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Weight Control Diet Obesity results when a person's intake of calories is greater than the amount needed by the body for energy. Fat supplies about twice as many calories as carbohydrate and protein, and except for alcohol, these three nutrients are the body's only source of calories. Whenever any of these substances are not used for energy, they can be converted into fat and stored in the body. Therefore, two factors must be considered in controlling overweight: the intake of calories and the expenditure of energy. Normal body weight is maintained when these two factors are balanced. To bring about a loss of weight, fewer calories must be taken in and more energy may need to be expended. By the proper regulation of diet and exercise a negative calorie balance can be achieved, and as a result, the energy, or fat, stores in the body will be drawn upon to supply the body's energy needs and produce a loss of weight. Only a very small percentage of obese individuals can attribute their overweight to endocrine gland disturbances that affect their metabolism. All other overweight people have only their lack of activity and excess food intake to blame. The desired rate of weight loss for most people is considered to range from 1% to 2 pounds (0.7 to 0.9 kg) per week. However, this rate may vary depending on such factors as water balance, activity, heat loss, and the presence of disease. For most women, diets ranging between 1,200 and 1,500 calories a day will bring about a satisfactory weight loss. For men, the range is between 1,500 and 2,000 calories a day. An intake of less than 1,200 calories is generally not advised since it is likely to be nutritionally inadequate. Because the needs of teen-agers and young children vary greatly from one individual to the next, no general rule can be applied to them and calorie levels should be prescribed individually by a dietitian or doctor. Pursuing a weight-reduction regimen is difficult for many individuals, and they must be highly motivated in order to persist in the regimen and to maintain a caloric level low enough to bring about a loss of weight. Appetite-depressing drugs, known as anorexigenic drugs, have been used in the management of obesity by some physicians to help the individual reduce his calorie intake to the prescribed level. The use of these drugs, however, should be considered only a part of the overall treatment, which entails re-educating the patient in proper eating and exercise while treating any other factors, such as neuroses, which may be a major cause of the individual's problem. By themselves anorexigenic drugs will not control obesity, and reliance on such drugs, rather than on proper diet, leads to failure in a weight-reduction regimen. Also, there are indications that the unsupervised use of some anorexigenic drugs may be harmful. In addition to appetite-depressing drugs there are many other products available to overweight people to help them in their attempt to lose weight. These products include methyl cellulose wafers, various high-priced harmless materials often accompanied with bizarre diet plans and other, sometimes not so harmless, materials, usually sold in pill form. By themselves none of these products will cause a reduction in weight. A variety of special, rather unusual diets have also been reported to be effective in weight reduction. These diets have been known under such names as the grapefruit diet, the drinking man's diet, the 10-day diet, and others. Naturally, if these diets are low enough in calories, and if the individual stays on the diet long enough, he will lose weight. However, the problem with the vast majority of these diets is that they are often made up of only a few foods or a strange assortment of foods, so that they are not nutritionally adequate. Another fault of these fad diets is that certain foods or combinations of foods are erroneously believed to have certain nutritional properties. For example, proponents of the grapefruit diet claim that eating grapefruit before a meat dish helps one lose weight because the acid in the grapefruit will destroy some of the calories of the meat. In the treatment of people who are underweight, the diet must include more calories than the body needs for energy so that the excess calories can be stored in the body as fat. If the underweight person also suffers from a wasting away of body tissues, a diet high in protein as well as calories may be prescribed. As a rule, the addition of 500 calories a day above the energy needs of the individual will bring about a gain in weight of about 1 pound (0.5 kg) per week. Sometimes, the daily intake of food may need to be divided into six or eight separate meals in order to reach the desired calorie level. A sodium-restricted diet is one in which the sodium intake is kept at a specified level. This type of diet is used in treating such diseases as cirrhosis of the liver, toxemia of pregnancy, hypertension (high blood pressure), cardiac insufficiency, and kidney disorders. The average daily intake of sodium for most people is between 5 and 10 grams, most of which is eaten in the form of table salt (sodium chloride). People on sodium-restricted diets, therefore, must greatly reduce their salt intake; this often necessitates a modification in the foods they normally eat. Sometimes a sodium-restricted diet is erroneously described as a "salt-free" or "low-salt" diet. However, many foods, including milk, are natural sources of sodium, so that a diet may be low in salt but not low in sodium. A person following a sodium-restricted diet must also be aware of the many sources of sodium other than foods. In many communities, the drinking water is high enough in sodium to make a sodium-restricted diet worthless. In such cases, distilled water may have to be used for cooking and drinking purposes. Many medicines also contain sodium, and the continual use of such medicines by a person on a sodium-restricted diet may invalidate the diet. Among the medicines that contain large amounts of sodium are alkalizers and antacids. As in other quantitatively modified diets, a sodium-restricted diet must always specify the level of sodium. Three sodium-restriction levels have been established by the American Heart Association: severe restriction (500 mg), moderate restriction (1,000 mg), and mild restriction (2,400-4,500 me). In the most severely restricted sodium diets all salt must be eliminated, so that even the usual canned vegetables must be excluded from the diet. An invaluable aid to people on highly restricted sodium diets are the various commercially prepared foods, including milk and canned vegetables, that are low in sodium. These foods, like other foods prepared to meet the requirements of certain modified diets, are called "Dietetic Foods," and they are regulated by the Federal Food and Drug Administration. The labels on these foods must state the level of the substance for which they have been modified. For example, canned vegetables that are advertised to be low in sodium must state on the label the exact amount of sodium per 100 grams or per serving. Therefore, it is important to read the labels on all foods to be included in modified diets, especially in sodium-restricted diets. A fat-controlled diet is one in which the amount of cholesterol as well as the amount and type of fat are indicated in specific amounts. This type of diet is aimed at reducing the cholesterol level of the blood, and it is often used in the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis, a major factor in heart disease. The average American consumes between 40% and 45% of the calories in his diet in the form of fat. In a fat-controlled diet, this percentage is reduced to 35% or less. In addition, the relative amounts of saturated fat and poly-unsaturated fats in the diet are carefully regulated. (For an explanation of the differences between saturated and unsaturated fats, see the article fatty Acros.) Scientific evidence indicates that saturated fats tend to increase the normal blood cholesterol level, while polyun-saturated fats tend to lower the blood cholesterol level. In general, poly unsaturated fats are found in vegetable oils, such as those obtained from samower, cottonseed, corn, soybeans, and sesame seed. Saturated fats are found in animal foods, such as meat, milk, and milk products such as cheese and butter. For a fat-controlled diet to be effective in lowering the blood cholesterol level, it must contain less saturated fat than polyunsaturated fat. At a 1,200 calorie level, the usual ratio of polyunsaturated fat to saturated fat is 1.1 to 1. At a 1,800 calorie level, the ratio is about 1.3 to 1, and at a 2,400 calorie level, the ratio is about 1.5 to 1. Although the body does synthesize a certain amount of cholesterol, reducing the patient's intake of cholesterol is extremely important in a fat-controlled diet. Among the foods highest in cholesterol are egg yolk, liver, brain, kidney, sweetbread (thymus), and shellfish. These foods must be either severely restricted or entirely eliminated in order to obtain the best results from a fat-controlled diet. Egg whites may be eaten as much as desired, but egg yolks are usually limited to three or four a week. Foods to be included in a fat-controlled diet must be prepared without the use of saturated fats, substituting polyunsaturated fats in their place. For example, special margarines high in polyunsaturated fats should be used instead of utter in cooking and eating. Special salad dressings made with oils that are high in polyunsaturated fats should also be used. Meats must be lean and well trimmed of fat, and poultry must have the skin removed. Fresh fish and fish that is not packed in oil are excellent protein-rich foods that should be included in the diet. Skim milk and cheeses made from skim milk are also important in a fat-controlled diet. Diets for Inborn Errors of Metabolism Diets for the treatment of inborn errors of metabolism are designed to reduce greatly or eliminate foods containing the particular substance that cannot be properly metabolized by the body. In phenylketonuria (PKU), the amino acid phenylalanine cannot be metabolized normally because the body lacks the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase. As a result, phenylalanine and abnormal metabolites accumulate in the body, causing brain damage. In controlling phenylketonuria, the diet is designed to keep the phenylalanine content as low as possible without affecting the growth and development of the infant. In galactosemia, another inborn error of metabolism, the body lacks one of the enzymes necessary in the metabolism of galactose, a component of lactose (milk sugar). In the treatment of this disorder, all foods containing galactose are greatly reduced or completely eliminated from the diet. Diets for Treating Intestinal Ulcers Certain disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, such as ulcers and ulcerative colitis, are generally treated with modified diets in which the amount of cellulose and other fibrous material is greatly reduced. This type of diet, known as a low-fiber diet, is designed to reduce the amount of mechanical irritation to the upper gastrointestinal tract (the stomach and small intestine) while also reducing the amount of fecal residue in the large intestine. In the treatment of duodenal and gastric ulcers, however, it has been found that the disorder may be effectively controlled regardless of the type of diet. In these disorders, other factors may be considerably more important than the kind of food ingested. For example, neutralizing gastric acidity with antacid tablets and avoiding stressful situations may control the patient's condition well enough to allow him to eat a normal diet. More by this Author Babies are sometimes reluctant to enter into the world and must be assisted out by the doctor. Forceps have been used for 150 years to help the baby's head through the pelvis. They can be used not just to help pull out... Surgery is the branch of medicine concerned with manipulative and instrumental techniques to repair, reconstruct, and correct deformities, defects, and diseased or injured parts of the body. Surgery can be classified as...
Overstory #131 - Microsymbionts Microsymbionts encompass soil-living organisms that form symbiosis with plant roots. There are three types of organisms that are important for cultivated plants: mycorrhizas, rhizobia, and frankiae. Mycorrhiza (meaning 'fungus-root') is formed by virtually all forest trees. Many trees grow poorly, especially under infertile soil conditions, without a mycorrhizal symbiont. A large group of important forest and agroforestry trees of the legume family (Leguminosae) depends on the bacterial symbionts, rhizobia (largest genus Rhizobium), which cause the formation of nitrogen-fixing root nodules. Some trees like Alnus and Casuarina species form nitrogen-fixing symbiosis with the bacteria Frankia. The bacterial associations rhizobia and Frankia are exclusively linked to nitrogen fixation while mycorrhiza play multiple roles in nutrient uptake (mainly phosphorus) and in protecting roots from infection and stress. Many leguminous and actinorhizal (associated with Frankia) trees depend on an association with both mycorrhiza and rhizobia or Frankia and must be inoculated with both. Microsymbionts are often present in the soil at the planting site if the site has borne trees of the same or a closely related species within a fairly recent past. In these cases seedlings will normally be infected and form symbiosis with the organism soon after outplanting. Where forest soil is used as sowing or potting medium, seedlings may easily be inoculated via the soil, and some types of microsymbiont may be naturally dispersed to the nursery plants from other host plants or from a closely located forest. However, in modern nursery and planting practices, microsymbionts are often absent, and must consequently be applied by active inoculation, e.g.: - Where species are grown on a site for the first time, and the species need specific types of symbiont not likely to be naturally present. - Where seedlings are raised on sterile medium such as vermiculite or fumigated soil. - Where planting is undertaken on denuded and eroded land, poor in nutrients and depleted of natural soil microsymbionts. Generally the survival of symbionts is short when their host species has disappeared. Failure to establish appropriate symbiosis may cause complete crop failure, or production may be very low, especially on poor soil. On the other hand, productivity may increase significantly by using selected inoculant species or strains instead of naturally occurring ones. For example, in Pseudotsuga menziesii, wood production in trees inoculated with a superior strain was more than 100% above the naturally inoculated control after an 8-year study period (Le Tacon et al. 1992). In Paraserianthes (former Albizia) falcataria, the best Rhizobium strain gave 48% better height growth than the poorest strain (Umali-Garcia et al. 1988). Smaller, yet significant differences have been found between different strains of Frankia on inoculation of Casuarina (Rosbrook and Bowen 1987) and Alnus species (Prat 1989). Because microsymbionts are associated with established trees and often species specific, they are often conveniently collected at the same time as the seed. Since application ('inoculation') is normally undertaken in connection with propagation (whether vegetatively or by seeds), microsymbiont management forms a natural extension of seed handling, and often runs parallel with seed handling. Many forest seed centres, seed banks and other seed and propagule suppliers, who collect, store and distribute seeds and propagules also supply inoculants. Effective management of microsymbionts implies the technical skill of and facilities for identification, collection, extraction, propagation, storage, distribution and inoculation. Detailed descriptions and guidelines have been elaborated for many temperate species, for mycorrhizae especially on pines, for rhizobia especially for agricultural crops. Many of these methods can be generalised to other species and conditions. Terminology and classification Microsymbionts are either bacteria or fungi that form a close association with a host plant. The association is denoted a symbiosis, which strictly means 'living together', but often implicitly means 'to mutual benefit'. Microsymbionts infect the feeder root of the host. However, unlike pathogenic infection there are no disease symptoms, and in contrast to a parasitic infection there is a two-way benefit, a nutrient exchange: the plant provides the infecting organism with photosynthesates (e.g. sugar); the microsymbiont in turn provides nitrogen or phosphorus depending on infection type. In the two types of bacterial symbiosis the infection is concentrated in special parts of the root, where the host plant forms root nodules, which are bacterial colonies surrounded by host tissue. The symbioses exist both in herbal and woody plants, and many plant species have both bacterial and fungal symbiosis. Fungal symbionts are the mycorrhizas, which form the most wide-spread symbiosis between plants and microorganisms. There are two types of bacterial symbionts: rhizobia, named after the most important genus, Rhizobium, which forms symbiosis with host species of the family Leguminosae, and frankiae with the one genus, Frankia, which lives in association with a number of tree species from different families. Frankiae are actinomycetic bacteria which infect roots of their host plants; therefore the hosts are collectively called actinorhizal plants. Mycorrhizal symbiosis functionally forms an extension of the plant root system. A fine net of fungal hyphae in close contact with the plant roots extend their threads into a large volume of soil where they explore and extract nutrients from the soil beyond the reach of the plant roots. The nutrients are translocated through the fungal hyphae, hence bringing them to the plant roots, where they can be assimilated and used by the plant. The fungus, in return, is provided with simple sugars and possibly other compounds from the plants' photosynthesis. Some mycorrhizal fungi produce plant hormones, which stimulate root development, e.g. Pisolithus tinctorius on poplars (Navratil and Rachon 1981). Mycorrhiza is known to protect the roots of the host plant against pathogens and certain toxins, and mycorrhizal plants generally have a higher resistance to drought, soil acidity, and high soil temperatures (Redhead 1982). The fungal sheath surrounding the feeder roots of ectomycorrhiza often has a higher resistance to toxins (acids, etc.) than the plant root and can consequently form a physical barrier to the soil. Further, soil will adhere to the mycorrhizal net thereby decreasing 'shock' when the seedlings are exposed to field conditions; that is especially important for bare-root seedlings, where mycorrhiza may also reduce the risk of desiccation of the roots during transportation. Mycorrhizal symbionts are grouped into two main types according to the symbiotic structure of the root system: ectomycorrhiza and vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhiza (VAM). Rhizobia are a group of soil-living bacteria, which are able to live in symbiosis with and nodulate members of the plant family Leguminosae. Leguminosae is subdivided into three subfamilies, Caesalpinoideae, Mimosoideae and Papilionoideae1. More than 30% of species of the Caesalpinoideae and more than 90% of the species in the other subfamilies form nodules (Brewbaker et al. 1982, Dart 1988). Within the subfamilies some genera are characterised by high frequency of nodulated species and others by low. There are also species within an otherwise highly nodulating genus which fail to nodulate. Most acacias, for example, nodulate but there are exceptions (Dommergues 1982). The species-specific capability of nodulation and N-fixation is, however, subject to uncertainty since many species capable of nodulation do not form nodules in some areas, either because of absence of the proper symbiont or because environmental conditions are unfavourable to the symbiosis. There are also differences between provenances in their susceptibility to nodulation by rhizobia (Dart 1988). Some rhizobium - legume associations are very specific and the legume will form nodules only when infected with a specific rhizobium. Others will form nodules with a range of rhizobia. That means in practice that for the first group, inoculants must be collected from the same host species, for the second group a broad range of host species can be used as inoculant sources. Therefore, for practical purposes, legumes have been assembled into cross-inoculation groups. A cross inoculation group consists of species that will form nodules when inoculated with rhizobia obtained from nodules from any member of the group. A cross inoculation group may, in the extreme, consist of one species only. Cross inoculation groups are well established among agricultural crops but only superficially established among tree crops. Obviously, host-specific rhizobia must be applied as inoculant when the host species is grown on a site for the first time. For other species the requirement depends on the possible available rhizobium in the soil, that is, whether other compatible legume hosts have grown on the site within a fairly recent past. Some Australian Acacia spp. grown in Africa nodulate freely with the indigenous rhizobia. Frankia are bacteria which infect roots of their host plants; the hosts are collectively called actinorhizal plants. Frankia are filamentous, branching, aerobic, gram-positive bacteria. They differentiate into three different cell types viz. (1) vegetative cells which develop into mycelia almost like mycorrhizal fungi, (2) sporangia forming numerous spores, and (3) vesicles which are the site of nitrogen fixation (Lechevalier and Lechevalier 1990). Frankia may live free in the soil as saprophytes. They are dispersed in the soil via the vegetative hyphae. The long-distance dispersal probably takes place via spores or vegetative cells in moving soil or by wind dispersal of spores; spores are relatively resistant to desiccation (Torrey 1982). Frankia form symbiosis with plant species from a number of distinct genera and families, many of which have no close taxonomic relation. So far, around 200 actinorhizal plants are known, distributed over 8 families and 25 genera. The most important forest trees with symbiotic relationship with Frankia belong to the plant family Casuarinaceae, a family that comprises almost exclusively actinorhizal plants. Apart from Casuarina, the family includes two other actinorhizal genera viz. Allocasuarina and Gymnostoma. Betulaceae contains only one actinorhizal genus, Alnus. The genus Rubus contains only one known actinorhizal species viz. Rubus ellipticus (Gauthier et al. 1984). Frankia also form symbiosis with species of the genera Aelaeagnus and Hippophae. Some actinorhizal plants can be inoculated with a range of Frankia strains while others are very specific. For example the genus Allocasuarina can be inoculated with strains obtained from that genus only, while Gymnostoma are the least specific one and can be inoculated with inoculants even from species outside Casuarinaceae; Casuarina spp. are intermediate between those two in terms of specificity (Torrey 1990, Gauthier et al. 1984). Collection and handling Mycorrhizae, rhizobia and frankiae are soil-living organisms and spend their entire or the greater part of their life cycle under the soil surface. They are adapted to moist, dark and relatively cool conditions with small temperature fluctuations. These conditions should be maintained during handling. Some microsymbionts form dispersal units, e.g. spores which are relatively resistant to above-soil conditions. They can survive desiccation, higher temperatures and light and have relatively long viability. Generally however, the viability of most microsymbionts is short in comparison to seeds, but there is a great variation between species within the three types. Proper handling and storage conditions can greatly improve the viability of microsymbionts. Where inoculant material, whether soil, nodules or spores, is collected from the field, a site with mature, healthy and vigorous trees should be selected. Mature trees are likely to support the largest amount of symbionts, healthy and vigorous trees may also be an indication of good inoculation, and the risk of collecting material infected with pathogens, which could be a nuisance later on, is smaller. Collection should be made from or under trees of the same species or species with compatible microsymbionts, for rhizobia and Frankia within the same cross inoculation group (Baker 1987). Collection should be made from trees growing on typical growth sites; these are likely to contain symbionts adapted to the prevailing soil type. Exceptionally good or poor sites should be avoided unless the trees to be inoculated are supposed to be grown on similar sites (Benoit and Berry 1990). The best time of collection differs for different types of inoculant material. Soil usually contains a reasonable amount of inoculant and can be collected at almost any time of the year. Sporocarps of ectomycorrhizal fungi are only available for a short period of the year. The moist season normally supports the greater number of sporocarps, but both duration and season of sporocarp formation vary with species. Inoculant collected from or together with host roots should generally be collected during the most active growth season, which normally is the rainy season. This is also practical as the soil is easier to dig up and there is less risk of damage to both the host tree and the inoculant. Rhizobium nodules should preferably be collected from young roots. The nodules of older roots are likely to be senescent and contain few infective bacteria. Seedlings or young trees are the best source of nodules. Cutting and examining the interior of a few nodules with a hand lens gives an indication of the condition: fresh and active N2-fixing rhizobium nodules are typically pink, red or brown, Frankia whitish or yellowish; senescent nodules are typically greyish green (Benoit and Berry 1990). Inoculant types and inoculation techniques Inoculant types vary from simple forms in which microsymbiont-infected soil is applied to the nursery soil, to sophisticated production of pure culture inoculants, incorporated into carriers and applied to seeds as pellets or beads. Which species and method is used is a result of balanced consideration of various factors: - Some commercial pure culture inoculants contain microsymbiont species which promote productivity under particular environmental conditions, but may be less productive than local species under other conditions. - Different methods of inoculant production and inoculation apply to different species and situations. Some tree species may only form symbiosis with specific bacteria or fungal species. Sometimes compatibility between the two organisms varies with the environment. - Pure culture production is usually both technically complicated and expensive. In many cases, inoculants purchased from specialised manufacturers and dealers may be more economical than starting independent production or using unselected material. Apart from soil mixtures which may contain all types of organisms, both type of inoculant and application methods vary with type of symbiont. Mycorrhizal inoculants can be applied as spores or mycelium. Mycelium inoculates usually give faster infection but are more sensitive to desiccation and other environmental factors. They have short viability and are relatively bulky as compared to spores. Some ectomycorrhizal fungi can be grown in pure culture on a nutrient medium to obtain a mycelial culture. The spores are often initially germinated on agar prior to cultivation. Some ectomycorrhizal fungi can be multiplied by applying spores directly to the nutrient medium (Marx 1980). VAM fungi cannot be grown in pure culture on nutrient media and are therefore multiplied by infecting roots of an intermediate host e.g. sorghum or sweet potato with the spores of VAM. Both rhizobia and Frankia can be grown in pure culture but the method is too slow and too expensive for most Frankia. Many plants need dual inoculation with mycorrhiza and either rhizobia or Frankia. Generally the two types of organism are not antagonistic to each other and can sometimes be mixed. However, in many cases it is difficult to control the application rate if the two inoculants are mixed, and they are therefore usually handled separately throughout. Inoculation rate, i.e., the amount of inoculant used per seedling, varies with application method, and the concentration of infective bacteria, spores or mycelium in the inoculant. Increasing amount of applied inoculum generally speeds up the colonisation process and symbiont formation. Plants are usually inoculated in the nursery rather than during planting in the field. Nursery inoculation has the following rationale: - Inoculated seedlings are generally much more competitive and able to withstand the inevitable stress they will be exposed to immediately after outplanting especially if the plants are planted under harsh environmental conditions. - Early inoculation usually reduces requirement for fertilizer and pesticides in the nursery. In addition to reducing the cost and possible harmful effects of these applicants, mycorrhizal seedlings are known to be generally more resistant to pests, diseases and adverse environments. - Nursery inoculation opens the potential for selective inoculation with superior microsymbiont strains or types, specifically adapted to the species and the planting site and is hence potentially more effective (Trappe 1977, Marx et al 1982). Field inoculation has its main advantage in that the seedlings are exposed to the future environment when inoculated and may consequently preferably form symbiotic association with the species that are better adapted to that particular field condition. It is known for mycorrhiza that even if seedlings are inoculated in the nursery, fungal associations often change when the plants are transplanted into the field, provided that a microsymbiont is present at the planting site (Marx et al. 1982). Where seedlings are inoculated with several species or strains, one or few usually become dominant under the prevailing field conditions. Forest soil or litter collected under appropriate tree species often contains a balanced population of adapted microsymbionts. As freshly collected forest soil is often used as planting medium because of its physical properties, seedlings are naturally exposed to inoculation in this way. It may also be used deliberately as inoculation material, e.g. by applying a small amount of inoculated soil or litter (leaves, needles and root fragments) to the planting medium. This method is often used for mycorrhizal inoculation, whereas for rhizobia and Frankia the amount of inoculant provided this way is often too small. Soil collected from nursery beds previously supporting seedlings with good mycorrhiza is appropriate. About 10 - 15% by volume of soil is mixed into the top approximately 10 cm of the nursery bed or mixed in the same ratio into the potting soil (Molina and Trappe 1984). If soil is scarce, a handful of soil can be placed at root level during pot filling. Problems of using soil as inoculant material are the bulk to be transported and that soil may contain infective pathogens. Fumigation and other soil sterilisation normally kill microsymbionts. Infected roots and nodules Problems with bulk and potential pathogens may be reduced by collecting infected mycorrhizal roots and bacterial nodules only. Roots are chopped and nodules crushed before application. However, for mycorrhiza relatively large quantities are needed if the material is used as inoculant directly. Cruz (1983) estimated that at least one kg of ectomycorrhizal roots should be used per cubic meter of nursery soil to assure proper inoculation. VAM is often applied as chopped roots of intermediate hosts after being multiplied in pot culture. Crushed nodules are rarely used as inoculant for rhizobia because the number of bacteria that can be applied in this way is too small. The nodules are more often used as a source for cultured inoculants. Because the root nodules of Frankia are relatively large, and because culture of Frankia is slow, crushed nodules are often used directly as inoculant for this type. Both fresh and stored Frankia nodules can be used, but dry nodules should be rehydrated before crushing. The principle of 'nurse seedlings' is that microsymbionts from already inoculated seedlings will spread naturally to neighbouring seedlings in the nursery. Hence a precondition is that there is likelihood of movement in the soil which is the case with both ectomycorrhiza and VAM. The inoculated seedlings are planted in the nursery bed at intervals of one to two meters before the seeds are sown. Mycorrhiza will spread from the infected to the newly germinated seedlings. Alternatively, chopped roots of mycorrhizal seedlings are incorporated into the soil of the nursery bed (Castellano and Molina 1989, Cruz 1983, Marx 1980, Mikola 1970, and Molina and Trappe 1984). The main advantage of nurse seedlings is that fresh inoculant material is always available and that the inoculant is adapted to the prevailing climate and nursery soil. However, the method also has certain drawbacks: - The nurse seedlings may compete with the young established seedlings for nutrients and light. - The nurse seedlings may interfere with the preparation and management of the seed bed. - Inoculation may be slow and uneven. - Fumigation or other soil sterilisation procedures cannot be undertaken after the nurse seedlings have been planted. Therefore there is a higher risk of soil pathogens and competition with naturally disseminated mycorrhizal fungi. Baker, D.D. 1987. Relationships among pure cultured strains of Frankia based on host specificity. Physiologia Plantarum. 70: 2, 245-248. Benoit, L.F. and Berry, A.M. 1990. Methods for production and use of actinorhizal plants in forestry, low maintenance landscapes, and revegetation. In: The Biology of Frankia and Actinorhizal Plants (Schwintzer, CR. and Tjepkema, J.D., eds.). 281-298. Academic Press. Brewbaker, J.L., Belt, R. van Den and MacDicken, K. 1982. Nitrogen-fixing tree resources: Potentials and limitations. In: Biological Nitrogen Fixation Technology for Tropical Agriculture (Graham, P.H. and Harris, S.C., eds.): 413-425. Castellano, MA. and Molina, R. 1989: Mycorrhiza. In: The container tree nursery manual, Vol. 5. Agric. Handbook 674. (Landis, T.D., Tinus, R.W., McDonald, SE. and Barnett, J.P., eds.). 101-167. US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Washington DC. Cruz, R.E. de la 1983: Technologies for the inoculation of mycorrhiza to pines in ASEAN. In: Workshop on nursery and plantation practices in the ASEAN. (Aba, T.T. and Hoskins, M.R., eds.). 94-111. Dart, P. 1988. Nitrogen fixation in tropical forestry and the use of Rhizobium. In: Tropical forest ecology and management in the Asia-Pacific region. Proceedings of Regional Workshop held at Lae, Papua New Guinea. (Kapoor-VijayP., Appanah, S. and Saulei, SM., eds.). Commonwealth Science Council. U.K.: 142-154. Dommergues, Y.R. 1982. Ensuring effective symbiosis in nitrogen-fixing trees. In: Biological Nitrogen Fixation Technology for Tropical Agriculture. (Graham, P.H. and Harris, S.C., eds.). 395-411. Gauthier, D., Diem, H.G., Dommergues, Y.R. and Ganry, F. 1984. Tropical and subtropical actinorhizal plants. Pesquaria Agropecuaria Brasileira, Brasilia. 19 (Special Issue): 19- 136. Lechevalier, M.P. and Lechevalier, H.A. 1990. Systematics, isolation, and culture of Frankia. In: The Biology of Frankia and Actinorhizal Plants. (Schwintzer, C.R. and Tjepkema, J.D., eds.). 35-60. Academic Press. Le Tacon, F., Alvarez, I.F., Bouchard, D., Henrion, B., Jackson, R.M., Luff, S., Parlade, J.I., Pera, J., Stenstrom, E., Villeneuve, N. and Walker, C. 1992. Variations in field response of forest trees so nursery ectomycorrhizal inoculation in Europe. In: Mycorrhizas in Ecosystems. (Read, D.J., Lewis, D.H., Fitter, A.H. and Alexander, I.J., eds.). 119-134. CAB International. Marx, D.H. 1980. Ectomycorrhizal fungus inoculations: a tool for improving forestation practices. In: Tropical Mycorrhiza Research. (Mikola, P., ed.). 13-71. New York: Oxford University Press. Marx, D.H., Jarl, K., Ruehle, J.L., Kenney, D.S., Cordell, CE., Riffle, J.W., Molina, R.J., Pawuk, W.H., Navratil, S., Tinus, R.W. and Goodwin, O.C. 1982. Commercial vegetative inoculum of Pisolithus tinctorius and inoculation techniques for development of ectomycorrhiza on container-grown tree seedlings. Forest Science 28: 373-400. Mikola, P. 1970. Mycorrhizal inoculation in afforestation. In: International Review of Forest Research (Romberger, J.A. and Micola, P., eds.). 3:123-196. Molina, R. and Trappe, J.M. 1984. Mycorrhiza management in bareroot nurseries. In: Forest Nursery Manual, production of bareroot seedlings. (Duryea, M.L. and Landis, T.D., eds.). 211-223. US Dept. Agric. Navratil, S. and Rachon, G.C. 1981: Enhanced root and shoot development of poplar cuttings induced by Pisolithus inoculum. Can. Jour. For. Res. 11:4, 844-848. Prat, D. 1989. Effects of some pure and mixed Frankia strains on seedling growth in different Alnus species. Plant and Soil 113, 31-38. Redhead. 1982. Ectomycorrhiza in the tropics. In: Microbiology of Tropical Soils. (Dommegues, Y.R. and Diem, H.G. (eds.)). Rosbrook, P.A. and Bowen, G.D. 1987. The abilities of three Frankia isolates to nodulate and fix nitrogen with four species of Casuarina. Physiol. Plantarum 70, 373-377. Torrey, J.G. 1990. Cross-inoculation groups within Frankia and host endosymbiont association: In: The Biology of Frankia and Actinorhizal Plants. (Schwintzer, C.R. and Tjepkema, J.D., eds.). Academic Press. 83-106. Torrey J.G. 1982. Casuarina: Actinorhizal nitrogen fixing tree of the tropics. In: Biological Nitrogen Fixation Technology for Tropical Agriculture. (Graham, P.G. and Harris, S.C., eds.). 427-439. Trappe, J.M. 1977. Selection of fungi for ectomycorrhizal inoculation in nurseries. Annual Review of Phytopathology 15: 203-222. Umali-Garcia, M., Libuit, J.S. and Baggayan, R.L. 1988. Effects of Rhizobium inoculation on growth and nodulation of Albizia falcatarta (L.) Fosh. and Acacia mangium Willd. in the nursery. Plant and Soil 108, 71-78. This article was adapted with the kind permission of the author and publisher from: Schmidt, L. 2000. Guide to Handling of Tropical and Subtropical Forest Seed. Danida Forest Seed Centre. Humlebaek, Denmark. This exceptional guide covers forest tree seed handling from scientific, practical and administrative perspectives. Much of this text is available online at: http://www.dfsc.dk/Guidechapters.htm. For further information about the book and a wide range of other publications contact: About the author Lars Schmidt is Chief Technical Adviser of the Indonesia Forest Seed Project, a Danish-Indonesian support project to the Indonesian forest seed sector. Lars is a biologist specialising in tropical forest ecosystems and tropical forest seed. He has been adviser to international and bi-lateral forestry projects in Malawi, the Philippines and Indochina. In Indochina he was Technical Adviser for Vietnam, regional training adviser and regional coordinator on conservation of Forest Genetic Resources. He is presently on leave from Danida Forest Seed Centre, Denmark. His publications include mainly technical guidelines and articles. Address: Indonesia Forest Seed Project, Taman Hutan Raya Ir. H. Juanda No. 120, Dago Pagar, Bandung 40198, Jawa Barat, PO Box. 6919 Bandung 40135, Indonesia. Tel/fax: 62-22-2515895. E-mail: [email protected]. Related editions to The Overstory - The Overstory #119--Five Fertility Principles - The Overstory #102--Mycorrhizas - The Overstory #86--Role of Mushrooms in Nature - The Overstory #81--Soil Food Web - The Overstory #78--Reforestation of Degraded Lands - The Overstory #70--Rhizosphere - The Overstory #61--Effects of Trees on Soils - The Overstory #43--Essentials of Good Planting Stock - The Overstory #42--Improved Fallow - The Overstory #33--Mushrooms in Agroforestry
An international collaboration led by New Zealand scientists has made an important discovery in the quest to help lower methane emissions from animals. The findings have just been published online in the respected International Society for Microbial Ecology Journal. See here. Methane emissions from animals account for around a third of New Zealand’s emissions. The animal itself does not produce methane; rather, a group of microbes, called methanogens, live in the stomach (rumen), and produce methane mainly from hydrogen and carbon dioxide when digesting feed. The international team which involved researchers from AgResearch (New Zealand), the Universities of Otago (New Zealand), Monash (Australia), Illinois (USA) and Hokkaido (Japan) has for the first time identified the main rumen microbes and enzymes that both produce and consume that hydrogen. The findings are important because scientists can now begin to target the supply of hydrogen to methanogens as a new way of reducing animal methane emissions. Work will now focus on screening specific compounds that can reduce the supply of hydrogen to the methane producers without compromising animal performance. Research will also seek to find ways to divert hydrogen away from methanogens towards other rumen microbes that do not make methane. The leader of the research programme, AgResearch Principal Scientist Dr Graeme Attwood, said: “We’re really pleased about the progress in this research because it opens up a new approach to reducing livestock methane emissions. This is vital for New Zealand to meets its greenhouse gas emission targets under the Paris Agreement and to ensure the farming of ruminants is sustainable into the future” An important feature of the programme is its strong international collaboration with leading laboratories around the world. The involvement of AgResearch scientists has been made possible by New Zealand Government support for the activities of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases, a New Zealand initiated alliance of 57 countries committed to working together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. The Special Representative of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases, Hayden Montgomery, said: “This breakthrough has global relevance and again demonstrates the value of the Global Research Alliance in providing a platform to develop such research collaborations.” The likelihood of developing practical solutions to reducing global livestock emissions was increased through well-co-ordinated and well-funded science, he said.
About Co-creative Learning Co-creative learning means learning that is created with input and participation from both students and teachers. Traditional approaches to university education required students to be only passive recipients of knowledge. When students are engaged and share responsibility for their learning, they build key competencies such as analytical, collaborative, and reflective skills (Matthews, 2016). Learning that is co-creative and student-centered requires innovative classroom approaches. This toolkit describes seven specific course-level techniques that support active, engaged learning. Certainly these are not the only co-creative approaches to teaching and learning, and we realize that many teachers are already employing these techniques or some form of them. Thus the toolkit focuses on showing examples and identifying useful principles for facilitating the most engaging, responsive learning experiences and environments. This toolkit was developed by university teachers hoping to inform and inspire other teachers across Europe. - Research-based learning - Problem-based learning - Metacognitive self-reflection - Reading diaries - Simulation and role play - Learning communities For each of the seven techniques, the toolkit answers the questions of “What?” “Why?” and “How?”: The “What?” subsection gives a brief definition of and introduction to the technique. The following “Why?” subsection mainly focuses on learning objectives and experiences, while sometimes also touching on the types of courses, disciplines or fields for which this technique is appropriate. Finally, a “How?” subsection aims to be the most practical, outlining the resources required for the technique and offering ‘principles’ to help guide implementation. This subsection often contains sample materials, further reading, or suggested next steps to inspire co-creative learning in your classroom. We invite you to explore the techniques in any order and hope that you find the ideas and examples useful and motivating. Matthews, K. (2016). Students as partners as the future of student engagement. Student Engagement in Higher Education Journal, 1(1). https://sehej.raise-network.com/raise/article/view/380
Arizona's Amphibian Diversity It might be surprising to many that in a state known for its arid environments that among the animals comprising Arizona’s rich biodiversity are 25 species of native amphibians, including 24 frog species (i.e., both frogs and toads) and only one species of salamander (the tiger salamander). Indeed, several of these amphibians are only found in some of the most arid parts of the deserts that make up much of Arizona. What might not be surprising is that the aquatic habitats that support many of Arizona’s amphibians have been diverted or destroyed because of the high demand for water in the state. Many of our amphibians have suffered serious population declines and some, such as the Chiricahua leopard frog and Sonoran tiger salamander, are protected under the Endangered Species Act. In addition to the 25 species of native amphibians, Arizona has become home to four types of exotic amphibians: bullfrogs, Rio Grande leopard frogs, African clawed frogs and barred tiger salamanders. Bullfrogs have become so numerous and widespread that they are now seriously threatening native aquatic wildlife populations, particularly amphibians and reptiles. Many of Arizona’s native frogs, particularly the five species of leopard frogs and the Tarahumara frog, might be considered “typical” stream-dwelling frogs; never being found too far from permanent water where they lay eggs, develop as tadpoles, and live as adult frogs. But, some of the most astonishing adaptations to desert life are exhibited by a number of frogs and toads that live much of their lives buried underground, only to emerge briefly to breed and grow during the summer rains. This group includes “typical” toads like the Sonoran green toad, Couch’s spadefoot, the tiny narrow-mouthed toad, and even a “true” treefrog, the lowland burrowing treefrog. Perhaps one of the most unusual frogs in Arizona is the barking frog, which is found in rocky outcrops where it lays its eggs in relatively dry crevices, and the young develop entirely within the egg and skip the tadpole stage. Thus, despite the relatively few species overall, Arizona can claim to have a richly diverse amphibian fauna. Amphibian abstracts contain the following information - Population Trends - Management Status (as available) Note: Distribution maps are based on occurrences in the HDMS database and are not meant to be complete or predicted range maps. Each species has specific criteria that must be met before being entered into the database. Therefore, the resulting maps reflect only the occurrences that meet the species specific criteria. Nongame Amphibian Species - Ambystoma tigrinum stebbinsi, Sonoran Tiger Salamander - Bufo debilis insidior, Western Green Toad - Bufo microscaphus microscaphus, Arizona Toad - Bufo retiformis, Sonoran Green Toad Bufo woodhousii woodhousii, Woodhouse's Toad - Eleutherodactylus augusti cactorum, Western Barking Frog - Gastrophryne olivacea, Great Plains Narrow-mouthed Toad - Hyla arenicolor, Canyon Treefrog - Hyla wrightorum, Mountain Treefrog Pseudacris regilla, Pacific Treefrog - Pseudacris triseriata, Western Chorus Frog - Pternohyla fodiens, Lowland Burrowing Treefrog - Rana blairi, Plains Leopard Frog - Rana chiricahuensis, Chiricahua Leopard Frog Rana onca, Relict Leopard Frog - Rana pipiens, Northern Leopard Frog - Rana subaquavocalis, Ramsey Canyon Leopard Frog - Rana tarahumarae, Tarahumara Frog - Rana yavapaiensis, Lowland Leopard Frog Spea bombifrons, Plains Spadefoot Spea intermontanus, Great Basin Spadefoot
My shopping cart Your cart is currently empty.Continue Shopping When we think of dance, our minds naturally drift to competitive dancers performing a group number for audiences, or prima ballerinas floating across a stage in their pointe shoes. We don’t usually dwell on early dance history, which was very different from what we’re used to today. Nonetheless, dance was very much a part of society, even as far back as prehistoric times. Let’s take a look at some of the roots of dance. In its earliest forms, dance was often a celebration or ceremony. For example, hunters would dance both before and after a hunt. First to appease the gods for the animals they would be killing, and later to celebrate their success. The motions used in their dances were basic, everyday movements, which were simple enough that everyone could join in. Men at the time also used dance as a way to prepare for battle. They would perform war dances to build teamwork and work themselves up for battles. Fun Fact: Dancers would put high jumps in agricultural dances. They believed that the higher they jumped, the higher their crops would grow! In early dance history, dance was mostly a form of social interaction for prehistoric people. This can be seen by looking at rock art from the time, which often depicted figures dancing. It is really the only source available to piece together what dance looked like in that era. Later, in Ancient Egypt, dance started to change once again. Common dances included funeral dances, dance-dramas, and even animal imitation dances. Ancient Egyptian drawings and hieroglyphics also provided the first record of the 4/4 time signature. The drawing showed a dance trainer shouting four beats. Fun Fact: In Ancient Greece, if a person could dance they were considered educated! They also believed that a man’s prowess in battle was determined by his grace in dance. Dance in Ancient Greece gave us terms we still use today. For example the word choreography comes from the Greek words choros (dance) and graphos (writing). Early dance history had dancewear that was notably different than today. In general, the dancers did not require dance footwear because they danced barefoot. Dancers often wore adornments like jewelry, tattoos, or masks. Some of these adornments we occasionally see on dancers today, but it has become less common. Despite the many differences, early dance provided the foundations for current dance and the joyful, social aspects of it still remain strong in today’s dancers.
The human ear does a lot more than merely allow you to hear clearly. Each ear is part of a larger system that helps maintain equilibrium and stability. Men’s ears are normally larger than women’s, but they vary in different forms and sizes and serve the same tasks. So, how many bones do you think are in a human ear? The human ear is made up of three bones called ossicles. The incus, stapes, and malleus are the names of the three ossicles, which are named for their shapes. The anvil, stirrup, and hammer are other names commonly given to them. To generate sound, the ossicle bones are all joined together. These 3 bones vibrate and transfer sound to the inner ear in harmony. The bones generate fluid membrane waves to transform the compression sound waves of the eardrum. The 3 Ear Bones Explained The incus, malleus, and stapes are the three bones that make up the middle ear. The ossicles are made up of all three bones together. After passing from the external ear, via the inner ear, and beyond the eardrum, sound waves cause movement in these bones. The vibrations then go to the cochlea, where they are converted into central nervous impulses and relayed to the brain. The incus connects the malleus towards the stapes and is located in the centre of the ossicles. The bone is formed like an anvil, which is why it is commonly referred to as “the anvil.” There are several main zones on the bone. The tip of one of its faces makes a junction with the malleus ossicle. The shorter and longer crus are the 2 expansions of the incus. The lenticular process, a hooked portion of the incus that creates a junction with the top of the stapes, is found at the back of the long crus. The ossicles are housed in the middle ear canal, and the short crus joins to the rear wall. The body refers to the middle of the incus. The smallest bone in the human body is the stapes. Because it impacts the incus, the malleus is frequently compared as a hammer. After that, the vibrations pass through the stapes. Because of its semi – circle shape, the stapes can be likened to a tuning fork. In Latin, the term means “stirrup.” The two divisions of the stapes transmit sound waves to the flat bottom of the bone. The vibrations then pass into the inner ear, where they will be converted into neuronal information and then sent to the brain through the cochlear and auditory nerves. A human’s capacity to hear may be impaired if the stapes is destroyed, such as by severe head injuries. The malleus is the biggest and outermost of the three tiny bones found in the middle ear, measuring around 8 millimetres in diameter in an adult person. Because it is a hammer-shaped ossicle or tiny bone that is linked to the ear, it is known as a hammer unofficially. It is made up of the skull, neck, anterior, lateral, and manubrium processes. The malleus sends sound waves from the eardrum towards the incus, and from there to the stapes, which would be linked to the circular aperture, when audio enters the tympanic membrane (eardrum). The malleus is doubtful to be the source of hearing problems since it is directly related to the eardrum. The ossicular link (malleus, incus, and stapes) is frequently damaged by aberrant tissue development in instances of atticoantral disease, an inflammatory illness of the eardrum. This can result in hearing problems. To eliminate all of the cholesteatomas, the malleus and/or inner ear may need to be removed. In situations such as these, a further operation for restoration may be required. What are the 3 parts of the ear? To make things easier to understand and identify, the ear is often broken down into 3 sections; the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear. Here’s what happens in each of these parts: The Outer Ear An ear canal coated with hairs and pores that create wax can be found in the outer ear. This portion of the ear protects the eardrum while also channelling sound. The auricle, also known as the pinna, is the most visible component of the outer ear and is what most people think of when they say “ear.” The Middle Ear The middle ear is where you’ll find the three bones mentioned above; the malleus, the incus, and the stapes. The middle ear is significant because it has multiple air pockets via which diseases can spread. The Eustachian tube, which equalises air pressure between both the inner and outer sides of the tympanic membrane, is likewise located here (eardrum). The Inner Ear The inner ear, commonly known as the labyrinth, controls bodily balance and houses the hearing organ. A sophisticated system of membrane cells is housed within a bone casing. Because of its complicated shape, the inner ear is known as the labyrinth. The brittle labyrinth and the membranous labyrinth are the 2 main parts of the inner ear. The hearing organ, the cochlea, is found inside the inner ear. The cochlea is composed of three liquid chambers that coil around a bony center that houses the cochlear canal, a central tube. The major hearing function, the spiral-shaped Corti organ, is located within the cochlear duct. Can You Break Your Ear? The skull bones can be fractured (broken) as well as the eardrum torn by a direct impact to the ear or a serious head injury from something like an automobile accident. The pinna and external ear channel have been subjected to direct damage.The eardrum can be torn by a smack on the head with an outstretched palm or even other actions that put a lot of pressure on the ear.
Memory, in the primary sense of this word, is one of the capacities of the human mind, much studied by cognitive psychology. It is the capacity to retain an impression of past experiences. There are multiple types of classifications for memory based on duration, nature and retrieval of perceived items. The main stages in the formation and retrieval of memory are: - Encoding (processing of received information by acquisition) - Storage (building a permanent record of received information as a result of consolidation) - Retrieval (calling back the stored information and use it in a suitable way to execute a given task) A basic and generally accepted classification (depending on the duration of memory retention and the amount of stored information during these stages) identifies three distinct types of memory: Sensory, short-term, long-term. The first stage corresponds approximately to the initial moment that an item is perceived. Some of these informations in the sensory area proceeds to the sensory store, which is referred to as short-term memory. Sensory memory is characterized by the duration of memory retention from miliseconds to seconds and short-term memory from seconds to minutes. Once the information is stored it can be retrieved in a period of time, which ranges from days to years and this type of memory is called long-term memory. When we are given a seven digit number, we can remember it only for a few seconds and then forget (short term memory). On the other hand we remember our telephone numbers, since we have stored it in our brain after long periods of consolidation (long term memory). The definition of working memory, which is erroneously used as a synonym of short-term memory, is based on not only the duration of memory retention but also the way how it is used in daily life activities. For instance, when we are asked to multiply 45 with 4 in our head, we have to perform a series of simple calculations (addition and multiplications) to give the final answer. The process of keeping in mind all these informations for a short period of time is called working memory. Another good example is a chess player, who is playing with multiple opponents at the same time and trying to remember the positions of stones in all games and using this information to make a good move, when required. Long-term memory can further be classified as declarative (explicit) and procedural (implicit). Explicit memory requires conscious recall, in other words the information must be called back consciously when it is required. If this information is about our own lives (what we ate for breakfast in this morning, our birth date etc.), it is called episodic memory, if it concerns our knowledge about the world (capital of France, presidents of US etc.), then it is called semantic memory. Implicit memory is not based on the conscious recall of information stored in our brain but on the habituation or sensitization of learned facts. We perform better in a given task each time we repeat the task, that is we use our implicit memory without necessarily remembering the previous experiences but using the previously learned behaviours unconsciously. Complementary encoding theory stipulates that some circuits (e.g. the hippocampus) are used for fast and specific encoding, while generalized overlapping representations are stored in the neocortex. Many researchers believe that encoding of long lasting neocortical memories occurs during sleep. Recent advances in neural network research make it possible to understand memory consolidation and retrieval in a computational sense.
Learning basic aerodynamics starts by studying the various forces acting on a plane. The four forces of flight are lift, thrust, drag, and weight. Each one of these items is complicated in its own right. Let’s take it one step further and explain the aerodynamic center and the center of pressure. Table of Contents Pilots think of lift as one arrow that points up. But how do you even begin to come up with one arrow that depicts all of the lift forces acting on a plane? The answer turns out to involve two important terms—the center of pressure and the aerodynamic center. Both terms describe the lift that a wing makes due to changing air pressure around it. The center of pressure is the average of all pressures a wing makes, while the aerodynamic center is a simplified point that’s easy to use in lift computations. Why are Aerodynamic Center and Center of Pressure Important? Aerodynamics is a complicated science. To understand it requires knowing quite a bit about physics and fluid dynamics. It might seem counter-intuitive, but most pilots don’t know a lot about aerodynamics as a science. Think about it—do you think about the friction of your tires and how they will affect turning off of a highway in a car? Of course not–you just know it will work—within limits—and you keep driving safely. But when you dive into the minutiae of aerodynamics theory, you’ll really begin understanding how an aircraft operates. Of course, doing so requires knowing some basic terminology and how it applies in the real world. But each one of these is complicated! Especially lift, which is unlike anything you’ve probably studied before. You learn about Bernoulli’s Principle and how the wing makes lift. To visualize it all, we use vectors—arrows that depict the sums of all forces on a plane. What is Meant by Center of Pressure? A wing generates lift because the velocity of the air traveling over its surface is not consistent. The air flows faster in some areas and slower in others. The shape of a wing is carefully crafted to harness this difference in velocities. The shape is called an airfoil, and it makes it so that the air flowing above the wing moves faster than anywhere else. These speed changes also mean changes in pressure. Bernoulli’s Principle states that a faster-moving fluid exerts less pressure. So the faster-moving air above the wing creates less pressure than anywhere else around the wing. But that’s a simplistic picture of what’s actually happening. Aircraft designers and engineers study the pressure differences all around the airfoil very carefully to optimize the effect. What results is a carefully drawn map that shows how much pressure every zone of the airfoil is experiencing. But that’s not very helpful, because it’s too much information. All they really need to know is where all of those pressures average. And that’s exactly how they calculate the center of pressure. This is the average of all the different pressures on the wing. Since it’s an average, it is affected by all of its components. It’s constantly moving around and changing as the environment around the wing changes. Center of pressure is not an aeronautical term. It actually comes from the science of fluid dynamics. It’s used to describe the forces acting on everything from the keels on sailboats to the pressures on a rocket ship or missile. So changes in aircraft speed or angle of attack will have big repercussions for exactly where and how big the center of pressure is. What is the Aerodynamic Center? Figuring out the center of pressure for every region of flight is still pretty complicated. It’s an essential part of how the wing works and figuring out exactly which angles of attack will work best. But it’s hardly the sort of thing that most pilots think about while flying through the clouds. The aerodynamic center is often used to keep things simpler when discussing all of the different things going on with an aircraft in flight. While it is a generalization, it has been found that on the airfoils of most airplanes, the aerodynamic center is about one-quarter of the way from the front of the wing to the back. The number isn’t consistent between different types of aircraft, however. For example, supersonic aircraft will have their aerodynamic centers about halfway back on the chord line. Both theoretically and through experimentation, it has been proven that the aerodynamic center remains consistent for any angle of attack. What changes, of course, is the amount of force acting on the wing. Specifically, a twisting turn or torque moment is experienced and changes with the various angles of attack. If the wing were not attached to a controlled aircraft, then it would spin out of control. Relationship Between Aerodynamic Center and Center of Pressure Both of these forces sound similar, but they are used very differently. Of course, as with any very technical subject, some people use the term interchangeably, which adds to the confusion. And while these two numbers are very similar, one often changes (Center of Pressure) while the other remains in a constant position on the wing (Aerodynamic Center). As such, the aerodynamic center is the most often used of the two when doing mathematical analysis. What is the Difference Between Center of Pressure and Center of Gravity? Going back to those four basic forces of flight—lift, weight, thrust, and drag—the center of pressure involves lift while the center of gravity involves weight. Both of these terms are averages. They are ways for us to easily visualize what is probably too complex for our minds to handle at once. The forces acting up or down on an aircraft come from many different locations. But each can be averaged down to one vector. A vector is a physical tool used for complex movement and motion calculations. Vectors are easy to understand and an accurate way to predict resultant forces. When discussing lift, the aerodynamic center is the vector that is usually discussed. But when talking about gravity and weight, it is the center of gravity (CG). Much like the center of pressure discussed above, the CG is one vector that describes the average of all of the weights loaded in the aircraft. While the center of pressure and aerodynamic centers are essential to making an aircraft fly, most pilots don’t think much about them. The CG, on the other hand, is always on the pilot’s mind. You see, there are very specific limits for where the CG must be located. Improper loading of an aircraft can be deadly. So, pilots calculate the aircraft’s weight and balance before every flight. Part of this calculation includes finding the exact location of the CG and ensuring that it is within acceptable limits. You can find more information about lift and the center of gravity in Chapter 5: Aerodynamics of Flight in the FAA’s Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge.
Summary: The Law of Large Numbers is a statistical theory related to the probability of an event. This theory states that the greater number of times an event is carried out in real life, the closer the real-life results will compare to the statistical or mathematically proven results. In research studies, this means that large sample sizes average out to be more reflective of reality than small sample sizes. Originators: Gerolama Cardano (1501-1576), Jacob Bernoulli (1654-1705) Key Words: Probability, mathematics, sample size, anomalies, statistics, percentage, average, mean The Law of Large Numbers was first observed by the mathematician Gerolama Cardano in the 16th century. Cardano noticed the theoretical presence of The Law of Large Numbers, but he never took the time to prove it mathematically. Another mathematician, Jacob Bernoulli, figured out the equations behind The Law of Large Numbers in 1713.[i] A simple way to understand The Law of Large Numbers is to consider the probability of a coin toss. When a coin is tossed, there is a 50% chance that the coin will land on heads and a 50% chance that the coin will land on tails. This is a statistically proven fact. However, if a person tossed a coin in the air 5 times, there is a chance that the coin would land on heads every single time. This event would not seem to align with the mathematically proven probability of landing on tails 50% of the time. How can we explain this? These real-life results don’t mean the math is wrong. They simply mean that the coin toss has to be carried out more times to accurately reflect what math says is true. If the same person tossed the coin in the air 500 times, by the end of all the tosses, the coin would have landed on heads an average of 250 times and on tails an average of 250 times. The real life coin toss is now more reflective of what math says to be true because it has been carried out a larger number of times. The Law of Large Numbers is most applicable to scientific research and sample sizes.[ii] When scientists complete research studies, they make decisions about how many people will be in the study. This is an important decision because small sample sizes can greatly skew results due to the presence of anomalies. The larger the sample size, the more the results will reflect the true nature of the population that is being studied. Consumers trying to understand scientific research should take sample size into consideration when determining the validity of a study. Scientists should do everything within in their power to work with large sample sizes, as this makes their work more accurate and thus more beneficial to society. The Law of Large Numbers is also an important reminder that individual instances don’t provide the whole story. There are times when people make decisions based on one event or instance they have experienced or heard about. This is often a bad way to make decisions. For example, someone might hear a story about how their friend had a terrible reaction to a medication and refuse to take that medication based on that one example. However, this is a bad way to make a choice about medication, as one experience or story is often not reflective of the way things typically work. The medication may be extremely safe, and the one story simply reflects an anomaly. When making personal decisions it is important to gather a range of information. The Law of Large Numbers explains the theory and mathematics behind this important concept. [i] Seneta, E. (2013). A tricentenary history of the law of large numbers. Bernoulli, 19(4), 1088-1121 [ii] Dinov, I. D., Christou, N., & Gould R. (2009). The law of large numbers: The theory, applications, and technology-based education. Journal of Statistics Education, 17(1), 1-19.
This species of frog is endemic to California in the USA. You can find them in the San Jacinto Mountains, San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California, San Bernardino Mountains, and the southern Sierra Nevada. These frogs are found in riverbanks, meadow streams, isolated pools. They seem to prefer sloping backs with vegetation and are typically found near a water source. They shelter in winter under ledges and in deep underwater crevices. Females deposit eggs by attaching them to rocks, vegetation or gravel in permanent freshwater sources like streams or lakes. They feed in a variety of invertebrates like beetles, ants, bees, wasps, flies, dragonflies, etc. Rana muscosa is a small (1.6-3.5 inches in length) aquatic frog. From above, they have a yellowish to reddish-brown color with brown or black markings that resemble lichen. Its toe tips have a dusky color with the underside of the hind limbs and (sometimes) the belly displaying yellow or orange. This yellow coloration often widens out to the forelimbs. Dorsolateral folds are present but may sometimes be indistinct. Tadpoles are typically black to dark brown and are relatively large (exceeding 3.9 inches in total length). Learn more with Schechter Natural History's Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians
Yes. The most common types of eating disorders are: - Anorexia: Anorexia involves restricting food intake, significant weight loss, intense fear of weight gain, and a distorted perception of appearance. It’s often accompanied by very specific rules and rituals around food and social isolation. - Bulimia: Bulimia involves binging and purging. Binging means a person eats an abnormally large amount of food in a short time frame. They feel ashamed and out of control while eating. Binging is followed by purging in the form of vomiting, laxative or drug use, fasting, or over exercise. - Binge Eating Disorder: Binge eating disorder is diagnosed when a person repeatedly consumes abnormally large amounts of food in short timeframes. It is distinct from overeating in that is causes serious pain and shame and the person feels out of control during binges. - Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED): formerly referred to as Eating Disorder- Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS), this is a term used when someone has eating disorder behaviors but doesn’t meet the full clinical guidelines for other eating disorders. For example, a person restricts food intake, has an intense fear of gaining weight, and a distorted perception of their appearance. They are not classified as being underweight by their doctor, which means they do not meet full criteria for anorexia despite having all the other signs. They would be considered OSFED. No matter which eating disorder or eating behaviors you are struggling with, it’s important to reach out for help. All eating disorders can have serious physical health effects and impact your ability to live a full life and do the things you care about. Recovery is hard, but it is possible and worth it.
Groupe Fortifie Francoise-de-Guise, Feste Leipzig, France After the Franco-Prussion war of 1870, the Alsace-Lorraine region was annexed into the newly formed German Empire, with the city of Metz forming an important German Garrison Town within the newly created German Empire. Metz played an important strategic military role within the German Empire due to its proximity to France, lead the Germans to build a fortified lines around Metz to supplement the original line of forts that had been constructed by the French before the Franco-Prussian war. The fortifications of Metz formed part of a wider program of fortifications called “Moselstellung”, encompassing fortresses scattered between Thionville and Metz in the valley Moselle. Germany’s aim was to protect against a French attack to take back Alsace-Lorraine and Moselle from the German Empire. The fortification system was designed to accommodate the growing advances in artillery since seen at the start of the 20th century. Based on new defensive concepts, such as dispersal and concealment, the fortified group was to form an impassable barrier for French forces. Throughout the annexation, the garrison around Metz consisted of between 15,000 and 20,000 soldiers, which exceeded 25,000 men at the start of the First World War, gradually becoming the first stronghold of German Reich. The Second fortified belt of Metz composed of Festen Wagner (1904-1912), Crown Prince (1899 – 1905), Leipzig (1907–1912), Empress (1899-1905), Lorraine (1899-1905), Freiherr von der Goltz (1907–1916), Haeseler (1899-1905), Prince Regent Luitpold (1907-1914) and Infantry-Werk Belle-Croix (1908-1914). Originally built between 1907-1912 by the German Army during the Annexation of the Alsace-Lorraine Region, the entire fortification covered 80 hectares and was equipped with rotating 100mm howitzers. There was also three fortified barracks, and 2 infantry positions for housing approximately 360men to provide local defence. The fort has 12 observation posts and 6 observation turrets and was equipped with three 20hp diesel engines for power. The works are scattered over a very wide area, hidden amongst the natural topography and connected by long underground galleries. From 1914 to 1918 the fort was not engaged in any fighting and merely served as a German Army outpost. In 1919 after the defeat of the German Army and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles the Germans surrendered the Alsace-Lorraine area, and the fort was occupied by the French Army, who renamed it Groupe Fortifie Francois-de-Guise. The fort once again changed hands, returning to the German Army in 1940 after the occupation of Alsace-Lorraine and its incorporation into the Greater German Reich. During the Battle of Metz in 1944 the fort saw fierce fighting, and the fortification (along with many other Metz Forts) finally surrendered to the advancing Americans in November 1944, with the region falling back under French control. Interestingly the fort continued on in active military use after the Second World War. between 1953 to 1958 it was used as an air defence radar site, after that it it appears to have been used as some sort of radar or communications site before becoming a Cold War Command Post for the Tactical Air Force Region 1. It appears to have been abandoned sometime in the 1980’s going on paperwork and artifacts found inside, however we weren’t able to access all areas as most of the connecting tunnels are flooded to ceiling height. There were lots of paperwork relating to an exercise in 1963. The history of this site is somewhat elusive so if anyone knows more details please get in touch!
Saturn's moon Enceladus might have rolled over on its side sometime in the past, a suggestion that would account for a strange finding made by the Cassini spacecraft. The moon has a hot spot at its south pole, an area of low density where water vapor shoots into space, Cassini discovered. Heat from within is likely created by the varying tugs of Saturn's gravity as Enceladus' distance from the giant planet changes during the course of its orbit. But why is there a hot spot only at the south pole? "When we saw the Cassini results, we were surprised that this hot spot was located at the pole," said Francis Nimmo of the University of California, Santa Cruz. "So we set out to explain how it could end up at the pole if it didn't start there." Remember Weebles? They wobble but the don't fall down? A similar imbalance seems to have caused Enceladus' cosmic flop, but with a twist. in the June 1 issue of the journal Nature, Nimmo and colleagues explain that hot material from within Enceladus welled up in one location. Hot material expands and is less dense. Like all rotating bodies, the moon would be more stable if low-density areas were at the poles and regions of high density were at the equator. So the moon reoriented itself in that manner, the thinking goes. There is a way to possibly confirm that the moon flipped. Its former leading hemisphere should have had more impact craters than the trailing hemisphere. If it flipped 90 degrees, the pattern of craters now present would reveal as much. - VIDEO: Enceladus' Cold Faithful - Enceladus Ripe For Astrobiology Exploration - GALLERY: Cassini's Latest Discoveries
Kidney cysts are round pouches of fluid that form on or in the kidneys. Kidney cysts can be associated with serious disorders that may impair kidney function. But more commonly, kidney cysts are a type called simple kidney cysts — noncancerous cysts that rarely cause complications. It's not clear what causes simple kidney cysts. Typically, only one cyst occurs on the surface of a kidney, but multiple cysts can affect one or both kidneys. However, simple kidney cysts aren't the same as the cysts that form with polycystic kidney disease. Simple kidney cysts are often detected during an imaging test performed for another condition. Simple kidney cysts that don't cause signs or symptoms usually don't require treatment. Simple kidney cysts typically don't cause signs or symptoms. If a simple kidney cyst grows large enough, symptoms may include: - Dull pain in your back or side - Upper abdominal pain When to see a doctor Make an appointment with your doctor if you have signs or symptoms of a kidney cyst. It's not clear what causes simple kidney cysts. One theory suggests that kidney cysts develop when the surface layer of the kidney weakens and forms a pouch (diverticulum). The pouch then fills with fluid, detaches and develops into a cyst. The risk of having simple kidney cysts increases as you get older, though they can occur at any age. Simple kidney cysts are more common in men. Kidney cysts can occasionally lead to complications, including: - An infected cyst. A kidney cyst may become infected, causing fever and pain. - A burst cyst. A kidney cyst that bursts causes severe pain in your back or side. - Urine obstruction. A kidney cyst that obstructs the normal flow of urine may lead to swelling of the kidney (hydronephrosis). Tests and procedures used to diagnose simple kidney cysts include: - Imaging tests. Imaging tests, such as an ultrasound, a computerized tomography (CT) scan and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), are often used to investigate simple kidney cysts. Imaging tests can help your doctor determine whether a kidney mass is a cyst or a tumor. - Kidney function tests. Testing a sample of your blood may reveal whether a kidney cyst is impairing your kidney function. Treatment may not be necessary If your simple kidney cyst causes no signs or symptoms and doesn't interfere with your kidney function, you may not need treatment. Instead, your doctor may recommend that you have an imaging test, such as ultrasound, periodically to see whether your kidney cyst has enlarged. If your kidney cyst changes and causes signs and symptoms, you may choose to have treatment at that time. Sometimes a simple kidney cyst goes away on its own. Treatments for cysts that cause signs and symptoms If your simple kidney cyst is causing signs and symptoms, your doctor may recommend treatment. Options include: - Puncturing and draining the cyst, then filling it with alcohol. Rarely, to shrink the cyst, your doctor inserts a long, thin needle through your skin and through the wall of the kidney cyst. Then the fluid is drained from the cyst. Your doctor may fill the cyst with an alcohol solution to prevent it from reforming - Surgery to remove the cyst. A large or symptomatic cyst may require surgery to drain and remove it. To access the cyst, the surgeon makes several small incisions in your skin and inserts special tools and a small video camera. While watching a video monitor in the operating room, the surgeon guides the tools to the kidney and uses them to drain the fluid from the cyst. Then the walls of the cyst are cut or burned away. Depending on the type of procedure your doctor recommends, treatment for your kidney cyst may require a brief hospital stay. Preparing for an appointment A simple kidney cyst discovered during an imaging test for another disease or condition may concern you. Talk with your doctor about what having a simple kidney cyst means for your health. Gathering information may put your mind at ease and help you feel more in control of your situation. What you can do Before meeting with your doctor, prepare a list of questions to ask, such as: - How big is the kidney cyst? - Is the kidney cyst new or has it been visible on other scans? - Is the kidney cyst likely to grow? - Can the kidney cyst hurt my kidney? - I have these unexplained symptoms. Could they be caused by a kidney cyst? - Does the kidney cyst need to be removed? - What are my treatment options? - What are the potential risks of each treatment option? - What signs or symptoms may indicate the kidney cyst is growing? - Should I see a specialist? - Are there any restrictions that I need to follow? - Do you have any printed material that I can take with me? What websites do you recommend? - Will I need a follow-up visit? Don't hesitate to ask other questions as they occur to you during your appointment. What to expect from your doctor Your doctor is likely to ask you a number of questions, such as: - Do you have any symptoms? - If so, how long have you experienced symptoms? - Have your symptoms gotten worse over time? - Do you have any blood in your urine? - Have you had pain in your back or sides? - Have you had a fever or chills? - Do you have any other medical conditions? - What medications, vitamins or supplements do you take? Last Updated Jul 28, 2020
Health is, arguably, the most important subject that we teach in school. That’s why it’s vital that our health curriculum is always up-to-date. Over the last few decades, the world has been changing rapidly in many ways. And as the world changes, so do the health challenges that students face. So, in 2021, what should a middle school health curriculum look like? How can we teach health in a way that’s relevant, up-to-date, AND engaging for students? Start with these 3 essential topics: Topic #1: Growth Mindset Carol Dweck coined the term “Growth Mindset” in 2007, and her theory has since become a popular part of teaching mental health in schools. Growth mindset, in simple terms, is the ability to see failures as learning opportunities rather than a reflection of your worth. Learning to put this into practice can have a huge impact on students’ self-esteem and success throughout their lives. Click this link to read more about developing a growth mindset! To keep growth mindset lessons and concepts fresh in students’ minds, grab these bold, colorful posters to display in your classroom! Topic #2: Mental Health Not too long ago, open discussions about mental health were incredibly rare in schools. Luckily, teaching mental health is becoming a lot more common as public awareness and understanding grow. Statistics show that there’s been a sharp rise in stress levels and mental illness in adolescents since the turn of the century. As a result, many educators are looking for ways to emphasize mental health in their teaching and normalize these conversations. In this middle school health curriculum bundle, the mental health unit covers basic knowledge on common mental illnesses and also emphasizes the importance of maintaining mental health for everyone. Students learn to understand and manage their stress levels, emotions, and relationships with others. While teaching mental health, I also like to bring in the concept of mindfulness using these guided meditations. These short meditations come with visually appealing graphics, making them an engaging way to introduce students to the benefits of mindfulness. Topic #3: Internet Safety The role of the internet and social media in students’ lives grows and changes every year. Students’ online interactions have such a huge impact on their health and safety; this is not an area where we can afford to use out-of-date curriculum. Our current students grew up using the internet, but that doesn’t mean that they know how to navigate it safely. Guarding their mental health, protecting themselves from dangerous situations online are skills that need to be taught. In my middle school health curriculum bundle, there is a unit dedicated to internet safety. It covers all of the most important points that students need to stay safe and informed while online, with topics like preventing cyberbullying and avoiding online predators. Download your copy of the middle school health curriculum bundle here! Also, grab this FREEBIE! This free resource includes: - A pacing guide to accompany the health curriculum bundle - Fun binder tabs, covers, and spine labels to keep you organized! Do you agree with my choices for the top 3 most essential health topics in 2021? Let me know in the comments! You may also enjoy reading:
ADA BYRON LOVELACE AND THE THINKING MACHINE by Laurie Wallmark is a perfect topic for Women’s History Month. Before the invention of the computer she was a mathematician who created an algorithm, a set of mathematical instructions. This picture book biography was specifically created for STEM. I would have liked to see a glossary as part of the back matter. It would have been very useful. The teacher’s guide says it is for grades 1-4, with the caveat that the teacher has to consider what would work for the specific grade. For grades 1 and 2, the teacher could lead a discussion about what a thinking machine is. The students could draw thinking machines. This book has a number of math problems, which are best for the older grades. The teacher’s guide would work very well for grades 5-8. This age range would not want to read a picture book but they could research and write their own papers on Ada. Or the teacher could just select sections from the book for class use. Nonfiction picture book authors run the risk of being told a topic is too advanced. Perhaps more advanced texts will be a growing trend.
Normally we speak of desertification to refer to the generation of conditions that lead to the conversion of territories into deserts, but reading information about these processes, we can find another designation term, which gives rise to confusion: desertification. Sometimes they seem to be used synonymously, but the only thing they have in common is that they refer to soil degradation. So, it is normal to ask yourself questions like: how are the two concepts different? What is desertification and why does it occur? What areas of the planet are affected by these processes? To clear up any doubts in this regard, in this AgroCorrn article on what desertification is, its causes and consequences , you will be able to consult the definition of desertification and the differences it has with respect to the desertification process and more details, such as which are the areas of the planet most affected by desertification and desertification. What is desertification Let’s start by clarifying what desertification is and what it consists of . It is the natural phenomenon as a consequence of soil degradation , which favors, over thousands of years, the appearance of desert climatic, morphological and environmental conditions. This ecological process contributes to the aridification of originally fertile territories , higher rates of soil erosion, the deterioration of vegetation and a decrease in edaphic humidity, without such changes being induced by human activity. An example of desertification is the Sahara which, according to cave paintings 10,000 years ago, had a more humid climate; in contrast to the desert conditions that characterize it today. What are the causes of desertification When we ask ourselves how soil desertification occurs , we must bear in mind that it can be triggered by multiple natural climatic, astronomical, geomorphological and dynamic factors. - On the one hand, the weather plays a decisive role. In this context, the irregular nature of rainfall ( droughts or torrential rains), strong gusts of wind, frost, aridity and thermic climate (which favor salinization processes and the rapid removal of organic matter from the soil ), are capable of shaping the relief and accelerating soil degradation . - On an astronomical level , the intensification of climatic changes (for example, of the seasons) in certain areas, caused by the Milankovitch cycles, also contributes to desertification processes. - On the other hand, geomorphological factors , related to orogeny and lithology, which conditions resistance to erosion and desertification. - Finally, dynamic factors , such as erosion or other physical-chemical processes, associated with the biological activity of the planet, wear down and destroy the soil, feeding the desertification of the territory. Here you can learn much more about the different types of erosion . What are the consequences of desertification Although the desertification process is conceptually different from that of desertification, as we will detail below, it could be said that similar consequences derive from both phenomena. The consequences of desertification include the following: - The lands become more vulnerable to erosion processes, favored by the loss and deterioration of the vegetation cover. - Soils lose their physicochemical and mineralogical properties, reducing their functionality and productive capacity. - All this affects the development of agricultural and livestock activities and, therefore, the well-being, work and the economy of those who dedicate themselves to it or live in areas affected by such phenomena. As a result, the emergence of environmental refugees takes place, who are people in a situation of abandonment of their homes, due to the costs that result from the desertification and desertification of the territory. Difference between desertification and desertification The term desertification , coined by André Aubréville in the middle of the last century, emerged in order to characterize the processes of land and soil degradation in the Sahel region (Africa). Later, the UNCED (1994) establishes that desertification is the degradation of land in arid areas, semi-arid areas and dry sub-humid areas , caused by various factors, such as human activities and climate variations, being ruled out of this process hyper-arid zones. In this definition, the main difference between desertification and desertification can be identified and that is that the first of the phenomena can take place in a natural or anthropic way, while the origin of desertification is only natural . What does this imply? That the origin of desertification lies in the synergy of climatic and anthropic processes. Therefore, being the human being the main agent of land degradation, among the causes of desertification the following can be highlighted: - Intensive agriculture, highlighting the strong influence of mechanization on the destruction and degradation of land. Bad agricultural practices such as land abandonment, the use of chemicals and monoculture. - In arid regions, the pumping of groundwater for agriculture favors the salification (by evapotranspiration) of the aquifers and the soil, which causes a progressive and continuous erosion and degradation of the land. In the overexploitation of aquifers, it is important to highlight the “qanats” which are underground channels, used for water intake, which connect the entire Mediterranean, favoring desertification processes. - Deforestation , mining and overgrazing. - Poor and poor irrigation management. For example, the use of low-quality water for irrigation; the construction and modification of canals and channels. - Tourism is an indirect cause as it implies greater urbanization of the land and other infrastructures (such as roads), greater demographic pressure on ecosystems and the intensification of extractive activities to meet the needs of the population. - Forest fires , increasingly recurrent, increase soil degradation processes. Given the importance of desertification processes, which affect our health and that of our ecosystems, the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is celebrated on June 17 in order to raise awareness about the importance of combating this problem of character anthropic. We recommend you learn more by reading this other article about the Causes of desertification and its consequences . Areas of the planet most affected by desertification and desertification Currently, given the temporal extension of desertification processes, it is sometimes difficult to differentiate whether the changes that take place in terrestrial ecosystems towards more desert conditions are of a natural or anthropic nature. That is why, normally, we speak of territories affected by desertification processes . In this sense, Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa stand out as one of the areas most affected by land degradation. The Mediterranean is also an example of soil degradation, highlighting in particular the progress that this phenomenon takes in the cities of Alicante, Murcia and Almería . In these areas, the orchard area is significantly degraded and largely destroyed, as a consequence of indiscriminate and poorly planned urbanization. In fact, beyond the Mediterranean region, Spain presents arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid natural climatic conditions in two thirds of its territory, which makes it susceptible to desertification and desertification.
Question: please answer e and f find the charge on the... Please answer (e) and (f) Find the charge on the other metal ball when it is connected with the Van de Graaff generator,the generator initially has a charge of +3.5 μC on its surface. It has a radius of 15 cm. It is connected by a long, thin, conducting wire to a neutral metal ball with a radius of 1.0 cm which is “a long way away” from the Van de Graaff generator. (a) Find the charge on the small metal ball after this has been done. Carefully explain the thought process. (b) Find the electric potential at each of the positions: • Point A: 1.50ˆi m • Point B: 1.50ˆi − 0.50ˆj m (c) Write the potential as a function of y for points on the line x = 1.50 m, then plot it. (d) Looking at the plot that you made in (b), if an electron passes through B and then later passes through A, will it be going faster at A or B? Don’t do any calculation to determine this; just look at your graph and think. (e)an electron passes through point B moving at a speed of 1.00 × 107 m/s. It later passes through point A. How fast is it going as it passes through point A? (f) Use your answer to part 1c to find the y-component of the E-field at point B.
Moles spend most of their lives underground in a system of permanent tunnels (2), the presence of which can be detected from above by molehills, by-products of the excavation process (2). They feed on soil invertebrates that fall into the tunnels (4). A favourite component of the diet is earthworms, which are often stored for later consumption after they have been immobilised by a bite to the head (4). This species of mole is typically solitary, and both sexes defend their territories vigorously (4). Males extend their tunnel systems during the short breeding season as they search for females (4); a single litter per year is the norm, averaging between two to seven naked, blind young. The young are suckled for about a month and leave the nest at around 33 days of age (2), they then disperse above-ground; this period of the mole's life is the most fraught with danger, as they are extremely vulnerable to predators including owls, buzzards, stoats, dogs and cats (2). Female moles are the only mammals known to posses reproductive organs called 'ovotestes', which contain a normal functioning ovary as well as a testicular area that produces a large amount of testosterone. This intriguing feature may explain why female moles are as aggressive as males when defending their territories; it may also account for the external similarities between males and females (4).
Title: Readers Front & Center: Helping All Students Engage with Complex Texts by Dorothy Barnhouse. Stenhouse, 2014. Description: Students’ ability to interpret complex texts predicts their future success, and author Dorothy Barnhouse lays out two key concepts to help teachers build this ability in young people. Ask questions and listen—while simple, this advice has universal educational value. More precisely, Barnhouse believes students should never read anything as “disengaged answer-seekers” seeking only to correctly answer questions about the content. Instead, the value of a reading experience lies in students’ struggles to understand the text. She shows examples of conversations with students in which she helps them break down a text—for example, by applying one’s personal understanding to the situations presented in the piece, or by forming a complete mental map around what was read. Bottom Line: Taking a critical, but fair, look at Common Core Standards for reading, Barnhouse places the reader at the center of a text’s complexity. She notes the importance of reading with a flexible mindset, and through abundant classroom examples, visual diagrams and reading samples, highlights concrete methods for helping students when they struggle. About the Author: Literacy consultant and staff professional development expert Dorothy Barnhouse works in elementary, middle and high schools in New York City and across the country with a focus on reading comprehension, writing and critical thinking. She coauthored another professional development book, What Readers Really Do: Teaching the Process of Meaning Making, with literacy consultant Vicki Vinton. How to Purchase: Get this title in paperback for $20 at Stenhouse.com. Article by Jason Cunningham, EducationWorld Social Media Editor Copyright © 2014 Education World
Vocabulary: limiting factors, ecological succession, symbiotic, parasitism, mutualism, commensalism, pioneer species, climax community Abiotic factors are those non-living physical and chemical factors which affect the ability of organisms to survive and reproduce. Some Abiotic Factors - light intensity - temperature range - type of soil or rock - pH level (acidity or alkalinity) - water availability - dissolved gases - level of pollutant Abiotic factors vary in the environment and determining the types and numbers of organisms that exist in that environment. Factors which determine the types and numbers of organisms of a species in an ecosystem are called limiting factors. Many limiting factors restrict the growth of populations in nature. An example of this would include low annual average temperature average common to the Arctic restricts the growth of trees, as the subsoil is permanently frozen. Biotic factors are all the living things or their materials that directly or indirectly affect an organism in its environment. This would include organisms, their presence, parts, interaction, and wastes. Factors such as parasitism, disease, and predation (one animal eating another) would also be classified as biotic factors. Some Biotic Factors The environment may be changed greatly through the activities of organisms, including humans, or when climate changes. Although sometimes these changes occur quickly, in most cases species gradually replace others, resulting in long term changes in ecosystems. These changes in an ecosystem over time are called ecological succession. Ecosystems may reach a point of stability that can last for hundreds or thousands of years. If a disaster occurs, the damaged ecosystem is likely to recover in stages that eventually result in a stable system similar to the original one. Organisms may interact with one another in several ways. One example of an organism interaction is that of a producer/consumer relationship. A producer is any organism capable of making its own food, usually sugars by photosynthesis. Plants and algae are examples of producers. A consumer is any organism which eats another organism. Several different types of consumer organisms exist. A herbivore is a consumer which eats primarily plant material. A deer is an example of a herbivore. A carnivore consumes primarily animal material. An omnivore eats both plant and animal matter. Humans are examples of omnivorous organisms. A predator is a type of carnivore that kills its food. The organism the predator feeds upon is called its prey. A wolf and rabbit would provide an example of a predator/prey relationship. Scavengers feed upon organisms that other organisms have killed. A crow feeding off dead carrion in the highway would be an example of scavenger in this instance. The cartoon above represents a typical situation where vultures are acting as scavengers feeding on a dead rhinoceros. Close living associations are called symbiotic relationships. Parasitism is an example of such a relationship. In this situation, the parasite feeds upon the tissues or fluids or another organism, but usually does not kill the organism it feeds upon, as this would destroy its food supply. The organism the parasite feeds upon is called the host organism. An example of this sort of relationship would be fleas on a dog or athlete's foot fungus on a human. Types of Symbiosis - parasitism: the parasite benefits at the expense of the host - mutualism: both organisms benefit from the association - commensalism: one organism is benefited and the other is unharmed Some organisms such as certain pathogenic bacteria may cause disease in other organisms. Decomposer organisms use the energy of dead organisms for food and break them down into materials which can be recycled for use by other organisms. Bacteria of decay and many fungi are examples of decomposer organisms. The interrelationships and interdependencies of organisms affect the development of stable ecosystems. The types of animal communities found in an ecosystem is dependent upon the kinds of plants and other producer organisms in that ecosystem. The environment may be altered in substantial ways through the activities of humans, other living things, or when natural disasters occur, such as climate changes and volcanic eruptions. Although these changes are sometimes occur very quickly, in most cases species replace others gradually, resulting in long-term changes in ecosystems. These gradual long term changes in altered ecosystems are called ecological successions. Ecosystems tend to change with time until a stable system is formed. The type of succession which occurs in an ecosystem depends upon climatic and other limitations of a given geographical area. A Typical New York State Succession Pioneer organisms are the first organisms to reoccupy an area which has been disturbed by a disruption. Typical pioneers in a succession include grasses in a plowed field or lichens on rocks. These pioneer organisms modify their environment, ultimately creating conditions which are less favorable for themselves, but establishing conditions under which more advanced organisms can live. Over time, the succession occurs in a series of plant stages which leads to a stable final community which is very similar to the plant community which originally existed in the ecosystem. This final stable plant community is called a climax community. This community may reach a point of stability that can last for hundreds or thousands of years. A Pond Succession Sequence It has been observed that when natural disasters occur, such as a floods or fires, the damaged ecosystem is likely to recover in a series of successional stages that eventually result in a stable system similar to the original one that occupied the area. A Typical New York State Succession This chart represents a typical succession which is observed in New York State. The annual grasses represent the pioneer or first organisms in this succession. The beech-maple forest would represent a typical Northern New York climax community. The climax community will last hundreds or thousands of years unless again disrupted. A forest containing oak and/or hickory trees would be a more typical Southern New York climax community. Previous Page Back to Top Next page Copyright © 1999-2011 Oswego City School District Regents Exam Prep Center RegentsPrep and StudyZone are FREE educational resources.
Creativity is not a fixed element - it is a highly sought after way of thinking that can be taught in the classroom. Even the teachers who don’t consider themselves creative can incorporate creativity in the classroom. But what’s the fuss you ask? Creativity leads to better problem solving and many fields of work require creativity skills. Here’s four ways you can fuel creativity in your classroom: Create the right environment Think of the layout of the classroom seating, does it encourage group work or isolate students? Is colour used in the classroom? These elements of design are important factors in promoting a creative learning space. Play around with different layouts and themes to see which work best for your students. Reward achievement appropriately and emphasise when a student shows creativity. For example, create a reading competition where the students get rewarded for the amount of books they read. Praise helps to give a sense of pride as well as further encouragement to keep on being creative. It also gives teachers a chance to highlight creativity (or lack thereof) and point students to the right direction. Implement the right activities Use open-ended projects to get students thinking outside the box. For example, encourage students to research a topic of their own choice. Use unconventional learning such as Ted Talks or podcasts to supplement learning and bring a new way of thinking to the classroom. Consider introducing journaling to your students' learning as a way of exploring new ideas. Get your class in groups to brainstorm new ideas or work collaboratively on a project. For example, you can start a group discussion on sight words or a fun game on phonics. Brainstorming is one of the best ways to fuel creativity and facilitate group discussion. Brainstorming can improve the confidence of your students too as peer recognition is important.
During 1977 and 1978, the University of New Orleans conducted an archaeological project within what is now Armstrong Park. It focused on two areas, the Jazz Complex, a small area around what had been Perseverance Hall, and Congo Square, the commons area known as a gathering site for the city’s African-American population in the antebellum period. The site of Congo Square was once also the site of Fort St. Ferdinand, a colonial-era fortification on what had been the outskirts of the city. Until 1970, much of the area that became Armstrong Park was a densely developed portion of the Treme neighborhood; at that time, 9 blocks were razed to make way for the proposed cultural center intended to be at the center of the park. As these blocks were cleared and landscaped, bottle and relic hunters had almost unfettered access to the area, and presumably, most of the intact archaeological deposits in the park area were destroyed as a result. The excavation done in 1977 and 1978 had little success in finding intact materials associated with the use of the area as Congo Square, though it was able to identify some intact urban features like privies and wells, the foundation of a spring house, and remains from Fort St. Ferdinand. Fort St. Ferdinand and the Colonial Fortifications of New Orleans Although some maps from the French era depict elaborate fortifications surrounding New Orleans, these actually consisted of only a simple moat until about 1760. Fear of a British attack prompted the French to improve this system, adding palisades and bastions, including one in the vicinity of Congo Square. These were in a state of constant decay and disrepair until the 1790s, when Spanish governor Baron de Carondelet, this time fearing attack by the Americans, had a series of five more permanent bastions, surrounded by a moat and connected by a rampart and banquette (or sidewalk), constructed. The remains of the 1794 bastion uncovered beneath Congo Square fit well with some of the contemporary descriptions, including remnants from an arched brick walkway that extended over the moat. The ‘Place Publique’ at the edge of the city became known as Congo Square soon after New Orleans became part of American territory, and the dances and gatherings that took place there was a frequent source of fascination for visitors to the city in the antebellum period. In the 1890s, its name was changed to Beauregard Square in recognition of Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard—part of a large-scale campaign to enforce racial hierarchy in the Jim Crow era city by valorizing those who fought for slavery. The name was only officially changed to Congo Square in 2011, a reminder that racist and white supremacist memorials are remarkably persistent in New Orleans and the South, even when their historical intents are starkly apparent. Unfortunately, because of the degree of landscaping in the park area, archaeologists found few deposits that could be associated directly with the public gatherings at Congo Square. A layer lined with ballast stone cobbles, only sporadically present across the site, may represent the old surface of the common area.
Linear functions are of the general form, f(x) = ax+b, where ‘a’ and ‘b’ are constants. The relationship between ‘x’ and ‘f(x)’ in a linear equation gives us a straight line. Slope is the rate of change in ‘f(x)’ with respect to the change in ‘x’. Given two co-ordinate points: (x1, y1) and (x2, y2) Then slope, m = (y2 –y1) / (x2 –y1) Y-intercept is the point where the graph touches the Y-axis. So, when x = 0, y = b -> point = (0,b) Find the slope of the points: (1,2) and (4,5) Slope, m = (5-2) / (4-1) m = 3/3 -> m= 1 Example: Graph and write the equation of the line in slope-intercept form given a point (3, 4) and slope 2. Need more help with Math homework help ,connect with expert tutors at now!!! \|You can also Read our other blog What Is Linear Equation And Inequalities?\|
The ISEE Exam is designed to determine a student's placement for independent schools and magnet schools. The ISEE exam has three versions: the Lower Level for grades 5-7 the Middle Level for grades 7-8 and the Upper Level for grades 9-12. The ISEE consists of four multiple choice sections: verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, reading comprehension, and mathematics achievement; each section is given a score and percentile rank. In addition, there is an essay section that is not graded, but is forwarded to schools along with the score report. Students receive one point for each question answered correctly, giving a raw score. This raw score is then adjusted to give a scaled score between 760 and 940, which is returned to the student along with their percentile rank. ISEE Tutoring Program Parliament's ISEE tutoring program equips students with the fundamentals as well as the analytical reasoning skills needed to succeed on the ISEE exam. - The verbal reasoning section asks students to complete sentences and use synonym to demonstrate verbal skills. - The reading comprehension section uses 5-6 passages from different fields to test comprehension and vocabulary in-context. - The quantitative reasoning and mathematics achievement sections measure age-appropriate skills ranging from computation and comprehension to arithmetic, algebra and geometry. - An un-scored essay gives students 30 minutes to respond to a randomly chosen prompt. While there is no score, essays are sent to admissions councils along with test scores. - Our ISEE tutors will review the relevant fundamentals with students, as well as introduce important concepts to master each of these sections.
Farm Table says: An Exploration of Methane and Properly Managed Livestock through Holistic Management What is the problem? Concerns about methane emissions from conventional livestock production has been much publicised. What did the research involve? Questions about livestock and methane are frequently posed in discussions of Holistic Management and the use of domestic livestock for eco-restoration and as food sources. This paper offers an overview of methane as a greenhouse gas and examines the dynamic of methane in the carbon cycle and the role of livestock. What were the key findings? Methane is a powerful short-lived greenhouse gas (a single molecule lasts in the atmosphere from 9 to 15 years) that is approximately 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 100-year time span. The most important methane sink is the lower atmosphere where it is oxidized into carbon dioxide and water. But soils are also a significant sink, capturing approximately 10% of methane emissions. Domestic ruminants – cattle, sheep, goats, etc. – emit methane as a result of bacterial digestion of cellulose in the rumen, that is, the first of their multiple stomachs. Their methane emissions vary with size, breed and feed, but for beef and dairy cattle are in the range of 164 to 345 mg per day. Healthy, well-aerated soils – a characteristic quality of grasslands under Holistic Planned Grazing – harbor bacteria called methanotrophs, which break down methane. Soil-based decomposition of methane may be equal to or greater than ruminant methane production, depending on animal den sity, soil type and soil health. Despite large populations of grazing animals worldwide before the introduction of agriculture, atmospheric methane concentrations cycled between approximately 350 and 750 ppb, but did not increase beyond that concentration. Holistic Planned Grazing is a fundamentally different approach to livestock and to ecosystem management, in which livestock production is only one element of the process. Whereas conventional livestock production manipulates pieces of the ecosystem in an effort to maximize production and profits, thereby leading to the complication and expense of dealing with unintended consequences. Holistic Planned Grazing strives to put all of the pieces back together and relies on nature’s millions of years of experience with the grazer-grassland environment to balance the whole.Read ArticleSave For Later
The spanish armada was a great fleet of ships launched by the spanish in 1588 there were many reasons for war between spain and england in 1562 john. The invincible armada 1588: sir francis drake: a pictorial biography by hans p kraus (rare book and special collections reading room, library of. An animation about the spanish armada produced by blue class, the five islands school during a visit by animator amanda lorenz. The invincible armada (1588) in the latter part of the 16th century, spain was the major international power and either ruled, colonized, or exercised influence . The defeat of the spanish armada in 1588 has long been held as one of england's greatest military achievements the successful defence of the kingdom . The english fleet gives battle to the spanish armada: a spanish galeas occupies the foreground, an english “race” galleon to her left and right english ships. In may 1588 a massive invasion fleet or 'armada' sailed from the port of lisbon it was made up of why is the 1588 battle with the spanish armada so famous. The spanish armada relationships between england and spain were supposed to be close and warm after all, king phillip ii's wife was queen regnant of. A summary of against the spanish armada in 's queen elizabeth i learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of queen elizabeth i and what. The spanish armada: a history [robert hutchinson] on amazoncom free shipping on qualifying offers after the accession of elizabeth i in 1558, protestant . The spanish armada campaign of 1588 changed the course of european history if the duke of parma's 27,000 strong invasion force had. Explore a detailed overview about the spanish armada what caused spain to attack england - and what were the consequences of its. The spanish armada—a voyage to tragedy by awake writer in spain over four centuries ago, two fleets fought in the narrow waters of the english. Arriving in july 1588, the spanish armada sought to control the english channel and aid in transferring troops from holland for the invasion of. The defeat of the spanish armada in 1588 has long been held as one of england's greatest military achievements, and a sign of the strength and spirit imparted. In this lesson, we will study the famous spanish armada and its attempt to invade england in 1588 we will discuss the armada's background. On may 28, 1588, the spanish armada set sail from lisbon, portugal, headed for england with 130 ships and 30,000 men meaning literally. Did god really help the english defeat the spanish armada. The spanish armarda was launched in august 1588, 'la felicissima armada', or ' the most fortunate fleet' was made up of 150 ships, mainly spanish, with some. If the spanish armada had successfully invaded england in 1588 the course of british history would have been altered forever read about the build up to the. The most common answer you will find to this question is that the armada was there are a number of factors that came into play - the spanish armada,. The role of spanish armada in the history of the united states of america. The defeat of the spanish armada in 1588 is one of the most famous events in english history it was arguably queen elizabeth i's finest hour the fleet set sail.
Question 1 State the universal law of gravitation? Question 2 Define gravitation constant? Question 3 What is the value of G on earth and on the moon? Question 4 Which force is responsible for the moon revolving round the earth? Question 5 Describe how the gravitational force between two objects depends on the distance between them? Question 6 What happen to the gravitational force between object when the distance between them is doubled and halved? Question 7 What is centripetal force.Explain? A force is necessary to produce motion in a body,to change the speed or direction of motion of an object. If we drop a stone from height,the stone falls down towards the earth.Because the earth exert a force of attraction on the stone and pull it down. Issac newton was sitting in his garden under a tree.When an apple from tree fell on him.He said that an apple fall down from tree towards earth because the earth exerts a force of attraction on the apple in the downward direction. This force of attraction exerted by earth is called gravity. The force with which the earth pulls the objects towards it is called gravitational Force of Earth. The gravitational force of earth is responsible for holding the atmosphere above earth,for rain falling on earth,for flow of water in rivers,keeps us firmly on ground,ball thrown upwards also falls back to earth due to gravity. Every object in this universe attract every other object with a certain force.The force with which two objects attract each other is called gravitational force. If the masses of object are large,gravitational force between them is very large. The force that cause acceleration and keeps the body moving along the circular path is acting towards the centre.This is called centripetal force. For Ex:Take a piece of thread,tie a small stone at one end,hold the other end of thread and whirl it round,note the motion,release it,note the motion. Observation:Before the thread is released,stone moves in a circular path with certain speed and changes direction at every point.The change in direction at every point.The change in direction involves change in velocity. The motion of moon around the earth is due to centripetal force. Universal Law of Gravitation or Newton’s Law of Gravitation This law states that every body in the universe attracts every other body with a force which is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to square of distance between them. This formula is applicable anywhere in this universe. If we double distance between two bodies then force become one-fourth. If we half distance between two bodies then force become four times. This law is called universal law because it is applicable to all bodies having mass. The value of Universal gravitation constant(G) has been found to be 6.67 x 10 –11 N m 2 kg –2 The small value of G tells us that force of gravitation between any two ordinary objects will be very very weak. The earth has a very large mass and this force is quite large between earth and other objects.
Is electromagnetic radiation really safe? Chances are you’re probably sitting in an electromagnetic field (EMF) at this very moment. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences describes EMFs as invisible areas of energy, often referred to as radiation, that are associated with the use of electrical power and various forms of natural and man-made lighting. What Is Electromagnetic Radiation? There are electric fields that develop through variances in voltage, and there are magnetic fields that develop from the flow of electric current. The higher the electric field or the greater the magnetic field, the stronger the electromagnetic radiation. You can have an electric fields without a current; however, if there is a current, the magnetic field will vary in how much power it uses, whereas the electric field will be constant. OK — so if that is confusing, let’s look at it this way: If you are traveling with your cell phone on using a navigation tool, it’s going to create a higher electric and magnetic field because it’s working harder to maintain a strong connection the whole time you are traveling — another reason your battery may run out more quickly. It is using way more energy to produce (find and maintain) a signal. The problem is, that when this type of energy is high and near your body, it may cause damaging microwaves and free radicals within the body. This category of electromagnetic radiation includes low- to mid-frequency radiation, which is generally perceived as harmless due to its lack of potency. Forms of non-ionizing radiation include: - Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) - Radiofrequency (RF) - Visual Light Source examples include: - Microwave ovens - House energy smart meters - Wireless (Wi-Fi) networks - Cell Phones - Bluetooth devices - Power lines This type of electromagnetic radiation includes mid- to high-frequency radiation which can, under certain circumstances, lead to cellular and or DNA damage with prolonged exposure. Forms of ionizing radiation include: - Ultraviolet (UV) Sources of ionizing electromagnetic radiation include: - Ultraviolet light - Some gamma rays (2) According to the World Health Organization (3): - The time-varying electromagnetic fields produced by electrical appliances are an example of extremely low frequency (ELF) fields, which generally have frequencies up to 300 Hz; our electricity power supply and all appliances using electricity are the main sources of ELF fields. - The frequencies of intermediate frequency (IF) fields range from 300 Hz to 10 MHz; computer screens, anti-theft devices and security systems are the main sources of IF fields. - Radio frequency (RF) fields include frequencies frequencies of 10 MHz to 300 GHz; radio, television, radar and cellular telephone antennas, and microwave ovens are the main sources of RF fields. Key Electromagnetic Radiation Points - Mobile telephones, television and radio transmitters and radar produce RF fields, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). These fields are used to transmit information over long distances and form the basis of telecommunications as well as radio and television broadcasting all over the world. - Microwaves are RF fields at high frequencies in the GHz range. In microwaves ovens, we use them to quickly heat food. - The electromagnetic spectrum encompasses both natural and human-made sources of electromagnetic fields. - Ionizing radiation such as X-ray and gamma-rays consists of photons which carry sufficient energy to break molecular bonds. Photons of electromagnetic waves at power and radio frequencies have much lower energy that do not have this ability. - Wavelength or frequency usually describes EMFs more specifically as non-ionizing. EMF Comparison Chart The National Cancer Institute provides a handy chart to help you understand the levels of EMFs. Courtesy of http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/radiation/electromagnetic-fields-fact-sheet As you can see on the left side of the chart, power lines and computers are lowest with the cell phone and microwaves being higher, but all are in the non-ionizing radiation range. It is the ultraviolet, x-rays and gamma rays cause by diagnostic radiation and therapeutic radiation that move into the more damaging ionizing radiation levels. (4) Is Electromagnetic Radiation Dangerous? Now that you have a little knowledge of what EMFs are, let’s establish some awareness about some specific dangers that may be around you. The World Health Organization notes that low frequency and high frequency electromagnetic waves affect the human body in different ways. Have you ever noticed your cell phone getting really hot when you are driving your car? When your phone is in high use, including when you’re using a GPS location finder or talking while your car is moving, your phone is doing a lot of working to keep up. The harder it has to work, the more cell-damaging microwaves it is putting out into the atmosphere, right near your body. If you think this doesn’t affect you, think again. Researchers conducted two separate studies, one on a 38-year-old vegetarian woman and another focusing on a healthy 21-year-old woman. Both carried cell phones in their bras for a number of years. What do you think happened? You guessed it; an aggressive breast cancer developed in the exact spot where the cell phone was carried. Now, I think it is fair to point out that the Susan B. Komen website lists cell phones as one of the factors that DO NOT cause breast cancer. But, since we do not have enough research at this point, carrying cell phones on the body is probably not the best choice. (5, 6) The World Health Organization reports that microwaves are high frequency radio waves that are “part of the electromagnetic spectrum” much like light — visible radiation. Microwaves ovens are typically designed so that the microwaves are only produced when the oven is on and the door is shut; however, older, less-cared-for microwave ovens could seep, so checking to make sure it is in good condition can be helpful. This is important since the energy created by microwaves can be absorbed by the body and caused free radicals to form in tissues. However, this thermal damage requires long exposures at high power levels, “well in excess of those measured around microwave ovens,” WHO notes. What about the microwaves and how it affects the food that is being cooked? Harvard Health Publications noted that the best way to preserve nutrients is by using a cooking method that is shorter. So basically, the less amount of time needed to cook a food, the more nutrients it will retain. This claim states that microwaved cooked food is fine, though more research is needed. (7, 8, 9 ) I personally don’t opt for microwaved food. What about Wi-Fi? A relatively newer technology, some organizations deem it safe while others say it’s posing a public health threat. Technically, Wi-Fi works in the range of 2.4 GHz frequency, the same as a microwave oven. So as noted above, it may require a lot of exposure to yield negative results. On the flip side, Environmental Health Trust warns of the dangers of electromagnetic radiation, saying it contributes to a person’s toxic body burden. The organization points to research showing that that the protective barrier of the brain — the blood-brain barrier — is compromised due to wireless electromagnetic radiation. Several studies suggest wireless radiation pokes holes in this protective barrier, causing more toxic compounds to reach the brain. (10) Doctors and organizations have also voiced concerns over Wi-Fi technologies in schools, where students and teachers often experience heavy electromagnetic radiation exposure throughout the entire day. Stephen Sinatra, MD, an integrative metabolic cardiologist and co-founder of Doctors for Safer Schools, says the heart is sensitive too and can be adversely affected by the same frequency used for Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz) at levels a fraction of federal guidelines (less than 1 percent) and at levels that have been recorded in schools with Wi-Fi technology. Dr. Sinatra says children in high-tech classrooms have complained of the following symptoms: - racing heart or irregular heartbeat - feeling faint - difficulty concentrating - chest pain or pressure (11) When it comes to power lines, the American Cancer Society states that the levels of electromagnetic radiation greatly lowers as you move further away from the lines. The strength of the lines are highest when you are underneath them, but usually it’s the same frequency as some appliances in your home. If a power line is positioned across home and you are concerned, you can measure its strength using a gaussmeter. If you are not happy with what you find, you can move or ask the power company to bury the lines, though underground lines may not make a difference. Regardless of the source, it may not be as much of a problem as you think, but it is definitely best to take precautions. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notes that various frequencies are regulated. For example, EMFs from “cell phones, power lines, smart meters and other wireless devices is regulated by a combination of other state and federal agencies.” (12) 4 Major EMF Dangers 1. Electromagnetic Radiation May Cause Cancer Although much more research needs to be done, there are reports that EMF sources, include cell phones, Wi-Fi routers and microwaves, could cause cancer. One such report studied childhood leukemia and noted that EMFs may put children at high risk for damaging carcinogens. Another study’s results were inconclusive. The bottom line is more independent study is needed. (13, 14) Preliminary results of a large, $25 million government study released in 2016 found that cell phone radiation could increase the risk of malignant gliomas in the brain and schwannomas of the ear. (Schwannomas are rare tumors that in nerve sheath.) The study found a dose-response effect. That means the higher the dose, the higher the risk. The results backed up previous research suggesting cell phone radiation could increase the risk of gliomas. Acoustic neuromas have also been linked to cell phone use. (15) Otis W. Brawley, MD, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, called the results of this rat study “good science” and released this statement: The NTP report linking radiofrequency radiation (RFR) to two types of cancer marks a paradigm shift in our understanding of radiation and cancer risk. The findings are unexpected; we wouldn’t reasonably expect non-ionizing radiation to cause these tumors. This is a striking example of why serious study is so important in evaluating cancer risk. It’s interesting to note that early studies on the link between lung cancer and smoking had similar resistance, since theoretical arguments at the time suggested that there could not be a link. (16) In 2011, the World Health Organization listed cell phone radiation as a 2B carcinogen, meaning it’s possibly carcinogenic to humans. Since cell phones have only been in wide use since the 1990s, epidemiological studies looking for long-term risks from cell phone exposure could be missing certain threats that may not be surfacing in humans yet. (17) 2. Electromagnetic Radiation Affects Brain Function Studies are being conducted to see if cell phone use affects our brains. Even though the EMFs from cell phones are considered low, studies have concluded that there is an effect on the brain. Dr. Nora D. Volkow, a lead researcher with the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported that there are “changes in brain glucose metabolism after cell phone use.” The Environmental Working Group conducted studies using focus group with cell phones attached to their heads. The studies varied the stimulus with periods of time when cell phones were off as well as turned on. Though the study has not provided enough information to confirm major issues, it concluded that brain glucose increased when the phones were on for a period of time. This could cause inflammation in the brain, leading to illness. (18) 3. Electromagnetic Radiation May Fuel Dementia Studies were conducted in a lab to see what happens when subjects are exposed to cell phone radiation. The results suggest electromagnetic radiation could cause symptoms of dementia. In addition to damaged DNA, which can cause cancer, the studies indicated that neurons in the brain experienced damage linked to memory loss and negatively affected learning capabilities. What’s even more shocking is that this damage occurred just two hours after exposure to cell phone radiation. Researchers found the radiation seemed to poke holes in the barrier between the circulatory system and the brain, allowing toxins to make their way into the brain. This is pretty scary. (19) 4. Electromagnetic Radiation Could Cause Loss of Antioxidant Defenses Cell phone usage may cause the loss of antioxidants in our saliva. Saliva is critical for many reasons, including its purpose to fight pathogens. Saliva is actually one of our first defenses against microbial infections. Studies show that talking on a phone for up to an hour can lead to a 25 percent lower level of salivary antioxidant levels. (20) 5 Natural Ways to Reduce the Dangers of EMFs 1. Keep Your Cell Phone and Computer at a Distance When Possible Clearly, people are spending a lot of time around electromagnetic radiation. Your cell phone is one prime example. Did you know nomophobia — the fear of being without your phone, is actually a thing? I know that staying connected is a big deal to many, especially our teens out there, but EMFs are disruptors that may cause damage to the cells in your body. Why risk it? Luckily, there are simple things you can do to avoid excess levels of electromagnetic radiation. Avoid carrying your cell phone in your pocket or bra. For both men and women, especially young boys and girls, this is a big issue. Those little microwaves that you cannot see may actually cause damage to your body, including reproductive issues and possibly cancer. There is also the potential for birth defects and many other problems that we simply don’t know enough about quite yet. It’s not just your cell phone that you need think about. Avoid overusing electronic tables and try to keep these devices away from children in particular. Never use your computer on your lap when it is connected to a power source; if working on laptops for an extended period of time, use a separate keyboard and mouse. This can help minimize time with your hands or legs are near the power source, which is the battery area. (21) 2. Avoid Bluetooth Headsets and Use Speakerphone Instead These little conveniences, when combined with the cell phone usage, may affect you. However, CNN reports that it is minimal and the problem more so lies in wearing it constantly, even when not in use. You could avoid it altogether by using the speakerphone option. The further your cell phone is from you, the better. (That’s why texting with your phone held far away from your body is a safer option compared to talking with the phone by your ear.) In fact, the radiation is greatly reduced for every inch it’s away from your body. (22) 3. Try Earthing Earthing is making direct contact with the earth, putting you in contact with electrons found on the surface of the earth. I always make sure to get grounded when I travel, especially to different time zones. I will take a walk on the beach or in the grass of a nearby park as soon as possible upon arrival. It’s the perfect time for some mindful thinking and meditation, too. The good news? Grounding really works. Researchers conducted a study measuring voltage in multiple areas of the body in people while they were grounded and ungrounded. The grounding resulted in significant reductions in voltage in the body. The study confirms the “umbrella” effect of earthing, according to Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman in his lectures on electromagnetism. Feynman said that when the body potential is the same as the Earth’s electric potential (and thus grounded), it becomes an extension of the Earth’s gigantic electric system. The Earth’s potential thus becomes the “working agent that cancels, reduces or pushes away electric fields from the body.” Basically, grounding can eliminate the ambient voltage that comes from everyday electricity power sources. (23) 4. Protect Your Home There are a few things you can do to protect your family while at home, such as electromagnetic radiation filters and even special paint and fabrics that can help shield your home. There are some very basic things you can do, too. - Unplugging appliances when not in use. This not only avoids wasting energy, it will reduce the levels of EMFs emitted in your home. - Keep the bedroom clear of as many EMFs as possible. You spend a lot of time there and technologies can affect your sleep as well as your DNA. - Avoid halogen and fluorescent lighting. (24) - If you do use Wi-Fi instead of ethernet internet in the home, unplug it when it’s not in use and be sure to keep the router away from areas where you or family members spend a lot of time. - Avoid unnecessary, ridiculous Wi-Fi technology, such as wireless pacifiers that monitor a baby’s temperature and wireless diapers that tell alert you when the baby’s diaper is wet. Parents and caregivers survived for centuries without these technologies. 5. Eat a Healing Diet Food is medicine, so it should be of no surprise protecting your body from the negative effects of EMFs involves nutrient-rich options. A diet that is nutrient-dense is essential. High Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) foods can make a big difference in healing EMF-related DNA damage. Try adding pecans, pomegranate seeds, rosemary, asparagus, blueberries, walnuts, prunes, cruciferous vegetables, cinnamon, dates, broccoli and cilantro into your diet in a regular basis. Certain nutrients and amazing superfoods — such as iodine, Vitamin D3, spirulina, noni, B-complex vitamins, melatonin, holy basil, omega-3 fatty acids, selenium and zinc — are just a few beneficial options you can easily incorporate into your daily life. (25) Final Thoughts on Electromagnetic Radiation The fact is we are bombarded by EMFs from numerous technological devices in use today, but we don’t really know enough about these EMFs impact the human body. That is the perfect reason to take extra precautions, especially with cell phones, tablets and Wi-Fi. Having your cell phone attached to you at all times is an unnecessary risk I don’t recommend taking. It’s best to avoid exposure when possible, especially for our children since they will be using cell phones for a much larger percentage of life than many of us due to their popularity at such an early age. If you have concerns around your home, you seek out an electromagnetic radiation field testing professional who can perform tests in your home. (26)
This material must not be used for commercial purposes, or in any hospital or medical facility. Failure to comply may result in legal action. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Heatstroke is when your body severely overheats. Heatstroke happens when you do intense physical activity in hot conditions without drinking enough liquids. Normally, the body has a cooling system that is controlled by the brain. The cooling system adjusts to hot conditions and lowers your body temperature by producing sweat. With heatstroke, the body's cooling system is not working well and results in an increased body temperature. Follow up with your healthcare provider as directed: Write down your questions so you remember to ask them during your visits. First aid for heatstroke: - Move to an air-conditioned location or a cool, shady area and lie down. Raise your legs above the level of your heart. - Drink cold liquid, such as water or a sports drink. - Mist yourself with cold water or pour cool water on your head, neck, and clothes. - Apply ice packs on your neck, armpits, and groin. - Loosen or remove as many clothes as possible. - Have someone call 911 immediately for medical assistance. - Wear lightweight, loose, and light-colored clothing. - Protect your head and neck with a hat or umbrella when you are outdoors. - Drink lots of water or sports drinks. Avoid alcohol. - Eat salty foods, such as salted crackers and salted pretzels. - Limit your activities during the hottest time of the day. This is usually late morning through early afternoon. - Use air conditioners or fans and have enough proper ventilation. If there is no air conditioning available, keep your windows open so air can circulate. - Never leave children alone inside cars, especially during hot weather. Contact your healthcare provider if: - Your skin is red and dry. - You have muscle cramps or twitching. - You have nausea and vomiting. - You have numbness or prickling feeling in your arms or legs. - You have questions or concerns about your condition or care. Return to the emergency department if: - Your temperature is 104°F (40°C) or higher. - You cannot stop vomiting. - You feel faint, dizzy, weak, or tired. - You are confused or cannot think clearly. - You cannot move your arms and legs. - You breathe fast or feel like your heart is beating faster than normal. © 2017 Truven Health Analytics Inc. Information is for End User's use only and may not be sold, redistributed or otherwise used for commercial purposes. All illustrations and images included in CareNotes® are the copyrighted property of A.D.A.M., Inc. or Truven Health Analytics. The above information is an educational aid only. It is not intended as medical advice for individual conditions or treatments. Talk to your doctor, nurse or pharmacist before following any medical regimen to see if it is safe and effective for you.
Exponents and Powers Class 8 Notes for chapter 12 given here are a great study tool to boost productivity and improve overall knowledge about the topics. In 8th standard, the concept of exponents, powers and their applications in the real world are explained clearly. This chapter help students to build a strong foundation on the concept of exponents and powers. Solved and example problems are given here for better understanding. Students can use these notes to have a thorough revision of the entire chapter and at the same be well equipped to write the exam. Introduction to Exponents and Powers Powers and Exponents The power of a number indicates the number of times it must be multiplied. It is written in the form ab. Where ‘b’ indicates the number of times ‘a’ needs to be multiplied to get our result. Here ‘a’ is called the base and ‘b’ is called the exponent. For example: Consider 9³. Here the exponent ‘3’ indicates that base ‘9’ needs to be multiplied three times to get our equivalent answer which is 27. Powers with Negative Exponents A negative exponent in power for any non-integer is basically a reciprocal of the power. In simple terms, for a non-zero integer a with an exponent -b, a-b = 1ab Visualising Powers and Exponents Powers of numbers can easily be visualized in the form of shapes and figures. Consider the following visulization. Expanding a Rational Number Using Powers A given rational number can be expressed in expanded form with the help of exponents. Consider a number 1204.65. When expanded the number can be written like : 1204.65=1000+200+4+0.6+0.05=(1×10³)+(2×10²)+(0×10¹)+(4×10-¹)+(5×10-²) Laws of Exponents Exponents with like Bases Given a non-zero integer a, am×an=am+n where m and n are integers. and am÷an=am−n where m and n are integers. For example: 23×27 = 27 + 3 = 210 and 2723 = 27−3 Power of a Power Given a non-zero integer a, (am)n = amn, where m and n are integers. For example: (24)3 = 24×3 = 212 Given a non-zero integer a, (a)0 = 1 Any number to the power 0 is always 1. Exponents with Unlike Bases and Same Exponent Given two non-zero integers a and b, am×bm = (a×b)m, where m is an integer. For example: 23×53 = (2×5)3 = 103 = 1000 Uses of Exponents Inter Conversion between Standard and Normal Forms Very large numbers or very small numbers can be represented in the standard form with the help of exponents. If it is a very large number like 150,000,000,000, then we need to move the decimal place towards the left. And when we do so the exponent will be positive. Since the decimal is moved 11 places till it is placed between 1 and 5, our standard form representation of the large number will be 1.5×1011 If it is a very small number like 0.000007, we need to move the decimal places to the right in-order to represent the number in its standard form. When being shifted to the right, the exponent will be negative. In this case, the decimal place is moved 6 places up until till it is placed after digit 7. Therefore our standard form representation will be The exponents are also useful when converting the number from it’s standard form to it’s natural form. Comparison of Quantities Using Exponents In-order to compare two large or small quantities, we convert them to their standard exponential form and divide them. For example : To compare the diameter of the earth and that of the sun. Diameter of the Earth = 1.2756 × 106m Diameter of the Sun =1.4×109m Diameter of the Earth = 1.4×109m 1.2756 × 107m=109 So the diameter of the Sun is 109 times that of the Earth! While calculating the total or the difference between two quantities, we must first ensure that the exponents of both the quantities are the same.
In order to limit global warming to around 1.5°C, greenhouse gas emissions need to reach their highest peak before 2025, and by 2030, greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 43%, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report, which was authored by 278 scientists and experts. (Three minute video report here.) While during 2010-2019, the average annual global greenhouse gas emissions were at their highest levels in human history, the rate of growth has slowed. IPCC scientists also said that there is increasing evidence of climate action. There are policies, regulations and market instruments that are proving effective. Since 2010, there have been sustained decreases of up to 85% in the costs of solar and wind energy, and batteries. An increasing range of policies and laws have enhanced energy efficiency, reduced rates of deforestation and accelerated the deployment of renewable energy. The preliminary patter is very supportive, but it's a bit like that work or school counselling meeting. It's simply saying that while we clearly have the capability, we are still behaving badly and need to put our skills for good to work. Those policies, regulations and market instruments that are proving effective need to be scaled up and applied more widely and equitably to support deep emissions reductions and stimulate innovation. Without immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, limiting global warming to 1.5°C is beyond reach. Use of fossil fuels are the clearest way to reducing emissions. Limiting global warming will require major transitions in the energy sector. This will involve a substantial reduction in fossil fuel use, widespread electrification, improved energy efficiency, and use of alternative fuels (such as green hydrogen, wind and solar). There are options for established, rapidly growing and new cities.The price of renewable energy and batteries for passenger electric vehicles has fallen significantly, and their adoption continues to rise. Reducing emissions in industry will involve using materials more efficiently, reusing and recycling products and minimising waste. For basic materials, including steel, building materials and chemicals, low- to zero-greenhouse gas production processes are at their pilot to near-commercial stage.This sector accounts for about a quarter of global emissions. Achieving net zero will be challenging and will require new production processes, low and zero emissions electricity, hydrogen, and, where necessary, carbon capture and storage. Agriculture, forestry, and other land use can provide large-scale emissions reductions and also remove and store carbon dioxide at scale. However, land cannot compensate for delayed emissions reductions in other sectors. Response options can benefit biodiversity, help us adapt to climate change, and secure livelihoods, food and water, and wood supplies. One of the great unsung benefits of mitigating climate change is that having the right policies, infrastructure and technology in place to enable changes to our lifestyles and behaviour can result in a 40-70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The evidence also shows that these lifestyle changes can improve our health and wellbeing. Cities and other urban areas also offer significant opportunities for emissions reductions. These can be achieved through lower energy consumption (such as by creating compact, walkable cities), electrification of transport in combination with low-emission energy sources, and enhanced carbon uptake and storage using nature. The report looks beyond technologies and demonstrates that while financial flows are a factor of three to six times lower than levels needed by 2030 to limit warming to below 2°C, there is sufficient global capital and liquidity to close investment gaps. However, it relies on clear signalling from governments and the international community, including a stronger alignment of public sector finance and policy. Accelerated and equitable climate action in mitigating and adapting to climate change impacts is critical to sustainable development. Some response options can absorb and store carbon and, at the same time, help communities limit the impacts associated with climate change. For example, in cities, networks of parks and open spaces, wetlands and urban agriculture can reduce flood risk and reduce heat-island effects.Mitigation in industry can reduce environmental impacts and increase employment and business opportunities. Electrification with renewables and shifts in public transport can enhance health, employment, and equity. IPCC Working Group III Co-Chair Jim Skea: “CLIMATE CHANGE IS THE RESULT OF MORE THAN A CENTURY OF UNSUSTAINABLE ENERGY AND LAND USE, LIFESTYLES AND PATTERNS OF CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION. THIS REPORT SHOWS HOW TAKING ACTION NOW CAN MOVE US TOWARDS A FAIRER, MORE SUSTAINABLE WORLD.” While the growth rate of emissions was slower between 2010 and 2019 than between 2000 and 2009, human generated emissions are still increasing and we aren't even meeting the COP26 climate pledges. According to UN Chief, Guterres, most major emitters are not taking the steps needed to fulfill even the inadequate promises made at COP26, which means that globally current climate policy responses are not sufficient to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, let alone enough to limit global warming to around 1.5° Celsius. UN Secretary General António Guterres: “WE ARE ON A FAST TRACK TO CLIMATE DISASTER: MAJOR CITIES UNDER WATER. UNPRECEDENTED HEATWAVES. TERRIFYING STORMS. WIDESPREAD WATER SHORTAGES. THE EXTINCTION OF A MILLION SPECIES OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS. THIS IS NOT FICTION OR EXAGGERATION. IT IS WHAT SCIENCE TELLS US WILL RESULT FROM OUR CURRENT ENERGY POLICIES.” In the scenarios the report scientists assessed, limiting warming to around 1.5°C requires global greenhouse gas emissions to peak before 2025 at the latest, and be reduced by 43% by 2030; at the same time, methane would also need to be reduced by about a third. Even if we do this, it is almost inevitable that we will temporarily exceed this temperature threshold but could return to below it by the end of the century. The global temperature will stabilise when carbon dioxide emissions reach net zero. For 1.5°C, this means achieving net zero carbon dioxide emissions globally in the early 2050s; for 2°C it is in the early 2070s. This assessment shows that limiting warming to around 2°C still requires global greenhouse gas emissions to peak before 2025 at the latest, and be reduced by a quarter by 2030. Images and Graphs in order from top: Chris Leboutillier, Unsplash \| IPCC \| Nicholas Doherty, Unsplash \| IPCC \| Reuters \| Press Release IPCC Report
According to the American Cancer Society, U.S. statistics indicate that in the year 2014, physicians will diagnose 1,665,540 new cases of cancer. Of these patients, the disease will claim the lives of 585,720 people. In the ongoing fight against various forms of cancer, researchers continue developing treatment methods and technologies every year. Conventional methods in decades past have involved using chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. Advancements in these techniques continue. But, some of the latest innovations offer a newer approach. Cancer Drug Research and Development Oncologists advise that there are hundreds of disease processes that are considered cancer. While falling under specific categories, various cancers require individual forms of treatment. Scientists continually develop medications that eradicate cancer cells. While making strides and new discoveries, the research involved is long and difficult. Some medications change the genetics within malignant cells to inhibit growth and development. Other formulations annihilate the cells directly. Chemotherapeutic agents may affect the inner workings of cells that lead to death from starvation. Still others might influence the cells to self-destruct. Once developing a medication, researchers must test the formula on animals. If successful, human clinical trials may begin. After thorough evaluation processes, a formulation may receive approval. However, the entire process from inception to acceptance often takes more than a decade. Of all the drugs under development, it is estimated that one out of 10 preparations actually become available for treatment. Illuminating Brain Tumors When diagnosed with operable brain tumors, surgeons strive to remove as much of the mass as possible without causing damage to delicate surrounding tissue. Malignant cells often appear similar to healthy tissue, which poses a problem. Recently however, researchers devised a way to differentiate between normal and malignant cells using a form of bioluminescence. A hand full of medical facilities across the country are in the process of evaluating the technique that involves a liquid known as 5-ALA tumor fluorescence. Prior to surgery, a patient drinks the specially formulated liquid. As the compound circulates throughout the body, molecules target cancerous cells. Under a blue light, healthy cells remain blue. However, malignant cells become fluorescent pink. In this way, surgeons are more apt to remove perimeter tumor cells that might ordinarily be missed and lead to future regrowth. Chemotherapy medications are created to kill a variety of cancer cells. Unfortunately, the formulations are not without a host of side effects and often damage healthy tissues. Researchers are involved in devising a type of immunotherapy that will treat individual malignancies in different people with minimal repercussions by enhancing the body’s immune system. The proposed vaccines will not only initiate a T-cell response in the presence of cancer cells, but will additionally encourage an ever expanding attack when cells mutate or change, which will broaden the immune system’s capabilities. The hope is that after receiving a vaccination, immune cells will become stronger and more aware. The response would also become individualized based on specific tumors. If successful, the innovations might lengthen survival time without the need for current hazardous treatments.
he causes of World War Two can be divided into long term causes and short term causes. There can be little doubt that one of the long term causes of the war was the anger felt in Weimar Germany that was caused by the Treaty of Versailles. Another long term cause was the obvious inability of the League of Nations to deal with major international issues. In the 1930’s these would have been in Manchuria and Abyssinia. In both conflicts the League showed that it was unable to control those powers that worked outside of accepted international law. In the case of Manchuria it was Japan and in Abyssinia it was Mussolini’s Italy. With such apparent weakness, Hitler must have known that at the very least he could push the boundaries and see what he could get away with. His first major transgression was his defiance of the Versailles Treaty when he introduced re-armament into Nazi Germany. The expansion of all three arms of the military was forbidden by treaty. Hitler, however, ignored these restrictions. The world’s powers did nothing. The same occurred in 1936 when Nazi Germany re-occupied the Rhineland. Forbidden by Versailles, Hitler felt confident enough to ignore it. Europe’s failure to react was also demonstrated when Austria and the Sudentenland were occupied. Only when it became obvious that Hitler was determined to expand east and that what was left of Czechoslovakia and region Poland were to be his next targets, did the major powers of Europe react. Hitler’s reference to the Munich Agreement as a “scrap of paper” made clear his intentions. However, in 1938, very many in the UK had supported Neville Chamberlain’s attempts at avoiding war (appeasement) and public opinion was on his side. This only changed when it became clear that appeasement had failed and the public rallied to the side of Winston Churchill – the man who had insisted that Chamberlain had taken the wrong course of action.
Snow. Glaciers. Icecaps, River flows. All of these are vulnerable to climate change, especially rising temperature. This isn't just theory. It’s now observable fact. Scientists worry about the growing threat of climate change because the global climate is tied to everything that society cares about: human and environmental health, food and industrial production, water availability, extreme events, and more. Figuring out how all these pieces tie together is difficult. And many of us, from scientists to the public to policy makers, have only a partial understanding of the true implications of a changing climate for our economies, societies, and the world around us. But we already know enough to be worried. Here is just one example: the connections between climate, snow, ice, and water resources. My early research on climate and water showed that climate changes were likely to reduce the amount of snow we get in mountainous areas, increasing the chances of rain instead of snow and accelerating snowmelt. Since then, more and better research has confirmed and expanded this understanding. In the late 1980s, this was all hypothetical – it is what our models told us was likely to happen with warming. Those models proved correct, and we now see these and many other changes occurring. Some of these scientific findings were recently summarized in the latest, compelling IPCC release (see here for a summary of what the IPCC said about water resources), but as an example, scientists now state that: There is very high confidence that the extent of Northern Hemisphere snow cover has decreased since the mid-20th century. It is likely that there has been an anthropogenic contribution to observed reductions in Northern Hemisphere spring snow cover since 1970. Human influence has been detected in warming of the atmosphere and the ocean, in changes in the global water cycle, in reductions in snow and ice, in global mean sea level rise, and in changes in some climate extremes. This evidence for human influence has grown since [the previous IPCC report]. It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. And projections for the future continue to be worrisome: By the end of the 21st century, the global glacier volume, excluding glaciers on the periphery of Antarctica, is projected to decrease by 15 to 55% for [the low emissions scenario], and by 35 to 85% for [the high emissions scenario] (medium confidence). The area of Northern Hemisphere spring snow cover is projected to decrease by 7% for [the low emissions scenarios] and by 25% in [the high emissions scenarios] by the end of the 21st century for the model average (medium confidence). Our water systems are complex. But many climate impacts are actually pretty simple to understand. Let’s focus for the moment on just one piece of the climate change picture: rising temperatures. We know the Earth is warming up because of human activities – as recently described, scientists are as confident of this as we are that smoking tobacco causes cancer. Warming alone means that more precipitation will be rain and less will be snow. Higher temperature also means that what does fall as snow will melt faster, run off earlier into our rivers and streams, and evaporate more quickly back to the atmosphere. Take the Himalayas as an example. The Hindu Kush-Himalayan region (HKH) covers parts of eight countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, Myanmar and Pakistan), contains many of the biggest mountains in the world, and has the largest glaciers. These mountains are the headwaters of some of the world’s great rivers as well – including the Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra, Salween, Mekong, Yellow, and Yangtze. These rivers provide drinking and irrigation water for at least one and a half billion people. Even with the accelerating climate changes, the HKH region are expected to have glaciers for centuries, but as temperatures rise, lower elevation glaciers and snow will melt, recede, and disappear, affecting water availability and especially, the timing of flow. (A few of the many scientific assessments about this are here, here, here, and here.) The eastern Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau are already warming, like the rest of the planet. Glacial retreat, especially in the central and eastern Himalayas, is already occurring. Lower elevation glaciers are disappearing faster than higher (and colder) ones. Some rivers are already experiencing seasonal or annual increases in flow as ice melt grows. These are the regions likely to be on the front line of any challenges to water resources from climate change. Water supplies in North America from the Rocky Mountains, the Cascades, and the Sierra Nevada are also at risk: Expect to see rising snowlines. Expect growing winter flows and flood risks as snow turns to rain and decreasing summer flows as the snow disappears earlier and earlier in the year. Expect to see local glaciers shrink and disappear, as is already happening in Glacier National Park. [In a straight-faced comment on the website of the famous Glacier National Park in the United States, the National Park Service states: “Despite the recession of current glaciers, the park’s name will not change when the glaciers are gone.” Maybe that’s fitting: the disappearance of glaciers in Glacier National Park will be a mark of our failure to act.] Significant climate changes will occur because we've taken too long to acknowledge and react to the problem. And that means unavoidable impacts for water resources (and other things), and inevitable adaptation and reaction. The (somewhat) good news is that planning and acting now can help reduce the worst consequences later. There are plenty of things we can do, including improved water-use efficiency and cutting waste, better planning for floods and droughts, advanced monitoring and warning systems for extreme flood events (such as we’ve just seen with the successful evacuations for Typhoon Phailin), more sophisticated reservoir operations, and stronger institutions to manage water and reduce water conflicts. I will continue to address some of these issues in future posts. [This is an update from an earlier post here, with information from the latest IPCC science summary.]
sorts the elements of list into canonical order. sorts using the ordering function p. - Sort by default orders integers, rational, and approximate real numbers by their numerical values. - Sort orders complex numbers by their real parts, and in the event of a tie, by the absolute values of their imaginary parts. If a tie persists, they are ordered by their imaginary parts. - Sort orders symbols by their names, and in the event of a tie, by their contexts. - Sort usually orders expressions by putting shorter ones first, and then comparing parts in a depth‐first manner. - Sort treats powers and products specially, ordering them to correspond to terms in a polynomial. - Sort orders strings as in a dictionary, with uppercase versions of letters coming after lowercase ones. Sort places ordinary letters first, followed in order by script, Gothic, double‐struck, Greek, and Hebrew. Mathematical operators appear in order of decreasing precedence. - Sort[list,p] applies the ordering function p to pairs of elements in list to determine whether they are in order. The default function p is Order. - The ordering function p applied to a pair of elements e1, e2 may return either 1, 0, -1 or True, False. The value of p[e1,e2] is interpreted as follows: 1 e1 comes before e2 0 e1 and e2 should be treated as identical -1 e1 comes after e2 True e1 and e2 are in order False e1 and e2 are out of order - If the ordering function p returns a value p[e1,e2] other than the preceding ones, then e1 and e2 are effectively treated as being in order. - Sort can be used on expressions with any head, not only List. Examplesopen allclose all Basic Examples (4) Sort elements in an Association according to their values: Sort using Greater as the ordering function: Use GreaterEqual to maintain the relative order of equal elements: Use NumericalOrder to allow complex numbers and number-like expressions: Sort according to the rules of a particular language with AlphabeticOrder: Properties & Relations (7) Possible Issues (2) This order follows the normal rules for expressions based on their FullForm: Wolfram Research (1988), Sort, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Sort.html (updated 2017). Wolfram Language. 1988. "Sort." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2017. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Sort.html. Wolfram Language. (1988). Sort. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Sort.html
Pollution, climate change, and poor land use practices can create environmental conditions that foster coral disease and coral bleaching, support the spread of invasive species and threaten reef health. Detecting the early signs of any of these events on our local reefs requires a wide network of observers providing regular reports of conditions throughout the region. The Eyes of the Reef network has been designed to provide reliable reports on coral bleaching, disease, invasive species and changing reef conditions throughout Hawai‘i. Coral Bleaching, Disease and Growth Anomalies There are many natural and human factors that negatively affect corals and coral reefs. These negative factors generate stress. Consequences of stress include coral bleaching, greater susceptibility to disease, diminished growth and reproduction, and partial or complete mortality. Repeated exposure to stress decreases the likelihood of coral recovery. Coral disease, bleaching and predation are indicated by changes in coral color, a loss of tissue with bare skeleton exposed or abnormal growths or protuberances. Crown-of-Thorn Sea Stars (COTS) COTS are unusually large sea stars that can grow to almost a meter in diameter. They have up to 19 arms, with the entire upper surface covered with sharp venomous spines and can move up to 20 meters an hour. COTS feed on coral by pulling its stomach out and using digestive enzymes to kill the live coral, leaving the white calcium carbonate skeleton. COTS are normally present in small numbers on coral reefs, but when outbreaks occur they can take over coral reefs quickly. Marine Invasive Species Marine invasive species are recognized globally as a major threat to marine ecosystems, and locally are responsible for millions of dollars worth of damage to vital and important Hawaiian coral reefs as a result of diminished fisheries and lowered property values. These biological invasions dramatically affect reef ecosystems, causing a complete change in biodiversity and a shift from coral to algal dominated reefs. Human-caused changes to natural reef communities, such as overfishing, increased nutrients, sediments and pollution, make them more vulnerable to invasive species. Hawaiian reefs have experienced considerable damage from both introduced and native algal and invertebrate invasive species. Share other sightings;
Martin Luther King Jr: Life and Death Martin Luther King Jr. was one of history’s most notable proponents of civil rights. Brought up to believe in equality, King helped lead a high-profile fight for integration. His methods were non-violent, and he was well-respected by many on both sides of the battle. A brilliant orator and media expert, he made civil rights the most important political issue of the time. His untimely assassination cut short his efforts, but Martin Luther King Jr.’s contributions to the political discourse can be traced even to today. In this video, WatchMojo.com learns more about the life, accomplishments and assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Inflation and CPI Inflation is an increase in the overall level of prices in the economy. CPI(Consumer Price Index)is a measure of the overall cost of the goods and services bought by a typical consumer. Q Suppose the interest rate on new issues of Canada Savings Bonds is 5% per year and the federal income tax rate on nominal interest earnings is 40%. An investor's after-tax nominal rate of return on Canada Savings Bonds is then .....? A that's just 5%(1 - 40%) = 3% = 0.03 Q Suppose a study found that the real entry-level wage for graduates of a certain university declined by 8 percent between 1992 and 1999. The nominal entry-level wage in 1999 was $20.00 per hour. CPI values were 0.926 in 1992 and 1.088 in 1999. Assuming that the findings are correct, what was the nominal entry-level wage in 1992? A so first you calculate inflation (1.088 - 0.926) / 0.926, and plug inflation into the equation "nominal rate = real rate + inflation, where real rate = -0.08 (the 8% decreases in real wage). Then we know nominal rate change = 9.49%. Now we use 20/(1 + 0.0949) = 18.2657. Q In 1967, the Canadian consumer price index was 18 (2002 = 100) and in 1999 it was 93. From these figures we can conclude that Canadian prices increased by about __________ between 1967 and 1999. A Price increase can be calculated by (93-18)/18 100 = 417% Q If the consumer price index (CPI) was 100 in 2002 and 111.5 in 2007, and a typical household's income was $35,000 in 2002 and $39,025 in 2007, then between 2002 and 2007, real household income ... A. increased; B. decreased; C. may have increased or decreased; D. can not be determined; E. was constant A Inflation is 11.5%, and income goes up by the exact amount , so real income constant.
The Rise of Antisemitism Subject: Social Studies Grade Levels: 9 through 12 - acquaint students with basic beliefs and customs of Judaism - acquaint students with the roots of Christian and racial antisemitism - analyze the rise of Nazi power - recognize the effects of apathy and indifference - examine behaviors associated with obedience, conformity, and silence - understand Nazi control over the German people - understand the basic ideas of Nazi philosophy - understand structures of a totalitarian state Sunshine State Standards: View all Sunshine State Standards - Grades 9-12 - SS.A.1.4.3, 3.4.9, 5.4.5 - SS.C.1.4.1, 2.4.3 All materials are available through the Florida Holocaust Museum; St. Petersburg, Florida - The Hangman, video and poem, questions - Martin Niemoeller quote - Canonical and Nazi Anti-Jewish Measures--Raoul Hilberg - The Wave video and questions - Witness to the Holocaust, Eisenberg - Facing History and Ourselves Resource Guide - Invite a Rabbi or local volunteer to come to class to discuss some of the basic rituals and beliefs of Judaism. - Create timelines depicting the major events of antisemitism. Ask students to list and discuss events leading to the persecution of the Jews. - Discuss definitions of democracy, fascism, communism, and socialism. Have students list a few countries in which each of these ideologies existed during the Holocaust. As an additional activity, students can list countries in which each of these ideologies exists today. - Summarize events that took place between World War I and World War II. Students should create a list of what they consider to be the major causes of World War II. - As individuals or in groups, students should research the end of World War I and the Versailles Treaty. They should gather enough information to describe the economic, social, and political conditions in Germany from this time through 1933. With this information, students can crate a list that reflects how Germany was ripe for the National Socialist Workers Party (Nazi Party). - Read and discuss Canonical and Anti-Jewish Measures. - Discuss conditions in Germany that made it possible for the German people to accept Hitler as their leader. - View Hangman, or read the poem. Compare the Edmund Burke quote: "The only thing necessary for evil to exist is for good men to do nothing" to the video or poem. - Have students explore possible answers to how Hitler exploited the existing anger and alienation of a large majority of Germans into hatred of the Jews. - Discuss why Germans may not have acted when confronted with behavior they knew was wrong. How is not acting making a choice? - Use discussion questions with Hangman to evoke responses. - Read and discuss the Niemoeller quote. Compare and contrast to Nazi society and today. - Watch The Wave. Draw parallels between what was seen in the video and what took place in Nazi Germany. - Explain the relationship between the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 and Kristallnacht in 1928. - Describe the events that led to Kristallnacht and what actually took place on November 9 and 10, 1938. - Compare the Bermuda Conference, held in April, 1942, with the Evian Conference, held in July, 1938. Explain factors that indicated that the Bermuda Conference was not really expected to address the problem of Jewish refugees. Students should consider what message this conference sent to the rest of the world about the importance of saving the Jewish people. - Examine the lack of effective response of the world community to the plight of Jewish refugees. - Investigate Kristallnacht--how did this event obtain its name? What precipitated the attack? Use Nazi documentation, in small groups answer questions about the evidence that the event was not spontaneous, what were the roles of stormtroopers, police, fire fighters, German citizens, and the result of Kristallnacht for Jews personally and as a community. - Use Eisenberg readings, have class examine how Kristallnacht affected the lives of young Jewish people. - Use primary source documents to research the responses from around the world. - Why did the men that did the killing do what they did? Use video of the Millgram Experiment that is available for loan from Facing History and Ourselves. It will show how people continued to offer shock to others in an experiment, even though pain was being inflicted. The experiment shows how humans adhere to listening to authority. This experiment, known as the Millgram experiment, helps students begin to understand what happens when authority is blindly followed. This video will lead to much discussion and debate about when to follow authority and when to stop. Connections to the Nazi killings are not quite so simple, but many connections will be made. - Have students give examples of how propaganda is used in the United States by: television advertisers, government, foreign government, political parties, parents, teachers and school administrators, neo-Nazi groups. - Discuss the difficulties in refuting propaganda. What is rumor? How does it start? Why is it believed? Why does this belief often persist? A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust Produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education, University of South Florida ©2000.
From: Planetary Science Institute Posted: Tuesday, September 20, 2011 Two small depressions on Mars found to be rich in minerals that formed by water could have been places for life relatively recently in the planet's history, according to a new paper in the journal Geology. "We discovered locations at Noctis Labyrinthus that show many kinds of minerals that formed by water activity," said Catherine Weitz, lead author and senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute. "The clays we found, called iron/magnesium (Fe/Mg)-smectites, are much younger at Noctis Labyrinthus relative to those found in the ancient rocks on Mars, which indicates a different water environment in these depressions relative to what was happening elsewhere on Mars." Smectites are a specific type of clay mineral that readily expands and contracts with adsorbed water. They contain silica, plus aluminum, iron or magnesium in their structures. They form by the alteration of other silicate minerals in the presence of non-acidic water. Weitz and her co-authors studied approximately 300 meters of vertically exposed layered rocks within two 30 to 40 kilometer depressions, called troughs, near the western end of the Valles Marineris canyon system. Using high-resolution images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera and hyperspectral data from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft, combined with Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) to determine elevations and view geometric relationships between units, the team was able to map hydrated minerals and understand how the water chemistry varied with time within each trough, said Weitz, a HiRISE team member. Each trough probably experienced multiple episodes where water partially filled in low-lying regions and deposited minerals. As each trough continued to enlarge and experience collapse over time, older minerals became buried and separated, followed by deposition of younger minerals, then finally erosion to re-expose buried units. Volcanism from the Tharsis volcanoes to the west may have created subsurface water that was subsequently transported through the ground and into the troughs. Localized volcanism that produced ash and gases, hydrothermal activity, and melting snow/ice within the troughs could have also produced some of the minerals. The observed minerals indicate water varied in pH levels over time, in one trough from acidic to neutral, and in the other trough from neutral to acidic and back to neutral. Other occurrences of Fe/Mg-smectites have been found on Mars but almost exclusively in association with older, Noachian-age (more than 3.6 billion years ago) rocks, or produced by younger impact events. Following the deposition of Fe/Mg-smectites in the Noachian period, the climate on Mars is believed to have changed during the Hesperian time to favor formation of minerals under more acidic conditions, such as salts rich in sulfur (sulfates). Weitz and her co-authors identified the same sulfates and Fe/Mg-smectites in the Noctis Labyrinthus troughs found elsewhere on Mars, but the progression of minerals over time, from sulfates to Fe/Mg-smectites, indicates a reverse order relative to what happened globally across Mars. "These clays formed from persistent water in neutral to basic conditions around 2 to 3 billion years ago, indicating these two troughs are unique and could have been a more habitable region on Mars at a time when drier conditions dominated the surface," said co-author and CRISM team member Janice Bishop from the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center. "These troughs would be fantastic places to send a rover, but unfortunately the rugged terrain makes it unsafe both for landing and for driving," Weitz said. # # # The study was funded by grants to PSI from NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of Arizona. The Planetary Science Institute is a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation dedicated to solar system exploration. It is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, where it was founded in 1972. PSI scientists are involved in numerous NASA and international missions, the study of Mars and other planets, the Moon, asteroids, comets, interplanetary dust, impact physics, the origin of the solar system, extra-solar planet formation, dynamics, the rise of life, and other areas of research. They conduct fieldwork in North America, Australia and Africa. They also are actively involved in science education and public outreach through school programs, children's books, popular science books and art. PSI scientists are based in 17 states, the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Russia and Australia. Public Information Officer +1 520-382-0411; +1 520-622-6300 Catherine M. Weitz +1 520-622-6300 x310 // end //
STATE — During National Hepatitis Awareness Month, the New Jersey Department of Health is reminding residents about the dangers of hepatitis and steps that they can take to prevent the disease. Hepatitis, which is an inflammation of the liver that can lead to serious health consequences, is most often caused by one of several viruses. In the United States, the most common types of viral hepatitis are hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C. Unlike hepatitis A, which does not cause a long-term infection, hepatitis B and hepatitis C can become chronic, life-long infections. Chronic viral hepatitis can lead to serious liver problems including liver cancer. More than 4 million Americans are living with chronic hepatitis B or chronic hepatitis C in the United States, but most do not know they are infected. Each year, approximately 15,000 Americans die from liver cancer or chronic liver disease associated with viral hepatitis. “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recommending that everyone born during 1945 through 1965, also known as baby boomers, get a blood test for hepatitis C,” said Health Commissioner Mary E. O’Dowd. “Baby boomers are 5 times more likely than other adults to be infected.” With early detection, many people can get lifesaving care and treatment that can limit disease progression, and prevent deaths. Hepatitis C is spread through contact with infected blood through sharing needles, syringes, or other equipment to inject drugs, needlestick injuries in healthcare settings, being born to a mother with hepatitis C, or sharing personal care items with an infected person. Less commonly, people can be infected through sexual contact with an infected person. A recent “Vital Signs” report issued earlier this month by the CDC showed that only half of Americans identified as ever having had hepatitis C received follow-up testing showing that they were still infected. This data suggest that even among individuals who receive an initial antibody test, as many as half do not know for sure if they still carry the virus. Follow-up testing is needed to determining if a person is still infected and is critical to preventing liver cancer and other serious and potentially deadly health consequences. Hepatitis B infection is spread through blood and body fluids. People can be infected when they have sexual contact or share needles and other drug equipment with an infected person. Hepatitis B can also be passed from an infected mother to her baby at birth. Hepatitis A is usually spread through contact with objects, food, or drinks contaminated by the feces of an infected person. The good news is both hepatitis A and hepatitis B can be prevented with safe and effective vaccines. Cases of hepatitis A have dramatically declined in the United States over the last 20 years due to vaccination efforts. The hepatitis A vaccine is recommended for all children one year of age and for adults who may be at increased risk. The hepatitis B vaccine is recommended for all infants at birth and for adults who may be at increased risk. The risk for chronic infection varies according to the age at infection and is greatest among young children. Approximately 90% of infants and 25%-50% of children aged 1-5 years will remain chronically infected with HBV. By contrast, approximately 95% of adults recover completely from HBV infection and do not become chronically infected. “Parents should be sure to vaccinate their newborns with the first dose of hepatitis B vaccine prior to leaving the hospital,” said O’Dowd. “Babies will need to complete the hepatitis B vaccine series to protect against this serious disease that has life-long consequences.” For more on Hepatitis, visit the Department’s Hepatitis A B and C webpages: The CDC offers additional Hepatitis Information at: Connect with NJTODAY.NET Join NJTODAY.NET's free Email List to receive occasional updates delivered right to your email address!
Presentation on theme: "FEDERALISM: Good or Bad"— Presentation transcript: 1FEDERALISM: Good or Bad Federalism is surrounded by controversy. 2Harold Laski British view of American states Federalism means allowing states to block actions, prevent progress, upset national plans, protect powerful local interest, and cater to the self-interest of politicians.William Riker American political scientistThe main effect of federalism since the civil war was to perpetuate racism 3Daniel Elazar political scientist Virtue of the federal system lies in its ability to develop and maintain mechanisms vital to the perpetuation of the unique combination of government strength, political flexibility, and individual liberty. 4Whenever the opportunity to exercise political power is widely available it is obvious that in different places different people will use power for different purposes.A. Allow states to make decisions thatmaintain racial segregation, facilitatecorruption, protect interestsB. Allows states to pass laws that endsegregation, or regulate harmfuleconomic practices before these ideagain national policy. 5(James Madison Federalist 10) The existence of independent state and local governments means that different political groups pursuing different political purposes will come to power in different places. The smaller the political unit the more likely it is to be dominated by a single political faction.(James Madison Federalist 10)When Riker condemns federalism he is thinking that some ruling factions have opposed groupsWhen Elazar praises federalism he is saying that some ruling factions have taken the lead (advance of national government) in developing measures to protect citizens and improve social conditions. 6INCREASED POLITICAL ACTIVITY One effect of federalism is an increase in political activity.A. people are more likely to get involved in government if they feel like they have a chance to make an difference.B. This is only true in a place where there are many elected officials and independent bodies, each with a relatively small constituency.C. Federal system, by virtue of the decentralization of authority, lowers the cost of organized political activity. 7THE FOUNDING OF FEDERALISM It was a way to protect personal libertyFear that placing final political authority in any one set of hands (elected) risk tyranny.NEW PLANThis federal republic would derive its power directly from the people, both levels of government would have certain powers, but neither would have supreme authority over the other.Madison (federalist 46) both state and federal gov. are in fact the same agents and trustees of the people but with different powersHamilton (federalist 28) people would shift their support from one government to the other to keep the two in balance.The Constitution does not spell out the powers of the states (not until the 10th Amendment) Why?The framers believed the federal government would only have the powers given it by the Constitution. 8ELASTIC LANGUAGEThe need to reconcile the competing interests of both the small, large and Northern, southern states was real difficult without trying to spell out exactly what relationship should exist between the national and state governments. (example regulate commerce)Some clauses on federal/state relations were clear others were quite vague. Why?Article I sec 8 clause 182 views of what federalism meantHamilton believed that the national was the superior and leading force in political affairs, and that its powers ought to be broadly defined and liberally construed.Jefferson the federal government was the product of an agreement among the states, and though the people were the ultimate sovereigns, the biggest threat to their liberties was to come from the national government.Madison Federalist 45 powers of the national government should be narrowly construed and strictly limitedThe powers delegated by the Constitution to the federal government are few and defined those given to the state governments are numerous and indefinite. 9Meaning of Federalism Supreme Court Civil War was fought over states rights VS national supremacy. It only solved that the national government was supreme and the states could not secede. Other aspects of the national supremacy issue continuedSupreme CourtIt was led by advocate of Hamilton’s position John Marshall. In a series of decisions he and the court defended the national supremacy view of the federal government.McCulloch V. Maryland (1819) answered 2 questions in ways to expand the powers of congress and confirmed the supremacy of the federal government to use those powers1 did Congress have the power to set up the bank such a right is not explicitly in the Constitution court says yes necessary and proper.2 could the federal bank be taxed by the states lawfully the court ruled no federal government is supreme 10NULLIFICATIONWhen Congress passes a law to punish newspaper editors who published stories critical of the federal government (1798 Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions Madison and Jefferson) never went to courtThat states had the right to nullify a federal law that in the states opinion violated the ConstitutionJohn C Calhoun of South Carolina in opposition to a tariff enacted by the federal government, and later in opposition to federal efforts to restrict slavery he said the states could nullify this law because it violated the Constitution.Civil war solved this issue states could not declare acts of Congress unconstitutional and the supreme court later confirmed. 11DUAL FEDERALISMThe national government was supreme in its sphere, the states were equally supreme it theirs, and these two spheres should be kept separate.(These came after the Civil War debate on the interpretation of the commerce clause)Interstate commerce Congress could regulateIntrastate commerce Only the states could regulateThe Courts could tell which was whichThat was a real problem why? How was it solved?Congress, provided that it had a good reason, could pass a law regulating almost any kind of economic activity anywhere in the country and the Supreme Court would allow it “Constitutional.” 12State SovereigntyThe Supreme Court has recently ruled that Congress has exceeded its commerce power.1995 United States vs Lopez2000 overturned the Violence Against Women Act of 1994The Court has strengthen states’ rightsPrintz vs United States 1997Court has given new life to the 11th amendment which protects states from lawsuits by citizens of another state or foreign nations.Alden vs Maine 13New Debates over state Sovereignty This calls forth old truths about the constitutional basis of state and local government.States can do an thing that is not prohibited by the constitution or preempted by federal policy and that is consistent with its own constitution.Police power laws and regulations that promote health safety and moralsMany states give their citizens direct democracyInitiativeReferendumrecall
As plateaux go, that forming Tibet is by far the highest and the largest. Sitting at an average elevation above 5 km and spanning about 3500 x 1500 km, it dwarfs the next in the list, the Andean Altiplano (mean elevation 3.8 km). The position of the Tibetan Plateau, ahead of the Indian subcontinent’s northward collision with Eurasia marks it obviously as being of tectonic origin. Some plateaux are possibly buoyed up by underlying thermal anomalies in the mantle (the Colorado Plateau of North America, underpinned by a subducted spreading centre), while others, such as that of northern Ethiopia, result partly from vast outpourings of flood basalts and partly from thermal effects of active mantle plumes and rebound associated with massive crustal extension. There are two basic models for Tibet. It may have formed as a result of a near doubling of crustal thickness as Indian crust was driven beneath that of Asia, low density of the thickened continental crust acting to buoy up its vast area. If that is so, then as soon as India collided with Asia, around 40-50 Ma ago, Tibet would have steadily risen and its plateau would have grown in extent. There are however signs of sudden changes in thermal structure, marked by large-scale magmatism of roughly Late Miocene (8-10 Ma) age. That may have been induced by an extraordinary event, the detachment and foundering (delamination) of a large mass of underlying mantle, whose loss resulted in rapid uplift of the whole overlying region. Because Tibet is known to play a central role in the mechanism that drives the South Asian monsoon, assessing the timing of its formation is crucial to understanding the onset of the monsoon and the many phenomena of accelerated weathering and erosion associated with it. Cores from the floor of the Indian Ocean suggest that the monsoon suddenly increased in intensity at around 8 Ma. Both as a sink for carbon dioxide as a result of weathering of the continental crust, and as a means of obstructing and redirecting continental wind patterns, the growth of the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalaya in front of it have been assigned a major role in the decline of global mean temperatures that resulted in northern hemisphere glaciations. So establishing the timing of their formation makes or breaks two major geoscientific hypotheses of recent decades. The key is some form of proxy for past elevations in the area. One such proxy, the stomatal index of plant leaves found in Tibetan sediments of Miocene age, showed that 15 Ma ago the southern Plateau was just as high as today (see When did southern Tibet get so high? in March 2003 EPN). That cast doubt on a later cause of uplift, but remained unconfirmed. Sediments deposited in lakes that periodically fill Tibet’s many basins form a record that goes back at least 35 Ma. Carbonates in such lacustrine sediments offer a geochemical means of charting changes in elevation (Rowley, D.B. & Currie, B.S. 2006. Palaeo-altimetry of the late Eocene to Miocene Lunpola basin, Central Tibet. Nature, v. 439, p. 677-681). That depends on the proportion of 18O to the lighter 16O isotope of oxygen (δ18O) in carbonate, which is believed to be inherited from rainwater that originally drained into the basins. The higher the elevation at which water falls as rain or snow, the less of the heavier oxygen isotope it contains, so δ18O is a potential means of measuring the evolution of surface elevation. For central Tibet, this shows that the topography was at least 4 km high as early as 35 Ma ago. Results from other basins that span the Tibetan Plateau clearly suggest that 4 km elevation was achieved progressively later from south to north, anging from 40 to 10 Ma ago. So the delamination model for a sudden springing-up of the Plateau seems now to be a less plausible mechanism for the uplift than the simpler model of progressive crustal thickening following the collision of India. That does not entirely rule out an episode of delamination in the Miocene, for which geochemical evidence is fairly convincing. The implication of the new results is that if Tibet has been a major influence over climate, then it was one that developed progressively from the late Eocene. See also: Mulch, A and Page Chamberlain, C. 2006. The rise and growth of Tibet. Nature, v. 439, p. 670-671. Kerr, R.A. 2006. An early date for aising the roof of the world. Science, v. 311, p. 758.
Notational Systems are codified graphic systems used to describe the world. Examples include, the alphabet – a system of graphic signs that transcribes speech, itself a codification of oral sounds physiologically produced, into a repeatable form. Another well known is example is musical notation, a system that transcribes musical sounds into a kind of language that allows for its reproduction. One with which we are especially familiar is the system of lines, symbols, fills and protocols [plans, sections & elevations] which we use to describe, in it’s physical absence, architecture. All of these are codified systems, which are representational, and as such, they can only approximate reality. In the gap between representation and reality, there is much room for interpretation. For example, as any actor will tell you, the written word can be spoken in an infinite number of ways. Similar a musical score can have endless interpretations and architects will constantly complain about how clients, planners and contractors misinterpret their drawings. However, there are also two other important considerations. One is that the relationship between notational systems and the reality they seek to capture is arbitrary. For example there is no intrinsic relationship between the letter “a” and the sound it represents. The second is that established systems tend to be deterministic. Language notational systems encourage, in turn, particular grammatical structures, such as sentences, punctuation, and forms of narrative which do not necessarily correspond to speech. Musical systems promote particular harmonic systems that favour tonality. And architectural drawings suggest a diagrammatic reality that focuses on organisation, constructional technique and the visual. Architectural drawing tells us little about social patterns of occupation and events and nothing about other sensory experiences such as sound, smell or touch, all of which are important parts of environmental experience. There are many examples of artists in different fields who have tried to overcome what they have seen as the deterministic characteristics of notational systems. Examples include James Joyce’s invented language in Finnigan’s Wake and the new, open-ended music notations of John Cage, Morton Feldman and Cornelius Cardew, to create entirely new experiences in literature and music. Figures such as these act as our guides. You’ll need a copy of the I Ching. There will be a short demonstration. Using the I Ching as an oracle, devise a series of questions that will allow you to develop a notational system of 25 characters. Using the I Ching, randomly select 3-5 media in which to work; for instance – wax crayon, Rotring pen paint, pencil,Polyfilla, computer programmes, dirt or anything else you can think of. Ask the I Ching what to do next. How you do this is up to you, but for instance, you might assign values in different categories to the 64 hexagrams. For example, in respect of drawn lines, you might think of types of line or objects [straight, wiggly, scribble, heavy, light, long, short, pencil, ink, paint, geometric, free-hand, vertical, horizontal, angled, colour, doodle, drawing done with eyes open or closed etc]. In another set of questions you might assign categories such as line, shape, found object or image, scale, number of times whatever it is occurs, ordered or random and so on. Another example might be type of backdrop [size, shape, blank, coloured, found image, newspaper page, book, smooth paper, crumpled or folded paper, or three dimensional surface] or position and length or size of mark/object/image/shape on the backdrop. In some instances you might assign 64 values in correspondence with the 64 hexagrams. In others, you might only assign 8 values in correspondence with the 8 trigrams, or your moves might be developed into compound moves determined by the combinations of each set of 2 trigrams found in each hexagram. Simpler binary outcomes might be determined based on whether the resultant trigrams constitute an odd number or an even number, or whether there are more or less broken and unbroken lines. When, in obtaining your outcomes through the tossing of coins, you get changing lines, this might become a determining element in the way you make the drawings, images or objects. For example, the transformation from one hexagram to another might constitute an instruction, or the positions of the changing lines might be assigned determining factors. The values you assign may, or may not, be related to the titles, associated values [see the structure of the hexagrams in Book II of the I Ching] or associated texts of the hexagrams. On the other hand, they might be completely random or related to something else entirely [e.g. the titles of the first eight books on the third shelf on your bookshelf, what you have eaten in your last 64 meals, the current league table for the Estonian football league]. Perhaps you should ask the I Ching how you should approach each of your categories. All of the above are just suggestions. How you do it is entirely up to you. We are of course interested in what the notations will be like, but perhaps more importantly at this stage, is how you develop a methodology of chance operations through interpretation of the I Ching. We will be asking you about this so perhaps it would be wise to list your categories, make a table, or have some form of recording your process as it develops. As far as possible we would like you to avoid making preconceived personal judgments on the work. We don’t want you to be doing something because you think it is better or nicer or more beautiful than something else. All of your work will be beautiful and ugly, good and bad, interesting and boring, succeeding and failing, all at the same time. We want you to enjoy it, be bored by it, understand it, not understand it, love it and hate it, all at the same time.
This lesson, one of many focusing on interactions within our ecosystem, deals with the idea that there are multiple levels of interactions that take place on our planet. Students are reminded that the interaction can occur between biotic and abiotic factors that occur in their environment. This teacher edition lesson plans, walks you step-by-step through the experiment of simulating a life in a baggie through the use of lima beans and pinto beans. A separate student handout experiment sheet is available as a a great addition. The student handout is detailed specifically so that students can complete the experiment on their own in groups.
Agricultural practices account for roughly one-quarter of the land use in the Bay watershed. Of that land, approximately 17 percent is devoted to crop production, which contributes significant amounts of nutrients and sediment to the Bay and its tributaries. But an increasing number of farmers in the Bay watershed are turning to a new, more Bay-friendly method of crop production called “no-till” farming. Traditionally, cropland is fertilized and plowed in the spring to turn over the soil and prepare a good seedbed for planting. However, strong, frequent spring rains cause stormwater to rush across bare crop fields, which do not yet have plants to stabilize the soil and absorb the fertilizer. Excess nutrients and sediment from fertilizers and freshly plowed fields run off into surrounding waterways, eventually winding up in the Bay. No-till farming, also known as conservation tillage or zero-tillage, leaves the soil undisturbed from the fall harvest to spring planting. Seeds are planted in very narrow slots that are “drilled” into the ground using disk openers, or coulters. There are many benefits of no-till farming compared with traditional methods, including: No-till farming is considered such a critical part of Bay restoration that several no-till programs have recently received Chesapeake Bay Targeted Watershed Grants, funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. These grants help organizations implement innovative programs to reduce the amount of nitrogen, phosphorous and sediment that flow into the Bay. In 2006, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection - in partnership with Penn State Cooperative Extension, USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Capital Area RC&D Council, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council - received a grant to oversee the conversion of 12,750 acres of cropland to continuous no-till agriculture. This conversion will reduce the annual nitrogen load to the Susquehanna River by over 99,000 pounds, and the annual phosphorous load by over 17,000 pounds. Farmers and landowners interested in no-till farming can contact their local USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office for more information. The Bay Program Toxics Subcommittee has updated its list of Toxics of Concern, ranking the toxic organic chemicals in the Chesapeake Bay with the most potential for harm. PCBs topped the list, followed by PAHs and organophosphate pesticides. Organochlorine pesticides and five other organic toxics are also included in the list. The original Toxics of Concern list, which was completed in 1991, identified and documented chemicals that were adversely impacting or had the potential to impact the Bay. The list was subsequently refined in 1996 and 2000 prior to this latest update. The 2006 Toxics of Concern list is based on the same chemical ranking system used for the 1996 list, incorporating chemicals' source, fate and effects of exposure. Also, like the 2000 list, fish consumption advisories and 303(d) impairments were considered for the 2006 revision. The Toxics of Concern list is used by the Bay Program Toxics Subcommittee to help develop strategies to address the most problematic toxic organics in the Bay and its tributaries. It is not a complete list of all chemicals that may impact the Bay or its watershed. Some organics could not be included due to data gaps. Also, metals, such as mercury, are not included in the list because assessment guidelines comparable to those used for organics are not currently available. Although PCB manufacturing was banned in 1977, PCBs can build up in bottom sediments and persist for many years; therefore, historic discharges of PCBs can still affect the Bay today. Also, when old PCB-containing equipment that is still in use fails, PCBs can flow into the nearest stream or river via stormwater. PAHs are formed when coal, gasoline and fuel oil are burned and are a major component of tar and asphalt. The most rapid increases of PAHs in river bottom sediments are found in watersheds with increasing development and motor vehicle traffic. Organophosphate pesticides are mostly herbicides and insecticides used in agriculture. Organochlorine pesticides, such as DDT, are no longer widely used but persist in the environment.
computer terminal, a device that enables a computer to receive or deliver data. Computer terminals vary greatly depending on the format of the data they handle. For example, a simple early terminal comprised a typewriter keyboard for input and a typewriter printing element for alphanumeric output. A more recent variation includes the keyboard for input and a televisionlike screen to display the output. The screen can be a cathode-ray tube or a gas plasma panel, the latter involving an ionized gas (sandwiched between glass layers) that glows to form dots which, in turn, connect to form lines. Such displays can present a variety of output, ranging from simple alphanumerics to complex graphic images used as design tools by architects and engineers. Portable terminals frequently use liquid crystal displays because of their low power requirements. The terminals of pen-based computers use a stylus to input handwriting on the screen. Touch-sensitive terminals accept input made by touching a pressure-sensitive panel in front of a menu displayed on the screen. Other familiar types of terminals include store checkout systems that deliver detailed printed receipts and use laser scanners to read the barcodes on packages, and automatic teller machines in banks. See L. Tijerina, Video Display Terminal Workstation Ergonomics (1984). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. See more Encyclopedia articles on: Computers and Computing Browse By Subject - Earth and the Environment +- - History +- - Literature and the Arts +- - Medicine +- - People +- - Philosophy and Religion +- - Places +- - Australia and Oceania - Britain, Ireland, France, and the Low Countries - Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltic Nations - Germany, Scandinavia, and Central Europe - Latin America and the Caribbean - Oceans, Continents, and Polar Regions - Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and the Balkans - United States, Canada, and Greenland - Plants and Animals +- - Science and Technology +- - Social Sciences and the Law +- - Sports and Everyday Life +-
How to Use Reading 1: Camp Chase Camp Chase was one of the five largest prisons in the North for Confederate prisoners of war. Camp Chase's prison population peaked at 9,423 on January 31, 1865. The Army ensured that the graves of those who died were marked with thin headboards and "only the number of the grave and name of its individual occupant;" thus the "graves of the Confederate soldiers were not marked as soldiers, and remained thus inadequately," until the 20th century when Congress approved efforts to recognize the sacrifice of CSA soldiers.¹ The following information is excerpted from the National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form for Camp Chase Site, Columbus, Ohio. Statement of Significance: Camp Chase was officially dedicated June 20, 1861. It is named in honor of Salmon Portland Chase (1808-1873), former governor of Ohio, the Secretary of the Treasury under President Abraham Lincoln, and later Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Initially designated as a training camp for new recruits in the Union Army, Camp Chase was converted to a military prison as the first prisoners of war arrived from western Virginia. In the early months of the Civil War, Camp Chase primarily held political prisoners--judges, legislators and mayors from Kentucky and Virginia accused of loyalty to the Confederacy. In early 1862, Camp Chase served briefly as a prison for Confederate officers. But after a military prison for Confederate officers opened at Johnson's Island, Ohio, Camp Chase housed only non-commissioned officers, enlisted men, and political prisoners. In February 1862, 800 prisoners of war (officers and enlisted men) arrived at Camp Chase. Included among the 800 Confederate soldiers were approximately 75 African Americans; about half of whom were slaves, the other half being servants to the confederate officers. Much to the horror and dismay of the citizens of Columbus, these men continued to serve their master's in the prison camp. An Ohio Legislative committee was formed and protests over the continued enslavement of these men were sent to Washington D.C. The African Americans were finally released in April and May of 1862; some then enlisted in the Union army.² According to an exchange agreement reached between North and South on July 22, 1862, Camp Chase was to operate as a way station for the immediate repatriation (return to country of birth or citizenship) of Confederate soldiers. After this agreement was mutually abandoned July 13, 1863, the facility swelled with new prisoners, and military inmates quickly outnumbered political prisoners. By the end of the war, Camp Chase held 26,000 of all 36,000 Confederate POWs retained in Ohio military prisons. Crowded and unhealthy living conditions at Camp Chase took a heavy toll among prisoners. Despite newly constructed barracks in 1864, which raised the prison capacity to 8,000 men, the facility was soon operating well over capacity. Rations for prisoners were reduced in retaliation against alleged mistreatment at Southern POW camps. Many prisoners suffered from malnutrition and died from smallpox, typhoid fever or pneumonia. Others, even those who received meager clothing provisions, suffered from severe exposure during the especially cold winter of 1865. In all, 2,229 soldiers died at Camp Chase by July 5, 1865, when it officially closed. Original Physical Appearance: The flat, farming land that became Camp Chase was leased to the U.S. Government at the beginning of the Civil War. One hundred sixty houses were built on the site to replace the overflowing barracks at Camp Jackson on the north side of Columbus. When the first prisoners of war arrived, a stockade was built on the southeast corner of the campgrounds. This stockade rested on a half-acre plot and accommodated 450 prisoners in three single-story frame buildings with partitioned rooms and tiered bunks. Two of the buildings measured 100' x 15', and a third measured 70' x 20'. A 12' high plank wall with flanking towers surrounded the stockade, named Prison No. 1. More buildings were added in November 1861 to relieve the critical housing shortage caused by incoming prisoners. Three more 100' x 15' barracks, designated Prison No. 2, were erected on land contiguous to the fist stockade. As more POWs filled the campgrounds, additional barracks were needed. Prison No. 3, a three-acre tract, was built in March 1862. Huts arranged in clusters of six formed a residential nucleus. Each hut measured 20' x 14'and was made of planks and a light wood frame. The huts were spaced 2 ½ feet apart in each cluster, while series of clusters formed four parallel lines separated by narrow dirt roads. In summer 1864, the huts of Prison No. 3 were demolished to make way for 17 new barracks, each 100' x 22', to accommodate 198 prisoners. Volunteer prison labor built the barracks using lumber from the previously demolished huts. Present Physical Appearance: None of the original Camp Chase (above ground) structures exist today. All were dismantled at the end of the Civil War and the materials were reused. A prison cemetery, established in 1863, occupies less than two acres of the original campgrounds. A stone wall, built in 1921, encloses 2,199 graves of Confederate soldiers who died while POWs. To commemorate these losses, a memorial arch built of granite blocks was unveiled in 1902; it spans a large boulder just 75' inside the Sullivant Avenue entrance to the cemetery. Above the arch rests a bronze statue of a Confederate soldier facing south; the keystone of the arch is inscribed "AMERICANS." Marble headstones, authorized by an Act of Congress in 1906, identify the grave of each soldier. A stone speaker' platform, completed in 1921, stands directly behind the memorial arch along the north wall. Questions for Reading 1 1. What purpose was Camp Chase meant to serve when it was first built? How did its use change over time? 2. Give an example of a type of political prisoner held at Camp Chase? Why do you think it might have been important to hold these people prisoner? 3. How did African Americans become imprisoned at Camp Chase? Why were Columbus citizens outraged by this? 4. Why did the population of Camp Chase swell after 1863? What problems did this cause? 5. What remains of Camp Chase prison today? ¹ 45th Congress, Session 3, from December 2, 1878 to March 3, 1879 (17 Stat., 545, ch. 229).
Throughout history there has always been a struggle for power between absolute rulers and the people and somewhere in the middle they compromise at democracy.In the past the people have written documents to that limited the of the king and obtain their natural rights. The Magna Carta became known as one of the first documents to ever degrade the power of a king. Following the Magna Carta came the Petition of Rights, this to limited the strength of the king. Succeeding the Petition of Rights, came the founding of the Bill of Rights. Without boundaries a ruler will abuse his power over the people. Therefore in order for a ruler to lead a democratic government he must have boundaries and regulations to abide by. The Magna Carta became the first stepping stone to a constitutional monarchy in England. The need for this document came about when King John neglected the peoples rights.On June 15,1215, King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta. Thereby, when King John signed the Magna Carta his power demarcated and his authority lessened. The Magna Carta stated We have also granted to all free men of our realm, on the part of ourselves and our heirs forever; all the subjoined liberties, to have and to hold, to them and to the heirs, from us and from our heirs (Magna Carta sec1). This passage said that people have the right to liberty at all time and the king nor any other person could take that right away. The Magna Carta also dealt with the court and justice system. It declared To none will we sell, to none deny or delay, right or justice (Magna Carta sec 40). It also pronounced if any on shall have been dissiezed by us, or removed, without a legal sentence of his peers, from his lands, castles, liberties or lawful right, we shall straight way restore them to him.(Magna Carta sec52). This document was only the first of three document to limit the kings power. King Charles tried to rule as an absolute ruler, but he was unsuccessful in his attempt. Charles started to take advantage of his people by using force and unjust taxes. Parliament, unhappy with the conditions of the state deiced to do something about it. They wrote the Petition of Rights. this document unabled the king to proceed as he wished. This document states that Parliament has the right to dismiss themselves. In other words that means the king can not tell Parliament they are finished and no longer have the power to do anything. Also Parliament would be called to session at least once every three years. Hence, the king would not be able to completely ignore Parliament and the voice of the people completely. Consequently limiting his power. Another section declared that the people have the right to due process and all ancient taxes are abolished. By obtaining these rights and privileges the people are free to have there life, liberty, and property without a fear of losing any of these without due process. Lastly, the power of the king was limited by a third document, The Bill of Rights. Before William and Mary could become king and queen they were forced to sign the Bill of Rights. In order to persevere the right of the people, they wrote the Bill of Rights. It states that it is the right of the subjects to petition the king. It also said that the freedom of speech and debuts or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament. Therefore the king is not above the law and does not have the power to take away the peoples rights. Every where in the world people are struggling for power, it has happened before, it is happening now, and it will happen again. The absolute monarch will usually fall because the democratic side will have more people and separation of power. Therefore there more than one person to get rid of.
There is currently much debate over the introduction of Beaker pottery and a set of associated artefacts, including copper objects, into the British Isles between c. 2500 and 2300 BC, but the same kinds of objects were found across large areas of Europe in these centuries and the decades before. A small number of burials have been found very widely dispersed across Britain during this period –some of the most famous are the Amesbury ‘archer’ (who grew up on the Continent) and the Boscombe ‘bowmen’, found near Stonehenge. . . . its worth noting that these early Beaker burials were seemingly not usually covered with a round mound. This new burial practice, in which bodies were buried in the ground unburnt, seems to have kick-started a range of other local new local burial practices – most notably . . . across northern Britain people started to bury their dead in what we call ‘short cists’ (boxes averaging about 1m long, made from slabs of stone) with a style of pottery that was inspired by those early Beakers. Many, but not all, of these cists contained just the burial of just one person. Occasionally these were covered with low mounds. Sometimes they formed small groups of two or three burials, and sometimes such groups were then covered with a single round mound. In Ireland burial practices involving Beaker pottery were very different to in Britain, but a tradition of burying cremated remains in cists had also developed, associated with a new style of pottery – which archaeologists call Food Vessels. Similar vessels were adopted in parts of Britain too, particularly the north. Not all round mounds necessarily covered burials, although this was the case for the vast majority in most regions. Some Early Bronze Age round mounds in the south-west of England seem to have been built without covering any human remains, and some ‘ring’ or ‘kerbed’ cairns in upland parts of Britain had open ground in the middle (imagine a doughnut made of stone) which might have been used for other purposes before human remains were buried in their interiors. Mounds also cover a range of features left by activity other than burying the dead. After c. 2100 BC round mounds often covered small groups of such burials. These mounds were generally around 10-12m in diameter, but could be as large as 24m, and increasingly they were added to and enlarged. Such enlargement seems to have often happened when later burials were added to their periphery in the early second millennium BC, and by this time cremation had become predominant again across much of Britain. The recently-excavated burial cairn at Low Hauxley, Northumberland, which Chris worked on, gives a good example of this sequence. In the south of England, for instance, circles of stake-holes have been found buried under mounds. These may derive from circular fences, for instance, enclosing a central area which was then used to bury the remains of the dead, before a mound was built over the top. . . . Furthermore, the material used to make round mounds is highly worthy of study. In a few cases excavators have noted the special selection of different types of soil, clay, and other materials in layers within a mound. There are a couple of intriguing mentions of layers of different materials in some nineteenth and early twentieth century reports of excavations of Manx round mounds that we will consider, for instance. The use of different materials may have been meaningful in varied ways – for instance, perhaps bringing soil from a place where a person grew up to a place where they lived and died after marrying into a different family, or perhaps significance derived from the colour of the material. Finally, exactly where mounds were built in a local landscape is also very interesting, and again this varied regionally and sometimes more locally. In some parts of Britain, for instance, Early Bronze Age mounds clustered into groups around major monuments (as at Stonehenge), sometimes arranged in lines along hill ridges. In other areas mounds were more dispersed. In some cases mounds were built in prominent landscape locations such as hilltops, in others they were on the gentle slopes of hills or placed just below a hilltop. A shift to cremation coincides closely with the arrival of Indo-European cultures in India, Iran, Turkey, the Balkans, Greece, and Italy, to name a few. It also associated with the arrival of the "Urnfield culture" that preceded the Celtic people in much of Western Europe. So, I am inclined to think that cremation is a litmus test of a shift to an Indo-European culture replacing a previous non-Indo-European culture, that practice inhumation. The fact that early Bell Beaker people in Britain employed inhumation in cists is another small piece of evidence to suggest that they were non-Indo-European linguistically and culturally. But, the pre-Bell Beaker Neolithic use of cremation in Ireland, which persisted into the Bell Beaker era, undermines the usefulness of this litmus test there, and the reappearance of cremation to Britain ca. 2100 BCE, several hundred years after the earliest appearances of the Bell Beaker culture there, is notable. Some sort of cultural or religious shift caused this to happen. Why did this cultural or religious shift occur? Did local circumstances make cremation more practical than it had been before? After all, the transition from inhumation to cremation in Britain coincides with the 4.2 kiloyear event in Europe which was a time of aridity, crop failures and hardship in a swath of territory including much of Europe, the Near East, West Asia and the Indian subcontinent. This climate event may have also made disease more common which cremation might have controlled better. Perhaps what looks like a cultural litmus test is really not a matter of migration causing a shift to the culture of the incoming people, but common causation. Climate and scarcity may have made cremation more practical than inhumation, and that same climate and scarcity may have weakened existing regimes thus making Indo-European conquest more feasible. But, outside Britain, the timing of the shift to cremation seems to be a century or two after the climate shift, and in places like Italy, much later, so a cultural causation theory may still make more sense. In an alternative wild possibility, did missionaries bearing Indo-European religious beliefs appear and have an impact before the Indo-Europeans themselves arrived? This seems unlikely, but stranger things have happened and it would not be unprecedented in human history.
November 1, 2011 by Grant McCall The Central Namib Desert of Namibia is among the most inhospitable places on planet earth. This region receives less than two inches of rain annually and most rainfall takes the form of major large storms spaced out over the course of years. In a normal year, most of this desert receives no rain at all. Interestingly, many forms of life persist in this harsh environment. Plant species, such as the national tree of Namibia, the welwitchia (Welwitchia mirabilis; a distant relative of the pine tree), deal with these conditions by having extremely slow growth cycles and through mechanisms designed to condense fog from the frigid Altantic Ocean. The Namib also supports a wide range of highly specialized animal species, including insects, lizards, snakes, jackals, hyenas, zebras, and antelopes. These animal species survive on tiny amounts of moisture gleaned from fog condensation or contained within their food resources. Shockingly, the Central Namib Desert was also the home of our earliest modern human ancestors. Since 2004, I have been conducting archaeological research on the Middle Stone Age in the Central Namib Desert, often alongside a number Tulane University undergraduate and graduate student colleagues. The Middle Stone Age dates between 350,000 and 30,000 years ago and is the time period in which modern humans are known to have originated in sub-Saharan Africa, likely around 200,000 years ago. Our recent research has focused on a shallow rockshelter in the granite bedrock called Erb Tanks. Our fieldwork here has demonstrated that early modern humans had used the site by at least 130,000 years ago and the site is rich with the stone tools made by these early Namibians. We have also found fragments of ostrich eggshell, which were likely used as water containers. In July, we made what is certainly our most important discovery yet at Erb Tanks: We found a slab of stone with an ocher painting of a human figure on one of its sides. Similar painted stones were found in Middle Stone Age contexts elsewhere in Namibia in the 1960s and are still considered among the earliest known works of representational art in the world. Our find proves that these earlier discoveries were not an aberration and that representational art was likely a pervasive element of later Middle Stone Age life, at least in the Namib Desert. In addition, we collected geological samples for dating techniques that were unavailable when the first painted plaques were discovered in the 1960s. These are currently being analyzed at the University of Georgia and, given their greater accuracy, I suspect that they will demonstrate that the Erb Tanks painting is significantly older than even the oldest cave paintings in Western Europe. It is interesting to wonder why the Namib Desert was the location of this earliest period of artistic representation. It occurs to me that the early residents of the Namib must significantly innovated and adapted their lifeways in order to survive in this foreboding environment. In fact, we find evidence of these innovations in the tools these early modern humans made and the ways in which they used the landscape. I increasingly believe that the painting of portable stone slaps, and the symbolic thinking and creativity this practice implies, were aspects of the adaptations that allowed early modern human populations to survive in this hyper-arid region. I wonder if the Erb Tanks painting may be further evidence of the importance of communication and social cooperation among our earliest modern human ancestors – qualities that have been responsible for the success of our species from this time onward. Archaeological research in the Central Namib Desert is challenging and our field camp conditions are quite spartan. We bring in all of our supplies, including food and water, and we must make very economical use of these while camping. In addition, the winter months between July and September are infamous for their strong winds blowing down from the interior plateau (similar to California's Santa Ana winds). It was also just our luck that we have had to endure two fluke rain showers during what is considered the “dry season!” Given these trials (and others), I am grateful for the help of all of my Tulane colleagues who have accompanied me the last few years! Tulane University, School of Liberal Arts, 102 Newcomb Hall, New Orleans, LA 70118, (504) 865-5225, [email protected]
Brief SummaryRead full entry Wolbachia pipientis are gram-negative bacteria that form intracellular inherited infections in many invertebrate hosts. They are extremely common with at least 20% of all insects being infected. Since insect species comprise ~85% of all animal species on the planet, Wolbachia pipientis are one of the most common bacterial endosymbionts in the biosphere and can be of major importance in ecological and evolutionary processes. Moreover they infect numerous non-insect invertebrates including filarial nematodes, terrestrial crustaceans, mites, and spiders. They are predominantly transmitted through females to developing eggs, but can also undergo some horizontal transmission between host species. The limits of the host range are not fully appreciated at this time. Much of the success of Wolbachia can be attributed to the diverse phenotypes that result from infection. These include classical mutualism in nematodes in which the bacteria are required for fertility and larval development; and reproductive parasitism in arthropods as characterized by the ability of Wolbachia to override chromosomal sex determination, induce parthenogenesis, selectively kill males, influence sperm competition and generate cytoplasmic incompatibility. Reproductive parasitism enhances the spread of Wolbachia through host arthropod populations by increasing the number of infected females, the transmitting sex of this bacterium. Wolbachia are present in mature eggs, but not mature sperm. It is thought that the phenotypes caused by Wolbachia, especially cytoplasmic incompatibility, may be important in promoting rapid speciation events in insects. The unique biology of Wolbachia has attracted a growing number of researchers and science educators interested in questions ranging from the evolutionary implications of infection to the use of this endosymbiont for human disease control and discovery-based projects in high school classrooms.
The basic computer circuit is called the flip-flop it can exist in either of two states transistor to turn on, as we assumed in the first place. We provide free model essays on physics, history of physics discovered several basic scientific principles and transistor which revolutionized the. Ask the experts your physics and astronomy how does a transistor work there are two basic varieties of field effect transistors-the junction field. The three physicists received the 1956 nobel prize in physics for this work basic point-contact andrew zimmerman what is a transistor thoughtco. 14 transistor characteristics lab but since this is not a course in digital electronics, we will not discuss the function of transistors basic bipolar. Interpretation of your description is confusing do you mean a bipolar transistor or a field effect transistor there are three connections to a bipolar transistor. 121 basic lattice types 6 bipolar junction transistors 246 writing a book on semiconductor device physics and design is never complete and proba. Basic diode electronics introduction to diodes the p-n junction the p-n junction is a homojunction between a p-type and an n-type semiconductor. Transistors in switch and amplifier configurations the basic components of the transistor are related as and a level electrical & thermal physics essays. Physics of electric guitars essay 1309 words \| 6 pages be quantified and calculated according to basic laws in physics these include certain relationships between. Understanding how transistors work is something you will benefit a lot from it can seem hard, but i'm gonna give you a simple explanation. Extended essay topics in physics the junction transistor and the effects of temperature the basic structure and technology of the micro-electronic transistor. Basic transistor physics david lower power transistors some of the basic principles behind semiconductor behavior and the restrictions currently faced by. International journal dedicated to theoretical and experimental aspects of fundamental problems in physics and, generally, to the advancement of basic knowledge of. The first transistor was demonstrated on dec 23, 1947, at bell labs by william shockley this new invention consisting of p type and n type semiconductive materials. Basic electronics semiconductor – a small voltage/current applied at transistor’s control lead controls a larger current flow through its other two leads. Bipolar transistor basics in the diode tutorials we saw that simple diodes are made up from two pieces of semiconductor material, either silicon or germanium to. Diodes and transistors 1 introduction so far in ee100 you have seen analog circuits you started with simple resistive circuits basic semiconductor physics. P517/617 lec5, p1 diodes and transistors diodes • what do we use diodes for protect circuits by limiting the voltage (clipping and clamping) turn ac into dc.
From 1763 until the Canadian Citizenship Act came into force on January 1, 1947, people born in Canada were all British subjects. Since immigrants born in Great Britain and the Commonwealth were already British subjects, they had no need to become naturalized or to obtain British citizenship in Canada. A number of earlier laws governed naturalization before 1947. Under these acts, aliens could petition for naturalization. If successful, they would swear allegiance to the British sovereign and would be granted the rights of someone born within the British Empire. These acts include: - The Local Act also known as Law of Naturalization and Allegiance implemented on May 22, 1868. - The Naturalization and Aliens Act of 1881 by which the Secretary of State was empowered to issue naturalization certificates to government employees. All other requests for naturalization were handled by provincial courts. - The Naturalization Act of 1914 which gave full responsibility for the issuance of naturalization certificates to the federal Department of Citizenship and Immigration, implemented in 1916. In order to apply for citizenship, a person had to have resided in Canada for a minimum number of years since his or her time of entry. - From 22 May 1868 to 4 May 1910: 2 years - From 5 May 1910 to 6 June 1919: 3 years - From 7 June 1919 to 14 February 1977: 5 years - From 15 February 1977 to present: 3 years Naturalization Records Held by Citizenship and Immigration Canada Citizenship and Immigration Canada holds records of naturalization and citizenship from 1854 to the present. The originals of records dated between 1854 and 1917 have been destroyed. However, a card index by name has survived, which provides information compiled at the time of naturalization, such as: - present and former place of residence; - former nationality; - date of certification; and - name and location of the responsible court. The index rarely contains any other genealogical information. Please note that Library and Archives Canada does not hold a copy of that card index. Records created after 1917 are more detailed, indicating: - given name; - date and place of birth; - entry into Canada; and - names of spouses and children. The file will typically include the original petition for naturalization, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police report on the person, the oath of allegiance, and any other documents. Requests for searches of naturalization/citizenship indexes and records from 1854 to the present should be mailed to: Citizenship and Immigration Canada Public Rights Administration 360 Laurier Avenue West, 10th Floor Please note that the following conditions apply: - Each application for copies must be submitted on an Access to Information Request Form by a Canadian citizen or an individual residing in Canada. Fee: $5.00, payable to the Receiver General for Canada. - The request must be accompanied by a signed consent from the person concerned or proof that he/she has been deceased 20 years. Proof of death can be a copy of a death record, a newspaper obituary or a photograph of the gravestone showing name and death date. Proof of death is not required if the person would be over 110 years of age. Your request should include the full name, date and place of birth, and if possible, the Canadian citizenship number or naturalization certificate number. Copies of Access to Information Request Forms can be obtained from most Canadian public libraries and federal government offices or downloaded from Info Source. Important Note: To request a search of your own records for proof of your status or to obtain a citizenship certificate, you must submit an Application for a Search of Citizenship Records or an Application for a Citizenship Certificate to Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
A spitzer bullet is a bullet with a pointed, aerodynamic tip. The word 'spitzer' comes from the German word spitzgeschoss, which in typically literal Germanic manner translates roughly to 'pointed bullet' (spitz: adj, 'pointed' or 'sharp' and geschoss: noun, 'projectile' or 'piece of ammunition fired into the air.')1 Bullets were originally spherical, the 'ball' of Ball ammunition, since they were loaded separately and since originally their orientation didn't matter. It wasn't until the advent of rifled barrels that projectiles began to become shaped especially for the job. The famous Minié ball, invented in 1848, wasn't a ball at all but was an expanding projectile of a shape quite familiar to modern shooters, with a conoidal front. Even then, the very tip of the bullet was usually shallowly rounded as the sphere ancestry made itself known, or even cut off flat for either manufacturing or damage purposes. Even those which were pointed had very wide fronts, as it was easier to deform a sphere into that shape and the round was less fragile. Prior to jacketed ammunition, bullets were made entirely of soft lead, which wouldn't hold a point well anyway, and might bend if formed into a sharp tip which would make the bullet unstable. Once jacketed bullets became the norm, however, it was clear that sharply tipped bullets could be manufactured and used easily. In 1886, the French army adopted the first smokeless powder cartridge design to be used by any country, the 8x50 mm Lebel cartridge, named for Lt. Col. Nicolas Lebel who invented the flat-tipped wadcutter bullet it used, known as the Balle M. The main reason for the flat tip was to ensure good performance in the rifle's tube magazine, making sure the bullets remained in a straight line and didn't deform at the front where they met the cartridge ahead of them. In 1898, the Balle M was superseded by a new design (the 'Balle D') which had a pointed tip and a boat-tail. This design was proven to have much better aerodynamic performance, hence increased range and accuracy. At the time, armaments advances were closely studied by neighboring countries, and such advances could hardly be kept secret. The German army, upon testing the Lebel cartridge with Balle D, decided the advantage was noteworthy and modified their standard 8x57J cartridge to include a pointed bullet, naming the result the 8x57JS - 8mm across, 57mm long, Jaeger, Spitzgeschoss (Jaeger means, roughly, rifleman or 'rifle infantry'). This round would become known as the '8mm Mauser' and Germany used it through both World War 1 and World War 2. A few years later, the U.S. Army licensed the spitzgeschoss bullet design from its German designer, Herr Arthur Gleinich - and U.S. personnel quickly shortened the unfamiliar and difficult German word spitzgeschoss into the americanized adjective spitzer. 1: Both from Google translate.
\|Lesson Plan ID: 100 More Hungry Ants Students will investigate what happens to the number of ants at a picinc when 100 more ants arrive at the picnic. They will explore this concept using a slide presentation followed by a partner game. This lesson plan was created by exemplary Alabama Math Teachers through the AMSTI project. \|MA2013(1) \|\|12. Add within 100, including adding a two-digit number and a one-digit number and adding a two-digit number and a multiple of 10, using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction; relate the strategy to a written method, and explain the reasoning used. Understand that in adding two-digit numbers, one adds tens and tens, ones and ones; and sometimes it is necessary to compose a ten. [1-NBT4] \| \|MA2013(2) \|\|3. Determine whether a group of objects (up to 20) has an odd or even number of members, e.g., by pairing objects or counting them by 2s; write an equation to express an even number as a sum of two equal addends. [2-OA3] \| \|MA2013(2) \|\|7. Read and write numbers to 1000 using base-ten numerals, number names, and expanded form. [2-NBT3] \| \|MA2013(2) \|\|11. Add and subtract within 1000 using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction; relate the strategy to a written method. Understand that in adding or subtracting three-digit numbers, one adds or subtracts hundreds and hundreds, tens and tens, ones and ones; and sometimes it is necessary to compose or decompose tens or hundreds. [2-NBT7] \| \|ELA2013(2) \|\|29. Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about Grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups. [SL.2.1] \| \|ELA2013(2) \|\|31. Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to clarify comprehension, gather additional information, or deepen understanding of a topic or issue. [SL.2.3] \| Alabama 2009 Math COS 1 Grade 2 Identifying a number that is 100 more or less than a given number \|Primary Learning Objective(s): The students will develop concepts to enable them to identify a number that is 100 more than a given number. \|Additional Learning Objective(s): \|Approximate Duration of the Lesson: \|\| 31 to 60 Minutes\| \|Materials and Equipment: Book 100 Hungry Ants by Elinor J. Pinczes, deck of number cards 0-9 (one per pair of students) recording sheet for 100 More Hungry Ants (one per pair of students), directions for 100 More hungry Ants, 100 ants sticker pages \|Technology Resources Needed: Computer with projector and speakers, 100 more hungry ants presentation (attached), presentation camera with projector Teacher prep- The teacher should become familiar with the slide presentation and equipment needed to show it. The teacher should have a method for pairing students to work on the activity. This can be done in a variety of ways. Some suggestions are: call a girl's name and ask them to select a boy partner or draw names from a jar. Students should have prior knowledge of the book 100 Hungry Ants.If students do not know the book the teacher should read it prior to the slide presentation. 1. Have students sit where they can view the slide presentation. Before you begin, discuss the book 100 Hungry Ants and what happened to the ants. Tell the students they will watch a presentation about ants at a picnic just like in the book. The difference is 100 more ants join them. Ask students what they think will happen. 2. Show the presentation. When the second slide opens, ask a student to read it to the group. Give the children think time to formulate an answer. Have students turn to their neighbor and share their answers. Show the next slide and discuss various strategies for solving this problem. Continue this for the next two slides. 1. Tell students that they are going to play a game using the 100 ants. Display and read the directions to the class. 2. Use a presentation camera and projector to model the game with a student. Ask students to make predictions as they play. 3. Have students play the game with a partner. After about 10 minutes have the student stop play for a short discussion. Ask probing questions such as: What did you notice? Why did that happen? Will it happen everytime? As you observe student play, notice which students have mastered the activity with two cards. Challenge them to use three cards and add or subtract 100 (this will require extra sticker pages and the extention recording sheet). Evaluation and adaptations for individual students should be ongoing. Recording sheets (attached) can be collected and used for grades if desired. \|Attachments:**Some files will display in a new window. Others will prompt you to download. Assessment should be ongoing to modify the activity as needed. The student recording sheet (attached) can be used as a grade. This lesson can be extended by using three number cards. The students can then add or subtract 100 more ants. If students are having difficulty, remove the 100 sticker strip and add 10 hungry ants. Each area below is a direct link to general teaching strategies/classroom for students with identified learning and/or behavior problems such as: reading or math performance below grade level; test or classroom assignments/quizzes at a failing level; failure to complete assignments independently; difficulty with short-term memory, abstract concepts, staying on task, or following directions; poor peer interaction or temper tantrums, and other learning or behavior problems. \|Presentation of Material \|\|Using Groups and Peers \|Assisting the Reluctant Starter \|\|Dealing with Inappropriate Be sure to check the student's IEP for specific accommodations. \|Variations Submitted by ALEX Users:
The international standard symbol for a foot is "ft" (see ISO 31-1, Annex A). In some cases, the foot is denoted by a prime, which is often approximated by an apostrophe, and the inch by a double prime. For example, 2 feet 4 inches is denoted as 2′4″. This use can cause confusion, because the prime and double prime are also international standard symbols for arcminutes and arcseconds. The small difference between the survey and international feet would not be detectable on a survey of a small parcel, but becomes significant for mapping, or when a state plane coordinate system is used, because the origin of the system may be hundreds of miles from the point of interest. In 1986 the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) released the North American Datum of 1983, which underlies the state plane coordinate systems. An NGS policy from 1991 has this to say about the units used with the new datum: In preparation for the adjustment of the North American Datum of 1983, 31 states enacted legislation for the State Plane Coordinate System of 1983 (SPCS 83). All states defined SPCS 83 with metric parameters. Within the legislation, the U.S. Survey Foot was specified in 11 states and the International Foot was specified in 6 states. In all other states the meter is the only referenced unit of measure in the SPCS 83 legislation. The remaining 19 states do not yet have any legislation concerning SPCS 83. Some of the earliest records of the use of the foot come from the region of ancient Greece. The originators devised, or perhaps borrowed from Egypt, the degree of longitude, divided the circumference of the Earth into 360 degrees, and subdivided the degree for shorter distances. One degree of longitude was divided into 600 stadia. One stadion was divided into 600 feet. Thus the degree of longitude measured 360,000 feet. (By modern reckoning, one degree of longitude is approximately 365,221 feet.) One mile was 10 stadia or 6000 feet. This is essentially the same mile that was (or still is) used in the Western hemisphere, but the modern foot is longer than the original. The popular belief is that the original standard was the length of a man’s foot. This is most likely true, but when local authorities and national rulers began calibrating and defining measurements, the foot of no human being was probably used as the basis. In rural regions and without calibrated rulers, many units of measurement were in fact based on the length of some part of body of the person measuring (or for example the area that could be ploughed in a day). In that sense, the human foot was no doubt the origin of the measuring unit called a "foot" and was also for a long time the definition of its length. To prevent discord and enable trade, many towns decided on a standard length and displayed this publicly. In order to enable simultaneous use of the different units of length based on different parts of the human body and other "natural" units of length, the different units were redefined as multiples of each other, whereby their lengths no longer corresponded to the original "natural" standards. This process of national standardisation began in Scotland in 1150 and in England in 1303, but many different regional standards had existed in both these countries long before. Some believe that the original measurement of the English foot was from King Henry I, who had a foot 12 inches long; he wished to standardise the unit of measurement in England. However this is unlikely, because there are records of the word being used approximately 70 years before his birth . This of course does not exclude the possibility that this old standard was redefined ("calibrated") according to the ruler's foot. In fact, there is evidence that this sort of process was common before standardization. A new, important ruler could try to impose a new standard for an existing unit, but it is unlikely that any king's foot was ever as long as the modern unit of measurement. The average foot length is about 9.4 inches (240 mm) for current Europeans. Approximately 99.6% of British men have a foot that is less than 12 inches long. One attempt to "explain" the "missing" inches is that the measure did not refer to a naked foot, but to the length of footwear, which could theoretically add an inch or two to the naked foot's length. This is consistent with the measure being convenient for practical uses such as building sites. People almost always pace out lengths while wearing shoes or boots, rather than removing them and pacing barefoot. There are however historical records of definitions of the inch based on the width (not length) of a man's thumb that are very precise for the standards of the time. One of these was based on an average calculated using three men of different size, thereby enabling surprising accuracy and uniformity throughout a country even without calibrated rulers. It therefore seems likely that at least since about the Twelfth century, the precise length of a foot was in fact based on the inch, not the other way around. Since this length was fairly close to the size of most feet, at least in shoes, this enabled the above-mentioned use of one's shoes in approximating lengths without measuring devices. This sort of imprecise measuring that in addition excessively multiplied the measuring error due to repeated use of a short "ruler" (the foot) was never used in surveying and in constructing more complicated buildings.
Walking on cornflakes. That’s what it sounds like to hike through a rainforest in the grip of a strong drought. Each step crackles with dry snapping twigs and leaves. It’s frustrating for field biologists like us – we can forget about glimpsing anything but the most oblivious of wildlife. Rainforests aren’t supposed to be bone-dry like this, and normally they’re not. But at our Daintree Drought Experiment in far north Queensland, we and our colleagues have suspended more than 3,000 plastic panels above the forest floor to create an artificial mega-drought. The experiment began only three months ago but already the rainforest beneath is wilted and hurting. The Daintree drought is just a taste of what could be coming soon – not just to our experimental study site but to large swathes of Australia and beyond. Climatologists are telling us to buckle our seatbelts because the ride could get scary. Get ready, they’re saying, for an event some are calling “Godzilla”. Not your average drought Naming a drought after a giant fire-breathing reptile may not be very scientific, but it does grab one’s attention. The most powerful driver of annual rainfall variation globally is the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, in which warm surface waters slosh back and forth across the Pacific Ocean, creating flooding rains in certain places and times and droughts in others. This isn’t the only cause of rainfall variability around the world, but it’s one of the biggest in terms of its sheer scale and impact. Climate researchers say this year’s El Niño could be stronger than anything in living memory — stronger even than the event that pummelled large expanses of the New World and Western Pacific region in 1997-98. In that year, a single massive fire consumed over three million hectares of drought-choked rainforest, farmlands and indigenous territories in Brazilian Amazonia. Dense smoke caused more people to go to hospital for respiratory distress, and airports had to be closed repeatedly. Soon afterwards, fires spurred by the same mega-drought rampaged across Indonesia and New Guinea. Huge expanses of Borneo burned. In Australia, the El Niño led to widespread coral bleaching and increased stresses for forests, farms and cities already struggling with years of below-average rainfall. This El Niño interacted with other sources of weather variation, such as sea-surface temperatures in the Southern and Indian Oceans, to create the so-called Millennium Drought. At the risk of sounding like a doomsayer, it’s impossible to ignore the possibility that we could be facing even worse conditions in the near future. Over 80% of Queensland has already experienced a severe rainfall deficit over the last three years. And leading climatic models suggest the severity of extreme El Niño events and heatwaves will rise with global warming. Worldwide, seven of the ten hottest years on record occurred during or immediately after an El Niño year. In addition, rapidly expanding land-use changes are making ecosystems far more vulnerable to droughts and fire. For instance, forests that have been logged or fragmented are drier and have much heavier loads of flammable slash than do pristine forests. Finally, as new roads proliferate almost everywhere, so do the number of human-caused ignition sources. Ecosystems where fire was once foreign — such as the world’s deep rainforests — now burn with increasing regularity. For such environments and their wildlife and carbon stores, the effects can be devastating. Time to start planning If we don’t want to risk such catastrophes, we need to get smarter. Be they natural or human-caused, droughts are going to keep happening. We can’t stop them but we can at least get ready. A big priority is to invest in fire control and prevention. Recent efforts in Brazil show that wildfires can be substantially reduced by proactive fire bans and improving rural fire-fighting capabilities. These are areas where Australia could greatly aid its northern neighbours — despite the near-sighted views of the Abbott government, which is proposing to slash overseas aid across the Pacific region. We also need to get wise about rural development. From New Guinea to Siberia, there are serious hidden costs to development schemes that open up pristine landscapes to human incursions. Yes, we need economic growth, but we can’t tally up the benefits of reaping and razing the Earth without also taking into account its many financial, social and environmental impacts. Beyond this, we need to plan better for a climatically risky future. Nations such as India, for example – whose agriculture is intensely vulnerable to drought – are hugely exposed to such dangers. Long-term drying conditions and increasingly intense wildfires are virtually reshaping lands in the American West. And across much of the world, burgeoning cities are also at risk – and are already guzzling down torrents of water vitally needed for farming and nature. Ultimately, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to do in-depth research on droughts on the one hand, and to ignore its far-reaching implications on the other. It’s time to get ready for the next big drought – and the one after that. Better to prepare in advance than to risk battling a fire-breathing monster.
What Is A Viaduct? A viaduct is a series of bridges connected to each other for crossing a valley or low-lying area or an area that is not completely covered by a waterbody. A viaduct is a bridge, and not all bridges are viaducts, but all viaducts are bridges. Viaducts are mostly used in cities that are railroad centers like London, Manchester, Chicago and Atlanta to help create a way for the freight trains and heavy train traffic. With viaducts, the city traffic is always reduced to minimal. How Is It Different From A Bridge? A viaduct differs from a bridge in many ways since the bridge is a structure constructed solely for crossing physical hindrances like valleys, water, or road. Viaducts are a form of bridges that are interconnected in a series of small multiple spans. They can either be used on land or over the water bodies to facilitate crossover by people. When the viaducts are constructed on land, they are used in connecting areas that are of the same height that cannot be directly crossed. Furthermore, overland they are also used to create ways for trains and hence reducing traffic jam on the roads. The avoidance of traffic is facilitated by the viaducts having two or more decks for the passage of vehicles and trains. When built over water they are merged with other tunnels or even bridges to help navigate water bodies. Reasons For Using Viaduct Over Bridge A viaduct is used mostly in countries that are highly industrialized and hence finds it cheaper to construct it rather than the bridges. Additionally, developing countries like India, China, and Thailand build viaducts to help reduce traffic congestion and save on land. This construction stimulates the need to use viaduct over bridge due to its higher importance. Land Use Below Viaducts Viaducts ensure maximum utilization of the available land. Where they are constructed across the land, space underneath can be utilized for other purposes such as business centers, clubs, and car parking. For instance, in UK most railway lines are built on viaducts making infrastructure owners have a large property. This property enables owners to invest under the arches of the viaducts thus having an additional source of income. The Millau viaduct in southern France is a cable-stayed road bridge spanning the Valley of Tarn River near Millau. The viaduct was designed by engineer Michael Virlogeux and an architect Norman Robert Foster. It is the world’s tallest vehicular bridge with a single pier’s summit at 1,125 feet, which only slightly shorter than the Empire State building by 125ft and a little taller than the Eiffel tower. The viaduct was officially dedicated on December 12, 2004, and later opened for traffic after two days. The Danyang-Kushan viaduct in China is a grand bridge that made to the Guinness World Records in 2011 as the world’s longest bridge in the world. The Trend Of Demolishing Viaducts Viaducts that were constructed several years ago in cities like Tokyo and Boston are currently being demolished because they were deemed ugly and seemed to divide the city. This separation hinders people accessing the other parts of the city quickly and hence they are demolished. They do not also appear to display modern technology thus being renovated to improve their appearance.
Scaphocephaly, also called dolichocephaly, is a congenital birth defect characterized by an asymmetrical distortion or shape of the head. Scaphocephaly occurs frequently in premature infants. Cases of scaphocephaly starting in utero can be the result of a few factors including: - the position of the baby's head during pregnancy - the carrying of multiples (twins, triplets) where there is less space for each baby to grow and often times the heads are forced against the mothers pelvis or ribs for an extended time - a small or misshapen uterus - complications during delivery Scaphocephaly's main cause is a result of external forces, it is due to pressure on the sides of the skull in the first months after birth. It is commonly seen in infants that spend time in the neonatal intensive care unit(NICU). Side lying positioning is common in the NICU to provide easy access to monitors. When scaphocephaly's main cause is from internal forces, it is called sagittal synostosis. Sagittal synostosis results from the premature fusion of the sagittal suture, the suture that runs anteroposterior along the top of the head. When the sagittal suture prematurely closes, it does not allow for normal growth of the head. Thus, growth will be limited transversely and the head will grow longer anteroposteriorly yet remain narrow. It is the most common form of synostosis, with statistics ranging from 1 in 2000 to 1 in 5000 births.
This new series of blogs on education in GCSE Sociology builds on the ideas in the previous series, Key concepts in education. The first blog looks at the structure of the education system. Both the A level and GCSE Sociology courses cover education, but the type and quantity of information covered by the course is different, so this blog will focus on what is required by the GCSE. There will be a separate series on education in A Level Sociology. In the last blog in the A Level and GCSE Sociology series Key concepts in education we covered the Marxist and Functionalist Approaches to Education. We now turn to the structure of the education system. There are five stages to the education system. \|Early Years/Preschool education\|\|In the UK there is free, part time provision for children aged 3 – 4. This can include: \|Primary Education\|\|The majority of state primary schools cater for children aged 5 – 11 years of age.\| \|Secondary education\|\|Secondary education usually caters for children aged 11 – 16. Some schools will have a sixth form where children can study until 18.In some areas there are middle schools, which take children from 8 – 12, 9 – 13 or 10 – 13. But this is not the model in all areas of the UK. There are several different types of secondary school: \|Further Education\|\|On the whole, further education caters for students over 16 who have completed their compulsory education. Further Education can be provided at: Students usually study for A levels and vocational qualifications etc. \|Higher Education\|\|This usually refers to universities providing higher level vocational and academic courses, usually at degree level. BUT higher education is now sometimes provided in further education colleges.\|
In the 1960s, climate science took a quantum leap forward when researchers at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, N.J. developed the first computerized model of Earth’s climate that could account for both atmospheric and oceanic processes. For the first time, scientists could see how the complex interactions between the ocean and the atmosphere influenced global climate. The model was the basis for the first experiment to test the idea of global warming. Since then, climate models have revolutionized our understanding of Earth’s climate. Using mathematical equations, researchers can estimate how the planet’s climate will change in response to human-induced and/or naturally occurring changes in greenhouse gases, atmospheric aerosols, and land cover, ocean circulation and clouds. Yet, despite remarkable progress over the past 40 years or so, different climate models can produce different results — even when given the same data as inputs. Climate models have revolutionized our understanding of Earth’s climate. But there’s work to be done. “Even if you do the simplest of experiments — for example, doubling the amount of carbon dioxide — and you look at the end result for the year 2100, you will see that the models can diverge considerably,” says Joao Teixeira, deputy director of the Center for Climate Sciences at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. “Some models may predict a warming of 2 degrees Celsius [about 4 degrees Fahrenheit], while others may show a warming of 4 degrees Celsius [about 7 degrees Fahrenheit].” The reason climate models diverge isn’t a complete mystery. Our understanding of various processes, such as the interaction between ecosystems and greenhouse gas concentrations, is still being refined. Scientists know, for example, that the effect of clouds is not well represented in models. Clouds play a large role in climate because they reflect sunlight back to Earth. Cloud cover above the sea surface reflects about 60 to 70 percent of sunlight; without clouds, the amount of sunlight reflected back is less than 10 percent. While a fractional difference in cloud cover might not seem as though it would make a big difference in a model’s predictions, Teixeira says even small variations could be enough to cool Earth by 1 or 2 degrees Celsius (about 2 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit). An uncertain future Another reason climate models generate different results is the uncertainty of future conditions. For example, to predict global temperatures, models must rely on estimates of future greenhouse gas emissions, which Teixeira says is “very tricky business.” “That implies you also need to predict how countries like China and India are going to develop and how energy efficient they will be,” he says. “All of these things are very complex and uncertain.” To investigate how well models are performing, the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) was established by the World Climate Research Programme in 1995 as an experiment protocol to help scientists analyze climate models. CMIP provides infrastructure support so that climate prediction centers around the world can perform the same, or very similar, model investigations. Data from the simulations are then stored at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, Calif., through the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison (PCMDI). In 2008, about 20 climate modeling groups met with the World Climate Research Programme’s Working Group on Coupled Modeling to determine which climate model experiments to include in the project’s latest phase, CMIP5. “One of the objectives of CMIP is that climate scientists around the world will download the data they’re interested in and write research papers on their investigations, which will be published in scientific journals,” says Teixeira. New research publications are vital to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Reports as their authors review the most up-to-date climate findings. CMIP’s coordinated modeling experiments have helped answer unresolved questions about global climate, but there is still a missing link — satellite observations. “Satellite data are essential for evaluating models — there is no other way for us to know if the models are producing the right results,” says Teixeira. Although planes and ships collect data in the air and on the ground, looking down at Earth from space is the only way to get a true global view. And with climate models continually evolving in complexity, evaluating the quality and accuracy of their results is essential. “There are thousands of climate questions that come up — people download the [climate] model outputs and when the results are different, they’re puzzled,” says Teixeira. Part of this puzzle can be solved, he says, by looking at observations of the same precise variable in the same location from the perspective of space — NASA’s traditional domain. Data are crucial Satellite observations were virtually absent from the IPCC 4th Assessment Report, published in 2007. In response, Teixeira and his colleagues at JPL’s Center for Climate Sciences, along with researchers from around the world, have developed a strategy to insert satellite observations into the CMIP and IPCC process. But it’s not as easy as simply identifying the satellite data and storing it on a common server; to be practical to users, the data also need to be in a consistent format. “Every [satellite] instrument has its own special way of displaying the data, so what we had to do was translate the data into something that looks just like the climate model output,” says Gerald Potter at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and a former deputy director of PCMDI. After nearly a year of painstaking efforts to standardize the format, data from eight satellite instruments (see sidebar) were staged on servers at LLNL, giving users access to observations they can compare directly with the models. “Getting the climate model data and observations into the same format and stored in one place will make all the difference in the world,” says Potter. “Now you go to a climate science meeting, and probably half the presentations are by people who are using these model data now, and adding satellite observations makes this data even more valuable.” In addition to improving climate model studies, the project is also building a bridge between climate modelers and the satellite observation community — a collaboration that could lead to the development of climate-specific data products on future satellite missions. “Tightening the relationship between modeling groups and developers of satellite observations can help to prioritize the needs for new climate measurements,” says Duane Waliser, chief scientist at JPL’s Earth Science and Technology Directorate. Getting the climate model data and observations into the same format and stored in one place will make all the difference in the world. The new system will also help researchers develop climate model metrics — standards of measurement that assess the validity of a model’s simulations. “Presently, weather agencies use and apply common forecast metrics on every forecast to understand and quantify model performance. This has yet to be done for climate models,” says Waliser. To further this goal, a “Climate Metrics Panel” has been established by the World Climate Research Programme to identify standards of measurement for quantifying climate model performance. The project is on course to impact future IPCC assessments, including the upcoming report due in Sept. 2013. Now that the project has been successful with a small set of data, one of the next steps is to determine which other observations to bring in. “The satellite groups weren’t really represented when the experiments for CMIP5 were selected,” says Potter. “The next time, we’ll have someone from the observation data groups at the table when we decide what experiments to run and model variables to save for analysis.” Teixeira believes the satellite observations will be analyzed for a long time, as users compare the models to the observations. “We’ve created a way for many more people to be able to use the data,” he says. “In the end, the hope is that this will help produce better models.” “People sometimes refer to this as the ‘IPCC data’, but it goes beyond the IPCC or CMIP5,” says Potter. “We’re really developing a resource for the climate community.”
Intensive properties are those that do not change as the size of an object changes. Extensive properties are those that change as the size of an object changes. The extensive properties scale directly with size, i.e. if the size of a system doubles, the value of an extensive property simply doubles as well. Intensive properties, on the other hand, would simply remain constant, whether the system size is doubled, tripled, or changed in any way. This distinction and the relationships between extensive and intensive properties are very important for mechanics, especially in the study of fluids. In general, all of the basic properties we think about using to describe a system (mass, volume, density, pressure, temperature, viscosity, color, etc.) can be divided into these two categories. Let's see what that looks like. Intensive properties do not change as the amount or size of a substance changes. The freezing point of 1 kg water is 273 K. What is the freezing point of 2 kg of water? Solution: Since freezing point is intensive, it does not change as the amount of a substance changes. Therefore, the freezing point of any quantity of water is 273 K. Extensive properties scale with the amount or size of a substance. They must exhibit and additive property when changing the amount of a substance. An uncut diamond is found to have a mass of 2.2 kg. If 0.7 kg of the diamond are cut away, what is the mass of the remaining piece? Solution: Since mass is extensive, it must be additive. This means the mass of the cut away piece and the remaining piece must add up to the original mass. 2.2 kg - 0.7 kg = 1.5 kg The ratio of any two extensive properties is an intensive property. The most common example is density, which is the ratio of mass and volume (both extensive) but is itself intensive, since it does not change as the amount of a substance changes. Any intensive property defined as a ratio of an extensive property to mass is called a specific property. The most common example is specific heat capacity.
Earth Day Playdough Play and Geography Learning through play is a great way to introduce earth science concepts. Today we’re playing with homemade playdough and making a DIY model earth. We’ll count the continents, name the oceans, and talk about landmarks on each continent. If you have older kids, you can also dive into countries, the equator and how the earth turns on the daily. Making playdough at home is a fun early learning activity that introduces math concepts and gets kids in the kitchen learning to combine ingredients in a recipe. My kids love homemade playdough more than store-bought because they love mixing the ingredients together! Keep this recipe handy, it is a goodie and super easy to make! - 2 Cups Flour - 1 Cup Hot Water - 1/2 Cup Salt - 2 Tablespoons Cream of Tartar - 1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil - Green and Blue Food Coloring The earth day playdough is made from two separate batches of playdough. You can either make two whole batches, one green, one blue, or you can divide the recipe in half. Below are the directions for one full batch of playdough. We opted to make two batches with ours and then add them together when we built our model. - Combine the flour, salt, Cream of Tartar, vegetable oil and a few drops of green food coloring in a bowl. Slowly stir in 1 cup of hot water and continue adding water until you have the desired consistency for playdough. - Shape the playdough into a ball and knead on a hard surface adding flour as necessary to any leftover sticky spots. You can also fold in more color at this time if you’d like a darker hue. My kids liked the really bright colors so we added more. Repeat these steps for a second batch of playdough using blue food coloring. Making a Earth Day Playdough Model Our earth is made up of mostly water, so we started by shaping the blue playdough into a ball. Next, we flattened the green playdough and created continents. I did this activity with my kindergartener and preschooler, so our continents weren’t exactly accurate, but more importantly, they had fun! Once we made our continents we added them to our blue ball of playdough. If you have older kids doing this project they can be more exact with the sizes and shapes of the continents. Use a pencil to mark the equator and write the names of countries and continents. You can spend time going over where things are in the world, what countries are on what continents and then even how the world turns daily. It is a great way to learn all about the earth. Earth Science Volcano Discovery Box Our Volcanoes Discovery Box contains SEVEN award-winning Creativity and STEAM Science Kits! Your pint-sized volcanologists will have a blast (literally!) with these fun learning kits including: Dig It Out Gem Mining Kit, Break Your Own Geode Kit, Volcano Splatter Art Kit, Exploding DIY Volcano, Crystal Making Kit and more! This Discovery Box celebrates thinking, questioning and original creation with fun and creative projects that will have everyone tinkering and playing long afterwards. Want to learn more about Earth Day and how it came about? Head over HERE.
Red bricks are one of the strongest building materials that have been widely used in construction for more than 6,000 years. The term brick initially referred to the block that consisted of dry clay. Currently, bricks are mainly utilized in walls and are usually joined together using mortar. Fired bricks are highly resistant to weather conditions. Moreover, they tend to absorb heat transferred during the day and release it during the night, a fact that is beneficial for preserving temperature conditions in a building. In particular, chemist researchers from Washington University in St. Louis, have created a technique that makes bricks capable of storing power and using it to power devices. The bricks can be connected to solar panels and store renewable energy. Bricks have a porous structure that enables the storing process. Those pores are filled with an acid vapor which acts as a dissolved for the iron oxide (or rust) from which bricks are composed. A gas is transferred through the cavities of bricks which are filled with a sulfur-based material that reacts with iron. As a result, a conductive plastic, polymer PEDOT, surrounds the bricks' porous. “In this work, we have developed a coating of the conducting polymer PEDOT, which is comprised of nanofibers that penetrate the inner porous network of a brick; a polymer coating remains trapped in a brick and serves as an ion sponge that stores and conducts electricity,” Julio M. D'Arcy, co-author of the study and an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the Washington University in St. Louis, stated. According to the scientific team, the proposed method could generate substantial amounts of renewable energy. Researchers estimated that 50 capacitor bricks would take 13 minutes to charge and could provide enough energy to power the emergency lighting of a building for at least 50 minutes. Among other advantages, D’Arcy mentioned that the brick capacitors can be recharged multiple times within short time periods without any deficiencies. Researchers emphasize the fact that iron oxide, a waste material has been turned into a useful product that can be utilized in the process of generating renewable energy. "Inert materials hold the potential to be transformative in chemical manufacturing," the team suggested. The team's future goals are to increase the capacity of the energy storage by, at least, 10 times and decrease the cost and time of producing the polymer-coated bricks.
Two subarctic fens (one nutrient-poor, one nutrient-rich) were sampled from October, 1984 to July, 1985 near Schefferville, northern Quebec. The changes in concentations of chemicals (pH, conductance, Ca, Mg, Na, K, Fe, dissolved organic carbon, P, NH4+-N and N03−-N) dissolved in the peat water were identified during the freeze-thaw cycle. The highest chemical concentrations were in the winter (associated with the ice formation process), followed by the spring-summer, then fall. Four main processes influenced the concentration of dissolved chemicals in subarctic fens: 1) Snowmelt diluted the peat water; 2) Freezing of the peat increased concentrations of dissolved nutrients and other chemicals, believed to originate from biological sources; 3) Further increases in concentrations over the winter were caused by the incorporation of peat water, which migrated into the frozen peat; 4) Thawing of peat influenced the water chemistry by combining the release of the above 3 processes, along with biotic utilization. The freeze-thaw cycle in the subarctic fens appeared to increase the availability of important nutrients (such as phosphorus) during the spring. Skip Nav Destination Research Article\| April 01 1989 Over-Winter Chemistry of Subarctic Fens, Eastern Canada C. M. Kingsbury, T. R. Moore; Over-Winter Chemistry of Subarctic Fens, Eastern Canada. Hydrology Research 1 April 1989; 20 (2): 97–108. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/nh.1989.0008 Download citation file:
What are Mealybugs? Mealybugs are insects in the family Pseudococcidae, unarmored scale insects found in moist, warm habitats. Mealybugs feed on plant juices of flora and also act as a vector for several plant diseases. Mealybug females are oval in top view and are usually covered with a fluffy, white secretion. Sometimes they have a slightly darker line down the back. They feed on plant sap, normally in roots or other crevices, and in a few cases the bottoms of stored fruit. They attach themselves to the plant and secrete a powdery wax layer used for protection while they suck the plant juices. Mealybug males are smaller, gnat-like and have wings. Male do exhibit a radical change during their life cycle, changing from wingless, ovoid nymphs to wasp-like flying adults. The males are short-lived as they do not feed at all as adults and only live to fertilize the females. Lifecycle of Mealybugs - The full lifecycle of a mealybug is 7 – 10 weeks. - 1 – 2 weeks to hatch from egg to nymph and then 6 – 8 weeks from nymphs to fully mature adult. - Male are short lived as they do not feed at all as adults and only live to fertilize the females. Where does Mealybug come from? Mealybugs are common in houseplants and can come from various sources. - Bringing home infected plant from Nursery - Using contaminated potting mix - Travel via wind, specially in summer - Cut flowers from store or your garden - Fresh produce from grocery store The mealybug thrives during the warm months of spring and summer. Control methods of Mealybugs on houseplants - Wash away with water Mealybugs can be dislodged with a steady stream of water. Repeat the treatment as necessary. This is best for light infestations. - Soap water spray Mix the soap in a weak concentration with water (starting a 1 teaspoon per liter and increasing as necessary). Spray on plants. This works perfectly for mildly infected plant. - Neem oil spray Neem oil disrupts the growth and development of pest insects and has repellent and antifeedant properties. Best of all, it’s non-toxic to honey bees and many other beneficial insects. Mix 1 tablespoon / liter of water and spray every 7-14 days, as needed. - Botanical Insecticide spray Derived from plants which have insecticidal properties, these natural pesticides have fewer harmful side effects than synthetic chemicals and break down more quickly in the environment. This method should be used as last resort.
The incidence of Down syndrome in the United States is estimated to be 1 in every 700 live births. That means that of all children born in this country annually, approximately 5,000 will have Down syndrome. There are approximately 250,000 families in the United States affected by Down syndrome. While the likelihood of giving birth to a child with Down syndrome increases with maternal age; nevertheless, 80 percent of babies with Down syndrome are born to women under 35 years of age, as women in that age group give birth to more babies overall. 30–50 percent of the individuals with Down syndrome have heart defects and 8–12 percent have gastrointestinal tract abnormalities present at birth. Most of these defects are now correctable by surgery. Down syndrome is a common genetic variation where an individual has a third copy of their 21st chromosome. This variation usually causes delay in physical, intellectual, and language development. The exact causes of the chromosomal rearrangement and primary prevention of Down syndrome are currently unknown. Down syndrome is one of the leading clinical causes of cognitive delay in the world – it is not related to race, nationality, religion, or socio-economic status. There is wide variation in mental abilities, behavior, and physical development in individuals with Down syndrome. Each individual has his/her own unique personality, capabilities, and talents. Individuals with Down syndrome benefit from loving homes, early intervention, inclusive education, appropriate medical care, and positive public attitudes. In adulthood, many persons with Down syndrome hold jobs, live independently, and enjoy recreational opportunities in their communities.
The word "astigmatism" is from the Greek "stigme", which means a point, and According to eye specialists, almost all the inhabitants of the planet have some degree of astigmatism, but for the majority of people (85%) is characterized by its small size (up to 1 diopter), has no effect on visual acuity. At the same time about 15% of the population in need of correction of astigmatism with special points (or lenses) or surgery. Astigmatism may suffer both adults and children. In most cases, astigmatism is hereditary and is called innate. Acquired astigmatism usually develops What's going on? Astigmatism occurs in the case of irregularly shaped lens optical system of the eye. Most often, the problem is an uneven curvature of the cornea, at least — in the lens. Normally cornea has a spherical shape, that is, its refractive power in the vertical and horizontal planes are the same. In astigmatism refractive power of the cornea to these planes are different, for example, the cornea refracts more vertically than horizontally. As a result, a person sees the objects blurred or distorted regardless of where they are located. Astigmatism is long-sighted, short-sighted and even mix: one axis sighted, on the other — short-sighted. A small degree of astigmatism man simply does not notice. Getting used to see things in a slightly blurred (or extended) form, he does not even know about problems with his vision. Smell a rat astigmatik can only frequent headaches and fatigue increased load on the eye — for example, after If astigmatism left untreated, it can lead to squint and a sharp drop in sight. The diagnosis is established astigmatism eye doctor after examining the patient's visual acuity with special tables and determining the difference in the curvature of the cornea — to this end, using special cylindrical lens. A person suffering from astigmatism prescriptionglasses will contain a mysterious letter: sph (sphere), cyl (cylinder) and ax (axis). Sphere indicates the amount of spherical astigmatism and the cylinder axis, and — the size and orientation. These glasses patients often referred to as "complex", and doctors — cylindrical. To date, there are three ways to correct astigmatism glasses, contact lenses and surgery. Glasses and contact lenses for astigmatism are chosen strictly individually. Cylindrical lenses if necessary, can be combined with lenses for the correction of nearsightedness or farsightedness. Unfortunately, with a high degree of astigmatism glasses tolerated bad: people are beginning to hurt my eyes and feel dizzy. It is important that after the appointment of glasses patients constantly observed by an ophthalmologist for the timely replacement with a stronger or weaker. Glasses and contact lenses do not cure astigmatism, they only correct vision. Completely rid of astigmatism can only use the surgery. In currently used for this purpose: - Keratotomy — the application of non-through cuts in the cornea to reduce refraction enhanced axis. This operation is used for myopic or mixed astigmatism. - Termokeratokoagulyatsiya — cauterization of the peripheral zone of the cornea heated metal needle with the curvature of the cornea is increased, and thus increases its refractive power. The operation is performed for presbyopia correction of astigmatism. - Laser photocoagulation — differs from previous methods in that the metal tip is used instead of the laser beam. - In recent years, for correcting astigmatism has been applied an excimer laser. The therapeutic effect is achieved by evaporation of the excimer laser with the corneal surface layer of predetermined thickness.
- with the hook? - with the introduction? - with the thesis or essay topic sentence? - with the supporting topic sentences? - with the conclusion? The answer is with the thesis / essay topic sentence. But too many students don’t start there. They start with a topic—say Harry Potter books—and then focus on writing a hook to get someone to read their essay about Harry Potter books. When they are writing their hook they have no idea about the precise topic of their essay, just that it has something to do with Harry Potter books. Wrong approach! To impress upon my students how primary the thesis is to an essay, I have them write it on their planner before they plan in detail. Then when they begin to write sentences, I have them skip five or six lines on notebook paper (or on a computer) and write their thesis there, partway down the paper, leaving room to add an introduction later. The thesis is the anchor of the whole paper. I have students box that sentence in color for easy referral. Next, I have the student write the body paragraph topic sentences. This time I ask students to skip ten or more spaces after each body paragraph. Later they can come back and fill in those spaces with details. We read over those topic sentences and check out each one against the thesis. Does the topic sentence support the thesis? If yes, keep it. If no, toss it and write another topic sentence which does. Next, students write the body paragraph sentences with all the details which back up the paragraph’s topic sentence and the thesis. Now that they know what their essay is about they can go back and write the introduction and the conclusion. Think of an essay as a wedding ceremony. What is most important in the ceremony? Is it the music as the bride walks down the aisle? Is it the flowers? Is it the witnesses? The kiss? Of course not. It’s the vows. The vows are just a few words. “I take you, Harry, to be my husband.” “I take you, Meghan, to be my wife.” Those vows are followed by supporting details like “for better or for worse,” and “in sickness and in health.” The vows are like the thesis. “In good times and in bad” and the other details are like the body of the essay. The music is like the introduction and conclusion. And the bride’s beautiful dress is the hook. You can have a wedding without the dress and the music, but you cannot have one without the vows. The vows are where you begin, just as the thesis is where you begin an essay. An essay is a planned, organized piece of writing with one overarching idea expressed in a topic sentence / thesis. Until you know what that thesis is, it makes no sense to write any other sentences because every other sentence must support the thesis.
A day of global reflection for the care of wildlife takes place today in the world, with digital activities aimed at the protection of forests, considered the lungs of the planet. “Forests and livelihoods: sustaining people and preserving the planet”, is the theme of this “World Wildlife Day”, which takes place every March 3rd. On this occasion, the United Nations (UN) encourages citizens to disseminate materials on social networks about endangered species of flora and fauna. They also call for the sharing on experiences of indigenous communities, whose subsistence is based on what forests and wild ecosystems offer. Clear and present danger of extinction According to the 2019 Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, approximately one million animal and plant species currently live in Danger of extinction. The cause has to do fundamentally with a human action that has affected around 75% of the earth’s surface. Activities such as excessive deforestation and desertification add important challenges to the sustainable development of societies, to food security and people’s quality of life. Hence, goal 15 of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda (SDG) proposes to halt the loss of biodiversity, and dates like today deserve maximum attention, governmental and citizen. Transmission of Zoonotic diseases The health of natural ecosystems also impacts on the appearance of zoonotic diseases, which are transmitted from animals to humans. With the frequent invasion of wild spaces, the risk increases that the pathogens of such an environment cause a dangerous scenario for societies. Instituted by the UN Assembly in December 2013, “World Wildlife Day” draws attention on the intrinsic value of wild flora and fauna and their various contributions, as well as concern for environmental crimes such as trafficking in species that threaten the planet’s biodiversity.
What is the underlying reason why harmonics sound good? The harmonic series consists of the fundamental, a frequency twice the fundamental, three times the fundamental, and so on. Doubling the frequency results in a note one octave higher than the fundamental. Tripling the frequency results in an octave and a fifth. Quadruple, two octaves. Quintuple, two octaves and a third. In terms of a piano keyboard you might start start with middle C, the first harmonic is the C above middle C, the G above that, the C two octaves above middle C, then the E above that. The fundamental tone of any instrument usually sounds with a mixture of other frequencies. The piano string is free to vibrate along its full length, like a jump rope, or in halves, thirds, quarters. A single string sounds a series of notes in the harmonic series. Playing notes that match these notes produces a pleasant consonant sound. Notes which differ from those in the harmonic series produce other effects. Understanding why the human ear finds these combinations to be pleasing is a much more complex question. The field of science called acoustics deals with a range of topics from how sound is produced, how it is transmitted through objects and the air, how the design of a room changes the way the sound behaves as it bounces off the walls, how sound is transmitted into the ear to become nerve signals to the brain, and finally the psychology of what meaning the human brain associates with those sounds.
Walking along a beach in Norfolk, England, last May, scientists spotted indents at low tide that had been washed clear of sand by a recent storm. They thought the marks might be animal prints, but on closer inspection discovered something much cooler: nearly million-year-old human footprints—the oldest ones ever found outside of Africa and the earliest evidence of life in northern Europe, reports the Guardian. Scientists think the tracks were made by up to five people, likely a mix of adults and children, somewhere between 800,000 and 900,000 years ago. They are "one of the most important discoveries, if not the most important discovery that has been made on (Britain's) shores," one archaeologist tells the BBC. "It will rewrite our understanding of the early human occupation of Britain and indeed of Europe." The tracks were preserved in the silt and mud of an estuary all this time before being exposed on a stretch of fast-eroding coastline, reports AP. They have since been washed away. As for those ancient travelers—maybe a single family?—they were walking along a river in a valley that might have been teeming with mammoths, hippos, and rhinos. (Read more discoveries stories.)
- Create habitat and increase biodiversity. Planted wetlands attract and provide habitat for water birds, fish, frogs and water bugs. Wetlands also provide important breeding and nursery areas for native fish and frog species. - Provide a natural way to treat and remove pollutants (both large and small) from stormwater before it enters our creeks, rivers and oceans. - Improve flood protection by detaining (holding) water and releasing it slowly. - Cool the local environment - Act as a carbon sink - Create greener urban spaces that improve the attractiveness and amenity of an area - Provide an opportunity for outdoor passive and active recreation in our suburbs, such as bird watching, picnicking, and photography - Improve flood protection - by detaining (holding) water and releasing it slowly - Cool the local environment - Provide the community with education and volunteer programs like Melbourne Water’s Frog Census and Waterwatch - Provide a location for schools and community groups to learn about water sensitive urban design (WSUD) and the benefits of increasing local biodiversity - Have the potential to provide an alternative water supply for irrigation of sports grounds, which saves potable (drinking) water use and allows playing fields to be irrigated during the warmer months - Ensuring all parts of the wetland are well connected to provide access for mosquito predators to all inundated areas of the wetland - Providing areas of permanent open water that provide refuges for mosquito predators (even during long dry periods) - Ensuring wetland water quality is adequate to support of mosquito predators such as water bugs and fish; - Providing a bathymetry (depth of water) that ensures that regular wetting and drying is achieved and water draws down evenly so isolated pools are avoided. - Wetlands in Darebin are well managed and maintained and Council have not received feedback that mosquito populations increase. What is a constructed (artificial) wetland? Constructed (artificial) wetlands are a series of shallow, densely-planted, man-made ponds that help filter stormwater (rainfall runoff from urban surfaces) through physical and biological processes. Wetlands are often described as kidneys of the landscape. Plants found in wetlands help treat (clean) the water by taking up nutrients, which they use to grow. The treated water can then enter back into the stormwater system or be used for irrigation purposes. The potential constructed wetland at Dole Reserve will help treat stormwater flowing to Edgars Creek. What are the key elements of the potential wetland? The potential wetland system at Dole Reserve includes: 1. Stormwater from a below ground drain diverted through a pump system to the wetland for treatment. 2. Transfer of cleaned (treated) water back into the stormwater system which flows to the Edgars Creek. 3. Tree planting and landscape improvement works. 4. All aspects of open water storage are designed to the Melbourne Water Guidelines' water safety requirements. In the long-term, there is potential for connection into the irrigation system for both Donath and Dole reserve sporting fields, providing irrigation to at least 7 of the 9 ovals and reducing potable water use. What are the environmental benefits of the potential wetland system? Wetlands provide a number of benefits for the environment. They help to: What are the community benefits of the potential wetland system? Wetlands provide a number of benefits and add value for the community. They help to: What are the safety features of the potential wetland? The potential wetland will be designed to Melbourne Water standards, including three metre vegetated batters at the edge of the wetland. These batters ensure water gradually gets deeper and deeper over three metres, with dense, vegetation along the edges to prevent entry. While these plants are establishing (growing), a temporary fence will border the wetland to ensure entry is restricted. Will the potential wetland increase mosquito populations in the area or emit any odour? The potential wetland will be designed to Melbourne Water standards to avoid increased mosquito populations and odour. Mosquitos are a natural component of wetland fauna and the construction of any water body will create a habitat suitable for mosquito breeding and growth. However, a healthy, well vegetated wetland will have a balanced ecosystem and have predators that control mosquito populations. Council will address the risk of mosquito breeding through: When is it likely the wetland project will be implemented? Council is talking to you to help us understand your thoughts on the design of the potential wetland. The information and feedback you give during this community consultation process will help us to plan what a potential wetland could look like. Any potential wetland construction will be subject to available funding in future years.
For many people around the world the ability to see the Aurora Borealis or Aurora Australis is a rare treat. Unless you live north of 60° latitude (or south of -60°), or who have made the trip to tip of Chile or the Arctic Circle at least once in their lives, these fantastic light shows are something you’ve likely only read about or seen a video of. But on occasion, the “northern” and “southern lights” have reached beyond the Arctic and Antarctic Circles and dazzled people with their stunning luminescence. But what exactly are they? To put it simply, auroras are natural light displays that take place in the night sky, particularly in the Polar Regions, and which are the result of interaction in the ionosphere between the sun’s rays and Earth’s magnetic field. Basically, solar wind is periodically launched by the sun which contains clouds of plasma, charged particles that include electrons and positive ions. When they reach the Earth, they interact with the Earth’s magnetic field, which excites oxygen and nitrogen in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. During this process, ionized nitrogen atoms regain an electron, and oxygen and nitrogen atoms return from an excited state to ground state. Excitation energy is lost by the emission of a photon of light, or by collision with another atom or molecule. Different gases produce different colors of light – light emissions coming from oxygen atoms as they interact with solar radiation appear green or brownish-red, while the interaction of nitrogen atoms cause light to be emitted that appears blue or red. This dancing display of colors is what gives the Aurora its renowned beauty and sense of mystery. In northern latitudes, the effect is known as the Aurora Borealis, named after the Roman Goddess of the dawn (Aurora) and the Greek name for the north wind (Boreas). It was the French scientist Pierre Gassendi who gave them this name after first seeing them in 1621. In the southern latitudes, it is known as Aurora Australis, Australis being the Latin word for “of the south”. Auroras seen near the magnetic pole may be high overhead, but from farther away, they illuminate the northern horizon as a greenish glow or sometimes a faint red. The auroras are usually best seen in the Arctic and Antarctic because that is the location of the poles of the Earth’s magnetic field. Names and Cultural Significance: The northern lights have had a number of names throughout history and a great deal of significance to a number of cultures. The Cree call this phenomenon the “Dance of the Spirits”, believing that the effect signaled the return of their ancestors. To the Inuit, it was believed that the spirits were those of animals. Some even believed that as the auroras danced closer to those who were watching them, that they would be enveloped and taken away to the heavens. In Europe, in the Middle Ages, the auroras were commonly believed to be a sign from God. According to the Norwegian chronicle Konungs Skuggsjá (ca. 1230 CE), the first encounter of the norðrljós (Old Norse for “northern light”) amongst the Norsemen came from Vikings returning from Greenland. The chronicler gives three possible explanations for this phenomena, which included the ocean being surrounded by vast fires, that the sun flares reached around the world to its night side, or that the glaciers could store energy so that they eventually glowed a fluorescent color. Auroras on Other Planets: However, Earth is not the only planet in the Solar System that experiences this phenomena. They have been spotted on other Solar planets, and are most visible closer to the poles due to the longer periods of darkness and the magnetic field. For example. the Hubble Space Telescope has observed auroras on both Jupiter and Saturn – both of which have magnetic fields much stronger than Earth’s and extensive radiation belts. Uranus and Neptune have also been observed to have auroras which, same as Earth, appear to be powered by solar wind. Auroras also have been observed on the surfaces of Io, Europa, and Ganymede using the Hubble Space Telescope, not to mention Venus and Mars. Because Venus has no planetary magnetic field, Venusian auroras appear as bright and diffuse patches of varying shape and intensity, sometimes distributed across the full planetary disc. An aurora was also detected on Mars on August 14th, 2004, by the SPICAM instrument aboard Mars Express. This aurora was located at Terra Cimmeria, in the region of 177° East, 52° South, and was estimated to be quite sizable – 30 km across and 8 km high (18.5 miles across and 5 miles high). Though Mars has little magnetosphere to speak of, scientists determined that the region of the emissions corresponded to an area where the strongest magnetic field is localized on the planet. This they concluded by analyzing a map of crustal magnetic anomalies compiled with data from Mars Global Surveyor. More recently, an aurora was observed on Mars by the MAVEN mission, which captured images of the event on March 17th, 2015, just a day after an aurora was observed here on Earth. Nicknamed Mars’ “Christmas lights”, they were observed across the planet’s mid-northern latitudes and (owing to the lack of oxygen and nitrogen in Mars’ atmosphere) were likely a faint glow compared to Earth’s more vibrant display. In short, it seems that auroras are destined to happen wherever solar winds and magnetic fields coincide. But somehow, knowing this does not make them any less impressive, or diminish the power they have to inspire wonder and amazement in all those that behold them. We have written many articles about Aurorae here at Universe Today. Here’s What is the Aurora Borealis?, What is the Aurora Australis?, What Causes an Aurora?, Your Guide to When, Where, and How to see the Aurora Borealis, Northern and Southern Lights are Siblings, not Twins. We’ve also recorded an episode of Astronomy Cast all about Aurora. Listen here, Episode 163: Auroras.
A new study, conducted by scientists from the University of Sheffield and led by Professor Grant Bigg, has added to the growing body of research focusing on global warming and the carbon cycle. According to the findings, the storage of up to 20% of the carbon in the Southern Ocean is due to huge icebergs. The paper is published in Nature Geoscience. Carbon is locked into the sea – carbon sequestration – thanks to a combination of biological and chemical processes in which phytoplankton growth plays a critical role. These organisms use up carbon dioxide, thereby sequestrating carbon on a long-term basis, thus slowing down global warming. The Southern Ocean is an important component in the global carbon cycle: it accounts for around 10 % of the ocean’s total carbon storage. The team from University of Sheffield has found giant icebergs melting into iron- and nutrient-rich water that boosts the growth of the phytoplankton. They made their discovery when analysing ocean colour through satellite images of huge icebergs (at least 18 km in length) situated in the Southern Ocean to find indications of the production of phytoplankton. The scientists observed great phytoplankton productivity (at unusually high levels) at locations hundreds of kilometres from the icebergs. Furthermore, these activities would last for at least one month following the passage of the iceberg. Professor Bigg, therefore, concluded that giant icebergs might have a major role in the carbon cycle pertaining to the Southern Ocean. It was previously suggested that icebergs would account for ocean fertilisation, contributing only to a small extent to the uptake of carbon in the form of carbon dioxide by phytoplankton. But, the new research shows that melting icebergs lead to as much as 20% of carbon locked into the Southern Ocean. Therefore, giant icebergs might slow down global warming to a greater extent than would have been thought.
What are the cockroaches? The Cockroaches belong to the order Blattodea. Blattodea is an order of insects that contains cockroaches and termites. Formerly, the termites were considered a separate order, Isoptera, but genetic and molecular evidence suggests an intimate relationship with the cockroaches, both cockroaches, and termites having evolved from a common ancestor. How many species of cockroaches are there? There are total 4600 species of the cockroach. Out of 4600 total species of cockroach 30 species belong to human habitats and 4 species are considered as pests. How long have cockroaches been around? The cockroaches belong to an ancient group, some 320 million years back. Scientific classification of the cockroaches reveals that they belong to Animalia kingdom, Arthropoda phylum, Insecta class, Dictyoptera superorder and Blattodea order. The scientific name and biological name of cockroach are usually same and depend upon the species of the cockroach. The scientific name of Indian cockroach refers to a scientific name of all those species of cockroach that are found in India. Special adaptations such as sucking mouthparts of aphids and other true bugs are not present in the cockroaches. They fall in the generalized category of insects. How many legs cockroach have? Like all other insects, cockroaches have 6 legs. What is the lifespan of a cockroach? The lifespan of cockroach generally depends upon the species of cockroach we are talking about. The average lifespan of cockroach varies from species to species. The cockroaches can sustain a wide variety of environments whether is arctic cold or tropical heat. The cockroaches are considered as the hardiest insects and are much bigger in size as compared to temperate species. Adaptability to a variety of environment is one of the important characteristics of a cockroach. Varieties of species of the cockroach live in a wide variety of habitats around the world and are inoffensive, still, the cockroaches are represented as dirty pests. Generally, the cockroaches are of the size of a thumbnail, except some species which are bigger in size. Australian cockroaches are known as ‘Macropanesthia rhinoceros’ is the world’s heaviest cockroach. The length of this Australian cockroach can be up to 9 cm and 30 g or more in its weight. Cockroach size depends upon the species to which it belongs. Some of the species of the cockroach can have an extensive social structure which includes common shelter, social dependence, and kin recognition etc. one such species of the cockroach is German cockroach. Where do cockroaches hide? The cockroaches live in a variety of places such as leaf litters, stems of matted vegetation, rotting wood, holes in stumps, and cavities under bark, under log piles and in debris. Some species of the cockroaches can even survive without water and some live only under water. Cockroach in the bathroom, cockroaches in the kitchen, baby roaches in the kitchen, baby roaches in the bathroom, cockroach in drains and seeing cockroach eggs at places are also signs of cockroach infestation. Human being breathes through lungs, bur cockroach has no such organ provided to them. Cockroaches have tubes connected with their spirals. Cockroach breathes through these tubes. Spirals allow air to the body of the cockroach. Thus we can also say cockroach breathe through spirals. Cockroach reproduction takes place through a process called cockroach mating. The process of cockroach mating depends on the type of species and its duration varies from species to species. Examples of household cockroach are German cockroach, American cockroach, Australian cockroach and oriental cockroach. German cockroach, brown-banded cockroach, oriental cockroach and American cockroach falls under the pest species of the cockroach. What do cockroaches eat? - Cockroaches can almost eat everything find and are not choosy in eating foodstuff. - The cockroach can be omnivorous as they feed on both plants and animals. - Whatever they find littered on the floor or in your kitchen can be the food of cockroach. - Most of the cockroaches prefer eating sugary food items, food containing lot of starch and things made up of glue. - Fermented food items are also most chosen food stuff among some species of cockroach. - The cockroach also feed on garbage, dead skin of animals and decaying material. - Some cockroach also bites human beings, although their bites are usually harmless and cause only a red mark on skin. Sometimes may cause allergy or irritation to people with sensitive skin. - In great scarcity of food, some species of cockroach even eat their own young cockroach. - Due to their selection of food items, the cockroach is also known as omnivorous scavengers. Do cockroaches fly? - Although majority of species of the cockroach has wings, but not all cockroaches can fly. - The main reason behind this can be their heavy bodies. - Some cockroaches can fly over shorter distances. - Some species of the cockroach use wings to glide from one distance to another rather using them for flying. - Cockroaches generally fly when they get highly disturbed while in other cases they chose to run. - American cockroach is one such species of cockroach that can fly but only for short distances. - Asian cockroach, smoky brown cockroach and wood cockroach are capable of flying. - Cuban cockroach is another category of the cockroach that can fly. Some common questions: How long can a cockroach live without food? - The cockroach can live without food for around 1 month. - The cockroach can live without water for 1 week. How long can a cockroach live without its head? - The Cockroach can survive without its head for 1 week. - Cockroach breathes through spirals so they do not require had fo breathing, thus can survive for 1 week without it. Can cockroaches jump? - Yes, some species of cockroaches can jump. - They use their wings to jump. - Can cockroaches swim? Can cockroaches swim? - Yes, some species of cockroach can swim. - When underwater, cockroach can survive by holding their breath for 40 min. Do cockroaches smell? - Yes, cockroaches also smell. - This smell can be taken as signs of cockroach infestation in house. Types of cockroaches As stated earlier, there are 4600 species of the cockroach. Some of the most common seen categories of the cockroach are as follows: - German cockroach - German cockroaches are light brown in color, and can not cooperate with cold temperature. - American cockroach - American cockroaches are reddish brown in color, are found in sewer and drains. - Oriental cockroach - Oriental cockroaches are shiny and dark in color and enters the house through drain pipes and sewers. - Brown-banded cockroach - Brown banded are found in the United States and lives in warm water. Sea cockroach, lobster cockroach, Brazilian cockroach, smoky brown cockroach, Cuban cockroach are some other types of cockroaches that can be found. The scientific name of German cockroach is Blattella germanica. German cockroach belongs to Animalia kingdom, Arthropoda phylum, Insecta class, Blattodea order, and Ectobiddae family with Blattella as genus. German cockroach is 1.1 to 1.6 cm in length and is usually found in tan or black color. German cockroach has streaks on the pronotum which runs between the head and the base of the wing. German cockroach glides when gets disturbed and rarely fly. Can German cockroaches fly? German cockroach is generally mistaken as Asian cockroach as both have similar appearance. The difference between German cockroach and Asian cockroach is that Asian cockroach can fly but German cockroach cannot fly. German cockroach cannot handle cold temperature and are generally found in houses of human, restaurants, areas where food is processed, hotels and even sometimes in nursing homes. It is the most common cockroach found in households. Evidences reveal that German cockroaches were first seen in Southeast Asia. German cockroach is believed to exist over 300 million years. German cockroaches are also known as Russian roach in Germany. German cockroach falls under the category of omnivorous scavengers as they depend on meat, starch, sugar and fatty foods for their diet. German cockroach even eats items like soap, glue and toothpaste when they are unable to find proper food. German cockroach becomes cannibalistic which means they eat each other’s wings and legs under famine conditions. German cockroach usually works during night when they search for food, water and mates. German cockroach stays in cracks and in dark areas during daytime under warm and humid temperature. One of the major difficulties in controlling German cockroach is because they reproduce very fast. German cockroach produces eggs very fast. German cockroach eggs grows from egg to adult in 50-60 days. German roaches baby run as fast as adult German cockroach. Another reason of being unable to control the growth of German cockroach is that because of their small size they can successfully hide in cracks and crevices which makes human unable to locate and kill them. German cockroach has elaborated social structure. German cockroach Lifecycle The lifespan of German cockroach lifecycle is usually around 200 days. German cockroach lifecycle comprises of 3 stages and is generally for 100 days. The first stage of the German cockroach lifecycle is Egg. The second stage of the German cockroach lifecycle is nymph and the third, the final one is adult German cockroach. Initially, two rows of eggs of light brown color and purse shaped egg capsule are developed in females. The covering is known as Oothecae. The egg capsule generally contains 30 to 48 eggs at a time. Generally, 4-8 egg capsules are produced by adult female German cockroach during their lifetime. The second stage of the lifecycle of German cockroach comprises of nymphs generating as tiny insects from Oothecae. The eggs capsules are carried by a female German cockroach until they hatch. Generally, 28 days are required for hatching. 20-30 weeks is usually the lifespan of an adult female German cockroach during which 10000 descendants can be produced. Damage caused by German cockroach The odorous secretion made by the German cockroach can deteriorate the flavor of various food items. This odorous secretion secreted by a large population of German cockroach can even cause characteristic odor in the region of infestation. The bodies of German cockroach contains a huge variety of viruses, bacteria and Protozoan’s which in turn may cause serious issues to human inhabitants of that region. Ways to kill/control German cockroach Following are some of the ways through which population of German cockroach can be controlled or degraded in a region. A detailed inspection is required for controlling the existence of German cockroach. Cockroach survey is essential to reveal all cockroach foraging areas and the extent of the infestation. Placing different cockroach trap at specific locations could prove beneficial. For effective control placing cockroach trap at appropriate places is beneficial as well as necessary. Sanitation in household and working place is the most important and effective way to prevent the existence of German cockroach. Cleaning of spilled foodstuff on the floor, cleaning of dirty dishes in the night only, storing food items such as cookies, crackers, sweet items in airtight containers, disposing of garbage in a proper way on daily basis are some ways to maintain sanitation. Repairing of cracks and holes in walls, areas where pipe passes are some necessary recommendations to control the existence of German cockroach. It is one of the most common ways of controlling the German cockroach. Using gel baits is an effective way of eliminating German cockroach and mostly results in a dead cockroach. Gel baits are applied along the door sides, drainpipes of kitchen, cracks, and crevices in wall and furniture etc to prevent German cockroach in these areas. Baiting station is another way to kill German cockroach. Baiting station comprises of the house like structure made with plastic containing poison. German cockroach enters the house like structure through holes to eat the poisonous bait. The baiting stations can be placed in suspected areas of the existence of German cockroach in-house and work areas. Use of sticky cockroach trap which contains pheromones is another way to kill German cockroach. These kinds of cockroach trap attract German cockroach, on entering which the cockroach dies because of suffocation. Use of chemicals such as Boric acid Applying thin layers of such chemicals is also an effective way to kill German cockroach. Applying thick layers of boric acid may be detected by the German cockroach, so thin layer is preferred. The chemicals can be spread in cracks in walls, corners, broken furniture etc as these places tend to have German cockroach. The scientific name of palmetto bug is Eurycotis floridana. Palmetto bug belongs to Animalia kingdom, Arthropoda phylum, Insecta class, Blattodea order, and Blattidae family with Eurycotis as a genus. Palmetto bug is 30 to 40 mm in length and is similar to female oriental cockroach in its appearance and is often mistaken for its identity. Palmetto bug is also known as Florida woods cockroach, Florida sunk roach, Florida stinks roach, skunk roach, stinking cockroach, and stink roach. Palmetto bug on being disturbed release foul smell which can spread up to 1 m. Palmetto bug is a virus spreading bug containing lots of bacteria within it. The speed of palmetto bug is much slower than that of other species of the cockroach. Palmetto bug usually lives in damp locations, under moist temperature. Palmetto bug is found in Florida and West Indies. It is rarely found in households and do not falls under the category of household pests. Palmetto bug cannot tolerate cold climate, thus lives in war climate places such as wells, leaf litter, holes in the tree, under bushes, wooded area etc. Palmetto usually hides under the palm tree. Palmetto bug is blackish brown or reddish color in its appearance with short forewings and absent hind wings. The foul smell generated by palmetto bug can cause irritation to human eyes, this is harmful. What do palmetto bugs eat? Palmetto bug feed on meat and plants, thus sometimes may bite humans in the shortage of food. Except for a red mark, palmetto bug bite has no adverse effect on human beings. Palmetto bugs can even live without food and water for 2-3 months. Palmetto bug causes digestive diseases to humans, and some humans are allergic to the mere existence of palmetto bugs or any type of cockroach. Palmetto bug is active at night and moves around in groups. Both male and female palmetto bug have wings and can fly over short distances as well as the palmetto bug can glide from the top of a building to the bottom. Palmetto bug lives for a year. 6-12 months are required by a nymph to be an adult palmetto bug. Areas with palmetto bug droppings, foul smell, shredded skin all over chew marks on things made up of glue indicate that there is palmetto bug infestation in that area. Ways to kill/control Palmetto Bug Following are some of the ways through which population of palmetto bug can be controlled or degraded in a region. Water attracts palmetto bug more than the foodstuff. It one of the major causes of cockroaches existence. Repair any leakage of water pipes in the washroom, kitchens to prevent the existence of the palmetto bug. Cracks and crevices are the most popular location where palmetto bug resides. Repairing such cracks and crevices with copper mesh or wood could help to prevent palmetto bug residing in them. Boric acid is all time famous for killing the palmetto bug and any other type of cockroach. It can kill both the ways externally as well as when ingested. Roach motel, a cockroach trap proves to be an effective way to kill the palmetto bug. Diatomaceous Earth is a less toxic way to kill the palmetto bug. When palmetto bug walks over the powder, its crystals scratch away their feet because of which they dehydrate and as a result die. How to get rid of roaches? If the cockroach makes a place in your house, it is quite difficult to clean the house and kill all of them. First, identify cockroach and collect information about the cockroach, about its type mainly. Also, identify the intensity of cockroach infestation. There are various ways that answer the question how to get rid of roaches? As well as How to catch a cockroach? Some of them are as follows: - Prevent the cockroach from accessing water by eliminating all sources of water. Most of the species can survive without water but only for one week. Lack of water will make the go out to in search of water and will reduce the strength of roaches in house. - Maintaining sanitation in-house is the most effective way to prevent the existence of the roaches in house. Cockroach prevention is better than first letting them in and then killing them. Keeping all the foodstuff protected and in proper containers helps to prevent the cockroach from being attracted to your house. - Dispose of the garbage generated daily in a proper way without littering it around will help to reduce the population of roaches in house. - Using baiting mechanism to prevent the cockroach from entering the house, or killing the cockroach is an effective cockroach killer. - Insecticides also prove to be a good alternative to kill the cockroach. It could be powdered insecticide or insecticide cockroach spray or even in liquid form. It is a great example of a cockroach repellent. Seeking professional help is another alternative for killing the cockroach as they are specialists in dealing with cockroaches. - Sealing the entry points through which the cockroach seek-in can also prevent the existence of the roaches in-house and work areas. - Making the cockroach intake bleach through bait or making them drown in bleach also works well in killing the cockroach. Bleach is a great cockroach killer. - Using home remedies such as a mixture of baking soda and sugar, fabric softener, bay leaves along with mortar and pestle, lemon juice, coffee can help to get rid of cockroaches. - Boric acid is the famous roach killer. Using cockroach spray of boric acid is a good alternative to kill the cockroach. It is the most used way to get rid of cockroaches. Baby cockroach is smaller in size than adult cockroaches. Baby cockroach is also sometimes known as a nymph or juvenile cockroach. Baby cockroach posses only some features of adult cockroach and are not completely developed. In other words, baby cockroach is an immature version of the cockroach which just hatched from the egg. Do baby cockroaches fly? Well, wings are absent in baby cockroach, thus they cannot fly. That’s one way of identifying that it is a baby cockroach. Baby cockroach is believed to be a sign of infestation where they are seen. Small cockroaches in kitchen can also be categorized as baby cockroach. Nymphs which have just come out of eggs are also known as white cockroach. Baby cockroach shows that the cockroaches are breeding somewhere nearby. Baby cockroach is light in color and 3 mm in length in appearance. Baby German roaches are usually dark in color. Baby cockroach live in areas where they find warmth, shelter, and food. They usually live near the breeding area only until they develop into an adult. Baby cockroach passes through multiple stages of molting in which it is necessary for them to shed their outer shells. Baby cockroach shed their outer shell multiple times and takes almost 2-3 months to develop into an adult completely. An instar is a period between each molt. Each baby cockroach passes through 6-7 instars to develop completely into an adult. Similar to an adult cockroach, even baby cockroach can cause a lot of diseases by spreading hazardous viruses. People with allergic issues are more prone to get affected by baby cockroach. Baby cockroach which has just hatched from the egg can run as faster as an adult cockroach can. Getting rid of baby cockroach is an important issue as they will grow and will reproduce to generate more such cockroaches in that area. How to kill a baby cockroach? Following are some of the measures to be taken to kill baby cockroach: - Make your home a no more pleasant place for baby cockroach by repairing all holes and cracks in your house. These are the places where a majority of baby cockroach live and develop into an adult cockroach. - Availability of water makes baby cockroach stay at those places. Restrict the baby cockroach from accessing water by repairing and covering all leaking pipelines in kitchens, bathrooms, near the walls etc. baby cockroach can live without water only for a limited period of time and after that, they either leave that place or die. - Properly cover food items in proper containers, prevent littering of food all around the floor, and clean dirty dishes in the night only. Preventing baby cockroach from accessing foodstuff will make baby cockroach leave that place or will no longer attract them. - Using Insect Growth Regulator does not kill baby cockroach immediately but will halt their breeding process. No more baby cockroach can be produced in that area. Insect Growth Regulators are popular for stopping the development process of baby cockroach into an adult cockroach. - Borax powder is a good alternative to kill baby cockroach. It kills baby cockroach by drying their exoskeleton. This causes baby cockroach to dehydrate and die. - Boric acid is always an effective method to kill roaches of any type including baby cockroach. - Taking professional help is a safer alternative to wipe out baby cockroach population form your house. These professionals are experienced and the best at their job. They exactly know what measure to take and how to follow that method to kill baby cockroach or any other type of the cockroach. - Using natural repellents such as nepetalactone is a poison-free alternative to kill baby cockroach. This repellent can be obtained from catnip, Osage orange oil and from various other sources as well. - Soap water is a home remedy to kill baby cockroach. Making them access to soap water will block their pores due to which baby cockroach will suffocate and die. Flying cockroach is usually seen in warm temperature. Flying cockroach is seen when they are out in search of food and water when they face the shortage of both in the area they live. The muscles of flying cockroach control their wings by making loosening them up during hot temperatures which makes them easy to fly. Flying cockroach carries lots of disease and viruses as they sit on garbage and dirty areas. Thus the presence of a flying cockroach in your house or near your building may spread diseases in that area. Many species of flying cockroach gets attracted to light, thus they fly near light sources. One such example is the male American cockroach. Very rare of species of cockroaches’ falls under the category of flying cockroach. Not all species fly. Most of them crawl and some use their wings to glide. The strongest flying cockroach is male Pennsylvania wood cockroach. Another flying cockroach which falls under this category is the smoky brown cockroach. Australian cockroach, Asian cockroach, and Cuban cockroach also fall under the category of flying cockroach but they mostly do not fly. The major reason for less population of flying cockroach is their size. Flying cockroach tends to have heavy body mass and their wings are not comfortable to speed. As compared to insects, the cockroach is treated as big creatures. Thus they prefer their legs rather than their wings. The major disadvantage of flying cockroach is that they can easily contaminate food items and water in the area they fly. This may cause serious health issues to people living in those areas. Flying cockroach can also live in holes, cracks, and crevices and are most attracted to heat and moisture. The major advantage of a flying cockroach has that their infestation is not noticed for longer periods of time. When flying cockroach increases in population, then only they get noticed when they fly. Brown banded cockroach The scientific name of brown banded cockroach is Supella longipalpa. Brown banded cockroach belongs to Animalia kingdom, Euarthropoda clade, Insecta class, Blattodea order, and Ectobiddae family with Supella as a genus. Brown banded cockroach is the most famous cockroach of this Supella genus. Brown banded cockroach is 10 to 14 mm in length and is usually found in tan or light brown color. Brown banded cockroach has 2 light colored noticeable bands over its wings and abdomen. Sometimes brown banded cockroach is simply called the brown cockroach. On male brown banded cockroach, these bands cover the entire abdomen, whereas on female brown banded cockroach these bands do not cover the entire abdomen. The male brown banded cockroach is slender in appearance, whereas the female brown banded cockroach is wider in appearance. Brown banded cockroach can survive in less moisture environment, thus are mostly found in northeastern, southern and Midwest regions of United States. They are more likely to be found in living rooms and bedrooms in houses. In restaurants, brown banded cockroach rarely exists. Brown banded cockroach avoid direct contact with light, hence they are most active during the night, not in the daytime. Brown banded cockroach falls under the category of pest species of cockroach. Warm, less moist locations attract brown-banded cockroach the most. Such places can be like near refrigerators in households, pantries, drawers etc. controlling brown-banded cockroach is a difficult task because measures of killing applicable to other species of the cockroach are not much effective in killing a brown-banded cockroach. Brown-banded cockroach feed on glucose mostly. A brown-banded cockroach can even eat materials containing glue such as stamps, wallpapers, envelopes etc. brown-banded cockroach even eats sheds of skin and body oils. Brown banded cockroach is so named because of the bands on their body. Ways to control brown-banded cockroach - Use the vacuum cleaner to remove the tiniest dirt particles from each and every corner of your house. As a result, there would be no dirt and littered food on the ground. Thus it will prevent the brown banded cockroach to be attracted to your house. - Keep kitchen, pantries and all other locations where food items are kept neat and clean. So that there is no availability of food for brown banded cockroach to eat and survive at those locations. - Dispose of garbage in a proper and hygienic way so that it doesn’t litter around and attract brown banded cockroach. Throwing garbage out of your house in a proper place will prevent attracting brown banded cockroach. - Repair all holes, cracks, and leakage points on walls and furniture as these are the locations where brown banded cockroach are most likely to be found. Covering all these holes and cracks will prevent brown banded cockroach from entering the house and buildings. - Using cockroach repellant also results in a dead cockroach. The lifecycle of brown banded cockroach Like all other species of the cockroach lifecycle of brown banded cockroach all consists of three stages. The first stage of the lifecycle of a brown banded cockroach is termed as an egg. Female brown banded cockroach carries the egg capsule for 30 hours before eggs are laid in a protected area. A female brown banded cockroach during her entire adulthood can produce 14 egg capsules. Each egg capsule of female brown banded cockroach can contain 13 eggs on an average. The egg stage of the lifecycle of brown banded cockroach lasts for 37-103 days. The second stage of the lifecycle of brown banded cockroach is termed nymph. This stage usually lasts for 8- 31 weeks. The third stage of the lifecycle of brown banded cockroach one is termed, adult. The total lifespan of a female adult brown banded cockroach is 13-45 weeks during which a female adult brown banded cockroach can produce 600 descendents every year. The scientific name of American cockroach is Periplaneta Americana. Brown banded cockroach belongs to Animalia kingdom, Arthropoda phylum, Insecta class, Blattodea order, and Blattidae family with Periplaneta as a genus. American cockroach falls under the category of pest species of the cockroach. The American cockroach is known by multiple names such as waterbug, ship cockroach, and Bombay canary. It is often mistaken for its identity with the palmetto bug but is quite different from it. Although the American cockroach is known as waterbug but is actually it is not really a waterbug because it is not aquatic. Though they are known as American cockroach their native place is Africa and the Middle East. American cockroach was introduced to America after the 17th Century AD. The American cockroach is 4 cm in length and 7 mm in height. The American cockroach is found in reddish brown color with pronotum containing yellowish margin on it. The pronotum is the region behind the head of the cockroach. The body of the American cockroach is divided into three sections. American cockroach has an oval and flattened body. The head of the American cockroach is covered with Pronotum. The third section of the American cockroach body is called as Abdomen. This is the place of the body where a female American cockroach carries baby American cockroach. The body of American cockroach like all other cockroach has mouthparts, antenna, forewings and hind wings. The American cockroach is considered to be the fastest running insect among its species, approximately at a speed of 5.4 km/h which is almost equivalent to human being running at 330 km/h. American cockroach has a lifecycle of 600 days, during which a female American cockroach can produce 150 young American cockroaches. American cockroach can even reproduce through facultative parthenogenesis. After Locusta migratoria, the genome of American cockroach is the 2nd largest genome on record. American cockroach falls under the category of Omnivorous insects and feeds on foodstuff such as bakery products, cheese, leather, starch content of books, dead animals, dried skin etc. fermenting food is at the top of the list of the foodstuff consumed by American cockroach. Availability of water allows American cockroach to live in dry regions, otherwise, American cockroach prefers to live in moist regions. American cockroach cannot handle low temperature thus choose to stay under high temperature. During warm weather American cockroach move outdoors like in yards, otherwise, they choose to stay in holes and cracks, under basements, residential areas etc. 20-29 degree Celsius is the preferred temperature under which American cockroach can live without any problems. American cockroach produces odorous secretions which are dangerous and may contaminate food consumed by humans which turn may affect their health. The lifespan of American cockroach is 90-706 days and yes, American cockroach can fly. What are the signs of American cockroach Infestation? Following some signs indicate the existence of an American cockroach in your house: - American cockroach secretes odorous secretions which have a musty smell. Human beings with a sensitive nose can smell and identify the existence of an American cockroach in their house. - If there is an existence of a large population of American cockroach then they can be seen running to dark places in the house. - In dark areas where American cockroach lives, they leave droppings there which is a sign of infestation. - The egg capsules of American cockroach can also be seen near foodstuff. Does American cockroach bite? The American cockroach is Omnivorous and eats plants and animals both. Yes, American cockroach can bite human beings. American cockroach usually bites on fingernails, eyelashes, hands of human beings. The bite of American cockroach can result into allergies, irritation and even swell on bitten areas. Diseases and viruses carried by American cockroach can also penetrate in the human body through these bites. The scientific name of hissing cockroach is Gromphadorhina portentosa. Hissing cockroach belongs to Animalia kingdom, Arthropoda phylum, Insecta class, Blattodea order, Blaberidae family, Oxyhaloinae sub-family, Gromphadorhinini tribe and Gromphadorhina genus. Hissing cockroach has multiple names like Madagascar hissing cockroach, Hisser, and African cockroach. Hissing cockroach is 2-3 inches in length and is the largest cockroach among its species. Hissing cockroach has an oval-shaped body with brown color and has no wings. Hissing cockroach has one pair of antennas. It is the biggest cockroach of its species. Hissing cockroach is inhabitants of their native land Madagascar in African mainland and generally lives under rotting logs. Hissing cockroach does not possess wings and is considered to be a great climber. Male hissing cockroach can be easily differentiated from female hissing cockroach as male hissing cockroach possess thicker antennas and horns on the pronotum as compared to female hissing cockroach. Female hissing cockroach carries the Ootheca inside her body and releases nymphs only when they are completely developed under female hissing cockroach. Hissing cockroach are so named because they produce a hissing sound which may be used as assign to intimidate other hissing cockroach or especially by male hissing cockroach to attract female hissing cockroach. The hissing sound produced by the hissing cockroach can be divided into 3 major categories which are disturbance hiss, female-attracting hiss, and aggressive fighting hiss. The aggressive fighting hiss and female-attracting hiss is only used by the male hissing cockroach. Hissing cockroaches are kept as pets and are kept under warm areas as they avoid light. Hissing cockroach also recycles nutrients into an ecosystem and has a lifespan of 2-5 years. Hissing cockroach can be a good pet cockroach. The hissing sound produced by the hissing cockroach is a way of communication used by hissing cockroach among there species. This hissing sound is produced when they exhale out air through their respiratory organs. The scientific name of the oriental cockroach is Blatta orientalis. Oriental cockroach belongs to Animalia kingdom, Arthropoda phylum, Insecta class, Blattodea order, Blattidae family, Blatta genus. A male oriental cockroach is 18-29 mm in length and female oriental cockroach is 20-27 mm in length. An oriental cockroach has dark brown or black color with a glossy body. A female oriental cockroach has non-functional wings and sometimes appears to be wingless at first look. A male oriental cockroach has a narrow body whereas female oriental cockroach has a wider body. A female oriental cockroach is often mistaken for its identity as that of Florida wood cockroach. Both male oriental cockroach and female oriental cockroach cannot fly. Oriental cockroach is mostly found in damp locations like sewers, drains, pipelines, bushes etc. oriental cockroach prefers high humidity places, 20 and 29 degree Celsius is considered as ideal temperature for oriental cockroach to live in. The lifespan of oriental cockroach is usually 1 – 1.5 years and 6-12 months are required for oriental cockroach nymphs to develop. Oriental cockroach feeds on decaying matter and is mostly seen feeding on garbage and left out a content of empty tins thrown in the dustbin. They are also known as a black beetle, or black cockroach because of its color of the body.
Throughout the evolution of hominids, (the family of primates that humans belong to) there has been a close connection with fire. Hominids must have learned to manage fire very early in our history; most probably from natural sources, such lightning strikes and naturally occurring forest fires. It was much later that Hominids invented processes for fire lighting. Fire throughout time Hominids (genus Homo) appeared in Eastern Africa about 2.5 million years ago and fire has been linked closely with many stages of evolution. It is thought that the ability to cook food led to the rise of homo erectus from its more primitive forebearers. Cooked food supplies much more energy than raw food and appears to create a delay in food consumption. This may have given time to develop social skills, such as sitting around the campfire. Cooked food also detoxifies potentially harmful bacteria. This led to an increase in diversity of food available. It is thought that the use of fire to cook food led to the evolution of large brains. These factors are thought to have prompted the evolution of large brains and bodies, small teeth, modern limb proportions and other human traits, including many social aspects of human-associated behaviour (Wrangham et al. 1999). Indeed, by softening food, fire could have had a large effect on extending the human life span beyond the age of good-quality teeth. This may have been very significant in social organization, including the “grandmother” hypothesis relating child care with social development and human evolution (Hawkes 2004). These early hominids spread out of Africa, distributing their available fire technology. Fire promoted the dispersal of humans by allowing them to colonize colder environments and by protecting them from predators. There is evidence of the controlled use of fire by Homo erectus in Africa, from Oldowan hominid sites in the Lake Turkana region of Kenya. The earliest noncontroversial evidence out of Africa is from Gesher Benot Ya'aqov in Israel, during the Early-Middle Pleistocene (0.79 mya; (Goren-Inbar et al. 2004). The detailed analysis of this archaeological site from the Gesher Benot Ya'aqov in Israel, demonstrates that fire was used throughout the occupational sequence (about 100,000 years), suggesting that the knowledge these hominids had of fire making enabled them to set fire at will and in diverse environmental settings (Alperson 2008). During the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic ages, fire was used extensively for what has been termed “fire-stick farming” (Bird et al. 2008). This term implies using fire for a variety of reasons: clearing ground for human habitats, facilitating travel, killing vermin, hunting, regenerating plant food sources for both humans and livestock, and even warfare among tribes. These land-management practices had profound impacts not only on fire regimes but also on the landscape vegetation pattern and biodiversity. Commonly, woody, closed-canopy shrub lands and woodlands were opened up or entirely displaced by fast-growing annual species that provided greater seed resources, travel, and hunting and planting opportunities. These changes also had cascading effects on ecosystem function. For instance, fire-stick farming by Australian Aborigines created fine-grained landscape mosaics with greater small-animal diversity and increased hunting productivity (Bird et al. 2008). In Mediterranean-climate California, where agriculture failed to develop until European colonization, use of fire was extensive and is thought to have created a disequilibrium that contributed to rapid alien plant colonization when Europeans arrived (Keeley 2002). This reshaping of landscapes has posed problems for ecologists trying to understand contemporary landscape patterns. The earliest known evidence of manmade fire in the UK is at Beeches Pit. Beeches Pit is a Middle Pleistocene archaeological site in Suffolk, East Anglia, UK dating to about 400,000 years. Apart from a great deal of palaeoenvironmental evidence investigated (Preece et al.), the site has yielded many traces of human activity, including evidence of the repeated use of fire. The area was also a focus of stone-working.
Unit 4 Individual Project You have probably noticed in your educational career that some people are very good at remembering facts and therefore do well at tests that require memorization. Other students, on the other hand, struggle with tests that require memorization. To understand how memory works, this exercise will ask you to trace the memory system – from the stimuli to long-term memory. Use your text book and research from the Internet to learn the process of memory – from beginning to end. Your description should include the following: •Identification and description of each step in the human memory model. As you describe these steps, use an example to illustrate the process •Discussion of factors that enhance or impede information flow in each step of the process •Explanation of proactive and retroactive interference and how you might counteract their effects while studying in order to facilitate maximum retention via long-term memoryReadability •Explanation of other kinds of forgetting and a discussion of strategies that can improve memory consolidation and retrieval Submit this in the form of a 2 -3 page paper. You can use illustrations to demonstrate the process. Be sure to document your references using the APA format. For assistance with your assignment, please use your text, Web resources, and all course materials. Please refer to the following multimedia course material(s) •Week 4 – Memory, Thinking, and Intelligence •Week 4 – Types of Memory •Week 4 – Learning and Memory •Week 4 – Learning, Thinking, and Memory Please use the following guidelines for formatting your assignment. •Margins – set to one inch •Font – 12pt. Times New Roman, no bold, or underline •Title – center above the paper, 12 pt. font (Level A Heading), no bold, underline, or italics •Pagination – every page; consists of a header containing a short title for the paper and page number placed in the upper right corner of the page •Line Spacing – double space all work including the References Page •Point-of-View – third person, objective; limit perspective to research; no personal opinion or narrative •In-text citations – must conform to APA requirements •References list – must conform to APA requirements This assignment will also be assessed using additional criteria provided here.
Like hemophilia, von Willebrand Disease (vWD) is a hereditary deficiency or abnormality of clotting factor in the blood. In this case, it is the von Willebrand factor which is a protein that affects platelet function. It’s the most common hereditary disorder of platelet function, affecting both women and men. The disease is estimated to occur in 1% to 2% of the population. The disease was first described by Erik von Willebrand, a Finnish physician, who reported a new type of bleeding disorder among island people in Sweden and Finland. In von Willebrand disease, blood platelets don’t stick to holes in blood vessel walls. Platelets are tiny particles in the blood that clump together at the site of an injury to prepare for the formation of a blood clot. von Willebrand factor causes them to bind to areas of a blood vessel that are damaged. If there is too little von Willebrand factor, or the factor is defective, platelets do not gather properly when a blood vessel is injured. von Willebrand factor is found in plasma, platelets, and blood vessel walls. When the factor is missing or defective, the first step in plugging a blood vessel injury (platelets adhere to the vessel wall at the site of the injury) doesn’t take place. As a result, bleeding doesn’t stop as quickly as it should, although it usually stops eventually. There are no racial or ethnic associations with the disorder. A family history of a bleeding disorder is the primary risk factor. Researchers have identified many variations of the disease, but most fall into the following classifications: Type I: Most common and mildest form of von Willebrand disease. Levels of von Willebrand factor are lower than normal. Levels of factor VIII may also be reduced. Type II: In these people, the von Willebrand factor itself has an abnormality. Depending on the abnormality, they may be classified as having Type IIa or Type IIb. In Type IIa, the level of von Willebrand factor is reduced as is the ability of platelets to clump together. In Type IIb, although the factor itself is defective, the ability of platelets to clump together is actually increased. Type III: Severe von Willebrand disease. These people may have a total absence of von Willebrand factor and factor VIII levels are often less than 10%.Pseudo (or platelet-type) von Willebrand disease: This disorder resembles Type IIb von Willebrand disease, but the defects appears to be in the platelets, rather than the von Willebrand factor. Once in a while, people develop what appears to be von Willebrand disease later in life. When this occurs in those who have no family history of the disease, it is thought that they’re probably producing antibodies that destroy or decrease the amount of von Willebrand factor. Some other people have “acquired” a form of the disease in association with another disorder, such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, kidney disease and certain cancers. The life span of patients is usually normal length. Since the disease is genetically transmitted, genetic counseling may be recommended for parents. von Willebrand disease can be more complicated for women because of obstetric and gynecological issues. Inheritance Pattern (vWD) Like hemophilia, the disease is passed down through the genes. But unlike hemophilia, which usually affects only males, von Willebrand disease occurs in males and females equally. A man or woman with the disease has a 50% chance of passing the gene on to his or her child. Types I and II are usually inherited in what is known as a “dominant” pattern. This means that if even one parent has the gene and passes it onto a child, the child gets the disease. Whether the child has no symptoms, mild symptoms, or, less commonly, severe symptoms, he or she definitely has the disease. Regardless of severity of the symptoms, the child can still pass the gene on to his or her own offspring. Type III von Willebrand disease, however, is usually inherited in a “recessive” pattern. This type occurs when the child inherits the gene from both parents. Even if both parents have mild or asymptomatic disease, their children are likely to be severely affected. These patterns of inheritance differ from hemophilia, which is caused by a defect in one of the “sex linked” chromosomes. A man with hemophilia cannot pass the gene on to a son, because the abnormality is carried on the X chromosome, and a man contributes only a Y chromosome to his male offspring. von Willebrand disease is found on the autosomal chromosomes and therefore can be inherited by either males or females. von Willebrand disease can often be traced through several generations in a family. Some have symptoms while others just carry the gene.
Type of Government During the Tokugawa period (1603–1868); also known as the Edo period), Japan was under the control of a military regime, or shogunate. The leader of the nation’s dominant warrior clan, known as the shogun, served as head of state, head of government and commander of the armed forces, with the assistance of a council of advisors. The capital city, Edo (present-day Tokyo), and the surrounding territory were divided into urban and suburban districts, each led by an appointed governor. Rural areas were partitioned into semi-autonomous fiefdoms controlled by feudal lords and their families. Though an imperial lineage existed, governmental power was vested in the warrior clans while the emperor served a symbolic role. The Japanese archipelago, which contains more than 3,000 individual islands, has been occupied continuously since the Paleolithic era. The earliest period described by historians is the Jomon period (c. 7500–c. 250 BC), during which Japan’s hunter-gatherer tribes coalesced through military conquest and the development of agricultural communities based on rice cultivation. During the Yayoi period (c. 250 BC–AD 250), hereditary clans of warriors dominated and organized the populace under military regimes. Through generations of military competition, an imperial lineage emerged. Japanese emperors are believed to be descendents of Ameterasu Omi-Kami, a sun-goddess of the native Shinto religion. Though traditional history asserts that the first emperor, known by the honorific Jimmu (god-king) Tenno (heavenly sovereign), took the throne in the seventh century BC, the quasi-mythical status of Japan’s early emperors makes verification difficult. Throughout the Kofun period (c. 250–710), immigrants from China introduced cultural innovations to Japanese society. Japan developed a written language based on Chinese characters and also adopted Chinese-style clothing and arts. The Buddhist religion and the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius (551–479 BC) were imported toward the end of the Kofun period and were adopted by elite society. The government was led by emperors from the Yamato and Soga clans. The Soga clan gained their position through marriage to the Yamato Emperor Kimmei (509–571). Prince Shotoku Taishi (573–621) of the Soga clan was one of the most influential leaders of the period and led a series of reforms that created a strong imperial government modeled after China’s Sui Dynasty. Shotoku Taishi is credited with developing the seventeen-article code of conduct that served as the basic legal and ethical model for the government. In 645 the Fujiwara clan displaced the Soga to become the most powerful family in the nation. The Fujiwara instituted the “Taika Reforms,” a set of initiatives that strengthened the central government by reforming the system of land ownership and centralizing the tax system. The empire grew under the Fujiwara, and in 710 a capital city was established at Nara. During the Nara period (710–784) and the Heian period (784–1185), Japanese culture flourished with the development of art, literature, theatre, and philosophy. However, as the empire grew, the central government was unable to control the nation’s noble clans. As the larger clans began to function as autonomous states, they recruited and trained soldiers to serve as military retainers. It was during this period that the bushi (samurai, or warrior-nobles) emerged as the nation’s dominant social caste. By the twelfth century, the Fujiwara, Minamoto, and Taira clans were competing for control of the nation. During the Gempei War (1180–1185), the Minamoto clan defeated the Taira and Fujiwara to establish a centralized military regime. The Fujiwara leader Minamoto Yoritomo (1147–1199) became the nation’s first shogun (supreme general) and developed a feudal system, known as the bakufu, in which the nation was divided into military fiefdoms. The shogunate remained in power until 1333, when Emperor Go-Daigo (1287–1339) organized a coup that removed the Minamoto clan. The imperial coup was short lived, however, as a new shogunate, under the leadership of Ashikaga Takauji (1305–1358), took power in 1336. From 1336 to 1568, under the Ashikaga clan, the shogunate failed to consolidate power, and most of the nation’s noble clans maintained relative autonomy. In 1542 European merchants introduced firearms to Japan. The new weaponry, and alliances with European powers, stimulated conflict between the clans. In 1590, after an extended militaristic period, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598) succeeded in uniting the country under a new military regime. After Toyotomi’s death, military adviser Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616) seized power for the Tokugawa clan and installed himself as shogun. The capital city was moved to Edo, and a strong, central government was organized around a succession of Tokugawa shoguns. Structure of Government The Tokugawa government was a military dictatorship under the direction of the shogun (supreme general), who was the senior leader of the nation’s dominant clan. The imperial aristocracy remained in place but was divested of power and served as a symbolic office to legitimize the authority of the shogun, who served as head of state, head of government, and commander of the armed forces. The shogun had the power to appoint and remove members from the government, institute law by decree, and negotiate treaties and agreements with foreign governments. The central government, known as the bakufu (shogunate), was administered as an authoritarian dictatorship disseminated through a military aristocracy. The shogun was assisted by the roju (chief elders), a council of ministers with authority over the nation’s executive departments. The roju were appointed directly by the shogun and were responsible for creating and implementing legislation and supervising public works projects. The roju also supervised all lower-level administrators including the bugyo, officials with authority over particular segments of the populace, such as farmers, monks, or prisoners. The capital region of Edo was led by three machi-bugyo (city mayors) who handled all administrative issues and supervised hundreds of civil servants and junior administrators. Two machi-bugyos took turns governing the central portions of the city in alternating months while a third machi-bugyo was designated to supervise new territories at the periphery of the city. Machi-bugyos were aided by yoriki (assistants), who were citizens “deputized” as civil servants. In addition to the yoriki, the machi-bugyos relied on na-nushi (land owners) and toshi-yori (town elders) to serve as local leaders in the city’s townships. While the machi-bugyos were responsible for supervising the city’s general population, additional bugyos were assigned to supervise other portions of the population, such as the religious community. The territory surrounding the capital region was partitioned into semi-autonomous, military fiefdoms led by diamyos (feudal lords). The diamyos were divided into three classes, kokushu, ryoshu, and joshu, based on the physical location and economic significance of their territories. The diamyos exercised complete autonomy in local governance but were subordinate to the shogun and the central administration. Within each fiefdom, the diamyo would establish an administration composed of military vassals, who owed allegiance to the diamyo in the same way that the diamyos owed allegiance to the shogun. The central government maintained a special body of laws that applied only to diamyos and members of the samurai class. In order to keep the noble clans responsive to the central government, diamyos and their families were required to maintain a second residence in Edo and to stay at the capital for a portion of every second year. The cost of maintaining two households and the physical proximity of government supervision kept the diamyos from developing into secessionist factions. The bakufu did not contain an independent judicial branch; local leaders were responsible for apprehending criminals and determining punishment. Peasants and samurai living in the fiefdoms were under the authority of the diamyo, who determined sentencing and appointed retainers to act as peacekeepers. In urban districts, the machi-bugyos were the final authority in criminal and civil disputes. Machi-bugyos appointed citizens to serve as police and supervised the operation of detention centers. Political Parties and Factions Japanese culture during the Tokugawa period was based on a system of social castes. The leading caste, known as the bushi or shimigin, consisted of samurai retainers, diamyo, administrative central leaders, and the shogun. Only diamyos were permitted to own property, train in military skills, and carry weapons. The shimigin were also the elite, intellectual class in society, as most bushi were required to train in literature, arts, and philosophy. Samurai who decided to leave the service of their diamyo were forced to forfeit their weapons and join the peasantry. More than eighty percent of the population belonged to the peasant or nomin caste, which was directly below the samurai caste. Though the nomin were exalted as the “core” of Japanese society, they did not enjoy the same rights as members of the elite class. Members of the nomin were subject to severe regulations regarding taxation, travel, and social activity. To influence the government, members of the nomin gathered into social clubs to gain influence over local leaders. Artisans and craftsmen were members of the komin class. The komin were generally confined to live and work in certain urban districts, though many were employed or retained by diamyos. Below the komin were members of the merchant or shomin class, who were reviled for their participation in commerce, which was considered a disreputable trade. The shomin and komin gathered into social clubs or cliques but were not permitted to form labor unions. Beneath the shomin class were members of the eta (filthy) and hinin (untouchable) classes. The eta and hinin worked in positions that violated accepted Buddhist moral principles. Though the eta and hinin were not highly regarded, they performed services that were in high demand, including prostitution, the preparation of meat, and executions. Both the eta and hinin were required to live and work only in certain urban districts that were restricted to the general population. Upon seizing power, the immediate goal of the Tokugawa was to create a strong, centralized bureaucracy that would be immune to the power struggles that weakened previous shogunates. In order to accomplish this goal, the Tokugawa used the distribution of land to control fiefdoms and to limit the power of any clan that posed a threat to the shogun. In addition to controlling the diamyos, the shogunate was also concerned about the danger of foreign influence. The Tokugawa restricted trade with most European nations, though they retained alliances with China and the Netherlands. The Tokugawa also restricted foreign literature, art, and other cultural material. In 1624 the Tokugawa made it illegal for citizens to leave the country and forbade those living abroad to return. In 1614 the Tokugawa made Buddhism the official state cult and banned alternative and foreign religions. The Tokugawa militia imprisoned and executed thousands of Japanese Christians, converted by missionaries in previous periods, and instituted a campaign to locate and destroy all foreign religious texts. The strict isolationism of Tokugawa Japan prevented the Japanese from integrating technological and social advancements into society and eventually proved disastrous to the government. However, isolation also allowed Japanese culture to develop along a unique path in music, art, and literature. In the eighteenth century, the stability of the government was threatened by economic turmoil and popular unrest. The Tokugawa remained in power but were forced to contend with factionalism among the diamyos. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries foreign governments, including the United States and Russia, attempted to convince the Tokugawa to allow foreign trade. The Tokugawa refused diplomatic envoys until 1853, when Commodore Matthew Perry (1794–1858) and a squadron of military vessels brought a message from President Millard Fillmore (1800–1874) that the United States would use force unless Japan agreed to open their ports to U.S. trade. In the 1854 Convention of Kanagawa, the shogunate agreed to allow limited trade access to the United States. The nation’s economy continued to deteriorate, leading to popular dissent, protests, and rising unemployment. Many citizens lobbied the shogunate to remove trade and travel restrictions and to allow the nation to reap the financial and cultural benefit of engagement with other nations. Eventually, citizen groups united behind the young Emperor Meiji (1852–1912), to stage a coup d’etat that removed the Tokugawa bakufu from power. During the reign of Emperor Meiji, the government enacted numerous reforms that disassembled the feudal system and introduced a representative, constitutional monarchy. The Tokugawa bakufu was the most successful of Japan’s feudal governments but also hindered progress toward industrialization. During the period known as the Meiji Restoration, which began in 1868, the central government, military, and workforce were transformed through the introduction of technology, popular representation, and international influence. Japan achieve modernization quickly, and by the end of the nineteenth century joined European powers in attempting to expand its territorial holdings and establish colonies in Asia and the Pacific. During Japan’s colonial period, the military began to usurp power in the government. Over the following century, military leaders dictated the path of Japan’s foreign relations, eventually leading the nation to support Germany during World War II. Japan suffered a major defeat at the hands of the Allied powers and enduring the only atomic assault in global history. In the wake of World War II, Japan reorganized its government, adopting a parliamentary democracy and a pacifist policy with regard to foreign relations. In the post-colonial period, a renewed focus on industrialization and export enabled Japan to become one of the most economically prosperous and influential nations in the world. McClain, James L. et al. “Edo and Paris: Urban Life and the State in the Early Modern Era.” Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1997. Matsunosuke, Nishiyama. “Edo Culture: Daily Life and Diversions in Urban Japan, 1600–1868.” Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997. Sorensen, André. “The Making of Urban Japan: Cities and Planning from Edo to the Twenty-First Century.” New York: Routledge, 2002.
Test your knowledge of how Earth is different from other planets. 1. Earth is called a 'Goldilocks planet' because:A. Its distance from the sun is 'just right' for life. B. It has bears on it. C. Scientists don't refer to Earth this way. 2. Mars once had running water that carved canyons and other features into its surface. What happened to the water?A. Mars is too far from the sun and cold to sustain water. B. Marsquakes caused all the water to seep into cracks in the crust. C. An asteroid clobbered Mars and vaporized the water. D. Most of Mars' atmosphere and water evaporated. 3. Earth isn't the only body in the solar system with rivers and lakes. Which other world has similar features?A. Mercury (liquid lead) B. Saturn's moon Titan (liquid methane) C. Saturn (liquid oxygen) D. Neptune's moon Triton (liquid ammonia) 4. Earth and Venus are rocky planets of about the same size, but Earth's average surface temperature is about 59° F, while Venus' is 1350° F, hot enough to melt lead or aluminum. Why the difference?A. Venus has a stronger greenhouse effect than Earth's. B. Venus is made of denser rock than Earth. C. Earth is more geologically active than Venus. D. Ice caps and oceans on Earth absorb energy from the atmosphere. 5. Which circumstance could end life on Earth?A. The sun continues to heat up. In a billion years, Earth gets too hot, oceans evaporate, carbon dioxide disappears, plant life dies out. B. A massive asteroid smashes into Earth, vaporizing vast swaths of the surface and permanently changing the atmosphere. C. Both of the above. D. None of the above. 6. Earth's magnetic field shields us from solar wind and helps hold onto atmosphere and water. To what do we owe this invisible protector?A. The aurora borealis. B. Plate tectonics. C. Earth's circulating liquid metal core. D. All of the above 7. Earth is the only body in the solar system thought to have oceans of liquid water.A. True 8. Earth is smack in the middle of the 'habitable zone' around the sun, where temperatures are right for liquid water to exist.A. True 9. Exoplanets that have lots of volcanic activity and exist in systems with lots of asteroids are bad prospects for looking for extraterrestrial life.A. True 10. Small, Earth-size planets are common in the galaxy.A. True - A. Goldilocks planet falls within a star's habitable zone and is neither too close nor too far from a star to rule out liquid water on its surface, and thus life. - D. Most of Mars's atmosphere and water evaporated. - B. Saturn's moon Titan (liquid methane) - A. Venus's atmosphere is almost all heat-trapping carbon dioxide. - C. Scientists believe the first scenario is a certainty and the second just a matter of time. - C. The magnetic field is essential for life and a defining characteristic of Earth. - False. Scientists think Jupiter's moon Europa has an ocean of liquid water under its icy surface. - False. The habitable zone around the sun extends roughly from Venus to Mars. Earth is relatively close to the inner (warm) edge, not the middle. - False. Volcanoes push out water vapor and other chemicals that help make a life-sustaining atmosphere, and icy asteroids and comets may have helped bring water to Earth's surface when it was forming. - True. The Kepler satellite mission found that small planets are the most common in the galaxy. Small planets are more likely to have a 'rocky' (solid) surface, which is conducive to life at least as we know it.
Schistosomiasis (Bilharziasis) is caused by some species of blood trematodes (flukes) in the genus Schistosoma. The three main species infecting humans are Schistosoma haematobium, S. japonicum, and S. mansoni. Three other species, more localized geographically, are S. mekongi, S. intercalatum, and S. guineensis (previously considered synonymous with S. intercalatum). There have also been a few reports of hybrid schistosomes of cattle origin (S. haematobium, x S. bovis, x S. curassoni, x S. mattheei) infecting humans. Unlike other trematodes, which are hermaphroditic, Schistosoma spp. are dioecous (individuals of separate sexes). In addition, other species of schistosomes, which parasitize birds and mammals, can cause cercarial dermatitis in humans but this is clinically distinct from schistosomiasis. Schistosoma eggs are eliminated with feces or urine, depending on species . Under appropriate conditions the eggs hatch and release miracidia , which swim and penetrate specific snail intermediate hosts . The stages in the snail include two generations of sporocysts and the production of cercariae . Upon release from the snail, the infective cercariae swim, penetrate the skin of the human host , and shed their forked tails, becoming schistosomulae . The schistosomulae migrate via venous circulation to lungs, then to the heart, and then develop in the liver, exiting the liver via the portal vein system when mature, . Male and female adult worms copulate and reside in the mesenteric venules, the location of which varies by species (with some exceptions) . For instance, S. japonicum is more frequently found in the superior mesenteric veins draining the small intestine , and S. mansoni occurs more often in the inferior mesenteric veins draining the large intestine . However, both species can occupy either location and are capable of moving between sites. S. intercalatum and S. guineensis also inhabit the inferior mesenteric plexus but lower in the bowel than S. mansoni. S. haematobium most often inhabitsin the vesicular and pelvic venous plexus of the bladder , but it can also be found in the rectal venules. The females (size ranges from 7–28 mm, depending on species) deposit eggs in the small venules of the portal and perivesical systems. The eggs are moved progressively toward the lumen of the intestine (S. mansoni,S. japonicum, S. mekongi, S. intercalatum/guineensis) and of the bladder and ureters (S. haematobium), and are eliminated with feces or urine, respectively . Various animals such as cattle, dogs, cats, rodents, pigs, horses, and goats, serve as reservoirs for S. japonicum, and dogs for S. mekongi. S. mansoni is also frequently recovered from wild primates in endemic areas but is considered primarily a human parasite and not a zoonosis. Intermediate hosts are snails of the genera Biomphalaria, (S. mansoni), Oncomelania (S. japonicum), Bulinus (S. haematobium, S. intercalatum, S. guineensis). The only known intermediate host for S. mekongi is Neotricula aperta. Schistosoma mansoni is found primarily across sub-Saharan Africa and some South American countries (Brazil, Venezuela, Suriname) and the Caribbean, with sporadic reports in the Arabian Peninsula. S. haematobium is found in Africa and pockets of the Middle East. S. japonicum is found in China, the Philippines, and Sulawesi. Despite its name, it has long been eliminated from Japan. The other, less common human-infecting species have relatively restricted geographic ranges. S. mekongi occurs focally in parts of Cambodia and Laos. S. intercalatum has only been found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; S. guineensis is found in West Africa. Instances of infections with hybrid/introgressed Schistosoma (S. haematobium x S. bovis, x S. curassoni, x S. mattheei) have occurred in Corsica, France, and some West African countries. Symptoms of schistosomiasis are not caused by the worms themselves but by the body’s reaction to the eggs. Many infections are asymptomatic. A local cutaneous hypersensitivity reaction following skin penetration by cercariae may occur and appears as small, itchy maculopapular lesions. Acute schistosomiasis (Katayama fever) is a systemic hypersensitivity reaction that may occur weeks after the initial infection, especially by S. mansoni and S. japonicum. Manifestations include systemic symptoms/signs including fever, cough, abdominal pain, diarrhea, hepatosplenomegaly, and eosinophilia. Occasionally, Schistosoma infections may lead to central nervous system lesions. Cerebral granulomatous disease may be caused by ectopic S. japonicum eggs in the brain, and granulomatous lesions around ectopic eggs in the spinal cord may occur in S. mansoni and S. haematobium infections. Continuing infection may cause granulomatous reactions and fibrosis in the affected organs (e.g., liver and spleen) with associated signs/symptoms. Pathology associated with S. mansoni and S. japonicum schistosomiasis includes various hepatic complications from inflammation and granulomatous reactions, and occasional embolic egg granulomas in brain or spinal cord. Pathology of S. haematobium schistosomiasis includes hematuria, scarring, calcification, squamous cell carcinoma, and occasional embolic egg granulomas in brain or spinal cord.
Nucleation is a dynamic process by which atoms or molecules aggregate to form clusters. The classical theory of nucleation is based on the assumption that during the initial stages of the transformation, a few molecules rearrange themselves into droplets or nuclei that have the characteristics of the new phase. If the radius of these nuclei exceeds a certain radius to overcome the free energy barrier, then the growth of the new phase proceeds spontaneously. Heterogeneous nucleation occurs on the surface of the object in question. The nucleus forms on the surface of the vapor or liquid, along with any bubbles or particles that may be provided with the nucleation site. Nucleation starts on the surface and spreads outward from there. That is why you can have a layer of ice in a bucket left outside in the cold, but still have liquid water underneath. Homogenous nucleation occurs when there isn’t a preferential nucleation site. It is a more of a random occurrence, often spontaneous, because it does not have a preferential nucleation site. It is rare compared to heterogeneous nucleation because it requires the item in question to be either superheated or supercooled. Controlled ice nucleation involves cooling the entire batch of vials to a given selected temperature that is below the equilibrium freezing point but above the temperature at which spontaneous heterogeneous nucleation may occur. The effective nucleation temperature depends on several aspects. These factors include solution properties, process conditions, environmental influences, characteristics of the container and the presence of particulate matter. An overview of the most relevant technical approaches follows: The “ice fog” technique, where cold nitrogen gas is introduced into the chamber to form an “ice fog,” it involves purging cold nitrogen gas into the high humidity environment in the drying chamber to form an ice fog after the vials have achieved the temperature at which nucleation is desired. Pressurizing the product chamber with an inert gas overpressure and a rapid release by evacuation. This method manipulates the chamber pressure of the freeze dryer to simultaneously induce nucleation in all product vials at a desired temperature. Gap freezing approach, by inserting an air space between the vials and the shelf that eliminates significant conductive heat transfer from the shelf to the bottom of the vial. Ultrasound-controlled ice nucleation. The concept uses a short acoustic pulse to induce crystal formation. This technology, however, never succeeded in a large scale environment. Electro-freezing, to induce nucleation by using a strong electric pulse. This concept, however, also requires an electrode which is in direct contact with the product. Controlling ice nucleation at a certain product temperature is expected to lead to a more uniform product because the degree of supercooling and nucleation temperature is influencing product parameters. Ice morphology decisively determines the resistance to water vapour flow from the ice sublimation interface through the already dried product during the drying process.
What is Proteus Syndrome? Also known as: Proteus Syndrome Proteus syndrome is a congenital disorder that causes an overgrowth of tissue. The syndrome may affect: - the skin - fatty tissues - blood and lymphatic vessels It is a progressive condition which means children are usually born without obvious physical signs of the syndrome. As patients age, tumors begin to form and the skin and bones begin to grow in an asymmetric pattern. The severity of these growths range from mild to severe and can affect various locations of the body, but typically affect the skull, one or more limbs and the soles of the feet. Due to the disfiguring consequences and excess weight of enlarged limbs, symptoms of arthritis, muscle pain, and difficulty walking may be present. Because blood vessels are affected, premature death may result due to deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Though the disorder itself does not directly cause learning disabilities, the tumors may cause secondary damage to the nervous system leading to cognitive disability. Research continues to find the cause and cure for Proteus Syndrome. This page was last updated on: 1/29/2019 3:21:13 PM © 2020 Nicklaus Children's Hospital. All Rights Reserved.
The description of the word you requested from the astronomical dictionary is given below. aequinoctium = [Latin] equinox, from aequatio = [Latin] make equal, and noctium, nox = [Latin] night; plural equinoxes The equinox is the place in the sky between the stars where the Sun is during the vernal equinox. This location is also called the vernal equinox. In the equatorial and ecliptic coordinate systems, the vernal equinox has longitude and latitude equal to zero. Because of the precession of the equinoxes, the equinox slowly moves between the stars, so when one quotes ecliptic or equatorial coordinates, one has to indicate relative to which equinox these coordinates are measured. Three equinoxes that are commonly used in stellar atlases and planetary calculations are those of 1950.0 (the beginning of the year 1950), 2000.0 (the beginning of the year 2000), and the equinox of the date (i.e., the equinox of the same date as the coordinates themselves).
Technologically important noble metal oxidises more readily than expected. Platinum, a noble metal, is oxidised more quickly than expected under conditions that are technologically relevant. This has emerged from a study jointly conducted by the DESY NanoLab and the Vienna University of Technology. Devices that contain platinum, such as the catalytic converters used to reduce exhaust emissions in cars, can suffer a loss in efficacy as a result of this reaction. The team around principal author Thomas Keller, from DESY and the University of Hamburg, is presenting its findings in the journal Solid State Ionics. The result is also a topic at the users’ meeting of DESY’s X-ray light sources with more than 1000 participants currently taking place in Hamburg. “Platinum is an extremely important material in technological terms,” says Keller. “The conditions under which platinum undergoes oxidation have not yet been fully established. Examining those conditions is important for a large number of applications.” The scientists studied a thin layer of platinum which had been applied to an yttria-stabilised zirconia crystal (YSZ crystal), the same combination that is used in the lambda sensor of automotive exhaust emission systems. The YSZ crystal is a so-called ion conductor, meaning that it conducts electrically charged atoms (ions), in this case oxygen ions. The vapour-deposited layer of platinum serves as an electrode. The lambda sensor measures the oxygen content of the exhaust fumes in the car and converts this into an electrical signal which in turn controls the combustion process electronically to minimize toxic exhausts. Image: Electron microscope view into the interior of a platinum bubble. The cross-section was exposed with a focused ion beam. Below the hollow Pt bubble the angular YSZ crystal can be seen. Credit: DESY, Satishkumar Kulkarni
Around the world, people, often indigenous, are becoming “conservation refugees” forced to leave their ancestral homelands for the creation of protected areas and wildlife reserves. Through this process of displacement, conservation has created racialised citizens and politicised landscapes. Guest blogger, Arzucan Askin tells us more. Indigenous people and conservationists share a vital and mutual goal: to protect and preserve biological diversity. Their collaboration would produce great results for both people and the environment, yet for decades the imaginary of ‘pristine’ nature has prevented that these two key actors reconcile their forces, resulting in the creation of high numbers of unmanageable protected areas and the degradation of native peoples as nothing more than trespassers on their ancestral lands. The idea of ‘virgin and pristine’ nature that is in need of protection and thus enclosure has been at the core of the conservation movement for decades. This concept of ‘untouched land’, spread and reinforced through the media and Western environmental NGOs, has dangerous consequences, because places can only be considered ‘wilderness, if they are (supposedly) devoid of human inhabitants. The creation of national parks and wildlife reserves, purposefully enclosed areas of “pristine nature” – places saved in a seemingly unaltered state for future generations – has led to the systematic eviction of natives from their lands. In the United States, national parks like Yosemite or Yellowstone were once home to thriving indigenous communities that had treasured the environment around them before their displacement for the enclosure of their lands by national park authorities. This phenomenon is not unique to the United States, it is happening almost everywhere, and is particularly widespread on the African continent: Groups such as the nomadic Massai and the forest- dwelling Batwa have lost much of their traditional land to large animal conservation projects in Kenya and central Africa. In a recent article, the Guardian reported on the San people of Botswana who are not only considered the oldest inhabitants of Southern Africa, but also now live dispossessed on the edge of a large game reserve. They are forbidden to hunt in or enter the land they have lived on sustainably for centuries, pushed into camps at the outskirts of urban agglomerations by the government, while wealthy and white tourists as well big game hunters from abroad are welcomed to newly constructed luxury game lodges. Deprived of their traditional lifestyle and marginalized by ‘modern’ society, many indigenous people are doomed to a life in poverty. Once guardians of their lands, they are not allowed to hunt for their own survival, yet tourists with a hunting license are permitted to kill for fun. It is even more paradox really, how the displacement of native people from their lands for the formation of wildlife parks, goes hand in hand with the arrival Western conservationists for the management of these lands. Lands, tribal peoples have not only lived off sustainably but also whose biodiversity they have preserved for millennia – yet conservation experts and specialists from Europe and the Americas are flown in to help assess the progress and assist in developing teaching programs for locals and anti- poaching units. The neo-colonial implications of this Western dominance in the conservation sphere is evident. Long before the word ‘conservation’ was even coined, tribal peoples were employing highly effective strategies for maintaining the richness of their lands. Pushing tribal people off their lands is not only undermining their rights but also counterproductive to effective biodiversity protection. Their displacement stands in stark contrast to the anti-politics of conservation that proposes the need for game reserves and conservation expertise as a consequence of an impending biodiversity crisis. The questions we should be asking ourselves when considering conservation issues are therefore not just about access to land but also about racial privilege, our constructed imaginary of ‘wilderness’ and the commodification of nature. Both eco – and wildlife tourism are growing rapidly worldwide. Increasing numbers of tourists are willing to travel great distances and spend large amounts of money to experience remote landscapes and have intimate experiences with local wildlife. Indigenous people are not only forced out of lands, but hence also out of the collective perception of nature and wilderness. The ways in which contemporary conservation issues are thought of are not value-free; conservationists and NGOs are participating in this shaping of environmental issues just as much as the media is. There is no space for natives and locals in the romanticized Western ideas of ‘pristine nature’. The selected few of them chosen to work with wildlife tour operators, are often rendered nothing but the objects of tourist photos. ‘Cultural’ additions, served like a side dish, next to the grand main highlight of wild animals and striking landscapes. With conservation organizations and environmental NGOs increasingly gaining global significance, preserving nature has become the new means of production. The noble cause of saving biodiversity is promoted through market mechanisms by the white, western conservation elites who are able to generate profit through environmental protection. But who protects the indigenous people that are part of these environments? Why do they have to make way for foreign conservationists on the lands they have lived on for generations? When we think about nature, we also have a responsibility to think about the social processes embedded in the dynamics of valuing it. While tourists are paying money to see animals, indigenous people are paying with their lives and futures. We need to stop turning a blind eye to the human cost of wildlife conservation because in doing so we are failing both people and biodiversity. It is also time we stop seeing man as separate from nature and start acknowledging the historical power relations embedded in conservation issues. The struggle of indigenous people for access to their ancestral lands is not just deeply personal, it is also historically symbolic and essential to sustainable development: it is about fighting both injustice and inequality. Arzucan Askin (@arzucan_askin) is a BA Geography student in the department of Geography and Environment at the LSE. She has previously worked on several conservation projects for the WWF and conducted research on indigenous communities in Malaysia (Orang Asli), China (Yao) and Hawai’i (Hawaiʻi Maoli). She serves as ambassador for the Royal Geographical Society, currently preparing for a research project on women and disaster resilience in Cuba, and is Editor-in-Chief of the jfa, a student-run environmental and human rights journal. Her research interests include political ecology, sustainable development, conservation and gender geography. The views expressed in this post are those of the author and in no way reflect those of the International Development LSE blog or the London School of Economics and Political Science.
I am always on the lookout for ways to encourage and extend the natural learning that happens through play. Language acquisition, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, and social development are easily recognized as being developed through play. But have you ever thought of science skills and concepts as fitting naturally into play? As children are playing, they are exploring and observing the world around them – that is science. They are asking questions and making predictions – I wonder what happens if I do this? They are testing their ideas and drawing conclusions – When I threw the ball, it landed on the dog. They are repeating their actions to see if the same results will occur. All of these things are hallmarks of science. Here’s an example of a science lesson we found while playing with pillows. It all started with a few pillows at a friend’s house. Aiden was tossing the pillows around and jumping on top of them. Then, he started stacking the pillows. He could only stack a few before they would all come tumbling down. This provided much enjoyment. Stack some pillows. Watch them fall down. Repeat. Wear yourself out from stacking and knocking down pillows. Rest. Ask Mama to stack pillows. More pillows, Mama. Laugh at your success of knocking down the pillow tower. As we played, I asked questions. For some of these questions, I was simply modeling my thought processes. Aiden was observing. Some of the questions he could answer. Here are some sample questions: - What happens if we put the pillow here? - Will the pillows stay, or will they fall? - How many pillows are there? - Is the tower balanced? - Which way do we need to move the pillow to make it balanced? - Let’s alternate colors. Which pillow should we use next? Our science lesson was focused on the physics concept of balance (referring to the equal distribution of weight). Aiden learned the word balance and has been able to apply it to new situations. On another day, he was stacking some cups. When the cups fell, he said they were not balanced. We’re building a foundation for future learning here. If I hadn’t introduced the word balance, would he still have learned the concepts from our activity? Yes, he would. Adding vocabulary when natural and understandable is a bonus. If adding vocabulary seems forced and out of place, it probably doesn’t add anything to the learning anyway. For an example of this, you can read about our learning experience with friction and a cardboard tube. Do you think I introduced the word friction to my 2 year old? If you don’t have an abundance of pillows to use for stacking, you can replicate this play idea with many other types of materials. Cups, bowls, blocks, random toys, or anything that can be stacked on top of each other will work well. What materials do your children use for building? What are your favorite ways of learning through play? For more stacking and balancing fun, check out these great posts:
Smoking bees is a common way to calm the insects down, whether it’s for tending to the hive or harvesting honey. Beekeepers will often use a smoker to pull this off, which smokes its fuel and helps to relax a bee colony and significantly reducing the risk of a beekeeper suffering an injury while tending to their tasks. So what does smoke do to bees to make this happen? Inhibits Their Sense of Smell A bee’s sense of smell is incredibly sensitive. Thanks to this enhanced sense, a bee can easily identify pollen on flowers, its fellow bees, and any intruders that come close to their hive. It’s this last factor that can cause danger for a beekeeper, even if they don’t have any intention of harming the colony as they tend to it. The bees don’t know the difference and will stage an attack. The smoke then impedes a bee’s sense of smell, preventing them from taking up defensive action against a beekeeper. Because smoked bees won’t recognize an intruder, they don’t secrete the pheromones that alert the rest of their hive to the danger. As such, the colony stays calm, letting the beekeeper attend to their work. Triggers Survival Instincts However, blocking the hive’s sense of smell isn’t all that smoke does to help keep bees calm. A bee will recognize the smoke as indicative of a forest fire, which then triggers a survival instinct. The bees start to go into preservation mode, which includes preparing to build a brand new hive somewhere else—and to complete this process, bees need to produce wax. When making beeswax, a bee needs to eat large amounts of honey; roughly one pound of wax takes eight pounds of digested honey. When they detect what they believe is a forest fire, the bees then start to gorge on food, making them tired and lethargic. The bees are much more docile, helping beekeepers stay safe while tending to them. Smoke on its own does not harm bees in any way; however, too high temperatures can end up melting a bee’s wings, causing problems later on. As such, a beekeeper needs to pay close attention to the heat when smoking out a beehive. In the aftermath, it takes roughly ten to twenty minutes for bees to regain their pheromone sensitivity. From there, the life of a bee colony will return to normal, with no adverse effects on a colony’s health. Because of its safe use, smoking has been a staple in beekeeping for generations.
Today's sound is 'w'. Watch the 'Letterland 'w' introduction video on the video resource centre. After the letter story, discuss the ojects on the screen that use the sound 'w'. Can your child spot them? Can your child hear the initial sound (beginning sound of the word)? Encourage your child to write the letter v in a variety of ways. This could be with their finger on a tray/plate of flour, glitter, powder or shaving foam. You could then practise writing the letter using pens and crayons on paper. Remember- you must start writing from the top. After this, help your child to read the words on the 'w' powerpoint. Can you find some things around your house that begin with w? Read a favourite story together and access Bug Club to read a few books with your child. To access Bug Club go to the home page on the school website, scroll down to click on 'Learning Zone' to access the learning platform and within this you will find the Bug Club link. Your child's login details are on a sticker in their reading diary. The school code to login is 9x7k. Choose from a range of books allocated to your child. Talk about where the front and back covers are and what a title is. Predict what the story might be about by looking at the front cover. Encourage your child to turn the pages independently. Pause at certain points in the story to see if your child can predict what happens next. Ask questions - Where is the…Who is that? What can you see? What is…..? Why did ….. happen? How did ……? Complete the activities, ensuring to click the bug in the corner of the page each time. Can your child recall what happened in the story at the end and retell the story themselves? Look at the All about Bonfire Night powerpoint to learn all about Bonfire Night. Ask your child what that they know about bonfire night and fireworks. Does your child know how to stay safe on Bonfire night and anytime fireworks are used? Discuss ideas. Have a look at the Bonfire night safety powerpoint together. Task: Create a poster that informs others how to stay safe. Draw, colour and label. Model to your child how to make a repeated pattern using 2 or 3 or more household objects or shapes. E.g. pen, toy, pen, toy, pen etc. or circle, triangle, square, circle, triangle, square. Encourage your child to continue your repeated pattern. Task: Using cut out shapes or household objects children to make their own repeated pattern. Can they make it using 2, 3 or more? Can they describe their repeated pattern?
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is a highly reactive gas that is created from the combustion process of vehicles, power plants, gas stoves, and kerosene or butane heaters. It is also a byproduct of welding and tobacco smoke. Nitrogen dioxide has a distinct acrid smell so it is generally easy to avoid exposure. However, low concentrations (4 parts per million) can anesthetize the nose, so a person may be unaware of the chemical’s presence. Nitrogen dioxide is a common pollutant both indoors and outdoors. It contributes to ground-level ozone and fine particle pollution and can cause serious damage to the lungs. Initial exposure to will irritate the eye, nose, and throat. Higher concentrations or prolonged exposure can impair lung function and cause respiratory infections. Intense exposure to high concentrations (such as in a building fire) can result in lung injury and pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs because the heart cannot pump adequately). Continued exposure at moderate levels can lead to acute or chronic bronchitis. Even low levels of exposure can cause asthma attacks, decreased lung function, and respiratory infections. Because both nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide are created in combustion processes, the steps to reduce indoor exposure are the same for the two chemicals. The Environmental Protection Agency lists the following steps to reduce exposure: - Keep gas appliances properly adjusted. - Consider purchasing a vented space heater when replacing an un-vented one. - Use proper fuel in kerosene space heaters. - Install and use an exhaust fan vented to outdoors over gas stoves. - Open flues when fireplaces are in use. - Choose properly sized wood stoves that are certified to meet EPA emission standards. Make certain that doors on all wood stoves fit tightly. - Have a trained professional inspect, clean, and tune-up central heating system (furnaces, flues, and chimneys) annually. Repair any leaks promptly. Do not idle the car inside garage.
Space telescopes have long been around us now. It’s true that with our ordinary reflective and refractive telescopes that used mirrors and lenses, we could never study astronomy. However, space telescopes have really helped us through the way. One such example is a Hubble Space Telescope. Advantages of Space Telescopes - Space-based telescopes provide a better and more detailed view of the Space. - They can detect and record frequencies and wavelengths in different regions of the EMR spectrum. - Space-based telescopes do not interfere with the Earth’s atmosphere. Disadvantages of Space Telescopes - They are expensive and challenging to build and launch. - Often require a spacecraft to launch them somewhere up in the orbit - The maintenance and replacement of Space telescopes are almost impossible. History of Hubble Space Telescope The year 1990 has the honor of launching the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit around Earth. Its name is after a famous Astro-scientist Edwin Hubble whose contributions to the cause are remarkable. It is a “reflector type” telescope. Thus, it uses curved mirrors as its optics to reflect light to have a clear view of the image. Construction of the Hubble Space Telescope The telescope has a primary reflecting mirror 94.5 inches or 2.4 meters in diameter. It is packed with everything that could give astronomers the most detailed view of the Universe. It works perfectly in visible, infrared, and ultraviolet regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. If the Earth’s atmosphere does not block its view, it can present even the minor astronomical details that we have never seen before. Light Collector of HST HST – or Hubble Space Telescope uses a glass mirror that is coated with a layer of aluminum. Hubble Space Telescope Observable Spectrum HST is able to observe the lights in infrared (IR), visible, and ultraviolet (UV) region of the spectrum. Distance from the Earth The Hubble Space Telescope is at a distance of 600 kilometers from Earth’s surface and is orbiting above it. Design and Working of the Hubble Space Telescope Parts of the Telescope The Hubble consists of the following major parts: - Concave Primary Mirror - Convex Secondary Mirror - Other Instruments Working of Hubble Space Telescope First, as the light enters the telescope, it touches the Hubble Space Telescope’s primary concave mirror, which reflects it off to the secondary convex mirror. The convex mirror reflects back and passes through a hole in the center of the primary mirror. This light then reaches and focal point and goes to the other instruments for detection and analysis. Such designs are the signature styles of Cassegrain Telescopes – naming after the person who designed them. Primary Purpose of the Hubble Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope’s main purpose was to determine how long the Universe has been in place and when the galaxies form. It was unbelievable in the beginning how the Hubble was able to provide extraordinary details about many stars like Sun that spend their lives as planetary nebulae. Challenges in Space Observation by Using HST After launching Hubble, the astronomers were met with an unexpected and unforeseen circumstance. It was something that had haunted the astronomers for centuries, but they were not expecting it here, at least. And it was nothing, but “spherical aberration” again. Fortunately, during Hubble’s designing, a unanimous decision brought about the putting together of Hubble with interchangeable parts. Hence, the astronauts went into Space and figured out the problem. Soon enough, they were able to find out the primary mirror of the Hubble Space Telescope had a problem with it. The curve was a bit (approximately depth of 50 times less than the human hair thickness) flat. Hence, the angle was corrected. This incident has the honor of being the first NASA mission in which they sent the astronauts physically for the repair and improvement of telescopes. Fixing of the Hubble Space Telescope in the Space After a period of some good three years, astronauts were finally able to install small mirrors in front of the original optics. In this way, the Hubble started working just fine. There was no more blurriness in the images that Hubble gave out. It’s just like putting a pair of glasses on the telescope, impressive! Ever since the repairing of the Hubble, the scientist and astronauts frequently pay visits to it. They make sure that all the Hubble Telescope parts are working correctly – and in case if there is a glitch, they fix it there and then. Moreover, they are continually working to derive out new and better parts for the telescope. There is no denying in it that whenever the astronauts replace a part in Hubble, the results tend to get significantly better and surprising than the older counterparts. Contributions of Hubble Space Telescope in Astronomy It has been beneficial throughout the journey of space-studying and has really helped the astronomers. Most of the initial knowledge of the Universe came down from the Hubble space telescopes. Unlike the other telescopes that do not get any repairing once they are in Space, Hubble is quite unprecedented and remarkable. Hubble has been very constructive in answering a certain question like how rapidly the Universe expands and how long it has been doing so. The Hubble also gave the evidence of giant black holes just in the middle of all neighboring galaxies. Moreover, it has been very fruitful in tracing down the exoplanets, which could help in fostering human life on them. The telescope studied the supernovae and contributed to developing a theory about “dark energy” – that is causing the Universe to expand and increase at a very fast rate. As mentioned above, the story about Hubble’s launching and working indicates how critical it is to be an astronomer. Even a slight change in any of the optics can actually put you in hot waters. Like a curve of about 10th, part of a millimeter was going to derail all the results of the Hubble telescope. It produces the images in different shades of black and white. Moreover, many people consider the James Webb Space telescope as a successor of the Hubble Space Telescope. It is said that with its successive counterparts, the astronomers would be able to see a better and much clearer view of the Universe – that’s more deeper into the sky.
Problem Solving KS2 Maths. Have fun solving these Maths problems. Great activities to use Maths problem solving skills in real life scenarios. Links to a selection of printable and interactive Maths resources, great for ks2, ages 8-11 years. Cycling Timing Challenge Video Two cycling-mad schoolchildren are taken on a tour of the National Cycling Centre in Manchester. They meet world individual pursuit champion Sarah Storey, and are set a maths challenge related to cycling. Traditional frog jumping puzzle. Can you swap the green and blue fogs over? How few moves does it take? What if the number of frogs were to change? Imagine that you're walking along the beach, a rather nice sandy beach with just a few small pebbles in little groups here and there. You start off by collecting just four pebbles and you place them on the sand in the form of a square. The area inside is of course just 1 square something, maybe 1 square metre, 1 square foot, 1 square finger ... whatever. Problem Solving Task Cards Printable This resource contains an example of a four-step approach for a problem solving strategy and task cards split into levels. Aimed at Year six pupils. Registration required. Properties Of Numbers Quiz By the time they reach Year 5, the third year in KS2, children should be familiar with certain properties of numbers which they have come across in their Maths lessons. They should, for example, know the difference between multiples and factors and should also know what square numbers are. Play this quiz for 9-10 year olds and see what you have remembered. Word Problems Interactive Maths word problem generator. Select difficulty and number of questions, check your answers and see how you are doing with the % indicator.
Imagine if the Neptune was only a million miles from Earth. What a view we’d have! … not to mention some incredible gravitational effects from the close-by, gigantic planet. A similar scenario is taking place for real in star system in the constellation Cygnus. A newly found planet duo orbiting a sun-like star come together in extremely close proximity, and strangely enough, the two planets are about as opposite as can be: one is a rocky planet 1.5 times the size of Earth and weighs 4.5 times as much, and the other is a gaseous planet 3.7 times the size of Earth and weighing 8 times that of Earth. “They are the closest to each other of any planetary system we’ve found,” said Eric Agol of the University of Washington, co-author of a new paper outlining the discovery of this interesting star system by the Kepler spacecraft. “The bigger planet is pushing the smaller planet around more, so the smaller planet was harder to find.” Known as Kepler-36, the star is a several billion years older than our Sun, and at this time is known to have just two planets. The inner rocky world, Kepler-36b orbits about every 14 days at an average distance of less than 11 million miles, while the outer gas “hot Neptune” planet orbits once each 16 days at a distance of 12 million miles. The two planets experience a conjunction every 97 days on average. At that time, they are separated by less than 5 Earth-Moon distances. Since Kepler-36c is much larger than the Moon, it presents a spectacular view in its neighbor’s sky. And the science team noted that the smaller Kepler-36b would appear about the size of the Moon when viewed from Kepler-36c). But the timing of their orbits means they’ll never collide, Agol said. However, close encounters of this kind would cause tremendous gravitational tides that squeeze and stretch both planets. The larger planet was originally spotted in data from NASA’s Kepler spacecraft, which uses a photometer to measure light from distant celestial objects and can detect a planet when it transits, or passes in front of, and briefly reduces the light coming from, its parent star. The team wanted to try finding a second planet in a system where it was already known that there was one planet. Agol suggested applying an algorithm called quasi-periodic pulse detection to examine data from Kepler. The data revealed a slight dimming of light coming from Kepler-36a every 16 days, the length of time it takes the larger Kepler-36c to circle its star. Kepler-36b circles the star seven times for each six orbits of 36c, but it was not discovered initially because of its small size and the gravitational jostling by its orbital companion. But when the algorithm was applied to the data, the signal was unmistakable. “If you look at the transit time pattern for the large planet and the transit time pattern for the smaller planet, they are mirror images of one another,” Agol said. The fact that the two planets are so close to each other and exhibit specific orbital patterns allowed the scientists to make fairly precise estimates of each planet’s characteristics, based on their gravitational effects on each other and the resulting variations in the orbits. To date, this is the best-characterized system with small planets, the researchers said. From their calculations, the team estimates the smaller planet is 30 percent iron, less than 1 percent atmospheric hydrogen and helium and probably no more than 15 percent water. The larger planet, on the other hand, likely has a rocky core surrounded by a substantial amount of atmospheric hydrogen and helium. The planets’ densities differ by a factor of eight but their orbits differ by only 10 percent. The big differences in composition and the close proximity of the two is quite a head-scratcher, as current models of planet formation don’t really predict this. But the team is wondering if there are more systems like this out there. “We found this one on a first quick look,” said co-author Josh Carter, a Hubble Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). “We’re now combing through the Kepler data to try to locate more.” Lead image caption: This image, adapted by Eric Agol of the UW, depicts the view one might have of a rising Kepler-36c (represented by a NASA image of Neptune) if Seattle (shown in a skyline photograph by Frank Melchior, frankacaba.com) were placed on the surface of Kepler-36b. Second image caption: In this artist’s conception, a “hot Neptune” known as Kepler-36c looms in the sky of its neighbor, the rocky world Kepler-36b. The two planets have repeated close encounters, experiencing a conjunction every 97 days on average. At that time, they are separated by less than 5 Earth-Moon distances. Such close approaches stir up tremendous gravitational tides that squeeze and stretch both planets, which may promote active volcanism on Kepler-36b. Credit: David A. Aguilar (CfA)
Classroom Arrangement Notes Think through class procedures and learning activities and arrange the room in the best possible way. Make sure all students can see and hear clearly. Allow room and easy access for students with special needs, as well as proxi Build Relationships and Teams Notes Skim the article Forming Positive Student-Teacher What characteristics do teachers need to form positive How do the relationship needs differ between highachieving and low-achieving student Color Activity and Relationship Notes Invite each student to color the room with a photograph, a poster, a piece of artwork, a newspaper clipping or magazine cover of a favorite activity Quote of the day teacher posts for first 2 to 4 weeks, then BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS Notes To a teacher or mentor who helped you learn something that was difficult. Did the teacher directly instruct you? Provide feedback? What made your learning easier? What did that teacher do to ensure you felt safe in the classro Characteristics of a community Notes Each community has a particular role that fulfils a particular need. The role of the community provides the members with a sense of belonging and purpose. Community roles can be active in providing a service, supportiv Boundaries in Community Notes 3 Boundaries . All communities need a way to determine what the community does and how it does it. Boundaries can be physical, virtual or psychological. They define the identity of the community. Without boundaries, the roles The skills and resources of the community Notes A community needs a set of skills and resources in order to achieve it's goals. They provide an available source of wealth that can be drawn upon when needed. If the community does not have the skills and re Origin of Community Notes A community is not My Community. It is Our Community. Communities are as varied and individual as its members. Often people belong to two or more communities. Family, education, business, work, sport, religion, culture all Community rights and responsibilities Notes . the right to its own identity . the right to set its own agenda, constitution and institutions . the right to participate within the wider community . the right to access skills and resources within the wider Student Engagement Activities Notes Student engagement is the continuous involvement of students in learning. It is a cyclical process, planned, and facilitated by the teacher, in which all students constantly move between periods of action and periods of Introduction to Society Notes The expressions "society", "social" and "community" have often been used to mean the same things. A social group describes the common characteristics of a group, but not the personal relationships within the group. A communit Disadvantaged people in society Notes The primary (valued) roles of a service Types of services The community of the service provider Building better communities Generally, the human services are lurching from o
What is fallopian tube cancer? Fallopian tube cancer starts in the cells of the fallopian tubes. A cancerous (malignant) tumour is a group of cancer cells that can grow into and destroy nearby tissue. It can also spread (metastasize) to other parts of the body. Cells in a fallopian tube sometimes change and no longer grow or behave normally. In some cases, these changes can cause cancer. Cancer can start from any of the different types of cells inside the fallopian tubes. Most often,fallopian tube cancer starts in glandular cells, which are cells in the lining of the fallopian tube. This type of cancer is called adenocarcinoma of the fallopian tube and is similar to serous carcinoma of the ovary. Many serous carcinomas previously labelled as ovarian cancers are now thought to start from cells of the nearby fallopian tube that have implanted and grown on the surface of the ovary. Rare types of fallopian tube cancer can also develop. These include clear cell carcinoma, endometrioid carcinoma, adenosquamous carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and sarcoma. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if a tumour in a fallopian tube actually started there. Ovarian cancers can spread to the fallopian tubes and form tumours there. Treatments for ovarian and fallopian tube cancer are similar. The fallopian tubes The fallopian tubes are part of a woman’s reproductive system. The 2 fallopian tubes are on either side of the uterus. During the menstrual cycle, an ovary releases an egg. The egg travels through the fallopian tube from the ovary to the inside of the uterus. Cancer affects all Canadians Nearly 1 in 2 Canadians is expected to be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime.
The human brain works on electricity, which is generated by the brain in order to complete its tasks. The electricity is measured in hertz. One hertz is one energy wave per second. The human brain functions utilizing between 0 to 60 hertz each and every second. In order to perform brainwave optimization with real time balancing™, an electroencephalogram (EEG) is performed. While the EEG is recording the brainwave frequencies from where the electrodes are placed, the computer is analyzing 128 soundings per second and running this analysis through algorithms to allow the computer to emit a sound that correlates with each brainwave frequency from 0 to 60. Accordingly, for the point where the electrode is recording, whenever the brain produces a frequency band of 1, it hears the same tone, and for 2 it hears another tone that is always the same when it produces a 2 wave frequency band. There is a tone (or set of tones) assigned to each band. The computer emits these tones in correlation with the electricity being created, thus mirroring the functioning of the brain. The computer continues to monitor and mirror the brain until the behavioral algorithms signal that the brain knows it is being “mirrored”. From this “mirroring,” a language is born. Now the computer can speak to the brain regarding each frequency band utilizing the tone assigned to that band. So the computer will now roll into a modeling program to show the brain the optimal frequency bands for this area of the brain. After the modeling program, the computer rolls into a coaching program which will emit a tone with a negative tone behind it if the brain is producing too much of a frequency band or alternatively if the amount of a band is appropriate, then the tone for that band will be played with a positive tone behind it. The brainwave optimization system utilizes this programming to speak to brains to train them to function more optimally. Yes, all that is happening is a conversation with the brain. The subconscious (sometimes called the unconscious) part of our brain generates the electricity to perform all functions. It knows exactly what electrical frequency bands to generate for each function. For example, if a client is told to lift his arm, his conscious mind decides if he will do it or not. If he decides to lift his arm, he commands his subconscious to lift his arm. His subconscious will then generate the exactly correct frequency band from the correct neurons down the correct neuro-pathways to the correct nerves to make the correct muscles flex for the arm to raise. Accordingly, the subconscious is exactly aware of each neuron and nerve in the entire body. That is why the subconscious brain is processing 400 billion pieces of information every second. Our conscious mind is only aware of up to 2000 per second. The subconscious brain learns how to generate its patterns regarding our feelings and behaviors based on its perceived experiences. It basically utilizes trial and error. Based on an individual’s environment and experiences, the brain could be learning how to function in a way that does not let an individual leave his house. The brainwave optimization utilizes frequency band ratio modeling to train brains toward optimal functioning. This is significant because it means that this system realizes that all brains will function differently. By utilizing the ratio modeling system, brainwave optimization allows every brain to function differently as long as they are balanced. This allows for the individuality of the human species. The appropriate balance guidelines were obtained by studying the brains of Tibetan monks. In order to train a brain, a two-hour assessment is performed which includes a brain mapping. From this assessment, the trainers can see the areas of the brain where the frequencies are being created in an unbalanced manor. Then the trainers run 90 to 120 minute training sessions performing the appropriate exercises to train the brain to perform in balance. Based on the levels of imbalance and the amount of time the brain has been running imbalanced, the amount of training sessions will vary from 10 to 150. Our average client performs 20 sessions. Balance is essential and the key to overall well-being. Brainwave optimization is all about optimizing the brain and hence optimizing all brain and bodily functions.

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