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Late blight is a destructive disease of potato and tomato in all growing regions of the world. This disease first gained notoriety 150 years ago as the cause of the “Potato Famine of Ireland and Northern Europe.” Today it is again causing widespread problems as new strains of the fungus have begun to appear in North America and Europe. With the development of these more aggressive strains, growers need to use all methods of control to their fullest potential. Cultural control is a method that can greatly reduce the impact of late blight and should be part of every grower's disease management strategy. The goals of a good cultural control program are to prevent introduction of inoculum, reduce inoculum buildup, reduce infection rate, and create conditions unfavorable for disease development. Growers can achieve these goals by incorporating several different techniques into their farming operation. For transplant tomatoes it is important to make sure that the initial source of disease is not infected transplants. Check transplants before planting and refuse plants that show signs or symptoms of late blight. Early signs of late blight on transplants can be difficult to identify and may need confirmation by a qualified expert. Other potential sources of inoculum are potato cull piles and volunteer potatoes and tomatoes. Although not common in most parts of the San Joaquin Valley, infected tubers from potato cull piles can produce a tremendous amount of air borne spores that move by wind to shower onto nearby fields. Volunteer potatoes and tomato plants can be overwintering sites and are another important source of the pathogen. Eliminating any near-by potato cull piles and destroying volunteer tomato and potato plants helps limit the initial source of inoculum in a region. Late blight is a very explosive disease that can appear suddenly and move through a field or area very quickly. Regularly scouting tomato fields is important for early detection. Early detection of late blight allows time for quick appropriate action before the disease has a chance to spread to other parts of the field or release an incredible amount of spores into an even wider area. The use of late blight computer models may be beneficial as an early warning system of potential late blight development. The use of models helps time fungicide applications just before late blight actually appears and when repeat applications are needed, thus reducing the risk of crop loss and the number of fungicide applications. Diagnostic kits are another tool that can be used for early detection of the disease. Kits are available which help quickly confirm or refute whether a questionable lesion is caused by the late blight fungus. Regular field scouting, computer prediction models, and diagnostic kits are all methods of early detection so appropriate action can be taken quickly. Spot killing infected plants when the disease first appears will slow the spread of spores to other parts of the field. Plants can be quickly destroyed by burning or with the use of a fast acting herbicide. This method of cultural control will only be effective when blight first appears in a field or region. Once late blight is established in an area then the likelihood of influencing the amount of spores in that area becomes negligible. Changing the climatic environment around the plant so that it is less conducive to late blight can also help reduce late blight severity. Late blight spreads and develops when conditions in the canopy are moist and humid. Sprinkler irrigation creates an ideal environment by keeping the canopy wet for long periods of time. If possible, avoid sprinkler irrigation after stand establishment. Dense canopies also prevent fungicides from penetrating down into the lower leaves and stems of plants. Excessive nitrogen is a negative factor because it promotes large dense canopies which prevent air movement for drying of leaves. Fertilizer management can be used to a grower's advantage by making sure that the plant canopy is not unnecessarily inviting to this fungus. Excessive nitrogen also increases the susceptibility of tomato plants to infection. The late blight fungus prefers lush, young, actively growing tissue over stressed, senescing tissue. Excessive nitrogen will promote lush vegetative growth and delays maturity, which increases the chance of infection and prolongs the period that the crop is susceptible to late blight infection. Unfortunately, plant resistance is not currently available in any commercial tomato plants. These are all examples of cultural control methods that help manage this destructive disease. Although it may not be possible to incorporate all of them, the more cultural control methods employed then the more effective overall disease management will be.
A team of scientists led by Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics astronomer Jaime Pineda has managed to get a clearer look into the turbulent and murky environment of a stellar nursery in the constellation Perseus. The result is the first observation ever of a critical step in the creation of stars. Understanding star formation is a key quest in astronomy. Theorists have models for the process, but as with all sciences, observations must be made to support or modify these ideas. Stars form inside relatively dense concentrations of interstellar gas and dust called molecular clouds. Within such clouds, material roils and bubbles like a boiling soup. For a time, the energy of those turbulent motions supports the cloud against gravitational collapse. Eventually, gravity begins pulling denser parts of the cloud interior together. When the material inside these clumps loses enough internal motion, they condense into cores. These cores then form into protostars. “The dust and gas molecules have to slow down enough for gravity to begin pulling them together into a protostar,” Pineda says. “So far it has been hard to tell which cloud material is going into a protostar and which material is still too energetic.” Since the molecular clouds do not shine in visible light, astronomers must use radio and infrared telescopes to make measurements. Using the 100-meter Byrd radio telescope in Green Bank, WV, to map temperature and motion in the cloud, Pineda and other team members have for the first time determined a sharp boundary surrounding a protostar. “This result lets us define a zone where material inside the boundary is ‘ready to be used’ in the star formation process, while the gas outside the boundary needs to get rid of the turbulence before it can go on to form a star,” says Pineda. Theory predicts a region around a protostar where the forming star’s gravity is slowing and capturing more and more material from the parent cloud. The actual size and shape of such a region has not been measured or accurately predicted before. What was completely unknown was whether or not the material made a gradual or abrupt transition into what co-author Alyssa Goodman describes as “islands of calm in a more turbulent sea.” “The identification of this sharp transition is a major breakthrough in understanding the star formation process,” says Pineda. “Our measurements now give a strong constraint on how these protostellar cores form.” Because this is the first observation of such a marked transition, it had not previously been described in theory. “Now theorists will need to reproduce our observations in order to keep their models viable,” Pineda says. –Dan Brocious
The Blacknose Shiner By Doug Backlund WE WOULD SCARCELY recognize the streams and rivers of eastern and southern South Dakota if we could see them as they were before the land was settled. We would find clear, cool streams with sand and gravel beds, and deep pools with abundant vegetation both in the water and on the rich lands bordering the streams. We would also find abundant blacknose shiners, a minnow species that has almost disappeared from South Dakota's streams and rivers. The former range of the blacknose shiner (Notropis heterolepis) was southern Canada from Saskatchewan east to Nova Scotia and south to Missouri and Ohio. At the turn of the century, this minnow began to disappear from most of its southern range. Now rare in Missouri, Kansas, Tennessee, Ohio, Nebraska and South Dakota, it is still considered common in most of its northern range. The blacknose shiner was once common and widespread in eastern and southern South Dakota, thriving in the pristine streams. Historical records from Nebraska show that the species was one of the most abundant fishes in that state. Today, blacknose shiners survive in only a few streams in Nebraska. The species was thought to be gone from South Dakota until two dedicated volunteers located a few in two pristine streams in south-central South Dakota in the summer of 1994. How could a fish that was once so abundant become so rare? The blacknose shiner requires clean, cool, well-oxygenated streams with abundant aquatic vegetation. This fish species is completely intolerant of turbid water and pollution. As lands surrounding prairie streams were disturbed by settlers, erosion increased the turbidity of streams and rivers. Silt covered the sand and gravel bars, suffocating much of the aquatic invertebrate life that many fish rely on for food. Water temperatures increased as streams became shallower. Aquatic vegetation was destroyed by cattle and introduced fish such as carp. Pollution from feedlots, fertilizers and waste water combined with warmer water temperatures to lower the levels of dissolved oxygen in streams. These changes created conditions more suitable for bullheads and other fish than for species such as the blacknose shiner. Many fish species disappeared from many streams, but the blacknose shiner seems to be the species most affected by these changes. Any stream that still harbors this species does so because of good watershed management practices, whether by intent or by accident. Shiners are a group of minnows that usually have metallic silver or gold sides. Minnow species are notorious for being difficult to identify. There are more than 100 species of shiners in North America, but the blacknose shiner is one species that is quite easy to identify with a little experience. A black stripe extends from the tail to the nose, passing through the eye but not extending onto the chin or lips. This black stripe is formed from distinctive crescent-shaped markings on the scale margins. The eyes are large, but the mouth is small, and the upper jaw does not extend to the front of the eye. The back is pale yellow, and the sides are silvery. Breeding males have black fins. Adults range from 1 1/2 to 3 inches in length. Very little is known about the biology of the blacknose shiner. Spawning occurs in Nebraska in the last week of June. The diet includes small aquatic insects, crustaceans and algae. It is known to be one of the host fish of a freshwater mussel, the cylindrical papershell. Freshwater mussel host fish are the tools of dispersal of many freshwater mussels, commonly called clams. The clams infect the fish with their larvae, called glochidia. Healthy fish are usually not harmed by this relationship. After the glochidia. mature, they drop off the fish. The young clams can then begin a free living existence. Like the blacknose shiner, the cylindrical papershell is also declining in range and numbers. Although the blacknose shiner is not in danger of extinction, the species is an important indicator of high water quality and pristine streams. The fact that the blacknose shiner still occurs in some streams in South Dakota indicates that the current land management is maintaining the quality of the streams. The question is, how much support is there to ensure the protection of such places, which are becoming rarer and rarer with each passing year? How many other sensitive plants and animals survive in the streams that still support blacknose shiners? Currently, the fate of these streams is in the hands of private landowners. To those landowners who take this responsibility seriously, we who cherish those special places owe you a great deal of appreciation. Update: In 1996 the blacknose shiner was listed as a state endangered species in South Dakota
Juan de OÃ±ate gained fame for leading a mission that rediscovered New Mexico and established a lasting Spanish presence in the Southwest through the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Like previous conquistadors, OÃ±ate could be ambitious and brutal, but he also presaged a new era of Spanish government, one that would be characterized more by rules and regulations than by brute force. Don Juan de OÃ±ate y Salazar was born to CristÃ³bal de OÃ±ate and DoÃ±a Catalina de Salazar in Zacatecas, Mexico, probably in 1552. His father, an ethnic Basque, had arrived in the Americas in 1524, in time to participate in the round of conquests that followed the fall of TenochtitlÃ¡n. He received several valuable encomiendas (grants of people and land), participated in the founding of Zacatecas, and rose to the post of lieutenant governor of Nueva Galicia. The elder OÃ±ate maintained diverse holdings in mines, stock ranches, farms, and a sugar refinery, and he displayed his military prowess during the Mixton War (15401542). His elite status called for frequent trips between the mining city of Zacatecas and the colonial capital at Mexico City. His son Juan was exposed to the world of colonial officials, as well as to the more feudal world of the conquistadors. In the 1570s, OÃ±ate began to participate in the ongoing conflict with the Zacateco and Chichimeca. (Chichimeca was a generic term the Spanish applied to many northern tribes they perceived as uncivilized.) The young conquistador led expeditions around Zacatecas, and he also accumulated a sizable fortune through running the family mines and making new silver strikes in the area. His marriage to Isabel de Tolosa Cortz Montezuma, who was descended from the conquistador Hernando Cortz and the penultimate Aztec emperor, further improved his position. Juan de OÃ±ate, the last of the Spanish conquistadors to explore the New World, followed the Colorado River to the Gulf of California in 1604. On the way back, he left an inscription on a sandstone bluff at El Morro in western New Mexico. (Â© North Wind Picture Archives) In 1595, OÃ±ate signed a contract for the exploration of New Mexico with Viceroy Luis de Velasco of New Spain. The main goal of the expedition was to discover a route to the ocean, either Atlantic or Pacific, and good ports. Also, special care was to be taken to convert, not harm, native peoples in the process, as stipulated by the Orders for New Discoveries enacted in 1573. As reflected in these regulations, missionary orders, especially the Franciscans, had gained new power over the process of colonization in the second half of the sixteenth century. The expedition of around 500 people, including 130 Spanish soldiers, finally left for New Mexico in 1598. After establishing a base of operations at San Juan (in northern New Mexico), OÃ±ate immediately set out to find the Pacific coast. In 1601, he tried for the Atlantic. Vastly underestimating the size of North America, he made it to present-day south central Kansas before turning back. Finally, in 16041605, OÃ±ate made his way down the Colorado River to the Gulf of California. On the return voyage, he signed the massive El Morro rock outcropping. (In addition to Puebloan petroglyphs and signatures left by American settlers and soldiers, OÃ±ate’s inscription is a popular attraction today at El Morro National Monument.) Juan de OÃ±ate’s reputation as an explorer was beyond reproach, but his tactics as governor offended his Pueblo hosts and the viceregal government in Mexico City. Hungry Spanish soldiers began to press the Pueblos for corn and clothing, and the people of Acoma fought back, killing several soldiers, including OÃ±ate’s nephew. OÃ±ate decided to make an example of the Acoma Pueblos; a retaliatory raid killed 800 Pueblos, and those who survived were enslaved or mutilated. The surviving children of Acoma were placed in the custody of the Franciscans, a slight nod to the Orders for New Discoveries. These brutal actions put a temporary halt to Pueblo resistance, but it picked up again in the years that followed. Further compounding OÃ±ate’s problems was the fact that he had spent most of his money on far-reaching expeditions, hoping to get rich quickly, and had failed to set up a workable base of operations. OÃ±ate’s actions led to his replacement in New Mexico. He spent his remaining years, and what was left of his personal fortune, trying to rebuild his damaged reputation, first in Mexico City, and later in Spain. He succeeded to some extent and earned appointment as the king’s mine inspector, although he was permanently banished from New Mexico due to his abuse of the native peoples. Don Juan de OÃ±ate died while inspecting a mine back in Spain in 1626. Matthew Jennings See also: Exploration; New Mexico; New Spain; Spanish Colonies on Mainland North America (Chronology). Bibliography Simmons, Marc. The Last Conquistador: Juan de OÃ±ate and the Settling of the Far Southwest. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991. Weber, David J. The Spanish Frontier in North America. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992. Photo Gallery Oñate, Juan de (c. 1552–1626) Oñate, Juan de (c. 1552–1626) Images
Although LROC collects images of craters on the lunar surface at only one moment in time, impact craters are not as static and unchanging as these images may lead you to believe. The majority of material movement occurs during the impact event over a very short time, sometimes lasting only a few seconds, but post-impact modification plays a large role in crater erosion over time. In fact, post-impact modification begins immediately after the crater is formed! Wall slumping that forms terraces or debris piles on the crater floor and solidification of impact melt ponds and flows are just two examples of modifications that begin soon after a crater is formed. Over historical time (one year, ten years, 100 years) as well as geologic time (tens to hundreds of millions of years), crater modification proceeds to degrade the pristine crater into a shallower, less-distinct crater (you can see some of these types of craters in the WAC context image below). Today's Featured Image highlights a granular debris flow that originated near the crater rim and flowed downhill from the northeastern wall of an unnamed crater within Virtanen crater (15.80°N, 177.39°E). Along the way, the dry particles were disturbed by boulders that deflected the material. In a previous post, a boulder acted as a dam to stop the debris from flowing and created a "flow shadow" where the low-reflectance material did not reach - similar to what is visible here. However, in some cases, there is space between the boulder and the location at which the debris forks for its detour. Why might this be? Here's a hint: take a look at these boulders - do any of them have boulder trails or do they look like they are eroding out of the crater wall itself? There are no visible boulder trails, and the boulders of variable sizes are not sitting on the crater wall surface. In fact, most of the boulders look partially buried. So, it is likely that the low-reflectance granular material deflected around these boulders because the boulders are eroding out of the wall material and represent a small topographical high compared to the smoother, unbouldered portion of the crater wall. What do you think? The southeastern crater wall near the crater rim (below) is markedly different than the northeastern part of the crater wall nearing the crater floor (opening image). Instead of well-developed low-reflectance debris flows tendrils located downhill from the crater rim because of gravity, there is a mix of both high- and low-reflectance material on the crater wall slope. There are also large erosional troughs or alcoves from which the material forming debris flows originates. The contrast between reflectance of the crater wall and the lower-reflectance material traveling downslope (to the upper left) illustrates that the crater wall is not a smooth, flat surface. Small slope breaks in the crater wall acted as a dam to halt debris on their downward descent to the crater floor. Maybe these troughs will erode to the point where, in several millions of years, substantial material from the upper part of the southeastern wall will have mobilized downhill to form debris flows similar to those on the northeastern slope. Explore these debris flows from the comfort of your computer seat in the full LROC NAC image! Related posts: Dichotomy Back to Images
PythagoreanismArticle Free Pass - General features of Pythagoreanism - Major concerns and teachings - History of Pythagoreanism The background of Pythagoreanism is complex, but two main groups of sources can be distinguished. The Ionian philosophers—Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, and others—provided Pythagoras with the problem of a single cosmic principle, the doctrine of opposites, and whatever reflections of Eastern mathematics there are in Pythagoreanism; and from the technicians of his birthplace, the Isle of Samos, he learned to understand the importance of number, measurements, and proportions. Popular cults and beliefs current in the 6th century and reflected in the tenets of Orphism introduced him to the notions of occultism and ritualism and to the doctrine of individual immortality. In view of the shamanistic traits of Pythagoreanism, reminiscent of Thracian cults, it is interesting to note that Pythagoras seems to have had a Thracian slave. The school apparently founded by Pythagoras at Croton in southern Italy seems to have been primarily a religious brotherhood centred around Pythagoras and the cults of Apollo and of the Muses, ancient patron goddesses of poetry and culture. It became perhaps successively institutionalized and received different classes of esoteric members and exoteric sympathizers. The rigorism of the ritual and ethical observances demanded of the members is unparalleled in early Greece; in addition to the rules of life mentioned above, it is fairly well attested that secrecy and a long silence during the novitiate were required. The exoteric associates, however, were politically active and established a Crotonian hegemony in southern Italy. About 500 bce a coup by a rival party caused Pythagoras to take refuge in Metapontum, where he died. During the early 5th century, Pythagorean communities, inspired by the original school at Croton, existed in many southern Italian cities, a fact that led to some doctrinal differentiation and diffusion. In the course of time the politics of the Pythagorean parties became decidedly antidemocratic. About the middle of the century a violent democratic revolution swept over southern Italy; in its wake, many Pythagoreans were killed, and only a few escaped, among them Lysis of Tarentum and Philolaus, who went to Greece and formed small Pythagorean circles in Thebes and Phlious. Two Pythagorean sects Little is known about Pythagorean activity during the latter part of the 5th century. The differentiation of the school into two main sects, later called akousmatikoi (from akousma, viz., the esoteric teachings) and mathēmatikoi (from mathēmatikos, “scientific”), may have occurred at that time. The acousmatics devoted themselves to the observance of rituals and rules and to the interpretation of the sayings of the master; the “mathematics” were concerned with the scientific aspects of Pythagoreanism. Philolaus, who was rather a mathematic, probably published a summary of Pythagorean philosophy and science in the late 5th century. In the first half of the 4th century, Tarentum, in southern Italy, rose into considerable significance. Under the political and spiritual leadership of the mathematic Archytas, a friend of Plato, Tarentum became a new centre of Pythagoreanism, from which acousmatics—so-called Pythagorists who did not sympathize with Archytas—went out travelling as mendicant ascetics all around the Greek-speaking world. The acousmatics seem to have preserved some early Pythagorean Hieroi Logoi and ritual practices. Archytas himself, on the other hand, concentrated on scientific problems, and the organization of his Pythagorean brotherhood was evidently less rigorous than that of the early school. After the 380s there was a give-and-take between the school of Archytas and the Academy of Plato, a relationship that makes it almost impossible to disentangle the original achievements of Archytas from joint involvements (but see above, Geometry and Music). The Hellenistic Age Whereas the school of Archytas apparently sank into inactivity after the death of its founder (probably after 350 bce), the Academics of the next generation continued “Pythagorizing” Platonic doctrines, such as that of the supreme One, the indefinite dyad (a metaphysical principle), and the tripartite soul. At the same time, various Peripatetics of the school of Aristotle, including Aristoxenus, collected Pythagorean legends and applied contemporary ethical notions to them. In the Hellenistic Age, the Academic and Peripatetic views gave rise to a rather fanciful antiquarian literature on Pythagoreanism. There also appeared a large and yet more heterogeneous mass of apocryphal writings falsely attributed to different Pythagoreans, as if attempts were being made to revive the school. The texts fathered on Archytas display Academic and Peripatetic philosophies mixed with some notions that were originally Pythagorean. Other texts were fathered on Pythagoras himself or on his immediate pupils, imagined or real. Some show, for instance, that Pythagoreanism had become confused with Orphism; others suggest that Pythagoras was considered a magician and an astrologist; there are also indications of Pythagoras “the athlete” and “the Dorian nationalist.” But the anonymous authors of this pseudo-Pythagorean literature did not succeed in reestablishing the school, and the “Pythagorean” congregations formed in early imperial Rome seem to have had little in common with the original school of Pythagoreanism established in the late 6th century bce; they were ritualistic sects that adopted, eclectically, various occult practices. What made you want to look up Pythagoreanism?
Special Hazards can be declared as a room or a piece of equipment and generally occur in areas with a high concentration of technical equipment, such as data centers and testing facilities. Special hazards offer unique solutions for these areas if traditional fire alarms and sprinkler systems cannot adequately protect the designated area. Special Hazard Systems are defined as but not limited to: Special Hazard Fire Protection systems are: Types of Special Hazard Fire Protection systems are: Special Hazard Fire Protection systems include detection and control coupled with a fire suppression system. Some common fire suppression agents we use in these systems include: Clean agents suppress fires using a waterless gaseous system. This type of system offers very effective extinguishing agents without any residual effects to the area protected. They are life-safe in design and will not disrupt normal business activities. Inert gases extinguish fires using a compressed gas system by reducing the amount of oxygen in the area. This type of system is quite effective on all electrical equipment and difficult environments where gas systems are not ideal. They are electrically non-conductive and in most cases life-safe by design, without environmental issues. Specific systems are even effective on flammable metal fire like sodium and lithium. CO2 Carbon Dioxide Carbon dioxide suppresses fires using a gaseous system from local application to specific equipment, or in a total flooding system. This type of system offers an effective fire extinguisher without any residual effects to the area protected. They are not designed for occupied areas and will not disrupt normal business activities. Water mist extinguishes fires using less than 1000 micron-sized droplets of water. This system offers effective protection with minimal mess, as compared to standard fire sprinklers. These systems are lower cost than gas systems and have no environmental impact and minimal water damage if a fire occurs. Foam extinguishes fires by cooling and coating the fuel source. This type system is used for the protection of Class B (Flammable Liquids Polar Solvents and Hydrocarbon) fires. There are many types of foam used, including low expansion foam in fixed systems and high expansion in enclosed spaces like aircraft hangars. There are also foam systems that are effective on Class A fires by lowering the surface tension of water to better saturate the surface. Dry chemicals extinguish fires with a chemical commonly found in portable fire extinguishers. These systems offer cost-effective protection for industrial paint spray, flammable dipping, and mixing and storage areas. These are also designed for fueling areas and off-road vehicle systems. Dry chemical systems are more affordable than sprinklers and are much more effective than water.
Brief History of Notation System of Notation by Letters The earliest system of Notation, attributed to Boethius, the Roman philosopher, seems to have been the placing of letters over the syllables, thus: During the period of history dominated by Pope Gregory the Great, a change was made in this system by which capital letters, small letters and double letters were used, an improvement, since only the first seven letters of the alphabet were employed, thus: This system seems to have been used chiefly for theoretic demonstration. These two methods indicated the pitch sufficiently, but not the duration of the sounds. The next attempt was somewhat of a retrogression instead of an improvement. Signs called Neumes were placed over words. These signs consisted of points, lines, accents, hooks, curves, angles and a number of other characters placed more or less exactly over the syllables to which they were intended to be sung, in such manner as to show, relatively, by the distance above the text, how much the voice was to rise or fall. They did not indicate absolute pitch or duration. The number of characters in use, according to manuscripts still preserved, varied from seven to forty. In later forms they appear in the notation used for the Plain Song melodies (Gregorian) which were recalled into general use by Pope Pius X, in 1904. Another plan was to use a variable number of lines, writing the syllables in the spaces, thus: This clumsy contrivance indicated relative pitch well enough, but not the key or the duration. The next step was to use lines which varied in number upon or between which the Neumes, which gradually changed to square notes, were written. The pitch was indicated by using a red line for F, and a yellow or green line for C. A further improvement was, to put the letters F or C and later G on one of the lines at the beginning; the modern clefs are simply modifications of these letters. Characters to Indicate Duration The honor of suggesting characters to indicate duration is usually attributed to Franco of Cologne, an ecclesiastic who lived in the latter part of the 12th century; but as in the case of Gregory and Guido, we must believe that his name simply stands as representative of a period. A system is rarely the work of one man, rather a development from the labor of many. Franco’s treatise on the subject marked an epoch. Up to the end of the 13th century the notes in use were the Longa, Brevis, and Semibrevis, as well as the Duplex Longa, or Maxima. The smaller values, the Minima, and the Semiminima first occur about 1300. About the middle of the 15th century white notes were introduced in place of certain of the black, the latter color being reserved only for the smaller note values. The signs underwent some change at this time. Maxima, Longa, Brevis, Semibrevis (our whole note), Minima (half note), Semiminima (quarter), Fusa (eighth), Simifusa (sixteenth). The Beginnings of Harmony Our information as to the beginning of Harmony is very vague and uncertain. As early as the Saxon times in England some rude kind of part singing, without written rules apparently, seems to have existed. The first intimations we have of any scientific attempts are Faburden or Falsobordone and Diaphony or Organum. Faburden consisted of singing a melody while another voice sang a drone accompaniment below it; thus: Diaphony or Organum consisted of a succession of fourths or fifths and octaves, thus: It has been denied by some authorities that such a barbarous manner of singing ever existed; but two considerations have been lost sight of, in making this denial: First, the fourth, fifth and octave were esteemed the only consonances. Secondly, the undisputed fact that as late as the time of Chaucer, if not later, what was called “discanting quatible” or “quinable” existed; this discanting was done as follows: The performer while singing a melody accompanied himself on the lute, playing the same melody a fourth or fifth above. It can hardly be doubted that a style of performance that was esteemed in the 15th, was perfectly satisfactory to the ears of the 10th century. Another early attempt at harmonic effect was the singing of an extemporaneous part or parts with the melody, called Discanting. In course of time the Discant or Organum gradually crystallized into rules, and other intervals were accepted. Strangely enough, dissonances seem to have been admitted with great freedom, and thirds and especially sixths, were avoided. The only dissonance that was not allowed was the minor second. The New Organum In the 11th century, a method of combining sounds, called the New Organum, was developed. This kind of Organum admitted thirds and sixths. The following example will sufficiently illustrate this: The next step in advance, and one that proved very important and far reaching in its results on the development of music, was the invention of a notation that indicated, although not very conveniently, the relative duration of sounds. This is became possible to express two or more parts in a permanent form. The plan of this first attempt at a notation by means of which relative duration of notes might be expressed was very complicated. Music written with these signs was called Measured Music (Cantus Mensurabilis). The Record of Early Harmony There are references to the manner of using voices in combination in the writings of several men associated with the Christian Church in its early days. Censorinus, who lived in the 3rd century, makes mention of a practice of using a melody in octaves accompanied by the fifth to the lower note of the octave, which is also the fourth to the upper. Cassiodorus, in the 6th century, mentions various ways of accompanying the chant with consecutive fourths and fifths. In a work called “Sentences About Music”, written by Bishop Isidore of Seville, who lived in the 7th century, we read that “harmony is a modulation of the voice, the concordance of many sounds and their agreement”. In the 9th century we meet with the names of several writers: Remi d’Auxerre who defines harmony as “a consonance of voices, and their union in one group”; Jean Scot Erigene who recognized that the succession of chords composed of octaves, fifths and fourths is a rational one; Odo or Otger, a churchman of the south of France, whose work was the first to mark an epoch in the development of the art of music. Also another monk, the Fleming Hucbald, who lived in the 10th century. They defined consonance and dissonance, and appear to have been the first to give rules for the construction of Diaphony. Hucbald says in his “Musica Enchiriadis”: “Certain dissimilar sounds sung together make an agreeable effect, and this mingling of voices is sweet to the ear.” Their immediate successor, Guido, has been credited, unjustly, with being the inventor of nearly every improvement in the art up to his time. The old organum closed with his. The earliest writer who treats of the new organum is John Cotton, in the 11th century. He was the first to promulgate the rule that contrary motion is always to be preferred to similar or oblique. He says: “At least two singers are required in diaphony formed from different sounds. While one voice sings a melody, the other surrounds it with different tones, and at the end of the phrases the two voices unite at the unison or octave.” The fullest development of the new organum was attained in the works of Guy de Chalis, about the close of the 12th century. He gives examples in which we find intervals of the eleventh and twelfth, a demonstration of the existence of a system differing from the Gregorian, which does not exceed the octave. In the same epoch, Denis Lewts, of Liege, a Carthusian monk, gives rules to fix the use of accidental signs, a flat to lower B, a sharp to raise F. He speaks of these as if they had been in use for a long time, and indicated that the idea was to avoid the occurrence of the diminished fifth or the augmented fourth, known in harmony as the tritone. This process is called Musica Ficta, and formed a part of the instruction of singers. The examples cited by Lewts conform to this theory, and show that although in the songs, motets and other compositions of the period the sharps and flats are not found, it is because musicians knew the principles and made the application for themselves. Instruction in those days was chiefly oral, a method which placed a premium on a retentive memory. By the time that the 13th century was reached, musical forms and melodies were widely spread, and as we look back to the 9th century it is possible to note the gradual development. Harmony always existed, in a limited sense; but it did not take on a scientific development until the Middle Ages. It is to the musicians of this latter period, from the 13th century to the 15th century, that we must give the honor of having taken the germ of a science of harmony and of having brought it forward to mature development.
Corn Hybrids: Rewriting the Route to Better Yields – DTN Where some people see a humble corn plant, University of Missouri biologist David Braun sees a busy, ambitious interstate highway. Carbohydrates — often in the form of sugars — steer deftly around the vasculature of the plant, exiting and entering this internal thoroughfare as they deliver essential resources to various parts of the plant. For example, during vegetative growth stages, sugars are routed to the young leaves and stem. During grain fill, those same nutrients hit the HOV lane and fast track their way to the corn ears. This process, known as carbon partitioning, is integral to the plant’s growth and yield. Yet researchers don’t really know much about the system’s traffic controllers — the genes that direct the carbohydrates and tweak their routes as the plant grows. In breeding for yield, researchers may have been optimizing this process during the years, but not consciously, said Braun. “We can see lines that have much better performance than other lines. But we don’t know why,” he noted. Braun is now leading researchers from five universities in a project aimed at answering that question. The team is three years into a five-year, $6.6-million National Science Foundation grant to study the genes that control carbon partitioning. Essential structures of this highway system are proteins called transporters. Like entrance and exit ramps, transporters allow sugars to move across cell membranes. Braun and his team have identified the gene sequences that encode 30 transporters. They know of at least 50 more genes involved in the process, but are still hunting for them. Braun speculated that there could be hundreds, even thousands, more genes involved. The goal is to identify and analyze these genes so researchers can breed corn with greater precision. Knowing how to control the pathways of carbon partitioning could eventually help researchers make plants that are more drought-tolerant, higher yielding, better suited for biofuels and more resistant to pests. Environmental stresses like drought, for example, can cause some dramatic rerouting. When water becomes scarce, plants will slow or even stop leafy growth by redirecting carbohydrates down to the roots instead. Knowing which genes control this course recalculation could change how researchers breed for drought tolerance. “We’d really like to understand that switch, how plants can modulate where they’re sending the sugar, so we could potentially send more sugar down to the roots when there’s an oncoming drought,” Braun said. “They can build that network early and really be in a position to explore more of the soil and hopefully have a better capacity to take up the limited water that’s there and survive that drought.” Identifying the genes that move carbon throughout the plant could also help researchers breed for plants that can store more carbon during their lifespan, Braun said. “You can kind of think of it like charging a battery,” he explained. “We could find ways to increase the storage capacity of that battery, to build basically a bigger battery. Then you would have more ability to reallocate that stored carbon down to the ear or the roots.” Corn growers won’t be the sole beneficiaries of this research, Braun said. The cellulosic industry could benefit, too. Grasses like switchgrass, miscanthus and setaria are close evolutionary relatives of corn, and the genes that Braun’s team turns up could control the same pathways in those species. “The knowledge will translate, but how you’ll apply them could be quite different, because if your end goal is cellulose or lignin or starch, you’re going to want to tweak the pathway differently,” Braun said. “You want to build up a lot of stored carbon, regardless of the form, you want to be able to maximize its capture — its assimilation from carbon dioxide in the air — and then its storage. And then, depending on how you want to store it, you might target it to different [locations] for different biofuels.” There have been some unexpected discoveries along the way. As they zoom in on the genes responsible for carbon partitioning, the team is also looking at plants where mutations have essentially closed the on and off ramps. In these plants, sugars and starches pool up in the leaves, and researchers expected these mutants to be delectable sitting ducks for insects. To their surprise, the pests weren’t particularly interested. “I don’t understand how, because it’s not been an area of focus, but the plant has found a way to be able to accumulate very, very high levels of sugar, and they’re not especially pest sensitive,” Braun said. “So I think that there are opportunities to understand how plants protect themselves from pests when they accumulate all this high sugar and high starch.” Ultimately, Braun and his team will not be the ones to translate this foundational research to farmer’s fields. Instead, they’re laying the groundwork for others to do so. “I hope that the knowledge we generate will translate to collaborations with the large ag biotech companies … because they have the infrastructure to really do large-scale breeding and to bring a product to market,” Braun said. “It’s one of these benefits that’s sort of invisible to publicly funded research that definitely benefits the end user. It’s an invisible transfer of knowledge.” \|Copyright DTN. All rights reserved. Disclaimer.\|
Explore an Era: At the beginning of the Paleozoic Era, there were already living organisms on the earth. The earth's temperature had long ago dropped low enough for clouds to form and rain to fall, and this had set the stage for the development of organic compounds and-eventually-cells with chlorophyll that had the ability to photosynthesize. During the early Paleozoic Era, life began to flourish and become more complex. The Paleozoic oceans swarmed with primitive arthropods called trilobites (relatives of the horseshoe crab). Clams and snails already inhabited shallow waters, as did members of the subclass Xiphosurida, which included early members of the horseshoe crab family. Later in the era, primitive plants begin to appear on land and the first jawed fishes develop. The world's first great flush of vegetative growth appears in the Devonian Period (360 to 408 million years ago), with huge ferns and forests of scale trees. Fish and land plants become abundant and diverse. The next 35 million years, the Carboniferous Period, is marked by a tropical climate and a swampy environment. The first winged insects and reptiles develop in this time period, though they are much larger than those today. The first dragonflies had 29" wingspans and the first cockroaches were four inches long. The end of the Paleozoic Era is the Permian Period, sometimes called the "Age of Amphibians" Amphibians and reptiles are the dominant fauna and gymnosperms the dominant plant life. The Permian ends with a large mass extinction, perhaps caused by glaciation or volcanic activity. The trilobites become extinct, as do 50% of all animal families, 95% of all marine species and many trees. The horseshoe crab survives.
Researchers from the University of Bologna, Italy, and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, analysed two deciduous teeth from the prehistoric sites of Grotta di Fumane and Riparo Bombrini in Northern Italy. The state-of-the-art methods adopted in this study attribute the teeth to anatomically modern humans. New AMS radiocarbon dates on bones and charcoal from the site of Riparo Bombrini, along with previously published dates for the Grotta di Fumane sequence, show that these teeth represent the oldest modern human remains in an Aurignacian-related archeological context, overlapping in time with the last Neandertals. The results have strong implications for our understanding of the interaction between modern humans and Neandertals, as well as for the debate on the extinction of the latter. The Protoaurignacian culture, which spread in Southwest and South-Central Europe around 42,000 cal BP, was characterized by a remarkable set of technological innovations in stone knapping and bone tool industries, as well as by the large use of personal ornaments. Since the Protoaurignacian overlapped in time with the last Neandertals, it is pivotal to identify the makers of this culture to shed light on the demise of Neandertals. Unfortunately, only two sites have provided unambiguous human remains associated with the Protoaurignacian: Riparo Bombrini (Western Ligurian Alps, Italy), where a deciduous incisor was found in 1976, and Grotta di Fumane (Western Lessini Mountains, Italy) where an upper deciduous incisor was found in 1992 by the team from the University of Ferrara. Stefano Benazzi from the University of Bologna and colleagues from the CNR Institute of Clinical Physiology (Pisa, Italy) compared digital models from CT scans of the human tooth from Riparo Bombrini with those of modern human and Neandertal dental samples. Digital methods were used to compare the internal features of the dental crown, namely the thickness of the enamel. The results showed that the specimen from Riparo Bombrini belonged to a modern human. Viviane Slon and colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology were able to analyse the mitochondrial DNA from the Fumane 2 dental specimen, discovering that its mitochondrial genome falls within the variation of modern humans and basally in haplogroup R, which is typical for pre-agricultural mtDNAs in Europe. Sahra Talamo from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology undertook a comprehensive programme of radiocarbon dating to establish a firm chronology for the tooth from Riparo Bombrini, ascertaining that it is about 40,000 years old. "Human fossil material is very rare, particularly well preserved deciduous teeth. It is only thanks to the collaboration of several European institutions that the fossil remains could be investigated fully", says Benazzi. "The classification of these two human remains was only made possible through technical innovations developed in the last decade, i.e. high-resolution computed tomography/digital methods and ancient DNA. These new techniques and radiocarbon dating will help to address taxonomic questions associated with other contentious human fossils". "At the time of the replacement of Neandertals by modern humans in Europe, the biological nature of several contemporaneous European populations remains unknown, and so far there has been no direct evidence that the earliest Aurignacian, a culture of many technical innovations, was actually produced by modern humans", says Jean-Jacques Hublin, director of the Department of Human Evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and co-author of the study. "The association of modern remains with the earliest Aurignacian-related archaeological context now provides physical evidence that the arrival of our species on the continent triggered the demise of Neandertals, who disappeared a couple of millennia later." Explore further: Homo sapiens arrived in Europe earlier than previously believed "The makers of the Protoaurignacian and implications for Neandertal extinction" April 23 2015 Science DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa2773
Latent Virus Infections In latent infections, overt disease is not produced, but the virus is not eradicated. This equilibrium between host and parasite is achieved in various ways by different parasites and hosts. The virus may exist in a truly latent noninfectious occult form, possibly as an integrated genome or an episomal agent, or as an infectious and continuously replicating agent, termed a persistent viral infection. Infectious agents causing chronic persistent infections have found a way of escaping a cell-mediated immune response. The mechanisms include Examples of latent infection include 1. Chronic Persistent Infections Enveloped viruses such as paramyxoviruses, some herpesviruses eg. EBV, retroviruses and arenaviruses appear particularly suited to initiate persistent infections. Infection appear to persist because the virus does not disrupt the essential housekeeping functions of the cells. (DNA, RNA and protein synthesis). Some persistently infected cells, such as in measles (SSPE) may be assisted by the capacity of humoral Abs to cap viral Ags on the cell surface. This promotes the shredding of viral Ags from the cell surface, leaving the cell surface free of viral glycoproteins and thus the infected cell is protected from CTLs and K cells. 2. Latent Occult Viral Infections Some DNA and RNA viruses, may become undetectable following a primary infection only to reappear and produce acute disease. This latency can be accomplished in different ways. a. HSV - primary infection usually occurs between 6 to 18 months of age following which the virus persists and cannot be found except during recurrent acute episodes. The form in which the latent occult virus persists is uncertain. Virus cannot be isolated from tissue homogenates, but by cocultivating cells of sensory ganglia with susceptible cells. Virus has been detected in the trigeminal, thoracic, lumbar and sacral dorsal root ganglia. Hybridization studies have detected the viral genome in normal brains as well as peripheral ganglia. These data suggests that the DNA exist in a linear, unintegrated form, perhaps as episomes. It may be that, as in virus-carrier cultures, infection is confined to only a small proportion (0.01-0.1%) of the ganglion cells because of Abs, CMI, viral interference or metabolic factors. Because there is humoral Abs present, most of the extracellular virus is neutralized and goes undetected. Acute episodes, in which there is a burst of viral replication, probably depends on a transient change in the local level of immunity or changes in the susceptibility of the uninfected cells induced by a variety of physical and physiological factors such as fever, intense sunlight, fatigue or menstruation. The other herpesviruses that infect humans also commonly produce latent infections: VZV in the sensory ganglia, CMV in lymphocytes and macrophages, and EBV in B-lymphocytes. b. Adenovirus - adenovirus infections in humans are usually self-limiting but the virus frequently establishes a latent, persistent infection of the tonsils and the adenoids. Though these tissues fail to yield infectious virus when homogenized and tested in sensitive cell cultures, cultured fragments of about 85% of these "normal" tonsils and adenoids, after a variable time, show characteristic adenovirus-induced CPE and yield infectious virus. Failure to recover infectious virus initially may be due to the paucity of virions, to their association with either Ab or receptor material, or to the absence of mature virions. The latent infection is probably not the result of lysogeny, since DNA in peripheral lymphocytes appears to be in a linear episomal form. c. SSPE - latency occurs as a result of incomplete viral production. Immature viral measles virus nucleocapsids are produced. Latent viral infections affect the incidence and pathogenesis of acute viral disease in several ways. A reactivated virus may spread and initiate an epidemic among susceptible contacts eg. VZV. Viral latency can also be seen in the development of several chronic diseases dependent on the immunological response eg. SSPE and PML. Some latent states induce tumourigenesis.
Many multicellular organisms form spores during their biological life cycle in a process called sporogenesis. Exceptions are animals and some protists, who undergo gametic meiosis immediately followed by fertilization. Plants and many algae on the other hand undergo sporic meiosis where meiosis leads to the formation of haploid spores rather than gametes. These spores grow into multicellular individuals (called gametophytes in the case of plants) without a fertilization event. These haploid individuals give rise to gametes through mitosis. Meiosis and gamete formation therefore occur in separate generations or "phases" of the life cycle, referred to as alternation of generations. Since sexual reproduction is often more narrowly defined as the fusion of gametes (fertilization), spore formation in plant sporophytes and algae might be considered a form of asexual reproduction (agamogenesis) despite being the result of meiosis and undergoing a reduction in ploidy. However, both events (spore formation and fertilization) are necessary to complete sexual reproduction in the plant life cycle. Fungi and some algae can also utilize true asexual spore formation, which involves mitosis giving rise to reproductive cells called mitospores that develop into a new organism after dispersal. This method of reproduction is found for example in conidial fungi and the red alga Polysiphonia, and involves sporogenesis without meiosis. Thus the chromosome number of the spore cell is the same as that of the parent producing the spores. However, mitotic sporogenesis is an exception and most spores, such as those of plants, most Basidiomycota, and many algae, are produced by meiosis.
About This Chapter Freshwater Characteristics & Processes - Chapter Summary With the lessons in this chapter, you can refresh your knowledge or learn new information in relation to freshwater. These are science topics that are important to know. In this chapter, you will review the following subjects: - Lakes vs. ponds - Types and function of wetlands - How rivers and streams form on Earth - The importance of groundwater and its role in sustaining life - Different types of wells - Classification of springs such as how they flow and how strong they flow - Important geysers such as Old Faithful When you use the lessons in this chapter, it will deepen your knowledge of the topics listed above. After each lesson, there are self-assessment quizzes to test your knowledge. These short quizzes feature multiple-choice questions, and they give you immediate feedback. This allows you to quickly find out what you have successfully retained and what you have not. When finished with the whole chapter, make sure you take the chapter exam. This will test you on the material found in each of the lessons. 1. Lakes & Ponds: Formation & Features After reading this lesson, you'll see just how similar lakes and ponds are along with what differentiates them. You'll now be able to tell your friend whether the body of water in his backyard is a lake or a pond. 2. What Are Wetlands? - Definition & Types Also called Earth's kidneys, wetlands are dynamic and unique environments. Found all over the world, wetlands come in many different types and serve a variety of important functions. 3. How Rivers and Streams Affect the Earth's Surface Rivers and streams are powerful, ever-changing systems that can alter the surface of the Earth. While they share many similar features, they can be vastly different. In this lesson, we will learn how rivers and streams form, transport sediment, and flood. 4. Groundwater System: Definition & Geological Role Surprisingly, most of Earth's liquid freshwater is not where you might think! In this video lesson, you will learn about groundwater, as well as the important roles it plays in sustaining life and shaping Earth. 5. Wells: Definition & Types Wells are used all over the world and are an important source of water for many people. In this video lesson you will identify different types of wells, as well understand their underground source of water. 6. Springs: Definition, Formation & Types In this video lesson, you will learn about springs and how they form. You will also understand how springs are classified based on how they flow as well as how strongly they flow. 7. Geyser: Definition & Explanation Learn about how geysers like Old Faithful create spectacular explosions of water and steam. Explore geysers from Yellowstone National Park to Iceland to the ocean floor deep under the Pacific Ocean. Earning College Credit Did you know… We have over 160 college courses that prepare you to earn credit by exam that is accepted by over 1,500 colleges and universities. You can test out of the first two years of college and save thousands off your degree. Anyone can earn credit-by-exam regardless of age or education level. To learn more, visit our Earning Credit Page Transferring credit to the school of your choice Not sure what college you want to attend yet? Study.com has thousands of articles about every imaginable degree, area of study and career path that can help you find the school that's right for you. Other chapters within the GACE Middle Grades Science (014): Practice & Study Guide course - Scientific Inquiry & Design - Nature of Scientific Knowledge - Major Developments & Historical Figures in Science - Collecting & Analyzing Scientific Data - Science Laboratory & Field Equipment Safety - Environmental Effects of Science & Technology - Energy Production & Natural Resource Management - Science & Technology in Consumer Products - The Atomic Model, Energy & Matter - Concepts & Relationships Between Energy & Matter - Basics of the Periodic Table - Chemical Compounds & Reactions - Acid-Base Chemistry - Solutions & Solubility - Basic Concepts of Mechanics - Electricity & Magnetism Concepts - Waves & Optics - Structure & Function of Cells & Organelles - Basic Biochemistry of Life - Basic Genetics - Evolution, Natural Selection & Biological Diversity - Hierarchical Classification of Living Things - Plant Structures & Function - Animal & Human Anatomy & Physiology - Population Dynamics & Ecology - Intro to Rocks, Minerals & Soil - Earth's Structure & Internal Processes - Effects of Plate Tectonics - Historical Geology - Water Cycle - Earth's Oceans & Landforms - Atmosphere & Weather - Climate & Seasons - Exploring Features of the Solar System - Earth-Moon-Sun System - GACE Middle Grades Science Flashcards
Regional Assessment of Groundwater Quality in Principal Volcanic Aquifers of the Western United States The Western Volcanics study brings together three areas with similar aquifer properties: Columbia Plateau basaltic-rock aquifers, Snake River Plain basaltic-rock aquifers, and Hawaiian volcanic-rock aquifers. These are extensive provinces of layered igneous rocks (mostly basaltic lava flows) that host regional ground-water flow systems. Important sedimentary aquifers (basin-fill aquifers) overlie basalts of the Columbia Plateau and Snake River Plain. In Hawaii, sediments overlie volcanic-rock aquifers along the coastal perimeter of the islands, but the sedimentary aquifers are not used as drinking-water sources. The volcanic-rock aquifers are highly susceptible to contamination because they are mostly unconfined and are overlain by thin or well-drained soils. All three areas are farmed intensively, were irrigated heavily for most of the 20th century, and have had agricultural fertilizers and pesticides applied. Numerous agricultural and industrial chemicals have been detected in groundwater, though most concentrations are below human-health guidelines. A notable exception is nitrate, a nutrient for which elevated concentrations commonly are ascribed to fertilizer application, animal manure, or nitrogen-fixing plants (legumes) such as alfalfa. In ground-water samples collected by NAWQA (1991-2000), nitrate concentrations in 20 percent of Columbia Plateau wells and 3 percent of Snake River Plain wells were above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency drinking-water standard of 10 milligrams per liter. No wells in Hawaii had nitrate concentrations above the standard. The western volcanics study seeks to explain the causes of such similarities and differences through statistical analysis of soil properties, crop types, and other factors. Past trends in water quality also are under study, with an eye toward future forecasting through the use of ground-water modeling.
The mayfly’s lifecycle: a fascinating, fleeting story The mayfly’s lifecycle is one of the most fascinating and fleeting stories in the natural world. One of the many charactersistics that makes mayflies the unique insects they are is the potential for two different winged adult forms in their life cycle. The nymph emerges from the water as a dull-coloured sub-imago (or dun) that seeks shelter in bankside vegetation and trees. After a period of a couple of hours or more, the sub-imago once again sheds its skin to transform into the brightly coloured imago (or spinner). It is not clear why mayflies have retained this unique step in their lifecycle, however it is thought that they may not be able to achieve the change from nymph to sexually mature adult in one step. A mayfly’s life cycle starts with the males forming a swarm above the water and the females flying into the swarm to mate. The male grabs a passing female with its elongated front legs and the pair mate in flight. After copulation, the male releases the female, which then descends to the surface of the water where she lays her eggs. Once mated she will fall, spent, onto the water surface to lie motionless, with her wings flat on the surface, where fish pick them off at their leisure. The male fly rarely returns to the water but instead he goes off to die on the nearby land. The eggs fall to the bottom of the water where they stick to plants and stones. Flies of the Mayfly family Baetidae pull themselves under the water to attach their eggs directly to the bed before being drowned by the current. The nymphs take anything between a few days to a number of weeks to hatch depending on water conditions and the species, and the resultant nymphs will spend various lengths of time, up to two years, foraging on the bottom before emerging as an adult fly. When it is time to emerge, the nymphs make their way to the surface where they pull themselves free of their nymphal shuck and emerge as a sub-imago. While they rest here to dry their newly exposed wings, they are at their most vulnerable to attack from fish. Some species exhibit great synchronicity in their hatching. The North American species Hexagenia limbata hatches in huge numbers from the Mississippi every year. The total number of mayflies in this hatch are estimated to be around 18 trillion – more than 3,000 times the number of people on earth. The newly emerged insects are attracted to lights in riverside towns and villages and the local authorities deploy snow clearing vehicle to remove their rotting corpses. Ironically, what is seen as a nuisance in America is seen as a gift in Africa. Locals around Lake Victoria gather adults of the mayfly Povilla adusta together with Chironomid midges to make a type of patty called ‘Kungu’. This protein rich food stuff is an important part of their diet. - Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window) - Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) - Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) - Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) - Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) - Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) - Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window) - Click to print (Opens in new window)
Chapter 4. New France One of the distinguishing features of Indigenous cultures in much of what is now Canada is egalitarianism. This is a broad generalization but one that applies as much to hunter-gatherer societies as it does to sedentary agricultural societies. It was rare for a nominal leader in Indigenous communities to be able to dictate direction or policy. Even when councils, which dominated the longhouse societies, reached decisions, these were not always binding on all parties. In Iroquoian societies in particular, efforts were made to develop consensus arising from discussion, but the record of the Five Nations, for example, shows many instances where one or more member nations went their own way. Individuals had similar options. In hunter-gatherer societies, leadership was as much a recognition of proven success in the field as it was of personality or birth. These cultural traits were not always understood or appreciated by Europeans. What might appear to outsiders as a political union was very often an arrangement subject to regular renewal and rejuvenation. The newcomers were accustomed to hierarchical societies headed by nobles and high clergy; not surprisingly they looked for parallels in Indigenous communities and often mistook very different arrangements for “chiefdoms,” if not kingdoms. Errors such as these led the Europeans to assume, in some instances, that they could make treaties and pacts once and for all. Indigenous peoples, however, put an emphasis on renewal and reaffirmation: they expected gifts and declarations of loyalty from one another in commerce and diplomacy and expected no less from their European trading partners. Europeans in an Indigenous Marketplace Some of these features were immediately obvious to sharp-eyed French leaders like Champlain, but not to others. Certainly European traders needed to take pains to conduct themselves according to local standards of commerce and not those of France, Holland, or England. Making that adjustment was often the surest course to success and profits, so there was a powerful incentive for the Europeans to get it right. And sometimes they did. In many tellings of the history of New France, Champlain appears to engage the largest Iroquoian-speaking nation north of the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes in a trade and military alliance. In point of fact, the Wendat approached the French. The first few years of fur trading along the St. Lawrence involved the Omàmiwinini (Algonquin) and the Innu (Naskapi and Montagnais) in particular. Both were acting as middlemen in their own right, trading goods that had been procured first by their neighbours, generally farther north. That middleman role was taken over by the more powerful Wendat. The French placed a premium on furs that had seen some use. Contact and wear removes the guard hairs from the pelt and leaves the fur glossier and richer looking — something that the French market preferred. This single fact gave shape to the fur trade. If the French had been interested only in freshly harvested furs, their influence would have spread much more slowly. One region would be denuded of animals, then another and another, sequentially. But the demand for used furs extended the trade out in search of stockpiles already held by Indigenous families, bands, and communities. It created a series of funnels of trade that passed pelts out of one village or camp and into another and then another, coalescing finally in the hands of the ultimate middleman. From 1610 to 1649, that role was filled by the Wendat Confederacy. Wendat commerce has to be understood within its cultural context. The accumulation of goods was important and the Wendat were canny traders capable of manipulating supply and demand as needed so as to inflate prices from one season to the next. But wealth was acquired so that it could be given away: acquisitiveness and hoarding for personal use were frowned upon. Generosity and lavish gift-giving was a route to status in many Indigenous societies and the Wendat were, in this respect, no exception. Although they traded for functional goods — materials that could be used on a day-to-day basis — they also sought luxury items and exotic goods that carried special weight as gifts. So long as the material needs of the Wendat household were met, trade would focus on goods that had the potential to elevate the standing of individuals or their families. This quality, too, was an asset as far as trade with the French was concerned. The novelty value of French goods could instantly be applied to the social competition that went on in Wendat longhouses. What was of still greater benefit to the French in their quest for large quantities of furs was the simple fact that the Wendat were sedentary. Their longhouses functioned as warehouses, too. Unlike the much more mobile and nomadic northern peoples, the Wendat could stockpile great amounts of furs and other goods in a way that no one else north of Lake Ontario could. The 1609 Wendat visit to Champlain’s habitation had two purposes. First, it was meant to engage the Innu (Montagnais) in a trade relationship that was already in place between the Wendat and the surrounding Algonquin-speaking nations. Second, the Wendat wanted to scout out the newcomers whose trade goods were already finding their way into Wendake (a.k.a. Huronia). To confirm the new partnership that now included not only the Innu but the French, the Indigenous allies proposed a raid on the Mohawk village of Ticonderoga. Champlain agreed to participate, an important step toward a long-term alliance with the Wendat-Omàmiwinini-Innu but also the initiation of a long history of enmity between the Haudenosaunee and the French. The Haudenosaunee (as discussed in Chapter 5) were engaged in an effectively endless series of raids and counter raids called the “Mourning Wars.” In Iroquoian societies the murder of a member was to be avenged by family; likewise, the murderer was to be protected by their family. Hostages were regularly taken, some of whom might be adopted into their host community as replacements for those who had died or had themselves been captured by the opposition. Captives in warfare typically faced highly structured public torture rituals aimed at testing their courage and endurance. In the absence of a police force and/or penal system these structures gave expression to Iroquoian understandings of justice and personal responsibility. Having committed to the northern alliance, Champlain had — probably unwittingly — inserted the French into generations of revenge killings and assaults. That was not his goal, of course. His purpose was to gain access to a lucrative supply of furs and in this he was successful. Wendake (Huronia) was 700 km of river route away from Montreal but it produced approximately half of all the furs traded in the 1620s and a substantial share even after the smallpox epidemics of the 1630s and the intensification of war with the Haudenosaunee in the 1640s. For reasons discussed in Chapter 5, Wendake (Huronia) failed to recover from the epidemics and was increasingly unable to defend itself from Haudenosaunee raids. The Confederacy was dispersed in 1649. By that time the French had established direct contact with many of the northern peoples and had trained dozens of men — — for the task of long-distance canoeing and North American commercial protocols. The loss of Wendake (Huronia) was, however, a significant blow to their Indigenous neighbours who depended on Wendat corn in particular. The French, as an agricultural society, were able to meet some of the demand for agricultural produce, a fact that would enhance their position in the fur trade after 1663. A final note on this phase of the colonial fur trade underlines the very important fact that the fur trade was utterly dependent on the engagement of Indigenous partners. As the 1620s opened, there were fewer than 70 French residents in Canada. Until the 1670s this would not change greatly. Canada at this stage produced little of its own food, contained a handful of biological families, and the fur trade was its entire raison d’être. - The fur trade required the exploitation and extension of networks deep into the interior of North America. - That network depended on the involvement of Indigenous traders and merchants, the most important to the French in this period being the Wendat (also known as the Huron) who called their confederacy and homeland Wendake (a.k.a. Huronia). - Wendat diplomatic and commercial priorities along with their assets made them pivotal players in the early fur trade with Europeans. In English, known as “runners of the woods.” The first coureurs de bois were young men dispatched by Champlain to reside among the Wendat, learn the Wyandot language, and develop an understanding of local trade protocols. Subsequently, the coureurs were more likely to be independent or semi-independent traders seeking sources of furs among Indigenous communities across the interior of North America.
What is the Parasympathetic Nervous System and Why is it so Important? The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is the branch of the autonomic nervous system that helps regulate the body's rest and digest response. When the PNS is activated, the body is in a relaxed state, which is optimal for learning and cognitive processing. Here are some reasons why the parasympathetic nervous system is optimal for a child's ability to learn in the classroom: Reduced Stress: When the PNS is activated, it reduces the body's stress response, which can improve a child's ability to focus and pay attention in the classroom. Chronic stress can negatively impact a child's cognitive development and academic performance, so a relaxed state is crucial for optimal learning. Improved Memory: The PNS plays a critical role in memory consolidation, the process by which new information is stored in the brain. When the PNS is activated, it can help strengthen memory retention, which can aid in a child's ability to recall information in the future. Increased Creativity: The relaxed state induced by the PNS fosters creativity and imagination. Children are more likely to come up with innovative ideas and approaches to problem-solving when they are in a comfortable state, rather than feeling pressured or stressed. Enhanced Social Skills: The PNS is also involved in social engagement, which can improve a child's ability to interact with others in the classroom. When a child is relaxed, they are more likely to be approachable and receptive to social cues, leading to better communication and collaboration with peers and teachers. Improved Physical Health: The PNS is associated with improved physical health, including a decrease in blood pressure and heart rate. This can lead to improved overall well-being and reduced absenteeism, allowing for more consistent and continuous learning in the classroom. In conclusion, activation of the parasympathetic nervous system is crucial for a child's ability to learn in the classroom. By reducing stress, improving memory, fostering creativity, enhancing social skills, and promoting physical health, a relaxed state can optimize a child's cognitive and academic performance. Teachers and parents can help support PNS activation in children by promoting healthy habits such as exercise, sleep, and mindfulness practices. At Austin Learning Solutuions we use iLs sound therapy programs to help children and adults struggling to regulate there PNS in the areas discussed above. If you or your child need support in these areas, iLs may be a great choice! Reach out to Dr. William Merring to learn more and see if iLs is right for you! Dr. William Merring PT Neurological Clinical Specialist Austin Learning Solutions (512) 609 - 0745
In the very early solar system, newly formed massive planets like Jupiter and Saturn stirred up trouble in their cosmic neighborhood, causing smaller bodies to collide with each other, new research shows. In the disk of material surrounding the very newly formed sun — a swirling cloud of dense gas and dust that eventually gave birth to Earth and the other planets — rocky bodies from the inner solar system experienced violent collisions with icy bodies from the outer solar system, according to new research paper published today (July 1) in the journal Science Advances. To reach each other, these clumps of matter would have traveled across billions of miles of space. This discovery comes from a detailed analysis of twosamples of what scientists call chondrite meteorites that fell to Earth from space. Chondrites are among the largest class of meteorites and some of the oldest solid materials found in the solar system. These particular chondrite meteorites have their own names — Vigarano and Kaba — to distinguish them from others that have been collected. [Asteroids May Not Be Planet Building Blocks After All] Vigarano and Kaaba also contain chondrules — small, round, glassy pellets embedded in chondrites. Chondrules formed when molten droplets rapidly cooled in outer space, and they constitute up to 80 percent of primitive meteorites, according to Yves Marrocchi, a cosmochemist at the Centre of Petrographic and Geochemical Research (CRPG) in France and lead author of the new study. Chondrules were a part of the protoplanetary disk, from which Earth and the other planets in our solar system formed. Prior research had suggested that magnetite — a primary mineral formed during chondrule formation — present in chondrules was the result of cold water circulation, according to Marrocchi. However, the new study found that the chondrules embedded in Vigarano and Kaba contain high-temperature magnetites. "This implies that these chondrules were formed under oxygen-rich conditions during impacts between planetesimals," Marrocchi told Space.com. The composition and shape of the minerals present in the primitive meteorites revealed to Marrocchi and his colleagues that Vigarano and Kaba formed at high temperatures, he said. Marrocchi explained that, in order for magnetites to form at a high temperature, the environment of the protoplanetary disk needed to be oxygen-rich, which only occurs when there are collisions between planetesimals. "When you produce a collision between small planets, you will produce what we call a plume of gas, which is just the vapors resonating from the collision," Marrocchi said, adding that the magnetites are then formed from the gases released during the collisions. The results shed new light on the conditions of the early solar system. The researchers found the composition of these magnetites can only be explained by invoking a collision between rocky planetesimals from the inner solar system and icy bodies from the outer solar system. Using astrophysical models, the researchers then concluded that there was a lot of scattering between the inner and outer parts of the solar system, due to the early formation of giant planets, Marrocchi said. "This implies that chondrules are not primitive dust formed in the disk but, to the contrary, are byproducts of collisions between planetesimals in the early evolution of the solar system," Marrocchi said. Next, the researchers hope to better understand the kinetics, composition of gas, and duration of such collisions. If high-temperature magnetites are, in fact, found in other types meteorites, it will indicate that these collisions are the main process that drives chondrule formation, Marrocchi said. Get the Space.com Newsletter Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more! Samantha Mathewson joined Space.com as an intern in the summer of 2016. She received a B.A. in Journalism and Environmental Science at the University of New Haven, in Connecticut. Previously, her work has been published in Nature World News. When not writing or reading about science, Samantha enjoys traveling to new places and taking photos! You can follow her on Twitter @Sam_Ashley13.
NCERT Biology Class 11 Solutions NCERT Solutions for Class 11 Biology NCERT Biology Class 11 Solutions goes about as a splendid guide for understudies and depends completely on the NCERT schedule. As we realize that Biology is a fundamental piece of Science and one of the center subjects in CBSE we have to think about difficult to comprehend the ideas. Science is a characteristic science subject that manages life and living beings. The investigation of science incorporates physical and compound structures inside different creatures, their inward capacities and systems, their development, advancement, and territory inuence. From plant and creature kingdoms to complex compound coordination and neural elements of the life forms, NCERT Class 11 Biology incorporates every one of these subdivisions and spreads the subject in 22 parts. Androbose ours NCERT Biology Class 11 Solutions in a pdf group which can be effectively gotten to from our site. The guide covers every one of the parts in the Biology reading material for class 11 given by the National Board. Every module is cautiously arranged to make learning agreeable and more efficient. By learning the arrangements, you can without much of a stretch comprehend the point shrouded in every section, making ideas clearer. Unit 1- Diversity in the Living World Chapter 2- Biological Classification Chapter 3- Plant Kingdom Chapter 4- Animal Kingdom Unit 2- Structural Organisation in Plants and Animals Chapter 6- Anatomy of Flowering Plants Chapter 7- Structural Organisation in Animals Unit 3: Cell- Structure and Functions Chapter 9: Biomolecules Chapter 10: Cell Cycle and Cell Division Unit 4: Plant Physiology Chapter 12: Mineral Nutrition Chapter 13: Photosynthesis in Higher Plants Chapter 14: Respiration in Plants Chapter 15: Plant Growth and Development Unit 5: Human Physiology Chapter 17: Breathing and Exchange of Gases Chapter 18: Body Fluids and Circulation Chapter 19: Excretory Products and Their Elimination Chapter 20: Locomotion and Movement Chapter 21: Neural Control and Coordination Chapter 22: Chemical Coordination and Integration The guide additionally incorporates questions that were asked in the earlier years. By settling these, you improve thought of the sort of inquiries that are for the most part asked in your tests. Androbose guarantees that you have all the examination material you have to clear your tests with Ying hues. The PDF gave here additionally incorporates answers for vital inquiries asked in aggressive tests, helping you in unraveling them effectively. Normal practice guarantees achievement and will give you the confidence to break much dicult selection tests like NEET, AIIMS and so forth., and these NCERT Solutions for Class 11 Biology canoer in any case.
Sindhi is commonly grouped under the languages that belong to the Indo Aryan group of languages. It was in the year 1853 when the Arabic script was used for representing the Sindhi language in the written format. Till then, there were no alphabetic (or written representation) recorded of Sindhi earlier before that. The earliest written representation of Sindhi language can be found in the 14th-century poem written by Mamot Saints. UPSC Mains Sindhi Syllabus Paper – I Answers must be written in Sindhi (Arabic or Devanagari script). - Origin and evolution of Sindhi language-views of different scholars. - Significant linguistic features of Sindhi language, including those pertaining to its phonology, morphology and syntax. - Major dialects of the Sindhi language. - Sindhi vocabulary-stages of its growth, including those in the pre-partition and post-partition periods. - Historical study of various Writing Systems (Scripts) of Sindhi. - Changes in the structure of Sindhi language in India, after partition, due to influence of other languages and social conditions. Sindhi literature through the ages in context of socio-cultural conditions in the respective periods : - Early medieval literature upto 1350 A.D. including folk literature. - Late medieval period from 1350 A.D. to 1850 A.D. - Renaissance period from 1850 A.D. to 1947 A.D. - Modern period from 1947 and onwards. (Literary genres in Modern Sindhi literature and experiments in poetry, drama, novel, short story, essay, literary criticism, biography, autobiography, memoirs, and travelogues.) Aspirants who are targeting IAS Exam may check the linked article. UPSC Mains Sindhi Syllabus Paper – II Answers must be written in Sindhi (Arabic of Devanagari script). This paper will require the first-hand reading of the texts prescribed and will be designed to test the candidates’ critical ability. References to context and critical appreciation of the texts included in this section. - “Shah Jo Choond Shair” : ed. H.I. Sadarangani, Published by Sahitya Akademi (First 100 pages) - “Sachal Jo Choond Kalam” : ed. Kalyan B. Advani Published by Sahitya Akademi (Kafis only) - “Sami-a-ja Choond Sloka” : ed. B.H. Nagrani Published by Sahitya Akademi (First 100 pages) - “Shair-e-Bewas” : by Kishinchand Bewas (“Saamoondi Sipoon” portion only) - “Roshan Chhanvro” : Narayan Shyam - “Virhange Khanpoije Sindhi Shair jee Choond” : ed. H.I. Sadarangani Published by Sahitya Akademi - “Behtareen Sindhi Natak” (One-act Plays) : Edited by M.Kamal Published by Gujarat Sindhi Academy. - “Kako Kaloomal” (Full-length Play) : by Madan Jumani References to context and critical appreciation of the texts included in this section. - ‘Pakheeara Valar Khan Vichhrya’ (Novel) : by Gobind Malhi - ‘Sat Deenhan’ (Novel) : by Krishan Khatwani - ‘Choond Sindhi Kahanyoon’ (Short Stories) Vol. III.:Edited by Prem Prakash, Published by Sahitya Akademi. - ‘Bandhan’ (Short Stories) : Sundari Uttamchandani - ‘Behtareen Sindhi Mazmoon’ (Essays) : Edited by Hiro Thakur, published by Gujarat Sindhi Akademi. - ‘Sindhi Tanqeed’ (Criticism) : Edited by Harish Vaswani : Published by Sahitya Akademi. - ‘Mumhinjee Hayati-a ja Sona Ropa varqa’ (Autobiography) : by Popati Hiranandani - “Dr. Choithram Gidwani” (Biography) : by Vishnu Sharma Also, Check Other Optional Subject’s Syllabus More about the Sindhi Language The language of Sindhi is divulged in a controversy relating to its historic origins. Some experts believe it existed even before the dawn of Sanskrit language in India. Some people do not mark these arguments and connect it to its location and say it thrived in the Indus valley many centuries ago. Both arguments have their own set of historical debates backed by facts and linguistic records, yet none of them have been proved till now. Shah Abdul Latif has been revered and considered to be the greatest poet of Sindhi language till date. Qadi Qadan has written beautiful poems in the language and he is also considered as the first important poet of the Sindhi language era. Shah Abdul Latif rose to prominence in the later part of 17th century. Shah Abdul Latif has been commended by many language experts for his outstanding depiction of beauty through Sindhi language. Not only is his depiction considered to be drawn towards heavy emotions and deep invoked thoughts, he has also penetrated into the minds of the readers and has given beautiful art forms for his era. His beautiful collection named Rasalo has made a mark in the minds of the readers of yesteryear and stands relevant till date. Bhai Sami gave in a plethora of his art works written in Sindhi language and made a remarkable and deep impact on his readers. Abdul Wahab is another remarkable poet who beautified language in the 18th century. It was in the earlier part of 18th century that the subject matter of poems that involved deep thoughts, deep thinking and connection with the holy god or the ultimate truth started fading out to make way for the next generation with a different mindset and thinking. Mystic thinking and poems on powers related to mythology got replaced by a more subtle subject – ‘romance’. It was exactly during this time that Ghazals were brought inside the Sindhi language. What set out as a very heavy language considering mythological powers etc became a store house of romantic poems and lyrics. Thus the 18th century was a kind of transformation period for Sindhi language. This transformation was initiated and taken forward by Khalifo Gul Mohammed. The original Sindhi language with the introduction of Ghazals leading to a romantic style of presentation came to be known as ‘diwan’. Kishinchand was also a great poet of this era who romanticized nature in his poetry and wrote poems that sang the praise of nature and how nature and humanity are intertwined, in a more romantic form. The traditional love stories underwent a change or make over and came back to mother nature but in a different manner. For long, Sindhi became the famous language for a host of poems and poetry was the flavor until many centuries. Writing in prose form became a new thing and it was the British who started this trend. Suddenly books on grammar, religion, philosophy, art, science, society, humanity etc sprung in prose literature in many forms at various corners. Some of the noteworthy names that brought prose form of literature to the mainstream can be mentioned here. Munshi Udhoram apart from Mirza Khalich Beg are important names to be noted here. When prominent names took to prose form from poetry, they shifted their focus to short stories and novels to give a new rise to Sindhi literature. Sushila J Lalwani, Gobind Malhi, Shaikh Ayaz, Ayaz Ali Rind etc gave a new impetus to the world of story writing in Sindhi. Sindhi has come a long way from the days of mythological and romanticized poetry forms to stories and novel literatures. Today we can find the emergence of Sindhi drama forms apart from the written establishment of ballads, dohas, spiritually acclaimed verses, sonnets and many other intricate forms of literature. The central place of Sindhi literature or the most prominent place of Sindhi literature in India namely the Sindhi Adabi Sanghat is a central place for many Sindhi literary persons to meet on a common platform and discuss the evolution and growth of Sindhi language. Many measures have been signified over the years for the language to prosper and spread its wings in different direction and also provide a beautiful channel to bring in budding and emerging writers in the language to conquest their talents. On a broader perspective, Sindhi is the language spoken in the Kutch region and the speaking population is around 3 million. After India gained independence, most of the Hindus belonging to the Sindhi speaking community chose to migrate to the Indian shores and established their settlements here. So, these people came to be called the Sindhis in India. Today Sindhis have spread their wings the world over and globally they have made their presence felt everywhere and at every other profession. It is quite interesting to note that Sindhi does not belong to any state as a native language in particular. During its formation, Sindhi is a language that got greatly influenced by Baluchistan and majorly by Sanskrit as well. Though many claim the language to be older than Sanskrit itself, the language does show great amount of resemblance with Sanskrit. The language shows a great mix of Persian and Arabic words and is not much influenced by other languages prominent around that region. Usually languages borrow many aspects from local influences but Sindhi seems to be devoid of any particular south or north Indian language in particular. The most unique and striking feature of Sindhi is of the word formation in the language. It has been noted by linguists that almost every word you find in Sindhi ends with a vowel and is distinct from others. This quality helped develop a rich vocabulary of not just common words in daily usage, but words that have a musical bend and create a rich feel in every possible literature form. Sindhi also has around six dialects that are recognized by the government of India. Like many other languages, this language too has undergone progression and evolved from successive transitions in spoken and literary forms. Also, Read Other UPSC Articles \|UPSC Eligibility\|\|UPSC Admit Card\|\|UPSC Application Form\| \|UPSC Syllabus\|\|UPSC Exam Pattern\|\|NCERT Books in Hindi\| \|IAS Preparation\|\|Free UPSC Material\|\|UPSC Toppers\| \|NCERT Books\|\|IAS Books\|\|Essay for UPSC\|
There is no other commonly-used building material that requires so little energy to produce as wood. Thanks to the sun and photosynthesis, trees are able to use an abundant natural resource to capture CO2 in the air. Combined with water from the soil these plants produce an amazing organic material, wood. Naturally, wood pallets and packaging are almost completely made out of wood and wood’s strong environmental credentials have been captured in various Life-Cycle Assessment studies and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). The 2020 Environmental Product Declaration for U.S. Wooden Pallets, American Hardwood Life Cycle Assessment and the Canadian and American Wood Council’s Environmental Product Declaration further the clear, fact-based, scientifically proven, and independently third-party verified environmental attributes of choosing wood. According to the CEI-BOIS, here is a great example of the real-life benefits of using wood over alternative materials: “Every cubic meter of wood used in buildings, has captured almost one ton of CO2 from the atmosphere. Moreover, every cubic meter of wood used as a substitute for other building materials reduces CO2 emissions by an average of one ton. As a result, significant benefits in mitigation of climate change can be gained.” North America’s forests are now growing at twice the rate of what is removed for consumer use. Collectively we are planting significantly more to further expand this forest cover, which has already grown by 11.3 million acres in just the last ten years, the size of New Hampshire and Vermont combined. Each year 1.7 billion trees are planted in the United States – more than five trees for every man, woman and child in America – an average of 4.8 million seedlings each day, assuring the rapid expansion of forest cover will continue for generations to come. Wood is Nature’s Packaging.
The “Historical” Spartacus by Aaron Irvin, Historical Consultant, Spartacus: Blood and Sand The basic facts are these: between 73 and June of 71 BC, what began as a group of about 70-80 escaped gladiator slaves grew into a massive army that ravaged the Italian countryside. In two years, this group of rebel slaves and freemen defeated a total of six Roman armies, three Praetors, two Consuls, and finally the Gallic legion under a Roman governor. In the end, it took the combined force of almost 12 Roman legions under three Roman commanders to bring an end to the rebellion. The “leader” of this rebellion, a Thracian gladiator, has come down through the millennia as a legend, a symbol of revolution for the oppressed and the triumph of the ultimate underdog. Roman sources record this Thracian gladiator’s name as “Spartacus”, and it is on this point alone that our primary sources can be said to be in agreement. Plutarch states that the Thracian was from a nomadic tribe, possibly the Maedi, and had been brought to Rome with his wife, a priestess of Dionysus, and sold into slavery. Appian, on the other hand, states that while he had once served with Roman soldiers, he had become a prisoner and sold as a gladiator; it is Appian who writes the enigmatic phrase “his body was never found”, warning his readers that Spartacus may yet live to strike again. Florus presents the Thracian as a mercenary who had deserted from the Roman military and become a bandit, and then captured and sold as a gladiator. With Plutarch writing in the 1st century AD, almost 150 years after the rebellion, and Appian and Florus in the early to mid 2nd century AD, one might be struck by the fact that as more time passes, our Roman authors seem to become more and more informed on the background of this famous slave.
May 07, 2013 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) 7 (748 nanometers) Mercury's diameter is 4880 kilometers (3030 miles) This mosaic was created by combining two images that were taken 96 seconds apart. The MESSENGER spacecraft has to be farther from the planet, in the southern portion of its orbit , to acquire these views. Mercury's cratered surface is highlighted dramatically near the terminator (the division between the sunlit dayside and the dark nightside of the planet), reflecting Mercury's history of being battered by impacting objects through the ages. This image was acquired as part of MDIS's limb imaging campaign. Once per week, MDIS captures images of Mercury's limb, with an emphasis on imaging the southern hemisphere limb. These limb images provide information about Mercury's shape and complement measurements of topography made by the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) of Mercury's northern hemisphere. The MESSENGER spacecraft is the first ever to orbit the planet Mercury, and the spacecraft's seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation are unraveling the history and evolution of the Solar System's innermost planet. During the first two years of orbital operations, MESSENGER acquired over 150,000 images and extensive other data sets. MESSENGER is capable of continuing orbital operations until early 2015. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington For information regarding the use of MESSENGER images, see the image use policy.
\|Page tools: Print Page RSS Search this Product\| AUSTRALIAN DESERTS, DESERTS PAST - THE ARCHAEOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF THE AUSTRALIAN DESERTS S7 Rock art in the Levi Range, central Australia. Photograph by Mike Smith. S8 Millstone for grinding grass and acacia seeds. Seed foods were an important staple in the Australian deserts. Photograph by Mike Smith. THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE DESERTS Deserts are one of the world’s major habitats, forming large bands of drylands along the tropics in both the northern and southern hemispheres, and covering approximately 20% of global land area (Middleton et al.). Collectively the major desert regions in the southern hemisphere make up less than a quarter of this area - only about 500 million square kilometres (sq km) - but they are much more diverse in character than those in the northern hemisphere. They range from the hyperarid Namib (Southern Africa) and Atacama (Chile) deserts, to the arid grasslands or savannas of the Kalahari, the continental duneﬁelds of Australia, and the high-altitude dry Puna (Argentina). THE AUSTRALIAN DESERTS The first thing that strikes you about the Australian deserts is their continental scale reaching from east to west, more than 2,000 km across (map S1). Collectively, they form the largest arid region in the southern hemisphere, covering 3.5 million sq km of desert uplands, salt lakes, stony desert, sand plain, and dune fields (image S9). If the semi-arid zone is included, the area of Australia's desert region exceeds 5 million sq km, or 70% of the total Australian land mass (Taylor). Like the Kalahari, the Australian deserts are well vegetated and only moderately arid. The arid core of the continent centres on Lake Eyre (in the far north of South Australia). It is a vast salt lake of almost 9,500 sq km, where annual rainfall averages about 100 mm. Out from this core, average annual rainfall increases from 250 mm in the south to 500 mm in the north. However, one of the distinctive features of Australian deserts is extreme variability in rainfall (20 -40% more variable than regions of comparable rainfall elsewhere). For instance, Alice Springs (Northern Territory), with a median annual rainfall of 259 mm, received only 54 mm of rain in 1985, but a staggering 903 mm in 1974. (More information is provided in 'Variability in Australian desert rainfall' in Climatic aspects of Australia's deserts.) Two geographical features merit special mention. The first is that the heart of the Australian continent is ringed by extensive dune fields, where the sand ridges align with the dominant wind patterns of 20,000 years ago (images S10 and S11). In 1845, explorer Charles Sturt was the first European to encounter these: ‘Ascending one of the sand ridges I saw a numberless succession … rising above each other to the east and west … A kind of dread came over me ... It looked like the entrance into Hell’ (Sturt). More than 1.6 million sq km of the Australian arid zone is covered by aeolian sand, either sand plain or dune fields. This sandy mantle is from one to ten metres thick, compared to the great depth of sand (100-200 metres) in much of the Kalahari or eastern Sahara. One of the implications for people is that Australian deserts have a network of small wells, rock holes and soakages. Although these yield only small amounts of water, it is often enough to provide people with a base for exploiting the resources of the surrounding desert. The second feature to mention is Lake Eyre. This playa lake, which is the terminus of a vast internal drainage system, dominates the eastern half of the arid zone, and has been the focus of the largest sustained program of research into the Quaternary environmental history of the desert. The seasonal rivers, ephemeral lakes, pans and neighbouring sand dunes that make up the Lake Eyre Basin, form 200,000 sq km of riverine desert, and give the landscapes in this part of the arid zone quite a different character to the sand dune and range country in the Western Desert (Endnote 2) and central Australia (Endnote 3) These river systems can carry large volumes of floodwater into the desert from elsewhere. S9 Like most desert lakes, Lake Amadeus in central Australia is a vast salt pan. Photograph by Mike Smith. S10 The heart of the Australian continent is ringed by vast dune fields, such as the Simpson Desert. These sand ridges are aligned with the dominant wind patterns of 20,000 years ago. Photograph by Mike Gillam. S11 Spinifex and dunes, near Lake Amadeus, central Australia. Photograph by Mike Gillam. Although all of the southern hemisphere deserts are long-standing features of the environment, and took shape during the Miocene (24 million to 5 million years ago), they have responded to global and regional climate change during the Quaternary (the last 1.8 million years). The late Quaternary histories of the southern deserts show that all have seen periods of enhanced rainfall, fluvial activity, groundwater discharges and greater biological activity in the past (Smith et al.). In broad terms, these deserts show three sorts of changes. These are: Around 313 million people (or about 13% of the world’s population) currently live in the world’s arid zones - about four million in southern hemisphere deserts (Middleton et al.). In 2001 about 180,000 people lived in the centrally located arid zone of Australia. The Australian semi-arid zone supported a further 394,000 people. Overall the desert region of Australia is occupied by less than 600,000 people (or fewer than 3% of the total population) (Taylor). All of the southern hemisphere deserts have remarkably long records of human settlement: more than 60,000 years in southern Africa, at least 35,000 years in Australia and about 13,000 years in South America. Current archaeological evidence suggests that the southern deserts were explored and colonised as part of the dispersal of modern humans across the globe. In southern Africa, the first sustained use of the Kalahari took place about 100,000 years ago at about the same time that evidence for anatomically-modern and behaviourally-modern humans appears in the archaeological record. In Australia and South America, initial human movement into the deserts took place as part of dispersal across new continents, by people who had already demonstrated the capacity to undertake successful sea crossings (Australia) or cross extreme high latitude cold environments (North America). HUMAN ECOLOGY IN DESERTS Deserts are difficult environments for people because of their low biomass and scarcity of critical resources such as water, fuel, plant foods and game (though these factors vary considerably across the southern deserts). They are also environments where resources are patchy and highly variable in both time and space: All of the southern hemisphere deserts were successfully settled by hunter-gatherers. For historic groups, the key adaptations for living in deserts were behavioural and social, rather than technological. They included high residential mobility, broad-spectrum foraging, a high degree of organisational and technological flexibility and intimate knowledge of the dynamics of the landscape. One other factor is also important here. Human dispersal is likely to be constrained by the difficulty of maintaining viable social networks when population levels are very low (as in most deserts). Historically, the Australian desert had some of the lowest population densities on record for human populations (as low as one person per 100-200 sq km). Under such conditions, effective social networks are important. THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF SOUTHERN DESERTS The Namib and Kalahari preserve the earliest traces of people living in the southern deserts. Early Stone Age Acheulian hunters followed game and water into these areas about 300,000 -400,000 years ago, wherever pans, springs or floodwaters provided accessible routes into the deserts. By 60,000 -90,000 years ago (during the Middle Stone Age), there is good evidence for establishment of a resident hunter-gatherer population in the southern Namib and in the northern part of the Kalahari Desert (the ‘Middle Kalahari’ basin). The first human movements into the Australian deserts took place sometime before 35,000 years ago, probably as part of initial peopling of the continent. By 45,000 years ago people were present on both the northern and south-eastern margins of the Australian arid zone. By 30,000 BP, small groups of highly mobile hunter-gatherers were using pockets of country across the interior of the continent, from central Australia to the Pilbara (in the north of Western Australia), and from Lake Mungo to the southern Kimberley (Western Australia). Settlement of American deserts also took place in the context of initial human colonisation of a continent. Hunting groups moved into the Andes mountains as soon as the glaciers retreated. They followed the puna steppe grasslands south into the Atacama region, and had moved down into the deserts on either side of the Andes by 10,500 -11,000 BP (13,000 years ago) - about the same time that Clovis hunters were moving into North American deserts such as the Mojave. This picture is complicated by the dynamic environmental history of these regions - were they deserts when people first arrived? - as well as uncertainty about the nature of the earliest occupation in these extreme environments - are we looking at successful colonisation of these deserts, or simply intermittent visits by people? Successful settlement of a new region (‘colonisation’) may well have been preceded by an exploratory or pioneer phase (‘dispersal’). COLONISATION OF THE AUSTRALIAN DESERTS What sort of environment did people find when they entered the Australian deserts? Between about 100,000 and 13,000 years ago, the interior of the Australian land mass was more arid than present. The exception is the south-eastern section of the arid zone, where rivers and lakes in the Darling Basin and Willandra region (New South Wales) were more active during between 55,000 and 15,000 years ago. Elsewhere in the Australian desert region, most dates for enhanced fluvial activity (such as along channels feeding Lake Eyre) or high lake levels (e.g. Lake Eyre, Lake Gregory (far north Western Australia), and Lake Woods (Northern Territory)) centre on 100,000 years ago, or earlier in the last interglacial. At this time, there were significant water bodies in playa lakes in the northern and eastern parts of the arid zone, but no evidence for palaeolakes in the western half of the desert. The last deep-water phase of Lake Eyre in central Australia ended 60,000 years ago, several millennia before humans arrived on the scene. The period between 60,000 and 24,000 years ago saw some reactivation of rivers and lakes outside the desert, and on its margins, but seems to have had only limited impact in central Australia, except perhaps at Lake Frome (South Australia). There are several implications for the human ecology of the arid zone: By 30,000 years ago, people were using a range of habitats across this huge region including: There are also several early sites on the margins of the desert, in the southern Kimberley (Carpenter’s Gap and Riwi, both dated 45,000 years ago), in an area incorporated into an expanded arid zone during the drier climates of the last glacial. Most of these sites show repeated use over several millennia. Where there are data on economic orientation, they indicate these early groups were generalised foragers exploiting reptiles, small macropods, and emu eggs (supplemented with marine or lacustrine resources where available). In the Willandra, local exploitation of fish and shellfish probably reflects small-scale seasonal use of lacustrine resources, supplemented with terrestrial foods. At Puritjarra, in the west of central Australia (one of the few desert sites to have been investigated in detail) the evidence indicates sustained occupation of the central desert from about 35,000 years ago, with exploitation of regional ochre mines and local stone sources beginning around this time. There are few indications, in these data, that archaeologists have yet uncovered the ‘pioneer’ phase associated with initial movements into the Australian deserts. Given that human dispersal across the continent took place before 45,000 years ago and that the northern margins of the arid zone were settled soon after, we could expect that the first movements into these deserts took place 35,000-45,000 years ago. REGIONAL ABANDONMENT: 20,000 BP The histories of the southern hemisphere deserts indicate that colonisation was not a discrete event but rather an ongoing process - involving expansion of settlement from core to peripheral areas within deserts, more intensive use of desert resources (especially plant foods), and the gradual elaboration of social and economic landscapes. Human settlement also remained vulnerable to changes in environment, especially changes driven by major shifts in climatic parameters. Intense aridity during the peak of the last glacial, centred on 20,000 BP, may have created difficult conditions for people in many parts of the arid zone. Palaeoenvironmental recon-structions for the period from about 30,000-19,000 years ago suggest increased seasonal and diurnal contrasts, saline groundwater, strong winds, an intensification of aridity and significantly lower mean annual air temperatures. This is likely to have led to a contraction of settlement in the arid zone, and abandonment of some regions, but researchers differ on the extent, scale and duration of any impact. Parts of the Western Desert and Lake Eyre basin may have been abandoned at this time - or in the period of rising global temperatures immediately after the glacial maximum. The clearest evidence for site abandonment is from Serpents Glen, in the Carnarvon Range (Western Australia), where there is a sterile layer, dating between 24,000 BP and 5,000 BP. In other regions, settlement appears to have continued. The Pilbara and central Australia both saw a reorganisation of land use at this time, with more focussed use of sites near water or in desert uplands. In western central Australia, people appear to have continued to visit Puritjarra rock shelter intermittently throughout the glacial maximum, suggesting that human occupation of the central ranges and the sandy desert immediately west of the ranges continued throughout this period. The population of the Australian deserts increased again and re-occupation of abandoned regions took place as arid conditions ameliorated from about 13,000 BP. Nevertheless, all of the southern hemisphere deserts contain areas that were not effectively colonised until the last few millennia (such as the nitrate pampa in the Atacama, the gravel plains and mountains of the central Namib, the sand plain of the central Kalahari and some parts of the sandy deserts or continental dune fields in Australia). In the Australian deserts, the last thousand years appears to have been a period of major change in the Western Desert and in central Australia. There are indications of more sedentary occupation or increased levels of site use at about 1,000 BP, possibly as part of a demographic transition towards higher regional populations in the Australian deserts. Recent work is beginning to refine this picture, showing that changes in settlement pattern may have began as early as 3,000 BP. Even within the last millennium there is evidence for cultural change at a range of geographic and time scales, particularly within the last 500-200 years. Archaeological evidence also shows that many aspects of the technology, economy and subsistence behaviour of historic desert groups are relatively recent, rather than representing features of early desert occupation. Australian desert societies have long histories of development, adaptation and response to life in these extreme environments. 1. This article is adapted from material previously published in Smith, MA & Hesse, P (eds.) 23°S: Archaeology & environmental history of the Southern Deserts, Canberra, National Museum of Australia Press, 2005. < Back 2. Includes the Great Sandy, Little Sandy, Gibson and Great Victoria deserts. < Back 3. Includes the Tanami, Simpson and Strzelecki deserts. < Back 4. Before 1950, being the accepted radiocarbon dating reference year. < Back Bowman, I ‘Desert Trails of the Atacama’, New York: American Geographical Society, Special Publication 5, 1924, p. 60. Haynes, RD ‘Seeking the Centre: The Australian Desert in Literature, Art and Film’, Cambridge University press, 1998, p. 124. Middleton, RD & Thomas, DSG (eds), ‘World Atlas of Desertification’, 2nd edition, London, UNEP/Arnold. Noy-Meir, I ‘Desert ecosystems: Environment and producers’, Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 4, 1973, pp. 25-51. Smith, MA & Hesse, P (eds.) ‘23°S: Archaeology and environmental history of the Southern Deserts’, Canberra, National Museum of Australia Press, 2005. Sturt, C ‘Journal of the Central Australian Expedition 1844-1845’, London, Caliban Books, 1984, pp. 73-74. Taylor, J ‘Population futures in the Australian desert, 2001-2016’, Discussion Paper No. 231, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, The Australian National University, Canberra, 2002, p. 4. Veth, P Smith, M & Hiscock, P (eds.) ‘Desert Peoples: Archaeological perspectives’, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2005. These documents will be presented in a new window.
Changing Behaviors or Acquiring Knowledge? We’ve almost finished our discussion of instrumental conditioning, except for one cru-cial question: What is it exactly that animals learn in an instrumental conditioning procedure? The law of effect implies that the learning is best understood as a change in behavior, in which responses are either being strengthened or weakened by the mechanical effects of reinforcement. From the earliest days of learning theory, however, there was an alternative view of conditioning—one asserting that behavior change isn’t the key; what matters instead is the acquisition of new knowledge. One of the most prominent proponents of this alternative view was Edward C. Tolman (1886–1959; Figure 7.26), and many forms of evidence support his position. For example, consider cases of latent learning—learning that takes place without any corresponding change in behavior. In one experiment, rats were allowed to explore a maze, without any reward, for 10 days. During these days, there was no detectable change in the rats’ behavior; and so, if we define learning in terms of behavior change, there was no learning. But in truth the rats were learning—and in particular, they were gaining knowledge about how to navigate the maze’s corridors. This became obvious on the 11th day, when food was placed in the maze’s goal box for the first time. The rats learned to run to this goal box, virtually without error, almost immediately. The knowledge they had acquired earlier now took on motivational significance, so the animals swiftly displayed what they had learned (Tolman & Honzik, 1930; also H. Gleitman, 1963; Tolman, 1948). In this case, the knowledge the rats had gained can be understood as a mental map of the maze—an internal representation of spatial layout that indicates what is where and what leads to what. Other evidence suggests that many species rely on such maps—to guide their foraging for food, their navigation to places of safety, and their choice of a path to the watering hole. These maps can be relatively complex and are typically quite accurate (Gallistel, 1994; J. Gould, 1990). To understand latent learning or cognitive maps, we need to emphasize what an organ-ism knows more than what an organism does. We also need to consider an organism’s cognition for another reason: Recall that, in our discussion of classical conditioning, we saw that learning doesn’t depend only on the CS being paired with the US; instead, the CS needs to predict the US, telling the animal when the US is more likely and when it’s less likely. Similarly, instrumental conditioning doesn’t depend only on responses being paired with rewards. Instead, the response needs to predict the reward, so that (for example) the probability of getting a pellet after a lever press has to be greater than the probability of getting it without the press. What matters for instrumental conditioning, therefore, is not merely the fact that a reward arrives after the response is made. Instead, what matters is the relationship between responding and getting the reward, and this relationship actually gives the animal some control over the reward: By choosing when (or whether) to respond, the animal itself can determine when the reward is delivered. And it turns out that this con-trol is important, because animals can tell when they’re in control and when they’re not—and they clearly prefer being in control. One line of evidence comes from a study in which infants were placed in cribs that had colorful mobiles hanging above them. Whenever the infants moved their heads, they closed a switch in their pillows; this activated the overhead mobile, which spun merrily for a second or so. The infants soon learned to shake their heads about, making their mobiles turn. They evidently enjoyed this, smiling and cooing at their mobiles, clearly delighted to see the mobiles move. A second group of infants was exposed to a similar situation, but with one important difference: Their mobile turned just as often as the mobile for the first group; but it was moved for them, not by them. This difference turned out to be crucial. After a few days, these infants no longer smiled and cooed at the mobile, nor did they seem particularly interested when it turned. This suggests that what the first group of infants liked about the mobile was not that it moved, but that they made it move. Even a 2-month-old infant wants to be the master of his own fate (J. S. Watson, 1967; Figure 7.27). This study with infants illustrates the joy of mastery. Another series of studies demonstrates the despair of no mastery at all. These studies focus on learnedhelplessness—an acquired sense that one has lost control over one’s environment,with the sad consequence that one gives up trying (Seligman, 1975). The classic experiment on learned helplessness used two groups of dogs, A and B, which received strong electric shocks while strapped in a hammock. The dogs in group A were able to exert some control over their situation: They could turn the shock off whenever it began simply by pushing a panel that was placed close to their noses. The dogs in group B had no such power. For them, the shocks were inescapable. But the number and duration of the shocks were the same as for the first group. This was guar-anteed by the fact that, for each dog in group A, there was a corresponding animal in group B whose fate was yoked to that of the first dog. Whenever the group A dog was shocked, so was the group B dog. Whenever the group A dog turned off the shock, the shock was turned off for the group B dog. Thus, both groups experienced exactly the same level of physical suffering; the only difference was what the animals were able to do about it. The dogs in group A had some control; those in group B could only endure. What did the group B dogs learn in this situation? To find out, both groups of dogs were next presented with a task in which they had to learn to jump from one compart-ment to another to avoid a shock. The dogs in group A learned easily. During the first few trials, they ran about frantically when the shock began but eventually scrambled over the hurdle into the other compartment, where there was no shock. Based on this experience, they soon learned to leap over the hurdle the moment the shock began, eas-ily escaping the aversive experience. Then, with just a few more trials, these dogs learned something even better: They jumped over the hurdle as soon as they heard the tone signaling that shock was about to begin; as a result, they avoided the shock entirely. Things were different for the dogs in group B, those that had previously experienced the inescapable shock. Initially, these dogs responded to the electric shock just like the group A dogs did—running about, whimpering, and so on. But they soon became much more passive. They lay down, whined, and simply took whatever shocks were delivered. They neither avoided nor escaped; they just gave up. In the earlier phase of the experiment, they really had been objectively helpless; there truly was nothing they could do. In the shuttle box, however, their helplessness was only subjective because now they did have a way to escape the shocks. But they never discovered it, because they had learned to be helpless (Seligman & Maier, 1967). Martin Seligman, one of the discoverers of the learned helplessness effect, asserts that depression in humans can develop in a similar way. Like the dog that has learned to be helpless, Seligman argues, the depressed patient has come to believe that nothing she does will improve her circumstances. And Seligman maintains that, like the dog, the depressed patient has reached this morbid state by experiencing a situation in which she really was helpless. While the dog received inescapable shocks in its hammock, the patient found herself powerless in the face of bereavement, some career failure, or seri-ous illness (Seligman, Klein, & Miller, 1976). In both cases, the outcome is the same—a belief that there’s no contingency between acts and outcomes, and so there’s no point in trying. Copyright © 2018-2021 BrainKart.com; All Rights Reserved. (BS) Developed by Therithal info, Chennai.
The approval of the messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID vaccines marked the first time mRNA vaccines have been authorised for use outside of clinical trials, offering hope at the possibility of applying this technology to other infectious diseases, such as AIDS/HIV. Despite the efficacy of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), ending the HIV epidemic requires a preventive HIV vaccine that can reach populations at risk where PrEP may not be approved, affordable and easily accessible. In addition, a vaccine could potentially help those struggling with adherence to daily oral medications or scheduling regular injections. According to one prediction, the added benefit of an HIV vaccine could mean that incident cases globally from 2015 to 2035 could decline by as much as 49 million.1 Yet, the development of a safe and effective HIV vaccine has been fraught with challenges and failures. The highly variable nature of the virus — along with its ability to target and impair important host immune cells, to integrate into the host genome early in infection, and to then establish latency — has increased the complexity of creating vaccines. Further, as there is no known natural protective immunity in humans, there are no immune correlates to guide vaccine development. Moreover, traditional vaccine strategies, such as non-live, freeze-dried vaccines and live attenuated vaccines, often underperform against some chronic or recurrent pathogenic infections, such as AIDS.2 However, advances in scientific knowledge and innovation — such as the new COVID-19 vaccines — can help to frame the research agenda around HIV vaccine research. A brief history of mRNA vaccines in infectious disease mRNA vaccines have long held huge promise in the eyes of the research community, having been studied in several infectious diseases such as influenza, Zika, rabies and cytomegalovirus.2 But, until recently, the development of mRNA vaccines ran into roadblocks, including its unstable nature and the fact that it is prone to degradation.2 The synthetic mRNA, a variation on the naturally occurring genetic material, directs the production of proteins in cells throughout the body in these vaccines. The benefit of this vaccine strategy includes its lack of infectious risk and ability to modify immune response through different formulations.3 In addition, these vaccines can be developed in a laboratory using readily available materials, leading to an easier manufacturing process that can be standardised and scaled up, creating a faster vaccine development than traditional methods of vaccine making. Since mRNA vaccines had been studied before, scientists already had the basic tools to design the mRNA instructions for cells to build the unique spike protein into an mRNA vaccine as soon as the necessary information about the virus that causes COVID-19 became available. With perseverance and innovation from the scientific and clinical research communities, mRNA vaccines have finally achieved approval and are currently being distributed worldwide. Potential for HIV mRNA vaccine In Phase III studies, the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines have demonstrated promising results against SARS-CoV-2, especially in their ability to promote the production of neutralizing antibodies and T-cell responses.4,5 Using similar technology to the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, a new investigational HIV vaccine from Moderna administers mRNA,6 “injecting” instructions for making viral proteins to stimulate an immune response in rhesus macaque monkeys. Specifically, scientists tested a vaccine that administers the genetic code for making envelope proteins from three clades, or types of HIV, as well as Gag proteins from the simian immunodeficiency virus, a strain of HIV that infects monkeys. Another preclinical study found that immunisation of humanized mice with low doses of a modified mRNA encoding monoclonal antibodies yielded high levels of protective antibodies against HIV-1 infection.7 Later, this same group found that a single immunisation with a low dose of the mRNA vaccine produced a strong T-cell response in mice and rhesus macaques.8 As T-cell responses are considered critical for eliciting antigen-specific, durable B-cell responses, this vaccine strategy is considered particularly promising.8 Another mRNA-based vaccine strategy that has produced promising immune responses in animal models is self-amplifying mRNA encoding glycoproteins.9 One research team demonstrated that this method could induce potent and durable T-cell responses in those mice who had been primed with the self-amplifying mRNA vector and boosted with a viral vector.9 Revolutionising vaccine research The COVID-19 pandemic validated new ways of making vaccines, including using mRNA, revolutionising vaccine research and development. The speed to which COVID-19 vaccines are being developed is due to decades of research on other respiratory viruses and various preclinical mRNA vaccines. According to experts, the approach matured at the right time, noting that as of five years ago, the RNA technology would not have been ready.10 The success of the coronavirus vaccines not only provides hope for a HIV vaccine, but also may pave a pathway for other vaccines for infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and Zika. Moreover, mRNA vaccine technology is proving versatile, and has demonstrated preliminary efficacy in preclinical models for autoimmune diseases and cancer.2, 11 While the field of mRNA vaccines is still in its infancy, its potential to be a preferred vaccine strategy is promising. Read more about HIV clinical research and ICON’s infectious disease experience. Infectious diseases and vaccines insights ICON's Infectious Diseases and Vaccines teams contribute regularly to media and industry conversations in addition to the production of thought leadership content in the form of whitepapers and blogs.Read more - Medlock J, Pandey A, Parpia AS, et al. Effectiveness of UNAIDS targets and HIV vaccination across 127 countries. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017;114(15):4017–4022. Xu S, Yang K, Li R, Zhang L. mRNA Vaccine Era—Mechanisms, Drug Platform and Clinical Prospection. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2020; 21(18):6582. Jones LD, Moody MA, Thompson, AB. Innovations in HIV-1 Vaccine Design. Clinical Therapeutics. 2020 Mar; 42(3): 499–514. doi: 10.1016/j.clinthera.2020.01.009 Polack, FP, et al. Safety and Efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine. New England Journal of Medicine 2020; 383:2603-2615. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2034577 Lusso P et al. Induction of cross-neutralizing antibodies and protection from heterologous tier-2 SHIV challenge by an mRNA-based vaccine in macaques. 23rd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2020: Virtual), abstract OAALB0101, 2020 Pardi N, Secreto AJ, Shan X, et al. Administration of nucleoside-modified mRNA encoding broadly neutralizing antibody protects humanized mice from HIV-1 challenge. Nat Commun. 2017;8:14630. doi:10.1038/ncomms14630 Pardi N., Hogan M.J., Naradikian M.S. Nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccines induce potent T follicular helper and germinal center B cell responses. J Exp Med. 2018;215:1571–1588 Bogers W.M., Oostermeijer H., Mooij P. Potent immune responses in rhesus macaques induced by nonviral delivery of a self-amplifying RNA vaccine expressing HIV type 1 envelope with a cationic nanoemulsion. J Infect Dis. 2015;211:947–955.
which word is associated with multiplication when computing probabilities? This is a topic that many people are looking for. star-trek-voyager.net is a channel providing useful information about learning, life, digital marketing and online courses …. it will help you have an overview and solid multi-faceted knowledge . Today, star-trek-voyager.net would like to introduce to you Permutations and Combinations Tutorial . Following along are instructions in the video below: “This video. We re going to focus on permutations and combinations. But what exactly is is a permutation and how is it different from a combination our permutation is associated arranging things in different order combinations. You simply concern about combining things for a permutation the order matters. But for combination the order does not matter. I guess the best way to explain this is with an example let s say if we have three letters abc. We could arrange them in this order abc or we could say c a b. Now. Even though we have the same three letters. The order is different so these are two different permutations. The number of permutations is tunes. However the number of combinations is 1 these two are considered to be the same in terms of a combination or in terms of a permutation. They re considered to be two separate things so just make sure you understand that permutation the order matters the way you arrange it matters and for a combination. The order. Doesn t matter you just want to combine things so. If you have a b c. And c. A b. You still have the same three letters combined in a group. So for a combination. They re the same let s use another example to illustrate this let s say. If we have four letters a b c. And d. And let s choose two of the four letters and how many different ways can we arrange two of the four letters and also how many different ways can we combine two of the four letters make a list and use that to determine the number of permutations and combinations of choosing two out of the four and then we ll talk about how to use an equation to get that same answer. So we can choose a b. We can choose a c or we could choose a b. We can choose b a b c. Bd. We re only using each letter. Once every time. We select two out of the four. We can also use ca c b. And c d. And also da db. Dc. So notice that there s a total of twelve different ways. We can arrange two out of the four letters. So the number of permutations in this example is equal to 12. Now what about the combinations now if you recall for a combination. The order doesn t matter so take a look at a b and b. 8. In terms of permutations. These are counted as two separate things. But for a combination you re combining the same letters and since the order. Doesn t matter for a combination. They re counted once as a combination so if we re going to count a b. We can t count ba. If we re going to count let s say a c. We can t take into account ca if we re going to count a d. We have to eliminate da. If we re going to use bc. We need to get rid of c d. If we re going to use the bd. We can t use db. And finally if we re going to use c d. We got to get rid of dc. So notice that the number of combinations is equal to six one two three four five six. So now you can clearly see the difference between a permutation and a combination so just remember a permutation the order of matters and the combination the order does not matter now how can we calculate these answers is there an easier way in which we can find the value as opposed to making a list of all the different possibilities. The first equation needs to know is npr this helps you calculate the permutations now this for letters and which used into so it s going to be for p 2. Which is in 2 out of a group of 4. Now the equation. Npr is equal to n factorial divided by n minus r. Factorial in this case we can see that n is 4 and r is 2. So n minus r. That s going to be 4 minus 2. Now 4 minus 2 is 2. So we have 4 factorial divided by 2 factorial. So what exactly is 4 factorial. 4. Factorial is 4 times 3 times 2 times. 1. You start with this number. And you multiply. 4. By every integer all the way to 1 q. Factorial is simply 2 times 1. So we can cancel 2 times. 1. And we re left with 4 times. 3. And we know that 4 times. 3. Is equal to 12. Which is what we have here now how can we calculate the combination. What is the formula that we can use nc r. Is equal to n factorial divided by n minus r. Factorial. Divided by our sector. So basically in terms of a permutation a combination is equal to np r. Divided by r factorial. This portion right here is np r. And then divided by r. So we have 4c in this example. So n is 4 and r is 2. So this is equivalent to 4 factorial divided by 2 factorial times. 2 factorial and we know that. 4. Factorial is 4 times 3 times 2 times 1 2. Factorial is 2 times. 1. And we have another 2 factorial. It turns out that q times q is 4. So we can cancel those twos with the foreign song we d ignore 1 because 1 times anything won t change the value so what we have left over is 3 times 2 3. Times. 2 is equal to 6. And so now you understand how to use the equation and also you understand how to make a list to determine the number of permutations and combinations. So now let s work on some example problems and how many different ways can you arrange 3 books on the shelf from a group of 7. Now go ahead and try this problem. Pause. The video take a minute and feel free to work on it and then unpause it to see the solution. So is it a permutation or combination does the order matter. Whenever you see the key word. Arrange typically hit the presentation. The order is important so we ll need to write is 7 p. 3. We choose in three books from a group or from a total of seven. So this is going to be 7. Factorial divided by the difference between 7. And 3 7. Factorial. Is 7. Times. 6. Times. 5. Times. 4. Times. 3. Times. 2. Times. 1. 7. Minus. 3. Is. 4. And 4 factorial is 4 times. 3 times. 2 times. 1. So we can cancel these numbers. Leaving behind 7 times 6 times. 5. Now 6 times. 5. Is 30. And we know that 3 times. 7. Is 21. So 30 times. 7. Is 210. This is the answer and how many different ways can we arrange 5 books on the shelf. How is this problem different from the last problem and is it still a permutation well we re still trying to arrange book so the order matters it s still a presentation but you can use the fundamental counting principle to get the answer so we want to arrange 5 books on the shelf right so there s 5 position to place the 5 books in the first position. We can choose any of those 5 books so we have 5 options now let s can place the first book in the first position. There s 4 books left over to choose from so we can put any of the 4 books in the second position now that we ve placed two books. We have to be left over so we could put any of those three books in the third position. Now we have 2 books left over so we can put any of those two in a second for last position and in the last position. We can only put the last book. There so it s going to be 5 times. 4 times 3 times 2 times. 1. And that s another way in which you could solve these problems. 5 times 4. Is 20 3 times 2 is 6 if 2 times. 6 is 12 20 times. 6. Is 120 now in terms of a permutation here s how you can calculate it first you need to find out what is the total number of books in this problem. We only have one number the total number of books is 5. And which used in all 5 books from a group of 5. So it s going to be 5 p. 5. Using the formula n p. R. Is equal to n factorial over n minus r. Factorial n. Is 5 but r is 5 as well so this is going to be 5. Factorial over 0 factorial now this is not undefined 0 factorial does not equal 0 0. Factorial equals 1 make sure you know that that s just something to know if you wondering why that s just the way. It is i don t have an answer for you so. This is going to be 5 factorial over 1 and we know that. 5. Factorial is 5 times 4 times 3 times 2 times. 1. And this is equal to 120. How many teams of 4 can be produced from a pool of 12 engineers. So is this a permutation or is it a combination. What do you think does the automatic so let s say if i select for individuals john s to sally and crisps does it really matter. If i select john kriss sally sue. It s the same team of 4. So in this problem the order doesn t matter therefore. It s a combination so we ll choose in for from a total of 12. So it s going to be 12 c. 4. And this is equal to n factorial or 12. Factorial divided by n minus r. Factorial. That s 12 minus. 4. Factorial. Times r factorial or 4 factorial so 12 minus. 4. Is equal to 8. Now. If you don t want to write 12 times 11 times 10 times 9 times 8 times. 7. All the way from 1. Is what you can do notice that you have an 8 factorial on the bottom so you want to write 12. Just before you get to 8. So. 12. Factorial is 12 times 11 times 10 times 9 times. 8. Factorial. Because a factorial will go from 8 to 1. And you don t need to write all of it stop at a factorial because we can cancel it in the next step now for factory. I m going to write that out that s 4 times 3 times 2 times 1. So let s cancel a factorial that s going to save us some writing space 4 times. 3. Is 12. So we can get rid of these 2. And then 10 divided by 2 equates to 5. So we now have is 11 times 5 times 9 11 times. 9. Is 99. Now what is 99 times. 5. Well. If you want to do that. Without your calculator. Think of it this way. 99. Is 100. Minus. 1. Let s distribute 100. Times. 5. Is five hundred 5 times. 1. Is 5 500. Minus. 5. Is 495. And so we can choose 495 teams of 4 from a pool of 12 engineers. And so that s it for this video thanks for watching. If you want to find more videos that i ve created an algebra trade precal calculus chemistry and physics just visit my channel and you can find my playlist on those topics well i changed my mind i just realized that there are some other problems that i need to go over that s related to this topic. How many different ways can you arrange the letters in the word alabama. This is a very common question that you might see in this type of topic and his we need to do first count the number of letters that are in the word alabama. There s a total of 7 letters. So it s going to be 7 factorial on the top of the fraction and on the bottom divided by the letters that we paint. There s only one letter that repeats and it s a and a repeats four times. So we re going to divide it by 4 factorial. So therefore. This is going to be 7 times 6 times. 5 times. 4. Factorial divided by 4 factorial. And so we could cancel these two. We know that 6 times. 5. Is 30 and 7 times. 30 is 210. So that s how many different ways you can arrange the letters in the word. Alabama let s try another example what about the word mississippi in class. I ve seen this a lot so it s a very common examples. I m going to use it so first let s count how many letters that we have there s a total of eleven letters. So it s going to be 11 factorial on top divided by now let s find the letters that repeat i repeat four times. So we re going to divide it by 4 factorial s. Repeat four times. So another four factorial and pe repeats. Twice. So. 2. Factorial. So. This is going to be 11. Times. 10. Times. 9. Times. 8. Times. 7. Times. 6. Times. 5. Times. 4. Factorial. Divided by i m going to leave the first four factory of the same. I m not going to change. It and the other forms going to write it as 4 times 3 times 2 times 1 and then 2 factorial. 2 times 1. So we can cancel. 4 factorial. And let s see what else can we cancel well we know that a 3 times. 2 is equal to 6. So we can cancel those and also 4 times 2 is equal to 8. So we cancel that as well. So what we have left over is 11 times 10 times 9 times. 7 times. 5. So 11 times. 10 is 110 and 7 times. 5. Is 35 now 110 times. 9. I believe that s a 990 now we need to multiply 990 by 35 and i m going to use the calculator at this point. So this will give you thirty four thousand six hundred and fifty. So that s the answer and now that s it for this video. That s all i got so thanks for watching and have a great day ” . Thank you for watching all the articles on the topic Permutations and Combinations Tutorial . All shares of star-trek-voyager.net are very good. We hope you are satisfied with the article. For any questions, please leave a comment below. Hopefully you guys support our website even more. This video tutorial focuses on permutations and combinations. It contains a few word problems including one associated with the fundamental counting principle. Permutations are useful to determine the different number of ways to arrange something where as combinations is useful for determining how many ways to combine something when the order does not matter such as selecting members to form a committee. In a permutation, the order matters. Examples include repeated symbols or arranging letters in a word such as alabama or mississippi. This video also discusses the basics of permutations and combinations using letters such as ABCD. permutations and combinations tutorial, permutations and combinations word problems, permutations and combinations basics, permutations and combinations, per…
Make meaningful sentences Make meaningful sentences using the words given in each set. Put the verbs in correct form so that the sense of each item is not disturbed. 1. be bombed / the war / the castle / heavily / during 2. we / all the scraps / that / to throw away / gave / to the geese / were ready 3. read / in the paper / the burglar / I / that / caught / had been 4. at a thousand / the mountain / flying / I / feet / could see / clearly 5. uncertain / I am / to bring / leave / I / for France / what / when 6. glass bottomed boat / could see / of fish / cruising / many kinds / in the / we 7. to eat / left / she / on the counter / the bread / too hard / that was 8. the feeling / experienced / ever / have you / going mad / that / you were 9. work / on / we / expect / to / the / first Saturday / every month / of / you 1. The castle was heavily bombed during the war. 2. We gave all the scraps that were ready to throw away to the geese. 3. I read in the paper that the burglar had been caught. 4. Flying at a thousand feet I could clearly see the mountain. 5. I am uncertain what to bring when I leave for France. 6. Cruising in the glass bottomed boat we could see many kinds of fish. 7. She left the bread that was too hard to eat on the counter. 8. Have you ever experienced the feeling that you were going mad? 9. We expect you to work on the first Saturday of every month.
Cell mobility is a key component for the survival for many single-cell organisms, and it can be important within more advanced animals as well. Cells use flagella for locomotion to look for food and to escape danger. The whiplike flagella can be rotated to promote motion via a corkscrew effect, or they can act like oars to row cells through liquids. Flagella are found in bacteria and in some eukaryotes, but those two types of flagella have a different structure. A bacterial flagellum helps beneficial bacteria move through the organism and helps disease-causing bacteria to spread during infections. They can move to where they can multiply, and they can avoid some of the attacks from the immune system of the organism. For advanced animals, cells such as sperm move with the aid of a flagellum. In each case, the motion of the flagella permits the cell to move in a general direction. The Structure of Prokaryotic Cell Flagella Is Simple Flagella for prokaryotes such as bacteria are made up of three parts: - The filament of the flagellum is a hollow tube made of a flagellar protein called flagellin. - At the base of the filament is a flexible hook that couples the filament to the base and acts as a universal joint. - The basal body is made up of a rod and a series of rings that anchor the flagellum to the cell wall and the plasma membrane. The flagellar filament is created by transporting the protein flagellin from cell ribosomes through the hollow core to the tip where the flagellin attaches and makes the filament grow. The basal body forms the motor of the flagellum, and the hook gives the rotation a corkscrew effect. Eukaryotic Flagella Have a Complex Structure The motion of eukaryotic flagella and those of prokaryotic cells is similar, but the structure of the filament and the mechanism for rotation are different. The basal body of eukaryotic flagella is anchored to the cell body, but the flagellum lacks a rod and disks. Instead, the filament is solid and is made up of pairs of microtubules. The tubules are arranged as nine double tubes around a central pair of tubes in a 9 + 2 formation. The tubules are made up of linear protein strings around a hollow center. The double tubes share a common wall while the central tubes are independent. Protein spokes, axes and links join the microtubules along the length of the filament. Instead of a motion created at the base by rotating rings, the flagellum motion comes from interaction of the microtubules. Flagella Work Through Rotational Motion of the Filament Although bacterial flagella and those of eukaryotic cells have a different structure, they both work through a rotational movement of the filament to propel the cell or move fluids past the cell. Shorter filaments will tend to move back and forth while longer filaments will have a circular spiral motion. In bacterial flagella, the hook at the bottom of the filament rotates where it is anchored to the cell wall and plasma membrane. The rotation of the hook results in a propeller-like motion of the flagella. In eukaryotic flagella, the rotational motion is due to the sequential bending of the filament. The resulting motion can be whiplike in addition to rotational. The Prokaryotic Flagella of Bacteria Are Powered by a Flagellar Motor Under the hook of bacterial flagella, the the base of the flagellum is attached to the cell wall and the cell's plasma membrane by a series of rings surrounded by protein chains. A proton pump creates a proton gradient across the lowest of the rings, and the electrochemical gradient powers rotation through a proton motive force. When protons diffuse across the lowest ring boundary due to the proton motive force, the ring spins and the attached filament hook rotates. Rotation in one direction results in a controlled forward motion of the bacterium. Rotation in the other direction makes the bacteria move in a random tumbling fashion. The resulting bacterial motility combined with the change in direction of rotation produces a kind of random walk that allows cell to cover a lot of ground in a general direction. Eukaryotic Flagella Use ATP to Bend The base of the flagellum of eukaryotic cells is firmly anchored to the cell membrane and the flagella bend rather than rotate. Protein chains called dynein are attached to some of the double microtubules arranged around the flagella filaments in radial spokes. The dynein molecules use energy from adenosine triphosphate (ATP), an energy storage molecule, to produce bending motion in the flagella. The dynein molecules make the flagella bend by moving the microtubules up and down against each other. They detach one of the phosphate groups from the ATP molecules and use the liberated chemical energy to grab one of the microtubules and move it against the tubule to which they are attached. By coordinating such bending action, the resulting filament motion can be rotational or back and forth. Prokaryotic Flagella Are Important for Bacterial Propagation While bacteria can survive for extended periods in the open air and on solid surfaces, they grow and multiply in fluids. Typical fluid environments are nutrient-rich solutions and the interior of advanced organisms. Many of these bacteria, such as those in the gut of animals, are beneficial, but they have to be able to find the nutrients they need and avoid dangerous situations. Flagella allow them to move toward food, away from dangerous chemicals and to spread when they multiply. Not all bacteria in the gut are beneficial. H. pylori, for example, is a flagellated bacterium that causes stomach ulcers. It relies on flagella to move through digestive system mucus and avoid areas that are too acid. When it finds a favorable space, it multiplies and uses flagella to spread out. Studies have shown that the H. pylori flagella are a key factor in the infectiousness of the bacteria. Related article: Signal Transduction: Definition, Function, Examples Bacteria can be classified according to the number and location of their flagella. Monotrichous bacteria have a single flagellum at one end of the cell. Lophotrichous bacteria have a bunch of several flagella at one end. Peritrichous bacteria have both lateral flagella and flagella at the ends of the cell while amphitrichous bacteria can have one or several flagella at both ends. The arrangement of the flagella influences how rapidly and in what way the bacterium can move. Eukaryotic Cells Use Flagella to Move Inside and Outside Organisms Eukaryotic cells with a nucleus and organelles are found in higher plants and animals but also as single-celled organisms. Eukaryotic flagella are used by primitive cells to move around, but they can be found in advanced animals as well. In the case of single-cell organisms, the flagella are used to locate food, to spread and to escape from predators or unfavorable conditions. In advanced animals, specific cells use a eukaryotic flagellum for special purposes. For example, the green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii uses two algal flagella to move through the water of lakes and rivers or soil. It relies on this motion to spread after reproducing and is widely distributed around the world. In higher animals, the sperm cell is an example of a mobile cell using eukaryotic flagellum for motion. This is how sperm move through the female reproductive tract to fertilize the egg and begin sexual reproduction.
Orchestra programs can teach students valuable skills Music is fun [Orchestra offerings few at D.M.-area schools, March 31]. Music teaches structure. Music teaches patience. Music is beautiful or angry. It also helps students learn: - Math skills in fractions by learning eighth notes, quarter notes, half notes and the whole note. - Time management by learning the count expressed by the time signature (that number on top of the number on the left edge of the sheet music). The time signature defines the value of each note. - Social interaction by learning how to play together by playing each instrument in the correct key. I had fun and learned a lot taking band at Hoyt Middle school and orchestra at East High. I started playing the clarinet in July of 1975. I still play the same clarinet — 41½ years later. A professional music career can pay just as much as a career in a STEM-based profession. — Curtis Christiansen, Des Moines
Oral health problems faced by Indigenous peoples are worsening and require practical long-term solutions In the 1970s, reports noted that oral health was one area in which Indigenous children enjoyed an advantage over other Australian children.1,2 However, as research improved our understanding of oral diseases, interventions to prevent common oral diseases like dental caries became available to most Australian children and oral health steadily improved. Furthermore, the dental caries that was experienced by most Australian children began to be effectively treated by ready access to dental care through school dental services or private dentists. As Indigenous children were largely unable to access these services for geographical and/or financial reasons, their oral health has worsened over time, with the result that Indigenous children now have poorer oral health than non-Indigenous children.3 Indigenous children are on a trajectory of developing further caries through to adulthood, with increasing numbers of teeth affected and eventually extracted. The teeth that are retained will also suffer from much higher levels of periodontal disease, which is likely to be earlier in onset and of greater severity than periodontal disease in other Australian adults.4 This may be the result of complications arising from other non-dental chronic diseases such as diabetes. The higher prevalence and severity of periodontal disease may subsequently place these Indigenous adults at risk of further chronic degenerative diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. A recent study showed that, compared with non-Indigenous Australian children, Indigenous children are now more likely to have dental caries at all ages. At the age of 6 years, 72% of Indigenous children had some tooth decay compared with 38% of other Australian children.4 The number of teeth with caries experience (ie, with past and/or present caries) among Indigenous children is about twice the number in non-Indigenous children, in relation to both deciduous and permanent teeth. Indigenous 6-year-olds have an average of 3.7 teeth with experience of caries compared with 1.5 teeth for other Australian children.5 Among 12-year-old children, the relative difference is somewhat less (1.3 compared with 0.8 teeth, respectively). The proportion of caries experience that is untreated is also higher among Indigenous children. Without early diagnosis and prompt treatment, multiple affected teeth present with advanced decay and tooth breakdown. This translates into higher numbers of young Indigenous children in remote areas undergoing hospitalisation for treatment under general anaesthetic.6 Solutions lie with caries prevention through adapting successful fluoride programs to the physical and social circumstances in which these children live. A number of approaches are being implemented, including fluoridating water supplies in larger remote communities with deficient levels of fluoride, clinical trialling of 6-monthly applications of fluoride varnish to the teeth of preschool children by primary health care workers, and introducing tooth-brushing and drinking water programs in preschools and schools. The National Survey of Adult Oral Health 2004–067 in Australia found that Indigenous adults have a higher perceived need for dental treatment than other Australians, particularly for dentures, fillings and extractions. More Indigenous than non-Indigenous adults reported that they were in urgent need of treatment. Although cohorts of Indigenous adults have similar overall past and present experience of caries to that of other Australian adults, they have higher levels of untreated caries and missing teeth and lower numbers of filled teeth.7 These findings indicate poorer access to timely dental care, resulting in either no care or care that is delayed until the disease process has reached an advanced stage and tooth extraction is required. These dental problems have further repercussions, with more Indigenous people avoiding certain foods because of dental problems, more ranking oral health as fair or poor, and more reporting experience of toothache.7 Indigenous adults have a higher prevalence of severe periodontal disease than non-Indigenous adults and are more than twice as likely to have advanced periodontal disease (after controlling for a number of sociodemographic characteristics).4 Periodontal disease accounts for 30% of tooth loss,8 contributing to the higher number of missing teeth in Indigenous Australians. The increased severity of periodontal disease and tooth loss for adults with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in Indigenous communities in Central Australia was first identified 20 years ago (Bruce Simmons, Dentist, Northern Territory Health, unpublished data, 1988). To this association between diabetes and risk of periodontal disease has more recently been added an association between periodontal disease and poor control of diabetes.9 Solving the oral health problems faced by Indigenous adults requires two complementary approaches. Firstly, access to dental care needs to be greatly improved. While the experience of dental caries among Indigenous people is no higher than among non-Indigenous Australians, the delay in accessing any care and the resource constraints of the services involved lead to high rates of tooth extraction and its consequences among Indigenous people. Specific dental care could reduce the progression or recurrence of destructive periodontal disease. Secondly, there is an imperative to integrate dental care with medical care, including dental disease in a group of related chronic degenerative diseases. Periodontal disease in Indigenous adults needs to be included alongside nutrition, obesity and diabetes in community health promotion programs. Some possible ways to address these issues are to include oral health in the training and practice of primary health care workers in Indigenous health, to develop pathways to providing priority dental care involving dentists and allied dental professionals, and to ensure that programs have strong community participation, capacity building and skills development for all major health problems. - 1. Kailis DG. Dental conditions observed in Australian Aboriginal children resident in Warburton and Cundeelee mission, Western Australia. Aust Dent J 1971; 16: 44-52. - 2. Kailis DG. Prevalence of dental caries in Australian Aboriginal children resident in Carnarvon, Western Australia. Aust Dent J 1971; 16: 109-115. - 3. Davies MJ, Spencer AJ, Westwater A, Simmons B. Dental caries among Australian Aboriginal, non-Aboriginal Australian-born, and overseas-born children. Bull World Health Organ 1997; 75: 197-203. - 4. Brennan DS, Roberts-Thomson KF, Spencer AJ. Oral health of Indigenous adult public dental patients in Australia. Aust Dent J 2007; 52: 322-328. - 5. Jamieson LM, Armfield JM, Roberts-Thomson KF. Oral health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Canberra: Dental Statistics and Research Unit, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2007. (AIHW Cat. No. DEN 167; Dental Statistics and Research Series No. 35.) http://www.arcpoh.adelaide.edu.au/publications/report/statistics/html_files/ATSI_children.pdf (accessed Apr 2008). - 6. Jamieson LM, Roberts-Thomson KF. Dental general anaesthetic trends among Australian children. BMC Oral Health 2006; 6: 16. - 7. Slade GD, Spencer AJ, Roberts-Thomson KF, editors. Australia’s dental generations: the National Survey of Adult Oral Health 2004–06. Canberra: Dental Statistics and Research Unit, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2007. (AIHW Cat. No. DEN 165; Dental Statistics and Research Series No. 34.) http://www.arcpoh.adelaide.edu.au/project/distribution/nsaoh_pdf%20files/nsaoh_report.pdf (accessed Apr 2008). - 8. Richards W, Ameen J, Coll AM, Higgs G. Reasons for tooth extraction in four general dental practices in South Wales. Br Dent J 2005; 198: 275-278. - 9. Taylor GW, Borgnakke WS. Periodontal disease: associations with diabetes, glycemic control and complications. Oral Dis 2008; 14: 191-203. Publication of your online response is subject to the Medical Journal of Australia's editorial discretion. You will be notified by email within five working days should your response be accepted.
\|Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute\|\|Home\| The unit is structured around two main activities: 1) keeping a daily weather log and; 2) developing answers to the following four questions. How is our weather dependent on the earth’s gravity and the sun’s energy? What are four major components of weather? How are storms created? What can we learn from weather reports? The unit sounds more like a science unit than a math unit, but it depends on what you want to stress. I plan to stress skills from the following areas: Statistics: Keeping a log requires reading data from either instruments or the morning weather report. Statistics: Using many charts and tables. Ratio and Percentage: There are many kinds of comparisons, like the gravities of two planets, or their diameters, etc. Calculations: Using the Fahrenheit and Celsius formulas for conversion. Greater than and less than: Applied use in the differences between temperatures of air masses or differences in air pressures. Longitude and latitude: Locate the cities the paper gives the temperatures for in the weather report or track a hurricane. There are four weeks of lesson plans. (Recommended for Consumer Math classes, grades 9-12; Applied Mathematics classes, grades 9-12; General Science classes, grades 7-12; Earth Science classes, grade 8) Mythology Ancient Greek Aerodynamics Daedalus Orgins Science
- Category: Opinions - Published: Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:07 - Written by Ben S - Hits: 618 by Ben S Fuel cell is a device that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity through a chemical reaction with oxygen or another oxidizing agent. Hydrogen is the most common fuel, but hydrocarbons such as natural gas and alcohols like methanol are sometimes used. Fuel cells are different from batteries in that they require a constant source of fuel and oxygen to run, but they can produce electricity continually for as long as these inputs are supplied. Welsh Physicist William Grove developed the first crude fuel cells in 1839. The first commercial use of fuel cells was in NASA space programs to generate power for probes, satellites and space capsules. Since then, fuel cells have been used in many other applications. Fuel cells are used for primary and backup power for commercial, industrial and residential buildings and in remote or inaccessible areas. They are used to power fuel cell vehicles, including automobiles, buses, forklifts, airplanes, boats, motorcycles and submarines. Fuel Cells will hopefully be the main source of fuel in the future.
Punctuation Marks: How to Use a Semicolon Lots of people aren’t sure how to use a semicolon. The semicolon might be the most misunderstood punctuation mark in the English language. This dot-comma combination is often used where a period, colon, or even a plain old comma belongs. Underused and often abused, the semicolon is useful in a number of writing situations. Although proper semicolon use requires a little finesse, this particular punctuation mark is surprisingly easy to understand. Here’s the lowdown on semicolon use: - The semicolon establishes a close connection between two sentences or independent clauses. - A semicolon can replace conjunctions and or but. - Semicolons indicate a stronger separation than a comma but weaker than a period. - A semicolon is often used in lists to separate items when some of the items in listed subsets require commas. - The semicolon is always followed by a lowercase letter with proper nouns being the only exception (proper nouns are always capitalized). - Semicolons can be used to separate two clauses or sentences that are saying the same thing in different ways. - As with other punctuation marks that denote the end of a clause or sentence, there is no space between the semicolon and the word preceding it; there should be a single space after the semicolon. Want real examples that show how to use a semicolon? You got ’em! - I watched the Grammy Awards last night; I was pleased that Amy Winehouse won and thought it was a great show this year. - I love music; however, I haven’t played my own guitar in several years. - I have lived in several different cities: San Francisco, California; Haiku, Hawaii; and Santa Barbara, California. - When I was in fourth grade, I won the spelling bee for my entire school and went to the district championships. I practiced every night, memorized all the words on the list, and felt confident that I had a shot at winning; I got nervous on stage and misspelled one of the words even though I knew the correct spelling. - I’m fascinated by names and their meanings; Melissa means “honey bee.” - There’s nothing like the gentle drum of water hitting the window pane; I love the rain. - This is not only a grammar post, it’s also a tag from Rudy Amid in which I’m asked to write seven weird facts about myself; the seventh is that I’m using my blog to multitask and be a good sport about memes. In many cases, semicolon use is appropriate or grammatically correct, but when a period will do the trick, go with two separate sentences. In other words, if you can choose between separating clauses with a semicolon or writing two separate sentences (using a period), write two separate sentences. This makes text easier to read. How often do you use semicolons? Ever? Do you think it’s best that this punctuation mark is used sparingly, or should we all aim for increased semicolon use — start a new fad, maybe? Share your thoughts on how to use a semicolon in the comments. Oh, and I tag anyone who feels like sharing seven weird facts about themselves. Post them on your blog, and then come back and leave a comment here! And don’t forget to keep practicing proper semicolon use.
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) collection is a test to look at the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. CSF acts as a cushion, protecting the brain and spine from injury. The fluid is normally clear. It has the same consistency as water. The test is also used to measure pressure in the spinal fluid. How the Test is Performed There are different ways to get a sample of CSF. Lumbar puncture (spinal tap) is the most common method. To have the test: - You will lie on your side with your knees pulled up toward the chest, and chin tucked downward. Sometimes the test is done sitting up, but bent forward. - After the back is cleaned, the health care provider will inject a local numbing medicine (anesthetic) into the lower spine. - A spinal needle will be inserted. - An opening pressure is sometimes taken. An abnormal pressure can suggest an infection or other problem. - Once the needle is in position, the CSF pressure is measured and a sample of 1 to 10 milliliters (mL) of CSF is collected in 4 vials. - The needle is removed, the area is cleaned, and a bandage is placed over the needle site. You may be asked to remain lying down for a short time after the test. Occasionally, special x-rays are used to help guide the needle into position. This is called fluoroscopy. Lumbar puncture with fluid collection may also be part of other procedures such as an x-ray or CT scan after dye has been inserted into the CSF. Rarely, other methods of CSF collection may be used. - Cisternal puncture uses a needle placed below the occipital bone (back of the skull). It can be dangerous because it is so close to the brain stem. It is always done with fluoroscopy. - Ventricular puncture may be recommended in people with possible brain herniation. This is a very rarely used method. It is most often done in the operating room. A hole is drilled in the skull, and a needle is inserted directly into one of the brain's ventricles. CSF may also be collected from a tube that's already placed in the fluid, such as a shunt or a ventricular drain. How to Prepare for the Test You will need to give the health care team your consent before the test. Tell your provider if you are on any blood-thinning medicines such as warfarin (Coumadin), Lovenox, aspirin, or Plavix. Afterward, you should plan to rest for several hours, even if you feel fine. This is to prevent fluid from leaking around the site of the puncture. You will not need to lie flat on your back the entire time. How the Test will Feel It may be uncomfortable to stay in position for the test. Staying still is important because movement may lead to injury of the spinal cord. You may be told to straighten your position slightly after the needle is in place. This is to help measure the CSF pressure. The anesthetic will sting or burn when first injected. There will be a hard pressure sensation when the needle is inserted. Often, there is some brief pain when the needle goes through the tissue surrounding the spinal cord. This pain should stop in a few seconds. In most cases, the procedure takes about 30 minutes. The actual pressure measurements and CSF collection only take a few minutes. Why the Test is Performed This test is done to measure pressures within the CSF and to collect a sample of the fluid for further testing. CSF analysis can be used to diagnose certain neurologic disorders. These may include infections (such as meningitis) and brain or spinal cord damage. A spinal tap may also be done to establish the diagnosis of normal pressure hydrocephalus. Normal values typically range as follows: - Pressure: 70 to 180 mm H2O - Appearance: clear, colorless - CSF total protein: 15 to 60 mg/100 mL - Gamma globulin: 3% to 12% of the total protein - CSF glucose: 50 to 80 mg/100 mL (or greater than two thirds of blood sugar level) - CSF cell count: 0 to 5 white blood cells (all mononuclear), and no red blood cells - Chloride: 110 to 125 mEq/L Normal value ranges may vary slightly among different laboratories. Talk to your provider about the meaning of your specific test results. The examples above show the common measurements for results for these tests. Some laboratories use different measurements or may test different specimens. What Abnormal Results Mean If the CSF looks cloudy, it could mean there is an infection or a buildup of white blood cells or protein. If the CSF looks bloody or red, it may be a sign of bleeding or spinal cord obstruction. If it is brown, orange, or yellow, it may be a sign of increased CSF protein or previous bleeding (more than 3 days ago). There may be blood in the sample that came from the spinal tap itself. This makes it harder to interpret the test results. - Increased CSF pressure may be due to increased intracranial pressure (pressure within the skull). - Decreased CSF pressure may be due to spinal cord tumor, shock, fainting, or diabetic coma. - Increased CSF protein may be due to blood in the CSF, diabetes, polyneuritis, tumor, injury, or any inflammatory or infectious condition. - Decreased protein is a sign of rapid CSF production. - Increased CSF glucose is a sign of high blood sugar. - Decreased CSF glucose may be due to hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), bacterial or fungal infection (such as meningitis), tuberculosis, or certain other types of meningitis. BLOOD CELLS IN CSF - Increased white blood cells in the CSF may be a sign of meningitis, acute infection, beginning of a long-term (chronic) illness, tumor, abscess, stroke, or demyelinating disease (such as multiple sclerosis). - Red blood cells in the CSF sample may be a sign of bleeding into the spinal fluid or the result of a traumatic lumbar puncture. OTHER CSF RESULTS - Increased CSF gamma globulin levels may be due to diseases such as multiple sclerosis, neurosyphilis, or Guillain-Barré syndrome. Additional conditions under which the test may be performed: Risks of lumbar puncture include: - Bleeding into the spinal canal or around the brain (subdural hematomas). - Discomfort during the test - Headache after the test that can last a few hours or days. If headaches last more than a few days (especially when you sit, stand or walk) you might have a CSF-leak. You should talk to your physician if this occurs. - Hypersensitivity (allergic) reaction to the anesthetic - Infection introduced by the needle going through the skin There is an increased risk of bleeding in people who take blood thinners. Brain herniation may occur if this test is done on a person with a mass in the brain (such as a tumor or abscess). This can result in brain damage or death. This test is not done if an exam or test reveals signs of a brain mass. Damage to the nerves in the spinal cord may occur, particularly if the person moves during the test. Cisternal puncture or ventricular puncture carries additional risks of brain or spinal cord damage and bleeding within the brain. This test is more dangerous for people with: - A tumor in the back of the brain that is pressing down on the brainstem - Blood clotting problems - Low platelet count (thrombocytopenia) - Individuals taking blood thinners, aspirin, clopidogrel, or other similar drugs to decrease the formation of blood clots. Spinal tap; Ventricular puncture; Lumbar puncture; Cisternal puncture; Cerebrospinal fluid culture Griggs RC, Jozefowicz RF, Aminoff MJ. Approach to the patient with neurologic disease. In: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Goldman-Cecil Medicine. 25th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders; 2016:chap 396. Rosenberg GA. Brain edema and disorders of cerebrospinal fluid circulation. In: Daroff RB, Jankovic J, Mazziotta JC, Pomeroy SL, eds. Bradley's Neurology in Clinical Practice. 7th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2016:chap 88. Review Date 5/15/2017 Updated by: Amit M. Shelat, DO, FACP, Attending Neurologist and Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurology, SUNY Stony Brook, School of Medicine, Stony Brook, NY. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
The discovery of a super massive neutron star has thrown our understanding of stellar evolution into turmoil. The new star, called PSR J1614-2230 contains twice the mass of the Sun but compressed down into a star that is smaller than the Earth (you could fit over a million Earth’s inside the Sun by comparison). It is estimated a thimbleful of material from the star could weigh more than 500 million tons — that equates to about a million airliners. The study has cast serious doubt over how matter reacts under extreme densities. The study by a team of astronomers using the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in New Mexico focussed its attention on the star which is about 3,000 light years away (the distance light can travel in 3,000 years at a speed of 300,000 km per second). The stellar corpse whose life ended long ago is now rotating at an incredible speed, completing 317 rotations every second. Its emitting an intense beam of energy from its polar regions which just happens to point in the direction of us here on Earth. We can detect this radiation beam as it flashes on and off like a celestial lighthouse. This type of neutron star is classed a pulsar. Rather fortuitously, the star is part of a binary star system and is orbited by a white dwarf star which completes one orbit in just nine days. Its through the measurements of the interaction of the two which gave astronomers the clue as to the pulsar’s mass. The orbit of the white dwarf takes it between the beam of radiation and us here on Earth so that the energy from the beam has to pass close by the companion star. By measuring the delay in the beam’s arrival caused by distortion of space-time in the proximity of the white dwarf, scientists can determine the mass of both objects. Its an effect called the Shapiro Delay and its simply luck that the orientation of the stars to the Earth allows the effect to be measured. Dave Finley, Public Information Officer from NRAO told Universe Today ‘Pulsars are neutron stars, whose radiation beams emerge from the poles and sweep across the Earth. The orientation of the poles (and thus of the beams) is a matter of chance. We just got very lucky with this system.’ The discovery which was made possible by the new ‘Green Bank Ultimate Pulsar Processing Instrument (GUPPI) was able to measure the pulses from the pulsar with incredible accuracy and thus come to the conclusion that the star weighed in at a hefty two times the mass of the Sun. Current theories suggested a mass of around one and a half solar masses were possible but this new discovery changes the understanding of the composition of such stars, even to the subatomic level. Neutron stars or pulsars are extreme objects at the very edges of the conditions that matter can exist. They really test our knowledge of the physical Universe and slowly but surely, through dedicated work of teams of astronomers, we are not only learning more about the stars above our heads but more and more about matter in the Universe in which we live.
Coal, oil, and gas predominated the 20th century as sources of fuel, and allowed human productivity to increase exponentially. But this came with a high price. Extraction, burning, and storage of toxic wastes that are byproducts of these processes are destroying our planet. Most often, they take place near rural communities or people of color, without regard to impacts on health or quality of life. A just transition away from fossil fuels is not one of convenience, but one of moral and ecological necessity. Resources listed below are intended to highlight work that is being done across the country to: - Prevent harm to communities and our environment from polluting energy systems (such as coal-fired or nuclear power plants); extractive industries (coal, oil and natural gas); and waste disposed from both energy systems and extractive industries. - Overcome barriers that prevent us from transitioning to clean, safe, renewable energy sources and creating jobs in areas where they are most needed. - Ensure that all have access to clean, safe, renewable energy, regardless of income, race or ethnicity, or geographic location. Please visit the following pages for resources:
What is Scoliosis? Scoliosis is defined as a lateral curvature of the spine, and is directly linked to subluxations (spinal misalignment). One of the most common symptoms of scoliosis is chronic back pain, but an even more chronic situation is Loss of Function. The most disturbing fact about the condition of scoliosis is that it can go undetected until symptoms begin to arise. Spinal damage or injury at any age can misaligne bones and shift the vertebrae off-center. The result is stress on the nervous system, muscle spasm, postural distortion and spinal decay. Typically scoliosis is a condition that affects two age groups, adolescents and elderly. When scoliosis affects adolescents it is crucial that measures be taken to halt the progression of the condition. At ChiroMax Wellness Centers, our doctors are trained to detect and stop the progression of this condition so future health problems can be prevented. When adults are faced with scoliosis the best treatment of choice is spinal adjustments to restore proper Function and physical therapy to strengthen the muscle tone of the back to stabilize the spinal column. The best treatment for a scoliosis condition is Prevention. Ask your chiropractic physician how they can help. Nerves going to all parts of the body can be affected. Correcting the spine can alleviate stress, pain and discomfort, allowing the body to heal and function properly. One of the main causes of joint dysfunction are mechanical causes. Mechanical causes are referred to as micro or macro trauma. Micro trauma can also be called repetitive stress injury. Macro trauma refers to pain due to trauma to the body, such as a fall, a break, or a car crash. Both forms of mechanical causes of joint dysfunction can benefit immensely from chiropractic care. How is scoliosis diagnosed? In order to properly diagnose scoliosis, an x-ray is necessary to measure the amount of scoliosis. Any small or major bend or curve in the spine to the left or right is considered scoliosis. Scoliosis can either be the result of: - poor posture ChiroMax Wellness Centers can help! Treatment of scoliosis depends on the amount of curvature. In most cases, bracing or surgery are not necessary. The patient with scoliosis is given gentle chiropractic adjustments to take pressure off the spine where the curve is the greatest. Additionally, specific exercises are given to the patient with scoliosis to strengthen the weak side of the spine, allowing the scoliosis to occur. The best news is that scoliosis in children (usually under 16 years of age) is typically reversible! Scoliosis is usually acquired during the growing years. It is very important for a child with scoliosis to receive the proper checkups to monitor the scoliosis using orthopedic exams and x-rays. Chiropractic treatment can be very effective in decreasing pain and improving the overall motion of the spine. At ChiroMax Wellness Centers we do more than just ease the pain. We help you understand your body. It is about learning, understanding and taking care of your own body to improve the quality of your life in the long run. Our mission is to serve our patients in an environment of total caring for each patient as a unique individual. If you’ve been experiencing chronic pain and discomfort in your back, please call us at: (713) 691-8355 (I-45 Location) or (713) 222-6374 (I-10 Location) to schedule an appointment. At ChiroMax Wellness Centers We can help and offer you hope. We are dedicated to getting you out of pain and back to feeling good again. Most forms of insurance accepted.
Your son is still learning about social interaction and understanding social cues. This is a process that can take a long time. When two children are playing, and another joins them the dynamic changes and the play becomes more difficult to navigate. Similarly when a playmate leaves to play elsewhere, if not socially tuned in it may be thought to be a snub. As with all developmental milestones these social nuances take time to learn and some children take longer than others. - As a parent, you can provide good role modeling for him when you and he play together. You can speak about how it would be if another joined the play, or when you want to do something different, he then has a choice about whether he wants to join you or play on his own. - Limit his play with other children to short periods of time, gradually increasing it as he can manage. - Do not worry about his tears if he becomes upset at the interactions. Hold him close and comfort him without trying to fix the situation for him. Later when he is calm and settled and feeling close to you, speak with him about what was upsetting him about the play and how he might manage another time. If you try to fix things for him in the moment he will not build resilience and learn to manage on his own. - Solitary play is a wonderful thing for children. It allows them to explore the world around them and learn about themselves in the process. If he is happy on his own I would not push social play. At six years of age, children get more than enough time with other children at school. Perhaps at the end of the day or on the weekends a break from other children is a better idea for your son than organizing an activity that requires him to be with other children.
A new library just opened in my town and I have been visiting non-stop. In one of my many trips through the aisles, I came across the book Happy, by Mies Van Hout. I was drawn in by the vibrant art work on the cover and the book did not disappoint. Each two-page spread features a “feeling word” (i.e. “curious”, “nervous”, “content”) and a picture of a fish, done on a black background, displaying the stated emotion. The illustrations are done in pastels and expertly use facial expressions, body positioning and color to capture each emotion. This book is an excellent choice for a student who just wants to curl up in a chair and enjoy the illustrations. As a Tibrarian, however, I am always looking for ways to extend the reading experience, so I wanted to share a lesson plan idea for you to use with this book. This lesson would work well with students in grades 2-3. Start your lesson by asking students how they can tell what emotions a character in a picture book is feeling. The students will probably note that the author usually uses describing words to tell us how a character is feeling, but they will hopefully also mention the fact that the illustrations can help you identify a character’s emotions. At this point, you might want to share a few examples of illustrations from picture books that clearly depict characters’ emotions. Tell students that showing emotion in a character is one of the hardest parts of being a picture book illustrator. At this point, you should give each student a note card that lists one of the emotions that is covered in the book (curious, nervous, brave, shy, surprised, sad, furious, proud, jealous, loving, angry, glad, confused, content, afraid, sure, shocked, astonished, bored, delighted). Once students have been assigned their emotion words, send them to tables or some other location where you have provided blank paper and crayons/markers/colored pencils. Ask the students to draw a fish that is feeling the emotion that is listed on their cards. Depending on the length of your lesson, give students 10-15 minutes to work on their drawings. Encourage students to use color, facial expressions, and body positioning to depict their assigned emotions. Circulate the room and direct students to dictionaries if they are having trouble understanding their assigned emotions. Once students have finished drawing, bring them back together as a group. Show them the cover of Happy and tell them that they have just completed illustrations to fill the book. Display each two-page spread, making sure to cover the “feeling word” (you can paperclip pieces of paper over each word prior to the students’ arrival). Allow students to look at each fish and guess which of their emotion words matches the fish’s expression. Then compare each student drawing to the illustrations in the book to see if the artists made the same choices (ex. “Johnny drew big, wide eyes for ‘surprised’ just like the illustrator did”). To end the lesson, remind students to study the illustrations in the picture books that they read to get a deeper understanding of characters’ emotions.
Individual differences \| Methods \| Statistics \| Clinical \| Educational \| Industrial \| Professional items \| World psychology \| Biological: Behavioural genetics · Evolutionary psychology · Neuroanatomy · Neurochemistry · Neuroendocrinology · Neuroscience · Psychoneuroimmunology · Physiological Psychology · Psychopharmacology (Index, Outline) An aldehyde is an organic compound containing a terminal carbonyl group. This functional group, which consists of a carbon atom which is bonded to a hydrogen atom and double-bonded to an oxygen atom (chemical formula O=CH-), is called the aldehyde group. The aldehyde group is also called the formyl or methanoyl group. The word aldehyde seems to have arisen from alcohol dehydrogenated. In the past, aldehydes were sometimes named after the corresponding alcohols, for example vinous aldehyde for acetaldehyde. (Vinous is from Latin vinum = wine, the traditional source of ethanol; compare vinyl.) IUPAC names for aldehydesEdit IUPAC prescribes the following nomenclature for aldehydes: - Acyclic aliphatic aldehydes are named as derivatives of the longest carbon chain containing the aldehyde group. Thus, HCHO is named as a derivative of methane, and CH3CH2CH2CHO is named as a derivative of butane. The name is formed by changing the suffix -e of the parent alkane to -al, so that HCHO is named methanal, and CH3CH2CH2CHO is named butanal. - In other cases, such as when a -CHO group is attached to a ring, the suffix -carbaldehyde may be used. Thus, C6H11CHO is known as cyclohexanecarbaldehyde. - If another functional group is present which IUPAC rules prescribe must be named as a suffix, the aldehyde group is named with the prefix formyl-. This prefix is preferred to methanoyl-. - If replacing the aldehyde group with a carboxyl (-COOH) group would yield a carboxylic acid with a trivial name, the aldehyde may be named by replacing the suffix -ic acid or -oic acid in this trivial name by -aldehyde. For example: The carbon atom adjacent to a carbonyl group is called the α carbon. Carbon atoms further away from the group may be named β for the carbon atom bonded to the α carbon, γ for the next, and so on. Hydrogen atoms bonded to these carbon atoms are named likewise: an α hydrogen is a hydrogen atom bonded to the α carbon and so on. A reaction that introduces an aldehyde group is known as a formylation reaction. There are several methods for preparing aldehydes: - Reacting a primary alcohol with an oxidizing agent. In the laboratory this may be achieved by heating the alcohol with a chromium(VI) reagent an acidified solution of potassium dichromate, which is reduced to green Cr3+ during the reaction. Excess dichromate will further oxidise the aldehyde to form a carboxylic acid, so either the aldehyde is distilled out as it forms (if volatile), or milder methods and reagents such as PCC oxidation, IBX acid, Dess-Martin periodinane or Swern oxidation are used. The reaction is illustrated below with propan-1-ol being oxidised to form propionaldehyde, and again with pentan-1-ol being oxidized to form pentanal. - Reacting an alkene (if there is a vinylic hydrogen) with ozone will form an ozonide (an unstable, explosive intermediate) which yields an aldehyde upon reduction with zinc and acid at reduced temperatures. This process is called ozonolysis. - Reacting an ester with diisobutyl aluminium hydride (DIBAL-H) or sodium aluminium hydride can cause reduction, yielding an aldehyde. - Reduction of an acid chloride using the Rosenmund reduction or using lithium tri-t-butoxyaluminium hydride (LiAlH(O-t-C4H9)3). - Reaction of ketones with methoxymethylenetriphenylphosphine in a modified Wittig reaction. - Various formylation reactions, such as the Vilsmeier-Haack reaction, can be used to introduce an aldehyde group. - In the Nef reaction, aldehydes form by hydrolysis of salts of primary nitro compounds. - Zincke aldehydes form by reaction of pyridinium salts with secondary amines followed by hydrolysis. - in the Stephen aldehyde synthesis aldehydes form from nitriles, tin chloride and hydrochloric acid. Reduction and oxidationEdit - The aldehyde group can be reduced to the group -CH2OH, changing the aldehyde into a primary alcohol. - The aldehyde group can be oxidized to the group -COOH, yielding a carboxylic acid. Suitable oxidizing agents include potassium permanganate, nitric acid, chromium(VI) oxide, and acidified potassium dichromate. - Another oxidation reaction is the silver mirror test. In this test, an aldehyde is treated with Tollens' reagent, which is prepared by adding a drop of sodium hydroxide solution into silver nitrate solution to give a precipitate of silver(I) oxide, and then adding just enough dilute ammonia solution to redissolve the precipitate in aqueous ammonia to produce [Ag(NH3)2]+ complex. This reagent will convert aldehydes to carboxylic acids without attacking carbon-carbon double-bonds. The name silver mirror test arises because this reaction will produce a precipitate of silver whose presence can be used to test for the presence of an aldehyde. Nucleophilic addition reactionsEdit In nucleophilic addition reactions a nucleophile can add to the carbon atom in the carbonyl group, yielding an addition compound where this carbon atom has tetrahedral molecular geometry. Together with protonation of the oxygen atom in the carbonyl group (which can take place either before or after addition), this yields a product where the carbon atom in the carbonyl group is bonded to the nucleophile, a hydrogen atom, and a hydroxyl group. There are various examples of nucleophilic addition reactions. - In the acetalisation reaction, under acidic or basic conditions, an alcohol adds to the carbonyl group and a proton is transferred to form a hemiacetal. Under acidic conditions, the hemiacetal and the alcohol can further react to form an acetal and water. Simple hemiacetals are usually unstable, although cyclic ones such as glucose can be stable. Acetals are stable, but revert to the aldehyde in the presence of acid. - Aldehydes can react with water (under acidic or basic conditions) to form hydrates, R-C(H)(OH)(OH), although these are only stable when strong electron withdrawing groups are present, as in chloral hydrate. The mechanism is identical to hemiacetal formation. - In alkylimino-de-oxo-bisubstitution, a primary or secondary amine adds to the carbonyl group and a proton is transferred from the nitrogen to the oxygen atom to create a carbinolamine. In the case of a primary amine, a water molecule can be eliminated from the carbinolamine to yield an imine. This reaction is catalyzed by acid. - The cyano group in HCN can add to the carbonyl group to form cyanohydrins, R-C(H)(OH)(CN). - In the Grignard reaction, a Grignard reagent adds to the group, eventually yielding an alcohol with a substituted group from the Grignard reagent. - Hydroxylamine (NH2OH) can add to the carbonyl group. After the elimination of water, this will result in an oxime. - An ammonia derivative of the form H2NNR2 such as hydrazine (H2NNH2) or 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine can add to the carbonyl group. After the elimination of water, this will result in the formation of a hydrazone. More complex reactionsEdit - If an aldehyde is converted to a simple hydrazone (RCH=NHNH2) and this is heated with a base such as KOH, the terminal carbon is fully reduced via the Wolff-Kishner reaction to a methyl group. The Wolff-Kishner reaction may be performed as a one-pot reaction, giving the overall conversion RCH=O → RCH3. - Reaction of aldehydes with reducing agents such as magnesium gives diols in a Pinacol coupling reaction. - The Wittig reaction takes aldehydes to alkenes and the Corey-Fuchs reaction takes aldehydes to alkynes. Both use a triphenylphosphine reagent. The Corey-Chaykovsky reagent is a sulfonium ylide which converts aldehydes to epoxides. Examples of aldehydesEdit - Methanal (Formaldehyde) - Ethanal (Acetaldehyde) - Propionaldehyde (propanal) - Butyraldehyde (butanal) Other kinds of organic compounds containing carbonyl groups include - REDIRECT Template:Functional group \|This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).\|
osteoarthritis of knee osteoarthritis of the knee Osteoarthritis is a common form of arthritis that often affects the knee. In the first stage, symptoms are mild, but by the fourth, a person may need surgery. Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee affects the bones, the cartilage, and the synovium in the knee joint. Cartilage is a slippery tissue that provides a smooth surface for joint motion and acts as a cushion between the bones. Synovium is soft, and it lines the joints. It produces fluid, called synovial fluid, for lubrication, and it supplies nutrients and oxygen to the cartilage. As these functions break down, they no longer protect the bones of the knee joint, and bone damage occurs. OA of the knee can cause pain and stiffness. The symptoms worsen over time. In osteoarthritis of the knee, the cartilage breaks down and bone damage results. As the stages progress, pain and stiffness increase. OA of the knee takes several years to develop, and it progresses in stages. The condition can be hard to treat because symptoms may not appear until OA reaches an advanced stage. People with OA of the knee should be on the lookout for any changes in symptoms and other indications that the condition is advancing. Stage 1: Minor Small lumps of bone called osteophytes may grow in the knee area. There may be slight damage to the cartilage. There will be no apparent narrowing of the space between the bones to indicate that the cartilage is breaking down. People with stage 1 OA are unlikely to feel pain or experience discomfort. The joint will appear normal on an X-ray. Stage 2: Mild During this stage, a person may start to notice symptoms, and doctors can see some signs of wear. X-rays and other scans of the knee joints will clearly show more osteophyte growth, and the cartilage will begin to thin. The space between the bones will still appear normal, but the area where the bones and the tissues meet will start to harden. When the tissues harden, this makes the bone thicker and denser. A thin layer of bone will also develop beneath the cartilage in the joints. The person may experience stiffness or joint pain. The area around the knee joint may start to feel particularly stiff and uncomfortable after a person has been sitting for extended periods. Though there may be some minor damage, the bones are not rubbing or scraping against each other. Synovial fluid is present, and it helps to reduce friction and support the movement of the knee. Stage 3: Moderate The damage to the cartilage has progressed, the gap between the bones has narrowed, and X-rays will show cartilage loss. Pain and discomfort may occur while performing daily activities, such as running, walking, kneeling, and bending. There may be early signs of joint inflammation. As OA progresses, the cartilage will continue to thin and break down. The bones will respond by thickening and growing outward to form lumps. The tissue that lines the joint will become inflamed, and it may produce extra synovial fluid, resulting in increased swelling. This is called synovitis, and it is commonly known as water on the knee. Stage 4 – Severe Knee replacement surgery may be the only option for late-stage OA of the knee. This is the most advanced stage of OA, and the symptoms are very visible. The space between the bones in the joint has continued to narrow, causing the cartilage to break down further. As a result, there is stiffness in the joint, constant inflammation, and less fluid around the joint. There is more friction in the joint and more significant pain and discomfort while moving. X-rays will show bone on bone, meaning that either the cartilage has completely worn away or there is very little left. The individual will likely develop more bone lumps and experience pain that is often intense during simple activities, such as walking. In severe cases, the bones may become deformed and angulated because of asymmetric loss of cartilage. At this stage, surgical treatment is often the only option. An individual may not notice symptoms in the early stages of OA. If a person has knee pain, the doctor will ask about personal and family medical histories. They will then perform a full physical examination and order diagnostic tests. The doctor will also ask: - when and where the person is experiencing pain and stiffness - how this affects their daily life - whether they are taking any medications The doctor will examine the joints, test their overall range of motion, and check for damage. They will pay close attention to any areas that are tender, painful, or swollen. MRI scans and joint fluid tests can help detect early signs of OA. The doctor may perform a joint aspiration, which involves removing some fluid with a needle and sending it to a laboratory for testing. X-rays can also show damage to the joint. Treatment options depend on the stage of OA and how quickly the condition is progressing. Any symptoms are usually minor, and acetaminophens or other over-the-counter (OTC) medications can often relieve the pain. Performing certain exercises can help to build strength and mobility. Treatments can include: - taking pain relievers - attending physical therapy sessions to build or maintain strength and flexibility - wearing a knee brace designed to relieve pressure on the joints’ surfaces - wearing shoe inserts to relieve stress on the knee At this stage, people with OA of the knee may need to change their daily activities to avoid pain. Treatments can include: - taking OTC pain relievers, such as acetaminophen - taking prescription pain relievers, including oxycodone or codeine - receiving injections of corticosteroids or hyaluronic acid A doctor will administer three to five hyaluronic acid injections over 3–5 weeks. It can take time for results to show, but relief can last for 6 months. The AAOS have questioned the use of corticosteroid and hyaluronic acid injections. The drugs can be costly, and long-term use of corticosteroids can lead to adverse effects. At this stage, the cartilage has either significantly diminished or disappeared completely. People may try the following: - magnetic pulse therapy, though there is a lack of research to confirm its effectiveness - lateral wedge insoles - supplements of glucosamine, chondroitin, or both - needle lavage, which involves inserting a needle into the joint and injecting a saline solution Understanding knee osteoarthritis OA of the knee develops when the cartilage in the knee joint wears away, leading to an overgrowth of the bone underneath. The cartilage becomes rough and breaks down, resulting in pain, swelling, and difficulty moving the joint. OA can develop at any age, but it most frequently develops in people aged over 50 years, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). The Arthritis Foundation report that half of all adults will develop OA at some time. According to the AAOS, risk factors for OA include: - increasing age - previous joint injury - overuse of the joint - weak thigh muscles - genetic factors A person is likelier to develop OA if they have certain conditions, including hemochromatosis, acromegaly, and rheumatoid arthritis. A number of factors may put a person at risk of developing OA. Making changes may not prevent the condition, but a person may be able to reduce their risk or keep OA from advancing. Repetitive exercise can increase the risk of developing OA of the knee. The Arthritis Foundation suggest the following: Maintaining a healthful weight: Excess weight puts extra pressure on the knees. Over time, this contributes to wearing down the cartilage. Extra fat can also cause the body to produce cytokines, a type of protein. This can lead to widespread inflammation, and it can change the way that cartilage cells work. Controlling blood sugar: High glucose levels can affect the structure and function of cartilage, and diabetes increases the risk of inflammation and cartilage loss. In the U.S., more than 50 percent of people with diabetes also have arthritis. Exercising regularly: Moderate exercise can help the joints stay flexible, strengthen the muscles that support the knees, and reduce the risk of many health conditions. It may help to garden, walk, or swim for 30 minutes at a time, five times a week. Anyone who has not exercised for an extended period, possibly due to difficulties with mobility, should ask a medical professional for advice about how to start. Reducing the risk of injury: Cartilage that sustains damage from an injury is more likely to develop arthritis later. Reduce the risk of tripping in the home, wear shoes that fit well, and use protective gear while playing sports to prevent injury. Undergoing posture and bone alignment tests: A gait analysis and other tests can help doctors to assess bone alignment and posture. Some sources suggest that these can affect a person’s risk of developing OA. Researchers say these changes do not occur until after the early stages of OA of the knee, and that they may be a result rather than a cause of the condition. However, they add that a better understanding of these changes might help prevent OA from progressing and help in treatment and rehabilitation. Avoiding overuse: Some sports or professions involve repetitive motions of the knee joint, such as kneeling or squatting. People who regularly lift more than 55 pounds may have an increased risk of OA. Jobs that put people at risk may include laying carpets and unloading trucks or ships. Varying activities and getting enough rest between periods of work or exercise may help. Getting help: To prevent OA from advancing, ask a doctor for advice about treatment and lifestyle changes when discomfort starts. Eating a healthful diet, getting enough sleep, managing stress, and staying active all contribute to better overall well-being and a decreased risk of health issues, including OA
Found in tropical areas of the Philippines, New Guinea and eastern Indonesia . Rainforest areas, never far from water. Length: Adults average from 24 – 36 inches. Some males have been recorded to reach 3.5 – 4.0 feet. Can easily live more than 10 years. Some captive animals have been known to live more than 20 years. - Females may lay several clutches of eggs in a year. - Clutches generally consist of 2 – 8 eggs and are laid in shallow holes dug in the ground near water, but usually above the flood line. - Young lizards are fast, and are usually able to escape the many types of predators that are trying to catch them. Predators of young Sailfins include snakes, birds and fish. - Young Sailfin Lizards, like their parents, are excellent swimmers and often take refuge in the water. Feed on plant matter, including young shoots, leaves & fruits, as well as insects and crustaceans. - When threatened they will be seek water. In diving to the bottom they will seek out a rock or a piece of driftwood on which to cling and can stay submerged for up to 15 minutes or until they feel the threat has passed. - Are excellent swimmers, which is why their genus name is “hydrosaurus” meaning “Water Lizard”. Common. Are not listed as endangered or threatened at this time. Main threats to the species are pet trade and habitat destruction.
The project will have the capacity to generate two million litres of freshwater a day using waste water produced while generating electricity The simple, inexpensive and ingenious method could increase solar energy captured for people in developing countries, as well as remote regions that are off the grid, researchers said This technology could also be applied beyond algae and include a variety of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, or any microbial-derived oil. The technology developed by researchers from the University of Glasgow in the UK could pave the way for a new generation of flexible electronic devices, including solar-powered prosthetics for amputees Vegetation can cause disruption for energy companies, often growing over or obstructing power transmission lines. Energy suppliers usually deal with this by conducting regular inspections and trimming Traditional hydropower plants require the construction of large-scale dams, which have significant ecological and environmental consequences Chemical engineering scientist Christian Hulteberg, from Lund University, has used the black liquor residue from pulp and paper manufacturing to create a polymer called lignin Scientists have used plant proteins to create a membrane that can spilt water into hydrogen fuel and oxygen using energy from the sun The research, published in the journal Joule, could help existing clean energy technologies run more efficiently Powered by single cell batteries, it can significantly reduce electric bill as well as carbon footprint The study showed that supplying electric current to purple phototrophic bacteria can recover nearly 100 per cent of carbon from any type of organic waste, while generating hydrogen gas for electricity production The solar panels are coated with a special material that is highly waterproof or superhydrophobic. The nanoparticles used to manufacture solar panels will ensure that dust does not settle on them through an action of water The device is made of common and abundant materials, such as aluminum, silicon and glass combined in very uncommon ways Researchers argue that supercapacitors could one day replace batteries used in electric cars, cell phones or laptops because they get charged very quickly and work at almost 100 per cent efficiency Under the initiative, the centre will provide advice papers and status reports for the Government of India and multilateral organisations on renewable energy The benefits are two-fold, researchers said. The process removes harmful CO2 from the atmosphere and the diesel can be used as an alternative fuel to gasoline. Promotion of energy conservation and increased use of renewable energy are the twin planks of a sustainable energy supply.
In the continuing quest to really understand where methane and carbon dioxide are produced and absorbed planet wide, Japan has put a satellite into orbit to start keeping track. Ibuki (it means breathe in Japanese) will cruise through space, circling the planet every 100 minutes, and gathering data at 56,000 points world wide. NASA will launch their Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) later this month to do the same. What's amazing here? According to the Economist, There are presently only 260 terrestrial places around the globe where data on carbon-dioxide levels are monitored to help study the effects of global warming. The global warming conversation has been going on for how many years? And there are 260 points IN THE WORLD where scientists are gathering data? That's embarrassingly few. As a reference, there are just shy of 200 countries in the world. So that's 1.3 carbon monitoring stations per country?? There are more than 31,000 McDonalds in the world, and nearly 14,000 Starbucks. Maybe they could help? Sattelite data on carbon will be hugely helpful to the scientific community, especially as they try to better understand the carbon impact of an event like a forest fire, try to understand the true impact of forests in absorbing carbon, and look for other carbon sinks. The only drawback: information they gather will not be as accurate as data from on the ground. Anyone know the carbon footprint of putting two carbon counting satellites into orbit?
At Our Lady of Lourdes, we follow the ‘Read, Write, Inc’ programme which provides a structured and systematic approach to the teaching of phonics. It aims for children to develop fluent word reading skills and have good foundations in spelling by the end of Key Stage One. Your child’s class teacher will be able to tell you which set they are working in. The teaching of phonics begins in Reception, using Read, Write, Inc to introduce sounds to the children; this continues in Years 1 and 2 where the teaching of phonics is supported by another programme called Letters and Sounds. In 2011-2012 the government introduced the statutory checking of phonics for Year One children. The Year One Phonics Screening Check is a national check of children’s phonic knowledge that all children in England are required to complete. The check comprises of a mixture of real and nonsense words which children have to decode/read. The check takes place at the end of Year One. If the children do not meet the expected standard, they are checked again at the end of Year 2. An example of the check published by the Department for Education can be viewed below: We are really grateful to all of our parents who spend time supporting the education of their child at home, and reading is one of the key areas where parents can help. The earlier children are exposed to books, the better they will perform with their reading, as well as with their use of their imagination and ability to be creative. We have provided links to the following websites which can provide activities and advice about how to use phonics at home: www.phonicsplay.co.uk/ParentsMenu – This is a website which is packed with interactive phonics games, interactive activities, ideas and resources to help your child to learn to hear, recognise and read different sounds and words, including nonsense words (alien words). www.ictgames.com/literacy – This is another website which is packed with interactive phonics games, interactive activities, ideas and resources which match to an objective. These games and activities will support your child with learning to recognise and read different sounds and words.
Essential organs tasked with keeping us alive and reproducing – such as the heart, brain or uterus – may have evolved better protection against cancer than larger and paired organs, we have proposed. In an article published today in the journal Trends in Cancer, we hypothesise humans can more easily tolerate tumours in large or paired organs than in small, critical organs. Therefore the larger organs may have evolved fewer cancer defence mechanisms. Malignant tumours are more commonly found in larger, paired organs that are potentially less essential to survival and reproduction. Previous studies have attributed such organ-specific cancer difference to either external factors, such as smoking, or internal factors, such as the frequency of cell division in the organ. We propose that natural selection theory could supplement these understandings. We also hypothesise that small, important organs could easily be compromised even when they carry only a few tumours, while larger organs can carry the burden of malignant transformations. We are not saying this is the explanation for the different susceptibility of organs to cancer, but believe it could be a contributing factor. An evolutionary approach to cancer research can offer new perspectives to therapeutic solutions. Elephants and humans Despite significant discoveries and treatment advances, human interventions can claim only a 5% reduction in cancer deaths since the 1950s. And this result is almost entirely attributable to increased awareness of risk factors and early detection.Reporterruthie/Flickr, CC BY A key contributor to the failure to find a magic bullet to cure cancer is that its progression is an evolutionary process. Cancer appeared more than half a billion years ago and has been observed in nearly the entire animal kingdom, from bivalves to whales. Its appearance has been linked to the evolutionary transition from unicellularity to multicellularity. The latter requires a high level of co-operation among cells and the suppression of uncontrolled reproduction, known as proliferation, of individual cells. With organisms increasingly being made of more complex cells, having a longer lifespan and larger bodies comes the likelihood of proliferation that can lead to malignant tumours. Yet despite their larger size, elephants do not have a significantly higher rate of cancer than humans. This makes for the argument that their complex makeup has concurrently led to greater need to evolve tumour suppressor mechanisms. A recent study demonstrated, for instance, that the genetic makeup of Asian and African elephants contained 15 to 20 times as many copies of one of the major tumour suppressor genes (P53) as are found in humans. The study’s author proposed the higher number of these genes may have evolved as a mechanism to counteract the increased chance of cancer in these long-living, large animals. An evolutionary process A cancer cell’s ability to proliferate governs its survival. Cells that maximise proliferation inside local tissues will have a higher chance of passing on their genes to the next generation within the lifetime of their host.from shutterstock.com A general problem with current cancer therapies is that they aim to eradicate tumours as quickly as possible to prevent the evolution of the cancer’s resistance to treatment, as well as its spread to other organs, called metastasis. Maximally aggressive therapy, where the same drugs and doses are applied through multiple cycles, may work well with small tumours made up of highly similar cells. But most tumours are complex, changing ecosystems with myriad cells that have diverse levels of susceptibility to treatment. If human intervention fails to eliminate all the malignant cells, some will be able to escape and survive. These can acquire higher potential to proliferate, become more aggressive and malignant and eventually metastasise, causing the death of the host. It is becoming clear that applying evolutionary theory to cancer treatment – by exploiting the mechanisms of tumour suppression of multicellular organisms – allows researchers to improve techniques to control malignant progression and prevent therapeutic failures. Some of the most exciting evolutionary approaches to cancer therapy originate from knowledge obtained from pest control and bacterial antibiotics resistance. The latter have shown that although we cannot outrun bacteria or pests evolving resistance to antibiotics or pesticides, we can control the speed and extent of the process. A similar theory in cancer research, adaptive therapy, is based on the simplistic assumption that tumours consist of treatment-sensitive and treatment-resistant cells. Aggressive, high-dose treatment will eliminate the sensitive cells but leave the highly resistant ones. These will then proliferate, leading to a more aggressive cancer.from shuttrestock.com The goal of adaptive therapy is to avoid this by administering the minimum necessary (but not maximum possible) dose to sufficiently control tumour growth and improve symptoms, without complete elimination. Such an approach allows for the survival of both types of cells, which compete for the same resources and space. The presence of treatment-sensitive cells will concomitantly control the growth and proliferation of aggressive, treatment-resistant cells. In 2009, adaptive therapy was tested in ovarian cancer mouse models. Researchers measured the growth of the tumour: if the tumour volume increased between two consecutive measurements, they would simultaneously increase the dose of the chemotherapy drug carboplatin. If the tumour volume decreased between measurements, they reduced the drug dose. When results were compared to those of a high-dose chemotherapy trial, adaptive therapy was shown to be better at controlling tumour growth and prolonged the lifespan of the mice. Similar results have been seen in mice with breast cancer. These tests are promising but further experiments are needed to validate whether adaptive therapy will become the ultimate solution to control cancer progression in humans. Natural selection has had millions of years to find ways to avoid and cope with cancer in different organisms, so it seems timely to harness this knowledge. Beata Ujvari receives funding from ARC, Ian Potter Foundation, CNRS France, Australian Academy of Science. Authors: Beata Ujvari, Senior Research Fellow in Evolutionary Ecology, Deakin University
Story Time at Everbrook Children understand their world through narrative and play, which means that Story Time may be a child’s most powerful learning experience. Story Time is such a powerful tool because it builds language learning and literacy abilities, alongside cognitive and social-emotional development. To promote Story Time, our schools will get a selection of books that are curated to fit the specific needs of each age group, which are sent out every other month. Along with the books, there will be classroom activities specifically to go with each book. These activities illustrate how to read each book in a manner that develops language and literacy skills, plus activities that engage different developmental domains. We also will send out our Story Time at Home Newsletter to provide fun facts about language and literacy to families, along with activities that engage different developmental domains. The Power of Reading A Message From Dr. Susan, Chief Academic Officer Of all the moments you share with your child each day, reading a story together is one of the most impactful to your child’s development. When you curl up together and open a new or favorite book, you are deepening critical social and emotional bonds with your child and creating a language-rich experience that fuels the developing brain. Why is reading aloud to your child so powerful? - Stories help your child learn about themselves and others. - Picture books are filled with rich vocabulary that develops your child’s oral language skills. - Reading a book together helps your child with critical life skills, such as sustaining focus and attention, controlling impulses, and developing social skills like empathy. Humans process and organize experience by thinking narratively, about who, what, where, and why things happen around them. Young children know this instinctively and are drawn to storytelling and books, wanting to hear them again and again. When you sit your child on your lap and point to the pictures, make animal sounds, or recite favorite phrases, you’re making connections that last a lifetime!
William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773 – April 4, 1841) originally gained national fame for leading U.S. forces against American Indians at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, where Harrison’s forces fought off followers of the powerful Shawnee leader Tecumseh (1768-1813). Although the U.S. suffered significant troop losses and the battle’s outcome was inconclusive and did not end Indian resistance, Harrison ultimately emerged with his reputation as an Indian fighter intact, and earned the nickname “Tippecanoe” (or “Old Tippecanoe”). He capitalized on this image during his 1840 presidential campaign, using the slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler too,” After a dozen years as governor of the Indiana Territory, Harrison rejoined the Army when the War of 1812 began. He was made a brigadier general and placed in charge of the Army of the Northwest, on September 17, 1812. Promoted to major general, Harrison worked diligently to transform his army from an untrained mob into a disciplined fighting force. Unable to go on the offensive while British ships controlled Lake Erie, Harrison worked to defend American settlements. In late September 1813, after the American victory at the Battle of Lake Erie, Harrison moved to the attack. Ferried to Detroit by Master Commandant Oliver H. Perry’s victorious squadron, Harrison set off in pursuit British and Native American forces under Major General Henry Proctor and Tecumseh. Catching them on October 5, Harrison won a key victory at the Battle of the Thames which saw Tecumseh killed, the war on the Lake Erie front effectively ended, and the dissolution of the Indian coalition. Harrison told US Secretary of War John Armstrong, Jr. that all his casualties were a result of the native warriors, not the British regulars. Unable to sustain or build on his victory, Harrison and his men headed for Detroit, the Americans now in firm control of the North West frontier. Procter would continue to command those who had fought with him, but his poor handling of the retreat and battle would be his undoing. Though a skilled and popular commander, Harrison resigned the following summer after disagreements with Secretary of War John Armstrong. After the war, Harrison moved to Ohio, where he was elected to the United States House of Representatives. In 1824 the state legislature elected him to the U.S. Senate. He served a truncated term after being appointed as Minister Plenipotentiary to Colombia in May 1828. In Colombia, he spoke with Simón Bolívar urging his nation to adopt American-style democracy. Harrison was elected as the ninth President of the United States in 1840, and died on his 32nd day in office of pneumonia in April 1841- the first president to die in office and serving the shortest tenure in United States presidential history. He was the last President born as a British subject. His death sparked a brief constitutional crisis, but its resolution settled many questions about presidential succession left unanswered by the Constitution until the passage of the 25th Amendment in 1967. He was the grandfather of Benjamin Harrison, who was the 23rd President from 1889 to 1893. PREVIOUS A TO Z POSTS: The brainchild of Arlee Bird, at Tossing it Out, the A to Z Challenge is posting every day in April except Sundays (we get those off for good behaviour.) And since there are 26 days, that matches the 26 letters of the alphabet. On April 1, we blog about something that begins with the letter “A.” April 2 is “B,” April 3 is “C,” and so on. Please visit other challenge writers. My theme is ‘The War of 1812’, a military conflict, lasting for two-and-a-half years, fought by the United States of America against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, its North American colonies, and its American Indian allies. The Memoirs of a British naval officer from the war is central to my novel “Seeking A Knife” – part of the Snowdon Shadows series. Further reading on The War of 1812:
February 7-14 is Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Week. During this week we raise awareness about the most common type of birth defect, congenital heart defects (CHDs). CHDs are heart conditions that are present at birth. We don’t always know what causes a heart defect, but we know some things that can play a role. What can you do? Take folic acid. Folic acid may help prevent heart defects. Take a vitamin supplement with 400 micrograms of folic acid in it every day, even if you’re not trying to get pregnant. Because nearly half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned, all women who can get pregnant should take folic acid every day. Taking folic acid before and during early pregnancy also can help prevent birth defects of the brain and spine called neural tube defects. Get to a healthy weight before pregnancy. Being overweight during pregnancy can cause complications for you and your baby. The chances of having a baby with a birth defect, including heart defects, increase if you’re overweight or obese. Get a preconception checkup. A preconception checkup helps your health care provider make sure that your body is ready for pregnancy. Talk to your provider about any medicine you take to make sure it’s safe for your baby. Get caught up on vaccinations before you get pregnant. Certain infections, like rubella, can increase the risk of having a baby with a heart defect. If you have diabetes, control your blood sugar before and during pregnancy. Get your diabetes under control 3 to 6 months before you get pregnant. High blood sugar can be harmful to your baby during the first few weeks of pregnancy when his heart begins to form. Don’t smoke or drink alcohol during pregnancy. Tobacco smoke and alcohol are harmful to your baby and can increase your baby’s risk for a heart defect. Tell your health care provider if you need help to quit. And don’t use electronic cigarettes (also called e-cigarettes). These contain chemicals, like nicotine, that can harm you and your baby. Know your family history. Find out if you have a family history of congenital heart defects or heart disease. If you do, your provider may do a test called fetal echo to check your baby’s heart. Visit marchofdimes.org for more information about congenital heart defects.
By Jay Ingram How one amazing moth has evolved to survive in the hostile and frigid environs of the High Arctic Yes, winter can be difficult. But rather than despair about the cold and snow to come, spare a thought for Gynaephora groenlandica, a moth that ekes out a living in the face of an extraordinary collection of wintry threats. Often called the Arctic woolly bear moth, this insect exists at extreme latitudes, up around 80 N, in Greenland and the Canadian Arctic. “Exists” seems a better word than “lives,” given that it is in suspended animation for 11-plus months of the year for six or seven years straight. Much of that time, temperatures can be -40 C or even lower. These extremes of climate affect every stage of G. groenlandica’s life. Let’s start with the larval stage preparing for its first winter. Each year for the next several, this caterpillar, which actually resembles the familiar woolly bear caterpillar, will spend 11 months frozen stiff on the tundra. Ice crystals are an ever-present threat, but a suite of adaptations allow it to evade death, including the ability to supercool itself (allowing its body temperature to fall below the freezing point of water without forming ice) while using the breakdown of energy-generating mitochondria in its cells to manufacture glycerol, an antifreeze molecule. The pupa is sheltered, if you can call it that, by wrapping itself in a thin woven covering called a hibernaculum, usually out of the way of the prevailing wind attached to the side of a rock. But the slightest perturbation, like the unanticipated formation of ice crystals inside the insect’s cells, would be fatal. THE CATERPILLAR EMERGES FIRST THING IN THE SPRING, FEEDS AND THEN, EVEN BEFORE SUMMER STARTS, RETREATS BACK INTO A HIBERNACULUM UNTIL THE NEXT YEAR... IT DOES THIS FOR 7 YEARS It’s a monotonous six or seven years: the caterpillar emerges first thing in the spring, feeds and then, even before the first day of summer, retreats back into a hibernaculum until the next year. Even these simple acts are tuned for survival. For instance, take that hibernaculum on the side of a rock, often in plain sight; why isn’t it buried in vegetation for cover and insulation? Because summer at this latitude is so brief that when spring arrives, a rock protruding from the snow will warm up faster than vegetation or the ground, ensuring that the caterpillar can emerge and feed as soon as possible. It’s not exactly a feeding frenzy. For one thing, moving around to feed in the chilly Arctic air causes Gynaephora to lose heat rapidly; the “woolliness” of its body hairs, although helpful, is no match for the deadly combination of wind and low temperature. Instead, the caterpillar spends most of its time positioned perpendicular to the sun, to gather as much solar energy as possible. But if heat is such an issue, why doesn’t the animal soak up the sun through July, during the comparatively warm Arctic summer? It is the price it must pay to survive its parasitic enemies. Both parasitic wasps and parasitic flies attack Gynaephora, and they are of that particularly gruesome kind — parasitoids — that lay eggs on or in the living caterpillar. (This doubles the hazards of movement: egg-laying parasites perch nearby and only land on the caterpillar when it stirs.) The eggs then hatch into small larvae that gradually consume the living tissue surrounding it, eventually breaking through the skin of the deceased host. These parasites become active in later June and July, but Gynaephora shuts down before then. This is an adaptation that might be keeping the species alive, given that 75 per cent of the larvae are parasitized nonetheless. That early cessation of feeding and the necessity to bask rather than eat account for the fact that each larval stage takes 11 months. Each year it grows, then in its last year as a caterpillar, things change dramatically. It emerges in this final spring full-size and pupates. Adult moths then emerge from the pupae, mate and lay eggs, all in a few weeks. Three entire life stages take only two months after the initial stage lasted six years. After all this, the adults live for only a day or so: females, although winged, barely move from their pupal cocoon. Highflying males find them, they mate, and often the female simply lays her eggs right on the cocoon that had sheltered her, her job done. But even then, survival isn’t guaranteed. Those eggs that indolent females lay on the surface of their cocoons are exposed and obvious, and birds like snow buntings readily consume them. The eggs laid by females that drag themselves off the cocoon, or even flitter into the surrounding vegetation, are somewhat camouflaged and mostly escape predation. Later that same summer, the eggs hatch and the first tiny larvae prepare for winter, as the cycle continues. This is life beyond the edge, with threats at every turn, but Gynaephora hangs on, employing every single tactic available to it. It is an impressive life.
Simple counting and number recognition activity. I had no access to a computer the day I made these, but it’s probably good for the children to see some hand-written resources! - 1 to 1 correspondence for counting. - Number recognition. Some children didn’t recognise the numeral, but were able to figure it out by counting the dots.
There are many arithmetic practice problems to choose from that cover all different levels of math skills. For early learners in pre-kindergarten, addition problems such as 1 + 2 , 1 + 3 and 1 + 4 are great for teaching beginning math skills. Young children can benefit from addition or subtraction problems with higher numbers, but it's good to challenge them a little more by adding simple multiplication problems. Lower elementary school-aged children can be taught math and reasoning skills by using simple arithmetic word problems. An example of a practice arithmetic word problem is a question such as "If Sally had 10 apples and she gave two of them to Bob and six of them to Ted, how many apples did she have left?" Another type of arithmetic practice problem for this age group is putting numbers on a grid in a certain pattern, with a few spaces left open. The child will then need to figure out what the missing numbers are and put the correct numbers in the blank spaces. Children in higher grades will work on more difficult math concepts involving decimals, fractions, algebra and geometry. Practice problems for this age group include factoring whole numbers, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of decimals and finding percentages of certain numbers.
Log in to add to your wishlist! Excerpt from page 1 & 3 We can understand a lot about how the soil was formed if we can remember just a little junior high school science. Large rocks were - and still are - broken down by the processes of "weathering." This is what our teachers called a "physical" change. Billions of years ago when the earth had cooled to the point where it had a solid rock crust various kinds of natural forces began to take over. Some of these forces like earthquakes continent-sized glaciers and huge floods were very dramatic in their effect on the landscape. But it was more subtle things like wind, rain, heat, frost, and thawing that did most of the work. You see even the hardest rocks have microscopic pores where water can invade. And there it sometimes freezes. As the centuries passed water and ice gradually changed the surface of the earth into something different. As Richard Langer puts it in Grow It! "A cupful of water shattered a house-size boulder here a thimbleful of water a six-foot rock there not a million pieces at once but a million pieces in a million years. Glaciers ground the boulders in earth pulverizing pebbles between them as the millstone does wheat. From the stone flour came soil." Of course it took more than the physical changes of weathering to make the soil what it is today. Our science teachers also taught us about "chemical" changes. The tiny particles of rock that were formed by weathering had to be transformed chemically too. And this was done with the help of soil micro-organisms--plants and animals so small that we need a powerful microscope to see them. The "biomechanical" process that microbes perform continues for as long as the earth exists in its present state. Copyright Storey Communications Inc.
Researchers report the first details of how cholesterol is metabolized without oxygen. Cholesterol, a precursor to steroid hormones and a constituent of cell membranes, is usually broken down inside an organism in the presence of oxygen. The chemical reactions involved are well-known and have been used in industry to manufacture synthetic sexual hormones and dietary supplements. Cholesterol can also be broken down without oxygen, but very little is known about the chemical mechanisms at work. Georg Fuchs and colleagues report the first study of these mechanisms. They used a bacterium called Sterolibacterium denitrificans and carefully looked at how cholesterol was broken down in this organism. The results, which revealed new compounds not previously seen in reactions involving oxygen, could be used to produce new pharmaceuticals for cholesterol-related diseases. Article: "Initial steps in the anoxic metabolism of cholesterol by the denitrifying Sterolibacterium denitrificans" by Yin-Ru Chiang, Wael Ismail, Michael Muller, and Georg Fuchs The above post is reprinted from materials provided by American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Cite This Page:
When you think of the Internet of Things (IoT), the quickly increasing number of devices in our lives that can connect to the Internet and to each other, you probably think of the ways it can make your life easier. For example, the IoT already allows us to do things like control the thermostats in our homes using an app on our phones. But, aside from the conveniences it can offer, the Internet of Things also has the potential to serve a critical, potentially life saving, role in the event of disaster, natural or otherwise. That’s the conclusion that a group of researchers from France and German came to in a new paper published by Cornell University’s arXiv titled, “The Role of the Internet of Things in Network Resilience.” It was prompted by the fact that the Internet has become our communications backbone, not just just for the web, but also things like phone calls. In the event of a disaster, power can go out, servers can go down and systems can become overloaded, all of which can affect Internet-based communications. Despite having some redundancy and backup systems in place, it’s unrealistic to expect that we could ever make the Internet truly resistant to any disaster. While there are workarounds and solutions to problems like power outages and down systems, they usually take time to implement. Yet, it’s during those the first critical minutes and hours right after a disaster happens when communication systems are needed most, to coordinate first responders, share information with the public and to enable affected people to check on loved ones. That’s where, the researchers argue, the Internet of Things can serve an important role. The IoT is a massive network of devices, estimated to reach 30 billion by 2020, many of which are battery-powered. While they often connect to each other through the Internet, they have the potential to talk directly to each other without it, through standards like Bluetooth. The researchers argue that these devices could create a network with enough bandwidth to allow critical text-based communications in the absence of the Internet and even power. For example, they point out that Bluetooth Low Energy (also known as Bluetooth Smart), could handle 16 10kb email messages or over 1,100 140 byte tweets per second. As the authors wrote: “...even a low throughput, text-based emergency service would help improving the coordination, speed and efficiency of disaster response, and that the availability of such a service may save lives as a direct consequence.” In order to use the IoT in such way, however, the study authors point out that are many challenges that would first need to be addressed, such as: Connectivity - Thanks to TCP/IP the Internet is able to overcome the heterogeneity of devices in the current IoT. However, without the Internet, in order to talk directly to each other devices would need to overcome differences in networking hardware (e.g., using different radio frequencies) and (often proprietary) software. They would also need to be able to dynamically respond to the lack of Internet connection, or, as the researchers put it, implement spontaneous wireless networking, which most consumer devices don’t currently do. Prioritization - In case of disaster, systems would need to automatically prioritize data traffic to ensure critical communications take precedence. The authors suggest creating a “disaster mode” for IoT devices to ensure, for example, that first responders have priority. This would be similar to the way that 911 calls from mobile devices currently work even with no SIM card. Acceptance - In order for the IoT to serve such a role in case of emergency, people would need to be OK with letting their devices be used as relays and part of the communications network, which they wouldn’t have control over. The authors note that this is a big hurdle and that legislation would probably be required to make it happen. Those seem like some big, but not impossible, challenges to overcome. I’m glad to see that someone is at least giving thought to using all of these connected devices for something more useful than, say, advertising. Let’s hope that we eventually get to the point where the IoT becomes a critical part of disaster response. Read more of Phil Johnson's #Tech blog and follow the latest IT news at ITworld. Follow Phil on Twitter at @itwphiljohnson. For the latest IT news, analysis and how-tos, follow ITworld on Twitter and Facebook.
Subitizing is the ability to instantly recognize small quantities of objects. The ability to intuitively know how many are in a group requires daily opportunities to play with counting small groups of items. Wikki Stix Counting Rings Materials needed: 5 Wikki Stix and 15 Pony Beads (for each set of 1-5 counting rings). Begin with the numbers 1-5 only. Invite the children to play and create by setting out all items on a tray or at a table. Have your child/students count the pony beads independently for each of the numbers (1-5). Ask your child to pick up each pony bead as they count and set it back down as they verbal count. Observe counting successes or errors. To Make the Wikki Stix Counting Rings: Have the children thread the pony bead(s) through each strand of Wikki Stix to create counting rings for each number 1-5 (see photo above). When your child is able to count the numbers 1-5 correctly with consistency, they can progress to visual scanning for mental math. Invite your child to visually scan the Wikki Stix counting rings for practice. Can your child identify which counting ring has a group of 3 pony beads (without counting one-by-one)? Practice until the children can visually scan all 5 counting rings and instantly recognize the number of pony beads on each of the rings. As the children practice making quick visual scans, they will become pros at subitizing! Note: larger numbered counting rings can be introduced after the children are comfortable with the numbers 1-5.
In addition to scheduling regular trips to the dentist and making sure teeth are being brushed and flossed, there’s another crucial way parents can take care of their children’s oral health, and that is by monitoring their children’s nutrition. Here are 5 nutrition tips to help keep kids’ teeth healthy. - Serving your child a healthy diet of fruits and vegetables is good for his or her entire body, teeth included. Raw veggies require a lot of chewing, which stimulates saliva production to wash away bacteria. Fruits are also a good choice; most contain a lot of water, and some, such as apples, also naturally scrub your child’s teeth. - Be sure your child is getting plenty of calcium to build his or her teeth. Snacks such as cheese and low-sugar yogurt are good options. - Don’t let your child snack all throughout the day. Doing so means his or her teeth are constantly in contact with food, which puts them in danger of decay. Try to space out your child’s snacks, and make an effort to brush after each one. - Avoid giving your child foods that will stick to his or her teeth. Sticky foods linger on the teeth and are likely to get lodged somewhere difficult to reach. If your child eats sticky, gummy foods, be sure he or she brushes soon after to prevent decay. - Limit your child’s soda intake. Not only is soda void of nutritional value, but it can also cause significant damage to your child’s teeth. Soda contains sugars and acids that will eat away at tooth structure. The best choice is to give your child water, which contains no sugar and can help wash away decay-causing food particles. By making a few conscious choices for your child’s diet, you can make big strides in keeping his or her teeth as healthy as possible. Maintaining good oral health is a daily challenge, but it becomes easier when you feed your child a teeth-friendly diet.
Reading and Writing Connections for this selection: Migration: A Dangerous - Summarize Main Idea and Details - Identify Cause and Effect Relationships - Draw Conclusions From Information Described in the Text - Ask Questions and Make Predictions to Set a Purpose for Reading - Connect to Prior Knowledge/Build Background Knowledge - (About Reading Strategies) larvae, fledged, transmission lines, irrigation systems, mortality, predators, predation, vegetation, concentrate, botulism, cholera, avian tuberculosis, vandals, toll, cell Ask students about their journeys/vacations/travels. How did they prepare for the journey? What were possible dangers? (Connecting to Students? Prior Prior to reading the selection, have students imagine being a whooping crane flying north on its migratory route. Have them list questions and predictions based on the title of the article. Examples: What are the possible dangers that make the journey treacherous for whooping cranes? How can the dangers be managed to help make the journey less treacherous? Who must take responsibility for the dangers? Encourage students to brainstorm anticipatory questions using Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? (Asking Questions and Making Predictions to Set a Purpose for Reading) A Dangerous Journey." Related Reading: Invite students to research the archives of Journey North to read Migration Updates from previous seasons. Library Lookout: Cherry, Lynne. Flute's Journey: The Life of a Wood Thrush. Harcourt Brace and Co., 1997. ISBN 0-15-292853-7. 32 pages. Flute's Journey is the story of a Wood Thrush's first year and his arduous first migration across thousands of miles from where he was hatched in Maryland to his winter home in Costa Rica, and back again, and of the many perils he encounters. Revisit the selection to identify each of the dangers described in the text. Invite students to create a Two-Column Chart for the information they collect. In the left column, list the dangers whooping cranes face during the migratory journey. In the right column, invite students to write personal responses for each danger listed. Ask questions to elicit students? responses: "Which dangers are "manmade? How could the dangers be reduced or eliminated? What creative solutions are needed to make the migratory routes less arduous for the cranes? (Summarizing Main Ideas; Use the details from the text to identify cause and effect relationships. Ask questions to focus students? efforts: "If a whooping crane did not achieve its destination, what are the possible causes? How do communication towers affect whooping cranes? Why are shallow ponds with little vegetation important to whooping cranes? What makes power lines perilous for whooping cranes? Invite students to brainstorm ways they can change the cause/effect relationships that affect the whooping cranes? journey. Encourage students to evaluate their brainstormed ideas based on the following criteria: Cost? Feasibility? Timetable? Resources (People and Materials)? Community Support? Over nearly a 40-year period, of 13 cranes that died during the migration and were found by people, 5 hit power lines, 4 suffered trauma due to collisions or gunshot injuries, 1 was shot, 1 died in a muskrat trap, 1 may have had a heart muscle disease, and 1 may have had a viral infection. What percentage of those crane deaths was directly related to human activities? Tom Stehn says, "If humans could minimize these impacts to cranes, the whooping cranes would do just fine. But humans continue to build more power lines, cell towers, and fences, and the whooping crane remains very much endangered." Humans are part of the problem but also part of 1. What actions do you think people should take to help minimize the dangers to cranes 2. If cell towers are being built in your community, find out who to contact. What points would you make to them? Your opinions count! Making Connections: Why Should We Care? 1. What are the cause/effect relationships that could occur if the whooping cranes? migratory journey becomes too dangerous? 2. What would happen if fewer and fewer cranes were able to survive the journey? 3. Why should humans care? How can we make a difference? Evaluation (Examine Author' s Strategies) 1. How did the author help you understand the seriousness of the dangers for whooping cranes? What words and phrases created the serious tone for this issue? 2. How would you categorize this selection: descriptive? persuasive? expository? narrative? expressive? combination? State your opinion and use examples from the text to support your reasoning. 3. How effective was this piece? Did you as a reader connect with the author?s message? Use samples from the text to support your opinion. Write a story about a flock of cranes making their journey north. Use the details you learned from the article to plot out problems and solutions for your Write a letter to the editor of a local newspaper to convince companies and influential groups to get involved in helping whooping cranes make safe journeys. One topic might be limiting the number or height of communication towers. Journey North research link: Towering Troubles: Bird Collisions with Communications Towers Another topic might be the need for good habitat all along the migration trail, and the wise use of resources for the benefit of both wildlife and human life. Jorney North research link: Fresh Water for ALL Texans: Enough for Both Humans and Wildlife? a poem that expresses your thoughts and feelings about the whooping cranes? dangerous
Saturn is one of the most spectacular objects of the night sky. The beauty of this famous ringed planet is a sight to behold through a telescope! But did you know that Saturn also is the source of some very eerie ‘sounds’? Here’s a YouTube video (Credit: SpaceRip) that features an audio rendering of Saturn’s strange symphony of radio waves: Saturn is a source of intense radio emissions, which have been monitored by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. The radio waves are closely related to the auroras near the poles of the planet. These auroras are similar to Earth’s northern and southern lights. Earth’s auroras occur when charged solar particles impact the Earth’s upper atmosphere, causing atomic particles in the atmosphere to give off radiation of various wavelengths, including visual light (usually green or red colors) and radio waves. All of this occurs as the charged particles travel down, or along, Earth’s magnetic field lines near the north and south poles. The Cassini spacecraft began detecting these radio emissions from Saturn in April 2002, when Cassini was 374 million kilometers (234 million miles) from the planet, using the Cassini radio and plasma wave science instrument. The radio and plasma wave instrument has provided high resolution observations of these emissions, showing an amazing array of variations in frequency and time. The complex radio spectrum with rising and falling tones is very similar to Earth’s auroral radio emissions. These observations indicate that there are numerous small radio sources moving along magnetic field lines threading the auroral region of Saturn. See the planet Saturn Saturn is in the Name A Star Live constellation Virgo this month, near the bright binary star Porrima. The word “planet” comes from an ancient Greek word meaning “wanderer,” because the planets move in relation to the background stars. Over the course of this month, watch Saturn as it gradually moves away from Porrima, toward the bright star “Spica” in Virgo. Saturn’s rings appear more and more impressive as we move through the remainder of this year. The tilt of Saturn’s rings relative to us Earthlings reached its minimum value for 2011 in June. The tilt of the rings is growing now, making for a more impressive sight. In fact, the tilt will more than double by the end of 2011. If you view Saturn through even a small telescope you should see Saturn’s giant moon Titan, which is an 8th magnitude object. Titan is the 2nd largest moon in the solar system (Jupiter’s moon Ganymede is the largest.) This giant moon is composed of water ice and rocky material, has a largely nitrogen atmosphere, and has lakes of liquid hydrocarbons. Depending on your telescope, you may also see the Saturnian moons Tethys, Dione, Rhea and Iapetus. This month, Saturn appears toward the northern horizon shortly after sunset for Southern Hemisphere observers, and sets a few hours later. Saturn appears toward the south-southwest sky for Nouthern Hemisphere observers. Saturn will be visible in the evening skies for the next couple of months. Then, toward the end of the year, Saturn will reappear as a morning object (rising in the east shortly before sunrise). The Other Planets in the Night Sky This Month Jupiter appears in the predawn, eastern sky: It will be the brightest astronomical object you see toward the eastern horizon (other than the moon and the sun!). Currently, it resides in the Name A Star Live constellation Aries. Mars rises shortly before sunrise over the eastern horizon. Mars is currently in the Name A Star Live constellation Taurus. The elusive planet Mercury may just be visible from your neck of the woods this month. Look for it right after sunset, low on the western horizon. If your local weather cooperates, try looking for Mercury on July 3. You should find the planet roughly between the point where the sun set and the very thin crescent Moon you’ll see toward the west. When to go stargazing this month Moonlight ‘drowns out’ the faint light of many stars and other celestial objects, so the best time to view the stars is when the Moon is not visible. If you’re going to stargaze between sunset and midnight, then the best time to do that in July would be during the first few days, and during the last week of the month. Finding your star in the night sky Stars are located within constellations, which are just areas of the night sky. Scorpius, Aries and Taurus are examples of constellations. Your Name A Star Live Star Certificate displays the name of your constellation. You can use our online World Constellation Guide to determine if you can see your constellation during the evening hours (between sunset and midnight). Of course, you’ll need a telescope to see your star. (That’s why we include the SLOOH online telescope experience in our Deluxe, Framed and Ultimate Gift Sets!) But you can see your constellation without the use of a telescope.
A large Australian songbird, the male of which has a long, lyre-shaped tail and is noted for his remarkable song and display. - Family Menuridae and genus Menura: two species, in particular the superb lyrebird (M. novaehollandiae). Oraciones de ejemplo - A feature of the book that has attracted much attention is ‘a world list of superior singers’ including 194 species, from Australian lyrebirds to canaries, heard by himself or reported by others. - The lyrebird of Australia imitates other birds - and other sounds as well. - They all construct mounds of earth or vegetation either for display - as does the super lyrebird - or as an incubator for eggs, as do the mallee fowl and the brush turkey. For editors and proofreaders División en sílabas: lyre·bird Definición de lyrebird en: ¿Qué te llama la atención de esta palabra o frase? Los comentarios que no respeten nuestras Normas comunitarias podrían ser moderados o eliminados. Muy popular en Reino Unido Muy popular en Australia = de moda
The Animal Where the Male Becomes Pregnant and Gives Birth Today I found out that female seahorses impregnating their male mates, rather than the other way around. The reproductive process of a seahorse begins when a male and a female meet up and “dance”. For several days prior to the actual act of mating, the two fish (yes, they are fish) will meet to intertwine their tails and swim together. They also sometimes grip the same strand of sea grass with their tails, and whirl around it in unison. Scientists believe this courtship and dancing synchronizes the movements of the two fish to prepare the male to receive eggs at the same time the female is ready to deposit them. After several days of this, the male blows water through an egg pouch on his stomach. The water flow expands and opens the pouch to demonstrate to the female that it is empty and ready for her to insert her… ovipositor, an organ used to lay eggs. At that point, the two swim in a sort of snout-to-snout embrace, spiraling upward through the water trying to line up so that the female can inserts her ovipositor into the male’s pouch. She does this several times, resting between, to avoid becoming exhausted. As the eggs leave the female body, she slims down. As the male receives the eggs, he plumps up. This process can last up to eight hours. In the end, she deposits anywhere from a few dozen to thousands of eggs into the male’s pouch, depending on the species of seahorse. When it’s done, the female does not stay to cuddle, but simply swims away and finds a nice place to rest while her ovipositor contracts, which can take a couple hours. After his lady friend is gone, the male attaches himself to a nearby plant and releases sperm directly into the water around him to fertilize the eggs, which are now embedded in the wall of his pouch. The pouch provides oxygen and prolactin to nurture the eggs. While the female chose to leave right after the mating, she’s at least nice enough to drop by and check up on her pregnant partner. During the gestation period, anywhere from two to four weeks, the female visits the male on a daily basis, though not for long. The two simply interacting for a few minutes each time, swimming together much like they did during courtship. As the male prepares to give birth, his pouch gets rounder and rounder. In the minutes immediately preceding birth, his muscles contort, bending him backward and forward repeatedly for about ten minutes until all the babies (known as “fry”) explode out of the pouch. There can be as few as eight and as many as 200 seahorse fry born at a time. Amazingly, the male’s pouch returns to its normal size and position in only about an hour and he is ready to mate again within a few hours, and sometimes even does! The male seahorse may give birth, but as with many fish, he does not stick around to nurture the young, but leaves them on their own. In the end, around 5 infant seahorses in every 1,000 survive to adulthood. Many are eaten by predators or die of starvation when ocean currents push them away from food sources. Even so, by fish standards, 5 out of 1,000 is actually a pretty good rate, thanks to the father’s pouch protecting the little ones for a time, while other fish often lay eggs and immediately abandon them after fertilization. If you liked this article, you might also enjoy: - The Bizarre, But True, Story of the Girl With No Vagina Who Got Stabbed in the Stomach and Had a Baby - 10 Wild and Wacky Animal Mating Rituals - The Species of Jellyfish That Can Age Backwards - Clownfish are All Born Male, If the Female of a Group Dies, the Leading Male Becomes Female - The Woman Who Carried a Fetus in Her Body for 60 years - Seadragons and pipefish, which are related to the seahorse, also have the male being the one to become pregnant. In the case of the pipefish, though, the male may decide to digest the embryos, rather than bring them to term, if food is scarce or if he simply found his mate to be less than desirable. - Seahorses are in the genus “Hippocampus”, with the name deriving from the Ancient Greek for “horse”- “hippos”, and “sea monster”- “kampos”. - In theory, it should be possible for male humans to become pregnant if a fertilized egg is implanted into the male’s abdomen and then attaches to something within the abdomen, such as the liver or other organs, to get nutrients off of. However, this type of ectopic implantation would be extremely risky for both the male in question and the baby, with the leading concern being internal hemorrhaging, leading to death. Even should the baby be carried to term and removed via a C-section, the risk to the male is still extreme given that the placenta must be removed and this can cause massive internal bleeding that can be difficult to stop. As bioethicist Glenn McGee stated, “The question is not ‘Can a man do it? It’s ’If a man does have a successful pregnancy, can he survive it?'” - In women who have this type of pregnancy (where the egg attaches outside of the uterus) there is a 21% chance of a birth defect, primarily due to lack of amniotic fluid buffer and more compression than the baby would otherwise experience in the uterus. - About 1% of pregnancies in female humans are ectopic. Of those, only about 1% have the egg attaching outside of the Fallopian tubes, generally attaching to the liver or bowels. While it is extremely rare for a baby to be born healthy this way, there are documented instances of this happening. - A common myth about the seahorse reproductive process is that they mate for life. Many seahorse mates stay together through at least the breeding season but many others switch mates frequently. \|Share the Knowledge!\|
Presentation on theme: "What is Poetry? In poetry the sound and meaning of words are combined to express feelings, thoughts, and ideas. The poet chooses words carefully. Poetry."— Presentation transcript: 2What is Poetry?In poetry the sound and meaning of words are combined to express feelings, thoughts, and ideas.The poet chooses words carefully.Poetry is usually written in lines. 3Poetry ElementsWriters use many elements to create their poems. These elements include:RhythmSoundImageryFormAnnie McClue 4SoundWriters love to use interesting sounds in their poems. After all, poems are meant to be heard. These sound devices include:RepetitionAlliterationOnomatopoeia 5OnomatopoeiaWords that imitate the sound they are naming such as BUZZ and HISSORsounds that imitate another sound“The silken, sad, uncertain, rustling of each purple curtain . . 6Oh no matter Peter..Drinks fizzing up the straw and I slurp and go guzzle, Glug, glug, glug up the straw in my hand. Then the bottle slips ffftt from my fingers Clatter shatters on concrete down there…. Which words are onomatopoeia? Make up some onomatopoeia words to describe: A raging bushfire, a car smash, a terrible battle between street gangs 7AlliterationAlliteration is the repetition of the first consonant sound in words, as in the nursery rhyme “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”The snake slithered silently along the sunny sidewalk. 8Alliteration Example I jiggled it jaggled it jerked it. I pushed This ToothI jiggled itjaggled itjerked it.I pushedand pulledand poked it.But –As soon as I stopped,And left it aloneThis tooth came outOn its very own!by Lee Bennett Hopkins 9Sea Thoughts Sloshy sea sparkling in the sun. Salty sea splashing sand.Silver sea scooping shells.Starry sea smoothing seaweed.Sunny Sea in my mind. Lauren FullerWhat sound does the sea make when a wave runs down its back? Do you feel this poem that captured this sound? Justify your answer.Make up a poem called ‘The Wind’ where you use repeated w sounds to help us hear the wind. 10OnomatopoeiaWords that represent the actual sound of something are words of onomatopoeia. Dogs “bark,” cats “purr,” thunder “booms,” rain “drips,” and the clock “ticks.”Appeals to the sense of sound. 11Onomatopoeia Example Scrunch, scrunch, scrunch. ListenScrunch, scrunch, scrunch.Crunch, crunch, crunch.Frozen snow and brittle iceMake a winter sound that’s niceUnderneath my stamping feetAnd the cars along the street.by Margaret Hillert 12Figures of SpeechFigures of speech are tools that writers use to create images, or “paint pictures,” in your mind.Similes, metaphors, and personification are three figures of speech that create imagery. 13ImageryImagery is the use of words to create pictures, or images, in your mind.Appeals to the five senses: smell, sight, hearing, taste and touch.Details about smells, sounds, colors, and taste create strong images.To create vivid images writers use figures of speech.Five Senses 14Workshop examples Bricks and Tiles Paintwork (alliteration) 15Simile A simile compares two things using the words “like” or “as.” Comparing one thing to another creates a vivid image.Eg. she swims like a fishThe runner streaked like a cheetah. 16Simile Example An emerald is as green as grass, A ruby red as blood; FlintAn emerald is as green as grass,A ruby red as blood;A sapphire shines as blue as heaven;A flint lies in the mud.A diamond is a brilliant stone,To catch the world’s desire;An opal holds a fiery spark;But a flint holds fire.By Christina Rosetti 17The winter wind is a wolf howling at the door. MetaphorA metaphor compares two things without using the words “like” or “as.”Gives the qualities of one thing to something that is quite different.The winter wind is a wolf howling at the door. 18Metaphor Example The Night is a Big Black Cat The moon is her topaz eye,The stars are the mice she hunts at night,In the field of the sultry sky.By G. Orr Clark 19PersonificationPersonification gives human traits and feelings to things that are not human – like animals or objects.(See next slide for example.)The moon smiled down at me. 20Personification Example From “Mister Sun”Mister SunWakes up at dawn,Puts his goldenSlippers on,Climbs the summerSky at noon,Trading placesWith the moon.by J. Patrick Lewis 21Rhythm Rhythm is the flow of the beat in a poem. Gives poetry a musical feel.Can be fast or slow, depending on mood and subject of poem.You can measure rhythm in meter, by counting the beats in each line. 22Rhythm Example The Pickety Fence by David McCord The pickety fence Give it a lick it'sA clickety fenceGive it a lick it's a lickety fenceGive it a lickWith a rickety stickpicketypick.The rhythm in this poem is fast – to match the speed of the stick striking the fence. 23Rhythm Example Where Are You Now? When the night begins to fall And the sky begins to glowYou look up and see the tallCity of lights begin to grow –In rows and little golden squaresThe lights come out. First here, then thereBehind the windowpanes as thoughA million billion bees had builtTheir golden hives and honeycombsAbove you in the air.By Mary Britton MillerThe rhythm in this poem is slow – to match the night gently falling and the lights slowly coming on. 24Examples: Rhythm and Rhyme Annie MclueWaltzing MatildaAnd more: 25RhymeRhymes are words that end with the same sound. (Hat, cat and bat rhyme.)Rhyming sounds don’t have to be spelled the same way. (Cloud and allowed rhyme.)Rhyme is the most common sound device in poetry. 26Rhyming PatternsPoets can choose from a variety of different rhyming patterns.(See next four slides for examples.)AABB – lines 1 & 2 rhyme and lines 3 & 4 rhymeABAB – lines 1 & 3 rhyme and lines 2 & 4 rhymeABBA – lines 1 & 4 rhyme and lines 2 & 3 rhymeABCB – lines 2 & 4 rhyme and lines 1 & 3 do not rhyme 27AABB Rhyming Pattern First Snow Snow makes whiteness where it falls. The bushes look like popcorn balls.And places where I always play,Look like somewhere else today.By Marie Louise Allen 28ABAB Rhyming Pattern Oodles of Noodles I love noodles. Give me oodles. Make a mound up to the sun.Noodles are my favorite foodles.I eat noodles by the ton.By Lucia and James L. Hymes, Jr. 29ABBA Rhyming Pattern Let me fetch sticks, Let me fetch stones, From “Bliss”Let me fetch sticks,Let me fetch stones,Throw me your bones,Teach me your tricks.By Eleanor Farjeon 30ABCB Rhyming Pattern The alligator chased his tail Which hit him in the snout;He nibbled, gobbled, swallowed it,And turned right inside-out.by Mary Macdonald 31RepetitionRepetition occurs when poets repeat words, phrases, or lines in a poem.Creates a pattern.Increases rhythm.Strengthens feelings, ideas and mood in a poem.(See next slide for example.) 32Repetition Example The Sun Some one tossed a pancake, A buttery, buttery, pancake.Someone tossed a pancakeAnd flipped it up so high,That now I see the pancake,The buttery, buttery pancake,Now I see that pancakeStuck against the sky.by Sandra Liatsos 33Forms of Poetry There are many forms of poetry including the: Couplet TercetAcrosticCinquainHaikuSenryuConcrete PoemFree VerseLimerick 34Lines and Stanzas Most poems are written in lines. MarchA blue dayA blue jayAnd a good beginning.One crow,Melting snow –Spring’s winning!By Eleanor FarjeonMost poems are written in lines.A group of lines in a poem is called a stanza.Stanzas separate ideas in a poem. They act like paragraphs.This poem has two stanzas. 35CoupletA couplet is a poem, or stanza in a poem, written in two lines.Usually rhymes.The JellyfishWho wants my jellyfish?I’m not sellyfish!By Ogden Nash 36Tercet A tercet is a poem, or stanza, written in three lines. Usually rhymes.Lines 1 and 2 can rhyme; lines 1 and 3 can rhyme; sometimes all 3 lines rhyme.Winter MoonHow thin and sharp is the moon tonight!How thin and sharp and ghostly whiteIs the slim curved crook of the moon tonight!By Langston Hughes 37Quatrain A quatrain is a poem, or stanza, written in four lines. The quatrain is the most common form of stanza used in poetry.Usually rhymes.Can be written in variety of rhyming patterns.(See slide 9 entitled “Rhyming Patterns.”)The LizardThe lizard is a timid thingThat cannot dance or fly or sing;He hunts for bugs beneath the floorAnd longs to be a dinosaur.By John Gardner 38Traditional CinquainA cinquain is a poem written in five lines that do not rhyme.Traditional cinquain has five lines containing 22 syllables in the following pattern:Line 1 – 2 syllablesLine 2 – 4 syllablesLine 3 – 6 syllablesLine 4 – 8 syllablesLine 5 – 2 syllablesOh, catare you grinningcurled in the window seatas sun warms you this Decembermorning?By Paul B. Janezco 39Word-Count CinquainWord-count cinquain for younger students uses the following pattern:Line 1: One word (title)Line 2: Two words (describe thetitle)Line 3: Three words (describe anaction)Line 4: Four words (describe afeeling)Line 5: One word (another word forOwlSwift, ferociousWatches for foodSoaring through the nightHunter 40DiamanteDiamante PatternLine 1 – Your topic (noun)Line 2 – Two adjectives aboutLine 3 – Three “ing” words aboutLine 4 – Four nouns or short phrase linking topic (or topics)Line 5 – Three “ing” words aboutLine 5 – Two adjectives aboutLine 7 – Your ending topic (noun)A diamante is a seven-line poem written in the shape of a diamond.Does not rhyme.Follows pattern.Can use synonyms or antonyms.(See next two slides for examples.) 41Synonym Diamante Monsters Creepy, sinister, Hiding, lurking, stalking, Vampires, mummies, werewolves and more –Chasing, pouncing eating,Hungry, scary,Creatures 42Antonym Diamante Day Bright, sunny, Laughing, playing, doing, Up in the east, down in the west –Talking, resting, sleeping,Quiet, dark,Night 43HaikuA haiku is a Japanese poem with 3 lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables. (Total of 17 syllables.)Does not rhyme.Is about an aspect of nature or the seasons.Captures a moment in time.Little frog amongrain-shaken leaves, are you, too,splashed with fresh, green paint?by Gaki 44Senryu A senryu follows same pattern as haiku. Written in 3 unrhymed lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables, with total of 17 syllables.Is about human nature, rather than natural world.First day, new school year,backpack harbors a fossil…last June’s cheese sandwich.By Cristine O’Connell George 45Concrete PoemA concrete poem (also called shape poem) is written in the shape of its subject.The way the words are arranged is as important what they mean.Does not have to rhyme. 46Free Verse A free verse poem does not use rhyme or patterns. RevengeWhen I find out who took the last cookyout of the jar and left me a bunch ofstale old messy crumbs, I'm going to takeme a handful and crumb up someone's bed.By Myra Cohn LivingstonA free verse poem does not use rhyme or patterns.Can vary freely in length of lines, stanzas, and subject. 47AcrosticIn an acrostic poem the first letter of each line, read down the page, spells the subject of the poem.Type of free verse poem.Does not usually rhyme.Loose brown parachuteEscapingAndFloating on puffs of air.by Paul Paolilli 48Limerick A limerick is a funny poem of 5 lines. Lines 1, 2 & 5 rhyme. Lines 3 & 4 are shorter and rhyme.Line 5 refers to line 1.Limericks are a kind of nonsense poem.There Seems to Be a ProblemI really don’t know about Jim.When he comes to our farm for a swim,The fish as a rule,jump out of the pool.Is there something the matter with him?By John Ciardi 49Nonsense PoemsA nonsense poem is a humorous poem with silly characters and actions. It is meant to be fun.Can be written as a limerick or as another form of poetry.A Princess LamentsI kissed a frog because I’d heardThat it would turn into a prince.That’s not exactly what occurred,And I’ve been croaking ever since.by Jack Prelutsky 50Word PlaySome poets use a special kind of word play by making up words or misspelling them on purpose.The WalrusThe pounding spatterOf salty seaMakes the walrusWalrusty.By Douglas Florian 51VoiceHello!Hi!“Voice” is the speaker in a poem. The speaker can be the poet himself or a character he created in the poem. There can be one speaker or many speakers.Poet as speaker (slides 47-49)Human character in poem as speaker (slide 50)Object or animal as speaker (slides 51-52)More than one speaker (slides 53-54) 52Voice: Poet as Speaker The Wind Who has seen the wind? Neither I nor you:But when the leaves hang tremblingThe wind is passing thro’.Neither you nor I:But when the trees bow down their heads,The wind is passing by.by Christina RosettiIn this poem, the poet speaks of her feelings about the power of the wind. 53Voice: Poet as Speaker The Sugar Lady There is an old lady who lives down the hall,Wrinkled and gray and toothless and small.At seven already she’s up,Going from door to door with a cup.“Do you have any sugar?” she asks,Although she’s got more than you.Hoping you’ll talk for a minute or two.by Frank AschIn this poem, the poet tells a story about a lonely old woman hoping to talk. 54Voice: Poet as Speaker Clouds White sheep, white sheep, On a blue hill,When the wind stopsYou all stand still.When the wind blowsYou walk away slow.White sheet, white sheep,Where do you go?by Christina RosettiIn this poem, the poet speaks to clouds - something that cannot answer back. She uses a metaphor when she calls the clouds “white sheep.” 55Voice: Human Character as Speaker For KeepsWe had a tug of war todayOld March Wind and I.He tried to steal my new red kiteThat Daddy helped me fly.He huffed and puffed.I pulled so hardAnd held that string so tightOld March Wind gave up at lastAnd let me keep my kite.by Jean Conder SouleIn this poem, the voice is that of a child flying a kite on a windy day. The child is the character in the poem. 56Voice: Object as Speaker Crayon DanceThe cardboard ceiling liftsPickmepickmepickme, I prayThe fingers do! They choose me, Sky Blue!Hurrah! Hooray!by April Halprin WaylandIn this poem, the voice is that of a blue crayon, happy to be picked by the artist. The crayon is the character in the poem. 57Voice: Animal as Speaker Turtle in JulyHeavyHeavy hotHeavy hot hangsThick stickyIckyBut I lieNose highCool poolNo foolA turtle in Julyby Marilyn SingerIn this poem, the voice is that of a turtle keeping cool on a hot July day. The turtle is the character in the poem. 58Voice: Two Speakers I Talk With the Moon I talk with the moon, said the owlWhile she lingers over my treeAnd the night belongs to me.I talk with the sun said the wrenAs soon as he starts to shineI talk with the sun, said the wrenAnd the day is mine.By Beverly McLoughlandThere are two voices in this poem. In the first stanza the voice is that of the night-time owl. In the second stanza the voice is that of the day-time wren. 59Voice: Multiple Speakers Monster MothersBy Florence Parry Heide“Mine’s as scalyas a fish.”“Mine is sort ofyellowish.”“Mine breathes fireand smoke and such.”“Mine has skinyou’d hate to touch.”When monster mothers get togetherThey brag about their babies.The other day I heard one say,“He’s got his very first fang today!”“Mine is ugly.”“Mine is mean.”“Mine is turningnice and green.”In this poem, there are many voices. The speakers are the monster mothers describing their babies. 60Author’s PurposeThe poet has an “author’s purpose” when he writes a poem. The purpose can be to:Share feelings (joy, sadness, anger, fear, loneliness)Tell a storySend a message (theme - something to think about)Be humorousProvide description* (e.g., person, object, concept)*Although description is important in all poems, the focus of some poems is the description itself rather than feelings, story-telling, message, or humor. 61Author’s Purpose: Share Feelings When I Was LostUnderneath my beltMy stomach was a stone.Sinking was the way I felt.And hollow.And alone.By Dorothy AldisThe author’s purpose is to share her feelings about being lost and scared. 62Author’s Purpose: Tell Story Jimmy Jet By Shel SilversteinI'll tell you the story of Jimmy Jet –And you know what I tell you is true.He loved to watch his TV setAlmost as much as you.He watched all day,he watched all nightTill he grew pale and lean,From "The Early Show" to “The Late Late Show”And all the shows between.He watched till his eyes were frozen wide,And his bottom grew into his chair.And his chin turned into a tuning dial,And antennae grew out of his hair.And his brains turned into TV tubes,And his face to a TV screen.And two knobs saying “VERT.” and “HORIZ.”Grew where his ears had been.And he grew a plug that looked like a tailSo we plugged in little Jim.And now instead of him watching TVWe all sit around and watch him.The author’s purpose is to tell the story of a boy who watched too much television. 63Author’s Purpose: Send Message Share the AdventurePages and pagesA seesaw of ideas –Share the adventureFiction, nonfiction:Door to our past and futureSwinging back and forthWHAM! The book slams shut,But we read it togetherWith our minds openby Patricia and Frederick McKissackThe author’s purpose is to send a serious message.The message, or theme, is that reading is an adventure that can be shared. 64Author’s Purpose: Be Humorous InsidesI’m very grateful to my skinFor keeping all my insides in –I do so hate to think aboutWhat I would look like inside-out.By Colin WestThe author’s purpose is to write a humorous poem about the purpose of skin. 65Author’s Purpose: Be Descriptive Me by Karla Kuskin“My nose is blue,My teeth are green,My face is like a soup tureen.I look just like a lima bean.I’m very, very lovely.My feet are far too shortAnd long.My hands are left and rightAnd wrong.My voice is like the hippo’s song.I’m very, very,Very, very,Very, veryLovely?”The author’s purpose is to describe a strange-looking person. 66Author’s Purpose: Be Descriptive Vacuum CleanerRoars over carpetzig-zag-zipssucking up fuzzthrough metal lips.By Dee LillegardThe author’s purpose is to describe an object – a vacuum cleaner. 67Author’s Purpose: Be Descriptive BeetlesEmerald, ruby, turquoise blue,Beatles come in every hue:Beetles that pinch or sting or bite,Tiger beetles that claw and fight,Beetles whose burnished armor gleams,Whirligig beetles that dance on streams,Antlered beetles in staglike poses,Beetles that smell – and not like roses,Others that click like castanets,That dig or swim or zoom like jets,Hard as coffee beans, brown as leather,Or shimmering bright as a peacock feather!By Ethel JacobsonThe author’s purpose is to describe a variety of beetles. 68Author’s Purpose: Be Descriptive UnderstandingSunAnd rainAnd windAnd stormsAnd thunder go together.There has to be a bit of eachTo make the weather.By Myra Cohn LivingstonThe author’s purpose is to describe a concept – weather. 69MoodMood is the atmosphere, or emotion, in the poem created by the poet.Can be happy, angry, silly, sad, excited, fearful or thoughtful.Poet uses words and images to create mood.Author’s purpose helps determine mood.(See slides for examples.) 70Mood - Barefoot Days Barefoot Days by Rachel Field In the morning, very early,That’s the time I love to goBarefoot where the fern grows curlyAnd grass is cool between each toe,On a summer morning-O!On a summer morning!That is when the birds go byUp the sunny slopes of air,And each rose has a butterflyOr a golden bee to wear;And I am glad in every toe –Such a summer morning-O!Such a summer morning!The mood in this poem is happy. What clues in the poem can you use to determine the mood? 71Mood - Mad Song Mad Song I shut my door To keep you out Won’t do no goodTo stand and shoutWon’t listen toA thing you sayJust time you tookYourself awayI lock my doorTo keep me hereUntil I’m sureYou disappear.By Myra Cohn LivingstonThe mood in this poem is angry. What clues in the poem can you use to determine the mood? 72Mood - Poem Poem I loved my friend. He went away from me. There’s nothing more to say.The poem ends,Soft as it began –I loved my friend:By Langston HughesThe mood in this poem is sad. What clues in the poem can you use to determine the mood? 73Mood - Something is There there on the staircoming downstepping with care.Coming downslinkety-sly.Something is coming and wants to get by.By Lilian MooreThe mood in this poem is fearful. What clues in the poem can you use to determine the mood? 74Mood - Joyful Joyful A summer day is full of ease, a bank is full of money,our lilac bush is full of bees,And I am full of honey.By Rose BurgunderThe mood in this poem is happy. What clues in the poem can you use to determine the mood? 75Mood - Foghorns Foghorns By Lilian Moore The foghorns moaned in the bay last nightso sadso deepI thought I heard the citycrying in its sleep.By Lilian MooreThe mood in this poem is sad. What clues in the poem can you use to determine the mood? 76Mood - Magic Landscape Magic Landscape Shall I draw a magic landscape? In the genius of my fingersI hold the seeds.Can I grow a painting like a flower?Can I sculpture a future without weeds?By Joyce Carol ThomasThe mood in this poem is thoughtful. What clues in the poem can you use to determine the mood? 77Mood - Higglety, Pigglety, Pop The dog has eaten the mop;The pig’s in a hurry,The cat’s in a flurry,By Samuel GoodrichThe mood in this poem is silly. What clues in the poem can you use to determine the mood? 78Reading for MeaningTo find meaning in a poem, readers ask questions as they read. There are many things to pay attention to when reading a poem:Title – Provides clues about – topic, mood, speaker, author’s purpose?Rhythm – Fast or slow? Why?Sound Devices – What effects do they have?Imagery – What pictures do we make in our minds?Figures of Speech – What do they tell us about the subject?Voice – Who is speaking - poet or character; one voice or more?Author’s Purpose – Sending message, sharing feelings, telling story,being funny, being descriptive?Mood – Happy, sad, angry, thoughtful, silly, excited, frightened?Plot – What is happening in the poem?Remember, to make meaning, readers must make connections and tap into their background knowledge and prior experiences as they read. 79What is poetry? Poetry What is poetry? Who knows? Not a rose, but the scent of a rose;Not the sky, but the light in the sky;Not the fly, but the gleam of the fly;Not the sea, but the sound of the sea;Not myself, but what makes meSee, hear, and feel something that proseCannot: and what it is, who knows?By Eleanor Farjeon 80Poetry Frameworks - Poets Mass. Frameworks PoetsClick on the following link to access poems written by poets suggested in the Massachusetts English Language Arts Curriculum Frameworks (Grades 3-5).Poetry Frameworks - PoetsPoets include: Rosemary and Stephen Vincent Benet, Lewis Caroll, John Ciardi, Rachel Field, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Edward Lear, Myra Cohn Livingston, David McCord, A. A. Milne, Ogden Nash, Laura Richards, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow for Grade 5. 81Resources for Teaching Poetry Click on the following link to find suggested resources for teaching poetry.Poetry Resources 82Acknowledgements Books: Cobwebs, Chatters, and Chills: A Collection of Scary Poems. Compiled and annotated by Patricia M. Stockland. Minneapolis, MS: Compass Point Books, 2004.Dirty Laundry Pile: Poems in Different Voices. Selected by Paul B. Janeczko. New York: HarperCollins, 2001.Easy Poetry Lessons that Dazzle and Delight. Harrison, David L. NY: Scholastic Professional Books, 1999.Favorite Poems: Old and New. Selected by Helen Ferris. NY: DoubledayA Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms. Selected by Paul B. Janeczko. Boston, MA: Candlewick Press, 2005.Knock at a Star: A Child’s Introduction to Poetry. Kennedy, X. J. and Kennedy, Dorothy M. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1999.Pass the Poetry, Please. Hopkins, Lee Benett. New York: Harper Collins, 1998.Poem Making: Ways to Begin Writing Poetry. Livingston, Myra Cohn. New York: Harper Collins,1991.Poetry from A to Z. Janeczko, Paul B. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.Poetry Place Anthology: More Than 600 Poems for All Occasions. NY: Scholastic Professional Books, 1983. 83Acknowledgements Books (Continued): Random House Book of Poetry: A Treasury of 572 Poems for Today’s Child. Selected by Jack Prelutsky. NY: Random House, 1983.Recess, Rhyme, and Reason: A Collection of Poems About School. Compiled and annotated by Patricia M. Stockland. Minneapolis, MS: Compass Point Books, 2004.Teaching 10 Fabulous Forms of Poetry: Great Lessons, Brainstorming Sheets, and Organizers for Writing Haiku, Limericks, Cinquains, and Other Kinds of Poetry Kids Love. Janeczko, Paul B. NY: Scholastic Professional Books, 2000.Tomie DePaola’s Book of Poems. Selected by Tomie DePaola. NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1988.The Twentieth Century Children’s Poetry Treasury. Selected by Jack Prelutsky. NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999.Weather: Poems. Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins. NY: HarperCollins, 1994.Writing Poetry with Children. Monterey, CA: Evan-Moor Corp., 1999. 84Acknowledgements Clip Art and Images Resources: Awesomeclipartforkids.comBarrysclipart.comBible Picture Clip Art GalleryThe Bullwinkle Show; Bullwinkle’s Corner clip artLocated atClipartheaven.comDiscovery SchoolDK.comGeocities.comHasslefreeclipart.comMicrosoft Office Clip ArtPBS.orgReadwritethink.org
A flowchart can help visualize a process, decision, system, hierarchy or other types of connected information. In this video, watch how to get a flowchart diagram started in Visio. Drag and connect shapes to build the sequence of steps or elements that make up the process you’re drawing. Use text to add information, and add visual touches to add impact and clarity. For more about building a flowchart, see Create a basic flowchart. You can find more on the Web about flowcharts and the symbols used, and how to use flowcharts for specific functions, such as software design or information flow.
Hydrogen fuel cells are starting to show up in homes around the U.S., providing consumers with an additional alternative energy option. Though residential installations to this point have been primarily custom-engineered setups, several companies are developing or already are offering products that could expand the technology to broader applications. Fuel cells generate electricity by stripping electrons from hydrogen fuel; only water and heat are emitted after the spent hydrogen combines with oxygen (see illustration, above). When tied to solar systems, fuel cells use hydrogen created when excess solar power passes through an electrolyzer; the hydrogen is then stored to power the fuel cell when the PVs aren’t generating enough to meet the demand. In grid-connected systems for main or backup power, the hydrogen is extracted from natural gas or propane. With estimated per-kilowatt costs of $3,000 to $4,500, it could be a while before residential systems hit the mainstream. A federal tax credit can be used toward 30% of the cost, up to $1,000 per kW. Questions have been raised about the amount of energy consumed to make hydrogen and the CO2 generated when hydrogen is extracted from natural gas or propane, but industry advocate Fuel Cells 2000 says those concerns are made up for in the higher efficiency of fuel cell operation (47% efficient versus 35% for central utility), lower emissions, and cogeneration of heat that increases energy efficiency to around 85% to 90%. The industry is working to develop renewable forms of hydrogen—such as from biomass, solar, and wind energy—that also would reduce production emissions. (Residential systems tied in with PVs already accomplish this, using solar power to extract the hydrogen.) To learn more, visit Fuel Cells 2000 at www.fuelcells.org and the U.S. Fuel Cell Council at www.usfcc.com. —Katy Tomasulo
Cholera outbreaks may soon be predicted using satellite sensors, paving the way for preemptive medicine in countries that suffer epidemics, says Distinguished University Professor Rita Colwell, speaking today at the Society for General Microbiology’s 162nd meeting being held this week at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. The cholera Vibrio lives in zooplankton and can be found in bays, estuaries and rivers in temperate and tropical regions. “Scientists have established a definable relationship between sea surface temperature, sea surface height and cholera epidemics,” says Professor Colwell, from the University of Maryland, US. “We can predict cholera epidemics by monitoring these factors using satellite sensors.” “Cholera has afflicted humankind over the ages and remains a serious problem for the developing world,” says Professor Colwell. “If the global effects of climate change are to be understood fully, we need to think about the human health aspect.” Professor Colwell’s work is leading toward a predictive model that will provide forecasting of climatic conditions associated with specific infectious diseases, offering predictions of epidemics. “A pre-emptive medicine may be possible for countries of the world suffering cholera epidemics,” says Professor Colwell. “The issues are international and require a global scientific enterprise. The ultimate objective is an holistic understanding of the consequences of global warming and development of policies to address them.” Source: Society for General Microbiology Explore further: Lush conditions fuel Colorado increase in rabbit fever
Empathy is one's ability to recognize, perceive and directly feel the emotion of another person. As the states of mind, beliefs, and desires of others are intertwined with their emotions, one with empathy for another may often be able to more effectively divine another's modes of thought and mood. Empathy is often characterized as the ability to "put oneself into another's shoes", or experiencing the outlook or emotions of another being within oneself, a sort of emotional resonance.In fiction, especially science fiction or fantasy works, it may also refer to (or be associated with) a supernatural ability to read others' emotions through psychic means. Most psychics have empathic abilities, either developed through time and experience, or inherent from childhood. While the ability to imagine oneself as another person is a sophisticated imaginative process that only fully develops with time, as later on in life, or with considerable training, or investigation, or imagination, the roots of such ability are probably innate to the empathizer's life, training, or investigation. Human capacity to recognize the emotions of another is related to one's imitative capacities, and seems to be grounded in one's innate capacity to associate the bodily movements and facial expressions one sees in another with the proprioceptive feelings of one's corresponding movements or expressions. Humans also seem to make the same immediate connection between the tone of voice, and body language of another and one's inner feeling. Hence, by looking at the facial expressions or bodily movements of another, or by hearing another's tone of voice, one may be able to get an immediate sense of how another seems to feel on the inside. One experiences this as anything in a range, from understanding, to directly experiencing, or to feeling another's emotion (say, sadness or anger), rather than just noting the behavioral symptoms of another's emotion. But clinicians must take care not to over-invest their own emotions at the risk of draining away their own resourcefulness; thus awareness of one's own limitations is prudent in a clinical situation, as in caregiving. More fully developed empathy requires more than simply recognizing another's emotional state. Since emotions are typically directed towards objects or states of affairs (either real or imaginary), the empathiser first requires some idea of what that object might be. Next, the empathiser must determine how the emotional feeling will significantly affect the way in which he perceives the other person. The empathizer needs to determine the aspects of the person upon which to focus. Hence he must not only recognize the person toward which the other is directed, but also then recognize the bodily feeling, and then add these components together. The empathiser needs next to find the way into the loop where perception of the other person generates feeling. That feeling affects the perception of the other person. This process occurs before taking in account the character of the other person as well as their wider non-psychological context (such as being short or being a lawyer). When seeking to communicate with another, it may be helpful to demonstrate empathy with the other, to open-up the channel of communication with the other. In this case two methods of simulating empathy are possible: b) or simulate the emotional feeling directly perceived and then look around for a suitable reason for this to fit. Either way, full empathetic engagement is supposed to help to understand and anticipate the behavior of the other. One must be careful not to confuse empathy with either sympathy, emotional contagion or telepathy. Sympathy is the feeling of compassion for another, the wish to see them better or happier, often described as "feeling sorry" for someone. Emotional contagion is when a person (especially a child or a person in a mob) identifies with strong emotions others are showing and becomes subject to the same emotions themselves. Telepathy is a controversial paranormal phenomenon, which differs in that empathy is based not upon the paranormal but upon sophisticated processing of what is seen and heard in the usual way. Some experts (psychologists, psychiatrists, and other scientists) believe that not all humans have an ability to feel empathy or perceive the emotions of others. For instance, Autism and related conditions such as Asperger's syndrome are often (but not always) characterized by an apparent reduced ability to empathize with others. The interaction between empathy and autism spectrum disorders is a complex and ongoing field of research, and is discussed in detail below. According to Simon Baron-Cohen's ideas, this absence might be related to an absence of theory of mind (i.e., the ability to model another's world view using either a theory-like analogy between oneself and others, or the ability to simulate pretend mental states and then apply the consequences of these simulations to others). Again, not all autistics fit this pattern, and the theory remains controversial. In contrast, psychopaths are seemingly able to demonstrate the appearance of sensing the emotions of others with such a theory of mind, often demonstrating care and friendship in a convincing manner, and can use this ability to charm or manipulate, but they crucially lack the sympathy or compassion that empathy often leads to. Empathy certainly does not guarantee benevolence. The same ability may underlie schadenfreude (taking pleasure in the pain of another entity) and sadism (being sexually gratified through the infliction of pain or humiliation on another person). Moreover, some research suggests that people are more able and willing to empathize with those most similar to themselves. In particular, empathy increases with similarities in culture and living conditions. We are also more likely to empathize with those with which we interact more frequently. Developing skills of empathy is often a central theme in the recovery process for drug addicts. Even more, people can empathize with animals. As such, empathy is thought to be a driving psychological force behind the animal rights movement (an example of sympathy), whether or not using empathy is justified by any real similarity between the emotional experiences of animals and humans. A common source of confusion in analyzing the interactions between empathy and ASD is that the apparent lack of empathy may mask at least two other underlying causes: A higher level of empathy is sometimes reported by individuals with mild or high functioning Asperger's syndrome, especially to animals and to other deeply held emotions in people - anecdotally this may more often be so with "high-functioning" individuals, or possibly, the strength of negative empathic feelings with people might itself have been a contributing cause of retreat into self. Some students of animal behavior claim that empathy is not restricted to humans as the definition implies. Examples include dolphins saving humans from drowning or from shark attacks, and a multitude of behaviors observed in primates, both in captivity and in the wild. Rodents have been shown to demonstrate empathy for cage-mates (but not strangers) in pain. Research in recent years has focused on possible brain processes as concomitant with empathy.Functional imaging has recently been employed to investigate the functional anatomy of empathy: Farrow et al found that empathic judgments activated left superior frontal gyrus, orbitofrontal gyrus, precuneus, left anterior middle temporal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus. Components of this circuit may be dysfunctional in psychopathy (Tunstall N., Fahy T. and McGuire P. in: Guide to Neuroimaging in Psychiatry, Eds. Fu C et al, Martin Dunitz: London 2003). Furthermore, the discovery of mirror neurons in monkeys that fire both when the creature watches another perform an action as well as when they themselves perform it presents a possible neural mechanism for mapping others' feelings onto one's own nervous system. In Bower (2005) the function of these mirror cells was further investigated. They may be related to awareness of the goal-directedness of actions. These neurons "may be responsible for understanding the intention of action in other people," Kiyoshi Nakahara and Yasushi Miyashita, both of the University of Tokyo School of Medicine said in a note which accompanies the Bower action. Dapretto et al. (2006) found that, as opposed to normally developing children, high-functioning children with autism showed no mirror neuron activity in the brain's inferior frontal gyrus (pars opercularis) while imitating and observing emotional expressions. The authors suggest this supports the hypothesis that a dysfunctional mirror neuron system may underlie the social deficits observed in autism. By the age of 2, children normally begin to display the fundamental behaviors of empathy by having an emotional response that corresponds with another person. Sometimes, toddlers will comfort others or show concern for them as early as 24 months of age. Also during the second year, toddlers will play games of falsehood or "pretend" in an effort to fool others, and this requires that the child know what others believe before he or she can manipulate those beliefs. In addition to the above use, the term empathy is also used by some people to signify their heightened or higher sensitivity to the emotions and state of others. This, reportedly, can lead to both positive aspects such as a more skilled instinct for what is "behind the scenes" with people, but also to difficulties such as rapid over-stimulation, overwhelm or stress caused by an inability to protect oneself from this so-called 'pick-up'. Such people may for example find crowds stressful simply due to picking up what is often described as "white noise" or multiple emotions as they pass through it, a phenomenon not to be confused with agoraphobia and sometimes informally known as crowd-sickness. Empathy in this sense is ascribed by such people to various mechanisms. These include simply more sophisticated subconscious processing of sensory cues or stronger emotional feedback than the norm, (i.e. the normal human experience but more so), and therefore fit within present models. Some people, perhaps due to synesthesia, believe it instead to be a direct emotional sense or a feel for others' "energy". The New Age religion has constructed a belief system around anecdotal evidence of persons who claim to be "empaths" in this sense. This aspect of empathy is not clinically recognized, and someone calling themselves an "empath" usually does not intend to imply that they are gifted with any psychic ability. A recurrent theme of discussion on such websites relates to the impact upon individuals, and therefore also methods (including mental practices, emotional processes and ritual) which anecdotally can help reduce the intensity of empathic reactions to others' feelings to a more bearable level (informally called 'shielding' or emotional detachment). The empathic process is exploited to a certain extent in all kinds of fiction, thus we may identify deeply with characters appearing in books, plays or films (see especially Currie 2004). In some works of science fiction and fantasy, empathy is understood to be a paranormal or psychic ability to sense the emotions of others, as opposed to telepathy, which allows one to perceive thoughts as well. A person who has that ability is also called an "empath" or "telempath" in this context. ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF ALL FILES CRYSTALINKS HOME PAGE PSYCHIC READING WITH ELLIE 2012 THE ALCHEMY OF TIME
The following lesson is used to help students understand, write, grade, and reflect on expository essay writing. First students will break down the prompt, then identify different aspects of a rubric. In step 3 the teacher will demonstrate how to grade a short essay and allow the class to vote on what grade they would give it. Students then will grade five essays and defend why they gave that essay their score. Then as a group of students will come to a consensus and vote on a score for their group. Lastly, the teacher will give the class their scores, and then students will reflect. This lesson is really great to show students how to use a rubric and how to evaluate their own writing. In my class this has really show to improve my students' writing. I hope this works for you! -The English Bear
Climate change and chocolate Chocolate is made from cacao beans that grow on cacao trees. Cacao trees only thrive in rainforest conditions with fairly uniform temperatures, high humidity, abundant rain, nitrogen-rich soil, and protection from wind. Cacao is primarily produced in countries along the ‘cacao belt,’ a thin band roughly 20 degrees latitude north and south of the Equator, namely in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Indonesia, as well as countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas. Approximately 70% of the world’s cacao (Theobroma cacao) originates from the West African cacao belt which stretches from Sierra Leone to southern Cameroon. Over half of the world’s chocolate is produced in just two countries – Côte d’Ivoire (20% of GDP) and Ghana (9% of GDP) – primarily run by about two million small independent family farms. The sector’s long-term prosperity and sustainability is threatened by declining yields resulted from poor tree and soil management, cacao tree pests and disease, an aging tree stock, underinvestment in maintenance, and a lack of training and support throughout the supply chain. Climate change can exacerbate some of these issues – West Africa is already susceptible to drought and smallholders are already suffering from reduced yields and quality due to changing conditions that include more variable rainfall, increasing temperatures, and changing patterns of pests and diseases. Climate change can lead to long-term reduction in land with suitable climatic conditions for future cacao cultivation (Figure 1). Figure 1. Relative climatic suitability (in percent) for cocoa of the West Africa cocoa belt under current and projected 2050s climate conditions, as well as suitability change based on 24 climate variables. The red lines show areas of cocoa production. While seasonal drought stress is one of the biggest issues for cacao farming, maximum temperatures during the dry season may become as or more important than water availability. By 2050, maximum temperatures during the dry season are project to increase substantially for large parts of the cacao belt, and in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and parts of Togo and Nigeria could experience maximum dry season temperatures currently only found in the African savanna, and are approaching the upper tolerance limits of cacao trees1. Increasing temperatures may also push the optimal altitude for cacao cultivation into higher mountainous terrains. A shift in the cacao growing regions could have repercussions for global cacao output, along with the national economies and farmer livelihoods that depend on the yield. The concentration and implied vulnerability of cacao cultivation in this region could affect the global industry as the regional climatic suitability declines. The projected climatic impacts on the cacao belt will vary within and among West African countries. Hence, the practices necessary to improve resilience will depend on local circumstances and potential climate threats. At the crop level, climate resilience measures include the selection of cacao varieties and shade trees that are tolerant to heat, drought, and diseases. At the farm level, the maintenance or increase of shade trees in cacao farms could protect cacao trees from wind and erosion, reduce heat stress and evapotranspiration, and provide nutrient-rich leaf litter. This may be particularly beneficial in the hotter and drier northern parts of the cacao belt, and also during exceptionally hot years along the coastal areas. In addition, the diversification of farming systems with crops and trees that have varying environmental needs, as well as farmers’ income streams could offer some buffer against market volatility and environmental risks. In the coming decades, cacao production may shift towards areas where the local climate remains favorable to cacao farming. This could however cause a wave of deforestation in Liberia, Cameroon and possibly the Congo basin. At the national and regional policy level, it is therefore important to encourage the intensification of existing cacao farms with suitable climatic conditions and the intensification of existing cacao farms and channel new cacao expansion on already deforested land through effective agricultural and forest conservation policies. The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) supports both sustainable livelihoods and a reliable cocoa supply by working with its members in the cocoa and chocolate industry to help cocoa farmers adapt to climate change and fight deforestation – which contributes to climate change. For instance, in 2016, WCF launched the Feed the Future Partnership for Climate Smart Cocoa with support from United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and nine WCF member companies in West Africa (Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Liberia) and Latin America (Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua). The program involves governments, civil society organisations and industrial experts, and aims to enhance private sector investment and engagement in climate smart cocoa, with a focus on strengthening farmers’ climate resilience through the development of collaborative national and regional climate smart cocoa strategies. In addition, WCF also works with technical experts to improve climate impact models in West Africa and Central America. Some companies such as Mars, Incorporated have considered the potential impacts of climate change on their global supply chains, and recognize that sustainable sourcing can not only help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also build resilience against climatic challenges. As part of their sustainable sourcing strategies, Mars have set up water efficiency programs with farmers in water-stressed regions along their rice supply chain in Pakistan, India and Spain. Initial results from Pakistan indicate a 30 percent reduction in water use and a 75 percent increase in farmers’ income. 1. Schroth G., P. Läderach, A.I. Martinez-Valle, C. Bunn, L. Jassogne (2016) Vulnerability to climate change of cocoa in West Africa: patterns and opportunities and limits to adaptation, Science of the Total Environment, 556, 231–241.
English: Larch sawfly Damage, symptoms and biology The larch sawfly can be detected by looking for the slits on new shoots in which females have deposited their eggs or checking for groups of larvae crawling on the branches. What's the Problem? Egg-laying in young shoots causes them to dry out and curl, which stops them from growing, reduces the number of buds and eventually results in crown deformation. The main damage is caused by feeding groups of larvae, which defoliate the tree. Moderate defoliation reduces growth and weakens the tree. Larch is deciduous and can withstand defoliation better than most conifers. However, repeated severe infestation over many years may result in a reduction in growth, tip dieback, branch mortality and tree mortality. Larch sawfly larvae live in colonies (groups) during their initial larval stages and then scatter throughout the crowns of trees. Larvae feed heavily on needle clusters from mid-May to September, stripping the foliage from entire branches. Mature larvae drop to the ground between June and July and spin cocoons in the duff. The larvae overwinter in cocoons and transform into pupae the following spring. A few individuals may diapause for more than a year. When they emerge from the cocoon in the spring, the females lay approximately 75 eggs in small slits along 1 side of an elongating shoot. What Can I Do? The larch sawfly is considered the most damaging pest of larch in North America. An outbreak was reported in Alberta in 1996-1999 in the northwestern part of the boreal forest and large tracts of larch were defoliated. Since the 1970s, the larch sawfly has remained at an endemic level in Quebec, except in seed orchards, where populations are more abundant. The species can be controlled on small ornamental trees and isolated trees by shaking infested branches and destroying the larvae that fall to the ground.
Farming is a complex endeavor. Many factors need to be considered: Weather conditions, soil quality, pest control and more. In today’s world, however, farmers face a particular challenge: the ever-increasing demand for food. But how can farmers keep up with the rising demand?? Big Data offers a solution. By analyzing big data, farmers can gain valuable insights and optimize production. From planning sowing to harvesting, data on soil conditions, weather development and pest control can be used to make better decisions. Thanks to Big Data, farmers can also plan for the longer term. By analyzing data over several years, they can identify trends and adjust production. This can not only increase the quality of products, but also achieve greater efficiency. Big Data thus offers a way out of the growing demand for food and allows farmers to reap the rewards of their labor. Leveraging Big Data: The opportunities for farmers Big Data is a term for large amounts of data that can be collected, stored, analyzed and used with the help of modern technologies. For farmers, the use of Big Data offers numerous opportunities to increase yields and the efficiency of their work. By analyzing weather data and soil samples, farmers can develop more targeted farming methods and improve their yields. Big Data can also be used to help monitor animal behavior and herds. - Increasing efficiency through precise fertilization and irrigation - Reduction of errors and failures - Improve quality and sustainability In addition, farmers can use Big Data to optimize their operations and reduce costs. Automated data processing can make processes such as ordering and delivery of machinery and materials more efficient. Last but not least, farmers can also gain economic benefits by using Big Data. By increasing yields and reducing costs, they can maximize profits and run their farms successfully and sustainably. Big Data in modern agriculture: What does it mean?? Big Data can be used in agriculture to work more efficiently and maximize yields. Through the use of sensors, drones and other technologies, farmers can now collect and analyze massive amounts of data. This data can be used, for example, to optimize irrigation and fertilization of fields, resulting in higher harvests. Big Data can also help with animal husbandry, for example, by identifying sick animals through monitoring feed intake and movement patterns. In addition, Big Data can be used in agriculture to improve distribution. By analyzing market data, farmers can better tailor their products and sell them more effectively. And Big Data can also be used to optimize processes and reduce costs in food processing. - More efficient farming - Optimizing irrigation and fertilization - Improving animal husbandry through monitoring - Optimize sales and reduce costs However, there are also concerns about data security and privacy in agriculture. Seamless protection of the data collected is essential here to avoid misuse. Still, there is no doubt that Big Data will play an important role in the agriculture of the future. The farmers who can best leverage these technologies will reap the rewards and be successful. Big Data – the solution for farmers Farming is one of the oldest professions in the world and has been practiced for centuries. Traditionally, however, the industry has relied on the knowledge and experience of farmers to maximize yields. However, with the introduction of Big Data, things have changed drastically. By evaluating data analytics, farmers can gather accurate information about soil samples, weather conditions, seeds and more. This information is then used to make decisions that improve results and increase yields. With Big Data, farmers have more control over their crops than ever before. Farmers are using Big Data to optimize crops, reduce pesticide and fertilizer use, and increase water and energy efficiency. With this information, farmers can create accurate guidelines for managing a field, calculate the exact amount of fertilizer and pesticides needed, and create precise schedules for irrigation and planting. - Big Data increases efficiency and productivity in agriculture. - Farmers can make accurate forecasts for yields. - Pesticide use can be reduced, producing healthier food. Overall, Big Data has helped farmers reap the rewards of their labor more effectively. Accurate information and better decisions can optimize harvests and increase yields. Farming remains traditional, but Big Data has revolutionized the way it is done. How Big Data is revolutionizing agriculture Farmers used to rely mainly on experiential knowledge and gut instinct to manage their farms. But in recent years, the picture has changed dramatically. Big Data technologies can help them optimize production and minimize the risk of crop failure. One example is the use of drones to monitor fields. Drones can capture high-resolution images, which are then analyzed by specialized programs. This allows farmers to quickly identify where more water or fertilizer is needed and how crops develop over the course of the season. Another example is the use of sensors in the fields. These continuously measure various parameters such as humidity, temperature or nutrient content, providing an accurate picture of soil conditions and microclimate. This data can then be used to optimize seeding or irrigation for a higher harvest. There are also opportunities to use Big Data in livestock production. Here, sensors can be attached to animals to measure their movement behavior and activity. This data can then be used to draw conclusions about health and well-being. In this way, farmers can detect and target diseases at an early stage. In agriculture, Big Data is no longer a gimmick, but an effective way to optimize production and make it more efficient. It’s creating new possibilities and opportunities for farmers to better harvest their crops and meet the world’s food needs. The future of Big Data in agriculture Big Data has the potential to change the way farmers manage their fields. By using Big Data, farmers can make a more accurate forecast of their crop yields, increasing the efficiency of their farms. Using sensors and other IoT devices, farmers can collect and analyze soil data to reduce plant diseases and pest infestations. They can also use weather data to make predictions to optimize the timing of sowing and harvesting. In addition, farmers can use Big Data to optimize the sale of their products. By analyzing market data, they can adapt their crop harvests to consumer needs and thus increase the profitability of their farms. - Big Data improves the efficiency of farming. - Sensors and IoT devices enable soil data analysis for pest management. - Weather data can be used for the best sowing and harvest timing. - Market data analytics help match crop harvests to demand. Overall, Big Data offers farmers the opportunity to run their farms more precisely and efficiently. Through the use of Big Data, farmers can harvest the fruits of their labor even better.
- Written by Doris Montag Doris Montag In the Western world from the sixth to 19th centuries, most writing instruments were “quills” made from the large wing feathers of geese, swans, and later turkeys. The hollow shaft of the feather held the ink, which flowed to the tip by capillary action — the process of liquid flowing through a narrow space without help from gravity. The quill’s era ended in the 1820s with the mass-produced “dip pen,” which used a metal point called a “nib” attached to a round stick. The pen was dipped directly into ink and only held enough ink to write a few words. It was re-dipped to get more ink, and it skipped and was messy if the writer was not careful. In 1827, Petrache Poenaru received a French patent for the first “fountain pen,” a nib-tipped writing tool with a refillable internal ink reservoir. The pen draws ink from the reservoir through a feed to the nib. The ink is then deposited on paper via a combination of gravity and capillary action. Filling the reservoir with ink was done manually, often with an eyedropper or syringe. What is ink? It is an organic or inorganic pigment or dye dissolved or suspended in a solvent. Older-style writing inks use a water-based dye. Ballpoint pens use a thicker, paste-like, oil-based dye that better allows capillary action to keep the ink flowing. These inks generally are non-smearing and dry more quickly than water-based ones. To address the mess of refilling the ink reservoir, a New York salesman, Lewis E. Waterman, developed the first practical fountain pen with a built-in ink supply. He introduced an efficient feed system that effectively exchanged ink and air. The success of Waterman’s fountain pen, patented in 1884, was aided by three key inventions: iridium-tipped gold nibs, a hard-rubber pen barrel, and the free-flowing ink of the 1850s. In 1892, George S. Parker started the Parker Pen Company. He patented a simplified “self-filling” mechanism (1911), followed by a leak-proof safety cap (1912). He introduced the “Lucky Curve” in 1911, which used a bent tube connecting the nib to the side wall of the ink reservoir. Parker Pen Company manufactured pens in Janesville, Wisconsin. By the 1950s, Parker had introduced the “51” model, whose streamlined barrel was made of durable Lucite. Its cap and trademark arrow-shaped clip were fashioned from stainless steel. The hooded nib eliminated the leaking ink, and it never skipped. Walter A. Sheaffer incorporated as Sheaffer Pen Company in 1913, producing ink as well as fountain pens in Fort Madison, Iowa. During the 1950s, Sheaffer produced “Snorkels.” These pens were filled by turning a knob at the back of the barrel, which extended a tube from the nib. It used a vacuum pump to draw ink from a bottle. It is considered the most complicated filling mechanism ever invented. In the 1960s, disposable-plastic ink cartridges were introduced, but the decline of the American fountain pen had already begun with the ballpoint pen in the 1950s. Parker and Sheaffer were bought by big corporations that shifted to manufacturing ballpoint pens. The factories were shuttered in both Janesville and Fort Madison. Today, the current lines of Parker and Sheaffer pens are made overseas. The pen industry’s downturn worsened in the 1980s and 1990s with the arrival of personal computers for writing our letters and documents. The handheld computing devices in the 2000s dealt the final blow to the industry. Today, the fountain pen is the preferred tool for calligraphy and is sought by collectors, but basically, its lifecycle is over — along, perhaps, with penmanship. Doris Montag is a homespun historian and an exhibit curator who researches and displays historical collections of ordinary things, such as can openers, crochet, toy sewing machines, hand corn planters, powder compacts, egg cartons, and more. Contact or follow her on Facebook, HistoryofOrdinaryThings.
7. Fishy Count 8. Picture Math 10. Early Math 11. Math games 13. Mr. Anker Tests 21. ABC/Math games 23. Color Sequence 24. Fuzz Bugs 27. Hour of Code 29. Counting games 1st and 2nd Grade Learn at home Duolingo (Learn a new language Istation (for teacher data access and download of the program) Mindfulness (Scroll down to watch the videos) Music Google Classroom and activities (Dr Taylor's Music Class) Physical Education (P.E.) Scholastic Learn at Home (For all Grade Levels) TED-Ed (Educational Videos) ELAC Survey 2020 5th Grade CAlifornia Healthy Kids Survey Algebra Placement test Kid Friendly Search Engines Google Apps for Education Login Hour of Code Welcome to Tyrrell's Computer Lab Computer Lab is an extension of the classroom. Students practice the California Content Standards and skills that they are learning in the classroom using 21st century tools. Classes attend Computer Lab once a week. Computer Lab Rules NO FOOD OR DRINKS IN THE COMPUTER LAB COME TO COMPUTER LAB WITH CLEAN HANDS Keyboard Responsibilities: Check your keyboard every time you come to computer lab. Report any missing keys/damage to your teacher. Do this at the beginning and end of class. 1. Line up outside of the computer lab and wait until you are asked to come in. Remember the hallways are "quiet zones." 2. Sit on the carpet in front of the SmartBoard for directions, unless instructed to go straight to a computer. 3. Listen to all directions before you begin. 4. Only use the computer in front of you. 5. You may help others by telling them or pointing, but do not do it for them. Everyone needs a chance to learn. 6. When on the Internet be careful not to click on advertisments. 7. Do not change the background of Google or any other program that you have capability of changing. 8. You do not have permission to download games or programs to school computers. Unless instructed by your teacher. 9. Only print after you have permission. Do not keep printing if your print job does not print. Ask for help at any time if you need it. 10. Remember to log off of your Google account and any other programs that you are using. 11. Do not log off or shutdown the computers unless you are asked. 12.Lay the headphones loosely on the table on the left side of the laptop. Please do not wind up the cords or put the headphones on the monitors. When leaving the computer lab make sure that you push in your chair and line up quietly. Remember the hallways are "quiet zones" African Elephant (Source 1) School Online Programs 3rd and 4th Grade 5th and 6th Grade
15% discount on first order.Special Welcome Offer. Making the Essay Sound More Formal As most college students come to discover, writing a college-level essay is far trickier than crafting a high school-level paper. Apart from the need to follow more complex instructions, college papers tend to be longer and are expected to provide in-depth discussions. Additionally, college essays are evaluated using more rigorous standards of academic writing. One such standard is the quality of the language used. A college paper is required to be written using formal language. So how exactly does a formal essay sound? The answer is: it depends. Formal language varies among academic levels and fields. A paper written by a sophomore student for an art class will have marked differences compared to a paper written by a post-graduate student for a political science class. That said, there are general guidelines for formal writing. In this post, we look at some of these guidelines. Use the Third Person One of the cardinal rules for writing a formal essay is writing in the third person point of view. This means avoiding the use of first-person pronouns such as “I,” “me,” “my,” and “we” among many others. The use of the second person is also discouraged in formal writing, though this is not frequently stated since the second person is already rarely used. This means avoiding the use of the pronoun “you.” The use of the third person is prescribed because it gives the paper a more objective and convincing tone. See the example below to see how using the third person can make a sentence sound formal: First-person writing: “I think that the study’s methodology is inherently flawed because the researchers did not control for a number of variables that could affect the results.” Third-person writing: “The study’s methodology is inherently flawed because the researchers did not control for a number of variables that could affect the results.” Though the third person is considered the standard for formal writing, note that the use of first-person is gaining wider acceptance in some circles. To be safe, you may check with your professor if the instructions are not clear. Another important rule for formal writing is avoiding contractions. A contraction is commonly composed of two words that have been combined to form a shortened version and with an apostrophe added to signal the shortening of the term. Examples of contractions are “aren’t” for “are not,” “it’s” for “it is,” and “haven’t” for “have not.” Contractions are regarded as informal language, and thus writers are advised to avoid these. Similar to contractions, slangs are best avoided when writing a formal paper. Slangs are words considered as very informal. These words are used more in everyday informal conversation than in writing. For example, “busted” is slang for “captured” or “apprehended.” Thus, instead of writing “the fugitives were busted,” you may write it as “the fugitives were apprehended.” Use Correct Grammar An essay also sounds more formal if the grammar is correct. While a few grammatical mistakes are easy to disregard, too many of these can be distracting to a reader. Moreover, grammar mistakes can affect the message of your paper by either making sentences confusing or completely altering their meaning. Correct grammar is especially important if you are writing for more advanced courses. If you are not confident about your grammar, you may seek the help of a friend, a professor, or your school’s writing center. Avoid Misspellings and Typographical Errors Like incorrect grammar, misspelled words and typographical errors can affect the quality of the language. A paper with multiple errors sounds far less formal than a paper free of such mistakes. A formal paper is expected to undergo a round of revisions so as to produce a refined final copy, so make sure that you perform editing and proofreading before submission. Use Formal Vocabulary Another way to make your essay sound more formal is by using formal vocabulary. Formal vocabulary is a broad term, and what qualifies as formal varies. However, one way of using formal vocabulary is by choosing the appropriate words based on the context. For instance, assuming that you are writing a paper on a health topic, then you should consider the audience of the paper. If your audience does not have extensive background on the topic, then it is best to avoid jargon and use formal but everyday language instead. For example, using “elevated body temperature” is more appropriate for an audience composed of the general public, whereas “hyperthermia” is more appropriate for an audience of healthcare professionals. Both words are formal vocabulary, but they differ in use depending on the audience. While you may use jargon if necessary, remember to keep your language simple. Do not use flowery language. A paper should be formal, but it should also come across as practical and accessible. Structure Your Essay Finally, make sure that your essay follows standard structure . A good essay has all the basic parts required. These include an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion. Structuring your essay improves clarity, coherence, and completeness, and hence formality. For example, an essay that abruptly ends without restating the thesis or summarizing the arguments sound less formal than an essay that takes its time in providing a proper conclusion. Essay writing help for students Students and professionals, particularly when their interests are not within the realm of essay writing or academic writing, often find difficulty in making their writing sound more formal. Let's face the uncomfortable truth: writing prowess is an acquired skill, developed and honed through practice and, as few people do not know, an almost maniacal devotion to reading. In today's fast-paced life, who has time to read voraciously? Students are swamped 24/7. Professionals hardly have time for themselves. Here at CustomEssayMeister's academic ghostwriting services, excellent and plagiarism-free academic writing is what we can guarantee, in the form of custom written papers. 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On 3 October 2015, a Gulfstream V research jet belonging to the National Science Foundation recorded a massive spike in atmospheric radiation while flying over the South Atlantic between Antarctica and the tip of South America. For 11 minutes, its on-board radiation detector watched as levels doubled, as if the aircraft had flown through a cloud of radiation. That was not the only incident. Since 2013, airborne detectors have recorded 57 similar radiation bursts, each lasting between ten minutes and an hour. The observations have raised significant questions, not least about the risks to aircrew and the safe operation of airborne electronics. But most of all, scientists want to know what causes these radiation bursts. Today we have an answer thanks to the work of Kent Tobiska at Space Environment Technologies in California, and colleagues, who have studied the incidents and think they know the radiation source. Their work raises important questions about the safety of frequent fliers such as aircrew and how to protect them from events that “are analogous to planes flying through radiation clouds,” say Tobiska and co. Space scientists have long known that Earth is bombarded from space by a steady flux of high energy radiation from beyond the Solar System, called Galactic Cosmic Rays, and by more sporadic bursts from the Sun called Solar Energetic Particles. This radiation generally takes the form of high energy electrons, protons and alpha particles. The Earth is protected from these particles by the Sun’s magnetic field, which slows down much of the incoming galactic radiation, and by its own magnetic field high above the atmosphere, which channels charged particles towards the poles. However, high energy particles still get through to the upper atmosphere at about 100km where they collide with oxygen and nitrogen atoms creating lower energy electrons and photons that cascade in chain reactions into the lower atmosphere. These cascades reach a maximum intensity at altitudes of about 20 km but are steadily absorbed at lower altitudes by the thicker atmosphere. Commercial aircraft operate at altitudes up to about 10 km and so experience a higher dose of this radiation than on the ground. The concern is that this kind of radiation can ionize atoms and rip apart DNA, potentially causing health problems such as cancer. It can also interfere with electronic instruments. So any new source of ionizing radiation is a significant concern. Although radiation is a well known issue at high altitudes for decades, there has been no attempt to monitor it continuously on a global scale. So in 2012, various US agencies began developing a real-time, global monitoring system to measure the levels. The system was called the Automated Radiation Measurements for Aerospace Safety (ARMAS) program and Tobiska’s company, Space Environment Technologies, has played a key role in it. Since then, the program has taken hundreds of thousands of radiation measurements during 599 flights all over the globe. It soon became clear that the background level of radiation isn’t constant at all. Instead, various monitoring aircraft experienced sudden rapid increases in radiation which would die away relatively quickly. Tobiska and co focus their analysis on 57 events of this kind. They first compared the radiation bursts to background readings elsewhere on the planet to rule out the possibility that a solar storm or an increase in galactic cosmic rays were to blame. They found no increase in activity elsewhere. Clearly this radiation was being generated closer to home and only over small areas. Judging by the aircraft’s speed, these radiation patches cover areas no greater than 1000km in diameter. Catching the Culprit The obvious culprit was Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts, the part of the magnetosphere that traps high energy charged particles creating a high-altitude ocean of plasma. Like any other ocean, this plasma is buffeted by environmental conditions — the space weather in the form of changes to the sun’s magnetic field and by solar storms. This generates turbulence and sets up powerful plasma waves. It is these plasma waves, called electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves, that Tobiska and co think are the source of the radiation bursts. That’s because charged particles can surf on electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves, becoming vastly accelerated. Any particles that escape do so as powerful bursts of high energy radiation. Indeed, plasma wave accelerators are an emerging technology for next generation particle colliders. But the bursts only head downwards, towards the Earth’s surface, where the Earth’s magnetic field is beginning to point back towards the surface. And this only happens at high latitudes. As it turns out, one of the features of the observed radiation spikes is that they only occur at high latitudes. The team also found that the radiation spikes tended to coincide with periods of turbulent space weather, which promote conditions in which electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves can form. It’s also possible to see evidence of these waves from the ground. “Evidence points to the [radiation] beam being produced at higher altitudes by incident relativistic electrons coming from the Van Allen radiation belts and that have been generated by electromagnetic ion cyclotron wave,” say Tobiska and co. The consequences are significant. Over many years, scientists have calculated the background rates of high-altitude radiation and worked out safe limits on the time aircrew should spend in these conditions. This allows them to operate safely. But this new source of radiation threatens to upend these calculations, particularly for those flying more northerly routes. “The net effect on aircraft crew and frequent flyers for these routes will be an increase in the monthly and annual exposures, which may have career-limiting health consequences,” say Tobiska and co. That conclusion is likely to send shockwaves through the aviation industry. The significance of this extra exposure has yet to be calculated but this work must be given the highest priority. At the very, this should be designed to give clarity to the many men and women who will be concerned about the effect of this radiation on their health. Ref: Increased Radiation Events Discovered At Commercial Aviation Altitudes : https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.05599 Leave a Reply
We have lots of free printable phonics worksheets for you! Use them all to boost the reading, writing and spelling skills in your early learners. The free page here features the initial consonants P, Q and R. See more of our free phonics worksheets. On this page, students will circle the correct beginning consonant for each picture. We've chosen easily recognizable images so that children can work on their own. Finally, students will color the blocks on the "quilt" using the color code for a fun outcome! Here are links to more pages we think you'll want to check out: Phonics Printables - 2 super-simple worksheets for beginners, featuring the letters b, c, d, f, g, and h as initial consonants Phonics Worksheet - Here's more practice with initial consonants, this time with the letters j, k and l. Note This! - Super-fun page to color and practice words that begin with two sometimes confusing letters, m and n Lots of Leaves! - Students will discern long and short vowel phonics sounds as they complete this appealing page. Picture Perfect! - Here's a fun printable phonics game in which children identify long vowel words. Picture This Phonic Game - We think your early learners will enjoy this activity featuring short vowel words. Which player can cover the most pictures? Letter Lane - A phomenic awareness board game that features beginning consonant sounds for the letters b,d,f and m. No reading is necessary. Free Preschool Games for Phonics - 3 simple adaptations of familiar formats with a phonics twist. Try our versions of "I Spy," "Hide and Seek" and "I'm Going on a Trip." What fun ways to learn!
In this article, we will understand the difference between firmware and operating system. Also, we will try to find out some significant differences between these two important terms. Most people consider firmware as the software, but actual firmware is not the software. However, they carry similar features near to the software components. Operating systems are the complete software that coordinates with the other software applications and the hardware components of the devices. What is Firmware? Firmware is the part of code that is embedded in a particular part of the hardware components. They are the updated or the modified version of the software. Also, its primary function is to guide the hardware device to perform its task. The firmware is used in video cards, cameras, ovens, fridges, and other devices. These embedded codes help these devices to function whenever users give instructions. Hence, firmware can be used in both computer and electronic devices. Firmware contains low-level programming codes, and it can execute only basic tasks. And it can only control the particular hardware components. Also, every different piece of hardware can have a different set of unmodified codes. Moreover, these codes are written in the assembly languages that the hardware part can understand. What is Operating System? The operating system or OS is the primary layer within the computer device. And it connects or works as the interface between the hardware components and the computing devices. So, all can function together to provide the desired result to the user. It has control of all the hardware and software components that exist in the computing or computer device. OS helps to boot the computer and plays a significant role when the user interacts with the computer. In short, the operating system also helps the user to access the computer and its function without knowing any machine languages. Examples of operating systems are Windows, iOS, Mac, and Linux. And the OS can be installed in the storage device of the computing machine. Nowadays, most devices need to have an OS so the user can use that device. From taking the print to doing office work, all are done using the operating system. It creates an environment where the user can work conveniently without knowing any machine programming languages. Difference between Firmware and Operating System We have learned some foundational information about the firmware and OS. Let’s also learn some valuable differences between firmware and operating systems. - Firmware is mainly stored in the ROM; however, the OS is stored in the computer’s storage device. - The operating systems are not fixed by their codes, and from time to time, they get updated. Whereas the firmware is the fixed code and mostly does not get updated. - If we talk about the size, then the firmware has small programming codes. But on the other hand, operating systems contain a vast number of programming codes. - The OS is suitable to execute high-level tasks from the device. The firmware is suitable for low-level operating within the device. - The firmware is also a single-purpose code designed for a particular part of the hardware. Although, the OS is a multi-purpose code designed to perform dynamic tasks using it. \|Firmware\|\|Operating system (OS)\| \|Meaning\|\|Firmware is the part of the programming language code embedded within a particular hardware part of the computing device.\|\|The operating system is the foundational layer in the computing device or computer. It helps the users interact without knowing any programming language.\| \|Residing\|\|The firmware resides either in RAM or the ROM; it mainly exists in the ROM of the computer devices or computing machines.\|\|On the other hand, the operating system resides or exists in the storage disk of the computing machine. The storage device can either be a hard disk or a solid disk.\| \|Generally, the firmware files are small; hence, the firmware requires only a small amount of code to keep it functional.\|\|Mainly, the operating system carries vast files full of essential coding sets. In short, it is the set of the vast coded program in the programming language.\| \|The purpose of the firmware is to handle particular hardware components. Hence, these are single-purpose codes coded to control one device.\|\|However, the operating system is a multi-purpose program designed to control multiple parts of the computer. It mostly has control over all hardware components. Hence, it is a multi-purpose program, as it can execute multiple tasks at a time.\| \|Code\|\|The firmware also has fixed codes, and it can not be modified or updated.\|\|Whereas the operating system does not have a fixed set of codes. And it gets updated daily, so the user gets an optimized working experience.\| \|Function\|\|The firmware is designed to perform low-level tasks. Such as instructing the keyboard to type the key or function based on the user’s command.\|\|The function of an OS is to control the hardware of the device and balance it with other software. So, it can be the desired environment, and the user can access all this information without facing any issues. Hence, the operating systems are primarily performing high-level tasks.\| \|Examples\|\|Examples of devices that contain firmware are routers, ovens, video cards, keyboards, washing machines, fridges, etc.\|\|Apple iOS, Mac, Windows, Android, Linux, and Ubuntu are examples of operating systems.\| So, here in this post, we tried to understand the difference between firmware and OS or operating systems. We covered all important things to understand the fundamental differences between these two. Hence, we hope you now have sound knowledge of how the firmware and operating systems are different. Also, you learned significant differences that will help you clarify that firmware is not the software, but it is near to software. Thus, keep learning about similar topics to build immense knowledge about computer networking. For this, you can stay tuned to our blog as we keep posting interesting posts.
In the past 20 years, we have seen several viral outbreaks including Ebola, Swine Flu, SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV. Due to the increased number of animal virus outbreaks in humans, wastewater surveillance is an effective method to discover and track viral infections in humans. Being effective and cheaper than mass testing, wastewater testing is essential as an early screening system. The SARS-CoV-2 virus can remain infectious for days and even longer in sewage and drinking water. Viruses can be transmitted through coughing or sneezing but they can also be transported in microscopic water droplets or aerosols. Airborne transmission via aerosols can occur over an extended distance and time. Viruses present in aerosols can deposit directly along the human respiratory tract. Traces of Covid-19 have been detected in sewage treatment plants throughout the world. It is expected that this will be ongoing where there are active cases in the community. Although there has been no report of faecal-oral transmission, it is conceivable that it can become a channel of transmission if the wastewater is not treated properly or dispersed above ground. Previous studies have shown that the virus can survive in wastewater for hours and even days without disinfection, and there have been reports[iv] that indicated sewage was a cause for the spread of SARS in Hong Kong in 2003. However, chlorine dosing, similar to that employed at the MWRD’s Calumet, Egan, Hanover Park and Kirie Water Reclamation Plants (WRPs), has been said to be “sufficient to control the virus,” according to WEF. Millions of Australians have installed on-site sewage facilities (OSF) in their homes. In Queensland alone, we have over 300,000 on-site sewerage systems like septic systems and aerated wastewater treatment plants. These systems use pumps and mechanical systems to treat sewage and disperse the treated effluent above the ground. While many OSF are usually not well-maintained and may not be able to kill bacteria and viruses and the quality of resulting treated wastewater as such cannot be guaranteed. These systems may potentially become a source of contamination if not managed correctly. Regular maintenance is crucial to ensure that the system is working properly and removing the pathogens before above-ground dispersal. Unless your system is well-maintained, you cannot guarantee the quality of effluent or know if there’s any viable virus present in the system or not. Wastewater should be treated in a properly designed and well-maintained system to ensure there's minimum risk of spreading and catching a potentially infectious disease. Ensure you get your OSF system tested and pumped out regularly by a licensed wastewater professional.
Brahman ［婆羅門］ (, Pali brāhmana; baramon): Also, Brahmin. A member of the priestly class, the highest of the four castes in ancient India. The other three were the Kshatriya, the military or ruling class; the Vaishya, or class of peasants, merchants, and artisans; and the Shūdra, or slave class. The Brahmans retained exclusive rights over the administration of religious matters such as instruction on the Vedas and performance of rites and rituals. Since Brahmanism held that the accumulation of merit and the gods’ beneficence depended upon the correct performance of rituals, this right invested the Brahmans with tremendous social authority. Their ascendancy over the other castes was secured in the later Vedic period, from around 1000 b.c.e. through 500 b.c.e. During this period, an agricultural society developed in the Ganges Valley, and rituals assumed great importance. The Brahmans formed a detailed system of rites and held sole claim over their administration. By the time of Shakyamuni, however, a flourishing of commerce and industry was under way, and many cities had appeared. As powerful monarchic states were formed, the Kshatriya and Vaishya classes rose in social standing, and the authority of the Brahmans declined proportionately.
The technique uses the paraxial approximation of ray optics, i.e., all rays are assumed to be at a small angle (θ) to the optical axis of the system. The approximation is valid as long as sin(θ)≈θ (where θ is measured in radians). The technique is based on two reference planes perpendicular to the optical axis of the system. At the first plane, a light ray crosses the plane at a distance x1 from the optical axis at an angle θ1. Some distance along the optical axis, at the second plane, the ray crosses at distance x2 and an angle θ2. These quantities are related by the expression: For example, if there is free space between the two planes, the ray transfer matrix is given by: RTM analysis is particularly used when modelling the behaviour of light in optical resonators, such as those used in lasers. At its simplest, an optical resonator consists of two identical facing mirrors of 100% reflectivity and radius of curvature R, separated by some distance d. For the purposes of ray tracing, this is equivalent to a series of identical thin lenses of focal length f=R/2, each separated from the next by length d. This construction is known as a lens duct or lens waveguide. The RTM of each section of the waveguide is thus M=LS as shown above, substituting f=R/2. RTM analysis can now be used to determine the stability of the waveguide (and equivalently, the resonator). That is, it can be determined under what conditions light travelling down the waveguide will be periodically refocussed and stay within the waveguide. To do so, we can find all ray vectors where the output of each section of the waveguide is equal to the input vector multiplied by some real or complex constant λ: After N passes through the system, we have: The technique may be generalised for more complex resonators by constructing a suitable matrix M for the cavity from the matrices of the components present. The matrix formalism is also useful to describe Gaussian optics. If we have a Gaussian beam of wavelength λ, radius of curvature R and beam radius ω, it is possible to define a "complex beam parameter" q by:
Researchers from Radboud university medical center have developed a set of growth charts for the brain. These ‘brain charts’ provide reference models for brain development and ageing across the entire human lifespan, based on a very large data set. These models can be used to make personalized predictions for each individual relevant to many brain conditions, and therefore have a high clinical potential. The software tools and models are available online. The work has been published in eLife. “Nearly everybody is familiar with the growth charts used to measure child development, for example the growth charts developed by the World Health Organization,” says Andre Marquand, a researcher at the department of Cognitive Neuroscience of Radboud university medical center. “These models are being used worldwide to assess the development of children, for instance by plotting body weight or height as a function of age. Pediatricians plot the development of an individual child against variation in the population provided by these growth charts, in order to detect, for example, developmental delay.” The researchers now provide the same thing for the brain: a growth chart to assess brain development and aging, not only for children, but across the lifespan from ages two to 100. “We have analyzed high resolution MRI images from nearly 60.000 people from around 80 MRI scanners all over the world,” explains Saige Rutherford, PhD candidate and first author. “We used measures of the volume of different brain structures or the thickness of the cerebral cortex at different ages and created growth charts for every brain region. In this way, we created a fine-grained atlas of the human brain throughout life.” Alterations in brain structure These models enable predictions at the level of an individual person about brain growth and ageing, with respect to population norms. Marquand: “This provides a reference model to map variation across individuals and can be used to help understand many different brain-based conditions, like ADHD, schizophrenia, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.” These models have many uses: they can be helpful to detect alterations in brain structure that might indicate the emergence of a mental disorder at a very early stage. The models can assess if a region in the brain is thicker or thinner than it ought to be for an individual compared to the average for this life stage. But it is also useful for stratification of mental disorders. For example, finding commonalities between individuals that might describe different subtypes of disorders, or in the future to identify individuals that could respond to certain treatments. In addition, the model enables tracking of disease progression over time, and also monitoring the effect of a treatment. A reference model for the brain like this has not been available before. The models and also the software to use them are made freely available online to the community. “We use an established software pipeline called ‘Freesurfer’ to measure the volume and thickness of brain structures,” explains Marquand. “This pipeline is used by thousands of hospitals worldwide, so they can easily get the measures they need and use our software to determine how a group of their own patients or study participants can be placed within the population.” In the near future, Marquand thinks the software could be of great use in clinical studies. “If you want to investigate a new medication against a certain brain-based condition, for example Alzheimer’s disease, you could use our software to identify subjects with a particular profile, such as early stage degeneration. This could function like a ‘brain-based fingerprint’ which could make research more efficient by making it easier to detect differences between groups of people. Eventually, such tools might also be helpful in the clinic to target medications or interventions precisely to the people that need them.” Example of a growth chart developed by the researchers. This growth chart shows the volume of the amygdala, a region of the brain frequently associated with emotions. The amygdala was measured with MRI in many individuals at different ages. All data were plotted and show the average volume of the amygdala and the variation in the population from ages two to 100. About the publication This research was published in eLife (link): Charting Brain Growth and Aging at High Spatial Precision. Saige Rutherford, Charlotte Fraza, Richard Dinga, Seyed Mostafa Kia, Thomas Wolfers, Mariam Zabihi, Pierre Berthet, Amanda Worker, Serena Verdi, Derek Andrews, Laura Han, Johanna Bayer, Paola Dazzan, Phillip McGuire, Roel T. Mocking, Aaart Schene, Brenda W. Pennix, Chandra Sripada, Ivy F. Tso, Elizabeth R. Duval, Soo-Eun Chang, Mary Heitzeg, S. Alexandra Burt, Luke Hyde, David Amaral, Christine Wu Nordahl, Ole A. Andreasssen, Lars T. Westlye, Roland Zahn, Henricus G. Ruhe, Christian Beckmann, Andre F. Marquand. Related news items Dogma broken: sex differences in XLMTM mapped out Women also experience muscle symptoms due to genetic disorder X-linked MTM6 October 2022 For a long time, healthcare professionals thought that only men could suffer from XLMTM, a serious muscle disease that is inherited via the X chromosome. It now appears that women with this genetic defect are also prone to this disease.read more
ON THIS PAGE: You will find some basic information about these diseases and the parts of the body they may affect. This is the first page of Cancer.Net’s Guide to Laryngeal and Hypopharyngeal Cancer. To see other pages, use the menu on the side of your screen. Think of that menu as a roadmap to this full guide. About the larynx The larynx, commonly called the voice box, is a tube-shaped organ in the neck. It is located at the top of the windpipe or trachea. The front walls protrude from the neck to form what most people call the Adam’s apple. The larynx is important for breathing, talking, and swallowing. It contains the vocal folds (vocal cords) that vibrate to make sound for speech production. During breathing, the larynx opens like a valve to allow air to pass into the lungs. During swallowing, the vocal folds come together and, with a flap of tissue called the epiglottis, protect the airway and prevent food from entering to the lungs. There are three parts of the larynx: Glottis. The middle section that holds the vocal folds. Supraglottis. The area above the vocal folds. Subglottis. The area below the vocal folds that connects the larynx to the windpipe. About the hypopharynx The hypopharynx, also called the gullet, is the lower part of the throat. It surrounds the larynx. The pharynx, more commonly known as the throat, is a hollow tube about five inches long that starts behind the nose (nasopharynx) and ends at the level of the larynx (laryngopharynx). The pharynx leads into the esophagus, which is the tube that goes to the stomach. About cancer in the larynx or hypopharynx Cancer can develop in any part of the larynx or hypopharynx. Cancer begins when healthy cells change and grow uncontrollably, forming a mass called a tumor. A tumor can be cancerous or benign. A cancerous tumor is malignant, meaning it can grow and spread to other parts of the body. A benign tumor means the tumor can grow but will not spread. About 95% of all cancers of the larynx and hypopharynx are categorized as squamous cell carcinomas. This means they began in the flat, squamous cells that form the linings of these organs. Normal Larynx Tissue Click to Enlarge Larynx - Squamous Cell Carcinoma Click to Enlarge These images used with permission by the College of American Pathologists. Laryngeal and hypopharyngeal cancers are two of the main types of cancer in the head and neck region, a grouping called head and neck cancer. This section covers both laryngeal cancer and hypopharyngeal cancer because treatments are often similar; however, these are two separate types of cancer. Go to the Medical Illustrations page to see a drawing of these structures. Looking for More of an Overview? If you would like additional introductory information, explore these related items. Please note these links will take you to other sections on Cancer.Net: ASCO Answers Fact Sheet: Read a one-page fact sheet (available as a PDF) that offers an easy-to-print introduction to these types of cancer. Cancer.Net Patient Education Video: View a short video led by an ASCO expert in head and neck cancers that provides basic information and areas of research. The next section in this guide is Statistics, and it helps explain how many people are diagnosed with these types of cancer and general survival rates. Or, use the menu on the side of your screen to choose another section to continue reading this guide.
Yayınevi: John Wiley Yayın tarihi: 02/1987 Ciltli \| İngilizce \| 336 Sayfa \| 17,6x25,6x2,21 cm. This book discusses a broad range of statistical design and analysis methods that are particularly well suited to pollution data. It explains key statistical techniques in easy-to-comprehend terms and uses practical examples, exercises, and case studies to illustrate procedures. Dr. Gilbert begins by discussing a space-time framework for sampling pollutants. He then shows how to use statistical sample survey methods to estimate average and total amounts of pollutants in the environment, and how to determine the number of field samples and measurements to collect for this purpose. Then a broad range of statistical analysis methods are described and illustrated. These include: * determining the number of samples needed to find hot spots * analyzing pollution data that are lognormally distributed * testing for trends over time or space * estimating the magnitude of trends * comparing pollution data from two or more populations New areas discussed in this sourcebook include statistical techniques for data that are correlated, reported as less than the measurement detection limit, or obtained from field-composited samples. Nonparametric statistical analysis methods are emphasized since parametric procedures are often not appropriate for pollution data. This book also provides an illustrated comprehensive computer code for nonparametric trend detection and estimation analyses as well as nineteen statistical tables to permit easy application of the discussed statistical techniques. In addition, many publications are cited that deal with the design of pollution studies and the statistical analysis of pollution data. This sourcebook will be a useful tool for applied statisticians, ecologists, radioecologists, hydrologists, biologists, environmental engineers, and other professionals who deal with the collection, analysis, and interpretation of pollution in air, water, and soil.
Lunar meteorites represent a more random sampling of lunar material than the Apollo or Luna collections and, as such, lunar meteorite impact melt ages are the most important data in nearly 30 years with which to reexamine the lunar cataclysm hypothesis. Within the lunar meteorite breccias MAC 88105, QUE 93069, DaG 262, and DaG 400, seven to nine different impact events are represented with 40Ar-39Ar ages between 2.76 and 3.92 billion years ago (Ga). The lack of impact melt older than 3.92 Ga supports the concept of a short, intense period of bombardment in the Earth-moon system at ~3.9 Ga. This was an anomalous spike of impact activity on the otherwise declining impact-frequency curve. ASJC Scopus subject areas
This guest post was written by Luke Raymond. You can read below about how he has adapted the game ‘Codenames’ into a vocabulary practice and revision game. He has only used it with upper intermediate adults and teens so far, but thinks it could be adapted for most levels and ages. Its best use is as a general vocabulary revision. I have used this game several times over the past few months with an FCE group ranging in age from 14 to 40. We would add new vocabulary to cards throughout the year so we ended up with a stack of mixed vocabulary items, which turned out to be perfect for this game. To play this game, you need a set of cards with your target vocabulary on them (the yellow cards pictured below). An optional extra is to have definitions on the back of the cards, but this is not necessary. You also need a teacher’s card (or set of teacher’s cards) which represents the board (the 5×5 grids pictured below). Before playing, split students into pairs and give each pair a set of the word cards to revise. After a few minutes of revision, each pair choose several words until you have 25 as a class. Ask students to choose words they need more practice with. Then lay the cards down on a flat surface with the words face up in a 5×5 grid. Once your board is laid out, split the students into two teams, a red team and a blue team, and ask for one volunteer from each group. These students come to the front and look at the teacher’s card. The teacher’s card shows a representation of the 5×5 board with 8 of the cards coloured in blue and 8 coloured in red. The four teacher cards pictured below have an additional black square which is explained at the end. How to play The students who can see the teacher’s card must take it in turns to give a one-word clue for one or more of the words on the cards that match their colour. The student must say how many words their definition applies to. Their team must guess the word or words they have defined. For example, the word to be guessed might be ‘park’, and the student might give ‘grass’ as a clue and say ‘one’ as the number of cards it is a clue for. Maybe the words the student wants their team to guess are ‘car’ and ‘bus’, in which case the student may give ‘vehicle’ as their clue and ‘two’ for the number of cards. For the guessing part, it is important that the student’s team decides on which card or cards they are going for before they announce them as otherwise they will suggest some answers and see how their teammate responds. Once they have decided which card or cards they are going for, these cards are turned over, no matter if they are blue, red or blank. This process continues until one team has turned over all of their cards. Therefore, players must be careful not to give clues which will cause their team to choose the opposition’s cards. It can be difficult for students to think of one-word clues which apply to more than one word so you may want to remove this option and make it always for one word. You could also allow students to give full definitions rather than one-word clues to make the game easier. Students also tend to take their time either thinking of clues or deciding which card to choose, so think about introducing time limits if this happens. By making a variety of teacher’s cards, you can play this game again and again and with different sets of vocabulary. Generally, the game took around 15 to 30 minutes to play and my students often wanted to play a second time. At the end of the game you can look through any of the words that the students defined incorrectly or struggled with. With larger classes you could play the game once with the whole class and then divide the class into groups of 6 once they understand how to play. If you would like to focus on a smaller set of vocabulary, or play a shorter version of the game, you could play with 3×3 grids, instead of 5×5. For an added challenge, you can add one black square to each grid. If a team chooses the black card then they lose the game instantly. Thanks to Luke for writing this guest post. I’m definitely going to be experimenting with this myself when term starts. For more game adaptations check out: - Monikers – another vocabulary revision game - Wits and Wagers – an error correction game - Pictionary for Lexical Chunks
An ecosystem is comprised of all living things that share an environment, from plants and animals to microscopic organisms. Everything in an ecosystem has an important role that brings balance, continuity, and beauty. The Amazon rainforest is the most extensive tropical forest on Earth, with the highest density of plant and animal species anywhere. The Amazon provides essential ecosystem services, stabilizing the world’s rainfall patterns and storing massive amounts of carbon that mitigate climate change. These forests are also home to millions of indigenous people. Learn more. Andean Cloud Forests The Andean cloud forests hold the highest number of endemic species – plants and animals that are found nowhere else in the world. Many biologists consider these forests to be the world’s greatest conservation priority, due to the sheer number of species and high degree of threat. Learn more. Páramo grasslands are high-altitude ecosystems situated above the timberline but below the permanent snow line. Their vegetation is composed mainly of grasses, shrubs, and giant rosette plants. Recently, we have seen a surge in interest by municipal governments to protect these landscapes in order to secure a clean water supply for their people. Learn more. Deciduous Fragrant Forests Tropical deciduous forests are dense during the wet summer, but during the dry winter the leaves fall and the canopy opens up, resulting in a wide array of uniquely adapted species. We work with local communities to conserve these fragile forests, with many rare and endemic species, while creating livelihoods for local people. Learn more. Marine, Coastal and Wetlands Mangroves, estuaries, lagoons, and oceans support the complex webs of life that sustain marine fisheries and provide the freshwater to form wetlands. They are also significant for their marine biodiversity and critical for migratory birds. The Ecuadorian, Colombian,and Peruvian marine areas where we work are some of the richest on Earth. Learn more.
A high proportion (a mean of 50%; see Table 7-1) of the region's population lives in urban areas; the region contains 2 of the world's 25 megacities (Karachi, with a population of 9.9 million, and Istanbul, with a population of 7.5 million) (WRI, 1996). In many countries in the Middle East, rapid urbanization has increased the demand for resources, along with waste generation and management problems (UNEP, 1997). With increasing urbanization, problems of urban poverty, access to clean water and sanitation, food security, and air pollution-and thus general health-are issues that will have to be considered. In Middle Eastern countries, most urban houses have running water (approximately 90% of the population surveyed), as well as some sort of sewer and septic system for sewage disposal (WRI, 1996); rural areas, however, are not so well served. Industrial development has resulted in major pollution problems in some countries, especially in the Middle East. Water and air pollution have affected the health of the population. Pesticide and herbicide use in agriculture also have increased, leading to contamination of food and water. Political unrest has caused large populations to migrate to marginal lands, leading to further land degradation and water resource problems. In addition, the expansion of urban areas has encroached on some of the most productive lands, especially in countries in the Middle East-thus increasing the agricultural use of marginal lands. The introduction of modern production techniques, combined with industrialization, has had a negative impact on the lifestyles of nomadic populations in parts of the region. As a result of land degradation, there has been an increase in migration to urban areas, which has been detrimental to rural and urban areas (UNEP, 1997). Although no specific studies of the effects of climate change on urbanization have been done for this region, it is likely that increased land degradation and intensification of agricultural systems will continue to increase population movement to urban centers. In general, decreasing rainfall will lead to a decrease in the production of biomass, which remains a major component of fuel use in some countries of the region. In some countries, population growth and land degradation may make adaptation necessary even before climate change becomes perceptible. Adaptation could take the form of either switching to new fuels or more efficient production and conversion of biomass (IPCC 1996, WG II, Section 16.2.3). It has been suggested that saline lands in coastal zones and arid regions could produce biomass using halophyte species. Although halophytes could assist in slowing degradation or rehabilitating degraded arid lands, their productivity is too low for them to be a significant source of biomass (IPCC 1996, WG II, Section 25.3.2). The region contains major fossil fuel reserves; it produced 14% of the world's energy in 1993 (Table 7-1). The energy sector in the region encompasses a range of activities, including coal, oil, and natural gas production; coke manufacture; production of refined petroleum products; and production of biomass fuels and renewable energy. Traditional fuels (e.g., fuelwood, animal dung, and crop residues) account for only 6% of the energy used in the region as a whole, compared with the world average of 12-15%. Nevertheless, up to 70% of the domestic energy consumption in some countries of the region (e.g., Afghanistan) is derived from traditional fuels. In terms of the future economy of the region, oil exports from the Middle East are projected to decline absolutely but to grow as a percentage of global oil consumption-from about 20% in 1990 to more than 25% in 2025 and 33% in 2100. Total energy exports from the Middle East will double between 1990 and 2050, before declining to their 1990 level by the year 2100 (IPCC 1996, WG II, Figure 19-14). The Middle East is expected to increase its exports of natural gas and hydrogen derived from natural gas and solar electricity via electrolysis (IPCC 1996, WG II, Section 19.2.5). The sensitivity of industry to climate change is widely believed to be low in relation to that of natural ecosystems and agriculture, and its adaptability is high. Other reports in this collection
A successful Museum visit with kids starts with preparation. Review the Museum Guidelines with your kids before you visit. Most importantly, our "six-inch rule" asks that visitors stay a dollar bill's length away from the art. Showing your kids a bill may help them understand this concept. Ask children questions. Discuss artworks that attract you and your child. You can always start by saying, “I wonder what’s going on in this picture; what do you think? What do you see that makes you say that? What do you think will happen next in this picture? Why? Would you want to visit the place shown in this picture?” With abstract works of art, it can be fun to ask children to think of a name for the artwork. Compare your answer with the one on the label. Discuss which name you like better. Games and activities are allowed at the Museum. Old standards like “I Spy” are a great way to get kids to focus on details in artworks. For very young children, ask them to look for shapes, colors, animals, or people. Older kids could search for things that begin with a specific letter, or even an action taking place in an artwork. Bring a pad of paper and a pencil (not a pen). For children who like to write or draw, you can play this either by making a sketch of the item once it is found, or by having them draw or write something for you to find. We hope these ideas help you get started! If you would like further assistance, contact the Museum Education Department at 413.585.2781 or [email protected].
Aging & Health A to Z Basic Facts & Information Anemia is a condition that results when you have low numbers of red blood cells. These cells carry oxygen to your body’s organs and tissues. This can happen due to a number of reasons. Anemia is a common condition in older adults, although it’s not caused by normal aging. And it has many causes, including some you can control. For example, in older people, a poor diet can lead to anemia. Types of Anemia Iron is one of the main building blocks for red blood cell production. Iron in the body can be too low if you are bleeding and losing iron faster than you can replace it, if your body doesn't absorb iron from your food, or if you don't eat enough food that contains iron. Low iron is a very common reason for blood cell counts to be low. Anemia of Chronic Disease Anemia of chronic disease is a result of chronic inflammation caused by ongoing infections, tissue damage, various forms of arthritis, benign or malignant tumors, or a variety of chronic medical conditions. Pernicious anemia occurs when you do not have enough vitamin B12 or folate. This type of anemia happens when your red blood cells are destroyed by disease. Updated: March 2012 Posted: March 2012
This workbook focuses on the action of inclusion and how we can work together to create communities that are accepting of everyone. A fantastic resource for elementary school students (grades 6-8) and high school students (grades 7-12), our Inspiring Inclusive Communities Student Leadership Workbook poses the following questions: - What is inclusion? - What is an inclusive school community? - What does an inclusive school community look like? - Why is an inclusive school community important? The workbook includes a sample discussion guide that students can use to initiate a dialogue on how their school community can improve its efforts to ensure that everyone feels welcome and accepted and that everyone is learning together. The workbook also includes a planning tool to assist a school to make a difference through action. To purchase the Inspiring Inclusive Communities: School Leadership Workbook, click here.
Over the last 5 million years, there was a dramatic shift in climate from global warmth to an ice age state with glaciations reoccurring every 100 – 40 thousand years. The causes of this shift and of the oscillating glacial cycles are not well understood. Expedition 323 to the Bering Sea collected sediments from this relatively isolated sea that can be used to examine the extent and causes of these past climate changes. Far below the destructive forces of weather, on the ocean floor, there are sediments that record the history of past climate changes. The fossils of life forms within the collected sediments that rest on the ocean floor are the basis of paleoceanographic studies. But how do we get to these sediments? THE JR and her Integrated Ocean Drilling Program sister ships are specially designed to sample the ocean’s microfossil record. During Expedition 323 a team of about 35 scientists, 25 technicians and the 60 members of the crew of the JR worked together to drill and study cores of sediment around 7 sites in key locations in the Bering Sea. In addition to our own blogs, several expedition scientists posted their experiences on other sites. - Hirofumi Asahi, a sedimentologist with the Ocean Research Institute at the University of Tokyo, Japan and his colleagues blogged in Japanese at: http://blog.canpan.info/hadeep/ - Dr. Sev Kender, a micropaleontologist from the British Geological Survey blogged on his experiences as part of 323 at http://www.getjealous.com/Sevkender
What is giardiasis? Giardiasis is an infection caused by a parasite called Giardia lamblia. Giardiasis has a worldwide distribution and is a common cause of diarrhea in the United States. Who gets giardiasis? Anyone can get giardiasis, but children are infected more frequently than adults. Persons who drink untreated water also are at greater risk of becoming infected with Giardia. Where are Giardia organisms found? - Humans are the main host of Giardia, but Giardia cysts can also be found in: - Other domestic and wild animals - Giardia cysts are also found in lakes and streams contaminated with feces from an infected animal or human. - Giardia may also be present in areas of poor sanitation, and child care centers with children who are not toilet trained. How is giardiasis spread? - Giardia is passed in the feces of an infected person or animal and may contaminate food or water. - The disease can spread from person-to-person in child care centers, especially those that care for children who are not toilet trained. - Backpackers, campers and hunters may get giardiasis by drinking directly from lakes or streams, even though the water may appear very clean. What are the symptoms of giardiasis? The most common symptoms of giardiasis include: - Mild or severe diarrhea with loose and pale greasy stools - Stomach cramps - Weight loss - Fever is rare Some people may not become ill, but may still transmit their infection. Young children often have no symptoms. (Children in child care centers may often be infected, but do not need treatment unless they get diarrhea.) How soon do symptoms appear? Diarrhea usually begins within seven to 10 days, but may be as early as five days or as late as 25 days after infection with Giardia. How long can an infected person spread Giardia? The disease can be spread as long as the infected person excretes cysts. Treatment may shorten length of time. What is the treatment for giardiasis? Anti-parasitic medication is often given to treat giardiasis. Some people recover without treatment. Does everyone infected with giardia need to be treated? Should an infected person be excluded from work or school? - Children with diarrhea should not attend a child care facility. They may return when diarrhea stops. - Food handlers and child care workers who have giardiasis must test negative for Giardia lamblia cysts before returning to work. What can be done to stop the spread of giardiasis? Some general guidelines are: - Carefully wash hands after using the toilet or changing diapers. - Dispose of sewage properly so water sources will not be infected. - Do not drink water that has not been properly treated. - When camping, boil your water before drinking. Where can I get more information? Contact your doctor or the Southern Nevada Health District, Office of Epidemiology at (702) 759-1300. Updated on: August 17, 2018
- Learn Linux - Learn Electronics - Raspberry Pi - LPI certification - News & Reviews To get started with the basics of electronics we are going to look at a very basic circuit with a switch that can turn a light on and off. Okay this may not be exactly what you are hoping to achieve in terms of creating the latest computer controlled electronic gadget, but that will come a bit later. For the moment we need to look at the basics and learn to walk before we can run. Lets first look at some basics about electricity and how it works. I've kept this to the very minimum so that we can get on to creating our first circuit. We all know of electricity as the energy that makes our lights shine, powers the TV and for which the energy companies like to charge us lots of money for using, but to understand electronics we need to look at what electricity is. Essentially electricity is caused by subatomic particles called electrons which move around the electronic circuit interacting with the various components. The electrons always flow in a full circuit needing to get back to where they started (ie the battery), althoug as we will see to different terminals of that battery. This also sounds kind of complicated, but from the point of view of designing electronic circuits (rather than designing the components themselves) you don't need to go any deeper, but I will be referring to electrons again in future. With that out of the way we can now look at how we control these electrons. Electrons (ie. electricity) can move through some materials much more easily than others. The wires connecting the mains electricity to a mains appliance is normally made of copper as this allows the electrons to pass very easily, but to save you getting electrocuted every time you touch the power lead the copper wire is covered in a plastic coating which does not allow the electrons to pass through. Materials that allow the electrons to move easily are called conductors, whereas those that prevent electrons from flowing are called insulators. It is these properties that allow us to control where electricity is allowed to pass and to be able to turn devices on and off. The insulating properties of a material will differ depending upon the material and the thickness, so an appropriate insulator should always be used when dealing with electricity especially with mains electricity (see electrical safety section). Some common conductors and insulators are listed in the following table: \|Copper wire\|\|Most plastics\| \|Other metals\|\|Dry wood\| \|Tap / rain water*\|\|Glass and ceramics\| Note that I specifically mention tap and rain water rather than just water. Pure distilled water is actually an insulator, but the impurities in most water turns it into a conductor. Never operate live mains equipment near water or outside in the rain, unless the equipment is specifically designed for that purpose (see electrical safety section). There is another type of material called a semi-conductor whose properties can change between an insulator and a conductor under certain conditions, but we'll look more at semiconductors later when we get on to active components. This is an example of a real circuit used in battery operated torches. For any electronic circuit to work there must be a complete circuit. This means that there must be a connection made out of conducting material that goes in a circle from one terminal of the battery through the equipment and then back to the other terminal of the battery. If there is a gap at any point then we have air which is a bad conductor and as a result nothing will happen. This is how a switch works. When the switch is in the open position then it creates a break in the circuit and the light is off. When the switch is closed the metal contacts inside the switch join and complete the circuit. Press the switch button using your mouse to see the lamp light up. The picture that you can see is known as a circuit diagram or a schematic diagram. This is the standard way of showing an electronic circuit so that you can see how the circuit should work. Each component has its own symbol which indicates what it's function is. There are a number of different electronic component circuit symbols in the electronics reference section. The symbol on the left is for a battery, at the top there is the symbol for a switch and at the right the circle with a cross in it is the symbol for an lamp (or indicator lamp). Note that when a circuit is created there is often a component layout diagram which shows how the components are installed onto the circuit board. This is useful if you are creating a replica of a circuit that has already been designed, but it is the schematic (circuit diagram) that is most useful for understanding how and why a circuit works as it does. Unfortunately circuit diagrams / schematics do not always look exactly the same as there are differences in the circuit symbols used depending upon region and preference. For example the resistor in the IEC circuit symbols is shown as a rectangle, but in the US a resistor is normally shown as a zig-zag line. In most cases the differences are only small and it's still possible to recognise the symbol even if it is not the one you are familiar with, but in the worst case it usually means there are a couple of extra symbols to remember / look-up. The picture representation of the switch is not part of the circuit diagram but is provided as a means to interact with the circuit. Also circuit diagrams are normally static and the switch symbol would not normally change to the closed position, or the lamp change colour. This interactive circuit diagram is written in the Processing programming language. You need a recent working Java plug-in to be able to view this demonstration. If this does not load correctly look for "Active Content" blocked and enable if necessary. Please view the copyright information regarding use of the circuits.
Common Core State Standards require that students read at complex levels. Guiding students through these increasingly complex materials can be daunting for teachers of mixed ability students, special education students, English Language Learners, and students considered to be Level 1 and Level 2 readers. Some students do not have the same ability as their classmates; other students lack the motivation needed to read complex texts. Still others are hampered by negative attitudes toward reading. Among the several strategies teachers can use to motivate reluctant readers is keeping a growth mindset at the forefront of their thinking. Carol Dweck's work on growth mindset is described in her book, Mindset. Dweck describes the growth mindset as the belief that regardless of talents, aptitudes, interests, or temperaments, "everyone can change and grow through application and experience." Students must be explicitly taught how to embrace this mindset in the content areas. Unless they have fully embraced the growth mindset, they are vulnerable to academic and social stagnation , or worse, their abilities may decline in these areas. By the time students reach middle school , the enjoyment of reading, or lack thereof, has been instilled. As their minds become full of technology and social media, and academic expectations grow more complex, we must teach them how to approach reading in a positive way. Tackling a lackluster attitude may be enough to light the fire and give adolescents at least some desire to engage with the reading materials in each class. Each student is unique and has a different approach to reading. Teachers can begin to adjust their instruction to emphasize positive viewpoints on reading. Overemphasizing the difficulty of the text may shut down apprehensive readers. Instead, teachers might say a text is challenging, but then explain ways the class is going to strategize to understand the text. Rather than saying, "This is a really difficult text, so we need to pay attention to understand it," try saying, "This text is a challenging text, but we are going to look at different strategies to help us understand the content. These strategies will help us understand this text and make it easier to read other texts later this year because we all will know how to apply these strategies effectively." The latter statement helps students see how they can be successful. The language is more positive, which transfers to a positive classroom environment. Another way to address students' negative attitude toward reading is to refuse to allow it to permeate the classroom environment. When students make statements such as, "I don't like reading" or "Reading is boring" or "I'm not good at reading," teachers can introduce positive statements that help students see value in what they are reading: "It's okay not to like everything that you have read. Today, however, I would like us to think about how this text can help us understand the world. This will allow us to see why our textbook might have included this selection and help us locate other texts that may answer questions we have about the content of what we are reading." This generic statement can be modified for a specific text or content, but it may change a negative comment into a yearning for knowledge statement. Relating the text to something in an adolescent's world helps alter his or her mindset and delivers a sense of intrigue about a topic. Some texts in a prescribed curriculum may not relate to adolescents. If teachers take time to find additional text, related to first text or as an alternate text that appeals to the interests of students in their classroom, a reading resister may be more likely to engage with the content. Appealing to the interests of students is key to creating an equitable classroom as teachers form positive relationships with students and get to know them as individuals. This is also a way teachers can differentiate for the needs in the classroom. However, appealing to the interests alone may not be enough to engage students who resist reading. A fixed mindset is the opposite of a growth mindset. In a fixed mindset, students believe they have only what Dweck describes as a "certain amount of intelligence, a certain personality, and a certain moral character." Once this mindset takes root in a student's mind, it is difficult to shake. When a student determines he or she has failed at something, this belief tends to stick and the "I am not good at reading" and "I dislike reading" comments become reality statements rather than avoidance techniques. The belief of not being good at reading typically takes root in third or fourth grade and is particularly problematic at the middle school level. By the time students reach seventh or eighth grade, this mindset is creating a foundation that is academically dismal. However, challenging the adolescent fixed mindset regarding reading gives students the opportunity to change from taking a defeatist approach to learning to embrace the tools needed to be successful in the future. To address this mindset, educators must first recognize it exists. They also must believe a student is capable of reading complex material at the appropriate grade level. It's important to recognize that a fixed mindset will not change immediately. It takes persistence and patience to work with a student who has a "failure" response to reading. Providing students with adequate feedback can help them adjust their thinking patterns. It takes work to provide positive feedback, but it will pay off. Teachers can follow a simple formula to provide effective feedback: Area Addressed + Present Behavior + Future Implication. This formula can be adapted to any situation for any student. Before giving this type of feedback, the teacher must understand the root of the problem. For example, let's say a student is struggling to comprehend a particular text. The teacher may say, "It seems that you are having some trouble identifying the main idea of this text. I notice that when you read, you are skimming through one section and then moving on to another section. Try slowing down and when you come to the end of a section, identify any words or phrases that you may not know. I can help you understand these terms. If you continue to use this strategy, you will begin to answer some of these questions on your own and texts similar to this one will become easier to understand later in the semester." A teacher using the feedback formula might say, "I hear you say you are not good at reading. When we read in class, you seem to be able to follow along and you ask some great questions about the characters. Sometimes you don't know all the answers to these questions, and I think that is what is troubling you. When you can't find an answer, try re-reading the text. If you still don't know the answer after you have read the text, continue reading. The answer may come later in the text. If you become confused, let me know. Together, we can find these answers. When you are able to find these answers, and if you continue to question characters, you will be better prepared for the narrative we will be writing in our next unit." There are many reasons students enter our classrooms as reluctant readers. Initially, addressing these readers can be taxing; however, with the appropriate tools, educators can begin to change the mindset of resistant reader. John Helgeson has taught middle school students for 17 years. He is currently the Secondary English Instructional Specialist in the Northshore School District in Bothell, Washington. Published in AMLE Magazine , March 2016.
Bacteria grow on surfaces as layers called biofilms. Individual bacteria are too small to be clearly seen using a normal microscope but by using advanced microscopic techniques it is possible to see individual cells clearly. The electron microscope causes damage to the cells because the electron beam needs to operate in a vacuum and the cells need to be dried. However, using a new method called the environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) we see a layer of a polymer with individual cells projecting through it. It is possible to see individual bacteria (1-2 microns in length) just as they occur in nature. In fact, because each individual cell is surrounded by a layer of hydrated polymeric material, this obscures a lot of its surface detail. When a biofilm is viewed using ESEM we can see this surface layer with bacterial cells jutting through it but largely hidden from view. Biofilms are not just flat layers. They comprise a basal layer with long stacks of cells growing out from it. Water can flow between the stacks, suggesting a primitive circulatory system and biofilms have been likened to a tissue structure. A confocal microscope can image in three dimensions, allowing us to build up a picture of the 3-D structure of the stacks and channels. By growing the biofilm on a sponge it is possible to make a spongy, porous material which readily transports liquids through the pores to all parts of the biofilm. Water is visualised by using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which uses the signal from protons in the water to build up a 3-D image. The limit of resolution of MRI means that it is not possible to see the stacks and channels visible by confocal microscopy (up to 100 microns) but at the 100 micron level images can be obtained using MRI and confocal microscopy to cross-calibrate each other. In this way the depth of the hydrated biofilm can be measured. The major benefit of MRI is that it is possible to image flows in real time and space. For a system which is becoming progressively blocked, the flow will be going faster through the smaller spaces which remain unblocked and this will show up in the images. By processing MRI data it is possible to obtain quantitative information which helps us to design better bioreactors for harnessing the properties of the bacteria for useful activities. For example, these activities can be applied in the removal of pollutants from industrial flows. Biofilm and calcium phosphate coatings on the surface of polyurethane foam and Ti-discs Professor Lynne Macaskie, School of Biosciences Tel: 0121 414 5889
Infants & Brain Development According to mental health experts, both nature and nurture play a role in human development, and a child’s young brain responds to rich experiences, particularly in the first years of life. Good nutrition, positive mental stimulation in the form of toys, playmates, reading & music, and interaction with parents and caregivers all play important roles in healthy brain development. What can you do to give your child the best possible start in life? - Create a safe, secure home environment for your baby - Cuddle and love your child daily – you cannot spoil them with hugs - Interact with your baby: put a toy just out of reach and encourage your baby to crawl after it - Encourage your baby to play with toys appropriate for his age group - Read to your child - Sing songs and let him hear the sound of your voice - Have a childproof cupboard for baby – keep a few safe playthings inside like wooden spoons, plastic containers, and small towels. Crawling babies will like climbing in and out of the cupboard. - Play with your child – big, open boxes make fun tunnels to crawl through when taped together and they are inexpensive, often free toys. - Large balls are easiest for kids to kick. Roll a ball slowly towards your child and encourage her to kick it towards you – great for 2-4 yr. olds. - “Simon Says” is a fun game to help kids follow directions and try different types of moving. Have a good time and be silly with your kids. It’s also a good way to get a child who doesn’t want to go along to be more cooperative (great for ages 3-5) - Play with different shapes, colors, and textures – helps develops young minds. - Explore how things fit together and come apart. Children, Adolescents, & Mental Health Children of all ages can experience mental health problems. One in five children and adolescents, and one in ten teenagers may have a mental health problem at any given time. Almost two-thirds of all young people with mental health problems are not getting the help they need. Without help, these problems can lead to school failure, substance use, or family trouble. Exposure to violence, death, physical or sexual abuse, or neglect may lead to mental health problems in children. A child’s age, developmental stage, and ability to communicate can make it difficult to distinguish between a mental health problem and natural development. Some illnesses, such as anxiety disorders, eating disorders, mood disorders and schizophrenia, can occur in adults as well as children. Others, such as behavior and developmental disorders, elimination disorders, and learning and communication disorders, begin in childhood only, although they can continue into adulthood. It is not unusual for a child to have more than one disorder. What are some symptoms of mental illness in children or adolescents? Symptoms vary but may include: - Poor academic performance at school - Fights constantly - Worries all the time, sometimes about inappropriate subjects for children such as death or natural disasters - Patterns of repetitive activity, and these actions interfere with school, sleep, or appetite - Never laughs or smiles - Difficulty making friends because of aggressive or frightening behavior - Doesn’t listen to instructions - Drug or alcohol use - Child-like behavior which should have been outgrown, like clinging, wetting, or toilet accidents - Sexual behavior that is more than normal curiosity - Plays with fire - Intentionally hurts or is cruel to pets or other animals - Hears voices or sees things that aren’t there This information is provided to parents as a general guide, and is not meant to diagnose a specific condition or mental illness. Parents should seek advice of a medical professional, therapist, clinician, or counselor if they have specific health care questions or concerns.
According to Bruer, it is important to recognize the cumulative nature of development, emphasizing both early and later experiences in shaping children's growth. In several months, the infant will likely be able to grab a block with his or her whole hand. This is the principle of proximodistal development that also describes the direction of development. Evolutionary theory can also be used to understand human development in general and children's academic development in particular. Keeping the kitchen with nutritious foods and snacks, preparing healthy meals using a variety of ingredients, and staying physically active helps instill children with good habits that can last a lifetime. The reasons for this phenomenon still are not understood. In a frog embryo, gastrulation A produces a blastocoel displaced into the animal hemisphere. Early human development and the chief sources of information on staged human embryos. Palincsar, Annemarie Sullivan, and Brown, Ann L. A Piaget Primer: How a Child Thinks. It now becomes speech directed to oneself rather than speech that is regulated or directed by a more capable person. To cope with this conflict, children adopt the values and characteristics of the same-sex parent, thus forming the superego. In reciprocal reading and listening, the strategies are vocalized and made available to other learners. There are progressive changes in response to environmental conditions. Sequence of development refers to the order in which these milestones are met. New York: Cambridge University Press. While all of these scientists provided meaningful insights into the role of heredity and the environment, modern researchers have sought to further explore the dynamic interactions between nature and nurture that shape human development. Erikson proposed a lifespan model of development, taking in five stages up to the age of 18 years and three further stages beyond, well into adulthood. Reading, for example, is a complex skill consisting of numerous components, and information-processing methods have been useful for identifying and measuring these components. Tools of the Mind: A Case Study of Implementing the Vygotskian Approach in American Early Childhood and Primary Classrooms. Principles of Development are follows; This is called the cephalocaudal principle. New research, such as that reported in 2000 by Susan E. Gaining independence and a sense initiative is also important during this age, and self-feeding can help foster these qualities. However it is important to understand that although the sequence remains generally the same, the development rate can change considerably and many other factors such as individual growth patterns, social background, health and nutrition, disability and learning difficulties can have an effect. However, the essential core patterns of growth and development remain more or less the same and take place in an orderly way. Some researchers take a more formal approach: They implement their theories of cognitive development as computer programs. These changes assist children to improve their thinking abilities and motor skills. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Information processing is not a theory of cognition but rather a general framework that comprises a family of theories sharing certain core assumptions. By providing children with a variety of food options, parents can help encourage kids to form healthy habits and make good food choices throughout life. Furthermore, the finding that intellectual curiosity is a basic dimension of human personality suggests that there will be many intellectually curious individuals who will pursue secondary activities. These interactions are not limited to actual people but also involve cultural artifacts, mainly language-based written languages, number systems, various signs, and symbols. Pickering, is beginning to link developmental change and individual differences in cognitive performance to changes in these components of working memory. Freud believed that the primary focus of the libido was on controlling bladder and bowel movements. The chart enables to provide a structure or picture that can measure where a child might be in need of support or extension. Some develop interests in social service and spend their time in financial planning, reading, travelling, visiting religious places and enjoying nature. The length of time between the cause and the effect is too long to assume that there is a relationship between the two variables. The infant lifts and turns the head before he or she can turn over. Michael Cole and Irving Maltzman. Examples of developmental services include: speech therapy, physical therapy, and developmental preschool. Teachers want their students to answer problems correctly, but measuring achievement only in terms of correct answers can be misleading: Often children can answer a problem correctly but for the wrong reasons, or incorrectly but for reasons that make sense. It is important to remember that development is often split into different areas but are connected and linked with one another. All knowledge and skill, all habits, good and bad, all acquaintances with people and things, all attitudes built up in your dealing with people and things have been learned. In general, the neo-Piagetian perspective expands upon Piagetian theory by asserting that, while some general constraints or core capacities are hard-wired at birth, learning and experience lead to variation and domain-specificity in the acquisition of knowledge and skills. It does, however, mean that it is very unlikely that the mastery of many secondary domains e. The gray crescent divides the dorsal-ventral axis into new cells.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - View original article \|Brown Falcon (Falco berigora)\| About 37; see text. \|Brown Falcon (Falco berigora)\| About 37; see text. Adult falcons have thin tapered wings, which enable them to fly at high speed and to change direction rapidly. Fledgling falcons, in their first year of flying, have longer flight feathers, which makes their configuration more like that of a general-purpose bird such as a broadwing. This makes it easier to fly while learning the exceptional skills required to be effective hunters as adults. Peregrine Falcons have been recorded diving at speeds of 200 miles per hour (320 km/h), making them the fastest-moving creatures on Earth. Other falcons include the Gyrfalcon, Lanner Falcon, and the Merlin. Some small falcons with long narrow wings are called hobbies, and some which hover while hunting are called kestrels. The falcons are part of the family Falconidae, which also includes the caracaras, Laughing Falcon, forest falcons, and falconets. The traditional term for a male falcon is tercel (British spelling) or tiercel (American spelling), from Latin tertius = third because of the belief that only one in three eggs hatched a male bird. Some sources give the etymology as deriving from the fact that a male falcon is approximately one third smaller than the female (Old French tiercelet). A falcon chick, especially one reared for falconry, that is still in its downy stage is known as an eyas (sometimes spelt eyass). The word arose by mistaken division of Old French un niais, from Latin presumed nidiscus ("nestling", from nidus = nest). The technique of hunting with trained captive birds of prey is known as falconry. As is the case with many birds of prey, falcons have exceptional powers of vision; the visual acuity of one species has been measured at 2.6 times that of a normal human. In February 2005, the Canadian ornithologist Louis Lefebvre announced a method of measuring avian intelligence in terms of a bird's innovation in feeding habits. The falcon and corvids scored highest on this scale. Compared to other birds of prey, the fossil record of the falcons is not well distributed in time. The oldest fossils that are tentatively assigned to this genus are from the Late Miocene, less than 10 million years ago. This coincides with a period in which many modern genera of birds became recognizable in the fossil record. The falcon lineage may, however, be somewhat older than this and given the distribution of fossil and living Falco taxa is probably of North American, African or possibly Middle Eastern or European in origin. Falcons are roughly divisible into three or four groups. The first contains the kestrels (probably excepting the American Kestrel); usually small and stocky falcons of mainly brown upperside color and sometimes sexually dimorphic; three African species that are generally grey in color stand apart from the typical members of this group. Kestrels feed chiefly on terrestrial vertebrates and invertebrates of appropriate size, such as rodents, reptiles, or insects. The second group contains slightly larger (on average) and more elegant species, the hobbies and relatives. These birds are characterized by considerable amounts of dark slate-grey in their plumage; the malar area is nearly always black. They feed mainly on smaller birds. Third are the Peregrine Falcon and its relatives: variably sized powerful birds that also have a black malar area (except some very light color morphs), and often a black cap as well. Otherwise, they are somewhat intermediate between the other groups, being chiefly medium grey with some lighter or brownish colors on the upper side. They are, on average, more delicately patterned than the hobbies and, if the hierofalcons are excluded (see below), this group typically contains species with horizontal barring on the underside. As opposed to the other groups, where tail color varies much in general but little according to evolutionary relatedness,[note 1] the tails of the large falcons are quite uniformly dark grey with rather inconspicuous black banding and small white tips, though this is probably plesiomorphic. These large Falco feed on mid-sized birds and terrestrial vertebrates. Very similar to these, and sometimes included therein, are the four or so species of hierofalcons (literally, "hawk-falcons"). They represent taxa with, usually, more phaeomelanins, which impart reddish or brown colors, and generally more strongly patterned plumage reminiscent of hawks. Notably, their undersides have a lengthwise pattern of blotches, lines or arrowhead marks. While these three or four groups, loosely circumscribed, are an informal arrangement, they probably contain several distinct clades in their entirety. A study of mtDNA cytochrome b sequence data of some kestrels identified a clade containing the Common Kestrel and related "malar-striped" species, to the exclusion of such taxa as the Greater Kestrel (which lacks a malar stripe), the Lesser Kestrel (which is very similar to the Common but also has no malar stripe), and the American Kestrel. The latter species has a malar stripe, but its color pattern–apart from the brownish back–and notably also the black feathers behind the ear, which never occur in the true kestrels, are more reminiscent of some hobbies. The malar-striped kestrels apparently split from their relatives in the Gelasian, roughly 2.5-2 mya, and are apparently of tropical East African origin. The entire "true kestrel" group—excluding the American species—is probably a distinct and quite young clade, as also suggested by their numerous apomorphies. Other studies have confirmed that the hierofalcons are a monophyletic group–and, incidentally, that hybridization is quite frequent at least in the larger falcon species. Initial studies of mtDNA cytochrome b sequence data suggested that the hierofalcons are basal among living falcons. The discovery of a numt proved this earlier theory erroneous; in reality, the hierofalcons are a rather young group, originating maybe at the same time as the start of the main kestrel radiation, about 2 million years ago. There is very little fossil history for this lineage. However, the present diversity of very recent origin suggests that this lineage may have nearly gone extinct in the recent past. The phylogeny and delimitations of the Peregrine and hobbies groups are more problematic. Molecular studies have only been conducted on a few species, and the morphologically ambiguous taxa have often been little researched. The morphology of the syrinx, which contributes well to resolving the overall phylogeny of the Falconidae, is not very informative in the present genus. Nonetheless, a core group containing the Peregrine and Barbary falcons, which, in turn, group with the hierofalcons and the more distant Prairie Falcon (which was sometimes placed with the hierofalcons, even though it is entirely distinct biogeographically), as well as at least most of the "typical" hobbies, are confirmed to be monophyletic as suspected. Given that the American Falcos of today belong to the Peregrine group, or are apparently more basal species, it seems that the initially most successful evolutionary radiation was a Holarctic one that originated possibly around central Eurasia or in (northern) Africa. One or several lineages were present in North America by the Early Pliocene at latest. The origin of today's major Falco groups—the "typical" hobbies and kestrels for example, or the Peregine-hierofalcon complex, or the Aplomado Falcon lineage—can be quite confidently placed from the Miocene-Pliocene boundary through the Zanclean and Piacenzian and just into the Gelasian, that is from about 8 to 2.4 million years ago, when the malar-striped kestrels diversified. Some groups of falcons, such as the hierofalcon complex or the Peregrine-Barbary superspecies have only evolved in more recent times; the species of the former seem to be a mere 120,000 years old or so. The sequence follows the taxonomic order of White et al. (1996), except for adjustments in the kestrel sequence. Several more paleosubspecies of extant species also been described; see species accounts for these. "Sushkinia" pliocaena from the Early Pliocene of Pavlodar (Kazakhstan) appears to be a falcon of some sort. It might belong in this genus or a closely related one. In any case, the genus name Sushkinia is invalid for this animal because it had already been allocated to a prehistoric dragonfly relative. The supposed "Falco" pisanus was actually a pigeon of the genus Columba, possibly the same as Columba omnisanctorum, which, in that case, would adopt the older species name of the "falcon". The Eocene fossil "Falco" falconellus (or "F." falconella) from Wyoming is a bird of uncertain affiliations, maybe a falconid, maybe not; it certainly does not belong in this genus. "Falco" readei is now considered a paleosubspecies of the Yellow-headed Caracara (Milvago chimachima). \|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Falcon.\| \|Look up falcon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.\|
One of the most critical benefits to the arts is the ability to experiment – to improvise – and yet this is usually one of the first things that teachers who use Arts Integration avoid because of it’s messy nature. It may not be “right”. To assist with this critical process, I created a simple strategy to help classroom and music teachers alike use improvisation as a strategy for connecting the arts to other areas. It’s called the Improvisation Frame and I have used it successfully in both my music classes and with math and language arts classes. It provides just enough structure to keep the process together while allowing for the creativity we yearn to nurture. The Improvisation Frame The key to improvisation is in knowing the elements of music well enough that you are able to combine them without rehearsal within a loose structure. The structure, or frame, is what keeps everything together. Without this, the improvised piece has no direction or clear pathway. In this strategy, students improvise (create on the fly) a musical composition in a specific length of time using a combination of 4 different musical elements or skills. It encourages originality and risk-taking while simultaneously providing some parameters from which to work. - Create a “frame” of students. Rather than asking students to form a circle, ask them to form a rectangle or square. This becomes your human frame. - Assign each side a specific musical rhythmic value, element (forte or piano), or process (crescendo, diminuendo). - Ask one student to move to the center of the frame. - The student in the center needs to improvise a 4-8 beat phrase using only the pieces that make up the frame. For instance, if your frame represents musical rhythmic values and one side is a quarter note, one side is an eighth note, one side is a quarter rest and one side is a sixteenth note, those are the only note values the student in the center can choose for their improvisation. - The frame performs their assigned element, skill or process while the student in the center performs their 4-8 beat improvisation. Once the student is finished, they may choose another student to take their place. You can vary this strategy by having groups of students perform an improvisation at the same time, using instruments, or combining elements and processes in the frame – the possibilities are endless! This can be used to teach problem-solving in math by improvising word-problems with specific numerations or operations inside the frame. You could use this to teach various forms of poetry using assigned syntax or symbolism. Or, you could use this as a way to develop the creative writing process through main idea and details. Let’s get rid of the fear of being wrong and embrace the multiple opportunities for right in our classroom. Provide a simple structure and then let go – it’s time to let our students’ creativity shine through the frame!

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