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HelpNow by Brainfuse: Live Homework Help available 1pm to 10pm, 7 days a week. Grades 1-12, Washington State curriculum-aligned, tutoring subjects include English, math, science, Spanish, and more.
premium content requires a WCLS Library Card
- Biography In Context --More than 400,000 biographies on nearly 275,000 people from around the world and throughout history.
- CultureGrams -- Cultural reports for state, province and country projects. Maps, flags, symbols, timelines, history, economy, geography, recipes, population and more.
- eLibrary -- Search or browse more than 1,500 full text magazines and journals. Access pictures, maps and illustrations to enliven homework assignments. Includes the World Almanac.
- Gale Virtual Reference Library --Encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for cross subject research.
- HelpNow by Brainfuse - Live Homework Help available 1pm to 10pm, 7 days a week. Grades 1-12, Washington State curriculum-aligned, tutoring subjects include English, math, science, Spanish, and more.
- History Study Center --is a collection of primary and secondary sources on global history from ancient times to the present day.
- LearningExpress -- Interactive online testing for jobs, school & skills with practice tests and courses designed to help students and adult learners.
- Literature Resource Center —A complete literature reference database. Rich in biographical, bibliographical, and critical content, provides information on literary figures from all time periods writing in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, history, journalism, and more.
- Testing & Education Reference Center--Your one-stop shop for test preparation! eBooks, practice tests (GED, ACT, SAT) developing career plans and boosting your job skills.
- U.S. History In Context-- Primary documents, secondary sources, and journal articles covering all areas of U.S. history.
- Worldbook Online — World Book sets the standard for providing accuracy, objectivity, and reliability in research materials for both children and adults. Available in Spanish.
- World History in Context-- moves chronologically over 5,000 years from antiquity to the present and geographically around the globe. | <urn:uuid:e3db28f5-623e-483f-a47c-cc00a61a1a16> | {
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Harbor seal activity and numbers are on the increase as we approach the summer month for pupping or birthing. By late June or early July harbor seals numbers will have peaked and pups will literally be popping out on the beach. Check out the blog today!
What is a harbor seal haul-out and what are you looking at?
Harbor seals use specific shoreline areas on a regular basis to haul-out of the water and rest. These resting areas are called seal haul-outs and include: beaches, rocky areas, log booms and floats. Some haul-outs are used regularly, while others may be used seasonally or occasionally. Time spent on the haul-out is essential for their survival as they rest, dry out, interact and regulate body their temperature. In addition to resting, Harbor seals give birth to and nurse their pups on the haul-out, and undergo an annual molt of their pelage or fur. This SealCam is focused on a haul-out in the Puget Sound and that is used by harbor seals throughout the year for many of the activities described above. A regular viewer may also see many other species of wildlife including perhaps some other fin-footed marine mammals known as Pinnipeds.
Erin D'Agnese is a Western Washington University graduate student, and has been interning with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Marine Mammal Investigations since 2011. She is collaborating with WDFW biologists on her Master's project to study pup rearing success of female harbor seals at a longterm study site in south Puget Sound. Her research will study how the success of known females relates to age, body mass, pupping experience and pup care behaviors of the mother. Study results may lead to a better understanding of the unique reproductive strategy used by harbor seals and enhance the use of a non-invasive measuring technique on protected marine mammals.
Erin will be using the WDFW SealCam to aid her in this research and will be posting periodic notes from the field on her project and what she is observing at the harbor seal haulout. Check out the blog today!
Currently, the Sealcam has a series of video clips and still photos organized by categories that will help tell you about the life, birth, ecology, diseases and sometimes death of the seals and wildlife that inhabit this fascinating area. As we approach the months of March through June harbor seal presence and activities will intensify leading up to the late June-mid August popping season. The early weeks are challenging for many baby animals, and seals are no exception. During this time period, mortality rates for our harbor seals, according to biologist Dyanna Lambourn, can reach as high as 50 percent. So, as we experiment with camera technology, you are invited to stay tuned and cheer on this year’s young seals as they practice swimming and begin their fight for survival during the critical first months of life in Puget Sound.
Young pups may become separated from their mother and appear “abandoned” on shore, log-booms, rocks or other haul-out sites. The pup’s best chance for survival is to stay in the location where its mother expects it to be upon return. To help ensure the pups’ survival, biologists ask that people stay clear—at least 100 yards away from the animals at all times. If you are concerned about the welfare of any harbor seal, please leave the animal in place, and contact the Northwest Marine Mammal Stranding Network contact for your area at http://www.nwr.noaa.gov/Marine-Mammals/Stranding-Maps.cfm or call 1-800-853-1964.
Please visit the Sealcam frequently and send it to the attention of friend. The Sealcam is also an important tool used by Department biologists to continue to study and add our knowledge of this member of the marine mammal’s order of pinnipedia or wing or fin-footed mammals.
Viewing Seals Responsibly In the Wild
- If you see a seal on the beach, give it room
- Use binoculars or a spotting scope if you want to see the animal "close up".
- The NMFS marine mammal viewing guidelines mandate a minimum approach distance of 100 yards.
- The approach distance will reduce the potential for disturbing or stressing a resting or injured animal.
- Keep pets away. Baby seals can easily fall prey to dogs.
- To avoid possible injury to seals, dogs should be leashed and kept away from seals on the beach. Some diseases are common to both dogs and seals.
- Older seals may bite in self defense.
- People may also be at risk if they come into direct contact with a diseased animal.
- It is a Federal offense to harass seals in any way.
- Please go to Northwest Marine Mammal Stranding Network in Washington to report stranded or injured marine mammals.
Remember: Share the beach and help keep the "wild" | <urn:uuid:c725fde9-35fd-4127-93b0-dceb300c297e> | {
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BOLDO Overview Information
Boldo is a tree that grows in the Andes mountains in South America. Interestingly, fossilized boldo leaves dating from over thirteen thousand years ago have been found in Chile. These fossils have imprints of human teeth, suggesting that boldo has a long history of dietary or medicinal use.
Boldo is used for mild gastrointestinal (GI) spasms, gallstones, achy joints (rheumatism), bladder infections, liver disease, and gonorrhea. It is also to increase urine flow to rid the body of excess fluids, reduce anxiety, increase bile flow, and kill bacteria.
How does it work?
Boldo contains chemicals that might increase urine output, fight bacterial growth in the urine, and stimulate the stomach.
- Achy joints (rheumatism).
- Bladder infections.
- Liver disease.
- Fluid retention.
- Constipation or flushing out of the bowels.
- Mild stomach or intestinal spasms.
- Other conditions.
BOLDO Side Effects & Safety
Boldo might be UNSAFE when used for medicinal purposes. Poisoning by ascaridole, a chemical that occurs naturally in boldo, has occurred in people taking boldo. Boldo might cause liver damage when taken by mouth. If you take boldo, use only ascaridole-free preparations. When applied to the skin, boldo can cause irritation.
Special Precautions & Warnings:Pregnancy and breast-feeding: Boldo might be UNSAFE when used orally in medicinal amounts. Ascaridole, a chemical in boldo, can damage the liver.
Bile duct blockage: Boldo seems to be able to increase the flow of bile, a fluid produced by the liver and stored in the gallbladder. Bile passes through small channels (ducts) in the intestine where it plays an important role in digesting fats. These ducts can become blocked. There is a concern that the extra bile flow caused by boldo might be harmful in people with blocked bile ducts.
Liver disease: There is some concern that boldo can damage the liver, especially in people who have liver disease. Don’t use boldo if you have liver problems.
Surgery: Boldo can slow blood clotting, so there is some concern that it might increase the chance of too much bleeding during and after surgery. Stop using boldo at least two weeks before a scheduled surgery.
Moderate Interaction Be cautious with this combination
- Lithium interacts with BOLDO
Boldo might have an effect like a water pill or "diuretic." Taking boldo might decrease how well the body gets rid of lithium. This could increase how much lithium is in the body and result in serious side effects. Talk with your healthcare provider before using this product if you are taking lithium. Your lithium dose might need to be changed.
- Medications that can harm the liver (Hepatotoxic drugs) interacts with BOLDO
Boldo might harm the liver. Taking boldo along with medication that might also harm the liver can increase the risk of liver damage. Do not take boldo if you are taking a medication that can harm the liver.
Some medications that can harm the liver include acetaminophen (Tylenol and others), amiodarone (Cordarone), carbamazepine (Tegretol), isoniazid (INH), methotrexate (Rheumatrex), methyldopa (Aldomet), fluconazole (Diflucan), itraconazole (Sporanox), erythromycin (Erythrocin, Ilosone, others), phenytoin (Dilantin), lovastatin (Mevacor), pravastatin (Pravachol), simvastatin (Zocor), and many others.
- Medications that slow blood clotting (Anticoagulant / Antiplatelet drugs) interacts with BOLDO
Boldo might slow blood clotting. Taking boldo along with medications that also slow clotting might increase the chances of bruising and bleeding.
Some medications that slow blood clotting include aspirin, clopidogrel (Plavix), diclofenac (Voltaren, Cataflam, others), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, others), naproxen (Anaprox, Naprosyn, others), dalteparin (Fragmin), enoxaparin (Lovenox), heparin, warfarin (Coumadin), and others.
- Warfarin (Coumadin) interacts with BOLDO
Warfarin (Coumadin) is used to slow blood clotting. Boldo might also slow blood clotting. Taking boldo along with warfarin (Coumadin) might increase the chances of bruising and bleeding. Be sure to have your blood checked regularly. The dose of your warfarin (Coumadin) might need to be changed.
The appropriate dose of boldo for use as treatment depends on several factors such as the user's age, health, and several other conditions. At this time there is not enough scientific information to determine an appropriate range of doses for boldo. Keep in mind that natural products are not always necessarily safe and dosages can be important. Be sure to follow relevant directions on product labels and consult your pharmacist or physician or other healthcare professional before using. | <urn:uuid:db728eaa-3193-4701-b65a-7da2eff00f10> | {
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Project Laser Beam (PLB) is a five-year, multi-million dollar public-private partnership that seeks to eradicate child malnutrition. It brings together the expertise of UN agencies with that of Fortune 500 companies, and others in the private sector, to work with local governments and companies to find new solutions to old problems.
PLB was unveiled in September 2009 by PLB founding partners WFP, Unilever, Mondelez International Foundation (formerly Kraft Foods Foundation), DSM and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) by US President Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York.
The pilot projects will focus initially on Bangladesh and Indonesia. These are countries where there are unacceptably high rates of child malnutrition, but also a demonstrated commitment by the government to tackle the problem. PLB partners will be able to assist as these are also countries where they have a presence and the ability to leverage existing resources and knowledge.
The projects will centre around three main pillars: food, hygiene and behavioural change. Specifically, work will include: fortification of food with micronutrients, products to nutritionally supplement a child’s diet, ready-to-use foods requiring no water or cooking, sanitation and hand-washing, access to clean water, deworming, immunization, therapeutic feeding for the severely malnourished, education on the benefits of breastfeeding, nutrition education and others as needed.
Replicate the model
PLB will employ the many nutritional solutions already available in the marketplace, ensuring they are accessible to those in need. When gaps in products and services are found, PLB will call on an ever-growing number of partners to step into the breach and develop new ones for the fight against child hunger in other countries. Ultimately, a model will evolve that can be replicated. At the end of the five-year pilot phase, PLB’s model will be replicated in other countries where malnutrition is prevalent, paving the way for generations of children to enjoy the benefits of this concerted, co-ordinated action.
The situation compels us to act now. In the wake of the global economic crisis, and increasing climate-related emergencies, families with malnourished children are slipping deeper into the poverty and hunger trap every day — many for the first time. | <urn:uuid:07c789ed-f0b5-4c8d-a54b-4a91c6babcfe> | {
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A new study by Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health reveals that the chemical compound in non-stick cookware may impact babies' weight. According to Fox News, researchers studied blood samples from 450 British women who were pregnant in 1991 and 1992, looking for the concentration of polyluoroalkyl compounds (PFCs). PFCs are a chemical that is commonly found in non-stick cookware items such as frying pans.
Study researchers claim that mothers who had high levels of this chemical in their blood during pregnancy had lower birth weight babies than other moms. Although the babies were smaller to start, at 20 months, these same babies were larger in size than their counterparts. While the study does not conclude why this happens, researchers did suggest that PFCs may impact how fat is metabolized by the body.
What does this mean for pregnant moms? Simply stated, it suggests that you might want to avoid using non-stick pans and other similar cookware during pregnancy. This chemical is also found in other items such as water-resistant clothes and some packaging products. While it might not be entirely possible to avoid PFCs, pregnant women can do their best to keep their exposure to a minimum.
It should be noted that the data collected during this study is 20 years old, meaning that the current levels of PFCs in products (or the environment) may not be the same. While PFCs are still in non-stick cookware, researchers believe that the modern push toward environmentalism and more stringent health standards could mean that the amount of this chemical in the general environment is lower. In turn, a lower general environmental level of PFCs may mean that the overall concentration of this chemical would be lower in a pregnant mom's blood than that found 20 years ago.
Given the latest weight statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), stating that 17 percent of U.S. kids between two and 19 years old are considered obese, it doesn't hurt to give your little one the best start possible. If some scientists believe that using non-stick cookware may lead to bigger babies, then avoiding the connected chemical may just be the right way to go.
Does this research change the way that you cook? Would you plan on giving up your favorite non-stick items during pregnancy to keep your child's weight down? Tell us below in the comments section!
Photo credit: Morguefile | <urn:uuid:5da503b1-0e8e-45b5-af89-44241c3f3372> | {
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This is the wildflower for which the Burren in County Clare is famed. Although there are many startlingly attractive flowers growing in this wonderful limestone area of western Ireland, the Spring Gentian is the plant which has become best known of all by those seeking to see the Burren's great variety of flowers. Its pure, bright blue solitary flowers (20–25 mm across) are extremely beautiful. As each of the five petal tubes unfurl, they spread to reveal a little white throat. Each flower has small fringed lobes or scales between its petals. The flowers are borne on upright stems, the leaves being bright green, oval, mostly in a basal rosette. These exquisite flowers bloom from late April to June. They are best found on grassy areas, near sand dunes and rocky pastures. In Ireland they are confined to the Burren and parts of Counties Galway and Mayo. This native plant belongs to the Gentianaceae family.
I first identified this wildflower in 1979 near Bishop's Quarter in the Burren. I photographed it at the Rine, also in the Burren in 2004.
If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please record your sighting for the 2013 wildflower mapping survey at www.biology.ie | <urn:uuid:4d3f3531-aba9-47f7-a899-dbd31a13b2a0> | {
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(ARA) - The peak water usage season, which usually begins in late July or early August, arrived early this year with record high temperatures and widespread drought. During the warmer months, the average American uses about four times as much water as they do the rest of the year. More time outdoors translates into more sweat and dirt, which leads to taking more frequent showers and washing additional loads of laundry. Meanwhile, outside, fighting heat and lack of rain requires heavy lawn and garden watering.
All of the increased activity adds up. Fortunately, the plumbing experts at Roto-Rooter recommend a list of water safety and conservation tips to beat the heat.
1. Check the temperature setting on your water heater. It should be set no higher than 125 degrees to prevent scalding and reduce energy use. Summer is a good time to turn the temperature down, especially when away on vacation to save on energy costs.
2. Replacing an old showerhead can save up to 7.5 gallons of water per minute without sacrificing water pressure. Also, try cleaning mineral deposits from the showerhead by unscrewing it, soaking it in vinegar overnight and then gently scrubbing with a toothbrush to remove deposits.
3. To maximize efficiency with each load of laundry, check washing machine hoses for rupture. Turn valves on and off to check for leaks.
4. Water should flow freely from outdoor faucets when watering the lawn, washing the car or filling the pool.
5. If everything is operating as it should, be conscious about conserving water. Water your lawn before sun up or after sun down to reduce wasted evaporation.
6. If you will be out of town on vacation and have no house-sitters requiring the washing machine, you can shut off the machine's water supply.
7. When traveling, install a rain shut-off device on your automatic sprinklers to eliminate unnecessary watering. Another useful device is a flood detector that works like a smoke detector, setting off an alarm to warn your house-sitter of a potential flood or leak.
8. Make sure that yard drains, gutters and downspouts are cleaned out, open and free of debris.
9. Beware of standing water. Excess water can result from leaky or broken pipes or a damaged sewer line. Standing water is not healthy for children or pets, and is a breeding ground for insects and germs. Inspect the yard for areas that are too wet and with unusual plant or grass growth.
10. If your region is experiencing or anticipating drought, schedule a pipe and drain inspection. Extended periods of very dry ground can cause strain on pipes resulting in cracks. This can create a very serious and expensive problem for homeowners, so it is best to get in front of it with an inspection.
Roto-Rooter has additional seasonal plumbing tips available on-line at www.RotoRooter.com/plumbing-basics. | <urn:uuid:08ba3dd4-cf41-46b4-a062-90f5e44f7c52> | {
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How do people know how old a star is?
Wow, this is a popular question! Scientists have learned a lot about stars, especially the stages in their lives. Since a single star can live for billions of years, scientists study several stars at different stages of their lives.
Certain characteristics of stars are related to each other. The luminosity, temperature, magnitude, spectral class and mass are all related. For example, larger stars are cooler, red in color and are very luminous. All these characteristics are important in determining the age of a star, but scientists found that the composition of a star is the most important.
The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram is a very famous diagram that shows how these characteristics of stars are related. Stars are divided into different categories depending on their temperature, size, etc. Most stars are either, main sequence, or giants. Scientists realized that the compositions of stars were related to the diagram. Stars spend most of their lives as a main sequence star. During this time they burn hydrogen in their core.
When a star burns hydrogen it creates helium. At some point the star uses up all the hydrogen, and starts to burn helium. The star expands and cools while burning the helium. During this stage a star is called a giant.
So why tell you all of this? Well, scientists discovered this is a very easy way to compare stars. It is also a great way to tell the age of a star. Scientists can look at the spectra of a star and tell its temperature, which is related to the size, etc. In turn, this information reveals how much hydrogen or helium is left inside the star. We know the rate at which stars burn the gases. Scientists can now tell how old the star is depending on its composition!
Submitted by Dana, Kelly, Michael, Kelli, Tommy, Nick, Randall, (ages 11 &12, North Carolina)
Windows original artwork
Shop Windows to the Universe Science Store!
Learn about Earth and space science, and have fun while doing it! The games
section of our online store
includes a climate change card game
and the Traveling Nitrogen game
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If that is so, the energy released during the Big Bang must have created many such black holes. Therefore most of the Energy of the Big bang must have disappeared in that form. Then how did the Universe...more | <urn:uuid:c0c6b479-5438-47f4-a412-d5c36f7ad001> | {
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Brandon Turley didn't have friends in sixth grade. He would often eat alone at lunch, having recently switched to his school without knowing anyone.
While browsing MySpace one day, he saw that someone from school had posted a bulletin -- a message visible to multiple people -- declaring that Turley was a "f--." Students he had never even spoken with wrote on it, too, saying they agreed.
Feeling confused and upset, Turley wrote in the comments, too, asking why his classmates would say that. The response was even worse: He was told on MySpace that a group of 12 kids wanted to beat him up, that he should stop going to school and die. On his walk from his locker to the school office to report what was happening, students yelled things like "f--" and "fatty."
"It was just crazy, and such a shock to my self-esteem that people didn't like me without even knowing me," said Turley, now 18 and a senior in high school in Oregon. "I didn't understand how that could be."
A pervasive problem
As many as 25 percent of teenagers have experienced cyberbullying at some point, said Justin W. Patchin, who studies the phenomenon at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He and colleagues have conducted formal surveys of 15,000 middle and high school students throughout the United States, and found that about 10 percent of teens have been victims of cyberbullying in the last 30 days.
Online bullying has a lot in common with bullying in school: Both behaviors include harassment, humiliation, teasing and aggression, Patchin said. Cyberbullying presents unique challenges in the sense that the perpetrator can attempt to be anonymous, and attacks can happen at any time of day or night.
There's still more bullying that happens at school than online, however, Patchin said. And among young people, it's rare that an online bully will be a total stranger.
"In our research, about 85 percent of the time, the target knows who the bully is, and it's usually somebody from their social circle," Patchin said.
Patchin's research has also found that, while cyberbullying is in some sense easier to perpetrate, the kids who bully online also tend to bully at school. | <urn:uuid:6b01c477-4d73-4cd7-ac9a-1dd1b4962c7a> | {
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We've traveled through the heartland to examine iconic regional barbecue styles, but the birthplace of this nation's smoky tradition lies in South Carolina. In a marriage of the perfect meat with the perfect cooking process, Spanish explorers and their European pigs traveled here in the 17th century and happened upon the American Indians and their slow cooking method with smoke. Long before the region gained the name it boasts today, people were enjoying tender pork thanks to this merging of cultural traditions.
The barbecue developed in South Carolina is not unlike that of its Northern counterpart — with one key difference. Like North Carolinian barbecue, the smoked meat on the coast (the "Pee Dee" region) uses the whole hog with a spicy, vinegary sauce applied during cooking. And in the western part of the state along the Savannah River, the sauce integrates ketchup while the meat of choice is the moister, fattier shoulder. But travel to the Midlands, and you'll come across Carolina gold: a mustard-based sauce traced to early German settlers in the 18th century. South Carolina is perhaps best known for this contribution to barbecue culture, as no other state has adopted mustard sauces with the same fervor.
Have you tried South Carolina-style barbecue and its famed mustard sauce? What did you think?
Take the tour of America's other iconic barbecue regions: | <urn:uuid:544efa08-280c-400e-bbcc-d98ddf608a52> | {
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October 3, 2011 | A team that includes NCAR scientists Anne Boynard and Alex Guenther has found that the rate at which plant canopies emit isoprene, a volatile organic compound, is influenced by circadian rhythms. The discovery has the potential to lead to more accurate predictions of ground-level ozone, which is harmful to human health.
For the study, the researchers made measurements of isoprene in Malaysia above both tropical rain forest and oil palm plantations. They observed for the first time ever a circadian (24-hour) rhythm operating in concert across the entire tree canopy, especially in the palm plantation.
The finding changes how scientists estimate isoprene emissions from plants, as both the palm plantations and rain forest emit less isoprene than shown by computer models of emissions. This has implications for ground-level ozone, which forms when volatile organic compounds such as isoprene react with nitrogen oxides from automobiles and industry.
The researchers incorporated the circadian pattern into the NCAR Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature (MEGAN) model to estimate isoprene emissions for input to ozone models. They then compared simulated ground-level ozone to observed ozone measurements from 290 monitoring sites in the United States. They found that model accuracy was significantly improved. Accounting for circadian impacts on isoprene emissions could especially improve ozone predictions in isoprene-sensitive regions of the world, which include the United States, Mediterranean, Middle East, Japan, and parts of Southeast Asia.
The research was published in Nature Geoscience in September.
C. N. Hewitt, K. Ashworth, A. Boynard, A. Guenther, B. Langford, A. R. MacKenzie, P. K. Misztal, E. Nemitz, S. M. Owen, M. Possell, T. A. M. Pugh, A. C. Ryan, O. Wild, “Ground-level ozone influenced by circadian control of isoprene emissions,” Nature Geoscience, 2011; DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1271 | <urn:uuid:ef2fddd6-6d5b-4319-ad5a-b03922cfdc5c> | {
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Aurora Borealis May Be Visible Over NJ Tonight [VIDEO]
Normally you’d have to travel to the Arctic Circle to see the Northern Lights, but that may not be true tonight.
According to meteorologists, a powerful solar flare last night will make the natural phenomenon known as Aurora Borealis visible for much of the United States.
- INTERACTIVE: The Science Of The Aurora
Accuweather.com is reporting that mostly clear skies along the eastern seaboard tonight could improve visibility in New Jersey, though the lights may be obscured by a full moon.
Experts suggest attempting to view the Aurora Borealis from areas with as little light pollution as possible. | <urn:uuid:67f871cd-ae40-418b-bd0e-4efab5fb8202> | {
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This very beautiful photo was taken by my brother (Nikon Coolpix L310), and after receiving the authorization, i want to share it with you. This landscape is found of course in Greece, more specific in Sounio, and this is the ruins of the ancient temple of Poseidon. Sounio is the acroterion, which is located at the southern most of Attica. The coast is rocky and steep. Sounio is known because of its important geographical position, but also because of this ancient temple. In recent years, the place was declared a national park because of it's environmental value.
"The temple of Poseidon was constructed in 444-440 BC, over the ruins of a temple dating from the Archaic Period. It is perched above the sea at a height of almost 60 m. The design of the temple is a typical hexastyle i.e. it had a front portico with 6 columns. Only some columns of the Sounion temple stand today, but intact it would have closely resembled the contemporary and well-preserved Temple of Hephaestus beneath the Acropolis, which may have been designed by the same architect." | <urn:uuid:656d2eca-deb6-4212-aa88-1286690cad62> | {
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Power Supplies and Wires
For some time I’ve been wondering how the wire size for power supplies limits the power. So I’ve done some quick calculations to determine if it’s a problem.
The first type that is of interest are the “Inverters” that are used to convert 12VDC to 240VAC (mains power) to allow electric devices to be operated in a car. I’ve seen some reports from dissatisfied user about Inverters not supplying as much power as expected and I’ve had problems with my 150W Inverter not always supplying my Thinkpad (which definitely doesn’t draw 150W). The second type is phone chargers as charging a phone in a reasonable amount of time is always a problem.
Inverter Rating Fine Print vs Laptop PSU
My Thinkpad Power Supply claims “Efficiency Level IV” which according to the US EPA document describing the efficiency marking protocol for external power supplies means that it is at least 85% efficient when supplying 50W+. The peak output of the PSU is 4.5A at 20V which is 90W peak output, 90/0.85 == 106W power drawn. One would hope that wouldn’t be a problem from a 150W PSU.
But the fine print on the PSU says that it can provide 110W continuously and 150W for 10 minutes. So according to my calculations I’m within 4W of overloading the PSU if my Thinkpad uses full power. It also says that it is designed for 13.8V input. I have no idea how the performance of the Inverter changes as the supply Voltage changes between the 12.6V that a 6 cell lead-acid battery is designed to provide and the 13.8V charge from the car alternator. But I have had occasions when my Inverter stopped working correctly presumably due to being unable to supply as much current as my Thinkpad draws.
As an aside I measured the Voltage in my car (with the engine off) at 12.85V from the cigarette lighter socket and 13.02V directly from the battery. I wonder if there is some sort of overload protection on the cigarette lighter which has a side effect of reducing the Voltage. Resistance in wires reduces the Voltage, but all Voltage meters are designed to have a high resistance to prevent that from being an issue. If anyone has an explanation for the 0.17Volt drop then please write a comment!
Can a Car Provide 130W from the Cigarette Lighter socket?
If the Inverter is also 85% efficient (and it might be less as it has no indication of efficiency on the box) then when supplying 110W it would draw 110/0.85 == 129.4W (I’ll round it up to 130W).
The current that goes through a circuit is equal to the Voltage divided by the resistance (see the Wikipedia page on Ohm’s law for more information). This also means that the resistance equals the Voltage divided by the current. 12.85V/10.12A == 1.27 Ohms. Note that this is the resistance of the entire circuit, all the wires going to the battery, the circuitry inside the Inverter, and the internal resistance of the battery.
The Inverter’s cable is 1M long (2 meters of wire) and each wire is about 3.5mm in diameter including the insulation which means that the copper wire is probably equivalent to a single core conductor that is about 1mm in diameter. According to one of the online guides to resistance wire that is 1.02mm in diameter will have a resistance of 0.02 Ohms per meter which gives a resistance of 0.04 Ohms. 0.04 Ohms is 3% of the total resistance of the circuit which doesn’t seem like it will be a real problem.
In practice I’ve noticed that the connector gets extremely hot when it’s in use while the cable doesn’t get warm enough to notice. I suspect that the quality of the connector limits the power that is available but I don’t have an easy way of measuring this.
Inverters that are rated at 300W are designed to attach directly to the battery. An Inverter that is rated at 300W would draw 300W/0.85 == 352W from the battery. That needs 352W/13.02V == 27.04A and therefore a circuit resistance of 13.02V/27.04A == 0.48 Ohms total resistance. I wonder whether dirt on the battery terminals would give a significant portion of that.
I’ve also been wondering about why mobile phones take so long to charge, and now I’ve finally done the calculations.
The latest standard for mobile phones is to use USB for charging. The Wikipedia page about USB says that the standard is for USB 2.0 to supply up to 500mA at 5V +-5%. That means 0.5A*5V == 2.5W +- 5%. If we assume that the internal power supply in a phone is also 85% efficient then that means 2.5*0.85 == 2.125W going to the battery.
My Samsung Galaxy S3 has a battery which is rated at 7.98Wh. According to the Wikipedia page about Lithium Ion batteries the charge/discharge efficiency is 80% to 90% – I’ll assume that it’s 85% for further calculations. If the battery in the phone is 85% efficient and the phone is doing nothing but charging then the charge time for a regular USB port would be 7.98Wh/0.85/2.125W == 4.42 hours (4 hours 25 minutes) of charge time. That probably means something closer to 5 hours to totally charge the phone while it’s running. There are dedicated “charging ports” for USB which can supply up to 1.5A. The 3rd party charger which came with my phone was rated at 1A and would hopefully be capable of completely charging the phone in less than 3 hours (but in practice isn’t). It’s interesting to note that MacBooks expose the amount of current drawn from a USB port with a GUI, so it should be possible to measure a phone charge rate by connecting it to a MacBook (which is cheaper than cutting up a phone cable).
My old Samsung Galaxy S has a battery which is rated at 5.55Wh, by the same calculations it would take slightly more than 3 hours to charge on a standard USB port or 1.5 hours on my newest USB charger. In practice it has never got anywhere close to that, I presume that the phone is designed to draw less than 500mA.
Phone Cable Resistance
The charger that came with my Galaxy S has a cable that is about 1.75M long, the cable is flat and measures just over 1mm thick and about 2mm wide. Presumably the wire is equivalent to a single core that’s about 0.4mm in diameter thus giving it a resistance of about 0.134 Ohm per meter, or 1.75*2*0.134 == 0.469 Ohm for the cable. The charger is rated at 0.7A. To supply 0.7A at 5V the resistance would be 5V/0.7A == 7.143 Ohm – so about 6.6% of the total resistance of the circuit would be in the wire from the charger to the phone.
The charger that came with my Galaxy S3 has a round cable that’s just over 3mm thick and about 90cm long. If each wire in the cable is equivalent to a solid wire that is 0.912mm in diameter then it would be 0.0264 Ohm per meter of wire or 0.9*2*0.0264 == 0.0475 Ohm. The total circuit resistance would be 5V/1A == 5 Ohm. So 0.0475 Ohm is less than 1% of the circuit resistance.
The Voltage across a part of a circuit is proportional to the resistance (see the Wikipedia page on Series and Parallel Circuits for a good explanation).
Basically this means that if 1% of the resistance of a circuit is in the wire then 1% of the Voltage drop will also be in the wire, so if we have a 5V supply with my Galaxy S3 cable then each of the two wires in the cable will have a difference of about 0.025V between the ends and the phone will receive a supply of 4.95V, the difference isn’t something that is worth worrying about. But the cable from my Galaxy S has a resistance equivalent to 6.6% of the circuit resistance which means that the theoretical charge time will be 6% longer than it might be – or 6% more current will be drawn from the mains than should be needed.
The charger that came with my Samsung Galaxy S isn’t much good. Wasting 6.6% of the power in the wire is unreasonable.
Phones keep getting more power hungry and batteries keep getting larger. There are third party phone batteries and external batteries that are charged by USB which have more than twice the capacity of the stock phone batteries – this means more than twice the charge time. This problem will keep getting worse.
The problem of a phone in active use drawing more power than the charger can provide (and running out of battery while on the charger) seems likely to stay with us. So while an Android phone has the potential to be a great little embedded server it seems that hacking the power supply is going to be a required first step for realising that potential.
The decision to make 5V the USB power standard was reasonable at the time as it was the voltage used for most things on the motherboard. The decision to use USB as the phone charging standard was also reasonable, it allows phones to be charged anywhere. The combination of those two decisions isn’t good for the user. If a higher Voltage such as 12V was used then 5* the power could be supplied through the same wires at the same level of efficiency.
It would be really good if cars came with built in Inverters and supplied 240VAC or 110VAC depending on the region they were manufactured for. It’s becoming a fairly common feature to have a “cigarette lighter” port in the car boot as well as at least two ports inside the car. When a car has three sockets and only one device to actually light cigarettes (which I suspect is only provided to fill an empty socket) it’s very obvious that people want to connect random devices. Also having USB charging ports inside the car would be a really good idea (one for each seat would be good for Ingress). | <urn:uuid:948685e3-2287-4915-8e48-2fb5821eb985> | {
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Readers may remember the footprints found in Mexico that have been dated to about 40,000 years BP. Geotimes has an interesting story on the subject:
In summer 2003, researchers Matthew Bennett of Bournemouth University and Silvia Gonzalez and David Huddart of Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom were dating and mapping the geology of the Valsequillo Basin in Mexico, about 130 kilometers south of Mexico City, when they came across what appeared to be footprints on the floor of an abandoned quarry. Examining the site further, they found the site littered with footprints, Bennett says — 269 individual prints of humans and animals intermingled.
Sixty percent of the footprints appear to be human, with telltale arches and impressions of the heels, balls and toes, and 36 percent of those appear to be child-sized, according to the researchers, whose work is in press in Quaternary Science Reviews. The remaining 40 percent of the prints were from a variety of animals, Bennett says, including dogs, big cats and animals with cloven hooves, such as deer and camels. The researchers also found mastodon and mammoth teeth.
Previously, in the 1960s and 1970s, archaeologists found megafaunal remains, including bones that had been “worked” with tools, scattered throughout the basin. Those remains had been unreliably dated to be between 20,000 and 40,000 years old, Bennett says, so the sites have been somewhat ignored since then.
The footprints are preserved in a layer of volcanic ash from the eruption of Cerro Toluquilla beneath a shallow lake in the Valsequillo Basin just over 40,000 years ago. “Volcanic ash lithifies quickly, like cement,” Bennett says, so when the inhabitants of the lake shores wandered across the mucky ash, their footprints were captured. When lake levels later rose, water washed over the footprints, burying them in lake sediments, he says. “So we have this great stratigraphic sequence” of lake sediments, topped by ash, which is then topped again by lake sediments, Bennett says, that can be dated.
The dissenting opinion:
But Michael Waters, a geoarchaeologist at Texas A&M University in College Station, is not convinced. He says that the ash layer is likely much older than 40,000 years, and should be retested using different methods. Furthermore, says Waters, who has visited the site, “I have serious reservations as to whether or not these are even footprints, human or animal.” The site has been so extensively quarried over the years, being chopped with axes and picks, that these imprints could just be tool marks that have weathered.
The team, Waters says, needs to find tracks in outcrops or areas that have not been quarried — “look for them like you would look for dinosaur or other trackways.” Bennett says that he and his colleagues are planning to begin just such excavations soon.
Even more interesting, there is a link to the Mexican Footprints Website Which contains a wide variety of information on the geology, dating methods, etc. Based on what I saw at the site I am a little less skeptical – although I still have some reservations. | <urn:uuid:5d98dd78-6845-44ff-a165-8f378f8504f6> | {
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From the time of Alzheimer’s first description of psychotic symptoms in a patient with Alzheimer’s disease in 1907, psychosis has been recognized as a major clinical syndrome in this illness. The consequences of psychotic symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease may be painful and costly for the affected individuals, those who care for them, and society at large. Psychotic symptoms have been linked to greater caregiver distress (1–3) and have been found to be a significant predictor of functional decline and institutionalization (4–7). Compared to patients with Alzheimer’s disease without psychosis, those with Alzheimer’s disease and psychotic symptoms are also more likely to have worse general health (8) as well as a greater incidence of other psychiatric and behavioral disturbances (9–11). Psychotic patients tend to have more frequent and problematic behaviors, including agitation (12–14), episodes of verbal and physical aggression (10, 15–18), and anxiety (11).
Reviews completed before the early 1990s found that psychotic symptoms were common in dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease (19–23). In their review of 21 studies, for example, Wragg and Jeste (23) found that approximately one-third of all patients with Alzheimer’s disease had delusions at some point during their illness, 28% had hallucinations, and nearly 35% had other psychotic symptoms that were difficult to categorize. Overall, however, the reviewed studies were compromised by sampling deficiencies and methodological problems. Wragg and Jeste’s review included studies with as few as nine subjects. Moreover, only five of the 21 studies had a sample size larger than 100 subjects. Other methodological problems included the use of unreliable or nonvalidated diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer’s disease. Consequently, samples included individuals with various types of dementias, and thus generalizability was limited, and findings as they related to Alzheimer’s disease specifically were obscured. Imprecise operational definitions of psychosis (24) and utilization of assessment methods with questionable reliability and validity also undermined these investigations. Moreover, all of the studies published before 1990 were cross-sectional or descriptive and thus did not provide data on the incidence or course (e.g., persistence) of symptoms.
Since the early 1990s, research on psychosis of Alzheimer’s disease has advanced considerably. There have been improvements in the development of diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer’s disease and for psychosis of Alzheimer’s disease (25) and the development of more reliable measures of psychotic symptoms, including the Behaviorial Pathology in Alzheimer’s Disease Rating Scale (26) and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (27). Larger sample sizes have become available because of increased awareness of the disease and the establishment of Alzheimer’s disease centers. Longitudinal data from these centers have become available, and more investigators have undertaken prospective studies on this topic.
We reviewed studies published from 1990 through 2003 that investigated psychosis of Alzheimer’s disease with the aim of providing a systematic overview of the current state of knowledge in this area. In so doing, we employed more stringent inclusion criteria than were applied in reviews conducted before the early 1990s. In this article, we summarize findings on the epidemiology of psychotic symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease. Delusions and hallucinations are also reviewed separately, and we include findings on other uncategorized psychotic symptoms. In addition, we examine the literature on potential risk factors for psychosis of Alzheimer’s disease. Implications of the findings for clinical practice and for future research are discussed.
Computerized searches using PubMed and PsycINFO databases were performed for English-language articles published between 1990 and the end of 2003 with the keywords "psychosis and Alzheimer disease" and "psychosis and dementia." Additional articles were identified by using the "related articles" function in PubMed and by cross-referencing identified articles. Only empirical investigations reporting data on psychotic symptoms in patients with Alzheimer’s disease were selected. If a given study included subjects with dementias other than Alzheimer’s disease (e.g., vascular dementia or mixed dementia), sufficient data on the Alzheimer’s disease group itself (e.g., number of subjects and a prevalence rate of psychotic symptoms) must have been provided. In addition, the study design, study setting, some description of the method of diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease (e.g., National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and the Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association criteria), and description of how psychotic symptoms were measured or defined must have been clearly stated. Target symptoms that could not be well categorized as delusions or hallucinations were considered "other psychotic symptoms." Using these methods, we identified 55 articles for review.
Sample Size and Subject Characteristics
The mean sample size in the 55 studies reviewed (t1) was 177 subjects (median=135; range 27 to 1,155). These findings represent an increase in sample sizes from those in the studies of psychosis in Alzheimer’s disease prior to 1990 that were included in a previous review (23). In that review, the largest sample size among 21 studies was merely 175 subjects, and the median sample size was 33. In the current review, the mean age of subjects with Alzheimer’s disease was 75.5 years (median=74.0, range=69–85), and the mean level of education was 10.7 years (median=12.0, range=6–13). Inclusion of education data was not possible for some studies because of the use of alternative scales of measurement (e.g., less than high school versus high school). Nearly two-thirds of the total subject sample were women (mean=64.2%), although considerable variability in gender distribution was noted across studies, with the proportion of women ranging from 28.8% to 83.4%. In general, subjects included in the studies tended to have mild or moderate cognitive impairment, as reflected by a mean Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) (28) score of 15.5 (median=16.3; range 5–21), although there was considerable variability in this regard across studies as well. Relatively few studies provided data on age at onset or the mean duration of illness. These variables may be considered unreliable estimates because they are based on a patient’s or informant’s retrospective memory and/or perceptions.
Although a majority of the reports (63.6%) were cross-sectional (8, 10, 12, 17, 29–60), 34.5% of the studies provided longitudinal data (9, 13, 16, 63–78). The primary settings for 72.7% of the studies were outpatient clinics, Alzheimer’s disease clinical centers, or Alzheimer’s disease research centers (8, 10, 12, 13, 16, 17, 29–32, 34–39, 43, 44, 48–50, 52, 53, 55, 57–74); relatively few studies included samples of inpatients (33, 41, 45–47, 56, 75) or a combination of inpatients and outpatients (9, 42). Even fewer reports (51, 54) included community-based samples, which are often more difficult to obtain. The setting was not clear in one investigation (76).
Diagnosis and Measurement
The National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and the Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association criteria (77) were used most commonly for diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (8, 10, 12, 16, 31–34, 36, 40–44, 48, 50–55, 57, 61–63, 65, 66, 71–75). Both those criteria and the DSM criteria were used together in several studies (9, 13, 17, 29, 30, 35, 37, 45–47, 50, 59, 63, 64, 67, 69). Autopsy results, specifically those that utilized criteria of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease (78), were used infrequently.
Numerous measures or tools were used alone or in combination to assess psychotic symptoms. Informal or semistructured interviews of patients and/or their caregivers (such as the National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule , the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders , and the Initial Evaluation Form ) were utilized most frequently (15 studies), with an additional six studies incorporating other measures in addition to interviews. The Behavioral Pathology in Alzheimer’s Disease Rating Scale and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory, or both, were also used frequently.
The median prevalence of psychotic symptoms (delusions or hallucinations) in patients with Alzheimer’s disease was 41.1% (range=12.2%–74.1%). The median prevalence of delusions was 36% (range=9.3%–63%). Delusions of theft were the most common type of delusions reported (50.9% of studies). Hallucinations occurred less frequently, with a median prevalence of 18% (range=4%–41%). Visual hallucinations were more prevalent than auditory hallucinations (median=18.7% and 9.2%, respectively). Between 7.8% and 20.8% of subjects (median=13%) experienced both hallucinations and delusions. Psychotic symptoms not categorized as delusions or hallucinations were reported by 3.6% to 38.9% of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (median=25.6%). Most often, this category comprised misidentifications (frequently considered to be a type of delusion, although it may be a separate phenomenon). Prevalence data are summarized in t1.
Prevalence is affected by several factors, including the study setting and study design. A higher prevalence of psychotic symptoms tended to occur in inpatient settings (e.g., acute care hospitals, nursing homes, neurobehavioral units) (31.2% to 74.1%) (33, 40, 41, 45–47, 56, 75), whereas lower rates (12.2% to 65.2%) were noted in patients referred to outpatient memory or research clinics (8, 10, 12, 13, 16, 17, 29–32, 34–38, 43, 44, 48–50, 52, 53, 55, 57–61, 63–70, 72–74). Two studies included a community sample (51, 54), and one reported that 26.9% of the subjects experienced psychosis (51). Delusions among inpatients were present in 44.4% to 62.9% and hallucinations were present in 5.7% to 34%. In outpatient samples, 9.3% to 63% of subjects experienced delusions, and 3.8% to 41% had hallucinations. In the two studies of community-dwelling subjects, 21.8% and 22.7% had delusions, and 12.8% and 13.1% had hallucinations.
The incidence of psychosis of Alzheimer’s disease refers to the percentage of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease who are initially not psychotic and who develop one or more psychotic symptoms by a specified end-point. No studies before 1990 reported data on incidence. In studies conducted since 1990, however, seven studies (13, 61, 63, 64, 66, 69, 73) reported data on incidence over observation periods ranging from 1 to 5 years. Paulsen et al. (69) reported a 1-year incidence of 20%. Levy and colleagues (13) reported a comparable incidence of 25% after 1 year. Over a 2-year period, Paulsen and colleagues (69) reported an incidence of 36.1%, and in the study by Caligiuri et al. (63) of neuromotor abnormalities and risk for psychosis, 32.5% of subjects developed psychotic symptoms over the course of 2 years. The latter rates are likely comparable because the samples from the two studies overlapped to some extent, given that subjects in both studies were drawn from the same group of individuals enrolled in longitudinal studies at the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center in San Diego. Delusions and hallucinations both seem to develop more readily within a 1-year to 2-year span, although these data are limited by the small number of studies addressing delusions and hallucinations specifically over more than two assessment points (60, 65). Incidence seemed to plateau after 3 years, as there was little difference between 3-year (49.5%) and 4-year (51.3%) cumulative rates for psychosis in the study by Paulsen et al. (69). In the study by Chen and colleagues (64), 29.7% of the subjects developed psychosis over an average of 5 years of follow-up. However, the authors pointed out that subjects were not evaluated the same number of times or at the same time points. The 14.9% incidence reported by Sweet and associates (73) was difficult to compare to the findings of other studies because the length of follow-up was not specified.
Persistence of psychosis of Alzheimer’s disease refers to whether an individual experiences a symptom at two or more consecutive evaluations. Again, comparison of rates across studies is limited because variable follow-up periods were used by different researchers. In one study, subjects were evaluated every 3 months over 1 year, and 57% had psychotic symptoms on at least two occasions (13). In another study, a similarly high persistence of psychosis was found for individuals evaluated at baseline and 1 year later: 44% for delusions, 26% for visual hallucinations, and 45% for auditory hallucinations (61). Psychotic symptoms rarely seemed to persist after several months, however. Haupt et al. (66) reported that after 2 years, psychotic symptoms did not persist in any of 21 subjects who had delusions or in any of 11 subjects who had hallucinations at baseline. The results may have been affected by the small number of patients manifesting psychotic symptoms. Furthermore, the authors assessed symptoms at 1 and 2 years but reported persistence on the basis of the presence of a symptom at both time points. A low persistence rate over a 2-year period was also found by Devanand and colleagues (9), who reported that delusions persisted in only 12.8% of 180 subjects and hallucinations in only 5.6%. Rosen et al. (70) and Zubenko et al. (76) considered a symptom to be persistent if it was present on any two consecutive annual evaluations conducted over the course of the study (on average, 2 and 5 years, respectively). Using this definition, these authors reported that 86.7% and 84.6%, respectively, of the same subject sample had persistent psychotic symptoms.
Seven studies examined the relationship between African American or black ethnicity and psychosis. Five found a positive association (8, 16, 31, 36, 52), and two found no relationship (9, 32). Bassiony and colleagues (31) reported that African Americans were significantly more likely to have hallucinations than Caucasians; the investigators did not report on other psychotic symptoms. Lopez et al. (52) reported that African Americans in the moderate to severe stages of Alzheimer’s disease had significantly more psychotic symptoms than Caucasians in the same stages; the relationship between ethnicity and psychotic symptoms was not significant in mild stages, however. No studies reported associations with any other ethnic groups. Associations between risk factors and psychosis are summarized in t2.
Severity of cognitive impairment (assessed with the MMSE or a similar global cognitive measure) showed a significant positive association with the presence of psychosis in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease in 20 studies (8, 9, 12, 13, 31, 32, 34, 36, 37, 40, 44, 45, 48, 52, 57, 65, 67–69, 74) and no association in 10 studies (10, 33, 39, 42, 47, 50, 51, 58, 62, 70). Overall, the prevalence of psychosis in general increased as cognitive impairment became more severe. Delusions tended to initially become more prevalent as cognitive functioning worsened but then decreased again as cognitive impairment became more severe in later stages of the illness. Hallucinations, like general psychotic symptoms, also increased in prevalence as cognitive impairment became more severe. When subjects were categorized as mildly, moderately, or severely cognitively impaired on the basis of MMSE scores (28), a similar pattern was observed. The median prevalence of psychosis was 25.5% (range=3.1%–50%) in mildly impaired individuals (MMSE scores 21–25), 37% (range=18.8%–56%) in those with moderate cognitive impairment (MMSE scores 20–11), and 49% (range=21.9%–79%) in severely impaired subjects (MMSE score 10 or below). Delusions were reported in a median of 23.5% (range=11%–50%) of mildly impaired individuals, 46% (range=13%–67%) of those with moderate cognitive impairment, and 33.3% (range=23%–57%) of severely impaired subjects. The median prevalence of hallucinations among those with mild cognitive impairment was 11.4% (range=9%–33%) and increased to 19% in those with moderate cognitive impairment (range=13%–48%) and to 28% (range=16%–44%) in severely impaired patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Other psychotic symptoms occurred in 5.9% and 16.7% of mildly impaired subjects (as reported in two studies), in 43.5% of moderately impaired individuals, and in 41.7% of those with severe cognitive impairment (one study). Overall, a statistical examination of the mean prevalence figures for psychotic symptoms and cognitive severity level revealed a significant difference only between the mean prevalence of hallucinations in mildly and moderately impaired individuals, with hallucinations being more prevalent in the moderately impaired than in the mildly impaired subjects. There were no other significant differences in mean prevalence of symptoms at any other levels of cognitive impairment.
Education, gender, and family history of dementia or psychiatric disorder were weakly associated with increased risk for psychosis in the majority of reviewed studies. A majority of studies (76.5%) found that education level was not correlated with the presence of psychotic symptoms (10, 16, 31, 36, 37, 44, 45, 47, 48, 50, 51, 56, 69). In contrast, education level was positively associated with delusions in one study (33) and negatively associated with psychosis in three (8, 32, 52). Gender was not associated with psychosis in 17 studies presenting these data (9, 10, 16, 31, 32, 36, 37, 44, 47, 48, 50, 55, 56, 68–70, 76), but it was associated with psychosis in seven. Of those seven, four found that women were at greater risk for psychotic symptoms (45, 51, 63, 65) and three found that men had a higher risk for psychosis (39, 42, 62). Of seven studies that investigated the association of family history of dementia and/or other psychiatric disorders and psychosis in Alzheimer’s disease (8, 10, 12, 31, 37, 48, 56), none found a positive relationship. However, lack of knowledge and diagnostic inaccuracy in diagnosis among family members could have obscured such an association.
The relationships between psychosis and patients’ age, age at onset of Alzheimer’s disease, and duration of Alzheimer’s disease were generally equivocal. Older age was correlated with psychotic symptoms (delusions, hallucinations, or both) in 12 of 25 studies (8, 13, 17, 32, 36, 37, 40, 45, 47, 50, 55, 56) and was not associated with psychosis in the remaining 13 investigations (9, 10, 31, 42, 43, 48, 57, 59, 62, 69, 70, 75, 76). In 12 studies reporting on the relationship between age at onset of Alzheimer’s disease and psychotic symptoms, seven studies found no relationship (12, 16, 42, 47, 51, 68, 76), four found that the later the age at onset of Alzheimer’s disease, the more likely the individual was to experience psychosis (40, 45, 56, 75), and only one found that an earlier age at onset was associated with psychosis (62). Nine of 17 studies found no relationship between duration of Alzheimer’s disease and the occurrence of psychotic symptoms (36, 47, 51, 55, 56, 58, 68, 71, 76). The other eight studies, however, found that a longer duration of Alzheimer’s disease was correlated with the occurrence of psychosis (12, 17, 31, 32, 34, 37, 39, 45).
Psychotic symptoms were significantly associated with more rapid cognitive decline over time in all nine studies that examined this relationship (13, 37, 40, 58, 62, 69–71, 74), supporting the notion that psychosis may denote a subset of patients with Alzheimer’s disease with a more aggressive course of the disease (see references 13, 69, 70). It is interesting to note that only two of these studies examined the relationship between the rate of cognitive decline and hallucinations or delusions separately, and each found that hallucinations, but not delusions, were significantly associated with more rapid cognitive decline (62, 74).
Our review of 55 studies of psychosis in possible or probable Alzheimer’s disease revealed that a sizable proportion (median 41%) of individuals with the disease experience psychotic symptoms at some time during the course of their illness. Delusions occurred more frequently (median=36%) than hallucinations (median=18%). Other psychotic symptoms not categorized as delusions or hallucinations occurred in 25% of individuals. The incidence of psychotic symptoms seemed to increase with increasing follow-up intervals over the first 3 years. Psychotic symptoms tended to be reported in a majority of patients at least over a period of several months but often were not observed beyond 1 or 2 years. African American or black ethnicity and greater degree of cognitive impairment were strongly associated with a higher rate of psychosis. Psychosis was also associated with a faster rate of cognitive decline. Age, age at onset of Alzheimer’s disease, and duration of Alzheimer’s disease were associated with psychosis in approximately one-half of studies. Education, gender, and family history of dementia or psychiatric illness showed a weak or inconsistent relationship with psychosis in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
The prevalence rate of psychosis in patients with Alzheimer’s disease found in our review was 41%. The median rate for delusions was 36%, which is comparable to the median rate of 33.5% reported in one of the only review studies of psychosis in Alzheimer’s disease published before the early 1990s (23). The rate of hallucinations found in the present review (18%) represents a decrease from the 28% reported by Wragg and Jeste (23). The fact that prevalence remains high in light of pharmacologic treatment may reflect increased awareness that these disturbances are consequences of Alzheimer’s disease, improved detection, or the use of better criteria and rating scales that allow for psychotic symptoms to be diagnosed with greater accuracy. As an increasing number of patients with Alzheimer’s disease are treated with cholinesterase inhibitors over the coming years, we might expect that the prevalence and incidence of psychosis would decrease, although findings for the efficacy of these drugs in reducing psychotic symptoms specifically have been mixed (see references 13, 82, 83).
The fact that psychosis is persistent over a short interval of a few months may reflect the reasonable amount of time it takes to begin typical treatment for psychosis and to observe amelioration of symptoms. To assess the true persistence of symptoms, subjects would have to be enrolled in a placebo-controlled study in which some psychotic patients did not receive the typical treatment for symptoms. In the studies that were reviewed, it was more the exception than the rule that subjects would be excluded if they were taking an antipsychotic drug or cholinesterase inhibitor or that a drug washout period would be invoked. Furthermore, there were no means of determining whether the patients who were taking these drugs were being treated optimally, and the extent to which psychotic symptoms persist despite antipsychotic treatment is not known. Therefore, persistence values may reflect the experience of psychosis given current treatments rather than the true persistent nature of psychotic symptoms.
Few equivocal associations with psychosis emerged from the reviewed studies. The association between African American or black ethnicity and psychosis is intriguing, although it is also limited by the fact that only Caucasian samples are available for comparison. Issues of acculturation and genetic influences are yet to be adequately examined, highlighting an area in need of exploration. Cognitive impairment and the rate of cognitive decline were also found to be strongly associated with psychotic symptoms.
The findings of the present review suggest that psychosis represents a developmental feature marking the progression of Alzheimer’s disease or that it represents a distinct disease subtype marked by psychotic symptoms and a particularly rapid disease course. The fact that delusions, specifically, seemed most prevalent in patients with moderate cognitive impairment supports the hypothesis that a certain amount of neuronal integrity must be present for delusions to occur (see references 48, 84). Conclusions are limited, however, by a general failure to include severely cognitively impaired subjects in these studies. In addition, the association between psychosis and cognitive impairment and between psychosis and rate of cognitive decline may be influenced by medications, including antipsychotics and cholinesterase inhibitors, the former of which is recommended as a first-line treatment for dementia patients with delusions (85). Yet, a majority of the studies reviewed did not account for the potential effects of medication on cognition and simply reported that these effects were a possible limitation to their findings. A number of studies altogether failed to report what, if any, medications the subjects were taking. The importance of considering medication effects is illustrated in studies of antipsychotic use and cognition. The use of two atypical antipsychotics (clozapine and risperidone) in cognitively impaired patients was reviewed by Jeste et al. (86) and Gladsjo et al. (87). Jeste and colleagues found that the effects of clozapine on cognition were somewhat conflicting, which they posited was due, at least in part, to the strong anticholinergic activity of clozapine, which is likely to confound or diminish any enhancement of cognitive functioning. Berman and colleagues (88, 89) reported significant increases in MMSE scores in patients with schizophrenia or mild dementia treated with risperidone. Moreover, cholinesterase inhibitors have been shown to improve cognitive symptoms or temporarily reduce the rate of cognitive decline (90). Certainly, future studies should examine the potential influence of medication use, not only to examine any potential effects, positive or negative, on cognitive functioning but also to elucidate underlying biological mechanisms of psychosis in dementia. Furthermore, difficulties in diagnosing patients with Lewy body dementia may have led to their inadvertent inclusion in studies of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, thereby affecting the association between some psychotic symptoms and rate of cognitive decline, given that psychotic symptoms, and hallucinations in particular, may occur in nearly one-half of those with Lewy body dementia (30, 91).
For many variables that were found not to be associated with psychosis, including age, age at onset, and duration of illness, small standard deviations likely affected the detection of associations. In the case of age and age at onset, few individuals who were younger than age 55 years or who had an early age at onset (age 55 years or younger) were included in these studies. Similarly, the range and standard deviation for illness duration were restricted (range=2.8–7.7 years, SD=1.33 years), thus limiting the potential to detect a positive association. In addition, many authors noted that age at onset of Alzheimer’s disease was inherently difficult to determine, because it was often an estimate that relied on the failing memory of those with Alzheimer’s disease or the recall and dating by others of behaviors that occurred several years earlier.
The results of this review are also limited by problems in assessing psychosis. Despite more regular use of accepted diagnostic criteria, some researchers continue to use diagnostic criteria that are nonspecific to Alzheimer’s disease (e.g., DSM-III or DSM-IV criteria). Even when accepted criteria are utilized, inconsistencies in interpreting those criteria are evident. Presumably, the rates reported herein may underestimate the prevalence of delusions and hallucinations specifically, as evidenced by the fact that from 3.6% to 38.9% of psychotic symptoms remained uncategorized and were labeled "other psychotic symptoms." Conversely, as suggested by Devanand and colleagues (24), the lack of clarity may result in an overestimation of prevalence rates for symptoms such as delusions, as some symptoms are classified as delusions when they would otherwise be better classified as other psychiatric symptoms or as behavioral problems of Alzheimer’s disease. Clarity regarding the definition of psychosis and the categorization of symptoms such as misidentifications will be necessary to produce data that can be better compared across studies.
Overall, the present review reflects improvements in sampling, study design, diagnosis, and assessment, compared to reviews conducted before the early 1990s. Subject samples were larger, providing a more accurate picture of the nature and frequency of psychosis. More studies were prospective in nature and thus used methods designed to answer a directed research question. Longitudinal data were more readily available, providing information on incidence that had not previously been reported and other insights into how psychotic symptoms affect the course of Alzheimer’s disease over time. More reliable assessment tools have also come into use over the past decade with the advent of measurements such as the Neuropsychiatric Inventory and Behaviorial Pathology in Alzheimer’s Disease Rating Scale and the use of structured clinical interviews, as opposed to the previously employed methods of chart review and behavioral observation. However, future studies should continue to address the remaining shortcomings of the past 15 years. Research should use longitudinal designs to advance our understanding of the incidence and persistence of psychosis. Future studies should also develop or utilize appropriate diagnostic criteria and rating scales for psychosis in the Alzheimer’s disease population. By taking into account medication use (such as antipsychotics and anticholinergics) among subjects included in these studies, we may also learn about the relative benefits of various pharmacological agents in treating psychosis as well as the mechanisms underlying the occurrence of psychotic symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease and other illnesses.
Research since the early 1990s shows that psychotic symptoms affect a sizable proportion of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. The incidence of psychosis in any sample of patients typically continues to climb during the first 3 years of observation and may persist for several months, pointing to the necessity for early detection and treatment. With recognition of how prominent and devastating psychotic symptoms may be, it becomes increasingly clear that research should continue to focus on the epidemiology of and risk factors for psychosis of Alzheimer’s disease. As Alzheimer’s disease affects a growing number of individuals over time, so too will psychosis as a syndrome. Systematic delineation of the epidemiology of and risk factors for psychosis in Alzheimer’s disease may clarify the biological underpinnings of these symptoms and direct indications for early interventions, facilitate patient management, reduce caregiver burden, improve patients’ quality of life, and open the door to discovering the nature of psychosis in other diseases.
Received Nov. 29, 2004; revision received Feb. 1, 2005; accepted Feb. 22, 2005. From the Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego; and the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego. Address correspondence to Dr. Jeste, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, VA San Diego Healthcare System, 9500 Gilman Dr., Mail Code 0603V, La Jolla, CA 92093-0603; [email protected] (e-mail). Supported in part by NIMH grants MH-66248 and MH-59101 and by the Department of Veterans Affairs. | <urn:uuid:d379e510-e868-47cc-9fd2-bcbb2f85d965> | {
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When I read the Pocohontas story to my kids (we have the Disney version), we usually have a little discussion when we get to the page where Pocohontas attempts to dissuade her father (the local Indian chief) from starting a war with the settlers. The kids are interested in the idea that both people are trying to do the right thing, but they have completely different ideas about what the right thing is.
For those of you not familiar with the story, Pocohontas has fallen in love with a mercenary on the voyage (John Smith), and the two of them want to establish peace between the settlers and the natives. The book suggests that peace involves the settlers staying in North America. Powhatan, her father, is assembling a war party to drive the settlers away.
We can look back in history to better understand who was "right".
- As the book makes clear, a war between the settlers and the Indians is going to lead to many Indian casualties, since the settlers have guns and the Indians do not. Furthermore, most of the settlers are not intending to do harm to the Indians, as they've been told they are settling land that has no ownership yet. Pocohontas' efforts end up saving many well-intentioned people's lives.
- These same settlers would probably understand that, had they landed anywhere in England and built a village where they landed, they would be summarily evicted by whomever owned the land they were on. The racism here is lightly touched on in the book, but it's helpful because it's pretty easy for the kids to see how convenient it is for the settlers to suppose that nobody in North America owns anything yet.
- I usually tell the kids what little I know of the Mauri, the indigenous people of New Zealand. As I understand it, they immediately made war with white folks who arrived. I suspect that the Mauri were territorial in a way that worked better with the White conception of property, and because of that Mauri today have a significant representation in the New Zealand constitution and legislature, and own very large amounts of New Zealand's real estate. I expect many Native Americans would prefer the Mauri outcome to their own.
- The Na'vi are territorial. They have a few specific high-value trees. My understanding is that most of the North American natives had a much less specific sense of property.
- The movie has the natives resisting under human leadership, which is interesting to think about. It seems a bit condescending (especially the bit where the human, after 3 months of training, is outperforming the best of the natives), but historically North American natives really did not grasp the nature of the European threat fast enough to organize a massive resistance in time, and it seems at least possible that a charismatic European might have communicated the continent-level consequences of the European idea of property to enough of them to organize a resistance.
I once asked a friend who is a lawyer if all property rights, at least in North America, trace back to peace treaties of some kind, or if some (particular the French claim to the center of the continent that was then sold as the Louisiana Purchase) are based on bald assertions of authority without even a war. I never did get a decent answer.
If, in reading this post, anyone is wondering if I'm willing to cede my house to a Native American, the answer is no. | <urn:uuid:d9e1d64b-ebce-4617-afcb-08741e165261> | {
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18) The Story of Merriwether Lewis and William Clark Young Americans
by Nellie Kingsley
The source book entitled, four American Heroes, was authored by Nellie Kingsley, and published by the The Werner School Book Company.
This book included the follow titles:
1) The Story of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark for Young Americans
2) The Story of John Charles Fremont for Young Americans
This review includes only The Story of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark for Young Americans; the other two are covered in separate articles.
This story is an abbreviated account of the expedition of 1804-1805 and as the subtitle indicates is For Young Americans.
The publication consists 132 pages of text and approximately 28 black and white/gray scale images.
This is an ideal book for the first time exposure to the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The book is short and uncomplicated so it doesn't have the same kind of detail and background that a longer work would have; realistically even a 600 page book could not tell the whole story but it would have much more detail than this short work.
Beyond grammar school I never remember reading or remembering much about the Lewis and Clark Expedition (or the Corps of Discovery). I think I envisioned it as being a very long backpacking trip. And I probably assumed that for the men of that day and time it was just a picnic. Only in my later reading and study have I learned that it was a monumental achievement.
The physical strength and endurance the fortitude and courage intelligence and common sense were all common attributes of all the members of the expedition. Not only did they have to battle the elements from oppressive heat to freezing cold to dry desert and flowing rivers but they also had to contend with wild animals, especially the dreaded grizzly bear (whom the Indians also feared) and some hostile Indians (though some Indians were also friendly).
It is amazing that only one man was lost during the whole expedition and that was due to an acute case of appendicitis I've read much more detail works and I'm sure I've absorbed other details through the years but I still found this book to be an interesting and compelling read.
It is exciting and definitely includes details and stories that I'd never heard before; (perhaps this is true because of the age of the book or because of my own age and memory.)
For example in the following passage I'd never heard of this initiation/custom; (in fact I didn't realize that there were sailors on the expedition) and the phrase equinoctial line.
----At last the Platte River was reached. There the sailors carried out a curious custom. It seems that the passing of the Platte River is regarded by Missouri River boatmen just as the crossing of the equinoctial line is regarded by sailors on the sea. To mark the passing of it every man in the who had never been there before was caught and shaved unless he could stand treat; to his comrades.
Or that the Kite Indians were “so called because they were always flying about.
This is an interesting one though kind of bad for the horse:
Early in August they came to the burial-place of a great and awful chief of the Omaha nation named Blackbird. He was buried sitting erect on horseback.
How about the singing Indians:
No sooner were the explorers settled than a dozen Indians appeared on the opposite bank and began to sing. This was their sign of friendship and their friendship was very genuine.
I would be remiss not to mention Sacajawea. She and her husband were essential members of the expedition of that there is no doubt. I myself did not know that during that time while she was traveling with them she gave birth to a son and carried him along with her. She was a tough lady !
Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION I. THE TWO CAPTAINS II. THE START III. JUNE AND JULY IV. THE FIRST INDIAN COUNCIL V. THE MOUNTAIN OF LITTLE PEOPLE VI. THE COUNCIL WITH THE SIOUX VII. AN INDIAN DANCE VIII.WINTER AMONG THE MANDANS IX. INDIAN HUNTS X. THE MANDAN INDIANS XI. THE WINTER XII. FIGHTS WITH GRIZZLY BEARS XIII. A IMPORTANT DECISION XIV. MAKING A CACHE XV. AN EXCITING MORNING XVI. PASSING THE FALLS XVII. UP THE JEFFERSON RIVER XVIII. THE COLUMBIA RIVER REACHED XIX. AMONG THE INDIANS XX. HESITATION XXI. DOWN THE SNAKE RIVER XXII. DOWN THE COLUMBIA XXIII. FORT CLATSOP AND THE START HOME XXIV. ASCENT OF THE COLUMBIA XXV. CROSSING THE BITTER ROOT MOUNTAINS XXVI. CAPTAIN LEWIS'S ADVENTURES XXVII. CAPTAIN CLARK'S ADVENTURES XXVIII. THE END OF THE GREAT EXPEDITION" | <urn:uuid:6f3e3dd9-559a-4cce-9443-92c93dc9403c> | {
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Polygamy and the Quran
Those people who have modeled their thinking after New Testament Christianity are, to say the least, a bit surprised (if not shocked and appalled) to learn that the religion of Islam countenances polygamy. But the Christian mind must realize that Muhammad’s Islam arose out of Arabia in the sixth and seventh centuries A.D. The Arab culture was well-known for the practice of polygamy, in which the men were allowed to have as many wives as they desired. The Quran addressed this social circumstance by placing a limitation on the number of wives a man could have. The wording of the pronouncement is in a surah titled “Women”: “And if ye fear that ye will not deal fairly by the orphans, marry of the women, who seem good to you, two or three or four; and if ye fear that ye cannot do justice (to so many) then one (only) or (the captives) that your right hands possess” (Surah 4:3).
Setting aside the issue of why Muhammad himself was exempt from this limitation (Surah 33:50—see Miller, “Muhammad’s Polygamy,” 2004), the divine origin of the Quran is discredited on the basis of its stance on polygamy. In the first place, for all practical purposes, the Quran authorizes a man to have as many wives as he chooses, since its teaching on divorce contradicts its teaching on marriage. Unlike the New Testament, which confines permission to divorce on the sole grounds of sexual unfaithfulness (Matthew 19:9), the Quran authorizes divorce for any reason (e.g., Surah 2:226-232,241; 33:4,49; 58:2-4; 65:1-7). If a man can divorce his wife for any reason, then the “command” that limits a man to four wives is effectively meaningless—merely restricting a man to four legal wives at a time. Theoretically, a man could have an unlimited number of wives—all with the approval of God!
In the second place, Jesus declared in no uncertain terms that “whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery” (Matthew 19:9, emp. added). Jesus gave one, and only one, reason for divorce in God’s sight. In fact, even the Old Testament affirmed that God “hates divorce” (Malachi 2:16). The teaching of the Bible on divorce is a higher, stricter, nobler standard than the one advocated by the Quran. The two books, in fact, contradict each other on this point.
In the third place, why does the Quran stipulate the number “four”? Why not three or five wives? The number four would appear to be an arbitrary number with no significance—at least, none is given. Though the passage in question indicates the criterion of a man’s ability to do justice to those he marries, there is no reason to specify the number four, since men would vary a great deal in the number of women that they would have the ability to manage fairly.
The answer may be seen in the influence of the contemporaneous Jewish population of Arabia. Sixth century Arabia was a tribal oriented society that relied heavily on oral communication in social interactions. Muhammad would have been the recipient of considerable information conveyed orally by his Jewish, and even Christian, contemporaries. Many tales, fables, and rabbinical traditions undoubtedly circulated among the Jewish tribes of Arabia. The Jews themselves probably were lacking in book-learning, having been separated from the mainstream of Jewish thought and intellectual development in their migration to the Arabian peninsula. The evidence demonstrates that the author of the Quran borrowed extensively from Jewish and other sources. The ancient Talmudic record (Arbah Turim, Ev. Hazaer, 1) stated: “A man may marry many wives, for Rabba saith it is lawful to do so, if he can provide for them. Nevertheless, the wise men have given good advice, that a man should not marry more than four wives” (see Rodwell, 1950, p. 411; Tisdall, 1905, pp. 129-130). The similarity with the wording of the Quran is too striking to be coincidental. It can be argued quite convincingly that the magic number of four was drawn from currently circulating Jewish teaching.
Miller, Dave (2004), “Muhammad’s Polygamy,” http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2219.
Rodwell, J.M., trans. (1950 reprint), The Koran (London: J.M. Dent and Sons).
Tisdall, W. St. Clair (1905), The Original Sources of the Quran (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge). | <urn:uuid:ffa0bbb5-3397-43eb-a0a8-8ea506518b93> | {
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Two-spotted spider mites can be rusty green,greenish amber or yellow and they have eight legs. Overwintering females are red or orange. These mites have two (sometimes four) black spots on top. They are very small,but still visible. The best way to see them is with a small magnifying glass. The eggs vary from transparent and colorless to opaque straw yellow.
If spider mites infest your roses,you will begin to notice a dull appearance to the leaves. The undersides will feel “sandy”or rough. Fine webbing will appear on the undersides of leaves and in leaf axils. Leaves will begin to lose their color and become dry and lifeless. The leaves soon die and dry up.
BIOLOGY Two-spotted spider mites are widely distributed in the United States and feed on over 180 host plants,including roses. Once a plant is infested,the mites spread onto nearby crops and ornamentals. Two-spotted spider mites pierce the epidermis of the host plant leaf with their sharp,slender mouthparts. When they extract the sap,the tissue of the leaf collapses in the area of the puncture. Soon a spot without green color forms at each feeding site. After a heavy attack,an entire plant may become yellowed,bronzed or killed completely. The mites may spin so much webbing over the plant that it becomes entirely covered.
Though insects and mites are in a group called the Arthropoda (meaning jointed foot),because jointed legs are common to both,spider mites are not actually insects. Being more closely related to spiders,they derive their name from the thin web that some species spin.
Two-spotted spider mites overwinter as adults in the soil or on hosts such as violets and hollyhocks. In mild winter weather,two-spotted spider mites continue to feed and lay eggs,although development in the winter is much slower than in the summer. In warm weather,six-legged larvae hatch from the eggs. They develop into eight-legged nymphs,which pass through two nymphal stages. After each larval and nymphal stage,there is a resting stage. The adults mate soon after emerging from the last resting stage,and in warm weather the females soon lay eggs. Each female may lay over 100 eggs in her life and up to 19 eggs per day. Development is most rapid during hot,dry weather. A single generation may require as many as 20 or as few as 5 days to reach adulthood and begin producing offspring.
CONTROL Control of spider mites depends heavily upon an understanding of the biology of the mites. The mites are usually found on the underside of leaves. Thorough application of a miticide to the underside of the plant foliage is essential for good control. An alternative to chemical controls is a strong water spray applied to the undersides of the leaves every three days during hot weather. Miticide applications may be needed 7 to 10 days apart to kill mites that were in the egg and resting stages during the first application. In hot weather,an eye should be kept on the plants to check for reinfestation or for the offspring of mites missed on the first application.
If you choose to use a miticide,read the label carefully and apply as directed. Mites easily become resistant,so NEVER dilute the miticide —this will only ensure that future generations of mites can resist the miticides you use.
Some commonly used miticides are:
(The use of brand names and any mention or listing of commercial products does not imply endorsement by the American Rose Society,nor discrimination against similar products or services not mentioned. Individuals who use chemicals are responsible for ensuring that the intended use complies with current regulations and conforms to the product label. Be sure to obtain current information about usage and examine a current product label before applying any chemical.
To download the pdf version of this article click here. | <urn:uuid:f800d9f0-521e-4885-852e-c1ea9e71c68c> | {
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You can't teach that
Two parents are suing the University of California-Berkeley over a web site aimed at educating teachers. Understanding Evolution, a collaborative project of the University of California Museum of Paleontology and the National Center for Science Education, is "is a non-commercial, education website, teaching the science and history of evolutionary biology." Jeanne and Larry Caldwell, the couple bringing the suit against the site, claim that the site delves improperly into religion. While most debates center around whether or not Intelligent Design is "religion in the classroom," the Caldwells are looking to spin it the other way.
The plaintiffs in the case claim that they are not proponents of Intelligent Design, but they do argue that it is inappropriate for a project that is partially funded by the US government to essentially engage in swaying students towards evolution. In the language of the suit, the site seeks to "to modify the beliefs of public school science students so they will be more willing to accept evolutionary theory as true." How exactly does the website do this?
For one, it provides information to teachers, who then teach. One of the aftereffects of teaching is that, ideally, students learn. In the context of a science classroom, this could mean that students are taught evolution, and then they may understand it better. This is the fundament of pedagogy.
But that's not all. The real gist of the suit, from my own reading, stems from the fact that the site in question makes observations about the religious world around us. For example, the site notes that most forms of Christianity and Judaism have no fundamental conflict with evolution, and it even links to collected statements from a variety of movements that do not challenge evolution. Many scholars have argued that it is important to note that this debate is not "science versus Christianity" or anything of the sort. Rather, they note, creationists and religiously-oriented Intelligent Design proponents are but a subset of religious people in general. To the Caldwell's however, pointing out this reality is akin to the government endorsing certain forms of religion over others, namely those that do not have a problem with evolution.
To date, courts across the country have rejected the idea that teaching evolution, which is a peer-reviewed scientific theory that as of yet has had little challenge in the way of peer-reviewed academic research, is tantamount to teaching religion.
"The courts in many cases have said evolution is a scientific idea and there is no prohibition on the government teaching a scientific idea even if it conflicts'' with some people's religious beliefs, said university counsel Christopher Patti.
Larry Caldwell, however, disagrees. His view is that by not teaching students about supposed problems with the fossil record, problems that are dismissed by most specialists in the field, teachers are misleading them. Still, Caldwell doesn't want to see evolution removed from the classroom, but he does believe that alternative views, including those that attribute serious problems to the theory, should also be presented to students. This returns us to the crux of the debate, however, which is whether or not any worthwhile challenges to evolution have been made.
Yeah, well you can't teach THAT!
The University of California finds itself in another controversy over religion, as well. A suit filed federal court in Los Angeles accuses the University system of discriminating against Christians. The Association of Christian Schools International, the Calvary Chapel Christian School in Murrieta, Calif., and six Calvary Chapel students have joined forces to seek a legal remedy to what they term "viewpoint discrimination," which is a terse way of saying that they object to the fact that the UC system considered parts of their Christian education to be below admittance standards.
At issue in the lawsuit are academic standards for admission to the university, specifically UC's process for assessing high-school courses to verify that they meet the system's college-preparatory course requirements (known as the a-g requirements). For a new or substantially revised course to be approved for the a-g list, a high school must submit a request, listing the course curriculum, textbook information, and supplemental materials, to UC for approval. Staff at UCOP review such applications to make sure that courses meet UC academic standards established by BOARS.
The UC system has approved 43 courses from the school in question, but a select number of courses have not received approval, including science courses that use overtly Christian theology books as textbooks. For example, as the NY Times has noted, the books spouts peculiar takes on historical figures. Thomas Jefferson, for instance, is outed as a non-believer, and by scriptural proof, an antichrist.
American believers can appreciate Jefferson's rich contribution to the development of their nation, but they must beware of his view of Christ as a good teacher but not the incarnate son of God. As the Apostle John said, "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son" (I John 2:22).
With regards to slavery, the book blames not only slave holders, but "African tribal leaders... whom allowed their love for profit to outweigh their love for their fellow man."
The case will be heard December 12, and educators across the country are watching. | <urn:uuid:4cb94552-71cf-4d19-bc30-474a9a71b54c> | {
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Allen, Frederick Lewis. Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the Nineteen-Twenties.
American Heritage New Illustrated History of the United States. Volumes 13, 14 and 15.
Bateson, Charles. The War With Japan.
Barnhart, Michael A. "Japan Prepares for Total War."
Boghosian, Sam. "On a Fine Sunday Morning."
Brinkley, David. Washington Goes to War.
Butow, Robert. Tojo and the Coming of the War.
Cacutt, Len, ed. Decisive Battles: The Turning Points of World War II.
Chihaya, Masataka. Japanese Historical Perspective.
Choate, Pat. Agents of Influence: How Japan's Lobbyists in the United States Manipulate America's Political and Economic System.
Costello, John. The Pacific War 1941-1945.
Daedalus. Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Showa: The Japan of Hirohito.
Dower, John W. War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War.
Fermi, Laura. Atoms in the Family: My Life With Enrico Fermi.
Friedman, George, and Meredith Lebard. The Coming War With Japan.
Fuchida, Mitsuo. I Led the Air Attack Against Pearl Harbor.
Fussell, Paul. Wartime.
Genda, Minoru, Higeki Shinjuwan Kogeki, and Kaigun Kokutai. Shimatsu.
Halberstam, David. The Reckoning.
Hall, John Whitney. Japan From Prehistory to Modern Times.
Halsey, Fleet Adm. William F. Admiral Halsey's Story.
Honan, William H., Visions of Infamy, The Untold Story of How Journalist Hector C. Bywater Devised the Plans That Led to Pearl Harbor.
Jackson, Charles L. On to Pearl Harbor--and Beyond.
James, D. Clayton. Triumph & Disaster 1945-1964, The Years of MacArthur, Vol. III.
Johnson, Chalmers, MITI and The Japanese Miracle.
Johnson, Sheila K. The Japanese Through American Eyes.
Kahn, David. Foreign Affairs Magazine. "The Intelligence Failure of Pearl Harbor."
Keegan, John. The Second World War.
Ketchum, Richard M. The Borrowed Years 1938-1941: America on the Way to War.
Klingaman, William K. 1941: Our Lives in a World on the Edge.
Layton, Edwin T. (Rear Admiral, U.S.N. Ret.). "And I Was There": Pearl Harbor and Midway--Breaking the Secrets.
Lincoln, Edward J. Japan's Unequal Trade.
Lord, Walter. Day of Infamy.
Writing "Day of Infamy."
Manchester, William. American Caesar, Douglas MacArthur.
The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America.
MacDonald, Fred J. Don't Touch That Dial!: Radio Programming in American Life.
Millis, Walter. New York Times Magazine. "Two Hours That Changed History."
Morison, Samuel Eliot. The Rising Sun in the Pacific.
The Two-Ocean War.
Potter, E.B. and Chester W. Nimitz, eds. The Great Sea War.
Prange, Gordon. At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor.
Quarterly Journal of Military History. Hill, Douglas, "Countdown to Disaster." Kahn, David, "Why Weren't We Warned." Warner, Denis and Peggy. "The Doctrine of Surprise." Young, Stephen Bower. "Trapped!"
Reischauer, Edwin O. Japan: The Story of a Nation.
Sansom, G.H. The Western World and Japan.
Schaller, Michael. The American Occupation of Japan.
Spector, Ronald H. The Eagle Against the Sun: The American War With Japan.
Stetson Conn, Rose Engelman & Byron Fairchild. Guarding the U.S. & Its Outposts.
Stillwell, Paul. U.S. Naval Institute. "Admiral Husband E. Kimmel: Scapegoat."
Terkel, Studs. The Good War: An Oral History of World War Two.
This Fabulous Century. New York: Time-Life. Volume 2: 1910-1920. Volume 3: 1920-1930. Volume 4: 1930-1940.
Toland, John. The Rising Sun, The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945.
Trumbull, Robert. New York Times Magazine. "A Sunday That Seems Like Yesterday."
U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey: The Campaigns of the Pacific War.
Wallin, Homer N. Pearl Harbor: Why, How, Fleet Salvage and Final Appraisal.
Weintraub, Stanley. Long Day's Journey Into War: December 7, 1941.
Wohlstetter, Roberta. Pearl Harbor, Warning and Decision.
Yoshikawa, Takeo. Eastwind, Rain (Memories of Japan's spy in Honolulu). | <urn:uuid:f7220ff0-e988-4e33-a4e7-bf75c91bed55> | {
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Agricultural extension, which refers to activities relating to the dissemination of agricultural information and technical guidance on farming, has had its golden and gloomy eras in Indonesian history.
Agricultural extension practices move forward in line with dynamic social, political and economic development processes. At the time when agricultural development was a top national priority, agricultural extension was dynamically improved. On the contrary, when agricultural development has been a low priority, agricultural extension remained gloomy and stagnant.
Regardless of the controversial impacts of the green revolution on socioeconomic and environmental resources, the historical fact is that the golden era of agricultural extension in Indonesia was the green revolution program. Agricultural extension has played pivotal role in increasing production of rice, Indonesia’s staple food crop. | <urn:uuid:109faeac-a400-4b20-8b15-2d183350966a> | {
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Some wonder whether vitamins nutrition supplements are truly necessary? Vitamins nutrition supplements are nutritional substances that provide key health benefits. Preferably, the supplements benefits are backed up by clinical study results.
[Read More][Read Less]
What we eat daily is important, thus it is key to eat a balanced diet. Even if you do regularly eat a balanced diet, there is still the problem of the nutrient value of food declining due to soil depletion over the past few decades. The USDA food pyramid recommends women eat 2.5 cups of veggies a day and men eat 3 cups. However, most adults do not even eat the minimum and thus where high-quality vitamins nutrition supplements come in as a way to make up for poor diet in order to have optimum health.
Good nutrition supplements do not just contain vitamins and minerals. This is because both men and women need more than just vitamins and minerals. Thus good anti-aging natural supplements also contain amino acids, antioxidants, bioflavanoids, neuronutrients, L-Carnosine, alpha lipoic acid, acetyl L-Carnitine. Studies have shown the vitamins nutrition supplements products can effectively support heart, eyes, brain, immune system, and joint health.
These days the average life span is longer. The extra years are ideally are active healthy ones filled with energy. The main aspects to having good health include following a balanced diet with vitamins nutrition supplements, getting enough quality sleep, exercising moderately on a regular basis, and managing weight. High-quality nutrition supplements are a good way to help fill the nutrition gaps in a diet. They can help the body get the essential nutrients it needs. Vitamins and minerals are just part of what they need. The other nutrients in high-quality supplements provide anti-aging benefits that help improve energy and health to prevent disease.
One-a-day type vitamins nutrition supplements are not the ideal way of getting the nutrients our body’s need. This is because one single tablet cannot possibly have all the nutrients our bodies need the right quantities. If one tablet did, it would be too big to swallow. Thus these types of supplements are a waste of money and there are studies to back up their ineffectiveness. However, the extreme of taking a dozen or more individual supplements is also not ideal, as it can be inconvenient as well as expensive.
It is also important to know that women and men need different combinations of vitamins. Vitamins nutrition supplements for women should possess nutrients that have been found to help balance female hormones in women in their thirties and beyond. Supplements for men should contain nutrients that help promote male prostate health.
There are manufacturers that have created quality vitamins nutrition supplements sold at reasonable prices. One manufacturer evens links each individual ingredient to related clinical studies. Remember to research about all the nutrient products before you begin taking any type of nutrition supplement.
AstroNutrition.com was founded in 2004 with the goal of being the premiere source for fitness enthusiasts looking at bulking up, slimming down or keeping fit. We stock thousands of vitamins, sports nutrition, bodybuilding supplements, diet pills, slimming pills and ephedrine supplements. Customer satisfaction is our ultimate goal and you'll find the best service and selection at AstroNutrition.com. In good health. | <urn:uuid:27d6e52a-3a57-4ec0-a4a1-fcc77b3426c4> | {
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December 7, 1941--A Day that Lives in Infamy
To past generation, December 7, 1941, is a day that will live in infamy, as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt told radio audiences. More than 2400 Americans were killed that day.
The attack on Pearl Harbor (called Hawaii Operation by the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters) was, of course, a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941 (December 8 in Japan).
The attack was intended as a preventive action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the United States.
The base was attacked by 353 Japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four being sunk. Of these eight damaged, two were raised, and with four repaired, six battleships returned to service later in the war.
The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship and one minelayer. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,402 Americans were killed and 1,282 wounded. Important base installations such as the power station, shipyard, maintenance and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building (also home of the intelligence section) were not attacked. Japanese losses were light: 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 65 servicemen killed or wounded. One Japanese sailor was captured.
The attack led directly to the American entry into World War II in both the Pacific and European theaters. The following day (December 8), the United States declared war on Japan. Domestic support for non-interventionism, which had been strong, disappeared. Subsequent operations by the U.S. prompted Germany and Italy to declare war on the U.S. on December 11, which was reciprocated by the U.S. the same day.
There were numerous historical precedents for unannounced military action by Japan. However, the lack of any formal warning, particularly while negotiations were still apparently ongoing, led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to proclaim December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy."
On December 8, 1941 (the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor), Alan Lomax, then "assistant in charge" of the Archive of American Folk Song (now the Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center), sent a telegram to fieldworkers in ten different localities across the United States, asking them to collect "man-on-the-street" reactions of ordinary Americans to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the subsequent declaration of war by the United States.
The result, the Library of Congress' After the Day of Infamy: "Man-on-the-Street" Interviews Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor presents approximately twelve hours of opinions recorded in the days and months following the bombing of Pearl Harbor from more than two hundred individuals in cities and towns across the United States.
A second series of interviews, called "Dear Mr. President," was recorded in January and February 1942. Both collections are included in this presentation. They feature a wide diversity of opinion concerning the war and other social and political issues of the day, such as racial prejudice and labor disputes. The result is a portrait of everyday life in America as the United States entered World War II.
This online presentation of After the Day of Infamy: "Man-on-the-Street" Interviews Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor also includes an essay on preseving the recordings, "Making and Maintaining the Original Recordings," as well as biographies of the fieldworkers who conducted and arranged the interviews, complete transcripts of the interviews, related manuscripts and original disc sleeves. The presentation was made possible with the support of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute and the New Deal Network.
In addition, the Veterans History Project (VHP) of the Library of Congress American Folklife Center is an oral history program that collects first-person accounts of military service in World War I, World War II, the wars in Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf, and the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. VHP also collects stories of civilians who supported their efforts, including men and women who worked in defense-related industries, and as USO entertainers and Red Cross workers.
VHP relies on volunteers, both individuals and organizations, throughout the nation to contribute veterans’ stories to VHP. In addition to audio- and video-recorded interviews, VHP accepts memoirs, collections of original photographs and letters, diaries, maps, and other historical documents from World War I through current conflicts.
The United States Congress created the Veterans History Project in 2000. In April 2007, the Library of Congress and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) announced a joint community engagement initiative in conjunction with the broadcast of Ken Burns’ film, The War, which reiterated the Library of Congress’ message to the American people to help build the historic record by interviewing a veteran in your family or community.
A participant in the project may be a veteran, an interviewer, or person donating a veteran’s collection). Students in the 10th grade and above may also participate and there are special resources for educators and students.
The Veterans History Project is ongoing, and there is no deadline.
To participate, visit this website: http://www.loc.gov/vets/
“THE WAR/Veterans History Project Field Guide to Conducting and Preserving Interviews” (PDF)
Includes information on how to send your collection to Veterans History Project, including a list of what VHP can and cannot accept and the necessary forms for submitting content. Also included are tips on conducting an interview and doing research at the National Archives.
National WWII Memorial Registry of Remembrance is “an individual listing of Americans who contributed to the war effort.” It is maintained by the American Battle Monument Commission as a part of the National World War II Memorial located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
1. Article illustration:
The U.S. Navy battleship USS Nevada (BB-36) beached and burning at 0925 hrs on 7 December 1941 after being hit forward by Japanese bombs and torpedoes.
2. Pearl Harbor Attack, 7 December 1941. Damage to the forecastle deck of USS Nevada (BB-36), caused by the explosion of a Japanese bomb below decks.
3. Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, (Dec. 7, 2002) -- Pearl Harbor attack survivor Manual H. Magdaleno arrives at the USS Arizona Memorial to attend the Annual Dec. 7th Commemoration Ceremony.
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with Bill LeFurgy | <urn:uuid:2e9c5f26-d248-4aaf-95b1-78f5a83da529> | {
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Animal Species:Killer Whale
The Killer Whale, Orcinus orca, is the largest member of the dolphin family.
The Killer Whale is a strikingly marked animal characterised by a body pattern of dramatically contrasting areas of intense black and white. The rounded head, indistinct beak, large pointed teeth and prominent upright dorsal fin complete what is considered one of the oceans most impressive mammals.
9 m, 5 tonnes
The Killer Whale is found in all oceans and seas of the world usually in family groups. They occur in most habitat types from coastal areas to the deep ocean waters, from the tropics to polar regions.
Feeding and Diet
These animals are serious meat eaters and one of the most efficient large predators of the ocean. A cooperative hunter, they often work in packs, and will take a broad range of vertebrates including whales, seals, penguins, fish, sea otters, and turtles. Killer Whales have marked territorial behaviour and home ranges. Their prey is determined by what is available in their home ange but they also seek out areas of seasonal abundance such as seal pupping sites.
Killer Whales are a highly social species whose group size and composition is based on the dominance of a female line. The gestation period is thought to be about 15 months after which a single young is born. Group cooperation extends to care of the young, which will continue to suckle from the mother for an extended period of up to two years. The breeding season is variable, as is the interval between births. This latter period can be as little as three years or as long as eight.
The Killer Whale has never been the target of serious commercial hunting so the species worldwide is secure. There is some concern about depletion of individual populations and disruption to social structure from captures for the oceanarium trade and limited hunting in some parts of Asia, Northern Europe and the West Indies.
- Baker, A. N. 1999. Whales and Dolphins of Australia and New Zealand: an identification guide. Allen & Unwin, St Leonards, Australia.
- Bryden, M., Marsh, H. and Shaughnessy, P. 1998. Dugongs, Whales, Dolphins and Seals. A guide to the sea mammals of Australasia. Allen & Unwin, St Leonards, Australia.
- Menkhorst, P. 2001. A Field Guide to Mammals of Australia. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Australia.
- Reeves, R. R., Stewart, B. S., Clapham, P. J. and Powell, J. A. 2002. National Audubon Society Guide to Marine Mammals of the World. Chanticleer Press, Inc New York, USA. | <urn:uuid:4ff6b4b2-20e3-417e-88c8-ddf4e9832189> | {
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Latiné loqui disce sine molestiá!
Learn to speak Latin with ease! ¡Aprende a hablar latín sin esfuerzo!
Apprenez à parler latin sans peine! Impara a parlare latino senza sforzo! Lernen Sie latein zu sprechen ohne Mühe!
you will need to have the following font installed on your system:
Maybe this font can be downloaded for free from the Internet.
The alphabet used by the Romans of the classical period consisted of the following letters:
A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z
It is basically the same alphabet as is still used today by a majority of languages in the world. The ancient Romans already observed a functional difference between the standard I and a more elongated alternative, which would later became J, but didnt conceive of a meaningful distinction between V and U, as was later established, nor did they use other variants like Ç, Ñ or W.
The Romans of the classical period had several styles to write the above letters, greatly depending on the materials used to write. As is true for most scripts, nevertheless, these styles can be grouped into two distinct ones.
There is a formal one, that we now call capitális, that was used on monuments, legal documents, public announcements, books for sale, jewelery, and in general whenever the text was meant to endure and might even have some sort of ornamental value. We can see it below used on stone, bronze, plastered walls, papyrus or, later on, parchment, and on many other surfaces and objects.
There was a second style, the informal one, that we now call cursíva, that was used for everyday transactions with no ornamental value. This is less well known to most people, because of the precarious nature of the materials on which it was used and the lesser artistic value of the objects where we find it; but it was in fact the main style most Romans would have used in their practical lives. We can see it below on waxen or wooden tablets, wall graffiti or bone, and was used on many similar surfaces.
In time there developed a third style, the unciális, which is just a smaller version of the capitális with some strong influence of the cursíva.
The shapes of the letters of the capitális style are practically identical with our present capitals, whereas the cursíva may have influenced the evolution of the former into the unciális, a smaller version which is in turn the predecessor of our lower case characters; but it is important to understand that, in Roman times, the difference between the capitális and the cursíva, or even the later unciális, was not at all comparable to the difference we now make between capitals and lower case when we use capitals at the beginning of some words, or for titles, in texts otherwise written in lower case.
They were just different styles to write the same single case of letters, and were equivalent rather to the duality that exists between our printing and our handwritten letters. They would of course not have been mixed in any one piece of writing, as we would not type some letters and write others by hand within the same text, let alone the same word.
Just like the Arabs or the Japanese, therefore, in spite of a variety of writing styles, the Romans didnt either have an equivalent to our meaningful alternation between capitals and lower case within the same piece of writing in any of them, nor did they write any differently the first letter of a sentence or proper name and the rest.
The Romans, in order to save space, given the high cost of most of the materials they wrote on, used the so called ligátúræ, i.e. groupings of letters written as a cluster by sharing a common stroke. There were many of them: AE could be found as Æ, and similarly AN, TR, VM and many others could appear fused together in groups of two, three and even more letters.
The Romans had only two diacritics, and they didnt use any of the two with any regularity.
The Romans would often write without even separating the words with spaces, as we have seen above in several instances. Moreover, they certainly never distinguished sentences or phrases using commas, semicolons, colons or stops, neither did they know of question or exclamation marks, brackets, inverted commas or any other diacritic we are used to. In fact, the only sign they used, and only in the more elegant writings, like monumental ones, was a dot they used not as final stop, but to separate single words. We have also seen this on the inscriptions above. This dot could sometimes take more sophisticated shapes, as a little ivy leaf, for instance, as below.
The Romans of the most sophisticated period of classical culture used, as much in monumental writing as in more domestic texts, a sign called apex, identical to what we nowadays know as acute accent ( ´ ). This sign, nevertheless, was not used to indicate the accent or stress in the word as in a minute number of modern vernaculars, but to mark long vowels (see the file on pronunciation), as is still done today in languages like Icelandic, Hungarian, Czech and many others.
Latin spelling nowadays
It is obvious that the writing practices of the Romans of the classical period were rather primitive in comparison with present ones. Some people believe for that reason that our spelling habits are vernacular, and therefore somehow spurious and artificially imposed on Latin subsequently. They forget that most of our spelling customs are the natural development of Roman practices and were organically furthered throughout history by people who spoke and wrote in Latin, in order to achieve greater clarity and distinction when reading and writing Latin itself, not the vernacular languages; and these usages passed on from Latin to the vernaculars, and not the other way around.
The ancient difference in shape between a shorter and a more elongated I (i/j), the latter of which, already in antiquity, was frequently used in the cursiva in word-initial position, often corresponding to the consonantal sound, as can be seen in the illustrations above, was formalised in later periods for this useful function specifically, thus allowing for complete transparency as regards the difference in pronunciation between the first sound in janua and in iambus, or in meaning between forms like perjerat and perierat. The previously meaningless difference between the pointed V of the capitalis and the rounded u of some forms of cursiva or of the uncialis was equally put to the service of a more transparent spelling. It was thus finally possible duly to distinguish vowels from consonants. Other variants that could be allocated no distinctive phonetic value, like a taller or shorter T or a more or less stretched S, were either kept for merely aesthetic purposes or eventually dropped as functionally improductive. Some ligatures like æ or were likewise preserved to help distinguish the corresponding diphthongs from the hiatuses ae and oe, whereas many others were abandoned. The separation of words by means of spaces was found to be such a useful device that few contemporaries would be able to read without it; and the rich variety of signs of punctuation introduced also in later stages of the history of Latin helped reading with the necessary pauses, and allowed us to distinguish the component parts of sentences, or to determine beyond doubt whether we are confronted with a statement, an exclamation or a question. Finally, the distinction between capitals and lower case brought in not only a certain elegance, but also some further clarity to grammar (highlighting proper names) and to discourse structure (marking the beginnings of sentences).
There has most unfortunately arisen, nevertheless, and for all the wrong reasons, a fashion of spelling fundamentalism that, abandoning a more than reasonable tradition of centuries of Latin writing, purports to go back to the writing usages of the ancient Romans. This is as absurd as wanting to give up the use of paper or the modern book, and claiming that something is not classical Latin unless its written on papyrus rolls. It should be obvious to anyone that we can be completely respectful of ancient culture and cultivate the purest form of classical Latinity while using more developed methods of writing than our ancestors had at their disposal and which are moreover the result of centuries of Latin tradition. Of course, since fundamentalists rarely guide themselves by reason, the return to the old usages doesnt follow any further criteria than their own arbitrary whim, and they sometimes are purists and sometimes not, as they please. Thus, some have set about eliminating the distinction between i and j as non-Roman, but they are only too happy against all logic to keep that between v and u. Others consider that the use of capitals should be eliminated, and they do use lower case letters at the beginning of sentences, but they then arbitrarily keep capitals for proper names or even adjectives. Of course, none of those purists has dared to admit the fact that a return to ancient usage would imply writing everything rather in capitals than in lower case, and that they would in fact have to stop using any punctuation at all.
The saddest aspect of the modern spelling mess is that it has nothing to do with Latin. It originates in attempts at spelling reforms that seemed to make perfect sense in a vernacular like Italian, but which some people felt the need to force also upon Latin, with deplorable consequences. While most European languages, including Latin, felt very comfortable with the century-old usage of i and j, and v and u, as all those letters represented clearly different sounds or appeared in clearly different syllabic contexts, in Italian the use of i and j had become so complicated by conflicting and arbitrary uses without too much relation with any phonetic reality that people struggled to determine when a word had to be written with i and when with j. Italian being a language with otherwise very straightforward spelling principles, a pressure arose therefore to drop the use of j. Now, this absolutely sensible measure for Italian was unnecessarily applied also to Latin by people who were persuaded that Latin must be spelt as modern Italian. Obviously, they could never have convinced the international Latin using community on such grounds, so they started to contrive specious justifications: that the sound of the vowel and the semivowel were similar enough (even though it is exactly the same difference that i and j have in German and many other languages that have never considered dropping the spelling distinction), that it brought Latin spelling closer to ancient practices (although, as we have explained, the distinction between i and j has in fact a much more ancient history than that of u and v), etc. Of course, they never mentioned that every single one of those reasons applies with exactly equal force to the Latin pair i/j (where [i] differs from [j]) and to the pair u/v (where [u] differs from either [w] or [v], however we care to pronounce it), which the Italians had no intention to simplify because in Italian it made sense to continue to use both letters in the latter case. As the international community began to drop the use of j in a quest for ancient purity, it became more and more obvious to everyone who hadnt given up the human capacity to reason, that it made absolutely no sense in Latin to drop the j without dropping also the v; so, having genuinely assimilated the specious excuses of the Italians to bring Latin spelling closer to Roman times, the best philologists around the world felt it absolutely necessary to do without v too, and many critical editions of classical texts are now published that way. We have thus a traditional i/j/u/v system, which was foolishly undermined and turned into just i/u/v in accordance with some vernacular spelling reforms, but in a move that has now inevitably but most unfortunately backfired (certainly against the expectations of those who promoted the use of i/u/v) into an ugly i/u system as the only reasonably acceptable outcome. Not only that, following the same perverse train of thought, many now feel the need also to drop the use of capitals in Latin texts. Where this absurd nonsense will take Latin spelling is difficult to foresee, but we cannot but lament that the narrow-minded whim of a nation with the most arrogant attitude towards the language of our common civilisation has managed to bring absolute chaos to an elegant, sensible, and century-long Latin spelling tradition.
We consider that our spelling usages were developed through millennia according to criteria of utility and clarity, which it is as absurd as it is unnecessary to renounce. Even if some certainly rude spirits could consider giving up aesthetic developments like the distinction between capitals and lower case, it seems absolutely preposterous to eliminate usages that reflect better the pronunciation of the language and help reading.
Indeed, we should avoid as non-transparent spelling those practices which, with the specious excuse of being truer to ancient practices or following vernacular considerations, disregard centuries of legitimate Latin spelling tradition and prefer to hinder learning of the Latin language by failing to represent transparently its different sounds. Using one and the same letter i to represent both the vowel [i] and the consonant [j] may be true to the most ancient practices, but it is as unfortunately as unnecessarily non-transparent because it doesn't allow to distinguish which is which in words like "iam" (where the i represents a semivowel, pronounced as English y in yes) and "iambus" (where the i represents a vowel, pronounced as English i in it), etc. Non-transparent spelling makes that more and more people nowadays fail to learn the language properly as they are preposterously kept in the dark about the sounds the words they read and write actually contain (we've heard many a professor, let alone students, pronounce "iam" rhyming with Ian and "iambus" starting as yummy). Using i for the vowel and j for the semivowel is conversely a much more transparent spelling, which is justified by centuries of Latin spelling tradition and which allows us to see immediately which is which by writing "jam" but "iambus", etc. Equally using the same ae combination both for the diphthong in "aereus" (where the ae represent a diphthong, pronounced in one syllable, rather like English eye) and the hiatus in "aerius" (where the ae represent an hiatus, pronounced in two syllables, rather like English a in father followed by the e in error), etc. is sadly non-transparent (and leads to error just as many). Using æ for the diphthong and ae of the hiatus, or at least ae for the diphthong but aë for the hiatus, is a much more transparent spelling and it allows us to see immediately which is which by writing "æreus" but "aerius" (or "aereus" but "aërius"), etc.
As inconsistent spelling we must avoid spelling practices that choose to be transparent in some cases but not in others with no legitimate phonetic or historical reason to do so in one case and not in the other whatsoever, as when some people choose to distinguish the vowel [u] from the semivowel [w] by writing the former as u and the latter as v, which is a nicely transparent practice, rather than spelling both as u, which would be non-transparent, and they don't care in this case not to be true to ancient practices; but then, with no phonetic or historical reason to do so, they choose not to to distinguish the vowel [i] from the semivowel [j] by writing the former as i and the latter as j, which would be nicely transparent practice, rather than spelling both as i, which is non-transparent. Equally choosing to distinguish the diphthong æ from the hiatus ae in a usefully transparent way, rather than writing both as ae, but at the same time not distinguishing the diphthong from the hiatus oe and writing both non-transparently as oe, would be also inconsistent.
Finally, indicating the length of the vowels in writing was something that the ancient Romans didn't need to do because they just knew which was which, either because they were native speakers or because they could learn to pronounce the words by listening to native speakers. The use of the apex in ancient inscriptions or manuscripts is therefore quite haphazard. For us, on the other hand, using a more thorough form of spelling, consistently marking all long vowels, is much more poignantly required if we aspire ever to learn to pronounce the words correctly. There was one case, nevertheless, when even ancient native speakers advocated that the use of the apex is actually necessary (cf. Quint. Inst. 1,7,2s), and that is when when a difference of length in a vowel can produce a different meaning in a word, as in "malus" and "málus" or "liber" and "líber" or "rosa" and "rosá" or "loqueris" and "loquéris". We must certainly never omit such necessary apices.
It is absolutely unnecesary to give up our spelling lore, on any grounds; and we advocate the full reinstatement of our century-long, sensible spelling tradition, in the interests of transparency, consistency, and thoroughness. | <urn:uuid:25ce0131-3a0f-410c-af57-29b3ca07f9fe> | {
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James Ford Rhodes (18481927). History of the Civil War, 18611865 1917.
an unfriendly attitude toward the recruitment of the army, for political prisoners, for persons suspected of any disloyal practice, the privilege did not exist. It was suspended for one year, ten months and twenty-one days by Executive assumption and for the rest of the period by the authorization of Congress.
The provocation for the use of arbitrary power was, all things considered, about equal in the Confederacy and the Union. In the Union the disloyal secret societies were larger and more dangerous, and the public criticism of the administration more copious and bitter. There was, too, the organized political party which made a focus for the opposition and developed Vallandigham, who had no counterpart at the South. But these considerations are balanced by the circumstance that in the South was the seat of war which was never but for brief periods moved north of Mason and Dixons line and the Ohio river. Civil administration is everywhere relaxed, wrote Judge Campbell as early as October, 1862, and has lost much of its energy, and our entire Confederacy is like a city in a state of siege, cut off from all intercourse with foreign nations and invaded by a superior force at every assailable point. Where armies stand in opposition disloyalty may give the enemy aid and comfort so substantial as to decide an impending battle; far from the front it is apt to spend itself in bluster, threats and secret midnight oaths. In the Confederacy there was practically no important place east of the Mississippi river which was not at one time or another invaded or threatened by the invader. The courts, it is true, were open in the South, but, owing to the disorganized state of society, the interruption of trade and the passage of stay laws by the States, they tried few commercial cases but confined themselves to criminal jurisdiction | <urn:uuid:836fa081-fcf3-432b-87d0-ae269c8b5548> | {
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Alternative Processes: Silver Gelatin Print with Martha Casanave
For the next few days, we will feature a mini-series of posts on alternative processes in photography. Today, Martha Casanave joins us to talk about her Silver Gelatin Print posted above. If this interests you and you'd like to expand your creative pallette, the F295 Annual Symposium might be the spot for you to do so.
Martha Casanave Series “Coastal Pinholes”
- Silver Gelatin Print
- 4 x 5 Pinhole Camera
The Silver Gelatin Process was invented by Richard Leach Maddox in 1871 and was considerably improved upon by Charles Harper Bennett in 1878. The Gelatin Silver Print was the most popular print process throughout the twentieth century and is still used widely by artists today.
Gelatin silver paper (black and white paper) has an emulsion of silver chlorides suspended in gelatin. To create a print, the paper is exposed to light (commonly with an enlarger through a negative), immersed in developer which reduces the silver to form the image, and fixed with sodium thiosulfate.
The concept of a pinhole camera was used prior to the invention of photography for scientific purposes, however came to the photographic world with the advent of gelatin plates.
A pinhole camera is a lensless camera with a single aperture; any light-proof box can easily be converted to a pinhole camera by poking a small hole in one side of the box. Light passes through the pinhole and projects the inverted image on the back wall of the box, where film or paper is exposed.
Casanave creates her work by placing her pinhole camera directly in the sand. Referring to Coastal Pinholes she states, “The wide-angle, distorting view of most pinhole cameras is utilized best from low angles. Working this way also takes me back to my childhood, when I played with toys and lived closer to the ground, and further from reality. The near indefinite depth of field of pinhole cameras allows me to play with visual elements of near and far. The time dilations—long, long exposures—allow water to become cloud, person to become ghost”.
Martha Casanave and many other 21st century photographers will be discussing their work at the 2012 F295 Symposium: Continued Explorations of 21st Century Photography | <urn:uuid:c11de18b-4958-44bb-a45c-d71817663a59> | {
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Filed under: Creativity — piotr @ 2:42 pm April 15, 2012
I have greatly enjoyed watching the very entertaining talk by John Cleese on Creativity.
Even if you’re in it only for the jokes, it’s worth 36 minutes of your life.
A few main takeaways from John’s talk:
1. Creativity is linked to the ability to Play.
2. People can be described in terms of two modes: Open and Closed.
Creativity is _not_ possible in the closed mode.
3. We mostly operate in the “closed” mode: filled with tention, purposeful, manic and not creative.
4. “Open” mood is marked by: being playful, less serious, relaxed, curious, etc.
5. Alexander Flemming discovered penicillin in the “open” mode – he became curious why the bacterial culture did not grow in one of the Petri dishes.
6. Hitchcock often used to tell random stories to relax people around him, claiming they tried too hard.
7. We need to be in the “open” mode when pondering a problem.
8. Once we find a solution, we must switch to the “close” mode – because it’s the best for “exectution” [Potr: this reminds me of key ideas on innovation and creativity from "Innovators Dilemma" by Clayton C. - great read BTW]
9. We too often get stuck in the “closed” mode, attaining a tunnel vision. This is particularly prevalent among politicians.
How many psychiatrist does it take to change the light bulb?
Only one…but the light bulb really needs to change.
10. The are conditions under which creativity can be released.
To attain the “open” mode you require:
- You need to create space for your creativity to flourish.
- Pick a specific start and end time to your “creative” time. This will help you to seal yourself off from distractions.
- Play is secluded and marked by limitedness.
- Create an oasis for yourself by setting the boundaries of space and time. Become separate from everyday life just for a few moments.
- It’s easier to do trivial things which are not important, that to do important things. Therefore, clear off unimportant distractions.
- It takes some time for your mind to quiet down. 30 minutes is not enough for your creative time.
- Cleese suggest about 1 1/2 hour sessions.
- Take a break (e.g. for a week).
- Learn to tolerate the anxiety that
- Take your time to ponder on the most creative solution.
- When confronted with a problem, do NOT jump into the first solution. Stick with the problem for longer.
- The most creative proffesional played longer with the problem.
They were able to tollerate the slight discomfort of anxiety when we haven’t solved the problem yet.
- Don’t create an image of yourself as being “decisive” just for the sake of it. Coming with the solutions on the spot.
- Take your time to ponder the most creative solution. Then take decission. Once you take it. Stick with it!
- Give yourself MAXIMUM PONDERING TIME. This will lead you to the most creative solution.
- You don’t have to decise IMMEDIATELY.
- Give your TIME as long as possible to COME UP with something ORIGINAL.
- Nothing will stop your creativity time like the fear of being wrong or the fear your failure.
- You can’t be spontaneous withing reason.”
- You have to risk saying things which are silly, illogical, wrong.
- During your creative time, there is never any idea that can be “wrong”.
- Laughter brings relaxation.
- The difference between Serious vs. Solemn.
- What is the point of “solemnity”? Egotism? Pompousness? Laugh in the face of it! You don’t need it.
- Humour inspires and makes things cathartic.
- GIGGLE ALL YOU WANT!
Again. 5 things you need are:
an more Jeffery Archer!
11. Keep your mind resting against the subject. Gently bringing it back into focus. Take your time to ponder the problem.
And you’ll be rewarded
12. It’s easy to be creative if you have other people to play with.
There is a danger though…avoid playing with people who make you feel defensive.
Play with people who you like and trust.
Never, ever negate what they say.Never say “no” or “wrong” or “I don’t like that”.
Always be positive. And build on what’s been said.
“Would it be even better if…?”
“I don’t quite understand that…can you just explain it again?”
Try to establish as free an atmosphere as possible.
13. Japanese creativity – unstructured, lack of pressure, first people to give their views are the most junior - they can speak freely without contradicting what’s already been said by those more important.
14. Creativity is like humour…In a joke, the laugh comes at a moment when you connect two frames of reference.
15. Having a new idea is connecting to separate ideas that creates a NEW MEANING.
16. New connections are significant if they generate a new MEANING.
17. When you play, you can try randomly invent new juxtapositions. Then use your intuition to sense which are significant or meaningful.
18. Deliberately crazy connections can be called “intermediate impossibles”.
However stupid or wrong or absurd they seem, they are the stepping stones to an idea that is right.
If you really don’t know how to start or you get stuck , start generating random connections that may lead to some new ideas.
19. Finally: how to stop your subordinates from being creative.
Filed under: Technology — piotr @ 8:19 pm April 11, 2012
Jesper Richter-Reichhelm of Wooga (Facebook games maker) shares the lessons he learned in scaling their game platforms to handle millions of users. Wooga’s game, called Monster World, is currently heading for 2 million daily users. Veeery impressive!
I aplaude their choice of Ruby language for running the backend logic and interfacing with Flash front-end and MySQL database(s).
I was also happy to learn how they’d overcome MySQL scaling issues. HINT: they used a (now hugely) popular in-memory key-value store called Redis.
Redis is an awesome piece of technology, and in hindsight, seems like a perfect fit for a high-throughput / mega-popular Facebook game like Monster World.
Sounds interesting to you ??? The full video is here for your pleasure.
Where did we come from? I find the explanation that we were made in stars to be deep, elegant, and beautiful. This explanation says that every atom in each of our bodies was built up out of smaller particles produced in the furnaces of long-gone stars. We are the byproducts of nuclear fusion. The intense pressures and temperatures of these giant stoves thickened collapsing clouds of tiny elemental bits into heavier bits, which once fused, were blown out into space as the furnace died. The heaviest atoms in our bones may have required more than one cycle in the star furnaces to fatten up. Uncountable numbers of built-up atoms congealed into a planet, and a strange disequilibrium called life swept up a subset of those atoms into our mortal shells. We are all collected stardust. And by a most elegant and remarkable transformation, our starstuff is capable of looking into the night sky to perceive other stars shining. They seem remote and distant, but we are really very close to them no matter how many lightyears away. All that we see of each other was born in a star. How beautiful is that? | <urn:uuid:eccd3967-28d6-4839-ad97-928eb2a688d2> | {
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Ray Kurzweil: Well if we talk about what is it that we should train children and adults 'cause I think we need lifelong education to do. It's not rote learning, which unfortunately it's still the model of education throughout much of the world. I think actually the United States is better than a lot of other areas interms of having more flexible approaches to what it is we're trying toget children to do.
Many areas of the world are really still have a model of education of rote learning, which is obsolete because we carry all that information on our belts. We don't need to remember it all. But we do need to be able to solve actual problems with knowledge. We need to find the right knowledge; yes, we have search engines to help us and the search engines will get better, but really need the right strategies to find the right information. We need to be able to create new knowledge.
Knowledge is doubling every 13 months by some measures.And knowledge isn't just a database. Knowledge is a symphony or a jazz band or a poem or a novel or a new scientific insight or an invention. These are also examples of knowledge. My philosophy ofeducation is learn by doing. Singularity University, which I co-founded with Peter Diamandis and I'm Chancellor of – has that philosophy with the core curriculum is the students self-organizing into small teams and they take on a grand challenge like to solve the water problem of the world and maybe they will actually succeed indoing that – the goal is to actually do – solve major challenges inten years.
Or maybe they'll solve a piece of it, or maybe they won'tsolve it at all, but they'll still learn something. If I think about what I've learned in my career, it's from my own projects and whether they succeed or fail, that's really the best way to learn. And there's versions of that we can bring into every level. We certainly see many college kids started major revolutions, including political revolutions but also technological revolutions, with no equipment other than their notebook computer or their phone.
Directed and Produced by:
Jonathan Fowler & Elizabeth Rodd | <urn:uuid:5909f31d-e6f9-4380-9616-8174e0a142e3> | {
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Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions (1798)
These resolutions argued that the federal government had no authority to exercise power not specifically delegated to it in the Constitution. They were passed by the legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 and were authored by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, respectively.
In an analysis of the principle of federalism, the resolutions made the case that the states had the power to nullify unconstitutional federal laws. The Kentucky Resolution declared in part, “[T]he several states who formed that instrument [the Constitution], being sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of its infraction; and that a nullification, by those [states], of all unauthorized acts….is the rightful remedy.”
The Virginia Resolution said that by enacting the Alien and Sedition Acts, Congress was exercising “a power not delegated by the constitution, but on the contrary, expressly and positively forbidden by one of the amendments thereto; a power, which more than any other, ought to produce universal alarm, because it is levelled against that right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the people thereon, which has ever been justly deemed, the only effectual guardian of every other right.”
The ideas in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions became a precursor to John C. Calhoun’s arguments about the power of states to nullify federal laws. However, during the 1830s nullification controversy, Madison rejected the legitimacy of nullification, and maintained that it was not part of the Virginia position in 1798. | <urn:uuid:181dce16-9947-482f-bc3a-fcabd3c5f324> | {
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This is another image I found on Google+
All lines are absolutely straight, parallel and perpendicular but why does it appear to have a curvature?
Related: How does this illusion work?
Like these questions :) Many of these illusions come from Prof. Akiyoshi Kitaoka, a japanese Psychologist and expert for Gestalt Psychology. On his website you'll find some more fascinating illusions and questions to ask here ;)
The illusion above is named Cafe Wall illusion and the newest model to explain those illusions is the contrast-polarity model. Short explanation from his webpage:
The paper explained it better to me:
This explains why you perceive a tilt. If you position the smaller squares now in distinct edges of the big squares, you can achieve 2- and 3-dimenional illusions. Here you see a increasing of the tilt due to more smaller squares:
Here you can see that the positioning of the smaller squares is critical to achieve the 3D effect of the orignial bulge effect in your question:
Notice that Gestalt Psychology is a non-reductionistic theory approach and investigates mainly the phenomenology and underlying Gestalt Laws of visual perception. How these Gestalt Laws developed on a deeper level is a question of neurobiological evolution similar to, "why have some species of apes color-vision and some not". The ellipses in the explaining picture above show you, that our cognitive visual machine somehow tries to group divided objects (square and line of same contrast/brightness) in one line and we see a tilt. I'm guessing here, but this is probably due to cognitive brain algorithm that saves things and objects we see and perceive mainly by countor and shapes, rather than pixel by pixel like a computer and digital camera do it, which of course don't perceive any tilt or 3D illusion in any of those trick images :)
Read the papers for more explanations and examples, not behind a paywall: | <urn:uuid:41b7145c-e537-491e-9369-ebe5ab5d7f66> | {
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For many Americans and almost all New Yorkers, one of the staples of Thanksgiving Day is waking up at a semi-reasonable hour to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, an annual event wherein people gather to march down the streets of New York City from Central Park West to Herald Square accompanied by massive balloons, elaborately decorated floats, and the deafening sounds of holiday camaraderie. Started by immigrants in the 1920s who wanted to celebrate their newfound American heritage and emulate the festive gatherings of their ancestors in Europe, the parade has become an annual tradition, complete with a live television broadcast, musical acts, performances by Broadway players, and millions of New Yorkers and out-of-towners celebrating the season.
The history of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is a long and storied one, and numerous changes have been implemented since its inception almost a century ago. Did you know that it was originally called the Macy’s Christmas Parade and is just one of many Thanksgiving Day parades that take place around the country? Or how about that live animals were used for the first few years before the balloons were introduced? The parade would continue to grow and develop over the years until its current incarnation. Despite these many, many changes, every year since the first parade jolly old Saint Nick awaits at the end, presumably to usher in another season of mass consumerism.
Take a look at the infographic below to learn a number of interesting, bizarre, and downright hilarious facts about this time honored Thanksgiving Day tradition.
Click to Enlarge | <urn:uuid:7cb43de6-e8e3-4996-9851-50d9e864dbf3> | {
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I’m delighted to be working with state folklorist Maggie Holtzberg in Lowell this summer. On the summer solstice, Maggie and I went to visit Jonas Stundzia at his home in Lawrence to learn about Rasos Svente, the Dew Festival, and the ways Lithuanians celebrate the longest day of the year. He will be demonstrating how to make floral head garlands at this year’s Lowell Folk Festival. Garlands, or wreaths, are an important part of this solstice festival, also known as the festival of Saint John.
Jonas is a wealth of folklore. When we got to his house, he welcomed us with a traditional Lithuanian greeting. From a decorative ceramic pitcher, he poured water over our hands, and held out a woven Lithuanian cloth to dry them. He then offered us cucumbers dipped in honey and small cups of samagonas (rye moonshine). He said that cucumbers dipped in honey are eaten as a summer treat only in the northeast area of Lithuania.
Jonas showed us his garden blooming with plants native to Lithuania, including wild sorrel, used in making soup; ruta (rue), the national flower; wild onions; and lavender. His garden also had winter rye, used for Christmas decorations; parsley; mint; wild straw; and wild dahlia. He showed us a large oak garland he had made. Oak is considered a male tree and oak garlands are usually reserved for men. We tried it on anyway, and it was heavy! In Lithuania, garlands made of wild flowers, healing herbs, and grasses are used in the solstice festival to adorn the head, decorate the homestead, float candles on the water, and burn in the bonfire.
Jonas had made another large circular garland with linden and yellow flowers which symbolize the sun. Lithuanians consider linden a female plant; this wreath could be worn by a woman, or decorated with lit candles to be floated on the water on the evening of the Rasos Svente festival. The points of light guide the sun back home to earth. Wreaths symbolize the circle of life. Circles and wheels are important in Lithuanian mythology. In one pre-Bronze age myth the sun travels across the sky pulled by a goat. Jonas told us that Lithuanian rituals and language go back to proto Indo-European times. They still survive today because Lithuania was geographically isolated far up north on swampy land that nobody else wanted. Lithuanian is an ancient language, but still living, unlike Sanskrit or Latin.
On the summer solstice, Lithuanians give kupole staffs to friends and neighbors to protect and bless their homes. Jonas showed us a kupole staff he had made with healing herbs: nettle (good for healing arthritis and a relaxation); wormwood (good for the nerves); southern wort (a nerve relaxant used to make absinthe liquor); mountain ash (considered a male plant, used in the celebration of St. John); and belladonna (a medicinal nightshade).
Next, he showed us decorative iron saule, which means “sun.” One had a circle, which represents the sun; branches which represent the tree of life; jagged thunderbolts; curved snakes; and roots representing the earth. In Lithuania, snakes are symbols of life. Gyvate means snake; gyvas means life. The first animals to appear from Mother Earth in the spring are the toad and the snake. Thunderbolts allude to the god of thunder who creates rain, and therefore gives life.
Other saule he showed us had Christian crosses. He said that Roman Catholics had adopted and reinterpreted the form of the saule and used them in cemeteries to decorate gravestones. In the same way, the pre-Christian kupole staff transformed into a similar, but smaller and more compact staff used on Palm Sunday. The rituals of the Rasos Svente festival also were adopted into Saint John’s Day celebrations. We look forward to hearing more of his stories at his demonstration tent at the folk festival in July.
All photos by Maggie Holtzberg. | <urn:uuid:b36046c1-4cae-4f12-baa3-393e256df7d7> | {
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Ta-Da! Look at that wonderful floor puzzle your child JUST completed!! It’s big, and beautiful, and…finished?
Not necessarily! Floor puzzles are a wonderful educational activity on their own, but did you know there are some additional ways you can use these large projects to sneak-in some extra learning? Here are three tips for each level of floor puzzle: Beginner, Intermediate (24-50 piece) and Advanced (100 piece).
These puzzles typically have fewer, and larger, puzzle pieces – which is great for younger puzzlers. After your child is finished, work together to:
- Identify and name all the colors used in the puzzle
- Count how many objects (animals, symbols, people) are in the puzzle
- Group similar objects together (animals, people, big things, little things)
Intermediate Floor Puzzles
Puzzles with up to 50 pieces can be a wonderful accomplishment for your child. But, once complete, there are many ways you can encourage further learning. Try:
- Seeking patterns in the puzzle: Are there objects or colors that repeat?
- Creating a story about the puzzle: Use storytelling paper to write down what’s happening in the puzzle. (For example, for the Solar System puzzle below, write a story about what it would be like to visit each planet!)
- Identify and compare sizes of objects in the puzzle: What is the biggest? What is the smallest?
Advanced Floor Puzzles
Massive puzzles are so much fun to accomplish, and after you’ve spent all that time putting it together, it would be a shame to take it apart! Here are ways to keep enjoying your 100 piece floor puzzle.
- Measure the puzzle and talk about inches versus feet (how many feet long is the puzzle? How many inches?)
- Stare at the puzzle for a certain period of time, then look away and try to recreate the puzzle on a piece of paper from memory.
- Grab your encyclopedia, and do some research on the images or objects that appear in the puzzle. For example, if it’s the Underwater floor puzzle above, look up different species of fish, or find out what plants live in the ocean and what purposes they serve.
What are your favorite ways to play, and learn, with floor puzzles? Share your ideas in the comments below, or join the conversation on Melissa & Doug’s Facebook page! | <urn:uuid:482cccc4-9f64-4e68-ab6d-be1e4d6cb106> | {
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Highways of the Future (May, 1938)
Highways of the Future
By E. W. MURTFELDT
PICTURE a 15,000-mile network of twelve-lane motor speedways spanning the nation—three of them linking the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, six more crisscrossing the country north and south —and you will have an idea of the vastness of a spectacular highway plan proposed by Senator Robert J. Bulkley of Ohio. Requiring twenty-five years for completion, the mammoth gridiron of superhighways would change long-distance driving from a motorist’s nightmare of snarled traffic into a reality of fast, safe transportation. It would represent an impressive start toward an era of scientifically constructed speedways, and crashproof cars of radical new design to run upon them, foreseen by leading experts for the not-too-distant future.
What will transcontinental touring be like, say, fifty years from now? Recently Dr. Miller McClintock, director of the Harvard University Bureau for Street Traffic Research—the man who is recognized as the nation’s foremost authority on traffic problems—gave a startling preview of the momentous changes he sees ahead.
Rear-end collisions, he foresees, will be made impossible by a new expedient. Pushing down the brake pedal on a car of the future will operate a stop light that emits infra-red rays. These invisible light rays, picked up and distinguished from ordinary light by a photo-electric cell on the front of a following car, will energize an electric circuit and apply its brakes automatically.
Electric cables, buried beneath the pavements of superhighways, will govern the movement of cars. One set of electromagnetic impulses will control the car’s speed. Another set will lock its steering gear against any attempt to make a dangerous turn from one lane to another. Eventually, the cable system may even be adapted to take over steering altogether—allowing the driver to release the wheel, sit back, and make himself comfortable until he chooses to switch back again to manual control.
At night, the superhighways will light up of their own accord, section by section, as a car travels over them. “Electric eyes” spaced along the road will turn on the glareless illumination whenever a car passes, shutting it off at other times to conserve electricity.
Imagine a typical section of this superhighway of the future. Straight as a shaft of light, ten or more broad lanes of concrete stretch across the countryside, passing around cities and towns, bridging railroads, canals, and crossroads. Streamline busses roar along a center strip that splits the speedway, separating streams of private cars traveling in both directions. For cars moving at different speeds, each one-way pavement is divided into separate safety, accelerating, cruising, and express lanes.
Hop into a 1988-model car and take an imaginary spin down one of these amazing foolproof roads. Perhaps you arrived at the transcontinental artery by plane, swooping down on one of the concrete flight strips lining the boulevard, or settling to an automatic, radio-controlled landing on a spacious airport built close to a major highway intersection.
Driving up the clover-leaf approach onto the elevated highway, you glide first into the slow-speed safety lane, edge over into the accelerating strip, and turn the steering wheel to swing into the cruising lane. But nothing happens. Your car refuses to respond to the wheel, and suddenly you learn why as another automobile whips by on your left at sixty miles an hour. Suspended in service tunnels below the pavement, cables operating on an electromagnetic principle control a mechanism attached to the steering gear to prevent the car from turning left until the adjacent cruising lane is free from traffic for a safe distance.
You try the wheel again. This time the car swings over into the cruising lane and immediately picks up speed. You haven’t stepped on the gas, but the speedometer needle creeps steadily upward and freezes on the sixty mark. A second set of buried electromagnetic cables is taking over control of your speed, since cars in the cruising lane must go no more and no less than sixty miles an hour.
But other automobiles are still flying past you on the express lane to your left. Now you swing the wheel over, confident that the car will respond only if turning is safe. In the express lane, your speed automatically steps up to the 100-mile-an-hour limit. Fifty yards of special nonskid pavement flies by underneath your car every second.
Unless you switch back to a slower lane, you can maintain that pace hour after hour, for you’ll never see a traffic light, a railroad crossing, a street intersection, or even a curve sharp enough to slow you down. At twilight, overhead lamps will bathe the road in light. Sleet cannot form on the chemically coated windshield of the car. If you run into fog, chemical vapor escaping from tiny jets in the roadway will clear a lane of visibility. So your top speed of 100 miles an hour is also your average speed—fast enough to let you have breakfast in New York, lunch in Ohio, dinner in Iowa, and a midnight snack not far from the Colorado state line.
As your car eats up the miles in the express lane, you notice on your left a steel barrier that divides you from the broad two-way center lane reserved for express bus traffic. Built into the middle of this bus roadway at the outskirts of cities and towns, and at railroad and route junctions, are station platforms, served by moving stairways from waiting rooms below. Here passengers change from interstate busses to local lines to be whisked into cities and towns adjacent to the main highway.
Still farther to the left, traffic is speeding along at a controlled pace in the duplicate one-way road section for cars traveling in the opposite direction. But as you marvel at the efficient handling, safety, and speed of this 1988 traffic, it suddenly dawns on you that this superhighway has no roadside markers, no painted warnings on the pavement, not even a signpost to direct you along the route. You search in vain for any of the familiar signs that in 1938 were almost as much a part of the highway as the paving— “Sharp Curve,” “Winding Road,” “Steep Hill”—these signs, and the necessity for them, have disappeared from main routes years ago.
“But how do I find my way around?” you ask your guide. “How do I know where to turn off for Middletown or Cen-terville? Is every motorist a mind reader these days?”
Your guide smiles and suggests that you swing off the traveled lanes and nose into one of the parking bays that line the shoulder of the road. “Take a look at that dashboard,” he advises as you pull up to a stop out of the stream of traffic.
At first glance you spot a few of the familiar dials and instruments—speedometer, fuel gauge, ammeter. After a little study you figure out a few of the others—tachometer, tire-pressure gauge, engine-temperature meter. But what is that row of colored lights, and what is that white screen just over the windshield?
“Since the old days when all cars had gear-shifts and burned gasoline for fuel,” he explains, “science has stripped the welter of directional and warning signs off the highway and put the essential ones right on the dashboard of each car. At 100 miles an hour, roadside markers would be no more legible than hen tracks, anyway. The law now requires every automobile to be equipped with standard, pretuned, ul-trashort-wave radio and television units. On small four-lane side roads, traffic signals are indicated by the colored lights here on the panel.
“Miles before you reach any superhighway junction,” your guide continues, “your television set picks up the junction transmitter. All you have to do is glance at the viewing screen to find out where the crossroads will take you and how far it is to the next turn-off. And in case you get confused somehow, it’s simply a matter of throwing that switch lever to put you in two-way radio communication with highway-patrol headquarters. They’ll tell you where you are, how far it is in hours and minutes to your destination, and where to make the correct turn off the highway.”
IN CONGESTED areas, you find out, I highways are built on elevated structures over railroad lines. The top deck is reserved for private cars, while busses run on a lower level, and streamline trains race along on the tracks beneath. Train passengers transfer at metropolitan terminals to bus platforms for transportation to local stations in city suburbs and villages.
Traffic experts realize that a superhighway similar to the one just described must eventually be constructed —not only to handle an ever-increasing volume of vehicular traffic, but also to end the highway slaughter that in the last fifteen years has taken almost twice as many lives as the total lost in all the wars the United States has fought since the founding of the Republic. Accident statistics show that in many cases the driver is at fault, but the great majority of crashes can be traced ultimately to the roads over which we drive. Better, safer highways are a vital necessity, and extensive road-development programs, now being pushed by state as well as Federal authorities, may lead toward the highspeed superhighways of the future.
Already the State of Pennsylvania is pointing the way by authorizing the construction of what has been called the greatest road engineering project ever undertaken in the United States— a 164-mile, $80,000,000 toll boulevard stretching through the Allegheny Mountains from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh.
THE proposed route will follow a $10,-000,000 railroad right of way, hacked out of the forests in the 1880′s, and on which not one length of track has ever been laid. Built during a bitter feud between rival railroad interests, and abandoned after they concluded a truce, the unused roadbed runs through nine rock tunnels along its route for a total tunnel length of more than seven miles. Engineers’ reports indicate the startling advantages the toll road will have over present traffic routes through the mountains and suggest some of the features that may be expected in future superhighways. From Harrisburg west to Pittsburgh, cars now have to climb nine-percent grades for a total of 13,880 feet. Over the new boulevard, cars will ascend a total of only 3,940 feet up grades that never exceed three percent. The route will eliminate four railroad and twenty-six highway grade crossings. Three quarters of its length will be entirely free from curves. On one straightaway, motorists will drive for forty miles without meeting a single bend in the road.
ULTIMATELY, the Pennsylvania toll road may serve as one link in the transcontinental chain of highways proposed by Senator Bulkley and now being studied by a committee. This whole Federal network would also operate under a toll system, scaled to the rate of about one tenth of a cent a passenger mile, in addition to a flat fee of twenty-five cents for each car entering the highway. Thus you would pay a quarter to get on the boulevard at New York and ninety cents to drive the 900 miles to Chicago, if you were alone in the car.
Federal police would man the toll gates and patrol the road. Since every car would be required to stop at toll stations, authorities could bar intoxicated drivers, check licenses, halt automobiles considered unsafe to drive, and enforce uniform traffic regulations—a procedure that might result in one nationwide code of traffic laws and regulations that would apply in every state in the Union.
These road-building developments indicate that the superhighway of the future is definitely on the way. No one can predict exactly what it will be like, but experts are confident that a modern Rip Van Winkle would wake up twenty years from now rubbing his eyes in amazement at the sight of streamline cars racing along broad, divided highways of concrete with a speed and a margin of safety far beyond his wildest dreams. | <urn:uuid:332f1d84-65ad-4866-b987-535af837a3a6> | {
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With various dangers lurking in corners and cabinets, our kitchen and backyards can be a minefield of poisons for our pets, especially with the Easter season (plants) and planned egg hunts just around the corner. The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center handles thousands of cases every year involving pets exposed to toxic substances, many of which involve everyday household products. Don’t leave it up to Fido or Fluffy to keep themselves safe from the Easter festivities and consider keeping them away from your annual Easter Egg Hunt...those plastic eggs filled with Chocolate are an accident waiting to happen!
While fruits are a healthy choice for adults, it is not necessarily true for the four legged members of our families, depending upon the fruit. According to recent studies, grapes and raisins top the list of the ten most common plants that poison pets.
The top ten list includes:
1. Grapes and Raisins
3. Marijuana (...you don't say?)
4. Lily (..mind those Easter Lilies!)
7. Sage Palm
8. Macadamia Nuts
10. Hydrangea (another popular Easter plant)
For more information on keeping your pet safe from harmful foods, plants and the surprising danger of common household substances, visit the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
If your resident Fido or Fluffy absolutely must sink their teeth into a fruit or vegetable, may we suggest a Muttropolis Squeaky Carrot Patch Pal (above) for their enjoyment..... | <urn:uuid:44dc67a8-cc4e-4719-a869-03e1b63ae1c2> | {
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Ant trails, airborne chemicals, wood vibrations—scientists have a long history of borrowing clever communication techniques from the animal kingdom. Inspired by the odd social habits of a cave-dwelling cricket, scientists have now taught robots to communicate by firing rings of pressurized air at each other.
The cricket in question is the African cave cricket (Phaeophilacris spectrum), which rapidly flicks its wings to launch donut-shaped air rings, a type of vortex, to both potential mates and enemies. Reduced to two kinds of messages, its “language” is pretty simple: It sends isolated vortices to threaten its rival, and a rapid sequence of vortices to woo would-be lovers.
When Andy Russell, an engineer at Monash University in Australia, learned about the cricket, he thought this technique would improve robots’ ability to communicate in noisy environments—but that wasn’t the only benefit. “Like the cave crickets, there may be times when a robot does not want its communications intercepted,” Russell told New Scientist. Researchers speculate that the cricket uses vortices to communicate undetected by predators—so why not robots? Chris Melhuish, a researcher at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory in the UK said, “This could be a useful addition to the communication armoury of future robotic systems.”
The science of vortices reaches back to 1858, when William Rogers first described vortex rings, and scientists have been dazzled ever since by how far these rings can travel. They form when a slug of air or liquid is shot out of a small nozzle into a region of still air or liquid: As the slug travels out of the nozzle, the low-pressure build-up on the outside of the slug causes the edge to curl, eventually forming a donut shape that can then propagate quite a distance. (Dolphins are natural masters of the art; humans aren’t bad ourselves, and we can use toys to make big rings.)
Russell co-opted cricket communications with the science of vortices by equipping a squat, roughly 6-inch tall, cylinder-shaped robot with eight air disturbance sensors, sending binary messages via a separate vortex generator, which isn’t quite as high-tech as it sounds: it’s pretty much like a loudspeaker cone, sending pulses of air outward through a less than one-inch aperture. Because it’s difficult to track an pulse of air—it is invisible, after all—the engineers burned incense to see the air disturbances in progress.
By themselves, these air pulses don’t say much—but when sent in a series of binary coded pulses, they can be used to communicate with other robots. In this study, for example, the scientists sent a sequence of 1,000 vortices to relay the binary coded word for “vortex” over a distance of nearly 12 inches. In addition to sending messages through varied pulses, the sensors could detect both the direction and range of the sender: The message direction was gathered by sensing which of the eight sensors were triggered, while the robot calculated distance by analyzing the lag between the fast- and slow-moving vortices.
Sensing air disturbances is all fine and dandy, but what happens when you’re in a breezy environment? The scientists equipped the robot with a plastic film attached at only one end to take care of that: When hooked up to an optical sensor, the robot can detect the difference between laminar (typical of breezes) and turbulent flow (typical of the vortices). But despite their valiant efforts, the common error was still missed vortices: As the rings of air traveled, breezes from the room’s ventilation system would sometimes trigger a phantom vortex, sending unintentional messages.
While not perfect, the scientists nevertheless demonstrated that such robot-to-robot communication is possible. In addition to fixing the errors, the researchers want to construct a smaller vortex generator—one closer to the size of its inspiration, the wing-flick of the cave cricket.
DISCOVER: When Robots Live Among Us
Discoblog: How to Speak a Language That Your Robot Will Understand
Discoblog: Japan Wants to Send a Tweeting Companion-Bot to the Space Station
DISCOVER: Evolving A Conscious Machine
Image: Wikimedia Commons / Traitor | <urn:uuid:c5944385-26ba-4e20-aff3-f60d29c0b56e> | {
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Libraries, supermarkets, classrooms…the world is full of places that look very similar, and yet our brains always seem to keep track of where we are. In a new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers at Princeton University and Ohio State University have uncovered one way in which the brain does this.
Similar-looking places can be distinguished from each other because of differences in what we experience when navigating to them. As we head toward a destination, our brains catalogue details such as other nearby buildings, the look of the doorway, even the people nearby.
The researchers discovered that the parahippocampal cortex, a part of the visual system that analyzes the current scene in front of us, also incorporates the details leading up to the scene, or its “temporal context.” As a result, even when two scenes look identical, we create different memory traces for them when their temporal contexts are different. Ultimately, this can help our brains to keep track of where we are in the world.
Learn more about Nicholas Turk-Browne’s research at Princeton University.
Journal Citation: Turk-Browne NB, Simon MG, Sederberg PB. Scene representations in parahippocampal cortex depend on temporal context. J Neurosci. 2012 May 23;32(21):7202–7. | <urn:uuid:17f62437-e002-4182-b323-c22ee9fa4f55> | {
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How do you engage children in ways that help them verbalise their thinking and help them learn? The children organise their own day and always make time for their ‘own time’ or free inquiry. This provides me with so much evidence of learning. During these sessions I observe the children to see: Where their passion [...]
Molly is in England and we all miss her very much. The good news is we can stay in touch and continue learning together. The children decided the best way to share their maths with Molly was to make her a video. They decided what they wanted to share. Here it is. The children decided [...]
There were some spring balances being given away. I took some and put them out. The video is a condensed version of 45 minutes of sustained inquiry into measuring and weighing. Be aware of: The mathematical language being used The thinking skills being developed The problem solving The cooperation
Children make their own video of how to do a number boggle.
Click on the title to learn more.
This is an explanation of the process children go through as they learn. The focus is on mathematics, but the process applies to all curriculum areas.
Please click on the title to find out more
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Giant Marble Harvests Energy From Sun And Moon
It looks like a giant, glass marble. But this globe is no game. It’s a sun-tracking, solar energy concentrator created by Barcelona-based architects Rawlemon and, according to the designers, is able to collect not just sunlight but moonlight as well. The weatherproof sphere is designed to rotate and follow the sun across the sky. It’s so sensitive to light that at night, it can even harvest moonlight and convert it into electricity.
Andre Rawlemon, the architect and designer, says his spherical, sun-tracking glass globe is able to concentrate sunlight and moonlight up to 10,000 times and that the system is 35 percent more efficient than photovoltaic designs that track the sun. One of Rawlemon’s idea is to build these globes into the exterior walls of buildings and use them to generate electricity.
Other products to invest in when this technology reaches full commercialization potential: Bounty and Windex.
Seriously though, the ability alone to convert moonlight to electricity could be a game changer for the manufacturers of photovoltaic cells where typical solar panels offer a range of 8 to 12 hours of usable daylight for the generation of electricity.
Coupled with products that offer greater efficiency and other simple behavioral aspects like turning off computers and monitors (or at least put in stand-by) when they’re not being used could add up to significant savings and longer-term environmental benefits. | <urn:uuid:c7368a18-07c3-4533-a5bc-fdfa84a78c7c> | {
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Bycatch refers to the unwanted sea life people catch when they’re fishing for something else.
Bycatch wastes 7 million metric tonnes of sea life every year. The vast majority of bycatch—already dead when it hits the deck— is just discarded. Killing hundreds of thousands of juvenile fish not big enough for legal take can undermine the entire fishery.
Bycatch is heavy when boats use destructive fishing gear such as massive trawl nets that scrape the bottom of the ocean and capture virtually everything in their path. The 1.4 billion baited hooks set in longline fisheries every year kill a great deal of non-target animals including sea turtles, sharks, birds, and marine mammals.
Blue Ocean Institute’s Seafood Choices Guide’s methodology for assessing wild-caught seafood uses bycatch as one of its five core criteria. And for years Blue Ocean has worked with scientists, regulators, fishing industry leaders, and conservationists to reduce the unintended catch of marine life. We promote effective, practical solutions for the benefit and balance of ocean ecosystems. New fishing methods or low-cost equipment changes can help animal populations recover.
Bycatch is a serious challenge to healthy fisheries worldwide but by choosing fish from low-bycatch fisheries, consumers can be part of the solution.
3 things you can do to fight bycatch:
1. Eat sustainably caught seafood
2. Support the use of fishing gear that avoids bycatch
3. Know the issues
Other ways to you can make a difference.
LINKS & VIDEOS
Discards in the World’s Marine Fisheries, FAO Fisheries
What is Bycatch?, NOAA Fisheries Service
Global Assessment of Fisheries Bycatch and Discards, FAO Fisheries
Eye of the Albatross, Carl Safina
NOAA Releases First National Bycatch Report, NOAA
Impacts of Bottom Trawling on Fisheries, Tourism, and the Marine Environment, Oceana
Millions of Sea Turtles Killed Due to Bycatch, Discovery
Millions of already endangered turtles are accidentally killed each year as a result of global fisheries.
The Truth About Bycatch, Greenpeace
Many sea creatures are the helpless victims of bycatch. They are caught in fishery operations and are usually tossed overboard either already dead or severely injured.
Bycatch Management and Discard Reduction
A film by the Global Environment Facility funded, UN Development Programme implemented, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations executed project, | <urn:uuid:181ebbbe-6c30-4124-b3e0-d578b5131b08> | {
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Grouper, Red – US
Red Grouper are found in the western Atlantic from Massachusetts to southern Brazil but are most commonly found along the west coast of Florida to the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. They are protogynous sequential hermaphrodites, meaning they begin life as females and transition to males between 7 and 16 years of age.
Abundance of Red Grouper is healthy in the Gulf of Mexico and overfished in the U.S. South Atlantic.
They are caught using bottom longlines and handlines, which have some impact on bottom habitat and catch moderate levels of bycatch.
This fish may have high levels of mercury that could pose a health risk to adults and children. More mercury info here. | <urn:uuid:2521f94d-5fb9-492a-8827-791691bd845c> | {
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So many competent New Zealand climbers came out of Otago, and it is interesting to look back at the origins of mountaineering in Otago, and wider afield so see why ?
The N.Z. Alpine Club, formed in 1891, was the first organised mountain club in New Zealand. Several more were formed early last century, particularly after the First World War--the Tararua Tramping Club in 1919, The Otago Tramping & Mountaineering Club in 1923 and the Auckland Tramping Club in 1925. In Canterbury, a Christchurch Tramping & Mountaineering Club was formed in 1925. Later its male members formed the Canterbury Mountaineering Club.
With the Southern Alps well traversed regularly by Maori in search of Greenstone, food and for the general draw of what lays over the ridge, early New Zealand mountaineers and trampers generally ignored a lot of information available in Maori records and folklore. Here is an extract from my article on Maori mountaineers of South Westland. http://bobmckerrow.blogspot.com/2008/03/maori-mountaineers-of-south-westland.html
The mana and beauty of the Pounamu was an added attraction to cross the Divide again and again, all the while gathering further alpine experience. Their pre-European glossary of snow and ice, whilst not as comprehensive as the Inuit (Eskimo), certainly proved that they had rubbed their paraerae (sandals) on the high mountain passes. Whenuahuka described the permanent snow on the high peaks and hukapapa was the name for the huge snowfields. The snow slides from the high peaks were hukamania, and as they grew and took on avalanche proportions, they became hukahoro. The glaciers that drained the snowfields were called hukapo, the glacial sediment waiparahoaka and the snow-fed water, waihuka. Kipakanui, or ice, was seen in the shady valleys in winter, and the thick ice which never saw the sun was named waiuka, meaning solid water.
One hundred and thirty years later, Southland mountaineer Stan Mulvaney wrote of how this was a very difficult task. More on James McKerrow
So with this background of rugged Maori travellers, surveyors, runholders, goldminers and explorers, the spirit of the hills started a new era with Malcolm Ross of Dunedin heading for Mt Earnslaw in 1885 on an expedition which was characteristic of the 'pluck and daring', colonial ingenuity and self-reliance which typified the early exploits of New Zealand's homebred mountaineers (Ross 1892). Ice axes were improvised from manuka saplings and the blades of sheep shears, while horseshoe nails provided extra friction for his boots (Gilkison 1957: 32). Ross's expedition triggered a number of attempts on Mount Earnslaw, which was finally climbed in 1890 by one of the original expedition members, a young local shepherd and tourist guide called Harry Birley.
By erecting a cairn on the summit, he left not only proof of his ascent, but also marked the advance of man further into this remote wilderness.
Between the first and second World Wars, in the context of social dislocation and economic hardship, young men and women in Otago were drawn to mountain environments for an experience which diverted them from, and in a sense gave meaning to, the world and time that they were living through. It was also a time increasingly characterized by the 'more rigid structures, impersonal forces, and sprawling cities' of the historical momentum of rationalization and bureaucracy (Olssen 1981: 278). explore 'their' mountains and that therein they discovered a sense of self.
So the formation of the Otago Tramping Club club was not an isolated event. Dunedin had been the home of a good many noted trampers and mountaineers such as Malcolm Ross, Kenneth Ross, H.F. Wright, J.K. Inglis, E. Miller and E. A. Duncan. In the earliest post-war years groups of Otago University students - G. M. Moir, R. S. M. Sinclair, D.R. Jennings and many others - had been exploring and track-cutting in the Hollyford and Cleddau Valleys. And both the hills around Dunedin and the Routeburn, Greenstone and Hollyford areas saw an ever increasing number of visitors. Amongst these the idea of forming a Club had been discussed informally, and the idea was quick to gain acceptance.
In 1923 the new Club immediately started with a flourish, and forthwith set out to walk. There was an immediate rush of new members, and at the end of the first year the roll was 157. The first tramp was planned for Saturday afternoon, September 1. About 50 members assembled at Ross Creek reservoir and set off up the Pineapple Track to Flagstaff - a clear sunny day, with a cold south-westerly wind, the kind we know so well. The following Saturday some 60 persons gathered at the Gardens corner for a climb of Signal Hill and down the other side to Burkes; and this was followed the next day by a trip to Whare Flat, where various parties converged on a pleasant river-bank below McQuilkan's (long since washed out by floods and ruined by the invading gorse).
Ben Rudd at his hut with Otago Tramping Club visitors 1923.
A fortnight later while one group climbed Mt. Cargill, two others set off for Whare Flat - one of which made the journey successfully, but the other was stopped and warned off by Ben Rudd, the old hermit whose property was long afterwards purchased by the Club. Scott Gilkinson was one of those cut-off and still remembers the feelings of alarm as they encountered the stocky, bearded little man with the shot-gun. As a result of this, the Club arranged with Ben Rudd that he would cut a track through the manuka scrub, thus providing a route to Whare Flat while keeping members well away from Ben's property. For this he was paid the princely sum of £5, and the track was under very
By 1930 then, the Club was well established as a force in the community. Whereas previously trampers had been looked on almost as cranks, or at best as rare curiosities, their activities were now accepted as rational and respectable. The 'thirties, and the onset of the Depression, saw the Club ready to play its part.
At 4350 feet (1325 m) above sea level Big Hut. In 1946 the Otago Ski Club opened this spacious 70-bunk ski lodge near the summit of the Rock and Pillar Range. The Otago University Tramping Club, then the Otago Tramping and Mountaineering Club, took over the hut in the 1980s and did repairs that kept the elements out.
On the local scene there was extensive development of active interest in the mountains. For seven years the Otago Tramping Club had been building up its activities. The Otago University Tramping Club was functioning—very actively in some years, more modestly in others. Under the influence of Ellis, Miller, Boddy, Aitken and others, Otago men had been taking an active interest in the higher mountains in North-west Otago. At the end of 1930 the Otago Section of the N.Z. Alpine Club was formed in Dunedin, this being the start of a long period of friendly co-operation between trampers and mountaineers. In 1932, as a result of five weeks of continuous ski-able snow on Flagstaff, the Otago Ski Club was formed; the Tramping Club " learned with interest of its formation and extended to it its good wishes for a successful future ". The three clubs operating in their respective fields worked in well together, with some members common to all, and with members of one of the clubs not infrequently becoming interested in the others.
4 x2s on the frame, huts were built. On Christmas trips 90 lb packs were not uncommon. Photo: Bob McKerrow
Interest in organised Christmas trips reached a peak in 1947 when no less than three expeditions were planned Rockburn - Olivine, Hopkins and Ahuriri, with 50 to 60 members involved. Gordon McLaren and Murray Douglas climbed Mt Ward (third ascent) - the first major ascent to be made by the climbing enthusiasts. A high standard of safety was maintained on all these trips and no incident of any sort occurred, despite the numbers in the field.
Christmas 1948 saw another Club camp in the Wilkin Valley. Pack horses took half a ton of stores to Jumboland Base Camp and their owner charged £97 for the privilege. Every part of the Wilkin and its tributaries were visited, and several good climbs made, including the first ascent of the inaccessible Pickelhaube in the South Wilkin. Jack Hoskins and Scott Gilkison made a first crossing from the West Coast via the Waiatoto, Pearson Saddle and South Wilkin. The Rees, Dart, Matukituki, Rockburn, Hollyford and Ahuriri were also visited by other parties. Aspiring was climbed by Gordon McLaren and party, and Murray Douglas climbed Mt Cook - the Club's first major post-war ascents.
John Armstrong carried on the tradition of capable and innovative Presidents with entrepurnurial skills, a sense of adventure, and an even bigger sense of humour.
On January 8th and 9th, 1966, six Club members climbed Mt Cook - M. Jones, G. Kampjes, J. Armstrong, G. Hasler, I. Meyer and H. Laing. Although Club members had climbed Cook before, and have since climbed far more formidable peaks, this does serve to give some idea of the standards reached during this period.
A change in attitudes was noticed in 1966, and is evidenced in the following report which is worth a place in history:
At a lively extraordinary general meeting held on October 26, 1966, the grandiose plans of the committee, led by radical President John Armstrong, were amended. Chief Guide James consented to remain in the cabinet, as tramping is still an 'approved' sport.
The following motion was passed after hours of discussion and much amendment. "This Club should continue to encourage tramping, climbing, ski mountaineering and ski-ing without detriment to the Club's prime aim of tramping."
Bob Cunninghame: " There has been a considerable change in the last five years. There was next to no climbing up until that time."
Gerry Kampjes: " Five or six years ago there was little ambition in the Club and less than half the number of people."
Graeme Hasler: "Safety is of paramount importance. We must have a balanced club"
Laurie Kennedy: "Something must suffer if we run a climbing course"
Jim Freeman: " People now have more money and are able to spread out into areas and sports not previously possible. Now less scope for tramping. Climbing is the natural outcome of tramping"
Alan Thomson: "Need to support tramping"
Arthur James: " Far better to have a small specialist club where you know most of the people rather than a large social ski-ing and climbing organisation."
Jim Cowie: " If the O.T.C. does not run an instruction course in climbing there is little incentive for the likes of me to remain in the Club."
Roger Conroy: " Let's change the name to the Otago Tramping and Mountaineering Club"
Ross Adamson: "Too much advertising on ski-ing by word of mouth and publications"
Photo: Bob McKerrow (l) Graeme Lockett and Keith McIvor on the summit of Mt. Huxley, Easter 1967. photo: Jim Cowie
Christmas 1967-68 saw Club trips led by John Armstrong and Bruce Mason to the North Routeburn, North Col and Rockburn, other's going on to Fohn Saddle and the Beansburn. Parties led by John Fitzgerald went to Martins Bay, Big Bay, Pyke, Alabaster Pass, Olivines, Cox Saddle, Hidden Falls, Park Pass and Rockkburn. Trevor Pullar looked after a party from the Arawata River to Mlilford Heads, Laurie Kennedy's party went into the Olivines whilst Jim Cowie, Keith McIvor and Bob McKerrow spent 10 days in the Cook region and 10 days at Aspiring. Graeme Hasler also ,was back in the Cook area. All in all, a fantastic amount of tramping and climbing was achieved during this season - on a scale which was to continue until the end of the '60's.
Club member Boh McKerrow was a member of the 1968 Andean Expedition, and in return for some assistance from the Club, provided interesting accounts of his exploits.
The number of Club members who went south to the Antarctic during the '60s included Ken Gousmett, Keith McIvor, Bob McKerrow and Frank Graveson. A large number of members have tramped and toured overseas, with some distinguishing themselves on the climbing scene. Two names that spring to mind readily are Bob McKerrow and Murray Jones.
A recent bulletin of the OT&MC shows a very active club with membership rising and the nursery alive and well.
Thanks to Lee Davidson for permission to use extracts from her publication:
The Spirit of the Hills: Mountaineering in Northwest Otago, New Zealand, 1882-1940.
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Yesterday I responded to novelist Laurie Halse Anderson’s question about whether John Adams actually wrote about 1777 as “the year of the hangman.” I quoted Adams’s words from over a decade later indicating that unspecified, untraceable “Tories” had said that 1777 “had three gallowses in it, meaning the three sevens.”
However, Adams didn’t write “the year of the hangman,” and neither did anyone else I can find in the 1770s. The label doesn’t appear the Archive of Americana database of period newspapers and pamphlets. Nor is it in the Adams family letters, the George Washington Papers, and the other digital databases I usually check for period usage.
In fact, the earliest use of that phrase for 1777 that I found through Google Books is Lynn Montross’s The Reluctant Rebels: The Story of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789, published in 1950. That book includes a chapter titled “Year of the Hangman,” and at one point says, “It was the year of the hangman, and the gallows jokes exchanged in the State House were not so humorous after the imprisonment of [Richard] Stockton...”
As far as I can tell, Montross coined that phrase; I haven’t uncovered an earlier usage. He didn’t say the words came from 1777, only that it reflected how the Patriots saw their situation that year. But then the same words appeared in other books, with the growing implication that it was a genuine period phrase:
- The 1966 Encyclopedia of the American Revolution, edited by Mark Boatner, included an entry on “Hangman, year of the.”
- One part of The River and the Rock: The History of Fortress West Point, 1775-1783, authored by Dave Richard Palmer in 1969, carried that title.
- The phrase “year of the gallows” comes from a character’s mouth in Thomas Fleming’s 1976 novel Liberty Tavern.
- John S. Pancake’s 1777: The Year of the Hangman (1977) quotes Adams’s original letter to explain its subtitle.
- Gary Blackwood’s The Year of the Hangman (2002) is an alternate history marketed to teen-aged readers.
- The strategy game shown above, designed by Ed Wimble, is “an operational study of the campaign for Philadelphia.”
- Most recently, Glenn F. Williams’s award-winning military history Year of the Hangman: George Washington’s Campaign Against the Iroquois was published in 2005. | <urn:uuid:1db6bfb3-d6f4-4402-8660-4d995b0285db> | {
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Kathryn Stockett is the author of The Help. It’s a fictional story about a black woman who goes to work for a white family in post civil rights era Mississippi. Coincidentally, Ms. Stocket was born in 1969 and grew up in Jackson, Mississippi and had a black maid who took care of her white family. Although based on her childhood experiences, the story is not about her childhood or about her family’s housekeeper Demetrie.
Ms. Stockett says that even though she grew up in a town with a one to one black white ratio, she never had a black friend or a black neighbor or a black person in her school or any interaction with black people other than their maid Demetrie. The black woman went to work for her family fourteen years before Ms. Stockett was born. She actually went to work for her grandmother and stayed for more than thirty years. The only relationship with black people that Ms. Stockett experienced was the one where the white people, a complete family unit with parents and children, hire a black woman, a woman without any interactions with her own black family or community, to wait on them.
Ms. Stockett claims that her black maid was one of the closest people to her. From her perspective, their maid was treated like a queen who wanted for nothing. She adored the black maid as much as she adored her own mother. While her mother was always busy, Demetrie stood in and played games with the white children and never got cross. It was the black maid who knew to rock them when they had stomachs aches. It was Demetrie who went with the children to the doctor because Demetrie knew how to get the children to sit still for their injections and whatever procedures they needed.
Black Demetrie knew the young Ms. Stockett and her siblings better than the parents did. But on the other hand, Ms. Stockett admits to some embarrassment at her inability to truly appreciate the complex nature of the role Demetrie had to play in their lives. For more than thirty years this black woman waited on this family. Every single day that Ms. Stockett saw her only black friend the maid, the black woman would be seen wearing nothing other than her stark white maid uniform. Ms. Stockett was blissfully ignorant of the true nature of the relationship she and her family had with the hired help.
Ms. Stockett says that the maid knew the unwritten rules of acceptable and unacceptable black behavior established by the white people of Mississippi. She writes that while laws supporting segregation were erased, the rules supporting segregation were not. In order for the black maid to be accepted in certain white people circles, she had to have that white uniform. In order for black people to exist among these white people, they had best submit and accept their secondary status.
But stuck in the oblivious world of her childhood, Ms. Stockett wants to maintain her claim that Demetrie was a queen. The black maid wasn’t allowed to use the same bathroom facilities of the white people. The black woman had to use a bathroom located on the side of the house. The black woman was not allowed to use the same utensils as the white family. The black woman wasn’t allowed to wear anything but her white uniform. The black woman sacrificed a life with her own family in order to keep her job. Does Ms. Stockett honestly think that this black woman felt like she was the recipient of royal treatment as she cleaned behind white people?
Ms. Stockett and her family never saw their black housekeeper as an equal. They never appreciated her as a valued member of their family. She was the help and she was only the help. Like many black people who are admired by people in the white community, the reason white people admire these black people is because these black people are accepting their position as nothing more than the staff to white people. Unfortunately, by being the go to person for white people, Demetrie allowed Ms. Stockton and her family to develop an impression that the natural order of things was that black people are treated like royalty when they are given the privilege to wait on white people.
If someone hired Ms. Stockett’s mother to be their servant, if they forced Ms. Stockett’s mother to use an outhouse and eat with her own special set of eating utensils because she was not allowed to share the eating utensils of everyone else, I seriously doubt if Ms. Stockett would think that they were treating mom like a queen. If her mother had to surrender her identity and wear nothing but a white uniform in order to be accepted I doubt if she would mistake it for anything other than what it truly is, a not so subtle reminder that the dreams and goals of the help takes a back seat to the whims of the employer.
Back in the day black people who completely devoted themselves to their white employers or owners were called house Negroes. Some black people were more than happy to adapt to whatever life the white establishment defined as acceptable for black people. A lot of these black people were more willing to identify with the white family that would make them use the outhouse and eat off their own supper dish instead of identifying with the black community full of their peers that had to work out in the field. Some black people would embrace the subjugation of the black community.
Unfortunately, I have little doubt that if Ms. Stockett’s black friend was alive today, Demetrie would absolve her white family of anything and everything that could have been construed as poor treatment. The black maid Demetrie made her choice some time ago. More than likely there would be no hard feelings. Ms. Stockett can feel safe that there was nothing but love between her and the only black person she ever knew in her life who wasn’t allowed to use the bathroom in the house or eat off the same plates as white people but was somehow treated like a queen. Most house Negroes were more than happy to support the subjugation of black people as long as they lived better than the general subjugated population. | <urn:uuid:a4e35827-b5bc-41f7-8ab9-2c29c5343eca> | {
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This worksheet clearly explains the 4 spelling rules for adding -ed to verbs and provides practice. While the narrative portions may be too advanced for beginners, the simple formulas and examples make it easily understandable even for those just learning the simple past tense. It also works well as a review for intermediate or higher students. Answer key on 2nd page. This worksheet may be used alone, but was designed in conjunction with a PowerPoint of the same name. | <urn:uuid:36d5e9a7-c894-4aed-8b45-72b9800720c8> | {
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Scientific name: Coenonympha tullia
Rests with wings closed. Some have row of ‘eyespots’ on underwings, like Ringlet, but some don’t.
The Large Heath is restricted to wet boggy habitats in northern Britain, Ireland, and a few isolated sites in Wales and central England.
The adults always sit with their wings closed and can fly even in quite dull weather provided the air temperature is higher than 14B:C. The size of the underwing spots varies across its range; a heavily spotted form (davus) is found in lowland England, a virtually spotless race (scotica) in northern Scotland, and a range of intermediate races elsewhere (referred to aspolydama).
The butterfly has declined seriously in England and Wales, but is still widespread in parts of Ireland and Scotland.
Size and Family
- Family – Browns
- Small/Medium Sized
- Wing Span Range (male to female) - 41mm
- Listed as a Section 41 species of principal importance under the NERC Act in England
- Listed as a Section 42 species of principal importance under the NERC Act in Wales
- Classified as a Northern Ireland Priority Species by the NIEA
- UK BAP status: Priority Species
- Butterfly Conservation priority: High
- European Status: Vulnerable
- Protected in Great Britain for sale only
The main foodplant is Hare's-tail Cottongrass (Eriophorum vaginatum) but larvae have been found occasionally on Common Cottongrass (E. angustifolium) and Jointed Rush (Juncus articulatus). Early literature references to White Beak-sedge (Rhyncospora alba), are probably erroneous.
- Countries – England, Scotland and Wales
- Northern Britain and throughout Ireland
- Distribution Trend Since 1970’s = -43%
The butterflies breed in open, wet areas where the foodplant grows, this includes habitats such as; lowland raised bogs, upland blanket bogs and damp acidic moorland. Sites are usually below 500m (600m in the far north) and have a base of Sphagnum moss interspersed with the foodplant and abundant Cross-leaved Heath (the main adult nectar source).
In Ireland, the butterfly can be found where manual peat extraction has lowered the surface of the bog, creating damp areas with local concentrations of foodplant. | <urn:uuid:3a335f27-c035-4215-b4c2-b0179298929c> | {
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We said on the Getting Started Page that HTML is
nothing more than a box of highlighters that we use to carefully describe our text. This is mostly the entire story. Normally our content is just text we want to define in some way. But what if our content is not just text? What if, let’s say, we have a bunch of images that we want to include on the page? We certainly can’t type in 4-thousand pixels on the keyboard to make up a 200x200-pixel image…
Motivation and Syntax
When the content we want is not text, then we have to have of including that content on the page. The most common example is an image. The problem, however, is that html tags are like highlighters — they have an opening tag and a closing tag. Between the opening and closing tags fits the data that is “highlighted” by the tag. If we were to have an
<image> tag in HTML (we don’t have that tag—one close to it though), what would go “inside” of it? What might you replace the
stuff with inside of
It simply doesn’t make sense for an
<image> tag to exist like all the other HTML tags because the other HTML tags define something else while image is, itself, something that can be defined.
The image tag and all such manner of tags are called “element” tags because, just like the name implies, the tags are themselves the elements all their own. For all intents and purposes you can treat element tags just like text.
If your content is like the words in a textbook and regular HTML is like a pack of highlighters, then these special element tags are indeed like the text and not like the highlighters at all.
The XML standard says that every tag must be closed. But we have this new breed of tags that really don’t make sense to be closed. What we have is a compromise between the two extremes. We have a self-closing tag. The tag is just like the tags we learned about on the General Syntax Page with two exceptions.
- There is no closing tag
- There is a
>to indicate that the tag is self-closing.
So this looks like:
(There is commonly a space before the
/, but again spacing after the name of the tag is arbitrary.)
You might imagine that there could be a tag that produces the copyright symbol (©). There isn’t (we’ll get to special characters later). But if there were, you might imagine there being an element tag called
copyrightsymbol that we could use right in line with our text to produce a ©
Images on Web sites take the form of image files stored on a server. Much like line breaks, images are element tags that are treated like text. The difference is that the image element tag is replaced by the actual image file.
We mentioned the (non-existent)
<image> tag earlier in our discussion on the necessity of the element-style tags. The real tag to include an image on the page is
<img>. This tag makes little sense if used without its
Let’s say we have the image
image1.jpg, , uploaded to the same folder as our HTML file. To include the image on the page, all we have to insert is:
<p><img src="./image1.jpg" /></p>
Which would be rendered (displayed) like:
And, again, images are like text — they go right in with your content:
<p>This is image1: <img src="./image1.jpg" />. Cool, right?</p>
This would be rendered like:
This is image1: . Cool, right?
(More information on how to reference your images using different paths depending on where your images are stored can be found on the Internet File Management Page of the Web Publishing at the UW online curriculum.)
If your images contribute to the content of your site, then you should provide an
alt attribute for your images. The
alt attribute is a text version of your image. Usually it is just a concise sentence describing the image. The
alt attribute will be used if your image is unavailable for any reason (e.g. if you delete the image file, if your viewers can’t see images, etc.)
If we had a picture of a dog jumping into a lake called
spot.jpg, we might use the following HTML to place it on the page:
<p>A picture I took: <img src="./spot.jpg" alt="Spot jumping into a lake." /></p>
If your image is purely a visual element (e.g. an icon next to a download link or an image used in your page’s layout), then you don’t need to provide an
alt attribute. If your web design work is sponsored by the University, be sure to check out the UW’s page on Web Site Accessibility by clicking here.
The spacing rules of HTML say that when we break the line in the source code (e.g. using the enter key on the keyboard), we don’t also break the line on the rendered (displayed) version of the page.
This is why the following two blocks of code:
<p>This is text. This is more text</p>
<p>This is text This is text</p>
…are considered equivalent. They will both be displayed by the web browser in exactly the same way:
This is text. This is more text
<br />element tag. The following block of code:
..is rendered like:
<p> In what particular thought to work I know not; <br /> But in the gross and scope of my opinion, <br /> This bodes some strange eruption to our state.<br /> </p>
In what particular thought to work I know not;
But in the gross and scope of my opinion,
This bodes some strange eruption to our state.
Above we imagined that there was an HTML element tag called
copyrightsymbol that would be used to produce a Copyright symbol (©). If there were such a tag, we might have the following HTML:
<p>This page is Copyright (<copyrightsymbol />) 1989 By George Orwell</p>
There turns out to be so many such symbols that the creators of HTML decided to create a whole group of “special symbols” (or “special characters”). These characters are used in the place of any character you cannot type using a standard US-English QWERTY keyboard. They are also used in the place of some “reserved” characters (like the less-than and greater-than signs, <, and >).
There are many such characters. They all start with an ampersand (
&) and end with a semicolon (
;). The web browser sees these and replaces them with the special character. Some of them are mentioned in the table to the right. You can find a complete listing of all such special characters by doing a search in your favorite search engine for
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I was given this code from a thread that I created (i cannot remember who) and I would like somebody (preferably the same person who gave it to me) to explain what each line does ('cause i've got no idea). And also, when I compile it (in MSVC++ 6.0), it does nothing but sit there!! It is meant to display all of the lines of a text file. I really wanted it to store each line in a variable if it wasn't empty, but anyway.....
...here is the code:
using namespace std;
ifstream file("myfile.txt"); // or whatever
if(!CurrentLine.empty()) // store it if not empty
// show the stored lines
for(int i = 0; i < Lines.size(); i++)
cout << Lines[i] << endl; | <urn:uuid:364ad431-a0c8-44e7-8c15-f614a15b6f5a> | {
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DOCETISM. The term "docetism" comes from the Greek word dokeo (I seem, I appear), and was first used by Serapion, bishop of Antioch (190-208), to refer to certain heretics of the early church. In its earliest expression, docetism apparently grew out of the
difficulties of explaining how the Son of God could be subject to the vicissitudes of humanity, including suffering and death. The earliest
Docetists would explain that Christ only seemed or appeared to suffer, for He only seemed to be mortal and fleshly as other humans.
In reality, they would argue, He is God and, therefore, not truly subject to the problems of humanity. It is generally assumed that the
emphasis on the reality of Christ's physical body in John 1:14, 1 John 1:1-4 and 4:1-3, and 2 John 7 is a refutation of this incipient heresy. During the second century, the positions of Docetists were multiplied and amplified into various gnostic systems, including some that denied the substantive reality of the incarnate Christ, and others that stated that the heavenly Christ descended upon the mortal
Jesus at His baptism and departed when Jesus was before Pilate. The crucifixion scene described in the APOCALYPSE OF PETER is an
example of the latter, portraying the spiritual Savior laughing above the cross while soldiers nail the mortal Jesus to the tree.
Among those especially charged with docetism were Cerinthus and Marcion. There is also a docetic portrayal of Jesus in some anti- Christian writings of the Mandaean Gnostics. Irenaeus and Tertullian, both writing in the late second century, attacked this heresy, and Tertullian claimed that some Valentinians were guilty of docetism. Photius (ninth century) charged CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA with docetism, but Clement rebuked the denial of Christ's flesh in his own writings.
C. WILFRED GRIGGS
Click tabs to swap between content that is broken into logical sections. | <urn:uuid:a600ecd5-c3c4-470b-bc34-7adba0ee9b68> | {
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Did you know that most of the computers on which you deploy applications have more power in the GPU on the video card than in the CPU, even multi-core machines? Harnessing the power of the GPU is the next step in the manycore/multicore revolution and can mean astonishing improvements in execution time. Depending on how data parallel your calculations are, you might see a speedup of 5, 10, or even 50 times! Imagine a calculation that takes 24 hours today completing in half an hour instead. What new capabilities would that enable for your users? Until recently, running code on the GPU has meant using one of several "C-like" languages. The upcoming release of C++ Accelerated Massive Parallelism (AMP) means that you can use accelerators like the GPU from native C++. Visual Studio includes debugging and profiling support for C++ AMP, and you don't need to download or install any new libraries to accelerate your code. In this session, see the power of C++ AMP and learn the basic concepts you need to adapt your code to use this massive parallelism. | <urn:uuid:8fa1ab43-5b0e-4ef6-aabd-038ffb133eca> | {
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Janet Barresi State Superintendent
If you're a parent, do you know how your childs' school is doing? What if the school received an annual report card – a grade of A to F – just like the report cards students receive?
If you heard that a school had an Academic Performance Index (API) score of 921, would you know what that means?
Two measures, Senate Bill 348 and House Bill 1456 have either passe committee or a floor vote in the Oklahoma Legislature to give parents and citizens an easy-to-understand way to compare schools and to see how their childrens' schools are doing.
API measures performance and progress in schools or districts and is based on factors including state tests scores; attendance, dropout and graduation rates; ACT scores and participation; Advanced Placement (AP) credit; and college remediation rates in reading and mathematics. The possible scores range from 0 to 1,500.
But the API can be confusing. By contrast, under House Bill 1456, schools would receive a letter grade based on student performance results from a combination of state tests and end-of-instruction tests, gains made in reading and mathematics; and improvement shown by students who had previously scored in the lowest 25th percentile of the state.
State grades would be assigned as follows:
• A would mean schools are making excellent progress;
• B would mean schools are making above average progress;
• C would mean schools are making satisfactory progress;
• D would mean schools are making less than satisfactory progress;
• F would mean schools are failing to make adequate progress.
Florida has had success with a similar plan since 1999, and test scores have risen over the past decade.
In 2009, a record number of schools scored an A and the number of schools graded F was at its lowest in three years.
A grading system for Oklahoma schools will provide much-needed transparency.
Families will have a better idea of how schools rate and they will also have the tools to find the best educational opportunities in their area.
I've heard concerns from some who say this new system of grading schools would cause competition among schools – to which I say, Absolutely!
Competition spurs excellence. It works in the private sector whe businesses compete. And it will work for schools, too. | <urn:uuid:c3e65076-6432-4b14-bf30-b87b9e276554> | {
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According to my understanding, it is a Roman adaptation of the Epitrachelion and Orarion - essentially priestly neck-garments. I wouldn't read too much into the clothing style itself, as it changes infrequently and often erratically and illogically. But the garment itself, functionally, is simply the symbol of the priesthood or diaconate, but styled differently. It's also important to note how simple they can be, so it is likely that they were adapted as priestly garments some time after they were in common use by aristocracy.
The interesting part is that while in the Orthodox tradition the stole is two different garments for the priest and deacon, in the West it is almost the same garment simply worn differently, albeit with the final effect being identical: the priest's is symmetrical and comes down like a beard, and the deacon's is asymmetrical and worn like a sash.
This suggests a common origin to all of the stoles, but does not tell us what the proto-garment was, or if one of the two was the proto-garment. I would be inclined to assume the Orthodox garments, partly because of the Oriental Churches (Non-Chalcedonians):
etc... the naming is Western (stole) but it seems like the garment is mostly unchanged and similar to the Eastern Orthodox one. | <urn:uuid:e6ee4525-11cf-4562-8ff2-a5e1dbd708e5> | {
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|Title||The National pictorial primer, or, The first book for children (p. 42) |
|Publisher||George F. Cooledge & Brother|
|Publisher Location||United States--New York--New York |
|Publication Date||1850-1859? |
|Image Production Process||Relief prints--wood engravings|
|Notes||Illustrated with uncolored wood engravings.|
Includes illustrated alphabets and lessons that cover a wide variety of subjects including history, the natural sciences, moral behavior, religion, and pastimes and occupations. The stories also warn of the evils and consequences of drinking, fighting, playing with guns, playing too close to fires, imprisonment, and worshipping false Gods.
This lesson is about four boys who try to steal watermelons from a farmer's garden and are punished. The lesson ends by reminding children that "it is as bad to steal from your neighbor's field as it is to take money out of his purse." The illustration shows the young boys trying to escape over a fence with their stolen watermelons. In the background is the farmer and his watchdog.
The illustration at the top of the page depicts the Bay of New York, "one of the finest harbors in the world."
|Contextual Notes||George F. Cooledge & Brother published at 323 Pearl St., Franklin Square, New York, from 1844 to 1871. |
|Subjects (LCSH)||Readers (Primary) |
|Category||Primers (Instructional books)|
|Digital Collection||Children's Historical Literature Collection |
|Digital ID Number||CHL1341 |
|Repository||University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections Division |
|Repository Collection||Children's Historical Literature Collection PE1119.A1 N36 1850 |
|Physical Description||48 p.: illustrated; 19.5 x 12 cm. |
|Digital Reproduction Information||Photographed from original book in TIFF format using a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi/EOS 400D, resized and enhanced using Adobe Photoshop, and imported as JPEG2000 using Contentdm's software JPEG2000 Extension. 2009. |
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Picture this: flourishing soybean fields. Green leaves, thick canopy, strong stands and roots, an abundance of pods. Optimal moisture, not too hot, not too cold. No disease or pest incidence. The best possible soybean-growing environment you can imagine.
Now picture this: reality. Though the optimal growing conditions may exist, the odds of no pests and disease are pretty small, and chances are you'll deal with a variety of them through the growing season. To alleviate the pain and pressure, though, university and Extension personnel have a wealth of data and advice to help combat those pesky pests and dreadful diseases.
Last growing season certainly saw its share of pests and disease, along with not-so-optimal growing conditions around soybean-producing regions of the U.S. From stink bugs in the south to soybean cyst nematode (SCN) in the north, growers had their hands full of managing beans under reality conditions.
“Minnesota was very dry in much of the soybean growing areas, and diseases did not develop as they normally do,” says Dean Malvick, University of Minnesota Extension plant pathologist. “Though 2007 was not a representative year, disease problems did exist, including SCN, SDS, brown stem rot, charcoal rot — due to dry weather — Phytophthora and Fusarium root rot.”
He expects much of the same this year, including white mold, if Minnesota has near-normal rainfall, except for charcoal rot.
Kentucky experienced plenty of charcoal rot and SCN.
“Charcoal rot is always associated with drought, and much of Kentucky was in serious drought during the second half of the summer in 2007,” says Don Hershman, Extension plant pathologist for University of Kentucky. “SCN is always present, but the effects are worst when plants are under drought stress.”
Missouri fields had an elevated number of stink bugs, along with white grubs, says Wayne Bailey, University of Missouri Extension entomologist. Soybean aphid was also present, and reached economic infestations in a few counties and in fields with potassium deficiencies.
Pathologists and entomologists from across the south and the Midwest have given their predictions about what to watch in 2008. Granted no one can provide a solid outlook, but here's what they recommend you watch for this year.
SYMPTOMS: Plant sap is removed via sucking from the small, yellowish, glob-shaped aphid, causing leaves to wilt and curl. If numbers are high, leaves may become yellow and distorted; the plant may be stunted, covered in dark, sooty mold. From seedling to blooming, aphids will colonize tender leaves/branches, later moving down to colonize near the middle/lower underside of leaves and stem.
TIME OF ATTACK: V1-V2 on upper leaves, petioles, stem (scout twice/week); R1-R4 on undersides of mid-canopy leaves, stems.
CONDITIONS FAVORING: Northern states with cooler summer temps; fields with previous aphid populations; late plantings; crops stressed by hot, dry weather; high overwintering populations.
MANAGEMENT: Foliar-applied insecticide when populations reach 250/plant and continue to increase and 80% of field is infested; time treatment to maximize effectiveness. Beneficial lady beetles could help in control.
SPECIES: Redbanded, Southern Green, Brown, Green
SYMPTOMS: Flat pod syndrome and delayed maturity; Brown and Green species attack pods and seeds. Feeding punctures cause small brown/black spots. Young seeds can be deformed or undersized; older seeds become shriveled and discolored.
TIME OF ATTACK: R1-R7 reproductive stages.
CONDITIONS FAVORING: High populations of bugs and vulnerable growth stages; common along Louisiana and Texas Gulf coast.
MANAGEMENT: Cultivar selection and planting date. Rescue insecticide treatments when threshold reached while scouting. Populations also partially suppressed by predators and parasitic wasps.
BEAN LEAF BEETLE
SYMPTOMS: Feeding is identified by small, round holes between veins. Entire pods may be clipped and the outside layer of pod tissue entirely consumed. Beetles feed on plants at all stages of development. Overwintering populations feed on cotyledons and leaves. The next generation feeds on leaves and the final generation feeds on leaves and pods.
TIME OF ATTACK: All season; first generation: late V, early R; second generation: pod-fill stage.
CONDITIONS FAVORING: Early planting and above-normal summer temperatures. Late-planted fields and below-normal temps can cause better conditions for second-generation beetle pod feeding.
MANAGEMENT: Timely application of rescue treatment if sampling/defoliation threshold is reached.
SYMPTOMS: Leaves appear sandblasted. Heavily infested leaves turn red-brown and die. Webbing may be present on undersides of leaves. Heavy infestation causes leaves to wilt and die.
TIME OF ATTACK: V2-R7.
CONDITIONS FAVORING: Drought conditions.
MANAGEMENT: Treatment by air or ground application if infested areas increase in size (no established threshold). Cool, wet weather conditions may reduce infestation.
SUDDEN DEATH SYNDROME
SYMPTOMS: Leaves become brown, with veins remaining green; leaf blades drop off but petioles remain attached. Brown to gray discoloration of internal taproot.
TIME OF ATTACK: During pod set and fill.
CONDITIONS FAVORING: Cool, wet conditions throughout summer; well-fertilized fields; early planting/maturity; soil compaction; fields with history of SDS; co-infection with SCN.
MANAGEMENT: Resistant cultivars; avoid early planting — wait until soils are warmer and drier; eliminate soil compaction.
SYMPTOMS: Small, black sclerotia form on lower stem and roots, both internally and externally. Early season infection produces red-brown lesions. Premature plant death; plants wilt and eventually die.
TIME OF ATTACK: R3-R6.
CONDITIONS FAVORING: Extended periods of hot, dry weather.
MANAGEMENT: Reduced plant populations; rotation; planting fullest maturity group; irrigation, if available. No way to stave off damage in drought year.
SOYBEAN CYST NEMATODE
SYMPTOMS: Difficult to spot in high-yielding fields or when soil moisture is optimal. Yellowing and stunting of plants; white to yellow lemon-shaped cysts on roots.
TIME OF ATTACK: As soil warms and root systems develop.
CONDITIONS FAVORING: Those that favor soybean growth. May first appear near field entrances, flooded areas, weedy areas, high-pH spots, lower-yielding areas. Moisture and fertility stress can enhance disease.
MANAGEMENT: Crop rotation, resistant varieties (rotate resistant varieties, as well), introduction prevention. Test soil samples.
SYMPTOMS: Seed rot. Seedlings may grow poorly, turn yellow and die. Dieback of young plants with damping-off of lower stem.
MANAGEMENT: Seed treatments; delayed planting until soils are warmer/drier; plant high-quality seed with high germ and vigor.
Editor's Note:Please keep in mind this is just a general, short list of pests and diseases to keep an eye out for. Others mentioned included corn earworm, white grub, soybean looper, brown stem rot, Fusarium, Phytophthora and frogeye leaf spot. For specific information for your location, contact your local Extension office or university specialist. | <urn:uuid:e66c396f-02b3-4a81-bcf8-c0616d07147f> | {
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PHYSICS FOR ELEMENTARY TEACHERS
This course is a one-semester introduction to physics with curriculum and instruction designed as an activity-based hands-on course for K-8 elementary education students and open to all education majors. The course emphasizes a student-oriented pedagogy in order to develop various physics concepts and the nature of science. Topics covered include motion, forces, energy, light, heat, electricity, and magnetism.
Other Requirements: PREREQ: MATH 141 AND RESTRICTED TO STUDENTS WITH BSE PROGRAM
There are no sections offered for this course and term that meet your criteria. | <urn:uuid:b61165ec-570f-41ea-a5e6-a05c31ed6e3c> | {
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Who needed the Holy Land when they could fight a crusade on their doorstep?
Throughout the 12th century, Danish forces raided the northern coasts of Germany and Poland time and time again. The aim was to fight the region’s pillaging pagans, the Wends, a mixture of tribes that in turn attacked the Danish coastline with regularity – raids that were particularly unwelcome during a Danish civil war from 1146-57. Despite times of peace, trade and even intermarriage between the Danes and the Wends (Harald Bluetooth was indeed married to a Wendish princess), they were feared and hated by all in Denmark.
In 1147 Pope Eugene III declared the Second Crusade in an attempt to reconquer the Holy Land from the Muslims in the Middle East. Concurrently, holy war was also made a universal principle. This meant that any war waged against the enemies of god – such as the heathen Wends - was now viewed by the church as a holy war and would grant the Christian warriors divine privileges. The Danish Crusades were quickly proclaimed.
The warring parties laid down their arms and put the civil war on hold, so they could do god’s biding. They joined the princes and dukes of northern Germany in the fight against the heathens in their backyard. The Saxons had been granted permission to fight the Wends by a powerful abbot, Bernard of Clairvaux, rather than joining the Second Crusade to the Holy Land, as other Germans had done. Their decision made good financial sense. Expeditions against the Wends were much easier to organise and considerably cheaper than joining the crusade to the Holy Land. It also opened the door to a future taxation of their defeated neighbours.
Alas, it did not go very well for the Christian forces. The Danes and the Saxons were unable to defeat the Wends and ended up negotiating a peace agreement. The Wends agreed to release their prisoners and accept the Christian faith as their own, but almost as soon as the Saxons and Danes turned their backs, they returned to their pagan ways and escalated their attacks on the coasts of Denmark, which was once again embroiled in civil war.
But they hadn’t reckoned on Valdemar the Great, who became king of Denmark in 1157 after decisively ending the civil war in victory. He immediately launched an attack on the Wends, whose attack on Denmark had never stopped during the civil war, and over the next 15 years he completed approximately 20 expeditions against the Wends.
He joined forces with his old enemy Henry the Lion, the duke of Saxony, in a shaky alliance. Rather than just guarding themselves against Wendish aggression, the two leaders expanded into the Wendish areas. Henry the Lion was more successful, since he had a large population that he could use to colonise the newly conquered areas. Valdemar, on the other hand, could not find Danes willing to accept the task of settling in the Wendish areas. It was simply too dangerous.
The Danish activity culminated with the historic conquest of the pagan stronghold of Arkona in 1168. The fall of Arkona signalled the Danish conquest of the island of Rügen and is described in detail by the Danish chronicler Saxo. He described how King Valdemar and Archbishop Absalon (the founder of Copenhagen no less) had the pagan idol Svantevit destroyed. Not only was the big wooden idol chopped to pieces, they used the pieces as firewood and cooked the victory feast for the troops with it, whilst the pagan temple was stripped of its treasures.
The population of Rügen was then christened and the island remained under Danish rule until 1325, while the Danish church remained in charge of ecclesiastical matters until 1660.
To this day, Danish scholars are still arguing whether or not the Danish expeditions against the Wends were crusades. The motives seem to have been very mixed indeed. An example is the conquest of Arkona, which was characterised by pillaging and taxation of the area on one hand, but also the building of churches and other religious institutions on the other hand. Historians agree that the expedition of 1147 can rightly be called a Danish crusade as it was initiated by the Pope, who promised indulgence. But that is about it.
Some historians believe that all the Danish expeditions were crusades based on their claim that religious motives were the main reason for the expeditions. They believe that the Pope’s proclamation of a holy war as a universal principle was still valid after the Second Crusade (1147-49). Other historians, in contrast, point to the Viking-like manner of the expeditions and argue that Saxo only described the expedition in 1147 as a crusade, whilst the others were described as conquests driven by vengeance against the pillaging Wends. They believe that the religious motives were secondary and that the Pope gave up on the idea of a holy war outside the Holy Land after the fiasco of the Second Crusade, in which the christian forces failed to make progress in the Holy Land.
Regardless of the scholarly disagreement, the expeditions against the Wends led to a Danish heyday, during which the country succeeded in establishing itself as a dominant force in the areas surrounding the Baltic Sea – a supremacy that lasted until 1241. | <urn:uuid:2e24d320-74c0-41c3-82a7-c62509190848> | {
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It is possible to use a hash function to construct a block cipher with a structure similar to DES? Because a hash function is one way and a block cipher must be reversible (to decrypt), how is it possible?
migrated from security.stackexchange.com Nov 8 '12 at 12:26
It is possible to build a block cipher out of a great many things. If you want to use a hash function, the classic trick is to follow a Feistel structure, which is, incidentally, the same kind of structure than what DES uses.
The schematics on the Wikipedia page are quite clear; you would use the hash function for the "F" part, which combines one (sub)key and one half of the current block, to produce a value which is to be XORed with the other half of the current block. The beauty of the scheme is that the "F" function is always invoked in the same direction, both for encryption and for decryption. Therefore, it can be a one-way function, like a hash function.
Luby and Rackoff have demonstrated in 1988 that the Feistel scheme offers remarkable security with as little as four rounds, provided that the "F" function is "perfect" and that the cipher block size is big enough (to get the standard "128-bit security" out of the Luby-Rackoff proof, you need 256-bit blocks).
Of course, any concrete hash function cannot be really "perfect" (see for instance this answer) and there are a lot of subtle details which can destroy the security of the best thought cipher structure. As usual, you are strongly advised not to build your own crypto (unless you are quite clear with yourself that you do it for learning and not to actually protect any data of value).
Also, if you build such a cipher, you will probably notice that the resulting performance is disappointing. With a secure hash function like SHA-256, you could expect an encryption bandwidth roughly 20 times lower than what AES would get you.
It is possible to use a hash function like (SHA family, for instance) in OFB or CFB (and possibly CTR), by using the hash function (with the key as part of the input!) in the place of the block cipher encryption. That said, Thomas is right -- DO NOT BUILD YOUR OWN CRYPTO. Just use a normal block cipher. You'll get better performance (especially if it's AES and you're on hardware with ways to accelerate it), and you'll probably get better security (at least you'll know it's been examined). | <urn:uuid:f271c8d6-4b16-4cdd-9b0f-086b5ab89383> | {
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Over the weekend, the Washington Post published a series of articles on the poor health of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Cleaning up the bay, which has been in serious trouble since the early 1980s is especially complicated since its tributaries pass through multiple jurisdictions; New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Virginia, and West Virginia all contain part of the watershed, which is fed by two major rivers (the Potomac and Susquehanna) and numerous smaller tributaries. That means that cleanup strategies have to be coordinated among the various stakeholders, which then have to fight their own internal battles over funding and enforcement priorities.
In the meantime, work is being left undone.
Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania all pledged that their farmers would put up fences along streambanks to keep cows out. But they didn't make it a legal requirement: Officials feared this kind of regulation would be a burden on farmers and would be difficult to enforce....The problem with cow manure is that it contains nitrogen that feeds algae blooms, which in turn cause dead zones throughout much of the bay. Cow manure is just one of many nitrogen or phosphorus sources within the watershed. Sources include fertilizers, sewage, detergents, and septic tanks, among others. While the cleanup has effected some reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus, and stabilized some underwater life, it has fallen far short of its goals.
But in Virginia, many farmers simply didn't want the hassle. And reimbursement funding, which came out of state budget surpluses, was often short. From July 2006 to June 2007, Virginia turned away 144 farmers who wanted to fence off 84 miles of streambank.
Now, Virginia has reached only about 20 percent of its goal for fencing off streams. Across the Chesapeake watershed, the figure is 27 percent. | <urn:uuid:29bf2d0c-8ac0-4a70-a175-a6ba9f16566b> | {
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Published in Speaking Tree, Nov. 28, 2010
The Kanda Puranam, the Tamil version of the Sanskrit Skanda Purana, retells the story of how Shiva’s son, Murugan, (known as Kartikeya, in North India) defeated the demon Taraka and his brothers, Simhamukhan and Surapadman. On his defeat, Simhamukhan begs forgiveness so Murugan instructs him to turn into a lion and serve as the vehicle of Durga. While fighting Murugan, Surapadman takes the form of a mountain. Murugan breaks the mountain into two with his spear. One part of the mountain turns into a peacock that becomes Murugan’s vehicle while the other part becomes a rooster that becomes Murugan’s symbol on his flag. Thus, says this narrative, the vehicles of Durga and her son, Murugan, are actually demons who have been subdued and transformed and become worthy of being associated with the divine.
In Hindu mythology, every god and goddess is associated with one animal or the other. Brahma, the creator, is associated with a swan, Vishnu, the preserver, with an eagle, Shiva, the destroyer, with a bull. Lakshmi, goddess of wealth, is associated with an elephant, Saraswati, goddess of knowledge, with a goose, and Durga, goddess of power, with lions and tigers. The river-goddesses Ganga and Yamuna ride a dolphin (or crocodile) and turtle respectively. The animals are called vahana, or vehicles, transporting the gods.
Sometimes, the same animal serves as the insignia on the deity’s flag. Thus Shiva, who rides a bull has a flag called Vrishabha-dhvaja, which means the flag with the symbol of a bull. At other times, different animals serve as vahanas and as symbols on flags. Murugan rides a peacock but has the rooster on his flag.
Through the animals an idea is communciated. The idea of love and desire in most Indian poetry is expressed through the parrot, bees, butterflies and the constellation Makara which marks the advent of spring. And so Kama, the god of desire, is described as riding a parrot, having bees and butterflies constituting as the string of his bow whose shaft is made of sugarcane, and as having the symbol of Makara on his flag. Hamsa or geese (often confused with swans) is said to have the ability to separate milk from water. This makes Hamsa the symbol of intellectual discrimination and so is associated with Saraswati, goddess of knoweldge. Rats are an annoying pest and so serve as the symbol of problems. They are also highly fertile. So they are symbols of cascading problems. Ganesha, the god who removes obstacles, has the rat as his vehicle; by mounting the rat and domesticating it as his vehicle, he blocks the problems that plague our life. Shiva’s bull communicates Shiva’s independence, Vishnu’s hawk indicates his mobility and wider vision of things.
Animals are not just vehicles or symbols of the gods; they are the forms that the god takes. Hanuman, who serves Ram, is a monkey. Vishnu, for example, turns into fish and turtle and wild boar in order to save the world. The earth-goddess, Prithvi, often is seen in the form of a cow. Ganesha has the head of an elephant while the Ashwini twins have horse heads and Ketu, the planetary body associated with anxiety and restlessness, is a headless serpent.
In metaphysics, animals are jiva-atmas, souls wrapped in flesh. Their flesh is superior to plants because they are mobile. Their flesh is inferior to human beings because they do not possess the highly developed brain that enables humans to imagine, love, create and care. It says that only after 84 lakh rebirths is a jiva-atma blessed with human flesh. What distinguishes humans from all other living creatures is our infinite ability to empathize, an ability that is highly limited in animals. By riding on animals, the gods are perhaps reminding us of our ability to overpower our animal instincts of self-preservation and self-propagation and focus on the unique human capability of self-realization which can only happen when we are able to feel for the rest of the world. Unfortunately, most of the time we prefer regression to evolution, behave as animals thinking only about survival. In fact, we are worse than animals, for animals think only about survival of their bodies, and do not have the wherewithal to do otherwise. We, on the other hand, spend all our lives working towards survival of our imagined self-image. So long as we think only about me and mine, and exclude others, we will waste this human flesh, remain unevolved animals and not validate our human existence. | <urn:uuid:02cf804f-9904-4525-a18a-c4c34f6b4b04> | {
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Cyanobacterial Emergence at 2.8 Gya and Greenhouse Feedbacks
D. Schwartzman, K. Caldeira & A. Pavlov
Approximately 2.8 billion years ago, cyanobacteria and a methane-influenced greenhouse emerged nearly simultaneously. Here we hypothesize that the evolution of cyanobacteria could have caused a methane greenhouse.
Apparent cyanobacterial emergence at about 2.8 Gya coincides with the negative excursion in the organic carbon isotope record, which is the first strong evidence for the presence of atmospheric methane. The existence of weathering feedbacks in the carbonate-silicate cycle suggests that atmospheric and oceanic CO2 concentrations would have been high prior to the presence of a methane greenhouse (and thus the ocean would have had high bicarbonate concentrations). With the onset of a methane greenhouse, carbon dioxide concentrations would decrease. Bicarbonate has been proposed as the preferred reductant that preceded water for oxygenic photosynthesis in a bacterial photosynthetic precursor to cyanobacteria; with the drop of carbon dioxide level, Archean cyanobacteria emerged using water as a reductant instead of bicarbonate (Dismukes et al., 2001). Our thermodynamic calculations, with regard to this scenario, give at least a tenfold drop in aqueous CO2 levels with the onset of a methane-dominated greenhouse, assuming surface temperatures of about 60°C and a drop in the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide from about 1 to 0.1 bars. The buildup of atmospheric methane could have been triggered by the boost in oceanic organic productivity that arose from the emergence of pre-cyanobacterial oxygenic phototrophy at about 2.8–3.0 Gya; high temperatures may have precluded an earlier emergence. A greenhouse transition timescale on the order of 50–100 million years is consistent with results from modeling the carbonate-silicate cycle. This is an alternative hypothesis to proposals of a tectonic driver for this apparent greenhouse transition. | <urn:uuid:f4947171-69c0-4989-a627-b8ca8e544ab3> | {
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Pronunciation: (rīkhs'rät"), [key]
1. Ger. Hist.the upper house of the parliament during the period of the Second Reich and the Weimar Republic.
2. Hist.the legislature or parliament in the Austrian division of Austria-Hungary. Also,Reichs'rath".
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease. | <urn:uuid:e3066311-af7e-40f8-b1fe-9fc212447051> | {
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|a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.|
|the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.|
a wind that is strong enough to cause at least light damage to trees and buildings and may or may not be accompanied by precipitation. Wind speeds during a windstorm typically exceed 55 km (34 miles) per hour. Wind damage can be attributed to gusts (short bursts of high-speed winds) or longer periods of stronger sustained winds. Although tornadoes and tropical cyclones also produce wind damage, they are usually classified separately
Learn more about windstorm with a free trial on Britannica.com. | <urn:uuid:357158ae-6c38-48b1-bd0a-78ac5cb1c20f> | {
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|Part of the Politics series on|
| Communism Portal|
Communism is a social structure in which classes are abolished and property is commonly controlled, as well as a political philosophy and social movement that advocates and aims to create such a society. Karl Marx, the father of communist thought, posited that communism would be the final stage in society, which would be achieved through a proletarian revolution and only possible after a socialist stage develops the productive forces, leading to a superabundance of goods and services.
"Pure communism" in the Marxian sense refers to a classless, stateless and oppression-free society where decisions on what to produce and what policies to pursue are made democratically, allowing every member of society to participate in the decision-making process in both the political and economic spheres of life. In modern usage, communism is often used to refer to Bolshevism or Marxism-Leninism and the policies of the various communist states which had government ownership of all the means of production and centrally planned economies. Communist regimes, all inspired only by the Leninist current, have historically been authoritarian, repressive, and coercive governments concerned primarily with preserving their own power.
As a political ideology, communism is usually considered to be a branch of socialism; a broad group of economic and political philosophies that draw on the various political and intellectual movements with origins in the work oftheorists of the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution. Communism attempts to offer an alternative to the problems with the capitalist market economy and the legacy of imperialism and nationalism.
Marx states that the only way to solve these problems is for the working class (proletariat), who according to Marx are the main producers of wealth in society and are exploited by the Capitalist-class (bourgeoisie), to replace the bourgeoisie as the ruling class in order to establish a free society, without class or racial divisions. The dominant forms of communism, such as Leninism, Stalinism, Maoism and Trotskyism are based on Marxism, as well as others forms of communism (such as Luxemburgism and Council communism), but non-Marxist versions of communism (such as Christian communism and Anarchist communism) also exist.
Karl Marx never provided a detailed description as to how communism would function as an economic system, but it is understood that a communist economy would consist of common ownership of the means of production, culminating in the negation of the concept of private ownership of capital, which referred to the means of production in Marxian terminology.
|It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article titled List of communist ideologies. (Discuss)|
In the schema of historical materialism, communism is the idea of a free society with no division or alienation, where mankind is free from oppression and scarcity. A communist society would have no governments, countries, or class divisions. In Marxist theory, the dictatorship of the proletariat is the intermediate system between capitalism and communism, when the government is in the process of changing the means of ownership from privatism, to collective ownership. In political science, the term "communism" is sometimes used to refer to communist states, a form of government in which the state operates under a one-party system and declares allegiance to Marxism-Leninism or a derivative thereof.
Marxist schools of communism
Self-identified communists hold a variety of views, including Marxism-Leninism, Trotskyism, council communism, Luxemburgism, anarchist communism, Christian communism, and various currents of left communism. However, the offshoots of the Marxist-Leninist interpretations of Marxism are the most well-known of these and have been a driving force in international relations during most of the 20th century.
Like other socialists, Marx and Engels sought an end to capitalism and the systems which they perceived to be responsible for the exploitation of workers. But whereas earlier socialists often favored longer-term social reform, Marx and Engels believed that popular revolution was all but inevitable, and the only path to the socialist state.
According to the Marxist argument for communism, the main characteristic of human life in class society is alienation; and communism is desirable because it entails the full realization of human freedom. Marx here follows Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel in conceiving freedom not merely as an absence of restraints but as action with content. According to Marx, Communism's outlook on freedom was based on an agent, obstacle, and goal. The agent is the common/working people; the obstacles are class divisions, economic inequalities, unequal life-chances, and false consciousness; and the goal is the fulfillment of human needs including satisfying work, and fair share of the product. They believed that communism allowed people to do what they want, but also put humans in such conditions and such relations with one another that they would not wish to exploit, or have any need to. Whereas for Hegel the unfolding of this ethical life in history is mainly driven by the realm of ideas, for Marx, communism emerged from material forces, particularly the development of the means of production.
Marxism holds that a process of class conflict and revolutionary struggle will result in victory for the proletariat and the establishment of a communist society in which private ownership is abolished over time and the means of production and subsistence belong to the community. Marx himself wrote little about life under communism, giving only the most general indication as to what constituted a communist society. It is clear that it entails abundance in which there is little limit to the projects that humans may undertake. In the popular slogan that was adopted by the communist movement, communism was a world in which each gave according to their abilities, and received according to their needs. The German Ideology (1845) was one of Marx's few writings to elaborate on the communist future:
"In communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticise after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, herdsman or critic."
Marx's lasting vision was to add this vision to a theory of how society was moving in a law-governed way toward communism, and, with some tension, a political theory that explained why revolutionary activity was required to bring it about.
In the late 19th century, the terms "socialism" and "communism" were often used interchangeably. However, Marx and Engels argued that communism would not emerge from capitalism in a fully developed state, but would pass through a "first phase" in which most productive property was owned in common, but with some class differences remaining. The "first phase" would eventually evolve into a "higher phase" in which class differences were eliminated, and a state was no longer needed. Lenin frequently used the term "socialism" to refer to Marx and Engels' supposed "first phase" of communism and used the term "communism" interchangeably with Marx and Engels' "higher phase" of communism.
These later aspects, particularly as developed by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, provided the underpinning for the mobilizing features of 20th century Communist parties.
Marxism-Leninism is a version of socialism adopted by the Soviet Union and most Communist Parties across the world today. It shaped the Soviet Union and influenced Communist Parties worldwide. It was heralded as a possibility of building communism via a massive program of industrialization and collectivization. Historically, under the ideology of Marxism-Leninism the rapid development of industry, and above all the victory of the Soviet Union in the Second World War occurred alongside a third of the world being lead by Marxist-Leninist inspired parties. Despite the fall of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries, many communist Parties of the world today still lay claim to uphold the Marxist-Leninist banner. Marxism-Leninism expands on Marxists thoughts by bringing the theories to what Lenin and other Communists considered, the age of capitalist imperialism, and a renewed focus on party building, the development of a socialist state, and democratic centralism as an organizational principle.
Lenin adapted Marx’s urban revolution to Russia’s agricultural conditions, sparking the “revolutionary nationalism of the poor”. The pamphlet What is to be Done? (1902), proposed that the (urban) proletariat can successfully achieve revolutionary consciousness only under the leadership of a vanguard party of professional revolutionaries — who can achieve aims only with internal democratic centralism in the party; tactical and ideological policy decisions are agreed via democracy, and every member must support and promote the agreed party policy.
To wit, capitalism can be overthrown only with revolution — because attempts to reform capitalism from within (Fabianism) and from without (democratic socialism) will fail because of its inherent contradictions. The purpose of a Leninist revolutionary vanguard party is the forceful deposition of the incumbent government; assume power (as agent of the proletariat) and establish a dictatorship of the proletariat government. Moreover, as the government, the vanguard party must educate the proletariat — to dispel the societal false consciousness of religion and nationalism that are culturally instilled by the bourgeoisie in facilitating exploitation. The dictatorship of the proletariat is governed with a de-centralized direct democracy practised via soviets (councils) where the workers exercise political power (cf. soviet democracy); the fifth chapter of State & Revolution, describes it:
“. . . the dictatorship of the proletariat — i.e. the organisation of the vanguard of the oppressed as the ruling class for the purpose of crushing the oppressors. . . . An immense expansion of democracy, which for the first time becomes democracy for the poor, democracy for the people, and not democracy for the rich: . . . and suppression by force, i.e. exclusion from democracy, for the exploiters and oppressors of the people — this is the change which democracy undergoes during the transition from capitalism to communism.”
The Bolshevik government was hostile to nationalism, especially to Russian nationalism, the “Great Russian chauvinism”, as an obstacle to establishing the proletarian dictatorship. The revolutionary elements of Leninism — the disciplined vanguard party, a dictatorship of the proletariat, and class war.
"Stalinism" refers to the political system of the Soviet Union, and the countries within the Soviet sphere of influence, during the leadership of Joseph Stalin. The term usually defines the style of a government rather than an ideology. The ideology was "Marxism-Leninism theory", reflecting that Stalin himself was not a theoretician, in contrast to Marx and Lenin, and prided himself on maintaining the legacy of Lenin as a founding father for the Soviet Union and the future Socialist world. Stalinism is an interpretation of their ideas, and a certain political regime claiming to apply those ideas in ways fitting the changing needs of society, as with the transition from "socialism at a snail's pace" in the mid-twenties to the rapid industrialization of the Five-Year Plans.
The main contributions of Stalin to communist theory were:
- The groundwork for the Soviet policy concerning nationalities, laid in Stalin's 1913 work Marxism and the National Question, praised by Lenin.
- Socialism in One Country,
- The theory of aggravation of the class struggle along with the development of socialism, a theoretical base supporting the repression of political opponents as necessary.
Trotsky and his supporters organized into the Left Opposition and their platform became known as Trotskyism. Stalin eventually succeeded in gaining control of the Soviet regime and Trotskyist attempts to remove Stalin from power resulted in Trotsky's exile from the Soviet Union in 1929. During Trotsky's exile, world communism fractured into two distinct branches: Marxism-Leninism and Trotskyism. Trotsky later founded the Fourth International, a Trotskyist rival to the Comintern, in 1938.
Trotskyist ideas have continually found a modest echo among political movements in some countries in Latin America and Asia, especially in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Sri Lanka. Many Trotskyist organizations are also active in more stable, developed countries in North America and Western Europe. Trotsky's politics differed sharply from those of Stalin and Mao, most importantly in declaring the need for an international proletarian revolution (rather than socialism in one country) and unwavering support for a true dictatorship of the proletariat based on democratic principles.
However, as a whole, Trotsky's theories and attitudes were never accepted in worldwide mainstream Communist circles after Trotsky's expulsion, either within or outside of the Soviet bloc. This remained the case even after the Secret Speech and subsequent events critics claim exposed the fallibility of Stalin.
Maoism is the Marxist-Leninist trend of Communism associated with Mao Zedong and was mostly practiced within the People's Republic of China. Khrushchev's reforms heightened ideological differences between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union, which became increasingly apparent in the 1960s. As the Sino-Soviet Split in the international Communist movement turned toward open hostility, China portrayed itself as a leader of the underdeveloped world against the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union.
Parties and groups that supported the Communist Party of China (CPC) in their criticism against the new Soviet leadership proclaimed themselves as 'anti-revisionist' and denounced the CPSU and the parties aligned with it as revisionist "capitalist-roaders." The Sino-Soviet Split resulted in divisions amongst communist parties around the world. Notably, the Party of Labour of Albania sided with the People's Republic of China. Effectively, the CPC under Mao's leadership became the rallying forces of a parallel international Communist tendency. The ideology of CPC, Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought (generally referred to as 'Maoism'), was adopted by many of these groups.
After Mao's death and his replacement by Deng Xiaoping, the international Maoist movement diverged. One sector accepted the new leadership in China; a second renounced the new leadership and reaffirmed their commitment to Mao's legacy; and a third renounced Maoism altogether and aligned with Albania.
Another variant of anti-revisionist Marxism-Leninism appeared after the ideological row between the Communist Party of China and the Party of Labour of Albania in 1978. The Albanians rallied a new separate international tendency. This tendency would demarcate itself by a strict defense of the legacy of Joseph Stalin and fierce criticism of virtually all other Communist groupings as revisionism. Critical of the United States, Soviet Union, and China, Enver Hoxha declared the latter two to be social-imperialist and condemned the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia by withdrawing from the Warsaw Pact in response. Hoxha declared Albania to be the world's only Marxist-Leninist state after 1978. The Albanians were able to win over a large share of the Maoists, mainly in Latin America such as the Popular Liberation Army, but also had a significant international following in general. This tendency has occasionally been labeled as 'Hoxhaism' after him.
After the fall of the Communist government in Albania, the pro-Albanian parties are grouped around an international conference and the publication 'Unity and Struggle'.
Elements of Titoism are characterized by policies and practices based on the principle that in each country, the means of attaining ultimate communist goals must be dictated by the conditions of that particular country, rather than by a pattern set in another country. During Tito’s era, this specifically meant that the communist goal should be pursued independently of (and often in opposition to) the policies of the Soviet Union.
The term was originally meant as a pejorative, and was labeled by Moscow as a heresy during the period of tensions between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia known as the Informbiro period from 1948 to 1955.
Unlike the rest of East Europe, which fell under Stalin's influence post-World War II, Yugoslavia, due to the strong leadership of Marshal Tito and the fact that the Yugoslav Partisans liberated Yugoslavia with only limited help from the Red Army, remained independent from Moscow. It became the only country in the Balkans to resist pressure from Moscow to join the Warsaw Pact and remained "socialist, but independent" right up until the collapse of Soviet socialism in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Throughout his time in office, Tito prided himself on Yugoslavia's independence from Russia, with Yugoslavia never accepting full membership of the Comecon and Tito's open rejection of many aspects of Stalinism as the most obvious manifestations of this.
Since the early 1970s, the term Eurocommunism was used to refer to moderate, reformist Communist parties in western Europe. These parties did not support the Soviet Union and denounced its policies. Such parties were politically active and electorally significant in Italy (PCI), France (PCF), and Spain (PCE).
Council communism is a far-left movement originating in Germany and the Netherlands in the 1920s. Its primary organization was the Communist Workers Party of Germany (KAPD). Council communism continues today as a theoretical and activist position within both left-wing Marxism and libertarian socialism.
The central argument of council communism, in contrast to those of social democracy and Leninist Communism, is that democratic workers' councils arising in the factories and municipalities are the natural form of working class organisation and governmental power. This view is opposed to both the reformist and the Leninist ideologies, with their stress on, respectively, parliaments and institutional government (i.e., by applying social reforms), on the one hand, and vanguard parties and participative democratic centralism on the other).
The core principle of council communism is that the government and the economy should be managed by workers' councils composed of delegates elected at workplaces and recallable at any moment. As such, council communists oppose state-run authoritarian "State socialism"/"State capitalism". They also oppose the idea of a "revolutionary party", since council communists believe that a revolution led by a party will necessarily produce a party dictatorship. Council communists support a worker's democracy, which they want to produce through a federation of workers' councils. Council communism (and other types of "anti-authoritarian and Anti-leninist Marxism" such as Autonomism) are often viewed as being similar to Anarchism because they criticize Leninist ideologies for being authoritarian and reject the idea of a vanguard party.
Luxemburgism, based on the writing of Rosa Luxemburg, is an interpretation of Marxism which, while supporting the Russian Revolution, as Luxemburg did, agrees with her criticisms of the politics of Lenin and Trotsky; she did not see their concept of "democratic centralism" as democracy.
The chief tenets of Luxemburgism are commitment to democracy and the necessity of the revolution taking place as soon as possible. In this regard, it is similar to Council Communism, but differs in that, for example, Luxemburgists don't reject elections by principle. It resembles anarchism in its insistence that only relying on the people themselves as opposed to their leaders can avoid an authoritarian society, but differs in that it sees the importance of a revolutionary party, and mainly the centrality of the working class in the revolutionary struggle. It resembles Trotskyism in its opposition to the totalitarianism of Stalinist government while simultaneously avoiding the reformist politics of modern Social Democracy, but differs from Trotskyism in arguing that Lenin and Trotsky also made undemocratic errors.
Luxemburg's idea of democracy, which Stanley Aronowitz calls "generalized democracy in an unarticulated form", represents Luxemburgism's greatest break with "mainstream communism", since it effectively diminishes the role of the Communist Party, but is in fact very similar to the views of Karl Marx ("The emancipation of the working classes must be conquered by the working classes themselves"). According to Aronowitz, the vagueness of Luxembourgian democracy is one reason for its initial difficulty in gaining widespread support. However, since the fall of the Soviet Union, Luxemburgism has been seen by some socialist thinkers as a way to avoid the totalitarianism of Stalinism. Early on, Luxemburg attacked undemocratic tendencies present in the Russian Revolution.
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In 1992, Juche replaced Marxism-Leninism in the revised North Korean constitution as the official state ideology, this being a response to the Sino-Soviet split. Juche was originally defined as a creative application of Marxism-Leninism, but after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union (North Korea’s greatest economic benefactor), all reference to Marxism-Leninism was dropped in the revised 1998 constitution. The establishment of the Songun doctrine in the mid-1990s has formally designated the military, not the proletariat or working class, as the main revolutionary force in North Korea. All reference to communism had been dropped in the 2009 revised constitution.
According to Kim Jong-il's On the Juche Idea, the application of Juche in state policy entails the following:
- The people must have independence (chajusong) in thought and politics, economic self-sufficiency, and self-reliance in defense.
- Policy must reflect the will and aspirations of the masses and employ them fully in revolution and construction.
- Methods of revolution and construction must be suitable to the situation of the country.
- The most important work of revolution and construction is molding people ideologically as communists and mobilizing them to constructive action.
Prachanda Path refers to the ideological line of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). This thought doesn't make an ideological break with Marxism, Leninism and Maoism but it is an extension of these ideologies totally based on home-ground politics of Nepal. The doctrine came into existence after it was realized that the ideology of Marxism, Leninism and Maoism couldn't be practiced completely as it were done in the past. And an ideology suitable, based on the ground reality of Nepalese politics was adopted by the party.
After five years of armed struggle, the party realized that none of the proletarian revolutions of the past could be carried out on Nepal’s context. So moving further ahead than Marxism, Leninism and Maoism, the party determined its own ideology, Prachanda Path.
Having analyzed the serious challenges and growing changes in the global arena, the party started moving on its own doctrine. Prachanda Path in essence is a different kind of uprising, which can be described as the fusion of a protracted people’s war strategy which was adopted by Mao in China and the Russian model of armed revolution. Most of the Maoist leaders think that the adoption of Prachanda Path after the second national conference is what nudged the party into moving ahead with a clear vision ahead after five years of ‘people’s war’.
Senior Maoist leader Mohan Vaidya alias Kiran says, ‘Just as Marxism was born in Germany, Leninism in Russia and Maoism in China and Prachanda Path is Nepal’s identity of revolution. Just as Marxism has three facets- philosophy, political economy and scientific socialism, Prachanda Path is a combination of all three totally in Nepal’s political context.’ Talking about the party’s philosophy, Maoist chairman Prachanda says, ‘The party considers Prachanda path as an enrichment of Marxism, Leninism and Maoism.’ After the party brought forward its new doctrine, the government was trying to comprehend the new ideology, Prachanda Path.
see also: 'People's Revolution' In Nepal
The dominant forms of communism, such as Leninism, Trotskyism and Maoism, are based on Marxism, but non-Marxist versions of communism (such as Christian communism and anarchist communism) also exist and are growing in importance since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Some of Marx's contemporaries espoused similar ideas, but differed in their views of how to reach to a classless society. Following the split between those associated with Marx and Mikhail Bakunin at the First International, the anarchists formed the International Workers Association. Anarchists argued that capitalism and the state were inseparable and that one could not be abolished without the other. Anarchist-communists such as Peter Kropotkin theorized an immediate transition to one society with no classes. Anarcho-syndicalism became one of the dominant forms of anarchist organization, arguing that labor unions, as opposed to Communist parties, are the organizations that can change society. Consequently, many anarchists have been in opposition to Marxist communism to this day.
Anarchist communists propose that the freest form of social organisation would be a society composed of self-governing communes with collective use of the means of production, organized by direct democracy, and related to other communes through federation. However, some anarchist communists oppose the majoritarian nature of direct democracy, feeling that it can impede individual liberty and favor consensus democracy.
Christian communism is a form of religious communism centered on Christianity. It is a theological and political theory based upon the view that the teachings of Jesus Christ urge Christians to support communism as the ideal social system. Christian communists trace the origins of their practice to teachings in the New Testament, such as this one from Acts of the Apostles at chapter 2 and verses 42, 44, and 45:
42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and in fellowship [...] 44 And all that believed were together, and had all things in common; 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. (King James Version)
Christian communism can be seen as a radical form of Christian socialism. Also, due to the fact that many Christian communists have formed independent stateless communes in the past, there is also a link between Christian communism and Christian anarchism. Christian communists may or may not agree with various parts of Marxism.
Christian communists also share some of the political goals of Marxists, for example replacing capitalism with socialism, which should in turn be followed by communism at a later point in the future. However, Christian communists sometimes disagree with Marxists (and particularly with Leninists) on the way a socialist or communist society should be organized.
Karl Heinrich Marx saw primitive communism as the original, hunter-gatherer state of humankind from which it arose. For Marx, only after humanity was capable of producing surplus, did private property develop.
In the history of Western thought, certain elements of the idea of a society based on common ownership of property can be traced back to ancient times . Examples include the Spartacus slave revolt in Rome. The fifth century Mazdak movement in what is now Iran has been described as "communistic" for challenging the enormous privileges of the noble classes and the clergy, criticizing the institution of private property and for striving for an egalitarian society.
At one time or another, various small communist communities existed, generally under the inspiration of Scripture. In the medieval Christian church, for example, some monastic communities and religious orders shared their land and other property (see religious communism and Christian communism). These groups often believed that concern with private property was a distraction from religious service to God and neighbor.
Communist thought has also been traced back to the work of 16th century English writer Thomas More. In his treatise Utopia (1516), More portrayed a society based on common ownership of property, whose rulers administered it through the application of reason. In the 17th century, communist thought arguably surfaced again in England. In 17th century England, a Puritan religious group known as the Diggers advocated the abolition of private ownership of land. Eduard Bernstein, in his 1895 Cromwell and Communism argued that several groupings in the English Civil War, especially the Diggers espoused clear communistic, agrarian ideals, and that Oliver Cromwell's attitude to these groups was at best ambivalent and often hostile.
Criticism of the idea of private property continued into the Age of Enlightenment of the 18th century, through such thinkers as Jean Jacques Rousseau in France. Later, following the upheaval of the French Revolution, communism emerged as a political doctrine. François Noël Babeuf, in particular, espoused the goals of common ownership of land and total economic and political equality among citizens.
Various social reformers in the early 19th century founded communities based on common ownership. But unlike many previous communist communities, they replaced the religious emphasis with a rational and philanthropic basis. Notable among them were Robert Owen, who founded New Harmony in Indiana (1825), and Charles Fourier, whose followers organized other settlements in the United States such as Brook Farm (1841–47). Later in the 19th century, Karl Marx described these social reformers as "utopian socialists" to contrast them with his program of "scientific socialism" (a term coined by Friedrich Engels). Other writers described by Marx as "utopian socialists" included Saint-Simon.
In its modern form, communism grew out of the socialist movement of 19th century Europe. As the Industrial Revolution advanced, socialist critics blamed capitalism for the misery of the proletariat — a new class of urban factory workers who labored under often-hazardous conditions. Foremost among these critics were the German philosopher Karl Marx and his associate Friedrich Engels. In 1848, Marx and Engels offered a new definition of communism and popularized the term in their famous pamphlet The Communist Manifesto. Engels, who lived in Manchester, observed the organization of the Chartist movement (see History of British socialism), while Marx departed from his university comrades to meet the proletariat in France and Germany.
Growth of modern communism
In the late 19th century, Russian Marxism developed a distinct character. The first major figure of Russian Marxism was Georgi Plekhanov. Underlying the work of Plekhanov was the assumption that Russia, less urbanized and industrialized than Western Europe, had many years to go before society would be ready for proletarian revolution to occur, and a transitional period of a bourgeois democratic regime would be required to replace Tsarism with a socialist and later communist society. (EB)
In Russia, the 1917 October Revolution was the first time any party with an avowedly Marxist orientation, in this case the Bolshevik Party, seized state power. The assumption of state power by the Bolsheviks generated a great deal of practical and theoretical debate within the Marxist movement. Marx predicted that socialism and communism would be built upon foundations laid by the most advanced capitalist development. Russia, however, was one of the poorest countries in Europe with an enormous, largely illiterate peasantry and a minority of industrial workers. Marx had explicitly stated that Russia might be able to skip the stage of bourgeoisie capitalism. Other socialists also believed that a Russian revolution could be the precursor of workers' revolutions in the West.
The moderate Mensheviks opposed Lenin's Bolshevik plan for socialist revolution before capitalism was more fully developed. The Bolsheviks' successful rise to power was based upon the slogans "peace, bread, and land" and "All power to the Soviets", slogans which tapped the massive public desire for an end to Russian involvement in the First World War, the peasants' demand for land reform, and popular support for the Soviets.
The usage of the terms "communism" and "socialism" shifted after 1917, when the Bolsheviks changed their name to the Communist Party and installed a single party regime devoted to the implementation of socialist policies under Leninism. The Second International had dissolved in 1916 over national divisions, as the separate national parties that composed it did not maintain a unified front against the war, instead generally supporting their respective nation's role. Lenin thus created the Third International (Comintern) in 1919 and sent the Twenty-one Conditions, which included democratic centralism, to all European socialist parties willing to adhere. In France, for example, the majority of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) party split in 1921 to form the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC). Henceforth, the term "Communism" was applied to the objective of the parties founded under the umbrella of the Comintern. Their program called for the uniting of workers of the world for revolution, which would be followed by the establishment of a dictatorship of the proletariat as well as the development of a socialist economy. Ultimately, if their program held, there would develop a harmonious classless society, with the withering away of the state.
During the Russian Civil War (1918–1922), the Bolsheviks nationalized all productive property and imposed a policy of war communism, which put factories and railroads under strict government control, collected and rationed food, and introduced some bourgeois management of industry. After three years of war and the 1921 Kronstadt rebellion, Lenin declared the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1921, which was to give a "limited place for a limited time to capitalism." The NEP lasted until 1928, when Joseph Stalin achieved party leadership, and the introduction of the first Five Year Plan spelled the end of it. Following the Russian Civil War, the Bolsheviks formed in 1922 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), or Soviet Union, from the former Russian Empire.
Following Lenin's democratic centralism, the Communist parties were organized on a hierarchical basis, with active cells of members as the broad base; they were made up only of elite cadres approved by higher members of the party as being reliable and completely subject to party discipline.
After World War II, Communists consolidated power in Eastern Europe, and in 1949, the Communist Party of China (CPC) led by Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China, which would later follow its own ideological path of Communist development. Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Angola, and Mozambique were among the other countries in the Third World that adopted or imposed a pro-Communist government at some point. Although never formally unified as a single political entity, by the early 1980s almost one-third of the world's population lived in Communist states, including the former Soviet Union and People's Republic of China. By comparison, the British Empire had ruled up to one-quarter of the world's population at its greatest extent.
Communist states such as the Soviet Union and China succeeded in becoming industrial and technological powers, challenging the capitalists' powers in the arms race and space race and military conflicts.
Cold War years
By virtue of the Soviet Union's victory in the Second World War in 1945, the Soviet Army had occupied nations in both Eastern Europe and East Asia; as a result, communism as a movement spread to many new countries. This expansion of communism both in Europe and Asia gave rise to a few different branches of its own, such as Maoism.
Communism had been vastly strengthened by the winning of many new nations into the sphere of Soviet influence and strength in Eastern Europe. Governments modeled on Soviet Communism took power with Soviet assistance in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland, Hungary and Romania. A Communist government was also created under Marshal Tito in Yugoslavia, but Tito's independent policies led to the expulsion of Yugoslavia from the Cominform, which had replaced the Comintern. Titoism, a new branch in the world communist movement, was labeled deviationist. Albania also became an independent Communist nation after World War II.
By 1950, the Chinese Communists held all of Mainland China, thus controlling the most populous nation in the world. Other areas where rising Communist strength provoked dissension and in some cases led to actual fighting through conventional and guerrilla warfare include the Korean War, Laos, many nations of the Middle East and Africa, and notably succeeded in the case of the Vietnam War against the military power of the United States and its allies. With varying degrees of success, Communists attempted to unite with nationalist and socialist forces against what they saw as Western imperialism in these poor countries.
Fear of communism
With the exception of the Soviet Union's, China's and the Italian resistance movement's great contribution in World War II, communism was seen as a rival, and a threat to western democracies and capitalism for most of the twentieth century. This rivalry peaked during the Cold War, as the world's two remaining superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, polarized most of the world into two camps of nations (characterized in the West as "The Free World" vs. "Behind the Iron Curtain"); supported the spread of their economic and political systems (capitalism and democracy vs. communism); strengthened their military power, developed new weapon systems and stockpiled nuclear weapons; competed with each other in space exploration; and even fought each other through proxy client nations.
Near the beginning of the Cold War, on February 9, 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy from Wisconsin accused 205 Americans working in the State Department of being "card-carrying Communists". The fear of communism in the U.S. spurred aggressive investigations and the red-baiting, blacklisting, jailing and deportation of people suspected of following Communist or other left-wing ideology. Many famous actors and writers were put on a "blacklist" from 1950 to 1954, which meant they would not be hired and would be subject to public disdain.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union
In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the Soviet Union and relaxed central control, in accordance with reform policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring). The Soviet Union did not intervene as Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary all abandoned Communist rule by 1990. In 1991, the Soviet Union itself dissolved.
By the beginning of the 21st century, states controlled by Communist parties under a single-party system include the People's Republic of China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, and informally North Korea. Communist parties, or their descendant parties, remain politically important in many countries. President Dimitris Christofias of Cyprus is a member of the Progressive Party of Working People, but the country is not run under single-party rule. In South Africa, the Communist Party is a partner in the ANC-led government. In India, communists lead the governments of three states, with a combined population of more than 115 million. In Nepal, communists hold a majority in the parliament.
The People's Republic of China has reassessed many aspects of the Maoist legacy; and the People's Republic of China, Laos, Vietnam, and, to a far lesser degree, Cuba have reduced state control of the economy in order to stimulate growth. The People's Republic of China runs Special Economic Zones dedicated to market-oriented enterprise, free from central government control. Several other communist states have also attempted to implement market-based reforms, including Vietnam.
Theories within Marxism as to why communism in Eastern Europe was not achieved after socialist revolutions pointed to such elements as the pressure of external capitalist states, the relative backwardness of the societies in which the revolutions occurred, and the emergence of a bureaucratic stratum or class that arrested or diverted the transition press in its own interests. (Scott and Marshall, 2005) Marxist critics of the Soviet Union, most notably Trotsky, referred to the Soviet system, along with other Communist states, as "degenerated" or "deformed workers' states", arguing that the Soviet system fell far short of Marx's communist ideal and he claimed the working class was politically dispossessed. The ruling stratum of the Soviet Union was held to be a bureaucratic caste, but not a new ruling class, despite their political control. Anarchists who adhere to Participatory economics claim that the Soviet Union became dominated by powerful intellectual elites who in a capitalist system crown the proletariat’s labor on behalf of the bourgeoisie.
Non-Marxists, in contrast, have often applied the term to any society ruled by a Communist Party and to any party aspiring to create a society similar to such existing nation-states. In the social sciences, societies ruled by Communist Parties are distinct for their single party control and their socialist economic bases. While some social and political scientists applied the concept of "totalitarianism" to these societies, others identified possibilities for independent political activity within them, and stressed their continued evolution up to the point of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and its allies in Eastern Europe during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
A diverse array of writers and political activists have published criticism of communism, such as:
- Soviet bloc dissidents Lech Wałęsa, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Václav Havel;
- Social theorists Hannah Arendt, Raymond Aron, Ralf Dahrendorf, Seymour Martin Lipset, and Karl Wittfogel;
- Economists Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, and Milton Friedman;
- Historians and social scientists Robert Conquest, Stéphane Courtois, Richard Pipes, and R. J. Rummel;
- Anti-Stalinist leftists Ignazio Silone, George Orwell, Saul Alinsky, Richard Wright, Arthur Koestler, and Bernard-Henri Levy;
- Russian-born novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand
- Philosophers Leszek Kołakowski and Karl Popper.
Part of this criticism is on the policies adopted by one-party states ruled by Communist parties (known as "Communist states"). Critics are specially focused on their economic performance compared to market based economies. Their human rights records are thought to be responsible for the flight of refugees from communist states, and are alleged by some scholars to be responsible for famines, purges and warfare resulting in deaths far in excess of previous empires, capitalist or Axis regimes.
Some writers, such as Courtois, argue that the actions of Communist states were the inevitable (though sometimes unintentional) result of Marxist principles; thus, these authors present the events occurring in those countries, particularly under Stalin and Mao, as an argument against Marxism itself. Some critics were former Marxists, such as Wittfogel, who applied Marx's concept of "Oriental despotism" to Communist states such as the Soviet Union, Silone, Wright and Koestler (among other writers) who contributed essays to the book The God that Failed (the title refers not to the Christian God but to Marxism). Czesław Miłosz, author of the influential essay The Captive Mind, was an example of a sceptic holding a party post, that of cultural attaché.
There have also been more direct criticisms of Marxism, such as criticisms of the labor theory of value or Marx's predictions. Nevertheless, Communist parties outside of the Warsaw Pact, such as the Communist parties in Western Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa, differed greatly.
Economic criticisms of communal and/or government property are described under criticisms of socialism.
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- ^ This poster has been jokingly referred to as "The History of Shaving" Stefan Landsberger's Chinese Propaganda Poster Pages-Ideological Foundations
- ^ http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSEO253213
- ^ Marshall, Peter. "Demanding the Impossible — A History of Anarchism" p. 9. Fontana Press, London, 1993 ISBN 978-0-00-686245-1
- ^ Puente, Isaac."Libertarian Communism". The Cienfuegos Press Anarchist Review. Issue 6 Orkney 1982.
- ^ Graeber, David and Grubacic, Andrej. Anarchism, Or The Revolutionary Movement Of The Twenty-first Century.
- ^ "Historical Background for Spartacus". Vroma.org. http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/spartacus.html. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
- ^ The Cambridge History of Iran Volume 3, The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Period, edited by Ehsan Yarshater, Parts 1 and 2, p1019, Cambridge University Press (1983)
- ^ a b c d "Communism." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
- ^ Eduard Bernstein: Cromwell and Communism (1895)
- ^ Eduard Bernstein, (1895). Kommunistische und demokratisch-sozialistische Strömungen während der englischen Revolution, J.H.W. Dietz, Stuttgart. OCLC 36367345 Sources available at Eduard Bernstein: Cromwell and Communism (1895) at www.marxists.org.
- ^ "Communism" A Dictionary of Sociology. John Scott and Gordon Marshall. Oxford University Press 2005. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.
- ^ Marc Edelman, "Late Marx and the Russian road: Marx and the 'Peripheries of Capitalism'" - book reviews. Monthly Review, Dec., 1984. Late Marx and the Russian road: Marx and the "Peripheries of Capitalism." - book reviews Monthly Review Find Articles at BNET at www.findarticles.com.
- ^ Norman Davies. "Communism" The Oxford Companion to World War II. Ed. I. C. B. Dear and M. R. D. Foot. Oxford University Press, 2001.
- ^ Hildreth, Jeremy (2005-06-14). "The British Empire's Lessons for Our own". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB111870387824258558.html. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
- ^ Adams, John G. (1983). Without Precedent. New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton & Company. p. 285. ISBN 0-393-01616-1.
- ^ Georgakas, Dan (1992). "The Hollywood Blacklist". Encyclopedia of the American Left. University of Illinois Press.
- ^ "Nepal's election The Maoists triumph Economist.com". Economist.com. 2008-04-17. http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11057207&fsrc=nwl. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
- ^ H. Gordon Skilling (April 1966). [Expression error: Missing operand for > "Interest Groups and Communist Politics"]. World Politics 18 (3): 435–451. doi:10.2307/2009764. ?UNIQ3ab34e171166e61b-HTMLCommentStrip7c7dfbc41ccbeb7000000002
- ^ J. Arch Getty (1985). Origins of the Great Purges: The Soviet Communist Party Reconsidered: 1933–1938. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-33570-6.
- ^ Rosefielde, Steven (2009). Red Holocaust. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-77757-5.
- ^ Daniel Jonah Goldhagen. Worse Than War: Genocide, Eliminationism, and the Ongoing Assault on Humanity. PublicAffairs, 2009. ISBN 1586487698 p. 54: "...in the past century communist regimes, led and inspired by the Soviet Union and China, have killed more people than any other regime type."
- ^ Benjamin A. Valentino. Final Solutions: Mass Killing and Genocide in the Twentieth Century. Cornell University Press, 2004. p.91 ISBN 0801439655
- ^ Nicolas Werth, Karel Bartošek, Jean-Louis Panne, Jean-Louis Margolin, Andrzej Paczkowski, Stéphane Courtois, The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression, Harvard University Press, 1999, hardcover, 858 pages, ISBN 978-0-674-07608-2
- ^ Wittfogel, Karl Oriental Despotism, Vintage, 1981
- ^ Crossman, Richard, ed., The God That Failed. Harper & Bros, 1949
- ^ Czeslaw Milosz, Poet and Nobelist Who Wrote of Modern Cruelties, Dies at 93, The New York Times, accessed 3 January 2010.
- Reason in Revolt: Marxism and Modern Science By Alan Woods and Ted Grant
- Forman, James D., "Communism from Marx's Manifesto to 20th century Reality", New York, Watts. 1972. ISBN 978-0-531-02571-0
- Books on Communism, Socialism and Trotskyism
- Furet, Francois, Furet, Deborah Kan (Translator), "The Passing of an Illusion: The Idea of Communism in the Twentieth Century", University of Chicago Press, 2000, ISBN 978-0-226-27341-9
- Daniels, Robert Vincent, "A Documentary History of Communism and the World: From Revolution to Collapse", University Press of New England, 1994, ISBN 978-0-87451-678-4
- Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels, "Communist Manifesto", (Mass Market Paperback - REPRINT), Signet Classics, 1998, ISBN 978-0-451-52710-3
- Dirlik, Arif, "Origins of Chinese Communism", Oxford University Press, 1989, ISBN 978-0-19-505454-5
- Beer, Max, "The General History of Socialism and Social Struggles Volumes 1 & 2", New York, Russel and Russel, Inc. 1957
- Adami, Stefano, 'Communism', in Encyclopedia of Italian Literary Studies, ed. Gaetana Marrone - P.Puppa, Routledge, New York- London, 2006
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Communism|
|Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Communism|
|Look up communism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.|
- European Parliament resolution on European conscience and totalitarianism
- In Defense of Marxism
- Anarchy Archives Includes the works of anarchist communists.
- Libertarian Communist Library
- Marxists Internet Archive
- The Mu Particle in "Communism", a short etymological essay by Wu Ming.
- Open Society Archives, one of the biggest history of communism and cold war archives in the world.
- Islam and Communism | <urn:uuid:93baa9c6-f802-404a-b2f0-f7525715ede9> | {
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Date: August 18, 1995
Creator: Riva, Joseph P
Description: Deficient productive capacity has not yet caused an oil crisis, but that does not mean it never will. Significant increases in world oil demand will have to be met primarily from Persian Gulf supplies. This is a region with a history of wars, illegal occupations, soups, revolutions, sabotage, terrorism, and oil embargoes. To these possibilities may be added growing Islamist movements with various antipathies to the West. If oil production were constrained, oil prices could rise abruptly along with adverse world economic repercussions. If the IEA and EIA are correct on the demand side, deficient world oil productive capacity could cause an oil crisis within 15 years and political disruptions in Saudi Arabia could cause one sooner. However, if the increases in world oil demand were more moderate, and there is long-term relative peace in the Middle East, with increasing foreign participation in upstream oil activities, a business as usual world oil demand and supply situation would be a likely scenario for much of the next century.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department | <urn:uuid:fbfb52c6-dd2b-4512-a2cc-518f9fc83fda> | {
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Date: January 2011
Creator: National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling (U.S.)
Description: On May 22, 2010, President Barack Obama announced the creation of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling: an independent,nonpartisan entity, directed to provide a thorough analysis and impartial judgment. The President charged the Commission to determine the causes of the disaster, and to improve the country’s ability to respond to spills, and to recommend reforms to make offshore energy production safer. This report is the result of an intense six-month effort to fulfill the President’s charge. The Commission’s report offers the President, policymakers, industry, and the American people the fullest account available of the largest oil spill in U.S history: the context for the well itself, how the explosion and spill happened, and how industry and government scrambled to respond to an unprecedented emergency.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department | <urn:uuid:6bec1810-5075-4f94-ac1b-5d631bd10b3d> | {
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E.J. Campbell High School; Prior to 1903 African American children in Nacogdoches were taught at two different locations by Will Sanders, Peyton Edwards Walton, Sr., and T. C. Ayers. In 1903, the schools were combined and moved to a building on Shawnee Street to create the Nacogdoches Colored School. This building, which is still standing on Shawnee Street, educated African American children of all grades. In 1937, the school board voted to change the name to E.J. Campbell School in honor of a former principal. The building continued to educate all grade levels until 1954 at which time high school students moved into a new building across the street. The high school became known as E.J. Campbell High School and the old building became Emaline Carpenter Elementary School. From 1965 to 1969, NISD offered a “freedom of choice” plan with schools becoming fully integrated in the 1970-71 school year.
This item may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. It is available for non-commercial research and education. For permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the East Texas Research Center at [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:b8f394a1-a4f9-4947-ace0-07a2bf5f4f9f> | {
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Date of Award
Master of Public Health (MPH)
Dr. Frances McCarty - Chair
Dr. Carol Hoban
Postpartum depression is recognized as an important maternal and child health issue. Postpartum depression is the most common perinatal psychiatric disorder and one of the most common complications of childbirth. Studies show prevalence rates in women ranging from 10% to 25%. Postpartum depression affects the emotional wellbeing of mothers, infant behavior, mother-infant bonding, and marital relationships. However, the majority of women who experience postpartum depression do not seek care. The purpose of this analysis is to examine the demographic differences between women in Georgia who report symptoms of postpartum depression but do not seek care, versus women who report postpartum depression symptoms and seek care. Approximately 15% of respondents in this study reported postpartum depression. Of these women, approximately 80% did not seek care for their symptoms. This analysis found that women with the following characteristics were more likely to not seek care for depression: non-White and Hispanic women; women that were uninsured before their pregnancy; women that had their prenatal care paid for by Medicaid or the Military; and women who did not seek care for depression during their pregnancy. The results of this study may help to guide the implementation of public health interventions among postpartum women in Georgia.
Tennyson, Sarah Elizabeth, "An Analysis of Postpartum Depression and Care Seeking Behaviors in Georgia" (2009). Public Health Theses. Paper 120. | <urn:uuid:858c54dc-05f7-46e2-ad6b-44e38e983855> | {
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How to Create an Aerial Panorama from Google Earth
Peter Murphy (one of the leading lights in the panoramic world) sent us a email on Monday with the thought of creating panoramas from a Digital Earth. The concept is simple - grab a series of screen shots while rotating above the earth and then stitch the images as if they were normal photographs.
A day is a long time in Internet based tutorials and this is now an update of the original as a result of Gaby, a digital urban reader, writing a kmz tool to dramatically simplify the process of capturing screen shots. The whole process should take approximately 40 minutes.
The first step is to go to Gabys Kmz Panorama Capture Tool and type in the Lat/Long of the location you want to capture - in our case above the Millennium Dome in London.
To create panoramas it is important to rotate the camera around the nodal point of the lens in order to minimise any parallax error as the scene is captured. Previous to Gaby's tool the best way was to use the 'Flight Simulator Mode' by clicking 'Ctrl-G'. Combining this with a 'left mouse click and drag' action you can look around the scene and thus simulate a panoramic camera.
You can now simply load up the kmz file which is output from your Lat/Long co-ordinates and a series of placemarks are presented in the Google Earth, each representing camera locations. Select each placemark and wait for the streaming in Google Earth to reach 100%, now use File - 'Save Image' and call your image image1.jpg. Go through this for each placemark and you should end up with 28 images, each saved in sequence - ie image 1.jpg to image 29.jpg.
Once you have your numbered screengrabs you now need to stitch them, we used Stitcher from RealViz, you can download a trial version from the RealViz website. If you are a PTGui user we have created a Template to automatically stitch your images. Download the Template and follow these steps:
1) Open PTGui and click Select Source Images - Navigate to where you saved your screengrabs and select all of them.
2) A Camera Lens Dialoge will appear, simply click 'Cancel'. Your images will then load into PTGui.
3) Click File 'Apply Template' and select the location of the GoogleEarthTemplate.pts saved from above.
Your images will now automatically align, you can now complete the process by selecting the 'Advanced' button in the top right hand side of PTGui and then 'Create Panorama'. Save your panorama as a Tif, we normally output at 6000x3000 pixels. Advanced users of PTGui can add their own Control Points and stitch as normal, lens parameters should be 30mm Rectilinear.
To stitch the images you can also use the AutoStitch feature of RealViz to simply load in the images and automatically create a panorama. It should be noted that the curve of the earth will not stitch perfectly due to parallax error resulting from the Flight Simulator mode of Google Earth, the image left illustrates this (click for a larger version).
Fixing the parallax's error is simply a case of slightly cropping off the top of the resulting panorama to give us the image as below, this applies to both PTGui and Realviz Stitcher outputs:
As Google Earth doesn't include clouds we can now add them in as a new layer in photoshop. We used a panoramic image of clouds from TurboSquid, these used to be free but are now $5 each. If you don't have a cloud panorama then you can always create your own using Terragen, there is a great tutorial on how to do this here.
Adding the clouds gives you the final panorama over London (click for a larger view) :
Changing the projection of the resulting image allows a number of views such a hyperbolic image of London from Google Earth:
Finally to create a Quicktime Virtual Reality scene from the image - so you can look around the panorama - download Pano2QTVR.
The resulting QTVR can be viewed here (2.8Mb).
Of note in the final scene is how the Google copyright crops up in various places in the image. This is due to each screengrab containing the Google overlay and depending on the overlaps some are automatically blended out in RealViz and some remain... *update - using PTGui all copyright seems to be removed, this opens up the question on the legality of creating panoramas? *
Peter has used NASA's Worldwind to the same effect, see here for his panorama of the Southern Highlands (Quicktime format).
If you create any panoramas using Google Earth we would love to hear from you...
Panoramas submitted so far cover
London, New York, Moscow, Belgium, Paris and Sydney. | <urn:uuid:6ef64edf-60be-4394-860b-b3349ecca1af> | {
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It’s been two years since rumors of mad cows in Texas sank cattle futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange when a woman with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), human mad cow disease, was admitted to an Amarillo hospital.
“The rumor was started, and it’s totally unfounded, that there were cattle with BSE in Texas,” Ted McCollum, beef cattle specialist with the Amarillo office of Texas AgriLife Extension, told the press.
Of course, it’s easy to see how the rumor got started that there were cattle with BSE in Texas since there were cattle with BSE in Texas.
In 2005, the first “home grown” mad cow was found on a Texas ranch whose identity authorities protected. A 12-year-old beef cow used for breeding, she was sent to Champion Pet Food in Waco when she became a downer. The ranch was quarantined while authorities searched for the animal’s offspring and older animals.
Now there are two “mysterious” cases of CJD in McLennan county, Texas says the Waco Tribune-Herald –”a statistical anomaly considering that only one in 1 million people worldwide is affected by the condition in any given year.”
The statistical abnormality is also visible on the Texas Department of State Health Services map on its web site. There have been 144 cases of CJD in Texas since 2000 and 42 of them appear in clusters. If CJD is caused for unknown reasons (sporadic) or is familial, it would not come in clusters.
It has been years since the San Francisco Chronicle reported that 11 restaurants in nine California counties served meat from the first US mad cow, imported from Canada in 2003. A subsequent audit of US slaughterhouses to win back Asian exports which were lost over the cow, found 29 more downers slipped into the food supply because some inspectors “did not believe that they had the authority” to go into their pens. But then Secretary Johanns assured the press the cattle were healthy when they arrived at the slaughterhouse but became suddenly unable to walk for one reason or another.
Authorities also gave up tracing origins of the second homegrown US mad cow, born on an Alabama ranch, whose identity authorities also protected. The trail went cold after seven weeks of investigation of more than three dozen farms, said news reports.
In addition to food risks, unacknowledged mad cow in US beef could also be a risk in dental implants, made from bovine and cadaver sources.
And now there is also a cloud over deer and elk which get a mad cow like disease called chronic wasting disease (CWD). Like mad cow, CWD is caused by a practically indestructible protein called a prion which is not killed by cooking, alcohol, bleach, formaldehyde or radiation.
State Departments of Natural Resources thought the disease was under control after directing hunters to kill “anterless” deer instead of bucks, thinning the herd. Food pantries were beginning to accept venison “donations” again after refusing them. (“It’s perfectly good meat — for someone else to eat,” the hunters seemed to be saying.)
But now the disease is back with a vengeance, causing hunters to fear the other guy’s deer at the processor if not their own, until CWD tests come back, and wives to fear husbands’ bloody laundry.
Prions are transmitted in carrier animals’ urine and in antler velvet says a January article on PLoS One. Worse, they are likely transmitted from mother to offspring says the article, making US authorities’ failure to find the mad cow progeny — and their progeny – more disquieting.
CWD is also taking a toll on deer breeding and hunting lodges, a $4 billion a year industry despite state complaints of deer “overpopulation.” Wisconsin alone has hundreds of state sanctioned deer breeding farms.
Earlier this year, a deer with CWD was found at Heartland Wildlife Ranches in Ethel, Mo., 200 miles northwest of St. Louis. Heartland is an 800-acre lodge surrounded by 8-foot fences where hunters “come from across the country to take aim at trophy animals such as whitetail deer, elk and zebra,” says the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Think Dick Cheney. A three-day hunt for water buffalo costs $4,000.
In addition to threatening Rob Brasher of Salt Lake City, whose family has owned Heartland for two decades, CWD threatens David Wood, who runs the Linn County deer farm 17 miles from Heartland and can no longer sell his “baby deer” for $4,000 to $8,000.
Luckily, federal and state governments are on the mad cow and CWD case — protecting industry from consumers’ rights to know. | <urn:uuid:b6396098-ac73-4516-83ff-a8e3c39aa936> | {
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The sum utility calculates and prints a 16-bit checksum for the named file and the number of 512-byte blocks in the file. It is typically used to look for bad spots, or to validate a file communicated over some transmission line.
The following options are supported:
Use an alternate (machine-dependent) algorithm in computing the checksum.
The following operands are supported:
A path name of a file. If no files are named, the standard input is used.
See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of sum when encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 231 bytes).
See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables that affect the execution of sum: LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE||ATTRIBUTE VALUE|
“Read error” is indistinguishable from end of file on most devices; check the block count.
Portable applications should use cksum(1).
sum and usr/ucb/sum (see sum(1B)) return different checksums. | <urn:uuid:73ff07cb-09a1-46ee-a241-2dd7b2cf7934> | {
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Note: Using access() to check if a user is authorized to e.g. open a file before actually doing so using open() creates a security hole, because the user might exploit the short time interval between checking and opening the file to manipulate it.
Note: I/O operations may fail even when access() indicates that they would succeed, particularly for operations on network filesystems which may have permissions semantics beyond the usual POSIX permission-bit model.
Although Windows supports chmod(), you can only
set the file's read-only flag with it (via the
S_IREAD constants or a corresponding integer value).
All other bits are ignored.
|path, uid, gid)|
|path, uid, gid)|
'..'even if they are present in the directory. Availability: Macintosh, Unix, Windows.
Changed in version 2.3: On Windows NT/2k/XP and Unix, if path is a Unicode object, the result will be a list of Unicode objects.
0666(octal). The current umask value is first masked out from the mode. Availability: Macintosh, Unix.
FIFOs are pipes that can be accessed like regular files. FIFOs exist until they are deleted (for example with os.unlink()). Generally, FIFOs are used as rendezvous between ``client'' and ``server'' type processes: the server opens the FIFO for reading, and the client opens it for writing. Note that mkfifo() doesn't open the FIFO -- it just creates the rendezvous point.
|filename[, mode=0600, device])|
0777(octal). On some systems, mode is ignored. Where it is used, the current umask value is first masked out. Availability: Macintosh, Unix, Windows.
0777(octal). On some systems, mode is ignored. Where it is used, the current umask value is first masked out. Note: makedirs() will become confused if the path elements to create include os.pardir. New in version 1.5.2. Changed in version 2.3: This function now handles UNC paths correctly.
pathconf_namesdictionary. For configuration variables not included in that mapping, passing an integer for name is also accepted. Availability: Macintosh, Unix.
If name is a string and is not known, ValueError is
raised. If a specific value for name is not supported by the
host system, even if it is included in
OSError is raised with errno.EINVAL for the
os.path.join(os.path.dirname(path), result). Availability: Macintosh, Unix.
>>> import os >>> statinfo = os.stat('somefile.txt') >>> statinfo (33188, 422511L, 769L, 1, 1032, 100, 926L, 1105022698,1105022732, 1105022732) >>> statinfo.st_size 926L >>>
Changed in version 2.3: If stat_float_times returns true, the time values are floats, measuring seconds. Fractions of a second may be reported if the system supports that. On Mac OS, the times are always floats. See stat_float_times for further discussion.
On some Unix systems (such as Linux), the following attributes may also be available: st_blocks (number of blocks allocated for file), st_blksize (filesystem blocksize), st_rdev (type of device if an inode device). st_flags (user defined flags for file).
On other Unix systems (such as FreeBSD), the following attributes may be available (but may be only filled out if root tries to use them): st_gen (file generation number), st_birthtime (time of file creation).
On Mac OS systems, the following attributes may also be available: st_rsize, st_creator, st_type.
On RISCOS systems, the following attributes are also available: st_ftype (file type), st_attrs (attributes), st_obtype (object type).
For backward compatibility, the return value of stat() is also accessible as a tuple of at least 10 integers giving the most important (and portable) members of the stat structure, in the order st_mode, st_ino, st_dev, st_nlink, st_uid, st_gid, st_size, st_atime, st_mtime, st_ctime. More items may be added at the end by some implementations. The standard module stat defines functions and constants that are useful for extracting information from a stat structure. (On Windows, some items are filled with dummy values.)
Note: The exact meaning and resolution of the st_atime, st_mtime, and st_ctime members depends on the operating system and the file system. For example, on Windows systems using the FAT or FAT32 file systems, st_mtime has 2-second resolution, and st_atime has only 1-day resolution. See your operating system documentation for details.
Availability: Macintosh, Unix, Windows.
Changed in version 2.2: Added access to values as attributes of the returned object. Changed in version 2.5: Added st_gen, st_birthtime.
True, future calls to stat() return floats, if it is
False, future calls return ints. If newvalue is omitted, return the current setting.
For compatibility with older Python versions, accessing stat_result as a tuple always returns integers.
Changed in version 2.5: Python now returns float values by default. Applications which do not work correctly with floating point time stamps can use this function to restore the old behaviour.
The resolution of the timestamps (that is the smallest possible fraction) depends on the system. Some systems only support second resolution; on these systems, the fraction will always be zero.
It is recommended that this setting is only changed at program startup time in the __main__ module; libraries should never change this setting. If an application uses a library that works incorrectly if floating point time stamps are processed, this application should turn the feature off until the library has been corrected.
For backward compatibility, the return value is also accessible as a tuple whose values correspond to the attributes, in the order given above. The standard module statvfs defines constants that are useful for extracting information from a statvfs structure when accessing it as a sequence; this remains useful when writing code that needs to work with versions of Python that don't support accessing the fields as attributes.
Changed in version 2.2: Added access to values as attributes of the returned object.
None. If given and not
None, prefix is used to provide a short prefix to the filename. Applications are responsible for properly creating and managing files created using paths returned by tempnam(); no automatic cleanup is provided. On Unix, the environment variable TMPDIR overrides dir, while on Windows the TMP is used. The specific behavior of this function depends on the C library implementation; some aspects are underspecified in system documentation. Warning: Use of tempnam() is vulnerable to symlink attacks; consider using tmpfile() (section 14.1.2) instead. Availability: Macintosh, Unix, Windows.
None, then the file's access and modified times are set to the current time. Otherwise, times must be a 2-tuple of numbers, of the form
(atime, mtime)which is used to set the access and modified times, respectively. Whether a directory can be given for path depends on whether the operating system implements directories as files (for example, Windows does not). Note that the exact times you set here may not be returned by a subsequent stat() call, depending on the resolution with which your operating system records access and modification times; see stat(). Changed in version 2.0: Added support for
Nonefor times. Availability: Macintosh, Unix, Windows.
(dirpath, dirnames, filenames).
dirpath is a string, the path to the directory. dirnames is
a list of the names of the subdirectories in dirpath
'..'). filenames is a list of
the names of the non-directory files in dirpath. Note that the
names in the lists contain no path components. To get a full
path (which begins with top) to a file or directory in
If optional argument topdown is true or not specified, the triple for a directory is generated before the triples for any of its subdirectories (directories are generated top down). If topdown is false, the triple for a directory is generated after the triples for all of its subdirectories (directories are generated bottom up).
When topdown is true, the caller can modify the dirnames list in-place (perhaps using del or slice assignment), and walk() will only recurse into the subdirectories whose names remain in dirnames; this can be used to prune the search, impose a specific order of visiting, or even to inform walk() about directories the caller creates or renames before it resumes walk() again. Modifying dirnames when topdown is false is ineffective, because in bottom-up mode the directories in dirnames are generated before dirpath itself is generated.
By default errors from the
os.listdir() call are ignored. If
optional argument onerror is specified, it should be a function;
it will be called with one argument, an OSError instance. It can
report the error to continue with the walk, or raise the exception
to abort the walk. Note that the filename is available as the
filename attribute of the exception object.
os.path.islink(path), and invoke
walk(path)on each directly.
This example displays the number of bytes taken by non-directory files in each directory under the starting directory, except that it doesn't look under any CVS subdirectory:
import os from os.path import join, getsize for root, dirs, files in os.walk('python/Lib/email'): print root, "consumes", print sum(getsize(join(root, name)) for name in files), print "bytes in", len(files), "non-directory files" if 'CVS' in dirs: dirs.remove('CVS') # don't visit CVS directories
In the next example, walking the tree bottom up is essential: rmdir() doesn't allow deleting a directory before the directory is empty:
# Delete everything reachable from the directory named in 'top', # assuming there are no symbolic links. # CAUTION: This is dangerous! For example, if top == '/', it # could delete all your disk files. import os for root, dirs, files in os.walk(top, topdown=False): for name in files: os.remove(os.path.join(root, name)) for name in dirs: os.rmdir(os.path.join(root, name))
New in version 2.3.
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(Acute Bronchitis; Lower Respiratory Tract Infection)
|Bronchi of Lungs|
|Copyright © Nucleus Medical Media, Inc.|
- Acute bronchitis—This is a sudden onset of symptoms. It only lasts a short time and lung function is fully recovered.
- Chronic bronchitis—This is a serious, long-term condition. It causes blockage and damage of the lungs. It is often the result of many years of cigarette smoking.
- Viral or bacterial infections
- Irritation from smoke
Breathing in certain irritants (usually in a work setting) such as:
- Vegetable dusts
- Increased sputum production
- Trouble breathing
to treat pain and fever
- Note: Aspirin is not recommended for children or teens with a current or recent viral infection. This is because of the risk of Reye's syndrome. Ask your doctor which other medicines are safe for your child.
Expectorants or cough suppressants
- There are some concerns about the safety of over-the-counter cough and cold products in children. The FDA recommends that these products not be used in children less than 2 years old. The FDA also supports not using them in children less than 4 years old.
- Albuterol to help open airways if there are signs of breathing difficulty
- Herbs and supplements—Pelargonium sidoides extract may help resolve symptoms in patients with acute bronchitis
- Increased fluid intake
- Cool mist humidifier—to ease breathing
- Avoid contact with people who have respiratory viral or bacterial infections.
- Stop smoking or never start.
- Avoid passive smoke.
- Avoid exposure to irritants in the air.
American Academy of Family Physicians Family Doctor http://familydoctor.org
American Lung Association http://www.lung.org
The Canadian Lung Association http://www.lung.ca
The College of Family Physicians of Canada http://www.cfpc.ca
Acute bronchitis. American Academy of Family Physicians Family Doctor website. Available at: http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/diseases-conditions/acute-bronchitis.html. Updated February 2010. Accessed March 29, 2013.
Acute bronchitis. EBSCO DynaMed website. Available at: http://www.ebscohost.com/dynamed/what.php. Updated February 8, 2013. Accessed March 29, 2013.
Know when antibiotics work: Bronchitis. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/getsmart/antibiotic-use/URI/bronchitis.html. Updated May 1, 2012. Accessed March 29, 2013.
Smith S, Fahey T, et al. Antibiotics for acute bronchitis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2009;CD000245.
Nonprescription cough and cold medicine use in children. Medwatch: 2007 Safety Alerts for Drugs, Biologics, Medical Devices, and Dietary Supplements. US Food and Drug Administration website. Available at: http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm152691.htm. Accessed: March 29, 2013.
1/4/2011 DynaMed's Systematic Literature Surveillance http://www.ebscohost.com/dynamed/what.php: Timmer A, Gunther J, Rucker G, Motschall E, Antes G, Kern WV. Pelargonium sidoides extract for acute respiratory tract infections. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008;(3):CD006323.
- Reviewer: Brian Randall, MD
- Review Date: 02/2013 -
- Update Date: 03/29/2013 - | <urn:uuid:7c2472a9-d684-4a0f-8898-73d975331a5c> | {
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Dragons are creatures with nearly unlimited life spans. They can survive for long periods of time, and no one has found a dragon that has died of old age. Adolescence is usually marked by the growth of a hatchling’s wings, although not all breeds of dragons grow wings and some breeds have other traits that indicate the beginning of maturation. Once they hit adolescence, hatchlings change quickly, maturing to their full forms in only 2 years.
Dragons don’t communicate with each other verbally, but they will growl to scare off predators and frighten prey. Young dragons will emit an extremely high-pitched squeal when they are frightened. To communicate, they use telepathy with each other and to speak to other creatures.
Pygmy dragons are the smallest breed of true dragons, being the size of a small cat. They are often found around concentrated populations of dragons, relying on their larger brethren to ward away potential predators and to leave generous scraps. As such, the majority of a pygmy’s diet is scavenged, though they do hunt songbirds and small mammals when the pickings are slim. Due to their tiny size, pygmies do not breed with other varieties of dragons, but select mates within their breed. | <urn:uuid:898c2021-506f-4f32-b6fd-6a358bca59ac> | {
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The concept of disability has changed significantly through history. At one point, disability was seen as the result of sin, either by the person with the disability or his or her parents. Disability was associated with guilt and shame, and people with disabilities were hidden away.
Merriam-Websterís definition of disability: limitation in the ability to pursue an occupation because of a physical or mental impairment; lack of legal qualification to do something; or a disqualification, restriction or disadvantage. Most of the time, we apply these definitions to a person who ďhasĒ a disability. What if it is society that has the disability, not the individual?
With the advent of modern medicine, a medical understanding of disability developed. In a medical model of disability, the person with a disability is seen as having an illness, which presumably should be cured. The person with a disability, as someone who is sick or diseased, is excused from normal life and responsibilities such as working, family obligations and household maintenance.
The approach of the Social Security Administration supports the idea of disability as something that excludes one from a normal life. To fit the administrationís definition of disability, a person must be able to prove that he or she is incapable of gainful employment. The inference is that by having a disability, one remains outside mainstream society.
Yet there is another way to view disability. This view considers disability as a normal part of life. After all, most of us will have a disability, whether temporary or permanent, at some time in our life. As many people with disabilities will attest, their disabilities are integral to what makes them who they are. It isnít the disability that needs to be changed. The physical and attitudinal barriers people with disabilities face are what need to change.
For example, people who are unable to walk may still be able to move around as much as anyone with the use of wheelchairs and other assistive technology. The inability to use their limbs may be less of a limitation than heavy doors that donít open automatically or stairs that keep them from a building.
Similarly, culture and environment can dictate whether something is a disability. In a culture where healers and shamans regularly interact with a spirit world, hearing voices isnít a disability. Only in societies where reading is essential to daily functioning is a learning disability recognized. In our society, a vision impairment that necessitates wearing glasses isnít considered a disability, but a mobility impairment that requires a person to use a walker is. Disability is defined by context. It follows, then, that what makes something a disability is external to the individual.
If we presumed that people with disabilities were able to live full and enriching lives, participate fully in their communities and have adult responsibilities, couldnít we make it so by removing the societal barriers that we create? When we view disability as a natural part of life, our entire approach to disabilities has to change.
Tara Kiene is the director of case management with Community Connections Inc. | <urn:uuid:77410cee-4537-4925-bfef-b65e28696047> | {
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16 Jun 2008: Report
The Limits of Climate Modeling
As the public seeks answers about the future impacts of climate change, some climatologists are growing increasingly uneasy about the localized predictions they are being asked to make.
Now that the world largely accepts our climate is changing, and that humans are to blame, we all want to know what the future holds for our own backyard. How bad will it get? Flood or drought? Feast or famine? Super-hurricane or Mediterranean balm?
The statisticians and climatologists who brought us the big picture are now under huge pressure to get local. But they are growing increasingly concerned about whether their existing models and computers are up to the job. They organized a summit in Reading, England, in May to discuss their concerns. As Brian Hoskins of Reading University, one of the British government’s top climate advisers, put it: “We’ve worked out the global scale. But that’s the easy problem. We don’t yet understand the smaller scale. The pressure is on for answers, and we can’t wait around for decades.”
Already, policymakers are starting to take at face value model predictions of — to take a few examples — warming of 18 degrees Fahrenheit (7.8 degrees Celsius) or more in Alaska, and super-droughts in the southwestern United States, but little warming at all in central states.
But is the task doable? Some climate modelers say that even with the extraordinary supercomputing power now available, the answer is no. That, by being lured into offering local forecasts for decades ahead, they are setting themselves up for a fall that could undermine the credibility of the climate models.
Lenny Smith, an American statistician now working on climate modeling at the London School of Economics in the United Kingdom, is fearful. “Our models are being over-interpreted and misinterpreted,” he says. “They are getting better; I don't want to trash them. But policy-makers think we know much more than we actually know. We need to drop the pretense that they are nearly perfect.”
There are two areas of concern. First, how accurate are the global models at mimicking atmospheric processes? And second, are they capable of zooming in on particular areas to give reliable pictures of the future where you live?
Nobody much doubts that greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide accumulating in the atmosphere will cause warming. It would be a contradiction of 200 years of physics if they did not. But exactly how much warming will occur — and how it will be distributed across the globe and impact other climatic features like rainfall — depends on feedbacks in the climate system, the oceans, and the natural carbon cycle. The influence of some of these feedbacks is much less clear.
One big issue is the influence of clouds. The models are pretty hopeless at predicting future cloud cover. And we can’t even be sure whether, overall, extra clouds would warm or cool the planet. (Clouds may cool us in the day, but will usually keep us warm at night.) In the language of Donald Rumsfeld, we would call this problem a “known unknown.”
And there may also be “unknown unknowns.” For instance, a paper in Earth and Planetary Science Letters
in March reported finding fossilized ferns in central Siberia that suggest that in the late Cretaceous era, temperatures there were like modern-day Florida. Yet current climate models predict that the area should have had average temperatures around zero Celsius. The British climate modeler involved in the study, Paul Valdes of Bristol University, says this snapshot from the era of the dinosaurs could mean that “the internal physics of our climate models are wrong.” That the models may also be drastically underestimating likely warming in the 21st century.
This uncertainty at the heart of the models seems surprising when the predictions of most global climate models seem to be in agreement. For more than a decade they have estimated that a doubling of carbon dioxide in the air will warm the world by between 1.5 and 4.5 degrees Celsius.
Some experts think the consensus of the models is bogus. “The modelers tend to tweak them to align them. The process is very incestuous,” one leading British analyst on uncertainty in models told me.
Another, Jerry Ravetz, fellow at Oxford University’s James Martin Institute for Science and Civilisation, says: “The modelers are trained to be very myopic, and not to understand the uncertainty within their models. They become very skilled at solving the little problems and ignoring the big ones.”
These are serious charges. But the custodians of the big models say this is really a communications problem between them and the outside world. Gavin Schmidt of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, which runs one of the world’s top climate models, says modelers themselves have a “tacit knowledge” of the uncertainties inherent in their work. But this knowledge rarely surfaces in public discussions, resulting in “an aura of exactitude that can be misleading.”
Steve Rayner, director of the James Martin Institute, says, “What climate models do well is give a broad picture. What they are absolutely lousy at is giving specific forecasts for particular places or times.” And yet that is what modelers are increasingly doing.
At a meeting at Cambridge University in Britain last summer, Larry Smith singled out for criticism the British government's Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, which runs another of the world’s premier climate models. He accuses the Centre of making detailed climate projections for regions of Britain, when global climate models disagree strongly about how climate change will affect the islands.
James Murphy, Hadley’s head of climate prediction, says: “I find it far-fetched that a planner is going to rush off with a climate scientist’s probability distribution and make an erroneous decision because they assumed they could trust some percentile of the distribution to its second decimal point.”
But some say the Hadley Centre invites just such a response in some of its leaflets. One of its reports, “New Science for Managing Climate Risks,” distributed to policymakers at the Bali climate conference last December, included “climate model predictions” forecasting that by 2030 the River Orinoco’s flow will have declined by 18.7 percent, the Zambezi by 34.9 percent, and the Amazon by 13.4 percent.
Many in the modeling community are growing wary of such spurious certainty. Last year, a panel on climate modeling assembled by the UN’s World Climate Research Program under the chairmanship of Jagadish Shukla of the George Mason University at Calverton, Maryland, concluded that current models “have serious limitations in simulating regional features, for example rainfall, mid-latitude storms, organized tropical convection, ocean mixing, and ecosystem dynamics.”
Regional projections, the panel said, “are sufficiently uncertain to compromise the goal of providing society with reliable predictions of regional climate change.” Many of the predictions were “laughable,” according to the panel. Concern is greatest about predicting climate in the tropics, including hurricane formation. This seriously undermines the credence that can be placed on a headline-grabbing prediction in May that the future might see fewer Atlantic hurricanes (albeit sometimes more intense).
This might not matter too much if politicians and policymakers had a healthily skeptical view of climate models. But most do not, a meeting of modelers held in Oxford heard in February. Policymakers often hide behind models and modelers, using them to claim scientific probity for their actions. One speaker likened modern climate modelers to the ancient oracles. “They are part of the tradition of goats’ entrails and tea leaves. They are a way of objectifying advice, cloaking sensible ideas in a false aura of scientific certainty.”
We saw that when European governments at the recent Bali climate conference cited the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as reporting that keeping carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere below 450 parts per million would prevent warming above 2 degrees Celsius. And that that was a “safe” level of warming. Neither statement is in any IPCC reports, and its scientists have repeatedly stated that what might be regarded as a safe degree of warming is ultimately a political and not a scientific question.
None of this should be taken to suggest either that climate models are not valuable tools, or that they are exaggerating the significance of man-made climate change. In fact, they may well inadvertently be under-estimating the pace of change. Most models suggest that climate change in the coming decades will be gradual — a smooth line on a graph. But our growing knowledge of the history of natural climate change suggests that change often happens in sudden leaps.
For instance, there was a huge step-change in the world’s climate 4,200 years ago. Catastrophic droughts simultaneously shattered human societies across the Middle East, India, China, and the interior of North America. “Models have great difficulty in predicting such sudden events, and in explaining them,” says Euan Nisbet of Royal Holloway, the University of London. “But geology tells us that catastrophe has happened in the past, and is likely to happen again.”
As Pasky Pascual of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency put it at the Oxford meeting: “All models are wrong; some are wronger.” But they are our best handle on likely climate change in the coming decades.
Acting on the findings of Shukla’s panel, modelers from around the world met at the summit in Reading in May to “prepare a blueprint to launch a revolution in climate prediction.” They said that to meet the demands for reliable local forecasts they needed more than a thousand times more computing power than they currently have, and called for the establishment of a new billion-dollar global climate modeling center, a “Manhattan Project for climate,” to deliver the goods.
POSTED ON 16 Jun 2008 IN
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and German Socialism
Written by: Hanna C. Sanchez
Rosa Luxemburg was the youngest daughter of a middle class family in Poland. Although she learned about politics from her father who often read from the newspaper and discussed politics with his family, her commitment to socialism emerged only from herself. Originally from Poland, Rosa greatly influenced the Socialist movement in Germany through her writings, ideals, and actions.
Her views of a revolutionary party differed from the classic Leninist beliefs and she is often referred to as the democratic alternative to the authoritarian party. However, Rosa was not an advocate of democracy; rather, she saw democracy as a stepping stone on the path to her socialist revolution. She is the best known revolutionary theorist to actually experience a western revolution, even though the German revolution of 1918-19 ultimately failed. Rosa was an orthodox Marxist and believed the revolution would occur by the working class taking and exercising political power. Furthermore, the workers would have to be educated and possess class-consciousness in order to execute successfully a revolution, and this education would result from their experiences with the government. According to Rosa, the revolution would occur as a series of events in which the forces of capitalism gradually weakened as the workers gained power. Rosa also disagreed with revisionists such as Bernstein in that she felt reforms would serve to educate the proletariat, which in turn would lead to the revolution.
She initially became involved with movements in high school in Warsaw, and continued her involvement in the Polish Social movement after she graduated. Her work was so extensive that in 1889, she heard that the Russian authorities that controlled most of Poland might arrest her. As a result, Rosa decided to leave the country and was smuggled across the border by a Catholic priest. She went to Zurich, Switzerland, which was the center for many eastern European émigrés. At the university in Zurich, Rosa earned her degree of Doctor of Law in 1897 and wrote a thesis on the industrial development of Poland. Her educational background in history and political economics served as the foundation for work after her schooling.
While in Zurich, Rosa became even more involved in the socialist movement. With Leo Jogiches, who became her lover, she co-founded the Polish Social Democratic Party (SDKP). Although the SDKP was not very successful during the 1890s, Rosa became well known throughout the international socialist movement. Members of the nationalistic Polish Socialist Party criticized Rosa for her position that Socialist parties were not interested in Poland’s struggle for independence, and this attracted much attention to her.
In 1898, she married Gustav Lubeck and moved to Berlin. Her marriage was not one of love, as her relationship with Jogiches continued. Rosa’s primary goal was to gain German citizenship through the marriage in order to prevent her deportation as an undesirable alien. In Germany, she became involved with the German Socialist Party (SPD) mainly as an expert on Polish affairs. She was particularly valuable to the SPD since it aimed to establish itself in Polish areas under German control. From the start of her work with the SPD, Rosa made it clear that she did not want to be limited in her work and she maintained a position in the mainstream of German socialist politics.
Rosa achieved a prominent position in the SPD and was widely published. Her main argument during the period of 1899 to 1904 was the necessity of a connection between the daily activity of the trade union movement and the Socialist party and the long-term aim of revolution. However, she had no concrete plans on how to accomplish this. Furthermore, she did not have specific suggestions on how to speed up the path to a revolution nor did she know what form the revolution would take.
The Russian Revolution of 1905 led Rosa to believe that it would radicalize the socialist movement all over Europe and not just in Russia. In her explanations of the Russian Revolution, she mentioned for the first time that bloodshed would be encountered in the revolution. Although she was excited by the Russian Revolution, she was also frustrated by the fact that it was taking place just east of Poland while she was in Germany. Despite her work as a link between Russian and western European socialists, she would have preferred to be in the middle of the revolution that was already taking place.
In March 1906, Rosa was arrested along with Jogiches. Her health worsened while in prison, and her state helped persuade the government to release her on a bail of 3000 rubles. After her release, she received permission to leave Germany and in August went to Finland, stopping by St. Petersburg where she visited Trotsky and Parvus. In Finland, Rosa visited Lenin and wrote The Mass Strike, in which she interpreted the 1905 Russian revolution and demonstrated how the lessons of the events were applicable to all of Europe. Unfortunately, her writings did not have its intended effect since it was presented at a time when most Socialists were no longer willing to discuss a revolution.
Rosa returned to Germany in 1906 and was disappointed to discover that there was little enthusiasm over the Russian Revolution. The party congress in 1906 stated that while there may have been possibilities for a revolution, they no longer were present. Furthermore, she found herself increasingly alone in her opinions in the party. Although the SPD agreed with her that the revolution was not likely to be just one big event, it would not go along with her belief that the revolution would be a series of events.
As a result of the 1905 Revolution, she had refined her beliefs of the revolution. She felt that the economic structure around her was becoming increasingly contradictory and more serious strikes would break out because of the economic situation. These strikes would be countered by governmental opposition and repression, which would educate the workers politically. This would lead to the gradual politicization of the entire strike movement, although the workers’ strategy would still be to economically paralyze the whole country. Although the government would subdue each strike, each strike would reemerge stronger and more determined than the previous one. The series of mass strikes would ultimately undermine the capitalist order as well as educate the proletariat of the course that history was taking. However, most socialist parties disagreed with Rosa’s view of the revolution and the role of mass strikes. They believed that the voters would bring them political power and the trade union movement would provide some economic power.
Rosa’s appeal and popularity reached a pinnacle at the start of 1914. She went on trial for a statement she made the previous year in which she renounced fighting against the French and was subsequently sentenced to one year in prison. Not only did she gain attention through this episode, but Rosa also came to represent the SPD persecuted by the government.
The First World War broke out while she was in prison, and she was surprised by it. The brutality of the war horrified her and she worked with some groups to end the war, even though she did help pass a resolution for those who wanted to use the war to further the revolution. She spent most of WWI in prison and accomplished a great deal of work. Among her writings, Rosa referred to the Russian Revolution as the mightiest event of the World War, but felt that its ultimate effects depended on what western nations afterwards. She criticized the lack of political freedom in the Russian Revolution and the German socialists who would have to incite their own revolution in order for the one in Russia to be effective and prolonged. Rosa acknowledged the possibility of the failure of the revolution and further believed that failure would be better if success would be accomplished with the compromise of principles. Her own group, the Spartacist League, was almost insignificant in the German Revolution of 1918. The revolution took place in Berlin on November 9, the day that Rosa was released from prison.
In January 1919, the Independent Socialists, Communists, and other radicals joined to protest against the government. However, it became apparent that the government would not fall and all groups except the Communists consequently separated themselves from the protest. Rosa led the Spartacist League with Karl Liebknecht and together they became the leaders of the Spartacist Rebellion. They were later arrested after a resistance to the government was suppressed. Rosa was interrogated, beaten, shot, and then thrown into the Landwehr Canal in Berlin.
Rosa became a martyr of socialism as a result of her death at the hands of the government. Even while some of her works were criticized, she was still remembered by both the Socialists and Communists.
Bradley, Michael E. “Rosa Luxemburg’s Theory of the Growth of the Capitalist Economy.” Social Science Quarterly. Vol. 52 (2), 1971. Pgs. 318-330.
Reynolds, David B. “Rediscovering Western Marxism’s Heritage: Rosa Luxemburg and the Role of the Party.” Research and Society. Vol. 3, 1990. Pgs. 1-34.
Richards, Michael D. “Rosa Luxemburg- Heroine of the Left.” History Today. Vol. 22 (2), 1972. Pgs. 103-110.
Weitz, Eric D. “’Rosa Luxemburg Belongs to Us!’ German Communism and the Luxemburg Legacy.” Central European History. Vol. 27 (1), 1994. Pgs. 27-64. | <urn:uuid:99a7d856-54ca-41f1-a684-8c60e9c39628> | {
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Lawrenceville, Georgia (CNN) -- You might recognize prominent primatologist Frans de Waal from lectures he has given about his research on primate behavior, which have been popularized on YouTube.
His face is familiar to chimpanzees, too; some chimps that he knew as babies still recognize him even after decades apart, he said.
"Chimpanzees have the advantage that you cannot ask them questions, so you have to watch (their) behavior to see what they do," says de Waal, director of Emory University's Living Links Center, in his Dutch-accented voice that is both gentle and authoritative.
He adds, with dry humor: "With humans, you can ask questions and you get all sorts of answers I don't trust, so I prefer to work with chimpanzees for that reason."
Living Links is part of the oldest and largest primate center in the United States: The Yerkes National Primate Research Center, a secluded grassy area in suburban Atlanta where humans work in office trailers and other animals play in open-air compounds.
De Waal, who has been at the center for more than 20 years, has made a career out of finding links between primate and human behavior, particularly in the areas of morality and empathy.
You might think of "morality" as special for humans, but there are elements of it that are found in the animal kingdom, says de Waal -- namely, fairness and reciprocity. His latest study, published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that chimpanzees may show some of the same sensibility about fairness that humans do.
The popular belief that the natural world is based on competition is a simplification, de Waal says. The strength of one's immune system, and the ability to find food, are also crucial. And many animals survive by cooperating.
"The struggle for life is not necessarily literally a struggle," he said. "Humans are a highly cooperative species, and we can see in our close relatives where that comes from."
Mammals such as wolves, orcas and elephants need their groups to survive, and empathy and cooperation are survival mechanisms. De Waal discusses these mechanisms in his 2009 book "The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society."
"We think that empathy evolved to take care of others that you need to take care of, especially, of course, between mother and offspring, which is universal in all the mammals," de Waal said.
What it means to be fair
De Waal isn't sure that his monkeys have what a philosopher would call a "concept of justice" in an intellectual sense. But the emotional reactions researchers have observed indicates that there is, at a more basic level, a sense of justice among them.
Among the questions he investigates: If an animal gets more than another, is there is a feeling that this is somehow unjust? And if one shares food with another, is there an expectation of returning the favor?
In a 2008 study, de Waal and colleagues put two capuchin monkeys side by side and gave them a simple task to complete: Giving a rock to the experimenter. They were given cucumbers as a reward for executing the task, and the monkeys obliged. But if one of the monkeys was given grapes, something interesting happened:
As observed in a popular video that de Waal showed in his TED talk, after receiving the first piece of cucumber, the capuchin monkey gives the experimenter a rock as expected. But upon seeing that the other monkey has grapes, the capuchin monkey throws the next piece of cucumber that it is given back at the researcher.
Like children, the monkeys feel they "need to get the same thing as somebody else," de Waal said.
Based on experiments such as these, de Waal came to believe that the sense of fairness observed in monkeys is egocentric. The capuchin monkeys were upset, selfishly, when they didn't get the grapes that their neighbors received. De Waal believed this model of fairness would apply to chimpanzees also. Chimpanzees are so closely related to us that they share 99% of their DNA with humans.
But the new study, which compares chimpanzees to young children, makes de Waal rethink that view.
"Now with this experiment, we are thinking that they have a higher level, where they worry about reward division in general," he said, "and it's now unclear how they differ from humans."
The new study: A human sense of fairness?
In the new study, de Waal and colleagues had chimpanzees and, separately, young children, play an "ultimatum game." This is "the gold standard of fairness for humans" because it has been played all over the world, by people in different cultures, to show that, universally, humans appear to have a sense of fairness.
The basic structure of an ultimatum game is that there are rewards that can be divided between two individuals. One proposes how to divide them and the other accepts or rejects this offer. If the receiver rejects, no rewards are given out.
Human trials have shown that people usually propose a generous division of the goodies, such as half and half or 60% and 40%, de Waal said.
In the version used in the new experiment, six adult chimpanzees and 20 human children, between ages 2 and 7, participated.
The setup was such that a token could be traded for equal rewards for both partners, and a token that would give more goodies to the partner who made the choice.
In some trials, one partner proposes a reward division to the other via a token, and the receiver must accept the token in order for both parties to get rewards. In others, the partner's acceptance is not required.
The researchers found that chimpanzees and children both tended to make decisions about splitting rewards similarly to adult humans. In the situation where the responder could accept or reject the division of rewards, both chimpanzees and children tended to split the rewards with their partners. But when the partner was not given the opportunity to reject the proposal, chimps and kids tended to choose the selfish arrangement -- a token that favored the chooser.
So, does this mean that chimpanzees show the same sense of fairness as humans? Keith Jensen of the University of Manchester, who has conducted similar experiments in the past, isn't so sure. His results did not show that chimpanzees have a sense of fairness.
Jensen is concerned about the results of this new study because it's not clear that the responders knew that they could reject offers. None of the participants, human or chimp, ever rejected the offers of their partners.
"The fact that responders never rejected nonzero offers suggests that they were not sensitive to unfairness but were only motivated by getting food for themselves, regardless of the intentions of the proposers or the consequences for them," he said in an e-mail.
But de Waal said that responders did display negative reactions in response to some offers. Chimps would spit water and the children would say something like "You're getting more than me" in response to a selfish offer. "That indicates that they know what's going on," he said.
Jensen also criticized the design of the experiment because participants were primarily interacting with the researchers, not each other. Although one chimp had to pass a token to the other, this could be just a necessary step to get food, not a sign of agreement with the offer, he said. But de Waal stands by the study.
There are very few studies of this nature on chimpanzees compared to in humans, and more research should be done to explore the nature of the sense of fairness of human relatives.
The secret lives of primates
There's still a lot that humans don't know about their close relatives.
De Waal has made some fascinating inroads, however, including a study showing that chimpanzees can look at the behind of another chimpanzee and match it to the corresponding face, provided it's a chimp they know. This shows that the chimps have "whole-body knowledge," a concept that has not been rigorously tested in humans, he said. The research won him a 2012 Ig Nobel prize, honoring research that is both humorous and thought-provoking, shared with Jennifer Pokorny.
And he has also studied yawn contagion, the phenomenon of one person yawning in response to another person's yawn. Those who are sensitive to yawns tend to be more empathetic people, and friends and family members yawn more with each other than with strangers. This has also been shown in chimpanzees, who will yawn if another chimp they know yawns too.
But de Waal isn't sure, for instance, why three females were patrolling their compound when CNN visited in October. Males, though, have a clear purpose in patrolling: In the wild, they do it to protect their territory, de Waal said. Perhaps, he postulates, the females are mimicking the males.
Chimp males compete with each other regularly, but also come together to repair their relationships, de Waal said. This pattern of behavior is seen in human families and in the workplace -- these cycles of one-upmanship and reconciliation.
"There are many animals who are very good at cooperation, and I'm personally not convinced that we humans are necessarily best at that, but we are very good at it, that's for sure."
His next book, coming out this spring, is called "The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates," which brings together evidence that there are biological roots in human fairness and addresses the role of religion in society. | <urn:uuid:1d1e4a43-648b-4d99-953c-f9c7f6933dae> | {
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Temporal range: 0Ma Recent
|Range of Chinchilla lanigera and Chinchilla chinchilla.
Chinchillas are crepuscular rodents, slightly larger and more robust than ground squirrels, native to the Andes mountains in South America. They live in colonies at high altitudes (up to 15,000 ft/4,270 m). Historically, they lived in the Andes of Bolivia, Chile, and Peru, but today colonies in the wild remain only in Peru and Chile. Along with their relatives, viscachas, they make up the family Chinchillidae.
The animal (whose name literally means "little chincha") is named after the Chincha people of the Andes, who once wore its dense, velvet-like fur. By the end of the 19th century, chinchillas had become quite rare due to hunting for their ultra-soft fur. Most chinchillas currently used by the fur industry for clothing and other accessories are farm-raised.
The two living species of chinchilla are Chinchilla chinchilla (formerly known as Chinchilla brevicaudata) and Chinchilla lanigera. There is little noticeable difference between the species, except C. chinchilla has a shorter tail, a thicker neck and shoulders, and shorter ears than C. lanigera. The former species is currently facing extinction; the latter, though rare, can be found in the wild. Domesticated chinchillas are thought to have come from the C. lanigera species.
In their native habitats, chinchillas live in burrows or crevices in rocks. They are agile jumpers and can jump up to 6 ft (1.8 m). Predators in the wild include birds of prey, skunks, felines, snakes and canines. Chinchillas have a variety of defensive tactics, including spraying urine and releasing fur if bitten. In the wild, chinchillas have been observed eating plant leaves, fruits, seeds, and small insects.
In nature, chinchillas live in social groups that resemble colonies, but are properly called herds. They can breed any time of the year. Their gestation period is 111 days, longer than most rodents. Due to this long pregnancy, chinchillas are born fully furred and with eyes open. Litters are usually small in number, predominantly two.
Roles with humans
The international trade in chinchilla fur goes back to the 16th century. Their fur is popular in the fur trade due to its extremely soft feel, which is caused by the sprouting of 60 hairs from each hair follicle, on average. The color is usually very even, which makes it ideal for small garments or the lining of large garments, though some large garments can be made entirely from the fur. A single, full-length coat made from chinchilla fur may require as many as 150 pelts, as chinchillas are relatively small. Their use for fur led to the extinction of one species, and put serious pressure on the other two. Though it is illegal to hunt wild chinchillas, the wild animals are now on the verge of becoming extinct because of continued illegal hunting. Domesticated chinchillas are still bred for this use.
Chinchillas as pets
Chinchillas require extensive exercise. Their teeth need to be worn down, as they grow continuously and can prevent them from eating if they become overgrown. Wooden sticks, pumice stone and chew toys are good options, but conifer and citrus woods (such as cedar or orange) should be avoided because of the high content of resins, oils and phenols that are toxic for chinchillas. Birch, willow, apple, manzanita or kiln-dried pine woods are all safe for chinchillas to chew.
Chinchillas lack the ability to sweat; therefore, if temperatures get above 25°C (80°F), they could get overheated and may suffer from heat stroke. Chinchillas dissipate heat by routing blood to their large ears, so red ears signal overheating.
Chinchillas can be found in a variety of colors. The only color found in nature is standard gray. The most common other colors are white, black velvet, beige, ebony, violet, and sapphire, and blends of these.
The animals instinctively clean their fur by taking dust baths, in which they roll around in special dust made of fine pumice. In the wild, the dust is formed from fine, ground volcanic rocks. The dust gets into their fur and absorbs oil and dirt. These baths are needed a few times a week. Chinchillas do not bathe in water because the dense fur prevents air-drying, retaining moisture close to the skin, which can cause fungus growth or fur rot. A wet chinchilla must be dried immediately with towels and a no-heat hair dryer. The thick fur resists parasites, such as fleas, and reduces loose dander, making chinchillas hypoallergenic.
Chinchillas eat and drink in very small amounts. In the wild, they eat and digest desert grasses, so cannot efficiently process fatty or high protein foods, or too many green plants. A high quality, hay-based pellet and a constant supply of loose timothy hay will meet all of their dietary needs. Chinchillas' very sensitive gastrointestinal tracts can be easily disrupted, so a healthy diet is important. In a mixed ration, chinchillas may avoid the healthy, high-fiber pellets in favor of items such as raisins and seeds. Fresh vegetables and fruit (with high moisture content) should be avoided, as these can cause bloat, which can be fatal. Sweets and dried fruit treats should be limited to one per day, at the very most. This can lead to diarrhea, or in the long term, diabetes. Nuts should be avoided due to their high fat content. High protein foods and alfalfa hay can cause liver problems and should be limited.
In scientific research
The chinchilla is often used as an animal model in researching the auditory system, because the chinchilla's range of hearing (20 Hz to 30 kHz) and cochlear size is close to that of a human, and the chinchilla cochlea is fairly easy to access. Other research fields in which chinchillas are used as an animal model include the study of Chagas disease, gastrointestinal diseases, pneumonia, and listeriosis, as well as of Yersinia and Pseudomonas infections.
The first scientific study on chinchilla sounds in their social environment was conducted by Dr. Bartl DVM in Germany.
- Viscacha, a rodent similar to a chinchilla
- Woods, C. A. and Kilpatrick, C. W. (2005). Infraorder Hystricognathi. In: D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder (eds), Mammal Species of the World, pp. 1538–1599. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, USA.
- D'elia, G. & Ojeda, R. (2008). Chinchilla chinchilla. In: IUCN 2010. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2010.4. Downloaded on 26 March 2011.
- Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition. 2011.
- "What Is A Chinchilla?". Davidson Chinchillas. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
- Jiménez, Jaime E. (1996). "The extirpation and current status of wild chinchillas Chinchilla lanigera and C. Brevicaudata". Biological Conservation 77: 1. doi:10.1016/0006-3207(95)00116-6.
- "Chinchilla (Chinchilla lanigera)". Comparative Mammalian Brain Collections. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
- Chinchillas, Chinchillidae, Chinchilla lanigera, Chinchilla brevicaudata. Animal-world.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-07.
- "Is a Chinchilla the pet for me?". Fantastic Chinchillas. Archived from the original on January 12, 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
- "The Chinchilla". Chinchilla Lexicon. 2003-05-01. Archived from the original on 2008-02-04. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
- Alderton, David. Rodents of the World, 1996, page 20. ISBN 0-8160-3229-7
- Chinchillas Endangered Species Handbook. Endangeredspecieshandbook.org. Retrieved on 2011-12-07.
- "Teeth". Homepage.ntlworld.com. Archived from the original on May 3, 2008. Retrieved 2009-07-30.
- So what is a safe wood for our pets?. Chinchillas2home.co.uk
- Heat Stroke. Chin-chillas.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-07.
- Color Mutation Percentage Charts. Chinchillas.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-07.
- Chinchillas: The keystone cops of rodents!. Petstation.com (1995-03-01). Retrieved on 2011-12-07.
- Nutrition. Chincare.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-07.
- Nutrition and Denatl Health. chincare.com
- PIR: Chinchilla. Pirweb.org. Retrieved on 2011-12-07.
- Bartl, Dr. vet. med. Juliana (2008). Chinchillas. Munich, Germany: GU Verlag GmbH. ISBN 978-3-8338-1165-4
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S. 3rd Street in German Village
|Added to NRHP:||December 30, 1974|
German Village (Boundary Increase)
|Architectural style:||No Style Listed|
|Added to NRHP:||November 28, 1980|
German Village is a historic neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, just south of downtown. It was settled in the early-to-mid-19th century by a large number of German immigrants, who at one time comprised as much as a third of the city's entire population. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 30, 1974, becoming the largest privately funded preservation district on the list, and in 2007, was made a Preserve America Community by the White House. On November 28, 1980, its boundaries were increased and today it is one of the premier historic restorations in the world.
In 1796, Congress appropriated the Refugee Lands for individuals who had supported the Colonial cause in the American Revolution. By 1802, an American Revolution veteran named John McGowan claimed 328 acres (1.33 km2), most of what would become the German Village. As German immigrants arrived, McGowan sold tracts of land to them. By 1814, a settlement had grown up, originally called "Die Alte Sud Ende" (the Old South End), and German immigrants contributed to building the first statehouse.
By 1830, massive German immigration to the city had occurred. The most influential German newspaper in 1843 was Der Westbote. Many would serve in the American Civil War, thus gaining the universal respect of the local citizens. By 1865, one-third of Columbus's population was German and the community was flourishing. They built up the local neighborhood, including many businesses, such as Hessenauer Jewelers and Lazarus Department Stores, schools, and churches, such as the Ohio-historic St. Mary's Catholic Church, built in 1865 and adorned with a 197-foot (60 m) steeple in 1893. German-American George Karb became mayor of the city, twice, at the end of the 19th century and again in the early 20th century.
The local schools the German immigrants constructed and managed were so superior that English-speaking residents of Columbus chose to attend them, such as one that once stood at Fulton Street east of S. Fourth Street. In 1831, the German Evangelical Lutheran Seminary secured 14 acres (57,000 m2) in the south end, founded by William Schmidt, a graduate of the University of Halle in Germany. The school would go on to become what is known today as Capital University, still under the leadership of the Lutheran Church and now located in nearby Bexley.
The arts and athletics
The German immigrants brought with them a vibrant athletic and artistic heritage, which was reflected in their social establishments. The Columbus Maennerchor, a singing group, was established in 1848, and as early as 1852, won a ribbon for their talent at the North American Sangerfest. In 1866, the group won the silver pokal at a festival held in Louisville. In the late 19th century, another singing group called the Columbus Liederkranz was formed by the Germans, but was forced to cease during World War I because of heavy anti-German pressure. Many of its members joined the Maennerchor, which survived.
In the 1860s and 1870s the Maennerchor formed a drama division called the "Dramatischen Sektion." They would produce operas, dramas, and comedies until disbanding in the 1930s. One of their notable performances was their 1927 production of Friedrich von Schiller's Die Räuber. Another social group was the Schiller Club, founded in 1900.
The Columbus Turn Verein was a social and athletic (tumbling) association that dated back to 1866, and was a main organization from which the German immigrants drew mutual support. In the late 19th century the Turners merged with the Germania Gesang Verein, which hosted a Maennerchor and a Damenchor. Another merger enlarged the Germania in the late 1920s. The Germania merged with the Kicker’s Soccer Club, which for many years was a very active part of the organization. The club also now includes a Fahrrad Verein (Bicycle Club), which goes on weekend outings to bike trails throughout Central Ohio. The club's official name is now the Germania Gesang und Sport Verein (singing and sports club). The Germania Club itself was located in a residence on Kossuth Street, but outgrew its first facility. In 1927 it purchased the present location at 543 South Front Street from the estate of Nicolaus Schlee, one of the prestigious brewmasters of the neighborhood. The society is now located in the neighborhood known as the Brewery District of Columbus, which is the northernmost section of the German Village. Over the years the Germania Club has made it its mission to retain, promote and disseminate all that is good about German culture. A major component of this mission is the practice and performance of German song. Their choruses participate and support public events throughout Ohio during the year in appreciation for the community’s support. The Germania Club will celebrate its 147th anniversary in 2013 with an Oktoberfest that will feature its choruses.
In 1890, the Ohio State Buckeyesl football team played their first-ever home game in the south end, at a location just west of present-day Schiller Park between Jaeger, Ebner, and Whittier (then called Schiller) Streets.
German Brewery District
A prosperous industry for the German immigrants was the brewing industry. Today, the Brewery District, part of the greater German Village neighborhood, still partially resembles its notable past. During the 19th century, the area was found largely along both sides of S. Front Street from Livingston Avenue to Sycamore Street.
Notable breweries during this period included the Bavarian Brewery, started in 1849 by George Schlegel, which ultimately became the Shlegel Bavarian Brewery in 1860 when Bavarian Nicholas Schlee immigrated and took over. Schlee was president of the company that eventually constructed the Great Southern Hotel downtown. Schlee also owned the Lyceum Theater and served as vice president of the Central Bank. Conrad Born opened the Capital Brewery in 1859 and was also president of the Century Discount Company. The industry flourished during the early 20th century.
One of the last major brewers of the city before Prohibition was August Wagner, who immigrated from Bavaria in the late 19th century and worked as the brewmaster at the City Brewery before becoming president and general manager of the Gambrinus Brewing Company. By 1919, he had purchased all of the stock for the company to become the sole owner, and in 1938 he changed the name to August Wagner Breweries, Inc. He was known to parade around on a horse costumed as Gambrinus, the patron saint of beer. A statue of Gambrinus is located at 605 S. Front Street.
Twenty-nine breweries have existed in and around the village throughout its history.
Hoster Brewing Dynasty
While English breweries were found originally in the city, as German immigrants moved in, their brewing techniques were universally embraced and became the dominant methods for producing beer. Louis Hoster, an immigrant from Rheinpfalz, Germany, is notably credited for this transformation when he opened the City Brewery in the 1830s. He would go on to serve on the City Council between 1846 and 1854 while establishing the city's first wollen mill in 1852. In 1864, he established the Louis Hoster & Sons Brewery, which became the Hoster Columbus Associated Breweries in 1904. He would also serve on the Board of Education and was a Unionist Democrat.
Later members of Louis Hoster's brewing dynasty included his son Louis Philip Hoster, president of the Columbus Structural Steel Company, and Herman Hoster, son of Louis's son George, a graduate of Yale University, treasurer of Hoster Columbus Associated Breweries, and founder of the Columbus Envelope Company. Another son of George was Carl J. Hoster, graduate of Cornell University, who was President of the Hoster Columbus Associated Breweries as well as the Director of the Hayden Clinton National Bank and Columbus Driving Park Association, President of the U.S. Brewer's Association, 32nd degree of the Scottish Rite, and great-great uncle of former U.S. President George W. Bush.
Hoster Street in the German Village stretches six blocks between Lazelle and S. Front Streets.
Dr. Herman A. Hoster, Jr.
Dr. Herman A. Hoster, Jr. was the son of Herman Hoster, and name-bearer of the Herman A. Hoster Research Laboratory of the Department of Medicine and the Department of Zoology at the Ohio State University. He was a graduate of Yale University and Johns Hopkins University who would suffer from Hodgkin's Disease. After learning of his illness, Dr. Hoster resigned his medical position with Yale to return home to Columbus. There he focused on research of the disease at Ohio State University. He became a professor of medicine and eventually an associate director of research at the College of Medicine, where he performed experiments on himself related to his illness, including some at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. He published several leading research papers, including support of radiation therapy to treat the disease.
Dr. Hoster became a charter member of the Hodgkin's Disease Research Foundation in New York City, serving as the original President between 1947 and 1951. The first headquarters of the foundation was established at St. Vincent's Hospital and included as board members Dr. Robert Chambers of New York University, Dr. Antonio Rottino, vice president of St. Vincent's Hospital, Dr. Harry Rolnick of Philadelphia, and John Finn, vice president of Fordham University.
The area was in serious decline throughout the first half of the 20th century, partly due to anti-German sentiment during World War I. This was sparked by the sinking of the Lusitania by Germany, in which innocent women and children lost their lives. The media used this to demonize Germany and German-Americans. The Germans claimed the ship was transporting weapons in a war zone, which the British and American governments denied. However, in 2008, millions of rounds of ammunition were found at the wreckage of the ship.
During that time, the teaching of German in public schools was banned and German textbooks were burned. German street names were changed, such as Germania Street becoming the present-day Stewart Avenue, and Schiller Park was temporarily renamed Washington Park. The anti-German sentiment fueled by the media was so bad that in 1918, German books were burned on Broad Street and at the foot of the Schiller statue. German canine breeds were taken from their owners and slaughtered, including German Shepherds and Dachshunds. Despite the hatred, the Columbus German American community would produce one of America's finest heroes from the war, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, for whom Rickenbacker International Airport in southern Columbus is named.
Further decline occurred later due to the closing of the local breweries during Prohibition. After the war, the south end was zoned for manufacturing, leading to the erosion of the area's residential feel. In World War II, the streetcar tracks and wrought-iron fences were confiscated for the war effort. By the 1950s, the area had become a slum and the city decided to demolish one-third of the neighborhood.
Nearing complete destruction, Frank Fetch defied the common wisdom and purchased a house on S. Wall Street, determined to rebuild the neighborhood. Fetch would create the German Village Society. In June 1960, the society hosted the first Haus und Garten Tour, which attracted visitors and the local media to eight restored homes and two gardens. Today, the tour is one of the city's most popular events. Frank Fetch Park was named after him.
Concerned citizens managed to save its historic architecture from demolition in the 1960s by successfully lobbying for a local commission, the German Village Commission, to have power over external changes made to buildings, and by getting the area listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. As of 2009[update], the German Village Society has over 1,000 preservationists dedicated to maintaining the historic quality of the buildings and neighborhood and German Village is considered one of the most desirable areas to live in the city. More than 1,600 buildings have been restored since 1960 and it is credited as one of the premiere restoration districts in the world. By the 1980s, the restoration was nearly complete. Today, it is the largest privately funded historic district on the National Register of Historic Places.
Residential Real Estate
The area is mostly a residential neighborhood of sturdy, red-brick homes with wrought iron fences along tree-lined, brick-paved streets. The average home price is $377,450. Several homes in the neighborhood are priced at over $1 million, including a 5,200-square-foot (480 m2) home that sold in August 2007 for $1.5 million. Another home, which was purchased for $1.4 million in 2006, boasts an underground tunnel linking the main house with the garage, which also serves as an art and wine cellar.
German Village has a commercial strip mainly centered along S. Third Street, with mostly locally owned restaurants — such as Katzinger's Delicatessen — and the 32-room Book Loft bookstore. The neighborhood is home to one of the world's largest producers of stained glass, the Franklin Art Glass Studios Inc., as well as several art galleries including the Archive Gallery, Hawk Galleries, Keny Gallery, Kight Studio 551, and Metroscap. Shops catering to European-imported retail include Caterina Ltd. and T. David Collection.
Numerous neighborhood restaurants won 2010 ThisWeek Community Papers awards, including Skillet as the Best New Restaurant in the city, and Thurman Café for Best Burgers. Barcelona, noted for its Spanish cuisine, won for Best Patio and is a consistent Columbus Dispatch best city restaurant. Lindey's was runner-up for the same award that year and was voted one of Columbus's top 10 restaurants for 18 years straight. It has appeared previously in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, and Gourmet magazine. In 2010, Max and Erma's was runner up for Best Casual Restaurant and Best Soups, Pistacia Vera runner-up for Best Desserts, and Roosters won Best Wings.
German Village is the home of the first restaurant in the Max & Erma's chain. In 1972, the restaurant was opened by Barry Zacks. The name was adopted from the original tavern, started in 1958 by Max and Erma Visocnik, which the new owners converted into the popular theme restaurant.
The German Village Guest House has been recognized as one of the best in the Midwest by the New York Post, The Plain Dealer, and the St. Louis Post Dispatch, and positively reviewed by the Washington Post and The Tennessean. It was rated as the "Best Columbus Hotel 2010" by City Search.
In 2006, local media personality Andrea Cambern, in collaboration with the German Village Society and WBNS, narrated a 10-minute documentary short on the neighborhood, which won an Ohio Historic Preservation Office Award.
Schiller Park
Schiller Park, named after Friedrich von Schiller, which was once a community meeting ground for the German settlement, is now the site of recreational facilities, gardens, and an amphitheater that hosts free live performances of Shakespearean plays during the summer months courtesy of Actors Theatre of Columbus. It is bounded by Jaeger Street and City Park, Reinhard, and Deshler Avenues. It has been the area's center for festivals and neighborhood activities since the 1800s.
The main entrance of the 23-acre park, along City Park Avenue, greets visitors with the Huntington Gardens, sponsored by Huntington National Bank and maintained by volunteers, and the Schiller statue. The statue was presented to the park by local residents in 1891. It is a second casting of the statue in Munich, Germany, designed and executed by Max von Widnmann and unveiled on May 9, 1863. The Columbus statue was transported free of charge across the Atlantic. The park is also home to the Umbrella Girl Fountain, dedicated to the citizens of German Village in October 1996 to replace the missing original sculpture.
Preserve America Community
German tradition has long reigned in the community in the form of an annual Oktoberfest festival. It originally took place in Schiller Park and has been held at various locations within the German Village neighborhood. Due to new development in the area, it now takes place at the Ohio State Fairgrounds / Ohio Expo Center. The festival was voted to be canceled in 2009, but the Schmidt (owners and operators of Schmidt's Sausage Haus) and Cox families stepped in to keep it running. A smaller Oktoberfest still goes on in the German Village itself, at the Germania Gesang und Sport Verein (Singing and Sports Club) at 543 South Front Street in the old Schlee Brewmaster's House and outdoor garden.
Although German Village is an eclectic community, the area is particularly known as a Columbus "gayborhood." While no gay establishments are located within the German Village limits, several gay-friendly bars are located in the neighboring Brewery District and Merion Village. The 2010 Gay Softball World Series was held at nearby Lou Berliner park.
America's Great Places
In 2011, German Village was named as one of America's Great Places in the Neighborhoods category by the American Planning Association. Their description reads, "Unpretentious, renovated houses and cottages stand shoulder to shoulder. Small, meticulously maintained front yards front tree-lined streets with brick sidewalks and cultivated village planters. Small businesses and storefronts with eye-catching displays and the aroma of culinary delights draw in passing pedestrians. German Village has remained true to its mid-19th century history, architecture, and character despite periods of disinvestment, decline, and near ruin.".
See also
- "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2008-04-15.
- Insider's Guide To Columbus, Shawnie Kelley. Globe Pequot, 2006. ISBN 0-7627-3542-2, ISBN 978-0-7627-3542-6. p. 269.
- "St. Mary Church", J. J. Prats. Historical Marker Database. 4 July 2009. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
- German Village Society History Retrieved 15 sept 2012.
- German Columbus, Jeffrey T. Darbee, Nancy A. Recchie. Arcadia Publishing, 2005. ISBN 0-7385-3396-3, ISBN 978-0-7385-3396-4. pp. 7, 17.
- Darbee and Recchie, p. 26.
- Darbee and Recchie, p. 18.
- Educational history of Ohio, James Jesse Burns. Historical Pub. Co., 1905. p. 349.
- "Capital University", U.S. News and World Report. 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
- German Columbus, Jeffrey T. Darbee, Nancy A. Recchie. Arcadia Publishing, 2005. ISBN 0-7385-3396-3, ISBN 978-0-7385-3396-4.
- Darbee and Recchie, p. 19.
- Darbee and Recchie, p. 21.
- Darbee and Recchie, p. 24.
- Darbee and Recchie, p. 25.
- Darbee and Recchie, pp. 60, 68.
- "Site of First Ohio State Home Football Game / The Ohio State University First Football Team 1890", William Fischer, Jr. 13 oct 2008. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
- Darbee and Recchie, p. 60.
- Darbee and Recchie, p. 68.
- "Columbus in Historic Photographs", Columbus Metropolitan Library. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
- "Brewery District", Touring Ohio. 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
- Darbee and Recchie, p. 27.
- "THE L. HOSTER BREWING COMPANY", OhioBreweriana. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
- Centennial history of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Volume 2, William Alexander Taylor, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1909. p. 731.
- Obituary record of graduates of Yale University, Yale University, 1915. p. 897.
- Centennial history of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Volume 1, William Alexander Taylor, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1909. pp. 608–09.
- "Feature articles in Grandview ThisWeek Newspaper Weekly Moment in Time Column", The Grandview Heights Marble Cliff Historical Society. 2006–2007. Retrieved 7 September 2008.
- "A Tireless Determination: Herman A. Hoster, M.D.", House Call. Medical Heritage Center of Ohio State University. Winter 2003. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
- Journal of the American Medical Association, Volume 133, Number 10, March 8, 1947 (subscription required).
- "Hodgkin's Disease and Other Lymphomas". Republished by the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Original December 1972. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
- The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, James Terry White. University Microfilms, 1967. p. 358.
- "Secret of the Lusitania: Arms find challenges Allied claims it was solely a passenger ship", Daily Mail December 20, 2008.
- Darbee and Recchie, p. 13.
- German Village Society, 1914-1920 Retrieved 26 July 2009.
- German Village Society, 1920-1960 Retrieved 26 July 2009.
- German Village Society, 1960-1990 Retrieved 26 July 2009.
- German Village Society, 1960-1990 Retrieved 26 July 2009
- German Village Society, History Retrieved 26 July 2009.
- German Village Society, 1990-today Retrieved 26 July 2009.
- "John McCain does his own German thing", Don Frederick. Los Angeles Times. 24 July 2008. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- Kelley, p. 51.
- Realtor Neighborhoods, "German Village", Realtor. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
- "August Real Estate News", Columbus Homes. September 2007. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
- "Beck St. Secrets", Tim Feran. Columbus Dispatch. 29 June 2008. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
- Book Loft
- "SHOP", German Village Society. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- "Kudos to GV Businesses!", German Village Society. 22 August 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- "Barcelona Restaurant: Traditional Spanish Cuisine in Columbus", Lee Ann Mullen. Hello Columbus. 20 dec 2009. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- "Lindey's Restaurant & Bar", Ivonne Rovira. Hello Metro. 1 May 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- "Our Memories". Max and Erma's. Retrieved Nov 13, 2010.
- "Let’s Do the Tryst", Caitlin Barnett. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- "“Sweet rooms, and roomy suites...”, German Village Guest House. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- "German Village Society and WBNS 10TV", Ohio Historic Preservation Office. 2006. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- The Actor's Theatre
- Preserve America Retrieved 26 July 2009.
- Columbus Oktoberfest
- Oktoberfest, Germania Gesang und Sport Verein.
- Travis Hoewischer, "Why is Columbus so Gay? How the capital city of a conservative state became the GLBT mecca of the Midwest", 614 magazine, June 1, 2011. Retrieved March 20, 2013.
- German Village, Columbus, Ohio, Neighborhoods, Great Places in America, American Planning Association, retrieved March 20, 2013.
- Media related to German Village (Columbus, Ohio) at Wikimedia Commons
- The German Village Society
- Germania Gesang und Sport Verein
- Columbus Oktoberfest at Ohio Fairgrounds
- Oktoberfest held in German Village
- "German Village's Oktoberfest in Columbus Ohio at Ohio Fairgrounds"
- "Columbus' German Village Featured on the Today Show"
- American Planning Association's Great Places in America
- APA Great Places in America: Neighborhoods 2011 | <urn:uuid:f8cd8561-64bc-4669-b27d-8ded5eb4d046> | {
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National Trust and Savings Association
|This article does not cite any references or sources. (December 2009)|
National Trust and Savings Association, abbreviated NT&SA, is a designation used by national banks in the United States to denote their national charter. It is significantly less popular than the standard designation National Association (N.A.). Notably, it was used until 1998 by Bank of America NT&SA, the only major bank to utilize the designation. It was also construed to denote the character of a savings and loan association, with a focus on home mortgages and savings accounts.
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Public international law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond domestic legal interpretation and enforcement. Public international law has increased in use and importance vastly over the twentieth century, due to the increase in global trade, environmental deterioration on a worldwide scale, awareness of human rights violations, rapid and vast increases in international transportation and a boom in global communications.
The field of study combines two main branches: the law of nations (jus gentium) and international agreements and conventions (jus inter gentes), which have different foundations and should not be confused.
Public international law should not be confused with "private international law", which is concerned with the resolution of conflict of laws. In its most general sense, international law "consists of rules and principles of general application dealing with the conduct of states and of intergovernmental organizations and with their relations inter se, as well as with some of their relations with persons, whether natural or juridical."
Beginning with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries saw the growth of the concept of the sovereign "nation-state", which consisted of a nation controlled by a centralized system of government. The concept of nationalism became increasingly important as people began to see themselves as citizens of a particular nation with a distinct national identity. Until the mid-19th century, relations between nation-states were dictated by treaty, agreements to behave in a certain way towards another state, unenforceable except by force, and not binding except as matters of honor and faithfulness. But treaties alone became increasingly toothless and wars became increasingly destructive, most markedly towards civilians, and civilized peoples decried their horrors, leading to calls for regulation of the acts of states, especially in times of war.
Perhaps the first instrument of modern public international law was the Lieber Code, passed in 1863 by the Congress of the United States, to govern the conduct of US forces during the United States Civil War and considered to be the first written recitation of the rules and articles of war, adhered to by all civilized nations, the precursor of public international law. Part of the Code follows:
"Military necessity, as understood by modern civilized nations, consists in the necessity of those measures which are indispensable for securing the ends of the war, and which are lawful according to the modern law and usages of war. Military necessity admits of all direct destruction of life or limb of armed enemies, and of other persons whose destruction is incidentally unavoidable in the armed contests of the war; it allows of the capturing of every armed enemy, and every enemy of importance to the hostile government, or of peculiar danger to the captor; it allows of all destruction of property, and obstruction of the ways and channels of traffic, travel, or communication, and of all withholding of sustenance or means of life from the enemy; of the appropriation of whatever an enemy's country affords necessary for the subsistence and safety of the Army, and of such deception as does not involve the breaking of good faith either positively pledged, regarding agreements entered into during the war, or supposed by the modern law of war to exist. (...But...) Men who take up arms against one another in public war do not cease on this account to be moral beings, responsible to one another and to God. Military necessity does not admit of cruelty—that is, the infliction of suffering for the sake of suffering or for revenge, nor of maiming or wounding except in fight, nor of torture to extort confessions. It does not admit of the use of poison in any way, nor of the wanton devastation of a district. It admits of deception, but disclaims acts of perfidy; and, in general, military necessity does not include any act of hostility which makes the return to peace unnecessarily difficult."
This first statement of the previously uncodified rules and articles of war led to the first prosecution for war crimes—in the case of United States prisoners of war held in cruel and depraved conditions at Andersonville, Georgia, in which the Confederate commandant of that camp was tried and hanged, the only Confederate soldier to be punished by death in the aftermath of the entire Civil War.
In the years that followed, other states subscribed to limitations of their conduct, and numerous other treaties and bodies were created to regulate the conduct of states towards one another in terms of these treaties, including, but not limited to, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 1899; the Hague and Geneva Conventions, the first of which was passed in 1907; the International Court of Justice in 1921; the Genocide Convention; and the International Criminal Court, in the late 1990s. Because international law is a relatively new area of law its development and propriety in applicable areas are often subject to dispute.
International law sources
Under article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, public international law has three principal sources: international treaties, custom, and general principles of law. In addition, judicial decisions and teachings may be applied as "subsidiary means for the determination of rules of law".
International treaty law comprises obligations states expressly and voluntarily accept between themselves in treaties. Customary international law is derived from the consistent practice of States accompanied by opinio juris, i.e. the conviction of States that the consistent practice is required by a legal obligation. Judgments of international tribunals as well as scholarly works have traditionally been looked to as persuasive sources for custom in addition to direct evidence of state behavior. Attempts to codify customary international law picked up momentum after the Second World War with the formation of the International Law Commission (ILC), under the aegis of the United Nations. Codified customary law is made the binding interpretation of the underlying custom by agreement through treaty. For states not party to such treaties, the work of the ILC may still be accepted as custom applying to those states. General principles of law are those commonly recognized by the major legal systems of the world. Certain norms of international law achieve the binding force of peremptory norms (jus cogens) as to include all states with no permissible derogations.
International treaties
Where there are disputes about the exact meaning and application of national laws, it is the responsibility of the courts to decide what the law means. In international law interpretation is within the domain of the protagonists, but may also be conferred on judicial bodies such as the International Court of Justice, by the terms of the treaties or by consent of the parties. It is generally the responsibility of states to interpret the law for themselves, but the processes of diplomacy and availability of supra-national judicial organs operate routinely to provide assistance to that end. Insofar as treaties are concerned, the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties writes on the topic of interpretation that:
- "A treaty shall be interpreted in good faith in accordance with the ordinary meaning to be given to the terms of the treaty in their context and in the light of its object and purpose." (article 31(1))
This is actually a compromise between three different theories of interpretation:
- The textual approach, a restrictive interpretation, which bases itself on the "ordinary meaning" of the text; that approach assigns considerable weight to the actual text.
- The subjective approach, which takes into consideration i. the idea behind the treaty, ii. treaties "in their context", and iii. what the writers intended when they wrote the text.
- A third approach, which bases itself on interpretation "in the light of its object and purpose", i.e. the interpretation that best suits the goal of the treaty, also called "effective interpretation".
These are general rules of interpretation; specific rules might exist in specific areas of international law.
Statehood and responsibility
Public international law establishes the framework and the criteria for identifying states as the principal actors in the international legal system. As the existence of a state presupposes control and jurisdiction over territory, international law deals with the acquisition of territory, state immunity and the legal responsibility of states in their conduct with each other. International law is similarly concerned with the treatment of individuals within state boundaries. There is thus a comprehensive regime dealing with group rights, the treatment of aliens, the rights of refugees, international crimes, nationality problems, and human rights generally. It further includes the important functions of the maintenance of international peace and security, arms control, the pacific settlement of disputes and the regulation of the use of force in international relations. Even when the law is not able to stop the outbreak of war, it has developed principles to govern the conduct of hostilities and the treatment of prisoners. International law is also used to govern issues relating to the global environment, the global commons such as international waters and outer space, global communications, and world trade.
In theory all states are sovereign and equal. As a result of the notion of sovereignty, the value and authority of international law is dependent upon the voluntary participation of states in its formulation, observance, and enforcement. Although there may be exceptions, it is thought by many international academics that most states enter into legal commitments with other states out of enlightened self-interest rather than adherence to a body of law that is higher than their own. As D. W. Greig notes, "international law cannot exist in isolation from the political factors operating in the sphere of international relations".
Traditionally, sovereign states and the Holy See were the sole subjects of international law. With the proliferation of international organizations over the last century, they have in some cases been recognized as relevant parties as well. Recent interpretations of international human rights law, international humanitarian law, and international trade law (e.g., North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Chapter 11 actions) have been inclusive of corporations, and even of certain individuals.
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National sovereignty
The conflict between international law and national sovereignty is subject to vigorous debate and dispute in academia, diplomacy, and politics. Certainly, there is a growing trend toward judging a state's domestic actions in the light of international law and standards. Numerous people now view the nation-state as the primary unit of international affairs, and believe that only states may choose to voluntarily enter into commitments under international law, and that they have the right to follow their own counsel when it comes to interpretation of their commitments. Certain scholars[who?] and political leaders feel that these modern developments endanger nation states by taking power away from state governments and ceding it to international bodies such as the U.N. and the World Bank, argue that international law has evolved to a point where it exists separately from the mere consent of states, and discern a legislative and judicial process to international law that parallels such processes within domestic law. This especially occurs when states violate or deviate from the expected standards of conduct adhered to by all civilized nations.
A number of states place emphasis on the principle of territorial sovereignty, thus seeing states as having free rein over their internal affairs. Other states oppose this view. One group of opponents of this point of view, including many European nations, maintain that all civilized nations have certain norms of conduct expected of them, including the prohibition of genocide, slavery and the slave trade, wars of aggression, torture, and piracy, and that violation of these universal norms represents a crime, not only against the individual victims, but against humanity as a whole. States and individuals who subscribe to this view opine that, in the case of the individual responsible for violation of international law, he "is become, like the pirate and the slave trader before him, hostis humani generis, an enemy of all mankind", and thus subject to prosecution in a fair trial before any fundamentally just tribunal, through the exercise of universal jurisdiction.
Though the European democracies tend to support broad, universalistic interpretations of international law, many other democracies have differing views on international law. Several democracies, including India, Israel and the United States, take a flexible, eclectic approach, recognizing aspects of public international law such as territorial rights as universal, regarding other aspects as arising from treaty or custom, and viewing certain aspects as not being subjects of public international law at all. Democracies in the developing world, due to their past colonial histories, often insist on non-interference in their internal affairs, particularly regarding human rights standards or their peculiar institutions, but often strongly support international law at the bilateral and multilateral levels, such as in the United Nations, and especially regarding the use of force, disarmament obligations, and the terms of the UN Charter.
International human rights
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- Declaration of Fundamental Rights at Work
- International Labour Organization
International economic law
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War and conflicts
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International criminal law
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International courts and enforcement
It is probably the case that almost all nations observe almost all principles of international law and almost all of their obligations almost all the time.
Since international law has no established compulsory judicial system for the settlement of disputes or a coercive penal system, it is not as straightforward as managing breaches within a domestic legal system. However, there are means by which breaches are brought to the attention of the international community and some means for resolution. For example, there are judicial or quasi-judicial tribunals in international law in certain areas such as trade and human rights. The formation of the United Nations, for example, created a means for the world community to enforce international law upon members that violate its charter through the Security Council.
Since international law exists in a legal environment without an overarching "sovereign" (i.e., an external power able and willing to compel compliance with international norms), "enforcement" of international law is very different than in the domestic context. In many cases, enforcement takes on Coasian characteristics, where the norm is self-enforcing. In other cases, defection from the norm can pose a real risk, particularly if the international environment is changing. When this happens, and if enough states (or enough powerful states) continually ignore a particular aspect of international law, the norm may actually change according to concepts of customary international law. For example, prior to World War I, unrestricted submarine warfare was considered a violation of international law and ostensibly the casus belli for the United States' declaration of war against Germany. By World War II, however, the practice was so widespread that during the Nuremberg trials, the charges against German Admiral Karl Dönitz for ordering unrestricted submarine warfare were dropped, notwithstanding that the activity constituted a clear violation of the Second London Naval Treaty of 1936.
Enforcement by states
Apart from a state's natural inclination to uphold certain norms, the force of international law comes from the pressure that states put upon one another to behave consistently and to honor their obligations. As with any system of law, many violations of international law obligations are overlooked. If addressed, it may be through diplomacy and the consequences upon an offending state's reputation, submission to international judicial determination, arbitration, sanctions or force including war. Though violations may be common in fact, states try to avoid the appearance of having disregarded international obligations. States may also unilaterally adopt sanctions against one another such as the severance of economic or diplomatic ties, or through reciprocal action. In some cases, domestic courts may render judgment against a foreign state (the realm of private international law) for an injury, though this is a complicated area of law where international law intersects with domestic law.
It is implicit in the Westphalian system of nation-states, and explicitly recognized under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, that all states have the inherent right to individual and collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against them. Article 51 of the UN Charter guarantees the right of states to defend themselves until (and unless) the Security Council takes measures to keep the peace.
Enforcement by international bodies
Violations of the UN Charter by members of the United Nations may be raised by the aggrieved state in the General Assembly for debate. The General Assembly cannot make binding resolutions, only 'recommendations', but through its adoption of the "Uniting for Peace" resolution (A/RES/377 A), of 3 November 1950, the Assembly declared that it has the power to authorize the use of force, under the terms of the UN Charter, in cases of breaches of the peace or acts of aggression, provided that the Security Council, owing to the negative vote of a permanent member, fails to act to address the situation. The Assembly also declared, by its adoption of resolution 377 A, that it could call for other collective measures—such as economic and diplomatic sanctions—in situations constituting the milder "threat to the Peace".
The Uniting for Peace resolution was initiated by the United States in 1950, shortly after the outbreak of the Korean War, as a means of circumventing possible future Soviet vetoes in the Security Council. The legal significance of the resolution is unclear, given that the General Assembly cannot issue binding resolutions. However, it was never argued by the "Joint Seven-Powers" that put forward the draft resolution, during the corresponding discussions, that it in any way afforded the Assembly new powers. Instead, they argued that the resolution simply declared what the Assembly's powers already were, according to the UN Charter, in the case of a dead-locked Security Council. The Soviet Union was the only permanent member of the Security Council to vote against the Charter interpretations that were made law by the Assembly's adoption of resolution 377 A.
Alleged violations of the Charter can also be raised by states in the Security Council. The Security Council could subsequently pass resolutions under Chapter VI of the UN Charter to recommend the "Pacific Resolution of Disputes." Such resolutions are not binding under international law, though they usually are expressive of the Council's convictions. In rare cases, the Security Council can adopt resolutions under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, related to "threats to Peace, Breaches of the Peace and Acts of Aggression," which are legally binding under international law, and can be followed up with economic sanctions, military action, and similar uses of force through the auspices of the United Nations.
It has been argued that resolutions passed outside of Chapter VII can also be binding; the legal basis for that is the Council's broad powers under Article 24(2), which states that "in discharging these duties (exercise of primary responsibility in international peace and security), it shall act in accordance with the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations". The mandatory nature of such resolutions was upheld by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its advisory opinion on Namibia. The binding nature of such resolutions can be deduced from an interpretation of their language and intent.
States can also, upon mutual consent, submit disputes for arbitration by the International Court of Justice, located in The Hague, Netherlands. The judgments given by the Court in these cases are binding, although it possesses no means to enforce its rulings. The Court may give an advisory opinion on any legal question at the request of whatever body may be authorized by or in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations to make such a request. Some of the advisory cases brought before the court have been controversial with respect to the court's competence and jurisdiction.
Often enormously complicated matters, ICJ cases (of which there have been less than 150 since the court was created from the Permanent Court of International Justice in 1945) can stretch on for years and generally involve thousands of pages of pleadings, evidence, and the world's leading specialist public international lawyers. As of June 2009, there are 15 cases pending at the ICJ. Decisions made through other means of arbitration may be binding or non-binding depending on the nature of the arbitration agreement, whereas decisions resulting from contentious cases argued before the ICJ are always binding on the involved states.
Though states (or increasingly, international organizations) are usually the only ones with standing to address a violation of international law, some treaties, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights have an optional protocol that allows individuals who have had their rights violated by member states to petition the international Human Rights Committee. Investment treaties commonly and routinely provide for enforcement by individuals or investing entities. and commercial agreements of foreigners with sovereign governments may be enforced on the international plane.
International legal theory
International legal theory comprises a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches used to explain and analyse the content, formation and effectiveness of public international law and institutions and to suggest improvements. Some approaches center on the question of compliance: why states follow international norms in the absence of a coercitive power that ensures compliance. Other approaches focus on the problem of the formation of international rules: why states voluntarily adopt international law norms, that limit their freedom of action, in the absence of a world legislature; while other perspectives are policy oriented: they elaborate theoretical frameworks and instruments to criticize the existing norms and to make suggestions on how to improve them. Some of these approaches are based on domestic legal theory, some are interdisciplinary, and others have been developed expressly to analyse international law. Classical approaches to International legal theory are the Natural law, the Eclectic and the Legal positivism schools of thought.
Natural law
The natural law approach argues that international norms should be based on axiomatic truths. 16th century natural law writer, Francisco de Vitoria, a professor of theology at the University of Salamanca, examined the questions of the just war, the Spanish authority in the Americas, and the rights of the Native American peoples.
Eclectic or Grotian school
In 1625 Hugo Grotius argued that nations as well as persons ought to be governed by universal principle based on morality and divine justice while the relations among polities ought to be governed by the law of peoples, the jus gentium, established by the consent of the community of nations on the basis of the principle of pacta sunt servanda, that is, on the basis of the observance of commitments. On his part, Emmerich de Vattel argued instead for the equality of states as articulated by 18th century natural law and suggested that the law of nations was composed of custom and law on the one hand, and natural law on the other. During the 17th century, the basic tenets of the Grotian or eclectic school, especially the doctrines of legal equality, territorial sovereignty, and independence of states, became the fundamental principles of the European political and legal system and were enshrined in the 1648 Peace of Westphalia.
Legal positivism
The early positivist school emphasized the importance of custom and treaties as sources of international law. 16th century Alberico Gentili used historical examples to posit that positive law (jus voluntarium) was determined by general consent. Cornelius van Bynkershoek asserted that the bases of international law were customs and treaties commonly consented to by various states, while John Jacob Moser emphasized the importance of state practice in international law. The positivism school narrowed the range of international practice that might qualify as law, favouring rationality over morality and ethics. The 1815 Congress of Vienna marked the formal recognition of the political and international legal system based on the conditions of Europe.
Modern legal positivists consider international law as a unified system of rules that emanates from the states' will. International law, as it is, is an "objective" reality that needs to be distinguished from law "as it should be." Classic positivism demands rigorous tests for legal validity and it deems irrelevant all extralegal arguments.
See also
- Consular law
- Diplomatic law
- International aviation law
- International criminal law
- International environmental law
- International human rights law
- International humanitarian law
- International space law
- International trade law
- Law of state responsibility
- Rule according to higher law
- United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
- Use of force continuum
- Diplomatic recognition
- Environmental agreements
- Global administrative law
- International community
- International Court of Justice
- International Criminal Court
- International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
- International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
- International Labour Organization
- International Law Commission
- International legal theory
- Hans Kelsen
- Laws of war
- Legal status of the Holy See
- List of international public law topics
- List of treaties
- Personal jurisdiction over international defendants in the United States
- Prize law
- Sources of international law
- Sovereign state
- Territorial integrity
- Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL)
- United Nations
- United Nations General Assembly Sixth Committee (Legal)
- University for Peace
- World government
- History of public international law
- Columbia Law School, McKeever, 2003 — Definition of International Law
- Greig, D. W., International Law, 2nd edn (Butterworths: London, 1976)
- Janis, M. and Noyes, J. International Law": Cases and Commentary (3rd ed.), Prosecutor v. Furundžija, Page 148 (2006)
- Henkin, Louis (1968). How Nations Behave. p. 47.
- United States, United Kingdom, France, Canada, Turkey, Philippines and Uruguay
- United Nations General Assembly Proces Verbal session 5 on 1 November 1950 (retrieved 2008-04-13)
- United Nations General Assembly Proces Verbal session 5 on 2 November 1950 (retrieved 2008-04-13)
- United Nations General Assembly Proces Verbal session 5 on 2 November 1950 (retrieved 2008-04-13)
- United Nations General Assembly Proces Verbal session 5 on 3 November 1950 (retrieved 2008-04-13)
- Bruno Simma and Andreas L.Paulus "Symposium on method in International Law: The Responsibility of Individuals for Human Rights Abuses in Internal Conflicts: A Positivist View" 93 American Journal of International Law 302 (April, 1999)
- I. Brownlie, Principles of Public International Law (7th edn Oxford University Press 2008) ISBN 0199260710
- Dominique Carreau, Droit international, Pedone, 10e édition, 2009 ISBN 9782233005618.
- P.-M. Dupuy & Y. Kerbrat, "Droit international public" (10th ed., Paris, Dalloz, 2010) ISBN 9782247088935
- E. Lawson, and ML Bertucci, Encyclopedia of human rights (2nd edn Taylor & Francis 1996)
- E. Osmanczyk, The encyclopedia of the United Nations and international relations (Taylor & Francis 1990)
- M. N. Shaw, International Law (5th edn Cambridge University Press 2003)
- Rafael Domingo Osle, The New Global Law (Cambridge University Press 2010)
- Public International Law – Resources
- A Brief Primer on International Law With cases and commentary. Nathaniel Burney, 2007.
- American Society of International Law – 100 Ways International Law Shapes Our Lives
- Department of Public International Law, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva
- American Society of International Law – Resource Guide (Introduction)
- International Law Details
- International Law Observer – Blog dedicated to reports and commentary on International Law
- Official United Nations website
- Official UN website on International Law
- Official website of the International Court of Justice
- Opinio Juris – Blog on International Law and International Relations
- United Nations Treaty Collection
- UN – Audiovisual Library of International Law
- The European Institute for International Law and International Relations
- Peace Palace Library - Research Guide | <urn:uuid:c00fe941-1d71-49e4-b482-7f101b97ba51> | {
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Support vector machine
In machine learning, support vector machines (SVMs, also support vector networks) are supervised learning models with associated learning algorithms that analyze data and recognize patterns, used for classification and regression analysis. The basic SVM takes a set of input data and predicts, for each given input, which of two possible classes forms the output, making it a non-probabilistic binary linear classifier. Given a set of training examples, each marked as belonging to one of two categories, an SVM training algorithm builds a model that assigns new examples into one category or the other. An SVM model is a representation of the examples as points in space, mapped so that the examples of the separate categories are divided by a clear gap that is as wide as possible. New examples are then mapped into that same space and predicted to belong to a category based on which side of the gap they fall on.
In addition to performing linear classification, SVMs can efficiently perform non-linear classification using what is called the kernel trick, implicitly mapping their inputs into high-dimensional feature spaces.
Formal definition
More formally, a support vector machine constructs a hyperplane or set of hyperplanes in a high- or infinite-dimensional space, which can be used for classification, regression, or other tasks. Intuitively, a good separation is achieved by the hyperplane that has the largest distance to the nearest training data point of any class (so-called functional margin), since in general the larger the margin the lower the generalization error of the classifier.
Whereas the original problem may be stated in a finite dimensional space, it often happens that the sets to discriminate are not linearly separable in that space. For this reason, it was proposed that the original finite-dimensional space be mapped into a much higher-dimensional space, presumably making the separation easier in that space. To keep the computational load reasonable, the mappings used by SVM schemes are designed to ensure that dot products may be computed easily in terms of the variables in the original space, by defining them in terms of a kernel function selected to suit the problem. The hyperplanes in the higher-dimensional space are defined as the set of points whose dot product with a vector in that space is constant. The vectors defining the hyperplanes can be chosen to be linear combinations with parameters of images of feature vectors that occur in the data base. With this choice of a hyperplane, the points in the feature space that are mapped into the hyperplane are defined by the relation: Note that if becomes small as grows further away from , each element in the sum measures the degree of closeness of the test point to the corresponding data base point . In this way, the sum of kernels above can be used to measure the relative nearness of each test point to the data points originating in one or the other of the sets to be discriminated. Note the fact that the set of points mapped into any hyperplane can be quite convoluted as a result, allowing much more complex discrimination between sets which are not convex at all in the original space.
Classifying data is a common task in machine learning. Suppose some given data points each belong to one of two classes, and the goal is to decide which class a new data point will be in. In the case of support vector machines, a data point is viewed as a p-dimensional vector (a list of p numbers), and we want to know whether we can separate such points with a (p − 1)-dimensional hyperplane. This is called a linear classifier. There are many hyperplanes that might classify the data. One reasonable choice as the best hyperplane is the one that represents the largest separation, or margin, between the two classes. So we choose the hyperplane so that the distance from it to the nearest data point on each side is maximized. If such a hyperplane exists, it is known as the maximum-margin hyperplane and the linear classifier it defines is known as a maximum margin classifier; or equivalently, the perceptron of optimal stability.
Linear SVM
Given some training data , a set of n points of the form
where the yi is either 1 or −1, indicating the class to which the point belongs. Each is a p-dimensional real vector. We want to find the maximum-margin hyperplane that divides the points having from those having . Any hyperplane can be written as the set of points satisfying
If the training data are linearly separable, we can select two hyperplanes in a way that they separate the data and there are no points between them, and then try to maximize their distance. The region bounded by them is called "the margin". These hyperplanes can be described by the equations
By using geometry, we find the distance between these two hyperplanes is , so we want to minimize . As we also have to prevent data points from falling into the margin, we add the following constraint: for each either
- of the first class
- of the second.
This can be rewritten as:
We can put this together to get the optimization problem:
Minimize (in )
subject to (for any )
Primal form
The optimization problem presented in the preceding section is difficult to solve because it depends on ||w||, the norm of w, which involves a square root. Fortunately it is possible to alter the equation by substituting ||w|| with (the factor of 1/2 being used for mathematical convenience) without changing the solution (the minimum of the original and the modified equation have the same w and b). This is a quadratic programming optimization problem. More clearly:
Minimize (in )
subject to (for any )
By introducing Lagrange multipliers , the previous constrained problem can be expressed as
that is we look for a saddle point. In doing so all the points which can be separated as do not matter since we must set the corresponding to zero.
This problem can now be solved by standard quadratic programming techniques and programs. The "stationary" Karush–Kuhn–Tucker condition implies that the solution can be expressed as a linear combination of the training vectors
Only a few will be greater than zero. The corresponding are exactly the support vectors, which lie on the margin and satisfy . From this one can derive that the support vectors also satisfy
which allows one to define the offset . In practice, it is more robust to average over all support vectors:
Dual form
Writing the classification rule in its unconstrained dual form reveals that the maximum margin hyperplane and therefore the classification task is only a function of the support vectors, the training data that lie on the margin.
Using the fact that and substituting , one can show that the dual of the SVM reduces to the following optimization problem:
Maximize (in )
subject to (for any )
and to the constraint from the minimization in
Here the kernel is defined by .
can be computed thanks to the terms:
Biased and unbiased hyperplanes
For simplicity reasons, sometimes it is required that the hyperplane pass through the origin of the coordinate system. Such hyperplanes are called unbiased, whereas general hyperplanes not necessarily passing through the origin are called biased. An unbiased hyperplane can be enforced by setting in the primal optimization problem. The corresponding dual is identical to the dual given above without the equality constraint
Soft margin
In 1995, Corinna Cortes and Vladimir N. Vapnik suggested a modified maximum margin idea that allows for mislabeled examples. If there exists no hyperplane that can split the "yes" and "no" examples, the Soft Margin method will choose a hyperplane that splits the examples as cleanly as possible, while still maximizing the distance to the nearest cleanly split examples. The method introduces non-negative slack variables, , which measure the degree of misclassification of the data
The objective function is then increased by a function which penalizes non-zero , and the optimization becomes a trade off between a large margin and a small error penalty. If the penalty function is linear, the optimization problem becomes:
subject to (for any )
This constraint in (2) along with the objective of minimizing can be solved using Lagrange multipliers as done above. One has then to solve the following problem:
Dual form
Maximize (in )
subject to (for any )
The key advantage of a linear penalty function is that the slack variables vanish from the dual problem, with the constant C appearing only as an additional constraint on the Lagrange multipliers. For the above formulation and its huge impact in practice, Cortes and Vapnik received the 2008 ACM Paris Kanellakis Award. Nonlinear penalty functions have been used, particularly to reduce the effect of outliers on the classifier, but unless care is taken the problem becomes non-convex, and thus it is considerably more difficult to find a global solution.
Nonlinear classification
The original optimal hyperplane algorithm proposed by Vapnik in 1963 was a linear classifier. However, in 1992, Bernhard E. Boser, Isabelle M. Guyon and Vladimir N. Vapnik suggested a way to create nonlinear classifiers by applying the kernel trick (originally proposed by Aizerman et al.) to maximum-margin hyperplanes. The resulting algorithm is formally similar, except that every dot product is replaced by a nonlinear kernel function. This allows the algorithm to fit the maximum-margin hyperplane in a transformed feature space. The transformation may be nonlinear and the transformed space high dimensional; thus though the classifier is a hyperplane in the high-dimensional feature space, it may be nonlinear in the original input space.
If the kernel used is a Gaussian radial basis function, the corresponding feature space is a Hilbert space of infinite dimensions. Maximum margin classifiers are well regularized, so the infinite dimensions do not spoil the results. Some common kernels include:
- Polynomial (homogeneous):
- Polynomial (inhomogeneous):
- Gaussian radial basis function: , for Sometimes parametrized using
- Hyperbolic tangent: , for some (not every) and
The kernel is related to the transform by the equation . The value w is also in the transformed space, with Dot products with w for classification can again be computed by the kernel trick, i.e. . However, there does not in general exist a value w' such that
SVMs belong to a family of generalized linear classifiers and can be interpreted as an extension of the perceptron. They can also be considered a special case of Tikhonov regularization. A special property is that they simultaneously minimize the empirical classification error and maximize the geometric margin; hence they are also known as maximum margin classifiers.
A comparison of the SVM to other classifiers has been made by Meyer, Leisch and Hornik.
Parameter selection
The effectiveness of SVM depends on the selection of kernel, the kernel's parameters, and soft margin parameter C.
A common choice is a Gaussian kernel, which has a single parameter γ. The best combination of C and γ is often selected by a grid search with exponentially growing sequences of C and γ, for example, ; . Typically, each combination of parameter choices is checked using cross validation, and the parameters with best cross-validation accuracy are picked. The final model, which is used for testing and for classifying new data, is then trained on the whole training set using the selected parameters.
Potential drawbacks of the SVM are the following three aspects:
- Uncalibrated class membership probabilities
- The SVM is only directly applicable for two-class tasks. Therefore, algorithms that reduce the multi-class task to several binary problems have to be applied; see the multi-class SVM section.
- Parameters of a solved model are difficult to interpret.
Multiclass SVM
Multiclass SVM aims to assign labels to instances by using support vector machines, where the labels are drawn from a finite set of several elements.
- Building binary classifiers which distinguish between (i) one of the labels and the rest (one-versus-all) or (ii) between every pair of classes (one-versus-one). Classification of new instances for the one-versus-all case is done by a winner-takes-all strategy, in which the classifier with the highest output function assigns the class (it is important that the output functions be calibrated to produce comparable scores). For the one-versus-one approach, classification is done by a max-wins voting strategy, in which every classifier assigns the instance to one of the two classes, then the vote for the assigned class is increased by one vote, and finally the class with the most votes determines the instance classification.
- Directed Acyclic Graph SVM (DAGSVM)
- error-correcting output codes
Crammer and Singer proposed a multiclass SVM method which casts the multiclass classification problem into a single optimization problem, rather than decomposing it into multiple binary classification problems. See also Lee, Lin and Wahba.
Transductive support vector machines
Transductive support vector machines extend SVMs in that they could also treat partially labeled data in semi-supervised learning by following the principles of transduction. Here, in addition to the training set , the learner is also given a set
of test examples to be classified. Formally, a transductive support vector machine is defined by the following primal optimization problem:
Minimize (in )
subject to (for any and any )
Transductive support vector machines were introduced by Vladimir N. Vapnik in 1998.
Structured SVM
SVMs have been generalized to structured SVMs, where the label space is structured and of possibly infinite size.
A version of SVM for regression was proposed in 1996 by Vladimir N. Vapnik, Harris Drucker, Christopher J. C. Burges, Linda Kaufman and Alexander J. Smola. This method is called support vector regression (SVR). The model produced by support vector classification (as described above) depends only on a subset of the training data, because the cost function for building the model does not care about training points that lie beyond the margin. Analogously, the model produced by SVR depends only on a subset of the training data, because the cost function for building the model ignores any training data close to the model prediction (within a threshold ). Another SVM version known as least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) has been proposed by Suykens and Vandewalle.
The parameters of the maximum-margin hyperplane are derived by solving the optimization. There exist several specialized algorithms for quickly solving the QP problem that arises from SVMs, mostly relying on heuristics for breaking the problem down into smaller, more-manageable chunks.
A common method is Platt's Sequential Minimal Optimization (SMO) algorithm, which breaks the problem down into 2-dimensional sub-problems that may be solved analytically, eliminating the need for a numerical optimization algorithm.
Another approach is to use an interior point method that uses Newton-like iterations to find a solution of the Karush–Kuhn–Tucker conditions of the primal and dual problems. Instead of solving a sequence of broken down problems, this approach directly solves the problem as a whole. To avoid solving a linear system involving the large kernel matrix, a low rank approximation to the matrix is often used in the kernel trick.
See also
- In situ adaptive tabulation
- Kernel machines
- Polynomial kernel
- Fisher kernel
- Predictive analytics
- Relevance vector machine, a probabilistic sparse kernel model identical in functional form to SVM
- Sequential minimal optimization
- Winnow (algorithm)
- Regularization perspectives on support vector machines
- Cortes, Corinna; and Vapnik, Vladimir N.; "Support-Vector Networks", Machine Learning, 20, 1995. http://www.springerlink.com/content/k238jx04hm87j80g/
- *Press, William H.; Teukolsky, Saul A.; Vetterling, William T.; Flannery, B. P. (2007). "Section 16.5. Support Vector Machines". Numerical Recipes: The Art of Scientific Computing (3rd ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-88068-8.
- ACM Website, Press release of March 17th 2009. http://www.acm.org/press-room/news-releases/awards-08-groupa
- Aizerman, Mark A.; Braverman, Emmanuel M.; and Rozonoer, Lev I. (1964). "Theoretical foundations of the potential function method in pattern recognition learning". Automation and Remote Control 25: 821–837.
- Boser, Bernhard E.; Guyon, Isabelle M.; and Vapnik, Vladimir N.; A training algorithm for optimal margin classifiers. In Haussler, David (editor); 5th Annual ACM Workshop on COLT, pages 144–152, Pittsburgh, PA, 1992. ACM Press
- Meyer, David; Leisch, Friedrich; and Hornik, Kurt; The support vector machine under test, Neurocomputing 55(1–2): 169–186, 2003 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0925-2312(03)00431-4
- Hsu, Chih-Wei; Chang, Chih-Chung; and Lin, Chih-Jen (2003). A Practical Guide to Support Vector Classification. Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Taiwan University. http://www.csie.ntu.edu.tw/~cjlin/papers/guide/guide.pdf.
- Duan, Kai-Bo; and Keerthi, S. Sathiya (2005). "Which Is the Best Multiclass SVM Method? An Empirical Study". Proceedings of the Sixth International Workshop on Multiple Classifier Systems. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 3541: 278. doi:10.1007/11494683_28. ISBN 978-3-540-26306-7.
- Hsu, Chih-Wei; and Lin, Chih-Jen (2002). "A Comparison of Methods for Multiclass Support Vector Machines". IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks.
- Platt, John; Cristianini, N.; and Shawe-Taylor, J. (2000). "Large margin DAGs for multiclass classification". In Solla, Sara A.; Leen, Todd K.; and Müller, Klaus-Robert; eds. Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems. MIT Press. pp. 547–553.
- Dietterich, Thomas G.; and Bakiri, Ghulum; Bakiri (1995). "Solving Multiclass Learning Problems via Error-Correcting Output Codes". Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, Vol. 2 2: 263–286. arXiv:cs/9501101. Bibcode:1995cs........1101D. Unknown parameter
- Crammer, Koby; and Singer, Yoram (2001). "On the Algorithmic Implementation of Multiclass Kernel-based Vector Machines". J. of Machine Learning Research 2: 265–292.
- Lee, Y.; Lin, Y.; and Wahba, G. (2001). "Multicategory Support Vector Machines". Computing Science and Statistics 33.
- Lee, Y.; Lin, Y.; and Wahba, G. (2004). "Multicategory Support Vector Machines, Theory, and Application to the Classification of Microarray Data and Satellite Radiance Data". Journal of the American Statistical Association 99 (465): 67–81. doi:10.1198/016214504000000098.
- Joachims, Thorsten; "Transductive Inference for Text Classification using Support Vector Machines", Proceedings of the 1999 International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML 1999), pp. 200-209.
- Drucker, Harris; Burges, Christopher J. C.; Kaufman, Linda; Smola, Alexander J.; and Vapnik, Vladimir N. (1997); "Support Vector Regression Machines", in Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 9, NIPS 1996, 155–161, MIT Press.
- Suykens, Johan A. K.; Vandewalle, Joos P. L.; Least squares support vector machine classifiers, Neural Processing Letters, vol. 9, no. 3, Jun. 1999, pp. 293–300.
- Ferris, Michael C.; and Munson, Todd S. (2002). "Interior-point methods for massive support vector machines". SIAM Journal on Optimization 13 (3): 783–804. doi:10.1137/S1052623400374379.
- Burges, Christopher J. C.; A Tutorial on Support Vector Machines for Pattern Recognition, Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery 2:121–167, 1998
- www.kernel-machines.org (general information and collection of research papers)
- Teknomo, K. SVM tutorial using spreadsheet Visual Introduction to SVM.
- www.support-vector-machines.org (Literature, Review, Software, Links related to Support Vector Machines — Academic Site)
- videolectures.net (SVM-related video lectures)
- Animation clip: SVM with polynomial kernel visualization
- Fletcher, Tristan; A very basic SVM tutorial for complete beginners
- Karatzoglou, Alexandros et al.; Support Vector Machines in R, Journal of Statistical Software April 2006, Volume 15, Issue 9.
- Shogun (toolbox) contains about 20 different implementations of SVMs, written in C++ with MATLAB, Octave, Python, R, Java, Lua, Ruby and C# interffaces
- libsvm libsvm is a library of SVMs which is actively patched
- liblinear liblinear is a library for large linear classification including some SVMs
- flssvm flssvm is a least squares svm implementation written in fortran
- Shark Shark is a C++ machine learning library implementing various types of SVMs
- dlib dlib is a C++ library for working with kernel methods and SVMs
- SVM light is a collection of software tools for learning and classification using SVM.
- Stanford University Andrew Ng Video on SVM
- Theodoridis, Sergios; and Koutroumbas, Konstantinos; "Pattern Recognition", 4th Edition, Academic Press, 2009, ISBN 978-1-59749-272-0
- Cristianini, Nello; and Shawe-Taylor, John; An Introduction to Support Vector Machines and other kernel-based learning methods, Cambridge University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-521-78019-5 ( SVM Book)
- Huang, Te-Ming; Kecman, Vojislav; and Kopriva, Ivica (2006); Kernel Based Algorithms for Mining Huge Data Sets, in Supervised, Semi-supervised, and Unsupervised Learning, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, 260 pp. 96 illus., Hardcover, ISBN 3-540-31681-7
- Kecman, Vojislav; Learning and Soft Computing — Support Vector Machines, Neural Networks, Fuzzy Logic Systems, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2001.
- Schölkopf, Bernhard; and Smola, Alexander J.; Learning with Kernels, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2002. ISBN 0-262-19475-9
- Schölkopf, Bernhard; Burges, Christopher J. C.; and Smola, Alexander J. (editors); Advances in Kernel Methods: Support Vector Learning, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1999. ISBN 0-262-19416-3.
- Shawe-Taylor, John; and Cristianini, Nello; Kernel Methods for Pattern Analysis, Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-521-81397-2 ( Kernel Methods Book)
- Steinwart, Ingo; and Christmann, Andreas; Support Vector Machines, Springer-Verlag, New York, 2008. ISBN 978-0-387-77241-7 ( SVM Book)
- Tan, Peter Jing; and Dowe, David L. (2004); MML Inference of Oblique Decision Trees, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNAI) 3339, Springer-Verlag, pp1082-1088. (This paper uses minimum message length (MML) and actually incorporates probabilistic support vector machines in the leaves of decision trees.)
- Vapnik, Vladimir N.; The Nature of Statistical Learning Theory, Springer-Verlag, 1995. ISBN 0-387-98780-0
- Vapnik, Vladimir N.; and Kotz, Samuel; Estimation of Dependences Based on Empirical Data, Springer, 2006. ISBN 0-387-30865-2, 510 pages [this is a reprint of Vapnik's early book describing philosophy behind SVM approach. The 2006 Appendix describes recent development].
- Fradkin, Dmitriy; and Muchnik, Ilya; Support Vector Machines for Classification in Abello, J.; and Carmode, G. (Eds); Discrete Methods in Epidemiology, DIMACS Series in Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science, volume 70, pp. 13–20, 2006. . Succinctly describes theoretical ideas behind SVM.
- Bennett, Kristin P.; and Campbell, Colin; Support Vector Machines: Hype or Hallelujah?, SIGKDD Explorations, 2, 2, 2000, 1–13. . Excellent introduction to SVMs with helpful figures.
- Ivanciuc, Ovidiu; Applications of Support Vector Machines in Chemistry, in Reviews in Computational Chemistry, Volume 23, 2007, pp. 291–400. Reprint available:
- Catanzaro, Bryan; Sundaram, Narayanan; and Keutzer, Kurt; Fast Support Vector Machine Training and Classification on Graphics Processors, in International Conference on Machine Learning, 2008
- Campbell, Colin; and Ying, Yiming; Learning with Support Vector Machines, 2011, Morgan and Claypool. ISBN 978-1-60845-616-1. | <urn:uuid:9ddf0642-0ff8-47be-9f77-c75b451a819b> | {
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The troposphere is the lowest portion of Earth's atmosphere. It contains approximately 80% of the atmosphere's mass and 99% of its water vapor and aerosols. The average depth of the troposphere is approximately 17 km (11 mi) in the middle latitudes. It is deeper in the tropics, up to 20 km (12 mi), and shallower near the polar regions, at 7 km (4.3 mi) in summer, and indistinct in winter. The lowest part of the troposphere, where friction with the Earth's surface influences air flow, is the planetary boundary layer. This layer is typically a few hundred meters to 2 km (1.2 mi) deep depending on the landform and time of day. The border between the troposphere and stratosphere, called the tropopause, is a temperature inversion.
The word troposphere derives from the Greek: tropos for "change" reflecting the fact that turbulent mixing plays an important role in the troposphere's structure and behavior. Most of the phenomena we associate with day-to-day weather occur in the troposphere.
Pressure and temperature structure
The chemical composition of the troposphere is essentially uniform, with the notable exception of water vapor. The source of water vapor is at the surface through the processes of evaporation and transpiration. Furthermore the temperature of the troposphere decreases with height, and saturation vapor pressure decreases strongly as temperature drops, so the amount of water vapor that can exist in the atmosphere decreases strongly with height. Thus the proportion of water vapor is normally greatest near the surface and decreases with height.
The pressure of the atmosphere is maximum at sea level and decreases with higher altitude. This is because the atmosphere is very nearly in hydrostatic equilibrium, so that the pressure is equal to the weight of air above a given point. The change in pressure with height, therefore can be equated to the density with this hydrostatic equation:
Since temperature in principle also depends on altitude, one needs a second equation to determine the pressure as a function of height, as discussed in the next section.*
The temperature of the troposphere generally decreases as altitude increases. The rate at which the temperature decreases, , is called the environmental lapse rate (ELR). The ELR is nothing more than the difference in temperature between the surface and the tropopause divided by the height. The reason for this temperature difference is the absorption of the sun's energy occurs at the ground which heats the lower levels of the atmosphere, and the radiation of heat occurs at the top of the atmosphere cooling the earth, this process maintaining the overall heat balance of the earth.
As parcels of air in the atmosphere rise and fall, they also undergo changes in temperature for reasons described below. The rate of change of the temperature in the parcel may be less than or more than the ELR. When a parcel of air rises, it expands, because the pressure is lower at higher altitudes. As the air parcel expands, it pushes on the air around it, doing work; but generally it does not gain heat in exchange from its environment, because its thermal conductivity is low (such a process is called adiabatic). Since the parcel does work and gains no heat, it loses energy, and so its temperature decreases. (The reverse, of course, will be true for a sinking parcel of air.)
Since the heat exchanged is related to the entropy change by , the equation governing the temperature as a function of height for a thoroughly mixed atmosphere is
If the air contains water vapor, then cooling of the air can cause the water to condense, and the behavior is no longer that of an ideal gas. If the air is at the saturated vapor pressure, then the rate at which temperature drops with height is called the saturated adiabatic lapse rate. More generally, the actual rate at which the temperature drops with altitude is called the environmental lapse rate. In the troposphere, the average environmental lapse rate is a drop of about 6.5 °C for every 1 km (1,000 meters) in increased height.
The environmental lapse rate (the actual rate at which temperature drops with height, ) is not usually equal to the adiabatic lapse rate (or correspondingly, ). If the upper air is warmer than predicted by the adiabatic lapse rate (), then when a parcel of air rises and expands, it will arrive at the new height at a lower temperature than its surroundings. In this case, the air parcel is denser than its surroundings, so it sinks back to its original height, and the air is stable against being lifted. If, on the contrary, the upper air is cooler than predicted by the adiabatic lapse rate, then when the air parcel rises to its new height it will have a higher temperature and a lower density than its surroundings, and will continue to accelerate upward.
Temperatures decrease at middle latitudes from an average of 15°C at sea level to about -55°C at the top of the tropopause. At the poles, the troposphere is thinner and the temperature only decreases to -45°C, while at the equator the temperature at the top of the troposphere can reach -75°C.
The tropopause is the boundary region between the troposphere and the stratosphere.
Measuring the temperature change with height through the troposphere and the stratosphere identifies the location of the tropopause. In the troposphere, temperature decreases with altitude. In the stratosphere, however, the temperature remains constant for a while and then increases with altitude. The region of the atmosphere where the lapse rate changes from positive (in the troposphere) to negative (in the stratosphere), is defined as the tropopause. Thus, the tropopause is an inversion layer, and there is little mixing between the two layers of the atmosphere.
Atmospheric flow
The flow of the atmosphere generally moves in a west to east direction. This however can often become interrupted, creating a more north to south or south to north flow. These scenarios are often described in meteorology as zonal or meridional. These terms, however, tend to be used in reference to localised areas of atmosphere (at a synoptic scale). A fuller explanation of the flow of atmosphere around the Earth as a whole can be found in the three-cell model.
Zonal Flow
A zonal flow regime is the meteorological term meaning that the general flow pattern is west to east along the Earth's latitude lines, with weak shortwaves embedded in the flow. The use of the word "zone" refers to the flow being along the Earth's latitudinal "zones". This pattern can buckle and thus become a meridional flow.
Meridional flow
When the zonal flow buckles, the atmosphere can flow in a more longitudinal (or meridional) direction, and thus the term "meridional flow" arises. Meridional flow patterns feature strong, amplified troughs and ridges, with more north-south flow in the general pattern than west-to-east flow.
Three-cell model
The three cells model attempts to describe the actual flow of the Earth's atmosphere as a whole. It divides the Earth into the tropical (Hadley cell), mid latitude (Ferrel cell), and polar (polar cell) regions, dealing with energy flow and global circulation. Its fundamental principle is that of balance - the energy that the Earth absorbs from the sun each year is equal to that which it loses back into space, but this however is not a balance precisely maintained in each latitude due to the varying strength of the sun in each "cell" resulting from the tilt of the Earth's axis in relation to its orbit. It demonstrates that a pattern emerges to mirror that of the ocean - the tropics do not continue to get warmer because the atmosphere transports warm air poleward and cold air equatorward, the effect of which appears to be that of heat and moisture distribution around the planet.
Synoptic scale observations and concepts
Forcing is a term used by meteorologists to describe the situation where a change or an event in one part of the atmosphere causes a strengthening change in another part of the atmosphere. It is usually used to describe connections between upper, middle or lower levels (such as upper-level divergence causing lower level convergence in cyclone formation), but can sometimes also be used to describe such connections over distance rather than height alone. In some respects, tele-connections could be considered a type of forcing.
Divergence and Convergence
An area of convergence is one in which the total mass of air is increasing with time, resulting in an increase in pressure at locations below the convergence level (recall that atmospheric pressure is just the total weight of air above a given point). Divergence is the opposite of convergence - an area where the total mass of air is decreasing with time, resulting in falling pressure in regions below the area of divergence. Where divergence is occurring in the upper atmosphere, there will be air coming in to try to balance the net loss of mass (this is called the principle of mass conservation), and there is a resulting upward motion (positive vertical velocity). Another way to state this is to say that regions of upper air divergence are conducive to lower level convergence, cyclone formation, and positive vertical velocity. Therefore, identifying regions of upper air divergence is an important step in forecasting the formation of a surface low pressure area.
- "ISS022-E-062672 caption". NASA. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
- McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Science & Technology. (1984). Troposhere. "It contains about four-fifths of the mass of the whole atmosphere."
- Danielson, Levin, and Abrams, Meteorology, McGraw Hill, 2003
- Landau and Lifshitz, Fluid Mechanics, Pergamon, 1979
- Landau and Lifshitz, Statistical Physics Part 1, Pergamon, 1980
- Kittel and Kroemer, Thermal Physics, Freeman, 1980; chapter 6, problem 11
- "American Meteorological Society Glossary - Zonal Flow". Allen Press Inc. June 2000. Retrieved 2006-10-03.
- "American Meteorological Society Glossary - Meridional Flow". Allen Press Inc. June 2000. Retrieved 2006-10-03.
- "Meteorology - MSN Encarta, "Energy Flow and Global Circulation"". Encarta.Msn.com. Archived from the original on 2009-10-31. Retrieved 2006-10-13.
|Look up troposphere in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.|
- Composition of the Atmosphere, from the University of Tennessee Physics dept.
- Chemical Reactions in the Atmosphere
- http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761571037_3/Meteorology.html#s12 (Archived 2009-10-31) | <urn:uuid:289d13f0-c4f6-44f9-8b69-3daada4f7990> | {
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Case study is often defined in different ways, reflecting evolving practice. What is important then is to define the concept for yourself, and explain to your audience how you are using the term.
- A research approach in which one or few instances of a phenomenon are studied in depth (Given, 2008).
- An empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context; when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident; and in which multiple sources of evidence are used. (Yin, 1984)
Case study involves a detailed in depth analysis of an organisation, person, a group, an event, allowing an understanding of complex phenomena, such as organisations. A case study generally involves looking at a single case (which already exists), an object of study which is easily identified and separated (a bounded system) from other similar objects e.g. an organization, a place, an illness in one patient. Case study is a useful methodology for focussing on relationships connecting everyday practices in natural settings, placing attention on a local situation (Stake, 2006).
The case study is useful to investigate an issue in depth and ‘provide an explanation that can cope with the complexity and subtlety of real of life situation’ (Denscombe, 2010, p55).
Research questions revolve around ‘How?’ or ‘Why?’ and may be explanatory, exploratory or descriptive in nature (Yin, 2003).
Case study can be used to develop theory. Yin (2003, p 1) notes that a case study is a way to ‘contribute to our knowledge of individual, group, organisational, social, political and related phenomena’ Case study can be used to test theory : what is it supposed to do and does it do that? Case studies can be used to trace a process, developing an understanding and then test it (Bennett, Andrew)
Data collection
Case studies generally use a combination of data collection methods.
Multiple case studies
In multiple cases, research single cases are meaningful in relation to the other cases cited. Multiple case study research needs to use cases that are similar in some ways. The cases become "members of a group or examples of a phenomenon" (Stake, 2006, p. 6). This allows examination of what is similar and dissimilar about the cases. The researcher is looking for patterns and uniqueness, particulars and generalisations in the cases developed.
References and resources
Denscombe,Martyn (2010)(4th ed). The good research guide for small scale social research projects. Maidenhead: Open University Pres McGraw Hill
Dufour, S. & Foutin, V., ‘Annotated bibliography of case study method’, Current Sociology vol.40/1, 1992, pp.166-181.
Fidel, R. (1984). ‘The Case Study Method: A Case Study’, Library and Information Science Research vol.6/3, pp.273-288.
Garson, G.D. (2008). Case Studies, available from http://faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/PA765/cases.htm
Gerring, J. (2007). Case Study Research: Principles and Practices, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Gilbertson, D. W. & Stone, R. J. (1985) (2nd ed). Human resources management: cases and readings. Sydney : McGraw-Hill, 1985.
Giving, L. M. (2008) (ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods, Los Angeles: Sage.
Hossain, Dewan Mahboob (2009). 'Case Study Research' Social Science Research Network http://ssrn.com/abstract=1444863
Marshall, C. & Rossman, G.B. (2006) (4th ed). Designing qualitative research, Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Merriam S. (1998). Qualitative research and case study application in education. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Ragin, C.C. & Becker, H.S. (1992), What is a Case? Exploring the foundations of social enquiry, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Sadler, D. Royce (1985). ‘Evaluation, Policy Analysis and Multiple Case Studies: Aspects of focus and sampling’, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, vol.7/2, pp.143-149.
Simons (2009). Case study research in practice. London: Sage
Stake, R. E. (1995). The art of case study research. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Stake, R.E. (2006), Multiple Case Study Analysis, New York & London: The Guildford Press.
Soy, Susan K. (1997). The case study as a research method. Available from http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~ssoy/usesusers/l391d1b.htm
Stoecker, R., ‘Evaluating and rethinking the case study’, The Sociological Review vol.39, no.1, February 1991, pp.88-112.
Yin, R.K. (1989). ‘Case study research design and method’. Applied Social Research Methods Series 5. Newbury Park: Sage
Young, Raymond (2010). Case study research http://ise.canberra.edu.au/raymond/?s=case+study
Zach, L. (2006), ‘Using multiple case studies design to investigate the information-seeking behaviour of arts administrators’, Library Trends vol.55/1, pp.4-21.
See also
- Topic:Business case studies
- Portal:Social entrepreneurship/Case Studies/more
- Wikiversity:Case studies
- CisLunarFreighter/Scripts and case studies
- Case studies in patent litigation
- Portal:Social entrepreneurship/Case Studies
- Evidence-based medicine/Case studies
- Case study: Blended design and openness
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What are the rules for splitting words at the end of a line?
In printed texts, especially those with narrow columns, it's necessary from time to time to divide the last word in the line, and put some of it on the line below. The computer's automatic word-breaking system can execute this, but sometimes the output is 'wrong': tran + scend or trans + cend, des + pite or de + spite, the + rapist or ther + apist and go on and on. Yet dictionaries are far from unanimous about word-breaking.
That being said, I wonder if there are any 'rules' or guidelines that can be helpful in word-breaking actions. | <urn:uuid:11758d1e-ecbf-4f29-bc9e-ce2c4ee0cdfe> | {
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- Common names: Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat, Queensland Hairy-nosed Wombat, Yaminon
- Scientific name: Lasiorhinus krefftii
- National conservation status: Endangered (likely to become extinct if threats continue)
- Size: 35 cm high, 1 m long
- Weight: up to 35 kg (Females slightly heavier than males)
The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat is a marsupial with a backward facing pouch. The curious name comes from its distinctive muzzle which is covered with short brown hairs. It is strong and heavily built, with short, powerful legs and strong claws that are used to dig burrows or search for suitable plants to eat. Its fur is soft, silky, and mainly brown, mottled with grey, fawn and black. It has a broad head, and the ears are long and slightly pointed with tufts of white hair on the edges.
Like most marsupials, the Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat is active at night, usually at dawn or dusk. Although mostly solitary, wombats often share burrows. Each burrow has several entrances and contains moist air which stays at a constant temperature throughout the year. The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat eats native and introduced grasses and stays close to one of its many burrows. The wombat's teeth never stop growing, allowing it to grind its food even when old.
The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat gives birth to one young during the wet season (November - April). The young stay in the mothers pouch for eight to nine months. They leave their mother at about 15 months.
The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat once occurred near Deniliquin (New South Wales), on the Moonie River near St George (southern Queensland) and at Epping Forest near Clermont (central Queensland). Fossil records from New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland show that they lived over a larger area, but probably not in high numbers. The last known colony of Northern Hairy-nosed Wombats is now restricted to 300 ha in Epping Forest National Park in central Queensland. The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat occurs along an ancient water course in the park where the soil is sandy and dry.
Their feeding areas contain native grasses, scattered eucalypts and acacias, and patches of scrub.
The wombats live in groups of large burrows usually located near trees.
Habitat loss and change, drought and competition with cattle, sheep and rabbits for food have contributed to the decline of the Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat. Epping Forest National Park is now fenced to keep out cattle and sheep and will be fenced during 2002 to exclude dingoes which killed 10 northern hairy-nosed wombats during 2000-01. Introduced buffel grass, planted in the area for cattle feed, outcompetes the native grasses and forces the wombats to travel further to find the native species they prefer to eat. The small population of Northern Hairy-nosed Wombats that remains is susceptible to predation, fire and inbreeding.
Epping Forest National Park was established in 1971 to protect the habitat of the Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat. Access into the Park is restricted to researchers and park managers. The park is protected from wildfires by fire breaks and patch burning of small areas. After the removal of cattle in 1982, wombat numbers increased from 35 to about 70 in 1989. Numbers remained steady during a major drought which spanned the first half of the 1990's. After several good years of rainfall, the population has increased to 110.
Programs to control buffel grass and improve the supply of native grasses are helping the wombats to move into other suitable habitats in the park. Management of Epping Forest National Park and ongoing research on the ecology of the Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat also contribute to the long term conservation of this species. As well, a captive breeding program on the Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat is currently under way. If this proves successful, it is hoped the techniques developed can be applied to the captive breeding of Northern Hairy-nosed Wombats.
There are three species of wombat in Australia. The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat is the largest. The other two are:
Common Wombat (Vombatus ursinis)
The Common Wombat occurs in southeastern Australia. It has coarser hair, a smaller tail and shorter, more rounded ears than the Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat. It is nocturnal during the summer, but in winter it often comes out of its burrow during the day. Common Wombats breed at any time of the year. They live to 15 years in the wild, and up to 20 years in captivity.
Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat (Lasiorhinus latifrons)
This species occurs in parts of southern South Australia, southeastern Western Australia and western Victoria. It is the smallest of the three wombats in Australia has red-brown fur and a shorter face. The Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat breeds from late September through to December.
- Flannery T (1990) Australia's Vanishing Mammals. R D Press, Sydney.
- Strahan R (1995) The Australian Museum Complete Book of Australian Mammals. Angus and Robertson.
Queensland Government Department of Environment and Resource Management
PO Box 15155
CITY EAST QLD 4002
Phone: 1300 130 372
You can also find out more information about Australia's threatened species by calling the Department of the Environment and Heritage's Community Information Unit on free call 1800 803 772
Northern hairy-nosed wombat, Lasiorhinus krefftii (QLD Department of Environment and Resource Management)
Links to another web site
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Apple is known for supporting educational uses of its technologies.
On Apple Learning Interchange Community, for instance, teachers can find news and share lesson plans and ideas on different subjects.
Of course, Apple also supports the use of their mobile devices for learning, and here is their official website dedicated to just that: showcase different ways the iPhone/iPod Touch can be used to support Education.
“iPod touch and iPhone are perfect for on-the-go learning. But don’t let their small size fool you. These devices put thousands of apps and countless possibilities in your pocket.”
Also noteworthy is their website showcasing educational uses of the iPad. This website highlights features and uses such as:
- Web-ready apps (Safari, Mail, Maps)
- Multimedia access (music, videos, websites)
- Management apps (Calendar, Notes)
- iWork for document creation/editing (Pages, Keynote, Numbers)
- Accessibility-readiness (screen reader built in)
- iTunesU (academic content readily available on iTunes)
The iPad being somewhat cost-effective, more portable, and “closed” (not allowing as much student tampering and access to inappropriate content) can be some of the good reasons to adopt the device in educational settings.
“Your school day gets more productive — and more fun — when you can page through websites, write an email, flick through photos, or watch a movie with just the touch of a finger.” | <urn:uuid:e74fc89b-4b8a-4634-ba30-112fc35fbc58> | {
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We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of wild animals. Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creatures through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate for having taken a form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and the travail of the earth.
-Henry Beston, The Outermost House, as cited by Karsten Heuer in Being Caribou: Five Months on Foot with an Arctic Herd, p. 10
In the “complicated artifice” of immured, urban life, I often experience the living world of the animals, plants and minerals in the tundras, deserts, mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, caves and oceans like a ghost-appendage, like a part of me that I can’t shake the awareness of, though I live in a fast-moving, technologically driven human ‘nation’ that has severed itself from these other nations both in habitat and in consciousness.
The influential philosophical writings of the ancient Greeks, particularly of Aristotle, conveyed down to us through innumerable refracted lenses in the post-classical tradition the notion that human beings are superior to the animal kingdom as a result of their unique possession of ‘logos’, or the capacity to reason. Aristotle took this analogy even further, to suggest that just as domestic animals’ benefit’ from their domination by human beings, so do women and slaves ‘benefit’ by being ruled by free men. Aristotle’s writings supplied the European and early American slave-traders and slave-owners of the 17th-19th centuries with canonical arguments for racialized, chattel slavery.
What comes of the persistent human belief in separation? Our human history is littered with exemplum upon exemplum of the tragic consequences of this belief.
Mindfulness practices provide an antidote. They help us to reestablish connections with each other and with other nations. They help us to really feel and grieve expressions of separation, to have compassion for them, and to heal the rifts through loving kindness and equanimity. They help us to attune to the earth with new or regained senses. | <urn:uuid:4ce45ed4-2bf7-430a-8b37-d43dc17877f6> | {
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(1882 - 1971)
Igor Stravinsky short biography
Universally regarded as one of the most important modern composer, Igor Stravinsky spent his earlier years in Russia. There Stravinsky studied composition and orchestration with Rimsky-Korsakov. Stravinsky’s first major success was in Paris with compositions commissioned by the impresario Sergei Diaghilev. It was Diaghilev for whom Stravinsky later wrote a number of ballet scores. In 1939 Stravinsky moved to the United States. In the post-war time Stravinsky abandoned a style of neo-classicism and began composing in the twelve-note Schoenberg’s technique. A versatile composer, Stravinsky has made great contribution to many modern styles. At the invitation of the Russian government, Stravinsky visited Moscow and Leningrad conducting his own compositions.
More Stravinsky sheet music download on EveryNote.com
Stravinsky Piano sheet music download on EveryNote.com
Stravinsky Violin sheet music download on EveryNote.com
Stravinsky Clarinet sheet music download on EveryNote.com
Stravinsky Orchestral parts sheet music download on EveryNote. | <urn:uuid:671e4083-ab61-4bc1-90ce-3594fa14e8a0> | {
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Treating Hirschsprung's disease
requires surgery to remove the affected bowel
and then join the healthy bowel segments. There are three different approaches, each with a high rate of success. The choice depends on the overall health of the child and the training and experience of the surgeon
Sometimes a single surgical procedure is recommended to remove the aganglionic segment
, then bring the healthy bowel down into the rectum
, and join it to the rectal wall
: this is called a "pull-through
. If an infant
is too small or a child is critically
ill, a temporary colostomy
may be necessary prior to the pull-through.
In a colostomy, the colon is brought out to the surface of the abdomen
so that stool contents can be discharged
into a special bag for disposal
Subsequent to the colostomy, the pull-through surgery can be planned. The colostomy opening can then closed at the time of the pull-through, or, in some cases, at a third operation after it is clear that the pull-through is working.
For most children with Hirschsprung's disease, there are no long-term complications
after successful surgery. A significant minority of children, though, are troubled with persistent constipation
), or persistent enterocolitis
Personal Note: Being affected with this disease, and not having had the surgery due to incorrect early diagnosis, I am inspired to say that living with this problem without surgery is very difficult. You may experince humiliation due to inability to control bowel movments, severe pain when having bowel movments, and constant illness due to the inability to remove toxins from the body. Please do not allow a child to grow up with this disease. | <urn:uuid:45bc42a5-ae7b-4850-b2b2-e926b1d0f47b> | {
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Eat and Be Young
But we’d like to add this simple thought: What you eat can make you old.
Last month we explained how age equals inflammation and why inflammation could play a role in many degenerative processes, including diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, high blood pressure and cancer. (See the April 17 issue of the Shepherd for details.)
Reducing inflammation may be able to slow down the aging process. And, even more important, it’s something you can do every day, very simply, just by eating the right foods.
Here’s how it works: The internal pH (level of acid) of the body is a critical factor in producing inflammation. The body is designed to function properly when the internal environment is neutral, with the exception of the stomach’s acidity.
When your body becomes too acidic, it tries to come into balance by retaining water and taking calcium and other minerals from your bones. Over time, these processes may lead to inflammation and osteoporosis. Your cells, tissues and organs may prematurely break down. And some studies have shown that tumor cells, bacteria and viruses will grow at explosive rates when placed in an acidic bath.
One culprit is your diet. The typical American consumes a wide variety of food and substances that create acidity within the body, such as pharmaceutical medicine, soda, processed foods, additives and preservatives.
Fortunately, reducing your acidity is pretty easy. Try these tips:
Eat fresh fruits and vegetables, preferably raw. Processing foods kills the enzymes they contain when they’re fresh, which forces the body to use its own limited reserves to digest what you eat. Plus, additives and preservatives create acidity, contributing to the aging process.
Consume Omega-3 fatty acids, primarily from fish oil, flaxseed or hemp oil. Omega-3 fatty acid deficiency has been called the scurvy of our time, with an estimated 90% of Americans lacking in this vital nutrient.
Eat the right kind of processed foods. Nearly every culture in history has relied on lacto-fermentation in food processing, which keeps the food alive. Traditional foods like pickles, tempeh, sauerkraut, kimchi, soy sauce and miso retain critical nutrients and help to slow down the aging process.
Check out your pH balance. A simple way to check your own internal environment is to purchase a simple pH strip from a health food store and begin monitoring one of the most important factors in premature aging.
You can start changing your life today. Don’t dig your grave with your fork.
Ty Wade, D.C., has a private practice in Saukville. David Wade manages an assisted living home in Sheboygan County. They can be contacted at [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:b3da9d40-e32a-4a8b-be55-18f52ef681e4> | {
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|Cat neutering practices in the UK
and swine flu
|Cats and avian flu
foetus infection in cats
- the dangers to cats
cat rescue - helpful information from Canada
Despite neutering being one of the most common veterinary procedures, questions remain about what constitutes best practice, and when is the ideal time to neuter. These were the focus of attention at a meeting of The Cat Group, held in London last September, to which representatives from the UK veterinary schools,and a number of other veterinary experts, were invited. This article presents a summary of the discussions.
At the beginning of November 2009, a sick 13-year old cat in Iowa, USA was diagnosed with the H1N1 ‘swine flu’ influenza virus. He had become lethargic, lost his appetite and had respiratory distress and diarrhoea. He was treated with antibiotics and fluids and recovered. This is the first report that cats can become infected with the swine flu virus.
It is very likely that the cat caught the virus from humans. Two of the three people who lived with the cat had flu-like symptoms before the cat became ill. Although H1N1 has not been confirmed as the cause of their illness, there is strong circumstantial evidence that they were the source of the infection and the virus was transmitted from them to the cat rather than the other way round, as the cat did not go outdoors.
There appears to be a small risk of animals catching the current swine flu virus from humans. Pigs, turkeys and pet ferrets have been diagnosed with the virus. Previously cats have died from eating birds infected with the earlier avian flu H5N1 virus.
However, there is no evidence yet that influenza viruses spread between cats or from cats to humans.
To reduce the risk of pet cats becoming infected from people with flu, the same precautions should be taken that apply to preventing human-to-human spread of the virus. Close contact with cats should be avoided, particularly face to face contact. Coughs and sneezes should be contained in paper tissues which should then be discarded hygienically. Hands should be washed very carefully before handling pets.
Cats in households in which people have symptoms of flu should be monitored carefully. If cats show signs of illness, owners should seek advice immediately from their veterinary surgeon.
further information, visit the websites below:
Protection Agency http://www.hpa.org.uk
for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairshttp://www.defra.gov.uk
have been identified as one of the species which can become infected
with the H5N1 avian flu virus. Natural infection almost certainly
occurs when cats eat infected birds, and fatal infections in cats
have been recorded in Germany and Austria. In laboratory studies
cats have been infected experimentally and have transmitted the
virus to other cats with which they were in contact. Recent
research, the results of which have yet to be confirmed, indicates
that in parts of south-east Asia, where poultry have been infected
with the virus, up to 20 per cent of cats have antibodies, suggesting
that many more cats become infected than become ill. This
raises the concern that cats might be a vehicle in which the virus
can become more addapted to mammals, and therefore spread readily
to man. However, there has been no evidence to date that cats
have been responsible for transmitting the virus to humans.
The simple and most effective way of avoiding cats being infected
is to keep them indoors, especially if they are known to wander
and are in an area where infected birds are known to be present.
When cases of H5N! infection occur in poultry in the UK, owners
within the 3 km protection zone should consider keeping their cats
indoors as recommended by DEFRA:
a precautionary approach we recommend that if you live within
3km of a premises where avian influenza is confirmed (the protection
zone) pet owners should aim to keep their cats indoors and exercise
their dogs on a lead. This is for the protection of your animals
and is not for public health purposes. In all other areas you
should continue as normal and your pets are not at risk.'
here for DEFRA's advice on avian flu and cats
a recent report form the European Commission Standing Committee
on the Food Chain and Animal Health says:
knowledge indicates that no H5N1 infection has ever occurred in
humans due to animals other than domestic poultry. Current knowledge
suggests that the disease in carnivores such as cats is a “cul
de sac” of the infection that has not lead to an increase
in the risk posed by this virus for animal or public health.
areas where H5N1 has been confirmed in wild birds:
- sick or dead cats and dogs that may have
had contacts with infected birds or their carcasses should undergo
veterinary inspection or post-mortem examination. When felt
necessary by the veterinarian and in accordance with the instructions
given by the veterinary authorities, further testing should
be carried out;
- contacts between domestic carnivores, particularly
cats, and wild birds should be prevented, i.e. cats should be
kept indoors and dogs should be kept on a leash or otherwise
restrained, and kept under control by the owner;
- where stray cats or dogs are found dead they
should not be touched and the veterinary authorities should
be informed, so that post-mortem examination and further testing
can be performed'
Cat Group urges pet owners not to panic and abandon or rehome their
cats because of fears of infection with bird flu.
This highly pathogenic virus first appeared in chickens in Hong Kong in 1997 and spread to people, with six deaths being recorded. In 2003 there were two further human deaths associated with infection by the same subtype of virus in southern China. Throughout 2004, H5N1 viruses spread throughout Southeast Asia resulting in the deaths, or slaughter of millions of chickens and over 30 people. To date, 167 human cases have been reported. The human infections were acquired directly from infected birds and fortunately the virus does not appear to spread between people.
However, a major threat from this new virus is that suddenly it might change and cause epidemics in people. This might occur if the virus mutated in chickens or recombined with existing human influenza viruses already in people or pigs, to produce novel viruses that could then spread readily from person to person, causing widespread disease. The World Health Organisation is closely monitoring the situation for the appearance of any such variant viruses in people.
Other concerns are that the H5N1 virus has been found to cause fatal disease in domestic cats, as well as in tigers and leopards in captivity, through the consumption of infected poultry meat; and the virus can spread between cats. Therefore there is a theoretical possibility that cats may be involved in natural history of these viruses, serving as a vehicle for the spread of the virus to other species, particularly man. Most authorities consider this outcome to be unlikely since previously reported disease in cats caused by avian influenza viruses have not been associated with widespread infection, or fatalities in cats. The first recorded natural, fatal infection of cats with an avian influenza virus was in Korea in 1942, but the subtype of that virus is not known. Since then there have been anecdotal accounts of natural feline infections in Thailand in 2004 and the transmission of a current H5N1 isolate from chickens to cats, and between cats, has been reported recently. It is considered even more unlikely that cats could act as a ‘mixing vessel' to generate recombinant influenza viruses, as might occur in people or pigs. Therefore, the risk that cats might pose should be kept in perspective.
Kuiken T, et al (2004) Avian H5N1 influenza in cats. Science 306 :241
Keawcharoen J, et al (2004) Avian influenza H5N1 in tigers and leopards. Emerging Infectious Diseases 10, 2189-2191
cats bring avian flu into a household?
We have two indoor-outdoor cats which occasionally catch
rats or birds and, of course, bring them into the house. It doesn't
take much to imagine one's cat catching and bringing into the house
an infected, ill migratory bird. How concerned should pet owners
be? And what is a reasonable course of action under such circumstances?
advice from an eminent virologist and supported by DEFRA, the British
government department for the environment, food and rural affairs
are that cats are susceptible to the current H5N1 strains of
avian flu virus, as are garden birds. Consequently, there
is a theoretical risk that cats could introduce the virus into a
household through predation, and that people could be infected from
the bird, or the cat. The risk must be considered remote. However,
in areas where bird flu has been identified it is recommended that
cats are kept indoors for their own protection.
also see DEFRA's
guidance on the handling and disposing of dead garden and wild birds
websites are also a useful source of information:
Board on Cat Diseases (ABCD)
Veterinary Association (BVA)
Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)
Tritrichomonas foetus is a microscopic single-celled flagellated protozoan parasite that has traditionally been identified as a cause of reproductive disease in cattle (infertility, abortion and endometritis). It has been found all over the world, but the widespread use of artificial insemination in breeding cattle has led to the virtual elimination of this organism from the cattle population in many countries including the UK and much of Europe.
There have been a number of recent studies, mostly form the USA, that have demonstrated that T foetus may also be an important cause of diarrhoea in cats. It can infect and colonises the large intestine, and can cause prolonged and intractable diarrhoea.
Studies have shown that this parasite mainly causes colitis (large bowel diarrhoea) with increased frequency of defaecation, semi-formed to liquid faeces, and sometimes fresh blood or mucus in the faeces. With severe diarrhoea the anus may become inflamed and painful, and in some cases the cats may develop faecal incontinence. Although cats of all ages can be affected with diarrhoea, it is most commonly seen in young cats and kittens, the majority being under 12 months of age. Most of the affected cats have come from rescue shelters and pedigree breeding colonies. Abdominal ultrasound examination may show corrugation of the large bowel and local lymphadenopathy. Colonic biopsies from affected cats typically show mild to severe inflammatory changes with infiltration of lymphocytes and plasma cells – a pattern commonly seen with other infectious agents and with inflammatory bowel disease. However, the parasites may be seen in close association with the mucosa. Although the diarrhoea may be persistent and severe, most affected cats are otherwise well, and show no significant weight loss.
Infection is most commonly seen in colonies of cats and multicat households, where the organism is presumably spread between cats by close and direct contact. There has been no evidence of spread from other species, or spread via food or water. In one study, 31% of cats at a cat show in the USA were identified as being infected with this organism, suggesting that this may be an important, common, and previously unrecognised cause of diarrhoea in cats.
Although most information on T foetus infection has come from studies of cats in the USA, we have identified several cases of infection in cats in the UK (mostly in young pedigree cats, and all from multicat households generally with more than one cat being affected), and it has also been identified in cats from Germany, Italy, Spain and Norway. In the UK, up to 30% of faecal samples from cats with diarrhoea are currently being found to be infected; with young pedigree cats (particularly Siamese and Bengal) being significantly more likely to be infected. The evidence therefore suggests that T foetus is probably quite widespread in cat populations, and infection is most likely where there is a high density of cats sharing the same environment.
While T foetus is known to be a significant cause of reproductive disease in cattle (infertility, abortion and endometritis), its role in causing reproductive disease in cats is still unclear. There is one report of a cat from Norway that came from a T foetus-infected household and developed pyometra (which was found to contain T foetus organisms). The cat may have been predisposed to the infection by having received six weeks of oral contraceptive (medroxyprogesterone acetate). It has also been suggested that tom cats may be able to harbour the infection in their prepuce.
Assessment of the cats faeces for the presence of T foetus can be made using a number of different methods (see below for more details); (i) looking for moving parasites in fresh faecal smears (ii) using a specific culture system or (iii) by detection of T foetus DNA using PCR. The different methods have differing sensitivities: in one study direct smears were positive in 5/36 cases, culture in 20/36, and PCR in 34/36 cases; so the PCR is by far the most sensitive test, but even this can be hampered by intermitted shedding of the parasite.
Diagnosis of T foetus infection is usually straightforward. The organism exists in the intestine as small, motile trophozoites, and these can be detected under the microscope. For optimum results, fresh faeces should be examined, and if any mucus has been passed with the faeces this is the most likely place to find the organisms. Smears of faeces/mucus diluted with some saline can be made on a microscope slide. A cover slip can be pressed over the smear and then the slide can be examined under x200 and x400 magnification. In most clinically affected cats, large numbers of the small motile organisms can be seen – they appear a little bit like microscopic tadpoles with very short tails (!), and have an undulating membrane that runs over the length of the body. Their movement is described as ‘jerky, forward motion’. Examination of multiple smears and multiple faecal samples will improve the detection of the organism. Rectal swabs can also be examined for the organism – a cotton swab can be inserted into the anus and rotated over the colonic mucosa – this is then withdrawn and a smear made on a microscope slide which is again diluted with saline and examined as above. The organism needs to be distinguished from Giardia, another protozoan parasite, but with Giardia infection the trophozoites tend to be far fewer in number, they are binucleate with a concave ventral ‘sucker’, and do not exhibit the same forward motion as T foetus. If a cat has received recent antibiotic therapy, this can suppress the number of T foetus trophozoites shed, and can make the diagnosis more difficult. In such cases, more sensitive diagnostic techniques may be preferable.
Two other diagnostic tests are available which are both more sensitive and specific for this organism. Firstly, the organism can be cultured from faecal samples using a system developed for diagnosis in cattle. The ‘In Pouchtm TF’ test (BioMed Diagnostics, Oregon, USA) uses a liquid culture system in a sterile plastic pouch. The pouch can be inoculated with 0.05g of faeces (about half the size of a small pea). The pouches are incubated at room temperature and can be examined microscopically for the motile organisms every two days for 12 days. This test is more sensitive than direct examination of faeces and helpful for detecting infections where direct smears are negative. Giardia, and other similar organisms will not grow in this specific culture medium. In the UK, this system was available from Capital Diagnostics in Edinburgh (0131 535 3145) but its high prevalence of false negatives (due to the parasite dieing in the cold UK postal system) means that it is not recommended as the PCR is far more sensitive.
The most sensitive and specific test is a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test – a sophisticated test that can detect the presence of the genetic material of the organism. This is an extremely sensitive test that is available in the UK and US from a number of laboratories (please see below).
Current information suggests the long-term prognosis for infected cats is good, and that they will eventually overcome the infection. However, this is a slow process – in one study of infected cats, resolution of the diarrhoea took an average of nine months, with occasional cats having diarrhoea persisting for more than two years, and rarely for life. It appears that most infected cats continue to shed low levels of the organism in their faeces for many months after the resolution of the diarrhoea.
Most studies on treatment of T. foetus infection in cats have been unrewarding. The organism is resistant to most traditionally used anti-protozoal drugs such as fenbendazole and metronidazole. The use of a variety of different antimicrobial drugs has been reported to improve faecal consistency during therapy of infected cats, possibly because of interaction between T. foetus and the bacteria normally present in the intestine. However, such antibiotic use is not recommended as it may ultimately prolong the shedding of the organism, and does not resolve the underlying problem.
A recent study by Dr Jody Gookin at the North Carolina State University (who has performed most of the work on this infection in cats) identified that ronidazole and tinadazole (antibiotics similar but not the same as metronidazole) may have efficacy against T. foetus infection in cats (JVIM, 2006;20:536; Am J Vet Res, 2007; 68:1085). From limited studies ronidazole appears to be more effective than tinadazole. Ronidazole appears to be relatively safe, although a small number of patients have developed neurological signs e.g. twitching and seizures, which have resolved on stopping the drug. (The neurological signs are similar to those seen in some kittens, or cats with liver disease, when they are given standard or high doses of metronidazole). However, ronidazole is not licensed for use in cats; it should only be used with caution and with informed, signed, owner consent. Initial studies suggested that a dose of 30-50mg/kg once to twice daily for two weeks is capable of both resolving clinical signs and potentially eradicating the T. foetus. However, keeping to the lower end of the dose is advisable (30mg/kg), as is giving it only once daily, and reducing it even further for young kittens or cats with hepatopathy; (10mg/kg once daily for two weeks). To ensure that each kitten receives the correct dose, and so reduce the risk of side effects, it is also important to weigh the kittens prior to ordering the reformulated capsules. The bitterness of the powder means that it must be placed in capsules prior to administration.
Ronidazole (10% powder preparation) is commonly used to treat trichomoniasis in birds (e.g. pigeons). However, it is not available in this form in the UK, and the consistency of the 10% formulation is difficult to guarantee. Therefore, we have gained permission from the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) to use 100% pure chemical grade ronidazole to treat T. foetus infected cats. This is the form that is now used in the USA. In the UK it can be obtained upon receipt of a signed named-animal prescription as capsules from Nova Laboratories, Tel: 0116 223 0099; Fax: 0116 223 0120: email: [email protected]. While the VMD have agreed to our use of this chemical in these cats, they strongly recommend that detailed records are maintained and that no cat is treated without first obtaining informed, signed, owner consent. In addition, we should compile data on all potential adverse effects: send case information on any potential adverse effects to [email protected].
Care should be exercised in the use of ronidazole, as there are very few studies of its use in cats, and long-term studies in other species have suggested some potential toxicity concerns. (In many countries its use in food-producing animals has been banned to minimise human exposure). Careful handling of the drug is therefore advised. It should never be given to pregnant queens (or queens about to be put to stud): it is very teratogenic and may result in a number of different and severe defects. Anyone handling ronidazole should wear gloves (especially if they are a woman of reproductive age).
Since the diarrhoea usually resolves over time, and is often more of an inconvenience than being associated with significant adverse effects in affected cats, it may not be necessary or advisable to treat all affected cats with ronidazole. Using a simple highly digestible diet or a high fibre diet may result in improved faecal consistency, and this may be sufficient to control the clinical signs in some cats.
Although not proven, it is thought that T. foetus may be able to infect humans; as a precaution people in contact with infected cats are advised to take basic hygiene precautions to avoid ingesting the parasite. These precautions will also help to prevent the spread of the infection to other cats, and prevent humans from being infected with other infections that the cat may carry.
Suitable hygiene precautions include:
- Washing hands thoroughly after handling cat faeces
- Washing hands thoroughly after cleaning cat litter trays, whether the cat has diarrhoea or not
- Cat scratches or bites should always be washed immediately with soap and water. Seek medical attention as soon as possible if signs of infection appear, such as redness, pain or swelling.
- Persons with a weakened immune system should not handle their cat’s faeces or litter box, they are advised to wash their hands after handling their cats, and they are advised not to keep cats that have persistent diarrhoea. If their cat develop diarrhoea it should be fully investigated and if found to be infected with Tritrichomonas foetus it should be treated with ronidazole and then re-tested, or (at least temporarily) re-homed until the infection has resolved.
For further information on T. foetus infection in cats: www.fabcats.org. For veterinary surgeons seeking further discussion, contact Danièlle Gunn-Moore: Email: [email protected]. Tel: 44 (0)131 650 7650 Fax: 44 (0)131 650 7652.
In the UK this is available from Capital Diagnostics, SAC Veterinary Science Division, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian, EH26 0QE: Tel. 0131 535 3145). Alternatively, a real-time quantitative PCR (QPCR) assay is now available, which incorporates an internal amplification control so that false negative results are avoided. The assay is performed on a small volume of faeces (2-5ml) at a cost of £29 (+VAT); further details on the test and submission forms can be found on http://www.langfordvets.co.uk/lab_pcrnews.htm or by contacting Langford Veterinary Services Diagnostic Laboratories at the University of Bristol, Langford House, Langford, Bristol, BS40 5DU. Tel: +44 (0)117 928 9412 Fax: +44 (0)117 928 9613 Email: [email protected].
In the US samples can be submitted to the College of Veterinary Medicine, North Caroline State University (USA) for this test – information on this is available at: www.cvm.ncsu.edu/mbs/gookin_jody.htm.
Thanks to Dr Andy Sparkes, Ellie Mardell and Kirsty Wood who were involved with the initial preparation of this paper.
Dahlgren SS, Gjerde B, Pettersen HY (2007) First record of natural Tritrichomonas foetus infection of the feline uterus. Journal of Small Animal Practice 48:654-657
Foster DM, Gookin JL, Poore MF, Stebbins ME, Levy MG (2004) Outcome of cats with diarrhoea and Tritrichomonas foetus infection. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 225:888-892
Gookin JL, Breitschwerdt EB, Levy MG, Gager RB (1999) Diarrhoea associated with trichomoniasis in cats. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 215:1450-1454
Gookin JL, Birkenheuer AJ, Breitschwerdt EB, Levy MG (2002) Single-tube nested PCR for detection of Tritrichomonas foetus in feline faeces. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 40:4126-4130
Gookin JL, Copple CN, Papich MG, Poore MW, Stauffer SH, Birkenheuer AJ, Twedt DC, Levy M (2006) Efficacy of ronidazole for treatment of feline Tritrichomonas foetus infection. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine 20: 536-543
Gookin JL, Foster DM, Poore MF, Stebbins ME, Levy MG (2003b) Use of a commercially available culture system for diagnosis of Tritrichomonas foetus infection in cats. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 222:1376-1379
Gookin JL, Levy MG, Law JM, Papich MG, Poore MF, Breitschwerdt EB (2001) Experimental infection of cats with Tritrichomonas foetus. American Journal of Veterinary Research 62:1690-1697
Gookin JL, Stebbins ME, Adams E, Burlone K, Fulton M, Hochel R, Talaat M, Poore M, Levy MG (2003a) Prevalence and risk of T foetus infection in cattery cats (Abstract). Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine 17:380
Gookin JL, Stebbins ME, Hunt E, Bulone K, Fulton M, Hochel R, Talaat M, Poore M, Levy MG (2004) Prevalence and risk factors for feline Tritrichomonas foetus and Giardia infection. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 42:2707-2710
Gookin JL, Stauffer SH, Coccaro MR, Poore MF, Levy MG, Papich MG (2007) Efficacy of tinidazole for treatment of cats experimentally infected with Tritrichomonas foetus. Am J Vet Res 68(10):1085-8.
Gunn-Moore, DA, McCann, TM, Reed, N, Simpson, KE, Tennant, B. (2007) Prevalence of Tritrichomonas foetus infection in cats with diarrhoea in the UK. JFMS 9: 214-218
Gunn-Moore DA, Tennant B. (2007) Tritrichomonas foetus in cats in the UK. Vet Rec. 160(24): 850-851
Kather EJ, Marks SL, Kass PH. (2007) Determination of the in vitro susceptibility of feline tritrichomonas foetus to 5 antimicrobial agents. J Vet Intern Med.;21(5):966-70)
Levy MG, Gookin JL, Poore M, Birkenheuer AJ, Dykstra MJ, Litaker RW (2003) Tritrichomonas foetus and not Pentatrichomonas hominis is the etiologic agent of feline trichomonal diarrhoea. Journal of Parasitology 89:99-104
Mardell EJ, Sparkes AH. (2006) Chronic diarrhoea associated with Tritrichomanas foetus infection in a British cat. Veterinary Record 158,765-766
Romatowski J (2000) Pentatrichomonas hominis infection in four kittens. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 216:1270-1272
Rosado TW, Specht A, Marks SL. (2007) Neurotoxicosis in 4 cats receiving ronidazole. J Vet Intern Med 21(2):328-31
SAC (SAC Veterinary Services) Monthly Report (2007); available online www.sac.ac.uk/consultancy/veterinary/publications/monthlyreports/2007 : Veterinary Record 161(16): 544-546
Figure 1: Rectal smears can be made using cotton
swabs rolled over the rectal wall. Smears can be made on glass slides,
and material obtained should be diluted with saline to prevent desiccation.
Figure 2: Typical appearance of a large number of T foetus
organisms in a faecal smear under x400 magnification. When examined,
the organisms can be seen to be highly motile.
Figure 3: Appearance of an individual T foetus
organism stained with Lugol's iodine. Three anterior flagellae can
be seen, and an undulating membrane runs the length of the body.
information is published on the Feline Advisory Bureau website and
can be accessed via the link below:
There has been a great deal of news in the press recently about cats being poisoned by antifreeze, both maliciously and accidentally. A spate of publicised incidents was reported in the Somerset area, but then seemed quickly to spread to other areas of the country. As with any such event, it is difficult to determine whether the spread of cases was due to copycat poisonings, or simply because the increased publicity increased reporting of more suspected incidents. One hopes the latter. Nevertheless, antifreeze products can pose a serious threat to companion animals. Antifreeze is reportedly very sweet to taste and presumably palatable, and poisonings in dogs are quite common. Cats are at great risk as the fatal dose for ethylene glycol based antifreezes in cats is about 1.5ml per kg bodyweight, so cats only need to consume about five to six ml – a couple of good licks – to be in immediate and life-threatening trouble. For successful management, intervention must be extremely fast as glycols are readily and rapidly absorbed, with the kidney function becoming rapidly impaired. There are cases of fatality occurring within hours of ingestion. One of the antidotes available for such poisonings is not tolerated by cats at all, so the only therapy left is giving ethanol (alcohol), so it is very difficult to treat.
There are suggestions that the poisonings could be accidental with the cat drinking from a water feature which has had antifreeze added to stop it freezing up over winter. However, most of these poisonings seem to have happened before the bad weather and only water features without fish or pond life could be treated in this way, as alcohols and glycols permeate fish membranes easily and will affect them.
Between 2003 and 2007, the Veterinary Poisons Information Service (VPIS) documented 108 antifreeze-related enquiries in cats and 100 in dogs overall – so about 20 cases per annum. 46 of the feline cases and 35 of the canine cases were followed up. Of these, 30 of the feline cases were known to have fatal outcomes (65.2%) compared with eight known fatal outcomes in dogs (22.9%). Higher mortality rates have been reported in other published studies from elsewhere. It is sad to report that 2008 was a particularly bad year. Up to the end of October, 93 cases had been reported to VPIS ( London ) – 56 in cats and 37 in dogs. Usually the number of reports rises in the months for October to March, so these numbers are worryingly elevated. Case outcome data is not available for all these cases yet – but 12 deaths have been reported in cats from 16 returned case follow-up questionnaires (75% mortality therefore).
The message for cat lovers is to make sure that there is no spillage of antifreeze in garages or sheds or under the car. The fastidious clean cat will groom it off feet if it is walked through. Collectively, we must ensure that the message gets out that these chemicals are very dangerous for pets and the Cat Group, along with VPIS, will be raising the issue in the press in the future.
The SPCA in British Columbia , Canada , has produced a helpful manual and DVD for those working in rescue situations, called Catsense™ - the Emotional Life of Cats.
The Catsense™ manual is a complete guide to putting in place a system for good welfare of cats in a shelter environment. It includes information on housing, behaviour, checklists for stress, and planning to put in place good evidence-based welfare practices.
The DVD explains the emotional states experienced by cats in shelters and shows examples of cats displaying anxiety, fear, frustration and depression.
A two hour training DVD, presented by Nadine Gourkow, advises on intervention strategies and procedures to improve welfare for cats.
More information about these training aids, and a clever ‘hide, perch and go’ box can be found on www.spca.bc.ca/hideperchgo | <urn:uuid:b42c75c2-7cf7-4557-884e-d8211eee6950> | {
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The natural objects that I propose to consider are broadly those physical objects which are studied and referred to by science and by a common sense view, informed by science, of the world. Natural objects are, philosophically speaking, individuals; they are involved as units in dynamic, causal processes. I shall draw a distinction between natural objects and the abstract objects of mathematics, in particular set theory.
Natural objects encompass atoms and molecules; cells and organisms, including you and me; the objects of everyday life such as chairs and automobiles; nations, continents, ecosystems, mountain ranges, geological faults; planets, stars and galaxies. Each natural object, when regarded internally, is a dynamic system with various interacting parts and components (some of which may be natural objects in their own right); when regarded externally, a natural object acts as a unit with respect to a larger system or systems (which may again be natural objects) of which the given object forms a part or component.
It is sometimes argued that objects such as atoms or galaxies are theoretical constructs, as much so as mathematical objects (or even, according to some, more so). It is true that any reference to an object rests on epistemological assumptions. The approach here will be not to belittle these important epistemological questions but to leave them aside, and accept as a working assumption the practical viewpoint of people who are dealing with the world: that natural objects exist, act, and are acted upon, independently of the observer -- although any description of them or of their actions is dependent on the describer.
Scientific theories refer to natural objects as well as to abstractions of them; they also refer to and quantify over other entities, in particular, the real numbers, points in space, time, and other mathematical spaces such as vector spaces, Hilbert space, etc. -- these are abstract objects which are not necessarily abstractions of any natural objects.
Thus the ontology of natural objects may be said to be more restrictive than, say, a Quinesque one. My point, however, is again not to dispute the validity of this or that ontology, but rather to describe a level of existence. No judgment will be presumed about the question of what ontological commitment should be made to abstract objects: rather, our focus of attention will be elsewhere.
In the examples above and in what follows, I concentrate on physical objects. I do not mean to rule out psychic or spiritual or intellectual objects. You and I, as objects, have these aspects; French society, Indian classical music, the theory of natural selection, King Lear, King Lear, the collective unconscious may all be regarded as natural objects. Their ties to physical existence (in the sense of matter and energy) or to extensional (spatial) existence are various, and there is scope for varied theories about their ontological status; I tend to follow Nicolai Hartmann (1949) in assigning to spiritual and psychic strata "categorial dependence" on the strata of physical existence in spaces: thus these objects are tied, however indirectly, to the physical level of existence. What I have to say will apply to such objects, in so far as they are acknowledged to exist; and even to purely spiritual or psychic objects not tied to the physical level of existence at all, if they are admitted to exist. But I shall keep largely to physical and biological examples as being less problematic. This will also insulate the discussion from problems of consciousness and free will which inevitably come up but are not my concern here.
Thus the natural objects to be considered here may correspond more or less to the "natural bodies" of Francis Bacon: "Toward the effecting of works, all that man can do is to put together or put asunder natural bodies." (Bacon 1620, 39)
An interesting example of a natural object is a hurricane. It is an open system, exchanging matter, energy and information with its environment, and acting as a whole. It is certainly accorded the status of an individual, in everyday language and in meteorology, even to the extent of being given a proper name (such as Floyd, Mitch, Zeb or Babs). It cannot be precisely identified with any set of atoms or molecules; and any boundary in space or time that you try to draw for the hurricane will be arbitrary. Meteorologists will draw such a boundary -- say, the point in time when a tropical storm is upgraded to a hurricane -- according to conventions about energy content and wind speeds, but the passing of a boundary is merely the employment of a convenient yardstick and is not supposed to have absolute significance.
Natural objects may usefully be described as systems. Von Bertalanffy (1968) defines a system as "a complex of interacting elements" (although von Bertalanffy's elements are not to be equated with elements in the set-theoretic sense, and to avoid confusion I use "components"). He goes on to study systems defined in terms of partial differential equations. Mesarovic and Takahara (1975) develop a more general, set-based concept of system. They are able to define such notions as cascading, feedback, and open systems.
Natural objects can be named, or
they can be defined by ostension. Often, naming and pointing will be essentially
the only ways to refer unambiguously to a particular object.
2. Natural and abstract objects
The words "a logic" of the title are intended to suggest the aim of depicting how we reason or infer about natural objects. Set theory, as a foundation for mathematics, is a way of doing this for abstract objects. Before examining natural objects more closely, I wish to compare them with abstract objects -- which I shall identify, for concision, with sets -- in order to bring out some properties relevant to both.
Cantor (1895) introduced the concept of set as "any comprehension into a whole M of definite and separate objects m of our intuition or our thought", and the modern development of set theory has retained the spirit of Cantor's conception, in particular through the fundamental role of the Comprehension Axiom. Even in the limited form necessary to avoid the paradoxes, Comprehension formalizes the grouping together of objects with like properties into a single entity. The objects -- sets, classes -- of set theory are abstractions, the product of our mental processes ("our intuition or our thought") which impose an organization on the world we perceive. Except under a naive Platonist interpretation, sets are not required to have an autonomous existence outside the formal system that creates them: that is to say, outside the language of the observer. (The same goes for all other mathematical objects, including categories.)
Thus set theory may be said to be a part of epistemology, the study of our knowledge of the world. Following a hint of Graham C. D. Griffiths (1974, 87) I wish to contrast this with ontology, the study of what things exist, independently of any observer. From a scientific perspective, objects such as atoms, molecules, organisms (including persons), stars, galaxies may be said to have an objective individual existence -- although there are borderline cases where the object's existence as a separate individual may be questionable, and the individuality of, say, a quark is of a very different nature from yours or mine. On the other hand, sets of objects, such as the set of all stars, or an arbitrary collection of, say, 100 people chosen at random, can exist as individuals only in an abstract sense (though the former example may be viewed as a natural kind). In addition, the "definite and separate" character of the elements of a set is not always found in nature where boundaries are generally ill-defined and separation may be relative and time-dependent. Natural objects interact, are born of others, and die.
To bring out how natural objects in general differ from sets, let me pause to consider the nature of one particular object, myself, whose autonomy and continuity I feel so clearly (but proceeding in a different direction from Descartes). Can I precisely be identified with a set? What about the set of cells that contain my unique DNA? This set provides a good approximation to my physical extent, but there are many problems with identifying "me" with this set:
I am not trying to attack set theory as such. I simply wish to note that the common mode of talking about the world leaves philosophical doubts aside and names natural objects; that the language of science is full of them (as well as of abstract objects); and that set-theoretic language does not capture the nature of natural objects, as of course it was never intended to. It therefore seems worthwhile to try and develop a theory of natural objects.
As Jody Azzouni puts it (1994, 4), mathematical objects are metaphysically inert. Natural objects, by contrast, interact intensively with the rest of the world, and this interaction in fact cannot be separated from their nature. But great care will be needed because once a mathematical framework for referring to these objects has been established, the referents themselves will be mathematical objects. Rigorous separation of levels of discourse will be necessary -- but this is nothing new in logic and metamathematics.
Sets are abstracted (from the Latin: drawn away) from direct physical experience. A common example frequently seen in expositions of elementary (naive) set theory illustrates the abstract nature of the set concept by explaining how a collection of disparate objects can be grouped together into a set merely by enumerating them or by specifying a common property -- no matter how incongruous and varied their natures or how widely separated they are in space and time. This kind of construction is counter-intuitive to a student who is not accustomed to thinking in terms of abstractions; the natural objects one is used to dealing with in less abstract contexts do not have these properties. Even the Pair Set Axiom does not hold, in general, for natural objects. A pair of objects is not, usually, a single object (although in special cases one will consider certain pairs as a unit; for example a married couple is an object in legal considerations). The same goes for other elementary set-theoretic constructions such as unions and intersections.
The distinction between individuals and classes is relevant here. (Some philosophers talk of natural kinds; others oppose individuals to "sets".) This distinction, which goes back to Plato and Aristotle, was blurred by Cantor: his sets are both individuals and classes. Indeed, the principle of Comprehension is a formalization of the notion that a class of objects is defined, as an individual, by a common property that they share. The subsequent development of set theory reinstated the individual/class distinction in a different form with sets and proper classes; this happened as early as Cantor (1899). Different versions of modern set theory (Zermelo-Fraenkel, von Neumann-Bernays-Gödel) vary in the ontological status accorded to proper classes, as do different interpretations of the formalisms. However, the basic point here is that sets are essentially collections ("multiplicities" -- Cantor) treated as individuals. A natural object is never merely a collection; the interaction of its components is an essential part of its individuality.
It is perhaps of interest to note that Ernst Zermelo, in his fundamental paper (1908) on axiomatizing set theory, seemed to be open-minded about whether all objects are sets: "Set theory is concerned with a domain B of individuals, which we shall call simply objects and among which are the sets." (Emphases in original.) For Zermelo, the membership relation is fundamental; sets are defined in terms of this relation, as objects which have elements, so that a special case is needed for the empty set. So sets are logically posterior to, not prior to, the fundamental binary relation. But unlike later authors Zermelo does not rule out the possibility that some objects are nonsets. Of course the nonsets which he had principally in mind were atoms or urelements; these have continued to play a role in set theory, but only in connection with the membership relation. Other possible relations or properties of urelements are not considered. Natural objects may be urelements -- the raw material for forming sets -- for example, the set of all hurricanes in 1999 may be used, and abstracted, in a statistical analysis. What interests me here is not the properties of natural objects qua urelements, but what other properties they may have, orthogonal as it were to their set-theoretic ones, because not expressed in terms of the membership relation.
As a first approximation, let us suppose that an appropriate language for natural objects has a binary relation , analogous to the fundamental binary relation ("x is an element of y") of set theory, but stating rather "x is a component of y". This relation will have very different properties from . In fact partakes of some of the properties of natural objects: it changes through time and space. Its properties in the subatomic and the macroscopic realms diverge. But we can certainly see whether set-theoretic ideas apply to , exploring the correspondence, more than an analogy, between and .
As intimated above, basic set-theoretic axioms including Comprehension and the Pair Set Axiom do not hold for natural objects under this -interpretation. There is something of a tradition of alternate set theories in which some of the standard axioms are negated. We may gain clues about reasoning with natural objects from what has been learned about reasoning with weak sets. One important line of work in this direction negates the Axiom of Foundation. This has been most successfully done by Peter Aczel (1988), building on work of Boffa (1969), Forti and Honsell (1983), Finsler, Scott, and others. Aczel's work in turn has had important applications in situation theory, theory of communicating systems, and elsewhere (e.g. Barwise 1989, Barwise and Moss 1998). Aczel has built a universe of set theory, extending and not supplanting the standard universe of set theory, that provides a useful formalism for certain ways of looking at the world (e. g. situation theory).
The Axiom of Foundation was historically
one of the last of the standard axioms of set theory to be added to the
canon. The Axiom of Choice was introduced earlier (Choice: Zermelo 1904;
well-foundedness and Foundation: Mirimanoff 1917, Skolem 1922), but its
separate status was recognized from the start, and has, of course, been
a central theme in 20th century set theory. Other authors have more recently
examined the independence of some of the core axioms of set theory from
weak base systems, thus bringing into question even these axioms that were,
unlike Choice, readily accepted. For example, Boffa (1972) proved an independence
result concerning the Pair Set Axiom; González (1992) showed the
independence of the Union axiom in Zermelo set theory, using a permutation
method; Zarach (1998) used forcing to show that Collection is not implied
3. Species and the indescribability
In this and the next section I turn from a comparison with set theory to motivating influences from the sciences. Problems of behaviour of natural objects, and of the constitution of an individual, have arisen in concrete situations, and I shall attempt to draw some working principles from these lessons.
An important case study in the investigation of natural objects is the work of philosophers of biology on the nature of individuals. This has arisen in large part because a set-theoretic framework has been found by many to be inadequate for the ontological status of taxonomic groups. In particular, the traditional conception, which goes back to Aristotle, of each species as a class has been questioned, first by Michael Ghiselin (1966; see also 1974, 1981, 1987), and then by many other authors (e. g. Holsinger 1984, Hull 1978, Sober 1984, Sober 1993, Griffiths 1974). They point out that to consider a species as a class, or as defined by a set of properties, is to impose on it a character that it does not have, and to miss the actual nature of species. Since Darwin we know:
This has the added advantage of unifying the biological hierarchy of entities: at each level -- cell, organism, population, species, etc. -- there occur individuals that are defined, not by Comprehension in terms of their elements (this is impossible), but as dynamical, changing systems whose behaviour can be characterized internally by interactions among their components, or externally by their interactions with their environment. Indeed, one can extend this hierarchy to the physical level(s) as well (molecules, atoms, . . . stars, galaxies, . . .) with the same remarks still holding (Griffiths 1974). Ghiselin (1987, 128) goes so far as to say that treating species as individuals opens "the prospect that we can develop a single body of knowledge for the entire universe."
Thus the practical pursuit of systematics in biology broadens into a picture of the universe as consisting of individuals, each individual being bounded in space and time but not (necessarily) contiguous or connected, characterized by a dynamical interplay of its components and its environment, and definable by ostension or by naming and not by Comprehension:
When anyone tries to find the "defining properties" of an individual, he is wasting his time. This is equally true for Homo sapiens, tellurian life, human language, French, and Noam Chomsky. (Ghiselin 1981, 283)Another biological science, ecology, similarly encourages us to view biological systems as wholes, with components that are dynamically interdependent (e. g. Levins and Lewontin 1980).
The notion of supervenience (Kim 1978) is a good candidate for formalization in any attempt to describe the articulation of the different levels of the hierarchy of natural objects.
An important principle suggested by all the above discussions is the inadequacy of any (finite) language to describe any natural object fully, other than by naming or ostension. Everyday life, and the example of "me", tend to confirm this principle; and of course it is fundamental to quantum mechanics as expressed in the Uncertainty Principle and complementarity, construed (as in the Copenhagen interpretation) as precluding a complete objective description of phenomena: I shall say more on this in the next section.
The principle of the indescribability
of objects provides a contrast between natural objects and abstract objects:
in set theory, the exact specification and construction of objects using
Comprehension and the other constructive axioms is essential.
A second principle is, in contrast, shared by natural and abstract objects. In fact it is suggested both by set theory and by recent work in cosmology. Cosmologists are facing more and more consciously the problem of describing everything. Set theory, among other branches of mathematical logic, has a similar ambition in that an entire universe is to be constructed -- not in this case the physical universe but the "universe of discourse" of mathematics, the aggregate of all the abstract objects studied by mathematicians. Incidentally, the habitual use of the term "universe" for the class of all sets is relatively recent. Zermelo (1908) merely spoke, as we have seen, of a "domain" of individuals; Russell and Whitehead in Principia Mathematica (1910) referred to the "universal class" V, and even Gödel in his work on V=L, which set the tone for all subsequent set theory, refers to the "universal class" and not the "universe" (Gödel 1940, 40).
The principle I am proposing here is the impossibility of describing everything. In set theory, it was necessitated by the early paradoxes and is articulated in a fundamental series of theorems, including those of Löwenheim-Skolem, of Gödel, and the related result of Tarski on the undefinability of truth (these are not confined to set theory). Even before these results, it was realized that sets have a way of spilling over any circumscription that one may attempt to put on them:
. . . quel que soit l'ensemble qu'on envisage (pourvu qu'il existe), des individus nouveaux surgissent, et un ensemble plus vaste apparaît nécessairement; on est bien en présence d'une extension indéfinie qui ne comporte pas d'arrêt ni borne. (Mirimanoff 1917, 48)Since Gödel's work, there has been what Akihiro Kanamori (1996, 46) calls a "cornucopia of models of set theory" (i. e. models of everything) and in fact these are a basic research tool.
In cosmology, the attention of some researchers has been focussed more recently on the problem of everything. It arises acutely when the universe (defined, perhaps, as what emerged from the Big Bang) turns out not to be everything: when in order to account for the observed properties of our universe, it is found that the best explanation is a theory incorporating the existence of many universes, of which ours is just one. Several modern cosmological theories call for multiple universes, including Lee Smolin's theory of the creation and natural selection of universes (Smolin 1997). Andrei Linde's "chaotic inflation" and "eternally self-reproducing universe" (e. g. Linde 1990) also call for many, perhaps infinitely many, universes -- if by universe we mean everything that we can in principle communicate with.
Smolin (1997, 14) has addressed the issues that emerge when attempting to describe everything:
The problem of how to make a theory of the whole universe is thus the problem of how to construct a theory without making any reference to anything that exists, or anything that we might have imagined happened, outside of the system we are describing.A related lesson is taught by quantum theory; thus Heinz R. Pagels (1982, 103):
Bohr's principle of complementarity implies that knowing everything at one time about the world -- a requirement of determinism -- is impossible because the conditions for knowing one thing necessarily exclude knowledge of others.The separation of observer and observed, in the Copenhagen interpretation, carries the same implication.
The "universe" of natural objects ought to be described in such a manner that there is no possibility to interpret it in terms of an observer outside the world. As in quantum mechanics, the observer is inextricably tied to the description; but unlike classical quantum mechanics (and as in cosmology), the observer is not outside the system being studied.
Interestingly, in both cosmology and set theory the intent is to construct or describe something called the universe, i. e., everything, but in both fields the practitioners have been impelled to construct many universes with different properties. Thus, belying the original meaning of "universe," one ends up with lots of them, and no particular universe is privileged. In the case of cosmology, this is the continuation of a long historical process, beginning with Copernicus, whereby the place of the human species in the cosmic scheme of things has been progressively found to be smaller, less central, and less important than previously imaginable.
One way that the impossibility of describing everything has been dealt with in mathematical logic has been to restrict the language (or the logic or the axioms) used to describe and specify mathematical structures; the price has been, among other things, the lack of uniqueness of set-theoretic "model universes" which are referred to from outside rather than from within. I believe that another way to address the problem is to undermine the distinction between language and reality.
By this I mean that, traditionally, there has been a sharp distinction within mathematics between the structures that mathematics describes (this is what I am referring to as "reality") and the "language" (in which I include logic and syntax) in which it describes them. But if the reality that one wishes to describe is to include everything, how can it be described in terms of a language specified in advance -- that is, "outside" the reality being described?
There is an another analogy with physics here: Newtonian physics was expressed in terms of a space and time that were absolute and prior to the physical universe. Newton himself realized this and had recourse to a metaphysical notion of space and time. Leibniz also realized it and made it a central part of his criticisms of the Newtonian cosmos, proposing instead a relational view of space and time. It was part of the achievement of Einstein to remove space and time from their privileged position as the "stage" on which the events of the universe are played out, and replace them by a concept of space and time as part of the fabric of the universe, acting and acted upon by matter and energy in a dynamical system.
Analogously, in "classical" logic one first specifies the language (syntax and rules of inference) and then constructs "universes" with this language as the stage-setting. A way to avoid the paradoxes and limitations to which this gives rise is a description in which the language is no longer separate from and prior to the object being described. (Barwise and Etchemendy (1987) use just such a strategy to deal with the Liar paradox, although the limitations of logic to abstract objects are not challenged. I comment further on situation semantics below.) Such descriptions would be impredicative -- physicists might call them non-local -- in that the specification of a single object would involve the whole universe or a substantial part of it:
That each singular substance expresses the whole universe in its own way, and that in its concept are included all of the experiences belonging to it together with all of their circumstances and the entire sequence of exterior events. (Leibniz 1686, 308)Mach's Principle may be regarded as an expression of this in dynamics.
In quantum theory, Bohr frequently noted the following corollary to, or instance of, complementarity:
On the lines of objective description, it is indeed more appropriate to use the word phenomenon to refer only to observations obtained under circumstances whose description includes an account of the whole experimental arrangement. (Bohr 1961, 73)This means, in fact, since it is not clear where to draw the line that separates the "whole experimental arrangement" (and the laws governing it) from the rest of the world, that the description of a phenomenon implicitly includes the whole universe.
Such impredicativity has the consequence that one cannot construct from scratch models of a universe consisting of "singular substances". This would be considered by logicians a drawback of impredicativity; but in the context of the problem of Smolin, it may be an advantage that not only are there no obvious models of the system which are describable from outside, but perhaps such models are in principle not possible.
Situation semantics (Barwise and Perry 1983; Barwise 1989) is a different kind of attempt to address the problem of the impossibility of describing everything in the context of the analysis of natural language. The approach of viewing utterances and inferences as situated activities differs from the present one in that it is epistemological rather than ontological. It "shifts attention from truth preservation to information extraction and information processing" (Barwise 1989, xiv; emphases in original). Furthermore, its syntax presupposes the existence and discreteness -- the abstractness -- of objects. Ian Hacking (1972, 148), discussing Leibniz's notion of individual substance, makes an important point:
Which bundles [of qualities] are substances? Only those bundles that are active, in the sense of having laws of their own. Laws provide the active principle of unity. There is a tendency in much analytic philosophy to conceive things as given, and then to speculate on what laws they enter into. On the contrary, things are in the first instance recognized by regularities. (Emphasis in original)Thus a logic of natural objects will put priority on addressing the question: what makes an individual an individual? As Hacking points out, Leibniz shares with Berkeley the view that substances are bundles of qualities; the important question, as in the quote above, is the converse.
With the principle that each object (or singular substance, or thing, or individual, or phenomenon) irreducibly reflects its entire surroundings, we have come to a fusion of the first two principles mooted: the indescribability of the individual and of the universe. In combination with either of these, it implies the other.
In Leibniz's case, this third principle is a consequence of the principle of reason (or of "predicate-in-notion") -- as is another principle, that no two individuals are exactly alike. The identity of indiscernibles has not received attention here but is indeed logically linked to the principles adduced above. The principle of reason does not stand up to scrutiny in the light of contemporary logic, but some of its consequences may be recast for our use.
In the Novum Organum Bacon (1620, 41) criticizes Aristotelian logic thus:
The syllogism is not applied to the first principles of sciences, and is applied in vain to intermediate axioms, being no match for the subtlety of nature. It commands assent therefore to the proposition, but does not take hold of the thing.A modern logic of natural objects would aim to take hold of the thing, aiming to secure sound principles for reasoning with individuals without need of Leibniz's metaphysical starting point.
1. I am grateful to
John Wahlert for elucidating this example for me.
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Department of Mathematics
1 Bernard Baruch Way, New York NY 10010
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|Foundation of Quantum Theory|
The following well-known experiments serve as a motivation for studying quantum theory. The experimental results cannot be explained using ideas from classical physics.
|1. Blackbody Radiation||2. Photoelectric Effect||3. Compton Effect|
It is well-known that when a body is heated it emits electromagnetic radiation. For example, if a piece of iron is heated to a few hundred degrees, it gives off e.m. radiation which is predominantly in the infra-red region. When the temperature is raised to 1000C it will begin to glow with reddish color which means that the radiation emitted by it is in the visible red region having wavelengths shorter than in the previous case. If heated further it will become white-hot and the radiation emitted is shifted towards the still shorter wave-length blue color in the visible spectrum. Thus the nature of the radiation depends on the temperature of the emitter.
A heated body not only emits radiation but it also absorbs a part of radiation falling on it. If a body absorbs all the radiant energy falling on it, then its absorptive power is unity. Such a body is called a black body.
An ideal blackbody is realized in practice by heating to any desired temperature a hollow enclosure (cavity) and with a very small orifice. The inner surface is coated with lamp-black. Thus radiation entering the cavity through the orifice is incident on its blackened inner surface and is partly absorbed and partly reflected. The reflected component is again incident at another point on the inner surface and gets partly absorbed and partly reflected. This process of absorption and reflection continues until the incident beam is totally absorbed by the body.
The inner walls of the heated cavity also emit radiation, a part of which can come out through the orifice. This radiation has the characteristics of blackbody radiation - the spectrum of which can be analyzed by an infra-red spectrometer.
Experimental results show that the blackbody radiation has a continuous spectrum (shown in the graph). The intensity of the emitted radiation El is plotted as a function of the wavelength l for different temperatures. The wavelength of the emitted radiation ranges continuously from zero to infinity. El increases with increasing temperature for all wavelengths. It has very low values for both very short and very long wavelengths and has a maximum in between at some wavelength lmax. lmax depends on the temperature of the blackbody and decreases with increasing temperature.
The shift in the peak of the intensity distribution curve obeys an empirical relationship known as Wien's displacement law:
lmax T = constant.
The total power radiated per unit area of a blackbody can be derived from thermodynamics. This is known as Stefan-Boltzmann law which can be expressed mathematically as:
E = s T4,
where s = 5.67 x 10-8 W m-2 K-4 is known as Stefan's constant.
Note that the total power E radiated is obtained by integrating El over all wavelengths. W. Wien proposed an empirical relationship between El with l for a given temperature T:
El (T) = A exp(-B/lT)/l5,
where the constants A and B are chosen arbitrarily so as to fit the experimental energy distribution curves.
But it was later found that the experimental data don't follow Wien's empirical relation at larger wavelengths [See Fig. below ].
Wien's theory of intensity of radiation was based only on arguments from thermodynamics not on any plausible model. Considering the radiation system as composed of a bunch of harmonic oscillators Rayleigh and Jeans derived (using thermodynamics) an expression for the emitted radiation El:
El = (c/4) (8pkBT/l4).
'kB' is the Boltzman constant (kB=1.345 x 10-23 J/K).
The above expression agrees well with the experimental results at long wavelengths but drastically fails at shorter wavelengths. In the limit l -> 0, El -> infinity from the expression above, but in the experiments El -> 0, as l -> 0. This serious disagreement between theory and experiment indicates the limitations of classical mechanics.
Max Planck later derived an expression for the emitted radiation using quantum mechanics. He made a bold new postulate that an oscillator can have only energies which are discrete, i.e., an integral multiple of a finite quantum of energy hf where h is Planck's constant (h= 6.55 x 10-34 J.s) and f is the frequency of the oscillator. Thus the energy of the oscillator is,
E = nhf,
where n is an integer or zero. Planck further assumed that the change in energy of the oscillator due to emission or absorption of radiant energy can also take place by a discrete amount hf. Since radiation is emitted from the oscillators, and since according to Planck, the change in energy of the oscillators can only take discrete values, the energy carried by the emitted radiation, which is called a photon, will be hf, and that is also equal to the loss of energy of the oscillator. Again, this is also the energy gain of the oscillator when it absorbs a photon. Based on these ideas Planck derived the expression for the energy distribution of blackbody radiation:
El = (c/4) (8phc/l5)(1/[exp(hc/lkBT) - 1]).
Rayleigh-Jean's expression and Wien's displacement law are special cases of Planck's law of radiation. Planck's formula for the energy distribution of blackbody radiation agrees well with the experimental results, both for the long wavelengths and the short wavelengths of the energy spectrum.
Please on the simulation below to see nice interactive demonstration of the physics of Blackbody radiation.
Simulation on Blackbody Radiation
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Planck's postulate regarding the discrete nature of the possible energy states of an oscillator marked a radical departure from the ideas of classical physics. According to the laws of classical mechanics, the energy of an oscillator can vary continuously, depending only on the amplitude of the vibrations - this is in total contrast to Planck's hypothesis of discrete energy states of an oscillator. Photoelectric effect is another classic example which can not be explained with classical physics. Einstein was awarded Nobel prize for his explanation of the physics of photoelectric effect.
The basic experiment of photoelectric effect is simple. It was observed that a metal plate when exposed to ultraviolet radiation became positively charged which showed that it has lost negative charges from its surface. These negatively charged particles were later identified to be electrons (later named photoelectrons). This phenomenon is known as photoelectric effect.
Please out the physics applet below which shows the effect of light on various metals.
Simulation on Photoelectric effect
The main results of the experiment can be summarized as follows:
On exposure to the incident light, photoelectrons with all possible velocities ranging from 0 upto a maximum vm are emitted from the metal plate. When a positive potential is applied to the collector (which collects the emitted photoelectrons), a fraction of the total number emitted is collected by the collector. This fraction increases as the voltage is increased. For potentials above about +10 volts, all the electrons emitted by the light are collected by the collector which accounts for the saturation of the photoelectric current [Figs. (a) and (b) below].
On the other hand, when a negative retarding potential is applied on the collector, the lower energy electrons are unable to reach the collector so that the current gradually decreases with increasing negative potential. Finally for a potential -V0 (known as the stopping potential), the photoelectrons of all velocities upto the maximum vm are prevented from reaching the collector. At this point, the maximum kinetic energy of the emitted electrons equals the energy required to overcome the effect of the retarding potential - so we can write
mvm2/2 = eV0.
Conclusion from the experimental results:
(1) The photoelectric current depends upon the intensity of the light used. It is independent of the wavelength of the light [See Fig. (a) above].
(2) The photoelectrons are emitted with all possible velocities from 0 upto a maximum vm which is independent of the intensity of the incident light, but depends only on its wavelength (or frequency). It is found that if f is the frequency of the light used, then the maximum kinetic energy of the photoelectrons increases linearly with f [See Figs. (b) and (c) above ].
(3) Photoelectron emission is an instantaneous effect. There is no time gap between the incidence of the light and the emission of the photoelectrons.
(4) The straight line graph showing the variation of the maximum kinetic energy of the emitted electrons with the frequency f of the light intersects the abscissa at some point f0. No photoelectron emission takes place in the frequency range f<f0. This minimum frequency f0 is known as the threshold frequency. Its value depends on the nature of the emitting material [See Fig. (c) above].
Breakdown of Classical Physics:
According to classical physics -
(a) Light is an electromagnetic wave - the intensity of light is determined by the amplitudes of these electromagnetic oscillations. When light falls on an electron bound in an atom, it gains energy from the oscillating electric field. Larger the amplitude of oscillations, larger is the energy gained by the emitted electron - thus energy of the emitted electrons should depend on the intensity of the incident light. This is in contrast to what has been observed in experiment (point 2 above).
(b) According to the electromagnetic theory, the velocity of the emitted electrons should not depend on the frequency of the incident light. Whatever may be the frequency of the incident light, the electron would be emitted if it gets sufficient time to collect the necessary energy for emission. So the photoelectric emission is not an instantaneous effect. These are in contrary to points 3 and 4 above.
(c) Finally, the incident electromagnetic wave acts equally on all the electrons of the metal surface. There is no reason why only some electrons will be able to collect the necessary energy for emission from the incident waves. Given sufficient time, all electrons should be able to collect the energy necessary for emission. So there is no reason why the photoelectric current should depend upon the intensity of the incident light. However, this is again in contrary to the observed facts (point 1 above).
Einstein's light quantum hypothesis and photoelectric equation:
We have seen from above that the maximum kinetic energy of the emitted photoelectrons increases linearly with the frequency of the incident light. In terms of equation we have
mvm2/2 = eV0 = af - W
where a and W are constants. W is known as the work function of the emitting material. The constant a was determined experimentally and is found to be equal to the Planck's constant h. We can then rewrite the above equation as -
mvm2/2 = eV0 = hf - W.
For the special value of f = f0 = W/h, the K. E. of the emitted photoelectrons becomes zero. So there will be no photoelectron emission if f < f0. f0 is the threshold frequency. The equation,
mvm2/2 = eV0 = hf - hf0
is known as the famous Einstein's photoelectric equation.
Einstein used the quantum hypothesis of Planck to explain the photoelectric effect. He postulated that light is emitted from a source in the form of energy packets of the amount hf known as the light quantum or photon. This is known as Einstein's light quantum hypothesis.
When a photon of energy hf falls on an electron bound inside an atom, the electron absorbs the energy hf and is emitted from the atom provided that hf is greater than the energy of binding of the electron in the atom which is equal to the work function W of the metal. The surplus of energy (hf - W) is taken away by the electron as its kinetic energy. Obviously if hf < W, i.e. f<f0, no photoelectric emission can take place. This explains the existence of the threshold frequency.
Furthermore, according to Einstein's theory, larger the number of photons falling on the metal, greater is the probability of their encounter with the atomic electrons and hence greater is the photoelectric current. So the increase of photoelectric current with the increasing light intensity can be easily explained.
Finally, as soon as the photon of energy hf > W falls on an electron, the latter absorbs it and is emitted instantaneously.
Note that Einstein's light quantum hypothesis postulates the corpuscular nature of light in contrast to the wave nature. We will talk about this wave-particle duality later on in this course.
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The discovery of Compton scattering of x-rays provides direct support that light consists of pointlike quanta of energy called photons.
A schematic diagram of the apparatus used by Compton is shown in the Figure below. A graphite target was bombarded with monochromatic x-rays and the wavelength of the scattered radiation was measured with a rotating crystal spectrometer. The intensity was determined by a movable ionization chamber that generated a current proportional to the x-ray intensity. Compton measured the dependence of scattered x-ray intensity on wavelength at three different scattering angles of 45o, 90o, and 135o. The experimental intensity vs. wavelength plots observed by Compton for the above three scattering angles (See Fig. below) show two peaks, one at the wavelength l of the incident x-rays and the other at a longer wavelength l'. The functional dependence of l' on the scattering angle and l was predicted by Compton to be:
l' - l = (h/mec)[ 1- cosq ] = l0 [ 1- cosq ].
The factor l0=h/mec, also known as Compton wavelength can be calculated to be equal to 0.00243 nm.
The physics of Compton effect:
To explain his observations Compton assumed that light consists of photons each of which carries an energy hf and a momentum hf/c (as p = E/c = hf/c). When such a photon strikes a free electron the electron gets some momentum (pe) and kinetic energy (Te) due to the collision, as a result of which the momentum and energy of the photon are reduced.
Considering energy and momentum conservation (For the detail derivation please here) one can derive the change in wavelength due to Compton scattering:
l' - l = (h/mec)[ 1- cosq ].
Note that the result is independent of the scattering material and depends only on the angle of scattering.
The appearance of the peak at the longer wavelength in the intensity vs. wavelength curve is due to Compton scattering from the electron which may be considered free, since its energy of binding in the atom is small compared to the energy hf of the photon. The appearance of the other peak at the wavelength of the incident radiation is due to scattering from a bound electron. In this case the recoil momentum is taken up by the entire atom, which being much heavier compared to the electron, produces negligible wavelength shift.
Compton effect gives conclusive evidence in support of the corpuscular character of electromagnetic radiation.
Please out the simulation below which shows Compton scattering.
Simulation on Compton Scattering
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© Kingshuk Majumdar (2000) | <urn:uuid:ce82c755-4001-49b5-866b-576e95373ef8> | {
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Produce hay to make a profit
Whether a rancher grows hay to feed his livestock or someone else’s, the enterprise isn’t worthwhile unless it makes money.
Surprisingly, many hay producers have no idea how much it costs them to produce a crop.
University of Kentucky Extension hay marketing specialist Tom Keene says essentially, producers have two ways to market: as cash or as hay for their own livestock enterprise. Regardless of which path a producer takes, the hay budget must be unto itself.
“There’s only one way you can know whether you’re making money: You have to go through the numbers,” Keene says.
After a producer runs through the cost of producing hay, he or she needs to figure one more number: storage losses.
• Hay production needs to be run as a separate business.
• Know hay costs, whether selling to the cash market or your own livestock.
• Set price based on production costs and local market.
“The numbers get a lot worse,” Keene says. “And they get worse quick.”
That’s only one of the reasons growing hay for profit is different from any other commodity. Another is that “no bale of hay is quite the same.”
What that means to producers is they must decide which market their hay fits.
The dairy market wants large round bales; demands a test; looks for 20% crude protein, 30% acid detergent fiber and 40% neutral detergent fiber; and measures feed performance by milk production. Dairy producers prefer alfalfa.
The horse market wants small square bales, doesn’t necessarily ask for a test, and buys on sensory perception. Those who buy hay for their horses have no way to measure feed performance in their high-value animals. They like hay that smells fresh and looks green.
“That hay absolutely, positively must be clean. No mold, dust, weeds, foreign matter, blister beetles,” Keene says.
The beef market wants large round bales, measures performance on pounds gained and has varying quality needs. “We throw anything out at them,” Keene says.
Most of the hay grown for the beef market is grown by producers for themselves. “Most of you are probably selling hay to your own operation,” Keene tells a group of cattle producers. “I hope you’re keeping track of the numbers.”
Other markets include — but certainly aren’t limited to — sheep, mulch, goats, llamas, emu, zoos, nurseries, feed stores, rabbits, gerbils, medical research and, most recently, energy.
Regardless of the market, Keene says, growers need to know the cost of producing the hay and the current prices in their market area so they can set a price that moves the hay and brings a profit.
Current prices can be found by looking at USDA hay prices on the Web, asking neighbors and Extension agents, or even checking the sales ads.
“That’s going to give you an idea of what your hay will bring in the market,” Keene says. “Only you know what it’s worth.”
Once that price is set, Keene says, collect the money on delivery.
“If you sell somebody a car or pickup truck and they can’t make the payments, you can go back and get that vehicle. You can’t go back and get your hay,” Keene says. “It’s gone.”
PAY ATTENTION: Alabama cattle producer Eric Smith keeps track of a forage’s cost and income as though it were a row crop.
This article published in the March, 2010 edition of SOUTHERN FARMER.
All rights reserved. Copyright Farm Progress Cos. 2010. | <urn:uuid:00d81b97-18fa-43e5-8011-224dd62e1868> | {
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Bivalves in Time and Space (BiTS): Clams as tools to understand macroevolution
2011 REU Project:
This study is part of a collaborative effort (see also www.bivatol.org/BiTS/) to develop bivalves as a model clade for macroevolutionary studies. By integrating molecular, morphological and paleontological datasets, BiTS aims to test methods of molecular clock dating, ancestral state reconstruction and historical biogeography, as well as to detect spatial and temporal trends in evolution.
BiTS researchers at the Field Museum concentrate on the morphological and paleontological components of the project, investigating the evolution of numerous shell and anatomical features in two of the commonest bivalve lineages - venus clams and cockles.
Research methods and techniques: REU participants in the project will receive an introduction to bivalve morphology and systematics, with particular focus on shell characters - i.e., those that preserve well in fossils. They will prepare specimens, document diagnostic characters with optical and scanning electron microscopy, build and analyze phylogenetic trees, and gain experience with relevant literature research and collection management techniques.
Curator/Advisors: Dr. Rüdiger Bieler, Zoology/Invertebrates, in collaboration with postdoctoral fellow Dr. André Sartori.
REU Intern: KATHERINE ANDERSON
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology major
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Symposium Presentation Title: Diversity of Venus clams: building an online resource for species identification
Symposium Presentation Abstract: Venerids, commonly known as Venus clams, are the most diverse family of marine bivalves, with over 500 extant species. They are found on every continent except Antarctica, and many are edible, commercially collected and cultured, comprising an important food source worldwide. Despite their prevalence and economic importance, there is still no freely accessible, online catalogue available to aid in recognition of venerid species. Species identification is crucial not only for economic reasons, but also for conserving biodiversity and ensuring accuracy in scientific studies. An online catalogue consisting of individual species pages with detailed morphological descriptions and high quality photographs is being built in order to provide a resource that is both complete and available for anyone to use. Specimens from the collections of the Field Museum of Natural History were identified to species level using primary and secondary literature. Following identification, the morphology of the shell of each species was thoroughly described based on characteristics of all specimens available. Descriptions include details of overall shape and coloration, as well as features important for bivalve taxonomy, such as the morphology of the hinge teeth, lunule, escutcheon and ligament. In order to aid in identification, differences among similar species that may be commonly confused were also noted on each species page. High quality photographs of the dorsal view, external and internal views of one valve, and the hinge plates of both valves were taken of a representative specimen of each species. Species pages were published on eBivalvia, a collaborative database for information about bivalves, which shares its contents with the Encyclopedia of Life. In addition to species pages, genus pages were also created containing descriptions of characteristics shared by all species within a genus. At this time, over 100 species of venerids have been described and photographed. The species pages may become more comprehensive in the future, as information such as habitat and distribution is appended. The online catalogue not only documents the diversity of Venus clams, but also provides an accurate and accessible resource for species identification that can be utilized by researchers, students and shell collectors, as well as conservation agencies and fisheries. | <urn:uuid:9852024a-517f-481c-8747-c26fb866b524> | {
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Robert A. Pritzker Assistant Curator of Meteoritics and Polar Studies Philipp Heck and co-authors from the Max-Planck-Institute for Chemistry in Germany had their paper on the first isotopic analysis of sulfur-rich comet dust published in the April issue of the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science. The dust was captured during a flyby of Comet Wild 2 by NASA’s Stardust Mission and returned to Earth.
The Robert A. Pritzker Center for Meteoritics and Polar Studies is proud to announce the newest addition to the meteorite collection. The newly named meteorite Thika, recently classified as a L6 ordinary chondrite, was donated to the Center by Collections and Research Committee member Terry Boudreaux in mid-September.
Field Museum researchers at the Robert A. Pritzker Center for Meteoritics and Polar Studies have received a second target foil from the Interstellar Dust Collector onboard NASA's Stardust Mission - that returned the first solid extraterrestrial material to Earth from beyond the Moon.
We announce a call for abstracts for the session P15 “Laboratory Analysis of Extraterrestrial Dust Returned to Earth” at the Fall Meeting 2011 of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), December 5-9, 2011 San Francisco, California, USA.
Collections & Research Committee member Terry Boudreaux donated a very unusual meteorite specimen to The Field Museum’s Robert A. Pritzker Center for Meteoritics and Polar Studies. The meteorite is named NWA 5492 after northwest Africa where it was found. Its petrology and chemical composition are very different compared to other meteorites and it cannot be classified with the existing scheme.
About 470 million years ago – in a time period called Ordovician – the parent asteroid of one of the L chondrites, one of the most common meteorite types, was disrupted in a collision with another body. This event led to a subsequent bombardment of Earth with collisional debris for at least 10 million years. This finding is reported in a recent study in Earth and Planetary Science Letters by Field Museum scientists Dr. Birger Schmitz (Research Associate), Robert A. Pritzker Assistant Curator of Meteoritics and Polar Studies Dr. Philipp Heck, and an international team of coauthors.
Right after the Mifflin Meteorite fell in SW Wisconsin in April 2010 the Robert A. Pritzker Assistant Curator of Meteoritics and Polar Studies Dr. Philipp R. Heck coordinated an international study to determine the time it spent in space and to calculate its size in space before it got ablated and broke apart in our atmosphere. Now, first results obtained from this study are published as extended abstracts, and were presented in more detail in March at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas: The new results show that Mifflin was travelling through space as a small 3 feet object for about 20 Million years before it landed in Wisconsin. | <urn:uuid:5f953902-9e10-4542-9451-f2f8fa14bc64> | {
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