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Trees can move from relative obscurity into history books around the world for a number of reasons. Sometimes they live longer, grow taller, or extend over a wider region than their peers. Other times, they are simply in the right place at the right time to make an impact. The Tree of Hippocrates is one such example. It bore witness to the teachings of one of the most significant minds in history. The story starts more than 2500 years ago on the Aegean island of Kos. Kos is part of Greece, but its location just 4 km (2 miles) from the coast of Turkey has made it an important port throughout history. Soldiers from Kos are even mentioned as fighting alongside the Greeks in Homer’s Illiad, dated around 1100 BC. Hippocrates of Kos – The Father of Medicine The tiny island may have a long history, but its most famous resident was born around 460 BC. Hippocrates of Kos is frequently referred to as the ‘Father of Medicine’, and for good reason. In his time, little was known about the human body, and even less about disease and health. Most regarded disease, something which brought harm without a visible cause or reason, as punishment from the gods. Hippocrates dismissed this notion, and is the first person who correctly identified disease as a natural phenomenon caused by diet, living conditions, etc. It is thus with regard divine nor more sacred than other diseases, but has a natural cause from the originates like other affections. Men regard its nature and cause as divine from ignorance and wonder… -Hippocrates in On the Sacred Disease This ‘revelation’ led to medicine becoming its own discipline, separate from religion and other superstitious influences. Hippocrates also demanded strict professionalism and rigorous record keeping in order to improve patient care. One example of this that is still relevant today is the Hippocratic Oath, which required physicians to declare that they would do everything in their power to avoid harming patients. It also included medical confidentiality, and is considered the birth of medical ethics. Although it has since been replaced by a much more modern code of ethics, swearing by the Hippocratic Oath is still considered a rite of passage for many medical students. Hippocrates had an incredible mind, but much of the Hippocratic school of medicine is attributed to his disciples. Countless students were trained by Hippocrates on the island of Kos, and the legend goes that his favorite place to teach in the town center Kos. As anyone who has visited the Mediterranean during summer knows, the sun can be quite oppressive, so Hippocrates and his students took refuge beneath a large plane tree. His association with the tree eventually earned it the name ‘The Tree of Hippocrates’. Plane trees in cities around the world Plane trees are exceptionally common, and grow all over the northern hemisphere. In the United States, it’s often called sycamore, although in the rest of the world that name is usually reserved for ficus sycomorus, a kind of fig tree. The bark of plane trees has been used medicinally in the past, and its wood is also valued, referred to as lacewood along with similar looking timber from several other species. Nowadays it’s mostly grown as an ornamental tree, and one strain was specifically cultivated to grow in cities. The so called London Plane casts shade on millions of people in cities around the world. They can be found lining the streets and paths of London, Madrid, Melbourne, New York, San Francisco, and countless others. The ancient Chinese art of leaf carving The plane tree’s leaves are flat and wide, making them ideal for an ancient Chinese art form returned to popularity in the 1990s – leaf carving. This is a process in which a leaf is treated with chemicals for 3 months to 3 years, then the outer layer of the leaf is carefully scraped off with a knife, leaving a transparent cutout of the desired image. The results are spectacular, and the distribution of the veins in a plane leaf allow for incredibly intricate carvings. The Tree of Hippocrates was an oriental plane, or platanus orientalis. These trees are found throughout the middle east and Asia. Chinar, as they are known in India and Pakistan, are a staple in Persian gardens. They are also considered sacred in Kashmir, where the largest of its species resides. The Tree of Hippocrates spreads its influence around the world But Greece is undoubtedly the original home of the oriental plane, and the Tree of Hippocrates is the largest in Europe. Or at least its descendant is. The tree under which Hippocrates of Kos disseminated his knowledge died long ago, and its spot in the town square was taken up by one of its descendants about 500 years ago. Much like the apple tree that crossed paths with Isaac Newton, the cuttings of the Tree of Hippocrates have been sent to colleges of medicine around the world. As stated at a recent planting in Malaga, Spain, these trees serve as a symbol of the humanitarian side of medicine in an age when technological advances threaten to dehumanize interactions between doctors and patients. If you enjoyed this article about the Tree of Hippocrates, check out the archive for more tree stories. Also check out the Facebook page, with a few extra tree goodies throughout the week. Subscribe below to receive notifications whenever a new tree story is published. As always, feel free to drop a comment below. It’s always nice to hear from you!
Direct variation refers to a relationship between two variables where when one variable increases the other also increases by the same factor. Conversely, when one variable decreases, the other variable also decreases by the same factor. As such, the ratio between two variables that are in direct variation (or directly proportional) always remains the same. Variables in direct variation can be modeled by the equations where k is a constant of proportionality, and x ≠ 0. The graph of two variables in direct variation is simply a straight line through the origin, as shown in the figure below, using the graph of y = 1x. In the graph we can see that as x increases, y also increases, and as x decreases, y also decreases. There are many examples of variables in the real world that are in direct variation, such as the gallons of gasoline pumped into a car, and the cost of the gasoline. The more gasoline that is pumped into the car, the higher the cost; the less gasoline pumped, the lower the cost. The rate at which a plant grows is another example. Given that a plant's height is in direct variation with its age, it grows 4 inches for every elapsed week, and its height is 0 (planted seed) at the beginning of the first week, determine how tall the plant will be by the end of 4 weeks, noting its height with each passing week. Since it is given that the two variables, height and age, are in direct variation, we can use the equation for direct variation: The constant of proportionality, k, is 4, the age of the plant is x, and the height of the plant is y. The height of the plant at the end of each week can therefore by found by multiplying its age by 4: y = 4x Because we can see that the plant's height increases at the same rate as its age, we can confirm that x and y are in direct variation. More specifically, we can see that x and y increase at the same rate. When x is doubled, y also doubles. When x is tripled, y also triples, and so on. Furthermore, the ratio between x and y remains constant, as y is always 4 times x. This is what is meant when someone says that x and y are in direct variation, y varies directly with x, or y is directly proportional to x; they all mean the same thing.
Before You Lead That STEM Lesson… A MiddleWeb Blog As you get ready to engage students in exciting STEM lessons, be sure to keep these five STEM lesson principles upfront and personal. 1. Know the content and big ideas for the lesson. You’ll be integrating science and math content in your STEM lesson, so be sure you know the content for each area well. Your success as a STEM teacher, and consequently your students’ learning, will depend to a great extent on how well you understand the subject matter. Math teachers designing STEM lessons often need to dig deeper into the science content, and science teachers need to understand the grade-level math components. The best possible learning method is for math and science teachers to study and learn together with a STEM lesson in mind. Ongoing collaboration will also help those new teaching practices to stick over time. 2. Keep it real. The integrated STEM learning approach focuses on combining knowledge from science, technology, engineering and mathematics to solve real-world problems. Suppose you encounter a lesson that involves kids in solving an insect infestation problem involving imaginary insects. Insect infestation may a real problem, but an infestation of mythical insects is not real. This isn’t a STEM lesson. In my science classes I sometimes used imaginary creatures to generate interest. When studying the rock cycle, my students drew a comic strip about the life story of Sandy Sediment – a mythical grain of sand. But I was not leading a STEM lesson. In STEM lessons the problems and issues being addressed are real ones. Mythical insects and imaginary life forms are not real 21st Century problems (at least, as far as I know). So your STEM lesson should avoid imaginary problems and characters. 3. Understand the role of criteria and constraints in your STEM lesson. STEM lessons spell out criteria and constraints that students must meet when designing solutions for a specific problem. Simply put, criteria identify the ways students will define success for their prototypes and inventions. (In some classes, students may participate in determining the criteria and constraints.) Criteria example: In one lesson teams designed model clot catchers to prevent blood clots from traveling to the lungs. Their clot catchers had to meet four criteria: (1) Catch model blood clots and hold them; (2) stay in place in the model vein; (3) stay together in one piece; (4) allow the blood to keep flowing. Teams used a rubric to evaluate their clot catchers according to the criteria. Constraints refer to limitations that teams must observe when designing solutions. For example they may have to limit its size or weight. They may have to consider safety factors or environmental impact. One constraint they generally have is the availability of materials. Prepare to help students clearly understand the role of criteria and constraints as they design. 4. Be thoroughly comfortable with the Engineering Design Process (EDP). I’ve mentioned the EDP in previous posts, but the EDP is truly the heart of your STEM lesson. Let’s do a quick review of EDP steps I use with middle schoolers. These steps don’t have to occur in any particular order. Engineers regularly go back and forth between steps when working on solutions. Define the Problem: This is the specific engineering challenge that students will address. In this step, the students identify and clarify the problem. Research: Team members gather needed information about the problem from written material, hands-on investigations, videos, interviews, and in a number of different ways. Choose and Plan: Team members choose the idea they think will work best and plan how they will design their prototype. They make a specific design plan and sketch. If they have trouble reaching consensus, they use teamwork skills such as active listening, respect, and trade-offs. Create: Team members build their prototype. All team members play an active role and share responsibilities. Test and Evaluate: Teams test their prototypes to determine how well they solve the problem. They evaluate them based on how successful they were in meeting the criteria. It’s okay if the prototype doesn’t work because team members can learn from this and correct their design problems in the next version they construct. Communicate: Team members share specifics about the problem, their designed solution, and the results. They can do this in a variety of ways, including written communication, speech and drama, digital tools, photographs, or other methods. Redesign: Teams decide how to improve their prototype and redesign it. Team members may synthesize information from their test results and those of other teams to help them decide how to improve their device. This may occur at several stages during the lesson. 5. Know how to teach a STEM lesson. I touched on this recently in this post on summer planning, but it bears repeating: before leading a STEM lesson you need to have a good grasp of the kind of teaching and learning STEM classes require. Students’ work is hands-on and collaborative, and decisions about solutions are student-generated. During the lesson team members make careful observations, develop prototypes, synthesize data, and make informed decisions to guide their redesign. These are not traditional teacher-driven practices: they are student-centered, inquiry-based practices. On your mark… So with those basics in mind, get ready to tackle leading STEM lessons. And remember, don’t be afraid of what you don’t know. You do not need to enter the STEM education world as an expert in all things STEM. You just need to be a keen observer, a good learner, and a teacher who knows what the students need to gain from STEM lessons.
When the first planetarium was opened at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany, in 1923, it was described as a “schoolroom under the vault of the heavens.” The term planetarium refers to an institution devoted to popular education in astronomy and related fields, especially space science. It is also the name for the instrument used to show the positions and motions of celestial objects by projecting their images onto a hemispheric ceiling above seating for as many as 600 persons. Planetarium installations vary greatly. Some have extensive exhibit space, museum collections, and staffs. The projection dome may have a diameter of 82 feet (25 meters) or more. At the heart of every planetarium is the projector. Perhaps the best-known name in projector manufacture is Zeiss. Since World War II, projectors have been constructed in a Zeiss factory in Oberkochen, Germany, as well as in the original Zeiss plant at Jena, where the first projector was built in 1923. Other manufacturers operate in the United States and Japan. Modern Zeiss instruments are large, technologically advanced combinations of lenses, lights, gears, and motors designed to project images of the planets, sun, and moon in their correct locations among the stars. These images can be manipulated to show their relative positions as they appeared far into the past and as they will appear far into the future. Star images are projected from two spherical units, one for the northern sky and one for the southern sky. Auxiliary devices are used to project images of other celestial objects, including the Milky Way, comets, and meteors. Visual aids such as movable luminescent arrows are also used. In a typical planetarium, demonstrations—or sky shows, as they are commonly called—are offered to the public on a regular basis. The astronomy theme is often embellished by music, special effects of all kinds, and a narration that is usually prepared in advance and taped. Many programs are now automated. Special sky shows for schoolchildren remain an essential part of programs in nearly every installation, with the content often integrated with science curricula of the local schools. Although concentric seating around the central projector in the domed theater remains the most common arrangement, there have been experiments with unidirectional seating. A recent trend in “space theaters” places emphasis on wide-angle motion pictures in a tilted or distorted hemisphere, with projected star fields in a secondary role. Cathode-ray projection systems and laser systems currently being developed may eventually replace the optical-mechanical planetarium projector. Such electronically controlled systems are readily integrated with computer data bases and have the potential to create many variations on traditional projected patterns. By taking into account star distances, for example, the system can create the illusion of flying through space among the stars while it maintains an accurate representation of the surroundings from any new perspective.
Updated August 12, 2022 \| 03:00 p.m. General information and resources for current communicable disease topics. Coronavirus (COVID-19) comes from a large family of viruses that are a common cause of mild upper respiratory infections, but also include both SARS and MERS, which can cause more serious disease. Most patients with coronavirus have mild symptoms, however this new virus has resulted in cases of severe illnesses and deaths reported in China. - Centers For Disease Control (CDC) - COVID-19 - EHS COVID-19 Resources - UCI COVID-19 Resources - UCI Human Resources COVID-19 and other Wellness Resources Ebola spreads from person-to-person by direct contact with a patient’s body fluids, like saliva, blood, vomit, urine, feces, and sweat. The virus gets into the body through broken skin or mucous membranes (spongy skin like the kind you find in your nose or mouth). Ebola can also be spread by infected objects, like needles, that have been tainted with body fluids. Ebola can also spread after death, when preparing the patient’s body for burial. Ebola cannot spread through the air, in food, or water. It takes 8 - 10 days for most people to get symptoms, but it can range from 2- 21 days. Patients can spread the virus while they have a fever or other symptoms. People who do not have symptoms cannot spread Ebola. - Centers for Disease Control (CDC) - Ebola Virus Information - Orange County Health Care Agency (OCHCA) - Ebola Virus Gastroenteritis means inflammation of the stomach and small and large intestines. Gastroenteritis is an infection caused by a variety of viruses, bacteria and parasites that results in vomiting or diarrhea. Gastroenteritis is associated with foodborne illnesses via food contamination. Food contamination can occur in the following ways: - Natural bacteria found in food are allowed to grow to harmful levels. This can happen when food is cooked or stored at the wrong temperature. - The cooking area is not kept clean. For example, when insects or rodents get into the kitchen area. - The cooking utensils are not cleaned properly. For example, a board used to cut raw meat is then used for foods eaten raw. This is called cross-contamination. Bacteria may also grow on wet, contaminated cloths and sponges (water may get rid of dirt you can see, but not bacteria). Many times foodborne illness goes unrecognized, or is thought to simply be a "stomach flu." Symptoms may occur within a few hours to days after eating contaminated food. It is often not the last thing eaten that makes a person sick. Symptoms may include stomach cramps, diarrheas, fever, nausea, vomiting and chills. Gastroenteritis is highly infectious and is spread by the vomit or faeces of an infected person through person-to-person contact, for example shaking hands with someone who has been sick and has the virus on their hands, contaminated objects and contaminated food or drink. Infection may also be spread through aerosolised particles when people vomit. In most cases, spread occurs from a person who has symptoms. Some people can pass on the infection without symptoms, particularly in the first 48 hours after recovery. - Centers for Disease Control (CDC) - Food Safety - Orange County Health Care Agency (OCHCA) - Viral Gastroenteritis (including Norovirus) Hepatitis A viral infection causes liver disease that can range from mild to severe, and for some will result in death. The virus is spread via the fecal-oral route, i.e. the virus is ingested by mouth from contact with hands, objects, food or drinks that are contaminated by the feces of an infected person. Regular hand washing, with soap and water is an effective prevention strategy. Person-to-person transmission through the fecal-oral route (i.e., ingestion of something that has been contaminated with the feces of an infected person) is the primary means of HAV transmission in the United States. Exposure to contaminated food or water can cause common-source outbreaks and sporadic cases of HAV infection. Uncooked foods contaminated with HAV can be a source of outbreaks, as well as cooked foods that are not heated to temperatures capable of killing the virus during preparation and foods that are contaminated after cooking, as occurs in outbreaks associated with infected food handlers. Influenza, or flu, is a respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses. Transmission of influenza in humans can occur via respiratory infection by aerosols and droplets (from coughing and sneezing) or from contact transmission from contaminated surfaces. Closed environment and crowds favor transmission. Transmission of influenza virus from donors who are shedding large amounts of virus can be infective for 2 to 8 hours. Symptoms of influenza include fever (often high), runny or stuffy nose, cough, sore throat, headache, tiredness, and muscle aches. Children may sometimes also have nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Some people can have a severe illness with influenza. They may have pneumonia, ear infections, dehydration, and worsening of medical problems such as asthma, heart conditions, and diabetes. People with chronic medical conditions, the elderly, pregnant women, and children under 2 years of age are more likely to be admitted to a hospital for influenza. More than 200,000 people are hospitalized each year in the United States due to flu and between about 3,000 to 49,000 people die. - CDC FluView - CDC Weekly Influenza Surveillance Report - Orange County Healthcare Agency (OCHCA) - Influenza Measles is a highly contagious and potentially severe disease that causes fever, rash, cough, and red, watery eyes. Measles spreads very easily by air and by direct contact with an infected person. Measles is contagious from approximately 4 days before the rash appears through 4 days after the rash appears. Measles is a rare disease in the United States and in regions of the world where vaccination coverage is high. Maintaining high vaccination rates is vital to preventing outbreaks of disease in our community. Mumps is best known for the puffy cheeks and swollen jaw that it causes. This is a result of swollen salivary glands. The most common symptoms include: fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness, loss of appetite, swollen and tender salivary glands under the ears on one or both sides (parotitis). Symptoms typically appear 16-18 days after infection, but this period can range from 12-25 days after infection. Some people who get mumps have very mild or no symptoms, and often they do not know they have the disease. Most people with mumps recover completely in a few weeks. Mumps is a contagious disease caused by a virus. It spreads through saliva or mucus from the mouth, nose, or throat. An infected person can spread the virus by coughing, sneezing, or talking, sharing items, such as cups or eating utensils, with others, and touching objects or surfaces with unwashed hands that are then touched by others. Mumps likely spreads before the salivary glands begin to swell and up to five days after the swelling begins. Meningitis is an inflammation (swelling) of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. A bacterial or viral infection of the fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord usually causes the swelling. However, injuries, cancer, certain drugs, and other types of infections also can cause meningitis. It is important to know the specific cause of meningitis because the treatment differs depending on the cause. Meningitis can be caused by bacteria, virus, fungi, parasites. Meningitis is not easily spread like the common cold or flu. Because it is spread through close contact, avoid sharing drinks, water bottles, lip-balm, or smoking materials. Cover all coughs and sneezes, and wash your hands thoroughly. - Centers For Disease Control (CDC) - Meningitis - Centers For Disease Control (CDC) - Meningococcal Disease Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by infection with the monkeypox virus. Monkeypox is part of the same family of viruses that cause smallpox. Monkeypox symptoms are similar to smallpox symptoms, but milder, and monkeypox is rarely fatal. Monkeypox might start with symptoms like the flu, with fever, low energy, swollen lymph nodes, and general body aches. Within 1 to 3 days (sometimes longer) after the appearance of fever, the person can develop a rash or sores. - California Department of Public Health - Monkeypox - Centers For Disease Control (CDC) - Monkeypox - EHS Monkeypox Resources - UCI Monkeypox Information Staphylococcus aureus (Staph) is a bacteria commonly found on the skin and in the nose of healthy people. Some Staph bacteria have developed resistance to certain antibiotics commonly used to treat Staph infections, and are called Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. Staph, including MRSA, can cause minor infections such as pimples and boils, or it can cause more serious infections, such as abscesses, pneumonia, and bone or bloodstream infections. Many MRSA skin infections are initially misdiagnosed as spider bites. However, verified spider bites are extremely rare and the spiders that cause significant bites are uncommon in Southern California. Some people have MRSA on their body or in their nose but no symptoms of infection. MRSA is transmitted most frequently by direct skin-to-skin contact or contact with shared items or surfaces (e.g., towels, used bandages) that have come into contact with someone else's infected site. Pertussis, a respiratory illness commonly known as whooping cough, is very contagious disease caused by a type of bacteria called Bordetella Pertussis. These bacteria attach to the cilia (tiny, hair-like extensions) that line part of the upper respiratory system. The bacteria release toxins (poisons), which damage the cilia and cause airways to swell. Pertussis spreads from person to person. People with pertussis usually spread the disease to another person by coughing or sneezing or when spending a lot of time near one another where you share breathing space. Many babies who get pertussis are infected by older siblings, parents, or caregivers who might not even know they have the disease. Infected people are most contagious up to about 2 weeks after the cough begins. Antibiotics may shorten the amount of time someone is contagious. While pertussis vaccines are the most effective tool to prevent this disease, no vaccine is 100% effective. When pertussis circulates in the community, there is a chance that a fully vaccinated person, of any age, can catch this disease. If you have gotten the pertussis vaccine but still get sick, the infection is usually not as bad. Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The bacteria usually attack the lungs, but TB bacteria can attack any part of the body such as the kidney, spine, and brain. Not everyone infected with TB bacteria becomes sick. As a result, two TB-related conditions exist: latent TB infection (LTBI) and TB disease. If not treated properly, TB disease can be fatal. TB bacteria are spread through the air from one person to another. The TB bacteria are put into the air when a person with TB disease of the lungs or throat coughs, speaks, or sings. People nearby may breathe in these bacteria and become infected. TB is not spread by shaking someone’s hand, sharing food or drink, touching bed linens or toilet seats, sharing toothbrushes and kissing. When a person breathes in TB bacteria, the bacteria can settle in the lungs and begin to grow. From there, they can move through the blood to other parts of the body, such as the kidney, spine, and brain. TB disease in the lungs or throat can be infectious. This means that the bacteria can be spread to other people. TB in other parts of the body, such as the kidney or spine, is usually not infectious. People with TB disease are most likely to spread it to people they spend time with every day. This includes family members, friends, and coworkers or schoolmates. West Nile virus (WNV) is a virus that is most commonly spread by the bite of an infected mosquito. It affects the central nervous system and can cause a potentially serious illness with varying symptoms. People who spend a lot of time outdoors are more likely to be bitten by an infected mosquito, and people older than 50 years of age are at increased risk for severe disease if bitten by an infected mosquito. In a very small number of cases, WNV was spread through blood transfusions, organ transplantations, from mother-to-baby (during pregnancy and through breastfeeding), and through work exposures (animal handling or laboratory). Animals can also be infected with WNV and certain birds in particular play an important part in the life cycle and spread of the virus although birds do not directly spread the infection to humans. There is no treatment except supportive care for WNV infection, although experimental therapies are currently being studied. Avoiding mosquito bites is the #1 way to prevent WNV infection. - Orange County Health Care Agency (OCHCA) - West Nile Virus - PRESS RELEASE - OC Health Care Agency Reports First Human West Nile Virus Infection of 2020 - UCI West Nile Virus (WNV) and Campus Mosquito Control Efforts Zika virus is transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes (also known as yellow fever mosquitoes) and by Aedes albopictus mosquitoes (also known as Asian tiger mosquitoes). These mosquitoes are not native to California. However, since 2011 they have been detected in several California counties. An Aedes mosquito can only transmit Zika virus after it bites a person who has this virus in their blood. Thus far in California, Zika virus infections have been documented only in a few people who were infected while travelling outside the United States. A person with Zika is not contagious. Zika is not spread through casual contact such as touching or kissing a person with the virus, or by breathing in the virus.
Dermatitis (eczema) refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders that share similarities in clinical appearance and histopathologic findings, but may have very different etiologies. Eczema originates from a Greek word meaning "to boil." Acute dermatitis often appears vesicular (like water boiling on the skin), whereas chronic dermatitis may be red, scaly, and lichenified. Pruritus is a common symptom of all types of dermatitis. The 2 major types of contact dermatitis are irritant contact dermatitis and allergic contact dermatitis. These reactions are not mutually exclusive, and may occur simultaneously in a particular patient. For example, contact allergy to a glove chemical may complicate irritant hand dermatitis due to irritating soaps used for hand washing. Furthermore, one substance may act as both an irritant and an allergen; a patient may have an allergic reaction to a preservative in a liquid soap as well as having an irritant reaction to a detergent in a soap. Common allergens include urushiol (eg, poison ivy), nickel, fragrances, preservatives, topical antibiotics (eg, neomycin, bacitracin), and paraphenylenediamine (eg, black hair dye). Common irritants include water, soap, industrial cleansers, and frictional forces. IRRITANT CONTACT DERMATITIS Irritant contact dermatitis is the most common form of contact dermatitis. It is estimated that irritant contact dermatitis represents approximately 80% of occupational contact dermatitis. Occupations at high risk include those involving repeated exposure to water and/or soap (wet work) such as health care workers, janitorial services, and food industry employees or those involving exposure to solvents such as machinists.1 Irritant contact dermatitis is a nonimmunologic response to chemicals or physical agents such as friction that disrupt the normal epidermal barrier. Strong irritants include acids and alkalis, whereas weak irritants include soaps and cleansers. Damaged skin lacks the proper oils and moisture, thus allowing irritants to penetrate more deeply and cause further damage by triggering inflammation. Any condition that impairs skin barrier function, such as atopic dermatitis or asteatotic dermatitis/dry skin, is a risk factor for developing irritant contact dermatitis. Irritant contact dermatitis typically develops weeks after exposure to weak irritants such as hand soap or immediately after exposure to strong irritants such as bleach. It may affect any individual, given sufficient exposure to irritants, but those with a history of atopic dermatitis are at higher risk because of disruption of the normal epidermal barrier. Pruritus, pain, and burning are common symptoms. Irritant contact dermatitis is often well demarcated with a glazed appearance, but there may also be erythema, swelling, blistering, and scaling. Initially, irritant reactions are usually confined to the site of contact with the irritant. The most common locations are hands, ...
This perennially favorite old song’s lyrics have been updated over the years. The longer, original lyrics, written in 1853, were about the dismal lives of Kentucky slaves, and the hundreds of years of degradation and loss suffered by generations of enslaved Africans. The updated lyrics shown here omit that troubling, though historically accurate language. I bring this up because many old songs, books, movies and other materials and media have racist content that should be noted and dealt with, like the racist imagery and messages recently found in the tales written by Dr. Seuss, the historically quite accurate books of Mark Twain and Charles Dickens, and some of the once-delightful old animated movies from Disney. Historically racist content that reinforces the superiority of one group over another actually provides powerful opportunities to have thoughtful conversations with our children and friends. While providing views of how ugliness in the U.S. was once acceptable, classic songs, books, movies and more provide a platform for children to learn that things can and do get better over time, if we face them for what they are and decide to make them better. Developing perspective around issues like racism and inequality are critical for our children if they are to grow up be be comfortable in engaging in their community’s conversations reckoning with these enduring issues. One way we can do that is by seeking out more diversity in the content we encourage our kids to consume and engaging in dialogue with them that leads to action toward improving their worlds each day forward. We can do that by seeking out books in which children of all ethnicities see themselves as valued members of a global society. Parents and teachers can do that best and most comfortably by gently confronting and discussing any racial, economic, or cultural biases we encounter when reading with our kids.
An IELTS essay is a ‘discursive essay’ where you may have to discuss an issue, give an opinion, explain the advantages or disadvantages, write about problems or causes of problems and give solutions. There are 5 variations to an IELTS discursive essay. In this blog post, there are 7 model answers for IELTS writing task 2. These are based on essays my students have written with help from me to correct them and make them more concise and clear. First, let’s look at these important points. In a problem-solution essay or an advantage disadvantage essay, the instruction words will ask something like: - What problems does this cause, what solutions can you suggest? - Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages? - What are the advantages and disadvantages of this? Notice the plural form here, advantages and disadvantages. Many students (and IELTS teachers) think they have to write more than one advantage and disadvantage or more than one problem and solution. Yes, you can certainly do this but you can also make it much simpler by writing about one advantage and one disadvantage. The same goes for a problem solution essay. Another point to consider is that you may run out of time if you write 2 of each. You will have only 40 minutes for the essay. Planning time is around 10 minutes so that means 30 minutes of writing. Another danger of writing about 2 of each is that your word count will go well over 300 words. What does the marking criteria say? - Band 8 Task Response states-> ‘presents a well-developed response to the question with relevant, extended and supported ideas…’ There is nothing mentioned in the marking criteria about having more than one advantage or disadvantage only that it needs to be well developed, relevant and supported. So you can take one advantage and one disadvantage, explain them well and support them with a specific example within an essay of between 260 to 300 words. Same for a problem solution essay, one problem one solution. - Band 7 coherence and cohesion it states-> ‘presents a clear central topic within each paragraph…’ So you can run with one central idea or one main advantage and disadvantage, or problem/solution, as long as you can explain it well and give a clear relevant example. You will see this technique in the model answers below. In the first causes solution model answer below there are 2 problems and 2 solutions. The only issue though is that it tends to end up as a very long essay at way over 300 words. Realistically, you will not have the time in the exam to write an essay over 300 words and you will have more chance of making mistakes. You do not get a higher band score with a very long essay, for example, a 380-word essay. I have often been sent these kinds of essays to mark and it is frustrating, just keep it concise between 260 to 300 words.
Rapiers evolved from cut-and-thrust military swords, but were most popular amongst civilians who used it for self-defence and duelling. Rapiers were edged, but the primary means of attack was the thrust. Rapier fencing spread from Spain and Italy to northwest Europe, in spite of the objections of masters such as George Silver who preferred traditional cutting weapons such the English broad sword. The Spanish school, under masters such as Narvaez and Thibault, became a complicated and mystical affair whose geometrical theories required much practice to master. Italian masters like Agrippa and Capo Ferro developed a more pragmatic school in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, introducing innovations such as linear fencing and the lunge. By the 18th century, the rapier had evolved to a simpler, shorter, and lighter design that was popularized in France as the small sword. Although the small sword often had an edge, it was only to discourage the opponent from grabbing the blade, and the weapon was used exclusively for thrusting. The light weight made a more complex and defensive style possible, and the French masters developed a school based on defence with the sword, subtlety of movement, and complex attacks. When buttoned with a leather safety tip that resembled a flower bud, the small sword was known as le fleuret, and was identical in use to the modern foil (still known as le fleuret in French). Indeed, the French small sword school forms the basis of most of modern fencing theory. By the mid-19th century, duelling was in decline as a means of settling disputes, partially because victory could lead to a jail term for assault or manslaughter. Emphasis shifted to defeating the opponent without necessarily killing him, and less fatal duelling forms evolved using the duelling sword, or Ã©pÃ©e de terrain, an unedged variant of the small sword. Later duels often ended with crippling thrusts to the arm or leg, and fewer legal difficulties for the participants. This is the basis of modern Ã©pÃ©e fencing. Duelling faded away after the First World War. A couple of noteworthy duels were fought over disputes that arose during Olympic games in the 1920s, and there have been rare reports of sword duels since then. German fraternity duelling (mensur) still occurs with The first modern Olympic games featured foil and sabre fencing for men only. Epee was introduced in 1900. Single stick was featured in the 1904 games. Epee was electrified in the 1936 games, foil in 1956, and sabre in 1988. Early Olympic games featured events for Masters, and until recently fencing was the only Olympic sport that has included professionals. Disruptions in prevailing styles have accompanied the introduction of electric judging, most recently transforming sabre fencing. Foil fencing experienced similar upheavals for a decade or two following the introduction of electric judging, which was further complicated by the new, aggressive, athletic style coming out of eastern Europe at the
The emergence of domestication and agriculture allowed humankind to produce more food per area of land, but this innovation also resulted in myriad unintended consequences, many of which were unsustainable. One of my favorite essays is Civilization & Sludge, by Abby A. Rockefeller. It describes the evolution of how people dealt with the production of human excrement, a process that never ends. Like everything else in the human saga, the history begins simple and sustainable, and over time degenerates into a system that is complex and energy-guzzling. The following is mostly a summary of her 16-page essay. Rockefeller learned that the simplest and most sustainable sewage treatment system was developed by nomadic foragers. They utilized the same time-proven system used by non-human animals — depositing their feces and urine on the ground, in a widely dispersed manner. This recycled vital nutrients, cost nothing, required no staff or infrastructure, did not pollute the water, kill the fish, encourage the spread of contagious water-borne diseases, or produce a single spoonful of toxic sludge. This brilliant system works very well in societies having low population density. With the advent of agriculture, the supply of food increased, the population increased, the output of sewage increased, and the old system failed completely. This inspired the clever invention of smelly outhouses and cesspools. This new technology recycled nutrients less effectively than the nomadic forager system. The flush toilet grew in popularity during the nineteenth century, as municipal water systems came into fashion. Municipal water systems increased the production of wastewater, which overwhelmed the old cesspools. The cheap and dirty solution was open sewers — ditches beside the streets where sewage from the cesspools was drained. It’s no coincidence that cholera became a very popular disease at this time. This inspired the development of closed-pipe sewage systems, which moved the wastes out of town — into lakes, streams, and oceans, where nature would (in theory) purify it all. On the plus side, cholera rates dropped. On the downside, typhoid became popular among downstream residents who got their water from sewage-laden streams. Once upon a time, the Thames River of England was filled with salmon, and supported a thriving fishery. Then came the new and improved sewage systems, which killed the fish, and turned the Thames into one of the most polluted rivers on Earth. This inspired cities to filter the drinking water pumped from tainted waterways. Typhoid rates dropped. But filtering did not remove the sewage from the rivers, and rapid growth in the industrial sector was adding large quantities of other pollutants, including toxics. This inspired cities to treat waste before dumping it into waterways. Treatment systems have been evolving over the years — each new design is more complex, expensive, and energy-intensive than its predecessor. The wastes and nutrients that used to go into the river are now concentrated into toxic sludge. Because the waste discharged from industry varies from place to place, and day to day, the toxicity of the sludge varies from moderate to extremely poisonous. The sludge was dumped into the ocean, where the poisons created dead zones on the ocean floor. Ocean dumping was outlawed in 1988. At this point, sewage industry propagandists began presenting toxic sludge as a wonderful fertilizer — beneficial biosolids! This was given to farmers free of charge. Rockefeller has actually seen stores selling bags of sewage sludge pellets labelled “natural organic fertilizer.” Toxic sludge is low in nitrogen, so it has to be applied in large quantities to serve as fertilizer. Heavy metals and other toxins in the sludge move into the soil. These toxins are absorbed by plants, and the animals that eat them. In the soil, thousands of industrial chemicals can interact, creating a countless opportunities for unintended and undesirable consequences. Following the application of toxic sludge at a Georgia dairy farm, the milk was contaminated with high levels of toxic thallium. Another Georgia farmer watched his herd of 300 cattle die — his free beneficial biosolids happened to contain high levels of arsenic, heavy metals, and PCBs. Sludge is a hazardous waste. What do we do with it? Answer: stop making sludge. Human wastes need to be returned to the soil, and production of toxic industrial wastes needs to end. What is the moral of this story? Thou shalt keep society small and simple. Ants and bees live well in large complex civilizations. But humans are not insects. This is an important fact to remember. Rockefeller owns Clivus Multrum, a manufacturer of composting toilets. Other Rockefeller essays:
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death and, as it turns out, alarming problems with vitamin K2 deficiency are a contributing factor, according to a new review article that is published in Open Heart. Vitamin K2 regulates the body’s calcium distribution and lack of the vitamin increases the risk of atherosclerosis, arterial stiffness, insulin resistance, and heart failure. Supplementation with vitamin K2 has been seen to improve circulatory health in a number of different ways, and it also has a positive effect on inflammation and type 2 diabetes. Unfortunately, modern diets are not all that rich in vitamin K2 and the problem is made worse by the fact that different types of medicine disrupt the body’s ability to utilize the nutrient. Vitamin K2 is a lipid-soluble vitamin that is found naturally in two forms with entirely different functions. Vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) helps the blood coagulate and is mainly found in cabbage and dark greens. A well-functioning gut flora is even able to convert vitamin K1 into vitamin K2 but the amounts are often limited. Vitamin K2 (menaquinone K4 - K10) is found in liver and fermented foods such as natto, sauerkraut, kefir, and cheese where the vitamin is produced by bacteria as part of the fermentation. Vitamin K2 activates matrix GLA protein (MGP) that is found inside the blood vessels. Activated MGB binds calcium and works by removing excess calcium from the arteries. Vitamin K2 also activates a protein called osteocalcin that embeds calcium in bone tissue. That way, vitamin K2 counteracts atherosclerosis and osteoporosis by regulating the distribution of calcium in the different tissues. The authors behind the new review article describe a list of studies of the link between vitamin K2, atherosclerosis, and different cardiovascular diseases, peripheral arteries, and capillaries in the eyes and kidneys. They also look at whether or not supplements of vitamin K2 can improve blood flow and prevent early death. Using a marker to measure vitamin K2 levels The body only stores limited quantities of vitamin K which makes it difficult to measure levels of the nutrient in the blood. In order to assess vitamin K2’s role in the circulatory system, one must use a biomarker of the body’s vitamin K status. This is done by measuring levels of MGP protein that is activated with help from vitamin K2. MGP’s ability to bind calcium requires a process that involves carbolyxation of MGP. By measuring uncarbolyxated MGP (inactive MGP), it is possible to see if there is too little vitamin K2 in the body. Atherosclerosis and arterial stiffness Atherosclerosis is a thickening of the arterial wall that is often seen in the coronary arteries, the brain, and the legs. Atherosclerosis also causes stiff arteries and may eventually result in symptoms linked to impaired blood supply and, in worst case, heart infarction and stroke, which are the leading causes of death in the western world. Atherosclerosis consists of deposits of calcium, fat, and oxidized LDL cholesterol. However, there is too little focus on the calcium deposits that are a result of improper calcium distribution in the body. The review article mentions several studies and meta-analyses that show how vitamin K2-dependent proteins reduce atherosclerosis and arterial stiffness by clearing excess calcium from the bloodstream. Aortic stenosis is a narrowing of the heart’s aortic valve that prevents blood from flowing to all the different parts of the body. Eventually, it puts that much strain on the body that you have breathing difficulty, chest pain, and dizziness. It is a degenerative disease characterized by a progressive calcification of the aortic valve. In their review, the authors write that blood-thinners like warfarin that are used to prevent blood clots can trigger the development of aortic stenosis. This is because warfarin is a vitamin K antagonist and counteracts both vitamin K1 and vitamin K2. Because of this mechanism, blood-thinners deplete levels of vitamin K2 and increase the risk of aortic stenosis. As the authors write, it may be a good idea to measure patients’ levels of inactive MGB as a way to gauge vitamin K2 deficiency. Atherosclerosis in the tiny blood vessels From the arteries, our blood continues through smaller blood vessels and eventually reaches the tiny blood vessels (capillaries) that are no thicker than a human hair strand. Apparently, MGP is found in abundance in the capillaries of the eyes, retina, kidneys, and heart and it is therefore assumed that MGP plays a major role in maintaining the structural integrity of these capillaries through its role in counteracting atherosclerosis and stiffness. A population study lasting 11 years has demonstrated higher levels of inactive MGP are associated with narrowing of the retinal capillaries and is used for cardiovascular risk assessment. Cardiovascular disease and mortality More and more evidence suggests a link between low levels of vitamin K2 (inactive MGP) and the development of cardiovascular disease and premature death. Numerous studies have linked vitamin K2 deficiency to atherosclerosis, chronic heart failure, and stroke. A study of 894 patients suffering from ischemic heart disease (coronary occlusion) has shown that low vitamin K2 doubles or even triples the risk of dying of heart failure or stroke within a five-year period. Inflammation, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease Chronic inflammation is the common thread of many chronic diseases. Vitamin K2’s anti-inflammatory properties are mainly tied to its role in regulating the body’s calcium distribution. If cells in blood vessels or other types of soft tissue are flooded by calcium ions, they may become stressed and respond with inflammation that is tied to oxidative stress and oxidation of cholesterol. Cholesterol, which is otherwise an essential compound, becomes harmful when it oxidizes and is embedded in the vessel walls. Markers of vitamin K2 deficiency (inactive MGP) are associated with inflammation and, subsequently, linked to kidney function, diabetes, and obesity. More than 60 percent of those with chronic kidney disease have low levels of vitamin K2 which increases their risk of early death. This is also the case with kidney-transplanted patients. The authors mention how vital the body’s calcium distribution is for our kidney function and for preventing kidney stones. Osteocalcin that is activated by vitamin K2 is even important for our insulin sensitivity. Lack of vitamin K2 is therefore linked to insulin resistance, an early stage of type 2 diabetes. What makes diabetes potentially harmful is the risk of serious circulatory disturbances and hypertension. Vitamin K2 supplements for prevention and therapy According to the review article, supplements of vitamin K2 in combination with a healthy diet and lifestyle can help prevent atherosclerosis, arterial stiffness, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and heart failure. Vitamin K2 supplements are also relevant as part of the treatment for heart disease. Although many promising studies have been made, several of the studies are limited in terms of their design, their duration, and their dosage and vitamin K formulas. Still, it looks as if vitamin k2 supplements may be useful for people with atherosclerosis, arterial stiffness, and aortic stenosis. What is more, it is a safe and convenient therapy form. How much vitamin K do we need? The daily reference intake (RI) level for vitamin K1 for adults is 75 micrograms, while no RI level has been set for vitamin K2. Even though the jury is still out with regard to vitamin K2, several studies point to daily intake levels in the range of 75-180 micrograms as being advantageous. No side effects have been observed with such intake levels. Several studies have even tested daily doses of 180-360 micrograms for improved cardiovascular health. Vitamin K2 occurs naturally in different forms. Vitamin K2 in the form of MK-7 remains in the body for much longer time and has a better effect on calcium distribution. That is why it is recommended to supplement with this form of vitamin K2. Things that cause vitamin K2 deficiency Essa Hariri et al. Vitamin K2 – a neglected player in cardiovascular health: a narrative review. Open Heart. 2021 Jaime W. Bellinge et al. Vitamin K Intake and Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease in the Danish Diet Cancer and Health Study. Journal of the American Heart Association. 7 Aug. 2021 Stephen Daniells. New Study show importance of vitamin K for vascular function. Nutraingredients.com 2020 S. Thamratnopkoon et al. Correlation of Plasma Desphosporylated Uncarboxylated matrix Gla Protein with Vascular Calcification and Stiffness in Chronic Kidney Disease. Nephron. 2017 Published online. M. Sardana el al. Inactive Matrix GLA-Protein and Arterial stiffness in Type 2 diabetes Mellitus. American Journal of Hypertension 2016 8 Foods High in Vitamin K2 and Why You Need It (webmd.com) Search for more information... if you want to search for more information about vitamin K
Oone of the classical or early instruments, the Tamboura, is also known as tamboura, tamburi and tanpura. The smaller version of the instrument is known as Tanpuri. The instrument is a long-necked, fretless classical Indian instrument. It is usually 40 to 60 inches long and has four metal strings. Tuning accuracy is achieved by inserting a few pieces of wool, adjusting a few small beads attached to its strings, and lowering the bridge. In the western part of India, the instrument is made from the hollow part of jackfruit wood; while in North India it is made of calabash. It is held vertically and the player sits directly behind the instrument while playing it. The tanpura instrument has two main purposes. It becomes the accompaniment of folk music in South Asia. It also helps to invent new tonal foundations, also known as Raga. In the court of kings, the tanpura was the major instrument for entertaining the people. The round-headed sound chamber was once filled with paintings of Goddess Ganga, Saraswati, Sita and Lord Ram’s devotee, Hanuman. The neck was decorated with figures of male musicians playing horn or bagpipes, drums and acrobats. Sometimes women with stacked matkas on their heads were painted on the neck of the tanpura. Why is Tanpura used in music and dance performances? Tanpura is used as a drone instrument in Indian classical music. It is not used to create a rhythm or a melody. In Indian classical music, notes are relative to each other and not fixed. You can easily identify ‘Sa’ with the next higher note ‘Re’. Therefore, Tambura is used to create the base ‘on’ tones, which is called adharaswara. So, the main purpose behind using the specific instrument was to create adharaswara for musical performance. The performer created the rest of the music using the base notes. The instrument has some similarities with Sitar. It has no frets like the sitar. The performer continues to pluck the tanpura strings evenly throughout the performance. History and etymology of tanpura Tanpura has been present in Indian classical music since ancient times. However, the modern form of tanpura appeared 500 years ago. Since then, he began to feature paintings of God and Goddess on the body. According to one theory, the name tanpura is derived from the Sanskrit word “tana”. “Tana” is a musical phrase and “Pura” means full. Another theory brings a different story to the name of the instrument. He says the name is derived from the Persian word tanbur. Tanbur is a long-necked musical instrument. The instrument was used as a major instrument in the Middle East. Tanpura is basically an Indian adaptation of the Middle Eastern instrument. Manufacture of Tanpura: A place in Maharashtra called Miraj is the manufacturing center of Tanpura. The best quality Tanpura is made in Miraj. Tanpura is usually made from a special type of dried gourd grown in the Pandharpur region of Maharashtra. There are five main parts of tanpura- - Resonator or ‘Tumba’ - Soundboard or ‘Tabli’ - Neck joint or Gullu - Key or ‘patta’ - Neck or ‘dandi’ Tanpura usually has four strings. There are special types of tanpura which have five strings. However, the four-string one is more authentic and widespread. Different types and sizes of tanpura: - Tanpura is available in different sizes, from 3 feet to 5 feet. It exists mainly in 3 variants. - Male tanpura which is larger in size - Female Tanpura; relatively smaller size - Smaller than the female tanpura used as an accompaniment to sarod or sita Setting the Tanpura: You need to tune the tanpura regularly to bring out the best sound. The best way to get the instrument tuned is through the professionals. The trader who sells tanpura can grant it for you. Otherwise, you need to have it fixed by professionals. Today, students learning to play instruments are also interested in playing electronic tanpura to amplify its sound. Electronic tanpura can play both tabletop and tanpura.
Diana Claudia Di Mario This lesson plan wants to promote multilingual and multicultural competences since early childhood, by developing attitudinal competences in order to favour the learning of a foreign language in the first years of Primary School and in the following school years. Attitudinal competences towards a foreign language means to have disponibility and attention to what is different from me. Therefore it means to develop emotional and social skills, and the motivation for "thinking out of the box". Motivation is also the basis of learning. The teaching approach which increases motivation is the game-based learning. Therefore the activities I'm going to propose are based on games. If you implemented this plan in your own classroom, please share your findings and suggestions by taking this short survey. It is a game of knowledge with the support of augmented reality-application and interactive map. Students work together to learn about the capitals of Europe, place them on an interactive map, create a quiz and compete in playing. Miguel Cecilio Gómez Barragán In the Technology workshop there is a dangerous ghost that try to kidnap students. If pupils guess the name of this ghost, he will disappear and the group will be safe. There are five groups of three students each one. Daniela Maria Geraci To recognize chemical reactions, classify them and associate them to every day situations (for 15 year old students). Ella Rakovac Bekeš The aim of the lessons is to get students practice math concept and English vocabulary (percentage, ratios, equations) but in a informal way by playing and designing games (https://view.genial.ly/5ceffadec1f8800f3d689474/game-breakout-mad-science). Sanja Puškarić Delač Repeat the first class math through games and songs. Repetition of geometric bodies and characters and addition and subtraction of to 20. Third-grade students learn about their homeland. For this purpose, they went on a field-trip to Međimurje to get acquainted with the appearance of the homeland, its specialties, cultural and historical sights, natural beauties and resources, settlements and life of people, old trades and occupations, plants and animals. They develop communication and social skills in conversation. After return, the teacher and students prepare the classroom, materials and the benches. This activity of repetition is an integrated day with Croatian language, Art and Nature which lasts one day in 3 hours. AUTHOR FEEDBACK AFTER IMPLEMENTING THE LESSON PLAN: What went particularly well when implementing the lesson plan? The implementation of my lesson plan was interesting for the third grade pupils of elementary school. These activities were easily integrated into the syllabi as an integrated day with Croatian language, Art and Nature. The planned activities include pupil and teacher orientation; it foresees "learning by doing" instead of traditional lessons. These activities have given pupils and teachers the opportunity to work together and develop key competences for lifelong learning: communication in foreign languages, learning to learn, social and civic competences, cultural awareness and expression. The 8-year-old students in the third grade of elementary school repeated in an interactive way about their homeland. Through visual, auditory, manual and speaking skills, they closely linked the process of thinking and reasoning. They have very well embraced these activities: What did not go so well? During the field trip, some students took photos of the places they visited. The problem is that they had different devices and they are not trained to take good photos, because our school system lacks focused IT training. After we took the photos, we made a movie in Kizoa. This is interesting to the students, but it requires a lot of preparation for the teacher. What would you change if you had to implement the lesson plan again? I would probably add some maths assignments with words, in which students would add, subtract, multiply and divide up to 1000, as well as singing native songs. I think the activities and goals in my lesson plan are clear. The students successfully completed their tasks according to their abilities. What other advice would you give to someone who would like to use your lesson plan? My lesson plan can be used by all those teachers who want to give their students a slightly different teaching about their homeland. There are different homelands, but in this plan it is very easy to replace, for example, the words in the story in the introductory task, as well as to give focused tasks in the game itself. The plan is designed so that some activities can be replaced or added, especially if the school does not have the necessary resources (computers). I advise good preparation. Using Ozobot color codes for making simple geometry drawings. Finish all tasks! How did the implementation of the lesson plan go? All planned parts went without problems. Students were happy to learn geometry with this interactive method and this lesson plan. Tasks where they needed to solve problems made by their friends were good for collaboration and developing friendships. Problems were in the collaboration parts, because students could not make groups by themselves. Next time, I will form groups to avoid spending time on this. Next time I implement the lesson plan, I will also plan more time, because some groups of students were solving tasks slower than planned. Some practice and production parts were too short for certain groups, but I think it all depends on students' preknowledge. Before you use this plan in Maths or another subject where you teach geometry, explain to students how to use Ozobot robots. Prepare printed colour codes for them. In this ICT/Computer Science course, students will have to collaborate in teams in order to create a maze game with Scratch. The students are in the 6th grade and they are familiar with the basic of coding with Scratch (conditional statements, looping, moving, event handling, parallel execution, coordination and synchronization, sequence). They will have to imagine their game, write the scenario and rules, choose the heroes and scenes, decide the difficulty level, share it on the Scratch platform, play all the games the teams have created and evaluate them with a specific rubric. All students will receive Certificates of Achievement at the end of this activity and they will have to fulfill some assessment rubrics. Estimated time: 7-9 hours. It's a project that will take place during almost all of the last semester of the 6th Grade ICT class (teaching 1 hour/week). All materials are online and students can complete their tasks at home. This is a English lesson based on a chapter in Enterprise Plus Coursebook.
It’s the End of Summer, So Why Do We Celebrate Labor Day? Labor unions were the first to celebrate the beginning of the Labor Day tradition in the U.S. A union leader by the name of Peter McGuire originated the idea of setting aside a day for workers to gather in unity. On September 5, 1882, the inaugural Labor Day parade was held in New York City, and a decision was made by the labor unions to designate a date between Independence Day and the Thanksgiving holiday. The first Monday in September was chosen for future celebrations. As the idea circulated in the United States, some states declared this day a holiday even before the first Monday in September was designated a national holiday. President Grover Cleveland signed the bill to honor Labor Day. The date was chosen to be that of the first Monday in the month of September. What makes this memorable is that Cleveland was not a support of the unions. In fact, at the time he signed the bill, he was attempting to repair some damage to his political career that he had previously suffered when he sent troops to stop a strike that was sponsored by the Railway Workers Union that caused 34 workers to lose their lives. In the 1950s, approximately 40% of workers belonged to labor unions in the United States. Currently that figure is approximately 14%. As a result, Labor Day is celebrated more as the unofficial way to end the summer than as a labor union holiday. Just about all schools as well as businesses (including the U.S. Government) close on Labor Day to allow people to have one more barbecue before the weather begins to turn cold.
15 percent of 42? Solution for 'What is 15% of 42?' In the following example consider that: - The percentage figure is represented by X% - The whole amount is represented by W - The portion amount or part is represented by P The following question is of the type "How much X percent of W", where W is the whole amount and X is the percentage figure or rate". Let's say that you need to find 15 percent of 42. What are the steps? Step 1: first determine the value of the whole amount. We assume that the whole amount is 42. Step 2: determine the percentage, which is 15. Step 3: Convert the percentage 15% to its decimal form by dividing 15 into 100 to get the decimal number 0.15: 15 = 0.15 Notice that dividing into 100 is the same as moving the decimal point two places to the left. 15.0 → 1.50 → 0.15 Step 4: Finally, find the portion by multiplying the decimal form, found in the previous step, by the whole amount: 0.15 x 42 = 6.3 (answer). The steps above are expressed by the formula: P = W × X% This formula says that: "To find the portion or the part from the whole amount, multiply the whole by the percentage, then divide the result by 100". The symbol % means the percentage expressed in a fraction or multiple of one hundred. Replacing these values in the formula, we get: P = 42 × 15 = 42 × 0.15 = 6.3 (answer) Therefore, the answer is 6.3 is 15 percent of 42.
It is time for Universal Design for Learning to be put in the hands of every student. It is time for every student to be given the opportunity to discover and experiment with a range of tools which can support their own individual differing communication needs – not just in school, but throughout their lives. Schools, traditionally, have provided students one way to do things. If the class was supposed to read something, everyone had the same technology – paper with alphabetical symbols printed on it which students needed to “decode.” If the class was supposed to write, everyone had the same technology – usually a pencil or a pen used to create alphabetical symbols on paper. If the class was supposed to get “organized,” everyone had the same technology – an “assignment book” or perhaps the infamous “middle school planner.” If students could not function well with that “one way” they either failed, or were diagnosed as being “disabled” and were prescribed a different “one way” to work – a way which would set them apart from their peers forever. Though in schools around the world we still see this pattern, it is now deep into the second decade of the 21st Century and the technologies and realities of the world have changed. All around the planet people carry with them – often in their pockets – highly individualizable devices which can support all the different ways humans learn and communicate. And it is time for schools to catch up with this reality. The new and improved “Freedom Stick” (v.2.3.2) offers students and schools the ability to arrive at this ‘technological present’ at essentially zero cost. One free downloadable package of software allows students the ability to make almost any computer a fully accessible device. Students can convert text to audio, get their ideas down by speaking, They can draw, manipulate photography, create visual or audio-visual presentations, calculate mathematics a variety of ways, organize themselves, try a different keyboard, support their spelling and writing… and most importantly, learn the power of “Toolbelt Theory” - the power of learning to choose and use tools well. The Freedom Stick is a system, it can be downloaded and installed on a 4gb Flash Drive and carried everywhere by the student, plugged into and used on school computers or public library computers, or even employer computers – anywhere any version of Microsoft Windows is installed (including on Apple Macintosh computers which can have Windows installed as a second operating system). Or it can be installed directly onto your own computer. It is safe in all computing environments, tested globally since development began in Scotland with EduApps. This version was developed with US Department of Education and Michigan Department of Education grants through Michigan’s Integrated Technology Supports (MITS) in order to bring Universal Design Technology to American schools. The Freedom Stick is a collection of free, open-source programs which provide the widest range of supports for differing student needs. It is also a system supported by a range of learning tools – including a full set of “how to use” videos and presentations. It is easy to adapt to the students own needs, and it works with the supports included in Windows to create a true Universal Solution Set. The Freedom Stick contains: - A full version of Open Office (equivalent to Microsoft Office and all documents adapt to both software programs), including Writer (Word), Impress (PowerPoint), Calc (Excel), Base (Access), plus Scribus (similar to Microsoft Publisher). - The Sunbird Calendar and Thunderbird Email systems. - Fully accessible versions of the Firefox, Opera, and Chrome web browsers including Text-To-Speech options and translations. Firefox and Chrome both include pre-set bookmark folders, offering access to free Digital and Audio Texts, online calculators (including talking calculators), and a wide range of curriculum supports. - A full scientific graphing calculator, a digital periodic table with physics and chemistry calculators built in, Converber – a remarkable unit converter, and X-mind – similar to Inspiration. - Balabolka, one of the most sophisticated Text-To-Speech systems available which can convert whole digital books to audio files, read anything with word-by-word highlighting, and which allows students to write and hear their own reading read back to them. - PowerTalk Portable, which will read any PowerPoint presentation, if PowerPoint is installed on your computer. - Audacity, a digital recorder and player. - Software for drawing, painting, photo-editing/manipulation, and computer screen recording. - Kompozer for writing html code (for building websites) and Notepad++ for coding (and testing code) in almost any computer language. - Screen magnifiers. - 7-Zip for creating and unpacking Zip Files. - Simulation software including Robot Programming and Home Design. - Games including Chess and Sudoku. - Complete list in text format with links to software sites. - Reading and Writing with the Freedom Stick and Windows Speech Recognition. - Firefox Accessibility on the Freedom Stick. - Open Office on the Freedom Stick. How to begin... the basics We all know that students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities struggle in school and in life because of what I call “Transactional Disability,” a mismatch between the information and communication technologies in use and the technology needs of these students. The Freedom Stick begins to solve this by offering choices of how to interact with information and communication to any student. Students not only get access, they begin to learn how to make their world accessible, building skills which will carry them through their lifespan. As they learn to choose and adapt the software on the Freedom Stick they will discover how to evaluate and choose the tools they will use on computers and phones no matter how they, their needs, or the technologies, change in the future. - Ira Socol To download the Freedom Stick software suite click here - The USB Image Tool is an easily downloadable way to quickly duplicate Freedom Sticks on your home or work computer. - For information about Education Scotland’s evaluation of these Portable Apps in schools, see the EduApps site or Education Scotland. - The Freedom Stick is a project of Michigan’s Integrated Technology Supports. In Michigan pre-K-12 educators may order Freedom Sticks already formatted at a grant supported price.
An example is the word that in the sentence "This is the house that Jack built." Here the relative pronoun that marked the relative clause "that Jack built," which modifies the noun house in the main sentence. That has an anaphoric relationship to its antecedent "house" in the main clause. In English the following are the most common relative pronouns: which, that, whose, whoever, whomever, who and whom. In linking a subordinate clause and a main clause, a relative pronoun functions similarly to a subordinating conjunction. Unlike a conjunction, however, a relative pronoun does not simply mark the subordinate (relative) clause, but also plays the role of a noun within that clause. For example, in the relative clause "that Jack built" given above, the pronoun "that" functions as the object of the verb "built." Compare this with "Jack built the house after he married," where the conjunction after marks the subordinate clause after he married, but does not play the role of any noun within that clause. In relative clauses, relative pronouns take the number (singular or plural) and the person (first, second or third) of its antecedent. For more information on the formation and uses of relative clauses—with and without relative pronouns—see Relative clause. For detailed information about relative clauses and relative pronouns in English, see English relative clause. The element in the main clause that the relative pronoun in the relative clause stands for (house in the above example) is the antecedent of that pronoun. In most cases the antecedent is a nominal (noun or noun phrase), though the pronoun can also refer to a whole proposition, as in "The train was late, which annoyed me greatly", where the antecedent of the relative pronoun which is the clause "The train was late" (the thing that annoyed me was the fact of the train's being late). In a free relative clause, a relative pronoun has no antecedent: the relative clause itself plays the role of the co-referring element in the main clause. For example, in "I like what you did", what is a relative pronoun, but without an antecedent. The clause what you did itself plays the role of a nominal (the object of like) in the main clause. A relative pronoun used this way is sometimes called a fused relative pronoun, since the antecedent appears fused into the pronoun (what in this example can be regarded as a fusion of that which). Not all relative clauses contain relative pronouns. Some languages, such as Mandarin Chinese, do not have relative pronouns at all, and form relative clauses (or their equivalents) by different methods. English can also make relative clauses without relative pronouns in some cases. For example, in "The man you saw yesterday was my uncle", the relative clause you saw yesterday contains no relative pronoun. It can be said to have a gap, or zero, in the position of the object of the verb saw. Other arguments can be relativised using relative pronouns: - Hunter is the boy who kissed Jessica. - Indirect object - Hunter is the boy to whom Jessica gave a gift./Hunter is the boy whom Jessica gave a gift to. - Prepositional complement - Jack built the house in which I now live. (Similarly with prepositions and prepositional phrases in general, for example, These are the walls between which Jack ran.) - Jack is the boy whose friend built my house. In some languages with gender, number, and noun declensions—such as German, Serbo-Croatian, and Latin—the relative pronoun agrees with its antecedent in gender and number, while its case indicates its relationship with the verb in the relative or main clause. In some other languages, the relative pronoun is an invariable word. Words used as relative pronouns often originally had other functions. For example, the English which is also an interrogative word. This suggests that relative pronouns might be a fairly late development in many languages. Some languages, such as Welsh, have no relative pronouns. In English, different pronouns are sometimes used if the antecedent is a human being, as opposed to a non-human or an inanimate object (as in who vs. that). - (1) This is a bank. This bank accepted my identification. - (2) She is a bank teller. She helped us open an account. With the relative pronouns, sentences (1) and (2) would read like this: - (3) This is the bank that accepted my identification. - (4) She is the bank teller who helped us open an account. In sentences (3) and (4), the words that and who are the relative pronouns. The word that is used because the bank is a thing; the word who is used because the teller is a person. Alternatively, which is often used in defining (or restrictive) relative clauses in either case. For details see English relative clauses. - Gregory R. Guy and Robert Bayley, "On the Choice of Relative Pronouns in English", in American Speech: A Quarterly of Linguistic Usage, 70.2 (1995), pp. 148-62. - Iliev, Iv., The Origin of Bulgarian Relative Pronouns. - Soojin Lee, "That or Which?: The that’s that of which is which, published in 2006, http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~cpercy/courses/6362-lee.htm - Kordić, Snježana (1999). Der Relativsatz im Serbokroatischen [Relative Clauses in Serbo-Croatian]. Studies in Slavic Linguistics ; 10 (in German). Munich: Lincom Europa. p. 330. ISBN 3-89586-573-7. OCLC 42422661. OL 2863535W. Contents. Summary.
A ratio compares two amounts. You can use ratios to compare numbers in different ways. For instance, you can compare part of a group to the whole collection: "Four out of five kids like math!" Or, you can compare part of a group to another part: "For every four kids that like math, one more kid doesn't." A ratio is the relationship between two numbers or values. Writing Ratios in Simplest Terms When the numbers in a ratio are large, it can be difficult to see the relation between them. It often helps to reduce a ratio to its simplest terms. To write a ratio in simplest terms, divide both parts by their greatest common factor (GCF). Reducing a ratio to simplest terms does not change the relationship between the numbers. Suppose a ratio of chocolate donuts to maple bars is 6:4. Notice there are three chocolate donuts for every two maple bars. We can reduce the ratio 6:4 to 3:2. Reducing a ratio is very much like reducing a fraction. Common Mistakes With Ratios Ã˜Warning: A common mistake with ratios is in choosing the term for the â€˜totalâ€™. Read the problem carefully! Does it ask to compare a number to the total amount, or to the Tying Them All Together Ratios and fractions are interchangeable, and they can also be written as a decimal or a percent. \|\|0.06 : 1 or 3 : 50 Identifying Equal Ratios Since a ratio is just another fraction, multiplying or dividing both terms by the same number does not change the ratio. Are the ratios Solution 1: Equivalent Fractions common denominator = So re-write the fractions using the common denominator: ratios are not equal Solution 2: Cross Product Test Another way to compare ratios or fractions is to use the cross product test: This is usually the easiest way to compare fractions at a glance. Multiply the numerator of one fraction by the denominator of the other. Do this for both fractions, and write the answers. If the two products are equal, then the fractions are equal. ratios are not equal Hereâ€™s another neat thing about the cross product test. It can easily tell you which fraction is larger! Just write the product above its numerator. Then compare the numbers in the same order you wrote them. For example: the right hand ratio is larger Solution 3: Decimal Comparison Another way to compare ratios is to grab your calculator, and compute the 10/15 = 0.6666666666667 12/16 = 0.75 ratios are not equal
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS The second grade reading/language arts program Reading Wonders is focused around exposing the children to various types of literature and exploring the grammar, phonics and spelling in each story, as well as expanding the child‘s reading, listening, speaking and observation capabilities. In the second grade course we build on Grade 1 math, exploring different ways to add and subtract and build up to adding and subtracting three digit numbers, carrying tens when adding, borrowing tens when subtracting and rounding numbers. We explore money, fractions, time telling and measurement as well. This course allows children to explore the world around them, with focus on traditions and locations of other Arab countries, and then goes on to explore how we keep our world in good condition. The second grade science program is also based on Macmillan/McGraw-Hill’s science program, second grade science: A Closer Look program. Students investigate living things, the Earth, matter and energy.
Mission to Pluto In this science worksheet, students analyze a picture and read about the different parts of a Pluto spacecraft. Students answer five questions about the spacecraft. 5th - 6th Science 3 Views 1 Download Designing a Crew Exploration Vehicle Take your class on an out-of-this-world adventure with this fun engineering design lesson. Working in small groups, young scientists design, build, and test crew exploration vehicles using some creativity, teamwork, and an assortment of... 3rd - 6th Science CCSS: Adaptable What's Out There? Space Shuttle Exploration and Simulation Students simulate life in space aboard the space shuttle. In this space exploration lesson, students work in small groups to model life aboard the space shuttle. Each student is given a job, conducts Internet research on space, and... 5th - 9th Science
Our Solar System has numerous moons around planets: Apart from Earth and Mars, also Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus all have natural satellites. The question is, are moons common even around exoplanets that are orbiting around other stars? "This is an intriguing problem in today's astronomy, which is hard to answer at the moment", stated Judit Szulágyi, a senior research associate of the University of Zürich and ETH Zürich. The historical discovery of a first exomoon-candidate was just announced in October 2018 by an American group, but the confirmation of this body is still ongoing. With their work now published in the journalAstrophysical Journal LettersJudit Szulágyi and her colleagues Marco Cilibrasi and Lucio Mayer both of the University of Zürich are one step closer to solving the mystery of how many exomoons there could be and what they are like. The researchers focused on the planets Uranus and Neptune in our Solar System, ice giants with almost 20 times the mass of Earth but much smaller than Jupiter and Saturn. Uranus has a system with five major moons. Neptune, on the other hand has only one major, very heavy satellite, Triton. "It is intriguing that these two very similar planets have completely different moon systems, indicating a very different formation history", explained Judit Szulágyi. The astrophysicists believe that Triton was captured by Neptune - a relatively rare event. But the moons of Uranus look more like Saturn's and Jupiter's systems that are thought to have originated in a gaseous disk around the planets at the end of their formation. "So far it was believed that Uranus and Neptune are too light to form such a disk", stated the astrophysicist. Therefore, it was considered that the moons of Uranus could have formed after a cosmic collision - like our own moon, also a relatively infrequent event as the capture. Now the researchers who are also members of the NCCR PlanetS were able to refute this previous idea. Their extremely complex computer simulations reveal that in fact Uranus and Neptune were making their own gas-dust disk while they were still forming. The calculations generated icy moons in-situ, that are very similar in composition with the current Uranian satellites. From the simulations performed by the supercomputer at CSCS it is clear that Neptune originally also was orbited by a Uranus-like, multiple moon system, but this must have been wiped out during the capture of Triton. The new study has a much wider impact on moons in general, than only on our Solar System formation history. "If ice giants can also form their own satellites, that means that the population of moons in the Universe is much more abundant than previously thought", summarized Judit Szulágyi. Ice giants and mini-Neptune planets are often discovered by exoplanet surveys, so this planet mass category is very frequent. "We can therefore expect many more exomoon discoveries in the next decade", the astrophysicist stated. This finding is also extremely exciting in the view of searching for habitable worlds. In our Solar System, the two main targets to search for extraterrestrial life are icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn: Europa and Enceladus. They both are thought to harbor liquid water oceans below their thick ice crust. "Those under-surface oceans are obvious places where life as we know could potentially develop", stated Judit Szulágyi. "So a much larger population of icy moons in the Universe means more potentially habitable worlds out there than it was imagined so far. They will be excellent targets to search for life outside the Solar System." Szulágyi J., Cilibrasi M. and Mayer L. are the authors of the paper titled "In situ formation of icy moons of Uranus and Neptune". It has been published inAstrophysical Journal Letters2018, 868, L13 - DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aaeed6. At the beginning of the animation planets form in gas-dust disks around young stars. Then we see a forming planet vicinity, a disk formed around the nascent planet, where its moons are born (brown spheres). Ice giants (Uranus and Neptune) were forming their moons in such a disk, similarly to gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn). Credits: animation created by S. Dobler, from the simulation done by J. Szulagyi (UZH/ETH).
Data Science Games The age of data science is upon us! The more experience students have working with data, the better prepared they are to contribute to the data-driven society they are entering. And what better way to learn the basics of this new, essential field than through games? A data science game generates data—lots of data—as you play. And the only way to win is to figure out a good way to visualize the data so you can see what’s going on, improve your strategy, and level up. We’re working with a game developer from Eeps Media and a learning science researcher from the University of California at Berkeley to create a suite of games for high school science classes, so students can experience the excitement of data science. Data science is an emerging discipline that is a partial union of mathematics and statistics, subject matter expertise, and computational thinking. It is rapidly gaining recognition as critical to all fields of endeavor. But middle and high school students currently do not get very much experience working with data. Furthermore, experience with data is best gained in the context of learning subject-specific matter. All data science game scenarios follow a similar design: students take context-specific actions in the game. They store their data, organize it, analyze it, and visualize it in the surrounding CODAP environment. In a chemistry scenario, for example, the game might involve the custom design of reactions to achieve specific goals such as buffering a chemical system so it doesn’t explode. Each reaction students observe generates data about bond strength, activation energy, pressure, temperature, and concentration that they use to solve specific problems or puzzles. A physics game might involve building or altering a structure within certain constraints where the data consist of the forces on all the structural elements. Each game can be used as the focal point for significant learning about subject matter content. With each game students experience new and challenging data science. Most educational games are self-contained, providing all the functionality necessary to do well at the game within themselves. The data science games we are developing are embedded in CODAP, a data analysis environment designed for students to explore, visualize, and analyze data. Though the game is embedded in the environment’s browser page, its implementation (language, domain) is completely independent of the environment so that any developer can create a data science game without CODAP developers. The games are interoperable with the CODAP environment. These three characteristics—embeddedness, communication, and interoperability—have only recently become possible in browser-based settings. Our goal is to develop this new genre of educational technology and to explore its educational potential. We’re exploring students’ conceptions of data structures (e.g., flat, hierarchical, and tree) and data science competencies (cleaning, transforming) to expand research on students’ conceptions of data, identify student competencies unique to contemporary data sciences, and contribute principles for the design and use of integrated data science environments. - Erickson, T., Wilkerson, M., Finzer, W., & Reichsman, F. (2019). Data moves. Technology Innovations in Statistics Education, 12(1). - Finzer, W., & Reichsman, F. (2018). Exploring the essential elements of data science education. @Concord, 22(2), 8-9. - Konold, C., Finzer, W., & Kreetong, K. (2017). Modeling as a core component of structuring data. Statistics Education Research Journal, 16(2), 191-212. - Dorsey, C., & Finzer, W. (2017). The data science education revolution. @Concord, 21(2), 4-6. - St. Clair, N. (2016). Data science games. @Concord, 20(2), 10-11. View, launch, and assign activities developed by this project at the STEM Resource Finder.
taxes to be furnished by each State, and without the power of taxation, could not be self-sustaining. The Continental Congress passed an act authorizing a convention of all the original thirteen States, to assemble at Philadelphia in 1787 to adopt a new constitution. The convention, presided over by General Washington, adopted the new constitution known as the Constitution of 1789, and in accordance with its own provisions submitted it to the several States for their adoption or rejection. Let it at once be noted that by the very terms of this constitution, it was to become a constitution over the States only "when nine of the original thirteen States should, in convention assembled, adopt the same;" thus placing it in the power of four of the smallest of the original thirteen States, with an insignificant and sparse population, to have defeated its adoption. It is also important to observe that this Constitution of 1789 further provided, that when adopted "by nine of the original thirteen States it should only be operative and binding on the States so ratifying the same." Each State ratified the Constitution for itself, by itself, and was bound only by its own ratification. So, when the rights and liberties of the State of Mississippi and other Southern States were invaded by unlawful conspiracies and combinations to destroy their property and disturb their domestic tranquillity, what was more natural than that they should declare, as they acceded to the Union of their own right and free will to secure liberty and the peaceable possession of their property, when this was denied them they had the right of secession? When the war closed we surrendered by capitulation, with arms in our hands. What were the terms of the capitulation with Grant at Appomattox and Sherman in North Carolina? They were that the Confederates should furl their flags, stack their arms, return to their homes and yield obedience to the Constitution and laws of the
Sumatra (Indonesian: Pulau Sumatra or Pulau Sumatera) is the westernmost island in Indonesia, and the sixth largest island in the world (approx. 473,000 square kilometres or 182,600 square miles). Sumatra has a population of about 45 million (2005 census). The first written source to mention Sumatra was probably the Indian epic Rāmāyaṇa. The name mentioned is Svarṇa Dvīpa (or Svarnadvipa, Swarna Dwipa), meaning "the Island of Gold", referring to the rich deposits of gold in the Sumatran highlands. Another name, Al-Ramni or Lambri - also rendered as Rami, Ramli, Lamuri, Lawri, Lan-li, Lan-wul-li, Nan-po-li, etc. - mentioned by Arab sources from the ninth century and Chinese sources in the twelfth and thirteenth century, was long considered to mean Sumatra as a whole . Nowadays most historical geographers agree that Al-Ramni/Lambri was situated near presentday Banda Aceh, at the northern tip of the island. Sumatra is divided into ten provinces (provinsi): - Aceh - capital: Banda Aceh - North Sumatra (Sumatra Utara) - capital: Medan - West Sumatra (Sumatra Barat) - capital: Padang - Riau - capital: Pekanbaru - Riau Islands* (Kepulauan Riau) - capital: Tanjung Pinang - Jambi - capital: Jambi - Bengkulu - capital: Bengkulu - South Sumatra (Sumatra Selatan) - capital: Palembang - Bangka-Belitung* (Kepulauan Bangka-Belitung) - capital: Pangkal Pinang - Lampung - capital: Bandar Lampung * nearby island groups that are not actually on the island of Sumatra. - Citation needed... - Marsden, William (1811) The History of Sumatra, Containing an Account of the Government, Laws, Customs and Manners of the Native Inhabitants (Project Gutenberg EBook), ch. 1 - Edwards McKinnon, E. (1988) Beyond Serandib: A Note on Lambri at the Northern Tip of Aceh, Indonesia, Vol. 46, p. 103
MIT seeks to innovate again. This time, researchers are attempting to make electronics out of coal. The only way this would be possible is if the coal was repurposed from what we use it for today to thin coal films. The researchers say they've developed four thin films of coal: anthracite, lignite, and two bituminous types. They have used the repurposed coal to make electrical heating devices that the researchers say can defrost "car windows or airplane wings". They say it could even be a biomedical implant. What is this world coming to? The researchers in question are Jeffrey Grossman, Brent Keller, and Nicola Ferralis. They published their repurposing of coal findings in the NanoLetters journal under the title, Rethinking Coal: Thin Films of Solution-Processed Natural Carbon Nanoparticles for Electronic Devices. Grossman works in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE) at Morton and Clair Goulder and Family. He says: "When you look at coal as a material, and not just as something to burn, the chemistry is extremely rich." This would mean that coal is far more than just a fuel source for the world. The electronic properties of coal have never really factored into engineering until now. The researchers are showing that coal does not need to be taken down to the atomic level to be applicable to the chemical world of engineering. In MIT's labs, all they did was grind the coal down and alter the temperatures until they got the results they desired. The researchers explained the process of using the coal films in the abstract to their journal: Here we show a flexible solution-based method of preparing thin films with tunable electrical properties from suspension of ball-milled coals following certifugation. The as-prepared films retain the rich carbon chemistry of the starting coals with conductivities ranging over orders of magnitude, and thermal treatment of the resulting films further tunes the electrical conductivity in excess of 7 orders of magnitude. The researchers say that the hopping energies that they observed were close to that of amorphous carbon materials and "reduced graphene oxide." This means that these coal films could have many applications. The researchers think the coal films could assist solar panels, batteries, and other electronic devices. "This is a significant step - probably the first - to utilize nanocarbon materials, directly from unrefined coal, with controllable electronic properties and excellent stability and scalability," said Shenqiang Ren, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Temple University, who was not part of the team but was very impressed by their efforts.
Do you ever find yourself explaining ‘ableism’ to a friend or colleague for what feels like the hundredth time? Every individual should be familiar with the term, yet unfortunately people with disabilities are often tasked with the burden of repeatedly explaining ableism and the harmful impact ableist actions can have. The disability rights community commonly defines ableism as discrimination towards people with disabilities, often based in the assumption that able-bodies are the norm. Ableism is often present in our language, culture, laws, and social constructs. It is a form of prejudice that many in the disability community are intimately familiar with. Now, the Invisible Disability Project is offering an easier way to simply and quickly call out ableist bias. The Invisible Disability Project defines itself as “a social/cultural movement and an educational media project that consciously disrupts ‘invisibility’ imposed upon unseen impairments at the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality.” Their solution? A printable card (available for download online) that explains ableism, and why the actions of the individual receiving the card might have been ableist. The card is intended for those with invisible disabilities, but can be easily modified to apply to ableist remarks about visible disabilities as well. The card states: That thing you just did — that was ableism. I am sure you did not realize this when you made/laughed at/agreed with that ableist remark, or behaved in that ableist manner. Like racism, sexism, and elitism, ableism is a cultural bias that impacts disabled peoples’ everyday lives. For example, being called a “retard”, “lame”, or “crazy” is offensive to people like me and my friends. Instead, we need safe and accessible spaces in the absence of ableist assumptions for those with no seemingly obvious disability, like mobility, hearing, visual, or affective impairment or chronic illness. I can’t always alert or educate people about my non-visible disability. If I do, it is often considered malingering or controlling, so, instead, I distribute these calling cards to signal when ableist remarks/behaviors arise.” Explaining ableism to those around you just got simpler! Would you use the Ableism card?
Archery Safety Rules An arrow is as deadly as a bullet, so the basic rules that govern firearm shooting also apply to archery. Here are some additional safety rules for archers. - Release an arrow only when the path to the target and beyond is clear. - Avoid shooting an arrow in the general direction of another person. Arrows are easily deflected. - Never dry-fire a bow or crossbow. - To prevent injury, use a special wrench when attaching broadheads to arrows and keep broadheads covered with a hard quiver when transporting. - Use the appropriate bowstringer or bow press when stringing a bow. - Keep your fingers out of the path of the string when gripping a crossbow. Potentially Dangerous Crossbow Grips: These three hand positions are potentially dangerous and could lead to severe finger injury when firing the crossbow. Correct Crossbow Grip: With the leading hand in this position, there is no possibility of the cable passing over the fingers and injuring your hand.
Definition of bioluminescence in English: 1The biochemical emission of light by living organisms such as fireflies and deep-sea fishes. - Although its biochemistry is well understood and is applied for various scientific techniques, the survival value of bioluminescence to the organisms themselves often remains unclear. - How do flows trigger physiological responses such as bioluminescence in organisms, or changes in growth rate, nutrient uptake, and cell structure? - The chemiluminescent reactions found in living organisms are called bioluminescence. 1.1The light emitted by organisms such as fireflies and deep-sea fishes. - With transfected cells grown as solid tumors in vivo, the bioluminescence light is emitted shortly after systemic administration of luciferin. - If the source is a bioluminescent searchlight, the ideal reflectance depends on the irradiance of the bioluminescence striking the organism relative to the background radiance. - This suggests that directed bioluminescence and the transmission of bioluminescence through gut walls are more important than ambient light for detecting animals at mesopelagic depths. - Example sentences - Scarier yet, some deep-sea-dwelling, sci-fi-looking breeds of anglerfish, which attract prey by dangling a bioluminescent lure from their foremost dorsal spine, can take down fish their own size in a single gulp. - When you reach the Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge, just south of town, mountain-bike a trail network among thousands of migratory birds, then cap it off with a swim in the nearby bioluminescent bay. - Mosquito Bay is one of the last and best of the world's bioluminescent coves, blessed with billions of tiny, delicate dinoflagellates that sparkle like gems at the slightest motion. Definition of bioluminescence in: - British & World English dictionary What do you find interesting about this word or phrase? Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed. Most popular in the US Most popular in Australia Most popular in Malaysia Most popular in Pakistan
While on tour, our students are often unaware that they are constantly learning. Our hands-on approach to science learning takes place under the umbrella of cultural immersion and fun activities. Our guides immerse travelers in the world of biology, ecology, and sometimes astronomy as well. Here are a few examples: SNORKEL at pristine “Gilligan’s Island” – learn about the island’s ecology, the type of coral and fish in the area, and much more EXPLORE the world’s largest radiotelescope in Arecibo, where parts of the sci-fi movie “Contact” were filmed. Learn about our planet’s “ear” and its importance worldwide. Visit an interactive museum full of NASA artifacts and information. DISCOVER flora and fauna in El Yunque rainforest – find out what makes this attraction one of the 26 finalists in the world’s seven wonders competition. Go find out: - What’s a “coquí” and how many species are there? - What mysterious “alien” creature was born in this rainforest? - How many inches of rain fall on a given year here? - Is it true that El Yunque possesses the largest collection of fern in the world? - What steps are being taken to save the endangered Puerto Rican parrot? ENCOUNTER living sea creatures at our local fisherman’s show – travelers interact, feel, and touch sea critters as they learn about each animal’s biology, place in the food chain, eating habits, fishing technique and more. Go find out: - Where does an octopus hide and how do you catch them? - Which animal, when turned backwards, looks exactly like the alien in the movie “Predator?” - What are dinoflagellates? - What kind of chemical reaction causes the water to light up at the bioluminescent bay? Why doesn’t this happen back home? - Did you say a blowfish preys on sharks? How in the world is that possible? SWIM in teams at a bioluminescent lagoon at night VISIT an island full of Rhesus monkeys FEED iguanas and learn about mangrove ecosystems on a private boat tour CHECK out cacti of all sizes at Guanica’s Dry Forest, a United Nations Biosphere Reserve EXPLORE secluded “Caja de Muerto Island” and visit the small flora and fauna museum. Snorkel the reefs and follow the underwater trail. Learn about the peculiar dry forest ecosystem. Go find out: - Is it true that small Caribbean “cobras” live here? - How was the underwater snorkeling trail built? - Are all manta rays dangerous? - What do locals do to decrease inflammation and pain from a jellyfish sting? Hint: it’s connected to balancing the body’s pH level. TOUR an organic farm and learn about a 100% sustainable forest home SPOT marine birds in La Parguera. Go find out: - What is the second fastest bird in the world? SPELUNK in caves in Camuy and Tanama. Go find out: - Where is the “fountain of youth?” - What is the “gorilla sitting at the table?” VISIT “Las Salinas” in Cabo Rojo. Go find out: - What are they made of? - What does this place have to do with snow or your swimming pool? PARTICIPATE in a reforestation project in a forest or National Wildlife Refuge.
Miss J Brewin: Subject Leader Miss J Crossey: Assistant Subject Leader Mr M Ainscough: Assistant Subject Leader Mr M Bruce Mr M Downie Mrs R Garbett Mrs C Hadcroft Mrs C Hennigan Mrs L Kirby Miss L Mansfield Miss E Bradley Mrs L Shaw Mr M Smith Mr J Tsang Mrs J Marsh: Department assistant Key Stage 3 Overview of the course The KS3 national curriculum for mathematics aims to ensure that all pupils: - become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately. - reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language - can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions. Mathematics is an interconnected subject in which pupils need to be able to move fluently between representations of mathematical ideas. The programme of study for key stage 3 is organised into apparently distinct domains, but pupils should build on key stage 2 and connections across mathematical ideas to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in solving increasingly sophisticated problems. They should also apply their mathematical knowledge in science, geography, computing and other subjects. What will I learn? The distinct topic domains in KS3 cover; Number; Ratio and Proportion, Algebra, Geometry and Measures as well as Handling Data. Throughout KS3 lessons, there will be an explicit focus on problem-solving and applications of mathematics in context. What will I do? Our schemes of work follows the new KS3 programme of study which focuses on developing students processing and thinking skills. Students will have plenty of opportunities to apply their mathematical knowledge to practical situations and problem-solving exercises. During lessons there will be times when students will use various Assessment for Learning techniques to assess both themselves and their peers – this will help them to find out what they need to do to progress and improve. Key Stage 4: Mathematics Overview of the course At GCSE, you will build upon the work completed during Key Stage 3, ensuring that you can find links between different topics and solve problems using a range of skills. Similar to Key Stage 3, learning is developed and extended across Number, Ratio and Proportion, Algebra, Geometry and Measures and Handling Data. You will learn how mathematics can be used outside of the classroom and you will gain problem-solving skills that can be used across school. We are currently preparing students for the Edexcel examination board. Useful Subject Links:
Caltech engineers have developed a new 3D printing technique that helps create complex nanoscale metal structures. The process, once scaled up, could be used in a wide variety of applications, from creating 3D logic circuits on computer chips to engineering ultralightweight aircraft components. According to Caltech materials scientist Julia Greer, it could also usher in a new class of materials with unusual properties that are based on their internal structure. The professor and her team have thus built 3D lattices whose beams are just nanometers across – far too small to be seen with the naked eye. According to the researchers, these materials exhibit unusual, often surprising properties; Greer’s team has created exceptionally lightweight ceramics that spring back to their original shape, spongelike, after being compressed. Greer’s group 3D prints structures out of a variety of materials, from ceramics to organic compounds. Metals, however, have been difficult to print, especially when trying to create structures with dimensions smaller than around 50 microns, or about half the width of a human hair. “Metals don’t respond to light in the same way as the polymer resins that we use to manufacture structures at the nanoscale,” says Greer. “There’s a chemical reaction that gets triggered when light interacts with a polymer that enables it to harden and then form into a particular shape. In a metal, this process is fundamentally impossible.” Greer’s graduate student Andrey Vyatskikh has however come up with a solution. He used organic ligands – molecules that bond to metal – to create a resin containing mostly polymer, but which carries along with it metal that can be printed, like a scaffold. Vyatskikh bonded together nickel and organic molecules to create a liquid that looks a lot like cough syrup. The team designed a structure using computer software, and then built it by zapping the liquid with a two-photon laser. The laser creates stronger chemical bonds between the organic molecules, hardening them into building blocks for the structure. Since those molecules are also bonded to the nickel atoms, the nickel becomes incorporated into the structure. In this way, the team was able to print a 3D structure that was initially a blend of metal ions and nonmetal, organic molecules. Moreover since the process vaporized a significant amount of the structure’s material, its dimensions shrank by 80 percent, but it maintained its shape and proportions. Image and content: California Institute of Technology
Cell and its Components With the introduction of Microscope for the study of biochemical materials, the importance of cell as the basic building unit of body has been recognized. All cells engage in a number of activities that are designated as vital functions by classical cytologists. Cells use similar mechanisms to synthesize proteins, to transform energy, to move the essential substances into them, utilize the same kind of molecules to engage in contraction and they duplicate their genetic materials in the same manner. All cells are built upon a similar basic plan, though different cells of the body possess striking features which readily distinguishes them from one another. Each cell is remarkably independent. Each receives a supply of food stuff and oxygen from blood with which it produces its own structural components. The secretions released, form energy which is required for mechanical, chemical or electrical work. Each cell possesses an outer limiting membrane, plasmalemma and within its protoplasm there is another limiting membrane which encloses the nuclear material i.e. nuclear membrane. It contains the genetic material of cell. 3-10 um in diameter Most cells possess a single central nucleus. The basal nuclei of some columnar epithelial cells and eccentric nucleus of plasma cell are obvious exceptions. Cells with more than one nucleus are called giant or multinuclear cells e.g. osteoclast. Usually only one per cells but certain cells may be binucleate (e.g. some liver cells and some superficial cells of transitional epithelium) or multinucleate (e.g. skeletal muscle cells). In humans the only non-nucleated cells are platelets and erythrocytes. Both have limited existence and neither is capable of reproduction. It is surrounded by a membrane called nuclear membrane or envelope. Protoplasm of nucleus is called nucleoplasm containing the chromosomes in the form of a basophilic material known as chromatin, and one or more darkly staining rounded bodies called nucleoli. Under electron microscope it consist of two closely opposed unit membranes, about 40 nm thick, Small openings in the envelop called nuclear pores are present at various points (60 nm in diameter) which serve as channels in and out of nucleus especially for large molecules of RNA and proteins. Under routine hematoxyline and eosin (H&E) staining, chromatin appears as basophilic (purple) fine to coasre granules. Chromatin is nothing but chromosomes. Heterochromatic represents parts of chromosomes which are folded and coiled and form little masses. Those parts of chromosomes which are uncoiled, are invisible under light microscope and constitute what is called extended chromatin or euchromatin. The euchromatin is active in Ribronucleic acid (RNA) synthesis while hetrochromatin is not. Nucleoli are the sites of ribosomal RNA synthesis and ribosomal assembly. The structural components of the cytoplasm have been traditionally classified as organelles, inclusions and cytoskeletal components. “Organelles”, the little organs of the cell, are metabolically active internal structures, carrying out essential specific function within a cell. “Inclusions” are metabolically inert accumulations of metabolites and cell products such as carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, various crystals, pigment deposits and secretory granules etc. (storage components of the cell). In contrast to organelles, inclusions are dispensable and often are temporary constituents of cells. Cytoskeletal components are regarded as fibrillar elements of cytoplasmic matrix that escaped detection with light microscope (as organelles and inclusions). The portion of the cytoplasm which surrounds the organelles and inclusions is referred to as cytosol, the cytoplasmic ground substance or cytoplasmic matrix. Many of the organelles are membrane limited structures. In addition to membrane limited organelles, the cell also contains organelles that are not surrounded by membranes. Plasma Membrane (Cell Membrane): Electron microscope shows that all the cells are surrounded by a plasma membrane, which is 7.5nm in width. It is invisible by light microscope. It may be seen, if sectioned obliquely, thus increasing its thickness or if its staining is enhanced by the presence of associated materials on its surface. All membranes including intracytoplasmic membranes as well as the cell membranes are composed mainly of lipids and proteins with a small amount of carbohydrates. The thickness varies a little by cell type and internal membranes are usually somewhat thinner than the plasmalemma. With high magnification of suitably prepared material, cell membrane can be resolved into two electron dense laminae of 2.5nm thickness, separated by a clear space (Lucent intermediate layer) of about 2.5nm (Figure 2.3). This trilaminar structure first described by Robertson is known as unit membrane and it appears to have no pores that have been postulated to explain the observed permeability of the cell membrane. In summary, the cell membrane is a complex lipoprotein structure. It can consume energy and change its shape in response to stimuli. It contains protein molecules which are heterogeneous, some being responsible for receptor sites, other for antigenicity and enzyme activity etc. The cell membrane differs from other membranes in that its external surface is covered with glycoprotein, the cell coat or glycocalyx. It varies greatly in thickness but can be demonstrated in some cells by Periodic Acid-Schiff (PAS) technique e.g on the luminal surface of the intestinal epithelium where it is associated with small finger like projections of cell surface called microvilli. Cell membrane is a very important structure since it forms an interface between the cell cytoplasm and the interstitial fluid. Its functions are as under: Amoeboid movements and phagocytic activity of white blood corpuscles is well known. Folds of membranes have been observed to entrap droplets of fluid by pinocytosis. • Cell recognition: Cell membranes are associated with antigens by which the body is able to recognize its own cell and tolerate them. Cells from another individual are regarded as aliens and are attacked by immune response, which they provoke. • Receptor function: Many agents act on a cell at specialized points or cell receptors. The presence of specialized receptors on a particular cell is indeed the explanation of how agents such as hormones and drugs act only on their target cells and non other. The influenza viruses attach themselves to specific receptors on red cell envelope. • Cell Growth The phenomenon of contact inhibition is a function of cell surface e.g. treatment with proteolytic enzymes appear to alter the cell membrane and also remove components involved in the control of cell growth. • Cell adhesion The cell membrane is concerned with adhesiveness which is a factor that induces cells of like constituency to stick together. If the cells of an embryo are separated from each other and are then allowed coming together again, they aggregate to forms organs or tissues. • Transfer functions All substances that enter or leave the cell protoplasm must cross the cell membrane and the properties of this membrane are responsible for the peculiar chemical composition of the cytoplasm. Chemicals soluble in organic solvents enter cell much easier than do those which are water soluble.
Discovery of traces of one of universe's oldest stars excites boffins An ancient star, one of the oldest in the Universe, may have been recognized by astronomers. This stellar body, which disappeared long ago, may have possessed a mass up to 100 times greater than our own Sun. Massive stars live much shorter lives than their smaller brethren. Giant stars, like the one inferred by the Japanese astronomy team, end their lives in a massive supernova explosion, sending heavy elements into open space. These materials become the building blocks of planets and asteroids, and help fuel the birth of new stars. This ancient star exploded long ago, but astronomers believe the blast assisted in the formation of another star, SDSS J001820.5-093939.2, near the site of the first body. This newer stellar body has an unusual chemical composition, poor in metals. A similar makeup was predicted by astrophysicists for stars whose births were triggered by supernovas of supermassive stars. Astronomers at the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii examined this star, located in a stellar halo around the Milky Way galaxy. The research team searched for evidence of how the body formed. Because these early massive stars were so short-lived, examination of objects they have affected nearby is the only trace left of the ancient bodies. "The impact of very-massive stars and their explosions on subsequent star formation and galaxy formation should be significant," Wako Aoki, from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, and lead author of an article announcing the discovery, said. First-generation very massive stars were formed in the early Universe, and lived extremely short lives before exploding. These population III stars were created from the hydrogen and helium that made up nearly all the matter in the early Universe. After burning at extremely high temperatures during their short lifetime, they exploded, spewing the material which created additional stars. Volker Bromm, astrophysicist at the University of Texas, believes the supermassive star likely exploded in a pair-instability supernova. This cause of interstellar death occurs when photons, units of light, obtain so much energy that they are converted to mass, in accordance with Einstein's famous equation. A loss of outward pressure, normally provided by the photons, as well as extra mass from the additional matter, causes the star to collapse on itself. The star then burns all the remaining fuel -- it's a thermonuclear-powered supernova explosion --and this is so strong that it completely destroys the star. In this case, there would be no compact remnant - no neutron star, no black hole - left behind, Bromm told reporters. Study of evidence for the ancient star and the chemical composition of this first-generation very massive star was profiled in the journal Science. From Our Sponsor Bluetooth Speakers: The Conveniences They Bring And The Advantages Over Wired SpeakersAt a time when almost every portable electronic device come with their own speakers, are Bluetooth speakers becoming obsolete? The truth is far from it as Bluetooth speakers bring many conveniences and have several advantages over wired speakers
Anthropologists have long studied the role that mythology plays in the cultural fabric of a community. According to these social scientists, various cultures use myths as a form of storytelling to provide an explanation for a changing or confusing world, to validate existing beliefs, to fill in gaps of knowledge or understanding, and to establish a sense of order amongst chaos. Myths often are also used to inspire awe and wonder amongst the community. While the excitement of the myth story is contagious, the awe and wonder is not intended to stimulate scientific questioning or inquiry, but rather to maintain a status quo of order or power. Such is the case for example with the traditional Navajo myth about the creation of the constellations. As the story is told, the Sun and Moon were made from cutting giant discs of quartz that were then hoisted into the sky to provide light to the Navajo people, both during the day and at night. Not wanting to be wasteful, the creation deity used the remnants of the quartz cutting process to create patterns of stars in the night sky that had an explicit function of explaining the community’s laws. While the myth provided the Navajo people with an awe-inspiring explanation for how the Sun, Moon, and stars were created, it also sought to establish a cultural order within the community, as the medicine men were the only ones recognized with the wisdom to interpret the constellation-based laws. In a similar way, the education community has used anecdotal stories over the years to understand or make sense of the role of technology within the lives of today’s K-12 students. These stories have developed into a comprehensive mythology around student digital learning that closely mimics the role of myths within other cultures. The unprecedented pace of the infiltration of technology tools and resources within our daily lives has created a need, especially for adults, to create a new sense of order within education, and to fill in gaps of knowledge and understanding around the use of technology with overly simplified explanatory narratives. One of the most popular explanatory narratives as it relates to the use of technology by students has been the digital native storyline. Following the tenets of mythology, the digital native storyline seeks to bring order to the ever-changing education universe by simply stating that all students are naturally tech-savvy and know how to use digital tools to support learning, and educators and parents will never be on par with student skill levels because of their status as digital immigrants. Cofounding a key element of the digital native myth, however, the Speak Up National Research findings have long documented that not all students view themselves amongst the techno-elite in terms of their own skills. In addition, the students’ self-assessment of their technology skills, and the gender gap in this self-assessment, has bearing on their use of various digital tools for learning and aspirations for digital learning environments as will be further discussed in this report. In many ways, this digital native – digital immigrant myth however has allowed education leaders to provide a simplified explanation as to why there continues to be a disconnect between students and adults on the importance of digitally based learning, and to provide justification for the current status quo on technology use within learning. This oversimplification of the environment also sets up multiple opportunities for education and business leaders to use anecdotal stories to illicit awe and wonder about students’ technology use. In 2003, the first year of the Speak Up surveys, education, business, and policy leaders marveled at how middle school students were providing in-classroom technology support to their teachers and starting home businesses to create websites for local companies. Today, that astonishment is focused on student-developed mobile applications (or mobile apps) that are selling in the iTunes or Google Play stores. While stories such as this make for interesting copy, focusing on the awe and wonder of selected student technology use stands in the way of understanding how technology can be used, both in school and out of school, to improve student learning opportunities. The mythology of the digital native also blurs the picture for appreciation how to leverage digital tools and resources to personalize learning for every student as it continues to promulgate a view that “one size fits all” for every digital native. It is time to move beyond the mythology of students’ technology use with a new digital learning playbook, a new constellation of stars as such, that recognizes and appreciates that there are differences amongst K-12 students in their use of and aspiration for using technology to support their learning. For the past eleven years, Project Tomorrow’s® annual Speak Up National Research Project has provided schools and districts nationwide and throughout the globe with new insights into how today’s students want to leverage digital tools for learning based upon the authentic, unfiltered ideas of students themselves. With this year’s national report on the views of 325,279 K-12 students representing over 9,000 schools and 2,700 districts nationwide, we focus on getting beyond the anecdotally- driven stereotypes of student technology use to establish a more comprehensive understanding of the myriad of different ways that students are currently personalizing learning using technology. Given the increasing interest amongst education, business, policy, and parent leadership on the value of digital tools to personalize learning and improve student outcomes, this year’s report provides new findings around these three central questions to further both national and local discussions: Understanding that the traditional “one size fits all” digital learning plans usually fit none, the lenses for this year’s data examination include student grade, gender, self-assessment of technology skills, Title 1 designation (often used as an indicator of the level of home poverty), and community type (urban, suburban, or rural) to both dispel sustained myths and to inform innovative ways to provide greater equity within our learning environments. Moreover, as a microcosm of how students’ are approaching living and learning from different perspectives within today’s digital universe, we are also providing in this year’s report new findings around students’ interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) careers and how students want to embrace both traditional and digital paths for career exploration. In addition to bringing order to a changing or confusing world, myths also can serve as cultural artifacts that allow us to see an evolution of thinking over time. New phenomena often present opportunities to revisit long held assumptions or beliefs. The Navajo story of the creation of the stars may have needed some revisiting whenever a meteor streaked across the night sky. In a similar way, understanding how today’s students are using technology for learning, both in school and out of school, and their aspirations for new digital learning experiences can be one of those meteor opportunities for our nation’s education leaders. Let’s grab on to that meteor tail and leverage the authentic views of our students to create new digital learning playbooks that will meet the needs of all of our diverse learners. “I use technology to inspire myself. I watch TED talks, blog, and read fanfiction. Technology empowers us and gives us the ability to nourish our imagination and fill us with inspiration. I use the successful ideas students from around the nation tell me about and incorporate it into our own school. Technology has been a big part of my life, I bask in the information it presents me with from simple how to videos to solving differentiated equations.” (Girl, Grade 12, Perris, California) Play #1: How are K-12 students currently using digital tools and resources to support schoolwork activities? Teacher-facilitated Technology Use When discussing student technology use to support schoolwork, the general assumption is that we are talking about teacher-sponsored, classroom-structured activities. And indeed, students and teachers are increasingly using a wide range of different digital tools to support the formalized instructional process. Within this arena of teacher-enabled technology use, students across all grades as noted in Table 1 report using digital or online textbooks, accessing information posted by their teacher on school or class portals such as grades and homework, taking tests online, and even watching videos created by their teachers especially for their class. Following a national trend, one-quarter of elementary students in grades 3-5 and almost one-third of students in grades 6-12 say that they are using a mobile device provided by their school to support schoolwork. Since these types of learning activities intentionally require teacher sponsorship, school support, or district policy, the student experience with these activities is not dependent upon their gender or self-assessment of their technology skill level. As with traditional learning tools such as print textbooks, there is a universality of the access amongst students when the tools are teacher facilitated in the classroom. This data illustrates the acclimation of teachers to using technology in their classroom than providing new insights into student usage. For example, only 32 percent of middle school students said that they were taking tests online in 2009. Teacher facilitation of online tests in middle school classrooms has increased by 47 percent in four years, a strong statement about both the availability of online tests within curriculum and teacher adoption of those tools for assessment purposes. Student-initiated Technology Use Differences also emerge in how students are adapting various digital tools and resources to self-support their schoolwork activities beyond teacher sponsorship. In previous Speak Up reports (http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/speakup_reports.html) the data has demonstrated that students are not just adopting new technologies to use within learning, but they are actively manipulating and modifying standard uses for the digital tools to meet individualized learning needs. We see in this year’s data that this is especially true for students who assess their technology skills as advanced compared to their peers. Also noteworthy is that since many of the digital tools that students are using to self-initiate schoolwork assistance are socially based tools, girls are outpacing boys in that usage as illustrated in Table 2. The data reveals new findings about variances in self-initiated technology use by girls and boys. While mythology may state that texting is pervasive for all students, the data demonstrates that while almost three-quarters of high school girls across all levels of tech-savviness say they regularly use text messaging to communicate with classmates about schoolwork, significantly fewer males are doing the same. Girls are generally also outpacing boys in their use of Facebook and other social networking sites to collaborate on school or class projects, supporting the idea that the presence of social media tools trumps technology skill level. Student’s self-assessment of their technology skills also has bearing on some of the types of digital activities they do to support schoolwork. Girls that consider themselves advanced tech users are more likely to use their mobile devices to take photos of class assignments or find online videos to get homework help than boys that also assess their skills as advanced or even other girls. Mobile Devices for Schoolwork In many ways, the new gateway to self-initiated technology use for schoolwork is the mobile device. Increasingly, students have access to tablets and laptops to use both at school and at home for learning purposes. In some cases, parents are providing these devices to enable their children to have access to high quality digital content and be able to extend the learning process beyond the school day. In this year’s Speak Up survey for parents of school-aged children, almost two-thirds of parents (64 percent) said they would purchase a mobile device such as a tablet or laptop for their child to use at school, if it was allowed. A similar percentage of parents (61 percent) said their preference is for their child to be in a class where they could use their own mobile device. It is not surprising given the increased access that K-12 students have to personal mobile devices (Chart 1) that students across all grades identify “not being able to use my own mobile device in school” as an obstacle to school technology use. Girls appear to be especially frustrated by school policies that limit mobile device usage as well as social media tool access. A majority of middle school girls identified that not being able to use their personal mobile device (55 percent) as a major barrier to school technology use. Many Title 1 schools are making a significant effort to level the playing field for their students by providing mobile devices for use at school and at home. Over a quarter of high school students in schoolwide Title 1 schools said that they have a school provided tablet to use for schoolwork, compared to 13 percent of high school students in non-Title 1 schools. Similarly, 24 percent of students in grades 6-8 and 22 percent of students in grades 3-5 in Title 1 communities also are assigned a school tablet. Administrators from Title 1 schools appear to have a greater appreciation for the potential benefits of out of school access. While 26 percent of elementary students in non-Title 1 schools say they have a school provided tablet to use, only 3 percent of those students can take that tablet home to extend their learning. Comparatively, of the 22 percent of elementary students with a school provided tablet in Title 1 schools, 10 percent are allowed to use that tablet at home. By using school provided tablets within their learning activities, students in Title 1 schools are experiencing changes in their expectations for academic mobile device use . When asked to identify the best device for various academic tasks, the high school students were more likely to select a tablet than their peers in non-Title 1 schools. Four out of ten of these students said that their preferred mobile device to do Internet research, access an online book, watch a video for schoolwork, and take notes for class would be a tablet, whereas less than one-third of the non-Title 1 students had that same preference. This differentiation supports both the investments that Title 1 schools are making in mobile devices and the idea that students’ first hand experiences with using digital tools within a learning context can drive greater usage. Digital Writing and Reading for schoolwork Two important new components of students’ self-initiated technology use for schoolwork are digital writing and reading. Again, it is important for education and policy leaders to get beyond their assumptions on students’ level of writing and reading in order to appreciate a new role for digital tools to support skill development in these key areas. Despite mythology to the contrary, today’s students are spending a significant amount of time doing digitally based writing. As is often reported by English teachers, frequency of writing is a good first step to improved fluency of writing. High school students reported a mean average of 14 hours per week using technology for writing. High school girls are especially outpacing their male peers in their amount of writing time (15 hours per week compared to 13). Amongst students who self-assess their technology skills as advanced, statistical testing also indicates a significant gender difference in their writing time with girls spending 17 hours in various writing exercise and boys writing on average 15 hours a week. The types of digital writing these advanced technology users are doing regularly for schoolwork is representative of the variety of ways that students today are interacting with digital media and online social sites (Table 3). The data also demonstrates varying contexts for writing between girls and boys. For example, boys are twice as likely as girls to be writing text within an online conversation on a gaming website. Just as it is important to recognize and appreciate how today’s students are tapping into digital tools to support their schoolwork writing, it is equally valuable to understand students’ preferences for digital reading. While the debate over print vs. pixel continues to perplex policymakers, especially those involved with the new online assessments, students are increasingly choosing digital text over printed text for both schoolwork and personal reading. One-third of middle school students say that for schoolwork reading their preference is to read digital materials rather than printed materials, and 51 percent believe that online textbooks should be an essential component within future schools. How students are using digital tools to support schoolwork is valuable input for education leaders that are creating new game plans for digital learning within their schools and districts. However, the story is only partially written if our leaders do not also pay attention to how today’s students are using digital tools outside of school. For today’s students, learning is a 24/7 enterprise with the traditional school day being only a small part of the overall time that students spend learning, especially using technology. “I play games that develop critical thinking skills and analysis of situations. I play strategy games that are involved, complicated, and a real challenge. I learn about things that I am interested in by internet research and I have learned much about what I want to do and what areas I am interested in. I like this learning style because it teaches me about what I want to know and helps to make me more prepared for a job in a field that I am interested in.” (Boy, Grade 9, Jacksonville, Florida) Play #2: How are K-12 students currently using digital tools and resources to enable out of school time learning activities? The almost daily emergence of new social media sites and applications in the marketplace is reflected in the changing profile of middle and high school students’ use of social media tools outside of school. Students this year continue to report less regular interaction with traditional social networking sites such as Facebook. Only 30 percent of middle school students and 39 percent of high school students now say that they are maintaining a social networking site, a decrease of approximately 40 percent since 2009. In its wake, social media apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Vine are filling in the void with participation by 44 percent of students in grades 6-12. Twitter is also becoming a preferred digital medium for communications and information for many students including 28 percent of high school students. Other popular social media tools include: Of the various social media tools, the role of digital games has strong implications for understanding the importance of students’ out of school learning experiences. Foremost, the traditional gender gap between girls and boys in digital game playing has largely evaporated when examining students’ use of tablets and smartphones for games. Approximately 42 percent of girls in grades 3-5 and 37 percent of girls in grades 6-8 say that they are regularly playing games on tablets; within the same age groupings, 38 percent of boys are using tablets for digital gaming. A similar pattern exists with smartphone-based game playing with slightly more than one-quarter of boys and girls in grades 3-5 using this medium for their digital play and 45 percent of middle school girls and boys. However, participating in massively multi-player online games (MMOGs) is definitely an activity favored by boys, especially middle school boys who self-identify their technology skills as advanced. Amongst that group, 42 percent say they are regularly participating in MMOGs. Even within the group of girls with advanced tech skills, only 26 percent are MMOG players. A key component of the MMOG play is the social interaction with other players who share a similar passion for the game topic or activities. And while girls are traditionally more interested in group or collaborative projects, a larger percentage of tech-advanced middle school boys (44 percent) than girls (37 percent) see these digital games as a way to learn how to work in teams. Girls and boys across all grade levels see digital games as having significant learning benefits if employed within a school environment, including greater engagement in learning and making it easier to understand difficult concepts. While approximately 25 percent of classroom teachers are integrating digital game activities into their instructional plans, some students are already tapping into online games outside of school to support their self-directed interests in academic topics. Approximately one-quarter of middle school students have played an online game outside of school on their own, specifically to learn something. The percentage jumps to almost 50 percent amongst boys and girls who consider their technology skills advanced (Chart 2). As discussed in previous Speak Up reports, and documented by these new findings, a new student profile is emerging. We call these students Free Agent Learners. This student is characterized by their use of a wide array of digital tools and resources to self-direct learning outside of school around topics that are of high interest to them. While some mythology may point in the direction of boys as more self-directed in their technology use, the latest Speak Up data indicates very little variance between Free Agent Learning girls and boys who self-assess their technology skills as more advanced than their peers. Defined as the norms of appropriate and responsible behavior with technology, digital citizenship is becoming a highly valued skill for today’s students by both educators and parents. As digital learning is becoming more pervasive in K-12 classrooms with digital games, mobile devices, and online textbooks and curriculum, administrators are increasingly noting student safety and online behavior as concerns associated with expanding technology use in school. Within the larger arena of digital citizenship, what students are posting online about themselves (their digital footprint) is particularly vexing for parents. Two-thirds of parents of school aged children (66 percent) noted this as a primary concern— for the first time, at the same level of concern as online predators. As with many other findings in this report, students’ views on the digital footprints that they are leaving behind on social media sites and through online interactions may surprise both educators and parents. While girls appear to be acting more carefully than boys in terms of what information they are sharing about themselves, students overall have very consistent views on their awareness of this issue, the actions they are taking, and the actualization of a positive digital footprint. Table 4 provides a summary of the views of high school students disaggregated both by gender and community type. The similarities in student views regardless of community type should be particularly interesting to parents and educators who may overestimate the role of cultural influences on students’ technology use. It may also be informative for adults who have bought into the myth of the shared experiences of all digital natives to know that 25 percent of all girls and boys, as well as urban, suburban, and rural students, say that they do not regularly post information about themselves online. With the ongoing development of new social media and online sites, this topic of student views and actions associated with their digital footprint is a new and emerging field of study. As students continue to stretch the boundaries of learning beyond the classroom and into online spaces, it is important for both education leaders and parents to recognize the importance of relevant and timely digital citizenship development in their new digital learning playbooks for schools. Out of School Internet Access As noted in this year’s findings, students are creatively tapping into social media, games, and videos on their own to extend the learning process beyond the end of the school day. And while we may unintentionally fall into the “awe and wonder” entrapment of some of these findings, it is vitally important that we also recognize, as many of our school and district leaders do each day, that not all of our K-12 students have access to the Internet outside of school. This fact is an especially poignant one for Project Tomorrow given our roots as NetDay, the nationwide school wiring initiative of the 1990s. New private-public initiatives are focusing on increasing both home and school access to high speed, broadband Internet but in the meantime, our education leaders representing all types and sizes of districts are facing serious equity challenges. Amongst district technology leaders, 46 percent identified digital equity issues such as providing students with access to the Internet beyond the school day as one of the most challenging issues they are facing today. Comparatively in 2010, only 19 percent of those technology leaders ranked digital equity as a key challenge. As online classes and digital textbooks become mainstream tools within a teacher’s instructional plan, it is increasingly imperative that we develop new strategies for providing students with out of school time Internet access. Step one in building that part of the new digital learning playbook is to fully understand the extent of the challenge and how today’s innovative students may be piloting a new solution for us to consider. The following series of charts document the access that high school, middle school, and upper elementary students have to the Internet, comparing students in Title 1 schools with non-Title 1 schools. While the findings on the differences in home access support other data and popular perceptions, the students’ reporting of their primary access as through a mobile device may illuminate some new solution pathways. The availability of lower cost and more fully featured mobile devices with Internet access including smartphones and tablets is changing the prospects for increasing student access outside of school. Additionally, as noted earlier, many Title 1 schools administrators are providing their students with mobile devices such as tablets and specifically allowing students to bring those tablets home for extended use beyond the school day. When we examine both the hard wired type of home Internet access alongside wifi-enabled devices and 3G/4G connectivity options, we see that not only does the mobile device empower student access but it also enables students to have a personal device that is not necessarily shared with siblings and parents when broadband access is limited to only one family desktop computer. Using mobile devices, today’s students are paving new territory in terms of when and how to use technology for learning. These experiences are in many ways acting as catalysts for their aspirations for the development of new innovative learning environments. “I'm always inspired to look up new things because of the world around me. If I see something on the news that perks my interest, I'm immediately on my iPhone trying to learn as much as I can about it. If I see somebody doing something that looks cool, I'll look it up so I can see it and learn how to do it.” (Girl, Grade 10, Dayton, Ohio) Play #3: What are K-12 students’ aspirations for using digital tools and resources within new innovative learning environments? Improving School Technology Use When asked how their school could make it easier for them to use technology to support learning, students’ responses closely match the way they are already using digital tools outside of school for learning. In general, K-12 students want greater alignment between their out of school learning and their in school learning. This often includes greater access to online sites, use of mobile devices and social media, and digital tools that help to facilitate collaboration, communications, and self-organization. Additionally, students would like to have extended access to their teachers or online tutors to support their learning. This particular “ask” from students validates the importance that today’s learners place on the role of the teacher within their educational lives; debunking another myth that today’s students do not value a teacher relationship. Table 5 provides a comparative view on the aspirations of middle school and high school students for how their school could make it easier for them to maximize technology for schoolwork. In many cases, these technology use solutions involve local policy decisions that could be changed by a school principal in response to student needs. Envisioning the Ultimate School While Table 5 documents students’ perspectives on how to improve the existing technology use at their school, the Speak Up surveys also annually ask students to envision their ultimate school, to dream big about how digital tools and resources could provide them with a transformative learning environment that highly values personalized learning for every student. Students’ top ten list of the essential digital tools and resources for this visionary school captures all of the key technologies discussed in this report. Most importantly, all of the subgroups we studied including different grade bands of students, girls and boys, students from urban, suburban, and rural schools, students in Title 1 schools, and students who self- assessed their technology skills as advanced all share the same top ten list. When it comes to articulating a digital learning future, today’s students share a unique bond with each other based upon shared experiences both in school and out of school that has created a common vision for the future. The views of their parents, teachers, and school principals obviously reflect their worldview on the potential of various technologies to support learning. As with the students, the tools the adults have used in their personal or professional lives may influence their perspective on the value of these technologies within the ultimate school. The contrast between the top ten list of the students and how the adults ranked those same digital tools is demonstrated in Chart 6. Though the students’ vision for their ultimate school includes the same top ten elements for each subgroup that we studied for this report, the level of interest varied to some degree within the student cohorts. For example, while girls had higher levels of attraction to mobile learning tools (tablets, laptops, mobile apps) than boys, the boys’ interest in games outpaced the girls’ value proposition on that digital activity. Of the three community types (urban, suburban, and rural) students from rural communities also expressed stronger levels of interest in each of the top ten tools than their peers in suburban or urban areas. This comparative analysis of what technologies would be essential in an ultimate school for today’s learners also underscores two key findings from this year’s Speak Up data. First, students’ aspirations for new learning environments are not predicated on access to one tool or a singular set of resources. Providing students with a laptop in itself does not constitute the ultimate school for today’s learners. Rather, students have a vision for that ultimate school that encompasses having access to a wide variety of digital tools and resources and the ability to leverage the features and functionalities of those technologies to communicate, connect and collaborate with peers, teachers and experts both at school and at home. The ultimate school for today’s student is one where learning is: One size does not fit all even within the ultimate school. Thus, today’s students also see their ultimate school as a place where they can use these emerging digital tools in highly personalized, self-directed learning activities to address individualized academic interests and ways of learning. The second key finding is that the adults in students’ academic lives (their parents, teachers, and school principals) do not share a coherent vision of the ultimate school, and that their individual rankings of the various technologies in most cases are not in alignment with the student rankings. Ability to use a personal mobile device at school, digital games, and access to text messaging all rank significantly higher on the students’ top ten list than the lists of parents and educators. These three tools in many ways represent the holy trinity of the student vision for digital learning – using socially-based digital tools to facilitate un-tethered learning experiences that are rich in interactive digital content. Conversely, school principals place a higher premium on the value of tablets and mobile apps within the ultimate school than the students do themselves. This does not mean that students are less interested in tablets. Rather the student vision of the ultimate school is not fixated on the need to identify one all-encompassing mobile device to use within instruction. Students see tablets, laptops, digital readers, and even their own smartphone all as tools that have utility for certain academic tasks and should be included as available resources within the ultimate school. As education leaders create new digital learning playbooks for their schools and districts, bridging the disconnect between the students’ vision of new innovative learning environments with the divergent and often conflicting views of parents and staff should be a fundamental first step. “Outside of school I am using technology to better prepare myself academically, by training myself to find answers to my questions. This helps me self-teach myself to better myself for my classes. I also look to read articles on the internet about new and arising issues, so I can be socially aware, it is something that I view as extremely important. I use my smartphone, along with my laptop computer to access my technological needs for me to succeed in the future.” (Girl, Grade 10, McAllen, Texas) Final Play: Students, digital learning and their future career choices In sports, field plays are first envisioned in the abstract, and then revised during the game or match to reflect the reality of game situations and field conditions. In a similar way, the development of technology plans within schools and districts is often first a conceptual exercise focused on how to most effectively utilize various tools and resources. One way to instill context and relevancy into new digital learning playbooks is to examine the interplay between students’ use of digital tools and their expectations and explorations around future careers, most notably in STEM fields. Given this year’s report emphasis on the differences amongst digital learners in their activities as well as aspirations, this examination is particularly informative for schools, districts and communities who are interested in widening the pipeline for a more varied set of students to pursue STEM careers. As noted with other findings in this report, students’ self-assessment of their technology skills compared to their peers is correlated to their interest in the use of various digital tools. Additionally, we noted in this report various gender specific differences in how students wanted to use technology both in and out of school. The combination of these two factors, student technology skill assessment and gender, results in a clear picture on the genesis of one of the key issues facing our national economy, the lack of girls’ interest in STEM careers. As noted in Table 6, from kindergarten through 12th grade, the gap between boys and girls in their self-assessment of their technology skills grown from 6 percentage points to 15. Thus, as girls advance through their traditional school environment, they are more likely to re-evaluate their technology skills as average, while boys’ opinion of their technology skills as advanced remains constant. As we would imagine, students’ self-perception of their technology prowess may have implications for their interest in STEM career fields. Based upon this year’s Speak Up results, a 10 percentage point differential exists between boys and girls in their strong interest in pursuing a STEM career; 29 percent of high school boys say that they are very interested in a job or career in a STEM field, but only 19 percent of girls share that same vision for themselves. However, contrary to conventional wisdom or mythology, we continue to see a STEM interest gap even between girls and boys who self-assess their technology skills as advanced as depicted in Chart 7. During the seven years that the Speak Up surveys have polled high school students on their interest in STEM fields, the level of student interest has not increased significantly. Thus, despite the investments by both public and private entities in developing students’ and most notably girls’ interest in STEM fields, the pipeline at the interest level has not expanded. One possible explanation for this stagnation may be that the approaches that we are using to attract students to explore career choices lack sensitivity to students’ general interest in more personalized and digital explorations, and the differences between girls and boys. While many students continue to be interested in visiting companies to learn about careers (58 percent), participating in school based career exploration programs (47 percent) and having teachers with a background in a STEM profession (43 percent), increasingly girls in particular are interested in socially-based and digital career exploration opportunities that can be highly individualized to their interest levels. A new approach to engage girls in STEM fields may therefore include providing an online self-assessment of skills and interests (34 percent), working with mentors who can guide college choices (32 percent) and access to websites and day in the life videos for self-directed career exploration (28 percent). The development of new digital learning playbooks therefore is not limited to just the use of technology for schoolwork, but increasingly has applicability to how students want to explore and learn about careers. Just as the myth of quartz fragments creating the night sky constellations lost its glimmer at some point for the Navajo people, the mythology around students’ use of technology has now outlived its value in our K-12 schools and districts. It is time to think beyond simplistic, adult-invented assumptions about how today’s learners want to use digital tools within their learning lives, and instead use the authentic ideas and actual practices of students to inform and inspire new visions for digital learning within K-12 education. Let’s illuminate a fresh dawn of education by listening to students and incorporating their personalized learning visions within our new digital learning playbooks. Speak Up is a national initiative of Project Tomorrow®, the nation’s leading education nonprofit organization dedicated to the empowerment of student voices in education. Each year, the Speak Up National Research Project polls K-12 students, parents and educators about the role of technology for learning in and out of school. This survey represents the largest collection of authentic, unfiltered stakeholder voices on digital learning. Since fall 2003, over 3.4 million K-12 students, parents, teachers, librarians, principals, technology leaders, district administrators and members of the community have shared their views and ideas through Speak Up. K-12 educators, higher education faculty, business, and policy leaders report that they regularly use the Speak Up data to inform federal, state and local education programs. In fall 2013, Project Tomorrow surveyed 325,279 K-12 students, 32,151 parents, 37,756 teachers, 2,230 librarians, 933 district administrators, 3,020 school administrators, 577 technology leaders and 1,346 members of the community representing 9,005 public and private schools from 2,710 districts. Schools from urban (28 percent), suburban (32 percent), and rural (40 percent) communities are represented. Just under one-half of the schools (46%) that participated in Speak Up 2013 are Title I eligible schools (an indicator of student population poverty). The Speak Up 2013 surveys were available online for input between October 2nd and December 20th 2013. The Speak Up surveys included foundation questions about the use of technology for learning, 21st century skills and schools of the future, as well as emerging technologies (online learning, mobile devices and digital content), the use of technology within specific curricular areas, and STEM career exploration. In addition, educators shared the challenges they encounter integrating technology into classroom instruction, and how budget challenges have affected these decisions. The data is collected from a convenience sample; schools and districts self-select to participate and facilitate the survey-taking process for their students, educators and parents. Any school or school district in the United States is eligible to participate in Speak Up. In preparation for data analysis, the survey results are matched with school level demographic information, such as Title I status, school locale (urban, rural and suburban), and ethnicity selected from the Core of Common Data compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics (http://nces.ed.gov/). Speak Up data is cross-consulted with NCES statistics to ensure that data represent nation-wide school demographics. The data are analyzed using standard cross-tab analysis. For additional information on the Speak Up methodology, please contact the Project Tomorrow research team.
Visible trade, in economics, exchange of physically tangible goods between countries, involving the export, import, and re-export of goods at various stages of production. It is distinguished from invisible trade, which involves the export and import of physically intangible items such as services. Countries lacking various raw materials will import needed substances such as coal or crude oil from nations able to export such materials. Sometimes raw materials will be partially processed or converted into producer goods within the country from which they originate. Goods may also be processed into consumer goods prior to export or import and prior to the ultimate purchase by the buyer. These consumer goods may be durable (consumed over a period of time), as are appliances or automobiles, or nondurable (consumed almost immediately), as is food. Visible trade also includes the export and import of goods used directly in the production of other goods and services (capital goods) such as industrial machinery and equipment. The relationship of visible trade exports to imports is reflected in a country’s balance of trade or visible balance. A surplus in the balance of trade occurs when exports exceed imports and a deficit occurs when imports are greater than exports. The balance of trade is the major component of a country’s balance of payments, which includes debits and credits resulting from invisible trade.
What is it: - poisoning from pollinating pesticide treated crops - poor nutrition from altered foraging patterns/lack of diversified food sources - increased presence of the honey bee pest varroa mites - new viruses targeting bee immune systems Why is it important: Bees aren’t just busy pollinating flowers, they are the unsung heroes in food systems across the globe, pollinating many crops for human consumption. In the United States our industrial food system is supported by a network of bee keepers who truck bees up and down highways pollinating everything from Maine blueberries to Florida oranges and California almonds. Without them, food supplies world wide are in danger of collapsing. And CCD isn’t just happening to bees in the United States, honey bees in The UK have been reportedly suffering from CCD and in 2011 the United Nations issued a statement declaring CCD a global concern reaching from US beekeepers to Chinese beekeepers. What can we do: - Urge secretary Tom Vilsack of the US Department of Agriculture to continue to fund research to combat CCD using this online messaging system from the National Resources Defense Council. (Tip- customize the message, tell Tom Vilsack why this issue is important to you, for maximum impact!) - Read these tips from the NRDC on how to make a bee-friendly garden and which pesticides are commonly known to impact bee health. Inform other gardeners and farmers in your community of the pesticides on the list! - Learn to keep bees (even in the city) to add to a growing number of small scale bee keepers invested in healthy honey bees across the globe! - Read about what the EPA is doing to protect honey bees in the United States. Written by EarthAction Intern Walker Dunn Sources and Further Information: Middle Photo by: Dan Solely (c) turtlephoto.org
Mariner 4, 6, 7, and 9 took the first images of the volcanoes of Mars, including Olympus Mons, and the south polar region. The Mariner missions also measured the shape of Mars, made the first determination of the Martian buldge now called Tharsis Ridge, as well as making record of the strange fact that Mars is divided into two halves; old, elevated, northern terrain and young, low, southern terrain. Most famously, Mariner 7 took the first close up images of the deep valley, which now bears its name, known as Valles Marineris. The Mariner missions helped establish that, like the Moon, Mars had a barren surface with no running water. The vast number of craters helped establish that the surface of Mars was young compared to that of the Moon or Mercury, but nevertheless, very old when compared to that of the Earth.
Health Courses->Wise Nutrition->Basic Diet Basic Diet and Food Safety Balanced nutrition plays one of the most significant roles in our overall health. It is a powerful tool for self care that will help you minimize illness, medication, trips to the doctor, and other health care expenditures. Once you learn new, healthy ways of eating the improved well being and food enjoyment will make it easy never to return to unhealthy dietary habits. The following nutritional guidelines are generalized recommendations intended to assist average people on their journey towards optimal health. If there are particular health concerns that make it necessary to vary from these generalized guidelines, Dr. Collins should be consulted. The following guidelines are not an all-or-nothing proposition. The more of these suggestions you can incorporate into the daily diet the healthier you will become. How rapidly do you want to become well? How healthy do you want to be? Basic Nutritional Health Enhancement Guidelines - alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, or other social drugs - unnecessary medication - foods fried in oil or fat, hydrogenated fats or trans-fatty acids such as lard or margarine, animal fats, processed omega-6 vegetable oils, especially soy, corn, cottonseed and safflower oils - sugar, dextrose, corn syrup, saccharin, aspartame, or acesulfame-k - refined white flour or products containing it - refined, over-processed, or synthetic food - artificial colors, sulfites, nitrites, nitrates, BHA, BHT, MSG - animal products, especially fats (Lean, organically raised meats should be used if a vegetarian diet is not preferred or suitable for you.) - salt (Beware of pickled foods…olives, pickles, etc.) - honey, maple syrup, molasses (Substitute fresh fruit instead.) - tuna, swordfish, and other mercury polluted fish - Systematic undereating is an important nutritional tip which may help prolong a healthy life. - The diet should consist of substantial amounts of raw, whole, fresh, clean, nutrient-rich food that is in season. Organically grown produce is highly preferred over food grown with pesticides and herbicides. Not only is it much richer in nutrients the very harmful chemical residues can cause numerous ills. The foods that have the highest pesticide levels are: peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, lettuce, imported grapes, pears, spinach, and potatoes. These foods should always be eaten organically. - 10-20% of daily caloric intake should come from complex carbohydrates. Proteins should comprise approximately 15% and healthy fats 65-75%. A wise blend of whole grains, legumes, beans, seeds, and fresh vegetables should be the core of one’s diet. This also assures high fiber which is so essential to a proper functioning digestive tract. - Fat consumption should be limited to olive oil, walnuts, fresh flaxseed ground just before consumption, cold-water fish oils, borage seed oil, evening primrose oil, organic butter, coconut oil or whole coconut milk can be used in cooking. - Eat only when hungry. Eat slowly in a relaxed, unhurried atmosphere. - Eat several small meals in preference to a few large meals. - Chew food well. - Never eat in pain, mental or physical discomfort, when feverish, or working strenuously. - Refrain from eating 3-4 hours before bedtime. - Drink plenty of pure water, particularly between meals. (Soda pop, koolaid, etc. are unacceptable.) - Eat a diversity of foods. Do not eat the same foods day in and day out. - It is best to rotate foods to once every four days, particularly when allergies are present. - Keep healthy snacks available (carrot, celery, fruit, etc.). 9,000 Americans die from food poisoning every year. - Animal products, particularly the fatty portions is where we consume 90% of our harmful chemicals in food. That is, in part, why vegetarianism is statistically so healthy. Buying organic meats is important if we are to consume meats at all. - Keep meats and eggs adequately cold until just before preparation to reduce bacterial growth. - Cook meats and eggs thoroughly! - After handling meat or eggs wash everything they touch in hot, soapy water to avoid bacterial contamination! - Avoid raw shellfish, eggs, milk, undercooked meats, grilled meats, and moldy peanuts and corn so as to avoid very harmful substances. - Eat less foods out and more at home where your care, intelligence, and diligence will protect you. - Beware of foods such as eggs and mayonnaise left out at room temperature for 1 hour or more such as at picnics. Bacteria can grow rapidly during this time. Nursing home residents who ate meals rich in fish, nuts, or healthy vegetable oil such as olive oil were 60% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s Disease. Archives of Neurology, July 2003. Children who ate larger amounts of fruit when young developed less lung, bowel, and breast cancer than those who ate few fruits. There were also advantages from dying from all causes. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Feb 2003. Increasing daily dietary fiber intake can reduce coronary heart disease by 40%. Harvard School of Public Health Eating omega-3 fatty acid containing fish such as salmon, mackerel and herring increases health promoting fatty acids in blood, decreases blood pressure and increases healthy HDL cholesterol. Circulation, Aug. 19, 2003. A diet emphasizing fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products, which includes whole grains, poultry, fish and nuts, and only small amounts of red meat, sweets and sugar-containing beverages, and reduced amounts of total and saturated fat and cholesterol can lower blood pressure in patients with and without hypertension. “Effects on Blood Pressure of Reduced Dietary Sodium and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Diet,” Sacks FM, Svetkey LP, Vollmer WM, et al, N Engl J Med, January 4, 2001;344(1):3-10. A “Mediterranean type diet was found to be healthier than an American style diet. - high monounsaturated-to-saturated fat ratio, - moderate alcohol consumption, - high consumption of legumes, - high consumption of cereals, including bread, - high consumption of fruits, - high consumption of vegetables, - low consumption of meat and meat products, and - moderate consumption of milk and dairy products. “Mediterranean Diet and Longevity,” Trichopoulou A, Vasilopoulou E, Br J Nutr, 2000;84(Suppl. 2):S205-S209. The incidence of cancer could be cut by one-third by changing to a healthier diet. About one-third of the cancers are attributed to smoking, one-third to poor diet and lack of exercise, and one-third to genetics and other factors. The Food and Nutrition Science Alliance recommends eating a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans and legumes, monitoring fat intake and participating in regular exercise, and reducing alcohol intake. “Cancer, Diet and Lifestyle,” Nutrition Week, May 12, 2000;30(19):7. 35152 High dietary fat intake is a significant risk factor for colon, breast, pancreas and probably endometrial and prostate cancers. Obesity increases the risk of cancer in the kidney and the endometrium. Carcinogens can be formed during the cooking of meat. Reducing salt or pickled foods and fat intake and higher consumption of fresh vegetables, fruits and fibers can reduce the risk of cancer. Individual vitamins, trace elements, macronutrients and alcohol are reviewed. “Effect of Diet on Human Carcinogenesis,” Tanaka, Takuji, Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology, 1997;25:73-95. To reduce cancer risk, modifying life-style factors including elimination of tobacco and alcohol and increasing of foods rich in carotenoids, vitamins C and E, limonene, phenols and sulfur compounds. Avoidance of highly salted, pickled, dried and charred foods is recommended. Moldy and damaged food substances need to be totally eliminated. Liberal consumption of yellow and green fresh vegetables and fruit are encouraged. “Diet, Nutrition & Cancer – The Indian Scenario,” Krishnaswamy, Kamala and Polasa, Kalpagam, Indian Journal of Medical Research, November, 1995;102:200-209. - 1. Choose most of the foods you eat from plant sources. Eat 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Eat other foods from plant sources such as breads, cereals, grain products, rice, pasta, or beans several times each day. - 2. Limit your intake of high-fat foods, particularly from animal sources. Choose foods low in fat. Limit consumption of meats, especially high fat meats. - 3. Be physically active: Achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Be at least moderately active for 30 minutes or more on most days of the week. Stay within your healthy weight range. - 4. Limit consumption of alcoholic beverages, if you drink at all. “Limit Intake of Alcohol and Meat, Says Cancer Society,” Nutrition Week, September 27, 1996;26(39):3. Low intakes of fruit and vegetables can double the risk of most types of cancer compared to a high intake. The results are most striking in heart disease and cataracts. Only 9% of the American population consumes 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, the recommended amount. “Oxidants, Antioxidants, and the Degenerative Diseases of Ageing”, Ames, Bruce N., et al, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, September 1993;90:7915-7922. Deficiencies in B12 B6, and folic acid adversely effect brain function and contribute to certain dementias. Presented at the European Conference on Alzheimer’s by Dr. Irwin Rosenberg of Tufts University. Prenatal magnesium supplementation lower the risk of cerebral palsy by as much as 90%. It also reduces the risk of mental retardation. JAMA, Dec. 12, 1996. Pre-cancerous skin growths can be reduced by over 30% if dietary fat intake can be cut to 20% of daily calories according to dermatology researchers at Baylor college of Medicine. Supplemental ingestion of the amino acid, glutamine dramatically decreases the incidence of infection for those who participate in prolonged aerobic exercise. It seems available glutamine reserves in the body are depleted by prolonged bouts of exercise and high levels are needed to support a healthy immune system. Castel LM, Poortmans JR, Newsholme EA. Does glutamine have a role in reducing infections in athletes? European Journal of Applied Physiology, 1996; 73, pp 488-90.
Note: This lesson was originally published on an older version of The Learning Network; the link to the related Times article will take you to a page on the old site. Teaching ideas based on New York Times content. Overview of Lesson Plan: In this lesson, students investigate important themes, figures, and events of the civil rights movement. They then create a class mural that both synthesizes their knowledge of this period in history and demonstrates their understanding of the continuing impact of the movement on American society. Rachel McClain, The New York Times Learning Network Javaid Khan, The Bank Street College of Education in New York City Suggested Time Allowance: 45 minutes 1. Reflect on the meaning behind a song related to the civil rights movement; share prior knowledge about the civil rights movement through a brainstorming activity. 2. Learn about the connection between song and the civil rights movement as explored in a concert for children by reading and discussing the article “Family Fare: A Joyful Noise.” 3. Investigate various aspects of the civil rights movement. 4. Develop creative presentations focusing on their researched aspects of the civil rights movement; perform presentations for the class; develop a class mural synthesizing and connecting information from the presentations and exploring the continuing impact of the movement on American society. Resources / Materials: -recording of a song related to the civil rights movement (such as “We Shall Overcome,” “We Shall Not Be Moved” or “Amazing Grace”), with a playing device -copies of the article “Family Fare: A Joyful Noise” (one per student) -research materials with information about the civil rights movement (enough for all students to share) -art materials for creating presentations (dependent on group decisions) -long roll of butcher paper, paints, and other art materials for creating a class mural Activities / Procedures: 1. WARM-UP/DO NOW: At the beginning of the class, play a song related to the civil rights movement for students (such as “We Shall Overcome,” “We Shall Not Be Moved,” or “Amazing Grace.”) After listening to the song, students respond to it in their journals, answering the following questions (written on the board prior to class): “What do you think was the intended purpose of this song? What images came to mind as you listened to it? How did this song make you feel?” After a few minutes, encourage students to share their journals with the class. Explain to class that this song was popular during the civil rights movement, and conduct a short discussion about how this song relates to the concept of “civil rights.” Then, as a class, brainstorm on the board a list of events, speeches, other songs and organizations that come to mind when thinking of the civil rights movement. Ideas include the Montgomery bus boycott; the integration of Central High School in Little Rock,’ Arkansas; sit-ins; the marches in Birmingham and Washington; the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.; the “I Have a Dream” speech; the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; and the Freedom Riders. Keep this list on the board for use later in class. 2. As a class, read and discuss the article “Family Fare: A Joyful Noise,” focusing on the following questions: a. What is “Sweet Honey from the Rock”? b. How did Freedom Riders create their songs? c. What famous civil rights songs are based on older versions? d. What event is the concert commemorating, and why? e. Why will the group perform songs about other events as well in the performance described, and how do they relate to the other commemorated event? 3. Divide students into groups of three or four, and have each select a different civil rights movement topic from the board. Using all available resources, each group researches their aspect of the civil rights movement, focusing on the following questions (written on the board for easier student access): –Who was involved in this piece of civil rights history, and what role did each play? –What occurred to prompt this event? What impact did it have on the civil rights movement and the people involved? –Where and when did this event take place? –Why was this piece of civil rights history central to the movement as a whole? –How does this topic still resonate in the United States today? 4. WRAP-UP/HOMEWORK: Each group creates a presentation, in any visual form that they choose, that includes both a creative element and a thorough explanation of the significance of the subject of the presentation within the civil rights movement as a whole. Groups should be sure to include answers to all of the research questions. Since each of these aspects of the civil rights movement overlap (e.g., famous speeches are recited by famous people during important events), groups should be monitored to ensure that they do not choose topics and presentation methods that are too closely related. In a future class, groups should give their presentations in chronological order. Then, using the information from the presentations, the class creates a mural to hang in the school that commemorates the civil rights movement and connects the topics of all their groups’ research into a cohesive whole. Students may also choose to include modern images to reflect the lasting effects of the civil rights movement. Further Questions for Discussion: –What does the phrase “civil rights” mean? What are some civil rights? What do you think is the importance of civil rights? –Why do you think that music was such an important part of the civil rights movement? –Why do you think the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has become a national holiday? What other famous figures are commemorated by holidays, and why? Evaluation / Assessment: Students will be evaluated based on completion of journal, participation in class discussions, thoughtful participation in group research, well-developed group presentation of research, and participation in creation of class civil rights movement mural. a cappella, ballad, commemorates 1. Learn about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Create an illustrated timeline of important events and accomplishments. Next to each item, briefly describe its significance within King’s life and the civil rights movement as a whole. 2. Learn about the history of segregation and integration in schools. Conduct a classroom debate on the subject. Keep in mind issues such as the difference between other types of school separations (such as religious or gender) and racial segregation, as well as possible advantages and disadvantages on both sides of the argument. 3. Create a yearbook of key figures from the civil rights movement. Include a yearbook-style picture of each figure, along with information about famous speeches, publications, or events associated with each. Also include other sections, such as “candids” or an autograph section with notes that the different figures might have written in each other’s yearbooks. 4. Develop a photo-journal that features pictures of everyday scenes in your school or community that could not have occurred without the social changes enacted by the civil rights movement. Issues to focus on may include desegregation, political equality, and equal opportunity employment. 5. Research the major court cases of the civil rights era. Choose one, and write a brief research paper explaining the issues involved, how the final decision was made, and what impact this case has on us today. If applicable, include a discussion of how this case has been revisited since the original decision. 6. Select a period in American history and investigate the music that was popular among various groups at that time. What different roles did music play? How did the music reflect social issues of the time? Create a “soundtrack” of music of this period, and for each song, write a brief description relating the song to its place in this historical time period. Economics- How was the civil rights movement funded? Research the role of charitable organizations and individual contributors in making the civil rights movement happen. Write an article expressing on your findings. Journalism- Interview eye-witnesses to civil rights events, such as the Million Man March or the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Imagine that you are a reporter writing about the event just after it has happened. Write a front page article about this event, including the quotations from the people you interview. Media Studies- Watch one of the videos in the “Eyes on the Prize” series. Choose one of the events depicted to adapt into a screenplay for a television show or film. In writing the script, make sure to retain the historical accuracy of the event and characters involved. Other Information on the Web: Martin Luther King Jr. Day (//www.nytimes.com/learning/general/specials/mlk) commemorates the life and work of Dr. King with lesson plans, an interactive quiz on his life, historic Times front pages, puzzles and more. The National Civil Rights Museum (//www.midsouth.rr.com/civilrights/) provides a fantastic collection of Civil Rights artifacts including Dr. Martin Luther King’s speeches and replicas of civil rights monuments. The Civil Rights Project (//www.law.harvard.edu/groups/civilrights/) offers information on conventions, speeches, and papers at Harvard University that are related to civil rights. Academic Content Standards: United States History Standard 29- Understands the struggle for racial and gender equality and for the extension of civil liberties. Benchmark: Understands individual and institutional influences on the civil rights movement (CTSS – ‘social’, ‘6-8’, ‘us10’) United States History Standard 31- Understands economic, social, and cultural developments in the contemporary United States. Benchmarks: Understands various influences on American culture; Understands how different groups attempted to achieve their goals (CTSS – ‘social’, ‘6-8’, ‘us11’) Civics Standard 14- Understands issues concerning the disparities between ideals and reality in American political and social life. Benchmarks: Knows some important American ideals; Knows some of the discrepancies that have arisen between American ideals and the realities of political and social life in the United States; Knows some of the efforts that have been put forth to reduce discrepancies between ideals and the reality of American public life (CTSS – ‘social’, ‘6-8’, ‘civ2’) Language Arts Standard 1- Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process. Benchmarks: Uses style and structure appropriate for specific audiences and purposes; Writes expository compositions (CTSS – ‘english’, ‘6-8’, ‘1’) Language Arts Standard 4- Gathers and uses information for research purposes. Benchmark: Uses a variety of resource materials to gather information for research topics (CTSS – ‘english’, ‘6-8’, ‘4’) Language Arts Standard 8- Demonstrates competence in speaking and listening as tools for learning. Benchmarks: Plays a variety of roles in group discussions; Asks questions to seek elaboration and clarification of ideas; Listens in order to understand a speaker’s topic, purpose, and perspective; Conveys a clear main point when speaking to others and stays on the topic being discussed (CTSS – ‘english’, ‘6-8’, ‘8’) Music Standard 7- Understands the relationship between music and history and culture. Benchmarks: Understands distinguishing characteristics of representative music genres and styles from a variety of cultures; Understands characteristics that cause various musical works (e.g., from different genres, styles, historical periods, composers) to be considered exemplary; Understands the functions music serves, roles of musicians, and conditions under which music is typically performed in various cultures of the world United States History Standard 29- Understands the struggle for racial and gender equality and for the extension of civil liberties. Benchmarks: Understands how diverse groups united during the civil rights movement; Understands conflicting perspectives on different issues addressed by the women’s rights movement; Understands significant influences on the civil rights movement (CTSS – ‘social’, ‘9-12’, ‘us10’) United States History Standard 31- Understands economic, social, and cultural developments in the contemporary United States. Benchmarks: Understands how the rise of religious groups and movements influenced political issues in contemporary American society; Understands major contemporary social issues and the groups involved (CTSS – ‘social’, ‘9-12’, ‘us11’) Civics Standard 11- Understands the role of diversity in American life and the importance of shared values, political beliefs, and civic beliefs in an increasingly diverse American society. Benchmarks: Knows how the racial, religious, socioeconomic, regional, ethnic, and linguistic diversity of American society has influenced American politics through time; Knows different viewpoints regarding the role and value of diversity in American life; Knows examples of conflicts stemming from diversity, and understands how some conflicts have been managed and why some of them have not yet been successfully resolved (CTSS – ‘social’, ‘9-12’, ‘civ2’) Civics Standard 13- Understands the character of American political and social conflict and factors that tend to prevent or lower its intensity. Benchmark: Understands issues that involve conflicts among fundamental values and principles such as the conflict between liberty and authority (CTSS – ‘social’, ‘9-12’, ‘civ2’) Civics Standard 14- Understands issues concerning the disparities between ideals and reality in American political and social life. Benchmarks: Knows discrepancies between American ideals and the realities of American social and political life; Knows historical and contemporary efforts to reduce discrepancies between ideals and reality in American public life (CTSS – ‘social’, ‘9-12’, ‘civ2’) Civics Standard 18- Understands the role and importance of law in the American constitutional system and issues regarding the judicial protection of individual rights. Benchmarks: Understands how the rule of law makes possible a system of ordered liberty that protects the basic rights of citizens; Knows historical and contemporary practices that illustrate the central place of the rule of law; Knows historical and contemporary events and practices that illustrate the absence or breakdown of the rule of law; Knows historical and contemporary illustrations of the idea of equal protection of the laws for all persons; Knows historical and contemporary instances in which judicial protections have not been extended to all persons and instances in which judicial protections have been extended to those deprived of them in the past (CTSS – ‘social’, ‘9-12’, ‘civ3’) Language Arts Standard 1- Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process. Benchmarks: Writes compositions that are focused for different audiences; Writes compositions that fulfill different purposes; Writes expository compositions; Writes reflective compositions (CTSS – ‘english’, ‘9-12’, ‘1’) Language Arts Standard 4- Gathers and uses information for research purposes. Benchmark: Uses a variety of news sources to gather information for research topics (CTSS – ‘english’, ‘9-12’, ‘4’) Language Arts Standard 8- Demonstrates competence in speaking and listening as tools for learning. Benchmarks: Asks questions as a way to broaden and enrich classroom discussions; Adjusts message wording and delivery to particular audiences and for particular purposes (CTSS – ‘english’, ‘9-12’, ‘8’) Music Standard 7- Understands the relationship between music and history and culture. Benchmarks: Knows sources of American music genres, the evolution of these genres, and musicians associated with them; Knows various roles that musicians perform (e.g., entertainer, teacher, transmitter of cultural tradition) and representative individuals who have functioned in these roles This lesson plan may be used to address the academic standards listed above. These standards are drawn from Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education; 3rd and 4th Editions and have been provided courtesy of the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning in Aurora, Colorado.
Gauss, (Johann) Carl Friedrich (1777–1855) Then Gauss entered the mathematical stratosphere of his time by proving what is now called the fundamental theorem of algebra, namely, that every polynomial has at last one root that is a complex number; in fact, he gave four different proofs, the first of which appeared in his dissertation. In 1801, he proved the fundamental theorem of arithmetic (that every natural number can be represented as the product of prime numbers in only one way); published a brilliant tour de force on the properties of integers in his Disquisitiones Arithmeticae, which systematized the study of number theory; and showed that every number is the sum of at most three triangular numbers. In the same year, he also developed the method of least-squares fitting (for reducing experimental errors) and, though he didn't publish it, used this method to calculate the orbit of the asteroid Ceres, an object recently discovered by Guiseppe Piazzi, from only three observations. Gauss published his monumental treatise on celestial mechanics Theoria Motus in 1806. In 1807 Gauss became director of the Göttingen Observatory and in 1809 published his quick method for calculating the orbit of Ceres. This enabled astronomers to recover the asteroid after it had become lost behind the Sun following its discovery. Gauss also worked out the theories of perturbations that were eventually used by Urbain Leverrier and John Adams in their independent calculations that led to the discovery of Neptune. After 1817 Gauss did no further work in theoretical astronomy, though he continued to work in positional astronomy for the rest of his life. The 1,001st asteroid to be discovered was named in his honor. He became interested in the compass through surveying, and developed the magnetometer, an instrument with which, together with Wilhelm Weber, he measured the intensity of magnetic forces. With Weber, he also built the first successful telegraph. (The gauss (Gs) unit of magnetic flux is named after him.) The story has often been repeated that Gauss proposed a method of signaling to either the Moon or Mars (see communication, with the Moon and planets). In one version of this, he is supposed to have suggested that lanes of forest be planted in Siberia in the form of a huge right-angle triangle with squares on each side (as in Euclid's demonstration of Pythagoras's theorem) as a means of revealing our presence to any inhabitants of the Moon. There is no direct evidence he ever did this. However, he was a believer in pluralism and, following his invention of a heliotrope (a device for signaling in which a mirror reflects sunlight), he commented on the possibly of using it to contact lunarians. In a letter to Olbers in 1822, he wrote: With 100 separate mirrors, each of 16 square feet ... one would be able to send good heliotrope-light to the moon... This would be a discovery even greater than that of America, if we could get in touch with our neighbors on the moon.Gauss also remarked, in a letter to Alexander von Humboldt (1854), on the antipluralist views of William Whewell: "it would ... be very precipitous to deny without elaborate argumentation all inhabitants to the moon" (see Moon, life on). Unfortunately for mathematics, Gauss reworked and improved papers incessantly, and, in keeping with his motto "pauca sed matura" (few but ripe), he published only a fraction of his work. Many of his results were subsequently repeated by and attributed to others, since his terse diary remained unpublished for years after his death. Only 19 pages long, this diary later confirmed his priority on many breakthroughs, including work on an alternative to the parallel postulate, which really makes him the earliest pioneer of non-Euclidean geometry despite the fact that Janos Bolyai and Nikolai Lobachevsky are normally given this accolade. Gauss did, however, publish his seminal treatment on differential geometry in Disquisitiones circa superticies curvas, and Gaussian curvature is named for him. Gauss wanted a heptadecagon placed on his gravestone, but the carver refused, saying it would be indistinguishable from a circle. The heptadecagon appears as the shape of a pedestal with a statue erected in his honor in his home town of Braunschweig. Related categories• MATHEMATICIANS • ASTRONOMERS AND ASTROPHYSICISTS Home • About • Copyright © The Worlds of David Darling • Encyclopedia of Alternative Energy • Contact
1 Blade-type fuses have test points on top, a good place to meter the voltage in a circuit. Try this: Meter both test points on the millivolt range, and read the voltage drop across the fuse. No voltage? Then there's no current flowing. 2 Never insert the meter probe into the female end of a wiring connector. It's easy to damage the contacts. Instead, probe from the back of the connector, where the wires are inserted. It's called back-probing. 3 Chase voltage drops along the circuit path from hot to ground, as in this trailer connector. Here we're looking for voltage drop between the plug and the wire to the running lights. First rule of working on an automotive electrical system: It's only 12 volts, and you can't get a shock. (Well, except maybe from the spark plug wiring, but I digress.) Second rule: The second rule isn't just a rule--it's the law. Specifically, Ohm's law. Don't freak; I'll go slow with the math. I=the current flowing in a circuit V=the voltage that pushes the current R=the resistance in the circuit An example: A headlamp low beam normally draws 4 amps or so when it's switched on. (That's the current.) The voltage is around 13 to 14 volts when the engine is running. So, 4=14/R, where R is the resistance of the filament in the bulb. Solving for R, we get 14/4, or just under 3.5 ohms. Imagine that one headlamp is kinda yellow compared to the other side. We measure the voltage at the lamp socket, and it's only around 7 volts, explaining the dimness. I'll leave the math for homework, but that means there's another 3.5 ohms of resistance somewhere between the battery and the headlamp. The circuit, with its extra resistance, will now have a total resistance of 7 ohms for a current draw of 2 amps, and it's our mission to find that resistance and repair it. Another example: The starter motor draws 200 amps (roughly) when the engine is cranking, usually when the battery voltage is only about 10 volts. So, Similarly, if we know that an electrical device has a resistance, we can figure out how much current it will draw. Installing a new set of eight clearance lights on the travel trailer? Measure one bulb with a really good ohmmeter, and it measures 12 ohms. You can figure on roughly 1 amp of current. Multiply that by 8 running lights--your new lights will draw a total of 8 amps. Add in the running lamps and the 10-amp fuse on that circuit may not be enough. Trust me, these numbers will always work out correctly. If they don't, you're missing something.
Water temperature at the pumping station has limited impact on the temperature at the tap, but groundwater temperature does have a strong impact. If ground temperatures increase because of climate change or increased urbanisation, the temperature in the distribution network will also increase. High drinking water temperatures are not desirable because they can lead to increased microbial activity in the distribution network. The maximum water temperature of drinking water at the tap is set at 25 °C by the Water Supply Decree. Whenever the maximum drinking water temperature at the tap exceeds 28 °C for more than seven consecutive days, the probability of the occurrence of Legionella increases. During hot summers, temperatures of 25 °C are already being measured at a number of locations and, occasionally, even exceeded. This study defines the impact of the ‘Urban Heat Island’ (UHI) effect on the temperature of drinking water in the distribution network, to provide the insight needed for measures aimed at countering undesirable warming. UHI refers to the phenomenon whereby air temperature in an urban area is higher than that in the surrounding rural area. Extending ground temperature models with urban factors In this project we extended the ground temperature model previously developed by KWR [see also BTO 2008.053, ‘Heat penetration into the ground +addendum’ (in Dutch)] to include urban evaporation, anthropogenic heat emissions and the heat storage capacity of buildings. We also analysed the variation in soil moisture content and its influence on water temperature in the distribution network. The model is validated for a peri-urban and an urban area. Future scenarios are simulated for 2030 and 2050 for the G and W+ climate scenarios of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI). Based on the predicted drinking water temperatures, we calculated the risk of pathogenic regrowth in the distribution network. Model usable to predict urban ground temperature With the new model we show that it is possible to use meteorological information and values cited in the literature to predict urban ground temperature, and thus to estimate the water temperature in the distribution network. The risks vary depending on the area (in hot spots, long-term exceedance of the 25 °C limit occur), which means that each area requires a tailored approach. Before the implementation of the model is possible, additional research is needed into which local sources are the most important contributors to ground warming. The model can be used for different objectives: i) to calculate the impact of measures, ii) to evaluate the impact of different anthropogenic sources and support the identification of hot spots, and iii) to predict temperature over a number of days (previous research) and also over the long term, for example in 2050 (this study).
Several processes associated with the production and land application of by-products can lead to greenhouse gas emissions. The primary gases of concern are CO2, CH4, and N2O. Carbon dioxide released from digestive or waste handling processes has no net effect on global warming potential because the C was taken from the atmosphere via photosynthesis. If C is released as CH4, however, there is an effect on global warming potential because CH4 is a more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. In addition, N2O is a greenhouse gas and plays a role in the destruction of stratospheric ozone and waste management practices can influence the amount released to the atmosphere. Hao et al. (2001) measured C and N2O losses from passive (no turning) or active (turned six times) composting methods for cattle feedlot manure. Most C loss was as CO2; however, a substantial amount of C was lost by CH4 emission. Carbon losses as CO2 and CH4 were 73.8 and 6.3 kg C Mg–1 manure, respectively, for the passive method and 168.0 and 8.1 kg C Mg–1 manure, respectively, for the active method. Nitrogen loss through N2O emission was 0.11 and 0.19 kg N Mg–1 manure for the passive and active methods, respectively. Consumption of fuel to aerate and maintain the manure windrows added an additional C loss of 4.4 kg C Mg–1 manure for the active method. Total greenhouse gas emission, expressed as CO2–C equivalent, was 240 and 401 kg C Mg–1 manure for the passive and active composting methods, respectively. Aerating the manure increased gas emissions due to greater biological activity, increased N cycling, and increased gas diffusion. A smaller gas diffusion rate and incomplete decomposition reduced gas emissions in the passive manure treatment. Most estimates of N2O emission have been based on laboratory tests or from short-term field studies. Lessard et al. (1996) found that about 1 kg N ha–1 was lost due to N2O emission during 185 d from soil that received two applications of cattle manure for 2 yr. The effect of long-term manure application on N2O emission has been largely ignored. Chang et al. (1998) studied the effect of long-term manure application (21 yr) on the annual emission of N2O and whether emission rate was related to various environmental factors. Emission rates ranged from 2 to 4% of total N applied manure. These rates are much greater than results from the Lessard et al. (1996) short-term study. Greater emission rates from the long-term study may be the cumulative effect of repeated manure applications over several years and/or the mineralization of organic N reserves. The relationship of different combinations of environmental factors only accounted for 30% or less of the variability in N2O flux. The rate of N2O emission was greatest in the spring, but flux rates were significant throughout the winter months. Similar to NH3 emissions, application method can greatly influence N2O emissions. Flessa and Beese (2000) compared N2O flux from surface and injected liquid cattle manure and injection greatly increased flux (Table 3). The researchers did not measure NH3 emissions, but injection for the purpose of reducing NH3 emissions may increase N2O emissions.
Computational Materials Engineering: A tool whose time has come Isaac Newton (1643−1727) and Robert Hooke (1635–1703) were contemporaries, and their work forms the basis of modern engineering. Newton's calculus found fertile ground and grew into the core computational techniques that are the foundation of mechanical design. Finite element analysis, for example, is a numerical integration technique that permits analysis of systems that are too difficult to solve by other means. Hooke's law of elasticity laid the foundation for computing the internal distortions of physical objects subjected to external stresses and for predicting strain induced failures. Since the time of Newton and Hooke, accurate property determination was limited to those materials readily available for characterization in the laboratory. All material properties arise from the interaction of electrons with atomic nuclei; consequently, the ability to compute engineering properties for a given material was not possible until the advent of quantum physics. Atomic interactions are described by quantum physics. While writing the equations describing atomic interactions is easy, solving these equations is not. Systems composed of more than two or three atoms frequently involve more than 30 electrons. This type of problem requires the numerical integration techniques spawned by Newton’s work. A Fistful of Atoms Raytheon often uses novel materials in order to expand the performance envelope of its products, and is currently using computational materials engineering (CME) as an aid to characterize these novel materials. CME is simply the application of advanced computing techniques to the solution of quantum physics problems involving the mechanical, thermal, electrical and optical properties of engineering materials. Recent advances in computing power have increased computer speed and reduced computing costs. Now computations are a viable alternative to experimentation for engineering problems. As input, CME needs only the identity and geometric arrangement of a small group of atoms (less than 100) to predict the total energy of that arrangement. Figure 1 is an example of the required input. All other required parameters are known physical constants. Comparing the energy of several different arrangements leads to amazing insight into material properties and material stability. Mechanical properties (modulus, strength); thermal properties (heat capacity, coefficient of thermal expansion); Optical properties (index of refraction, spectral absorption); and electrical properties (band gap) can all be computed by systematically distorting the input geometry. Because the basic physics and fundamental constants are known and the geometry is defined, all the input parameters are known, making this truly an ab initio, or first principles, technique. The results do not depend on empirical relationships or assumed relationships between input parameters. Interpretation of results, however, does require a detailed understanding of statistical thermodynamics and quantum theory. Just as finite element analysis (FEA) revolutionized mechanical engineering, the ability to compute a material’s mechanical properties (modulus and strength); optical properties (absorption, THz phonon spectra, dielectric constant, etc.); and electrical properties (band gap, ionization potential, etc.) will revolutionize materials engineering. Its ability to map out spatial energy fields is creating new opportunities to predict kinetic phenomena such as diffusion and structural relaxation, as well. CME is maturing at a rapid rate. It will not replace laboratory testing, but can substantially reduce the cost of testing by focusing testing on critical parameters and providing insight to eliminate or suggest new materials suitable for a particular application. CME can also suggest alternate test methods, which may not have been previously considered. A Fresh Perspective on Persistent Problems The ability to tailor properties of a given material to optimize it for a specific application expresses the essence of engineering. This technique will quickly be adopted by the engineering community as a standard tool. This is especially attractive for the aerospace industry, where performance envelopes can be limited by materials problems that evade solution for decades. Getting an alternate perspective on these persistent problems is invaluable. As an example of the power of CME, we apply it to the current industry problem of tin whiskers. If lead (Pb) is not added to tin (Sn) solder in sufficient quantities, solder lines will slowly grow tin whiskers of sufficient length to eventually cause shorting and component failure. Recent environmental restrictions on the use of lead require the formulation of new solders and whisker inhibitors. Figure 1 shows a particular arrangement of atoms that represents a zinc atom (Zn) moving along a tin grain boundary. A fixed atom arrangement is input to the quantum computation engine, which uses iteration to find the lowest energy arrangement of electron density around the nuclei. The lowest energy state is determined by convergence. The result is an approximation of the energy of that configuration at absolute zero. Repeating this same procedure for slight variations in geometry shows us the lowest energy configuration of atoms. Figure 2 shows the energy of the entire group of atoms as the zinc atom is moved along the grain boundary. The height of the curve is the activation energy for diffusion of zinc through a tin grain boundary. Zinc is known to move quickly through tin grain boundaries and may promote the growth of tin whiskers. Lead is known to inhibit the growth of tin whiskers. The bulk tin that forms the whiskers is known to travel to the whisker root along grain boundaries. If we restrict the movement of tin through the grain boundary, then we should be able to slow or inhibit whisker growth. The diffusion activation energy is a measure of how difficult it is to move an atom from one location to another. A large activation energy implies slower transport. Figure 2 clearly shows that the activation energy for transport of lead and zinc are different from each other. The activation energy for transport is greater for lead than for tin. The activation energy for zinc is substantially lower than that of either lead or tin. We surveyed binary alloys comprised of tin. Each alloy combines tin with each element in the entire periodic table. Most elements have activation energies lower than of tin. A few have activation energies greater than tin and fewer still have activation energies greater than or equal to lead. We can now use this knowledge to focus experiments on alloys with elements that we think will behave, like lead, as whisker inhibitors. This effort should reduce the time to find a suitable replacement for lead solders for electronics, which are the heart of many of Raytheon's products. Unfortunately, the reliability of tin-lead in electronics is not limited to whisker inhibition by lead, but relies on the unique mechanical and thermal properties of the tin–lead alloy. Any viable solder replacement should have mechanical thermal properties very similar to tin–lead alloys. The computed properties of candidate alloys can be verified later by testing. Raytheon is performing these calculations using the MedeA software package, written and distributed by Materials Design, Inc. Raytheon has been working with Materials Design since 2005, initially to understand the capabilities and limits of the tool. More recently we have been applying it to a diverse range of engineering problems. Raytheon and Materials Design are designing a virtual chemical vapor deposition (CVD) chamber, based on the MedeA software, to complement the zinc sulfide CVD system recently installed at Raytheon in Tucson. A Few Atoms More Dramatic growth in computing power, and insights enabled by quantum theory, now makes it possible to apply quantum mechanics to industrial materials problems. Quantum mechanics is as important to materials engineering as Newtonian statics and dynamics. Characterizing the mechanical properties of materials is no longer restricted to the laboratory. We can now investigate new materials, and variations of existing materials, outside of the laboratory using computational methods. In addition, the computational analysis can be used to tailor materials to specific needs — engineering of materials is no longer science fiction. Computational materials engineering has shown us what we can obtain from a fist full of atoms, can you imagine what we can achieve for a few atoms more? D. Brooke Hatfield, Brian J. Zelinski
radar Acronym for RAdio Detection And Ranging. Radio waves are bounced off an object, and the time at which the echo is received indicates its distance. radial motion Motion along a particular line of sight, which induces apparent changes in the wavelength (or frequency) of radiation received. radiation A way in which energy is transferred from place to place in the form of a wave. Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation. radiation darkening The effect of chemical reactions that result when high-energy particles strike the icy surfaces of objects in the outer solar system. The reactions lead to a build-up of a dark layer of material. radiation-dominated universe Early epoch in the universe, when the density of radiation in the cosmos exceeded the density of matter. radiation zone Region of the Sun's interior where extremely high temperatures guarantee that the gas is completely ionized. Photons are only occasionally diverted by electrons, and travel through this region with relative ease. radio Region of the electromagnetic spectrum corresponding to radiation of the longest wavelengths. radio galaxy Type of active galaxy that emits most of its energy in the form of long-wavelength radiation. radio lobe Roundish region of radio-emitting gas, lying well beyond the center of a radio galaxy. radio telescope Large instrument designed to detect radiation from space in radio wavelengths. radioactivity The release of energy by rare, heavy elements when their nuclei decay into lighter nuclei. radius-luminosity-temperature relation A mathematical proportionality, arising from simple geometry and Stefan's law, which allows astronomers to indirectly determine the radius of a star once its luminosity and temperature are known. red dwarf Small, cool faint star at the lower-right end of the main sequence on the HertzsprungRussell diagram. red giant A giant star whose surface temperature is relatively low, so that it glows with a red color. red giant branch The section of the evolutionary track of a star corresponding to intense hydrogen shell burning, which drives a steady expansion and cooling of the outer envelope of the star. As the star gets larger in radius and its surface temperature cools, it becomes a red giant. red giant region The upper-right-hand corner of the HertzsprungRussell diagram, where red-giant stars are found. red shift Motion-induced change in the wavelength of light emitted from a source moving away from us. The relative recessional motion causes the wave to have an observed wavelength longer (and hence redder) than it would if it were not moving. red supergiant An extremely luminous red star. Often found on the asymptotic giant branch of the H-R diagram. reddening Dimming of starlight by interstellar matter, which tends to scatter higher-frequency (blue) components of the radiation more efficiently than the lower-frequency (red) components. reflecting telescope A telescope which uses a mirror to gather and focus light from a distant object. refracting telescope A telescope which uses a lens to gather and focus light from a distant object. refraction The tendency of a wave to bend as it passes from one transparent medium to another. residual cap Portion of Martian polar ice caps that remains permanently frozen, undergoing no seasonal variations. retrograde motion Backward, westward loop traced out by a planet with respect to the fixed stars. revolution Orbital motion of one body about another, such as the Earth about the Sun. right ascension Celestial coordinate used to measure longitude on the celestial sphere. The zero point is the position of the Sun on the vernal equinox. rille A ditch on the surface of the Moon where molten lava flowed in the past. ringlet Narrow region in Saturn's planetary ring system where the density of ring particles is high. Voyager discovered that the rings visible from Earth are actually composed of tens of thousands of ringlets. Roche limit Often called the tidal stability limit, the Roche limit gives the distance from a planet at which the tidal force, due to the planet, between adjacent objects exceeds their mutual attraction. Objects within this limit are unlikely to accumulate into larger objects. The rings of Saturn occupy the region within Saturn's Roche limit. Roche lobes An imaginary surface around a star. Each star in a binary system can be pictured as being surrounded by a tear-shaped zone of gravitational influence, the Roche lobe. Any material within the Roche lobe of a star can be considered to be part of that star. During evolution, one member of the binary star can expand so that it overflows its own Roche lobe, and begins to transfer matter onto the other star. rotation Spinning motion of a body about an axis. rotation curve Plot of the orbital speed of disk material in a galaxy against its distance from the galactic center. Analysis of rotation curves of spiral galaxies indicates the existence of dark matter. RR Lyrae star Variable star whose luminosity changes in a characteristic way. All RR Lyrae stars have more or less the same period. runaway greenhouse effect A process in which the heating of a planet leads to an increase in its atmosphere's ability to retain heat and thus to further heating, quickly causing extreme changes in the temperature of the surface and the composition of the atmosphere. runoff channel River-like surface feature on Mars, evidence that liquid water once existed there in great quantities. Runoff channels are found in the southern highlands, and are thought to have been formed by water that flowed nearly 4 billion years ago.
The course is dedicated to examining the role that food plays in and across cultures. Food culture is understood to be the expression of how people value food and everything connected to food. As such, this course is an exploration into the ever changing social functions of food. This means that we do not look at different cultures and what they eat. Instead, it entails an examination of the attitudes and assumptions that shape people’s lives; the rituals and beliefs that mark their identities; and the ways foods are grown, processed, sold and consumed in particular places. In this course we ask some big questions: - What are we allowed to eat and why? - Why do food taboos exist and how do they come to be? - What role does food play in constructions of identity? - How are foods and food choices valued in society? - What makes a specific food or dish authentic and where are the boundaries between authentic culinary heritage and invented traditions and new food cultures? - How are everyday concepts integrated in and across the food chain? - What impact do food choices have on the environment? - Can we trust our food? As we move through the course we give students the tools to start answering these questions. The tools are theories developed by social scientists and they help us make sense of the complexity that marks our food systems. BUT, after 5 weeks of theory, last Friday we boarded a bus and left a rainy Wageningen to Utrecht to put some of our theory back into practice. Our first stop was Food for Good. Project Coordinator Mariken met us at the garden and gave us a tour. Luckily the rain subsided long enough for us to be able to check out the garden. Food for Good is a food garden located in the Utrecht neighbourhood of Kanaleneiland. Given that it was the end of the season there was not a lot to see but we were impressed by how much they had managed to do in the first year of operation and learnt about future plans to develop a pond, house chickens and plant flowers. Given that it was cold and wet we decided to leave the garden and walked to the neighbouring children’s farm where we could sit indoors and talk. Mariken explained that the goal of the Food for Good garden is to engage diverse sectors of the local community in gardening. The hope is stronger social ties will be formed through the growing of food. We discussed the challenges of engaging different segments of society in gardening projects and students shared examples of similar initiatives from their countries. We also discussed the benefits and limitations of different organizational models such as plots versus a shared garden. Sustainability strategies for such projects were also considered. We discussed the challenges of getting low-income and socially isolated people engaged in the project and tried to imagine innovated strategies to get people engaged that did not reinforce economic hierarchies or inadvertently result in shame or challenges to dignity. We also considered how to attract people from different cultures into the project building on experiences students have had with other projects or based on examples from their countries. Importantly, we also learned Food for Good works to provide the community with healthy food while also providing a green space in the neighbourhood where people can meet, socialize and cooperate with each other. Volunteers work with garden experts and get to take home a share of the harvest. Remaining food is sent to the Food Bank and to the Resto van Harte, which was our next stop. Resto Van Harte is a social-interest organisation devoted to increasing quality of life and dynamic community spirit by bringing people together, regardless of background, age or religion. Towards this goal, Resto VanHarte sets up community restaurants, known as Restos, to which everyone is welcome to come and share an affordable and healthy three-course meal. We were welcomed at the Resto by the coordinator Jolanda and her volunteers who anticipated we would be cold and wet after our garden visit and had tea and coffee waiting for us. We were able to speak with Jolanada and learn more about the objectives of the restaurant, the activities they coordinate, and the bridges they build within and across the community. We then split up and all sat at different tables to get a chance to meet new people and enjoy a tasty three course meal. We were in for a treat! One of the volunteers had agreed to cook a Korean meal for the evening. She explained a bit about the food and we all dug in! It was very tasty indeed but what was most striking, beyond questions of authenticity which we spent a great deal of time focusing on in class, was the way in which the restaurant was helping to build community through food. Interested in Food Cultures? Join our Facebook group for updates and discussions about the role of food in culture, and vice versa: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rsofoodcultures/
ACIDS and BASES G. Carboni, March 2004 Translation edited by Harry C. Brown A chemical reaction Acids, Bases and pH Measuring the pH Red cabbage juice Determining the pH of some substances The color scale of the red cabbage Is it magic? How acid is that vinegar? The pH of soaps Searching for natural indicators This time, we will do some simple chemistry experiments to begin learning about acids and bases. We will see how the acidity of substances is measured; we will learn about some acid-base indicators; we will produce pH indicating papers; we will do a titration of vinegar; we will search for natural indicating substances and we will determine the color scale of them. In most cases, we will use household substances. We will use also some substances and devices bought especially for our experiments. The experiments we will describe are suited to be performed not only in schools, but also at home and for your own personal interest. Their difficulty differs from one case to another, and it is up to the teacher or parent to choose the experiment to be performed and to adapt the explanations to the level of preparation of his or her students. Never use dangerous substances. Do not use strong acids or bases. Do not put dangerous chemicals in containers for food use (i.e: cups, glasses, bottles) because they could be mistaken for beverages or foods. Never leave dangerous chemicals around the house; work instead in a room like a laboratory, a cellar, or a garage. At the end of the experiments, empty the beakers and wash them. Place the containers of the remaining substances which you want to preserve in suitable places, out of reach of children. Write on the containers their contents and dangerousness. While using ammonia, work in the open air or in an airy room with open windows. As soon as you have taken the amount of ammonia you need, close its container. Boys and girls should keep at least 2 m distant, and upwind. An adult must always be present during these experiments. In any case, we do not assume any liability. As for the safety issues and the responsibilities involved, we recommend that you read our Warning page. You can buy the chemicals and the laboratory equipment for these experiments in stores which sell chemical laboratory items. Often, these stores are located near universities. Be safe and have a good time! A CHEMICAL REACTION This first experiment serves to introduce the concept of chemical reaction and can be performed in an elementary school also. It is useful to help children understand how acid substances react with basic ones. In half a glass of water, put a few teaspoons of baking soda and mix in order to obtain a quite concentrated solution. In the same glass, pour a spoon of vinegar. As you can see, there will be an abundant production of foam (figure 2). What happened? A chemical reaction occurred between the baking soda (a basic substance) and vinegar (an acid substance). These two substances reacted with each other, producing a salt, water, and carbon dioxide. That is the gas which produced the little bubbles you observed. In general, acid and basic substances react with each other, producing a salt and often other substances like water and carbon dioxide. If you want make the reaction more lively, use warm (not hot) water. The salt produced by this reaction is sodium acetate: CH3COOH + NaHCO3 = CH3COONa + H2O + CO2 Figure 2 - Chemical reaction between vinegar and baking soda. ACIDS, BASES AND pH There are millions of chemical substances in the world. Some of them have acidic properties, others, basic properties. Acids are substances which free hydrogen ions (H+), when they are mixed with water. Bases are substances which free hydroxide ions (OH-) when they are mixed with water. (This freeing of ions is called dissociation in both cases). Free hydroxide ions react with the hydrogen ions producing water molecules: H+ + OH- = H2O. in this way, bases diminish the concentration of hydrogen ions. A solution rich in hydrogen ions is acidic, a solution poor in hydrogen ions is basic. Some acids dissociate only in part and they are called weak acids; others dissociate completely, freeing large amounts of hydrogen ions, and they are called strong acids. In the same way, the bases can be stronger or weaker. Diluted acids and bases are less concentrated and less aggressive in their actions. The acidic or basic degree of substances is measured in pH units. The scale used spans from 0 to 14. Substances with pH lower than 7 are considered acids, those with pH equal to 7 are considered neutral, and those with pH higher than 7 are considered bases. Substances with low pH are very acidic, while those with high pH are highly basic. Concentrated acidic and basic substances are very corrosive and dangerous. (The following description is directed to high school students.) pH is the measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution. As this concentration can extend over several orders of magnitude, it is convenient to express it by means of logarithms of base ten. As this concentration is always less than one, its logarithm always has the minus sign. To avoid having to always write the minus sign, it has been agreed to write this value with the positive sign. (This is the same as using the logarithm of the reciprocal of the hydrogen ion concentration). So, the pH is the logarithm of the concentration of hydrogen ions, with the sign changed: pH = - log[H+]. Thus, when pH has low values, the concentration of hydrogen ions is high. Distilled water has pH = 7. So how it is possible that distilled water has free hydrogen ions? Their presence is due to the casual dissociation of some water molecules because of the thermal agitation (H2O ß à H+ + OH-). Immediately after, these ions recombine themselves, but other molecules dissociate themselves, thus keeping a constant equilibrium of a certain concentration of dissociated molecules. MEASURING THE pH There are substances which have the property of changing their color when they come in contact with an acidic or basic environment. These substances are called pH indicators. Usually, they are used as dissolved substances, as for instance phenolphthalein and bromothymol blue. Often, to measure the pH, special papers which have been soaked with indicators are used. These papers change color when they are immersed in acidic or basic liquids. This is the case of the well-known litmus paper (figure 3). More recently, it has become possible to measure the pH with electrical instruments like the pH meter (figure 4). Using Litmus paper. Figure 3 - Litmus Paper. The pH meter is an electronic instrument supplied with a special bulb which is sensitive to the hydrogen ions which are present in the solution being tested. The signal produced by the bulb is amplified and sent to a liquid-crystal or an analog meter display. In the market, it is easy to find pH meters which cost $30 US. These instruments are much more precise and convenient to use than the indicating papers. Setting the pH meter. Figure 4 - pH meter. In reference to the chemical reaction we described, with a litmus paper measure the pH of the saturated solution of baking soda, of the vinegar and of the solution which results from their reaction. If you have one, make the same measurement with the pH meter. RED CABBAGE JUICE As we have seen, acids and bases have the property of modifying the color of certain substances. This is the case with the juice of the red cabbage. This liquid has a blue-violet color, but when it comes in contact with acidic substances it becomes red, while in contact with basic substances it becomes green and even yellow. Let's see how it is possible to use the juice of the red cabbage to measure the pH of various substances. Figure 5 - Red cabbage. Figure 6 - Cut the cabbage into Figure 7 - Add water enough to cover Figure 8 - Pour the juice During winter and spring, it is easy to find a red cabbage at the produce market or greengrocer. It is a cabbage which has a red-violet color (figure 5). Buy one of them and cut it in little slices (figure 6). Put them in a pot and pour enough water to cover them (figure 7). Boil for half an hour, then turn off the heat and let the temperature come down. Pour the blue-violet liquid you have obtained into a large, low container (figure 8). The boiled cabbage slices are edible and you can use them in a recipe. Use of the red cabbage juice as an indicator in the liquid state. Pour one centimeter of the red cabbage juice indicator liquid into a transparent glass. Add water up to half of the glass. Now, pour vinegar into the glass and observe the color changes of the liquid. Repeat the experiment by adding, this time, a little baking soda instead of the vinegar. Also in this case, you will see color changes. Figure 9 - Red cabbage juice mixed with Preparing red cabbage pH papers. Cut some porous white paper or card sheets into rectangles and soak them in the juice so they well absorb it (figure 10). After about half an hour, remove the cards and put them away to dry (figure 11). To do it quicker, you can also dry them with a hairdryer. Cut the cards in strips (figure 12). Put away the red cabbage cards which are not used immediately: they will last some months. If you store them in a closed envelope to reduce their oxidization, they will last longer. Put the remaining juice in a bottle. After a few days, this juice goes bad and you have to throw it away. To keep it longer, store it in a refrigerator. \|Figure 10 - Soaking cards with red cabbage juice. \|Figure 11 - Drying the cards.\|\|Figure 12 - Cutting the strips.\| Figure 13 - Red cabbage paper Figure 14 - Red cabbage card in a DETERMINE THE pH OF SOME SUBSTANCES In this paragraph, we will measure the pH of some common substances. We will do this with litmus paper and with the pH meter (if available). We will use also the red cabbage paper we prepared. In the following table, write the values of pH you determine for each substance, using litmus paper and the pH meter. By means of colored pencils, draw the corresponding color of the red cabbage paper. \|TABLE 1 - MEASURING THE pH OF SOME SUBSTANCES\| (red cabbage paper) \|baking soda (saturated solution)\| \|ammonia (20% sol. about, to be diluted again with 3 parts of water). To be kept in a closed bottle.\| \|normal aspirin (1 tb in 20 ml of distilled water)\| \|buffered aspirin (1 tb in 20 ml of distilled water)\| \|other substances commonly used at home and not dangerous. Do not use strong acids or bases because they are dangerous. Do not use bleach.\| \|pH meter\|\|if available\| \|litmus paper\|\|a roll\| \|red cabbage paper\|\|strips\| \|beakers or glass pots\|\|20\| \|glass or plastic rods\|\|1\| At the end of the measurements, compare the values supplied by the litmus paper and by the pH meter. Observe the corresponding colors of the red cabbage paper. Highlight the two more acidic substances. Highlight the two more basic substances. Vinegar, lemon and Coca-Cola are acidic substances. Baking soda and ammonia are basic substances. Distilled water has a neutral pH. THE COLOR SCALE OF RED CABBAGE Let's see now how to determine the color scale of red cabbage papers (figure 15). The procedure consists in preparing solutions with whole number of pH and in taking pictures with a digital camera of the pH papers after they have been immersed in the solutions. With an image editing software, it will be easy to determine the color you have obtained. To do this experiment, it is necessary to obtain a pH meter. \|TABLE 2 - SUBSTANCES AND EQUIPMENT TO DETERMINE THE COLOR CHART OF THE RED CABBAGE PAPER. \|white wine vinegar\| \|ammonia (20% sol. about) in closed bottle.\| \|pH meter\|\|if available\| \|buffer solution pH = 7 to set up the pH meter\| \|red cabbage paper\|\|strips\| \|beakers or glass pots\|\|20\| \|glass or plastic rods\|\|1\| \|digital camera or scanner\|\|1\| \|computer with Excel or other electronic spreadsheet and an image editing program.\|\|1\| By means of the pH 7 buffer solution and a screwdriver, set up the pH meter. Prepare a watery solution with pH = 2. For this purpose, use an unripe lemon (vinegar is not acidic enough). Dilute it with water until you obtain the right value of pH. Take out the pH meter and rinse it well with tap water. Immerse a red cabbage paper strip in the pH = 2 solution, remove it and after a minute take a picture. Unlike the litmus paper, the red cabbage paper gets its color with a little delay. Prepare a watery solution with pH = 3. For this purpose, you can use the same lemon juice or white vinegar. Dilute them with water until obtaining the right value of acidity. Rinse the pH meter. Immerse a red cabbage paper strip in the pH = 3 solution, remove it and after a minute take a picture. Continue in this way with the pH 4, 5, 6, 7 solutions. As pH = 7 solution, you can use the buffer solution you used to set the pH meter, or even tap water provided you adjust its acidity by means of vinegar or baking soda, to obtain the right pH value. By using diluted ammonia, prepare solutions with pH equal to 8, 9, 10 and 11 and continue to take pictures of the red cabbage strips immersed on them. When you are using ammonia, keep in open air or in an airy room. Also, the ventilating hood of the kitchen could help you to avoid the irritating vapors of ammonia. Close the bottle immediately after you have drawn the necessary amount of ammonia. Do not try to do solutions with pH lower than 2 or higher than 11 because they are dangerous. With an adjusted pH meter, check the pH of the solutions. Before passing from one solution to another, rinse the electrode of the instrument well with tap water. Once in a while, check the correct functioning of the instrument by means of the buffer solution. Take the different pictures in the same conditions of light. To avoid problems due to a low color temperature (i.e.: the light of a lamp with filament) or due to discontinuities in the spectrum (certain fluorescent lamps), you should do these pictures under sunlight. Try to avoid reflections. Another way to record the color of the papers consists in using a scanner. In this case, remember to well clean the glass of the scanner before you put the papers on it. In our case, we noticed our scanner did not have the same color fidelity as the digital camera. With image editing software, open a picture at a time and, with the dropper tool of the software, determine the color of the part of each paper which has been immersed in the solution. Express this color with the values of its three RGB components (Red, Green, Blue). They are three numbers which go from 0 to 255 each. Make a copy of figure 15 and give another name to it. With the image editing program, replace its colors with those which you have obtained. For this purpose, you will have to modify the palette of colors. Very probably, you will obtain a color scale with rather irregular steps. To reduce this irregularity, for each paper it is necessary to do different measurements of the color to determine the mean value. Some programs allow you also to obtain the mean color of a 5x5 pixels square instead of checking a single pixel. Unfortunately, the color scale you have obtained is valid for papers produced which are fresh; in fact, with the passing of time, these papers will fade and they will have a different color scale. If you want, at intervals of a month, you can determine the color scale of the paper in order to describe its changes by reference to the fresh one. Determine the color scale of the Litmus paper. Compare it with the scale printed on its packet. Why determine the color scale of the Litmus papers, since it is printed on its packet? We made it and we obtained a color scale quite different by reference to that of the packet. Perhaps, this is due to the fact that we bought it some years ago. Why determine the color scale of the red cabbage papers, given that one is shown in figure 15? First of all because this is an interesting exercise, then because very likely your cabbage is of a different species or variety than ours. Prepare pH papers with other vegetable substances. In summer, you can use the red mulberries and the berries of the elder. Determine the color scale of papers prepared with these substances and try to assess their stability. Now, you have determined their color scale, utilize these papers to measure the pH of substances like those of the preceding experiment. IS IT MAGIC? In a beaker, pour about 100 ml of water and 3 drops of phenolphthalein. The phenolphthalein is an indicator which usually is colorless. You will obtain a colorless solution, just like water (figure 16). Figure 16 - Add 3 drops of phenolphthalein to With a dropper, add some drops of ammonia. To avoid its irritating vapours, make this experiment in the open air or in a ventilated room with windows open. People have to keep at least 2 meters distant, avoiding being downwind. After some drops, you will see the solution suddenly become reddish purple (figure 17). This phenomenon is quite surprising because all the liquids we are using are colorless and transparent, like water. Figure 17 - By adding ammonia, the solution becomes red. Now, to the red-purple fluid you obtained, add some drops of vinegar. What it happens? The liquid becomes colorless again (figure 18)! The fact that a colored liquid results from colorless liquids is already something strange, but to see it to become colorless again simply by adding a colorless fluid like the vinegar is something truly amazing. It is necessary to avoid to make boys and girls believe science is something magical. So, after some seconds of astonishment on the part of those who observe this experiment, the teacher has to explain them that what they have seen has nothing to do with magic, but that it is based on a precise chemical reason. In particular, it is necessary to tell them that phenolphthalein has the property of becoming reddish- purple when the pH of the solution exceeds the value of 8.3. This value is that which you achieved by adding ammonia, when you saw the fluid take color. You can experimentally check this value with a litmus paper or better with the pH meter. More precisely, the molecule of phenolphthalein is colorless in its associated form, but when the pH attain a certain threshold the molecule dissociates and it takes its typical purple color. Likewise, as you have seen in this experiment with the phenolphthalein, check if also the color variations of the red cabbage juice are reversible. THE ACID-BASE INDICATORS Indicators are fluids which change color with the pH. \|Table 3 - Acid-Base Indicators\| \|Indicator\|\|Color change interval (pH)\|\|Acid\|\|Base\| \|thymol blue\|\|1.2 - 2.8\|\|red\|\|yellow\| \|methyl orange\|\|3.1 - 4.4\|\|red\|\|yellow\| \|methyl red\|\|4.4 - 6.2\|\|red\|\|yellow\| \|chlorophenol red\|\|5.4 - 6.8\|\|yellow\|\|red\| \|bromothymol blue\|\|6.2 -7.6\|\|yellow\|\|blue\| \|phenol Red\|\|6.4 - 8.0\|\|yellow\|\|red\| \|thymol Blue\|\|8.0 - 9.6\|\|yellow\|\|blue\| \|phenolphthalein\|\|8.0 - 10.0\|\|colorless\|\|red\| \|alizarin yellow\|\|10.0 -12.0\|\|yellow\|\|green\| \|More indicators: http://chemistry.about.com/library/weekly/aa112201a.htm\| Usually, these substances are weak acids which have a color in the non dissociated form and another in the dissociated form. When a certain threshold of pH is exceeded, the molecules dissociate in ions. These indicators are often used to measure the acidity-basicity of a solution. In the pH papers, often some of these substances are used together. In fact, the color change of an indicator is not a point, but it is an intermediate value of an interval during which the indicator progressively change color. For example the phenolphthalein starts to change color at about pH = 8.3. HOW ACID IS THAT VINEGAR? As we will use a small amount of a corrosive substance and as we will take for granted some basic knowledge of chemistry, this experiment is suited to high-school boys and girls. Table 4 - MATERIALS FOR THE TITRATION OF VINEGAR \|NaOH (sodium hydroxide)\|\|50 ml\|\|0.1 Molar solution. Buy the solution already prepared. This solution is not very dangerous, but it is necessary to make sure that it doesn't end up in the eyes or on the skin and it is not taken internally. DO NOT handle pure sodium hydroxide because it is very dangerous and can cause skin burns.\| \|vinegar\|\|50 ml\|\|you can apply this procedure also to red vinegars, but it is better to use a white vinegar.\| \|phenolphthalein\|\|10 ml\|\|1% solution in alcohol\| \|distilled water\|\|500 ml\| \|buret (graduated tube with a tap in the bottom)\|\|1\|\|capacity = 25 ml\| \|sopport (base and pole)\|\|1\| \|holdfast (clamp?) for buret\|\|1\| \|beacker\|\|1\|\|capacity = 100 ml\| \|graduated tube\|\|1\|\|capacity = 50 ml\| \|graduated pipette\|\|1\|\|capacity = 5 ml\| \|safety glasses or shield\|\|1 pair\| Vinegar is a substance whose acidity varies quite a bit because it can have from 4 to 6 % of acetic acid. The manufacturers of vinegar, and also of other substances, often need to precisely determine the acidity of their products. To titrate a vinegar means to determine its acetic acid content. In this experiment, we will use a common procedure of titration of the vinegar. In water, the sodium hydroxide dissociates as follows: NaOH à Na+ + OH-. As you know, the OH- ions combine with as many H+ ions if they are available. Essentially, to titrate vinegar you have to add a solution of sodium hydroxide having a concentration known with precision to the sample to be titrated, until you neutralize all the excess H+ ions produced by the acetic acid. To know when the sample is neutralized, some drops of a suitable indicator are added to it. In this way, when the sample is neutralized suddenly it will change color. At this point, the number of moles of NaOH present in the titrant solution you have used will correspond exactly to the number of moles of the acetic acid present in the sample of vinegar to be titrated. Add a few drops of phenolphthalein, an indicator suitable to this purpose, to the sample of vinegar. Then, drop the 0.1 M solution of sodium hydroxide into the liquid to be titrated. When the pH of the sample attains the point of equivalence, in which all the hydrogen ions (H+) present in the sample are neutralized by as many OH- ions present in the solution of sodium hydroxide, the phenolphthalein will suddenly become purple. So, as soon the sample of vinegar starts to change color, you have to note the amount of sodium hydroxide solution which has been used to neutralize it. Since we know the volume and the concentration of the sodium hydroxide solution added, with simple calculations we will be able to determine also the acid concentration of the vinegar. Figure 19 - Apparatus to titrate the vinegar. Figure 20 - As soon the liquid in the beacker Figure 21 - Notice the amount - pour 1.5 ml of vinegar in a beaker; - dilute with about 50 ml of distilled water; - add 3 drops of phenolphthalein (at this point the solution is colorless); - wear safety glasses for chemistry, an apron and a pair of gloves; - fill a buret with a 0.1 M solution of sodium hydroxide; - allow the liquid in the buret to come down to the zero mark and close the tap; - put the solution to be titrated under the buret (figure 19); - slowly drip the solution of sodium hydroxide into the solution to be titrated and mix with a glass rod; - as soon the solution to be titrated becomes pink and keeps the color, close the tap of the buret (figure 20); - note how much titrating solution you have used (figure 21). At this point, all the acetic acid present in the sample to be titrated has been neutralized by the sodium hydroxide, according the reaction: CH3COOH + NaOH à CH3COONa + H2O However, remember that in water the acetic acid is dissociated in the CH3COO- and H+ ions and that the sodium hydroxide is dissociated in the Na+ and OH- ions. Imagine that to neutralize the sample of vinegar required 14.5 ml of titrating solution. Given that the number of molecules of NaOH used and the number of molecules of acid neutralized is the same, and the number of moles present in each solution is the same. The volume of titrating solution used is 14.5 ml. As it was in 0.1 M concentration, the number of moles used is: nM = 0.1 x 0.0145 (1ml = .001 litre) nM = 0.00145 It is possible to obtain the same result solving the following proportion: V1 : M1 = V2 : nM V1 = volume of reference of NaOH (1 liter); M1 = number of moles present in a liter of titrating solution (0.1); V2 = volume of titrating solution used (14.5 ml = 0.0145 litres); nM = Moles used (to be calculated). The value we have obtained corresponds to the number of moles present in the titrating solution we have used and to the number of moles of acetic acid present in the solution to be titrated. To know the molar concentration of the vinegar (referred to a liter), we can set up the following proportion: V1 : M1 = V2 : Mx V1 = volume of vinegar taken (1.5 ml = 0.0015 liters); M1 = number of moles present in V1 (0.00145); V2 = volume of reference (1 liter of vinegar); Mx = number of moles in a liter of vinegar (to be calculated). Mx = m1 x V2 / V1 Mx = 0.00145 x 1000 / 1.5 Mx = 0.97 If you want to know the concentration of acetic acid in terms of g/l, you have to multiply the number of moles found for the molecular mass of the acetic acid, which is 60. Conc = number of moles x 60 Conc = 0.97 x 60 Conc = 58 g/l Which in per cent terms correspond to a concentration of 5.8%. The same procedure can be followed to titrate other acidic substances like wine, beer, etc. You can also use it to titrate a base of unknown concentration. In this case, in the buret you have to put an acid solution of concentration known with precision. With a pH meter, measure the pH when the sample to be titrated change of color. Someone can ask himself: "How come in this experiment we used an indicator which start to tack at pH = 8.3 instead of one which taks at pH = 7? The answer is that in the weak acids, like the acetic acid, the equivalence point is shifted toward high pH values. In the case of the acetic acid, the equivalence point is at about pH = 8.3. We have used a titrating method we can call "volumetric", but you can also make titrations with balances. In this case you will follow a "gravimetric" method. http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/chemistry/institutes/1986/exp24.html Acid-base titration without burets. THE pH OF SOAPS Soap is produced by the reaction of fatty substances with sodium or potassium hydroxide. In chemistry, the fatty substances are named fatty acids, while the sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and the potassium hydroxide (KOH) are known to be very strong bases. The reaction of these substances produces a salt: the soap. Usually, soaps have a basic reaction. Particularly in winter, these soaps contribute to dry the skin of the hands, to chap it, to cause redness and even bleeding. Probably, this is also due to the fact the skin has an acidic pH, around 5.5. The frequent use of soap, and also of detergents, tends to increase the pH of the skin and to cause harm. To reduce this problem, neutral and even acid soaps are produced. If you are washing dishes, it is better to use protective gloves. To prevent problems to your hands, besides using suitable ointments, some drops of citron could be useful. Check the pH of the soaps you have at home. For this purpose, put some drops of water on the soap to be tested. With a finger, scrape a little so as to put in solution a bit of soap and wet a litmus paper with it. If the soap is basic, the paper becomes blue, if the soap is acid, the paper becomes red. Check also the pH of the detergents you use to hand wash dishes, of shampoo, balsams, creams and other toiletries. SEARCHING FOR NATURAL INDICATORS Did you ever happen to see a herb tea to change color when you add some lemon? For example, the mallow tea should be clear blue (it depends also on the producer of the teabag you use). By adding some drops of lemon juice, it will become colorless and, with some other drops it will become pink. Many vegetables, such as the herbs used in teas, have natural substances which have indicating properties. As we saw, this is the case of the red cabbage. Usually, these substances are anthocyanins, substances which often have a red-purplish or a violet color. They are present also in fruits like blueberries, grapes, mulberries and elder berries. Also flower petals can change color with pH, as red poppies and bluebottle do. Look for natural substances having indicating properties and describe their characteristics. Try some of these as indicators. Check if the color of their solutions is reversible. If it is possible, obtain their color scale. Put some petals of rose in a dish with acid water and other petals in basic water. Try with petals of other flowers. With these experiments, you saw that there are acid substances and basic substances. They react with each other, producing salts. The acid-basic degree is expressed in pH. To measure the acid-basic degree of a substance, you can use pH papers like litmus paper, indicators like phenolphthalein, and electronic pH meters. Many other natural substances of vegetable origin have the property to change color because of the acidity of the environment. We used the juice of the red cabbage as an indicator and we obtained pH papers. We determined the color scale of these papers. You saw how the phenolphthalein changed color when it gets over a pH threshold. We exploited the properties of this indicator to determine with precision the acidity of vinegar. You can continue with experiments of this kind, for example by titrating other liquids, by looking for natural indicators among herb teas, plants, flowers, fruits, berries, etc. As you know, the aim with which we propose laboratory activities is not only to get amusement, but also to arouse curiosities which then stimulate a deeper study of the matters we touched. For this reason, we hope you do not limit yourself to the operational aspects of these experiments, but try also to take the occasion to study a text of inorganic chemistry to acquire its basic concepts. The knowledge you will gain will allow you also to continue with experiments like these, getting further amusement and knowledge. In fact, it is clear that you can benefit much more from activities of this type, when you have learned what are atoms, molecules, valence, the different types of solutions, electrolytic dissociation, and other basic concepts of chemistry. In the Bibliography you will find sources to help advance your knowledge of the exciting subject of chemistry! Exploring Acids and Bases http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hall/1410/lab-C-08.html Making an acid-base indicator http://chemistry.about.com/library/weekly/aa012803a.htm How to Make Red Cabbage pH Indicator http://www.iit.edu/~smile/ch9409.html Acids, Bases, and Indicators http://www.newhope.com/nutritionsciencenews/NSN_backs/Dec_01/antho.cfm Got Anthocyanins? Internet keywords: red cabbage, acid base indicators, vinegar titration, anthocyanins.
Inverter topologies: Voltage-source or current-source In very basic terms, a variable-frequency drive (VFD) consists of three sections, moving from the drive’s input to output. A rectifier (or converter) changes ac input to dc, followed by a dc link that serves as an energy storage circuit, and then an inverter switches dc back to variable frequency ac output. In very basic terms, a variable-frequency drive (VFD) consists of three sections, moving from the drive’s input to output. A rectifier (or converter) changes ac input to dc, followed by a dc link that serves as an energy storage circuit, and then an inverter switches dc back to variable frequency ac output. Among different ways to categorize VFDs, configuration of the inverter section is an important one—namely, current-source inverter (CSI) and voltage-source inverter (VSI). One distinguishing characteristic is the energy storage section between converter and inverter. VSI drives use capacitive energy storage, while CSI drives use inductive energy storage in their respective dc links for voltage and current. Another topology of current-source drives is the load-commutated inverter (LCI), which also employs a dc link inductor, but relies on commutation by the connected motor (or load) via switching direct current to the motor windings. This contrasts with a standard CSI drive where a line-commuted rectifier and self-commutated inverter are typical. VSI drives work with both induction and synchronous motors, some CSI drives also work with induction and synchronous motors, but LCI drives are limited to only synchronous motors. According to TM GE Automation Systems (TMEIC GE), voltage-source inverter is the only choice for drives above a certain power rating, compared to older technology current-source inverter drives. “In addition, any drive load that requires high torques and high response, such as a steel mill drive, cannot use current-source because of its much slower response due to the inductive source,” says Tim Russell, senior system engineer. “CSI drives are best suited for pumps and fans.” LCI drives are intended for very large power output, and in that sense are an exception to the overall power limit of current sourcing. LCI drives are advantageous for ratings up to 50,000 hp (37,500 kW) or even higher and for control of synchronous motors, explains Rick Hoadley—principal consulting applications engineer, MV drives—at ABB Inc. “LCI drives operate at a slightly leading power factor, which allows devices in their inverter section to be load commutated,” he says. “This eliminates induction motors, which can’t run with a leading power factor.” LCI drives are available from ABB and Siemens. Power-switching devices constitute another difference between CSI and VSI drives. Whether a power device is current- or voltage-switched determines its applicability to the type of drive. These power semiconductors range from the venerable silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) and gate turn-off (GTO) thyristor to newer symmetrical gate-commutated thyristor (SGCT) and injection-enhanced gate transistor (IEGT). TM GE Automation Systems provides the following attributes and trade-offs among some of these devices: - Current- switched devices—SGCT and integrated gate-commutated thyristors (IGCT)—require many more parts in firing/gate control than voltage-switched devices, such as IEGT and insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBT), which are available in LV and MV versions. - Voltage-switched devices—IGBT and IEGT—have much lower switching losses than current-switched devices. - Conduction losses are nearly equal for equivalent voltage- and current-rated devices: SGCT, IGCT vs. IGBT, IEGT. - Voltage-switched devices allow higher switching rates and provide better output waveforms. Frank J. Bartos, P.E., is Control Engineering consulting editor. Reach him at [email protected]. - Events & Awards - Magazine Archives - Oil & Gas Engineering - Salary Survey - Digital Reports - Survey Prize Winners Annual Salary Survey Before the calendar turned, 2016 already had the makings of a pivotal year for manufacturing, and for the world. There were the big events for the year, including the United States as Partner Country at Hannover Messe in April and the 2016 International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago in September. There's also the matter of the U.S. presidential elections in November, which promise to shape policy in manufacturing for years to come. But the year started with global economic turmoil, as a slowdown in Chinese manufacturing triggered a worldwide stock hiccup that sent values plummeting. The continued plunge in world oil prices has resulted in a slowdown in exploration and, by extension, the manufacture of exploration equipment. Read more: 2015 Salary Survey
WIKIMEDIA, EKEMIt has long been believed that cells with diameters much bigger than 10 microns—the typical size of most eukaryotic cells—are rare because it is difficult for larger cells to acquire nutrients or expel waste. The oocytes of most animals are much bigger, and they likewise have larger nuclei, which often contain high concentrations of the protein actin. Cell biologists Marina Feric and Clifford Brangwynne of Princeton University in New Jersey have shown that cells are likely small because of gravitational forces and that the extra actin in oocyte nuclei stabilizes the responses of larger cells to gravity. Their work, published in the October issue of Nature Cell Biology, was surprising because cell biologists “really have never, in my experience, worried about gravity—or thought about it,” Brangwynne told The Atlantic. Brangwynne and Feric injected tiny plastic beads into the germinal vesicles—nuclei—of 1 millimeter oocytes from African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis). Beads of different radii moved differently within the nuclei—larger particles got stuck more often than smaller ones—which suggested that they were traveling through a network of actin. When the researchers treated the eggs with drugs that disrupt actin or injected them with a factor that decreased actin concentration in the nuclei, plastic beads of all sizes moved similarly. When they disrupted actin and injected metallic beads, these beads and endogenous organelles eventually settled to the bottom of the nucleus. Brangwynne and Feric applied forces to the germinal vesicles and showed that actin polymerized in response. “Gravity becomes really important at a smaller scale than you might have guessed,” Brangwynne said in a press release. The paper illustrates a previously unknown function for actin in the nucleus, molecular biologist Dyche Mullins of the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, said in the press release. “The results suggest a large cell becomes fragile and needs a scaffold inside to support and separate the large number of particles it contains.”
This PBS video shows how Klaus Lackner, a geophysicist at Columbia University, is trying to tackle the problem of rising atmospheric CO2 levels by using an idea inspired by his daughter's 8th-grade science fair project. One of a suite of online climate interactive simulations, this Greenhouse Gas Simulator uses the bathtub model to demonstrate how atmospheric concentrations of CO2 will continue to rise unless they are lowered to match the amount of CO2 that can be removed through natural processes. This simulation provides scenarios for exploring the principles of climate dynamics from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Inter-connections among climate issues, public stakeholders and the governance spheres are investigated through creative simulations designed to support learners' understanding of international climate change negotiations. Students investigate how much greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide and methane) their family releases into the atmosphere each year and relate it to climate change. To address this, students use the Environmental Protection Agency's Personal Emissions Calculator to estimate their family's greenhouse gas emissions and to think about how their family could reduce those emissions. This video addresses two ways in which black carbon contributes to global warming - when in the atmosphere, it absorbs sunlight and generates heat, warming the air; when deposited on snow and ice, it changes the albedo of the surface. The video is effective in communicating about a problem frequently underrepresented in discussions of climate change and also public health. The activity follows a progression that examines the CO2 content of various gases, explores the changes in the atmospheric levels of CO2 from 1958 to 2000 from the Mauna Loa Keeling curve, and the relationship between CO2 and temperature over the past 160,000 years. This provides a foundation for examining individuals' input of CO2 to the atmosphere and how to reduce it. Students conduct an energy audit to determine how much carbon dioxide their family is releasing into the atmosphere and then make recommendations for minimizing their family's carbon footprint. Students are specifically asked to understand the units of power and energy to determine the cost of running various household appliances. Finding the amount of carbon dioxide emitted for different types of energy and determining ways of reducing carbon dioxide output is the outcome of the lesson. In this activity, student teams research and develop a proposal to decrease the carbon footprint of their city's/town's public transportation system and then prepare a report that explains why their transportation plan is the best for their community.
Augmented Reality (AR) has come a long way since its inceptions in the early nineties. According to Milgram and Kishino(1994), AR can be defined as any case in which an otherwise real environment is “augmented” by means of virtual (computer graphic) objects. Compared to Virtual Reality (VR) in which the users while immersed cannot see the real world, AR allows the user to see the real world with virtual objects superimposed upon or composited with the real world (Azuma, 1997, p. 2). In addition, Paul Milgram and Fumio Kishino defined Milgram’s Reality-Virtuality Continuum in 1994 (Figure 1). They describe a continuum that spans from the real environment to a pure virtual environment and in-between there are Augmented Reality (closer to the real environment) and Augmented Virtuality (is closer to the virtual environment). So what AR allows us to do is to see virtual objects in a real world environment with the aid of camera and some sort of display device (monitor or head mounted display). History of Augmented Reality The term augmented reality is believed to have been coined by Tom Caudell, a Boeing researcher around 1992. However, AR was around for much longer before 1992. In 1957, cinematographer Morton Heilig created a simulator with visuals, audio, vibrations and smell. In 1966, Ivan Sutherland invented a head mounted display which gave us a peak into the virtual world. A three minute video (Figure 3) produced by Rocketboom nicely summarizes the history of AR. Another educational video done by Explainers, summarizes AR in three minutes (Figure 4).
Pruning is a necessary part of tending a garden or landscape; it plays an unrecognized but vital role in developing plants with vibrant, sturdy branches and outgrowths. Some of the main reasons for pruning trees include health of the plant, aesthetics and stimulating fruit production. Understanding how, when and why to prune, and then doing it correctly, can help you produce strong, healthy and attractive plants. Some important pruning concepts to understand are: 1. Read the information that came with the plant or you can consult a reputable source for further information and specifics concerning when and how to prune a particular plant. Remember, there will be some exceptions to the general rules. 2. Always work with clean, sharp tools. It is recommended you disinfect tools between cuts in order to avoid spreading disease from one tree to another. 3. Study the plant from all sides before pruning to estimate how many cuts are needed and what kinds of cuts should be made. 4. Learn the proper way to cut. Always prune just above an outward facing bud to encourage horizontal growth and prune above an inward facing bud to encourage vertical growth. Cut with the blade side of your tool closest to the part that remains on the plant. 5. Diseased, damaged or dead limbs should always be removed first. Next, remove any branches that crowd or cross through the plants center. In most instances, this is the all the pruning a plant typically needs. 6. When large branches need to be removed, it is important to use three cuts. The first cut is made about a third of the way through the underside of the branch and six to twelve inches from the trunk. The second cut is then made about three inches out from your first cut. The branch should fall away; follow with the third and final cut by removing the stub back to the collar. Do not leave the stub. If the final cut is too far from the stem, the branch tissue usually dies and wound-wood forms from the stem tissue. Wound closure is delayed because the wound-wood must seal over the stub that was left. There are several commonly accepted pruning techniques. The simplest method is to use your thumb and forefinger to pinch back new undesirable growth. This is also a great way to remove spent flowers or seed heads. Pinching can often reduce the need for heavy pruning later in the plant’s life. Another technique is called heading or cutting back and involves removing a portion of the growing stem down to a desirable set of buds or branches. The heading method promotes flower and fruit production; it also persuades the plant to grow in new directions. Pruning a plant by thinning refers to removing an entire shoot or branch back to the point of origin. This is a good way of controlling excessively tall growth and encouraging new growth in the plant’s interior. The result is a fuller, more attractive looking plant. Removing older, weak limbs in this manner often helps to revitalize an established plant. Shearing is a common pruning method for maintaining formal hedges. When a plant is sheared, most of the growing points are cut back to promote a dense growth near the outer portion of the canopy. It is important to make sure light can reach the plant’s interior to prevent foliage within the plant from becoming sparse. This causes the plant to look hollow or leggy. There has been recent controversy surrounding the practice of dressing a pruning wound as a way to promote faster healing and discourage further damage. The latest research suggests that using pruning paint on a fresh wound has little to do with preventing insect damage or disease in the wound area. To be safe, always consider hiring a professional to help with high chainsaw work, heavy storm damage, rejuvenation of large trees, stabilizing a weak or damaged tree and any work near power lines. Garden.com carries a wide selection of shears and pruning tools to help you keep your plants looking their best!
Weather is the term that refers to the conditions of the atmosphere that we experience each day, while climate is the average of the day-to-day weather conditions over a long period of time. When examining a particular environment we tend to look at averages such as annual precipitation, average temperatures, and average wind speed and direction. What we miss sometimes are the extremes. The extremes occur infrequently and may not affect the average very much. For example, a particular city's average rainfall may be 50 inches per year, but one storm could drop 15 inches of rain and flood the city. When averaged over a ten or twenty year period, this unusual occurrence may not stand out. \|Climates in the U.S. include low desert, high desert, subtropics, tundra, and temperate zones. Blizzards, tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts, and flooding can occur in many locations, but these types of severe weather are more common in some areas than others. Even Death Valley, California, occasionally experiences flooding and in Miami, Florida, residents have experienced heavy snow. These unusual weather occurrences are labeled "50 year or 100 year events." Such a designation doesn't mean that unusual events will come along every 50 years; it means that statistically, an event would be expected to occur only once in every 50 years. For example, an event could happen twice in a decade-then 90 years could possibly pass before it happens again.\| weather is so important to our lives, governments around the world spend considerable effort and money to monitor it. The collected data, gathered by thousands of weather stations around the globe, are placed in stored databases and used in a variety of ways. For example, a weather broadcaster would use these data when announcing that this was the hottest July 4th in the community since 1957. Meteorologists can estimate weather conditions on a given day and discover whether it rained under similar conditions in previous years. They can also use the data to produce climate models that provide better long-range forecasts. For a list of storm names for the Atlantic, click here. Tracking Chart (pdf)
a pair of dice is rolled together till a sum of 6 or 8 is obtained.find the probability that 6 comes before 8. Since 6 and 8 are equally likely on any one roll, the probability that "6 comes before an 8" (which means that the sequence of rolls terminate on a roll of 6, not 8) is exactly the same as "8 comes before a 6". Since one of those two must happen by the rules of this problem, their sum must be 1: each is equal to 1/2. There is an "intuitive" solution for this. We find that: .A pair of dice is rolled together till a sum of 6 or 8 is obtained. Find the probability that 6 comes before 8. Their probabilities are equal. Either event is equally likely to happen. Therefore, the probability that a sum of 6 precedes a sum of 8 is: .
In order to understand the rain, lets talk about water and the different forms it can take. Scientists call these states of matter. As you know, water can be solid (ice), or liquid, or it can be a gas, called water vapor. The difference between these states is heat. As you know, if you leave a cup of water out for a few days, some of it will evaporate. It doesnt disappear,it just turns into water vapor. The hotter it is, the more evaporation you get. The opposite of this is when water vapor cools off and turns back into liquid water. You can see this if you take a cold thing, like a glass of ice water, outside on a hot day. The water vapor in the air hits the cold surface and turns into liquid water. This is called condensation. The same thing happens when the water vapor in your breath hits the air on a cold day. Rain is the same basic process. Water evaporates from the ocean, turning into water vapor. The air is cooler higher up, so the water vapor cools off and condenses on dust in the air, then falls as rain. If the air over the land is cooler than the water, this happens more often because the water vapor cools more, causing more of it to turn into liquid water. I dont think the waves add much water to the air, but thats an interesting thought. Wind is just air moving. One major thing that can make air move is heat. Warm air rises and cold air falls. So if you have areas that are different temperatures, the warmer air is moving up and the cooler air is filling in behind it, creating wind. When warm, wet air blows into a cooler area, what happens? Thanks for asking, Well, when winds blow across a body ofrough sea water, in the bottom few tens of meters (few meters above the surface) tiny droplets of sea water get entrained and transported to the land (when winds blow the right way). The salinity of rainwater can be SLIGHTLY higher near the beach than farther inland although a lot depends on the mixing and dilution of rain water, not influenced by the sea. With waves breaking on the beach or hitting sea walls, tiny droplets can be thrown up and carried by winds as well. Water that gets up in the clouds and later rains down to the land originally came from the ocean. In order for these clouds to get over land, then, and not rain their water back into the sea, these clouds need to be blown over land by wind. Waves on the ocean are also created by wind. Thus, if you see big waves, it means strong winds out over the sea, which may mean that a storm is coming in the next few days. On the other hand, the winds may make waves that come to you, but are blowing the storm somewhere else, so you don't know whether a storm is coming or not from the waves. Click Here to return to the search form.
NASA has launched a small satellite to explore the mysteries of how stars and galaxies form. NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer, abbreviated as GALEX, began its mission on a Pegasus rocket, dropped from the wing of a jumbo jet high over the Atlantic Ocean. Minutes later, it separated from the rocket to enter a nearly 700 kilometer orbit. GALEX is carrying a telescope that will scour the heavens with the most sensitive ultraviolet light detectors ever built. They will scan for the invisible light given off by galaxies dominated by young, hot, short-lived stars. Mission scientist Christopher Martin, of the California Institute of Technology, said this is just the kind of galaxy that might be in the process of forming stars. "By comparing the ultraviolet brightness, we can determine how fast a galaxy is forming stars," he added. "Then by looking at many, many galaxies at various times in the cosmic history, we can put together a picture of the history of star formation in the universe." Mr. Martin says comparing galaxies is necessary to determine how bursts of star formation relate to other factors. What are the conditions of the cosmic neighborhood it is in? Does the star-forming galaxy have a companion galaxy? Does the galaxy have lots of gas with which to make stars or just a little? "It is still a mystery, the question of what causes stars to form in galaxies," said Mr. Martin. "We are interested in knowing when the stars formed, where they formed, and what were the triggers for star formation to occur in galaxies. What made galaxies grow with time?" Astronomers believe the universe originated nearly 14-billion-years ago, during a cataclysmic explosion called the "Big Bang." The theory suggests that all matter was concentrated in an area the size of a pinhead and exploded outward in a fireball of the light gases helium and hydrogen. Galaxies began to appear as these gases cooled and condensed. Recent observations suggest that the busiest period of star formation was eight to 10 billion years ago. GALEX is designed to investigate whether this is occurred and why. A key question astronomers hope the telescope will help answer is how long ago heavy elements such as iron formed. These are the elements that make complex molecules and life on Earth. "This is the first sky survey of ultraviolet light. It is amazing that it has not been done before and it is just fantastic that we are finally going to do it," said NASA astronomer Susan Neff. The GALEX spacecraft is to begin gathering data after a one-month test phase and is scheduled to operate for 28 months.
MathGem:Height of a Point in a Triangle Height of a Point in a Triangle This shows how to find the value of one component of a point in a triangle given the other two components. In this article, we find Z given X and Y, but this method could apply to any component simply by swapping axis names. Given three vertices of a triangle, , , and , and and of the point, - Find a vector that is perpendicular to the plane of the triangle. If you already have the normal, use that. Otherwise, this will do: - Find the value of using this formula: Note: If is 0, then the triangle is parallel to the Z axis and there is no unique . The Height of the Terrain One instance where this is used is to find the height of the terrain at a particular location. Once the particular triangle at the location is found, the height of the object can be determined from the equation above. It should be noted that if the vertices of the terrain are on an axis-aligned regular grid (such as a heightmap), the calculation of is simplified. Assuming that is parallel to the X axis, is parallel to the Y axis, and the distance between points in the grid is , is computed as follows: Another common application is interpolating the color of a point in a triangle in 2D given the colors at the vertices. In this case, the Z component is a color instead of a location. If the point is in the plane of the triangle, then the dot product of a vector, perpendicular to the plane, and the vector is 0. if P,R,Q is a triangle vertices, and X,Y - is a coordinates of point, then: a:=-(RQ-PQ-RP+PQ+RP-QR); b:= (PR+QP+RQ-QR-PQ-RP); c:= (QR+PQ+RP-PR-QP-QR); d:=-aP-bP-cP; result:= -(aX+c*Y+d)/b; //z of point
Protons are the positively charged particles that are inside the nucleus of an atom.The protons are pushed apart by the electromagnetic force but pulled together by the strong force, which is stronger over short distances (these distances are about a fm or 10-15 m). Protons are incredibly small, about 10-15 m, 10,000x smaller than an atom! Please see size of the universe for some online demonstrations to show this scale. Despite their incredibly small size, protons push against each other with tremendous forces, about 100 N, comparable to the weight of a small dog! The charge on a proton is exactly equal and opposite to the charge on an electron. Therefore, the number of electrons in a neutral atom is always equal to the number of protons (see the bottom of the page for a PhET simulation about that). Protons are made of smaller particles called quarks (or see hyperphysics), which also make up neutrons. The number of protons in a nucleus is called the atomic number, and this number determines what element an atom is. In other words, changing the proton number changes the element. This number of protons (atomic number) changes when a nucleus undergoes beta decay or alpha decay in any of its various forms. The difficulty with changing the number of protons in a nucleus on purpose is why alchemy (the medieval practice of trying to turn lead into gold) failed for so long! The University of Colorado has graciously allowed us to use the following PhET simulation. This simulation builds atoms from protons, neutrons, and electrons and tests knowledge of the periodic table. The simulation shows how the neutrons and protons must balance for the nucleus to be stable.
In the context of leisure, degradation refers to a decline in quality resulting from recreational use. It implies both a change in condition and a judgement that the change is adverse and undesirable. The concept is fundamental to recreation management because maintaining quality is a critical management objective. Much recreation management involves PLANNING for and implementing actions designed to minimize degradation associated with recreation use. Degradation of three types of attributes—environmental quality, experiential quality, and the quality of facilities—commonly occurs in recreation areas. The degree of concern about these three types of degradation varies with the type of recreation area, particularly the extent to which recreation is RESOURCE-BASED RECREATION. Examples of environmental quality degradation (see IMPACTS, PHYSICAL) include loss of vegetation and exposure of soil resulting from recreational activities, such as TRAMPLING, horse-riding, driving, biking, picnicking, and camping. Such activities also result in soil compaction and accelerated erosion. Recreation can adversely affect animal populations and water quality as well. Concern about the degradation of environmental quality is greatest in places where recreational DEMAND is high and OBJECTIVES stress the protection of natural conditions. The quality of facilities—such as TRAILS, playing fields, and toilets—can also be degraded. Facilities are designed to be used but they usually require maintenance. Inadequate maintenance can be a common cause of degradation. Degradation can also result if use exceeds the capacity for which the facility was designed, or if the type of use the facility receives is inappropriate. Vandalism also contributes to degradation. Facility degradation is likely to be the primary concern in urban areas and in recreation areas that emphasize SPORT. Finally, the quality of the recreation experience can be degraded. Direct degradation of the experience...
Science Fair Project Encyclopedia In phonetics, vowel roundedness refers to the amount of rounding in the lips during the articulation of a vowel. When pronouncing a rounded vowel, the lips form a circular opening, while unrounded vowels are pronounced with the lips relaxed. In most languages, front vowels tend to be unrounded, while back vowels tend to be rounded, but some languages, such as French and German, distinguish between rounded and unrounded vowels at the same height and backness. In the International Phonetic Alphabet vowel chart, rounded vowels are the ones that occur on the right in each pair of vowels. Types of rounding There are two types of vowel rounding: endolabial and exolabial. In endolabial rounding, the corners of the mouth are drawn slightly together to form a circular opening, but the lips do not protrude and only the outer surface of the lips is exposed. In exolabial rounding, the lips are thrust forward to form a tunnel, as when kissing; the inner surface of the lips is exposed. Usually, back rounded vowels are exolabial, while front rounded vowels are endolabial. Swedish is uncommon in that it makes a phonemic distinction between the two types, having unrounded, endolabial, and exolabial front close-mid vowels. The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details
Signals are software interrupts that are delivered to a process by the kernel. A signal is a notification about an event that has occurred. D-Bus is a mechanism for interprocess communication for Linux systems. D-Bus concepts along with example client-server programs are explained. POSIX shared memory calls are explained with example client-server programs. Shared memory is the fastest mechanism for interprocess communication. System V shared memory calls are explained with example programs. An implementation of queue in C using linked list is provided with program listing and results. Pthread synchronization using mutex and condition variables is explained with an example program. The basic Pthread calls are explained with an example program. POSIX named and unnamed semaphores are explained with example programs. System V semaphore calls are explained with an example program. Semaphores provide a mechanism for synchronizing processes and threads. The basics of semaphores are explained with examples. POSIX message queue calls for interprocess communication (IPC) between processes are explained with example of server and client programs under Linux. Processes running on a Linux system can exchange information using System V message queues. The system calls for System V message queues are explained along with example client-server programs. Any two processes can communicate using FIFOs in Linux. Interprocess communication using FIFOs is explained using a client-server example. The pipe is a fundamental interprocess communication mechanism in Linux. Interprocess communication using pipes is explained with an example. The relationship between fork and exec system calls and how to use them is explained with an example.
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a stylesheet language used to describe the presentation of a document written in HTML or XML (including XML dialects such as SVG, MathML or XHTML). CSS describes how elements should be rendered on screen, on paper, in speech, or on other media. CSS is among the core languages of the open web and is standardized across Web browsers according to W3C specifications. Previously, the development of various parts of CSS specification was done synchronously, which allowed the versioning of the latest recommendations. You might have heard about CSS1, CSS2.1, or even CSS3. There will never be a CSS3 or a CSS4; rather, everything is now CSS without a version number. After CSS 2.1, the scope of the specification increased significantly and the progress on different CSS modules started to differ so much, that it became more effective to develop and release recommendations separately per module. Instead of versioning the CSS specification, W3C now periodically takes a snapshot of the latest stable state of the CSS specification and individual modules progress. CSS modules now have version numbers, or levels, such as CSS Color Module Level 5. - CSS Introduction If you're new to web development, be sure to read our CSS basics article to learn what CSS is and how to use it. - CSS Tutorials Our CSS learning area contains a wealth of tutorials to take you from beginner level to proficiency, covering all the fundamentals. - CSS Reference Our exhaustive CSS reference for seasoned Web developers describes every property and concept of CSS. Looking to become a front-end web developer? We have put together a course that includes all the essential information you need to work towards your goal. Our CSS Learning Area features multiple modules that teach CSS from the ground up — no previous knowledge required. - CSS first steps CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is used to style and layout web pages — for example, to alter the font, color, size, and spacing of your content, split it into multiple columns, or add animations and other decorative features. This module provides a gentle beginning to your path towards CSS mastery with the basics of how it works, what the syntax looks like, and how you can start using it to add styling to HTML. - CSS building blocks This module carries on where CSS first steps left off — now you've gained familiarity with the language and its syntax, and got some basic experience with using it, it's time to dive a bit deeper. This module looks at the cascade and inheritance, all the selector types we have available, units, sizing, styling backgrounds and borders, debugging, and lots more. The aim here is to provide you with a toolkit for writing competent CSS and help you understand all the essential theory, before moving on to more specific disciplines like text styling and CSS layout. - CSS styling text With the basics of the CSS language covered, the next CSS topic for you to concentrate on is styling text — one of the most common things you'll do with CSS. Here we look at text styling fundamentals, including setting font, boldness, italics, line and letter spacing, drop shadows, and other text features. We round off the module by looking at applying custom fonts to your page, and styling lists and links. - CSS layout At this point we've already looked at CSS fundamentals, how to style text, and how to style and manipulate the boxes that your content sits inside. Now it's time to look at how to place your boxes in the right place in relation to the viewport, and to each other. We have covered the necessary prerequisites so we can now dive deep into CSS layout, looking at different display settings, modern layout tools like flexbox, CSS grid, and positioning, and some of the legacy techniques you might still want to know about. - Use CSS to solve common problems This module provides links to sections of content explaining how to use CSS to solve common problems when creating a web page. - CSS reference: This exhaustive reference for seasoned Web developers describes every property and concept of CSS. - CSS key concepts: - The syntax and forms of the language - Specificity, inheritance, and the Cascade - CSS units and values and functional notations - Box model and margin collapse - The containing block - Stacking and block-formatting contexts - Initial, computed, used, and actual values - CSS shorthand properties - CSS Flexible Box Layout - CSS Grid Layout - CSS selectors - Media queries The CSS layout cookbook aims to bring together recipes for common layout patterns, things you might need to implement in your sites. In addition to providing code you can use as a starting point in your projects, these recipes highlight the different ways layout specifications can be used and the choices you can make as a developer. - You can use the W3C CSS Validation Service to check if your CSS is valid. This is an invaluable debugging tool. - Firefox Developer Tools lets you view and edit a page's live CSS via the Inspector and Style Editor tools. - The Web Developer extension for Firefox lets you track and edit live CSS on watched sites. - Firefox: Firefox bug 1323667
This is the third of a series of articles by Growth Train that relates to the industries and businesses that our participants are a part of – and which have relevance to sustainability and the environment. Using pesticides in agriculture is a highly debated subject, especially with today’s focus on the environment and climate change. The function of pesticides is to protect the crops and secure yield and quality, but they can also impact health and the environment negatively. Some argue that farmers should convert to organic farming; fully eradicate and ban the use of pesticides and other synthetic chemicals. Organic farming is about using fertilizers of organic origin, such as compost manure, green manure and bone meal. Organic farming also emphasizes the importance of crop rotation. Organic farming renounces the use of chemicals completely and opposes cutting down forests for cultivation. Another method used by farmers is sowing disease-resistant crops. These crops are bred to be resistant to pests and diseases and therefore do not need to be sprayed with pesticides. However, the science behind resistant crops is quite new so crops differ in their susceptibility and reliability, as well as yield. In contrast, several studies have shown that most pesticides used today do not pose a risk to the health of humans or other lifeforms. Moreover, their use does not post a critical threat to the environment. In today’s agriculture and demand for better yield, it is virtually impossible to avoid pesticides. Without effective alternatives, it is not an option to wholly ban pesticides since their use in agriculture is necessary to maintain the rising need of food. Denmark is one of the countries that has succeeded in reducing the use of pesticides in agricultural production. Danish farmers have managed to produce more goods with less pesticides, even with tight regulations on the matter. Better farm management, such as crop rotation, plant nutrition and soil fertility, add to the effective farming in Danish agriculture today. But as the negative attitude towards pesticides spread, plenty of new technological tools to incorporate sustainable agriculture and reduce the environmental impact have risen. One of these tools is precision farming, which is a crop management system that observes, measures and responds to the variability in crops on each field. The system helps farmers to use the precise amount of water, fertilizer and pesticides on a given area, which prevents overuse, helps to manage the resources and increase the yield. Farmers also use drones to produce precise maps for soil analysis thereby optimizing their time and resources. Water management is another method to manage crops in a more sustainable way. Since food production takes up to 70 percent of the freshwater from rivers and groundwater, water management has been a key in control and optimization of this resource. All of these agronomic practices are great tools to optimize the use of resources and minimize the use of unnecessary chemicals. This also addresses the consumers, who have gained interest in the ethical debate within food production, such as minimal or no use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The Danish plant protection specialist, Jens Erik Jensen, argues that the use of pesticides has had a crucial role in reaching climate neutrality due to the increased yield and thereby reduced carbon footprint.
Finding an object whose gravity is so strong that not even light can escape from its perimeter is no easy task. Now, however, by measuring the disintegration of a star, scientists from Moscow State University have found a new way to estimate the mass of elusive supermassive black holes located outside of the Milky Way. Black holes are notoriously difficult; difficult to find and difficult to study. In the past researchers have inferred their existence by measuring the orbital velocity of a nearby companion star as it sped around an hidden compact object. By deducing that the mass of the object must be bigger than the upper mass of a neutron star, scientists were left with only one option; a black hole. To try and narrow down exactly how big black holes are, scientists have looked to other means in which to measure their mass. One thing that had become apparent was that when a black hole swallows up another rather large object, the friction and heating that was generated as the object was ripped apart caused a lot of radiation to be emitted. In the case of an unlucky star that strays to close to the devouring black hole, the process is known as a tidal disruption event (TDE). As gravity rips the star apart, some of the star’s material is flung out from the black hole, while the remainder gets sucked in. As this material is accreted onto the black hole it can reach a temperature of around 105 K whilst emitting energetic photons at optical, ultraviolet, and X-ray wavelengths. These X-ray sources have been mistaken in the past for fast Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs), however these energetic bursts are short-lived, while the X-ray flares on the other hand persist for a few years. After correctly reassigning a previously misidentified GRB (Swift J1644+57) as an X-ray flare from an extragalactic source, Elena Seifina, an astrophysicist at Moscow State University, then set about studying the changes to the spectra of the X-ray flare as it increased in luminosity over time. By noting that the flare happened to occur near the central nucleus of a galaxy and by looking at prominent peaks in the spectral energy distribution of the X-ray flare (which gave an indication to the processes that were occurring) compared with the mass accretion rate of the ripped up star, Seifina found that these features clearly indicated the presence of a black hole. Furthermore the analysis of the data could be applied to different flares in different locations, allowing Seifina and her colleagues to "weigh" invisible black holes by comparing them with galactic black holes of known mass. "Calculations showed that Swift J1644+57 contained a supermassive black hole with a mass of 7×106 solar masses. This is really an object that we do not see, but which provided high luminosity due to its strong gravitational field and an accretion disk around it," explained Seifina. Seifina and team hope that the versatility of this new method will help to work out the mass of other various extragalactic objects, such as the cores of Seyfert galaxies for example, where traditional methods do not work so well.
[deck]EU-funded scientists have discovered genetic markers that could allow potatoes to be selected for their ability to be stored at low temperatures, keeping them fresh and avoiding the use of anti-sprouting chemicals.[/deck] Ireland is world-renowned for producing potatoes, but Irish crisp and chip manufacturers face a shortage of locally grown potatoes mainly due to long term tuber storage problems. This means they need to import over 50,000 tonnes of potatoes each year. Potatoes used for crisps and chips are usually stored at eight degrees – a temperature high enough to prevent starch from breaking down into glucose and fructose. To slow sprouting, potato producers often use a suppressant like chlorpropham, a chemical the EU is looking to phase out due to health concerns. Hoping to find an alternative to chemical sprout suppressors, the EU-funded GenSPI (Genomic Selection for Potato Improvement) project has developed a genetic marker system to identify plants that display a resistance to glucose and fructose formation. Their tubers can be stored at three or four degrees, low enough to keep sprout growth at bay for very long periods. “Glucose and fructose formed during cold storage can cause very dark fry colours, leaving potato crisps and chips with an unacceptably bitter taste. The sugars can also cause a build-up of acrylamide, a potential carcinogen,” says Dan Milbourne, GenSPI project coordinator. Slower to Sweeten GenSPI developed new genomic selection breeding methodologies which will allow potato breeders to select the varieties of potato that seem to be resistant to sweetening at low temperatures. To do this, researchers gathered a large collection of potato plants and fried thousands of tubers – the equivalent to 10,000 bags of potato crisps – that had been held in different storage conditions. They then measured their colour once fried and drew the links between fry colour and the genetic variation of the plant. “Because the fry colour is controlled by many genes the best approach was to scan the genome for variation at many sites to find correlations between colour and genetic variation,” explains Milbourne. Researchers then used the latest techniques in genome sequences – known as next generation sequencing – to identify over 100 000 regions across the genome where the DNA sequence varied among the plants. They combined data on variation on the potato phenotype and genome to build statistical models that could predict fry colour from DNA sequencing information. “From the 100 000 regions showing genetic variation between the breeding lines, we were able to identify a smaller number of DNA markers that gave us a good ability to predict fry colour. This means we can develop an inexpensive DNA-based test to predict fry colour that can be applied to tens of thousands of plants in a potato breeding programme,” says Stephen Byrne, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow who carried out the research. Traditionally, potato breeders inter-cross plant varieties to produce up to 100 000 seedlings, and then eliminate poorly performing plant types over a period of 10 years. Varieties that are resistant to glucose and fructose formation can only be identified at the end of this time, meaning that many potential varieties have already been eliminated from the breeding process. GenSPI carried out its research in collaboration with a commercial potato breeding programme led by Denis Griffin. Its newly-developed technique allows resistant plants to be identified early in the 10-year breeding programme. The team hopes the project will lead to the release of one or more varieties that give an excellent fry colour even at low-temperature storage, avoiding chemical sprout suppressants. “We hope to see these varieties released in the next five years,” concludes Griffin.
Fundamentals: Artificial Neural Networks are to Deep Learning, What Atoms are to Matter The human brain is, undoubtedly, the most extraordinary technology created by nature. An artificial neural network (ANN), modeled after the human brain, is a system software or hardware that performs tasks as the neurons of a human brain would, to an extent, by transferring information along a predefined path between neurons. Artificial neural networks consist of layers of interconnected neurons that receive sets of inputs and weights. They then perform mathematical manipulation and give out a set of activations as an output that is similar to synapses in biological neurons. Today, neural networks can be used to achieve complex tasks in the fields of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), including object recognition, automatic speech recognition (ASR), machine translation, image captioning, video classification, and more. Even this is a limited list. Artificial neural networks are the most potent learning models in the field of machine learning. They can achieve arguably every task that the human brain can perform, albeit they might work differently than an actual human brain. Human Brain and Neural Networks – A Comparison At a high level, neural networks – both artificial and biological – consist of four components: - Topology – the connecting path between neurons - A learning algorithm There are substantial differences in each of these components when it comes to biological and artificial neural networks. Some of the key differences are as follows: - An ANN typically consists of hundreds to at best thousands of neurons, whereas the biological neural network consists of billions of neurons. - BNNs have trillions of adjustable parameters, whereas even the most complicated ANNs only have several million learnable parameters. - ANNs primarily use some gradient descent models for learning, whereas when it comes to biological neural networks, even leading neuroscience and cognitive science experts do not have much clarity on the learning methods used. - The processing speed for biological neurons is usually in milliseconds, whereas standard ANNs can process information much faster (in nanoseconds). - Natural neural networks have extremely complicated topologies, whereas artificial neural networks have standard and comparatively simple paths. - Biological neural networks consume significantly lesser power as compared to artificial networks. How do Neural Networks Work?Essentially, a neuron is a node with several inputs and one output, and many interconnected neurons form a neural network. For neural networks to perform their tasks, they need to go through a ‘learning phase’ – which means they need to learn to correlate incoming and outgoing signals. Once done, they begin to work, i.e., receive input data and generate output signals based on the accumulated information. Biological neurons receive signals through dendrites, which either amplify or inhibit the signals as they pass through the axons to the dendrites of other neurons. Similarly, the ANNs learn to inhibit or amplify the input signals to perform a specific task. Neural Networks and Deep Learning More often than not, deep learning developers take into account the features of the human brain— the architecture of its neural networks, learning and memory processes and so on – for their deep learning projects which usually need a massive amount of data to train the system to classify signals clearly and accurately. In this post, we will try to delve into the basics of neural networks and how they work in the field of deep learning. Perceptrons – Earliest Neural Networks Suppose you want to plan a family trip. From the following factors which are the critical factors for you? - Trip Expenditure - Trip Duration - Hotel Comfort and Cuisine Preference - Mode of Travelling How our human brain works is it assigns weight to each of the factors. For one, trip duration may be the most critical factor, while for someone else it might be the trip expenditure. A perceptron works similarly. It takes input signals as inputs and performs a set of simple calculations to arrive at a decision. Perceptrons can be used in classification tasks as well, where we fit a divider such that it divides the data points into regions. Perceptron can also perform multiclass classification as well. We can use multiple perceptrons where each perceptron classifies data points into various categories. Training of Perceptron Now that we know fundamentally what a perceptron is, let’s look at the iterative solution for training the perceptron suggested by Frank Rosenblatt, a notable American psychologist in the field of artificial intelligence. Rosenblatt suggested an elegant iterative solution to train the perceptron (i.e., to learn the weights). He proposed that we start with random weight and keep on adding the error term to the weight till the time we didn’t find the valid separator. The error term is the misclassified point from the previous separator. Working of Neurons Neurons are similar to perceptrons; the only difference being that there is an activation function applied to the weighted sum of inputs. In perceptrons, the activation function is the step function, though, in artificial neural networks, it can be any non-linear function. Few fundamental properties of neural networks are: - Neurons in a neural network are arranged in layers where the first and the last layer are called the input and output layers. - Input layers have as many neurons as the number of attributes in the data set. - The output layer has as many neurons as the number of classes of the target variable in case of the classification problem. - The output layer has one neuron in case of the regression problem. Generally, the industry used neural networks follow the below-mentioned assumptions: - Neurons are arranged in layers, and the layers are arranged sequentially. - Neurons within the same layer do not interact with each other. - All inputs enter the network through the input layer, and all outputs leave the network through the output layer. - Neurons in consecutive layers are densely connected, i.e., all neurons in layer l are connected to all neurons in layer l + 1. - Every interconnection in a neural network has a weight associated with it, and every neuron has a bias associated with it. - All neurons in a particular layer use the same activation function. It is important to note that the input to a neural network can only be numeric. So how to solve the problem where the input that we have is text (NLP problems) or images (computer vision problems)? - Text Data as Input: In the case of text data, we either use a one-hot vector or word embeddings corresponding to a particular word. If we need to work with a vast vocabulary, then it is recommended to use word embeddings over one-hot vectors. - Images as Input: In the case of images (or videos), it is quite straightforward since images are naturally represented as pixels (arrays of numbers), where each pixel of the input image is a feature. If we have a grayscale image of size 18 x 18, the input layer would need 324 neurons. If the image is a colored image, we need 18 x 18 x 3 neurons in the input layer, as the color image needs three channels (red, green, and blue). We know that the weighted sum of neuron passes through activation function before it goes as an input to neuron in the next layer. The activation function could be any function, though it should have some important properties such as: - Smoothness i.e., they should have no abrupt changes when plotted because decision making doesn’t change abruptly based on any factor. - They should also make the inputs and outputs non-linear with respect to each other to some extent. This is because non-linearity helps in making neural networks more compact. Few popular activation functions are: - Logistic function - Hyperbolic tangent function - Rectilinear Unit (ReLU) Training of the Neural Network The weight and bias of every individual neuron need to train to get the right predictions. Training of neural networks is similar to any other machine learning algorithm like SVM, linear regression, where the objective is to find optimal weights and biases to minimize the loss function, which can be complex even for a simple network. For solving real-world problems, there will be an exponentially large number of weights and biases that need to be minimized. Keeping the mentioned complexity in mind. Let’s see the steps involved in training the neural networks: - Feedforward: The information flows (or training of the network) in a neural network from the input layer to the output layer. - Backpropagation: The adjustment of the weights to minimize the loss function. But that’s a topic for another day when we take a deeper dive into the fundamental building block of artificial neural networks. Note: prerequisites for the next level include a basic understanding of statistical concepts and matrix multiplication. Artificial Intelligence has, irrefutably, permeated several aspects of our life and has become the new normal. With the increasingly human-level accuracy of performing tasks pattern recognition, image classification, and more, the industry has revolutionized how we connect with machines every day. A growing body of research and experimentation in the field of deep learning application is gradually normalizing AI into our day-to-day lives in the form of face and speech recognition and self-driving technology, to name a few. So how deep an impact can deep learning have in the digital transformation of businesses and how the world around us works? Human brains are working their neurons hard to push the limits of what artificial neural networks can achieve. Watch this space for more on deep learning, and it’s applications.
Taste tests are a great way for children to utilize their five senses and explore new foods. Taste tests can be conducted in the cafeteria, classroom, or integrated into different subjects to enhance an academic lesson. When children understand the origin of the food they are consuming, they are more likely to try it! Be aware of choking risks and food allergies when conducting taste tests. Think about the size, shape, and consistency when choosing foods due to the potential choking risks in children. Avoid food cut in large chunks, small hard foods, and soft and sticky food, such as; hotdogs, meats, sausages, fish with bones, a spoonful of peanut butter, popcorn, chips, pretzel nuggets, raisins, whole grapes, raw carrots, fruits and vegetables with skins, and marshmallows.1 Children must always remain supervised while eating! Many children have food allergies or sensitivities to food. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, 90% of children’s food allergies are from milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts (included but not limited to pecan/walnuts), fish, shellfish, strawberries, soy, wheat, and gluten.1 Carefully read food labels for potential risks and be sure to check with a parent, school nurse and school nutrition director if children have a known allergy or sensitivity. Keep it Safe, Simple and Clean Taste tests are meant to be quick and easy. To avoid spills, messes and crumbs ensure that cleanup is done immediately after the activity is completed. This will also help to resume classroom instruction in a timely manner. Try assigning student jobs for each taste test: - Distribute hand sanitizer/hand wipes - Distribute napkins/paper towels - Pick up trash after taste testing is complete Incorporating Taste Tests into Lesson Plans Here are some ideas on how taste tests can be incorporated into various course subjects. Taste tests can easily be incorporated into math lessons by collecting and analyzing data into graphs or percentages. For example, ask students to give a thumbs up, thumbs down or in the middle to express their feelings towards the item. Have students create a graph to show results and responses. Introducing fruits and vegetables in their original form links to science. Elementary-aged lesson plans can include discussion on what is needed to help plants survive and grow. Students can also learn about the different climate zones and which zones are best for plants and food to grow. Middle and high-school aged students can discuss nutrients and how foods contain essential nutrients that the human body needs to survive. English Language Arts (ELA) Following a taste test, ask students to write or journal about their experience trying a new food. Students can also work together to write fact sheets on the foods tried and can share these with other classmates and/or their families. Social Studies and Humanities Have students explore what part of the world the food comes from, the history of that item, how it is used in different cultures, and/or what that food is called in different parts of the world. Teach students about food safety by having them discuss how to wash, prepare and store different types of foods. Conduct a Classroom Discussion and Debrief Following the taste test, students will want to share their thoughts, feelings, and opinions. Check out the SWITCH Five Senses Scorecard, which allows students to record their observations on the foods they are testing while utilizing their five senses. Additional Lesson Plans and Nutrition Education Resources - UMASS Extension Nutrition Education Materials: Resources to help increase student exposure and interest to a variety of fruits and vegetables. - Dig In! Lesson Plans and Curriculum: These lesson plans teach 5th and 6th grade students about growing, harvesting and tasting fruits and vegetables. - Serving Up MyPlate: Here you will find a variety of lesson plans that integrate nutrition education into Math, Science, English Language Arts and Health for grades K-5. - Food Preparation for Children with Peanut Allergies . Penn State Extension. https://extension.psu.edu/programs/betterkidcare/knowledge-areas/k7/lunch-and-snack-ideas/peanut-free-snacks. Published 2013. Accessed April 16, 2021.
Children and teenagers go through a period of rapid growth and physical development that involves changes in body composition, metabolic and hormonal fluctuations, organ maturation, and the formation of nutritional deposits, all of which can have an impact on future health. Basic and sports nutrition is vital for growth, development, and achieving optimum health and athletic performance. Nutritional deficiencies in children and adolescents not only hinder growth and development but also affects athletic and academic performance. Modern-day pressures have a considerable impact on the eating habits of young athletes. Peers, teammates, professional athletes, coaches, and the media all have substantial effects that might lead to vulnerability, ranging from poor dental health to restrictive eating, bad eating habits, and disordered eating. As a result, a young athlete’s diet should focus on meeting nutritional requirements for optimal growth, maturation, and physical development, as well as ensuring enough energy and nutrient intake to support sports training loads. How much energy do athletic kids and teens need? Athletic children and adolescents should consume enough energy to meet their growth and development needs as well as the energy demands of exercise. There are no simple ways for determining the exact energy requirements of young athletes. The energy (or calories) requirements of young athletes depend on several factors like age, weight, gender and activity level. As a result, growth and health markers like height, weight, immunity, etc. will help to determine whether overall energy intake is adequate. Low energy intake in young athletes can lead to a variety of health problems, including delayed puberty, menstrual irregularities, poor bone health, short stature, the development of disordered eating patterns, and an increased risk of injury. On the other hand, chronic consumption of excess energy intake may lead to an increased risk of overweight/obesity, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension, as well as an increased risk of injury. Athletic teens require more calories to support their athletic body workout, as well as for optimal growth, muscle and bone development, and maturity. A female teen athlete, for example, may require almost 3,000 calories per day, whereas a male teen athlete may require approximately 4,000 calories per day. Teens that participate in various sports have higher calorie requirements. To meet the higher energy demands on training days, young athletes should be encouraged to consume frequent nutrient-packed meals and snacks. Including healthy calorie foods such as whole grain cereals, pulses, dairy products, and nuts while limiting empty calorie foods such as sugary items, carbonated beverages, low-fibre foods, and salty or fatty foods might help them get the nourishment they need. What are the adequate amounts of carbohydrates, protein and fat for your active kids? The carbohydrate, protein, and fat intake recommendations for young and teen athletes are very similar to those for adult athletes. Carbohydrates are the preferred source of energy for an athlete’s body and brain. Carbohydrates help athletes sustain their training intensity, prevent muscle breakdown, and delay fatigue. Some carbohydrates (white bread/rice/pasta, bananas, dates, diluted fruit juices) provide a rapid source of energy. Other carbohydrates (oats, full grain bread/brown rice/pasta, apples) replenish your fuel stores for later use. When carbohydrate intake is low, energy levels, strength, stamina, and decision-making abilities may decline during workouts. This could lead to poor performance and a higher risk of getting injured. Protein is required for growth and development, energy production, muscle building, tissue repair and immune function in the body. Protein requirements are between 1.3-1.8g per kg per day. The amount for optimal intake of protein for kids in athletics is measured, as grams required per kilogram of their body weight, which means if your child weighs 50 kg then the requirement of protein intake per day would be 65-90 grams. Four to five separate protein servings should be consumed throughout the day rather than in one or two large meals. Plant-based foods, dairy and dairy products, and animal-based foods (e.g. pulses, peas, seeds, nuts, soya, cheese, yoghurt, milk, etc.) are all good sources of protein. Fats are essential for body temperature regulation, immunological function, organ cushioning and protection, nerve transmission, vitamin absorption, and providing energy for long-term, low-intensity aerobic exercises. Fat should account for 20-35% of total energy intake. It is encouraged to consume more unsaturated fat sources, such as olive oil, nuts, oilseeds, and avocado. \|Carbohydrates\|\|Low-intensity or skill-based activity: 3–5 g/kg/dModerate exercise program (e.g., training 1 hr/d): 5–7g/kg/dEndurance program (e.g., training 1–3 hr/d): 6–10g/kg/dExtreme exercise program (e.g., training 4–5 hr/d): 8–12g/kg/d\| \|Proteins\|\|1.3-1.8g per kg per day\| \|Fats\|\|20-35% of total energy intake\| If you’re wondering how to get an athletic body, here’s a summary of macronutrient recommendations for a young athlete’s diet plan: Specific micronutrients for athlete’s diet All micronutrients are important for teen athletes, but iron, calcium, and vitamin D continue to get the most attention. Calcium absorption requires adequate quantities of vitamin D. Sufficient vitamin D and calcium levels are thus essential for ensuring maximum bone mineral accumulation in developing young and teenage athletes. By the end of the teen years, the bone mineral content is about 95% of what it will be as an adult. Adolescent athletes must ensure maximum bone mineral content accumulation to maximize peak bone mass and limit the risk of skeletal injuries (e.g., stress fractures) and osteoporosis in adulthood. Vitamin D is also important for immunity and skeletal muscle regeneration. Adolescent athletes who practice and compete indoors all year should be given special consideration, especially during the winter months when sun exposure is minimal. Good sources of calcium include dairy products, ragi, amaranth seeds, sesame seeds, shellfish, etc. Iron needs rise during childhood and adolescence due to tissue expansion. Females’ iron requirements increase as menstruation begins. Exercise can make you lose iron through a process called haemolysis, as well as through your urine, faeces, and sweat. Young and teen athletes involved in regular intensive training programs can be at risk of developing iron deficiency and the main cause is often not getting enough iron from food (often along with not getting enough calories or eating a vegetarian diet). Low iron levels can lead to iron deficiency anaemia if they are not treated, which can make athletes feel tired and unable to do their best. Tips for preventing and treating iron deficiency- - Eat iron-rich plant foods regularly (e.g. green leafy vegetables, lentils, garden cress seeds, roasted black chana) - Add vitamin C-rich foods to your meals to increase iron absorption (e.g. sprinkling lemon juice or adding tomatoes to vegetable preparations) Hydration and Fluid requirements Our bodies are made up of ~60% water. Water helps the body in many ways, but it is especially important when we work out because it helps keep our blood volume up and maintains our core temperature. When we work out, we sweat and lose water through evaporation on our skin. This helps us stay cool. If we don’t replace the water we lose, we can get dehydrated. Dehydration leads to early tiredness and decreases your kid’s performance. A simple technique to assess dehydration is to check for urine colour and volume. A smaller volume of urine and a darker colour first thing in the morning may indicate dehydration. For everyday hydration, water is the preferred choice. An electrolyte drink or oral rehydration solution (ORS) that follows the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines can be used pre- or post-exercise for more effective hydration if athletes are showing signs of dehydration. Simple hydration strategies especially in hot and humid conditions should be used. These can include, the addition of flavoured water, the use of ice slushies and planned fluid breaks during training/competition. What to eat before, during and after sports training? Pre-training meals have several benefits and, when properly planned, can help to improve performance by fuelling and hydrating the body for the upcoming training session. Failure to properly fuel or hydrate before exercise can result in: earlier onset of fatigue, decreased speed, especially during repeat efforts, decreased endurance, poor concentration and decision making, skill errors, gut upset, and suboptimal body composition. Thus, it is recommended that a pre-event meal be eaten ~1–4 hours before the training session/competition. For exercise lasting less than an hour, it is not necessary to refuel with carbohydrates during training. Consuming 400 to 800ml of plain water per hour of training is sufficient. When exercising for longer than an hour, refuelling with carbohydrates can increase endurance and improve performance. Inadequate recovery, particularly if training multiple times per day, can lead to fatigue, and reduced performance in the following training session. Sports nutrition strategy is an important part of a recovery plan that provides the appropriate nutrients at the appropriate time. Carbohydrates help refill depleted fuel stores, protein helps repair damaged muscle and build new muscle tissue, and fluids and electrolytes help to rehydrate. Examples of foods to include in your athlete’s diet plan: Pre-training foods (3-4 hours before training/competition): - Dal rice and cooked vegetables with curd - Cereal porridge with milk, nuts and fruits - Veg wraps or sandwiches Pre-training foods (30-60mins before training/competition): - Bananas, dates, raisins - Fruit juice - Bread jam During training (longer than an hour): - 250 ml fruit juice mixed with 250 ml water - A handful of raisins - 1–2 bananas - Fruit bread or bread jam - Milk-based drinks like Bournvita or fruit smoothies - Yoghurt with fruit and nuts - Paneer/cheese sandwich The views expressed are that of the expert alone. How to add TJK to homescreen? - 1. 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It seemed like in March of 2020, thanks to the pandemic and social distancing, that virtual became the new normal. Working, socializing, and learning took on a new look in the form of Zoom calls, virtual game nights, and digital classrooms. Teachers, parents, and students had to learn how to adapt and use a digital space to make up for the loss of in-person instruction, and quickly at that. The problem was, not everyone had the know-how to make that change overnight. With this new lifestyle we had to adapt to, a wider, faster growing digital divide became apparent and we cannot afford to leave anyone behind in digital literacy. The American Library Association (ALA) defines digital literacy as “the ability to use information and communication techniques to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills”. We have been speeding towards a more and more digital existence with each passing year and COVID has sped the process up even more. Digital literacy has become an important—almost essential—part of how we navigate the world. To bridge the digital divide in digital literacy, SCETV Education is going to begin publishing a “Digital Literacy Word of the Day” on our digital platforms beginning in 2021. Our hope is that teachers and parents in South Carolina will have a better understanding of the digital tools we are now using on a daily basis and be able to give our learners the extra edge they need to succeed in spite of any stressors the pandemic may have added. The terms included in the “Digital Literacy Word of the Day” will cover beginner to intermediate level definitions and concepts that are important to navigating a digital space. From what an application is to cyber security, our digital literacy “vocabulary” will be presented in easy to understand definitions with examples and tips when needed. We look forward to preparing educators and teachers for whatever questions their learners might have in a fun and educational way! If you have digital questions or terms that you would like for us to include, please reach out at [email protected]
The Pillar of Citizenship The Character Counts Coalition uses the color purple to symbolize the pillar of Citizenship. During the month of February, Madison School is focusing on the pillar of Citizenship. Some of the events in the world over the last couple of years have brought to the forefront the notion of citizenship and patriotism in the hearts of many Americans. We as educators hope to take advantage of this opportunity and make these principles both active and alive in our children and ourselves. Within ourselves we must search to find the spirit and determination to be the best we can, knowing that in doing so, we benefit the whole of our communities and country. We hope this information is helpful to you so that you may understand what your child is learning at school and to reinforce and continue the learning process at home. What does it mean to be a Good Citizen? - Good citizens do their share to help their families and communities to be better. - They are good neighbors. - They obey rules, laws, cooperate with others. - They respect parents, teachers, and others in authority. - They protect the environment. - Stay informed about important issues and vote. - They are responsible for themselves. - They demonstrate good sportsmanship. - They have a positive attitude. - Do your share: Be a good neighbor and a good citizen. Contribute to the common good. Volunteer to make things cleaner, safer, and better for all. Protect the environment by conserving resources, reducing pollution and cleaning up after yourself. Speak up to make things better; don’t just complain. Vote. Report wrongdoings. - Respect authority and the law: Play by the rules even when it is disadvantageous to do so. Be cooperative. Follow the laws. Obey parents and teachers. Take time to learn about how the government works. Respect all people, animals, plants, and property. “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.” - John Fitzgerald Kennedy “The most important political office is that of private citizen.” - Louis Brandeis “When you have decided what you believe, what you feel must be done, have the courage to stand alone and be counted.” - Eleanor Roosevelt For You To Consider - Being a citizen comes with rights, duties and privileges. With every right we are given comes the responsibility to exercise it in a fair manner and to work toward helping fellow citizens do the same. - Real citizenship is active! Citizenship demands participation, involvement, and contribution. No one makes a difference without being involved. - People have no choice about the family or country they are born into, but people do have a choice about whether to be responsible members of their families and communities. Things You Can Do To Raise Good Citizens - Minimize waste. Recycle and conserve. - Reinforce the importance of school rules and that they must be followed. - Reinforce the importance of sportsmanship. - Reuse boxes and shopping bags. - Notice nature around you. Watch a sunrise or sunset. Look for animals. Appreciate the flowers and trees around you. - Plant a garden with your children. Allow them to help with the yard work and gardening. Grow your own herbs or vegetables. - Plant a seed or tree and watch it grow. - Turn the water off while you are brushing your teeth or doing the dishes. - Participate in a beach clean up day or plan your own for your family for an hour. If not the beach, use your neighborhood park. - Carpool or walk instead of using a car. - Encourage your children to watch shows on nature, science, or animals to broaden their knowledge and appreciation. - As a family, research and select a charity to donate to. Encourage your children to donate a portion of their allowance. Plan to participate as a family to help at the local shelter, senior center, food kitchen, or for an elderly neighbor. - Have discussions about current events so that your children can become aware of what the important issues are and how politicians or community officials are handling them. Have your children see you reading the newspaper, watching the news and getting involved in community services. - Observe and follow traffic rules. - Show and explain to your children how the election process works and how to utilize resources to stay informed of the issues before you vote. - Model citizenship behaviors and notice when your children are being good citizens in order to reinforce those desired behaviors. Prepared for you by Kimberly Pappas, School Counselor. Please call 310-798-8623 or email [email protected] if I can be of any assistance to you.
An Overview of the Metric System The metric system is based on multiples of 10. This makes it very easy to use with decimal numbers. One of the principle advantages of this is that it makes doing math with metric measurements much easier, which is why metric measurements are pretty much the standard in any sort of science or math class you will have. Once you learn the prefixes and base units, much of the work in the metric system is often just moving the decimal point around.. Also, the different types of measurement (distance, volume, mass and temperature) are related to each other in the metric system in part by using a very common substance -- water. When you put all of these parts together, the metric system is very... well, it's very systematic. Metric Distance (Length) A meter is the base unit of distance in the metric system. It is about the same length as a yard, or about three feet. If a meter is divided into 100 smaller parts, each of those parts is called a centimeter. The word centimeter has the same base as the word cent or century. The prefix centi means hundredth. 100 cents is one dollar, 100 years is one century and 100 centimeters is one meter. 1 meter = 100 centimeters 1m = 100cm Prefixes are used in the metric system a lot. Each centimeter is divided into ten (metric system! units of ten!) smaller parts called millimeters. Milli means thousandth. There are 1,000 millimeters in a meter (100cm x 10 = 1,000). Literally, millimeter means a thousandth of a meter. Millimeters are very small. 1 centimeter = 10 millimeters 1cm = 10mm 1 meter = 100 centimeters = 1,000 millimeters 1m = 100cm = 1,000mm Notice how we use the same base word ("meter") and the suffix changes to tell us what fraction or multiple of a meter the unit means. This same strategy is used for volume and mass. A meter is bigger than a centimeter and a centimeter is bigger than a millimeter. You would measure a car or a room in meters. You would measure a pencil or a piece of paper in centimeters. You would measure something very small like a bug in millimeters. For measuring long distances (how far you drive in a car or fly in an airplane), we measure using kilometers. The prefix kilo means thousand. 1 kilometer = 1,000 meters 1km = 1,000m Remember the metric system always, always, always deals in factors of ten (like 10mm=1cm, or 1,000m=1km). Traditional measurements use weird numbers (12 inches to a foot, 3 feet to a yard, 5280 feet to a mile, etc.). To convert from metric to traditional measurements, you have to use strange numbers as well. The basic conversion for distance is this... 1 inch = 2.54cm 1 inch = 25.4mm You must memorize this! If you know this one fact, you can figure anything else out. For example, if 1 inch is 2.54cm, and a foot is 12 inches, 1 foot also equals 12 x 2.54cm = 30.48cm. You can do the same thing for a yard. A yard is 36 inches. 36 x 2.54cm = 91.44cm, so a yard is the same as 91.44cm. Remember when we said one yard is close in size to a meter? We just showed how one yard is 91.44cm and we know one meter is 100cm! They really are pretty close! Metric Volume (Fluids) The liter is the base unit of volume in the metric system. It is about the same size as a quart in traditional measurements, and of course a two liter bottle of soda pop contains (you guessed it!) two liters. If you had a tiny cube that was 1 centimeter on a side, it would be a bit smaller than a six sided die used to play a board game. This would be called a cubic centimeter. This is a measure of volume. A cubic centimeter has another special name -- a milliliter. 1 cubic centimeter = 1 milliliter 1cm3 = 1mL Remember how milli means thousandth? And how 1,000mm equals one meter? It is similar for volume. 1 liter equals 1,000 milliliters. A liter is about the size of a one quart bottle of chocolate milk. You could pour 1,000 teeny, tiny milliliter cups of chocolate milk from a one liter bottle. A milliliter is very, very small. Each of those tiny cups might be a nice drink... if you were a mouse! 1 liter = 1,000 milliliters 1L = 1,000mL If a meter is 100 centimeters, a square meter has 100cm x 100cm = 10,000cm2 and a cubic meter has 10,000cm2 x 100cm = 1,000,000cm3. We learned above that a cubic centimeter is the same as one milliliter (1cm3 = 1mL), so a cubic meter has one million milliliters. We also know each liter is 1,000mL, so 1,000,000mL / 1000 = 1,000L. So a cubic meter contains 1,000 liters. We could also call this a kiloliter, although this term is not often used. Even though we can relate liters or milliliters to size measurements (cubic centimeters), we don’t ever say “cubic milliliter” or “cubic liter” because we already understand that “liter” means a measure of a three-dimensional volume. “Cubic liter” or anything similar would be redundant. Metric Mass (Weight) Remember how you visualized a milliliter as a tiny, tiny cup of chocolate milk, or a cube shape smaller than a board game die? If you filled that tiny, tiny cup up with water, you would have one milliliter of water. If you weighed it on a scale, the water would weigh exactly one gram. The gram is the base unit of mass in the metric system. 1cm3 of water weighs 1 gram 1mL of water weighs 1g A gram is very, very light. A few paper clips might weigh a gram. But some things need even smaller units. Nutrients in food or doses of medicine are measured in units called milligrams. A few specks of sand might weigh a milligram. Remember that 1,000 millimeters is one meter? That 1,000 milliliters is one liter? Well... 1 gram = 1,000 milligrams 1g = 1,000mg Remember how kilo means thousand? And how 1,000 meters is one kilometer? Well... 1 kilogram = 1,000 grams 1kg = 1,000g A kilogram is very close 2.2 pounds in traditional measurement. Just like the conversion from inches to centimeters, you must memorize this! 1 kilogram = 2.2 pounds 1kg = 2.2lb If you weigh 80 pounds, you can divide 80 by 2.2 to get about 36 kilograms. A kilogram is 1,000 grams, so if you weigh 36 kilograms, that’s 36 x 1000 or 36,000 grams. That’s the same as 36,000 of those little tiny 1mL cups of water, enough for a lot of thirsty mice! The temperature scale used in the metric measurements is usually the Celsius scale. It also uses water as a basis for its definition. Just like in the Fahrenheit temperature scale, the unit of temperature measurement is called a degree although values indicate different real temperatures between the two scales. The Celsius scale uses the freezing and boiling points of water a range and divides the temperature up into degrees. Temperature at which water freezes Normal human body temperature Temperature at which water boils The discussion above was long, but it also showed that the metric units are all related to each other, sometimes directly and sometimes by using water as a substance. Here's a quick review. A centimeter is a short distance, less than half an inch. A cube that is one centimeter on each side is called a cubic centimeter. This can hold a volume called a milliliter. A gram is the unit of mass defined as the amount of water in a milliliter. The Celsius temperature scale is also based on water, where zero is the freezing point of water and 100 is the boiling point of water.
The maximum bite force for a human male with normal teeth is about 777 Newtons, or 174 pounds; for females, it is about 481 Newtons, or 101 pounds. For comparison, normal chewing exerts 70 pounds per square inch. Human bite force differs throughout the jaw, as teeth closer to the hinge of the jaw are able to exert more pressure. Shorter jaws are consequently more efficient at generating powerful bites, but the heavier jaw musculature of the average man means they are able to bit harder than the average woman despite differences in jaw size. Older people and children both have less strong bite forces due to having less muscle to power the bite.
Researchers concerned with global environmental issues have sought to create a greener planet by inventing a fully automated system that is capable of growing algae year-round. Algae are an incredibly diverse group of photosynthesizing organisms which scientists have…identified as having great potential for cleaning up industrial waste, generating biofuels, and reducing industry’s carbon foot-print. The algae industry has hitherto faced difficulties with being able to grow their green organisms year-round, but the new system invented by scientists from the University of Dayton Research Institute have potentially just removed that obstacle. An alga (plural form “algae”) can be any of a huge number of primitive, photosynthesizing organisms. Algae may be single celled or multicellular. The most recognizable form of algae are the green algae, which are thought to have evolved around 500 million years ago. However there are also red algae (which include many types of seaweeds), brown algae (including kelps and the beautifully intricate diatoms), and golden algae (which is best known for killing fish). It is not clear how exactly all these organisms are related to each other in terms of the phylogenetic (evolutionary) history, so the word “algae” had become a sort of catch-all phrase for these primitive photosynthesizers. Despite a questionable family history, algae have been identified as having incredible potential for helping to alleviate some of the world’s greatest environmental problems. To begin, like with any photosynthesizing organism, algae require carbon dioxide to survive—just like how humans need oxygen. Therefore, similar to planting trees or geo-sequestration, growing algae is a way to deal with unwanted carbon dioxide. Furthermore, algae can also absorb pollution and fertilizer run-off which contain the necessary nitrogen and phosphorous that they need to grow. The algae can then be harvested and used as an alternative to industrial fertilizers. Finally, algae produce oil products which can be used as biofuel. These oil products are produced in abundance—as much as 70 percent of an alga’s body mass. With so many potential uses, there is considerable interest in growing algae on an industrial scale. However algae are very sensitive organisms that are particularly vulnerable to fluctuations in weather and temperature. Regions in the northern hemisphere in particular face challenges with growing algae because of the changing seasons, shorter daylight hours, and overall colder climate. But these challenges may have just been overcome thanks to an invention that was recently made by scientists at the University of Dayton Research Institute in Ohio. The Ohio researchers have invented an economical, efficient, and completely automated system capable of growing algae year-round. To do this, they scaled up an indoor growing system and engineered it to insulate the growing algae from the outside world despite seasonal changes. With this system, algal yields are already meeting the target production goals established by the Department of Energy. With the logistical limiting factors removed, it is hoped that algae can be grown year-round, both for further research purposes and creating a greener plant by offering sustainable solutions to modern industry. The unit has been deemed successful and dependable enough that developers are seeking to begin the commercialization process of bringing this futuristic technology into mainstream use. Sarah Takushi, Guardian Liberty Voice View original article at: Algae Grown Year-Round for a Greener Planet
WHY FOCUS ON YELLOWSTONE IN CLIMATE CHANGE INSTRUCTION? Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding area is one of the most treasured regions of North America. Scientists are finding that Yellowstone is warming at an alarming rate. Many unique and iconic animals that inhabit Yellowstone National Park are considered at risk species and are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. WHAT DO BISON AND BEARS HAVE TO DO WITH GLOBAL WARMING? Climate change is altering key habitat elements that are critical to wildlife’s survival, including the quality and quantity of major food sources. Both bison and grizzly bears may move to new areas to survive these changes, putting the two species at risk as they compete with each other and other wildlife for dwindling resources. ABOUT THE BISON & BEARS OF YELLOWSTONE EDUCATOR’S GUIDE: This guide’s activities are designed for grades 3-5, with extensions for younger and older students. These activities meet national standards for English/Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, and Visual Arts.
Physics IX Notes Chapter 7 Properties of Matter Q.1 explains the kinetic molecular model of matter? Ans. kinetic molecules model of matter:- according to this theory matter consists of small particles called modules. Modules are its made of small a particle called atoms. These molecules are always I state of motion. Their the motion may be linear vibrational or rotational and this motion is increased with an increase in temperature, there is a force of attraction between the molecules which depend upon the distance between them their kinetic energy is due to their motion and potential energy is due to the force of attraction between them. Q.2 explains the states of matter on the bases of a molecular model of matter? Ans. State of matter explained below on the bases of molecular theory? i. solids have defined shape and a definite volume. ii. In solids, molecules cannot transfer from one place to another. iii. Their molecules perform the vibratory motion. iv. Their molecules are increased with an increase in temperature. I. Liquids have a definite volume but no definite pe. II. Molecules in liquids are loosely bided to each other. III. In liquids, molecules can transfer from one place to another. IV. Force of attraction b/w molecules is weaker than solids. V. Their K.E increase with an increase in temperature. i. they have neither definite shape nor volume. ii. Their molecules are at a large distance from one another. iii. Their molecules can move freely and perform random motion. iv. Force of attraction b/w molecules in temperature. 4. Plasma:- this is the 4thstate matter which is found in ionized state it is called plasma exist in sun. Q.3 Define and explain “Density”? Ans. Density:- the mass f unit volume is called density it is denoted by (Rho). Explanation:-if mass of a body is “m” and volume of that body is “v” then we can write its mathematical form as; From its mathematical form it is clear that density the inter molecular force b/w then. Density is a vector quantity and its unit is kg/m3. Q.4 Defines pressure? Pressure:- force per unit area is called pressure if we have a unit area “A” at which force “F” is acting then the press “P” is given by/ Pressure = force/area => p = f/A It’s unit is Pascal. Q.5 Define and explain atmospheric pressure? Ans. The force excreted by the thick layer of air surrounds earth is called atmospheric pressure This is a layer of air around us which is called atmosphere we live in the ocean of air which exerts a force upon our body and it is equal to 100,000 Pascal which is called one atmospheric presser. Q. 6 write a note on barometer? Ans. Barometer :- A devise which is used for measurement of atmospheric pressure is called barometer consists of a glass filled with mercury one end of the glass is sealed and the other is dipped in mercury when atmospheric pressure presses the mercury toward the mercury rises up in glass tube the glass is graduated with different values the height of mercury in the glass shows the value of atmospheric the pressure at sea level the mercury can rise up to 16cm at 00c and it is known as the standard of atmospheric pressure. Q..7 write application of atmospheric pressure in our daily life? Ans. Some applications of atmospheric pressure are given below. Sucking throw straw:- when we suck any liquid through a straw the volume of lungs increases and the air pressure decreases. As a result the atmospheric rise in straw. Surfing:– when we draw any liquid with the help of syring the pressure inside the syring decreases while the pressure a surface of liquid increases which forces the liquid ongoing into syring. while the pressure an surface of liquid increases which forces the liquid on going into syring. Q.8 explains that how weather changes with atmospheric pressure. Ans. If we keep barometer at same high above the see level if will show the changes of day by day pressure. These pressure changes are shown a weather map. These lines which loins all places at the same atmospheric pressure are called I so bar. The unit which is used for weather map is called mill bar ( m bar) 100m bar = 1 bar => 1bar = 100kpa The atmospheric pressure usually changes from 1040 mbar to as low as 950 mbar. The wind moves from high pressure regions to low pressure regions. The winds of low pressure areas move anti-clock wise while the wind of high pressure areas move clock-wise in northern hemisphere. The strength of wind is determined by the pressure gradient. Q.9 state and explain Pascal’s law? Explanation:- consider a container having four openings A,B,C and D as shown In figure. There are moveable pistons in every opening. Now if we this container with water or any other liquid. Then we apply some force on anyone piston of them. Suppose we apply force on “A” as soon as we apply force on piston “A” at the same time the other three pistons will also start moving outwards. This experiment shows that pressure exerted on any liquid in any container is distributed equally in all directions.
The ancient Egyptians led a rich theological life. With 8,700 deities in their pantheon, religion played a central part in both their society and their daily lives. The heart of their religious devotions was the temple. Devotees did not worship at the temple. Rather, they left offerings to their gods, made requests for their god to intercede on their behalf and took part in religious festivals. A modest shrine dedicated to a family god was a common feature of private homes. Ancient Egyptian Temple Facts - Ancient Egypt’s temples accumulated prodigious wealth, rivalling the pharaohs for political and social power and influence - Temples are classified into Religious Temples or Mortuary Temples - Religious Temples were the home of the god on earth - Ceremonies were staged in Religious Temples to transform the mortal human pharaoh into a living deity on earth who was then worshipped by his people - Mortuary temples were dedicated to a deceased pharaoh’s funerary cult - Sacred space were areas dedicated to worshipping a god or goddess. Priests built temples on the sacred space after being sent a sign by the deity or because of its special location - Public temples housed the statue of the gods to which they were dedicated - Temples represented the primeval mound, which the god Amun stood on to create the universe - Ancient Egyptians believed the temple was a miniature depiction of their universe and the heavens above - Egypt’s continued existence and prosperity relied on the priesthood tending their gods’ needs - Karnak is Egypt’s largest temple complex. It vies with Cambodia’s Angkor Wat as the world’s largest ancient religious complex - Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple is one of Egypt’s greatest archaeological treasures. The female pharaoh’s name was erased from all external inscriptions and her image was defaced - The two monumental temples at Abu Simbel were relocated in the 1960s to higher ground to avoid them being inundated by the waters of the High Aswan dam Over time, the temples accumulated enormous wealth and translated that in political and social power and influence. Eventually, their wealth rivalled that of the pharaohs. Temples were major employers in the community, employing priests, to artisans, gardeners and cooks. Temples also grew their own food on the large farmland estates they owned. Temples also received a share of the spoils of war including prisoners from the pharaoh’s military campaigns. Pharaohs also gifted temples with monuments, goods and additional land. Two Forms Of Ancient Egyptian Temples Egyptologists view ancient Egypt’s temples as falling into two main categories: - Cultus Or Religious Temples These temples were consecrated to a deity with many temples worshipping more than one deity. These temples constituted the gods’ earthly homes. Here, the high priest tended the statue of the god in the inner sanctum. Cult members performed their ceremonial duties and daily rituals, made offerings to the gods, prayed to their gods’ and tended their needs. Festivals were also staged in cultus temples, allowing ordinary Egyptians to take part in honouring their deity. - Mortuary Temples These temples were dedicated to the funerary cult of a deceased pharaoh. In these temples, cult members made offerings of food, drink and clothing to the deceased pharaoh to assuring the pharaoh would continue his protection of the Egyptian people in death as he had in life. Mortuary temples were exclusively dedicated to deceased pharaohs.Initially, mortuary temples were incorporated into the network of builds associated with the pharaoh’s tomb. The majority of pyramids included a mortuary temple within their surrounding complex. Later pharaohs looked to conceal their tombs to frustrate tomb robbers so they began constructing these elaborate mortuary temples well away from the location of their tombs. A sacred space is an area dedicated to the worship of a god or goddess. Priests ordered the construction of a temple or a shrine on the sacred space after selecting the spot after being sent a sign it was significant from the deity or because of its location. Once the sacred space had been selected, the priests conducted purification rituals prior to constructing a religious temple or shrine in the deity’s honour. These spaces remained in use for centuries. Often new, more elaborate temples were constructed on top of existing temple structures, providing a record of religious worship on the site Temples served several purposes in ancient Egypt. The primary role of most temples was to house the statue of the gods to which they were dedicated. These statues were believed to be the homes of the god. The continued existence and prosperity of the land of Egypt was contingent on the priesthood tending to the needs of the gods. Ancient Egyptians believed a patron god of a town who was neglected and failed to receive the care due to them would grow angry and leave the temple. This would expose the town’s inhabitant to all kinds of misfortune and disaster. Select temples also served dual purposes. No pharaoh could rule ancient Egypt without first being deified. Elaborate ceremonies were staged where the new pharaoh entered the temple, together with the high priest. Once inside the temple’s inner sanctum, they performed rituals designed to transform the mortal human pharaoh into a living deity on earth. The pharaoh was then worshipped and revered by his subjects. Some temples were reserved exclusively for the worship of their pharaoh. Structures Rich In Meaning For ancient Egyptians, their temples had three meanings. Firstly, it was where a god lived while on earth. Secondly, it represented the primeval mound, which the god Amun stood on to create the universe, as the ancient Egyptians knew it. Reflecting this belief, the temple’s inner sanctuary, where the god’s statue was located was built higher than the remainder of the temple complex. Thirdly, worshippers believed the temple was a miniature depiction of their universe and the heavens above. Due to a chronic shortage of wood, ancient Egyptian temples were built using stone. Their only other readily available building material was mud-brick. Unfortunately, mud-brick weathered and crumbled. As the temples built to house the gods needed to last for all eternity, stone was the only acceptable building material. A series of inscribed reliefs, inscriptions and images covered the temple walls. The temple’s Hypostyle hall often depicted scenes from history. These inscriptions outlined pivotal events or achievements during a pharaoh’s reign or major events in the life of the temple. Specific rooms also contained carved reliefs depicting temple rituals. Many of the images depicted the pharaoh leading the ritual. These inscriptions also displayed images of the gods together with myths about those gods. The Theban Necropolis The sprawling complex of temples, which comprised the Theban Necropolis was set on the Nile River’s west bank close to the Valley of the Kings. The most well-known temples constructed as part of this huge complex included the Ramesseum, the Medinet Habu and the Deir-El-Bahri. These comprised a network of buildings including Hatshepsut and Thutmose III’s mortuary temples. A landslide during antiquity caused extensive damage to Thutmose III’s temple. The resulting rubble was then pillaged for stones to construct later buildings. Hatshepsut’s Mortuary Temple One of the most amazing sites in world archaeology as well as in all of Egypt, Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple was extensively reconstructed in the late 20th century. Carved into the living rock of the cliff face Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple is the highlight of Deir-El-Bahri. The temple comprises three separate terraces each linked by a massive ramp leading up to the next terrace level. The temple stands 29.5 metres (97 feet) tall. Sadly most of its external images and statues were damaged or destroyed by Hatshepsut’s successors who were determined to erase Hatshepsut’s reign from recorded history. Constructed by Ramesses II, the Ramesseum temple required two decades to finish. The temple complex comprises two pylons and a Hypostyle hall. The builders erected several monumental statues depicting the pharaoh in his temple. Their inscriptions celebrate the pharaoh’s military triumphs. A temple consecrated to Ramesses’ first wife and his mother stands beside the temple. Extensive flooding by the Nile has caused damage to the Ramesseum’s surviving structure. This temple is located on the Triad’s east bank. The Theban Triad comprising Mut, Khonsu and Amun was worshipped at this site. During the Opet Festival, which celebrated fertility, Amun’s statue at Karnak was transported to the Luxor Temple. Karnak is Egypt’s biggest temple complex. It vies with Cambodia’s Angkor Wat as the world’s largest ancient religious complex. Karnak was at the heart of Egypt’s Amun cult and housed four distinct temple complexes. The three surviving complexes house the temples of Amun, Montu and Mut. Chapels were constructed to worship for other gods in each complex and each complex had a dedicated sacred pool. At least thirty of Egypt’s pharaohs are thought to have contributed to Karnak’s construction. Abu Simbel comprises two temples commissioned by Ramesses II during his massive construction phase. These temples were dedicated to Ramesses himself and to his first wife Queen Nefertari. Ramesses II’s personal temple also honoured three of Egypt’s national gods. The goddess Hathor was the deity worshipped within the halls of Nefertari’s temple. Their builders carved these monumental temples into the living cliff face. A massive effort was mounted during the 1960s to relocate them to higher ground to avoid them being inundated by the waters of the High Aswan dam. Ramesses II intended the scale of these temples to demonstrate his power and wealth to his neighbours in the south. The mortuary temple dedicated to the pharaoh Seti I was located at Abydos. Egyptologists discovered the groundbreaking Abydos King’s list in the temple. Today, part of Abydos’ ancient temples lie beneath the contemporary town occupying the site. Abydos formed a key centre of Egypt’s Osiris worship and Osiris’ tomb was claimed to be located here in Abydos. The island of Philae was deemed to be a sacred space and only priests were allowed to live within the island’s grounds. Philae was once home to temples dedicated to Isis and Hathor. The island was also home to another of Osiris’ reputed tombs. These temples were also relocated in the 1960s to protect them from being inundated by the Aswan High Dam. Ramesses III constructed his own temple complex at Medinet Habu. Its extensive reliefs show the arrival and subsequent defeat of the Hyskos Sea Peoples. It is 210 metres (690 feet) by 304 metres (1,000 feet) and contains more than 75,000 sq. ft. of wall reliefs. A protective mud-brick wall surrounds the temple. A unique dual temple is located at Kom Ombo. Twin sets of courtyards, sanctuaries, halls and chambers are laid out on either side of a central axis. In the north wing the gods Panebtawy, Tasenetnofret and Haroeris were worshipped. The south wing was dedicated to the gods Hathor, Khonsu and Sobek. Archaeologists have reconstructed much of this temple complex. Several hundred mummified crocodiles representing Sobek was discovered close to the temple’s site. Edfu was dedicated to the god Horus. Today, the temple is well preserved. It was constructed during the Ptolemaic Dynasty on the ruins of a New Kingdom era temple. Archaeologists have discovered several small pyramids near Edfu. The Dendera temple complex sprawls over 40,000 square meters. Comprising several buildings dating to different periods, Dendera is one of ancient Egypt’s best-preserved archaeological sites. The main temple is dedicated to the Egyptian goddess of motherhood and love, Hathor. Major discoveries within the complex include the necropolis, the Dendera Zodiac, colourful ceiling paintings and the Dendera Light. Ancient Egyptian Household Shrines In contrast to the often-colossal nature of their temples, many ancient Egyptian homes contained more modest household shrines. Here, people worshipped state gods such as Amun-Ra. Two deities commonly worshipped in the home were the goddess Tauret and the god Bes. Tauret was the goddess of fertility and childbirth while Bes assisted with childbirth and protected young children. Individuals placed votive offerings such as food and drink and steles carved with pleas for divine assistance or giving thanks for the god’s intervention on their household shrine. Temples As A Microcosm Of The Egyptian Economy Ancient Egypt accepted two forms of priesthood. These were lay priests and full-time priests. Lay priests performed their duties at the temple for three months out of every year. They served one month, then were allowed a three-month absence before returning for another month. During those times when they were not serving as priests, lay priests often had other occupations such as scribes or doctors. Full-time priests were in permanent members of the temple priesthood. The High Priest had dominion over all the temple’s activities and performed the major ritual observances. Waab priests carried out sacred rituals and were obliged to observe ritual purity. The path to the priesthood had several routes. A man could inherit his priestly position from a father. Alternatively, the pharaoh could appointment a priest. It was also possible for an individual to purchase entry to the priesthood. Higher positions within the priesthood were achieved via a popular vote held by cult members. A serving priest was required to observe a vow of celibacy and to live within the temple enclosure. Priests were also not allowed to wear items fashioned from animal byproducts. They wore linen clothing and their sandals were made from plant fibres. Craftsmen fashioned the statues, votive offerings, jewellery, ritual objects and priest’s clothing for the temple. Cleaners maintained the temple and kept the surrounding grounds in order. Farmers tended the land owned by the temple and grew the produce for temple ceremonies and to feed the priests. Slaves were mostly foreign prisoners-of-war captured in military campaigns. They conducted menial tasks within the temples. Religious Rituals In Ancient Egypt For most of ancient Egypt’s history, it observed a polytheistic form of religious worship. With 8,700 gods and goddesses, people were allowed to venerate any deity of their choice. Many worshipped several deities. The appeal of some deities spread throughout Egypt, while other gods and goddess were confined to a cluster of cities and small villages. Every town had its own patron god and built a temple honouring their protective deity. Egyptian religious rites were based on the belief that serving the gods secured their assistance and protection. Hence rituals honoured their deities with a continuous supply of fresh clothing and food. Special ceremonies were intended to ensure the god’s assistance in battle, while others sought to maintain the fertility of Egypt’s fields and marshes. Daily Temple Rituals The temple priests and for select ceremonies, the pharaoh conducted the temple’s daily cult rituals. Pharaohs made offerings to the gods at the more important temples. Temple priests performing these daily rituals were obliged to bathe several times each day in the temple’s sacred pool. The high priest entered the temple’s Inner Sanctuary every morning. He then cleaned and dressed the statue in fresh clothing. The high priest applied fresh makeup to the statue and placed it in position upon the altar. The high priest offered the statue three meals every day while it was on the altar. Following the statue’s ritual meal, the high priest distributed the food offering to the temple’s priests. The cults of ancient Egypt staged dozens of festivals throughout the year. Known as heb, festivals allowed the populace to experience the god personally, give thanks for gifts from the gods such as a good harvest and make requests of the gods to intervene and show the supplicant its favour. During many of these festivals, the statue of the god was moved from the temple’s inner sanctum and carried on a barque through the town. These festivals were one of the few times ordinary Egyptians could glimpse their god’s statue. Festivals were believed to play a crucial role in ensuring the annual Nile floods came, ensuring the land’s continued fertility. Reflecting On The Past For ancient Egyptians, their temples represented a source of assistance and protection. Egypt’s cults grew wealthy and influential, as they alone interpreted the will of the gods. In time their power eclipsed even that of the pharaohs. A complex network of temples sprang up across Egypt, maintained by priests and their surrounding communities. Today the remnants of these colossal complexes remind us of the depth of their belief and the power they wielded within Egyptian society. Header image courtesy: Than217 [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Organisms were thriving here for hundreds of millions of years earlier than originally thought The research about the discovery was originally published in the journal Nature. This is the most significant evidence found to date that organisms could also have evolved on the planet Mars, which back then still had oceans and an atmosphere and was being bombarded by comets. Scientists believe these comets were responsible for the building blocks of life on Earth. Since early Earth and early Mars were so similar, the research team who made the recent discovery think there may have been life on both planets at that time. “We know that life managed to get a foothold and evolve rapidly on Earth. So if we have life evolving in hydrothermal vent systems maybe even 4.2 billion years ago when both planets had liquid water on their surface, then we would expect both planets to develop early life,” said Matthew Dodd, a doctoral student and the lead author of the study which was co-funded by NASA. “If we do future sample returns from Mars and look at similarly old rocks and we don’t find evidence of life then this certainly may point to the fact that Earth might have been a very special exception, and life may just have arisen on Earth.” Before this discovery, the oldest microfossils ever found were in Western Australia and dated 3.4 billion years ago, which led scientists to believe that life on Earth started around 3.7 billion years ago. But the new fossils suggest living organisms could have on Earth as early as 4.5 billion years ago, just a hundred million years after the Earth was formed. If similar life is found on Mars it could indicate that life here may have had a Martian origin, but some scientists say that it’s more plausible that life on both planets evolved at the same time, with Mars’ fizzling out and Earth’s blossoming. If you’re reading this article, it’s thanks to the generosity of people like you, who have made Aleteia possible. Here are some numbers: - 20 million users around the world read Aleteia.org every month - Aleteia is published every day in eight languages: English, French, Arabic, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, and Slovenian - Each month, readers view more than 50 million pages - Nearly 4 million people follow Aleteia on social media - Each month, we publish 2,450 articles and around 40 videos - We have 60 full time staff and approximately 400 collaborators (writers, translators, photographers, etc.) As you can imagine, these numbers represent a lot of work. We need you. Support Aleteia with as little as $1. It only takes a minute. Thank you!
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex condition that impacts many systems in the body, from neurological aspects to physical comorbidities. Children with autism often endure sensory overload, may be nonverbal, and may have difficulty understanding and relaying emotions. These combined experiences can cause the child heightened stress when interacting with others. As the rate of autism diagnosis continues to rise, there is an urgent need to develop mechanisms to help autistic children cope with exciting or unfamiliar situations. Deep touch pressure therapy, the standard method of intervention in the American special needs education system, uses tools such as hand brushes or weighted vests to reduce stress. However, these tools provide the children neither with control over the contact nor with opportunities to socialize. Animal-assisted intervention can improve the stress levels and behavior of autistic children. However, live animal companions are not always feasible given a number of factors, such as the resources of caregivers. Robot therapy also shows promise - children with ASD appear to respond more favorably to robots than human strangers, possibly due to the robot's safely predictable behavior. Our research objective is to test the hypothesis that an appropriately designed robot animal can reduce stress in children with autism and empower them to engage in social interaction [ ]. We enclose NAO, a commercially available humanoid research robot, inside a soft koala suit to serve as the initial robot animal prototype. The robot animal (which has been named ‘HERA’) will use a system of custom tactile sensors to identify and react to the users' touches [ ]. As autism is a spectrum with low to high functioning patients, HERA’s personality and behavior will be customizable to generate reactions to tactile interactions that are appropriate to the user.
The technological world is quite stirred up with its latest invention. This discovery is much needed at a time when Computer chips’ ability to process an excess of data is almost slowing down, a group of researchers, including one of Indian Origin, have successfully developed a three dimensional(3D) chip to take care of the situation. More about the 3D Chip: This chip had its inception at a juncture when Computers have to resort to one chip for computing and the second one for data storage. As a result, as the larger amount of data are analyzed, the limited rate at which data can be shifted between the chips is somewhat creating a communication ‘bottleneck’. The journal ‘Nature’ provides a detailed description of this new prototype chip, comprising of multiple nanotechnologies and a new 3D computer architecture, for the reversal of this trend. The challenge to overcome the communication ‘bottleneck’ has been taken up by the researchers by inserting ultra-dense wires between these layers. In addition to this, the researchers have united over one million resistive random access memory (RRAM) cells, a new sort of memory storage, and two million carbon nanotube transistors used for processing, all leading towards an intense 3D computer architecture with interleaving layers of logic and memory. Philip Wong from Stanford has compared the usage of logic made from carbon nanotubes to be more energy efficient as compared to the ones made of silicon and so the RRAM also results in being more dense, fast and energy efficient. Perhaps the greatest advantage remains that the new chip is being found very compatible with today’s’ silicon infrastructure, referring to both fabrication and design. The concluding words are taken from Max Shulaker, Assistant Professor of MIT, where he states that this latest technology definitely did not succeed in rectifying the traditional computing but truly focuses on a whole new range of applications that might come up in the near future.
Research at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom offers further evidence that particular viruses represent an alternative to antibiotics to treat diseases in farm livestock. The latest results support their practical application on farms. Working with pigs, Martha Clokie, PhD, of the university’s Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation has identified 20 of these viruses, known as bacteriophages or phages, that are effective in combating 72 bacterial strains that cause gut diseases and are resistant to more than one antibiotic. Each phage virus type specifically attacks one pathogenic bacterial species, reducing the risk of the pathogen developing resistance over time, unlike conventional antibiotic treatments. The latest research, funded by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB Pork) and scheduled to be published later this year, shows that it is possible to dry out the phages to form a powder that can be added to the animals’ feed and still maintain high efficacy against the target bacteria. After two hours’ contact with the phages, there was a 4-log reduction in the number of disease-causing bacteria, meaning the count was down by a factor of roughly 10,000. The bacteria had been sourced from field cases, further confirming the likelihood of the treatment being effective in commercial situations. Phages as an antibiotic alternative With 40 percent of the UK’s antibiotics used in animals, and the same drugs also prescribed for humans, this latest work confirms the potential of phages for the treatment of both human and animal diseases in future. “There are many infections that we just can’t treat with antibiotics because they have become resistant to them,” said Clokie. “So using the phage therapy for specific diseases could change the way we treat infection.” Following previous research two years ago, Professor Clokie concluded that phages have potential to treat Brachyspira and Salmonella infections in pigs. Under experimental conditions, phages have also been effective in helping to address a leading food safety issue by reducing the contamination by Campylobacter on chicken carcasses.
( 22426 Reads)\| Host defenses can be divided into two categories, innate and adaptive immunity. Innate immunity involves general mechanisms in a healthy animal that prevent colonization by microorganisms and antagonize or kill those that do enter the host. They are always present and the strength of their response does not increase with repeated exposure to the inducing microbe. Adaptive immunity develops through the mechanisms that are turned on in response to a pathogen. This involves activation of the immune system, where the initial response to a pathogen is weak but becomes quite vigorous over a period of a few days. Adaptive defenses also have a memory of encountered pathogens such that a second infection by a pathogen is met with a more rapid and vigorous immune response. The rest of this chapter will cover innate immunity. The second chapter will describe adaptive immunity, summarize with a description of the entire immune systems response to a pathogen, and then finish by presenting errors the immune system makes and how those affect the body. Innate immunity is the first line of defense against a pathogen. The system must be somehow circumvented by the pathogen before it can enter into the host. In most cases, the adaptive immune system is only activated after the innate immune system has been breached. Here we examine various structures, products and cells of the innate response as shown in Table 15.2. \|Defense\|\|Mode of Antagonism\| \|Anatomical structures (skin, hair, blinking, nose hairs, cilia in the lungs and the peristaltic action of the digestive track)\|\|Provide physical barriers or motion that sweeps microbes out of areas of the body\| \|Tissue bactericides\|\|Many proteins and chemicals are created by the body that kill or inhibit the growth of microbes\| \|Microbial antagonism\|\|The normal flora of the body prevent pathogens from colonizing and causing disease.\| \|Complement proteins\|\|These proteins can be triggered by microbial secretions or by antibodies. They alert the immune system and can cause cell lysis.\| \|Inflammation\|\|A reaction to tissue damage that involves a large collection of cells, proteins and chemicals.\| \|Phagocytes\|\|Cells that attack microorganisms, engulf them and kill them. They are a major defense of the body.\| \|Natural killer cells\|\|Cells that roam the body and attack cells coated in IgG.\| Parts of the immune system that are always present and whose reaction against a pathogen does not increase with exposure to it. Natural killer cell activation does depend on antibodies, but they are not inducible. Therefore we include them here. Figure 15.6 summarizes the various anatomical defenses of the body. The skin is an extremely effective barrier to microorganisms. Besides preventing the cells of our body from escaping, it also prevents microorganisms from getting in. Skin contains several layers of tightly packed, heavily keratinized cells (keratin is a fibrous protein that gives skin, hair and nails its toughness). It is very difficult for most organisms to squeeze in between skin cells. Skin cells are also continually being shed and replaced by new ones, thus removing any microorganisms attached to them. The skin surface is also very hydrophobic and dry, which prevents the growth of many microorganisms. Sebaceous glands are present throughout the skin and they secrete hydrophobic oils that further repel water and microorganisms. The oil also helps keep the skin supple and flexible, preventing cracking that might allow microbial access to internal layers. Finally, melanin in the skin also helps to reduce the harmful impact of UV light by absorbing it. UV light can be damaging to all cells, including cells of the immune system. Figure 15.6. Anatomical immunity. Parts of the body are designed to prevent the passage of unwanted microorganisms. Some examples of structures that inhibit the advance of pathogens include the skin, hair, blinking eyelids, nose hairs, cilia in the lungs and the peristaltic action of the digestive track. Hair helps to restrict access of airborne pathogens to the skin. It protects the most sensitive or exposed body orifices, including the nasal cavity, the eyes and ears. Hair also serves as a cushion lessening the severity of cuts and grazes, which decreases the depth and number of breaks in the skin. The movement of various body parts can help to rid the body of microorganisms trying to colonize. Blinking the eyelids constantly sweeps microorganisms out of the eye. The entire respiratory tract, except bronchioles and alveoli, contains a mucociliary escalator consisting of mucus producing goblet cells and ciliated epithelium. The cilia continually beat upward and any particles that get stuck in the mucus are pushed out of the lungss. The peristaltic action of the gut not only moves food along our digestive tract, but also flushes microbes out of our system. If microorganisms do not have a method of attachment, they rapidly leave the gastrointestinal tract. The constant flushing of the urethra by urine helps to keep the bladder free of bacteria. All of the above movements continually remove microbes from our bodies. The body also produces a number of antimicrobial substances that inhibit or kill microorganisms. Collectively these substances are known as tissue bactericides. Tear ducts, sebaceous glands, ears, nose, lungs, mouth and digestive tract all secrete antimicrobial substances. Table 15.3 lists some of the common tissue bactericides, their mode of action and location. \|Substance\|\|Common sources\|\|Chemical composition\|\|Activity\| \|Lysozyme\|\|Serum, saliva, sweat, tears\|\|Protein\|\|Bacterial cell lysis\| \|Basic proteins and polypeptides (histones, β-lysins and other cationic proteins, tissue polypeptides)\|\|Serum or organized tissues\|\|Proteins or basic peptides\|\|Disruption of bacterial plasma membrane\| \|Lactoferrin and transferrin\|\|Body secretions, serum, organized tissue spaces\|\|Glycoprotein\|\|Inhibit microbial growth by binding (withholding) iron\| \|Peroxidase\|\|Saliva, tissues, cells (neutrophils)\|\|Protein\|\|Act with peroxide to cause lethal oxidations in cells\| \|Fibronectin\|\|Serum and mucosal surfaces\|\|Glycoprotein\|\|Bind to bacteria and assist in clearance (opsonization) by phagocytes\| The human body produces a large number of antimicrobial chemicals and proteins to keep microorganisms in check. One important group of broad-spectrum antimicrobial peptides is the defensins, which participate in the host defense of mammals, birds, plants and insects. Their presence in a wide variety of species probably indicates that they are an ancient form of antimicrobial antagonism. Defensins form a family of cysteine-rich, cationic and structured polypeptides of 29-42 amino acids that contain three or four disulfide bridges. They work by disrupting the membrane of a wide variety of pathogens, including Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, fungi and some enveloped viruses. They also serve as chemokines, which attract elements of the adaptive immune system. Defensins are expressed by many different tissues and it is now clear that they are a vital part of innate immunity. Complement is an enzymatic system in the blood containing over 20 proteins (some of the more prevalents proteins have been given the names C1-C9) . These proteins are produced in a variety of cells, including macrophages, hepatocytes (located in the liver) and epithelial cells in the gastrointestinal mucosa. They then circulate in the bloodstream until activated. Figure 15.7 shows a conceptualization of the complement cascade. Figure 15.7. The complement cascade. The reactions of the proteins of the complement cascade. See text for details. Activation of the complement system can follow one of three pathways: the classic pathway, the lectin pathway and the alternative pathway. The classic pathway begins when antibody of type IgG or IgM reacts with antigen (antibody structure is described below). IgG and IgM contain a masked C1 binding site that is exposed upon binding to antigen. C1q binds to this site and begins the complement cascade as shown in Animation 15.1. Binding of C1q activates C1r that in turn activates C1s. This forms an activated C1qrs enzyme that catalyzes the cleavage of C4 into C4a and C4b. Active C1qrs also degrades C2 into C2a and C2b. This is an enzymatic reaction, in which the binding of C1 to antibody results in the digestion of a large number C2 and C4 proteins. C2b and C4a are released into the environment. C2a and C4b bind to the membrane and associate to make a C3 convertase that acts on a large number of C3 proteins making C3a and C3b. C3b then combines with C4b and C2a to form a C5 convertase, cleaving C5 to C5a and C5b. The end result is the active degradation of a large number of complements proteins, by this expanding cascade. In this way a single antibody-antigen reaction can be amplified and produce an aggressive host response. Complement activation leads to several ultimate results. The lectin pathway is very similar to the classical pathway except the trigger is different. The host will produce a protein called mannose-binding lectin (MBL) that can attach to polysaccharides that contain the sugar mannose. It turns out that a significant number of microbes produce mannose containing polysaccharides on their surface, and MBL will associate with them. When it does, two other proteins (MBL-associated serine protease 1: MASP-1) and MASP-2 binds to MBL forming a structure similar to activated C1qrs and precipitate the complement cascade by cleaving C2 and C4. From here the reactions are similar to the classic pathway. The alternative pathway of complement activation does not involve antigen binding to antibody. This pathway involves interaction of the C3 compliment protein with the cell surface of a pathogen. C3 in the blood spontaneously hydrolyzes a thioester bond at a slow rate to form C3(H2O). This change in shape allows the binding of plasma protein Factor B, which is then a target for Factor D to cleave Factor B into Ba and Bb. Bb remains part of the C3(H2O) complex, now called C3(H2O)Bb. This complex, also known as a fluid-phase C3 convertase, will cleave a C3 molecule and cause C3b to interact with a membrane surface. If the membrane surface is a host membrane, it contains proteins that will short circuit the cascade. The C3a and C3b proteins rejoin, ending the reaction. If bound to a pathogen, they lack the proteins to stop the reaction and further activation of this membrane bound C3b molecule by Factor B and Factor D results in the formation of a membrane-bound C3 convertase. This convertase with activated Factor B and D is unstable, but can be become stable by the binding of properdin. Properidin is another blood protein. Once active and stable, C3 convertase digests C5, forming C5a and C5b. Subsequent steps in the alternative pathway are similar to the classical pathway. The alternate pathway allows antibody-independent activation of the complement system, which is important in initial defenses against a new pathogen before antibodies have been synthesized. Individuals who are deficient in complement formation have compromised immune systems. For example, complement deficiency in C3, C5, C6, C7, C8 or C9 leaves the person more susceptible to dangerous bacterial infections. Answer the questions below and then hit the Grade Exam button
Overview and Facts Strokes are brain attacks caused by blocking of blood vessels or due to internal bleeding in the brain. Common signs of a stroke include unexpected and severe headaches, weakness, confusion, numbness, problem in walking or talking, and dizziness. When a stroke occurs, the amount of oxygen and nutrients supplied to brain reduces , which results in the death of brain cells. It is a serious medical condition and requires immediate medical help. It is one of the leading causes of deaths in the United States (currently coming at the 5th spot). About 800,000 people are hit by stroke every year, which equates to about one person getting hit every 40 seconds. There are about 7 million people in United States that survived a stroke. However, strokes cause about 137,000 deaths every year. The death rate of women due to strokes is higher as compared to men. Around 60% of women who suffer an attack of stroke don’t survive, while in men the fatality rate is only 40%. Types and Symptoms of Stroke Types of Stroke: Strokes are broadly classified into following two kinds: It is the most common kind of stroke which happens due to blocking of arteries, caused by the deposition of a fatty substance known as plaque in them. This is known as atherosclerosis and causes blood clotting. There are two types of Ischemic stroke, i.e. Thrombotic strokes which are caused when an artery that carries blood to the brain is blocked by a blood clot. Embolic strokes which are a result of a blood clot formed at some other part of body and carried via blood vessels to brain, barricading the flow of blood to the brain. Moreover, there is another ischemic stroke called TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack) or a ‘mini-stroke’ which involves temporary blockage of blood flow. A stroke caused by bleeding inside brain which causes brain cell damage is referred to as hemorrhagic stroke. They are classified on the basis of the bleeding location, i.e. Subarachnoid hemorrhage which is caused when the bleeding is in the area between the skull and the brain. Intracerebral hemorrhage when the bleeding is right inside the brain. Symptoms of Stroke: Symptoms of a Stroke include: Sudden weakness in one side of arm, leg, or face. Short term loss of sensation, strength, vision, coordination, and speech and its understanding, which worsens over time. Vision reduction, majorly in one eye. Loss of body balance, later followed by hiccups, vomiting, nausea, fever or problem with swallowing. Heavy headache followed by loss of consciousness. Risk Factors of Stroke There are certain health conditions that might increase the risk of a stroke attack. Some of the health conditions responsible for strokes are: High Blood Cholesterol Carotid or Peripheral Artery Disease Sickle Cell Diseases Moreover, there are various other risk factors that can cause a stroke attack. These include: Age: Stroke risks increase after an age of 55 years and the risk is highest at an age of 65. Gender: Women are likely to have more stroke attacks as compared to men. Genetic Factor: If someone in the family has a history of stroke attack then there are chances that the problem is inherited. Various other factors such as smoking, alcohol or drug abuse and an improper diet can also lead to stroke attacks. Do I Have Stroke? You can’t detect a stroke attack before it happens. It happens suddenly and can inflict a lot of damage. Causes and Prevention of Stroke Causes of Stroke: There are various factors that can lead to a stroke attack such as age, genetic factor, or issues with one’s diet. Some habits such as abuse of alcohol or drugs and smoking can also be possible causes of strokes. Having existing health conditions such as heart problems, diabetes, high levels of blood pressure or cholesterol, etc. might also lead to a stroke at some point of time. Prevention of Stroke: Unfortunately, there is no early way to prevent a stroke attack as it happens very suddenly. However, it can indirectly be prevented by getting rid of bad habits such as smoking and drugs, or by treatment of the health conditions that might be responsible for causing it. Diagnosis and Tests of Stroke Diagnosis of a stroke is required for the correct treatment. It helps in the identification of the type of stroke and to find out the bleeding point in the brain. Stroke diagnosis is generally done by a CT scan which follows the study of several X-rays to identify the location of bleeding inside brain. Also, an MRI scan can be performed to diagnose a stroke. Moreover, various other tests are performed for determining the treatment of stroke or identify some other health conditions. Some of the tests are listed below: ECG or Electrocardiogram which is used to identify any heart problem. Blood tests such as CBC, blood sugar, prothrombin time and INR, etc. Also, some other tests such as Magnetic Resonance Angiogram (MRA), CT angiogram, carotid angiogram, etc. can be conducted later. But what to do in case of an emergency stroke? To diagnose an emergency stroke FAST test can be effective, where: F stands for Face: Check for sagging on the sides of the face. A stands for Arms: Raise both arms and check whether one of them falls. S stands for Speech: Try speaking and check whether it sounds slurry or weird. T stands for Time: Note the initiation time of the problem and call for help. Treatment and Care of Stroke There are various methods for the treatment of a stroke and some of these methods are dependent on the type of the stroke. These are: Thrombolysis for Ischemic Stroke The most effective and widely used method for the treatment of stroke is thrombolysis. It is also known as thrombolytic therapy and involves the dissolution of blood clots inside the vessels to improve the flow of blood. This prevents damage to the organs and tissues. Thrombolysis is performed by injecting the clot-busting drugs with the help of a long catheter or intravenous (IV) line. The long catheter is used to directly target the clot location and bust it right there. The catheter is linked with a mechanical device that can function to physically break the clot. It is effective for the treatment of ischemic strokes. The drug generally used for the treatment is tissue plasminogen activator (TPA), but it needs to be used within 4.5 hours of the stroke attack. Aspirin can also be used for treatment. In case of Hemorrhagic Stroke First of all, the treatment of hemorrhagic stroke requires controlling the bleeding inside the brain, which is the main cause of the stroke. One of the major reasons behind this stroke is high blood pressure. Thus, medication is necessary to control high blood pressure and pressure inside brain. This helps in preventing seizures and blood vessels constriction. Moreover, in case the patient consumes blood thinners or antiplatelet medications such as clopidogrel or warfarin, the patient needs to take drugs that oppose the effect of this kind of medication in order to recover from blood loss. If the reason behind stroke is aneurysm, surgical methods such as clamping its base or filling it with the help of detachable coils can be used to control the flow of blood. Sometimes, hemorrhage strokes are caused because of arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) i.e. small twisted connection between veins and arteries. If AVM’s are the reason behind stroke, they can be removed by surgical methods for stroke treatment. OTC Medications and Self-Management Methods for Stroke OTC Medications for Stroke: There is no over-the-counter (OTC) medication available for treatment of strokes. Moreover, the medication for treatment of a stroke should only be consumed when recommended by a healthcare expert. Stroke attacks are sudden and intake of any kind of OTC medication isn’t advised as they might worsen the condition. Instantly asking for help of a medical professional is advised in case there is any symptom of a stroke. FAST diagnosis can help in self-diagnosing the condition and medical help can be requested for instant treatment. Self-Management of Stroke: Stroke attacks are unexpected and highly affect the lifestyle of a person even after treatment. Various self-management methods for rehabilitation are required after a stroke attack. Self-management helps in recovery from the side effects of the problem and bring life back to a normal pace. A person may have to go through physical, occupational and speech therapy which helps in getting back into normal life. If a person who suffered a stroke attack follows the therapy process they can get back on their feet and can go back to their daily routine of life. Moreover, attending support group sessions and communicating with the people who have been through the same can psychologically help a person in getting over the trauma of a stroke. Health Tip by Expert Strokes can be extremely harmful to life. It is advised to instantly ask for help from a nearby hospital in case you observe any symptom of stroke in someone near you. If you observe any kind of symptom in yourself, you must ask someone near you to call a doctor. Quick diagnosis by FAST is advised to know about the attack as soon as possible. In case of minor stroke or TIA, instant intake of aspirin is advised.
How Our Ancestors Formed Full Faces and Straight Teeth "Individual beauty is a matter of both design of the face and regularity and perfection of the teeth. Nature always builds harmoniously if conditions are sufficiently favorable, regardless of race, color or location" Weston A. Price, DDS Weston Price was a dentist who practiced in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s in Cleveland, Ohio. He was well known and well respected in his day, widely published in peer-reviewed journals. He was the author of a textbook on dentistry used by the US Navy. He served as head of research for the National Dental Association. He had a laboratory in his home office where he evaluated different foods for nutrient content. He wrote prolifically and did a lot of research on the effects of root canals and systemic health effects. In the 1930’s he travelled the world and studied all the “primitive” cultures of the world. At that time there were many pockets of people not exposed to western civilization and in particular, the Western diet of processed foods such as white flour and sugar. He was very interested in diet and its effects on growth and development. He studied groups of Inuit, Pacific Islanders, Australian Aborigines, New Zealand Maori, Swiss Highlanders and South American Indians and he made some very astute observations. Those not exposed to the “Western” diet, what he termed " the displacing foods of commerce", as children universally had broad, attractive faces and wide dental arches with beautifully aligned teeth and no tooth decay. These two Kalahari boys are from the same tribe and obviously have the same genetics, but one was born to parents who ate a modern diet and one to parents who ate a traditional diet. Within one generation of the parents and children consuming white flour, sugar and other nutrient-poor foods, the faces became narrower, the dental arches irregular with crowded teeth and they began to develop tooth decay. This Dr. Weston Price put down to poor nutrient absorption interfering with growth and tooth development. He also posited that this change in dietary habits encouraged the development of allergies and airway obstruction causing mouth-breathing, a change in tongue posture and the associated development of a long and narrow face. The interesting thing was, in studying so many diverse cultures and diets he was able to pinpoint common factors in all the traditional diets that ensured that the children grew up strong and straight, maximising their genetic potential. Every culture had adapted its diet over many hundreds of years to ensure that all of its people’s nutritional needs were being met. Nourishing Traditional Diets - Sally Fallon Morell As a society we have come to accept a variety of different dental issues that our children have as normal or genetically based; however, as we’ve just seen, the incomparable anthropological research conducted by Dr. Price indicates that these conditions are in fact not genetic but, rather, caused by a lack of vital nutrients during the formative period of development. This malnutrition and the ensuing dental malocclusions result from insufficient maternal nutrition before and during pregnancy, and inadequate nutrition during breast feeding, during infancy and early growth. Dr Price found that traditional cultures followed special preconception diets, often one and even two years before birth. These diets included some combination of grass-fed meats and organ meats such as liver, eggs from pastured chickens, raw milk and butter, cod liver oil, fish eggs, fermented foods (cheese, yogurt, sauerkraut, etc.), soaked nuts and freshly prepared grains, and fresh fruits and vegetables. These foods supplied important nutrients essential for proper infant development such as vitamins A, D, E, and K2. The narrowing of the face that occurs after a population has abandoned its native diet and embraced Western processed food continues to perplex the medical and dental establishments, which just can’t seem to make the connection between food and physical development. In Dr. Price’s day, scientists blamed lack of facial development on “race mixing,” a premise that Dr. Price soundly denounced. Today orthodontists blame crooked teeth on everything from genetics to thumb sucking to soft foods—that is, everything but the obvious decline in nutrient density in modern diets. Dr. Price’s studies led him to the conclusion that facial narrowing took place primarily when the three fat-soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D and the X Factor, now recognized as vitamin K2) became deficient in the diet, and modern science is beginning to prove him right. Researchers have shown that in rats, vitamin K2 deficiency during pregnancy results in “facial dysmorphology.” Vitamin K2-dependent proteins concentrate in the nasal septal cartilage of the fetus. In humans, if vitamin K2 is not present in adequate amounts, or is blocked by drugs like warfarin, during the critical period of six to nine weeks gestation, the cartilage calcifies prematurely, resulting in “maxillonasal hypoplasia,” that is, underdevelopment of the maxilla, the bone that determines the shape of the middle third of the face (Australian Dental Journal 1994;39:2). Vitamin K2 depends on vitamins A and D for signaling, so all three vitamins are involved in the process of facial development. These discoveries point to the important of preparation for pregnancy with nutrient-dense foods, in order to build up stores for the critical early weeks of fetal development. Adequate spacing of children allows a mother to replenish these stores before the next child. The common solution to dental deformities is to cosmetically straighten teeth with braces. However, even with orthodontics, there is a limit to the structural corrections that can be made. They are plagued with allergies, asthma, and even diseases that were formally associated with adults, like cancer and arthritis. More children each year are diagnosed with learning disabilities. Up to 20% of known pregnancies now result in miscarriage. if they can conceive. They suspect the actual number is much higher because many miscarriages occur very early in pregnancy, before a woman even knows she's pregnant. There are more and more birth defects reported each year. Just as we saw in the photos taken by Weston Price, these children show evidence of physical degeneration. Notice the lack of vitality in the boy, and the narrowing of the jaw lines. The combination of "deviated nutrition" and environmental toxins either medically or dentally inflicted without doubt --a sobering challenge stands before us. While we can create a beautiful-looking smile, braces do not address the underlying cause of crowded teeth, which is a lack of proper nutrition and both oral and body posture. These “bad bites” have been correlated with local symptoms such as neck and jaw pain, headaches, ear, nose and throat problems and sinus infections, as well as loss of hearing acuity. Disturbances to the brain and nervous system are also characteristic of this “great imposter” TMJ syndrome, including learning and behavioral disorders, sleep apnea, chronic anxiety and depression. Yet, depending on how early a child is nourished adequately, many of these conditions can be reversed or improved. While it is never too late to institute changes, the earlier the better – the most ideal period being before a child is even conceived. Even with a perfect diet and our best attempts there are some habits that can result in distortion of the dental arches and facial asymmetry and needs to be assessed and treated early. Read Here.... Preventing bad habits and crooked teeth From our perspective the Orthotropic approach is ideal in reclaiming our genetic potential. - Allergies and nasal obstruction should be treated early so that nasal breathing is established for good health and facial development. Once children are older, interventions for mouth-breathers include learning corrective breathing techniques such as Buteyko, taping the mouth closed, and the use of pre-orthodontic trainers for lip support and swallowing correction. There are also thumb guards and oral appliances for thumb sucking correction. The sooner these habits are stopped, the less likely they are to lead to permanent distortion of the face, teeth and jaws. - Sleeping positions can also affect facial growth: if a child falls asleep each night on their stomach with their head to the side, perhaps a hand tucked in under her cheek, that side of her face will be flatter than the other and the canine tooth will most probably be impacted. Babies should be swaddled and slept on their backs to encourage symmetrical development of the facial bones and whole skeletal frame. Some American Indian tribes used “cradle boards” for their babies and strapped their babies into them to sleep, creating adults with broad beautiful faces and exceptionally straight posture. - Habits such as thumb or dummy sucking will change the swallowing pattern and tongue position, putting pressure on some teeth and almost invariably creating a malocclusion. Breast-feeding until the child is old enough to drink straight from a cup (6 – 8 months old) encourages a more relaxed lip position and swallow in the infant. The tongue sits properly in the oral cavity and will set the child up for a beautiful smile. - Tongue Tie. Continue reading here.....
Brief History of Haskell Once upon a time, there was a mathematician named Alonzo Church at Princeton University. Church was Alan Turing’s PhD supervisor. Church devised a mathematical model of functions called lambda calculus. Yes, this is where modern-day lambdas come from! We will explore the details of lambda calculus later in the course. For now, all we need to know is that lambda calculus captures the essence of computation. It involves function abstraction (like defining functions in Haskell) and application (like calling functions in Haskell). Fast forward from Church in the 1930s to the early development of programming languages in the 1950s. One of the first high-level programming languages was LISP (which stands for List Processing). LISP adopted a functional style. It allowed user functions to be defined, and passed around as values. LISP lives on … more recent incarnations include Scheme and Clojure. Fast forward again. During the 1980s, lots of researchers were inventing and extending various functional programming languages. Example languages include ML, Hope and Miranda. However research was fragmented across the various languages, and many of them did not have ‘open-source’ frameworks. So a group of academics formed a committee to design and implement a new language, which would be used as a vehicle for research as well as for teaching functional programming. After several years of work and arguments, the committee published the first Haskell Language Report in 1990. This was a major milestone: at last there was a common functional language around which the research community could unite. The language has grown in popularity ever since, despite an avowed aim to avoid success at all costs. There are several freely available implementations. The most commonly used is the Glasgow Haskell Compiler, which has an interpreter (ghci) and a compiler (ghc). These form an integral part of the Haskell Platform. Lots of people contributed to this software ecosystem. Many of them have worked at the University of Glasgow like Simon Marlow, Simon Peyton Jones, and Phil Wadler. Haskell is now widely used in teaching, research and industry. For instance, it’s taught at several Scottish universities including Glasgow, Edinburgh and St Andrews. It has its own annual research conference, the ACM Haskell Symposium. And there are many industrial users, including at Facebook. We will be interviewing a software developer from Facebook within the next few weeks. Optionally, if you want to learn more about the history of Haskell, please check these links: © University of Glasgow
Transition is the period of time between activities, like when some students are waiting for others to finish or students are waiting to wash their hands for lunch. It is very easy for transition times to get out of hand, especially for preschool age children. There are many tricks that teachers use to make things go smoothly between preschool activities. What Transition Ideas Can Be Used Between Activities at Preschool? Ideas for Transition Between Activities Here are a few general ideas: Playing a simple game, like Simon Says Dismissing the students as each one answers a question Dim the lights and have them close their eyes while you help them "imagine" something for a minute or two. When lining up, you might have the children wearing a certain color line up first, or select the ones whose name starts with a certain letter. Teaching During Transition Time Preschool children are taught many things in school other than the names of colors and their ABCs. They are taught to: Wait in line Listen to instructions Handle transition time without disrupting others Many times children act out during transition times and the best way to deal with that is to give them something to do that they will enjoy: Make these transition times fun by doing activities like singing, chanting, clapping hands, etc. Teach the children certain phrases that signal what to do. Such as developing a system of responses where you clap or say something and they respond. For example, you could say, "Clap two times" and then clap two times. Then say "Clap four times," clap four times, and the children will join in. This engages them and pulls their attention away from any undesirable behavior they are doing or thinking about doing. Sing about the next steps. As a teacher, you may get really tired of singing something like "It's time to sit on the rug" but remember that young children thrive on routine. Once they get used to the classroom routine, they will be much happier as will you. Now that you have some transition ideas, here are some great sites to visit that will give you even more suggestions for preschool transition activities: Early Childhood News has several ideas to help with classroom organization and transition times. Childcare Resource not only has ideas but a large collection of poems and songs that you may want to use. Be sure to check out the special ideas in Nursery Rhymes for Transition Times and Terrific Transition Times. Songs for Transition Time SearchWarp has some good songs for transition time. Here's a cute song that Searchwarp suggests that teachers use to help the children learn how to line up. The melody to use is from the song If You're Happy and You Know It. "If you're ready and you know it, face the door. If you're ready and you know it, face the door. If you're ready and you know it Then it's the time to show it. If you're ready and you know it, face the door." (From Searchwarp.com) Music and Rhyme Station has 12 cute transition songs you can use in your classroom. So, now you have lots of preschool transition activities at your fingertips to try.
What is PTSD? PTSD stands for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. This is a mental health condition that people sometimes develop after experiencing trauma. People with PTSD often experience flashbacks, anger, and intrusive thoughts about the trauma that triggered the disorder. While popular culture connects PTSD to combat veterans, anyone can develop it as a response to any kind of trauma. What is Trauma? The term “trauma” refers to a person’s response to a seriously disturbing or distressful event. Events that trigger a trauma response are so severe that it interferes with a person’s ability to cope and may lessen the person’s sense of self. Many people associate PTSD with war, and it’s true that combat veterans have higher rates of PTSD because they are exposed to more violence than most people. However, any traumatic event can cause this response. Some of the most common events that cause PTSD include being the victim of or witnessing: - Rape and sexual assault - Physical assault - Terrorist attacks - Neglect and abuse from caregivers - Natural disasters - Domestic violence - Mass shootings - Vehicle accidents - Sudden death of a loved one - Any other violence or gore All of these events can cause a trauma response. Sometimes, that trauma results in PTSD. How Common is PTSD? Approximately 7.7 million adults in the United States live with PTSD at any given time. Children and teens can also develop PTSD, but research on the number of minors with PTSD is less reliable. People with or without pre-existing mental illness can develop PTSD. However, people are more likely to develop the disorder if they live with substance abuse disorder, depression, or anxiety. Types of PTSD Symptoms Mental health care providers categorize PTSD symptoms into four distinct types: - Avoidance: People with this type of PTSD avoid talking about their feelings or processing trauma in any way. They may also avoid anything that could remind them of what happened. - Intrusive memories: Patients with these symptoms have flashbacks, nightmares, and obsessive thoughts about the original trauma. - Changes in physical and emotional reactions: These symptoms may cause people to be easily startled or always feeling on-guard. - Negative changes in thinking and mood: Patients have intrusive negative thoughts about themselves, the trauma, or the world more broadly. These symptoms can also cause problems with memory and relationships. Each person’s life experiences, demographics, and personality can affect how PTSD manifests for them. Furthermore, the type of trauma can impact how PTSD presents. Two people could live through the same exact trauma and have different PTSD symptoms. Types of PTSD Treatment Unfortunately, many people with PTSD believe their symptoms are so severe that treatment cannot help. It’s vital for anyone with PTSD to know this important fact: mental health care can help. Your options for PTSD treatment include: - Individual therapy - Group therapy In individual therapy, providers can use a combination of different techniques to help people with PTSD. Depending on the patient’s needs and goals, a therapist could recommend different types of therapy, including: - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - Exposure Therapy - And more Each individual with PTSD has their own experiences and needs. We tailor our mental health care plans to each patient.
FUN FACTS about CARBON DIOXIDE Of the 186 billion tons of CO2 that enter earth’s atmosphere each year from all sources, only 6 billion tons are from human activity. Approximately 90 billion tons come from biologic activity in earth’s oceans and another 90 billion tons from such sources as volcanoes and decaying land plants. At 368 parts per million CO2 is a minor constituent of earth’s atmosphere– less than 4/100ths of 1% of all gases present. Compared to former geologic times, earth’s current atmosphere is CO2- impoverished. CO2 is odorless, colorless, and tasteless. Plants absorb CO2 and emit oxygen as a waste product. Humans and animals breathe oxygen and emit CO2 as a waste product. Carbon dioxide is a nutrient, not a pollutant, and all life– plants and animals alike– benefit from more of it. All life on earth is carbon-based and CO2 is an essential ingredient. When plant-growers want to stimulate plant growth, they introduce more carbon dioxide. CO2 that goes into the atmosphere does not stay there but is continually recycled by terrestrial plant life and earth’s oceans– the great retirement home for most terrestrial carbon dioxide. If we are in a global warming crisis today, even the most aggressive and costly proposals for limiting industrial carbon dioxide emissions would have a negligible effect on global climate!
In Hawaiian culture, the natural and cultural resources are one and the same. Native traditions describe the birth of the islands and the life that exists on them in terms of genealogical accounts. All natural forms of the environment are believed to be embodiments of gods and deities. From godly forces the Hawaiian Islands are born of Wākea (the expanse of the sky‐father) and Papahānaumoku (Papa who gave birth to the islands). Wākea and Papa are credited for being the parents of the first man, Hāloa, the ancestor of all people. Commoners and ali‘i were all descended from the same ancestors, Wākea (sky father) and Papa (earth mother.) It is from this genealogical thread that Hawaiians address their environment and it forms the basis of the Hawaiian system of land use. Hawaiians had many forms of worship and places where they practiced; invoking peace, war, health or successful fishing and farming, etc. Formalized worship, offerings and/or sacrifice by chiefs took place in heiau (temples.) There are many types and forms of heiau, which served as temples and ceremonial sites. Some were used for state worship -where only the paramount ruler of the island and priests were allowed to enter; others had specialized purposes. One such specialized heiau was the Hale O Papa (House of Papa) – which were designated specifically to women; kapu (forbidden) to men. The Hale O Papa were associated with the great Kū heiau (luakini), which demanded human sacrifice and were usually in areas of greater population. Without a luakini, there would be no Hale O Papa, according to Samuel Kamakau. Luakini heiau served as the “seat of government” for the ruling Chiefs. The luakini heiau was the core of the “Royal Center,” which included the kauhale (group of houses) of the Chief and supporters and was surrounded by a large and densely-populated population. The luakini heiau in Hālawa valley in the district of Ewa is most likely where Kumuhonua established his Royal Center, while Moikeha established his domain from the mouth of the Wailua river on Kaua‘i and Olopana did the same in Waipi‘o Valley on the island of Hawai‘i; while maintaining their political positions at the political marae of Taputapuatea, on the island of Raiatea. (Yardley) Malo describes the ceremonies and rites in dedicating the luakini heiau: “(A)ll the female chiefs, relations of the king, came to the temple bringing a malo of great length as their present to the idol.” “All the people assembled at the house of Papa to receive the women of the court. One end of the malo was borne into the heiau (being held by the priests), while the women chiefs kept hold of the other end; the priest meantime reciting the service of the malo, which is termed kaioloa.” (Malo) “All the people being seated in rows, the kahuna who was to conduct the service (nana e papa ka pule) stood forth; and when he uttered the solemn word elieli (completed), the people responded with noa.” “The kahuna said, “Ia e! O Ia!” and the people responded with noa honua (freedom to the ground). The consecration of the temple was now accomplished, and the tabu was removed from it, it was noa loa.” (Malo) “With such rites and ceremonies as these was a luakini built and dedicated. The ceremonies and service of the luakini were very rigorous and strict. There was a proverb which said the work of the luakini is like hauling ohia timber, of all labor the most arduous.” (Malo) Hale O Papa have been identified at Kaho‘olawe, Pu‘uhonua o Hōnaunau (Hawai‘i Island,) Hālawa Valley (O‘ahu,) Waimea Valley (O‘ahu,) Moku‘ula (Maui) and Honua‘ula (Maui.) “The archaeological findings suggest that these activities included cooking, construction of structures supported by posts, and manufacture and use of stone tools. Distinct sleeping and storage areas, as well as a possible family shrine, are also present. Occupation of this site began as early as the fourteenth century.” Kamakau notes that such heiau belonged to the high chiefesses (pi‘o and ni‘aupi‘o) and “were for the good of the women and the children borne for the benefit of the land. … Only the sacred chiefesses, whose tabu equalled that of a god, went into the Hale – o – Papa and ate of the dedicated foods of the heiau.” The nearby luakini, could be built only by an ali‘i nui, or paramount chief. Luakini were built in times of war and other crises and allowed for human sacrifice to plead for the blessing of the gods. Hale O Papa, or Heiau No Na Wahine, was used by royal women who were not permitted to worship the gods of the men, or to touch or eat foods which were acceptable offerings to the male gods. There are different interpretations regarding how this feature was used, but generally described as a women’s heiau for worship, menstruation, pregnancy or as a place of seclusion for chiefly women. This way of life began disappearing with Cook’s arrival in 1778 and was eliminated when Liholiho abolished the kapu system in 1819.
Children today are more tech savvy than previous generations and have digital footprints from increasingly earlier ages. Many parents “share” their children online before they are even born, through pregnancy updates and sonograms. Some parents post status updates about their child’s milestones, grades, sports, and activities. According to online security firm AVG in a 2012 study, 81% of U.S. children have a digital footprint before age two. But how can we keep this online imprint positive? Importance of a positive digital footprint: It’s difficult for children to consider their long-term future, like a college acceptance or job opportunities, but as adults we know how vital a first online impression will be. Kids may be able to relate more to short-term goals. Kids might consider what their digital footprint expresses to the neighbor thinking of hiring them for summer babysitting, dog walking, or yard work, to the coach they are trying out for next season, to teachers and principals, or to peers and classmates counting on them to positively impact online and offline communities. Kids are creating a digital footprint if they are participating on social media. That’s why it’s important to take control and manage that imprint. Whether you are a parent or an educator, here are 3 things to consider when teaching children to create a positive digital footprint: 1. Monitor and educate: Guide children to use digital media as a resource for learning and making positive connections. Talk early and often about the pros and cons of social media and model how to participate in a positive way. As parents and educators, it’s our job to know what digital media our kids our using and to become familiar with the security settings. Use those settings to limit who a child interacts with based on age, skill level, and maturity. Many parents and schools introduce kids to social media by requiring the use of an “online” name. This is a good idea for younger children and early tweens – especially with online games. But many sites, like Facebook, forbid the use of a false identity because the site is meant for social interaction, spreading news and sharing authentic information. Using a false name may distort a child’s view of what they can and can’t say. A comfort zone of anonymity can generate problems like cyber bullying. 2. Make positive connections: Remind kids who they associate with will reflect back. This is especially true online, and children should understand that while social networks are vast and seemingly anonymous, online friends should be chosen with the care and consideration given to offline friends. Read someone’s profile before friending, visit their website or examine past posts before following or connecting with them. 3. Build a positive digital footprint: One of the best ways for kids to create a positive digital footprint is to highlight their achievements and success. Encourage kids to share links to any online news accounts showcasing their achievements and post information about their community service projects or extracurricular activities. Share academic awards, sports, and civic accomplishments. Sharing this information can show a pattern of success that can create opportunities and leave a positive digital footprint. Encourage kids to develop positive online AND offline leadership skills. A great way for children to learn the concept of paying it forward is to share links from favorite bloggers, books, shows, and news stories. This allows kids to take responsibility for creating a positive culture in their own networks. They are paying it forward by giving the creator of the content positive attention and showing maturity by sharing safe, positive, information within their online community! Through this kind of positive participation, a child learns how to network with future colleagues and is focused on suitable online behavior, not just surfing aimlessly. For more tips on helping students build positive online presences, visit Hay There Social Media.
The first lesson to complete to become familiar with the use, threading, operation and troubleshooting of a standard home sewing machine before beginning Level One Projects. Includes all the SkillCards for all Level One Projects. There are 26 SkillCards in 5 different categories in this Lesson Module: Tools, Skills, Fabrics, Fashion, and Pressing. These are the SkillCards that are refered to in all the Unit One Project (1:1a, 1:2a, and 1:3a) and also throughout the rest of the learning series for a helpful reminder of the early skills. Student completes a simple bookmard through practice of basic sewing machine exercises. Hard copy mail order delivered to your home. An average student will complete this lesson in about 2 hours. These objectives are developed in this Lesson Module and referenced by SkillCard Number in future Instruction Books Prior Skills were developed in prior Lesson Modules and referenced by SkillCard Number in the Instruction Books
Inappropriate or disruptive classroom behavior is a common strife for teachers. Knowing how to create and properly utilize behavior plans can improve the classroom atmosphere and teacher satisfaction. Behavior plans are a useful classroom management tool for students engaging in inappropriate classroom behavior. They serve to teach and reinforce positive behaviors and are a way of documenting the success of the intervention. - Planned ignoring – ignoring the problem behavior to reduce negative attention seeking behaviors - Signal interference – having a planned signal with the student as a reminder to redirect inappropriate behavior - Proximity control – placing students closer to the teacher, or when the teacher comes closer to a student who is at risk of engaging in an unwanted behavior - Token Reinforcement Systems - Student receives a “token” when a clearly defined target behavior is performed. Tokens can be exchanged for a wide variety of reinforcers. This works well for more disruptive students. It is easily administered with checkmarks or stickers. Tokens must be given immediately after target behavior is performed and it helps enhance self control - Social Reinforcement- Effective use of teacher attention and praise to promote appropriate behavior – “Catch ‘em being good” - Primary Reinforcement- Reinforcers satisfy a biological need, such as using food - Contingency Management – A student receives a positive outcome or reward if certain conditions are met - Modeling- student observes other students receiving rewards for appropriate behavior - Describe the targeted misbehaviors and be specific - Obtain a baseline measure of misbehavior (frequency or duration of misbehavior, production levels) - Determine what causes the behavior - Determine what is reinforcing to a student - Consider additional supports that might be needed - Define roles of anyone involved in the intervention - Document everything - Use positive practices in creating behavior plans. Positive and caring staff, students, and parents who work together are most effective. Use positive recognition and incentives. Clear consistent class rules and consequences are important and can improve situations and prevent many problems. Successful behavior plans require the student become motivated. A teacher must first determine what motivates the student by interviewing the student or talking to parents and other teachers. Parents may also need to be involved on the delivery of rewards. Consider creating a menu of potential reinforcers that you are willing to give, and allowing the student to choose from the menu. Every teacher wants their students to be intrinsically motivated (reinforcement directly from performing a task). The reality is, that some students are not intrinsically motivated for a variety of reasons. Extrinsic motivators (reinforcement from outside the performance of a task) are often used to motivate a student to engage in a more appropriate behavior. Some people feel that students should not be rewarded for something “they should be doing already.” However, extrinsic motivators should be temporary. The goal is to motivate the student extrinsically until they begin to feel success and intrinsic motivation when the behavior is changed. Extrinsic motivators should be phased out slowly to best allow intrinsic reinforcement to provide the motivation. Here is a good example of extrinsic/intrinsic motivation used correctly: A behavior plan is created for a student who does not do homework. He is initially rewarded with extra free time each night that homework is completed. After a few weeks of success, he receives a weekly reward for weeks that all homework is completed. He completed the homework for the reward initially, but grades came up. Parents were excited and quit nagging, teachers gave praise, and he began to feel proud of himself. He became intrinsically motivated and no longer needed an extrinsic motivator to be successful. After creating a behavior plan, it is important to evaluate the success. If you have good baseline data, it will be easy to measure the behavior again and compare. If the plan is working, gradually encourage more student independence. If it is not working, determine what is at fault, and revise and monitor closely. Behavior plans that are not consistently implemented often fail. If difficulties continue, seek help from others. Consider a referral to a child study committee or instructional support team. Look for history of previous interventions and contact the previous teacher to see if this is an ongoing behavior and what has been tried. In extreme situations, consider revising or modifying the academic program or a class change.
Mosquito-borne illnesses are a considerable burden on human and animal health, so understanding what influences the behavior of mosquitos could be useful. A recent study published in PLOS Genetics suggests that there may be a genetic component to mosquito behavioral preferences, including what they choose to bite. The control of malaria depends on the propensity of mosquitos to bite humans versus other hosts—if mosquitos prefer humans, then they’re more likely to spread diseases between humans, but if they prefer to feed on other animals (like cows, for example), then mosquitos may not be contributing as significantly to the human burden of disease. Additionally, control of malaria depends on the tendency of mosquitos to rest in places where we can ensure they are likely to come into contact with insecticides. Mosquitos are more likely to encounter insecticides indoors, because homes in countries where malaria is endemic are more likely to have long-lasting, insecticide-treated nets, which will kill mosquitos if they come into contact with them. These nets are highly effective and have pared down the number of dangerous mosquito species in many parts of Africa. For this PLOS study, some researchers were interested in investigating the potential that the surviving mosquitos may have adapted their behavior to avoid control measures like nets. And, if this were occurring through evolution, it should have left a mark in the pests’ genomes. So they investigated the genetic basis for mosquito host and resting area choices. Researchers collected the mosquitos from villages in Africa, selecting specimens based on their primary hosts and resting areas. They selected some specimens that preferred to feed on cattle, others that preferred to feed on humans, as well as specimens that tended to rest either outdoors or indoors. The scientists then sequenced the genomes of 23 human-feeding mosquitoes and 25 cattle-feeding mosquitos. They found a total of 4.8 million base-pair differences that they used to conduct the first genome-wide estimates of heritability for host choice and resting behavior. They used a principal component analysis to segregate individuals into three groups based on genomic variation. This uncovered a genetic component for host choice but did not find anything associated with indoor/outdoor resting behaviors. In the researchers' analysis, they found some compelling indications for a genetic component to host choice by using what’s called a chromosomal inversion analysis. A chromosomal inversion is a piece of chromosome that is flipped relative to its normal orientation. Chromosomal inversions do not necessarily cause abnormalities on their own, but they can be useful genetic markers. In this experiment, the researchers looked closely at two chromosome inversions known as 3Ra and 2Rb. They used a novel inversion genotyping assay to detect a significant enrichment of the arrangement of 3Ra genetic inversion among cattle-fed mosquitos. Included in this inversion were two genes that coded for odorant signaling proteins and odorant receptors. The researchers think that these proteins may be linked to the preference for cattle over humans as a food source. Though there are no immediate consequences to this finding, there are many ways in which this information could be used for future mosquito control measures. Perhaps targeted insecticidal approaches that alter the functioning of this odorant protein or receptor could be an effective future means of mosquito control. Or, alternatively, introducing lots of mosquitos with this genetic difference to the mosquito population could reduce the percentage of mosquitos that prefer to feed on humans. This paper is the first finding connecting a mosquito genetic variant with a specific behavioral pattern, and the finding opens the door to new potential control measures in the future. This post originated on Ars Technica
What is it? The Mexican daisy (Erigeron karvinskianus) is a common sight throughout New Zealand, often appearing in gardens, parks, on roadsides, and along the side of waterways. It is also known as Erigeron mucronatus, Erigeron "Profusion", and seaside daisy. It has daisy-like flowers that are familiar to most gardeners. They range from white to white-purple to pink, with a yellow to brownish-yellow central disc. The flowers typically appear throughout the year, and are followed by masses of fluffy seeds. Mexican daisy is a sprawling perennial daisy that grows up to 40cm tall, with long thin stems. Its leaves are small and narrow, and give off a distinct fragrance when crushed. It should not be confused with another garden daisy, Bellis perennis, which has nearly identical flowers but wider leaves arranged in a rosette at the base of the stems. Why is it a problem? Mexican daisy is considered a weed because of its ability to form dense mats of ground cover, particularly in the North Island and the upper South Island. These clumps smother native vegetation and, as they die off, pave the way for other invasive weed species, such as climbing vines. In addition, it is able to survive and spread in a huge range of habitats, from intact stands of bush to riverbeds and herbfields, and can tolerate anything from moderate shade to full sun. Unfortunately, while it is a plant that is easily removed from an area, it is also hard to keep out because it is such a prolific seeder. The seeds are able to spread long distances through wind dispersal and are also sometimes spread through contaminated topsoil and potting mix. It is also sometimes still sold at markets and school fairs even though it is on the National Pest Plant Accord list. Methods of control Manual Control: Small areas of Mexican daisy can be pulled out by hand. To be successful, however, care needs to be taken to remove all roots and to avoid spreading the seeds as it is removed. Chemical Control: A range of herbicides is suitable for controlling Mexican daisy, including Versatill, and glyphosate-based sprays. Take care to spray only in still conditions to avoid wind drift to non-target plants, and don't spray when rain is expected. During spraying, non-target plants can be shielded with cardboard, plastic sheets or a large plastic container. Under the Biosecurity Act 1993, it is illegal to sell, propagate or distribute Mexican daisy. As with all spraying, you should read the instructions on the manufacturer's label closely and always wear protective clothing. Contact any Department of Conservation office for further information on the identification and control of invasive weed species. back to top
The war of 1812 timeline key us history events and dates. American war hawks wanting to annex florida and canada results of the war of 1812: 1 america became more isolationist 2 spurred westward migration: jobs scarce, native americans. Find a summary, definition and facts about the war of 1812 for kids american history and the war of 1812 information about the war of 1812 for kids, children. War of 1812 causes of the war france and britain when congress approved madison’s request for a declaration of war the war of 1812 had two main phases. The war of 1812 was the result of rising tensions between the united states and great britain during the early years of the 19th century. § 152-1812 memorials for war veterans a locality may, within the geographical limits of the locality, authorize and permit the erection of monuments or memorials. Vietnam war war of 1812 world war i world war ii war of 1812 sign up for email alerts on war of 1812 products, news, and offers 12 items format. Find great deals on ebay for war 1812 and oxford rifles shop with confidence. The war of 1812 was brutal and ugly the bulk of the casualties were on the niagara frontier more than 20,000 died in the war, 15,000 from disease alone. War of 1812 timeline of major events 1803 - 1811 1803: british begin to impress american sailors and force them to work on british ships january 1806: james madison. General society of the war of 1812 general society of the war of 1812 skip to content home about our history purpose insignia timeline constitution by-laws leadership general. The war of 1812: american independence confirmed the american leaders who declared war on great britain in 1812 firmly believed that they were beginning a second war of independence. The war of 1812 (which lasted from 1812 to 1814) was a military conflict between the united states and great britain the origins of the war of 1812 were in the. (from columbia games website:) war of 1812 is an elegant strategy wargame depicting the anglo-american struggle to control the great lakes and canada war of 1812. Grade 2 ela domain 5: the war of 1812 the following materials are available for domain 5: the war of 1812: anthology flip book image cards supplemental guide. War of 1812 julie bohman summer, 2004 nonfiction books bosco, peter 2 the war of 1812 brookfield: millbrook press, 1991 political cartoons, drawings, portraits. The 10 things you didn’t know about the war of 1812 why did the country really go to war against the british which american icon came out of the forgotten war. The war of 1812 in the 1800s, the united states fought in four wars the war of 1812 was between the united states and great britain this war ended in 1815. United states frigate constitution chased by a british fleet oil on copper by j font mahan, 1841 depicts the “great escape” of constitution, 17-19 july 1812. Media in category war of 1812 the following 98 files are in this category, out of 98 total. A short summary of 's the war of 1812 (1809-1815) this free synopsis covers all the crucial plot points of the war of 1812 (1809-1815. The british view the war of 1812 quite differently than americans do the star-spangled war confirmed independence for the united states but for great britain, it was. In his reminiscences, captain henry brush described with precision what newly enlisted recruits wore during the war of 1812 soldiers were outfitted for. At the beginning of the war of 1812, coffee raised the 2nd regiment of volunteer mounted riflemen, composed mostly of tennessee militiamen (and a few men from alabama. Posts about war of 1812 written by history's lessons. Defend fort mchenry and baltimore from the british in this game about the battle of baltimore during the war of 1812.
This overview explores the causes and treatments of different types of anemia, including iron-deficiency anemia, aplastic anemia, sickle cell anemia, pernicious anemia and more. Anemia Definition: What Is Anemia? Anemia is a condition that develops when your red blood cell count or hemoglobin is less than normal. As the most common blood disorder, anemia is often associated with being tired and weak. The reason for this is that anemia occurs when your body doesn’t have adequate healthy red blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen to the body’s tissues. Different Types of Anemia In addition to iron-deficiency anemia (the most common type), there is aplastic anemia, sickle cell anemia, pernicious anemia, and anemia of chronic disease. Treatment for anemia is dictated by the type as well as the cause of the anemia. What Are the Causes of Anemia? While white blood cells fight infection and platelets help your blood clot, red blood cells carry oxygen throughout your body. Hemoglobin is an iron-rich protein that’s found in red blood cells. Hemoglobin is what makes it possible for red blood cells to take oxygen from your lungs and carry it to places throughout your body. Hemoglobin also takes carbon dioxide from different areas of your body and brings it to your lungs so your lungs can get rid of it when you exhale. Your bone marrow, which is in your large bones, produces red blood cells. However, vitamin B12, folate and other nutrients that we get from food are needed to produce hemoglobin and red blood cells. In addition to not having enough red blood cells, you can also become anemic if your body gets rid of red blood cells, or if, when you bleed, your body loses red blood cells more quickly than they can be replaced. (2) Signs and Symptoms of Anemia Depending on the type of anemia you have, you may experience a variety of symptoms. The most common symptom of all anemias is weakness. The Most Common Types of Anemia Aplastic anemia is a blood disorder in which the body’s bone marrow — the soft tissue in the center of bones — doesn’t make enough healthy blood cells. Because of this, it is sometimes referred to as bone marrow failure. While the condition is rare, each year, between 600 and 900 people in the United States are diagnosed with aplastic anemia, according to the Aplastic Anemia and MDS International Foundation. (3) The disorder affects men and women equally, and most commonly develops in adults between ages 20 and 25, as well as those over 60, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. (4) It’s often not known exactly what causes aplastic anemia, but it’s believed that the condition is either “acquired” or “inherited.” Acquired aplastic anemia, which is more common than the inherited form, may result from: - Toxins, including benzene (a chemical sometimes used in manufacturing and chemical synthesis), pesticides, and arsenic - Chemotherapy and radiation therapy for cancer treatment - Various infectious diseases, including hepatitis, HIV, and Epstein-Barr virus (a type of herpes virus), lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, or other autoimmune disorders (those in which the immune system attacks healthy cells) - Certain drugs, including some antibiotics, immunosuppressants, and some nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) - Cancer that has spread to the bone Causes of inherited aplastic anemia, which is rare and develops from genes that are passed down from parent to child, include: - Fanconi anemia - Diamond–Blackfan anemia - Shwachman–Diamond syndrome - Dyskeratosis congenita - Skin rashes These symptoms may be severe from the start, or gradually worsen over time. Other symptoms include: - Shortness of breath and chest pain - Dizziness, especially after standing up from a sitting or lying position - Pale skin - Bruising or bleeding easily - Uncontrollable bleeding - Nosebleeds, bleeding gums, bloody stool, or heavy menstrual bleeding - Cold feeling in your hands and feet - Fever due to infection - Recurring infections and/or flu-like symptoms - The appearance of small red dots on the skin that indicates bleeding under the skin - Rapid heart rate Over time, severe heart issues may develop, such as arrhythmia (irregular heart beat), angina, enlarged heart, and heart failure. While blood tests can detect low blood cell counts and the possibility of aplastic anemia, they cannot diagnose the disorder. Diagnosis generally requires a bone marrow biopsy in which a special needle removes a small piece of bone marrow and bone, along with blood, for examination under a microscope.(6) Sickle Cell Anemia Sickle cell anemia is an inherited blood disorder characterized by both a deficiency of healthy red blood cells and painful episodes called sickle cell crises. The disorder is caused by a mutation in the gene that tells the body to make hemoglobin, a protein found in red blood cells that binds to oxygen in the lungs and carries it to tissues throughout the body. As a result of the mutation, the body produces a defective form of hemoglobin called hemoglobin S, which causes red blood cells to sickle, or develop a crescent shape. Sickle cells are stiff and sticky and tend to block blood flow in the vessels of the limbs and organs, causing pain and raising the risk for infection. Sickle cells also have a shorter life span than normal red blood cells, leading to an overall shortage of red blood cells and, consequently, anemia. To have sickle cell anemia, a person must inherit two sickle hemoglobin genes, one from each parent. A person who inherits a sickle hemoglobin gene from one parent and a normal hemoglobin gene from the other parent is said to have sickle trait. People with sickle trait generally don’t have symptoms related to it, but they are at risk of developing certain medical problems, and they can pass on the sickle hemoglobin gene to their children. Sickle cell anemia affects millions of people around the world. It’s most common in people of African, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Central and South American, and Asian Indian origin or descent.(7) The prevalence of the gene mutation that causes sickle cell is higher in areas of the world where malaria is found. Researchers have found that having sickle cell trait offers some survival advantage against malaria. West and Central Africa are particularly hard hit, with a form of sickle cell anemia affecting about 1 to 2 percent of all births, according to the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America. (7) In the United States about 70,000 to 100,000 people have sickle cell anemia, and African-Americans are affected most often, with 1 out of 365 black babies born with sickle cell anemia, reports the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI). (8) Anemia Treatments and Complications Symptoms of sickle cell anemia typically start after the fifth or sixth month of life. Common signs and symptoms include: - Swollen hands and feet, particularly in babies - Frequent infections, especially pneumonia - Fatigue and weakness - Episodes of pain, called sickle cell crises, occur when sickled red blood cells block blood flow to the limbs and organs Improved treatments have given a better outlet for people with sickle cell anemia. As little as 40 years ago, almost 15 percent of children born with sickle cell anemia died before age 2, and many more died as teens, according to the NHLBI. Now, because of improved treatments and care, people who have sickle cell anemia are living into their 40s and 50s, or longer. Iron-deficiency anemia is a common type of anemia that occurs when your blood doesn’t have enough healthy red blood cells. It’s the most common and widespread nutritional disorder in the world, and the World Health Organization states that this type of anemia largely contributes to more than 30 percent of the world’s population being anemic. (9) Red blood cells carry oxygen to the body’s tissues and remove carbon dioxide. Not having enough working red blood cells may lead to tiredness and shortness of breath. Iron-deficiency anemia usually develops over time as your body taps into the iron it has stored, then eventually runs out. Low iron may be caused by an inadequate diet that lacks iron-rich foods. The following foods are high in iron: - Dried fruits - Dark green leafy vegetables, such as spinach and chard - Iron-fortified foods, such as breads and cereals Eating or drinking foods and drinks high in vitamin C, such as orange juice, broccoli, peppers, and more, can help your body absorb iron when you eat it. Iron-Deficiency Anemia Quiz Sometimes getting the right amount of iron from your diet isn’t enough if your body isn’t able to absorb it properly. For instance, people who’ve had intestinal surgery, such as gastric bypass, or those with Crohn’s disease or celiac disease, may have trouble absorbing iron. Iron absorption can also be limited by prescription medicines that reduce acid in the stomach. (10) Blood loss is another cause of iron deficiency anemia because whenever you lose blood from your body, iron loss also occurs. If you don’t have enough iron stored in your body to make up for the iron lost in your blood, you can develop anemia. - Heavy menstrual periods - Bleeding fibroids (noncancerous growths) in the uterus - Internal bleeding caused by an ulcer, colon polyp, colon cancer, urinary tract bleeding, or use of pain medications - Injuries or surgery - Repeated blood drawings Symptoms of iron-deficiency anemia vary depending on how severe your anemia is. If you have mild to moderate iron-deficiency anemia, you may not have any signs or symptoms. But as the condition worsens, you may experience: (11) - Pale skin - Shortness of breath - Chest pain - Frequent infections - Dizziness or light-headedness - Cold hands and feet - Swelling or soreness of your tongue - Cracks around your mouth - Brittle nails - Fast heartbeat - Poor appetite - Restless legs syndrome - Enlarged spleen - Cravings for nonfood items, such as ice, dirt, paint, or starch If you’re mildly anemic, your doctor may recommend a diet filled with iron-rich foods. The foods with the highest iron content are: - Meat, especially beef and liver - Poultry — chicken livers are packed with iron - Fish and shellfish, especially oysters - Leafy greens, like kale, spinach, and broccoli - Beans and peas - Iron-enriched breads, pastas, and cereals Take note that iron from vegetable sources is less readily absorbed than iron from meat, poultry, or seafood. Anemia of Chronic Inflammation or Disease Anemia of chronic disease is also sometimes called anemia of chronic inflammation or anemia of inflammation. Anemia of inflammation and chronic disease is considered the second most common form of anemia after iron-deficiency anemia. (12) But the exact incidence of chronic disease anemia is not known, possibly because it’s underreported and often goes unrecognized. This type of anemia occurs when a long-term medical condition affects your body’s ability to produce healthy red blood cells. Underlying conditions can vary and may include chronic illnesses such as cancer, infections, kidney disease and autoimmune and inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. Most often, the chronic disease prevents your body from effectively using iron to create new red blood cells, even if there are normal or high levels of iron stored in the body. Treatment for certain diseases can also affect red blood cell production. (12,13) The following chronic conditions can result in anemia of chronic disease: (13) Inflammatory diseases Conditions that produce an inflammatory response in the body can cause anemia of chronic disease for several reasons: - The inflammatory response can produce cytokines, a protein that protects the body against infection and interferes with iron processing and red blood cell production. - Inflammation can cause internal bleeding that leads to a decrease in red blood cell count. - Inflammation of the gastrointestinal system can interfere with the body’s ability to absorb iron from food. Types of inflammatory disease known to cause anemia of chronic disease include: - Rheumatoid arthritis - Ulcerative colitis - Crohn’s disease - Inflammatory bowel disease - Degenerative joint disease Infectious diseases People who have infectious diseases can wind up with anemia of chronic disease if their immune system’s response to the infection interferes with red blood cell production. As with inflammatory diseases, infectious diseases can cause the immune system to release cytokines, which can interfere with the body’s ability to use iron to create red blood cells. Cytokines also can block the production and function of erythropoietin, a hormone produced by the kidneys that prompts a person’s bone marrow to produce red blood cells. Infectious diseases known to lead to anemia of chronic disease include: - Endocarditis (heart infection) - Osteomyelitis (bone infection) Kidney failure People with kidney disease can develop anemia of chronic disease if the disease interferes with the kidneys’ production of erythropoietin. Diseased kidneys also can cause the body to absorb less iron and folate, nutrients necessary to the creation of red blood cells. People with kidney failure also might experience iron deficiency as a result of blood loss that occurs during hemodialysis. Certain types of cancer can prompt the release of inflammatory cytokines, which interfere with erythropoietin production and creation of red blood cells by the bone marrow. These cancers include: - Hodgkin disease - Non-Hodgkin lymphoma - Lung cancer - Breast cancer Cancer also can harm red blood cell production if it invades the bone marrow. Moreover, cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy can lead to anemia of chronic disease if they damage the bone marrow. Pernicious anemia occurs when your body lacks vitamin B12, which is needed to make healthy red blood cells and to keep the nervous system working properly. If you have pernicious anemia, your body can’t absorb enough vitamin B12 from food because it lacks a protein in the stomach called intrinsic factor. If you lack intrinsic factor, there is nothing you can do to prevent pernicious anemia caused by this. Pernicious anemia can run in families, so having family members with the condition puts you at risk. In rare cases, pernicious anemia occurs simply because you’re not eating enough B12. In these cases, eating foods high in B12 can help the condition. Such foods include: (14) - Beef, liver, poultry, and fish - Eggs and dairy products - Soy-based drinks and veggie burgers - Breakfast cereals with added vitamin B12 B12 deficiency can also be caused by other factors and conditions, such as infections, surgery, medicines, and diet, and in these cases, it may also be referred to as pernicious anemia. Diseases such as Crohn’s and celiac can also interfere with B12 absorption. With all forms of anemia, tiredness or fatigue is the most common symptom because of low red blood cell count. Shortness of breath, dizziness, headache, coldness in your hands and feet, pale or yellowish skin, and chest pain are other signs. When you have low red blood cells, your heart has to work harder to move oxygen-rich blood through your body. When this occurs, you can experience irregular heartbeat, enlarged heart, or even heart failure. If your doctor suspects you may have pernicious anemia, he or she can confirm it with blood tests. Bone marrow tests can also detect this type of anemia because when pernicious anemia is present, bone marrow cells that turn into blood cells are larger than normal. (14) - How Anemia Is Diagnosed - Biological Terrain Revisited: Balancing Acid/Base, Oxidation Potential, and More - 8 Surprising Health Benefits of B Vitamins - 7 Unusual Signs of Iron Deficiency
The Japanese giant salamander is generally active at night, when it relies on smell and touch to locate its prey. This giant amphibian feeds on a variety of prey, including fish, smaller salamanders, worms, insects, crayfish and snails: catching them with a rapid sideways snap of the mouth (4) (5). It has an extremely slow metabolism and can go for weeks without eating if necessary (3). During the day it retires beneath rocks (4). Like other amphibians, the Japanese giant salamander has smooth skin rather than scales. The skin acts as a respiratory surface, where oxygen enters the body and carbon dioxide is released (4). This species’ large size and lack of gills are thought to confine them to cold, fast flowing water where oxygen is in good supply (4). Reproduction in the Japanese giant salamander takes place in late August, when hundreds of individuals congregate at nest sites. Males compete viciously, with many dying from injuries. Females lay between 400 and 500 eggs in the nest, held together like a thread of beads (3). Several males fertilise the eggs, and protect them from predators like fish, until they hatch 12-15 weeks later in the early spring (5).
Scientists model Mercury’s glaciers – J. Fastook et al. The processes that led to glaciation at the cratered poles of Mercury, the planet closest to the sun, have been modeled by a University of Maine-led research team. James Fastook, a UMaine professor of computer science and Climate Change Institute researcher, and James Head and Ariel Deutsch of Brown University, studied the accumulation and flow of ice on Mercury, and how the glacial deposits on the smallest planet in our solar system compare to those on Earth and Mars. Their findings, published in the journal Icarus, add to our understanding of how Mercury’s ice accumulations — estimated to be less than 50 million years old and up to 50 meters thick in places — may have changed over time. Changes in ice sheets serve as climatic indicators. Analysis of Mercury’s cold-based glaciers, located in the permanently shadowed craters near the poles and visible by Earth-based radar, was funded by a NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute grant for Evolution and Environment of Exploration Destinations, and is part of a study of volatile deposits on the moon. Like the moon, Mercury does not have an atmosphere that produces snow or ice that could account for glaciers at the poles. Simulations by Fastook’s team suggest that the planet’s ice was deposited — likely the result of a water-rich comet or other impact event — and has remained stable, with little or no flow velocity. That’s despite the extreme temperature difference between the permanently shadowed locations of the glaciers on Mercury and the adjacent regions illuminated by the sun. One of the team’s primary scientific tools was the University of Maine Ice Sheet Model (UMISM), developed by Fastook with National Science Foundation funding. Fastook has used UMISM to reconstruct the shape and outline of past and present ice sheets on Earth and Mars, with findings published in 2002 and 2008, respectively. “We expect the deposits (on Mercury) are supply limited, and that they are basically stagnant unmoving deposits, reflecting the extreme efficiency of the cold-trapping mechanism” of the polar terrain, according to the researchers.
With basic climate regions around the world, there are some places where the weather is considered hot. But just heat alone does not make high temperatures a threat. There is an old saying stating "It's not the heat, it's the humidity". Well, actually it's both heat AND humidity. Heat waves are not easily photographed, like the destruction of tornadoes, hurricanes and floods and therefore tend to not have the same visual impact as these other disasters. Yet, heat waves kill more people in the United States than all of the other weather related disasters combined. The 10-year average (2005-2014) for heat related deaths in the U.S. is 124 in a typical year. Heat waves form when high pressure aloft, from 10,000 to 25,000 feet (3,000 to 7,600 meters), strengthens and remains over a region for several days up to several weeks. This is common in summer (in both Northern and Southern Hemispheres) as the jet stream 'follows the sun'. On the equator side of the jet stream, in the middle layers of the atmosphere, is the high pressure area. Summertime weather patterns are generally slower to change than in winter. As a result, this mid-level high pressure also moves slowly. Under high pressure, the air subsides (sinks) toward the surface. This sinking air acts as a dome capping the atmosphere. This cap helps to trap heat instead of allowing it to lift. Without the lift there is little or no convection and therefore little or no convective clouds (cumulus clouds) with minimal chances for rain. The end result is a continual build-up of heat at the surface that we experience as a heat wave. Our bodies dissipate heat by varying the rate and depth of blood circulation, by losing water through the skin and sweat glands, and, as the last extremity is reached, by panting. As the body heats up, the heart begins to pump more blood, blood vessels dilate to accommodate the increased flow, and the tiny capillaries in the upper layers of skin are put into operation. The body's blood is circulated closer to the skin's surface, and excess heat drains off into the cooler atmosphere by one or a combination of three ways... - convection, and At lower temperatures, radiation and convection are efficient methods of removing heat. However, once the air temperature reaches 95°F (35°C), heat loss by radiation and convection ceases. It is at this point that heat loss by sweating becomes all-important. But sweating, by itself, does nothing to cool the body, unless the water is removed by evaporation (sweat changing to water vapor). The downside of this method of cooling is that high relative humidity retards evaporation. Relative humidity is a measure of the amount of water vapor contained in the air, divided by the maximum amount the air can hold, expressed as a percent. A relative humidity of 50% means the air contains ½ of the water vapor it can actually hold. The maximum amount of water vapor the air can hold is dependent upon the temperature (the "relative" in relative humidity). The higher the temperature, the more water (actually water vapor) the air can hold. For example, air with a temperature of 32°F (0°C) can hold about 0.16 ounce of water. Air with a temperature of 80°F (27°C) can hold about an ounce of water. So, what does this all mean? Sweat is evaporated (changes from a liquid to a gas, i.e. water vapor) when heat is added. The heat is supplied by your body. The results are summed up in the table below... \|Relative Humidity\|\|Amount of Evaporation\|\|HEAT removed from the body\|\|We feel\| We, at the National Weather Service, as part of our mission for protecting life and property, have a measure of how the hot weather "feels" to the body. The Heat Index is based on work by R.G. Steadman and published in 1979 under the title "The Assessment of Sultriness, Parts 1 and 2." In this work, Steadman constructed a table which uses relative humidity and dry bulb temperature to produce the "apparent temperature" or the temperature the body "feels". We use this table to provide you with Heat Index values. These values are for shady locations only. Exposure to full sunshine can increase heat index values by up to 15°F (8°C). Also, strong winds, particularly with very hot, dry air, can be extremely hazardous as the wind adds heat to the body. The Heat Index Chart is below. How to read the chart...Follow the temperature line until it intersects the relative humidity line. Then read the Heat Index on the curved line. For example, an air temperature of 100°F (38°C) and Relative Humidity of 40%. Follow the 100°F (38°C) temperature line until it intersects the 40% relative humidity line. Then curved line that also intersects is the Heat Index of 110°F (43°C), or Very Hot. That is the temperature the body thinks it is and attempts to compensate for that level of heat. Remember, these values are in the SHADE. You can add up to 15°F (8°C) to these values if you are in direct sunlight. The chart below tells you the risk to the body from continued exposure to the excessive heat. \|Category\|\|Classification\|\|Heat Index/Apparent Temperature\|\|General Affect on People in High Risk Groups\| \|I\|\|Extremely Hot\|\|130°F or Higher (54°C or Higher) \|Heat/Sunstroke HIGHLY LIKELY with continued exposure\| \|II\|\|Very Hot\|\|105°F - 130°F (41°C - 54°C) \|Sunstroke, heat cramps, or heat exhaustion LIKELY, and heat stroke POSSIBLE with prolonged exposure and/or physical activity\| \|III\|\|Hot\|\|90°F - 105°F (32°C - 41°C) \|Sunstroke, heat cramps, or heat exhaustion POSSIBLE with prolonged exposure and/or physical activity\| \|IV\|\|Very Warm\|\|80°F - 90°F (27°C - 32°C) \|Fatigue POSSIBLE with prolonged exposure and/or physical activity\| Heat Index Charts and Wheels ...by Temperature / Humidity ...by Temperature / Dew Point The highest dew points, and therefore the highest heat indices are usually found near warm bodies of water. In the world, the warmest water is found in the Persian Gulf where the water temperature typically reaches up to 90°F (32°C) in summer. Therefore dew points will be that high as well. The highest dew point ever recorded, 95°F (35°C), was recorded at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, on July 8, 2003. With an air temperature of 108°F (42°C) the heat index was 178°F (81°C). In the United States, the highest dew point ever recorded, 90°F (32°C), was recorded at the New Orleans Naval Air Station, on July 30, 1987, Melbourne, Florida on July 12, 1987. Heat indices were in the 130's°F (50's°C). Appleton, Wisconsin also had a 90°F (32°C) dew point on July 13, 1995 with a heat index of 149°F (65°C).
Plasmids are not limited to bacteria. For example, some plasmids have been extensively studied in yeast and developed into yeast cloning vectors. These plasmids have also been used as "symple systems" to understand the mechanism and control of DNA replication in eukaryotic cells. One interesting yeast plasmid is called the 2u circle. The 2u circle is a 6.3 kb circular, extrachromosomal element found in the nucleus of most Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains. The 2u circle doesn't give cells that carry it any apparent selective advantage, but it is stably maintained at about 50 to 100 copies per haploid genome of the yeast cells. Like the host chromosomes, the 2u circle is coated with nucleosomes and replication is initiated by host replication enzymes once per cell cycle. The origin of bidirectional DNA replication is initiated at a specific site on the plasmid called an ARS sequence ("autonomous replication sequence"). A cartoon of the yeast 2 u circle showing the ARS, the FLP gene, the three genes which encode proteins required for regulation of FLP expression (REP2, REP1, and D), and a set of small direct repeats (called "STB") required for partitioning into daughter cells during mitosis and meiosis. The high copy number of the 2u circle poses a problem because in eukaryotic cells DNA replication is only initiated once per cell cycle. Once initiated, bidirectional replication continues until the two replication forks collide on the opposite side of the circular plasmid. Since DNA replication is only initiated once per cell cycle and each time DNA replication is initiated only two plasmid molecules would be produced, how could the 2u circle accumulate 50-100 copies per cell? To solve this problem, the 2u circle has a site-directed inversion mechanism that allows plasmid amplification. The 2u circle has two copies of a 599 bp inverted repeat sequence (called "flip" sites) and encodes a site-directed recombinase called FLP (the "flip" protein) that promotes recombination between these repeats. Recombination between the flip sequences inverts the adjacent regions of the plasmid as shown in the figure below. (The inversion is easier to visualize if you draw a crossover between the inverted repeats indicated by the arrows and follow the DNA strands with your pencil.) This inversion allows the plasmid to switch from bidirectional-replication to rolling circle replication, producing multiple copies of the plasmid each cell cycle. The origin of replication is located very close to one of the flip sites, so one replication fork will pass through the adjacent flip soon after replication has begun, but the second replication fork has to travel half way around the plasmid before it passes through the other flip site. After one of the bidirectional DNA replication forks has passed the first flip site but before the replicating fork reaches the second flip site, recombination inverts the intervening sequence -- after this inversion, both of the DNA replication forks will be moving in the same direction. (This isn't easy to visualize -- try drawing it out!) Continued replication produces long concatemers which can be converted to monomeric plasmids by site-specific recombination. Replication is finally terminated when when a second inversion occurs between the flip sites, causing the replication forks to collide. The end result is that many plasmid molecules are produced from a single initiation of DNA replication. How is the copy number of the 2u circle regulated? Three plasmid encoded proteins (REP1, REP2, and D) modulate the plasmid copy number by repressing expression of FLP protein. The concentration of the repressor proteins is proportional to copy number of the 2u circle. Thus, when the plasmid copy number is high, expression of FLP is repressed, but when the plasmid copy number is low, expression of FLP is induced. (Note that the control of plasmid copy number in bacteria is usually regulated by modulating the initiation of DNA replication, but in contrast the yeast 2u circle controls plasmid copy number by regulating a protein which affects amplification of the plasmid.) This mechanism for controlling plasmid copy number is not unique to the yeast 2u circle. A plasmid in the algae Chlamydomomas also seems to use a similar mechanism for accumulating many copies per cell.
Two hundred 99 million, 792 thousand, 458 (299,792,458) meters per second is how fast light travels. Usually. A team of physicists at the University of Glasgow has managed to apply the brakes to a photon - a particle of light - by sending it through a special mask that changed its shape. While light naturally slows down as it passes through a material like glass or water, it accelerates back to the speed of light as soon as it returns to the free space of a vacuum. However, the re-structured particle in the Scottish lab did not pick up its pace. In a race with a photon that was not manipulated, it lost, reaching the detector several micrometers later per meter travelled. The finding will not affect our flashlights or reading lamps. However it could have implications for scientists who use the speed of light to make precise measurements of astronomical distances. The experiment suggests that light speed - considered one of the most important constants in physics - should now be thought of as a limit, rather than a constant.

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