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Knowing how to ride safely also means knowing the laws, rules of the road, and principles of traffic law. It also means ensuring your bicycle is in good working order, how to share trails and sidewalks, and what to do in the event of a crash.
The curriculum offers in-depth details for new and experienced riders on how to ride more safely, confidently, and more often in various terrains and climates. The class consists of a classroom training session as well as an outdoor riding session, to practice your newly learned skills.
The course is taught by League Certified Instructor Kathy Mills.
- Must be 16 years or older
- Must provide your own functioning bicycle
- Must bring ANSI-Approved bicycle helmet
- Must possess basic bicycle handing skills
- Must have working knowledge of vehicle traffic laws | <urn:uuid:11f486dd-7e0a-4780-9544-071bacc8a511> | {
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Keep children out of the yard while mowing the lawn.
Do not allow passengers on a riding mower.
It is recommended that children under the age of 14 not be allowed to operate a power mower.
Always prepare your lawn before mowing. Be sure nothing is hidden in the grass, such as sticks, rocks, toys etc.
Handle the fuel with care. Never fill the tank on a mower that is hot. Never smoke or use any kind of flame around gasoline. Wipe up spills.
Wear appropriate clothing and shoes: long pants, long-sleeved shirts, eye protection, heavy gloves and sturdy, closed-toe shoes with slip-resistant rubber soles.
Make sure that protective guards, shields, the grass catcher, and other types of safety equipment are placed properly on the lawn mower and that your mower is in good condition.
If your lawn mower is electric, use a ground fault circuit interrupter to prevent electric shock.
Do not cut wet grass.
Never reach under a mower while it is still operating.
Store gasoline only in clearly marked containers approved for flammable liquids, outside of your home (preferably in a locked, detached shed) away from any heat sources.
Camping and Hiking
Plan ahead using a good map.
Learn about all camp and trail conditions as well as possible hazards prior to the hike.
Always know the location of the closest phone, alert others as to where you will be at all times.
Bring: drinking water, rain gear, sun screen, insect repellant, flashlights, extra food, clothing and batteries.
Summer Safety Tips for Pets
Be considerate to your pet in the hot summer months. Extreme heat can be fatal to a dog, so keep your pet inside when the temperature soars. In hot weather make sure there is a shady spot outdoors where your dog can escape the sun.
When keeping your pet outdoors, make sure to provide plenty of fresh water. Do not keep pets in vehicles for long periods of time. A dog can overheat very rapidly.
Make sure your fence is high enough so that your dog can't jump over it and deep enough that he won't dig under it. Also, keep your fence in good condition for the safety of your dog and others. Make sure you latch the gates securely.
Keep antifreeze, fertilizers, insecticides and other lawn, garden and pool chemicals in a shed or a garage and well out of your dog's reach. These potent products can be poisonous to your pet.
Be certain that garbage cans and compost bins are inaccessible to your pet. Fatty or decomposing foods can make your dog sick. Bones from chicken or other meat can splinter and puncture your dog's throat, intestine, or the roof of his mouth and cause injury to these areas. | <urn:uuid:e7d8c6f5-9a9d-4cbe-9b13-3bd9291decb8> | {
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Medications used to treat ADHD symptoms may enhance the academic performance… (Richard Downs )
Prescribing psychotropic medications to normal, healthy kids who want to boost their academic performance is "not justifiable" because it contravenes a physician's responsibility to promote a child's "authentic" development and to protect him or her against coercion by parents or peers, a group of neurologists and bioethicists has asserted.
When older adolescents who are closer to the age of autonomy (or their parents) ask for such medications, arguments against the practice are weaker, the group concluded. But it's still "inadvisable," they wrote.
Those arguments are contained in a new finding published in the journal Neurology on Wednesday afternoon.
They come against rising concern about the misuse and diversion of stimulant medications prescribed to people with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, often for purposes that have more to do with performance enhancement than recreation. In recent years, the proportion of children diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed stimulant or other medication for the condition has risen steeply. So too has evidence of the medication's use by children and adolescents looking for an edge in test-taking.
Among 12th-graders, 3.4% acknowledged having used ADHD drugs in the last year for purposes other than those for which they are prescribed, according to a yearly federal survey of youth drug use. In the same 2008 survey, 2.9% of 10th-grade students and 1.6% of eighth-graders acknowledged having taken ADHD drugs for "nonmedical" purposes.
The neuro-ethicists wrote that widening use of ADHD medications and growing awareness and acceptance of the ADHD diagnosis have confronted physicians with increasing requests from parents and children to prescribe the medications to children who do not meet the clinical standards for an ADHD diagnosis. Some may come from parents of children who are developing normally but falling short of high expectations for grades and academic performance.
In such cases, physicians not only have an "essential fiduciary responsibility" to protect the child, but have a social obligation as well to prevent the misuse of a societal resource -- medications -- in ways that may give some children an unfair advantage over others, the neurologists wrote. When asked for such medications by parents of children who do not need them, a physician should take the opportunity to explain that there is no evidence that such drugs benefit children who do not need them, and explore with parents their goals and expectations for the child.
A physician should also counsel parents that, for a child falling short of expectations, there are other, less ethically questionable ways to boost performance, including adequate sleep, exercise and nutrition, tutoring, meditation and biofeedback. Parents should also be encouraged to consider the potential effects of neuro-enhancing medications on their child's "developing individual authenticity during childhood and adolescence."
The neuro-ethicists stopped short of asserting that prescribing such medications to children for neuro-enhancement actually endangers their health. They noted that, though medications used for ADHD -- typically stimulants -- can raise blood pressure and heart rate, the consequences of such physiological changes in youngsters can be difficult to detect. Since heart attacks and strokes are extremely rare in such populations, detecting an increase in such events that might be attributed to stimulant use is tricky, they noted. But "ongoing attention is needed to determine the long-term effects of neuro-enhancement medications on the developing brain."
At the same time, the authors of the Neurology article do not slam the door on the possibility that in some cases, neuro-enhancement might be ethically justified. They challenged physician leaders to continue to ponder "possible exceptions for accepted neuro-enhancement under special circumstances." | <urn:uuid:4c76b11d-7cf5-4fec-9415-bdb3e6b209b1> | {
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Demonstrate dramatic colour changes as a result of redox and precipitation reactions.
In this experiment redox and precipitation reactions take place, including two colour changes.
A mixture containing iodate(V) ions, hydrogensulfate(IV) (hydrogensulfite) ions, mercury(II) ions and starch suddenly turns orange after a few seconds, with the formation of a precipitate of mercury(II) iodide. A few seconds later the mixture suddenly turns blue-black with the formation of the starch-iodine complex. Orange and black are the colours of the House of Nassau. The reactions taking place involve redox and precipitation.
This experiment has a good visual impact and would be one way of stimulating interest in chemistry, perhaps via an Open Day. The reactions involved are not too complex and could be introduced during an advanced level course when studying kinetics.
The demonstration lasts about 3 - 5 minutes but about 20 minutes is needed for the preparation beforehand.
For each demonstration:
Eye protection: goggles
Disposable gloves (preferably nitrile)
Volumetric flasks (1 dm3), 3
Beakers (250 cm3), 3
Measuring cylinders (50 cm3 or 100 cm3), 3
Soluble starch, 4 g
Sodium metabisulfite (HARMFUL), 13.7 g
Mercury(II) chloride (VERY TOXIC, DANGEROUS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT), 3 g
Potassium iodate(V) (OXIDISING), 15 g
Deionised or distilled water, 3 dm3
Refer to Health & Safety and Technical notes section below for additional information.
Health & Safety and Technical notes
Wear goggles and protective gloves.
Soluble starch - see CLEAPSS Hazcard.
Sodium metabisulfite, Na2S2O5(s), (HARMFUL) - see CLEAPSS Hazcard.
Mercury(II) chloride, HgCl2(s), (VERY TOXIC, DANGEROUS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT) - see CLEAPSS Hazcard.
Potassium iodate(V), KIO3(s), (OXIDISING) - see CLEAPSS Hazcard.
To dispose of reaction mixtures after the demonstration, filter off the insoluble mercury(II) iodide and place the filter paper in a sealed plastic bag or a screw top bottle. Any unused solution B should be treated with excess sodium hydroxide to precipitate insoluble orange mercury hydroxide. This should be filtered off and the filter paper combined with the first residue. The mercury residues should then be retained for professional disposal.
Before the demonstration
Using deionised or distilled water, make up three solutions, in graduated flasks as follows:
a Make a paste of 4 g of soluble starch with a few drops of water.
b Pour 500 cm3 of boiling water on to this, and stir.
c Cool to room temperature
d Add 13.7 g of sodium metabisulfite and stir.
e Make up to 1 dm3 with water in a volumetric flask.
a Dissolve 3 g of mercury(II) chloride in some water.
b Make up the solution to 1 dm3 in a volumetric flask. This solution should be labelled HARMFUL.
a Dissolve 15 g of potassium iodate(V) in water.
b Make up the solution to 1 dm3 in a volumetric flask.
HEALTH & SAFETY: Wear gloves and eye protection
a Use two measuring cylinders to mix 50 cm3 of solution A with 50 cm3 of solution B in a beaker.
b Use the third measuring cylinder to pour 50 cm3 of solution C into a second beaker.
c Pour the contents of the first beaker into the second.
d After about 5 seconds the mixture turns an opaque orange colour.
e After another few seconds the mixture suddenly turns blue-black.
A white background helps to make the colour changes more vivid. A white laboratory coat is ideal.
Scale up the volumes if the demonstration is being shown to a large audience.
Diluting all the solutions by a factor of two increases the time taken for the colour changes to occur.
The mechanisms of the various reactions taking place are complex and it is wise initially to keep the volume ratio as 1:1:1. Altering this ratio leads to unpredictable results.
Using a smaller volume of B speeds up the reaction.
If the volume of solution B is doubled, the appearance of the orange colour is delayed and the blue colour fails to appear at all.
The reactions occurring are fairly complex but the following steps explain the observations satisfactorily:
At first the metabisulfite ions react with water to form hydrogensulfite ions:
S2O52-(aq) + H2O(l) → 2HSO3–(aq).
These hydrogensulfite ions reduce the iodate(V) ions to iodide ions:
IO3–(aq) + 3HSO3–(aq) → I–(aq) + 3SO42–(aq) + 3H+(aq)
As soon as the concentration of iodide ions is large enough to exceed the solubility product of HgI2 (4.5 x 10–29 mol3 dm– 9), orange mercury(II) iodide solid is precipitated until all of the Hg2+ ions are used up (provided that there is an excess of I– ions).
Hg2+(aq) + 2I–(aq) → HgI2(s)
This precipitate is responsible for the initial orange cloudiness in the mixture.
If at this stage there are still I– and IO3– ions in the mixture, a redox reaction producing molecular iodine takes place:
IO3–(aq) + 5I–(aq) + 6H+(aq) → 3I2(aq) + 3H2O(l)
and the intense blue-black starch-iodine complex is formed.
Health & Safety checked, 2016
This Practical Chemistry resource was developed by the Nuffield Foundation and the Royal Society of Chemistry.
© Nuffield Foundation and the Royal Society of Chemistry
Page last updated 2016
This is a resource from the Practical Chemistry project, developed by the Nuffield Foundation and the Royal Society of Chemistry. This collection of over 200 practical activities demonstrates a wide range of chemical concepts and processes. Each activity contains comprehensive information for teachers and technicians, including full technical notes and step-by-step procedures. Practical Chemistry activities accompany Practical Physics and Practical Biology. | <urn:uuid:2e3bf5d8-5b03-45e5-bd65-94bdfee432d2> | {
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Why controlled alternate partial root-zone irrigation (CAPRI)?
The effective use of irrigation water has become a key component in the production of field crops and high-quality fruit crops in arid and semi-arid areas. Irrigation has been the major driving force for agricultural development in these areas for some time. Efficient water use has become an important issue in recent years because the lack of available water resources in some areas is increasingly becoming a serious problem. Much effort has been spent on developing techniques such as RDI (regulated deficit irrigation) and CAPRI [controlled alternate partial root-zone irrigation or partial root-zone drying (PRD in the literature)] to improve field and fruit crop water use efficiency (WUE) (Goodwin et al., 1992; Boland et al., 1993; Kang et al., 1997, 1998, 2000a, b, 2001a, b, 2002a, b, 2003; ZS Liang et al., 1997, 1998; Loveys et al., 1997, 1998; Dry and Loveys, 1998, 1999, 2000a, b; Gu et al., 2000; Shi and Kang, 2000; Stoll et al., 2000; Han and Kang, 2002; Kang and Cai, 2002).
CAPRI is a new irrigation technique which requires that approximately half of the root system is always exposed to drying soil while the remaining half is irrigated as in full irrigation. The wetted and dried sides of the root system are alternated in a frequency according to crops, growing stages and soil water balance. This technique has the potential to reduce field-crop and fruit-tree water use significantly, increase canopy vigour, and maintain yields when compared with normal irrigation methods. This technique has two theoretical assumptions. (i) Fully irrigated plants usually have widely opened stomata. A small narrowing of the stomatal opening may reduce water loss substantially with little effect on photosynthesis (Jones, 1992). (ii) Part of the root system in drying soil can respond to drying by sending a root-sourced signal to the shoots where stomata may be closed to reduce water loss (Davies and Zhang, 1991).
Plants open their stomata for CO2 uptake and at the same time lose their internal water. Mathematical modelling of these two opposite diffusion processes has predicted that plants generally should have the capability to optimize their water use in the short term and to maximize their chance of survival over a drought in the longer term. In the short term, for example, during a day, their carbon gained is maximized with only a limited amount of water lost (Cowan, 1977, 1982; Farquhar and Sharkey, 1982). In the longer term, for example, over a season, their water loss should be regulated according to the amount of water available in the soil (Jones, 1980; Cowan, 1982, 1986). In a world where rainfall is unpredictable, the long-term regulation means that plants must be able to ‘detect’ the soil drying and then ‘respond’ to it by regulating their water consumption. Such a mechanism may be termed as a feed-forward mechanism, since such regulation, for example, reduced stomatal opening, may take place well before all the water available in the soil is completely depleted.
Early work from this laboratory (Zhang et al., 1987; Zhang and Davies, 1989a, b, 1990a, b; Davies and Zhang, 1991; J Liang et al., 1996a, 1997) has revealed that such a feed-forward mechanism may work through abscisic acid (ABA), and could act as a plant growth substance, as a signal of soil drying. ABA can be produced in the roots in the drying soil and transported through the transpiration stream to the shoots where the shoot physiology (mainly leaf expansion rate and stomatal opening) is regulated. This root-sourced signal may substantially reduce the water loss through stomata at a time when no water deficit is detectable in the shoots, and may be described as the first line of defence against a possible drought. With prolonged soil drying, a second line of defence may operate through a progressive wilting starting from the lower and older leaves. Massive amounts of ABA will be produced in these wilted leaves and be sent to the upper younger leaves and buds where water loss will be cut down further (Zhang and Davies, 1989b). Understandably, it is essential for the plants to maintain some turgor in their growing points for survival, even under a prolonged drought. With the decreasing availability of water in the soil, signals from the first and second lines of defence will increase in strength and stomata will close further. Therefore, it may be concluded that stomata do work in a responsive pattern.
Can this kind of responding mechanism be used to increase plant WUE? Typically, plant photosynthetic rate shows a saturation response as stomata open, while transpiration rate shows a more linear response. It would be expected that narrowing fully opened stomatal apertures would substantially reduce water loss but would have little effect on the rate of photosynthesis. If this can be achieved, then WUE, if calculated as the carbon gained per unit of water lost, will be improved at little expense of CO2 uptake.
Are stomata opened at maximum most of the day? Even well supplied with water, stomatal opening is also a function of the atmospheric conditions, i.e. the evaporation demand. Cowan (1977) and Farquhar and Sharkey (1982) suggested that stomata might tend to function in such a way that the diurnal course of conductance allows maximal carbon gain for a given amount of water lost. Their models suggested that this would be achieved if stomatal movement is such that it would hold the gain ratio G (G = E/A, where E is the rate of transpiration and A is the rate of carbon assimilation) constant over the course of the day. Cowan (1982) attributed this stomatal movement as a short-term optimal stomatal regulation. From this modelling, it can be seen that a ‘midday depression’ becomes more substantial when evaporation demand gets higher at midday, i.e. the increase of temperature that leads to a higher vapour pressure gradient between the inside and the outside of the leaves.
It has long been known that plants growing in dry land with periodic soil drying have a higher WUE (Bacon, 2004). Apparently the increased WUE should be an integrated result of both short-term, as a function of atmosphere condition, and long-term, as a function of soil water availability, regulation of water loss. Improved WUE with a responsive stomatal behaviour is indeed predicted by Cowan (1982) from an analysis of the optimization pattern of water use by plants. Jones (1992) concluded that such a responsive pattern of stomatal opening whould be the best pattern for both plant survival and carbohydrate production, i.e. the WUE.
Many research results show that some plants have the ability rapidly to resume water uptake after drought, and the water uptake rate would be enhanced after rewatering compared with a full water supply treatment (North and Nobel, 1991; Huang and Nobel, 1992; Wraith et al., 1995). Earlier research by the present authors also showed that hydraulic conductivity of root systems could be improved greatly when restoring wetting after drought (Kang and Zhang, 1997, Kang et al., 1999). Liang et al. (1996b) also reported that rewatering can greatly encourage the initiation and growth of secondary roots. Moreover, Shi and Kang (2000) and Han and Kang (2002) reported that the ability of roots to absorb nutrients was also improved when the root zone was partially watered and the partial watering was shifted alternately in a horizontal direction or along the vertical soil profile.
CAPRI is therefore designed to expose part of the root system to drying soil and to produce the root signal of drying, while the remaining roots in wet soil can maintain the water supply so that leaves are kept hydrated (Kang et al., 1997; Loveys et al., 1997, 1998; Dry and Loveys, 1998, 1999, 2000a, b; Gu et al., 2000; Stoll et al., 2000). Why is it necessary to alternate sides and not to keep a fixed part of the root system in drying soil? It is thought that prolonged exposure of roots to drying soil may cause anatomical changes in the roots, such as suberization of the epidermis, collapse of the cortex, and loss of succulent secondary roots (North and Nobel, 1991). These changes are such that the roots under prolonged soil drying may function simply as transportation ‘pipes’ with a very low radial permeability to water. Such hydraulically isolated roots in soil would have reduced ability to sense soil drying. Alternate watering or rewatering, after a long period of soil drying, may improve this situation by inducing new secondary roots (Liang et al., 1996b). Apparently such new roots are succulent enough to sense further soil drying and may also enhance the nutrient uptake from this soil zone.
CAPRI is a general technique which may be applied in different ways in the field (Kang et al., 1997, 2001b, 2002a; Kang and Cai, 2002). These include controlled alternate drip (or subsurface drip) irrigation on part of the root zone, CAPRI applied in a vertical soil profile, controlled alternate border irrigation, controlled alternate furrow irrigation (AFI), and controlled alternate surface irrigation and subsurface irrigation and so on. In this paper, some results and conclusions of experiments conducted in pots and the field are reviewed, and questions requiring further study are discussed. | <urn:uuid:9554bdcf-2306-4df3-b5e9-30446fd41431> | {
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EARTH SCIENCE > SUN-EARTH INTERACTIONS > SOLAR ACTIVITY > SOLAR X-RAY EMISSIONS
Solar X-Ray emissions can consist of X-Ray background flux or X-Ray bursts. A
daily average background X-ray flux is in the 1 to 8 angstrom range. It is a
midday minimum designed to reduce the effects of flares. X-Ray burstsare a
temporary enhancement of the X-ray emission of the sun. The time-intensity
profile of soft X-ray bursts is similar to that of the H-Alpha profile of an
associated flare. Bursts last from minutes to several hours.
On-Line Glossary of Solar-Terrestrial Terms from the NOAA Space Environment | <urn:uuid:62db58ae-d87b-4d6e-9f4d-95751d4e3620> | {
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Sensing Distance from Work Piece
Quality of product depends on the ability to detect the distance of the cutting tool from the Work Piece. The nature of this sensing problem changes depending on the cutting tool.
Ultrasound ranging may provide general-purpose sensing, independent of the specific tool type.
See also Paul Log capacitance sensor
See also Height_Controller
See also Justin log
Here is a great article on controlling Torch to Work Distance. The quick story is that voltage between the torch and the work piece increases as the torch gets further away from the material. There is a discussion of building a z-controller here-- some of the content may be helpful. From that is a potential collaborator.
Documentation on torch height control in Linux CNC. Centers around use of the THC 300, which appears to no longer be available, and the CandCNC units. Note that CandCNC claims to only work with Mach3 and offers a $250 stand-alone torch height controller.
Experimental data points (Feb 2013, ChuckH): Hypertherm torch on Torchmate plasma cutter
- cutting 1/4" mild steel, 60A current setting, arc voltage approx 137V
- cutting 12ga mild steel, 40A current setting, arc voltage approx 125V
- approx 1 volt arc voltage change per 1/16 inch height change (very approximate guess).
Experimental observation (ChuckH): The Torchmate cutter sets initial height by using the (DC-servo-driven) z axis to drive the torch into contact with the work and stalling (exceeding a torque/current sensing threshold), then retracting to pierce height. If the workpiece is bowed up or not fully supported, it deflects downward during the height detection and springs back up as the torch retracts; this situation results in the torch starting too close to the work. A lower-force or non-contact initial height sensor would avoid this problem.
There is a lot of information about torch tables using plasma torches, less about those using acetylene torches.
The articles about plasma torches seem consistent:
- Torch height should be regulated to optimize cut pattern:
- If too high or too low, the cut will have beveled edges
- Most torch head damage results from head too low
- Initial torch height should be 150% - 200% of height after cutting has been initiated.
- Height can be sensed by voltage of plasma arc: Torch height is proportional to arc voltage. Open circuit voltage is around 300vdc, cutting voltage ranges from 80vdc to 200vdc, depending on operating current and cutting height.
Oxyfuel Torch Technology
Torch tables using flame technology abound as well. They are called "Oxygen Fuel" tables, as they can use fuels other than acetylene.
Capacitive Height Controllers induce a high frequency signal between a sensor ring and the subject steel and measure the resulting capacitance. This capacitance is inversely proportional to the distance between the sensor ring and the steel surface. The controller uses this measurement to generate signals to control a motor to adjust the head height.
Agelkom uses two rings to control head height for both plasma and oxy fuel torches:
- Plasma ring
- Dimensions: 34 mm ID, 47 mm OD
- Head height: 1.5 - 10 mm
- Fuel ring
- Dimensions: 50 mm ID, 69 mm OD
- Head height: 7 - 35 mm
Sensing rings must be electrically isolated from all conductive parts.
The Rutex controller employs two relays to drive a single motor to control the up/down positioning of the torch head as in the following diagram:
Data sheets on a controllers for controlling the head height on an oxygen fuel system:
Other torch height sensor ideas
- Capacitive sensors
- Jcc3inc's torch height control (doesn't include initial height)
- [Sharp] photoelectric rangers might work for initial height sensing; presumably would be blinded during actual cutting.
- ultrasonic distance sensing: if mounted some distance from the torch, an ultrasonic sensor controlled by an arduino running the z-axis motor might be a low-cost way to control torch height. One might provide an input signal from the CNC-controlling computer (or cheat, and use a photocell aimed at torch location) to set pierce height differently than ongoing cut height.
- From the PING sensor datasheet:
- For accuracy, temperature compensation should occur.
- Maximum operating temperature of 70C.
- Minimum distance 2 cm (sensor should be mounted higher than tip of torch)
- [P.A.D.S], a bit more sophisticated than PING
- [Maxbotix] ultrasound sensor
- See also Ultrasound_Torch_Height_Controller
- From the PING sensor datasheet:
- industrial-grade, extreme environment capacitive sensors are also available
- stepper motor control with an arduino
- servo motor control with an arduino
- integrate with torch table grbl | <urn:uuid:bdf09d85-ca9b-42fc-8eea-6e9f3028578e> | {
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Mountains add drama to the horizon, they inspire and comfort us, and they provide living space for thousands of animals and birds. But how often do you stop and think about where mountains came from? With the recent eruption of Mt. Redoubt in Alaska, more and more people are heading out to see America's active volcanoes. From the Hawaii lava floes to the ash-spouting peaks of the western Cascade range, our nation has plenty of hot spots to capture the interest of budding vulcanologists.
With its towering peaks and snow-capped ranges, Alaska is a volcano lover's dream. The Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands have about 80 major volcanic centers. Alaskan volcanoes have produced one or two eruptions per year since 1900, the most famous of which is Mt. Redoubt. Mt. Redoubt, which erupted on March 22, 2009, is located on the gorgeous Kenai Peninsula west of Cook Inlet. The mountain has actually erupted five times since 1900, including once in 1989.
The 2009 Mt. Redoubt eruption reached a dramatic state on March 22 when the mountain spewed vast amounts of steam and ash, disturbing air flight patterns for a number of weeks. Activity continues with ongoing seismic changes and steam coming out of the summit crater. There have also been ongoing rock falls coming down the side of the lava dome.
Hawaii is a volcano lover's dream. Not many places on earth allow a person to get so up-close and personal with active volcanoes. On your next visit to the island state, be sure to visit the Mauna Loa and Kilauea volcanoes on the island of Hawaii. These two mountains erupt frequently but in non-explosive ways that make them perfect for family and tourist visits. The volcanoes have also been studied extensively, which means that visitors can get a good picture of each volcano's magma reservoir "plumbing" system.
In the contiguous United States, the active volcanoes are in the Cascade range that runs from California, north through Oregon and Washington states, and on into Canada. These mountains don't erupt with the frequency of Hawaii's volcanoes, but they're equally interesting and can be easier to reach. At the same time, it's important to remember that Cascade volcanoes can be far more dangerous (when active) than Hawaiian volcanoes because they tend to be more explosive.
The most famous Cascade volcano is Mt. St. Helens in southwestern Washington state. St. Helens erupted in 1980, spewing enormous clouds of ash and causing massive mud slides that destroyed all life on one side of the mountain. Today Mt. St. Helens is safe to visit and can be a fascinating place to explore. Visitors can take in the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument above Spirit Lake, watch the mountain's activity on web cams, and learn all about what makes this volcano tick.
Unlike the Hawaiian volcanoes, the Cascade volcanoes release a variety of magma types and are more likely to develop steep-sided cones (these are then called "composite volcanoes"). With so many different types of volcanoes to learn about, you may just have to visit them all! | <urn:uuid:025fcbce-239c-4797-a8f7-783c277a7669> | {
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My husband and I work as system administrators in a large Chicagoland private school with many hundreds of PCs and Macs, iPhones and iPads, connected to a variety of local networks, each connected to the internet. Every one of those products is under attack by outside forces and so is your Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
What Can You Do?
The math here is rather straightforward. If a device you use is connected to the public internet, regardless of router configurations and firewalls, it is subject a constant barrage of attacks. Each of those devices has an IP (internet protocol) address and that makes it a target of hackers and criminals and attacking bots from all over the world. It’s likely that most Mac users have never seen a firewall log, and if you did you would be afraid; be very afraid.
What is interesting about my somewhat fear-mongering paragraph above is this; despite the attacks against every internet connected device, Apple’s products seem to attract fewer intrusions.
For example, the famous Mirai malware attacks various devices that run Linux and turns them into remotely controlled bots that can attack other internet services. Home routers, DVRs, security cameras, and other devices have been attacked and controlled by criminals and hackers; attacks that can bring down a single website or internet service, or large chunks of the internet’s infrastructure which becomes wide scale outages.
What can you do?
First, using Apple products does not ensure victory, but it’s a good first start because Apple has something of a closed system architecture with macOS Sierra and iOS 10, while Android smartphones are based on Linux, and Windows PCs are in greater use in business worldwide so are a larger and more lucrative target.
Many devices that are connected to the internet often leave specific ports open which attracts attacks which attempt to take advantage of an exploit in a vulnerability. That’s what Mirai does with common routers and other products.
Second, every Apple product you own– that is connected to the public internet– is subject to similar attacks because attackers search first for IP addresses, then specific ports on specific devices. That explains why so many technology writers warn against using free public Wi-Fi and encourage readers to use VPN apps when using the public internet.
Are you completely safe using Apple’s products? No. Are you safer? Yes.
Barely a month ago I came across a list of ways to avoid being hacked online during the Black Friday shopping frenzy. The list includes basics– pick a good password– but some additional tricks and tips that help you stay safe online, regardless of which device you use to access the internet. The list ended with Common Sense.
If an email offer looks too good to be true, the prices on a website are abnormally low or you receive an unsolicited telephone call offering computer support, it’s probably a scam.
That won’t prevent Mirai attacks on your DVR or home router, but it’s where you start first to protect yourself online. | <urn:uuid:b327df9b-ae54-49fd-8e3c-6ad7c85d2aa5> | {
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Mitral valve surgery - openDefinition:
Mitral valve surgery is used to repair or replace the mitral valve in your heart.
Blood flows between different chambers through valves that connect the chambers. One of these is the mitral valve. The mitral valve opens so blood can flow from the left atria to the left ventricle. The valve then closes, keeping blood from flowing backwards.
In this type of surgery, the surgeon makes a large cut in your breastbone to reach the heart. Other types of surgery use several smaller cuts.
Mitral valve replacement - open; Mitral valve repair - open; Mitral valvuloplasty
Before your surgery, you will receive general anesthesia . This will make you asleep and pain-free during the entire procedure.
- Your surgeon will make a 10-inch-long cut in the middle of your chest.
- Next, your surgeon will separate your breastbone in order to see your heart.
- Most people are connected to a heart-lung bypass machine or bypass pump. Your heart is stopped while you are connected to this machine. This machine does the work of your heart while your heart is stopped.
- A small cut is made in the left side of your heart so your surgeon can repair or replace the mitral valve.
If your surgeon can repair your mitral valve, you may have:
- Ring annuloplasty -- The surgeon repairs the ring-like part around the valve by sewing a ring of metal, cloth, or tissue around the valve.
- Valve repair -- The surgeon trims, shapes, or rebuilds one or more of the three flaps (leaflets) of the valve.
If your mitral valve is too damaged to be repaired, you will need a new valve. This is called replacement surgery. Your surgeon will remove your mitral valve and sew a new one into place. There are two types of mitral valves:
- Mechanical -- made of man-made (synthetic) materials, such as titanium. These valves last the longest. You will need to take blood-thinning medicine, such as warfarin (Coumadin) or aspirin, for the rest of your life.
- Biological -- made of human or animal tissue. These valves last 10-12 years. You may not need to take blood thinners for life.
Once the new or repaired valve is working, your surgeon will:
- Close your heart and take you off the heart-lung machine.
- Place catheters (tubes) around your heart to drain fluids that build up.
- Close your breastbone with stainless steel wires. It will take about 6 weeks for the bone to heal. The wires will stay inside your body.
You may have a temporary pacemaker connected to your heart until your natural heart rhythm returns.
This surgery may take 3 - 6 hours.
Why the Procedure Is Performed:
You may need surgery if your mitral valve does not work properly.
- A mitral valve that does not close all the way will allow blood to leak back into the left atria. This is called mitral regurgitation .
- A mitral valve that does not open fully will restrict blood flow. This is called mitral stenosis .
- A valve defect that you have had since birth is called mitral valve prolapse .
You may need open-heart valve surgery for these reasons:
- Changes in your mitral valve are causing major heart symptoms, such as angina (chest pain), shortness of breath, fainting spells (syncope), or heart failure.
- Tests show that the changes in your mitral valve are reducing your heart function.
- You are having open-heart surgery for another reason and your doctor may want to replace or repair your mitral valve at the same time.
- Your heart valve has been damaged by endocarditis (infection of the heart valve).
- You have received a new heart valve in the past, and it is not working well.
- You have problems such as blood clots, infection, or bleeding after getting a new heart valve.
Risks for any surgery are:
Possible risks from having open-heart surgery are:
- Heart attack or stroke
- Heart rhythm problems
- Infection in the cut (more likely to happen in people who are obese , have diabetes , or have already had this surgery)
- Memory loss and loss of mental clarity, or "fuzzy thinking."
- Post-pericardiotomy syndrome, which includes a low fever and chest pain. This could last for up to 6 months.
Before the Procedure:
Always tell your doctor or nurse:
- If you are or could be pregnant
- What medicines you are taking, even drugs, supplements, or herbs you bought without a prescription
You may be able to store blood in the blood bank for transfusions during and after your surgery. Ask your surgeon how you and your family members can donate blood.
You may need to stop taking medicines that make it harder for your blood to clot for 2 weeks before the surgery. These might cause increased bleeding during the surgery.
- Some of these medicines are aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), and naproxen (Aleve, Naprosyn).
- If you are taking warfarin (Coumadin) or clopidogrel (Plavix), talk with your surgeon before stopping your medicines or changing how you take them.
Get your house ready before you go to the hospital so things will be easier when you return.
The day before your surgery, take a shower and wash your hair. You may need to wash your whole body below your neck with a special soap. Scrub your chest two or three times with this soap. You also may need to take an antibiotic to guard against infection.
During the days before your surgery:
- Ask your doctor which medicines you should take on the day of your surgery.
- If you smoke, you need to stop. Ask your doctor or nurse for help.
- Always let your doctor know if you have a cold, flu, fever, herpes breakout, or any other illness before your surgery.
On the day of the surgery:
- Your doctor may tell you not to drink or eat anything after midnight the night before your surgery. This includes using chewing gum and breath mints. Rinse your mouth with water if it feels dry, but be careful not to swallow.
- Take the medicines your doctor told you to take with a small sip of water.
- Your doctor or nurse will tell you when to arrive at the hospital.
After the Procedure:
Most people spend 4-7 days in the hospital after surgery.
You will wake up in the intensive care unit (ICU). You will recover there for 1-2 days. You will have 2-3 tubes in your chest to drain fluid from around your heart. The tubes are usually removed 1-3 days after surgery.
You may have a flexible tube (catheter) in your bladder to drain urine. You may also have intravenous (IV) lines to get fluids. Nurses will watch monitors that show vital signs (pulse, temperature, and breathing).
You will be moved to a regular hospital room from the ICU. Your nurses and doctors will monitor your heart and vital signs until you go home. You will receive pain medicine to control pain around your surgical cut.
Your nurse will help you begin activity slowly. You will go to a physical therapy program to make your heart and body stronger.
Mechanical heart valves do not fail often. They last from 12-20 years. However, blood clots develop on them. If a blood clot forms, you may have a stroke. Bleeding can occur, but this is rare.
Valves made from human or animal tissue fail over time, but have a lower risk of blood clots.
Fullerton DA, Harken AH. Acquired heart disease: valvular. In: Townsend CM, Jr Beauchamp RD, Evers BM, Mattox KL, eds. Sabiston Textbook of Surgery. 19th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2012:chap 61.
Otto CM, Bonow RO. Valvular heart disease. In: Bonow RO, Mann DL, Zipes DP, Libby P, eds. Braunwald's Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine. 9th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2011:chap 66.
|Review Date: 1/23/2013|
Reviewed By: John A. Daller, MD, PhD, Department of Surgery, Crozer-Chester Medical Center, Chester, PA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by A.D.A.M. Health Solutions, Ebix, Inc., Editorial Team: David Zieve, MD, MHA, Bethanne Black, Stephanie Slon, and Nissi Wang.
The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed medical professional should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Call 911 for all medical emergencies. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. © 1997-
A.D.A.M., Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. | <urn:uuid:5ffebad0-23e1-4750-b5c2-e9e8ec04a2bb> | {
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Antoine Leca wrote:
> Now I ask a slighty different question then. What is the name of the
> encoding where the byte order is known (for example, any application
> on an Intel machine that receive its data from the system, as opposed
> as from the network or similar hazardous source), and where a
> received BOM should be silently eaten up?
If it is a 16-bit encoding, then its name is UTF-16. The reason for
having three different names "UTF-16", "UTF-16BE", "UTF-16LE" is that
the same byte sequence "0xFE 0xFF 0x00 0x20" is interpreted in three
in UTF-16, it is a U+0020
in UTF-16BE, it is a U+FEFF U+0020
in UTF-16LE, it is a U+FFFE U+2000
In the last case, of course, U+FFFE is not a character, so the byte
sequence is ill-formed, just as it would be ill-formed if the
charset was US-ASCII (because 0xFE and 0xFF are illegal in that charset).
But there is no need to distinguish between the charset that encodes
U+0020 as 0xFE 0xFF 0x00 0x20 and the one that encodes it as 0xFF 0xFE 0x20 0x00,
because the decoding is unambiguous and that's all that counts; both
cases are labeled "UTF-16".
> If I am right, the correct way to encode a initiating ZWNBSP in UTF-8
> would then be code 0xEF 0xBB 0xBF 0xEF 0xBB 0xBF.
It's *a* correct way. But many (most?) UTF-8 interpreters have no notion
of a BOM, and will decode this as U+FEFF U+FEFF.
Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis um dies! || John Cowan <[email protected]> Schliesst euer Aug vor heiliger Schau, || http://www.reutershealth.com Denn er genoss vom Honig-Tau, || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan Und trank die Milch vom Paradies. -- Coleridge (tr. Politzer)
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From the June 2008 Conservationist
Ask the Biologist
Dealing with young wildlife
By Eileen Stegemann
I found a fawn in the high grass on my property. I think it's been abandoned, what should I do?
Every spring and summer, people contact DEC to ask about newborn and just-hatched wildlife they found. Many people assume that these young wildlife are abandoned and need our help to survive. But in most cases, this is a mistake and our well-meaning actions generally do more harm than good. When people mistakenly "rescue" young wildlife, they quickly discover they can't really provide proper care, and often the young animals die. Those that do survive in our care have missed the natural experiences that are critical for learning how to fend for themselves in the wild. A young bird crouched in the yard, or a young rabbit in the flower garden are not generally alone. Often, wild animal parents stay away from their young when people are near, waiting nearby for you to leave. In the case of white-tail deer, fawns are often left alone during the first week or so after birth. They have not been abandoned. Fawns are almost scentless and immobile and the doe spends only brief periods of time with them to avoid attracting predators. So, if you find any young wildlife, enjoy your encounter but keep it brief and maintain some distance. Remember the rule, "If You Care, Leave Them There." Keep any pets inside for a few hours so they won't disturb the animal.
Not only is it illegal to keep any wild animal as a pet, but wild animals do not make good pets-they are not well suited for life in captivity and they may carry diseases that can be given to people.
If you find a young wild animal that is obviously injured or orphaned, there are wildlife rehabilitators who can help. Volunteers licensed by DEC, wildlife rehabilitators are the only people legally allowed to receive and treat distressed wildlife. For more information about young wildlife, search DEC's website.
Photo: Sue Shafer | <urn:uuid:de6deaa0-9205-425b-be92-8c82221e7a1e> | {
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- 1The action of interposing someone or something: the interposition of members between tiers of managementMore example sentences
- The interposition of political majorities does not necessarily insulate the state's decision from all criticism.
- Calhoun always portrayed nullification as a process designed to preserve the union, but he himself acknowledged that secession could follow interposition if repeated abuses of the Constitution went uncorrected.
- The word ‘intervention’ implies interposition, placing oneself between two contending parties and keeping them apart.
- 1.1Interference: prevented from taking your life by the interposition of your wifeMore example sentences
- We therefore earnestly solicit your Christian interposition to discourage and prevent so obvious an Evil, in such manner as under the influence of Divine Wisdom you shall see meet.
- Pictures of slain, undersized whales, and the dramatic interposition of tiny Zodiacs between giant whaling ships and their quarry created a media storm when released during an International Whaling Commission meeting.
- But you have brought separate proceedings seeking, primarily, declarations, also injunctive relief, which would involve your interference or your interposition in the contractual rights of other persons.
late Middle English: from Latin interpositio(n-), from the verb interponere (see interpose).
More definitions of interpositionDefinition of interposition in:
- The British & World English dictionary | <urn:uuid:44d098b8-5ad2-4d6e-a43b-75a97548e5f8> | {
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identification of organic compounds...closer to the bromine atom. All three hydrogens on the CH 3 group are exposed to the same local magnetic field and consequently have the same chemical shift. Such hydrogens are said to be equivalent. The two hydrogens on the CH 2 group are also equivalent. The chemical shift of hydrogen atoms is the most important piece of information provided by NMR spectroscopy, because it...
Simply begin typing or use the editing tools above to add to this article.
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Menopause is a natural biological process that occurs in every woman’s life. It marks the permanent end of menstruation and fertility, meaning that a woman is no longer able to have children, confirmed when a woman ceases to menstruate for twelve consecutive months.
During this transition period, a woman’s ovaries cease to develop eggs and her body produces less estrogen and progesterone, ultimately causing her to no longer have a period.
The average onset of menopause in the United States is age 51, but the normal range is between the ages 45 and 55. Some women enter menopause before the age of 40, defined as premature menopause, which can be caused by many different factors including autoimmune disorders, smoking, the result of damage to the ovaries, or surgery, such as a hysterectomy.
Although menopause is a completely natural stage of a woman’s life cycle and not a disease, it is often accompanied by a series of uncomfortable physical and emotional symptoms which can be alleviated by various forms of treatment.
Stages of Menopause
From the time a woman begins puberty until she enters menopause, a woman generally has the same monthly period, except when interrupted during pregnancy or another medical condition.
During the first half of a woman’s menstrual cycle, the ovaries—two glands located on either side of the uterus—produce higher levels of estrogen, which causes the lining of the uterus, known as the endometrium, to thicken. An egg in one of the ovaries starts to mature during this time.
On day 14 of woman’s menstrual cycle the egg is released, a process known as ovulation. After ovulation, the ovaries increase production of progesterone. If the egg is not fertilized, the levels of estrogen and progesterone decrease, leading the body to shed the lining of the uterus, causing a period.
As a woman approaches menopause, her ovaries produce less estrogen which can cause irregular periods. The term “menopause” is defined as a woman’s last menstrual cycle. Menopause is confirmed one year after a woman’s final period, confirming the permanent cessation of reproductive fertility.
Menopause is a process that naturally occurs over months and years. It is often defined by three stages:
Perimenopause begins several years before menopause, when a woman is still menstruating. A woman’s hormone levels may rise and fall because the ovaries are gradually producing less estrogen. This change can cause hot flashes or other menopausal symptoms. Perimenopause can last four to five years or longer, until menopause begins. Although it is possible to get pregnant during this time, it is not likely.
A woman enters menopause when twelve months have passed since her last period. At this point, her ovaries have stopped releasing eggs and the production of natural sex hormones- estrogen and progesterone, significantly decrease. This stage indicates an end to her reproductive fertility.
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Herb: Indian Woodoats
Latin name: Chasmanthium latifolium
Synonyms: Uniola latifolia, Uniola palmeri
Family: Gramineae (Grass Family)
Edible parts of Indian Woodoats:Seed - cooked. It can be used as a cereal in making bread, biscuits etc, or can be ground into a flour and used as a mush. A food crop of the Cocopa Indians of Mexico.
Description of the plant:
(3 1/4 foot)
Habitat of the herb:Moist fertile woodlands.
Propagation of Indian Woodoats:Seed - sow early spring in situ and only just cover the seed. Division in spring.
Cultivation of the herb:Moist fertile woodlands.
Medicinal use of Indian Woodoats:None known
Known hazards of Chasmanthium latifolium:None known
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Mid-Book Test - Easy
|Name: _________________________||Period: ___________________|
This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. What company did Stevenson form with two other men?
(a) Canadian Wire Service.
(b) British Arts Corporation.
(c) British Broadcasting Company.
(d) American Telephone and Telegraph.
2. What did Roosevelt promise the King and Queen of England?
(a) Assistance if England was attacked.
(b) Financial aide.
(c) Guns and airplanes.
3. What did the network of amateur Swede code breakers intercept?
(a) Germany's intent to cross the English channel.
(b) Russia's intent to invade Finland.
(c) Finland's intent to give the British full access to their heavy water.
(d) Germany's intent to invade Poland.
4. What did the British capture just before the invasion of Poland by Germany?
(a) A book of codes from WWI which were made more complex.
(b) An Enigma machine.
(c) One of Germany's top intelligence officers.
(d) A list of German spies in England.
5. Of what ddi Stevenson recognize the implications concerning Germany's intelligence and codes?
(a) The first-generation code breakers.
(b) The new Enigma.
(c) Hitler's hiding the production of weapons.
(d) The second-generation code breakers.
6. What was Donovan investigating?
(a) The locations of Hitler's secret bunkers.
(b) The locations of German munitions factories.
(c) The value of strengthening the British in the Mediterranean.
(d) Another leak in security.
7. What was Stevenson's BSC busy doing?
(a) Keeping supply lines open.
(b) Recruiting members.
(c) Conducting a propaganda war.
(d) Protecting intelligence.
8. What was canceled due to the protests of the royalty of various countries?
(a) OX BLOW.
(b) HAMMER BLOW.
(c) STRIKE OX.
(d) ORE GONE.
9. What was already in place when Hitler took the Channel Islands?
(a) The netword of Island resistance.
(b) The British organization for guerrilla warfare against the Germans was already in place.
(c) The Royal Navy underwater demolition teams.
(d) The mine fields in the channel.
10. What routine were the people at Bletchley trying to figure out?
(a) How to capitalize on the invasion of Finland.
(b) The Russian's rountine to keep the Germans at bay.
(c) The way the Germans planned who to invade next.
(d) The drum changing routine.
11. What name did Churchill and Stevenson choose?
12. Where was Hitler in the early 1920s?
(a) In the German parliament.
(b) Touring the United States.
(c) Working as a baker.
13. What was HYDRA?
(a) A type of amphibious boat.
(b) A satellite.
(c) Stevenson's answer to the Enigma machine.
(d) A transmitter.
14. What did Stevenson establish in Bermuda?
(a) A place for him to relax sometimes.
(b) An orphanage for the children whose parents are killed in air raids on London.
(c) A station similar to Bletchley.
(d) A top secret atomic bomb development center.
15. What did the United States government say publicly about the war?
(a) They did not intend to enter the war.
(b) They deplored the war.
(c) They believed the British cannot win the war.
(d) They believed the British should have made peace with Germany.
Short Answer Questions
1. Where was William Stevenson born?
2. Who did Stevenson want to bring into Bletchley?
3. What was Stevenson working on to aid in code breaking?
4. What were the Americans doing in the field of codes?
5. Who was Admiral Wilhelm Canaris?
This section contains 532 words
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This weekend, Roadrunner, the World's Fastest Supercomputer from 2008, will be switched off but not be forgotten.
Without ceremony, the first supercomputer to reach the once elusive petaflop - one million billion calculations per second - a feat accomplished in 2008 by Roadrunner, an IBM system installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, will be decommissioned. Advancements made possible by Roadrunner have informed current computing architectures and will help shape future designs.
During its five operational years, Roadrunner, part of NNSA’s Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program, was a workhorse system providing computing power for stewardship of the U.S. nuclear deterrent, and in its early days, a wide variety of unclassified science.
Read more about Roadrunner here.
Measurements from two recent aerial flyovers to determine the presence of background and man-made radioactivity brought good news for Los Alamos County and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The radiological surveys, conducted in August 2011 and June 2012, found that radioisotopes and their associated exposure rates are consistent with those expected from normal background radiation.
The survey provided valuable data in several areas. First, the information updates a radiological survey conducted in 1994. Secondly, the survey showed the Las Conchas fire from 2011 did not impact background radiation levels. It also provides additional confirmation that the Rendija Canyon area remains at natural background radiation levels. There is an area north of Rendija Canyon under evaluation for return to public use.
The information will be incorporated into the lab’s Long-Term Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability Strategy report.
A group of Pantex female engineers held a Smart Cookie workshop for Girl Scouts this weekend. The objective of the workshop was to foster a love of science and math in young girls who might make up the next generation of engineers at Pantex.
The Smart Cookie program started in January with a half dozen young women engineers from Pantex who decided to expose engineering to the next generation with a workshop for Girl Scouts. Since then, the number of women engineers who are involved in the project has doubled. Plans are underway to enlist experts from Pantex in math, science and information technology, for future events with the Girl Scouts.
About the photo:
Female engineers from Pantex this weekend demonstrated a scientific principle known as nucleation. The engineers used Mentos dropped into Diet Coke to demonstrate the principle. The surface texture of the Mentos causes the carbon dioxide to be explosively released.
Participants in Sandia’s Weapon Intern Program recently visited and toured NNSA's Kansas City Plant. The program, established in 1998, was created to meet Sandia's changing mission needs. Through a combination of classroom study taught by active and retired weaponeers, site visits and individual and team projects, weapon interns have honed their skills, broadened their knowledge base and expanded their network of colleagues in the nuclear weapons community.
Don Cook, NNSA’s deputy administrator for Defense Programs, last week spoke to Pantexans about the future mission of Pantex and the critical role the plant will play in maintaining the nation’s stockpile for decades to come. During the visit, Cook congratulated some of the 100-plus Pantexans who helped to secure the plant and conduct recovery operations during and after the Feb. 25 blizzard that dropped more than 19 inches on the Amarillo area.
Read more about the blizzard.
Workers at the Pantex Plant last month finished the largest concrete pour to date on the High Explosives Pressing Facility, completing the last of the elevated soffits, which are part of the roof deck/second story of the building.
The pour marked the completion of approximately 50 percent of the construction on the 45,000 square-foot facility, which will combine high explosives operations from numerous outdated buildings into one state-of-the-art facility which will help to bolster Pantex’s status as the DOE’s High Explosives Center of Excellence for HE manufacturing.
Construction of the $65 million facility is expected to be complete next year. The construction effort is being managed by the U.S Army Corps of Engineers and the design effort/plant support is being led by B&W Pantex/CH2MHill.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have performed record simulations using all 1,572,864 cores of Sequoia, the largest supercomputer in the world.
The simulations are the largest particle-in-cell (PIC) code simulations by number of cores ever performed. PIC simulations are used extensively in plasma physics to model the motion of the charged particles, and the electromagnetic interactions between them, that make up ionized matter.
Sequoia, a NNSA machine, is based on IBM BlueGene/Q architecture and is the first machine to exceed one million computational cores. It is also second on the list of the world’s fastest supercomputers, operating at 16.3 petaflops (16.3 quadrillion floating point operations per second). Sequoia preparing to move to classified computing in support of stockpile stewardship.
Read about Sequoia's record simulations.
About the photo:
OSIRIS simulation on Sequoia of the interaction of a fast-ignition-scale laser with a dense DT plasma. The laser field is shown in green, the blue arrows illustrate the magnetic field lines at the plasma interface and the red/yellow spheres are the laser-accelerated electrons that will heat and ignite the fuel.
The NIF Warehouse Group recently marked the 15th year without a lost work-time injury. Since warehouse operations began in 1998 at an off-site facility, the group has been involved in the receipt, storage and/or delivery of virtually every component that has gone into the construction of NIF, installation of the laser systems and the conduct of the National Ignition Campaign.
A celebration was held on March 6 at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to recognize the group’s impressive accomplishments in both safety and productivity.
About the photo:
Participating in the 15-year warehouse safety celebration at Livermore were (left to right) Bob Arthur, Sandra Brereton, Barb Quivey, Kelvin Liggins, Joe Lamendola, George Bonawitz, Ed Pereira, Mike Stortz, Roger Esparza, Kevin King, Norma Hinds, Jim Turner and Valerie Roberts.
Check out Sandia’s highlights for 2012 by viewing Sandia’s Labs Accomplishments. The publication recognizes some of Sandia’s best work during 2012, as submitted by Sandia center offices and selected by division offices.
See it here.
About the photo:
Sandia researchers use advanced computational capabilities to simulate the behavior of weapon components under a variety of conditions. Photo by Randy Montoya.
Members of the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover ChemCam team will present more than two dozen posters and talks this week during the 44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas.
Since Curiosity’s successful landing on Mars on Aug. 6, 2012, ChemCam has fired more than 40,000 shots at more than a thousand different locations with its high-powered laser. The ChemCam system is one of 10 instruments mounted on the Curiosity rover—a six-wheeled mobile laboratory that will roam more than 12 miles of the planet’s surface during the course of one Martian year (98 Earth weeks).
The ChemCam team is comprised of researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory and the French space agency, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, as well as other researchers from the U.S., France, Canada, and the United Kingdom. ChemCam operations are now commanded from centers at Los Alamos and Toulouse, France.
About the photo:
This image shows the ChemCam mast unit mounted on the Curiosity rover as it is being prepared in the clean room prior to the launch of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission. ChemCam fires a powerful laser that can sample Martian rocks and provide critical clues about the Red Planet's habitability. (Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory) | <urn:uuid:1f83fa8d-1e76-4715-b12b-0bca292cd3d2> | {
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"Whiskey's for drinkin' and water's for fightin'."
That old saying certainly rang true in the early days of Rogue Valley settlement, when the fightin' often ended with the blast from a shotgun.
But it wasn't always that way.
Before the pioneers and miners began to settle here, the local American Indian tribes had all the water they needed and, early on, even the settlers didn't have much to complain about. As long as you had enough to drink, sprinkle on your garden or fill up the horse trough, everything was OK.
The idea was to settle near a creek or river and then dig a ditch from the water's edge to somewhere near your homestead.
Jackson County soon had a lot of ditches, from small ones for the single farmer to large versions serving multiple families.
Jacob Wagner is usually given credit as the first person in Jackson County to establish a water right for his ditch in 1852, although court documents from 1919 show that Hugh Barron dug his ditch in 1851. Perhaps Wagner was lucky enough to get his claim filed before Barron. After all, Jackson County wasn't even established by the Territorial Legislature until 1852.
At first, farmers and ranchers didn't argue much amongst themselves about water. They left that to the miners, who kept a shotgun watch not only on their claims but on their water, too.
It didn't take too many knife and gun fights before some of the boys got together and formulated a few rules, and when it came to water rights, it was he who got there first who got the rights. It didn't stop all the murders and drunken arguments, but it was a start.
As the population increased and the old pioneers began to die, property was divided and divided again. The question became, "Who has the rights to the water?"
For the first 50 years of statehood, Oregon courts were constantly being asked to make the final decision, often without any verifiable facts. Claims generally were filed with the county, if at all, but the law was vague and the situation chaotic.
In February 1909, the Oregon Legislature decided public water decisions would be made by the state, and it adopted the Oregon Water Code. It was similar to the laws in other Western states, except it added a citizen's right to take water disputes to court. That was something new in water law, and it became known as the "Oregon System."
Now, water belonged to the public. An older water right always trumped a later claim, and to decide whose claim was valid, the law created a state water board.
The water board began its task by taking applications from claimants living along Oregon's waterways. For most of the state the process was relatively simple, but not along the Rogue River.
Covering nearly 170,000 acres, this was the most complicated and important decision the board would make. The area included 315 streams, at least 314 water ditches and a minimum of 1,125 claimants.
The hope had been that once rights were given, there would be fewer disputes and court cases, but that turned out to be a fanciful dream.
In Jackson County, the Circuit Court studied facts and took testimony on disputed claims that had been decided by the state water board. On April 26, 1919, the court issued its final decree — 73 pages of owners' names and the locations of valid water rights. Each listing included a priority date: the date the water right began.
The decree didn't end all disputes, but it finally brought order to Oregon's water decisions. Even today in Jackson County, when a question of water rights arises, the courts still consult that 92-year-old decision.
These days things are a bit quieter and there's probably more water than whiskey going down, but the fighting? Well, you can lead a horse to water, but "…
Writer Bill Miller lives in Shady Cove. Reach him at [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:6657045e-3eb5-4d1f-8eb8-a2092925a776> | {
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Silicate-impregnated wood is nothing new; it's been around for at least as long as Arizona's famed Petrified Forest. While scientists once assumed that such petrification took thousands of years and tons of pressure, scientists and homeowners have found ways to duplicate the process within hours. Silicate-impregnated wood offers many advantages over both raw and pressure-treated lumber.
One of the very first instances of man-made impregnated wood can be found in Venice Italy. Venice was originally built as a sort of unassailable fort, designed primarily to defend against land-borne attacks from raiding barbarians. Venice's swampy underpinnings helped to keep it safe from such assaults for centuries, but required some outside-the-box thinking from the city's architects. These architects constructed many of Venice's huge stone structures (including the Basilica of St. Mary of Health) on huge wooden pilings sunk into the swamp beneath. Over time, those pilings absorbed many of the minerals in the water, petrifying to become true stone columns.
Sodium silicate is just one of several dissolved mineral compounds used to petrify wood. Almost any dissolved mineral can impregnate wood and turn it to stone, but silicon is among the hardest. When its water carrier evaporates away, sodium silicate (a mixture of sand and soda ash) leaves behind a fully bonded sheet of silicon glass. It is for this reason that sodium silicate is commonly referred to as "liquid glass."
When dried and oven cured at 44.4 degrees Celsius, sodium silicate bonds to the wood's fibres and hardens inside. This internal glass matrix acts like the resin in fibreglass; it makes the structure as a whole both more rigid and practically waterproof. Glass-impregnated wood is about 40 per cent stronger than untreated yellow pine, falling in between black walnut and southern red oak in terms of hardness.
While glass-impregnated wood isn't technically fireproof, it's fire resistant enough that you'd almost need sustained, direct contact with a blowtorch flame to make it smoulder. To put that into perspective, such sustained contact is of the same type used to melt steel. Additionally, water can't penetrate glass and bugs can't eat it, making glass-impregnated wood a real alternative to arsenic-impregnated, pressure-treated alternatives. Unlike arsenic, dried sodium silicate is not harmful to animals or the environment; after all, it's only sand.
You can make your own sodium silicate-impregnated wood by soaking your lumber in a 40 per cent aqueous solution of liquid glass under about 100 psi of pressure. Afterward, you'll need to oven cure it at 44.4 degrees Cor several hours (until it dries out and the surface turns clear). As of May 2010, only one company (called TimberSIL) offers pre-impregnated lumber for sale to the general public. As a basis for comparison, TimberSIL's two-by-four-by-eight lumber costs £2.90 apiece, compared with £2 for the pressure-treated equivalent at Lowe's and Home Depot. | <urn:uuid:3170ebe3-d17a-48ef-ab9c-484d56ee29e6> | {
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By Declan Kerin
Mesothelioma is a most lethal cancer. It has unusual characteristics. The more I look at it the more I am convinced it does not behave like a true solid tissue cancer.
• Serosal membranes very rarely become malignant except with Mesothelioma.
• It is not asbestos fiber dose dependent.
• It is not cigarette smoking dose related.
• Probably occurs only in cases where there was prior evidence of a pleurisy (benign) usually with evidence of pleural thickening.
• Latency is different (usually longer) than any other known malignancy.
• 275 day median survival is more in keeping with an uncontrollable infection (all be it a malignant one) than a solid tumor growth pattern.
• Simian 40 virus DNA parts have been found in mesothelioma specimens.
• Rarely if ever found as a distant metastasis (e.g. brain or liver spread).
I believe it is a viral infection gone malignant e.g. HIV type malignant behavior so that it looks more like asbestos fiber activation of a common virus infection in turn causing a variety of clinical conditions. Many of these clinical conditions can be quite innocuous. In benign pleural effusions we don’t find a pleural cavity full of asbestos needles – It would appear we haven’t been culturing for the right agent.
If Mesothelioma is a rogue viral infection – then there is the possibility of developing a vaccine and offering vaccination to asbestos exposed people who are at heightened risk of developing future asbestos related malignancies.
Q: Is asbestos a co-carcinogen to a viral infection?
A: Needs to be studied…
Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=Declan_Kerin | <urn:uuid:ff5d40da-c045-4f13-b482-d12e730cfbdd> | {
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Finland forest protected: 80,000 hectares of green cover rescued from industrial logging
In a significant win for environmental activists, 80,000 hectares of forests in Finland have been won protection under a landmark deal.
Metsahallitus, a forest enterprise controlled by the Finnish government, have agreed to preserve 80 percent of 107,000 hectares of pine forests in northern Finland. The area, which serves as a grazing land for the reindeer, includes tracts of old growth forest.
The decision comes after an 8-year battle by Greenpeace and Finland's indigenous Saami reindeer herders.
Greenpeace applauded the move.
"Greenpeace, reindeer herders and Saami organizations carried out a historical joint campaign, and industrial logging has now been pushed out of the most important forest areas in Finland," said Matti Liimatainen Greenpeace Nordic forest campaigner. “Reindeer herding is an important employer in the Saami's homeland. Protecting the forests not only helps the Saami protect their livelihood, but also prevents the loss of biodiversity and animals, insects and fungi that have disappeared with other European forest ecosystems."
Article continues: http://news.mongabay.com/2010/1215-hobbs_finland_forest.html | <urn:uuid:d8c67618-736f-40e5-bf7a-15dcedaeba67> | {
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Cramps and Stitches
What is cramp?
Cramps occurring during exercise are referred to as Exercise Associated Muscle Cramps (EAMC), to distinguish them from those that may occur at rest or as a symptom of an underlying medical condition. EAMC’s are best described as a sudden, tight and intense pain that most commonly occurs in the in the muscle groups directly involved in the exercise task e.g. gastrocnemius (calf) while running. They can range from a slight twinge to an excruciating pain, and may last for a few seconds or several minutes. An EAMC can be a one-off or occur several times before the muscle relaxes and the pain goes away.
What causes cramp?
EAMC’s occur when a muscle involuntary and forcibly contracts and does not relax. While this seems to be due to an abnormal stimulation of the muscle, the exact mechanism is unknown. Cramp is more likely to occur in tired muscles and ones that are already in a shortened position. Therefore poor fitness or exercising at high workloads can increase the likelihood that they will occur, while poor stretching habits may also contribute.
While dehydration has for a long time been associated as a possible cause of EAMC, a number of recent studies of marathon runners and ultra-endurance athletes have shown no difference in the hydration status of those experiencing EAMC and those that have not.
Sodium is involved in initiating nerve signals that make muscles contract. While some athletes will incur large losses of sodium during exercise secondary to a high concentration of sodium in their sweat and/or high sweat losses, the evidence that this can lead to cramp is still inconclusive. Cramp has been attributed to the depletion of potassium and minerals such as calcium and magnesium. However, this idea does not have strong support as very little potassium, calcium and magnesium is lost during exercise.
The use of creatine has been linked to cramps, based on anecdotal reports from athletes, and the hypothesis that a creatine-loaded muscle cell may become so "full" with the storage of creatine and fluid, that the integrity of the membrane is disrupted. Although this theory is interesting, studies that have followed the cramping and injury outcomes of groups of athletes have not found any difference in the prevalence of problems occurring in creatine users and non-users.
How can I avoid cramp?
- Allow adequate recovery and rest for muscles after hard training sessions.
- Increase strength and fitness. Stronger, fitter muscles are more resilient to fatigue and therefore cramp.
- Be cautious when changing speed or intensity especially during the later stages of exercise. Fatigued muscles take longer to adapt to increased workloads.
- Wear comfortable, unrestrictive clothing and footwear.
While there remains little strong evidence that dehydration is associated with EAMC, it’s still important that athletes practice good hydration practices both before and during exercise to optimise training and competition performance. See both the “How much do athletes sweat?” and “Fluid – Who needs it?“ fact sheets for more information.
How should cramp be treated?
Resting and stretching helps to decrease the muscle contraction and allow the muscle to relax. Massaging the area may also assist, while applying ice can stop the spasm and help to relieve the pain.
What is a stitch?
In the scientific literature stitches are referred to Exercise-related Transient Abdominal Pain and are described as localised pain usually felt on the side, just below the ribs, which sometimes accompanied by a stabbing sensation in the shoulder joint. The pain can range from sharp or stabbing to mild cramping, aching or pulling. Sometimes people can exercise through the pain, though usually the sufferer is forced to slow down or cease exercise. Stitches usually disappear within a few minutes after ceasing exercise however some people experience some residual soreness for a few days, especially after severe pain. While the stitch seems to be more prevalent in activities that involve vigorous upright, repetitive movement of the torso e.g. running and horse riding, it can occur in any type of sporting activity.
What causes stitches?
Scientists are unsure of the exact cause of stitches. For some time, they were thought to be caused by a reduction in blood supply to the diaphragm, a large muscle involved in breathing. It was suggested that during exercise, blood was shunted away from the diaphragm and redirected to exercising muscles. This theory has now lost favour with scientists as both the diaphragm and the limb muscles need to work harder during exercise, so it is unlikely that an inadequate blood flow is directed to the diaphragm. Another popular theory is that stitch is caused by organs pulling on the ligaments that connect the gut to the diaphragm. Jolting during exercise may cause these organs to pull on the ligaments and create stress on the diaphragm, though this theory does not explain the incidence of stitches in athletes involved in sports not involving a significant jolting action e.g. swimming.
A more recent idea is that stitch is caused by irritation of the parietal peritoneum. Two layers of membrane (peritoneum) line the inside wall of the abdominal cavity. One layer covers the abdominal organs, while the other layer (parietal peritoneum) attaches to the abdominal wall. The two layers are separated by lubricating fluid, which allows the two surfaces to move against each other without pain. It is thought that the stitch occurs when there is friction between the abdominal contents and the parietal peritoneum. This friction may be caused by a distended (full) stomach or a reduction in the lubricating fluid. The parietal peritoneum is also attached to the phrenic nerve, which refers pain to the shoulder tip region, which may explain the shoulder pain that has been described by some athletes.
How can I avoid stitch?
Eating too closely to exercise or consuming inappropriate foods seems to increase the chances of athletes experiencing a stitch during exercise. High-fat and fibre foods are more likely to cause problems. The likelihood of stitch occurring may be reduced by allowing 2-4 hours before exercising after a large meal and choosing high-carbohydrate, low-fat and moderate to low protein options in the pre-exercise meal.
Immediately before and during exercise, athletes should avoid consuming highly concentrated fluids such as soft drink, cordial and fruit juice, as they seem to increase the risk of stitches occurring during exercise. These type of drinks empty more slowly from the stomach than both water and sports drink, thereby leaving the stomach more distended for longer. It is also preferable for athletes to consume small amounts of fluid regularly during exercise, as this is better tolerated than large volumes of fluids being consumed at one time.
How should stitch be treated?
Sometimes the stitch eases if you slow down and drop your intensity for a period. However, the most common way to alleviate stitch is to bend forward while pushing on the affected area and breathing deeply. Sometimes this can be done while exercising but usually the pain eases more quickly when exercise is ceased. Another option is to lie down while elevating your hips.
Does stitch indicate a more serious problem?
The stitch is rarely a sign of more serious problems. However, any pain that is persistent and does not ease when exercise ceases should be investigated by a doctor.
Written by AIS Sports Nutrition, last updated November 2009. © Australian Sports Commission | <urn:uuid:42a439b6-c218-4914-af53-f732b894362f> | {
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(also center line)
Definition of centerline in English:
1A real or imaginary line through the center of something, especially one following an axis of symmetry.
- The central line represents the vertical centre line of the body, and also the progression of the movement.
- To minimize steric hindrance, each residue was rotated around an individual axis directed along the local center line of the helix.
- For this reason, the axis on the left shows negative numbers above the center line and positive numbers below.
1.1A painted line running down the middle of a road, dividing traffic traveling in opposite directions.
- The flagger was standing under portable floodlights in the opposing traffic lane close to the centerline, facing oncoming traffic.
- The recently painted runway centerline was smooth and wet from rain, which had created a near-frictionless surface.
- Barclay leaped out of his way, across the centerline and directly into the path of the semi.
Definition of centerline in:
- British & World English dictionary
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed. | <urn:uuid:e817ee08-c865-4063-944e-303448807fd7> | {
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Surfing the Net with Kids FREE Newsletter
#1. August 22, 2012
It’s back-to-school! And we are kicking the season off by giving away a very cool piece of school gear: the TI Nspire CX, a Texas Instruments color graphing calculator. There are several ways to enter, each giving you an additional chance to win.
Learn more (and enter now) at my newest tech blog: Surfnetkids Tech Tips.
See ya on the Net,
Barbara J. Feldman
"Surfing the Net with Kids"
#2. Pituitary Gland
by Barbara J. Feldman
Pituitary Gland Printable (** for premium members only)
The pituitary gland is located at the base of your brain, and is an important part of the endocrine system that controls your hormones. Although just the size of a pea, it secretes nine hormones that control growth, blood pressure, body temperature , metabolism, and more.
Colorado State: The Hypothalamus and Pituitary Gland
This online textbook from the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University is perfect for high-school students that want more in-depth information about the pituitary and the endocrine system. Introductory material (such as this page) are marked with a red apple by the title, while more advanced articles are coded with a teacher/blackboard icon. “The hypothalamus is a region of the brain that controls an immense number of bodily functions. It is located in the middle of the base of the brain, and encapsulates the ventral portion of the third ventricle.”
Discovery Kids: Your Endocrine System
“So, what’s the endocrine system? It’s a little-known system made up of a whole collection of glands and it does very BIG things. It regulates, coordinates and controls an extraordinary number of your body’s functions. ” This one-page article for grades 5 to 8 introduces hormones, and the role they play in puberty. Click on Body Systems in the blue breadcrumb menu at the top of the article to access articles about your muscular system, nervous system, digestive system and cardiovascular system.
e-Learning for Kids: Endocrine System
This animated slideshow for pre-teens also focuses on hormones and puberty. “Hormones are produced in glands that make up the endocrine system. These hormones are then packaged into the bloodstream (this is called secretion) and sent to do their work all over the body.” I found the sound effects annoying, but loved both the lesson and the drag-and-drop labeling exercise. Luckily my computer speakers have both an on/off switch and volume control.
… Click to continue Pituitary Gland .
#3. Printables Club Members Also Get …
Surfnetkids Printables Club Members also get the following printables to use in the classroom, the computer lab, the school library, or to send home with students:
Pituitary Gland Printable
Pituitary Gland Wikipedia Printable
Human Anatomy Printable
*** Are you curious? Get your own ten-day trial membership:
#4. Related Games
Human Anatomy Word Search
Anatomy Coloring Pages
#5. Surfing the Calendar
Monarch Butterfly Fall Migration Begins
Aug 22, 2012
Astronomers Demote Pluto to Dwarf Planet
Aug 24, 2006
National Park Service Established
Aug 25, 1916
“Wizard of Oz” film Released
Aug 25, 1939
First Landfall of Hurricane Katrina
Aug 25, 2005
19th Amendment Signed into Law
Aug 26, 1920
National Dog Day
Aug 26, 2012
Women’s Equality Day
Aug 26, 2012
U.S. Open Tennis
Aug 27-Sep 9, 2012
Martin Luther King Gives “I Have a Dream” Speech
Aug 28, 1963
Hurricane Katrina Devastates Gulf Coast
Aug 29, 2005
Diana, Princess of Wale’s Death
Aug 31, 1997
#6. Quote of the Week
“Life is the path you beat while you walk it.” ~~ Antonio Machado ~~ (July 26, 1875 February 22, 1939) Spanish poet. Click here for more life quotes.
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this newsletter to a few friends. Thank you for your help in protecting my | <urn:uuid:cfa95a67-02ff-4690-8ff6-6b1413677000> | {
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Insurance and IHS
As an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Indian Health Service (IHS) is the federal health program dedicated to providing health services to American Indians and Alaska Natives.
One way the Affordable Care Act affects the IHS is by permanently reauthorizing the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA). The IHCIA was enacted in 1976 and has been reauthorized several times since. The IHCIA delivers the legal authority for health care provision to American Indians and Alaska Natives. Additionally, the ACA establishes new programs to help meet the health needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives.
The ACA is also allowing for qualifying tribes and tribal organizations to purchase insurance for their employees, which also helps to decrease the cost of insurance premiums. Additionally, the IHS and other tribal programs can sometimes qualify for reimbursements through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). | <urn:uuid:fb46dfcd-3e48-447c-ae15-48715ed95a81> | {
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Print out the informational writing activities with paragraph transition words to get your children writing!
Your child may choose to focus his or her own paragraphs on the themes within The Princess and the Frog, or they may let their imagination run wild. Anything is possible with fiction! I think these informational writing activities provide children with an alternate means to really get their ideas out!
- Complete the paragraphs provided, using the step-by-step formula, "First,... Then,... Next,... Last,..."
- Allow yourself to get really creative and do not be afraid to get silly!
- Read your steps out loud!
- Close the template window after printing to return to this screen.
- Set page margins to zero if you have trouble fitting the template on one page (FILE, PAGE SETUP or FILE, PRINTER SETUP in most browsers).
Frog Prince Information Sheets more lined paper | <urn:uuid:ddc3c15c-cf78-41fe-9814-ea9924e84209> | {
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Answer by Diane Eager
One of the oldest books in the Bible is the book of Job, where Job declares God has “inscribed a circle on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.” (Job 26:10, ESV & NASB) This same expression is also used in Proverbs 8:27, which also refers to God having “inscribed circle on the face of the waters” (seas).
There is only one geometric solution which enables the earth to have a dark and light side demarcated by distinct circular boundary: the earth must be a sphere rotating against a source of light coming from one direction. Does such a curved line exist? Yes! It is shown in this photo taken from space. To modern scientists this demarcation line is known as the terminator. It can not only be seen from space, but is sometimes be seen when flying at a high altitude.
As well as Job and Proverbs, we read the prophet Isaiah, who lived in the 8th Century BC, proclaiming the greatness and power of God, and describing God as being “above the circle of the earth.” (Isaiah 40:22)
The Hebrew word translated in these passages as circle is chuwg, which means circle, curve, vault or sphere, or as verb meaning to draw a circle. In other words, it indicates “roundness”.
The idea that the earth is a sphere is not the result of modern science. Ancient people deduced that the world was round because they observed objects that moved a long way away disappearing over the horizon, or appearing to rise up as you approached them. They also noted the differences in the lengths of shadows in different locations on the same days. If the earth is a solid sphere objects such as a tower or a pole projecting straight up in a region where the sun is directly overhead will not cast shadows, but as you move away from this point the earth is curving away from the sun, and therefore objects are tilted away from the sun and will cast longer and longer shadows. The ancient Greek scholar Eratosthenes (276 BC – 195 BC), who became head librarian at Alexandria, used these observations to calculate the circumference of the earth quite accurately. So it’s time for a punch line: the modern attitude that ancient people ignorantly believed the world was flat is little more than a modern myth designed to make us think we are superior.
Over the last two centuries the increase in international travel, by ship and later by aircraft, has affirmed that the world is a sphere. The most direct, and therefore most fuel efficient routes for long haul shipping and flying, are called the “great circle” routes. These routes follow the curved circumference of the earth, rather than straight lines on a flat map. In these days of expensive fuel and tight schedules, transport companies have to get this right, so they are not inventing these curved routes based on a false belief.
Military pilots also know that if they want to fly below the enemy radar then one way of doing it is to be 50 mile out from the radar station flying low near the ground. The reason is radar beams travel in straight lines so they will travel above the horizon after about 50 miles because the earth is curved, making to possible to ‘go below the radar’. If the earth was flat radar would detect planes to the limit of the beam strength for hundreds of miles.
In the present age of space travel, the most famous photo showing a round earth was taken by the Apollo 17 astronauts on the way to moon in 1972. This is one photo taken with a film camera. It is not a digital composite or computer simulation, which are so easy to alter these days. As the astronauts observed the fully lit round earth Eugene Cernan, the mission commander, commented: “I know we’re not the first to discover this – but we’d like to confirm, from the crew of Apollo 17, that the world is round.”
Cernan was right – they were not the first to discover this. Isaiah’s and Job’s statements said it thousands of years ago. How good to be reminded that God described the “circle of earth” long before we started flying or sending out space probes.
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For Australia and rest of world click here. | <urn:uuid:00dea4ae-e99b-4e36-8b9f-21a99039c09c> | {
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Irish animation firm creates a child's eye view of the solar system
A cartoon series designed to teach pre-school children about the universe will be broadcast on RTÉ for the first time this morning.
Geronimo Productions (formerly Monster Animation) says Planet Cosmo is the first programme series in the world explaining astronomy to children who are so young.
Planet Cosmo is created, written and director by Jason Tammemagi – originator of the series Fluffy Gardens which now airs in more than 100 countries.
Tammemagi conceived Planet Cosmo when finding there was no programme explaining the solar system or the stars to any child under the age of nine. He set out to produce something that was both educational and informative for children.
Cosmo is a girl who lives on the Moon with her mum and dad and little brother Sol. In each episode they embark on a trip to one of the planets in the solar system.
The programme is interspersed with explanations from a real-life narrator.
The series cost €1.3 million and was financed by Geronimo Productions, RTÉ, the Irish Film Board and section 481 broadcasters.
Irish animation companies are booming but Geronimo Productions is one of the few that creates and owns its own work.
The series has already been sold to television stations in Portugal and Finland and there is considerable interest elsewhere.
Geronimo producer Gerard O’Rourke says very young children have difficulty in understanding that Earth too is in space, hence the decision to locate most of the the series on the Moon. “There are a lot of children’s shows based in space,” he adds, “but they don’t tell you anything about space.”
Planet Cosmo will go out weekdays at 9.10am and 12.25pm on RTÉ Two from this morning. | <urn:uuid:cd2c60ad-2829-44aa-bae6-1713e94f007e> | {
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Elizabeth Cady Stanton, née Elizabeth Cady, (born Nov. 12, 1815, Johnstown, N.Y., U.S.—died Oct. 26, 1902, New York, N.Y.), American leader in the women’s rights movement who in 1848 formulated the first organized demand for woman suffrage in the United States.
Elizabeth Cady received a superior education at home, at the Johnstown Academy, and at Emma Willard’s Troy Female Seminary, from which she graduated in 1832. While studying law in the office of her father, Daniel Cady, a U.S. congressman and later a New York Supreme Court judge, she learned of the discriminatory laws under which women lived and determined to win equal rights for her sex. In 1840 she married Henry Brewster Stanton, a lawyer and abolitionist (she insisted that the word “obey” be dropped from the wedding ceremony). Later that year they attended the World’s Anti-Slavery Convention in London, and she was outraged at the denial of official recognition to several women delegates, notably Lucretia C. Mott, because of their sex. She became a frequent speaker on the subject of women’s rights and circulated petitions that helped secure passage by the New York legislature in 1848 of a bill granting married women’s property rights.
In 1848 she and Mott issued a call for a women’s rights convention to meet in Seneca Falls, New York (where Stanton lived), on July 19–20 and in Rochester, New York, on subsequent days. At the meeting Stanton introduced her Declaration of Sentiments, modeled on the Declaration of Independence, that detailed the inferior status of women and that, in calling for extensive reforms, effectively launched the American women’s rights movement. She also introduced a resolution calling for woman suffrage that was adopted after considerable debate. From 1851 she worked closely with Susan B. Anthony; together they remained active for 50 years after the first convention, planning campaigns, speaking before legislative bodies, and addressing gatherings in conventions, in lyceums, and in the streets. Stanton, the better orator and writer, was perfectly complemented by Anthony, the organizer and tactician. She wrote not only her own and many of Anthony’s addresses but also countless letters and pamphlets, as well as articles and essays for numerous periodicals, including Amelia Bloomer’s Lily, Paulina Wright Davis’s Una, and Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune. (To read Stanton’s 1892 address to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, see Elizabeth Cady Stanton: The Solitude of Self.)
In 1854 Stanton received an unprecedented invitation to address the New York legislature; her speech resulted in new legislation in 1860 granting married women the rights to their wages and to equal guardianship of their children. During her presidency in 1852–53 of the short-lived Woman’s State Temperance Society, which she and Anthony had founded, she scandalized many of her most ardent supporters by suggesting that drunkenness be made sufficient cause for divorce. Liberalized divorce laws continued to be one of her principal issues.
During the Civil War, Stanton again worked for abolitionism. In 1863 she and Anthony organized the Women’s National Loyal League, which gathered more than 300,000 signatures on petitions calling for immediate emancipation. The movement to extend the franchise to African American men after the war, however, caused her bitterness and outrage, reemphasized the disenfranchisement of women, and led her and her colleagues to redouble their efforts for woman suffrage.
Stanton and Anthony made several exhausting speaking and organizing tours on behalf of woman suffrage. In 1868 Stanton became coeditor (with Parker Pillsbury) of the newly established weekly The Revolution, a newspaper devoted to women’s rights. She continued to write fiery editorials until the paper’s demise in 1870. She helped organize the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869 and was named its president, a post she retained until 1890, when the organization merged with the rival American Woman Suffrage Association. She was then elected president of the new National American Woman Suffrage Association and held that position until 1892.
Stanton continued to write and lecture tirelessly. She was the principal author of the Declaration of Rights for Women presented at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. In 1878 she drafted a federal suffrage amendment that was introduced in every Congress thereafter until women were granted the right to vote in 1920. With Susan B. Anthony and Matilda Joslyn Gage she compiled the first three volumes of the six-volume History of Woman Suffrage. She also published The Woman’s Bible, 2 vol. (1895–98), and an autobiography, Eighty Years and More (1898). The Elizabeth Cady Stanton-Susan B. Anthony Reader (1992), edited by Ellen Carol DuBois, collects essays and letters on a variety of topics. Additional documents are available in The Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony (1997– ), edited by Ann D. Gordon. | <urn:uuid:5e42e62f-49dc-43e7-b649-1c0f54bc6a31> | {
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(b Amsterdam, ?1604; d Amsterdam, 9 Nov. 1677).
Dutch landscape painter, active in his native Amsterdam. He had two specialities: moonlit scenes, of which he is the acknowledged master among Dutch painters; and winter landscapes with skaters, as an exponent of which he is in the first rank. In both types he displayed his mastery of light effects and subtle modulations of colour. He was a prolific painter and his work was much copied and imitated, but he had difficulty earning a living as an artist. In 1658 he opened a wine shop in Amsterdam, but this venture was a failure and in 1662 he was declared bankrupt; he died in poverty. Two of his sons were artists. Eglon (c.1634–1703) is best known for genre pieces done in the style of Terborch and Metsu. He was strikingly more successful than his father and from 1690 worked as court painter in Düsseldorf. The few works that can be attributed to Jan (c.1638–65) show that he was an imitator of his father. | <urn:uuid:db8a90d7-9cee-49a1-95a8-f65dfc4728db> | {
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What is Celebrate Urban Birds?
You don’t need to book a trip to Costa Rica or the Amazon to enjoy great birding.
As many serious birders know, there is a surprising abundance and diversity of birds living right in the city. In even the most densely packed urban areas, birds have found a way to survive.
And this week’s citizen science project will help you find and identify them.
Celebrate Urban Birds (CUBs), a project run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, studies the birds that manage to eke out a living in cities and surrounding areas and connects people who live in those areas to science and nature.
“The project seeks to understand how both resident and migratory bird species are using green spaces. We are presently analyzing the data and looking for patterns to better understand what size and quality of green spaces are needed to better support birds in urban locations,” says Karen Ann Purcell of CUBs.
Why is CUBs Important?
By 2050, scientists project that two-thirds of the world’s population will be living in cities.
That will likely mean that more birds will be living in cities as well, especially as cities expand and convert other bird habitats.
The needs of urban birds are poorly understood. It is likely that green spaces play a role in urban bird diversity, but more data is needed to understand what qualities a green space needs to maximize benefits to birds.
A great benefit of the Celebrate Urban Birds program is that it opens up the avian world to a greater diversity of people – diversity that is often underrepresented in STEM fields like conservation science.
“When we ask questions as scientists we are asking questions based on our own beliefs. If we ultimately don’t have diversity in conservation science then all the questions that we are asking will continue to come from one understanding of the world — and that is not good science,” says Purcell. “If people of all backgrounds and from all neighborhoods don’t get the opportunities to have positive experiences with birds we will have a lot of people who will not be tuned in to the natural world around them. These folks will not have a voice in conservation decisions that directly affect their communities and their lives.”
CUBs provides diverse communities an opportunity to participate in conservation science by studying birds that live nearby.
They engage communities through events (that can be funded with mini-grants), fun bird observation challenges, and greening efforts. Their website houses a treasure trove of information to learn and to explore and it’s available in Spanish.
CUBs connects children with STEM education and nature.
Kids and adults can make meaningful contributions to science while learning about the unexpected behaviors of birds in their own neighborhood. No previous experience or knowledge of birds needed!
Purcell notes some of the natural phenomenon that urban bird enthusiasts can expect:
“A pigeon feeding crop milk to its young, a Killdeer doing a broken wing display to protect its nest on a gravel rooftop, an American Crow distracting a dog so it can steal its food, an American Robin that builds a nest on the tire of a car while the person is at work (for 9 days in a row), a Black-crowned Night Heron in plain view blending into the background so it is completely invisible.”
How Can You Get Involved in CUBs?
Then learn about the 16 focal species that CUBs is investigating.
If you live in or near a city in the US, Canada, or Mexico, pick an area about the size of half a basketball court and watch it for just 10 minutes.
Record which of the 16 focal species you see or don’t see. Submit your observations online or by mailing in your data sheet.
As Purcell says, “Once you put a name on a bird – it sticks with you.”
Spend some time with a project that can change your city and your outlook forever. | <urn:uuid:481e45a7-2ce0-48d2-a2f5-503cd847b191> | {
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One odd problem that can occur with fresh water aquariums, and more often with salt water aquariums, is the presence of a fuzzy, white substance on the surface of artificial plants and other objects inside the tank. In some cases the fuzz may appear to take the form of small balls inside the tank. It is important to identify the causes of this problem before removal can occur. There are actually several different causes for this occurrence inside aquarium tanks.
Other People Are Reading
Infrequent Water Changes
At least 25 per cent of the water should be changed from the aquarium every week. If this is not done, then food, fish waste and bacteria from the water will build up inside the tank. This can cause white balls of bacteria to form on artificial plants. Changing the water every week will prevent the spread of bacteria and algae and prevent white balls from forming on plants.
Overfeeding the fish can also cause white balls to form on artificial plants. When too much food is present inside the tank, mould quickly forms on the surface of the food. This mould can quickly travel to the surface of artificial plants. A filmy, white substance present on the surface of plants and other items inside the aquarium, such as gravel and decorative items, is usually an indication of overfeeding.
Slime mould is an interesting substance. It is a mould, but it can move around like a living animal or fish. Slime mould forms fuzzy white balls over the surface of plants. Slime mould typically looks like a web of small fuzzy, white balls covering the surface of artificial plants. It is easy to identity the mould because it will move from one place to another inside the tank. Usually slime mould is only found in tropical aquariums. Completely emptying the tank and washing all items in a bleach solution should kill slime mould.
Ammonia and Nitrate Imbalance
If the ammonia and nitrate balance is off inside the aquarium, fuzzy white balls may form on artificial plants as well. Usually this fuzz forms as a bacterial infection or fungus. High levels of ammonia cause algae and bacteria to grow inside the tank. This problem is easily solved by replacing at least 25 per cent of the water each week and by adding nutrient additives inside the water after changing.
- 20 of the funniest online reviews ever
- 14 Biggest lies people tell in online dating sites
- Hilarious things Google thinks you're trying to search for | <urn:uuid:2236f2a1-1588-4a2d-ab01-aae33ab84868> | {
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By Philippe Goulletquer
Oceans and seas conceal greater than 70 % of the Earth and carry terribly rich
biodiversity, down to nice depths the place considerable existence types thrive close to ocean ridges. yet marine biodiversity is still poorly recognized and faces quite a few threats. Endangered via ever-increasing pressures from human actions, it's also delicate to climate-based disturbances, specifically their effects on ocean acidification.
1 the significance of Marine Biodiversity
The practical importance of Biodiversity
Marine Biodiversity and atmosphere Services
2 The affects of Human actions on Marine Biodiversity
The Strategic worth of Research
3 prestige and Trends
How Many Marine Species are There?
The DNA Barcode
The force to spot New Species
The “Taxonomic Impediment”
Ecosystems stressed: The Deep Sea
Acidification, a “Chemical reflect” of Ocean Warming
Spatial Patterning of Characteristics
Local styles (Habitats)
Population constitution and Connectivity
Fisheries Trends—Other makes use of of Marine Ecosystems
Dedicated Time Series
4 Conceptualising Biodiversity
Conceptual Frameworks for Relationships among Biodiversity and Human Societies
Choice of version Framework
5 Measuring Biodiversity
Measuring Genetic Diversity
Measuring Species Diversity
Assessing the worth of Marine Biodiversity
Analytical equipment correct to the Human Dimensions of
Methods of Social technology Analysis
Understanding the Human Context
Understanding Human Interactions
Understanding expenditures and merits of Biodiversity Protections
Understanding affects of activities to guard Marine Biodiversity
Marine and Coastal Biodiversity signs (SINP-Mer together Operated by means of Ifremer, MNHN and AAMP)
6 Drivers of alterations in Biodiversity and its Uses
Environmental Drivers: A operating Framework
Causes of Pressures
Importance of Disturbance: Biodiversity, Resilience and Robustness of Marine Ecosystems
The medical Challenge
7 built-in situations and Policies
Policies and determination Support
Qualitative studying from previous Experience
Quantitative studying from previous Experience
Learning from Analytical and Mathematical Reasoning
Learning from digital Experiments (in silico)
Learning through Doing
Quantitative equipment, types and built-in Assessment
Coupling Ecological, Environmental and Socioeconomic Models
Diversity vs. Homogeneity of Models
Modelling: situations and overview Challenges
Complex Dynamic Systems
Sustainability and Intergenerational Equity
Precaution, hazard research and Management
Governance, Coordination and Compliance
8 examine Needs
The Framework: Environmental Research
Sustaining environment Services
Linking Ecological features and surroundings Services
Measuring the Genetic foundation of Biodiversity
Differentiating Evolutionary and Ecological Time Scales
Putting Fish shares again of their Ecosystems
Impacts of actual facilities and pollutants on Biodiversity
Human Dimensions of Research
Cultures, associations, Appropriation
Demographics and Economics
Developing Modelling: A Summarising method
Read Online or Download Biodiversity in the Marine Environment PDF
Best marine biology books
This publication is a complete advisor to the id of 800 species of decapod and stomatopod crustaceans from southern Australian marine waters. it's liberally illustrated with greater than one thousand line drawings giving sturdy perspectives of many species in addition to diagnostic illustrations. info for every species comprise the authority, yr of description, occasionally a standard identify, prognosis, dimension, geographical distribution, and ecological and intensity distribution.
Derived from an exceptional study attempt masking over 70 box years of box info in a sequence of experiences, Trophic association in Coastal platforms represents another method of coastal learn that has been effectively utilized to coastal source administration concerns. This specified booklet relies upon a chain of long term, interdisciplinary reviews of a sequence of coastal areas within the NE Gulf of Mexico that come with nutrient loading, habitat definition, quantified collections of organisms from microbes to fishes, and the decision of the trophic association that defines the procedures that form the productiveness of those components.
This seven-volume sequence is the main wide treatise on formative years histories of the freshwater fishes of North the US. It represents the cutting-edge in fishery biology and offers a scientific method of the learn of youth histories of all of the fishes during this sector. each one quantity comprises distinguishing features and a pictorial advisor to the households of fishes within the OR Drainage, via chapters at the households.
Pushed via the immense, but mostly unexplored, power of bioactive organisms within the ocean and enhancements in analytical innovations to facilitate their study, typical items scientists face an expanding desire for single-source reference cataloging the present wisdom and state-of-the-science relating to marine common items.
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Extra info for Biodiversity in the Marine Environment
3 and 4), Jennings et al. 14), and articles 54–72 quoted in Hilborn et al. (2003). Morgan and Chuenpagdee (2003) classified the main types of gear used in three categories according to their environmental impact scores, especially in terms of habitat degradation and incidental catches. These are high-impact (bottom trawls and dredges and midwater or bottom-set nets), medium-impact (both pelagic and bottom-set longlines, traps and pots) and low-impact (hook and line, ring net seines, and midwater trawls).
Angusta A. W. E. E. Atlantic 100 99 100 Celtic Sea 100/100 99/98 1 00 100/100 South America 100 100 100 100 100 California Woods Hole C. angusta C. 05 substitutions/site c Fig. 5 Cryptic speciation of the marine bryozoan, Celleporalla hyalina. (From Gómez et al. 2007). a Maximum-likelihood tree of haplotype data from barcoding gene, COI. Traditionally described individuals like C. hyalina marked with coloured circles for geographical regions listed on right. c Map of sample locations included in genetic analysis.
The most common, large and or ecologically significant species are generally well covered in guides and handbooks. In contrast, in spite of their potentially important role in ecosystem functions, many of the smaller, rarer or taxonomically difficult-to-identify species are left out of these reference books. A look at the bibliography of 842 identification guides shows that few exist for the seas of Southern Europe, although the latter hold more species than Northern European waters. Guidebooks suitable for the scale of Europe only exist for fish. | <urn:uuid:dc381c86-8fa3-41fe-804b-c944855c38e7> | {
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Soooo I’m breaking my own rules a little here. Workshop Wednesday will be open all month, and this month it is all about showcasing how to organize any of your workshops (reading, writing, and math)… but I really want to share how I’m getting opinion writing started in my classroom! So it won’t be organizing writer’s workshop as a whole, but I think you’ll still like it. 😉
Introducing opinion writing is super fun… in my opinion. 😛 But there is a fine line between opinion and persuasive, and I need to make sure the kids know the difference. Here are some things I do:
1: I make sure the kids HAVE an opinion!
I ask them to write one sentence that shows their opinion on a sticky note- it can be about anything they want. The stickies ranged from, “Ms. Ivey is the best teacher in the world!” (awwww) to “My brother is the cutest kid, yet also the meanest.” (HA!) I read them aloud and the students gave thumbs up or thumbs down to show they agreed that it was an opinion.
2: I give them the opportunity to share their opinions with others through discussion.
Have you ever played, “Would You Rather…?” It is such a fun adult game (at least the one I played…), but luckily, Rachel Lynette created some for kids too! (Click above or here for a freebie from her!) I pass these out as strips to a pair of students, and they have to tell which scenario they would rather do and WHY.
3: Our first opinion writing piece……. I start off small, and with a topic with which they are familiar…
We are currently learning about the water cycle and weather in science, so for a quick writing piece, we are writing about our favorite type of weather. I use this organizer which will only produce one paragraph this time (I do NOT want to read five paragraphs about why you like sunny weather- LOL), but later this same format of the organizer will produce an introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. (Click above or here to download the organizer for free!) I included “transition” on the organizer because I want them to remember to include those phrases in their writing. (I love these transitional words anchor charts by Tracee Orman!) | <urn:uuid:a7ec32da-f21d-49bc-be84-e045ced9b805> | {
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Thompson-Nicola - Overview
This varied landscape contains large tracts of arid but high-quality ranchland. Local markets benefit from a healthy agri-tourism sector and strong producer relationships with retailers and restaurants, while the central location and good routes to Lower Mainland airports and seaports position the region as a transport hub.
The Thompson-Nicola is dry, and much of its cropland requires extensive irrigation. Productive grasslands and Crown timber land support a robust cattle industry, and a range of elevations and soil types allow for a variety of crops.
Crops, Livestock & Food Processing
Products include beef, forage, onions, potatoes, melons, herbs and high-value medicinal plants like ginseng. The tree fruit and wine grape sectors are growing in this region, as is the dairy sector.
Local Thompson-Nicola Information
Find out more specific information about the Thompson-Nicola agricultural region: | <urn:uuid:85954c00-3b46-4615-969b-68f11d4eab7c> | {
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Type 2 Diabetes is the most common type of diabetes that affects people. Most likely, it occurs in mid aged adults and seldom happens in children. Unlike Type 1 Diabetes, the best part about Type 2 Diabetes is that the disease can be treated with the help of medical professionals. However, you must notice the Type 2 Diabetes early signs and symptoms so that you can begin with an effective treatment. It is better if you are aware about all the latest research that is happening regarding Type 2 Diabetes as well as all the latest news relating to the disease, it will help you in taking better care of your health. Let’s know more about Type 2 Diabetes which is so common these days.
What happens in Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 Diabetes is different from Type 1 in many ways and one of the major reasons is that in this case, even if the pancreas produces enough insulin, the body resists it. This is one of the most common causes of Diabetes. However, it can also happen if the pancreas doesn’t produce sufficient insulin which is common in all kinds of this sugar disease.
Causes of Type 2 Diabetes
There are many causes for this type of Diabetes mellitus. Below are some of the major causes of Type 2 Diabetes which are very common in almost all those who suffer from it.
- Your pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin that is required to take the sugar from your body and make it available for the cells.
- At times, your pancreas produces a fine amount of insulin but your body resists it due to several reasons. This is one of the major Type 2 Diabetes causes which are commonly found.
- Low level of activity, sedentary lifestyle and other such living factors including your daily diet can also be a cause of Type 2 Diabetes. This can also have an adverse effect on organs such as limbs in the long run.
Signs and Symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes
Most of the Type 2 Diabetes symptoms are similar to that of Type 1 diabetes and only proper diagnosis can let you know which one have you got. However, one of the most astonishing things about it is sometimes, there can be no signs of Type 2 Diabetes and you may still have it. Below are the most common Type 2 Diabetes signs and symptoms which you must keep a check on.
- You may experience high levels of hunger and thirst which can later transform to excessive or frequent urination.
- Your vision may start to deteriorate and it can get blurry at times. This is the reason why a lot of doctors conduct an eye test to check whether you have diabetes or not.
- Some people also experience that wounds take long to heal.
- If you gain a lot of weight in a short duration, this can be a symptom for Type 2 Diabetes as well.
Type 2 Diabetes in Adults
This is one of the most common types of diabetes that adults suffer from. Both men and women stand an equal chance of being diagnosed by Type 2 Diabetes. But since it is curable, many types of treatment have begun to surface. However, the best way to combat Type 2 Diabetes in adults is by leading a healthy lifestyle and eating good food which most of the people ignore these days.
Type 2 Diabetes in Children
Mostly children suffer from Juvenile Diabetes which is Type 1 Diabetes but at times, even kids can be diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Although Type 2 Diabetes in children is not a common thing and may rarely happen you must keep checking your child for early signs of diabetes in children. This can go a long way in prevention of the disease and making sure that your child is healthy.
Type 2 Diabetes in Pregnancy
Pregnant mothers must always keep their blood sugar range in check or it might have bad effects on health of the child. Most of the pregnant women suffer from gestational diabetes as it can be one of the pregnancy symptoms during which the female body goes through a lot of ups and downs. Following a balanced diet is suggested to diabetic pregnant women to avoid other kinds of pregnancy complications.
Breastfeeding induces Oxytocin in a woman and thus it can help make the mother feel better if she is suffering from diabetes. It is also one of the natural low blood sugar level treatments which can instantly lower the sugar level in a mother’s blood. One of the daunting facts about pregnant women having diabetes is that the chances of birth defects rise up to four times when they are going through the disease.
Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes
People who look for various preventive measures of diabetes are often handed an exercise prescription which can help a lot in not only preventing diabetes but a lot of other complex diseases. The other thing that you can do is have a proper meal plan and follow it, this will also help you reduce your weight and be more fit.
Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes
There are many ways of Type 2 Diabetes treatment and your doctor will effectively guide you through all of it. However, what you can do on your part includes having a food chart and following a diet plan. You must also exercise daily even though it’s for a small duration. Drugs and oral medication are definitely the necessary requirements for the treatment. Also, if your body is not producing enough insulin, you may be required to take insulin therapy which can help in increasing its production. Else, treatment without insulin is also an option. Cure through Yoga is also possible for Type 2 Diabetes but one cannot fully be dependent upon it.
Home Remedies of Type 2 Diabetes
The following food items are said to be a natural cure for Type 2 Diabetes and you can start including it in your diet as they have a good impact and effect on immune system to make it strong. Since the risk factors are pretty high, you must consult a doctor if you are diagnosed with the disease.
- ‘Bitter Gourd’ can be effective to treat Type 2 Diabetes.
- ‘Cinnamon’, ‘Indian Gooseberry’ as well as ‘Aloe Vera‘ are said to be the food items that can help in curing the disease.
- Fruits such as ‘Avocado’ and ‘Guava’ are also very effective for the disease. | <urn:uuid:a4813be3-d028-4910-9425-bcb1e413bd30> | {
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Small Group, Large Impact
By Tom Van Winkle
(November 2011 Civil War News - Preservation Column)
The American Civil War brought years of brutal fighting and sacrifice. The carnage was the worst our young country had ever seen. Towns laid to waste, civilians left with no homes or shelter, armies starving and marching in bare feet while still believing in their cause. In many cases brother was literally fighting against brother.
Over 600,000 casualties occurred and more than 100,000 of those were lost in some of the most fought over terrain in the Civil War, Central Virginia.
Caught dead in the center of the two opposing capitals of Washington, D.C. and Richmond the Fredericksburg area played host to four major and bloody battles. Those battles left an indelible mark on this area and its landscape. It also created a modern-day dilemma: what should be protected and what should be developed?
To students of the Civil War this is certainly not news, but what may be news to many is a small group in Fredericksburg that has been diligently and quietly working on preserving these battlefields for 15 years, The Central Virginia Battlefields Trust.
The Trust was officially formed on Nov. 4, 1996, and consisted of seven local residents who had been witnessing the accelerated destruction of the battlefields and wanted to do something about it. None of the original founding members were professional historians and none were quite sure what they were getting into, but all agreed something needed to be done.
With the aim to aid the National Park Service in acquiring battlefield land that either was not in the boundary set by Congress or had sale prices much higher than the Park Service was allowed to pay, the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust began its mission.
“To stand on a Civil War battlefield is to stand on holy ground, for these fields have been consecrated by their blood and by their bravery, and we believe quite strongly that to deface such ground is to dishonor their suffering and their sacrifice.”
These words were spoken by founding member and current Central Virginia Battlefields Trust President Dr. Mike Stevens and they are at the core of the group’s values.
Beginning in 1996 in a joint effort with the now Civil War Trust, the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust saved a portion of the Fredericksburg battlefield known as Willis Hill.
From there the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust began researching and identifying endangered battlefields in Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House, saving battlefields with names such as, McLaws’ Wedge, Jackson’s Flank Attack and Pelham’s Corner.
Some of this land was within NPS boundaries and much was not. In its 15 years the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust, with an all volunteer board of directors, has preserved on its own and in partnerships over 900 acres of battlefields that would otherwise be lost forever.
Dr. Stevens’ words go on to say, “It has been said that ‘poor is the nation which has no heroes, but shameful is the nation which has them and forgets.’ By preserving the hallowed ground of a Civil War battlefield we assure that these men will not be forgotten and lost to time but will be remembered and honored forever, for who they were, for what they did, and for what they can teach us.”
“Saving Dirt and Grass” is the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust’s tag line and they have accomplished this over and over again. One would assume that with the major success it has had in 15 years and the millions of dollars spent on acquiring endangered battlefields that this once small group has now expanded and has become more complicated and heavily layered.
Well, if you think that I am happy to say you would be incorrect. The board of directors is still an all volunteer group, although it is slightly larger than seven and does have a professional historian or two. The membership level has risen to over 800 and is still growing.
The group has made one exception to the volunteer policy and hired an executive director out of necessity. He is woefully underpaid for the work he performs, but also has the mission in mind. Even with keeping this small footprint the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust has been called “the most effective regional Civil War land trust in the nation.”
With the Civil War Sesquicentennial upon us we have an opportunity to advocate battlefield preservation to a more interested public. Time is truly running out to preserve these hallowed grounds.
If you think because you are only one, or you may have only a handful of people who want to do something, and figure that’s not enough, think of Central Virginia Battlefields Trust. With just a handful of wishful thinkers and a determination to make a difference, it can be done, it must be done, and now. If we don’t preserve it, we will lose it.
“By preserving the hallowed ground of a Civil War battlefield we don’t just preserve land; we also preserve the memories and the meaning, the sacrifices and the stories, of the men who fought and fell there, men whose bond to cause and comrade and country was so strong that they were willing to die rather than to deny it.” — Dr. Mike Stevens.
For information visit www.cvbt.org
Tom Van Winkle is a founding member and five-term president of the Friends of Wilderness Battlefield, former secretary of Friends of Fredericksburg Area Battlefields, current board member, webmaster and director of communications for Central Virginia Battlefields Trust, and partner, writer and director in Heritage Media LLC. | <urn:uuid:e376eed9-079e-4e3c-a926-1486a3d66e1e> | {
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Legionnaires' disease can lead to a number of life-threatening complications, including:
- Respiratory failure. This occurs when the lungs are no longer able to provide the body with enough oxygen or can't remove enough carbon dioxide from the blood.
- Septic shock. This occurs when a severe, sudden drop in blood pressure reduces blood flow to vital organs, especially to the kidneys and brain. The heart tries to compensate by increasing the volume of blood pumped, but the extra workload eventually weakens the heart and reduces blood flow even further.
- Acute kidney failure. This is the sudden loss of your kidneys' ability to perform their main function — filtering waste material from your blood. When your kidneys fail, dangerous levels of fluid and waste accumulate in your body.
When not treated effectively and promptly, Legionnaires' disease may be fatal, especially if your immune system is weakened by disease or medications.
Jan. 02, 2014
- Pedro-Botet ML, et al. Epidemiology and pathogenesis of Legionella infection. http://www.uptodate.com/home. Accessed June 26, 2013.
- Legionella (Legionnaires' disease and Pontiac fever). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/legionella/index.html. Accessed June 26, 2013.
- Longo DL, et al. Harrison's Online. 18th ed. New York, N.Y.: The McGraw-Hill Companies; 2012. http://www.accessmedicine.com/resourceTOC.aspx?resourceID=4. Accessed June 26, 2013.
- Pedro-Botet ML, et al. Clinical manifestations and diagnosis of legionella infection. http://www.uptodate.com/home. Accessed June 26, 2013.
- Mandell GL, et al. Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett's Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier; 2010. http://www.mdconsult.com/books/about.do?about=true&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-443-06839-3..X0001-X--TOP&isbn=978-0-443-06839-3&uniqId=230100505-57. June 26, 2013.
- Pedro-Botet ML, et al. Treatment and prevention of legionella infection. http://www.uptodate.com/home. Accessed June 26, 2013.
You Are ... The Campaign for Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit organization. Make a difference today. | <urn:uuid:d5af99a8-eb2e-4887-b508-22f092290eac> | {
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In photoelectron spectroscopy, PES, the kinetic energies of electrons emitted from a sample when it is irradiated with high energy ultraviolet radiation are measured. The use of ultraviolet radiation is sometimes reflected in the name UV-PES.
The kinetic energy, EK, of an emitted electron, the so called photoelectron, can be related to the energy of the incident radiation, hν, and the energy required to liberate it from the species, its ionization energy, I, by the relationship
EK = I – hν
Hence, if we know the frequency of the incident radiation, and measure the energy of the photoelectron, we can calculate the ionization for the electron. According to Koopman‘s theorem, the ionization energy of an electron from the orbital, i, is related to the energy of that orbital, εi, by the relationship
εi = -Ii
An analysis of the energies of the photoelectrons will therefore give us the energies of the orbitals from which they were emitted. Photoelectrons with high energies correspond to orbitals with low ionization energies, or those which are the furthest from the core of the species. Similarly, photoelectrons with low energies correspond to orbitals with high ionization energies, or the low energy, core levels.
In the spectrum we see a line (or more accurately a set of lines, see below) for each orbital energy. However, we only see lines corresponding to occupied orbitals (an electron may not be emitted from an unoccupied orbital), and orbitals with energies smaller than the energy of the incident photon (so core levels may sometimes not be observed).
|Ultraviolet Photoelectron spectroscopy|
|The general case||Nitrogen (N2)|
Vibrational structure in the Photoelectron Spectrum
If we consider the UV-PES spectrum of N2 in the table, we see that emitted electrons from the 1πu orbital give a series of lines in the spectrum at closely spaced energies.
The reason for this is that the incident radiation is of high energy, and so in addition to ionizing an electron, it may also leave the resultant N2+ ion in a vibrationally excited state. There are a series of occupied vibrational states in the excited electronic state, and so there are a range of transition energies for the ionization depending upon which vibrational state becomes occupied. Hence, we see a series of lines separated by the vibrational frequency of the N2+ ion. It is important that we realise, though, that the vibrational structure observed is that of the electronically excited species, N2+, and not the ground state N2molecule.
UV-PES can therefore give information not only on the electronic structure of a species, but also the vibrational structure of the excited states of that species. the vibrational structure of the excited state species is, however, often closely related to the vibrational structure of the ground state species. | <urn:uuid:629900d4-426c-477b-a065-54429f5271d5> | {
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Pengaruh Dosis Pupuk Kandang Ayam Terhadap Pertumbuhan Dan Hasil Ubi Jalar (Ipomea batatas L) Varietas Cilembu
The study aims at determining, firstly, the effect of chiken manure dose on the growth and crop result of sweet potato (Ipoma batatas), Cilembu Variety, secondly, determining the optimum dose of chiken manure which can lead the best of growth and yield of sweet potato (Cilembu variety). Method used at this research is completely randamized design, and the treatmens are K0 (non fertilizer), K1 (dose of 10 tons/ha), K2 (dose of 20 tons/ha), K3 (dose of 30 tons/ha). Observation variables in this study are the length of the rod, number of leaves, leaf area, number of wet bulb per plant, berangkasan weight, wet weight of bulb per plant, length of bulb, diameter of bulb, and weight of wet bulb per hectare. The result of this research indicate that the giving of chicken manure, giving a good influence at the growth and yiels of Cilembu sweet potato and real affect long stem at the age of 2, 6, and 8 mst of age, and wide leaf index at age 2, 4, and 6 mst. Production components have significantly affect for berangkasan weight, wet weight of bulb per plant, length of bulb, diameter of bulb and weight of wet bulb per hectare. The optimum dose of chicken manure was obtained with a dose of 20 tons per hectare which can raise the growth of stem length of Cilembu Sweet Potato (80,85 cm) and the crop of Cilembu sweet potato (731, 72 kg/ha). | <urn:uuid:e00befe3-b2a9-4e1f-90e3-2fef5c921193> | {
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How To Care For A Boa Constrictor
Boa constrictors have been given a rough reputation of the years due to some owners’ inability to properly care for these magnificent creatures, however, when taken care of properly; they are some of the best pets you can have.
Let’s start by talking about hatchlings. Due to their vulnerability in the wild baby boas initially have a low threshold for defensive behavior. They become quite tame when frequently handled. It is crucial to remember however that there is no such thing as a 100% 'tame' snake. No sudden movements should be performed when handling a snake; handling should be done gently, and of course it is imperative to not allow the snake to wrap around your neck. The best choice of selecting a boa constrictor is to get them from newborns or juveniles. As they grow and get older they will become familiar with you and may even show, what is interpreted by its owner, some degree of affection.
After their first shed, which occurs approximately 10 days after birth, the baby boa starts to feed. In captivity they should be fed weaned mice (pinkies). After a few feedings the size of the prey can be increased but should never be bigger than the girth of the mid-body of the snake to prevent the risk of regurgitation. It's also recommended to feed the animal pre-killed rodents in order to prevent possible bites to the snake. It is also more humane because it minimizes suffering in the prey item. As they grow the boas can be fed larger prey. From small rats to adult rats and eventually switch to frozen rabbits.
The growth rate of your boa will depend upon how many times you feed it and maintenance of proper temperature in the cage.
• Up to three feet (1 meter): Feed one or two mice every 5 to 7 days
• Up to six feet (2 meters): Feed one or two rats every 10 to 14 days
• Adults: Feed four or five rats or one rabbit every 3 to 4 weeks
The table above is only a handy guide. Use your own judgment whether your snake needs a bit more or less.
How to Feed
Rather than just throwing a prey item in the cage it is recommended to adopt certain feeding procedures. Feeding baby boas or juveniles doesn't require special precautions necessarily. As they become larger it is important to be more careful when it comes to feeding. Small boas can be offered pre-killed prey by holding the latter by its tail, however it is recommended that tweezers be used to offer prey.
With larger boas the use of a large set of tongs is a good idea. You can then offer the prey item in as safe way without risk of getting bitten. When it comes to feeding the snake it is important to remember that it will be at its highest level of natural instinct. It will only concentrate on the observed scent of the rodent. Prey items that are not eaten should be removed using the set of tongs. One other handy tool is a large snake stick that can help you moving the snake away from the door before you offer it prey. After proper feeding you should leave the snake alone for a couple of days since picking it up or handling it after it has eaten can cause regurgitation.
Some species of boa are known specifically for their temperamental or unpredictable behaviors. The Islands groups and Boa constrictor occidentalis from Argentina have the most notorious bad tempers. Some red-tailed boas like boa constrictor of Surinam are sometimes difficult to handle as well.
Overall, it is important to note that aggression must be understood as a term of basic defensive behavior. A snake isn't all that smart, can't hear us and basically all reptiles are shy so it will sometimes take a while to get the animal comfortable with you and the environment you provide it with.
If you ignore your boa and only open its cage to feed it, the snake will associate the opening of the door as an act prior to feeding and will prepare itself to attack. All snakes give ample warning before actually striking out though. They will hiss, open their eyes wide, raise their head slightly and form a coil in the front part of their body. Make sure to also watch for Tongue-flicking that is slow with the tongue remaining extended for prolonged periods of time. When handling a boa that performs these behaviors, be gentle, refrain from sudden moves and encourage the snake to move forward, and then proceed to place it back in the vivarium. To minimize these potential behaviors it is wise to interact with your boa a couple of times a week. However, when the snake has just eaten you should leave it alone for a couple of days to prevent regurgitation of the prey.
Ranges East of the Andes with exception of the Antilles.
Ranges from North to West of the Andes.
Scientific name: Boa c. constrictor
Ecuador: B.c. melanogaster
Argentina: B.c. occidentalis
S. Brazil: B.c. amarali
Scientific name: Boa c. imperator
Islas Marias: B.c. Sigma
W.Peru: B.c. ortonii
St.Lucia boa: B.c.orophias
Dominica boa: B.c. nebulosa.
The following are some well known diseases that Boa Constrictors struggle with, their symptoms, reasons for the disease and potential ways to help prevent or get rid of the diseases.
Disease Prevention: Newly acquired snakes should be housed separately from ones already in a collection. They should be kept in conditions that are simple to maintain: just a water dish and a towel for substrate will do. During this quarantine which should last for at least 6 weeks the animals need to be well monitored. Any signs of illness must be treated immediately. It's always a good idea to take a new snake to the vet for a thorough check up.
Respiratory infections: Bubbly mucus from the mouth and the nostrils, with gaping of the mouth. Often caused by Pseudomonas, these infections result from inappropriate conditions. Cool temperatures, dry air, dehydration, stress, and parasites. If caught in the early stages, increase the temperature to 90F and reduce all possible stress to the animal. If conditions persist, antibiotic therapy will be necessary through a veterinarian. Leads to death if left untreated.
Mouth rot: Necrotic stomatitis or mouth rot is commonly seen in captive reptiles. The symptoms include red and swollen oral tissues and mucus. In the later stages hard, cheesy-looking matter builds up on the teeth and gums. It's a progressive disease and in later stages the bones of the jaws become invaded. Leads to death if left untreated.
Gastroenteritis: Repeated regurgitation, loose and smelly stools eventually with presence of blood. Dehydration, loss of appetite and weight loss are among other symptoms. These symptoms are generally caused by amebiasis, salmonella and flagellate protozoa. Leads to death if left untreated.
Internal Parasites: Trematodes, nematodes, salmonella and cestode worms. Typically they are found in imported snakes. When kept under clean and healthy conditions, captive-bred boas can fail to harbor these parasites.
Skin blister disease:Raised scales with white bumps are the biggest warning sign here. These symptoms occur when the animals are kept in dirty and damp quarters. Moistened ground medium is one of the causes. Change to proper maintenance strategies and keep the animals in dry conditions using towels or dry paper as a substrate during treatment. The scales and bumps can be treated daily with a Betadine solution. If no improvement is seen the snake should be taken to a vet.
Star gazing disease: A malfunction of the nervous system caused by Amebaean protozoa. Symptoms include periods of raising of the head perpendicular to the body. Veterinarian care must be taken immediately. Mostly seen in imported adults and often results in death of the snake.
Mites: These are bloodsucking external parasites which are hard to get rid of. The snake can be placed in an escape free container filled with water (about the height of the body) and left there for 2 or 3 hours. Meanwhile all furniture and substrate is taken out of the cage and disinfected. The cage and the outside should be disinfected and thoroughly rinsed as well. An Anti Pest strip (Vapona) should now be placed in the cage as well. Also put it in a perforated container so the snake can't touch it. Take the snake out of the soaking container, wipe it with a cloth, and put it back in the cage. Check the vivarium daily for dead mites. Repeat this whole treatment in 10 days to prevent re-infestation. Learn more about reptile mites and how to get rid of them.
Ticks: Mostly seen in imported boas, this is another bloodsucking parasite which can be found between the scales of the snake. They should be swabbed with rubbing alcohol and pulled out with forceps after a few minutes. Take extreme caution when removing ticks in the area of the eyes. In serious cases seek veterinarian assistance.
Shedding problems: Low humidity, lack of water or overall healthy condition can lead to this problem. Pieces of skin stuck to the skin can be manually removed after soaking the snake for 30 minutes in warm water. Extreme care should be taken when removing the eye caps! | <urn:uuid:7c8322a4-15b3-4c6d-97bf-35edf9fc29f2> | {
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- Name: Amazonian manatee
- Latin: Trichechus inunguis
- Classification: Mammal
- Origin: South America
- Lifespan: 50-60 years
- AKA: South American manatee, yara
- Kingdom: Animalia (Animals)
- Phylum: Chordata (Vertebrates)
- Class: Mammalia (Mammals)
- Order: Sirenia (Fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals)
- Family: Trichechidae (Sea cows)
- Genus: Trichechus (Manatee)
- Species: Trichechus inunguis (Amazonian manatee)
Length: 2-8m (9.2ft)
Weight: 360-540kg (790-1,200lbs)
The manatee is a large, cylinder shaped animal where the general coloration is grey, although most Amazonian manatees have a distinct white or bright pink patch on the chest. The forelimbs have been modified into flippers and have a flat, rounded, horizontal paddle at the rear. The upper lip has evolved into a large, bristly surface.
- West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) -VULNERABLE-
- West African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis) -VULNERABLE-
- Dwarf manatee (Trichechus pygmaeus) -NOT RECOGNISED-
Habitat & Distribution
The Amazonian manatee occurs exclusively in freshwater and is the only manatee to do so. It prefers blackwater lakes, oxbows and lagoons. They seem to live most successfully in temperatures of 22-30’C (72-86’F).
The Amazonian manatees range is throughout the Amazon River Basin of South America, its range is also said to include the Orinoco River Basin.
Manatees are primarily herbivores and feed on a variety of submerged, emergent, floating and shoreline vegetation and they will consume about 4-9% of their body weight in wet vegetation every day. Amazonian manatees fast during the dry season (November and December) and live off their fat reserves, also, because of their low metabolic rate; Amazonian manatees can fast for up to seven months if necessary.
Manatees can feed off the bottom, in the water column and at the surface. They can crop overhanging branches, consume acorns and partially haul themselves out of the water to eat bank vegetation, such as the leaves of mangrove trees. Manatees use their front flippers to manipulate this vegetation.
All manatees require a source of fresh water for drinking. Manatees have been seen drinking from hoses and sewage outlets and will congregate at river mouths to drink. Amazonian manatees do not have this problem as they live in fresh water lakes and rivers.
Amazonian manatees live almost entirely underwater and are active both day and night. They are gregarious and can be found in small groups of 8-10 individuals. They are herbivorous, aquatic mammals and their diet consists of aquatic vegetation such as emergent grass, water lettuce and floating vegetation, which grows near lake edges. These animals can consume up to 8% of their body weight in food every day.
The gestation period of an Amazonian manatee is one year. Breeding has been reported to occur throughout the year but reproduction in the Central Amazon Basin is seasonal as nearly all births take place from December – July (mainly from February – May when the water level rises).
A female manatee will give birth to one calf every two years. The calf will measure about 30 inches (80 cm) at birth. It will begin to nurse after a few hours by suckling from a teat under the pectoral flippers and will do so underwater.
The young will be weaned after a year but will remain with their mothers for two. The young learn about feeding and resting areas from their mother, as well as travel routes and warm-water refugees. The female manatees will carry their young on their back or clasped onto their sides.
- The manatee has muscular lips which it uses with its front flippers to grab food and pull it into its mouth.
- The Amazonian manatee has a large paddle like tail which helps propel it through the water. It moves at 5mph but can reach speeds of up to 15mph.
- The manatee has thick stubby bristles on this mouth. This helps it to uproot foot on the river bed.
- The manatees body is streamlined which helps reduce drag when travelling through the water.
The Amazonian manatee’s main threat is hunting by subsistence and commercial hunters. They have been sought for their meat, oil and fat, and in the past, its hide, which could be used for water hoses and belts. Other threats to this creature include accidental drowning in commercial fishing nets and degradation of food supplies by soil erosion, which is caused by deforestation.
IUCN Status: Vulnerable
International trade of the Amazonian manatee and any of its products is prohibited under Appendix I of CITES. Other local projects and organizations helping to conserve the manatee include Projeto Peixe-Boi / Centre for Aquatic Mammals, Mamiraua Project and The Friends of the Manatee Association. Amazonian manatee hunting has been prohibited since 1973; however, its population trend is still decreasing.
Group: Herd, Pod
-Manatees are closely related to elephants,
-Another name for the Amazonian manatee is Yara, which is a Brazilian Indian word meaning ‘Lady of the Water’.
-Manatees are believed to be the origin of the mermaid myths. | <urn:uuid:bf8b7b9a-c820-412d-ac86-78b370deb0ab> | {
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I was recently asked the question – how to explain Big Data to an 8yo. So after realizing the 4 Vs of Big Data barely make sense to non-marketing (i.e. most of us) let alone to kids – I realized that the best construct would be to use Legos.
When I was her age, the lego blocks were only squares and rectangles – I could build a lot of buildings and boxes which was great at that time (in data speak, relational databases).
Instead, Big Data is a massive amount (e.g. volume of data) of lego blocks of different shapes and sizes. With all the variety how quickly I can get more lego blocks, I can imagine new and different ways to build new toys or objects (in data speak, perform new novel analytics).
With lego blocks in all shapes and sizes…
View original post 26 more words | <urn:uuid:6f0edc67-4e5c-4162-8fcb-3108e73dff4b> | {
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A Portrait of the Adult Children of Immigrants
Chapter 1: Overview
Second-generation Americans—the 20 million adult U.S.-born children of immigrants—are substantially better off than immigrants themselves on key measures of socioeconomic attainment, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. They have higher incomes; more are college graduates and homeowners; and fewer live in poverty. In all of these measures, their characteristics resemble those of the full U.S. adult population.
Hispanics and Asian Americans make up about seven-in-ten of today’s adult immigrants and about half of today’s adult second generation. Pew Research surveys find that the second generations of both groups are much more likely than the immigrants to speak English; to have friends and spouses outside their ethnic or racial group, to say their group gets along well with others, and to think of themselves as a “typical American.”
The Pew Research surveys also find that second-generation Hispanics and Asian Americans place more importance than does the general public on hard work and career success. They are more inclined to call themselves liberal and less likely to identify as Republicans. And for the most part they are more likely to say their standard of living is higher than that of their parents at the same stage of life. In all of these measures, the second generation resembles the immigrant generation more closely than the general public.
As the U.S. Congress gears up to consider immigration legislation, this new Pew Research report on second-generation Americans looks at the attitudes, values, life priorities, economic experiences, intergroup relations and identity markers of a group that will have a significant impact on the nation’s economy and politics for decades to come.
Given current immigration trends and birth rates, virtually all (93%) of the growth of the nation’s working-age population between now and 2050 will be accounted for by immigrants and their U.S.-born children, according to a population projection by the Pew Research Center.
By then, the nation’s “immigrant stock” (first and second generations combined, adults and children combined) could grow from 76 million now to more than 160 million, at which point it would comprise a record share (37%) of the U.S. population.1
The focus of this report is on the 20 million adult members of the second generation (an additional 16 million U.S-born children of immigrants are under the age of 18).
This is a heterogeneous group that includes many younger Hispanic, Asian-American and white adults who are the children of modern-era immigrants as well as many older adults who are mostly the children of European immigrants who arrived as part of an earlier immigration wave that peaked a century ago.
Given the diversity of this population, two caveats are in order. First, the data presented here should not be interpreted as proving or disproving that there has been upward mobility between immigrant parents and their children.2 That’s because many of today’s second generation are not the children of today’s immigrants; many are the children of early 20th-century immigrants, now deceased. Second, the aggregate data on today’s second generation conceal what are often large subgroup differences by race and ethnicity. Whenever possible in this report, we disaggregate findings by these and other relevant demographic characteristics.
Here is a summary of key findings:
- Educational and Economic Attainment: Adults in the second generation are doing better than those in the first generation in median household income ($58,000 versus $46,000); college degrees (36% versus 29%); and homeownership (64% versus 51%). They are less likely to be in poverty (11% versus 18%) and less likely to have not finished high school (10% versus 28%). Most of these favorable comparisons hold up not just in the aggregate but also within each racial/ethnic subgroup (e.g., second-generation Hispanics do better than first-generation Hispanics; second-generation whites do better than first-generation whites, and so on).
- Identity: Pew Research surveys of Hispanics and Asian Americans—the groups that comprise the bulk of the modern immigration wave—find that roughly six-in-ten adults in the second generation consider themselves to be a “typical American,” about double the share of immigrants who say the same. Still, most in the second generation also have a strong sense of identity with their ancestral roots. Majorities say they identify themselves most often by their family’s country of origin (i.e., Mexican, Chinese American) or by a pan-ethnic or racial label (i.e., Hispanic or Asian American). Some 37% of second-generation Hispanics and 27% of second-generation Asian Americans say they most often describe themselves simply as “American.”
- Intergroup Relations: About half of second-generation Latinos (52%) and about two-thirds of Asian Americans (64%) say their group gets along well with all other major racial and ethnic groups in America; smaller shares of Latino (26%) and Asian-American (49%) immigrants say the same. The second generations of these groups are also more likely than the immigrants to say they have friends outside of their ethnic or country of origin group.
- Intermarriage. About one-in-six (15%) married second-generation adults have a spouse of a different race or ethnicity from themselves, compared with 8% of all immigrants and 8% of all U.S. adults. Intermarriage rates are especially high for second-generation Hispanics (26%) and Asian Americans (23%).
- Belief in Hard Work. About three-quarters of second-generation Hispanics (78%) and Asian Americans (72%) say that most people can get ahead if they’re willing to work hard. Similar shares of the immigrant generations of these groups agree. By contrast, 58% of the full U.S. population of adults feel the same way, while 40% say that hard work is no guarantee of success.
- Political and Social Values: Second-generation Hispanics and Asian Americans, as well the first generation of each group, identify more with the Democratic Party than the Republican Party and characterize themselves as liberals at higher rates than the general public. About half or more of the second generation believe that abortion should be legal, and more than two-thirds say homosexuality should be accepted by society. The relative youth of the second generation contributes to, but does not fully explain, their liberal political leanings.
- Nonmarital Childbearing: In what some scholars have described as a pattern of negative assimilation, 41% of second-generation women who recently gave birth were unmarried, compared with 23% of immigrant women who recently gave birth. The higher share of nonmarital childbearing among the second generation has been driven mostly by second-generation Hispanic women (52% of these women with a recent birth were unmarried). Among the U.S. population as a whole, 36% of women who recently gave birth were not married.3
- Language Usage: About nine-in-ten second-generation Hispanic and Asian-American immigrants are proficient English speakers, substantially more than the immigrant generations of these groups. When it comes to retaining one’s ancestral language, there are sizable differences by race and ethnicity. Eight-in-ten second-generation Hispanics say they can speak Spanish at least pretty well; just four-in-ten second-generation Asian Americans say the same about their parents’ native tongue.
- Perceptions of Generational Mobility. By lopsided margins, most second-generation Hispanics (67%) and Asian Americans (75%) say their standard of living is better than that of their parents at the same stage of life. Similar shares of the immigrant generations of both groups say the same. By contrast, 60% of the full U.S. population feel the same way. Looking ahead, two-thirds of second-generation Hispanics, but 41% of Asians, believe their own children will eventually surpass their current standard of living. Overall, 48% of American adults say the same.
- Comparisons with Parents’ Country of Origin: Seven-in-ten second-generation Asian Americans and eight-in-ten (81%) second-generation Hispanics say that conditions for raising children are better in the U.S. than in their parents’ country of origin. Like immigrants, they also rate the U.S more favorably than their ancestral country in terms of treatment of the poor and the opportunity to get ahead. Less than half of both generations rate the U.S. as better than their ancestral country as a place to maintain strong family ties.
- Population Projections. Immigrants tend to have higher birth rates than do native-born Americans.4 If current immigration flows and birth rates continue, then by 2050, an estimated 37% of the U.S. population—highest in modern history—will be immigrants or the children of immigrants, according to a 2008 Pew Research population projection. That projection also shows that, because of the aging of the Baby Boomer generation, as much as 93% of the growth of the working-age population between now and then will be accounted for by immigrants (43%) or their U.S.-born children (50%).
Group Differences within the Second Generation
The modern immigration wave to this country began with the passage of landmark legislation in 1965 that had the effect, for the first time in the nation’s history, of opening U.S. borders on a roughly equal basis to non-Europeans as well as Europeans. Half of the 44 million immigrants who have come since then have been from Latin America, about a quarter (27%) from Asia, and the remainder from other regions.5 In the nation’s two previous immigration waves during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, nearly nine-in-ten new arrivals were Europeans.
Hispanics and Asian Americans are the focus of the Pew Research survey research findings in this report. Each of these groups include immigrants from more than a dozen countries, all with unique cultures, characteristics and migration histories.6
Despite these country-of-origin differences, some broad patterns are evident. The bulk of Hispanic immigrants have relatively low levels of formal education and work in low-skilled, low-paying jobs, while the majority of Asian immigrants (especially those who have arrived in the past few decades) have relatively high levels of education and skills that help position them for jobs in higher-skilled occupations.
These large racial or ethnic group differences in the human capital of recent immigrants are echoed in the socioeconomic profile of the second generation. For example, some 55% of second-generation Asian Americans have a bachelor’s degree or more, compared with 21% of Hispanics. There are also gaps in household income and poverty rates among second-generation Hispanics and Asian Americans.
But while large gaps remain between groups, it is also the case that within each group, the second generation is doing better than the first on most key measures of economic success.
Intergenerational Mobility, Now and Then
Some scholars of immigration have questioned whether today’s immigrants and their offspring will be able to match the high levels of intergenerational upward mobility experienced by much of the immigrant stock of the 19th and early 20th centuries.7
The skeptics cite many factors: Most modern immigrants are non-white and thus face deeply ingrained social and cultural barriers; about a quarter of today’s immigrants (the vast majority of whom are Hispanic) have arrived illegally and thus must navigate their lives in the shadows of the law; globalization and technology may have eliminated many of the jobs that provided pathways to the middle class for earlier generations of hard-working but low-skilled immigrants; the relative ease of travel and communication have enabled today’s immigrants to retain their ties to their countries of origin and may have reduced incentives to adapt to American customs and mores.
It is beyond the scope of this report to make definitive statements about the success of today’s second-generation immigrants compared with those of earlier eras. Most of our data trends do not extend that far back in history. Moreover, with so many of today’s second generation just now starting to age into adulthood (16 million are under the age of 18), and with more than a million new immigrants continuing to arrive each year, it will take decades before one can attempt a comprehensive generational scorecard of the modern wave of immigrants and their children.
What we can say with certainty is that members of the second generation will have a major impact on this nation’s destiny for decades. And at this stage of their journey, we can provide some empirical assessments of their economic circumstances. For Hispanics and Asian Americans—the groups that comprise the bulk of the modern immigration wave—we can also provide some empirical assessments of their attitudes and beliefs, based on data gathered from our own surveys and those of the Census Bureau.
A Roadmap to the Report
The remainder of this report is organized as follows: Chapter 2 presents a detailed analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data on the second generation in comparison with immigrants, with third and higher generations and with the U.S. adult population. Generational patterns are also examined separately for each of four racial and ethnic groups: Hispanics, Asian Americans, non-Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic blacks.
Chapters 3 through 7 supplement this demographic portrait with an analysis of recent Pew Research Center surveys conducted with a nationally representative sample of Hispanics and a separate representative survey of Asian Americans on a range of topics. These chapters compare the second generation with the first generation in each group. No analysis of third-and higher-generation Hispanics or Asian Americans is included due to the small sample sizes of those subgroups in the survey data. Comparisons to the general public using data from other recent Pew Research Center surveys are included wherever possible. Survey data with an adequate number of second-generation whites and blacks for analysis is not available. Thus, the survey comparisons are limited to the two race or ethnic groups comprising the bulk of the modern immigration wave. These comparisons help illuminate the ways in which the second generation tends to be similar and dissimilar to the first generation within each race or ethnic group, but they cannot be used to characterize the second generation in the U.S. as a whole.
Chapter 3 looks at questions of self-identity, proficiency in English and attitudes about maintaining their ancestral language. Chapter 4 examines how the generations see their quality of life in relation to their parents, their expectations for their children, and their perception of their financial well-being. Chapter 5 examines attitudes about intergroup relations and intergroup marriage. This chapter includes a detailed analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau on the rate of intergroup marriage for all adults in the U.S. and separately for Hispanics, Asian Americans, whites and blacks. Chapter 6 focuses on attitudes about political party, ideology and social issues. Chapter 7 considers a wide array of other topics, including views about discrimination, personal goals, values and comparisons between the U.S. and their ancestral country. The appendices provide a detailed explanation of the methodologies used and a topline summary of the survey findings for Hispanics and Asian Americans. They also provide detailed tables, drawn from 2012 census data, that show the socioeconomic characteristics of first, second and third and higher generations of whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asian Americans.
About the Authors
This report is a joint effort of survey researchers, demographers and writers in the Pew Research Center. Paul Taylor, executive vice president of the Pew Research Center, wrote the overview and provided editorial guidance for the report. Senior writer D’Vera Cohn wrote the demographic analysis in Chapter 2 with data analysis and advice from research associate Ana Gonzalez-Barrera, senior demographer Jeffrey S. Passel and senior researcher Gretchen M. Livingston. Wendy Wang, research associate, number-checked Chapter 2 along with the detailed demographic tables in Appendix 1 and the analysis of intermarriage in Chapter 5. Chapter 3 was written by Livingston. Chapters 4 and 6 were written by senior researcher Cary Funk. Rich Morin, senior editor, wrote Chapters 5 and 7 with the assistance of Funk and Livingston. The analysis of intermarriage in Chapter 5 also benefited from the advice of Passel and Wang. Research assistant Eileen Patten number-checked Chapters 1, 3, 4 and 5. Research assistant Seth Motel number-checked Chapters 6 and 7 and prepared charts and tables for Chapters 1 and 2. Patten, Motel and Gonzalez-Barrera also assisted with other aspects of the report including compiling and checking the topline of findings, preparing charts and formatting the final report. The report was copy-edited by Marcia Kramer of Kramer Editing Services.
The report also benefited from the advice and guidance of Mark Hugo Lopez, associate director of Pew Research Hispanic Center; Rakesh Kochhar, associate director of research of Pew Research Hispanic Center; Kim Parker, associate director of Pew Research’s Social & Demographic Trends project; Phillip Connor, research associate in the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life; Scott Keeter, the Pew Research Center’s director of survey research; and Leah Christian, senior researcher in the Pew Research Center.
Notes on Terminology
All references to whites, blacks and others are to the non-Hispanic components of those populations. Asians include a small number of Hispanics. Whites, blacks and Asians are single-race-only groups. “Others” includes persons reporting single races not listed separately and persons reporting more than one race.
The terms “Latino” and “Hispanic” are used interchangeably in this report.
“Foreign born” refers to people born outside of the United States, Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories to parents neither of whom was a U.S. citizen. “Foreign born” and “immigrant” and “first generation” are used interchangeably. Unauthorized immigrants are included in this group.
“Native born” or “U.S. born” refer to people who are U.S. citizens at birth, including those born in the United States, Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories and those born abroad to parents at least one of whom was a U.S. citizen.
“Multi-generational family households” refer to those that include at least two adult generations (with the younger generation including at least one adult who is 25 years old or older) or households consisting of grandparents and grandchildren, with no parent present.
References to demographic data for all adults or the total population are to the civilian noninstitutional population included in the Current Population Survey. See Methodology for more information.
“First generation” or “foreign born” refers to people born outside of the United States to parents neither of whom was a U.S. citizen. For this report, people born in Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories are not considered foreign born.
“Second generation” refers to people born in the United States, with at least one first-generation (immigrant) parent. People born in Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories with at least one parent born in a different country are considered second generation.
“Third and higher generation” refers to people born in the United States, including Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories with both parents born in the United States, including Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories.
- These population projections were conducted in 2008. See Pew Research Social & Demographic Trends project “U.S. Population Projections: 2005-2050,” February 2008. The population projections will be updated later this year. ↩
- Comparisons between today’s second generation and their parents’ generation at a similar stage in life would require longitudinal data that extends over a long period of time. This report is a current cross-sectional snapshot of today’s adult first and second generations, many of whom are not each other’s parents or children. ↩
- The 36% share of births to unmarried mothers shown here differs from the 41% figure published by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) for 2010. There are two main reason for this: 1) while the NCHS records maternal marital status at the time of the birth, the CPS records marital status at the time of the survey, which may be up to a year after the birth, by which time some new mothers will have married, and 2) the number here is based upon a combined sample of Current Population Survey data that extends back to 2004, when the prevalence of nonmarital fertility was lower. ↩
- See Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends project “Immigrant Women Lead Recent Drop in U.S. Births and Birth Rates,” November 2012. ↩
- The roughly 44 million immigrants who arrived from 1965 to 2011 includes both legal and unauthorized immigrants in the total U.S. population. This figure is higher than the number of immigrants currently in the U.S. population because some immigrants have left the U.S. and others are no longer living. ↩
- For more, see Pew Research Center report “The Rise of Asian Americans,” June 2012, and Pew Hispanic Center report “The 10 Largest Hispanic Origin Groups: Characteristics, Rankings, Top Counties,” June 2012. ↩
- There is a large literature in this area. For some examples, see George J. Borjas. 1999. Heaven’s Door: Immigration Policy and the American Economy, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. David Card, 2005. “Is the New Immigration Really So Bad?,” The Economic Journal, 115(507): F300–F323. Samuel Huntington, 2004. Who Are We? The Challenges to America’s National Identity, New York: Simon & Schuster. Darren Lubotsky, 2007. “Chutes or Ladders? A Longitudinal Analysis of Immigrant Earnings,” Journal of Political Economy, 115(5): 820-867. James P. Smith, 2003. “Assimilation Across the Latino Generations” American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings, 93(2): 315-319. ↩ | <urn:uuid:b4096480-f0e3-4f53-a099-a6a1d79dcd5d> | {
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Left to right: Christ, c. 1648-50, Detroit Institute of Arts/Founders Society Purchase; Bust of Christ, c. 1648-52, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums/Gift of William A. Coolidge; Head of Christ, c. 1648, Gemaldegalerie, Berlin, Germany. Below: Christ, c. 1656, Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, Netherlands. All images from the Bridgeman Art Library.
Two faces fascinated Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669) over the course of his long and singular career—his own face and the face of Jesus.
More than 90 self-portraits, spanning almost the entire length of the artist's career, are a visual memoir that is as searching and comprehensive, in its own way, as Augustine's Confessions. Rembrandt's visual meditations on the face of Jesus reflect momentous changes not only in Rembrandt's faith but in how people of his time envisioned Jesus. "Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus," at the Detroit Institute of Arts until February 12, 2012 (previous stops were at the Louvre and the Philadelphia Museum of Art), traces those changes by gathering together 64 Rembrandt paintings, etches and drawings that portray Jesus.
In the two centuries before Rembrandt, depictions of Jesus in northern European art followed established understandings of how Jesus should be portrayed. Two of the models for this visual canon, the Veil of Veronica and the Mandylion of Edessa, were supposed to have been miraculously imprinted with the face of Jesus when they were pressed to his face. A third source is the so-called Lentulus letter that, according to legend, was sent by a certain Publius Lentulus to the Roman senate during Jesus' lifetime. The description of Jesus contained in the letter was considered authoritative:
His hair is the color of ripe hazelnut, parted on top in the manner of the Nazarites, and falling straight to the ears but curling further below, with blonde highlights and fanning off his shoulders. He has a fair forehead and no wrinkles or marks on his face, his cheeks are tinged with pink. . . . In sum, he is the most beautiful of all mortals.
In the centuries before Rembrandt, artistic renderings of Jesus followed these models and descriptions very closely, creating a uniformity that seemed to vouch for their authenticity. In them Jesus has a long, narrow nose, a high forehead and eyes that look—especially to the contemporary viewer—almost lifeless. In these depictions Jesus is always looking straight ahead, as if a mere turn of the head would betray an unseemly humanity. The overall effect is that Jesus seems strangely distant from things human. There is a decided flatness about these paintings, as if Jesus could take on two dimensions of human existence but not a third.
Rembrandt's own early work reflects some of these influences. In Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery (1644), Jesus' long, golden hair fans over his shoulders. His posture is perfect and he is a head taller than anyone else in the scene. As imagined in the Lentulus letter, Jesus is "the most beautiful of all mortals," a kind of superman.
Just four years later, however, in his painting Supper at Emmaus, Rembrandt gives Jesus a different face. His nose is now prominent, his eyes are pensive. No longer does Jesus have the posture of a soldier. His shoulders are rounded and his head is tilted slightly (it is amazing how a mere tilt of the head can communicate humanity). His hair is dark and thick, draping over his shoulders in ringlets. This Jesus is obviously human—and this was something new. From near the beginning of Christian history, the doctrine of the incarnation was consistently affirmed by the church. With Rembrandt's new depictions, the viewer was invited to consider what incarnation actually looked like.
One of the etchings in this exhibit is familiar to me; I have a copy of it in my study. It shows Jesus preaching to a small assembly. A child lies on his belly and draws in the dirt with his fingers, much as a child today might draw on an order of worship with a crayon. A few others gaze off into space, lost in reflection. Most have their eyes riveted on the preacher.
If we, with the crowd, focus on Jesus, we notice nothing about his appearance that sets him apart. There is nothing prepossessing in his stature or countenance. His hands are large—workman's hands, hands that have served long hours. His face could not be called beautiful. I'm reminded of Isaiah's words: "He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him" (Isa. 53:2). If his figure were put in the crowd of listeners, we might not even notice him.
But if our eyes shift back to the listeners, we appreciate that they see more than this. They know that this is no backwoods faith huckster. On the contrary, this is the one upon whom everything depends. His face is not so ugly that only a mother could love it, but it is so plain that only the faithful can see God in it. And see it they do.
A child once stared at that etching and asked, "Who's that?" I replied, "That's Jesus." "Oh," the child responded, more than a little surprised, "I didn't recognize him." And little wonder. He looks so everyday that it should not surprise us that Rembrandt most likely found models for his portraits of Jesus by wandering the largely Jewish neighborhood of Amsterdam where he lived. In Rembrandt's Amsterdam, using a human model for Jesus was itself a scandal, a scandal that would only be amplified by choosing a Jewish model.
In many pictures that hang in church schoolrooms (or in our mind's eye), Jesus is made to stand apart in his humanity, as if his humanity were somehow different from ours. We are led to believe that if we saw him at a lunch counter or stuck in a traffic jam, we would know him. The human eye would be enough to perceive that this one is different from all others. If Jesus were set apart, we might assume that only a fool would not see the living God in him. We would wonder why so many fools lived at the time Jesus walked the earth, people who had the advantage of seeing him with their own eyes and yet did not acknowledge him. The reason, of course, is that the human eye is not enough. Only the eye of faith can see Jesus Christ.
The centerpiece of this exhibit is a series of seven small oil portraits of Jesus (there may have once been an eighth), gathered together for the first time since they stood in Rembrandt's studio more than 350 years ago. The paintings show the face of Jesus from different angles and in various states of mind. The predominant mood in these paintings is meditative, in some way mirroring Rembrandt's pensive self-portraits from this same period. Gone is the Jesus as superman. Gone are the crowds surrounding Jesus. These paintings are a personal face-to-face encounter between an artist and his Savior, both of whom have tasted human sorrow. Two of these paintings were kept in Rembrandt's bedroom, an appropriately intimate place for such personal meditations on canvas.
In the coming weeks countless sermons will strive to express the mystery of the incarnation. After seeing "Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus," I'm sure that no sermon will usher us into that mystery more powerfully than these portraits of Jesus do. In their eloquent silence, these paintings are the most profound witness to the incarnation that I can imagine. | <urn:uuid:6bc71fb3-1733-41a9-9bd8-9ddc0a86cf0c> | {
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COLUMBIA, SC — Tornadoes with the ferocity of the one that hit Moore, Okla., on Monday are rare in South Carolina, but they have struck here before.
The Moore twister was an EF5 tornado with winds of more than 200 mph. The worst S.C. storm on record was an F4, using an earlier rating scale. However, that April 30, 1924 storm had some similarities to the Moore disaster.
Multiple twisters hit South Carolina on April 30, 1924, including an F3-rated tornado that wreaked havoc from Anderson County to York County, and an F4-rated tornado that left destruction from Aiken County to Florence County. The more southern of those storms became known as the Horrell Hill Tornado because it destroyed a small elementary school in that eastern Richland County community.
Four children in the school were among the 77 South Carolinians who lost their lives in the two April 30, 1924, tornadoes. Another 778 people were injured and 465 homes destroyed, according to the S.C. State Climatology Office.
The next day, every one of the 12 stories on the front page of The State dealt with some aspect of the tornado outbreak, including a plea for donations to help those who lost their homes. In photos, Horrell Hill School looks like nothing more than a pile of sticks. (See May 1, 1924 front page at the bottom of this story.)
That day is far and away the most destructive for tornadoes in South Carolina.
Since 1990, the state has been hit by no F4 or EF4 tornadoes and only 14 F3 or EF3 tornadoes, according to a database on the S.C. Office of Climatology web site. The Fujita scale measuring tornado strength was modified slightly in 2007, thus the change from Fujita, or F3, to Enhanced Fujita measurement, or EF3s.
The meteorological conditions in the Midwest are much more conducive to the formation of major tornadoes than the weather in South Carolina.
The Midwest often has moist warm air masses on the ground and cold air masses aloft, said University of South Carolina geography professor Greg Carbone. The Midwest also can have dry air moving north from Mexico that serves as a cap, suppressing tornado formation until conditions are ripe for the most severe of tornadoes.
Those conditions are rare in South Carolina, in part because of the closeness of the Atlantic Ocean. The state is more likely to get small tornadoes spun off by hurricanes or tropical storms.
Worst S.C. tornadoes
According to the state climate office, the worst tornadoes in S.C. history include:
April 30, 1924: Multiple twisters hit the state, including an F3-rated tornado that wreaked havoc from Anderson to York counties, and an F4-rated tornado that left destruction from Aiken to Florence counties. The more southern of the storms became known as the Horrell Hill Tornado because it destroyed a small elementary school in Horrell Hill, killing four children. Statewide, 77 died, 778 were injured and 465 homes were destroyed.
March 28, 1984: The second highest loss of life in state history occurred when 11 tornadoes touched down along a band that extended from Anderson County through Marlboro County. The National Weather Service estimated five of those twisters were at F4 strength in Kershaw, Lancaster, Chesterfield and Marlboro counties. The tornadoes caused 15 deaths, 448 injuries and damages of more than $100 million. There also were several other storm-related fatalities.
Aug. 16, 1994: Twenty-three twisters were identified, including two F3 tornadoes in Lexington and other F3s in Oconee, Union and Spartanburg counties. Forty-five people were injured and hundreds of homes and businesses destroyed, but no deaths were attributed directly to the storms.
March 15, 2008: An EF3 tornado touched down near Silverstreet in Newberry County and continued into northern Richland County. Homes in Prosperity were hit particularly hard, and two people died.
April 15, 2007: Among the seven twisters identified in the state that day was an EF3 that killed one and injured five in Sumter County, and damaged 78 homes.
The State, May 1, 1924
How to help: Click here for the Tulsa World's help page
Severe weather video
Path of destruction: Time lapse of the Moore, Okla., tornado
Video speed is increased 10x. Source: NBC News | <urn:uuid:b8b79e4c-4480-4733-8f8e-855ba4101f50> | {
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The Skills of Backstroke
Most learn to swim programs teach backstroke swimming..
Here’s a few keys to doing it well:
What’s different about backstroke? Well, for starters, you can’t see where you are going! Nor can you “see” what your hands/arms are doing underwater.
Second, you have your mouth and nose out of the water, so access to a breath is easier. Third, for most swimmers, the body position is “difficult”.
Here are some ideas on addressing each of these.
First, all good backstroke starts with a “still head” with no movement in the vertical or horizontal planes. This “still head” position allows you to have an “anchor point” and a consistent hand entry position. If the head is still, the entry position can be consistent, which will lead to a consistent underwater pull. Start with kicking on the back, keeping the head still.
Then kick “on the side” with the head still and then, swim with the head still.
Breathing should be Rhythmic as in all other strokes. Most coaches will say “Inhale on one hand entry and exhale on the other hand entry.” If it works for Olympians, it will work for novices! Do not “hold your breath” or “breath whenever you want.” Breathing “whenever” will not allow for a rhythmic stroke rate. Like in all other strokes, good rhythm begins with good breathing.
Holding good high body position is key to good backstroke.
With today’s children generally being “weaker” than their predecessors, this is an issue…Core strength really helps maintain position…being able to do “back planks” on land will help. Being Instructed to “hold the core straight” will help prevent “sitting down” in the water, as well. And of course, a good backstroke kick is key as well. Backstroke kicking will be a bit deeper in the water than the good flutter kick in freestyle. Remember to point your toes and kick from high from your hips…(“use the whole body to kick”) | <urn:uuid:ee47edc3-b650-4066-b9fc-3d87fa059c1d> | {
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Continued from the previous post...
'The Jews Would Not Take No for an Answer'*
"It was in 1938 that the Jewish National Fund acquired several hundred dunums of land in the north western corner of Upper Galilee near the borders of Lebanon and notified the British administration of its intention to establish an agricultural colony on the newly purchased territory. A beginning was to be made with the redemption of the Galilean province of the Holy Land, once the most densely settled and most flourishing agricultural area of Palestine, now for the most part a howling wilderness of rock and treeless solitude.
"The Palestine administration at once vetoed the project. The High Commissioner, Sir Harold MacMichael, based his objection on the argument that colonists taking up residence in so remote and isolated a district would present a constant temptation to Bedouin raiders both from across and inside the borders of Palestine. The nearest Jewish inhabitants were in eastern Galilee, too far for their settlers to come to the aid of an establishment in western Galilee in the event of danger. If the Jews, the High Commissioner intimated, instead of starting in the extreme northern wilds of Galilee, would establish colonies in the south of that province and then gradually push northward, establishing colonies chainwise or rather like stepping-stones in the direction of the frontier, something might perhaps be said for the reclamation of Galilee. But to establish the first settlement at the extreme limit of no man's land, was a too hazardous enterprise for which he, Sir Harold, would not assume responsibility.
"The directors of the Jewish Agency replied that they would be glad enough to establish an entire chain of colonies but that the administration's land-buying regulations had so far precluded the purchase of sites that might serve as steppingstones on the road to the north. They must therefore start where they could - that is, on the spot which had just recently become the property of the Jewish people. Sir Harold proved adamant. His interpretation of the mandate which charges Britain with facilitating 'the close settlement of Jews on the land' works out in practice in placing, by order of the government of Great Britain, of course, as many obstacles in the way of the purchase of land by Jews as possible and after that, if the Jews still succeed in getting hold of a plot of barren, rocky, desert land on which no human being in his right sense would live, in discouraging them from settling on it.
"Only, the Jews would not take no for an answer. They could not abide by the High Commissioner's decision. In withholding his official fiat, the High Commissioner may well have been carrying out his duty in that he acted in the spirit of those restrictive measures designed against and imposed upon Jewish Palestine by a narrow-minded, anti-Jewish bureaucracy in the sole interests not of the British Empire, but of a handful of feudalistic Arab landowners. The Palestinian Jews, on the other hand, could not do otherwise than what they did. They insisted again and again that the High Commissioner's decision be revoked and that the colony be opened up - that particular colony and others, always more colonies and settlements by hook or by crook. For the Palestinian Jews feel behind their backs the ever-growing anguish and desperate pressure of the homeless and hopeless Jewish masses in Europe still seeking a way out of what had become to millions of them a gruesome deathtrap or a living hell after Hitler's advent to power...**
"After months of wearisome palaver, pleading and insisting on the one side, haggling and quibbling on the other, with references to the Colonial Office in London going to and fro, the High Commissioner finally, reluctantly gave in. The Jews were permitted to establish that colony on their own land in their own country. They could go out there to that desolate spot in Galilee if they wanted to, but they must not blame the administration if disaster should overtake them on the pioneer trail.
"Mi yivne ha-Galil? Who will build Galilee? the young people sang that night all over Palestine, when the government's decision became known. El yivne ha-Galil! God will build Galilee! came the answering chorus." (pp 208-211)
Will the valiant White Man succeed in carving out Godzone in the howling wilderness of Upper Galilee or will he succumb to the onslaught of the savages who infest its trackless wastes? Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of The Battle of Hanita.
[* Heading and emphases are mine; **Van Paassen is rewriting 1938 in light of later, wartime developments. Here's the real motive for 'reclaiming' the Galilee: "Re Palestine: Chaim [Weizmann] and the Palestinians [i.e. Palestine's Jewish leadership] hold the view that the turn of the Yishuv to be sold to the Arabs is very near. We cannot yet resist by arms - we can only work by every means, fair and foul (all is kosher now) to buy land, bring in men, get arms. And in 2-3-4 years we will bring the Jewish State into being." (Blanche Dugdale, Baffy: The Diaries of Blanche Dugdale, 1936-1947, 1973; entry for 1/10/38, page 110] | <urn:uuid:f37050ce-0003-4245-8417-6a4ef005f605> | {
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This weekend is a rare opportunity to see a space rock the size of a city block go for a joyride past the much bigger space rock we call Earth.
The snappily named asteroid 2002 AM31 will cruise by our planet this Sunday, coming within 13.7 lunar distances, or about 3.2 million miles.
If you consider yourself a bit of a NEO (near-Earth object) groupie, you can watch the whole spectacle online at the Web site of the Slooh space camera (really a network of robotic telescopes around the globe). Webcasts are scheduled for 4:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. PT and will feature live commentary and feeds from telescopes in Arizona and the Canary Islands.
While the Minor Planet Center in Massachusetts has labeled 2002 AM31 a "potentially hazardous asteroid," there's no chance of it actually impacting Earth and ruining your Sunday asteroid-watching cookout.
Astronomers have undertaken a significant effort in recent years to locate and catalog NEOs, and it's estimated that 95 percent of the biggest asteroids have been located, but it's believed no more than 30 percent of the smaller rocks (which could still do significant damage if they hit our planet) have been identified.
The planned terrible Ben Affleck and Bruce Willis flick, the one on the Slooh site with a more feasible storyline.will help scientists catch up, but in the meantime, you may as well sit back and enjoy the show -- no, not that | <urn:uuid:8b8a078b-6a21-4bda-bf79-50d8e63f1ebe> | {
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In exploring this enigmatic symbol I had the realisation that any search for ‘origins’ is like wandering into a labyrinth. At every turn there is interpretation and mis-interpretation. It is near impossible to pin point a particular single seed-meaning. However the Ouroboros is a very ancient symbol, it’s been around for thousands of years and like a snowball rolling down the hill of Time it gains fresh meaning, gathering weight and presence. Yes, the Ouroboros is a veritable behemoth of the symbol realm.
|Jacob Bohme, 17th c.|
So what is the Ouroboros? As mentioned in the first part of my serpent post, snakes and dragons are associated with waters, especially the cosmic waters of creation. This is one of those reoccurring themes that exists in many cultures, such as ancient Mesopotamia, Vedic India and Greece.
Here I’d refer the reader to my post about the chaos symbol, in relation to the author’s notions on the idea of 'originality of source' and its impact on the meaning.
There is evidence that the Ouroboros has roots in ancient Egypt, featuring in ancient Egyptian cosmological and underworld myths. The design features in much art and sculpture though it probably meant different things or served different symbolic functions. The notion of eternity and continuity are concepts that belong more to the Hermetic traditions, as the tail-biting serpent that surrounded the Egyptian world served a more protective role. In this sense it is a barrier, a container, boundary and protector - thus the ouroboros existed as an amulet, a round of bronze or gold or silver, fashioned into serpent form as a protective token.
Like the world Serpent of Nordic myth, the Egyptian Ouroboros held back the chaotic waters of creation. Similarly in Greek myth Okeanus, the great ocean, girded the earth. In fact the Greek letter Theta was originally conceived as a circle with a dot in the centre. Theta is derived from the Phoenician/Hebrew word Teth, meaning snake, represented by a tail biting serpent. Now the circle was seen as Okeanus, and associated with Omega, while the central point was the centre of the Grecian world, the omphalos at Delphi. Again this aligns with reference to an earlier post about Sun Symbolism in which the same symbol was used to represent the sun god. In this context Helios, the sun god, was called the mid-omphalos of the seven planets.
|One of the so-called Abraxus gems stones.|
|Design from an early ms of St Mark 299 -|
the words in the middle read: "the One is the All"
There are some Ouroboros images in the earliest Hermetic and Coptic texts, conceived in Alexandria, Egypt, during the 2nd century of the Common Era. A tail chomping serpent is also mentioned in the Acts of the Apostle Thomas (3rd century C.E).
By the 5th century C.E. the Egyptian writer Horappollo commented that the universe was represented by a huge serpent that clasped its tail between its teeth, its glittering scales were the stars and planets. Anyone who has wandered on a clear night, away from the light pollution of our cities will have seen this sight. The Milky Way and its glittering scales. And here we have a beautifully intuitive notion, coinciding with themes of death and renewal, the serpent consumes itself, but is reborn, stars super-nova, jettisoning their molecules into space, waiting to be reconstructed in divergent forms. As though each scale will, in time, be sloughed off, shed like the serpent’s old skin.
Earlier references exist in the Amduat, which is the religious handbook of the Egyptian underworld. However this serpent was named at the Many-of-faces or appeared as Apophis, the great serpent of the underworld. Some concepts are kind of indelible. Possibly because they appeal to us at a level we can’t articulate fully - our subconscious is left to grapple that one.
I’ve included a few Ouroboros pictures here from the Hermetic texts of the later middle-ages. These are very powerful images, symbolically rich, pregnant with meaning. The Ouroboros transformed over thousands of years. It was never any ‘one thing’ but the image is like a magnet and it gathers sub-meanings, associations and concepts, becoming layered like history, layered like the strata in our minds. This is how symbols operate in part.
|Theodorus Pelecanos, 1478|
In the mid medieval period the ancient hermetic and gnostic traditions were revitalised. As the tradition flourished ancient symbols were reinstated, sometimes adapted for contemporary usage. Amongst them was the Ouroboros.
It is here that the stamp of eternity and cyclical nature was firmly pressed into the serpent’s round. Indeed some of the earliest images, such as those from the Leyden Papyri, bear inscriptions like “The One Is The All” and it is this notion of cosmic unity that permeates the early gnostic and hermetic texts. These ideas were syncretic mutations of schools of thought that existed in the twilight of Hellenic culture: Orphism, Neopythagorism, Platonism etc. Such philosophical ideas were readily adopted by later alchemists, and adopted to suit. Again the Ouroboros attracted fresh meaning: the Unity of Matter and the great alchemical Work, which had no beginning or end.
|My own design for my webcomic Nu-City Blues|
The Ouroboros and the Unity of Matter in alchemy - H.J Sheppard
The Egyptian Ouroboros - Dana Michael Reeves
Alchemy and Mysticism - Alexander Roob | <urn:uuid:01632055-2344-4350-aee9-781ce697cc0c> | {
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This is a 4 or 5-day science lab that gets your students thinking and observing just like real scientists! This hands-on, interactive lab will definitely get your kids excited about seeing what happens to rocks when they experience extreme weather conditions (cold, heat, wind, and flooding).
Have your students work independently or in partnerships/small groups to follow a rock for 4-5 days as it goes through some very challenging conditions. Students will make predictions every single day and then compare their thoughts to others' as they record and share all observations on their very own rock journal.
The materials used are things you probably have right on hand or are very easily accessible in your school.
Step by step, daily directions are included as well as suggested CCCS standards.
Put some fun back into the science classroom! | <urn:uuid:3dbc72f4-14de-4c4a-babd-534a931190d1> | {
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Plants under natural conditions are frequently exposed to combined stressors including drought stress and desiccation, salt stress, chilling, heat shock, heavy metals, ultraviolet, radiation, air pollutants such as ozone and SO2, mechanical stress, nutrient deprivation, pathogen attack and high light stress . A common result of most abiotic and biotic stresses is an increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which frequently result in oxidative stress , . The production of ROS results from pathways such as photorespiration, from the photosynthetic apparatus and from mitochondrial respiration .
The reduction of molecular oxygen to H2O yields to intermediates reactive oxygen species (superoxide anion (O2•‾), hydroxyl radical (OH•), hydroperoxyl radical (HO2•), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), singlet oxygen (1O2•‾),) which are potentially toxic because they are relatively reactive compared with O2 . Reactive oxygen species may lead to the unspecific oxidations of proteins, membrane lipids or DNA injury. Malonodialdehyd (MDA) content, as a product of lipid peroxidation, has been considered as an indicator of oxidative damage in the cell membrane, resulting in disruption of metabolic function and loss of cellular integrity , . Many reports confirm lipid peroxidation has been associated with damages provoked by a variety of environmental stresses , i.e. with salt stress , , and heavy metals , .
However, there is evidence that ROS also plays important roles in the plant’s defence system against pathogens and any pathogenic factors, mark certain development stages such as tracheary element formations, lignification and other cross linking process in the cell wall and act as intermediate signalling molecules to regulate the expression of genes . Thus it is very important for cells to control of level of reactive oxygen species but not eliminate them completely. Defence mechanisms against free radical-inducedoxidative stress involve: (1) preventive mechanisms,(2) repair mechanisms, (3) physical defences,and (4) antioxidant defences . The plants defendagainst these ROS by the inductionof activities of certain antioxidative enzymes suchas catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione reductase (GR), andsuperoxide dismutase (SOD), which scavenge reactive oxygen species , .
Superoxide dismutase catalyses the reaction of dismutation of superoxide radicals: 2O2•‾ + 2H+→H2O2 + O2. SOD is a metaloprotein with metals Cu, Zn, Mn, and Fe as co-factor , Stroiński 1999). Cu-Zn-SOD (homodimer; 31-33 kD) is present in cytosol and chloroplasts. Mn-SOD (tetramer 90kD) was found in the matrix mitochondrium , , whilst Fe-SOD, commonly occurring in Procaryota, was detected only in some plants , . On the other hand catalase catalyses the reaction: 2 H2O2→2H2O + O2. This enzyme contains three isoenzymatic forms (CAT-l, CAT-2, and CAT-3). CAT-1 and CAT-2 occur mainly in glyoxisomes, peroxysomes, and cytosol, while CAT-3 in mitochondria and cytosol , .
Another important factor decomposing H2O2 is peroxidase of ascorbic acid (APOX) (m.w. 28-34 kD) which contains protoheme as a prosthetic group and 4 cysteines responsible for sensitivity of the enzyme to compounds blocking a thiol group , . It occurs in chloroplasts and cytosol , , vacuole , , and in apoplasts , . APOX, in particular the chloroplast isoenzyme, becomes labile if the concentration of ascorbic acid drops significantly and it decomposes under the influence of its own radical product. Under such circumstances both monodehydroascorbate (MDHAA) and dehydroascorbate (DHAA) are easily reduced along the Halliwell-Asada path , . The cell defensive mechanism also depends on small-cellular antioxidants such as glutathion (GSH), proline (Pro) or ascorbic acid (AA) which also react with radicals generated in the oxidative-stress .
The origin of oxidative stress under salinity conditions is well documented in leaves, where the inhibition of Calvin cycle results in over-reduction of oxygen and formation of superoxides . Salt stress limits also gas exchange and thereby CO2 supply to the leaf. One consequence is the over-reduction of photosynthetic-chain electron transport. This induces the generation of ROS . Little is known about the origin of oxidative stress in roots, although salt stress-related impairment of mitochondrial function is likely to be involved . Recent studies have revealed that salt-induced oxidative stress occurs in root mitochondria in a wild salt-tolerant tomato species as indicated by increased concentrations of H2O2 and MDA , . It is now widely accepted that superoxide radicals produced during respiration, in response to salt stress, are the main precursors of mitochondrial H2O2 and make an important contribution to the oxidative load experienced by the cell . Root mitochondrial ROS production is increased as a result of high salinity as constraints are imposed on electron transport through mitochondrial complexes I and II .
Calcium as macroelement and important physiological chemical element reacts with heavy metals and is required for various roles in plant cell , . It is implicated in the movement of cellular organelles such as the spindle apparatus and secretory vesicles, and may play a key role in integrating plant cell metabolism , . However, the homeostasis of Ca is maintained principally by the action of extrusion proteins. The cytosol is strongly buffered against high concentrations of calcium by numerous ranges of calcium-binding proteins such as calmodulins and calmodulin-binding proteins . Reports showed close interaction between intracellular H2O2 and cytosolic calcium in response to biotic and abiotic stresses -increase in cytosolic calcium boosts the generation of H2O2. The protein calmodulin binds to activates plant catalases in the present of calcium. It indicated a dual function of Ca in regulating H2O2 homeostasis .
Metals are involved in the direct or indirect generation of free radicals (FR) and reactive oxygen species in the following ways: 1. direct transfer of electron in the single electron reduction; 2. disturbance of metabolic pathways resulting in an increase in the rate of FR and ROS formation; 3. inactivation and down regulation of the enzymes of the antioxidative defence system, and 4. depletion of low molecular weight of antioxidants . Microelements such as Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn fulfil various roles in the metabolism of plant organism and are necessary for the regularity of physiological processes, however the excess and deficiency of these elements leads also to disturbance of ionic homeostasis . Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn as transition metals have frequently unpaired electrons and they are,therefore, very good catalysts of oxygen reduction. In aqueous solutions at neutral pH, O2•‾ can generate H2O2, which can subsequently decompose to produce •OH by the Haber-Weiss reaction in which Cu and Fe being involved: O2• + H2O2→ O2 + OH– + •OH. When iron is the transition metal in the Haber-Weiss reaction, it is called the Fenton reaction , .
Toxic heavy metals Cd an Pb are considered as not essential metals for plant metabolism and stimulate formation of free radicals and reactive oxygen species , , . The ROS formation by toxic metals is indirectly rather than directly . The toxicity of Cd may result from its binding to sulfhydryl groups (S-H) of proteins leading to inhibition of activity and disruption of structure, due to perturbations in the nutrient balance and disturbance of cellular redox control 40]. Due to a Cd inhibitory effect on the Calvin cycle, there is a decrease in NADPH utilization, resulting in the one-electron reduction of a large number of oxygen molecules on the reducing side of PSI . The reports of , , , , , , , and have concluded that an oxidative stress could be involved in Cd toxicity, by either inducing oxygen free radical production, or by decreasing enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants.
The subject of numerous studies for at least the past four decades has been physiological responses of plants for salinity and heavy metals in the controlled laboratory conditions. However, many of these determinations are concentrated to one type of pollutant, whilst plants in the natural conditions are subjected to many stressful differentiated ecophysiological sources and factors. Therefore there still remains a need for research on the interdependencies of plants with multiple biotic and abiotic factors in their natural habitats, their adaptation mechanisms and responses. The aim of this paper was thus to investigate the enzymatic antioxidant mechanisms and responses in plants subjected to destabilization of chemical elements management in the natural conditions. We thus studied antioxidant enzymes SOD, CAT, and APOX, and the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) variations in different ecological groups of glycophytes Creeping thistle Cirisium arvense, Common nettle Urtica dioica, Yarrow Achillea millefolium, and Burdock Arctium lappa in various types of environments: salted and alkaline anthropogenic environments, agricultural environments and also pollution free environments of the Pomeranian region of Poland. We also investigated the halophyte Common glasswort Salicornia europaea from only salted environments. Simultaneously, we examined the levels of chemical elements Na, Ca, Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn, Cd, and Pb in roots and green parts of plants as probably the factor generated reactive oxidant species and thus activated enzymatic antioxidant mechanisms. We compare environmental and ecophysiological determinations of plant groups under salinity and acidity and their adaptation strategies. These studies were planned in order to understand whether the consideration of particular relationships between destabilization of free radicals homeostasis are connected with the excess of Na and Ca and pro-antioxidant balance.
2. Study area
The study area is situated in the Pomeranian Kujawy region (52-53°N, 18-20°E, central Poland) connected with Permian rock-salt uplifted in the form of salted domes and associated salt springs and saline ground waters, which had influence on the development of a sodium industry in districts of Janikowo and Inowrocław and non-polluted and industrialized area of the Tuchola Forestry complex (54-53°N and 17°30’-18°30’ E); Fig. 1.
The mainly human management caused secondary salinity and consequently alkalization of Kujawy areas as a result of inappropriate tightening of sediment traps causing wastes to infiltrate into the soil and grassland irrigation. Our research was done in selected habitats with a variety of anthropogenic disturb: 1) ”Sodium manufactures” (SM) - Inowrocław and Janikowo district, closely by sodium factories; 2) “Anthropogenic” (AE) waste dumping sites near Giebnia and neighboured polluted areas; 3) “Wetlands” (WE) floodplains near Noteć Channel and Pakoskie Lakeland; 4) “Agriculture” (AGRE) – agriculture areas near Borkowo and 5) “Control” – in Tuchola Forestry named “Bory Tucholskie” (see Fig. 1).
3. Material and methods
Field studies were carried out in 2008-2010 during summer (May-June-July). Plant species were estimated on the basis of the work by and were divided onto glycophytes - Creeping thistle Cirisium arvense, Common nettle Urtica dioica, Yarrow Achillea millefolium, Burdock Arctium lappaand obligatory halophyte: Common glasswort Salicornia europea. Common glasswort appears only in salted habitats and is known as succulent . It is one of the most saline tolerant plants in general and is capable to grow under highly saline conditions in the lowest part of salt marshes , . Samples of roots and green parts of plants: leaves from glycophytes (No of samples N=220), and shoots of Common glasswortSalicornia europea (No of samples N=150), and samples of soils (No of samples N=300) from rhizosphera were collected from all studied environments (glycophytes) and only from anthropogenic salted areas (halophytes), because of their natural distribution.
Samples of soil were air-dried to a constant mass up to 650C, homogenized and sieved through 1 mm mesh. The electrolythical conductivity (expressed as mS or μS) of soil (Ec) was measured by conductivity meter (Elmetron CC-401). Instead the soil acidity (pH) was determined in bidistilled water at soil solution ratio of 1:2.5 with a potentiometric glass electrode by used pH-meter (Elmetron C-501).
Samples were collected from randomly selected plants at midday, and were kept cool in freezer bags for transfer to the laboratory. Green parts samples were then washed three times with deionized water; roots were gently separated from soils, then abundantly washed with tap water to eliminate soil particles, and also rinsed three times with deionized water. Root and washed shoot samples were divided into two parts. One was immediately stocked at −80°C until further biochemical analysis, while a second was cut into small pieces and dried in oven for 24 h , . Mineralized samples of soil and plants were analyzed for Na, Ca, Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn, Cr, Ni, Cd, and Pb using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry ICP-MS (AGILENT 7500 CE; plasma ICP-MS spectrophotometer from Agilent Technologies Inc. (Palo Alto, CA, USA). The results were interpreted comparatively with standard well-known concentration, i.e. in relation to the analysis of reference materials. Parallel measurements were taken in the blind trials. The results were given in mg*kg-1 of dry weight.
To determine the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) roots and green parts of plants (1g) were homogenized in a 0.05 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) containing 1mM EDTA (3 ml). During homogenization polyvinyl-pyrrolidone (PVP) (0.25 g) was added (modified by ). The homogenate was centrifugated twice for 10 min first at 10 000 x g and second at 20 000x g. For ascorbate peroxidase (APOX) assay the roots and green parts (1g) were homogenized according to , i.e. by adding 0.05 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.5) containing 1 mM EDTA, 1 mM sodium ascorbate, 1 mM DTT and 4.0% (w/v) polyvinyl-pyrrolidone (PVP), 1 mM EDTA (5 ml). The homogenate was centrifugated at 15 000x g for 20 min. Sodium ascorbate was added only in case of green parts. All assays were conducted at 4º C. The protein content in the supernatant was measured according to .The activity of all enzymes was expressed in units of mg-1 of protein.
The activity of SOD was assayed by measuring its ability to inhibit the photochemical reduction of NBT, adopting the method of . The reaction mixture consist of 50 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.8) containing 0.1 mM EDTA, 120 μM riboflavine, 97.5 mM methionine, 2.25 mM NBT. After the addition of plant homogenate switching on a UV lamp for one minute the start of reaction is begin. The absorbance at 560 nm of wave length was measured. Fifty percent reduction in color was considered as one unit of enzyme activity.
The activity of CAT was assayed according , in reaction solution (3 ml) composed of 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) to which 30% (w/v) H2O2 was added until reaching an absorbance at 240 nm between 0.520 and 0.550. The reaction was initiated by the addition of 10 μl of plant extract and the activity of CAT was monitored by the decreasing absorbance at 240 nm at for 2 min. One unit of enzyme was the amount necessary to decompose 1 μmol of H2O2 per min at 25ºC (extinction coefficient 43.6 M-1*cm-1).
The activity of APOX was measured according method of . The soluble protein extract (25 μl) was added to 1.975 ml reaction mixture of 0.05 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0), 0.5 mM sodium ascorbate, 0.1 mM H2O2 and the decrease absorbance of ascorbate at 290 nm for 2 min was used to calculate APOX activity. Enzyme activity was expressed in enzyme unit of mg-1 protein. One unit of enzyme was the amount necessary to decompose 1 μmol of substrate per min at 25ºC (extinction coefficient 2.8 mM-1*cm-1).
The intensity of lipid peroxidation was estimated following the method by . Approximately 0.5 g of frozen plant tissue samples was cut into small pieces, homogenized with 2.5 ml of 5% trichloroacetic acid, and then centrifuged at 10000 g for 15 min. at room temperature. The equal volumes of supernatant and 0,5% thiobarbituric acid in 20% trichloroacetic acid were added in a new tube and incubated in 96°C for 25 minutes and then quickly cooled in an ice bath. After centrifugation at 8 000 g for 5 min, the absorbance of supernatant was recorded at 532 and 600 nm. The value for non-specific absorption at 600 nm was subtracted. The concentration of MDA was calculated using coefficient of absorbance 155 mM-1 cm-1 and was expressed as μmol g-1 FW.
3.1. Statistical analysis
Arithmetic means and descriptive statistics of activation of antioxidant enzymes: SOD, CAT, APOX and concentrations of Na, Ca, Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn, Pb, and Cd in roots and green parts of plants were calculated. We also calculated arithmetic mean of concentrations of the same elements in soils from root zone of plants. The data did not show normal distribution, so non parametric tests were used. We used ANOVA Kruskal-Wallis test, followed by multiple Kruskal-Wallis comparison and U-Mann-Whitney test to estimate the significance of differences in the activation of antioxidant enzymes and concentrations of elements in roots and green parts from different environments, between organs and also groups of plants from the same environments (significance level at p<0.05), and also the differences between concentrations of metals in soil in particular environments. The dependence of activity of antioxidant enzymes and concentrations of elements in the roots and green parts of plants from different environments were calculated by correlation coefficient (r) according to the ranks of Spearman test (significance level at p<0.05) .
This work required permits from General and Regional Nature Conservation Dpts. These were obtained and had the following respective numbers: DOPozgiz-4211/I-14/995/09/ep, RDOS.PN.6631/2/08/KLD, and RDOS.04.PN.6631/37/09/KLD.
4.1. Soil parameters
As shown in Table 1, the soils at Kujawy region were in the various degree of alkalinity (sodium manufactures; strong alkaline), anthropogenic environments, wetlands, agriculture environment (moderate alkaline), whilst pH of soils from control was acid. The electrical conductivity of soils was higher in sodium manufactures and anthropogenic environments than in control (Table 1).
As soils collected in SM and AE environments mainly consisted of tailings from nearby sodium factory and AGRE environment near field used agriculturally, heavy metal contents in the sample of soils were high and varied greatly in comparison with control and wetlands. The concentration of Na, Ca, Fe, Zn, Cu, and Mn were higher in soils at disturbed than control environments but in case of the same elements also from wetlands. However, concentration of toxic metals Pb, and Cd were higher in Tuchola Forestry than in Wetlands and did not differ with concentrations in soils from remaining environments (Table 1).
4.2. Chemical elements in roots and green parts of glycophytes and Common glasswort Salicornia europaea
We found lower concentrations of Na, Ca, Fe, Cu, and Pb in roots in control in compare with environments in Kujawy region in opposite to level of Zn (higher in control than in agricultural and did not differ in the remaining environments). Similar to Zn concentration, Cd level was also higher in non-polluted environment (control) in comparison with factory disturbed sodium manufactures and anthropogenic (Table 2). Simultaneously, sodium level in glycophytes from anthropogenic environments was higher than in those from remaining areas.
Concentrations of Fe and Zn were lower in leaves from control but only in comparison with wetlands. Simultaneously, Pb level was lower in control areas than in wetlands and agriculture fields. It is interesting that the level of Cd, in opposite to Pb, was higher in the unpolluted environment (C) compared with all environments studied in Kujawy region, except anthropogenic areas. Similar concentration of Mn was also higher in the control (C) as compared with industrial disturbed SM and AE and also wetlands (Table 2). We did not find significant differences in the concentrations of Mn in roots and the level of Ca, and Cu in leaves among investigated environments (Table 2).
4.2.2. Common glasswort Salicornia europaea
We found only higher concentrations of Na in roots and Mn in leaves from anhropogenic than from sodium manufactures. Simultaneously, the roots and green parts of plants had higher concentrations of Pb in sodium manufactures than in the anthropogenic. Concentrations of Ca, Fe, Zn, Cu and Cd did not differ between both organs and amongst environments studied (Table 3).
4.3. Antioxidant enzymes activity and lipoperoxidation
Our results indicated significant differences only in the activity of SOD (glycophytes) in both organs. SOD activity was higher in roots from agricultural environments comparatively with sodium manufactures and wetlands. Simultaneously, SOD activity was lower in leaves from wetlands in comparison with remaining environments. We also found lower MDA content in roots from agricultural environments than from remaining examined areas. Instead the highest degree of lipid peroxidation was in the green parts of plants from anthropogenic environments (Table 2). We did not found differences in the biochemical parameters in organs of Common glasswort Salicornia europaea except of MDA content in the green parts of plants (higher level in the AE than in the SM) from different environments (Tables 4, 5).
4.4. The impact of metals on the antioxidant enzymes activity in roots and leaves of plants
Spearman coefficient analyses were performed with concentrations of each of the metals studied in roots and green parts of glycophytes and Common glasswort Salicornia europaea versus the activity of antioxidant enzymes and degree of lipoperoxidation. The activity of enzymes was also correlated with MDA content. However, these relationships were depending on the type of environment (Tables 4-6).
We found more relationships between activity of antioxidant enzymes and metals in the green parts than in roots, depending on the type of environment. However, concentrations of Na (SM), Fe (AE, WE), Cu (SM, AE, WE, C) and Pb (AE) were positively correlated with SOD activity. Instead, CAT activity had also positive relationships with Na, Cu (AE) and Zn, Mn (C). Simultaneously, the activity of another enzyme, APOX, was positively related with level of Na (SM, AGRE), Zn, and Mn (AE) and negatively – with Cu (C), and Cd (AGRE, C).
Our results indicated positive correlations of SOD activity with concentrations of Zn (SM, AGRE), Cu (SM) and Cd (SM, WE, AGRE) but also negative with Mn (AGRE, C) and Pb (AGRE). Concentrations of Na were also related with SOD activity, but were positive (AE) or negative (C). We found negative relationships between CAT activity and concentrations of Ca (WE), Fe (SM, WE, AGRE), Mn (SM), and Pb (WE, AGRE) but also positive with Zn (AGRE). The level of Cu was positive related with activity of CAT in the leaves of plants from sodium manufactures but also negative in the leaves from anthropogenic areas. APOX activity was positively correlated with Ca concentrations in the leaves of plants from all environments and with Fe in the leaves collected at wetland and agriculture environments. However, the activity of this enzyme was negatively related with Na, Zn (C) and Cd (SM, AE, C). Concentrations of Cu had both positive (WE) and negative (AE) relationships with APOX in the leaves.
We found positive relations between concentrations of Na (AE), Cu, (AE, C), Pb (WE) and Cd (WE, C) and degree of lipoperoxidation processes in roots. However, we also found correlations between Na, Zn, Mn, and Cd but in the control environment (Na), AE, WE (Ca), AE (Zn, Cd), and SM (Mn). It should be emphasized that we did not state relation between concentrations of Na, and also Mn, and Pb and MDA content in the leaves. Concentrations of Ca were positively correlated with level of MDA (AE, WE) in the green parts in opposite to metals – Zn and Cd (AE, AGRE). Iron and copper stimulated lipoperoxidation (Fe in AGRE, Cu in WE) and was mutually negatively correlated (SM, SM, C) with content of MDA but it depend on the type of environment (Tables4, 5, Figs. 2, 3). MDA content was positively correlated with CAT activity in roots (AE, AGRE) and APOX in leaves (AE, WE, AGRE). On the other hand, we found negative relations between MDA and the activity of APOX in roots (AE) and SOD, and CAT in leaves (AGRE); Table4.
4.4.2. Common glasswort Salicornia europaea
Our results indicated relationships between activity of antioxidant enzymes and concentrations of metals in roots of plants in both environments and only in shoots from sodium manufactures. Concentrations of Fe, Cu, and Cd were positively related with SOD activity in the roots of plants from sodium manufactures in opposite to activity of CAT in roots of plants from anthropogenic areas. However, Na and Cd concentrations were also negatively correlated with CAT activity in shoots of plants from anthropogenic environments. We also found negative relations between concentrations of Cd and APOX activity in roots of plants from sodium manufactures. On the other hand, the activity of antioxidant enzymes was positively correlated with concentrations of Zn, Cd (SOD), Pb (CAT), Ca, Fe, Cu, and Cd (APOX) in shoots of plants. We did not find relations between MDA content and chemical elements concentration in both studied organs of Common glasswort Salicornia europaea (Tables 4, 5, Figs. 4, 5). However, we found negative relations between MDA content and APOX activity in the roots of plants from sodium manufactures.
4.5. Differences between glycophytes and Common glasswort Salicornia europaea in their natural environments
We found significant higher activity of APOX in roots of glycophytes than in Common glasswort Salicornia europaea from both examined environments (SM, AE) in opposite to green parts. CAT activity was similarly higher in the green parts of glycophytes than in the halophyte (Common glasswort Salicornia europaea) but only in the anthropogenic environments. Instead, the level of MDA was higher in the glycophytes except green parts in the anthropogenic areas. Common glasswort Salicornia europea cumulated more sodium in both organs in all environments studied and also had higher level of Zn, Cu, Mn, and Cd in the green parts from AE than glycophytes. However, Cu and Pb concentrations were also higher in the green parts of this halophyte in sodium manufactures. On the other hand, glycophytes accumulated more calcium in roots from both environments, and more copper in roots from sodium manufactures and also Pb in both organs from anthropogenic environments than Common glasswort Salicornia europaea. The differences between Fe concentration and SOD activity in the organs of examined plants from two various environments did not differ (Table 6).
4.6. Differences between enzymes activity, lipoperoxidation and concentrations of elements in plants
We noted higher activity of SOD and APOX in the green parts of glycophytes from sodium manufactures. However MDA level was significantly higher only in green parts of glycophytes than in roots from AE and AGRE. On the other hand, APOX activity in shoots of Common glasswort Salicornia europaea was lower, similarly to MDA level of these plants from SM, but the intensity of lipoperoxidation was significantly higher in roots also at AE. Concentrations of Na were higher in roots of glycophytes in opposite to halophyte. Simultaneously, Ca concentrations were higher in leaves of both glycophytes and Common glasswort in opposite to level of Fe, which was rather cumulated in roots (not significant at SM in Common glasswort Salicornia europea). Simultaneously, Zn was found in higher concentrations only in glycophytes but in non salted environments (WE, AGRE, C). Cu and Mn were rather mobile metals but we found significant higher Cu concentrations in roots of glycophytes (SM) and – for both elements – in roots of Common glasswort (AE). Lead, as toxic metal was accumulated in roots of plants. Glycophytes also accumulated Cd in roots but it is interesting that we did not find the differences among organs in plants from control environments. Instead, concentrations of Cd were not differs amongst organs of Common glasswort Salicornia europea from both environments (Table 7).
5. Discussion and conclusions
The presence of a sodium factory and industrialization of Kujawy region affected the salinity, alkalinity and higher content of Na, Ca but also Fe, Cu, and Zn in the environments of this region, especially neighbored with sodium manufactures and waste dumping sites. On the other hand, higher concentration of microelements in the agricultural environments than in controls was probably reflected the use of fertilizers in the agricultural practices. It should be emphasized that we did not find differences in the concentration of toxic elements (Pb, Cd) in plants and soils between control and disturbed environments (SM, AE); Table 1. However, concentration of chemical elements studied in plants differed among environments but relations were not directly similar to those occurred in soils (Tables 2, 3). It probably depends on the environmental conditions. We should consider that bioavailability of chemical elements by plant is affected by numerous basal environmental characteristics of soil: pH, red-ox potential, salinity, the content of organic matter, etc. , . Simultaneously, different factors than edaphic conditions of soils, i.e. seasonal physiology, the condition of plants, species-species capacities for uptake, translocation and compartmentalization, may contribute to the differential bioaccumulation of elements . The roots of glycophytes accumulated about 3 fold higher concentrations of Na than collected at control environments, whilst green parts of plants – even 17 fold higher (Table 2). We can thus conclude that at sodium manufactures, especially anthropogenic excess of sodium affects ionic balance and primarily impacts upon metabolic processes . Instead, calcium concentration in the organs of plants do not exceed average concentrations recommended by ; 0.2-5% d.w. However, the higher Ca concentrations, especially in salted environments, could be related with higher level of this element in these environments. On the other hand, increased intake of calcium could be connected with excess of sodium and mobilization of defence mechanisms . Simultaneously, our results indicated that concentration of Zn and Cu in roots and leaves of examined plants do not exceed the phytotoxic range recommended by and , i.e., 100-400 mg*kg-1; 30 mg*kg-1, respectively). Similar level of Pb, and Cd in plant’s organs in our study was below ranges of 30-300 mg*kg-1, and 5-30 mg*kg-1, respectively, considered by as phyototoxic. However, iron and manganese concentration in the range of 40-500 mg*kg-1 and 50-500 mg*kg-1, respectively, according to are found as toxic for plants, so our result indicate that Fe level is high in both organs of plants, but high concentrations of Mn in roots and green parts of glycophytes was connected with environmental factors.
Stressful factors (acidity, salinity, toxic heavy metals) adversely affects the associated ecological balance and increases the level of free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS), which is related with changes in activities of antioxidant enzymes , , . Most studies show that the higher activities of these enzymes were positively correlated with plant stress-resistance ,, . However, the changes of enzyme activities also depend on plant genotypes and stress intensity , .
Based on the results obtained by us, we can conclude that physiological activity of important antioxidant enzymes can maintain oxidative homeostasis and also reduce the membrane damages in the plant organism (mainly by lipoperoxidation). Moreover, SOD, CAT, and APOX is related with concentration of examined elements (Na, Ca, Fe, Zn. Cu, Mn, Pb, Cd), depending on the status of the environment. These relations were positive and negative, and they depend on the ecological group of plants, the type of organ and on stress intensity (various degree of anthropogenic impact). Glycophytes studied by us were subjected on many stressors at disturbed environments in Kujawy region. These plant species strive to maintain their oxidative homeostasis and develop efficient antioxidative responses. Thus we found positive relationships between sodium concentrations and the content of MDA as indicator of oxidant injury, but also between CAT activity in roots of plants from anthropogenic environments, and also similar between calcium concentrations and the level of lipoperoxidation and APOX in green parts of plants from anthropogenic and wetland environments. Copper concentration was also related with APOX activity and MDA level in the wetlands. Instead, Fe was correlated with MDA and APOX in the agricultural areas (Table 4). We can thus concluded that Na, Ca, Cu and also Fe stimulated lipoperoxidation processes but also mobilization antioxidant mechanisms of glycophytes in Kujawy region. Furthermore, negative relation of Cd with APOX in both organs from controls and also positive correlations with degree of lipoperoxidation in roots (Table 4) indicate that discrimination of one of important enzymes involved in antioxidant mechanism and impact on ROS generation. Similar to Cd, also Cu stimulated higher level of MDA and negatively affect the activity of APOX in opposite to activity of SOD in roots of glycophytes in control sites (Table 4). In the organs of Common glasswort Salicornia europea we did not find these relations (Table 5). Reports of , , and showed correlations between stress level and MDA content. Moreover, lipid peroxidation and H2O2 levels, and also SOD, CAT, APOX and GR activities increased in pea roots and leaves under Cd stress , whilst APOX and CAT decreased at high Cd concentrations . Also reported that Cd-induced oxidative stress in Arabidopsis is due to H2O2 accumulation.
It should be emphasized that we found more correlations between concentrations of chemical elements and studied biochemical parameters (Tables 4, 5), which indicate the complexity of antioxidative processes and simultaneously the participation of chemical elements in stimulation and modification of lipoperoxidation processes and SOD, CAT or APOX activities. Simultaneously, the same elements could impact upon the activation of many oxidative pathways in organs of glycophytes (Fig. 5) and it depends on the environmental conditions. In disturbed sodium manufactures the level of Na stimulated activity of SOD and APOX, but in the other environments it stimulated the activity of CAT. Similarly, copper concentration is positively correlated with CAT in roots but negatively in the green parts of plants from anthropogenic environments. Furthermore, Na and Ca concentrations stimulated activity of antioxidant mechanisms, especially in disturbed environments. On the other hand, calcium is also related with APOX activity in all studied environments. Simultaneously, concentrations of transition metals could impact the increase or decrease of antioxidant enzymes activity (Figs. 2-5). We suggest it depends on the interactions amongst elements, the intensity of stressors or impact of other not examined factors. However, more analysis will require for estimation these problems. We also should consider that Cu, Zn, Mn, and also Fe are cofactors of metalloprotein, i.e. SOD. Simultaneously, cadmium and lead as toxic metals especially defected the activity of APOX and CAT, respectively, in the organs of glycophytes, which is in opposite to SOD activity (Tab. 4). Similarly, Fe, Zn, and Cu stimulate activity of SOD in sodium manufactures in roots and shoots of Common glasswort Salicornia europea. Moreover, the same metals decrease CAT activity in roots from anthropogenic environments. Cadmium and lead concentration are also defected the activity of APOX and CAT and impacted the increase of SOD. We also found correlations between APOX and Ca concentrations in shoots of Common glasswort Salicornia europaea in sodium manufactures, alike as in the green parts of glycophytes. Moreover, sodium concentrations influence the decrease of CAT in roots of this halophyte (Table 5). Similarly, CAT activity is also higher in green parts of glycophytes than in halophytes. This indicate that glycophytes are better adaptation to stressful conditions, however there are many indistinct questions required to estimation.
There is much evidence that salinity and heavy metals enhanced or decreased activity of antioxidant enzymes but usually under control conditions. Both increase as well as decrease in the activity of SOD has been reported in plants in response to salinity stress , . It appears that the activity of SOD under salinity varies depending upon plant species, organ analyzed as well as upon the level of salinity , . showed that in CottonGossypium hirsutum L. under salted NaCl stress the increases of SOD activities occurs, as well as decreases of the activitiesof catalase and ascorbate peroxidase.In the leaves of rice plant, salt stress preferentiallyenhances the content of H2O2 and the activities ofSOD, APOX, whereas it decreases catalaseactivity . These authors reported that NaCl treatment increasesthe activities of catalase but does not affected the activity ofSOD in cucumber plants. The tomato under high salt concentration showed higher among others antioxidant enzyme activities such as SOD, catalase, and ascorbate peroxidase . Similarly, showed that activity of cytosolic CuZn-SOD II, chloroplastic CuZn- SOD II, and mitochondrial and/or peroxisomal Mn-SOD were correlated with increasing concentration of NaCl in pea at the higher NaCl concentrations.
We can consider that heavy metals toxicity is occurred in the ability to bind strongly the oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur ions. This process is related with the free enthalpy of the formation of the product of metals and ligands. By this features heavy metals can inactivate the enzymes by binding to cysteine residues. Heavy metals can also displace one metal with another, which can lead to inhibition or loss the enzyme activities , . On the other hand, examined the role of antioxidative enzyme system. They investigated the relation to Cd stress in hyperaccumulator plants of the genus Alyssum. In both species superoxide dismutase activity was elevated at high cadmium concentrations, whilst ascorbate peroxidase activityremained unchanged , whilst indicated that activity of antioxidant enzymes was estimated as a function of time and concentrations of Pb in roots of lupin. The results of suggested that lead induces oxidative stress in growing rice plants and that SOD and APOX could serve as important components of antioxidative defence mechanism against Pb induced oxidative injury in rice. They observed a Pb dependent increase in the activities of SOD from root tip extract, whilst CAT and APOX activities decreased at higher lead concentrations. Cadmium treatment induced lipooxygenase with simultaneous inhibition of antioxidative enzymes, SOD and CAT . In particular, CAT activity often decreased following exposure to elevated cadmium concentrations , . On the other hand, indicated that CAT activities and specific isoenzymes of SOD increased in the leaves and roots of a resistant variety of radish, following exposure to increasing (between 0.25 and 1 mM) concentrations of cadmium. A severe suppression of SOD and CAT, and almost complete loss of APOX activities after 48 h of exposure to 50 µM Cd was observed in pine roots . Cd-induced inhibition of APOX and CAT was also associated with H2O2 accumulation and growth retardation in the poplar roots . Also studied the involvement of H2O2 and O2.- in the signaling events that resulted in variation of the transcript levels of CAT, GR and Cu-Zn-SOD in pea plants under Cd stress.
Considering the influence of chemical elements on the defence mechanisms of plants we can conclude the unique importance of Ca2+ for stabilization of membranes. High salinity results in increased cytosolic Ca2+, which is transported from the apoplast and the intracellular compartments . This transient increase in the cytosolic Ca2+ initiates stress-signal transduction leading to salt adaptation. Adequate levels of calcium are necessary for the membrane to its normal function .
Most of the interest in calcium participation in plants has centered on its role in the cytoplasm in controlling the developmental processes . reported the effects of calcium chloride on the sodium chloride-stressed plants of Mung bean Vigna radiatae (L.). We could confirm that when CaCl2 was combined with NaCl, CaCl2 altered the overall plant metabolism to ameliorate the deleterious effects of NaCl stress and increased the vegetative growth of plants. indicated that Ca2+ prevented Cd-induced increasing of the activity of SOD and restored CAT activity. These results suggested that exogenous application of Ca2+ could be advantageous against Cd2+ toxicity, and could confer tolerance to heavy metal’s stress in plants.
Our results confirm also the disruption of oxidative homeostasis related with environments of glycophytes through higher degree of lipid peroxidation in leaves in the anthropogenic environments and lower level of MDA in roots of plants from wetlands than from remaining environments. However, we found a higher SOD activity in the roots of glycophytes from agriculture areas in comparison with sodium manufactures and wetlands. Simultaneously, the activity of the same enzymes in green parts of plants was lower in wetland areas than in remaining environments (Table 2). All of these results indicated that plants probably can mitigate the oxidative damage initiated by ROS (especially at agriculture) by the complex of defensive antioxidative system . Moreover, indicated that both roots and shoots of plants had malonyldialdehyde (MDA) contents cultivated at the optimal salt concentration (50 mM NaCl) were lower than in the control areas. This was related to enhanced activities of antioxidant enzymes, like superoxide dismutase, catalase and peroxidase, especially in shoots. SOD and CAT activities have been reported to be negatively correlated with the degree of damage to plasmalemma, chloroplasts and mitochondrial membrane systems and positively correlated with stress resistance indices , . Simultaneously, we can not exclude other factors as draught or climate conditions, which could generate free radicals or reactive oxygen species (i.e., draught, climate conditions) and thus impact on high activity of antioxidant enzymes in organs in the control environments (C). We should also note that the level of cadmium was higher in leaves of plants from Tuchola Forestry than from remaining environments. Similarly, in roots of plants from these areas, cadmium concentrations did not differ from other environments, but was higher than in the agricultures. Cadmium is probably a factor, which can indirectly upset cell membrane. Simultaneously, we found relationships between biochemical parameters and concentrations of Na, Ca, Cu, Zn and Mn, which stimulated the activity of CAT, and Na-SOD and Ca-SOD and APOX. Instead, we found differences between the content of MDA (higher in shoots of plants from anthropogenic than from sodium manufactures) but the activity of SOD, CAT and APOX did not differ in the organs of Common glasswort Salicornia europaea between two examined environments. It could indicate that Common glasswort, as obligatory halophyte, is adapted to high salted environments (sodium manufactures). Thus mutual and differentiated relationships between chemical elements and antioxidant enzymatic mechanisms as plant responses to the environmental disturbs, are probably another factor influenced the higher level of lipoperoxidation in anthropogenic environments.
We also found that Na, Fe, and Pb are accumulated in higher level in roots of glycophytes in opposite to Ca. Zn, Cu and Mn at all examined environments and they showed more mobility, which depends on the type of environment. Interestingly, the concentrations of Cd and Pb, as toxic elements were also higher in roots of plants at all environments of Kujawy region but not at the control sites, whilst the activity of antioxidant enzymes did not differ significantly between organs of plants in the examined environments, except of SOD and APOX at SM. We found higher level of these enzymes in the leaves than in roots of plants. It was probably related with the concentrations of Ca and also Cu, Zn, and Cd. We could also conclude that Zn and Cu are co-factors of SOD so further analyses are needed. However, the location of chemical elements rather not deflected on the activity of enzymes in glycophytes. On the other hand, the concentrations of Na were higher in shoots than roots of Common glasswort Salicornia europaea, which is connected with adaptation to life in high salinity (e.g., osmoregulation); . It is interesting we found the higher level of MDA and higher lead concentrations in roots, similar to activity of APOX. However, we could not confirm relations among these parameters because we did not find significant correlation. Furthermore, the roots are more markedly affected by saline conditions than leaves, because of being the first part at the plant to encounter soil salinity . confirm that roots of halophyte Sea fennel Crithmum maritimum were distinguished from leaves by malondialdehyde concentration, however activity of APOX was higher in leaves, despite the fact that stress factor was only a high salinity. Simultaneously, and stated that root tissues markedly exhibited by higher APOX activity in comparison of shoots of plants under salinity stress.
The mechanisms of salt tolerance are of two main types: those minimizing the entry of salt into the plant, and those minimizing the concentration of salt in the cytoplasm. Halophytes, as naturally salt tolerant plants, have both types of mechanisms. They exclude salt well, but effectively compartmentalize in vacuoles the salt that inevitably gets in. This allows them to growth of long period of time in saline soil. Instead, glycophytes avoid sodium to maintain ionic homeostasis , . We can thus conclude basing also on our results showed in Table 5 that higher concentrations of sodium in roots and leaves of Common glasswort Salicornia europea than in glycophytes are resulting from the saline determinations of the environment and predominantly from the interactions with sodium. We also conclude that glycophytes are subjected on higher salinity stress, which cause probably higher level of ROS, and lipoperoxidation in the organs (except green parts at AE) than in halophytes. On the other hand, activity of APOX is higher in the roots of halophyte than in glycophytes in both environments in opposite to green parts. We could suspect that this were connected with higher concentrations of Ca, elevated salinity effect and indicated the activity of APOX in the green parts of plants more sensitive on salt damages than roots . Similar activity of CAT is also higher in green parts of our glycophytes than halophyte. It is indicated that glycophytes are well adapted to stressful conditions however there are still many indistinct topics, required to estimation.
The area of mutual relationships: plants-environmental stressors and conducted research in this field has been gaining ground in the recent years. However, in the view of considerable variations in the protective mechanisms against activated oxygen species in different plant species, the further work, especially in natural conditions under many stressors is required to establish the general validity of various regularities and processes in salinity tolerance and also disturbed ionic homeostasis.
The positive and negative correlations between the level of chemical elements and antioxidative responses of plants indicate the complexity of enzymatic antioxidative processes and simultaneously the participation of chemical elements, which does not influence lipid peroxidation but stimulate or injure SOD, CAT or APOX activity. However, the concentrations of Na, Ca, Cu and Fe stimulate lipoperoxidation but can also mobilize antioxidant responses of glycophytes in natural salted Pomeranian region, whilst Cd in the control environment influence MDA content and increasing APOX activity in roots of glycophytes. Simultaneously this toxic metal may impact the activation of many oxidant ways in organs of glycophytes and it depend on the environmental conditions (pH, Ec). Na and Ca concentrations rather stimulate enzymatic antioxidant mechanisms activity, especially in disturbed environments, and they can also stimulate the transition metals which causing increase or decrease of antioxidant enzymatic activity. However, Cd and Pb can defect the activity of APOX and CAT in organs of glycophytes, which is opposite to SOD activity. Similarly, in the organs of Common glasswort Salicornia europaea, Fe, Zn, and Cu level can stimulate SOD activity but they can also inhibit CAT activity. These processes depend on the environmental factors (pH, Ec) and types of plant organs and toxic heavy metals Cd and Pb concentration. They defect APOX and CAT activity but influence the increase of SOD. We also found correlation between APOX and calcium concentration (alcalinity) in shoots of Common glasswort and in green parts of glycophytes.
The differences in MDA content and SOD activity either in roots or in green parts of glycophytes indicate that plants can probably mitigate the oxidative damage initiated by reactive oxygen species (ROS) by complexes of defensive enzymatic antioxidative system. Instead we found only differences between MDA content (higher in shoots from anthropogenic than in more salted environments) but the activity of SOD, CAT and APOX didn’t differ in organs of Common glasswort Salicornia europaea, which indicates that the impact of other factors than examined elements influenced higher level of lipoperoxidation in anthropogenic environments. Antioxidant enzymatic activity didn’t differ significantly between plants organs in examined environments except of SOD and APOX in strong salted environment (SM). We found higher level of these enzymes in leaves than in roots of plants studied. It was probably related with Ca and also Cu, Zn, and Cd concentrations. However, the level of lipoperoxidation was significant higher in green parts of glycophytes (anthropogenic, agricultural environments), which is opposite to common glasswort (both environments). Instead in glycophytes avoiding sodium to maintain ionic homeostasis we found higher Na concentrations in roots and leaves of halophytes (Common glasswort Salicornia europaea) than in glycophytes. We can conclude that glycophytes subjected to higher salinity stress develop probably higher level of ROS, thus lipoperoxidation in their organs (except of green parts in AE) is higher than in halophytes. On the other hand, APOX activity is higher in roots of halophytes than in glycophytes in both environments in opposite to their green parts. We thus can suspect that this is connected with higher concentrations of Ca (alcalinity) and elevated salinity effect indicated APOX activity in green parts of plants more sensitive on salt damages than roots. Similarly, CAT activity is also higher in green parts of glycophytes than in halophytes. This indicate that glycophytes are better adaptation to stressful conditions, however there are many indistinct questions which require further study. | <urn:uuid:1353b404-b7e6-47ba-af7b-e23b3c996a56> | {
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Many people in Britain discovered that war had been declared on Germany by hearing it announced on the radio.
Prime Minister Chamberlain's famous speech was broadcast at 11.15 on 3 September 1939 on the Home Service Programme - the BBC's domestic radio channel.
The radio announcers - the presenters of the time - drew listeners' attention to the upcoming speech by trailing it all morning and urging them to stay tuned. All around the country people gathered around their nearest wireless to wait for the news.
Throughout the rest of the day the radio presenters repeated bulletins, paraphrased the prime minister's speech and read out long lists of government announcements to the public.
Little archive audio from the day exists because it was not the practice to record news bulletins in the early days - but a rare recording of the nine o'clock evening news, read by announcer Bruce Belfrage, has survived.
In it he reads: "The following advice is given: to keep off the streets as much as possible; to carry a gas mask always; to make sure all members of the household have on them their name and address clearly written; to sew a label on children's clothing so that they cannot pull it off..."
In what seems like an effort to maintain calm Prime Minister Chamberlain's speech was sandwiched between pre-recorded scheduled programming.
This included 'Making the most of tinned food' by Anne Beaton - after all, fresh food would soon be in short supply. It was followed by a number of musical tracks including Woodland Pictures played by the BBC Military Band and the Lowland Love Song played by Norman Allen.
An article entitled "We shan't forget yesterday's radio", published by The Star newspaper on 4 September 1939, praised the professionalism of the radio presenters, who also included Stuart Hibberd and Lionel Marson.
"For the announcers it was a day of utmost strain. They took long spells of duty and spoke hundreds of thousands of words... Over and over again they recorded the happenings of a fateful day. Only rarely did they let the strain of the day creep into their voices."
The newspaper continued: "There were many incidents that burned into the memory.
"The break in the voice of the Prime Minister and his prayer as he closed; the announcers comment of the fact that when Mr Chamberlain left Downing Street he was carrying his gas mask.
"They will remember how the prime minister and the announcers dropped the 'Herr' and called the German leader Hitler.
"Above all we remember the measured voice of the King speaking to his people.
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- Run the cold tap for approximately two minutes before using for drinking and cooking when the water has not been used for several hours
- Clean your faucet strainers, routinely remove the aerator and clean out debris/sediment
- Use only cold water for cooking and drinking. Hot water can contain sediment solids that build up in the hot water heater over time
- If you use a home water filter replace it routinely. Home water filters, designed to improve taste and remove metals, must be replaced every 6 months or as instructed by the manufacturer. Filters that are not replaced can contain elevated bacteria levels and accumulated metals.
- Drain your hot water heater annually, t his removes unnecessary sediment and calcium particles that can accumulate over time, it also prevents low water pressure and clogging of hot water pipes. Refer to service manual and use caution, the water will be hot and can cause burns.
- After replacing plumbing fixtures or pipes, run the cold water taps (called "flushing") for several minutes before each use for several days.
- In an emergency such as a broken water pipe, turning the water off where the service line enters the building can prevent damage to your property and save you money. You can usualloy find the water shut-off valve where the water line enters the building. It is a good idea to mark the valve with a bright ribbon or colorful paint so you can find it quickly. It’s also a good idea to make sure the valve works. Turn the valve off, then check several faucets to see if the water is completely off. A plumber can repair or replace a non-working valve
What You Can Do to Save Water Inside the Home
Water is a limited resource so it is vital that we all work together to maintain it and use it wisely.
Here are a few tips you can follow to help conserve:
- Check for leaky toilets (put a drop of food coloring in the tank, let it sit if the water in the bowl turns color, you have a leak).
- Consider replacing your 5 gallon per flush toilet with an efficient 1.6 gallon per flush unit. This will permanently cut your water consumption by 25%.
- Fix leaking fixtures as soon as possible. A leaking faucet or toilet can dribble away thousands of gallons of water a year.
- Run only full loads in dishwashers and washing machines. Rinse all hand-washed dishes at once.
- Turn off the faucet while brushing teeth, or shaving.
- Store a jug of ice water in the refrigerator for a cold drink.
What Can You Do To Save Water Outside the Home?
- Water your lawn and plants in the early morning or evening hours to avoid excess evaporation
- Don’t water on a windy, rainy or very hot day. Wind can scatter water, making your sprinkling less effective. It’s pointless to water when it’s raining. When it’s very hot, water can quickly evaporate before reaching roots.
- Water shrubs and gardens using a slow trickle around the roots. A slow soaking encourages deep root growth, reduces leaf burn or mildew and prevents water loss.
- Apply mulch around flowers, shrubs, vegetables and trees to reduce evaporation, promote plant growth and control weeds.
- Be sure that your hose has a shut-off nozzle. Hoses without a nozzle can spout 10 gallons more per minute.
- To reduce plant watering, select xeriscape (low-water demanding) plants or native plants, which provide an attractive landscape without high water use.
- When washing your car, wet it quickly, turn on the spray, then wash it with soapy water from the bucket. Rinse quickly.
- Be sure sprinklers water only your lawn, not the pavement.
- Plant less grass. Shrubs and ground covers could require less maintenance, less water and provide year-round greenery.
- Never use the hose to clean debris off your driveway or sidewalk. Use a broom.
- Rinse other items, such as bicycles or trash, on the lawn to give your grass an extra drink.
ADDITIONAL CONSERVATION INFORMATION
CT DEEP Water Conservation Page
CT DPH Water Conservation Page
CT EPA Watersense Conservation Page | <urn:uuid:72501d82-2faa-423e-8a71-78ef8cacfd32> | {
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In grammar, a part of speech is a linguistic category of words, which is generally defined by the syntactic or morphological behavior of the lexical item in question. Common linguistic categories include noun and verb, among others. There are open word classes, which constantly acquire new members, and closed word classes, which acquire new members infrequently if at all. Almost all languages have the lexical categories noun and verb, but beyond these there are significant variations in different languages. For example, Japanese has as many as three classes of adjectives where English has one; Chinese, Korean and Japanese have nominal classifiers whereas European languages do not; many languages do not have a distinction between adjectives and adverbs, adjectives and verbs or adjectives and nouns, etc. This variation in the number of categories and their identifying properties entails that analysis be done for each individual language. Nevertheless the labels for each category are assigned on the basis of universal criteria.
Below you'll find printable parts of speech worksheets. On these worksheets, students learn to identify the part of speech of a word according to how it is used in a given sentence. Then, they are given opportunity to practice writing sentences using the specified part of speech. All eight parts of speech are covered in this section: Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs, Prepositions, Interjections, Pronouns, and Conjunctions.
Below you will find our full list of printable prepositions worksheets to be used by teachers at home or in school. Just click on a link to open a printable PDF version of the desired worksheet. We hope you find them useful.
Explanation, examples, and practice identifying prepositions in sentences.
Answers to the Identifying Prepositions worksheet.
This worksheet includes a table outlining the various prepositions of time and their usages. Practice involves using prepositions of time to explain the schedules of color characters in the worksheet.
Answers to the Prepositions of Time Worksheet.
The worksheet provides practice using images to explain the positions of people and objects in relation to one another.
Answers to the Prepositions of Place Worksheet 1
The worksheet includes tables outlining the various prepositions of place (location). Practice involves using prepositions of place to explain the positions of color objects in relation to one another.
Answers to the Prepositions of Place Worksheet 2
This section contains printable worksheets on nouns. | <urn:uuid:a3bc6bbe-928d-490d-b5e6-06311d0d308d> | {
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Worksheets and lesson ideas to challenge students aged 11 to 16 to think hard about metallic bonding and structure and alloys (GCSE and Key Stage 3)
Students must grasp a number of abstract concepts if they are to understand metallic bonding and metallic structure. They must construct images in their minds of cations, layers, delocalised electrons and electrostatic forces. This can prove very difficult so it can help students to create and use scientific models in the classroom. The activities below guide students through the necessary steps to create models of metallic lattices, either in the lab or on the computer. Students can use these models to explain many of the physical properties of metals. After thinking about this topic a lot recently, I think the key is to make sure students appreciate that it doesn’t make sense to consider metallic bonding between specific ions and specific electrons – the electrostatic forces of attraction are between the cations and the sea of delocalised electrons.
Metallic bonding diagnostic questions
GCSE diagnostic questions on metallic bonding. These diagnostic questions have been created to see whether students hold any erroneous ideas about metallic bonding. Different questions could be used in different lessons, or they could be used together to diagnose understanding during a sequence of lessons so that feedback can take place. Students can answer questions working alone, or they can be used as an opportunity to encourage discussion so that you can listen for learning and then respond. Answers are provided in the notes section below each slide.
Creating a moving model of a metallic lattice
GCSE activity to create a moving model of a metallic lattice. Students evaluate a simple model of a metallic lattice that attempts to explain why metals are malleable. They use PowerPoint to create a moving model to show why metals conduct electricity, are malleable and have high melting points. This activity supports students to understand metallic bonding and structure and helps them consider what makes a good scientific model.
Creating a model of a metallic lattice in the lab to explain properties of metals and alloys
GCSE and A Level worksheet to create a model of a metallic lattice. Students use bubbles to build and evaluate a model of a metallic lattice. They use this model to explain many of the properties of metals. This activity can be used to consider the advantages and limitations of using models in chemistry and be extended to explain why alloys have different properties to metallic elements. (PDF)
What are alloys?
The video below provides an excellent starting point to begin thinking about alloys. It introduces amalgam, any alloy of mercury and one or more other metals.
- Bonding and physical properties
- Covalent bonding
- Intermolecular forces
- Ionic bonding
- Metallic bonding | <urn:uuid:026c7e43-36f4-4987-99eb-57cd477c5c94> | {
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Just 3,000 years ago, the Han Chinese and the Tibetan people split apart, one expanding into all of modern China and the other settling in the high-altitude, low-oxygen environment of the Himalayas. The groups' genomes are now shockingly different.
Evolutionary biologists at UC-Berkeley undertook a massive genomic analysis of modern Tibetans and Han Chinese, testing fifty genomes from the former group and forty from the latter. Using a set of European genomes as a control group, the study left no doubt that the two ethnic groups came from a relatively recent single common ancestor, as much of the 20,000 or so genes studied were basically identical. However, thirty genes, all involved in processing oxygen and managing metabolism, had massively diverged.
That's where things get interesting, according to project leader Rasmus Nielsen:
This is the fastest genetic change ever observed in humans. For such a very strong change, a lot of people would have had to die simply due to the fact that they had the wrong version of a gene. You look for rapid evolution in genes because there must be something important about that gene forcing it to change so fast. The new finding is really the first time evolutionary information alone has helped us pinpoint an important function of a gene in humans.
The gene mutations occurred near EPAS1, known as the "super athlete gene" because people who have certain variants of it tend to be... well, you can probably guess. EPAS1 codes for a protein that senses oxygen levels and helps out with both aerobic and anaerobic metabolism, and it's likely the genes involved in the Tibetan mutations have similar functions. One hope with this new study is that it's pinpoint oxygen-regulating genes that play a role in diseases like schizophrenia and epilepsy, both are linked with a lack of oxygen in the womb.
As we discussed in a post a couple months ago, genetic adaptations help groups like Tibetans and those living in the Andes mountain adapt to their unforgiving environment. Once you move above about 13,000 feet, oxygen levels are only sixty percent those at sea levels, which can present complications like increased fatigue, headaches, babies born with low birth weight, and an increased infant mortality rate. Tibetans avoid all of these problems despite having much less oxygen and hemoglobin in their blood than their counterparts closer to sea level.
Nielsen's analysis found that Tibetans and Han Chinese, the majority ethnic group throughout the rest of modern China, shared a common ancestor as recently as 2,750 years ago. At that point, most of the original group left their homes and moved to the Tibetan plateau, where their population began to shrink. The minority that stayed behind proved incredibly successful in expanding into the rest of China, growing into a population that is now about one billion strong.
Nielsen says they were looking for which genes had changed the most between the two groups:
We made a list of the genes that changed the most and what was fascinating was that, bing!, at the top of that list was a gene that had changed very strongly, and it was related to the response to oxygen.
Probably the starkest evidence of genetic change between Han Chinese and Tibetans is found in one particular mutation. While only 9 percent of Han Chinese carry the mutation, a whopping 87 percent of Tibetans do, which is an incredibly unusual difference for two groups so closely related. The mutation is associated with lower red blood cell count and reduced hemoglobin in Tibetans, and it also affects the activity of EPAS1, the "super athlete" gene. | <urn:uuid:7d29fa55-aeac-4b82-b588-e5c512b89d40> | {
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Cows burp it, pipelines and landfills leak it, and vast amounts lie frozen beneath the ocean floor. Methane is ubiquitous - as fuel for heating and cooking and as a source of concern for atmospheric scientists. Molecule for molecule, methane packs thousands of times more punch as a "greenhouse gas" than carbon dioxide does.
Until now, scientists tracking debits and credits in the globe's methane "budget" figured they had a pretty good handle on where the gas comes from - mostly from microbes breaking down organic material in places where oxygen is relatively scarce.
Enter Frank Keppler. Working with colleagues from Northern Ireland and the Netherlands, Dr. Keppler has discovered that plants may give off significant amounts of methane just by growing. And the amount they give off appears to rise with temperature. The results have stunned many researchers because no one expected methane to form biologically out in the open air, where oxygen abounds.
It's not that there's more methane in the atmosphere, but that some of it is coming from a wholly unexpected source. The results imply that, at best, this new source of methane may need to be taken into account as nations try to curb carbon-dioxide emissions by planting trees. Would increased methane emissions erase the gains against CO2? At worst, the results imply that thawing tundra in the Arctic is not the only worrisome source of methane in a warming world.
The experiments Keppler and his colleagues performed grew out of the team's effort to measure the gases that plants give off only in tiny amounts. When they looked at emissions from dead leaves, "we saw a pattern of methane" along with other gases, says Keppler, a scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany. Others had detected methane from rice plants, but thought the rice merely acted as a minipipeline for methane formed in the muck in which rice grows.
Keppler put fresh and dried plant materials, as well as young plants, in special chambers. He removed possible sources of contamination - including microbes - and found that from bananas and sugar cane to European ash and Spanish moss, the material yielded methane.
From individual plants, the amounts are small: from 12 to 370 billionths of a gram. (One gram is about .04 ounces - the weight of two small paper clips.) But the collective effect could be large. The team roughly calculates that, globally, living plants may contribute from 10 to 30 percent of global methane emissions.
The phenomenon appears to be connected somehow to the presence of pectin in plants. For humans, pectin is used to set jellies and jams. For plants, it serves as a kind of glue for cementing cells together.
The results, published in the Jan. 12 issue of the journal Nature, have drawn astonished reactions and skepticism from researchers, particularly regarding the extrapolations of global emissions.
"This needs to be confirmed," says Michael Keller, a scientist with the US Forest Service's International Institute of Tropical Forestry in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, and a visiting scientist at the University of New Hampshire. "Until we have the basic mechanisms" for creating methane in plants - "or at least we understand the controls," such as nutrients, heat, or moisture - "it's hard to do reliable extrapolations."
Still, he says, the results may help explain the high methane emissions he and others have found over tropical forests using ground and satellite measurements. Other scientists recently have reported increased emissions over Arctic-river flood plains in eastern Siberia, invoking a variation of the "rice pipeline" hypothesis to explain them.
Given all the scrutiny plants have undergone, one of the open questions is how researchers could have missed these emissions. Keppler speculates that because the methane emissions are so small, they wouldn't have been detected in field studies. Any signal would have been swamped by much larger natural background levels. And microbial sources have been so well established that no one has looked for another mechanism.
For some researchers, the evidence Keppler and his team presents is sufficiently convincing to begin working them into computer models of the globe's greenhouse-gas budget - especially the potential implications for land-use changes. To do that, scientists will need to see how emissions might vary with plant species, says Alex Guenther, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. | <urn:uuid:dadae741-ceb1-4286-9885-3704c12c43f3> | {
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LeucippusLeucippus and his student Democritus replaced theological and supernatural explanations of phenomena with natural materialist explanations. Leucippus claimed their were no uncaused events.
"Nothing occurs at random, but everything for a reason and by necessity." (Leucippus, Fragment 569 - from Fr. 2 Actius I, 25, 4) οὐδὲν χρῆμα μάτην γίνεται, ἀλλὰ πάντα ἐκ λόγου τε καὶ ὑπ’ ἀνάγκηςThe materialists and determinists assumed the world was completely made of matter, which they postulated to consist of just a few types of invisible particles that could be combined to make all of the visible objects, their properties, and their behaviors. The fundamental elements of their time - earth, water, air, and fire - were in turn simply compounds of sub-elementary particles they called atoms (indivisibles) in a void or vacuum between the atoms. Parmenides had denied the possibility of the void with the simple logical argument that if nothing was between two bodies, it follows that they are in contact with one another. Plato and Aristotle generally preferred Parmenides' idea of a continuous filled plenum and opposed the atomists' ideas of discrete particulate objects separated by nothing. We do not know how many of Leucippus' ideas were shared by his student, because so little is known of his work. He may have, like Democritus, denied the arbitrariness of phenomena that was implied if they were the free actions of the gods. These two thinkers replaced that explanation with the idea of deterministic laws governing the behavior of the atoms, and as a consequence explaining all phenomena made of atoms, including human beings and their actions. In denying the gods and their freedom, Democritus was no doubt aware of the negative implications for human freedom and moral responsibility. Would causal material explanations reduce all events to mere happenings, with no room for intentions, purposes, and human wills? Moral responsibility was very important to Democritus. It was a large part of his reason for eliminating the gods and the idea of fate. Unfortunately, eliminating the gods was impolitic and Democritus' work was shunned by many philosophers, starting with Socrates and Plato. Nevertheless, the view of atoms and a void working by natural causal laws was such a gain over the traditional view of arbitrary fate and capricious gods, that Democritus simply insisted that determinism provided enough responsibility. In this respect, Democritus seems to anticipate the idea of the semi-compatibilism of determinism and moral responsibilty.
νόμωι χροιή, νόμωι γλυκύ, νόμωι πικρόω, ἑτεῆι δ’ ἄτομα καὶ κενόν (Diels Kranz, fragment B125) | <urn:uuid:7ff81645-bbc1-48a1-b86d-a0df2a7cf552> | {
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1 Department of Applied and Environmental Sciences, NorthTec, Private Bag 9019, Whangarei
2 Honorary research associate, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, PO Box 467, Wellington
Collection of spiders during the 1960’s and their subsequent description, chiefly by the late Ray Forster, reveals a rich and distinctive spider fauna in Tai Tokerau. During the last decade we have undertaken surveys in various parts of Tai Tokerau by pitfall trapping and collecting by hand. Comparing results of pitfall trapping and hand collecting at Bream Head showed that the two methods sampled different segments of the spider fauna. Not surprisingly, pitfall trapping tended to catch ground-dwelling species, many with limited geographic ranges, while hand-collecting took species that live above ground, and are widely distributed throughout New Zealand (e.g. araneids and clubionids). Many of the genera of ground-dwelling spiders are predominantly northern in distribution (northern half of the North Island). These include Reinga (Amphinectidae), Artoria (Lycosidae) and Pahoroides (Synotaxidae). Several genera, including Pahoroides, Paramamoea (Amphinectidae), Hapona (Desidae), Uliodon (Zoropsidae) and Hypodrassodes (Gnaphosidae), are notably speciose in Tai Tokerau. At Te Paki representatives of several genera of Hahniidae were much more common than in pitfall collections in other parts of the country. Comparisons in species composition between Bream Head and Te Paki using pitfall traps reveal both similarities (e.g. habitat use by identical or similar species) and differences (e.g. habitat use by Stanwellia spp., and rarity of mysmenids and hahniids at Bream Head) in the two areas. Further study will help us understand more about the fascinating spider diversity of Tai Tokerau. | <urn:uuid:b3172c6c-2763-493b-ab09-824a3494cdd6> | {
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bioengineering(redirected from bioengineers)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Encyclopedia.
the application of scientific and mathematical principles to useful ends, such as in the development of mechanical devices, systems, or processes.
biomedical engineering bioengineering.
application of engineering principles to obtain solutions to biomedical problems.
1. The application of engineering principles and techniques to the field of biology, especially biomedicine, as in the development of prostheses, biomaterials, and medical devices and instruments. Also called biomedical engineering.
2. Genetic engineering.
bioengineering(1) The science of developing and manufacturing artificial replacements for organs, limbs and tissues.
(2) A branch of civil engineering based on use of living plants for erosion control and landscape restoration.
bioengineeringThe science of developing and manufacturing artificial replacements for organs, limbs and tissues. See Biomaterial.
bioengineeringSee BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING
- the application of technological processes to the biological synthesis of compounds of economic and medical importance. See GENETIC ENGINEERING.
- the creation of artifical replacements for body parts. | <urn:uuid:2963ca8c-aa91-44f6-a9cf-f9cf25001cc8> | {
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(Click on image for larger view) |
Grades 1 - 3. A Multi- Sensory Activity. Learn math skills by wrapping string from the problem on the left to the answer on the right. Say it, hear it, and touch it. Great for special needs. Turn it over and see if your answers are correct. This fraction set contains 10 self correcting keys.
Copyright © 2013 Kaplan Early Learning Company. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:7754060f-b38e-4df7-a62c-c39809c20620> | {
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After you record a screencast video, you may want to make some changes and edits to the video. In this brief tutorial, you'll learn how.
Watch this video first, then follow the steps below to practice.
- The master video is always available to you from the Insert tab via the Record Screen drop-down.
- Control when a video starts by choosing Play Video from the Video Options.
- Add video controls via the Video Options or by customizing the player via the Slide Properties.
- Crop and trim the video by selecting Edit Video on the Video Options tab.
There are more options, but familiarize yourself with these features first. Then record a video and start experimenting!
In the next tutorial, you'll learn how to create an interactive simulation using the same video. | <urn:uuid:00244d8a-730d-47a0-9e89-6090863d8ea6> | {
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Facts you didn’t know about Calcium…
Calcium is helpful in the growth process and bone development, it reduces fracture risk, prevents osteoporosis and facilitates normal blood clotting. It also has an important role in the transmission of nerve impulses, muscle contraction and relaxation. In addition it regulates hormone levels and stimulates immunity. Being the most present mineral in the body, calcium represents 1.5% of body weight.
Calcium uptake in the body is dependent upon the presence of vitamin D3. In the absence of this vitamin, the whole calcium absorption process is deficient. Generally, only 40% of ingested calcium is absorbed at the intestinal level, the process being negatively influenced by multiple factors such as: high fat meals, excessive sodium intake, cereal consumption, various drugs and even seasonality (from September to March).
Recently developed pharmaceutical technologies have made possible a calcium preparation for children, which manages to overcome all barriers mentioned above.
Sun Wave Pharma offers an excellent formula, named 4 Bones Junior, syrup that has as active ingredient liposomal calcium, a special form of calcium, with the highest bioavailability of all calcium products. The absorption of this preparation is not influenced by the presence of vitamin D3, nor does it interact with other food constituents, minerals or drugs.
4 Bones Junior is easily accepted by children, having a very pleasant strawberry taste. The product should be administered in small doses, being effective in preventing and correcting calcium deficiencies in children. | <urn:uuid:b3344ac1-85e3-4c67-ab8e-606d10324b92> | {
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Negative drawing is a big part of all my drawings. Its a useful technique that can bring realism when used correctly. So, what is negative drawing?
Well, negative drawing is basically drawing without actually drawing. Its drawing something by drawing around it. for example, look at this image.
The white square is drawn negatively and the black square is drawn positively. The white that you see would be the paper that you are drawing on. It was drawn by drawing around the shape of the square leaving the area white. The white area is the negative space. In negative drawing the white space is not erased, its created by drawing around it.
The correct method for negative drawing is to observe the shapes formed around or in between object(s). Once you understand the shapes you begin shading the area around these shapes revealing the negative space. Drawing the outline first and then shading outside the outline is not negative drawing. Positive drawing is the opposite of this, which is what most of us do to draw. We draw the outline and we draw in the detail, this is positive drawing.
The image above was drawn by shading around the shapes without drawing the outline first. This could easily be blades of grass overlapping each other. But this is just the outline, you can then add the detail to suggest overlapping blades . Once you have the shape you are looking for, you can add detail or in the case of whiskers, they can stay totally white.
This technique is incredibly useful when you want to create different effects. Its great when drawing whiskers and grass. Here are more examples of negative drawing, these are simple but they show basically what negative drawing is.
I use negative drawing often in my drawings, especially for drawing realistic animal hair. In the image above, the drawing with the three lines was created using the stylus tool that i have, a pen with no ink. I used the pen to indent on the paper leaving white lines, then i passed the pencil over and it left a clean white line. This is a technique that is great for hair texture and highlights. I will explain it with much more detail when i do the hair tutorial. If you have any questions, please comment or contact me. | <urn:uuid:4ae7e0f0-1857-4727-bf13-e62893510465> | {
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The First Week: A Risky Time
In the developing world,
childbirth and the first days
postpartum are a risky time for
mother and baby.
Approximately one-fourth to
one-half of deaths in the first
year of life occur in the first
week. Many of the interventions that will
improve the health and survival of
newborns are relatively low cost and feasible
to implement. One of these interventions is
immediate and exclusive breastfeeding.
This intervention can also help women by
minimizing immediate postpartum
hemorrhage, one of the most common
causes of maternal death.
Establishing good breastfeeding practices in
the first days is critical to the health of the
infant and to breastfeeding success.
Initiating breastfeeding is easiest and most
successful when a mother is physically and
psychologically prepared for birth and
breastfeeding and when she is informed,
supported, and confident of her ability to
care for her newborn.
During antenatal counseling, health care
providers can prepare women for the events
of labor, delivery, and breastfeeding. They
can help to ensure a healthy start for the
mother/ baby partnership by implementing
the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding
(see page 2). This issue of Facts for Feeding
identifies actions health care providers can
take during the first week to help the
mother and baby establish and maintain
good breastfeeding practices.
Labor and Delivery
Mothers should enter into labor
and delivery informed about
the stages of labor, drug-free
ways to cope with labor pain,
potential side effects of labor
medications, and benefits for
mother and baby of immediate
and exclusive breastfeeding. Skilled attendants can encourage the
support of a labor companion, increase a
mother's comfort, and minimize her pain.
Encourage the support of a labor companion
Continuous support to the mother by a companion during
labor and childbirth can ease labor and delivery,
reduce the need for medical interventions, and
increase a woman’s confidence in her ability to breastfeed and care for her baby. A labor companion can help to keep labor progressing normally by encouraging the mother to walk
and move around in labor, offering her light
nourishment and fluids, telling her how well she is
doing, and suggesting ways to keep pain and anxiety from overpowering her.
Increase comfort and confidence; reduce pain
Most women experience various levels of anxiety,
discomfort, and pain during labor and delivery. The risks and
benefits of different ways to alleviate pain, especially through medication,
should be discussed during antenatal counseling. Some pain medications can
increase the risk of separation of mother and newborn after delivery, delaying
the introduction of breastfeeding. Pain medication may cross the placenta,
making the baby drowsy and diminishing the baby’s sucking reflexes. As a result,
the newborn may be less ready to initiate breastfeeding.
Alternative ways of managing the pain and anxiety of labor and delivery should
be encouraged or at least tried before offering labor pain medications.
Continuous labor support, massage, soothing warm water, changes in body
position, and verbal and physical reassurance can increase a woman’s comfort
level and deflect her focus on the pain.
Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding
Every facility providing maternity services and care for newborns infants
- Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to
all health care staff.
- Train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this
- Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of
- Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within a half-hour of birth.
- Show mothers how to breastfeed, and how to maintain lactation even if
they should be separated from their infants.
- Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breastmilk, unless
- Practice rooming-in—allow mothers and infants to remain together—24
hours a day.
- Encourage breastfeeding on demand.
- Give no artificial teats or pacifiers (also called dummies or
soothers) to breastfeeding infants.
- Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer
mothers to them on discharge from the hospital
From Protecting, Promoting and Supporting Breastfeeding: The Special Role of
Maternity Services - A Joint UNICEF/WHO Statement, 1989
The first few hours after delivery are a critical time for both
mother and newborn. The mother is recovering from the sudden dramatic physical and
hormonal changes triggered by labor, birth, and the
expulsion of the placenta. The drop in placental hormones “signals” her body to begin making breastmilk in sufficient quantities to
feed her baby. Those attending the mother at birth
must keep a watchful eye to detect abnormal bleeding
and to ensure that her nutrition and fluid needs are
met and her comfort is maintained.
At this same time, the newborn is undergoing the
dramatic shift to life outside the womb. The immediate
care required by the baby includes attention to the initiation of breathing, skin-to-skin contact with the mother, warmth,
immediate and exclusive breastfeeding, and clean cord
Make initiation of breastfeeding the first routine in the first hour
For the healthy baby, the first routine after delivery
should be skin-to-skin contact and initiation of
breastfeeding. Other routines such as cord care, eye
care, and weighing can follow. Bathing is not
recommended until several hours after birth.
Suctioning of the baby’s mouth and nose should not be routine but only done if necessary to clear secretions that are preventing the baby from breathing well. A baby who is crying does not need
suctioning. If suctioning is necessary, it should be
done gently so it does not injure the delicate tissue
of the baby’s mouth and throat, which could interfere with
Place the baby skin-to-skin against the
The baby should be wiped from head to toe with a dry cloth
and placed skin-to-skin against the mother. Baby and mother should then be
covered with another dry cloth. Immediate mother/newborn contact takes advantage
of the newborn’s natural alertness following normal vaginal birth and fosters
bonding. This immediate contact also reduces maternal bleeding and stabilizes
the baby’s temperature, respiratory rate, and blood sugar level. Even a mother
who requires stitches in the birth canal can have the baby placed against her
Healthy newborns delivered vaginally are awake and alert, with inborn rooting
and sucking reflexes to help them find the breast and nipple, latch on, and
start the first feed. Most newborns are ready to find the nipple and latch onto
the breast within the first hour of birth.
Left alone on the mother’s stomach, a healthy newborn scoots upwards pushing
with the feet, pulling with the arms, and bobbing the head until finding and
latching on the nipple. A newborn’s sense of smell is highly developed, which
also helps in finding the nipple. As the baby moves to the nipple, the mother
produces high levels of oxytocin, which helps contract the uterine muscle and
keep the uterus firm, thereby minimizing her bleeding. Oxytocin also causes her
breasts to release colostrum when the baby finds the nipple.
Help mother position baby to the breast
The health care provider or labor companion can help position
the baby, so latch-on is effective and does not hurt the mother. Pillows or a
folded blanket under the mother’s head may help. Or the mother can roll to one
side and tuck the baby next to her.
A baby born by Cesarean Section can benefit from skin-to-skin contact by being
held close to the mother’s cheek right after delivery. In this situation, when
initiation of breastfeeding takes place—if possible within the first two hours
after surgery—a knowledgeable health care provider will need to help the mother
with positioning and attachment to ensure her comfort. For low birth weight and
healthy preterm babies, kangaroo care is an effective way of caring for them.
Kangaroo care is defined as “early prolonged, continuous skin-to-skin care in a
kangaroo position between the mother and the newborn.” Kangaroo care has been
shown to achieve effective and prolonged body temperature regulation and stable
heart and respiratory rates in the low birth weight newborn. Skin-to-skin care
encourages latch-on and suckling, mother-baby bonding, and establishment of
successful breastfeeding once a baby is mature enough to suck.
Praise the mother for giving colostrum,
the baby’s “first immunization”
Colostrum—the sticky, yellow-white early milk—should be the newborn’s first
taste. There should be no prelacteal feeds such as water, other liquids, or
ritual foods. Because of its high levels of antibodies, vitamin A, and other
protective factors, colostrum is often called the baby’s first immunization.
Give the mother a vitamin A supplement
where postpartum dosing is a national policy
The risk of vitamin A deficiency is higher for infants whose
mothers are vitamin A deficient. A single high-dose (200,000 IU) vitamin A
capsule will help build up the mother’s vitamin A stores, increase the vitamin A
content of breastmilk, and reduce the risk of infection in the mother and her
Continue to monitor and assist mother
Mother and baby should be kept together. During the first few
hours after delivery, the mother’s temperature, pulse, blood pressure—often
called vital signs—and bleeding can be checked while the baby remains on her
abdomen. The baby’s temperature, breathing, and heart rate can also be checked
Following birth, newborns need:
During the first
days mothers want to know how often to feed the baby, whether breastfeeding is
going well, and if the baby is getting enough milk. Women who have had a history
of feeding problems can be encouraged to try new behaviors to prevent the same
problems. Reassurance from health care providers and support from family is
particularly important at this time.
Observe breastfeeds; offer assistance
The newborn should be observed for correct positioning and
attachment. The baby should be held close to the mother, facing the breast with
the baby’s ear, shoulder, and hip in a straight line. Signs of correct latch-on
include wide-opened mouth with the nipple and much of the areola (the dark area
around the nipple) in the mouth, lips rolled outward, and tongue over the lower
gum. Visible jaw movement drawing milk out and rhythmical suckling with an
audible swallow should be evident.
Provide additional support when
initiation is delayed
Under special circumstances, initiation may be delayed
because mother and infant are separated for medical reasons. Also, premature
babies may initially have difficulty suckling at the breast. Health care
providers should provide additional assistance and support so that nearly every
mother will, in time, be able to breastfeed her baby.
Teach the mother to express her
colostrum and breastmilk
Teaching the mother to effectively express colostrum and to
feed it to her baby will enable her to give the baby the nutrient-rich and
protective first milk, establish the milk supply, and help avoid engorgement
when the milk “comes in.” For a mother recovering from a difficult or surgical
delivery, it is very important that she not have to contend with the added
difficulties of overly full breasts.
Teach the mother to feed expressed
breastmilk from a cup
If a baby cannot suckle at the breast, an excellent way to
give expressed breastmilk is with a small cup. Cup feeding may be needed for low
birth weight and premature infants and for those separated from their mother for
other reasons. Cups are easier than feeding bottles to keep clean. The feeding
behavior the baby learns with ‘lapping’ the milk from the edge of the cup does
not interfere with latch-on when the baby is ready to feed at the breast.
Artificial nipples do not conform to a baby’s mouth the same way as a mother’s
nipple. A baby can rapidly become accustomed to a way of sucking from an
artificial nipple which, when applied to the mother, can cause her pain and be
less effective in removing the breastmilk.
Counsel on frequent, exclusive
A mother and her family need to be reassured that colostrum
meets all of the baby’s nutrient and fluid requirements. The more the baby
suckles, the sooner mature breastmilk is produced.
As a guideline, newborns should breastfeed at least 8–12 times in 24 hours. The
length of the feed will vary from feed to feed and from baby to baby.
Unrestricted (on-demand breastfeeding day and night) stimulates milk production
and helps prevent engorgement. Infant formula, animal milk, herbal teas, water,
or any other type of liquid or food may introduce dangerous contaminants,
interfere with mother’s milk production, and begin a cycle where less frequent
breastfeeding leads to less breastmilk production. Mothers should be encouraged
to feed on the first breast without time restriction before offering the second
breast to ensure that the baby gets the rich fat content in the hind milk.
Reassure the mother
During the first days after childbirth, women are recovering
from profound physical and hormonal changes. They may at times be discouraged
and experience discomfort, anxiety, and exhaustion. Mothers and their families
should know that these feelings are common among mothers during the first week
or two after birth. They should not worry if a mother has a low-grade fever (not
above 37.6 C or 100 F) on the day her milk comes in. This fever should last no
more than 24 hours. They should also know that the sharp contractions of the
uterus that a mother may experience during or after breastfeeding for the first
several days— particularly if she has given birth before—are normal and will
Involve family in care and support
Birth is a life-giving and life-changing experience. Mothers
need emotional support, good nutrition, and rest during this profound period in
their lives. Their self-confidence increases knowing that they are providing
their baby with the very best nourishment, comfort, and care.
- Partner involvement: Fathers can be active
participants in the early postpartum period. Cultures vary as to how involved
men are in the birth events, but almost all fathers are proud and eager to
have bonding time with their newborn.
- Maternal nutrition: Families can provide
breastfeeding women additional nourishing foods and fluids to help them
support lactation and maintain their health. Breastfeeding mothers do not need
excessive amounts of fluids. They should be encouraged to drink in response to
their thirst. If they live in areas where postpartum vitamin A supplementation
is national policy and did not receive a high-dose vitamin A supplement after
delivery, they should take one as soon as possible, but no later than eight
- Rest: Mothers should be encouraged to sleep when
the baby sleeps. Members of the family can take over or help with tasks
normally done by the mother.
Inform mother and family of community
Mothers should know how to contact health care providers in
the community who support exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and
who know how to advise mothers that experience breastfeeding difficulties such
as sore, cracked nipples or engorged breasts. Mothers should also know how to
contact breastfeeding support groups and lay counselors.
the third or fourth day, most mothers notice that
their milk becomes more plentiful.
The body is beginning to transition to the
production of mature breastmilk—a process that can take about two weeks.
Reinforce good breastfeeding
practices; monitor progress
During this period of transition, special attention is
needed to prevent normal breast fullness from turning
into painful engorgement or even infection. If the breasts are very full, the health care
provider can help the mother hand express some
of the first milk to soften the nipple and the area
around the nipple so that the baby can attach well to
the breast. Exclusive, frequent breastfeeding will
help to prevent and to treat engorgement.
Counsel mother to observe the
Mothers should be alert to signs of illness and report
anything unusual to a health care provider. They should know
how to tell if the baby is getting enough breastmilk: baby passes urine at least
six times in 24 hours, mother can hear the sound of the baby swallowing, and
mother’s breasts feel softer after a feed. During days 4–7, the baby should pass
at least four stools in 24 hours. From weeks 2–6, the baby should pass at least
one stool in 24 hours. After the sixth week, the average number of stools in
infants varies widely.
Provide ongoing support
Mother and baby are just beginning their partnership. At any
time doubts, breastfeeding problems, and external factors such as the marketing
of breastmilk substitutes can disrupt the routines being established. The health
care provider and community health worker can help create a social climate
supportive to breastfeeding women by promoting evidence-based practices within
their organizations. They can advocate for policies that reinforce these
practices, link community services with the health sector, and provide families
with accurate information and quality care.
Cattaneo A et al. Kangaroo mother care in low-income
countries. International Network in Kangaroo Mother
Care. J Trop Pediatr 1998; 44 (5):279-82.
Chalmers B et al. WHO principles of perinatal care:
The essential antenatal, perinatal, and postnatal care
course. Birth 2001; 28 (3) 202–7.
Hofmeyr GJ et al. Companionship to modify the clinical
birth environment: Effects on progress and perception
of labour, and breastfeeding. Brit J of Obstet Gynecol
Madi BC et al. Effects of female relative support in
labor: A randomized controlled trial. Birth 1999; 26
Rajan L. The impact of obstetric procedures and
analgesia/anesthesia during labour and delivery on
breastfeeding. Midwifery 1994; 10:87-103.
WHO. Evidence for the ten steps to successful
breastfeeding (WHO/CHD/98.9). Geneva: WHO, 1998.
Other references available upon request.
Facts for Feeding
Frequently Asked Questions
Facts for Feeding is a publication of LINKAGES: Breastfeeding, LAM, Related Complementary
Feeding, and Maternal Nutrition Program, and was made possible through support
provided to the Academy for Educational Development (AED) by the GH/ HIDN of the
United States Agency for International Development (USAID), under the terms of
Cooperative Agreement No. HRN-A-00-97-00007-00. Mary Kroeger provided technical
assistance for the development of this publication. The opinions expressed herein are those
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Satellite imagery and geographic information systems are keeping agriculture, land use decisions and water quality issues on the map.
The National Agricultural Statistics Service is using GIS to develop cropland data layer maps. The maps outline individual fields of corn, soybeans and small grains, in addition to urban and forested areas, pasture land and bodies of water. These maps are now being made available to the public on CD-ROM.
The purpose of using GIS is to determine a more accurate acreage number in individual counties, said Ralph Gann, state statistician for the Indiana Agricultural Statistics Service, located at Purdue University.
"One of our missions is to establish county level production data each year," Gann said. "We get very good yield data from farm surveys on high, average and low yields. But, sometimes trying to determine how many acres were planted of each crop can be more difficult from a statistical point of view. This type of imagery really helps us narrow those margins down."
States that have this cropland data are Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Mississippi, Arkansas and North Dakota.
The greater value of this data may come in the future for smaller acreage crops like fruit, vegetables or other specialty crops where sample survey data can be more questionable, Gann said.
Groups studying issues such as land use, water quality, zoning, planning and deforestation rates also can use the cropland data layers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency, National Resources Conservation Service and National Forest Service are looking at how this data can help them administer programs more effectively around the state, Gann said.
"Land use is a politically hot topic in many areas around the state," Gann said. "Of course, urban sprawl is one of those words many people encounter and the disappearance of farmland concerns them. This data can track over the years how land has been used. I think it will take some of the political volatility out of the discussions when so many people have a particular issue they want to promote without hard data."
The 2000 and 2001 cropland data maps on CD-ROM cost $35. No GIS software is needed to view the maps. Users can look at the entire state or select a specific area in a county. More information and an order form for the CD-ROM are on the NASS Web site at http://www.nass.usda.gov/research/Cropland/SARS1a.htm .
"When you put the data together over a period of time, it begins to tell a story," Gann said. "It builds a mosaic, and that is a term used to describe the features of what the land use looks like at any given point of time."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has worked with GIS for more than 30 years. The technology was used during the 1970's to map foreign country's crop acreages, to determine potential demand for the U.S. crop.
In the late 1980's and 1990's, GIS mapping was used to assess U.S. crop stress caused by weather. | <urn:uuid:90a4b1ac-935f-4b08-a246-654cc138add5> | {
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IBM has announced the development of a new transistor which will allow for the creation for chips a mere 5 nanometers in size. Along with research partners GlobalFoundries and Samsung, the computer giant has created a chip which would allow for 30 billion switches, essentially the on-off switches of electronic devices, on the surface of a fingernail.
"For business and society to meet the demands of cognitive and cloud computing in the coming years, advancement in semiconductor technology is essential," says Arvind Krishna, director of IBM Research in a press release. Although there's no word on when a commercial 5 nanometer semiconductors will be available, Big Blue hopes they will accelerate cognitive computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), and other data-intensive applications delivered in the cloud.
The creation comes two years after the announcement of a 7 nanometer test node, and used the same Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography to get the results. In the process, the chips are coated with a light-sensitive substance and then are sent into a room with a scanner. Once inside the scanner, lasers shine shrunken version of patterns onto the chips.
What GlobalFoundries, which was acquired by IBM in 2014, is able to do is use EUV radiation instead of traditional light on these scanners. EUV radiation isn't like the ultraviolet light you see everyday. It doesn't work with conventional mirrors, for example, and can't be focused by lenses. A laser heats up a tiny droplet of tin, turning it into plasma. The tin emits EUV light as it cools.
While EUV has long been sought after for such uses, mastering it in a lab setting has proven to be something of a challenge. The problem stems from efficiency: usually, a mere 1 percent of the energy provided by that first laser pulse can be turned into UV light. There have been advances on this front, with techniques that can multiply that efficiency.
But if EUV wants to make it into commercial production, it needs to become more affordable. "We can get close to cost parity," says Harry Levinson, GlobalFoundries senior director of technology research.
Affordable or not, the 5 nanometer semiconductor continues the grand tradition of Moore's Law, an observation made by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in 1965. Moore published an article in the now defunct Electronics Magazine that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles roughly every two years. By moving from 7 nanometers to 5, IBM has been able to keep the law intact.
Enjoy it while it lasts. Researchers say that Moore's Law will come to an end in 2021. | <urn:uuid:a9831193-22e6-46ec-a79d-6a79c036e820> | {
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Every shakuhachi begins as a stalk of yellow-green bamboo swaying in the wind. The bamboo used to make the shakuhachi is a very common species called madake, which means ‘true bamboo’ in Japanese. This type of bamboo often grows in large groves that may cover many acres. One grove may contain hundreds, or even thousands of other stalks, nearly all of which are as tall as a six storey building. The entire grove is a single living creature. Though each stalk (called culms) has its own clump of roots, all culms in a grove are connected by a fantastic network of runner roots. Every culm contributes nourishment to the entire grove.
Master craftsmen are still the only source of quality instruments. Because each piece of bamboo is unique in dimensions, density and bore, getting a shakuhachi to play well is mostly an intuitive process. Shakuhachi makers will frequently refer to their best instruments as ‘accidents’.
The shakuhachi is a very simple instrument. It has no keys or pads like those on a western flute. There is no reed, like on a clarinet or saxophone, and no strings like on a guitar or violin. It doesn’t even have a mouthpiece like the recorder. There are no mechanisms inside it that make the sound, like those inside a piano or organ.
With only five finger holes, (four in the front of the flute and one in the back for a thumb), it has less finger holes than almost any other common wind instrument, including the penny whistle. Yet despite its simple construction, the shakuhachi in the hands of a master can produce an unbelievable wide range of sounds. It can be as expressive as the human voice.
The shakuhachi was first introduced into Japan from China in the eighth century. It has been used in a spiritual context since the 15th century or earlier. In the Edo period (1600-1868), playing the shakuhachi was the primary meditative practice of a sect of Zen Buddhist monks, who called themselves komusô (‘priests of nothingness’).
For these Zen monks, the shakuhachi was a spiritual tool, not a musical instrument. They also knew that the act of playing the shakuhachi relaxed the mind and body in many ways, and subsequently aided their meditation and contemplation. The wisdom of the ‘priests of nothingness’ has been transmitted to today’s shakuhachi players through their repertoire of sacred pieces (honkyoku). | <urn:uuid:85c80ec8-882f-4b24-a1dc-e426505cc4c0> | {
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Triumph History: The Triumph Motor Company started as a bicycle company in England in 1885. Triumph went from bicycles to motorcycles in 1902 and then cars in 1921. The 1927 Triumph Super 7 was their first popular model and moved Triumph into the main stream of the automotive world. Triumph sold the bicycle and motorcycle divisions in 1936 to gain capital but it wasn't't enough and by 1939 they were bankrupt. Then T.W. Ward bought the Triumph Motor Company and hired Donald Healey as general manager but the factory was destroyed by bombs in 1940.
After the war the Standard Motor Company bought the Triumph Motor Company and the name was changed to the Triumph Motor Company Limited. The first post-war vehicle came out in 1946 and the first Triumph sports car, the Triumph TR2, was introduced in 1953. In 1960 Triumph bought Leyland Motors Limited and in 1968 the name was changed to the British Leyland Motor Corporation. The last Triumph was built in 1981 and the name is now owned by BMW.
Click on column names to sort listings - Reset States to Show All - Triumph
Search For Anything
Enter keywords (Ex: 1957 chevy, black) or filters | <urn:uuid:3d85e2f6-1a74-453a-888d-1198c91a74b0> | {
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5 February 2012
While the U.S. and Canada continue to look for a winter that has yet to arrive, it seems that the cold and snow have shown up across the pond in Europe. The BBC is reporting that temps dropped to -38 ºC in the Ukraine overnight, and there are deaths from the cold being reported across Europe. Another BBC report says the famed canals in Venice are starting to freeze over, while heavy snow began falling in London at dark Saturday. Heathrow Airport has canceled at least one-third of the Sunday flight schedule, and parts of Germany are already looking at temps. in the single digits on the old Fahrenheit scale.
Here in North America, the incredibly mild weather continues, with temperatures running 10ºC above normal or more over much of the U.S. and closer to 20ºC above in parts of Canada! What is happening here is fascinating, and it’s also an opportunity to tackle some common questions about weather and climate. The pattern of cold and warm air across the Northern Hemisphere is highly unusual right now, but the causes are not the result of just one cause, but many.
The 500 millibar chart shows a huge ridge of warm air over Canada and North America, with areas of cold air over Northern Russia and Western Europe. Moreover, this pattern has shifted very little over the past few weeks and it looks like it may not shift much for the next week or two. Long range numerical models are actually showing that Europe may be about to get a LOT of snow over the next ten days, while the U.S. stays fairly mild.
How much of this crazy weather pattern is due to climate change is a big question, and it is one that every forecaster gets these days. I just wrote a piece on this for NCAR’s Currents and I will link to that here when it comes out.
Dr. Jennifer Francis at Rutgers Univ. has been doing some ground breaking research into just this. She has found compelling evidence that the lack of Arctic Sea ice has caused a shift in weather patterns that could (at least in part) explain this kind of pattern. I saw her presentation in Breckenridge a few weeks ago (at the Glen Gerberg Weather and Climate Summit.)
You can see it as well below. Her power points are here (thanks to Dave Jones at StormCenter Comms.)
Take a look at how warm the U.S. is as of 7PM NY time Saturday night. Duluth in Minnesota is 21 degrees above the average temp. for 7 PM EST on 4 February. | <urn:uuid:44cdac23-0c40-4169-8a26-1538604e7ffa> | {
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When people talk about the role of technology in the future, most of the time the technologies they have in mind are the flashy ones – that is, those that haven’t been around long enough to slip into the background texture of everyday existence. Especially in periods of decline, though, it’s far more likely to be the technologies so common they’re hardly noticed that determine, by their survival or disappearance, the fate of societies.
For the Polynesian inhabitants of Easter Island, for example, deepwater canoes had been part of daily life for thousands of years. This, I suspect, is among the core reasons that nobody on Easter Island seems to have anticipated the consequences of cutting down too many trees. The resulting deforestation eliminated an essential resource – large tree trunks – without which deepwater canoes could not be made, cutting off the majority of the island’s food supply and, at the same time, the only way out of the trap the Easter Islanders set for themselves. The canoe had been so omnipresent a part of life for so long that the possibility of its absence very likely never entered into the islanders’ darkest dreams.
A similar sort of inattention, according to the medieval Arab historian ibn Khaldûn, played a catastrophic role in the collapse and abandonment of cities across the Middle East and North Africa in the centuries prior to his own time. The Muqaddimah, ibn Khaldûn’s treatise on the forces that shape history, paid close attention to the relationship between settled agricultural civilizations and nomadic herding societies. It’s a relationship worth watching; as far back as ancient Sumer, which in historical terms is pretty much as far back as you can go, the ebb and flow of power between desert herdspeople and settled agriculturalists sets the heartbeat of history. In Mesopotamia and many other places, civilizations rise on the backs of new technologies, prosper and expand at the expense of their nomadic neighbors, transmit their technical skills to those same neighbors, and then falter and collapse beneath nomad incursions.
What sets ibn Khaldûn’s analysis apart from those of the many other historians who once tracked this cycle is his attention to the role of background technologies in bringing the cycle to an end. From Sumerian times onward, irrigation canals formed the backbone of settled life across the Middle East. While irrigation in a desert setting can cause salinization (the slow buildup of salts in the soil), this does not happen as automatically or as disastrously as some current theorists insist; it’s rarely mentioned, for example, that Syria – where grain agriculture was probably invented, and has certainly been practiced as long as anywhere else in the world – is still a significant exporter of wheat today. Two other factors less often discussed in modern studies of ecological history played at least as large a role.
The first of these, and over the long term the most important, is climate change. Over the ten thousand years or so since the end of the last ice age, climates have shifted dramatically many times over large areas of the world, and rarely so drastically as in the Middle East. The ice age climate spread deserts over much of the world, including areas that now receive plenty of rainfall, while a few regions that are now barren – for example, the Great Basin deserts in North America – got heavy rains and supported rich ecosystems and human societies. The chaotic climates that followed the breakup of the glaciers, and likely made the lives of our ancestors all too interesting, eventually gave way to what paleoclimatologists call the Holocene Climatic Optimum, a period of several thousand years in which global temperatures were much warmer and wetter than they are today.
During those years, the winter rains that now fall north of the Mediterranean swept across it to douse North Africa, and tropical monsoons rolled north into today’s deserts from Ethiopia to Pakistan. As recently as 6000 years ago, as a result, hippopotami flourished in a great chain of lakes across what is now the southern Sahara Desert, and further north the lakes and marshes gave way to a vast savanna full of giraffes, gazelles, lions, and elephants. Similar conditions prevailed over large parts of the Arabian peninsula and across the band of deserts that now stretch from Mesopotamia east to India.
What dried up the lakes and replaced savannas with sand dunes was the gradual cooling of the Earth’s climate, which shifted the rain bands toward their present locations, leaving deserts in their wake. Whole river systems vanished, along with the people who once lived beside them, as the rain that once fed both went away. The process took time – as late as the heyday of the Roman Empire, for example, North Africa still received winter rains and remained the Mediterranean’s major grain-producing area – but by ibn Khaldûn’s time it was essentially complete. This was where the third factor, central to his own analysis, came into play.
The cyclic interaction between settled urban societies and desert nomads depended on the maintenance of irrigation technologies first put into place by the ancient Sumerians. The slow march of climate change made irrigation more difficult and more necessary at the same time, and most desert civilizations had to direct a fair proportion of their economic output into maintaining the canals and waterworks on which survival depended. This, as ibn Khaldûn pointed out, became their Achilles’ heel, because the desert nomads who conquered the urban centers never quite grasped the necessity of the irrigation systems, and starved them of resources until they slid down the slow curve of failure. Like the deforestation that doomed the people of Easter Island, the abandonment of the irrigation canals was a one-way ticket to collapse; once farmland turned into desert, the agricultural wealth that made canal building and repair possible was no longer there to be spent, and regions that had been settled for millennia turned into deserts spotted with crumbling ruins.
All this has more than a little relevance to the twilight of the industrial age beginning around us today. Like the inhabitants of Easter Island, we depend on the reckless exploitation of limited resources to sustain our way of life; like the civilizations of the Middle East whose fate was chronicled by ibn Khaldûn, our survival depends on fragile infrastructure systems that few of us understand and most of our leaders seem entirely willing to starve of necessary resources for the sake of short-term political advantage. The industrial system that supports us has been in place long enough that most of us seem to be unable to conceive of circumstances in which it might no longer be there.
One of the wrinkles of catabolic collapse – the process by which societies in decline cannibalize their own infrastructure to meet immediate needs, and so accelerate their own breakdown – is that it can trigger abrupt crises by wrecking some essential technology that is not recognized as such. We are already witnessing the early stages of exactly such a crisis. What large trees were to the Easter Islanders and irrigation canals were to the early medieval Middle East, the current form of money economy is to modern industrial society, and the speculative delusions that passed for financial innovation over the last few decades have played exactly the same role as the invading nomads of ibn Khaldûn’s history, by stripping a fragile system of resources in the pursuit of immediate gain. The result, just as in the 1930s, is that a nation still relatively rich in potential resources, and provided with a large and skilled labor force, is sliding into crushing poverty because the intricate social system we use to allocate labor and resources has broken down.
Other unwelcome surprises along the same lines are likely events in the future. Before we get there, however, those of us who are concerned about the possible downside of history might be well advised to pay more attention to the unnoticed technologies in our lives, and to start thinking about how to make do without them, or get some substitute in place in a hurry, if the unthinkable happens and one or more of them suddenly goes away. | <urn:uuid:d304b9fb-165c-4556-ba4b-3c50156d395f> | {
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Modern medicine has come a long way in extending lives in comparison to our ancient forefathers, yet today some form of cancer or heart disease strikes an average of 1 in 3 people who now live in the 1st world.
If we were to compare daily life today to that of a person living a couple thousand years ago, we might find a few differences.
Rushing to work did not exist as most people lived on farms, the stress people experienced in spite of the occasional tribal war was probably having a hard time harvesting crops due to heavy storms, stubborn donkeys, or natural disasters.
Today we still have natural disasters, and the tribal wars continue on a much larger scale and which now cost billions of dollars, but the environment we live in is obviously very different.
Today we have food grown with pesticides and artificial fertilizers, and livestock injected with various antibiotics or hormones to fatten them.
Toxic wastes are constantly being dumped into the oceans, which wind up in the fish we eat.
Almost every food product on supermarket shelves has some form of chemical preservative and even the air we breathe and water we drink is questionable depending on how close we live to the nearest garbage dump or factory.
Billions of tons of oil is extracted from the earth and then pumped back into the atmosphere through burning which winds up in our lungs, depletes the protective ozone layer, and as a result exposes life on the planet, to more dangerous ultraviolet rays from the sun.
Our bodies are also hit with car fumes, cigarette smoke, alcohol or recreational drugs, pollution in all its forms, poisons, allergens, exposure to various hair and household sprays, pesticides, rancid fats and oils, chemicals and preservatives found in foods and soft drinks, chemicals in artificial colorants and sweeteners, chlorinated water, toxins from food cooked in aluminum or Teflon pots, chemicals used in medications or drugs, various hits of radiation from sources such as chemotherapy, X-rays, milder forms in TV screens, and over exposure to the ultraviolet light from the sun. In fact there are over 500 known human carcinogens (or substances known to cause cancer,) which many people are in contact with or eat daily, such as deep fried foods, and even the simple procedure of smelling household paint.
This scary list can go on and on as our daily intake or exposure to some form of poison definitely can all add up, or it can be quite small depending on the location and lifestyle of each individual. For example a person living out in the country would not be faced with the same amount of daily toxin or carcinogen exposure as someone living in a city.
Now this might all sound a bit like extremist ecological mumbo, but that’s not what I’m getting at. The point here is that our bodies have to detoxify all of these substances somehow and this is definitely not something people even a hundred years ago had to deal with.
In spite of these and the many other daily physical beatings our bodies take in this 21st century, it constantly repairs itself and continues to live to the ripe old age of about 70. Our bodies could probably easily live to about 130 if it werent pumped full of yes minute poisons...
So anyone who says "a bit of toxins are OK" maybe should evaluate where they live! | <urn:uuid:331e2660-b7c0-49b0-ac0a-ec942fa5c55c> | {
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Types of Anthropology
People studying anthropology examine human behavioral patterns and survival methods in addition to human relations around the world. Students majoring anthropology can focus their studies on specific geographic locations in order to gain a more in-depth understanding of past and present cultures and diversity in those areas. They may also choose to concentrate on one or more of the five main types of anthropology briefly described below.
Archaeology – study of material objects and environmental conditions in order to draw conclusions on past human activity and culture; objects may be obtained from thousands of years ago or merely decades past
Biological anthropology – study of evolution of humanity, including behavioral habits and survival tactics as well as biological aspects; may also incorporate the comparison of humans vs primates
Linguistic anthropology – study of how humans communicate with one another individually and on larger scales, including in-depth analysis of language
Sociocultural anthropology – study of various cultures, noting similarities and differences within a society and in comparison to other human societies; may focus on diverse topics such as nationality, sexuality, and gender
Applied anthropology – application of theories and methods of research and observation from one or more type(s) of anthropology to social issues as means to address and resolve these issues within societies; used at law firms, government agencies, medical schools, and more in order to benefit communities
How to Get an Anthropology Degree
If you are interested in exploring anthropology in college and you are still in high school, there are a few general courses that may help prepare you for college programs in anthropology. Studying world history and a foreign language in high school can enhance your knowledge of past civilizations, instilling some background knowledge that may be helpful during your journey through learning the ins and outs of anthropology.
If you wish to pursue a future in anthropology, you should also consider a summer camp or field school—like Crow Canyon Archaeological Center located in southwest Colorado—to improve your knowledge of topics related to anthropology before jumping into your post-secondary education. Also, when applying to colleges and universities, be sure you focus on the quality of and educational opportunities provided by various college and university anthropology departments in order to choose a school that you feel will best prepare you for your future career goals.
The College of William & Mary, founded in 1693 and located in Williamsburg, VA, is the second oldest college in America and home to an anthropology department unlike any other. With its intense focus on anthropological aspects of Colonial Williamsburg in addition to history, music, and American studies, there’s no denying both undergraduate and graduate students will receive top-of-the-line educations to set them apart from all other job applicants in various fields. The program requirements have students delve into each of the four main types of anthropology, preparing them for a wide range of occupations that analyze past and present human behavior. Graduate students can earn a Master of Arts in Historical Anthropology or Historical Archaeology or a doctoral degree in either historical anthropology or historical archaeology. The college also has an anthropology club that all students are welcome to join.
The University of Washington’s Department of Anthropology provides excellent undergraduate and graduate programs in the subject. With high-end research facilities and equipment, students at the University of Washington in Seattle gain valuable experience for real-life applications upon graduating with a degree in anthropology. The undergraduate program allows students to choose options that coincide with the anthropology bachelors degree, including subjects that cover anthropological approaches to globalization, health, and science. Graduate students can earn doctoral degrees in archaeology, biological anthropology, and sociocultural anthropology. The Department of Anthropology at the University of Washington also offers students particular writing services and reference materials at its unique Anthropology Writing Center.
East Carolina University offers its students outstanding undergraduate and graduate programs in anthropology that educate students on evolution theories and studies and how they can be studied through subjects like archaeology, biology, and cultural studies. The department openly encourages students to gain experience in research facilities on campus by working side by side with faculty on research projects. Undergraduate students can earn a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology or may choose anthropology as a minor if they prefer to earn a bachelors degree in another subject. Students earning a bachelors degree in anthropology are also encouraged to become certified in either Forensic Anthropology or Cultural Resources Management in order to advance their career options upon graduating. Graduate students earning a Master of Arts in Anthropology can focus their studies in everything from primate studies to medical anthropology to religious studies.
Careers in Anthropology
Before you graduate from a higher education facility with a degree in anthropology, it is important that you familiarize yourself with various career paths in the field in order focus your studies around your career of choice. This section contains a variety of careers in the field of anthropology.
Many career opportunities are available within the cultural resource management industry, especially. The cultural resource management industry focuses on the preservation of grounds and artifacts of past societies in order to make new discoveries and ultimately improve education in all subjects. It is also often an ideal industry for individuals who possess bachelor degrees in subjects relevant to cultural preservation and protection, including but not limited to anthropology, architecture, and history. For example, government agencies and other companies may hire archaeologists and museum curators to contribute to the discovery, care, and safeguard of historical sites and artifacts
Entry Level Careers in Anthropology
Upon earning a bachelors degree in anthropology with various levels of research experience, you may qualify for one or more of the positions briefly described here.
Fundraisers spend much of their time devoted to developing ideas on ways to raise money for their organizations. They not only create and implement events to collect donations and promote awareness of the purposes of their organizations, but they also often oversee volunteers and provide them with training necessary to assist in the fundraising process. Fundraisers are highly organized, as they need to keep strict records on past donors and potential donors for future use. They also have particularly good verbal communication skills. A fundraiser typically possesses background knowledge in communications and business and a bachelors degree in any of a wide variety of subjects. Linguistic anthropology and applied anthropology can prove useful in order to know how to best appeal to a targeted audience.
Fundraisers may earn over $30,000 annually, based on education and experience levels.
Cultural Affairs SpecialistCultural affairs specialists focus on creating plans for and carrying out various cultural events and programs to promote community activities and provide education about specific cultures. They may also work with schools, community organizations, and libraries to plan and host the events and programs. Cultural affairs specialists often aid in the development of grant applications and may work alongside fundraisers. A bachelors degree is usually required to become a cultural affairs specialist, as is background knowledge in a specific culture. A cultural affairs specialist has a creative mindset and a passion for cultural arts as well as outstanding written and verbal communication skills.
Cultural affairs specialists may earn around $35,000 a year for their services, based on education and experience levels.
Advanced Careers in Anthropology
After earning a higher degree, such as a masters or doctoral degree in anthropology or more specific field, and with extensive research experience you will most likely qualify for one or more of the occupations touched on in this area.
Genetic counselors research the probability of patients or their family members inheriting health issues or genetic disorders, such as birth defects, based on family histories and other tests. Genetic counselors may present their results to other doctors or to patients directly. Genetic counselors may meet with patients to discuss the risks of the procedures and potential treatment plans if a patient or family member of the patient is diagnosed with a genetic disorder. A genetic counselor possesses at least a masters degree in genetics or related field, but many counselors hold doctoral degrees. Background knowledge in anthropology can be helpful in this field, as well, and they are certified by the American Board of Genetic Counseling.
Genetic counselors may earn around $55,000 annually, based on education, certification, and experience levels.
Cultural anthropologists specialize in the study of past and present practices of human cultures in order to better understand developments and changes in human societies in specific regions over long periods of time. A cultural anthropologist may focus his or her time determining how civilizations originally formed or may specialize in the progression of customs within a certain culture. They usually possess at least a masters degree in anthropology, perhaps with a strong focus on history of specific geographic locations, and the ability to work together in teams for further research.
Cultural anthropologists may earn around $56,000 a year, based on education and experience levels in addition to their specific concentrations.
Forensic anthropologists help interpret evidence for law enforcement teams. They spend much of their time in the field observing evidence in its original location and in laboratories examining evidence. Most of the evidence they examine consists of skeletal remains, typically of humans. They are also often asked to assist with transporting remains and even sometimes performing dental analysis on the victims for identification purposes. Conclusions drawn from evidence examination include the age, sex, and condition of the body at the time of death. Forensic anthropologists possess a bachelors degree in anthropology with a minor in forensics as well as a masters degree in anthropology. Doctoral degrees are even more beneficial for those looking for a career in forensic anthropology. Characteristics of these anthropologists include the ability to pay close attention to detail and background knowledge in forensic science.
Forensic anthropologists can earn over $60,000 annually, based on job duties and education level.
Museum curators are responsible for everything from assisting in the arrangement of museum tours to choosing specific artifacts for purchase by and display within museums. Experience in the study of anthropology is incredibly beneficial, as a museum curator often also decides how to categorize and display artifacts within the museum to best portray artificial representations of past civilizations around the world. Museum curators possess degrees in subjects such as history and anthropology and often advanced degrees, such as masters degrees or doctoral degrees, in related fields. Excellent communication is one of the top traits for a museum curator, because he or she is responsible for negotiating deals with sellers and in some cases even giving presentations to visiting academic groups.
More advanced and experienced museum curators can earn over $80,000 a year, while it is not uncommon for many to make under $60,000.
Companies that Hire People with Anthropology Degrees
Nonprofit organizations and companies around the world are constantly searching for people with anthropology degrees, especially within the cultural resource management industry. Below is a brief list of examples to jump start your career search in jobs for people with anthropology degrees.
Epsilon – various locations around the world; helps clients market their brands across the globe to build clientele and boost sales; hires positions for social anthropologists, applied anthropologists, research analysts, statisticians, etc.
Geometry Global – locations in 56 countries; world’s largest activation network, analyzing data to understand behavior and, ultimately, customer desires; hires positions for strategic planners, account executives, SEO managers, etc.
Alelo – headquarters in Los Angeles, CA; creates interactive technology as educational materials for military use, etc.; hires positions for linguists, anthropologists, translators, development leaders, etc.
EcoHealth Alliance – international organization focusing on the conservation of biodiversity; hires positions for anthropologists, epidemiologists, social scientists, etc.
The field of anthropology is certainly not shrinking, as our curiosity of the past is ever-growing. So many companies and organizations and even some government agencies are constantly in search of talented individuals with knowledge in past and present human behavior and culture. Earning a degree in anthropology just may be the best way to land the job of your dreams. Do you have what it takes to make the next great historical discovery? | <urn:uuid:fbd47e1d-58c1-4b88-b78f-2bc968782072> | {
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Worlds of David Darling > Children's
Encyclopedia of Science > Could You Ever Live Forever? > Glossary
COULD YOU EVER LIVE FOREVER?
a book in the Could You Ever? series by David Darling
Substances that can destroy or control the spread of bacteria.
Complex chemicals produced by the body's immune system to destroy invading
germs or make them harmless.
A major blood vessel that carries blood away from the heart.
Very small, single-celled plants that exist in large numbers almost everywhere.
Most of those that cause disease release poisonous substances into the blood
which make us feel ill.
One thousand million, or 1,000,000,000.
A substance that is essential, among things, for making bones and teeth.
An adult human skeleton contains about 24 pounds of calcium.
A common and dangerous disease of which there are about 150 different kinds.
Cancer begins when a group of cells somewhere in the body begins to grow
and multiply uncontrollably.
A gas that is taken in by plants and breathed out by mammals and other animals.
A gradual clouding of the normally clear lens of the eye. It is fairly common
in old age.
The smallest living part of an animal or plant. Human beings have about
100 trillion cells, each performing a certain task.
A substance, found throughout the body, which helps to give skin strength
and shape. It consists of whitish fibers bound together in bundles.
The scientific name for the way proteins, when acted on by other chemicals,
can become tangled and stuck together. Because of cross-linking, the proteins
may no longer work as effectively in the human body.
A disease in which the body cannot convert sugar into a form that allows
it to be stored. Some patients must inject or swallow chemicals to lower
the level of sugar in their blood.
Someone who gives an organ from his or her body to another person.
A long, narrow tube that a doctor can pass into a patient's body. A light,
miniature TV camera, and tiny surgical instruments fitted to the end, allow
observations or minor observations to be carried out by remote control.
A chemical that will easily combine with another chemical and change its
character. Free radicals in the body may play a part in aging by damaging
substances that are important to our health.
Each cell in a person's body contains an identical set of several thousand
genes. Each gene is a complex chemical that contains instructions telling
the cell what to do.
A small, living particle, usually consisting of no more than a single cell.
Some germs do not affect us at all, others are important to our bodies,
and still others may cause disease. Bacteria and viruses are two different
types of germs.
A condition caused by unusually high pressure of the fluid in the eyeball.
The leading cause of early death in the United States and most of the Western
world. There are many forms of heart disease, but the most common involve
helper T cell
A type of white blood cell that helps identify an invading germ and causes
the production of antibodies and killer T cells.
The practice or study of cleanliness.
In humans, the system by which white blood cells are organized to defend
the body against infection. When the immune system breaks down, a person
has no defense against infection.
The process of protecting a person from a certain virus. It is done by injecting
a small, treated sample of the virus so that the person's body makes antibodies
against it without catching the disease.
killer T cells
A type of white blood cell that destroys body cells that have become infected
A type of white blood cell that surrounds and absorbs invading particles
in the bloodstream. If it encounters a germ, a macrophage may also send
out a chemical signal to attract helper T cells.
A kind of warm-blooded animal, the female of which feeds its young with
A coloring chemical, or pigment, found in our hair, skin, and eyes.
A group of tissues that is organized to perform a specific function. Examples
include the brain, heart, and stomach.
A group of organs that is organized to perform a specific range of tasks.
Examples include the nervous system and the immune system.
A loss of minerals in the skeleton, causing bones to develop hollow spaces
and become weak. Osteoporosis is particularly common in older women.
A colorless, odorless gas, making up about one-fifth of the air we breathe.
Oxygen is needed by all cells to live.
Complex chemicals that play an important part in almost every body structure
A person who received an organ from someone else.
A kind of cold-blooded animal with a scaly skin. Tortoises, crocodiles,
and snakes are reptiles.
Animals of a certain species may have many features in common. Most importantly,
males and females of the same species can successfully breed with one another
to produce young.
A group of similar cells that is organized to serve a common purpose. For
example, muscles are made up of tissues.
An operation involving the replacement of a faulty organ or other body part
by a healthy one. The new organ may come from a donor or be artificial.
One million million, or 1,000,000,000,000.
A treated form of virus that can be given to people so that they develop
immunity to the disease without actually catching it.
The smallest type of germ. Viruses can cause a wide range of illnesses,
from the common cold to deadly diseases such as AIDS and rabies.
white blood cell
A cell, of which there are various kinds, produced by the body to help defend
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Liabilities are the debts and financial obligations that a borrower is responsible for. In a typical home loan or mortgage situation, borrowing money to purchase property creates a liability. Usually these obligations are part of the lending process, and a mortgage note that is taken on a property is a prime example of a liability. In the case of a mortgage, the property that is purchased has a lien that must be satisfied and offsets the amount of equity that an owner has in his or her property. The borrower is liable for the total amount of a mortgage and makes payments on the balance. There are also joint liabilities when a two or more people purchase a property and have a home mortgage or other debt associated with the property. Liability insurance is also chosen by homeowners because it provides financial protection in the event of personal injury or property damage. | <urn:uuid:3a22e364-2083-41ea-8eef-82355ea08ce2> | {
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The Asian Art Museum’s teahouse was designed by architect Osamu Sato as a functioning teahouse, as well as a display case. It is a three and three-quarters (sanjo daime) mat room. It is complete with an alcove for the display of a scroll and flowers, an electric-powered sunken hearth used in winter for the hot water kettle, and a functioning preparation area (mizuya) with fresh running water and drain. Its three interior ceiling levels display three different ceiling treatments. The teahouse has a sliding glass front that opens fully when in use for live tea demonstrations, but secures the space as a display case when not in use. It was constructed in Kyoto by the distinguished firm Nakamura Sotoji Komuten, long famous for refined traditional Japanese architecture built by specially trained, artisan carpenters and craftsmen. In September 2002, the teahouse was installed in the museum’s second-floor collections gallery devoted to Japanese art. Four carpenters came from Kyoto to construct the teahouse and apply the final wall finishes. | <urn:uuid:05cfe7a1-b03e-45ea-a98d-ceb0daa8f553> | {
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Teacher Resources by Grade
|1st - 2nd||3rd - 4th|
|5th - 6th||7th - 8th|
|9th - 10th||11th - 12th|
Characters in Because of Winn-Dixie: Making Lists of Ten
|Grades||3 – 5|
|Lesson Plan Type||Standard Lesson|
|Estimated Time||Five 50-minute sessions plus independent reading time|
In Kate DiCamillo’s book Because of Winn-Dixie, the protagonist, Opal, learns about her absent mother when her father shares ten things about her. Working as a class, students match items from the list of ten things describing Opal's mother in the novel with the basic elements of characterization. Next, they work in small groups to go through the same process with the list of ten things describing Winn-Dixie. Students then create an individual list describing another character in the book. Finally, students extend this process to another book they are reading by recording ten characteristics on a printable bookmark, ranking those characteristics in terms of importance, and then publishing them in a flip book format.
Three Elements of Characterization: This resource introduces students to the three elements of characterization, as well as some basic vocabulary terms related to characters.
Flip Book Interactive: This online tool allows students to type and illustrate tabbed flip books up to ten pages long.
In her "Teaching Ideas" column, Diana Mitchell states, "Students tire of responding to novels in the same ways. They want new ways to think about a piece of literature and new ways to dig into it" (92). Mitchell provides fifty suggestions on exploring new directions and responding with greater depth to the books read by students. This lesson plan provides a similar alternative by asking students to identify key details from the book in a way that goes beyond the ordinary while still focusing on comprehension.
Mitchell, Diana. "Fifty Alternatives to the Book Report." English Journal 87.1 (January 1998): 92-95. | <urn:uuid:ace6606c-e8d1-463c-a274-0589b2439c8b> | {
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Ice In or On Static System Cause of X-31 Crash
November 7, 1995
Release: 95-33A Mishap Investigation Board studying the cause of the X-31 experimental aircraft accident on Jan. 19, 1995, has concluded that an accumulation of ice in or on the unheated pitot-static system on the aircraft provided false airspeed information to the flight control computers, causing the aircraft to go out of control and crash.
The aircraft was one of the two X-31s operated by an International Test Organization (ITO) located at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. It was being flown back to Edwards Air Force Base following a research flight when it departed from controlled flight at an altitude of 20,000 feet and crashed near the northern boundary of Edwards. The pilot, Karl-Heinz Lang, Federal Republic of Germany, ejected safely.
The pitot-static pressure system, using a small tube called a Kiel probe at the nose of the aircraft, provided air speed data to instruments in the cockpit, the aircraft's flight control computers, and to the mission control center monitors at Dryden.
Near the final portion of the approximately 43-minute flight, ice formed in or around the pitot tube. This led to a false reading of total air pressure data and caused the aircraft's flight control system to automatically misconfigure for a lower speed. The aircraft suddenly began oscillating in all axes, pitched up to over 90 degrees angle of attack and became uncontrollable, prompting the pilot to eject.
The Board recommended that training be conducted on the system safety analysis process, that procedures be implemented to assure all test team members receive configuration change notices, and that improvements be made in the remaining X-31 to prevent similar single-point failures from causing catastrophic consequences.
The X-31 was being flown to study the use of thrust vectoring as a way of enhancing the maneuverability of future fighter aircraft. The project was managed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), and included participation by NASA, the U.S. Navy, U. S. Air Force, Rockwell Aerospace, the Federal Republic of Germany and Daimler-Benz (formerly Deutsche Aerospace).
Initial flight phase of the highly successful program, which began in October 1990, was based at Palmdale, Calif., where the aircraft were assembled by Rockwell Aerospace. The ITO was located at Dryden in February 1992.
The mission flown by Lang on Jan. 19 was the 524th of the X-31 program. The flight set a record for the most flights of any experimental aircraft flown at Dryden. After the accident, the remaining X-31 was brought back to flight status and in June 1995 appeared at the Paris Air Show. Reviewers of the air show commented that "the X-31 maneuvers steal the show" and "the Rockwell/DASA X-31's daily flight display brought all other activity at the show to a stop."
--nasa--Note to Editors: X-31 photos are available on the Internet, under "NASA Dryden Research Aircraft PHOTO ARCHIVE, Dryden News and Feature Photos, URL: /centers/dfrc/Gallery/Photo/index.html
NASA press releases and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to [email protected] In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type the worlds "subscribe press-release" (no quotes). The system will reply with a confirmation via E-mail of each subscription. A second automatic message will include additional information on the service. Questions should be directed to (202) 358-4043. | <urn:uuid:1b109de4-64d6-41da-8576-1662f4350bde> | {
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From the site: "The Giant's Causeway in northeast coast of Northern Ireland, is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven and eight sides. The remarkable geological features of the region have earned it the title of the Eight Wonder of the World and established it as a major part of Ireland's heritage. For 300 years the Causeway and the cliffs of the Causeway Coast have attracted thousands of visitors from around the world. Travellers have marveled at the beauty of the formations while scientists have sought to describe and explain them. The causeway was formed during the early Paleogene period some 50 to 60 million years ago over a long period of intense volcanic activity. Highly fluid molten basalt intruded through chalk beds to form an extensive lava plateau. As the lava cooled rapidly, contraction occurred. While contraction in the vertical direction reduced the flow thickness (without fracturing), horizontal contraction could only be accommodated by cracking throughout the flow. The extensive fracture network produced the distinctive columns seen today. The basalts were originally part of a great volcanic plateau called the Thulean Plateau which formed during the Paleogene period. Giant's Causeway was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, and a National Nature Reserve in 1987 by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland." | <urn:uuid:7a7ce1b3-ccae-4d8d-a2e5-1d9fe6276f43> | {
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not only a topic of discussion for the innovators in the science field, but also a topic of exploration and expansion in the business industry, specifically the mobile app industry
May 11, 2017
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not only a topic of discussion for the innovators in the science field, but also a topic of exploration and expansion in the business industry, specifically the mobile app industry. And it is worth noting that AI is not just limited to Google’s Assistant or Apple’s Siri anymore, it is growing much more than that and 2017 seem to be the year when we will see mobile app developers integrating more of artificial intelligence in their apps.
But before we get started with where AI trends are going and how much the technology is anticipated to progress in 2017 and subsequent years, let’s first at least know what the term “Artificial Intelligence” actually implies. After all, the term is being tossed and used so often in the industry and otherwise, one often wonders what exactly is Artificial Intelligence.
Well, it is typically a machinery, system, technology or computer that solve the problems and perform tasks which are otherwise done using the human intelligence abilities. In simpler words, you don’t have to really sit and type the commands to the computer or machinery that you want to do the job. It will perform the job itself by using the combined capabilities of machine vision, machine learning, knowledge management and natural language processing.
And that’s the beauty of it – the system can seem to have its own intellectual which does not need any repeated programming and can adapt itself to provide the results even when it is being consistently being exposed to new data.
Need of the Hour
When smartphones and mobile apps have just started getting attention among users, both the iOS and Android apps were quite fragmented. However, the app developers as well as device manufacturers don’t want the users to keep on scrolling among the thousands and millions of apps that are present in the iOS and Android app stores. Thus, the constant efforts to ensure easy navigation and searching system has been in place and the technology of Artificial Intelligence have seemed to fit perfectly in the scenario, especially when it is providing the developers and users the power of voice to perform the tasks.
Besides, Internet of Things (IoT) is really creating buzz and the integration of voice interface that AI provides is amazing for its development. From mobile phones, watches to security systems and home appliances, there are so many devices connected to each other that we use in regular life that having different interfaces can be really confusing. AI provides that single interface of voice that helps connect devices easily, hence making it easier for the users to command the things around them.
Personalized User Experience
There are so many apps to make the lives of people easier and users these days have such less time to spend on each of the apps in their smartphones that the idea of having something that responds to their personalized needs is really enticing. For instance, Start bucks had come up with an app called My Starbucks Barista. All a person had to do was tell the app what they want and the app would just place the order for the user based on those preferences itself.
And what makes it much more compatible for the AI technology to be integrated in the mobile phone apps is the fact that the smartphones know everything about their user. The devices can detect user’s location and provide the personalized location based solutions for every query. The features of a smartphone can be used to record and study the behavioral pattern of the users, hence providing the app feature which are designed for their individual needs and retain the users ultimately.
Developers, Push the Envelope!
In the era of smartphones, you cannot provide your users anything less than smart apps. There is a rising demand for interactive and intuitive apps because the people searching for apps and installing them are certainly not out of options. On the contrary, they have much more than can even surf so attracting users and retaining them is not going to be an easy job.
It’s going to help a great deal to be in sync with the changing trends in the world of IoT and AI and program your apps for the convenience of your target users accordingly. And if you think that your developers are not equipped with enough knowledge and resources to catch up with the rising trends in apps development industry, then it is best that you outsource the job to experts.
Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things are really the things of future and they are going to grow and rule the mobile apps development programming so get your first mover advantage while everyone is still exploring and experimenting with these recently hyped (and really useful) technologies.
About the Author:
Ashish Sharma is a Key Account Manager, looking after Marketing Strategies and building new business tie ups at WeDigTech - A hub of Skilled Mobile App Developers in India. Focused on helping enterprises StartUps from domestic to MNCs.
May 11, 2017
May 11, 2017 | <urn:uuid:c1f3a6bd-741f-4cdf-8fce-220b1a125d0a> | {
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Linux Command Directory
This directory of Linux commands is from Linux in a Nutshell, 5th Edition.
Click on any of the 687 commands below to get a description and list of available options. All links in the command summaries point to the online version of the book on Safari Bookshelf.
split [options] [infile [prefix] ]
Split infile into equal-sized segments. infile remains unchanged, and the results are written to prefixaa, prefixab, and so on. The default prefix is x, giving the output files xaa, xab, etc. If infile is - or missing, standard input is read. See also csplit.
Use suffixes of length n (default is 2).
Split infile into n-byte segments. Alternate block sizes may be specified:
Put a maximum of bytes into file; insist on adding complete lines.
Use numeric suffixes instead of alphabetic suffixes for the output filenames.
Split infile into n-line segments (default is 1000).
Print a help message and then exit.
Print a message for each output file.
Print version information and then exit.
Break bigfile into 1000-line segments:
Concatenate four files, then split them into 10-line files named new.aa, new.ab, and so on. Note that without the -, new. would be treated as a nonexistent input file:
cat list[1-4] | split -10 - new. | <urn:uuid:5849c7a7-13fa-418e-bc39-57bab0c47627> | {
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Wales. This old, proud name is from the Welsh personal name Gethin. According to some experts, this forename is derived from the word "cethin," which means "dusky" or "dark."
Early Origins of the Gathings family
Cheshire, where they held a family seat as Lords of the Manor near Malpas. The main stem of the family is said to be descended from David Goch, a Welsh chieftain, Lord of Penmachno of Fedwdeg. One of the oldest records of the name was Rhys Gethin (died 1405), Welsh standard bearer and a leading general in the revolt of Owain Glyndwr in which he led an army which captured several castles in South Wales; and later Ieuan Gethin ap Ieuan ap Lleision ( fl. c. 1450) was a Welsh language poet and gentleman from Baglan, Glamorgan. A large number of his own poems remain in existence today.
Early History of the Gathings family
Another 237 words (17 lines of text) covering the years 1405, 1402 and 1405 are included under the topic Early Gathings History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Gathings Spelling Variations
Welsh surnames, they have a great many spelling variations. Variations of Welsh names began almost immediately after their acceptance within Welsh society. In the Middle Ages, it was up to priests and the few other people that recorded names in official documents to decide how to spell the names that they heard. Variations that occurred because of improper recording increased dramatically as the names were later transliterated into English. The Brythonic Celtic language of Wales, known by natives as Cymraeg, featured many highly inflected sounds that could not be properly captured by the English language. Spelling variations were, however, also carried out according to an individual's design: a branch loyalty within the family, a religious adherence, or even patriotic affiliations were all indicated by the particular variation of one's name. The spelling variations of the name Gathings have included Gethin, Gethyn, Gethyns, Gethyng, Gethings, Gething, Gethinge, Getting, Gettings, Gittings, Gittens, Gittins, Gidding, Giddings, Gettins, Giddens, Giddins, Gidden, Giddens, Gettens, Gitting and many more.
Early Notables of the Gathings family (pre 1700)
Another 35 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Gathings Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Migration of the Gathings family to Ireland
Some of the Gathings family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 137 words (10 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Migration of the Gathings family to the New World and Oceana
Many people from Wales joined the general migration to North America in the 19th and 20th centuries, searching for land, work, and freedom. Like the many other immigrants from the British Isles, they made a significant contribution to the development of Canada and the United States. The Welsh and their descendents added a rich cultural tradition to the newly developed towns, cities, and villages. An investigation of the immigration and passenger lists has revealed a number of people bearing the name Gathings: James, George, and Jane Giddins settled in Boston in 1635; John Giddin(g)s settled in Ipswich in 1653; Edward Giddons settled in Philadelphia in 1773. Adam, James and John Gittens arrived in New York in 1854..
Contemporary Notables of the name Gathings (post 1700)
Gathings Family Crest Products | <urn:uuid:00ffcf60-00d1-40be-95e2-67016e876391> | {
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What is a sexually transmitted disease, or STD? If someone catches their partner’s cold during sex, is that cold an STD? According to the Office on Women’s Health, an STD is “an infection passed from one person to another person through sexual contact.” Unless the cold was passed through sexual contact, rather than mouth-to-mouth contact, it would not be considered an STD. Others say that, for an infection to be considered an STD, its sexual transmission must make it significantly more common in the population. So, a disease like the common cold would probably be just as common even if people never had sex.
MRSA, meningitis, and the virus that causes pinkeye can be transmitted sexually.
However, there are some infections, such as hepatitis C or bacterial vaginosis, whose status as official STDs is controversial. While researchers argue with one another over where to draw the line between an STD and a non-STD, let’s take a look at some bacteria and viruses that can be transmitted sexually, even though they’re not officially categorized as “STDs.”
MRSA: Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus
MRSA bursting out of a dead blood cell. Image: Frank DeLeo, NIAID
You’ve probably heard of MRSA, which is pronounced “mersa” and stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus — a strain of bacteria that is resistant to every antibiotic in the penicillin family, as well as others. S. aureus, or “staph” for short, is the same bacteria responsible for TSS, or toxic shock syndrome, which has most infamously been associated with the use of highly absorbent tampons. But mostly, staph is a common cause of skin infections, which could be deadly in the pre-antibiotic era, but these days usually don’t raise too many eyebrows.
Unfortunately, with the emergence of MRSA, which is difficult to treat with the usual drugs, we might once again have to worry about minor skin infections blossoming into life-threatening conditions. Additionally, MRSA has found a way to hop from person to person via sexual contact, and sexually transmitted MRSA has been documented in both heterosexual and MSM (men who have sex with men) populations. Untreated, it can lead to a form of gangrene in which tissue blackens as it dies. Continue reading | <urn:uuid:7ca346b0-b488-48fa-acab-43a1b700bff9> | {
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Street ballads would be produced just as quickly as the newspapers they competed against, often appearing on the streets just a few hours after the trial or execution they described, and offered London's poor a far more affordable way to keep up with the most entertaining aspects of the news. At a time when newspapers cost sevenpence or more, ballads could be had for just a penny, and that made them a very big part of the literate poor's reading.
“One paper-worker told me that, in some small and obscure villages in Norfolk, it was not uncommon for two poor families to club for 1d to purchase an execution broadsheet,” Mayhew writes. “Not long after Rush was hung, he saw one evening, after dark, through the uncurtained cottage window, eleven persons, young and old, gathered round a scanty fire. An old man was reading, to an attentive audience, a broadsheet of Rush's execution, which my informant had sold to him.”
That Rush broadsheet was phenomenally popular, as Mayhew discovered when he asked his contacts in the trade to calculate some sales figures. This produced the following table of six recent executions:
|James Rush (1849)||2.5m copies|
|Frederick and Maria Manning (1849)||2.5m copies|
|Francois Courvoiser (1840)||1.66m copies|
|James Greenacre (1837)||1.66m copies|
|Daniel Good (1842)||1.65m copies|
|William Corder (1828)||1.65m copies|
By far the oldest of the cases in Mayhew's table is William Corder's execution for the 1827 murder of Maria Marten near Ipswich. The song that story inspired - Murder in the Red Barn - began its life as a set of verses on Jemmy Catnach's broadsheet, and is still regularly recorded today. By the time Mayhew gathered his data no-one could put a firm figure on how many copies Thurtell's even older tale had shifted, but all agreed its total sale had been “enormous”.
“The money expended for such things amounts to upwards of £48,500 in the case of the six murders above given.” Mayhew writes. “All this number was got up and printed in London.” On that basis, London sales for the six most popular ballads would have totalled about £4.9m in today's money. Rush alone would have brought in over £1m for the balladeers, and went on to provide a healthy income for other story-tellers too.
James Rush was a tenant farmer in Norwich, who owed his landlord, Isaac Jermy, the huge sum of £5,000. As the deadline for payment approached in November 1848, Rush shot Jermy and his son Isaac Jr dead on the porch of their Stanfield Hall home. He also shot Jermy Jr's pregnant wife and Eliza Chestney, her serving maid, but both of them survived.
Jermy was embroiled in a dispute about ownership of the estate, and Rush hoped the rival claimants would be blamed for his murder. He wore a wig and false whiskers - some say a mask - to disguise himself as he shot the family. Unfortunately, Rush's girlfriend Emily Sandford, who he'd been relying on to support his alibi, declined to co-operate in court and, despite his vigorous efforts to defend himself, Rush was hanged at Norwich Castle.
Mayhew was impressed by the quality of the Rush broadsheet he inspected. “Rush's sorrowful lamentation is the best, in all respects of any execution broadsheet I have seen,” he writes. “Even the copy of verses [...] seems, in a literary point of view, of a superior strain to the run of such things.” Mayhew also points out that these verses are always supposed to have been composed by the condemned man - adding wryly that even illiterate criminals seem able to accomplish this - and notes the unusually sympathetic tone these take in Rush's case.
You can see what he means. Most killers given a set of verses just tell us how evil they've been and make a few pious remarks about not following their example. Rush, on the other hand, is allowed to wax sentimental about his love of the English countryside, place part of the blame for the killing on his victim and feel sorry for himself about Emily Sandford's betrayal.
“My friends and home to me were dear,
The trees and flowers that blossomed near,
The sweet-loved spot where youth began.
Is dear to every Englishman.”
“If Jermy had but kindness shown,
And not have trod misfortune down,
I ne'er had fired the fatal ball,
That caused his son and him to fall.”
“Oh, Emily Sandford, was it due,
That I should meet my death through you?
If you had wished me well indeed,
How could you thus against me plead?” (9)
The convoluted history of disputes over Stanfield Hall's proper ownership had left a legacy of resentment in the area, and that may explain why the ballad writers were prepared to give Rush whatever benefit of the doubt they could muster. The biggest potential profits lay in ballads which reflected your buyers' prejudices, and Rush's sales figures suggest they judged the market shrewdly.
Just as with Tawell's case, though, healthy sales for the true story only encouraged balladeers to milk the case a little further. It wasn't long before they'd concocted a fictional confession for Rush, supposedly delivered to the chaplain at Norwich Castle. “The newspapers screeved about Rush and his mother and his wife,” one balladeer told Mayhew. “But we, in our patter, had him confess to murdering his old grandmother fourteen years back and how he buried her under the apple tree in the garden - and how he murdered his wife as well.”
The case was a juicy enough one to inspire several tellings in other media too, including a series of pottery figures and a 1948 movie. | <urn:uuid:7b754d1e-4a59-4282-87b9-6fa31a1391e8> | {
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The rise of the Black Muslims
looks at the roots of the organization that produced Malcolm X.
WHENEVER THE Nation of Islam or its leader Louis Farrakhan is covered in the mainstream media, they are dismissed as "reverse racists." By sensationalizing the Nation's anti-white stance and highlighting examples of Farrakhan's anti-Semitic statements, the media has tried to discredit the Nation's overall argument that the U.S. is racist to the core.
Socialists have criticisms of Farrakhan and the Nation, not only against anti-Semitism, but the organization's program of Black economic self-sufficiency, which would only benefit a minority of African Americans. But we understand that the appeal of the Muslims' ideas of Black superiority has nothing in common with white racism. Nationalism is a defensive reaction to the blatant segregation forced upon Blacks.
The left failed to grasp this when the Black Muslims, as the Nation is commonly called, first gained national attention in the late 1950s. The Nation's theory of Black superiority and its hostility towards "white devils" led many socialists to accept the media's argument that Nation members were reverse racist. Thus, the left, still reeling from the anti-Communist McCarthy witch-hunts, isolated itself from Blacks influenced by the Nation.
In fact, the Black Muslims represented one of the few political alternatives to Northern Blacks, at a time when most Black political organizations concentrated on legal assaults against Jim Crow in the South. At the same time, trade union leaders effectively sided with employers in keeping Blacks in the lowest-paid and least-skilled jobs.
So while the civil rights struggle against Southern segregation laws captured media attention, the Black majority in the North encountered conditions almost as brutal. By 1960, the differential between Black and white unemployment had reached two to one, where it remains to this day. Throughout the 1950s--a time of general economic expansion--less than half the Black working class held full-time jobs year round. Although formal segregation laws did not exist in the North, Black workers nevertheless lived in segregated neighborhoods in declining central cities.
In such conditions, the Black Muslims flourished. What had begun in Detroit as a religious sect in the early 1930s grew, under the leadership of Elijah Muhammad and organizer Malcolm X, into a movement of an estimated 100,000 members by 1961. Muhammad 's apocalyptic vision of a Black-white confrontation, articulated by Malcolm, influenced hundreds of thousands more who were not necessarily prepared to join the organization. As one youth told Black sociologist C. Eric Lincoln in 1962:
Man, I don't care what those [Nation] cats say out loud--that's just a hype they're putting down for the man (i.e. whites). Let me tell you--they've got some stuff for the man even the Mau Mau [the anti-colonial Kenyan rebels] didn't have! If he tries to crowd them like he's been used to doing to the rest of us all the time, they're going to lay it on him from here to Little Rock [Arkansas, the scene of racist violence against school desegregation].
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
UNABLE TO refute Malcolm X's searing criticism of racism in America, politicians and the media tried to dismiss the Black Muslims as cranks, focusing on Elijah Muhammad's claim to be the messenger of Allah, and the strict, almost militaristic discipline that came with membership in the organization.
But as the Nation grew, the government's attitude hardened, and the media's charges of "Black racism" grew more shrill. Even though the organization abstained from most civil rights struggles and did not confront the authorities, it was seen as a serious threat.
The authorities' fears were justified. Even though the Nation declined after Malcolm X was forced from the organization and assassinated in the mid-1960s, its ideas of Black self-defense and separatism were adopted by millions in what became the Black Power movement. In fact, Farrakhan's program in later years was mild compared to the demands of the radical Black nationalists in the late 1960s.
Unfortunately, many on the left of the 1960s repeated the mistake they had made earlier. Rather than starting from the position that Black and white unity must be built on Black workers' terms, some radical organizations blamed Black nationalists for splitting the movement--a charge no different than the complaint of liberals about the "racism" of Black nationalism.
Radical nationalists like the Black Panthers and other radical nationalists were more isolated when they were hit by government repression.
Whatever criticisms socialists have of Black nationalists, the first priority is to defend them from racist attack, even in the case of aggressively anti-white organizations such as the Black Muslims. Accepting the idea of "Black racism" plays into the hands of the real racists--a ruling class that benefits from the exploitation of workers and the oppression of Blacks.
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Peter Glynne-Jones of the University of Southampton, UK, and his team sent ultrasound bouncing back and forth inside a tiny, fluid-filled bioreactor holding cells from the top of the femur. The growing cells accumulated in the nodes of the wave, lining up in a layer before binding together. After 21 days the cells had become tiny sheets of cartilage with similar strength to natural cartilage. When the sheets were grafted on to damaged human cartilage they fused with the existing tissue.
Cartilage is usually grown in balls rather than sheets. But sheets ought to fuse more readily with existing tissue because the nutrients are spread uniformly in the implant, says Glynne-Jones.
This article appeared in print under the headline “Sound trap creates stronger cartilage” | <urn:uuid:79ddad9f-f2ff-4d7f-95ad-42255ec1c648> | {
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Tweet, Tweet, y'all
Ms. B. is Online and talking about Twitter
Using Twitter to share resources and activities.
"Everything new that I have done in my class recently, I got from a Tweet."
Those of you who know me know that TWITTER is the best professional development tool that I have encountered in years. Twitter allows you to have conversations and get resources from like-minded individuals. It allows you to network with others in a way that transcends the walls of our schools and neighborhoods.
It allows for 24/7 participation in 140 characters or less. That means quick sound bites that you can take and use. Honestly, ALL of the new things that I have used in class for the last 2 years have come from a Tweet from my Twitter PLN.
Everyday I access my Tweetdeck and scroll through the nuggets of information available. I often find links to articles that interest me, resources that help me be a more efficient educator or activities that will engage and interest my students.
What is a tweet, anyway?
1. Profile picture: be sure to add a picture to will allow your followers to connect with you. It does not have to be a picture of you, this is a wordle that I use for an avatar.
2. Micro-blog message: Twitter allows you to post a message using 140 characters or less.
3. Reply button: click button to reply to the sender.
4. Delete button: click the trashcan if you have an uh-oh/whoops moment.
5. Favorite button: thick this button to 'favorite' a tweet. It also displays the number of times the tweet has been favorited.
6. Time stamp: time and date the tweet was posted.
7. Reply box: if replying to the tweet, put your message in this box.
8, Real name: your "real name." I use Valerie Burton for my PLN and Ms. Burton for my students.
9. Twitter psuedonym: Twitter name, think carefully about how you want to represent yourself. You can change it, but try not to do this often because you don't want to confuse followers.
10. Twitter mentions: your username preceded by the @ symbol in a Tweet is called it a “mention” and it means that someone is talking about/or to you.
11. Link: resource link included in the Tweet.
12. Hashtag: The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet
13. Picture: pictures can be uploaded into tweets.
14. More button: the more button allows you to send tweet as an email or get the embed code so that you can embed it onto your blog or webpage.
Let's begin by creating an account or revisiting an existing account
If you are new to the Twittersphere follow these directions and you will find the walls of your small world tumbling down as you begin to share with and learn from other educators from around the world.1. Set up your account. Go to Twitter.com
2. Choose your username and an avatar carefully
- Choose a username that makes it easier for others to relate to you as a real person and conveys the right impression of who you are. I have played with my Ms. B. is Online identity so my username is that MsBisOnline.
- But don’t stress too much — your username can be changed anytime without affecting your twitter account (Settings > Account)
3. Get Started—Join! Enter username, password, and email address. Click on the I accept. Create my account button.
4. Twitter will give you a chance to see if some of your friends are on Twitter by checking your online address book. However, your contacts will have to be in one of the supported services: GMail, Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, or MSN.
5. Tweak your settings. Make sure you are on your Twitter home page: http://Twitter.com/home. Click on the Settings link. Now enter your full name in the “Name” field. Make sure the “Time Zone” field is set correctly. Enter your location. Do not check “Protect my updates” unless you want to have to approve who is be able to get your updates. If you check this, it will seriously limit the fun. You want people to see what you are saying.
- Complete your bio and add your blog or website URL (if applicable) — people use this information to decide whether they follow you (Settings > Profile).
- Upload your twitter avatar — people are less likely follow those using the default avatar (Settings > Profile)
6. You need to decide whether or not to set up your phone.. By doing so, you can receive updates from those you are following (or just some of them) as well as send your own updates. It’s all done through text messaging (e.g., SMS).
However, be forewarned: While Twitter doesn’t charge anything for this service, your phone carrier might. Most of the current phones have Twitter applications so this step is really unnecessary.
7. Keep track of Tweets and ReTweets using one of the many resources available.
Follow colleagues, family or friends.
If you haven’t done so already, add your family and friends by clicking in the “Search” field at the top of your home page. You can type in a username or first and last name. When you do, you will get a list of the Tweeters who match your search criteria. You can also do a more advance search (e.g., searching by location) on the Twitter search page.
- Begin to follow people of interest. Click here for lists arranged by discipline: EdTech, Math, Science, English, Social Studies, Music and . Explore some of the lists and follow a few. Just a few: it is easy to get overwhelmed.
Tweeters also use hashtags, #, to help organize tweets by topics. Some of the most popular hashtags are:
#comments4kids: directs people willing to support student bloggers to student blogs
Create a daily or weekly Twitter to discuss a homework topic. Post a weekly question about something being discussed in class and ask everyone to give an opinion. Both parents and students could follow this Twitter. Encourage students (if old enough to participate) to ask questions in tweet form. Answer them in tweets to build dialog. Parents can also ask or answer questions about the class topic.
Seek and Find
Explain to your students how using a hash mark creates a searchable term. Come up with a few select search terms. Use terms that are currently in the news or are related to your curriculum. Have students search Twitter to see what people are saying about these topics. Discuss the tweets they found. Is the information accurate? Are people trending one way or another on a topic?
Design a weekly Twitter to talk about your class.
Use this to generate discussion about what's going on and to produce an online diary of class events. Encourage both parents and students to sign up to follow. Ask for parent volunteers to comment and Twitter back to the group. Use this to build a community exchange about what's going on in your classroom. Allow students (if they are old enough) to be active participants.
Classic Literature Tweets
Have students take classic stories and rewrite them as tweets. Start by showing them an example like Romeo and Juliet in 140 characters. This should be done as a single tweet as if they were telling a friend the story. Students can select their favorite novels, write them in tweet form, and then share them with the class. Other students can try to guess what the original story was. | <urn:uuid:c6b5def9-ba5f-4871-af8a-16fb7385d3b3> | {
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See the blog debate about this story.
1 Arguably the inspiration for much science fiction traces back to classical mythology. Think of it—Earthlings abducted by beings from the sky, humans morphing into strange creatures, and events that defy the laws of nature.
2 Birth of the (un)cool: In 1926 writer Hugo Gernsback founded Amazing Stories, the first true science-fiction magazine.
3 Gernsback loved greenbacks. He tried to trademark the term science fiction, and he paid writers so little that H. P. Lovecraft later nicknamed him “Hugo the Rat.”
4 Rat’s revenge: The most famous sci-fi writing award is called the Hugo.
5 Writers for the early pulp magazines would often write under multiple pseudonyms so they could have more than one article per issue. Ray Bradbury—taking this practice to another level—used six different pen names.
6 Serious science-fiction heads say sci-fi carries schlocky, B-movie connotations. Many prefer the abbreviation SF.
7 Prominent physicists and space travel pioneers have (often secretly) contributed to SF lit. German rocket genius Wernher Von Braun wrote space fiction and was an adviser to sci-fi movies such as Conquest of Space.
8 During the 1960s, James Tiptree Jr. penned sci-fi classics like Houston, Houston, Do You Read? but was so secretive that people suspected he was a covert government operative.
9 At age 61, Tiptree was outed—not as a spy but as outspoken feminist Alice B. Sheldon.
10 One of the more famous works in the growing field of gay sci-fi is Judith Katz’s Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound, about a woman who bolts from her overbearing Jewish family to the mystical all-lesbian city of New Chelm.
11 Irony alert: Ray Bradbury, one of the world’s most influential SF writers, studiously avoids computers and ATMs and claims he has never driven a car.
12 Not to be outdone, sci-fi legend Isaac Asimov wrote about interstellar spaceflight but refused to board an airplane.
13 Neal Stephenson’s acclaimed 1992 novel Snow Crash has inspired two major online creations: Second Life (derived from Stephenson’s virtual Metaverse) and Google Earth (from the panoptic Earth application).
14 Meanwhile, in the humble brick-and-mortar world: Sci-fi author Gene Wolfe helped develop the machine that cooks Pringles, while Robert Heinlein conceived the first modern water bed.
15 Sexual liberation plays a big role in Heinlein’s books, which really puts the water-bed thing into perspective.
16 In Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001, the HAL 9000 computer discusses its feelings and Pan Am flies passenger shuttles to the moon. After the book’s release, Pan Am announced a real-life list of passengers waiting to go to the moon; Walter Cronkite, Ronald Reagan, and 80,000 others signed up.
17 Forty years later, computers can’t discuss printer drivers, let alone emotions, and Pan Am has been dead for 17 years.
18 When sci-fi visionary Philip K. Dick inadvertently re-created a Bible scene in his book Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, he became convinced that the spirit of the prophet Elijah had overcome him, kicking off a long bout of schizophrenia.
19 After Dick’s death, fans built an android likeness of him that mimicked his mannerisms and quoted his writings.
20 In 2005, the Dickbot was misplaced by a baggage handler. It remains at large. | <urn:uuid:723966c1-71e3-41d6-b5eb-96b2e5d5d23c> | {
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Agency for Food at WHO, World Health Organization, said processed meats like sausages, delicacies, frankfurters can lead the body to cancer, such as colon cancer.
Agency researchers analyzed more than 800 scientific papers from around the world on the topic of meat and cancer. The results showed that processed meat is “cancer-causing to humans”, while red area is “probably cancer-causing”.
When it comes to the amount of consumption that man is at risk of cancer, experts say that 50 grams of processed meat a day increases the risk of cancer by 18%. These results correspond with many references to the organization of public health aimed at reducing the amount of consumption of meat.
However, the agency says that you shouldn’t completely cut off the meat fom the diet, because, for example, red meat has great nutritional value and benefits. The most appropriate would be to reduce and limit the consumption of meat and preferably processed meat totally excluded from the diet.
Colleen Doyle, MS, RD, American Cancer Society managing director of nutrition and physical activity, says, “We should be limiting red and processed meat to help reduce colon cancer risk, and possibly, the risk of other cancers. The occasional hot dog or hamburger is okay.” | <urn:uuid:0ace442c-54f3-4be1-809a-75f1360c4c8d> | {
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The Daily Schedule
Frode Jensen provides two sample schedules in the back of Jensen's Format Writing. They are weekly schedules and each week has a due date for that week's assignments. The section, To The Teacher, that is in the front of the book has assignment scheduling advice from the author. Be certain to read his advice and thoughts on choosing assignment due dates because understanding the reasoning behind a choice will help you make a better choice for yourself.
The Lesson Planner File that I Used
High school English class is a combination of several parts of language arts. I found that a planner with 3 sections could usually support the lesson plans for English class. I designed this planner for my children's English classes:
Grammar and Composition Planner | Example of Planner filled: PDF- Example
Grammar and Composition Planner [doc]
This planner's official link on the Term and Subject Planner Web Page
Things to Consider when Making the Daily Scheduleand when making other decisions for this class
1. How much other school work does your student have to do in addition to this class?
2. How many paragraphs (or essays) can you evaluate well during each *assignment time period? It is important that you not fall behind in giving feedback for this class.
*The assignment time period refers to the span of time between assignments starting immediately after an assignment is turned in and ending before the next assignment starts.
Single Paragraph Formats
The [___] Paragraph
M: Study pages [___]
T: Write one paragraph
W: Write one paragraph
Paragraph assignments: I required two paragraphs of each type. I set aside a week for each type of paragraph. The schedule for each week looked something like the schedule in the box on the left.
If you read Mr. Jensen's suggestions in the section, To The Teacher, then you might notice that I am required one less paragraph per week than the suggested three. My biggest reason for that is because this class was not the only English class that my children had each day. They usually had lessons in other parts of English.
If you look at the screen shot (below) of an actual schedule that is for one week, you will see how I planned the different parts of English class.
Click here if you cannot see the entire picture of the schedule
Consideration point: Notice in the paragraph schedule in the box above that Feedback is scheduled on Thursday. This relies on having time to evaluate both paragraphs by class time on Thursday. This was a good schedule for me, but if you have a busy Wednesday, then feedback might need to be scheduled on Friday. Try not to set yourself up to do too many important things on the same day.
A Less Guided Schedule - see the syllabus
The less guided schedule is not detailed like a daily schedule. The less guided schedule is more like a syllabus in that it should have a list of assignments and due dates. This type of schedule would have a date for at least two classes, one class that begins the assignment, and a class that completes the assignment. The schedule would include a due date for assignments. The due date for the assignments might or might not fall on a "class" date. The student is responsible for turning in the assignments by the appointed date. Keep in mind that while you are meeting with the student at least twice for a "class" the student is working on his own to complete the assignments.
5 Paragraph Essay Formats
Be sure to read Frode Jensen's comments on scheduling this chapter. His comments are in the To the Teacher section that is in the front of the book. In my edition of Jensen's Format Writing, his comments on scheduling the essays are in the middle of page 7.
67-69 Analogy Essay
Mon: read and understand 67-69
Tue: decide what to write, make outline
Wed: write essay
Thu: Proof-Read, write final copy and turn in essay
EoS read 1&2, pp 1-2
HCH copy definitions of nonrestrictive (546) and restrictive (553) in notebook. Read 12d pp 137-143
Fri: Choose a historical fiction novel and read it over the next 6 days or less Title:_______________
Essay Assignments: The box on the left is the daily schedule routine that I decided to use for the essays. Each essay was introduced on Monday and the essay was due on Thursday at the end of class. It was my job to evaluate the essay and give feedback on Friday.
Reading Assignments: Starting with the Analogy Essay, start assigning books to read in preparation for the upcoming book reports. See schedule in the box on the right side of this page. To see six weeks worth of assignments that work in the reading assignments, see this file: PDF- Example Note: This is the same file that is linked near the top of this page.
Please see the example schedule in Jensen's Format Writing to get an idea of how to schedule this class. Typically with a major paper, there is no daily schedule, there are guidelines, assignments, and due dates. I do not have a day by day example for the major papers chapter - I point you to the authors example schedule on page 152 (in my 2002 edition of the book).
Donna Young, November 4, 2011 | <urn:uuid:9516966f-854f-472e-990a-0cad7f23fff2> | {
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In a small Central American country, campesinos agitating for land rights, journalists challenging the status quo and attorneys and advocates working for social justice face continual threats or acts of violence and intimidation. Scores have been murdered, driven into exile or “disappeared” in the night. Catholic priests and deacons speaking out in defense of the vulnerable are rewarded with death threats; a Jesuit-sponsored radio station has been threatened with destruction; and a civilian government has proven itself unable—or unwilling—to rein in public and private security forces acting in the shadows for the powerful.
This description is not, sadly, an exercise in historical memory, 25 years after the savagery of the Jesuit murders at the University of Central America in 1989, nor a recollection of the dreary prelude to the full-blown civil war in El Salvador in the late 1970s. This is a brief précis on contemporary Honduras.
The high-profile murders of María José Alvarado, Miss Honduras 2014, and her sister, Sofía, at the hands of the former’s jealous boyfriend in November briefly trained the U.S. media spotlight on the senseless violence that afflicts the country. But even astute news consumers probably did not read of another murder in Honduras that same week. On Nov. 11, Juan Ángel López Miralda, a Colón-based agrarian leader, was gunned down in the street by two men, who escaped on a motorcycle. Mr. López was a leader of the Movimiento Unificado Campesino del Aguán, a fighter for the land rights of campesinos in that troubled region.
Honduras endures the world’s highest rate of homicide, driven by gang and drug-cartel violence. But that awful volume is not the only reason the murders of people like Mr. López typically remain unsolved, even barely investigated. More than 70 human rights lawyers and 30 journalists have died since 2010. According to a report from Human Rights Watch in February, there have been dozens of homicides, abductions and human rights violations related to land ownership disputes in Bajo Aguán, “none of which has led to a conviction” as “prosecutors and police consistently failed to carry out prompt and thorough investigations into these crimes.” These deaths reflect the strong-arm tactics of commercial and landed interests in Honduras, and the impunity with which their enforcers act suggests indifference, even collusion, among security and police forces.
Since the ouster of former President Manuel Zelaya in 2009, Jesuit-sponsored Radio Progreso has been among the voices most critical of the state. The life of its director Ismael Moreno, S.J., has been repeatedly threatened. The murder on April 11 of the station’s marketing director, Carlos Mejia Orellana, remains unsolved, as does the shooting death in 2011 of Nery Jeremias Orellana, a correspondent for Radio Progreso.
Like other Jesuits before him in this troubled region, Father Moreno seems heroically at peace with the danger. Father Moreno spoke in November just outside Washington, D.C., at the annual Ignatian Family Teach-in for Justice, a gathering of 1,600 students from Jesuit schools from across the country. Gunshots in the night are “normal” in Honduras, he told the students, and “that’s probably how I’ll die.” That calm courage is perhaps laudable, even inspiring, but Father Moreno’s resignation cannot be adopted by those of us in the North who have the power to prevent the disintegration of another Central American society.
Aid to Honduras for economic development could create opportunities for young people to have real alternatives to the gangs, the drug cartels or the lonely, perilous sojourn northward. A recent announcement by the Obama administration of new investments in the regional economy is welcome news, but the administration cannot limit itself merely to economic assistance. Just as important in Honduras are social and political development, nurturing a civic society that embraces human rights, just land reform and the authentic development of people so that their full social and civil expression is protected, even welcomed.
Toward that goal, the United States should reassess the social and economic outcomes of the Central American Free Trade Agreement and recalibrate that deal as necessary in order to reduce social inequities and stabilize Honduran society. A U.S. State Department report in 2013 offered a stark depiction of official misconduct and human rights violations in Honduras. The Obama administration should heighten pressure on President Juan Orlando Hernández to end impunity for political violence and acts of intimidation, whether committed by malevolent platoons of “private security” in disputed regions or by members of the Honduran police or military.
Central America has emerged tentatively from the bloody nightmare of its late 20th-century civil conflicts. Surely this is historical territory that we must do our utmost not to revisit. | <urn:uuid:10ea3dd4-1bc4-4091-a3cb-660b57779aee> | {
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Does your writing have that bloated, overstuffed feeling? Do you have the habit of packing in more words than needed for clear communication? Are your readers easily fatigued by your writing? Do you send out your documents without first subjecting them to rigorous and strenuous editing? Do you run out of breath when reading aloud?
If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, you may have “fat writing.” It’s time to put your writing on a diet and exercise program. Most fat writing can be solved through “diet and exercise.” Dieting refers to removing unnecessary text. Exercise refers to revising for direct and clear communication.
Characteristics of Fat Writing
Redundant writing communicates the same information more than once, whether using words that mean the same thing or communicating the same concept in multiple ways.
Example redundant words: “The office was large and roomy.”
Example redundant concepts: “The company engaged in conservative spending. Company officers introduced a plan to achieve equal results with fewer expenditure.”
Prevention: Use an outline; keep common topics together; say it once well; remove generalities and focus on specifics.
After diet and exercise: “The office was roomy.” “Company officers introduced a plan to achieve equal results with fewer expenditures.”
Rule of thumb: If two expressions communicate the same information, one of them needs to go. Continue reading | <urn:uuid:097f7ece-1bbf-4341-ac3e-eaaeb0e55bd9> | {
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Lesson 3: Confidential Information/Trade Secret Protection
What is Meant by Confidential Information and/or Trade Secrets?
Around the world, there are various definitions for what falls within the scope of protected ‘confidential information/trade secrets’. However generally speaking, legal protection is available for certain types of information that has actual or potential economic value, that is not readily discoverable and in respect of which reasonable steps have been taken to preserve its confidentiality.
For example, in Canada, "confidential Information" is a legal term and is defined as "some product of the human brain" which is not publicly known and which has commercial value to a business.
Confidential Information may include things like customer lists, customer preferences, supplier lists, price lists, employee salary information, manufacturing instructions for products or processes and the like.
Specifically, the term "confidential Information" has been defined by the highest court in Canada as follows:
The information, to be confidential, must, have the necessary quality of confidence about it, namely, it must not be something which is public property and public knowledge. On the other hand, it is perfectly possible to have a confidential document, be it a formula, a plan, a sketch, or something of that kind, which is the result of work done by the maker upon materials which may be available for the use of anybody; but what makes it confidential is the fact that the maker of the document has used his brain and thus produced a result which can only be produced by somebody who goes through the same process.1
The term "trade secrets" is used, in Canada, to represent more specialized or technical information that typically requires
a higher level of secrecy (for example, secret recipes, new inventions) and which is therefore afforded greater
In other words, a number of jurisdictions around the world consider ‘trade secrets’ as special forms of ‘confidential information’.
In contrast, in the US, the term ‘trade secrets’ applies to all forms of valuable confidential commercial information such as customer lists AND secret recipes. Also, the definition of trade secrets may vary from State to State. As a result, in order to achieve greater uniformity across the country, many US States have adopted the Uniform Trade Secrets Act which defines the scope of protected subject-matter as follows:
“Trade secret” means information, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process, that:
- derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by, other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use, and
- is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy.
In this module, we will use the term ‘confidential information/trade secrets’ to reflect the fact that different countries use different ways of expressing the same legal concept. In addition, the use of the term ‘confidential information/ trade secrets’ should be understood to recognize that different types of business secrets may be given different levels of protection by the courts.
1Lac Minerals Ltd v. International Corona Resources ltd 2 SCR 574 at paragraph 58 | <urn:uuid:8fa2234c-fdaf-4276-951d-4e833f88126d> | {
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When crustaceans are cooked, some chemicals in their shells react with heat and change colour.
How our life experiences change the way we perceive colours.
Claude Monet painted The Magpie in winter 1868, turning his interest in colour on the blank canvass of snow.
Turkish painter Esref Armagan uses colour and perspective that he has never seen.
From Superman to Jurassic Park, green screen technology is what makes the jaw-dropping effects you see in blockbuster movies possible. But how does it work?
An unlikely combination of artists, medieval historians, philosophers and scientists have converged to create an exhibition of glass artworks.
It has long been known that colour and emotion are linked – so could colour could be used as a language to express how we feel?
Colour can have surprising effects on us, which we are only now beginning to understand.
The brain processes colour in more ways that just creating visual images – here's how.
People across the globe all see millions of distinct colors. But the terms we use to describe them vary across cultures. New cognitive science research suggests it's about what we want to communicate.
Georgina, age 5, wants to know why rainbows are round.
Indian girls grow up in an environment where they are constantly reminded that fair is beautiful.
Scientists continue to invent new colours for new applications thanks to nanoscale structures.
Red is the colour of life, of danger and of good luck.
New research shows pink cricket balls can be extra difficult to see in those crucial minutes when day turns to night during play.
Many images of planets have been manipulated. So have we seen their true colours? Not always, it turns out. But Jupiter's red spot really is red.
Indigo, pink, saffron: colour for India isn't just for throwing. It's political, too.
The pink ball introduced to this year's day night cricket test can be difficult to see for some players, especially if they are colour blind. There is a better choice of colour.
Scientists have shown how tiny organic tissue remnants in fossils correspond to the pigments in the animals' original skin and hair.
The 13th century polymath Robert Grosseteste was ahead of his time when it came to understanding light, colour and the universe itself. | <urn:uuid:fec8919d-195e-4873-9316-4d2aee87750d> | {
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DURANGO, Colo. (AP) – When the Old Spanish Trail Association met in Cortez recently for its annual conference, several speakers said that the remnants of the trail from Santa Fe to Los Angeles may well be lost.
One part of the trail goes from Abiquiu, N.M., through Ignacio and Durango and on past Green River, Utah. To help define and preserve the trail, the OSTA wants to form a Four Corners chapter, said Mark Franklin, the group’s treasurer.
“We’re living in the past, working today, doing this for tomorrow,” said incoming association president Ashley J. Hall, who insisted the OSTA needs to get more involvement from Native Americans and Hispanics.
Southern Ute Tribal Elder James Jefferson told attendees that the Utes created a portion of the trail through thousands of years of their own trading.
“The Old Spanish Trail had a long history before the Spanish walked on it,” he said. “We came here in the beginning,” long before other tribes such as the Navajo and Apache, whom the Utes call “The Wanderers,” Jefferson said.
Nathan Strong Elk, acting director of the Southern Ute Cultural Center and Museum in Ignacio, said there is DNA evidence of Utes being in this area for at least 12,000 years. The Utes say it is at least 20,000 years, he said.
“Utes are the longest continuing inhabitants of Colorado,” Strong Elk said.
The Old Spanish Trail, more properly called the Old Spanish National Historical Trail under its federal designation, could be a catalyst for development, Strong Elk said. He said the Southern Ute museum could be directly involved in displays and education about the trail.
Cortez resident and author Fred Blackburn said there is some physical evidence of Spanish in the area. He said he’s seen two artifacts: a slave (nose) ring and a lance.
“We need to think about integrating the Spanish trail and the Native trail,” he said.
There are a number of threats to the trail, several speakers said. One of them, ironically, is the development of alternative-energy facilities.
“Industrial-scale plants fragment federal lands,” creating a checkerboard of publicly accessible and inaccessible lands, said Jack Pritchett from OSTA’s Tecopah, Calif., chapter. Pritchett said a company called BrightSource is building a solar-thermal power plant that threatens parts of the trail.
Tecopah is an old Mojave Desert mining town near the California-Nevada border. The trail includes a part of a route taken by John C. Fremont in his western exploration.
Pritchett added that he and his colleagues have been GPS-mapping portions of the trail, called a mule trace, that date from around 1829 to 1848.
“The trail passes through pristine desert,” and there are no signs of modern impact with almost no modern artifacts, such as graffiti, broken glass and the like, Pritchett said.
Artifacts that have been found date from the 19th century, and Pritchett said it is a previously unrecorded branch of the Old Spanish Trail that matches with period documentation.
– By ROBERT GALIN, The Durango Herald
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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a new class of negative regulators that repress gene expression by pairing with their target messenger RNAs (mRNAs). There are hundreds of miRNAs coded in the human genome and thousands of target mRNAs participating in a wide variety of physiological processes such as development and cell identity. It is therefore not surprising that several recent reports involved deregulated miRNAs in the complex mechanism of human carcinogenesis, and proposed them as new key regulators to correct the unbalanced expression of oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes exhibited in cancer cells. This review summarises most of the recent patents related to the use of miRNA signatures in cancer diagnosis and prognosis, the detection and profiling of miRNAs from tumour samples and the identification of oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes targeted by miRNAs, as well as new cancer therapies based on miRNA modulators.
RNA silencing, RNA interference, gene therapy, microRNA, miRNA, miRNA target, miRNA inhibitor, miRNA mimic, cancer, cancer therapy, cancer diagnosis, patent, Caenorhabditis elegans, Exportin-5, TRBP, RISC, cisplatin, doxorubicin, RISCs, PCR, real-time PCR, FRET, chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, mass spectrometry, ATRA, HSP90, human carcinogenesis
School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK. | <urn:uuid:178194c1-d58d-48c7-8796-dbbc0940b831> | {
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"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.8932968974113464,
"score": 2.75,
"token_count": 317,
"url": "http://eurekaselect.com/87239/article/silencing-human-cancer-identification-and-uses-micrornas"
} |
This tiny lump of volcanic rock, in which some claim to perceive a female figure, could be the oldest work of art in the world, or it could be a tiny lump of volcanic rock. Archeologist April Nowell of the University of Pennsylvania recently tried to settle the debate about the 233,000-year-old stone, found in Israel 15 years ago. "It's really not that impressive," admits Nowell. "When I first saw it in a journal, I was pretty sure it was just a rock." To find out if the grooves on the rock were created by natural processes, she compared the "figurine" to other volcanic rocks from the area under an electron microscope. The grooves on volcanic rocks are usually parallel, Nowell observed, and only on one side of the rock. None of them encircled the rock like the groove that makes the neck of the figurine. Grooves in volcanic rock also have gaps and microfoldings, signs of rapid heating and cooling. The neck groove had none. The microscope also revealed tiny striations, like those made by a stone tool. Nowell concludes that the rock was modified by someone, most likely Homo erectus, wielding a stone tool. But it's difficult to say if the carver was consciously forming a human shape or merely scratching at the rock. If the rock is indeed a form of artistic expression, then archeologists have to fill a gap of nearly 200,000 apparently artless years that follow. "It's idiosyncratic, it's interesting, it's anomalous," says Nowell. "And it's definitely going to make us do a lot more research." | <urn:uuid:67359022-8e52-4635-95db-f2553b7cf66c> | {
"date": "2014-03-11T16:34:35",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2014-10",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-10/segments/1394011231453/warc/CC-MAIN-20140305092031-00006-ip-10-183-142-35.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9765230417251587,
"score": 3.375,
"token_count": 336,
"url": "http://discovermagazine.com/1998/jul/artorlump1489"
} |
How is splash water caused in the toilet?
One reason for the occurrence of splash water is the size of the flushing channel. Each flushing process creates a gush of water, which traps air and entrains it. Due to the uplift, the air bubbles entrain water particles upwards, thus causing the splashing effect. A further reason lies in the surface tension of the flushing water, which is influenced by the water hardness. Cistern manufacturers offer flush flow restrictors, dependent on the model type, by means of which the dynamics of the flushing process can be optimised. Slight splashing, however, is unavoidable and by reason of the aforementioned causes not a defect. | <urn:uuid:2c016cfc-e10a-4b2f-b0f6-23884a100020> | {
"date": "2019-01-16T08:23:05",
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2019-04",
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"int_score": 3,
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9507089853286743,
"score": 3.125,
"token_count": 142,
"url": "https://www.villeroy-boch.co.uk/bathroom-and-wellness/service/information-material/faq/faq-details/tx_news/how-is-splash-water-caused-in-the-toilet/News/detail.html?no_cache=1"
} |
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