in violation of the Skidmore College Honor Code and may be referred to the Office of the Associate Dean for Academic Advising and/or the Integrity Board for further action. Students should be aware that the penalties attached to an academic integrity violation may jeopardize their standing at the College. Students should also be aware that those who have committed academic integrity violations are ineligible for College honors, including but not limited to Dean's List, graduation honors, and inclusion in certain honor societies.
Attendance policy: Students who miss more than three hours of class with the instructor, will not qualify to take the final exam, resulting in an F in the course.
Final exam policy: The final examination may be conducted by an external examiner and/or the instructor. The exam will be held during final exams week (time and date determined by examiner) and no alternate times can be scheduled. Should the student have a conflict with another final exam, he or she should make arrangements to change the other final examination, as the SILP examiner is available for the chosen time slot only. Students who miss the scheduled final exam will receive an F in the course.
Plagiarism policy: In the case of documented plagiarism, a student will receive an F for the course regardless of his or her proficiency in the language. Cases of plagiarism will be referred to the Integrity Board, in accord with the College’s honor code (see http://cms.skidmore.edu/student_handbook/honor-code.cfm).
Please feel free to contact the SILP coordinator, Professor Masako Inamoto in the Department of World Languages and Literatures, if you require any further information. |
Guy Fawkes: Who Is This Guy, Anyway?
Remember, Remember the Fifth of November
Catesby's plan involved blowing up the houses of Parliament on Nov. 5, 1605. The reason for that date? King James was due to open Parliament that day. At first, the group tried to tunnel under Parliament, but it changed tactics when Thomas Percy obtained a cellar under the House of Lords. It was filled with barrels of gunpowder, and Fawkes, because of his munitions experience in the Netherlands, was given the task of creating the explosion. In this 17th century engraving, Fawkes, far left, is discovered at his task. |
CITY OF HEMET WATER SUPPLY SELF-CERTIFICATION
On May 9, 2016, Governor Brown issued an Executive Order directing the State Water Resources Control Board to "adjust and extend" emergency water conservation regulations through January of 2017. As part of the adjustments to the regulation, the State has done away with mandated conservation standards that were previously assigned to water districts. In lieu of mandated standards, the State has implemented a process for water providers to self-certify that they have enough water supply to meet customer demand in the event that the state experiences an additional three years of drought conditions. On June 22, 2016, the City of Hemet Water Department submitted a Self-Certification of Supply Reliability. Based on the results of each districts self-certification, the State will assign a new conservation standard to each water district. The City of Hemet has self-certified supply in excess of the demand projected for the next three years. Information and analysis provided by the City to the State Water Resources Control Board is required to be posted to a publicly accessible webpage and can be accessed by selecting the links.
- Worksheet 1-Water Supply Sources (PDF)
- Worksheet 2-Groundwater Supplies (PDF)
- Worksheet 3-Base Production Calculations (PDF)
- Worksheet 4-Monthly Well Water Levels February 2013 (PDF)
- Worksheet 5-Monthly Well Water Levels April 2016 (PDF)
- Worksheet 6-Groundwater Safe Yield Levels (PDF)
USING WATER WISELY
California is now experiencing a serious drought. We can't afford to waste any water.
Conserving water is easier than you might think! Making small adjustments can have a big impact. Visit Water Use it Wisely to find nearly 200 water-saving tips for indoors, outdoors, at the office, and even some ideas to get your kids involved!
MANDATORY WATER USE RESTRICTIONS NOW IN EFFECT
Due to the ongoing drought conditions in the state of California, the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) has issued Emergency Order 2014-0718-01E, which mandates water suppliers enact certain water restrictions. On January 27, 2015, as directed by the SWRCB, the Hemet City Council approved Resolution Number 15-004 activating Phase 2 of the City's Water Conservation Plan, which implements a water use reduction program to achieve a 25% reduction in overall water use. The ordinance became effective immediately.
Here is a summary of the restrictions that are now in place:
- No customer shall cause or permit any water to run to waste.
- Irrigation of ornamental landscaping and turf with potable water is limited to no more than two days per week.
- Landscape watering is prohibited between 6:00am and 6:00pm except for performing regular maintenance checks and repairs.
- No water shall be allowed to run off landscaped areas or supersaturate these areas.
- Additional water shall not be allowed for new landscaping or expansion of existing facilities unless low water use landscape designs and efficient irrigation systems are used.
- No water shall be used to hose or wash sidewalks, walkways, driveways, parking areas or other paved surfaces.
- Hoses used for any purpose shall be equipped with a positive shutoff device.
- Water leaks must be repaired as soon as discovered, and shall not be allowed to continue.
- Car washing is prohibited except with a bucket or container not exceeding a three-gallon capacity. Hoses for rinsing must be equipped with a positive shutoff nozzle.
- No water shall be used to fill or maintain levels in decorative fountains, ponds, lakes, and similar structures unless such structure is equipped with a water recycling system.
- Restaurants, cafes, cafeterias or other public places were food is sold shall serve water to customers only upon request.
GET MORE INFORMATION:
10 WAYS TO SAVE WATER OUTDOORS
- Water your lawn only when needed. Step on the grass. If it springs back when you take your foot off, it doesn't need water.
- Deep soak your lawn. When you do water your lawn, water it just long enough to seep down to the roots where it is needed. A light sprinkling, which sits on the surface, will evaporate and be wasted.
- Water during the cool parts of the day. Early morning is better than dusk since it helps prevent the growth of fungus.
- Don't water the gutter or sidewalks. Position your sprinklers so water lands on your lawn or garden, not on concrete or other paved areas. Also, avoid watering on windy days.
- Plant drought-resistant trees and plants. Many beautiful trees and plants thrive with little water in our semi-arid region.
- Put a layer of mulch around trees and plants. Mulch slows the evaporation of moisture.
- Use a broom instead of a hose to clean driveways and sidewalks.
- Don't run the hose while washing your car. Soap down the car from a pail of soapy water. Use hose only to rinse it off.
- Tell your children not to play with the hose and sprinklers.
- Check for leaks in pipes, hoses, faucets and couplings. Leaks outside the house can be extremely wasteful, especially when they occur in your main water line. To check for hidden leaks in your pipes, shut off all faucets and taps around the house for 15 minutes. If the water meter shows some movement during that time, you have a leak.
5 WAYS TO SAVE WATER IN THE KITCHEN & LAUNDRY ROOM
1. Use your automatic dishwasher and washing machine for full loads only.
2. Don't let the faucet run while you clean vegetables, instead rinse them in a sink full of clean water.
3. Keep a bottle of drinking water in the refrigerator. This beats the wasteful habit of running tap water to cool it for drinking.
4. If you wash the dishes by hand, don't leave the water running for rinsing. If you have two sinks, fill one with rinse water. If you have only one sink, gather your washed dishes in a dish rack and rinse them quickly with a spray device or pan of water.
5. Check faucets and pipes for leaks.
8 WAYS TO SAVE WATER IN THE BATHROOM
- Check your toilet for leaks. Put a few drops of food coloring in your toilet tank. If the coloring begins to appear in the toilet bowl without flushing, you have a wasteful leak that should be repaired at once.
- Stop using your toilet as an ashtray or wastebasket.
- Take shorter showers. Limit your showers to the time it takes to soap up, wash down and rinse off.
- Install water-saving shower heads or flow restrictors. Your hardware or plumbing supply store stocks inexpensive shower heads and flow restrictors that are easy to install and still give you cleansing, refreshing showers.
- Take baths. A partial filled tub uses less than all but the shortest showers.
- Turn off the water while brushing your teeth. Before brushing, wet your brush and fill a glass for rinsing your mouth.
- Turn off the water while shaving. Fill the bottom of the sink with a few inches of water in which to rinse your razor.
- Check faucets and pipes for leaks. |
Emerald Tree Boa
Scientific Name: Corallus Caninus
Share this Post
The Emerald Tree Boa scientifically known as Corallus Caninus exhibits a stunning presence. It is a non-venomous snake commonly found in South America’s rainforests, has no subspecies, and is a member of the Boa species family. It is one of the most colourful snakes and a member of the Class Serpentes and Corallus Genus. It is the popular species of tree boas.The snake stands out because of its emerald green coloration on the ground with white irregular zigzag stripes also known as lightning bolts along its body. This pattern closely emulates the pattern of sun splotches, which penetrate through the thick rainforest canopy. As it grows older, the green coloration becomes darker. The snake is covered by brilliant green scales of yellow or white blotches on the lower right of their body. Adults grow to almost 6 feet and have long teeth that are proportionally bigger than those that other non-venomous snakes have. Juveniles differ in color between diverse shades of brick red or dark and light orange before the animal turns emerald green at about 9-12 months. The snake is slightly stout with a moderately thick neck to support its large head.
Emerald Tree Boas Are Beautiful Creatures
Facts About Emerald Tree Boas
Emerald Tree Boas are located in South America in the regions of the Amazon Basin like Colombia, Guyana, Surinam, Brasil, Ecuador, Venezuela, northern Bolivia, Peru and French Guiana within the Northern Shield.
The snake is commonly found in wet lowland rainforests, which receive high rainfall levels. It is also common in tropical rainforests where they usually coil up on the branches of trees. It also inhabits shrubs near water bodies like marshes and swamps.
This strictly arboreal and nocturnal species spends its entire days in a distinctive coil on tree branches with the head perched in the centre. During the night, it remains coiled on the branch but extending the head downwards, arched as if ready to strike. It holds on to this position until prey approaches directly below. Its long front teeth grasp the prey, which is then asphyxiated by constriction. The snake is a carnivore and mainly eats small mammals but also eats various bird species, frogs and lizards. It feeds less because of its slightly low metabolic rate. It has a unique behaviour where it rests motionless state for a long time.
It is ovoviviparous with the female having an internal egg gestation period of 5 to 7 months. The female produces an average of 6 to 14 young ones at a time. However, sometimes more than 14 young ones are reproduced. The females normally lay eggs at hatching time but sometimes the eggs hatch during or after the female lays them. The snake has a lifespan of about 15 years.
The species is easily available in the pet trade. It is normally bred in captivity but wild caught Emerald Tree Boas are fairly common. It is a challenging snake to keep due to the numerous problems in its feeding behaviour and habitat. Most of the wild-caught species die within one year of their capture if not appropriately cared for. Probably this is the reason why the captive-bred species are quite expensive. |
Festivals or Tshechu (“tenth day”) are Bhutanese festivals held every year in various temples monasteries and dzongs across the country. The Tshechu is mainly a religious event celebrated on tenth day of a month of lunar calendar corresponding to the birth day of Guru Rinpoche (Guru Padmasambhava). However the month of Tshechu depends place to place and temple to temple.
Tshechus are large social gatherings where people from various villages come together to witness the religious mask dances which are based on incidents from as long as 8th century from the life of Guru Padmasambhava and to receive blessings from lamas. The event also consists of colorful Bhutanese dances and other entertainments.
It is said that everyone must attend a Tshechu and witness the mask dances at least once to receive the blessings and wash away the sins. Every mask dances performed during Tshechu has a meaning or a story behind. In monasteries the mask dances are performed by monks and in remote villages they are performed jointly by monks and village men. Among many Tshechus in the country most popular are Paro and Thimphu Tshechus in terms of participation and audience. Besides the locals many tourists from across the world are attracted to this unique, colorful and exciting culture.
TRONGSA FESTIVAL IN CENTER BHUTAN - 9 NIGHTS/10 DAYS
Still looking for flights? You can have flight experts compete against one another to find you the absolute best and cheapest flights. |
The ABC of Insulin: The Organic Chemistry of a Small Protein
Research output: Contribution to journal › Review › Research › peer-review
Insulin is a small protein crucial for regulating the blood glucose level in all animals. Since 1922 it has been used for the treatment of patients with diabetes. Despite consisting of just 51 amino acids, insulin contains 17 of the proteinogenic amino acids, A‐ and B‐chains, three disulfide bridges, and it folds with 3 α‐helices and a short β‐sheet segment. Insulin associates into dimers and further into hexamers with stabilization by Zn2+ and phenolic ligands. Selective chemical modification of proteins is at the forefront of developments in chemical biology and biopharmaceuticals. Insulin's structure has made it amenable to organic and inorganic chemical reactions. This Review provides a synthetic organic chemistry perspective on this small protein. It gives an overview of key chemical and physico‐chemical aspects of the insulin molecule, with a focus on chemoselective reactions. This includes N‐acylations at the N‐termini or at LysB29 by pH control, introduction of protecting groups on insulin, binding of metal ions, ligands to control the nano‐scale assembly of insulin, and more.
|Journal||Chemistry: A European Journal|
|Number of pages||17|
|Publication status||Published - 2020| |
Individually, the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World can be regarded as astounding architectural achievements or marvels of human imagination and engineering – but together, they form an ancient travel guide, there to challenge the limitations of the time and, literally, reach for the skies.
What are the seven wonders of the world?
They consist of a pyramid, a mausoleum, a temple, two statues, a lighthouse and a near-mythical garden – the Great Pyramid of Giza, Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Temple of Artemis, the Statue of Zeus, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Lighthouse of Alexandria and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
Despite only being a short-lived collection – the last to be completed, the Colossus of Rhodes, stood for less than 60 years – and one of them, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, possibly not existing at all, the Wonders continue to capture imaginations and drive archaeologists and treasure hunters. They laid the foundations for what humans could achieve. Yet for all their fame, there are many questions surrounding these classical creations. Who decided what constituted a ‘Wonder’ in the first place?
As Greek travellers explored the conquests of other civilisations, such as the Egyptians, Persians and Babylonians, they compiled early guidebooks of the most remarkable things to see, meant as recommendations for future tourists – which is why the Seven Wonders are all around the Mediterranean Rim. They called the landmarks that bewildered and inspired them theamata (‘sights’), but this soon evolved to the grander name of thaumata – ‘wonders’.
Why are there only seven wonders?
The Seven Wonders we know today are an amalgamation of all the different lists from antiquity. The best-known versions come from the second-century-BC poet Antipater of Sidon, and mathematician Philo of Byzantium, but other names include Callimachus of Cyrene and the great historian Herodotus. What made their list relied on where they travelled and, of course, their personal opinion, so while we recognise the Lighthouse of Alexandria as a Wonder today, some left it out, favouring the Ishtar Gate of Babylon instead.
But why are there only seven? Despite a plethora of structures and statues in the ancient world worthy of inclusion, there have only ever been seven Wonders. The Greeks chose this number as they believed it held spiritual significance, and represented perfection. This may be as it was the number of the five known planets at the time, plus the Sun and Moon. And another question about the Seven Wonders, considering all but one are long lost or destroyed, may be – what exactly are they?
Great Pyramid of Giza
Get a room full of people to name the Seven Wonders and most would name the Great Pyramid of Giza first. The reason is simple enough – while the other six have been lost for centuries, the Great Pyramid of Giza still stands proudly in northern Egypt.
Built in c2500 BC as the tomb of the fourth-dynasty pharaoh Khufu, it is the largest of the three Giza pyramids. Its original height of 146.5 metres (481 feet) made the pyramid the tallest human-made structure in the world until Lincoln Cathedral eclipsed it in the 14th century. The years have seen the outer layer of limestone erode – cutting almost eight metres (27 feet) off the height – but the pyramid remains one of the most extraordinary sights on the planet. Recent estimates suggest that it took around 14 years to transport and place the 2.3 million stone blocks.
Just how the pyramids were built – or how, 4,000 years ago, Egyptians aligned their structures with the points of the compass – remains the subject of debate.
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
Over the course of his life, the powerful Mausolus built a magnificent new capital for himself and his wife Artemisia at Halicarnassus (on the western coast of modern-day Turkey), sparing no expense to fill it with beautiful marble statues and temples. There was no question that he, being the satrap (governor) of the Persian Empire and ruler of Caria, would enjoy similar luxury after he died in 353 BC.
Artemisia (also Mausolus’s sister) was supposedly so grief-stricken by her husband’s death that she mixed his ashes with water and drank them, before overseeing the building of his extravagant tomb. Made of white marble, the monumental structure sat on a hill overlooking the capital he had built.
It had been designed by Greek architects Pythius and Satyros and boasted three levels – combining Lycian, Greek and Egyptian architectural styles. The lowest was around 20 metres (66 feet) high, forming a base of steps that led to the second level, ringed by 36 columns. The roof was in the shape of a pyramid, with a sculpture of a four-horse chariot on top bringing the height of the tomb to around 41 metres (135 feet). Four of Greece’s most renowned artists created other sculptures and friezes to surround the tomb, each decorating a single side.
The tomb may have been destroyed by earthquakes in medieval times, but a part of it lives on to this day – such was the splendour of Mausolus’s final resting place that his name led to the word ‘mausoleum’.
Statue of Zeus
Olympia – a sanctuary in ancient Greece, the site of the first Olympic Games and the home to a Wonder. And what better way to respect the chief god of the Ancient Greeks than to build a giant statue of him? That’s what sculptor Phidias did when he erected his masterpiece at the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, in c435 BC.
Zeus sat resplendent on a throne made of cedar wood and decorated with gold, ivory, ebony and precious stones. The god of thunder held a statue of Nike, the goddess of victory, in his outstretched right hand and a sceptre with an eagle perched on top in his left. He was further adorned with gold and ivory, meaning that the temple priests had to oil the statue regularly to protect it from the hot and humid conditions of western Greece. Such was the size of the statue, almost 12 metres (39 feet) high, that it barely fitted inside the temple, with one observing, “It seems that if Zeus were to stand up, he would unroof the temple.”
For eight centuries, people would voyage to Olympia just to see the statue. It survived Roman emperor Caligula, who wanted it brought to Rome so that its head could be replaced with his own likeness, but Zeus was eventually lost. It may have happened with the destruction of the temple in AD 426, or been consumed in afire after being transported to Constantinople.
Listen: Everything you ever wanted to know about ancient Greece, but were afraid to ask
Professor Paul Cartledge responds to listener queries and popular search enquiries about one of the most renowned and influential ancient civilisations in these two episodes of our ‘Everything you wanted to know’ podcast series.
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Detailed descriptions may exist in many ancient texts, both Greek and Roman, but no other Wonder is more mysterious than the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
All accounts, after all, are secondhand, and there is still no conclusive evidence that they existed at all. If they were real, they demonstrated a level of engineering skill way ahead of its time, as keeping a garden lush and alive in the deserts of what is now Iraq would have been no small feat.
One theory is that the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II had the Hanging Gardens created, in c600 BC, to help his homesick wife, who missed the greenery of her Median homeland (what is now Iran).
On the bank of the Euphrates once lay one of the ancient world’s most powerful cities. Why did it become so famous, and what do we really know about the Tower of Babel?
They may have been an ascending series of rooftop gardens, with some of the terraces supposedly reaching a height of around 23 metres (75 feet). This gave the impression of a mountain of flowers, plants and herbs growing out of the heart of Babylon. The exotic vegetation would have been irrigated by a sophisticated system of pumps and pipes, bringing water from the Euphrates river.
Philo of Byzantium describes the process of watering the gardens: “Aqueducts contain water running from higher places, partly they allow the flow to run straight downhill and partly they force it up, running backwards, by means of a screw,” which includes an early ‘Archimedes Screw’. “Exuberant and fit for a king is the ingenuity, and most of all, forced, because the cultivator’s hard work is hanging over the heads of the spectators.”
It has been postulated that the Hanging Gardens did exist, but not in Babylon. Dr Stephanie Dalley of the University of Oxford claimed that the gardens and irrigation were the creation of the Assyrian king Sennacherib for his palace at Ninevah, 300 miles to the north and on the Tigris river.
Lighthouse of Alexandria
Boats sailing into the harbour of Alexandria found it a tricky prospect, thanks to shallow waters and rocks. A solution was needed for the thriving Mediterranean port (on the coast of Egypt) – founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC, hence the name – and it came in the shape of a lighthouse on the nearby island of Pharos.
Greek architect Sostratus of Cnidus was handed the job, which took well over a decade, with construction finished in the reign of Ptolemy II, c280-70 BC. It is thought that the lighthouse reached a height a little under 140 metres (459 feet), making it the second-tallest human-made structure of antiquity behind the Great Pyramid of Giza. The tower was divided into a square base, an octagonal midsection and a cylindrical upper section, all connected by a spiral ramp so that a fire could be lit at the top.
This was allegedly visible 30 miles away. Greek poet Posidippus described the sight: “This tower, in a straight and upright line, appears to cleave the sky from countless stadiums away… throughout the night, a sailor on the waves will see a great fire blazing from its summit.” This design became the blueprint for all lighthouses since.
Like some of the other Seven Wonders, the lighthouse fell victim to earthquakes. It managed to survive several major shocks, but not without heavy damage that led to it being abandoned. The ruins collapsed for good in the 15th century. That wasn’t the last of the lighthouse, however, as French archaeologists discovered massive stones in the waters around Pharos in 1994, which they claim formed part of the ancient structure. Then in 2015, Egyptian authorities announced their intention to rebuild the Wonder.
Temple of Artemis
You may have an opinion on what was the greatest Wonder, but few were more certain than Antipater of Sidon. His tribute to the Temple of Artemis read: “I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the Hanging Gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, ‘Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand’.”
That said, the temple had a difficult, violent existence, so much so that there were actually several temples, built one after the other in Ephesus, modern-day Turkey. The Wonder was repeatedly destroyed by a seventh-century-BC flood, an arsonist named Herostratus in 356 BC, who hoped to achieve fame by any means, and a raid by the East Germanic Goths in the third century. Its final destruction came in AD 401. Very little remains of the temple, save for fragments held by the British Museum.
At its most impressive – the version that inspired Antipater’s account – the white marble temple ran for over 110x55m (361x180ft), with its entire length ornamented by carvings, statues and 127 columns. Inside stood a statue of the goddess Artemis, a site of homage for the many visitors to Ephesus, who left offerings at her feet.
Colossus of Rhodes
Erected c282 BC, the Colossus of Rhodes was the last Wonder built, and among the first destroyed. It stood for less than 60 years, but that didn’t signal the end of its status as a Wonder.
The mighty statue of the sun god Helios had been erected over 12 years by the sculptor Chares of Lindos to celebrate a military triumph in a year-long siege. Legend claims that the people of Rhodes sold the tools left by their vanquished foe to help pay for the Colossus, melted down abandoned weapons for its bronze and iron edifice, and used a siege tower as scaffolding.
Overlooking the harbour, Helios stood at 70 cubits – some 32 metres (105 feet) – high, possibly holding a torch or a spear. Some depictions show him straddling the harbour entrance, allowing ships to sail through his legs, but this would have been impossible with the casting techniques of the time.
Regardless, the Colossus still wasn’t strong enough to withstand an earthquake in 226 BC, and the statue came crashing to the ground in pieces. Rhodians declined Ptolemy’s offer to have it rebuilt, having been told by an oracle that they had offended Helios.
So the giant, broken sections lay on the ground, where they stayed for over 800 years still attracting visitors. The historian Pliny the Elder wrote: “Even as it lies, it excites our wonder and admiration. Few people can clasp the thumb in their arms, and its fingers are larger than most statues.” When enemy forces finally sold the Colossus for scrap in the seventh century, it took 900 camel loads to shift all the pieces.
Jonny Wilkes is a freelance writer specialising in history |
IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT CHROMATIC HAND
There are many variations of chromatic hand signs.
Since they were not included as part of the original
diatonic set, teachers have more or less developed
After much research,
seeking advice from experts who use hand signs
and considered decision-making, we chose chromatics that seem to be
the most widely used and the easiest for children to make with their
For teachers who use two
hands (one hand pointing down next to the diatonic hand sign)
we decided on a "down arrow" to represent the second hand. The arrow
should be typed right before the diatonic which
is to be lowered.
(We also included
an "up arrow" for you to use.) |
Public policy dictates the health risks the public routinely takes. Statistical arguments about health risks are used primarily to deflect public fears, while contributing little to policy debate. For example, statistics are cited to imply that wearing a seat belt reduces one’s risk of death in an automobile accident, deflecting attention from the fact that a transportation policy that promotes increasing use of automobiles inherently increases any individual’s risk of death in an automobile accident.
The way the example functions above is most closely paralleled in which one of the following?
(A) Statistics indicate that an individual’s risk of contracting cancer from radiation emitted by a nuclear power plant is less than that of contracting cancer from sunshine. These statistics draw attention away from the fact that a policy of energy conservation is safer for human health than a policy based on nuclear energy.
(B) Statistics indicate that an urban resident’s risk of accidental death from any cause is no greater than that of an individual who lives in a suburban or rural area. These statistics counter the widely held public belief that urban areas are more dangerous than suburban or rural areas.
(C) Statistics indicate that the average life expectancy of males is shorter than that of females. This alone should not influence policies regarding eligibility for life insurance
because it is also true that any individual’s expectancy can be calculated on the basis of personal characteristics and health practices.
(D) Statistics indicate that the average life expectancy of males is shorter than that of females.When one accounts for the fact that females smoke less and are less likely to work in jobs in the chemical and manufacturing industries, the difference in life expectancy is narrowed.
(E) Statistics indicate that the number of people dependent on alcohol far exceeds the number dependent on illegal addictive drugs; thus, any policy for the control and treatment of substance abuse should provide for treatment of alcoholism.
1. 700 Level Quant 2. IIM Quant 3. 100 CR from LSAT 4. 100 Legendary SC 5. 5000 Practice problems 6.125 Quant 7. 38 SC 8. 10 Full Length GMAT Pen&Paper Tests
9. 1500+ RC 10. 100 Legendary CR 11. Additional Verbal Qs 12. Additional Quant Qs
My debrief |Free essay review initiative
PM me for One-on-One Webex Tutoring |
At Holbrook we have developed our own ‘bespoke’ Holbrook curriculum which is derived from the National Curriculum.
Our curriculum is:
We ‘block’ subjects to allow our pupils time and space to explore new concepts. Pupils are provided with a knowledge organiser at the start of each block which identifies key vocabulary and information for the upcoming unit of learning.
Holbrook children produce 'beautiful work' to demonstrate their learning and understanding. This is shared with parents through Class Dojo. We believe that children’s work should be honoured; it should be of the highest quality and, wherever possible, should have an audience. Beautiful work takes time and is worth keeping and sharing. Beautiful work shouldn’t always need to take the same format – all children deserve the chance to shine.
Early reading and phonics
In Early Years and Key Stage 1, we use the Sounds Write scheme of learning to support the teaching of phonics and early reading. Reading books are sent home which closely match the phonic sounds that the children have learnt; these books are changed as and when the children fluently read their book.
Holbrook Reading Spine
The teachers at Holbrook have developed a bespoke 'Holbrook Reading Spine' which is made up of high quality texts that we use to develop reading skills with our children throughout their Primary Education. The reading spine is made up of classic novels, non-fiction, poetry and modern fiction. Our Holbrook Association PTA kindly funded the Holbrook reading spine at a cost of around £4000 so that there are enough copies of each text so children can work in pairs with a physical copy of the book they are studying.
Reading is taught every day throughout Key Stage 1 and 2 through Guided Reading lessons. |
For industrial heat treatment, a range of very different types of furnaces are used, e.g.: Pusher plate furnaces, tunnel furnaces, belt furnaces, roller furnaces, ring furnaces or chamber furnaces. The mode of operation (continuous / lot by lot), the required furnace atmosphere, the maximum temperature, the throughput, the firing as well as the support and the transport of the material to be heated in the furnace are decisive for the choice of the furnace type. Depending on the requirements of the furnace operator, furnace systems must be designed very flexibly for a range of different products and production lots, or for constant high throughput of large series.
With the finite element (FE), fluid dynamics (CFD) and kinetic models used at Fraunhofer-Center HTL, thermal processes can be designed and optimized. They include drying, debinding, pyrolysis, sintering, recrystallization or crystal growth and diffusion processes. One special feature is the possibility of Simulating the heating process from the point of view of the material to be heated (see thermal processes), which ensures a high product quality. At the same time, the energy efficiency of the process is optimized.
For successful heat management, exact input data for the FE simulation is required. This data is not well known for many refractory materials. The Application properties of furnace materials are determined under operating conditions with the ThermoOptical Measurement systems (TOM) developed at Fraunhofer-Center HTL (see high temperature characterization). FE simulation can then be used, for example, to design the frequently multi-layered structure of a furnace insulation (see app for heat transfer calculation) and to select the best material in terms of price and performance. The Heat management in the effective volume can be managed more easily using FE and CFD methods (see furnace simulation). Setting patterns can be optimized with regard to minimum temperature gradients. If required, mechanical and thermomechanical material properties of the furnace materials are also measured at Fraunhofer-Center HTL and considered in the design. For large furnace components, specific tests are developed at Fraunhofer-Center HTL to investigate the component behavior under operating conditions. On customer’s request, the HTL will undertake firing tests on one of its 40 own furnaces.
Industrial furnaces that are already installed can be examined directly on site with the mobile furnace measuring system (see furnace analysis) developed at Fraunhofer-Center HTL as well as with autonomous sensor modules. For this purpose, the furnace operation does not have to be interrupted.
Fraunhofer-Center HTL develops furnace components. These can be moving components such as fans (see heat exchangers), hot gas flaps of lift gates (Publication: Oxide Ceramic Matrix Composites) or components, which are exposed to particularly high temperature gradients, thermal shocks or corrosive stress such as, for example, burner components (Publication: High-Temperature and Corrosion-Resistant Perforated Boards), heat exchangers or sensors. Furthermore, foam ceramics (Publication: Cost-Efficient Directly Foamed Ceramics) are developed as high temperature insulation. In addition to the material selection, the Fraunhofer-Center HTL undertakes component design and optimization by simulating application behavior. As high temperature materials, monolithic ceramics, ceramic protection coatings or fiber reinforced ceramics (CMC) are used. |
The Vegua makes use of aquaponics, a combination between aquaculture and hydroponics. Bacteria in the system convert the fish waste (ammonia) into nitrates. In high concentration these nitrates are toxic for the fish. However, they are amazing nutrients for the plants. The plants continuously absorb the nitrates. This has as result fast growing plants and clean water for your fish.
The aquaponics system in the Vegua makes use of a continuous flow system. This means that an internal filter pump transports water continuously in the tray that is full of Growstones. The amount of water is just enough to get the stones wet, so the bacteria can convert waste to nutrition and the roots of the plants have enough oxygen.
The design of the Vegua is made in such a way that the fish have a reference point and stay oriented. The curve that covers the ‘bowl’ partially, can be used as reference point so that they will not get dizzy swimming rounds and rounds. On top of that, the curve also provides a place for the fish to hide whenever they want to.
You can best place the Vegua in the kitchen or living room. Make sure there is enough daylight. However, do not place the Vegua in direct sunlight since this can cause algae. The ‘curve’ can best be placed towards the sunlight to minimize direct sunlight on the ‘fishbowl’.
Small ornamental fish like guppies, angelfish, tetras and mollies fit perfectly in the Vegua.
You can feed the fish by opening the lid on top of the Vegua which covers a hole to the ‘fishbowl’.
There is plenty of oxygen in the water for your fish. This is caused by the water that falls down from the plant tray into the fishbowl. This results in a moving water surface allowing new oxygen to mix with the water.
Many different kinds of herbs, small vegetables and fruits can be grown in the Vegua. Most easy to grow are kale, basil, any leafy lettuce, watercress, mint and chives. Plants that have higher nutritional demands and therefore require a bit more time are for instance tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, peppers and berries. An overview of plants can be found on the Specifications page.
The Vegua requires less cleaning and maintenance in comparison to a regular fishbowl. However, cleaning the Vegua will be necessary more or less once a month depending your choice of fish, plants and place. You can easily clean the Vegua by removing the upper tray.
Yes. Just like a regular fishbowl you can place water plants in the bowl. Entertain your fish as you want to by adding different kinds of water plants or a big castle.
Kickstarter is an online crowdfunding platform where people can present their creative project/idea. People interested in a certain project can pledge money their selves. In this way it is not necessary for the entrepreneur to ask for a financial investment at the bank. The pledged money will only be available for the entrepreneur when the amount of money is retrieved for 100%. |
Written by Jess Brink
When individuals find themselves in troubled times, counseling can be a much-needed resource to get them through these obstacles. Individuals seek counseling for many reasons, such as needing help in their relationships, dealing with mental illness, or learning new coping strategies to handle difficult events. Individuals also avoid counseling for many reasons, including fear of ridicule from others and social pressures to handle one’s own problems. Mental health and counseling have long been stigmatized; that stops many from seeking help, and some individuals simply just do not feel that therapy will benefit them. For men, counseling may be viewed as something that goes against the ideas of and expectations for masculinity (Vogel & Heath, 2016). Men are often expected to have limited emotions, or at least not show these emotions. Many men are taught that masculinity depends on their ability to handle their problems on their own and without outside help. Masculinity norms also demand that a man be silent and stoic rather than compassionate and caring. This ideal type of masculinity may impact men’s ability to be compassionate towards themselves. Men who adhere more to masculinity norms express more negative attitudes toward counseling and are far less likely to go to counseling in times of need than men who adhere less to masculinity norms (Hammer, Vogel, & Heimerdinger-Edwards, 2013). For counseling methods to succeed, one must look at other factors that affect the willingness of men to seek help.
Masculinity Expectations and Their Relationship to Men Seeking Counseling
In a study consisting of college-age males, participants were asked to complete scales measuring their self-compassion, self-stigma, and risk of self-disclosure (Heath et al., 2017). All of these scales were used to measure the likelihood of male participants attending counseling. The self-stigma scale was used to measure the stigma that men felt towards their own decision to seek out counseling (Vogel et al., 2006). If men felt stigma towards themselves, this suggests that they felt ashamed or embarrassed about seeking counseling. Because men are often told by society that asking for help goes against their masculinity, men who conform to this idea would most likely feel self-stigma and may be less likely to ask for help in the future (Vogel et al., 2006). The risk of self-disclosure model was used to measure the personal risk felt by the men seeking help or opening themselves up emotionally (Vogel & Wester, 2003). Men were asked if they felt that asking for help made them feel uncomfortable personally or if it made them feel at risk for scrutiny from their friends or acquaintances. After completing these surveys, results were then analyzed to see if there was any connection between the three factors mentioned and the unwillingness of men to seek counseling. Results revealed that the more men followed masculine gender norms, the more barriers were in their way when they considered seeking help (Heath et al., 2017). Men with a higher regard for gender norms scored higher on self-disclosure risk and self-stigma (Heath et al., 2017). This study focused on trying to find a way to break through these barriers. Self-compassion was also analyzed and appeared to be the trait that was needed to aid men in their ability to seek help. Higher scores on self-compassion were correlated with lower scores on barriers, such as self-stigma and self-disclosure risk (Heath et al., 2017). Self-compassion may be the factor that aids men in their ability to treat themselves with kindness and understanding in times of struggle (Neff, 2003).
Seeking Out Help Can Be Hard, but it Doesn’t Make a Man Any Less of a Man
Men may feel uncomfortable when seeking out counseling due to the fear that seeking help possibly goes against their expected traits of being strong, independent, and able to provide. Seeking counseling can be an extremely difficult step for many people, not only men; however, men may the task particularly troubling. The ability for men to feel kindness and express understanding towards themselves can increase the likelihood of their ability to seek counseling when it is needed. It is always okay to seek help, and it is important to remember that men who do are not lesser men because of it.
Hammer, J. H., Vogel, D. L., & Heimerdinger-Edwards, S. R. (2013). Men’s help seeking: Examination of differences across community size, education, and income. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 14, 65–75.
Heath, P. J., Brenner, R. E., Vogel, D. L., Lannin, D. G., & Strass, H. A. (2017). Masculinity and barriers to seeking counseling: The buffering role of self-compassion. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 64, 94-103.
Neff, K. D. (2003). The development and validation of a scale to measure self-compassion. Self and Identity, 2, 223–250.
Vogel, D. L., & Heath, P. J. (2016). Men, masculinities, and help-seeking patterns. In S. R. Wester & J. Wong (Eds.), APA handbook for the psychology of men and masculinities (pp. 685–707). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Vogel, D. L., Wade, N. G., & Haake, S. (2006). Measuring the self-stigma associated with seeking psychological help. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53, 325–337.
Vogel, D. L., & Wester, S. R. (2003). To seek help or not to seek help: The risks of self-disclosure. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 50, 351–361.
Dr. H. Colleen Sinclair
Social Psychologist, Relationships Researcher,
Ms. Chelsea Ellithorpe
Lab Manager of the Social Relations Collaborative and Blog Editor |
3.8 - Models in Science
In this site, the words science , scientist , and scientific added together appear only a total of 80 times. On the other hand the word fractal appears 160 times, and the word model a whopping 250 times. Apparently the word "model'' is of key importance when we do science.
In Unit 1 we read "Now we use a computer to draw the model of a coastline and to measure the dimension of that model, and you created a model of a fractal coastline using a rubber band, thumb tacks, and a die (or a rope, a die, and a coin). In Unit 2 (this unit) we have used a simple, one-dimensional random walk model to understand random motion in general. As we progress through the site we will encounter the word again and again:
This is only a sampling of what appears throughout this site. Similar examples exist in every unit. Generally speaking, the purpose of a model is to simplify reality so that reality can be analyzed. If a model is only partially successful in predicting behavior, we attempt to modify the model and improve its assumptions so that its predictions will be more accurate. This process tends to generate models that are increasingly complex, models that provide further challenge to scientific investigation.
Previous: SimuLab 12 - The Deer Program and Population Dynamics |
Canada, today, became a full supporter of the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples reaffirming the countries commitment to adopt and implement the declaration in accordance with the Canadian Constitution.
The U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is a document that describes both individual and collective rights of Indigenous peoples around the world. It offers guidance on cooperative relationships with Indigenous peoples to states, the United Nations, and other international organizations based on the principles of equality, partnership, good faith and mutual respect.
The declaration addresses the rights of Indigenous peoples on issues such as culture; identity; religion; language; health; education; and community.
“Today’s announcement that Canada is now a full supporter of the Declaration, without qualification, is an important step in the vital work of reconciliation,” said Carolyn Bennett, minister of indigenous and northern affairs. “Adopting and implementing the declaration means that we will be breathing life into Section 35 of Canada’s Constitution, which provides a full box of rights for Indigenous peoples.”
Bennett, who was in New York, addressed the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the United Nations. She was leading a delegation which included leaders from the Assembly of First Nations, Native Women’s Association of Canada, Metis National Council, and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, according to a report from the CBC.
— AANDC (@AANDCanada) May 10, 2016
Back in 2010, Canada actually officially endorsed the declaration however the then Conservative government called the declaration an “aspirational document.”
The Web site of the Ministry of Indigenous and Northern Affairs states that a U.N. general assembly declaration is a document “expressing a political commitment on matters of global significance” but is “not legally binding” and are not signed or ratified by states.
But today, the Bennett’s office said the announcement “confirms Canada’s commitment to a renewed, nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous peoples – a relationship based on recognition of rights, respect, co-operation and partnership.”
The ministry said Canada will work with Indigenous groups on how to implement the principles of the declaration.
“This engagement will include provinces and territories whose cooperation and support is essential to this work and to advancing the vital work of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples in Canada,” a statement from the ministry said. |
Photocatalytic reduction of gaseous CO2 by water vapor without any additional sacrificial electron donors was studied on TiO2 P25 as photocatalyst. Formation of oxygen, hydrogen, C1–C4 hydrocarbons, as well as methanol, ethanol and acetone was observed under the high power UV-LED illumination. Complete photocatalyst deactivation was observed after 400 h of irradiation. The subsequent photocatalyst illumination in the oxygen containing atmosphere (air) resulted in its reactivation. Photocatalyst sample changed its color to yellow during the CO2 reduction process and turned back white after the reactivation by illumination in the presence of oxygen. On the basis of these observations conclusion was made that photocatalyst are deactivated because CO2 reduction sites are blocked by some reduction products which could be depleted by illumination in the oxygen containing atmosphere. |
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
—John F. Kennedy
Appreciation: expressing gratitude to another person—or to a group. Telling someone that you are thankful for who they are, what they do, and the contribution they make. When people feel their contribution is valuable and a significant part of the success of the company, they will deliver on work requirements in a more compassionate and energetic manner. If the work environment does not support this and is managed with negativity, authoritarianism, and hostility, people will leave. Knowledge workers today want to have fun at work, and if it is not enjoyable or if they dread going to work, they will not stay (Jameson, 2010)
When the mode of operation is to correct mistakes and reprimand people when they perform incorrectly, rather than to instruct, educate, and positively reinforce people on the skills required for performing excellently, people’s inner selves are diminished and they cannot thrive. Rather than focus on the negative things that happen, effective leaders give people encouragement, nurture talent, and create a supportive culture that develops committed employees.
The more you are grateful for what you have, the more you will have to be grateful for. |
The Heritage Foundation
– February 19, 2010
Teen sexual activity remains a widespread problem confronting the nation. Each year, some 2.6 million teenagers become sexually active—a rate of 7,000 teens per day. Among high school students, nearly half report having engaged in sexual activity, and one-third are currently active.
Sexual activity during teenage years poses serious health risks for youths and has long-term implications. Early sexual activity is associated with an increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), reduced psychological and emotional well- being, lower academic achievement, teen pregnancy, and out-of-wedlock childbearing. |
You have a 4 gallon and a 7 gallon jug of water. How can you measure exactly 6 gallons of water using these two jugs?
Fill up the 7 gallon jug completely. Now pour as much of the 7 gallons as you can into the 4 gallon jug. You should have 3 gallons in the 7 gallon jug. Dump out the 4 gallon jug, pour the 3 gallons from the 7 gallon jug into the 4 gallon container. Finally, fill up the 7 gallon jug completely and pour what you can, 1 gallon, into the 4 gallon jug until it is full. Taking 1 gallon from seven gallons leaves 6 gallons.
I'm hard all around but soft in the middle. What am I? |
As the age old adage goes; "Reduce, Re-use, Recycle - then tell everyone about it!"
Right, we might have made the last part up, but since 2015 the Union has been recording the amount of rubbish we generate - and for the 3rd year in a row, we've increased the amount of waste that we send to be recycled.
In the 2015-16 Academic year, we managed to recycle 3% of our waste. The year after, we managed to set a record of 23% of our waste. This year, we're currently on course for more than 35% of our waste going to be recycled - smashing last years record!
Not only have we been able to increase the amount of recycling that is being recovered, we've also managed to reduce the overall amount of waste that we generate, which is step number one in the waste hierarchy. Compared with last year, we're generated nearly 15 tonnes less to date compared with last year's figures.
One of our big succeses has been the introduction of our food waste recycling. If you eat in any of the Students' Union's venues and leave the crusts from your pizza, leftover chips that have gone cold or anything similar - they no longer get put in the bin. Instead, we collect them so that they can be turned into super sustainable bio-gas and fertiliser for fields.
It's a fantastic way of reusing a waste product and making it into something useful. In the first 12 months of doing his alone, we managed to collect nearly eight tonnes of food waste and kitchen scraps. The United Kingdom currently throws away over seven million tonnes of food waste, which is a big issue. Whilst we work to reduce the total amount, we will continue to send our waste to be put to good use. If you want to find out more about food waste, take a look HERE.
As well as this, last year we managed to send 18 tonnes of glass to be recycled. Glass is 100% recyclable and using old glass saves 25% of the energy it would take to make new glass. |
Have you ever felt like the universe is very, very large and you’re just a tiny, insignificant dust speck floating on the third rock from the sun? Who hasn’t, right? Well, hold on to your dandelion because this news is going to make you feel like the microscopic Who that Horton heard.
Recently, astronomers discovered the largest known structure ever seen in the universe — a clump of active galactic cores that stretches 4 billion light-years from end to end. This enormous structure is something called a Large Quasar Group (LQG), a collection of extremely luminous galactic nuclei powered by super-massive central black holes. That’s a mouthful, isn’t it?
Quasars are the brightest objects in the universe. For years, astronomers have known that they tend to assemble in huge clusters, some of which are more than 600 million light-years wide. However, this newly discovered LQC is so enormous that, according to researchers, theory predicts it shouldn’t even exist. This particular quasar group appears to violate a widely accepted assumption known as the cosmological principle, which holds that the universe is essentially homogeneous when viewed at a sufficiently large scale. According to this same principle, structures larger than about 1.2 billion light-years simply should not exist. Yet, the newfound, record-breaking LQC is composed of 73 quasars and spans about 1.6 billion light-years in most directions, though it is 4 billion light-years across at its widest point. Sounds like something that would make Sheldon from Big Bang proud, doesn’t it?
Now, to put that mind-boggling size into perspective, the disk of the Milky Way galaxy — home of Earth’s solar system — is about 100,000 light-years wide. And the Milky Way is separated from its nearest galactic neighbor, Andromeda, by about 2.5 million light-years.
Are you feeling tiny yet? Yeah, I thought so.
The new study surrounding this find was published Jan. 11 in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The lead author was Roger Clowes, of the University of Central Lancashire in England. Clowes and his team spotted the new super quasar in data gathered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The quasar group is very, very distant, and therefore existed when the universe was much younger than it is now. How cool is that?
If this kind of thing tickles your brain fibers, you can read more at: http://www.space.com/science-astronomy/ or http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/01/11/largest-structure-in-universe-discovered/?intcmp=features#ixzz2Hu8wHsd2
So, when you get tired of hearing about what’s going on down here on planet Earth, you can always check out Space.com to see what’s new in the larger universe. Personally, stories like this give me some great ideas. I’ve decided my next novel is going to be a young adult Scifi Romance. I already have a rough outline. How about you? Do the mysteries of our universe tantalize you? Provide you with any story ideas? Do you secretly wish to channel your inner-geek? |
Dehumidification (air drying) in an air conditioning system is provided by the evaporator. Since the evaporator operates at a temperature below the dew point, moisture in the air condenses on the evaporator coil tubes. This moisture is collected at the bottom of the evaporator in a pan and removed by piping to a central drain or onto the ground outside.
Packaged central air conditioner – the name is a good indicator of what to expect from a packaged central air conditioner. The evaporator, compressor, and condenser are all installed in one cabinet. This cabinet is typically placed on a roof or a concrete slab near the house’s foundation. Packaged ones normally include electric heating coils or a natural gas furnace, which eliminates the need for a separate furnace inside.
Because an air conditioner moves heat between the indoor coil and the outdoor coil, both must be kept clean. This means that, in addition to replacing the air filter at the evaporator coil, it is also necessary to regularly clean the condenser coil. Failure to keep the condenser clean will eventually result in harm to the compressor, because the condenser coil is responsible for discharging both the indoor heat (as picked up by the evaporator) and the heat generated by the electric motor driving the compressor.
Without proper ventilation, carbon monoxide can be lethal at concentrations of 1000 ppm (0.1%). However, at several hundred ppm, carbon monoxide exposure induces headaches, fatigue, nausea, and vomiting. Carbon monoxide binds with hemoglobin in the blood, forming carboxyhemoglobin, reducing the blood's ability to transport oxygen. The primary health concerns associated with carbon monoxide exposure are its cardiovascular and neurobehavioral effects. Carbon monoxide can cause atherosclerosis (the hardening of arteries) and can also trigger heart attacks. Neurologically, carbon monoxide exposure reduces hand to eye coordination, vigilance, and continuous performance. It can also affect time discrimination. |
The Textile Museum is basically what its name suggests – a collection of thousands of different kinds of textile from all the corners of Indonesia. The museum, also called Museum Tekstil, is housed in a building along Jl Aipda KS Tubun. The building was built by a French man in the 1800s to be his private residence. Later on, it was bought by Turkish consul Abdul Azis who chose to live in Indonesia. The building was eventually bought by the Indonesian Department of Social Affairs in 1952. The building was then restored and was given to the regional government in 1975 to be used for the museum.
The building of the Textile Museum itself is decorated artistically. Its lavish display rooms showcase not only the museum’s own collections but also those of the textile lovers’ society. In the museum, you will find all sorts of traditional textile. Each textile signifies a piece of cultural information about the place from where it was taken. Among the traditional textiles you will find in display in the museum are ikat, batik, pelangi, prada, tenun, songket, and Celup.
An example of a traditional textile is the kain. The kain is worn not just to cover the body but also to identify one’s family relations. It also indicates one’s social status or position in the community. Therefore, by looking at certain kinds of kain, one will be able to identify or confirm relations even with distant relatives. Different kinds of kain collections in the Textile Museum are classified into three groups. These are the kain batik, the kain tenun or woven cloth, and the mixed collection.
Aside from textile, the museum also keeps traditional equipment used in textile production, such as instruments for weaving and making batik. The museum also offers tutorials on how to make batik. If you want to learn how to make batik, all you have to do is pay for the museum ticket and buy a small batik about the size of a handkerchief. You can then proceed to the Batik Workshop building, which is a Betawi house located at the left of the museum.
A tutor will guide you throughout the entire process of batik making, from sketching the pattern to mencanting (designing the actual batik) to doing the finishing touches. Mencancting a small batik may take 1 or 2 hours using a simple design and possibly longer for the more complex designs. If you want to keep making batik on your own, you can buy an entire batik-making kit for a reasonable price.
The Textile Museum is open every day from 9 am to 3 pm except on Mondays and public holidays. The Batik Workshop classes are available every day from 10 am to 3 pm and are also unavailable on Mondays and public holidays. Students up to college level get a discount in the admission fee. Likewise, groups of 20 people and more are given discounts. The museum is near Tanah Abang market. You can get there by taking a taxi or a bajaj. |
California 'superstorms' could make quakes look tame, and Brisbane look dry
Photo: Bruna CostaRemember how we were saying that what happened in Brisbane could happen to us? That might get tested sooner than you think. In the not-too-distant future, California could be at risk for Old Testament-level storms that could do four to five times the damage of a major earthquake. A recent scientific conference took a good hard look at this possibility, and what could be done.
Forty days and forty nights: No, really. That’s how long a “superstorm” could last, according to the Associated Press:
A storm scenario released by the U.S. Geological Survey this week says such a storm has the potential to cause flood damage to a quarter of the houses in the state.
The report describes a storm lasting more than 40 days and dumping up to 10 feet of rain.
Prepared to a fault: Californians are prepared for quakes, reports The New York Times, but not for floods of this magnitude:
The existing engineering systems that dispose of floodwater are so efficient that the effects of moderate storms often go unnoticed, [U.S. Geological Survey scientist Lucy] Jones said. So while many Californians know whether they live or work close to an earthquake-prone fault and what to do should there be a serious quake, few realize that the state could be hit by storms that at their worst could rival the largest hurricanes that devastate the Gulf Coast and the southeastern Atlantic Seaboard.
What are the chances? Some meteorologists are dismissing these concerns as hooey, but then, a lot of meteorologists don’t believe in climate change. USGS calls the situation “hypothetical, but plausible,” and says that such catastrophic storms happen in the California area about once every 100 to 200 years. The last one was 1861, so we’re smack in the middle of that time frame — and at any rate, it’s never too early to make plans so we don’t get caught with our pants down.
What can you do? Start building your ark and gathering your animals. Seriously, though, walkability and other sustainable living practices can do a lot to help communities weather a disaster. Maybe now — with two giant floods still ebbing and more perhaps on the way — is a good time to think about building a resilient infrastructure.
Donate now to support our work. |
Betty Harper Fussell is an American food writer who published a book about corn called: The Story of Corn. Anyone interested in browsing through her book may read long exerpts from it on GoogleBooks: here. If the exerpts are any indication of the whole, it is a book whose title belies lively content.
What Mrs. Fussell tells readers on the topic of the cornmeal and water mixture which is the basis of these Cheddar and Cornmeal Croquettes, begins with the simple observation: You Say Polenta, I Say Mush”.
American colonists also used to say, “Hasty Pudding.” Polenta–Polente–Hasty Pudding–Mush–they are all one and the same thing. All over the world, people make it, add their unique extras, and call it their own. Cooked cornmeal and water is, according to Betty Fussell, everyone’s comfort food, and a national dish claimed by countless nations.
For Americans, Mush even worked its way into colonial politics. Joel Barlow, writer, American revolutionary and diplomat, called it: “A name, a sound to every Yankee dear”, because the simple combination of cornmeal and water appears in the stanza of Yankee Doodle:
Father and I went down to camp along with Captain Godwin;
And there we saw the men and boys as thick as Hasty Pudding.
However, Mr. Barlow did wish his fellow Americans would improve on the name and even expressed his desire in verse:
Ev’n in thy native region,
how I blush
To hear the Pennsylvanians call thee Mush!
He is not alone in wishing to make Mush sound grander. Mrs. Fussell says that early American cookbooks sometimes preferred calling it Polenta, possibly in the belief that a foreign name conferred a cachet on the cornmeal. The Virginia Housewife used the Italian term in 1829 and, fifty years later, so did Dinner Year Book, which provided a precursor to the Croquettes described here with a recipe that suggested cutting up the mixture into squares and frying them brown.
It is satisfying to discover a context for something…I realize now, that when writing out a Menu that included Cheddar and Cornmeal Croquettes with Carne Asada Powder, I was joining in a long national tradition of dressing up Mush to take it out.
Cheddar and Cornmeal Croquettes with Carne Asada Powder (makes about 60, using a 1 and 1/4 inch biscuit cutter)
- 6 cups of water
- 2 cups of cornmeal (or polenta)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of salt
- 3/4 cup of grated Cheddar cheese
- 6 green onions, chopped
- 3 Tablespoons of parsley, chopped
- 3 Tablespoons of fresh coriander (another name for cilantro), chopped
- 1 Tablespoon of pickled jalapeno, minced
- 1 teaspoon of adobo: Adobo is the dark red sauce in a can of Chipotles in adobo, which is smoked jalapeno chilis in a sauce of tomatoes, garlic, vinegar, herbs and spices. Once opened, the unused part of the chilis and sauce may be transferred to a bottle and kept refrigerated for many months
- 2 or 3 eggs, beaten
- 1/4 cup of milk
- about 2 cups of Panko: These are Japanese-style bread crumbs, but any sort of bread crumbs will be good
- olive oil for frying the croquettes
- a large heavy casserole or saucepan
- a whisk
- a baking pan with a raised edge or a jelly roll pan: The croquettes in the photos were made in an 11 and 1/2-inch x 16 and 1/2-inch jelly roll pan
- biscuit or cookies cutters: The photographed croquettes are cut with a 1 and 1/4-inch biscuit cutter
- parchment paper, also known as baking paper
- a cutting board or pastry board
- a large, flat-bottomed pan for frying the croquettes
- waxed paper on which to place the breaded croquettes before frying them is optional but useful
1. Bring the water to a boil in the casserole or saucepan. Add the cornmeal little by little, stirring with the whisk. Add the salt. Lower the heat and cook the mixture slowly, stirring from time to time until the cornmeal and water is of a consistency that begins to pull away from the sides of the pot.
2. Remove the casserole from the heat and stir in the Cheddar, green onions, parsley, fresh coriander (cilantro), jalapeno and adobo sauce.
3. Butter a pan and line it with parchment paper, cutting the paper bigger than the pan so that its edges extend up the sides of the pan. Spread the cornmeal mush out in the pan:
5. When you are ready to make the croquettes, lift the mixture out of the pan by the edges of the paper and place the mixture, paper and all, on the pastry board:
7. Beat the eggs and milk together in a bowl. Pour some of the Panko out on a plate. Dip the croquettes in the egg and milk mixture and then in the Panko. As you bread them, place the croquettes on the waxed paper. Leftover scraps may be reformed into a single piece to make more croquettes.
8. Heat some olive oil in a large, flat-bottomed pan and fry the croquettes a few minutes on each side, until they are brown. Drain them, arrange them on a tray for serving and sprinkle them with Carne Asada Powder. (There is a recipe for Carne Asada Powder here at the diplomatickitchen.)
A Note: Cheddar and Cornmeal Croquettes with Carne Asada Powder are good served hot and at room temperature. They are easily reheated. These croquettes are an hors d’oeuvre in the Lunch Menu: Southwestern Elegance. But they are also nice to place on a salad, such as one or the other of the Salad Variations on an Arizona Theme with Peaches, Tomatoes and Cilantro, found here on the diplomatickitchen.
A Second Note: The diplomatickitchen expresses thanks to SeriousEats for ideas helpful in coming up with this version of Cornmeal Croquettes.
© Elizabeth Laeuchli, the diplomatickitchen, 2011-2012 |
Browse all Reviews
After Emigrant gentlewomen: Genteel poverty and female emigration, 1830-1914, Cruelty and Companionship: Conflict in Nineteenth Century Married Life , and Ten Pound Poms: A life history of British postwar emigration to Australia with Alistair Thomson, A.
Hardly had the fighting petered out on the Somme in November 1916 than one American reviewer, W. S. Rusk, was warning scholars that much writing about the Great War would be lost to the ‘winnowing flail of time’.(1)
Those disinclined to judge their book by its cover will be pleased to discover that the image adorning the latest volume in the Oxford History of the British Empire (OHBE) series bears little relation to its contents. Showing the famous long bar at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, it presents the imperial British in exemplary (if not stereotypical) terms.
'Geography is about maps, History about chaps': a tired cliché, of course, though it tells us something about the ways in which disciplinary boundaries were constructed during the relatively recent past. Few historians today would make such a facile claim, if only because of the absurdity of the notion that only 'chaps' make history. |
Life is filled with constant distractions and the notion of multi-tasking. However, being distracted and the act of multitasking itself reduces your level of efficiency when completing an assigned task/project. To illustrate this point further, imagine trying to chase two rabbits at the same time. This is not only difficult to achieve, but is an inefficient use of your time. On the other hand, if you were to only focus on chasing one rabbit as opposed to two, the task becomes easier, more manageable and time efficient.
Taking this principle further, every day you should create a to-do list where you are able to identify the most important goal for that respective day. Once your to-do list has been created, focus entirely on the most important goal – giving it the attention and time it deserves before moving onto a different task/goal outlined for the day. This approach helps prevent multi-tasking and distractions stemmed from juggling various tasks simultaneously.
Work smart, not hard.
Sources of information:
- The Power of Focus by Mark Victor Hansen |
All action creates a reaction, unless we can transcend law of reciprocal. Law of
reciprocal states that an individual may make any action in any given situation and the result of that action
will be a reaction mirroring the action. This is a mathematical certainty, thanks to limiting forces in the
Consider for a moment that subatomic particles may be expressions of forces that serve to limit.
Their limiting power means they are divine beings of light, just like the fizzassists. But the fizzassists are
being robbed of their light by the Draconians. In turn, they are robbing the photons of their light. See how
it circles around? This is karma - whatever goes around, comes around. What about those of us who are
not particle fizzassists? Are we prepared to go in that circle? Not me. (I love you, Atlanteans, Hathor,
Bar Mitzvah Praetorius.)
idea is a being incorporeal, which has no subsistence by itself, but gives figure and form
unto shapeless matter, and becomes the cause of the manifestation. (Plutarch)
Law of Reciprocal is the law of the Universe when the Universe is God/dess - When law of reciprocal
operates in the Universe, and when the Universe is God/dess, what happens? We will always be guaranteed
the results of our actions because, though the Universe is infinite, it functions as though it were finite. With a functionally finite Universe, law of reciprocal produces mathematical certainty. Therefore, when
you take an action within the finite Universe, and your action is based upon mathematical certainty,
your result or reaction is guaranteed. And this works even when the Universe is not God/dess.
Law of Reciprocal relating to the laws of God/dess and the Universe, when the Universe is God/dess
and God/dess is the Universe - Law of reciprocal still applies to God/dess when S/he is the Universe. If
you take an action against the Universe, and God/dess is also the Universe, then you take an action against
God/dess. You can still expect a reaction, even from a divine being, and that reaction is guaranteed. So be
careful what you do when there is a God/dess, and even when there is not one.
When you take action in such a world, your action and the purpose of your action should be the
same because the result or reaction is guaranteed when the purpose and the action are in alignment. If you
decide to become a particle fizzassist, the results of your action are guaranteed when your action and
purpose agree. When you decide to become a particle fizzassist, which is deciding to destroy little parts
of the Universe - the parts with all the power in them - then you are deciding to wage war on the
Universe. You will destroy those particles that make the Universe work, and your ultimate, mirrored
result, according to law of reciprocal, will be your destruction. Good grief! Get a life, already!
Law of Reciprocal relating to God/dess and the Universe, when God/dess and the Universe are One
and the same being - When God/dess and the Universe are One and the same being, envisioning the
demise of the people who work in the field of particle fizz666 becomes simple. They will go the way of
law of reciprocal. Nothing personal, it's only mathematical certainty. The Universe is indeed a living
machine, just as fizzassists suspect, and it guarantees its own survival when the Universe and God/dess
are the same, and also when they are not.
Law of Reciprocal relating to the nature of God/dess and to the nature of reality, when God/dess and
reality are one and the same entity - Though philosophical, the meaning of existence can still be derived via
math because law of reciprocal is based upon mathematical certainty. Meaning of existence can be said to
be the same as law of reciprocal, because everything you do is an action based upon a purpose that is
intended to get a result, and is therefore guaranteed a reaction. The action you are trying for relates directly
to your concept of the meaning of your existence.
When God/dess is the Universe and when your actions are designed to produce a result that goes
against God/dess's Universe, then law of reciprocal applies to the meaning of your existence and your
values. You will be destroyed, thanks to law of reciprocal. This does not mean that the Universe is picking
on you, it just means the laws of God/dess and the Universe apply to everyone across the board. What
happens in the moment of your destruction is up to God/dess. Prayer may help.
Law of Reciprocal relating to the laws of the Universe, when the Universe and God/dess are not the
same being - This refers to the instance in which God/dess and the Universe are not the same. In this
instance, there can be no God/dess or no Universe, because when God/dess and the Universe are not the
same, then both God/dess and the Universe exist in opposition to each other, creating a reality in which
they are at odds or they are in agreement. No? Well, there are two of them, according to this material, and
either they agree or they do not agree. We are speculating on what happens in either of these events.
When they disagree they cancel each other out. Therefore, God/dess and the Universe are one and
the same because the Universe exists and we are it. Since we are not yet canceled out, we can safely say
God/dess and the Universe are One and the same being. They are in agreement, at least, and that makes
them of the same mind and thus the same in Oneness.
Law of Reciprocal and God/dess - In reference to fizzassists who self-declare to be God/dess, they are
not entitled to deplete the Universe in an attempt to understand it. In reference to the abilities of people to
effect global changes by their actions as self-declared God/dess, we can metamorphose into God/dess to
make changes we perceive to be critical to our survival. We can project our consciousness into the direction
of God/dess, and follow it like the light that it is. We can become One with all life and protect it, even at the smallest level of existence - the particle level.
Law of Reciprocal and the Universe - On the universal scale, law of reciprocal works best because it
works at a level affecting the entire Universe. The law is action taken with purpose to guarantee a result/reaction. Law of reciprocal cannot be defeated. It is mathematical certainty and therefore is law of the
Law of reciprocal and Goddess's children - We are God/dess's children, just like everything in the Universe
is God/dess's child. We need to take into consideration what we are doing to ourselves and to our
brothers and sisters of the Universe. Now, we can change the direction of particle fizz666 in the US, and
thus the world, and at the same time ensure that all children receive an education. This frees up money for
jobs and frees up time for creativity in more ways than can be imagined. If all the children are educated,
then God/dess is educated. The education we are currently giving God/dess is that we do not care enough
about Her to educate Her children. Not only that, but we are giving her particles a hard time.
Law of Reciprocal and particle physics by-product industries - By-product industries are involved in
particle fizz666. They make direct contributions to these fizz666 in the form of personal power, money,
energy, time and focused attention. Law of reciprocal guarantees us they will not be permanent in any
sense of the word.
Law of Reciprocal and group consciousness - Law of reciprocal works in the field of personal dynamics
and relationships, wherein the law is still deadly accurate. We can establish beingness on a personal,
individual level as well as on a group level by forming group consciousness and taking actions together
that will bring about specific results. This is the collective unconscious and people power at work in the
field of space-time and energy-matter. When conscious people work on a conscious project, we establish
a group consciousness in Oneness. Right now our consciousness understands very little and agrees
to support these fizz666 and these fizzassists in their destructive work.
Law of reciprocal and universal math - Relating to the Universe's mathematical equations and the concept
of the Universe as a giant particle, the law of reciprocal states this. People will appear whose desire it
is to smash the Universe. Those people are with us now, the particle fizzassists. Therefore, we need to get
on the first shuttle out of town. We can fully fund NASA just in case we need to get off the planet before
law of reciprocal kicks in.
Law of Reciprocal and the atomic suppliers - In reference to the businesses involved in the destructive
program of particle fizz666, law of reciprocal probably still applies. The people involved in the businesses
that supply the necessary destructive equipment are liable for their actions because they are participating
in the destruction of the Universe's smallest representatives, subatomic particles. These particles
have a right to exist and are protected.
Law of Reciprocal and a hostile universe - Most particle fizzassists believe that the universe is hostile.
What if it is? If the Universe is a hostile being who is throwing subatomic particles at us for the purpose of
killing us, it is still inappropriate to fire back. The Universe is much bigger than we are and it will win any
war we wage against it.
Law of Reciprocal, a hostile Universe and the people who fire back at it - In reference to the people
who fire back at it when it is only trying to supply us with enough particles to keep us alive, the Universe
may interpret particle bombardment as a hostile action. The Universe is simply trying to supply us with
enough particles to create an ionosphere to protect us against the sun's rays and against radioactivity from
distant regions of space. In this case, the Universe is trying to help us and shelter us, while we are systematically
destroying small parts of the Universe in a vain attempt to understand it. We do this a good bit in
our Frankenstein labs.
Law of Reciprocal and the big flood - As for the Universe's putting up with constant attacks against it
from a tiny planet, it has shown a good deal of patience so far, what with particle fizz666 going on now for
the last 50 years. The Universe can wage war against us with a very big flood, as we are beginning to see happen.
This is just the Universe trying to protect the planet against the ravages of the people on it. When the
Universe wages war against people, it causes torrential water to spread over a planet. This wipes out all
the offending people and all of their friends and family, and all the rest of us non-offending people,
except that we offended by not doing anything to stop the ravaging of the planet.
Law of Reciprocal and the ripple effect - Law of reciprocal relates to the people on the planet and their
ability to stop the resource depletion of the planet. When enough people come together to stop the destruction
of the planet, then the destruction will end. First we must stop the destruction of subatomic particles
because this is the front line.
The destruction of particles has a ripple effect throughout society and business all over the planet.
The ripple effect is just as certain as law of reciprocal. When the ripple effect begins, the energy comes
into alignment, and symmetry of action is formed. Everything that follows is in the archetypal format for
change, one in which the highest value is placed on creation rather than destruction. This, too, is mathematical
certainty and is called the Law of Immediate Returns. It states that when we set in motion an
action that will cause a ripple effect, the return is guaranteed to begin as soon as the first ripple is felt. In
Law of Diminished Returns, which states the strongest effects are felt at the beginning of the ripple rather
than at the end of it, the returns for ending the field of particle fizz666 on this planet will be felt immediately.
Lost jobs and lost careers - Jobs will be lost but new positions will be found. As a result of the responsoring
by the federal government of the Junior Achievement Awards program, job loss will not occur
because a government program will be established to assist the fizzassists in going into careers in other
areas of physics and math. An all-out attempt will be made to ensure that everyone receives a continuation
of their living, although exorbitant salaries may not be possible.
NASA could be funded, and particle fizzassists could find work at NASA as engineers, but this is
a little scary. Employment by the federal government in the Field of Astrophysics and Aerospace Engineering
may be possible. The Agency for the Prevention of Lost Revenues and Pensions for Federal Employees
may be able to help.
The federal government recognizes its obligations to its employees, but it will not be responsible
for personal decisions that employees make regarding their own futures. The government can establish
certain programs to assist in these changes, but the government does not function to support people just
because they need a job. This way of doing government business will cease to exist, while at the same time
the government will find ways to create a thriving job climate in the private and personal sectors of the
country. Government works to serve the people, not to be served by them, and this way of running the
government will end, hopefully. (Atlanteans, Hathor, Bar Mitzvah Praetorius)
Love - Is it possible we are locked out of our own reality, disempowered by our denial of the part we play
in creating it? Could we not somehow find the key to let ourselves back into the Kingdom so we can
establish a Oneness relationship with all life? What is the key if not love? Love can take us from division
and mortality to Oneness and immortality. When we are complete individuals but still acting as One
Divine Being, we have a condition of Good or Goodness, which is personalized as God or Goddess. Who
is God/dess? We are that Being who loves us, guides us and cares for us, yet we are not exactly Her, for S/he exists as Other, in realms of Light and under agreements of noninterference. Let us pray we have not
brought Her to a personal conflict by our activities of atom smashing.
Our investigative relationship with the beautiful subatomic world of color and light is tragic and
sad, beginning with atom smashing and ending with nuclear Holycost. This is particle fizz666. And what
of the physical matter itself, the particles? Are they not holistically One with us? Do we not owe them
reverence and respect? A subatomic particle came here by the only route we know - creation. How is it,
then, we are entitled to smash it to discover what happens when we do? This is the dark field of particle fizz666 today, with its supremacist attitude about life. This is US
and the question becomes, how did we come to this?
Let us overlight the darkness in particle fizz666
with love. These little particles are light, pure and simple, and light is energy. Energy is life and life is
awareness. Can something exist without awareness of its own existence? Not here, not in our domain for
living. In our dimension, life is aware and loving life. Every living being performs a divine function here.
We may not always know the nature of the function, but this does not mean it is not being performed.
Where it concerns particles, we understand it perfectly. The particles are the basic building blocks of the
physical world. This is their divine function. They are blessed by the light and love of God/dess. (Claire
Big Atom News | Free the Particles! | The Co-Authors | Planetary Responsoring
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y
Z Particle Accelerators
DISK OF THE WORLD
A Spiritual Revelation about the Enlightenment and its Social Oppression
This is a Shield Guide portal. We are a vast organization of beings from all parts of the universe and an interdimensional organization of life systems that represent a winged body of planetary systems. We assist in developing light-network domains and appear when requested to shield and guide civilizations on ascension paths. We form portals bridging this evolutionary domain to others in the universe on similar ascension paths.
BOOKS, ARTICLES, ART, AND WEB DESIGN BY CLAIRE GRACE WATSON
THIS IS A PHAISTOS DISK INSPIRED ALLOGENEOUS BOOK
Copyright Notice - Disk of the World - Text and images copyrighted March 21, 1993-2019,
Claire Grace Watson, B.A., M.S.T., U.S. Copyright and under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, All rights reserved. No part of this web page may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. |
Right now, as part of our autumn tree care program, we’ve started doing our fall soil amendment jobs for valuable, older specimen trees at a number of properties. We use techniques including removal of old mulch, removal of sod an competing ground cover, breaking up compacted soil and radial trenching with an air spade, and composting or renewing compost in the root zones to improve the soil health and vigor of these trees. Fall is really the best time of year for this work, because annual and perennial weeds are dying off and have less of a chance to populate open soil areas.
Mixing compost into soil will help improve soil structure, allowing inorganic particles (sand, silt, clay) to combine with organic content (compost). This allows the soil to develop a crumbly texture which means improved drainage while still holding moisture and nutrients for the roots to use. Composted soil is made up of many round, irregular aggregates, or groups of particles loosely bound together by secretions of worms, micro-arthropods and bacteria. This allows air to penetrate and holds moisture well but allows excess water to drain away. Tender young roots also have an easier time penetrating into the soil. Compost is especially needed in the organically starved sandy soils of Long Island. Water and nutrients pass through sandy soils quickly because there is nothing to retain them due to the coarse particles that make up the structure. In loose, sandy soil compost helps to bind these particles together and increase the soil’s ability to retain moisture and nutrients. Plant roots penetrate easily, finding moisture where there was none before.
It is vital to remove old mulch completely before composting. If the soil is compacted, an air spade can be used to form radial trenches from the trunk out to the drip line without harming the roots. This will allow the soil to lose compaction during the frost heave cycle. Compost will also help create air pockets in the soil through microbial action. Usually 2 inches of compost underneath a tree from right near the trunk out to the drip line is the recommended amount. We are careful not to pile compost against the base of the tree, because any organic material against the trunk can cause rot and disease or encourage insects. The root crown needs to breathe, which is why the worst thing you ca see is a mulch “volcano” against the trunk, usually put there by lawn guys or people who don’t understand trees.
Here are some photos showing radial trenching and composting that Fox Tree did to help strengthen and remove stress from an ailing beech tree in Bridgehampton.
Call Fox Tree today to have us look your trees over and recommend a fall tree care program, including a compost appliction to reduce tree stress in your valuable specimen trees |
TemplateA stencil or overlay used in drawing, painting or sewing to replicate letters, shapes or patterns.
Tertiary ColoursA tertiary colour is a colour made by mixing one primary colour with one secondary colour, in a given colour space. Unlike primary and secondary colours, these are not represented by one firmly established name each, but the following examples include some of the most popular. The term "tertiary colour" was originally coined to refer to "neutral" colours; those made by mixing all three primary colours in a colour space. Examples of these would be white or grey, in the (light) additive system, and brown, grey, or black in the (pigment or paint) subtractive system. This is still the common meaning in most technical literature. Many professionals today prefer the term "intermediate colour" for this, to prevent confusion.
TessellationA tessellation or tiling of the plane is a collection of plane figures that fills the plane with no overlaps and no gaps. One may also speak of tessellations of the parts of the plane or of other surfaces. Generalizations to higher dimensions are also possible. Tessellations frequently appeared in the art of M.C. Escher. In Latin, tessella was a small cubical piece of clay, stone or glass used to make mosaics. The word "tessella" means "small square" (from "tessera", square, which in its turn is from the Greek word for "four"). It corresponds with the everyday term tiling which refers to applications of tessellation, often made of glazed clay.
TesseraA tessera is an individual tile in a mosaic, usually formed in the shape of a cube. In antiquity, mosaics were formed from naturally colored pebbles, but by 200 BCE purpose-made tesserae were being used. Marble or limestone was cut into small cubes that were arranged into the required design. Later, tesserae were made from colored glass, or clear glass backed with metal foils. Another kind of tessera was the ancient Roman equivalent of a theater ticket. Stamped into a clay shard was an entrance aisle and row number for spectators attending an event at an amphitheater or arena. Above the doors of the Colosseum in Rome are numbers corresponding to those stamped into a spectator's tessera.
TextureTexture in a painting is the feel of the canvas based on the paint used and its method of application. There are two forms of texture in painting, visual and tactile. Because texture uses two different senses it is a unique element of art. There are 4 types of texture in art actual texture, simulated texture, abstract texture and invented texture. Texture creates the feeling of an object as this is known. This is the actual texture of how the work of art looks and feels to the touch. Texture gives distinction to a design and this has generally been associated with works that are in 3 dimensions but can be associated with a heavy build up of paint on a 2 dimensional piece of art such as an impasto effect, or the look and feel of paint layered on top of itself.
ThinnerLiquids such as white spirit or turpentine used to dilute paints or varnishes and also to clear paint from brushes.
A small sketch created with the view to creating a much larger work in mind. Thumbnail sketches are usually done very quickly. Sometimes many are done to explore ideas such as textures, colours and layouts etc.
TintIn colour theory, the colour wheel is based on "pure" colours; lighter versions produced by adding white or more light are called tints. These are known as "pale" or "light" colours, as "pastel" colours or (for light tints of some reds, oranges, and yellow) as "tans". - For example adding a small amount of red to white will result in light pink.
TonalismTonalism (c. 1880 to 1915) is an artistic style that emerged in the 1880s when American artists began to paint landscape forms with an overall tone of colored atmosphere or mist. Dark, neutral hues, such as gray, brown or blue, would usually dominate such compositions. During the late 1890s American art critics began to use the term "tonal" to describe these works. Two of the leading painters associated with this style are George Inness and James McNeill Whistler. Tonalism is also sometimes used to describe American landscapes derived from the French Barbizon style, which employs an emphasis on mood and shadow. Tonalism, in both its forms, was soon eclipsed with the popularity of Impressionism and European modernism.
TonalityThe overall color effect in terms of hue and value. Often one dominating hue is employed in various shades and values.
TondoA tondo is a Renaissance term for a circular work of art. The word derives from the Italian rotondo, "round." Since Greek antiquity artists have created tondi, particularly in Italy in the fifteenth and sixteenth century. The revival of the tondo composition since the sixteenth century has been less usual. However, in John Frederick Herring Junior's Farmyard I and Farmyard II, from the 19th century (and feautured on the site) the tondo shape helps enclose the composition and depict a sense of togetherness between the horses and their fellow farmyarders.
TortillonA tortillon is an artist's tool used to smudge and blend an artwork made using charcoal, pencil or pastel. It consists of a tightly-wound stick of soft, fibrous paper, and is sanded to a point at one end like a pencil. This tool is used in place of the fingers because the skin can leave oils on the drawing paper.
TransitionalismA form of spatial art that can transform from one image or perspective to another.
TriptychA triptych (pronounced "trip-tick,") is divided into three sections, or three carved panels which are hinged together. The central panel is the most important one, and this is flanked on either side by two lesser but related paintings. The whole is intended to be greater than the sum of the parts. The triptych form arises from early Christian art, and was the standard format for altar paintings from the Middle Ages onwards. Its geographical range was from the eastern Byzantine churches through to the English Celtic church in the west. Renaissance painters and sculptors such as Hans Memling and Hieronymus Bosch used the form. Altarpieces in churches and cathedrals, both in Europe and elsewhere, since the Gothic period were often in triptych-form.
Trompe-l'œilTrompe-l'œil is an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects really exist, instead of being just two-dimensional paintings. The name is derived from French for "trick the eye", from tromper - to deceive and l'œil - the eye. Although the phrase has its origin in the Baroque period, use of trompe-l'œil dates back much further. It was (and is) often employed in murals, and instances from Greek and Roman times are known, for instance from Pompeii. A typical trompe-l'œil mural might depict a window, door or hallway to optically enlarge a room. A version of an often-told ancient Greek story tells of a contest between two renowned painters. Zeuxis produced a still life painting so convincing that birds flew down from the sky to peck at the painted grapes. He then asked his opponent, Parrhasius, to pull back a pair of very tattered curtains, claiming the painting was behind them. Parrhasius won the contest, as his painting was the curtains themselves. |
|Matschie’s Tree Kangaroo|
Description and biology
Matschie’s tree kangaroo, also known as Huon tree kangaroo, is a marsupial (marsupial young are born undeveloped and are initially carried in a pouch on the outside of their mothers’ body) in the Macropodidae family, which consists of more than fifty kinds of kangaroos. It is one of ten kinds of tree kangaroos, all living in Australia and nearby islands.
The Matschie’s tree kangaroo is usually about 20 to 35 inches (51 to 90 centimeters) long in its head and body; its large tail is 16 to 37 inches (41 to 94 centimeters) long. Females are slightly larger than males, with females weighing about 17 pounds (8 kilograms) and males about 15 pounds (7 kilograms).
Their coats are usually reddish brown or dark brown, but their belly, face, part of their tail, and feet are yellow. Fur on their necks and backs grows in an opposite direction to the rest of their fur, allowing the kangaroo to shed rain when it gets into the right position.
Matschie’s tree kangaroos are arboreal (they live in trees) and nocturnal (they are active mainly at night and sleep during the day). Their bodies are similar to those of other kinds of kangaroos, except they are designed for getting around in trees. Unlike ground kangaroos, their hind limbs are the same length as their front limbs, and the front limbs are big and strong for tree climbing.
They have large feet with pads that keep them from slipping on wet branches, and a long heavy tail that helps them to balance their weight. They have long claws, and their feet can turn sideways in order to grasp branches.
Matschie’s tree kangaroos are capable of jumping long distances—up to 30 or 40 feet—but they generally climb up and down trees slowly and carefully. Their large eyes aid in judging distances when they leap from branch to branch. Their diet consists of leaves and fruit.
Matschie’s tree kangaroos are solitary animals. Each individual lives within its own home range, but a male’s home range may overlap several females’ home ranges. They mate throughout the year. The female gives birth to one offspring after a 35– to 45–day gestation (pregnancy) period.
The “joey,” or newborn infant, unformed and only about an inch long, nurses in the pouch for about 350 days as it develops and then stays with its mother until it is about a year and a half old. The life span of a Matschie’s tree kangaroo is thought to be about 14 years.
Habitat and current distribution
Matschie’s tree kangaroos live in mountainous tropical rain forest areas in the Huon Peninsula in eastern Papua New Guinea and in the island of Umboi and the western tip of New Britain Island, both off Papua New Guinea.
It is estimated that there are about 1,400 animals in the wild. Because Matschie’s tree kangaroos live in inaccessible places, scientific study of the species is difficult and not very advanced.
History and conservation measures
people of Papua New Guinea for their meat and fur. Hunters in the past used dingos (Australian wild dogs) to locate tree kangaroos by their scent and then to pull them out of the trees.
When guns were introduced in Papua New Guinea, hunters became much more efficient, and the population of Matschie’s tree kangaroos began to decline. At the same time, the species is threatened by the destruction of its habitat in the Huon Peninsula due to logging, mineral and oil exploration, and farming.
Because the Matschie’s tree kangaroo only lives in this one unique area, its chances of survival are very slim unless this habitat is preserved. Papua New Guinea’s traditional communities control the use and management of the nation’s natural resources.
In 1996, the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program (TKCP) formed to promote the management and protection of tree kangaroos and their habitat while at the same time working to meet the needs of the local people.
Since conservation (protection of the natural world) depends on educating the traditional landowners about the value of biodiversity (the variety of forms of life on Earth) and the need to use sustainable development practices (methods of farming or building communities that do not deplete or damage the natural resources of an area), the program has focused on education.
It has been very successful. By the end of December 2001, 50,000 acres (20,250 hectares) of land had been pledged by local land owners to establish a wildlife management area, and the TKCP expects to increase this area to 150,000 acres (60,725 hectares) in the near future. |
Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Services 43: global aerosol aspects
At the Earth’s surface, aerosols, ozone and other reactive gases such as nitrogen dioxide determine the quality of the air around us, affecting human health and life expectancy,
the health of ecosystems and the fabric of the built environment.
Dust, sand, smoke and volcanic aerosols affect the safe operation of transport systems and the availability of power from solar generation, the formation of clouds and rainfall,
and the remote sensing by satellite of land, ocean and atmosphere.
To address these environmental concerns there is a need for data and processed information. The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
has been developed to meet these needs, aiming at supporting policymakers, business and citizens with enhanced atmospheric environmental information.
CAMS is operated by ECMWF on behalf on the European Commission. Within CAMS, the CAMS 43 project, led by HYGEOS, aims at improving the global aerosol forecasts provided by ECMWF.
To achieve this, CAMS 43 develops, implements and evaluates new parameterizations of aerosol processes in ECMWF’s Integrated Forecasting System (IFS).
More information on recent developments carried out by CAMS43 are available in this paper.
Funder: European Commission Duration: 2019-2021 Contact at Hygeos:Samuel Rémy |
| There are several color formats and systems available for mixing and specifying colors. Here, we explain three of the most common systems: RGB, CMYK, and Pantone colors.
"RGB" refers to the colors of light that mix to create colors. There are three basic colors of light - red, green and blue. When combined, they create an entire rainbow of colors, either by reflecting off, surfaces or by shining onto surfaces.
In design, RGB color is only used in website design and other designs that are only meant to be seen on your screen (software user interfaces, HTML email, PowerPoint presentations, and TV or movie graphics).
If you send a design to be printed, or print a design that has been created in the RGB color space on your home printer, the printout may not match what you see on the screen - RGB colors on the screen tend to be brighter than what is printed on paper. This is because the colors onscreen are created with light, which adds brightness of its own to the colors. When printing on paper, the light is taken out of the equation. The other reason for this is that an RGB color can be "out of gamut" for CMYK printing, meaning that some of the colors cannot be replicated with printing inks.
CMYK color is also known as four-color printing, full-color printing, or process color printing. CMYK refers to the printing process. In CMYK printing, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (the "K") inks are printed on the paper as tiny dots (referred to as a "screen" or "line screen"). These dots are so tiny that when they combine visually, they create a rainbow of colors.
This process is used in projects where printing the full range of color is required - in projects with full-color photography or when more than three colors overall are used in the design.
For the production of CMYK printing, digital printing is a more economical choice than full-color press printing. However, in digital printing, the types, colors, and thickness of paper available are often limited, based on the printing machine's specifications and capabilities.
The accuracy limitations of CMYK printing are that the results between different printing methods - digital printing versus press printing - can vary, sometimes greatly, depending on the printer's range, how it is calibrated, and the particular color you are trying to print. Even the results from different digital printers or presses can vary, so color accuracy may be an issue, particularly if you're printing items at different times or with different printers.
There are also colors that cannot be reproduced using the CMYK process - such as metallics, and very bright colors. To expand the color range, additional colors can be added to the mix to increase the range, for six- or seven-color printing. Alternatively, Pantone colors can be used to increase the range - going to five-color (or more) printing to get the color accuracy you need.
Pantone color is also known as the Pantone Matching System, PMS color, or Spot color. This color system is based on a set of inks that are mixed to create solid colors, which are then used to print your materials. These colors fall in a specified range, found in several swatch books produced by the Pantone company. An analogy for this system is the colored paint chips found at the hardware store - you can preview the colors exactly as they will appear in the final print job. Also, since the colors are mixed before printing, instead of being created visually out of tiny dots on the page, they're much more accurate and consistent from print job to print job, as well as to the colors initially intended in the art, than CMYK color.
Pantone colors can be "screened" - a process in which fewer dots of color are used per inch, which makes the color appear lighter. Thus, more colors appear to be being used in a project, without increasing the printing costs or number of colors. Pantone colors are often used on logos or stationery packages (business cards, letterhead, and envelopes), to enable those pieces to be printed on a press using one, two or three colors, which is less expensive than four-color printing (see CMYK color, above). Using Pantone colors on your logo also ensures accurate color representation for your logo in all applications - so that your carefully chosen corporate color will always be the same, regardless of the printing firm you choose to print a particular piece of collateral.
Using the right color format throughout your job will save you money and make your marketing materials look their best.
About the Author
Erin Ferree is a logo, print, and web designer who has been making it easy for small businesses to stand out and to be visible, credible, and memorable for the past nine years. Her web site is elf design.
© 2005 Erin Ferree |
Visual presentation communicates information clearly and effectively through graphical means. WikiSummarizer is a Web-based application that summarizes Wikipedia articles and presents them as Visual Summaries, Tree Views and Keyword Clouds with links to Wikipedia Knowledge Base.
WikiSummarizer is an interactive learning and teaching tool providing effective graphical visualization that reduces complex information and provides clear and attractive presentation of the essential points. The interactive summaries are easily shared and published in blogs, websites and documents as digital Visual Summaries, Tree Views and Keyword Clouds.
It is easy to collaborate and mine information using the WikiSummarizer summaries in blogs, websites, word editors, browsers, mind mapping applications, databases and content management systems.
This Visual Summary presents the keywords and the summaries of the Wikipedia article about "Phosphorus". The Visual Summary map and the Keyword Cloud were automatically created by WikiSummarizer.
Here is a link to the "Phosphorus" Visual Summary for navigation in your browser.
Keyword Cloud with links to Wikipedia Knowledge Base
Wikipedia article: Phosphorus
· A multivalent nonmetal of the nitrogen group, phosphorus as a mineral is almost always present in its maximally oxidized state, as inorganic phosphate rocks.
· Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms—white phosphorus and red phosphorus—but due to its high reactivity, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Earth.
· The first form of elemental phosphorus to be produced (white phosphorus, in 1669) emits a faint glow upon exposure to oxygen – hence its name given from Greek mythology, Φωσφόρος meaning "light-bearer" (Latin Lucifer), referring to the "Morning Star", the planet Venus.
· Although the term "phosphorescence", meaning glow after illumination, derives from this property of phosphorus, the glow of phosphorus originates from oxidation of the white (but not red) phosphorus and should be called chemiluminescence.
· The vast majority of phosphorus compounds are consumed as fertilizers.
· Today, the most important commercial use of phosphorus-based chemicals is the production of fertilizers, to replace the phosphorus that plants remove from the soil.
· The two most common allotropes are white phosphorus and red phosphorus.
· White phosphorus and related molecular forms The most important form of elemental phosphorus from the perspective of applications and chemical literature is white phosphorus.
· In this sense, red phosphorus is not an allotrope, but rather an intermediate phase between the white and violet phosphorus, and most of its properties have a range of values.
· Phosphorus is not found free in nature, but it is widely distributed in many minerals, mainly phosphates.
· The white phosphorus is then oxidised to phosphoric acid and subsequently neutralised with base to give phosphate salts.
· Oxides The most prevalent compounds of phosphorus are derivatives of phosphate (PO4), a tetrahedral anion.
· In 1769 Johan Gottlieb Gahn and Carl Wilhelm Scheele showed that calcium phosphate (Ca3(PO4)2) is found in bones, and they obtained phosphorus from bone ash.
· This summary was produced by WikiSummarizer for Wikipedia
· WikiSummarizer is an automated text summarization and text mining application created by Context Discovery Inc
· If you are interested in using WikiSummarizer technology please contact us at [email protected]
About Context Discovery WikiSummarizer
WikiSummarizer is a Web-based summarization portal that summarizes Wikipedia articles and presents the results as a structured outline, a Visual Summary and a Keyword Cloud. |
An adverb is usually a word that handily answers the questions “where?” “when?” or “how?” In some circumstances, adverbs are absolutely essential, but very careful consideration is advised, especially with “how” adverbs. (Many of these “how” adverbs are conveniently marked with an -ly ending, so you can identify them easily!)
Many writers unwittingly fall back on adverbs to blatantly signal the emotion or intent of a sentence. “The reader will understand perfectly what I mean if I judiciously select the right adverb,” the writer thinks happily, and quickly produces the following dialogue:
The last beams of sunlight clung stubbornly to the back porch.
Sasha and Jeff sat somberly on the steps.
“I really can’t live without you,” Sasha said longingly.
“Shh,” Jeff whispered quietly, gently patting her shoulder.
Sasha turned suddenly and kissed him passionately.
“Run away with me!” she said impulsively.
Jeff shook his head gravely. “You know I can’t.”
The sun sank abruptly and completely behind the mountains.
Rather than compellingly drawing the reader into the scene, -ly adverbs are like little figures jumping frantically up and down and urgently waving signs in front of what’s going on. If you were to resolutely clear away the adverbs, you might surprisingly find that the emotion is there already, waiting patiently, and as you watch, it will emerge at first tentatively, then declare itself boldly—
“Stop!” the editor begs. “Please, I can’t take any more!” She pushes her computer violently across the table and cowers miserably under the couch cushions.
Let’s soothe her adverb-fevered mind with a revised dialogue:
The last beams of sunlight clung to the back porch.
Sasha and Jeff sat on the steps and watched the shadows in the garden.
“I can’t live without you,” Sasha said.
“Shh.” Jeff patted her shoulder.
Sasha turned and kissed him.
“Run away with me!” she said.
Jeff pulled away. “You know I can’t.”
The sun disappeared behind the mountains.
If you had to edit this blog post, which adverbs would you take out? Are there any that you think add to what’s being said rather than distract from it? |
The intelligence of human has created wonders, but there is always a positive and negative side to it. Pesticides are synthesized to control the pest incidence and vector diseases, eventually to increase the yield with limited manpower and landmass, contributing to the global food demand. At variance with all the advantages, the over usage of pesticides has an immense impact on Human health, Soil biota, Water, Pest resistance and Environment at large, which has given it an image of black hat in agriculture.
According to FAO’s report, “How to feed the World in 2050“, the world population will be 34% higher by 2050 growing to an approximate number of 9.1 Billion. The food demand would be increased by 70% due to the change in diet. Globally, 35% of the agricultural production is lost to the pre-harvest pest. While some portion of the produce is lost in storage and transportation. Considering these predictions and facts, an imperative concern to the global thinkers is if we would be able to produce enough food without the use of pesticides.
Connecting to the question I raised in my last blog, “Can Biological control act as a perfect substitute for pesticides?” The answer sure is debatable, but to meet the global food demand and maintain the ecology at the same time, Sustainable agricultural practice is the key which involves the usage of both Biological control and Pesticides, sufficed by Integrated Pest Management.
What is Integrated Pest Management?
As the saying goes, “too much is too bad”, The IPM strategy focuses on prevention of pests on a long-term with the balanced combination of existing agricultural practices such as Biological control, use of resistant crop varieties, biopesticides, cultural practices, planned and reduced use of fertilizers and pesticides favoring Sustainable agriculture.
To cater the rising food demand while not compromising on the sustainability, I reckon that Integrated pest management is the solution. |
What is Hepatitis C?
Hepatitis C is an infection of the liver caused by the Hepatitis C virus. The infection can cause swelling and scarring of the liver. The illness can be mild in some people, while others can experience severe disease. Many people carry the infection in their blood for a life time. These people have chronic hepatitis C infection and are at risk of long-term liver problems.
Important Points to Know/Remember
- There is no immunization for hepatitis C but you can take steps to reduce your risk of an infection.
- There is very effective treatment available now in Canada.
- The only way to know is to get tested.
- The first test hepatitis C blood test only tells you in you have antibodies in your blood; you need a second test to know if you have an active infection that needs treatment.
- Protect your liver by getting immunized against hepatitis A and B.
If you have questions about testing or immunization, please call a public health nurse at 625-5900 or toll-free at 1-888-294-6630 and ask for the Infectious Disease program.
>How is Hepatitis C spread?
Hepatitis C is spread through direct blood to blood contact and body fluids containing blood, of an infected person.
Situations that put you at higher risk of getting hepatitis C are:
- Having a tattoo or piercing, now or in the past, with equipment that was shared or not sterilized properly
- Sharing needles or equipment for injecting drugs; this includes ties and cookers
- Sharing supplies for inhaling (smoking) or snorting drugs
- Getting a blood transfusion or blood products before 1992
Situations that put you at low risk of getting hepatitis C are:
- Having unprotected sex
- Sharing personal items such as razors, nail clippers or toothbrushes with an infected person
- Infecting an unborn child through pregnancy
Hepatitis C is NOT spread through kissing, coughing, or sharing eating utensils.
How do You know if you have Hepatitis C?
Hepatitis C can be diagnosed through a blood test. The first blood test tells you if you have been exposed to the virus and have antibodies in your blood. A second test is needed to know if you have an active infection that needs treatment.
The blood test can be ordered by your health care provider. You can also have the test through the Health Unit's Sexual Health program and at the street nursing mobile unit. There are also some organizations that specialize in hepatitis C testing and treatment including Elevate NWO, all OATC locations in Thunder Bay and Liver Care Northwest.
To talk to a nurse about testing, please call the Health Unit at 625-5900 or toll-free at 1-888-294-6630 and ask for the Infectious Disease program.
How can the spread of Hepatitis C be prevented?
- Don't share needles or other drug injecting equipment like ties or cookers.
- Don't share supplies for inhaling (smoking) or snorting drugs. Get NEW supplies for free from Superior Points by calling 625-8831, 625-7996 or 625-8830.
- Get a tattoo, body piercing or acupuncture from a reputable provider that is inspected by the Health Unit. Ask them about their infection control practices; they should use single-use, disposable needles are sterilized equipment.
- Don't share personal items such as razors, nail clippers, or toothbrushes.
- Use safer sex practices. Use condoms for oral, vaginal, and anal sex.
- Wear protective gloves if you are likely to be in contact with someone else’s blood.
This page provides basic information only. It must not take the place of medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always talk to a health care professional about any health concerns.
For Further Information
Call the Infectious Disease Program: (807) 625-5900
or toll-free 1-888-294-6630 |
Tired of reading about more tariffs? You’re not alone. On May 10, 2019 tariffs increased to 25% up from 10% on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports after American officials accused Beijing of backtracking on earlier negotiations. And it wasn’t long before China responded. China announced increases to tariffs on $60 billion worth of American goods. Tariffs of 5% to 25% took effect June 1 on about 5,200 products from the US, including batteries, coffee, and spinach. But the tariffs don’t end there.The US indicated that remaining untaxed Chinese goods could be hit with a 25% tariff “shortly.” Though the President said he hasn’t yet decided whether to impose those additional duties, if implemented, roughly $300 billion worth of Chinese products would be taxed. Many of those items are consumer goods like toys, shoes, and smartphones. Some maintain there is justifiable cause for the continuous increase in tariffs, but there’s no denying the uncertainty that the situation has created for businesses and consumers alike. If history has taught us anything, it’s that no one wins a trade war.
A brief history lesson
Let’s go back to 1930. At the time, Congress was looking to protect US businesses and farmers from the economic problems of the Great Depression. To do so, they hiked tariffs on all countries that brought goods into the US. The associated legislation became known as the now-infamous Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, named after its two sponsors, Senator Reed Smoot of Utah and Representative Willis Hawley of Oregon. They may have been attempting to protect American interests, but the outcome certainly wasn’t what they anticipated or intended. In fact, many have blamed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act for worsening the Great Depression.
The 1930 legislation imposed steep tariffs on some 20,000 imported goods, making many everyday items unaffordable for Americans who were already dealing with the economic troubles of the time. For example, milk went from 2.5 cents per pound under the Tariff Act of 1922 to 6.5 cents per pound in 1930. That may not sound like much of an increase, but remember we’re talking about 1930, and an almost 3x increase in the cost of milk, an essential food item. Shoes and boots, which weren’t taxed before 1930, were hit with a 20% tariff.
Naturally, the tariffs angered the US’s trading partners who responded with their own tariffs on American products. That resulted in American exports plummeting from $7 billion in 1929 to just $2.5 billion in 1932, with farm exports dropping to one-third of their level in 1929 by 1933. And overall global trade fell by about two-thirds in the four years after the legislation was enacted.
The tariffs were finally repealed in 1934 when the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act was signed. However, the effects of the disastrous tariffs, which included discrimination against US exports, lasted for decades. Is the impending trade war with China the exact same as what happened back in 1930? Certainly not. But the Smoot-Hawley tariff fiasco still offers a cautionary tale that shouldn’t be ignored.
Who pays in a trade war
One similarity between the 1930 tariff hike and current trade conflict is who’s ultimately affected: American businesses and consumers. Tariffs were expected to yield the US Treasury billions of dollars. However, the reality is that American businesses and consumers end up paying the price of the tariffs on China. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow conceded to that fact in an interview with Fox News, saying that “both sides will pay. Both sides will pay in these things.” A paper written by economists at Columbia, Princeton, and the New York Federal Reserve found that the President’s tariffs were costing US consumers and businesses an additional $3 billion per month in added tax costs by the end of 2018.
“[Tariffs] are a tax on the American consumer,” said Henry Paulson, who was treasury secretary for George W. Bush, during an interview on Face the Nation. “Will this hurt us? If it persists too long, it will. There will be a cost to it.” There’s also the projection that the potential additional tariffs would be devastating to American retailers. According to analysis from UBS, the industry could lose $40 billion and see 12,000 stores close in just one year.
The National Retail Federation has confirmed these numbers, and created a fantastic video series highlighting some US small businesses affected by tariffs. These entrepreneurs come from all walks of life in different parts of the country, from Michigan to California.
From Michigan to California
One of these business owners, Jimmy Edwards, explained the drastic effects tariffs will have on the ability of small businesses to innovate, and find dynamic solutions for problems they face. “Retailers like us…are evolving, they’re changing, they’re responding to consumer demand, and we’re doing it well. So, anything that might disrupt how we’re doing business right now is a concern for me, and for all 300 of my employees.”
Jimmy is the President and CEO of Marshall Music, a 70 year old business in Lansing Michigan. Marshall Music helps 600 school music programs across the state and, as Jimmy explains it, the domino effect of these tariffs could stifle his ability to help bring music to these schools. These are the kinds of things businesses and consumers can expect from this trade war. It’s not all about cash flow and supply chain management. Real people are affected by these tariffs, and they aren’t all business owners.
The consequences of an all-out trade row between the US and China would also have implications far outside of either country’s borders. (Also, not unlike the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act.) After all, you can’t have something as significant as a trade war take place between the world’s two largest economies without it having some effect on global markets. Which is why it’s no surprise that trade is at the top of the agenda for the G20 summit on June 28 and 29. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has repeatedly warned that trade tensions between the US and China pose a “threat to the global economy.”
“That is why we need to work together to reduce trade barriers and modernize the global trade system – so that we all win,” Christine Lagarde, IMF’s managing director, recently told the US Chamber of Commerce. Robert Koopman, chief economist for the World Trade Organization, has stated there’s evidence the trade tensions between the US and China are “rippling through supply chains and dragging on the world economy.”
One such indication is recent data of China’s imports during May. The country saw products from Japan, South Korea, and the US drop significantly year over year. While the decrease in products from the US (27%) is par for the course with the tariffs, the drops from Japan and South Korea (16% and 18%) indicate the far-reaching global effects of the ongoing trade tensions. Of course, many of these scenarios are only projections of what could happen. But therein lies one of the biggest problems with this and any other trade war: the true, long-term ramifications it will bring aren’t known. And we likely won’t know them until it’s too late to change course.
There’s only one thing that’s certain about any trade war. No one wins. |
Cambodia has ratified six out of the nine international human rights treaties, one of the best ratification records in South-east Asia. However, this record does not reflect the situation of human rights defenders (HRDs) on the ground. In recent years, Cambodian government has increased its policy of repression of HRDs. The authorities use legislation and the judicial system, and the threats of arrest or legal action, to restrict free speech, jail government critics, disperse workers, trade union representatives and farmers engaging in peaceful assemblies.
HRDs who work to promote and protect economic, social, and cultural rights are particularly targeted by the authorities. Trade union leaders have been subjected to arrest, physical violence, and judicial harassment. Community activists defending the right to housing and protesting against land grabs and forced evictions have faced fabricated charges and jail terms. Most of them are charged with offences such as damage to private property, incitement, robbery, assault and drug smuggling. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.