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Tubular Membrane Water Treatment Solutions
The Fyne Process – Municipal Water Processing
The Fyne Process is a simple, single stage process that employs advanced membrane filtration technology, together with screening, post conditioning and disinfection, to treat poor quality, variable water sources for municipal drinking water supply in rural small communities of up to 1000 people. It has repeatedly been proven to provide the lowest capital, operating and hence whole life costs for small to medium sized systems, with installed plants having capacities ranging from 3m3/day to 2000m3/day. The Fyne Process is particularly suited to water sources containing carbonaceous organic colour and pathogens such as Cryptosporidium.
The Fyne process does not require coagulants as the membranes operate at a molecular level.
Compared with Conventional treatment processes, which are:
- Delayed response to changes in raw water quality, causing process performance failure.
- Health and safety concerns for operational staff and the environment.
- Transportation issues and specialist on-site handling and storage requirements.
- Production of chemical bearing sludge, requiring costly removal re-processing and disposal.
✓ Cost saving (lower chemical costs, waste disposal costs, operating and maintanance costs)
✓ Does NOT generate sludge and maintains a high quality of treated water in spite of both sudden and substantial changes in raw water quality
Does NOT generate sludge and maintains a high quality of treated water in spite of both sudden and substantial changes in raw water quality.
The Fyne Process provides a filtration barrier to the following contaminants (amongst others):
- Organic carbon – the principal pre-cursor of disinfection by-products (e.g. carcinogenic THMs)
- Pathogens – including bacteria, protozoan cysts (e.g. Cryptosporidium) and viruses
- Metals – including iron, aluminium and manganese
- Turbidity – Suspended Solids and algae.
Package Membrane Plants
Package Membrane Plants
PCI innovatively introduced Package Membrane Plants (PMPs) for the Fyne process, offering the following features:
✓ Reduced costs and delivery times
✓ Performance testing prior to shipping – minimising on-site commissioning
✓ Application of single phase electrical supplies as power sources for smaller sites – easing installation in remote locations
✓ Minimal footprint
As the PMPs are supplied as complete treatment processes incorporating all the necessary peripheral items, they simply require positioning within a building and connection to services before final performance validation. Full instrumentation can be incorporated to enable unattended monitoring and limited site attendance. Custom engineered plants are offered for larger capacities and/or specific customer requirements.
Tubular Membrane Filtration Technology
Tubular Membrane Filtration Technology
PCI ‘s C10 tubular series modules and their 12mm diameter tubular membranes – against Spirals (0.8mm) or hollow fibre (1.2mm) – are used in the Fyne process due to their ability to handle suspended solids without blocking. The tubular membranes retain contaminants on the raw water side and allow potable water to permeate through the membrane. The deposition of impurities upon the membrane’s surface is minimised by maintaining a high crossflow velocity using a partial re-cycle flow, thereby sustaining high filtration efficiencies. As the process’ waste stream is simply concentrated raw water, there are no environmental concerns to prevent the return of the concentrated waste stream back to the local water course.
The membranes are routinely cleaned using a mechanical pigging technique employing natural foam rubber balls (see image right). The foam ball cleaning of a membrane was developed by PCI as a way to simplify the cleaning process as well as helping to reduce overhead costs. The mechanical pigging technique can be automated, thereby reducing operators attendance and costs as well as minimising chemical consumption and waste disposal. This innovative technique affords lower chemical costs per year.
After a predetermined operational time the plant’s flow direction is automatically reversed, causing the balls to be passed along the length of the membrane tubes and scouring the accumulated deposits from the membrane surface. The removed deposits are discharged via the waste stream to the local water course.
This unique feature makes the Fyne Process more environmentally sensitive than all conventional treatment alternatives. Although a number of disposal options are available to the Water Authority, waste disposal issues are site specific and require consent from the appropriate environmental authority. As the process’ waste stream is simply concentrated raw water, there are no environmental concerns to prevent the return of the concentrated waste stream back to the local water course.
The membrane treatment plants provide a robust and reliable treatment process for use in remote locations, which require little to no operator input. Operator input is required to monitor the plant, batch-up chemicals, take regular samples and on occasion chemically clean the membranes.
The biggest difference for the operator is in the number of required facility visits. The saving to be gained is even greater for the most remote sites, where operators spend significant amounts of time traveling between treatment works. An additional benefit, is that overhead costs are lowered with the number of water quality failures being reduced, allowing staff to go about their normal duties. PCI have also extended their membrane life guarantees from the 1 year period offered on the early plants to 3-5 years offered on the more recent plants, reducing the overall membrane plant OPEX. Experiences in Scotland and other countries show that some membrane plants have benefited from significantly longer membrane life than the increased guaranteed life of 3-5 years, which will further reduce operating costs.
Click here for more Water Treatment Solutions
C10 Series Tubular Membrane Modules
The C10 module provides economic use of a wide range of proven tubular UF and NF membranes and expands PCI’s range of tubular modules. | <urn:uuid:081531eb-9e2b-4524-bb04-194cd1a29b0a> | {
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Fifty years ago this year, President Lyndon Johnson launched his war on poverty; But just a few years before that, CBS gave millions of Americans a close look at what it means to live in poverty.
In the world of journalism, CBS' Peabody Award-winning documentary Harvest of Shame is considered a milestone for its unflinching examination of the plight of migrant farmworkers in the United States. The CBS investigative report was the first time millions of Americans were given a close look at what it means to live in poverty. The producers — Fred Friendly, Edward R. Murrow and David Lowe — made no secret of their goal: They wanted to shock Americans into action. To maximize its impact, CBS aired the documentary — about the people who pick fruits and vegetables — the day after Thanksgiving. Murrow, perhaps the most recognized journalist of the day, delivered their message with a sense of urgency. "We present this report on Thanksgiving because, were it not for the labor of the people you are going to meet, you might not starve, but your table would not be laden with the luxuries that we have all come to regard as essentials," he said in his narration.
Harvest of Shame begins in an open lot, crowded with men and women looking for jobs. It's what's called a "shape-up" for migrant workers. Crew leaders yell out the going rate for that day's pay and men and women pack onto the backs of large trucks that drive them to the fields. One farmer told CBS, "We used to own our slaves. Now we just rent them."
The film is full of vivid, black and white images reminiscent of Depression-era photographers Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans. In it, African-Americans and whites; weary mothers, fathers and their children recount their stories to producer Lowe. Sitting with her nine children, one woman tells Lowe that an average dinner is a pot of beans or potatoes. As for milk, she reluctantly admits the children might have it once a week, when she draws a paycheck.
The day after it aired, The New York Times' review said Harvest of Shame was "uncompromising in its exposure of filth, despair and grinding poverty that are the lot of the migratory workers." Former CBS News anchor and correspondent Dan Rather told NPR, "Nobody but nobody had taken an hour to do this kind of expose." He describes the tone as "somber" and the style as "part expose journalism, part a deep-digging, investigative report."
The Soil's Meager Fortunes
The CBS crew spent nine months filming Harvest of Shame, traveling from Florida to New Jersey to California. They filmed in rundown labor camps and talked to workers in the fields. Many of the migrants were from Belle Glade, Fla., a town whose motto is "Her soil is her fortune." For the generations of workers who've spent grueling hours on the soil — or "muck" — those fortunes have been meager.
Teresa Osborn, a 54-year-old middle school teacher in Belle Glade, says it was merciless work. Her grandfather was a crew leader interviewed by CBS for Harvest of Shame. "You go from sunup to sundown and you look at the amount of money you bring in and a lot of times it just didn't make ends meet. It's almost like you were working for that day," Osborn says, "and then the next day had to take care of itself, and the next had to take care of itself. And it was hard to save and put away money. So you were always looking for work."
Osborn credits Harvest of Shame with making the rest of America look at how people who didn't have a voice were living. But there was also criticism of the documentary, even from some of the migrants themselves. Take Allean King, who was interviewed while she was picking beans. When CBS' Lowe asked her how much she earned, King said $1. Years later, she told Florida's Sun Sentinel that she actually made $10 to $15 a day; when CBS interviewed her, she said $1 because she'd only worked two hours so far that day.
In one of the most dramatic moments in the documentary, Lowe interviews King's 9-year-old son, Jerome, who's watching his baby sisters. The camera cuts to the kitchen counter, where flies swarm around a pot of beans, then it cuts to a ripped up section of the mattress Jerome sleeps on. When Lowe asks how the hole got there, Jerome tells him, "The rats."
"It was not rats," says Teresa Osborn, who is Jerome King's cousin. "I mean, that was just ... Jerome giving his depiction of things." Osborn says the producers "took the first thing out of his mouth."
More Than 50 Years Later, Problems Persist
After it aired, members of Congress and the farm lobby kicked into gear to discredit Harvest of Shame, saying it was distorted and one-sided. Time wrote that the documentary was an "exaggerated portrait."
But Greg Schell, an attorney with the Migrant Farmworker Justice Project, believes the images of the dire working conditions for migrants spoke for themselves. "The impact of Harvest of Shame cannot be underestimated in terms of what it produced," he says.
By today's standards — under which most outlets are careful not to sound like they're in favor of anything — Harvest of Shame feels more like advocacy than journalism. In his closing remarks, Murrow looks squarely into the camera and urges viewers to take action: "The people you have seen have the strength to harvest your fruit and vegetables. They do not have the strength to influence legislation. Maybe we do."
"Edward R. Murrow was a crusader," Schell says. "He came and said, 'We can change this, people, if you get aroused and demand that the government and Congress react.' And Congress did react." Schell credits the film with helping push forward legislation that was already pending in Congress, like funding for health services to migrant workers and education for migrants' children.
Whatever changes Harvest of Shame might have helped bring about, migrant workers are still living in poverty. TV news teams have tried to cover why these problems persist in segments that have revisited the documentary on anniversaries of its airing. NBC sent Chet Huntley to Belle Glade in 1970. He closes his report thusly: "It has been 10 years since Edward R. Murrow made Harvest of Shame. We hope that no one will need to make a film about migrants 10 years from now."
But they did: NBC went back to Belle Glade in 1990 and CBS went back in 1995, and then again in 2010. Schell believes the TV news stories covering migrant workers have gotten tired. He says, "They're increasingly characterized by a sense of resignation, that these problems are intractable and nothing's going to change."
Schell admits some of these problems are hard to solve. Take the link between immigration policy and wages. Today many of the field workers are from other countries like Mexico and Haiti. They're often paid by the piece, meaning the more fruit or vegetables they pick, the more they get paid. Since 1966, they're also covered under minimum wage.
"Under the law, the worker is guaranteed the minimum wage no matter how many or how few pieces he picks," Schell says. "If piece rates are set properly, the diligent worker will make well above the minimum wage. But because of a chronic surplus of labor, most piece rates are set very low and the fastest workers cannot earn the minimum wage. But the workers don't understand the minimum wage guarantee. That's a secret the employers like to keep from them."
The Morning Shape-Up Continues
In today's Belle Glade, men and women still gather around 5 a.m. in the same lot you see at the beginning of Harvest of Shame, waiting for buses to take them to the fields. The "loading ramp," as it's called, is a bleak, empty lot, surrounded by some small buildings with bars on the windows and a boarded up storefront.
Leroy Akins, 35, is a third generation farm worker. He helps his crew leader find workers and makes boxes for the corn picked during the harvest. By the time Akins was a teenager, his parents and grandparents had him working in the fields. "So I grew into like it was a hobby for me," he says. "If I wasn't doing it then I probably wouldn't be doing it now."
City officials recently decided to demolish the loading ramp and turn it into a park. Akins was surprised to hear about the plans, but he says it won't stop the early morning shape-up. The crew leaders, he says, will "pick workers up from their houses if they have to." After all, somebody has to pick the corn and cut the sugar cane, even though it's among the worst paid jobs in the country. Today the average farm worker makes about $10,000 a year.
Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. | <urn:uuid:2edf97cc-890f-474a-a20e-a03510652f31> | {
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For more than a quarter century, NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans has been known primarily for the giant space shuttle external tanks produced there.
But that is about to change.
Before the last external tank rolls out of this NASA-owned,
contractor-operated manufacturing facility in early 2010, major elements of the next U.S. system for sending humans and their gear into space should be under construction there.
Likewise, Rocketplane Kistler, the Oklahoma City-based firm developing the K-1 reusable rocket with the help of $207 million from NASA, has hardware and personnel in place at Michoud ready to continue assembly of the K-1 cargo
satellite launcher. The K-1’s partially
section is already on the assembly floor and slated for completion in September.
Michoud has been operated for NASA by Lockheed Martin Space Systems since the early 1980s. But that too is about to change. When Lockheed’s Michoud contract runs out in 2008, NASA wants to put a new contractor in charge of the Michoud
– one that is not also using the facilities there to plan or
build hardware for the space agency.
Lockheed Martin’s presence at Michoud dates back over three decades to 1973 when the company’s corporate predecessor, Martin Marietta, moved in alongside the Saturn program to begin designing the space shuttle external tank.
The first flight tank – a white-painted heavyweight, tipping the scales at 35,000 kilograms completely dry – rolled out in 1979. By 1983, Lockheed Martin was under contract to operate Michoud and build a slimmed-down external tank
weighing 30,000 kilograms. A switch to
aluminum-lithium alloy for a large part of the tank structure allowed NASA and Lockheed Martin to shed another 3,400 kilograms from the design, a necessary reduction to enable flights to the international space station. The first of those super lightweight tanks made its debut in 1998 on the final shuttle flight to the Russian space station Mir and has been used on every shuttle mission since except for the 1999 Shuttle Radar Topography Mission and Columbia’s fatal February 2003 flight. Neither of those flights were bound for the space station.
Emmanuel Zulueta, Lockheed Martin Space Systems vice president and the Michoud Operations site executive, said about 120 external tanks have been built at Michoud since the first flight article left for Kennedy Space Center in 1979. Fifteen more tanks will be built before the shuttle flies its last scheduled mission in late 2010. All 15 remaining tanks, Zulueta said, are now in some stage of
assembly. “The last tank to be built for the program is on the factory floor,” he said.
While Lockheed Martin must relinquish its long-standing caretaker role at Michoud late next
year, the company expects to maintain a significant presence at the sprawling assembly facility through the end of the decade and beyond.
Zulueta said a large percentage of the company’s 2,600 Michoud employees would be needed through 2010 to complete the shuttle program’s remaining external tanks, help Rocketplane Kistler build the K-1, and get started on the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle.
Lockheed Martin, which was awarded the
Orion prime contract
last August, plans to build a significant amount of the vehicle at Michoud. Zulueta said the Orion crew capsule and service module structures will roll out of Michoud starting early in the next decade, ready for final assembly at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Thanks to a NASA decree, whichever industry team the agency selects in August to build the Ares 1
upper stage, that work
also will be performed at Michoud, as will assembly and integration of the Ares 1 avionics ring under the so-called instrument unit contract currently out for bid. Lockheed Martin is on teams competing for both contracts.
Looking further into the future, NASA intends to take advantage of Michoud’s large enclosed manufacturing space to produce key components of the proposed Ares 5 heavy-lift launch vehicle, including the rocket’s cryogenic
main stage and the cryogenic Earth Departure Stage that would be used to propel Orion and a lunar lander to the Moon starting around 2020.
Sheila Cloud, the Michoud transition director at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., said given the probability that a mix of contractors will win the Ares business still up for grabs, NASA thought it best to have an independent contractor in charge of running the day-to-day operations of the facility. She said the contracting switch NASA plans to make next year will return Michoud to a model of operations the facility last saw when the United States set its sights on the Moon for the first time.
“The transition is really preparation to take the facility back to an Apollo-like management model whereby there was a mission-independent operator who operated the facility for a number of aerospace contractors’ utilization of it,” Cloud said.
NASA made a strategic decision around 2005, Cloud said, to take advantage of Michoud’s skilled work force, deep-water access
more than 200,000 square meters of manufacturing space to build some of the largest elements of the nation’s next human space transportation system.
But some of the same attributes that make Michoud a good place to build large assemblies also makes the 335-hectare facility vulnerable to the elements, as NASA and Lockheed Martin learned when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and broad swaths of the rest of the U.S. Gulf Coast in August 2005.
NASA estimates that Katrina did $100 million worth of damage
to the Michoud Assembly Facility. But it could have been much worse. Thirty-nine workers, all but two of whom
were Lockheed-badged employees, stayed through the hurricane and well beyond. The ride-out crew, according to to Lockheed Michoud spokesman Marion LaNasa, pumped out well over 3 billion liters of water over the span of a couple days, keeping the facility fairly dry until the winds died down to a low-gale force and they were ab
le to start recovery efforts.
Within five weeks of the hurricane, even though nearly half of the Michoud work force had lost their homes, the facility was back up and running, working on external tanks to support the next shuttle missions.
Michoud’s commitment in the face of adversity won Lockheed Martin and its work force high praise. NASA Administrator Mike Griffin, in a personal e-mail he sent to Lockheed Martin
Chief Executive Robert Stevens seven days after Katrina dissipated, credited the ride-out crew with saving Michoud.
“With it, they saved the Shuttle program and the future of Exploration, for we cannot go to the Moon without a rocket using that same key Shuttle building-block, the [External Tank],” Griffin wrote. “And we cannot produce the
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Cool Science Stuff With Clifford the Big Red Dog (Review)
Clifford and his friends love exploring the world around them and with this exhilarating kit they are learning all about FOOD SCIENCE. Emily Elizabeth, the narrator in the colorful 20-page manual, guides young scientists through tasty experiments with catchy titles such as rainbow ice, ice-cream in a bag, homemade butter, layered test tube, exploding marshmallow, dancing pasta, jello magnifier, color chromatography, secret message, rock candy, edible volcano, chocolate slime, and floating orange. Young Scientists will feel like real scientists when they use the included lab tray, measuring cup, test tubes, funnel, and pipette to perform their experiments! Join Clifford and his friends on an adventure into the world of science! (Ages 3 and up)
I have always been a bit of a “science nerd”. When I was little one of my favorite things in the world was the monthly science packet that my mom bought me – every month during the summer and fall I would get a new package that I could use to do things like photosynthesis, learn about microscopic organisms in water, and even kitchen science.
Now that my kids are of preschool age, they are becoming increasingly interested in “how things work” and what happens when you put things together. We were sent the Clifford the Big Red Dog Food Science Kit to do some super fun experiments with food!
We decided to make a science “staple” – the VOLCANO! But this volcano is different – it’s edible! Made of oatmeal, flour, water, and of course vinegar and baking soda for the “lava”. The kids decided to be a bit different and made the lava green!
The kids had a blast with watching the “lava” bubble and flow over the oatmeal volcano. In fact we played with this fun activity for quite a while!
We also did a fun activity called “the exploding bag”, full of chemical reactions and anticipation of the POP of the bag. We are in the process of making rock candy and colored ice too (these take some patience and preparation), and there are several other fun activities in this kit. Worth the $19.99 cost.
Being in a rainy climate (Portland), this set makes a fun rainy day indoor activity that the kids will love for hours – plus they learn along the way! There are more great science kits in the series, including:
- Animal Science
- Bubble Science
- Rainbow Science
- Kitchen Science
The Young Scientists Club has all of these ready to ship!
With all kits, most of the items needed are included in the set. Be sure to check the lists of things you will need for each experiment you do before getting your kids excited for experiments so you can get started right away.
While supplied with the items reviewed, I was not otherwise compensated for this post. All opinions expressed are my own. | <urn:uuid:0b1b281b-2a14-41bb-b93a-555b7a5923cc> | {
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Editorial: TVA sensible to move forward on modular reactors
The Tennessee Valley Authority has taken the first concrete step toward installing modular nuclear reactors at its Clinch River site near Oak Ridge.
TVA filed an Early Site Permit application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which will evaluate the 1,200-acre site's safety, environmental issues and emergency preparedness requirements for construction of a modular reactor complex. The NRC held meetings in Oak Ridge last month about the project.
'This submittal is a key milestone for our company and the nuclear industry,' TVA Chief Nuclear Officer Joe Grimes said in a statement. 'TVA is the first in the industry to submit any type of application related to SMRs (small modular reactor) to the NRC.'
Moving forward with the project is a welcome development. The nation needs to shift away from fossil fuels, which pollute the air and contribute to climate change, and nuclear power is the most practical alternative because it produces more energy on a larger scale than wind or solar installations. TVA plans to eventually produce half its power from noncarbon sources.
Traditional site-built nuclear power plants are huge and expensive — too rapid an expansion of TVA's nuclear fleet in the past is a prime cause for its monstrous debt.
A small modular reactor is factory-built rather than constructed on site, and is transported to its location. Several small modular reactors can be linked together at one location to create a complex that approaches the generation capacity of traditional plants.
The self-contained small modular reactors do not need much of the piping and other infrastructure of site-built reactors. The concept of using factory-built reactors in power plants is based on the U.S. Navy's nuclear submarine reactors, which have excellent safety records, and allows for the standardization of components and maintenance.
Several designs are under development by different companies, and TVA plans to develop the Clinch River site in a way that it can be used for whatever design is available first. The pressurized water reactor modules are much smaller than site-built reactors — some designs would produce only 125 megawatts, compared to 1,170 megawatts at Watts Bar Unit I. A six-reactor plant would produce 750 megawatts.
Preliminary plans call for the reactors to be installed below ground level and to rely on passive safety systems that are simpler and less prone to malfunctions. Refueling will be needed only once every five years during the expected 60-year lifespan of each reactor.
The TVA modular reactor effort is a partnership between TVA and the U.S. Department of Energy to speed up the entry of the reactors into the marketplace. DOE is co-funding the application and later work on the review and approval process under an interagency agreement with TVA. Such cooperation should help make the project viable.
The NRC's permitting process is lengthy, and any decision on construction is years in the future, but TVA has taken the first step of the journey. As a federally owned utility, TVA is in a unique position to test innovative energy concepts. Being the first utility in the country to take on a small modular reactor project is one way TVA can fulfill its public duty. | <urn:uuid:d8483fbb-b09c-4814-afc7-c85de6d51108> | {
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ON THIS PAGE: You will find some basic information about this disease and the parts of the body it may affect. This is the first page of Cancer.Net’s Guide to Neuroendocrine Tumor. To see other pages, use the menu on the side of your screen. Think of that menu as a roadmap to this full guide.
About the endocrine system and endocrine tumors
The endocrine system is made up of cells that make hormones. Hormones are chemical substances that are produced by the body and carried through the bloodstream to have a specific effect on the activity of other organs or cells in the body.
A tumor begins when normal cells change and grow uncontrollably, forming a mass. A tumor can be cancerous or benign. A cancerous tumor is malignant, meaning it can spread to other parts of the body if it is not found early and treated. A benign tumor means the tumor will not spread and usually can be removed without it causing much harm.
An endocrine tumor is a mass that begins in the parts of the body that produce and release hormones. Because an endocrine tumor develops from cells that produce hormones, the tumor itself can produce hormones and cause serious illness.
About neuroendocrine tumors
A neuroendocrine tumor begins in the hormone-producing cells of the body’s neuroendocrine system, which is made up of cells that are a cross between traditional hormone-producing endocrine cells and nerve cells. Neuroendocrine cells are found throughout the body in organs such as the lungs and gastrointestinal tract, including the stomach and intestines. They perform specific functions, such as regulating the air and blood flow through the lungs and controlling the speed at which food is moved through the gastrointestinal tract.
Types of neuroendocrine tumors
There are many types of neuroendocrine tumors. This section focuses on three specific types: pheochromocytoma, Merkel cell cancer, and neuroendocrine carcinoma. Other types of cancer that begin in hormone-producing cells are described in their own sections on Cancer.Net, including endocrine tumors , carcinoid tumors , thymoma , thyroid cancer , and islet cell tumors .
Pheochromocytoma. Pheochromocytoma is a rare tumor that begins in the chromaffin cells of the adrenal gland. These specialized cells release the hormone adrenaline during times of stress. Pheochromocytoma most often occurs in the adrenal medulla, the area inside the adrenal glands. This type of tumor increases the production of the hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline, which increase blood pressure and heart rate. Even though a pheochromocytoma is usually benign, it may still be life-threatening because the tumor may release large amounts of adrenaline into the bloodstream after injury. Eighty percent (80%) of people with pheochromocytoma have a tumor on only one adrenal gland, 10% have tumors on both glands, and 10% have a tumor outside the adrenal glands.
Merkel cell cancer. Merkel cell cancer, also called neuroendocrine carcinoma of the skin or trabular cancer, is a highly aggressive (fast-growing), rare cancer. It starts in hormone-producing cells just beneath the skin and in the hair follicles, and it is found in the head and neck region.
Neuroendocrine carcinoma. Approximately 60% of neuroendocrine tumors cannot be described as a specific type of cancer other than neuroendocrine carcinoma. Neuroendocrine carcinoma can start in a number of places in the body, including the lungs, brain, and gastrointestinal tract.
To continue reading this guide, use the menu on the side of your screen to select another section. | <urn:uuid:80fbe7ec-0848-49ae-a3ea-b131b2a6c50e> | {
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|This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2008)|
Piel Island lies half a mile (1 km) off the southern tip of the Furness Peninsula in the administrative county of Cumbria, though historically within Lancashire north of the sands. It is located at Coordinates: (OS grid ref. SD233637). It is one of the Islands of Furness. It is the location of the English Heritage-owned Piel Castle.
The island is within the administrative boundaries of the mainland town of Barrow-in-Furness and is owned by the people of the town, having been given by the Duke of Buccleuch in the early 20th century. The Borough Council's administrative duties also include the selection of the "King" of Piel, who is the landlord of the island's public house, the Ship Inn. The area of Piel is about 50 acres (20 ha). As well as the landlord and his family the island has three other permanent residents who live in the old Pilots Cottages.
In the Middle Ages Piel was known as Fowdray (or Fouldrey or Fowdrey) island. This name would seem to be derived from the Old Norse words fouder, meaning "fodder", and ay or oy, meaning "island". The island's known history dates from the time of King Stephen who, in 1127, gave the island to the Savignac monks as part of a land grant for an abbey. When the Savignacs became part of the Cistercian order later in the 12th century, the island came under the control of the Cistercians at nearby Furness Abbey. In the early 13th century the Cistercians used Piel as a safe harbour and built a warehouse for the storage of grain, wine and wool. Some of these commodities were shipped over from Ireland. In 1212 the monks were granted a licence by King John to land one cargo of "wheat, flour and other provisions" to stave off a famine caused by the failure of the local harvest. Later in the century an unlimited cargo licence was granted and in 1258 ships owned by the abbey were placed under royal protection.
The monks fortified the island, firstly with a wooden tower surrounded by a ditch with palisades, and then in 1327 they commenced the building of a motte and bailey fort. This structure was, at the time, the largest of its kind in northwest England. It was probably built as a fortified warehouse to repel pirates and raiders, but it would appear to have had a measure of success in keeping the customs men at bay as well; smuggling was widespread at the time and the abbey was known to have been involved. Indeed, in 1423 an accusation was made against the Abbott of Furness that he smuggled wool out of the country from "la Peele de Foddray". The red sandstone ruins of the fort came to be known as the "Pile of Fouldrey", and are known today as Piel Castle.
The next noteworthy episode in the island's history occurred on 4 June 1487 when Lambert Simnel and his supporters arrived from Dublin. Simnel, crowned as "Edward VI" in Ireland, was being passed off as Edward, 17th Earl of Warwick, the Yorkist heir, by John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln in his attempt to regain the throne for the Yorkists. Simnel and 2,000 German mercenaries made their way via Piel to do battle for the throne. They were eventually defeated at the Battle of Stoke near Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire on 16 June 1487.
A customs creek
Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1537 Piel Island and its castle became the property of the king. The castle's fortifications were strengthened at the time of the Spanish Armada but from then until the Civil War nothing of note happened on the island. The area of Furness was a Parliamentarian stronghold during the Civil War. For this reason the Parliamentarian fleet retreated to Piel Harbour when the Royalists captured Liverpool.
In 1662, following the restoration of Charles II, the lordship of Furness was given to the Duke of Albemarle and this included the castle and parts of the island. After this date activity on Piel seems to have revolved around shipping and industry. A salt works is recorded as existing on the island from as early as 1662, which was still apparently present in the 1690s.
Piel Island became an important trading post during the 18th century and customs men were permanently stationed there; smuggling was still rife at the time. In the second half of the 18th century the iron ore trade began to develop on the Furness Peninsula and the harbour continued to be important to the local economy. As the volume of shipping increased "His Majesty's boatmen" were stationed on Piel as harbour pilots and customs inspectors. Their cottages still stand, now used as summer residences by sailors.
In formal terms, it was a creek (outstation) of the port of Lancaster, and known as Piel Foudray.
Modern-day Piel Island
Being separated from neighbouring Roa Island by the Piel Channel, the island is accessible via a ferryboat from Roa Island pier during summer weekends. Piel can be reached from Walney Island but is only passable with care at low tide. Piel Castle is managed by English Heritage and there is free, unlimited access. The castle, located on the southeast tip of Piel Island, is an impressive ruin made up largely of stones from the beach. The three-storey keep affords good views of the island although it is no longer accessible to visitors. Campers may pitch a tent in its shadows.
The island is a haven for wildlife with many different species of sea bird to be found. Visitors should take care not to disturb nesting birds while walking on the beach. A marsh pond in the centre of the island now attracts many other types of bird.
The Ship Inn
The Ship Inn dates from the late 18th century. Today it provides sustenance for sailors, fishermen and day-trippers to the island. The landlord is known as 'The King of Piel', a title originating from the time of Lambert Simnel and his attempt to usurp the English throne. A tradition associated with the pub is known as the 'Knighthood of Piel'. Local fishermen have handed this down over the centuries. In a room of the inn is a large oak chair and anyone who sits in it is made a 'Knight of Piel'. The ceremonial knighting is carried out by the King of Piel or a fellow knight. The present-day cost of becoming a knight is to buy a round of drinks for all those present. However, the privilege afforded to knights is that they may demand food and lodging off the innkeeper should they be shipwrecked on Piel.
The pub's licence ended in November 2005 and Rod Scarr, who had been King of Piel for 20 years, left the island in April 2006. The island thus fell under the control of Barrow Borough Council. The opportunity was taken to fully renovate the pub, though work did not begin until July 2008, shortly before the new 'King of Piel', Steve Chattaway, was crowned (an event that was documented in the TV series Islands of Britain.
The origins of the Ship Inn are obscure; it is said to be over 300 years old, but the evidence is uncertain. In 1746 a lease for agricultural land situated within the castle ditch was granted to an Edward Postlethwaite, who is described as an innkeeper from the ‘Pile of Fowdrey’. The earliest direct reference to an inn, or ‘publick house’, is only in 1800. In 1813 a visitor painted a vivid picture of the life of the innkeeper at that time:
"There is a public-house on the island, the only habitation, tenanted by an old Scotchman, who has been lord of this domain for many years, and goes through the duties of guide and expositor among the ruins of the castle with admirable fluency.
The custom of the seamen from the roadstead, and the donations of occasional visitors in the summer time, support him in a state of which he has no right, he thinks, to complain; but he acknowledged that when there were no vessels in the roadstead he found his situation rather too lonesome, and apt to drive him to his beer-barrel for company."
The earliest map reference, in 1833, refers to the inn as 'The Herdhouse', and the first person who can confidently be identified as a landlord of the Ship Inn is James Hool as he is listed in the 1841 census as a publican.
- Dixe Wills (2010-05-14). "A campsite fit for a king – at a pauper's price". The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-12-17.
- Barnes, Fred (1968). Barrow and District. Barrow-in-Furness (Lancashire): Barrow-in-Furness Corporation.
- Elsworth, D., 2007, Ship Inn, Piel Island, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, Archaeological Evaluation, p10
- "AFTER DELAYS AND COST HIKES, WORK ON PUB TO START AT LAST". Times & Star. 2008-07-05.
- Jon Granger (2008-09-23). "TV STAR MARTIN CLUNES HAILS NEW KING OF PIEL". NorthWest Evening Mail.
- Jon Granger (2008-06-02). "LIFE ON PIEL ISLAND IN THE SPOTLIGHT FOR TV STARDOM". NorthWest Evening Mail.
- Elsworth, D., 2007, Ship Inn, Piel Island, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, Archaeological Evaluation, p12-13 | <urn:uuid:54854e9f-419c-46e6-b3a0-f300753f2983> | {
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For centuries women have been treated as inferior, weak, and dependent on the opposite sex. It was thought that we are to uphold to this feminine image of beauty while feeding men grapes and vacuuming the house in our heels. I hate heels. But we have obviously evolved past this rudimentary image of a female, or have we? It was not until 1972, when Title IX was passed, females even began to start believing there was any hope that one-day males would treat us as equals. When I say equal, I mean that we have equal opportunities and respect in all areas of our lives. Title IX opened the doors for women in sport as well as in a work environment. Being able to participate in sports gave women the confidence to push forward and defend their rights, as human beings.
In the article “Title IX and Gender Equity” Jon Boxill concluded, “For the vast majority of people, sport is the most available form of unalienated activity and consequently is an important way that people develop their uniquely human attributes, their self-respect, and their self-esteem.” (402) Whether you are male or female, movement is in your nature. We are made to move; both males and females have the capabilities to produce beautiful, fluid, and well-calculated movements. This movement is self-expression and is not synonymous with any gender. So why do we separate males from females? Should women play against males? How may society make the playing field equal?
Over many centuries our societies have been ruled by a masculine mindset of a selfish competitiveness, which involves treating your opponent as the enemy or obstacle to be defeated. Men are the protectors, the provider, and the one in charge. Men have suppressed the female population and are threatened by the thought of a women possessing equal skill. In ancient Greece they fought to the death, preparing for war, and now we play football. Society has further suppressed women by incorporating a need for size, speed, strength, and power in sports such as football, rugby, and ice hockey where men knowingly have an advantage. In Bruce Kidd’s article “The Men’s cultural Centre: sports and the dynamic of women’s Oppression/Men’s Repression” He mentions, “ …For women were increasingly becoming a threat to men, and men responded by developing rugby football as a male preserve in which they could bolster up their threatened masculinity…”(407) In the most popular sports size does matter, this allows men to say, “ I don’t want to play with a girl. I might hurt her.” Resulting in women remaining unactive and unable to receive the wonderful mental and physical benefits of participating in a sport or physical activity. After Title IX women then had more opportunities to participate in sports, even the masculine ones. Females have been gaining momentum and catching up with the men in sports AND business.
In Boxill’s article he states that, “because of the nature and design of sport, it provides a significant moral function for the individual and for society at large. It does so first because it provides autonomous agents with a vehicle for self-expression- a means to self-respect and self –development.” (396) The benefits that are found in sport are not gender specific, so why do sports have to be? As humans we are always evolving and adapting to the demands of life. Women have only been participating in sport for a few decades, while men have had centuries of practice. In the short amount of time women have participated in sports, the gap between men and women in some sports has significantly lessened, especially in the area of ultra- endurance sports. Boxill mentions that, “if women want to compete with men, then they must compete against them on the same level, using the same rules and standards. But, we don’t even require this of men.” (399) If you think about all of the different male and female body types, there is such a huge range; you cannot really say that men as a whole are stronger than women. What if you had a male who was small and scrawny and was unable to put on any muscles against a girl who was a little larger possessed more manly characteristics? Who would win in a football game or wrestling match? There are to many body types of all shapes and sizes to say that women cannot become as strong, fast and powerful as their male counterpart.
I believe that there will always be a separation between male and female sports. It will never become fully integrated, or at least I don’t believe in this lifetime it will happen. I do not see anything wrong with this. I think that separation is OK. It is going to take a long time for females to catch up to males. It should be about having the option to compete against an equal counterpart, whether it is a male or female. If a female athlete is no longer challenged by her sport she should have the right to compete against the men. Women are evolving, some faster than others. I do not believe that as a woman wanting to compete with males is demeaning of women’s sports. Just like the men in big corporations had to step aside and make room for us ladies, men will also have to make room in sports.
We are designed to be different; this dualism allows us each to provide a different puzzle piece to this beautiful life, fitting together to make a whole. Physically and biologically we are different, on an energetic level, we are all the same. We both contain the essence of male and female within us. On the outside some males may have female characteristics and vice versa. Sports should be designed to ensure that everyone may have an equal opportunity to obtain excellence. Whether you are a male or female it should not matter. I know that there will always be a bit of a separation, because sometimes I just get sick of being around men and friendly equated competition from a female counterpart is just as fulfilling. The point is, we are all one! I know that is a little hippy of me, but what can I say, it takes one to know one! | <urn:uuid:f6139949-94ca-4ee5-950a-878029df1596> | {
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A number of contrasting definitions exist today for "configuration management"; it is enough to search "what is configuration management?" in Google and skim through the results. Since different definitions would lead to different interpretations of what a configuration management tool is, it's better to stop introduce the subject before we even start talking. Besides, since "Configuration Management System" would lead to the acronym "CMS" which is widely used now for stuff that has nothing to do with configuration management, we'll abdicate and talk about "Configuration management tools" or CMTs.
What is a CMT?
Configuration management tools are, well, tools that aim to empower system administrators to efficiently manage large installations of systems. They generally try to achieve this goal by classifying servers and applying specific configurations to each class, so that hosts in a chosen class are configured in the same way and work in the same way.
A strong recommendation (read: a requirement) of these tools is that the tool's configuration files are centralized and versioned in a version control system of some kind. The VCS is not part of the CMT, and the CMT usually doesn't impose any specific one. This is good news, since you can keep using your favourite one. By the way, in large installations you often have different people managing different parts. This may require different access rights to the CMT configuration, which may lead to the choice of a specific VCS that implements some sort of access control.
More or less. We all know from experience that it is not enough for two servers to share the same configuration to work the same way. Besides, more other “noise” can affect the systems (e.g.: a badly hand-configured service, out of the control of the configuration management tool, may disrupt an otherwise well-working service under control).
But the most important thing comes when the human brain is involved. System administrators often tend to think at each system as a single entity that they configure by tweaking configuration files, and tuning the operating system here and there. Sysadmins have the concept of “class of servers” (a set of servers that perform the same function, e.g.: machines x, y and z are web servers). But the class is often created by repeating the same configuration job by hand on each machine.
This is not the case with CMTs. You now manage classes, not (just) servers: you don't configure servers (one or one hundred they may be): you configure a class. And going at the level of, say, the particular service's configuration file is left to the CMT.
When you are using a CMT you should limit low-level activities, directly accessing the operating system entities (files, devices, processes…), and leave it to the CMT to do such things, for a) your changes may be overridden by the CMT, and you'll get the (wrong) impression that it gets in the way instead of helping you, and 2) you'd get back to patch the single instance of the server instead of configuring the whole class.
In other words: if you are going to use a CMT, any CMT, you'll also need to change the way you think about server management. Without that change, a CMT may never fully work for you, since you'll feel it getting in your way rather than helping you.
The tools we'll compare, and how
The tools we'll compare are cfengine and puppet.
With its birth dating back in 1993, Cfengine is probably the oldest, best known, and more powerful tool around. It lays its foundation on the scientific theories of his creator, Marc Burgess. The current version of cfengine is 3.0.5.
Puppet is a younger project, started by Luke Kanies. It is being actively developed and has a community of enthusiast around it. The current stable version is 0.25.5, while the next stable will see a numbering change and become 2.6 (instead of 0.26.x).
Each tool will be analysed under three points of view: architecture (how the functionalities of the tool are organized), philosophy (the principles behind the tool) and peculiarities (things that make the tool special). This comparison will be rather high-level, and will focus on features. Rather than, say, showing examples about how to perform a specific task, we'll try to asnwer the following questions:
- Can this tool handle multiple service clusters (say 10 clusters of a hundred machine each), allowing different policies and access restrictions to be applied for configuration files (per cluster, per team, per user)?
- Can this tool handle multiple datacenters, where a single service is typically deployed in more than one datacenter?
- Does this tool natively integrate with monitoring tools (such as Nagios, Munin…) so that changes in the CMT configuration are reflected in the monitoring tools?
- Is it easy to maintain configuration repositories so that templates can be stored for easy modification and duplication?
- Is configuration change history supported?
- Is change request/approval/notification supported?
Some of this questions can get an answer right away.
Questions 4 and 5 all depend to the chosen VCS. Answer to question 5 is “yes” for any VCS, and answer to question 4 is “yes, once/given that you know the chosen VCS”.
Answer to question 6 is: “No or partially; that much depends on people role's and procedures they follow”. More on this later, along with the answers to questions 1, 2, 3.
Once done with the analysis of both tools, I'll try to answer to the questions above, and I'll talk about things that didn't find an answer or a solution. This will be a separate post.
And that's all for now. I'll see you next time with cfengine. | <urn:uuid:295a126a-1dc2-45f9-ac66-f21195577cb2> | {
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Safely carrying cargo and passengers on an aircraft is not an easy thing, weight distribution and load have to be correct to ensure the aircraft can take off safely and equally importantly get to its destination and land safely. Calculations are needed to ensure the aircraft is not overloaded, and this becomes especially important on large cargo aircraft such as the Hercules. To assist aircrew, the air force has long made use of manual computers that allow the information to be entered, and results read off by turning a dial and setting it to the correct figures, this calculator comes in a plastic cover, the original owner has written his name on the front:Taking the computer out of the case we can see that it consists of two white plastic discs that rotate over one another and allow the calculations to be made:The centre of the computer indicates the aircraft type it’s for, the Hercules, and its use, a trim computer:As can be seen below this is the details indicating that it was designed by the Operational Research Branch for the Royal Air Force. A further table is printed on the rear, offering further assistance to the user:A series of numbers are printed around the rims of the two discs, with a clear slider that can also rotate:I must confess I have little aeronautical knowledge so the exact purpose of the computer and how to use it are beyond me. The Hercules has been the workhorse of the RAF for many decades, the following information form the RAF’s own website offers some interesting information on the current use of the venerable aircraft:
The C-130 Hercules tactical transport aircraft is the workhorse of the RAF’s Air Transport (AT) fleet and is based at RAF Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire , where it is operated by Nos 24, 30 and 47 Squadrons. The fleet comprises a mixture of C-130K C1/C3 and C-130J C4/C5 aircraft.
The C1 and C3 aircraft are used primarily to carry troops, passengers or freight and are capable of carrying up to 128 passengers, or 20 tonnes of palletised freight or vehicles, for up to 2000nmls. The freight bay can accommodate a range of wheeled or tracked vehicles, or up to seven pallets of general freight. In the aeromedical evacuation role either 64 or 82 stretchers can be carried, depending on the mark of aircraft and the stretcher configuration. The maximum unrefuelled ferry range is 3500nmls, which can be extended to over 4000nmls by air-to-air refuelling. The other main role of the C-130 is Transport Support (TS), which is the airborne delivery of personnel or stores by airdrop. In this role the aircraft supports airborne operations conducted by 16 Air Assault Brigade by the aerial delivery of paratroops, stores and equipment. The aircraft is particularly valuable in its TS role as it can be operated from unprepared and semi-prepared surfaces by day or by night.
The majority of aircraft are fitted with defensive infrared countermeasure equipment, whilst some aircraft used for special tasks have an additional, enhanced defensive-aids suite comprising a Skyguardian radarwarning receiver, a chaff and flare countermeasure dispensing system and a missile approach warning system. The C3 is also equipped with station-keeping equipment, which enables the aircraft to maintain its airborne position in a large formation in thick cloud or bad weather where the other formation members cannot be seen. The aircraft are receiving an ongoing avionics, electrical and structural upgrade, which will enable them to remain the workhorse of the AT fleet into the next decade. | <urn:uuid:0d458ace-509a-4bd3-9421-cb8a7c68ed6a> | {
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Learn core programming concepts and technologies on the leading software development language This full-color book covers fundamental Java programming concepts and skills for those new to software development and programming. Taking a straightforward and direct approach, Java SE 7 Programming Essentials provides a solid foundational knowledge of programming topics. Each chapter begins with a list of topic areas, and author Michael Ernest provides clear and concise discussion of these core areas. The chapters contain review questions and suggested labs, so the reader can measure their understanding of the chapter topics. Covers topics such as working with Java data types, using operators and decision constructs, creating and using arrays, and much more Includes additional learning tutorials and tools Puts the focus on Oracle's new Oracle Certified Associate (OCA): Java SE 7 Programmer (1Z0-803) exam This must-have resource offers new programmers a solid understanding of the Java SE 7 programming language.
|Title||:||Java SE 7 Programming Essentials|
|Publisher||:||John Wiley & Sons - 2012-10-23| | <urn:uuid:5bb587c7-e1a0-40f0-b369-846b365048d3> | {
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Throughout history, dress codes have played a significant role in shaping societal norms and expectations. From ancient civilizations to modern times, clothing has been used for identification, differentiation, and social order. Dress codes have been influenced by cultural, religious, and economic factors, evolving to reflect changing values and beliefs. Visit FashionLifeSlyleNews.com now to learn how societal dress norms impact today’s democracies.
Role of Dress Codes in Establishing Social Norms
Dress codes serve as a mechanism for establishing and reinforcing social norms within a community or institution. They provide guidelines that define appropriate attire for specific occasions or settings. By adhering to dress codes, individuals contribute to maintaining social order and demonstrate their conformity to societal expectations. Explore womenblog.us to learn more about the influence of dress rules in democratic nations and learn how to unlock the secrets that lie behind them.
Individual Expression and Identity
While dress codes often emphasize uniformity, they can also allow for individual expression and the assertion of personal identity. Fashion choices enable individuals to communicate their beliefs, interests, and cultural affiliations. Dress codes that balance uniformity and individuality can foster inclusivity and self-expression.
Dress Codes in Educational Institutions
Arguments in Favor of Dress Codes
Supporters of dress codes in educational institutions argue that they promote discipline, reduce distractions, and create a level playing field among students. Dress codes can minimize socioeconomic differences, prevent clothing-related conflicts, and instill a sense of pride and belonging within the school community.
Arguments Against Dress Codes
Opponents of dress codes argue that they infringe upon individual freedoms, stifle creativity, and reinforce gender stereotypes. Dress codes may disproportionately affect marginalized groups, limit self-expression, and hinder students’ ability to explore their identities. Critics also argue that dress codes place undue focus on external appearances rather than academic achievements.
Balancing Individuality and Uniformity
Striking a balance between individuality and uniformity is crucial when implementing dress codes in educational institutions. Schools can consider flexible dress codes that allow self-expression while maintaining appropriate standards. Inclusive policies, student involvement in decision-making processes, and sensitivity to cultural and religious diversity can contribute to a more balanced approach.
Dress Codes in the Workplace
Professionalism and Dress Codes
Dress codes in the workplace aim to project professionalism, create a cohesive work environment, and convey a certain image to clients and customers. Appropriate attire is often seen as a reflection of an individual’s competence, credibility, and commitment to the organization. Dress codes vary across industries, with some sectors adopting formal attire while others embrace more casual styles. To find out more about the impact that formal dress codes have on modern democracies, check out stylemulberrysale.com today.
Impact of Dress Codes on Employee Morale
Implementing dress codes can have positive and negative effects on employee morale. While some employees appreciate clear guidelines that eliminate ambiguity and promote unity, others may feel restricted and constrained by dress codes. Maintaining a positive work culture is essential to balance professionalism and employee comfort.
Addressing Discrimination in Dress Codes
Dress codes must be carefully designed to avoid discriminatory practices. Policies that disproportionately impact certain groups based on gender, race, religion, or cultural practices can perpetuate inequality and hinder diversity and inclusion efforts. Organizations should regularly review and update their dress code policies to ensure fairness and equal opportunities for all employees.
Dress Codes in Public Spaces and Events
Cultural Sensitivity and Appropriateness
Dress codes in public spaces and events often aim to maintain cultural sensitivity, ensure appropriateness, and promote public decency. Cultural attire may be required or encouraged to respect the customs and traditions of specific communities or events. Dress codes can help create a respectful and inclusive atmosphere for all participants.
Maintaining Security and Safety
Certain dress codes may be implemented in public spaces and events to maintain security and safety. For example, restrictions on face coverings or prohibiting certain accessories or clothing items can help identify individuals and prevent potential threats. Balancing security concerns with individual rights is crucial in these cases.
Challenging Traditional Dress Codes
In recent years, there has been a growing movement to challenge traditional dress codes seen as oppressive, discriminatory, or outdated. Activists and individuals advocate for more inclusive, body-positive, and gender-neutral dress codes that celebrate diversity and accommodate a broader range of identities and expressions.
Role of Modern Democracy in Shaping Dress Codes
Influence of Public Opinion and Legislation
In modern democratic society, dress codes can be influenced by public opinion and legislative actions. As societal attitudes change, there is a greater emphasis on individual rights, diversity, and inclusivity. Public debates, social movements, and legal reforms significantly shape dress codes to align with evolving societal values.
Balancing Individual Rights and Social Cohesion
Modern democracies strive to balance individual rights and freedoms with the need for social cohesion and harmony. Dress codes should be designed to respect and protect individual expression and identity while considering the community’s or institution’s broader interests. This delicate balance ensures that dress codes uphold democratic principles.
Role of Media and Fashion Industry
The media and fashion industry substantially influence dress codes and societal perceptions of fashion. Trends, celebrity culture, and media representation shape public attitudes and expectations regarding clothing choices. The fashion industry is pivotal in challenging traditional norms, introducing new styles, and promoting diversity and inclusivity in dress codes.
The relationship between modern democracy and dress codes is complex and multifaceted. Dress codes serve various purposes in different settings, from establishing social norms and fostering professionalism to maintaining security and cultural sensitivity.
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In the near future, off-grid communities of up to 20,000 population might be powered by a nuclear reactor the size of a container that is swapped out every 20 years.
Existing plants emit no emissions but overall are just too risky for some. There’s also competition now with low natural gas prices and wind and solar projects, which has allowed the small reactors to emerge. The Tennessee Valley Authority has become the first utility to apply for a permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a small reactor.
Others are following suit, there is a plan by the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems to build one about 100 miles southwest of Yellowstone National Park; it is said to produce electricity like no other.
Small nuclear reactors may be a safer and a cheaper alternative to nuclear power plants. They can be manufactured in a factory and hooked-up on-site, potentially avoiding the huge upfront capital costs and the overruns that have plagued many nuclear plants. They are theoretically safer, reducing the need for huge containment vessels and other expensive protections.
Unlike other nuclear reactors that usually produce about 1,000 megawatts of carbon-free electricity, the small modular reactors, are designed to be a fraction of the size at 50 to 300 megawatts. Rather than using electrically operated pumps and motors to circulate coolant and keep the core of the nuclear reactor at a low temperature, as happens in traditional plants, small reactors use no pumps and motors and instead rely on passive means such as gravity and conduction to cool the reactors. The size also means that it is cheaper to produce, as opposed to the $10bn and up to a decade in planning to secure permits and build of conventional nuclear.
The group wants to replace their old coal-fired plants and it won the approval from the US Department of Energy earlier this year to analyze the environmental and safety impacts of the small nuclear reactor. If it passes the test, the consortium plans to build a power plant there with 12 reactors totaling 600 megawatts in capacity.
The Utah consortium will hire Washington state-based Energy Northwest to operate and maintain its 12 reactors in Idaho if they are built. The Utah group expects the project to come online by 2024.
Gene Grecheck, a former president and the current co-chair of a policy advisory committee at the American Nuclear Society, which represents engineers and scientists. Grecheck says that scientists are studying other ways to improve nuclear technology. “There is also a lot of research going on for advanced reactor concepts to take used fuel and reprocess it to reduce [the spent fuel] even more dramatically,” he said.
Startup companies are working on using spent uranium fuel include the Bill Gates-backed TerraPoweras well as Transatomic and Terrestrial Energy. Another start-up, Oklo, seeks to create 2-megawatt reactors that fit inside shipping containers to provide electricity for remote off-grid locations. Toshiba has worked on a micro nuclear reactor that is designed to power individual apartment buildings or city blocks. The new reactor, which is only 20 feet by 6 feet, could change everything for small remote communities, small businesses or even a group of neighbours who are fed up with the power companies and want more control over their energy needs.
A new report by the U.K.’s government-backed Energy Technologies Institute outlines what it considers to be a reasonable timeline for the country to also adopt the new smaller reactors. It has been estimated that they could be in use by 2030. For that to happen, talks between operators, developers, and the government would have to begin next year. But fears about the safety of nuclear plants have made them so costly as to discourage investors. “Creating the right environment for increasing investor confidence is critical if this schedule is to be met,” says Mike Middleton, the author of the report.
There are already small modular reactors operating in Pakistan, India, Serbia & China. Russia is in the process of converting two small reactors which used to power icebreakers. They will eventually be placed on barges which can then be moved to where they are needed. America are next in line.
Even if it does happen in the U.K. they will still lag behind America. If all goes as planned, the facility in Tennessee could be up and running by the mid-2020s.
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Alexius I (Alexius Comnenus) əlĕk´sēəs, kəmnē´nəs [key], 1048–1118, Byzantine emperor (1081–1118). Under the successors of his uncle, Isaac I , the empire had fallen prey to anarchy and foreign invasions. In 1081, Alexius, who had become popular as a general, overthrew Nicephorus III and was proclaimed emperor. The most immediate danger besetting the empire was the Norman invasions (1081–85) under Robert Guiscard and his son, Bohemond I . Alexius obtained Venetian help at the price of valuable commercial privileges. This and a truce with the Seljuk Turks enabled him to defend the Balkan Peninsula until the death of Robert Guiscard, when the Normans temporarily withdrew (1085). Next, Alexius secured the alliance of the Cumans and with their help defeated (1091) the Pechenegs , who had beseiged Constantinople. He then repulsed the Cumans, who had turned against him, regained territory from the Turks, and suppressed insurrections in Crete and Cyprus. At the same time as Alexius was seeking aid from the West against the Turks, the First Crusade (see Crusades ) was declared. Faced with the presence of an army of unruly and pillaging Crusaders near his capital, Alexius sought both to rid himself of the Crusaders and to employ them for his own purposes. He furnished them with money, supplies, and transportation to Asia Minor after he had persuaded the leaders to swear him fealty and to agree to surrender to him all conquests of former Byzantine territories. In return, he promised to join the Crusaders, who at first complied. Bohemond, however, seized Antioch for himself, and in 1099 Alexius began operations against him. In 1108, Bohemond was forced to acknowledge Alexius as his suzerain. The last years of Alexius' reign were consumed by fresh struggles with the Turks and by the intrigues of his daughter Anna Comnena against his son and heir, John II. Alexius' reign restored Byzantine military and naval power and political prestige, but brought onerous taxation, the depreciation of currency, and the extension of feudalism by grants of estates, draining imperial strength.
See the study by his daughter Anna Comnena.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Ancient History, Late Roman and Byzantine: Biographies | <urn:uuid:fa4935d8-019d-4429-aa88-4eb22447f8ea> | {
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Shooters Reported Mistaking Endangered Red Wolves for Coyotes
Ten Wolves Killed by Gunshot in 2012 Exceeds Annual Average
According to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service records, at least three of the ten endangered red wolves shot and killed in 2012 were reported by the shooters as mistaken for coyotes. No responsible party or reason is reported or identified for the remaining seven wolves killed by gunshot in 2012. The ten wolves killed by gunshot in 2012 exceeded the annual average since 2002.
“These reports confirm that mistaken identity is a lethal, but preventable, threat to endangered red wolves,” said Derb Carter, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center who represents the groups. “It’s difficult to tell the difference between a red wolf and a coyote even in daytime and allowing night hunting substantially increases the risk to red wolves.”
A temporary rule that legalized spot light hunting of coyotes at night in North Carolina—including the five county area inhabited by the world’s only wild population of about 100 red wolves—was in effect August 2012 until November 2012 when it was suspended by Wake County Superior Court in a lawsuit brought by the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of the Red Wolf Coalition, Animal Welfare Institute, and Defenders of Wildlife. Now an identical permanent state rule is pending before the N.C. General Assembly.
Red wolves and coyotes are similar in size, coats, and coloring so red wolves are frequently mistaken for coyotes, even in daylight. Gunshot deaths are a significant threat to red wolf recovery and a leading cause of red wolf mortality.
Note to Editors:
• A photographic comparison of a red wolf and coyote can be viewed at: http://www.southernenvironment.org/images/photos/Red%20wolves/red_wolf_coyote.jpg
• Photographs of red wolves in North Carolina are available for use with appropriate photo credit from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service at http://www.fws.gov/redwolf/media.html
About Southern Environmental Law Center
The Southern Environmental Law Center is a regional nonprofit using the power of the law to protect the health and environment of the Southeast (Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama). Founded in 1986, SELC's team of more than 50 legal and policy experts represent more than 100 partner groups on issues of climate change and energy, air and water quality, forests, the coast and wetlands, transportation, and land use. | <urn:uuid:fce1bda0-3364-4eae-9f0f-915512e0a5de> | {
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Thursday, April 28, 2011
DMI Research Assisting Firefighters in Action
The growing Disaster Management Initiative (DMI) of Carnegie Mellon University's Silicon Valley campus (CMUSV) features a solutions-oriented approach, matching real problems encountered in disaster response with technology to develop solutions. The challenge of tracking firefighters in buildings, yet to be resolved, for example, has gained attention of DMI partners, including CMUSV researchers, NASA Ames experts, and professional firefighters, to name a few, who are combining expertise to address the issue.
While GPS information, transmitted by satellite, works fine outdoors, it cannot track location of personnel inside of a building. A firefighter who is hurt or needs assistance while inside a burning building may not be able to communicate their exact location to enable assistance. Recent technology advancements have brought the possibility of tracking closer to reality.
Dr. Pei Zhang, Assistant Research Professor at CMUSV, is leading Ph.D. and undergraduate students in the research and development of a device that employs radio signals to create a virtual map. Their research is being conducted under the umbrella of the SensorFly project, which sends mini-helicopters inside of buildings, such as buildings devastated in an earthquake, to locate survivors. That research led to a need to know the location of the SensorFly devise.
By measuring the flight time of signals to the device and incorporating a compass to create signatures, the team can determine location inside of a building, even overcoming interference from obstacles such as metal and magnetic interference from steel beams and photocopy machines. “We are able to deploy the devices without prior infrastructure or setup,” says Dr. Zhang, “as soon as we enter a building with the device, we are able to follow the path of the person with the signal.”
Students recently ran a successful experiment in a supermarket, full of metal shelves, achieving tracking of indoor location within one meter of accuracy. The team hopes to run future experiments in cooperation with fire departments, so they can account for radio interference from ionized air created in a fire, as well as challenges due to smoke and other factors. The device will not only allow someone from the outside to find a firefighter in a building by following their trail, it also creates a map that will allow firefighters in the building to exit by the same route they entered—a novel advancement that can help save lives.
With the help of NASA-Ames experts, CMUSV researchers hope to take the technology another step further by monitoring physiology. NASA professionals are experts at tracking physiology remotely—they can monitor the heart rate of astronauts circling 220 miles above the earth at 17,500 miles per hour. The team at NASA-Ames is assisting development of a physio-monitor that can be worn by firefighters when they suit up. Such a monitor could alert a firefighter or their supervisor if their blood pressure level rises dangerously high.
Other new technology being developed to help firefighters includes real time video streaming. By placing a mi-fi/wi-fi card enabled webcam on a firefighter’s helmet, everything a firefighter sees and hears can be transmitted to the chief or other personnel outside of the building in real time. Recent technology developments make this scenario both feasible and affordable.
DMI meetings have brought together a cross-section of leaders in disaster management and response, including fire personnel from several fire departments. Participation and collaboration of professional firefighters enables researchers to not only design a realistic solution, it also creates a vital connection that will enable testing of solutions. | <urn:uuid:d96e88f4-21de-4aa3-9fcb-df0f11f9f8c1> | {
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Volta Greentech’s mission is to reduce methane emissions from cows. The methane gas cows release through enteric fermentation equals 4% of the world’s total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (CO2e). This is 2x more emissions than from the world’s fleet of airplanes. Methane emissions from enteric fermentation is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.
Humans have made cows a central part of the food system and there are today around 1 billion cows on the planet who feed a significant part of the human population of 8 billion people. It’s a global debate around the role of the cow and of what the future should look like. We encourage this debate and hope it leads to positive change, as how we live as humans today has severe negative consequences on the health of the planet, other living beings and our own health.
At Volta Greentech, we don’t know what the future of food will look like, if the role of the cows will be as large a part of agriculture as it is today or if the number of cows will increase or decrease. The complexity makes it difficult even for the leading researchers in the world to come to an agreement of what the food system should look like.
What we do know is that there are 1 billion cows in the world today that vastly contribute to warming the planet. And we are in a global climate crisis that will soon be irreversible. With our solution of feeding a daily supplement of natural red seaweed we can more or less eliminate enteric methane emissions from a cow.
Doing this at a large scale, fast enough to make a positive impact on the climate, is not going to be easy. But it’s important that it gets done, and that we do it in parallel to other initiatives within the food and agriculture sector that drive positive change for the climate, the wellbeing of animals and for human health.
Over a 20 year period, methane has a global warming potential 81x that of CO2. Bringing down methane emissions from cows is absolutely essential to limit global warming to the 1.5C target. Just like we have catalytic converters for cars to reduce key pollutants by 90-99%, our solution works as a catalytic converter for cows, radically reducing methane emissions.
Our solution to reduce methane emissions from cows is generally well-recognized for its potential to have a rapid, measurable and positive impact on reducing global warming. From time to time the purpose of our work gets questioned. Some argue that by working on reducing methane emissions from cows, we support and enable the continued existence of an industry, or a part of the food system, that some think should cease to exist because of the negative environmental consequences and suffering of farm animals. It’s a very valid concern and it’s one that has been on top of our minds from the start.
With our consumer brand LOME (Low Methane) we are part of influencing what people choose to eat. LOME was not part of our initial plan. We focused on seaweed production, product development and to find ways to partner with existing beef and dairy brands to implement our solution to reduce emissions. We learned that the industry will not decide on reducing emissions if there are no incentives and no push by consumers or legislators. And there will be no push by consumers or legislators if there is no brand leading the way showing it is possible. A classical chicken and egg problem. We therefore had to create LOME to act as the catalyst of getting consumers and legislators to see that it is possible to reduce emissions from beef and dairy. With LOME we hope to inspire consumers that they have the power with their choices to improve how food is produced.
This puts an enormous responsibility on our shoulders.
Firstly, we have a responsibility to make sure LOME is only attracting consumers who would otherwise consume conventional, non-methane reduced beef or dairy. We don’t want LOME to be used as an argument to increase consumption of beef and dairy as we believe that LOME almost always has a higher environmental footprint than plant-based alternatives.
Secondly, we need to choose beef and dairy partners very carefully and only work with the people in the industry that are at the forefront of working with sustainable practices and improved animal welfare. If we enable reduction of methane emissions but at the same time through LOME support bad practices we would again have failed our mission.
Thirdly, we need to make sure our own work of producing marine red seaweed is done with as low environmental footprint as possible.
In all these areas we will always need to improve. They will be on top of our minds to make sure our solution to reduce methane emissions from the agriculture sector truly makes a significant positive impact not only on the climate but on the food system as a whole.
We’re currently in what scientists call Code Red for humanity. The world needs to aggressively and rapidly bring down climate emissions, using all the tools in the toolbox. We will do our part, by targeting to eliminate the 4% of the greenhouse gas emissions that emanate from cows. We don’t have all the answers, but we believe that significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions from cows is the right thing to do. | <urn:uuid:62d5eab6-d2a3-4ae2-8610-69a5b3a1f7bf> | {
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October 31, 2006
Space shuttle astronauts will make one last servicing call to the Hubble Space Telescope, buoying hopes the world's premier observatory will continue its cutting-edge research programs through at least 2013, NASA announced today.
The fifth house call to Hubble had been canceled following the 2003 Columbia disaster, when NASA deemed any mission that did not fly to the International Space Station (which could serve as an emergency shelter in case of Columbia-like shuttle damage) was too risky to fly.
NASA briefly investigated a robotic servicing flight to the 16-year-old observatory but found the mission too complex, costly, and time-consuming to develop and fly.
Congress ordered NASA to reconsider its decision and set aside funds to continue preparing equipment and personnel for the flight. NASA Administrator Mike Griffin pledged a new review after the shuttle demonstrated post-Columbia safety upgrades and procedures.
Before a packed auditorium at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, which oversees the telescope, Griffin today announced the shuttle was cleared for a final flight to Hubble.
"We are going to add a shuttle servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope to the shuttle's manifest to be flown before it retires [in 2010]," Griffin said, spurring loud cheers, hearty applause, and a standing ovation.
The mission, targeted for launch in early May 2008, will involve up to five spacewalks to install two new science instruments, repair a third instrument, replace spent batteries, and swap out six gyroscopes, which are used for positioning the observatory.
Without an upgrade, the telescope is expected to last only another 2 to 3 years.
In approving the flight, NASA also decided to have a second shuttle at the launch pad ready to fly a rescue mission in case the ship carrying the Hubble repair crew sustains Columbia-like damage.
Since 2003, NASA has twice redesigned the shuttle's fuel tank, which caused the problem that led to Columbia's demise, and also developed techniques to inspect the shuttle during flight for damage and make rudimentary repairs.
"The safety of our crew conducting this mission will be as much as we could possibly do," Griffin said. "We are not going to risk a crew in order to do a Hubble mission."
Crew members assigned to the flight are Commander Scott Altman, Pilot Gregory Johnson, Robot-arm Operator Megan McArthur, and Spacewalkers John Grunsfeld, Michaell Massimino, Andrew Feustel, and Michael Good.
Johnson, McArthur, Feustel, and Good will be making their first spaceflights.
During the servicing flight, astronauts will replace Hubble's wide-field planetary camera with an updated imager sensitive to a broader range of wavelengths from the near-ultraviolet to the near-infrared.
Astronomers plan to repeat in infrared Hubble's famed ultra-deep-field image, a million-second long exposure that revealed the universe's first galaxies
"We should be able to see the first stars 400 million years after the Big Bang," said senior project scientist David Leckrone. "It's an incredibly mysterious period when all the action happened, when matter started coming together."
The camera also is expected to play a key role in the search for extremely distant supernovae, which scientists use to track the so-called dark energy believed to be driving the universe's expansion.
The second major upgrade will be the installation of an extremely sensitive light-splitting spectrograph that will look at light from distant quasars to chart the universe's first structures. | <urn:uuid:b31ae6c5-29e4-4f1c-bc41-276a19a857ea> | {
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Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have made a startling discovery about neurons. The details of the study have been published online in the journal Nature Neuroscience recently. It reveals that neurons are inherently risk takers and that they use minor DNA surgeries to toggle their activity levels all day. These activities have a tremendous significance in learning, memory and brain disorders, so the scientists are hopeful that this finding will give them insights on a number of vital questions.
Hongjun Song, Ph.D., a professor of neurology and neuroscience in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s Institute for Cell Engineering said that it was long believed in the scientific community that once a cell reaches its full maturation, a DNA is totally stable this includes all the molecular tags that are attached to it to control its genes and maintain the cell identity. However, with the finding of this research it has been revealed that some cells do alter their DNA to perform their everyday tasks, all the time.
The process of DNA alteration is known as demethylation. Methyl groups are actually regulatory tags that are tied to cytosines the C's in DNA's 4 letter alphabets. In order to remove them a multistep process need to be followed which requires excising a tagged cytosine from the long string of paired letters that form the chromosome. It should be ideally replaced with an untagged cytosine. Since, the process needs a cut to be made in the DNA, it can increase the chances of mutation in the DNA and that is the reason why it is sparing used by most cells. However, the recent studies have revealed something not known before it says that the mammals' brain exhibit a highly dynamic DNA modification activity. The research team of Song was curious to find out why such a risky process was going on in such a critical part of the brain.
Neurons communicate with other neurons through connections called synapses. At each synapse the initiating neuron releases chemical messengers that are intercepted by the receptor protein on the receiving neuron. Neurons are capable of toggling the volume of the communication by adjusting the activity levels of their genes. Songs team experimented by adding various drugs to neurons taken from the mouse brains and found that their synaptic activity went up and down accordingly. When the synaptic activity was up, so was the activity of the Tet3 gene, which kicks off DNA demethylation. When it was down, Tet3 was down too.
The then conducted the experiment other way round and manipulated the levels of T3 in the cells. To their surprise they found that when Tet3 levels were up, synaptic activity was down; when Tet3 levels were down, synaptic activity was up. Now the question arises whether the Tet3 levels depend on synaptic activity, or vice versa?
Through another series of experiments they found that one of the changes occurring in neurons in response to low levels of Tet3 was an increase in the protein GluR1 at their synapses. GluR1 is a receptor for chemical messengers, and its abundance at synapses is one of the ways neurons can toggle their synaptic activity.
They found that when the synaptic activity increases, Tet3 activity and base excision of tagged cytosines increases. This leads to the decrease in levels of GluR1 at synapses, which in turn decreases their overall strength and brings the synapses back to their previous activity level. It can also work the other way round. So, the crux is Tet3 levels respond to synaptic activity levels, and synaptic activity levels respond to Tet3 levels.
Song said that if we shut off neural activity, the neurons will try to get back to their usual level and vice versa. However, they cannot do it without Tet3. The ability to regulate synapse activity is the most fundamental property of neurons: Since this synaptic flexibility need mildly risky DNA surgery to work, it is possible that some brain disorders occur when neurons lose their ability to “heal” properly after base excision. Further studies can confirm this hypothesis. | <urn:uuid:57df22dc-9c17-45cf-8c8e-b3a5b38a5abf> | {
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Grade 1 has been practicing putting spine labels in alphabetical order. This is how fiction books are organized in the library!
Students have learned that:
- The three letters represent the first three letters of the author’s last name
- All fiction books are sorted alphabetically
- All books by the same author will be together on the shelf
Working in teams, students were active thinkers and good communicators. | <urn:uuid:f065d125-2d78-4eec-a0bd-6728953c52a3> | {
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Exoplanets near red dwarfs suggest another Earth nearer
- 6 February 2013
- From the section Science & Environment
The nearest habitable, Earth-sized planet could be just 13 light-years away, research suggests.
An analysis of small, dim "red dwarf" stars - which make up a majority of stars in our galaxy - shows that 6% of them host such a planet.
The results will appear in Astrophysical Journal.
Study co-author David Charbonneau of Harvard University said the findings had implications for the search for life elsewhere.
"We now know the rate of occurrence of habitable planets around the most common stars in our galaxy," said Prof Charbonneau.
"That rate implies that it will be significantly easier to search for life beyond the solar system than we previously thought."
The hunt for exoplanets has reached a pace that is difficult to keep up with.
The Kepler space telescope has been the source of most of the known candidate exoplanets. It stares at a fixed patch of sky, watching a field of more than 150,000 stars for the tiny dips in starlight that occur if an orbiting planet passes between a star and the telescope.
A catalogue run by US space agency Nasa lists more than 800 "exoplanets", most of them spotted with this so-called transit method.
That is just the tip of the planetary iceberg, however. On the basis of results from other methods, it has been estimated that on average, there are 1.6 planets around every star in the night sky.
But a major goal has been finding something more like our home planet; because of the way that we search for exoplanets, it is easier to spot the largest examples, and many in the catalogue are far larger than the Earth.
Yet, even roughly Earth-sized planets abound - more recent research suggests that one in six stars has a planet of about Earth's size in an orbit close to their host stars - making for at least 17 billion in our galaxy alone.
But close orbits would broadly be too hot - the hunt seeks roughly Earth-sized planets orbiting at a sufficient distance that water, if it is there, can exist in liquid form - and not so distant that it freezes. This range is called the habitable zone - or colloquially, the Goldilocks zone.
The new announcement concerns Earth-sized planets in the habitable zones around red dwarf stars - far dimmer and smaller than our Sun. Their low light output means that the habitable zone is far closer in.
Astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CFA) trawled through data from Kepler, plucking out a number of red dwarf stars.
Red dwarfs make up three-quarters of the stars in our galaxy - and research has shown that older galaxies contain even more.
The team found 95 planet candidates around the dwarfs, showing that at least 60% of them host planets smaller than Neptune.
But from the analysis, three planets of about the right temperature and roughly Earth's size (between 90% and 170% of the Earth's radius) emerged - all between 300 and 600 light-years away.
Taking into account the red dwarfs that are yet to be detected, the analysis suggests that 6% of the stars host an Earth-like planet in terms of size and temperature - that makes for at least 4.5 billion of them in our galaxy.
And given the proximity of many red dwarfs to the Earth, the statistics suggest that our nearest cosy Earth-sized planet could be just 13 light-years away.
"We thought we would have to search vast distances to find an Earth-like planet. Now we realise another Earth is probably in our own backyard, waiting to be spotted," said Courtney Dressing, lead author of the study.
The findings hit at the heart of a question posed by the Kepler mission's principal investigator, William Borucki, during the American Astronomical Society meeting in January.
"I think what we need to do, now we know most stars have planets, [is find out]: do most stars have small planets like the Earth in the habitable zone?," he told BBC News.
"That's what we'd like to know - is there likely to be life? If we find lots of those planets, there probably is." | <urn:uuid:cc74a16f-26a0-434e-97e7-c69bcb5b4fdb> | {
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ESRL Global Systems Laboratory
Innovative Weather Delivery Systems
|The NOAA UAS Program has designed a project focused on "Sensing Hazards with Operational Unmanned Technology (SHOUT)" to quantify the influence of UAS environmental data to high impact weather prediction and assess the operational effectiveness of UAS to help mitigate the risk of satellite observing gaps. The NOAA UAS Program will partner with NASA to conduct missions using advanced UAS for operational prototype data collection.
The SHOUT Program is a part of the broader plan to focus, accelerate and enhance a number of ongoing R&D efforts to help achieve several of these objectives using .Hurricane Sandy. Supplemental Funding. The overall goal of the SHOUT project is to demonstrate and test a prototype concept of operations for unmanned observing technology that could be used to mitigate the risk of diminished high impact weather forecasts and warnings in the case of polar-orbiting satellite observing gaps.
Targeted observations from aircraft in oceanic regions can significantly improve how well weather models forecast significant meteorological events such as tropical storms, winter storms and major floods. The long duration and large oceanic areas that can be observed using advanced Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) such as the Global Hawk make this an important potential observing platform. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) UAS Program will work with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to conduct missions using advanced UAS to determine their utility in prediction of dangerous storms that can affect the United States. This effort to sense hazards with operational unmanned technology will determine the observing strategies and quantify the contribution that advanced UAS can make to mitigate the satellite data gap.
There is a well-established scientific finding that adaptive observations can improve weather prediction. This is particularly true for major storms, such as tropical storms, winter storms, and family tornado outbreaks. The operations concept would be that several days before a potential storm, advanced techniques such as .singular vector. calculations are used to determine sensitive areas. The UAS program has developed the Global Hawk in cooperation with NASA; this platform could drop as many as 160 dropsondes in sensitive areas (e.g. over large upstream areas such as the Pacific Ocean), and along with downward looking sounders, significantly improve medium range predictions for dangerous storms.
Effective information planning and management will be critical to fully evaluating the potential of unmanned technology to successfully mitigate the loss of satellite information for weather prediction of high impact events. SHOUT project funding will be used to develop a strategic plan, demonstrate, and test a concept of operations for effectively and efficiently delivering SHOUT gap filling data for real-time operations, near-real time use, and for future use. This task will not build a duplicate information delivery and archival system but will be a systems engineering effort to address how to use current NOAA information management systems most effectively given the data volume and latency of Global Hawk observations. The technology readiness of Global Hawk data communication and payload systems must be evaluated for real-time utilization by operational weather prediction models and forecasters. Of particular importance to this task is the consideration of how UAS observations will be incorporated into operational data assimilation procedures in the event of an actual satellite observing gap. The development of a SHOUT information management strategic plan will be performed by Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) working collaboratively with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and NOAA building on experience in researching and developing NOAA meteorological information management systems. It is expected the team will also work collaboratively with existing NOAA information management teams to develop and demonstrate real-time data delivery, visualization, and archival for the UAS observations. An emphasis will be placed on leveraging current work but providing additional resources so the UAS observations will be managed and utilized in parallel with other data sets and not sequentially after other data sets. These tasks will include the development and implementation of the SHOUT information management requirements.
In accordance with the NOAA Data Management framework, the information management strategic plan will adhere to the following principles:
The SHOUT project will begin with a targeted observing effort using NASA Global Hawk platforms and payloads for observing and predicting high impact oceanic weather. As the project matures, other viable unmanned observing technologies may be incorporated into the observing strategies tested as operational prototypes.
Tasks / Activities
Following NOAA.s Environmental Data Management Framework (EDMF) a data management plan will be developed for handling UAS instrumentation package data covering ingest, integration, visualization, and archival. Recommendations from the plan will be used to prototype and demonstrate all phases of the UAS data life cycle from real-time operations to post analysis and research. The demonstration will build an improve upon NOAA.s operational and research data ingest, integration, visualization, and archival strategies in use today.
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From Our 2012 Archives
Sugar 'n' Spice Not Always Nice
Latest Allergies News
THURSDAY, Nov. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Spice allergy affects up to 3 percent of people and can seriously restrict their everyday activities, an expert says.
Spices are one of the most widely used products and are found in foods, cosmetics and dental products. Because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not regulate spices, they often are not listed on food labels and are therefore difficult to identify and avoid.
Spice allergy is responsible for 2 percent of food allergies, but is under-diagnosed because there are not reliable allergy skin tests or blood tests, according to information presented Thursday at the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in Anaheim, Calif.
"While spice allergy seems to be rare, with the constantly increasing use of spices in the American diet and a variety of cosmetics, we anticipate more and more Americans will develop this allergy," Dr. Sami Bahna, former president of the college, said in a college news release. "Patients with spice allergy often have to go through extreme measures to avoid the allergen. This can lead to strict dietary avoidance, low quality of life and sometimes malnutrition."
In his presentation, Bahna noted that women are more likely to develop a spice allergy because spices are widely used in cosmetics. Makeup, body oils, toothpaste and fragrances can all include one or more spices.
Spice allergy triggers can include cinnamon, garlic, black pepper and vanilla. Some spice blends contain anywhere from three to 18 spices, and the hotter the spice, the greater the risk for an allergy.
"Boiling, roasting, frying and other forms of applying heat to spices may reduce allergy-causing agents, but can also enhance them depending on the spice," Bahna said. "Because of this allergy's complexity, allergists often recommend a treatment plan that includes strict avoidance, which can be a major task."
Spice allergy should be suspected in people who have multiple reactions to unrelated foods or in those who react to commercially prepared foods but not foods made at home, Bahna said. Symptoms of spice allergy range from mild sneezing to a life-threatening allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis.
Data and conclusions presented at meetings are typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
-- Robert Preidt
Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
SOURCE: American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, news release, Nov. 8, 2012
- Allergic Skin Disorders
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In removing Oklahoma from alignment to Common Core, HB 3399 designates the creation of new “college and career ready” standards to take their place. HB 3399, authored by Speaker Jeff Hickman and myself, will result in the adoption of exceptional education standards that Oklahomans can trust and be proud of, not just what’s common among the states.
In the beginning, 45 states chose to adopt Common Core with the exception of Texas, Virginia and a few others. Since that time the Obama Administration has used the No Child Left Behind waiver process to offer points for those aligned to Common Core in keeping the waiver. The NCLB waiver also allows for another option – standards created by the state in consultation with career tech and higher education. Texas just obtained a waiver from NCLB by having their higher education system deem their standards as being “college and career ready” and this is the pathway Oklahoma is pursuing through HB3399.
The intent of HB 3399 is to prevent the State School Board (SSB) from ceding the authority of the state for standards to any outside entity – meaning we can’t use Common Core (or Oklahoma Academic Standards - OAS) in the future because they have a national origin and were created outside Oklahoma. Our tests must also be designed, owned and controlled by the SSB, though schools can take the ACT and other ‘extra’ tests.
HB 3399 also forces the SSB to remove itself from any current situations in which Oklahoma isn’t in control of its standards and/or testing. It reinforces that schools can use any curricula, books or instructional materials, etc. they decide.
Now that education experts have researched Common Core, many are finding the standards insufficient.
A Jan. 29, 2013, Washington Post article, “A Tough Critique of Common Core on early childhood education” nicely summed up what’s becoming the common consensus among educators about Common Core - the process for creating the standards had too little research, public dialogue, or input from educators. These are the people in the classroom. They know how students learn best and what they’re capable of comprehending. We have thousands of these professionals in Oklahoma and they’re who should be determining Oklahoma’s standards.
Edward Miller, a writer and teacher in Wellfleet, MA, and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, a professor emerita of early childhood education at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA found there were no K-3 classroom teachers or early childhood professionals among the 135 committee members who wrote and reviewed the Common Core Standards. When the standards were revealed in March 2010, many early childhood educators and researchers, including Stephanie Feeney of the University of Hawaii and chair of the Advocacy Committee of the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators, were shocked that none of the Common Core committee members had backgrounds in child development or early childhood education.
The article also notes that the Common Core website concealed or distorted comments from the public on the standards to make it seem that public opinion was more favorable than it actually was.
The website also downplayed the fact that many believe the standards are developmentally-inappropriate. Site administrators say this is simply parents concerned their “children are being pushed too hard”, which isn’t the case. They failed to mention “The Joint Statement on Early Childhood Health and Education Professionals on the Common Core Standards Initiative”, which shared the opposition of more than 500 early childhood professionals including educators, pediatricians, developmental psychologists, and researchers (many among the most prominent members in their fields). Their statement read in part “We have grave concerns about the core standards for young children…The proposed standards conflict with compelling new research in cognitive science, neuroscience, child development, and early childhood education about how young children learn, what they need to learn, and how best to teach them in kindergarten and the early grades…”
Another opponent of Common Core is University of Arkansas professor of education reform emerita, Dr. Sandra Stotsky who was formerly responsible for developing the widely-praised Massachusetts English/Language Arts Standards. Massachusetts has been a national education leader with some of the highest ACT and NAEP scores in the last 20 years. Dr. Stotsky sat on the Common Core Validation Committee and refused to validate the standards saying they wouldn’t make students “college-ready”. Massachusetts is now back peddling on implementing Common Core due to such concerns.
Another opponent is Stanford University professor of mathematics emeritus, Dr. James Milgram, who was also a member of the Common Core’s Validation Committee. Like Stotsky, he said the standards wouldn’t make high school graduates “college and career ready”. Milgram specifically said the standards wouldn’t prepare students to study science, technology, engineering & math (STEM) in a selective four-year college. These are fields that U.S. businesses are desperately seeking to fill but can’t find properly-educated applicants. He and Stotsky concluded that a “gigantic fraud” has been committed against parents by those developing, promoting and endorsing Common Core.
Bottom line - lots of falsehoods are being spread about Common Core. The standards aren’t high quality; they weren’t created by a state-led initiative; they weren’t written by teachers, parents, administrators, researchers or content experts; and the standards won’t make the U.S. more competitive with other countries. Common Core is a grand experiment and Oklahoma should learn from the chaos resulting from New York’s implementation of it.
To contact me at the Capitol, please write to Senator Josh Brecheen, State Capitol, 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd. Room 413, Oklahoma City, OK, 73105, email me at [email protected], or call (405) 521-5586. | <urn:uuid:e4193ed0-bb57-42e6-bd00-dc6a4c1cc7be> | {
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This story is part of a special National Geographic News series on global water issues.
As global warming triggers heavier rainfall and faster snowmelt in the Arctic, Inuit communities in Canada are reporting more cases of illness attributed to pathogens that have washed into surface water and groundwater, according to a new study.
The findings corroborate past research that suggests indigenous people worldwide are being disproportionately affected by climate change. This is because many of them live in regions where the effects are felt first and most strongly, and they might come into closer contact with the natural environment on a daily basis. For example, some indigenous communities lack access to treated water because they are far from urban areas. (See a map of the region.)
"In the north, a lot of [Inuit] communities prefer to drink brook water instead of treated tap water. It's just a preference," explained study lead author Sherilee Harper, a Vanier Canada graduate scholar in epidemiology at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. "Also, when they're out on the land and hunting or fishing, they don't have access to tap water, so they drink brook water."
The experiences of the Inuit and other indigenous communities as they struggle to adapt to changing climate conditions could help guide humanity in the coming years when the effects of climate change are felt universally, scientists say.
"These societies are like crystal balls for understanding what could happen when these changes start materializing over the next few decades down south, as they surely will," said James Ford of McGill University, an expert in indigenous adaptation to climate change who was not involved in the study.
"Scientists often talk about how if global temperature increases by 4 degrees Celsius [7°F], there will be catastrophic climate change effects, Ford said, "but where I work in the Arctic, we've already seen that 4-degree Celsius change."
Weather and Illness
Ford said the new study is the first to draw a link between climate change and disease in Canadian Arctic communities. "Water issues have been largely neglected in the [climate change] scholarship," he said.
"Before this study, there was very little understanding of the burden of illness of waterborne disease in the Arctic . . . The baseline that we have from this study will allow us to track whether changes in behavior make a difference in the future," said Ford.
Harper's Inuit research, published in a recent issue of the journal EcoHealth, is part of a multiyear comparative study of how extreme weather events affect waterborne disease outbreaks in aboriginal communities around the globe.
The team is conducting similar studies among the Batwa pygmies in Uganda and the Shipibo people in Peru. The trials are still under way, but preliminary results suggest that, like the Inuits, these groups are also starting to feel the health effects of climate change-related weather patterns.
Boosting Native Health Systems
For each of the communities studied, Harper and her team documented the local weather patterns using weather stations; conducted weekly water tests; and searched clinical records for reports of vomiting and diarrhea. The team also conducted surveys to gather information about local lifestyles.
Combining and analyzing these various data together uncovered some interesting patterns. For example, "our research found that after periods of heavy rainfall or rapid snowmelt, there is an increase of bacteria [such as E. coli] in the water, and about two to four weeks later there is an increase in diarrhea and vomiting," Harper said.
In Uganda, the team found that families that don't keep their animals in shelters are about three times more likely to get sick after periods of heavy rain. The team suspects pathogens from the animal feces are getting washed into the drinking water.
Harper's studies are part of a larger endeavor—the Indigenous Health Adaptation to Climate Change, or IHACC, project. It aims to combine science and traditional knowledge to strengthen health systems in indigenous communities.
One of the IHACC project goals is to use data from the studies to advise local policymakers and help develop ways to improve the health of those in the affected communities. Strategies for reducing waterborne disease, for example, might be as simple as building animal enclosures or establishing protected sources of water for drinking, Harper said.
(Related: "Tapping Wisdom of the Elders")
In Rigolet, a small Inuit town studied by Harper’s team, the findings from the study have already led to changes in the community, said Charlotte Wolfrey, mayor of the town.
“We’re asking people when they go to their cabin not to drink brook water and instead take water that has been chlorinated to eliminate bacteria,” Wolfrey said. “We also have posters around town reminding people that if they’re going to drink [untreated] water, they need to boil it first.”
Wolfrey, who has spent nearly 40 years of her life in Rigolet, says that climate change has forced the people in her town to question things that were once taken for granted, such as places in the ice where one can safely cross, or seasonal water routes for boats.
“With climate change, that knowledge that was passed down from generation to generation doesn’t count anymore,” she said. “We can’t trust it.”
The lessons learned in Rigolet and other indigenous communities could someday benefit humanity as a whole because their problems could soon become global problems. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), for example, most of the climate change-related disease burden in the 21st century will be due to diarrheal diseases.
"The climate change impact on waterborne disease is not just an Arctic issue, or just an indigenous issue," Harper said.
McGill University's Ford agreed. "If we look at what happens in the Arctic and how climate change plays out with its societies and people, we'll increase our understanding of how as a globe we are going to respond to climate change," he said.
Ford says his time among the Inuit has made him "cautiously optimistic" that climate change is a problem that humans will be able to adapt to, if not solve.
"When I first went to work up north more than ten years ago, there were all sorts of news reports about how climate change was going to threaten the Inuit. But when I started working with them, the thing that struck me is that many people said, 'We're resilient. We'll adapt.' So I think we'll stand a good chance of weathering whatever changes might happen," Ford said.
But, he added, "Things will have to be done to get there. We can't just wait and hope we adapt. We have to be proactive."
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Wikipedia is often derided for its inaccuracies, yet there’s no denying its influence. The crowd-sourced encyclopedia’s articles are often the top-ranking results in Web searches, and the absence or presence of a Wikipedia page is often seen as a marker of someone’s prominence. So when articles about important female scientists are fragmentary — or simply nonexistent — these researchers unfairly miss out on the credit they’re due.
Wisely, Brown University biologist Anne Fausto-Sterling is trying to remedy that. Recently, she hosted an “edit-a-thon” to write or flesh out articles about important female scientists on Wikipedia who weren’t receiving the attention they deserved on the site. Fausto-Sterling first realized there was a problem, she told the Globe, when she saw that an article on groundbreaking science historian Margaret Rossiter was only two sentences long. Fortunately, that’s no longer the case. The article now goes into detail about Rossiter’s life and her academic concentrations.
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On the morning of 26 July at Cape Kennedy, the Apollo astronauts will blast of an the longest and most difficult of manned moon flights.
On the morning of 26 July at Cape Kennedy, the Apollo astronauts will blast of an the longest and most difficult of manned moon flights. There will be a number of "firsts" on this mission, most spectacular of which will be the use of the lunar rover vehicle to traverse the region near the moon landing site.
The three astronauts -- expedition commander David Scott, command module pilot Alfred Worden, and lunar module pilot James Irwin -- were due to undergo their final physical examination on Wednesday (21 July). Final preparations on the powerful Saturn-five rocket have already begun. The rocket will lift the heaviest payload ever into earth orbit -- over 140 tens. The complete Apollo spacecraft -- including command, service, and lumar modules -- will weigh over 48 tons when it reaches the moon. This is the heaviest man-made object yet to reach Earth's nearest neighbour.
The moon landing is scheduled for 30 July on a smooth plain between the moon's Appennine Mountains, towering nearly 10,000 feet above the landing sits, and a lunar ravine know as Hadley Rille. The area is unlike any other yet explored in the Apollo series.
Astronauts Scott and Irwin plan three separate excursions out on the lunar surface, and their total time on the moon of 67 hours is more than double that of any other mission. Their travels in the electrically powered lunar rover can be seen on Earth, by means of a colour television camera mounted on the vehicle. The same camera will be left on the moon to televise the astronauts' departure. Other experiments and activities planned Include the drilling of a hole in the lunar surface to measure heat radiation, installation of a moon-quake detection device, and extensive photography and gathering of rock samples in the area of the ravine.
Before they leave lunar orbit for the trip home, the astronauts will inject a small satellite which will orbit the moon for one year, collecting information with three scientific instruments. For the first time on an Apollo flight back to earth, astronaut Worden will take a "space walk" to retrieve a packet of film mounted on the service module.
There are only two more lunar exploration flights planned following Apollo 15.
SYNOPSIS: The Kennedy Space Centre on the east coast of Florida.
Hundreds of scientists, engineers and technicians man a myriad of dials and switches on their control panels, as each of their computers spew forth needed information on television monitors. All of this and more designed to ensure a successful mission -- for Apollo Fifteen.
Final preparations for the powerful Saturn-Five rocket are underway for the target launch date on Monday, July twenty-sixth -- the start of the longest and most difficult of the moon missions in the Apollo series.
Early on morning of the launch date, the three astronauts -- expedition commander David Scott, command module pilot Alfred Worden, and lunar module pilot James Irwin -- will dress in their complicated spacesuits and enter a special van for the ride to the waiting rocket. Apollo Fifteen will carry the first Lunar Rover, an electrically powered vehicle which astronauts Scott and Irwin will use to survey the area around the landing site. They plan to stay on the moon for a record sixty-seven hours -- including thee separate ventures out on the lunar surface. A television camera mounted on the vehicle will relay live pictures of their exploits back to earth.
Before the moon landing is a reality on July thirtieth, everything must work perfectly at the launch pad. The astronauts, accompanied by technicians, will be led carefully into a lift that will carry them up to the space capsule. If anything were to go wrong at this stage, the astronauts could be brought back down quickly. The astronauts have trained long and hard for this mission -- on which will find them landing near a previously unexplored ravine called Hadley Rille, and a tall range of mountains.
There has been some concern for the safety of the astronauts on this mission, following the death of three Soviet cosmonauts in the tragedy of Soyuz-Eleven. U.S. space officials have taken extra precautions, after a last minute safety review. For the first time, a colour camera will be left on the moon to enable the astronauts' departure to be televised back to earth. None of these men is likely to breathe easy until those pictures and the ones of splash-down are relayed back to the control centre. | <urn:uuid:179f4a39-1c7e-4475-9775-83157e62bdac> | {
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Special to the Journal
He was only 18 when he wrote this,” Lisa said, as she handed me a typewritten manuscript, the work of R. David Pennings, her father.
His story, sent in to be published in the mid-60s, portrays his comrades as the characters we read of in the novel, saw in the movie, and watched in the TV series, MASH. After deployment from Japan, his MASH unit attached to the Victory Division (the bittersweet name given the 24th Infantry) and marched north into the jaws of the enemy.
Lisa Brown proceeded to unpack the duffle bag of a soldier medic of the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) unit, equipped to treat the soldier and civilian wounded.
With care and reverence, Lisa unfolded her father’s heavy dark khaki flight suit, and then laid out each item, telling of what she had learned of the fight to hold the line and defend the outnumbered, outgunned, and ill-prepared Republic of Korea from the powerful North Korean People’s Army that had flooded across the 38th Parallel on June 25, 1950, taking the capital city of Seoul in three bloody days.
Theirs was an impossible task, but if they could save South Korea from being overrun, they could buy time for MacArthur’s 8th army to form up for a counter attack. With the backdrop of intense fighting, bombed out cities and extreme casualties, the young medic (who later became a pharmacist, then scientist and cancer researcher) wrote of the bravery, fun-loving antics, and constant dedication to preserve life that he experienced with his platoon.
“He was sent in to the front lines to administer treatment and triage,” Lisa said. “There were times he had to carry the wounded through enemy fire.”
Hypocrites spoke of the way war advanced medicine when he said, “War is the only proper school for a surgeon.”
Indeed. Helicopter rescue and emergency medicine techniques were developed in Korea. If a wounded soldier could make it alive to a MASH unit, there was a 97-percent chance he would survive; and the surgeons treated civilians and enemy soldiers as well. No wonder they called them “MASH angels.”
One account of her father’s service is memorialized in a book, War in Korea, by Marguerite Higgins, in which he is referenced as the “medic corporal.” Lisa noted that her father had mistaken the author of the book, a combat correspondent, as a nurse and sent her to the front car of the hospital train, which he had filled with the less injured, thinking that she would be able to handle their injuries on her own. He stayed in the back car to tend to the more severely injured.
“This account is impressive, considering my father was the only medic assigned to tend to the two box cars full of injured soldiers at the age of 19, and only (but sadly) two casualties resulted. When we asked him to share stories about what happened in Korea he became stoic and didn’t want to discuss the horror that he witnessed. Instead, he told about the friendships he developed and how they made the agonizing chaos bearable.”
“It is sad that he carried this burden all his life, but I believe it made him more compassionate - he was a kind and loving man. I am proud of my father for his service to our country, his desire to help others, and his ability to find the “positive” in any situation. This he imparted to my brothers and sisters and me, and even our children, and we are grateful. To honor and carry on this spirit, we all enjoy volunteering for service organizations in our communities.”
We are about to celebrate Independence Day with the “Fabulous Fifties” parade theme. The American Legion Post 163 Auxiliary put together a float depicting a MASH unit of that time. We found the veterans — the people of legends — heard their stories, and again realized that we live among heroes; men and women who are the “real thing”.
Our float will consist of Lee Brewer’s jeep — Brewer flew 100 missions in Korea — pulling a MASH helicopter purchased by Bob Greenway because it was the real thing, with Ed Wilson, a helicopter-gunship pilot who flew many rescue missions, in the cockpit, and a trailer with several MASH scenes. No surprise that Bill Ray, a door gunner, built the float.
Hear again the MASH theme song and the sound of rescue helicopters, honor the veterans, and enjoy our MASH characters. On this 4th of July, please take a moment to appreciate and remember our fabulous real life heroes.
— Editor’s note: the column above was submitted by Lisa Brown and Sue Carnes of The American Legion Post 163 Auxiliary in anticipation of the annual Independence Day parade and its theme, “The Fabulous Fifties”. | <urn:uuid:c3a1df4a-78f2-4a85-95fa-11a9efc164b8> | {
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Canadaway Creek Wildlife Management Area
Size: 2,180 acres
Canadaway Creek WMA is located four miles northeast of the Village of Cassadaga and six miles southeast of the Village of Fredonia in the Town of Arkwright in Chautauqua County.
The area is a broad and deeply dissected upland plateau, characteristic of the county. The landscape of steep slopes is covered primarily with deciduous forest interspersed with conifer plantations. Canadaway Creek runs through the property and is the drainage system for the area.
Day Use Activities and Recreational Opportunities
Meadow in Canadaway Creek WMA
- Conservation Education
- Cross-country Skiing
- Field Dog Trials
- Wildlife Observation
A few activities are prohibited: off road vehicular travel, swimming, boating with motors and camping.
The diverse habitat in the area is home to a variety of wildlife species. Some of the more common species are beaver, muskrat, mink, raccoon, fox, squirrel, deer, grouse, woodcock, turkey and a variety of song birds.
The federal government became interested in the area in the mid-1930's. Under the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, the U.S. Department of Agriculture acquired the area by the late 1930's. The land remained under federal government control until 1961 when title to this property was deeded to the State of New York. By 1964 an additional 165 acres was acquired under the Park and Recreation Land Acquisition Act.
From the early 1940's through the mid-1950's numerous conifer plantations were established. Since then, some of these plantations have be cut and thinned. Also, other activities such as hardwood cutting and thinning, mowing of abandoned pasture and cultivated fields, planting of grain and legumes, planting of food producing shrubs, conifer seedlings for wildlife cover, development of marshes, potholes and ponds and construction of roads for management and public access has taken place.
The primary management objective for the area is to maintain high quality habitat for ruffed grouse through a regulated timber management plan. Other wildlife species that utilize the area and will benefit from these practices include white-tailed deer, cottontail rabbits, woodcock, wild turkey and a variety of song birds.
Secondary management objectives are to provide wildlife related recreation use opportunities and to protect and maintain special wildlife habitats that exist on the area such as: a great blue heron nesting colony, deer wintering areas, raptor nest sites - including the threatened red-shouldered hawk, and several small marshes and ponds.
For more information, call or write to:
Region 9 Wildlife Manager
182 East Union Street, Suite 3
Allegany, NY 14706
From Interstate 86: Take Route 60 north to Cassadaga then head east on County Route 72 for approximately 5 miles. | <urn:uuid:6b3b00a9-09ea-4738-9b24-ee6150a35317> | {
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Our kids’ hormones are raging, they are constantly testing our boundaries, and they are racing towards adulthood as we try to get them to hold onto these final days of childhood just a little longer. It’s not surprising during these teen years that a good amount of relationship conflict arises between them and us.
Anger is a typical, healthy emotional response to the stress teens experience at this stage in life. We need to give our kids the right to feel and own anger—and the tools to do so. After all, anger helps us understand when our buttons are being pushed, our values are not respected, or someone is ignoring our boundaries.
But how can we help our teens feel and express that anger without going overboard and throwing a fit?
The starting point in dealing with angry feelings is to acknowledge them. Without being judgmental, say to your teen, “I can see why you’re angry.” This helps our teens feel validated so they can accept these strong emotions and begin to work through them. It also keeps us from becoming another source of anger or the target and puts us in a better position to help them cope.
The next step is for our teens to figure out the triggers for their anger. What is the root of the emotion?
For instance, if a friend shares a secret with someone else. Yes, your teen is probably mad, but what other emotions is that anger masking? Is she or he hurt that a friend broke their trust; embarrassed that someone else knows and worried it might result in being laughed at or judged? It is often more complicated than “just” anger. The emotion of anger lets us know that something is wrong, but it also involves thought, feeling, and action. When our teens can take control of any one of these, they are in a better position to manage their anger in a healthy way.
Understanding anger in our kids also means understanding our own relationship to anger.
Growing up I was often told “you’re not mad, you’re just hungry. Or tired. Or…” And now as a mom, I totally get where that was coming from–”hangry” has been around for a very long time! But to dismiss all their intense feelings with a Snickers bar as the solution sends the wrong message
As a teen and into adulthood, I closed up when I was angry. I tamped down my feelings because I was told that wasn’t what I felt. So much so that I stopped recognizing anger altogether in myself.
It’s also important that we are dealing with our own anger in productive ways, because then we can better serve as role models for our teens.
We should be willing to talk about our feelings in an acceptable way, to show them how we cope with our emotions, and if we lose it (which we will because we’re raising teenagers), we should apologize and talk with them about how we could have done better. If my husband and I argue in front of the kids (it happens!), we later apologize and explain that though we’re angry and fighting, we still love each other.
Teen anger can pass as quickly as it comes.
While we teach our kids what anger is, how to identify it and that anger is ok, we also need to teach them how to express it appropriately. Anger can pass as quickly as it comes in a hormonal teenager. So, suggest simple tricks like leaving the room to be alone or walking outside. Sometimes just a change of scenery or listening to music is enough to alter a mood. Another approach is to teach them mindfulness and slow, deep breathing – these are lifelong skills that will help counter almost any intense emotion.
But remember, even once we’ve given them all these tools for handling their anger, it doesn’t mean they won’t act out.
It’s easy to get caught up when your teen is angry or in a funk, so remind yourself these behaviors are a way of expressing or dealing with a more complex issue. Their actions and moods are often masking something else that’s going on – quite likely unrelated to whatever may have triggered them with you. The best thing you can do is listen openly or, if they are really having a moment, leave the room.
Sometimes your teen may need a little space before they are ready to tell you what’s wrong. For me, the best time to find out what was going on with my teens was at night. Bedtime allowed some quiet space for us to connect. No pressure, often no light to see them even. That dark, quiet place allowed them to open up or just to be.
Dana Baker is a parent and teen coach, a writer and a not-so-perfect mom of two great kids. She offers a non judgmental ear and real life observations and advice that help you navigate the up, the downs and the downright uglies of parenting. Her insightful ness comes with a good dose of humor and the simple recognition that no matter how hard we may try, none of us is a perfect parent. | <urn:uuid:d8953c13-edc0-404b-bc54-5ec7353a8307> | {
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Raz-Plus resources organized into weekly content-based units and differentiated instruction options.
Factual Description (nonfiction), 32 words, Level A (Grade K), Lexile BR70L
What makes you happy or mad? All Kinds of Faces shows emotions on the faces of young children. Students have the opportunity to discuss faces and the emotions associated with them. Detailed, supportive photographs, high-frequency words, and repetitive phrases support beginning readers.
Guided Reading Lesson
Use of vocabulary lessons requires a subscription to VocabularyA-Z.com.
Use the reading strategy of asking and answering questions to understand text
Classify Information : Classify information
Initial Consonants : Discriminate initial consonant /s/ sound
Consonants : Identify initial consonant Ss
Grammar and Mechanics
Simple Sentences : Recognize and use simple sentences
Antonyms : Recognize and use antonyms
Think, Collaborate, Discuss
Promote higher-order thinking for small groups or whole class
You may unsubscribe at any time. | <urn:uuid:97d0e08a-488d-496d-9481-77e5a10bc029> | {
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What Makes Us Human? Part 1
Monday, August 23, 2010By Steven H. VanderLeest
People used to think that a computer would never beat a human in chess. Gary Kasparov, the grand master and world champion chess player claimed that a computer might be able to beat a mediocre human chess player by sheer brute strength of computation, but a machine could never match the creative play of a grand master. Perhaps it was hubris or perhaps it was an instinctual reaction that there is something unique and special about humans that sets us apart and above the machines we create. Perhaps it was more philosophical, believing that the created cannot surpass the creator. Regardless, once the gauntlet was thrown down, computer designers and programmers at IBM worked tirelessly to improve their approach to computer chess play and in 1997 the IBM supercomputer named Deep Blue beat Kasparov in a regulation chess match .
Once the computer had beaten the grand master at chess, some turned to other concepts as “truly human”, that were less mathematical. Some pointed to recognizing faces or understanding human speech. But computers eventually crossed those milestones as well. Even lower-end computing technology can now accomplish these feats —my camera recognizes familiar faces and focuses on them first; the navigation system in my car has voice recognition. It seems that for each aspect of human behavior that we point out as distinctively human, sometime later a computer is reproducing it.
It is not so much that computers are smart – they are simply very powerful tools to express the creativity of their human creators and programmers. A computer can emulate almost any human behavior – as long as the human software engineer herself understands that behavior sufficiently in order to mimic it in a program. Thus the pursuit of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has led to great strides in the understanding of ourselves. Cognitive science has blended and strengthened our knowledge of the biology and psychology of the brain. We now know more about how humans learn and acquire knowledge and understanding. We have much better insight into how very young children pick up languages (and why it is easier to learn a second language at an early age than later in life).
The aspects of humanity that are most difficult to mimic programmatically are those that we don’t really understand ourselves. Self-awareness and consciousness are difficult to explain. Creativity – the inventive spark – is well known as the basis of art, music, literature, and even engineering, yet it is difficult to teach this skill or describe how it works.
Descartes proposed “Je pense, donc je suis” (I think, therefore I am) as a test of existence. Contemplation of one’s existence is a good candidate as a test of self-awareness. But if a computer regurgitated this phrase on the screen or even repeated the phrase with a synthesized voice, would we then claim it to be self-aware? What does it really mean to be human? What does it mean to be created in the image of God? Are there characteristics that we have that no mere animal or machine possesses because they do not have the imago dei ? Our ability to think logically and rationally has been duplicated by the computer. Does that fact alone mean that logical and rational thought is thus not part of the imago dei? Or can some characteristics we inherit from our maker also be shared with other parts of the creation?
Monday, August 09, 2010By Steven H. VanderLeest
I like a challenge. Most engineering problems are challenges: obstacles waiting to be overcome. There is a great satisfaction that comes after the frustration and striving of solving a problem, jumping a hurdle, scaling the heights to reach the summit. Filling in a new part of the map was the goal that drove explorers into the frontier and past the edge of the known world. I think humans need that challenge, the thrill of the unknown. “In 1900 mathematician David Hilbert proposed 23 math problems he hoped would be solved in the 20th century (16 of them were). A problem ‘should not be too difficult lest it mock at our efforts,’ he said in presenting his challenges. ‘It should be to us a guidepost on the mazy paths to hidden truths….’” Gregory M. Lamb, “‘Grand challenges’ spur grand results,” The Christian Science Monitor, January 12, 2006. (See Wikipedia on Hilbert’s Problems for the complete list.) Hilbert’s list has tantalized and fascinated us for over a century. In the mythical tradition of the king setting grand challenges or puzzles before a suitor for his daughter’s hand in marriage, in order to test his mettle, we humans seem to relish the chase. We enjoy participating in the contest or cheering our favorite team from the sidelines. In the last 20 years, we have seen the gauntlet thrown down in three areas related to technology: the Computational Grand Challenges , the Engineering Grand Challenges , and the 14 Health Challenges .
In a little more than a century, we have seen the rise of the automobile, refrigeration, the airplane, space travel, nuclear power, electronic computers, television, digital media, the Internet, and more. With such a dizzying array of new technologies, it is no wonder some feel like technological development has been accelerating, improving the lot of the human race at an exponential rate. On the other hand, it has now been over 40 years since a human stepped on to the surface of the moon. Moore’s law, which gauged the doubling of the number of transistors on a computer chip at every 2 years or so, has continued, but the attendant doubling of clock speed has fallen off as we hit the power barrier. Instead, we now see multiple core processors instead of higher speed uni-processors. There has been talk of fusion power for my entire life with little to show for it. Have we reached the apogee? Have we seen the rise and fall of the great technological wave? Is there any really big thing yet in technology?
I think the Grand Challenge lists give us a hint that there is more to be done, more to be explored. Much of the list reminds me of the thrill of new ideas in a good science fiction story. Health challenge number 3 is to develop needle-free delivery systems.” That sounds like the cool little gadget Dr. “Bones” McCoy used in the original Star Trek (ST:TOS for trekkies) to give a crew member a painless injection (with just a little sound effect “hiss”). The slow march towards virtualization from black & white television to color to HDTV to 3-D reminds me of the holodeck of Star Trek: The Next Generation (ST:TNG for trekkies). Babel Fish translators and Google Voice transcription services are moving ever closer to the universal translator.
Some technological dreams are probably within reach during our lifetime. We might see human exploration of an asteroid or even to Mars. Artificial intelligence will probably make a few more small steps towards realization. We may see some progress on curing genetic diseases on the basis of the human genome project. The entire library of human knowledge may be accessible over the web if Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others continue their voracious digitization of content. Other technological ideas seem less likely to occur soon, if ever. At the risk of proving the second clause of Clarke’s first law of technology, let me risk naming a few candidates that well may be impossible. The Star Trek transporter (near instantaneous travel between two points) and inexpensive space flight are not probable, certainly in the near term. Safe disposal of spent nuclear fuel would be a great boon, but again, viable solutions seem far off. Technology has been put in service as a fountain of youth, providing plastic surgery and correcting some of the effects of aging. However, actual immortality is unlikely – despite some hints of the possibility in recent advances, neither medical means (by cloning or by turn off aging in cells) nor machine means (such as transfer of our mental processes into a computer likeness of us) appear to be close at hand. Nevertheless, this hasn’t stopped Ray Kurzweil from planning for it: see Wolf’s story in Wired, “Futurist Ray Kurzweil Pulls Out All the Stops (and Pills) to Live to Witness the Singularity”.
Perhaps we should heed E. F. Schumacher, who almost 40 years ago pointed out the practical and philosophical problems with large, complex technological undertakings. In his seminal book
Small is Beautiful, he noted that both big government and big corporations are too prone to spectacular failures and entrenched problems. Schumacher argued instead for small technology, innovations with three characteristics: “cheap enough so that they are accessible to virtually everyone; suitable for small-scale application; and compatible with mans’ need for creativity.” (E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered, New York: Harper & Row, 1973, p. 34). Schumacher was a rebel for his time and his work still resonates today. He questioned the fundamental basis of our economic system. “…[T]he idea of unlimited economic growth, more and more until everybody is saturated with wealth, needs to be seriously questioned on at least two counts: the availability of basic resources and … the capacity of the environment to cope with the degree of interference implied….The Gross National Product may rise rapidly: as measured by statisticians but not as experienced by actual people, who find themselves oppressed by increasing frustration, alienation, insecurity, and so forth.” (p. 30-31)
I agree with Schumacher on his high view of human work – that work is part of what makes us human, an activity (when at its best) that nourishes and enlivens us. On the other hand, work that is “meaningless, boring, stultifying, or nerve-racking for the worker would be little short of criminal.”(p. 55) However, he goes on to differentiate between technology that is a tool (which he defines as an aid to humans in their work) and technology that is a machine (which he defines as a replacement of humans, automating work). I disagree with this implication. Rather, I believe all technological products are tools when designed and used rightly. They are only good technology when they act as an aid to human work (whether paid labor, creative hobby, family care-giving, or any other type of work). If a technological product automates some aspect of human labor, thus replacing the laborer, I would not categorically condemn the device. For example, a robotic minesweeper that replaces a human solider in finding Improvised Explosive Devices (i.e., road-side bombs) is an aid and tool that legitimately and rightly performs the labor in place of a human. Rather than putting a soldier in danger, a human operator directs the movements of the robot, performing the delicate task of detecting and disarming bombs via remote manipulation. You may ask about the worker on the factory line that gets replaced by a robot, and even here I would venture that work which is repetitive and mind-numbingly boring is not real work at all and ought to be done by automation if it is done at all. At the same time, if a human is put out of work, replaced by a machine, then the employer has an obligation to move that person to a new, better, more creative, more respectful and meaningful position within the company. Failing that, then the obligation is to provide re-training so that they can find gainful employment elsewhere.
Thinking about Schumacher and the grand challenges, I believe he would agree with the challenge to find alternative energy sources (particularly smaller, more distributed sources). But many other challenges he would likely see as hubris and unbridled greed that we misleadingly label as “need”. Perhaps we should focus our innovative energy towards the small technologies Schumacher envisioned, those that are inexpensive and small enough to put on in every hand, those that aid the human creative spirit. The next technological marvel need not be a huge, complex monolith. It could be elegant in its simple solution to some difficult problem. That’s the beautiful challenge. | <urn:uuid:0c082af5-4411-4c86-98ae-37be56733559> | {
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The Second Continental Congress adopted Lee’s motion and on June 11, 1776, it appointed a committee to draft a declaration of independence.
In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, Steve Pincus, the Bradford Durfee Professor of History at Yale University and author of The Heart of the Declaration: The Founders’ Case for an Activist Government (Yale University Press, 2016), leads us on an investigation of the Declaration of Independence and the context in which the founders drafted it. You can listen to the podcast here: www.benfranklinsworld.com/119
Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our world. Each episode features an interview with an historian who shares their unique insights into our early American past. | <urn:uuid:4ec4c11c-dfdb-49d4-948f-a4433b488439> | {
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What sets males and females apart? Actually, let’s not head there, but how about at the methylome level? Quite a bit it appears. In a recent paper, researchers from Japan report that male and female primordial germ cells (PGCs) have different methylomes during development—at least in mice.
While these germ cells divide and move to the right place in early development, PGCs get reprogrammed epigenetically—histones leave, histones jump on; histones get modified; and DNA gets demethylated and then some of it gets methylated again.
But the researchers explain that detailed DNA methylation studies on PGCs have had their problems. Some methods require lots of DNA, but PGCs samples are small that these methods don’t really work well. Other studies suffer from low coverage or are limited to CpG-rich sequences.
That’s why these researchers used whole-genome shotgun bisulfite sequencing. This method gives quantitative info about DNA methylation at single-base resolution. They also made a whole new library in order to analyze tiny, nanogram amounts of sample. Here’s some of what they learned with their high-res methylome maps:
- They found sex- and chromosome-specific differences in the PGC methylomes during development.
- Male and female PGCs differed in methylation at “preferentially methylated regions” before and after sex determination.
- Male, but not female, PGCs had lots of non-CpG methylation during a later developmental stage.
- Transposable elements were resistant to “global” demethylation during sex determination.
“Our data establish the basis for future studies on the role of epigenetic modifications in germline development and other biological processes,” shared Dr. Tomohiro Kono, a talented researcher involved with the work.
Read more at Genome Research, February 2013. | <urn:uuid:0d35d859-3399-4810-a918-fbac058c764d> | {
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Promiseland Curriculum Illustration
Character Design and Illustration
To better present the story of God’s love to an urban, multicultural population of kids, Willow Chicago – the downtown campus of Willow Creek Community Church – created its own curriculum. The character designs reflect historically accurate ethnicities for the regions depicted in the Bible, illuminating the diversity of God’s creation.
For a lesson on The Fall, a series of comic strip images was created to be displayed while a live storyteller read from scripture. The limited color palette ties to colors used elsewhere in the curriculum units on Creation and The Fall.
A variety of Story Images – illustrations of events from scripture – were created to support the storytellers’ classroom reading. Some of these were also used for activities such as interactive sticker sheets and coloring pages.
A curriculum unit on The Church allowed the opportunity to create images of both the historical Acts 2 church and the Promiseland classroom itself, letting the children see themselves as a unique part of God’s ongoing story. | <urn:uuid:4939bcf4-4500-4649-8f51-0db6dd473876> | {
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At Zacks Eye Clinic in central London we see several patients with colour blindness, colour deficiency and symptoms of visual stress who benefit from ChromaGen tinted lenses.
What are ChromaGen Lens Tints?
ChromaGen lens tints change the level of coloured light entering one or both eyes. They can be used to enhance colour perception and colour discrimination for people who are ‘colour blind‘ or to help with Meares-Irlen Syndrome (scotopic sensitivity syndrome) whereby a specific colour tint can relieve visual stress and improve reading ability.
‘I am able to pass the colour blindness test with ChromaGen lenses. Highly Recommended’
ChromaGen Lenses for Colour Deficiency
In cases of colour deficiency, ChromaGen tinted lenses are used to change the distribution of coloured light entering into the non-dominant eye. In some cases, different lenses are used on both the dominant and non-dominant eye, enabling enhanced colour perception and colour discrimination between the two eyes.
In trials, most colour-blind people reported a significant improvement to their colour vision with ChromaGen lenses. The lens tints enable people with mild levels of colour deficiency to pass extremely sensitive tests such as the Ishihara test and can help those, with more severe colour deficiency to pass occupational tests that they would otherwise fail. Improvement in colour discrimination may also lead to improved safety through earlier identification of hazards such as warning lights.
We would recommend that anybody who intends to use these lenses to pass occupational tests ensures that they are permitted by their professional bodies, assessors and employers.
ChromaGen Lenses for Visual Stress
ChromaGen lens tints can help some people who suffer from reading discomfort arising from perceptual distortion also known as visual stress. The most common symptoms of visual stress include words moving or sinking, shimmering or forming patterns that interfere with reading. Some people with visual stress may also have learning difficulties such as dyslexia.
When the optimal tint is selected, an immediate improvement in symptoms is experienced by responders who typically find the print becomes clearer and stays still on the page giving a marked improvement in reading speed. | <urn:uuid:b6359e69-0304-434d-9055-6fec85ee0ea5> | {
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ERIC Number: ED178408
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1977
Reference Count: 0
Social Studies Scope and Sequence Guidelines: Implementing the State Framework, K-12. Publication No. GC-64.
Los Angeles Unified School District, CA.
The booklet outlines skills, objectives, and activities for K-12 classroom teachers to consider as they develop and implement social studies programs. The document is presented in two major parts. Part I identifies major social studies objectives, including to help students develop understandings based on social science data and concepts, reinforce social science work study skills, increase respect for cultural differences, clarify personal values, reflect upon social values, and participate intelligently in society. Within these general categories, teachers are directed to plan activities which will help students recall information, deal with specifics, analyze political and economic influences, and prepare appropriate solutions to suggested problems. Part II presents sample lesson outlines and skill charts organized by grade level. Topics include citizenship rights and responsibilities, obtaining goods and services, community groups, regions of California, the industrial revolution, ancient civilizations, and the United States Constitution. For each unit, information is presented on objectives, general and specific ideas, evaluation strategies, materials needed, and lesson sequence. Activities involve students in class discussion, role playing, devising rules, writing stories, locating information in textbooks, working with maps and globes, writing letters to companies and government agencies, and participating in field trips to community museums, libraries, and organizations. (DB)
Descriptors: Concept Teaching, Curriculum Development, Educational Objectives, Elementary Secondary Education, Guidelines, Interdisciplinary Approach, Learning Activities, Skill Development, Social Sciences, Social Studies, Social Values, Values
Los Angeles Unified School District, District Publications, 450 N. Grand Avenue, Room G-230, Los Angeles, California, 90012 ($2.50)
Publication Type: Guides - Classroom - Teacher
Education Level: N/A
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We always talk about tide heights, but what does that number mean?
At 11:48 am Thursday October 27, 2011 the astronomical high tide at Boston Massachusetts is 12.3 feet. What is this number in relation to? That is a question I have been meaning to get to the bottom of for a couple decades now. Today is the day.
Eleanor Vallier-Talbot of the National Weather Service Office in Taunton taught me the definition.
Eleanor says that number is the distance of the water level at high tide relative to Mean Lower Low Water. Yeah.. ok.
That’s helpful, but whats Mean Lower Low Water?
Eleanor’s Colleague at NWS Taunton, Nicole Belk, sent a follow up note.
Thank you Eleanor & Nicole.
Here is a photo of the Boston Tide Gauge. Does anyone know where it is? I’ll Find it tomorrow.
I am tide chasing today, tonight, and tomorrow. (Snow chasing too, if given opportunity here south of Boston.)
The High Tide at Boston Tomorrow is 12.4′, the highest for the year.
We have an onshore wind gusting to 30 mph today, but offshore tomorrow, so flooding ‘should be’ minor.
Here is link to potential flooding in and around southern New England.. and the note from Nicole follows.
Hello- thank you very much for the footage of coastal flooding in the Scituate area(from Sept 29, 2011 new moon tide). I took a look at our database and although the Boston Harbor tide gage did not go to flood stage at the end of September, the Scituate tide gage did- just over its 12 foot flood stage level.
My understanding is that you had a question regarding the definition of Mean Lower Low Water? Every day on our coastal waters, we typically have 2 high tides, and 2 low tides. One high/low tide is typically higher than the other high/low tide. Zero feet MLLW is the average tide level that occurs during the lower of the 2 low tides. So when tide forecasts are displayed in AHPS, and displayed by default on the NOS Tides and Currents web site, the observed and predicted water levels are in feet with respect to MLLW.
I am forwarding you a couple of links to check out- this first one has the definitions of various datums as they relate to tide gages:
You’ll note that on this web site’s definition of MLLW, it refers to an average over a National Tidal Datum Epoch. According to the NOS web site for Boston Harbor (copied below), the last epoch was calculated for the period of 1983-2001.
This second web site is detailed information for the Boston Harbor tide gage. Note that at the bottom of the page, last sentence in “Location”, the exact location of the tide gage is mentioned:
http://www.tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/station_info.shtml?stn=8443970 Boston, MA
If you have additional questions, feel free to e-mail me or call the office. If your questions are beyond what I can answer, I’ll find an appropriate contact (probably at the NOAA National Ocean Service or National Geodetic Survey) who can provide you additional information. Next week I’m out of the office, but Frank Nocera (cc’d on this message) will be able to help you out or direct you to the appropriate NOAA agency if you have any questions at that point.
Thank you Nicole!
4 pm Update, Thursday 10/27/11
Here is Video of Today’s Minor Flooding in Scituate | <urn:uuid:e621a310-344d-44a4-8838-e81941c35308> | {
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Welcome Week 27!
READING: The question of the week is: What sounds can you hear? How are they made? Our sound focus will be ow, ou. Our structural analysis will be the inflectional endings -er and -est. Our comprehension strategy will be asking and answering questions and our comprehension skill will be problem and solution. We will focus on these skills and strategies while reading realistic fiction texts. Please have your child utilize the books on the portal. If they are having trouble reading the books assigned on the portal, then they need more practice.
M- Study for Ch. 8 Test
T- Ch. 8 Test
W- Lesson 9.1 Order Length
Th- Lesson 9.2 Indirect Measurement
F-Chromebook Math- spiral review with lesson 3.6
WRITING: We will continue narrative writing this week. Please notice that the writing prompt rubric for trimester 3 has changed. The changes are in the homework folder. We continue to work on a 5 sentence paragraph with capitals and punctuation used appropriately. When helping with writing homework, remember to encourage sound spelling and to have them check for capitals, punctuation and that it makes sense.
SCIENCE: light and sound
LIBRARY: Our Library day is Thursday. Please have your child return their book on Thursday.
IMPORTANT: I have 18 out of 24 kids turning in their pictures. Please send those in on Monday. Your child will be sad if they don't have their pictures. Here are the details... We will be writing a book about a vacation or a place that your child visited. Please send in five 4x6 photos from the same vacation or place visited. Please label the back of one of the pictures with your child's name and the place they visited. Photos are due Friday, March 6th.
Please have your child practice reading daily.
OTHER NEWS: Don't forget to turn in the zoo field trip slips, if you haven't done so already. We are in the MP room practicing four our show. Song practice is going well and we have added props and speakers now. We have been working on all six songs thus far and the kids are doing great. March 19th is our Cultural Concert. Please start thinking about cultural attire that your child can wear the night of the performance. If you are unable to come up with any cultural attire...red, white, and blue is great too. Please no large hats or headpieces.
PORTAL: The portal is ready to access. Please practice reading with your child daily. Please use the Wonders app to access books that practice the sounds we are working on. Practice is crucial. Please have your child access the egusd portal from home. In the Wonders app, I have assigned the books we read in class, and decodable books with the sound we are learning. There are leveled readers with an orange, purple, blue, and green spine. The orange spine contains approaching grade level text. The purple spine is an EL text. The blue spine is considered on grade level text. The green spine is above grade level text. Please choose the book that your child is successful with. There are other resources as well. This is a good resource for your child to read books at their level or practice reading easier text with expression. Please take advantage of this. The directions are listed below.
EGUSD portal directions
Username=your child's school number. It can be found in their homework folder.
password= the last four digits of your child's school number , the month of your child's birth _ _, the date of your child's birth _ _. It can be found in their homework folder.
The portal is useful to check out the Wonders app and the Think Central app.
Have a great week! | <urn:uuid:87cab587-b80b-4bc6-a6a0-98d9958b693e> | {
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Video of the Day
If you own a female guinea pig who just gave birth to a litter of tiny pups, make sure she has the opportunity to live in an environment conducive to properly raising her new additions. That involves making sure that she and her offspring are in no way accessible by the father.
Away from Mom
Female guinea pigs are usually pregnant for 59 to 72 days. As parturition approaches, split up the boars and sows. Male guinea pigs can impregnate the females quickly after their litters emerge, sometimes in merely 12 hours. Since this can be extremely tough on sows' bodies, and therefore dangerous, it's vital to never let this happen. The way to prevent it is by making sure that mothers and fathers aren't together post-birth. Apart from the body stress, an additional pregnancy can be highly disruptive to a female guinea pig who is busy looking after and nursing her youngsters. Guinea pigs mothers do not need help from the fathers in looking after their juveniles.
Away from the Pups
Male guinea pigs should be separated from their pups, at least for most of the time, simply because the little ones have to be with their mothers. Newborn guinea pigs can meet their fathers, but only if their mothers aren't around. Don't allow female pups to encounter their dads once they're 21 days old, however. At this point, the fathers can get them pregnant, which also can be extremely hazardous to young female cavies' bodies.
It's important to split male and female guinea pigs up by the time they're 4 weeks old. If you don't, mating is just a matter of time. Not only can male siblings mate with their siblings, the males can even do so with their mothers. Prevent breeding from occurring by putting guinea pigs in separate "male" and "female" designated enclosures. Always keep an eye on guinea pigs living together to make sure they're getting along well. Aggressive behavior is a possibility in male cavies.
Neutering and Spaying Guinea Pigs
While neutering and spaying can stop guinea pigs from breeding, the processes aren't necessarily the most effective solutions for the dilemma. Not only can the surgeries be extremely costly for guinea pigs, they often come with some drawbacks. Neutering and spaying surgeries can place stress on guinea pigs, and not all of the rodents handle the medical procedures well. Anesthesia, for example, can sometimes be trying on their wee bodies. Keeping male and female guinea pigs apart is often a much easier way to eliminate the chances of pregnancy. Cavies can be highly prolific breeders. Females can sometimes bear upward of five litters annually.
It's highly uncommon for guinea pig fathers to eat their newborn babies. That behavior is much more common in other types of rodents -- specifically scared and frustrated hamster and mice fathers. While it's important to keep male guinea pigs away from new mothers, cannibalization of their offspring isn't a big source of concern.
- The Guinea Pig Handbook; Sharon Lynn Vanderlip
- Little Guinea Pigs; Anne Royer
- Management of Pregnant and Neonatal Dogs, Cats and Exotic Pets; Cheryl Lopate
- Guinea Pigs; Bobbie Kalman and Kelley MacAulay
- The Merck/Merial Manual for Pet Health; Cynthia M. Kahn and Scott Line
- Guinea Pigs; Katrin Behrend
- The Laboratory Rabbit, Guinea Pig, Hamster, and Other Rodents; Mark A. Suckow, Karla A. Stevens and Ronald P. Wilson
- SmallAnimalChannel.com: Handling Rules for Newborn Guinea Pigs
- Michael Blann/Digital Vision/Getty Images | <urn:uuid:7af6b1cf-e07e-4333-8aaa-dbb7d120a650> | {
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The author examines the effectiveness of some past and current products to help shower piping drain effectively to reduce Legionella growth.
by David Dexter, FNSPE, FASPE, CPD, CPI, LEED BD+C, PE
We learn more about Legionella bacteria almost daily. It has always been present in our water, but it’s effect was not recognized until an outbreak at the American Legion convention in 1976 in Philadelphia. Initially, the outbreak was not understood, but after much investigation, research, and study, the medical, scientific, and engineering communities have obtained a better understanding of the bacteria and continue to develop countermeasures to defend against future outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease, as it has come to be called.
Legionella bacterium is a naturally occurring organism in water. There are more than 60 species of the bacteria, with Legionella pneumophila, serogroup 1, being the most prevalent type responsible for illness in humans. It is parasitic, making it difficult to eradicate within our potable water distribution systems. The best we can do as engineers and designers is manage risk through the control of biofilm development within those distribution systems. Potable water piping systems should be designed appropriately to avoid dead legs, maintain a minimum velocity, and control water temperature to retard the growth of, if not eradicate, the bacterium. Designing in such a manner may and probably will conflict with many codes, standards, and regulations. However, the main goal is always to protect public health, safety, and welfare, so we, as professionals, must balance the greater good against the constraints placed on the design.
To improve our designs, we need to rethink how this problem has been addressed.
Water distribution piping must minimize, to the greatest extent possible, any dead ends or uncirculated points within the piping network. In a typical bathroom group, for example, this will require the supply piping to first pass as close as practical to the least-used fixture (normally the shower), then to the next least-used fixture (the lavatory), and end with the most-used fixture (the water closet). By changing the piping layout to such a configuration, flow can be better assured with the least amount of dead or stagnant water, and if circulation is added to the cold water piping network, similar to circulating the hot water system, a minimum constant flow can be maintained to scour the piping walls and minimize biofilm growth.
While changing the piping configuration will certainly assist in managing risk, the shower faucet and shower arm/head or shower hose still pose an increased risk of exposure to Legionella. This risk is especially acute in healthcare applications, as the shower is used infrequently, if at all. How this risk might be better managed becomes something engineers and designers must consider.
Facility staff and water management professionals routinely recommend removing the showerhead and handheld shower hose to drain and sanitize them. This is a good beginning but leaves a relatively substantial amount of water and surface area with the potential for Legionella bacterium to grow, mainly in the piping from the shower faucet body to the point of discharge from the shower arm. This piping is concealed within the wall cavity, leaving no access or means to drain the stagnant/standing water. How can this risk be minimized or eliminated?
Almost every shower faucet is actually a tub and shower body with the tub opening plugged. How can we modify the design to accommodate the drainage of the shower riser, arm, head, and handheld hose? The plugged tub port can be used to drain the shower riser assembly and handheld hose. Making use of the tub port allows water to drain and air to enter, breaking any potential vacuum within the shower riser/handheld hose assembly.
Now the question becomes, how do we control the flow of water from the tub port?
Obviously, we do not want water flowing from that port during usage of the shower; it only needs to allow drainage upon completion of the shower with the faucet closed or turned off. This control will depend on the style of the faucet selected. Some faucets come with a diverter button built into the faucet body, and others rely on the diverter tub spout.
The faucet with the built-in diverter would be the easier selection in my judgment, as you already have a means to control flow between the shower and the drain (tub port) that is right in front of the user. The alternative (tub spout) would require a diverter valve or a ball drip-type inline check valve to control the flow to the drain. The problem with the diverter valve is that the user has to open and close it (it is not automatic), while the ball drip-type check valve relies on water pressure to close and a spring to open (no user interface).
The next consideration would be where to take the drain (tub port).
The drain (tub port) can’t interfere with the user’s use of the shower or cause water damage in the area. When I first began to research this, I thought about the spray head you might find in the old vitreous china cuspidors. (I know that most new engineers/designers have no idea what that fixture looked like, so I have provided an example in Figure 1 in stainless steel.) It was generally found in gymnasiums, next to the drinking fountain. However, this fixture has fallen out of favor because it was difficult to secure to the wall in a watertight manner, and the spray head is almost impossible to find these days. Thus, that idea was not going to work, primarily because a manufacturer could not be found.
Next I turned to representatives from the major fixture manufacturers. As this was not a product in their catalog, most were not interested in assisting in developing a solution that would enable a shower riser/handheld hose to drain. However, a Kohler factory representative in my area, Mr. Bill Berger, is a true professional asset. He and I discussed the problem and shared ideas back and forth to develop a workable concept.
In my judgment, the drain needs to be near the shower floor to minimize potential splatter. It also should not extend into the shower base to any great extent to avoid a trip hazard or injury to the user. The drain also needed to seal against the wall to prevent water intrusion into said wall.
As Bill and I discussed the idea, we remembered that several manufacturers offer a small spout, generally referred to as “toe tester.” (Bill was still willing to assist, even though his manufacturer did not have product to directly fit my needs.) Delta used to offer a forged brass toe tester spout, part number 060605A (see Figure 2). I say “used to offer,” as they have stopped producing it. Symmons manufactures a version (part number 071, see Figure 3), and Aquabrass also manufactures a toe tester (part number 15604, see Figure 4). However, both of those options extend a couple inches into the shower basin.
Bill came to the rescue with his continued research, as he discovered that Kohler offers a wall- or ceiling-mount bathtub filler (model number K-922, see Figure 5). This tub filler will work with any faucet—either integral diverter or utilizing an inline ball drip check valve. It protrudes less than 5/8 inches into the shower area and seals to the wall, when professionally installed.
This approach, for new construction or retrofit, eliminates the standing water in the shower riser assembly, thus reducing the risk of Legionella development in that region of the piping. To achieve appropriate drainage, the normally installed inline vacuum breaker should not be installed on the handheld shower. In doing what it is intended to do, the vacuum breaker would create a vacuum within the riser assembly and inhibit proper drainage. The vacuum breaker is not necessary, provided that the handheld shower is kept about 6 inches above the shower floor. As the shower riser assembly now has a clear path to drain and allows airflow, the risk of Legionella growth is greatly reduced.
In the time spent developing this concept, it was brought to my attention that Chicago Faucets is developing a specific faucet to market for this type of situation. Having reviewed the preliminary description of their prototype, I offer the following comments/concerns:
- The “elbow and valve drain for drainage above the valve” is located at the faucet level. This allows for an increased risk of splashing in the shower area as well as streaking down the wall as it drains.
- The prototype indicates that an “air vent” would be installed at the shower arm connection. If the piping is open on both ends, gravity will allow drainage, so a vent should not be needed. Even if the handheld hose is allowed to be left in an up position, most of the water would be siphoned out to the drain. (However, the handheld shower/hose should always be left in a hanging position for the best drainage.)
- The prototype has a “bumper and horizontal hose drain to prevent backflow” indicated. I am not sure what this device accomplishes or know any details as to its construction. However, if it is to be classified as a backflow, it will need to be certified to a standard.
The Ultimate Goal
Regardless of the approach, getting the water out of the shower riser assembly needs to be accomplished, minimizing the risk of Legionella growth at a reasonable cost.
David Dexter, FNSPE, FASPE, CPD, CPI, LEED BD+C, PE, is a Registered Engineer, Certified Plumbing Inspector, and Certified Plans Examiner with more than 40 years of experience in the installation and design of plumbing systems. He specializes in plumbing, fire protection, and HVAC design as well as forensics related to mechanical system failures. Dave serves as Chair of ASPE’s Main Design Standards Committee, Chair of the Bylaws Committee, and Co-Chair of the Professional Engineer Working Group. He also was the 2010–2011 President of the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers.
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More information about USA at
Queen Isabella (1451-1504), was the Queen of Castile, who, along with her husband, King Ferdinand of Aragon, financed Christopher Columbus' expedition to the Indies, which resulted in the discovery of America. In her commission to Columbus, she recited that the purpose of the voyage was:
"For the Glory of God.... it is hoped that by God's assistance some of the continents and islands in the oceans will be discovered." - Queen Isabella. 1490-1492, in her commission to Christopher Columbus. Letter from Plymouth Rock (Marlborough, NH: The Plymouth Rock Foundation), p. 1. Church of the Holy Trinity v. U.S., 143 U.S. 465-468 (1892). David Barton, The Myth of Separation (Aledo, TX: WallBuilder Press, 1991), p. 48.
Queen Isabella informed the Pope of Columbus' attempt:
"To bear the light of Christ west to the heathen undiscovered lands." - Christopher Columbus. In a letter from Queen Isabella to the Pope. Cecil Jane, trans. & ed., The Voyages of Christopher Columbus (London: Argonaut Press, 1930), p. 146. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg's Heart'N Home, Inc., 1991), 10.11. | <urn:uuid:989ab77c-7682-43ab-a9e4-62e87feb3ce1> | {
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(Prosthetic devices, VR video game and workshops)
Swarm is a performances that consists of dance, video and live sound produced by analogous and digital ways that explore the concept of bee swarms and its complex structures of behavior. Applying the idea of ¨Drone¨ within the synthesis of contemporary audio and its implications in dance, the visualization of these makes an audiovisual assembly where the body of a performer affects in real time the modulation of the sound and the video manages to generate an unconventional narrative. This performance has a live AR experience where audiences can interact with elements within the concert space. Swarm has been artistically directed by Asher Remy-Toledo (Hyphen-Hub NYC)
Ethology (scientific study of human and animal behavior) raises inferences about human behavior from the observation of animal species, however, to some extent all behavior attributed to animals becomes a reflection of human behavior if we can not move away Of what characterizes us as a species.
In relation to insect studies, James L Gould discovered that wild bees possess sophisticated deduction powers and can come to a conclusion based on patterns built on past experiences. Such skills can hardly be explained by current definitions of consciousness and language or the interdependence of both. The isolated mental capacity of a single bee can not support such complexity either. In order to find some linguistic structure it is necessary to approach the behavior of swarms and not the study of individuals.
The total communication vocabulary of an individual can be considered as latent "bits" of a larger resident logic and these interactive patterns and similar in structure to the ability of human speech. In other words, although the sound producing a single bee is not comparable to the complex speech of a human individual, perhaps the interactive vocal pattern of the group is, and can be considered as self-referential evidence of a comparable mental structure. Isolating and studying only the individual's calls is analogous to focusing only on the separate phonemes of human language and not on their grammar.
Swarm is an audiovisual performance that refers to the complexity of the structures of communication of insect species, through the visualization of sound frequencies of individuals and groups, exploring the concept of swarm and its influences on the idea of Dron in sound and music. Electronic music is the medium for reflection because it allows us to sample, modulate and structure the sounds in a defined period of time.
The technical nature of electronic music allows to modulate, to sample and to structure the sounds of insects in a determined period of time, - to this exploration we have denominated "Biotechno" - a dialectic that connects the industrial environment in which we live and the wild spaces Inhabited by insects, translated through manipulation of field recordings supported by contemporary synthesis techniques.
Produced by: Asher Remy-Toledo, Hyphen Hub | <urn:uuid:660ed675-ff96-4a81-bbc9-884bd5975a50> | {
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Fading light dims the sight,
And a star gems the sky,
From afar drawing nigh,
Falls the night.
Day is done, gone the sun,
From the lake, From the hills,
From the sky.
All is well, safely rest,
God is nigh.
Then good night, Peaceful night,
Till the light of the dawn
God is near, do not fear,
Friend, good night.
November 02, 1880 at New York, NY
Entered Service in the US
Marine Corps from New York, NY
25, 1942 at the age of 61
The Medal of Honor During the Mexican Campaign For heroism on
April 21 - 22, 1914 at Vera Cruz, Mexico
In an effort
to force out General Victoriano Huerta, who had seized the
presidency of Mexico in a bloody coup d' etat, President Woodrow
Wilson sent three Navy vessels to Vera Cruz under the command of
Rear Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher. On the morning of April 21
nearly 1,500 American combat troops were put ashore, and that
night another 1,500 reinforcements landed. By noon on April 22nd
the American forces had taken control of the city. In the two
day action Fletcher lost 17 men killed, 63 wounded. The Mexicans
had nearly 800 dead or wounded. Captain John Hughes was one of
55 men awarded the Medal of Honor for this two-day action, and
was cited for "fighting at the head of his company"
and "eminent and conspicuous conduct, leading his men with
skill and courage in both day's fighting."
Though the United States occupied Vera Cruz for seven months
following the initial landing, the men who landed at Vera Cruz
on April 21 - 22 accomplished their mission in two days, and
returned to their vessels within the same week. | <urn:uuid:d8c4b649-242b-449b-952f-79f14336cf03> | {
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- Keith Haring Murals
- Come To Know Keith Haring
- Organ Systems Mural
- City as Canvas: Artist Spotlight
- Printing with Objects
- Mural Making in the Style Of Keith Haring
- Subway Graffiti Project
- T-shirt Designer
- Keith Haring Semiotics Poster
- Introducing Keith Haring
- Discovering Keith Haring
- Haring Inspired Mural
- All Bottled Up!
- Thinking about Drawings as Symbols
- Dance Party
6 PMLD students aged from 12 to 17 used objects with different textures or filled with different textures to print paint onto figures for a classroom display inspired by Keith Haring. They also created the background black paint dabbing brushes in a rhythm.
Children from the Netherlands explore a unit on Keith Haring, including Tee-shirt stamping and collaborative, mural-sized drawings.
After studying the work of Keith Haring, these high school students created their own personal symbols on woodblocks. The symbols were then printed on to an item of clothing and incorporated into a banner.
This children-designed book explores rhyming, musical inventions, rhythm and dance using the process of printmaking.
THIS LESSON USES THE NYC BLUEPRINT LEARNING STANDARDS.
This flip book lesson is designed to make learning about animation a more tactile, fun experience for young learners by eliminating tracing and bringing the line to life. Students will use their hands to gradually bend and reshape a line (floral wire), while recording this experience using crayon rubbings. The sequential crayon rubbings will become frames for their flip book.
This lesson is originally designed to accompany a math lesson about closed shapes, giving students an experience with the formation of flat sides, curves, and angles.
Learn printmaking, including printing Tee shirts, based on the images of Haring's work.
Learn about printmaking using Haring's imagery as a starting point. | <urn:uuid:600c405f-d7b0-408d-bef3-5dc272abb1f5> | {
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Scientists have made great progress in growing tissues and organs that mimic real human tissue, like cartilage and heart tissue. However, one barrier hasn’t been broken through just yet; growing complex organs like the kidney or lungs from scratch in the lab.
Will we one day be able to grow artificial tissues and organs? And if so, how far away is this technology becoming available? In this article, I explore these questions and explain why it may take years to grow artificial organs in the lab for transplantation into human bodies.
There are two types of stem cells: embryonic and adult. Embryonic stem cells are derived from a human embryo, while adult stem cells can be obtained by sampling adult tissue. For example, one type of tissue successfully grown in vitro is the bladder. First, researchers remove all living cells from a donated organ to provide a scaffold for new cells to grow you also take help from online doctor appointment in Pakistan.
The decellularisation process has been used for a while, but it is still not widely used in the medical field. It involves removing the cells from an organ by treating it with enzymes that break down the cell membrane, making all the contents leak out.
After this process, all of the cells are remove and what remains is a matrix made up of proteins and polysaccharides, which can be used to create any tissue or organ. The hope is that this process will eventually be able to be implement in humans to help solve problems with organ shortages or transplants.
Shortly, it might be possible to grow artificial organs for transplants. Researchers are developing a way to use scaffolding to build new organ tissue from cells in our bodies. Hopefully, this technique will help overcome the severe shortage of donor organs for people who need them. One major challenge is ensuring the new tissue gets blood, oxygen, and nutrients.
In the field of medicine, 3D printing is being use to create implants and grafts that are customized for each patient. Scientists use 3D bioprinting to create human tissues, such as bone or cartilage.
For instance, at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, scientists have developed a printer with which they can print out pieces of heart tissue about the size of a sugar cube for use in heart surgery. This tissue contains living cells, including blood vessels and cardiac muscle cells, which will form as the new tissue develops.
This technology has been in development for many years now. But it is only recently that the technology has been improve to the point where we can use it in hospitals or best Online Pharmacy in Pakistan. Microfluidics holds a lot of promise for the future.
The implications are staggering: no more waiting lists or transplants are unavailable because of incompatibility issues. But there are still many challenges that must address before these systems can become commonplace.
For one thing, there is a lack of understanding about how to control these systems individually. This is critical because while some people may need one set of cells, others require something different. Scientists also have yet to understand how to ensure that these cells don’t get reject by the immune system once implanted into a person’s body. | <urn:uuid:9723dc71-9f6f-41cf-8ec1-e5edc7b87861> | {
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Brief History of the real car.
The first Beetle car, known as the Type 1 and Beetle Bug, was launched in 1938 and production ran until 2003. Adolf Hitler was a major influence to the car as he wanted to mass produce a small functional car for Germany’s major road networks. He instructed Ferdinand Porsche to come up with the designs and production and the first Beetle car with a split rear window came off the production line in 1938, just before the start of the second world war. Being one of the earliest rear-engined cars, over 21 million were made.
Dinky toy 181 issued 1956-70
Similar to the real car, Dinky had a very successful long production running for a remarkable 14 years. There were several colours issued with later models having changed base plates, colours and wheels.
Around 1961-62 this model was also selected for export by Arthur E Harris distributors to be assembled in South Africa and several new colours were used to produce what is now some of the rarest dinky toys available to the discerning collector.
Boxes also shared much adaption and change and I have tried to identify these changes for this article.
The following is the full listing of all known colours and changes. All early models had the standard base plate numbered 181, smooth black tyres and no indicator lights. Issues with Type 1 yellow picture box shows a grey model one side and a lime green model on the other.
Model picture 1. The Early models
The early models
• Light grey body with blue ridged wheels ----------------------------- £110-£160
• Light grey body with maroon ridged wheels------(very rare)------ £600-£800
• Light grey body with green ridged wheels---------(very rare)------ £600-£800
• Lime green body with green ridged wheels -------------------------- £120-£180
• RAF Blue body with blue ridged wheels -------------------------------£140-£180
• Petrol Blue body with blue ridged wheels--------(very scarce)-----£600-£700
Type 2 boxes were similar to Type 1 but now showed the grey model one side and an RAF blue model the other side. Some of the earlier model colours listed above can be found with the later un-numbered standard base plate.
The models listed below can be found with the following component changes:
spun wheels, M tyres and base plate.
Model picture 2. 2nd stage releases
Later models with spun wheels including the rare model in white which could have been a prototype.
• Light grey body with gloss un-numbered base and no indicators. ----£140-£180
• Greyish blue body with gloss un-numbered base and no indicators.--£140-£180
• Light blue body with silver un-numbered base and Indicators ------£140-£200
• White body with silver un-numbered base, no indicators Unrecorded colour.
May have been a colour trial. Potentially (very rare).----------------------£NPGA
• Light blue body with matt black un-numbered base and indicators £150-£225
Model picture 3. Final uk release.
Last issue with plastic wheels
•Light blue body with matt black un-numbered base with blue plastic wheels,
indicators and M tyres. (Scarce)------------------------------------------£450-£600
The above list would have been supplied in three further box types.
• Type 3 was a light yellow box with clear spots at each end.
• Type 4 was similar but with no colour spot indicators.
• Type 5 was the red and yellow panelled non picture box with a colour spot applied indicating the colour within.
I have provided a valuation indicator but this is my own opinion. There is no price guide for the un-recorded model which is always dependent on what any buyer is prepared to pay. Values are for mint and similar box conditions.
Model picture 4. Rare South African issue in green (The light blue may be South African)
South African Issued 1961-62 approx
All models were issued with spun wheels and certainly some models, had matt black un- numbered bases. It is possible they were also supplied with a gloss black un-numbered base. The significant difference to the UK models, apart from obvious South African colours and Africaans on the box, were the rivets.
SA model colours as follows:
• Bright green
• Light sage green
• Pale lemon
• Off white
• Dark grey
• Light Blue (Similar to UK)
For a boxed example of this ultra rare south African dinky I would suggest £1500-£2500
Model picture 5. Sorting out by Rivets
The later UK models were issued with domed rivets which are quite different from the SA rivets. However the early UK rivets, with an inverted centre where the rod of the rivet was snapped off, has similarities to the SA rivet.
The green SA example I have is unboxed, has a matt black base and around the inverted centre of the rivets are clear circles of finish, slightly different to the early UK rivets.
Clive Unsworth recently produced an excellent article on SA Dinky in Model Collector and I note the boxes pictured in the article are an early yellow picture box but with NO colour spot printed either end. Each picture only shows one box side a dark blue model with blue wheels.
Vectis Auctions have only had one boxed example in light sage green and the box was as described above.
Summary. Therefore I believe the SA box was a variation of the UK box Type 2 (as above), however without proof of the alternative side of the box and the model colour I am unable to conclude this point.
Model picture 6 below. The rare ones.
1938 VW Beetle | <urn:uuid:d4aa30af-7712-4011-9750-28ca1f659c55> | {
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ECU Professor Unravels Riddles
By Jeannine Manning Hutson
Today’s crossword puzzles have a distinguished literary pedigree, tracing their beginnings to acrostics and other word puzzles from centuries ago.
East Carolina University English associate professor Gregg Hecimovich has unraveled word puzzles from Victorian England with his new book, “Puzzling the Reader: Riddles in Nineteenth-Century British Literature,” (Peter Lang, 2008) and a second work focusing on Jane Austen’s “Emma.”
For his research, Hecimovich trolled through periodicals and parlor game books of the time at the British Library. Queen Victoria even created a double acrostic, “Windsor Engima,” for a parlor book; her puzzle’s answer was a reference to the glories of the British Empire.
Riddles and word puzzles were the parlor games of the 19th century.
“They were a product of the oral tradition as it entered mass produced culture in the 19th century,” Hecimovich said.
That growing literate population, the Victorians, created different word puzzles, such as rebuses and acrostics, for entertainment in the evenings. Hecimovich explains that the Victorians’ love for rebuses, acrostics, and charades led them to invent the double acrostic, a complex combination of all three – the steam engine of literary parlor games.
Hecimovich also points out the important role of riddles, especially in the interlocking courtship games, in his “Austen’s Emma: A Reader’s Guide” (Continuum, 2008). In the novel, the slow-witted Harriet Smith is gathering riddles for a booklet. Included in the submissions gathered by Emma Woodhouse, who loves the word plays, are bits and pieces from her father of a rather bawdy riddle of the times.
“Modern readers likely often miss many of the word plays in works such as Austen, William Blake or Charles Dickens; however, the 19th century reader would have been looking for these,” Hecimovich said. “For instance, the answer to the bawdy puzzle offered up in Austen is ‘a virgin prostitute.’ We don’t think of Austen telling those kind of jokes, but she does.”
In his reader’s guide to “Emma,” Hecimovich leads the careful reader of the novel to a point to render his or her own criticism of the last novel Austen published in her lifetime. He also explores the three main themes of the work: courtship, conduct and wellbeing. And how each theme is played out under the broader rubric of games: word games and social games.
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The Advantages of PHP
PHP is one of the most popular server side scripting languages running today. It is used for creating dynamic webpages that interact with the user offering customized information. PHP offers many advantages; it is fast, stable, secure, easy to use and open source (free).
Rasmus Lerdorf wrote the first PHP (first called Personal Home Page) scripts as a series of Perl scripts that he used to track visitors to his webpage and to see who was viewing his resume. He eventually rewrote PHP as a scripting engine and added support for forms. PHP has been evolving since 1994 as an open source code. A community of followers and developers formed and began using and further developing PHP. Over the years the Personal Home Page acronym was dropped and it evolved into the PHP Hypertext Preprocessor.
PHP code is inserted directly into the HTML that makes up a website. When a visitor comes to the website, the code is executed. Because PHP is a server side technology, the user does not need any special browser or plug-ins to see the PHP in action.
PHP doesn’t use a lot of the system’s resources so it runs fast and doesn’t tend to slow other processes down. It is typically used as an Apache module, written in C, so it loads and executes quickly. It works well with other software and can be quite fast. PHP is also fairly stable and since it is open source, the PHP community works together to fix any bugs. The community offers technical support and continuously updates the code further expanding PHP’s capabilities.
PHP offers many levels of security to prevent malicious attacks. These security levels can be adjusted in the .ini file.
Another key advantage of PHP is its connective abilities. PHP uses a modular system of extensions to interface with a variety of libraries such as graphics, XML, encryption, etc. In addition, programmers can extend PHP by writing their own extensions and compiling them into the executable or they can create their own executable and load it using PHP’s dynamic loading mechanism.
In addition to extensions, PHP has tons of server interfaces, database interfaces and other modules available. Of the server interfaces, PHP can load into Apache, IIS, Roxen, THTTPD and AOLserver. It can also be run as a CGI module. Database interfaces are available for MySQL, MS SQL, Informix, Oracle and plenty of others. If a database is not supported, ODBC is an option.
The main PHP source repository is loaded with modules and interfaces that users have written and contributed. There you can find modules for flash movies, PDF files, calendars and more.
A huge advantage that PHP offers is its community. Since PHP is an open source project, the PHP community is willing to share. If you’re looking for a particular script, chances are another user has already created something similar. Check within the PHP community for availability. Likewise, if you have created a function that others might enjoy, be sure to post the code for others.
If you’re ready to add dynamic content to your webpages, consider the use of PHP. It’s free, easy to learn (especially if you have some programming background) and integrates well across many platforms and with various software programs. | <urn:uuid:783d2fa8-ffb2-4cd2-bb55-4f1f52eda3c5> | {
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Anarchist FAQ/What is Anarchism?/1.5
A.1.5 Where does anarchism come from?
Where does anarchism come from? We can do no better than quote The Organisational Platform of the Libertarian Communists produced by participants of the Makhnovist movement in the Russian Revolution (see Section A.5.4). They point out that:
"The class struggle created by the enslavement of workers and their aspirations to liberty gave birth, in the oppression, to the idea of anarchism: the idea of the total negation of a social system based on the principles of classes and the State, and its replacement by a free non-statist society of workers under self-management.
So anarchism does not derive from the abstract reflections of an intellectual or a philosopher, but from the direct struggle of workers against capitalism, from the needs and necessities of the workers, from their aspirations to liberty and equality, aspirations which become particularly alive in the best heroic period of the life and struggle of the working masses.
"The outstanding anarchist thinkers, Bakunin, Kropotkin and others, did not invent the idea of anarchism, but, having discovered it in the masses, simply helped by the strength of their thought and knowledge to specify and spread it." [pp. 15-16]
Like the anarchist movement in general, the Makhnovists were a mass movement of working class people resisting the forces of authority, both Red (Communist) and White (Tsarist/Capitalist) in the Ukraine from 1917 to 1921. As Peter Marshall notes "anarchism . . . has traditionally found its chief supporters amongst workers and peasants." [Demanding the Impossible, p. 652]
Anarchism was created in, and by, the struggle of the oppressed for freedom. For Kropotkin, for example, "Anarchism . . . originated in everyday struggles" and "the Anarchist movement was renewed each time it received an impression from some great practical lesson: it derived its origin from the teachings of life itself." [Evolution and Environment, p. 58 and p. 57] For Proudhon, "the proof" of his mutualist ideas lay in the "current practice, revolutionary practice" of "those labour associations . . . which have spontaneously . . . been formed in Paris and Lyon . . . [show that the] organisation of credit and organisation of labour amount to one and the same." [No Gods, No Masters, vol. 1, pp. 59-60] Indeed, as one historian argues, there was "close similarity between the associational ideal of Proudhon . . . and the program of the Lyon Mutualists" and that there was "a remarkable convergence [between the ideas], and it is likely that Proudhon was able to articulate his positive program more coherently because of the example of the silk workers of Lyon. The socialist ideal that he championed was already being realised, to a certain extent, by such workers."
Thus anarchism comes from the fight for liberty and our desires to lead a fully human life, one in which we have time to live, to love and to play. It was not created by a few people divorced from life, in ivory towers looking down upon society and making judgements upon it based on their notions of what is right and wrong. Rather, it was a product of working class struggle and resistance to authority, oppression and exploitation. As Albert Meltzer put it:
"There were never theoreticians of Anarchism as such, though it produced a number of theoreticians who discussed aspects of its philosophy. Anarchism has remained a creed that has been worked out in action rather than as the putting into practice of an intellectual idea. Very often, a bourgeois writer comes along and writes down what has already been worked out in practice by workers and peasants; he [or she] is attributed by bourgeois historians as being a leader, and by successive bourgeois writers (citing the bourgeois historians) as being one more case that proves the working class relies on bourgeois leadership."
In Kropotkin's eyes, "Anarchism had its origins in the same creative, constructive activity of the masses which has worked out in times past all the social institutions of mankind -- and in the revolts . . . against the representatives of force, external to these social institutions, who had laid their hands on these institutions and used them for their own advantage." More recently, "Anarchy was brought forth by the same critical and revolutionary protest which gave birth to Socialism in general." Anarchism, unlike other forms of socialism, "lifted its sacrilegious arm, not only against Capitalism, but also against these pillars of Capitalism: Law, Authority, and the State." All anarchist writers did was to "work out a general expression of [anarchism's] principles, and the theoretical and scientific basis of its teachings" derived from the experiences of working class people in struggle as well as analysing the evolutionary tendencies of society in general. [Op. Cit., p. 19 and p. 57]
However, anarchistic tendencies and organisations in society have existed long before Proudhon put pen to paper in 1840 and declared himself an anarchist. While anarchism, as a specific political theory, was born with the rise of capitalism (Anarchism "emerged at the end of the eighteenth century . . .[and] took up the dual challenge of overthrowing both Capital and the State." [Peter Marshall, Op. Cit., p. 4]) anarchist writers have analysed history for libertarian tendencies. Kropotkin argued, for example, that "from all times there have been Anarchists and Statists." [Op. Cit., p. 16] In Mutual Aid (and elsewhere) Kropotkin analysed the libertarian aspects of previous societies and noted those that successfully implemented (to some degree) anarchist organisation or aspects of anarchism. He recognised this tendency of actual examples of anarchistic ideas to predate the creation of the "official" anarchist movement and argued that:
"From the remotest, stone-age antiquity, men [and women] have realised the evils that resulted from letting some of them acquire personal authority. . . Consequently they developed in the primitive clan, the village community, the medieval guild . . . and finally in the free medieval city, such institutions as enabled them to resist the encroachments upon their life and fortunes both of those strangers who conquered them, and those clansmen of their own who endeavoured to establish their personal authority." [Anarchism, pp. 158-9]
Kropotkin placed the struggle of working class people (from which modern anarchism sprung) on par with these older forms of popular organisation. He argued that "the labour combinations. . . were an outcome of the same popular resistance to the growing power of the few -- the capitalists in this case" as were the clan, the village community and so on, as were "the strikingly independent, freely federated activity of the 'Sections' of Paris and all great cities and many small 'Communes' during the French Revolution" in 1793. [Op. Cit., p. 159]
Thus, while anarchism as a political theory is an expression of working class struggle and self-activity against capitalism and the modern state, the ideas of anarchism have continually expressed themselves in action throughout human existence. Many indigenous peoples in North America and elsewhere, for example, practised anarchism for thousands of years before anarchism as a specific political theory existed. Similarly, anarchistic tendencies and organisations have existed in every major revolution -- the New England Town Meetings during the American Revolution, the Parisian 'Sections' during the French Revolution, the workers' councils and factory committees during the Russian Revolution to name just a few examples (see Murray Bookchin's The Third Revolution for details). This is to be expected if anarchism is, as we argue, a product of resistance to authority then any society with authorities will provoke resistance to them and generate anarchistic tendencies (and, of course, any societies without authorities cannot help but being anarchistic).
In other words, anarchism is an expression of the struggle against oppression and exploitation, a generalisation of working people's experiences and analyses of what is wrong with the current system and an expression of our hopes and dreams for a better future. This struggle existed before it was called anarchism, but the historic anarchist movement (i.e. groups of people calling their ideas anarchism and aiming for an anarchist society) is essentially a product of working class struggle against capitalism and the state, against oppression and exploitation, and for a free society of free and equal individuals.
- K. Steven Vincent, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and the Rise of French Republican Socialism, p. 164
- Anarchism: Arguments for and against, p. 18 | <urn:uuid:a3e6d855-b43e-403c-8545-d2f26602c29c> | {
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Mar 25, 2022
With the notable progress in the development of technology, trust has become a crucial factor in human-technology interactions. People trust technology mainly because it works as expected. However, the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions does not remain the same because of the following challenges –
Even though Artificial Intelligence contributes significantly to a better human life, it also raises queries about trustworthiness and dependability. Nevertheless, blockchain technology-enabled AI-based systems can go a long way in enhancing human trust.
What is Blockchain?
With the growth of advanced technologies and the global market, industries face a lot of challenges when it comes to operational costs, transaction speed, efficiency, security, transparency across the supply chain, and growth rate. Blockchain is the answer to all these challenges faced by industries around the world today. Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology uniquely used for sharing and reconciling information for an interconnected future. In simple words, it is a continuously growing list of records, called blocks, which are linked and secured using cryptography. These records or blocks can contain any form of data, such as data exchange on currencies, real estate, healthcare, and more. The decentralized, open, and cryptographic nature of blockchain allows organizations around the globe to trust the system and transact peer-to-peer without having to rely on a central authority. It also allows them to retrieve the exact information with security and trust. Thus, eliminating the need for trusted intermediaries.
Features of Blockchain-
Integrating AI with Blockchain
Artificial Intelligence makes machines smart enough to imitate human intelligence and complete tasks on their own. Humans benefit from artificial intelligence since it makes things more comfortable for them, but the globe will become a more promising place to live if AI is combined with blockchain. By making everyone understand why investing in Artificial Intelligence is the need of the hour, Artificial Intelligence, along with its impressive features, has brought a paradigm shift in the industrial world. Integrating AI and blockchain will help the business organizations and developers strike the right combination, which can further make the systems future-proof. Unlike the traditional infrastructures used in businesses, blockchain particularly has a decentralized system. This decentralized architecture of the blockchain database makes it highly secure and authentic.
Advantages of powering AI with Blockchain
Connecting AI and Blockchain enable us to achieve dataset integrity. It allows swift prediction of data breaches, and with the information being impregnable, it also enhances security. The AI functionality enhances transparency with further aids in smoother operations while cutting down expenses. With numerous beneficial applications that are already being implemented and explored, blockchain technology combined with Artificial Intelligence is making a mark for itself in almost all sectors. As we head into an era of digitalization, it’s no longer a question of if legacy companies will catch on to the technology.
At MSRvantage, we believe to transform businesses by accelerating efficiency across almost all the major industries around the globe. With our next-gen blockchain-enabled solutions, we help companies to innovate and increase operational efficiency. With our blockchain-enabled products, solutions, and services like smart contracts, track and trace, asset digitization, and rewards & loyalty programs, we help enterprises enhance their business values by supporting them at each and every step of blockchain adoption. Thus, changing the aspects of the organization by accelerating efficiency and providing an innovative platform. With MSRvantage blockchain, take the first step and build a decentralized future for your enterprise.
In the modern world, blockchain has emerged as a significant game-changer, especially in the area of supply chain management, thanks to its potential applications such
Environmental sustainability seems to be one of the major issues businesses and governments want to deal with. The very reality of climate change is making
These previous few years have been hard for supply chains. The pandemic’s sudden tamp down and then the world subsequently getting back on its feet | <urn:uuid:0f4a6f88-c96e-423a-89ee-31fde253f2c8> | {
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- 1 The Importance of Gun Laws: Understanding the Debate
- 2 The Impact of Gun Laws on Crime Rates
- 3 Gun Law and Society: Protecting the Vulnerable
- 4 Conclusion
The Importance of Gun Laws: Understanding the Debate
Gun laws have been a topic of intense debate and discussion for years. Proponents argue that stricter regulations are necessary to reduce gun violence, while opponents emphasize the importance of upholding the Second Amendment rights. It is crucial to examine this subject critically as it impacts public safety, individual rights, and societal harmony.
The Need for Balance: Public Safety vs. Individual Rights
One aspect of the gun law debate revolves around finding the right balance between public safety and individual rights. While ensuring the safety of citizens is paramount, it is equally crucial to respect the rights granted by the Constitution. Striking this balance requires comprehensive legislation that considers both perspectives.
Common Misconceptions: Debunking Stereotypes
There are numerous misconceptions surrounding gun laws. One common misconception is that stricter regulations will completely eliminate gun-related crimes. However, it is important to recognize that criminals often obtain firearms through illegal means, rendering strict laws less effective in preventing their access to weapons. Addressing the root causes of violence should also be a priority.
The Impact of Gun Laws on Crime Rates
Research on the impact of gun laws on crime rates yields mixed results. While some studies suggest a correlation between stricter laws and reduced gun violence, others argue that these laws primarily affect law-abiding citizens. Analyzing these studies can help us understand the complexities of the issue and inform policy decisions.
International Perspectives: Learning from Other Countries
Examining gun laws in other countries can provide valuable insights. For example, countries like Australia and the United Kingdom have implemented stricter gun control measures, resulting in a decline in gun-related crimes. However, cultural and societal differences must be taken into account when considering the applicability of such measures in different contexts.
The Role of Mental Health: Addressing the Underlying Issues
Mental health plays a significant role in gun violence. Strengthening mental health support systems and improving access to treatment can help address the underlying issues contributing to incidents of violence. Combining comprehensive gun laws with proactive mental health initiatives can be a more holistic approach towards reducing gun-related tragedies.
Gun Law and Society: Protecting the Vulnerable
Another important aspect of gun law is its impact on vulnerable groups such as victims of domestic violence or marginalized communities. Stricter regulations can provide a layer of protection for these individuals, ensuring their safety and reducing the risk of harm.
Education and Responsibility: Promoting Safe Gun Ownership
Gun laws should also focus on promoting responsible gun ownership. Education programs that emphasize proper handling, storage, and usage can help prevent accidents and misuse. Encouraging responsible behavior among gun owners can contribute to a safer society.
Enforcement and Accountability: Strengthening the System
An effective gun law system requires robust enforcement and accountability mechanisms. Stricter background checks, improved tracking systems, and enhanced penalties for illegal possession can deter potential criminals from obtaining firearms. Adequate resources must also be allocated to law enforcement agencies to ensure effective implementation.
The topic of gun law is multifaceted and complex, with no easy solutions. It is essential to approach this issue with an open mind, considering various perspectives and weighing the potential benefits and drawbacks of different approaches. By engaging in thoughtful discussions and examining the available evidence, society can work towards finding a balanced and effective framework that prioritizes public safety while respecting individual rights. | <urn:uuid:5735a3c9-af61-4d59-809c-f847252b2bfc> | {
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It is estimated that around 2 billion children and adolescents worldwide suffer from weight-related disorders. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than a billion people are overweight, at least 300 million of whom are obese. As societies continue to embrace unhealthy sedentary lifestyles, fuelled by high-fat, high-sugar processed foods, obesity-related disorders, including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, are affecting increasing numbers of people at all levels of society and in almost all the countries in the world. In this article, Viviana Viviant exposes some of the diet-related myths and misconceptions that might hinder
effective nutritional education and backs calls for multisector societal solutions to the global obesity epidemic.
nutrition, fruit, vegetables, obesity, myths | <urn:uuid:2b18a39e-4e60-4bb3-a5cb-79558fe828d6> | {
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Honeybees have many adversaries in the wild they struggle against in order to survive. In Zimbabwe, however, there is another adversary that U.S. bees likely haven’t seen before–and hopefully never will. Beekeepers in Zimbabwe–which has a very successful domestic honey market, with writer Lazarus Sauti calling it a “gift”–have been reporting growing issues with “pirate bees,” kleptoparasitic insects that survive by planting eggs inside honeybee hosts and then slowly infecting the hive, with one pirate bee likely even killing the queen and taking over from there.
These parasites have slowed the thriving honey industry considerably. According to local Njanjanja beekeeper Njovani Ndhlovu, pirate bees “affect most parts of the country,” especially in sandy regions. The insects reportedly plant themselves at the hives’ entrances, waiting for worker bees to come out and collect nectar for the honey-making process. Because of this, the honeybees are forced to lie dormant inside their hives, thereby limiting time to gather nectar. The long-term result has been felt by beekeepers all throughout Zimbabwe: “Following the invasion by gigantic pirate bees,” said Ndhlovu, “the honey harvest circle has declined from three times a year to twice a year.” The honey business can bring in 1,000 U.S. dollars per month, supplying a livelihood not previously there for many.
The pirate bee, discovered only in the last ten years by Drs. Jakub Straka and Michael Engel in Cape Verde, is also known as the “cuckoo bee” for its similarity to cuckoo birds, which are creatures the U.S. does have plenty of. The cuckoo bird is a brood parasite, meaning the mother lays her egg in another bird’s nest (usually a different species), and once the single chick hatches, it pushes out the other eggs and the nest mother raises the cuckoo baby as her own. The cuckoo bee operates with similar behavior, and while still a newly discovered species that evolves rapidly (as insects typically do with short lifespans), scientists and local authorities in Zimbabwe have the resources and knowledge to combat the infestation of the destructive parasites.
“We have advised beekeepers,” said Cliff Maunze, head of a team called Forest Forces, “to upgrade their hives from the traditional ones (mukoko). We have also imparted them with technical know-how on how to address the challenges with pirate or cuckoo bees.” Some of that knowledge includes trapping the pirate bees with a sticky substance when they land on the honeybees’ hive entrances.
Constant care and oversight by beekeepers as they try to eradicate the parasites will likely go a long way, and will likely assist the Zimbabwean honey industry in making back some of the losses incurred in recent years. | <urn:uuid:8ff79b46-05c4-41a4-b521-50044ddcf0e6> | {
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[QUICK NOTE: I’ve edited this post to actually reflect the Montessori objective]
After reading an inspiring post at Educating the Muslim Child, I began a mini hunt on how I could easily (yes I’m feeling a little lazy) implement this with the English alphabet.
I looked at a few Montessori sites where you can buy equipment and the prices were hair-raising to say the least. However, Allaah is the Most-Merciful and I stumbled – yes stumbled – upon a site which gives you all the lowercase letters of the English alphabet in red and blue (blue for vowels and red for constanants). You can right-click each letter and save onto your computer and then print them out. Cut-out each letter, trace onto the back of a sheet of fine sandpaper (or a similar material), then mount onto equal sized squares – vowels on a blue background and constanants on a red background.
Here’s the link:
For those who wish to have ‘print’ letters, they can be found here.
To learn the sound and shape of the letters of the alphabet. To gain a muscular memory of the shape of the letters as a prelude to writing.
The point of this is to first introduce the phonetic sounds to your child(ren) before the names of the letters – it is best to focus on one thing at a time and it may be a little hard for children to remember both names and sounds. Therefore, the phonetic sound of each letter is taught first, and the names of the letters are taught later.
Why on Sandpaper?
Through this method, the teaching of the sounds and letters is through a multi-sensory approach whereby the child hears the sound, sees its representation in the form of a letter, and feels the way it is written as the child feels the letter with his fingers.
What about capital letters?
These are introduced later – one should try not to introduce too much at the same time.
~ Umm Junayd. | <urn:uuid:6ac3169d-5a32-4e56-85e8-93e947a56de0> | {
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Syracuse University Professor Sam Van Aken is the proud father of a single tree that grows 40 types of fruit. The artist's rendering of his creation is getting attention worldwide.
The art professor grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania. A few years ago, he learned New York's agricultural experiment station -- a 125-year-old institution that preserves and produces fruit -- was going to rip up its stone fruit orchards.
The result is not an entire orchard in one, but "a couple orchards in one."
The tree contains 40 varieties of peaches, apricots, cherries, nectarines and European plums that date back to the 17th and 18th century.
Growing multiple stone fruits, like peaches or plums, on one tree is possible because what Van Aken does, perhaps better than anybody, is graft.
In essence, he tricks a tree into adopting a new limb, or in this case, dozens of them.
The Tree of 40 Fruit has been growing for nine years. Fourteen are installed around the country, most in public places, like Van Aken's at the center of the Syracuse campus -- alive and edible. (cbsnews) | <urn:uuid:833914b2-67aa-4bcf-836f-e97217ea870b> | {
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District develops new anti-bullying policy
POULSBO One year before the North Kitsap School District is required by law to have an anti-bullying policy in place, they have one. And theyre proud of what it says.
The school board passed the policy at its last meeting, and is happy with the fact that it is based on teaching respect rather than punishing wrongdoing.
Its a positive rather than negative spin on bullying, said Dixie Husser, who served on the equity advisory committee that drafted the policy. We wanted to teach (the students) the concept of respect, rather than Thou shalt not.
Students will still be disciplined for bullying behavior, Husser said, but the district hopes to decrease bullying instead by instilling respectful values.
To that end, students in different grades will take part in a respect curriculum, which presents scenarios and asks students what they would do if confronted with such incidents.
The curriculum is tailored to different age groups. The program presented to younger students (K-3) focuses more on ensuring their personal safety, rather than making relatively complex moral decisions. As the students get older (such as those in grades 4-6), the curriculum asks them to make decisions on how they would act if they took part in or witnessed bullying.
The curriculum for older students, Husser said, even asks if they felt right about witnessing, bullying and doing nothing.
Most of the time, kids dont know what to do, she said, so they just watch it.
The committee is still assembling curriculum for junior high and high school students, although some schools have already begun teaching respect policies. For example, Kingston Junior High has a Standing in the Gap program that it uses to teach kids respectful actions.
The 15-member equity committee was composed of teachers, administrators, and even a pair of high school age students. They wanted to pass an anti-bullying standard, Husser said, even before the Washington State Legislature passed a statewide bill that requires schools to formulate such a procedure.
She said the policy will be put in the equity handbook that is available at each school, and a liaison from each school will be trained in it.
The handbook is available in all school libraries and offices, and Husser said several students sought it out last year to explore how to deal with equality and harassment issues.
The word is getting out, she said. | <urn:uuid:1d5ed571-7474-4244-967d-e9d392a89b8e> | {
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Math, along with science, is considered as one of the most difficult subjects in school. If you ask a number of students, very few would probably say that math is their favorite because a huge number of students actually hate math. The complicated, sometimes long, formulas and solutions make it difficult for students to understand the lessons. However, sometimes it would only take a proper method and a good teacher for students to comprehend and cope up with the lesson. Enrichment class for kids could also help students who are facing difficulties to clear up their doubts and questions that they dare not voice out in the classroom.
Estyn will tell us about a science, technology, engineering and mathematics enrichment program that drives curriculum development.
A science, technology, engineering and mathematics enrichment program that drives curriculum development
Information about the school
Glan-y-Môr is an 11-16 community focused school in Burry Port with 480 pupils on roll of whom approximately 30% are eligible for free school meals. The school was formally federated with Ysgol Bryngwyn School in 2014 becoming the pioneer pilot for secondary federations in Wales. Glan-y-Môr works in strong partnership both with its primary feeders and with the local FE provider through 14-19 initiatives. The school is currently a pioneer school for professional learning.
Context and background to sector-leading practice
Glan-y-Môr introduced a STEM (science technology engineering maths) enrichment programme in September 2014, initially as an extra-curricular activity to promote transition. Since then it has rapidly evolved as a key strategy in driving curriculum development to meet the requirements of the new curriculum for Wales. The aim of the programme was to engage and excite pupils about the career paths offered in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths. The programme is based on the principles of active learning, raising aspirations and increasing opportunities. The school is confident that this STEM enrichment programme is already helping its pupils to develop in line with the recommendations of the Donaldson report and its 4 key principles. The strategies and lessons learned from implementing this successful STEM programme are now being applied to the main curriculum. Read more here.
Glan-y-Mor is just one of the schools that offer enrichment programs for students in different subjects. One of the goals of their program is to encourage students to take a career in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths.
On a different topic, Esther Duflo will tell us about the new findings on children’s math learning in India which demonstrates the importance of field research for cognitive science. Let us read below.
New findings on children’s math learning in India demonstrate the importance of field research for cognitive science
Cognitive Science is a relatively new field that has made dramatic advances over the last decades: advances that shed light on our conscious and unconscious minds, bring insights into fields from neuroscience to economics, and now play no small role in the development of machines that are smart enough to take over tasks that until now, only humans could perform.
But cognitive science has underperformed conspicuously in one domain: Its development has brought no clear breakthroughs in an area where it seemed likely to be most useful: human development and education.
A new report in Science suggests why: Just as clinical trials are critical to enhancing human health and medicine, field experiments are critical to understanding human learning.
New findings from a team of economists and psychologists at MIT and Harvard, working together with Pratham, a non-governmental organization that seeks to make sure that every child in India is in school and learning well, demonstrate both the feasibility and the necessity of such experiments. Read more here.
The research done has given them methods for assessing children’s knowledge. They said that the research doesn’t tell us how to create better schools, but it gives us the tools to do field experiments that can.
Moving forward, some parents send their children to enrichment classes every week and people are wondering if it is necessary. The aim of education should not just be able accumulating knowledge, but it should be equipping the next generation with necessary skills. So Nirmala Karuppiah, through her article below, will tell us if children really need enrichment classes.
Commentary: Do our young really need expensive enrichment classes?
SINGAPORE: Many parents in Singapore spend weekends sending their young children to enrichment classes.
These classes can take many forms, from early preparatory classes that introduce concepts children will eventually learn in primary school, to broad-based programmes that seek to help young children develop basic motor and social skills, to creative arts classes that encourage individual expression.
However, are expensive, structured enrichment classes really necessary for children in their early years? Would children be left behind, if they do not attend such enrichment classes?
Children are naturally creative and curious. What is more important is for parents to provide them with lots of opportunities to support both their creativity and curiosity in their early years – and this may not involve expensive, structured enrichment classes. Read more here.
Actually, the decision is up to the parents. But we could always save up without taking away the chance of learning from our children. We could actually do it on our own. We could go to the park with our children and let them explore. We could always educate them during simple activities inside and outside of home. Remember that learning doesn’t only take place in school, it can happen anywhere. Math, just like any other subjects, could be learned and enriched anywhere and anytime. | <urn:uuid:7e075ff8-fe6c-43b3-95c9-a811e4ad5a5f> | {
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How do the revised rules in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 affect you and your business?
The two-year project, awarded through a U.S. Department of program, aims to assess and improve water acquisition, transportation and disposal.
CSU’s Ken Carlson will work with Noble Energy Inc. to develop computer modeling and online training materials. He expects that the project also will benefit communities by reducing truck traffic, pollution and use of water.
Sponsor Generated Content
The study will help industry designing water-treatment plants to recycle oil- and gas-related wastewater.
“If the industry’s more efficient with water use, there’s less risk of environmental impact,” Carlson said in a statement from CSU.
“Another benefit of recycling is a reduction of stress on agriculture water and a reduced risk of regional water depletion.”
Improving management of water during drilling and hydraulic fracturing could lessen other environmental impacts including ecological degradation due to excessive truck traffic and the associated dust and land disturbance, Carlson said.
“There are 19,000 active wells in Weld County and most produce some water,” Carlson said. “Do we have 100 water-treatment plants? Do we have one? Is it better to use some water for reuse in industry and other for agriculture? The study will develop industry targeted geographic information system (GIS) based tools that can be used to assess the logistics of water use, transportation, reuse and disposal.”
As Noble Energy continues to increase activity in the Denver-Julesburg Basin, the company is seeking solutions to increase efficiencies and lessen impacts, said Ted Brown, senior vice president, Northern Region of Noble Energy.
“Our ongoing partnership with CSU is key in achieving this goal and living up to that corporate purpose,” Brown said in the statement.
Working with environmental groups, industry leaders and scientists, CSU can act as an objective third-party to understand the complexities of the energy industry and communicate those complicated issues to the public, Carlson said.
“We hope this collaboration will provide a unique opportunity to protect Colorado’s water resources while also enabling economic growth from the boom in oil and gas development in the region,” he said.
Carlson is an expert on water management associated with oil and gas drilling and pollutants that can affect drinking water supplies. Tom Bradley, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and Kimberly Catton, a research scientist in civil engineering, are also working on the study. | <urn:uuid:b52e4010-b2c0-41fa-89cf-49b49604244f> | {
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The very aspect of space that makes it so interesting—its unknown vastness—is also the biggest challenge we face when attempting to explore it. Is interstellar space exploration, even to the nearest stars, really feasible?
The very aspect of space that makes it so interesting—its unknown vastness—is also the biggest challenge we face when attempting to explore it. Our probes can only travel so fast and so it takes a significant amount of time to traverse those extremely large distances.
The farthest humanity has ever been able to send probes is to the outer solar system. At ~12.5 billion miles from the Sun, the most distant satellite is Voyager 1 which was launched in 1977 to study the weather, magnetic fields, and rings of Jupiter and Saturn. Even as the spacecraft hurtles through space at ~38,000 miles per hour to escape our solar system (that’s roughly 0.0057% of the speed of light), Voyager 1 continues to communicate with the Deep Space Network, and will do so until it runs out of nuclear power sometime around 2025. The Pioneer 10 and Voyager 2 spacecraft are not far behind on their own escape trajectories.
We continue to send probes to bring us information on our distant planetary neighbors with New Horizons returning the first detailed images of Pluto in July of 2015. Check back here in July when the Juno spacecraft arrives at Jupiter after five years of travel to learn more about the planet’s origin and evolution. Although reaching Jupiter which is at its closest still a whopping 365 million miles away is an impressive feat, the distances in our solar system are a small fraction of the distance to even the nearest stars beyond our Sun.
Alpha Centauri, the closest star system, resides nearly 4.4 lightyears away which is more than 25 trillion miles or 70,000 times farther than Jupiter. So even traveling at the speed of light, which is significantly faster than our satellites can, a probe would require four years to reach the triple star system of Alpha Centauri. Moving at the typical speed of our space shuttles, or about 17,600 miles per hour, you would need 162,000 years to reach our nearest stellar neighbors. Even at the high speeds reached by New Horizons, the craft (which took 9.5 years to get to Pluto) would need 75,000 years to make the trip. So can we ever hope to send a spacecraft there?
A new initiative announced last month called Breakthrough Starshot is planning to do just that.
You may remember the Russian billionaire Yuri Milner from his generous support of the Breakthrough Listen project’s search for extraterrestrial intelligence or for his investment in other Breakthrough prizes like the one awarded for the gene editing technology known as CRISPR-Cas9. Milner has once again pledged funding to space exploration via a program called Breakthrough Starshot.
The ultimate goal is to send on the order of 1,000 nanocraft (think tiny, lightweight spacecraft only about a gram in scale) on a high speed fly by mission through the Alpha Centauri system. The team plans to test the feasibility of using a ground-based array of lasers to produce a 100 gigawatt light beam to propel the tiny ships across the 4.4-lightyear distance in only 20 years. Effectively, the incident light (or photons) from the laser emission transfer their momentum to the sail as they are reflected off of it. Since the craft is so light (and the laser beam so strong) this momentum can then give the nanocraft the push it needs to make its journey.
To make the trip to Alpha Centauri that fast, the nanocraft will have to travel at 20% the speed of light (that’s nearly 100 million miles per hour). You can see a video animation of what the lasers would look like in action on youtube.
To start the mission, a larger rocket would launch the probes into a high altitude orbit. After that, however, each tiny probe would operate as a stand alone, individual spacecraft with its own cameras (the plan for the prototype is for four cameras, each with two megapixels, on a chip) for basic imaging, thrusters, power supply, and navigation and communication equipment including a retractable meter-long antenna to transmit information back to Earth. Of course, since that information cannot reach us faster than the speed of light, we will have to wait another 4.4 years to hear back on the results of the mission. | <urn:uuid:35afe00e-e842-435c-9b40-c356e69ce380> | {
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Astronomers have been arguing for some years about comets brought Earth its water. Then in 2011, an international team of astronomers using the Herschel Space Observatory to study Comet Hartley 2 (103P/Hartley) published their results on the first comet confirmed to contain ocean-like water.
Besides life, the biggest thing that distinguishes the Earth from other planets in the solar system is the presence of copious amounts of liquid water. Water molecules have been found in nebulae in distant reaches of the galaxy, so water itself isn’t uncommon in the universe. So it might be surprising to learn that no one really knows how all the water on Earth got here!
Over the years, four prominent theories explaining the origin of water on Earth have gained favor. In one, water-rich asteroids and meteorites impacted the infant Earth, distributing water across the planet by brute force. In another more serene process, the oceans formed when hydrogen and oxygen in the materials that made up the Earth (e.g., hydrocarbons and oxygen in iron oxides) combined chemically below the Earth’s crust and emerged as volcanic steam that condensed and rained down on the surface. A more recent theory suggests that water molecules actually adhered to the surfaces of the interstellar dust grains that accreted to form the solar system. In that case, water accumulated simultaneously with the rest of the planet. And last, but not least, there are the comets.
For decades, the accepted wisdom has been that comets brought a large proportion of water to the primordial Earth. In spite of the seemingly logical connection between comets and oceans, there has been one serious problem with that theory: the composition of water thus far detected in comets has differed fundamentally from that of the Earth’s oceans, so they couldn’t possible be a primary source. This problem was serious enough to threaten the comet source model altogether. Or at least it was until now.
Not all water is created equal
The composition problem that has dogged the comet model is rooted in the atomic structure of ocean water. It turns out that not all ocean water is made up of “regular” water (i.e., H2O). About one out of every 3,200 water molecules in the ocean is a heavy water molecule made with deuterium — a hydrogen atom with an extra neutron. When this hydrogen isotope combines with oxygen to make water, it’s actually about 10 percent heavier than the much more common form of water found everywhere around us on Earth.
Any theory of water transport to the Earth from space must account for this specific ratio of regular to heavy water molecules. This is why many researchers favor, for example, the asteroid impact model; scientists have verified that asteroids and some meteorites do contain the right ratio of heavy to regular water.
For comets to be a source of the Earth’s ocean water, they too must contain just the right ratio of heavy to regular water. But until Comet Hartley 2, no comet had been found to meet this vital criterion.
In fact, the specific chemistry of comets was unknown until the 1980s, when the first direct measurements of comet ice were made on Halley’s Comet and — years later — Comet Hyakutake. Unfortunately, these two comets contained twice as much heavy water than is found in water on Earth. That meant they, and comets like them, couldn’t possibly be a source of ocean water. The comet model was sinking, fast.
But scientists weren’t willing to give up. In 2000, scientists seized a rare opportunity to make another measurement of comet water when Comet LINEAR broke up as it approached the sun. While the right proportion of deuterium to hydrogen was not directly measured, other chemical tracers strongly suggested that deuterium was present in just the right amount required to explain ocean water composition.
For the next 10 years, the jury was still out on whether or not comets could contain the right amount of deuterium. Nowadays, thanks to Comet Hartley 2, it appears that comets are back in the game!
It is believed that comets like Hartley 2 and LINEAR, both of which originated in the Kuiper Belt near Jupiter’s orbit, possess the appropriate amount of heavy water. Finding such comets is challenging since, over time, gravitational perturbations have depleted that source of comets. Comets Halley and Hyukatake did not originate in the same region, which explains their completely different chemical compositions.
Ted Bergin of the University of Michigan – a member of the team that discovered ocean-like water in Comet Hartley 2 in 2011 – acknowledged that the result is based on a sample of one. He told EarthSky last fall:
We really need to know if this comet is a representative member of the Kuiper Belt. It is one very important measurement but we need more to begin to put the pieces of this puzzle together.
The results show that the amount of material out there that could have contributed to Earth’s oceans is perhaps larger than we thought. What this adds to the story is that the reservoir of material that can potentially be brought to the Earth with the right “kind” of water is much larger. This does not say that comets did bring water to the Earth but rather that they might.
While it is most likely that water came to Earth through a variety of processes, this latest finding reinvigorates the theory that comets may have contributed a lot more water to the Earth than was recently thought.
Now, as for the origin of comets themselves? That’s a question for another rainy day.
Bottom line: Astronomers have been arguing for decades about how Earth got its water. In 2011, using the Herschel Space Observatory to study comet Hartley 2 (103P/Hartley), an international team of astronomers including Ted Bergin of the University of Michigan found the first comet confirmed to contain ocean-like water. The comet is Comet Hartley 2. These results appeared online October 5, 2011, in the journal Nature. | <urn:uuid:f1ca50dc-0339-4442-9421-c242feb19482> | {
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league of Nations
“Either we should enter the League fearlessly, accepting the responsibility and not fearing the role of
leadership, which we now enjoy, contributing our efforts toward establishing a just and permanent peace, or
we should retire as gracefully as possible from the great concert of powers by which the world was saved.
Any war or threat of war, whether immediately affecting any of the Members of the League or not, is hereby
declared a matter of concern to the whole League, and the League shall take any action that may be deemed
wise and effectual to safeguard the peace of nations.”
- Woodrow Wilson in a letter to Senator Gilbert Hitchcock, March 8, 1920.
Collapse of the League
“The aim to associate nations to prevent war, preserve peace, and promote civilization our people most
cordially applauded. We yearned for this new instrument of justice, but we can have no part in a committal to an
agency of force in unknown contingencies; we can recognize no super authority.”
- Warren Harding: Return to Normalcy speech (1921).
“Manifestly, the highest purpose of the League of Nations was defeated in linking it with the treaty of peace
and making it the enforcing agency of the victors of the war. International association for permanent peace must be
conceived solely as an instrumentality of justice, unassociated with the passions of yesterday, and not so
constituted as to attempt the dual functions of a political instrument of the conquerors and of an agency of
peace. There can be no prosperity for the fundamental purposes sought to be achieved by any such association
so long as it is an organ of any particular treaty or committed to the attainment of the special aims of any nation
or group of nations.”
- Warren Harding: Return to Normalcy speech (1921)
During WWI U.S. wasn’t isolationism, but after the war ended, their intention was to return to isolationism. Congress and public refused to join the league although U.S. president established it. The keystone of international peacekeeping organizations was missing, so the league lost its power to play a part in the outbreak of WWII. The failure of the league rested upon its inability to send military forces.
“The real death of the league was in 1935. One day it was a powerful body imposing sanctions, the next day it
was an empty sham, everyone scuttling from it as quickly as possible... Hitler watched.”
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Ear infections can make children miserable. Any parent who has sat up all night with a child crying in pain with an earache can tell you that. And when the earaches happen again and again, it's even worse. But when the doctor starts talking about surgery, well, that has a way of striking fear into a parent's heart.
Ear infections are very common. More than 90% of children get at least one; some children have many more than that. And while most ear infections go away and don't cause problems, they can lead to complications. For example, if the infection doesn't heal, it can lead to more serious infections. Also, when a child has many ear infections it can lead to hearing loss. Often the hearing loss is temporary. But if it comes at a time when a child is learning to talk, it can be a problem.
Ear infections happen when a little tube called the Eustachian tube doesn't work. This tiny tube connects the middle ear with the back of the throat, and prevents fluid from backing up inside the ear. When the tube gets clogged or blocked, fluid builds up and can get infected with bacteria and cause infection. In children, the Eustachian tube is more likely to get clogged, and some children are more susceptible.
As children get older, the Eustachian tube usually starts to work more reliably on its own. Ear infections become less common. But some children need surgery to help the process. Doctors consider surgery when:
- A child has middle ear fluid for three months or longer, and has a hearing loss
- An ear infection is very severe, and won't go away despite antibiotics, especially if there are signs that the infection has spread beyond the ear
- The ear drum is chronically retracted (pulled in) and there are signs of a complication called a cholesteatoma
The most common surgery for ear infections is to insert myringotomy tubes into the eardrum. These tiny (and I mean tiny!) tubes are placed while the child is under anesthesia. The surgery is quick — around 15 minutes or less. These tubes essentially do what the Eustachian tube should: They prevent build-up of pressure in the middle ear.
As with any surgery, there are risks — but they are minimal. Your doctor will talk to you about the risks of anesthesia. But because the procedure is so quick, there isn't much anesthesia required. There is also the risk that the hole made in the eardrum won't heal. This, however, is rare and can be fixed if it occurs. Infection can occur, but this can generally be prevented — and treated.
Most children go home once they're awake and feel well enough to leave. Your child may be a bit groggy, cranky or nauseated from the anesthesia, but there's usually no pain from the procedure. In fact, children who've had chronic pain from buildup of pressure in the ear may feel better immediately!
Because the tube creates a connection into the middle ear from the outside, it's possible that germs could enter. So your doctor may prescribe antibiotic drops to use for a few days. You should definitely call your doctor if you see fluid coming out of the ear. It's also possible for germs to enter if water gets into the ears. While this is unlikely unless you are diving or swimming in dirty water, you should talk to your doctor about when your child should use earplugs, and what kind.
Most tubes fall out themselves within a year or two, or sometimes sooner. They are so tiny that they generally slip out unnoticed, often after getting stuck in earwax for a while. Sometimes they have to be removed, but this is rare.
For more information, visit the American Academy of Otolaryngology website.
Back to top
Claire McCarthy, M.D., is an assistant professor in pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, an attending physician at Children's Hospital of Boston, and medical director of the Martha Eliot Health Center, a neighborhood health service of Children's Hospital. She is a senior medical editor for Harvard Health Publications. | <urn:uuid:4273f2b2-77af-484b-ac03-ad82770203f8> | {
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Pages: 1 2
What about the track record of doing nothing? For more than the first century and a half of this nation, that was essentially what the federal government did — nothing. None of the downturns in all that time ever lasted as long as the Great Depression.
An economic downturn in 1920-21 sent unemployment up to 12 percent. President Warren Harding did nothing, except for cutting government spending. The economy quickly rebounded on its own.
In 1987, when the stock market declined more in one day than it had in any day in 1929, Ronald Reagan did nothing. There were outcries and outrage in the media. But Reagan still did nothing.
That downturn not only rebounded, it was followed by 20 years of economic growth, marked by low inflation and low unemployment.
The Obama administration’s policies are very much like the policies of the Roosevelt administration during the 1930s. FDR not only smothered business with an unending stream of new regulations, he spent unprecedented sums of money, running up record deficits, despite raising taxes on high income earners to levels that confiscated well over half their earnings.
Like Obama today, FDR blamed the country’s economic problems on his predecessor, making Hoover a pariah. Yet, 6 years after Hoover was gone, and nearly a decade after the stock market crash, unemployment hit 20 percent again in the spring of 1939.
Doing nothing may have a better track record in the economy but government intervention has a better political record in getting presidents re-elected.
People who say that Barack Obama cannot be re-elected with unemployment at its current level should take note that Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected a record four times, despite two consecutive terms in which unemployment was never as low as it is today.
Economic reality is one thing. But political impressions are something very different — and all too often it is the political impressions which determine the fate of an administration and the fate of a nation.
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Flying Tigers: Claire Chennault and His American Volunteers, 1941-42
The Flying Tigers, the nickname of the fighter pilots of the American Volunteer Group serving in China and Burma against Japanese air power in World War II, resemble a Hollywood war story more than a real-life group of fliers. Recruited by US Army Air Corps officer Claire Chennault, the Flying Tigers were either daredevil American heroes determined to seek revenge for Pearl Harbor or dysfunctional individualists more interested in their lucrative paychecks than they were in national or international events. The AVG was recruited by a desperate China which was in critical need of trained fighter pilots to counter Japanese air power. The Flying Tigers more than fulfilled expectations, shooting down 229 planes for the loss of 14 American pilots. Through it all, Claire Chennault showed himself to be as creative and inspired an air combat officer as those produced by any World War II air force. His pilots, in turn, displayed all of the flamboyance and devil-may-care attitudes associated with World War II fighter pilots. Ford originally published this monograph in 1991, but this second edition is the result of extensive research in the years between. | <urn:uuid:1df5cf26-5fe7-4ec5-bc70-909054fa985f> | {
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The connection between paint and canvas can be traced back to the dawn of civilization, and while the world was developing,so was this bond that has now sprouted hundreds to thousands of offspring. The one descendant of traditional painting we will be focusing on today is Matte Painting.The origins of this discipline can be traced back to as early as 1905
A matte painting is a painted representation of a landscape, set, or distant location that allows filmmakers to create the illusion of an environment that would otherwise be too expensive or impossible to build or visit. Historically, matte painters and film technicians have used various techniques to combine a matte-painted image with live-action footage. We will now be hopping into a theoretical Delorean and traveling to the past, as well as the future of this prominent genre of design.Today we have collected 40 Astonishing And Fascinating Example Of Matte Painting. | <urn:uuid:56eda782-5221-4898-9d89-f04fa66987b3> | {
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Questions for Drawing 1
1. Each relocation center contained 30 to 40 residential blocks, separated by open land to deter fires. Each block housed about 250 people. Using the key, identify the types of buildings included in each residential block. What activities took place in communal spaces?
2. The top row shows the plans for the residential blocks at the first centers to be built. The second row shows layouts for centers constructed later. Because the barracks were based on temporary military housing, men's and women's bathrooms at first contained only toilets, sinks, and communal showers. There were no partitions or bathtubs and very little hot water. Bathrooms at the later centers had bathtubs and partitions for the women's bathrooms. Why do you think these changes were made?
3. Each barrack contained four to six one-room apartments, ranging from 15 ft. by 20 ft. to 24 ft. by 20 ft. Each apartment housed a family or a group of single people. Eight people lived in the largest apartments. How much space did each person have? Measure your classroom. How does that compare with the sizes of the apartments?
4. Partitions between apartments did not extend all the way to the roof. One evacuee remembered: "They used cheap pine wood. The knots would fall off so we could see into a neighbor's room, and we could hear the shocking sound of voices, complaining, arguing bitterly. We weren't used to this. Our family was a gentle family. I was deeply upset because our daughter was listening, and I couldn't shut it out."¹ Why do you suppose this was so upsetting?
5. What can you learn from these plans about daily life at the relocation camps? How much privacy do you think people had? How would that affect families or individuals? How would it affect you?
¹ Fred Barbash, "In Desert Camp, Life Behind Barbed Wire," The Washington Post, December 6, 1982, cited in Erwin N. Thompson, "Manzanar Relocation Center" (Inyo County, California), National Historic Landmark documentation, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1984, 8/3.
* The drawing on this screen has a resolution of 72 dots per inch (dpi), and therefore will print poorly. You can obtain a larger version of Drawing 1, but be aware the file will take as much as 30 seconds to load with a 28.8K modem. | <urn:uuid:dd4b2f18-62a9-45c6-af41-5aee8ed0f6ec> | {
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Good photography requires a combination of technical expertise as well as artistic creativity. Unfortunately, the rise of digital technology has focused the attention of many beginners on the purely technical aspects of photography. All too often, the artistic side of photography is neglected.If you bought a great digital camera and your photos still look like snapshots, it’s not the fault of your equipment. Perhaps it is time to start looking at your subjects with a more creative eye, and think a little more about good composition.
Where to start?
Well, most experienced photographers will tell you the best place to start is the Rule of Thirds.
What is the rule of thirds?
It is a sort of guideline to help you structure your composition in a balanced way that pleases the eye. Like all rules, it is made to be broken, but we’ll look at that later. Experience will give you the confidence to decide when you need to apply the rule of thirds and when you can get by without it. However, before you can make that decision, you need to understand the rule and how it works.
Imagine the rectangular shape of any photograph. Now draw a horizontal line one third from the top of the frame, and another one third from the bottom. Then draw a vertical line, one third from the left, and another one third from the right. Your rectangle should now be divided into nine equal sections.
According to the rule of thirds, the lines that divide the picture into thirds are the most effective places to position objects in your photo. So, for example, the horizon should be positioned on or near the line a third from the top or a third from the bottom of the picture. Vertical objects like trees should be placed on or near the lines a third from the left or right of the picture.
Also according to the rule, the most powerful points in the composition are the areas where the lines intersect. So, if your horizon is a third from the top of the frame, a house or tree on the horizon would be best placed a third from the left or right, at the intersecting point of the horizontal and vertical lines. If you have positioned a tree along one of the vertical lines, a bird sitting in a fork of the tree would be best positioned where it intersects with the horizontal line a third from the top.
If this seems hard to follow, sketch it out, and it will start to make sense.
If this seems a little too structured and organized for the real world, that’s because in most cases it is. After twenty years in photography, I can tell you that nature is not so neatly packaged for our convenience. You cannot expect all the objects in your photos to fall into place according to the Rule of Thirds. However, by using the rule as a general framework, you can begin to create structure in your photography
Why does the rule of thirds work?
Don’t know, don’t need to know. But it does work. It satisfies our sense of visual proportion, so that photos structured in this way appear balanced in the eye of the viewer. You can prove this for yourself right now, just by looking at a book of your favorite photos. When you apply the framework to each picture, you will probably find that most of them, at least loosely, fit the rule of thirds.
Many photographers have a natural sense of visual balance. They take their photos according to the rule of thirds without being aware of it. They may simply shoot the picture that ‘looks right’ or ‘feels right’ to them, unconsciously applying the rule as they go. For new photographers who are struggling with composition, this simple guideline will make a world of difference. In time, and with experience, these beginners will develop their own natural ‘feel’ for composition.
Am I suggesting that every photo must be taken using the rule of thirds? Is any photo that falls outside these guidelines a failure? Absolutely not.
Some photos are made more effective by deliberately ignoring the rule of thirds. It is possible to focus the viewer’s attention on a particular feature, by positioning it where we would not normally expect to see it. Shaking up the viewer’s sense of visual balance can add real impact to a photo if it is done well. I can give you a very simple example from my field of nature photography.
A sunset photo is usually all about the sky. A photographer can add impact to the sky by lowering the horizon to well below the ‘normal’ horizon level. The result will be a sky that really towers over the foreground and imposes more strongly on the entire picture.
There are probably millions of other examples of great photos that were taken outside the framework of the rule of thirds. As I said at the start, all rules are made to be broken. That does not mean that photographers should not know the rule and practice it. There’s no harm in breaking with convention. The important thing is that you do it knowingly and for a reason, to make your photos more effective. Breaking the rules is a lot more fun when you understand the rules you’re breaking.
About the Author:
Andrew Goodall writes for http://www.naturesimage.com.au and is a nature photographer based in Australia. He manages a gallery in Montville full of landscape photography from throughout Australia.
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- Inhabitat – Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building - http://inhabitat.com -
Seattle Seahawks Stadium Boasts Largest Solar Array in Washington State
Posted By Andrew Michler On June 20, 2011 @ 2:20 pm In Renewable Energy,Solar Power | No Comments
The Seattle Seahawks have a lot to squawk about when it comes to renewable energy as their stadium is now the home to the largest solar array in the state. The 2.5 acre array will cut their energy costs by 21% using a unique tubular solar panel which makes full use of the sun, even when it is overcast. The Solyndra solar panels click into place and capture light from all directions rather than just one which is good news in a place that does not see a lot of direct sunshine.
The solar panels are thin film CIGS (copper, indium, gallium, and selenide) wrapped in a tube and placed on a white flat roof at the stadium ‘s Event Center. The technology boosts the output of the array in the overcast Northwest by receiving light from all directions, including the white roof on which the panels rest, reflecting usable light up on a sunny day. The white roof also keeps the Event Center a lot cooler, thus reducing the need for AC. The complex has also gone through a major energy retrofit to make sure that hard earned solar energy is put to good use as a part of Seahawks owner Paul Allen’s Green Sports Alliance .
The array consists of 3,750 individual panels set on stands which snap together. A two person crew can assemble the array with no tools and the panels do not need to be bolted to the roof nor do they need ballasts to weigh them down. The tubular construction allows wind to blow right through and helps keep the surface free from dust and snow as well as reduce heat buildup which reduces the efficiency of the solar cells. The array is projected to produce 870,000 kW of energy a year, making it the largest of its kind in Washington State. While at first blush, solar seems like an odd choice for Seattle, the city actually has better resources than Germany , which has the most installed solar.
Via Environmental News Network
Article printed from Inhabitat – Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building: http://inhabitat.com
URL to article: http://inhabitat.com/seattle-seahawks-stadium-boasts-largest-solar-array-in-washington-state/
URLs in this post:
solar array: http://inhabitat.com/solar-power/
Solyndra: http://inhabitat.com/how-solyndras-solar-tubes-rocked-clean-power-in-2009/
solar panels: http://www.solyndra.com/technology-products/
stadium: http://inhabitat.com/taiwan%E2%80%99s-solar-stadium-100-powered-by-the-sun/
white roof : http://inhabitat.com/having-white-roofs-would-save-the-u-s-735-million-per-year/
Green Sports Alliance: http://www.greensportsalliance.org/
Germany: http://inhabitat.com/google-invests-in-german-solar-power-plant-that-will-power-5000-homes/
Environmental News Network: http://www.enn.com/business/article/42743
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PHP: Web Development Programming Language
PHP, or Hypertext Preprocessor, is a widely-used scripting language that has gained immense popularity in the field of web development. This article aims to provide an overview of PHP as a programming language and highlight its significance in powering dynamic websites. To illustrate its practical application, let us consider the case study of a hypothetical e-commerce website. By leveraging the capabilities of PHP, developers can create user-friendly interfaces and implement complex functionalities such as shopping carts, payment gateways, and database integration.
In recent years, PHP has emerged as one of the most sought-after languages for web development due to its versatility and extensive support within the developer community. With its roots dating back to 1994 when Rasmus Lerdorf developed it as a personal project, PHP was originally designed for creating simple HTML forms but has evolved into a robust language capable of handling complex web applications. The widespread adoption of PHP can be attributed to several factors including its ease of use, compatibility with various operating systems and databases, seamless integration with popular web servers like Apache and Nginx, and availability of numerous frameworks and libraries that facilitate rapid development. Moreover, PHP’s open-source nature fosters continuous improvement through contributions from a vast network of developers worldwide.
As we delve deeper into this article , we will explore the key features and advantages of PHP that make it an ideal choice for web development. One of the standout features of PHP is its ability to seamlessly embed within HTML code, allowing developers to intersperse dynamic content with static HTML. This makes it easier to create interactive web pages that can dynamically generate content based on user input or database queries.
Another notable feature of PHP is its extensive support for various databases, including MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and SQLite. With built-in functions and libraries specifically designed for database integration, developers can effortlessly connect to databases, execute queries, and retrieve data.
PHP also offers a wide range of frameworks such as Laravel, Symfony, and CodeIgniter that simplify the development process by providing pre-built modules and components. These frameworks adhere to the principles of MVC (Model-View-Controller) architecture, promoting code organization and maintainability.
In addition to its robust functionality, PHP boasts a large developer community that actively contributes to its growth. This vibrant community ensures continuous updates with bug fixes and security patches while also developing new features and improvements. The availability of extensive documentation and online resources further facilitates learning and problem-solving.
Furthermore, PHP’s performance has significantly improved over time through optimizations and caching techniques. With the introduction of technologies like OpCache and JIT compilation in recent versions of PHP, websites built with PHP can deliver fast response times even under heavy traffic loads.
Overall, PHP provides a comprehensive solution for building dynamic websites efficiently. Its versatility, compatibility with various platforms and databases, abundance of frameworks/libraries, active community support, and improved performance make it an excellent choice for web development projects ranging from small personal websites to large-scale enterprise applications.
Features of PHP
One example that highlights the versatility and power of PHP is its extensive database support. With built-in extensions like MySQL, SQLite, and PostgreSQL, PHP allows developers to easily connect and interact with various databases. For instance, consider a large e-commerce website that needs to retrieve product information from a database in real-time when a customer searches for an item. By leveraging PHP’s database support, the website can efficiently query the database and display relevant results promptly.
PHP offers several features that make it a popular choice among web developers:
- Simplicity: PHP has a straightforward syntax that is easy to understand and learn. Its simplicity enables rapid development as developers can quickly write code without getting bogged down by complex structures or excessive boilerplate.
- Flexibility: Being a server-side scripting language, PHP seamlessly integrates with HTML code and other web technologies. This flexibility allows developers to embed dynamic content within static pages effortlessly.
- Large Community: The vast community of PHP enthusiasts provides extensive documentation, tutorials, and forums where developers can seek assistance or share knowledge. This vibrant community fosters collaboration and promotes continuous improvement in the language.
- Platform Independence: PHP runs on multiple platforms such as Windows, Linux/Unix, macOS, making it highly portable across different operating systems. This feature ensures compatibility and ease of deployment across various hosting environments.
To further illustrate these points visually:
|Simplicity||Easy-to-understand syntax facilitates faster development time|
|Flexibility||Seamless integration with HTML and other web technologies|
|Large Community||Extensive resources for learning, troubleshooting, and collaboration|
|Platform Independence||Compatibility across various operating systems|
The above table showcases some key features of PHP in a concise manner using bullet points in markdown format.
In light of these remarkable attributes offered by PHP, it becomes evident why many web developers choose it as their go-to programming language. In the subsequent section, we will explore how PHP compares to other popular programming languages in terms of functionality and performance.
[Transition Sentence] Moving forward, let us examine the differences between PHP and other programming languages, shedding light on why PHP stands out in the realm of web development.
PHP vs Other Programming Languages
Features of PHP make it a popular choice for web development, but how does it compare to other programming languages? Let’s explore the advantages and disadvantages of PHP in comparison to its counterparts.
To illustrate this point, consider an imaginary scenario where a company needs to develop a dynamic website with user authentication and database integration. The developers have options such as Python, Ruby, Java, and PHP. While each language has its strengths, PHP stands out for several reasons.
Firstly, PHP offers easy integration with databases like MySQL or PostgreSQL. This seamless connection allows developers to efficiently manage data-driven websites without relying on external libraries extensively. Additionally, PHP provides built-in functions specifically designed for web development tasks such as file handling and form validation.
In contrast to some other programming languages, PHP boasts a large community of developers who actively contribute to open-source projects. This vibrant community ensures that there are numerous resources available online, including forums and documentation sites, enabling programmers to troubleshoot issues quickly and learn from others’ experiences.
When comparing various aspects of different programming languages for web development purposes:
- Performance: While not always the fastest option due to its interpreted nature, PHP offers good performance when optimized correctly.
- Ease of Use: With its straightforward syntax resembling HTML tags embedded within code blocks, PHP is relatively easy to understand even for beginners.
- Flexibility: Being platform-independent and supporting multiple operating systems makes PHP versatile for developing applications across different environments.
- Cost-effective: As an open-source language widely used by many hosting providers, implementing websites using PHP can be more cost-effective compared to licensed alternatives.
|Ease of Use||Straightforward||Beginner-friendly||Concise|
|Cost||Cost-effective (Open-source)||Free and Open-source||Free and Open-source|
In conclusion, while PHP may not be the fastest or most concise programming language available, it offers distinct advantages for web development. Its seamless database integration, extensive community support, ease of use, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness make PHP a compelling choice for developers.
Moving forward to the next section on popular PHP frameworks, we will explore how these frameworks enhance productivity and simplify the process of building robust web applications.
Popular PHP Frameworks
In the previous section, we explored the various aspects of PHP as a web development programming language. Now, let us delve further into the comparison between PHP and other popular programming languages in terms of their usage in web development.
Comparing PHP with Other Programming Languages
To better understand how PHP stacks up against its counterparts, let’s consider a hypothetical scenario where we have two developers working on separate projects. Developer A chooses to use PHP for their project, while Developer B opts for another programming language, such as Python or Ruby.
The following factors highlight why PHP is an attractive choice for web development:
- Ease of Use: With its user-friendly syntax and extensive documentation, PHP provides a relatively straightforward learning curve for beginners.
- Vast Community Support: Being one of the oldest web development languages, PHP boasts a large community that offers abundant resources and support.
- Efficient Web Development: Thanks to numerous frameworks available like Laravel and Symfony, PHP enables rapid application development.
|Performance Efficiency||High||Varies based on implementation||Moderate|
Considering these factors and comparing them with other programming languages commonly used in web development, it becomes evident that PHP has its own unique advantages. While each language has its strengths and weaknesses depending on specific project requirements, PHP’s simplicity, vast community support, and efficient frameworks make it an appealing choice for many developers.
Next, we will explore best practices for securing your PHP applications without compromising functionality.
PHP Security Best Practices
In the world of web development, ensuring the security and integrity of your applications is crucial. By following best practices for PHP security, you can minimize vulnerabilities and protect sensitive data from potential threats.
To illustrate the importance of PHP security, let’s consider a hypothetical scenario. Imagine a popular e-commerce website that handles thousands of transactions daily. Without proper security measures in place, hackers could potentially exploit weaknesses in the application code to gain unauthorized access to customer information or even tamper with financial transactions. This highlights the need for robust security practices when developing PHP-based web applications.
When it comes to PHP security, there are several key steps you should take:
- Sanitize user input: Always validate and sanitize any data received from users before using it within your application. This helps prevent common attack vectors such as SQL injection or cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.
- Use secure authentication mechanisms: Implement strong password policies, enforce two-factor authentication where applicable, and use secure hashing algorithms like bcrypt to store passwords securely.
- Keep software up-to-date: Regularly update PHP itself as well as any third-party libraries or frameworks used in your application. These updates often include important security patches that address known vulnerabilities.
- Implement role-based access control (RBAC): Assign appropriate access levels to different user roles within your application. This ensures that only authorized individuals have access to specific functionalities or sensitive data.
|SQL Injection||Unauthorized database manipulation||Input validation/sanitization|
|Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)||Execution of malicious scripts on user devices||Output sanitization/encoding|
|Session Hijacking||Unauthorized session access||Secure session management|
|Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)||Forging requests on behalf of a user||Implement CSRF tokens in forms|
By following these best practices and taking appropriate security measures, you can significantly enhance the resilience of your PHP web applications against potential threats.
In the subsequent section, we will delve into another important aspect of PHP development: PHP Performance Optimization. This area focuses on techniques to improve the speed and efficiency of your PHP applications without compromising their functionality or security.
PHP Performance Optimization
PHP Performance Optimization
In the previous section, we explored the best practices for ensuring security in PHP web development. Now, let us delve into another crucial aspect of web development – performance optimization.
To illustrate the importance of optimizing PHP performance, let’s consider a hypothetical scenario. Imagine a popular e-commerce website that experiences significant delays when loading product pages during peak shopping hours. This delay not only frustrates users but also leads to potential revenue loss as impatient shoppers abandon their carts. By implementing effective performance optimization techniques, such as those discussed below, this website can significantly improve its loading times and enhance user experience.
1. Minimize Database Queries: Excessive database queries can slow down the execution time of PHP scripts. By employing caching mechanisms like query result caching or object caching, developers can reduce the number of repetitive database calls and increase overall performance.
2. Optimize Code Execution: Reviewing and refactoring code is essential for improving performance. Techniques like removing unnecessary loops or conditionals, utilizing appropriate data structures, and avoiding excessive function calls contribute to more efficient code execution.
3. Enable Caching Mechanisms: Implementing various levels of caching can greatly enhance PHP application speed. Utilizing opcode cache extensions like APC (Alternative PHP Cache) or OPcache helps store precompiled script bytecode in shared memory, reducing parsing and compilation overhead on subsequent requests.
Utilizing these strategies enables developers to optimize their PHP applications for better performance and responsiveness:
|Benefits of PHP Performance Optimization|
|🚀 Improved page load times|
|🔄 Enhanced user experience|
|💰 Increased conversion rates|
|👨💻 Better server resource utilization|
By investing time and effort into fine-tuning your PHP applications’ performance using these techniques, you can ensure an excellent browsing experience for your audience while achieving notable business benefits.
Looking ahead at the future of PHP, we can anticipate even more advancements and improvements in the language. In the subsequent section, we will explore some exciting developments that lie ahead for PHP web development.
Future of PHP
In the previous section, we explored the essential concept of PHP performance optimization and its significance in web development. Now, let us delve deeper into why optimizing PHP performance is vital for ensuring an efficient and seamless user experience.
To illustrate this point, consider a hypothetical scenario where you are running an e-commerce website powered by PHP. Your site experiences high traffic during peak hours due to ongoing promotions. Without proper performance optimization, your pages may load slowly or even crash under heavy user demand. This could result in frustrated customers abandoning their shopping carts and seeking alternatives elsewhere.
One effective way to optimize PHP performance is through implementing various techniques such as caching, code profiling, and database query optimization. These practices can significantly enhance the speed and responsiveness of your website. Let’s explore some key benefits associated with PHP performance optimization:
- Improved User Experience: By reducing page load times and enhancing overall website performance, users will have a more enjoyable browsing experience.
- Increased Conversion Rates: Faster-loading pages tend to lead to higher conversion rates as visitors are more likely to stay engaged and complete desired actions.
- Enhanced Search Engine Rankings: Search engines like Google take website speed into account when determining search rankings. Optimizing PHP performance can improve your site’s visibility in search results.
- Cost Savings: Efficient utilization of server resources translates into reduced infrastructure costs since fewer servers are required to handle the same amount of traffic.
|Improved User Experience|
|Increased Conversion Rates|
|Enhanced Search Engine Rankings|
This table highlights the emotional impact that optimized PHP performance can have on both users and businesses alike:
|Enjoyable browsing experience||Higher conversion rates|
|Satisfied customers||Increased revenue potential|
|Quick access to information||Better brand reputation|
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I promised that I would return to pratising spelling words. We are focusing on verb conjugation in the present tense. I gave the class a list of verbs (see below) and the students are expected to conjugate the verbs correctly with the subject in the present tense. I will test their skills on Friday, and re-test as necessary. These skills are to be mastered by the Grade 2s and introduced to the Grade 1s. The target verbs are as follows:
Grade 1 (and Grade 2); manger (to eat); nager (to swim); jouer (to play)
Grade 2: chasser (to hunt or chase); respirer (to breathe); voyager (to travel); mesurer (to measure)
The verb endings the Grade 1s must practise are in 1st-3rd person singular, and 3rd person plural. All verbs ending with "er" (pronounced "aye") conjugate more or less the same way. See the example below:
Je mange (I eat)
Tu manges (you eat)
il/elle mange (he/she eats)
Ils/elles mangent (they eat)
Grade 2s should also practise 1st and 2nd person plural:
Nous mangeons (we eat)
Vous mangez (you eat - formal or plural)
How to practise the spelling words: Choose one verb a day, and write it out with all the different endings. Consider these your spelling words! Please see the link below for creative ways to practise the words. This list is non-exhaustive! I am no longer photocopying drill & practise sheets. Not only are they boring & redundant for most students, but they are also a waste of photocopy paper. I want to give students more flexibility to adapt to their particular learning styles. Please have them bring in their spelling work. I will post exceptionally well done and creative work in the classroom.
I will give tests on Fridays. These will start off as "Cloze" type passage in which students insert the proper endings on verbs in a typed passage. Each week the tests will become more challenging, and students will be expected to write more.
Fun ways to practise spelling words | <urn:uuid:d8775069-a3fc-4c7e-87c9-fcedffe84bc2> | {
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Kilcolman Castle was the residence in Ireland of Sir Edmund Spenser, who served as secretary to Sir Arthur Grey, the Lord Deputy of Ireland, from 1580 until the end of his life in 1599. Here Spenser worked on his great epic, The Faerie Queene (Sir Walter Raleigh visited Spenser at Kilcolman in the late 1580's and reports that Spenser was composing the poem at this time). Parts of this great epic poem, particularly Book V, "Justice," can be seen as allegorical depictions of the need for a more stern rule of Ireland by the English. Spenser's prose work, A View of the Present State of Ireland (written in the early 1590's), was a clear call for a militant conquest of Ireland. Spenser's castle was destroyed and he was driven back to England during the Irish revolts in the 1590's, and only this shell remains, in the midst of a farmer's field and a bird sanctuary.
Approach to the castle remains--W&L students visible in right foreground.
The remains of Spenser's castle . . . and a classic Irish sky in the background.
View images of students at Kilcolman Castle Return to North Cork Main Page | <urn:uuid:83c7b617-9c0b-4ccc-86a2-8114899478c3> | {
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Topic: Human Trafficking
Unfortunately, in this day and age people are being taken from their families and sold illegally for the purpose of sexual exploitation and forced labor. The numbers are staggering when it comes to human trafficking globally. Twenty percent of human trafficking victims are children, and in some regions and countries, almost all victims are children.
India has seen an increasing problem when it comes to human trafficking. 2016 saw a 20 percent increase in human trafficking cases from the previous year of 2015. In recent years, human trafficking in India has reached a crisis level. In 2016, the US State Department predicted that 65 million people were trafficked into forced labor through and within India. The same year only 5,500 cases of human trafficking were reported, suggesting there is a very minimal knowledge of how great a problem human trafficking truly is. Legislation has been drafted to work to combat these crimes, however, more needs to be done. It is predicted that a large portion of victims are smuggled into India from countries such as Bangladesh. Working with other nations to solve this problem is necessary if this issue ever wants to move in a successful trend.
India’s goals are to combine forces with foreign nations close to India that are potentially having victims trafficked into India and out of India in the respective nations. India would also like to work to allocate more funding and resources to cracking down on these heinous crimes, and seeks the help of other nations to do the same.
- Jack Hollis | <urn:uuid:bd01a0c6-f1ae-4a89-92ae-7ab10ff22245> | {
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Petualangan Archie : Berlibur di Rumah Bibi
Adventure of Archie: Summer in the Island
Archie and Pi is a series of learning games for children. Archie and Pi her robot friends do exciting journey and tackle the obstacles with mathematics.
Indonesian children, or in general wisely, have a corresponding problem with math. For some reason, the ideas just don’t come together for students.
Reviews evidence tell that one cause of the problem may be a fundamental deficit in the representation of numerosity. , it is possible for children to appreciate the cardinal value of numbers and yet not understand the logical relationships among those numbers, to appreciate the structure as a whole.
Lack of logical relationship can be tackled by giving children experience that explained math in every day life. Archi and PI attempted to help children understand the relation between math and everyday life. The adventure story is added to help student getting immerse with the contents.
The game mechanic is divided into two section; the narrative adventure and content material that adjusted to Indonesian mathematic curriculum.
One of game play scene.
Packaging mock up design
One of the learning material content scene. | <urn:uuid:06796448-31d8-4f46-a886-ee2273699224> | {
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We often think of electricity as a one-way transaction. Need to toast a bagel, wash the sheets, or charge your phone? Your fuse box sends you the juice you need. Electric vehicles, though, have the capacity to send power back to the electrical grid using vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology—and that’s good news for an aging grid already operating at full capacity. Vehicle-to-grid does this by letting electric vehicle (EV) batteries switch between providing and consuming energy on an as-needed basis. As EV adoption rates steadily climb, this technology could help stabilize the electrical grid, lessen the need for new power plants, and reduce kids’ exposure to cancer-causing exhaust. Essentially, electric vehicles can be like a backup battery for your phone, but for the entire US power grid. Enter school buses. There are approximately 500,000 buses in the US alone, and the majority of them are basically rolling cancer machines due to their diesel engines. in 2012, the World Health Organization said diesel exhaust can definitely cause lung cancer, and might also be associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer. Meanwhile, according to the American School Bus Council, the US’s school buses consume a combined $3.2 billion worth of diesel a year. Lance Noel, a postdoctoral V2G researcher at the Center for Energy Technologies at Aarhus University in Denmark, said school buses are not only ripe for electrification, but also V2G technology because they’re only in use for a few hours at a time. “It’s a giant battery sitting in a parking lot for at least 18 hours a day,” he told me on the phone. | <urn:uuid:3a6a837f-7064-498d-b411-df6fb4c2c33b> | {
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WHAT IS A QUOTA?
• A quota refers to an expected performance
• Quotas are tactical in nature and thus derived
from the sales force’s strategic objectives.
• Sales quotas are sales goals or targets set by a company for
its marketing / sales units for a time period
• Marketing / sales units are regions, branches, territories,
salespeople, and intermediaries
• Generally, company sales budget is broken down to sales
quotas for various marketing units
Objectives of Sales Quotas
• To use quotas as performance standards or performance
• To control performance
• To motivate people by linking quotas to compensation
• To identify strengths and weaknesses of the company
SALES VOLUME QUOTA
• Sales Volume Quotas is oldest and most common type ,it
includes Sales in Rupees or Product Unit objectives for a
Specific period of time, E.g. Bajaj calculates sales as number of
vehicles sold. It can be set in following areas Product Line
Product range Sales Divisions Sales Territories Sales Districts
Branch Offices Sales Force
Sales force (Individual)
• Rupees / dollars sales volume quotas are appropriate
when salespeople are required to sell many products
• Unit sales volume quotas are suitable when
• Salespeople are selling a few products
• Prices of the product fluctuate rapidly
• Price of each product / service is high
• Point sales volume quotas are appropriate when the company
wants salespeople to sell products that contribute more to
• Many companies use a combination of quotas.
The two most commonly combined are sales
volume and activity quotas. These quotas
influence selling and non-selling activities.
• Calculate gross margin by subtracting ‘cost of goods sold’ (i.e.
cost of manufacturing) from sales volume. Sales managers
are not responsible for cost of manufacturing
• Net profit quotas are generally accepted by sales mangers as
it is calculated by subtracting direct selling expenses from the
Sales Activity Quota
• Sales Activity Quota Salesmen are involved in sales and
non-sales. The activities of a sales person directly
affects the sales of the organization. Sales activities
could include lead generation, prospecting, imparting
information, developing new business etc. The quota is
fixed on the activities a salesman has to perform rather
than the final outcome alone. Activity quota can be set
on total sales calls, calls on prospects, number of new
accounts, product demonstrations, order/call ratio,
conversions (in retail). It helps sales people focus
equally on the non-sales activities too.
• In many companies, expense quotas are stated as a
percentage of sales
• Expense quotas to be administered with flexibility, to make
salespeople cost conscious, allowing reasonable expenses
METHODS FOR SETTING SALES
• Quotas based on Territory potentials.
• Quotas based on forecasts only.
• Quotas based on past sales experience.
• Quotas based on executive judgments.
• Quotas sales people set.
• Quotas related to compensation
A GOOD OBJECTIVE AND QUOTA
PLAN IS SMART | <urn:uuid:d983bb5c-2989-46ea-bd4a-71d43b777c45> | {
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Design patterns in the test of timeDecorator
The decorator pattern is a design pattern that allows behaviour to be added to an existing object dynamically.
I don’t have a lot to say about this pattern.
The decorator pattern is still just as useful if not more so as the time it was initially announced. It forms a core part of many critical function of your day to day software.
The most obvious example is the notion of Stream, where you often decorate a stream (Buffered Stream, Compressing Stream, etc). This example is valid not just for the .NET framework, I can’t think of a single major framework that doesn’t use the Stream abstraction for its IO.
Then again, the cautionary side, people try to use it in… strange ways:
Something like this, for example, is a pretty bad way of doing things. It assumes a very fixed model of looking at the universe, which is just not true. Decorator works best when you have just a single I/O channel. When you have multiple inputs & outputs, decorating something becomes much harder.
In particular, implementing business logic like the one above in decorators make it very hard to figure out why things are happening. In particular, CachingDecorator is something that you want to avoid (better to use infrastructure or a auto caching proxy, instead).
Recommendation: It is a very useful pattern, and should be used when you actually have one input / output channel, because that is a great way to allow to dynamically compose the way we apply processing to it.
More posts in "Design patterns in the test of time" series:
- (21 Jan 2013) Mediator
- (18 Jan 2013) Iterator
- (17 Jan 2013) Interpreter
- (21 Nov 2012) Command, Redux
- (19 Nov 2012) Command
- (16 Nov 2012) Chain of responsibility
- (15 Nov 2012) Proxy
- (14 Nov 2012) Flyweight
- (09 Nov 2012) Façade
- (07 Nov 2012) Decorator
- (05 Nov 2012) Composite
- (02 Nov 2012) Bridge
- (01 Nov 2012) Adapter
- (31 Oct 2012) Singleton
- (29 Oct 2012) Prototype
- (26 Oct 2012) Factory Method
- (25 Oct 2012) Builder
- (24 Oct 2012) A modern alternative to Abstract Factory–filtered dependencies
- (23 Oct 2012) Abstract Factory | <urn:uuid:f190fd85-d9c7-4c76-a01b-b35403ee8e19> | {
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1972: Pong, the first popular videogame, is released in its original arcade-game form.
If it seems crude by today's standards, well, it was crude then, too. And it was meant to be. Pong was the brainchild of Nolan Bushnell, a founder of Atari, who was inspired to develop it after playing an electronic table-tennis game at a trade show. But, having recently designed an arcade game he deemed too complicated because you had to read the instructions before you could play, Bushnell strove for utter simplicity.
See Also: Photo Gallery
Console Portraits: A 40-Year Pictorial History of Gaming"I had to come up with a game people already knew how to play, something so simple that any drunk in any bar could play," Bushnell said later. The game, actually designed by Atari engineer Allan Alcorn, was Pong. It was indeed a game that drunks could play, and they did.
The first coin-operated Pong arcade game was installed at Andy Capp's, a tavern in Sunnyvale, California, where Atari was located. It was an instantaneous hit, confirming Bushnell's suspicions and vindicating, yet again, H.L. Mencken's famous dictum.
Four months after its appearance at Andy Capp's, there were upwards of 10,000 Pong arcade games scattered across the land. This caught the eye of Magnavox Odyssey, developer of the game that had inspired Bushnell to dream up Pong. A lawsuit followed, resulting in an out-of-court settlement in Magnavox's favor. By then, however, Pong had moved to a home-console model, which was very different from the original.
Bushnell cut a deal with Sears to act as Pong's exclusive retailer, and the 1975 Christmas shopping season was a lucrative one. This can fairly be said to have ushered in the era of home videogaming.
Photo: Atari founder Nolan Bushnell created Pong*. (Ed Kashi/Corbis)*
This article first appeared on Wired.com Nov. 29, 2007. | <urn:uuid:b6771f05-049f-4115-b595-80f5ad955f74> | {
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Who were the Trojans?
This turns out to be a very tricky question.
|The walls of Troy|
Part I: The Greek Assumption
Until the 19th century when German businessman Heinrich Schliemann followed his idiosyncratic dream and found Troy on the coast of Turkey near the Hellespont, many people thought “Troy” was the stuff of myth. We can now say with reasonable certainty that we know where Troy existed. A contemporary dig, begun under the leadership of the German archaeologist Manfred Korfmann, has confirmed the earlier identification and revealed a great deal more about the nature of this famous city.
However, knowing the city’s location doesn’t tell us what cultural/ethnic group the residents belonged to, what language they spoke, what their religious system was.
If you read the Iliad, you would think you had the answer—the Trojans were basically Greeks. Rather like Star Trek, heroes from the opposing sides in Homer’s poem can carry on conversations without any translators. In the Iliad the Trojans have temples to Apollo and Athena, who were also Greek gods. Based on Homer, scholars from past generations sometimes concluded that the residents of Troy were culturally the same as the Greeks who sailed across the Aegean to attack their city. When I started writing my novel about Briseis, a woman taken captive by the Greeks, I assumed the same thing.
|Temple of Apollo Smintheon near Troy|
It’s true that Greeks in the Archaic period, well after the “Homeric” period of Troy, colonized the western coast of Anatolia (modern Turkey). It’s also true that the Greeks had powerful outposts there in the relevant period—the Late Bronze Age, such as at Miletus (Milawata in Hittite correspondence). Mycenaean Greek pottery and other signs of trade influence have been found at Troy. The Trojans interacted with the Greeks in ways both friendly and warlike.
Nonetheless, the assumption that the Trojans were a variety of Greek is wrong.
Part II: The Hittite Connection; The Trojans are Luwians
Scholarly opinion now leans toward identifying the Trojans as part of the Luwian peoples who occupied large swaths of what we now call Turkey, primarily in the Western and Southeastern portions, throughout the Bronze Ages.
|Map of the Hittite Empire, Luwian region shown on western part of map|
So who were the Luwians and how does that connect the Trojans to the Hittites?
A key issue is that we know a lot about the Hittites from their written records, but no such libraries of clay tablets have been found in the western Luwian areas such as Troy. Most of what we know about the Luwians is found in the Hittite texts which include a lot of Luwian information in the Luwian language. It’s a lopsided filter through which to view a people, but it’s the best we can do at this point until tablets are found at a Luwian site. Hence the Hittite connection: If you want to understand the Trojans/Luwians, by necessity you must examine the Hittites. That is why so much of the information on this website is about Hittites.
Beyond the lack of extant tablets from Luwian sites, studying the Hittites to understand the Luwians/Trojans is useful because they are closely related culturally and religiously. If we could go back in time and watch the two cultures, we would no doubt realize that the two peoples did a number of things differently, but the similarities would probably outnumber the differences overall. So in the absence of a large body of information about the Luwians/Trojans, an historian or historical fiction writer can turn to the Hittites and extrapolate with a fair sense of being roughly on track.
|Hittite bronze statue of a mother and child, possibly a goddess|
Part III: A summary of who the Luwians were and the ways the Luwians and Hittites influenced each other
The Luwians and Hittites were Indo-European. Scholars are still debating at what time period these Indo-European groups arrived in the area of Anatolia and from what region they might have come, but they differ from their eastern neighbors such as the Assyrians, Babylonians, etc. who have Semitic or other origins. Luwian, as a language, is part of a closely related group including Hittite, Palaic, Lycian, Lydian, and Carian. All of these languages of ancient Anatolia are derived from a prehistoric language we may call “Proto-Anatolian” which in turn derived from “Proto-Indo-European.” Indo-European encompasses most of the languages of Europe—so to that extent the Luwians’ language and the Luwians themselves are remote “cousins” of Greek, but they had separate developments from very early on. (For more on Indo-European)
Linguistically the Hittites and Luwians were close in many ways, and language is a significant cultural determinor. The Hittite language directly borrowed many Luwian words. Indeed by the height of the Hittite empire, a majority of the residents of Hattusa, the Hittite capital, spoke Luwian. The Hittite king and royal family spoke both Luwian and Hittite.
|Hieroglyphic seal, photo by Baris Askin, The Troy Guide|
We cannot be absolutely certain that Luwian, rather than Palaic or some other similar language, was spoken in the region around Troy, but it seems the most likely choice based on the evidence. The only piece of writing from Troy, a hieroglyphic seal, is written in Luwian. (Luwian was written in both cuneiform and hieroglyphics depending on the context.) Also the oldest form of the name for Troy known to the Hittites, Wilusiya-, is a Luwian formulation. The later Hittite name for Troy is Wilusa.
The Luwians as a people never formed one unified state. By the Late Bronze Age the western Luwian lands were roughly grouped into five states, Troy/Wilusa being one of them. They occasionally acted together in war. Treaties exist between these states and the huge Hittite empire to the east of these lands. The Hittites are dominant in these treaties and other correspondence between them. Although these Luwian areas are frequently not formally part of the Hittite empire, they are under its political influence.
|Hittite king offering to a god, photo by Dick Osseman|
A wide variety of religious influences between the Hittites and Luwians can be found in the written evidence. Luwian cultic texts were incorporated from an early period into the Hittite religious texts. That means the actual ritual practices of the Hittites would include Luwian elements.
In the Hittite law codes, there are mentions of separate penalties for Luwians as opposed to Hittites. This means that the two peoples interacted closely and constantly, but it also means that the Hittites viewed the Luwians as a people separate from themselves.
Interesting historical footnote:
Why did Hittite texts survive and not Luwian?
Only one piece of writing has been found at Troy, a hieroglyphic seal, so a logical assumption would seem at first to be that the Trojans didn’t write or read. However, the Hittite side of correspondence and treaties with the Trojans and others in this Luwian area are extant, so we know that the kings of Troy/Wilusa had scribes and written records.
So why haven’t tablets at Troy been found? You’d think clay tablets would survive—after all pottery shards pop up everywhere in archaeological sites.
Pots are fired, clay tablets are not. Clay tablets melt away into the dust unless a catastrophic fire burns so hot and long that the tablets are in essence fired. The absence of a “library” at Troy may perhaps be explained by something as simple and arbitrary as the lack of a hot-enough destructive fire in the correct buildings.
What about Greeks and writing?
The Mycenaean Greeks were also literate—they wrote a form of Greek called Linear B and also corresponded with the Hittites.
|Linear B tablet and drawing|
Unlike the Hittites, they did not use writing to record myths, laws, and other interesting cultural documents. They used writing primarily as financial record keeping.
Writing was lost to the Greek world after the Late Bronze Age and was rediscovered with a new alphabetic writing system around the 8th century BC. From that time on they used more or less the letters we are familiar with as Greek. Around the time of this rebirth of literacy, the oral poems we know as the Iliad and Odyssey were put into written form.
Many thanks to Judith, who I hope will be back with more guest posts talking about her research into these long-ago civilizations. | <urn:uuid:e23696ed-e44b-43db-85f9-a179d7886a63> | {
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It’s remarkable how two unrelated historical events sometimes converge to form a new piece of history. In one such North Country connection, the job choice of a future president became linked to a famous encounter on Lake Champlain. The future president was Warren Harding (1921–23), and the lake event was the Battle of Valcour Island (1776). The results weren’t earth shattering, but the connection did spawn coast-to-coast media stories covering part of our region’s (and our nation’s) history.
In 1882, Harding (1865–1923) graduated from Ohio Central College. Among the positions he held to pay for schooling was editor of the college newspaper. In 1884, after pursuing various job options, he partnered with two other men and purchased the failing Marion Daily Star. Harding eventually took full control of the newspaper, serving as both publisher and editor.
In time, the failing enterprise was turned around and became profitable. Harding’s success and affability earned for him a widespread, positive reputation. He eventually entered the world of politics, sometimes returning to newspaper work, but always maintaining a link to the business through partial ownership.
After rising through the ranks of the Republican Party, Warren Harding famously became the compromise candidate in the 1920 election, which he won with the highest percentage of votes in American history up to that time.
We’ll depart the Harding story here to address the Battle of Valcour Island (October 1776). Some of the American ships in that fight were built a few months earlier at Whitehall, New York. Benedict Arnold, a heroic figure at the time, opposed a superior British fleet at Valcour (south of Plattsburgh) and inflicted significant damage, but far less than the American side suffered.
When nightfall arrived, the Brits formulated plans to finish off the rebels the next morning. Instead, they awoke to find Arnold’s tattered fleet had slipped away quietly in the night and headed south.
The Brits gave chase, and a running battle ensued. In the end, only five American ships, including the schooner Revenge, made it to safety at Ticonderoga. Some historians claim the surviving ships were burned shortly thereafter to prevent their falling into enemy hands. It was a common, drastic defense tactic, but usually employed only if capture were imminent. Though British ships did approach, Americans held the fort through year’s end.
In July 1777, the British recaptured Fort Ticonderoga, including the Revenge and a couple of other ships if they were, in fact, still afloat. A few months later, Colonel John Brown (of Massachusetts) led a failed attempt to retake Fort Ti. He did, however, inflict heavy damage on the enemy, including the burning of more than 150 watercraft. It’s presumed that the Revenge was among their number.
Whether it was burned by Arnold in 1776 or by Brown the following year, the Revenge was at the bottom of Lake Champlain by late 1777, and there she lay for more than 130 years. In 1909, during the Pell family’s restoration of Fort Ticonderoga, the Revenge was retrieved from the lake bottom, brought ashore, and eventually put on display there in a glass case.
Returning now to 1920, we find Warren G. Harding has just been elected president. That news was received with great pride by America’s newspaper editors, for Harding was the very first in the profession to attain the nation’s highest office.
Woodrow Wilson, Harding’s predecessor, left office accompanied by his famous cabinet chair, which was purchased and presented to Wilson as a keepsake. An idea was soon hatched, the brainchild of newspaperman Ernest Birmingham, editor and publisher of The Fourth Estate. Enlisting the aid of editors across the country, Birmingham solicited subscriptions of $1 each to provide the new editor–president with his very own chair for cabinet meetings.
The idea caught on, and as the money rolled in from 600 donors, Birmingham began the quest to somehow make the chair unique. The answer was found in the person of Stephen Pell, whose family was restoring Fort Ticonderoga. Pell offered a large rib of the Revenge for the chair’s construction.
On July 13, 1921, a ceremony was held on the White House lawn. Among those present were a number of editors from the country’s top newspapers. Proudly accepting their gift was President Harding, deeply appreciative of their thoughtfulness and well aware of the chair’s historic connections.
Among his comments: “What a strangely fitting appropriateness there is in the change of a bit of the rugged old oak of the Revenge into a friendly offer such as this. If it is not unseemly, I want to say it is fitting to give it to me, because in thirty-seven years of newspaper connections, I have never once allowed my paper to manifest a suggestion of revenge.”
Nearly 40 years later, the Revenge was once more in the news during the weeklong celebration of Whitehall’s Bicentennial. Whitehall is among several communities laying claim to the title “birthplace of the US Navy,” and on Navy Day, July 18, 1959, a highlight of the festivities featured new Secretary of the Navy William B. Franke. Presented to him by John Pell (of the Fort Ticonderoga Pells) was a piece of wood from the Revenge, built at Whitehall 183 years earlier during the Revolutionary War.
A slightly different version of the ship’s origins comes from Alfred Bossom, the architect chosen by the Pells to oversee Fort Ticonderoga’s reconstruction. He was also commissioned to design Harding’s chair.
In 1921, Bossom described the chair and its historical links: “The wood the chair is made of is a part of the schooner Revenge, one of the first ships of the first American Navy, built on Lake Champlain to repel the advances of the British. This boat was built by the British, but was captured from them and taken to Whitehall by the colonists, and there refitted.
“It was one of the main vessels on the American side in the battle of Valcour, from which fight it retreated and returned to Ticonderoga in company with two smaller vessels, the Trumbull and the Enterprise….
“The chair is symbolic of the collection and distribution of news. These points are symbolized by a hand grasping the electricity out of the air on the one side, and a young woman blowing a trumpet, giving the news to the world on the other, under the protection of the American Eagle, symbolizing the government. The leather of the chair came off the hide of an Ohio steer.”
Site Manager Sherry Hall of the Harding Home Presidential Site in Marion, Ohio, was kind enough to confirm that the chair is now part of the Harding Collections. Though it’s not currently on display, it may be part of a future exhibit.
Photos: Warren G. Harding; Harding in his chair on the White House lawn; the Harding chair | <urn:uuid:de458aa2-30f4-4645-91b2-62150bcb6a7b> | {
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Operations Management is the administration of business processes which are used to design, manufacture, distribute, and ship a product or a service. Medical Know-how: This is the kind of technology which is used to increase and enhance human life. Undoubtedly this will sometimes happen, however Wylde’s book has very few such examples; when it occurs the earnings are sometimes the consulting charges our technologists earn.
Know-how alone, nonetheless, is nothing – merely a means to attain mentioned efficiencies. Info Expertise: Data Know-how is a set of hardware and software instruments used to store info. Developed international locations have benefited from the usage of medical expertise in their health care programs and this explains the rationale why individuals in developed countries depart longer than folks in growing international locations.
If technology is well applied, it will probably profit humans, however if it is wrongly applied, it may possibly trigger hurt to human beings. Medical technology is used to diagnose infections, deal with ailments and to make analysis on ailments affecting humans. The truth is, we can’t maintain youngsters from being enamoured by the attract of know-how.
Nevertheless, so far as I do know, we’ve got no worldwide transfer coverage; it happens by chance. That deeper understanding is the place we find the excellence between digital expertise and true digital literacy. That instructing can mean the distinction between know-how dependancy and technology understanding.
But that logic is flawed for one simple reason: being addicted to technology is just not the identical thing as being literate in it. As such, operations administration is the core engine of any company, focused on creating and delivering value, and interfaces with advertising, finance, technology, human sources, and procurement. | <urn:uuid:0d1c1827-f631-434e-ab0a-b02ea725eb64> | {
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July 21st, 2020
You can truncate a single line of text with an ellipsis (…) fairly easily with
text-overflow and a few friends. But, as you might expect, that truncation happens at the end of the line of text. What if you want to truncate content in the middle?
Leonardo Faria details good use cases for this, like in an operating system window listing files. The line of text is a file name and a file extension. When that line truncates, it truncates just the name, always leaving the extension at the end. The trick is a flexbox parent so you can use overflow on just the file name part, but have to make sure to reset the
min-width, as the natural value, there is
min-content, which prevents the truncation which is confusing. | <urn:uuid:6352c364-f8d9-40ea-a2df-e1619f2d2b75> | {
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It is difficult to predict what life will be like in the future without relying on the visions from popular science fiction; fantasies of mile-high gleaming cities, jetpacks and loyal robot butlers.
Both Star Trek’s futuristic communicator and Minority Report’s gestural interfaces have become so closely associated with technological advancement, that they almost set the bar for real-life progress. Our idea of what the future entails is based more upon the technology of Star Wars and The Jetsons than what is actually taking shape on drawing boards and laboratories.
Is this restricting our ability to move forward? Yashoda Sampath, an economist who specialises in tracking trends in future technology, believes that we are in danger of falling into a “future trap” by blindly pursuing these technologies without considering their practical value.
She says we have to try harder to imagine how different technologies might solve problems in the future – but also look at the new problems they might create in their wake.
Yashoda Sampath spoke to BBC Future at SXSW Interactive in Austin Texas.
If you would like to comment on this video, or anything else you have seen on Future, head over to our Facebook or Google+ page, or message us on Twitter. | <urn:uuid:09d9108e-a9ee-4e8a-9942-4ae0ef994678> | {
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Sanskrit,It is the Mother of all languages. About 97% of world languages have been directly or indirectly influenced by this language.(Ref: UNO)
America has a University dedicated to Sanskrit and the NASA too has a department in it to research on Sanskrit manuscripts.
Sanskrit is the best computer friendly language.(Ref: Forbes Magazine July 1987).
There is a report by a NASA scientist that America is creating 6th and 7th generation super computers based on Samskrit language. Project deadline is 2025 for 6th generation and 2034 for 7th generation computer. After this there will be a revolution all over the world to learn Sanskrit.
The language is rich in most advanced science, contained in their books called Vedas, Upanishads, Shruti, Smriti, Puranas, mahabharata, Ramayana etc. (Ref: Russian State University, NASA etc. NASA possesses 60,000 palm leaf manuscripts, which they are studying.)
Learning of Sanskrit improves brain functioning. Students start getting better marks in other subjects like Mathematics, Science etc., which some people find difficult. It enhances the memory power. James Junior School, London, has made Sanskrit compulsory. Students of this school are among the toppers year after year. This has been followed by some schools in Ireland also.
Research has shown that the phonetics of this language has roots in various energy points of the body and reading, speaking or reciting Samskrit stimulates these points and raises the energy levels, whereby resistance against illnesses, relaxation to mind and reduction of stress are achieved.
Sanskrit is the only language, which uses all the nerves of the tongue. By its pronunciation energy points in the body are activated that causes the blood circulation to improve. This, coupled with the enhanced brain functioning and higher energy levels, ensures better health. Blood Pressure, diabetes, cholesterol etc. are controlled. (Ref: American Hindu University after constant study)
There are reports that Russians, Germans and Americans are actively doing research on our sacred books and are producing them back to the world in their name. Seventeen countries around the world have a University or two to study Sanskrit to gain technological advantages.
Surprisingly, it is not just a language. Sanskrit is the primordial conduit between Human Thought and the Soul; Physics and Metaphysics; Subtle and Gross; Culture and Art; Nature and its Author; Created and the Creator.
Aren’t these facts enough for us to think of learning Sanskrit?
ATTACHED PHOTOS & TEXT LINKS ARE IN SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATION OF GURU DR.RUPNATHJI ( DR.RUPAK NATH ).Dr.Rupnathji is a scholar who has earned the Master’s Degree in Radiation Physics. Recipient of many medals and honours, He is at once a Physician, an astrophysicist and an applied mathematician. He is an author who has numerous publications, both technical and educational. He is a Professor and has been Distinguished Honors Visiting Lecturer at numerous universities throughout the World.
Ancient Indian history, geology and archaeology also attracted his attention. Besides Medicinal Science, he is keenly interested in ancient Indian philosophy. Rupnathji is more than a scientist. He is a physicist-philosopher as well versed in Sanskrit, English Hindi and Bengali literature as in physics.University Professor Language Specialist Dr.Rupnathji ( Dr.Rupak Nath ) is an Expert in Sanskrit Grammer.
Rupnathji is the collector and publisher of many old works, author of many research articles, a noted historiographer, and recipient of a number of awards and titles.
Besides the knowledge of Sadhnas, Tantra, Mantra and Yantra, he resurrected Astrology to its past glory by making astoundingly precise forecasts in general and for individuals; and he authored no less than 1200 books on this subject. He was an authority on Allopathy and set up special farms to grow the almost extinct herbs. Many disciples mastered the science of Ayurveda under him.
Apart from Astrology, He authored more than 750 books on diverse subjects like Sadhnas, Kundalini Tantra, Palmistry, Paarad Vigyan (alchemy), Hypnotism, Meditation, Numerology, Allopathy , Signature Analysis, Yoga and other subjects of the spiritual field. He has also released hundreds of audio and video cassettes to detail the exact procedures of performing worship and to record the authentic sound vibration and pronunciation of the Mantras. Many of his articles have been published in leading newspapers and magazines. He accomplished significant spiritual and religious ceremonies at various religious places of pilgrimage in India and thus re-established the religious and historical significance of these places in the society. He presided over various Tantra and Mantra conferences and is recognized as the pillar stone of the field of the Tantra. He has been honoured with several titles of recognition in various fields. He was honoured with the title of “Maha Mahopadhyay” in 1995 by the then vicepresident of India. He was honoured with the title of “Samaj Shiromani” in 1999 by the then Vice-President of India. In 1998, he was honoured by the then Prime Minister of Nepal, for his unique and singular work in the social and religious fields.
He was nominated as the President of the World Astrology Conference from amongst representatives of various countries in 1999 and has been nominated as President of most of the All India Astrology Conferences organised since 1997. He was honoured with the title of “Tantra Shiromani” by the Parapsychological Council in 1997. He was honoured with the title of “Mantra Shiromani” by the Mantra Sansthan in 1998.
Maha Yogi Paramahamsa Dr.Rupnathji attained great respect, both in India and abroad, and was honoured with many spiritual titles, among others the Hindu Dharma Samrat, which means the upholder of Sat Sanathan Dharma, the eternal ruling “religion” which is above all “confessions” and connects and unites all living beings.Please see his Books.
CLICK BELOW : –
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It suggests that today's 5.8 billion population will increase to 7.9 billion in 2020, rising to 10 billion in 2050. But the proportion of over- 60s is predicted to soar, doubling from 9.5 per cent to 20 per cent in 2050 and increasing further to 27 per cent by 2100.
Wolfgang Lutz and colleagues from the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria, believe that ageing will replace population growth as a focus for public, political and scientific concern. The researchers based their results on an analysis of trends in fertility, mortality and migration.
One of the key elements was a global trend towards low fertility, even in countries of traditionally high birth rate.
At the other end of the equation there was uncertainty about how much longer people will live, with some experts believing the human race to be already close to the biological limit of life expectancy. | <urn:uuid:87056ab4-79d1-4efe-859a-83ecb08fc5ce> | {
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During the Christmas Bird Count, bird observations are not gift-wrapped, yet participants are both giving and receiving the gift of science. The majority of citizen science projects engage people in the field work of scientific research, turning observations into data, or in classifying data online as a sort of virtual field work. But there are more steps to the scientific method than just collecting data, and today I’d like to spread the cheer of some projects that involve the public in other crucial steps of science.
For example, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science engages thousands in the Genetics of Taste: A Flavor for Health, a study in which the research questions were chosen by the public through town hall meetings and audience surveys. About 70% of people can taste a particular bitterness found in veggies like spinach. Also, some people have ten times the number of taste buds as others. Curious minds imagined the following testable possibilities, which we can denote with standard scientific abbreviation, “Ho”:
- Ho: those who can taste bitterness are descended from ancestors who lived among bitter-tasting plants that were toxic, locations where natural selection favored a trait for detecting bitterness.
- Ho: people with more taste buds eat less, and therefore have lower percentage body fat, because their tongues send more taste signals to their brain compared to people with fewer taste buds.
Ho, Ho, the hypotheses need testing and so many visitors have enrolled as study subjects (which turned their tongues temporarily blue) and some local volunteers have become certified by the National Institutes of Health to collect data, and trained by the Museum to extract and analyze DNA. The co-created knowledge from this project will help us understand the genetic ancestry of the gene Tas2r38 (pronounced “taster38”) that controls our ability to taste bitter and the effect of taste on our health today.
What about full participation at global scales where scientists and the public cannot meet face-to-face? Can citizen science participants anywhere in the world give the use of their minds, creativity, and curiosity to engage in science beyond contributing observations? Yes, a recent example involves crowdsourcing hypotheses.
We know little about naturally occurring microbial communities. They are a major source of biodiversity and their decline in our sterile world has been suggested as related to the rising levels of allergies and other immune-related disorders (the hygiene hypothesis). Belly Button Biodiversity was set up to discover what microbes dwell in our bellybuttons. Our bodies are the habitat for microbe communities, and these communities thrive in our navels, which are less exposed and get washed less often than our hands and faces. Rob Dunn’s lab started it like a typical citizen science project, where volunteers provided observations, in this case in the form of samples from their belly buttons, from which the bacteria were cultured and identified.
As reported in a recent study, from only the initial 60 volunteers, a veritable jungle of 2,368 different types of bacteria were found (called phylotypes; groupings which likely correspond to even more species) – way more than expected. Most types were rare, found on only one person; eight bacteria types were common, occurring in about 70% of participants. Each person had about 50 types in their navel. The common types included the Bacillus, which kills fungi that cause stinky feet, and the Staphylococci which kill bad germs on our skin (just don’t let it in your skin).
Now that Dunn and his colleagues have data on the types, they can’t explain the variation. They had initial hypotheses:
- Ho: the diversity of bellybutton microbes vary with the region where people currently live.
- Ho: the diversity of bellybutton microbes vary with the region where people grew up.
- Ho: the diversity of bellybutton microbes vary between innies or outies.
Ho, Ho, Ho, (Merry Christmas) – the researchers rejected all of these hypotheses using the preliminary data. They also ruled out other hypotheses:
- Ho: bellybutton microbes vary between households with and without cats and dogs.
- Ho: bellybutton microbes vary based on gender, ethnicity, and age.
- Ho: bellybutton microbes vary with the climate of the region.
Ho, Ho, Ho, preliminary data do not support these either. Researchers were stumped and not afraid to admit it. With no more Ho merriment, the researchers decided to crowdsource brain power. For about a month, the public have been contributing their own hypotheses and some of them are intriguing:
- Ho: microbe diversity is related to vaginal versus Caesarean birth
- Ho: microbe biomes are unique to each person, like fingerprints
- Ho: microbe biomes are related to bathing habits and exposure to chlorine
- Ho: microbe communities are shared among social networks
- Ho: microbe communities are related to individual body temperatures and moistures
- Ho: microbe communities change over time, like fields changing into forests
The merriment doesn’t end because the list of Ho, Ho, Hos goes on and on!
Crowdsourcing for hypotheses is a major leap forward for large-scale citizen science for two important reasons. First, it exposes the creative side of science. Creativity has been frequently crowdsourced outside of science, such as corporate contests for new logos or slogans. Its lack of use in science perpetuates a misconception that science is not a creative endeavor. When citizen science involves the public in generating hypotheses, people experience the part of the scientific method fueled by imagination.
Second, we need to get good at this and practice makes perfect. Our society has many problems to solve – and solutions will require aggregating the imagination, smarts, and observations of crowds in the systematic way called citizen science. Solutions will require integrating massive collaboration into our common culture. We already do it for Santa: we synchronize our efforts to perpetuate the myth that Santa delivers gifts to millions of homes in one evening. New frontiers in citizen science, tapping our common curiosities and concerns, bring us closer to making participation a mainstay of a shared human culture, like Santa-fying genuine research. With the world’s population smarter on average than ever before, harnessing our minds towards collective efforts may be humanity’s biggest cause for hope.
It’s natural to become introspective in preparation for making New Year’s resolutions. So, now is your chance to count your taste buds, contemplate your navel, and give the gift of science.
Image: Petri dishes of belly button microbes by Rob Dunn, Design: Caren Cooper | <urn:uuid:202f7628-588d-4ca4-b4c9-cf2e3ee6b469> | {
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BANGKOK, Thailand -- As many as 60,000 plants with valuable medical properties are likely to become extinct by 2050, according to a British botanist.
"This means one in every four of the world's medicinal plants is threatened," said the botanist, Hugh Synge, one of the organizers of a recent conference sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund, the World Health Organization and the International Union for Concervation of Nature.
Synge said that 80 percent of the world's people rely on plants for medicines important in industrial countries as well as developing nations.
Synge is affiliated with the World Wildlife Fund.
Peter P. Principe, an American researcher, said, "In the United States, 25 percent of the prescriptions that are being filled are filled by drugs derived from plants." He added, "The percentage is higher in terms of anti-cancer drugs; 35 to 40 percent of anti-cancer drugs are derived from plants."
Principe attended the conference, in Chiang Mai, Thailand, as an international expert and not as a government official.
One substance that is already endangered is reserpine, an ingredient in certain tranquilizers that is derived from the Rauwolfia serpentina plant, found in India. Other plants like cinchona, whose bark produces quinine, and foxglove varieties, which are used in the heart medications digitoxin and acetyldigitoxin, could also run out, the experts said.
"These shortages are intimately linked with the decline of forests and vegetation," Synge said. Most of these tropical forests were in developing nations that needed help with conservation, he said.
Many plants that have proved useful in modern medicines have long been used by traditional healers in developing countries. In recent years, scientists have begun to study traditional herbal medicines to discover which might have medically important compounds.
In a declaration, the experts at the conference expressed concern about the loss of medicinal plants and traditional formulas before their uses become widely known. The conference also called for increased conservation of natural areas. | <urn:uuid:e6b0427e-04e6-4ce8-bd99-67adbb3d6b3c> | {
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Commemorating the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks is the opening of the highly anticipated and long-awaited national 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero. Designed by architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker, the memorial is a peaceful tree-filled plaza and two reflecting pools that sit in the footprints of the lost towers. Sustainable design principles were used to create the space, which conveys a spirit of hope and renewal and provides a quiet escape from the city.
In their proposal, Arad and Walker describe the pools as “large voids, open and visible reminders of the absence.” They wanted the space to resonate with the feelings of loss that were caused by the destruction of the World Trade Center.The pools are each nearly an acre in size, and they will feature the largest man made waterfalls in North America. Bronze panels edging the pools will be inscribed with the name of every single person who died on September 11, as well as the terror attacks in 1993.
The street-level plaza surrounding the pools has been described as one of the most eco-friendly plazas ever constructed. It’s aiming for LEED Gold certification, and has irrigation, stormwater and pest management systems that conserve energy and water.
For more on the memorial’s use of green design, visit the entire story at Inhabitat. | <urn:uuid:f91a6dbc-bcf4-416f-be4e-f8817f066274> | {
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Lower Secondary School Development Program
LSSDP is an important program because it helps strengthen each community’s capacity to help students and increases the resources available. I feel proud to work for the LSSDP and inspired to help the younger generation of children in Cambodia who want to learn and continue their education like I was able to do. Oeur Saloeurn, LSSDP Project Officer
About the Program
The Lower Secondary School Development Program (LSSDP) is a 3-year, proven model for school development. It empowers communities to take ownership of their state school to drive improvements at the local level. We work with the School Support Committee (SSC), a government mandated group similar to a PTA and the Student Council (SC), also mandated.
The LSSDP program trains these stakeholders to become advocates for improving their schools based on their priorities. At the end of our 3 year involvement the community is able to carry on the work independently.
In Cambodia, only 40% of Cambodian children make it to Grade 9. Of the students who do enrol in lower secondary school (grades 7-9), 22% drop out before graduating. This is not because education is not valued. In fact, through our community consultations we know that residents care deeply about educational opportunities for their children. The main drivers for these enrolment and dropout rates are economic:
- In rural communities, schools may be too far away for children to walk. Lack of a bicycle can mean the difference between going to school or not.
- Poverty also impacts enrollment and dropout rates. As children grow up, their ability to contribute to family income increases.
The short-term pressures of poverty make it difficult for many families to commit to the longer-term goals of education.
What we do
This illustrates the annual program cycle for LSSDP
Since community members set the priorities, SSCs are able to gain support from residents and other resources. Examples of school improvement projects include:
- Toilet block construction
- Classroom and library enhancements
- Bicycles and solar lamps for the most needy
- Fences and gates
- Dormitory housing for teachers
- 80.6% of Cambodian children complete primary school but only 40% complete lower secondary school
- 17% of children drop out of lower secondary school
- 30.35% is the decrease in dropout rates across the eleven lower secondary schools in which we operate our program | <urn:uuid:80fce91c-7831-47ab-b844-fa3e6568bfd5> | {
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Social Media Awareness
It’s your reputation (and job prospects), protect it!
Our world is so digitally connected you now have to worry about what you are sharing on social media and what people are saying about you online. There are even companies that specialize in monitoring what information is floating around about you online! According to Career Builder, 85% of employers used social media sites as a factor in their hiring decisions. You are pursuing an education to further your career opportunities, don’t let your social media profile stand in your way.
Assignment Details:For this assignment you can use any video creation software. You will be creating a 30-second Public Service Announcement (PSA) telling others about the need to protect their online reputation and persuading them to stop posting information that can hurt their job prospects.
Below are two examples of Public Service Announcements. NFL for Social Justice 2020: https://youtu.be/TewEmntyjzg A Serious Decision: COVID Vaccine https://youtu.be/O89uH8ZI24I Your PSA should include the pitfalls of sharing too much information online (as related to job prospects) and tips for repairing a damaged reputation. Your goal is to persuade others to improve their online reputation! | <urn:uuid:422998ca-4427-4afc-87c6-8c4abb81f08b> | {
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A historical perspective and current conditions are key to understanding what will happen to the orange juice market in the future if HLB-resistant trees are introduced.
By Allen Morris
Between 2001–02 and 2016–17, the Nielsen-measured retail U.S. orange juice market declined by 50 percent, Florida orange production declined by 70 percent and retail orange juice prices increased by 53 percent (Exhibit 1). Moreover, the orange juice market is declining at an increasing rate. For the 2006–07 to 2009–10 period, orange juice consumption declined an average of 2.1 percent per year. For the 2009–10 to 2012–13 period, the average annual decline was 2.6 percent. For the most recent 2012–13 to 2015–16 period, the average annual rate of decline was 5.8 percent, and season-to-date for 10-2-16 to 8-5-17, the decline was 7.5 percent.
The reduced orange juice market appears to be the result of the decline in orange juice supplies from reduced orange production and the resulting higher prices. Let’s see if that’s true.
First, to the degree that Florida is not producing enough orange juice for the U.S. market, orange juice is being supplied by imports from Brazil (55 percent), Mexico (33 percent), Costa Rica (8 percent), and others, as happened during the freezes of the 1980s. But there is less supply worldwide, and that has prices up just like they were in the 1980s when freezes reduced orange juice supplies. Let’s examine what happened then.
Between 1979–80 and 1989–90, Florida’s orange crop declined from 207 million boxes to 110 million boxes, a 47 percent decline (Exhibit 2). Yet the Nielsen-measured orange juice market only declined from 808 million single strength equivalent (SSE) gallons to 702 million gallons, a decline of 13 percent during this time, even though retail orange juice prices increased by 62 percent (Exhibit 2).
How did the Florida citrus industry suffer a 47 percent decline in orange production, experience a 62 percent increase in retail orange juice prices, yet only lose 13 percent of the market? Orange juice imports, primarily from Brazil, supplemented reduced Florida orange juice supplies, and as a result of strong orange juice demand, did not denigrate prices (Exhibits 2 and 3). In 1989–90, the Florida Citrus Processors Association’s average price for early-mid and Valencia oranges was $1.55 per pound solids, which in 2017 dollars would be $2.98.
PRICE AND INCOME ELASTICITY
So what’s going on in today’s orange juice market? Price elasticity measures the changes in consumption of a product caused by changes in its price. The price elasticity for orange juice is estimated to be -.771. That means for every 10 percent increase in orange juice prices, there will be a 7.7 percent decrease in consumption, and vice versa for decreases in prices.
Income elasticity measures the changes in consumption of a product caused by changes in incomes, usually total U.S. personal disposable income adjusted for inflation. Often an increase in income is associated with increased purchases, but not always. If you get a raise, you may go buy that new car or new set of golf clubs you’ve been wanting, or have more steak and less stew meat. But would an increase in income make us more likely to buy more necessities like salt, sugar or paper towels? Probably not. What about orange juice? The income elasticity for orange juice is +0.462, meaning that for every 1 percent that inflation-adjusted, personal disposable incomes increase, 0.46 percent more orange juice will be consumed.
Price elasticity measures the effect on consumption of changing only price, and not income or other variables that could affect consumption. Likewise, income elasticity measures only the effect on consumption of changing incomes and not price or any other variables. Impacts of changes in other variables like consumption trends independent of price or income, or seasonality where purchases are always higher in some months than others, are mathematically accounted for in order to isolate only the price or income effects on demand.
Comparing Nielsen-measured, retail orange juice consumption and prices over the period from 2001–02 to 2016–17 (Exhibit 1), consumption declined 50.2 percent and prices increased 52.8 percent. Using a price elasticity of -.77 gives a consumption decline of 40.7 percent, not 50.2 percent. Inflation-adjusted, personal disposable incomes increased by 19.7 percent over the 2002–2017 period. At an income elasticity of .46, this 19.7 percent increase in incomes should have increased consumption by 9.1 percent over this period, holding prices constant. Combining these effects, the market should have declined by 40.7 percent because of higher prices, but increasing incomes should have increased consumption by 9.1 percent, offsetting part of that decline.
So, after accounting for changes in both prices and consumer incomes, the retail orange juice market should have declined by 31.6 percent, not by 50.2 percent. Another way to look at this is that 37 percent of the 50 percent market decline was caused by factors other than high prices and reduced supplies. So if almost 40 percent of the decline in orange juice consumption isn’t because of higher prices and reduced supplies, what is causing it?
CAUSES FOR REDUCED OJ CONSUMPTION
I believe there are two causes of the decline in orange juice consumption other than higher prices. First, for a number of years, consumers have not been given a compelling reason to drink orange juice, and that’s resulted in orange juice consumers switching to other juices and beverages. Secondly, some nutritionists and physicians have been downplaying orange juice consumption because of its high sugar content, which they claim contributes to obesity.
To give consumers a compelling reason to drink orange juice, they need to be told what is different about orange juice, and why that difference has value. Telling consumers that orange juice helps them “take on the day” does not effectively convey these messages. Coffee, tea, soft drinks and a number of other products can also help consumers “take on their day.” If changes in laws governing health claims now prevent telling consumers about the health benefits of orange juice, then a credible scientist or physician could say “orange juice is an important part of a healthy diet” as part of the advertisement, which is an opinion.
Orange juice does contain natural fruit sugars, the same as any 100-percent fruit juice. But non-diet soft drinks contain as much sugar per ounce as orange juice, and it is added sugar from other sources, which has no substantial nutritional benefits. Per-capita consumption of non-diet soda is 10 times as high as orange juice consumption, but health care professionals are not attacking soft drinks as much as orange juice. Also, orange juice has more nutrients per calorie than most other 100-percent fruit juices such as apple, grape, pineapple and prune juice3.
Other nutritional attributes of orange juice that leading beverages such as soft drinks, other 100-percent fruit juices, coffee, tea, and milk do not have is that orange juice is unusually high in vitamin C and contains potassium citrate, vitamins and other compounds that may act as anti-oxidants in the body, flavonoids, folate and thiamine. These attributes may contribute to improving blood vessel functioning, reducing the risk of some birth defects, reducing LDL (the bad cholesterol), helping prevent kidney stone formation, and may have beneficial effects on blood pressure, which can help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
The nutritional attributes of orange juice may also help support the immune system and protect cells against free radicals, which could damage cells and tissue that could contribute to the development or progression of chronic disease. Importantly, some of these benefits, particularly those related to cardiovascular disease markers, have been demonstrated in clinical trials with orange juice4 5 6. Moreover, epidemiological research has shown that consuming orange juice compared to not consuming it is not associated with an increase in body weight in children or adults7 8. Unfortunately, these messages have not been effectively conveyed to consumers.
Common sense can deflate the argument that the sugar in orange juice contributes to obesity. During the 1970s and 1980s, diet sodas that tasted good were introduced into the U.S. retail marketplace, and they became mainstream as consumers switched from caloric to non-caloric soft drinks. Currently, diet sodas account for almost half of total soft drink consumption.
If sugar were the cause of obesity, almost half of the American population would have lost weight when they switched to diet sodas, but this didn’t happen. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control, between 1990 and 2015, the percentage of obese adults increased from 11.1 percent to 29.3 percent. This is to be expected because of the effects of aging baby boomers. So how could switching from consuming orange juice to water or lower calorie beverages prevent consumers from becoming obese when switching to diet sodas didn’t?
RESULTS OF HLB-RESISTANT TREES
When trees resistant to HLB are planted, the cost of producing oranges will decline as a result of three changes:
- The $450 per acre for managing HLB, mostly spraying for psyllids, will go away.
- Fruit yield will increase from the 211 boxes per acre that it was in 2015–16.
- Juice yields will increase from the current 5.95 pounds solids per box.
Using the 3-year average of fruit and juice yields before HLB was found in Florida, and removing the caretaking cost of managing HLB, the delivered-in, break-even cost of producing oranges would decline from $2.50 per pound solids currently to $1.17 per pound solids. It requires an investment of about $9,000 per acre — not including the cost of the land — to replant an existing grove with HLB-resistant trees at a density of 198 trees per acre, and grow it to 4 years of age to produce a commercially harvestable crop. Adding a 10 percent required annual return to that investment increases the costs to $1.53 per pound solids. It is likely that growers would continue to increase production via new plantings until fruit prices decline from their current levels ($2.70 per pound solids last season) to that $1.53, which is a decline in fruit price of 43 percent.
Increases in fruit production and lower fruit prices should result in reduced retail prices and growth in orange juice consumption. Processed orange prices currently represent about 33 percent of the price of orange juice on the store shelf. The other 67 percent of the retail price is fruit processing, warehousing, blending, packaging, distribution, and sales and marketing expenses. So 33 percent of the retail orange juice price will decline by 43 percent. That means that the current retail price of $6.71 per gallon would decline to $5.76, a decline of 14.2 percent. At a price elasticity of -.77, that would increase consumption by an estimated 11 percent.
If planting of HLB-resistant trees were to start in 2019 and the first fruit is commercially harvested in 2022–23, that increase in supply would begin then and take a number of years as fruit yields increase with aging trees and additional plantings occur. However, in order to simplify the analysis, it was assumed that all of the supply increase would occur in 2022–23. Applying the estimated 11 percent increase in consumption to the total orange juice market that is projected for 2023–24 (Exhibit 4) increases that market from 552 to 613 million gallons and results in a need for 102 million boxes of oranges for processing. That assumes no orange juice imports are needed for blending to achieve brix and ratio objectives.
In reality, these changes will not all happen at once. If the first HLB-resistant trees produce a harvestable crop by 2022–23, that will not be nearly enough fruit to reduce costs and increase supplies enough to make orange consumption grow. But as more HLB-resistant trees are planted, producing fruit at lower cost, the increased supply and reduced prices will ultimately stimulate growth in orange juice consumption much the way it was shown here, just over a longer period of time.
Reducing fruit production costs by curing HLB will provide a price-induced increase in orange juice consumption — but only enough to profitably support an orange crop of 102 million boxes. Can this increase in consumption be increased or even sustained? Or are there underlying consumption trends that will erode this increase? Remember that 37 percent of the 50 percent Nielsen-measured orange juice market decline was caused by factors other than high prices and reduced supplies. That’s an annual decline of 1.2 percent not responsive to the economic variables of pricing or consumer purchasing power, and thus is an underlying rate of decline.
The non-Nielsen orange juice market (convenience stores, restaurants, and orange juice used in juice blends and drinks) is declining faster than the Nielsen market. Its average annual decline over the most recent three years is 6.8 percent, compared to 5.8 percent for the Nielsen market. So the non-Nielsen market probably has a greater underlying rate of decline not responsive to pricing or consumer purchasing power than the Nielsen market.
As I explained, I believe that consumers’ irrational concerns over the sugar content in orange juice and not being fully aware of the numerous health benefits of orange juice (there’s a lot more health benefits in orange juice than vitamin C), are the cause of this underlying market decline. But this presents a serious problem. If the impact of these non-economic variables can’t be mitigated, any increase in supplies as a result of curing HLB, and resulting lower prices that stimulate growth in orange juice consumption will ultimately be lost by the downward pressure on the market fueled by this consumer behavior.
Between 1983 and 2010, the European orange juice market almost tripled in size, increasing from 506 million SSE gallons to 1.4 billion SSE gallons. However, like the U.S. orange juice market, the European market is suffering because of the negative perceptions about sugar in juice, and as a result, is becoming a scapegoat for the global obesity epidemic and consumption of excess sugar.
Between 2011 and 2015, consumption of 100-percent fruit juices — 39 percent of which was orange juice, the largest segment of the European fruit juice market — declined by 8.1 percent. That’s less than half the 19.4 percent that orange juice consumption declined in the United States during this period, but this was still unacceptable to the European fruit juice marketing industry. Consequently, AIJN, the European Fruit Juice Association, has launched a juice marketing campaign “using scientific insight from nutrition experts to point out the benefits of 100-percent fruit juice and reposition its image.”
Citrus BR, the Brazilian Citrus Exporters Association, “representing a significant portion of world orange juice supply,” has agreed to fund a European orange juice marketing campaign to be managed through AIJN. They will be joined in funding this campaign by 26 of the largest orange juice buyers/packagers in Europe. So the European fruit-juice marketing industry as well as the Brazilian orange juice exporters and European orange juice buyers/packagers are taking steps to turn their declining market around and restore them to growth.
Even when a cure for HLB is implemented, unless something is done to stop the decline in orange juice consumption, the citrus-growing part of the industry will become too small to support the infrastructure of input suppliers, harvesters, grove caretakers, etc. necessary for it to function competitively. For example, assume that the lower prices from lower cost production get into the orange juice market evenly over the 2023–24 to 2031–32 nine-year period, reflecting the time required for fruit produced from new plantings of HLB-resistant trees to increasingly impact prices. Ten years after the first plantings, by 2031–32, only 58 million boxes of Florida oranges and no orange juice imports will be needed. In spite of an 11 percent increase in the orange juice market stimulated by the lower prices, the underlying rate of decline in orange juice consumption eliminated its benefit.
The three major orange juice brands will probably continue mainly as juice storing, blending and packaging operations, using orange juice imported primarily from Brazil and Mexico, but also using juice from the small declining volumes of Florida fruit still available to process. However, because of the high costs of processing small volumes of fruit in the large processing plants owned by the brands and the companies processing oranges for the Coca-Cola Company’s Minute Maid and Simply brands, it is likely that one of the bulk processors may have an opportunity to process fruit for all three of the brands. This would reduce costs by processing all of the industry’s remaining volumes of oranges in one plant, and thus allow that processor to continue to operate. The bulk processors, other than the ones storing and blending juice for the Coca-Cola Company’s Minute Maid and Simply brands and the one which processes the remaining volumes of oranges, will soon have no economic reason to exist in Florida. Private labels’ orange juice needs will be supplied by imports, primarily from Brazil and Mexico.
Because of the declining U.S. orange juice market, the brands will probably increase their focus on the European orange juice market, which, as was pointed out, is being positioned to grow. There will also probably be a proliferation of exotic juice blends like blueberry mango, pomegranate limeade, strawberry banana, watermelon, berry greens, etc. being introduced by the brands as they begin to position themselves away from citrus.
This conclusion doesn’t have to happen. But it is likely to happen if something isn’t done to restore the U.S. orange juice market to growth. One way to fund that is to partner with Citrus BR the way AIJN and the European orange buyers/packagers are doing. The U.S. orange juice market is second only to Europe in importance to Brazil as an export market for its orange juice. If approached, the Brazilians would probably be interested in working with the Florida Citrus Commission the way they are working with AIJN to restore growth to the U.S. orange juice market.
Allen Morris was an associate Extension scientist and economist in the University of Florida’s Food and Resource Economics Department from 2007–2012 at the Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred.
1 Morris, Allen. “Demand for Orange Juice, Blends and Drinks: A Comparison Between 1988–1997 to 2005–2010,” University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Citrus Research and Education Center, Lake Alfred, Florida, September 4, 2010.
2 Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Economic Research Division
3 Rampersaud, Gail C. “A comparison of nutrient density scores for 100 percent fruit juices.” Journal of Food Science, Vol. 72, No. 4, 2007.
4 Basile, L.G., Lima, C.G., Cesar, T.B. “Daily Intake of Pasteurized Orange Juice Decreases Serum Cholesterol, Fasting Glucose, and Diastolic Blood Pressure in Adults.” Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. 2010; 123: 228–233.
5 Cesar, T.B, Aptekmann, N.P., Araujo, M.P., Vinagre, C.C., Maranhao, R.C. “Orange juice decreases low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in hypercholesterolemic subjects and improves lipid transfer to high-density lipoprotein in normal and hypercholesterolemic subjects.” Nutrition Research. 2010; 30 (10): 689-694.
6 Morand, C., Dubray, C., Milenkovic, D., Lioger, D., Martin, J.F., Scalbert, A., Mazur, A. “Hesperidin contributes to the vascular protective effects of orange juice: a randomized crossover study in healthy volunteers.” Am J Clin Nutr. 2011; 93 (1): 73-80.
7 O’Neil, C.E., Nicklas, T.A., Rampersaud, G.C., Fulgoni III, V.L. “One hundred percent orange juice consumption is associated with better diet quality, improved nutrient adequacy, and no increased risk for overweight/obesity in children.” Nutrition Research; 2011; 21(9): 673-682.
8 O’Neil, C.E., Nicklas, T.A., Rampersaud, G.C., Fulgoni III, V.L. “100 percent orange juice consumption is associated with better diet quality, improved nutrient adequacy, decreased risk for obesity, and improved biomarkers of health in adults.” National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2003-2006. Nutrition Journal; 2012; 11:107 (December 2012).
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What pops into your mind when you think "comfort"? Maybe you imagine curling up on the sofa with a thick blanket while watching TV or lounging in a hammock on a tropical island. We usually associate comfort with relaxation, but physical comfort in the workplace is the cornerstone of productivity. Spaces that are uncomfortable because they are too hot, too cold, too noisy, too dark, or too bright restrict the ability of workers to perform to their full potential.
Comfort as a Basic Need
Dr. Jacqueline Vischer, a professor in the Department of Environmental Design at the University of Montreal, created a model for work environments that ranks comfort into an ascending continuum of the physical, functional, and psychological. Like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, it argues that before people can strive for psychological needs, basic physiological needs must be satisfied first. Vischer's model suggests that addressing physical comfort—like the quality of light, air, temperature, sound, and ergonomics—has the greatest immediate and direct impact on productivity.
It's not surprising that in a 2015 Leesman survey of nearly 136,000 respondents, the top 3 features identified as the most important part of an effective workspace were all directly related to physical comfort: desk, chair, and temperature control. Before a company starts thinking about what team someone will join or what type of computer they'll have, they need to ensure that their employees have a safe, comfortable place to work.
Office workers are losing 86 minutes a day due to distractions. That's about 1.5 hours of productivity lost every day.
A 2014 IPSOS and Steelcase survey of more than 10,000 workers found that office workers are losing 86 minutes a day due to distractions. That's about 1.5 hours of productivity lost every day. The comfort-distraction problem is twofold. First, if you are uncomfortable, you are too busy thinking about your discomfort to focus on the task at hand. Second, if you are really uncomfortable, you may start wasting time on behaviors to cope with your discomfort.
Think about the last time you were too hot or too cold at your desk: Maybe you left your desk to go for a walk; got up for a drink; complained to co-workers (effectively spreading your distraction to other people); tried to track down the facility manager; or tried to make your own make-shift solution. If only you had been empowered to have some degree of control over your physical environment and an easy way to achieve comfort.
Personal Control Helps Productivity
Numerous studies have measured the productivity gains achieved when employees have greater personal control over their comfort. Experimental research conducted over the last 30 years has found anywhere between a 2.7% to a 8.6% increase in productivity. Research includes studies that are not only based on self-reported surveys, but ones that measured actual productivity increases when workers moved from a baseline building to a new building offering personal control of lighting, air ventilation, and other ambient systems. Everything from clerical tasks to tasks that require logical thinking and skilled manual work to very rapid manual work increased with personal control.
Workplace Comfort for Increased Productivity
In the workplace, comfort levels don’t necessarily represent a state of relaxation, they reflect a state free from pain and poised for optimal productivity. A space that is slightly “uncomfortable” can keep people more alert, because it's not about discomfort, it's about breaking up a neutral comfort state. Slight variations in the ambient environment can become levers for productivity.
A 2000 review of experimental research on green buildings and occupant productivity published by Dr. Judith H. Heerwagen, who is currently a Program Expert at GSA's Office of Federal High Performance Green Buildings, notes that a static comfort state does not always lead to the highest performance outcomes. In fact, there are times when being cooler or warmer rather than in a neutral comfort state may enhance performance. For instance, studies have shown that slightly warm temperatures reduce anxiety and may generate a feeling of wakeful relaxation—an emotional state associated with creative problem solving. (This would explain our design team’s productive brainstorming sessions in the warm, sunny corner of the office!) The complexity of workplace comfort and productivity underscores the need for variety and personal control.
We ask ourselves: What would a space look and feel like if it was truly designed to help everyone do their best work?
The Comfy Team is obsessed with creating the ultimate productive workplace. We ask ourselves: What would a space look and feel like if it was truly designed to help everyone do their best work? What does it mean to create a place that makes you feel psychologically, socially, and physically comfortable? The first step in creating a productive and delightful space—one workplace designers would refer to as a "congenial environment"—is eliminating the negatives that are holding people back. By delivering comfort, eliminating distractions, and offering greater individual control, we are able to help everyone be their most productive selves. | <urn:uuid:a2f696cc-7ab7-4e62-a70c-6b9c3c475989> | {
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It may seem impossible for anyone to be depressed around the holidays, but the truth is that it is quite common. Elderly adults are especially prone to holiday depression that can last long after the parties and celebrations are through. Because of the emphasis on loved ones, seniors may re-live feelings of grief for loved ones no longer around, for example. Other areas of holiday stress include financial issues, health problems, isolation and loneliness.
Family caregivers may not realize that their aging loved ones are dealing with holiday depression and will overlook the red flags that signal this serious mental health problem. Without treatment, elderly adults can suffer both physically and mentally. Everyone who supports the aging adult, such as friends, family members and elder care providers, should be on the lookout for these 4 signs of holiday depression in aging adults.
1. Physical Decline
Many seniors with depression experience some physical health issues that seem unrelated to each other. Examples include headaches, insomnia, weight gain or weight loss, unexplained aches, and heartburn. It can also manifest in a decline in personal hygiene and self-care. Yet another symptom of holiday depression is a growing dependence on alcohol and drugs.
2. Emotionally Fragile
Depression can transform a person’s personality and their emotional state can be a big clue to family caregivers and elder care providers. Common symptoms include mood swings, irritability, frequent weeping, low self-esteem, negative comments about themselves and feelings of hopelessness or guilt. Holiday depression can also leave seniors feeling restless, bored, and yet unmotivated to accomplish anything.
3. Social Isolation
Even though one of the triggers of holiday depression is isolation from social outlets, one of the red flags of the condition is intentional isolation from friends and family. When seniors withdraw from activities they once enjoyed or purposefully restrict their involvement and access to social situations, it only increases their isolation and lonely feelings. Even casual interactions with elder care providers may be noticeable.
4. Cognitive Decline
In elderly adults, depression can influence cognitive ability. Examples of this include poor memory, decline in recalling familiar details, and sluggish cognitive processes. These symptoms are easy to mistake for other cognitive conditions in seniors, such as mild dementia, so family caregivers and elder care providers must look at a combination of signs and compare notes.
The holidays can be full of joy or full of sadness, so family caregivers should never assume their aging loved ones are automatically happy this time of year. Due to age-related health issues, the signs and symptoms of holiday depression may be difficult to identify, so it’s imperative for the aging adult’s support team to work together to identify the fact that holiday depression is affecting the senior and get them professional help.
If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring a Caregiver in Solana Beach, CA, please contact the caring staff at Golden Care today. Call us at 760-828-5201.
Source: Golden Care
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- Can Your Senior’s Eyesight Be a Problem with Dementia? - July 24, 2020 | <urn:uuid:55857d98-e37c-4ae6-9aeb-9086f472d20b> | {
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Nate Berg is a freelance reporter and a former staff writer for CityLab. He lives in Los Angeles.
The nation's infamous two-tier classification system prevents rural migrants from rising up in cities.
The rapid rate of development in China manifests itself most clearly in its cities. With some populations rising into the tens of millions, China’s cities are the economic powerhouses of the country, and are helping to create a whole new era of financial prosperity. For some observers, this translates into 1.3 billion people who now have the money to afford the sort of commercial goods many of the country’s factories had previously been producing for the affluent populations of other countries. China is seeing its own affluence rise, and some surmise that this will translate into a Western-style nation of relatively well-off consumers; that, as this report from the McKinsey Global Institute suggests, China’s middle class is emerging to help propel the country’s economic success even higher.
The only problem is that this middle class doesn’t actually exist. And unless decades-old rules change, it won't.
In a recent paper published in the journal Eurasian Geography and Economics, geographer and University of Washington professor Kam Wing Chan argues that all of the country’s urban growth and prosperity is not actually filtering down to the majority of the rising urban population. The reason is that the majority of the urban population is prevented from fully participating in the booming urban economy because of a Mao-era rule that draws a harsh line between those from urban areas and those from rural ones.
Established in 1958, hukou establishes a two-tiered population structure of rural and urban citizens. Urban citizens are given access to social services and welfare programs, including public education and affordable housing. Rural residents are not. Status is hereditary, meaning that once a family is in one tier it will always remain in that tier. This has been a problem for many rural residents who want to leave their agricultural lifestyles to earn the higher wages in cities working in factories or construction, but who are faced with slum-like living conditions and an effective low ceiling over their social and economic mobility.
Chan says it is this system of official discrimination that has enabled China to experience such economic growth – and what makes it unlikely that the second-class citizens will be able to become the sort of consumerist middle class outsiders are predicting.
“I would argue that this is one of the most powerful forces creating the modern global economy that we see,” says Chan. “There’s 150 million super-exploitable, very young migrant workers in China. And this is all very much created by the hukou system.”
He points to Shenzhen, where only about 3 million of its roughly 14 million residents have urban hukou classification.
“After a quarter century of development, it still remains very much a migrant city. It’s very, very young. 60 percent of the population is between 15 and 35. When you compare that with the general age profile of all the cities, it’s very extraordinary,” Chan says. “What that means is that they can come here to work in their youthful years and they can stay in the dormitories, but if they want to raise a family, they’re going to face a tremendous amount of difficulties.”
“At some point, some of them will be so-called ‘voluntarily’ forced out of the city. They will go back home, back to the countryside.”
Chan says this reality flies in the face of suggestions that China will soon have a broad middle class with a huge spending power.
But the system is changing, slowly. New rules were recently announced by the central government that lift some of the restrictions that prevent rural migrants from gaining permanent residency rights, a move Chan sees as at least a small sign of hope. The new rules allow migrants, under certain circumstances, to apply for residency permits in medium- and small-sized cities. The 40 largest cities – places like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen – are not included. And though Chan says these newly lifted restrictions are a positive change, he also notes that it’s mostly symbolic.
“There’s not really a lot of jobs in smaller cities. So it’s not exactly targeting the areas that it’s really needed and where there’s large numbers of migrants. Like Beijing, easily you have several million migrants,” Chan says.
And the smaller cities also have fewer resources and are therefore unable to offer high levels of urban welfare and public services – benefits of having permanent resident status in a city.
“There’s not really much to offer by having a small town hukou status,” Chan says.
The rule change may create benefits in some cities, says Chan, but even those will not come quickly. It can often take years for such rule changes to be implemented.
Until the hukou system is dramatically changed in job-rich big cities, the hundreds of millions of rural migrants who have come to China’s emerging cities will remain officially removed from the stunning pace of economic development there. If a middle class is emerging in China, they almost certainly will not be part of it.
Photo credit: Joe Tan / Reuters | <urn:uuid:70f4ab36-4740-437d-bfdb-51626841430d> | {
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—To analyze the trend and pattern of the nutrition status of Southeast Asian refugee children and other low-income children in the United States.
—Descriptive analysis of the growth data from the Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance System of the Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, Ga, from 1980 through 1989.
—Children under 5 years of age from low-income families enrolled in public health clinics in 12 selected states.
Measurements and Main Results.
—Asian refugee children experienced a progressive and significant decline in the prevalence of low birth weight, low height-for-age, and low weight-for-age, while these nutritional indexes remained stable for low-income white, black, and Hispanic children. By 1989, the growth status of Asian children was near that of other ethnic groups.
—The marked improvement of growth status among Asian refugee children over a short period suggests that the poor growth status often observed among recently immigrated Asian children is primarily related to nutritional and health factors, rather than genetic factors. In assessing the growth of Asian or immigrant children, it would be helpful to take their family and early childhood background into account.(JAMA. 1992;267:937-940) | <urn:uuid:913de6fd-8eaf-49a4-851b-70f6ffb7a505> | {
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Five Steps to Happiness
Learning to Explore & Understand Your Emotional Mind
Do you suffer from panic attacks? Do you ever feel afraid, anxious or even depressed? Would you like to feel more in control of your emotions? Five Steps to Happiness: Learning to Explore & Understand Your Emotional Mind offers steps to overcome certain behavioral patterns and also removes the stigma that can be associated with conditions such as anxiety and depression.
With over thirty years’ experience in the field of mental health, Enda Murphy draws on case histories to inform readers about the five modes of behavior that can cause mental health problems. Through a writing style that is free from psychobabble and jargon, readers are offered qualified advice on how to cope with and overcome panic attacks, anxiety and depression by changing just five ways of behaving. The book also sets out how to deal with our emotions, and how we can avoid the errors in our thinking that cause mental health problems. Readers are invited to change their ways of thinking to live happier and more emotionally healthy lives.
Although this book specifically targets those who suffer from mental health problems, it is also essential reading for anybody interested in why such conditions occur: family members and loved ones of those who suffer, as well as therapists and health professionals.
Extremely practical in terms of identifying and address mental health problems based on experiences from Enda Murphy’s longstanding and respected career as a mental health professional. | <urn:uuid:e7935026-8a97-4406-83f1-52e0973434ce> | {
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Green Water is a generic description for water that has been treated to a quality suitable for provision as a non-potable supply, usually, but not exclusively in parallel with a potable supply, for industrial, residential or public use (examples might include toilet flushing, horticultural/irrigation purposes, laundries, industrial processes or washing, heating/cooling functions.)
[Green water' is sometimes mistakenly referred to as 'grey' water. This should not be the case - 'grey' water is untreated wastewater from baths, basins and showers. Green water is treated.]
The Green Water "Standard" has the following characteristics:
- is clear (<2NTU), free of pathogens (<10cfu/100ml), and conforms to criteria for tertiary treatment, typically < 10mg/l BOD, < 10mg/l Suspended Solids and < 5mg/l NH3
- should be clearly identified as a separate supply, not for human consumption, by the use of a green tinged vegetable dye at a specified dilution (1:20,000)
- Rainwater and storm run-off water, when blended with treated water from other derivation would also qualify as 'green water' when treated to the Green Water "Standard".
Potable water is provided for the purpose of drinking and must meet all the Drinking water Quality Regulations. Private supplies of Green water to more that a single household are regulated by Local Authority Environmental Health Departments. They have a requirement to sample the water at a specified frequency.
Non-potable Green Water is not yet regulated in the UK and can be treated (or not) to meet specific end-use. There is a Duty of Care by agreement between the supplier and the provider of a service (e.g. the Local Authority) to ensure that the agreed standard is complied with.
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New research from Cambridge University has found that empathy, or the ability to recognize or infer someone else's state of mind by reading his or her eyes appear to be low in people with autism.
The findings support the 'extreme male brain' theory of autism, that predicts that on tests of empathy, typical females will score higher than typical males, who in turn will score higher than people with autism.
"This research has the potential to explain why children with autism, from the earliest point in development, avoid looking at people's eyes, and become confused in rapidly changing social situations, where people are exchanging glances without words all the time," said one of the researchers Carrie Allison from Cambridge University.
"This disability may be both a marker of the early-onset empathy difficulties in autism, and contribute to exacerbating them," Allison noted.
For the study, people with autism took the 'Reading the Mind in the Eyes' test known as an advanced 'theory of mind' or empathy test, designed to reveal subtle individual differences in social sensitivity.
While typical adults showed the predicted and now well established sex difference on this test, with women on average scoring higher than men, in adults with autism this typical sex difference was conspicuously absent.
Instead, both men and women with autism scored low on the test.
"There are substantial individual differences in terms of how well a person with autism performs on the Eyes test, but the social difficulties of both men and women are reflected on their test scores," senior author of the study Meng-Chuan Lai from Autism Research Centre (ARC) in Cambridge University noted.
"In addition, women with autism differ more from typical women than men with autism differ from typical men," Lai pointed out.
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FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS OVER $25!
Looking for an activity that’ll send your kids’ creativity out into orbit? This rocket ship space craft will inspire them to blast off into hours of play! Fun to make and fun to fly, 7 Days of Play shows you how to turn paper towel tubes into any aspiring astronaut’s new favorite toy. All you need is nontoxic Aleene’s Original Tacky Glue and a few supplies you probably already have around the house. Get ready for space craft action in 3 … 2 … 1 …
- 2 Paper towel tubes (per rocket ship)
- Acrylic paint
- Craft papers (desired colors)
- Tissue papers (desired colors)
- Aluminum foil
Gather your supplies and get your little crew of space explorers ready for a new adventure with this easy space craft! If you’re worried about any messes, you can always cover your work surface with a disposable plastic cover before getting started. Original Tacky Glue cleans up easily with soap and water before it dries!
Paint one of the paper towel tubes in your desired base color
While the first paper towel tube is drying, cut the second tube into four sections. Do this by first cutting the tube vertically to open it, then into four equal-sized pieces.
Roll each of the four sections of tube into smaller tubes and glue the end of each to hold in place. Let dry. These will be the rocket thrusters.
Paint each thruster black and let dry.
Cut two squares of cardboard for the rocket base. Cut a slit into the center of each square and merge them at the slits to form an X shape.
Paint the rocket base in your desired color and let dry.
To make the top of the rocket and a window for the rocket, glue a piece of craft paper to a piece of foil. Cut two circles from this, one larger for the top and a smaller-sized circle for the window.
To form the top of the rocket, cut a slit halfway into the larger circle and wrap the sides around until a cone shape with a pointy tip forms. Glue the sides in place.
Glue the foil cone in place on the top of the rocket tube.
Make 4 evenly spaced cuts at the bottom of the rocket tube and secure the rocket base inside. Glue each of the thruster tubes inside of each chamber at the base.
Cut stripes of tissue paper to resemble flames and glue to the inside edges of thrusters, tailing out the back of the rocket.
Finish decorating the rocket body any way you like! Let everything completely dry before takeoff!
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The Navigation Acts were laws that were meant to restrict trade to and from the American colonies. They did this so that the colonies’ trade would be more beneficial to England.
In colonial times, essentially all European powers believed in the idea of mercantilism. This was a doctrine that held that countries needed to export more than they imported. It was believed that this was the only way that a country could become rich and powerful.
To comply with the ideas of mercantilism, countries had to try to limit their imports. They would also want to limit the amount of goods that any of their colonies imported as well. This was the background of the Navigation Acts. The British wanted to prevent the American colonies from importing goods from other countries. Therefore, they enacted these laws, preventing the colonies from importing many goods. The laws also required the colonies to sell many of the goods they produced to England and not to any other country.
The Navigation Acts were also meant to help strengthen the British merchant fleet. They tried to ensure that all goods coming to and from the colonies would be carried in British ships, manned by British crews. This would give Britain a greater degree of potential naval power.
So, the Navigation Acts were laws that were meant to make sure that the colonies’ economic activities would end up helping England, and not any other country, live up to the goals of mercantilism.
The Navigation Acts were laws that restricted foreign shipping for trade between England and its colonies. They were passed by the English Parliament in the 17th century. It was an attempt to put mercantilism into practice.
The navigation acts were a series of laws beginning in 1651 that restricted foreign shipping. The first navigation acts (1651)
- only English ships could transport goods from outside Europe
- that goods from inside Europe could only be shipped by English ships and ships from the originating country.
The Navigation Acts were passed by the English Parliament in the seventeenth century. The Acts were originally aimed at excluding the Dutch from the profits made by English trade. The mercantilist theory behind the Navigation Acts assumed that world trade was fixed and the colonies existed for the parent country.
The Navigation Acts of 1660 and 1696 restricted American trade in the following ways;
1. Only British ships could transport imported and exported goods from the colonies.
2. The only people who were allowed to trade with the colonies had to be British citizens.
3. Commodities such as sugar, tobacco, and cotton wool which were produced in the colonies could be exported only to British ports.
Before 1763 the English civil war and the Glorious Revolution were taking place in Europe. During this time the British had to deal with the wars in Europe and really didn't enforce the Navigation Acts, due to their preoccupation with the war. Colonist then stopped following the laws, and smuggling and bribery became a common sight throughout the colonies. The colonists began trading with non-British colonies in the Caribbean, this trading contributed to many colonial merchants and farmers prospering. Britain once again tried to enforce these laws after the French and Indian War, but the colonists sternly objected. These acts aroused great hostility in the American colonies. The Navigation Acts were finally revoked in 1849 after Britain supported the policy of free trade.
The Navigation Acts were a series of twenty-nine laws passed by the British Parliament to control trade conducted by its colonies. These acts, passed between 1645 and 1761, required that any goods sent to England, Ireland, or the English colonies had to be carried on English (or English colonial) ships. To prevent colonies from trading directly with other nations, England required that the colonies sell their materials to English merchants or pay duties (taxes) on goods (such as sugar, cotton, tobacco, indigo, rice, molasses, apples, and wool) sold to other countries. European merchants also had to pay taxes on the products they sold to the English colonies. To counter these laws, merchants often smuggled products into and out of the colonies.
Further Information: "Navigation Acts." Electric Library. [Online] Available http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/09056.html, October 16, 2000; United States of America Chronology—Navigation Acts. [Online] Available http://campus.northpark.edu/history/WebChron/USA/Navigation.html, October 16, 2000. | <urn:uuid:0391977a-3ad4-4e9a-8159-621a906014ca> | {
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