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A mummy is a body preserved by chemical processes or special natural circumstances, often in the belief that the deceased will need it again in the afterlife. In ancient Egypt, the bodies of people who could afford mummification underwent a complex process of removing organs, filling body cavities, dehydrating the corpse with natron, and then wrapping the body with linen bandages and enclosing it in a wooden sarcophagus. Many of these mummies have survived until our modern day. The earliest known Egyptian "mummified" individual dates back to approximately 3300 BC. The Earth and Its Peoples A Global History, Bulliet et al, 2005.
There is a difference between vowels and vocoids. Referring to the following link*, the contoid/vocoid distinction is similar to but different from the consonant/vowel distinction. These new words were introduced by Pike to overcome the difficultly posed by sounds which fit the phonetic definition of either a vowel or a consonant but don't function as that in speach. According to his definition, the contoid/vocoid distinction is "strictly phonetic and the other based on function". According to Pike "Generally, vowels are syllabic vocoids." The semivowels [j] & [w] are vocoids because they are sounds with "no audible noise produced by constriction in the vocal tract". Semivowels are never syllabic so [j] & [w] are consonants. Here's another good site which examines what is meant by the terms in question. If it seems that what is being said here contradicts what I've explained above, don't blame me. We're talking about the words as they were used by Pike but I don't have my hands on what he actually wrote, I'm just going by what I'm able to gather from these sites. This second site, however, seems to me to give a better coverage of what is meant by the words "vowel" and "consonant". As they explain the words "vowel" and "consonant" are actually not all that easy to define. They go on to distinguish three senses in which these very old words are used "(they were first used by the ancient Greeks)". There are "phonetic, phonological, and orthographic vowels and consonants", they say. The orthographic vowels of English are easy to define, they are just the letters "a", "e", "i", "o" and "u"; the 21 letters of the rest of the alphabet are the orthographic consonants. We might use five vowel letters in English but there are about four times that many vowel sounds. There is still a difficulty when it comes to defining what we mean by "vowel sound" and "consonant sound". As I've mentioned above the problem lies in the distinction between phonetics and phonology. They say "We can look at vowels and consonants from the point of view of what they are (phonetics), or from the point of view of what they do (phonology)." Pike (1943) used the terms "vocoid", "contoid", "syllabic" and "non-syllabic". A vocoid is a phonetic vowel and a contoid is a phonetic consonant. A sound which is both a phonetic vowel and a phonological vowel he called a "syllabic vocoid". A sound which is both a phonetic vowel and a phonological vowel he called a "non-syllabic contoid". "Sometimes, however, a phonetic vowel behaves phonologically like a consonant and then we have a non-syllabic vocoid, such as /j/ or /w/ in English. ([j] and [w] are vocoids according to Pike's strict phonetic definition.)" In other words, the "w" and "y" sounds in "wet" and "yet",for example, are non-syllabic vocoids. They are phonological consonants in these words because of the way they act. However, because there is no obstruction to the passage of air they are phonetic vowels. Similarly, "English consonants are normally non-syllabic contoids, in other words consonants from both phonetic and phonological points of view. In the occasional cases where a phonetic consonant behaves as a phonological vowel we have a syllabic contoid. In English, /l/ and /n/ sometimes behave like this." The "en" and the "le" sounds in "sudden" and "muddle" are syllabic contoids. They are phonetic consonants but act as the centre of the syllable (they are the whole syllable) in these words thus they are phonological vowels. I am trying to describe four Burmese characters included in table of 33 Burmese consonants: /ya./ /ra./ /wa./ and /ha./ . The Burmese script is an abugida and is closely related to the various Indic scripts. The consonants are presented in a table of 7 rows and 5 columns. r1: /ka./ /hka./ /ga./ /Ga./ /ñga./ r2: /sa./ /hsa./ /za./ /Za./ /ña./ r3: /Ta./ /Hta./ ... r4: /ta./ /hta./ /da./ /Da./ /na./ r5: /pa./ /hpa./ /ba./ /Ba./ /ma./ r6: /ya./ /ra./ /la./ /wa./ /tha./ r7: -- /ha./ /La./ /a./ -- The Burmese consonants can be combined to form more consonants (ligature), e.g. /ka./ + /ya./ to form <ka.ya'pin> with the sound /kya./. Only /ya./ /ra./ /wa./ and /ha./ can be used as the second consonant to produce <ya.pin.> <ra.ris.> <wa.hswè:> and <ha.hto:>. I usually describe these four as semivowels, but should I describe them as contoids? vocoids? Or do we need another set of new terms to describe them? I guess it all depends on exactly what you want to say and how you want to say it. Let me explain what I mean by that. The first thing that you'd have to do is make a distinction between the characters and the sound they represent. Sorry if this sounds as if I'm just stating the obvious but it's a point often over looked. Strictly speaking, what you have is a table of characters, calling it a table of consonants is liable to cause confusion. Are you approaching the subject from a strictly phonetic or a strictly phonological point of view? Are you trying to look at both aspects? Are you, on the other hand, not intending to go into the kind of detail that would require the distinction between these two points of view? The words "contoid" and "vocoid" were coined by a linguist named Pike. It's up to you whether you want to use these terms in your writing. There are other ways of making the distinction between what is a vowel or a consonant from a phonetic or a phonological point of view. You have to consider your intended audience. Perhaps your audience will be unfamiliar with Pike's words. If so, then you have to decide whether to use them or not. If you still want to use them, you'll have to explain their meaning. Perhaps this explanation would only serve to make what you're saying less intellegible. From what I've managed to gather, the terms "semivowel" and "non-syllabic vocoid" as pretty much synonymous. The question is "How much detail do you want to go into and what kind of terminology do you want to use?" Are you more interested in what these sounds are phonetically or in how they function in the language/syllable? I don't think that there's anything wrong with calling them semivowels. Thanks for your interest in my question. May I correspond directly with you? My email: [email protected] Joe Tun (aka) U Kyaw Tun, retd. professor of chemistry, Taunggyi University, Myanmar, now living in Canada.
Making Sound: Magnets This content is not compatible on this device. When the electrical current flowing through the voice coil changes direction, the coil's polar orientation reverses. This changes the magnetic forces between the voice coil and the permanent magnet, moving the coil and attached diaphragm back and forth. So how does the fluctuation make the speaker coil move back and forth? The electromagnet is positioned in a constant magnetic field created by a permanent magnet. These two magnets -- the electromagnet and the permanent magnet -- interact with each other as any two magnets do. The positive end of the electromagnet is attracted to the negative pole of the permanent magnetic field, and the negative pole of the electromagnet is repelled by the permanent magnet's negative pole. When the electromagnet's polar orientation switches, so does the direction of repulsion and attraction. In this way, the alternating current constantly reverses the magnetic forces between the voice coil and the permanent magnet. This pushes the coil back and forth rapidly, like a piston. When the coil moves, it pushes and pulls on the speaker cone. This vibrates the air in front of the speaker, creating sound waves. The electrical audio signal can also be interpreted as a wave. The frequency and amplitude of this wave, which represents the original sound wave, dictates the rate and distance that the voice coil moves. This, in turn, determines the frequency and amplitude of the sound waves produced by the diaphragm. Different driver sizes are better suited for certain frequency ranges. For this reason, loudspeaker units typically divide a wide frequency range among multiple drivers. In the next section, we'll find out how speakers divide up the frequency range, and we'll look at the main driver types used in loudspeakers.
The first colonists on every island were always the same species, a twig-dwelling specialist. However, in every case, that species gave rise to the same set of other species that specialized on different habitats. The phylogeny for each island had the same root and the same pattern of speciation. Each island was colonized by a different species initially, and that species underwent a radiation, giving rise to new species that occupied different habitat types. There was no similarity, however, in the adaptations from one island to another. The phylogeny for each island was completely unique and totally unlike that of any other island. Different islands were initially colonized by different species that differed in habitat preference, but in both cases subsequent speciation produced a range of ecological specialists occupying similar habitat niches. The phylogeny for each island was unique, but species evolved having similar sets of adaptations for each habitat. Each island was initially colonized by a different species that occupied its preferred habitat. Subsequent colonizing species were successful only if they could use an unoccupied habitat type. The phylogeny for each island was the same throughout the region because no evolution occurred, only colonization.
If the weather is appropriate, take your class outside to lay down and look up at the clouds. We do this because it is fun, and it sets the stage for the story. What do you see up in the sky, boys and girls? Does anyone see anything that they have not seen before? Do you see the clouds? Sometimes clouds will take on the shapes of things that we are familiar with. Take a few minutes and really look. Use your imagination to picture the clouds. Take any image ideas that the children share and point them out. Students will be composing an opinion piece about which Little Cloud shape they liked best and why. Shift number 2 states that reading, writing and speaking will be grounded in evidence from texts, both literary and informational. Although forms of writing are usually draw heavily from student experience and opinion, students will need to support with data from the text. The kindergarten children will need to reference the story to support their writing. Since it is a beautiful day, and we are enjoying the clouds so much, I have brought a book outside with me. It is by our Author of the Month. If you remember his name, blow it into your hand. And release--it is Eric Carle! The book that I have for us today is called Little Cloud. In this book, you will see that Little Cloud changes shapes just like the clouds we were watching. As I read, think about which shape you liked best. After reading: Share with a friend which cloud shape was your favorite. When we go back inside, you will be writing about which shape was your favorite, why it was your favorite and of what it reminded you. Inside: Boys and girls join me at the rug for just a minute. I want to gather you together to give you our objective for this writing assignment: I can write about a cloud and why it is my favorite shape. I can paint a cloud picture. What? Paint a cloud picture?!? This lesson does involve painting, but first you will need to get you writing completed. There are three things that I will be looking for in your writing Little Cloud Writing Template: 1. Write about your favorite cloud shape. What were some of the shapes we saw in our story? An airplane, a hat, a clown, a shark, etc. You will write this sentence like this: "I saw a ___________. It was my favorite shape." 2. Why was it your favorite? Who can tell me with their words why it was his/her favorite? You will need to write the next sentence like this: "I liked the _________shape because_________." 3. What did this shape remind you of? Who can tell me in their own words what the shark cloud reminded them of? What about the clown cloud? You will need to write the next sentence like this: "This cloud made me think about ______________________." When you are finished writing, share your story with a friend. Let them be critical listeners so that they can tell you about anything that they do not understand. Fix anything that needs fixing and then bring your paper to me. I will set you up with paper and paint. Once the children have shared with their friends the ideas that they have written, I have them bring me their papers for review. I collect the papers and give them a piece of blue paper in exchange and ask them to write their names on the back Then I give them a squirt of white fingerpaint and a squirt of shaving cream, the two combined makes for a nice fluffy looking cloud. In order for you to paint your pictures, you will need to write your names on the back of your paper and push up your sleeves. You will be painting with your fingers today. When I come around to you, I will have white finger paint and shaving cream in my hands. Your job is to mix the two together while you draw out a picture of your favorite cloud that you wrote about. This is the key. You cannot just draw a cloud, and you must draw a picture of what you wrote about. By mixing the paint and the shaving cream together as you paint, it will make a nice fluffy cloud texture. When the paintings are dry, I will staple your stories to the pictures and hang them in the hallway, so do your best work.
One of the most extreme climate episodes the Earth has experienced was during the so-called Snowball Earth, 720 million years ago. During this period glaciers spanned from the poles to the tropics, resulting in a planet entirely covered by ice. The Snowball Earth hypothesis has been the subject of scientific debate for around 20 years: scientists are both fascinated and perplexed about how the planet could descend into such a weird climatic state. New research now points to spectacularly large volcanic eruptions as being key in this process. We suggest this happened because large amounts of carbon dioxide were pulled out of the atmosphere after huge eruptions, and this led to a loss of heat from the Earth’s surface. Surprisingly, the mechanism for this appears to be rock erosion. Different kinds of volcanoes Relationships between volcanic eruptions and climate are well established. For example, sulphur injected into the atmosphere from the 1991 eruption of the Philippines’ Mount Pinatubo lowered global temperatures by approximately half a degree for about 15 months. The sulphur reflected incoming solar radiation and lowered global temperatures. Volcanos like Mt Pinatubo are part of volcanic arcs that produce relatively small volumes of erupted materials. Across the world, arc volcanoes together produce less than one cubic kilometre (1km³) of erupted material per year. Compare this to a type of volcanic eruption referred to as a “large igneous province” (we’ll refer to them here as a LIP). These eruptions are spectacularly large, producing in excess of 100km³ per year of lavas, and crucially, have total eruption volumes in excess of 1 million km³ and cover an area greater than 1 million km². (For comparison, the area of South Australia is roughly 1 million km²). These are continental-scale resurfacing events. More than 300 of these LIP eruptions have been recognised throughout Earth’s history, and they appear to peak in semi-regular cycles. Long term climatic effects While some relatively small volcanic eruptions will have short term climatic effects, the long-term effects of LIP volcanoes may be profound. The reason for this boils down to simple chemistry. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere dissolves in rain, and falls to the ground where it reacts with silicate minerals in the rocks. Carbon dioxide forms bicarbonate, and ultimately becomes locked away in limestones and shale rock formations. Over hundreds of thousands of years the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is quite effectively regulated in this way. Scientists estimate that weathering of rocks consumes approximately 600 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. Geological formations from LIP volcanic eruptions are particularly susceptible to this process, as they are largely composed of basalts, a type of fine-grained volcanic rock that weathers relatively quickly and soaks up carbon dioxide more effectively than other rocks, such as granite. But LIP volcanic eruptions can also affect climate in another way: through triggering photosynthesis. Linking volcanic eruptions to photosynthesis might seem strange, but it all comes down to nutrients. We have recently shown that the erosion of geological formations such as basalt from LIP volcanoes fertilises rivers and oceans by releasing phosphorus. Phosphorus is an essential component of DNA and all life requires it. Over long time periods, phosphorus is the nutrient that regulates the rate of photosynthesis. And when photosynthesis takes place, it too pulls carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Read more: Rising carbon dioxide is greening the Earth Descent into Snowball Earth Our most recent paper focused on determining if the erosion of basalt from LIP volcanoes contributed to the reduction in atmospheric carbon dioxide associated with Snowball Earth. Initial modelling predicted a halving of atmospheric carbon dioxide would be required to drive the earth into the Snowball state. To do this, we measured different forms (known as isotopes) of the rare earth element neodymium (Nd) that track the erosion of basalt in sedimentary rocks. We particularly focused on the contribution of eroded basalt in shales, which are rock formations created from continental erosion. Also, we measured isotopes of the element strontium (Sr) in limestones, which record the chemical composition of ancient seawater. From this work we found that basaltic erosion just before the Snowball Earth, was more than 100% greater than what we see today. This basalt was sourced from three prominent LIPs, which erupted in a cascading sequence beginning 830 million years ago in Australia, 780 million years ago in North America and 720 million years ago in northern Canada. All three of these LIPs erupted in what was then the equatorial region, which favours fast erosion due to warmer temperatures and higher rainfall. Finally, the impact of sulphur aerosols released by northern Canada’s Franklin large igneous province just prior to glacial onset may have also induced further global cooling. It is likely that this unique confluence of events allowed the planet to tip into a frozen abyss. Complex interactions in the Earth system Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and global climate are regulated over long periods of time by the weathering of rocks. Over geologic time (hundreds of thousands of years) this process acts as a negative feedback on increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. When higher temperatures drive higher rates of weathering, it acts as a kind of thermostat for the Earth. However, this work demonstrates that the Earth’s thermostat can fail spectacularly at times: the eruption of LIPs resulted in a Snowball Earth. This period of time lasted from 720 to 635 million years ago and is known as the Cryogenian. It is a time of continental breakup and marks a major transition from a world dominated by bacteria to a world dominated by more complex life. This highlights the complexity of the earth system and the unexpected interactions between volcanism, climate and life.
Mass Extinction of Large Ice Age Mammals Linked to Climate-Induced Vegetation Changes It is generally accepted that climate change led to the extinction of the mammoth and other large mammals following the last Ice Age, but an international team of researchers behind a new report in the journal Nature claims to have found the smoking gun that pinpoints which of climate change's myriad effects led to the mass extinction of large mammals. By analyzing sediment samples from more than 10,000 years ago and the gut contents of permafrozen woolly rhinos, mammoths and other extinct Ice Age mammals, the researchers contend that vegetation changes triggered by climate change following the last Ice Age is what caused the mass extinction event. Even though the climate warmed after the last Ice Age, the landscape was forever altered. A major loss of plant diversity, particular in protein-rich forbs (herbaceous flowering plants), likely proved fatal for species like the woolly rhino, mammoth and horses in Asia and North America, the researchers said. "We knew from our previous work that climate was driving fluctuations of the megafauna populations, but not how," said Eske Willerslev, an ancient DNA researcher and director of the Centre for GeoGenetics at the Natural History Museum of Denmark. "Now we know that the loss of protein-rich forbs was likely a key player in the loss of the Ice Age megafauna." Willerslev said the conclusion also offers perspective on the current climate situation. "Maybe we get a hold on the greenhouse gases in the future. But don't expect the good old well-known vegetation to come back when it becomes cooler again after the global warming," he said. "It is not given that the 'old' ecosystems will re-establish themselves to the same extent as before the warming. It's not only climate that drives vegetation changes, but also the history of the vegetation itself and the mammals consuming it." Willerslev and his colleagues report that the classic image of the Northern Hemisphere during the last Ice Age - one dominated by a grass steppe - is not as accurate as previously believed. The landscape was more dominated by protein-rich forbs, and after the Ice Age the forbs became rarer, leading to some large, forb-eating mammals to go extinct. The landscape additionally changed by the growth of new kinds of vegetation and a smaller base of large herbivores, the researchers said. "For the first time, ecologists have been able to piece together the characteristics of more complete plant communities occurring in the Arctic during the last 50,000 years," Mari Moora and Martin Zobel, vegetation ecologists from the University of Tartu, Estonia, said in a joint statement. "The new information shows clearly that the vegetation of the Late Pleistocene was rich in forbs but lost considerable diversity at the peak of the Ice Age."
Alkanes are saturated hydrocarbons which contain only single covalent bonds between the carbon atoms. The simplest alkane in this group is methane with the molecular formula CH4 All alkanes have the general formula as shown below: Under normal conditions, the first four members of the alkane family are gases (C1 to C4) C5 to C16 are liquids C17 and above are waxy solids All alkanes show a trend in the increase of their melting and boiling points as the length of the hydrocarbon chain increases. This is because the longer the hydrocarbon chain, the more the covalent bonds, hence the more the energy required to break them and thus the more their melting and boiling points. Combustion of alkanes The complete combustion of an alkane gives carbon dioxide and water. The incomplete combustion gives carbon monoxide and water. Substitution reaction of alkanes Alkanes react with chlorine in bright light to give a mixture of chloroalkanes. In this reaction, one hydrogen atom is substituted by one chlorine atom at each step. If enough chlorine is present during the reaction, all of the hydrogen atoms shall get substituted. The substitution of alkanes is a photochemical reaction and it takes place only in the presence of sunlight or ultraviolet light. Trichloromethane (CHCl3) or ‘Chloroform’ was an early anaesthetic used in medical operations. It was replaced by a more efficient anaesthetic- Halothane because the amount of dose needed to anaesthetise a patient was almost the same amount that can kill a person! Alkanes and isomerism Isomers are the compounds which have the same molecular formula, but different structural formula. Beware! Students often get confused between isomers and isotopes. Try and remember the keywords ‘molecular formula’ and ‘structural formula’ when asked about isomers. Here is an example of isomerism in alkanes: - Methane forms the major part of natural gas and is used as a fuel. - Propane and butane are used and sold as LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) which are kept as liquids under pressure. - Cylinders of butane (also known as calor gas) are used in portable camping stoves, blow torches and gas lighters. ***this is the end of this guide. Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for using www.igcsepro.org! We hope you will give us a chance to serve you again! Thank you!
Watch the Puzzling Melodies from Lyrics online guitar lesson by Matthieu Brandt from Songwriting on Guitar Some composers will start with lyrics when they write a composition. These lyrics, poems, expressions can give you an initial idea about the flow of the melody. A rhythmic analysis of the phrases and experiments with stressing words within the phrase, can be a jump board for a logical sounding melody. A great way of finding a melodic contour that fits your lyrics is using the speech patterns and stress when you just say your phrase out loud. Stressed words will almost always be higher in pitch than the surrounding words and the general contour of the phrase can rely on this. The use of chord tones will make a word/syllable flow with the underlying harmony and generally create a stable sound. Non chord tones will give the word some energy. By stepping back from the composition and thinking about stress, stable and unstable notes, lenghtening syllables, swallowing certain sounds, you can get more information about HOW you say things. Or in this case how you sing your lyrics. Before your audience starts listening to the words you sing, they will first try to grab the rhythm of your vocals. Then they'll try to capture the melody itself and only AFTER they will actually hear the words. HOW you sing it is more important than WHAT you sing.
A fusion reactor operates best when the hot plasma inside it consists only of fusion fuel (hydrogen's heavy isotopes, deuterium and tritium), much as a car runs best with a clean engine. But fusion fuel reactions at the heart of magnetic fusion reactors also create leftovershelium "ash." The buildup of this helium ash and other impurities can cool the hot plasma and reduce fusion power. Research at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center is providing new insight into the transport of these impurities in fusion plasmas in an effort to improve on the natural impurity exhaust process, producing cleaner plasmas and higher fusion power. On the Alcator C-Mod tokamak at MIT, researchers are using a novel set of plasma diagnostics and advanced computer simulations to better understand the physical processes that can either flush out impurities or allow them to stay. All fusion plasmas contain intrinsic impurities introduced by the unintentional interaction of very hot plasma with the reactor walls and the fusion reactions themselves. To study these phenomena, the scientists introduce a known source of impurities at a small level that will not adversely affect the plasma's performance. This is achieved using a high powered, pulsed laser to knock impurity atoms off a coated glass slide directly into the plasma edge. Once inside the plasma, the impurity is ionized and heated by the plasma and begins to emit soft x-ray radiation which is observed by a new high-resolution spectrometer that allows the impurities to be tracked as they are transported by plasma turbulence. "It is not enough to simply observe results in existing experiments," says MIT graduate student Nathan Howard. "We also need to develop high resolution computer models to predict how impurities will behave in future larger, hotter fusion reactors. The process is much like developing accurate long-range weather forecasts." The MIT scientists are developing and testing new computer programs which run on some of the world's fastest supercomputers. A single case can take up to 250,000 CPU hours to complete. For comparison, this is roughly equivalent to letting a home computer run for about 15 years. The latest simulations connect the behavior of small turbulent eddies and ripples in the plasma to new measurements showing the movement of impurities into and out of the plasma. According to Dr. Martin Greenwald, Nathan's thesis advisor, "This work represents an important first step in gaining confidence in our ability to predict and control impurity transport in tokamaks." Explore further: High-performance plasmas may make reliable, efficient fusion power a reality
Asbestos increases the risk for certain cancers. The fibers are thought to do so by skewering cells, setting off chemical reactions that lead to inflammation, DNA damage and cell death. Some studies have suggested carbon nanotubes might have similar effects—because they're long and spiky, like asbestos. But why would a cell draw in a nanotube, essentially impaling itself on a microscopic lance? To find out, researchers exposed mouse and human cells to carbon nanotubes. They saw that the cells frequently engulfed the tubes—almost always tip-first. They then simulated that sword-swallowing maneuver on a computer. And they concluded that the round tips of nanotubes feel like bite-sized spheres, which cells commonly ingest. But once the cell senses the nanotube isn’t bite-size? It's too late. It can't stop sucking it in. The finding is in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. [Xinghua Shi et al., "Cell entry of one-dimensional nanomaterials occurs by tip recognition and rotation"] As nanotubes may have medical applications, making them safe is key. And there may be a way to keep cells from biting off more than they can swallow—snip off the nanotubes' rounded tips. In one such simulation, the cells left the tubes alone—meaning we may get to have our nanotubes, without eating them, too. [The above text is a transcript of this podcast.] [Scientific American is part of the Nature Publishing Group.]
Hypertonic dehydration occurs when there’s an imbalance of water and salt in your body. Losing too much water while keeping too much salt in the fluid outside your cells causes hypertonic dehydration. Some causes of this include: Hypertonic dehydration differs from hypotonic dehydration, which is due to too little salt in the body. Isotonic dehydration occurs when you lose equal amounts of water and salt. When your dehydration isn’t severe, you may not notice any symptoms. However, the worse it gets, the more symptoms you’ll show. Symptoms of hypertonic dehydration include: - thirst, sometimes severe - very dry mouth - overactive reflexes - doughy skin texture - continuous muscle contractions - high body temperature While the above relate to hypertonic dehydration, many of the same symptoms are present in standard dehydration. There are three levels of dehydration, each of which can have its own symptoms. When you have hypertonic dehydration, you may have some or all of these symptoms as well: - Mild dehydration can cause headache, weight loss, fatigue, thirst, dry skin, sunken eyes, and concentrated urine. - Moderate to severe dehydration can cause tiredness, confusion, muscle cramping, poor kidney function, little to no urine production, and fast heart rate. - Severe dehydration can lead to shock, weak pulse, bluish skin, very low blood pressure, lack of urine production, and in extreme cases, death. Infants with moderate to severe dehydration or hypertonic dehydration may have: - crying without tears - fewer wet diapers - sinking in the soft part of the skull Hypertonic dehydration is most common in infants, older adults, and those who are unconscious. The most common causes are diarrhea, high fever, and vomiting. These can lead to dehydration and a salt-fluid imbalance. Newborns may also get the condition when they’re first learning how to nurse, or if they’re born early and are underweight. Additionally, infants can get intestinal disease from diarrhea and vomiting without being able to drink water. Sometimes hypertonic dehydration is caused by diabetes insipidus or diabetes mellitus. If your doctor thinks you might have hypertonic dehydration, they’ll note your signs and symptoms. They can confirm the condition by measuring serum sodium concentration. They might also look for: While general dehydration can often be treated at home, hypertonic dehydration generally requires treatment by a doctor. The most straightforward treatment for hypertonic dehydration is oral rehydration therapy. This fluid replacement contains a bit of sugar and salts. Even though too much salt causes hypertonic dehydration, salt is needed along with the water, or there’s a chance for swelling in the brain. If you can’t tolerate an oral therapy, your doctor may recommend 0.9 percent saline intravenously. This treatment is meant to lower your serum sodium slowly. If your hypertonic dehydration has lasted less than a day, you may be able to complete the treatment within 24 hours. For conditions that have lasted longer than a day, a treatment of two to three days may be best. While in treatment, your doctor may monitor your weight, amount of urine, and serum electrolytes to make sure you’re receiving fluids at the right rate. Once your urination is back to normal, you may receive potassium in the rehydration solution to replace the urine you’ve lost or to maintain the fluid levels. Hypertonic dehydration is treatable. Once the condition has been reversed, knowing the signs of dehydration can help you prevent it from happening again. If you believe you have chronic dehydration despite efforts to stay hydrated, talk to your doctor. They’ll be able to diagnose any underlying conditions. It’s especially important for young children and older adults to drink enough fluids, even when they don’t feel thirsty. Catching dehydration early generally results in a full recovery.
Using fun math riddles with students gives them a chance to build math thinking skills and have a good time too! Scroll down to check out the riddles on this page. You can print off a pdf version also. 1. Time Flies How many seconds are there in one week? (7 days in a week) 2. Happy Meal - Sheila buys a happy meal with 27 coins made up of nickels, dimes, and quarters. The meal costs her $3.25 and she has the same number of dimes as nickels. How many of each type of coin does Sheila have? 3. Cows and Chickens Farmer Brown counted 12 heads and 38 legs. How many chickens and cows does he have? 4. Counting Sheep - A farmer has 17 sheep and all but 9 of them die. How many sheep are left? 5. Give Me Five 6. Brothers and Sisters - Greg is twice as old as his sister Christina. Christina is 1/8 the age of their mother. Their mother is 35 years old. How old are Greg and Christina? 7. In the addition problem below, A = 7. What is the value of B? 8. In the following addition problem B and C represent numbers that are not already shown in the problem. What are the two possible values for B and C? 9. Place the missing digits in the boxes to complete the addition statement. 10. How many squares can you find in the figure below? (Easy) 11. How many squares can you find in the figure below? (Hard)
coma, in medicine, deep state of unconsciousness from which a person cannot be aroused even by painful stimuli. The patient cannot speak and does not respond to command. Coma is the result of damage to the brain stem and cerebrum that may be caused by severe head or brain injury, cardiac arrest, stroke, diabetes, drug overdose, shock, or hemorrhage. It occurs just before death in many diseases. There are various depths of coma; the nature of the injury determines the level of supportive treatment necessary (see artificial life support). Survival and prognosis depend upon the cause, extent of damage, and duration of the coma. The term persistent vegetative state was coined in 1972 to describe an unconscious state in which sleep and wake cycles remain and eyes may open, but there is no thinking, feeling, or awareness of one's surroundings (although one may react reflexive to certain stimulations). The brain stem is usually relatively intact but the cerebral cortex is severely impaired. It is this state that sometimes results from resuscitation and life support of people who otherwise would have died; partial emergence from such a state sometimes occurs with a year or two, but not after that.
Orville Wright (1871–1948), American aeronautical engineer famous for his role in the first controlled, powered flight in a heavier-than-air machine and for his participation in the design of the aircraft's control system. Wright worked closely with his brother, Wilbur Wright, in designing and flying the Wright airplanes. See Airplane. Orville Wright was born in Dayton, Ohio. He and Wilbur attended high school in Dayton, but neither boy formally graduated from high school. While in high school the brothers developed an interest in mechanical things, taught themselves mathematics, and read as much as they could about current developments in engineering. They also made some attempts at editing and printing small local newspapers. In 1892 the brothers formed the Wright Cycle Company; for the next ten years they designed, built, and sold bicycles. The exploits of Otto Lilienthal, the German pioneer of gliders, inspired the Wrights to begin exploring the possibilities of powered flight in the 1890s. Lilienthal's death in an 1896 glider crash convinced the brothers that they not only must build successful airplanes, but must also learn to fly them correctly. During the next few years, they focused on controlling the direction and stability of an airborne object. In August 1899 they flew a kite with a wingspan of about 1.5 m (about 4.9 ft) and with controls for warping (twisting) the wings to control direction and stability. Their wing-warping method was the forerunner of the later idea of ailerons, flaps that can move independently of airplane wings to steer and stabilize the airplane (see Airplane: Control Components). In 1900 the Wrights built a larger kite with a 5-m (17-ft) wingspan that could carry a pilot. They chose to test their craft near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, because the site had suitable steady winds and sandy banks, which would minimize the impact of the craft and pilot upon landing. The kite flew well and Wilbur achieved a few seconds of piloted flight. The following July they returned to Kitty Hawk and built a wooden winged sled at Kill Devil Hills, where there were large sand dunes. Their new machine was longer and had a different wing shape than the previous model. It also had a hand-operated elevator attached to the horizontal tail stabilizer. Again they achieved encouraging results, particularly after further alterations to the wing arch, but there were still problems with stability and control. During the following winter Orville Wright designed and built a small wind tunnel and tested various wing designs and arches. In the course of these tests the Wrights compiled the first accurate tables of lift and drag, the important parameters that govern flight and stability. By winter’s end the brothers had built a new glider that had a 10-m (32-ft) wingspan and had, at first, a double vertical fin mounted behind the wings. Turning was still difficult, however, and they converted the fin to a single movable rudder operated by the wing-warping controls. This configuration proved so successful that they decided to attempt powered flight the following summer. During the winter of 1902 they searched in vain for a suitable engine for their craft and for information about propeller design. They eventually constructed their own 8.9-kilowatt (12-horsepower) motor and made their own efficient propeller. After some initial trouble with the propeller shafts, the so-called Wright biplane took to the air and made a successful flight on December 17, 1903, at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk. The airplane had a wingspan of 12 m (39 ft) and weighed 340 kg (750 lb), including the pilot. The two brothers took turns flying the plane. Orville made the first successful flight, which lasted 12 seconds. The following year the Wrights incorporated a 12-kilowatt (16-horsepower) engine and separated the wing-warping controls from the rudder controls. They flew this new aircraft at their home town of Dayton, learning to make longer flights and tighter turns. In 1905 the Wrights had enough confidence in their design to offer it to the United States War Department. The following year they patented their control system of elevator, rudder, and wing-warping. Although they spent time patenting and finding markets for their machines during the next few years, they did not exhibit them publicly until 1908. That year Orville demonstrated the airplanes in the United States, setting several records when he kept the plane aloft for more than an hour on September 9. In 1909 the Wrights demonstrated their airplanes in Europe. The United States and European governments put in many orders for Wright airplanes, and the Wrights needed a manufacturing plant. In 1909 they formed the Wright Company to manufacture their airplanes. Orville became president of the Wright Company after Wilbur’s death in 1912, but in 1915 he sold his interest in the company to pursue aviation research. He eventually became a member of the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics. By the time of his death Wright had received many awards and honors for the momentous achievement of the Wright brothers.
Not only did it bring in the industrialization but it also changes the lives of the Americans to a great extent. It had made America relatively much stronger than what it was in the previous years and it had just won… Download file to see previous pages... The country had started as a young and weak nation with loose association of the former colonies and a traditional economy. The country had a major focus on agriculture and it was only now that the country was able move into mechanization. This had not only allowed for a bettered living situation for the normal Americans but also led to higher number of work available for the Americans as well. It was in 1851 that the change was very evident as the producers from various nations had gathered to celebrate the industrialization and this also led to higher number of jobs available for the people of the country. The American economy had emerged to become one of the largest and most productive on the globe and this had led to the major changes in the society, it led to urban population growth and rural population decline. Also the nature of the labor also changes to a great extent. The cities grew and the urban areas of the country expanded fivefold. Also there was an explosion in the growth of the big cities and the industrial revolution and its effects are seen even until the current day. Overall the industrialization has led to a large hop in the economy of the country along with the general public receiving a lot out of the changes as well. It has been a complete win – win situation for both the nation as well the ordinary ...Download file to see next pagesRead More Marx observed the class struggle in which the oppressed reacted against the oppressors. He also described the victory of one class as a pavement to future freedom of the rest of the society and the generations to come. In the past Britain history, several groups emerged each claiming the authority over the other. This necessity led to industrialization or what is known as import substitution industrialization. ISI led to the development of industrial base in the country. ISI allowed the local supply of consumer goods, difficult to be imported at extremely high rates prevalent in the world after the Second World War. These factors affect and determine the rates of industrialization for a particular country. This explains the reasons as to why there are varying levels and rates of industrialization in different countries all over the world. For instance, states like the US and Germany have made considerable strides in industrialization and these are comparable to other countries such as the Soviet Union, Japan, China and the UK. It can also be defined as a government system by which the sovereignty is kept by people and the citizens of that system directly exercise them. (Ernest Dale 2007) Democracy is one of the powerful sources that are being practiced almost in every country of the world except few. For many a layman, economic development, which actually means the amount of investments and the amount of capital formation, that leads to savings and investments and capital formation, is just a higher standard of living, better facilities in the form of infrastructure and vehicles, better roads and buildings, more recreation centers. The industrialisation took place almost in all the countries, but its effects varied from country to country. The industrialization determines the power of a nation in the modern world. Modern industrialization is often dated as having its origins Many people were employed in the manufacturing companies that were expanding rapidly. The new industries employed close to 10 million people in the early 20th century. Even though employment opportunities were created through the development of The view of rocks below reminded me of the long way down if I fall. There was no firm guardrail and the only thing I had to rely on was my footedness, and I was not so sure of it. My legs began to shake and the cold sweat broke out. Suddenly the world started to blur and my thoughts began to take over. 3 Pages(750 words)Essay GOT A TRICKY QUESTION? RECEIVE AN ANSWER FROM STUDENTS LIKE YOU! Let us find you another Essay on topic Industrialization for FREE!
When referencing an article that appears in a newspaper, it is important that the article is cited. Citing the article lets readers know where you obtained the information from and gives the author of the article credit for the information you obtained from the article. Description: This article explains how to properly cite a newspaper article. If you are using information that you acquired from a newspaper article in a piece of content you are writing, it is important that you cite the article. Doing so lets the readers of your content know where you obtained your information from, gives credit to the author of the article, and allows you to avoid being charged with plagiarism. There are a number of formats that can be used to cite a newspaper article. Below, we outline how to create a citation in APA and MLA formats, as they are the two most commonly used formats. APA style is the format used by the American Psychological Association to document sources used in writing. It is generally used by social sciences, such as psychology, sociology, and anthropology, as well as the field of education; however a number of other fields use APA style. The format structure for citing newspaper article in APA format is as follows: (the “p.” above stands for the page number(s) the article was located on in the newspaper). (an example of retrieved from URL would be http://www.washingtonpost.com) MLA stands for Modern Language Association. It is the style that is mostly used to reference information in the humanities and liberal arts, particularly when subject pertain to literature or language. The format for citing a newspaper article in MLA style is as follows: (“p.” stands for the pages of the article) If you use information from a newspaper article, it is important that you cite the article in your content. Your citation should be referenced at the end of your content in a works cited section. If you fail to cite the article that you have acquired information from, you run the risk of being penalized for plagiary. Moreover, citations make you a more credible resource.
Throughout this course we have discussed some of the important topics surrounding assessment. There is no question that assessment is important as we have learned over the last four weeks, but it is also a heavily debated topic in education. According to Wortham (2012), “Assessments in the early childhood years have many purposes; some are beneficial for young children, and others are detrimental” (p. 21). Reflecting back over your coursework so far, as a caregiver, teacher or practitioner, how do the benefits of assessments at any age level directly relate to you and your work with children? What do you feel Wortham means in the above quote that assessments can be detrimental? What might the impact of these detriments be for the child, for you as the caregiver, and for the families? In what ways might culture impact assessments (i.e. language barriers)? Finally, think back to how you viewed assessment at the start of this course. How have your views of assessment changed? How will the knowledge you have gained of assessment support you in your future work with children?
Sometimes the permanent teeth erupt behind the primary teeth in children, before they are lost. Many parents become concerned if they see the permanent teeth coming behind the primary teeth in their child's mouth. With this child develops double rows of teeth. This condition is sometimes referred to as “Shark teeth”. The name comes from the fact that sharks also have a double row of teeth. It is a common condition and occurs in about 10 percent of all children. These are most commonly seen in the lower incisors region, but they can also occur at the upper incisors or primary molars region. It can occur at any time, but are most common during two periods in a child's development. The first time is around age of 6 yrs, when the lower incisors erupt. The second is around age of 10 to11 yrs, when the upper premolars erupt. Causes of Shark Tooth During the normal development, the permanent tooth slowly resorbs the primary tooth root when it erupts under it. When the root is almost completely lost, the primary tooth loses its attachment and falls out of the tooth socket. The permanent tooth then moves and erupts into the empty space. Normally the permanent teeth develop lingual to the primary teeth, so any kind of deviation of permanent tooth from normal position can lead to retained primary tooth. Another condition causing retention of primary teeth is crowding of the dentition. The new tooth then erupts behind the primary tooth by taking the path of least resistance. This ultimately ends up with two rows of teething in child’s mouth. Treatment of shark Teeth If you find that both permanent and temporary teeth are there in your child’s mouth for more than three weeks then it is advised to take him/her to pedodontist. It is important to monitor permanent tooth eruption. No two teeth should occupy the same space at the same time period. The dentist will evaluate the condition and decide according to the situation. Extraction of milk teeth required Though it is not an emergency situation, but it should be treated. If the retained primary teeth are not removed, it may lead to the development of various malocclusions such as crowding, narrow dental arch, cross bite in the resulting permanent dentition. If the primary tooth is getting mobile and the permanent tooth continues to erupt, the primary tooth will fall out and the situation corrects itself. Once the permanent tooth erupts completely behind the primary tooth, there is nothing to push or resorb the root. This allows the primary tooth to stay in place. A dentist will usually extract the primary tooth and create space for the permanent tooth to erupt. In most of the cases, the permanent tooth will come into position in a few weeks or months time. The normal tongue movements will push the malaligned permanent teeth into line. In some cases still there is not enough space for the permanent tooth to move into the position even after the primary tooth is removed. In these cases, proximal slicing or disking of adjacent teeth may be performed. However, orthodontic treatment may be required in some severe cases.
As comets blaze across the night sky, they can bring wonder and excitement to those watching from Earth – or even a sense of impending doom. In the past, people debated what comets even are – an atmospheric phenomenon, a fire in the sky, a star with a broom-like tail? You’ll get a chance to see which visual description you think fits best this month: Comet 46P/Wirtanen is expected to make an appearance in mid-December that may well be visible even to the naked eye. Anatomy of a comet Through Edmond Halley’s study in the 17th century of what became known as Halley’s comet, astronomers realized comets are within our solar system. They have highly elliptical or elongated orbits around the sun. Some have orbits that extend well beyond Pluto while some stay relatively close. When comets are farther out in the solar system, they’re not much to look at. They’re often compared to dirty snowballs. But unlike a rocky asteroid, a comet also has volatile frozen gases such as methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and ammonia along with their nucleus of rock, ice and dust. As a comet gets closer to the sun, heat causes the comet’s volatile elements to turn from solid into gas in a process called sublimation. As water, methane, carbon dioxide, and ammonia are released, it creates the tail comets are known for, as well as a bright cloud called a coma around its nucleus. Comets actually have two distinct tails: one a dust tail, the other an ion or gas tail. Solar wind and radiation pressure push the tails away from the sun. Ultraviolet light ionizes some of the tail material, creating a charged gas that interacts with the charged solar wind and ends up pointing directly away from the sun. The noncharged dust tail still follows the comet’s orbit, resulting in a more curved tail. As a comet goes through this process, it will brighten, making for a great show for stargazers – or rather, cometgazers. Predicting how bright a comet will be is notoriously difficult though, since it’s never clear exactly how the gases will behave. Even measuring the brightness is tricky. Unlike the way a star’s brightness is concentrated into a single point from our perspective on Earth, a comet’s brightness is diffused over a larger area. A visit from 46P/Wirtanen Astronomer Carl Wirtanen discovered his namesake comet in 1948. He was a skilled object hunter and used photos of the night sky to spot the quickly moving object, at least astronomically speaking. Comet 46P/Wirtanen’s orbit keeps it pretty near to the sun. Its aphelion, or farthest point from the sun, is about 5.1 astronomical units (AU), which is just a tad bigger than Jupiter’s orbit. Its perihelion, or closest approach to the sun, is about 1 AU, just about the Earth’s distance from the sun. This path takes about 5.4 years to complete, meaning it comes back into view quite frequently compared to other famous comets. Right now, it is approaching its perihelion. Its closest point to the sun will fall on Dec. 16 – which is why it will be brightest on this day. Comet 46P/Wirtanen is a particularly active comet – called a hyperactive comet – and tends to be brighter than other comets of a similar size. This makes it a good candidate for viewing. Predictions suggest it will be as bright as a magnitude 3, which is a little brighter than the dimmest star in the Big Dipper, Megrez. However, there are some predictions that keep it beyond naked eye visibility at a brightest magnitude of only 7.6. The dimmest object visible with the naked human eye is magnitude 6, under perfect observing conditions. If those magnitudes seem a little off, it’s because astronomers use a backwards system. The smaller the number, the brighter the object. To try to see this comet, get to as dark a sky as you can on Dec. 16, when it will be at its brightest. It will be between the constellation Taurus and the Pleiades star cluster. If you cannot see Comet 46P/Wirtanen with your naked eye, use binoculars or a small telescope to catch a glimpse. The comet is already in the sky, but requires a telescope. You can start following now using maps showing its position night by night. Its location in the sky also means it is visible for all but Earth’s extreme southernmost latitudes. The comet’s position near Taurus makes it ideal for spotting all night long. Taurus is just in the east after the sunset and moves toward the west throughout the night. May you have clear skies for observing. You can decide for yourself whether this comet will be an omen of good or bad luck for 2019.
Talking Trash About the Oceans This Talking Trash About the Oceans lesson plan also includes: - Join to access all included materials Students create a community service advertising campaign that raises awareness about the importance of keeping trash out of the marine ecosystem. They work in teams to create different ad campaigns geared toward particular target audiences. 4 Views 20 Downloads - Activities & Projects - Graphics & Images - Handouts & References - Lab Resources - Learning Games - Lesson Plans - Primary Sources - Printables & Templates - Professional Documents - Study Guides - Graphic Organizers - Writing Prompts - Constructed Response Items - AP Test Preps - Lesson Planet Articles - Interactive Whiteboards - All Resource Types - Show All See similar resources: Turning the Tide on Trash: Marine Debris Curriculum The lessons in this learning guide are designed to increase youngsters' awareness of the impacts of marine debris and to teach them about pollution prevention techniques. This fabulous, 30-page packet is chock full of important... 4th - 9th Science 13 Misconceptions About Global Warming With so much information floating around about global warming, how can we tell what's really going on? Examine the evidence through a video from Veritasium to sift through everything we hear. The narrator presents convincing data when... 7 mins 9th - Higher Ed Science CCSS: Adaptable Breaking News English: Noise Pollution in the Oceans In this noise pollution in the oceans worksheet, learners read the article, answer true and false questions, complete synonym matching, complete phrase matching, complete a gap fill, answer short answer questions, answer discussion... 5th - 10th English Language Arts
Sun has a heart beat NASA scientists have discovered that the sun has a pulse which may ultimately control the solar eruptions and storms that Earth has recently experienced. The 'pulse', described in the latest edition of Science, is actually currents of gas flowing deep inside the sun which speed and slacken every 16 months. NASA scientists are hopeful that the pulse could help them identify the origin and operation of the solar cycle. Dr. Rachel Howe of the National Science Foundation's National Solar Observatory in Tucson, Arizona, and her colleagues made the discovery, based on pooled observations from the Michelson Doppler Imager on the SOHO spacecraft, and from a worldwide chain of ground stations called the GONG (Global Oscillation Network Group). Scientists have spent many years trying to pinpoint exactly where the solar cycle has its origin. The theory of how the solar cycle works is based around a solar dynamo, an area within the sun that generates a large scale magnetic field. Because magnetic fields are produced by moving electric charges, relative motions between neighboring layers of electrified gas supposedly drive the dynamo. As the years pass, so the theory goes, the magnetic field becomes too strong for the gas to hold. As a result, the magnetic field breaks out to the solar surface, creating active regions with sunspots and magnetic explosions. The changes now observed are at the right depth for a dynamo - about a third of the way to the centre of the Sun. This region supposedly harbours the dynamo region (the tachocline), where the turbulent outer region, the convective zone, meets the orderly interior, or radiative zone. The speed of the gas in this "dynamo" region changes abruptly. Near the Equator the outer gas travels around the Sun's axis of rotation faster than the inner gas. The difference in speed between the two layers gradually diminishes as latitude increases, until at the polar regions, the situation is reversed, with the inner gas rotating faster than the outer gas.
Describe on preventative management technique for class control. establishing a strongly support, understanding, and behavior conditioning for a "freeze" and listen phase pared with a "when I say go..." leading phrase before directions. This greatly lowers stress levels and increases understanding of directions. Describe two note taking methods along with their strengths and weaknesses. Outline method: this is the most usual note taking format. It lays out data, chronologically as it is presented by the content or instructor, in a hierarchically tiered bullet point structure. This is a useful method for detailing order-of-event or "who-did-what" points of learning while being weak for showing interrelation of ideas. Mind-map method: in this specially oriented method the learner takes down ideas on paper as the ideas flow and connect with eachother. The central idea or big concept sits at the center of the page with sub-ideas, supports, and interrelated ideas branching out from center. This method is strong for showing interrelation of ideas, promoting ease of synthesis, but weak for order-of-events. Also, known to be useful as a prewriting tool to prepare mind for constructing cohesive paragraphs. Describe the origin and insertion points of the biceps femoris. Origin: Middle third of the linea aspera, lateral to the supracondylar ridge of the femur. Insertion: Joining with the long head in the distal thigh, it attaches to the styloid process of the fibular head forming a semicircle around the lateral fibular collateral ligament. Function: both heads of the biceps femoris aid primarily in knee flexion.
Our first thought when we hear this word, is of physical abuse. However, there are different types of bullying, and physical is only one of 5! Throughout the media and the schoolyard, kids say, “He’s bullying me!” When we hear the word “bullying” we listen and jump to action. Or do we? Is it becoming overused like the boy who cried wolf? Kids have always been mean to each other. With media reports of preteen and teen suicides and acts of violence tied to bullying, parents need to know what bullying is, what it isn’t, and how to help kids respond. According to a new bullying law in my state, bullying occurs when someone harms a child on purpose, the behavior is done over time, is repeated, unwanted and where there is an imbalance of power. The different types of bullying are: Physical bullying: A physical contact hurting or injuring a child. Verbal bullying: Name-calling, making offensive remarks or joking about a person’s gender, religion, ethnicity, social status or the way they look. Indirect bullying: Spreading rumors or stories about someone or excluding someone from a group on purpose. Intimidation: When a person threatens someone else and frightens that person enough to make him or her do what the instigator wants them to do. Cyber bullying: Done by sending messages, pictures, or information with electronic devices or through the internet and social media. When a child is being bullied (being harmed on purpose, unwanted, over time, repeatedly, when there’s an imbalance of power), he or she needs to be empowered to respond and not be affected by intimidation or ridicule. 5 Basic strategies for responding to different types of bullying behavior include: Walking away. This is the least risky to a child and should be the first response instead of standing and taking verbal abuse. If at school, a child can walk towards a public location or where there are other groups of people or adults. Changing the subject. When a target (the person being bullied) of bullying behavior plays into the conversation, they are taking the perpetrator’s bait. When a target changes the subject, he or she may catch the bully off guard while showing he isn’t entering the bully’s trap. Using humor. Responding with a humorous comeback also catches the bully off guard and shows him or her that intimidation tactics aren’t effective. If there’s a crowd witnessing the situation, it also gives bystanders an opportunity to turn the conversation to something else. Telling an adult or reporting anonymously to a parent, school official, law enforcement or other trusted adults. Telling the perpetrator to stop the behavior. This gives the target power to voice their authority over their space, personhood and property. However, this may be risky for a target depending on their age and situation. Giving a child other responses to bullying behavior is important because telling the perpetrator to stop, in some cases, could escalate the bully’s behavior. Helping kids know they have power to set boundaries around their mind, body, and emotions gives them strength to respond to bullying behavior when it happens. It’s also helpful when children aren’t being bullied (repeated, overtime, etc.), but are still dealing with conflict with friends and mean peers. Not all mean behavior is bullying. Kids need to have tools to respond to mean behavior whether it’s one-time (not bullying) or repeated behavior over time (bullying). Kids need to be empowered in today’s world of increasing violence and aggression. What are ways you empower your children? What are tools they’ve used to stand up to aggressive behavior?
Perhaps the most common objection I hear to using math games and enrichment activities is, “I don’t have the time. I can’t even get through our regular math book!” Well, here’s one possible solution: Use a “Minimalist Math” outline to guide your instruction, turning your regular textbook into a backup resource, teaching only the topics your children don’t already know, leaving more time free for exploration and playful discovery. Minimalist Math: Getting Down to Basics Michelle at ResearchParent.com condensed the elementary math curriculum down to 360 problems per year, just 10 per week. Take just a few puzzles each day, and talk math with your kids: - What do they notice in the problem? - Does it remind them of anything? - How might they try to figure it out? - Does it make them wonder about numbers, shapes, or patterns? Use colorful markers on a whiteboard for low-stress exploration. If your children can solve a problem and explain their reasoning, you don’t need to study that topic. When they get stuck, ask leading questions to help them think it through. If you’re both stymied, that’s when you pull out your regular textbook (or look the topic up online). Practice with Games Of course, children still need plenty of practice to master the math facts and solidify their knowledge. Since you’re not spending as much time on lessons and homework, you can plan on playing lots of math games. Games are a fun, low-stress way to firm up math skills. Read Library Books To enrich your child’s mind with the great ideas of mathematics and whet their appetite for learning, nothing beats a “living” math book. A living book is one that brings our minds into direct contact with the great ideas of life. Check out my Math with Living Books lists to get started, and ask your librarian for more suggestions. For Older Students Michelle’s Minimalist Math Curriculum goes through 5th grade (so far). But you could use the Corbettmaths 5-a-Day problems in the same way for older students. And for enrichment activities to fill up your free math time, I can’t think of a better resource for all ages than the NrichMaths website. “When I first started homeschooling, math became the most overwhelming, unpleasant part of our day. As someone who loves math, I didn’t want to continue on a path that was leading to such bad attitudes. “My Minimalist Math Curriculum covers the same breadth of topics as a traditional curriculum without all the repetition. You are welcome to use what I created in whatever way serves your family.” — Michelle, Research Parent Mathematics Activities for Kids
Throughout the 1890s South Australia was at the forefront of the Federation movement that created the Commonwealth of Australia from six British colonies. Strong support across factional boundaries saw colonial leaders working powerfully together in the cause. They provided articulate and influential delegates to the national constitutional conventions. In the community a vigorous campaign ensured that at two referendums both men and women in South Australia voted overwhelmingly in favour of Federation, 67.4 per cent and 79.5 per cent respectively, the third-highest votes, next to Tasmania and Victoria. 1840s - 1890s This had not always been the case. When the first proposals for Federation were made in the 1840s and 1850s, South Australia was the strongest opponent. Opposition was based on the supposed incompatibility between freely settled South Australia and the convict taint of the other colonies. There was also fear that South Australia would either be devoured by New South Wales or become a mere outstation of Victoria. By the 1860s South Australia was more conscious of the need for duty-free trade access to her eastern neighbours, was developing commercial links with Western Australia, and had acquired administrative responsibility for the Northern Territory. South Australia initiated the first significant intercolonial conference in 1863, and was an extremely active participant in each of the subsequent 11 major intercolonial conferences to 1890. The Federal Council of Australasia was established in 1886 as a way of ensuring a national approach on a number of issues without compromising the participants’ sovereignty. Here South Australia, like New South Wales, was more equivocal, joining for only two years on a trial basis (1889–90). 1890s - 1900s The economic depression of the late 1880s and 1890s exposed the colony’s vulnerability and acted as a spur to Federation. Its agricultural base made intercolonial free trade and imperial preference vital to continued survival. As the end-user of the Murray–Darling river system, South Australia recognised that issues of water quantity and irrigation could only be solved by national management of upstream waters. A federal government alone would have the means to build railway links to the west and north, standardising the gauge as it did so. Only a federal government could relieve South Australia of the financial burden of the Northern Territory’s development. Federation would facilitate the servicing and supply of Broken Hill just over the eastern colonial border and the newly discovered Western Australian goldfields. Its central location could then be truly turned to advantage. So it is not surprising that South Australian leaders played such a prominent role from the time of the Melbourne Constitutional Conference in 1890 until Federation was accomplished in 1901. Pre-eminent among them was Charles Cameron Kingston, who drafted a Constitution for circulation before the 1891 convention in Sydney and took a leading role there. In concert with Thomas Playford, he advocated the ‘Compromise of 1891’ on the handling of financial bills in the federal parliament, without which the big colonies would not have accepted a senate comprised of equal numbers of representatives of the states. When progress stalled, Kingston, by then premier of South Australia, was instrumental in getting New South Wales’s George Reid to call a conference of premiers to Hobart in 1895 to authorise a new convention of directly elected delegates, whose work would then be submitted to the electors for endorsement by referendum, thus by-passing the intransigent colonial parliaments. Kingston, having contrived to hold the first 1897 session of the convention in Adelaide, became its president. His vigorous support for a democratic constitution and his advocacy of conciliation and arbitration powers helped garner support from the sceptical Labor movement in the subsequent referendums. Kingston was among the delegation sent to London in 1900 to steer the bill through the British parliament. His unyielding refusal to see the ‘peoples’’ bill interfered with was critical in keeping proposed British changes to a minimum. All the other South Australian delegates made their mark on the constitution and advanced the cause. In 1891 John Cockburn supported universal adult suffrage for all elections to federal parliament, including preservation of the voting rights of Aboriginal peoples. John Downer was a strong advocate of equal power for the senate, and opposed an elected governor-general on the grounds that this would detract from his constitutional and ceremonial role. John Gordon had a great interest in interstate trade, the River Murray and railways. In both 1891 and 1897–98 he successfully advocated an interstate commission to enforce the Commonwealth’s trade and commerce power and adjudicate on disputes over trade, river commerce and railways. At the 1897–98 convention the South Australian delegation often acted as a broker between the biggest and the smallest two colonies. Alfred Deakin of Victoria observed that ‘measured on all round ability the SA delegation was undoubtedly the strongest’ (The Federal Story, p. 59), and Bernhard Wise of New South Wales asserted that the first feature of the convention was ‘the immense superiority of the SA delegation over that from any other colony’ (The Making of the Commonwealth, p. 236). All South Australian delegates made significant speeches and committee contributions to key clauses of the Constitution. Richard Baker became the chairman of committees; his Manual of Reference comparing other federal systems was influential, while Downer was a member of the three-man drafting committee with Barton and O’Connor of New South Wales. The familiarity of the South Australians with deadlocks between the houses, with the use of a referendum to gauge public opinion on controversial matters, and with the women’s franchise and its impact on voting patterns, influenced all aspects of the convention proceedings. Of the new delegates in 1897, all well-known and experienced politicians, Josiah Symon was chairman of the Judiciary Committee, which devised the High Court of Australia and insisted on it being the final court of appeal without recourse to the Privy Council in Britain. Frederick Holder, an innovative and successful colonial treasurer, was author of a number of the financial clauses. James Howe made his mark through his battle to empower the Commonwealth to provide invalid and old age pensions. Patrick McMahon Glynn is best known for his equally long battle to insert a reference to God in the preamble to the Constitution, and his role in the River Murray debates. Vaiben Solomon, the Northern Territory representative in the South Australian parliament, joined debate on many issues, including the defence power, deadlocks between houses and altering the Constitution. An active popular movement in South Australia including the Australian Natives Association and the Commonwealth League strongly campaigned for the federal cause. Women had the vote and the right to stand for office in South Australia, and Catherine Helen Spence stood unsuccessfully but with great public impact as a delegate for the Convention. During the referendum campaigns women were welcomed at all meetings, unlike one instance in New South Wales when Edmund Barton banned them. Organisations such as the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union played a key role by raising the profile and temperature of the campaign. Conservatives such as Baker and Downer thought the senate would provide a safety barrier from socialistic excesses, while progressive radicals like Kingston saw the national parliament as a way to transfer the benefits of universal suffrage and popular democracy throughout the nation. But they shared a vision of South Australia as an important part of a new nation contributing to society in ways that would make Australia the envy of the world. In 1901 eight of the delegates entered the national parliament. Kingston became a member of Barton’s ministry, Holder the first Speaker of the House, Baker, first President of the Senate, and three others were subsequently Commonwealth ministers. The South Australian Clerk of Parliaments and chief administrator of the Convention, Edwin Blackmore, became the first Clerk of the Senate. Thus South Australia’s influence was appropriately transferred to the national level. While after World War I in a number of areas the promise of advantage under the Commonwealth was not fulfilled, in particular with regard to the railway network and regulation of the River Murray, South Australia benefited from the Commonwealth’s placement of World War II industries and the post-war immigration program, and overall has done well from fiscal equalisation under Federation. J.C. Bannon, The Crucial Colony (Canberra, 1994) G. Craven (ed.), The Convention Debates, 1891–1898 (Sydney, 1986) H. Irving (ed.), The Centenary Companion to Australian Federation (Melbourne, 1999) J.A. La Nauze, The Making of the Australian Constitution (Melbourne, 1972) S. Macintyre (ed.), And Be One People (Melbourne, 1995)
Hydrogen has been produced with electricity from Renewables and it has been used as a storage medium. Now when needed by demand unable to be satisfied from intermittent Renewables, it needs to be used to produce energy. Several ways are possible or under development: 1.Hydrogen Fuel Cells 2.Internal Combustion Engine driven generators 3.Hydrogen Combustion Turbine driven generators. Hydrogen Fuel Cells can be assumed for use in typical commercial and industrial applications until such time as other technologies become more commonly deployed. The assumed facility could have a modular series of stacks for Hydrogen production, storage, and energy production. With Renewables producing the initial energy, these Hydrogen solutions would ensure the complete facility would be 100% RE during intermittencies.
When measuring the speed at which far-flung galaxies move, do scientists factor in account that they are seeing the way the galaxies moved in the past? Could this impact Hubble's Law? Let's start with the basics: Our universe is expanding. How do we know this? Astronomers have piled up observations, over many decades, which suggest that other galaxies appear to be moving away from our own Milky Way galaxy (and from each other) at fantastic speeds. There are some small deviations from this pattern, but if you were to "pan the camera back" and take in the universe as a whole, the overall sense would be that galaxies are rushing away from each other, with farther galaxies moving away proportionally faster - a paradigm known as Hubble's Law. What would the universe look like from this point of view? A good analogy for the expanding universe comes from Martin Gardner, a popular science writer who was also a longtime columnist for Scientific American: Imagine a gigantic blob of dough with a bunch of raisins embedded throughout; the dough represents space, and the raisins represent the galaxies. Now, if someone puts the dough in the oven, it will expand or, more accurately, stretch, keeping the same proportions as it had before, but with all the distances between raisins getting bigger as time goes on. Astronomers use something called the "Hubble constant" to measure how fast this expansion is taking place. The measured value of the Hubble constant can be written in many ways, but the way I like to write it is 0.007 percent per million years. This means that every million years, the distances between galaxies all stretch by around 0.007 percent. So what does this number really tell us? For one thing, it tells us that the universe is very old. If one were to go back millions of years, the universe would look pretty much the same as it does now. As long as you stick to measuring galaxies within, say, a hundred million light-years of our own, you can be assured that the universe will not have changed much in the time it took light to travel from those galaxies to us. But what if you're measuring a galaxy that's a few billion light-years away? In that case, the universe has changed significantly as the light has traveled. Astronomers no longer measure Hubble's Law for these galaxies due to a whole host of problems: If you were to try to measure the "distance" to one of these galaxies, which distance would you get? The distance when the light was emitted? Or the distance the light traveled to reach us (which includes some extra distance because the universe expanded while the light was moving through it, like a runner on an ever stretching racetrack)? Or would you measure the distance that the galaxy is from us currently, which is the largest of them all? Similar problems exist with speed: the Hubble constant changes with time, and depending on how it changes, individual galaxies might be speeding up or slowing down. So when you talk about speed, are you talking about the speed when the light was emitted, the speed now, or something in between? In short, it's all a big mess. The way to get around this is to stop thinking about distance and speed and to focus on properties that astronomers can measure directly. One thing that astronomers can actually measure is the redshift - as light travels through the expanding universe, the light gets stretched by the same factor that the universe does, causing its wavelength to increase. Since red light has longer wavelengths than blue light, this means that the color of light will move more toward the red end of the spectrum. And instead of distance, astronomers look at objects of known power inside the galaxies (typically type 1a supernovae) and measure how bright they appear. This is a bit like taking a 60-watt lightbulb and moving it to farther and farther distances. As long as we can be sure that the bulb remains at 60 watts, we know that the fainter it appears, the farther away it must be. Redshift and brightness may be less intuitive than speed and distance, but at least they're precisely defined. And they're also very useful. Just like an amateur cook might be able to figure out a restaurant's raisin-bread recipe by baking his own bread over and over again and tasting the final results, astronomers can figure out the expansion of the "raisin bread" universe by generating theoretical models for the relationship between redshift and brightness under different scenarios (in particular, by allowing the Hubble constant to evolve with time in different ways) and throwing away the models that don't fit the observed data. The results obtained over the past decade very clearly favor models in which the individual galaxies are speeding up - in other words, an accelerating universe. This page was last updated on June 27, 2015
Glomerular Filtration Rate, the measure of kidney function is the test to describe the flow rate of filtered fluid (how much blood passes) from glomerular capillaries into bowman’s capsule of the kidney. Glomeruli of kidney purifies blood. GFR is calculated by creatinine filtration rate. Glomerular filtration rate(GFR) is testing , how well the kidneys are working. It estimates how much blood passes through the glomeruli per minute specifically. Glomeruli are present in kidneys to filter waste from the blood.Early kidney damage and kidney status can be screened and detected by eGFR. It is done by a creatinine test and calculating the estimated glomerular filtration rate. A GFR under 60 mL/min/1.73 m² may mean kidney disease-the lower the GFR number, the worse the kidney function.In some cases, GFR may also be estimated with a 24-hour urine collection. Related Journals of Glomerular Filtration Rate Journal of Kidney, Journal of Nephrology & Therapeutics, Nephron - Clinical Practice, Nephro-Urology Monthly, Nephrologe, Nephrologie et Therapeutique.
Eugen Sänger was born on September 22, 1905, in Prebnitz, Bohemia (then part of Austria-Hungary, now under Prisecnice Lake in the Czech Republic.) Sänger first studied civil engineering at the University of Technology in Graz, Austria, but after reading Hermann Oberth’s The Rocket into Interplanetary Space in 1923, he switched to a course in aeronautics. As aeronautics was not considered a serious subject by his professors, he was not allowed to graduate with a thesis on rockets so instead, he wrote one about experimental airfoil design, graduating in 1931. In 1932, Sänger began testing rocket engines at the University of Technology in Vienna, where he was an assistant researcher, developing different designs of combustion chambers. Sänger’s influential book Raketenflugtechnik (Rocket Flight Engineering) was published in 1933. This was the first treatise on rocketry by an academic professional and the first scientific study of the concept of space planes. In October 1933, Sänger proposed the development of a rocket-powered hypersonic bomber to the Austrian army, and later that year he began rocket engine tests, exploring various propellants and additives. On February 3, 1934, however, the Austrian Defense Ministry rejected Sänger’s proposed rocket bomber, due to their mistaken belief that liquid rocket engines would never be feasible due to the explosive nature of the chemical reactions involved. Undeterred, he continued his experiments and by 1935, Eugen Sänger perfected a “regeneratively cooled” liquid-fueled rocket engine that used its own fuel, circulating around the combustion chamber, to control engine temperatures. This engine eventually produced an astounding 10,000 feet per second exhaust velocity, as compared to the later V-2 rocket’s thrust of only 6560 feet per second. In June 1935 and February 1936, Sänger’s articles in the Austrian aviation magazine Flug (Flight) on rocket-powered aircraft attracted wide attention. In 1936, Sänger accepted a position from the German High Command to be head of the development center for jet engines in Trauen, Germany. The Germans set up a secret aerospace research institute for Sänger to develop and build his “Silverbird,” a manned, winged vehicle that could reach orbit then descend back into the atmosphere. As its proposed range would enable it to reach the United States, it was also known as the “Amerika Bomber.” Sänger had been working on this concept for years and had already begun designing liquid-fuel rocket engines for his proposed space plane. During World War II, Sänger designed combustion chambers providing a thrust of up to 100 tons as well as working on jet propulsion. He also constructed ramjet engines, which he tested on a Dornier 217 heavy bomber in April 1942. Assisted by physicist Irene Bredt, Sänger continued his research on the Amerika Bomber. The final design of what they called the “Sänger-Bredt Antipodal Bomber” was produced in August 1944, fortunately too late to play a role in World War II. After the war, with captured designs of the Sänger-Bredt bomber as their starting point, the American government developed the X-15 rocket plane, the X-20 Dynasoar space plane, and the Space Shuttle, while the Soviet Union used Sänger’s data for their Burya and Buran intercontinental cruise missiles. With the exception of the X-15 and the Shuttle, however, all of these projects were eventually canceled. After the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945, Sänger refused to work for the Americans or the British, and in 1946 he and Irene Bredt moved to France. For the next eight years, they worked for the French government as consultants to what would later be Nord Aviation at Chatillon. Sänger studied problems connected with rocket and large ramjet engines. He and Bredt married in 1951 and continued their work on several French missile programs until the mid 1950s. In September 1954, West Germany was permitted to resume aerospace research, and Sänger and Bredt returned to their homeland to become director and vice-director, respectively, of their new Institute for the Physics of Jet Propulsion in Stuttgart. In 1961, Sänger and his wife were implicated in a secret Egyptian plan to develop ballistic missiles. Although they denied any involvement Sänger was forced to resign his position as director of the institute in November 1961. Bredt lost her post in June 1962 and their institute was taken over by the West German government. Sänger then took a position with the Junkers Works and from 1961 to 1964 helped design spacecraft. In 1963, Eugen Sänger became a professor at the Technical University of Berlin but died on February 10, 1964. Irene Bredt survived her husband by nineteen years and was honored with the Hermann Oberth Gold Medal for her body of scientific work in 1970. Many of Sänger’s visionary proposals have yet to be realized. In the 1950s, he produced a design for a photon rocket that would use gamma rays produced by the annihilation of electrons with positrons for its propulsion, an innovation still under study. His concept of a spacecraft capable of “skipping” off of the earth’s atmosphere has yet to be accomplished, though the American government is planning on producing a “HyperSoar” aircraft that would use this technique, perhaps by as early as 2010. The clearest evidence of Eugen Sänger’s genius is that many of the ideas he proposed in the 1930s are still valid but will require more advances in technology to become reality.
Revisit and practise the sounds you have been looking at this week. Share the book you have been reading. With an adult, using one of the weblinks below, follow instructions on how to make a rocket. Each video shows a different way to make a rocket: Once your rocket is complete, talk about how you made it using sequencing words such as: first, next, then, finally and doing words such as cut, stick, glue, tape, put etc. Remember to retell the instructions in the correct order! Today, there are some different activities for you to do. You can choose any you like-even to do all of them if you want. A couple of the activities are linked to Chinese New Year, which was 12th February this year. If you would like to get paints out, why not create a printed pattern. Try to think of different objects (that can be washed or thrown away) to print with, eg. Lego bricks, different sizes of bottle lids, a comb, an old toothbrush. Make sure a grown up helps you to choose things that you can use for your printing.
In today’s world, allotting time for unstructured play is one of the most important things you can do for them. In fact, children spend more than seven hours glued to a screen but only 4-7 minutes actively engaged in outdoor play. While unstructured play doesn’t necessarily need to take place outdoors, it does engage children in active and imaginative play. It allows them to learn about themselves and the world around them in a way they cannot when activities are directed and orderly. What’s Unstructured Play? Unstructured play is unplanned, creative play where children make up their own rules. This type of play can happen anywhere, and it doesn’t require any special equipment or toys — although sometimes simple props can be used. During unstructured play, children are encouraged to explore their imaginations and learn problem-solving skills. Examples of Unstructured Play There are many different types of unstructured play. Here are some examples: - Playing outside games - Drawing with chalk on the sidewalk - Building towers out of blocks - Making up a dance routine - Playing on playground equipment - Telling stories Why Is Unstructured Play Important? Unstructured play is an integral part of child development, allowing exploration of their environment with creativity and wonder. It also allows children to practice creative thinking, self-regulation and stress reduction, and is an opportunity for children to make friends. Unstructured play helps children to develop their problem-solving skills. When left to play independently, they face challenges and obstacles. To overcome these challenges, they will need to use their problem-solving skills. During free playtime, children often come up with their own ideas, allowing them to solve problems without adult supervision. When you give children the freedom to play without rules or structure, they use their imagination to generate new ideas. To help facilitate creative thinking, parents should limit children’s screen time. “Bored” children will use their creative thinking to fill the gaps in their schedules. Unstructured play gives children the opportunity to interact with each other, teaching them how to communicate and work together. As children develop listening and sharing skills, while also building empathy and acceptance of others’ feelings, they learn to take turns, share ideas, and learn social rules during unstructured play — skills they will need as they grow older. Unstructured play can help children develop a sense of purpose and belonging, helping improve mental health. It can help children reduce stress and improve their physical activity levels, while developing a positive self-image and improving self-esteem. While play is often physical, it actually releases the relaxing hormones oxytocin and serotonin, and helps children cope with stress by allowing them to focus on creative outlets. Barriers to Unstructured Play Research on unstructured play shows limitations to its widespread use in society. The primary barriers are the lack of access to both natural and man-made play spaces. Extracurricular activities have taken over children’s free time, and many schools have eliminated recess periods. But there is still a place for free play and its contributions to better academic, emotional, and social outcomes. How Much Creative Play Does My Child Need? Most experts recommend that children have at least 60 minutes of unstructured playtime each day, free from electronic screens and organized activities. It’s important to let kids choose their own activities and explore at their own pace. Fostering creativity and critical thinking in children will help them be successful in their studies, careers, and hobbies. Unstructured Play Ideas If you’re looking for ways to encourage unstructured play, here are ten fun ideas: - Build a fort - Play in the park or on a playground - Play with water - Play tag or hide-and-seek - Draw or paint - Make a sculpture out of natural materials - Play music - Have a picnic - Fly a kite - Go on a nature walk There are also a variety of toys and games your child can engage in to encourage unstructured play. The most important thing is to give children the freedom to play without rules or structure. Let Children Use Items in New Ways Utilizing items in nontraditional ways isn’t just a life hack – it’s a way to foster creativity and imagination. “Divergent thought” is the process of creating multiple, unique ideas through spontaneous, free-flowing thinking that ignores conventional ways of doing things. Encouraging children to be divergent thinkers teaches them to explore all possible solutions to a problem. Think Outside the (Sand) Box When it comes to possibilities, the sandbox is the ultimate blank canvas. Sand is a wonderful manipulative that has endless opportunities for fun and learning. The children can create whatever the eye sees and the mind imagines. Slide into Science The classic playground slide is an ideal candidate for unleashing creativity. Children are naturally curious about gravity and its effects, and they’ll soon realize they aren’t the only thing that can slide down! A word of caution: the hill slide should be supervised, especially when objects such as balls are zooming down the slide. Play it Safe Tag is a classic game, and a wonderful physical activity that develops fundamental movement skills. Variations like freeze tag, choosing multiple taggers, and setting boundaries are simple variations that keep things fresh. Another version we are fond of involves “safe zones” – items or places you cannot be tagged. Getting in (and out of) these safe zones can be a challenge that involves strategy and planning. Create an Environment to Foster Unstructured Play The benefits of unstructured play are clear. It is critical for children to engage in play to develop essential skills they will use throughout their lives. Explore the resources available to you to learn more ways to engage your children or students in unstructured play. Creative, engaging play equipment can help nurture your child’s imagination. Contact us today via our web form or call (800) 541-1954 to discuss the many options we offer.
For more than a decade, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shared the wonders of Saturn and its family of icy moons—taking us to astounding worlds where methane rivers run to a methane sea and where jets of ice and gas are blasting material into space from a liquid water ocean that might harbor the ingredients for life. Cassini revealed in great detail the true wonders of Saturn, a giant world ruled by raging storms and delicate harmonies of gravity. Cassini carried a passenger to the Saturn system, the European Huygens probe—the first human-made object to land on a world in the distant outer solar system. After 20 years in space — 13 of those years exploring Saturn — Cassini exhausted its fuel supply. And so, to protect moons of Saturn that could have conditions suitable for life, Cassini was sent on a daring final mission that would seal its fate. After a series of nearly two dozen nail-biting dives between the planet and its icy rings, Cassini plunged into Saturn’s atmosphere on Sept. 15, 2017, returning science data to the very end. Cassini-Huygens was a mission of firsts. First to orbit Saturn. First landing in the outer solar system. First to sample an extraterrestrial ocean. Cassini expanded our understanding of the kinds of worlds where life might exist. Cassini-Huygens revealed Titan to be one of the most Earth-like worlds we’ve encountered and shed light on the history of our home planet. Cassini was, in a sense, a time machine. It revealed the processes that likely shaped the development of our solar system. Cassini’s long mission enabled us to observe weather and seasonal changes on another planet. Cassini revealed Saturn’s moons to be unique worlds with their own stories to tell. Cassini showed us the complexity of Saturn’s rings and the dramatic processes operating within them. What Cassini found at Saturn prompted scientists to rethink their understanding of the solar system. Cassini represented a staggering achievement of human and technical complexity, finding innovative ways to use the spacecraft. Cassini revealed the beauty of Saturn, its rings and moons, inspiring our sense of wonder. 2.5 million commands executed 4.9 billion miles traveled since launch (7.9 billion kilometers) 635 GB science data collected ~4,000 science papers published 6 named moons discovered 294 orbits completed 162 targeted flybys of Saturn's moons 453,048 images taken 27 nations participated 360 engine burns completed Before the mission ended, Cassini was an already powerful influence on future exploration. In revealing that Enceladus has essentially all the ingredients needed for life, the mission energized a pivot to the exploration of "ocean worlds" that has been sweeping planetary science over the past couple of decades. Lessons learned during Cassini's mission are being applied in planning NASA's Europa Clipper mission, planned for launch in the 2020s. Europa Clipper will make dozens of flybys of Jupiter's ocean moon to investigate its possible habitability, using an orbital tour design derived from the way Cassini explored Saturn. Farther out in the solar system, scientists have long had their eyes set on exploring Uranus and Neptune. So far, each of these worlds has been visited by only one brief spacecraft flyby (Voyager 2, in 1986 and 1989, respectively). Collectively, Uranus and Neptune are referred to as ice giant planets. A variety of potential mission concepts are discussed in a recently completed study, delivered to NASA in preparation for the next Decadal Survey—including orbiters, flybys, and probes that would dive into Uranus' atmosphere to study its composition. Future missions to the ice giants might explore those worlds using an approach similar to Cassini's mission.More Resources Planetary Data System (search for Cassini for all available data)
Scientific name Isoptera Higher classification Blattodea \|Lower classifications Serritermitidae, Rhinotermitidae, Termopsidae, Kalotermes flavicollis\| Similar Rhinotermitidae, Termitidae, Termopsidae, Kalotermitidae These termites turn your house into a palace of poop deep look Termites are eusocial insects that are classified at the taxonomic rank of infraorder Isoptera, or as epifamily Termitoidae within the cockroach order Blattodea. Termites were once classified in a separate order from cockroaches, but recent phylogenetic studies indicate that they evolved from close ancestors of cockroaches during the Jurassic or Triassic. However, the first termites possibly emerged during the Permian or even the Carboniferous. About 3,106 species are currently described, with a few hundred more left to be described. Although these insects are often called "white ants", they are not ants. - These termites turn your house into a palace of poop deep look - Her majesty the termite queen national geographic - Taxonomy and evolution - Distribution and diversity - Caste system - Life cycle - Parasites pathogens and viruses - Locomotion and foraging - Relationship with other organisms - Shelter tubes - As pests - As food - In agriculture - In science and technology - In culture Like ants and some bees and wasps from the separate order Hymenoptera, termites divide labour among castes consisting of sterile male and female "workers" and "soldiers". All colonies have fertile males called "kings" and one or more fertile females called "queens". Termites mostly feed on dead plant material and cellulose, generally in the form of wood, leaf litter, soil, or animal dung. Termites are major detritivores, particularly in the subtropical and tropical regions, and their recycling of wood and plant matter is of considerable ecological importance. Termites are among the most successful groups of insects on Earth, colonising most landmasses except for Antarctica. Their colonies range in size from a few hundred individuals to enormous societies with several million individuals. Termite queens have the longest lifespan of any insect in the world, with some queens reportedly living up to 30 to 50 years. Unlike ants, which undergo a complete metamorphosis, each individual termite goes through an incomplete metamorphosis that proceeds through egg, nymph, and adult stages. Colonies are described as superorganisms because the termites form part of a self-regulating entity: the colony itself. Termites are a delicacy in the diet of some human cultures and are used in many traditional medicines. Several hundred species are economically significant as pests that can cause serious damage to buildings, crops, or plantation forests. Some species, such as the West Indian drywood termite (Cryptotermes brevis), are regarded as invasive species. Her majesty the termite queen national geographic The infraorder name Isoptera is derived from the Greek words iso (equal) and ptera (winged), which refers to the nearly equal size of the fore and hind wings. "Termite" derives from the Latin and Late Latin word termes ("woodworm, white ant"), altered by the influence of Latin terere ("to rub, wear, erode") from the earlier word tarmes. Termite nests were commonly known as terminarium or termitaria. In early English, termites were known as "wood ants" or "white ants". The modern term was first used in 1781. Taxonomy and evolution DNA analysis from 16S rRNA sequences has supported a hypothesis, originally suggested by Cleveland and colleagues in 1934, that these insects are most closely related to wood-eating cockroaches (genus Cryptocercus, the woodroach). This earlier conclusion had been based on the similarity of the symbiotic gut flagellates.in the wood-eating cockroaches to those in certain species of termites regarded as living fossils. In the 1960s additional evidence supporting that hypothesis emerged when F. A. McKittrick noted similar morphological characteristics between some termites and Cryptocercus nymphs. These similarities have led some authors to propose that termites be reclassified as a single family, the Termitidae, within the order Blattodea, which contains cockroaches. Other researchers advocate the more conservative measure of retaining the termites as the Termitoidae, an epifamily within the cockroach order, which preserves the classification of termites at family level and below. The oldest unambiguous termite fossils date to the early Cretaceous, but given the diversity of Cretaceous termites and early fossil records showing mutualism between microorganisms and these insects, they likely originated earlier in the Jurassic or Triassic. Further evidence of a Jurassic origin is the assumption that the extinct Fruitafossor consumed termites, judging from its morphological similarity to modern termite-eating mammals. The oldest termite nest discovered is believed to be from the Upper Cretaceous in West Texas, where the oldest known faecal pellets were also discovered. Claims that termites emerged earlier have faced controversy. For example, F. M. Weesner indicated that the Mastotermitidae termites may go back to the Late Permian, 251 million years ago, and fossil wings that have a close resemblance to the wings of Mastotermes of the Mastotermitidae, the most primitive living termite, have been discovered in the Permian layers in Kansas. It is even possible that the first termites emerged during the Carboniferous. Termites are thought to be the descendants of the genus Cryptocercus. The folded wings of the fossil wood roach Pycnoblattina, arranged in a convex pattern between segments 1a and 2a, resemble those seen in Mastotermes, the only living insect with the same pattern. Krishna et al., though, consider that all of the Paleozoic and Triassic insects tentatively classified as termites are in fact unrelated to termites and should be excluded from the Isoptera. Termites were the first social insects to evolve a caste system, evolving more than 100 million years ago. Termites have long been accepted to be closely related to cockroaches and mantids, and they are classified in the same superorder (Dictyoptera). Strong evidence suggests termites are highly specialised wood-eating cockroaches. The cockroach genus Cryptocercus shares the strongest phylogenetical similarity with termites and is considered to be a sister-group to termites. Termites and Cryptocercus share similar morphological and social features: for example, most cockroaches do not exhibit social characteristics, but Cryptocercus takes care of its young and exhibits other social behaviour such as trophallaxis and allogrooming. The primitive giant northern termite (Mastotermes darwiniensis) exhibits numerous cockroach-like characteristics that are not shared with other termites, such as laying its eggs in rafts and having anal lobes on the wings. Cryptocercidae and Isoptera are united in the clade Xylophagodea. Although termites are sometimes called "white ants", they are actually not ants. Ants belong to the family Formicidae within the order Hymenoptera. The similarity of their social structure to that of termites is attributed to convergent evolution. As of 2013, about 3,106 living and fossil termite species are recognised, classified in 12 families. The infraorder Isoptera is divided into the following clade and family groups, showing the subfamilies in their respective classification: Distribution and diversity Termites are found on all continents except Antarctica. The diversity of termite species is low in North America and Europe (10 species known in Europe and 50 in North America), but is high in South America, where over 400 species are known. Of the 3,000 termite species currently classified, 1,000 are found in Africa, where mounds are extremely abundant in certain regions. Approximately 1.1 million active termite mounds can be found in the northern Kruger National Park alone. In Asia, there are 435 species of termites, which are mainly distributed in China. Within China, termite species are restricted to mild tropical and subtropical habitats south of the Yangtze River. In Australia, all ecological groups of termites (dampwood, drywood, subterranean) are endemic to the country, with over 360 classified species. Due to their soft cuticles, termites do not inhabit cool or cold habitats. There are three ecological groups of termites: dampwood, drywood and subterranean. Dampwood termites are found only in coniferous forests, and drywood termites are found in hardwood forests; subterranean termites live in widely diverse areas. One species in the drywood group is the West Indian drywood termite (Cryptotermes brevis), which is an invasive species in Australia. Termites are usually small, measuring between 4 to 15 millimetres (0.16 to 0.59 in) in length. The largest of all extant termites are the queens of the species Macrotermes bellicosus, measuring up to over 10 centimetres (4 in) in length. Another giant termite, the extinct Gyatermes styriensis, flourished in Austria during the Miocene and had a wingspan of 76 millimetres (3.0 in) and a body length of 25 millimetres (0.98 in). Most worker and soldier termites are completely blind as they do not have a pair of eyes. However, some species, such as Hodotermes mossambicus, have compound eyes which they use for orientation and to distinguish sunlight from moonlight. The alates have eyes along with lateral ocelli. Lateral ocelli, however, are not found in all termites. Like other insects, termites have a small tongue-shaped labrum and a clypeus; the clypeus is divided into a postclypeus and anteclypeus. Termite antennae have a number of functions such as the sensing of touch, taste, odours (including pheromones), heat and vibration. The three basic segments of a termite antenna include a scape, a pedicel (typically shorter than the scape), and the flagellum (all segments beyond the scape and pedicel). The mouth parts contain a maxillae, a labium, and a set of mandibles. The maxillae and labium have palps that help termites sense food and handling. Consistent with all insects, the anatomy of the termite thorax consists of three segments: the prothorax, the mesothorax and the metathorax. Each segment contains a pair of legs. On alates, the wings are located at the mesothorax and metathorax. The mesothorax and metathorax have well-developed exoskeletal plates; the prothorax has smaller plates. Termites have a ten-segmented abdomen with two plates, the tergites and the sternites. The tenth abdominal segment has a pair of short cerci. There are ten tergites, of which nine are wide and one is elongated. The reproductive organs are similar to those in cockroaches but are more simplified. For example, the intromittent organ is not present in male alates, and the sperm is either immotile or aflagellate. However, Mastotermitidae termites have multiflagellate sperm with limited motility. The genitals in females are also simplified. Unlike in other termites, Mastotermitidae females have an ovipositor, a feature strikingly similar to that in female cockroaches. The non-reproductive castes of termites are wingless and rely exclusively on their six legs for locomotion. The alates fly only for a brief amount of time, so they also rely on their legs. The appearance of the legs is similar in each caste, but the soldiers have larger and heavier legs. The structure of the legs is consistent with other insects: the parts of a leg include a coxa, trochanter, femur, tibia and the tarsus. The number of tibial spurs on an individual'S leg varies. Some species of termite have an arolium, located between the claws, which is present in species that climb on smooth surfaces but is absent in most termites. Unlike in ants, the hind-wings and fore-wings are of equal length. Most of the time, the alates are poor flyers; their technique is to launch themselves in the air and fly in a random direction. Studies show that in comparison to larger termites, smaller termites cannot fly long distances. When a termite is in flight, its wings remain at a right angle, and when the termite is at rest, its wings remain parallel to the body. Worker termites undertake the most labour within the colony, being responsible for foraging, food storage, and brood and nest maintenance. Workers are tasked with the digestion of cellulose in food and are thus the most likely caste to be found in infested wood. The process of worker termites feeding other nestmates is known as trophallaxis. Trophallaxis is an effective nutritional tactic to convert and recycle nitrogenous components. It frees the parents from feeding all but the first generation of offspring, allowing for the group to grow much larger and ensuring that the necessary gut symbionts are transferred from one generation to another. Some termite species do not have a true worker caste, instead relying on nymphs that perform the same work without differentiating as a separate caste. The soldier caste has anatomical and behavioural specialisations, and their sole purpose is to defend the colony. Many soldiers have large heads with highly modified powerful jaws so enlarged they cannot feed themselves. Instead, like juveniles, they are fed by workers. Fontanelles, simple holes in the forehead that exude defensive secretions, are a feature of the family Rhinotermitidae. Many species are readily identified using the characteristics of the soldiers' larger and darker head and large mandibles. Among certain termites, soldiers may use their globular (phragmotic) heads to block their narrow tunnels. Different sorts of soldiers include minor and major soldiers, and nasutes, which have a horn-like nozzle frontal projection (a nasus). These unique soldiers are able to spray noxious, sticky secretions containing diterpenes at their enemies. Nitrogen fixation plays an important role in nasute nutrition. The reproductive caste of a mature colony includes a fertile female and male, known as the queen and king. The queen of the colony is responsible for egg production for the colony. Unlike in ants, the king mates with her for life. In some species, the abdomen of the queen swells up dramatically to increase fecundity, a characteristic known as physogastrism. Depending on the species, the queen starts producing reproductive winged alates at a certain time of the year, and huge swarms emerge from the colony when nuptial flight begins. These swarms attract a wide variety of predators. Termites are often compared with the social Hymenoptera (ants and various species of bees and wasps), but their differing evolutionary origins result in major differences in life cycle. In the eusocial Hymenoptera, the workers are exclusively female, males (drones) are haploid and develop from unfertilised eggs, while females (both workers and the queen) are diploid and develop from fertilised eggs. In contrast, worker termites, which constitute the majority in a colony, are diploid individuals of both sexes and develop from fertilised eggs. Depending on species, male and female workers may have different roles in a termite colony. The life cycle of a termite begins with an egg, but is different from that of a bee or ant in that it goes through a developmental process called incomplete metamorphosis, with egg, nymph and adult stages. Nymphs resemble small adults, and go through a series of moults as they grow. In some species, eggs go through four moulting stages and nymphs go through three. Nymphs first moult into workers, and then some workers go through further moulting and become soldiers or alates; workers become alates only by moulting into alate nymphs. The development of nymphs into adults can take months; the time period depends on food availability, temperature, and the general population of the colony. Since nymphs are unable to feed themselves, workers must feed them, but workers also take part in the social life of the colony and have certain other tasks to accomplish such as foraging, building or maintaining the nest or tending to the queen. Pheromones regulate the caste system in termite colonies, preventing all but a very few of the termites from becoming fertile queens. Termite alates only leave the colony when a nuptial flight takes place. Alate males and females pair up together and then land in search of a suitable place for a colony. A termite king and queen do not mate until they find such a spot. When they do, they excavate a chamber big enough for both, close up the entrance and proceed to mate. After mating, the pair never go outside and spend the rest of their lives in the nest. Nuptial flight time varies in each species. For example, alates in certain species emerge during the day in summer while others emerge during the winter. The nuptial flight may also begin at dusk, when the alates swarm around areas with lots of lights. The time when nuptial flight begins depends on the environmental conditions, the time of day, moisture, wind speed and precipitation. The number of termites in a colony also varies, with the larger species typically having 100–1,000 individuals. However, some termite colonies, including those with large individuals, can number in the millions. The queen only lays 10–20 eggs in the very early stages of the colony, but lays as many as 1,000 a day when the colony is several years old. At maturity, a primary queen has a great capacity to lay eggs. In some species, the mature queen has a greatly distended abdomen and may produce 40,000 eggs a day. The two mature ovaries may have some 2,000 ovarioles each. The abdomen increases the queen's body length to several times more than before mating and reduces her ability to move freely; attendant workers provide assistance. The king grows only slightly larger after initial mating and continues to mate with the queen for life (a termite queen can live between 30 to 50 years); this is very different from ant colonies, in which a queen mates once with the male(s) and stores the gametes for life, as the male ants die shortly after mating. If a queen is absent, a termite king produces pheromones which encourage the development of replacement termite queens. As the queen and king are monogamous, sperm competition does not occur. Termites going through incomplete metamorphosis on the path to becoming alates form a subcaste in certain species of termite, functioning as potential supplementary reproductives. These supplementary reproductives only mature into primary reproductives upon the death of a king or queen, or when the primary reproductives are separated from the colony. Supplementaries have the ability to replace a dead primary reproductive, and there may also be more than a single supplementary within a colony. Some queens have the ability to switch from sexual reproduction to asexual reproduction. Studies show that while termite queens mate with the king to produce colony workers, the queens reproduce their replacements (neotenic queens) parthenogenetically. Termites are detritivores, consuming dead plants at any level of decomposition. They also play a vital role in the ecosystem by recycling waste material such as dead wood, faeces and plants. Many species eat cellulose, having a specialised midgut that breaks down the fibre. Termites are considered to be a major source (11%) of atmospheric methane, one of the prime greenhouse gases, produced from the breakdown of cellulose. Termites rely primarily upon symbiotic protozoa (metamonads) and other microbes such as flagellate protists in their guts to digest the cellulose for them, allowing them to absorb the end products for their own use. Gut protozoa, such as Trichonympha, in turn, rely on symbiotic bacteria embedded on their surfaces to produce some of the necessary digestive enzymes. Most higher termites, especially in the family Termitidae, can produce their own cellulase enzymes, but they rely primarily upon the bacteria. The flagellates have been lost in Termitidae. Scientists' understanding of the relationship between the termite digestive tract and the microbial endosymbionts is still rudimentary; what is true in all termite species, however, is that the workers feed the other members of the colony with substances derived from the digestion of plant material, either from the mouth or anus. Judging from closely related bacterial species, it is strongly presumed that the termites' and cockroach's gut microbiota derives from their dictyopteran ancestors. Certain species such as Gnathamitermes tubiformans have seasonal food habits. For example, they may preferentially consume Red three-awn (Aristida longiseta) during the summer, Buffalograss (Buchloe dactyloides) from May to August, and blue grama Bouteloua gracilis during spring, summer and autumn. Colonies of G. tubiformans consume less food in spring than they do during autumn when their feeding activity is high. Various woods differ in their susceptibility to termite attack; the differences are attributed to such factors as moisture content, hardness, and resin and lignin content. In one study, the drywood termite Cryptotermes brevis strongly preferred poplar and maple woods to other woods that were generally rejected by the termite colony. These preferences may in part have represented conditioned or learned behaviour. Some species of termite practice fungiculture. They maintain a "garden" of specialised fungi of genus Termitomyces, which are nourished by the excrement of the insects. When the fungi are eaten, their spores pass undamaged through the intestines of the termites to complete the cycle by germinating in the fresh faecal pellets. Molecular evidence suggests that the family Macrotermitinae developed agriculture about 31 million years ago. It is assumed that more than 90 percent of dry wood in the semiarid savannah ecosystems of Africa and Asia are reprocessed by these termites. Originally living in the rainforest, fungus farming allowed them to colonise the African savannah and other new environments, eventually expanding into Asia. Depending on their feeding habits, termites are placed into two groups: the lower termites and higher termites. The lower termites predominately feed on wood. As wood is difficult to digest, termites prefer to consume fungus-infected wood because it is easier to digest and the fungi are high in protein. Meanwhile, the higher termites consume a wide variety of materials, including faeces, humus, grass, leaves and roots. The gut in the lower termites contains many species of bacteria along with protozoa, while the higher termites only have a few species of bacteria with no protozoa. Termites are consumed by a wide variety of predators. One species alone, Hodotermes mossambicus, was found in the stomach contents of 65 birds and 19 mammals. Arthropods, reptiles, and amphibians such as bees, centipedes, cockroaches, crickets, dragonflies, frogs, lizards, scorpions, spiders, and toads consume these insects, while two spiders in the family Ammoxenidae are specialist termite predators. Other predators include aardvarks, aardwolves, anteaters, bats, bears, bilbies, many birds, echidnas, foxes, galagos, numbats, mice and pangolins. The aardwolf is an insectivorous mammal that primarily feeds on termites; it locates its food by sound and also by detecting the scent secreted by the soldiers; a single aardwolf is capable of consuming thousands of termites in a single night by using its long, sticky tongue. Sloth bears break open mounds to consume the nestmates, while chimpanzees have developed tools to "fish" termites from their nest. Wear pattern analysis of bone tools used by the early hominin Paranthropus robustus suggests that they used these tools to dig into termite mounds. Among all predators, ants are the greatest enemy to termites. Some ant genera are specialist predators of termites. For example, Megaponera is a strictly termite-eating (termitophagous) genus that perform raiding activities, some lasting several hours. Paltothyreus tarsatus is another termite-raiding species, with each individual stacking as many termites as possible in its mandibles before returning home, all the while recruiting additional nestmates to the raiding site through chemical trails. The Malaysian basicerotine ant Eurhopalothrix heliscata uses a different strategy of termite hunting by pressing themselves into tight spaces, as they hunt through rotting wood housing termite colonies. Once inside, the ants seize their prey by using their short but sharp mandibles. Tetramorium uelense is a specialised predator species that feeds on small termites. A scout recruits 10–30 workers to an area where termites are present, killing them by immobilising them with their stinger. Centromyrmex and Iridomyrmex colonies sometimes nest in termite mounds, and so the termites are preyed on by these ants. No evidence for any kind of relationship (other than a predatory one) is known. Other ants, including Acanthostichus, Camponotus, Crematogaster, Cylindromyrmex, Leptogenys, Odontomachus, Ophthalmopone, Pachycondyla, Rhytidoponera, Solenopsis and Wasmannia, also prey on termites. In contrast to all these ant species, and despite their enormous diversity of prey, Dorylus ants rarely consume termites. Ants are not the only invertebrates that perform raids. Many sphecoid wasps and several species including Polybia Lepeletier and Angiopolybia Araujo are known to raid termite mounds during the termites' nuptial flight. Parasites, pathogens and viruses Termites are less likely to be attacked by parasites than bees, wasps and ants, as they are usually well protected in their mounds. Nevertheless, termites are infected by a variety of parasites. Some of these include dipteran flies, Pyemotes mites, and a large number of nematode parasites. Most nematode parasites are in the order Rhabditida; others are in the genus Mermis, Diplogaster aerivora and Harteria gallinarum. Under imminent threat of an attack by parasites, a colony may migrate to a new location. Fungi pathogens such as Aspergillus nomius and Metarhizium anisopliae are, however, major threats to a termite colony as they are not host-specific and may infect large portions of the colony; transmission usually occurs via direct physical contact. M. anispliae is known to weaken the termite immune system. Infection with A. nomius only occurs when a colony is under great stress. Inquilinism between two termite species does not occur in the termite world. Locomotion and foraging Because the worker and soldier castes lack wings and thus never fly, and the reproductives use their wings for just a brief amount of time, termites predominantly rely upon their legs to move about. Foraging behaviour depends on the type of termite. For example, certain species feed on the wood structures they inhabit, and others harvest food that is near the nest. Most workers are rarely found out in the open, and do not forage unprotected; they rely on sheeting and runways to protect them from predators. Subterranean termites construct tunnels and galleries to look for food, and workers who manage to find food sources recruit additional nestmates by depositing a phagostimulant pheromone that attracts workers. Foraging workers use semiochemicals to communicate with each other, and workers who begin to forage outside of their nest release trail pheromones from their sternal glands. In one species, Nasutitermes costalis, there are three phases in a foraging expedition: first, soldiers scout an area. When they find a food source, they communicate to other soldiers and a small force of workers starts to emerge. In the second phase, workers appear in large numbers at the site. The third phase is marked by a decrease in the number of soldiers present and an increase in the number of workers. Isolated termite workers may engage in Lévy flight behaviour as an optimised strategy for finding their nestmates or foraging for food. Competition between two colonies always results in agonistic behaviour towards each other, resulting in fights. These fights can cause mortality on both sides and, in some cases, the gain or loss of territory. "Cemetery pits" may be present, where the bodies of dead termites are buried. Studies show that when termites encounter each other in foraging areas, some of the termites deliberately block passages to prevent other termites from entering. Dead termites from other colonies found in exploratory tunnels leads to the isolation of the area and thus the need to construct new tunnels. Conflict between two competitors does not always occur. For example, though they might block each other's passages, colonies of Macrotermes bellicosus and Macrotermes subhyalinus are not always aggressive towards each other. Suicide cramming is known in Coptotermes formosanus. Since C. formosanus colonies may get into physical conflict, some termites squeeze tightly into foraging tunnels and die, successfully blocking the tunnel and ending all agonistic activities. Among the reproductive caste, neotenic queens may compete with each other to become the dominant queen when there are no primary reproductives. This struggle among the queens leads to the elimination of all but a single queen, which, with the king, takes over the colony. Ants and termites may compete with each other for nesting space. In particular, ants that prey on termites usually have a negative impact on arboreal nesting species. Most termites are blind, so communication primarily occurs through chemical, mechanical and pheromonal cues. These methods of communication are used in a variety of activities, including foraging, locating reproductives, construction of nests, recognition of nestmates, nuptial flight, locating and fighting enemies, and defending the nests. The most common way of communicating is through antennation. A number of pheromones are known, including contact pheromones (which are transmitted when workers are engaged in trophallaxis or grooming) and alarm, trail and sex pheromones. The alarm pheromone and other defensive chemicals are secreted from the frontal gland. Trail pheromones are secreted from the sternal gland, and sex pheromones derive from two glandular sources: the sternal and tergal glands. When termites go out to look for food, they forage in columns along the ground through vegetation. A trail can be identified by the faecal deposits or runways that are covered by objects. Workers leave pheromones on these trails, which are detected by other nestmates through olfactory receptors. Termites can also communicate through mechanical cues, vibrations, and physical contact. These signals are frequently used for alarm communication or for evaluating a food source. When termites construct their nests, they use predominantly indirect communication. No single termite would be in charge of any particular construction project. Individual termites react rather than think, but at a group level, they exhibit a sort of collective cognition. Specific structures or other objects such as pellets of soil or pillars cause termites to start building. The termite adds these objects onto existing structures, and such behaviour encourages building behaviour in other workers. The result is a self-organised process whereby the information that directs termite activity results from changes in the environment rather than from direct contact among individuals. Termites can distinguish nestmates and non-nestmates through chemical communication and gut symbionts: chemicals consisting of hydrocarbons released from the cuticle allow the recognition of alien termite species. Each colony has its own distinct odour. This odour is a result of genetic and environmental factors such as the termites' diet and the composition of the bacteria within the termites' intestines. Termites rely on alarm communication to defend a colony. Alarm pheromones can be released when the nest has been breached or is being attacked by enemies or potential pathogens. Termites always avoid nestmates infected with Metarhizium anisopliae spores, through vibrational signals released by infected nestmates. Other methods of defence include intense jerking and secretion of fluids from the frontal gland and defecating faeces containing alarm pheromones. In some species, some soldiers block tunnels to prevent their enemies from entering the nest, and they may deliberately rupture themselves as an act of defence. In cases where the intrusion is coming from a breach that is larger than the soldier's head, defence requires a special formations where soldiers form a phalanx-like formation around the breach and bite at intruders. If an invasion carried out by Megaponera analis is successful, an entire colony may be destroyed, although this scenario is rare. To termites, any breach of their tunnels or nests is a cause for alarm. When termites detect a potential breach, the soldiers usually bang their heads, apparently to attract other soldiers for defence and to recruit additional workers to repair any breach. Additionally, an alarmed termite bumps into other termites which causes them to be alarmed and to leave pheromone trails to the disturbed area, which is also a way to recruit extra workers. The pantropical subfamily Nasutitermitinae has a specialised caste of soldiers, known as nasutes, that have the ability to exude noxious liquids through a horn-like frontal projection that they use for defence. Nasutes have lost their mandibles through the course of evolution and must be fed by workers. A wide variety of monoterpene hydrocarbon solvents have been identified in the liquids that nasutes secrete. Soldiers of the species Globitermes sulphureus commit suicide by autothysis – rupturing a large gland just beneath the surface of their cuticles. The thick, yellow fluid in the gland becomes very sticky on contact with the air, entangling ants or other insects which are trying to invade the nest. Another termite, Neocapriterme taracua, also engages in suicidal defence. Workers physically unable to use their mandibles while in a fight form a pouch full of chemicals, then deliberately rupture themselves, releasing toxic chemicals that paralyse and kill their enemies. The soldiers of the neotropical termite family Serritermitidae have a defence strategy which involves front gland autothysis, with the body rupturing between the head and abdomen. When soldiers guarding nest entrances are attacked by intruders, they engage in autothysis, creating a block that denies entry to any attacker. Workers use several different strategies to deal with their dead, including burying, cannibalism, and avoiding a corpse altogether. To avoid pathogens, termites occasionally engage in necrophoresis, in which a nestmate carries away a corpse from the colony to dispose of it elsewhere. Which strategy is used depends on the nature of the corpse a worker is dealing with (i.e. the age of the carcass). Relationship with other organisms A species of fungus is known to mimic termite eggs, successfully avoiding its natural predators. These small brown balls, known as "termite balls", rarely kill the eggs, and in some cases the workers tend to them. This fungus mimics these eggs by producing a cellulose-digesting enzyme known as glucosidases. A unique mimicking behaviour exists between various species of Trichopsenius beetles and certain termite species within Reticulitermes. The beetles share the same cuticle hydrocarbons as the termites and even biosynthesize them. This chemical mimicry allows the beetles to integrate themselves within the termite colonies. The developed appendages on the physogastric abdomen of Austrospirachtha mimetes allows the beetle to mimic a termite worker. Some species of ant are known to capture termites to use as a fresh food source later on, rather than killing them. For example, Formica nigra captures termites, and those who try to escape are immediately seized and driven underground. Certain species of ants in the subfamily Ponerinae conduct these raids although other ant species go in alone to steal the eggs or nymphs. Ants such as Megaponera analis attack the outside the mounds and Dorylinae ants attack underground. Despite this, some termites and ants can coexist peacefully. Some species of termite, including Nasutitermes corniger, form associations with certain ant species to keep away predatory ant species. The earliest known association between Azteca ants and Nasutitermes termites date back to the Oligocene to Miocene period. 54 species of ants are known to inhabit Nasutitermes mounds, both occupied and abandoned ones. One reason many ants live in Nasutitermes mounds is due to the termites' frequent occurrence in their geographical range; another is to protect themselves from floods. Iridomyrmex also inhabits termite mounds although no evidence for any kind of relationship (other than a predatory one) is known. In rare cases, certain species of termites live inside active ant colonies. Some invertebrate organisms such as beetles, caterpillars, flies and millipedes are termitophiles and dwell inside termite colonies (they are unable to survive independently). As a result, certain beetles and flies have evolved with their hosts. They have developed a gland that secrete a substance that attracts the workers by licking them. Mounds may also provide shelter and warmth to birds, lizards, snakes and scorpions. Termites are known to carry pollen and regularly visit flowers, so are regarded as potential pollinators for a number of flowering plants. One flower in particular, Rhizanthella gardneri, is regularly pollinated by foraging workers, and it is perhaps the only Orchidaceae flower in the world to be pollinated by termites. Many plants have developed effective defences against termites. However, seedlings are vulnerable to termite attacks and need additional protection, as their defence mechanisms only develop when they have passed the seedling stage. Defence is typically achieved by secreting antifeedant chemicals into the woody cell walls. This reduces the ability of termites to efficiently digest the cellulose. A commercial product, "Blockaid", has been developed in Australia that uses a range of plant extracts to create a paint-on nontoxic termite barrier for buildings. An extract of a species of Australian figwort, Eremophila, has been shown to repel termites; tests have shown that termites are strongly repelled by the toxic material to the extent that they will starve rather than consume the food. When kept close to the extract, they become disoriented and eventually die. A termite nest can be considered as being composed of two parts, the inanimate and the animate. The animate is all of the termites living inside the colony, and the inanimate part is the structure itself, which is constructed by the termites. Nests can be broadly separated into three main categories: subterranean (completely below ground), epigeal (protruding above the soil surface), and arboreal (built above ground, but always connected to the ground via shelter tubes). Epigeal nests (mounds) protrude from the earth with ground contact and are made out of earth and mud. A nest has many functions such as providing a protected living space and providing shelter against predators. Most termites construct underground colonies rather than multifunctional nests and mounds. Primitive termites of today nest in wooden structures such as logs, stumps and the dead parts of trees, as did termites millions of years ago. To build their nests, termites primarily use faeces, which have many desirable properties as a construction material. Other building materials include partly digested plant material, used in carton nests (arboreal nests built from faecal elements and wood), and soil, used in subterranean nest and mound construction. Not all nests are visible, as many nests in tropical forests are located underground. Species in the subfamily Apicotermitinae are good examples of subterranean nest builders, as they only dwell inside tunnels. Other termites live in wood, and tunnels are constructed as they feed on the wood. Nests and mounds protect the termites' soft bodies against desiccation, light, pathogens and parasites, as well as providing a fortification against predators. Nests made out of carton are particularly weak, and so the inhabitants use counter-attack strategies against invading predators. Arboreal carton nests of mangrove swamp-dwelling Nasutitermes are enriched in lignin and depleted in cellulose and xylans. This change is caused by bacterial decay in the gut of the termites: they use their faeces as a carton building material. Arboreal termites nests can account for as much as 2% of above ground carbon storage in Puerto Rican mangrove swamps. These Nasutitermes nests are mainly composed of partially biodegraded wood material from the stems and branches of mangrove trees, namely, Rhizophora mangle (red mangrove), Avicennia germinans (black mangrove) and Laguncularia racemose (white mangrove). Some species build complex nests called polycalic nests; this habitat is called polycalism. Polycalic species of termites form multiple nests, or calies, connected by subterranean chambers. The termite genera Apicotermes and Trinervitermes are known to have polycalic species. Polycalic nests appear to be less frequent in mound-building species although polycalic arboreal nests have been observed in a few species of Nasutitermes. Nests are considered mounds if they protrude from the earth's surface. A mound provides termites the same protection as a nest but is stronger. Mounds located in areas with torrential and continuous rainfall are at risk of mound erosion due to their clay-rich construction. Those made from carton can provide protection from the rain, and in fact can withstand high precipitation. Certain areas in mounds are used as strong points in case of a breach. For example, Cubitermes colonies build narrow tunnels used as strong points, as the diameter of the tunnels is small enough for soldiers to block. A highly protected chamber, known as the "queens cell", houses the queen and king and is used as a last line of defence. Species in the genus Macrotermes arguably build the most complex structures in the insect world, constructing enormous mounds. These mounds are among the largest in the world, reaching a height of 8 to 9 metres (26 to 29 feet), and consist of chimneys, pinnacles and ridges. Another termite species, Amitermes meridionalis, can build nests 3 to 4 metres (9 to 13 feet) high and 2.5 metres (8 feet) wide. The tallest mound ever recorded was 12.8 metres (42ft) long found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The sculptured mounds sometimes have elaborate and distinctive forms, such as those of the compass termite (Amitermes meridionalis and A. laurensis), which builds tall, wedge-shaped mounds with the long axis oriented approximately north–south, which gives them their common name. This orientation has been experimentally shown to assist thermoregulation. The north-south orientation causes the internal temperature of a mound to increase rapidly during the morning while avoiding overheating from the midday sun. The temperature then remains at a plateau for the rest of the day until the evening. Termites construct shelter tubes, also known as earthen tubes or mud tubes, that start from the ground. These shelter tubes can be found on walls and other structures. Constructed by termites during the night, a time of higher humidity, these tubes provide protection to termites from potential predators, especially ants. Shelter tubes also provide high humidity and darkness and allow workers to collect food sources that cannot be accessed in any other way. These passageways are made from soil and faeces and are normally brown in colour. The size of these shelter tubes depends on the amount of food sources that are available. They range from less than 1 cm to several cm in width, but may extend dozens of metres in length. Owing to their wood-eating habits, many termite species can do great damage to unprotected buildings and other wooden structures. Their habit of remaining concealed often results in their presence being undetected until the timbers are severely damaged, leaving a thin layer of a wall that protects them from the environment. Of the 3,106 species known, only 183 species cause damage; 83 species cause significant damage to wooden structures. In North America, nine subterranean species are pests; in Australia, 16 species have an economic impact; in the Indian subcontinent 26 species are considered pests, and in tropical Africa, 24. In Central America and the West Indies, there are 17 pest species. Among the termite genera, Coptotermes has the highest number of pest species of any genus, with 28 species known to cause damage. Less than 10% of drywood termites are pests, but they infect wooden structures and furniture in tropical, subtropical and other regions. Dampwood termites only attack lumber material exposed to rainfall or soil. Drywood termites thrive in warm climates, and human activities can enable them to invade homes since they can be transported through contaminated goods, containers and ships. Colonies of termites have been seen thriving in warm buildings located in cold regions. Some termites are considered invasive species. Cryptotermes brevis, the most widely introduced invasive termite species in the world, has been introduced to all the islands in the West Indies and to Australia. In addition to causing damage to buildings, termites can also damage food crops. Termites may attack trees whose resistance to damage is low but generally ignore fast-growing plants. Most attacks occur at harvest time; crops and trees are attacked during the dry season. The damage caused by termites costs the southwestern United States approximately $1.5 billion each year in wood structure damage, but the true cost of damage worldwide cannot be determined. Drywood termites are responsible for a large proportion of the damage caused by termites. To better control the population of termites, various methods have been developed to track termite movements. One early method involved distributing termite bait laced with immunoglobulin G (IgG) marker proteins from rabbits or chickens. Termites collected from the field could be tested for the rabbit-IgG markers using a rabbit-IgG-specific assay. More recently developed, less expensive alternatives include tracking the termites using egg white, cow milk, or soy milk proteins, which can be sprayed on termites in the field. Termites bearing these proteins can be traced using a protein-specific ELISA test. 43 termite species are used as food by humans or are fed to livestock. These insects are particularly important in less developed countries where malnutrition is common, as the protein from termites can help improve the human diet. Termites are consumed in many regions globally, but this practice has only become popular in developed nations in recent years. Termites are consumed by people in many different cultures around the world. In Africa, the alates are an important factor in the diets of native populations. Tribes have different ways of collecting or cultivating insects; sometimes tribes collect soldiers from several species. Though harder to acquire, queens are regarded as a delicacy. Termite alates are high in nutrition with adequate levels of fat and protein. They are regarded as pleasant in taste, having a nut-like flavour after they are cooked. Alates are collected when the rainy season begins. During a nuptial flight, they are typically seen around lights to which they are attracted, and so nets are set up on lamps and captured alates are later collected. The wings are removed through a technique that is similar to winnowing. The best result comes when they are lightly roasted on a hot plate or fried until crisp. Oil is not required as their bodies usually contain sufficient amounts of oil. Termites are typically eaten when livestock is lean and tribal crops have not yet developed or produced any food, or if food stocks from a previous growing season are limited. In addition to Africa, termites are consumed in local or tribal areas in Asia and North and South America. In Australia, Indigenous Australians are aware that termites are edible but do not consume them even in times of scarcity; there are few explanations as to why. Termite mounds are the main sources of soil consumption (geophagy) in many countries including Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Researchers have suggested that termites are suitable candidates for human consumption and space agriculture, as they are high in protein and can be used to convert inedible waste to consumable products for humans. Termites can be major agricultural pests, particularly in East Africa and North Asia, where crop losses can be severe (3–100% in crop loss in Africa). Counterbalancing this is the greatly improved water infiltration where termite tunnels in the soil allow rainwater to soak in deeply, which helps reduce runoff and consequent soil erosion through bioturbation. In South America, cultivated plants such as eucalyptus, upland rice and sugarcane can be severely damaged by termite infestations, with attacks on leaves, roots and woody tissue. Termites can also attack other plants, including cassava, coffee, cotton, fruit trees, maize, peanuts, soybeans and vegetables. Mounds can disrupt farming activities, making it difficult for farmers to operate farming machinery; however, despite farmers' dislike of the mounds, it is often the case that no net loss of production occurs. Termites can be beneficial to agriculture, such as by boosting crop yields and enriching the soil. Termites and ants can re-colonise untilled land that contains crop stubble, which colonies use for nourishment when they establish their nests. The presence of nests in fields enables larger amounts of rainwater to soak into the ground and increases the amount of nitrogen in the soil, both essential for the growth of crops. In science and technology The termite gut has inspired various research efforts aimed at replacing fossil fuels with cleaner, renewable energy sources. Termites are efficient bioreactors, capable of producing two litres of hydrogen from a single sheet of paper. Approximately 200 species of microbes live inside the termite hindgut, releasing the hydrogen that was trapped inside wood and plants that they digest. Through the action of unidentified enzymes in the termite gut, lignocellulose polymers are broken down into sugars and are transformed into hydrogen. The bacteria within the gut turns the sugar and hydrogen into cellulose acetate, an acetate ester of cellulose on which termites rely for energy. Community DNA sequencing of the microbes in the termite hindgut has been employed to provide a better understanding of the metabolic pathway. Genetic engineering may enable hydrogen to be generated in bioreactors from woody biomass. The development of autonomous robots capable of constructing intricate structures without human assistance has been inspired by the complex mounds that termites build. These robots work independently and can move by themselves on a tracked grid, capable of climbing and lifting up bricks. Such robots may be useful for future projects on Mars, or for building levees to prevent flooding. Termites use sophisticated means to control the temperatures of their mounds. As discussed above, the shape and orientation of the mounds of the Australian compass termite stabilises their internal temperatures during the day. As the towers heat up, the solar chimney effect (stack effect) creates an updraft of air within the mound. Wind blowing across the tops of the towers enhances the circulation of air through the mounds, which also include side vents in their construction. The solar chimney effect has been in use for centuries in the Middle East and Near East for passive cooling, as well as in Europe by the Romans. It is only relatively recently, however, that climate responsive construction techniques have become incorporated into modern architecture. Especially in Africa, the stack effect has become a popular means to achieve natural ventilation and passive cooling in modern buildings. The Eastgate Centre is a shopping centre and office block in central Harare, Zimbabwe, whose architect, Mick Pearce, used passive cooling inspired by that used by the local termites. It was the first major building exploiting termite-inspired cooling techniques to attract international attention. Other such buildings include the Learning Resource Center at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa and the Council House 2 building in Melbourne, Australia. Few zoos hold termites, due to the difficulty in keeping them captive and to the reluctance of authorities to permit potential pests. One of the few that do, the Zoo Basel in Switzerland, has two thriving Macrotermes bellicosus populations – resulting in an event very rare in captivity: the mass migrations of young flying termites. This happened in September 2008, when thousands of male termites left their mound each night, died, and covered the floors and water pits of the house holding their exhibit. African tribes in several countries have termites as totems, and for this reason tribe members are forbidden to eat the reproductive alates. Termites are widely used in traditional popular medicine; they are used as treatments for diseases and other conditions such as asthma, bronchitis, hoarseness, influenza, sinusitis, tonsillitis and whooping cough. In Nigeria, Macrotermes nigeriensis is used for spiritual protection and to treat wounds and sick pregnant women. In Southeast Asia, termites are used in ritual practices. In Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, termite mounds are commonly worshiped among the populace. Abandoned mounds are viewed as structures created by spirits, believing a local guardian dwells within the mound; this is known as Keramat and Datok Kong. In urban areas, local residents construct red-painted shrines over mounds that have been abandoned, where they pray for good health, protection and luck.
This period begins with the ancient hominoids of Australopithecus and extends to the early inhabitants of the pre-Aksumites. They were preceded by Punt. This period also saw the arrival of Ge'ez and Judaism. At the turn of the first millennia, the dominant kingdom was in Aksum. This was a very advanced civilization. They were the first Africans to mint coins. They were powerful enough to take military expeditions into South Arabia. Aksum began to decline in the seventh century. The Zagwe Dynasty was next to rule Ethiopia. The most prized of the Zagwe kings was Lalibela. This period saw the arrival of Christianity and the Nine Saints The Zagwe's were considered usurpers because they did not lay claim to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. When Yekuno Amlak came to power, the Solomonic Dynasty was reinstated. In the 14th century, the conquests of Amda Seyon increased the size of Ethiopia. During the sixteenth century, the expeditions of Ahmad Gragn ravaged Ethiopia. Gondar became the center of power in the seventeenth century. The Zamana Masafent era was marked with continuous warfare. A notable figure of this period is the monastic evangelist Ewostatewos The reunification of Ethiopia began with the rule of Emperor Tewodros. His unsuccessful campaign was continued by Yohannes IV and then Menelik II. Menelik II defeated the Italians in a decisive battle in Adwa. The next major ruler was Haile Selassie I. He ruled Ethiopia until the 1970s before he was replaced by Derg.
Paul Marek, an entomologist at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech, is a serial discoverer of new arthropods—from a black dwarf tarantula that bears his name to the world’s leggiest known creature (as many as 750 wiggling limbs). And he has just helped identify yet another fascinating new invertebrate. Apheloria polychroma is a millipede, about the size of your thumb, that was found crawling around the forest floor of southwest Virginia’s Cumberland Mountains. There are a few things that make the little wriggler stand out. First, it comes in more hues than any other known millipede species—a total of six different colorways, which is why Marek and fellow entomologists Jackson Means and Derek Hennen named it “polychroma.” And second, it is covered in cyanide—yes, that cyanide—to deter avian predators. The color and toxicity are linked, as they are for a number of brightly colored species, from snakes to frogs to insects, as a signal to predators to stay away. So a variety of other millipedes copy its various styles of coloration. This common form of flattery even has a name: Müllerian mimicry, after German naturalist Fritz Müller, who first proposed the theory in 1878 after observing the way tropical butterflies in Brazil’s Amazonian rain forest “may evolve a similar appearance so as to share the costs of predator education.” Marek, who runs the only millipede lab in the United States, hopes that documenting such new species will spare them the sad fate of “anonymous extinction,” when species disappear before we even know they exist. “It is imperative to describe and catalog these species so that we know what role they play in the ecosystem—and what impact we are having on them,” the entomologist said in a release. “This region [Virginia] is ripe with biodiversity and is an excellent living laboratory to do this work.”
Picea rubens Sarg. Red spruce is in the pine family (Panaceae) and is the only spruce naturally occurring in Maryland ². It typically grows to 75 feet in the northern portions of its range, but may reach 110 feet in the Appalachian Mountains ¹. The bark is grayish to reddish-brown and is less than one-half inch thick. The needles are borne singly on small pegs along the branch ². Each needle is one-half to five-eights inch long and is four-sided or square in cross section ³. The needles are yellow-green and sharp pointed. Male and female cones are produced on the same tree. The female cones mature at the end of the second summer and are 1.5 inches long ¹. The cone scales lack prickles. Trunk of red spruce. J. Emm, Maryland Biodiversity Project ² Aspect of red spruce in Maryland. B. Hubick, Maryland Biodiversity Project ² Needles of red spruce. J. Emm, Maryland Biodiversity Project ² Cones of red spruce. K. Kanoti ³ Red spruce can be found from the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and Southern Quebec to Eastern Ontario. It is found throughout Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire and in Eastern New York. Scattered populations occur along the Appalachian Mountain peaks to North Carolina ¹. It is located solely in far western Maryland in Garrett and Allegheny Counties ². It’s range is characterized by cold winters with an average of 100 to 140 days of snow cover and 0 to 8 F minimum temperatures and by cool summers with maximum temperatures below 80 F ¹. Native range of red spruce. Wikimedia Commons 4 Spruce forests provide habitats for numerous birds and mammals ¹. White-winged Crossbills and Spruce Grouse rely on red spruce for food. Small mammals such as American Red Squirrels and voles rely on its seed. The habitat created by spruce forests are used by numerous animals including White-tailed Deer, American Marten, Snowshoe Hare, and Canada Lynx for winter habitat 7. Because of the wood has high elasticity and uniform texture, red spruce is widely used for construction of musical instruments such as violins, guitars and piano sounding boards ³. Red spruce populations in the central Appalachian Mountains have been reduced by 90% due to logging ². It is also susceptible to air pollution ³. It is intolerant of fire ¹. Spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana, is the most important damaging insect ¹. Other harmful insects include the spruce budworm and sawfly larva ¹. - An exudate from the trunks, spruce gum, was the basis for the chewing gum industry in the latter half of the 19th century and the early 20th century ¹. - Humans may develop a rash from the sawdust of red spruce ³. - The National Champion red spruce is in Giles County, Virginia with a height of 115 feet and a diameter of 52.5 inches as last measured in 2013 5. - A red spruce was the National Christmas Tree for 2022. It was a 78-foot tree selected from North Carolina 6. - USDA Forest Service Silvics, Vol. 1–Gymnosperms: Picea rubens - Maryland Biodiversity Project: Picea rubens - North Carolina State Extension: Picea rubens - Wikimedia Commons: Picea rubens - American Forests: Picea rubens - USDA Forest Service: Introducing Ruby the Red Spruce:… - New England Forestry Foundation: Meet the red spruce Contributed by J. Hull
From the Nile River's fertile floodplains to the harsh desert wadis of the the Sahara, the culture of the ancient Egyptians thrived in part due to the availability of natural resources, among them naturally occurring forms of salt. Salts were mined, traded and used for many purposes in Egypt, from everyday household and industrial applications to the sacred rituals of mummification. Salt of the Earth -- and Sea Four of the lakes in the Nile Delta area were known for their salt content, Burullus, Edku, Marout and Manzala. These saline bodies of water, along with the Mediterranean Sea, allowed Egyptians to gather salt directly from crusted shoreline flats, or via seawater evaporation. The Wadi Natrun near the Nile Delta (which means "natron valley" in Arabic) and El Kab in Upper Egypt are principal sites where natron was mined in ancient times. A naturally occurring sodium compound like common salt, natron is composed mostly of a hydrate of sodium carbonate and in ancient Egypt had its own particular uses, as well as being employed for uses much like common salt. Seasoning, Trade and More As in so many cultures, Egyptians used salt to preserve dried fish and season their food. Salt extended the shelf life of the Nile's abundant fish harvest, allowing the Egyptians to build a food surplus and enhance the country's economy through domestic and foreign trade, procuring goods including cedar, glass and purple dye from the Phoenicians. Natron served as a detergent and tooth cleaner. Salts were also prescribed within various health mixtures by Egyptian physicians, applied to the skin, taken as an enema, or given orally depending on the condition. Industry and Artistry The Egyptians are known for their love of color and produced many beautiful works using faience, a beautiful glassy substance reminiscent of turquoise. To create it, quartz powder was heated in a mold to form amulets, figurines and other exquisite craftsmanship, and salt or natron served as the binder in this process. Metallic salts such as alum were used to bind alizarin -- a vivid red plant-based dye -- to fibers or thread during textile production in a process called acid dyeing. Salts were also among the materials used to cure animal hides and skins. Preparation for the Afterlife Preparation for the afterlife was deeply important to ancient Egyptian religious beliefs. Funeral offerings of natron or salt were left in Egyptian tombs for the deceased, as well as food including salted birds or fish to be enjoyed in the afterlife. A mummy had to be dried completely before burial, and salt, particularly natron, played a significant role in the dessication process. Bags of either substance were packed around and within the body of the entombed after the stomach, intestines, lungs and liver had been removed from it. The drying procedure lasted 40 days and was a significant portion of the most elaborate mummification process, which took 72 days from start to finish. - Ancient History Encyclopedia: Faience - Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries: Alfred Lucas - Britannica: Lake Burullus - Ancient Egyptian Medicine: John F. Nunn - Colorado State: Timeline of History - Handbook to Life in Ancient Egypt: Ann Rosalie David - Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology: Paul T. Nicholson - Salt: A World History About the Author DaVaun Sanders' passion for writing hails back to the summer of 2002. He writes regularly for PhxSoul.com, is a New America Media Ethnic Elders Fellow and is currently editing his first novel. Sanders holds a bachelor's degree in architecture from Washington University.
NASA only uses 15 digits of pi for calculating interplanetary travel. At 40 digits, you could calculate the circumference of a circle the size of the visible universe to an accuracy equal to the diameter of a hydrogen atom. During his trip to the Moon, Apollo 16 astronaut Ken Mattingly lost his wedding ring. According to his fellow astronaut, it ‘just floated off somewhere’ and he spent all his spare time on the mission trying to find it. The interstellar travels of Voyager I and II were only possible due to a specific planetary alignment that only occurs every 175 years. The position of the 4 outer planets enabled a slingshot move which greatly increased the crafts speed. Due to time dilation its possible to travel anywhere in the galaxy within a human lifetime. A ship accelerating constantly at 1g (earth gravity) could travel to the center of the milky way and back in 40 years. Sending an all female crew to Mars would be significantly cheaper than sending men. Women are smaller and lighter, taking up less space and burning less fuel and they burn less calories so less food is needed. The most isolated person ever was Alfred Worden during Apollo 15, he was 2,235 miles away from the nearest human being. Astronauts must have good airflow around them when they sleep, otherwise they, “…could wake up oxygen-deprived and gasping for air, because a bubble of their own exhaled carbon dioxide had formed around their heads.” Scientists are working on a nuclear fusion rocket which could reach Mars in 30 days. Evidence shows that the space shuttle Challenger’s crew survived the explosion and could have been conscious until the crew cabin hit the ocean. 4 of 5 recovered crew air packs had been activated and pilot switches that could only have been moved manually by a person were moved. The space shuttle Discovery nearly joined Challenger and Columbia as disasters…TWICE. One year prior to the Challenger disaster, post-launch analysis of Discovery’s SRBs showed similar O-ring seal failures, however the backup rings held (barely). During the return to flight mission after Columbia, an eerily similar foam piece struck Discovery, but the angle was slightly different and minimal damage occurred to the orbiter.
Throughout history, women have played critical roles in every field from sports to science. Many of these game-changing heroines , however, didn’t receive the wide recognition they deserved for their contributions, and they remain relatively unknown today. In honor of Women’s History Month, Know Your Value is recognizing seven, women who conquered all odds to change the course of history. If you didn’t know their names before, now you will. 1. Patsy Mink, House representative In 1964, Patsy Mink became the first woman of color to get elected to the United States Congress. Mink, a Japanese-American who served as a Hawaii representative, was elected four years before Shirley Chisolm famously became the first Black female congresswoman in New York. After facing years of discrimination in the field of law, Mink became a fearless proponent of gender, education and immigrant equality. She co-wrote Title IX, a banner law that prohibits gender discrimination in educational institutions. In 1970, Mink became the first congressmember to oppose a Supreme Court nomination on the basis of gender discrimination; Mink testified against nominee George Harrold Carswell, who had denied a mother working rights as a judge in the Fifth Circuit. Carswell was ultimately rejected. Mink entered the presidential race in 1971 on an anti-Vietnam War platform, but she lost the nomination to George McGovern. Mink would serve in Congress between 1965 and 1977, then from 1990 to her death in 2002. 2. Rosalind Franklin, molecular biologist Rosalind Franklin studied the DNA molecule in English laboratories throughout the 1950s. She compiled data that would form part of the basis for the final helical model. One of her students took the first photo of DNA through X-ray crystallography. These findings were known to Jim Watson and Francis Crick, who would ultimately win the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the DNA molecule in 1962. Franklin was not credited for her unpublished, cautious initial studies, and the male-dominated field often treated her with patronizing disdain. Watson, in fact, wrote in his 1968 book “The Double Helix”: “Momentarily I wondered how [Franklin] would look if she took off her glasses and did something novel with her hair.” Franklin would go on to conduct groundbreaking research in RNA and polio before dying at age 37 of ovarian cancer. 3. Dr. Rev. Pauli Murray, civil rights activist Dr. Rev. Pauli Murray played an extremely critical role in the Civil Rights Movement, but her name often gets lost in the shuffle. In 1950, Murray wrote the book “States' Laws on Race and Color,” which drew on sociological and legal evidence to combat “separate but equal” policies of the time. The book would become the basis of the Supreme Court case Brown vs. Board of Education, which fought and defeated segregation in schools in 1954. NAACP chief counsel Thurgood Marshall would call Murray’s book the “bible” of the Civil Rights Movement. Among her many accomplishments, Murray co-authored a brief that would compel the Supreme Court to include sex discrimination in the Equal Protection Clause in 1971 (late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was also an author on the brief). Murray was part of the first generation of female priests, becoming ordained in the Episcopal Church in 1977. Murray said she struggled with her gender identity throughout her life. Some modern writers have theorized that she may have been a transgender man. Murray passed away in 1985. 4. Nancy Lopez, professional golfer Nancy Lopez was considered the best female golfer of the late 1970s and ‘80s. Lopez would become the only woman to win the Ladies Professional Golf Association’s prestigious Rookie of the Year, Player of the Year, and the Vare Trophy in the same season. Ultimately, Lopez won 48 LPGA Tour events and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1987. Golf is historically a rich, white, male sport. As a child, Lopez’s family wasn’t allowed to join her local country club in Roswell, New Mexico because of their Mexican heritage. Lopez and her coach father had to travel 200 miles to Albuquerque to practice on a course. Her success and drive would pave the way for female golfers and for Latinx athletes for generations. Lopez currently lives in Florida. 5. Sylvia Earle, environmentalist Few individuals have communed with the ocean as much as Sylvia Earle, a marine biologist and explorer whose contributions have spanned decades. Earle broke the women’s diving depth record in 1979, and would co-found two deep-sea exploration engineering companies. In 1990, she was appointed chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where she helped clean oil spills caused by the Persian Gulf war. In 1998, Earle was named Time’s first Hero of the Planet. That same year, she was named a National Geographic explorer-in-residence, a title she has held since. A Netflix documentary called “Mission Blue” details Earle’s life as well as her latest project of the same name. Mission Blue aims to protect 30 percent of the globe’s oceans by 2030. 6. Bessie Coleman, aviator Bessie Coleman was the first African-American and Native American female pilot. Ahead of her time in every way, Coleman famously refused to perform her impressive plane tricks - including the “loop the loop”—for segregated stadiums in the 1920s. The Texas native, who was of mixed race, began her career as a manicurist. Her brothers served in the military and regaled her with stories of France, where the women were allowed to become pilots. Inspired, Coleman moved to France and received her pilot’s license in 1921. Wanting to buy her own plane and build her own flight school, Coleman earned money by touring the U.S. and Europe with airshows and lectures. Once, she returned to her hometown in Texas and refused to perform until the managers created one singular entrance for Black and White audience members. They complied. Coleman died in 1926 when her plane flipped over and she fell 3,000 feet out of the sky. She was not widely recognized until after her death; Coleman was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2006. 7. Grace Hopper, computer programmer Grace Hopper invented critical computer systems that we still use today, and she did it when the idea of computing was completely new. In the 1940s and 1950s, Hopper would help program the very first computers, which were used in the World War II effort, then later for businesses. She invented one of the first linkers, which take all kinds of information and turns it into code that can run on a computer. Hopper was the first programmer to put forth the idea that computers could speak a language based on English. Her theory formed the basis of COBOL, a computing language used by business, finance and administrative systems today. Hopper served as one of few women Navy Admirals through 1986. She consulted on programming projects until her death in 1992.
This resource was reviewed using the Curriki Review rubric and received an overall Curriki Review System rating of 3.00, as of 2008-09-25. Technical Completeness: 3 Content Accuracy: 3 Appropriate Pedagogy: 3 This resource is a good strategy to use with elementary students to review topics and to engage students in the process of questioning and reasoning. The resource provides teachers with detailed directions on how to implement the game twenty questions. Students are placed in groups and the groups take turns asking yes or no questions in order to identify a particular topic. Teachers can use this game with all different content areas. Information - 20 Questions A version of the classic game to use in the classroom.
“The drug you design ten years from now may already be obsolete,” Ivan Erill says. In a new study in Frontiers in Microbiology, Erill and colleagues describe how bacteria that existed hundreds of millions of years ago were already resistant to an antibacterial drug not invented until the 1930s. Once farmers began using the new class of drugs in agriculture, resistance spread quickly. As the bacteria were exposed to the drugs on a large scale in soils and waterways, antibiotic-resistant strains began appearing in hospitals within a decade. How is this all possible? Antibiotic resistance has much deeper roots than most people realize, Erill explains. Many antibiotics used to treat bacterial infections today are based on molecules bacteria naturally produce to out-compete their neighbors. “Your competitors are not just going to stand by,” says Erill, professor of biological sciences, “so over millions of years they are going to develop resistance. That’s a given.” But the drugs featured in this research are not natural antibiotics. They are synthetic compounds produced by humans. “With synthetic drugs, that’s a different picture altogether,” Erill says. “It’s not a given that you would find resistance.” That’s why the research team was surprised when they did—hundreds of millions of years before the drugs were invented. Tracking down the source The synthetic antibacterial drugs in question, called sulfonamides, target an enzyme involved in a pathway necessary for DNA synthesis. If an organism can’t replicate its DNA, it can’t reproduce, so its population quickly dwindles to nothing. The bacteria that are resistant to sulfonamides have modified genes for the target enzyme, called sul genes (for sulfonamide resistance). These genes allow the bacteria to continue reproducing in the presence of the drug, which means the antibiotic won’t work on them. Most sulfonamide-resistant bacteria have sul genes in what are called mobile elements—small segments of DNA that can easily jump from one individual or species to another. Erill and colleagues used computational tools to figure out which bacteria species had sulfonamide-resistance genes in their chromosomes instead of in mobile elements, indicating that they were the original sources of the resistance. They showed that two groups of bacteria harbor chromosomal sul-like genes. “You can use algorithms to reconstruct the most likely evolutionary history that explains the development of sulfonamide resistance,” Erill says. Those algorithms allowed the researchers to confirm that the resistance existed 500 to 600 million years ago. To further verify their results, the researchers inserted copies of the chromosomal sul-like genes into bacterial cells in the lab. When exposed to sulfonamides, the cells grew just fine, confirming that the genes confer resistance. The question remains, though: “How can you explain that bacteria 500 million years ago were resistant to a substance that didn’t yet exist?” asks Erill. While there is an small chance some organism was producing a sulfonamide-like compound hundreds of millions of years ago and resistance evolved in response to that pressure, Erill and his team put forth a different argument. “There is an enormous amount of bacterial genetic diversity,” Erill says. Miquel Sanchez, a Ph.D. student at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the first author on the paper, adds, “Resistant variants of the antibacterial target could be present in the global genetic pool even before microbes are exposed to them.” So, the reason these two bacterial groups were resistant to a compound that had never existed? Erill says, “We argue that this is just pure chance.” This research has big implications for the development and use of future antibiotics. If scientists develop a new antibiotic, “it is well possible that there might be one bacterium in the world that is already resistant,” Erill says. With conservative use of the antibiotic in human patients, though, it’s unlikely that particular bacterium would ever be exposed to the antibiotic and spread its resistance. But, “if you overuse the drug, especially in an agricultural setting, where the drug slowly permeates into the soil, waterways, and underground water reservoirs,” you’re exposing “this huge population of bacteria that otherwise would never be bothered by antibiotics or synthetic drugs,” Erill says. And, based on the team’s analysis, if the one bacterium that is already resistant is exposed to the drug, “this variant that is resistant will jump to other species in a matter of years.” “For me, it’s especially a warning against using antibiotics in farm settings,” Erill says. New drugs are typically tested using disease-causing bacterial species, “but maybe that’s not enough,” he says. “Maybe you should do broader testing, especially on the non-usual suspects, like soil bacteria.” Erill also says the new finding points toward using combination therapies more often. A bacterium in nature might harbor a chance resistance to one compound it’s never encountered, but it’s unlikely to be resistant to two. If doctors use two drugs at once, it is likely that one of the drugs will kill the bacteria, preventing it from spreading its resistance to the other drug. These new research findings could affect how well superbugs are kept at bay and the effectiveness of new antibiotic treatments. Whether the agricultural industry and drug developers heed the team’s advice remains to be seen. Image: From left to right, the authors of the paper: Ivan Erill, Pilar Cortés, Jordi Barbé, and Miquel Sánchez-Osuna. Photo by Ángela Martínez Mateos.
Story and Myth Story and myth have always been part of sanatana-dharma, but scholars ascertain that they rose to prominence in the Epic and Puranic periods. Since then, Hindu concepts and values have been transmitted more through story than through philosophical or theological exposition, and stories are central in disseminating popular Hinduism. Stories were customarily passed down through the family, particularly by grandparents. They were also popularised by musicians, dancers and travelling theatre troupes. More recently, they have been retold through books, film, TV, and video. Hinduism is rich in meaningful stories. Western film-makers and playwrights have realised this, as illustrated by the Peter Brooks version (1989) of the Mahabharata. A key element of story is the role of the hero and heroine, who embody exemplary values. Many narratives explore the nuances of dharma and the difficulties in its precise application. Although many of the stories are ancient, Hindu people talk of their hero figures with a sense of immediacy, as if they are alive today. These characters serve not as dated, tribal ancestors but as residents of a previously glorious age. Especially for children, the Panchatantra and Hitopadesh include allegorical animal stories with moral themes. Many of Aesop’s fables are believed to be derived from the Panchatantra. (For more information on story, please see Values and Story, Mahabharata, Bhagavad-gita, Ramayana, and The Puranas) Myth — a story, not necessarily fictional, which maps reality through understanding the higher dimensions of life - How does our own consciousness affect our use of language? - Does language give any indication of a culture and its specific values? - What impact have stories had on our own lives? Hindu stories are entirely allegorical Some Hindus contend that the Epics, Puranas, etc. are historical accounts, but happen beyond our normal realms of comprehension. These narratives span vast periods of time and space, and occur within multiple dimensions. There may appear to be factual contradictions, but Hindus place greater emphasis on appropriate values than on exactitude in names, dates, and so forth. One should be careful in using terms such as “myth” (see Glossary Terms, above) One can derive whatever message one wants from Hindu stories Although the tradition is liberal, and accepts that stories have multi-layered meanings, teachers should be careful about changing stories, or projecting their own values onto them without checking that they are actually consistent with Hindu thought. (See also Common Misunderstandings (above), Reincarnation and Samsara)
How is figurative language used in ''The Devoted Friend'' by Oscar Wilde? Oscar Wilde’s “A Devoted Friend” is an example of a type of story called a “fable.” Fables usually sound like children’s stories because they are meant to instruct or demonstrate a moral, and they often feature animals as characters. This type of story is, by its very nature, figurative in meaning, because it is not meant to be taken literally. If we took this story literally we would have ducks and rats and linnets talking to each other. The figurative nature of the story is also a bit ironic because the linnet is telling a story about humans. Within the story’s reality, he is using human behavior to teach a moral to other animals. Wilde has succeeded in turning the normal pattern upside down. Again, none of this is meant to be taken literally, so its meaning is figurative. You might also think of the story as symbolic. Symbolism is a type of figurative language (along with simile, metaphor, personification). The animals represent, or symbolize, different kinds of people. The duck is a concerned parent, the linnet is something of a philosopher, and the water rat is a selfish, ignorant person who can only look at things in terms of his own well-being. This story is also an example of a “frame story” because it consists of a story within a story. This happens when the linnet tells the duck and water rat a story about two humans. "The Devoted Friend" by Oscar Wilde is a short story whose main idea is the exposure of the double standards of what is thought to be as the proper, righteous, and polite society of Victorian London. Therefore, irony would be the first technique as well as the personification of the marsh animals who are taking part of the story and tell each other the tale of the miller and Hans. The nested story is also figurative. The animals tell a story within their own story. Epigrams and aphorisms are rampant in every work of Oscariana and is evident in the juxtaposition of ideas such as the idea that having a moral in a story is a negative thing, and how (even though the moral of the story was clear) nobody seemed to care to recognize it. That is what reinforces Wilde's use of irony in his tales, and how he wants to expose society for what it is.
Lock springs Materials and forging As mentioned above, the earliest springs, from the Roman Era on, were made of cold-hammered iron. Without iron, there would be no springs. The Etruscans began manufacturing iron in blast furnace in Europe about 3,000 years ago. Initially the iron was used for weapons, but later it was put to more everyday use in tools for farming and in buildings (hinges, window grates, locks and keys, fittings, etc.). Blast furnaces Expertise on manufacturing iron passed from the Etruscans to the Romans and Greeks. In the 7th century BC, the knowledge also spread north, coming into use in Scandinavia 400–500 years later. A blast furnace was built directly on the ground, and was used to produce malleable iron using one or two bellows that were operated by hand or by foot. The furnaces were fired with charcoal, and a variety of substances were used for the ore, including red earth, limonite and bog ore. Blast furnaces were common throughout Sweden and were used well into the 19th century. They produced Osmund iron, a ball of pig iron weighing just under 300 g, which were sold individually or by the barrel. Osmund iron was usually then made into bar iron. In the 16th century, during the Vasa Renaissance, there were three types of iron available for smiths to use, whether guild smiths, locksmiths or farmer-blacksmiths – bloom iron, Osmund iron, pig iron and bar iron. Steel from blast furnaces In the 13th century, Sweden began mining iron ore and using puddling furnaces to produce iron. These new puddling furnaces were housed in buildings – foundries. A puddling furnace was designed to smelt iron ore. The furnace consisted of a bricked pipe that was open at the top and surrounded by timber walls. The space between the pipe and the walls was filled with mud and stone. At the bottom were openings for removal of slag and ore, and for blowing in the air using water-powered bellows. The bottom of the pipe was filled with charcoal, followed by a blend of crushed and roasted ore and more charcoal. Crushed limestone was also used to make the slag more fluid. Once the furnace was lit, air was provided through the bellows, increasing the heat and speeding up combustion. The oxygen in the ore was reduced when it merged with the carbon and gases and rose out of the pipe. Some of the carbon dissolved into the iron (making up about 4% of the content), lowering the melting point of the metal. The smelt iron collected at the bottom of the pipe, with the more fluid slag on top. The iron and the slag were drained off alternately. More charcoal and limestone were continuously fed through the top of the pipe throughout the process. Refined pig iron could be forged into bar iron. Even in the Vasa Renaissance of the 16th century, springs were made solely of iron; but it was carefully selected iron that was hammered to a specific hardness. The smiths were trained and skilled in judging the properties of the iron by its appearance. They were also aware of methods of changing the carbon content of iron if necessary. In the early 17th century, Swedish blacksmiths had learned to manufacture iron springs that could be hardened into steel. The plate springs that had been used up to now, single or double (V-shaped), were replaced with coiled helical springs. All iron that was alloyed with carbon and could be hardened was called steel. The carbon serves as a binding material in the process. To harden sprung steel, the iron was heated to light blue, about 315–320°C, then immersed in cold water or oil. The quality was regulated by an ordinance from 1637 issued by Queen Kristina’s government, which the smiths had to follow to the letter. Bar iron had to be “good” and bear a manufacturer’s stamp. Those who forged “bad” iron, or used someone else’s stamp, would be punished as thieves.
Illustration of a man's head and shoulders on a slight blue background over blue text Ulysses S. Grant was President of the United States and by the end of the Civil War Lieutenant General of the Union Army. He served from 1839-1854 as an Officer in the U.S. Military, earning valor in the Mexican-American War, but became a national figure with his service from 1861-1869 as part of the Union Army. During the Civil War, Grant was instrumental in the Capture of Vicksburg and later through repeated assaults on Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s troops was able to force an unconditional surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. These victories catapulted him to the White House where Grant served as the 18th President from 1869-1877. Grant’s Presidency was marred by the slow Reconstruction process of the Southern states. However, his crowning political achievement was the ratification of the 15th amendment that guaranteed federal protection for non-whites to have the right to vote in elections regardless of color, race, or previous condition of servitude. This button is part of a set of 31 that were issued as premiums in Cracker Jack.
What’s Labor Day really all about? It’s the first Monday in September and the last hurrah of summer. The last BBQ, last camping trip, last pool party before the kids are back to school and work gets busy again. But what is Labor Day and why do we celebrate it? The History of Labor Day Labor Day is rooted in the rise of the Industrial Revolution in the early 1800s. Laborers worldwide found steady work in factories and mines—but worker rights were almost nonexistent. Men, women, and children worked 12-hour days, 6 days a week, often in deplorable conditions. To protect themselves, labor groups started to unionize, organizing strikes and marches to advocate for worker’s rights. By the 1880s, the labor movement was in full force. Linda Stinson, a former United States Department of Labor historian, explains that the Labor Day holiday evolved over a period of years: “In 19th century America, there was already a tradition of having parades, picnics and various other celebrations in support of labor issues, such as shorter hours or to rally strikers. But most historians emphasize one specific event in the development of today’s modern Labor Day. That pivotal event was the parade of unions and a massive picnic that took place in New York City on Sept. 5, 1882.” After that landmark celebration, individual states started making Labor Day official one by one—staring with Oregon. Then in 1894, railroad workers in Illinois went on strike to protest wage cuts. President Grover Cleveland sent in 12,000 federal troops to break the strike. Violence erupted, two strikers were killed, and President Cleveland made headlines for his hard line approach. In an attempt to appease American workers (and voters) he signed the bill to make Labor Day a federal holiday that same year. There’s nothing wrong with celebrating Labor Day as a restful, playful break from work. Through the mid-1950’s, Labor Day was used as a time to mobilize laborers to rally for their rights. But in the second half of the 20th century—as our labor workforce diminished and was outsourced to other countries—Labor Day became less political, more a festive goodbye to the lazy days of summer. There’s nothing wrong with celebrating Labor Day as a restful, playful break from work—but while you do, try these easy ways to give a nod to those who fought so hard to secure our rights as American workers. 5 Meaningful Ways to Celebrate Labor Day - Teach your kids why we celebrate Labor Day with a short and sweet video from PBS. - The labor movement helped bring about the 8-hour workday, so Americans could have a work-life balance. Think about your own work-life balance and talk to your kids about a good work-play-rest balance in their own lives. - At the office, before the Labor Day weekend, write notes to your employees or co-workers thanking them for their hard work and their contributions to your team. Celebrate your employees with a company picnic to kick off the holiday weekend. You could even organize a gift exchange. - Write thank you notes to the laborers that you appreciate in your community, like librarians, police officers, nurses, and teachers. - Celebrate the holiday totally offline. Enjoy some time truly connected to those you care about most. Unplug and unwind. Take time to savor the day—you earned it! Looking for great back to school gift ideas? Check out Elfster’s Back To School Gift Guides for the students and teachers in your life. Share your Labor Day pictures with us on Elfster’s Facebook page, on Twitter @Elfster, and on Instagram @Elfster. Latest posts by Amy G (see all) - Get into the Spirit of Christmas Without Spending a Dime - December 3, 2018 - How To Host A Tree Trimming Party \| Tips, Ideas and More - November 26, 2018 - How To Practice Gratitude For Greater Health and Happiness - October 15, 2018
Water may be the main sculptor of rock and the surface of the planet, but wind is also a carver and shaper. On a beach, wind can scoop out a hollow in hours, pushing and tossing away one grain of sand at a time until a bank or ridge or dune appears hollowed out, deﬂated. Inland, wind also carves a slope to its fancy, as sure as it can carve a drift of snow. Wind abrades and blasts one particle of the slope at a time, over centuries, over millennia, until the soil or rock is hollowed out by the prevailing draft of air armed with abrasive grit, tiny wind-carried teeth. On the high mountain peaks of the southern Appalachians prevailing winds not only bend and stunt the growth of trees, but also hollow out bins and wallows, sometimes called tumbles by the local people, on the balds and high unprotected ground. The largest deﬂation hollow in the contiguous United States is Big Hollow in Albany County, Wyoming. It’s forty square miles and a perfectly suitable sight in a state known for wind.
Astrophysicists from the McGill University in Quebec, Canada, have discovered two giant galaxies connected by a filament of stars which appear to be colliding. When combined, this supercluster of galaxies could be one of the largest structures in the universe. Using the Herschel Space Observatory and its single 3.5 meter mirror telescope in space, scientists are peering back in time to see two clusters of galaxies crash together. The McGill team hopes to shed light on how galaxies and clusters of galaxies evolve. There is a nature vs nurture debate among astronomers. Some believe that the evolution of galaxies is determined by intrinsic properties like the total mass. Others believe there is more to it, and wider-scale cosmic environmental forces will dominate the progression of galaxies. "We are excited about this filament, because we think the intense star formation we see in its galaxies is related to the consolidation of the surrounding supercluster," said Kristen Coppin, a postdoctoral fellow in astrophysics at McGill and lead author of a new paper in Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Ladybug room 0-2 years Our Ladybug Program WATCHING AND LISTENING DEVELOPS LANGUAGE We use our hands, eyes, face and words to communicate with very young babies, because this shows them how people communicate. Soon, the baby’s babbling noises will sound like adult talk. They begin to take turns and wait for response. Later, children will choose the right words and body language to communicate their feeling and needs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 IS ABOUT LEARNING NUMBERS NAMES Children need to learn the order of the early number names by saying number rhymes and imitating the order they hear. When using number order to count objects children need to learn that the last number tells them how many. “UP”, “DOWN” AND “NEXT TO”ARE ABOUT POSITION When we talk about “up” and “down”, “over” and “next to”, children are learning about the position of something. Over time children learn that there are words (for example upside down, next to, behind) which describe position. Later, children learn to pay attention to position, order and direction. They are key ideas in mathematics. SHARING BOOKS IS BEGINNING READING Being close to a special adult while looking at a book makes a baby feel warm and safe. Very young babies like nursery rhyme books best. The rhythms of the rhymes and the sounds of the words soothe them and they may touch, smell and even chew the book. Later, children will hold the book the right way up and turn the pages. They will choose favourite stories. Learning how a book works and that it is fun, is an important part of learning to read. Australian Government initiative, funded by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.
Indifference curve - download as word then the point at which an indifference curve is tangent to the budget line line an indifference map with perpendicular. You can show the preference of consumers for differing products though the use of indifference curves in excel the general data in excel is formatted using an xy scatter chart, and then the specific sets of data can be added to show different indifference curves on the same chart -- this is known as an indifference. These are the sources and citations used to research indifference curve this bibliography was generated on cite this for me on wednesday, budget line . Indifference curves/budget lines a hongli’s indifference curves for utility levels of 892 and 714 a slope of the demand curve b the slope of the budget line. Definition of indifference curve: a curve used in economics which shows how consumers would react to different combinations of products on the graph, a. How to derive consumer's equilibrium through the technique of indifference curve and budget equilibrium through the technique of indifference curve and. Draw an imaginary budget line (bl3) parallel to the new budget line (bl2) and make it tangent to the initial indifference curve (ic1), we get the tangent point c point c. Rank of indifference curve: can be represented as: o a a change in the slope of the budget line b a parallel outward shift in the budget line ° c a. The consumer’s equilibrium in explained by combining the budget line and the indifference map the price line pt is tangent to the indifference curve ic 2 at. Intermediate microeconomic theory, 10/9/2001 by pivoting the budget line, all will put her on a lower indifference curve when the budget line becomes. Price line or budget line: definition and explanation: the understanding of the concept of budget line is essential application of indifference curve analysis. Looking for homework assignment help for topic uses or application of indifference curve study contact us for assignment help. Problem set # 5 unless told where the indifference curve is tangent to the budget line now the budget-line equation is only an equation with one variable.Looking for help with applications of indifference curves for your the indifference curve is a straight line a provided budget line must be digression to. This is “indifference curve analysis: an alternative approach to understanding consumer choice”, the indifference curve and budget line have the same slope at. Plot the consumer's budget constraint in exhibit 1 at the optimum, the indifference curve is tangent to the budget constraint so their slopes are equal. In this lesson we will discuss introduction to indifference curve analysis and its assumptions budget line and equation of budget unacademy user leave a. Indifference curve and budget line applications 1 suppose you spend some of your income on compact disks (cd) and the rest of your income (ig) on other goods. Indifference curves are also convex we must therefore bring together the indifference curve and the budget line to find out what quantities of. Microeconomics/indifference curves and budget lines from wikiversity indifference curves is the curve that represents the bundle of. Indifference curve & budget line curve indifference curve adalah kurve yang menunjukan berbagai kombinasi dari 2 macam barang yang memberi kepuasan yang sama kepada seorang konsumen. An indifference curve is a line that shows combinations of goods among which a consumer is indifference curves on the budget line and 2). Lilly’s preferences are shown by the indifference curves lilly’s budget constraint, given the prices of books and doughnuts and her income, is shown by the straight line. Constructing an indifference curve indifference curves are plotted on a graph according to a system try your hand at these budget line and indifference curve. When price falls to rs 10 and thereby the budget line shifts to pl 2, the consumer comes to be in equilibrium at point q 2 the price-consumption curve pcc where the budget line pl 2 is tangent to indifference curve ic 2. What are the properties of the indifference curves updated on how to derive consumer's equilibrium through the technique of indifference curve and budget line. The indifference curve approach an indifference curve is drawn from the indifference tire slope of the indifference curve and of the budget line. Indifference curve diagrams when let us suppose that in period 2 line 3 becomes the budget between line 3 and the new set of indifference curves at. An indifference curve is a line showing all the combinations of two goods which give a consumer equal utility in other words, the consumer would be indifferent to these different combinations the indifference curve is convex because of diminishing marginal utility when you have a certain number. The point of maximum satisfaction is achieved by studying indifference map and budget line with the constraint of budget line, the highest indifference curve,.Download 2018. Term Papers.
\|Metapedia Fundraiser 2018: The Internet is the foremost field in the metapolitical battle of our time. Help us hold down the front.\| Plymouth Colony (sometimes New Plymouth) was an English colonial venture in North America from 1620 to 1691. The first settlement was at New Plymouth, a location previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement, which served as the capital of the colony, is today the modern town of Plymouth, Massachusetts. At its height, Plymouth Colony occupied most of the southeastern portion of the modern state of Massachusetts. Founded by a group including separatists who later came to be known as the Pilgrim Fathers, Plymouth Colony was, along with Jamestown, Virginia, one of the earliest successful colonies to be founded by the English in North America and the first sizable permanent English settlement in the New England region. The colony played a central role in King Philip's War, one of the earliest and bloodiest of the Indian Wars. Ultimately, the colony was annexed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691. Despite the colony's relatively short history, Plymouth holds a special role in American history. Rather than being entrepreneurs like many of the settlers of Jamestown, the citizens of Plymouth were fleeing religious persecution and searching for a place to worship as they saw fit. The social and legal systems of the colony became closely tied to their religious beliefs, as well as English custom. Many of the people and events surrounding Plymouth Colony have become part of American folklore, including the North American tradition known as Thanksgiving and the monument known as Plymouth Rock.
Copyright © University of Cambridge. All rights reserved. Why do this problem? takes students' logical thinking one step beyond the logical thinking required to follow direct proofs. It will sharpen their understanding of proof and mathematical thinking to a level beyond that normally required in school mathematics, albeit in a The first part of the problem works very well as a group discussion. Initially students might automatically decide that certain of the statements are true or false. But are they absolutely true or absolutely false ? The discussion should lead the group to understand that the statements are mathematically vague, unclear or depend on a personal opinion. Thus, although in normal everday language the statements would typically be considered unambiguous, mathematically they are Despite their logical vagueness, the statements are useful to understand the concept of the contrapositive: that a statement $A\Rightarrow B$ is equivalent to the statement $NOT(B)\Rightarrow Of course, to understand these statements, students will really need to understand the meaning of the implication arrows $\Rightarrow$ and $\Leftrightarrow$. A good activitiy is to try to get students to explain really clearly these concepts to each other. Holes in understanding will soon become apparent. Once students grasp thes points, they can move onto the clearer, more formal mathematics in the second part of the A final, powerful part of this activity is that students should try to explain their results to each other in words. This is a really good device for sharpening up mathematical thinking. Can students explain the contrapositive to the class? Do listeners think that their explanation is clear and simple? Can they explain their proofs in the same way? Don't forget to marvel at the beautiful simplicity of the contrapositive once the results have been proved! Why might these statements be unclear? How might we make them Do you understand the meaning of the arrows exactly? Can you explain your proofs clearly to an audience? Can students create other mathematical statements which can be proved by contrapositive? Can students create other sets of logical statements as in the first part of the question to test out on their peers? It is best first to tackle IFFY before attempting this question. Students having difficulty with creating the proofs might benefit from being the 'critical audience' to students who can construct the proofs. Can the solvers convince the audience of their results? Once those having difficulty have heard a couple of proofs, they might more clearly see the way to creating their own
Decades-old radioactive glass found blanketing the ground after the first nuclear test bomb explosion is being used by scientists to examine theories about the Moon’s formation some 4.5 billion years ago. In a new study, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego Professor James Day and colleagues examined the chemical composition of zinc and other volatile elements contained in the green-colored glass, called trinitite, which were radioactive materials formed under the extreme temperatures that resulted from the 1945 plutonium bomb explosion. The test samples analyzed were collected between 10 meters (30 feet) and 250 meters (800 feet) from ground zero at the Trinity test site in New Mexico. When compared with samples collected farther away, the glass closest to the detonation site was depleted in volatile elements such as zinc. The zinc that was present was enriched in the heavier and less-reactive isotopes, which are forms of these elements with different atomic mass but the same chemical properties. Zinc and other volatile elements, which vaporize under high temperature, were “dried out” close to the explosion than those further away from the blast. The findings were published in the Feb. 8 issue of the journal Science Advances. “The results show that evaporation at high temperatures, similar to those at the beginning of planet formation, leads to the loss of volatile elements and to enrichment in heavy isotopes in the left over materials from the event,” said Day, a Scripps geoscientist and lead author of the study. “This has been conventional wisdom, but now we have experimental evidence to show it.” Scientists have long suggested that similar chemical reactions took place when a collision between Earth and a Mars-sized planetary body produced debris that ultimately formed the Moon. The analysis by Day and colleagues found similarities between the trinitite and lunar rocks in that they are both highly depleted in volatile elements and contain little to no water. Day’s study provides new evidence to support the “giant impact theory” of the Moon’s formation. The thin sheet of trinitite at the New Mexico desert test site, which extended roughly 350 meters (1,100 feet) out from ground zero, formed from the heat, as the nuclear reactions took place. The study’s findings showed that volatile elements undergo the same chemical reactions during extreme temperature and pressure events whether taking place on Earth or in outer space. “We used what was a history-changing event to scientific benefit, obtaining new and important scientific information from an event over 70 years ago that changed human history forever,” said Day, director of the Scripps Geochemistry Isotope Laboratory. The NASA Emerging Worlds Program supported the study. Researchers from the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center were coauthors on the study. Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, is one of the oldest, largest, and most important centers for global science research and education in the world. Now in its second century of discovery, the scientific scope of the institution has grown to include biological, physical, chemical, geological, geophysical, and atmospheric studies of the earth as a system. Hundreds of research programs covering a wide range of scientific areas are under way today on every continent and in every ocean. The institution has a staff of more than 1,400 and annual expenditures of approximately $195 million from federal, state, and private sources. Scripps operates oceanographic research vessels recognized worldwide for their outstanding capabilities. Equipped with innovative instruments for ocean exploration, these ships constitute mobile laboratories and observatories that serve students and researchers from institutions throughout the world. Birch Aquarium at Scripps serves as the interpretive center of the institution and showcases Scripps research and a diverse array of marine life through exhibits and programming for more than 430,000 visitors each year. Learn more at scripps.ucsd.edu and follow us at Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. About UC San Diego At the University of California San Diego, we constantly push boundaries and challenge expectations. Established in 1960, UC San Diego has been shaped by exceptional scholars who aren’t afraid to take risks and redefine conventional wisdom. Today, as one of the top 15 research universities in the world, we are driving innovation and change to advance society, propel economic growth, and make our world a better place. Learn more at www.ucsd.edu.
Lumbricus terrestris is indigenous to the holarctic zones - the world’s northern continents. It was introduced into temperate regions of South America, Australia, New Zealand and several temperate oceanic and southern islands by European settlers and traders. It is widespread and common in Britain, often in undisturbed habitats - particularly grasslands and pastures. It is also commonly found in lawns, parks and gardens, but less common in woodlands and arable soils. Lumbricus terrestris is an anecic species as it creates permanent vertical burrows in the soil. An L. terrrestris burrow can be 1–3m deep and the earthworm inhabits it for its entire life cycle.
Answer any 12 of the following 14 questions. Each is worth 8 points. 1) During the Helium-burning phase of a star's life, an "inner" core of inert Carbon slowly grows over time while the outer layers of the star expand. 2) Suppose we want to measure the orbital velocity and orbital distance of an eclipsing binary system in order to determine the mass of the central star in the system. But we have a problem: our spectrograph is broken, so we can’t use Doppler shifts to determine the orbital velocity of the companion star! Assuming we know the orbital distance from the central star to the companion star via other means and that we can measure the period of the orbit from the light curve, explain how we can find the orbital velocity of the companion star. 3) Star Gamma has the same size (R) and temperature (T) as our Sun. Star Delta is twice the size of our Sun and half the temperature. Be sure to show your work on this problem if you wish to possibly receive partial credit for an incorrect answer. 4) As a star ends its main-sequence lifetime, it expands to hundreds of times its original size and the surface temperature drops considerably. 5) A crucial factor in directly detecting extrasolar planets is resolving the angular separation between the planets and the stars they’re orbiting and then actually trying to see the planet in the glare of the bright star. 6) Suppose we’re looking at a region of the sky that we know has a uniform distribution of stars. The apparent distribution of stars is not uniform for some reason, as shown in the diagram below. Region A appears to have a higher density of stars than region B. 7) Extremely hot stars are known to be quite young and so they must have a fairly high metallicity. However, if you take a spectrum of such a star, you’ll see very few (if any!) spectral absorption lines. Explain why. 8) When we plot the radial velocities of galaxies against their redshifts, we come up with a graph like the one shown below. 9) The fact that the Sun looks cooler and darker near its edges is a phenomenon known as limb darkening. Explain what this proves about the temperature structure of the Sun from the photosphere inward. Don’t just state what the Sun is like...state how we know this! 10) Below are parts of two stellar spectra (both containing the same pattern of Carbon absorption lines), one for Altair and one for Procyon. Both stars have the same size, rotation speed and orientation, and the star Altair is at rest relative to the Earth (it is not moving toward us or away from us). 11) Describe how you would go about calibrating the “standard ruler” method by finding the average linear size of a nearby collection of the galaxies. Also, describe why this method is not considered to be very reliable for determining distances. 12) Below is the spectrum of Arcturus, compared to that of our Sun, which peaks in the middle of the visible region (yellow) of the spectrum as seen below. 13) When we look out at the distribution of stars in the Milky Way, we find that most red stars are found at high galactic latitudes. Explain in detail why red stars (more so than blue stars) are seen at high galactic latitudes. 14) When we look at the absorption line spectrum of the star Aldebaran, one of the visible lines there is singly-ionized Oxygen (O II). The absorption line spectrum of the star Mizar contains absorption lines from triply-ionized Oxygen (O IV).
Crop Production Test #2 Home > Flashcards > Print Preview The flashcards below were created by user on FreezingBlue Flashcards . What would you like to do? Morphology defined is? study of the physical characteristics of an organism What are the seven major plant parts? - 2. Stem - 3. Leaves - 5. Flower - 6. Fruit What is the four main functions of roots? What is the embryonic root called? (aka the primary root) Tap roots are found in what kind of plant? Fibrous roots are found in what? T of F: Fibrous roots have no single dominant root Fibrous roots typically remain _________ in term of the location? close to the surface of the soil What are root hairs? Extensions of the root epidermal cells, single cell's of the roots outer layer, site of all water and nutrient uptake The relationship between plant roots and soil inhabiting microorganisms What is mutualistic symbiosis? Where both parties are benefited from the relationship What is an adventitious root? Roots formed from non-root parts What is an example of an adventitious root? Prop Roots; typically in growing monocots Roots also act as _________ organs. What are some examples of roots as storage organs? Sweet potato, carrot, radish Stem defined is? An elongated axis on which the lateral appendages are attached What are the four stem functions? - support- leaves, flower, fruit - Conduction- water, minerals, food - Sight of New growth - Storage - food and water What is the node? The point of attachment of buds and appendages in dicots Portion of stem between nodes The growing point of dicots? is the shoot, turns into leaves or flowers What are the two bud types in dicots? Terminal Bud, Axillary Bud What is the function of buds in dicots? - Responsible for initial growth and elongation of shoot, gives rise to major components: - c)reproductive organs Upwardly, water and minerals Both up and down, food conduction Vascular bundles in dicots are arrranged? In rings toward the outer layer of the stem As a dicot grows if it produces a secondary xylem it is known as a? In a dicot if it does not procuse a secondary xylem it is known as? In monocots the stem is known as the? Vascular bundles in monocots? scattered throughout, doesn't produce secondary xylem What is the growing point of monocots? The crown, located at ground level What is a rhizome? A horizontal underground stem What is an example of a rhizome? What is a stolon? A horizontal above ground stem What is an example of a stolon? What is a tiller? vertically growing stem What is a tuber? - The elongated terminal portion of a rhizome - Ex: Potatoes What is a tendril? - Slender coiling stem structure that are sensitive to contact - Ex: Ivy What are the four main functions of the leaves? - Photosynthesis- Sunlight Absorption What are the four parts of the monocot leaf? - Leaf blade-site of photosynthesis - Leaf sheath - wraps around culm - Ligule - point of attachment between blade and sheath - Auricle - project from sheath What are the three parts of a dicot leaf? - Leaf blade - site of photosynthesis - Petiole - stalk on which blade attaches to stem - Stipules - Stem like outgrowths at the base of petiole What is the flowers functions? - Reproductive structures - Attract Pollinators What is the Calyx? collective term for the sepals What are the sepals? Encloses the outer parts of the flower What is the corolla Collective term for the petals What is the stamen? The male parts What parts are included in the stamen? - Anther - site of pollen production - Filament - supports anther What is the pistil (carpel)? The female parts What parts are included in the pistil? - Ovary - contains the ovule - Stigma - Site of pollen inception - Style- Supports the stigma What is an inflorescence? Flower bearing branch, or "seed head" What is a spikelet? Basic unit of an inflorescence What are the three types of inflorescence? - Spiked -attached directly - Raceme - spikelet attached to short stalk - Panicle - central axis branched What are the glumes? Envelope the spikelet and serve as protection What are florets? Individual flower within the spikelet What are the two types of bracts? Palea and Lemma What is the tip that extends out on the Lemma called? Awn or Beard What are complete flowers? Contain all four main parts; corolla, calyx, pistil, stamen What is an incomplete flower? Is missing at least on of the four main parts What is a perfect flower? Both pistil and stamen are located on the same flower What is an imperfect flower? Missing either stamen or pistil What is a monoecious plant? Plant with both sexes What is a diecious plant? Plant with only one sex What is a fruit? A ripened ovary What is the pericarp? What are the three layers of the pericarp? Exocarp, Mesocarp, Endocarp What is a berry and give an example. Fleshy endocarp, peach or banana What is a dried fruit and give an example. pericarp layers are indistinguishable, nuts What is a caryopsis? grass fruit, pericarp is fused with seed What is a seed? What is a seed composed of? embryo , cotelydon, and/or endosperm What is a dicot seed composed of? Testa, Cotelydons, Embryo What is the testa? What are the cotelydons? Seed leaves, provides energy What is the radicle? What is the hypocotyl? Stem below cotelydons What is the epicotyl? Stem above the cotelydons What is the hilum? Point of attachment of seed to ovule In monocot seeds, caryopsis, what is the energy storage material? What is the scutellum? The single cotelydon, in monocot What is the pumule? What is the Radicle? What would you like to do? Home > Flashcards > Print Preview
Ever since man was first fascinated by the twang of an arrow leaving an archer’s bow, stringed instruments have played a key role in the musical development of many of the major civilizations. The discovery that a plucked string’s sound could then be emphasized by positioning the string next to an air chamber, for example a hollow log or cavity, led to the development of early stringed instruments. The Sarod is a fretless stringed instrument with an extended air chamber under the fingerboard. This differs from other Indian stringed instruments such as the Sitar or the Tanpura, which have an air chamber only at one end. Combined with the skin covering on the drum end of the instrument, the extended air chamber gives the Sarod a unique and clearly identifiable depth of sound. It is commonly believed that the Sarod has its origins in the Afghan Rabab, a smaller stringed, lute-style instrument played while marching or riding into battle. Three Afghan horsemen from the Bangash tribe are said to have migrated to India around 200 years ago bringing the Rabab with them. Over the years these three settled in northern India, first taking up jobs as soldiers under different kings of the time. In addition to their fine horsemanship, their musical skills were noticed and the Afghans soon found their way into royal courts where their talents were utilized. The families of these three continued the tradition of Rabab playing, however, over time, Indian music and instruments, especially those of the Veen(a) family, influenced the Afghan Rabab playing style as well as the instrument itself. An advantage of native instruments over the Afghan Rabab was the ability for the strings to sustain an echo, which allowed for slides on the string, already typical to Indian music. Gradually, instruments began to influence one another giving rise to new creations, such as the Sur-Shringar, which replaced the Tanseni Rabab’s skin drum with one of wood, its alabaster fingerboard with metal, and the silk strings with those of metal, thus better allowing the typical Indian musical characteristics to be applied. Later sympathetic strings were added which further embellished the sound quality of the instrument. These three changes, namely the metallic fingerboard and strings, and the addition of the sympathetic strings were a major influence on the development of the early Sarod. A contradictory claim is that the Sarod and Rabab had their origins in northern India. Traces of similar Rabab style instruments can also be found in southern India, especially in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, where it is known as the Swarbat. The folk Rabab, an instrument popular in north India, had a wooden fingerboard, its strings were made of silk, cotton or gut, and it was played with a wooden pick. In history, reference is also made to a Sharadiya Veena from which the name Sarod may have been derived. Regardless of the origin, the metamorphosis and experimentation of the instrument continued. Ustad Allauddin Khan of the Maihar Gharana created a Sarod with a round drum that more closely resembles that of the Veen and thereby adds to its tonal quality, while members of the Shahjahanpur and Gwalior Gharanas preferred the original, elliptical form. Both forms are seen today although the round drum has gained in popularity. Harmonic strings were also added and similarly some instruments today will have either six or eight main tuning strings. In addition, sympathetic strings will number between thirteen and fifteen. The Sarod is played with a pick made of coconut shell, which is referred to as the Jaba. The pick is held firmly between the thumb and the rest of the fingers with a relaxed wrist to allow for a combination of the fast strumming and dramatic slides that are now identified with the Sarod. The basic vocabulary of the Sarod is made up of two notes; the downward stroke on the string or ‘Da’ and the upward pluck or the ‘Ra’. However, by combining the Da and Ra strokes, Sarodias have an expanded vocabulary that is unique to the instrument. Often the Sarod is found to emulate the rhythmical patterns or bols from accompanying percussion instruments such as the Tabla or Pakhawaj. Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta demonstrates a Sarod’s core vocabulary in this video clip.
In Commemorating the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, the Central Role of Slavery Must Not Be Forgotten In March 1865, with the Civil War’s final days in view, President Abraham Lincoln said plainly in his Second Inaugural Address that “all knew” that slavery “was somehow the cause of the war.” Today, as the nation commemorates the war’s sesquicentennial, the war’s fundamental cause—slavery—is obscured in myth-making and selective memory. It’s time we get it right. Only by facing the past honestly can we as a nation progress toward a more perfect union. To that end, we need a clear understanding of the core issue, an understanding that goes beyond hackneyed myths and cloying appeals to regional vanities. Was the war fought over states’ rights? Yes, but states’ rights for what? Over Fifth Amendment property rights? Sure, but property rights regarding what? Over regional economics? Of course, but what was the foundation of the South’s economy? No matter how one cuts it, the unequivocal answer to each question is slavery—or, more precisely, the expansion of slavery into the western territories. Without slavery, there would have been no war between North and South—period. This fact was vividly clear to the men who chose to secede from the Union. South Carolina’s secession manifesto of December 1860, for example, repeatedly railed against the Union’s interference in slavery and rightful “property.” Mississippi’s declaration made clear in the first paragraph that the decision to secede was “thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery.” When Confederate leaders wrote their national Confederate States Constitution in March 1861, they mentioned slavery no fewer than nine times, including Article I, Section 9, which stated that “No bill of attainder, ex-post facto law, or law denying or impairing the right of property in negro slaves shall be passed.” And Confederate currencies often depicted laboring slaves. Not only must we recognize that the war was fundamentally about slavery; we must also reflect soberly on the nature of slavery. It is easy to let the word “slavery” pass one’s lips without appreciating the consequences of that profound imbalance of power: the violence, the sexual abuse and rape, the routine selling of human beings as one would sell a mule. Imagine a knock at your door this evening by someone who has come to take away your spouse, child, sibling, or parent—forever. That was the reality of the Civil War’s fundamental cause. Commemorations such as “Confederate History Months” typically ignore or marginalize these harsh truths. While it is entirely appropriate to memorialize the sacrifices and hardships of millions of Confederate soldiers and households, too often those solemn intentions get lost in patriotic excess and vague notions of “Confederate heritage.” And whose heritage is it, anyway? Several of the Deep South states had slave populations that outnumbered white residents. Today, in the former Confederate states it is common to encounter the most popular symbol of Civil War “heritage,” the Confederate battle flag. One can see it displayed on vehicles and clothing and, perhaps most provocatively, on the grounds of the South Carolina statehouse. It also influences the design of several current state flags of the former Confederacy. Regrettably, arguments defending public displays of the flag seldom grapple with the essential truth behind its creation. In light of the persistent and often deliberate confusion over the Civil War’s fundamental cause, it is instructive to return to Lincoln’s words in his 1863 Gettysburg Address. By beginning his memorial speech with “Four score and seven years ago,” Lincoln returned, not to the U.S. Constitution—whose compromises allowed for slavery’s continuation—but rather to the Declaration of Independence, which boldly declared that all men are created equal. The president concluded by solemnly urging the nation to dedicate itself to “a new birth of freedom.” The point was unmistakable: This new birth of freedom was necessitated by a civil war brought on by slavery. For Americans who have ignored the undeniable historical truth of slavery’s central role in the coming of the Civil War, may they be guided in the future by what Lincoln called the better angels of our nature. History News Service John Gripentrog teaches history at Mars Hill College in North Carolina. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2006.Click here for reuse options! Copyright 2011 LA Progressive
What is the history of AIDS? Careful investigation has helped scientists determine where AIDS came from. Studies have shown that the human immunodeficiency virus first arose in Africa. It spread from primates to people early in the twentieth century, possibly when humans came into contact with infected blood during a chimpanzee hunt. By testing stored blood samples, scientists have found evidence of human infection as long ago as 1959. Once introduced into humans, HIV was spread through sexual intercourse from person to person. As infected people moved around, the virus spread from Africa to other areas of the world. In 1981, U.S. physicians noticed that a large number of young men were dying of unusual infections and cancers. Initially, U.S. victims were predominately homosexual men, probably because the virus inadvertently entered this population first in this country and because the virus is transmitted easily during anal intercourse. However, it is important to note that the virus also is efficiently transmitted through heterosexual activity and contact with infected blood or secretions. In Africa, which remains the center of the AIDS pandemic, most cases are heterosexually transmitted. Twenty years ago, the news that Magic Johnson had acquired HIV heterosexually helped the country realize that the infection was not limited to men who had sex with men. Currently in the U.S., approximately 27% of new HIV infections are a result of heterosexual transmission. In the years since the virus was first identified, HIV has spread to every corner of the globe and is one of the leading causes of infectious death worldwide. Statistics from the World Health Organization show that approximately 2 million people die each year from AIDS, and 250,000 of these are children. Worldwide, half of HIV-infected people are women. Two-thirds of current cases are in sub-Saharan Africa. In the U.S., more than 1 million people are currently infected with HIV, and approximately 35,000 are newly diagnosed with AIDS each year. Over the years, more than 600,000 people in the U.S. have died from AIDS, many of them during what should have been their most productive years of life.
Teaching poetry can be a tricky business. Exercises to help students access their creative powers and produce well-crafted poems. Learn how to preserve your own insights and memories by writing haiku. Exercise 5 — Making Metaphors This is actually a really fun, imaginative exercise. Imagery Free Verse Student Sample. Good — happy — ecstatic Using the Thesaurus This is an excellent time to introduce the Thesaurus and how to use it. Then I ask them to use all the words in a poem," explained Pinegar. Take some of the ideas from these lists, and see if you can expand upon them. The course is great. You could also put post-it notes words on the sides in order to re-use the box. Come back to the list another day, with fresh eyes. Exercise 3 — Sensory Observations Poetry is truly indefinable, but there are a lot of things poetry can do. How to Write Poems - Poetry Techniques 3. It is really an activity to get students thinking creatively and quickly about words, and to emphasize that writing poetry is about expression not being perfect. Just write whatever you think of. Go out into the world, and make observations. I try to break down their resistance to that. After the students had finished listening, I had them work in small groups to share their words and discuss any new vocabulary. One piece was sad and slow, one was cheerful, and one was a loud hard rock number. Limericks are a lot of fun to read and write. In this exercise, students begin to practice focusing on the process of visualization, and formulate the vocabulary they will need to add description and emotion to their poetry. Advice on how to write well about abstractions such as Love and Death, how to choose a form for your poem, and a checklist to improve your poetry writing. Breath from her mouth like a wave of sea water. I put the following poem on the board. Leaves falling like men on a battlefield. Poet, teacher, and translator Michael Klam spoke to us about poetry slams, performance poetry, and literary translation. You can also try to write a quick poem based on solely on the scene you choose. What do they see? Much like the "found poems," students create their own poems using the pre-written lines. Back to Top Other Activities While form is important when writing poetry, there is much more to it. Sometimes, a poet has trouble finding ways to describe what she wants to express. Wherever you go, make five sensory observations for each sense. Explanations and examples of narrative poetry.Students complete poetry writing activities and art analysis activities. In this creative writing and art lesson, students analyze a cubist piece by Picasso and discuss abstraction. Students read a poem by Gertrude Stein about Picasso. Build solid creative writing skills with our extensive collection of printables, graphic organizers, and lessons plans. You'll find poetry activities, short-story writing exercises, journal topics, printable worksheets, art projects, and more! Poetry Wordgames: Activities for Creative Thinking and Writing The term poetry “wordgames” applies to these activities as it is suggested that teachers present them as team-created poetry writing or as team-created, competitive writing; this implies a sense of “fun”, which is in fact how students experience them. The 50 writing. Poetry for Kids \| See more ideas about Writing, Writing poetry and Activities. Charlie Brown Characters Character Names Reward Stickers Peanuts Gang Motivational Products Student Rewards Reward Ideas Class Decoration. The choices are endless with Eureka stickers. There are hundreds of ways to utilize this versatile format at home or. Writing poetry is a great exercise for English language learners. It gives them a chance to experiment with language and vocabulary, and to freely share their ideas without the confinement of perfect grammar or firm structures. Scholastic’s “Poetry: A WRITE IT Activity,” for high school students, incorporates interactive tutorials, exercises, publishing opportunities, message boards, and creative ideas — all meant to help students hone their skills through the poetry-writing process.Download
Concepts that are fundamental to the theory of evolution. charcteristics of living things change with time; the change is directed by natural selection the change in the genetic makeup of a population over time. is the sum total of all the gene mixing that occurs during sexual reproduction gained during lifetime -- are not passed on (learned behaviors) states that individuals with genes that make them better adapted to their surroundings are more likely to have higher survival rates and produce more offspring organisms with genes that make them more "fit" will reprodice more offspring = therefore the favorable genes will become more common in population is a measure of how often a given gene turns up in the gametes of a population when the 4 conditions are met thus resulting stabilty in gene frequency 4 assumptions to constant gene frequency... population is large enough so that change alone or accidental deaths will not change gene frequencies; mutations must not occur; there can be no immigration or emigration; reproduction must be totally random 1) population is large enough so taht change alone will not occur gene frequency population has to be infinitely large to rule out chance, avoid genetic drift; result in indeterminate evolution chance can cause evolutionary change in small population since genetic drift is not influenced by the relative adaptiveness of he change in allele frequency 2) mutations must not occur never met; mutations are always occuring; not usually a major factor in changing gene frequency; don't determine the direction of evolutionary chagne 3) there can be no immigration or emigration gene flow; sometimes not met in nature some gene migration between populations. increases genetic variability in population 4) reproduction must be totally random more than mating process; includes many factors that contribute... selection of mate, physical efficency, feritily, surival factors that act to disturb the HArdy-Weiberg equilibrium the geographic distribution of a species Species can move to a new geographic area by... traveling under its own power; be carried by storms and winds; attached to other organisms or human-transported objects if the new area is suitable the species will establish here and its range will expand species introduced because of human activities exotic species -- there are no natural enemies or competitors in their new home. when a portion of the gene pool become seperated from the rest of the gene pool by some geographic change mountains, rivers, deserts, cause geographic isolation enviroment differences; causes differences to arise between 2 gene pools. over a long period of time the genetic differences result in regional populations; different phenotype and genotype but still produce fertile offspring is the process of generating new species; occurs when gene flow between 2 isolated populations does not occur even after the geographic barriers are removed Steps of specification geographic isolation of part of poulation; differences in selecting agents; genetic differences so great reproductive isolating mechanisms or genetic isolating mechanism mechanisms that prevent interspecies mating occurs when 2 populations become so specialized for different enviromental conditions -- can;t survive where other occurs occurs when 2 synpatric populations occupy different habitats within their common range occurs when 2 closley related sympatric species breed during different season occurs when behavioral cues are associated with successful courtship and mating occurs when structural differences betwen 2 closely related species prevents matings (usually differences in spape of genitalia) occurs when 2 different species are able to mate but egg and sperm will not for a zygote occurs when mating and fertilization between 2 species are successful but the embryo does not develop properly occurs when a hybrid resulting from interbreeding dies before reproducing or is so weak or malformed that it can't reproduce occurs when a hybrid is vigourous but sterile selective hybrid elimination occurs when a hybrid is capable of reproducing but they and their offspring are less fit and soon eliminated form the population plants forming new species, is when the number of chromosomes present is increased thought that animals might change over time. but dod not come up with a mechanism that would cause evolution suggested a process by which evolution could occur; suggested taht acquired chacteristics could be passed down to offspring Darwin and Wallace theory for natural selection all organisms produce more offspring than can survive; no 2 organisms are exactly alike; among organisms there is a constant struggle for survival; individuals with favoriable characteristics are more likely to survive and produce; favorable characteristics become more common in teh species and unfavorable characteristics are lost. trace evolutionary changes over time; with limited evidence; creationists the basic pattern of evolution; specification events cause branches in the evolution of a group of organisms. characterized by a rapid increase in the number of kinds of closely related species 2 situations in adaptive radiation an organism invades a previously unexploited enviroment; an organism evolves a new set of characteristcs that allows it to dispalce organisms taht previously occupied an eniroment niche occurs when organisms of widely different backgrounds develop similar characteristics is the type described by Darwin... slow, progressive change whole groups of characteristcs change at same time; many new species appear and many old species become extict pattern of slow change for millions of years followed by rapid cahnge living organisms from nonliving material lving organisms only from other living organisms italian doctor who designed experiement to disprove spontaneous generation. used 2 jars with maggots french chemists, convinced msot people that spontaneous generation did not occur; used sugar in beakers Alexander Oparin and JBS Haldane russioan biochemists and british biologists; independtly proposed the idea of spontaneous generation in a new form. conducted experiment to see if organic material can be formed from inorganic material. able to synthesis amino acids and sugars A portion of the early ocean was seperated from the rest and began to evaporate as evaporation occurs the simple organic molecules become more concentrated; the water disappear macromolecules could have form by dehydration synthesis simple organic molecules could have been concentrated by freezing as the water was tied up due to freezing the simple organic molecules would have become more and more concentrated; as the water became frozen and unavailable, macromolecules could have formed by dehydration synthesis clay particles could have attracted and concentrated the simepl organic compounds dyhydration reaction to form macromolecules. nonliving structures led to the first living cells consists of organic macromolecules surrounded by a shell of water molecules. are droplets that form when hot aqeous mixtures of polypeptides are cooled
In algebra, the zero-product property states that the product of two nonzero elements is nonzero. In other words, it is the following assertion: If , then or . The zero-product property is also known as the rule of zero product, the null factor law or the nonexistence of nontrivial zero divisors. All of the number systems studied in elementary mathematics — the integers , the rational numbers , the real numbers , and the complex numbers — satisfy the zero-product property. In general, a ring which satisfies the zero-product property is called a domain. Suppose is an algebraic structure. We might ask, does have the zero-product property? In order for this question to have meaning, must have both additive structure and multiplicative structure.[note 1] Usually one assumes that is a ring, though it could be something else, e.g., the nonnegative integers . Note that if satisfies the zero-product property, and if is a subset of , then also satisfies the zero product property: if and are elements of such that , then either or because and can also be considered as elements of . - A ring in which the zero-product property holds is called a domain. A commutative domain with a multiplicative identity element is called an integral domain. Any field is an integral domain; in fact, any subring of a field is an integral domain (as long as it contains 1). Similarly, any subring of a skew field is a domain. Thus, the zero-product property holds for any subring of a skew field. - If is a prime number, then the ring of integers modulo has the zero-product property (in fact, it is a field). - In the strictly skew field of quaternions, the zero-product property holds. This ring is not an integral domain, because the multiplication is not commutative. - The set of nonnegative integers is not a ring, but it does satisfy the zero-product property. - Let denote the ring of integers modulo . Then does not satisfy the zero product property: 2 and 3 are nonzero elements, yet . - In general, if is a composite number, then does not satisfy the zero-product property. Namely, if where , then and are nonzero modulo , yet . - and , - yet neither nor is zero. - The ring of all functions , from the unit interval to the real numbers, has nontrivial zero divisors: there are pairs of functions which are not identically equal to zero yet whose product is the zero function. In fact, it is not hard to construct, for any n ≥ 2, functions , none of which is identically zero, such that is identically zero whenever . - The same is true even if we consider only continuous functions, or only even infinitely smooth functions. Application to finding roots of polynomials Suppose and are univariate polynomials with real coefficients, and is a real number such that . (Actually, we may allow the coefficients and to come from any integral domain.) By the zero-product property, it follows that either or . In other words, the roots of are precisely the roots of together with the roots of . Thus, one can use factorization to find the roots of a polynomial. For example, the polynomial factorizes as ; hence, its roots are precisely 3, 1, and -2. In general, suppose is an integral domain and is a monic univariate polynomial of degree with coefficients in . Suppose also that has distinct roots . It follows (but we do not prove here) that factorizes as . By the zero-product property, it follows that are the only roots of : any root of must be a root of for some . In particular, has at most distinct roots. If however is not an integral domain, then the conclusion need not hold. For example, the cubic polynomial has six roots in (though it has only three roots in ). - There must be a notion of zero (the additive identity) and a notion of products, i.e., multiplication. - David S. Dummit and Richard M. Foote, Abstract Algebra (3d ed.), Wiley, 2003, ISBN 0-471-43334-9.
By Meredith Gettleman, LSW, Youth and Family Therapist As adults, we accept stress as a normal part of life and can navigate our stressors. Even though stress is just as common among youth, they haven't developed the skills to properly cope with these emotions. Parents and caregivers can help their children learn how to deal with their own stress and anxiety, which can be related to relationships, schoolwork, pressure to get good grades, and balancing social life with school and other activities. Although it may be difficult to know what to say or do when your child is stressed, they value your consistent support. 8 Tips to Help Your Kids (and Yourself!) Manage Stress - Focus on basics – Get enough sleep and eat well. These are both crucial for coping with stress and regulating our emotions. - Encourage talk about stressors – Even if the cause of your child's stress can’t be solved right away, it can be helpful to talk it out. It's okay if they don't feel comfortable talking to you, as long as they have someone supportive to talk to. - Make mistakes – Mistakes are opportunities for learning. If children understand this, they'll be able to deal with stressful situations in a much more positive and healthy way. - Practice relaxation techniques – Deep breathing and mindfulness are helpful tools for coping with intense emotions. - Talk about coping strategies – Think about what calms you or improves your mood when you're feeling stressed, and help your child brainstorm techniques that will calm them. Some examples include listening to music, exercising, and journaling. - Prioritize tasks – Help your child figure out what needs to get done and what can wait. - Have fun – Life is about balance, and self-care is vital. Encourage your child to balance responsibilities with activities that make them happy. - Manage your own stress – Modeling how you manage your own stress levels will also help you stay calm, be the best parent you can, and not add additional stress to your child’s life! As published in the CTAD Newsletter, December 2018
In the new American Educator, Jennifer Dubin praises Core Knowledge’s approach to teaching reading and writing in An Early Grades Reading Program Builds Skills and Knowledge. The gains in reading, science, and social studies made by young students in a Core Knowledge language arts pilot show that the language arts block can be used to develop both the reading skills and the knowledge of the world that are essential to later reading comprehension. In Core Knowledge schools, teachers read to students from more challenging books than they’d be able to handle on their own, Dubin explains. Each grade focuses on certain knowledge domains. For examples, kindergarteners learn about nursery rhymes and fables, the five senses, stories, plants, farms, Native Americans, kings and queens, seasons and weather, Columbus and the Pilgrims, colonial towns and townspeople, taking care of the Earth and presidents and American symbols. Several New York City elementary schools tried the Core Knowledge approach with great success. Before switching, students at a mostly low-income Queens elementary school knew little about the world — not much science, history or geography — says Joyce Barrett-Walker, principal of P.S. 96. Students had been taught reading strategies — find the main idea — but lacked the background knowledge and vocabulary to understand what they read. They had nothing interesting to write about.
The Zechstein (German either from mine stone or tough stone) is a unit of sedimentary rock layers of Middle to Late Permian (Guadalupian to Lopingian) age located in the European Permian Basin which stretches from the east coast of England to northern Poland. The name Zechstein was formerly also used as a unit of time in the geologic timescale, but nowadays it is only used for the corresponding sedimentary deposits in Europe. The evaporite rocks of the Zechstein formation were laid down by the Zechstein Sea, an epicontinental or epeiric sea that existed in the Guadalupian and Lopingian epochs of the Permian period. The Zechstein Sea occupied the region of what is now the North Sea, plus lowland areas of Britain and the north European plain through Germany and Poland. At times the Zechstein Sea may have connected with the Paleotethys Ocean through southeastern Poland; the point is disputed by researchers. Though situated at the time near the equator (where high temperatures and arid conditions facilitated evaporation), the sea's inception likely stemmed from a marine transgression rooted in a phase of de-glaciation; the southern portion of Pangaea, the former (and future) Gondwanaland, supported ice sheets in the early Permian. The eventual disappearance of the Zechstein Sea was part of a general marine regression that preceded and accompanied the Permian-Triassic extinction. The Zechstein is usually given the status of a lithostratigraphic group and as such encompasses a number of geologic formations. It consists of at least five depositional cycles of evaporite rocks, which are labelled Z1 to Z5, respectively. The lithologies found are halite ("rock salt"), anhydrite, dolostone, and shale. The Zechstein has significant economic importance in the North Sea Oil province. In the southern gas basin, it forms the main cap rock to the gas fields with Rotliegend reservoirs. It also forms a reservoir in the Auk oilfield in the central part of the North Sea. Further north, the Zechstein salt becomes diapiric, forming salt domes which form the structure for several oil fields, such as Machar. Zechstein dolomites crop out near the coast of County Durham, England where they are known as the Magnesian Limestone. Just above the base of the Zechstein formation is a fairly thin layer of shale, or slate, where it has been metamorphized, known as the kupferschiefer for its high copper content. In its unmodified form, this layer is high in sulfur compounds that are typical of silt deposited in stagnant shallow marshland. Where faults have allowed mineral-rich groundwater to circulate through this layer, the sulfur has oxidized metal ions to metallic sulfide ores. From the Middle Ages into the modern era, this thin but widely dispersed constellation of ore bodies has been of immense importance as a source of copper across much of northern Europe. The Zechstein salt layer is also used for underground gas storage in England, Germany and France. - Glennie, Kenneth William, ed. Petroleum Geology of the North Sea: Basic Concepts and Recent Advances. London, Blackwell, 1998; pp. 160-75. - Moores, Eldridge M., and Rhodes Whitmore Fairbridge, eds. Encyclopedia of European and Asian Regional Geology. London, Chapman & Hall, 1997; pp. 97, 263.
It was once a popular myth that the stars in the night sky were made of diamonds. While this obviously isn’t true, this doesn’t mean diamonds can’t be found far beyond the skies, and it wasn’t that long ago that a huge diamond was found in space. Travis Metcalfe, an astronomer from Harvard Smithsonian Centre for astrophysics, was part of a team that discovered an enormous 10 billion trillion trillion carat diamond. According to universetoday.com, the diamond was formed through some crystallised carbon, and it measures 2,500 miles in diameter; the diamond has been estimated at five billion trillion trillion pounds in weight. The team of researchers say it was originally a white dwarf – the red hot centre of a star that is left once the star has utilised all of its nuclear power and eventually dies. The diamond goes by the official name of BPM 37093, but unofficially it was dubbed ‘Lucy’. ‘Lucy’ is said to be billions of years old; it is roughly the same size of this Earth, which gives you a good idea of the scale of it. However, this isn’t the only time the diamonds have been associated with space. In 2008, a meteorite crashed to the ground in the deserts of Sudan. When it was examined, it was found that diamonds were contained within it. While this is often the case, this time is was unusual because the diamonds were so much larger than the ones that have previously been discovered. The researchers involved believe that this is because these diamonds were formed in a different way. The scientists have a theory that the diamonds were created a long time ago before this solar system was fully established. If this theory is correct, then it is possible that these diamonds were part of a ‘planetesimal’, which is basically a small rock that is not considered large enough to be a planet. Details of this fascinating discovery were heavily reported, and it proves that there is so much more to be discovered when it comes to planetary exploration.
The number of words on a single-spaced, typed page depends on the font and point size used. For example, in 12-point Arial font, a single-spaced page contains an average of 470 words. Those same words in 13-point Times New Roman font take up 1.4 pages. Font is a term used in typography to refer to a typeface of a specific weight, size and style. Traditionally, various fonts were printed by using their corresponding metal type on a printing press. With the advent of digital technology, many different fonts are available for use on computers, most commonly in word processing applications. Point size is also a typographic term and is typically abbreviated as "pt." It is the traditional unit of measuring type size on a printed page.
Counting By Tens Source: Babycenter Community Ages: 6-8+ years Instructions:To practice counting by tens and grouping by tens, count out 100 beans but don't let your child know how many there are. Get 10 paper cups or yogurt containers and ask you child to count out ten beans for each cup. Explain that if your child counts by tens, he or she can find out how many beans there are altogether. Let him or her try it. Then, suppose you moved five cups aside---how many beans are in the remaining cups? Maybe your child will want to group the cups in different ways and continue to count by tens to see how many beans there are. Similar activities:The Counting Game, Counting Sticks, Counting Cards, Bubble Count, Counting a Silly Walk, Counting Beans, Kwanzaa Counting Game, Heart Counting Game, Lollipop Advent Christmas Calendar Count Down Tree, Finger Puppets You Can Count On!, Shamrock Counting, Make a Counting Book, Counting: Snowmen Song, Count Down Toast, Turkey Feather Counting Coloring book pages
Lighting Up The Universe with the James Webb Space Telescope We've all seen images from the Hubble Space Telescope. The billowing galaxies and distant stars that Hubble relays back to Earth have a special allure for the human imagination. Unfortunately, even Hubble, a remarkable success and invaluable to space research, has its limits. The universe expands much farther than even the Hubble telescope can reach – and to close the distance, the James Webb Space Telescope was developed. In 1996, a small committee pitched the idea of a new infrared observatory to NASA. The telescope would orbit well beyond Hubble and the Earth's Moon, and with a mirror more than 4 meters in diameter, the new telescope would be able to see farther into space and time than ever before. The idea was approved, and from 1997 to 2013, the James Webb Space Telescope – named in honor of the second administrator of NASA – was gradually pieced together, utilizing research and parts from many different organizations like the European Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency, and Northrop Grumman Space Technology. The JWST's mission is to uncover the history of the universe, such as how it grew and how stars and planets developed. There are four distinctive goals that the JWST project will be focused on. The first of these is the determination of the First Galaxies. First Galaxies are those galaxies which likely formed just after the Big Bang. The second goal is to study the assembly of the galaxy, and to hopefully create a complete picture of our universe. Because JWST is equipped with an infrared camera, it will be capable of looking through clouds of dust and can identify the birthplaces of stars and the conditions necessary for star formation. The last goal is to observe nearby planets in hopes of identifying ones which might support life. The main component of the JWST is a massive 18-segment beryllium mirror. Beryllium can withstand the freezing temperatures of space (-220°C ) while remaining lightweight and flexible. A secondary mirror, stationed just in front of the first, will reflect the images into the Science Instrument Module (ISIM), where the JWST's cameras and equipment are stored. A five-layer sunshield will protect the telescope from light and heat, and an array of solar panels will provide solar power for the observatory. The observatory is designed to be self-operational, and due to the distance of its orbit, any maintenance must be done while the JWST is still on Earth. Once the JWST is in orbit, it will be 1 million miles away from earth, and will be unreachable by space flight for at least the next ten years. To counter this, scientists have taken precautions to make sure that the JWST is as safe and self-sustaining as possible. All systems on the JWST have been designed and developed to survive minor meteor impacts. The solar panels will provide an endless source of power, and the five solar shields will protect it from solar light and heat. For the first six months of its flight, scientists on Earth will gently guide the JWST into its orbit. After that, the JWST has an expected lifespan of between 5.5 to 10 years. Importance and What We'll Learn At the very least, JWST could help us understand the birth of our own universe, which is a question that mankind has puzzled over since the beginning of our history. JWST has the potential to not only advance our understanding of space, and therefore our understanding of how to travel and navigate in space, but also may help locate planets with the potential for life. This could range from identifying planets that might be suitable for human life to locating any existing life in the universe. Even the development of the JWST could have an impact. Many of the electronic sensors designed for the Hubble telescope have found their way into electronics like smartphones and tablets, and the JWST technology has advanced well beyond that. It's very possible that the next wave of technology will feature components developed during the construction of the JWST. Hubble vs. Webb The JWST is, by definition, a successor to the Hubble telescope. The Hubble, placed into orbit around Earth in 1990, was designed to observe within the visible light spectrum. By contrast, the JWST, orbiting the second Lagrange (L2) point well away from Earth, will work mainly in the infrared range, enabling it to see farther. The size of the two telescopes is greatly different as well. Whereas the Hubble is no larger than a school bus, the JWST is almost as large as a commercial airplane. The Hubble is still in orbit, though it is no longer undergoing regular maintenance and will continue to orbit until its telescope fails. When the JWST is launched in 2018, it may well work alongside the Hubble for a few more years, sending images of the universe back to Earth for current and future scientists to explore.
With the upcoming calving season the threat of calf scours should always be given some consideration. Calf scours is the condition that baby calves in the first month of life deal with when they get a severe case of diarrhea that may be life-threatening. It is an infectious disease that may be caused by one or more of viruses, bacteria and tiny parasites. For a number of years the approach to calf scours control was centered on the bugs that were identified as being involved in their cause. E. coli bacteria, Rota and corona viruses, cryptosporidia and others were all identified. Vaccines against the bugs and antibiotics to treat them were often at the center of control programs. Despite all this good science, results of these approaches were sometimes disappointing. Finally, a group of scientists in a bit of a new field had a look at calf scours. These scientists belong to a field called epidemiology. This is the study of disease patterns. Prior to these studies, the thought tended to be that scours occurred on a farm because it was unlucky enough to have the scours-causing bug land on their farm. When a group of researchers at Washington State University did a detailed study on calf scours they discovered a very interesting thing. When they looked hard enough, they found that nearly every farm had many or all of the scours causing organisms. Some of these farms had severe scours problems while others had none. This finding caused the main researcher, Dr. Dale Hancock to make the following statement, “Saying that calves have scours and that cryptosporidia is the cause is like saying that the barn burned down, and oxygen was the cause.” Of course, the barn wouldn’t have burned if there had been no oxygen, but what were the odds of that? It can also be said that if the wind is blowing to provide additional oxygen, it will speed up the burning of the barn. So if being unlucky enough to get the scours bugs on a particular farm isn’t the big cause of scours, what is? Many factors have been studied but several important ones include: 1) the age at which a calf gets exposed to scours agents; 2) whether the calf has had enough colostrum or not; 3) whether calves are getting enough nutrition; 4) the dose of exposure to the disease agents; 5) a healthy immune system for the calf due to having had good nutrition during gestation; and, 6) other stresses on calves such as wet or cold. A very important concept has emerged from this line of research. The concept involves the pattern of transmission of the scours organisms to the calves. Many of the agents are probably present in most every cow herd. But since the cows are very immune to these bugs, the numbers that are being passed by the cows are very small. This means that, at the beginning of the calving season, the calves don’t get infected until they are several days to weeks old. These older calves may not be noticed to have scours at all as their case is very mild. But they begin to shed organisms in much bigger numbers into the environment. These bugs then get to calves that are born later in increasing number and at ever earlier ages. The next round of calves may just get dirty tails and be a little depressed. As the process proceeds scours causing organisms build up in great numbers. Many calves with diarrhea now badly contaminate the calving area. Cows that are ready to calve may get the diarrhea fluids on their teats so that their newborn calves get a huge dose of organisms into their mouths within minutes of birth. This huge dose at a very early age results in calves that get so sick that they may die quickly without aggressive treatment. Three major approaches to dealing with this scours scenario should be applied: 1. Move cows that have not calved into a separate calving pasture. An intensive version of this is called the Sandhills calving system. This Nebraska system is designed for large herds of cows and involves moving uncalved cows out every few days. Eventually the old calves are mixed with the next older group(s) so that a large number of pasture and feeding groups stays manageable. But even splitting the herd once can be very helpful in breaking the scours organism build up pattern. 2. Practice sanitation in the calving pasture. Rolling out hay in a different location every day moves cattle around so that calves and cow’s udders spend more time in uncontaminated areas. This delays the time it takes for calves to get infected and lowers the dose of disease-causing organisms that they consume. While calving cows in barns may be a necessity to prevent exposure when it is really cold, calving outside nearly always results in less exposure to disease organisms. 3. Have good health management systems in place to keep calf immunity as high as possible. Working to be sure all calves get a good feeding of colostrum is especially crucial In time of high calf prices, spending extra effort to avoid losses due to scours is especially cost-effective.
Vision is a complex process that depends on parts of the brain and the eyes working together in unison. Learn more about how vision works What is vision impairment? Vision impairment is any condition that prevents normal vision in one or both eyes. Such impairments can be present at birth (congenital) or can develop later in life due to an accident, illness, or disease. Some children inherit conditions that cause vision impairment to develop over time, while other disabilities may be associated with vision impairment. Some children have correctable vision impairment. For others, their vision can’t be corrected to within a normal range, even with appropriate lenses. Various types of disorders affecting school-age children can cause mild to moderate vision problems. The most common disorders include refractive errors such as: - myopia (short sightedness) - hyperopia (long sightedness) - astigmatism (caused by a non-spherical cornea). Other relatively common disorders are focusing, eye movements, and the ability to see a single three-dimensional image. Signs of a possible vision problem A child may have a vision problem if they: - have learning or reading difficulties - are clumsier than usual for their age - screw up their eyes - adopt an unusual head posture - have frequent headaches - have poor handwriting - bring reading material close to them - move their head close to the book. The B4 School Check is the eighth and final of the Well Child Checks, which are funded by the Ministry of Health. As part of the B4 School Check, four-year-old children are screened to identify whether they have amblyopia (lazy eye). Children who do not receive this screening in early childhood will be screened when they reach school. What is amblyopia? Amblyopia is a developmental disorder which can lead to permanent vision loss in one eye. Treatment means that the child will have two functioning eyes and improved depth perception. It also prevents total loss of vision in the event of disease or injury to one eye. What the screenings test and what the results mean The limitations of screening - Screening for amblyopia does NOT detect all vision problems, including some which may affect reading and writing. - The screening separates children into two groups – those with a high likelihood, and those with a low likelihood, of having amblyopia. Only a diagnostic assessment can confirm whether a child has amblyopia. - The screening is effective but there is a small chance it will not identify a child with amblyopia. - Not all children receive their B4 School Check. More information about amblyopia Save Sight Society Your role in identifying children with potential vision problems A child may pass the screening tests and still have difficulties seeing well enough to function fully in the classroom and the school environment. You can play a key role in ensuring children with potential vision problems are seen by an eye-care professional or vision hearing technician. Vision hearing technicians Vision hearing technicians (VHTs) are trained to screen children for vision and hearing problems as specified in the national vision hearing screening protocols. Preschool screening is carried out on four-year-olds in early childhood education centres or clinic settings by VHTs who carry out the B4 School Check. Children who are not screened at this time will be screened when they reach school. VHTs screen year 7 students (11-year-olds) for distance vision and boys are also tested for colour vision. If you are concerned about an unidentified vision problem Discuss your concerns with your student’s parents. Encourage them to arrange for a full vision assessment with their local optometrist or at the hospital eye department. Ask for details of the vision impairment and find out how to best adapt the school situation to suit the child better. What if families can’t afford assessments or glasses? A spectacle subsidy is available for some families to help pay for some or all of the cost of a vision assessment and glasses. It is funded by the Ministry of Health. To be eligible for this subsidy the: - child must be under the age of 16 - family must have a community services or high user card. All about the spectacles subsidy includes information in a number of languages. Things to consider for your classroom planning If you have one or more children in your class with a vision problem you may need to: - plan in advance for curriculum delivery - use the information gathered from parents/whānau and your own observations to inform decisions about curriculum resources and the learning environment - check that the learner can access the curriculum resources such as font and font size - ensure the appropriate technology is available - support the development of self help and independence skills - help the student develop social skills for positive interactions with their peer group and adults. If the student is enrolled with a visual resource centre, liaise with the Resource Teacher: Vision to discuss relevant adaptations that support learning and teaching. If you have a vision-impaired student in your class who is not enrolled with a visual resource centre, consider the classroom environment. How might it impact on the learner? Consider things such as seating and lighting. For further information: Access to Learning: a resource for children and young people with moderate vision impairment (a Ministry of Education booklet). Make documents and classroom environments accessible (BLENNZ) Where to find more support Resource Teacher: Vision Resource Teachers: Vision (RTV) are specialist teachers who provide educational support to learners who are blind or vision impaired, and their families. Learners can have this support from birth to 21 years of age, even if they have complex needs. Services are delivered in partnership with parents and regular educators. These positions are based at visual resource centres. A Resource Teacher: Vision in action Blind and Low Vision New Zealand The Blind and Low Vision Education Network New Zealand (BLENNZ) is a school that is made up of a national network of educational services for blind and low vision children and young people. Who can get BLENNZ services? - Blind and low vision children and young people from birth to 21, or to the end of their schooling - Parents and whānau - Teachers, teachers’ aides, education support workers and others involved in the education of the child or young person Visual Resource Centres Twelve visual resource centres are staffed by specialist teachers who meet the unique educational needs of children with a vision impairment. The children on their roll range in age from a few months to 21 years. These centres are funded by the Ministry of Education. Find your nearest visual resource centre Parents of Vision Impaired (NZ) Inc Parents of Vision Impaired can be a helpful support to families who have visually impaired children. Contact details are on their website. The most common type of vision impairment in children is refractive error. Refractive error is where one or both of a child's eyes are unable to bring parallel rays of light to focus on the retina. The three main types of refractive error are: - myopia (short-sightedness) – the child can’t see things in the distance clearly - hyperopia (long-sightedness) – the child can’t see things close up clearly (and if it’s severe enough, it affects distance vision as well) - astigmatism – caused by a non-spherical cornea and impairs both distance and near vision. In children, significant levels of refractive error may result in blurred near vision and/or blurred distance vision. Children may also suffer from strained or sore eyes, headaches, watery eyes, and screwing up of the eyes. It is normal during the first few years of life for changes to occur in a child's eyesight. Most newborn babies are long-sighted but as they grow this typically decreases to the point where by around school-age or early adolescence they have minimal or no refractive error. However if this process does not happen normally then permanent refractive errors such as short- or long-sightedness can develop. Current thinking on short-sightedness suggests that its development in children is influenced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. There is some evidence suggesting that a propensity for myopia may be inherited, with certain ethnic groups (for example, Asian people) having a higher prevalence of short-sightedness than other ethnic groups (for example, Caucasian/ European people). However, other studies argue that environmental factors are more influential and that repeated and intense involvement in near-vision tasks, such as reading or computer use, may trigger the development of myopia. Other common vision problems in children Other common vision problems in children resulting in less severe visual problems are amblyopia (lazy eye) and strabismus (squint), as well as problems related to focusing, vergence, and eye movement. Lazy eye is commonly found in infants and pre-school children. It can be caused by a refractive imbalance or other conditions such as squints or cataracts. The visual functioning of one eye is less than the other eye. Because the weaker eye receives less visual stimulation, physical changes take place in the brain. If left untreated, there may be permanent loss of vision in the weaker eye. Strabismus is where a person is unable to direct both eyes simultaneously towards a single point. One or both eyes may turn inwards, outwards, up or down, either permanently or intermittently. Binocularity and vergence Binocularity is the ability to use both eyes together and unite two images into one three-dimensional image. Binocular vision occurs when the two eyes work together equally. Vergence is the turning of the eyes horizontally, either inwards (convergence) or outwards (divergence), enabling binocularity. - Convergence is the ability to use both eyes together and turn the eyes inwards to maintain single vision at near distance. - Divergence is the ability to use both eyes together and turn the eyes outwards towards a far object. Adapted from: See Here (2008) Improving services for children with mild and moderate vision impairment, JR McKenzie Trust, Wellington. Published on: 22 Aug 2011 Return to top
Researchers have found a way to make the creation of qubits simpler and more precise. The team hopes that this new technique could, one day, allow for the mass production of quantum computers. Quantum computing is, if you are not already familiar, simply put, a type of computation that uses qubits to encode data instead of the traditional bit (1s and 0s). In short, it allows for the superposition of states, which is where data can be in more than one state at a given time. So, while traditional computing is limited to information belonging to only one or another state, quantum computing widens those limitations. As a result, more information can be encoded into a much smaller type of bit, allowing for much larger computing capacity. And, while it is still in relatively early development, many believe that quantum computing will be the basis of future technologies, advancing our computational speed beyond what we can currently imagine. It was extremely exciting then when researchers from MIT, Harvard University, and Sandia National Laboratories unveiled a simpler way of using atomic-scale defects in diamond materials to build quantum computers in a way that could possibly allow them to be mass produced. For this process, defects are they key. They are precisely and perfectly placed to function as qubits and hold information. Previous processes were difficult, complex, and not precise enough. This new method creates targeted defects in a much simpler manner. Experimentally, defects created were, on average, at or under 50 nanometers of the ideal locations. The significance of this cannot be overstated. “The dream scenario in quantum information processing is to make an optical circuit to shuttle photonic qubits and then position a quantum memory wherever you need it,” says Dirk Englund, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science, in an interview with MIT. “We’re almost there with this. These emitters are almost perfect.”
A ruptured eardrum is an opening or hole in the eardrum. The eardrum is a thin piece of tissue that separates the outer and middle ear. Damage to the eardrum may harm hearing. Tympanic membrane perforation; Eardrum - ruptured or perforated; Perforated eardrum Ear infections may cause a ruptured eardrum. This occurs more often in children. The infection causes pus or fluid to build up behind the eardrum. As the pressure increases, the eardrum may break open (rupture). Damage to the eardrum can also occur from: Ear pain may suddenly decrease right after your eardrum ruptures. After the rupture, you may have: Exams and Tests The doctor will look in your ear with an instrument called an otoscope. If the eardrum is ruptured, the doctor will see an opening in it. The bones of the middle ear may also be visible. Pus draining from the ear may make it harder for the doctor to see the eardrum. Audiology testing can measure how much hearing has been lost. You can take steps at home to treat ear pain. - Put warm compresses on the ear to help relieve discomfort. - Use medicines such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen to ease pain. Keep the ear clean and dry while it is healing. - Place cotton balls in the ear while showering or shampooing to prevent water from entering the ear. - Avoid swimming or putting your head underneath the water. Your health care provider may prescribe antibiotics (oral or ear drops) to prevent or treat an infection. Sometimes the health care provider may place a patch over the eardrum to speed healing. Surgical repair of the eardrum (tympanoplasty) may be needed if the eardrum does not heal on its own. The opening in the eardrum usually heals by itself within 2 months. Any hearing loss is most often short-term. Rarely, other problems may occur, such as: - Long-term hearing loss - Spread of infection to the bone behind the ear (mastoiditis) - Long-term vertigo and dizziness When to Contact a Medical Professional If your pain and symptoms improve after your eardrum ruptures, you may wait until the next day to see your health care provider. Call your health care provider right away after your eardrum ruptures if you: - Are very dizzy - Have a fever, general ill feeling, or hearing loss - Have very bad pain or a loud ringing in your ear - Have an object in your ear that does not come out - Have any symptoms that last longer than 2 months after treatment Do not insert objects into the ear canal, even to clean it. Objects stuck in the ear should only be removed by a health care provider. Have ear infections treated promptly. Buttaravoli P, Leffler SM. Perforated tympanic membrane (ruptured eardrum). In: Buttaravoli P, Leffler SM, eds. Minor Emergencies. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, PA: Mosby Elsevier; 2012:chap 37. Kerschner JE. Otitis media. In: Kliegman RM, Behrman RE, Jenson HB, Stanton BF, eds. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 19th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders Elsevier; 2011:chap 632.
Jan. 27, 2013 ? A rustle of undergrowth in the outback: it's a sound that might make an animal or person stop sharply and be still, in the anticipation of a predator. That "freezing" is part of the fear response, a reaction to a stimulus in the environment and part of the brain's determination of whether to be afraid of it. A neuroscience group at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) led by Assistant Professor Bo Li Ph.D., together with collaborator Professor Z. Josh Huang Ph.D., have just released the results of a new study that examines the how fear responses are learned, controlled, and memorized. They show that a particular class of neurons in a subdivision of the amygdala plays an active role in these processes. Locating fear memory in the amygdala Previous research had indicated that structures inside the amygdalae, a pair of almond-shaped formations that sit deep within the brain and are known to be involved in emotion and reward-based behavior, may be part of the circuit that controls fear learning and memory. In particular, a region called the central amygdala, or CeA, was thought to be a passive relay for the signals relayed within this circuit. Li's lab became interested when they observed that neurons in a region of the central amygdala called the lateral subdivision, or CeL, "lit up" in a particular strain of mice while studying this circuit. "Neuroscientists believed that changes in the strength of the connections onto neurons in the central amygdala must occur for fear memory to be encoded," Li says, "but nobody had been able to actually show this." This led the team to further probe into the role of these neurons in fear responses and furthermore to ask the question: If the central amygdala stores fear memory, how is that memory trace read out and translated into fear responses? To examine the behavior of mice undergoing a fear test the team first trained them to respond in a Pavlovian manner to an auditory cue. The mice began to "freeze," a very common fear response, whenever they heard one of the sounds they had been trained to fear. To study the particular neurons involved, and to understand them in relation to the fear-inducing auditory cue, the CSHL team used a variety of methods. One of these involved delivering a gene that encodes for a light-sensitive protein into the particular neurons Li's group wanted to look at. By implanting a very thin fiber-optic cable directly into the area containing the photosensitive neurons, the team was able to shine colored laser light with pinpoint accuracy onto the cells, and in this manner activate them. This is a technique known as optogenetics. Any changes in the behavior of the mice in response to the laser were then monitored. A subset of neurons in the central amygdala controls fear expression The ability to probe genetically defined groups of neurons was vital because there are two sets of neurons important in fear-learning and memory processes. The difference between them, the team learned, was in their release of message-carrying neurotransmitters into the spaces called synapses between neurons. In one subset of neurons, neurotransmitter release was enhanced; in another it was diminished. If measurements had been taken across the total cell population in the central amygdala, neurotransmitter levels from these two distinct sets of neurons would have been averaged out, and thus would not have been detected. Li's group found that fear conditioning induced experience-dependent changes in the release of neurotransmitters in excitatory synapses that connect with inhibitory neurons -- neurons that suppress the activity of other neurons -- in the central amygdala. These changes in the strength of neuronal connections are known as synaptic plasticity. Particularly important in this process, the team discovered, were somatostatin-positive (SOM+) neurons. Somatostatin is a hormone that affects neurotransmitter release. Li and colleagues found that fear-memory formation was impaired when they prevent the activation of SOM+ neurons. SOM+ neurons are necessary for recall of fear memories, the team also found. Indeed, the activity of these neurons alone proved sufficient to drive fear responses. Thus, instead of being a passive relay for the signals driving fear learning and responses in mice, the team's work demonstrates that the central amygdala is an active component, and is driven by input from the lateral amygdala, to which it is connected. "We find that the fear memory in the central amygdala can modify the circuit in a way that translates into action -- or what we call the fear response," explains Li. In the future Li's group will try to obtain a better understanding of how these processes may be altered in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other disorders involving abnormal fear learning. One important goal is to develop pharmacological interventions for such disorders. Li says more research is needed, but is hopeful that with the discovery of specific cellular markers and techniques such as optogenetics, a breakthrough can be made. Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google: Other social bookmarking and sharing tools: The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above. - Haohong Li, Mario A Penzo, Hiroki Taniguchi, Charles D Kopec, Z Josh Huang, Bo Li. Experience-dependent modification of a central amygdala fear circuit. Nature Neuroscience, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nn.3322 Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead. Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Post-secondary education refers to all types of formal and informal higher-level learning programs (e.g. college, technical/vocational training) that prepare students for secure livelihoods in today’s global economy. Size/Magnitude of Problem Over the last decade and more, the importance of post-secondary education has increased significantly. Higher education is now a critical mechanism for individual socioeconomic advancement and an important driver of a nation’s future economic growth. Compared to high-school graduates, college degree holders can expect greater economic stability and security, better access to health care, higher job satisfaction, and less dependency on government assistance.i ii - As of 2013, 33% of college-age youth around the world were enrolled in higher education, up from 19% in 2000.iii - While the enrollment rates of women have met and even surpassed male enrollment rates in most parts of the world, women continue to be disadvantaged in sub-Saharan Africa (62 female students for every 100 male students) and South and West Asia (74 female students for every 100 male students). iv - Income inequality between college graduates and less-educated workers continues to widen; Americans with four-year college degrees in 2015 commanded nearly twice the weekly income of those without a degree, with nearly half the rate of unemployment.v Every youth has access to a quality post-secondary education providing valuable knowledge and 21st century skill sets, enabling success in the global economy and inspiring achievement of his or her full potential. Ways Skoll social entrepreneurs are addressing the issue: - Building a comprehensive education experience to provide practical education and training (YouthBuild USA) - Utilizing technology platforms to deliver on-demand educational learning opportunities (Khan Academy, Benetech) - Delivering entrepreneurial skills content and training as preparation for the workforce (Camfed, Center for Digital Inclusion, YouthBuild USA, Khan Academy) - Providing older individuals with growth and learning content (Barefoot College, Encore.org)
What Is a Migraine? Migraine is a word derived from Greek letter “HemiKrania”, “Hemi meaning Half” and “Krania meaning Head “. Migraine is also knOwn as the HemiCrania, megrim, migraine headache, and sick headache. A migraine is a neurological condition, which means a severe, disabling headache, usually affecting only one side of the head and often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, photophobia and visual disturbances. Different Scientists Have Defined It Differently but Depicting the Same Sense. 1995, ROBERT A.DAVIDOFF said “syncope is estimated to occur in bouts of headaches in approximate 5% of adult patients with a migraine” 2005, MICHAEL H. said “A migraine is characterized by unilateral, often pulsating headaches worsened by physical activity, and associated with nausea, photophobia, and phonophobia.” 2006, Joshua W.Devine s said “A migraine is a common and disabling neurological disorder with substantial variation in the frequency, severity, and duration of headaches. “ Migraine and Its Victims Around the globe, approximately 15% of the human race suffers from a thus disease. It onsets at puberty and it affects the people of age ranging from !5 to 55 yrs. These are pulsating in nature and lasts from two to 72 hrs. People suffering from these pulsating headaches are more prone to sensory disturbances. A migraine affects the middle-aged group of people. People facing such headaches are familiar with its stimulatory factors and its risk factors. But causes of a migraine somewhat differ from the risk factors. Causes of Migraine The causes of a migraine may be chemical changes, genetical factors, and psychological causes could also be there. Main and exact causes of a migraine are not fully known. But it is said that the tremulant changes in the transfer of neurotransmitters between the different parts of the brain cells may lead to a migraine. Such tremulant changes may make the persons susceptible to a migraine. Mostly migraine affects females, it is known that after puberty, the ratio becomes 3:1 in females and males respectively. A migraine may travel within the families if it is genetical or if there is a history of any patient in the family. A psychological condition such as depression, anxiety, stress, hormonal disturbances may also behave as the trigger points to an onset migraine. These trigger points not only include psychological conditions but also physical and external factors such as diet, fatigue, muscular cramping, weather etc. These o points affect a minor population. Most of the population report of suffering from the trigger point up to 24 before the onset of a migraine. The strength and significance of these trigger points are not clear as that of the mechanism of a migraine. Mechanism of Migraine? The mechanism of the pulsating pain which occurs during a migraine is not fully known. It still remains vivid. The problem may be either in the CNS [central nervous system] or in the PNS [peripheral nervous system]. Most researchers say support the idea of dysfunctioning of the CNS and the rest says that it is due to the problems in the PNS. The arteries involved are the arteries of DURA MATTER, PIA MATTER and most important are the extracranial arteries. Extracranial Arteries go down vasodilations and impact in the dysfunctioning. Prevention is much more important than medication as it is well said: “A stitch in time saves nine.” Preventive Measures to Avoid a Migraine To lessen the frequency, intensity, and the duration pain of a migraine are the main objectives of the preventive measures. These measures may also include an enhancer In the therapeutic effect. People, who cannot tolerate the pain of the acute and chronic attacks of a migraine are recommended preventive measures. These measures include the first line of medications, supplements, and lifestyle alterations. These measures are given to the patients at the initial stages of a migraine. In the progressive stages, medication is required to treat the patient. Medication for a Migraine If required output is not obtained by the preventions, then medication becomes a necessity. The patient is prescribed medication according to the condition and degree of the disease. Following medications are recommended according to the stage and the condition of the disease. - Divalproex/sodium valproate - Propranolol, and - Metoprolol is the drugs used for the treatment given for the first line use. - Botox is used for treating chronic migraine. - Frovatriptan is effective for the treatment of a menstrual migraine. Guidelines are also prescribed along with this medication. If these medications do not give the required result, alternative therapies are used then. Alternative therapies used for a migraine include a wide variety of treatments. Some are described as below. Massage Manipulation along with some pain killers can do a lot in getting rid of this disease.
The body’s first line of defence The first line of defence (or outside defence system) includes physical and chemical barriers that are always ready and prepared to defend the body from infection. These include your skin, tears, mucus, cilia, stomach acid, urine flow, ‘friendly’ bacteria and white blood cells called neutrophils. Pathogenic (disease-causing) microorganisms must make it past this first line of defence. If this defence is broken, the second line of defence within your body is activated. The skin is the largest organ of your body. It acts as a barrier between invaders (pathogens) and your body. Skin forms a waterproof mechanical barrier. Microorganisms that live all over your skin can’t get through your skin unless it’s broken. Tears, mucus and saliva Your nose, mouth and eyes are obvious entry points for pathogens. However, tears, mucus and saliva contain an enzyme that breaks down the cell wall of many bacteria. Those that are not killed immediately are trapped in mucus and swallowed. Special cells line and protect the nose, throat and other passages within your body. The inner lining of your gut and lungs also produces mucus to trap invading pathogens. Very fine hairs (cilia) lining your windpipe move mucus and trapped particles away from your lungs. Particles can be bacteria or material such as dust or smoke. Stomach acid kills bacteria and parasites that have been swallowed. Your urine flow flushes out pathogens from the bladder area. ‘Friendly’ (beneficial) bacteria You have beneficial bacteria growing on your skin, in your bowel and other places in the body (such as the mouth and the gut) that stop other harmful bacteria from taking over. These are white blood cells that can find, kill and ingest pathogens seeking an entrance into the body.
Hello Whyvillians! One of the courses I'm taking this semester is science. Surprisinglu, it's pretty fun. We've finished our chemistry unit, and now we're on the biology. In my opinion, biology isn't that interesting, but chemistry sure was! One of things we studied in chemistry was the periodic table of elements, which is what I'm going to talk to you about today. Wait! Don't leave yet! The periodic table isn't as boring as you may think it is . . . That is the periodic table! Isn't it cool? I know what you're thinking . . . zzzzzz, but don't think that! I promise that the periodic table isn't a lame as you probably think it is. So what is this thing? A very good question. The periodic table organizes all of the known elements into families and periods. The families run vertically, and the periods horizontally. The periodic table was first invented in 1869, by Dmitri Mendeleev. Mendeleev was a teacher, who was trying to come up with a way to teacher his students about elements. He wrote each of the elements on a card, along with their atomic number. He then started arranging them, similar to a game of solitaire. He finally came up with the first edition of the periodic table. Since then, many more elements have been discovered. The picture above is the modern periodic table that we use today. It still follows Mendeleev's basic idea of arranging the elements into groups and periods, and using atomic numbers. Now you know what it is, so you're probably wondering how it's arranged. First of all, if you look at the periodic table above, you'll see that instead of the elements' names, you find two (or in some cases 1) letters. Each element has their own symbol! The first letter is always capitalized, and the second always in lower case. The symbols for the elements are the same in every language. Some elements, like helium, have pretty straightforward symbols. He = Helium. However, some elements have their symbol after their Latin name, like lead. The Latin name for lead is plumbum, so Pb = Lead! Cool eh? Each element has their own special little box that looks like this: In it you see the element's symbol, atomic number, and atomic mass. Helium is number 2, and it's mass is 4. So now you know who invented the periodic table, and what everything in each box stands for. I bet you'd like to know how they're grouped now! Let's start with the easiest group, the Noble Gases. The Noble Gases Do you see the lime green column on the periodic table above? This group of elements are the Noble Gases. Why are they called the noble gases? Well, all you need to know is that these gases won't react with anything else, so they are HAPPY! If you were a noble, you'd be happy, right? I'll talk about reactions a little later on. Helium, Neon, Argon, Krypton, Xenon and Radon make up this group. Where have you heard these names before? Splitzer Spectroscopy of course! You can see the spectrum of almost all the noble gases at the Splitzer Spectroscopy game. The Alkali Metals The Alkali Metals are the elements on the very far left, so group 1. Do you see how Hydrogen, H, is at the top of this group? Hydrogen doesn't really fit nicely anywhere in the periodic table, so it's just kind of stuck on the Alkali Metals (which is funny, because Hydrogen is a gas!). So technically, the first element of group 1 is Lithium Li. What is so cool about this group is how explosive they are! Yup, you heard me, explosive. These metals (Lithium, Sodium, Potassium, Rubidium, Cesium and Francium) are highly reactive to water! If you drop a tiny piece of Lithium into a bowl of water, it will fizz and zoom around the bowl. If you drop a tiny piece of Sodium into a bowl of water, it will fizz louder and zoom around the bowl quicker. If you drop a piece of Potassium into a bowl of water, the potassium will catch fire. Do you see the pattern? As you move down the group, each element's reaction with water is more severe. By the time you get to Cesium, the reaction is so great that the entire bowl with shatter from the explosion that occurs. And if that's what Cesium can do, imagine Francium! Do you see all of the purple (and lime green) elements? They are all gases at room temperature (except for Br, that's a liquid!). Notice how all the gases are on the right side of the periodic table? I bet you've heard of some of them: C = Carbon, O = Oxygen, Cl = Chlorine. Br (Bromine) and Hg (Mercury) are the only two elements that are liquids at room temperature. The rest of the elements are all solids. Remember how I was talking about atomic numbers before? Well, in case you were wondering, the atomic number is equal to the number of protons an element has in one of its atoms. If that's confusing, don't worry about it! You won't even have to learn this stuff until grade 9! Here's some other confusing stuff for you. The number of neutrons an element has is its atomic mass, minus its atomic number! If you'd like me to go more in-depth with this, post a thread in the BBS. Finally, I'd like to talk about why the periodic table of elements is important. Having a good understanding of elements is very important in chemistry! Take the Alkali Metals for example. We know that as they descend, they become more and more reactive. Knowing this, would you really want to make something like a dental filling out of Sodium? Of course not! Your whole mouth could explode! However, based on your knowledge of the Noble Gases, you know that they are nonreactive. This means that it's pretty safe to inhale a bit of Helium out of a balloon! The periodic table has many uses, and it's very important in science. Chances are, you'll be learning about it sometime in science class! When you do, be sure to refer back to this article, then you'll be ahead of the class! If you have any questions, post 'em in the BBS! Author's Note: Sources: Science Power 9, Bill Nye the Science Guy: 100 Greatest Discoveries in Chemistry (Video)
Study after study has shown the adverse effects that cigarette smoking has on a woman’s reproductive system. Especially at risk are the fragile egg cells inside a woman’s ovaries known as oocytes. The chemicals found in cigarette smoke can mutate the DNA of these egg cells, leading to reproductive and fertility problems. Besides nicotine, a highly addictive chemical, cigarette smoke contains a number of other dangerous and poisonous chemicals, such as carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, cyanide and arsenic. Women are born with around 1 million to 2 million oocytes, the egg cells that potentially develop into mature eggs, in their ovaries. These egg cells die off at varying rates throughout a woman’s life due to a process called follicular atresia. By the time a women reaches sexual maturity and begins to ovulate, she has roughly 400 eggs that will be released once a month during her reproductive years. A woman will begin menopause when the number of oocytes falls below a certain threshold. According to a 2007 report by MSNBC, smoking increases a woman’s chance of infertility by 60 percent. Women who smoke also increase their chance of a delayed conception of over 1 year by 42 percent. These effects were found in women who smoked only a few cigarettes a day, though women who smoked more had increased trouble getting pregnant and a higher rate of fertility problems. The report also noted that 16 percent of miscarriages are due to smoking. In a report published in the Biology of Reproduction in 2005, scientists at the University of California, Riverside found that cigarette smoke can disrupt the way eggs are transported. When female hamsters were exposed to cigarette smoke, their eggs were significantly less likely to be transported by the oviduct, or the fallopian tubes. This was because chemicals in the smoke cause the eggs to get stuck in the upper part of the fallopian tubes, making it difficult for the cilia, the hair-like projections that line the interior of the tubes, to move the eggs to the point where fertilization occurs. Cigarette smoke is a known mutagen, an agent that causes mutations in DNA. DNA mutation occurs when the nucleotide sequence of the DNA is damaged or changed in some way, often due to mutagens. The chemical benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) is one of the more potent carcinogenic chemicals in cigarette smoke, one that can cause damage during oocyte cell division and lead to DNA mutation. Unlike sperm, though, oocytes have the ability to repair DNA damage before fertilization. In 2007, researchers at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto discovered that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), a group of chemicals found in cigarette smoke, accelerate the destruction of oocytes. PAHs are formed when certain types of smoke cause molecules to fragment into unstable arrangements, which then recombine into carcinogenic compounds. While there is some scientific debate over whether women can reproduce more egg cells later in life, early loss of these egg cells can lead to early menopause and infertility. The study also discovered that resveratrol, an antioxidant found in wine and grape skins, has the ability to counteract the adverse effects of PAH on oocytes, but it is only effective in amounts much larger than you could get from consuming grapes or wine.
Suggested research and conservation priorities The Arctic holds some of the most extreme habitats on Earth, with species and peoples that have adapted through biological and cultural evolution to its unique conditions. A homeland to some, and a harsh if not hostile environment to others, the Arctic is home to iconic animals such as polar bears Ursus maritimus, narwhals Monodon monoceros, caribou/reindeer Rangifer tarandus, muskoxen Ovibos moschatus, Arctic fox Alopex lagopus, ivory gull Pagophila eburnea and snowy owls Bubo scandiaca, as well as numerous microbes and invertebrates capable of living in extreme cold, and large intact landscapes and seascapes with little or no obvious sign of direct degradation from human activity. In addition to flora and fauna, the Arctic is known for the knowledge and ingenuity of Arctic peoples, who thanks to great adaptability have thrived amid ice, snow and winter darkness. Nowadays all of the tundra is on the move now. Many forest animals are coming to tundra now. Moose is moving towards the tundra proper nowadays. Alexey Nikolayevich Kemlil, a Chukchi reindeer herder from Turvaurgin in northeastern Sakha-Yakutia, Siberia; T. Mustonen in lit. CHARACTERISICS OF ARCTIC BIODIVERSITY The Arctic holds some of the most extreme habitats on Earth, with species and peoples that have adapted through biological and cultural evolution to its unique conditions. A homeland to some, The Arctic is made up of the world’s smallest ocean surrounded by a relatively narrow fringe of island and continental tundra. Extreme seasonality and permafrost, together with an abundance of freshwater habitats ranging from shallow tundra ponds fed by small streams to large deep lakes and rivers, determine the hydrology, biodiversity and general features of the Arctic’s terrestrial ecosystems. Seasonal and permanent sea ice are the defining features of the Arctic’s marine ecosystems. HUMAN USE OF WILDLIFE THROUGH TIME From the first arrival of humans in the Arctic to the modern day, the use of wildlife has been an essential contributor to individual and community well-being. Patterns and purposes of use have varied by time and place, with differing implications for biodiversity. The harvest of wildlife remains both a vital connection between humans and biodiversity and a source of impacts to at least some wildlife populations, and today other stressors pose a greater threat to Arctic biodiversity. This section provides a brief outline of such uses and impacts, from prehistory to today, by indigenous peoples and more recent arrivals. STATUS AND TRENDS IN ARCTIC BIODIVERSITY An accurate accounting of the status and trends of the majority of species of Arctic flora and fauna is impossible except for relatively few well-known vertebrates. For many species or species groups, we have data on distribution and sometimes also density, but lack the record through time to assess trends. In addition, many short term trends reflect cyclical patterns rather than long term increases or declines. This section presents a summary of current understanding by taxonomic, ecosystem and functional group in accordance with the chapters in the assessment. STRESSORS AND THEIR ALLEVIATION As a contribution to halting the loss of biodiversity, the Arctic Council initiated the Arctic Biodiversity Assessment and asked for scientific advice on what could be done to alleviate stressors that put Arctic biodiversity under pressure. Detailed advice is given in the individual chapters, and in this section we the lead authors of the scientific chapters of the ABA present an overview of stressors on Arctic biodiversity together with possible actions to enhance biodiversity conservation. Our aim is to suggest appropriate, scientifically based actions, which should be seen as facilitative and not prescriptive. Basic knowledge on the vast majority of Arctic biodiversity is limited. Often, only the distribution of mammals, birds and vascular plants is sufficiently documented. Comprehensive data for abundance, population densities and trends are generally available only for vertebrates considered to be of direct significance to people, for example for commercial or other harvest, and for many taxa even the taxonomic status is incomplete. Thus, substantial gaps in biodiversity knowledge are apparent, and a more synoptic approach is necessary. SUGGESTED CONSERVATION AND RESEARCH PRIORITIES The erosion of global biodiversity is not the only global crisis of our time. It has been argued that changes in climate, biodiversity, infectious diseases, energy supplies, food, freshwater, human population and the global financial system are part of one contemporary global challenge, and that they need to be addressed as such. If this is not done in an integrated and sustainable way, efforts to address one challenge may very well worsen one or more of the others considerably. Also, global markets seek the exploitation of Arctic resources, resulting in greater interconnections between the Arctic and the rest of the world I too, have noticed changes to the climate in our area. It has progressed with frightening speed especially the last few years. In Iqaluktutiaq, the landscape has changed. The land is now a stranger, it seems, based on our accumulated knowledge. The seasons have shifted, the ice is thinner and weaker, and the streams, creeks and rivers have changed their characteristics. Analok, Cambridge Bay, Victoria Island, Nunavut; Elders Conference on Climate Change 2001.
The endoplasmic reticulum (er), golgi apparatus, lysosomes, and vacuoles vesicle exchange between compartments. Endomembrane system membranes within the eukaryotic cell that work together to modify, process and ship molecules around and out of the cell. The endomembrane system is composed of a number of inter-related membrane sacs within the cytoplasm of the cell rough endoplasmic reticulum. Background the endomembrane system of a eukaryotic cell consists of a series of membrane-bound organelles that can be thought of as “connected” by the movement of proteins and lipids. Definitions of endomembrane system, synonyms, antonyms, derivatives of endomembrane system, analogical dictionary of endomembrane system (english. Definition of endomembrane system in the definitionsnet dictionary meaning of endomembrane system what does endomembrane system mean information and translations of endomembrane system. Endomembrane system consists of rough and smooth er, golgi apparatus, vesicles & plasma membrane, working together to transport cellular materials. A collection of membranous structures involved in transport within the cell the main components of the endomembrane system are endoplasmic reticulum, golgi bodies, vesicles, cell membrane. The endomembrane system is a system of interconnected internal membranes generally associated with eukaryotes the system is composed of the nuclear envelope, endoplasmic reticulum (er). Endomembrane system is the system of membranous organelles suspended inside the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cellsthey are considered as a system as their functions are coordinated. The endomembrane system is made up of the various membranes thatare suspended in the cytoplasm within a eukaryotic cell. Can you name the components of the endomembrane system in eukaryotic cells. Get an answer for 'what are the components of the endomembrane system and what is its functioncell biology' and find homework help for other biology questions at enotes. The endomembrane system- it is present in all eukaryotic cell and is mainly composed of the different membranes, suspended in the cytoplasm of a cell. Endomembrane system has been listed as one of the natural sciences good articles under the good article criteriaif you can improve it further, please do so if it no longer meets these. Start studying chapter 6 biology (endomembrane system learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. The endomembrane system is composed of the different membranes that are suspended in the cytoplasm within a eukaryotic cell these membranes divide the cell into functional and structural. In your cell, this is where the endomembrane system comes in a cell image because one is studded with small ribosomes and one is notit does not help the cell moveit is not a function of. Title: 07d-endomembranesystemppt author: robert pohlman created date: 9/13/2006 6:29:40 pm. Eukaryotes possess an elaborate endomembrane system with endoplasmic reticulum, nucleus, golgi, lysosomes, peroxisomes, autophagosomes, and dynamic vesicle traffic. Ladyofhats grants anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law this svg file contains embedded text that can be. What does the endomembrane system do synthesizes, modifies, and transports proteins synthesizes lipids detoxifies the cell of certain toxins what cells have an endomembrane system. How much do you know about the endomembrane system take this interactive quiz to find out, and then print out the accompanying worksheet to study. Ladyofhats grants anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared.
ERIC Number: EJ1020454 Record Type: Journal Publication Date: 2013-Apr Reference Count: 3 Cheek, Kim A. Science and Children, v50 n8 p52-56 Apr 2013 Earth's surface is constantly changing. Weathering, erosion, and deposition break down Earth materials, transport those materials, and place them in new locations. Children see evidence of these processes all around them. The sidewalk or playground surface cracks and has plants growing in it. Pieces of a rock wall or the sides of a building break off and crumble. A beach may look different after a storm than it did before. Some of those changes happen quickly, while others take hundreds to thousands and even millions of years. "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" states that elementary school-age children should learn about the development of landforms and how they weather and erode in order to understand that Earth changes over time (NRC 2012, p. 178). The "Framework" identifies a number of scientific practices in which students should regularly engage. One of those is the construction and use of models. Models are particularly beneficial in Earth science as we can make small-scale models that represent geologic processes that occur on large scales. We can also speed up processes that normally cannot be observed in human time frames. Creating and using models helps children construct evidence-based explanations (another scientific practice identified by the "Framework") for the ways in which Earth's surface changes over time. This lesson is designed for fourth graders, but could be adapted for third or fifth graders. As children construct a stream model to simulate erosion due to water, they investigate factors that affect the rate at which water erodes land. Because water plays a major role in erosion in all climate types, these lessons can be adapted to different locations. This investigation would most appropriately follow lessons about water's role in mechanical and chemical weathering. Descriptors: Grade 4, Elementary School Science, Earth Science, Science Instruction, Scientific Principles, Models, Ecology, Water, Science Activities, Science Experiments National Science Teachers Association. 1840 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201-3000. Tel: 800-722-6782; Fax: 703-243-3924; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.nsta.org Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive; Journal Articles Education Level: Elementary Education; Grade 4 Authoring Institution: N/A
Dragonflies not only are visually beautiful, they’re also agile fliers and helpful insect eaters. To get to know these Odonata order insects, you should examine the various parts of their anatomy, including not only the head, thorax and abdomen -- which make up the three main sections of the adult dragonfly’s body -- but the smaller components such as the stigma. Even though the adult dragonfly’s stigma, also known as pterostigma, may seem like an insignificant dot, it’s actually a vital component to the dragonfly’s anatomy. Where to Find It To examine the stigma’s anatomy, you have to know where to look. You can’t find the stigma on an immature dragonfly, as the stigma is hidden. You will find an adult dragonfly’s stigma on the leading edge of each wing, toward the wingtip. If you are facing the dragonfly head-on while its wings are positioned vertically, the stigma would be pointed at you and near the upper tip of each wing. A Word on Wings Before a dragonfly reaches adulthood, the veins in the wings are flat, hollow tubes, and the wings are compact and tightly folded inside the immature naiad, also called a nymph. This is because an immature dragonfly lives in the water until it goes airborne after transformation. When the nymph transforms into an adult dragonfly, the wings unfold as the tubes fill with hemolymph, the dragonfly’s equivalent of blood. The stigma is filled with this hemolymph and it resembles a blood blister. This blister is in the shape of a solid rectangle Size and Color The actual size and color of the stigma varies between dragonfly species, although the general location remains the same. The stigma is e a contrasting color to the rest of the wing, which makes it easier for you to spot. For instance, it may appear black against its clear wings. Some stigmas are long, thin rectangles, while others are shorter rectangles. What It Does The stigma is a multipurpose component of a dragonfly’s body. The stigma can be used to signal a mate or rival. It can act as a tiny weight that affects the wings’ vibrations, as the Minnesota Odonata Survey Project points out. The stigma works with the nodus, the midway notch area on the center leading edge of the wing where several large veins intersect, to increase flexibility and prevent fatigue fractures of the wings. - Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
In the period before western European powers were able to control Southeast Asian soil and waters, there existed no Indonesia. The archipelago we now know as Indonesia consisted of islands and estates ruled by various kingdoms and empires, sometimes living in peaceful coexistence while at other times being at state of war with each other. This vast archipelago lacked the sense of social and political unity that Indonesia has today. Integrated trade networks, however, were developing in this area starting from the early dawn of Asian history. Being connected to trade networks was an important asset for an empire to acquire wealth and commodities, necessary to become a powerful force. But the more global these trade networks in the archipelago became, the more foreign influences managed to enter; a development that would eventually lead to the colonial state. The existence of written sources is what separates history from prehistory. As few written sources dating from before 500 AD have been preserved, the history of present Indonesia starts rather late. It is assumed that most writings were done on perishable material and - in combination with the tropical humid climate and low-quality conservation technique standards at the time - this means that historians have to rely on inscriptions on stone and the study of remnants of ancient temples to trace the archipelago's earliest history. These two approaches provide information regarding the old political structures as both literature and the construction of temples were samples of high culture reserved for the ruling elites. A remarkable matter related to the history of Indonesia is that it generally centers on the western part of the archipelago (in particular on the islands of Sumatra and Java). As most of the eastern part of the archipelago has been on the fringes of economic activity throughout history (located further away from main trade routes), it consequently has been on the fringes of politics as well; a situation that continues up to the present day. The Impact of Hinduism and Buddhism in Indonesia The earliest inscriptions found in the archipelago are known as the Kutai-inscriptions and originate from East Kalimantan, dated around 375 AD when the Kutai Martadipura kingdom ruled. These inscriptions were written in Sanskrit (the liturgical language of Hinduism) using the Pallava script, a script developed in Southern India around the third century AD. In these inscriptions three rulers of Kutai Martadipura are mentioned and they describe a ritual that is characteristic of archaic Hinduism. About one century later, the first (known) stone is inscripted on Java. This inscription, also in Sanskrit, states king Purnavarman of the Tarumanagara kingdom (fourth to seventh century) in West Java and associates him with a Hindu deity (Vishnu). Together, these inscriptions show evidence of major influences from Indian Hinduism within the ruling elites of the first known indigenous ancient kingdoms in the archipelago. However, trade contacts between present-day India and the archipelago are known to have been established centuries prior to the Kutai inscriptions. The Strait of Malacca, a sea lane linking the Indian Ocean with the Pacific Ocean, has been the main shipping channel for seaborne trade between China, India and the Middle East since human memory. A large part of Sumatra's coastline is conveniently located next to this sea lane causing merchants between India and China to stop over here or on the other side of the Strait (present-day Malaysia) to wait for the right monsoon winds that would carry them further. But it is assumed that Hinduism and Buddhism were not spread to the archipelago by these Indian traders. More likely, kings and emperors in the archipelago were drawn to the prestige of the Brahmans (the Hindu priestly class which forms the highest ranking of the four social classes). These Brahmans, supposedly, introduced a new religion to the archipelago which enabled the indigenous kings to identify themselves with a Hindu deity or a Buddhist Bodhisattva (which is an enlightened mystical being), thereby replacing the ancestor worship that was adhered to previously. This new religious doctrine, therefore, implied more prestige for the kings. Empires in the archipelago that copied such Indian concepts were found on the islands of Kalimantan, Java, Sumatra and Bali. Due to the strategic position of Sumatra's and Malaysia's coastline next to the Strait of Malacca it is hardly surprising that we find the first major influential state in Indonesian history on the coastal area of Sumatra, and stretching a wide geographical area around the strait. This state was called Srivijaya and ruled the trade routes connecting the Indian Ocean, the South Chinese Sea and the Spice Islands of the Moluccas between the 7th and the 13th century. Srivijaya will also be remembered as Southeast Asia's center for Buddhist studies with a major emphasis on the study of the Sanskrit language. From Chinese sources it is known that many Chinese Buddhist monks stayed in Srivijaya for more than a decade to pursue their study. Hindu and Buddhist temple remnants dating from between the 8th and the 10th century indicate the ruling of two new dynasties in Central Java. These were the Sailendra-dynasty (who were adherents of Mahayana Buddhism and most likely the dynasty that built the famous Borobudur temple nearby present-day Yogyakarta around 800 AD) and the Sanjaya-dynasty (adherents of Hinduism that built the temple complex of Prambanan around 850 AD not far from - and as a reaction to - the Borobudur temple). The slow demise of Srivijaya and the rise of these new powerful kingdoms on Java meant that political power was gradually turning away from Sumatra towards Java. But in the 10th century the lives of inhabitants in Central Java suddenly went unrecorded because of a lack of sources. It is assumed that a major volcano eruption shifted political power from Central to East Java where a number of new kingdoms developed. Three of these deserve special attention due to their legacy, namely Kediri (around 1042 to 1222) for its inscriptions and literary legacy, and its successor Singasari (between 1222 and 1292) for introducing a new chapter into Indonesian history, namely the syncretism of Hinduism and Buddhism. This new chapter found its peak in the East Javanese kingdom of Majapahit (1293 to around 1500), perhaps the greatest kingdom in the history of the archipelago which had a geographical area resembling the present-day boundaries of Indonesia (although it is still debated among scholars how much sovereignty this kingdom actually enjoyed outside of Java and Bali). Majapahit with its flourishing arts and literature is still an important concept and cause of national pride for Indonesians today as it is regarded as the basis of the modern state of Indonesia. The nationalist movement in the 20th century used this concept to justify both independence and the validity of territorial borders. Indonesia's national motto Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, meaning 'Unity in Diversity', originates from an Old Javanese poem written during the rule of Majapahit. The Arrival of Islam in Indonesia Although constituting a Hindu-Buddhist kingdom, Islamic influences were present as high up as the ruling elite of Majapahit. There probably has been an Islamic presence in maritime Southeast Asia from early on in the Islamic era when Muslim traders came to the archipelago, made settlements on the coastal areas, married local women and enjoyed respect due to their wealth acquired through trade. Some local rulers were probably drawn to this new faith and considered it to be advantageous to adopt the same faith as the majority of the traders. The establishment of Islamic kingdoms was the next (logical) step. It is assumed that subjects of these kings followed suit by converting to Islam. Inscriptions on gravestones suggest that early on in the 13th century there existed an Islamic kingdom in the northern part of Sumatra called Pasai or Samudera. This kingdom is regarded to be the first Islamic kingdom in the archipelago. From northern Sumatra, Muslim influences subsequently spread eastwards through trade. On the northern coastline of Java multiple Islamic cities arose during the course of the 14th century. However, it is unlikely that some of the Javanese courtiers of Majapahit in East Java adopted the Islamic faith because of trade. They probably felt far more superior to the social class of traders. More likely this Javanese nobility was influenced by learned Muslim mystics (Sufis) and holy men claiming to possess supernatural powers. In the late 14th and early 15th century the influence of Majapahit in the archipelago began to decline due to conflicts of succession and the rising powers of Islamic empires. A new trading state, Malacca, was one of these new powers. It developed on the coastal area in present-day Malaysia and was conveniently located on the narrowest part of the Strait of Malacca. This state became an enormously successful port with advantageous facilities in a wide trade network stretching from China and the Moluccas in the far east to Africa and the Mediterranean in the far west. Although initially Malacca was a Hindu-Buddhist state, it quickly transformed into a Muslim sultanate (probably due to trade-related reasons). The historical link between trade and Islam is also visible in the developments on the island of Ternate in the present-day province of Maluku in eastern Indonesia. Ternate (similar to nearby located Tidore) became a wealthy region due to the production of cloves. From Java - and through trade - Islam spread to this region, resulting in the establishment of a sultanate in the late 15th century. This sultanate managed to rule a large part of eastern Indonesia but its position would be undermined by the Dutch in the 17th century. The Arrival of Europeans in Indonesia Stories about Malacca's wealth reached as far as Europe and tempted the Portuguese, who were making technological advances in navigation, to sail to this part of the world in order to have more influence on the global spice trade network (and would make their yields higher). In 1511 Malacca was conquered by a Portuguese fleet under the leadership of general Afonso de Albuquerque. This conquest, however, had far-reaching consequences for the trade routes. Malacca, once a wealthy port, quickly perished under the rule of the Portuguese who never succeeded in monopolizing Asian trade. After the conquest, traders immediately began to avoid Malacca and went to take their business to several other ports instead. Johor (Malaysia), Aceh (Sumatra) and Banten (Java) were states that began to dominate spice trade due to the shift in trade routes. The Dutch were also keen on establishing a firm grip on the spice trade network in Southeast Asia. Their first expedition reached Banten in 1596 but was accompanied by hostilities between the Dutch and the indigenous population. After arriving back in the Netherlands, the expedition still showed a good profit which demonstrated that expeditions to the Southeast Asian region were in fact money-makers. Multiple expeditions organized by several Dutch companies went to the archipelago causing a negative impact on profits. Competition for spices was driving prices up in the archipelago while supply-increase was driving prices down in Europe. This made the Dutch government decide to merge the competing companies into one entity called the United East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, abbreviated VOC). It received far-reaching sovereign powers to monopolize the Asian spice trade as well as to exclude other European competitors. It decided to have its headquarters not in the Moluccas (the heart of the spice-producing islands) but more strategically nearby the Strait of Malacca and the Strait of Sunda. The VOC's choice fell on present-day Jakarta. In 1619 Governor-General Jan Pieterszoon Coen established Batavia on the ashes of the town Jayakerta which was demolished because of its hostile attitude towards the Dutch. Batavia offered good commercial prospects evoking the immigration of many people (especially Chinese) to this expanding city. Towards Colonial Rule of Indonesia Meanwhile, Islamic states continued to develop in the archipelago. In Aceh (Sumatra) Sultan Iskandar Muda established a major power early in the 17th century, which controlled the pepper and tin reserves. However, he never succeeded in establishing hegemony around the Strait of Malacca as Johor and the Portuguese were strong competitors. After Iskandar Muda's reign, Aceh experienced a long period of internal disunity ceasing it to be a significant force outside the northern tip of Sumatra. In Central Java two new strong Islamic powers emerged in the second half of the 16th century. These were the districts of Pajang and Mataram that, after a prolonged struggle, managed to stop the political dominance of the coastal areas in northern Java. Mataram would become the most powerful and the longest lasting of the modern Javanese dynasties, with the reign of Sultan Agung as political pinnacle. Agung ruled from 1613 to 1646 and managed to conquer almost the entire surface of Java, except for the kingdom of Banten in West Java and the city of Batavia. Dutch control of Batavia was a thorn in the eye of Agung who wanted to control the whole surface of the island. On two occasions he sent his army to conquer this Dutch city but failed both times. The VOC quickly extended its power in the archipelago and obtained control over the production of cloves and nutmeg on the Banda Islands (Moluccas) by using extreme measures such as genocide. It kept on expanding its network of trading posts throughout the archipelago. Cities and ports that played central roles in this Dutch trade network were Surabaya (East Java), Malacca (West Malaysia) and Banten (West Java). Although the statutes of the VOC initially did not allow it to interfere with the internal politics of indigenous states, it became deeply entrenched in the politics of Mataram in Central Java. After Sultan Agung's death Mataram had quickly deteriorated and succession disputes emerged around the end of the 17th century and early 18th century. The Dutch played a divide and conquer game which eventually resulted in the division of the kingdom of Mataram in four parts with its rulers becoming subservient to the Dutch power. Although the position of the Dutch was still weak outside the island of Java, these political developments on Java can be considered as the initial stages of Dutch colonialism in the archipelago.
From Free net encyclopedia - A separate article deals with a different philosophical position called continental rationalism. Rationalism, also known as the rationalist movement, is a philosophical doctrine that asserts that the truth can best be discovered by reason and factual analysis, rather than faith, dogma or religious teaching. Its original roots extend at least as far back as Plato. Rationalism has some similarities in ideology and intent to humanism and atheism, in that it aims to provide a framework for social and philosophical discourse outside of religious or supernatural beliefs; however, rationalism differs from both of these, in that: - As its name suggests, humanism is centered on the dignity and worth of people. While rationalism is a key component of humanism, there is also a strong ethical component in humanism that rationalism does not require. As a result, being a rationalist does not necessarily mean being a humanist. - Atheism, a disbelief or lack of belief in God, can be on any basis, or none at all, so it doesn't require rationalism. Furthermore, rationalism does not, in itself, affirm or deny atheism, although it does reject any belief based on faith alone. Modern-day rationalism is strongly correlated with atheism, although historically this was not so. Most—if not all—prominent rationalists today, including scientists such as Richard Dawkins and activists such as Sanal Edamaruku are atheists. Outside of religious discussion, the discipline of rationalism may be applied more generally, for example to political or social issues. In these cases it is the rejection of emotion, tradition or fashionable belief which is the defining feature of the rationalist perspective. During the middle of the twentieth century there was a strong tradition of organized rationalism, which was particularly influenced by free thinkers and intellectuals. In the United Kingdom, rationalism is represented by the Rationalist Press Association, founded in 1899. Rationalism in this sense has little in common with the historical philosophy of continental rationalism expounded by René Descartes and Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz. British empiricism of the 17th and 18th Century and logical positivism of the early 20th Century, though starkly opposed to continental rationalism, are in certain respects compatible with rationalism in the present sense. Indeed, a reliance on empirical science is often considered a hallmark of modern rationalism. - Rationalist International - Religious freedom - freedom of religion and belief - Rationalist international - A Rationalist Agenda for the new Century by Sanal Edamaruku - In Praise of Rationalism by Paul Kurtz - Differences between Humanism and Rationalism by Nigel Sinnott - Rationalist Press Association - 100 Years of Rationalism by Jim Herrick
Basic Usage of Quotation Marks Strong and weak punctuation refer to exclamation points and question marks along with periods and commas, respectively. Placement of these markings are always inside quotation marks: "I told Jack to fetch a pail of water," Jill told her mother. The only exception to this rule is when making a citation or mentioning a reference book in writing such as a dictionary, thesaurus, or encyclopedia. Following a shorter quotation, weak punctuation is allowed outside quotation marks, after the citation. Placement of commas within quotation marks is done when there are two clauses (statements) and one is dependent on the other. For example: "Instead of telling him what to do, why did you not help him?" asked Jill's mother. The first part of the sentence, Instead of telling him what to do is a dependent clause because it relies on the second part, why did you not help him? in order to make sense. Therefore, the second part is an independent clause because it could stand alone and still be logical. This revised example shows proper use of commas with quotation marks (Note: sentence structure changes appropriately): "Instead of telling him what to do," Jill's mother began, "why did you not help him?" Placement of exclamation points and question marks also vary with the sentence, depending on what is being focused on. Consider these two examples: Did she just say, "I left Jack alone at the well"? and Frantically, Jill just said, "I left Jack alone at the well!" Both of these examples show people talking but the focus in the first example is not on what the person being talked about said, but rather the question asked by the speaker, hence the exclamation point outside the quotation mark. The second example shows a focus on what the speaker specifically said, therefore, the exclamation point is inside the quotation mark. Short works refer to texts such as: songs, short stories, lectures, magazine articles, book chapters, episodes of television or radio shows, or one-act plays. Around the titles of such instances are double quotation marks, as the following examples demonstrate: "Sounds of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel (song) "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" by F. Scott Fitzgerald (short story) "Encounter at Farpoint" from Star Trek: The Next Generation (episode) In the last example, "Encounter at Farpoint," notice how Star Trek is italicized rather than enclosed in quotation marks. The reason why is because it is not an episode of a television show, but rather the name of a series, or what is considered a longer work. In cases of mentioning longer works in writing, either italics or underlining is appropriate. Quotation mark usage in context of emphasis includes terminology, slang, and for purposes of sarcasm. Consider these examples: Literary scholars often discuss "tragedy" with reference to Aristotle. People use the word "homey" as a nickname for their friends. The first example demonstrates proper usage with terminology, while the second example shows usage for slang. Having quotation marks around the word tragedy in the first example reminds readers the term is not being used in its conventional definition, but rather from a literary standpoint. Without quotation marks around tragedy, readers may believe literary scholars discuss the terminology in the same context as everyday people, referring to bad instances. Similarly, in the second example, "homey" is not a standard English word so quotation marks are needed for distinction.
Multiplication Tables 1-30 Practice Sheet is a ready-to-use excel template that helps a student to very easily memorize and practice the multiplication tables. This template generates random numbers in the practice sheet automatically and thus provides a variety of sums to practice. The horizontal multiplication table helps in easy and long-lasting memorization. What Is A Multiplication Table? In mathematics, a multiplication table is a mathematical table used to define a multiplication operation for an algebraic system. In simple terms, a table that displays the list of multiples of a particular number. Importance Of Memorizing Multiplication Tables - Any kind of memorization builds self-confidence. Memorizing multiplication tables helps the child to be more confident in solving mathematical questions. - It helps to solve mathematical problems like long divisions and multiplications faster. - Improve your Grades. - It helps children learn to budget at an early age. - Saves the student from Teacher’s fiery. Multiplication Tables 1-30 Practice Sheet Excel Template Multiplication Tables 1-30 Practice Sheet is an excel template with predefined formulas and macros. This template helps the students to easily memorize and practice it. You can also download other educational templates like; Yearly School Attendance Sheet and School Report Card and Mark Sheet Template, Percentage Practice Sheet, and Multiple Choice Question – MCQ Test Checking Sheet from our website. This template generates random numbers automatically with the help fo a macro and thus provides a variety of multiplication combinations to practice. In addition to that, this template consists of a horizontal table for easy memorization and also provides options for printable sheets to practice without a computer. This also helps the parents and teachers to evaluate the child’s memory from time to time. Contents of Multiplication Tables 1-30 Practice Sheet Excel Template Before we start to understand the template, please make note that when you download the file and open it a Security Warning will be displayed “Macros have been disabled”. Click on “Options”. Select “Enable this content” and click OK. Multiplication Tables 1-30 Practice Sheet is a very simple and easy-to-use macro-enabled template. The best thing about this template is that it helps to deal with two different aspects of multiplication tables: - Practicing Multiplication Tables Until the student gets grip on it. - Memorizing table. This template consists of a total of 4 sheets - Multiplication Tables 1-30 Printable Sheet. - Horizontal Multiplication Tables-1-30 Printable Sheet. - Multiplication Tables Practice Sheet. - Printable Multiplication Tables Practice Sheet. 1. Multiplication Tables 1-30 Printable Sheet This sheet consists of multiplication tables 1-30 in different blocks. One block for the table of each number i.e. 1 to 30. Each table block displays the answers up to the multiples of 30. Let us consider the first block. In the Multiplication table of 1, the first column will display how many times 1 will go and the second column will display its answer shown in the image below: The first two columns for 1 to 10 with the respective answer, the third and fourth column for 11 to 20, and the fifth and sixth column for 21 to 30. Take a print of this sheet for your child/student and explain this format. This sheet will help memorize the tables. 2. Horizontal Multiplication Tables-1-30 Printable Sheet Similar to the above sheet, this template is also for memorizing purposes. This sheet consists of multiplication tables from 1 to 30 but in a different format. It helps a student/professional to refer any table between the above range by getting print of the same. It has rows and columns both from the range of 1-30. The digit at the point of intersection of row and column is the answer. Let’s consider digit 3 in column and 5 in a row. In the above image, the cell where the above row and column intersect is 15. This means it’s the product of 3X5. Teachers/Professionals can keep a print out of this on their table which can help them during their work. Students can paste this printout on a piece of cardboard and make a transparent plastic cover on it and can keep it in the bag for quick reference and learning purposes. 3. Multiplication Tables Practice Sheet Important Note: In this sheet, cells consist of two different colors; Navy Blue and Light Blue. Insert the data only in Light Blue Color cells. Navy Blue color cells consist of predefined formula. Hence, it fetches all the relevant data automatically. No need to enter or alter any data in these cells. After a student memorizes a multiplication table, it’s time to practice and check the memory. This sheet provides multiplication combinations of different random numbers against the provided range. Go to the bottom of the sheet and you will find two range criteria. Enter the range of multiplication tables that you need to test in the first row. Suppose a tutor/parent wants their student to practice tables from 2 to 10 then enter it as shown in the image below. Similarly, in the next row enter the range of multiples. Suppose a tutor/parent wants their student to practice tables from 2 to 10 where each table goes till 10. Now click on the ‘New Numbers’ button given below the range. It will randomly change all the numbers in the practice sheet according to the given range of numbers and multiples. It will not function properly if the macros aren’t enabled. Make sure you delete the answer column before giving it to the child for practice. Children will enter the answers according to their knowledge and learning. The next cell will display a message. If the answer is correct then it will display “Good!” and if the answer is incorrect then it will display “Try again!”. The student will immediately come to know whether the answer is right or wrong. To use it multiple times with different numbers delete all the answers and again click the ‘New numbers’ button at the bottom. It will randomly change all the numbers and another sheet will be ready for practice. It’s a fun-filled practice for students. A tutor/parent can change the number criteria of table range and the range for times a table number goes as and when required. 4. Printable Multiplication Tables Practice Sheet Similar to the previous sheet, this sheet also functions in the same way. The only difference here is that it is black & White for eco-friendly printing purposes and doesn’t display a remark when you enter the answer. When you have multiple students and cannot provide one computer or system to each student for practice then you can print the sheet according to the strength of your class for practicing the multiplication table. Furthermore, just like the previous sheet click on the “New numbers” button for a new set of multiplication problems. You can change numbers and print other sheets as much as you can. Before you print any of the above four sheets please check your page setup. Ensure that, it should not exceed the below-mentioned number of pages. In case it exceeds then please make necessary changes in page setup and fix it before printing. - Tables-1-30 PrintableSheet-1 – 2 Pages - Tables-1-30 PrintableSheet-2 – 1 Page - Tables Practice Sheet – 1 Page - Tables Practice Sheet-Printable – 1 Page We thank our readers for liking, sharing and following us on different social media platforms. If you have any queries please share in the comment section below. We will be more than happy to assist you.
So suppose you have a word to search in a paragraph this is how regex based engine will search it. Text : Hello World you are learning regex and trying to search a Word in this line. Regex Search : Word So the in text ” Hello World you are learning regex” you are searching for word “World” using regex, regex engine will first match for the letter “W” with the letter “H”, since this is not a match it will try matching “W” with the next letter that is “e”, this still not a match then it will proceed with next letter “l” and so on util it reaches the letter “W” at position 7(including space), since it is a match regex engine will now search letter “o” with “letter right next the letter “W” which is “o” it is still a match then the next letter “r” and it is still a match but the next regex word is “d” but the letter right next to “r” in the text is “l” which is not match. so regex engine will now again compare the letter “l” with the first word of the regex that is “W” it is still not a match hence it will proceed with the letter “d” of the text to compare with “W” and search moves on util it it meets letter “W” again. Note : Regex engines are case sensitive by default
An earthworm is a terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. They exhibit a tube-within-a-tube body plan, are externally segmented with corresponding internal segmentation, and usually have setae on all segments.They occur worldwide where soil, water, and temperature allow. Earthworms are commonly found in soil, eating a wide variety of organic matter.This organic matter includes plant matter, living protozoa, rotifers, nematodes, bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms. Form and function Depending on the species, an adult earthworm can be from 10 mm (0.39 in) long and 1 mm (0.039 in) wide to 3 m (9.8 ft) long and over 25 mm (0.98 in) wide, but the typical Lumbricus terrestris grows to about 360 mm (14 in) long. Probably the longest worm on confirmed records is Amynthas mekongianus that extends up to 3 m (10 ft) in the mud along the banks of the 4,350 km (2,703 mi) Mekong River in Southeast Asia. From front to back, the basic shape of the earthworm is a cylindrical tube-in-a-tube, divided into a series of segments (called metamerisms) that compartmentalize the body. Furrows are generally externally visible on the body demarking the segments; dorsal pores and nephridiopores exude a fluid that moistens and protects the worm's surface, allowing it to breathe. Except for the mouth and anal segments, each segment carries bristlelike hairs called lateral setae used to anchor parts of the body during movement; species may have four pairs of setae on each segment or more than eight sometimes forming a complete circle of setae per segment. Special ventral setae are used to anchor mating earthworms by their penetration into the bodies of their mates. Generally, within a species, the number of segments found is consistent across specimens, and individuals are born with the number of segments they will have throughout their lives. The first body segment (segment number 1) features both the earthworm's mouth and, overhanging the mouth, a fleshy lobe called the prostomium, which seals the entrance when the worm is at rest, but is also used to feel and chemically sense the worm's surroundings. Some species of earthworm can even use the prehensile prostomium to grab and drag items such as grasses and leaves into their burrow. The gut of the earthworm is a straight tube which extends from the worm's mouth to its anus. It is differentiated into an alimentary canal and associated glands which are embedded in the wall of the alimentary canal itself. The alimentary canal consists of a mouth, buccal cavity (generally running through the first one or two segments of the earthworm), pharynx (running generally about four segments in length), oesophagus, crop, gizzard (usually) and intestine. Food enters at the mouth. The pharynx acts as a suction pump; its muscular walls draw in food. In the pharynx, the pharyngeal glands secrete mucus. Food moves into the esophagus, where calcium (from the blood and ingested from previous meals) is pumped in to maintain proper blood calcium levels in the blood and food pH. From there the food passes into the crop and gizzard. In the gizzard, strong muscular contractions grind the food with the help of mineral particles ingested along with the food. Once through the gizzard, food continues through the intestine for digestion. The intestine secretes pepsin to digest proteins, amylase to digest polysaccharides, cellulase to digest cellulose, and lipase to digest fats. Earthworms use, in addition to the digestive proteins, a class of surface active compounds called drilodefensins, which help digest plant material. Instead of being coiled like a mammalian intestine, in an earthworm's intestine a large mid-dorsal, tongue-like fold is present, called typhlosole which increases surface area to increase nutrient absorption by having many folds running along its length. The intestine has its own pair of muscle layers like the body, but in reverse order—an inner circular layer within an outer longitudinal layer.
Nobody can escape the effects of water pollution as the entire ecosystem gets affected by it. Again the effects of water pollution may not appear immediately and may take years to show the damages. Water pollution not only diminishes aesthetic quality of water bodies, destroys aquatic life and habitats, affect reproductive ability of aquatic life but also eventually take a toll on Human health and well being. Sometimes the effects can be devastating like water borne disease outbreak. Some incidents and major effects of water pollution are discussed as follows: Microbial water pollutant can be virus, bacteria or parasite and their main source is untreated or undertreated sewage or animal waste. These microbial pollutants or pathogens are a serious threat to human health and a major problem in the developing world. Common water borne diseases caused by bacterial pathogens are diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid and Cholera. Hepatitis A is major viral water borne disease and gets transmitted via contaminated drinking water sources. Amoebic dysentery is an example of parasitic water borne diseases that can cause serious health effect (Ref. 2). These water borne diseases can be life threatening and sometimes major cause of infant mortality in the developing world (Ref. 3). Globally, water-borne diseases are the second leading cause of death in children below the age of five years (Ref. 4). Studies have estimated that there are as many as four (4) billion cases of diarrhea worldwide each year due to consumption of contaminated water and that 2.2 million people die each year from diarrhea diseases (Ref. 4). An example of water borne disease outbreak in North America is Walkerton Tragedy. Walkerton is a relatively small community in Ontario, Canada. The water supply of the town gets contaminated with a highly dangerous strain of E.Coli bacteria from farm runoff into an adjacent well. Starting May 15, 2000, approximately 5,000 resident of the town began to simultaneously experience blue diarrhea, gastrointestinal infections and other symptoms of E. coli infection. At least seven people died directly from drinking this E. coli contaminated water (Ref. 5). The heavy metal and chemical toxicity are other threatening effects of water pollution to the ecosystem. Many water pollution sources such as industrial discharge, agricultural runoff or even domestic sewage discharge may contain a variety of toxic chemicals, heavy metals, antibiotics, environmental hormone, endocrine disruptive substances (EDS) and persistent organic pollutants (POPs). These heavy metal and toxic compound are toxic to aquatic life such as fish, selfish etc. These toxic chemical and hazardous substances eventually end up in human body through consumption and may pose serious health threats to them like immune suppression, reproductive failure or acute poisoning (Ref. 3). They are also responsible for many chronic and acute diseases including cancer, birth defects and abnormalities. An example of heavy metal toxicity of industrial waste is Minamata disease outbreak in Kunamoto prefecture, Japan. It was caused by the release of methyl mercury in the industrial wastewater from the Chisso Corpoation’s chemical factory. This highly toxic compound got accumulated in shellfish and fish in nearby water bodies (Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea). The local population suffered from mercury poisoning after eating them. The death of local population including cat, dog and pig continued over more than 30 years (1932 to 1968). As of March 2001, 2,265 victims had been officially recognized among 1,784 of who had died (Ref.6). Eutrophication is another significant effect of water pollution. The term eutrophication refers to a natural process of accelerated aquatic plant growth when too much nutrients accumulate in a water body. This nutrients enrichment occurs sometimes due to human activities such as fertilizer application, untreated or undertreated sewage dumping to water bodies etc. The runoff from agricultural land or sewage contamination increase nitrate and phosphate level in a water body that causes aquatic plants such as algae to grow extensively. These excessive bloom used up high amount of oxygen and when these plants dies that even requires more oxygen for their decomposition. This creates oxygen depletion for other aquatic organism like fish and bacteria. Again excessive plant growth blocks sunlight and further disrupts the normal functioning of the eco system. Eventually fishes start to die and bacterial community altered and their activities decreases. In addition, the water becomes cloudy and colored which decreases the aesthetic quality of water bodies (rivers, lakes, estuaries) and prevent recreational activities such as swimming, fishing, hunting etc. (Ref. 7) Discover More on the Facts of Water Pollution! Discover More on the Causes of Water Pollution! Go back to The EcoAmbassador Home!
Earth has had natural climate fluctuations for milenia, however human activity has increased the amount of CO2 that enters the atmosphere by 48% since the industrial revolution, in 1760, according to NASA. The burning of fossil fuels is main contributor to Climate Change. When they are burned they release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which, as a toxic gas, creates air pollution and contributes to climate change. According to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) humans are less than 10 away from reaching the point when climate change is irreversible. In that amount of time the world’s population needs to reduce their carbon emissions by at least 50%. That number does not include critical aspects such as equity, feedback loops, and tipping points. We don't have much time until 2031 so we need to start stepping up and taking action for our planet now! You can help by educating yourself, and your community about these pressing matters, taking a stand in climate marches and protests, writing to your local government representatives, and encouraging others to do the same. You are the future and it's time to step up and speak out. So believe in yourself and if enough people join the fight we CAN make a difference. - Greta Thunberg THUNBERG, GRETA. No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference. PENGUIN BOOKS, 2021.
While scientists have long agreed that global warming is having an impact on the planet, there hasn’t been any clear agreement as to the extent to which this warming has impacted polar ice melt. But that has changed now due to a recent study released by over 20 polar research teams, which shows that ice in Antarctica and Greenland is melting significantly faster than previously thought. According to the data, billions of tons of ice have melted off of the Antarctica and Greenland ice sheets, causing a rise in sea levels of about one half-inch between 1992 and 2011, which is more than previously estimated. But not only are the ice caps melting, the pace seems to be accelerating. Greenland in particular is melting five times faster than it was two decades ago. The study ends a debate among scientists over whether Antarctica is losing or gaining mass. According to the researchers, while East Antarctica is gaining mass, due to snow caused by global warming, the western portion of Antarctica is losing mass at a faster rate, resulting in an overall net loss. Scientists hesitate to make solid predictions about future trends. According it Ian Joughin, a researcher from the University of Washington, “”In Greenland, we are seeing really dramatic losses in ice, but it is still uncertain if it will slow, stay the same or accelerate further.” One thing is clear, however, and that is that without serious global action, things are unlikely to improve. via BBC CNN and the Guardian images © NASA
transport in higher and lower organisms As organisms become larger, their body surface areas increase by the square of dimensions, whereas the volume increases by the cube. Hence, an organisms increase in size, their surface area to volume ratio (SA/V) decreases. The implication of this is that small organisms have larger surface area in relation to the volume (i.e. per unit of volume) than larger organisms. This could be demonstrated using three cubes of 1cm, 2cm, and 3cm. The relationship between the surface area and volumes of bodies can be interpreted or calculated using the table below. Note: a cube has six sizes. From the table above it can be seen or observed that the smaller the size of the body of an organism (e.g. cube X units 1cm) the larger the surface area (i.e. b) while the larger the size of the body of an organism (e.g. cube Z with 3cm) the smaller the surface area (i.e. 2) In lower or unicellular organisms such as Amoeba, Paramecium, Euglena, and Chlamydomonas, the surface area of volume ratio (SA/V) of the body is large. As a result, essential nutrients like food, oxygen, and water as well as excretory products, e.g. water and carbon dioxide move in and out of the body by diffusion. Diffusion, therefore, is most effective when the surface area is large. In multicellular organisms with a small body surface relative to their large volume, diffusion is inadequate for the exchange of metabolic materials within their body and between them and their external environment. This is because large quantities of nutrients and waste products have to be transported, over long distances, to and from their numerous body cells. In other words, as SA/V ratio in multicellular organisms decrease, with increasing sizes, the rate at which substances diffuse into and out of their cells decreases. Hence, most multicellular organisms have developed complex transport system. Importance of transport systems in mammals are as follows: 1. The primary purpose of transport systems is to move materials throughout the body of the organisms. 2. Mammals have various substances/materials for specific functions located in different parts/organs of the body. For example, oxygen is present in the lung while digested food is located in the alimentary canal. 3. Through transport metabolic products/excretory products are eliminated/removed via the kidney/lung/skin. 4. Hormones which are produced by the endocrine glands are made available to far away cells which they serve. 5. Blood is the main medium of transport, assisted by the lymphatic system/lymph. 6. Mammals being large and complex organisms have a surface area comparatively smaller than the volume ratio is low. Diffusion alone is inefficient. 7. Therefore there is the need to develop an efficient transport system to cope with this problem. Materials for transport in higher and lower organisms Materials that are transported in plants and animals are many. In this respect, discussion will be based on materials transported, sources of materials and where they are transported to. materials for transport in animals Materials that are transported in animals include: 1. Oxygen: oxygen is transported from the lungs to all the living cells of the body for tissue respiration. 2. Carbon dioxide: this is an excretory waste product transported from the cells where they are produced to the lungs where they are excreted. 3. Urea: urea is also an excretory product transported from the cells to where they are removed, e.g. liver. 4. Excess salts: these are also produced from cells and excreted by the skin and kidney. 5. Water: water is also an excretory product produced by the cells and transported to various organs such as skin, lungs, kidney and liver where they are excreted. 6. Amino acids: these are products of protein digestion transported from small intestine to various cells. 7. Vitamins: vitamins are also products of digestion transported from small intestine to various cells for use. 8. Sugars: sugars are products of starch and carbohydrate digestion. They are transported from the ileum to various cells of the body for tissue respiration. 9. Fatty acids and glycerol: these are products of fats and oil digestion. They are transported from the small intestine to the cells where they are required for body metabolism. 10. Mineral salts: mineral salts are transported from the small intestine to the various cells where they are needed for metabolism. 11. Hormones: hormones are transported from the endocrine glands that secret them for the various organs or tissues on which they act. 12. Antibodies: antibodies are produced by white blood corpuscles and transported by the blood to all parts of the body where they defend the body against infection. Materials for transport in plants Materials that are transported in plants include: 1. Manufactured food: it is transported from the leaves mainly to all living cells of the body for tissue respiration or for storage in storage organs. 2. Excretory products: e.g. carbon dioxide and water, are transported from all the living cells to where they are excreted. 3. Water: water absorbed from the soil is transported to the leaves and other parts of the plant for photosynthesis and other functions. Other materials transported in plants are: 5. Nitrogenous waste products/latex 6. Amino acids 9. Auxins or hormones 10. Mineral salts such as nitrates and phosphate Medium of transport in higher and lower organisms In all organisms, a liquid or fluid is the medium of transport in higher and lower organisms Generally, there are four major media of transportation which are: 1. Cytoplasm: cytoplasm is used as the medium of transportation of materials in lower unicellular organisms such as Amoeba and Paramecium. Materials such as glucose, amino acids, oxygen, water and carbon dioxide are transported from one part of the cell to another through cytoplasm. 2. Cell sap or latex: cell sap or latex is used as the medium of transportation of materials in plants. Cell sap is a concentrated solution found in the vacuole of cells which serves as a stronger solution. As a result of this the cell sap is able to transport water and dissolved mineral salts from the soil through the root hairs to the upper parts of the plants notwithstanding transport in higher and lower organisms 3. Blood: the blood is a powerful medium of transportation of materials in most animals especially vertebrates. The blood in its fluid state is able to move large materials over the entire body through blood vessels like arteries, veins and capillaries from where they are produced or obtained to their point of destination. 4. Lymph: lymph is one of the media of transportation in higher animals. It is a fluid similar in composition to tissue fluid, although it contains extra lymphocytes, there is no red cell present. It returns fluid to the main veins through opening in the subclavian (left jugular) vein below the neck. Examples of lymph vessel is the lateal which transports fatty acids and glycerol. CONTINUE READING HERE MECHANISM OF TRANSPORTATION IN SOME ORGANISMS Please share if you find our article good and useful Important topics related to the above article the effect of stomach malfunction and the function of the stomach
World Alzheimer’s Day takes place on 21 September of every year. World Alzheimer’s Day is a campaign to raise awareness and highlight issues faced by people those who are affected by dementia. The exact cause of Alzheimer’s disease is not known, although several things are considered to increase the risk of developing the condition. These include increasing age, a family history of the condition, previous severe head injuries, and lifestyle factors and conditions associated with cardiovascular diseases. The commonest early symptom of Alzheimer’s is in difficulty to remember newly learned information, as Alzheimer’s changes typically start in the part of the brain that affects learning skill. In most people with Alzheimer’s the symptoms first appear in the mid-60s. Based on severity, Alzheimer’s disease can be classified as mild, moderate, and severe. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more women than men have Alzheimer’s or other dementias.
One of the scariest things about a breast cancer diagnosis is the fact that we know so little about how and when it will spread. Patients often have to wait several days or weeks for doctors’ appointments, test results, and availability at treatment centers. During that time—and even after treatment has begun—cancer may be spreading. Researchers have developed an imaging technique that has been tested on mice and shown changes in the mice’s lungs that predicted the spread of breast cancer to the lungs before metastases were visible. Specifically, it was noted that an increased number of an immune cell called “myeloid-derived suppressor cells” gathered in the lungs preceding the development of cancer metastases. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells are known to suppress immune function, laying the groundwork for cancer to be able to metastasize. Therefore, knowing whether myeloid-derived suppressor cells exist in a patient’s organs could help us determine whether the cancer will metastasize to those locations. If this imaging technique moves forward to become a regular test done on breast cancer patients, it could predict the spread of cancer, perhaps functioning as a triage system to tell doctors which patients need immediate or stronger treatments and which patients have more time before metastasis becomes a concern. Dr. Fabian Flores-Borja, Research Fellow at the Breast Cancer Now Research Unit at King’s College London, had this to say about the future of the research: “The development of a test that is able to identify an increased risk of metastasis soon after a patient is diagnosed with breast cancer would be very useful in helping choose the best treatment for patients.” Article continues below Our Featured Programs See how we’re making a difference for People, Pets, and the Planet and how you can get involved! Hopefully, this technique will also open doors for new treatments targeting the specific cause of the metastasis to keep it from spreading. More research needs to be done, and a more effective “tracer molecule” that is suitable for human use needs to be developed to track myeloid-derived suppressor cells in the body. However, this is one fantastic step in the right direction.Whizzco
Developmental Disabilities (DD) Awareness Month is a time to raise awareness of the integral role people with developmental disabilities play in our society and to rededicate ourselves to the cause of inclusion. Nearly 500,000 Texans are diagnosed with a developmental disability, and it is vital we continue to work together to make our state more accessible and inclusive for everyone. Governor Greg Abbott issued a proclamation recognizing DD Awareness Month, noting, “people with developmental disabilities have unique abilities and experiences that contribute to our state’s rich diversity and heritage, just like all Texans [and Texas] is a stronger place when people of all abilities are included in community life.” Study after study has shown how when you design for disability, you design for all. This takes many forms, like including people with disabilities in the general workforce and providing them with greater economic opportunity, including students with developmental disabilities in the classroom with their non-disabled peers and empowering them to achieve their full academic potential, or simply providing people with developmental disabilities the supports they need to live in the greater community. One easy suggestion for fostering inclusive communities is to pay attention to the words we use when talking with and about other people. Spread the Word (previously Spread the Word to End the Word) is celebrated on March 4th, and asks people to pledge to not use the r-word. Now in its eleventh year, Spread the Word asks everyone to pledge to spread the word about inclusion — by creating socially inclusive places to learn, work, and live we can remind everyone that people with developmental disabilities are valued members of society. Language is powerful, so it is important to be respectful and thoughtful whether you’re talking to your neighbor or posting on social media. People First Language puts the person before the disability — instead of saying “a disabled person” you say “a person with a disability.” When in doubt, ask the person how they prefer to be identified! Be sure to take the Pledge for Inclusion and help spread the word about Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month
Radiation Enteritis is an inflammatory bowel condition resulting from radiation damage to the abdominal and pelvic areas. Acute Radiation Enteritis occurs during or immediately after a radiation treatment course while the chronic disease represents an inadequate healing process in the intestines after radiation damage. Radiation enteritis occurs to some degree in almost all patients treated with radiation directed at the abdomen or pelvic area. This includes most patients with cancer of the bladder, uterus, cervix, rectum, prostate, and vagina. The bowel is very sensitive to radiation damage. Acute radiation enteritis generally occurs around the second week of radiation treatment and includes symptoms of diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, fecal urgency and loss of appetite. Chronic radiation enteritis occurs after radiation is complete. Symptoms vary and may include pain after eating, acute or intermittent small bowel obstruction, nausea, loss of appetite, weight loss, bloating, diarrhea, inability to extract nutrients from food eaten and the excretion of fat in feces. Chronic radiation enteritis is often associated with a thickening or scarring of the intestinal lining (called fibrosis) which is believed to have been caused by the initial radiation damage and subsequent inflammatory response.
These minutes are both related to underground trains! The world’s first underground railway was created in London in 1863 and was called the Metropolitan Railway. These trains looked very different to the modern London tube: the carriages were made of wood and they were pulled by steam-locomotives! Around 30 years later the underground trains became electrified. During World War Two, most underground platforms in London were used as air raid shelters. This was because it was much safer to be underground when German air attacks started. Other underground platforms were used to keep museum treasures safe from the air raids, such as on the Piccadilly line. Today, the London underground has 1.37 billion passengers every year!
\|An example of an Advanced Organizer for chapter 5.\| At one site where I work, students are having difficulty comprehending the text, The Iroquois: The Six Nations Confederacy (Mary Engler). In addition to a density of facts, the text is not well written and I suspect one might argue does not represent the complexity of the Iroquois people very well. The text is included in the Grade 4 module from Expeditionary Learning. In order to help facilitate comprehension, I introduced teachers to the use of advanced organizers. An explanation of advanced organizers, along with organizers for each of the chapters (2 - 5) is included in the slideshare below. Please use freely.

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