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In a study of 689,000 of its users, Facebook discovered the key (strokes) to happiness.
We show, via a massive (N = 689,003) experiment on Facebook, that emotional states can be transferred to others via emotional contagion, leading people to experience the same emotions without their awareness. We provide experimental evidence that emotional contagion occurs without direct interaction between people (exposure to a friend expressing an emotion is sufficient), and in the complete absence of nonverbal cues.
And the methodology by which Facebook and Cornell studied “emotional contagion”?
In an experiment with people who use Facebook, we test whether emotional contagion occurs outside of in-person interaction between individuals by reducing the amount of emotional content in the News Feed. When positive expressions were reduced, people produced fewer positive posts and more negative posts; when negative expressions were reduced, the opposite pattern occurred. These results indicate that emotions expressed by others on Facebook influence our own emotions, constituting experimental evidence for massive-scale contagion via social networks. This work also suggests that, in contrast to prevailing assumptions, in-person interaction and nonverbal cues are not strictly necessary for emotional contagion, and that the observation of others’ positive experiences constitutes a positive experience for people.
Emotions can be conveyed by words? In print? What an exciting discovery!
One methodological note left out of the summary: the study was conducted in secret. The users had not been informed that Facebook was rearranging the news feeds they received.
Facebook says what’s the big deal? A Facebook user consents to be used by the corporation’s “terms of service.” When protests to the study were raised, corporatespeak assured us the study was vetted in its “strong internal review process.”
One of the authors of the report issued an apology. Of sorts.
Some say if you don’t like what Facebook does, don’t sign up, or get off it (if possible). Which is fine. But don’t expect the emotional contagion, once unleashed, will be confined to Facebook users.
It’s not hard to imagine how this study might be used. Fortunately, Neighbor Zuckerberg is not the sort of dude who goes about manipulating emotions for fun, profit, advertising or politics.
Hey Mark, you won’t let the NSA in on this little game, will you? | <urn:uuid:432c1780-9042-47a1-8656-460d5d31feb9> | {
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Bottle-nosed Dolphin, Israel / (Tursiops trunctatus) / Grosser Tuemmler, Israel / [Saeugetiere, mammals, animals, Wale, whales, Ozean, ocean, Wal, Unterwasser, under water, Salzwasser, salt water, Rotes Meer, Red Sea
September 7, 2012
Bottlenose dolphins are beautiful marine mammals. Tourists who travel to the Gulf Coast love to see them. But dolphins should never be fed.
Sometimes, unfortunately, they are. That’s the assessment of officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service.
However, it is illegal to feed dolphins under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, a federal law that’s been in effect since 1972.
On July 16, the FWC received a call about a dolphin biting a female swimmer at the Panama City Pass. The unidentified swimmer was reportedly part of a dolphin tour but was not feeding dolphins when she was bitten on the leg. Her injuries were minor and did not require medical treatment, according to a report.
“Dolphins are large, powerful creatures, and it’s illegal to feed them for several reasons,” said Elsa Haubold, section leader in the FWC’s Species Conservation Planning Section. “They have sharp teeth, and anyone who offers them food is subject to being bitten and injured.
“Not only that, when you teach dolphins to associate people with fish or other food items, the dolphins teach this behavior to their young and you perpetuate a vicious cycle. It’s really up to people to help us break this cycle.”
Haubold said dolphins that are fed are also raising the ire of anglers by snatching fish off their lines. She said in some instances, the dolphins themselves end up being hooked and injured.
Seeing dolphins “up close and personal” has become so popular that a number of dolphin-tour businesses in Panama City cater to tourists.
“We recognize tourism is important, but when it comes to dolphins, we encourage people to view them from a distance,” Haubold said.
Pam Anderson, operations manager at Capt. Anderson’s Marina on Panama City Beach, said they take tourists out to see dolphins but follow the “no feeding” rule.
“We do not allow dolphin feeding on our boats. We don’t need to,” she said. “When the captain stops the boat, dolphins usually come around.”
FWC Maj. Bruce Cooper oversees law enforcement efforts in the Florida Panhandle. He said anyone who feeds dolphins is violating the law.
Cooper said that during a recent plainclothes operation by FWC officers, two Panama City dolphin-tour boat operators were identified feeding dolphins during a dolphin-viewing trip. The investigation is continuing, with possible charges forthcoming.
“We want people to enjoy themselves when they are out recreationally or on a commercial vessel to see dolphins, but the law is in place for a reason,” he said. | <urn:uuid:af139311-00fe-4d2c-beb3-a832cca6e073> | {
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Reassortment of American and Eurasian genes in an influenza A virus isolated from a great black-backed gull (Larus marinus), a species demonstrated to move between these regions
- First Online:
- Cite this article as:
- Wille, M., Robertson, G.J., Whitney, H. et al. Arch Virol (2011) 156: 107. doi:10.1007/s00705-010-0839-1
- 196 Downloads
The primary hosts for influenza A viruses are waterfowl, although gulls and shorebirds are also important in global avian influenza dynamics. Avian influenza virus genes are separated phylogenetically into two geographic clades, American and Eurasian, which is caused by the geographic separation of the host species between these two regions. We surveyed a gregarious and cosmopolitan species, the Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus), in Newfoundland, Canada, for the presence of avian influenza viruses. We have isolated and determined the complete genome sequence of an H13N2 virus, A/Great Black-backed Gull/Newfoundland/296/2008(H13N2), from one of these birds. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that this virus contained two genes in the American gull clade (PB1, HA), two genes in the American avian clade (PA, NA), and four genes in the Eurasian gull clade (PB2, NP, M, NS). We analyzed bird band recovery information and found the first evidence of trans-Atlantic migration from Newfoundland to Europe (UK, Spain and Portugal) for this species. Thus, great black-backed gulls could be important for movement of avian influenza viruses across the Atlantic Ocean and within North America. | <urn:uuid:37fb416b-bdf1-49ac-9902-82c483a721de> | {
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February 18, 2007
PTSD: Treating The Numbers, Not The Soldiers
According to the United States Department of Veterans' Affairs--as its information page reads this morning, at least--Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is defined as:
An anxiety disorder that can occur following the experience or witnessing of a traumatic event. A traumatic event is a life-threatening event such as military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or physical or sexual assault in adult or childhood. Most survivors of trauma return to normal given a little time. However, some people will have stress reactions that do not go away on their own, or may even get worse over time.
Insofar as the government asserts, some 60% of men and 50% of women (overall, both military and civilian) experience a traumatic event at some point in their lives. Assuming, of course, that all traumatic events are reported or somehow noted--which of course they aren't--one can still be forgiven for being alarmed that such a staggeringly high number of human beings are at risk for developing PTSD. And of course, many human beings do heal on their own, handling trauma in ways that don't threaten the safety and well-being of themselves and those around them; they work through the shock, terror, grief, flashbacks, and sense of needing to be on guard at all times, and with time and support, they return to a point where they can sleep a reasonably normal length of time without waking from re-enactment nightmares or go to a noisy, crowded place without feeling overcome by irrational waves of fear or violent urges.
For far too many who've witnessed war's indescribable tragedies firsthand, though, the notion of healing is itself a phantom concept, a dream. From The Real Cost Of War (currently at Playboy Online):
Burgoyne had been brought into the hospital by one of the other soldiers in his unit after he had been found doubled over in his bunk, having tried to kill himself with an overdose of antidepressants. The attempted suicide, plus the lack of expression in his eyes and his "rapid cycling behavior" from rage to grief and back to rage, were the symptoms of a dangerously ill man. Koroll sensed he was looking at a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder, the clinical term for someone who continues to experience trauma long after the event has passed. This reexperiencing of the original event can take the form of insomnia, flashbacks, paranoia, panic attacks, emotional numbness and violent outbursts.
These symptoms are treatable, Koroll knew. If he could transfer Burgoyne to a safe, comforting environment, the young man might be restored over time to full health and capacity. That meant getting the soldier out of the dusty chaos of the Kuwaiti Army base, where he was temporarily stationed after a bloody tour in Iraq, and sending him to a hospital in Germany where he could rest on clean white sheets in a quiet room in a first-class psychiatric facility.
It was Koroll's job as the on-duty nurse to make the decision about whether to evacuate Burgoyne. He was ready to do it based on what he'd seen. But he needed to ask one final question before he could order the evac in good conscience.
"So," Koroll said, "right now, at this moment, do you have thoughts of harming yourself or others?"
Burgoyne, he remembers, looked up through those flat, vacant eyes and said quite clearly, "Yeah. Yeah, I do."
Koroll picked up the soldier's chart and wrote in a clear hand, "Evac."
As it turns out, Burgoyne had not been evacuated to Germany as Koroll had ordered. According to Koroll, a colonel in Burgoyne's command pressured the hospital to allow Burgoyne to return to America with his unit, the Third Infantry Division, which was to be one of the first units lionized for its heroism in leading the fight north to Baghdad. "He's a hero. He should be with his men" is how Koroll remembers the explanation coming down to him. After he returned to Georgia, Burgoyne, according to his mother, spent a few minutes in an Army hospital, spoke briefly to an Army psychiatrist and then was released from medical supervision. Exactly two days later Burgoyne attacked a fellow soldier in the woods near Fort Benning, Georgia, killing him with 32 stab wounds from a three-inch blade and then burning his body with lighter fluid, because, as he explained at his subsequent murder trial, "that's how we disposed of bodies in Iraq."
Sadly, this story is not unique, but rather, is representative of the disturbingly underreported problem of PTSD. More troubling than the fact that this serious anxiety disorder--and its devastating effects and costs--is shamefully underreported in the media is the reality that it is all too often underreported within the Unites States military. Underreported, minimized, ignored, misdiagnosed, and, most frighteningly, untreated (my bolds).
Given the inevitability of psychological scarring in intense, prolonged conflicts, it is odd that the two bureaucracies most responsible for the mental health of American troops -- the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense -- have taken steps to downplay the psychological toll of the war. According to sources I spoke to in the Pentagon and former officials in the VA, DOD and VA doctors are being pressured to limit diagnoses of PTSD in order to save the military money and manpower. The DOD's official medical policy toward PTSD was recently amended to include new criteria making it a virtual certainty that many soldiers who exhibit symptoms of the disease will not be diagnosed. And the VA itself has been quietly working to arrive at new, stricter formulations of PTSD -- contradicting those of the American Psychiatric Association -- that would allow the agency to diagnose far fewer cases.
"Some people would argue that it's malicious and intentional, but to me it's a reflection of the military mind-set," says Steve Robinson, a 20-year veteran of the Special Forces who recently became a full-time policy advocate. "The Department of Defense is not a health care provider. It couldn't do the right thing if it wanted to because of how much money it would cost and how many doctors it would take. It's a matter of capacity. The number of people seeking care versus the number of doctors available to provide that care nationwide across the whole armed services is out of whack."
In the four years since Koroll's diagnosis of the young soldier was ignored, the anti-PTSD-diagnosis movement (for lack of a better phrase) within the military has grown, as evidenced by, among other things, the hard numbers. The Department of Defense (DOD) reports diagnosing approximately 2,000 cases of PTSD a year, but according to a study by Army researchers that was published in The New England Journal of Medicine, PTSD rates are between 10 and 15 percent for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan; this translates to PTSD cases numbering between 13,000 and 20,000. (The study also notes, disturbingly, that only 23-40% of those veterans diagnosed with anxiety disorders and other psychological afflictions even seek treatement.) And according to figures obtained after repeated requests by Playboy, the evacuation rates for PTSD-afflicted soldiers--for example, those from January to July 2006, showing only 716 soldiers evacuated from Iraq for PTSD--fall well below the predictions of statistical models. As reporter Mark Boal notes:
If the military diagnosed even half the cases in Iraq and Afghanistan that are thought to exist, the evacuation figures would be closer to 5,000 a year.
For their part, military officials deny any attempt to minimize or underplay the impact and magnitude of the situation. This despite published forecasts that the cost of America's current involvement in the Middle East will soar beyond even the stratospherically high numbers around which most of us have just begun to wrap our heads; this despite officials having gone on record with--and been roundly criticized for--statements like that of Pentagon undersecretary David Chu, in a January 25, 2005 article in the Wall Street Journal:
WASHINGTON—With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan badly straining its forces, the Pentagon is facing an awkward problem: Military retirees and their families are absorbing billions of dollars that military leaders would rather use to help troops fighting today.
Congress, pressured by veterans groups, has in recent years boosted military pensions, health insurance and benefits for widows of retirees. Internal Pentagon documents forecast that the lawmakers' generosity since 1999 will force the federal government to find about $100 billion over the next six years to cover the new benefits.
"The amounts have gotten to the point where they are hurtful. They are taking away from the nation's ability to defend itself," says David Chu, the Pentagon's undersecretary for personnel and readiness.
As I read the profoundly upsetting Playboy article referenced throughout this post, I thought about my freshman economics class at Florida, which was taught by one very entertaining and sharp-witted professor named Dr. Denslow. "Guns and butter," he said one day, actually plunking a box of unsalted butter sticks alongside a plastic toy grenade-launcher on his lecturn. "Guns and butter. The money stays the same, so how are you going to spend it--on guns, or on butter?"
Bombs or bodies? Mines or minds? Futilities or futures?
March 19, 2006
Defense Budget Disasters
Conservatives have a tendency to see military spending as less wasteful and porkish than domestic spending. I suppose that it comes out of a libertarian view of government's responsibility -- the state is supposed to defend you from foreign enemies and uphold property rights, but not to actually help people. And if you see spending that falls outside the narrow obligations of the government as inherently wasteful, domestic spending looks wasteful while military spending doesn't.
That's why it's important that people know about the defense contracting scandals that Josh Marshall has been so intent on publicizing -- first Duke Cunningham and his bribe menu (if you haven't seen it yet, by all means have a look), and now this business with John Doolittle taking bribes through his wife from the one of the same defense contractors who bribed Cunningham. In exchange for bribes, these Republicans would award millions of dollars in contracts for junk that the military didn't actually need. When you trust the party of corruption with national security, that's what you get.
I don't know if billion-dollar contracts hinge on bribes, but they can often be just as wasteful, and even more destructive. Take the Star Wars missile defense system, which fails to shoot down enemy missiles in tests, even when they rig the tests and put a homing beacon on the missiles so that the interceptor can find them. Or take the enormous amount of military hardware that the anti-China lobby is hoping to sell. In both of these cases, there are much better solutions to the problems than the defense contractors can offer. Buy up loose nukes in the former USSR, and you'll do a whole lot more to protect America than you will by putting a bunch of crap that doesn't work in space. Pursue a smart policy of engagement with China, and we won't ever have to go to war with them. (Keep in mind that war with China would be an utterly horrific event, with the possibility of literally millions of casualties, even if the nuclear weapons didn't come out.)
This issue is at the crossroads of so many issues Democrats care about. We want a more humanitarian foreign policy, so we don't want defense contractors leading us into stupid and bloody wars. We care about the deficit, so we don't want billions of dollars to be blown on useless junk. We care about a bunch of domestic programs, so we want people to know that those aren't the thing to cut if you're looking to cut waste. And we care about successfully defending this country, not just enriching defense contractors -- so we want the money to be spent where it'll actually do what it's supposed to.
August 03, 2005
The Peace Army
Shakespeare's Sister has a good post on the McCain-Bayh bill that'd allow military recruits to fulfill part of their service obligations in the Peace Corps. Apparently, the program was popped into the Defense Bill from a couple years ago and, well, funny thing, no one ever informed the Peace Corps.
I'm a little conflicted on the program, to tell you the truth. On the one hand, it seems like a good idea to give recruits exhausted from the army a chance to wipe the blood from their hands and do some humanitarian work. Nevertheless, I've got to come down against it for three reasons.
1) As Shakes said, it'll break down the traditional barrier between Peace Corps and military, potentially making Peace Corps volunteers targets overseas. That's got to be avoided at all costs.
2) I fear it'll become nothing more than a way to trick uncertain kids into signing up for the army. Even now, they're told that it'll be a breeze, they'll be out in a couple years with thousands of dollars for college, they'll just be doing a desk job. Then they're sent to Iraq. Add in this option that they could spend most of their time in Costa Rica building huts on the beach and, well, I've got a feeling desperate recruiters will leverage it both mercilessly and unethically. I was talking to a recruiter the other day, in fact, and he said meeting quotas was impossible. If it kept up like this, he thought they'd need a draft.
3) In addition to getting tricked into signing up, if you use the Peace Corps as a sweetener, folks might think they're joining for shorter tours. Not necessarily. In this age of stop-loss policies and constant rotations, you may not only never get to your Peace Corps portion, the short tour which you thought would be halved by humanitarian work can now stretch out years, and youll be called up in every future battle fought.
Si I come down against. I would love more funds, energy, and cash pushed towards national service in this country, but it's got to be done separately from the military. All ways of serving the country should be honored, but that doesn't mean they should be mixed. The Peace Corps should not be a sweetener to become a soldier. It's not an incentive program, it's a powerful, free-standing portion of America's foreign relations strategy. That we've neglected it in the past few uears is shameful. We shouldn't compound the sin by perverting it into an arm of the military. | <urn:uuid:c231b2b9-2e63-4e98-a04f-419013fef2ba> | {
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Chapter VIII.—A Large Congregation.
While Peter was thus speaking, the multitudes, as if they had been called by some one, entered into the place where Peter was. Then he, seeing a great multitude, like the smooth current of a river gently flowing towards him, said to p. 272 Maroones, “Have you any place here that is better able to contain the crowd?” Then Maroones conducted him to a garden-plot in the open air, and the multitudes followed. But Peter, standing upon a base of a statue which was not very high, as soon as he had saluted the multitude in pious fashion, knowing that many of the crowd that stood by were tormented with demons and many sufferings of long standing, and hearing them shrieking with lamentation, and falling down before him in supplication, rebuked them, and commanded them to hold their peace; and promising healing to them after the discourse, 1095 began to speak on this wise:—
[In Recognitions, iv. 7, the healing is represented as occurring at once.—R.] | <urn:uuid:76486986-c134-4155-b2b4-df2b38f281d4> | {
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What is Title I
Title I is the nation’s largest federal assistance program for schools. It is a federal program to help students obtain a quality education and meet and exceed academic standards. A Title I program can be targeted assistance which helps eligible children meet performance standards by placing them with Title I staff who are specially trained; this service is completely funded by Title I. A Title I program can be school wide which serves all students in eligible and identified schools. In our district, Harmar, Phillips, and Washington Elementaries along with St. Mary’s Elementary are identified as Title I schools; all students received academic remediation (intervention) or enrichment when appropriate. All K-5th grade students are eligible for all services provided by Title I. A school wide Title I program allows eligible schools to use Title I funds to pay for educational programs, staff members or services that benefit all students within that school.
Title I Supports 21st Century Learning
21st century learning addresses skills that students will need to succeed in today’s global economy. These critical skills including problem solving, innovative thinking, and creativity use technology to master core subjects and develop critical skills. Teachers provide these opportunities for students with the support of Title I.
Title I programs also offer small groups or special instructional spaces, additional teachers, opportunities for professional development for district staff, extra time for teaching students the skills they need, and additional teaching materials which supplement regular instruction.
District Title I
Title I Teachers:
Harmar Elementary: Ellen McVicar, Anne Burnworth and Sandy Winans
Phillips Elementary: Kelly Tekavec, Emily Hopp and Susan Rake
St.Mary’s Elementary: Debbie Karas
Washington Elementary: Emilia Jacobs, Amy Mendenhall and Nan Welch
For additional information about the Title I program, contact
Jona S. Hall, Director of Curriculum and Technology 740.374.6500 ext 8014 | <urn:uuid:71f8e489-9662-442b-81be-686c3906d9a0> | {
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An assignment reflects the writing skills and the comprehension level of the student. Irrespective of the subject that the student is studying he will encounter the task of writing an assignment for it more than one time. Especially in school, students have so many subject to study and with the instruction of writing an assignment for each of them, overloads the brain of the pupil. Even the complicated subjects of numerical like accounts have assignments which a student has to submit if he wants to acquire high grades. This leads to the surfing of the web for accounting homework help services, which could ease his burden.
ACCOUNTINGHOMEWORKHELP.COM wants the student to expect in advance the amount of time they will be allotting to every assignment of each subject. The time may vary from fifteen to twenty hours every week. Constructing a timetable will help student spend time on each subject according to the percentage of marks that they will be able to achieve via its assignment.
- Mark the dates on your calendar on which the assignment is due. This will help keep track of time and push you forward to do the assignment with super-human speed.
- Know how much mark each of it contains so that you can work in a way that ensures the achievement of the grades.
- Keep an extra notebook for each subject’s assignment and jot down the points that you seem will be relevant to the topic.
- Select a particular time that will be strictly allotted to completing the assignment and do not invest that time in doing something else than that.
- Already plan how you will make up for the time which will be occupied by social and family functions.
- Plan the topic of every subject’s assignment so that if you have the freedom of choosing your own subject, you will not have to waste time in selecting it that time.
- Read a lot, irrespective of the fact whether you like a certain genre or not. This will increase your knowledge and you will not have to travel an extra mile while researching a topic.
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The assignment is another source of exaggerating the points that you have detailed knowledge about. The student can hire expert writers from college homework help websites that can monitor the timetable created by him and guide him better to make the full use of his time.
There are various professional writers over the web that are enthusiastic about writing an assignment, essay, dissertation or a thesis and when they have the chance to help the students who do not have much time on their hands, they do it without a second thought. Students can hire such writers and take full advantage of their skills and learn from them a lot in the terms of writing.
Visit ACCOUNTINGHOMEWORKHELP.COM for expert assistance | <urn:uuid:c451eb68-35b5-4ac5-9558-a434d62c8792> | {
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|Battle of the Alamo|
|Part of Texas Revolution|
Brave Texans, attempting to keep Mexicans from crossing a wall. Déjà vu, anyone?
|Republic of Texas||Mexico|
|Antonio López de Santa Anna||Whoever wasn't drunk at the time|
|258 killed||400-600 killed or wounded|
An old Spanish mission near San Antonio swelters in the swooning Texas heat, surrounded on all sides by over 2,000 Mexican troops under the command of the charismatic devil-spawn known as General Antonio López de Santa Anna. Inside the mission, 260 soldiers of the Republic of Texas know that there is no longer any hope of survival. Their defeat is imminent. Death stares at them, unblinking. But the brave soldiers hold their ground, steadfast in the face of an enemy that crushingly outnumbers them.
They carry with them a fighting spirit that will later lead their fellow countrymen into brilliant victory at the Battle of San Jacinto. Though this battle will last only thirteen days, its legacy will resound through the months to come, rallying the Texan Revolutionaries to fight ever-stronger for their cherished ideals of justice, freedom of religion, freedom of expression,...and the right to beat an African slave within an inch of his goddamned life. This is not merely a siege where one side is surrounded, killed, torn apart, used as piñatas, and then thrown to the dogs — this...this...is the Battle of the Alamo.
In the early 1800's, before Texas became a part of the United States of America — a gracious host for Texas and its ego — it was a territory of Mexico, then part of the Spanish Empire. The territory was named after the Native American word for friendship, Tejas, which was fitting, since Texans had to use friendship in working together while fighting Indian Raiding parties. During that time, there was a large influx of immigrants from United States and elsewhere, many seeking a new life on the wild frontier and to escape from hard times. Over time, there were more American immigrants than native Mexican residents (a shift of demographics from the present, as the opposite is true today). The immigrants brought with them their protestant beliefs, and their true American values of freedom, which they showed by bringing thousands of enslaved Africans with them. All was well in Texas, and the residents enjoyed years of semi-independence and individual rights, until Santa Anna came into power as President of the recently established Republic of Mexico.
edit Hard Times Come Again Once More
The gradual change to more dictatorial policies by the Mexican government reminded the immigrants of their bad experience with a certain other unnamed oppressive power that had ruled them before. Centralization of the government also played a part in instigating the conflict, but that don't make for good history, so we'll ignore that part.
Santa Anna soon demonstrated that he was not just a massive killjoy — he was also a massive failure at History 101. Metaphorically shutting the gates of Mexican Texas to immigrants, he then made modest demands of the Americans who remained behind — requesting politely that they do such things as pay more taxes, speak only Spanish...and worship only in government-approved churches. Worst of all, he banned the selling and transfer of slaves in Texas — without their labor and skilled handiwork, how were Texians supposed to plant without soiling their finely pressed suits?!
The naturally-peeved Texans, fearing for the fate of their property, and bristling under the injustices perpetrated upon them by the Mexican government, rose up in armed rebellion, demonstrating that you may occasionally mess with Texas — and you may even get away with it — but you definitely do not mess with a Texian's right to swap niggers.
According to legend, when the news reached Santa Anna that the Texans were revolting, he replied, "¡Si, si! They're disgusting!" (Historians to this day struggle with how that pun would've worked in Spanish.)
The Texas Revolution had begun.
edit Before the Battle
Originally, Texan forces weren't meant to guard the Alamo, but to destroy it. Under the command of the strapping Sam Houston, Colonel James Bowie was supposed to demolish the Old Mission, and take the artillery. But, because all the draft animals died from starvation (the first casualties of the Battle of the Alamo), they couldn't take the artillery away. Instead of leaving the site and seeking better strategies to combat their foes (the logical, but non-Texan way), Bowie persuaded Houston to let his troops guard the Alamo, hoping to halt Santa Anna's march to Sabine and stop the Mexicans from taking Bexar. They didn't know it yet, but the Texians were preparing for an epic last stand that would inspire a mere territory of Mexico to become a nation...
...aaaaand then be annexed by the United States.
Finding himself low on supplies, Colonel Bowie requested from the provisional government "more men, money, guns, bullet-lead, cannonballs, cannon powder, biscuits, beef, salt pork, laudanum, and, for the love of the good, Christian God, more liquor!" But the provisional governement refused, on a legendary principle of tight-fistedness which pervades Texas to the present day. Low on both ammunition and whores, the Texan soldiers fortified the old Mission (which, sadly, was a very good location for a mission, but a very poor location for a fort), while Santa Anna and his troops gathered outside, readying to strike the Texans and deprive them of their freedom — and their lives. Not even bolded words can describe the drama and tension that would surround the events of the Alamo.
edit The Siege
The Battle of the Alamo officially started on February 23rd, 1836, when Santa Anna and his troops marched into San Antonio, and surrounded the old Spanish fort. Unlike conventional battles in which the combatants shot each other until everyone was dead, the other side was already dying of dysentery. Earlier, the troops marched straight into the heartland of Texas, combating the cold winter, Comanche raiding parties, lack of supplies, and drunk Texan settlers fighting for their rights. Marching hundreds of miles took a toll on the Mexican troops, especially the lack of supplies, since it was difficult to combat the lack of something, instead of the presence of it. Eventually, Bexar was occupied by Mexican forces, and they raised a blood red flag, which meant no quarter. This made it hard to operate slot machines, which were popular with the Mexican troops at the time.
edit The First Days
In the first days of the siege, it wasn't a very interesting affair. Other than looking out for the occasional skirmish, singing old folk songs by the campfire, contemplating the future, and slowly starving to death, there wasn't much to do. Sometimes, one side would fire a cannon shot or two, and then the other side would retaliate with more cannon shots, but other than that, the first days were an exercise in the mundane, but this was expected, since sieges involve waiting for the enemy to either starve or surrender. Many of the soldiers in the Alamo made it clear that they weren't going to surrender, so starvation was common. To break the tedium, there were some small skirmishes, but they weren't very interesting; other than a few torched huts and some lost lives, not much happened. One somewhat interesting thing some soldiers did was write letters. Some wrote to their parents about their impending deaths, some wrote to their friends about their impending death, and some wrote to their children about their impending death. Without the brave soldier's letters, the only way we would've known of the finer details of the Battle of the Alamo was through Susanna Dickinson, and as we all know, women are deceitful, manipulative creatures.
Unfortunately, due to food poisoning from a rancid Piña colada, James Bowie became severely ill, and couldn't effectively command his troops. So he left command to the handsome William Travis, a good choice for future purchasers of Alamo commemorative plates and medallions.
edit The Siege Continues
While the Alamo defenders continued to strengthen their defenses and slowly starve, the Mexican forces surrounding them continued adding more artillery batteries, which Santa Anna put to great use when he ordered all his troops to charge head on into the fortified Mission. Although the troops garrisoned in the Alamo were badly in need of more weapons, food, equipment, and reinforcements, they were (mostly) on their own; the few potential bullet sponges that did try to reach the Alamo were stopped by the Mexican forces. Their was little hope of victory for the defenders, but, they didn't lose hope. Those freedom fighters were a shining example for us all, dying for a country that they believed in, and martyring themselves for something they thought greater, unlike the Muslim terrorists we fight today.
edit The Final Battle
The date was March 5th, 1836, a day that would live on in the annals of time. Two-hundred sixty soldiers, vastly outnumbered, outgunned, and underequipped, stood tall against Santa Anna's forces. The day before, William Travis — knowing they had no chance to survive — gathered all his men, and drew a line in the sand, asking the men who would be willing to fight and die for Texas to cross the line, though this was useless, as they were in a siege and were unable to leave, but its the thought that counts. Knowing of their impending death, the Texan defenders still rose to the challenge, fighting insurmountable odds, and making history. Little did they know what would follow would become the most epic, bittersweet, endearing, and cinematic battle ever known to man.
edit The Night Assault
On 10:00 PM, the Mexican forces' artillery barrage finally stopped, creating a wary stillness in the air. Seeing this as an opportunity for some rest, the Texan defenders went to sleep, unaware of the coming assault. Unlike an honorable, chivalrous foe, Santa Anna, with all his cruel cunning, anticipated this, and prepared a full-frontal assault on the complex. The nighttime's anxious equilibrium was shattered by the sounds of musket fire, killing Three scouts stationed just outside the Alamo while they were asleep. The Mexican troops attempted to sneak up on the defenders, but the Texans were awoken by the shouts of "¡Viva Santa Anna!" and "¡Viva la tequilla!" from the more inebriated recruits. Quickly, the Texans awoke, and sprung into action, showing that not even the perils of sleep could dissuade a Texan soldier. Foiling the Mexican's dastardly sneak attack, the Alamo defenders shot at their enemies, killing many of them and temporarily preventing a breach of the wall. Unfortunately, due to the awful design flaws from the Mission's lazy Spanish architects, the Mexican troops were able to cross the wall's borders. This further cemented Mexicans' reputation of breaching border walls.
edit They're Coming Outta the Goddamn Walls!
Santa Anna's soldiers breached the defenses of the Alamo, penetrating the walls of the impromptu fortress. The Texas defenders fighting bravely, fearless of the cold grasp of death, killed many of the invaders before dying. Intense fighting took place in the interior, and amidst the chaos, the spirit of the Texas revolutionaries shone through, before being spiked to death by bayonets. Very few of the Texans (only 50), who weren't very appreciative of what was going around them, attempted to escape, but they were quickly killed. Eventually, all the Texans died, but they were able to perform the difficult feat of inflicting over four-hundred casualties on the poorly-equipped, poorly-fed, and forcibly conscripted Mexican army. Seeking an easy battle, Santa Anna and his troops instead were shown that even in defeat, Texans could instill the fear of messing with Texas into people and litter.
After the dust settled, and the dead removed from the site, the bitter memory of the Alamo was seared into the minds of Texans everywhere, like a Maverick getting branded by a Mexican ranch hand, minus the part where the cow makes a final last stand and faces the oppression of the Mexican government. The only few survivors were innocent civilians, and women. Santa Anna thought that the defeat at the Alamo would cause Texans to lose hope, or even surrender, but, not even a defeat can defeat the stubbornness and resolve of the Texan soldiers. Immediately afterwards, thousands of Texans fled their homes in an attempt to escape the wrath of Santa Anna. The Mexican general also used his history of massacres and refusal of surrender to scare Texans into stopping the war, but the memory of the Alamo kept revenge alive in their hearts. Vindication was coming, and it was to be swift and painful.
edit Battle of San Jacinto
On 21 April 1836, 1,360 Mexican soldiers were stationed in present-day Harris County, Texas, minding their own business, tending to tedious tasks, or on "guard duty". To their disadvantage, they were completely surrounded by the San Jacinto River, and two bayous, leaving them isolated and vulnerable to a sneak attack. General Sam Houston, seeing an opportunity to make another stealth pun, had previously planned an afternoon ambush which would leave the guards off guard and unprepared to retaliate. Amidst the grassy plain, the forces crept closer into the camp, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. In the tension surrounding the stealth mission, one soldier yelled, "Remember the Alamo!", and the whole platoon told him to shush before attacking. Unable to counter attack, Santa Anna's soldiers weren't able to form their intricately proper row and column formation they constantly rehearsed, and were confused, scrambling to escape. At the time, the soldiers were also with their wives and children, so they didn't have much time to prepare for battle. In only 18 minutes, the fierce fighting was over, and Texas emerged the clear victor, killing at least 700 Mexican soldiers, while only sustaining nine deaths and thirty injuries themselves. The coward Santa Anna was finally caught, and the revolution was ended in a Texan victory, meaning Texas could become a separate nation. Free of the oppressive chains of the government, Texans could now oppressively chain more slaves than ever before.
Decades after the Battle of the Alamo, many people still remember and commemorate that fateful day. Museums have been made, and collectors have collected (often obnoxiously) Alamo memorabilia, and the site itself single-handedly saved the nearly nonexistent Texas Tourism industry; funds from the Alamo gift shop make up 8% of San Antonio's GDP. But, history is more than just money and how people have exploited it. The effects of the Battle changed the whole world as we know it, and showed the Earth Texas's fighting spirit and willingness to fight for freedom till the very end. Though some might say that the battle was more than just a simple dichotomy between good and evil, Mexico was trying to deprive Texas of its rights, and anyone who deprives you of something is obviously evil. | <urn:uuid:c8507238-9a28-4f3c-a15d-93fd47805b79> | {
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What does the title A Day No Pigs Would Die mean?
Written in 1972, A Day No Pigs Would Die is loosely based on the youth of author Robert Newton Peck during the 1920s. The story is about Robert, a young boy living on a farm, and his growing up in a pragmatic world of birth and death instead of idealized comfort.
The Peck family are farmers, and Haven Peck, Robert's father, is a butcher. Robert grows up knowing how to butcher animals, and how they eat each other to survive; he delivers a bull calf for another farmer and receives a piglet as a reward. Robert continues to grow and is very attached to his pet pig, which is sterile and so of no use on a pig farm. One year, when the crops are bad and food is scarce, Haven Peck and Robert butcher the pet pig. Robert is very sad, but understands why things must be done, and that incident allows him to bond with his father, who is sympathetic for the loss of a pet (an unusual emotion for a butcher). At the end of the book, Haven dies, and all the farmers from around come to help bury him:
...I looked up road. Another wagon was coming. It was May and Sebring Hillman... Isadore Crookshank along with Jacob Henry and his folks. Last to come was Mr. Clay Sander, the man my father slaughtered for. Along with several of the men that Papa worked with. There would be no work on this day. A day no pigs would die... they'd come because they respected him and honored him.
(Peck, A Day No..., Google Books)
Despite the need for food, work stops for the day while they honor Haven Peck. On that day, no pigs will die; even if they die the next day, it doesn't matter, because the funeral is as much about life as about death, and they receive an extra day of life from Haven's death. Robert ends the novel working on chores to continue the farm. | <urn:uuid:58963780-8357-419a-9e77-feb8b36e910b> | {
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October 1, 2015
October 1, 2015
By Elizabeth E. Thorp | September 25, 2014 | Lifestyle
With the ever-expanding worldwide market for luxury goods, African elephants are being hunted to extinction for their valuable tusks. Here, Chelsea Clinton shares her passion for these exceptional animals, and the Clinton Foundation’s efforts to save them.
It’s an unimaginable horror. Satao, an iconic male African bush elephant, who was born in the late 1960s, should have lived a natural life of 70 years. But he was found dead in Kenya’s Tsavo East National Park in June. Poachers took down Satao, who weighed an estimated seven tons, with a single poisoned arrow to his flank. His signature ivory tusks, which weighed more than 100 pounds each, had been hacked off. The Tsavo Trust, a conservation group that monitors the elephant populations of Tsavo in partnership with the Kenya Wildlife Services, knew Satao well because of its focus on protecting large “tuskers” which are lucrative targets for poachers. But Satao was so horribly butchered that the conservation groups who tracked his every move could not immediately identify him.
Why would anyone want to kill the world’s largest land mammal—a highly intelligent species with a lifespan as long as a human’s? An animal with powerful family bonds and a memory that far surpasses ours and spans a lifetime? Scientists have found that elephants are capable of elaborate thought and deep feeling; they mourn deeply for lost loved ones, even shedding tears and suffering depression. They have a sense of empathy that projects beyond their species.
So why are these gorgeous creatures being slaughtered? It’s for that objet d’art on your mantelpiece, the necklace in your jewelry box, the hair ornament on your dresser, and the ivory keys of your custom piano.
Elephants form deep emotional bonds with family members that may rival our own.
While elephant poaching has been a grave challenge at different times during the last century, it has recently risen to alarming levels. In 2012, some 35,000 African elephants were killed, about a 10th of the remaining population, representing the worst mass slaughter of elephants since the international ivory trade was banned in 1990. Roughly the same number were killed last year as well. African forest elephants in particular have been devastated by poaching and have declined by about 76 percent since 2002. At this rate, African forest elephants could effectively become extinct over the next decade.
The wildlife trade is one of the world’s most profitable criminal activities, ranking fifth globally in terms of value—estimated at $7 billion to $10 billion a year, behind trafficking in drugs, people, and oil; and counterfeiting. Today’s ivory traffickers are well-organized syndicates that function as transnational criminal networks and often participate in trafficking drugs and weapons. Some have links with terrorist networks.
According to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), as much as 70 percent of elephant ivory is transported to China, where it is sold for up to $1,500 per pound and carved into jewelry, religious figurines, and trinkets.
In September 2013, at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) annual meeting, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton unveiled an $80 million endeavor to stop the ivory trade. The Partnership to Save Africa’s Elephants initiative partners include the Wildlife Conservation Society, World Wildlife Fund, African Wildlife Foundation, International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, and 11 other nongovernmental organizations, working together to halt the decline of African elephants.
Chelsea Clinton, due to have her first child in the fall, still keeps a packed schedule at the foundation, passionately promoting initiatives close to her heart: empowering women and girls, clean drinking water, combating childhood obesity, and the elephant poaching crisis. We sat down with Clinton, vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, to talk about its efforts to save African elephants.
When was the first time you learned about the horrors of elephant poaching?
CHELSEA CLINTON: I remember vividly: My mother’s parents moved to Arkansas right before Christmas in 1987, and I remember my grandparents asking what I wanted for Christmas. My grandmother said, “We’ll give you a membership and a subscription to anything that you want,” so I picked National Geographic and possibly Greenpeace or Conservation International. I just wanted to know everything I could about what was happening with the environment and conservation. I was so shocked that elephants were under such duress, and the only thing that I could do was to ask my grandparents to continue to support organizations that were trying to save the elephants as my Christmas present every year.
How does CGI coordinate this gigantic undertaking with so many different partners?
CC: There are three parts of the CGI commitment: You stop the killing, stop the trafficking, and stop the demand. One of the first things we did was assess what each organization was doing and where there were gaps—whether functionally or geographically—so that the additional monies could be invested in helping to fill those voids. Or continue to double down on strategies that were working: The Howard G. Buffett Foundation made an investment in Gabon, because Gabon had already started to increase its emphasis on conservation and increase its number of rangers and ranger training to try and protect its elephants. Now we have US Marines training Gabon rangers, because it’s not only about protecting the elephants, it’s about the security of the country. Gabon, like so many countries where poaching is happening, is being preyed upon by armed groups that are destabilizing forces throughout West Africa and East Africa.
Government-issued weapons for fighting poachers and tusks seized in Chad’s Zakouma National Park. In the last decade, 90 percent of the park’s elephants have been poached.
Tell me more about security concerns and government cooperation.
CC: The FBI is working with Interpol, as are various national intelligence groups, because, increasingly, poaching is part of the most nefarious activities throughout Africa—whether it’s running guns or people or drugs—so there’s a real security interest not only for the countries that are affected but for all of us to stop poaching.
Having lived through 9/11, I think people will be very interested to know that poaching has direct links to terrorism.
CC: There’s irrefutable evidence that Al Qaeda in North Africa; the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); and the Janjaweed from Sudan, who are coming into Uganda and the DRC, are all engaged in poaching, because, sadly, ivory is an easily accessible commodity to them. It’s become a lubricant that greases the wheels for the shipment of drugs, guns, and people.
I don’t think many people realize the brutality involved when elephants are killed for ivory. One misconception is that taking off the tusk is like extracting a tooth. Elephants cannot live without their tusks; they are absolutely crucial to their survival.
What happens with the ivory after the elephants are killed? Is there a black market?
CC: The tusks are removed and then trekked out to a port. In East Africa, a lot of ivory flows out of Dares Salaam in Tanzania, and Mombasa and [other ports in] Kenya, and it largely goes to Asia. China, by far, is the biggest market; Vietnam and Thailand are also significant markets. The vast majority [of ivory] is transported in tusk form. When it gets to China, the tusks are then cut down and made into commodities and luxury goods—whether it be ivory Buddhas, chopsticks, hair clips, or the handles of a luxury handbag.
Why the high demand for ivory in Asia?
CC: In China, historically, ivory has been synonymous with ascension into the middle class and prosperity. One of the challenges along the continuum with trying to stop the demand is to find replacement products—so that ivory is no longer synonymous with rising affluence, but that, say, a Louis Vuitton handbag could be.
When you went to Africa last summer, what did you learn from being on the ground?
CC: We went where there are indigenous elephant populations—from Malawi up to Tanzania. In Tanzania we were in Tarangire National Park; it was amazing not only to see the elephants in all of their magnificence but to see the families, to understand on a deeper level why it’s so important that the matriarchs—which are increasingly the ones that are killed because they’re the oldest and have the biggest tusks—not be slaughtered. Without the guidance of those older figures, it’s hard for younger families to survive.
And the park rangers are in such peril protecting the older elephants.
CC: Yes. More than a thousand rangers have been killed over the last decade protecting elephants and other wildlife. They feel called to this work for the elephants’ sake, but also recognize this is important to their country’s future.
Satao, a male bush elephant born in the late 1960s, was killed for his tusks in Kenya’s Tsavo East National Park earlier this year.
Why do you think elephants mean so much to you and your mother?
CC: The first elephants that I saw were in the Little Rock Zoo when I was little. What I felt then was just magnified profoundly when I went with my mom to Africa as a teenager. It is this sense of a family, ultimately—the family unit of elephants and the affection and the commitment to their families and to the other elephant families in the area. Also, elephants are so crucial to the ecosystem. They’re sort of the honeybees of the African savannah or their forest environment.
Can you share any progress reports?
CC: Judith McHale—who worked for my mom in the State Department, liaising on conservation efforts there—is chairing the [President’s Advisory Council on Wildlife Trafficking]. We fully support everything the Obama administration has done and strongly support an ivory ban here at home. We think that’s a critical move for the United States to make—not only for our own moral standing, but also because there is no argument for ivory being indispensible. There are very good substitute materials—whether it’s for a piano or a musical pick, or any of the utilitarian uses of ivory—so we really have been deeply enthusiastic about the commission’s work.
I understand you’re planning on doing something during Fashion Week?
CC: Most of the major luxury goods houses don’t use ivory. The challenge is: How do we help their products become substitutions for ivory, in East Asia in particular? Something like a Louis Vuitton bag or an Hermès scarf or Donna Karan dress? How can those become the same types of status symbols that ivory historically has been? Also, how can we work with the fashion industry here in the US to raise awareness about this issue so that American consumers become aware of why you should never buy ivory?
How can someone who is reading this help?
CC: One, don’t buy ivory, which sounds self-evident but it isn’t. You’ll see stores that still sell ivory, because there is no carbon-dating equivalent for ivory. It’s impossible to assess its age, so a lot of new ivory gets laundered through antiques stores.
The second thing is to support organizations that are really making a difference in this fight—whether that’s big organizations like the Wildlife Conservation Society, which has the most extensive efforts throughout Africa, or more localized organizations like the African Wildlife Foundation, which is helping to provide economic opportunities to many of the vulnerable communities around parks, often through eco-tourism programs. There’s such a range of organizations doing tremendous work that are part of our CGI commitment—yet even more work could be done if there were even more resources to do it.
And also use your voice to help educate others about why this issue is so important, particularly given the number of misconceptions around ivory. I think that’s really where young people can help play a big role, using their voices offline and online, because a lot of people just don’t know what a tragedy elephant poaching really is, not just for the elephants but for the most affected communities. Ultimately, we all bear responsibility.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MAX ORENSTEIN/CLINTON FOUNDATION (CLINTON); MARK DEEBLE AND VICTORIA STONE/MARKDEEBLE.WORDPRESS.COM; BARBARA KINNEY/CLINTON FOUNDATION (CLINTON); MIKE HILL/GETTY IMAGES (ELEPHANTS); ALVARO CANOVAS/GETTY IMAGES (GARAMBA NATIONAL PARK); JEAN LIOU/AFP/GETTY IMAGES (WEAPONS) | <urn:uuid:e2ff9455-97e5-4a07-bf54-77f6eaa12ab8> | {
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George A. Akerlof
George Akerlof, along with Michael Spence and Joseph Stiglitz, received the 2001 Nobel Prize “for their analyses of markets with asymmetric information.” Although much of economics is built on the assumption of perfect information, various economists in the past had considered the effects of imperfect information. Two giants in this area were ludwig von mises and friedrich hayek, who predicted that socialism would fail because central planners could not possibly have the information they needed to plan an economy. One of the next steps in relaxing the perfect-information assumption was to assume, realistically, that one side of a market has better information than the other. That is what all three of the 2001 Nobel Prize winners did.
In his classic 1970 article, “The Market for Lemons” Akerlof gave a new explanation for a well-known phenomenon: the fact that cars barely a few months old sell for well below their new-car price. Akerlof’s model was simple but powerful. Assume that some cars are “lemons” and some are high quality. If buyers could tell which cars are lemons and which are not, there would be two separate markets: a market for lemons and a market for high-quality cars. But there is often asymmetric information: buyers cannot tell which cars are lemons, but, of course, sellers know. Therefore, a buyer knows that there is some probability that the car he buys will be a lemon and is willing to pay less than he would pay if he were certain that he was buying a high-quality car. This lower price for all used cars discourages sellers of high-quality cars. Although some would be willing to sell their own cars at the price that buyers of high-quality used cars would be willing to pay, they are not willing to sell at the lower price that reflects the risk that the buyer may end up with a lemon. Thus, exchanges that could benefit both buyer and seller fail to take place and efficiency is lost.
Akerlof did not conclude that the lemon problem necessarily implies a role for government. Instead, he pointed out that many free-market institutions can be seen as ways of solving or reducing “lemon problems.” One solution Akerlof noted is warranties, because these give the buyer assurance that the car is not a lemon, and the buyer is therefore willing to pay more for the car with a warranty. Also, the sellers who are willing to offer the warranty are those who are confident that they are not selling a lemon. Another market solution that has come along since Akerlof’s article is Carfax, a very low-cost way of finding out a car’s history of repairs. Akerlof also went beyond cars and showed that the same kind of issues arise in credit markets and health insurance markets, to name two.
Akerlof, along with coauthor Janet Yellen, also did some of the pioneering work in new keynesian economics. They considered the case of firms with market power that follow a rule of thumb on pricing. The rule of thumb they considered was that firms do not increase price when demand increases and do not reduce price when demand falls. They showed that such a rule of thumb is “near rational”; that is, firms do not lose much profit from following this strategy relative to a strategy of immediately adjusting prices. They also showed, however, that if many firms followed this strategy, the effect on the overall economy was substantial. This lack of adjustment of prices, they noted, would mean that increases in money-supply growth (see Money Supply) would increase the growth of real output, and short-run drops in money-supply growth would reduce the growth of real output.
More recently, Akerlof has tried to explain the persistence of high poverty rates and high crime rates among black Americans. He and coauthor Rachel Kranton argue that many black people face a choice between going along with the mainstream culture and succeeding economically or acting in opposition to that culture and sabotaging themselves. The incentives are high, they argue, for doing the latter.
Akerlof earned his B.A. in economics at Yale in 1962 and his Ph.D. in economics at MIT in 1966. For most of his professional life, he has been an economics professor at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1973–1974, he was a senior economist with President Richard M. Nixon’s Council of Economic Advisers; from 1978 to 1980, he was an economics professor at the London School of Economics. | <urn:uuid:af6a570a-0277-485c-b271-446bc6b4126c> | {
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Allergies and the Eyes More >
Many people in the US suffer from seasonal itchy, swollen, red eyes. Airborne allergens such as house dust, animal dander, and mold constantly bombard the eyes and can cause ocular allergies at anytime. But when spring rolls around and the plant pollen starts flying, it seems like everyone starts crying. Seasonal allergic conjunctivitis, or hay fever, is the most common allergic eye problem. Various antihistamine and decongestant drops and sprays can soothe irritated eyes and nose.
Make every effort to avoid allergens. An allergist can help determine what you are allergic to so you can stay away. Avoiding outdoor pollen may be impossible, but remaining indoors in the morning when the outdoor pollen levels are highest may help control symptoms. If you are allergic to house dust, open windows and keep household filters clean.
Cool compresses decrease swelling and itching. Artificial tears dilute the allergens and form a protective barrier over the surface of the eye. Rubbing the eyes makes symptoms worse and should be avoided. If seasonal allergic conjunctivitis is a problem, make an appointment with one of our doctors – there are several new, safe, and effective anti-allergy drops that can be prescribed. Also, a doctor can ensure symptoms are not being caused by a more serious problem.
Blepharitis/Meibomitis (Lid Margin Disease) More >
These conditions are caused by persistent inflammation of the eyelids. Symptoms include irritation, itching, and occasional red eye(s). It occurs commonly in people who have a tendency towards oily skin, dandruff, or dry eyes. Acne, rosacea, and eczema are frequently associated with some form of lid margin disease.
Bacteria normally resides on everyone’s skin, but in some people it thrives in the skin at the base of the eyelashes. Nearby oily glands may be overactive, causing dandruff-like scales and particles to form along the lashes and the eyelid margins, resulting in redness, stinging, or burning. The dryness that results from these entities might also result in discomfort and, occasionally, blurred vision.
Lid margin disease may not be cured, but it can be controlled with a few simple daily hygienic measures:
- At least twice a day, place a warm, wet washcloth over the closed eyelids for about 5 minutes. Rewet it as it cools, two or three times. This will soften and loosen scales and debris. More importantly, it helps liquefy the oily secretions from the eyelids’ oil glands that help prevent the development of a chalazion (stye), an inflamed lump in the eyelid oil gland.
- With your finger or a cotton swab or commercial lint-free pad, gently scrub the base of the lashes about 15 seconds per lid using warm water and diluted Johnson and Johnson Baby Shampoo.
When medications are necessary, they may include:
- Artificial tears to relieve symptoms of dry eye. (These are eye drops which are available without a prescription)
- Antibiotics (ointments or drops) to decrease bacteria on the eyelids. Occasionally, even oral antibiotics are employed in this task.
- Steroids (ointment or drops) to decrease inflammation.
However, medications alone are not sufficient in the treatment of these conditions. The application of warmth and careful cleansing of the lashes daily is key to controlling lid margin disease.
Computer and Eye Strain More >
Complaints of eye discomfort and fatigue are becoming more common with the increased use of computer screens. While it is true that this may cause eye strain, there is no convincing evidence that computer screen use can harm the eyes.
Some people fear that computer screens emit damaging ultraviolet light or radiation, but the amount of ultraviolet light emitted by computer screens is a fraction of what is emitted from a fluorescent light and radiation levels from computer screens are so low that a lifetime of exposure will not damage the eyes. Symptoms of eye strain are eye irritation (red, watery, or dry eyes), eye fatigue (tired, aching heaviness of the eyelids, or forehead), difficulty in focusing, and headaches. However, eye strain does not result in permanent eye damage.
Eye strain, backache, and muscle spasms may improve with proper arrangement of the computer screen and seating area. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) provides helpful suggestions on workstation arrangement.
It is important to wear appropriate glasses adjusted for the distance you sit from the computer screen. Most people prefer to position the screen farther from where they normally read – make an appointment with one of our Optometrists to have your prescription glasses adjusted accordingly. Using a computer requires an unchanging body, head, and eye position that can be fatiguing, so be sure to take periodic breaks. Lubricate the eyes by blinking frequently or using artificial tears (lubricating eye drops) and keep workstations clean to minimize eye irritation from dust. Standard office lighting may be too bright for comfortable computer use, so minimize light glare by adjusting office lights or using hoods or filters on the screen.
Diabetic Retinopathy More >
Diabetes affects blood vessels throughout the body, particularly in the kidneys and the eyes. Diabetic retinopathy is the name we give to diabetes’ adverse affects on the blood vessels in the eye. In the United States, diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness among adults.
Risk of developing diabetic retinopathy increases over time. An adult who has had diabetes for 15 years or longer stands an 80% chance of experiencing damage to retinal blood vessels.
The retina, the multiple layers of tissue located at the back of the eye, detects visual stimuli and transmits signals to the brain. When diabetes affects the ocular blood vessels, they may develop leaks or contribute to the formation of scar tissue; these problems reduce the retina’s ability to detect and transmit images.
There are two main types of diabetic retinopathy: background (BDR) and proliferative (PDR). Treatment is available for both types.
Laser Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy
When diabetes causes new blood vessels to form in the retina, they are often fragile and tend to leak blood. A laser procedure may be used to painlessly destroy the new growth and seal the blood vessels.
Dry Eye Syndrome More >
What is dry eye syndrome?
The eye depends on the flow of tears to provide constant moisture and lubrication to maintain vision and comfort. Tears are a combination of water (for moisture), oils (for lubrication), mucus (for even spreading), and antibiotics and special proteins (for resistance to infection). These components are secreted by special glands located around the eye. When there is an imbalance in this tear system, a person may experience the symptoms of dry eye syndrome.
What are the symptoms of dry eye syndrome?
When tears do not adequately lubricate the eye, a person may experience:
- Light sensitivity
- A gritty sensation
- A feeling of a foreign body or sand in the eye
- Blurred vision
- Watering or tearing
Paradoxically, a person with dry eye syndrome will have excess tears running down the cheeks. This “reflex tearing” actually occurs when the eye is not receiving sufficient lubrication. The eye sends a distress signal through the nervous system for more lubrication and, in response, the eye is flooded with reflex tears to try to compensate for the underlying dryness. These tears, however, are composed mostly of water and do not have the lubricating qualities or the rich composition of normal tears. They will wash away debris, but they will not coat the eye surface properly.
What causes dry eye syndrome?
In addition to a decrease in the production of lubricating tears by the tear glands, dry eye syndrome can be caused by the drying out of the tear film. This can be due to air conditioning, heat, or other environmental conditions. Other conditions that may cause dry eye syndrome are:
- The natural aging process
- Side effects of certain medications such as antihistamines and medications that treat high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol
- Diseases that affect the ability to make tears, such as rheumatoid arthritis and collagen vascular diseases
- Structural problems that prevent the eyes from closing properly
- Blocked meibomian glands that secrete the natural oils needed for proper lubrication in the tear film
How common is dry eye syndrome?
“Dry eye” is an extremely common eye condition, with incidences and symptoms that increase with age. In the United States, approximately six million women and three million men experience moderate or severe dry eye symptoms, and scientists estimate that an additional 20 to 30 million people in this country have mild cases of dry eye. Diabetes is the number one systemic disease implicated in dry eye.
How is dry eye syndrome treated?
Although dry eye syndrome cannot be cured, there are a number of steps that can be taken to treat it. We specialize in treating dry eye syndrome and will discuss your options with you to individualize your dry eye therapy.
Treatment options include the following:
Artificial tear drops and ointments
The use of over-the-counter artificial tear eyedrops is the primary treatment for dry eye syndrome. We offer many samples of artificial tears for you to try, because no one brand works for everyone and you might have to try more than one to find the drop that works best for you. Some artificial tear brands contain more preservatives than others, and an individual may find these preservatives irritating. Preservative-free artificial tears are available and may be less irritating. If you have chronic dry eye, it is important to use the drops even when your eyes feel fine, to keep them lubricated. If your eyes dry out while you sleep, you can use a thicker lubricant, such as an ointment or gel, at bedtime.
Temporary tear savers
Tear savers are small plugs placed in the ducts that drain tears out of the eye. They help to “save” or “conserve” the eye’s natural tears to maintain lubrication, so tears do not drain too quickly. Temporary collagen tear savers are easily placed in the tear ducts via a painless procedure. The various type of tear savers available can last from one week to several months. Your doctor may place these temporary plugs to determine whether permanent plugs can provide an adequate supply of tears.
Epiretinal Membrane More >
Epiretinal membrane, or “ERM,” is the technical name for “macular pucker.” The macula is the portion of the retina responsible for central, straight-ahead vision. Sometimes, a membrane resembling scar tissue grows on the macula. This membrane shrinks and contracts (puckers), distorting and/or reducing central vision.
We don’t know why some people develop this condition, but some people who experience it have had a retinal detachment, a blockage of a blood vessel in the eye, or certain inflammatory eye problems in the past.
Your surgeon may recommend a procedure to remove the puckered membrane.
Glaucoma More >
Glaucoma is a disease that can slowly destroy the delicate nerve fibers that carry signals from the back of the eye to the brain. Generally, high pressure within the eye is responsible for the damage, but even patients with normal pressure can experience loss of this important nerve function due to glaucoma.
It’s important to be checked yearly to ensure glaucoma is not present, because patients do not always feel the symptomatic elevated eye pressure as it slowly robs them of their sight. Because it can be inherited, if one family member has glaucoma, other family members should be checked.
While glaucoma typically affects people age 40 and older, it can strike at any age. Glaucoma is called “the silent thief” because there is no pain or noticeable change in vision during the early stages of the disease.
No treatment can restore vision already lost to glaucoma. The goal of treatment is to prevent further vision loss.
Treating Glaucoma with Medication
Various medications are sometimes useful in treating glaucoma. Beta-blocker eye drops may reduce the amount of fluid produced by the eye. Prostaglandin analogs and alpha-2 agonists may also lower intraocular pressure.
Treating Glaucoma with Trabeculectomy
Your surgeon may recommend a surgical procedure called “trabeculectomy” if medication, eye drops, or another procedure have not been effective in lowering the pressure within your eye.
This procedure helps to lower pressure by altering the eye’s drainage system and creating a controlled leak of fluid.
Treating Glaucoma with Peripheral Iridotomy
Iridotomy is another surgical procedure that may be recommended to lower pressure within your eye. When the eye’s iris blocks the drainage of fluid, the surgeon uses a laser to create a tiny hole in the iris to improve drainage.
Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty (SLT)
Selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) is a laser procedure used to help lower the intraocular pressure (IOP) of patients with open angle glaucoma. SLT is used to treat the eye’s drainage system, known as the trabecular meshwork. Treating this area of the eye’s natural internal draining system is designed to improve the outflow of fluid from the eye, helping to lower eye pressure—failing to resolve the intraocular pressure can cause damage to the optic nerve and eventually result in loss of vision.
This type of laser surgery may be effective in some patients but not others. Your response may be different than other glaucoma patients, and it is not possible to predict how well the procedure will work before the laser surgery. The laser used in SLT works at very low levels and treats specific cells “selectively,” leaving untreated portions of the trabecular meshwork intact. For this reason SLT, unlike other types of laser surgery, may be safely repeated many times.
For your convenience the procedure may be performed in our office or outpatient surgery center. SLT typically takes about 10 minutes. Once you are settled in, drops will be used to numb the eye and prevent any discomfort. The laser itself makes a little noise, and you may experience a flash of light with each laser application. Although you may feel a little pressure, nearly all patients find the procedure comfortable and pain free.
You may need to use drops both before and after the laser treatment. The pressure in the eye will be checked after the procedure as there is a risk of increased IOP after the procedure. If this does occur, additional medicines may be necessary to lower the eye pressure. Rarely, the pressure in the eye could elevate to a level that may require surgery in the operating room to relieve the glaucoma.
Drops will be used after the laser surgery to help the eye heal correctly, typically for about 1 week. Most people notice some blurring of their vision after the laser treatment. This usually clears within a few hours. Following the procedure it is suggested that you relax for the rest of the day and follow-up visits will be scheduled to continue to monitor your eye pressure. The chance of your vision being permanently affected by this procedure is very, very small.
Although rare, the risks associated with SLT include:
- Increased eye pressure, possibly requiring medication or surgery
- Bleeding within the eye
- Inflammation in the eye
- Damage to the cornea, iris, or retina from the laser light
- Failure to adequately lower the eye pressure
It will take several weeks to determine how much SLT will lower your eye pressure. It is possible that you may require additional laser surgery, or other glaucoma surgery, if your response is insufficient. You may need to continue glaucoma medications in order to control your IOP; however, SLT may lessen, or eliminate, the need for medication.
Keratoconus More >
Keratoconus is a disorder that is characterized by a progressive steepening of the cornea, typically just below the center. This results in a more pointed, cone-shaped center and blurred vision. Rarely, a medical condition can be associated with keratoconus, but the most common link to this disorder is that of allergic eye disease. Research has shown that eye rubbing, perhaps in response to itchy eyes, can worsen or even cause keratoconus. Eye-rubbing is never advocated by your eye physician and itchy eyes can be treated more effectively with drops or systemic allergy medications when necessary.
The treatment for the blurred vision which results from keratoconus is spectacles followed by hard contact lenses when spectacle correction becomes ineffective. Over time, the progressive corneal thinning may lead to breaks in the cornea and subsequent scarring or discomfort. When this occurs, or the vision cannot be corrected effectively with contacts or glasses, a corneal transplant can be performed.
Macular Degeneration and Amsler Grid More >
The inside layer of the back of the eye is called the retina. The retina is like the film of a camera. The central 10% of the retina is called the MACULA. The macula is responsible for sharp, central vision required for “straight ahead” vision activities, such as driving, reading, recognizing faces, and performing close up work.
MACULAR DEGENERATION (AMD) is a deterioration or breakdown of the macula and is one of the most common causes of poor vision after age 60. The visual symptoms of AMD involve the loss of central vision (reading, recognizing faces, etc.), while peripheral vision is unaffected. Although a specific cause is unknown, AMD seems to be a part of aging. While age is the most significant risk factor for developing AMD, heredity, blue eyes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and smoking have also been identified as risk factors.
While AMD is one disease, it may be categorized into two forms.
The most common form of AMD is the DRY FORM (called atrophic or non-exudative). Dry AMD is associated with thinning and slow deterioration of the retinal cells in the macula. It is usually slowly progressive and may take many years to develop. You may hear terms like drusen (whitish deposits on the inside layer of the retina), retinal pigment epithelial changes, and atrophy. These terms describe the appearance of the macula in dry AMD.
The wet form of AMD (called exudative) is much less common, but can produce rapid visual distortion and loss, and can be much more serious. This is not a separate condition, but is a complication of dry AMD. All patients with dry AMD should be monitored for the development of the wet form.
In this condition, abnormal blood vessels may grow into the macula from a layer beneath the retina, leaking fluid and blood, creating distortion or a large blind spot in the center of your vision.
TREATMENT of “Wet” AMD: If the blood vessels are not growing beneath the center of the macula, laser treatment is sometimes effective. In many cases, the location of the blood vessels make laser treatment unsafe. In these cases, treatment with injections of lucentis or avastin may be appropriate. These monthly injections have shown a significant benefit in the treatment of wet AMD.
Some factors involved in the degenerative process of the macula, such as our gender and genetics, are beyond our control. However, clinical studies have shown that the effect of one important factor, free radicals, can be reduced to some extent.
Every day, our eyes are exposed to blue light waves that generate “free radicals” that can damage DNA and the light-sensing structures of the eye’s retina. Vitamins E and C, minerals zinc, copper, and selenium, and plant pigments lutein and zeaxanthin appear to have some protective value. Lutein and zeaxanthin, in particular, have been shown to be effective in reducing the effects of free radicals by helping the macula to filter out blue light.
Egg yolks and dark green, leafy vegetables such as spinach are rich in these minerals. Taking a nutritional supplement that contains these vitamins, minerals, and pigments can make it easier to include the proper amounts in your every day diet. Use common sense and consult your physician before adding nutritional supplement to your diet, particularly if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, have a medical condition, or are taking a conflicting medications. Be aware that the concentration of zinc in these supplements has been shown to be effective in protecting eye health but may not be appropriate for everyone.
Steps to take:
- Ensure proper diet and nutritional supplement
- Protect your eyes from sunlight (sunglasses, hat, etc.)
- Don’t smoke
High intensity reading lamps, magnifiers, and other low-vision aids help people with AMD make the most of limited vision.
Also, consider large print reading materials and books on tape.
Directions for Amsler Grid
- With your reading glasses on, test ONE eye at a time while holding grid at normal reading distance.
- Look at the dot in the center of the page for three seconds with each eye.
- All the lines should be straight.
- If the lines become wavy, or if part of the grid is missing, notify our office immediately.
- Test each eye for three seconds, once per week.
Pinguecula and Pterygium More >
A pinguecula is a yellowish patch or bump on the white part of the eye, most often on the side closest to the nose. It is not a tumor, but an alteration of normal tissue resulting in a deposit of protein and fat. Unlike a pterygium, a pinguecula does not actually grow onto the cornea. A pinguecula may be a response to chronic eye irritation or sunlight.
A pterygium is fleshy tissue that grows over the cornea (the clear dome in the front of the eye). It may remain small or may grow large enough to interfere with vision. A pterygium most commonly occurs on the inner corner of the eye, but can appear on the outer corner as well. The exact cause is not well understood, but pterygia occur more often in people who spend a great deal of time outdoors, especially in sunny climates. In areas of the world in which the population are predominantly fishermen or farmers, pterygia are extremely common. Long-term exposure to sunlight, especially ultraviolet (UV) rays, and chronic eye irritation from dry, dusty conditions seem to play an important causal role. A dry eye may contribute to pterygium. Sunglass wear with UV protection and the use of artificial tears might reduce the incidence and growth rate of pterygia.
When a pterigium becomes red and irritated, eyedrops or ointments may be used to help reduce the inflammation. If the pterygium is large enough to threaten sight or grows rapidly, it should be removed surgically. Despite proper surgical removal, the pterygium may return.
The diagnosis of pinguecula or pterygium should be made by your eye doctor. Although rare, certain eye cancers mimic the appearance of a pinguecula or pterygium. A thorough eye exam by an eye professional will determine the appropriate treatment.
Posterior Vitreous Detachment (PVD) More >
A posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) is a condition of the eye in which the vitreous gel (gel that fills the center of the eye) gradually liquefies and shrinks over time and separates from the retina (inside layer of back of the eye). Broadly speaking, the condition is common for older adults and over 75% of those over the age of 65 develop it. Although less common among people in their 40s or 50s, the condition is not rare for those individuals.
Causes and Risk Factors
The vitreous is a gel which fills the eye behind the lens. Between it and the retina is the vitreous membrane. Over time the vitreous changes, shrinking and developing pockets of liquefaction. At some stage, the vitreous membrane may peel away from the retina. Where the vitreous is attached at the optic nerve, it is thicker. When the vitreous detaches, this thickening, along with other opacities, will float in the center of the eye. When light comes into the eye, these opacities cast a shadow on the retina. These are “floaters” and will usually be more obvious in brighter light. As the vitreous peels from the retina, it may stimulate the retina causing flashing lights. Rarely, it may pull a piece of retina with it, causing a retinal hole or tear. This may lead to a retinal detachment. This is usually a sudden event, but may also occur slowly over months.
Age and refractive error play a role in determining the onset of PVD in a healthy person. People with myopia (nearsightedness) greater than 6 diopters are at higher risk of PVD at all ages. Posterior vitreous detachment does not directly threaten vision and most of the time is benign. Occasionally, a PVD may cause a membrane to form on the retina (epiretinal membrane), which may affect vision to varying degrees.
PVD may also occur with trauma or around the time of cataract surgery, within weeks or months of the surgery.
When this occurs there is a characteristic pattern of symptoms:
- Flashes of light (photopsia)
- A sudden dramatic increase in the number of floaters
- A ring of floaters or hairs just to the temporal side of the central vision
The flashes usually subside in the first week. Sometimes, an occasional flash, especially when going from light to dark, may persist for a while, but will almost always resolve completely. The floaters will always be present, but, almost always, become a non-issue, showing up occasionally, especially in brighter light.
If you develop a new onset of floaters, especially if associated with a new onset or worsening of flashing, you should be reevaluated as soon as possible.
Therapy is not required or indicated in posterior vitreous detachment, unless there are associated retinal tears, which need to be repaired. Prompt examination of patients experiencing vitreous floaters combined with expeditious treatment of any retinal tears has been suggested as the most effective means of preventing certain types of retinal detachments.
Refractive Error More >
When the eyeball is too long, light rays focus in front of, rather than on, the retina. Under these circumstances, near objects are perceived clearly, but distant objects are not.
When the eyeball is too short, light rays entering the eye focus behind the retina. Distant objects are seen clearly but near objects are not.
Vision becomes distorted when the surface of the cornea has an uneven curvature; sometimes it is the eye’s lens that is irregularly shaped. This type of irregularity causes light to focus on more than one spot on the retina at the back of the eye, causing blurred vision.
Treatment Options for Refractive Errors:
- Bladeless LASIK
Glasses and or contacts are great options for correcting refractive errors. In some cases, however, patients may be contact lens intolerant or may simply elect to be less dependent on their glasses. For those who fit the criteria, Bladeless LASIK is an option.
What is Bladeless LASIK?
Bladeless LASIK is a surgical treatment for nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism that reshapes the cornea to improve visual focus. This advanced treatment is safe, quick, and precise. Are you a Candidate?
Retinal Detachment More >
When light enters the eye and makes its way to the retina that lines its back interior, it passes through a gel-like substance (sometimes called “vitreous”or “vitreous gel”) that fills the center of the eye. Sometimes this vitreous gel shrinks and pulls away from the retina, causing a posterior retinal detachment (“PVD”). PVD is not necessarily an emergency. However, the tugging that occurs as the vitreous gel pulls away sometimes causes the retina to tear or detach from the inside. The tear may allow vitreous gel to move behind the retina and interfere with its access to the blood and oxygen it needs to function properly. Permanent loss of vision may result unless the retina is reattached promptly.
Common Symptoms of Retinal Detachment: Floaters & Flashes
Vitreous gel often develops clumps that are perceived as dark spots, specks, or string-like shapes that float across the visual field. These “floaters” are most often the normal result of the gel aging and breaking down and are not necessarily an indication that there is a problem , but they can be caused by blood or other debris released into the vitreous when the retina is torn.
Brief flashes or sparks of light that appear suddenly at the edge of the visual field can be a sign that the retina is becoming detached.
Floaters and flashes are often the first signs of the risk of retinal detachment. However, a detachment can take place without warning.
Don’t ignore these symptoms!
While flashes and floaters do not necessarily mean that there is a problem, these symptoms should NOT be ignored.
Call our office if you experience:
- More floaters than usual, particularly if you notice the sudden appearance of many small dark dots.
- Brief flashes or sparks of light at the edge of your vision.
- A shadow (sometimes described as a “curtain”) across a portion of your vision that doesn’t go away.
- Any new, sudden loss of a portion of your vision.
These symptoms constitute a MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Call us or your regular doctor immediately!
Yag Capsulotomy More >
A yag capsulotomy is a surgical laser procedure that may be necessary to restore vision at some point months to years after cataract surgery.
The capsule is like a clear bag that is the natural outer portion of the lens of the eye. During cataract surgery (in which the discolored natural lens of the eye is removed) part of the front (anterior) capsule is removed, while the remainder of the capsular bag remains intact. The lens implant is inserted inside this capsular bag. As long as that capsule stays clear, one has good vision. But in 10 – 30 % of people, the back (posterior) of the capsule loses its clarity over time. When this happens, an opening can be made in the posterior capsule with a laser (yag capsulotomy) to restore normal vision.
Before the laser procedure, one of our doctors does a thorough ophthalmic examination to make sure there is no other reason for vision loss.
A yag capsulotomy is painless and takes less than 5 minutes. Vision may be blurry for a short while afterwards, but usually improves during the first 24 hours.
Potential but rare complications following the procedure include infection and retinal detachment. | <urn:uuid:8076bad3-a45a-41cb-92c0-ff505d84ff0f> | {
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California, long known for its progressive stance on the environment, took a major step forward in solidifying this position as the California State Senate finalized its approval of the legislation on Friday, August 29, 2014. The measure is now being moved forward to Gov. Jerry Brown awaiting his signature.
The Senate bill SB-270 Solid Waste: Single-use Carryout Bags would begin the phasing out of single use plastic bags. Beginning July 1, 2015, stores that have a specified amount of sales or retail floor space would be prohibited from providing their customer a single-use plastic bag. The stores would only be allowed to provide a paper bag at a cost of not less than 10 cents.
In the next phase of implementation, starting on July 1, 2016, the bill would additionally impose these prohibitions and requirements on convenience food stores, foodmarts, and entities engaged in the sale of a limited line of goods, or goods intended to be consumed off premises, and that hold a specified license with regard to alcoholic beverages. There are additional considerations and requirements regarding reusable bags and recycling efforts included in the bill's language.
Precedents such as these should be recognized and applauded for taking concrete measures to address over consumption, the increase of landfills and plastic oceans. Plastic oceans also known as gyers are an increasing concern as they degrade water quality and have a direct impact on the health of marine wildlife. A gyre, a naturally occurring vortex of wind and currents, rotate in a clockwise direction in the northern hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the southern hemisphere creating a whirlpool effect where marine plastic debris collects. There are 5 major gyres in the oceans worldwide, one of the largest is the North Pacific Gyre, also known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, estimated to be twice the size of Texas and swirls in the Pacific Ocean roughly between the coast of California and Hawaii.
Plastic bags, with a potential life of one hundred years, never fully decompose instead breaking into smaller and smaller pieces mistaken by the marine wildlife to be food. While their stomachs may be full, lacking in nutritional content, the health of our wildlife is severely compromised often resulting in death.
Even paper bags which seem to be a better environmental choice, are environmentally comprised in production utilizing chemicals and processes that are not environmentally beneficial. There are compostable plastic and paper bags, however, to be truly effective, recycling centers must have the type of facilities that allow for the bags to decompose. These are not always available.
Miami Beach also set a precedent on July 27, 2014 banning all styrofoam containers at all city parks, events, buildings and sidewalk cafes. These had already been banned from their beaches. Facing a fine of $100, tourists as well can be ticketed. The styrofoam ban by Miami Beach is a first for the state of Florida. It is hoped that this will be the beginning of a trend that will be matched by all the cities in the state.
Styrofoam, like plastic bags, essentially never decomposes but rather continues to break down into smaller and smaller pieces polluting water ways and compromising the health of our wildlife. According to the EPA in a publication, "Marine Litter - Trash that Kills", it goes into more detail regarding the crisis of plastic and our environment.
Kudos to California and Miami Beach for taking steps in the right direction! | <urn:uuid:fd7cab7e-2857-4280-b8eb-dd49d2b0c632> | {
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Progress and Poverty
Book VIII: Application of the Remedy
Chapter 4: Indorsements and Objections
The grounds from which we have drawn the conclusion that the tax on land values or rent is the best method of raising public revenues have been admitted expressly or tacitly by all economists of standing, since the determination of the nature and law of rent.
Ricardo says (Chap. X): "A tax on rent would ... fall wholly on landlords, and could not be shifted to any class of consumers," for it "would leave unaltered the difference between the produce obtained from the least productive land in cultivation and that obtained from land of every other quality.... A tax on rent would not discourage the cultivation of fresh land, for such land pays no rent and would be untaxed."
McCulloch (Note XXIV to "Wealth of Nations") declares that "in a practical point of view taxes on the rent of land are among the most unjust and impolitic that can be imagined," but he makes this assertion solely on the ground of his assumption that it is practically impossible to distinguish in taxation between the sum paid for the use of the soil and that paid on account of the capital expended upon it. But, supposing that this separation could be effected, he admits that the sum paid to landlords for the use of the natural powers of the soil might be entirely swept away by a tax without their having it in their power to throw any portion of the burden upon any one else, and without affecting the price of produce.
John Stuart Mill not only admits all this, but expressly declares the expediency and justice of a peculiar tax on rent, asking what right the landlords have to the accession of riches that comes to them from the general progress of society without work, risk, or economizing on their part, and although he expressly disapproves of interfering with their claim to the present value of land, he proposes to take the whole future increase as belonging to society by natural right.
Mrs. Fawcett, in the little compendium of the writings of her husband, entitled "Political Economy for Beginners," says: "The land tax, whether small or great in amount, partakes of the nature of a rent paid by the owner of land to the state. In a great part of India the land is owned by the government and therefore the land tax is rent paid direct to the state. The economic perfection of this system of tenure may be readily perceived."
In fact, that rent should, both on grounds of expediency and justice, be the peculiar subject of taxation, is involved in the accepted doctrine of rent, and may be found in embryo in the works of all economists who have accepted the law of Ricardo. That these principles have not been pushed to their necessary conclusions, as I have pushed them, evidently arises from the indisposition to endanger or offend the enormous interest involved in private ownership in land, and from the false theories in regard to wages and the cause of poverty which have dominated economic thought.
But there has been a school of economists who plainly perceived, what is clear to the natural perceptions of men when uninfluenced by habit -- that the revenues of the common property, land, ought to be appropriated to the common service. The French Economists of the last century, headed by Quesnay and Turgot, proposed just what I have proposed, that all taxation should be abolished save a tax upon the value of land. As I am acquainted with the doctrines of Quesnay and his disciples only at second hand through the medium of the English writers, I am unable to say how far his peculiar ideas as to agriculture being the only productive avocation, etc., are erroneous apprehensions, or mere peculiarities of terminology. But of this I am certain from the proposition in which his theory culminated that he saw the fundamental relation between land and labor which has since been lost sight of, and that he arrived at practical truth, though, it may be, through a course of defectively expressed reasoning. The causes which leave in the hands of the landlord a "produce net" were by the Physiocrats no better explained than the suction of a pump was explained by the assumption that nature abhors a vacuum, but the fact in its practical relations to social economy was recognized, and the benefit which would result from the perfect freedom given to industry and trade by a substitution of a tax on rent for all the impositions which hamper and distort the application of labor was doubtless as clearly seen by them as it is by me. One of the things most to be regretted about the French Revolution is that it overwhelmed the ideas of the Economists, just as they were gaining strength among the thinking classes, and were apparently about to influence fiscal legislation.
Without knowing anything of Quesnay or his doctrines, I have reached the same practical conclusion by a route which cannot be disputed, and have based it on grounds which cannot be questioned by the accepted political economy.
The only objection to the tax on rent or land values which is to be met with in standard politico-economic works is one which concedes its advantages -- for it is, that from the difficulty of separation, we might, in taxing the rent of land, tax something else. McCulloch, for instance, declares taxes on the rent of land to be impolitic and unjust because the return received for the natural and inherent powers of the soil cannot be clearly distinguished from the return received from improvements and meliorations, which might thus be discouraged. Macaulay somewhere says that if the admission of the attraction of gravitation were inimical to any considerable pecuniary interest, there would not be wanting arguments against gravitation -- a truth of which this objection is an illustration. For admitting that it is impossible invariably to separate the value of land from the value of improvements, is this necessity of continuing to tax some improvements any reason why we should continue to tax all improvements? If it discourage production to tax values which labor and capital have intimately combined with that of land, how much greater discouragement is involved in taxing not only these, but all the clearly distinguishable values which labor and capital create?
But, as a matter of fact, the value of land can always be readily distinguished from the value of improvements. In countries like the United States there is much valuable land that has never been improved; and in many of the States the value of the land and the value of improvements are habitually estimated separately by the assessors, though afterward reunited under the term real estate. Nor where ground has been occupied from immemorial times, is there any difficulty in getting at the value of the bare land, for frequently the land is owned by one person and the buildings by another, and when a fire occurs and improvements are destroyed, a clear and definite value remains in the land. In the oldest country in the world no difficulty whatever can attend the separation, if all that be attempted is to separate the value of the clearly distinguishable improvements, made within a moderate period, from the value of the land, should they be destroyed. This, manifestly, is all that justice or policy requires. Absolute accuracy is impossible in any system, and to attempt to separate all that the human race has done from what nature originally provided would be as absurd as impracticable. A swamp drained or a bill terraced by the Romans constitutes now as much a part of the natural advantages of the British Isles as though the work had been done by earthquake or glacier. The fact that after a certain lapse of time the value of such permanent improvements would be considered as having lapsed into that of the land, and would be taxed accordingly, could have no deterrent effect on such improvements, for such works are frequently undertaken upon leases for years. The fact is, that each generation builds and improves for itself, and not for the remote future. And the further fact is, that each generation is heir, not only to the natural powers of the earth, but to all that remains of the work of past generations.
An objection of a different kind may however be made. It may be said that where political power is diffused, it is highly desirable that taxation should fall not on one class, such as landowners, but on all; in order that all who exercise political power may feel a proper interest in economical government. Taxation and representation, it will be said, cannot safely be divorced.
But however desirable it may be to combine with political power the consciousness of public burdens, the present system certainly does not secure it. Indirect taxes are largely raised from those who pay little or nothing consciously. In the United States the class is rapidly growing who not only feel no interest in taxation, but who have no concern in good government. In our large cities elections are in great measure determined not by considerations of public interest, but by such influences as determined elections in Rome when the masses had ceased to care for anything but bread and the circus.
The effect of substituting for the manifold taxes now imposed a single tax on the value of land would hardly lessen the number of conscious taxpayers, for the division of land now held on speculation would much increase the number of landholders. But it would so equalize the distribution of wealth as to raise even the poorest above that condition of abject poverty in which public considerations have no weight; while it would at the same time cut down those overgrown fortunes which raise their possessors above concern in government. The dangerous classes politically are the very rich and very poor. It is not the taxes that he is conscious of paying that gives a man a stake in the country, an interest in its government; it is the consciousness of feeling that he is an integral part of the community; that its prosperity is his prosperity, and its disgrace his shame. Let but the citizen feel this; let him be surrounded by all the influences that spring from and cluster round a comfortable home, and the community may rely upon him, even to limb or to life. Men do not vote patriotically, any more than they fight patriotically, because of their payment of taxes. Whatever conduces to the comfortable and independent material condition of the masses will best foster public spirit, will make the ultimate governing power more intelligent and more virtuous.
The answer is obvious: The tax on land values is the only tax of any importance that does not distribute itself. It falls upon the owners of land, and there is no way in which they can shift the burden upon any one else. Hence, a large and powerful class are directly interested in keeping down the tax on land values and substituting, as a means for raising the required revenue, taxes on other things, just as the landowners of England, two hundred years ago, succeeded in establishing an excise, which fell on all consumers, for the dues under the feudal tenures, which fell only on them.
There is, thus, a definite and powerful interest opposed to the taxation of land values; but to the other taxes upon which modern governments so largely rely there is no special opposition. The ingenuity of statesmen has been exercised in devising schemes of taxation which drain the wages of labor and the earnings of capital as the vampire bat is said to suck the lifeblood of its victim. Nearly all of these taxes are ultimately paid by that indefinable being, the consumer; and he pays them in a way which does not call his attention to the fact that he is paying a tax -- pays them in such small amounts and in such insidious modes that he does not notice it, and is not likely to take the trouble to remonstrate effectually. Those who pay the money directly to the tax collector are not only not interested in opposing a tax which they so easily shift from their own shoulders, but are very frequently interested in its imposition and maintenance, as are other powerful interests which profit, or expect to profit, by the increase of prices which such taxes bring about.
Nearly all of the manifold taxes by which the people of the United States are now burdened have been imposed rather with a view to private advantage than to the raising of revenue, and the great obstacle to the simplification of taxation is these private interests, whose representatives cluster in the lobby whenever a reduction of taxation is proposed, to see that the taxes by which they profit are not reduced. The fastening of a protective tariff upon the United States has been due to these influences, and not to the acceptance of absurd theories of protection upon their own merits. The large revenue which the civil war rendered necessary was the golden opportunity of these special interests, and taxes were piled up on every possible thing, not so much to raise revenue as to enable particular classes to participate in the advantages of tax-gathering and tax-pocketing. And, since the war, these interested parties have constituted the great obstacle to the reduction of taxation; those taxes which cost the people least having, for this reason, been found easier to abolish than those taxes which cost the people most. And, thus, even popular governments, which have for their avowed principle the securing of the greatest good to the greatest number, are, in a most important function, used to secure a questionable good to a small number, at the expense of a great evil to the many.
License taxes are generally favored by those on whom they are imposed, as they tend to keep others from entering the business; imposts upon manufactures are frequently grateful to large manufacturers for similar reasons, as was seen in the opposition of the distillers to the reduction of the whisky tax; duties on imports not only tend to give certain producers special advantages, but accrue to the benefit of importers or dealers who have large stocks on hand; and so, in the case of all such taxes, there are particular interests, capable of ready organization and concerted action, which favor the imposition of the tax, while, in the case of a tax upon the value of land, there is a solid and sensitive interest steadily and bitterly to oppose it. | <urn:uuid:095a756d-27a4-45e8-9824-b3b6b39522f1> | {
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Friday is Earth Day. It’s a good time to consider how to preserve our environment.
Have you ever wondered how long it takes a plastic grocery bag to disintegrate? The decomposition rate chart presented on the Commonwealth of Virginia’s website (http://www.deq.virginia.gov/recycle) shows the relative speed of organic and inorganic materials. A banana peel takes 2-5 weeks (put up to three around a rose bush for a healthy fertilizer), a newspaper 3-6 months (shred and add to your compost pile), while a plastic bag will last a decade, a plastic beverage container or tin can a century, an aluminum can 2-5 centuries. To save space for future generations, recycling is the responsible thing to do.
Where can you recycle your disposables?
The state’s recycling website provides very helpful information for hard-to-dispose of items, such as computers and automobile products. Learn how and where to properly dispose of a variety of electronics, including cellphones, used oil, oil filters, antifreeze, and old medications (do not flush them down the toilet).
For more ideas about where to recycle what, visit Earth911 at http://earth911.com/.
Another resource with much potential is Freecycle at http://www.freecycle.org/. This is a network for linking those who have something to dispose of and those who are looking for something, organized by zip code. All items offered must be free.
Read High Tech Trash: digital devices, hidden toxics, and human health by Elizabeth Grossman for an eye-opening explanation of the science, politics, and crimes in the collection of masses of e-waste. She follows the trail of toxins, including lead, mercury, chlorine and flame retardants, from mining and processing through disposal and dumping in India, China and Nigeria, where unprotected workers boil the refuse to retrieve useful fragments.
Humanizing the impact of waste is Paolo Bacigalupi’s award winning novel for teens, Ship Breaker. In a futuristic world, teenaged Nailer scavenges copper wiring from grounded oil tankers for a living, but when he finds a beached clipper ship with a girl in the wreckage, he has to decide if he should strip the ship for its wealth or rescue the girl. This is action-packed and very well-written.
Eminent Harvard biologist E. O. Wilson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of more than twenty works of nonfiction, has written his first novel, Anthill, about the interdependence of life in our biosphere. Raphael Semmes Cody, a lonely child of contentious parents (gentry v. redneck) in south Alabama, relishes summer freedom in a tract of old-growth longleaf pine forest and savanna on Lake Nokobee. He wanders off to observe salamanders and snakes and becomes enthralled by bugs ("every kid has a bug period" says Wilson. "Mine was especially intense and I never grew out of it."). His fascination becomes a lifelong focus, which guides his direction and purpose in mediating competing interests of environmentalists and business. The novel includes "The Anthill Chronicles", a story within the story, which is a riveting account of three colonies of ants, their wars, destruction, and survival, told from their point of view. The simplicity of this satisfying coming of age tale belies an admirable complexity in its portrayal of the interrelatedness of all life. Anthill bears comparison to Huck Finn and Homer’s Iliad in the recounting of epic journeys and the clash of civilizations. It is also very funny and full of sly observations about the "gray wool of the Confederacy" and "zircons in the rough". Anthill is destined to become a classic.
For more about caring for the Earth, visit www.tcplweb.org or call 988-2541. | <urn:uuid:784096ad-82f2-4f71-89e3-c7cd918705e8> | {
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C.S. Lewis argues that deterrence is woefully inadequate as the (sole) justification for punishment. It “removes from Punishment the concept of Desert. But the concept of Desert is the only connecting link between punishment and justice. It is only as deserved or undeserved that a sentence can be just or unjust.”
Now first of all, we are dealing with the problem of the reasoning the judge must employ to determine the punishment. We all agree presumably that establishing guilt or innocence is the task of the jury, and that is “objective.” We are looking for the justification of a definite punishment after the jury has unequivocally delivered a guilty verdict. The question is not whether a person is guilty which we assume has been settled but how or to what extent and how to respond to his guilt.
So, then. Desert. Justice. Fine words, these. Did it occur to Lewis to answer the following question: Who are we (society or the judge) to style ourselves righteous avengers? Who will dare to throw the first stone? Lewis replies that
the judge who did it was a person trained in jurisprudence; trained, that is, in a science which deals with rights and duties, and which, in origin at least, was consciously accepting guidance from the Law of Nature, and from Scripture. … the propriety of the penal code, being a moral question, is a question on which every man has the right to an opinion, not because he follows this or that profession, but because he is simply a man, a rational animal enjoying the Natural Light.
… in so doing, self-evidently contradicting himself. If a judge needs to be “trained,” then he is no longer an “every man.”
Second, empirically, punishments motivated by deterrence are most of the time far less severe than those motivated by retribution. Mises writes, for example:
The age of capitalism has abolished all vestiges of slavery and serfdom. It has put an end to cruel punishments and has reduced the penalty for crimes to the minimum indispensable for discouraging offenders. It has done away with torture and other objectionable methods of dealing with suspects and lawbreakers. It has repealed all privileges and promulgated equality of all men under the law. It has transformed the subjects of tyranny into free citizens. (Money, Method, and the Market Process, Ch. 21)
Compare the results achieved by these ‘shopkeepers’ ethics’ with the achievements of Christianity! Christianity has acquiesced in slavery and polygamy, has practically canonized war, has, in the name of the Lord, burnt heretics and devastated countries. The much abused ‘shopkeepers’ have abolished slavery and serfdom, made woman the companion of man with equal rights, proclaimed equality before the law and the freedom of thought and opinion, declared war on war, abolished torture, and mitigated the cruelty of punishment. What cultural force can boast of similar achievements? (Socialism, 440-1)
(In fairness to Christianity, I will correct Mises that Christianity is grace that builds on the nature of Capitalism. Christianity did as well as it could with what it was given. Once capitalism was invented, the natures of individuals and society have been strengthened beyond measure, and with such help, Christianity could reach far nobler goals than before.)
Third, retributive punishments seem to require commensurability of offense and penalty. Why does stealing a car deserve exactly 5 years in prison, no more and no less? I’d understand if stealing a car worth $20k meant that the thief would have two of his own cars, if worth no more than $40k, confiscated. Must we then compare (dis)utilities interpersonally? The same amount of suffering that Smith inflicted on Jones (or twice that) will be in turn inflicted on Smith. How are we supposed to manage this calculation?
It is certainly true that deterrence is faced with a calculation problem of an even greater, far greater in fact, magnitude. But at least we call a spade a spade and explicitly recognize it as the chief challenge posed by the theory. The point is that retributionism is not exempt from the unenviable task of reading the criminal’s mind and heart.
Fourth, the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishments is explicitly contrary to retributionism. For if the criminal tortured his victims, then retributionism must allow that he himself will be tortured, and more severely at that. Would Lewis have denied even this provision of the (very utilitarian) US Constitution? Or does the criminal really “incur the hate and sadism of the judge, the policeman, and the ever lynch-thirsty mob”? (Mises, Liberalism, 58)
Fifth, the judge acts within the law. Say, the law specifies 5-15 years in prison for stealing a car. We might say that the offender “deserves” this much. But the whole point of the leeway for the judge after he is handed down a guilty verdict is to take into account deterrence, rehabilitation, and even condemnation. Sometimes he is justified to throw the book at the criminal. Other times he needs to be more lenient. In short, judges must be wise and judge aright. The retributionist seems to reduce complex justice to vengeance graspable by his “every man.” But not every man qualifies to be a judge.
Sixth, framing an innocent man and using that as a deterrent is a red herring. This is so obviously against the longer-term interests of the government as to be an implausible strategy. If even one such act becomes public knowledge (and it will), then criminals will no longer have any reason to fear the state which, as they can clearly see, does not discriminate between the law-abiding and lawbreakers. Arbitrarily picking innocent people to frame to deter others fails on utilitarian grounds in any realistic society.
Seventh, Lewis is worried about people being “sacrificed to society.” But people are sacrificed to society every day. The inventor of the new mousetrap puts the vested interest, the producer of old inferior mousetraps, out of business. Why, the old guy would wring his hands, is his income being sacrificed on the altar of consumer sovereignty? Well, because the society in which such things are permitted is the happiest of all. QED, TS, etc. If you obey the law, then you will be the person enjoying the consequences of the “sacrifices” of other people. On average, you’ll gain more happiness that you lose. Even when standing behind some veil of ignorance while designing society, it makes sense to choose that society where the combined happiness of its members is greatest; this way, your chances of being incarnated as a happy person are maximized.
In any case, the judge breaks no law by upping the criminal’s punishment for the sake of society. He is totally free to select any number of years in prison from 5 to 15 in our earlier example.
Finally, let’s consider one of Rothbard’s objections. He quotes Armstrong:
[W]hy stop at the minimum, why not be on the safe side and penalize him [the criminal] in some pretty spectacular way — wouldn’t that be more likely to deter others? Let him be whipped to death, publicly of course, for a parking offense; that would certainly deter me from parking on the spot reserved for the Vice-Chancellor! (The Ethics of Liberty, 93n)
First of all, even if the punishment for parking in the wrong spot is death, it is not guaranteed to deter everyone. A person might forget or choose to defy the law for whatever reason. Utilitarianism will not permit sentencing even one such person to death as a result. This is because the criminal’s well-being, too, is taken into account during sentencing. The criminal remains a member of society whose happiness the judge tries to maximize.
Second, deterrence considers not an isolated offense but the judicial system as a whole. Thus, David Friedman writes:
You live in a state where the most severe criminal punbishment is life imprisonment. Someone proposes that since armed robbery is a very serious crime, armed robbers should get a life sentence. …
An economist points out that if the punishments for armed robbery and for armed robbery plus murder are the same, the additional punishment for the murder is zero — and asks whether you really want to make is in the interest of robbers to murder their victims. (Law’s Order, 8)
When you look at the whole legal network, if may not make any sense from the purely utilitarian standpoint to punish crazily or haphazardly.
I am not saying that deterrence is a perfectly serviceable theory of punishment when considered in isolation from the other three. But it is at least equal to them and demands to be given its due. | <urn:uuid:d7076e57-ec49-4c45-b243-5b41c339dde9> | {
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Credit:A. De Luca et al.; ESA
One of the fundamental goals of science is the discovery of new unexpected objects or phenomena which advance the understanding of the Universe, often by raising more questions than first providing answers. A group of Italian astronomers recently achieved this
goal with a new observation of a supernova remnant by the XMM-Newton X-ray observatory. The observation (shown above) revealed an unusual bright source at the center of the remnant. What makes the source unusual is that it is varying periodically, but very slowly. The source could either be a low-mass X-ray binary in an eccentric orbit, or an isolated peculiar neutron star called a magnetar. The long (about 6.67 hours) period variation suggests that, if it is a magnetar, it must have been slowed down, perhaps by a debris disk from the supernova explosion.
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brings you new, exciting and beautiful images from X-ray and Gamma ray
astronomy. Check back each week and be sure to check out the HEAPOW archive!
Page Author: Dr. Michael F. Corcoran
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Digital Signal 1
Digital Signal 1 (DS1, sometimes DS-1) is a T-carrier signaling scheme devised by Bell Labs. DS1 is the primary digital telephone standard used in the United States, Canada and Japan and is able to transmit up to 24 multiplexed voice and data calls over telephone lines. E-carrier is used in place of T-carrier outside the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. DS1 is the logical bit pattern used over a physical T1 line; in practice, the terms "DS1" and "T1" are often used interchangeably.[a]
T1 refers to the primary digital telephone carrier system used in North America. T1 is one line type of the PCM T-carrier hierarchy. T1 describes the cabling, signal type, and signal regeneration requirements of the carrier system.
- PCM T-Carrier Hierarchy
|Digital Signal Designation||Line rate||Channels (DS0s)||Line|
The signal transmitted on a T1 line, referred to as the DS1 signal, consists of serial bits transmitted at the rate of 1.544 Mbps. The type of line code used is called Alternate Mark Inversion (AMI). Digital Signal Designation is the classification of digital bit rates in the digital multiplex hierarchy used in transport of telephone signals from one location to another. DS-1 is a communications protocol for multiplexing the bitstreams of up to 24 telephone calls, along with two special bits: a framing bit (for frame synchronization) and a maintenance-signaling bit, transmitted over a digital circuit called T1. T1's maximum data transmission rate is 1.544 megabits per second.
A DS1 telecommunication circuit multiplexes 24 DS0s. The twenty-four DS0s sampled 8,000 times per second (one 8bit PCM sample from each DSO per DS1 frame) consume 1.536 Mbit/s of bandwidth. One framing bit adds 8 kbit/s of overhead, for a total of 1.544 Mbit/s, calculated as follows:
DS1 frame synchronizationEdit
Frame synchronization is necessary to identify the timeslots within each 24-channel frame. Synchronization takes place by allocating a framing, or 193rd, bit. This results in 8 kbit/s of framing data, for each DS1. Because this 8-kbit/s channel is used by the transmitting equipment as overhead, only 1.536 Mbit/s is actually passed on to the user. Two types of framing schemes are superframe (SF) and extended superframe (ESF). A superframe consists of twelve consecutive 193-bit frames, whereas an extended superframe consists of twenty-four consecutive 193-bit frames of data. Due to the unique bit sequences exchanged, the framing schemes are not compatible with each other. These two types of framing (SF, and ESF) use their 8 kbit/s framing channel in different ways.
Connectivity and alarmsEdit
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Connectivity refers to the ability of the digital carrier to carry customer data from either end to the other. In some cases, the connectivity may be lost in one direction and maintained in the other. In all cases, the terminal equipment, i.e., the equipment that marks the endpoints of the DS1, defines the connection by the quality of the received framing pattern.
Alarms are normally produced by the receiving terminal equipment when the framing is compromised. There are three defined alarm indication signal states, identified by a legacy color scheme: red, yellow and blue.
Red alarm indicates the alarming equipment is unable to recover the framing reliably. Corruption or loss of the signal will produce "red alarm". Connectivity has been lost toward the alarming equipment. There is no knowledge of connectivity toward the far end.
Yellow alarm, also known as remote alarm indication (RAI), indicates reception of a data or framing pattern that reports the far end is in "red alarm". The alarm is carried differently in SF (D4) and ESF (D5) framing. For SF framed signals, the user bandwidth is manipulated and "bit two in every DS0 channel shall be a zero." The resulting loss of payload data while transmitting a yellow alarm is undesirable, and was resolved in ESF framed signals by using the data link layer. "A repeating 16-bit pattern consisting of eight 'ones' followed by eight 'zeros' shall be transmitted continuously on the ESF data link, but may be interrupted for a period not to exceed 100-ms per interruption." Both types of alarms are transmitted for the duration of the alarm condition, but for at least one second.
Blue alarm, also known as alarm indication signal (AIS) indicates a disruption in the communication path between the terminal equipment and line repeaters or DCS. If no signal is received by the intermediary equipment, it produces an unframed, all-ones signal. The receiving equipment displays a "red alarm" and sends the signal for "yellow alarm" to the far end because it has no framing, but at intermediary interfaces the equipment will report "AIS" or Alarm Indication Signal. AIS is also called "all ones" because of the data and framing pattern.
These alarm states are also lumped under the term Carrier Group Alarm (CGA). The meaning of CGA is that connectivity on the digital carrier has failed. The result of the CGA condition varies depending on the equipment function. Voice equipment typically coerces the robbed bits for signaling to a state that will result in the far end properly handling the condition, while applying an often different state to the customer equipment connected to the alarmed equipment. Simultaneously, the customer data is often coerced to a 0x7F pattern, signifying a zero-voltage condition on voice equipment. Data equipment usually passes whatever data may be present, if any, leaving it to the customer equipment to deal with the condition.
Inband T1 versus T1 PRIEdit
Additionally, for voice T1s there are two main types: so-called "plain" or Inband T1s and PRI (Primary Rate Interface). While both carry voice telephone calls in similar fashion, PRIs are commonly used in call centers and provide not only the 23 actual usable telephone lines (Known as "B" channels for bearer) but also a 24th line (Known as the "D" channel for data) that carries line signaling information. This special "D" channel carries: Caller ID (CID) and automatic number identification (ANI) data, required channel type (usually a B, or Bearer channel), call handle, Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS) info, requested channel number and a request for response.
Inband T1s are also capable of carrying CID and ANI information if they are configured by the carrier by sending DTMF *ANI*DNIS*. However, PRIs handle this more efficiently. While an inband T1 seemingly has a slight advantage due to 24 lines being available to make calls (as opposed to a PRI that has 23), each channel in an inband T1 must perform its own setup and tear-down of each call. A PRI uses the 24th channel as a data channel to perform all the overhead operations of the other 23 channels (including CID and ANI). Although an inband T1 has 24 channels, the 23 channel PRI can set up more calls faster due to the dedicated 24th signalling channel (D Channel).
Origin of nameEdit
The name T1 came from the carrier letter assigned by AT&T to the technology in 1957, when digital systems were first proposed and developed, AT&T decided to skip Q, R, S, and to use T, for Time Division. The naming system ended with the letter T, which designated fiber networks. Destined successors of the T1 system of networks, called T1C, T2, T3, and T4 were not a commercial success and disappeared quickly, signals that would have been carried on these systems, called DS1, DS2, DS3, and DS4 are now carried on T1 infrastructure.
DS-1 means "Digital Service – Level 1," and had to do with the signal to be sent—as opposed to the network that delivers it (originally 24 digitized voice channels over the T1). Since the practice of naming networks ended with the letter "T," the terms T1 and DS1 have become synonymous and encompass a plethora of different services from voice to data to clear-channel pipes. The line speed is always consistent at 1.544 Mbit/s, but the payload can vary greatly.
Dark fiber: Dark fiber refers to unused fibers, available for use. Dark fiber has been, and still is, available for sale on the wholesale market for both metro and wide area links, but it may not be available in all markets or city pairs.
Dark fiber capacity is typically used by network operators to build SONET and dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) networks, usually involving meshes of self-healing rings. Now, it is also used by end-user enterprises to expand Ethernet local area networks, especially since the adoption of IEEE standards for gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet over single-mode fiber. Running Ethernet networks between geographically separated buildings is a practice known as "WAN elimination".
DS1C is a digital signal equivalent to two Digital Signal 1, with extra bits to conform to a signaling standard of 3.152 Mbit/s. Few (if any) of these circuit capacities are still in use today. In the early days of digital and data transmission, the 3-Mbit/s data rate was used to link mainframe computers together. The physical side of this circuit is called T1C.
The T1/E1 protocol is implemented as a "line interface unit" in silicon. The semiconductor chip contains a decoder/encoder, loop backs, jitter attenuators, receivers, and drivers. Additionally, there are usually multiple interfaces and they are labeled as dual, quad, octal, etc., depending upon the number.
The transceiver chip's primary purpose is to retrieve information from the "line", i.e., the conductive line that transverses distance, by receiving the pulses and converting the signal which has been subjected to noise, jitter, and other interference, to a clean digital pulse on the other interface of the chip.
- The "DS" refers to the rate and format of the signal, while the "T" designation refers to the equipment providing the signals. In practice, "DS" and "T" are used synonymously; hence DS1 is T1 and vice versa.
- Brett Glass (September 1996). "How Bell Ran in Digital Communications". Byte. Archived from the original on 2008-09-05.
- Weik, Martin (2012). "Fiber Optics Standard Dictionary". Springer Science & Business Media. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
- "FT100 M User's Guide" (PDF). Motorola Inc. 1996.
- American National Standards Institute, T1.403-1999, Network and Customer Installation Interfaces – DS1 Electrical Interface, p. 12
- Versadial, Call Recording Terms/Definitions, last accessed 8 June 2015
- Newton, H: "Newton's telecom dictionary", page 225. CMP books, 2004
- "T1, Where Does the "T" Come From? Some Bell Labs History from Dr. John Pan". Data Comm for Business, Inc.
- "DS definition". The Computer Desktop Encyclopedia (CDE). The Computer Language Company.
- Tulloch, Mitch; Tulloch, Ingrid (April 24, 2002). Microsoft Encyclopedia of Networking, Second Edition.
- All You Wanted to Know About T1 But Were Afraid to Ask
- Stone, Alan, "How America Got On-Line: Politics, Markets and the Revolution in Telecommunications", (Taylor & Francis, 1997), ISBN 978-1-5632-4576-3
- Abbate, Janet, "Inventing the Internet", (MIT Press, 1999), ISBN 978-0-2620-1172-3
- PC Magazine, February 6, 1996 | <urn:uuid:a6b64f71-1a88-4a64-8447-66e12b581738> | {
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You may have wondered why it's so popular to crossbreed Poodles with other breeds. Poodles have a curly coat that sheds very little. They are considered virtually hypoallergenic. When crossed with other breeds they often produce puppies that share this trait, or which shed less than the other parent breed. They are also very intelligent dogs and they can pass along their intelligence to their puppies. Poodles also come in three size varieties which makes them a good size match for many different breeds. There are an almost unlimited number of popular Poodle mixed breeds. Breeders can cross Poodles with just about any other breed to produce “hybrid” dogs and “doodles. But there are some things you should know about these mixes before you rush out to buy one.
Some of the mixes you might see advertised online or in your local newspaper include the Cockapoo (Cocker Spaniel x Poodle), the Labradoodle (Labrador Retriever x Poodle), the Goldendoodle (Golden Retriever x Poodle), the Chi-Poo (Chihuahua x Poodle), the Malti-Poo (Maltese x Poodle), the Pekepoo (Pekingese x Poodle), the Pomapoo (Pomeranian x Poodle), the Schnoodle (Miniature Schnauzer x Poodle), the Shihpoo (Shih Tzu x Poodle), and the Yorkipoo (Yorkshire Terrier x Poodle).
Cockapoos were the first successful dogs produced by crossing Poodles with Cocker Spaniels. Breeders began crossing these dogs in the 1940s and '50s when Cocker Spaniels were so popular. This has actually been a very successful cross and breeders have continued to breed these dogs for decades. They have been trying to get the dogs to “breed true” so they can become a separate breed, but so far that hasn't happened.
Labradoodles are created by crossing Labrador Retrievers with Standard Poodles, the largest of the Poodle varieties. This was originally done in Australia in an attempt to breed dogs that could be guide dogs for the blind. However, the dogs soon became popular pets. These dogs can have puppies with several kinds of coats in their litters: curly, straight (like human hair), and wooly. Breeders in Australia are seeking kennel club status for Labradoodles there but they have worked hard to breed only Labradoodles to each other for several generations. Labradoodles in North America are different and are usually the produce of breeding Labs to Poodles.
Goldendoodles are the result of breeding Poodles to Golden Retrievers. Like Labradoodles, they can have different kinds of coat in their litters and they do not breed true.
Other Poodle mixes are usually bred to produce cute puppies and not for any other purpose.
With the exception of the Australian Labradoodle (and not the North American Labradoodles), Poodle hybrids and doodles are not purebred dogs and are not recognized by the American or Canadian Kennel Clubs or by the United Kennel Club. They are not purebred dogs. This is not because a kennel club doesn't recognize them. It's because the dogs don't “breed true.” This means that if you breed two Goldendoodles or two Yorkipoos together, you won't get Goldendoodles or Yorkipoos. You will get some puppies that look like Golden Retrievers and some that look like Poodles. And with the Yorkipoos you will get some puppies that look like Yorkshire Terriers and some that look like Poodles. The dogs are not purebreds that produce dogs like themselves when you mate two dogs together. If you breed two Golden Retrievers together, you always get Golden Retriever puppies. You don't get some other kind of puppy in the litter. That's because the breed is purebred.
It is possible to create breeds that breed true but it takes careful breeding and generations of work. Most hybrid dogs and Poodle mixes have only been around for a few years.
Despite the fact that these are mixed breed dogs, they often sell for high prices. Most of this is due to hype and the cuteness factor. Some of these Poodle mixes can cost more than a good show dog. The public is often fooled into thinking that a PugglyPoo is some wonderful and rare breed when, in fact, it's just a cross between a Pug and a Poodle. You can find great mixed breed dogs for $25 to $100 at your local shelter.
Breeders of Poodle mixes and hybrid dogs in general often try to tell people that their dogs benefit from “hybrid vigor.” This isn't really true in the case of hybrid dogs and Poodle mixes. Poodles are subject to a number of health issues such as progressive retinal atrophy, Addison's Disease, bloat, thyroid problems, epilepsy, sebaceous adenitis, juvenile renal disease, hip dysplasia, and cancer. They can pass along any or all of these conditions to their puppies when bred to a dog of another breed. Some other breeds also have these health problems, which means the puppies produced could easily have serious health problems even though their parents are different breeds.
In some cases, compatible conformation is a problem. Crossing a Poodle with some breeds might produce physical deformities.
Poodle crosses are popular today and in some cases they can be great dogs. But you should know from the outset that you are buying a mixed breed dog. They cannot be guaranteed to be good for people with allergies or to be healthy from hybrid vigor. Check the breeder out carefully and ask questions about health and the price before you buy. | <urn:uuid:89ef7979-8cd6-443c-af35-fe5e29e87304> | {
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This book introduces the methodology for conceiving, designing, optimization, and analyzing of the suspension and steering systems for four wheel drive and four wheel steered terrain vehicle. The suspension system design has derived from classical double wishbone control arm. Greater wheel motion has been ensured without reducing driving performance. In order to improve the driving comfort and safety an optimal active damping force has been determined by the active and semi-active systems. On the basis of comprehensive analysis, active system adequacy has been achieved. The suspension design provides relatively small lateral wheel motion, zero camber angles, and it effectively absorbs the vibrations caused by road configurations. The steering system design provides higher maneuverability at low speed and suitable stability at higher speed. This has been ensured by two modes of steering, all wheels steer and front wheel steer. The steering mechanisms conform to Ackermann law for all modes and situations. A totally new steering concept has been developed. This effective design consists of special pairs of gears, known as’ non-circular gears’. | <urn:uuid:05693eec-e70b-41d0-a8db-ffe2310f8feb> | {
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What Are Probiotics? - An Introduction To The World of Probiotics
Millions of people all around the world have various stomach related problems and many of them have been recommended by physicians, friends, and colleagues to try probiotics. Probiotics are most commonly known as "good bacteria" that can be found in various types of foods, such as yogurt, pickles, and sauerkraut. This good bacteria is always in our body, but sometimes the bad bacteria can wipe out much of the good bacteria leaving ourselves susceptible to illness and infections. More commonly, people are learning the probiotic supplements are becoming one of the most important and powerful ways to replensh the probiotics in ones system.
Types of Probiotics or "Good Bacteria"
There are multiple types of good bacteria some of the most prominent including Lactobacilli, Bifidobacteria, and Acidophilus. Most probiotic supplements or food choices will contain one of the above types of bacteria includeded.
If you are interested in probiotics please consult with your family doctor before trying any new supplements or change in diet.
Image Credit- helpyourautisticchildblog | <urn:uuid:55f68b66-9ee1-434f-af44-250ae5c285c4> | {
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Benchmarking Your City Buildings
Benchmarking is the process of evaluating a building’s energy use, where energy performance is monitored over time and compared to that of similar buildings. The energy that city buildings use generates a certain amount of greenhouse gas emissions and costs cities substantial amounts of money. Energy benchmarking is usually followed by an increased effort to create a more energy efficient building to reduce its energy use and operating costs. In order to meet emission reduction and energy efficiency standards, you must have a documented energy baseline as a starting point to show your success.
Assessing building energy performance baselines is necessary to set goals for future emissions reductions and efficiency improvements. It is also necessary to illustrate achieved reduction goals when required goals and standards are mandated. Benefits of the benchmarking process can include the following:
- Track and report on energy performance and environmental impact over time
- Save money by reducing your energy expenditures
- Understand which efficiency projects return the most money per investment.
- Demonstrate energy leadership to the commercial sector: California Assembly Bill 1103 requires disclosure of energy performance at the point of whole building commercial real estate transactions occurring on or after January 1, 2012
- Receive an ENERGY STAR label with scores above 75 and earn points toward LEED certification
Benchmarking is performed for individual buildings. Local governments can benchmark city-owned buildings, pass requirements for local businesses or encourage residents to monitor their own usage and take steps to increase building efficiency.
Many cities are starting to benchmark their buildings:
- Benchmarking completed for every major city-owned building in New York: http://www.c40cities.org/news/news-20100502.jsp
- Seattle requires industrial energy disclosure.
“Energy Benchmarking for Better Building Performance” presentation from Bellvue, Washington – very information rich presentation! http://www.electricleague.net/files/powerfulbusiness/2009powerfulbusiness/putnam_energybenchmarking.pdf Locally in Contra Costa County, several cities have started benchmarking, after attending our free workshops! http://www.cccclimateleaders.org/text/benchmarking.html. Our next workshop is September 15th if you attend, our free consultant, Tim Bankroff will be able to help you get started.
There are different programs designed to help you benchmark your buildings.
- The Pacific Gas and Electric Company offers an Automated Benchmarking Service (ABS) which will automatically upload building energy usage data to EPA ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager online. Learn more about this service here: http://www.pge.com/mybusiness/energysavingsrebates/analyzer/benchmarking/
- ENERGY STAR Benchmarking Starter Kit: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=evaluate_performance.bus_portfoliomanager_benchmarking
- An account of the benefits of benchmarking: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/1969/12/31/benchmarking-building-performance
- A simplified benchmarking tool: http://eber.ed.ornl.gov/benchmark/bench.htm
Thank you to our sponsors:
This program is funded by California utility customers and administered by PG&E under the auspices of the California Public Utilities Commission | <urn:uuid:5846a8de-6066-478a-9b30-9b716221f4e2> | {
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Chocolates, who doesn’t like them? Well, everyone! But, there are many myths that surround the habit of eating chocolates, and these make people avoid eating their favorite ingredients many times.
Eating chocolates is not regarded as a good habit by the majority, and the fact that things that taste better have bitter effects on thebodyhas always been there with the chocolate, but today, many researched have been conducted, and many of them are breaking the myths associated with chocolates. Many other types of research have shown that eating chocolates in many ways are beneficial for overall health and based on this, we are sharing some of the benefits of eating chocolates.
Benefits of eating Chocolates
So, the chocolate lover out there, this is something that is going to boost your chocolate eating habit, and now no one can name “bad habit.” Read out the benefits associated with the chocolates.
- Chocolates reduce the risk of heart stroke
Studies have found that eating chocolate can prevent the blood clots that further reduced the risk of the heart attack. Blood platelets mass together relatively slow in the ones who eat chocolates on a regular basis.
- A healthy heart
Another research has found that the ones who eat chocolates, even the little part every week reduced the chance of the heart failure. On the other hand, one study found that eating chocolates can cut down the heart attack by the rate of 39 percent. This is because chocolates have flavonoids which are an antioxidant compound and it is responsible for increasing the flexibility of the arteries and veins.
- Weight loss
This benefit will come as a surprise to the majority out there. Eating dark chocolate can actually help you reduce weight. Researchers have found that dark chocolate is relatively fat filling and it reduces the craving for sweet and fatty foods which you know is the biggest reason that why people are getting fat. If you are developing a habit of eating a bit of dark chocolate, it certainly will make you achieve your goal of weight loss.
- Happy kids
No, no, we aren’t talking about the fact that how happier the kids get when they eat chocolates. It is about the mothers. Women who consumed chocolates while they were pregnant were able to handle the stress level more nicely. Another study found that the women are eating chocolates while pregnancy gave birth to the babies who smiled and stay happier more.
- Good for diabetes patients
This will come as a shock to many! Yes, eating chocolates won’t shoot your diabetes up, but it will help to keep the insulin level resistant.
- Sun Protection
One study has found that eating chocolates can protect one from the sun and its rays. Chocolates have asun-protecting agent. If you are eating chocolates for regular for about 3 months, it will increase the level of flavonoids which is beneficial, and it will take double the time to develop the redness that is caused by the sun.
So, now you can scream out that why your chocolate is eating habit isn’t bad. | <urn:uuid:eaf5afdb-453a-409c-a28d-7b53b2429954> | {
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Important from Mexico.
By a recent arrival, the New Orleans Delta
received a file of the Havana, I tario de la Marina,
of a late date, which announces the arrival at Havana
, from Vera Cruz
, of the Spanish vessels, the Alava
.--The most important news by these arrivals from Mexico
, is the conclusion of a truce between the Mexican Government
and the three allied powers.
The following are the terms of the Convention
, which passes by the name of the "Convention of the Soledad:"
- Whereas, The Constitutional Government actually existing in Mexico has declared to the Commissioners of the Allied Powers that it has no need of assistance so benevolently offered to the Mexican Government, containing within itself elements of strength and opinion sufficient for its very internal revolt, the Allied Powers there proceed to negotiation, in order to formalize all the reclamations which they have to make in the name of their respective Governments.
- 2. Therefore, the representatives of the allied nations, protesting, as they do protest, that they intend nothing against the independence, integrity, and sovereignty of the Mexican Republic, will open negotiations at Crizaba, in which city will meet the Commissioners and two of the Ministers of the Republic, excepting that, by common consent, it may be opened to opponent delegates representing both parties.
- 3. During the negotiations the forces of the allied powers shall occupy the three towns of Cordoba, Orizaba, and Tennacan.
- 4. In order that it may not be even remotely suspected that the allies have signed these preliminaries in order to procure possession of the fortified positions garrisoned by the Mexican army, it is stipulated that in the unfortunate event of a rupture of negotiations the forces of the allies shall evacuate the aforesaid towns, and shall return to a position on the line in front of the said fortifications towards Vera Cruz, designating as its extreme principal points Paso Ancio, on the Cordoba read; and Paso de Ovejas, on the Jalaps road.
- 5. In case of the unfortunate event aforesaid of the rupture of negotiations and the retirement of the allied troops to the line indicated in the preceding article, the allied hospitals shall remain under the protection of the Mexican nation.
- 6. On the day that the allied troops took up their march to occupy the points specified in articles, the Mexican flag shall be raised in the city of Vera Crus and on the castle of San Juan de
La Soledad Feb. 1, 1862.
The Diarie da la Merine
says that the allied will fix their residences at Crizatia, where the Conference will commence on the first of April.
troops had already taken up their march for the places indicated in the Convention
flag had been raised in Vera Cruz
The French troops were to occupy and the Spanish
The correspondent of the Diarie
expresses the opinion that the Mexican
difficulty will soon be settled.
has given notice that the Spanish
residents expelled from Tampico
at the beginning of the campaign should return to that city. | <urn:uuid:5b5c3d22-f702-4692-8376-5c8876c09f52> | {
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Pancreatic hormone linked with severe heart disease in obese and diabetic patients
Download or view high-resolution photograph of Dr. Florin Despa and his team. From left to right are Sanda Despa, Terry Pang, Kaleena Jackson and Florin Despa. Photograph credit: UC Regents.
Severe heart damage in people who are obese and diabetic is linked with a pancreatic hormone called amylin, UC Davis researchers have found.
In the failing hearts of patients who were obese and diabetic, the scientists discovered strings of proteins, small fibers and plaques made of amylin, the hormone that produces the feeling of being full after eating. They also showed in an animal model that amylin accumulation in the heart leads to heart muscle destruction and failure.
Published in the February 17 issue of the journal Circulation Research, the study also found amylin buildup in overweight patients who are not obese, suggesting the potentially dangerous accumulations may start before a diabetes diagnosis.
Heart failure is the number-one killer in obese and diabetic populations. Controlling the circulation of amylin hormone in the blood might lessen or prevent disabilities and deaths from heart disease, the scientists said.
"Amylin appears to be a stealth killer," said Florin Despa, an assistant professor of pharmacology at UC Davis and senior author of the study. "There is only one amylin protein for every 100 insulin proteins in the blood, so it has been under the radar until recently."
In healthy people, amylin circulates in the blood together with insulin --the hormone that controls carbohydrate and fat metabolism -- and principally regulates gastric fluxes and the sensation of satiety.
In studies of both normal and failing donated hearts of people undergoing heart-transplant surgery, the researchers found little or no amylin accumulation in lean people. But a quite different picture emerged from examinations of heart tissue of obese and type 2 diabetic patients. In failing hearts of these patients, they found extensive accumulation of amylin in strings of 10 to 20 proteins called oligomers. They detected a smaller but still abnormal buildup in nonfailing hearts from patients who were overweight but not obese.
Using genetically engineered rats that secrete human amylin in the same proportion as it is found in obese people, the researchers determined that amylin oligomers attach to membranes of myocytes -- the heart-muscle cells that control heart beats. This made the membranes more porous to calcium, which changed myocyte contractility, altered the expression of vital proteins and, eventually, caused heart muscle cells to die.
"The significantly altered cardiac myocyte structure and function in the rats, along with the high levels of oligomers in the human heart tissue, strongly suggest that amylin is a major contributor to heart failure in obese and diabetic patients," Despa said.
Despa thinks that the link between cardiac amylin accumulation and heart disease has been overlooked because amylin circulates in relatively small amounts in blood, and because animals, including rats, that are often used in most studies of diabetic cardiac dysfunction do not normally express the form of amylin that aggregates and builds up in tissues.
The scientists now hope to find ways to curb amylin buildup in the heart before it has the chance to destroy muscle tissue.
"Drugs that block amylin from forming into toxic oligomers could significantly reduce the chances of heart failure," Despa said.
For the research, amylin protein accumulation was detected in human and rat heart tissues and cell cultures using immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence and Western blot. Heart dysfunction in the rats was identified by studying the physiological performance of isolated myocytes and by measuring the expression of tell-tale proteins that deform cardiac muscle. The researchers used echocardiography and measurements of blood flow to assess heart tissue structure and performance and changes in myocardium contractions.
The lead researcher on the study was Sanda Despa, an assistant professor of pharmacology at UC Davis. Other UC Davis authors were Le Chen, postdoctoral scientist in the pharmacology department; Anne Knowlton and Donald Bers, professors in the pharmacology department; and Peter Havel, professor of molecular biosciences with the School of Veterinary Medicine.
Additional authors were Kenneth Margulies, professor in the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, and Heinrich Taegtmeyer, professor of the internal medicine department at the University of Texas School of Medicine.
The research was funded by the American Heart Association, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health and a Vision Grant from the National Board of Advisors of UC Davis Health System. The genetically engineered rats used in the study were provided by Pfizer.
The UC Davis School of Medicine is among the nation's leading medical schools, recognized for its research and primary-care programs. The school offers fully accredited master's degree programs in public health and in informatics, and its combined M.D.-Ph.D. program is training the next generation of physician-scientists to conduct high-impact research and translate discoveries into better clinical care. Along with being a recognized leader in medical research, the school is committed to serving underserved communities and advancing rural health. For more information, visit UC Davis School of Medicine website at medschool.ucdavis.edu. | <urn:uuid:2c7f647e-6e41-463a-9dda-cf0f99ffbde0> | {
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When it comes to Michigan’s 46 governors, few have had a memorable impact. In the 19th century, Austin Blair led the state through the Civil War. Then came Henry Crapo, who fixed the state’s finances and stood foursquare against government subsidies to private businesses. In the 20th century, Alexander Groesbeck built a state highway system and beat back two attempts to ban private education; and G. Mennen "Soapy" Williams, ran an activist but remarkably clean administration and built the Mackinac Bridge.
These high-impact governors are now joined by one more: Gov. John Engler. No one with more than a passing grasp of Michigan history can claim that Engler hasn’t made a difference, or that he doesn’t rank among the most important of the state’s chief executives. In many respects, the state of Michigan will feel his impact for years and perhaps decades to come.
Engler met an inherited budget deficit head-on. Rather than increase taxes, he slashed spending in his first year. Twelve years later, the state’s General Fund is lower in real terms than it was in the final year of the previous administration of James Blanchard — a rare and remarkable example of sustained fiscal discipline. (The total state budget doubled, but much of that was due to increased infusions of cash from the federal government or the shift in education funding from local to state government.)
President Reagan’s firing of air traffic controllers who struck illegally in 1981 set a tone that shaped policy for a decade. Likewise, Engler’s move to abolish the General Assistance program laid the foundation for a new way of thinking about public assistance. At the center of the Engler welfare reforms, which helped spur dramatic changes at the federal level, was the idea that welfare recipients have a responsibility to get their lives in order, regard public assistance as a temporary help, and do their utmost to work their way off the dole.
Under Engler, Michigan also became one of the foremost states in education reform. He led a charter-school revolution that is alive and well today; created a more equitable per-pupil school funding formula that dramatically reduced property taxes, and pushed a public-school-choice program that provides incentive for schools to compete for students. He supported legislation that put teeth in Michigan’s anti-teacher strike law and gave school boards more freedom to competitively contract for school support services.
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy helped to craft or advance many Engler initiatives, but we also had our disagreements. We wish he had cut even more deeply into state spending and done more to reform labor laws to make unions more accountable to their members. Most importantly, we regret the second term’s turn toward discriminatory tax abatements and subsidies to business, and the creation of the semi-public Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Rather than allowing the state to pick economic winners and losers, we would have preferred more substantial cuts in everyone’s taxes.
But even on that score the governor should have substantial credit. No governor in recent Michigan history has done more to lighten the state tax burden than John Engler. Michigan made more progress in this regard than any other major industrial state, though we remain a relatively high-tax one. The governor’s fiscal restraint assured Michigan a top-drawer bond rating.
The judicial branch of state government will reflect Engler’s impact for years to come. The governor believes that judges and courts should interpret the law, not manufacture it, and he appointed many thoughtful and capable strict-constructionists to the bench. Michigan’s current Supreme Court, in which five of the seven justices are committed to this view of the law, may be the finest in the nation. This is, in great measure, because of Engler’s influence.
Gov. Engler earns high marks for many other achievements. He took state government out of the workers compensation business by selling off the Accident Fund. He kept a lid on the growth of the state-employee workforce. And he boldly exerted executive authority to reorganize state agencies and departments to make them more accountable and efficient.
All in all, a pretty good run. Gov. Granholm would do well to recognize the achievements of the Engler era and work to build upon and extend them, not undo them.
(Lawrence W. Reed is president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Midland. The Center’s Web site contains a wealth of commentary about policy in the Engler years, at www.mackinac.org.) | <urn:uuid:c6648bf0-ac0f-4efb-8e35-48fe42d69cda> | {
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Human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing with cytology triage is more sensitive than conventional cytology screening for detecting cervical lesions, according to a new study published online November 9 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Cytology triage in HPV-positive women can improve specificity.
HPV DNA testing has shown higher sensitivity than conventional cytology screening for detecting cervical lesions, but it is uncertain whether the higher sensitivity is dependent on the age of the woman being screened.
Maarit Leinonen, M.D., of the Mass Screening Registry, Finnish Cancer Registry in Helsinki, and colleagues compared the age-specific performance of primary HPV DNA screening with that of conventional cytology screening. Finnish women aged 25-65 years were sent randomized invitations for HPV DNA testing with cytology triage or conventional screening.
Overall, primary HPV DNA screening with cytology triage was more sensitive than conventional screening for detecting cervical lesions. Among women younger than 35 years, those who got HPV DNA screening were referred for colposcopy more often than those who got conventional screening. Among women aged 35 years or older, HPV DNA testing with cytology triage was more sensitive and more specific than conventional screening, had a higher precision rate, and was associated with fewer colposcopy referrals and follow-up tests.
"In countries like Finland that have a well-organized cervical screening program and low incidence of cervical cancer, new interventions are expected to provide only small increases in a screening program's efficacy," the authors write. "Nevertheless, our results support the use of HPV DNA testing with cytology triage in primary cervical screening."
In an accompanying editorial, Eduardo L. Franco, MPH, DrPH, said that "this finding underscores the importance of cytology as a triage test in preserving the specificity of the HPV DNA screening approach."
He also suggests that use of an automated and objective molecular test, such as the HPV DNA assay, as an initial screening step increases the prevalence of abnormal smears destined for cytology reading, thus avoiding the monotony of reading smears in primary screening. In the post-vaccination era, when the prevalence of cervical abnormalities is expected to decrease, this enrichment step may preserve the positive predictive value of the HPV-followed-by Pap approach.
Source: Journal of the National Cancer Institute (news : web)
Explore further: Biophysicist develops nanoscale measurement approaches to understand growth properties of cancer | <urn:uuid:fca5e5d3-4dbf-4d50-a039-18eaa8d42aac> | {
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In a Sunday comment piece in the Guardian UK/ the Observer, Vincent Cerf highlighted his belief that most of the world will access the internet via their cell phones and that will lead to an explosion of online information:
There are more than three billion mobiles in use today and more than 80 per cent of the world’s population live within range of a network. In areas where wireline or WiFi access barely exists, many new users will first experience the internet through a mobile phone. In developing economies, people are already finding innovative ways to use mobile technology. Grameen’s micro-finance and village phone programmes in Bangladesh and elsewhere are known and respected around the world, but there are many less famous examples. During the Kenyan elections, Mobile Planet provided its subscribers with up-to-the-minute results by text message. As the cost of mobile technologies fall, the opportunities for such innovation will continue to grow.
We’re nearing the tipping point for mobile computing to deliver timely, geographically and socially relevant information. Researchers in Japan recently proposed using data from vehicles’ windscreen wipers and embedded GPS receivers to track the movement of weather systems through towns and cities with a precision never before possible. It may seem academic, but understanding the way severe weather, such as a typhoon, moves through a city could save lives. Further exploration can shed light on demographic, intellectual and epidemiological phenomena, to name just a few areas.
It’s amazing how quickly those of us with internet access have come to take for granted the remarkable amounts of information we have at our disposal, but we’re only seeing the beginnings. The bulk of human knowledge remains offline. As more of us get access to the internet, more of the world’s information will find its way online.
Both the medium (cell phones) and the message (the increased amount of human knowledge) speak directly to the growing role that local will play in the ecosystem of information retrieval.Vincent Cert: Mobile is where its at by Mike Blumenthal | <urn:uuid:c57c902b-9248-43c9-ab8c-28ef4dcfb86f> | {
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Officially Washington’s current policy toward Iraq is to bring about a “regime change”—either through a military coup, or by means of a U.S. invasion, justified as a “preemptive attack” against a rogue state bent on developing and deploying weapons of mass destruction.* But a U.S. invasion, should it take place, would not confine its objectives to mere regime change in Baghdad. The larger goal would be nothing less than the global projection of U.S. power through assertion of American dominance over the entire Middle East. What the world is now facing therefore is the prospect of a major new development in the history of imperialism.
The imperialism of today is definitely not the same as that of the late nineteenth century. In the early days of the modern era of imperialism, several powers—notably Germany, Japan, and the United States—came on the scene to challenge Britain’s hegemony in various parts of the globe. There were a number of notable features of imperialism during this period: the scramble among the European powers to divide up Africa; heightened competition in Europe for each other’s markets; the growing German challenge to London as the core of the international money market. At the same time, the United States was attempting to enter the competition for markets in Europe and was developing its own colonies and spheres of influence in Latin America and Asia. The primary causes of the First World War included both the bitter competition among the great powers for colonies and markets and the German attempt to eliminate Britain as the center of international money and commodity markets.
The period after the First World War represented a second phase of modern imperialism. The Treaty of Versailles was a process of the winners dividing the gains, with a unitary goal—the defeat of Bolshevism. Thorstein Veblen wrote that wiping Bolshevism off the map was not simply a secret clause in the Treaty of Versailles, it was the very “parchment” of the Treaty (Essays in Our Changing Order, 1934, p. 464). However, the plan to isolate and bring down the Soviet Union was interrupted by the Great Depression and by the Second World War, which developed out of the struggles of the axis powers, Germany, Italy, and Japan, to carve out larger spaces within the world system.
A third phase of imperialism emerged after the Second World War. During the war, the United States, as the new hegemonic state within the capitalist world, had developed a plan for gaining control of what it considered to be the strategic centers of the world economy—an ambition that was then only limited by the existence of the Soviet sphere of influence. Writing in this space in November 1981, Noam Chomsky described the formation of U.S. geopolitical strategy in this period as follows:
The general framework of thinking within which American foreign policy has evolved since the Second World War is best described in the planning documents produced during that war by the State Department planners and the Council for Foreign Relations who met for a six-year period in the War and Peace Studies Program, 1939–45. They knew, certainly by 1941–42, that the war was going to end with the United States in a position of enormous global dominance. The question arose: “How do we organize the world?”
They drew up a concept known as Grand Area Planning, where the Grand Area is defined as the area which, in their terms, was “strategically necessary for world control.” The geopolitical analysis behind it attempted to work out which areas of the world have to be “open”—open to investment, open to the repatriation of profits. Open, that is, to domination by the United States.
In order for the United States economy to prosper without internal changes (a crucial point which comes through in all of the discussions in this period), without any redistribution of income or power or modification of structures, the War and Peace Program determined that the minimum area strategically necessary for world control included the entire Western hemisphere, the former British empire which they were in the process of dismantling, and the Far East. That was the minimum, and the maximum was the universe.
Somewhere between the two came the concept of the Grand Area—and the task of how to organize it in terms of financial institutions and planning. This is the framework that remained constant throughout the postwar period.
The liberation of Europe’s colonies and the defeat of Japan’s ambitions in the Pacific allowed U.S. capital, backed up by U.S. military power, to begin to penetrate markets that were previously inaccessible. While the Bretton Woods Agreement provided a new economic framework for the imperialist powers, U.S. military might and covert operations were projected around the globe with increasing frequency—wars in Korea and Vietnam, the overthrow of governments in Iran, Guatemala, and Chile, the attempted overthrow of the Cuban government, and interference in numerous civil wars in Central America and Africa.
Crucial to the whole conception of the Grand Area was control of the Middle East, which was regarded as part of the old British Empire, and absolutely essential for the economic, military, and political control of the globe—not least of all because it was the repository of most of the world’s proven oil reserves. The United States thus began a long series of overt and covert interventions in the region in the 1950s, the foremost of which was the 1953 overthrow of the democratically elected Mossadegh government in Iran, which had nationalized foreign-owned oil companies. The success of the U.S. drive was clear. Between 1940 and 1967, U.S. companies increased their control of Middle Eastern oil reserves from 10 percent to close to 60 percent while reserves under British control decreased from 72 percent in 1940 to 30 percent in 1967 (H. Magdoff, Age of Imperialism, p. 43).
The long delayed meaningful integration of Western Europe, partially caused by the effects of economic stagnation, meant that it was not able to become the bulwark against U.S. interests that European leaders had hoped. With a weak Europe and Japan unable to mount a serious challenge to U.S. interests in Asia, the defeat of actually existing socialism in Europe by the early 1990s paved the way for a renewed period of U.S. hegemony, which had partly faded in the 1970s and 1980s.
Viewed from the standpoint of the historical evolution of imperialism, it is clear that the real motive behind Washington’s current drive to start a war with Iraq is not any genuine military threat from that country, but rather the goal of demonstrating that the U.S. is now prepared to use its power at will. As Jay Bookman, deputy editorial page editor of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution observed in that paper (“The President’s Real Goal in Iraq,” September 29, 2002):
The official story on Iraq has never made sense….It [the threatened invasion of Iraq] is not about weapons of mass destruction, or terrorism, or Saddam, or UN resolutions. This war, should it come, is intended to mark the official emergence of the United States as a full-fledged global empire, seizing sole responsibility and authority as planetary policeman. It would be the culmination of a plan 10 years or more in the making, carried out by those who believe that the United States must seize the opportunity for global domination, even if it means becoming the “American imperialists” that our enemies always claimed we were….Rome did not stoop to containment; it conquered. And so should we.
The Defense of Empire
Wars of imperial expansion, however unjustifiable they may be, always demand some kind of justification. Often this has been accomplished through the doctrine of defensive war. In his 1919 essay, “The Sociology of Imperialisms,” Joseph Schumpeter wrote of Rome during its years of greatest expansion,
There was no corner of the known world where some interest was not alleged to be in danger or under actual attack. If the interests were not Roman, they were those of Rome’s allies; and if Rome had no allies, then allies would be invented. When it was utterly impossible to contrive such an interest—why, then it was the national honor that had been insulted. The fight was always invested with an aura of legality. Rome was always being attacked by evil-minded neighbors, always fighting for a breathing-space. The whole world was pervaded by a host of enemies, and it was manifestly Rome’s duty to guard against their indubitably aggressive designs.*
Of course for many (if not most) of the imperial adventures of the nineteenth century there was never much latitude for pretending that the motives were defensive. The Opium Wars were fought not against an aggressive China, but rather to impose free trade in opium. The struggle amongst the European powers to divide up Africa was not directed against a belligerent Africa but rationalized as the “white man’s burden.”
The pretense that an endless series of defensive wars was needed to check evil-minded forces bent on aggression in every corner of the known world did not die with the Roman Empire, but was part of the rationale for the expansion of British imperialism in the nineteenth century and American imperialism in the twentieth.* This same mentality pervades the new National Security Strategy of the United States, recently transmitted from the executive branch to Congress (New York Times, September 20, 2002). This document establishes three key principles of U.S. strategic policy: (1) the perpetuation of unrivaled U.S. global military dominance, so that no nation will be allowed to rival or threaten the United States; (2) U.S. readiness to engage in “preemptive” military attacks against states or forces anywhere on the globe that are considered a threat to the security of the United States, its forces and installations abroad, or its friends or allies; and (3) the immunity of U.S. citizens to prosecution by the International Criminal Court. Commenting on this new National Security Strategy, Senator Edward M. Kennedy declared that, “The administration’s doctrine is a call for 21st century American imperialism that no other nation can or should accept” (October 7, 2002).
Washington’s ambition to establish a global empire beyond anything the world has yet seen is matched only by its paranoid fear of innumerable enemies lurking in every pocket of the globe ready to threaten the security of the “homeland” itself. These external threats only serve to justify, in its eyes, the extension of U.S. power. The targeted enemies of the United States at present are conveniently located in the third world, where the possibilities for outright expansion of U.S. imperialism are greatest.
Iraq under the brutal dictatorship of Saddam Hussein is presented as the foremost rogue state, global enemy number one. Although Iraq is not yet armed with the most feared weapons of mass destruction—nuclear weapons—it is claimed by the Bush administration that it may soon obtain them. Moreover, because of the purported utter madness of its leader, Iraq is said to be so irrational as to be immune to nuclear deterrence. As a result, there is no choice, we are told, but to strike this evil regime quickly, even before it obtains the feared weapons. The UN inspection process is largely useless at this stage, the Bush administration has insisted (though overruled in this respect by the other Security Council members). Saddam Hussein, it is contended, will always find a way to hide his most critical weapons operations somewhere in the extensive complexes dedicated to his personal security, which will not be opened fully to UN inspectors, however much Iraq may agree to unconditional inspections. There is no real choice then but “regime change” (installing a puppet regime) through exercise of force—either by military coup or invasion.
It is by instilling fear in this way in an American public already primed by the events of September 11, 2001 that the administration has sought to pull the country and the world toward war. If a U.S. president and his administration can stand up day-after-day and insist that the United States is vulnerable to an imminent attack by weapons of mass destruction (raising the question of a surprise attack involving a “mushroom cloud” even in a case where the nation concerned has no such weapons capabilities), a large part of the population is bound to be carried along. The ceaseless repetition of these dire warnings under something like the big lie principle, coupled with the echo chamber provided by the mass media, gradually wears away at popular skepticism. “If public support is weak at the outset,” Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has written with respect to convincing the population to back an unpopular war, then the “U.S. leadership must be willing to invest the political capital to marshal support to sustain the effort for whatever period of time may be required” (New York Times, October 14, 2002).
So crazed have been the claims emanating from the Oval Office, in its efforts to concoct the merest shreds of a justification for an invasion, that none other than CIA Director George J. Tenet has been compelled to step out and challenge the false assertions of the president. Thus Tenet has openly contradicted the president’s claim that Iraq constitutes an immediate nuclear threat to the United States, pointing out that it would take Iraq until the second half of the decade at the very least to produce enough fissile material for a single nuclear weapon. The administration has attempted to get around the weakness of its case with respect to nuclear weapons by placing more emphasis on the chemical and biological weapons threats of Iraq. In a speech delivered in Cincinnati on October 7 the president said that Baghdad might attempt at any time to attack targets in the United States with these weapons if aided and abetted by terrorist networks in delivering the weapons to their targets. Yet the CIA, in a letter to Congress signed by Tenet that same day, contradicted such an assessment, arguing that Iraq shows no signs of developing chemical and biological weapons except for purposes of deterrence and that it could be expected to refrain from sponsoring terrorist attacks in the foreseeable future if the United States does not attack it first. “Baghdad for now appears to be drawing a line short of conducting terrorist attacks with conventional or C.B.W. [chemical and biological weapons] against the United States,” the letter read. However, “should Saddam conclude that a U.S.-led attack could no longer be deterred,” the letter continued, “he probably would become much less constrained in adopting terrorist actions” (New York Times, October 10, 2002).
The Trojan Horse
The fact is that Iraq today probably does not possess functional chemical and biological war capabilities since these were effectively destroyed during the UN inspection process in 1991–1998. Its earlier capabilities in this respect date back to the 1980s when Iraq under Saddam Hussein was an ally of the United States. During 1985–1989, overlapping with the Iran-Iraq War of 1980–1988, and after Iraq’s use of chemical weapons against Iran in 1984, U.S. companies, with the approval of the Reagan and the first Bush administrations, sent numerous fatal biological cultures, including anthrax, to Iraq. Eight shipments of cultures were approved by the Department of Commerce that were later classified by the Centers for Disease Control as having “biological warfare significance.” Altogether, Iraq received at least seventy-two shipments of clones, germs, and chemicals with chemical and biological warfare potential from the U.S. in these years.* The United States continued to ship such deadly substances to Iraq even after Iraq reportedly used chemical weapons against the Kurds in northern Iraq in 1988.
It is no secret that the United States is the country that has by far the largest weapons of mass destruction capabilities and the most advanced technology in this area. It is hardly surprising therefore that Washington is viewed by much of the world as operating with double standards, when confronting nations such as Iraq. As former chief weapons inspector for the United Nations in Iraq, Richard Butler, has pointed out: “My attempt to have Americans enter into discussions about double standards have been an abject failure—even with highly educated and engaged people. I sometimes felt I was speaking to them in Martian, so deep is their inability to understand.” In Butler’s view, “What America totally fails to understand is that their weapons of mass destruction are just as much a problem as are those of Iraq.” The view that there are “good weapons of mass destruction and bad ones” is false. As a UN arms inspector, Butler found himself confronted with this contradiction every day:
Amongst my toughest moments in Baghdad were when the Iraqis demanded that I explain why they should be hounded for their weapons of mass destruction when, just down the road, Israel was not, even though it was known to possess some 200 nuclear weapons….I confess, too, that I flinch when I hear American, British and French fulminations against weapons of mass destruction, ignoring the fact that they are proud owners of massive quantities of these weapons, unapologetically insisting that they are essential for their national security, and will remain so….This is because human beings will not swallow such unfairness (Sydney Morning Herald, October 3, 2002).
Far from consistently opposing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the United States, which has a greater vested interest in such weapons than any other country, has frequently blocked international attempts to limit them. For example in December 2001, two months after the September 11 attacks, President Bush shocked the international community by killing the proposed enforcement and verification mechanism for the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention on the spurious grounds that if biological weapons inspections were to be carried out in the United States they could threaten the technological secrets and profits of U.S. biotech companies.
Washington’s objectives in Iraq in the years following the Gulf War were inconsistent with the UN inspection and disarmament process, which was aimed at ridding that country of weapons of mass destruction. According to Scott Ritter, a former UN weapons inspector in Iraq in 1991–1998, this was evident through U.S. unilateral subversion of the inspection process.* By 1998, 90–95 percent of the proscribed weapons capacity estimated to be in Iraq was accounted for and had been destroyed as a result of the UN inspection process. The sticking point in the inspections related to the extensive set of structures devoted to Saddam Hussein’s personal security and the security of the Ba’ath Party. A procedure, known as “Modalities for Sensitive Site Inspection,” was therefore agreed upon through which four UN inspectors could enter immediately into and search those facilities. Yet, in the case of the inspection of a Ba’ath Party headquarters in Baghdad in December 1998, the United States, rather than simply allowing the UN to send in its four inspectors, acted on its own, by insisting on sending in additional intelligence officers. The goal was to penetrate Hussein’s security apparatus, unrelated to the inspection of weapons of mass destruction—and to provoke an international incident. The whole operation, according to Ritter, was directed by the U.S. National Security Council, which gave orders directly to Richard Butler, who was then the head of the UN inspection team.
Iraq protested against this gross infringement of the Modalities for Sensitive Site Inspection and the United States used this as the pretext, in Ritter’s account, for a “fabricated crisis,” ordering the UN inspectors out and two days later initiating a seventy-two-hour bombing campaign, known as Operation Desert Fox, directed at Saddam Hussein’s personal security apparatus. Intelligence on Ba’ath Party hideouts obtained through U.S. violations of the UN weapons inspection process was used to guide the bombings. After that Iraq refused to readmit inspectors to sensitive sites, objecting that these inspections were being used to spy on the Iraqi government, and the UN inspection process fell apart.
In this way, Washington effectively torpedoed the final stage of the UN inspection process and made it clear that its real goal was “regime change” rather than disarmament. It had used the inspection process as a Trojan horse in its attempts to destroy the Iraqi regime.
Military, political, and economic aspects are intertwined in all stages of imperialism, as well as capitalism in general. However, oil is the single most important strategic factor governing U.S. ambitions in the Middle East. In addition to the profit potential of all that oil for large corporations, the fact that the United States, with about 2 percent of the known oil reserves in the world, uses 25 percent of the world’s annual output gives it an added impetus to attempt to exert control over supplies. There can be no doubt that the United States seeks to control Iraqi oil production and the second largest set of proven oil reserves in the world (next to those of Saudi Arabia), consisting of over 110 billion barrels, or 12 percent of world supply. The Middle East as a whole contains 65 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves (see map facing page 11). Of seventy-three fields discovered in Iraq so far, only about a third are producing at present. The U.S. Energy Department estimates that Iraq also has as much as 220 billion barrels in “probable and possible” reserves, making the estimated total enough to cover U.S. annual oil imports at their current levels for ninety-eight years. It is calculated that Iraq could raise its oil production from three million to six million barrels a day within seven years after the lifting of sanctions. More optimistic figures see Iraqi oil production rising to as much as ten million barrels a day.*
The U.S. Department of Energy projects that global oil demand could grow from the current 77 million barrels a day to as much as 120 million barrels a day in the next twenty years, with the sharpest increases in demand occurring in the United States and China. At present about 24 percent of U.S. oil imports come from the Middle East and this is expected to rise rapidly as alternative sources dry up. OPEC under the leadership of Saudi Arabia, however, has kept oil supplies low in order to keep prices up. Middle East oil production has stagnated over the last twenty years, with overall OPEC production capacity (despite massive reserves) lower today than in 1980 (Edward L. Morse and James Richard, “The Battle for Energy Dominance,” Foreign Affairs, March/April 2002.). For this reason the security and availability of oil supplies has become a growing issue for U.S. corporations and U.S. strategic interests. As right-wing pundit and Yale professor, Donald Kagan, has stated: “When we have economic problems, it’s been caused by disruptions in our oil supply. If we have a force in Iraq, there will be no disruption in oil supplies” (quoted in Bookman, “The President’s Real Goal in Iraq”). Already U.S. oil corporations are positioning themselves for the day when they will be able to return to Iraq and Iran. According to Robert J. Allison Jr., chairman of the Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, “We bought into Qatar and Oman to get a foothold in the Middle East….We need to position ourselves in the Middle East for when Iraq and Iran become part of the family of nations again” (New York Times, October 22, 2002).
At present the French oil giant TotalFinaElf has the largest position in Iraq, with exclusive negotiating rights to develop fields in the Majnoon and Bin Umar regions. The biggest deals after that have been expected to go to Eni in Italy, and a Russian consortium led by LukOil. If U.S. armed forces enter and establish either a puppet government or a U.S. mission, all of this is brought into question. Which country’s oil companies should we then expect to do the negotiating for new contracts—as well as obtaining a healthy share of the oil now owned by the French and other non-American companies?
However, direct U.S. access to oil and the profits of U.S. oil corporations are not enough by themselves to explain overriding U.S. interests in the Middle East. Rather the United States sees the whole region as a crucial part of its strategy of global power. The occupation of Iraq and the installation of a regime under American control would leave Iran (itself an oil power and part of Bush’s “Axis of Evil”) almost completely surrounded by U.S. military bases in Central Asia to the north, Turkey and Iraq to the west, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman to the south, and Pakistan and Afghanistan to the east. It would make it easier for the United States to protect planned oil pipelines extending from the Caspian Sea in Central Asia through Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Arabian Sea. It would give Washington a much more solid military base in the Middle East, where it already has tens of thousands of troops located in ten countries. It would increase U.S. leverage in relation to Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern states. It would strengthen the global superpower’s efforts to force terms favorable to Israeli expansion, and the dispossession of the Palestinians, on the entire Middle East. It would make the rising economic power of China, along with Europe and Japan, increasingly dependent on a U.S. dominated oil regime in the Middle East for their most vital energy needs. Control of oil through military force would thus translate into greater economic, political, and military power, on a global scale.
A Unipolar World
In the early 1970s, as a result of the loss of economic ground to Europe and Japan over the course of the previous quarter-century, and due to the delinking of the dollar from gold in 1971, it was widely believed that the United States was losing its position as the hegemonic capitalist power. However, in the 1990s the collapse of the Soviet Union, which left the United States as the sole superpower, and faster growth in the United States than in Europe and Japan, suddenly revealed a very different reality. The idea arose in U.S. strategic circles of an American empire beyond anything seen in the history of capitalism or of the world, a true Pax Americana. U.S. foreign policy analysts now refer to this as the rise of a “unipolar world.” The consolidation of such a unipolar world on a permanent basis has emerged as the explicit goal of the Bush administration a year after the September 11 attacks. In the words of G. John Ikenberry, professor of geopolitics at Georgetown University and a regular contributor to Foreign Affairs, published by the Council on Foreign Relations:
The new grand strategy [initiated by the Bush administration]…. begins with a fundamental commitment to maintaining a unipolar world in which the United States has no peer competitor. No coalition of great powers without the United States will be allowed to achieve hegemony. Bush made this point the centerpiece of American security policy in his West Point commencement address in June: “America has, and intends to keep, military strengths beyond challenges—thereby making the destabilizing arms races of other eras pointless, and limiting rivalries to trade and other pursuits of peace.”…The United States grew faster than the other major states during the decade [of the 1990s], it reduced military spending more slowly, and it dominated investment in the technological advancement of its forces. Today, however, the new goal is to make these advantages permanent—a fait accompli that will prompt other states to not even try to catch up. Some thinkers have described the strategy as “breakout,” in which the United States moves so quickly to develop technological advantages (in robotics, lasers, satellites, precision munitions, etc.) that no state or coalition could ever challenge it as global leader, protector and enforcer (“America’s Imperial Ambition,” Foreign Affairs, October 2002).
Such a grab for unlimited imperial dominance is bound to fail in the long run. Imperialism under capitalism has centrifugal as well as centripetal tendencies. Military dominance cannot be maintained without maintaining economic dominance as well, and the latter is inherently unstable under capitalism. The immediate reality, however, is that the United States is moving very rapidly to increase its control at the expense of both potential rivals and the global South. The likely result is an intensification of exploitation on a world scale, along with a resurgence of imperialist rivalries—since other capitalist countries will naturally seek to keep the United States from achieving its “breakout” strategy.
The goal of an expanding American empire is seen by the administration not only as a strategy for establishing the United States permanently as the world’s paramount power, but also as a way out of the nation’s economic crisis that shows no signs at present of going away. The administration clearly believes it can stimulate the economy through military spending and increased arms exports. But enhanced military spending associated with a war may also contribute to economic problems, since it will undoubtedly cut further into spending for social programs that not only help people but also create the demand for consumer goods that business needs badly to stimulate economic growth. Historically, attempts to use imperial expansion as a way around needed economic and social changes at home have nearly always failed.
In the end what it is most crucial to understand is that the new U.S. doctrine of world domination is a product not of a particular administration (much less some cabal within the administration), but rather the culmination of developments in the most recent phase of imperialism. Reversing the drive to greater empire will not be easy. But the will of the people can play a critical role in how far Washington is able to proceed with its imperial ambitions. For this reason, mobilization of the population both in the United States and abroad in a militant struggle against both war and imperialism is of the utmost importance to the future of humanity.
* Recently the Bush administration has also said that “regime change” could be stretched to include an Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein that cooperates fully with UN inspections and disarmament, in terms acceptable to the United States. But the administration has declared this to be highly improbable, and its position in this respect can thus be interpreted as part of a diplomatic-legal strategy to garner support for its threatened invasion, in the event that Iraq is declared to be non-compliant with the U.N. inspection process.
* Joseph Schumpeter, Imperialism and Social Classes, edited and introduced by Paul M. Sweezy (New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1951), p. 66.
* Of course for many (if not most) of the imperial adventures of the nineteenth century there was never much latitude for pretending that the motives were defensive. The Opium Wars were fought not against an aggressive China, but rather to impose free trade in opium. The struggle amongst the European powers to divide up Africa was not directed against a belligerent Africa but rationalized as the “white man’s burden.”
* Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, United States Dual-Use Exports to Iraq and their Impact on the Health of the Persian Gulf War Veterans, 103rd Congress, 2nd sess., May 25, 1994, pp. 264–76; Buffalo News, September 23, 2002.
* See William Rivers Pitt with Scott Ritter, War on Iraq (New York: Context Books, 2002); Newsday, July 30, 2002; The Guardian, October 7, 2002. | <urn:uuid:ee842880-3deb-452c-8311-e8e42024cecc> | {
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With almost unparalleled wind, solar, bioenergy, wave and geothermal resources – and the highest electricity rates in the US - Hawaii is a logical place to test new clean energy ideas.
That's why the U.S. Navy just put $30 million into a local program, called Energy Excelerator, that is funding startups to bring these technologies to market.
The investment falls under the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Asia-Pacific Technology and Education Program. The intent is to help reduce the Navy and Marine Corps' dependence on fossil fuels.
This is a particularly big deal in Hawaii, where almost all oil is imported to serve the state's power and energy needs.
"In the modern era, technological breakthroughs offer unprecedented opportunities to move toward diversified energy sources," says Richard Carlin, director of ONR's Sea Warfare and Weapons Department. "It's vital for our sailors and marines, and the nation, to discover and develop new sustainable sources of energy - as well as dramatically improve the way we manage energy."
The Energy Excelerator program provides seed funding of $30,000 to $100,000 to companies working on projects across a broad spectrum: including technology to facilitate the grid integration of renewable energy sources like solar and wind; energy storage breakthroughs; and clean transportation.
Companies that aren't based in the region can also get grants up to $1 million for pilot projects, provided the company can raise $500,000 in matching funds.
So far, the program has a good track record: the 17 companies in its portfolio have raised more than $40 million in follow-up funding over the past three years and generated $18 million in revenue. They represent a range of technologies from micro-concentrating solar collectors (Sopogy Inc.) to algae biofuels (Kuehnle Agrosystems), smart energy storage that helps smooth solar load variability (Hnu Energy) and electric vehicle charging infrastructure (Opconnect).
"Partnerships are vital if we're going to reach our energy goals," says Carlin. "With this program that helps small companies bring their products out of the lab and into the market, we're supporting a forward-thinking organization that can make a significant contribution to future energy needs."
Energy Excelerator got started with $8 million from the Department of Energy; the Navy's infusion more than triples the resources that it's made available during the past three years. Besides funding, the program helps connect startups with potential customers, including utilities, businesses and military bases.
“Cleantech is struggling in the venture world," Energy Excelerator’s Senior Manager Dawn Lippert told TechCrunch. "A lot of energy companies in cleantech are hungry for this program. They’re coming to Hawaii to get into a market, and that’s what we do. Working in this market with a lot of players, and we help them find early customers. In the general world of clean tech and energy, this is a really bright spot.”
Vast Renewable Energy Potential
Hawaii's long-term solar potential is second only to California, and it already gets 14% of its energy from renewables, placing it among the top 6 states for solar. It's making quick progress - as recently as 2010, it still imported about 94% of its energy, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency. The state's goal is to use 40% clean energy by 2030.
During 2012, Hawaii installed 109 megawatts (MW) of solar PV under the utility's progressive solar policy and it could become the second largest market this year, reports the Solar Energy Industries Association. The amount of solar on Hawaii's electric grids has nearly doubled every year since 2008.
The state is also moving aggressively to cut energy demand by 30% by 2030. As of July, Hawaii offers energy savings performance contracts with a goal of doubling the efficiency of state and Honolulu County buildings by 2015.
Read our article, Solar's Growing Role in the US Military.
Learn more about the Energy Excelerator program, which is accepting applications until Sept. 27: | <urn:uuid:07a62d68-f37a-4936-9bc1-5067753e07ab> | {
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Due to health hazards and other dangers present in sewage, its disposal is a government regulated process. For a healthy environment and a safe water system sewerage must be carefully prepared for safe discharge. Sewage removal
and pump out services can handle situations arising from damage to sewage systems or sewage overflow in a residence or business. The area of sewage removal requires detailed knowledge of laws and government standards. Sewage removal and pump out services must protect the public from spread of bacteria, fungus, viruses, parasites, and mold
. Sewage removal and pump out includes physical removal of heavy organic matter, especially raw sewage and silt. This may include the use of shovels, squeegees, septic pump trucks, or wet vacuums. Unlike other clean up jobs sewage removal and pump out deals with a contaminated substance which must be carefully handled. | <urn:uuid:da64fd79-222e-4924-b21c-4b62bb0ba1ba> | {
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By Cho-Ho Chu
Jordan concept has built quickly within the final 3 a long time, yet only a few books describe its various purposes. right here, the writer discusses a few contemporary advances of Jordan idea in differential geometry, advanced and useful research, through a variety of examples and concise ancient notes. those comprise: the relationship among Jordan and Lie conception through the Tits-Kantor-Koecher building of Lie algebras; a Jordan algebraic method of countless dimensional symmetric manifolds together with Riemannian symmetric areas; the one-to-one correspondence among bounded symmetric domain names and JB*-triples; and purposes of Jordan equipment in advanced functionality conception. the elemental constructions and a few practical analytic houses of JB*-triples also are mentioned. The booklet is a handy reference for specialists in advanced geometry or practical research, in addition to an creation to those parts for starting researchers. the new purposes of Jordan thought mentioned within the publication also needs to attract algebraists. | <urn:uuid:30340c2c-006a-4e89-a248-cd4a2ea867c3> | {
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That seems to be the keyword when I look at what people have to say about leaders. The top people are those who can take a group and make the most out of them; have them outperform their expectations; and, have them see new powers within themselves that would have hidden away. Don’t take my word for it. Look at Bill Gates:
“As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others”
Aside from the obvious – that leaders are no longer those who are best at barking commands – there is another important element to this billionaire’s statement. That is, ‘next century’. Our future leaders are in our homerooms, on the school sports fields and in our senior high science labs.
Well, according to Yvonne Bleam, author and speaker for TED, leaders are those who can model good behaviors. They are the people who take their own actions and use them to inspire others to greatness. More than this, the best leaders, provide roadmaps and solutions for others to prosper. When Yvonne speaks about teaching our children to lead, she asks parents to teach children how to pave success by reflecting on outcomes, understanding consequences and talking through what could have been done differently. Perhaps most important of all though, she recognizes the importance of understanding the unique gifts of each individual. By harnessing talent in one particular field, whether it be sports, science or the arts, leaders can emerge.
“Shouldn’t kids know how to be good leaders, too?”
That’s what Ms. Bleam’s child said during an eye-opening conversation with the best-selling author. What’s important here is the idea that kids need to ‘know’. They aren’t born with it. That’s right, everyday, leadership is knowledge we can pass on; something we can teach. In her talk, Yvonne lists out and give examples for different kinds of leaders: the kind, the respectful, the brave, the sensitive, the honest and even, the quiet. Some of these traits, if not all of them, are what we want to see in our children. But, we must teach them through the example: thanking the lunch lady, speaking out against injustice and offering kindness to those in need are things we can role model for our children everyday. Therein lie the building blocks of creating a towering leader.
On the Shoulder’s of Giants
Very recently, Stephen Hawking passed away. As one of our generation’s leaders in science, it is warming to know that this individual rose up because of the very factors discussed here. Hawking showed an aptitude for academics, his parents both setting an example as Oxford alumni. But, beyond this, they encouraged his progress by applying for the best schools and pushing him to attend Oxford. When he was diagnosed with motor neuron disease, Hawking fell into depression only to return to his work through the encouragement of his University tutor (a man who Hawking had originally been disappointed to have been assigned). The people around Hawking saw his talents, they acted as role models and they paved out a road to success for him. Hawking’s legacy and leadership in the field of theoretical physics speak for itself: an international author, a knighthood, an Albert Einstein Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The list goes on and on.
Hawking’s example proves, that with good leadership, leaders are born. His legacy shows, that in the face of dire hardship, leaders can still rise to the forefront of humanity. And moreover, that the ability to empower young talents to do the same is what creates Hawking-like figures in today’s and tomorrow’s society. | <urn:uuid:ef61db5f-66fe-4257-b1e7-0ca97ec52169> | {
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This summer has been hard on us gardeners, sweating out in the merciless sun every day; but it’s been even harder on our poor scorched gardens. Instead of our usual grass-cutting work, which has literally dried up, we’re mainly clearing the dead leaves drifting down in this super-hot, pseudo-autumn – and doing our level best to help plants and wildlife survive it. So I thought I’d share with you a few top tips to help your garden beat the heatwave:
Plant Survival Tips:
Lawns: if it’s got any green left, don’t mow it! Our completely un-watered pocket-handkerchief lawn is still remarkably lush because, luckily, we didn’t give it ‘just one last cut’ before the extreme heat really started to bite. Shaggy green patches with daisies and clover look pretty enough, they’re providing food for insects and birds, and above all, they’re keeping your lawn alive – if you mow them down it’ll all simply frazzle to uniform brown and take longer to recover when the drought finally breaks. Meanwhile, don’t bother trying to keep it all green with sprinklers – it’ll use a colossal amount of precious water which would be better deployed on your herbaceous borders.
Hedges and Shrubs: help reduce their need for water and energy by snipping back spindly ‘water shoots,’ dead-heading, and removing yellow/shrivelled/diseased leaves. Don’t cut anything back hard – the cut leaves will dry out and look unsightly because the plants don’t have enough water for re-growth.
Borders: despite the long dry spell, our gardens are currently infested with self-set tree seedlings and various weeds, all competing for scarce water – so pull ‘em out! But you might make exceptions for hard standing; some flowering weeds are pretty little plants which can brighten up dull bits of paving, and their seeds – including grasses – are food for the birds.
All these measures will help your garden and its population of creatures weather the extreme weather; but in the continuing absence of rain, plants also need to be watered. This is far from wasteful or frivolous – entire ecosystems depend on your garden’s survival. Equally, during a drought it behoves us all to conserve water as much as possible – so here are some tips for making the most of this much taken-for-granted essential:
Water in the evening when the soil is cooling – this maximises the time for overnight absorption before the sun rises again and water evaporates off the surface – or failing that, in the early morning. On sloping ground, apply uphill of the plants so that the water runs down onto/through them.
Water selectively. Prioritise food plants (it’s a great year for soft fruit!), flowering plants and shrubs whose nectar feeds the insects which feed the birds, bats and hedgehogs, plants in containers (especially small pots, which dry out fast and need watering daily), and the most wilted or tired-looking things in imminent danger of death.
Water in rotation if there’s too much to do all at once – it’s better for a plant to be watered once a week than not at all, and even trees or deep-rooted shrubs will appreciate a drink in this weather.
Water hard, baked ground in small repeated doses, allowing time for water to soak in before the next application (or it’ll run off and pool where you don’t want it). When the soil has softened enough, break it up with a fork or hoe to facilitate penetration, then water again. As well as stimulating earthworm activity, for which the blackbirds will thank you, this prepares the soil to receive future watering, and the rain, when it comes, will soak in rather than bouncing off a compact surface.
Apply mulch! Water the ground, not the foliage, around the main stems or in the centre of a clump, then immediately cover the wet earth with a mulch of grass clippings, leaves, bark chippings, turf – you can even use newspaper or cardboard to trap the moisture in. We find a mulch of grass clippings covered by dead turves (soil-side up) works a treat in our orchard; originally applied to stop the resident pheasants from taking dust-baths round the saplings and exposing their roots, it’s enabling the trees to survive and fruit nicely on a half-gallon of water a week – we just lift up a section and pour it onto earth that’s often still perceptibly moist from the last application.
Avoid guilt about watering the garden by saving water in the house! We try never to waste our clean water or take it for granted, and have stepped up our efforts to save it since the Big Hot started. Taking brief showers, never baths – and if I’m not particularly dirty I just scrub myself down with a basin of water and a flannel. Not flushing the loo for a few tiny tinkles, (luckily no-one in Helmickton is grossed-out by this!). And we’re both obsessive about saving the water from rinsing hands, glasses, vegetables, running the tap to get hot or cold and so on – it collects in a washing-up bowl to be poured in turn on the raspberry canes, blackcurrant bush, apple trees or whatever looks most in need. (We don’t use washing up water containing detergent; some sources say it does no harm, but Hubcap fears it may kill essential soil bacteria.
Finally, remember the birds, bees and beasts struggling to find food and drink in these arid conditions. Fill your bird-baths daily, keep the feeders topped up, put some appropriate food and a shallow dish of water (never milk!) out for hedgehogs, pray for some meaningful rain… and with care, everything in your garden will survive until it comes! | <urn:uuid:468d7eaf-71ff-40bd-b338-33e03d72b3b0> | {
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Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) - Course Overview
Duration: 5.0 yrs | Mode: Regular| Avg. Fees: 2,00,000 / Year
424 courses | 433 colleges
About Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch)
Architecture is the study of the artistic and organisational aspects or construction. B.Arch course is designed in a way that it enables you to learn space management for maximum utility along with architectural planning and design. This field has very less use of core mathematics.
B.Arch is a five-year undergraduate programme that focuses on helping candidates undergo training and theoretical knowledge on the designing aspects of building models of buildings, preparing a construction structure/ blueprint using appropriate techniques and principles. With the advancement in technology and the increasing rate of urbanization, it has become almost mandatory to create structures that can serve the needs of the public in general. Architects are in great demand with respect to the construction of malls, commercial companies, flyovers etc.
Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) Eligiblity Criteria
- Minimum Qualification Required: 10+2 or equivalent examination + A candidate should have studied Mathematics as a mandatory subject. Or Class 10th + 3 years of diploma level course education
- Minimum Marks Required: 50% marks at least
B.Arch Admission Process:
- In order to seek admission in the B.Arch course, a candidate is required to appear for the NATA exam - National Aptitude Test for Architecture which is conducted by the Council of Architecture (CoA) to screen candidates for selection.
- Once the NATA exam score is out, states conduct a counselling process where on the basis of a candidate's rank, he/she is allotted a seat in any of the top architecture colleges in India.
- Different states and colleges may also follow a separate admission process.
Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) Syllabus
|Types of Structures||History of Architecture|
Building Science & Services
|Architectural Design||Building Management|
Theory of Settlement Planning
|Design Applications||Computer & Software Lab|
|Workshop Practice||Building Construction|
Career Options and Job Prospects
After successfully completing the B.Arch degree, one can either look for employment opportunities in order to gain experience or can further pursue an M.Arch degree wherein they can specialise in the field of their choice. The options of M.Arch specilisations would essentially include Environmental Planning, Urban Planning, Housing, Infrastructure Planning etc.
India is moving towards rapid urbanisation and there is a constant need to come up with architectural designs that can accommodate more people in less area. To accomplish this and move towards vertical construction development, there is a need for good architects in India. There are various government as well private organisations that hire architects.
Popular recruiters include:
- Manchanda Associates
- Chitra Vishwanath Architects
- Larsen & Toubro
- Sahara Group
- Architect Consultants
- Edifice Architects Pvt.Ltd.
- Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj
- VSA Space Design (P) Ltd.
After completing B.Arch, graduates can expect a salary of Rs. 2.5 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh per annum. Moreover, with experience, architects can earn more, as high as Rs. 15 lakhs per annum. | <urn:uuid:457ca48c-2a33-48c7-9916-891bc989a9b3> | {
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A fractured wrist occurs when one or more bones break in the radius or ulna. A person can fracture their wrist at work, while playing sports or by falling down. A lack of calcium can also make the wrist more susceptible to a wrist fracture. This type of injury can take up to 10 weeks to heal. Exercises are then recommended for rehabilitating and strengthening the wrist.
Types of Wrist Fractures
There are basically two types of wrist fractures: Colle's and scaphoid. A Colle's fracture typically effects the end of the radius bone in the forearm (thumb side) Elderly persons are more likely to get this type of fracture. Scaphoid fractures occur between the radius and scaphoid bone--near where the wrist and thumb are connected. This injury is common among young athletes. The various exercises are similar for both types of fractures, but you should not commence the exercises until the bone is healed.
Flexing and Stretching Exercises
These exercises strengthen and build flexibility in the forearm muscles and wrist. People who have had broken wrists have usually lost a considerable amount of both.
While on a chair or standing, press your arm against your side and bend your elbow at 90 degrees. Open your hand and hold it out with your palm facing upward. Slowly move your thumb inward until your palm is facing the floor. Try to stretch the muscles a few seconds, then return to the starting position. Do 10 repetitions. This exercise will help re-acclimate the extensor and flexor muscles in the forearm to movement again.
Sit on a bench or chair. Place your hand palms down over the edge of the bench or your knee. With your hand open, lower it as far as you can and stretch the forearm muscles. Then raise your hand up and flex it toward you. Do this 10 times. Your forearm muscles have likely tightened a bit. This exercise will get them accustomed to movement again.
Left-to-Right Wrist Bends:
While assuming the same position, place your palms downward. Slowly move your hand to the left, then to the right. Stretch them as far as you can on each side. Repeat for 10 complete repetitions.
In these exercises, you are stretching your forearms different ways while preparing it for renewed activity.
The following exercises build strength and lost muscle size back in your wrist and forearm muscles. Limit these exercises to 2-3 times per week.
Tennis Ball Squeeze:
Holding a tennis ball in your hand, squeeze it for 5 seconds, then relax. Repeat this exercise for 10 repetitions. This is your first real compression exercise for building strength.
Pick up a light dumbbell. Sit on a bench and place your hand over the edge of it (palms facing upward). Slowly curl the dumbbell toward you, then lower it down. Do 10 repetitions. You will eventually be using more weight, but start out lightly so you get used to the movement.
Reverse Wrist Curls:
Using an even lighter dumbbell (palms facing downward), lower the weight down then bring it back up. The extensor muscles on the outside of the forearm are not as strong as the flexors. Be sure to flex the muscles at each end.
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Physical Therapy Exercises for a Sprained Wrist
A sprained wrist occurs when the ligaments in the wrists are stretched too far. If you happen to fall, the tendons, ligaments... | <urn:uuid:63180a9b-0457-41dd-81fa-09b7425e576f> | {
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Households harbour many toxic chemicals used as routine cleaners or for gardening, motoring or similar purposes. They are often stored where dogs can access them and are a particular danger to exploring puppies or bored dogs left alone. It is important not only to store such products out of reach of your dog but to clean up spills thoroughly and supervise dogs closely while using chemicals.
Many household goods contain batteries which can leak and poison your dog if the object is licked or bitten through and which can cause harm if disposed of carelessly. Dogs can also ingest rodent or fox bait, some of which can be scattered illegally. Discarded illegal drugs have also killed dogs and many human medications can be fatal, so keep them under lock and key and well out of reach. Antifreeze for instance poisons many dogs as they are attracted to its sweet taste and may lap up spills and leaks from puddles. Be vigilent at all times and teach your dog a reliable “leave it” command.
Nicotine is a water-soluble alkaloid that is absorbed easily through the gastrointestinal tract, respiratory tract, skin and mucous membranes. Absorption increases once the nicotine reaches the intestines. The time taken the concentration of nicotine in the human body to decrease by half (half-life) is about two hours. The half-life of nicotine in dogs is unknown.
Clinical signs of nicotine toxicosis are dose-dependent and can occur within one hour of nicotine exposure. Low doses and the early phase of high-dose intoxication stimulate the central nervous system causing excitement, tremors, auditory and visual disturbances, ataxia, weakness, twitching, hypertension and tachycardia and sometimes convulsions. High doses result in progression to depression paralysis, respiratory arrest and death. Small doses can cause, paradoxically, bradycardia due to vagus nerve stimulation and peripheral vasoconstriction. Gastrointestinal disturbances result in salivation, emesis and diarrhoea. Vomiting may occur soon after ingestion because of chemoreceptor trigger zone stimulation.
Cigarette waste, tobacco, cigarettes, nicotine chewing gum and e-cigarettes and refills are all extremely toxic – to humans and dogs. Second-hand smoke affects animals as much, if not more, than it does humans. You may chose to smoke but the people and animals around you have no choice.
91 enquiries were made of the Veterinary Poisons Information Service (VPIS) regarding canine ingestion of e-cigarettes in 2015.
Don’t let your dog add to next year’s statistics.
Keep all drugs away from dogs. Better still, don’t use nocotine at all: it will be better for everyone, including your dog.
What To Do If You Suspect That Your Dog Has been Poisoned
Look in your dog’s mouth. If the gums or tongue are blue, purple, white, brick coloured or bright red, seek veterinary attention immediately. You can also do a “capillary refill time” test to determine if a poison is impeding your dog’s circulation. Lift the upper lip and press above a canine tooth with your thumb. Release your thumb then watch for the gum colour to change from white to pink. This should occur within two seconds. If it takes more than three seconds, call your vet.
Check your dog’s heart rate by placing your hand on the left side of the chest, behind the elbow and feel for the beat. Count how many heart beats occur in 15 seconds and multiply by four to obtain the beats per minute. A normal resting adult dog’s heart rate is between 70 and 140 beats per minute; larger dogs are typically at the lower end of the scale. If the heart rate is more than 180 beats per minute and you suspect poisoning, seek immediate medical attention.
If your dog is staggering, disoriented or dizzy, seek veterinary medical attention immediately. Watch for vomiting and diarrhoea. If your dog’s stool becomes watery, loose, yellow, green or deep black, contact your vet.
Heavy panting lasting for longer than 30 minutes may be a sign of respiratory or cardiac difficulty. If you can hear wheezing or crackles as your dog breathes, seek immediate veterinary medical attention. Count the number of breaths taken in 15 seconds by watching the chest movement and multiply by 4 to obtain the breaths per minute. The usual respiratory rate of a dog is 10-30 breaths per minute.
If your dog stops eating suddenly or displays a lack of appetite for more than 24 hours, contact your vet.
Write down your dog’s symptoms in detail. Note when they started. Try to identify the source by looking for upturned boxes, damaged bottles, spilled liquids or disturbed household chemicals. If you suspect that your dog ingested a poisonous product, check the label for warnings and inform the vet on the telephone so that they can call the veterinary poisons unit for advice whilst you are transporting your dog to the surgery. If possible, get someone to do this while you take the dog to the vet as time may be of the essence.
The Veterinary Poisons Information Service now has a public helpline on +44 (0)20 7305 5055. A pilot service has been running since September 5th 2016 from Monday to Friday from 9.00 to 17.00. The cost per enquiry is £30. There is only one charge levied per case, including multiple calls from a vet. Once you have made an equiry, your vet can call for further advice at no cost.
Remember, prevention is always better than cure. | <urn:uuid:5c1c102c-dca5-4008-9e1a-71af8bd9aa89> | {
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This past summer, I attended the Cambridge College Programme where I spent 3 weeks at Cambridge University taking various classes of my choice as well as having loads of fun, of course. The experience was quite amazing!!!! One of my classes, Superstrings: The Theory of Everything (taught by Dr. Yves F. J.-M. Gaspar) was extremely engaging and interesting; at times, it was so exciting that I got goosebumps just talking about some of the complex topics that we discussed. Below are two essays that I wrote regarding General Relativity and Superstring Theory. Even though these complex topics are quite different from kinematics and dynamics, they are topics that I love wholeheartedly with a great passion. I thought I might post them for anyone who would like a general description of these two topics. I encourage everyone who is interested to delve deep into these topics for they are very interesting.
Superstring Theory – Essay Questions
1. Describe the fundamental postulates of General Relativity. Explain the role of the curvature of Space-time in General Relativity. Give the experimental verification of General Relativity.
When Einstein was creating his special theory of relativity in response to problems with the Maxwell field equations, Galilean coordinate translations, and violations of the Galilean relativity principle, he probably was not aware of the impact that it would have on cosmology far into the future. In spite of this astonishing breakthrough, Einstein was still not satisfied; there were still many questions left unanswered. Special relativity did not include gravity and was not compatible in non-inertial reference frames. When unifying the heavens and the earth, Newton had “discovered” gravity, defined it to the best of his ability, and wrote equations that described how it affected bodies. However, there were many problems with his theory. For instance, it did not describe the nature of gravity (where it comes from, what creates it, nor the speed of propagation of gravity waves), and there were still problems with how his theory calculated the orbit of Mercury. Einstein recognized that there were problems and gaps in Newtonian gravity and special relativity. For instance, in Newton’s equation of gravitation (F=(Gm1m2)/r2), mass and distance can be relative and thus can conflict with the Galilean relativity principle. As a consequence of all this, Einstein created his theory of general relativity.
General relativity is based upon three main ideas or postulates. The first is an idea that has its roots in special relativity: the equivalence principle. The equivalence principle states that the inertial mass of an object is equivalent to the gravitational mass of the object (mi=mg). Basically, this means that if no outside information is being leaked into a system, one could not perceive whether he/she is in a gravitational field being pulled downward or in a cabin accelerating upward (g=-A). A consequence of the equivalence principle is that inertial effects cannot be differentiated from gravitational effects, a concept that eventually led to the ideas of the gravitational redshift and gravitational time dilation. The second postulate is the general covariance principle. This expansion on the Galilean relativity principle states that the laws of nature do not change form in any reference frame, whether they are inertial, non-inertial, rotational, etc. Thus, the general covariance principle implies that the laws of general relativity are viable in all situations or circumstances that arise. The third and final main postulate states that at low speeds and weak gravitational fields, the laws of general relativity should simplify down to and be approximated by the laws of Newtonian gravity; basically, general relativity is insignificant at low speeds and in weak gravitational fields. While special relativity describes the relativity of time and space, space-time, how the speed of light is constant, and other extremely important concepts, general relativity does something entirely different. It describes gravity not as a force but as a result of the geometry of space-time; it describes gravity in a topological view of the universe.
Essentially, general relativity views our universe as actually a four-dimensional “fabric-like” continuum that is composed of the three well-known special dimensions fused with time. Masses that are in this “space-time” cause it to bend around the mass, thus causing space-time to be curved rather than flat; the larger the mass, the sharper the curve and deeper the “well” in space-time that is created. Because this 4D phenomenon cannot be viewed/visualized well in our 3D world, it is best to visualize it with a simpler example. If one were to view space-time as a flexible rubber sheet (a 2D analogue of 4D space-time), then one could see how placing a bowling ball or other heavy object would cause a dip or dent in the rubber sheet, indicating a curve in space-time. Also, using this example, one could see how a smaller mass such as a marble would cause less of a dent than a larger mass such as a bowling ball.
According to Einstein, what is interpreted as gravity is not the result of masses that exert some sort of force or “field” that attract other masses to them. In fact the answer is far from it. General relativity states that what is seen as gravity is actually a result of the curvature of space-time. The trajectories of objects thrown near large masses – like a baseball thrown on the earth – are not curved because of a force originating from the mass that is pulling on them and changing their trajectories; rather, the trajectories are curved because space-time itself is curved. They cannot travel in a straight line – despite their inertial tendencies – because they are traveling through bent non-Euclidean non-Minkowski space-time. If space-time were to be flat, the geodesics of particles and objects would be straight lines. If space-time is curved, then the geodesics of particles moving through it have to be curved as well (thus making their paths in “our” three special dimensions be curved as well). It can easily be seen that for length contraction and time dilation to be correct, space-time cannot be described with Euclidian geometry because it breaks some of the major concepts of Euclidean geometry such as the definition of pi (Let, for example, a person be standing within a giant ring that is spinning extremely quickly. He begins to measure the circumference of the ring with a meter stick and then proceeds to measure the diameter as well. For an outside observer, however, while the measurement of the diameter is correct because the meter stick underwent length contraction in the direction of measurement when measuring the circumference, more meter sticks were “fit” in the ring then there should have been based upon the measured diameter. Thus, the ratio of circumference to diameter is greater than pi, breaking some of the principles of Euclidean geometry.)
Einstein’s theory of general relativity has been proven and verified directly and indirectly many times. In 1919, Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington proved that massive celestial bodies could substantially bend light (large gravitational fields can change the trajectory of light). During a solar eclipse, the position of a known star near the edge of the sun was measured. This location was then compared to the known position of the star; they did not match. The star that was seen was, in reality, behind the sun and should not have been seen. However, as described by general relativity, the mass of the sun caused space-time to curve, bending the light rays so they were viewable from Earth. Sir A. Eddington’s measurements of the angle between the actual location of the star and the viewed location of the star perfectly matched Einstein’s predictions, verifying his theory. A second experimental verification is the Pound-Rebka experiment in 1959. The experiment consisted of placing sources of gamma rays in a tower (one at the top and one at the bottom) and receivers to detect the gamma rays opposite of the emitters. By performing the experiment, they noticed that rays that were emitted on the Earth’s surface and traveled upward toward the top of the tower away from Earth were slightly redshifted when the rays that were emitted at the top of the tower and traveled downward toward the Earth were slightly blueshifted. This experiment proves that time dilation and therefore gravitational redshifts and blueshifts described by general relativity are true. For the rays that are moving away from Earth, they are redshifted because as they move from a stronger gravitational field to a weaker gravitational field, their rates of time speed up making their frequencies decrease and the rays shift toward the red end of the spectrum. For the rays that are moving toward Earth, they are blueshifted for just the opposite reason. As they move from a weaker gravitational field to a stronger gravitational field their rates of time slow down making their frequencies increase and the rays shift toward the blue end of the spectrum. A third experimental verification of general relativity has to do with observations of binary pulsar systems. When two heavy celestial bodies come close enough together (usually a white dwarf or a neutron star and another giant, heavy, and dense celestial body), due to their large gravitational fields and effects on space-time, they usually begin to circle around each other. As they swing around and get closer together, they lose energy by emitting gravity waves (ripples in space-time). Often, the larger body will start to draw matter from the smaller body. During this exchange, the matter will often heat up, create strong electromagnetic fields, and emit strong radio signals and X-rays at perfectly regular steady rates. By these X-rays and radio waves, scientist are able to accurately measure the movements of these pulsar systems and prove that they must be emitting some type of gravity waves to account for the rapid loss of energy. These results have corresponded to the predictions of general relativity to 10-14 orders of accuracy, thus proving its validity.
2. What is the origin of string theory? How is string theory trying to quantize gravitation? What are the eventual advantages to use strong theory in order to quantize gravity rather than other quantum field theory techniques?
When first hearing about string theory, many people would think that it is a figment of some writer’s imagination from some science fiction novel. Its basic structure and elements seem so strange and unconventional to every day life that they can at times seem impossible. String theory, however, is a viable physical theory that has great potential to solve many of the problems in cosmology and theoretical physics, especially in the fields of quantum physics, quantum field theory, special relativity, and general relativity. Ironically, for such a complex and heavy mathematical theory, it has some fairly simple origins. String theory was first created by nuclear physicists who were looking for a mathematical model that would help them understand nuclear interactions by treating nuclei and other objects not as point particles but as extended objects with at least one dimension (strings), thus eliminating many of the problems associated with point particles such as infinities or divergences. The so-called “string theory,” however, quickly came to the attention of many physicists and cosmologist the world over due to its implications as a possible “grand unification theory.”
When string theory was still in its stages of infancy in the hands of nuclear physicists, there was one major problem that continuously arose from their calculations: the constant appearance of closed strings (loops with no ends, like rubber bands or rings). This was a major problem for nuclear physicists because closed strings had no physical meaning in their interpretations of their theory; they were simply mathematical nuisances that made things difficult and non-coherent. Surprisingly, when quantum physicists, cosmologists, and many other physicists began to examine these closed strings, something extraordinary happened; their problem was transformed into a triumph. These closed loops resembled particles with a spin of two: gravitons. This discovery was unlike anything seen before. Not only were closed strings with spin two modes included in the model, but they must be included or the theory is not coherent and violates unitarity, one of the principle concepts of quantum mechanics that describes how in any system, the total probability has to be conserved, or the total amount of information in the system has to be conserved (particles cannot just suddenly disappear forever; something has to happen to them). This in itself was a stunning revelation. For the first time in a small way, elements of quantum mechanics (unitarity) were being related to elements of general relativity (gravity).
In essence, the modern goals of string theory were to unify the four interactions (forces) of nature, include a quantum theory of gravity, while at the same time unifying all particles and fields in nature. One of the largest problems in cosmology and theoretical physics at this current point in history is that every time scientists tried to combine different theories, they ended up with many divergences and infinite sets of infinities. For example, when quantum mechanical principles were applied to quantum field theory, everything lead to divergences due to the fact that point particles have no dimensional limitations and a field, by its definition, has infinity degrees of freedom. Take, for example, two point masses that are nearing each other; they can get infinitely close. According to Newtonian gravity (F=(Gm1m2)/r2), as the distance between them approaches zero, the force between them tends toward infinity. By Newton’s second law of motion (F=ma), as F approaches infinity and the mass remains the same, the acceleration would have to approach infinity as well eventually surpassing the speed of light, an occurrence that is blatantly a problem. The same dilemma also occurs if one tries to combine quantum field theory with general relativity; all of the equations blow up and result in divergences. At the time, these problems were not being solved, possibly due, at least in part, to the fact that general relativity and quantum physics were both non-renormalizable. When scientists tried to renormalize these two theories, they became stuck with free parameters, an infinity of infinite parameters.
Conversely, one of the major differences between string theory and many of its contemporaries is that instead of dealing with point particles, it is working with extended objects, thus limiting the number of interactions and creating smoother transitions. Essentially, there were three main postulates that string theory was based upon. First, it had to abide and be compatible with special relativity, meaning that it had to be invariant under the Lorentz-Fitzgerald transformations. Second, it had to follow causality, meaning that the effect of an interaction could not be before the cause. Third, it had to abide by unitarity, the quantum mechanical principle that was discussed earlier and is related to the conservation of information. In the more recent years, the addition of supersymmetry to string theory to form superstring theory brought scientists one-step closer to achieving a grand unification theory. Supersymmetry eliminated the need for tachyons (imaginary particles that move faster than the speed of light and are not coherent with special relativity) and has brought a sense of symmetry to the model between fermions and bosons. Also, it solved a problem in quantum field theory relating to infinite energy densities in vacuums.
While there are still many roadblocks, superstring theory, which has now been expanded to a more universal M-theory with 6 different sub-theories (all relatable through duality transformations), has many amazing possibilities. It is quite amazing that in 11-Dimentional Supergravity (one of the low energy limits of M-theory), all forces and particles can be described as different manifestations of the geometry of extra dimensional hyperspace. M-theory can also solve problems related to the motion of stars in the outskirts of galaxies. It has been observed that the stars on the outer edges of certain galaxies are spinning faster than they should be according to Kepler’s laws. On possible explanation of these strange phenomena is that gravitons (closed strings) from other universes that are located in different “brane-worlds” near our own are permeating through hyperspace and affect measurably affecting matter on the edge of galaxies. Because gravitons are closed strings and not connected to any one brane, they can propagate through hyperspace freely. This could also be the explanation why gravity seems so weak when compared to the other three forces known in our universe. Gravity might not be constrained to our universe or brane, but might be distributed throughout all of hyperspace. Now that superstring theory is being applied in superspace (normal space-time plus extra Grassmann dimensions) and M-theory has been formed, the power of these theories are beginning to grow, it seems as if given time, scientists may be able to complete this theory and finally have a grand unification theory that describes the physical world. Maybe, those humble nuclear physicists stumbled upon something truly great. | <urn:uuid:fe21de08-21a8-4b12-a829-bbfe445a7751> | {
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Most baby name books and websites define Nancy as “grace” or “favor.” Why? Because they call Nancy a form of Anne, and Anne is defined as “grace” or “favor.”
The more I learn about my own name, though, the more I question this assumption.
It’s true that Nancy has long been used as form of Anne. But it wasn’t originally used in this way.
Here’s the story.
In the Middle Ages, Annis was a common female name. It was a vernacular form of Agnes (which can be traced back to the ancient Greek word hagnos, meaning “pure, chaste”).
Phrases like “mine Annis” and “thine Annis” eventually gave rise to names like Nanse and Nansie.
Mine Annis, thine Annis, became my Nannis, my Nanse (Nance), thy Nannis, thy Nanse (Nance); and Nanse, Nance, Nanze, with the usual diminutiv, became Nansie, and speld Nancie, and now usually Nancy.
Then two things happened.
First, the name Annis fell into disuse. “With the disappearance of the form Annis, the connection of Nancy with Agnes was forgotten.”
Second, in the late 1600s, the names Nan and Nanny — very common diminutives of Anne — became slang for “prostitute.” In their place, parents began using Nancy.
[Interesting coincidence: Nan and Nanny were derived from phrases like “mine Anne” and “thine Anne,” much like the way Nancy was derived from Annis.]
So, as Nancy’s link to Agnes faded, its link with Anne grew stronger. As a result, people saw Nancy as a diminutive of Anne and defined it accordingly.
But is the definition correct? (Is there a such thing as a “correct” definition in cases like this?)
How would you define Nancy?
- American Philological Assocation. Transactions of the American Philological Association. Boston: Ginn & Company, 1892.
- Hanks, Patrick, Kate Hardcastle and Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of First Names. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. | <urn:uuid:ce946de2-2b37-42e7-b4b1-a5f46e6cd931> | {
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Museum founder Pat Arnell designed the Hatchling Apprentice using a glass conservatory created by Linda Young, known professionally as Lady Jane. Lady Jane constructs her display cases, miniature greenhouses, and miniature conservatories of glass, combining 1/8" double strength clear with accents of stained art glass, Lady Jane uses the "Tiffany" method of foil and solder.
This wizard’s library includes items that every proficient wizard would have at his disposal. Of particular note, is a side table with a top that resembles a coiled snake. The tabletop is made from an ammonite fossil, a type of cephalopod that went extinct 65.5 million years ago, which was believed to have magical properties throughout the middle ages. Two other exquisitely crafted objects in this room not to be missed are a handcrafted Book of Mythical Creatures by Barbara Rehab and an apothecary cabinet by John Davenport.
Read more about the Hatchling Apprentice in Minis Magnified Issue no. 30 | <urn:uuid:81321313-2a0c-4e77-9ecb-4f3a50769833> | {
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If you have ever looked at the sidewall on any of your car tires then you most likely have been completely confused with all the letters and numbers that are on there. What does it all mean? Well, here’s a quick look at some of the most important information you will see on the tire, and what it means.
Tire Sidewall Numbers
Let’s start off with the most common set of numbers you see on any type of tire. It will look like this – P225/75R16, or something similar to that. All tires have their own numbers, and you may have a different size.
“P” – This letter means that this is a passenger tire. It is designed to fit on cars, light trucks, minivans, etc. Tires designed for SUV’s and trucks can come with “LT” at the beginning. This stands for light truck.
“225” – This lets you know the section width of any particular tire in millimeters.
“75” – This number is used for determining the sidewall height of the tire. The lower the number the lower the height.
“R” – This simply stands for a radial tire.
“16” – The tire size for the rim you need for it to fit on. It’s important for you to match up the tire size with the same rim size. You never want to try and fit on an 18 inch tire on a 17 inch rim.
Other numbers and letters are also found all around your tires and each has different meanings as well. Some are just to identify the manufacturer and they also add some codes for their own use.
A couple of other ones of interest though include the tire speed rating for the particular tire. It can be a letter such as an “S”, which means it is designed to be driven at speeds up to 112 mph. We have a speed rating list on another page on this site to help you better understand all of the ratings and what they mean.
You can also discover exactly when your tires were manufactured as well. You will find a set of digits between 1-52 that tell you the week of the year in which the tire was made. Next to this number will be another number such as 09, 10, etc. This tells you the year they were made. So, if you see something like 12-09, you know that the tire was made in the 12th week of 2009. It’s nice to know when your tires were made for warranty purposes.
Other numbers will give you the tire’s traction, temperature, load and treadwear ratings as well. | <urn:uuid:451759c5-8c10-4def-a3e6-7f10e1746dc4> | {
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Teaching history in a time of terrorism
October 03, 2001
Some educators have reacted to the mass murders in New York City and Washington, D.C. by calling for changes in the curriculum. Their immediate response to September 11 was that "we have to change the curriculum to make our students more tolerant," as if our students were the perpetrators of these heinous crimes. But it was not Americans who piloted the four hijacked airplanes, and it was not American bigotry that targeted innocent people for death and destruction.
In an article in The Washington Post on October 1, 2001 ("September 11 Prompts Lesson Review," by Valerie Strauss), several educators stated that the attacks showed that we must become even more focused on multiculturalism than we have been in the recent past, suggesting that our indifference to other cultures somehow made us culpable. That response is usually known as "blaming the victim."
The president of Teachers College, Arthur Levine, who is customarily level-headed, said in the same article that "Our notion of great books can't be Western anymore or wholly Western anymore. Is 'Middlemarch' [a 19th-century English novel by George Eliot] more important than the Koran in terms of the curriculum?" Levine did not explain why the Koran should become a major component of the American curriculum, nor whether he would insist that teachers also introduce studies in the Old Testament and the New Testament along with the Koran, and how this new curriculum would affect the public schools' customary efforts to keep religion out of the curriculum. Perhaps he meant to say that our students should seriously study the history of the Middle East, as well they should, along with the history of Europe, Africa, and Asia. President Levine apparently believes that the teaching of "Middlemarch" and other great books of the western tradition is near-universal in American schools. Would it were so. Perhaps in the future Teachers College will take the lead in advocating the teaching of world history and world literature. One hopes.
My own view is that we need to do a far better job of teaching both American history and world history. Certainly students need to know about the major civilizations in the world, but they first need a better understanding of our own democratic ideals, where they came from, and how many sacrifices have been made by others to assure the present generation of Americans the basic rights and freedoms that we now enjoy. In the absence of deep civic knowledge, our students will be unprepared to figure out where we stand, what we believe in, and what we must defend. Or even who "we" are. As schools respond to the crisis of our age, a good place to begin is by finding out what is meant by the phrase "We the people..."
"September 11 Prompts Lesson Review," by Valerie Strauss, The Washington Post, October 1, 2001, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50170-2001Sep30.html
"Ex Uno Plures," by Diane Ravitch, Education Next, Fall 2001, http://www.educationnext.org/20013/24ravitch.html | <urn:uuid:ba34a759-6195-475c-acea-ffd802a6e8d9> | {
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Chances are the major professor has a clear idea of what a student project will be and what methods to use. It may involve the operation of an important piece of laboratory equipment in the lab. Sometimes, however, projects take a turn requiring development of a specific method to provide specific data. This chapter will cover some of the things to consider when developing methodology. First let us review the two previous unit operations—Problem definition (Chap. 3) and critical evaluation of the literature (Chap. 4).
Problem Definition Research Plan Laboratory Equipment Clear Idea Important Piece
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Gleick J (2008) Chaos: making a new science. Penguin Press, New YorkGoogle Scholar
Greening GE, Hewitt J (2008) Norovirus detection in shellfish using a rapid, sensitive virus recovery and real-time RT-PCR detection protocol. Food Analyt Method 1:109–118CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayer JJ (1991) If you haven’t got the time to do it right, when will you find the time to do it over? Fireside, New YorkGoogle Scholar | <urn:uuid:4a17a27a-930f-4ebe-8798-c6bd78e2b725> | {
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THE BIBLE and the NOVELIST
159, 2014 November)
GOOD TO ALL
In Investigator #13 I listed 16 scientists who were influenced
by the Bible to develop scientific disciplines that helped bring
prosperity to Europe and the world.
Such scientists helped fulfill the promise that Abraham’s "seed" or
descendants would bring "blessing to all the nations of the earth".
The prime fulfillment of this promise began with Jesus (Acts 3:25-26)
but continued through his followers who are instructed to "remember the
poor" (Galatians 2:10) and "…always seek to do good to one another and
to all." (I Thessalonians 5:15)
Another group, besides scientists, who contributed to making the world
better, is the novelist or storyteller — one of the greatest being
The goal of British novelist Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870)
was to produce social reform.
His novels highlighted social issues such as the poverty of workers,
the exploitation of children for child labour, the cruel treatment of
orphans and their recruitment as criminals, and the great divide
between rich and poor.
Dickens was born near Portsmouth where his father worked as a clerk in
the navy pay office. When in 1814 the father became redundant the
family moved to London.
Chambers Biographical Dictionary says:
father was soon arrested for debt in 1824 and sent to the Marshalsea
prison with his whole family, apart from Charles, who was sent to work
in a blacking factory at Hungerford Market, where, with half a dozen
rough boys, he labelled the blacking bottles. Not only were his days
passed in this wretched work, but the child was left entirely to
himself at night, when he had four miles to walk to his lonely bedroom
in lodgings in Camden Town.
ten-hour days in a rotting warehouse full of rats for
one shilling per day, and on Sundays visited his parents in prison. His
identification with the underdog, so evident in his novels, began
during this period. In later life he opposed a church-supported attempt
to make recreation on Sundays unlawful, which he viewed as rich people
who enjoyed leisure every day depriving people whose leisure was
limited to one day each week.
After his parents were released from prison Charles returned to school
for three years and in 1827 became an office boy for a solicitor. His
father meanwhile became a reporter which motivated Charles to train for
journalism. In 1835 he got a job for a London newspaper and soon became
an incessant writer.
Dickens’ novels were initially published in serial form in newspapers.
He was famous for his brilliant "pen portraits" besides perfecting the
"cliffhanger" chapter ending that left readers anticipating the next
installment. His better-known novels include Oliver Twist
(1839), David Copperfield (1849), The Tale of Two Cities
(1859), and Great Expectations (1861).
his career he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels,
five novellas and hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles,
lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer,
and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other
Dickens also wrote The Life of Our Lord (1849) with
instructions it be published after the lifetimes of his children which
it was in 1934.
This book presents a history of the early Christian Church and a
harmonizing of the gospels. It tells about Jesus for children and is
therefore scant on doctrine.
Dickens accepted Christianity and begins The Life of Our Lord
by saying of Jesus: "No one ever lived, who was so good, so kind, so
gentle, and so sorry for all people who did wrong, or were in anyway
ill or miserable…"
Like Isaac Newton, Dickens rejected the mainstream belief which
understands God as "Triune" and adopted Unitarianism, but he also
remained in the Anglican Church. Unlike many Unitarians he believed the
Bible’s miracles including the resurrection of Christ. Some of his
characters in his novels reflect Christ’s gentleness as revealed in the
Besides his writings Dickens also "remembered the poor" by supervising
for ten years Urania Cottage which he helped to establish to house,
redeem and educate "fallen women of the working class". About 100 women
graduated from 1847 to 1859.
In his novels Dickens promoted social issues that influenced many
readers. His public ranged from illiterate paupers who combined their
half-pennies to have newspaper installments read to them, to Queen
Victoria who avidly read Oliver Twist, and 19th century politicians who
legislated to improve workers' conditions, introduce compulsory
education, and outlaw child labor.
Dickens concludes The Life of Our Lord:
Christianity to be gentle, merciful, and forgiving, and to keep those
qualities quiet in our own hearts, and never make a boast of them, or
of our prayers or of our love of God, but always to shew that we love
Him by humbly trying to do right in everything.
Clarke, G. Charles Dickens’ private storytelling, Eternity, March 2012,
Lacayo, R. The seriously Funny Man, Time, July 14, 2008, pp 37-47
Magnussen, M. (Editor) 1990 Chambers Biographical Dictionary, W & R
The Bible and its
relevance investigated on | <urn:uuid:524b8585-04fb-41f2-b075-1c51784b89e6> | {
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This program creates three balls on your desktop. If you move the cursor towards them, they move around and jump towards your cursor, trying to catch it. If they succeed, they will pull your cursor with them and you have to get rid of them by waiting or clicking around with your mouse.
First I wanted to create some sort of robot, which duplicates itself, and its children do that again, and again, and again... But as it did not work as expected, I created this out of the code I had so far - just to let you know why the project name is
Using the Program
Just execute the program and see the balls bouncing around. Try to avoid them. To get rid of them after they catch you, just left-click a few times. If you want to close the program, right-click on one of them (e.g. when one catches you). The current state of the robot is presented by the filled circle in the middle. Red is
Attack, blue is
Follow, grey is
Standby and black represents
Using the Code
The graphical representation, as described further in my other articles, is done by a transparent Form. Each robot has its own dialog.
But the more interesting part is the movement/AI:
public void Loop()
As soon as the form is shown, a thread is created which processes the action part. The thread calls two methods as long as the robot is there. The first one is the
Think() part. It "analyses" the current situation and decides what to do, where to walk, where to jump. The second one is the
Act() part, which actually handles the physics (gravity, bouncing, movement).
public enum eBrain
Think() part uses a brain state
eBrain to describe the current situation. In this case,
Idle is used as a deciding part. It decides which brain state comes next depending on the distance to the target, and it is set when the current condition for the current brain state is no longer valid.
The actions taken by the brain are represented by the functions
Jump(int y) and
Stand(). They just change the current velocity a bit and depend on being called on every tick, so that after some ticks, the expected movement is done.
Act() part then moves the ball around and applies gravity, friction and other physical properties to it.
The AI is done here by a thread containing the AI and the physics, which calls the
Think() part every time, which in turn causes the movement to be changed a little on every tick. | <urn:uuid:1b95bbd2-efed-4d95-8a9c-5056b9d36ae1> | {
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Ancient wall found in IranSeptember 25, 2007 in Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Archaeologists in northern Iran have uncovered the remains of a 124-mile-long wall, the second longest such structure in Asia after the Great Wall of China.
Experts believe the wall in Golestan Province was constructed centuries ago, the Fars News Agency reported Monday. It was used to defend against by nomadic tribes from Central Asia, called the Ephthalites, who invaded the region in the 5th and 6th centuries.
The team of British and Iranian archaeologists also found a 31-mile-long section of a canal near the wall they believe was used to move water from the Gorganrud River to people living nearby. Iranian team leader Hamid Omrani said canal section was still in use until the 1979 Islamic Revolution when French engineers built the Voshmgir Dam, the news agency said.
China's Great Wall was about 4,000 miles long and was built over several hundred years beginning in the 5th century.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International
"Ancient wall found in Iran" September 25, 2007 http://phys.org/news/2007-09-ancient-wall-iran.html | <urn:uuid:adaeaf8c-3599-42a5-b361-dc3f833563d2> | {
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The Green River is the most biologically diverse branch of the Ohio River system. The greatest aquatic diversity occurs in a 100-mile section of unhindered river that flows from the Green River reservoir dam through Mammoth Cave National Park (the world’s longest and most diverse cave system) in southcentral Kentucky. This section of the Green River watershed includes 917,197 acres in the counties of Adair, Barren, Edmonson, Green, Hart, Metcalfe, Russell and Taylor. Data indicate that agricultural runoff contributes high levels of sediment, nutrients, pesticides and pathogens to the Green River and Mammoth Cave systems. There are currently seven species listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Green River system. In addition, the project area also includes several ecosystems recognized as endangered ecosystems of the United States, including native prairies, hardwood savannahs, canebrakes and old-growth deciduous forest.
On Aug. 29, 2001, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Commonwealth of Kentucky agreed to implement a Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) on the above-referenced section of the Green River to restore up to 100,000 acres. The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) is a contributor, offering wildlife biologists and cost-shared positions with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to assist landowners and promote the program to enhance participation in CREP. The Kentucky Division of Conservation was designated as the state administrative contact agency for Green River CREP and distributes state cost share and incentive payments to landowners. Western Kentucky University plans and implements the water quality and biological monitoring for the program. Mammoth Cave National Park is also involved in the monitoring of the Green River and groundwater in the karst areas of the Green River CREP. The Kentucky Chapter of the Nature Conservancy is also a contributor, offering permanent easements to landowners in select counties in addition to CREP contracts and offering public relations and BMP implementation assistance.
In late 2006, a proposal for an amendment to the Green River CREP was submitted to USDA. This proposal sought to expand the CREP region approximately 30 river miles to include environmentally significant watersheds downstream of the original project area and to utilize the community-based approach to more effectively protect locally unique resources and provide better service to the local landowners. The proposed addition included all or parts of Allen, Barren, Butler, Edmonson, Grayson, Logan, Simpson and Warren counties.
Why is CREP different than other programs?
CREP is an enhanced version of the USDA Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) which has been the federal government's largest and most comprehensive private lands environmental improvement program. Because the section of the Green River has been identified as such a special place, partner agencies felt that the enhanced version of CRP would be ideal for this area. The "enhancement" is primarily financial thus directly benefiting the producer/landowner in CREP areas. This is a voluntary "set aside" program offering enhanced rental rates, cost share, and incentive payments that exceed that of CRP.
Green River CREP Success
As of the fall of 2009, all 100,000 acres allotted for this program have been utilized. The success of the Green River CREP in the small, rural area of south central Kentucky truly represents what this program was designed to do. The partnering agencies worked hard to identify gaps in the program and then design an amendment that fit the local geography and land use to embody the intent of CREP. For this task, the Kentucky Green River CREP partnership received the prestigious 2007 Two Chief's Partnership Award. This award recognized the outstanding partnership with forest conservation work among conservation districts, state foresters, the United States Forestry Service and NRCS.
If you would like more information on the Green River CREP, contact your local USDA NRCS Service Center or contact Jay Nelson at:
Jay Nelson, Coordinator
Kentucky Division of Conservation
P.O. Box 730
Edmonton, KY 42129
Office phone: 270-432-3191, ext. 107
Mobile phone: 270-590-1825 | <urn:uuid:ca43bda4-c81e-4f63-b1da-4e72ee5918c9> | {
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Trade Patterns vs. Trade Volumes
Original post by Michael Wolfe of Demand Media
Investors and financial analysts will often spend significant amounts of time attempting to identity how particular assets are traded. This will involve looking at data indicating how much of the asset was traded, at what price, by whom and under what circumstances. The broad name for this data is trade patterns, of which trade volume -- the amount of the asset traded over a particular time -- is a variety of data.
When all the data related to the trading of a particular asset are put together, patterns generally emerge. Some of these patterns may be obvious. For example, when the asset is priced lower more people may buy it. However, some of these patterns may be more complex. Identifying them may give investors clues as to how the asset can be traded for a profit.
The volume of trade for a particular asset is the amount of the asset that is being bought and sold over a particular period of time. Volume can be measure in a number of different ways. Stocks, for example, will usually be measured by the number of stocks sold on a particular trading day. However, volume can also be measured by the number of transactions conducted and other related metrics.
Trade volumes are key pieces of data that can be used to help establish trade patterns. Often, trade volumes will be used in conjunction with other data related to trading. For example, if a stock records a high trade volume and a rise in the price on a particular day, then this can suggest the market is bullish on the stock. Or, a pattern may emerge that volumes increase or decrease in correlation to other causes.
In some cases, trade volume can be a clue as to market sentiment towards a particular asset. For example, let's say that a particular stock is issued to the public and the original owners of the stock are not allowed to sell their stock until six months after the public offering. If after exactly six months, the volume of trading on the stock spikes up, it may indicate many of the original investors are selling off their stock, suggesting the company is facing a rough time.
- "Economics"; Roger A. Arnold; 2009
About the Author
Michael Wolfe has been writing and editing since 2005, with a background including both business and creative writing. He has worked as a reporter for a community newspaper in New York City and a federal policy newsletter in Washington, D.C. Wolfe holds a B.A. in art history and is a resident of Brooklyn, N.Y. | <urn:uuid:0b748bd0-6eaa-4458-9cbe-ac269eded9ea> | {
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Anemia is a problem with the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood. A person with anemia has either too few oxygen-carrying red blood cells or not enough hemoglobin in the red blood cells. Anemia results when, for any number of reasons, the bone marrow makes defective red blood cells or not enough normal ones, or if red blood cells are destroyed before they have completed their job. There are several forms of anemia, but the most common type is caused by a lack of iron -- an important component of the hemoglobin in red blood cells.
The majority of anemia cases are caused by nutritional deficiencies. Several alternative therapies offer ways to boost the body's use of nutrients.
Nutritional Therapy for Anemia
Three types of anemia are caused by a lack of one of three nutrients -- iron, folate, or vitamin B12. The deficiency can result from:
- a lack of the nutrient in the diet
- an inability to absorb that nutrient (Certain hereditary conditions and deficiencies of other nutrients can keep the body from absorbing iron, folate, or vitamin B12, regardless of the amount present in the diet. Alcoholism can prevent proper absorption of folate in particular.)
- an excessive loss of that nutrient (For women, heavy blood loss during menstruation or pregnancy can lead to problems with iron-deficiency anemia.)
Nutritional therapy offers several ways to satisfy the body's need for these nutrients. (Of course, any underlying causes of the anemia need to be treated before these guidelines can be helpful.) Increasing your intake of iron, folate, and vitamin B12 can be accomplished with supplements, but including more whole foods rich in these nutrients in your diet is generally a more healthful idea for mild cases.
Iron-rich foods include:
- dried beans (especially kidney, garbanzo, and pinto)
- dried apricots
Vitamin C, although not a direct factor in the development of anemia, helps the body absorb iron, so foods high in this vitamin (including citrus fruits and juices, broccoli, cauliflower, and sweet peppers) should accompany meals with iron-rich foods. On the other hand, certain foods limit the absorption of iron. Foods on this list include black tea, coffee, dairy products consumed in large amounts, and wheat bran.
Hydrochloric acid, normally produced by the stomach, is needed for the body to use iron and may be low in some people. Supplementation with hydrochloric acid at mealtimes may be helpful for people with this problem. Another helpful supplement can be vitamin E.
Some whole foods that are good dietary sources of folate, or folic acid, include:
- dried beans
- dark-green leafy vegetables (such as spinach and kale)
Common food sources of vitamin B12 include:
- nutritional yeast
- dairy products
Fortified cereals and less-known items such as some seaweed varieties, spirulina, chlorella, and wild blue-green algae are other vegetarian sources. People who cannot adequately absorb vitamin B12 require muscle injections.
Herbal Medicines for Anemia
Herbs can help the body maximize the use of the nutrients in food and provide some useful nutrients on their own as well.
The group of herbs known as bitters signal the stomach to produce more digestive juices to help in the breakdown process. The herbs' bitter taste on the tongue is probably responsible for sending these messages to the brain and stomach. Gentian root and wormwood are two examples of bitters.
Several herbs are rich in iron and other minerals and vitamins. For example, the leaves and stalks of stinging nettle pack both iron and vitamin C. Dandelion root is also helpful. Certain Chinese herbs such as dong quai and rehmannia are also used to build the blood.
Homeopathy for Anemia
Homeopathic treatment can ease some of the symptoms of anemia and stimulate the body to use certain nutrients from food more efficiently. Homeopathy uses highly diluted doses of natural substances that would produce the symptoms of anemia if given in full strength to a healthy person. A classical homeopath tailors a remedy for a patient by studying the anemia symptoms and the general state of physical and emotional health. Every patient receives an individualized remedy. The practitioner considers certain anemia characteristics, including:
- Is menstruation normal?
- How does the complexion appear?
- Does constipation, poor digestion, or any other symptom accompany the common anemia symptoms?
The typical remedies for anemia are calcarea phosphoricum, china officinalis, ferrum metallicum, and natrum muriaticum. Biochemic tissue (mineral) salts -- calcarea phosphoricum and ferrum phosphoricum -- may also be used.
Other Anemia Therapies
- Acupressure for Anemia -- Pressure applied to specific points, such as along the liver and kidney meridians, can stimulate blood circulation and the production of energy, or qi.
- Detoxification, Fasting, and Colon Therapy for Anemia -- Fasting may be helpful in a few cases to encourage better nutrient absorption.
- Hydrotherapy for Anemia -- Various treatments can improve circulation. | <urn:uuid:ff3332f6-eca0-40c6-9ed3-4681b1a7e1b9> | {
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Ethnozoology, environmental education and community management of chelonians in Riozinho da Liberdade Extractive Reserve Acre, Brazil
The chelonians have historically played an important role as a natural resource, the Indians being the first consumers of their meat, eggs, fat and viscera. These animals have been hunted, fished and their eggs harvested for many generations in the Amazon. Currently, 60% of the species are considered threatened by trafficking of wild animals, predatory hunting and loss of natural habitats. Conservation actions by the Riozinho da Liberdade Extractive Reserve in the state of Acre include participative management and environmental education, associated with the management of eggs and hatchlings. Traditional communities maintain a close relationship with nature. However, since chelonians area traditional source of protein, their consumption contributes to population decline of the species in this region. As Amazonians migrate to urban environments, traditional consumption practices are maintained through the acquisition of animals that are illegally captured from the forest. We analyzed the commercialization and consumption of chelonians in the Riozinho da Liberdade Extractive Reserve and developed a conservation program, aiming at reducing predation and maintaining chelonians in the area. To this end, semi-structured questionnaires were applied to 65 residents of the Reserve, in order to obtain information about turtle and tortoise consumption and community perspectives in the group. Subsequently, workshops on biology and management of chelonians were run in five communities, facilitating the effective participation of riparians in participatory management, including egg collection and transfer to hatching trays, thus increasing hatching rates, keeping the young safe when necessary and guidelines for the cleaning and care of the egg laying areas during the Amazonian summer, a period that corresponds to the months of July until the first half of September. In addition, environmental education activities were carried out in the schools of the reserve and conservation centers established with members of the community being responsible for the monitoring of the turtle and tortoise nest areas, avoiding the predation of eggs and females. Five community meetings took place between February and September 2016, with about 64 participants, from eight communities: Esperança (17); Passo da Pátria (14); Oito Praias (9); Guarani (5); Nova Olinda (2); Novo Acre (1); Bom Futuro (1); Itajubá (2); unidentified communities (13); with ages ranging from 5 to 74 years. It was pointed out by participants that, decades ago, the Giant Amazon Turtle (Podocnemis expansa) existed in large numbers in the reserve; however, due to anthropic advance and subsequent predation this number was drastically reduced, reaching local extinction. The yellow-spotted Amazon River Turtle (Podocnemis unifilis) and the yellow-footed tortoise (Chelonoidis denticulatus) are the most popular chelonians for consumption in the reserve, following the same history as the Giant Amazon Turtle. As a result of this study, it was possible to identify that 85% (n = 55) of the community use chelonians for consumption and 45% (n = 29) commercialize these animals. In addition, 15 environmental agents were assigned and 61 participants were trained to monitor the natural egg-laying areas and the transfer of eggs to hatching trays. In addition, environmental education activities were carried out in schools, which promoted the involvement of students in the project. The results helped to sensibilize the local community, making them multipliers of the know-how associated with the conservation of chelonians and favoring sustainable practices in relation to the local fauna. These actions contribute to active citizen training for resolving environmental problems, strengthening the socio-environmental role of the community in solving such problems and enabling a better man-nature relationship. | <urn:uuid:16b10752-4c59-4b2c-8f63-ba1b0bde93ca> | {
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This is a purely speculative question. In the real world, IP addresses are allocated by a central authority, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. I wonder how the address space of IP or a similar protocol would be allocated in a free-market world. Or maybe the analogue to the internet in such a world wouldn't use such a protocol, but something completely different? I'd love to hear others' thoughts on this.
The keyboard is mightier than the gun.
Non parit potestas ipsius auctoritatem.
To add to this: Cato published a paper some years ago that presented a homesteading method for radio broadcasting. It consists of three elements: transmitter location, frequency range, and signal power. AFAIK, the Internet Protocol presents only one definite scarce resource, namely the global address space (in IPv4, 32 bits; in IPv6, 128 bits).
The basic building block of a dynamic network - such as the Internet - is the routing table. IP addresses basically permit each node in the network to answer the simple question "which way do I send this packet?" Think of postal mail. At each post office, the postmaster must determine whether his office is the final destination for each piece of mail or whether it has to be sent further on its way. Since he does not have a direct connection to every other post office, he must forward the piece of mail in the right direction, such as North, South, East or West, where it will be routed further. For example, if a piece of mail from LA arrives in the Boulder office, destined to New York City, the Boulder office may choose to send that piece of mail eastward to Philadelphia for further routing.
This is what Internet routers do and they use routing tables to automate the process. Whenever a packet arrives, the router will inspect the IP address of the packet and compare it to the routing table to determine which direction to forward the packet. From a propertarian perspective, it should be obvious that there is no need for a central authority at all, as all the owner of a router needs to do is subscribe to an IP-address lookup service - the equivalent of a privately-printed phone book.
The Internet as it is currently built is a bit of a death-trap. As is the case with roads, there is a false presumption among the Internet community that basic services - such as routing services and maintenance of IP-tables - was, is and always will be free... for no particular reason except it has always been this way. The problem with IP-address scarcity is a by-product of this tragedy of the commons, created by ICANN, the meddling of corporate giants, and doubtless the hidden hand of public agencies. Peer-to-peer services have long ago solve these problems without any need of central look-ups and issuing "authorities".
I was hoping you'd reply to this, Clayton, because I know you're a fellow computer guy. And you didn't disappoint.
You're absolutely right about routing tables. Are you suggesting basically something like DNS at the level of routing? That is, applying routing directly to human-readable names as opposed to numbers?
From what I understand, numbers have been used for IP addresses because they're more efficient for computers to work with. Human-readable names are "messy" by computer standards, as they don't necessarily have a fixed length (or, if they do, it has to be much longer than four bytes to be very meaningful). Then again, maybe it doesn't matter whether numbers are used under the hood, if the routing services are operated on a subscription basis. Certainly there could be multiple routing protocols used by multiple companies, and that would be largely or entirely transparent to the end consumers.
This is an interesting topic, and I don't have the knowledge to speculate here. I just wanted to say I hope you guys continue the discussion as I am very interested in what you guys have to say about it.
@Auto: All you need is a wide hash function... something that produces 128-bit or greater hashes... problem solved. The odds of hash-collision in the 128-bit region is calculated in one paper I read (Google "extendible hashing", look for the original IBM labs paper) to be 10-15, which is rarer than hardware failures. However, to be on the safe-side, we could easily bump that up to 256 bits with no appreciable loss of performance on modern systems and if I'm not mistaken, the probability of collision should then go to roughly 10-30, which is about 10 billion times less probable than two people choosing the same star in the visible universe at random (according to Wiki).
It sounds like such a wide function is essentially identical to a GUID implementation. At least theoretically, the probability of two 128-bit random numbers matching is 2^-128 or ~3*10^-39. The issue I have with such an identifying system is that it's entirely non-hierarchical. The vast majority of IP addresses are actually split between network prefixes and host identifiers. Per the notion of classless inter-domain routing, this split can exist anywhere within the 32 bits of an IPv4 address or the 128 bits of an IPv6 address. Routing tables use this hierarchical organization of the address space to make routing more efficient - instead of having to remember routes for every computer on the internet, they just have to remember routes for different (often large) groups of addresses. (You're probably familiar with all this already - I'm mainly explaining this stuff for people who might be reading.)
I do not believe that this is as difficult as it sounds. The reason is that although the internet is not owned, the cables, routers switches ect. are owned. It is these owners who would have to come to some sort of agreement on how to allocate domain names, IP addresses, etc. to satisfy their customers, namely the end users. Even without force, these organizations managing all of this would still have to work together as their consumers would demand it.
although the internet is not owned, the cables, routers switches ect. are owned. | <urn:uuid:7bec9eda-cc7c-4f8f-be69-d2d790901cf1> | {
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Brown oak is oak naturally coloured by the bracket fungus Fistulina hepatica, commonly called the beefsteak fungus due to its blood red colour. Often mature trees with a branch which has fallen off will attract the fungus and the colouring starts at the ‘wound’ and slowly penetrates the tree, so there may be a mix of white and brown in some trees, running to solid brown eventually. Brown oak is rare to discover and valuable as such. In some areas it can be less durable, hard and strong but generally retains quite adequate strength properties as timber.
Girdwood Farm, Auchengray, Carnwath, Lanark, ML11 8LL | <urn:uuid:2a76118c-0ca3-4c05-9a6d-cdf3c5456f00> | {
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Seven out of every ten Americans will have a headache this year. What causes headaches? What can you do to minimize the pain or even eliminate the cause?
Primary Headaches are not related to an underlying disease process such as stroke, cancer, drug reactions, etc. There are three main types: Migraine, Tension, and Cluster. Secondary Headaches are caused by life-threatening and non-life-threatening underlying diseases. Secondary Headaches include infections, tumors, vascular (including aneurysm), drug-induced, or idiopathic (cause unknown).
Headaches are not the result of an aspirin shortage in the body!
A recent report on headaches reported that collectively in the United States alone, we consume 3.8 tons of aspirin each year at a cost of over $100,000,000. Can headaches be treated or managed without drugs? For most people the answer is yes. Many people find relief from headaches, even migraines, through chiropractic care. Up to 50% of headaches may have a portion of their origin in the neck. Neck-based headaches are technically called cervicogenic. By manipulating the tissues and bones of the neck, doctors of chiropractic can decrease irritation to tissues that cause headaches and the effect is powerful enough to rival or even out-perform many medications, without medication-induced Rebound Headaches.
A 1995 study compared neck adjustments as commonly performed by doctors of chiropractic to the drug Amitriptyline, a pill used to treat headache as well as depression. The study concluded that not only were neck adjustments an effective treatment for tension headaches, but the effects tended to last longer and decreased need for over-the-counter medication.
If you have any questions concerning Chiropractic care for Headaches, don’t hesitate to call Dr. Claudio & Associates today at Triangle Spine Center (919) 957-3600
Remember Chiropractic First, Drugs Second, and Surgery is always the last resort. | <urn:uuid:a2d43c41-b43a-4997-bd4c-64297ff96f22> | {
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Group projects can often bring stress to both instructors and students. The key to successfully navigating group projects is detailed planning and having a repertoire of troubleshooting strategies when things go wrong. This article offers instructors recommendations for setting the tone and handling group projects in their courses.
Many students do not want to hear that they have to complete a group project in a course. When they find out that this is a requirement, there might be some grumbling and resistance. Depending on the discipline, instructors might even balk at the idea of having to include group projects in their courses. Essentially, with group projects, instructors and students are giving up some level of control and independence. Group projects have the potential to offer positive impacts on student learning and long-lasting skills. But, when things go wrong, instructors need to be equipped to deal with issues that run the risk of becoming detrimental to student learning or well-being. Like weather forecasters, instructors have to be prepared to predict the unpredictable. This article will offer some insight into things that could go wrong in group processes.
Overcoming the complexities of group projects: Making three or more heads better than one.
I dread that upcoming group project.
one student to another student
I dread that upcoming group project.
one instructor to another instructor
Who knew? Students and instructors singing the same song. But the lyrics in this song are not very pleasing and with dread comes stress. Perhaps it is the dread of repeating or reliving bad experiences, the fear of personalities not clicking, the unpredictability, or the dread of resistance from students. Group projects bring about a wide range of feelings for both instructors and students. Depending on the task and academic discipline, these feelings can range anywhere from exciting and interesting to frustration and resentment for having to facilitate or complete collaborative projects.
Many students prefer to complete course assignments independently. For the most part, independent work is a more hassle-free way of getting things done. Some might even argue that group projects may only benefit low to average performing students and diminish the learning potential for more gifted students. The fact is, some institutions may require group projects and there is just no justifying a way out. While students can successfully acquire skills and knowledge on their own, there are benefits and lessons to be learned from completing a group project. This applies to many workplace expectations where employers may count on students to be able to collaborate with people from different backgrounds, as well as solve complex problems.
Selling the idea of group projects and setting the tone for students
Group projects are learning opportunities for students to actively engage in course content, to navigate the structures of a group dynamic, and to understand the processes of interpersonal relationships. Through group projects, students should come out having learned how to be contributors in a community-like setting, enhance problem-solving and organizational skills, and become more aware of how their actions affect the well-being of others.
Instructors must set the tone early in the semester and be consistent, when it comes to controlling how things go in the course. Clearly state the following, in writing:
- Objectives for group projects. State the purpose for the group project(s). Share with students’ research that has found the superior nature of group projects. Outline the connection between the required course goals and the group project. Instructors should not organize group projects that seem pointless to even work with others. Instructors should aim to set goals for group projects that has the potential to enhance a variety of different skills that each group member might uniquely bring to the team.
- Learning outcomes for the activity. Instructors should be transparent and explicitly state what students are expected to learn once the group project is complete.
- Expectations for the assignment. Create detailed instructions and a group project rubric and have students sign or acknowledge a statement of understanding. Instructors and researchers offer free rubrics online. If given the flexibility, instructors might want to make the group processes a smaller percentage portion of the grade. Group processes would include items for demonstrating appropriate group dynamics, interpersonal skills, creativity and innovation. A larger percentage of the grade could come from skills to assess student’s individual content knowledge and appropriate organization of that knowledge.
- Organization of the group. There are several ways instructors can organize groups. Create a Plan A and Plan B, due to the unpredictable nature of class sizes and dynamics in the class. When structuring groups, create distinct roles and responsibilities that will accommodate groups of different sizes. When selecting group members, some ideas are to ask students to submit resumes (if appropriate), request that students submit a list of their strengths and weaknesses, or carefully analyze the personalities that evolve through class participation. Instructors can be intentional, by forming groups based on skill sets and experiences.
- Behavioral expectations of group members. These expectations could be embedded in the rubric as a form of professionalism credit. Be very specific and list examples of acceptable and unacceptable behaviors for the group project that will also translate to proper workforce behaviors. To encourage buy in from students, instructors can require that students in the class contribute to and agree on a set of additional criteria for behavioral expectations to be included in the final rubric.
- Procedures for submitting and/or presenting. Set clear due dates and guidelines for how the final product will submitted.
Things that could go wrong in group processes
- Social loafing. Some students will give very little to no effort in a group. This infuriates those that do put forth effort. Some students just find it much easier to “hide” in a group, especially if that group has willing participants to pick up their slack.
- Bullying. Some students are aggressive and will repeatedly attempt to exert their perceived power over others.
- Group think or conformity. When people put more emphasis on agreement to maintain group cohesion or to be liked, at the expense of critical thinking skills. A classic example of this would be someone who persuasively states “I’m sure we all agree on this.” Some students might actually have a different viewpoint but never speak up because they don’t want to rock the boat. However, instructors might consider this may come up later when grades come out and students claim “Well, that was not MY idea.”
- Deindividuation. When people engage in unacceptable behaviors, due to the ability to conceal their identity. In the case of online courses, students are not completely anonymous. Instructors and students are aware of names but might not ever met the student personally. When the course is online, students can hide behind the shield of the computer and may feel more compelled to say things they would not say in person.
Things instructors can do when the thunder and lightning descend upon the group dynamic
Ideally, the goal for successful group projects should be to plan ahead in order to reduce the number of potential headaches, before class even gets started. However, we all know that we do not live in the land of perfect. When instructors attempt to engage many different personalities from varying age groups and cultures, there is no guarantee what might happen even in the most highly structured setting. When things go wrong in the group process, how the instructor handles the situation sets the tone. Instructors could immediately engage with students in the following ways:
- Be clear and direct. Remind students of the expectations and rubric; refer them back to the statement of understanding that [hopefully] you had them sign or acknowledge. Reiterate that they will be graded accordingly. Resist the temptation to succumb to the desire of students whose sole solution is to bail on the group when conflict occurs. Sure, that’s the easiest solution but it doesn’t involve the critical thinking and problem-solving skills that employer’s desire and students need to succeed in situations when bailing might not be an option.
- Be consistent. Maintain the integrity of the course. Work to provide the same expectations and guidelines for all students. Once instructors get the ball rolling on offering one exception to the rule, they can count on other students to request their own personal list of special exceptions.
- Be honest. Inform students that disagreement is normal, but inappropriate and unprofessional behaviors are not. Be specific in pointing out the acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. Remind them of the institutions student code of conduct and your duty to enforce those policies, when warranted.
- Reconsider group sizes. Break larger groups into smaller groups.
- Meet with struggling groups (virtually or face-to-face). Have each member of the group offer a reasonable and logical solution to their issue. Let the students vote on the best solution(s) or the instructor can intervene and select the best solution. Have the group appoint a student in the group to play the role of devil’s advocate, if needed in the future.
Clemson University’s Office of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation offers a free online team member handbook called “Successful Strategies for Teams”. It is an excellent guide for additional tips and strategies for working in teams. | <urn:uuid:2ec846b6-36b9-4b9b-82d1-95803a84661c> | {
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Humor is a powerful thing. The person who wields it can change the moods of the people around him just by using a simple word or phrase. Humor can serve as a tremendous weapon, one that can circumvent the outer defenses of others and capture hearts and minds.
It has the ability to speak to people’s inner emotions and provoke a physical reaction. This reaction is called laughter. The Ancients recognized the power that humor has and used it to their advantage.
Catulus, a Roman prosecutor was once challenged by one of his opponents:
“Why are you barking, catule?”
“Because I see a thief!” retorted Catulus.
This exchange became the stuff of legend. It was recounted at gatherings of the Roman elite and the story, even though retold a thousand times over and over again, could always amuse. Roman philosophers, orators and historians would keep on writing about this story for hundreds of years after it had happened.
How does it strike you today? Did you laugh at that joke? Probably not. Did you find the exchange witty? Maybe or maybe not. Some of you might have let out a chuckle, but most of you probably read it in dead silence, not understanding the context. Yet the Ancient Romans found the above story extremely funny!
You either get a joke or you don’t. However since we are going to be discussing humor and what makes things funny, I will try to decompose the jokes in order to further the analysis. The best way to kill a joke is to explain its meaning, but that is precisely what we will have to do in order to arrive at a set of greater principles. 🙂
These principles can then guide you to become funnier yourself and also to be able to use humor in different contexts. For this, we can use the wisdom of the Ancient Romans to guide us in turn.
Those of you who let out a chuckle, might have visualized an image of a dog barking due to the use of the word “bark” and that of a thief due to Catulus replying “because I see a thief“. Even in our days, dogs guard houses against thieves and this is a common association that we have. You let out a chuckle because you probably had a previous association of dogs and thieves and something funny that happened whether due to you owning a dog or maybe seeing something on TV.
Oftentimes humor works on associations. A joke can reawaken a funny memory that people have stored deep in their brains. So people who in their past might have heard a joke about dogs or had experienced a funny event involving puppies put this event into their long-term memory.
Upon hearing the word “barking”, this memory was accessed and associated with the current joke, prompting laughter. This is the associative part of humor. If you can relate a joke to someone else’s experiences, that makes the joke funnier for the other person.
However there is further context for the story that you are missing. The name “Catulus” actually means the word “puppy” in Latin and the word “catule” that was used by the guy taking a swipe at Catulus can be translated as “puppy dog”. The opponent basically used a clever play on words that was meant to belittle Catulus in front of the audience, using his name as the basis.
It backfired, as Catulus, with his quick wit used that jibe and threw it back at him with the reply that he sees a thief. We have to remember that this was done in the context of a trial and Catulus was the prosecutor trying to land a guy suspected of stealing in jail.
In fact, he used that attempt at aggressive humor by his opponent to strengthen his case by coming up with a witty reply. Now can you see why some Romans, especially from the elites, could have found it funny?
Humor and finding something funny is very subjective. Humor can be:
A certain joke might be funny in one situation, while not funny in another one. You would not be telling the same joke at a wedding and a funeral for example.
Jokes can vary and whether they are funny can heavily depend on the person. One person might find the joke hilarious, while another will not. This can depend on the person’s background, their history, their personal opinions and many other personal factors.
Jokes can also be very cultural. You need to understand the cultural context in them in order to find the humor. A lot of jokes depend on the subtleties of the language they are said in, or might be a reference to some particular book, regional stereotype or incident that you might not always be aware of, if you are not from that particular country or region.
The exchange between Catulus and his opponent is funny because it happened in the context of a trial. So in that situation it left the entire court room laughing. It might not have had the same effect if it had happened while the guys were having a picnic.
There was also a strong personal factor. The incident was discussed by friends of Catulus and fellow lawyers and orators. For them, this was a prime example of wit. The guy on trial probably did not find it that funny. 🙂
The joke has a big cultural element as well, as the primary tactic of the opponent was to use a play on words based on the fact that the word “catulus” means puppy in Latin. This is a very language specific thing. For someone who speaks English or any other language, this association between the name and a puppy dog are not clear.
After this brief introduction into the world of Roman humor and witticism, we will try to dig deeper into what makes things funny and how to be funny. We will use some tips and advice from the Romans themselves in order to do that.
Catulus himself can serve as an inspiration for you. Because of his quick wit and humor skills, he was able to fend off an opponent’s attempt at humor and ridicule and actually strengthen his own case. At the end of this article, you too will have the tools necessary to do what Catulus did in whatever situation you may find yourself.
While the Ancient Romans lived two thousand years ago, their works keep on having a profound effect on our world even today. There are amazing parallels between their world and our world. They were an inquisitive and eloquent people and had the amazing ability to grasp at problems and come up with solutions. Many of their ideas are still as pertinent and applicable today as they were millennia ago.
Actually the Ancient Romans also had a wicked (sometimes very perverted) sense of humor! 🙂 🙂
Just take a look at some of the graffiti that was found in the ruins of Ancient Pompeii:
“Weep, you girls. My penis has given you up. Now it penetrates men’s behinds. Goodbye, wondrous femininity!“
“Restitutus says: “Restituta, take off your tunic, please, and show us your hairy privates”.“
“Satura was here on September 3rd.“
“I screwed the barmaid.“
“The one who buggers a fire burns his penis.“
“Palmyra. The thirst quencher.”
“Lesbianus, you defecate and you write, ‘Hello, everyone!’“
“Secundus likes to screw boys.“
“Theophilus, don’t perform oral sex on girls against the city wall like a dog.“
written three times:
“Secundus defecated here”
“Secundus defecated here”
“Secundus defecated here”
“Floronius, privileged soldier of the 7th legion, was here. The women did not know of his presence. Only six women came to know, too few for such a stallion.“
Those silly Romans! 🙂 | <urn:uuid:a86702ea-8cb3-4124-95c0-43448562f1b3> | {
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In English, many things are named after a particular country – but have you ever wondered what those things are called in those countries?
1memoirs plural(autobiography)memorias femeninoautobiografía femeninoshe's writing her memoirs — está escribiendo sus memorias / su autobiografía
- To define his importance, Da Ponte began to issue his memoirs in installments.
- The memoirs of public figures are almost always interesting.
- As a rule, memoirs written by political figures do not remain memorable since the details supplied in them must have been widely publicised by the media long before they got into the book.
- So when such a towering figure has his memoirs published, it is a landmark event.
- He used his memoirs, public speeches, and letters to glorify Lee, southern soldiers, and the Confederate cause.
- In 1943 Douglas was awarded the Bôcher Prize by the American Mathematical Society for his memoirs on the Plateau Problem.
English has borrowed many of the following foreign expressions of parting, so you’ve probably encountered some of these ways to say goodbye in other languages.
Many words formed by the addition of the suffix –ster are now obsolete - which ones are due a resurgence?
As their breed names often attest, dogs are a truly international bunch. Let’s take a look at 12 different dog breed names and their backstories. | <urn:uuid:9e243883-3a22-4201-9e51-e924338b618f> | {
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Three European scientists are this year's Nobel Prize winners in medicine.
They won for their discoveries of viruses that cause aids and cervical cancer.
Two French researchers helped discover the human immuno-deficiency virus, or HIV.
A German cancer researcher was honored for finding human papilloma viruses that cause cervical cancer, the second most common cancer among women.
The Nobel assembly says these discoveries helped the world understand aids, and keep the virus from spreading.
They also figured out how HPV causes cancer, leading to a vaccine. | <urn:uuid:fe28f300-a860-437b-81eb-efafbed6acc1> | {
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By counting harbor porpoise breaths, researchers have come up with a new way to judge the animals’ hard-to-measure metabolism. The trick shows that the animals can burn energy more than twice as fast as humans.
Researchers analyzed the several thousand puff-huff respiratory sounds recorded per day from each of 13 harbor porpoises swimming freely in Danish waters. Including just everyday staying-alive body processes plus hunting and other activities, the animals’ average total energy use ranged from 7.8 to 31 megajoules per day, researchers report December 6 in the Journal of Experimental Biology.
The five adult porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) studied averaged 21.7 megajoules per day. A typical human weighing about as much as a full-grown porpoise, however, needs only about seven to nine megajoules of energy daily, says study coauthor Peter Teglberg Madsen, an eco-physiologist at Aarhus University in Denmark.
Madsen says the animals’ high energy needs in the chilly waters close to Danish shores leave him “somewhat worried.” Harbor porpoises there depend on small fish, even down to pinkie finger–sized ones. But to survive with such a high metabolic rate on small prey demands steady hunting. And Madsen fears that increasing human disruptions in the ocean are making that difficult for the ocean mammals (SN: 2/13/18).
Metabolic rates of marine mammals “are certainly more than an abstract scientific question,” says marine biologist Andrew Read, who directs the Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort, N.C., and was not involved in the project. Advocates of culling marine mammals believed to compete with human fisheries often cite the animals’ revved-up metabolisms and voracious hunting habits to support their point, he says.
But figuring out how much food a free-swimming mammal really needs to sustain its metabolism is hard. That’s where the breaths come in. As an animal fuels its basic body processes and daily activities, it consumes oxygen and produces carbon dioxide. For small land animals, researchers have devised lab setups to measure gas fluctuations in breath and blood, but that’s tricky for big sea animals.
In the past, researchers have used data on land mammals to speculate about their counterparts in the sea. But the few actual measurements of these gas fluctuations in young porpoises in captivity have suggested their metabolic rates are higher than similarly sized land mammals. Captivity, however, might be stressing the animals and driving up their rates.
So Madsen and his colleagues wondered if porpoise breathing rate, something people can reliably count in free-swimming mammals, might give clues to the animals’ total daily energy needs, called the field metabolic rate. To connect breaths with energy use, study coauthor Laia Rojano-Doñate, also at Aarhus, turned to three captive porpoises kept in a net pen in a fjord, where the animals experienced natural ocean temperatures, salinity and water movements.
Records showed how much food the porpoises had eaten, so researchers could get a rough estimate of how energy needs fit with breathing rates. To get a better sense, however, researchers gave one porpoise “doubly labeled water,” with both the oxygen and hydrogen in unusual forms that are easy to monitor. That let researchers track oxygen use in the porpoise body during daily activities. During these tests, students also took shifts counting blow-hole openings to indicate breaths. At the end, researchers could predict how breath number and animal size signal metabolic state.
To get breath counts on wild porpoises, Rojano-Doñate went out with rescuers trying to save porpoises accidentally tangled in fishing nets. From 2012 to 2016, the team attached small recorders to 13 porpoises that piggybacked on an animal for about six to 38 hours. After the heroic tedium of tallying breath sounds in the recordings (more than 6,000 per day in one animal), the researchers then calculated the metabolic rates that are reported in the study.
The project has convinced ecological modeler Cara Gallagher of the porpoises’ high energy needs. She’s now at Aarhus but didn’t worked on the breath-count project and had even used old, lower estimates of porpoise metabolism in her master’s project, published in 2018, at San Francisco State University. “There was so much controversy,” she says. Now “we actually have data on it.”
A doubt lingering in Read’s mind is whether harbor porpoises routinely feed in binges on extreme tiny fish. Madsen and colleagues have described such episodes, such as a porpoise downing some 550 young fish in a frenzy, and argue that’s typical for local porpoises. Read has called for more widespread monitoring of routine feeding, though that’s not an easy thing to do. Time for the next porpoise-watcher innovation. | <urn:uuid:1c5d2d96-44bd-48cf-8a59-537c0f8e8f4e> | {
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Photo by Craig Simpson: http://www.flickr.com/photos/washington_area_spark/8306122674/
Protesters gathered outside the South African Embassy on Massachusetts Avenue in early 1985.
This weekend a statue of former South African President Nelson Mandela will be dedicated outside the South African Embassy in Northwest Washington. It’s the United States’ first statue of the man who inspired people around the world to push for civil rights in South Africa.
That effort was especially pronounced in D.C. African Americans had been staging protests against Apartheid since the turn of the 20th century, decades before Mandela was born. But it wasn't until November 21, 1984 that the movement in Washington, D.C. came to a head.
It was the day before Thanksgiving, and four people walked up Massachusetts Avenue toward the South African Embassy. They knocked on the door, and went inside for a meeting with the ambassador. One of those people was Eleanor Holmes Norton, who now serves as the District's non-voting delegate to Congress.
"Given the cordiality with which we were treated, we had no reason to believe they suspected anything," she recalls.
Norton was Georgetown professor at the time, and one of the four at the meeting. Her predecessor as delegate to Congress, Walter Fauntroy, was there, along with civil rights activist Mary Francis Berry, and Randall Robinson, founder of the newly formed lobbying group Transafrica.
"So, we were there for a good half-hour, 45 minutes, and we asked the kind of questions you'd expect about apartheid, and then I said, 'Excuse me, I have to teach a class at Georgetown, may I excuse myself and leave my three colleagues?", says Norton. She walked outside, where a crowd of people and press had gathered.
"I informed the picketers and the press that the three would not be coming out. That they were going to remain until the sanctions bill was passed. The bill that would cut off trade between the U.S. and Africa," remembers Norton.
Cecily Counts was a lobbyist for Transafrica. "We wanted to ban IMF loans, we wanted to ban arms sales to south Africa. We had nice little pieces of legislation, but it was never going to become law that way. We were lobbying in the traditional way and we were getting nowhere fast. It was time to do something more dramatic," she says.
The South African ambassador called the police, remembers Sylvia Hill, a professor of criminal justice at the University of the District of Columbia.
"We knew that once they announced they weren't going to leave, the press wouldn't be there too long. So we asked about 50 people to show," she says. "We had a picket line chanting 'Free South Africa and Free Nelson Mandela!'"
By the time Fauntroy, Berry and Robinson were escorted out of the embassy in handcuffs, local news cameras were there to see it.
"It was a brilliant approach," says Charles Johnson, an assistant professor of History at Howard University. "The idea of having the protest the day before Thanksgiving, when they would have everyone sitting around the table with their families, not a whole lot going on in the media, it makes them think about, 'Hey, what is going on there?'"
Counts and Hill went home and called everyone they knew. They needed protesters, and they needed a lot of them—and they were determined to stick around until Congress passed a package of sanctions against South Africa.
"People got arrested every day and the picket lines got bigger and bigger and bigger. The AFL-CIO turned out its whole building and brought buses," recalls Counts.
"It was different every day, a different set of people," says Hill.
"Bowlers against apartheid, Sheiks against apartheid, Native Americans against apartheid. The bishop of Washington came down from the National Cathedral," adds Counts.
National social workers, black social workers," remembers Hill.
Five days a week, during the evening rush hour, the protesters were out there marching up and down Massachusetts Avenue in front of the embassy. Horns honked, and people passing by joined in the chants.
"When people came to Washington for the springtime for a tourist trip, the South African Embassy became a place you had to go," says Counts. "A smaller group of people would go up and attempt to deliver the message, and each time the embassy would call the police, [saying] you can't protest within a certain distance of the embassy."
When night fell, Counts and Hill made sure the protesters knew their next move.
"We made sure that each of those regular people lobbied while they were here," says Counts. "The point was to contact your senator and let him or her know that you wanted U.S. support to end."
Byron Charleton drove up from Norfolk, Va. to protest. "When you get those ordinary people involved, that's what makes the change," he recalls. "We slept on the floor in Sylvia's house, maybe 25 people, and it created a sense of solidarity. It was something you never would forget about."
"We knew we had to have demonstrations daily for a week, turned out to be a year! Over the course of 1985, more than 4,000 people were arrested outside the embassy. Protests broke out on college campuses all over the country, state and city governments started pulling their money out of South Africa. And the pressure on Congress to divest federal funds was growing," says Hill.
"When members of Congress started to be embarrassed by their constituents, asking, 'How can you trade with a repressive government like that? How can you allow U.S. military equipment to be allowed to shot down peaceful protesters?' Then, members of Congress who wanted to be reelected said, 'I don't want any part of this. I'm going to vote to impose sanctions on South Africa,'" says Counts.
President Ronald Reagan saw South Africa as an ally against communism, and vowed to veto any sanctions bill. To that, the public responded with even bigger protests. "The NAACP sent buses to march in front of the White House. This was unprecedented," says Hill.
On October 2, 1986 Congress was able to override Reagan's veto. It passed a sanctions bill that ceased trade almost immediately, cancelled flights, and set aside funds to help victims of apartheid.
"South Africa went into a deep recession, and out of that recession, out of that isolation, came the end of apartheid. I count this among the great protest of my life. It helped to trigger similar sanctions bills in Europe and other parts of the world, and ultimately the release of Nelson Mandela from captivity," remembers Norton.
On Saturday, the embassy will dedicate the statue of Mandela, an exact replica of the statue outside the prison where Mandela was released after 27 years in captivity. The 10-foot bronze statue shows Mandela pumping his fist in the air, and will be set in the very spot on the embassy grounds where protesters marched and chanted and demanded he be set free. | <urn:uuid:cf1743e5-7129-48cc-b568-a39c67595bc1> | {
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We take it for granted that water comes from the tap, but we don’t appreciate that it often has to travel hundreds, even thousands of miles from its source to get where it’s ultimately consumed. David Wicks, a masters student at UCLA, set about to fill that void, with Drawing Water, a project that’s equal parts data viz and art project.
The data is composed of two parts: The government’s data on rainfall, overlaid with data about drinking water consumption. Those two data sets are then merged using computer scripts. As he writes:
Each line in a print corresponds to a daily rainfall measurement. The length of the line and its initial placement are determined by the amount of rainfall measured and where it fell. The final placement and color of each line are determined by the influence of urban water consumers. The more water a city uses, the stronger its pull on the rainfall. As rainfall is pulled farther from where it fell, it changes color from blue to black.
Thus, what you get isn’t quite a literal exploration of water flows, but rather a metaphorical one that shows the often vast disconnect between where our resources lie and where they’re ultimately consumed. In pursuing that idea, the fittingly named Wicks makes a lovely point about our long held attitudes toward water:
Drawing Water plays a bit upon the 19th-century theory that “rain follows the plow.” At the time of its inception, that theory promoted Westward expansion, under the belief that plowing fields encouraged cloud formation and rainfall. As long as people plowed fields, they believed, water would come to them. Although we recognize climatological reality isn’t influenced by our farming (in the manner hoped), Americans still live with an illusion of resource availability following need.
So while this isn’t an actual vision of what’s happening in the world, it’s perhaps something more: An attempt to layer intelligent interpretation over the data that we do have, to create something far more powerful.
[Patterns from last winter]
[Detail of the Southwest]
Wicks is showing off Drawing Water for his master’s thesis at UCLA; according to Creative Applications, he plans to turn it into an iPad app, so we’ll let you know when he does. But they already exist as a series of prints. David, pretty please, can you make them available for sale?
[Via Creative Applications] | <urn:uuid:a6eca220-2a9c-453f-9365-8f8d14e53a53> | {
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Our Planet is an interactive installation developed for an international sustainability exhibition that attempts to decode some of the more complex and contentious issues surrounding climate change, the exhibition itself was part of a larger initiative that aims to help children develop an understanding of their relationship with the environment.
As a response to the brief, I developed a large spherical interactive touch-screen to display a constantly rotating planet Earth. Instantly recognisable, yet striking in the unfamiliar context. I developed a simulation of weather patterns - hurricanes and other natural phenomena - that showed the planet in constant flux; as a perpetually shifting and evolving. It would react to the approach of visitors, forming the storms as they drew closer; butterflies would fly from their fingers when they made contact, circling the globe before dispersing. More aggressive actions would create more immediate and pronounced effects, spinning the entire planet into a chaotic spiral.
Aside from the challenge of efficiently tracking user interaction on a spherical surface, the biggest hurdle by far was developing a system that could project a spherically correct image in real-time. One that not only looked correct, but could also be rotated arbitrarily on any axis.
The tracking system, projection mapping and generative graphics were all developed in Cinder, a c++ framework for creative coding.
Further information on the more technically detailed aspects of this project will be available on the blog soon. | <urn:uuid:5f3c9388-de31-4056-ba36-e7649ae0ffae> | {
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RRS James Clark Ross
- Ice Strengthened Antarctic
Supply and Survey Ship
The James Clark Ross is an Antarctic supply and survey ship belonging to the British Antarctic Survey. She is ice strengthened, rather than being an ice breaker and represents a typical compromise solution for the resupply of Antarctic bases and for ship-based scientific work.
Ice strengthened ships can't get through thick consolidated sea ice, but that occurs very infrequently in the Antarctic summer itinerary of a supply ship, so for most of the time, simply avoiding the heavy stuff is sufficient.
The James Clark Ross was built at Swan Hunters shipyard Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and launched on the 1st of December 1990. She was built specifically for the British Antarctic Survey.
Each year she leaves the UK for the Antarctic laden with supplies for British Antarctic and sub-Antarctic bases. She stays in the southern ocean for the austral summer carrying out oceanographic and biological survey work in between supplying and re-supplying the bases and moving personnel around. Before the start of the Antarctic winter, she heads back to the UK again returning equipment, garbage to be disposed of and last but by no means least, returning Antarctic base members who have been away from the UK from just a few months to nearly two and a half years.
Length: 99.04m, Breadth: 18.85m,
Displacement: 5,730 tonnes.
Propulsion: Diesel electric. Two diesel engines develop a total of 8,500 shaft horsepower and drive a dynamo to generate electricity to drive an electric motor attached to the propeller. This gives the ability for the propeller to still apply torque (turning force) when pushing against ice or if slowed down. Under these circumstances a direct drive diesel could just stop - and possibly suffer damage in the process.
Cruising speed 12 knots (22kmh), ability to break through first year ice 1m thick at 2 knots (3.6kmh) Ice knife positioned behind the rudder to protect the rudder and propeller if required to break ice when going in reverse.
Leading edge of the bow has a 150mm thick steel stem bar surrounded by steel 26mm thick. Special high quality low temperature steel is used throughout, this thins to 21.5mm underneath and along the sides of the ship.
10cm x 10cm weighs more than 1.6kg
10cm x 10cm weighs more than 2kg
"Ice belt" extends from 1m above to 1m below the
waterline all around the ship. This region has thicker metal
and has substantial internal ribs and frames to strengthen
it against being squeezed by any surrounding ice.
Very "clean" hull with nothing sticking out that might get damaged or knocked off by the ice. This makes for a less stable passage in open waters however.
Cooling system has a mechanism to prevent ice being sucked in and causing a blockage. Used warmed water is sprayed back over any ice blocks that may cause problems to help free up the flow when moving through heavy ice.
Ability to pump water rapidly from one side of the ship to the other causing a small roll that aids passage when breaking ice.
Bow and stern thrusters to help steering in confined spaces, can also be used to loosen ice at the bow and stern.
Powerful winches and an open "gate" at the stern for operating trawl nets or towing various surveying devices behind the ship.
Series of laboratories on board for analysis of water, biological specimens or other oceanographic data collected.
Picture credits: Top - British Antarctic Survey | Bottom - RRS James Clark Ross at Rothera, Tom L C, Creative Commons 3.0, Share and Share Alike license, unported | <urn:uuid:98999f78-89fe-4e7f-8eaf-71ae18039029> | {
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Maybe one of you could take this challenge and make it better!!!
There is a big way to get around doing what you need to do, but please try and take the proper steps.
Useful things to know before taking on this challenge:
Reverse Engineering (Not a must)
The challenge is is a C++ compiled program. The file is a .tar.gz / .zip file and comes with a README file explaining what you need to do.
Link to the .tar.gz
Link to a .zip
Never tested the regular .zip file, and do not know if it works.
The read me file is as follows:
- Code: Select all
I would first like to say thank you for taking on my challenge! Thank you!
Now, to understand what you must to to complete the challenge.
If you travel to the Challenge directory, there will a C++ program called 'Challenge'
Open up the C++ program. You will be asked to enter in two strings. These strings are then
put into a simple algorithm, to give a number output based on your strings. The goal here is
to find out how the algorithm works, and figure out how to make your encrypted strings equal the value of '1337'
Once you have done that, the C++ program will give you information regarding the rest of the challenge. | <urn:uuid:be970d57-aad1-4146-b018-98c1d5ef43de> | {
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Here is the simple process of aging. Every living cell within our body creates waste products. The nutrients from our food are delivered to each cell and they burn with oxygen to provide energy for us to live. The burned nutrients are the waste products. Whether you eat gourmet or junk food, all food generates waste products. The food that is either good or bad for you is determined by the amount and quality of the wastes produced: toxic, acid, alkaline, etc. Most of our cells go through metabolism and old dead cells become waste products.
These waste products must be discharged from our body. In fact, our body tries its best to dispose of them through urine and perspiration. Virtually all waste products are acidic; that is why urine is acidic and skin surface is also acidic. The problem is that, due to several reasons, our body cannot get rid of 100% of the waste products it produces.
The question is: "What happens to those non-disposed acidic waste products?" The answer is simple. These waste products become solid wastes, such as, cholesterol, fatty acid, uric acid, kidney stones, urates, phosphates, sulfates, etc., and, unknown to us, they accumulate and build-up somewhere within our body. This accumulation of non-disposed acidic wastes within our body is the aging process(1).
And I started wondering if this is why I feel worse. I've been having terrible night sweats, and have been peeing non-stop. | <urn:uuid:4b7d2ef6-fb46-4997-b7c2-9126024fdc22> | {
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Library Home || Full Table of Contents || Suggest a Link || Library Help
|German language primers on arithmetic and basic operations, solving equations and inequalities, functions, probability and statistics, geometry, and more.|
|Levels:||High School (9-12)|
|Resource Types:||Reference Sources|
|Math Topics:||Basic Algebra, Arithmetic/Early Math, Euclidean Plane Geometry, Pre-Calculus, Probability, Statistics|
© 1994-2014 Drexel University. All rights reserved.
The Math Forum is a research and educational enterprise of the Drexel University School of Education. | <urn:uuid:a11fde24-d49f-445f-b43a-5bf64c22ef99> | {
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The Arsenal is one of only two buildings that actually predate Central Park.
Designed to resemble a medieval fortress, the Arsenal was built between 1847 and 1851 as a munitions supply depot for New York State's National Guard. That original military use would be short-lived, as it would become part of Central Park. Over the years, the building had a number of interesting uses. It was a police precinct, a weather bureau, the first Museum of Natural History, and a makeshift zoo filled with animals on loan from the likes of circus founder P.T. Barnum. Today, it's home to the headquarters of NYC Parks and the Central Park Zoo.
Although it didn't match the Park's more fanciful architecture, the Arsenal survived many calls for demolition over the years. Currently, visitors can see two significant pieces of New York City history inside.
On the walls of the Arsenal's lobby, 1930s WPA murals depict historic scenes of the 19th century Park as well as soldiers in formation — a nod to the original purpose of the building itself.
On the building's third floor visitors can view the "Greensward Plan" — the original Park plan, created by architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. The Board of Commissioners of Central Park chose this design on April 28, 1858. It is viewable by appointment only.
The third floor is also home to the Arsenal Gallery, which is open 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Mondays through Fridays and has free admission. Eight to ten exhibitions of fine arts and photography are mounted annually, with most focused on the natural environment, urban issues and parks history.
In 2015, the Conservancy constructed a ramp at the Arsenal, making it easier for Park visitors to access both the Central Park Zoo and the historic Arsenal. Starting at the East 64th Street entrance, the ramp slopes 10 feet below the Fifth Avenue perimeter and offers better access for wheelchairs and strollers. In addition, we reconstructed the existing stairs into the Park and added new handrails, and improved the landscape inside the Park perimeter. The Conservancy is also reconstructed the perimeter pavement on Fifth Avenue from 60th to 65th Street. | <urn:uuid:d2d4d512-d86c-4b2c-90d9-4e0934a7e276> | {
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Leadership is the ability to give direction and guidance to those that need it. Some are born naturally with leadership skills, and others have to learn traits in order to be a good leader. To learn more about becoming a great leader, continue reading this article.
Honesty is one of the most important character traits of a leader. Lead people in the right direction. People will notice your honestly and respect it. You should work on being honest with those you work with since it will encourage them to do the same.
Honesty is integral to leadership. A good leader should be trustworthy. No matter what you do, make it a goal to be honest and trustworthy. When your colleagues see this in you, they’ll become even more loyal. They’ll have true respect in your leadership.
Remember your morals when you are leading. Be sure to will be comfortable with the decisions you make. If the decision does not feel right to you, then avoid it. Even though some people might not have similar moral beliefs as you, you must do what is right in your heart.
Always let your team know you appreciate them. It takes only seconds or minutes to email or write a thank you, or to support someone else, and it goes a long way in the eyes of others. This tiny gesture goes a long way in improving morale, and it doesn’t cost you a dime.
Tenacity is vital to effective leadership. If anything bad happens, your entire team will turn to you for guidance. You should focus on a positive outcome rather than any obstacles that may be in the way. Your persistence is going to motivate everyone else to get back to work and be hopeful.
Don’t get rid of your morals to compete with other businesses. If the competition is doing something that makes you uncomfortable, find an alternative to compete. You don’t have to do what they are doing just to stay in the game. If you find something else to compete with, you are going to feel much better about what you choose.
Do not do things that others may find deceitful. Never fail to live up to your promises. If you boast about the great service your company provides, then be sure that everyone working for you recognizes what they need to do in order to provide it.
As an effective leader, it is necessary to be aware of your strengths and weaknesses. Overconfidence in your abilities is sure to lead to a mistake. Work on improving weak skills.
Integrity is a crucial quality of an effective leader. Integrity is marked by honesty and a straightforward demeanor at all times. Others have a difficult time trusting you if you don’t have integrity. Leading with integrity helps your team trust you, stay loyal to you, and respect you.
Find out how you can write in an effective way. Leadership is about more than your vision and your manner. Your written communication skills will affect how people see you. If your writing looks unprofessional, people won’t respect you as much. Pay attention to how you write and communicate in other ways with your workers.
Clear communication between you and your employees is a must. Make a special effort to ensure that your team has all the necessary information to complete the tasks assigned to it, including deadlines. Check the work periodically to verify that the task is being completed on time.
Always communicate with your team. Make sure they understand what they should be doing and inform them of any change of plans. If you fail to give them necessary information, the team cannot succeed. Bad communication will also show a lack of control on your part.
Set a good example for your employees. A title isn’t everything. For example, if you want your employees to be friendly and arrive at work in a timely manner then you should do the same. Do not allow yourself to be a hypocrite. Try being a person that other people are likely to respect.
You must help provide both safety and comfort for your team. Discomfort is a motivation killer. Make sure your team doesn’t have to endure prolonged heat or cold. Give them breaks as necessary.
If you’re considering a leadership position, you should have a leader’s attitude. Understand what it takes to lead, and use this as a way to become a true leader. Dress correctly, speak without profanity and show trust and respect to your own current leaders. Even when the reward seems small, put in the extra effort. You will prove that you are ready to be a leader.
Good leadership skills are not easy to come by. You have some good ideas about how to hone your natural leadership skills. Great leaders are needed in the world today, so become one! | <urn:uuid:3d2a742f-3240-4d32-aaa5-b65cc0437590> | {
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On this day in history in Russia, the February Revolution (known as such because of Russia's use of the Julian calendar) begins on this day in 1917, when riots and strikes over the scarcity of food erupt in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg).
Demonstrators clamoring for bread took to the streets of the Russian capital of Petrograd. Supported by 90,000 men and women on strike, the protesters clashed with police, refusing to leave the streets.
Three days after the riots began and Russian army troops were sent to quell the protests, the troops turned against the Czar and became part of the protest. The imperial government was forced to resign and Nicolas abdicated his throne, formally ending over four centuries of Czarist rule in Russia. | <urn:uuid:afe67049-bba7-4e6e-9641-2c701364777d> | {
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Netflix, a company responsible for helping popularize paid TV and movie streaming, is conducting research into computer-simulated neural networks – machines designed to think in a way similar to the human mind.
According to a recent blog post from Netflix’s Alex Chen, Justin Basilico, and Xavier Amatriain, Netflix is finding ways to “train” large-scale neural networks. Contrary to the rigid logic of standard computers, neural networks simulate the learning processes that are thought to go on in the brain – requiring a neural network to be built, but also trained, to handle a certain workload.
A major customer of Amazon Web Services, Netflix has been experimenting in using the GPU power of public AWS cloud instances to train neural networks. This training involves developing machine learning algorithms by tuning the “hyperparameters” that drive the decision models. This is done by testing several different combinations of hyperparameters and picking the best one for the final model.
To more quickly train Netflix hopes that it can optimize this hyperparameter training using a method called Bayesian optimization. The company is experimenting with using the Spearmint package to perform Bayesian optimization across many GPUs using various tools to manage the hyperparameter workflow such as Celery, StarCluster, Jobman and HTCondor.
It’s currently unclear what application Netflix is hoping to building using this technology, but Netflix intends to share its experiences with neural networks to help grow the field.
The field of neural networks is still in an experimental stage and a set of common practices and community information sharing might be needed for this technology to take off.
Recently, a team of computer scientists at the University of Vienna outlined a system that provides on-demand neural network tools aimed at novice and experienced users, provided through a “Sky Compute” cloud made up of different services.
Neural networks are being used to perform tasks difficult with traditional computational approaches. Some applications include computer vision, speech recognition and artificial intelligence. With a surge in public and private research, neural networks could help solve new research puzzles, and also pave the way for new entrepreneurial products and services. | <urn:uuid:15cc278d-a05c-46e3-b42d-6906bd0d8e5a> | {
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Is most of taste really smell?
Well, it depends on how you define the terms "taste" and "smell." The way most people use "taste," to mean the sensations experienced when eating a food or drinking a beverage, smell is definitely a large portion of the experience. If, however, you define the terms "taste" and "smell" more scientifically, so that taste refers to the sensations elicited by stimulation of the taste receptor cells and smell refers to the stimulation of olfactory neuron, then these are independent senses, both of which play an important role in the experiencing of foods and beverages. A more scientifically accurate statement would be that "Most of flavor is smell," where flavor is defined as the combination of sensations experienced when eating or drinking, especially, taste, smell, and chemesthesis.
Why can't you taste anything when you have a cold?
As I explained in the answer above, this depends a bit on the way you define "taste." When you have a cold, you tend to get congested (a stuffed-up nose). When this happens, air stops flowing past the olfactory receptors, which means that odor compounds cannot reach them and your sense of smell will not work. So, when you have a cold, your sense of smell stops working. Your sense of taste, which arises from the stimulation of taste receptor cells is usually unaffected, but since you can't smell, the flavor of foods and beverages is definitely altered.
Are there four basic tastes?
You may have been taught that all we “really taste” is sweet, sour, salty, and bitter, but this is in fact not an established fact. There are many prominent researchers who believe in the existence of a fifth “basic taste,” called “umami.” This taste is associated with the taste of MSG (monosodium glutamate, the primary ingredient in AccentTM) and is described as a “brothy” or “savory” taste. There are still others who believe that the entire concept of basic tastes is flawed and feel that the evidence supporting this idea is based more upon language limitations than on perceptual or physiological ones. For a more extensive treatment of the existence of basic tastes, you might want to take a look at: Delwiche, J. F. (1996). Are there 'basic' tastes? Trends in Food Science and Technology, Vol. 7, pp. 411-415.
Is there a fifth basic taste?
There are many prominent researchers who believe in the existence of a fifth “basic taste,” called “umami.” This taste is associated with the taste of MSG (monosodium glutamate, the primary ingredient in Accent) and is described as a “brothy” or “savory” taste. Although many researchers initially argued that its unique properties arose from odor or mouthfeel characteristics, it is now widely accepted as a true gustatory stimulus.
Is the tongue map true?
This is, in fact, a complete and utter falsity. It is a myth. In fact, you can taste all taste compounds everywhere on your tongue, as long as you stimulate taste receptor cells. If you want to test this yourself, put salt on the tip of your tongue. You will see that you clearly taste saltiness immediately and do not need to wait for the stimulus to diffuse to other areas of your tongue. You can demonstrate the same thing for sourness using one of those intensely sour candies that are coated with tartaric acid, like Sour Patch Kids or Cry Babies or some such, the same thing for sweetness by putting sugar on the tip of your tongue, and the same thing for bitterness by placing freeze-dried decaffeinated coffee crystals on the tip of your tongue.
Is smell the best sense at triggering memory?
Known as the “Proust effect,” certain odors can evoke involuntary memories
. Several studies have looked at this phenomenon (see this study
and this study
for examples) versus stimuli from other modalities, especially vision and hearing. Results across investigation have been somewhat inconsistent, but odors do not seem to trigger more accurate recall. Some evidence suggests that odor-evoked memories are emotionally charged, but this has proven difficult to capture in the laboratory. It is likely that such an emotional charge is linked to very specific odors and events, unique to each individual, making it difficult to demonstrate empirically what many have experienced.
What is a pheromone?
The exact definition of a pheromone is an issue that is still debated. A deceptively simple definition is that it is an externally secreted chemical that sends information from one organism to other members of the same species. But organisms secrete an abundance of chemicals. What makes one chemical an odor and another a pheromone? Many say that a chemical must elicit a behavioral response in other organisms to be considered a pheromone. Others say that it must be detected by the vomeronasal organ, a specialized system similar to the olfactory system, found in many animals. Still others say that both must be true. The clearest examples of pheromones are found in insects, where a chemical secreted by the female when she is ready to mate can attract the male of the species from great distances.
Does perfume with pheromones in it attract the opposite sex?
To date, there has been no reliable scientific evidence from independent sources to indicate that the use of pheromone-containing perfumes is effective at attracting members of the opposite sex.
Still have questions?
If you have a specific question that isn't covered by these Basics, and is NOT clinical in nature, feel free to try writing Dr. Delwiche through our Contact Us
page. Don't be surprised if it takes her a while to respond. While she does her best to respond to all inquiries related to her area of her expertise, such responses are unpaid volunteer contributions. Questions of a clinical nature will be ignored.Please note: Dr. Delwiche is not a medical doctor and does not do clinical research. Scant research has been done in this area and almost no treatments exist. If you have a question regarding a problem with taste or smell, you may want to visit one of the following sites:
NIDCD Taste and Smell
Taste and Smell Disorders Clinic in Texas
University of Connecticut Taste and Smell Clinic
Monell-Jefferson Taste and Smell Clinic
Taste and Smell Center at the University of Pennsylvania
Taste and Smell Clinic in D.C.
Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, Ltd | <urn:uuid:0d3a877a-4317-4717-b498-caa3e39ec4e7> | {
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Each company leader has particular expectations regarding the operations of a small business. One question that keeps many leaders awake at night is how to increase the efficiency of the company's production workers. An efficient worker generates less waste and uses fewer resources to produce a certain number of items during a particular period than does an inefficient worker. As a result, the production of the efficient worker is less costly and more profitable than that of a less-efficient worker, which translates to a higher return on equity and assets for the company.
Tools and Equipment
The workers in a small business are most efficient if they have access to the appropriate tools, equipment, machinery and work space with which to perform their work tasks. Companies that provide appropriate resources to employees make it possible for the workers to produce goods that are of high quality in the minimum possible time. Efficient processes and low error rates minimize production costs. Business owners can specify the required working conditions, tools and equipment in each worker's job description to provide optimal work conditions.
Production lines are most efficient when management makes changes and improvements to keep pace with technological advances. In turn, production workers must be trained in the operation of the new machinery and equipment that is required to perform their jobs. As the employee expands his skills, his attitude and the quality of his work typically improves, which increases his efficiency and productivity.
Appraisals are essential to the efforts of a small business to develop workers who achieve the high performance levels critical for organizational effectiveness. After the employee's performance is measured, the worker's manager provides feedback that guides the employee's efforts to improve the manner in which he performs his work. Based on the employee's past performance and the needed improvements, the manager sets goals and develops strategies that help the worker achieve the goals and encourage the employee to develop new skills and improve existing skills.
The efficiency of all workers, including production workers, is partially dependent on the workers' accountability for the quality of his work. The production worker, not the lead, should be made aware that he is accountable for his actions and the quality of the goods he produces. This knowledge motivates the employee to work more meticulously. Otherwise, he might be less diligent in his work assuming that he can place the blame for his poor performance on a co-worker or a supervisor.
- Medioimages/Photodisc/Photodisc/Getty Images | <urn:uuid:428ee686-5313-4969-bdbd-424ac010b3a8> | {
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This content has been marked as final. Show 4 replies
Doug, there are 2 parts to ISO 2768. -1 and -2. -1 refers to tolerances for linear and angular dimensuons without tolerance indications and -2 refers to geometric tolerances for features with individual tolerance indiscations.
So, in -2 you'll see that K is a tolerance class
Dear Steve ,
if on a technical drawing it is specified ISO 2768 mK , where should I look for knowing the tolerances ? In ISO 2768-1 m class or in ISO 2768-2 K class ?
thanks in advance
Just to add to what Steve has already mentioned:
ISO 2768-1 General Tolerances (linear & angular) has three charts, Linear, Broken Edge & Angular. Each chart is divided in four classes of tolerances as follows:
f = fine
m = medium
c = coarse
v = very coarse
The tolerance designation is determined by various items, such as size, complexity & means of manufacture of your parts.
ISO 2768-2 General Tolerances (geometric) has four charts, Straightness & Flatness, Perpendicularity, Symmetry and Circular Run-out. Each chart is divided into three classes of tolerances as follows: H, K and L. They are not literally defined in the specification, although I believe all letters from this specification are derived from Fit Tolerancing Charts ISO 286.
On our metric drawings we specify ISO 2768-m K
Thanks Steve and Eddie
Thanks for the info. It is starting to become a little clearer as to what impact this standard has on the way we manufacture I would hate for us to have our work rejected because we chose to ignore the tolerances | <urn:uuid:fd7cf75f-6f10-4126-aac6-668172247740> | {
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How hearing loss may affect student participation:
With appropriate auditory aids, deaf and hard of hearing students can be as effective
and capable as their hearing peers.
In cases where a student is using an interpreter, there may be a 1-2 second (translating)
delay in receiving the message; as a result, student responses may appear delayed.
If students were prelingually deaf or hearing impaired, the syntax of spoken or written
language may be different from that of peers. There may be little or no effect or
the effect may be significant. Deaf students often consider ASL (American Sign Language)
their native language.
Students may appear to use the visual channel heavily; students may do little or no
writing during a lecture which is received visually.
A student who is deaf or hard of hearing may have reduced auditory feedback when speaking
so that speech may be different from that of peers. There is great individual variation:
there may be little or no effect or speech may be clearly impacted.
Helpful strategies for instructing students who are Deaf or hard-of-hearing:
- Assume that the student has adequate social skills and can be as effective and confident
as his/her peers.
- Whenever possible, allow the student to see your face and gestures during the lecture.
Anything said while facing away from the student may be lost.
- Try to avoid lecturing in front of bright windows as they tend to be a distraction
to visual communication.
- Use of visual aids during the lecture is very important. (provide a few seconds for
the class to look over visual material before you begin to lecture)
- Include hearing impaired students in classroom discussion by repeating questions from
other students, particularly if you are using a FM system.
- Avoid placing obstructions in front of your mouth (e.g., hands, notes) when speaking
with a student who is hearing impaired or deaf.
- Never hesitate to ask students to repeat themselves if you are having difficulty understanding
their speech. In some instances, you may even request that they write their comments
down to facilitate a clear understanding.
- During group conversations or seminar classes, all participants should raise hands
and be called on to speak. In this way, the student with the hearing loss can identify
the speaker in order to focus their speech reading and listening.
- Speak directly to the student in a normal voice, look at the student when you speak,
and enunciate clearly. Do not speak loudly or over-enunciate.
- When using an interpreter, it is helpful to speak at a normal rate (about 120 words
per minute); very rapid speech can be difficult to interpret.
- When using an interpreter, speak directly to the class or student. The student will
watch the interpreter while you speak. If the student asks a question (directly or
through the interpreter), it is helpful to respond directly to the student or class,
as though the interpreter were not present. If the student signs a response, the interpreter
can “voice the translation to the class or instructor”
- Deaf students should always be provided with copies of lecture notes. They cannot
attend to the lecture and look down to scribe notes without missing the visual interpretation
of the lecture. Note are essential to the success of Deaf students in your class.
Important : Check in with the deaf or hard of hearing student to be sure they have
important details for assignments clear in their notes. These are often details which
go unnoticed by note-takers.
If you are unsure of the students' needs, feel free to ask them about their particular
needs for participation. This should be a private discussion.
How Visual Disabilities may affect student participation:
- With the use of adaptive technology and supports, students with visual disabilities
can be as capable and efficient as their peers who rely on sight.
- There may be a time delay in obtaining electronic textbooks.
- The student may take more time to read in-class handouts and may need adaptive equipment.
- The student may attend class accompanied by a service animal.
- The student may not be able to make use of PowerPoint slides or white boards, thus
requiring an accommodation.
- The student should be able to do written in-class exercises if the material provided
is in accessible format.
- The student may need to view the work closely in order to read handouts. Large print
may be required.
- The student may rely on audio versions of all print material or handouts; or the student
may need to access assistive technology.
Helpful strategies for instructing students with Visual Disabilities:
- Assume that the student has adequate social skills and rapport building techniques
that will enable the student to be as effective, confident and competent as his or
- Try to limit external and internal noise by closing doors and/or windows.
- Oral reading is encouraged over silent reading.
- While using PowerPoint, overheads, or a writing board, verbally describe what is being
presented and provide students with a hard copy. Also, consider using colored markers
on a clean chalkboard for increased contrast.
- Try to include the student in class discussions. A suggestion is for students to raise
hands and be recognized by name.
- When calling on the student with visual impairment, always use the student's name.
- Seating toward the front of the classroom is recommended.
- Try to avoid lecturing in front of bright windows as it tends to be distracting.
- Provide reading lists as soon as possible.
- In office situations it may be appropriate to describe the position of chairs/doorways
to help orient the student.
From students with vision impairment, Spring 2012:
"The most helpful thing a CCRI faculty member did for me was to provide electronic
materials right away so that I could prepare for class."
“The most helpful thing a teacher did for me was make sure I had all of my materials
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Access a targeted collection of application notes, case studies, videos, webinars and white papers covering a range of applications for Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy, Near-infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Ultraviolet-Visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometry, X-Ray Fluorescence, and more.
FTIR Sample Techniques - True Specular Reflectance/Reflection-Absorption
True specular reflectance is a surface measurement technique that works on the principle of reflective efficiencies. This principle states that every sample has a refractive index that varies with the frequency of light to which it is exposed. Instead of examining the energy that passes through the sample, true specular reflectance measures the energy that is reflected off the surface of a sample, or its refractive index. By examining the frequency bands in which the rate of change in the refractive index is high, users can make assumptions regarding the absorbency of the sample. The true specular reflectance technique provides excellent qualitative data.
Reflection-absorption works on the same principle, but due to sample properties, some of the energy passes through the surface layer, is absorbed into the bulk of the sample, and then reflects off a substrate below the surface layer. A combination of true specular reflectance and reflection-absorption can occur when criteria for both techniques are met. If a qualitative comparison to transmission spectra is desired, users can apply the Kramers-Kronig correction to the data to remove the effects of dispersion.
Specular reflectance is commonly used for the analysis of both organic and inorganic samples having large, flat, reflective surfaces. Reflection-absorption can occur when one of the above criteria is compromised and the sample has a reflective substrate present just below the surface. This type of analysis is commonly used for:
- Metallic surfaces
- Thin films on reflective substrates
- Silicon wafers
- Laminated materials on metals
- Sensitivity to monolayer samples – can detect Angstrom thick coatings on metal substrates
- Nondestructive analysis – no contact or sample damage during analysis
- Wide range of accessories available – can utilize main spectrometer and microscope accessories depending on the size of the sample and the thickness of surface layer
Dr. Michael Bradley received his BS degree in chemistry from the University of South Carolina and his PhD in physical chemistry from the University of Illinois, and also completed his MBA in management. He taught graduate and undergraduate chemistry for 15 years, prior to becoming a field applications scientist with Thermo Nicolet, subsequently Thermo Fisher Scientific, in 2002. He is now the marketing manager for FTIR and FTIR microscopy products. | <urn:uuid:b36fa254-31a1-428c-8c13-f67e9b4e7e89> | {
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The cost of owning and operating an industrial machine during its service life, called total cost of ownership (TCO), is an often-overlooked part of the decision-making process by machine purchasers.
TCO involves several factors besides the initial upfront costs such as the purchase price and the cost to integrate the robot, machine or process skid into the overall control system. There are long-term operating costs, including the amount of energy it takes to run the system, labor requirements and required maintenance. Other costs in the TCO equation include downtime and changeover expenses, off-spec product, floor space requirements, insurance, financing costs, training, security, safety, and a host of other expenses depending on the complexity of your cost accountant's TCO equation.
Features that reduce a machine user's TCO are welcome, but how can machine builders justify the extra hit to the purchase price for some of these longer-term cost reductions? How do they sell the potential savings to their customers?
Cutting Energy Costs
The cost of running a machine has a huge impact on TCO, so energy consumption is an obvious target. "Robot suppliers are decreasing their products' overall power consumption," says Michael Gurney, principal at system integrator Concept Systems. "Since the tsunami in Japan caused the cost of power to increase, Japanese robot suppliers are updating their systems to do just as much with a lot less power consumption. For example, the Nachi SRA robot uses something like 20% less power relative to the previous generation. We see falling power requirements as a trend throughout all product offerings, but more so from Japan in the next decade."
A machine builder can monitor energy consumption with simple modules, notes Robert Muehlfellner, director of automation technology at B&R Industrial Automation. "For machines where the primary energy consumption is through servos, energy usage can be measured by the drive system directly," he explains. "With energy-consumption data available, every end user can take steps to optimize energy usage and reduce cost."
Another way that energy costs can be identified is with Profienergy, a function of Profinet. "One of the features of Profienergy is the ability to format data into useful information about energy demand," explains Carl Henning, deputy director of PI North America. "This information can be used to avoid demand peaks."
There are other benefits of monitoring. "Using devices with embedded intelligence to monitor motor currents, vibration and torque signatures allows machine builders to deliver machines with protective functions," notes Sandy Holden, market development manager of OEM business at Rockwell Automation. "These devices help guard against the damaging effects of electrical and other hazards, providing long-term equipment protection and, in turn, reduced cost of replacing equipment."
Hibernate If You Can
Some machine builders already offer a hibernation state. "Our machines only run when product is fed to the machine," says Derek Jones, marketing manager at Lantech, based in Louisville, Ky. "During downtime, the machine is not using much power at all. The cost to power down and power back up is greater than just leaving our machine in its automatic state."
Propack Processing & Packaging Systems in Beamsville, Ontario, builds robotic collators to feed topload, endload and multipack packaging machines (Figure 1). Propack's machines typically run three shifts per day, says Chris Follows, president. "If no product is available, we turn off all the conveyors that feed the machine," he says. "This also ensures cartons are not damaged due to conveyor friction." | <urn:uuid:e1a0b47a-3b64-451c-ad1f-84e6c5a97ac9> | {
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In a state that boasts 300 days of sunshine a year, there is no reason young people should be exposing their skin to indoor tanning.
A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association says the number of skin cancer cases due to indoor tanning is higher than the number of lung cancer cases due to smoking worldwide.
Yet we don’t allow people younger than 18 to buy cigarettes. In fact, we support House Bill 1054, which would increase that to age 21. So we also support a bill that would ban minors 18 and younger from using tanning beds.
There is simply no need for youngsters to seek an artificially induced tan and subject themselves to the possibility of devastating effects years later.
In the U.S. alone, 419,254 cases of skin cancer each year are attributed to indoor tanning. Of this number, 6,199 are melanoma cases. The risk is highest in those exposed at young ages; 19 percent of adolescents have tanned indoors, according to the study.
We understand reputable tanning salons require parental consent, but we still think this bill is an important step in saving lives.
Society doesn’t approve of parents letting kids smoke, and it shouldn’t give the OK to using tanning beds. | <urn:uuid:fa97e2cf-bdeb-4ce8-a1ac-c046bb85a2ee> | {
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TERMS: dominant/recessive harmony and umlaut
|From:||dirk elzinga <dirk.elzinga@...>|
|Date:||Wednesday, November 17, 1999, 17:00|
On Tue, 16 Nov 1999, FFlores wrote:
> Raymond Brown <ray.brown@...> wrote:
> > No, not at all. It is the vowel in the _root_ word which conditions all
> > the vowels in the affixes (usually suffixes) in langs with vowel harmony.
> > Umlaut is almost the opposite; the vowel of a suffix has modified the root
> > vowel. The suffix then, of course, usually thinks it's done its job &
> > disappears.
> I thought you could call them simply forward or backward vowel harmony,
> or something like that (like there is forward and backward assimilation).
> But I guess the main difference is that vowel harmony involves the root
> (while umlaut may modify non-root vowels too, can't it?).
In dominant/recessive harmony systems, the harmonic trigger may be
either a root or an affix; what matters is its ranking in a hierarchy
of dominant and recessive morphemes. Dominant morphemes impose harmonic
requirments on recessive morphemes regardless of root/affix status. Nez
Perce is such a language (as is Chukchi; but I know the facts better
from Nez Perce). In Nez Perce the harmonic sets are:
(Notice that [i] is contained in both sets; a nice wrinkle in Nez Perce
that I got a qualifying paper out of in grad school.)
root-controlled harmony (1s poss prefix: ne?-, vocative -e?)
mex 'paternal uncle'
ne?mex 'my paternal uncle'
na?to:t 'my father'
In these examples, the root governs the quality of vowel in the affix.
ca:qat'ayn 'for the raspberry'
tisqa?laykin 'near the skunk'
In these examples, the affix governs the quality of vowel in the root.
In a dominant/recessive harmony system, the direction of harmony is
controlled by the dominant/recessive hierarchy and not by | <urn:uuid:eaedea4f-d38c-4561-ab1a-bca4685f405e> | {
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Engineering materials with better high temperature oxidation properties are needed to increase the thermodynamic efficiencies of the energy production and transportation systems. Because of their high melting temperatures, refractory metals like Nb or Mo are brought together with intermetallic compounds as two components of a new class of composite materials. To acquire a balanced high temperature mechanical and oxidation properties, these materials generally have multiphase and multicomponent structures. Borides of some transition elements are also being considered as high temperature structural materials for new aerospace vehicles. These materials are also required to have sufficient high temperature oxidation resistance in order to provide reliable and long service lives. | <urn:uuid:00d83d8d-a844-4d28-9080-bb72d500ec46> | {
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Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Legal, Financial, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
neuroectodermal cells that originate in the dorsal aspect of the neural folds or neural tube. These cells leave the neural tube or folds and differentiate into various cell types including posterior-root ganglion cells; autonomic ganglion cells; the chromaffin cells of the suprarenal medulla; Schwann cells; sensory ganglia cells of cranial nerves V, IX, and X; part of the meninges; or integumentary pigment cells.
The part of the ectoderm in a vertebrate embryo that lies on either side of the neural tube and develops into the cranial, spinal, and autonomic ganglia.
the ectodermally derived cells along the outer surface of each side of the neural tube in the early stages of embryonic development. The cells migrate laterally throughout the embryo and give rise to spinal, cranial, enteric, and sympathetic ganglia; pigment cells; Schwann cells; and the adrenal medulla. Also called ganglionic crest, ganglionic ridge. See also neural tube formation.
neu·ral crest(nūr'ăl krest)
A band of neuroectodermal cells along either side of the line of closure of the embryonic neural groove; with the formation of the neural tube, these bands come to lie dorsolateral to the developing spinal cord and lateral to the brainstem, where they separate into clusters of cells that develop into, for example, spinal ganglion cells, autonomic ganglion cells, the chromaffin cells of the suprarenal medulla, Schwann cells, sensory ganglia of cranial nerves V, VII, VIII, IX, and X, part of the meninges, or integumentary pigment cells.
neural crestthe ridge of ectoderm occurring directly above the neural tube in the development of the vertebrate embryo; it gives rise to the PERIPHERAL nervous system.
1. a projecting structure or ridge, especially one surmounting a bone or its border.
2. a term describing the upper margin of the neck; root of the mane in a horse.
3. in canaries, a crown of long feathers on the head, all radiating out from a central point; inherited as a dominant trait.
linear thickenings of the walls of the ampullae of the semicircular canals.
the maxillary ridge passing along the alveolar processes of the fetal maxillary bones.
ridges which extend from the epicondyles of the humerus to the shaft.
located on the inside surface of the nasal bones of the pig and dog.
external occipital crest
an extension of the external occipital protuberance to which the ligamentum nuchae is attached.
the prominent crest on the external aspect of the maxilla of horses stretching from beneath the orbit to the middle of the molar teeth. The masseter muscle is attached to its ventral surface.
the thickened cranial border of the ilium of dogs and cats.
the fatty, fibrous tissue above the nuchal ligament which gives the stallion's neck its characteristic elevated contour.
cords of nervous tissue which detaches from the developing spinal cord in the embryo; contribute tissue to the somatic and autonomic ganglia, and many other structures.
the thick, transverse crest on the occipital bone.
a low transverse ridge on the palatine bones.
divides the cranial cavity into cerebellar and cerebral compartments.
the median ridge in the pelvis of many kidneys onto which papillary ducts open.
the mucosal folds in the ruminant reticulum that form the cells of the honeycomb compartments of the walls.
the median crest is the fused dorsal spines of the sacral vertebrae; the lateral sacral crest is the fused articular processes.
the ridge in the middle of the skull which extends forwards from the occipital protuberance; more pronounced in some species, breeds and individuals.
a ridge which runs between the greater and lesser trochanters and forms the caudal wall of the trochanteric fossa.
a longitudinal ridge in the roof of the pelvic urethra formed from two folds of urinary bladder mucosa which fuse after separate origins at the ureteric orifices.
divides the vestibule of the inner ear into the spherical and elliptical recesses. | <urn:uuid:e92f9b33-868c-4aa8-9f84-f254f38aa4c4> | {
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Satan (שָׂטָן Standard Hebrew Satan, Tiberian Hebrew Śāṭān; Aramaic שִׂטְנָא Śiṭnâ: both words mean "Adversary; accuser") is an angel, demon, or minor god in many religions. Satan plays various roles in the Qur'an, the Hebrew Bible, the Apocrypha and the New Testament. In the Hebrew Bible, Satan is an angel that God utilizes to test man for various reasons usually dealing with his level of piety (i.e. the test of Adam and Eve in Genesis, and the Book of Job). In the Apocrypha and New Testament, Satan is portrayed as an evil, rebellious demon who is the enemy of God and mankind.
In modern Abrahamic religions, Satan is generally viewed as a supernatural entity who is the central embodiment of evil. Satan is also commonly known as the Devil, the "Prince of Darkness," Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, or Lucifer. In the Talmud and some works of Kabbalah Satan is sometimes called Samael; however most Jewish literature is of the opinion that Samael is a separate angel. In the fields of angelology and demonology these different names sometimes refer to a number of different angels and demons, and there is significant disagreement as to whether any of these entities is actually evil.
In Islam, Satan is known as Iblis or Shaitan, who was the chief of the angels until he disobeyed Allah by refusing to prostrate himself before Adam because he refused to accept Man as his superior. Islam describes Satan as a Jinn, an entity made of fire, and not of the angels made from light.
...(Please add this)...
In the Hebrew Bible
In the Hebrew Bible Satan is better understood as a "troublemaker" than as an embodiment of "evil." The term is applied both to divine and human beings.
Different uses of the word "Satan"
The Hebrew word "Satan" is used in the Hebrew Bible with the general connotation of "adversary," being applied to:
- An enemy in war (1 Kings 5:18; 11:14, 23, 25), from which use has developed the concept of a traitor in battle (1 Sam. 29:4)
- An accuser before the judgment-seat (Ps. 109:6); and (3) to any opponent (2 Sam. 29:23).
- An antagonist who puts obstacles in the way, as in Num. 22:32, where the angel of God is described as opposing Balaam in the guise of Satan or adversary; so that the concept of Satan as a distinct being was not then known
- As an angel who works for God, and acts as a prosecuting attorney against mankind (the Book of Job).
Satan as an accuser
Where Satan does appear as an angel, he is clearly a member of God's court and plays the role of the Accuser (possibly one of a number), much like a prosecuting attorney for God. Such a view is found in the prologue to the Book of Job, where Satan appears, together with other celestial beings, before God, replying to the inquiry of God as to whence he had come, with the words: "From going to and fro on the earth and from walking in it" (Job 1:7). Both question and answer, as well as the dialogue which follows, characterize Satan as that member of the divine council who watches over human activity, but with the purpose of searching out men's sins and appearing as their accuser. He is, therefore, the celestial prosecutor, who sees only iniquity; for he persists in his evil opinion of Job even after he has passed successfully through his first trial by surrendering to the will of God, whereupon Satan demands another test through physical suffering (Job 2:3-5).
It is evident from the prologue in Job that Satan has no power of independent action, but requires the permission of God, which he may not transgress. Satan is not an opponent of God. This view is also retained in Zech. 3:1-2, where Satan is described as the adversary of the high priest Joshua, and of the people of God whose representative the hierarch is; and he there opposes the "angel of the Lord," who bids him be silent in the name of God. In both of these passages Satan is a mere accuser who acts only according to the permission of the Deity.
In 1 Chron. 21:1 Satan appears as one who is able to provoke David to destroy Israel. The Chronicler (third century B.C.) regards Satan as an independent agent, a view which is the more striking since the source whence he drew his account (2 Sam. 24:1) speaks of God Himself as the one who moved David against the children of Israel. Since the older conception refers all events, whether good or bad, to God alone (1 Sam. 16:14; 1 Kings 22:22; Isa. 45:7; etc.), it is possible that the Chronicler, and perhaps even Zechariah, were influenced by Zoroastrianism, even though in the case of the prophet Jewish monism strongly opposed Iranian dualism.
In Rabbinic literature
Early rabbinic Jewish statements in the Mishnah and Talmud show that Satan played little or no role in Jewish theology. In the course of time, however, Judaism absorbed the popular concepts of Satan, which doubtless forced their way gradually from the lower classes to the most cultured. The later a rabbinic work can be dated the more frequent is the mention therein of Satan and his hosts.
An example is found in Genesis: The serpent who had Eve eat the forbidden fruit. The consensus of the Biblical commentators in classical Judaism is that the serpent of the narrative in Genesis, was literally a serpent. They differ regarding what it represented: The evil inclinaction (Yetzer HaRa), Satan, or the Angel of Death. According to the Midrash, before this cunning beast was cursed, it stood erect and was endowed with some faculty of communication.
The Palestinian Talmud, completed about 450 CE, is more reticent in this regard; and this is the more noteworthy since its provenience is the same as that of the New Testament.
The Babylonian Talmud (Bava Bathra 16a) states that the Evil Inclincation (Yetzer ha-Ra), the Angel of Death and Satan are identical.
In a midrash (Genesis Rabbah 19) Samael, the lord of the satans, was a mighty prince of angels in heaven. Satan came into the world with woman, that is, with Eve (Midrash Yalkut, Genesis 1:23), so that he was created and is not eternal. Like all celestial beings, he flies through the air (Genesis Rabbah 19), and can assume any form, as of a bird (Talmud, Sanhedrin 107a), a stag (ibid, 95a), a woman (ibid, 81a), a beggar, or a young man (Midrash Tanchuma, Wayera, end); he is said to skip (Talmud Pesachim 112b and Megilla. 11b), in allusion to his appearance in the form of a goat.
In some works some rabbis hold that Satan is the incarnation of all evil, and his thoughts are devoted to the destruction of man. In this view, Satan, the impulse to evil and the angel of death are one and the same personality. Satan seizes upon even a single word which may be prejudicial to man; so that "one should not open his mouth unto evil," i.e., "unto Satan" (Talmud Berachot 19a). In times of danger likewise he brings his accusations (Palestinian Talmud, Shabbat 5b). While he has power over all the works of man (Talmud Berachot 46b), he can not prevail at the same time against two individuals of different nationality; so that Samuel, a noted astronomer, physician and teacher of the Law (died at Nehardea, 247), would start on a journey only when a Gentile traveled with him (Talmud, Shabbat 32a).
Satan's knowledge is circumscribed; for when the shofar is blown on New-Year's Day he is "confounded" (Rosh Hashana 16b, Targum Yerushalmi to Numbers 10:10). On the Day of Atonement his power vanishes; for the numerical value of the letters of his name (gematria and Hebrew numerals) is only 364, one day being thus exempt from his influence (Yoma 20a).
If Satan does not attain his purpose, as was the case in his temptation of Job, he feels great sorrow (Bava Bathra 16a); and it was a terrible blow to him, as the representative of moral evil, that the Torah, the incarnation of moral good, should be given to Israel. He endeavored to overthrow it, and finally led the people to make the golden calf (Shabbat 89a, Targum Yerushalmi to Exodus 32:1), while the two tables of the Law were bestowed on Moses of necessity without Satan's knowledge (Sanhedrin 26b).
One rabbi notes that Satan was an active agent in the fall of man (Midrash Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer 13, beginning), and was the father of Cain (ibid, 21), while he was also instrumental in the offering of Isaac (Midrash Tanchuma, Wayera, 22 [ed. Stettin, p. 39a]), in the release of the animal destined by Esau for his father (ibid, Toledot, 11), in the theophany at Sinai, in the death of Moses (Deuteronomy Rabbah 13:9), in David's sin with Bath-sheba (Sanhedrin 95a), and in the death of Queen Vashti (Megilla 11a). The decree to destroy all the Jews, which Haman obtained, was written on parchment brought by Satan (Esther Rabba 3:9). When Alexander the Great reproached the Jewish sages with their rebellion, they made the plea that Satan had been too mighty for them (Tamid 32a).
In the Apocrypha
In Wisdom ii. 24 Satan is represented, with reference to Gen. iii., as the father of all lies, who brought death into the world; he is apparently mentioned also in Ecclus. (Sirach) xxi. 27, and the fact that his name does not occur in Daniel is doubtless due merely to chance. Satan was the seducer and the paramour of Eve, and was hurled from heaven together with other angels because of his iniquity (Slavonic Book of Enoch, xxix. 4 et seq.). Since that time he has been called "Satan," although previously he had been termed "Satanel" (ib. xxxi. 3 et seq.).
The doctrine of the fall of Satan, as well as of the fall of the angels, is found also in Babylonia. Satan rules over an entire host of angels (Martyrdom of Isaiah, ii. 2; Vita Adæ et Evæ, xvi.). Mastema, who induced God to test Abraham through the sacrifice of Isaac, is identical with Satan in both name and nature (Book of Jubilees, xvii. 18), and the Asmodeus of the Book of Tobit is likewise to be identified with him, especially in view of his licentiousness. As the lord of satans he not infrequently bears the special name Samael.
It is difficult to identify Satan in any other passages of the Apocrypha, since the originals in which his name occurred have been lost, and the translations employ various equivalents. An "argumentum a silentio" can not, therefore, be adduced as proof that concepts of Satan were not wide-spread; but it must rather be assumed that reference to him and his realm is often implied in the mention of evil spirits.
In the New Testament
Satan figures much more prominently in the New Testament and in Christian theology generally. In the New Testament, Satan appears as a tempter for Jesus for example (see Matt. 4: 3-9). In John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, the theme is further developed—Satan is believed to have been an archangel named Lucifer who turned against God before the creation of man. (Prophesies in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 are sometimes thought to be referring to Satan, rather than to the earthly king that a plain or literal reading of the text suggests.) According to this view, Satan waged war against God, his creator, and was banished from Heaven because of this.
In the creation story found in the book of Genesis a serpent tempted Adam and Eve to partake of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. In the Jewish tradition, the serpent was always taken to be literally a snake; the story tells us the origin of how the snake lost its legs. Later Christian theologies interpreted this serpent to be Satan, to the point where many Christians are unaware that the actual Hebrew text does not identify the serpent as Satan. In Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Satan is one of humanity's three enemies, along with sin and death.
According to most Christian eschatology, Satan will wage a final war against Jesus, before being cast into Hell for "aeonios." (Aeonios, literally translated, means of or pertaining to an age, which is incorrectly translated as "all eternity." It is impossible to apply the meaning of a span of time to eternity since eternity, itself, is not bounded by time.) The Unification Church teaches that Satan will be restored in the last days and become a good angel again (see Lucifer, A Criminal Against Humanity (http://www.tparents.org/library/unification/books/lcah/0-toc.htm)). A few early Church Fathers are known to have prayed for Satan's eventual repentance; it was not generally believed that this would happen. On the other hand, the Seventh-day Adventist Church teaches that when Jesus returns to earth to reclaim the righteous dead and living to meet Him in the air (see 1 Thess 4:17), Satan will be bound on this Earth for a thousand years, after which he will be “loosed for a little season” (a short time, see Rev 20:1-3)—this is when the battle of Armageddon (the final confrontation between good and evil) will be waged—and Satan and his followers will be destroyed once and for all, the Earth will be cleansed of all evil and there will be “a new Heaven and a new Earth” where sin will reign no more (see Rev 21:1-4).
In various Gnostic sects, Satan was praised as the giver of knowledge, sometimes with references to Lucifer, “the light-bringer.” Some claimed that the being imagined as God by Christians and Jews was in fact Satan, as a world as imperfect as ours could not be created by a perfect God.
- Wikipedia. (2005). Satan. Retrieved on 02/25/2005.
- This page was originally sourced from Thelemapedia. Retrieved May 2009. | <urn:uuid:ef4c64a5-bee7-4148-813b-c5ca712f8557> | {
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Nvidia has found a new way to build 3D virtual environments for PC games: The company is tapping artificial intelligence to create them from real-world images.
On Monday, Nvidia unveiled the new AI system, which can automatically build 3D gaming environments modeled on videos and photos taken in real life.
The technology is still a work-in-progress, but in a demo, Nvidia's researchers showed that the AI system can recognize the different elements in a street video — such as the sidewalks, parked cars, and buildings — and redraw them into 3D urban environments for a driving game.
The AI research could potentially streamline the way developers build their games by adding a new level of automation to the world-building process. "One of the reasons we are so excited about this is that it makes it easier to create content and add it into a virtual world," Nvidia vice president Bryan Catanzaro told journalists in a conference call.
For instance, a game developer could take footage of New York or a sports arena and use the AI system to quickly build a virtual model of it. The same model can then be edited or modified in whatever way the developer desires.
The AI system can also be applied to virtual avatars. Catanzaro laid out a scenario where you would take a selfie and let the AI system scan it to re-create a photorealistic digital version of yourself for the game. Nvidia demonstrated how this can work by using the AI system to create fake videos of a company researcher doing the Gangnam Style dance. The computer algorithms were able to do this by capturing the poses of an actual dancer and then mapping the motions on to images of the researcher.
Nvidia's AI system uses computer algorithms called generative adversarial networks or GANs, which have proven to be adept at synthesizing photorealistic, but ultimately fake images. GANs work by pitting two neural networks against each other toward completing a certain goal. In this case, one network focuses on creating the life-like images, the other acts as a "discriminator" that flags the bad images.
The competing missions can train the AI-powered system to fine-tune itself over time. For example, Nvidia's researchers managed to train the system over 10 days to create photorealistic videos of street scenes at a 2K screen resolution.
Although the technology clearly shows promise, it does have some limitations. For instance, it might not be as useful for game developers who want to render fantasy or science-fiction environments. The AI system also isn't mature enough to automatically create game worlds with the detailed graphics you'd find in a title such as Battlefield V.
"This is not ready to be talked about becoming a product," Catanzaro said. Nevertheless, Nvidia is hopeful the AI research will eventually be used to help designers in the gaming industry build bigger and more realistic virtual environments, but at the fraction of the cost.
Nvidia plans on making its research open source on a Github page, so that computer scientists and experts in other industries can begin trying it out for themselves. | <urn:uuid:3a81c972-b544-4298-b444-b36ca2008bb1> | {
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Two organizations in the United States (Residential Energy Network, or RESNET and Building Performance Institute, or BPI) have developed nationally recognized systems to evaluate energy usage in homes. Certification in either program involves being tested on a thorough knowledge of sound building practices, an advanced understanding of energy science, health and safety issues in a home and how to analyze a home’s energy usage. An extremely high level of proficiency, both theoretical and practical, is expected.
The Home Energy Rating System (HERS) is a nationally recognized certification that has been developed to assist Americans to make informed choices about the energy-efficiency of prospective homes.
A detailed analysis of the home’s design, materials and solar orientation is entered into a computer program, along with many other details of energy use, air infiltration levels and heating and cooling equipment. Air infiltration blower-door testing is performed as part of a HERS test.
A house is awarded ratings that show its energy-efficiency performance and how it compares to other homes. The HERS rater can also offer expert recommendations on the best way to improve and reduce energy costs.
The Building Performance Institute is a nationally recognized developer of standards for the Home Performance industry. BPI certifies individuals and accredits contractors that meet their exacting standards. BPI certification is based upon a broad Building Science curriculum. BPI certified analysts have a solid scientific foundation of knowledge upon which to accurately assess exisiting buildings. They have been trained to understand building issues relating to energy efficiency, building durability, and human health. BPI energy performance analysis involves blower door testing, combustion appliance testing and analysis of the whole structure. See the Home Performance Contracting page. | <urn:uuid:6247906f-97ad-447b-9009-5dae6c7d8a31> | {
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By Sam Starnes, North Carolina State University, 2013; with contributions by Kelly Agan, Government & Heritage Library
ca. 1730s-1740s - 4 Dec. 1797
Thomas Amis (pronounced “Amy”), merchant and entrepreneur, patriot officer in the Revolutionary War, delegate to the Provincial Congress and member of the North Carolina General Assembly, was born in, most likely, Halifax County or Northampton County sometime between 1730 and the mid-1740s. Some sources suggestion the early 1730s and others, including a gravestone, suggest 1744. He is believed to be the last of nine children of John Amis (1724-1764) of French descent and Mary Dillard Amis (b. 1726). However, other sources indicate that he was the son of Thomas Amis.
In any event, Thomas Amis’ notable history took place during and after the Revolutionary War. Amis served as a member of the Provincial Congress from Bladen County in 1776 and was also appointed as a justice of the peace for North Carolina. He served as a superintendent of the commissary with a rank of captain for the 3rd Regiment of North Carolina Continental Troops representing the district of Wilmington and also had at one point responsibility for finding continental army desserters. Following his service in the Continental Army, Amis became a member of the Society of the Cincinnati.
The western lands of North Carolina (now in Tennessee) were claimed by the state of North Carolina in 1780 and used to compensate soldiers and military suppliers instead of cash payments. After being displaced from his Bladen County home by British invasion in 1780, Amis relocated to the frontier of then western North Carolina after petitioning for and receiving a grant of one-thousand acres on Big Creek in the Holston River area in what became Hawkins County. He may have participated in General John Sevier's State of Franklin campaign but subsequently represented Hawkins County in the North Carolina General Assembly. The 1887 History of Tennessee indicates that Amis also participated in restoring Sevier's citizenship following the failure of the State of Franklin. In 1789 Amis delivered a petition to the North Carolina General Assembly for creation of a town at the Hawkins Courthouse settlement. The approved town became Rogersville (in present day Tennessee). Amis commissioned architect Thomas Harlan to build a fortified home near present day Rogersville. The home featured eighteen inch thick stone walls and rifle ports in place of windows on an upper half story. At over 200 years old and structurally sound, the home still stands today.
Amis became a highly successful merchant and entrepreneur after the Revolution. Analysis of his business ledgers by Lucy K. Gump indicates that he developed a fairly complex enterprise utilitzing the barter system that included the development and resale of commododities from local crops and goods, particularly corn. He opened a trading post, blacksmith shop, saw and grist mill, and distillery, which seems to have been his most profitiable enterprise. His business ledgers also indicate horse breeding and providing tavern and stable services for travelers, among whom were Governor William Blount and Andre MIchaux, the French botanist credited with the discovery of the Magnolia macrophylla in 1789. He may have traded with Native American traders and may also have participated in trade well down the Mississippi with the Spanish, as Edwin Sparks reported in his 1904 The United States of America. Sparks noted that North Carolina trader Thomas Amis lost a fully loaded flatboat at Natchez when it was taken by the Spanish.
Captain Thomas Amis married Alice Gale (1744-1784) on January 27, 1763. They had eleven children: Tabitha Amis, Francis Amis, Mary Amis, Elizabeth Amis, John Amis Rachel Amis, Willie Amis, Lincoln Amis, Alice Gail Amis, Thomas Gail Amis, and Penelope Amis. Amis married his second wife, Lucy Haynes (1761-1874), on March 26, 1787. Amis and Haynes had four children, Haynes Amis, William Amis, James Amis and Nancy Amis.
Thomas Amis spent the final decade of his life in his community operating his various business interests and providing services to pioneers who travelled through the area. His will was reportedly the first recorded will in Hawkins County, Tennessee. Captain Thomas Amis passed away December 4, 1797, and, along with both of his wives, is buried in Amis Cemetery near the stone house built by Thomas Harlan. This location is approximately three miles from present day Rogersville, Tennessee.
Saunders, William, ed. The Colonial Records of North Carolina. (Raleigh, N.C.: P. M. Hale, Printer to the State, 1886). Search results: http://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.html/search (accessed April 23, 2014).
Price, Henry. "Hawkins County." The Tennessee Enclyclopedia of History and Culture. December 25, 2009. http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=612 (accessed April 23, 2014).
Ashe, Samuel A. Biographical History of North Carolina, Vol. III. Greensboro, N.C.: Charles L. Van Noppen Publisher. 1905. 61-62.
Davis, Charles Lukens. The North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati. Cambridge, Mass.: Riverside Press. 1907. 56-57. http://archive.org/stream/northcarolinasoc00davi#page/56/mode/2up
Sparks, Edwin Erle. The United States of America, Part 1 1783-1830. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1904. 31. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZZ9BAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA31&pg=PA31#v=onepage&q&f=false (accessed April 23, 2014).
McMaster, John Bach. A History of the People of the United States, from the Revolution to the Civil War, Vol. 1. New York: D. Appleton and Company. 1914. 376. http://books.google.com/books?id=qeYQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PR1#v=onepage&q&f=false (accessed April 23, 2014).
Gump, Lucy Kennerly. Amis Ledger B (1782-1794) Interpretive Transcription of An East Tennessee Business Record Book. [Johnson City, T.N.: Ludy Kennerly Gump.] 1996. [From the collections of the Government & Heritage Library, State Library of North Carolina.]
Williams, Charlie. "André Michaux and the Discovery of Magnolia Macrophylla in North Carolina." Castanea 64, no. 1 (1999): 1-13.
[Goodspeed Brothers.] History of Tennessee Illustrated Containing Historical Sketches of Thirty East Tennessee Counties. Chicago: The Goodspeed Publishing Co. 1887. 874. (Transcribed edition published 2006 by Southern Historical Press, Inc., Greensville, S.C.)
Davis, Charles Lukens. The North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati. Cambridge, Mass.: Riverside Press. 1907. http://archive.org/stream/northcarolinasoc00davi#page/56/mode/2u (accessed April 23, 2014).
23 April 2014 | Agan, Kelly; Starnes, Sam | <urn:uuid:165ba375-0b84-4fc3-8c43-eb41d8c37e59> | {
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History of India & The World : Important Foreign Travellers / Envoys
List of Foreign Envoys Visited Ancient India – Foreign Travellers
List of Foreign Envoys Visited Ancient India: In the history of ancient India we can see many foreign envoys/foreign travellers. The envoy is an ambassador or a messenger of a respective country. In government entrance exams, generally we can see one or two questions from the history of India. Megasthenes was the first Foreign Envoy/traveller of India and ambassador of Selecus Nikator. Megasthenes visited the Chandragupta Maurya court in 3rd century BC. We have great foreign envoys like Fa-Hien, Hiuen-Tsang, I-tsing, Al-Masudi, Marco Polo and Dominigo Paes etc. These are the great travelers and foreign envoys visited India in their time respectively. Here we have listed the foreign envoys or travelers who visited ancient India. We hope this topic will help you in competitive exams.
- 300-273 BC
- Came in India at the reign of Bindusara
- 302- 298 BC
- An Ambassador of Selecus I of Syria
- He came to court of Chandragupta Maurya
- He wroteIndica in which he described social and administrative conditions under the Mauryas
Fa Hien/Faxian (Chinese)
- 399 A.D.-412 A.D.
- He was a Buddhist Monk.
- He was the first Chinese pilgrim to visit India to collect Buddhist texts and relics
- He visited India during Chandragupta II “Vikramaditya”
- He also visited Lumbini, the birth place of Buddha
- He described his journey in his travelogue ‘Record of Buddhist kingdoms’
Hiuen Tsang (Chinese)
- 629-645 A.D.
- He visited India during the reign of Harshavardhana
- He came through Tashkent and Swat Valley
- His book is Si-yu-kior the ‘Records of Western World’
- 671-695 AD
- He visited India in connection with Buddhism.
- 957 AD
- An Arab traveller,
- He has given an extensive account of India in his work ‘Muruj-ul-Zehab’
Al Beruni (Persian)
- 1000-1025 A.D.
- He came along with Mahmud of Ghazni
- First Muslim scholar to study India
- Known as Founder of Indology
- He travelled all over India and wrote a book ‘Tahqiq-i-Hind’
Marco Polo (Italian)
- 1254-1324 A.D.
- A Venetian traveller, visited South Indian state Kakatiya under Rudrmadevi .
- His work ‘The Book of Sir Marco Polo’ gives an account of the economic history of India
- A was a well known European traveller who visited many eastern countries.
Ibn Battuta (Morrocan)
- 1333 A.D.
- Ibn Battuta was appointed a Qadi, or judge, by Muhammad bin Tughluq.
Shihabuddin Al-Umari (Arabian Traveller)
- 1348 AD
- He came from Damascus.
- He has given a vivid account of India in his book, ‘Masalik albsar fi-mamalik al-amsar
Nicolo Conti (Italian)
- 1420-1421 AD
- He came during the rule of Devaraya I of Sangam dynasty of Vijayanagar empire.
- He gave a comprehensive account of the Hindu kingdom of Vijaynagar.
Abdul Razzak (Persian)
- 1442-1445 AD
- He was the ambassador of Shahrukh of Timurid Dynasty
- Came during the rule of Devaraya II of Sangam dynasty of Vijayanagar empire.
- He stayed at the court of the Zamorin at Calicut
- He has given a vivid account of the Vijaynagar Empire.
Afanasy Nikitin (Russian)
- 1469-1472 AD
- A Russian merchant who documented his Indian visit in a narrative, ‘The Journey beyond Three Seas’.
- He had visited the Bahmani Sultanate.
- He describes the condition of the Bahmani kingdom under Muhammad III (1463-82).
Durate Barbosa (Portuguese)
- 1500-1516 AD
- He has given a valuable narrative of the government and the people of the Vijaynagar Empire.
Domingo Paes (Portuguese)
- 1520-1522 AD
- He visited the court of Krishnadeva Raya (1509-1529) of Tuluv Dynasty of Vijayanagar Empire.
Fernao Nunes (Portuguese)
- He was a chronicler and horse trader.
- Came during the rule of Achutya Deva Raya (1529-1542) of Tuluv Dynasty of Vijayanagar empire.
- He wrote the history of the empire from its earliest times of the closing years of Achyutdeva Raya’s reign.
Jan Huyghen Van Linschoten (Dutch)
- 1583 AD
- He travelled extensively along the East Indies’ regions under Portuguese influence and served as the Portuguese Viceroy’s secretary in Goabetween 1583 and 1588.
William Hawkins (British)
- 1609-1611 AD
- He was an English ambassador of King James I.
- He visited the court of Jahangir.
Sir Thomas Roe (British)
- 1615-1619 AD
- He was the ambassador of King James I.
- Arrived at Jahangir’s court.
Edward Terry (British)
- 1616 AD
- He was one of the first writers to describe vegetarianism (in India) to Early Modern England
Pietro Della Valle (Italian)
- 1623-1624 AD
- He visited the King Vekatappa Nayaka of Keladi in India.
Sir William Norris (British)
- He was the Company’s ambassador to the Mughal Empire.
- He visited during Aurangzeb’s reign.
John Fryer (British)
- 1672-1681 AD
- He was an English traveller.
- He has given a vivid account of Surat and Bombay. | <urn:uuid:7efc133e-34eb-4ff0-bc90-5d3bce39fd8d> | {
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Obstetric Fistula is a childbearing injury, caused by long, obstructed labors without recourse to Caesarean sections. The consequences, left untreated, can be devastating, usually including both the death of the child and the permanent incontinence of the mother. And women in the developing world, particularly Africa, rarely get the treatment they need:
Until this decade, outside nations that might be able to help effectively ignored the problem. The last global study, in which the World Health Organization estimated that more than two million women were living with obstetric fistulas, was conducted 16 years ago. Nor has a recent spate of international attention set off an outpouring of aid. Two years of global fundraising by the United Nations Population Fund, an agency devoted in part to improving women's health, has netted only $11 million for the problem. ...
Few doubt that the problem is most concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, where poverty and rudimentary health care combine with traditions of home birth and early pregnancy to make women especially vulnerable. In Nigeria alone, perhaps 400,000 to 800,000 women suffer untreated fistulas, says the United Nations.
Here, then, is a classic opportunity for worldchanging action: an entrenched problem, which could be largely addressed by more funding for medical care and education, largely ignored by big international NGOs and development agencies. In short, this is a place where a small group of people could make a big impact.
One By One is just such a group. Co-founded by ally Heidi Breeze-Harris, One By One is building an online network of fistula-fighters, who come together in giving circles to raise tax-exempt donations to provide treatment through the underfunded U.N. Campaign to End Fistula.
Great work. Online, distributed, empowering and bold. They're still small, but One By One is making change. | <urn:uuid:1cff391e-c784-493e-8d2b-1fd9df41aed2> | {
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By Amy Grant
Just as many of us workout, eat healthy, reduce stress and drink plenty of water, the key to healthy plants is in prevention. But the best laid plans can often be thwarted by Mother Nature. Despite our best efforts, sometimes diseases infiltrate our plants, wreaking havoc in the garden. Once disease has been spotted, we need to identify it in order to treat it.
Plant disease may be abiotic (such as temperature fluxes and moisture stress, wind damage or nutrient deficiencies) or biotic (those caused by living organisms such as fungi, bacteria, nematode or virus). While there are many diseases that can afflict plants, the following are the top 10 plant disease to keep an eye on.
1. Angular Leaf Spot – Fungal diseases are certainly one of the most common afflictions found amongst plants. Amongst these are angular leaf spot, which results in angular spots on foliage that yellow then become brown.
2. Anthracnose – Anthracnose is another fungal disease that starts out as lesions similar to angular leaf spot but with black leaf veins. The leaves brown and wither and in damp weather the fungus produces clusters of pink, sticky spores.
3. Powdery Mildew – yet another common fungal problem in gardens, powdery mildew is the bane of many a gardener. It can affect almost any type of plant, appearing on leaves, flowers, fruits and vegetables as a white or gray powder that coats the surface of the plant. If left untreated, it can turn more severe, causing leaves to turn yellow or brown.
4. Bacterial Spot – Both tomatoes and peppers are susceptible to bacterial spot, which presents as irregular water-soaked lesion on foliage. The infected leaves yellow and drop and fruit may have raised crusted scabs.
5. Early Blight – Early blight is yet another fungal disease that is common in tomatoes. It begins as dark brown rings on leaves with a yellow halo. The leaves then wither and dry.
6. Fusarium Wilt – Fusarium wilt causes vines to yellow and wilt just prior to fruiting and is common amongst many of the melons but can afflict cucumbers and summer squash as well as tomatoes.
7. Downy Mildew – Downy mildew causes yellow spotting on the upper surface of leaves along with a white/purple downy growth on the underside of them. The leaves curl, brown and then die. An entire plant may become stunted and yellow. The cucurbit family is most affected along with the onion family, including garlic and leeks.
8. Bacterial Wilt – Disease may also be caused by insects, such as the cucumber beetle, which is responsible for spreading bacterial wilt to any members of the cucumber family.
9. Blossom End Rot (BER) – Disease may also be physiological, such as blossom end rot. This occurs when the fruit becomes water soaked at the blossom end, resulting in tissue collapse. The fruit then dries out leaving a white papery area, which is often then invaded by fungi and turns the fruit black. While found in many vegetable crops, it’s most commonly seen in tomatoes.
Prevention is the key to thwarting disease in plants. Keep your plants healthy by watering and fertilizing regularly, keep the area surrounding them weed free, plant disease resistant cultivars when possible, and practice crop rotation to minimize the incidence of disease in your garden. | <urn:uuid:8cd7830e-1810-42a2-9574-004cf5242f37> | {
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In this world of fast-paced performance and educational excellence, poor scholastic performance (PSP) in a child’s school years produces deep emotional scars. Scholastic deficits can be remediated. There are also many other difficulties that can impede a child’s performance which need to be rectified, like language problems, Reading and Writing problems. Most children who do poorly in school are intelligent enough and possess numerous other skills that can help them get ahead in their lives; those need to be identified and nurtured.
The narrative of CGC evolves from the need to address the ever increasing problems of learning and behavior in school children; these are eminently treatable if identified early enough.
A multidisciplinary approach is adopted while evaluating children with problems in learning and behavior.
This approach is the first of its kind in this part of the country.
Most children tend to have a combination of problems: developmental, neurological, academic and emotional. Hence it is imperative that a Team of specialists from related fields is available to evaluate these children. Such a multidisciplinary approach is made possible at our CGCs. A dedicated team of child psychiatrist, educational psychologist, social worker, special educator and language pathologist offer appropriate assessment, guidance and treatment.
Our team works in the open setting of CGC, which encourages children and their parents to seek help for learning difficulties, emotional or behavior problems without fear or stigma. The need of the hour is for Schools to have access to an Authentic Resource Centre like ours with various specialists, where they can confidently seek an expert opinion about the child’s performance in order to help him/her.
Many difficulties in children may just be variations of the normal, and not necessarily a disorder.
Services at our CGCs in Kerala and Emirates include professional evaluation for:
- Poor School Performance (PSP) and Learning Disorders (LD)
- Levels of Intelligence (IQ) and Types of Intelligence
- Special Skills and Abilities
- Academic Skill Deficits in Reading, Writing, Spelling, Math, etc.
- Speech and Language Disorders: Stuttering, Aphasias, etc
- Motor Skill Deficits; poor handwriting, clumsiness, etc.
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (ADD/ADHD)
- Defiant/ Oppositional Behavior, Conduct Disorders
- Addiction to TV/ Internet, Disorganized routines
- Tics/ Tourette Disorder, ‘Silent’ Epilepsy
- Obsessive Behavior/ Disorders; obsessive slowness/ procrastination, etc
- Anxiety, School Phobia, Exam Phobia and various Fears in the child
- Depression, Social Withdrawal, loss of interest
- Developmental Neurological Disorders
- ‘Functional’ symptoms like Headache, Breathlessness, Stomachache, Frequent sickness, Absenteeism from school, etc.
The CGC Outreach Programmes include the following:
- Workshop on “Learning Strategies” for Children.
- Workshop on “Life Skills” for Children.
- Workshop/ Sensitization modules for Schools, Teachers and Parents.
- Consultation and Liaison for Resource Room Services in Schools.
- Training Programmes for Counselors, Social Workers and Special Educators.
Research and Documentation
Liaison with renowned organisations in India and Abroad for original research, documentation and academic publication as a major focus; writings have been published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd., New York, Sage Publications, UK, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), New Delhi , the World Health Organisation (WHO), Indian Journal of Psychiatry (IJP) etc. | <urn:uuid:269eac8e-53df-4330-b62d-dba9e787e2aa> | {
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Or maybe it’s already happened. LiveScience reports:
It’s a good news/bad news situation for believers in the 2012 Mayan apocalypse. The good news is that the Mayan “Long Count” calendar may not end on Dec. 21, 2012 (and, by extension, the world may not end along with it). The bad news for prophecy believers? If the calendar doesn’t end in December 2012, no one knows when it actually will — or if it has already.
A new critique, published as a chapter in the new textbook “Calendars and Years II: Astronomy and Time in the Ancient and Medieval World” (Oxbow Books, 2010), argues that the accepted conversions of dates from Mayan to the modern calendar may be off by as much as 50 or 100 years. That would throw the supposed and overhyped 2012 apocalypse off by decades and cast into doubt the dates of historical Mayan events. (The doomsday worries are based on the fact that the Mayan calendar ends in 2012, much as our year ends on Dec. 31.)
The Mayan calendar was converted to today’s Gregorian calendar using a calculation called the GMT constant, named for the last initials of three early Mayanist researchers. Much of the work emphasized dates recovered from colonial documents that were written in the Mayan language in the Latin alphabet, according to the chapter’s author, Gerardo Aldana, University of California, Santa Barbara professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies.
Read more here. | <urn:uuid:c9df9f8f-0ace-4036-8b0e-26bc56b23e1c> | {
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Signs and Symptoms
Signs (things you see)
- Purpura (from the Latin purpura, meaning “purple”), which is the appearance of red or purple discolorations on the skin caused by bleeding underneath the skin
- Petechiae, which are pinpoint-sized reddish-purple spots that look like a rash
- Heavy periods for women
- Bleeding on the inside of the mouth, such as from the cheeks or gums
Symptoms (things you feel)
- Tired when doing daily activities
- Uncertain or afraid Sometimes you may have no physical signs, but you may have symptoms. Symptoms are things you feel but may not see, like tiredness or uncertainty. It is important to have your platelet count checked each month so you know if your platelet count has fallen below 30,000.
Types of bruises
Purpura (PURR-pur-ah) are large, purple bruises that are sometimes raised.
Petechiae (pah-TEEK-ee-ay) are small red or purple dots that look like a rash. | <urn:uuid:ec4d263a-c297-40f2-b155-1e023e6237ef> | {
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First Grade Sight Words: Ask to Before
Help your first grader gain confidence as a reader with these colorful sight word flash cards! Sight words are difficult-to-sound-out words that are more easily learned through memorization than phonetic decoding. Memorizing a long list of words can get repetitive and dull, but flash cards make the job fun and painless. Just cut them out, tape them up around the house where your child will interact with them daily, and let the word fun begin!
Browse the entire First Grade Sight Words series here.
Personalized worksheets is an Education.com Pro feature
Subscribe to Education.com Pro to add your student names, class name, date, and more to your worksheetsLearn More | <urn:uuid:d2ec4642-8595-4e59-a2ea-776116fdb554> | {
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A dentist is an accredited medical professional who specializes in the care of teeth
, and mouth
s. As with most medical profession
s, a keen eye for detail
, comprehensive medical understanding, manual dexterity
, and strong interpersonal skills are important. Dentists deal with procedures that involve actual manipulation of the teeth or gums.
Problems dealing with the jaw or any invasive oral procedure are usually undertaken by an oral surgeon, and dental hygienists and dental assistants do much of the routine dental cleanings, maintenance, and X-rays. A significant part of a dentist’s job involves educating patients about ways to preserve a healthy mouth, and the best dentists are skillful communicators.
Over 87 percent of the US population develops Gum disease. Cavities are a common ailment. Despite how the economy or job market is, Dentists will probably always be in demand. Dentists are the preventative doctors par excellence, ever alert for early signs of swollen or bleeding gums, tooth decay, etc., but often they simply step in and correct the results of their patients’ less-than-stellar personal hygiene. Most dentists work seven to ten-hour days, except when emergencies arise, which can occasionally lengthen the workday. The life of a dentist is very similar to that of any other doctor, except that most don't work at hospitals.
The Princeton review had this to say about the profession:
Many of the dentists we surveyed responded that although the hours are long, one is able to lead a fairly predictable life, take standard vacations around major holidays, and enjoy weekends with family. Reasonable hours were cited on over 90 percent of our surveys as one of the most important features that led people to dentistry as opposed to any other medical specialty. Dentists pay enormous premiums for liability insurance, large sums for fixed costs such as rent and equipment, and significant overhead for qualified personnel and quality products. Since each patient treated corresponds to additional revenue received, dentists often try to see as many patients as they can on a given day. A dentist usually spends one afternoon a week managing paperwork and insurance claims. The amount of time required to process this paperwork is likely to increase as changes in health care management force doctors to spend more time filing and defending claims of even routine prevention for their insured patients.
Including retirement, health problems, death, migration to other fields, and return to school for further education, only 9 percent leave the industry each year. A few decide to specialize in reconstruction, orthodontics, periodontics, oral surgery, or a related medical field. Few leave the medical field altogether.
So You Want to be a Dentist...
It's like applying to Medical School. You must have completed four years of College. You can major in anything, even music
, and still apply to Dental school, provided your grades are high. As long as you take the minimum number of science classes on the undergraduate level such as anatomy, chemistry, physics and biology. Depending on the school you're applying to, you may need to take more or less classes. All prospective dentists must complete four years of an American Dental Association accredited school and pass the individual exams administered by each state. If you pass the National Dental Board Exam (administered twice a year), however, you can be exempted from the written portion of the state exams. If you wish to teach, do dental research, or engage in a dental specialty, an additional two to five years of study is required.
There are two kinds of dental degrees, a Doctor of Medical Dentistry (D.M.D.) or Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.). The DDS is more common, but both mean the same thing, the only difference is on the diploma.
After passing the exams and receiving either degree, a new dentist may choose to “apprentice” under an established practitioner for several years. After that, he or she can become a partner or leave to start their own practice. Nearly a quarter of all graduates buy into or purchase outright an existing practice after graduation. Financing is rarely a problem, as most dental practices are considered good investments by banks.
Dentists have a relatively high suicide rate, up there with psychiatrists. The reason is that their patients are...well...afraid of having their teeth drilled, miss appointments, and don't like the dentist as a result of their own suffering from the caveties. They're not really sadistic.
If you want to see a good example of the stereotype, you can check out Dentist! a song from the musical Little Shop of Horrors. | <urn:uuid:82874c6f-5906-4a0c-88ce-726d67bbb260> | {
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Clayton–Bulwer Treaty, compromise agreement (signed April 19, 1850) designed to harmonize contending British and U.S. interests in Central America. Because of its equivocal language, it became one of the most discussed and difficult treaties in the history of Anglo-U.S. relations. It resulted from negotiations between Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer, British minister to Washington, and John M. Clayton, U.S. secretary of state.
The treaty provided that the two countries should jointly control and protect the canal that they expected soon to be built across the Isthmus of Panama. The treaty’s introductory article pledged a neutralized Central America, which neither signatory would “occupy, or fortify, or colonize, or assume or exercise any dominion over. . . .” The interpretation of this clause became the subject of a bitter dispute between the two governments. The United States held that the pledge not to “occupy” required renunciation on Britain’s part of certain interests, viz., a protectorate over the Mosquito Coast, a settlement in British Honduras and the Bay Islands. Britain’s counterposition on these matters was that the treaty recognized the status quo. When, after several decades, the canal was still unbuilt, there was popular demand in the United States for abrogation of the agreement to make possible a U.S.-controlled canal. The Clayton–Bulwer Treaty was finally superseded in 1901 with the conclusion of the second Hay–Pauncefote Treaty by which Britain agreed that the U.S. should construct and control the canal. | <urn:uuid:b8911c64-4011-4428-bbf7-5c802499f589> | {
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Once you have cut down a tree, you must still contend with the tree stump. While a tree stump may appear dead, it is still fighting to survive. The stump and roots may attempt to grow a new tree by producing tree sprouts known as suckers. In order to completely remove a tree and prevent this, you must pull up the tree stump. Pulling up is both the fastest and most labor-intensive way to remove a tree. Grubbing is very simple for smaller stumps, but is very difficult and labor-intensive for larger stumps.
Study information on the tree to determine the tree’s root structure. Each type of tree has roots that grow with a different type of root structure. Trees such as hickory or walnut may grow from a central tap root while basswood and pine grow from a thick knot of roots known as a heart root. Sugar maples, cottonwood and silver maples grow with roots that fan out through the top 2 feet of soil in a flat root system. Knowing the tree’s root structure will help you learn how many roots you must sever to remove the stump of the tree.
Dig a trench around the stump of the tree 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep with a grub hoe.
Cut all lateral roots you encounter as you dig your trench. Sever the roots with a grub hoe or axe, or dig up the dirt around the root and then lop the root in two with a pair of branch loppers.
Push smaller stumps to the side and sever the tap root with an axe. Twist the stump as you pull it from the ground to sever any remaining roots.
Wrap a winch cable around a larger stump.
Activate the winch to pull the stump free of the roots and hole. | <urn:uuid:80c5ffd5-c3e9-4cd9-b251-29418ee9ca10> | {
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Disney has been working on 3D printed optics for interactive electronics.
“Optical mechanics are more reliable and efficient than wires because they’re more protected and are comprised of fewer parts.”
What does ‘optical mechanics’ mean? “By printing “light pipes,” buttons, sliders, [. . .] dials can respond to touch, and displays can animate with mobile projectors. Volumetric displays can also be achieved through printing reflective air sheets, tubes, and dots into a field; projected light only shows up in the air pockets.”
This jumble of words means that soon highly customized, sleek, reliable interactive devices may become common thanks to 3D printing. Many will be excited about the fun potential of Disney’s progress, but with it comes controversy in 3D printing for other industries. | <urn:uuid:fd817224-b7a3-4ebc-ab89-2408caf8883c> | {
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Install and configure SSH to securely connect and administer your server from any machine with a network connection.
Apart from when you are doing the base installation or some sort of local maintenance, generally a Linux server is meant to be run without a monitor connected. Most tasks you would need to perform on a server can be done via the command line, and these days Telnet is out and SSH is in. SSH provides you with the ability to remotely log in to your server and run commands—all over an encrypted channel. Plus, SSH offers a number of advanced functions that can make remote administration simpler.
First things first: Ubuntu (at least the desktop version) does not install the SSH server by default, so you will need to install it. Either use your preferred package manager to install the openssh-server package or run:
sudo apt-get install openssh-server
The installation scripts included with the package will take care of creating the initial RSA and DSA keys you need, as well as providing you with a good default SSH config. Once the install finishes, you should be able to log in to the machine from other machines on the network by typing:
ip_address with the IP address
or hostname for your remote Ubuntu server.)
One issue with the default SSH config (/etc/ssh/sshd_config) that ships with Ubuntu is that it enables remote root logins and X11 forwarding, which create potential security concerns. Since ... | <urn:uuid:12d153b6-d6d5-4744-a5b4-2f17a89a527d> | {
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Familiarize yourself with your pet's normal health condition by performing regular checkups, including monitoring heart rate.
Lay your pet on her right side.
Bend her left front leg at the elbow.
Touch the elbow to your pet's chest. The area where the elbow touches is where heartbeats are best heard.
Place your hand or a stethoscope on that area.
Count the heartbeats for 15 seconds.
Multiply that number by 4. This is the animal's heart rate per minute.
Treat your pet's condition as an emergency if her heart rate is outside normal range, and call your veterinarian.
For dogs weighing 30 lbs. or less, the average heart rate is 100 to 160 beats per minute. For dogs weighing more than 30 lbs., the average heart rate is 60 to 100 beats per minute. A puppy up to 1 year of age has an average heart rate of 120 to 160 beats per minute. A cat has an average heart rate of 160 to 220 beats per minute. | <urn:uuid:9a973cd6-787d-4d12-89f8-846f23944987> | {
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One great package in R is the animation
made by Yihui Xie
. And just for fun
, we are going to explore that. Our aim is to create simple animated 2D and 3D plots. Here is the first one, 2D of course
It’s a piece of cake right? The function we used for wrapping the plot is saveGIF, this function basically collects all the plots made and use these as frames of the GIF file. In other words, the above plot was generated/looped 100 times through the curve function, and in every iteration we increased the limits of the x axis; hence rolling all the generated plots, animates x-axis towards positive values.
What about 3-dimensional? Speechless,
The function of the above plot is, $z = sin(x\times y)$, and was generated using the codes below,
Another wave, $z = sin(x) + cos(y)$, looped both through the ranges of $x$ and $y$, and degrees of $\theta$,
You should try it.
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This job offers a scenario:
John is an 18-year-old freshman at New York University. John was the starting quarterback at his high school in a small town in Indiana. He enjoys playing sports and hanging out with friends. John has always been popular and done well in school and sports. Once he is comfortable in his surroundings he can be confident in what he is doing.
Donnie is an 18-year-old freshman from Chicago attending Iowa State. Donnie spends most of his time playing his guitar and writing music. In high school he had a few close friends but his attention was mainly focused on his studies and his music. He has little trouble expressing himself and enjoys doing so on stage while playing in his band. Donnie is determined to earn a degree and find a career in playing, writing, or producing music.
Provide an opinion on who would be more likely to be persuaded by peer pressures such as drinking, drug use, skipping class, and other irresponsible behavior in a new city. Then, provide your reasoning on why you chose either John or Donnie as more likely to conform to his new social situation.
Both students will undoubtedly face peer pressure in their new college situations. In my opinion, John would be more likely to be persuaded by this peer pressure than Donnie would. There are several reasons that you could discuss as possible causes for this prediction. First of all, John is from a small town in Indiana and is attending college in New York. New York University has a more urban setting with new ...
Two students in different, yet similiar situations both face pressure to conform. Response discusses who faces more and why. | <urn:uuid:045b0d4b-4ff3-49e1-a789-180853b78f48> | {
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Definición de galaxy en inglés:
sustantivo (plural galaxies)
- There are reckoned to be about 400 billion stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way.
- New planetary star systems and galaxies are being discovered almost daily.
- Or it may expand so fast that gravity could never pull galaxies together again.
- And he needs to be president of the Galaxy to do it.
- We realized that our Galaxy was just one of many billions of galaxies in the universe.
- On another note, this story takes place now, just in a different part of the galaxy.
- To create his galaxy of impressions, Baxter watched television avidly, even backstage between stage shows.
- The official website is now a positive galaxy of useful stuff.
- RSS-fortified radio on mobile phones opens a whole galaxy of possibilities.
If you look into the sky on a dark moonless night you can see a band of pale light crossing the sky, made up of vast numbers of faint stars that appear to be packed closely together. This is the Milky Way, a direct translation of what the Romans called via lactea. The Greeks were also reminded of milk and named it galaxias kuklos ‘the milky vault’, from gala ‘milk’, the origin of our word galaxy. It was adopted into medieval English and at first referred specifically to the Milky Way, though later it applied to any system of millions of stars. In current sporting usage, especially in football, galactico is a term for one of a team's superstar players. A Spanish word, it is chiefly associated with the club Real Madrid, whose high-profile signings Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo Lima, and David Beckham were collectively dubbed Los Galácticos, literally ‘the galactics’, because they were ‘bigger than stars’.
¿Qué te llama la atención de esta palabra o frase?
Los comentarios que no respeten nuestras Normas comunitarias podrían ser moderados o eliminados. | <urn:uuid:81edf97c-4fc9-4205-a914-9a146cd6175e> | {
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New Canaan Girl Scout starts initiative to ‘skip the straw’
NEW CANAAN — Esha Dagli’s concern for the damage caused by straws goes back to a video of a turtle having a plastic tube pulled out, painfully, from its nose.
“That video really stuck with me and I decided I wanted to take action,” Dagli, 16, said.
As a result, Dagli, who has previously interned for the New Canaan Land Trust, chose to focus on environmental injustices as a member of the Girl Scouts.
“I made a flyer to give to restaurants in town. I thought that would have a stronger impact because customers would think about it too,” Dagli said. “The reaction was mostly positive, most restaurant managers said they would consider it or were ready to do it now.”
Margot Bright, a member of Planet New Canaan, a local environmentalist group, shares Dagli’s concern, citing the damage that straws cause in marine ecosystems.
“Marine life is dying at rapid rates, trash is washing up and polluting shores all around the globe and the plastic is making its way onto our dinner table,” Bright said. “Reducing (the use of straws) is paramount.”
Dagli’s project is an example of a growing national and international trend against the use of plastic due to the amount of waste generated. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans threw out more than 33 million tons of plastic in 2014.
Dagli and Bright visited several local restaurants to gauge their interest in participating in the effort by either giving straws to customers who request them or switching to paper or reusable straws.
“Local restaurants have been discussing the reduction of plastic straws for quite some time. However, only a couple of restaurants have taken action,” Bright said.
Cherry Street East, a restaurant on 45 East Ave., is one of the local establishments that transitioned from plastic to paper straws earlier this spring.
“The decision was made...paper straws it is!,” a March 20 Facebook post from the restaurant read.
Amidst other environmental conservation efforts in town, Bright believes that initiatives like this help raise awareness about how things like this can impact residents.
“Hopefully Dagli and the Girl Scouts will raise awareness of this important issue so we can all work together to clean up our fragile ocean ecosystems,” Bright said.
Though she’s in her last year at New Canaan High School, Dagli said she would stick to the project even after she heads off to college.
“I’m just hoping to educate the town and I don’t know how long that will take but I’m hoping to continue making this issue known,” Dagli said. | <urn:uuid:fb760698-c8e6-4f77-b6ed-7b2f5f402558> | {
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