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There's a tight and surprising link between the ocean's health and ours, says marine biologist Stephen Palumbi. He shows how toxins at the bottom of the ocean food chain find their way into our bodies, with a shocking story of toxic contamination from a Japanese fish market. His work points a way forward for saving the oceans' health — and humanity's: Capt. Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation first discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — an endless floating waste of plastic trash. Now he's drawing attention to the growing, choking problem of plastic debris in our seas: Runoff and Pollution Although the ocean covers two-thirds of the surface of the Earth, it is surprisingly vulnerable to human influences such as overfishing, pollution from run-off, and dumping of waste from human activity. This kind of pollution can have serious economic and health impacts by killing marine life and damaging habitats and ecosystems. Toxins from pesticides, fertilizers, and other chemicals used on farms contaminate nearby rivers that flow into the ocean, which can cause extensive loss of marine life in bays and estuaries leading to the creation of dead zones. The dumping of industrial, nuclear and other waste into oceans was legal until the early 1970's when it became regulated; however, dumping still occurs illegally everywhere. Governments world-wide were urged by the 1972 Stockholm Conference to control the dumping of waste in "their oceans" by implementing new laws. The United Nations met in London after this recommendation to begin the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter which was implemented in 1975. The International Maritime Organization was given responsibility for this convention and a Protocol was finally adopted in 1996, a major step in the regulation of ocean dumping. Waste in the Ocean The most toxic waste material dumped into the ocean includes dredged material, industrial waste, sewage sludge, and radioactive waste. Dredging contributes about 80% of all waste dumped into the ocean, adding up to several million tons of material dumped each year. Rivers, canals, and harbors are dredged to remove silt and sand buildup or to establish new waterways. About 20-22% of dredged material is dumped into the ocean. The remainder is dumped into other waters or landfills and some is used for development. About 10% of all dredged material is polluted with heavy metals such as cadmium, mercury, and chromium, hydrocarbons such as heavy oils, nutrients including phosphorous and nitrogen, and organochlorines from pesticides. Waterways and, therefore, silt and sand accumulate these toxins from land runoff, shipping practices, industrial and community waste, and other sources. When these materials find their way into the ocean, marine organisms suffer toxic effects and seafood is often contaminated. When "pure" dredged material is dumped into the ocean, fisheries suffer adverse affects such as unsuccessful spawning in herring and lobster populations where the sea floor is covered in silt. In the 1970s, 17 million tons of industrial waste was legally dumped into the ocean. In the 1980's, 8 million tons were dumped including acids, alkaline waste, scrap metals, waste from fish processing, flue desulphurization, sludge, and coal ash. If sludge from the treatment of sewage is not contaminated by oils, organic chemicals and metals, it can be recycled as fertilizer for crops. It is cheaper for treatment centers to dump this material into the ocean, particularly if it is chemically contaminated. The UN policy is that properly treated sludge from cities does not contain enough contaminants to be a significant cause of eutrophication (an increase in chemical nutrients—typically compounds containing nitrogen or phosphorus—in an ecosystem) or to pose any risk to humans if dumped into the ocean. The peak of sewage dumping was 18 million tons in 1980, a number that was reduced to 12 million tons in the 1990s. Radioactive waste is also dumped in the oceans and usually comes from the nuclear power process, medical use of radioisotopes, research use of radioisotopes and industrial uses. The difference between industrial waste and nuclear waste is that nuclear waste usually remains radioactive for decades. The protocol for disposing of nuclear waste involves special treatment by keeping it in concrete drums so that it doesn't spread when it hits the ocean floor. The dumping of radioactive material has reached a total of about 84,000 terabecquerels (TBq), a unit of radioactivity equal to 1012 atomic disintegrations per second or 27.027 curies. Curie (Ci) is a unit of radioactivity. One curie was originally defined as the radioactivity of one gram of pure radium. In 1953, scientists agreed that the curie would represent exactly 3.7 x 1010 atomic disintegrations per second, or 37 gigabecquerels (GBq), this being the best estimate of the activity of a gram of radium. The unit is named for Pierre and Marie Curie who discovered radium. The high point of nuclear waste dumping was in 1954 and 1962, but this nuclear waste only accounts for 1% of the total TBq that has been dumped in the ocean. The concentration of radioactive waste in the concrete drums varies as does the danger to marine life and humans. The Problems with Ocean Dumping Although policies on ocean dumping in the recent past took an "out of sight- out of mind" approach, it is now known that accumulation of waste in the ocean is detrimental to marine and human health. Another unwanted effect is eutrophication. A biological process where dissolved nutrients cause oxygen-depleting bacteria and plants to proliferate creating a hypoxic, or oxygen poor, environment that kills marine life. In addition to eutrophication, ocean dumping can destroy entire habitats and ecosystems when excess sediment builds up and toxins are released. Although ocean dumping is now managed to some degree, and dumping in critical habitats and at critical times is regulated, toxins are still spread by ocean currents. Alternatives to ocean dumping include recycling, producing less wasteful products, saving energy and changing the dangerous material into more benign waste. According to the United Nations Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Pollution, the amount of ocean dumping actually brings in less pollution than maritime transportation, atmospheric pollution, and land based pollution like run-off. However, when waste is dumped it is often close to the coast and very concentrated. Waste dumped into the ocean is categorized into the black list, the gray list, and the white list. On the black list are organohalogen compounds, mercury compounds and pure mercury, cadmium compounds and pure cadmium, any type of plastic, crude oil and oil products, refined petroleum and residue, highly radioactive waste, any material made for biological or chemical warfare. The gray list includes water highly contaminated with arsenic, copper, lead, zinc, organosilicon compounds, any type of cyanide, flouride, pesticides, pesticide by-products, acids and bases, beryllium, chromium, nickel and nickel compounds, vanadium, scrap metal, containers, bulky wastes, lower level radioactive material and any material that will affect the ecosystem due to the amount in which it is dumped. The white list includes all other materials not mentioned on the other two lists. The white list was developed to ensure that materials on this list are safe and will not be dumped on vulnerable areas such as coral reefs. Issues associated with Ocean Dumping Incineration has been used to control dangerous chemical waste being dumped into the Ocean. This practice began in 1969 and became very popular by the late 1970's. By the mid-1980's, about 100,000 tons of waste was incinerated before it was dumped. This process has been studied to determine whether the practice is safe and effective. When dangerous waste is burned, it can produce smoke full of hazardous chemicals and may possibly spill into the ocean. After thorough evaluation, it was determined in 1989 that incineration is not a viable method of reducing the amount of waste dumped into the ocean because of the smoke released, and therefore, almost all the waste burning vessels were grounded. The Protocol of 1996 banned burning waste at sea altogether. The majority of nuclear waste in the ocean comes from six submarine reactors, one nuclear icebreaker reactor, and damaged nuclear fuel in the Kara Sea. The rest of the nuclear material in the ocean is solid nuclear waste in concrete drums. Although some claim the risk to human health is small, the long-term affects of nuclear dumping are not known, and some estimate up to 1,000 deaths in the next 10,000 years as a result of evaporated nuclear waste. In 1995, a Global Waste Survey and the National Waste Management Profiles inventoried waste dumped worldwide to determine what countries were dumping waste and how much was going into the ocean. Countries that exceeded an acceptable level would then be assisted in the development of a workable plan to dispose of their waste. The impact of a global ban on ocean dumping of industrial waste was determined in the Global Waste Survey Final Report the same year. In addition to giving the impact for every nation, the report also concluded that the unregulated disposal of waste, pollution of water, and buildup of materials in the ocean were serious problems for a multitude of countries. The report also concluded that dumping industrial waste anywhere in the ocean is like dumping it anywhere on land. The dumping of industrial waste had reached unacceptable levels in some regions, particularly in developing countries that lacked the resources to dispose of their waste properly. Enforcement of regulations was also a problem in these areas, so it was necessary to assist the countries in the implementation of a waste disposal strategy. Areas where high levels of illegal dumping occur are commonly areas that have no way of implementing a better strategy. A global ban on ocean dumping is not enough to eliminate the practice, and it will require all governments to have a workable plan to reduce the amount of waste, recycle some waste, and learn how to modify waste that is dumped into the ocean so it is less harmful. Take Action Against Ocean Pollution Feedback & Citation Start or join a discussion below about this page or send us an email to report any errors or submit suggestions for this page. We greatly appreciate all feedback! Help Protect and Restore Ocean Life Help us protect and restore marine life by supporting our various online community-centered marine conservation projects that are effectively sharing the wonders of the ocean with millions each year around the world, raising a balanced awareness of the increasingly troubling and often very complex marine conservation issues that affect marine life and ourselves directly, providing support to marine conservation groups on the frontlines that are making real differences today, and the scientists, teachers and students involved in the marine life sciences. Join us today or show your support with a monthly donation. With your support, most marine life and their ocean habitats can be protected, if not restored to their former natural levels of biodiversity. We sincerely thank our thousands of members, donors and sponsors, who have decided to get involved and support the MarineBio Conservation Society.
Stages of Play As one can expect, children at different ages do not all play the same way. There are distinct stages that children go through as they grow. Each stage is very important to the development of the next. While not all children are the same and may not progress through the stages at the same time, the following are common types of play grouped according to your child's age: - Infant. An infant enjoys playing alone. Physical movements are random and not purposeful. - Toddler. A toddler enjoys playing independently with toys. He or she particularly enjoys playing with toys that include body movement. - Preschooler. A preschooler enjoys watching his or her peers and imitating others, with only some interaction while actually playing. Older preschool children begin to borrow and lend toys. This age group often initiates make-believe play. - School-aged child. A school-aged child enjoys competitive games and sports, formal board games, and still engages in some fantasy play. Rules are important during play with the school-aged child. - Adolescent. An adolescent enjoys competitive games and sports. The goal of this age group is social contact. Click here to view the Online Resources of Growth & Development
In the United States, it is estimated that 1.5 to 2 million people have cerebral palsy, with an annual diagnosis rate of approximately 10,000. Cerebral palsy is a neurological disorder that causes a defect in the ability of a persons brain to control their muscle movement. There are three general categories of cerebral palsy: spastic, ataxic, and athetoid/dyskinetic. While there is no one specific cause of cerebral palsy, there is a link between poor prenatal and delivery room care and the subsequent development of cerebral palsy. During labor and delivery, physicians and nurses are supposed to be constantly monitoring the mother and fetuses oxygen levels. When these medical professionals do not adequately monitor oxygen levels, this can lead to significant development problems, including cerebral palsy. Prior to delivery, there are many times when a doctors mistake or negligence can cause cerebral palsy. This can happen when a doctor fails to: - Properly monitor the development of the fetus - Perform tests to rule out potential developmental complications - Treat complications that impact fetal development - Prevent treatable conditions that can cause labor and delivery complications When a doctor does not provide appropriate treatment to a mother and her infant either before or during labor and delivery, it can result in cerebral palsy.
But DavidReneke has more details here. Finding tiny bits of space debris isn’t easy. Project Stardust collected and filtered through 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of material from a total collection area covering 30,000 square meters. Of these, about 500 rocks passed stringent scrutiny. To pick out these tiny needles from the metaphorical haystack, scientists first sifted through the collected debris with magnets, since most ordinary chondrite-type meteorites have a high iron content. Next, the scientists washed the remainder and then painstakingly sorted the rocks by size and shape. Finally, the final suspects are examined under a binocular microscope, where researchers looked for the luster and spherical shape indicative of ablation during atmospheric entry. Of the 500 particles collected, 48 were then embedded in resin and polished for further characterization. The micrometeorites collected are tiny, most just 300 to 400 micron in size. The largest of them are just under half a millimeter across, barely visible to the naked eye. what discourages some people is that air pollution can mess up the results: Howeer, later studies found that the abundance of magnetic microspherules dropped sharply away from urban areas, and modern pollution is full of metallic particulates that add a steady stream of false-positive “micrometeor wrongs,” confounding searchefforts. and some experts who know what to look for search for them in desert areas, or in the ice of the polar regions.
Step 1 Form an initial hypothesis as to where you believe the fossil specimen should be placed on the cladogram based on the morphological observations you made earlier. Draw your hypothesis on Figure 4. (this step should be completed). find two or three other carbon-based units and draw a picture on a whiteboard of your new cladogram and write your proposed hypothesis. Complete steps 2-4 in the computer lab -answer (Analyzing results questions) Recall that species with common ancestry will share similar genes. The more similar genes two species have in common, the more recent their common ancestor and the closer the two species will be located on a cladogram. As you collect information from BLAST for each of the gene files, you should be thinking about your original hypothesis and whether the data support or cause you to reject your original placement of the fossil species on the cladogram. For each BLAST query, consider the following: • The higher the score, the closer the alignment. • The lower the e value, the closer the alignment. • Sequences with e values less than 1e-04 (1 x 10-4) can be considered related with an error rate of less than 0.01%. Answer the following questions 1. What species in the BLAST result has the most similar gene sequence to the gene of 2. Where is that species located on your cladogram? 3. How similar is that gene sequence? 4. What species has the next most similar gene sequence to the gene of interest? Based on what you have learned from the sequence analysis and what you know from the structure, decide where the new fossil species belongs on the cladogram with the other organisms. If necessary, redraw the cladogram you created before. ■■Designing and Conducting Your Investigation Now that you’ve completed this investigation, you should feel more comfortable using BLAST. The next step is to learn how to find and BLAST your own genes of interest. To locate a gene, you will go to the Entrez Gene website Once you have found the gene on the website, you can copy the gene sequence and input it into a BLAST query. One student’s starting question: What is the function of actin in humans? Do other organisms have actin? If so, which ones? 1. Go to the Entrez Gene website (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene) and search for “human actin.” 2. Click on the first link that appears and scroll down to the section “NCBI Reference 3. Under “mRNA and Proteins,” click on the first file name. It will be named “NM 001100.3” or something similar. These standardized numbers make cataloging sequence files easier. Do not worry about the file number for now. 4. Just below the gene title click on “FASTA.” This is the name for a particular format for displaying sequences. 5. The nucleotide sequence displayed is that of the actin gene in humans. 6. Copy the entire gene sequence, and then go to the BLAST homepage (http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi). 7. Click on “nucleotide blast” under the Basic BLAST menu. 8. Paste the sequence into the box where it says “Enter Query Sequence.” 9. Give the query a title in the box provided if you plan on saving it for later.10. Under “Choose Search Set,” select whether you want to search the human genome only, mouse genome only, or all genomes available. 11. Under “Program Selection,” choose whether or not you want highly similar sequences or somewhat similar sequences. Choosing somewhat similar sequences will provide you with more results. 12. Click BLAST. Below is a list of some gene suggestions you could investigate using BLAST. As you look at a particular gene, answer the following questions and be ready to share your findings on Friday: • What is the function in humans of the protein produced from that gene? • Would you expect to find the same protein in other organisms? If so, which ones? • Is it possible to find the same gene in two different kinds of organisms but not find the protein that is produced from that gene? • If you found the same gene in all organisms you test, what does this suggest about the evolution of this gene in the history of life on earth? • Does the use of DNA sequences in the study of evolutionary relationships mean that other characteristics are unimportant in such studies? Explain your answer.
Students learn about the unique adaptations of sea stars and then research and develop a presentation on the adaptations of two other organisms. Two to three class periods Students will be able to - define the term adaptation. - describe adaptations of sea stars. - explain how adaptations of animals enable them to survive in different environments. Sea stars, sea urchins, sand dollars and sea cucumbers are all members of the phylum Echinodermata. Echinoderm means “spiny skin” in Greek. Echinoderms are found in ocean ecosystems worldwide, from rocky shores to the deep sea. Animals in this phylum are characterized by radial symmetry as adults, with body parts that repeat around an axis. Many echinoderms have five of these similar body parts, giving them pentaradial symmetry. They are able to regenerate body parts, and some species of sea stars are even able to grow a new body from a severed arm. Sea stars have an internal skeleton made of stiff calcified plates that are often spiny. The degree of tightness with which these plates fit together determines the sea star’s flexibility. In the sunflower star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) these plates spread out, allowing it to open its mouth widely to engulf large prey. The internal skeleton is covered by a thin layer of skin. On the top, or aboral, surface of the sea star, skin gills absorb oxygen from the water. Pedicellariae, tiny pincer-like organs, keep the skin and gills of the sea star free from organisms that might grow on it, such as algae and barnacles. Rows of tube feet run along the underside, or oral surface, of the sea star. They are used for walking and for grasping and manipulating prey. The movement of the tube feet is controlled by a water vascular system, a series of fluid-filled canals and chambers connected to the tube feet. By moving the fluid around and in and out of the chambers, the sea star is able to stretch and contract its tube feet. Sea stars do not have a centralized brain, but they do have eyespots that can detect light. They are also able to sense odors, temperature and textures, allowing them to find prey. Sea stars eat a variety of organisms, including mussels, clams, snails, barnacles and even other sea stars. The mouth of a sea star is located in the middle of its underside. Some sea stars have mouths much smaller than the prey that they eat; a special adaptation gets around this problem. After prying a shell open with their tube feet, some species of sea stars can evert one of their two stomachs (the cardiac stomach) through their mouth and into the shell of the prey. Digestive enzymes work to dissolve the prey inside its own shell. Once the prey is dissolved, the cardiac stomach, which now contains the dissolved prey, pulls back inside the sea star’s body, and its other stomach, the pyloric stomach, finishes digestion. - Tell students that they are going to watch a short video about a few species of echinoderms. Inform them that echinoderm means “spiny skin” and ask them what types of animals they think they might see. Then tell them that the animals in the video live in water. Do their ideas change once they know this? - The echinoderms they are going to see in the video are sea stars. Ask students to draw a sea star on a piece of notebook paper and label any parts that they know. - Place students in groups of three to four. As they watch the video, students should list examples of the sea stars’ physical characteristics, such as body shape and form, on the other side of their notebook paper. - Play the video. Stop at 1:34, just after the narrator says, “Sunflower stars grow up to 3 feet in diameter and can move at a pace of about 3 feet per minute, which is pretty fast for a sea star.” Let students share their lists with the others in their group. Watch the same segment again so they can catch anything they missed the first time. Share again in groups. - As a class, create a list on the blackboard of all of the characteristics the students noticed. These may include - radial symmetry - internal skeleton made of stiff plates - tube feet - water vascular system - ability to regenerate body parts - five to many arms Discuss and review any of the terms that are new or difficult. - Ask students why sea stars would have developed these characteristics. Talk about how these characteristics, developed over thousands of years, help sea stars survive in their watery environments and why they are called adaptations. - The next portion of the video shows a special adaptation some sea stars have for eating. After watching the remaining portion of the video, discuss differences in how the knobby star and the sunflower star feed. Why does the knobby star evert its stomach from its body? - Hand out a copy of the Sea Star Adaptation Chart to each student. Have students work together in groups to complete their charts. For each adaptation listed, they should write reasons it is beneficial. Remind students that some adaptations benefit the sea star in more than one way. Students can use the following Web page from the Oceanic Research Group’s Web site to help them with their charts if needed: Echinoderms: The Spiny Animals! www.oceanicresearch.org/education/wonders/echinoderm.html - Review the sea stars’ adaptations and how the adaptations help them survive in their environment. How might their adaptations be different if they lived in a different environment? (You may also have students revise their original drawings of the sea star for review.) - Next have each group choose two organisms (plants or animals) to research. You may have them select from a list of organisms in your local environment or from a specific biome, or they can choose two on their own. They should learn about at least four adaptations for each organism. Students may use the blank Adaptations Chart to keep notes on what they find. - Once the students have completed their research, have them create a 5-minute PowerPoint or multimedia presentation to share with the class. The presentation should include images and demonstrate how adaptations help their organisms survive in their respective environments. Every student should have a role in the presentation. - Have each group share their presentation with the class. - Have students write their own definition of adaptation. - Have students label the adaptations of a sea star on a diagram or picture. - In their presentations, were students able to identify four adaptations of each of their organisms? Did they also explain or demonstrate how these adaptations helped their organisms survive in their environments? - Have students compare and contrast specific adaptations of different species of echinoderms, including sea urchins, sea cucumbers, sand dollars and other sea stars. - Take a field trip to a local nature center, zoo or aquarium to learn about other organisms’ adaptations. - Complete the Ocean Adventures Adaptations – What a Concept lesson plan to learn about adaptations of river and marine dolphins. Additional educator resources for Jean-Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventurescan be found at www.pbs.org/oceanadventures. - Flickr for images of plants and animals that may be used in student projects National Science Education Standards Grades 5–8 Life Science – Content Standard C: Regulation and behavior Diversity and adaptations of organisms Ocean Literacy: Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts Essential Principle #5: The ocean supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Andrea Swensrud is the KQED Education Network Project Supervisor for Jean-Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventures. She has a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential and has taught and managed marine science education programs. KQED Education Network uses the power of KQED Public Broadcasting to inspire learning by providing projects for youth and curriculum materials and professional development for teachers, child-care providers and families. Jean-Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventures is produced by KQED Public Broadcasting and the Ocean Futures Society. The corporate sponsor is the Dow Chemical Company. Additional major support comes from the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Foundation, KQED Campaign for the Future, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
My objective with this Flag Unit is to get primary students to look up words in alphabetical order, listen and record facts and write a bibliography citation for a nonfiction book. This unit includes: 1. a book for students to color flags 2. a book for students to write book information and facts 3. cards for every nation divided by continent 4. a list of nonfiction books about flags Students listen to a book about flags, discuss facts, copy the book publishing information and record three facts they learned into the Flag Fact book. To use the Flag Book, students will need a resource such as an almanac, encyclopedia, atlas or the internet. The book is set up to color 4 flags from each continent. Students select a card from the continent deck of cards, find that flag in their almanac or atlas, then color the flag into their book. This is a very popular unit with my students and I like it because they are practicing a lot of skills in a fun way.
ReadWriteThink couldn't publish all of this great content without literacy experts to write and review for us. If you've got lessons plans, videos, activities, or other ideas you'd like to contribute, we'd love to hear from you. Find the latest in professional publications, learn new techniques and strategies, and find out how you can connect with other literacy professionals. Teacher Resources by Grade \|1st - 2nd\|\|3rd - 4th\| \|5th - 6th\|\|7th - 8th\| \|9th - 10th\|\|11th - 12th\| Exploring Change through Allegory and Poetry \|Grades\|\|6 – 8\| \|Lesson Plan Type\|\|Standard Lesson\| \|Estimated Time\|\|Four 50-minute sessions\| - demonstrate comprehension of basic literary elements. - identify the characteristics of an allegory. - create a pictorial allegory. - explore the theme of change. - write and publish a diamante poem. - Ask students to define the term allegory. - After students have shared their definitions for the term, provide students with a standard definition: a literary, dramatic, or pictorial representation with two levels of meaning. One level provides a literal, and seemingly superficial meaning, but a second level reveals a deeper, symbolic meaning. - Tell students that they are going to construct a pictorial allegory, which is a visual way to convey an allegorical story. - Distribute construction paper and other art supplies. - Ask students to trace one of their hands (with fingers spread out) and wrists (up to their forearms) on the construction paper. - Have students cut out their hand outlines and write their names on one side of the cutouts. Students then should cut the remaining paper scraps into small sections, approximately 1" by 1" in size. - Place cut paper scraps from all students into one central pile for easy student access. - Ask students to brainstorm a list of their interests, traits, roles, and dreams. A sample list may include items such as reading, basketball, organized, shy, daughter, friend, sister, college, and doctor. - Tell students to circle the 10–12 items on their lists that are the most critical in providing a clear picture of who they are as a person. - Have each student select 10–12 paper scraps from the classroom pile and write one of the circled items from his or her lists on each scrap. Students may wish to use varying colors or to further shape the paper scrap to match the information it carries. - Explain to students that they are making a “Me Tree.” The hand outline they cut out earlier will form the trunk and branches. The paper scraps will serve as leaves. - Give students time to paste their leaves onto their trees, so that the side of the cutout with their names is showing. - Display the “Me Trees,” and allow students to view their classmates’ creations. - Distribute copies of the “Me Tree” Reflection Questions, and allow students time to answer the questions. - When students have completed the reflection questions, discuss the project as a class. Ask the following questions: - In what ways are the “Me Trees” allegorical? - What symbols did they use? - What two levels of meaning do the pictures they created represent? - In what ways are the “Me Trees” allegorical? - Review the definition and forms of allegory with students. - Divide students into groups of 3–4 students. - Distribute one copy of The Giving Tree, Tonia the Tree, or another text that addresses change, to each student or group of students. Have students take turns in their groups reading the text aloud. - Distribute a Change Reflection Questions to each group as they finish reading. - Have students discuss the story, and then complete the Change Reflection Questions as a group. - Reconvene as a class, and use the Change Reflection Questions as a springboard for a class discussion about the story and its theme of change. - Refer to the appropriate sections of the story when relevant to illustrate key points of discussion. - Using definitions from your class literature textbook or the Literary Vocabulary site, review the following literary terms: character, climax, conflict, exposition, plot, resolution, and setting. - Have students reconstruct the story that they read in the previous session using the Literary Elements Map and Plot Diagram tools. These tools require student application of the reviewed literary elements to the covered text. Make sure students print their work before closing the tools. - Place students in small groups of 2–4 members, and allow students to compare their Literary Elements Map and Plot Diagram. - Direct students’ attention to their group responses to the Change Reflection Questions from Session Two and to the pictorial allegories they created during Session One. - Give students one minute to jot down a list of words that come to mind when they hear the word change. Advise students to think about change in both a personal sense and a global sense. Responses may include constant, scary, necessary, refreshing, new, and so forth. - Share the Sample Diamante Poem, and explain that students will use the online tool to create their own diamante poems. - After reviewing the structure of diamante poems, ask students how the diamante poetry form might reflect the concept of change. - Have students refer to their word lists compiled at the beginning of the session as they use the interactive Diamante Poems tool to write their own diamante poem about change. Make sure students print their work before closing the tool. - Create a class display of students’ poems. - Revisit students’ pictorial allegories, group responses to Change Reflection Questions, and published poems as a springboard for discussion of future changes in their lives. - Have students use the Webbing Tool to organize future/career plan categories and concerns. Sample categories may include school, family, and finances. - Use online resources such as the Mapping Your Future Website to assist students with career and future planning. - As an alternative display method for Session One, ask students to display the blank sides of their “Me Tree” trunks, hiding their names. Mark each “Me Tree” with a different number or letter as you display them for class viewing. Have students attempt to match each “tree” with its creator. As a class, allow students to share their matches and the basis for their inferences. Reveal the creators of each tree, and then distribute the “Me Tree” Reflection Questions. (This extension may cause Session One to overlap into Session Two.) - Use the ReadWriteThink lesson “A Poem of Possibilities: Thinking about the Future” to further explore change through poetry. - Review the completed Literary Elements Map to ensure students understand the key points for the text. Did students correctly identify the setting, characters, conflict, and resolution? - Review the completed Plot Diagrams to confirm that students understand basic plot elements relevant to the text. Are the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution correctly included in the diagram? - Review student responses on the “Me Tree” Reflection Questions and in the class discussion following the activity. Are all questions completed? Does response exhibit comprehension of the question? Could students explain how their pictures were allegorical? - Review group responses to the Change Reflection Questions. Did students show comprehensive of change during small group and class discussions of the text? Did all students participate in the discussions? - Check student Diamante poem for form and theme comprehension. Did students complete the poems as instructed? Do they reflect the theme of change?
This frog really lights up a room. The South American polka dot tree frog initially appears unremarkable. But researchers in Argentina recently got a huge surprise when they shone an ultraviolet light on it, revealing that the creature is actually fluorescent and glows bright blue-green. The fluorescence is "unprecedented" in amphibians, the researchers said in a recent paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It means that "short-wavelength electromagnetic radiation is absorbed and then reemitted at longer wavelength." The phenomenon had previously been documented primarily in certain fishes and sea turtles, though not in amphibians. And among land-dwelling vertebrates, according to the scientists, it had been spotted in parrots. The frog also had a second surprise for the scientists, as co-author Norberto Peporine Lopes, a chemist at the University of Sao Paulo, tells The Two-Way. The chemical compounds causing the frog to glow are "amazing and it's a new chemistry," he says. "Three molecules — hyloin-L1, hyloin-L2 and hyloin-G1 — in the animals' lymph tissue, skin and glandular secretions were responsible for the green fluorescence," according to an article in Nature. "The molecules contain a ring structure and a chain of hydrocarbons, and are unique among known fluorescent molecules in animals." These frogs, Hypsiboas punctatus, emit a significant amount of light. The scientists say the fluorescence "contributes 18-29% of the total emerging light under twilight and nocturnal scenarios, largely enhancing brightness of the individuals and matching the sensitivity of night vision in amphibians." Or as the Nature article puts it, "about 18% as much visible light as a full Moon." The frogs might use the fluorescence for communication, Lopes says, particularly to attract a mate. In addition to sound and smell, this would allow a male to clearly signal his location to a female frog. "It's to coordinate the attraction," he says, "because it's specific for the frog eyes." And while further study is required on the visual perception of this species of tree frog, Lopes says he suspects the light emitted is particularly exciting to the frog's eyes. Before this discovery, fluorescence was considered "irrelevant" to frog visual perception on land, according to the paper. Lopes says there are other frogs with similar body structures and transparent skin, and that this discovery suggests fluorescence is likely more common than scientists previously thought. They're now researching other possible candidates, he says. Julián Faivovich, a herpetologist at the University of Buenos Aires, tells Nature he wants other researchers to pitch in: "I'm really hoping that other colleagues will be very interested in this phenomenon, and they will start carrying a UV flashlight to the field."
First, consider the question: "What is Science?" A famous naturalist once said, "Without a hypothesis, a geologist might as well go into a gravel pit and count the stones." A hypothesis is a "tentative proposition which is subject to verification through subsequent investigation....In many cases hypothese are hunches that the researcher has about the existence of relationships between variables." (Verma and Beard, 1981) The hypothesis is the cornerstone of science, and hypotheses can be constructed and used in different ways. In studies of complex, multi-factor systems (e.g., ecology and evolution), a hypothetico-deductive approach is often taken. On other areas, such as cellular and molecular biology, developmental biology, and other areas, hypotheses may be reached inductively, and a set of competing hypotheses potentially able to explain a given observed phenomenon may be tested and systematically eliminated until only the most likely explanations remain. To better understand each method, we should first review the differences between inductive and deductive reasoning. Inductive Reasoning is sometimes called the "from the bottom up" approach. When we use inductive reasoning, our specific observations and measurements may begin to show us a general pattern. This might allow us to formulate a tentative hypothesis that can be further explored, and we might finally end up making some general conclusions. In this case, one might construct an argument such as: One potential pitfall here is the "inductive leap": When you make the jump from many specific observations to a general observation, your generalization might not be correct every time. Although generalizations are certainly useful, the wise investigator is aware that there may be exceptions to a general rule, and even to the possibility that the "general rule" might eventually be found to be wrong more often than not. Deductive Reasoning is sometimes called the "from the top down" approach. In this case, we start with a general idea and work down to the more specific. Deductive reasoning is used to test existing theories and hypotheses (general ideas) by collecting experimental observations (specific examples) that put those ideas to the test. One of the most useful ways to use this method is to construct a syllogism, a specific type of argument that has three simple steps: The results of your study may suggest further experiments. (What types of hymenopterans don't have stingers? Which is the primitive condition: stinger or no stinger? Why has stinglessness persisted?) Important aspects of the hypothesis... Example: The theory of evolution by means of natural selection. Example: The Laws of Thermodynamics German philosopher Karl Popper wrote in his famous essay, Science as Falsification, that it is vulnerability to falsification--not repeated verification--that is the hallmark of truly powerful hypothesis. 2. Before you begin, arm yourself with predictions about what you think will happen if you test the hypothesis. 3. Design careful, rigorous experiments to put each hypothesis to the test. 4. Carefully analyze the results. 5. Decide whether the results support or refute the hypothesis you are testing. 6. If you have multiple hypotheses, this process continues until one hypothesis is the "last man standing". 7. The hypotheses that are not falsified by experimental testing are provisionally accepted as potential explanations for the observation. Ridiculously simple example: In the example above, it's easy to see that dipping a net into the ocean isn't a very high-tech way to address this problem. But with more advanced technology such as You might well be able to refute the "no fish" hypothesis. Science marches on as technology improves. If you're into metaphors, you might compare hypotheses constructed to Popperian standards to be like a castle or fortress... It may look well built from the outside, and seem to be perfectly sound. You may be able to add more blocks and mortar (analogous to finding evidence that appears to support your hypothesis: each dip of the net "confirmed" that there are no fish in the Pacific Ocean, right?) but until you test the "castle" by actually attacking it... ...you don't really know how strong it is. If it wasn't well constructed, it may end up looking something like this: For example, if you want to know whether a new drug actually helps people quit smoking, the exploratory phase will involve a statistical question: "Will smokers taking SmokeAwaytm have a higher rate of giving up smoking than smokers given an indistinguishable placebo?" In this method, two muturally exclusive hypotheses are compared Well-designed and executed experiments will indicate which of these two competing hypotheses should be rejected, and which should be (provisionally) accepted. 2. Devising a crucial experiment (or several of them), with alternative possible outcomes, each of which will, as nearly as possible, excludes one or more of the hypotheses; 3. Carrying out the experiment so as to get a clean result; 4. Recycling the procedure, making subhypotheses or sequential hypotheses to refine the possibilities that remain, and so on. It is like climbing a tree. At the first fork, we choose--or, in this case, "nature" or the experimental outcome chooses--to go to the right branch or the left; at the next fork, to go left or right; and so on. There are similar branch points in a "conditional computer program," where the next move depends on the result of the last calculation. And there is a "conditional inductive tree" or "logical tree" of this kind written out in detail in many first-year chemistry books, in the table of steps for qualitative analysis of an unknown sample, where the student is led through a real problem of consecutive inference: Add reagent A; if you get a red precipitate, it is subgroup alpha and you filter and add reagent B; if not, you add the other reagent. B; and so on. The Differential Diagnosis scene in every episode of "House" is a bit like a cartoony, quick-n-dirty example of strong inference. "The process known as the Scientific Method outlines a series of steps for answering questions, but few scientists adhere rigidly to this prescription. Science is a less structured process than most people realize. Like other intellectual activities, the best science is a process of minds that are creative, intuitive, imaginitive, and social. Perhaps science is distinguished by its conviction that natural phenomena, including the processes of life, have natural causes--and by its obsession with evidence. Scientists are generally skeptics." (from Biology by Neil A. Campbell) The scientific method, requirement of physical evidence, falsification and, especially, WILLINGNESS TO MODIFY OR EVEN REJECT LONG-HELD IDEAS THAT TURN OUT TO BE WRONG are hallmarks of science, and are what sets them apart from religious faith. The two philosophies are entirely different, and should not be taught in the same context. When you're ready, here's the Truth About the Scientific Method. Platt, J. R., 1964, Strong inference. Science 146: 347-353.
Complex Electronics Overview electronics (CE) encompasses programmable and designable complex integrated circuits. “Programmable” logic devices can be programmed by the user and range from simple chips to complex devices capable of being programmed on-the-fly. Some types of programmable logic devices are integrated circuits that can be designed but not programmed by the user. The design is submitted to a manufacturer for implementation in the device. Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) is an example of a designable device. term complex electronics, the complex adjective is used to distinguish between simple devices, such as off-the-shelf ICs and logic gates, and user-creatable devices. Specific rules for distinguishing between simple and complex electronics are provided in the Planning for Assurance section. A good rule of thumb is, if you can program or design the internal logic of the device and it has more than a few gates and connections, it is probably complex. that firmware (which is essentially software stored on a read-only device) is not considered complex electronics. The integrated circuit (e.g. EPROM) is simple electronics. The program stored in that device is software, which has a defined assurance process in place. sections below provide an overview of the various types of complex electronics that are covered by this assurance process. Complex Programmable Logic Devices (CPLD) Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD) contains a set of simple Programmable Logic Device (PLD) blocks whose inputs and outputs are connected together by a global interconnection matrix. A CPLD has two levels of programmability: each PLD block can be programmed, and then the interconnections between the PLDs can be programmed. A key feature of the CPLD architecture is the arrangement of logic cells on the periphery of a central shared routing resource. CPLDs use EEPROM, SRAM, or Flash memory to hold the interconnect information. Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) gate arrays (FPGAs) use a different mechanism, based on gate-array technology, than CPLDs. Field programmable simply means that the device can be programmed by the user. Many field programmable devices can be programmed with the chip soldered to the circuit board, allowing true “in the field” upgrades to be possible. use a grid of logic gates, similar to that of an ordinary gate array. An FPGA has a collection of simple, configurable logic blocks arranged in an array with interspersed switches that can rearrange the interconnections between the logic blocks. Each logic block is individually programmed to perform a logic function (such as AND, OR, XOR, etc.) and then the switches are programmed to connect the blocks so that the complete logic functions are implemented. FPGAs vary in size from tens of thousands of logic gates to over a million. interconnections for the logic blocks are programmable switches. FPGAs may use EEPROM, SRAM, antifuse, or Flash technology to store the programming. In most larger FPGAs, the configuration is volatile, and must be re-loaded into the device whenever power is applied or different functionality is required. Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) are pretty much what their acronym says - integrated circuits (ICs) designed for specific applications. Unlike standard ICs which are produced by the chip manufacturers, ASICs are designed by the end user and then produced in volume. ASICs allow a user to combine many parts and functions into a single chip, reducing cost and improving reliability. can be large or small. They are usually produced in large quantities, and it can be very expensive to produce only a few. ASICs can include programmable logic (FPGA, CPLD, and PAL) devices as part of the chip. If the ASIC includes a microprocessor and other computer peripherals, it is usually referred to as a System-on-Chip device. (SoC) combines all the electronics for a complete product into a single chip. SoC’s include not only the brains (e.g. microprocessor) but also all required ancillary electronics, such as switches, comparators, resistors, capacitors, timing elements, and digital logic. made sub-circuits (IP) usually ASICs, though they can be designed to include programmable logic components. SoCs can also be implemented on FPGAs. System-on-chip versions come in several flavors: - Soft Instruction processor architectures allow a designer to customize the CPU architecture. The specific instructions supported, the peripherals available to it, and the number of registers is just some ways these devices can be tailored for your application. Some vendors provide mechanisms to add, delete, and create highly tailored instructions. Design packages for these architectures sometimes include performance tools with instant feedback on the performance, die size and power requirements of a particular design. With the final architecture residing in silicon, these types of architectures are well suited for high volume, low cost applications which formerly would have used ASICs. - Configurable processors are FPGA based. In these architectures, standard and customer-derived logic engines can be easily added, modified and extended as needed. By moving discrete logic functionality to internal FPGA the designer gets a highly flexible logic solver, based around a standard processor core. With FPGA logic instead of foundry logic, the logic can be easily revised at any point in the In-field or reconfigurable SoC system-on-chip (SoC) designs use what is called a platform-based solution, where standard components like a microprocessor core make up a significant portion of the SoC. Custom devices provide further functionality. Some of those devices may be user-configurable (e.g. if a small FPGA or CPLD is part of the System-on-Chip device), others may be designer-chosen only. These types of SoC’s are usually implemented as ASICs. reconfigurable SoC provides the same kind of custom support, except that the devices and peripherals are implemented using a reconfigurable matrix. The software must set up the hardware before it can be used. But from that point on, the platform-based SoC software and reconfigurable SoC software will be very similar, assuming that the microprocessor core is the same or similar and the functionality of the peripherals has the same characteristics. reconfigurable SoC designs, the hardware functionality can be changed simply by altering the code that performs system initialization. So, SoC could contain an analog-to-digital converter for one application, and then be reconfigured for a digital-to-analog converter, or even a totally different peripheral such as a network device, for another application. Some elements of the reconfiguration can be performed at a later time (after the basic hardware is initialized), allowing software applications to reconfigure devices system-on-chip (SoC) devices are implemented entirely on programmable logic, such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Most reconfigurable SoCs fall into this category. However, reconfigurable SoCs use a fixed microprocessor with reconfigurable peripheral devices. What if you could change your microprocessor by just reprogramming the FPGA? What if you could customize the microprocessor for your application, then change it when that application changes? That is what the FPGA microprocessor systems offer. advances in software-oriented design tools for FPGAs, combined with the ongoing increase in device densities, create a new environment for software developers. In this environment, the FPGA can be viewed as one possible target (along with traditional and non-traditional processor architectures) for a software compiler. Tools are now available to help software engineers make use of FPGA platforms, as well as platforms where traditional processors (or processor cores) and FPGAs are. computer systems use a single microprocessor that executes instructions sequentially. They are adaptable and configurable - you can write any kind of operating system or run any sort of application on a microprocessor. However, these systems trade speed for that If you have a fixed set of applications and really need more processing speed, you want an ASIC designed to meet your needs. While you can gain significant improvement in speed, you lose the ability to change the processor/ASIC uses outside of a narrow range of applications. The ASIC speed increase over general purpose microprocessors comes from a combination of optimization for the specific purpose and the ability to perform processes in parallel. you want speed and adaptability? To gain speed, you need to move from the serial processing paradigm to parallel processing. One way to do this is to use multiple processors, each performing operations in parallel. Another way is through reconfigurable computing. Both of these methods keep the adaptability component, allowing the user, through software, to run a wide variety of applications. reconfigurable computing (RC), you need to have hardware that can be reconfigured to implement specific functionality. RC systems contain programmable hardware and may be combined with traditional microprocessors in order to take advantage of the strengths of each device. RC has been used in applications ranging from embedded systems to high performance computing. computing uses in-situ reconfigurable FPGAs as computing devices to accelerate operations which otherwise would be performed by software. The FPGA can be programmed with a digital circuit which implements the function to be performed, such as a fast square root operation. The processor can then access this function, as if it were in its own instruction set. When the processor needs another function, such as multiplying two numbers, the FPGA can be reprogrammed for that this all work, the FPGA must be capable of being reconfigured quickly and allow only parts of the device to be reprogrammed. Reconfiguration has to be fast, or you quickly eat up the speed advantage you gain from moving the functions from the microprocessor to dedicated hardware. You would also lose too much time if the FPGA had to be entirely reprogrammed when you just want to change part of it. Fortunately, modern FPGAs are up to the challenge.
Most people take soil for granted; yet, it is the one thing that sustains plant life so that the rest of us can live. Soil is composed of several layers, which all differ in their composition and depth within the earth. Subsoil, bedrock and topsoil are three such layers of soil, and they all have important characteristics for gardening and landscaping. Other People Are Reading Making soil is a biological process accomplished by several different microorganisms. Bacteria, fungi and other organisms decompose living matter and eventually turn it back into soil. From there, temperature, along with pressure and weathering, shapes the remains of previous living beings into what we call soil. Furthermore, soil formation still goes on today and deep within the earth, the same processes work to change bedrock into topsoil at a rate of one inch every 500 years. The most fundamental level of soil is bedrock. The bedrock layer of soil sits below the subsoil and topsoil levels in the form of very hard rock. Here the bedrock waits for erosion and other geological processes, such as earthquakes, to begin changing its form. Bedrock is very hard and tough to work with and allows little, if any, water or air circulation through its tough form. The top of bedrock, called the rockhead, is where the bedrock meets the next layer of soil and engineers often have to dig and find the rockhead before beginning some construction projects. Subsoil is the layer of soil below the topsoil. It contains mainly sandy and clay deposits without a lot of organic matter. Although subsoil is much less fertile than topsoil, it can be amended to increase its plant-growing capacities. Subsoil is also much lighter in colour and much harder to handle than topsoil. It is, however, much looser than the hardened layer of bedrock lying beneath it. One advantage that subsoil has over topsoil is that it contains few if any weed seeds because of its depth, therefore increasing its attractiveness to growers and companies that make topsoil. The layer of soil closest to our feet is topsoil. Geologists refer to it as the "A" horizon, whereas subsoil is the "B" horizon. Topsoil is much more fertile than subsoil because it contains more organic matter, thus giving it a darker colour. A layer of humus, which is essentially dead and decaying organic matter, sometimes covers topsoil. This humus has a number of important properties for gardeners, and, as it decays into topsoil, it creates a nutrient-rich blend of soil that gardeners and landscapers dream about. Unfortunately, being the top level of soil comes at a price. Topsoil is lost to soil erosion and poor farming practices at an alarming rate. In fact, the Green Trust organisation estimated that the U.S. lost about 60 per cent of its topsoil in 200 years of farming. Topsoil depth varies from a few inches to several feet depending on geological processes. Thus, when gardeners and landscapers explain their soil type as clay, sandy or loamy, they are often referring to the top layer of subsoil. A good rule to remember is that the darker the soil, the more nutrients it carries. Additionally, if a gardener or landscaper is concerned about soil fertility, he can have tests done at garden centres or university cooperative extensions. - 20 of the funniest online reviews ever - 14 Biggest lies people tell in online dating sites - Hilarious things Google thinks you're trying to search for
Today, we often think of maps as exact representations of our world. Aided by GPS and satellite imagery, we can not only visualise the Earth’s surface in greater detail than ever before, but also know our position upon it with astonishing precision. Even with such advanced technology, however, hour ability to depict the world is subject to limitations–those of projecting a three dimensional shape onto the two dimensions of an average map (think of Greenland’s massive shape on Mercator maps). These limitations have been in effect since cartographers first attempted to depict the whole Earth, and yet we have continued to retain our faith in the truth of maps, and their ability to communicate the essence of our world. In the case of the wonderful fourteenth-century survival, the Hereford Mappa Mundi, that essence is only partly communicated through physical geography, and its images speak as much to social and religious as to geographical truths. Held, as its name suggests, in the Hereford Cathedral, the Mappa Mundi was produced around the year 1300 on a single piece of calf-skin vellum by one Richard of Haldingham. Shaped somewhat like an open envelope, this vellum sheet encloses a circle 52 inches in diameter, within which the world is depicted in all its strange and energetic detail. It is not, however, a vision of the world we immediately recognise. At the centre of the circle sits Jerusalem, a position which reflects its central importance in Christian cosmic geography. Dominating the ‘top’ half of the map is the continent of Asia, next to Africa in the bottom right quadrant, and Europe in the bottom left. These latter continents are divided by one of the map’s most recognisable features–the Mediterranean sea–in which several islands (like the triangle of Sicily) can be distinguished. Importantly, the Mediterranean connects with an encircling sea, a waterway believed to enable sailing between both sides of a round Earth. The Mappa Mundi provides guidance not only through space, though, but also through time. Locations such as the walled garden of paradise (circular, in the far east of Asia at top) allude to the Christian cosmos, whereas illustrations, including Jason’s Golden Fleece, demonstrate the influence of Classical literature. As one travels farther from the centre of the map, the number of marvels increases. This reflects the academic understanding of the globe at the time, which was split into zones: polar in the north, then temperate, equatorial, temperate again, and finally antarctic. Human life, though temperate, was often considered impossible in the equatorial zone, prompting mediaeval scholars to speculate about the fantastical forms of life waiting to be found there. At the same time, however, the occurrence of monsters on the fringes of the world was also a commentary on faith, alluding to their distance from Jerusalem and their ignorance of the word of God. The Hereford Mappa Mundi, then, is a document of primary importance, reflecting not only mediaeval scholarly knowledge, but also a strongly Christian world-view. Striving to depict a world full of wonders, it also incorporated many details of physical geography (try to find, for example, the Red Sea or the British Isles), resulting in a beautiful expression of the relationship between faith, space, and time and capturing the essence of the mediaeval world.
When someone suffers from diabetes, it means that there is insufficient production of insulin by the pancreas in the body or alternately the cells in the body do not respond to the insulin produced; both factors cause non- absorption of blood sugar by the body cells. Diabetes affects the total body functions which includes the mouth. The blood sugar level in a diabetes patient is high in the mouth and can cause health problems. The white cells in the body, which fight bacterial infections, are impaired causing thickening of the blood vessels in the mouth which reduces the ability of the body to fight infections. High glucose in saliva helps in thriving of bacteria. Brushing the teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste and flossing at least once helps to remove food particles which may accumulate to form plaque. When the plaque accumulates it becomes even more difficult to thoroughly clean between the teeth. This can create conditions that lead to chronic accumulation and infection in the mouth. If gingivitis is not treated, it progresses to periodontisis, a type of gum disease whereby plaque grows and spreads below the gum line. The bacteria in plaque produces toxins that stimulate a chronic inflammatory response in your body which destroys tissues and bone that support your teeth. Patients who have an inadequate blood sugar control appear to develop periodontal disease more often and more severely than people with good control of their diabetes Diabetics are likely to suffer from the following dental problems if their sugar level is not controlled: - Dry mouth- lack of control of sugar level reduces the flow of saliva thereby results in a dry mouth. This conditions leads to infections, soreness, ulcers and tooth decay. - Candidiasis/ oral thrush- in order to fight various, the diabetic takes antibiotics and this weakens their immune system and exposes them to infections of the mouth and tongue and this is known as oral thrush. This results in a burning sensation in the mouth and the tongue. - Delayed healing of oral tissues- people suffering from diabetes take longer to heal if they undergo an oral surgery/ other dental procedures because they have a reduced blood flow to the area of treatments. - Cavities- when plaque forms and sticks on teeth, the acids present in it attack the enamel in the outer surface which results in cavities. Te diabetic will have a high blood sugar level hence excess supply of sugar which supports tooth wear out.
Selecting appropriate mediums, channels and technologies This takes place at the level of conceptualization. When a sender decides to encode a message, he or she must take two main things into consideration during this stage – the context and the audience (receiver). These factors influence both choice of medium and choice of channel. The key word here is appropriateness. Choice of medium and channel are directly influenced by the purpose of the message and the intended audience. Ask yourself the following questions when determining levels of appropriateness: i. Who is my receiver? ii. How best can my message be conveyed? iii. Where is the communication act taking place? iv. What is the situation surrounding the communication act? v. Is my audience one person or several? vi. What medium should I use, oral or written? vii. Should I use technology? If so, which technology would most appropriate? Read the scenario below and answer the questions that follow. Greg is ill and has to be away from school for two weeks. His mother encodes a letter to the school principal and sends it out in the mail. In the above situation, 1. How else could Greg’s mother have gotten the message to the Principal? 2. Why do you think she chose to write a letter? Answer: The telephone or email could have been used. She chose the letter because a letter is a more formal medium of communication and can serve as a permanent record. Facilitators &; Barriers to Communication Noise is anything that interrupts or blocks the flow of information. Whenever the understanding of a message is affected, the obstruction is considered a barrier to communication. Some common barriers to communication are: i. A language barrier ii. A channel that is inaccessible to the receiver iii. The message is ineffectively encoded or the meaning is ambiguous iv. The medium is inappropriate to the message Some common facilitators to communication are: i. Choosing a familiar language ii. Using an accessible channel iii. Ensuring that the medium is appropriate to the message iv. Using audio/visual aids to enhance the encoding of the message Saturday, 22 October 2011 Communication as a Process Human communication is interpersonal, it is purposive and it is a process. Question: What do we mean by process? Answer: By process we mean that steps have to be taken and in a set/particular order to achieve a desired result/goal. These are the important elements of the communication process: The sender also known as the encoder decides on the message to be sent, the best/most effective way that it can be sent. All of this is done bearing the receiver in mind. In a word, it is his/her job to conceptualize. The sender may want to ask him/herself questions like: What words will I use? Do I need signs or pictures? The medium is the immediate form which a message takes. For example, a message may be communicated in the form of a letter, in the form of an email or face to face in the form of a speech. The channel is that which is responsible for the delivery of the chosen message form. For example post office, internet, radio. The receiver or the decoder is responsible for extracting/decoding meaning from the message. The receiver is also responsible for providing feedback to the sender. In a word, it is his/her job to INTERPRET. This is important as it determines whether or not the decoder grasped the intended meaning and whether communication was successful. Communication does not take place in a vacuum. The context of any communication act is the environment surrounding it. This includes, among other things, place, time, event, and attitudes of sender and receiver. 7. NOISE (also called interference) This is any factor that inhibits the conveyance of a message. That is, anything that gets in the way of the message being accurately received, interpreted and responded to. Noise may be internal or external. A student worrying about an incomplete assignment may not be attentive in class (internal noise) or the sounds of heavy rain on a galvanized roof may inhibit the reading of a storybook to second graders (external noise). The communication process is dynamic, continuous, irreversible, and contextual. It is not possible to participate in any element of the process without acknowledging the existence and functioning of the other elements.
Given a textbook passage on forces, students will be able to organize the passage's information into a graphic organizer and teach the information to other students. Relationship to big idea Everything physical in the universe is affected by forces. These forces cause (or stop) motion. In this lesson, students learn the scientific names and description of some forces. Contribution to student understanding The lesson helps students understand how the combination of forces affects the motion of objects. How do multiple forces on an object affect the object's motion? Students complete a bell work assignment identifying descriptions of forces (dragging your shoe on the ground, an apple falling to the earth) as "friction" or "not friction," based on what they saw in the previous lesson (baby shoes lab). Explain that the previous lesson's lab explored the force of friction. Friction isn't the only type of force - any push or pull is a force, and many of them have scientific names. The scientific names of the forces students will read about today are: gravity, weight, tension, compression, friction, static friction, sliding friction, and air resistance. Students will each read about two forces, complete their section of the organizer, and report back to their group. Demonstrate how to fill out the chart for students, using different sections for each force. Walk students through process of identifying key words for the section and locating them or synonyms in the text. (For example, when searching for the direction of the force, students might look for the words "direction," or "acts in.") Check for understanding Students summarize task in pairs. Individual volunteers report task components to teacher; teacher lists tasks in order on board. Students complete organizer for first task in small pieces, guided by teacher. ("Find the definition of your first force in the book. Now, put it into your own words. Draw a picture showing an example of the force or describing the force.") Students complete remainder of items with their groups while teacher circulates, checking work. Students summarize the information they read to members of their group. Summary takes the form of one sentence per section - students receive a template to follow. - _____ is _____. - I drew ____ because ____. - _____ acts on _____ objects. - The direction of _____ is _____. - _____ is affected by _____. ("Gravity is a force pulling objects together. I drew ___ because ___. Gravity acts on all objects, even if they aren't touching. The direction of gravity is toward the other object. Gravity is affected by the mass of objects and their distance from each other.") Teacher reads definition of forces. Students check their notes, confer with groups, and chorally report the type of force described. Approaches and instructional strategies Cooperative learning: Task uses positive resource independence. Groups work on demonstrating cooperative behaviors (use each others names, listen accurately to what others are saying, critique ideas, not people). Productive questioning: As students work, teacher asks individuals questions. (How is your first force like your second force? How are they different? What happens to the force of gravity if you move the objects farther apart? What would happen if there were no static friction? What is your reason for that drawing?) Reciprocal teaching for reading comprehension: Modeling of comprehension strategies
Identify and analyze the organizational structures of informational texts (e.g., chronological, sequential, cause-effect, comparison-contrast, problem-solution). 0601.6.7 Links verified on 6/16/2010 - Expository Organizational Patterns - information and examples of each type - Ordering the Phrases - excellent interactive quiz - learn about the different stages of a presentation and to learn some phrases that tell your audience where you are in your presentation. - Organized Speech Writing: Speech Structure - 7 part video lesson - Patterns of Organization and Their Clue Words - handout - defines term with example word usage [This expired page is from the Internet Archive known as the Wayback Machine.] - Principles of Organization - scroll to middle of page to get to this section; four broad principles - Planning, Writing, and Completing Oral Presentations - a quiz with thirty multiple-choice questions and five essay questions - Speech Organization - determine the most appropriate organizational pattern for a variety of extemporaneous topics - Types of Organizational Patterns - explanations of the types of patterns of a speech - Adverb Clauses: Cause and Effect Relationships - complete the statement to create a cause and effect - Cause and Effect Transitions - Combine two sentences using connecting words to show cause and effect. - Cause and Effect - Quia Quiz - Cause and Effect Activities and Quizzes - a collection of resources at Internet4Classrooms - Cause and Effect Diagrams - Lesson showing how to think through causes of a problem - Cause and Effect Sheet - Read passage online and answer questions on paper - Cause and Effect Lesson - explore some cause and effect situations using graphic organizers [This expired page comes from the Internet Archive known as the Wayback Machine.] - Cause and Effect Pretest - Short passages to read, followed by questions, after taking the pretest try another Pre test [these expired pages are from the Internet Archive known as the Wayback Machine.] - Cause and Effect quizzes - Quiz One \| Quiz Two \| Quiz Three \| Quiz Four \| Quiz Five - Cause-and-Effect Writing Challenges Students - The cause-and-effect relationship is both a way of thinking and a format for writing. Teachers who emphasize cause-and-effect writing say that they are helping students learn to think critically as well as write cogently. Read what three experienced teachers have to say about this teaching approach, which can be used with students of all ages. This is an article from Education World magazine - Compare and Contrast Activities - a collection of resources at Internet4Classrooms - Compare and Contrast Lesson Plans - a collection of resources at Internet4Classrooms - Compare or Contrast? - Which is it? Read the sentence and decide whether you are comparing or contrasting - Comparing and Contrasting Fables - apply literal, interpretive, and critical thinking skills to two versions of a fable. They will then draw a cartoon to illustrate the moral of one of the fables they read. - Comparing and Contrasting: Picturing an Organizational Pattern - investigate picture books organized in comparison/contrast structures to discover methods of organization - Compare/Contrast Online Activities - These activities help students read and write using compare and contrast. A good place to start would be "Help Lee Decide." After that, try "What Should Maria Do?" - Enchanting Readers with Revisionist Fairy Tales - students will read three examples of literature in which common fairy tale themes are revised and then compare and contrast them thematically and in terms of form. - Practice with Comparison and Contrast - lab activity to find and organize similarities and differences - Test Tutor - compare and contrast practice - Ordering the Phrases - interactive quiz - learn about the different stages of a presentation and to learn some phrases that tell your audience where you are in your presentation - Patterns of Organization and Their Clue Words- handout; defines term with example word usage [This expired page is from the Internet Archive known as the Wayback Machine.] - Principles of Organization - scroll to middle of page to get to this section - four broad principles - Planning, Writing, and Completing Oral Presentations - quiz with 30 multiple choice questions and 5 essay questions site for teachers \| PowerPoint show \| Acrobat document \| Word document \| whiteboard resource \| sound \| video format \| interactive lesson \| a quiz \| lesson plan \| to print
Learn about the status of farming as a career, investigate the management of a family farm, and examine one recent farm crisis in this lesson. You'll need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view some of the materials for this article. Advancements in transportation have played a key role in the growth of our nation. U.S.government policies have also had a considerable impact on the development of transport as we know it today. In this series of three lessons, the students examine the advancements in automobiles, roads, airlines and airports. Advancements in transportation have played a key role in the growth of our nation. U.S.government policies have also had a considerable impact on the development of transport as we know it today. In this series of three lessons,the students examine transportation and its impact on our nation (and vice versa) since the United States declared its independence in 1776. Lesson 1 focuses on improvements in transportation during the 19th century, particularly the development of a national rail system, to show how invention, innovation and infrastructure encouraged western expansion and economic growth. Lesson 2 moves on to the 20thcentury focusing on the development of auto transport and aviation. The impact on communities and world trade, for both good and bad,is examined. Lesson 3 calls upon the students to create a class time line of transportation milestones; the time line will help the students more clearly understand the factors, especially the economic incentives,that have played a key role in what has been called the 'Transportation Revolution.' While these three lessons will ideally be used together as a set, teachers may choose to use one or two of them, selectively, to focus, for example, on the 19th or the 20th century. If you would like your students to study the economics of transportation in more depth, consider following up with the EconEdLink lesson, An Economic Mystery: What Happened to Railroads? The following lessons come from the Council for Economic Education's library of publications. Clicking the publication title or image will take you to the Council for Economic Education Store for more detailed information. This publication contains complete instructions for teaching the lessons in Capstone. When combined with a textbook, Capstone provides activities for a complete high school economics course. 45 exemplary lessons help students learn to apply economic reasoning to a wide range of real-world subjects. 16 out of 45 lessons from this publication relate to this EconEdLink lesson. Focus: Understanding Economics in U.S. History uses a unique mystery-solving approach to teach U.S. economic history to your high school students. 7 out of 40 lessons from this publication relate to this EconEdLink lesson. Created specifically for high school mathematics teachers, this publication shows how mathematics concepts and knowledge can be used to develop economic and personal financial understandings. 7 out of 15 lessons from this publication relate to this EconEdLink lesson.
Several varieties of green caterpillars appear in your landscape for a number of reasons. Some attack the leaves on shrubs, trees and flowering plants, while others concentrate on lawn grass. The most common type lawn caterpillar is the sod webworm. Rather than a single variety of insect, this term encompasses more than 20 different caterpillars that eventually turn into moths. Video of the Day The little green caterpillars in your lawn are moth larvae. Common webworm varieties in your lawn include Parapediasia teterrella, Chrysoteuchia topiaria and Agriphila vulgivagella. Most varieties are smaller than an inch in length and have dark spots running down their bodies. Although they vary slightly in size, shade of green and color pattern, they all feed on grass blades, often causing extensive damage. Sod webworms appear after the mother moths lay the eggs near the base of the grass blades. The larvae hatch and crawl underground. They spend the winter several inches below the surface of the soil. In the spring, the small caterpillars emerge near the blades of grass in your lawn and begin feeding on the new growth. At the end of their larval stage, usually after four to six weeks, the caterpillars go back beneath the soil, where they then pupate. Adult moths emerge after about two weeks, mate and lay eggs, beginning a new cycle. Grass is one of sodworms’ main food sources. These crawling lawn pests prefer feeding on turfgrass, although they eat whatever food is available. Common food sources for these caterpillars include perennial ryegrass, tall fescue, fine fescue and Kentucky bluegrass. Their constant feeding habit causes small, brown patches of grass that may run together. Underground tunneling damages grass roots, leading to a general thinning of the lawn. An unhealthy lawn sustains greater damage from sod webworms than do lawns in good condition. Water, fertilize and mow your lawn regularly, according to the variety of grass. Nematodes, such as Steinernema nematodes, help reduce the sod webworm population. Contact pesticides applied during late summer or fall help eradicate these caterpillar pests. Planting a resistant type of grass also reduces the possibility of sod webworm damage. Look for seed grass packages that are endophyte enhanced when planting new grass seed.
Your fourth graders will love Kipling’s Just So Stories ! (And you’ll love how differentiation and scaffolding make this set of lessons accessible to all students.) Four stories are differentiated at three reading levels, and student sheets come with or without scaffolding. All emphasize constructing complete responses with a topic sentence, supportive evidence from the text, citing, and a conclusion. • “How the Camel Got His Hump” (adapted for high, average, and low readers) • “The Beginning of the Armadillos” (adapted for high, average, and low readers) • “The Elephant’s Child” (adapted for high, average, and low readers) • “How the Leopard Got His Spots” (adapted for high average, and low readers) • Themed student response sheets for answering questions for each story (each comes in two formats: with and without directions for scaffolding at the top of the page) • Themed student response sheets for summarizing each story (two formats) • Themed student response sheets for finding a theme for each story (two formats) • Themed student response sheets for describing characters for each story (two formats) • Generic student response sheets with scaffolding for answering questions, summarizing, finding a theme, and describing characters • Generic rubrics for answering questions, summarizing, finding a theme, and describing characters You can focus on one standard or practice all four: RL.4.1 Answering Questions, RL.4.2 Summarizing, RL.4.2 Finding a Theme, RL.4.3 Describing a Character. Differentiation is built in, so you teach one lesson to the entire class. Advanced readers read Adaptation A of the story and complete the student response sheet without scaffolding. On-level readers read Adaptation B and complete either the response sheet with or without scaffolding. Low readers read Adaptation C and complete the response sheet with scaffolding. After reading Kipling’s Just So Stories , why not write some pourquoi tales? Check out Just So Writing . Kids will love writing “How the __________ Got Its __________”! Do you need materials to help you teach students to construct responses? Try these: • RL.4.1 Answering Questions Lesson Plans • RL.4.2 Finding a Theme Lesson Plans • RL.4.3 Describing a Character Lesson Plans • RL.4.6 Determining and Defending Point of View Lesson Plans • Literature Assessments - Grade 4 Click on Follow Me to be notified as other units are published. For weekly ideas, activities, links, and freebies, check out my blog, Enjoy Teaching Just So Stories , written by Rudyard Kipling, was published in 1902 and is now in the public domain.
Cold temperate and sub-polar latitudes of the north Pacific Ocean Subphylum Crustacea (crabs, shrimps, and relatives), Family Lithodidae (king crabs) The blue king crab is the largest king crab species and one of the largest crustaceans. In the past, this species supported a large fishery, worth millions of dollars, but numbers have been reduced to the point that commercial fishers no longer target the blue king crab directly. It lives on soft bottom habitats throughout the Bering Sea and adjacent waters. Along with true crabs, prawns, and lobsters, the king crabs are decapods; they have ten legs. Blue king crabs are covered with a spiny exoskeleton that provides them some protection from potential predators, but at different stages of its lifecycle, the species is preyed upon by fishes, octopuses, and other predators. Blue king crabs are omnivorous and will eat just about any dead or decaying organic matter (plant or animal) and a variety of living invertebrates. Like in all decapods, the blue king crab’s shell really is a skeleton on the outside of its body. The exoskeleton does not expand, and therefore individuals must molt (shed) it regularly in order to grow bigger. Before molting, an individual begins building a new, larger skeleton inside the existing one. As it gets too big to be contained, it splits open the outer shell, and the new exoskeleton hardens. During this process, the new exoskeleton can be soft for some time, and the crab is vulnerable to predation. As mentioned above, blue king crab populations have declined significantly in the last few decades, and they are no longer targeted directly by commercial fishers. They are still legally captured in fisheries targeting other species, so they continue to be fished to some degree. Fortunately, this species is captured via trap, rather than by trawl or other destructive bottom fishing gear, so the fishery does not alter the ecosystem significantly. The conservation status of the blue king crab is not well known, but their populations are apparently struggling to recover, even in the face of reduced fishing. Further study into the life history and further monitoring of the population trends of this species are necessary to determine whether or not any conservation actions need to be taken. To help support our work protecting sea life from dangerous threats, click here to donate today!
When a bond is strongly polarised (i.e. it has two different atoms joined together) it has a charge separation and is said to have a dipole moment. This permanent dipole can have an effect on adjacent bonds; the effect of this permanent dipole induced by one bond in another is called the inductive effect . This effect falls off with distance. We can see the consequence of the inductive effect in the following example: - If we compare the acidities of the two acids we find that pK formic =+3.74 and pK ethanoic =+4.76. N.b. the smaller the pka the stronger the acid. How does this come about? To find out we need to look at the properties of the different groups in their ability to pull or push electrons. Lets look at the ions that we have above; the structures could equally be: The charge could be distributed over either oxygen, in fact, the charge is: This is known as delocalisation. This results in unexpected bond lengths both structures above imply that there should be two carbon oxygen bonds of different lengths, single bonds are longer than double bonds, but delocalisation means that both of these bonds are of equal length. Also, double bonds have a greater density of electrons than single bonds, so they should repel the single bonds more than they repel each other, resulting in different bond angles within molecules such as these. However, due to delocalisation, the bond angles are the same. Why are the pKa values different? This is a case of Hyperconjugation, (see later) the methyl group has a tendency to push electrons into the carboxylic acid group, making this COOH group more electron rich, the electron has less tendency to leave and the acid is weaker. The hydrogen ions H+ are placed as shown in figure 16, and the ve charge is equally spaced over the carboxylic group. The ability for the molecule to lose the H + is dependant on the way that the substituent groups push or pull electrons. H as a substituent group neither pushes nor pulls electrons; however, alkyl groups have a tendency to push electrons (+I effect). This has the effect of making the carboxylic acid group more electron rich and so the H+ will have less tendency to leave and produce H3O+ ions (hydroxonium ions). Halogen atoms are good at pulling electrons towards them, so they have a good I effect. Consider the following that of chloroethanoic acid: What do we expect for the acidity of this acid? pKaCEA =+2.86. It is more acidic than ethanoic acid! How do we explain this?? The chlorine atom draws electrons towards itself thereby making the carboxylic acid group less electron rich, the H+ will have less attraction to the acid group and so can leave more easily, the acid is more acidic. How do we expect the acidity to change if we add another Cl atom to give dichloroethanoic acid? We can see from this equation that the bigger the pKa value the weaker is the acid. In aromatic acids, the mesomeric effect also has a roll to play in the acidity of the acid, and along with the inductive effect will influence the acidity of the compound. The mesomeric effect is the electron withdrawing or electron releasing effect of substituent groups on a compound. The effect can be positive (+M ) when the group is electron releasing or negative (-M) for a electron withdrawing group. Benzoic acid pK a = 4.2 Both the mesomeric and inductive effect plays a part in the acidity. In benzoic acid these two effects virtually cancel one another out. However, in substituted benzoic acids the mesomeric effect can be seen properly. Let's consider each of the substance above: i) Electrons are pushed into the ring from the - OCH3 group hence the acid has a surplus of electrons in the ring and the acid becomes less acidic pKa = +4.5, the +M effect is greater than the I effect of the oxygen in the CH3O- group. The NO2 group has both an M and I effect on the benzoic acid, the pKa for this molecule is +3.4 and obviously more acidic. Because the OCH3 is attached to position 3 it does not have access to the mesomeric effect only the inductive effect plays a role here. The acid is therefore more acidic pKa = +4.0 than benzoic acid. So far we have seen the delocalisation of electrons in the π system; however, in some cases we get a delocalisation of s electrons into the π system this is referred to as Hyperconjugation. We have seen that methyl groups push electrons into carboxyl groups this is Hyperconjugation. So in effect it is an interaction of the s bonds with the π network of the carboxylic acid. How does this affect the benzene ring? Consider: Methyl benzene (toluene) In this example we see that the H+ is not bonded to the carbon, this resonance is known as no-bond resonance . Hydrogen does not leave because II does not exist at all; it is only a form which contributes to the actual structure of the molecule. The effect of II is that the electrons of the C-H bond are closer to the carbon atom. This has an effect on the position in which electrophilic attack can occur on the benzene ring because the methyl group will activate certain positions relative to the substituent group. In methyl benzene the positions which are activated will be the 2,4 and 6 position. If you look at structure II above you will see that position 2 has got a negative charge, this of course, does not exist (it is more likely to be a d- charge), but it will make this position more electron rich. By conjugation this can be transferred to positions 4 and 6. So on reaction Wheland intermediates will be produced similar to those seen in benzene. e.g. Nitration of methyl benzene: The NO2+ ion will attack at the most negative centres. Hence we will get only 1-methyl 2 and 4-nitro benzenes (1-methyl-6-nitro benzene is the same as 1-methyl-2-nitro benzene) and 1-methyl-3-nitro benzene is not formed in any significant quantity. By and large if a substituent pushes electrons into the ring it will direct the reaction to 2,4 products, and will generally react faster then benzene itself. The chlorine atom on the ring has the effect of withdrawing electrons from the ring; hence it will slow the reactions that the ring undergoes. It is said to deactivate the ring. The presence of the Cl atom however, will still direct the ring to react at the 2,4 positions. e.g. Consider, Phenol and Phenylamine: These substances react a lot faster than benzene; this is because of the lone pairs of electrons on the oxygen and nitrogen atoms. These are fed into the π system and the ring is activated. The positions activated are again 2, 4. We have so far only seen the effect of the activating influence of the substituent group. Consider Benzoic acid: This group is now working in the opposite direction to the other groups so far looked at, what effect has it on the direction of reaction? The 2, 4, 6 position all now get a positive charge associated with them. The E+ cannot now attack at these positions, hence the only positions which have a more negative charge are the 3, 5 positions. This group has a tendency to deactivate the ring and direct reaction towards the 3, 5 positions.
operating system, history (SPOOL) Accessing peripheral devices with the help of an off-line tape drive . The term was derived by IBM for use with the IBM 360 operating systems In the early days of computing (early 1960s), before multitasking was invented, computers (e.g. IBM 704 ) could run only one job at a time. As peripheral devices such as printers or card readers were much slower than the CPU , devoting the computer (the only computer in many cases) to controlling such devices was impractical. To free the CPU for useful work, the output was sent to a magnetic tape drive, which was much faster than a printer and much cheaper than a computer. After the job was finished the tape was removed from the tape drive attached to the computer and mounted on a tape drive connected to a printer (such as the IBM 1403 ). The printer could then print the data without holding up the computer. Similarly, instead of inputting the program from the card reader it was first copied to a tape and the tape was read by the computer.
- Culture Guide - Chinese Festivals - Dragon Boat Festival - Labor Day - Lantern Festival - Lusheng Festival - National Day - Qingming Festival - Sisters Rice Festival - Tibetan New Year - Miao New Year - Mid Autumn Festival - Naadam Grassland Festival - Shoton Festival - Chinese New Year - Chinese Cuisine - China Performing Arts - Crafts And Products - Chinese Tea - Chinese Customs And Traditions The Lantern Festival, also called Yuanxiao Festival or Shangyuan Festival, falls on the 15th day of the 1st month on the traditional Chinese lunar calendar. It is an important traditional national festival and also the first night of the year to see the full moon. It is believed to be during this time that spring returns, for which people hold celebrations. The Lantern Festival began in the Western Han Dynasty more than 2000 years ago, and the tradition of lighting lanterns during the festival first began in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty was an advocate of Buddhism who learned that on the 15th day of the 1st month, there is a practice of lighting lanterns to pay respect to Buddha among Buddhists. Thus, he ordered that on the evening of this day, royal palaces, temples, and people shall light up lanterns to pay respect to Buddhism. Since then, this religious ritual became a grand festival for people from all ranks of society including royals to commoners, from central China to all over the country. It has also been said that the Lantern Festival originated from the Torch Festival. During the Han Dynasty, people held torches to the fields to chase away beasts and insects in the hopes of an abundant harvest. This practice became very popular in the Sui, Tang, and Song Dynasties, and participants numbering more than 10,000 danced from dusk to dawn. Nowadays in some areas in Southwest China on this holiday, people make and hold torches constructed of branches or reeds and dance animatedly in groups in the fields or on the public grounds. The length and activities of the Lantern Festival has extended over time. It was originally celebrated for just 1 day in the Han Dynasty, 3 days in the Tang Dynasty, 5 days in the Song Dynasty, and for as long as 10 days in the Ming Dynasty. During the Qing Dynasty, many folk activities such as a lion dance, dragon dance, and walking in stilts were added to make the festival more interesting. China’s lanterns originated in the Western Han Dynasty about 2000 years ago. Every year in anticipation of the Lantern Festival, red lanterns are hung all around as symbols of reunion, a festive atmosphere, happiness, and fortune in Chinese culture. Over many generations of development by artisans, excellent workmanship and rich varieties of lanterns were formed. Their grace and presence are closely integrated with the people’s daily lives and total aesthetic flow of society as you can see by the common usage of lanterns in temples and in the fronts of houses around the country. The making of lanterns is a combination of techniques from painting, paper cutting, paper folding, embroidery, sewing, and more. Materials include bamboo, wood, vine, wheat-straw, animal horns, metal, silk, and so on. Images on the lanterns typically include landscapes, flowers, birds, dragons, and phoenixes. Palace lanterns and gauze lanterns are the most famous amongst all the varieties. According to Chinese folk traditions, people get together with their families, light up lanterns, watch the full moon, guess lantern riddles, eat Yuanxiao (glutinous rice balls), and light fireworks on the evening of the Lantern Festival. Because the festival and its traditions are observed in nearly all areas of the colossal country and has such a long history, the customs of celebrating the Lantern Festival vary from region to region, but there are some core elements that all participants share in common. Yuan Xiao, small filled or unfilled glutinous rice flour balls, is also called Tangyuan. Because of their round shapes and similar pronunciation as “union,” it is usually eaten together with family and symbolizes family unity. The fillings vary according to tastes and preferences, but popular types are white sugar, sesame powder, walnut, mashed jujube, and bean paste. Tangyuan is usually cooked by boiling the balls in water, and also frying and steaming. During the Tang Dynasty more than 1000 years ago, the capital city of Chang’an (today’s Xi’an) was prosperous and the largest city in the world with a population of more than 1 million people. Under the support and arrangement of various emperors, lanterns fairs became very popular and extravagant, essentially evolving almost into a carnival. During the reign of Emperor Tang Xuanzong (685-762), the lantern fair in Chang’an was so grand that 50,000 lanterns of various shapes and sizes were made and lit up. The emperor even ordered a giant lantern tower to be made with 20 rooms where young girls and palace maids would dance under the lights. In the Song Dynasty, the scale of lantern fairs became even larger than those in the Tang Dynasty, and more folk activities were added. In Taiwan, lanterns are considered to indicate brightness and birth. People believe that lanterns can bright up their future, while women would deliberately walk under the lanterns in the hopes of getting pregnant with a boy. Lantern riddles originated from riddles in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period (770BC-221BC). During the Lantern Festival, every household will hang up lanterns and light fireworks. Some wanted to make it more interesting and came up with the idea of writing riddles on a piece of paper and pasting them on the lanterns for people to guess. Because this game encourages competition, interest, and knowledge, it became a very widespread and popular activity. Valentine’s Day of China The Lantern Festival also has a romantic side. In feudal times, it provided an opportunity for young men and women to meet each other. At that time, young girls were allowed to go out by themselves only during festivals. Gazing at lanterns and attending lantern fairs were a good opportunities for them to meet more people, and unmarried young men and women also searched for their possible lover. In Taiwan, the tradition is such that unmarried women secretly pick scallions or vegetables on the evening of the Lantern Festival in hopes of finding a husband and starting a happy family. Zoubaibing literally means walking to ward off disease. Participants are mostly women who walk together in groups along walls and passing bridges. It is believed that Zoubaibing can ward off disease and dispel misfortunes. Weekly Recommended Deals Highlights: Elephant Trunk Hill, Reed Flute Cave, Li River Cruise, Longji Terraced Field, Chengyang Wind & Rain Bridge in Sanjiang, Zhaoxing Dong Village, Tangan Dong Village, Basha Miao Village, Yintan Dong village, Kaili Ethnic Minorities Museum, Xijiang Miao Village. Chinese Cultural Tours - 10 Day Beijing, Xian, Tibet, Beijing Tour From $1862 - 11 Day Beijing, Wutai, Pingyao, Xian, Beijing Tour From $1802 - 12 Day Beijing, Xian, Chengdu, Suzhou, Shanghai Tour From $2181 - 12 Day Buddhist Culture and Tibetan Civilization From $2667 - 13 Day World Heritage Tour of North China. 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This is third in a series of how to help your child understand what you are saying to him/her. Talking Tips for Parents: 1. Use a slower speech rate. Even a small change in your speech rate can improve your child’s understanding of language. 2. Use shorter remarks. Pretend you’re sending a telegram. It includes only the most important content words. Use phrases and sentences just beyond your child’s language level. For example, a child who says single words should be given two-word phrases. For a child who is using two words at a time, three-or four-word phrases would be apporopriate. Some examples are: “Do you want juice?” becomes “Want juice?” “That big horse is over there” becomes “See the big horse.” “Do you want the cookie or the cracker?” becomes “Want cookie? Want cracker?” “First you’ll take your bath and then I will read you a story” becomes “Your bath is first. Then your story.” 3. Use simple sentences. Sentences that contain a bsic subject+verb+object or adjective are the easiest. For example: Tommy + drank + milk. Dog + is + big. He+ ran + home. As your child’s language develops, include more information in your remarks, e.g. Tommy drank all the milk. The dog is big and brown. He ran quickly home for dinner. 4. Use repetition. When you repeat words, phrases, and sentences, your child has a better chance to learn and understand. Expand on your child’s utterances. Parent: Sue’s doll. Parent: Your doll is pretty. Child: I like your doll. New vocabulary was added each time and different sentence structures were modeled, but the child’s message was kept and repeated. 5. Exaggerate important words with your voice. Your child will pay more attention to words that you stress when you talk. Put more stress on words you want your child to hear and remember. For example: “Big dog.” “Juice all gone.” “You’re a good boy.” 6. Use gestures when you speak. Gestures help your child understand the meaning of your spoken message. Include natural gestures, i.e. facial gestures (excited, happy, sad, upset, interested), hand gestures (Come here. Give to me. I want. You want. Stop. Go. etc.), body gestures (arms out to indicate a hug, folded arms to indicate anger). If you have any questions about the above information, please comment and I will reply.
… health inequities, which are defined as health inequalities that are systematic, socially produced (and therefore modifiable) and unfair. Health inequities are the result of the circumstances in which people grow, live, work and age and the health systems they can access, which in turn are shaped by broader political, social and economic forces. They are not distributed randomly, but rather show a consistent pattern across the population, often by socioeconomic status or geographical location. Source: World Health Organization, The WHO Centre for Health Development, Kobe, and United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN HABITAT) (2010) Hidden Cities. Unmasking And Overcoming Health Inequities In Urban Settings. Page XIII. https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=gXqgaPtPzrQC&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&ots=Ma2MmSOan2&sig=Z7OlSoanBDR073C_PjQ9jbgoIT8&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false Health Inequities systematically put groups of people who are already socially disadvantaged (for example, by virtue of being poor, female, and/or members of a disenfranchised racial, ethnic, or religious group) at further disadvantage with respect to their health. (page 256) The concept of health equity focuses attention on the distribution of resources and other processes that drive a particular kind of health inequality—that is, a systematic inequality in health (or in its social determinants) between more and less advantaged social groups, In other words, a health inequality that is unjust or unfair. (page 255) Source: Braveman P, Gruskin S (2003) Defining equity in health. J Epidemiol Community Health 2003; 57: 254-258. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1732430/pdf/v057p00254.pdf Example of the term in use: The aim of this proposed framework is to aid in assessing whether adaptation targets current inequities and determinants of health that may reduce unequally distributed health outcomes. To evaluate health-related climate change adaptation for its climate justice contribution, the theoretical framework draws from two main concepts: (i) health inequity and (ii) resilience to climatic changes. Boeckmann M, Zeeb H (2016) Justice and Equity Implications of Climate Change Adaptation: A Theoretical Evaluation Framework. Healthcare (Basel) 4(3): 65. Published online 2016 Sep 7. doi: [10.3390/healthcare4030065] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5041066/
When many people think of slavery, they think of the translatlantic trade that took place between Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean. The legacy of enslavement in the Americas (particularly in the United States) is known globally through the cultural and political impact of African-American iconography, films, history and references in popular culture. For many people of African descent across the world, it is one of the clearest historical links that binds us together, even if we do not have west African or American ancestry. But the slave trade across the Atlantic Ocean is not the only history of longstanding mass global enslavement. Less well-known is a system that went on for centuries longer, but which took place across its opposite oceanmass, the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean slave trade encompassed Africa, Asia and the Middle East, with people from these areas involved as both captors and captives. The numbers of people enslaved and the exact length of the trans-Indian slave trade have not been definitively established, but historians believe that it preceded the transatlantic enslavement by centuries. Even though it is largely ignored as an international slave trade, examples of its impact abound. Writing on Indian Ocean slavery frequently mentions African people in China and Persia as well as in the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina, which also served as central slave markets. The longevity of the Indian Ocean slave trade is also evident in key historical moments. Long before the slave revolt of Haiti under Toussaint L’Overture, which istouted as the most successful slave revolt in modern history, established the first black republic in the western hemisphere, African slaves in the southern Iraqi city Basra established political power centres in Iraq and parts of present-day Iran for a period of fourteen years. The Zanj rebellion, and subsequent rule of East African slaves in parts of Iraq, took place between 869-883AD1. Centuries later, when American president Barack Obama was elected as the first African-American president in the United States, his election proved inspirational to their black descendants who continue to live in Basra. But focussing solely on African people enslaved across Asia would be hiding the extent of Indian Ocean slavery: Asian people were enslaved for centuries as well, with Asian slaves who survived shipwrecks on European ships found living with the indigenous population on South Africa’s coast long before colonisation. There are also reports of Indian people enslaved and living in Kenya and Tanzania, and later, there was the large-scale movement of enslaved Asian people sent to work as slaves in colonial South Africa, starting from Dutch colonisation in 1652. Enslaved Asian people in South Africa came from as far afield as Japan and Timor, but the majority were from India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and China. In addition, men from Baluchistan in present-day Pakistan are regularly mentioned working as guards in relation to the slaving community based in Tanzania in the 1800s, overseen by the Omani sultanate who ruled Zanzibar, and Indian and Chinese slaves were to be found in South Africa, as well as in parts of the African eastern coast. The Ottoman Empire enslaved non-Muslim populations in the Balkans, and women were often the target for sexual slavery, hence the Orientalist “allure” of the harem, and likely the source of the term “white slavery”. Afro-Turks also continue to live in Turkey. At its most pernicious, the effects of Asian enslavement is seen in contemporary racist European depictions of Asian women – which often have roots and metaphors in the sexual abuse inherent in the enslavement of Asian women and their status in the early days of colonialism. There are other contemporary reverberations of the Indian Ocean slave trade – and continuing practices of enslavement in parts of north Africa, including in Mauritania. Enslavement of “African” populations by the “Arab” Sudanese ruling class in Sudan was one of the key reasons for the breakup of the Republic of Sudan and the secession of South Sudan. Even today, being darker-skinned African is synonymous with being called abd/abeed (slave) by Arabs. This includes Arab people who have been born and have lived all of their lives in western Europe and north America. (The Twitter hashtag #abeed will show you how prevalent and contemporary the epithet is.) Words like “coolie” and “kaffir”, often associated with the Asian indentured labour system prevalent under later European colonialism, had roots and common usage in the periods of Indian Ocean slavery from the 1600s onwards. Starting today, Media Diversified will be publishing an ongoing series on slavery across the Indian Ocean (#IndianOceanSlavery). The articles will have most of their starting points in South Africa, which was one of the epicentres of the Indian Ocean slave trade, with the country importing slaves as part of its colonisation process. This series will include articles looking at the history of Asian political prisoners in the country, the history of Chinese people in Africa which goes back for at least a millennium, and the wider resonances of both slavery and very specific under-reported histories in Australia, Ireland and India. Although the descendants of enslaved Africans and Asians continue to live in South Africa, outside of academic publications the country has very little knowledge about its own history of slavery. What will become apparent is that slavery in Africa stretched much further than the west African coast where most of the transatlantic slave trade took place from. It also decimated the African interior for centuries longer than the period in which the transatlantic slave trade took place. Southern, central and east Africa were similarly affected, including by the large-scale movement of enslaved people within Africa, most notably in places like Mozambique and Madagascar. At the same time, there was extensive enslavement in Asia, in India as well as in Indonesia and other parts of south-east Asia, including Japan. Publishing this series on Indian Ocean slavery is significant because it brings together key aspects of a largely underplayed history for general readers. When I started reading up on the topic, I was surprised at how many academic tracts had been published on the issue, and yet that knowledge had not in any significant way filtered through to the populations from whom the history was drawn. If anything, despite all of the extensive body of research on Indian Ocean slavery, the information remains “hidden within books”. It challenges the history we tell ourselves in Africa, Asia and the Middle East about how we came to be, and it also challenges the history that we tell ourselves about other continents. It brings to light that what was perceived as anti-colonial solidarity in the 1950s and 1960s (often with India as its centre) was a continuation of a centuries-long historical twinning between what is collectively called the “Third World” or developing world. Very often finding the information involved following whispers of conversation or remembering a fact that I had heard long ago and could not make historical sense of at the time. The internet made researching information easier at times, but I would not have been able to do concerted research without the extensive archives in Cape Town and the dedicated staff who manage them. I also would not have been able to find the background material without the well-stocked libraries in South Africa. In fact, if I attempted this project outside of South Africa, there would likely have been very little in terms of records and libraries to bolster my knowledge. In a wider context, I also drew strength from the burgeoning interest in the history of slavery from the descendants of enslaved people in South Africa. At the moment it reaches a small group of people, but it is the start of reversing the trend of historians writing about history as if there are no contemporary resonances and impact, and as if there are no contemporary living descendants of slaves in South Africa, the wider African continent and Asia. Outside of the formal research, finding the information has been an astonishing experience, which led me to retrace all of my life’s journey, especially the often disparate lives that I have led across Africa and Asia during the past two decades — stretching from Senegal to east Africa, across Turkey and Afghanistan to south-east Asia. What was previously incongruous to me made sense when I walked into the Slave Lodge in Cape Town and saw a map detailing the places where enslaved people in South Africa came from. The map of slaves’ origins was in fact a map of all of the places that I had lived in or had very significant contact with. And so, many of the gaps were things that only I could have known, having lived a very particular life: why in Turkey I encountered the exact same fig jam recipe as my grandmother’s in Cape Town, which is a traditional Cape Malay dish; the common words close to isiZulu that I would hear when I lived in northern Uganda; why – besides the common vocabularies of Persian, Kiswahili and isiZulu that I’d draw on in Kabul and Nairobi – Persians in Iran and Afghanistan as well as Zulus in South Africa both ate maas/maast/amasi (plain yoghurt/fermented milk) with their meals. These were small questions that I could not answer up to now, but the thread of what I have discovered is much bigger than I had anticipated. The first article in this series will look at the history of the Dutch Christmas icon, Zwarte Piet (Black Peter). The iconography around Zwarte Piet brings together my own questions about slavery in South Africa, and about why the soot-smeared, golden-earringed icon who arrived in a wooden boat continues to be such a key cultural figure in Holland. But researching the history of Zwarte Piet took me far away from what had been the familiar framing of enslavement to me for most of my life, namely the trade between mainly west Africa and the Americas. I hope that for you, the reader, it will as fruitful to read as it was for me to spend the past year in musty archives, running after snippets of information, being surprised again and again, and ultimately giving voice not to an academic pursuit, but to real people who lived and breathed, who were part of my history, and might be part of how you came to be as well. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Zanj Rebellion. For more information on the African-Iraqi community in Basra, see: 1Encyclopaedia Britannica http://www.britannica.com/event/Zanj-rebellion (First accessed 08/04/2016) All work published on Media Diversified is the intellectual property of its writers. Please do not reproduce, republish or repost any content from this site without express written permission from Media Diversified. For further information, please see our reposting guidelines. Karen Williams works in media and human rights across Africa and Asia. She was part of the democratic gay rights movement that fought against apartheid in South Africa. She has worked in conflict areas and civil wars across the world and has written extensively on the position of women as victims and perpetrators in the west African and northern Ugandan civil wars. Indian Ocean Slavery is a series of articles by Karen Williams on the slave trade across the Indian Ocean and its historical and current effects on global populations. Commissioned for our Academic Space, this series sheds light on a little-known but extremely significant period of international history. This article was commissioned for our academic experimental space for long form writing edited and curated by Yasmin Gunaratnam. A space for provocative and engaging writing from any academic discipline. If you enjoyed reading this article and you got some benefit or insight from reading it buy a gift card or donate to keep Media Diversified’s website online Or visit our bookstore on Shopify – you can donate there too! We are 100% reader funded
Can cancer be cured in orbit? I've heard that different minerals and substances have been created while in orbit? Unfortunately, being in space is not a cure for cancer - if anything it may weaken the human body, because a person's immune system can't function as efficiently when in space. Also, no cure for cancer has been found in space. However, many technologies developed in space or through the space program have resulted in major breakthroughs in the fight against cancer. The low-gravity environment in orbit allows for unique studies of human cells and the human body. Exposure to increased radiation in space also allows scientists to study how cancer risk is affected by radiation exposure and other factors such as diet and exercise. Also, materials and machines developed through the space program are often developed and used for biomedical purposes, for example, synthetic bone and ligament materials. NASA funds many research programs that, both in orbit, and on the ground, work steadily towards understanding the causes of cancer and using technologies to fight it. NASA has also teamed up with the National Cancer Institute to develop nanotechnology that can be used within the human body. Here are links to some examples of major cancer breakthroughs enabled by NASA and by research conducted in space: NASA also keeps a specific website on its contributions to cancer research. Page last updated on June 22, 2015.
A beating heart muscle cell that was created from a human skin cell using a cocktail of only nine chemicals. This is the first instance of purely chemical cellular reprogramming, without adding external genes to the cell. [Nan Cao, Ph.D., Gladstone Institutes] Cellular reprogramming of stem cells derived from one tissue type into a different vastly different tissue typically requires the labor-intensive use of external genes to modify and coax the existing genetic machinery down the desired path. Now, scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have established what they believe is a major breakthrough for stem cell research. The researchers were able to transform skin cells into heart cells and brain cells using only a combination of chemicals. Previous research on cellular reprogramming required a complex amount of genetic engineering, which makes these new results an important discovery and accomplishment. Moreover, this study lays the groundwork for being able to regenerate lost or damaged cells with pharmaceutical drugs. The results of this research were published recently in two different studies. One was published in Science in an article entitled “Conversion of Human Fibroblasts into Functional Cardiomyocytes by Small Molecules.” The study’s second set of results were published in Cell Stem Cell in an article entitled “Pharmacological Reprogramming of Fibroblasts into Neural Stem Cells by Signaling-Directed Transcriptional Activation.” In both studies, the Gladstone researchers used chemical cocktails to gradually coax skin cells to change into organ-specific stem cell-like cells and, ultimately, into heart or brain cells. This discovery offers a more efficient and reliable method to reprogram cells and avoids medical concerns surrounding genetic engineering. “This method brings us closer to being able to generate new cells at the site of injury in patients,” explained co-senior author for both studies Sheng Ding, Ph.D., a senior investigator at the Roddenberry Center for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine within the Gladstone Institutes. “Our hope is to one day treat diseases like heart failure or Parkinson's disease with drugs that help the heart and brain regenerate damaged areas from their own existing tissue cells. This process is much closer to the natural regeneration that happens in animals like newts and salamanders, which has long fascinated us.” Because adult hearts have a limited ability to generate new cells, researchers have continually searched for ways to replace cells lost after a heart attack, such as transplanting adult heart cells or stem cells into the damaged heart. However, many of these efforts have been largely ineffective, as most transplanted adult cells fail to survive or integrate properly into the heart and few stem cells can be coaxed into becoming heart cells. Alternative approaches have used genes to convert scar-forming cells in the heart of animals into new muscle that improved the function of the heart. Yet, the Gladstone researchers hypothesized that a chemical reprogramming approach might offer an easier way to provide the cues that induce heart muscle to regenerate locally. In the Science study, the researchers used a mixture of nine chemicals to change human skin cells into beating heart cells. Through trial and error, they found the best combination of chemicals to begin the process—changing the cells into a state resembling multipotent stem cells. With this method, more than 97% of the cells started beating, a characteristic of fully developed, healthy heart cells. The cells also responded appropriately to hormones, and molecularly they resembled heart muscle cells, not skin cells. Astonishingly, when the cells were transplanted into a mouse heart early in the process, they developed into healthy-looking heart muscle cells within the organ. “The ultimate goal in treating heart failure is a robust, reliable way for the heart to create new muscle cells,” noted co-senior author on the Science paper Deepak Srivastava, M.D., director of cardiovascular and stem cell research at Gladstone. “Reprogramming a patient's own cells could provide the safest and most efficient way to regenerate dying or diseased heart muscle.” In the Cell Stem Cell study, the scientists created neural stem cells from mouse skin cells using a similar approach. Once again the chemical cocktail consisted of nine molecules, some of which overlapped with those employed in the first study. Over 10 days, the cocktail changed the identity of the cells, until all of the skin cell genes were turned off and the neural stem cell genes were gradually turned on. When transplanted into mice, the neural stem cells spontaneously developed into the three basic types of brain cells—neurons, oligodendrocytes, and astrocytes. The neural stem cells were also able to self-replicate, making them ideal for treating neurodegenerative diseases or brain injury. “With their improved safety, these neural stem cells could one day be used for cell replacement therapy in neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease,” remarked co-senior author of the Cell Stem Cell paper Yadong Huang, M.D., Ph.D., a senior investigator at Gladstone. “In the future, we could even imagine treating patients with a drug cocktail that acts on the brain or spinal cord, rejuvenating cells in the brain in real time.”
What are the limitations of Ohm's Law? Ohm’s law states that the electric current is proportional to the voltage and is inversely proportional to the resistance. Mathematically, this current-voltage relationship is written as, V is voltage. I is current. R is resistance. The same formula can be written in the order to calculate resistance and current as follows: Limitations of ohm's law:
Completed MS Science Competition- Tribology Friction has been used in everyday life for thousands of years. In the Stone Age, it was used to start fires by rubbing together wooden sticks. However, the first organized study of friction wasn’t until 1493 by Leonardo da Vinci. You may know Leonardo da Vinci for painting the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, but he was also a sculptor and many other things. He was extremely curious about the world and this made him successful. He also is considered by some to be the world's first Tribologist. Tribology is the study of friction and lubrication. In this activity, you are going to conduct experiments similar to Da Vinci and attempt to improve upon them using items found in your home.
Today is the birthday of the philosopher Benedict Spinoza, born in Amsterdam in 1632. Spinoza was the descendent of Portuguese Jews who immigrated to the Netherlands seeking religious tolerance. Young Spinoza studied Hebrew, the Old Testament, the Talmud, and Cabala’s traditions of mysticism and miracle. Fluent in five languages, Spinoza wrote in Latin, which he learned from Christian teachers who introduced the young scholar to mathematics and philosophy. By age 24, Spinoza had developed his own ideas. He asserted that everything in the universe was made from the same divine substance, possessing infinite characteristics. He defined God and the laws of nature as one and the same, a part of this infinite substance. All of this was too far-flung from the dominant vision of an almighty, singular godhead for Spinoza’s religious contemporaries to tolerate, and Spinoza was excommunicated. This did not deter him from his intellectual pursuits. He said, “Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand.” He left Amsterdam and supported himself grinding lenses while writing books of philosophy. He lived in solitude and studied the work of Bacon, Boyle, Descartes, and Huygens. Spinoza published three books while he was alive, though more of his writings were published later by friends. The only book that named him as an author was Principles of the Philosophy of René Descartes (1663). He withheld much of his work because he feared retribution from a group of theologians who had publicly accused him of atheism. For more than a century after his death, Spinoza’s work was widely considered heretical and atheistic. But toward the end of the 18th century, his ideas underwent a revival. Thinkers called him “holy” and “a man intoxicated with the divine,” and he influenced philosophers such as Goethe, Herder, Lessing, and Novalis. According to the philosopher Hegel, “to be a philosopher, one must first become a Spinozist.” Spinoza said, “The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free.” And, “If you want the future to be different from the present, study the past.”
Plotting a Histogram in Python using Seaborn In this tutorial, I will be teaching you how to plot a histogram in Python using the seaborn library. Before we begin, make sure you have the seaborn library and matplotlib library installed on your system. If not, then go to the following link to know how:- What is a Histogram? A Histogram is formally defined as a graphical display of data with the help of bars of varying heights. A histogram group numbers into ranges and are very useful in certain use cases. For example, the heights of various people can be easily represented effectively using a histogram. Importing the required libraries import seaborn as sns import matplotlib.pyplot as plt This will import the seaborn library with alias ‘sns’. Similarly, for matplotlib, the alias name here is ‘plt’. Creating an alias name will make the code look simpler and more readable. You can use any dataset you want, or you can even input the values yourself. But for this tutorial, I will be using the very popular “iris” dataset. This dataset has information about flowers. Make sure you are connected to the internet while running this code as the dataset is available online. Program: Plot a Histogram in Python using Seaborn #Importing the libraries that are necessary import seaborn as sns import matplotlib.pyplot as plt #Loading the dataset dataset = sns.load_dataset("iris") #Creating the histogram sns.distplot(dataset['sepal_length']) #Showing the plot plt.show() First, the sns.distplot() function loads the dateset into the variable, ‘dataset’. Next, the sns.distplot() function creates the histogram. Finally, the plt.show() function shows the graph You should refer to the following articles to learn more about Seaborn and plotting graphs in Python:-
What is spinal stenosis? Spinal stenosis happens when the spaces in the spine narrow and create pressure on the spinal cord and nerve roots. The spinal cord is a bundle of nerves that comes out of the base of the brain and runs down the center of the spine. The nerve roots branch out from the cord. In spinal stenosis, the narrowing usually occurs over time. What is Paget’s disease? Paget’s disease of bone is a chronic (long-lasting) disorder that causes bones to grow larger and become weaker than normal. Usually only one or a few bones have the disease. Many people with Paget’s disease do not have symptoms. However, the bone changes can cause: Bone pain. Misshapen bones. Broken bones (fractures). Problems in the joints near the bones with the disease. With treatment, many people can: Manage their symptoms. Improve pain. Control the effects of the disease.
What is rosacea? Rosacea (ro-ZAY-she-ah) is a long-term skin condition that causes reddened skin and a rash, usually on the nose and cheeks. It may also cause eye problems. What is fibrous dysplasia? Fibrous dysplasia happens when abnormal fibrous (scar-like) tissue replaces healthy bone. The fibrous tissue weakens the bone over time, which can lead to: Broken bones. Bones that are misshapen (bowed or crooked). The disease can affect any bone in the body. Some people have no symptoms or only a few symptoms. Other people may have more symptoms. Although there is no cure for fibrous dysplasia, treatments may help to lessen pain, and physical therapy may help strengthen muscle and improve movement. A bioengineered molecule designed to bind together key components found in the fluid that surrounds joint areas may improve lubrication and minimize friction. This could potentially slow the degeneration of cartilage tissue that occurs in knee osteoarthritis, according to a study conducted in rats and funded in part by the NIH’s National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. The study was published in Nature Materials. The synovial fluid that bathes our joints is composed of several types of lubricants, including hyaluronic acid (HA) and lubricin. In healthy joints, this fluid ensures that tissues move together smoothly and without Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a team of scientists has detected structural changes in the knee joint that precede signs of osteoarthritis seen on X-rays. The study, which was supported in part by the NIH’s National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), calls into question the assumption that damage to cartilage is the primary underlying cause of osteoarthritis. The findings appeared in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatology.
What Are Allergies? Allergies are abnormal immune system reactions to things that are typically harmless to most people. When you're allergic to something, your immune system mistakenly believes that this substance is harmful to your body. (Substances that cause allergic reactions — such as certain foods, dust, plant pollen, or medicines — are known as allergens.) What Happens in Allergies? In an attempt to protect the body, the immune system produces IgE antibodies to that allergen. Those antibodies then cause certain cells in the body to release chemicals into the bloodstream, one of which is histamine (pronounced: HIS-tuh-meen). The histamine then acts on the eyes, nose, throat, lungs, skin, or gastrointestinal tract and causes the symptoms of the allergic reaction. Future exposure to that same allergen will trigger this antibody response again. This means that every time you come into contact with that allergen, you'll have some form of allergy symptoms. What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Allergies? Allergic reactions can be mild, like a runny nose, or they can be serious, like difficulty breathing (especially if you have a history of asthma). Some types of allergies cause multiple symptoms. And in rare cases, an allergic reaction can become very severe — this is called anaphylaxis (pronounced: an-uh-fuh-LAK-sis). Signs of anaphylaxis include trouble breathing or swallowing; swelling of the lips, tongue, and throat or other parts of the body; and dizziness or loss of consciousness. Anaphylaxis usually happens minutes after exposure to a trigger, such as a peanut, but some reactions can be delayed by as long as 4 hours. Luckily, anaphylactic reactions don't happen often and can be treated successfully. What Causes Allergies? The tendency to develop allergies is often hereditary, which means it can be passed down through your genes. However, just because a parent or sibling has allergies doesn't mean you will definitely get them, too. A person usually doesn't inherit a particular allergy, just the likelihood of having allergies. What Things Are People Allergic to? Some of the most common allergens are: Airborne particles. Often called environmental allergens, these are the most common allergens. Airborne particles that can cause allergies include dust mites (tiny bugs that live in house dust); mold spores; animal dander (flakes of scaly, dried skin) and dried saliva from your pets; and pollen from grass, ragweed, and trees. Foods.Food allergies are most common in babies and may go away as people get older. Although some food allergies can be serious, many just cause annoying symptoms like an itchy rash, a tingly tongue, and diarrhea. The most common food allergies are: milk and other dairy products, eggs, wheat, soy, peanuts and tree nuts, and seafood. Insect stings. The venom (poison) in& insect stings can cause allergic reactions, and can be severe and even cause an anaphylactic reaction in some people. Medicines. Antibiotics — medicines used to treat infections — are the most common type of medicines that cause allergic reactions. Many other medicines, including over-the-counter medications (those you can buy without a prescription), also can cause allergic reactions. Chemicals. Some cosmetics or laundry detergents can make people break out in hives. Usually, this is because someone has a reaction to the chemicals in these products, though it may not always be an allergic reaction. Dyes, household cleaners, and pesticides used on lawns or plants also can cause allergic reactions in some people. How Are Allergies Diagnosed? If your family doctor suspects you might have an allergy, he or she might refer you to an allergist (a doctor who specializes in allergy treatment) for further testing. The allergist will ask you about your own allergy symptoms (such as how often they happen and when) and about whether any family members have allergies. The allergist also will do testing to confirm an allergy. The tests will depend on the type of allergy suspected, and may include a skin test or blood test. How Are Allergies Treated? There's no cure for allergies, but symptoms can be managed. The best way to avoid allergic reactions is to stay away from the substances that cause them — called avoidance. Doctors can also treat some allergies using medicines and allergy shots. In some cases, as with food allergies, avoiding the allergen is a life-saving necessity. Unlike allergies that can be treated with shots or medicines, the only way to treat food allergies is to avoid the allergen entirely. For example, people who are allergic to peanuts should avoid not only peanuts, but also any food that might contain even tiny traces of them. Avoidance can help protect people against non-food or chemical allergens, too. In fact, for some people, eliminating exposure to an allergen is enough to prevent allergy symptoms and they don't need to take medicines or go through other allergy treatments. To help you avoid airborne allergens: - Keep family pets out of certain rooms, like your bedroom, and bathe them if necessary. (But for some people with serious symptoms, keeping a pet might not be possible.) - Remove carpets or rugs from your room (hard floor surfaces don't collect dust as much as carpets do). - Don't hang heavy drapes, and get rid of other items that let dust build up. - Clean often (if your allergy is severe, you may be able to get someone else to do your dirty work!) - Use special covers to seal pillows and mattresses if you're allergic to dust mites. - If you're allergic to pollen, keep windows closed when pollen season is at its peak, change your clothing after being outdoors, and don't mow lawns. - If you're allergic to mold, avoid damp areas, such as basements, and keep bathrooms and other mold-prone areas clean and dry. Medicines (usually pills or nasal sprays) are often used to treat allergies. Although they can control the allergy symptoms (such as sneezing, headaches, or a stuffy nose), they're not a cure and can't make the tendency to have allergic reactions go away. Many effective medicines are available to treat common allergies, and your doctor can help you to identify those that work for you. Another type of medicine that some severely allergic people will need to have on hand is a shot of epinephrine (pronounced: eh-puh-NEH-frin). This fast-acting medicine can help offset an anaphylactic reaction. It comes in an easy-to-carry container that looks like a large pen. Epinephrine is available by prescription only. If you have a severe allergy and your doctor thinks you should carry it, he or she will give you instructions on how to use it. Allergy shots are also referred to as allergen immunotherapy. By getting injections of small amounts of an allergen, a person's body slowly develops non-allergen antibodies and has other immune system changes that help ease the reaction to that allergen. Immunotherapy is only recommended for specific allergies, such as to things a person can breathe in (like pollen, pet dander, or dust mites) or insect allergies. Immunotherapy doesn't help with some allergies, like food allergies. Although many people find the thought of allergy shots unsettling, shots can be very effective — and it doesn't take long to get used to them. Often, the longer someone gets allergy shots, the more they help the body build up antibodies that fight the allergies. Although the shots don't cure allergies, they do tend to raise a person's tolerance when exposed to the allergen, which means fewer or less serious symptoms. If you're severely allergic to bites and stings, talk to a doctor about getting venom immunotherapy (shots) from an allergist. Is It a Cold or Allergies? If the spring and summer seasons leave you sneezing and wheezing, you might have allergies. Colds, on the other hand, are more likely to happen at any time (though they're more common in the colder months). Colds and allergies have similar symptoms, but colds usually last only a week or so. And although both may cause your nose and eyes to itch, colds and other viral infections can also cause a fever, aches and pains, and colored mucus. Cold symptoms often get worse as the days go on and then gradually improve, but allergies begin immediately after exposure to the offending allergen and last as long as that exposure continues. If you're not sure whether your symptoms are caused by allergies or a cold, talk with your doctor. Dealing With Allergies So once you know you have allergies, how do you deal with them? First, try to avoid things you're allergic to! - If you have a food allergy, avoid foods that trigger symptoms and read food labels to make sure you're not eating even tiny amounts of allergens. - If you have an environmental allergy, keep your house clean of dust and pet dander and watch the weather for days when pollen is high. Switching to perfume-free and dye-free detergents, cosmetics, and beauty products (you may see non-allergenic ingredients listed as hypoallergenic on product labels) also can help. If you're taking medicine, follow the directions carefully and make sure your regular doctor is aware of anything an allergist gives you (like shots or prescriptions). If you have a severe allergy, consider wearing a medical emergency ID (such as a MedicAlert bracelet), which will explain your allergy and who to contact in case of an emergency. If you've been diagnosed with allergies, you have a lot of company. And the good news is that doctors and scientists are working to better understand allergies, to improve treatments, and to possibly prevent allergies altogether. - Food Allergies: How to Cope - 5 Ways to Be Prepared for an Allergy Emergency - Food Allergies and Travel - My Friend Has a Food Allergy. How Can I Help? - Milk Allergy - Allergy Testing - Hives (Urticaria) - Egg Allergy - Food Allergies - Nut and Peanut Allergy - Shellfish Allergy - Serious Allergic Reactions (Anaphylaxis)
The seeds, all being the same size, are used as weights in eastern Mediterranean countries (the word "carat" comes from the Arabic name of the seeds). So the modern word carat owes its derivation to the same pathway that named the Carob, which was originally used by Arab jewelers to weigh their precious metals and stones! Originally the word carat, a unit of mass for gemstones and a unit of purity for gold alloys, was derived from the Greek word keration literally meaning a small horn, and refers to the carob seed as a unit of weight. You can see the resemblance in its Greek name keration and its Latin name Ceratonia. The Carob Tree has fruit pods that contain multiple seeds. It was a simple task to get your hand on a bunch of carob seeds of the same size, and count on them all to be pretty much the same weight. Or, at least, it was perceived so. The weight of an object was then expressed in terms of the equivalent number of carob seeds. This was standard for commerce and it was even used to weigh things like gemstones and gold. A carat is a modern unit of weight for gemstones like diamonds. This is not to be confused with karat which is a measure of gold purity. A carat is defined as exactly 0.20 grams. This means that a diamond weighing 100 carats would be 20 grams. A typical carob seed is about 0.20 grams (200 mg), so the same diamond would weight just about the same as 100 carob seeds. Carob Tree is widely cultivated for its edible pods, and as an ornamental tree in gardens. The ripe, dried pod is often ground to carob powder which is used as a substitute for cocoa powder. It is native to the Mediterranean region including Southern Europe, Northern Africa, the larger Mediterranean islands; to the Levant and Middle-East of Western Asia into Iran; and to the Canary Islands and Macaronesia. Flowers without corolla are of three diferent types: male (only with five stamens), female (with a single pistil) and hermaphrodite (a combination of both previous elements). The fruit is a pod, indehiscent, till 9" long, dark brown in full maturity. The seeds are embedded in the thick fleshy sugar-rich pods. Cultivated in the Mediterranean warm regions of calcareous soils and naturalized in dry, rocky places. Carob is cultivated for its abundance of pods, rich in sugar when ripe, which are used for the production of alcohol or ground with the seeds to make carob bean meal for animal feed. The seeds are extremely hard; unless ground before feeding they are not digestible.
Millipedes are arthropods in the class Diplopoda, which is characterized by having two pairs of jointed legs on most body segments. Each double-legged segment is a result of two single segments fused together as one. Most millipedes have very elongated cylindrical or flattened bodies with more than 20 segments, while pill millipedes are shorter and can roll into a ball. Although the name “millipede” derives from the Latin for “thousand feet”, no known species has 1,000; the record of 750 legs belongs to Illacme plenipes. There are approximately 12,000 named species classified into sixteen orders and around 140 families, making Diplopoda the largest class of myriapods, an arthropod group which also includes centipedes and other multi-legged creatures. Most millipedes are slow-moving detritivores, eating decaying leaves and other dead plant matter. Some eat fungi or suck plant fluids, and a small minority are predatory. Millipedes are generally harmless to humans, although some can become household or garden pests, especially in greenhouses where they can cause severe damage to emergent seedlings. Most millipedes defend themselves with a variety of defensive chemicals secreted from pores along the body, although the tiny bristle millipedes are covered with tufts of detachable bristles. Reproduction in most species is carried out by modified male legs called gonopods, which transfer packets of sperm to females. Millipedes are some of the oldest known land animals, first appearing in the Silurian period. Some members of prehistoric groups grew to over 2 m (6 ft 7 in), while the largest modern species reach maximum lengths of 27 to 38 cm (11 to 15 in). The longest extant species is the giant African millipede (Archispirostreptus gigas). Among myriapods, millipedes have traditionally been considered most closely related to the tiny pauropods, although some molecular studies challenge this relationship. Millipedes can be distinguished from the somewhat similar but only distantly related centipedes (class Chilopoda), which move rapidly, are carnivorous, and have only a single pair of legs on each body segment. The scientific study of millipedes is known as diplopodology, and a scientist who studies them is called a diplopodologist. Keep millipedes from crawling into your home. Give Brooks Pest Control a call today at 423-562-1094!
Projecting white noise in the direction of oncoming birds could stop them from colliding with buildings or wind turbines. Birds keep their heads down to streamline their bodies as they fly, says John Swaddle at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. So, visual cues may not be enough to warn them of oncoming structures. That is why billions of birds around the world, particularly those that migrate long distances, die in collisions with manufactured structures each year. “Birds fly a bit like texting while driving,” says Swaddle. He and his team used white noise at around 70 decibels – about as loud as a vacuum cleaner – to try to get their attention when they are near tall structures. “These acoustic stimuli are like someone honking at them, making them more aware of their surroundings,” he says. The team used directional speakers around two communication towers along the Delmarva peninsula in Virginia, an area that millions of birds pass through going south during the North American autumn migration. The speakers were angled to only be heard by oncoming birds travelling from the north, and cameras recorded the flight paths of birds within a 500-metre radius. The team broadcast two sounds within the frequency range that most birds can hear, playing them for 30 minutes at a time with 30 minutes of silence between them over a total of 3 hours. One sound fell between 4 and 6 kilohertz, the other between 6 and 8 kilohertz. The team played these sounds for six days between September and November 2019. Compared with the periods of silence, bird activity decreased roughly 16 per cent around the towers when the 4-6 kilohertz sound was played, and 12 per cent while the sound at 6-8 kilohertz played. When birds flew within 100 metres of the tower, they were considered at risk for a collision. But the lower sound frequencies caused them to slow down more and divert their trajectories further around the tower. Swaddle says this may be because birds hear frequencies between 4 and 6 kilohertz more clearly. Swaddle says this suggests that certain frequencies of sounds may be more efficient at making birds aware of structures like communication towers and wind turbines. “The technology is already out there to do this so the implementation shouldn’t be that difficult,” he says. Journal reference: PLOS ONE, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249826 Sign up for Wild Wild Life, a free monthly newsletter celebrating the diversity and science of animals, plants and Earth’s other weird and wonderful inhabitants More on these topics:
This technique, which combines two existing technologies, allows researchers to identify precisely both the location and timing of human brain activity. Using this new approach, the MIT researchers scanned individuals’ brains as they looked at different images and were able to pinpoint, to the millisecond, when the brain recognizes and categorizes an object, and where these processes occur. “This method gives you a visualization of ‘when’ and ‘where’ at the same time. It’s a window into processes happening at the millisecond and millimeter scale,” says Aude Oliva, a principal research scientist in MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). Oliva is the senior author of a paper describing the findings in the Jan. 26 issue of Nature Neuroscience. Lead author of the paper is CSAIL postdoc Radoslaw Cichy. Dimitrios Pantazis, a research scientist at MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research, is also an author of the paper. When and where Until now, scientists have been able to observe the location or timing of human brain activity at high resolution, but not both, because different imaging techniques are not easily combined. The most commonly used type of brain scan, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), measures changes in blood flow, revealing which parts of the brain are involved in a particular task. However, it works too slowly to keep up with the brain’s millisecond-by-millisecond dynamics. Another imaging technique, known as magnetoencephalography (MEG), uses an array of hundreds of sensors encircling the head to measure magnetic fields produced by neuronal activity in the brain. These sensors offer a dynamic portrait of brain activity over time, down to the millisecond, but do not tell the precise location of the signals. To combine the time and location information generated by these two scanners, the researchers used a computational technique called representational similarity analysis, which relies on the fact that two similar objects (such as two human faces) that provoke similar signals in fMRI will also produce similar signals in MEG. This method has been used before to link fMRI with recordings of neuronal electrical activity in monkeys, but the MIT researchers are the first to use it to link fMRI and MEG data from human subjects. In the study, the researchers scanned 16 human volunteers as they looked at a series of 92 images, including faces, animals, and natural and manmade objects. Each image was shown for half a second. “We wanted to measure how visual information flows through the brain. It’s just pure automatic machinery that starts every time you open your eyes, and it’s incredibly fast,” Cichy says. “This is a very complex process, and we have not yet looked at higher cognitive processes that come later, such as recalling thoughts and memories when you are watching objects.” Each subject underwent the test multiple times — twice in an fMRI scanner and twice in an MEG scanner — giving the researchers a huge set of data on the timing and location of brain activity. All of the scanning was done at the Athinoula A. Martinos Imaging Center at the McGovern Institute. Millisecond by millisecond By analyzing this data, the researchers produced a timeline of the brain’s object-recognition pathway that is very similar to results previously obtained by recording electrical signals in the visual cortex of monkeys, a technique that is extremely accurate but too invasive to use in humans. About 50 milliseconds after subjects saw an image, visual information entered a part of the brain called the primary visual cortex, or V1, which recognizes basic elements of a shape, such as whether it is round or elongated. The information then flowed to the inferotemporal cortex, where the brain identified the object as early as 120 milliseconds. Within 160 milliseconds, all objects had been classified into categories such as plant or animal. The MIT team’s strategy “provides a rich new source of evidence on this highly dynamic process,” says Nikolaus Kriegeskorte, a principal investigator in cognition and brain sciences at Cambridge University. “The combination of MEG and fMRI in humans is no surrogate for invasive animal studies with techniques that simultaneously have high spatial and temporal precision, but Cichy et al. come closer to characterizing the dynamic emergence of representational geometries across stages of processing in humans than any previous work. The approach will be useful for future studies elucidating other perceptual and cognitive processes,” says Kriegeskorte, who was not part of the research team. The MIT researchers are now using representational similarity analysis to study the accuracy of computer models of vision by comparing brain scan data with the models’ predictions of how vision works. Using this approach, scientists should also be able to study how the human brain analyzes other types of information such as motor, verbal, or sensory signals, the researchers say. It could also shed light on processes that underlie conditions such as memory disorders or dyslexia, and could benefit patients suffering from paralysis or neurodegenerative diseases. “This is the first time that MEG and fMRI have been connected in this way, giving us a unique perspective,” Pantazis says. “We now have the tools to precisely map brain function both in space and time, opening up tremendous possibilities to study the human brain.” The research was funded by the National Eye Institute, the National Science Foundation, and a Feodor Lynen Research Fellowship from the Humboldt Foundation.
Although an increasingly diagnosed developmental disorder among children, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has no known cure. However, there is treatment, and the consensus among experts, parents, and teachers is that the most effective treatment is Applied Behavior Analysis. One of the first definitions of Applied Behavior Analysis remains the best. According to a 1968 paper written by Baer, Wolf, & Risley, “Applied Behavior Analysis is the process of systematically applying interventions based upon the principles of learning theory to improve socially significant behaviors to a meaningful degree, and to demonstrate that the interventions employed are responsible for the improvement in behavior.” As with just about anything relating to autism, the specific techniques are constantly evolving. Fortunately, hundreds of helpful books have been written on the topic. The following 30 books are written by behavior analysts, teachers, and parents, and represent the best books on Applied Behavioral Analysis based on such factors as Amazon sales and ratings, Barnes and Noble sales and ratings, awards and honors, and use as a textbook. 101 Games and Activities for Children with Autism, Asperger’s and Sensory Processing Disorders (McGraw-Hill, 2009) While most books for care givers of autistic children focus on improving motor, language, or social skills, this book by Tara Delaney offers myriad ideas for something just as important: play. The book is full of tips and suggestions for interactive games that are easy to learn and perfect for either indoor or outdoor playtime. Through these games, children with autism can learn stay focused, make eye contact, improve important skills, and practice interacting with others. 101 Ways to Do ABA!: Practical and Amusing Positive Behavioral Tips for Implementing Applied Behavior Analysis Strategies in Your Home, Classroom, and in Your Community (CreateSpace Publishing, 2012) “101 Ways to Do ABA!” is a must-have resource consisting of applied behavior analysis techniques that have been proven effective in dealing with challenging behaviors. Topics include dealing with tantrums, attending in a classroom, eating in restaurants, and much more. The ABA Visual Language: Applied Behavior Analysis (CreateSpace Publishing, 2017) Makoto Shibutani BCBA Students, professionals, and parents alike will find “The ABA Visual Language” helpful. This highly useable guide by Makato Shibutani provides detailed explanations, complete with illustrations and real-world examples, of various terms and topics common to a discussion about applied behavior analysis. Applied Behavior Analysis (Pearson, 3rd Ed. 2019) John O. Cooper, Timothy E. Heron, and William L. Heward This commonly used textbook and Amazon bestseller provides its (usually) student readers with detailed descriptions and summaries of the must-know aspects of applied behavior analysis. It’s most appropriate as a foundational text for those researching the basics of ABA, applications, or behavioral research methods. The text has recently received an update with a third edition, released in August 2019. Applied Behavior Analysis: Comprehensive ABA Treatment for Cognitive Functioning and Social Development (Kindle, 2017) This book by J.P. Pearson, available as an ebook, offers basic information for the reader at the beginning stages of researching applied behavior analysis. Its simple approach makes it a valuable resource for those hoping to get an idea of what ABA is, what it looks like, and what it can do. Applied Behavior Analysis: Fifty Case Studies in Home, School, and Community Settings (Springer, 2016) Kimberly Maich, Darren Levine, and Carmen Hall What better way to learn about applied behavior analysis than real-world examples and case studies? That’s exactly what this text by Kimberly Maich and her colleagues provides. The well-organized chapters focus on all of ABA’s core principles, and each example is illustrated with supplementary questions, goal setting, and charts and forms. Applied Behavior Analysis for Teachers (Pearson, 9th Ed. 2012) Paul A. Alberto and Anne C. Troutman Commonly used as a textbook by students studying education, Applied Behavior Analysis for Teachers is full of practical advice that can be used in the classroom. It’s full of real-world, classroom-based examples and models, each of which is written in clear, easy-to-read language. Just a few of the topics covered include: - identifying behaviors - functional assessment - antecedents and consequences. Applied Behavior Analysis in Early Childhood Education: An Introduction to Evidence-based Interventions and Teaching Strategies (Routledge, 2016) Laura Baylot Casey and Stacy L. Carter “Applied Behavior Analysis in Early Childhood Education” offers readers a fact-based summary about the use of ABA for developing children who have special needs. It’s full of helpful advice and examples on topics such as: - communication with parents - common everyday challenges - implementing effective techniques - coming up with strategies for less common issues. Behaviorspeak: A Glossary of Terms in Applied Behavior Analysis (Dove and Orca, 2003) Bobby Newman, Kenneth F. Reeve, Sharon A. Reeve, and Carolyn S. Ryan Behaviorspeak is a handy reference guide and glossary of common terms used in applied behavior analysis. What makes Behaviorspeak different from other definition-themed books is its humorous style. Though thorough and relevant, this book uses easy-to-understand language and illustrations to provide readers with the necessary knowledge to discuss ABA confidently. Case Studies in Applied Behavior Analysis for Students and Adults with Disabilities (Charles C. Thomas Pub Ltd., 2016) Keith Storey and Linda Haymes This book by Keith Storey and Linda Haymes consists of 21 real-world case studies from which students preparing for ABA certification can study and learn. Each case study is written for the reader to help analyze, making it a valuable study tool. Best of all, the text is easy to understand, yet detailed. A Complete ABA Curriculum for Individuals on the Autism Spectrum with a Developmental Age of 1-4 Years (Jessica Kingsley Pub, 2014) Julie Knapp and Caroline Turnbull An applied behavior analysis curriculum can start young, and this book provides a complete curriculum that any care giver can provide. This unique resource provides everything a person may need to teach important skills such as: - eye contact - appropriate sitting - language skills, Each lesson comes with thorough step-by-step instructions, plus supplementary materials such as color picture cards, printable copies, and checklists. Crafting Connections: Contemporary Applied Behavior Analysis for Enriching the Social Lives of Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder (DRL Books, 2011) Mitchell Taubman, Ron Leaf, and John McEachin Crafting Connections is a useful book for any parent, teacher, or professional behavior analyst who works one-on-one with children on the spectrum. Through easy-to-read descriptions and methodical instruction, the book covers such topics as: - social learning - social relatedness - social interaction - social awareness - social communication. Effective Programs for Treating Autism Spectrum Disorder: Applied Behavior Analysis Models (Routledge, 2010) Betty Fry Williams and Randy Lee Williams Effective Programs for Treating Autism Spectrum Disorder is a comprehensive guide that parents, teachers, and service providers can use to better assist those with autism. This popular and helpful book is organized into three sections: - characteristics of and general theories surrounding Autism Spectrum Disorder - a detailed overview of applied behavior analysis - the various strategies associated with ABA. Ethics for Behavior Analysts, Third Edition (Routledge, 2016) Jon Bailey and Mary Burch This important book, now in its 3rd edition, is meant to help parents and professionals stay up-to-date on the Behavior Analyst Certification Board Professional and Ethical Compliance Code. To supplement, the authors, Jon Bailey and Mary Burch, include dozens of real-world examples to illustrate various ethical solutions. First Course in Applied Behavior Analysis (Waveland, 2006) This textbook-like book is mercifully clear-cut and easy to follow. The comprehensive volume is meant for parents, teachers, students, or professionals. It provides readers with tons of realistic examples supported with research and real-world case studies. It will give readers insight into a variety of relevant topics ranging from the language used by ABA professionals to the most effective procedures for changing behavior. Flexible and Focused: Teaching Executive Function Skills to Individuals with Autism and Attention Disorders (Academic Press, 2017) Adel C. Najdowski Flexible and Focused by Adel C. Najdowski is a helpful reference for behavior analysts and other caregivers of those on the autism spectrum. Written as a manual, this book offers useful strategies for approaching lessons on: - basic skills It also comes with supplements such as ready-to-use lesson plans, worksheets, and data sheets. Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis (Guilford Press, 2013) Wayne W. Fisher, Cathleen C. Piazza and Henry S. Roane, Eds. For those just beginning to research applied behavior analysis, this comprehensive book is a must read. Written by two authorities on the subject, Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis offers its readers detailed descriptions of the various theories, research, and intervention methods of ABA. Topics include: - common ethical issues - specific applications in education - autism treatment - safety skills for children. How to Think Like a Behavior Analyst: Understanding the Science That Can Change Your Life (Routledge, 2006) Jon Bailey and Mary Burch Anyone working with or interested in applied behavior analysis should have a solid understanding of complex human behavior. This book provides readers with exactly that. How to Think Like a Behavior Analyst is written in an easy-to-read question-and-answer format, with thorough information on what behavior analysis is and how it differs from psychotherapy and other methods, how behavior analysis is used in various settings, and more. I Know You’re In There: Winning Our War Against Autism (Hindsight Press, 2014) Marcia Hinds and Ryan Hinds I Know You’re in There is the Hinds family’s true account of learning about and dealing with their son Ryan’s autism. The book chronicles the long road by which Ryan was treated with intensive behavioral and educational rehabilitation. While the Hinds’ story may not work for everyone, it has offered inspiration and hope to thousands of readers since its publication. Language Processing Drills: For Children with Language Processing Disorders (Independently Published, 2017) This book by Danni Bloom covers one specific element of applied behavior analysis: language development. Language Processing Drills consists of 180 different drills that parents and caregivers can use to help those on the autism spectrum. The drills, illustrated by helpful photos, cover topics ranging from plural vs. singular, to adjectives and prepositions. Make a Wish for Me: A Family’s Recovery from Autism (She Writes Press, 2015) Make a Wish for Me is the captivating account of LeeAndra Chergey and her autistic son, Ryan. Chergey lovingly describes the ways in which her family was forced to evolve in the wake of her son’s diagnosis, and her realization that being normal is much less important than being happy. This book has won a number of awards including the Indie Reader Discovery Award, the National Indie Excellence Award (finalist), and the Hollywood Book Festival 2016 Honorable Mention, among others. Parent’s Guide to In-Home ABA Programs: Frequently Asked Questions About Applied Behavior Analysis for Your Child with Autism (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2012) Elle Olivia Johnson While many of the books on our list are written for students and professionals, this book by Elle Olivia Johnson is meant specifically for parents. It answers some of the most common questions had by parents of children on the autism spectrum — including “What is Applied Behavior Analysis?” — in a concise and easy-to-understand manner. Other topics covered include how to get the most out of an ABA treatment, what to expect when a therapist comes to the home, and more. Raising a Child with Autism: A Guide to Applied Behavior Analysis for Parents (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2000) In Raising a Child with Autism, author Shira Richman walks parents of autistic children through the different ways in which they can implement the principles of applied behavior analysis at home. The book is full of tips and guidelines for everything from increasing a child’s independence to improving sibling interaction. Research Methods in Applied Behavior Analysis (Taylor & Francis, 2nd Edition, 2017) Jon S. Bailey and Mary R. Burch Written by two of the most respected authors in the field of autism research, Research Methods in Applied Behavior Analysis provides a beginning researcher with a clearly written, 10-step sequence of exactly how behavior analysts conduct applied research and submit it for publication. Steps include: - organizing, implementing, and evaluating research studies - critiquing journal articles - extracting treatment ideas from published studies. : Science and Human Behavior (Free Press, 1965) Students of applied behavior analysis will appreciate this book, considered a classic in the field of psychology. Skinner’s theory of human behavior, which is explained in detail in the second section of this work, influenced a generation of psychologists and inspired many of the strategies used in applied behavior analysis. The B.F. Skinner Foundation has made the book available electronically for a suggested donation of $4.99. A Step-by-Step ABA Curriculum for Young Learners with Autism Spectrum Disorders Age 3-10 (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2013) - social skills It is uniquely separated into three sections for each: assessment, curriculum, mastery. There is also a section in which a student’s progress can be tracked via a built-in data collection sheet. Teach Me Language: A Language Manual for Children with Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, and Related Developmental Disorders (SKF Books, 1997) Sabrina Freeman and Lorelei Drake Teach Me Language aims to help parents and speech therapists by acting as a resource for establishing therapy within a child’s home. It achieves this by providing easy-to-understand instructions for various activities to help children on the autism spectrum deal with delayed language. A Teacher’s Guide to Applied Behavior Analysis: Classroom Solutions for Maladaptive Behavior (Createspace, 2014) Bret Kernoff BCBA This book by Bret Kernoff is written specifically for classroom teachers, some of the most common users of applied behavior analysis. Teachers will finish the book with a solid understanding of topics such as: - measuring behavior - behavior change procedures - the ethical considerations of ABA, among much more Each section includes helpful teaching techniques to make ABA that much more helpful in the classroom. Understanding Applied Behavior Analysis: An Introduction to ABA for Parents, Teachers, and other Professionals (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2015) Albert J. Kearney Albert J. Kearney’s book is ideal for those seeking an introduction to applied behavior analysis. In readable language, Kearney describes important terms, basic principles, and the most common procedures of ABA. He also briefly introduces more advanced topics such as precision teaching and behavioral education. The Verbal Behavior Approach: How to Teach Children with Autism and Related Disorders (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2007) Dr. Mary Barbera and Tracy Rasmussen Written by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, The Verbal Behavior Approach focuses on Verbal Behavior (VB), a specific form of applied behavior analysis. Parents interested in VB will learn about how this particular strategy works well with children who have few to no verbal abilities.
Machine learning (ML) is the subset of artificial intelligence (AI) that focuses on building systems that learn—or improve performance—based on the data they consume. Artificial intelligence is a broad term that refers to systems or machines that mimic human intelligence. Machine learning and AI are often discussed together, and the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but they don’t mean the same thing. An important distinction is that although all machine learning is AI, not all AI is machine learning. Today, machine learning is at work all around us. When we interact with banks, shop online, or use social media, machine learning algorithms come into play to make our experience efficient, smooth, and secure. Machine learning and the technology around it are developing rapidly, and we're just beginning to scratch the surface of its capabilities. Algorithms are the engines that power machine learning. In general, two major types of machine learning algorithms are used today: supervised learning and unsupervised learning. The difference between them is defined by how each learns about data to make predictions. \|Supervised Machine Learning\|\|Supervised machine learning algorithms are the most commonly used. With this model, a data scientist acts as a guide and teaches the algorithm what conclusions it should make. Just as a child learns to identify fruits by memorizing them in a picture book, in supervised learning, the algorithm is trained by a dataset that is already labeled and has a predefined output. Examples of supervised machine learning include algorithms such as linear and logistic regression, multiclass classification, and support vector machines. \|Unsupervised Machine Learning\|\|Unsupervised machine learning uses a more independent approach, in which a computer learns to identify complex processes and patterns without a human providing close, constant guidance. Unsupervised machine learning involves training based on data that does not have labels or a specific, defined output. To continue the childhood teaching analogy, unsupervised machine learning is akin to a child learning to identify fruit by observing colors and patterns, rather than memorizing the names with a teacher’s help. The child would look for similarities between images and separate them into groups, assigning each group its own new label. Examples of unsupervised machine learning algorithms include k-means clustering, principal and independent component analysis, and association rules. \|Choosing an Approach\|\|Which approach is best for your needs? Choosing a supervised or unsupervised machine learning algorithm usually depends on factors related to the structure and volume of your data, and the use case to which you want to apply it. Machine learning has blossomed across a wide range of industries, supporting a variety of business goals and use cases including: When getting started with machine learning, developers will rely on their knowledge of statistics, probability, and calculus to most successfully create models that learn over time. With sharp skills in these areas, developers should have no problem learning the tools many other developers use to train modern ML algorithms. Developers also can make decisions about whether their algorithms will be supervised or unsupervised. It’s possible for a developer to make decisions and set up a model early on in a project, then allow the model to learn without much further developer involvement. There is often a blurry line between developer and data scientist. Sometimes developers will synthesize data from a machine learning model, while data scientists will contribute to developing solutions for the end user. Collaboration between these two disciplines can make ML projects more valuable and useful. Customer lifetime value modeling is essential for ecommerce businesses but is also applicable across many other industries. In this model, organizations use machine learning algorithms to identify, understand, and retain their most valuable customers. These value models evaluate massive amounts of customer data to determine the biggest spenders, the most loyal advocates for a brand, or combinations of these types of qualities. Customer lifetime value models are especially effective at predicting the future revenue that an individual customer will bring to a business in a given period. This information empowers organizations to focus marketing efforts on encouraging high-value customers to interact with their brand more often. Customer lifetime value models also help organizations target their acquisition spend to attract new customers that are similar to existing high-value customers. Acquiring new customers is more time consuming and costlier than keeping existing customers satisfied and loyal. Customer churn modeling helps organizations identify which customers are likely to stop engaging with a business—and why. An effective churn model uses machine learning algorithms to provide insight into everything from churn risk scores for individual customers to churn drivers, ranked by importance. These outputs are key to developing an algorithmic retention strategy. Gaining deeper insight into customer churn helps businesses optimize discount offers, email campaigns, and other targeted marketing initiatives that keep their high-value customers buying—and coming back for more. Consumers have more choices than ever, and they can compare prices via a wide range of channels, instantly. Dynamic pricing, also known as demand pricing, enables businesses to keep pace with accelerating market dynamics. It lets organizations flexibly price items based on factors including the level of interest of the target customer, demand at the time of purchase, and whether the customer has engaged with a marketing campaign. This level of business agility requires a solid machine learning strategy and a great deal of data about how different customers’ willingness to pay for a good or service changes across a variety of situations. Although dynamic pricing models can be complex, companies such as airlines and ride-share services have successfully implemented dynamic price optimization strategies to maximize revenue. Successful marketing has always been about offering the right product to the right person at the right time. Not so long ago, marketers relied on their own intuition for customer segmentation, separating customers into groups for targeted campaigns. Today, machine learning enables data scientists to use clustering and classification algorithms to group customers into personas based on specific variations. These personas consider customer differences across multiple dimensions such as demographics, browsing behavior, and affinity. Connecting these traits to patterns of purchasing behavior enables data-savvy companies to roll out highly personalized marketing campaigns that are more effective at boosting sales than generalized campaigns are. As the data available to businesses grows and algorithms become more sophisticated, personalization capabilities will increase, moving businesses closer to the ideal customer segment of one. Machine learning supports a variety of use cases beyond retail, financial services, and ecommerce. It also has tremendous potential for science, healthcare, construction, and energy applications. For example, image classification employs machine learning algorithms to assign a label from a fixed set of categories to any input image. It enables organizations to model 3D construction plans based on 2D designs, facilitate photo tagging in social media, inform medical diagnoses, and more. Deep learning methods such as neural networks are often used for image classification because they can most effectively identify the relevant features of an image in the presence of potential complications. For example, they can consider variations in the point of view, illumination, scale, or volume of clutter in the image and offset these issues to deliver the most relevant, high-quality insights. Recommendation engines are essential to cross-selling and up-selling consumers and delivering a better customer experience. Netflix values the recommendation engine powering its content suggestions at US$1 billion per year and Amazon claims that its system increases annual sales by 20 to 35 percent. Recommendation engines use machine learning algorithms to sift through large quantities of data to predict how likely a customer is to purchase an item or enjoy a piece of content, and then make customized suggestions to the user. The result is a more personalized, relevant experience that encourages better engagement and reduces churn. Machine learning powers a variety of key business use cases. But how does it deliver competitive advantage? Among machine learning’s most compelling qualities is its ability to automate and speed time to decision and accelerate time to value. That starts with gaining better business visibility and enhancing collaboration. "Traditionally what we see is people not being able to work together," says Rich Clayton, vice president of product strategy for Oracle Analytics. "Adding machine learning to Oracle Analytics Cloud ultimately helps people organize their work and build, train, and deploy these data models. It's a collaboration tool whose value is in accelerating the process and allowing different parts of the business to collaborate, giving you better quality and models for you to deploy." For example, typical finance departments are routinely burdened by repeating a variance analysis process—a comparison between what is actual and what was forecast. It's a low-cognitive application that can benefit greatly from machine learning. "By embedding machine learning, finance can work faster and smarter, and pick up where the machine left off," Clayton says. Another exciting capability of machine learning is its predictive capabilities. In the past, business decisions were often made based on historical outcomes. Today, machine learning employs rich analytics to predict what will happen. Organizations can make forward-looking, proactive decisions instead of relying on past data. For example, predictive maintenance can enable manufacturers, energy companies, and other industries to seize the initiative and ensure that their operations remain dependable and optimized. In an oil field with hundreds of drills in operation, machine learning models can spot equipment that’s at risk of failure in the near future and then notify maintenance teams in advance. This approach not only maximizes productivity, it increases asset performance, uptime, and longevity. It can also minimize worker risk, decrease liability, and improve regulatory compliance. The benefits of predictive maintenance extend to inventory control and management. Avoiding unplanned equipment downtime by implementing predictive maintenance helps organizations more accurately predict the need for spare parts and repairs—significantly reducing capital and operating expenses. Machine learning offers tremendous potential to help organizations derive business value from the wealth of data available today. However, inefficient workflows can hold companies back from realizing machine learning’s maximum potential. To succeed at an enterprise level, machine learning needs to be part of a comprehensive platform that helps organizations simplify operations and deploy models at scale. The right solution will enable organizations to centralize all data science work in a collaborative platform and accelerate the use and management of open source tools, frameworks, and infrastructure.
AP State Syllabus AP Board 7th Class Maths Solutions Chapter 14 Understanding 3D and 2D Shapes Ex 3 Textbook Questions and Answers. AP State Syllabus 7th Class Maths Solutions 14th Lesson Understanding 3D and 2D Shapes Exercise 3 Use an isometric dot paper and make an isometric sketch for each one of the given shapes. The dimensions of a cuboid are 5 cm, 3 cm and 2 cm. Draw three different isometric sketches of this cuboid. Three cubes each with 2 cm edge are placed side by side to form a cuboid. Draw an oblique or isometric sketch of this cuboid. Make an oblique sketch for each of the given isometric shapes. Give (i) an oblique sketch and (ii) an isometric sketch for each of the following: (a) A cuboid of dimensions 5 cm, 3 cm and 2 cm. (Is your sketch unique’?) (b) A cube with an edge 4 cm long.
The center of the distribution of the Black-capped Parakeet (also known as the Rock Parakeet) is in the lowlands of southeastern Peru. This species also occurs in westernmost Brazil and in northern Bolivia, and its elevational distribution extends up to 2000 m. The Black-capped Parakeet is mostly green, with a dusky brown crown. The center of the feathers of the breast also are dusky, but the tips of these feathers are buffy or whitish breast, forming a scaled pattern. The leading edge of the wing is red, and the upper surface of the tail is green. The Black-capped Parakeet is superficially similar to the Maroon-tailed Parakeet (Pyrrhura melanura) of northwestern Amazonia, although the distributions of these two species are not known to overlap. Locally, the Black-capped Parakeet is sympatric with the very different Rose-fronted Parakeet (Pyrrhura roseifrons). Near the border between Peru and Bolivia, the distribution also approaches that of the Green-cheeked Parakeet (Pyrrhura molinae), which has a green crown, a red belly, and red in the tail. In typical Pyrrhura fashion, Black-capped Parakeets fly in small, close flocks, often in twisting flight through the canopy; otherwise very little is known about the biology of this species.
Statistics Sweden has all relevant data related to population size, age structure, gender, births, deaths, and migration. The same types of data are collected for the whole country and are standardized for administrative units. Since the population data also contain the geographical coordinates for the place where each person lives, it is also possible to present the statistics for arbitrary geographical units. However, the official population and health statistics do not contain any information concerning which persons belong to the indigenous / non-indigenous population. In Sweden, this would be of relevance for studies of living conditions among the Sámi population. However, such studies have been conducted only in very specialized research projects based on the researcher’s own data collection and carried out in agreement with the Sámi people. Statistics Sweden reports on how many individuals enter and complete different levels of education. The statistics can be separated by geographic area. Statistics Sweden has data on unemployment and the distribution of incomes in different regions. Main gaps: No official statistics are easily available about the use of languages or about religious practices in general. For individuals with a foreign background, the country of birth, citizenship, and year of immigration to Sweden are registered. However, the official statistics do not separate the native indigenous from the non-indigenous population. Although the Sámi languages are officially acknowledged as minority languages, the trends concerning the number of people that speak and use them is not systematically monitored. Statistics Sweden (SCB) limited, and on project basis
Lability refers to something that is constantly undergoing change or is likely to undergo change. In reference to biochemistry, this is an important concept as far as kinetics is concerned in metalloproteins. This can allow for the rapid synthesis and degradation of substrates in biological systems. In medicine, the term "labile" means susceptible to alteration or destruction. For example, a heat-labile protein is one that can be changed or destroyed at high temperatures. The opposite of labile in this context is "stable". Compounds or materials that are easily transformed (often by biological activity) are termed labile. For example, labile phosphate is that fraction of soil phosphate that is readily transformed into soluble or plant-available phosphate. Labile organic matter is the soil organic matter that is easily decomposed by microorganisms. The term is used to describe a transient chemical species. As a general example, if a molecule exists in a particular conformation for a short lifetime, before adopting a lower energy conformation (structural arrangement), the former molecular structure is said to have 'high lability' (such as C25, a 25-carbon fullerene spheroid). The term is sometimes also used in reference to reactivity - for example, a complex that quickly reaches equilibrium in solution is said to be labile (with respect to that solution). Another common example is the cis effect in organometallic chemistry, which is the labilization of CO ligands in the cis position of octahedral transition metal complexes.
The vanquita (Phocoena sinus) is the smallest species of porpoise in the entire world. Although the vaquita resembles the common harbor porpoise, they have longer pectoral fins, a tall, triangular, dolphin-like dorsal fin, little or no beak, and are evenly grey on the back and lighter on the sides with no sharp demarcation between the colors. Males may grow around 4.9 feet long with females being larger at around 4.11 feet long while animals of both genders may weight around 120 pounds. Fossil records tell us that this endagnered porpoise evolved from an ancestral population of harbor porpoises that moved northward into the Gulf of California region during the beginning of the last Ice Age around 1 million years ago. As the only species of porpoise to be found in warm waters of the eastern Pacific, the vaquita in found only exclusively in the northwestern corner of the Gulf of California. From confrimed observations, they have been known to only swim in water that is less than 130 feet deep within 25 miles offshore. Although they are found at open sea, they are generally found in shallow areas that are less than 6 feet deep at low tide, including straits and sea bays. Fossil records tell us that this endagnered porpoise evolved from an ancestral population of South American Burmeister’s porpoises that moved northward into the Gulf of California region during the beginning of the last Ice Age around 1 million years ago. Vaquitas are normally solitary animals that can sometimes be seen in pods of up to 2-7 animals although reports of them living in pods of 10 have been reported. However, unlike most other cetacean species, they do not apporach vesasels and are generally undemonstrative at the surface, only emerging briefly. Yet because of this behavior, vaquitas can be effectively surveyed only when conditions are ideal of calm winds and good lighting. Because theyare so elusive by nature, the vaquita is very diffcult to observe. Little is known about the breeding cycle of the vaquita but researchers tell us that it’s similar to that of the harbor porpoise in most respects. If so, then their gestation period is likely around 11 months and they may sexually mature at around three to six years of age. From what researchers know, most calves are born in late winter and early apring (February-April), with a peak in late March and early April. During her 22-year lifespan, a female vaquita may have one calf every two years. While there are no records of the vaquita ever being subjected to whaling, they have victimized bu commercial fisheries since the 1920’s. The large-mesh gillnets that are used to catch large fish such as tuna and totoabas have proven to be fatal to the vanquitas as it has to other cetacean species. As a result, the entire population has rapidly declined by around 8% each year as these nets continue to kill more porpoises than are born. In the 1970’s, the Mexican government banned commercial totobas fisheries , but illegal fishing still continues along with gillnetting for sharks and rays. It’s estimated that around 245 vaquitas are left in the entire world. If prompt progress is not made by the Mexican government to better protect them, researchers believe that the vaquita may become the second cetacean species to become extinct during a human lifetime in the next few years. What can be done to save the vaquita? 1. Tell your friends, family, and social networking followers about the plight of the vaquita. 2. Don’t buy seafood products that came from fisheries that use gillnets. 3. Support tourism in Mexico 4. Write a letter to Congress or even the Mexican Embassy and ask them to support Mexican action to protect the vaquita. 5. Support wildlife conservation.
In classrooms and everyday conversation, explanations of global warming hinge on the greenhouse gas effect. In short, climate depends on the balance between two different kinds of radiation: The Earth absorbs incoming visible light from the sun, called “shortwave radiation,” and emits infrared light, or “longwave radiation,” into space. Upsetting that energy balance are rising levels of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), that increasingly absorb some of the outgoing longwave radiation and trap it in the atmosphere. Energy accumulates in the climate system, and warming occurs. But in a paper out this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, MIT researchers show that this canonical view of global warming is only half the story. In computer modeling of Earth’s climate under elevating CO2 concentrations, the greenhouse gas effect does indeed lead to global warming. Yet something puzzling happens: While one would expect the longwave radiation that escapes into space to decline with increasing CO2, the amount actually begins to rise. At the same time, the atmosphere absorbs more and more incoming solar radiation; it’s this enhanced shortwave absorption that ultimately sustains global warming. “The finding was a curiosity, conflicting with the basic understanding of global warming,” says lead author Aaron Donohoe, a former MIT postdoc who is now a research associate at the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory. “It made us think that there must be something really weird going in the models in the years after CO2 was added. We wanted to resolve the paradox that climate models show warming via enhanced shortwave radiation, not decreased longwave radiation.” Donohoe, along with MIT postdoc Kyle Armour and others at Washington, spent many a late night throwing out guesses as to why climate models generate this illogical finding before realizing that it makes perfect sense — but for reasons no one had clarified and laid down in the literature. They found the answer by drawing on both computer simulations and a simple energy-balance model. As longwave radiation gets trapped by CO2, the Earth starts to warm, impacting various parts of the climate system. Sea ice and snow cover melt, turning brilliant white reflectors of sunlight into darker spots. The atmosphere grows moister because warmer air can hold more water vapor, which absorbs more shortwave radiation. Both of these feedbacks lessen the amount of shortwave radiation that bounces back into space, and the planet warms rapidly at the surface. Meanwhile, like any physical body experiencing warming, Earth sheds longwave radiation more effectively, canceling out the longwave-trapping effects of CO2. However, a darker Earth now absorbs more sunlight, tipping the scales to net warming from shortwave radiation. “So there are two types of radiation important to climate, and one of them gets affected by CO2, but it’s the other one that’s directly driving global warming — that’s the surprising thing,” says Armour, who is a postdoc in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. Out in the real world, aerosols in air pollution act to reflect a lot of sunlight, and so Earth has not experienced as much warming from shortwave solar radiation as it otherwise might have. But the authors calculate that enough warming will have occurred by midcentury to switch the main driver of global warming to increased solar radiation absorption. The paper is not challenging the physics of climate models; its value lies in helping the community interpret their output. “While this study does not change our understanding of the fundamentals of global warming, it is always useful to have simpler models that help us understand why our more comprehensive climate models sometimes behave in superficially counterintuitive ways,” says Isaac Held, a senior scientist at NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory who was not involved in this research. One way the study can be useful is in guiding what researchers look for in satellite observations of Earth’s radiation budget, as they track anthropogenic climate change in the decades to come. “I think the default assumption would be to see the outgoing longwave radiation decrease as greenhouse gases rise, but that’s probably not going to happen,” Donohoe says. “We would actually see the absorption of shortwave radiation increase. Will we actually ever see the longwave trapping effects of CO2 in future observations? I think the answer is probably no.” The study sorts out another tricky climate-modeling issue — namely, the substantial disagreement between different models in when shortwave radiation takes over the heavy lifting in global warming. The authors demonstrate that the source of the differences lies in the way in which a model represents changes in cloud cover with global warming, another big factor in how well Earth can reflect shortwave solar energy. The work was supported by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Adminstration, the James S. McDonnell Foundation, and the National Science Foundation.
The one big item that stuck with me from chapter 3 was to begin slow and have the class practice, practice, practice! Establishing routines is so key to setting up math workshop and guided math groups! The author suggests 4 key points to getting started with your workshop. - Teach the schedule to the students. - Teach the students what to do during the activity or centers time. She suggests starting with review centers or hot topics as she calls them (this is what I also do, along with a few team building centers!). - Show the students how to transition between all of the different aspects of your workshop time. Examples of times that need to be practiced are between centers, cleaning up time, getting out materials, etc. - Practice basic classroom manners by demonstrating and play acting them. ANCHOR CHARTS! I'm so glad she said that- I love using them! Please excuse the horrible paneling in the portable that was my classroom (I was not able to paint it, or put any holes in it- not ideal!). She suggests using anchor charts because they are great visuals and they remind you and the students to go over or review them! Chapter 4 discusses how important forming groups is. She suggests using data to form groups. The author also says there are two different types of groupings traditional grouping and flexible grouping; she suggests using flexible grouping! - Groups are based on specific needs. - Groups are fluid (at least from one unit to another). - Everyone works on the big idea (mini-lessons, common core standards, state standards), but the groups work at their own pace or level. There are also a bunch of great schedule ideas and record keeping ideas. Next week chapter 5 will tell us about what data to use for creating the groups!
In 1995, Lianhai Hou and Zhonghe Zhou, two paleontologists from the Vertebrate Paleontology Institute in China, discovered a new fossil bird they named Confuciusornis . This winged vertebrate—the same age as Archaeopteryx , approximately 140 million years old and long considered to be the earliest ancestor of all birds and regarded as semi-reptilian. Yet Confuciusornis bore a very close similarity to birds living today. It had no teeth, and its beak and feathers have exactly the same characteristics as those of birds alive today. This bird’s skeletal structure is identical to that of today’s birds, but as with Archaeopteryx , its wings had claws. Also apparent was a structure known as the pygostyle, which supports the tail feathers. Naturally, its presence undermined the evolutionist thesis that Archaeopteryx was the primitive ancestor of all birds.89 Confuciusornis, so similar to modern-day birds, has conclusively disqualified Archaeopteryx, which evolutionists for decades pointed to as the prime evidence for their scenario of evolution. 89 Pat Shipman, “Birds Do It . . . Did Dinosaurs?,” New Scientist, p. 31.
The number of women suffering from violence is quite large, especially among minorities. It is minority women who have the highest numbers of domestic, sexual, and other types of violence. The large numbers are due to the fact that minority women are less capable to complain and less protected by the law. In many countries the sexual violence against them is used as a tool for war. They are used and oppressed and there is nothing they can do because there is no justice. Minority and indigenous women in the US are also abused, and even when they have a justice system, they are not protected. They are usually discriminated because of their status, gender, and ethnicity. If it was a white women being violated, the officials would not stop until they find justice. There are many cases, like the student, black girl, that was attacked by a police officer. Even if she was refusing to leave, the officer had no right to use violence against her. Usually violence against minorities is overlooked. In the case of black women, being abused is not something new. Since slavery they have been subjected to many kinds of violence, which are all now exposed in social media. Violence against black women has become normalize. This is due because they have a low status, their race, class, and gender gives them little worth. They are not able to speak up, or they would be criticize and reduced to stereotypes. Basically, all minority women all suffer from some type of violence. Their status, gender, and ethnicity are impediments for them to seek justice towards violence. They are trapped by violence, and their only escape Is blocked by who they are in the public eyes. The number of minority women suffering from racism, sexism, and classism is quite large. With the society changing and developing, many think that these views would have changed, they are wrong. These women endured hardships in their everyday lives, from their jobs, to public spaces, and even in their homes. The public classifies these women based on their sex, the color of their skin, and their social background. Minority women are excluded because they do not represent the traits and capacities of the standard race. They are also still haunted by stereotypes portrayed in the media. In her article, Misogynoir: where racism and sexism meet, Eliza Anyangwe discusses how misogynoir has become the new term for prejudice and hatred towards black women. She explains how it plays its role by using Serena Williams as an example. The public compares her with an angry gorilla and how she resembles a manly man. They conclude that based on stereotypical behavior of black women and the way they look. They cannot accept that a black women could actually be in such important position. Minority women face classism, as Emilie M. Towne describe it, the economic oppression of black women and the low social status associated with it. Minority women are overly represented on low wages jobs, because many times they are not able to finish higher education, or are less likely to be consider for corporate jobs. Men do not take them seriously even when they have high positions. This is the case of Coco Medina, the owner of a Spanish-speaking radio. She states that men do not treat her as a business women, but as a “good girl” instead. These women are also criticize when they try to change the “status quo.” They try to overcome stereotypes and instead of encountering support, they find prejudice. This is the case of Diane Abbot, she was recently appointment as shadow international development secretary. Minority women cannot aim for higher because they will be criticize, and prejudice for their skin color and stereotypes about them. Feminism is the movement that advocates women’s rights and equality. Its purpose is to create a place where women would have the same rights and opportunities as men. But since its creation, feminism has been only fighting for the rights of white women. Looking back at the first wave of feminism, it all started with white women fighting for suffrage rights. In no way that would benefit minority women, in this case African American women. Black men were barely allowed to vote, and their votes did not event count as one, how exactly were black women benefited from the first wave? Today’s feminism seems to be going in the same direction, looking for ways to benefit and protect white women needs and rights. It only lets others hear the voices of mainstream women. Minority women problems are still there, because they are different from those of white women they are not taken with much importance. Women of color are more likely to be discriminated in the workplace or public spaces. They are also target because of stereotypes, people usually judges them based on them. They are more prone to be accused for actions they have not committed, and the list can keep going. Feminism, or basically white feminism, does not take their difficulties into account because it does not affect mainstream women. In her article, Erica Lopez describes how she had difficulties, discrimination and judgement from superiors, for being a minority and how white women dismiss her troubles. She compares the reactions of these women to feminism, and how like those women feminism dismisses and ignores minority’s problems. How can feminism be a movement for all women if it only favors one group of them? White women are the ones in power and putting their issues before anyone else’s. The white privilege also comes into effect here. White women privilege is basically having more benefits and opportunities purely because of the color of their skin. It also allows them to get away with things minorities usually can’t. White women either choose to believe white privilege doesn’t exists, or that it only exists in the eyes of minorities. The reason being that all their lives they have been favor, given what they wanted without thinking of others. They see it as common, but from a minority’s perspective, the privilege is and will always be there for them. Their privilege is demonstrate in their daily lives. We see white women being taken with more consideration when applying for jobs, during accidents, and in their health. Managers are more likely to hire white women, because they are thought to have better backgrounds. In an article form Political Blind Spot, a black men was hit by a car driven by a white woman. As the man was in the floor crying because he was in pain, the bystanders and the police were only comforting the woman, telling her everything will all right. The police even went to the extent of telling her to change her testimony and blame the incident on the black man. If a black or Hispanic woman would have been behind that wheel, the police officers would not have been so lenient. White women have more help from health care, and prioritize by doctors. They are considered more beautiful, they represent the standard of beauty. Their privilege leaves minority women in an underprivileged position. Because of that, they are always put second, they are taken less in to consideration, and are more likely to be blame in any situation. Even when they don’t see it, minorities do. They know that it will be difficult for them to attain higher opportunities. Nowadays beauty is socially constructed through different types of media. They bombard the public with advertisements, movies, shows and more, full of white beauty ideals. Women like Angelina Jolie, Reese Witherspoon, and Jennifer Aniston are usually used to promoted products and movies. That is because they are consider beautiful, according to the standards created by the media. Minority women on the other hand, are rarely seen in advertisement, because they lack the delicate features and light colored skin. White women are portrayed as delicate, pretty, and thin, and society expect every women to follow these standards. Because of them, minority women are “whitewashed.” They change their hairstyle, hair color, and wear lighter makeup to conform to the beauty ideals. When minority women are hire for advertisements, they are always photoshop to comply with these ideals. In the case of Sofia Vergara, her arms were slimmed down for a Pepsi ad. For Zendaya, her hips were reduced so she would look slimmer and prettier. Through their actions, the media is basically portraying unrealistic ideals. Women of color body structure are different form white women. Minority women are unable to express and be themselves. When they try to be different, they are criticize. Zendaya was insulted and criticize for her dreadlocks at the Oscar’s ceremony. She was only being herself instead of just complying with standards of beauty, how is that wrong? To me, she looked stunning and beautiful. According to beauty ideals, minority women are lacking in beauty compared to white women. They take extrema measure to change themselves. They lighter their skin, change their hair color, wear contacts, and more. If they try to go against beauty standards, they are only criticize and condemn for being different. Zendaya at the Oscar’s Zendaya Photoshop and original picture The number of minority women entering different workplaces has increased in the recent years. These women work full time and they still earned the least. This is in part because they are paid fractions of what white men earned, creating a wage gap. These gap, especially for minority women, has increased in recent years. As stated in the article written by Justice Economics, “Black women were paid 63 percent of what non-Hispanic white men were paid in 2014. That means it takes the typical black woman nearly seven extra months to be paid what the average white man took home back on December 3.” Women have to work for longer periods of time to earn the same as men in the same field. This is in large part to the fact that women of color are mostly represented on the lower paying jobs. Usually working on minimum wage or part time. These women make .64 cents of a dollar compared to men. Even when this women pursue and acquire a higher education, the gap is still there. Is in this cases that the gap usually increases. In an article from 2013, the author mentions that previous research has demonstrated that the gap often starts right out of college — as women are less likely than men to be fully employed one year post grad. The fact that employers believe that men are more capable, prompts them to offer them better salaries and benefits. In her article, Mila Fisher, disclose that: In 2014, only 35 percent of black women and 26 percent of Hispanic women were employed in higher-paying management, professional, and related jobs—compared with 48 percent of Asian women and 43 percent of white women. This proves that employers are more biased to hired white men and women than minorities. Like, when comparing the earnings between actresses and actors, the wage gap can be easily notice. Hollywood actors like Robert Downey Jr. make up to four times, or more, of what white actresses make. Image how far below Black or Hispanic actresses are. It’s usually so low that they are never mention on list of the best pay actors, it is always a white actresses list. Minority women earned only fractions compared to white men or women. They are performing the same jobs, but are still discriminated and viewed as less valuable than men. The number of women applying to jobs has increase, as well as the difficulty to be hired for them. Women, in general, are less likely than men to be chosen for a job. Imagine how much more difficult would be for minority women to apply and be hired. They face more discrimination in the application process, just because of their ethnic background. Their names can sometimes be the main cause. Employers are prone to hired white people, that’s why they give interviews to people with white-sounding names. Traditional names can become an obstacle for applicants. In her article, Kianta Key expressed how she felt as her coworkers asked her about her name: “I often find myself questioning my name and the stereotypes that go along with it, particularly in my career. Because, depending on the people who see my name, they see a black woman. And depending on their perspective, they see a certain type of black woman, with a certain type of education….” Many women asked themselves the same questions. Leading them to changed letters of their name, or replace them with “whiter” names, for a higher chance to an interview. In those situations, employers do give more attention and consideration. Even if they get the interview, they are still less likely to get the job because of the color of their skin. Like in the case of Louise James, a black applicant. As soon as her name was called, the interviewer expected a white woman. “She just kind of looked at me and her face dropped…” she stated. It’s just a long and discriminative process for minority women to be able to get interviewed and hired. Louise James Kianta Key Black women are more prone to get infected with viruses like HIV, diseases like cancer, or diagnose with high blood pressure and diabetes. But, a large number of black women in the US are unable to access decent health care services. Many factors contribute this issue, and are creating a greater gap between good health care and minority women. Their socioeconomic background is an important factors. Minority women work on minimum wages most if the time, others are living in poverty or are unemployed. Numerous times their jobs do not offer any health coverage. Also, a large number of this women are raising children without a partner, they are the heads of their families. How can they afford any health insurance, if they barely make enough to survive? The majority of people caught in the coverage gap are employed. In her article, Teresa Wiltz stated “They’re the working poor, paying the bills with a part-time gig or punching the clock with an employer who doesn’t offer insurance. They may be juggling multiple jobs to make ends meet…” (pewtrusts.org). This leads many of these women to relied on government health insurances, like Medicaid, but sometimes the coverage of these health care’s isn’t enough for all of them. From a survey in 2001, only 17 percent of black women and 12 percent of Latinas, out of 4000 women, were covered by Medicaid (dopm.uab.edu). Over the years, Medicaid priorities have changed and now they prioritized on covering children, pregnant women, disable people, or the elderly. Leaving the large number of these women without coverage, unless their incomes are well below the federal poverty level (pewtrusts.org, Teresa Wiltz). As the access to Medicaid also becomes difficult, many states are not doing much to fix the problem. Without proper healthcare, this women are prone to any type illness. Falling ill could lead them to lose their joins, and without that income their families will suffer the consequences. The usual perception of white women on cultural forms is always the one of someone delicate, vulnerable and submissive. That is not always the case for women minorities in Television. They are usually portrait with different stereotypes like the angry Black women, which is usually shown as angry, violent, and uncontrollable. Jezebel, sapphire, manny, and matriarch are other stereotypes represented. Scandal is a series that portrays a women of color as the main character, but the to show seems to only represent her flaws. In the show Kerry Washington portrays a women capable because of her position, but she also is aggressive, straight forward, and is seeing a married man. She represents characteristics of an angry black women, and a Jezebel for the way she dresses with tight clothes. If black women are not depicted that with those stereotypes, they take the role of a slave or manny, like Octavia Spencer in The Help. How these women are represented influences on how others view them. In a study done by Essence magazine, over 1200 women were survey. 93 percent of these women agreed that media does a poor job representing them. “People are exposed to a multiplicity of media sources that saturate our collective imagination with stereotyped portrayals of black women” (my.xfinity.com, Alexis Garrett). It is rare to see a black women playing a not stereotypical role. But, black women are also objectified and sexualize. They often portray characters that wear tight, reviling, little, or no clothing. In music videos or commercials, they expose themselves and give pleasure to men. Even when acting as slaves, they are used for the pleasure of their master. Ambra Nykol, from the New Black magazine, stated that “If you want to get ahead in this business (no pun intended), you have to take off your clothes.” Halle Berry role in Monster’s Ball won her an Oscar, but many expressed that it was because of her exposure and whore like role. Especially for minorities, that have it harder growing within this business, exposing themselves is a most to grow. Women minorities seem to succeed only by portraying stereotypical role that would make them sell their bodies. The number of female students dropping out of high school is increasing, especially among minorities. 4 out of 10 Black students, and nearly 4 out of 10 Hispanic students dropped out of high school. The main reason behind all this numbers is the lack of support towards minority students. These students are not always helped or encourage to do or be better, mostly because of stereotypes about them. How can a student progress, if the teacher won’t support them? Because a school is full of students with free lunch, does it mean they are less likely to succeed? The ideas that people create do not apply to every single individual. Students need a new beginning, without the fear of being judge and the encouragement to grow.
Nahane Indians, Nahane People, Nahane First Nation (‘people of the west.’). An Athapascan division occupying the region of British Columbia and Yukon Territory between the Coast range and the Rocky mountains, from the north border of the Sekani, about 57° north, to that of the Kutchin tribes, about 65° north. It comprises the Tahltan and Takutine tribes forming the Taliltan division, the Titshotina and Etagottine tribes forming the Kaska division, and the Esbataottine and Abbatotine (considered by Petitot to be the same tribe), Sazeutina, Ettchaottine, Etagottine, Kraylongottine, Klokegottine, and perhaps Lakuyip and Tsetsant. They correspond with Petitot’s Montagnard group, except that he included also the Sekani. The language of the Nahane however constitutes a dialect by itself, entirely distinct from Sekani, Carrier, or Kutchin. The western divisions have been powerfully influenced by their Tlingit neighbors of Wrangell, and have adopted their clan organization with maternal descent, the potlatch customs of the coast tribes, and many words and expressions of their language. The two principal social divisions or phratries are called Raven and Wolf, and the fact that Sazeutina and Titshotina seem to signify ‘Bear people’ and ‘Grouse people’ respectively, leads Morice to suspect that these groups are really phratries or clans. The eastern Nahane have a loose paternal organization like the Sekani and other Athapascan tribes farther east. According to Morice the Nahane have suffered very heavily as a result of white contact. He estimates the entire population at about 1,000.
Lesson 5: Analogy and the Statement We have finished our discussion of Aristotle's Categories, and so in this lesson we are going to move on to his treatise On Interpretation, which covers the logic of the second operation. That logic focuses on the statement: the statement is the fundamental logic tool for grasping the true and the false. Before we leave the logic of the first operation behind, I would like to cover a topic which belongs to that part of logic, but is only hinted at by Aristotle: the topic of analogy. Let us take a second look at the beginning of the Categories, where Aristotle distinguishes between univocal and equivocal uses of a word. A word is used univocally when it is used at least twice but has the same meaning in both cases. For example, a man and an ox are both called animals, and the word "animal" has the same meaning, "sensitive living thing," in both cases. Thus, the word "animal" is used univocally. Aristotle says that a word is used equivocally when it is used at least twice and is used with at least two difference meanings. Let us look closely, however, at the example he uses. He writes: Thus, a real man and a figure in a picture can both lay claim to the name "animal," yet these are equivocally so named, for though they have a common name, the definition corresponding with the name differs for each. Notice that in this example, the definition of animal which we apply to the picture and the man, while not exactly the same, is not entirely different. The man is a sensitive living thing, and the picture of a man is an image of a sensitive living thing. In the example Aristotle gives, the meanings are not entirely the same, but neither are they entirely different. But it is not always the case that the definitions of words used equivocally are somewhat the same. A flying mammal and the club used to hit a baseball are called bats equivocally, and the two meanings have no relation to each other. So sometimes the different meanings of words used equivocally have no relation, sometimes they have some relation. St. Thomas uses this distinction to identify two kinds of equivocal uses of a name. He writes: And this way of being common is a middle between pure equivocation and simple univocity. For in those things which are named analogously, there is neither one meaning, as there is with univocals, nor totally diverse meanings, as in equivocals. St. Thomas here is talking about analogy. When the word used twice has two entirely different meanings, that is pure equivocation. But when a word is used analogously, the two meanings are neither the same, nor entirely different; rather, they are partly the same, and partly different. The picture of a man is called an animal, not with the same meaning as when I call a real man an animal, and not with an entirely different meaning, but a meaning that is partially the same and partially different. It is not a "sensitive living thing," but it is a "picture of a sensitive living thing." The next thing to notice about the many meanings of a word used analogously is that there is an order among the meanings, a priority of some over others. St. Thomas writes: In all names which are said analogously of many things, all must be said with respect to one. Therefore, it is necessary that it be put in the definition of all. And since the meaning which the name signifies is the definition, as Aristotle says in the fourth book of the Metaphysics, it is necessary that the name be attributed in the first place to that which is put into the definition of the others, and secondarily of the others, in the order in which they are closer to or farther from the first thing. St. Thomas is saying that when the same word is used analogously, and therefore has many different but related meanings, there is always some meaning that is first, and that the other meanings fall into an order, a series, which is determined by how closely they are related to the first meaning. A good example of this is the use we make of the term "medical." We talk about medical doctors, medical students, and medical insurance. If we were to define the term in each case, we would get many different meanings, but they would all point back to the first meaning: that which makes us call the doctor "medical." Thus, the meaning of medical which is applied to the doctor is the first meaning of the term and the meaning that is contained in all of the others. Then, when we look at the other uses of the term, we find that some are closer to the original use, while some are farther away. The meanings of a student being medical is much like that of the doctor, but the meaning of insurance being medical is much farther away. Thus, there is an order in which, first the doctor is medical, then the student, and finally the insurance. There is always an order among the many meanings of a word used analogously. Since we need to be practical about logic, we must ask why we use words analogously. What is the purpose of analogy? Some of the modern logicians do not see any purpose for analogy, and so want to eliminate it. All equivocation, they argue, is an invitation to confusion. The ideal language would assign a different word or symbol for each different meaning of definition. Thus, the presence of analogy in our language is a sign of its imperfection and an accident of its irrational origins. Aristotle and St. Thomas would answer that the order in the meanings of analogous names points out the purpose of analogy. That order is the order of knowledge. St. Thomas says that we name things as we know them, and since we know them in a certain order, we name them that way. We could put all this another way: some things are very familiar to us, they are part of our everyday experience, while others are hard to understand. But the ones that are hard to understand are sometimes like the things that we are familiar with. So we use the familiar things to make the unfamiliar more understood. We use the same name for both in order to point out that likeness and increase our knowledge. This is the purpose of analogy. We can clarify this with an example. The nature of sight is clearer to us than the nature of intellectual understanding, which is very obscure. But since seeing is like understanding, we can use seeing to make the nature of understanding clearer to our minds. How, then, do we point out this likeness between sight and understanding? We use the same word to name them. We say not only that we see colors, but that we "see" what someone means when they say something. In this latter case, we use the term "see" with a second meaning, different from but related to the first. The analogous use of the word "see" helps us to grasp better what understanding is. Analogy, then, is not only not a hindrance, but an aid to knowledge. In fact, it is often an indispensable aid. When something is entirely outside of our ordinary experience, the only way that we can name it is by analogy, since every first meaning of a term comes from our experience. Since God is entirely outside of our ordinary experience, the only way we can name God, that is, assign an attribute to God, is by an analogy to that attribute in our experience. When we say "God is wise," we give to that word "wise" a meaning that is derived from, but secondary to, the meaning which the word has when we say "Socrates is wise." Every name of God is analogous, and without analogous naming theology would be impossible. Of course, we could say much more about analogy, as we could about much of what we discussed in the first part of logic. But I think we have covered the most fundamental and most useful points. And that completes our discussion of the first part of logic. We are now going to talk about the second part of logic, the logic of the second operation, that which deals with the true and the false. The fundamental tool of the logic of the second operation is the statement. So our first task is to look at the statement in itself, its parts and its definition. That will occupy the remainder of this lesson. In our next lesson we will look at the kinds of statements and the relations that these kinds have to each other. The second book of the Organon is titled On Interpretation, or in the Greek, Peri Hermeneias. Before we get into the details of this book, I would like to explain its title. The word "hermeneias" comes from Hermes, the messenger god. This implies that the statement, the logical tool which is the subject of the Peri Hermeneias, is an interpreter, a messenger, a go-between. What is the statement an interpreter for? It is an interpreter between one human mind and another. We use statements to reveal what we are thinking to other people. Thus, the book about the statement is a book about the interpreter. This might seem a puzzling assertion, since every word, not just the statement, is an interpreter between one mind and another. I think that Aristotle means to imply that the statement is an interpreter par excellence because it is only when I make a statement that I fully reveal my mind to another. If I merely say the word "man," you know what the term means, and you presume that I do also. But you would remain puzzled about why I said that word. My communication would be incomplete because you would not know what I think about man. If I then said "Man has a fallen nature," whether you agreed with that statement or not, you would feel satisfied that my communication was complete, and that you knew what I was thinking. Since only the statement does this, the statement is the perfect interpreter of one mind to another. Since the statement is the first complete speech, Aristotle takes up the question of the relation of speech to thought and reality at the very beginning of the Peri Hermeneias. He writes: Sounds are the symbols of impressions in the soul, and written words are symbols of sounds. Just as not all men have the same writing, so not all men have the same speech, but the impressions in the soul, of which these are first the signs, are the same for all, as are the things, which these are likenesses of. Let us look at this text in reverse order. Fido the dog is just Fido the dog, and it makes no difference to him whether he is seen by Cicero or George Washington. So Fido, and all of reality, is common to all men. Now when Cicero and George both see the dog, they have the same basic mental impression, since the impression in our minds is just a likeness of the thing seen. But the words used to signify that impression might be different from different men. For example, Cicero calls Fido "canis," George calls him "dog." And since the written word is a sign of the spoken word, then Cicero and George would write different words as well. The written and spoken words are different for different societies, but the mental impression and reality itself are common to all men. Digression on the Subject of Logic Thus there are three fundamental levels laid out here: words, thoughts, and things. Which is logic about? Is logic about words, or thoughts, or things? I think that Aristotle would say that logic is about all three. Words are the tools of the mind, and logic is about such tools, so logic must be about words. But logic is not about words in the way that poetry or grammar is about words. Poetry is concerned about making words beautiful, while grammar makes words be fittingly arranged, but logic uses words to guide thought to the truth. For example, the statement "Men is animals" would offend the rules of both poetry and grammar, but not logic. Logic approves because the statement is true, and truth is its goal. Logic is about words insofar as they somehow lead to knowledge of the truth. Since logic uses words to guide thought, it must also be about thought. But it does not study thought to understand the nature of thought. That is the task of philosophical psychology. Logic studies thought only to perfect its process, not to know its nature completely. Thus, logic is about both words and thoughts. Finally, since thought aims at the truth about things, then logic cannot ignore reality. Logic takes for granted our basic knowledge of reality in formulating the rules of thought. Aristotle could not talk about the categories, for example, without assuming many basic truths about the nature of reality. Logic then is about all three, words, thoughts, and things. Maybe the best way to express what logic is about, then, is through this formula: logic is about words that signify things through our thoughts. Return to the Statement Aristotle's next task is to clarify the difference between the first and second operations. He writes: As there are in the mind thoughts which do not involve truth or falsity, and also those which must be either true or false, so it is in speech. . . . "Man" and "white" as isolated terms, are not yet either true or false. Aristotle first points to the obvious fact that we do not assign truth or falsity to simple expressions, like "man." In fact, we do not even assign it directly to definitions, such as "rational animal." We only assign truth and falsity when such terms are combined in statements, for example, "Man is a rational animal." Thus, Aristotle concludes: Truth and falsity imply composition and division. The reason why truth and falsity come in only with composition and division is that truth in speech is the conformity between what is said and the way something is in reality, while falsity is the opposition between what is said and the way something is. When I say "man" I do not express the way man is, since "the way" in which something exists is different from and added to the subject that exists in that way. "Man" is simply a subject that exists, but when I combine "man" with "runs" and say "The man runs," then I express the way man exists. Only then can I check whether that way I am speaking conforms to the reality signified. Only then can I speak about truth and falsity, truth if the man is running, falsity if he is not. And since truth and falsity in speech corresponds to truth and falsity in thought, we can see that only the second operation of the intellect concerns the true and the false. Aristotle first defines the parts of the statement, then the statement itself. The statement itself is complex, but its fundamental parts are simple. In the Categories Aristotle is dealing with simple expressions, but he was content there to give examples; here, he gives a definition. A simple expressions is: . . . a sound significant by convention, . . . of which no part is significant apart from the rest. As we noted before, words are different for different languages, so the sound of the word cannot by itself, naturally point to a thing. It can only point to a thing if those speaking the language agree to that. An expression is simple when no part of it signifies by itself, at least not in such a way that the meaning of the part determines the meaning of the whole. For example, the word "dog" has a part, "og," but that part does not mean anything by itself. Thus, "dog" is a simple expression. Sometimes by accident a word has a part which does have its own meaning, but if the expression is simple, the meaning of the part does not determine the meaning of the whole. For example, "table" is part of the whole word "stable," but the meaning of the part "table" has nothing to do with the meaning of the whole word "stable." The statement is made of simple expressions of two kinds, the noun and the verb. The difference between them is that the noun signifies something without implying time, while the verb signifies something and implies time. In grammatical terms, nouns do not have tenses, verbs do. The reason is that the verb signifies something that is attributed to the noun, as happening to the noun, and the happening implies time. For example, in the statement, "The man runs," "man" is the noun and "runs" is the verb. Running is attributed to man, and since what is attributed to a thing affects how a thing is, then we can look at running as something that happens to the man. Happening then brings in the notion of change: if it is happening to him, we have to ask when it is happening. Is it happening now, or in the past, or in the future? The tense of this verb tells us that it is happening now: "runs" is the present tense. Thus every verb, because it is something attributed to another, implies time. The noun, however, does not imply something happening to another, but instead points to the subject which has something happening to it. The subject is always the stable thing in the happening, and therefore time does not matter to it: the man is a man, whether he is running now, or ran in the past, or will run in the future. So the noun signifies without time. But when we put the noun and the verb together, we get a statement. Aristotle does not define the statement all in one place, but we can gather a definition from several places. First, since the statement is made of simple expressions, it will be a complex expression because its parts do signify something by themselves. The name which Aristotle assigns to the genus of simple expressions is "sentence." Thus, we can ask what kind of sentence a statement is. Aristotle writes: Not every sentence is a statement; only such are statements as have in them either truth or falsity. Thus, a request is a sentence, but is neither true nor false. There are several kinds of sentences, such as questions, commands, requests, and all are complex; that is, all have parts which have meaning by themselves. None of these others, however, express something that is true or false. For example, "Is the dog in the yard?" or "Leave the yard" are sentences, but not true or false. Only a statement, such as "The dog is in the yard," does that. Thus the definition of the statement is a sentence which is true or false. Since the purpose of logic is to aid the mind in knowing the truth, Aristotle dismisses all other kinds of sentences here and deals only with statements. In this lesson we have discussed the parts and definition of the statement. The noun and verb are its parts, and the statement is a sentence that is true or false. In our next lesson we are going to look at how Aristotle divides statements into kinds, and how he determines the important relations between the different kinds of statements. 1. Examine the words used equivocally in Exercise One of Lesson Three and determine whether they are used purely equivocally or analogously. 2. Identify the noun and the verb in the following statements. If an entry is not a statement, note that. 1. Fido is a dog. 2. Triangles have three sides. 3. What a good speech! 4. Philosophers love wisdom. 5. Do sophists love wisdom? 6. Men are apes wearing trousers. 7. Let us pursue virtue.
Python implementation of hash table pseudo-code from Cambridge International AS and A level Computer Science Coursebook - CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS section 23.8 • write algorithms to find an item in each of the following: linked list, binary tree, hash table • write algorithms to insert an item into each of the following: stack, queue, linked list, binary tree, hash table 3.1.2 File organisation and access • show understanding of methods of file access – direct access for sequential and random files We are committed to providing the highest quality teaching resources for GCSE and A Level Computer Science to inspire students while giving teachers everything they need to deliver first-class lessons.
Time Passages: To the Minute Worksheet 8 In this telling time review worksheet, students use their problem solving skills to solve 8 problems that require them to draw the passage of time on clocks. 3 Views 3 Downloads Number Line Graphic Organizer for Elapsed Time Introduce young mathematicians to the concept of elapsed time with this simple upper-elementary math lesson. Using the help of the included number line graphic organizers, children work through a series of guided and independent practice... 3rd - 6th Math CCSS: Adaptable
We’re excited to be back today with another post in our art lessons series. The lesson we’re going over today is one of those little projects that was handed down to me from a friend, who received it from another friend… it’s been tweaked and adjusted to the appropriate age category over time. And today I thought I’d share what I did with my kids in the color theory category last weekend. This is a great way to teach your kids about the concept of colors. Involve them in conversation as you go, asking them what they remember from your last lesson, what colors they think certain combinations will make, etc. It’s fun to see their reactions to things, and the colors you can mix with a simple element like play-doh! If you missed last week’s intro, feel free to check it out here! We’ll be reviewing a few points before we begin with this one, so without further ado… Points to review with your kids: • Do you remember what we talked about last week? • Color is reflected light – You see color because light waves are reflected from objects, to your eyes. The light we see from the sun is called white light. It is actually all of the colors. • Remember how we talked about a piece of glass called a prism, and how it can divide light? • The rainbow is also called a spectrum of color. It’s always seen in the same order : Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Violet. • Today, we’re going to make a color wheel. A color wheel is that spectrum of color, bent into a circle. It is a useful tool for organizing colors. Here’s what you’ll need: New talking points: • A color wheel is that spectrum of colors, bent into a circle. • Today, we will make our own color wheel by mixing play-doh. Begin with the color wheel printable, and the primary colors. Review the primary colors again, and what they are. Take a small amount, and help your child cover the three sections with the primary colors listed. • Primary Colors : (Red, Blue + Yellow) The main colors from which all other colors are made. They can not be created by mixing other colors. • From the primary colors, secondary colors are created. • Secondary Colors : (Orange, Green and Purple) Are made by mixing primary colors. Red + Blue = Purple. Red + Yellow = Orange. Blue + Yellow = Green. For these three colors, take the primary colors, and finding the appropriate spot on the color wheel, mix until you’ve formed each color. (It’s fun for them to see the colors made right before their eyes) Place that color in the spot. Tada! These are your secondary colors. • Notice the colors that are right across from each other on the color wheel? • These are called complementary colors. Yellow + Purple, Blue + Orange, Red + Green. They are opposites of each other. • If you were to mix any of these, you would make brown. • What is left on the color wheel that has not been filled in? Our intermediate colors. • These are also called tertiary colors. These are both big words. • This basically means they are the third group of colors. • They are made by mixing a primary color with a secondary color. See: Red + Orange = Red/Orange. Red + Violet = Red/Violet… etc. Let the name of the color in the circle that needs to be created, be a guide for your play-doh formula. If the color is red-orange, then you will need two parts red, one part orange. It’s basically the color orange, with a lot of red in it. Play with it as you go, and see what combinations you make! Slowly but surely, the color wheel should start to look like this. Just another word to throw out (included on the sheet + depending on your child’s age) Analogous Colors = the colors next to each other on the color wheel. I included a list at the bottom of the sheet for review, depending on the age of your child. For example: Malone was merely interested in mashing his colors violently into the paper. That’s fine. He also knows that different combinations make different colors. Mission accomplished. We will probably do this a couple of times, because they all enjoyed it so much. Definitely over his head, but he knows what a rainbow is, and he knows how to organize a rainbow with play-doh. Yay! Aiden, my 7 year old, on the other hand, knows what complementary, primary, secondary, and tertiary colors are. He can’t say analogous or tertiary to save his life. It’s just there for reference, and expanding their vocab (read: impressing the general public with random factoids on a whim at your next family dinner party) is a new and fabulous possibility. And Emerson… is kind of a big deal. (Check out that face.) They were proud of their little projects and enjoyed merging those colors! We will continue to review these in different ways, until our kids get the hang of it… use the words to reference them, etc. They don’t need to have it memorized, because we will keep reviewing this concept in future lessons. But a nice grasp of primary, secondary, complementary, and why we have a color wheel, is always a good thing. Trust me, they’ll be glad they had this one! As always, let us know if you plan to use it… we’d love to hear! Have an inspired day, little artists! ;}
Encompassing more than 370 diverse areas - including vast tracts of wilderness, spectacular scenery and habitat, historic places, and urban parks - the U.S. National Park System is the envy of the world. This exhaustive illustrated Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive look at the history and development of the park system ever published. Noted environmental scholar Hal Rothman and Sara Dant Ewert explore the history, issues, and legacy of the National Park System, beginning with the passage of the Antiquities Act of 1906 right up to the twenty-first century. An introductory essay details the history of the National Park System and wilderness preservation organizers; biographies examine the most influential historical figures and personalities who shaped and influenced the park system; and A-to-Z entries provide in-depth information on the history of more than 350 national parks, historic sites, monuments, battlefields, recreation areas, parklands, memorials, trails, and preserves. Entries provide detailed accounts of each park area's founding and history and also cover issues surrounding park use and environmental management. Each entry also includes acreage, date established, contact information, location and events, Website address, and further reading lists.
White eye discharge typically signals eye irritation, which can occur with a variety of eye ailments. Irritation of the conjunctiva -- the thin tissue that lines the eyelids and covers the surface of the eye -- is the most common cause. Conditions affecting the eyelids are also frequently to blame. Other eye conditions can also cause white eye discharge. Accompanying signs and symptoms and an eye examination help differentiate among the possible causes of white eye discharge. If you are experiencing serious medical symptoms, seek emergency treatment immediately. Conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye, refers to inflammation of the conjunctiva. This condition usually affects both eyes, typically beginning in one eye and then spreading to the other. Most cases of conjunctivitis are due to a viral infection, although a bacterial infection is sometimes to blame. Watery, stringy or white eye discharge is common with viral conjunctivitis. Other typical symptoms include eye redness and pain. Bacterial conjunctivitis causes similar symptoms but the eye discharge is usually thicker, more abundant, and yellowish or greenish in color. However, the color and consistency of eye discharge cannot be used to definitively differentiate between viral and bacterial conjunctivitis, as there is significant variation. Irritation of the conjunctiva can occur due to noninfectious causes. Allergies that affect the eyes, such as a pollen or pet danger allergy, are commonly associated with itchy, watery eyes and a stringy discharge that may be clear or white. Among contact lens wearers, a condition called giant papillary conjunctivitis (GPC) can develop 4. This allergic condition commonly causes eye redness, swelling and whitish discharge. Dry eye syndrome represents another frequent cause of noninfectious conjunctivitis, which can cause stringy clear or white eye discharge. Airborne irritants, such as cigarette smoke and chemical fumes, might also be to blame. In some people, sensitivity to preservatives in eye drops or contact lens solutions might irritate the conjunctiva, leading to redness and eye discharge. Blepharitis describes inflammation of the rims of the eyelids of both eyes. This common condition usually develops gradually and tends to persist or recur. Whitish to yellowish eye discharge can occur along with redness of the rim of the eye, eyelid swelling, crusts or flakes in the eyelashes, and a gritty or itchy sensation in the eyes. Staphylococcal bacteria, malfunction of the oil glands near the eyelashes, and a skin condition called seborrheic dermatitis -- or a combination of these factors -- typically contribute to the development of blepharitis. Although far less common than blepharitis, tumors of the eyelids can cause symptoms virtually identical to those of blepharitis. Warnings and Precautions Some of the most common causes of white eye discharge do not pose a threat to your vision. However, some eye conditions that can trigger eye discharge -- including some not previously discussed, such as a deep eye scratch or inflammation of the white part of the eye -- are potentially serious. See your doctor if you experience sudden, persistent or worsening eye discharge to determine the underlying cause and best course of treatment. Seek urgent medical care if your symptoms are associated with an eye injury, or if you experience any signs or symptoms that might indicate a serious problem, including: -- eye pain -- a sudden change in your vision -- copious discharge from one or both eyes -- severe swelling of the eyelids -- pupils irregularly shaped or of unequal size -- painful rash around the eye Reviewed and revised by: Tina M. St. John, M.D. - Merck Manual Professional Version: Viral Conjunctivitis - American Family Physician: Diagnosis and Management of Red Eye in Primary Care - American Family Physician: Evaluation and Management of Corneal Abrasions - American Academy of Ophthalmology: Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis - Merck Manual Professional Version: Blepharitis - Merck Manual Professional Version: Chalazion and Hordeolum (Stye) - kdshutterman/iStock/Getty Images
3.5 Billion Years Ago Life on earth arose out of a pool of twenty-two proteinogenic amino acids. These organic molecules build proteins that maintain life. Genes are a recording of amino acid sequences and their mutations that evolve species. Genes are segments of DNA that carry the instructions for unique amino acid sequences. These instructions are transcribed when DNA is copied by its cellular messenger RNA. Every cell in your body is continuously undergoing this process to define physical existence. Humans, for example, are comprised of around 37.5 trillion cells. Inside each cell, proteins are responsible for cellular division, energy production, waste disposal, and cell defense. Proteins support neural pathways, internal organs, skin, bone, blood, and hair. They also control and regulate your genes, turning them on or off. This process occurs in every living organism on earth, and has been going on for over 3.5 billion years. Humans have more than 20,000 genes devoted to encoding proteins built from just 22 amino acids. By comparison, a typical tomato has more than 31,000 genes that rely on the same amino acids to grow and ripen like a tomato. At Vivio Life Sciences we apply fundamental biology to help you target health, natural beauty, and wellness.
The reaction order is defined as the final exponent of the concentrations in the rate formula V. Normally, this exponent is derived from the coefficients in the reaction equation. Each reaction step below has its own 'order'. V = k[Cl V = k[NO I + OH OH + I V = k*[CH Back to the reaction: H This seems to be a reaction of the second order (bimolecular), but rate measuring shows that the order of this reaction = 1½. How to explain that? The steps (including a radical mechanisme): 2Br· this equilibrium is reached very quickly Br· + H HBr + H· this is the slowest step H· + Br HBr + Br· this is the fastest step Step 2, the slowest one, is determining the total rate: Equilibrium 1 has as a condition: If we combine the two (mathematical) equations, we can calculate: which means that the reaction order must equal 1½ (see exponent)
WASHINGTON, D.C.--When a whale dies, its carcass sinks to the sea floor, where it provides food for a unique assemblage of worms, clams, mussels and other creatures. But commercial whaling is driving many of these species to extinction, according to new results presented here today at the annual AAAS meeting. The deep-ocean floor is dark and cold, and most creatures there rely on food that falls from above. Nothing provides a greater feast than the carcass of a great whale, which can deposit up to 160 tons of blubber, meat and bone in one fell swoop. In 1987, while surveying a region of sea floor in the submersible Alvin, Craig Smith of the University of Hawaii, Manoa, stumbled on an entire community of animals thriving on and near a submerged whale skeleton. Since then, he and other researchers have shown that these "whale falls," like hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, constitute a unique biological community (ScienceNOW, 30 July ). To estimate how 2 centuries of commercial whaling has affected these communities, Smith and colleagues combined whale-population estimates with standard ecological models that link habitat loss to biodiversity. The models predict that in the North Atlantic, where at least 75% fewer whale corpses are littering the deep since large-scale whaling began in the early 1800s, between 30% and 50% of species that depended on whale carcasses have already gone extinct. And worldwide, even the so-called sustainable levels of whaling recommended by the International Whaling Commission will cause 15% of whale-fall species to disappear forever. "It's absolutely fascinating" work, says biological oceanographer Steven Palumbi of Stanford University: It demonstrates that human activity can affect entire marine ecosystems that are completely unknown.
Pneumonia - weakened immune systemDefinition: Pneumonia is a lung infection that can be caused by many different germs, including bacteria, viruses, and fungi. This article discusses describes pneumonia that occurs in a person whose ability to fight infection is greatly reduced because their immune system is weakened and not working properly. Such disease is referred to as "pneumonia in an immunocompromised host." Pneumonia in immunodeficient patient; Pneumonia - immunocompromised host Causes, incidence, and risk factors: A person whose immune system is not working well is less able to fight off germs. Because of this, they are more likely to become infected by germs that typically do not cause disease in healthy people. They are also more vulnerable to the usual causes of pneumonia , which can affect anyone. Your immune system may be weakened or not work well because of: - Cough (may be dry or produce mucus-like, greenish, or pus-like sputum) - Chills with shaking - General discomfort, uneasiness, or ill feeling (malaise ) - Loss of appetite - Nausea and vomiting - Sharp or stabbing chest pain that gets worse with deep breathing or coughing Shortness of breath Other symptoms that may occur: - Excessive sweating or night sweats - Joint stiffness (rare) - Muscle stiffness (rare) Signs and tests: The doctor may hear crackles or other abnormal breath sounds when listening to the chest with stethoscope. Reduced or absent breath sounds can be an important sign, because it may mean there is a buildup of fluid between the chest wall and lung. Tests may include: Antibiotics or antifungal medicines are used, depending on the type of germ that is causing the infection. Patients usually must stay in the hospital, at least during the early stages of the illness. Oxygen and respiratory treatments to remove fluid and mucus are often needed. The outcome may be poor if the pneumonia is caused by a virus or fungus, or if the patient's immune system is severely weakened. - Respiratory failure (the person needs machines to assist in breathing) - Spread of the infection Calling your health care provider: Call your health care provider if you are immunosuppressed and you have symptoms of pneumonia. If you have a weakened immune system and are in the hospital, you may receive daily antibiotics to prevent pneumonia. Ask your health care provider if you should receive the flu and pneumonia vaccines. Practice good hygiene. Thoroughly ash your hands with soap and water: - After being outdoors - After changing a diaper - After doing housework - After going to the bathroom - After touching body fluids, such as mucus or blood - After using the telephone - Before handling food or eating Keep your house clean. Stay away from crowds. Ask visitors who have a cold to wear a mask or not to visit. Do not do yard work or handle plants or flowers (they can carry germs). American Thoracic Society. Guidelines for the management of adults with hospital-acquired, ventilator-associated, and healthcare-associated pneumonia. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2005 Feb 15;171(4):388-416. Mandell LA, Wunderink RG, Anzueto A, et al. Infectious Diseases Society of America/American Thoracic Society consensus guidelines on the management of community-acquired pneumonia in adults. Clin Infect Dis. 2007 Mar 1;44 Suppl 2:S27-72. Young LS. Approach to fever and suspected infection in the compromised host. In: Goldman L, Ausiello D, eds. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier. 2007: chap 303. \|Review Date: 6/10/2009\| Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and Jatin M. Vyas, PhD, MD, Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Assistant in Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc. The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed medical professional should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Call 911 for all medical emergencies. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. © 1997- A.D.A.M., Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited.
Learning how to describe your pain is often the first step in your road to recovery. Types/Categories of Pain Pain may be classified by its duration (acute or chronic/persistent pain) or by its pathophysiology (by the kind of damage that causes it). The latter classification divides pain into nociceptive pain and neuropathic pain. Nociceptive pain is a sharp, throbbing, or aching pain due to tissue damage. This is the most common type of pain that everyone has experienced to some degree. Tissue damage and the resulting nociceptive pain can be the result of: - Trauma (e.g., broken bone) - Sprained, strained or torn tendon or ligament - Superficial burn - Superficial cut - Tumor pressing on an internal organ Neuropathic pain is numbness, pins and needles, and/or burning pain due to nerve damage. The nerve damage may be in the brain, spinal cord or peripheral nerves \ (nerves in the rest of the body that send signals to the brain). Nerve damage and the resulting neuropathic pain can be the result of: - Nerve compression/pinched nerve (e.g., herniated disc, trigeminal neuralgia) - Autoimmune disorders (multiple sclerosis, HIV) - Infections (e.g., shingles) - Nutritional deficiencies - Tumors pressing on a nerve or a group of nerves Nerves allow communication between the brain and the rest of the body. This communication involves pain signals. Therefore, nerve damage can interfere with the transmission of these signals as well as cause abnormal pain signals. For example, patients may feel burning sensations even when there is no external stimulus affecting the area involved. Nerve damage can also manifest as hypersensitivity to things such as touch/pressure or temperature. Complex Conditions and Categorization of Pain Due to the complexity of pain, it may not easily be categorized in an “either/or” sense. In fact, there are many patients that suffer from chronic/persistent conditions, such as diabetes, cancer and multiple sclerosis, whose pain defies a simple categorization. These complex types of pain may belong to multiple categories. Therefore, each patient’s pain must be examined in order to come up with an individual diagnosis and a holistic treatment plan. There are a multitude of treatment options available for patients suffering from pain. They range from therapeutic to medical to surgical and often more than one course of treatment is required to find the best method of helping patients learn to manage their pain. Pain treatment options include: - Steroid injections / blocks - Chiropractic care - Physical therapy/physiatry - Psychological therapy - Nutritional therapy - Targeted drug delivery
definition 1: a group of related things or parts that function together as a whole. example: There are twelve elementary schools in our city’s school system. definition 2: a particular method of procedure, organization, or classification. example: The people are demanding a new system of government. example: The books are organized according to a system. See full entry Collocations: words often used in combination with the noun “system” ADJECTIVE + system: complex ~ , adequate ~ , inadequate ~ , efficient ~ , capable ~ , reliable ~, advanced ~ , flexible ~ , fair ~ , unfair ~ , compatible ~ , suitable ~ , robust ~ VERB + system: operate ~ , use ~ , develop ~ , design ~ , build ~ , introduce ~ , implement ~ , create ~ , improve ~ , test ~ , monitor ~ , maintain ~ , install ~
(Myotis sodalis Miller and Allen) From: Saunders, D. A. 1988. Adirondack Mammals. State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry. 216pp. Description: The fur of the Indiana bat is a dull grayish brown on the upper part of the body, and only slightly paler below. The texture of the fur is fine and fluffy, and each dorsal hair is tricolored: blackish at the base, grayish in the middle, and chestnut brown at the tip. The ears, wing and tail membranes are brownish black. When viewed from below, hibernating individuals display pinkish faces. An average sized adult is 82 mm (3.2 in) in length, weighs approximately 6.5 g (0.2 oz), and has a wingspread of 25.5 cm (10 in). Range and Habitat: The range of the Indiana bat is a large portion of the eastern U.S., and in configuration resembles an inverted “y”, the main trunk extending from New England south and west, one leg penetrating north central Arkansas, and the other reaching northern Florida. Many populations formerly present with in this area are absent today. This species spends the winter months in caves and mines, including one site in Essex County. This is the only population known to occur in the Adirondack Park. Pregnant females and most males roost in hollow trees or behind loose plates of bark of living and dead trees during summer. Small numbers of males may remain at the winter sites. The Latin sodalis means companion, and refers to the social habits of hibernating Indiana bats. More than 90% of the total population of 500,000 spend the winter in just five caves or mines in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and Missouri, with two of these locations accounting for more than half the total. Five hibernation site occur in New York. Collectively, they contain 9,000 Indiana bats (the site with in the Adirondack Park has in excess of 500 individuals). Because this species is concentrated during the winter, it is especially vulnerable to disturbance, vandalism, habitat destruction, and natural catastrophes such as flooding. Food and Feeding Behavior: The few studies of the feeding habits of the Indiana bat suggest it forages at night in the canopy of forests, taking many kinds of insects such as moths, leafhoppers, and beetles. The availability of certain orders of insects in different forest communities, e.g., lowland versus ridge top, determine feeding preferences of local populations. Activity and Movement: Indiana bats, some traveling hundreds of miles, assemble at the mouths of caves or mines used as winter shelters in September and October. Males delay their entrance to mate with arriving females. When hibernating, individuals of both sexes alight on the ceiling, hanging head down, and then back into companions, wedging themselves into densely packed clusters. These clusters are usually far back into the recesses of caves or mines where temperatures are usually 3-8 degrees C (37-46 degrees F). Fluctuating temperatures may trigger arousal, with mass movements to different, more ideal locations.Reproduction: Although mating occurs in autumn, females store sperm until April or May, when ovulation and fertilization take place as they leave winter roosts. Females give birth to a single young in late June or July, and may transport them to different trees to provide warmer roosts. Maturation is weather-related, and cool summers may retard development as much as two weeks. The young begin flying at 25-37 days of age, and they make their first flights by following their mothers when they leave roosts to forage. Some young begin breeding in late autumn of their first year. Longevity is at least 13.5 years for males and 14.8 for females. - Social system - Indiana bats are promiscuous. Pregnant females roost singly or in maternal colonies of 25-100. Males may form small colonies in mines or caves, or roost in small groups in trees during the summer. Males and females are colonial during the winter. - Communication - Unknown. Brack, V., Jr. and R.K. LaVal. 1985. Food habits of the Indiana bat in Missouri. Journal of Mammalogy, 66:308-315. Clawson, R.L., R.K. LaVal, M.L. LaVal, and W. Claire. 1980. Clustering behavior of hibernating Myotis sodalis in Missouri. Journal of Mammalogy, 61:245-253. Hicks, A. 1982. Survival of the Indiana Bat. The New York State Conservationist, 36(5):36-37, 39. Humphrey, S.R., and J.B. Cope. 1977. Survival rate of the endangered Indiana bat, Myotis sodalis. Journal of Mammalogy, 58:32-36.
Children are able to choose their own work, become engaged, construct their knowledge and complete it to their satisfaction. Guidance is given and children are able to seek help when necessary. 2. Confidence and Competence. The children upon observation, reflection, and/or discussion, should be capable of correcting their own work. They should be able to manage the various materials with a clear sense of purpose, leading them to further understanding. 3. Intrinsic Motivation. Children are able to work for the pleasure of doing so, without rewards or fear. Children routinely demonstrate newly achieved competencies to one another. 4. Ability to Handle External Authority. Children should be able to manage the classroom rules that have been established. They should demonstrate a level of discipline with or without the direction and correction of an adult. 5. Social Responsibility/Leadership. Children demonstrate social responsibility and leadership skills, such as empathy, communication, initiative and resiliency. 6. Academic Preparation. Children are acquiring academic skills appropriate to their age and stage, their interests, their abilities, potential and achieving individualized success. 7. Global Awareness. The children are encouraged to develop qualities of citizenship and stewardship through an understanding and respect for cultural diversity and environmental awareness. There are opportunities to develop and practice qualities of peace and conflict resolution in their interactions with others. 9. Recordkeeping of Children’s Progress. The teacher shows an understanding of children’s progress and keeps clear and adequate records, as a continuous form of assessment. The children approach the teacher with ease and confidence, reflecting a personal connection and a sense of security. 11. Role Modeling. The teacher reflects the essential qualities of respect, order, enjoyment and 12. Spontaneity and Joy. The teacher nourishes and encourages spontaneity and expressions of the joy of
Prickly pears (mostly Opuntia stricta) were originally imported into Australia in the 18th century for gardens. They were later used as a natural agricultural fencing. They quickly became a widespread invasive weed. They changed 101,000 sq mi (260,000 km2) of farming land into an impenetrable green jungle of prickly pear, in places 20 ft (6.1 m) high. In 1919, the Australian federal government established the Commonwealth Prickly Pear Board to coordinate efforts with state governments to eradicate the weed. Early attempts at mechanical removal and poisonous chemicals failed, so in a last resort, biological control was attempted. There is a moth, Cactoblastis cactorum, from South America, whose larvae eat prickly pear. It was introduced in 1925 and rapidly reduced the cactus population. A memorial hall in Chinchilla (Queensland) commemorates the moth. This is one of the earliest known examples of the biological control of pests.
Beyond Mere Metals Mon, 15th Oct 2012 How specialised coatings keep jets in the air With the precision design of superalloy materials (as written about here by David Collins and Bryce Conduit), we are able to manufacture materials capable of withstanding the extreme conditions inside a jet engine where temperatures routinely exceed 1500°C and the loads on the materials have more momentum than a family car flung three miles into the air. But making materials strong and temperature-resistant isn't the whole story, because making them chemically durable is also key. In this pair of articles, materials scientists Bill Clegg and Cathie Rae explain how special coatings can be applied to turbine blades to render them resilient to harsh, highly-oxidising environment in order to prolong engine life and boost efficiency. Dr Cathie Rae, from the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy at Cambridge University, uses a range of techniques to study the way that coatings interact with the underlying alloy, and how this “interaction zone” may alter the overall performance or lifetime of the material... Figure 1 - The interaction layer between a nickel superalloy turbine blade at the bottom and a nickel-aluminide coating. To survive in the engine blades need coatings. While the inside of the blade is designed to carry the enormous load from the rotation of the turbine, the outside has to withstand the hot gases which, over time, turn the metal to oxide powders. A more mundane example is the problem of dealing with rust – uncoated iron will quite quickly oxidise to form iron oxides, which are far weaker than the original, unoxidised, iron. However, a coating of paint keeps the metal separated from the oxidising atmosphere, prevents the rust from occurring, and extends the useful life of the material. In a jet engine, coatings are made of aluminium and nickel and often include precious metals such as platinum. They are deposited on the surface by passing a gas containing aluminium over the superalloy blade. Figure 1 shows part of one of these coatings: At the bottom you can see the characteristic structure of the blade - the little cubes of the superalloy. At the top is the base of the coating layer. In the middle is the layer where the two different materials overlap and mix. Holes, in this case the darker structure that looks like a little dinosaur – are one of the results of this mixing. The “dinosaur” is 20 microns from nose to toes (50 would fit in a millimetre) and sits in a layer where the coating has grown into the blade and altered the structure. This can be a problem as the strong structure of the cubes has gone and the striped structure that replaces it, although made of the same elements, is much weaker. If this layer grows too much it can seriously weaken the blades. To better understand how coatings affect the structure of the blade and how to overcome these problems, we use a scanning microscope - an essential tool in materials science. With some additions a scanning microscope can look inside the structure using software that was initially developed to allow medical scanners to see inside the body. The second picture, figure 2, is a 3D reconstruction of the white streaks shown in the middle of the first picture. This image was created by collating the scanning micrograph images of a series of slices, which were taken by eroding a slithers of the surface away between each picture. This reveals the extraordinary shapes these make as they grow into the blade, beautiful but very damaging. By understanding the way these structures grow we can design coatings that protect the surface but do not damage the superalloy structures underneath. Figure 2 - 3D reconstruction of the interaction layer (or Secondary Reaction Zone) between a coating and the superalloy blade. Professor Bill Clegg, from the Ceramics & Inorganic Materials Group at Cambridge University, researches the way that the crystal structure of a material alters how it behaves at high temperatures... The thrust from a jet engine comes from the air that is forced through it. In order to do work on the gas (in the compressor) and to extract work from it (in the turbine) the moving air must hit the blades on a rotating turbine disc. Air that escapes around the edges of the turbine blade and the shroud is useless and the engine efficiency falls. However, a design that completely stops this would cause friction, much like a bicycle wheel rubbing on a mudguard, and this could cause the engine to seize. So, to surmount this problem, engineers have come up with many complicated designs. Some involve developing tortuous gas paths to prevent the gas escaping. In others, materials are inserted that are strong enough to withstand the passage of any gas, but sufficiently weak that they present no obstacle to the turbine and, even more importantly, do not wear away the turbine blade which would otherwise produce a gap. To do this, materials such as felts and honeycombs, made of thin strips or fibres, are commonly used. But the main challenge is posed by the hottest parts of the turbine. The conventional approach has been to use a shroud - a large piece of metal that sits on the tip of the turbine blade, protecting the tip. It has the further advantage that it keeps the blades more firmly fixed in their place on the turbine disc. But this also applies a huge centrifugal force to the blade as it spins, reducing the lifetime of the blade in the turbine disc – a problem that gets worse as the temperature in the high pressure turbine increases. To get the increased turbine efficiency we need, future engines will need to operate at even higher temperatures, so there is a real need to think of alternatives to using the shrouded blade to minimise gas escaping over the turbine blade tip. Figure 3: The crystal structure of the cubic form of boron nitride, c-BN © Bill Clegg One solution has been using the turbine blade itself to cut a track in a very porous ceramic material-an abradable. By rotating in the track the amount of air that can escape is reduced. However there can be substantial wear on the tip of the turbine blade. The blade rubbing against the abradable is just like any two surfaces rubbing together - the friction between them gives rise to local heating. And because of the rotation speeds and forces involved the blade tip can get so hot it melts. The surface can be protected by applying a film of hard material that can cut through the abradable, but this needs to be non-continuous so as to avoid distributing heat around the blade. In other words, the tip of the turbine blade is coated with a hardened abrasive. At present the cubic form of boron nitride is used (see figure 3). This is bonded to the turbine blade using an alloy of nickel, cobolt and aluminium (Ni,Co)Al, which is supended in a matrix of a nickel and cobolt solid solution. To provide extra resistence against oxidation (the non-iron equivalent of rusting), this then has small quantities of yttrium and chromium added in a process known as "doping". There are a whole range of these materials, known as MCrAlYs, where M is Nickel or Cobolt. Cubic boron nitride is used as an abrasive generally and although it is cheaper than diamond, it is still sold by the carat, making it an expensive option. While this has worked well, boron nitride oxidises rather easily in air to form boric oxide. This melts at a mere 450 °C, evaporates rapidly above 1,000 °C and boils at 1500 °C. To meet conditions inside a jet engine we need to find alternatives that will be hard enough at high temperature to act as abrasives. Just to add to the coplications, the MCrAlY bonding material is also reaching the limit of its capability. So are abrasives reaching the end of their use? Here at Cambridge University, we’re working to understand how this abrasive system - the abrasive and the material used to attach it to the blade - behaves, so that we can determine what properties we need if such abrasive systems are to be of use in the future.
Bacterial Blotch Disease COMMON NAMES: Bacterial blotch, Brown blotch, Bacterial spot THE PATHOGEN: P. fluorescens biotype G OUTDATED NAMES: Pseudomonas tolaasii, Phytomonas tolassi, Bacterium tolaasi Bacterial blotch may be endemic on mushroom farms, damaging mushroom quality and posing a potential yield loss. Presence of the disease is probable if the surfaces of the mushrooms do not dry following watering, irrespective of the season. Pseudomonas fluorescens biotype G , the pathogen, causes the formation of lesions on mushroom tissue that are pale yellow initially, but which later become a golden yellow or rich chocolate brown. This discoloration is superficial, no more than 2 to 3 mm deep, and the underlying mushroom tissue may appear to be water soaked and grey or yellow-grey. Blotches usually appear when the mushrooms are in the early button stage, but can appear on mushrooms of any age - even on harvested refrigerated mushrooms or mushrooms over-wrapped with a watertight film. If moisture conditions favor the disease, the spots enlarge and coalesce, sometimes covering the entire mushroom cap (Figure 1). Mushroom stems can also be blemished similarly. Typically, spotting is observed at or near the edge of mushroom caps - at the contact points between two mushroom caps, at crevices in clusters of mushrooms, or wherever mushroom caps remain wet for a period of 4 to 6 hours or longer after water has been applied. If very dry conditions occur after blotch has developed, infected caps may crack radially as the mushroom expands. Casing and air-borne dust are the primary means of introducing the blotch pathogen into a mushroom house. The bacterial pathogen is probably present in most casing material, even after pasteurization. Occurrence of disease is associated with the size of the bacterial population on the mushroom cap (pileus), rather than on the population in the casing, which explains why a prolonged wet period on the cap precedes disease occurrence. Once the disease occurs, blotch-causing bacteria are spread by splash-dispersal during watering, upon tools used by pickers and trashers, and by mushroom flies and nematodes. Recent observations suggest compost with a moisture content of less than 62 percent at spawning preconditions mushrooms to blotch infection. Bacterial blotch can develop on the outer surface of a mushroom - on cap or stem or both - at any stage of mushroom growth or development. Bacteria splashed onto a mushroom surface will reproduce in moist conditions, such as occur when water condenses or remains on the mushroom surface for a number of hours. Condensation forms when saturated (with water vapor) air is present and warmer than the cap surface. The cap surface is cooler than the surrounding air when water transpires from the mushroom due to active mushroom growth; transpiration produces a cool surface. Slight fluctuations - a few degrees - in air temperature during cropping can cause the air to vascillate between the saturation point and not being saturated, even though the absolute water vapor content remains constant. Warm air holds more water vapor than cool air, so as the air temperature increases the air becomes less saturated with water vapor; the inverse is also true. With Bacterial blotch disease being so strongly influenced by environmental and surface-moisture conditions, disease control requires inhibiting the pathogens' reproduction on the mushroom surface. Air will dry the mushroom surfaces if it can hold the additional moisture coming from transpiration. If air is cooled to a temperature lower than desired and then reheated a few degrees, it can hold more moisture and mushroom surfaces will dry. This heating operation is accomplished by circulating hot water (110' to 120°F) through perimeter heating pipes found in many growing rooms. In a forced-air ventilation system, the air must pass through a heating coil after it has been cooled, so the cooling coils may need a bit more capacity than might be expected. This system of drying is energy intensive, but essential when drying is needed. Adding sodium hypochlorite at 150 ppm chlorine to water used in irrigating the crop will control blotch, providing the mushrooms can be kept dry. But if the mushroom stays wet, chlorine has little effect since the bacterial population reproduces at a rate that neutralizes the effect of the oxidizing agent. This helps explain why sodium hypochlorite seems to be very effective at times, while at other times it appears to have no effect at all.
While many people are traveling to Warsaw this week to participate in the international climate negotiations (COP 19), the city is also hosting another global conference: the International Coal and Climate Summit. It’s a troubling juxtaposition—coal contributes to 43 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, making it a major driver of climate change. In fact, a new statement released by leading scientists suggests that nearly three-quarters of fossil fuel reserves—especially coal—must remain unused if the world is to limit temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius. In other words, limiting sea level rise, extreme weather events, heat waves, and other climate impacts requires staying within world’s “carbon budget”—which doesn’t include unabated coal use. The Carbon Budget The statement comes on the heels of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), which found that emissions related to human activities must not exceed 1 trillion tonnes C (1000 PgC) if we are to have a likely chance of limiting warming to 2°C. The world has already used up more than half of this “carbon budget,” and under a carbon intensive trajectory1, is on track to exceed it in about three decades. Staying within our carbon budget also means living within a “fossil fuel budget.” According to the IPCC, limiting warming to 2 degrees C requires capping fossil fuel emissions at 270 PgC for the period between 2012 and 21002. Yet the new scientific statement says that CO2 emissions associated with reserves of coal, oil, and gas are 3,863 GtCO2, or 1,053 PgC. Therefore, burning through only 26 percent of these reserves would break the carbon budget, meaning roughly 74 percent of fossil fuels would need to remain unused to limit warming to 2 degrees C. What Does this Mean for the Future of Coal? The world’s “fossil fuel budget” holds the most significant implications for coal. Carbon dioxide emissions associated with burning coal are the greatest of any fossil fuel, and coal has the highest carbon content among all unburned fossil fuel reserves. Data from the scientific statement shows that we would need more than two fossil fuel budgets for the emissions associated with coal reserves alone, leaving no budget for continued use of oil or natural gas. Despite these known risks, coal remains a dominant energy source. WRI’s Global Coal Risk Assessment found that there are nearly 1,200 new coal-fired power plants slated for development worldwide. More than three-quarters of these plants are proposed in India and China, nations already struggling with air quality and environmental issues associated with coal emissions, and coal remains an existing source in many countries. The International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that coal currently provides 40 percent of the world’s electricity and has been the fastest-growing global energy source since 2000. The IEA’s most recent World Energy Outlook finds that while renewables and natural gas generation will grow rapidly, coal is still projected to be the dominant source of electricity through 2035. Coal Is a Serious Threat to a 2 Degree C World It’s time to start moving away from unabated coal use—and start transitioning to a low-carbon economy. Encouragingly, renewable energy generation is already rapidly increasing around the world, driven by declining costs and progressive government policies that make clean energy cost-competitive with fossil fuels. As the scientific statement notes, 42 percent of all new electric generation capacity in 2012 was renewable energy. COP 19 negotiators should play a key role in shifting from coal to a low-carbon future. It’s important that they make progress toward establishing an international climate agreement in 2015—one that’s ambitious enough to keep temperatures within the 2 degree C target. Countries can move this agreement forward in Warsaw by putting forth a process for delivering transparent and ambitious national emissions reductions offers. Securing an international climate agreement by 2015 is essential--it would send clear signals to investors to shift financing away from fossil fuels like coal and toward clean energy.
This is the first of 7 11-Plus Non-Verbal Reasoning quizzes on Shapes and Letters. It might seem a bit strange at first but you'll soon get the hang of it. The figures in the boxes on the left hand side of the page have characteristics that have been given letters. A letter might refer to shape, outline, colour or shading or orientation. Some of the shapes have two letters, relating to two characteristics, and some have three letters, relating to three characteristics. Using this information you can find the code for the shape in the box on the right. There is a detailed explanation of how the questions work in the example question and answer. You can refer back to this anytime you get stuck. Take your time and think carefully about each question before you choose your answer. So, if you're ready, let's begin. Enjoy 'Shapes and Letters' quiz number 1.
operations with numbers These problems ask students to apply estimation skills and help them understand the value and appropriateness of estimation. It can be a means to judge the reasonableness of a calculated answer, or an adequate answer to problems which do not require a precise solution. - Related Resources Interactive resources from our Math Tools project: Math 1: Operations with Numbers - Estimation Number and Operations Standard for Grades Pre-K-3 Access to these problems requires a Membership. How Big is 100 Pennies? Grade K. Estimate whether 100 pennies can fit on a piece of paper. How Many Berries Did I Eat? Grade 1. Reason about whether I ate more blueberries or raspberries.
The exact methods depend on what specifically you are talking about and how deep you want to go. For example, storing files on a hard drive is different than storing something in memory or storing something in a database. Although the concepts are similar. And how you do it at a programming level is a different explanation than how a computer does it at the I/O level. Most systems use some sort of directory/index/registry mechanism to allow the computer to find and access the data. This index/directory will contain one or more keys, and the address the data is actually located in (whether that be hard drive, RAM, database, etc.). Hard Drive Example If you want to access a file on the computer. When you access it, the computer looks in its index for the name of the file, and in that index is the physical address where the file as actually stored on the hard drive. Knowing this address, it then gets the data and does whatever it was programmed to do. This is all encapsulated from the user and happens behind the scenes. Or an operating system may decide that certain data is always stored at a certain location. For example, in most operating systems, the boot sector is always at the first sector on the drive. It doesn't need an index for this, since the OS assumes it is always at the same spot on the hard drive. Computer Program Example A computer program can access memory in a variety of ways. Typically the operating system gives the program an address space, and the program can do what it wants with that address space. It can write directly to any address within its memory space, and it can keep track of that how it wants. This will sometimes vary by programming language and operating system, or even according to a programmer's preferred techniques. As mentioned in some of the other answers, the exact coding or programming used differs, but typically behind the scenes it uses something like a stack. It has a register that stores the memory location where the current stack starts, and then a method of knowing where in that stack a function or variable is. In many higher level programming languages, it takes care of all that for you. All you have to do is declare a variable, and store something in that variable, and it creates the necessary stacks and arrays behind the scenes for you. But considering how versatile programming is, there isn't really one answer, since a programmer can choose to write directly to any address within its allocated space any time (assuming he is using a programming language that allows that). Then he could store its location in an array, or even just hard code it into the program (i.e. the variable "alpha" is always stored at the beginning of the stack or always stored in the first 32 bits of allocated memory). So basically, there has to be some mechanism behind the scenes that tells the computer where data is stored. One of the most popular ways is some sort of index/directory that contains key(s) and the memory address. This is implemented in all sorts of ways and is usually encapsulated from the user (and sometimes even encapsulated from the programmer).
Common Core Standards: Math High School: Statistics and Probability Interpreting Categorical and Quantitative Data HSS-ID.A.1 1. Represent data with plots on the real number line (dot plots, histograms, and box plots). Statistics is all about data. Collecting, then analyzing, then making guesses based on previously collected data, then comparing to see if the predictions were accurate. Then collecting more data and analyzing it some more. Evidently, a statistician's work is never done. Fortunately (or unfortunately) for your students, statisticians have come up with many different ways to represent this data. That way, they don't have to look at and try to make sense of an endless and ever-growing table of numbers. Students should be comfortable with representing data on the real number line in the forms of dot plots, histograms, and box plots. Quite obviously, that means they should know the difference between them. A dot plot is a diagram that represents a data set using dots over the number line. A histogram is a diagram that shows a data set as a series of rectangles that shows how often data occur within a given interval. A box plot, also called a box and whisker plot, is a diagram that shows a data set as a distribution along the number line, divided into four equal parts using the median (the middle data value) and the upper and lower quartiles (median of upper and lower half of data, respectively). But why yammer on about these different plots when we can show you exactly what we mean? The following table shows how fast Michael Phelps, one of the world's greatest Olympic swimmers, can swim the 200-meter freestyle event (rounded to the nearest second). Students should know that to create a dot plot of Michael Phelps 200-meter freestyle times, they should focus on the portion of the number line that covers the data points. Looking at the data given above, we need to include numbers from 100 to 110. Now, all we need to do is place a dot on the appropriate number for each data point with that number. For instance, since only one of his times was 107 seconds, we place only one dot on the number line at 107. Since 108 seconds occurs twice in our data table, we place two points, one on top of the other, on the number line at 108. Eventually, our dot plot should look something like this. To create a histogram of the Michael Phelps data, students should create a chart with the time on the x-axis (horizontal axis) and count (or frequency) on the y-axis (vertical axis). A rectangle is drawn the width of each interval with a height equal to the count for that time. For example, drawing the rectangle for 103 seconds yields the following: Now we can complete the histogram for the rest of the data. One important feature of a histogram is that the rectangles don't care much for personal space. They're touching because they represent intervals rather than specific numbers. After all, time is continuous, right? For this reason, histograms are particularly useful for large ranges of data. One last way students can visually represent Michael Phelps's 200-meter freestyle times is using a box plot. This type of plot divides the data into four equal parts using quartiles (a value that divides the data set into groups with equal number of data points). In the case of the given data, 12 data points are provided so each quartile will contain 3 data points. To find the quartiles, its best to first sort the given data from smallest to largest. In the case of the data we have been working with, this yields: Now, students should find the values for each of the three quartiles. In the case when there are an even number of data points, the value of the median is calculated as the average of the 2 middlemost numbers. For the above data, that yields 105.5. To determine the lower quartile, we need to find the value that has 9 values above and 3 values below. In this case, the value will be 103. Similarly, the upper quartile is 106.5. Again these values are determined by taking the average value of the 3rd and 4th (for the lower quartile) and the 7th and 8th (for the upper quartile) values. To begin to draw the box and plot diagram, draw the number line that covers the range of the values and draw a vertical line at the location of each quartile as shown: If we connect these lines, we have our box. The whisker part of the "box and whisker plot" comes in just after puberty. We're only joking. We can add in two more pieces of information: the minimum and maximum value. Draw one data point at the minimum value and another at the maximum value and create a whisker from the middle of the box out to this data point. Now we have a box plot (and whisker) plot. Where else can inanimate objects have whiskers, except in statistics? - Caja y Parcelas de Bigotes - Data Interpretation - SAT Math 1.2 Geometry and Measurement - SAT Math 1.3 Geometry and Measurement - SAT Math 2.2 Statistics and Probability - SAT Math 2.3 Geometry and Measurement - SAT Math 3.4 Statistics and Probability - SAT Math 4.1 Statistics and Probability
Humans have a natural tendency to find order in sets of information, a skill that has proven difficult to replicate in computers. Faced with a large set of data, computers don't know where to begin -- unless they're programmed to look for a specific structure, such as a hierarchy, linear order, or a set of clusters. In an advance that may impact the field of artificial intelligence, a new model can help computers recognize patterns the same way that humans do. The model, which is described in The Discovery of Structural Form, can analyze a set of data and figure out which type of organizational structure best fits it. "Instead of looking for a particular kind of structure, we came up with a broader algorithm that is able to look for all of these structures and weigh them against each other," said Josh Tenenbaum, an associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences at MIT. The model could help scientists in many fields analyze large amounts of data, and could also shed light on how the human brain discovers patterns. The computer algorithm was developed by Charles Kemp, an assistant professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, along with Tenenbaum. The model considers a range of possible data structures, such as trees, linear orders, rings, dominance hierarchies, clusters, etc. It finds the best-fitting structure of each type for a given data set and then picks the type of structure that best represents the data. Humans perform the same feat in everyday life, often unconsciously. Several scientific milestones have resulted from the human skill of finding patterns in data -- for example, the development of the periodic table of the chemical elements or the organization of biological species into a tree-structured system of classification. Children exhibit this data organization skill at a young age, when they learn that social networks can be organized into cliques, and that words can fit into overlapping categories (for example, dog, mammal, animal). "We think of children as taking in data, forming theories, and testing those theories with experiments. They're like little scientists," Tenenbaum said. "Until now there's been no good computational model for how children can, like scientists, grasp the underlying global structure of a set of data."
Unbalanced forces can cause an object to do three things. What are they? Forces are considered balanced when all of the combined forces lead to no change in the motion of the object. For example, when a book is sitting on a table, the force of gravity is pushing downward and the normal force is pushing upward with exactly the same amount of force. Since they are equal and opposite forces, the book does not move. Unbalanced forces exist when there are unequal forces acting upon the object, which leads to a change in the state of motion. Unbalanced forces can lead to a change in direction, a change in speed, or both a change in direction and in speed.
Your thyroid gland is one of the endocrine glands that make hormones to regulate physiological functions in your body, like metabolism (heart rate, sweating, energy consumed). Other endocrine glands include the pituitary, adrenal, and parathyroid glands and specialized cells within the pancreas. The thyroid gland is located in the middle of the lower neck, below the larynx (voice box) and wraps around the front half of the trachea (windpipe). It is shaped like a bow tie, just above the collarbones, having two halves (lobes) joined by a small tissue bar (isthmus.). You can’t always feel a normal thyroid gland. Diseases of the thyroid gland are very common, affecting millions of Americans. The most common thyroid problems are: - An overactive gland, called hyperthyroidism (e.g., Graves’ disease, toxic adenoma or toxic nodular goiter). - An underactive gland, called hypothyroidism (e.g., Hashimoto’s thyroiditis). - Thyroid enlargement due to over activity (as in Graves’ disease) or from under-activity (as in hypothyroidism). An enlarged thyroid gland is often called a “goiter.” Patients with a family history of thyroid cancer or who had radiation therapy to the head or neck as children for acne, adenoids, or other reasons are more prone to develop thyroid malignancy. Hypothyroidism is generally treated with thyroid hormone replacement medication. Hyperthyroidism can be treated with: - Medication to block the effects of excessive production of thyroid hormone - Radioactive iodine to destroy the thyroid gland or - Surgical removal of the thyroid gland Goiters (lumps) require additional imaging studies to determine size, location and characteristics. These can include CT, ultrasound or MRIs. A fine-needle aspiration biopsy may also be ordered in order to take a sample of the cells within the nodule. This can help differentiate between benign and malignant (or cancerous) masses. Thyroid surgery may be required when the fine needle aspiration is reported as indeterminate, suspicious or suggestive of cancer, imaging shows that nodules have worrisome characteristics or that nodules are getting bigger and/or the trachea (windpipe) or esophagus are compressed because one or both lobes are very large. Historically, some thyroid nodules, including some that are malignant, have shown a reduction in size with the administration of thyroid hormone. However, this treatment, known as medical “suppression” therapy, has proven to be an unreliable treatment method. The salivary glands are found in and around your mouth and throat. We call the major salivary glands the parotid, sub-mandibular, and sublingual glands. They all secrete saliva into your mouth, the parotid through tubes that drain saliva, called salivary ducts, near your upper teeth, sub-mandibular under your tongue, and the sublingual through many ducts in the floor of your mouth. Besides these glands, there are many tiny glands called minor salivary glands located in your lips, inner cheek area (buccal mucosa), and extensively in other linings of your mouth and throat. Salivary glands produce the saliva used to moisten your mouth, initiate digestion, and help protect your teeth from decay. Salivary gland problems that cause clinical symptoms include: - Obstruction to the flow of saliva which most commonly occurs in the parotid and sub-mandibular glands, usually because stones have formed. Symptoms typically occur when eating. Saliva production starts to flow, but cannot exit the ductal system, leading to swelling of the involved gland and significant pain, sometimes with an infection. Unless stones totally obstruct saliva flow, the major glands will swell during eating and then gradually subside after eating, only to enlarge again at the next meal. Infection can develop in the pool of blocked saliva, leading to more severe pain and swelling in the glands. If untreated for a long time, the glands may become abscessed. - Infections which occur because of ductal obstruction or sluggish flow of saliva because the mouth has abundant bacteria. - Tumors which rarely involve more than one gland and are detected as a growth in the parotid, sub-mandibular area, on the palate, floor of mouth, cheeks, or lips. Primary benign and malignant salivary gland tumors usually show up as painless enlargements of these glands. An otolaryngologist-head and neck surgeon should check these enlargements. If a mass is found in the salivary gland, it is helpful to obtain a CT scan or a MRI. Treatment of salivary diseases falls into two categories: medical and surgical. Selection of treatment depends on the nature of the problem.
A childs socialization agents Socialization is important in the process of personality formation while much of human personality is the result of our genes, the socialization process can mold it in particular directions by encouraging specific beliefs and attitudes as well as selectively providing experiences. Describe the agents of socialization discuss methods of socialization by giving examples from the book and from personal experience socialization takes place and where children learn to live with mutual respect for one another a family is where a child learns to display affection, control his temper, and pick up his toys. After this video lesson, you will be able to ∙ define socialization process ∙ define socializing ∙ understand the difference between socialization and socializing ∙ define a primary. Media as agents of socialization 2 immediate surroundings indeed, most everything we experience as humans has an impact on the way the brain becomes wired, just as the things we eat have an impact on our body. The school helps the child to adapt to social order through the hidden curriculum and functions in order to prepare the latter for a stable adult life moreover, the school is specialised to impart certain technical, intellectual skills and cultural heritage of society so that the individual is able to integrate society. Gender: early socialization gender socialization is the process through which children learn about the social expectations, attitudes and behaviours typically associated with boys and girls this topic looks at this socialization process and the factors that influence gender development in children. Social classes social classes are those agents of socialization, that divide an individual within the society these classes include the lower class, working middle class and the higher elite class influence of agents of socialization the individual responds differently to different agents of socialization. Agents of socialization 1 agents of socialization 2 day care has become a significant agent of socialization• research finds that the effects of day care largely depends on the child’s background and quality of care – children from poor households or dysfunctional families appear to benefit from day care – children in higher. Socialization being a vital period in the life of children, mass media being an agent of socialization and a means of bringing socialization to the children, children being the receivers of the socialization transmitted through the mass media. Work on child socialization and consumer socialization indicates that parents’ receptivity to children’s influence depends on the general character of parent-child relationships children are more apt to influence warmer (democratic and equalitarian) parents than cooler (autocratic and ignoring) parents (baranowski 1978. Important agent of socialization, one would expect to find a relationship between the number of siblings in an individual’s consanquine family and the number of children in an individual’s conjugal family. Socialization and child development chapter 1 after completing this chapter, you will be able to: define ecology and discuss how it relates to child development define socialization and explain how it relates to child development ex direct interaction with social agents like parents, peers, and teachers mesosystem interactions among. Stated simply, socialization is the process whereby individuals, especially children, become functioning members of a particular group and take on the values, behaviors and beliefs of the groups other members, says carolyn r tomlin, who has worked in early childhood education for 33 years. The idea that children are active agents, affecting as well as being affected by the world around them, is a new approach that is central to a national research programme launched this week the economic and social research council's children 5-16 project marks a shift away from treating children as outcomes of social processes and emphasises. Most us children spend about seven hours a day, 180 days a year, in school, which makes it hard to deny the importance school has on their socialization (us department of education 2004) students are not in school only to study math, reading, science, and other subjects—the manifest function of this system. Primary socialization socialization is the process whereby we learn to become competent members of a groupprimary socialization is the learning we experience from the people who raise us in order for children to grow and thrive, caregivers must satisfy their physical needs, including food, clothing, and shelter. Introduction to sociology – 1st canadian edition main body chapter 5 socialization social group agents social groups often provide the first experiences of socialization families, and later peer groups, communicate expectations and reinforce norms stages of child socialization the four stages of child development (preparatory. A childs socialization agents Nevertheless ayotunde badoru believes the media as an agent of socialization does on the other hand contain negative effects with regard to children in the process of human development (nd,p2. Peer socialization in school wm m socialization of children: (a) on the past of the social agent on the child reliance on this framework has had the unfortunate effect of obscuring a basic source of sociali zation for authority figures the young. Another powerful agent of socialization, the mass media, has a profound effect on an individual's socialization process by propagating cultural attitudes on a large scale in this way, the media exert a profound effect on self-concept by projecting expectations associated with gender, race, and class. The last agent of childhood socialization we're going to discuss in this lesson is mass media, which includes television, internet, radio, movies, books, and magazines - just to name a few. Socialization, namely: primary socialization and secondary socialization primary socialization, on the one hand, occurs during childhood and refers mainly to family or others people who occupies with child care. Agents of socialization help a person to get socially involved and gain acceptance in the society he/she lives in these agents form the very base of the social order, and it is with their aid that an individual and society interact with each other. But socialization is a process through which the personality of the new born child is shaped and molded through the process, the child learns an approved way of social life at the same time, it also provides enough scope for the individual to develop his individuality. For these children, day care is an important agent of socialization in 1982 there were more than 30,000 day-care centers, ranging from informal arrangements at the home of a neighbor to large nurseries run by schools, churches, charities, corporations, and occasionally employers (lindsey, 1984. The master’s college when children enter elementary school they are going to be under the influence of two sets of socialization agents: the classroom teacher (and related school personnel) and peers classes in elementary school are usually organized with a single teacher who is in charge of 20 to 30 same-aged students culture is a. Agents of socialization and you parents are always concerned that their child is domineering, a loser, or is timid it has been proven that children's behavior traits, feelings and public skills, along with their occurrences’ and the management parents give them, all have a force on how they perform with others. Several institutional and other sources of socialization exist and are called agents of socializationthe first of these, the family, is certainly the most important agent of socialization for infants and young children.
Frogs don't have external ears, but they do have ear holes, located directly behind their eyes. Frog ear holes are covered with thin tympanic membranes, or eardrums, that protect the inner ear cavity and help transmit sound vibrations. Male frogs' eardrums are larger than their eyes; females' are smaller. Good hearing is essential for frogs' survival. They listen for distress signals, mating calls and territorial warnings. Frog Eardrums Vibrate Having no external ears doesn't compromise a frog's hearing. A rod connecting the frog's eardrum to his inner ear wiggles when sound wave vibrations occur. Fluid in the inner ear splashes, causing tiny hairs to wave and make contact with nerve fibers. This contact generates electrical impulses that convey to the brain, which reads the electrical signals as sounds. Their Lungs Lower Amplification A continuous air link occurs from frogs' lungs to their eardrums. On the side that sound is coming from, the lungs place pressure on the eardrum. This may help locate the sound's origination point, allowing females to locate their mates and helping males to identify territorial boundaries. Their lungs also equalize pressure between the external and inner eardrum surfaces, lowering the amplification of the frogs' own voices, enabling them to croak loudly without hurting their ears. A Species That Hears Via Lungs Panamanian golden frogs have no external or middle ears but are able to hear and locate sounds with their inner ears. Their lungs are located close to the skin and function as eardrums. These frogs' lungs pick up sound wave vibrations are and convey them to the inner ears, which function as other species' do and send impulses to their brains for interpretation. One Hears Via Mouth Gardiner's Seychelle frogs, one of the world's tiniest frogs, resonate sounds through their cavernous mouths, instead of eardrums. They also have no external or middle ears, and have functional inner ears. X-ray imaging has revealed that small bones conduct sound wave vibrations from Gardiner's frogs' mouths to their inner ears. - Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
Identification and Life Cycle: Potato leahoppers overwinter in the Gulf Coast states and move north in spring, arriving in New England around from early to mid-June. It is easy to overlook them in the crop, as they are small and well hidden. Adults are about 1/4 inch long, light yellow-green, and fly up from foliage when it is disturbed or shaken. Eggs are inserted into veins and petioles of leaves and hatch, on average, in about 10 days. Nymphs usally feed on the underside of leaves, and are bright green, wedge-shaped and very fast-moving. They tend to move sidewise, crab-like, on the leaf surface. Presence of nymphs indicates an established population. Two or more generations may occur after after adults arrive, until killed by frost. Note that aster leafhopper adults are a more drab olive green in contrast to the light green of potato leafhopper adults. Potato leafhopper is primarily a pest of potatoes and snap or dry beans, but also can affect eggplant and other vegetables, raspberries, apple and other fruits as well as field crops including alfalfa, cowpea, soybean and red clover. Legumes are a favored host. Weeds that support leafhoppers include smartweed, pigweed, shepardspurse, and carpetweed. Adults and nymphs feed by inserting a needle-like beak into the plant and feeding on phloem or mesophyll tissue. Athough they are not known to transmit plant pathogens, PLH inject a toxin into the plant. Plant resiration is increased, photosynthesis is decreased, and the conductive tissues the move the products of photosynthesis to other parts of the plant are disrupted by leafhopper feeding. In potato, leaf veins turn yellow, leaves curl, then leaf margins turn brown and brittle, followed by death of entire leaves. In beans the leaf turns mottled brown and curled, as if infected with a disease, before dying completely. Both adults and nymphs cause damage. Plant injury and yield loss can be significant. In potato, yield loss occurs even before the development of obvious symptoms. Green beans are very susceptible, especially when they are infested prior to flowering. Monitoring & Thresholds: Because low numbers of adults or nymphs cause injury and reduce yield, it is important to protect plants before adult numbers are high and before nymphs build up. Left uncontrolled, potato leafhopper will continue to build up. It is difficult to count adults since they fly quickly when foliage is shaken or disturbed. Sweep nets can be used to detect adults – treat if more than 1 adult is found per sweep. If you see one adult per plant fly upwhen you shake the foliage, a damaging infestation level is present. Once nymphs develop, they can be monitored by visually inspecting lower leaf surfaces on lower leaves. Treat potato if more than 15 nymphs are found per 50 compound leaves. In green beans, thresholds are 0.5 per sweep or 2/ft of row at the seedling stage, and 1/sweep or 5/ft of row from 3rd trifoliate leaf to bud stage. Use a threshold of 1.5 leafhopper per leaf in eggplant. - Early-season and red varieties of potato tend to suffer more damage than long-season varieties; varieties that are less susceptible include Katahdin, Russet Burbank, Russet Norkota, Ontario, and Red la Soda. - Row cover can be used to delay infestation in snap beans until flowering, when plants are less susceptible to damage. Using row cover is recommended on young eggplant, as it protects from flea beetles, Colorado potato beetle and potato leafhopper. Chemical Controls & Pesticides: In potato, some materials registered for Colorado potato beetle adults will also control leafhopper, including neonicotinoids. Other carbamate, synthetic pyrethroid and organophosphate products are also registered. Often a single application is sufficient. Refer to the New England Vegetable Management Guide for recommended materials in potato. Refer to the bean section for recommended materials to control PLH in dry, lima or snap beans. In beans, systemic seed treatment may provide control. For organic potato growers, pyrethrin (PyGanic EC5.0) has been shown to be relatively effective in reducing leafhopper numbers, especially nymphs. Good coverage is important. The residual period is short. Spraying late in the day or in the evening may provide better control than spraying early in the morning. Resources include: Vegetable Insect Management by Rick Foster and Brian. R. Flood, 2005; Handbook of Vegetable Pests by John L. Capinera, 2001.
Mariner Weather Folklore By Paula Hughes Court For centuries, sailors relied on weather lore to foretell tomorrow's weather. Their very lives depended on observing wind shifts, clouds and even the moon for signs of weather change. While we've all heard the familiar sayings such as, "pink at night, sailor's delight," most of us dismissed these old proverbs as meaningless rhymes. The truth is-many of these sayings have a valid scientific explanation behind them and they work. Take a look at the following well-known weather proverbs and see if you can guess the meaning before reading the scientific explanation that follows. · Red sky at night, sailor's delight; red sky in the morning, sailor's warning. A red or pink sky in the evening is actually light interacting with dry dust particles, which indicates dry weather is coming. A gray evening sky means the atmosphere is heavy with water droplets that will likely fall the next day. · Mackerel sky, not three days dry. Clouds that look like mackerel or fish scales, means rain within 24 hours. These clouds are high, thin ice crystal clouds that show up well in advance of a storm system. · Seagull, seagull, get off the sand, it's never good weather when you're on land. During fair weather, seagulls scavenge at the waters edge or offshore. During stormy weather, they fly inland. · Rain before seven, fine before eleven. Air mass thunderstorms tend to break up before the heat of the day. So, if it's raining before seven a.m., it will most likely clear up before eleven. · Rainbow in the eastern sky, tomorrow will be dry; rainbow in the west that gleams, rain falls in streams. Rainbows occur when rain clouds are opposite the sun. In the mornings, the sun is in the east, so a rainbow in the west would mean a rain cloud is coming toward you. A rainbow in the east means the rain is behind you and fair weather is ahead. · If the new moon holds the old moon in her lap, expect fair weather. "Holding the old moon in her lap" means if you look at the new moon and see the outline of the remainder of the moon that is in shadow, expect fair weather. In fair weather conditions the air is more stable, which allows us to see dim objects in the sky. · A ring around the sun or moon, means that rain will come real soon. The ring around the moon is caused by refraction of light through ice crystals. The presence of ice crystals often precedes a weather system and is a good sign rain is on the way. · When the goose flies high, fair weather; if the goose flies low, foul weather. Birds adjust their flight to the level of highest barometric pressure. Before a storm, barometric pressure falls and the optimum air density for flight is closer to the ground. · Fish bite best before a rain. When barometric pressure starts to fall, bubbles formed by decaying products on the lake bottom start to expand, making parts of the decaying matter buoyant enough to rise. Minnows start to feed on the rising matter, and larger fish start feeding on the minnows. · When the stars begin to huddle, the earth will soon puddle. When clouds increase, they cover many of the sky's stars, leaving the remaining stars in "huddles." With the clouds, comes an increasing chance of rain.
Microbiologists based in California have discovered bacteria that survive by eating pure electrons rather than food, bringing an entirely new method of existence to awareness and raising questions about possibilities for alien life. The ‘electric bacteria’ – as they have been dubbed by the team that discovered them – take energy from rocks and metal by feasting directly on their electrons. The hair-like filaments the bacteria produce carry electrons between the cells and their environment. The biologists from the University of Southern California (USC) found that the new discovery joins more than ten other different specific type of bacteria that also feed on electricity – although none in quite the same way. “This is huge. What it means is that there’s a whole part of the microbial world that we don’t know about,” Kenneth Nealson of USC told New Scientist. Nealson explained the process by which the bacteria function. “You eat sugars that have excess electrons, and you breathe in oxygen that willingly takes them,” he said. Human cells break down the sugars in order to obtain the electrons – making the bacteria that only absorb the electrons that much more efficient. “That’s the way we make all our energy and it’s the same for every organism on this planet,” Nealson said. “Electrons must flow in order for energy to be gained.” Some of the bacteria even have the ability to make ‘bio-cables’ – a kind of microbial collection of wires that can conduct electricity as well as copper – renowned for its high electrical conductivity. Such ‘nanowires’ were first discovered in a separate study conducted by researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark. Their presence raises the possibility that one day bacteria could be used in making subsurface networks for people to use. “Tens of thousands of bacteria can join to form a cable that can carry electrons over several centimeters,” the New Scientist video on the subject points out. Nealson and his team discovered the bacteria by taking ocean sediment, and placing electrodes in it in the laboratory. As higher voltages were pumped into the water, the bacteria started to consume electrons from it. When a lower voltage was pumped into the water the bacteria emitted electrons, making an electric current. The scientists carefully cut off all other possible nutrition sources for the bacteria. Nealson compared their method of survival to a human attempting to power up by sticking their finger in a DC electrical socket instead of eating. Two of the most well-known bacteria which have ‘electrical’ properties already’ include the marine bacteria Shewanella and Geobacter – some species of which can metabolize certain collections of chemicals, producing electrons in the process, leading some scientists to theorize that a sort of natural battery could be created using it. Join our list Subscribe to our mailing list and get interesting stuff and updates to your email inbox.
A National Holiday The effort to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. with a national holiday began immediately after his death. Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to create a national holiday in honor of King’s birthday just four days after his assassination. The Reverend Ralph Abernathy, King’s successor as head of the SCLC, argued that such a holiday would not only pay tribute to King himself, but would also honor the achievements of black Americans more broadly: “At no other time during the year does this Nation pause to pay respect to the life and work of a black man.” Others argued that such a holiday would signal the support of Americans of all races both for King’s work in particular and for the Civil Rights Movement in general. Though Conyers’ bill was unsuccessful, King’s birthday became an important holiday in communities across the country. Many public schools and local governments nationwide closed on the day, and civic groups and institutions celebrated the day with vigils, marches, and speeches. In 1973, Illinois became the first state to create a holiday in observance of King’s birthday, and a number of states soon passed similar legislation. Coretta Scott King founded the King Center in Atlanta in 1968 to continue the work of her late husband, and the organization became a prominent advocate for establishing a national holiday during the 1970s. Conyers reintroduced legislation in Congress in 1979 for a federal King holiday, and though it garnered more support, the bill still fell five votes short of passing. Opponents raised several arguments against the proposal. Many cited fiscal concerns, arguing that adding another paid government holiday to the calendar was an unnecessary public expense. Others questioned whether King, who never held a public office or served in the military, warranted a public holiday alongside George Washington, the only other American celebrated with a holiday, at the exclusion of other leaders such as Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson. Finally, some congressional objections to the proposal centered on King’s criticism of the Vietnam War and his alleged ties to communism. Despite these reservations, the proposed holiday continued to gain popular support, and the SCLC coordinated a widespread campaign to win congressional votes. In 1981, singer Stevie Wonder released the single, “Happy Birthday,” to draw attention to the cause, and a petition with over six million signatures in support of a King holiday arrived in Washington. Finally, after a hard-fought battle in the Senate, Congress in 1983 passed a bill establishing the third Monday in January as a federal holiday, with its celebration to begin in 1986. After signing the bill into law, President Ronald Reagan remarked, “Each year on Martin Luther King Day, let us not only recall Dr. King, but rededicate ourselves to the Commandments he believed in and sought to live every day: Thou shall love thy God with all thy heart, and thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself.” At the same ceremony, Coretta Scott King declared, “This is not a black holiday; it is a people’s holiday.” Even after it was recognized by the federal government, the holiday remained contested. The decision over whether or not to celebrate the holiday still fell to each state, and the 23 states that had not already established holidays in honor of King before 1986 could decide whether or not to mark the day. In the year 2000, South Carolina became the last state to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day, 17 years after it became a federal holiday. Today, many Americans view the holiday as a time to honor the legacy of King through community service, in keeping with the emphasis introduced by the King Holiday and Service Act that Congress passed in 1994. The King Center notes that, “Martin Luther King Jr. Day is not only for celebration and remembrance, education and tribute, but above all a day of service.” In 2011, a monument to King was unveiled on the National Mall in Washington, DC, another tribute to the important legacy of the civil rights leader. President Barack Obama emphasized King’s legacy of cooperation and service for the greater good: “We need more than ever to take heed of Dr. King’s teachings. He calls on us to stand in the other person’s shoes; to see through their eyes; to understand their pain. . . . He also understood that to bring about true and lasting change, there must be the possibility of reconciliation; that any social movement has to channel this tension through the spirit of love and mutuality.”
What if you could challenge your second graders to design an outdoor STEM classroom with a butterfly garden, birdbath, and sundial? With this volume in the STEM Road Map Curriculum Series , you can! Investigating Environmental Changes outlines a journey that will steer your students toward authentic problem solving while grounding them in integrated STEM disciplines. As are the other volumes in the series, this book is designed to meet the growing need to infuse real-world learning into K–12 classrooms. This interdisciplinary module uses project- and problem-based learning to help young children make discoveries about a range of natural and human-created phenomena. Building the outdoor classroom will help students learn about changes in the natural environment that are associated with the Earth’s movement around the Sun, including plant and animal life cycles. They will draw on life, Earth and environmental science, the engineering design process, mathematics, and English language arts to do the following: • Develop a proposal for their outdoor classroom using persuasive language. • Devise a data collection plan to analyze environmental changes over time. • Explore local weather patterns and make connections among the patterns, seasons, and plant life cycles. • Learn about recycling, including sorting and tracking recycled materials. • Create works of fiction incorporating their outdoor STEM classroom. The STEM Road Map Curriculum Series is anchored in the Next Generation Science Standards, the Common Core State Standards, and the Framework for 21st Century Learning. In-depth and flexible, Investigating Environmental Changes can be used as a whole unit or in part to meet the needs of districts, schools, and teachers who are charting a course toward an integrated STEM approach. Download a sample chapter Type NSTA Press BookPub Date 2/1/2019Pages 166ISBN 978-1-68140-534-6Stock # PB425X12
By listening to the beating hearts of stars, astronomers have for the first time identified a rhythm of life for a class of stellar objects that had until now puzzled scientists. Their findings are reported today in Nature. “Previously we were finding too many jumbled up notes to understand these pulsating stars properly,” said lead author Professor Tim Bedding from the University of Sydney. “It was a mess, like listening to a cat walking on a piano.” The international team used data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), a space telescope mainly used to detect planets around some of the nearest stars to Earth. It provided the team with brightness measurements of thousands of stars, allowing them to find 60 whose pulsations made sense. “The incredibly precise data from NASA’s TESS mission have allowed us to cut through the noise. Now we can detect structure, more like listening to nice chords being played on the piano,” Professor Bedding said. The findings are an important contribution to our overall understanding of what goes on inside the countless trillions of stars across the cosmos. The intermediate-sized stars in question—about 1.5 to 2.5 times the mass of our Sun—are known as delta Scuti stars, named after a variable star in the constellation Scutum. When studying the pulsations of this class of stars, astronomers had previously detected many pulsations, but had been unable to determine any clear patterns. The Australian-led team of astronomers has reported the detection of remarkably regular high-frequency pulsation modes in 60 delta Scuti stars, ranging from 60 to 1400 light years away. “This definitive identification of pulsation modes opens up a new way by which we can determine the masses, ages and internal structures of these stars,” Professor Bedding said. Daniel Hey, a Ph.D. student at the University of Sydney and co-author on the paper, designed the software that allowed the team to process the TESS data. “We needed to process all 92,000 light curves, which measure a star’s brightness over time. From here we had to cut through the noise, leaving us with the clear patterns of the 60 stars identified in the study,” he said. “Using the open-source Python library, Lightkurve, we managed to process all of the light curve data on my university desktop computer in a just few days.” The insides of stars were once a mystery to science. But in the past few decades, astronomers have been able to detect the internal oscillations of stars, revealing their structure. They do this by studying stellar pulsations using precise measurements of changes in light output. Over periods of time, variations in the data reveal intricate—and often regular—patterns, allowing us to stare into the very heart of the massive nuclear furnaces that power the universe. This branch of science, known as asteroseismology, allows us to not only understand the workings of distant stars, but to fathom how our own Sun produces sunspots, flares and deep structural movement. Applied to the Sun, it gives highly accurate information about its temperature, chemical make-up and even production of neutrinos, which could prove important in our hunt for dark matter. “Asteroseismology is a powerful tool by which we can understand a broad range of stars,” Professor Bedding said. “This has been done with great success for many classes of pulsators including low-mass Sun-like stars, red giants, high-mass stars and white dwarfs. “The delta Scuti stars had perplexed us until now.” Isabel Colman, a co-author and Ph.D. student at the University of Sydney, said: “I think it’s incredible that we can use techniques like this to look at the insides of stars. “Some of the stars in our sample host planets, including beta Pictoris, just 60 light years from Earth and which is visible to the naked eye from Australia. The more we know about stars, the more we learn about their potential effects on their planets.” Poor ‘social distancing’ The identification of regular patterns in these intermediate-mass stars will expand the reach of asteroseismology to new frontiers, Professor Bedding said. For example, it will allow us to determine the ages of young moving groups, clusters and stellar streams. “Our results show that this class of stars is very young and some tend to hang around in loose associations. They haven’t got the idea of ‘social distancing’ rules yet,” Professor Bedding said. Dr. George Ricker from the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research is Principal Investigator for NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Sky Survey, from which the study took its data. He said: “We are thrilled that TESS data is being used by astronomers throughout the world to deepen our knowledge of stellar processes. The findings in this exciting new paper led by Tim Bedding have opened up entirely new horizons for better understanding a whole class of stars.” More information: Timothy R. Bedding et al. Very regular high-frequency pulsation modes in young intermediate-mass stars. Nature (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2226-8 Image: Still image from animation showing a simulation of pulsations in the delta Scuti variable star called HD 31901, based on brightness measurements by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Credit: produced by Dr Chris Boshuizen (twitter.com/DrChrispyMusic or instagram.com/DrChrispyMusic), with assistance from Dr Simon Murphy and Prof. Tim Bedding (twitter.com/timbedding).
A few months ago, I was sitting with my little kid reading from Thomas the Tank Engine. He had just started to identify a few letters here and there! He was so cute pointing out the D's and the S's! Unfortunately, Q & Y are still mysteries to us. He then suddenly asked why L for lion is the same as L for 'Lady'. I didn't know how to answer him! "It just is," I said, "that's how letters work." But that was my bad. Telling him something is "just because" only leads to more questions. That is how I ended up entering the world of Phonics learning. And thought it would be a good learning experience for him. But, there are so many options and so little awareness about phonics learning, how does a parent make a wise selection? Mainly, if they have limited knowledge about the reading process? Well, here's what I've found when looking for a good phonics class near me. Five key elements are needed when teaching kids to read. If the class is deficient in any one of these, you will want to supplement the class. So, if you're going to be relying entirely on the program you select, choose wisely. 1. Order of phonics letter sounds taught Parents may not be aware of this, but there is an optimal order for the easiest to teach sounds. And that order is not A, B, C. So, if the program applies the ABC order, you know that it does not ensure progress. The order of sounds taught needs to resemble the group of sounds here: s, a, t, i, p, n c, k, e, h, r m, d, g, o l, f, b, q, u j, z, w v, y, x Certain phonics programs have revised the list but still follow the order of these letters pretty closely. 2. ABC or abc? When reading a paragraph, you will soon realize that the lower case letters outnumber uppercase ones. Therefore, excellent teaching of reading should concentrate on practising lower case letters. It is distressing when programs demand that they capitalize the letters' beginning letters that are not even in a sentence. An example of this would be pictures exercises to help read the text, and "Horse" is spelt with a capital H. There is no reason for this capital case. This makes the letter for remembering the "h" sound a capital case letter. 3. A focus on how it sounds The letters' sounds are important, not the names. And there is no magic in using the alphabetical order when learning. It will become important later when kids are using dictionaries, but before that, the order is arbitrary and not specified when learning to read. Since phonics sounds are crucial, multimedia and multi-activity methods are favoured over the worksheet approach. You can utilize many different techniques to highlight the sounds of words, such as a phonics song, kid's rhymes, poems, actions, and activities that concentrate on the sounds. 4. Matching with appropriate reading levels Children learn to read by reading. The phonics worksheets are crucial, particularly in the early stages of learning to read. They help children break the code, but phonics is not the end game here... READING is. In the very early stages of reading education, it is necessary to practise phonics skills. In addition to exercises, an outstanding phonics program will incorporate unique phonics books that support skills. There are specific readers at every level of the phonics instruction. But not every word can be decoded with phonics because there are two kinds of words in the English language. Phonics words that you are able to sound out with phonics and words that do not follow those rules. Words like "red, mat, Sam" are easy to sound out, but words like "white, brown, know" need to be learned as sight words. A program that states that it can teach your kid to read should be able to address the sight words. Usually, the sight words are taught along with rhyming words. Teaching brown and clown along with down as rhyming groups is a common practice. 5. Only one part of the process All comprehensive "learn to read" programs emphasize that parents should continue to read good picture books and chapter books to their kids. It is imperative that children hear literature and not simply contrived tales to build their skills. Children should be introduced to all sorts of genres and authors. It allows them to enjoy the whole process of reading. The addition of non-fiction phonics reading books is vital, too, as many kids like to learn about the world they live in. You can even find plenty of phonics stories free online to help you understand better. So, there you have it, the FIVE crucial components of phonics teaching. No, when picking a Phonics class for your kid, make sure to find out all these details.
The body uses calories as a source of energy for daily activities. Counting calories is a popular tool for weight management and establishing a healthy diet. The calories burned by an average person are based on their basal metabolic rate and their activity level. Basal Metabolic Rate A person's basal metabolic rate is related to the way your body utilizes energy. Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is an estimate of the number of calories you body uses in a day, at rest. BMR calculations use a person's age, height, weight and gender to find the number of calories burned in a day. For women, the average BMR in the United States is 1,493 calories. For men, the average BMR in the United States is 1,662 calories. You can determine your own BMR using the BMI calculator (see Resources). Harris Benedict Equation The average person does not sit at rest all day. The Harris Benedict equation uses activity multipliers to find an adjusted basal metabolic rate that factors in exercise. Using the average BMR determined from statistics from the CDC and the CIA World Factbook, one can calculate average total calories burned, adjusted by the Harris Benedict equation to correlate with different activity levels: men who engage in light activity 1 to 3 days per week, burn 2,228.3 per day and women burn 2,052.9 calories. The number of calories burned by the average body should be used as a baseline measurement only. For those looking to manage their weight or control their diets, more specific caloric measurements are required that calculate individual calories burned, rather than using average statistics.
The Germanic umlaut (sometimes called i-umlaut or i-mutation) is a type of linguistic umlaut in which a back vowel changes to the associated front vowel (fronting) or a front vowel becomes closer to /i/ (raising) when the following syllable contains /i/, /iː/, or /j/. It took place separately in various Germanic languages starting around AD 450 or 500 and affected all of the early languages except Gothic. An example of the resulting vowel alternation is the English plural foot ~ feet (from Proto-Germanic fōts, pl. fōtiz). Germanic umlaut, as covered in this article, does not include other historical vowel phenomena that operated in the history of the Germanic languages such as Germanic a-mutation and the various language-specific processes of u-mutation, nor the earlier Indo-European ablaut (vowel gradation), which is observable in the conjugation of Germanic strong verbs such as sing/sang/sung. While Germanic umlaut has had important consequences for all modern Germanic languages, its effects are particularly apparent in German, because vowels resulting from umlaut are generally spelled with a specific set of letters: ä, ö, and ü, usually pronounced /ɛ/ (formerly /æ/), /ø/, and /y/.
This course introduces fundamental ideas in computer science while also teaching you how to write computer programs. We will study algorithms for solving problems and implement solutions in the Python programming language. Python is an interpreted language that is known for its ease of use. We also introduce object-oriented programming and data structures. A deeper coverage of these topics will be presented in CS 35. CS21 is appropriate for all students who want to learn how to write computer programs and think like computer scientists. It is the usual first course for computer science majors and minors. Students with advanced placement credit or extensive programming experience should place out of this course and instead begin with CS 31 or CS 35. By the end of the course, you will have developed the following skills: - Given a problem, be able to design a clear, concise, and correct pseudocode algorithm to solve it. - Be able to use top-down design to sub-divide a large problem into reasonably-sized modular sub-problems. - Given a pseudocode algorithm, be able to successfully implement it in the high-level programming language being taught in the course, both on paper and on the computer. - Develop debugging and incremental testing skills. Consistently apply these skills while implementing programs. - Given several algorithms for solving the same problem, be able to analyze which algorithm would be more efficient in terms of running time. - Given a program, be able to simulate on paper how a computer would execute the program, and show the results that would be produced. - Demonstrate understanding of function call semantics and the call stack by tracing through function calls and drawing stack diagrams. - Learn to communicate an understanding of core concepts in the class. Students should be able to explain fundamental concepts to one another and critique each other's approaches. - Utilize encapusulation, abstraction, modularity and re-use (e.g. through the use of OO programming paradigm) in the programs they develop. Current or Most Recent Offering: CS21: Spring 2017 In Python: F'11, S'10, In Java: S'06 In C: S'05,
1. Membranes are composed of a lipid bilayer and other molecules, such as cholesterol. The lipid bilayer contains two main categories of molecules - glycerophospholipids and sphingolipids. 2. Glycerophosphlipids contain glycerol, phosphate and one or more fatty acids. The fatty acids in the molecules of the lipid bilayer are either saturated (no double bonds) or unsaturated (contain one or more double bonds). Double bonds in biological fatty acids are almost exclusively in the cis configuration, resulting in a bent shape for unsaturated fatty acid. 3. Glycerophospholipids (also called phosphoglycerides by your book) are related to fats in having a glycerol backbone and two fatty acids, but they differ from fat in having a phosphate located in position #3 of the glycerol. Naming of glycerophospholipids is generally as "phosphatidyl-X" where X is the name of the molecule attached to the phosphate. Examples include phosphatidylserine, etc. 4. If there is no other molecule attached to the phosphate on the glycerophospholipids described above in #3, you have phosphatidic acid. Phosphatidic acid is an important intermediate in synthesis of phosphatidyl lipids, as well as fats. 5. Sphingolipids are molecules related to glycerophospholipids that are based on sphingosine. Sphingomyelin is a component of the myelin sheath of nerve cells. Sphingolipids containing a single sugar are called cerebrosides and sphingolipids containing a complex carbohydrate moiety are called gangliosides. Sphingolipids are prominent components of the membranes of nerves and brain tissue. 6. Steroids are lipids that are not derived from fatty acids. In animals, steroids are derived from cholesterol. Cholesterol is found in the membrane of cells and is important for membrane stability. Cholesterol is prominent in brain membranes - up to 14% of the dry weight of brain. 7. A lipid bilayer has a polar exterior facing water and a non-polar interior. As such, the membrane provides a good barrier to both polar and non-polar substances. In contrast to the lipid bilayer, fatty acids aggregate into a micelle. 8. In addition to glycerophospholipids and sphingolipids, membranes contain proteins, glycoproteins, and glyolipids. Four types of membrane proteins are integral (protein projects through both sides of the membrane), peripheral (protein projects into only one side of the membrane), anchored (protein is linked to a molecule embedded in the lipid bilayer, or associated (protein associates by hydrogen bonding with an integral membrane protein. 9. Integral membrane proteins are difficult to remove from membranes, but peripheral and associated membrane proteins are not. 10. Membranes provide a barrier between the cell and the external environment. Membranes provide a barrier to passage of many molecules, including molecules, such as sugar that the cell could use for food. 11. Integral membrane proteins span into and/or across the plasma membrane and thus must have both hydrophilic and hydrophobic portions that interact appropriately with the same portions of the plasma membrane. By contrast, peripheral membrane proteins are found in association with membranes, such as by interacting with an integral membrane protein. Anchored membrane proteins are proteins attached to a molecule (like a fatty acid). The molecule is embedded in the lipid bilayer and thus the protein is anchored to it. 12. Bacteriorhodopsin in an integral membrane protein that uses light, chemistry, and mechanics to move protons across a membrane barrier. 13. One can assemble artificial lipid bilayers containing compounds as a means of delivering materials into cells. These artificial systems are called liposomes. Liposomes can carry substances and when the membrane of the liposome fuses with a cell membrane, the contents of the liposome are delivered into the cell. This is a useful way of getting compounds into cells that are not easily transported across the cell membrane in other ways. 14. Membrane-spanning proteins have alternating regions of non-polar membrane crossing regions interrupted by polar short sections joining the non-polar regions. Consequently, one can use a computer to examine the amino acid sequence of a protein and predict reasonably accurately if the protein is a membrane protein or not. This course in general biochemistry is intended to integrate information about metabolic pathways with respiration (respiratory control) and initiate the student into a microscopic world where blueprints are made of deoxyribonucleic acids, factories operate using enzymes, and the exchange rate is in ATPs rather than Yens or Euros. Beyond explaining terms, and iterating reactions and metabolic pathways, this course strives to establish that the same principles that govern the behavior of the world around us also govern the transactions inside this microscopic world of the living cell. And by studying and applying these principles, we begin to understand cellular and bodily processes that include sensory mechanisms. 1. Lipids, Membranes and Transport 2. Electron Transport, Oxidative Phosphorylation and Mitochondrial 3. Transport Systems 3. Lipid Metabolism 4. Nucleotide Metabolism 5. DNA Replication
By Doreen Olson Penguins: Do three requirements including the two starred * _____ 1.* Learn how art has changed through time. Look through an art history book that has pictures of art work from cave walls in primitive civilizations through to the present day. Which are your favorite art works? _____ 2.* Find 3 famous pieces of artwork (it may be a painting, sculpture, etc) and learn who created them, where and when. Otters: Do four requirements including the two starred * _____1.* Do Penguins requirements 1 & 2. _____2.* Learn the following chief periods of art history and one general characteristic of each era: - Prehistoric & Primitive - Ancient civilizations — Egyptian, Greek & Roman. Dolphins: Do five requirements including the two starred * _____ 1.* Do Otters requirements 1 & 2. _____2.* Using prints, flashcards, or photos in a book, be able to identify by name and artist, 10 different world-famous pieces of art from at least two different eras of art history. This requirement may be repeated with different works of art. Butterflies: Do six requirements including the two starred * _____1.* Do Dolphins requirements 1 & 2. Identify 15 pieces of art. _____2.* Try to copy a famous piece of art. Be sure to use paint, ink, charcoal or pencils that will look the closest to what the artist used. Eagles: Do seven requirements including the two starred * _____ 1.* Do Butterflies requirements 1 & 2. Identify 20 pieces of art. _____2.* List as many types of visual art as you can. Be sure you know the following vocabulary: sculpture, figurine, statue, mobile, 3-D, canvas, portrait, mural, tapestry. Owls: Do nine requirements including the two starred * _____ 1.* Do Eagles requirements 1 & 2. _____ 2.* Teach someone how to do a skill from this badge or teach some knowledge about this badge to someone. You can teach kids, your spouse, seniors, anyone, just as long as you are sharing your new found knowledge. If for some reason you cannot teach what you have learned to someone else, you may choose an additional 2 optional requirements instead. _____ 3. Visit an art museum or art gallery. Identify which eras of art are represented. _____ 4. Interview the curator or restoration specialist of a museum or art collection. What are some of the things that have changed in preserving artifacts? Butterflies – Owls only: If possible, shadow the curator or restoration specialist for a day. _____ 5. Explore how technological and scientific advances have influenced art. What has changed in coloring materials, welding, and glue in the last five hundred years? How about sealants, varnishes, sanders, air brushes? _____ 6. Read a biography of a famous artist. _____ 7. Read or carefully look through a well-illustrated book that follows a type of art (sculpture, furniture, ceramics, architecture, painting, etc.) through the eras of art. _____ 8. Earn the Art Badge at your current level. _____ 9. Choose a subject such as a pine tree or an animal and paint or draw it two different ways to suggest two different eras of art history. _____ 10. Attend an art show or read a book with a theme of one subject matter in art such as farming, fish, flowers, or children. The show or book needs to present the subject matter in more than one style. _____ 11. Investigate the history of art materials and tools. What were used to make cave paintings? When do historians think the first pen, pencil, and oil-based paint were made? From what were the first pigments taken? When did people start making synthetic fiber paintbrushes? See if you can find a documentary (even a short clip) on a factory that makes some type of art material. _____ 12. Find a poem or song inspired by a piece of visual art, or vice versa and share it with your family, friends, club, or troop. Butterflies – Owls only: _____ 13. Help some younger children (minimum 2) learn their ten or fifteen famous works of art so they can earn this badge. _____ 14. Donate some time or money to an organization that restores or preserves art of any type (architecture, quilts, etc.).
Weather on Earth is highly influenced by events on our sun. On top of that, the amount of solar spots, flares and Aurora Borealis have a remarkable effect on radio wave propagation in the ionosphere of our planet. High frequency (HF) communication frequencies are also used as a backup for aircraft crossing oceanic and other sparse areas where VHF communications falls short due to its line of sight properties. Nowadays SATCOM is being used for global communication but these can also be influenced by very high ionization levels during intense solar activity. Thus, we felt we needed to include solar information so that pilots, using these HF (sometimes they even work aeronautical mobile as a radio ham operator during these long haul flights) and SAT frequencies, can prepare themselves. To the right you will see the intensity of the Aurora oval over the North Pole. This is the result of solar flares entering the Earths magnetic field. Click the image for more info, or the next link for the South Pole Aurora image. The information presented here is sourced from other websites so if some of the images do not show up its because they probably could not be retrieved at that time, try again later or refreshing this page might help. Now that the sun is coming out of a sun spot low (2009) the effects can eventually be noticed on HF and VHF frequencies. Especially on shortwave frequencies where long range communications can take place between aircraft and ATC or their home base. This solar cycle 24 (2009-2020, click for image) was not as intensive as the previous one. It seems that we are heading in the direction of a new Dalton or even a Maunder minimum. From spaceweather.com: "A solar flare is an explosion on the Sun that happens when energy stored in twisted magnetic fields (usually above sunspots) is suddenly released. Flares produce a burst of radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to x-rays and gamma-rays." This radiation is measured by Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) and plotted on a so called X-Ray Flux plot. To see these plots click on the 5 minute X-ray Flux for a three day overview or on the 1 minute X-ray Flux for a six hour monitor. NOAA.gov: The GOES X-ray flux plot contains 1 and 5 minute averages of solar X-rays in the 1-8 Angstrom (0.1-0.8 nm) and 0.5-4.0 Angstrom (0.05-0.4 nm) pass bands. Data from the SWPC Primary GOES X-ray satellite is shown. The sun also emits high energy protons during flares, when these particles reach Earth they can block out HF transmissions for polar paths. The next link opens a window with the latest 3 day GOES Proton Flux. Geomagnetic effects from the sun can be seen in this 3 hour Kp-Index from the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center, if the index is higher than 5 then a geomagnetic storm is in progress. Other Space monitors from NOAA can be found here . The basis where solar flares emit, these are planet sized regions, where the temperature is cooler than the surrounding area and where magnetic loops poke through the surface. The exact generation of sunspots is not quite clear but they seem to be related with the amount of activity in the sun. The amount of sunspots vary approximately in an eleven year cycle and the number of sunspots per cyle also varies in a much longer cycle resulting in very complex cyclic variations of solar energy. And as the output of the sun varies we, as inhabitants of this planet, will also receive varying amounts of energy. Which will have its effect on our climate. For the source of the image and more information follow the next link: Steve Goddard Wordpress . Below and overview of the conditions on the sun and their effects on radio communications on our planet, refresh the page for an update. Conditions on the Sun Conditions on HF & VHF HF Maximum Usable Frequency The information above can be used to predict radio propagation on HF and VHF bands, useful for pilots operating with these frequencies. Data courtesy of hamqsl.com . In our weather phenomena section we have an explanation on how the Ionosphere reflects, absorbs and refracts radio waves.Written by EAI.
In phonics this week, the children have been working hard in their groups. As well as reading and writing within these sessions, the children have been using their phonic knowledge in other areas: writing words and sentences about the picture of the day when they arrive in the morning; writing in their ‘busy books’ (children complete an independent piece of writing each week in these books and draw a picture to match what they have written) and writing sentences about our story The Little Red Hen. We are so proud of the progress the children are making in their reading and writing. Thank you for your continued support in this and with reading practice at home. In maths, we have been learning how to compare and measure length and height. The children have had fun measuring how tall they are and comparing their height with others. They have enjoyed measuring the snakes and checking they fit in their sleeping bags. We have investigated making pairs and have thought about odd and even numbers. We have also been counting in 2s. If you can practice counting in 2s at home then this would help to consolidate what the children have done this week. We also explored the concept of time, thinking about days of the week (we particularly liked this song: and also about how long things take. The children completed a series of challenges: all lasting one minute! We have continued our Talk 4 Writing unit this week all about The Little Red Hen. Thank you for the lovely renditions of The Little Red Hen we have received through Tapestry: they have been brilliant! The children have used their story maps to retell the story and have written parts of the story too. We have also looked at how we make the story our own by changing particular features. Next week in maths we will be exploring mass and capacity. At home, you can talk about the weight of different objects using the terms heavy, light, heavier, lighter, heaviest, lightest. Perhaps you might go to the park and go on the seesaw or weigh out ingredients when doing some baking. You could also put some different containers in the bath and play at filling and emptying using terms such as full, half-full, empty. Which of your containers holds the most water? How could you find out? In Understanding the World, we will be learning about Easter. We will look at what Christians believe and we will learning about different Easter traditions. We will be enjoying Easter crafts too. We hope you all enjoy your weekend. The Reception Team
If we once grant the principle of the division of labour, then it follows that one man can live only by finding out what other men want. Arnold Toynbee, 1884 (, 56) There is a persistent tendency to romanticize the colonial era as a period when unique objects were fabricated by humble craftsmen employing quaint methods rooted in antiquity. It is more accurate to note that the colonial artisans were as determined to put the most recent technological discoveries to practical use as they were to adopt the latest styles for their products. They were generally aware that the knowledge acquired from the emerging sciences, if applied to their craft, could increase their capacity for production and allow time to improve their methods of work in order to produce better products more economically and to search for those new products to manufacture that promised a greater return on their investment of energy and resources. When Sir Francis Bacon stated in 1620 that the object of knowledge was to change the shape of man’s world, he gave form to the central theme of the industrial revolution. Within two years Bacon’s followers had founded the Royal Society of London, “to promote the welfare of the Arts and Sciences,” and had established a distinction between the acquisition and ordering of knowledge and the application of that knowledge to industry. The impact of that revolution was not lost on the colonies, despite British generalizations that American technology depended but little upon the sober reasoning of science. As early as 1690, private evening schools had been established in New York to teach the apprentices for whom the masters were obligated to provide an elemental education. These schools multiplied as an increasing artisan population sought additional learning, not only in reading, writing, and arithmetic but also in geometry, trigonometry, and many of the more specialized trades. Most of the master craftsmen of the time were literate and were avid readers of general newspapers and pamphlets. They also sought to further themselves by reading on such subjects as architecture and building, cabinetmaking, ironwork, and the other useful arts. Those who could not afford to build libraries of their own became members of subscription libraries such as those organized by the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia and the Baltimore Mechanics Company. In contrast to the closely guarded mysteries of the European guilds, the American artisans realized that if they shared knowledge freely with one another the general state of industry would be advanced. Even though the practical application of knowledge was essential for their success, the colonial artisans and gentlemen derived particular gratification from tinkering with machines and other ingenious devices. The challenge of making the forces of nature work for him awakened the restless spirit of the designer, who is forever dissatisfied with things as they are and driven to make them better. In the process, the colonial artisan was transformed into a “mechanick” preoccupied with the methods and processes by whose improvement his energy might be expanded, his security guaranteed, and his prosperity ensured. Moreover, by assigning an increasing percentage of the work through machines to lesser employees, he found time to devote himself to more learning, to experiment with new concepts for products, and to improve his merchandising capabilities. The gentleman “mechanick” also realized that, if he could apply his knowledge of the sciences and his financial resources to the support and development of manufactures to satisfy human needs and promote comfort and happiness, he could expect a high economic return. One outstanding organization, established in Philadelphia in 1750 for this purpose, was the American Society for Promoting and Propagating Useful Knowledge. Through it and other organizations like it, churchmen, artisans, and wealthy laymen pooled their resources and combined their education, experience, and sense of product potential to refine processes and establish manufactories. Shipbuilding companies were formed to build sloops, privateers, schooners, and, in particular, “topsail” ships for transatlantic trade. Although at first most of their ancillary parts such as cordage, sails, and metal fittings were imported from England, gradually all of these came to be made in the colonies. By the time of the Revolution almost a third of the British merchant ships were American-built, as were the majority of the ships owned and sailed by the Americans in competition with the British. The craft of coachmaking serves as an excellent barometer of colonial affluence. The financial and human resources necessary to bring together the artisans in wood and metal needed to construct a carriage and the skilled upholsterers, leatherworkers, painters, and decorators needed to finish it only became available after the middle of the eighteenth century. In short order, however, Americans were building coaches, chariots, landaus, phaetons, post-chaises, curricles, chairs, sedans, and sleighs of all types. Since they could be sold at a lower price than the imported products, they captured a market that had been the special reserve of English coachmakers. The promise of a ready market for ingenious devices encouraged the invention of many products for manufacture. Surveying instruments and mariner’s compasses were developed by such men as Isaac Doolittle, a New Haven clockmaker. Benjamin Gale was awarded a gold medal by the Royal Society of London for a seeder, drawn by oxen, that could open a furrow, deposit seed and manure, and close it up again in one operation. And Benjamin Thompson, the English loyalist later to become Count Rumford of Bavaria, invented the modern fireplace, the drip coffeepot, and the kitchen range. Thomas Jefferson was fascinated by ingenious products and developed several for his home at Monticello, including a seven-day clock, simultaneously acting double doors, dumbwaiters, and a swivel chair. Benjamin Franklin stands out as America’s first scientist. While most of his countrymen were preoccupied with acquiring knowledge from abroad, Franklin was generating his own by conducting the definitive experiments with electricity that would bring him international fame. One of his most popular inventions was the “Pennsylvania fireplace” (now known as the Franklin stove), which was manufactured to his specifications by Robert Grace at Warwick Furnace in Chester County. The primary significance of this invention is that it pulled the fireplace out of the chimney, where it had been part of the architecture, and treated it as a portable and therefore marketable appliance. In addition, it employed scientific principles to control the fire and to direct the heated air in a manner that increased fuel efficiency. When the Pennsylvania fireplace was first offered for sale in the Pennsylvania Gazette on December 3, 1741 and promoted with a brochure that might have been America’s first promotional flyer, Governor Thomas offered to give Franklin a colonial patent to guarantee his profit from the invention for a number of years. However, Franklin declined it “from a Principle that has ever weigh’d with me on such Occasions, viz. That as we enjoy great Advantages from the Inventions of others, we should be glad of an Opportunity to serve others by any Invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously.” (, 419) In a short time, others were manufacturing stoves, as they still do today, according to the design that Franklin refused to patent. At first glance, it would seem that the expanding interest in devices that saved labor and made life more pleasant was in contradiction to the Puritan ethic that glorified labor almost as an end in itself. In fact, there still seems to be an undercurrent of guilt in the American mind at the easy life that has been made possible by technology. However, toward the end of the colonial era such reservations were set aside in the fervent desire of the colonists to establish a self-sustaining economy in the face of British restrictions. This challenge in the name of patriotism provided the industrial momentum that helped the colonies sever their political ties to England. At first England was proud of the success of her colonies. Sir Joseph Child, a director and governor of the East India Company, praised the emigrants as a people “whose frugality, industry and temperance, and the happiness of whose laws and institutions, promise to them a long life and a wonderful increase of people, riches and power.” However, within a century the success of the colonists was beginning to attract to America talent and intelligence that could not expand or find free expression in the Old World. In response to such threats, England began to place increasingly severe restrictions on the trade and manufacturing practices of her colonies. Some products were restricted in the number that could be made, and the manufacture of other products was forbidden entirely. Even though England was following the conventional practice of the times in using trade restrictions to protect her home industries, the colonists found such limitations intolerable because, in the midst of great resources and opportunities, they were being treated as second-class citizens and forced to restrict their enterprise in order to protect a fading homeland. It is not surprising, therefore, that the “true cause” of the Revolution would be put forth as having been “not so much that the colonists were denied representation in the central government, or that they were unduly restrained in respect to any liberty of their persons, but rather that their rights to property were continually interfered with, that they were denied the privilege of freely buying and selling wherever and whenever they might see fit, and of following the occupations which seemed to them the most remunerative.” (, 708) Although the British Navigation Acts were passed in 1650 to restrict competition from Dutch shipbuilders, before the end of the 1600s they were being used to restrict colonial shipbuilding through a ruling restricting transport between the colonies and England to British ships. Later the Navigation Acts were expanded to rule that the colonies must buy only from England those manufactured products England had to sell, and soon they were further strengthened to prevent the colonies from manufacturing any products that were made in England. In addition, by 1696 the colonial governments were being required to report the annual state of their industries to the English Board of Trade in an attempt to divert them from industrial activity. By 1708 the Board of Trade was being warned that the colonists were manufacturing most of the products that they needed, and that if some effective way was not found to stop it, they would carry it further, much to the disadvantage of English manufacturers. Soon some colonies were refusing to make reports, or else reporting a lack of any settled manufacturing. Colonists who did not consider their activities either economically or politically immoral reacted to the restrictive legislation by going underground. It has been estimated that nine-tenths of all colonial merchants and one-fourth of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were involved in contraband trade. At the very moment of the battle of Lexington, John Hancock, the “Prince of Contraband Traders,” was in Boston on trial, with John Adams as his counsel, on charges based on his activities as a smuggler. The English reacted strongly to what they considered to be unlawful and provocative acts of the colonies. General Thomas Gage summed up the push of the Americans toward economic independence in a letter to Lord Barrington in 1772, advising him that the English must “cramp their Trade as far as it can be done prudentially,” and that “cities flourish and increase by intensive Trade, Artisans and Mechanicks of all sorts are drawn thither, who Teach all sorts of Handicraft Work before unknown in the Country, and they soon come to make for themselves what they used to import.” (, 616) When the first Continental Congress met in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774, its objectives were commercial rather than political. It was agreed that after 1774 no more products were to be imported from the British Empire and that after September 1775 no products were to be exported to England. A century later, John Leander Bishop acclaimed the courage and wisdom of this position: “… the prohibition of their manufacturers, restrictions upon their trade, and taxation of their industry, were serious counts in the bill of indictment against the mother country. The blow they struck for equal rights … bequeathed us an enfranchised industry and respect for property, without which the useful arts can never flourish.” (, 9) Bishop recognized that the principle of economic freedom for the “useful arts” may have preceded those of religious and political freedoms as foundation stones of the American republic. The Americans drew unexpected support from the Englishman Adam Smith, whose monumental book The Wealth of Nations—published in 1776, the year of the Declaration of Independence—confirmed in theory what they had already put into action: that freedom of trade must replace defensive national mercantile systems. Smith warned his countrymen about the risk of attempting by law to “raise up a nation of customers who should be obliged to buy from the shops of our different producers, all the goods with which these could supply them.” (, 626) He proposed that enlightened self-interest had the power to reduce labor and trade to their purest relationship, whereby men may compete freely to provide products or services that others need. With all that this implies in terms of economy and quality, the principle of freedom of trade and its corollary, freedom of enterprise, defined the philosophy by which Americans generate products to meet consumers’ needs and desires and then compete openly for their share of the market. It became inevitable at this point that the practice of design as the organization of means toward predetermined ends would emerge as the essential link between the producers and consumers of the products of free enterprise. Moreover, the counterpoint of the related yet independent philosophies of the patricians and the Puritans created a cultural texture in which each was able to retain its sometimes complementing, sometimes contrasting character.
I have students gather on our carpet area and ask them how their recess went. After a minute of discussion I share that when I looked outside it was "raining cats and dogs, the sky was a white blanket of cotton and the students were wild animals fleeing to the jungle to escape an incoming storm" - you can adapt your metaphors to match the season. After a moment to think about my words I ask them what type of figurative language I used in my sentence description? I take some responses and then share that I was using metaphors to describe the playground environment. I then ask students think of some words that would describe the learning we do in our classroom. After I take some responses I show them the Education metaphors chart and tell them that all these words could be used to describe our classroom environment - this gives me a better insight into what they know coming into the lesson and helps me adapt it to teach to where I wan them to be at the end. I share that today we are going to read, define and create descriptive illustrations of metaphors phrases. We will close by sharing and learning how metaphor comparisons help readers to build similar mental pictures. I display a video explaining that we are going to watch to learn more about what metaphors are and how they are used in writing and poetry When the video ends I want to reinforce what metaphors are so I restate the definition that metaphors are words that are used to describe by comparing two different things often using the words "is", "are" or "was". I add that they can often make one thing very different by the comparison being made. I give them the example I used earlier and write "students were monkeys running to the jungle to escape a storm" I ask for their responses to share what descriptive words this statement makes them imagine? or How would they define the picture I'm creating with these words? I share that by using metaphors I can create many different visual pictures. I give the example of "the students were silent, statues frozen in place by the beauty of the day". I again ask what descriptive words they would use to describe the picture I created with this metaphor sentence. I share that authors have the ability to change readers thinking and the mental pictures they create by the words that they choose to describe their characters. When they use metaphors they compare one object, person, place or thing to another object, person, place or thing to help readers build the mental pictures they want them to see. I teach that there is a literal meaning - what the words are really saying and showing - students become monkeys, and a figurative meaning - what message the author is trying to tell the readers with his words - students were running and climbing. I add this to the Metaphor Chart and write LITERAL Meaning and write the definitions and a picture, and FIGURATIVE Meaning and write the definition and the illustrations of what's happening underneath. I want them to understand this for two reasons - first to see the relationship between the two objects being compared and secondly to help those who are more literally minded thinkers (take everything at face value only) to learn how to read sentences looking for multiple meanings). I then use the prior phrase "it was raining cats and dogs" and ask them to share with their elbow partner what the figurative and literal meanings are. I call on students to share aloud and (try) to illustrate this on the chart, too - testing my drawing skills but I didn't want to use any other metaphor phrases that were on their cards for the activity. I invite students to try an activity where they will define both the literal meaning and the figurative meaning. Students pass out the Metaphor Cards to each pair of students. I instruct them that they need to read their cards, label their white boards and draw/ define meanings on each side similar to what we did on the chart. (I had to circulate and reference the chart because students had a harder time determining figurative vs literal meanings. I also make extra cards so that those who struggle with the one they received can swap to one they understand.) I share that they will turn and talk with their elbow partners to discuss what the words mean to each of them. When the timer sounds they will return to their own desks to begin drawing and writing the definitions. I set a timer and say "turn and talk" and give them 2 minutes to complete the sharing with their partners. This assists the struggling students to share ideas and make corrections to their thinking before they have to work independently. Talking it out always seems to help with figuring out the meanings and gives them the ability to feel successful early on with this lesson. Here's an example of aStudent Metaphor. Here's a video of a student's explanation of her definition - literally and figuratively of a metaphor phrase. Now that we have practiced the strategies a bit we can begin our independent work on metaphors. This exercise offers a higher level of writing than the phrases that we used for the previous illustrative activity and are more common to what they will read in their grade level text. I pass out the Picturing metaphors worksheet and the metaphor graphic organizer chart -Picturing metaphors figurative and literal. I review the first metaphors with them to ensure they understand what I am expecting of them. I model completing one on the chart projected on the board so that they have a reference for what to do next. I leave this up so they can reference it - this helps struggling students and lets me focus on those with lower understanding rather than lower listening skills :) I want student buy-in and understanding at their differentiated levels so I share that they will be able to chose four metaphors to describe figuratively and literally. They had a little trouble with the figurative meaning which I had expected. I asked "Was the author really saying the ______was a ______? What was he trying to tell you here?" Once they responded I told them to write this down as the authors figurative meaning. Once they completed the four examples, I ask them to create their own using as many descriptive words as they could to make their comparisons. This was a good way to gauge their abilities and understanding of the metaphor concept because those students who wrote simple (very similar to the example metaphors) I determined needed more review. Those who were able to add creativity and descriptions to their comparisons showed that they could apply the concept to their writing. Yeah! - that's where I needed them to be to move on to the next lesson expectations. This part is always my favorite section. Students get together and have the opportunity to share their metaphors with a peer and with the whole class. In that we only have time for 5-6 oral sharings, I first have them turn and share with their partners to the right and to the left. Then I call on some to share with the class - two are selected for their good examples to help those who struggle gain an understanding of what they should aspire to, three are chosen at random to make all aware that there is a no-opt out policy. This second part helps hold them all accountable to the work and helps them realize that they are all in this together which improves the safe community feeling of the classroom. I close the lesson by asking them to listen to a short poem and to define the metaphors being discussed. I read "A Book Is" poem and have them listen to the many comparisons made in the poem to a book. They signal with a thumb up when they hear a metaphor and we share the comparisons made after it is completed. I ask them how does metaphors help readers understand the authors meanings for the words written? Where else could metaphors be found besides poetry? Could we use them in our writing? How would this help our readers build understanding? This final sharing helps students to gain an understanding of the value of using metaphors in writing and of how they are used in many forms of writing - not just poetry. We will go more into this later in this unit and also in the narrative unit.
A federal republic is a federation of states, with a republican form of central government. It differs from a unitary state in that in a federal republic, the authorities of the state governments cannot be taken back by the central government. A republic is a country belonging to the people, whereas a federation is a form of government where by regional divisions are not branches of the central government. Thus, a federal republic has power divisions and regional governments fall under the power domain of the national government. Many countries have a federal republic government; for example, the Republic of Austria, the Federal Republic of Brazil, the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of India, the United Mexican States, the Swiss Confederation, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and the United States of America. As this list shows, some of these countries use "Federal Republic" in their name, and some do not. Federal Republics usually have presidents. There can be more than one type of Federal republic. For example, the United States is a Constitutional Democratic Federal Republic. Ethiopia also has a Federal Republic government History of the American Federal republicEdit The American Federal republican system has grown over the past 225 years.
An essential requirement for a species is that they can reproduce and have fertile offspring. Clearly if they cannot do so, they become extinct. Most hybrids such as a liger, which results when a lion and a tiger mate, are infertile. The same occurs when a horse is cross-bred with a donkey, producing a mule, or a horse and a zebra. Neither a liger nor a mule are considered species, but lion, tiger, horse and donkey all are separate species. This definition of a species is not sacrosanct. Many species, such as those that have evolved on islands or other cut-off environments, appear distinct, and are considered separate species. However if you transported them elsewhere they may be able to cross-breed, producing fertile hybrids. If the genetic advantages of the hybrid were greater than the parents’, it would be possible for a new species to evolve. Interestingly, even though Arabian camels and llamas are different species, they have the exact same number of chromosomes, and fertile cama have resulted from this union. If these cama were bred, a new (Man made) species could result. In the past species were determined if they couldn’t interbreed with close relatives, by any anatomical differences, and by their behaviour. Through most of my guiding career, the giraffe has been considered one species (Giraffa camelopardalis) with several sub-species. However some of these sub-species appear very different, and a feature of visiting some areas has been to see a variety of giraffe. Why, if they are so different, have they been considered only one species? It may be because in the areas where two sub-species overlap, a mix of features often results. These days genetic analysis is playing a huge part in determining species. Recently Nature published an article from a genetic study of giraffes stating that there are actually four distinct species of giraffes in Africa – the southern giraffe (G. giraffa), found mainly in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana; the Masai giraffe (G. tippelskirchi) of Tanzania, Kenya and Zambia; the reticulated giraffe (G. reticulata) found mainly in Kenya, Somalia and southern Ethiopia; and the northern or Nubian giraffe (G. camelopardalis), found in scattered groups in the central and north-eastern parts of the continent. So the world population of about 550 Thornicroft’s giraffe that is only found in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley, and which through its isolation would seem that it must be distinct from any other giraffe, is actually now considered a population of Masai giraffe (G. tippelskirchi). The equally unusual Rothschild’s giraffe that always seemed distinct from the other two Kenyan giraffes – the Masai giraffe (G. tippelskirchi) and the Reticulated giraffe (G. reticulata) is indeed distinct from them, but is not its own species. It is officially a variant of the Nubian giraffe (G. camelopardalis). There are only about 1,500 Rothschild giraffe remaining in western Kenya and in Uganda. One of the most well-known giraffes was a Rothschild giraffe called “Daisy” cared for on a country estate in a suburb of Kenya’s capital Nairobi and who features in the book “Raising Daisy Rothschild” (ISBN-10: 0446899488). Hopefully the fact that there are more Nubian giraffes other than the Rothschild’s variety scattered across the northern part of the African continent, and that there are more Masai giraffe in eastern Africa other than the Thornicroft’s giraffe will not lead to less effort being taken to protect them, as whatever the scientists say – they are wonderfully special!
Fraction Multiplication Using LEGO® Bricks—Student Edition (Paperback) Student workbook for Fraction Multiplication Using LEGO® Bricks Fractions typically make up the largest percentage of most standardized tests and are one of the most complicated mathematical content areas for elementary school students. Too often, students do not understand why they need to know how to compute with fractions or why certain procedures work. The activities in this book provide clear visual representations of fractions and the operation of multiplication. Students learn the “why” behind the math, not simply the rote procedures for multiplying fractions. The Student Edition includes baseplate diagrams for students to work along with the teacher, drawing their models and explaining their thinking in writing. It also includes a student assessment for each chapter and a chart to track the student's progress. simply the rote procedures for multiplying fractions. In this book, the hands-on activities using LEGO® bricks help students learn how to multiply fractions: • using iteration • using an area model • by whole numbers • by unit fractions • as mixed numbers Students also learn how the commutative property of multiplication relates to fractions. The book starts at the most basic concepts and focuses on a specific topic in each chapter. Most students learn these concepts between grades 4 - 6. Using LEGO® bricks to model math provides a universal language. Children everywhere recognize this manipulative. It’s fun to learn when you’re using LEGO® bricks!
The UN Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) refers to a set of standards surrounding the Safety Data Sheets (SDS) as well as labeling of hazardous chemical containers. For companies, universities, governments, and any other entity that use or handle dangerous chemicals in the workplace to adhere to a unified set of standards, GHS was created, and it applies across the planet. Having one set of rules all over the world like this makes it easier for label consistencies to be maintained and for everyone to interpret what each type of label means. In short, it keeps everyone on the same page. In the long-term, it makes the process of labeling and using hazardous chemicals easier, safer and less confusing for everyone. However, to reach the point at which you can experience those benefits, you first need to take time to understand the GHS labeling system and what everything means. When you’ve done that, you’ll be able to label hazardous chemicals properly without any issues at all. If you want to understand more about GHS labeling, you’re in the right place. You can find all the information you require below. What Does GHS Mean? Adherence to the GHS system ensures that everyone in the world who deals with dangerous chemicals understands the labels used. It avoids confusion and helps prevent dangerous situations from arising. Hazardous chemicals are frequently shipped across borders, and that’s why the global aspect of the labeling system is so significant. It’s vital that the meaning of a label is the same across all work platforms around the world. The Importance of GHS Compliance Compliance with the GHS labeling system is relatively easy. Using things like label templates and understanding the requirements is all that it takes. So by the time you’ve read this guide, you’ll be able to do that. Note that GHS compliance is not enforceable under UN international law, but each country’s workplace regulatory system enforces it. In the USA it falls under OSHA Hazard Communication standard (29 CFR 1910-1200). Nevertheless, any business or institution that wants to be taken seriously and worked with will need to comply with GHS labeling standards. Most regulatory agencies will make it clear that companies and institutions must comply with GHS as well. GHS Labeling System and Requirements - GHS Pictogram: A pictogram is one of the small images that are used on GHS labels to convey a meaning or warning. - Hazard Statement: It’s necessary to include a brief hazard statement that makes it clear what the hazards associated with the chemical are. - Precautionary Statement: A precautionary statement will outline precautions to take and what to do in the event of exposure. - Harmonized Signal Word: Signal words provide vital information sharply and immediately. ‘DANGER’ is one such example of a harmonized signal word. GHS Signal Words Signal word means a word used to indicate the relative level of severity of hazard and alert the reader to potential danger on the label. - Danger: The Danger signal word means that the chemical poses severe and immediate risks to humans, such as lasting damage or even death. - Warning: Warning is a less severe signal word, but it still means that the chemical is dangerous and requires handling with extreme caution. GHS Hazard Pictograms - Corrosion: The pictogram for corrosion suggests that eye and skin chemical burns can occur by exposure to the chemical. Also, this symbol applies to compounds that are corrosive to metal. - Exclamation Mark: An exclamation mark applies when the chemical might cause skin, eye or respiratory tract irritation, can develop skin sensitization, and may cause narcotic effects. - Flame: This means that the chemical is flammable and can ignite if not handle carefully. This pictogram applies to flammable, pyrophoric, self-heating, and self-reacting materials, and products that emit flammable gas and organic peroxides. - Health Hazard: Chemicals with a health hazard pictogram can cause cancer, mutations, reproductive problems, respiratory sensitization, and cause aspiration toxicity. - Gas Cylinder: This pictogram means that the gas contained in the cylinder is under pressure. - Exploding Bomb: The substance contained in a container with this pictogram can cause an explosion is a self-reactive or is an organic peroxide. - Flame Over Circle: The flame over a circle applies to all oxidizing substances. - Environment: This means that the chemical is toxic to aquatic organisms. - Skull and Crossbones: Applies to products that have acute toxicity that can cause death or severe health adverse effects via inhalation, digestion or direct contact with skin or eyes. Under OSHA’s hazard communication standards, the environmental hazard pictogram is not required. GHS Hazard Statements A hazard statement means a phrase assigned to a hazard class and category that describes the nature of the hazards of a hazardous product, including, where appropriate, the degree of danger. - Physical Hazards: Physical hazards refer to things like fires or explosions and include unstable explosives, flammable gases, and substances that may catch fire. - Health Hazards: If something is labeled a health hazard, it can cause disease, death on exposure or even mild irritation to the skin. It refers to anything that can damage a person’s’ health in any way. GHS Precautionary Statements A precautionary statement means a phrase that describes recommended measures that should be taken to minimize or prevent adverse effects resulting from exposure to a hazardous product, or improper storage or handling of a dangerous product. Many codes are used to signal necessary precautionary statement information. For example, a code P201 means to obtain special instructions before use. A code P210 tells the user to keep away from heat, hot surfaces, sparks, open flames, and other ignition sources. No smoking. Code P311 instructs the user to call a doctor or poison center in the event of exposure, and code P402 means to store in a dry place. Now that you have a better understanding of the GHS labeling system, you should already see why the system has value and why it helps businesses and institutions to keep their workplace safer.
The center of every parent’s world is their baby and every smile, gesture or action is important. And one of the primary needs of a child is to be fed. But few parents know that some kinds of feeding, particularly long-term bottle feeding, can come with risks to a child’s dental health. Cavities in infants and toddlers are often called baby bottle tooth decay. Baby bottle tooth decay usually occurs in the front teeth, though the back may be affected. This decay begins with cavity causing bacteria being passed from caregiver to infant. Prolonged exposure to sugar and putting the infant to bed with a bottle, feed that bacteria and increase the amount of decay in their mouth. If baby bottle decay is allowed to advance, it can have dire affects on an infant’s dental health, and their dental health in the future. At Mayfield Dental Care, we want every parent to know what baby bottle decay is, its symptoms, and how to deal with it. What’s Baby Bottle Tooth Decay? Baby bottle tooth decay is caused by frequent and long-term exposure of a child’s teeth to sugary drinks. These drinks include milk, formula, fruit juice, and soda. The sugar in these drinks puddle around young teeth and gums, feeding bacteria that leads to plaque, acid, and eventually tooth decay. Baby bottle tooth decay is associated with breast-fed infants with prolonged feeding habits and children whose pacifiers are dipped in sweetening agents. Who Cares If Temporary Teeth Are Lost? While it may seem silly to worry about saving teeth that are sure to be gone in about 6 years or so, your child’s baby teeth are actually important to dental health. - Proper chewing and eating: Digestion of food begins in the mouth. Chewing breaks food into digestible sizes. If your child has a painful mouth, they may only eat soft, medium-temperature foods, possibly eliminating healthy foods from their diet. - Baby teeth help shape your child’s speech. Forming and pronouncing words correctly is highly dependent upon regularly spaced and healthy teeth. Early loss of primary teeth can lead to speech impediments such as a slur or lisp. And when these bad habits are learned early, they are difficult to overcome. In severe cases, speech pathologists may be needed to restore normal speech. - Save space in the jaw that is needed for proper development of adult (permanent) teeth. Your child’s temporary teeth “hold the space” for permanent teeth. If the temporary teeth are lost too early, the permanent teeth may have difficulty erupting, or come into the jaw at a bad angle. - Self-esteem: Missing teeth, poor speech habits, misaligned permanent teeth, and other conditions can adversely affect the self-esteem of your child. Signs And Symptoms Of Baby Bottle Tooth Decay Baby bottle tooth decay commonly occurs on the upper front teeth, although it can take root in any tooth. Symptoms include unusual white, dark, or brown spots on the teeth. Teeth may also more sensitive than usual to hot, cold, and sweet. Preventing Baby Bottle Tooth Decay - Don’t share saliva with your baby through feeding spoons or licking pacifiers. - After each feeding, swab your child’s gums with a clean, damp cloth. - When your child’s teeth come in, brush them gently with a small toothbrush and a dab (or pea-sized amount) of toothpaste. - Your child’s bottles should only contain formula, milk, or breast milk. Don’t fill bottles with sweet liquids such as sugar water, juice, or soft drinks. If your child requires a bottle, consider filling it with water. - Infants should finish their bedtime and nap-time bottles before going to bed. - If your child uses a pacifier, make sure that it is a clean one— and don’t dip it in sweetening agents like sugar or honey. - Encourage your child to drink from a cup by his/her first birthday. When that first tooth appears in your child’s mouth, talk to us at Mayfield Dental Care about a first dental visit. A first dental visit is an investment in your child’s future health! Remember: beginning early is the first step towards a lifetime of good dental health. For more information about nutrition and your baby feel free to consult with us here at Mayfield Dental Care. Making a Better Dental Future at Mayfield Dental Care Mayfield Dental Care provides excellence in dentistry with the slogan, “Customer satisfaction must be our top most priority”. Our guiding principles are innovation, culture and care. Our equipment is cutting-edge and our outlook is forward-looking to provide you the best dental experience you have ever had. Our Dental Clinic is conveniently located in Mayfield, on the corner of the Pacific Highway and Hanbury St. Public transportation is nearby. Mayfield Dental Care has world-class dental and orthodontic specialists, cutting-edge technology, caring support staff who are extremely experienced in the field, and a comfortable and welcoming environment. Child Dental Benefits Schedule Bulk Bill for children who are eligible for MEDICARE CHILD DENTAL BENEFIT SCHEDULE Up to $1000 worth of dental treatments over two years Learn more about Child Dental Benefits Schedule

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