Many people wonder what causes dry eyes. In general, dry eye can occur from improper balance of tear production and tear drainage and/or from poor tear quality.
• Improper tear balance. Several glands in and around the eyelids produce tears. Usually, tear production decreases with age. Also, certain diseases and medications can cause decreased tear production. When the normal amount of tears lowers or tears evaporate from the eye too quickly, dry eye occurs.
• Poor tear quality. Tears consist of three main components: outer, oily lipid layer, middle, watery layer and inner, mucus layer. Each tear component serves a specific purpose – for example the oily layer lubricates and protects the cornea and prevents evaporation of the watery tear component; the inner mucus layer helps tears spread evenly over the entire surface of the eye. Any imbalance between these three components may result into dry eye.
What causes dry eyes? The most common causes of dry eye are associated with age, gender, medications, certain medical conditions, environmental factors and lifestyle habits.
Age. Dry eye is considered part of the natural aging process as tear production tend to diminish with age. However, many young people also develop dry eye. Usually, these are people spending long hours of uninterrupted eye work.
Gender. Dry eye is most common among women due to hormonal imbalances and changes during pregnancies, menopause and contraception.
Medications. Some medications inhibit tear production and their long term use may cause dry eye. These are antihistamine medications, blood pressure medications, some anti-depressants and birth control pills.
Medical conditions. Having certain medical problems may increase the risk of dry eye. Skin diseases on or around the eye lids, allergies, immune system disorders such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, thyroid gland disorders may result in dry eye.
Environmental factors. Frequent exposure to smoke, wind and dry climates or conditioned air tend to increase the risk of dry eye.
When discussing what causes dry eyes, we must mention diet and eating habits. Dry eye may be caused by insufficient vitamin intake or over intake of certain vitamins. That is why maintaining a healthy vision diet is of utmost importance for its prevention.
dry eyes immune system, dry eye cause, vision diet


***Disclosure: I received complimentary products to facilitate my review. No other compensation was provided, and all opinions are 100% honest and have not been influenced in any way.***
Everyone knows that April is Earth Month. Many people are trying to find ways that they can do their part and help to reduce their carbon footprint on the environment. Sure, things like recycling, limiting time in the shower, and making sure small appliances are unplugged when not in use are great ways to help. But did you know there are other, equally simple changes you can make that have an amazing impact on the environment?
One great and relatively painless way to help the environment is buying bulk foods. Nowadays there are plenty of great bulk options from shopping at warehouse clubs or choosing to buy things like nuts, rice, and oatmeal from the bulk bins found in many local supermarkets.
How Buying Bulk Helps The Earth :
How does buying food in bulk help the environment? Well, in a lot of ways, actually! One of the main advantages would have to be that purchasing staples in bulk saves tons and tons of packaging waste from entering our already overflowing landfills. Yes, I said tons. Check out these fast facts and the fun infographic below for more info:
· If Americans purchased all of their coffee from the bulk bins for 1 month (Earth Month), 20,000,000 pounds of foil packaging would be saved from landfills. That¹s the equivalent weight of 7,667 compact cars.
· If the average American family bought peanut butter in bulk for 1 month, 122 pound of waste per family would be saved from entering landfills.
· If Americans purchased all of their almonds in bulk for 1 month, 6,000,000 pounds of waste would be saved from landfills. That¹s the equivalent weight of 522.5 elephants. (Crazy, right?!)
· Purchasing oatmeal from the bulk bins saves 5 times the waste of its packaged equivalent.
Pretty impressive, isn't it? So by making some small changes and choosing to love bulk foods, you can make an incredible impact while teaching your children how to love and value the Earth.
Pledge to Love Bulk Foods and Enter to Win An I Love Bulk Prize Package :
Take the pledge to love bulk foods and purchase bulk foods once a week during the month of April. By doing this, you automatically will be entered into the drawing to win a prize pack filled with everything you need to create a natural pantry stocked with foods from the bulk bins (approximate value $75).
Winners will be drawn once a week during the Earth Month. Are you ready to help save the environment, eat healthier, more natural foods, reduce food waste and save some money? Yes? Then take the pledge! Click to take the pledge to Love Bulk Foods!
PR Friendly Mama!
I'm Brandy, a happily married, proud mama of two munchkins and a teen. You can read more about me HERE. If you're interested in building a working relationship, please feel free to e-mail me at: NewlyCrunchyMamaOf3@gmail.com
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Excessive consumption of alcohol, whether prolonged or resulting in negative consequence such as missing work or violence, is often defined as substance abuse. Alcohol abuse maintains different definitions from person to person. It is difficult to draw a line between moderate drinking and heavy drinking, social drinking, and an addiction to drinking.
Symptoms of Alcohol Abuse
• drinking seems to be a top priority
• increased tolerance to alcohol
• inability to stop drinking
• withdrawal symptoms, such as shaking or sweating
• agitation at others’ criticism of drinking
People growing up around excessive drinkers or surrounding themselves with people who drink frequently are more prone to abusing alcohol. Those dealing with depression or anxiety may use alcohol to mitigate their mental state, unknowingly developing alcoholic tendencies. Abuse may lead to alcohol tolerance, dependence, and withdrawal, furthering a reliance on alcohol.
Support groups, such as AA, are prevalent all over to help those suffering from alcohol abuse. Medication is also available to aid those dealing with alcohol dependency. Therapy can help clients recognize the intent behind the misuse of alcohol. A therapist can help clients develop necessary skills to deter the compulsion to drink. Working with a therapist to treat alcohol abuse provides encouragement to maintain abstinence.
We Can Help
Open Path’s therapists offer beneficial services that encourage insight, self-reflection, and healthy coping mechanisms. Our therapists furnish a supportive environment, allowing clients to reach a healthier lifestyle and support prolonged sobriety.
Interested in seeing one of our therapists for an affordable rate? Start your search here.


|Prof. Dr. Jürgen Tautz|
We are honored to announce a partnership
with the HOney Bee Online Studies (HOBOS) Program
, directed by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Tautz at Universität Würzburg, Germany, to promote science education through the application of IR imaging technology. HOBOS uses bees to stimulate students' interest and promote their inquiry skills, including enhancement of the ability to "think critically, integrate and synthesize knowledge, draw conclusions from complex material, understand the natural and physical worlds, grasp the processes by which scientific concepts are developed and modified, develop the mathematical and quantitative skills necessary for calculation, and analytical thought and problem solving." These are exactly our goals on the other side of the pond. We hope this international collaboration will help us integrate our resources to promote these shared visions.
Prof. Tautz is a renown biologist whose work have been widely reported by New York Times
, and so on. HOBOS has been supported by UNESCO
and nominated for the 2011 Cleantech Media Award
Thermal vision is a critical technique in bee research. HOBOS currently provides an online IR camera
that allows anyone to observe bees in real time. We envision that this partnership will allow us to jointly explore broader applications of affordable IR imaging (and other applicable technologies) in biology education. We are looking forward to the return of bees, bugs, and other insects in the spring to start this journey!


April 2011 marks the 200th anniversary of the key decisions for the construction of the Erie Canal, a monumental public works project that transformed the economy of New York State.
Two centuries ago, on April 8, 1811, the state Legislature approved a measure that set into motion the construction of the Erie Canal. This followed the delivery of a report on March 2, 2011 of a report by the original Commission.
Brian U. Stratton, Director of the New York State Canal Corporation, "Two hundred years ago, visionary New Yorkers set forth a plan which would revolutionize communication and transportation throughout a young nation, lead to unprecedented prosperity and growth, and forever establish New York the Empire State. Two centuries later, the Erie Canal stands alone as a bold public project that helped shape America. The lessons from our storied past
inspire us today to search out similarly bold initiatives to promote the economic development of Upstate New York."
From Utica to Fairport to North Tonawanda, the 363-mile-long Erie Canal corridor offers numerous opportunities for shippers, boaters, bicyclists and walkers. The canal-side venues are the scenes of dozens of festivals, fairs and community events throughout the year.
In addition to its traditional role as a transportation corridor, the Canal system serves critical Upstate needs for hydropower, drinking water, irrigation and flood control.
The inter-agency Mohawk-Erie Corridor Study is examining how sustainable transportation assets can promote economic growth in Upstate New York.
Judy Schmidt Dean, chair of the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Commission said: "Members of New York's legislature could not have imagined the revolutionary impact or lasting legacy of the Erie Canal when they adopted the Canal Commission's report and passed this canal legislation 200 years ago. Today, we celebrate their extraordinary vision and accept
continued responsibility for the good stewardship of America's greatest canal system."
Fairport Village Mayor Frederick May said, "Fairport exists because of the Erie Canal. Throughout the year, including wintertime, the waterfront is a focus for family fun and festivals. We consider the Erie Canal to be a Main Street in the Village of Fairport. It plays a huge role in the economic development of Fairport."
North Tonawanda Mayor Robort Ortt said, "It was the opening of the Erie Canal that made North Tonawanda a gateway for commerce on the Great Lakes and the Midwest. Today, the Canal continues to drive economic development in North Tonawanda and serves as a gateway to the many tourists who travel across inland waterways."
The original Canal Commission was comprised of some of the most distinguished citizens of New York: Stephen Van Rensselaer, Gouverneur Morris, DeWitt Clinton, Simeon DeWitt, William North, Thomas Eddy and Peter R. Porter
It had been directed by the Legislature in 1810 to conduct a survey across New York to examine possible routes for the canal. The Canal Commission suggested that such a canal not only could, but should, be built by New Yorkers to link the Great Lakes with the Atlantic seaboard.
The suggestion that a canal be constructed "350 miles through the wilderness" of upstate New York had been described by President Thomas Jefferson as "a little short of madness." Still, the Canal Commissioners
had concluded that it was not only possible, but that the benefits to New York, and the nation, would be enormous.
However audacious the plan, the Commissioners' report accurately predicted that the benefits would far outweigh the costs, whatever the price: "Thus, were it (by giving a loose to fancy) extended to fifty millions of dollars, even that enormous sum does not exceed half the value of what, in all human probability, and at no distant period, will annually be carried along the
When the Legislature adopted the Commission report, it appropriated $15,000 for the Commission to continue its work and added two more distinguished members Robert L. Livingston and Robert Fulton.


Australia's warmest 12-month period on record
September 2012 to August 2013: the last 12 months
The past 12 months have been the warmest on record for Australia. The average temperature across Australia for the period 1 September 2012 to 31 August 2013 was 22.92 °C. This is 1.11 °C above the 1961–1990 average, surpassing the previous record of +1.08 °C that occurred between February 2005 and January 2006.
Temperatures for the calendar year-to-date (January to August) are also the warmest on record, at 1.13 °C above the long-term average, exceeding the figure set in August 2005, which was Australia’s warmest calendar year on record.
The record 12-month period has been characterised by widespread heat across Australia. The average temperature has been above average over the entire continent, with no region registering below average temperatures.
In the past 12-month period a large number of temperature records have fallen across Australia including:
- Australia’s hottest summer day on record (7 January)
- Australia’s warmest winter day on record (31 August)
- Australia’s hottest month on record (January)
- Australia’s warmest sea-surface temperatures on record (February)
- Australia’s hottest summer on record
- Australia’s hottest January to August period on record
- Australia’s warmest 12-month period on record
The period ending August 2013 has also resulted in numerous State and Territory records including:
- The hottest January to August period on record for South Australia and Victoria;
- The warmest winter on record for Victoria;
- The warmest 12-month period on record for South Australia; and
- The warmest winter day on record for the Northern Territory.
Generally above-average temperatures have persisted with few breaks during the past 12 months, with long periods of warmer-than-average days and a distinct lack of strong cold fronts across the south. Nights have also been warmer than average, but less so than daytime temperatures.Every calendar month since September 2012 has recorded temperatures 0.5 °C or more above average, with seven of those twelve months topping 1.0 °C above average including January, April, May, July and August of 2013. The warmth has extended to the oceans around Australia with widespread record warmth.
The Remainder of 2013
If a mean temperature of more than 1.0 °C above average is maintained over the next one, two, three or four month periods, each of the 12-month periods ending September, October, November and December would exceed the previous record from 2005–06 for the warmest 12-month period.
The Bureau’s seasonal outlook for spring indicates that both maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be above average over much of Australia. The outlook for warmer-than-average temperatures over the remainder of the year is consistent with the Bureau’s knowledge of background temperature trends, and the well-above-average water temperatures that currently surround Australia.
Australian temperatures are now on average more than 1 °C warmer than during the 1950s.
Product Code: IDCKGMTA00


National Youth Day creates awareness and provides knowledge about the rights of people in India. It is a day to educate people to behave properly in the country. The main objective behind the celebration is to make a better future of the country by motivating the youths and spreading the ideas of the Swami Vivekananda. National Youth Day is also famous as Yuva Diwas.
The world celebrates the great monk Swami Vivekananda’s birth anniversary on January 12 who worked for the betterment of society. Swami Vivekananda was a social reformer, philosopher, and thinker. The main objective behind the celebration is to propagate the philosophy and the ideals of Swami Vivekananda for which he lived and worked. Swami was a chief disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa and played a very important in the revival of Hinduism in India. Swami Vivekananda’s original name was Narendranath Datta. It was way back in 1984 that the government of India declared January 12 as National Youth Day to commemorate the birthday of Swami Vivekananda. The day is celebrated at many centres of Ramakrishna Math, Ramakrishna Mission, and their branches with great enthusiasm and joy according to the Indian culture and tradition.


Voltaire's Candide, medical students, and mentoring
© Papadimos; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2007
Received: 04 April 2007
Accepted: 03 July 2007
Published: 03 July 2007
In Voltaire's work, Candide, a young, naïve man, who has been taught that humans live in the best of all possible worlds, is thrust into the world only to find that this may not be so. He learns over time to balance his optimism with the skepticism he acquires through experience. While today's medical students are not naïve like the character Candide, they, nonetheless, carry an impression of the ideal medical practice, along with the expectation of a successful medical practice. Good mentors and role models are important to students in order to temper their optimism, control their skepticism, and to help them to be realistic, not only about their expectations of medical practice, but what society expects of them.
Candide is a classic literary work that allows us to consider the parallel between literature and the education of medical students. Medical student mentors can learn much from its classic characters. By drawing on the humanities, mentors can enrich their perspectives and deepen their comprehension of human interactions, especially in regard to those who teach and those who are taught.
Voltaire's minor work, Candide, persists as one of his major contributions to literature and satire:
"It is a supremely wrought tragicomedy that slyly and irresistibly induces us to laugh at and simultaneously reflect upon the most dreadful events that befall humankind. It appeals to us today because, nearly 250 years after its publication, it has lost none of its relevance or satirical sting. It is particularly modern and pertinent because its dark comic vision is essentially in keeping with our own awareness of what separates our need for order, clarity, and rationality from the brutal reality of a chaotic world ."
While today's medical students are not naïve like Voltaire's character, Candide, the journey of medical students' expectations will be compared with that of Candide using Voltaire's wit and understanding by primarily borrowing his story's characters and venues to parallel the 21st century medical students' environment.
The young, naïve protagonist, Candide, a hero who seeks to be happy against all odds and catastrophes, believes he lives in the best of all possible worlds. The freshness of his naivete is reflected in medical students who view the practice of medicine as the "best of all possible worlds." A seat secured in a medical school class is something that the student has worked hard to attain, and at this time of their early adulthood it is a most idealized adventure on which to embark.
However, society at large has dispatched much of the myth surrounding the idealized training of physicians. In John Updike's introduction to Samuel Shem's novel, The House of God, he applauds the author's initial attempt to relieve us of the illusion that,
" ...their training and expertise and saintly dedication have purged them of all the uncertainty, trepidation, and disgust that we would feel in their position, seeing what they see and being asked to cure it. Blood and vomit and pus do not revolt them; senility and dementia have no terrors; it does not alarm them to plunge into the slippery tangle of internal organs, or to handle the infected and contagious. For them, the flesh and its diseases have been abstracted, rendered coolly diagrammatic and quickly subject to infallible diagnosis and effective treatment ."
It is uncanny how Voltaire's Candide is applicable to the situation of medical students. So much so, that in his introduction to The House of God John Updike remarks that Shem's hero, Roy Basch (a new intern), "suggests Voltaire's Candide in his buoyant innocence and his persistent–for all the running hypochondria of his hectic confessional narrative–health ."
Most of today's applicants to medical school remain idealistic, but are encumbered by young adult developmental issues, incur great financial debt for their education, and retain an element of naivete in their approach to their chosen profession. It is not that they are naïve, but that they have a naivete of expectations in regard to their future medical practice. Their naivete of expectations will vanish with time and their optimism will be tempered with experience. Hopefully, skepticism will not overwhelm them, although it is natural, even protective at times. Support of the student by effective role models and mentors throughout their clinical years is of paramount importance to ensure their successful navigation of expectations and reality during their professional maturation.
Cunégonde: the origins of the voyage
We can consider Candide's Westphalian paradise as the comfortable undergraduate situation of medical students where, like Candide, their voyage begins involuntarily when they graduate from college. Candide is not a college graduate, but his "voyage begins involuntarily when he is kicked out of his Westphalian paradise by the old Baron de Thunder-ten-tronckh..." for being affectionate with the Baron's daughter, Cunégonde . Both Candide and the medical student leave their comfortable surroundings hoping to secure a dream. Candide wishes to be reunited with his true love, Cunégonde, whom he lost on his departure from Westphalia. For medical students, in the narrowest sense, their Cunégonde is the ideal practice of medicine. In a much larger sense, Cunégonde represents a more broad ideal regarding a protected life; an idyllic situation where all patients get well, all patients love their physicians, where there is remuneration for all patient encounters, where all patients can access healthcare, partake of the most advanced technology, and where malpractice is something that happens to someone else. However, the ideal of the "protected life" may only occur for medical students in their teaching environment. This environment should be a place where they can be nurtured and cared for before their inevitable confrontation with the practice of medicine. It is a place where good mentors can make a difference.
Pangloss: the optimistic philosophy of the student's pre-morbid state
Voltaire wrote Candide as an objection to Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's theory that God created the universe as the best of all universes, or worlds. He mocked Leibniz using the character Pangloss, a philosopher who teaches an optimistic philosophy that is the antithesis of the world Voltaire creates around Candide, through violence and mayhem. Pangloss's "best of all worlds" view, though, is accepted by the naïve Candide .
Students do, in fact, demonstrate unrealistic optimism. McGee and Cairns demonstrated in a study of 257 medical students that were asked to document their belief about 17 different health problems, varying levels of unrealistic optimism about their beliefs and how these health risks affected them . The "unrealism" related to optimism became a concept that was taught in class to give students "feedback on their own cognitive processes and illustrating that they have cognitive distortions similar to those of patients ."
The "Pangloss" of medical students is a crystallization of the medical students' pre-morbid state (before medical school). In other words, the "Pangloss" of medical students is their idealized expectations of medical practice, fueled by the perceptions of family, society, history, and the media, all of which perpetrate and perpetuate a medical/physician ideal. Additionally, this premorbid state may be further indurated by the tendency of medical schools to highlight their own glorious past, their research endeavors, and the medical field in general. Therefore, this "Pangloss" of medical students is their usher into the great hall of medicine where reality, armed with the crossbow of skepticism, awaits them.
Martin: the skepticism of the experienced medical practitioner
Martin was an old philosopher that Candide befriended in Surinam. Candide chose him as a companion because he seemed to be "that person who appeared to him the most deserving of compassion and the most truly dissatisfied with his condition in life ." His selection as Candide's companion came about after a Dutch judge and a ship's captain both victimized Candide, leading to his conclusion that men were wicked . He then made it known that he would provide room, board, and payment for the most unfortunate person in Surinam. Many applied, but Martin was selected. Martin was a scholar, an honest man who had been robbed by his spouse, assaulted by his son, persecuted by local clergy, and fired from his job of ten years. These experiences made him a skeptic. For example, Martin lamented that the had seen neighboring cities try to exterminate each other, family members try to hurt one another, that people were starving, and that the rich treated the poor harshly, to which Candide replied, "an yet there is some good in the world ." Martin countered, "Maybe so, but it has escaped my knowledge ." Amid adversity Martin cannot find buoyancy. A true mentor will find a teaching opportunity in an adverse situation; a lesson learned today is tomorrow's catastrophe averted. The character of Martin represents the skeptic, Pierre Bayle, one of Voltaire's favorite opponents of philosophical optimism .
In the context of this paper Martin represents the seasoned medical practitioner's view of medical practice, not jaundiced, but Bayle qua Martin, understanding as Voltaire did that the world is both good and evil. There are good days and bad days in the practice of medicine. Some patients survive horrible illnesses and some do not. Sometimes patients and insurers pay for services rendered, sometimes they do not. On rare occasions a physician will be sued for malpractice, and on occasions he or she will lose, "You are very hard in your beliefs," said Candide. "It is because," said Martin, "I have seen the world ."
Physicians' skepticism starts in medical school. Griffith and Wilson confirmed changes in student attitudes toward patients in their third year of training, especially for those who are elderly or in chronic pain . Students were of the opinion that most of the elderly were demented and those with chronic pain were drug seekers. Furthermore, "students also became less idealistic toward the medical profession, believing fewer physicians love what they are doing, and having less faith in certain therapies ." According to Voltaire, on some days there are just too many obstacles to the idyllic life, such as Bulgarians, tempests, shipwrecks, and earthquakes abounding .
Cacambo: support of the inexperienced
Cacambo is introduced in Chapter XIV as Candide arrives in Paraguay:
"Candide had brought with him from Cadiz such a footman as one often meets on the coast of Spain and in the Colonies. He was one-quarter Spanish, the son of a half-breed and was born in Tucuman. He had been a singing boy, sexton, sailor, monk, peddler, soldier, and a lackey ."
He was wise and did his best to keep Candide on a safe path of good decision-making. In many ways his role was that of a teacher, in that he provided crucial support to Candide throughout his journey. He had many jobs in his lifetime, even that of a lackey. All faculty members remember being interns, or lackeys. Faculty members usually have a history of varied jobs or experiences, and in their quest to teach and role model they must take positions of support as the "wingmen" (military air support term) of medical students.
The only way to keep overwhelming skepticism at bay, that is skepticism that is neither natural nor protective, is for there to be role modeling and mentoring by those who teach the students. Where does Voltaire illustrate someone who inspires confidence, demonstrates moral uprightness, and is intelligent? While some may think Voltaire has no faith in humanity, one will only have to look to Cacambo:
"He knows both native American and European languages, and deals capably with both the Jesuits and Biglugs. He suffers fewer gross misfortunes than any other character, less out of luck than because of sharp wits, and he lives up to Candides's trust when Candide sends him to fetch Cunégonde. Any reader tempted to conclude that Voltaire has no faith in human nature must reconsider when faced with the example of Cacambo ."
Medical students need their mentors to be Cacambos: morally upright, confidant, intelligent, trustworthy, and sharp of wit to inculcate the necessary skills regarding the measurement of skepticism and optimism in their approach to the practice of medicine. Teachers must give them the information they need and mentor them through necessary experiences and situations. They must become Cacambos.
Expectations of medical students: the El Dorado ideal
El Dorado was Voltaire's perfect world, a place where optimistic philosophy flourished, a land Candide visited with Cacambo. It was a place where honest people could be found and were contented with their lot in life, "I am very ignorant sir, but I am contented in my ignorance..." admitted an inhabitant to Candide . It was a place where the ground was littered with "the pebbles and sand, which we call gold and precious stones ." It was a place where, upon visiting the king, "Twenty beautiful young virgins in waiting welcomed Candide and Cacambo as they stepped from the coach, led them to the bath, and dressed them in robes made of the down of humming birds... ." El Dorado was a utopian welfare state. Everybody enjoyed everything and everyone's needs were met. It was a place Voltaire felt could never exist.
Nonetheless there is an "El Dorado" of medical practice in the medical students' mind, the ultimate destination of their voyage in medicine. While he or she may know there are pitfalls along the road, they hope for idealized conditions such as insured patients, honest administrators, prompt-paying insurers, a few "precious pebbles" that they may acquire along the way, and hopefully, an understanding spouse or partner.
As the medical student approaches his or her senior year the optimism remains for a bright future. Although they are encumbered by a huge debt for their medical education their quest for the El Dorado of medicine remains their ideal . However, while the Pangloss of their optimism whispers in one ear, the Martin of skepticism has begun to whisper in the other. Indeed, both optimism and skepticism have their place, but medical students need, as Candide did, someone to support them in this journey.
Expectations of society: the community ideal
Advanced medical skills, paying patients, and a few "precious pebbles" are hopeful expectations of medical students. But does society have expectations of physicians?
While in Paris with Martin and an Abbe, Candide came across a particular situation (the burial of royalty), and the reaction of the local populace surprised him:
"Lord," said Martin. "What do you expect? It is the way of these people. Imagine all the contraindications, all the inconsistencies possible, and you may meet with them in the government, the courts of justice, and the public spectacles of this odd nation." "Is it true," asked Candide, "that the people of Paris are always laughing?" "Yes," replied the Abbe, "but with anger in their hearts ."
So can it be with society's expectations of physicians. Society may be wearing an angry smile. The angry smile may not only be that of a patient, but also that of managed care, private insurance companies, or the government. The government may play a particularly pivotal role because it represents large social trends and ambivalences. The community wants to be able to trust physicians and have confidence that they will do the right thing. The community does not like what has happened to the doctor-patient relationship. This relationship has been transformed "by substituting questions of cost and benefit for traditional relations of care and trust...the stronger interests have prevailed, with the public reduced to bystander status and medicine itself more passive than active" . It is important mentors make sure that students understand that:
"Medicine depends on more than competence and expertise, essential as they are. It cannot function as an institution without good faith on the part of the provider, patient and public as a whole. The root of the public's trust is the confidence that physicians will put the patients' welfare ahead of all other considerations, even the patients' momentary wishes or the physicians' monetary gain. It is the function of medicine as a profession to safeguard and promote this trust in the society at large. This point could be phrased by the maxim: 'Medicine must always be treated as a public good, never as a commodity ."'
Cultivating our garden: a coalescing of ideals
In the conclusion of Voltaire's tale Candide, Pangloss, Martin, Cunégonde, and Cacambo have settled down on a small farm outside of Constantinople. One day while returning to the farm Candide, Pangloss, and Martin (Cacambo had not accompanied them on this particular outing) passed a "good-looking old man, who was enjoying some fresh air at his doorway under the alcove formed by the boughs of orange trees ." The old man invited them in. Candide assumed the old Turk had a vast estate, but he did not, "I have no more than twenty acres of ground, the whole of which I cultivate myself with the help of my children, and our labour keeps us from three great evils–boredom, vice and want ."
Candide reflected upon the old Turk's conversation, as did Pangloss and Martin. Candide commented to Pangloss and Martin "that we must cultivate our garden ." Pangloss agreed and stated that men should not be idle, to which Martin added, that men should work together without disputes. Thereafter all the inhabitants of the farm pooled their talents in a community effort that allowed the enterprise to produce good harvests, and these good harvests (economic and social) were possible because Candide had been guided by the role and active presence of his "good mentor", Cacambo.
The faculty members of medical schools, as role models and mentors, must be involved in an enterprise that produces good harvests. Collective efforts must be directed at producing, not only competent practitioners, but physicians who know what to expect and what is expected of them. For this to happen, able mentors are required. Able mentors are teachers with integrity, experience, and flexibility . The best mentors "do not promote their own agendas, use their mentees as free labor, take credit for their mentees accomplishments, and do not try to create a clone who mimics the mentor's career path, philosophy, and opinions ."
Voltaire's Candide is a clever, superficial, and sarcastic work. However, this commentary was not meant to paint a cartoonish comparison between Candide and today's medical student. Any caricature of medical students' plights regarding expectations is unintentional. My concern is primarily directed at the faculty's role as mentors. As teachers, academic physicians play the roles of Pangloss, Martin, and Cacambo interchangeably. They bring optimism, skepticism, and support to the teaching of the healing arts. They teach medical students to hone their skills, temper their optimism, control their skepticism, and be realistic about their expectations of medical practice. Students have expectations of their medical practice, while mentors and society have expectations of the students' practice of medicine. It is not that a medical student's El Dorado is not attainable, it is. Through role modeling and mentoring, teachers of medicine can help students realize the true El Dorado of medicine; a state where optimism and skepticism are not only balanced in an effort of acquisition, but also in an effort of proffering the art of healing to the community. A balance Voltaire hoped that we would strike; in a garden that he'd hoped we would cultivate.
In the course of a medical education, and on into medical practice, a student will carry the optimism of Pangloss and the skepticism of Martin, balancing them delicately throughout. The experiences of students and their resultant decisions, influenced by able mentors, will affect and complete their professional soul; to which Candide would respond, "Excellently observed, but we must cultivate our garden ." However, the cultivation of this garden requires a lifetime of effort.
Voltaire wrote this "minor" work as an objection to the philosophical optimism of Leibniz. He presents us with an optimistic youth who must deal with waning optimism and overwhelming skepticism in a world gone wrong, a world of declining expectations. His only effective guide was Cacambo, a balanced and experienced individual...a mentor. We need professionalism in role modeling, teachers of excellence, "who excite admiration and emulation," and then become mentors of the highest caliber . Such mentors must foster optimism with a balanced skepticism in medical students, who, in turn, have great expectations of a society that has great expectations of them.
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This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


- A simple machine is a device by means of which a force is applied at one point and is used to overcome a load at some other point.
- Simple machines are simple tools that can be used in the home, offices, schools, and other places.
- However, there are some machines that are not confined to workshops and industries and are found in our homes, e.g. screw, spoons, hoes, can openers, brooms, etc.
- With the aid of these machines, we are able to do work quickly and easily.
- Therefore, a machine is a device that makes work done conveniently.
- Levers are common examples of simple machines, e.g. knives, forks, spoons, axes, hoes, scissors, tin cutters, brooms, pliers, hammers, etc.
- Levers are classified into three classes, based on the relative position of the effort, load, and fulcrum. The classifications are:
- First Class Levers: The fulcrum or pivot is between the effort and load. E.g. Pliers, scissors, etc.
- Second Class Levers: The load is between the fulcrum, and effort. E.g. Wheel barrow, nut cracker, etc.
- Third Class Levers: the effort is between the load and the fulcrum. E.g. Sugar tongs, etc.
Examples of Simple Machines (Photo Credit: JustScience.in)
Types of Simple Machines
- Wheel and Axle
- The wheel and axle is a form of simple machines made of two wheels of different diameters that are over rigidly fixed on the same axle.
- For wheel and axles, applying effort to the string or rope causes the load to be raised by the string wound around the axle.
- Wheel and axles can be used for lifting heavy loads from any place below the wheel and axle’s position.
- The wheel and axles is used for drawing water from a well, etc.
- A screw consists of the handle called effort, arm, pitch, and thread.
- A screw is an inclined plane wrapped around a cylinder to form a thread.
- Examples of screws include carpenter screw, bolts and nuts, and car jack, etc.
Parts of a Screw
- A simple screw consists of a rod which has a thread.
- The distance between two threads is called pitch of the screw.
- It is the point of rotation or the point at which effort is applied.
Anatomy of a Screw (Photo Credit: WonKeeDonKeeTools.co.uk)
How a Screw Works
- For screw to operate, when the effort moves a complete circumference of a circle, the load moves a corresponding distance which is the pitch.
- The longer the effort arm, the easier the operation done by the effort.
The Work of a Screw
- Screws are used daily for making holes in hard objects.
- Screws make it easier to hold different parts of an object together.
- A gear is a machine which allows work to be done easily and helps to transfer energy from one engine to the driving wheel.
- The principle of a gear is similar to that of a screw.
- Gears are toothed.
- They are made up of two wheels. One wheel, called the driving wheel, drives the other wheel, called the driven wheel.
- The teeth of the two wheels are made to interlock such that in the application of effort on the driving wheel, the driven wheel rotates simultaneously and the vehicle moves.
Examples of Gears (Photo Credit: Pexels.com)
Uses of Gears
- Transmission of energy from one point to another in a mechanical device.
- Transmission of power.
- Transmission of motion.
- Converting between the types of motion. E.g. From linear motion to rotary motion, etc.
Efficiency and Care of Simple Machines
- The efficiency of a machine is defined as the ratio of work output and input expressed in percentage.
- Efficiency, ε = (work output/work input) × 100%
- The advantage of using machines is to make work easier, but not all energy put into a machine is used to do work.
- Some of that energy is lost as heat or wasted to overcome friction.
Level of Efficiency of a Machine
- The efficiency of a simple machine in a simple pulley system can be defined as:
ε = (load × distance moved by the load)/(effort × distance moved by the the effort)
- Mechanical advantage (M.A.) of a machine is the ratio of the load to the effort.
M.A. = load/effort
- Velocity ratio (V.R.) of a machine is the ratio of the distance moved by the effort to the distance moved by the load.
- Therefore, Efficiency, ε = (M.A./V.R.) × 100
Care of Machines
- Machines require regular maintenance to ensure their efficiency.
- Different machines have different experts or specialists and it is advisable to use the appropriate specialist when needed.
- Machines can be maintained by:
- Using oil or ball bearings to reduce friction on the moving parts.
- Regular removal of dirt from the machine.


Welcome to our High School Curriculum on the Death Penalty student site. The death penalty in the United States has always been a controversial issue, and recent developments have once again returned the issue to the public's attention. This Web site and its accompanying materials are designed to assist both teachers and students in an exploration of capital punishment, presenting arguments for and against its use, as well as issues of ethics and justice that surround it.
Students will find an innovative and interactive Web site that is ideally suited for classroom use involving group work, class discussions, and independent reflection. However, students doing independent projects may also use the site. An iBook version of the curriculum for iPad is also available.
Teachers: If you are interested in curriculum planning, please complete this form requesting access to lesson plans and explanatory material.
The authors of this curriculum site have made every effort to ensure that the educational approach is balanced, respecting the views of all sides in this often-spirited debate. The site was principally designed by the Michigan State Communications Technology Laboratory, which has prepared a number of award-winning educational sites on other topics. Teacher educators in conjunction with practicing teachers, in the fields of social studies, history and religion, worked together to develop the curriculum. Factual content was provided by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), a non-profit organization that conducts research on issues related to capital punishment. The Center utilized a broad spectrum of case decisions, news accounts, books and scholarly journals in assembling the content. Funding for the project was provided by grants from the Soros Foundation and the Columbia Foundation.
Two sections of the Web site require the Adobe Flash plugin: Stages in a Capital Case and Interactive U.S. Maps. The Flash plugin is built in to many browsers and can be downloaded for free from http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/
Awards and Recognition
The Death Penalty Information Center's high school curriculum site has received numerous awards and recognitions, for educational value, high quality content, and high quality site design.
The site was reviewed and selected as a member of the GEM Gateway Consortium of Internet-based educational materials, received a 5 star rating from Pacific Bell's Blue Web'n Library of Educational Resources, as well as a Lightspan StudyWeb award, and Awesome Library Editor's Choice recognition as being among the top 5% of educational sites on the web, and a Busy Educator Award.
The site was selected by the American Bar Association Division for Public Education to use as the core curriculum for their 2001 annual National Online Summit for 50 participating high schools.
You can reference this site for use in a research paper as follows:
- Death Penalty Curricula for High School. 1 Nov 2001. Michigan State University Comm Tech Lab and Death Penalty Information Center. Date accessed <http://deathpenaltycurriculum.org/>.
Date accessed is the date on which you viewed the site.


After two decades of suffering from salinization, farmers from Bangladesh are back to the cultivation of saline-affected lands.
Through the help of the Water Development Board, embankments and gates between rivers and lands helped keep saline water away from lands. Also, the supply of Boro seeds and paddy made it possible to grow pumpkins, radish, and pepper in the area.
Furthermore, farmers can now save a lot from the crops that saline-affected lands, before, cultivate. Also, the amount of crops each day are increasing because farmers can’t do shrimp farming in rivers because of salinization.
Source: The Daily Star Net | Photo by Rosa Canel, Flickr
Thus, you can read the full story here.


The purpose of this book is to elucidate the mechanism of the spread of influenza in space and time. To complement the changes in our understanding of the influenza virus related to advances in molecular biology, the authors deal with epidemiologic data by applying robust statistical methods.
The book begins with a concise and accurate review of the current understanding of the influenza virus and its epidemiology. To prepare the reader for the rest of the book, the authors summarize previous mathematical approaches to the spread of influenza. The heart of the text follows in five chapters devoted to the geography of influenza at three separate spatial levels—local, regional, and global. The book is dedicated to Edgar Hope-Simpson, and, appropriately, the authors begin their analyses with data from his Cirencester, England, practice. Spatially aggregated information from this community practice of 3500 to 4000 patients includes demographic as well as clinical


By Dakota Antelman, Contributing Writer
Hudson – Hoping to experience Portuguese culture on a global scale, 14 Hudson High School (HHS) students will travel to the little known African island nation of São Tomé e Príncipe later this year. They will spend 11 days abroad in a study of culture and language that will touch on a number of aspects of life in the country.
While abroad, the group will work with a group of locals helping sea turtles, visit a kindergarten and a high school, donate medical supplies, and spend three nights camping on a beach with a group of marine biologists observing their work.
Seniors Meghan Brennan, Andressa Oliveira and Julia Lima started planning the trip last fall and have continued to contribute as more students have signed up. Oliveira, who will not be going on the trip, has even helped the group put together a website and promotional video.
The students have also been joined in their efforts by Portuguese teacher Anibal Serra who once taught on the island and still has contacts in São Tomé. Indeed it was one of Serra’s lessons that sparked the interest of Brennan, Oliveira and Lima in the first place.
“When you teach a world language, you need to be a little aware of the size of the language in the world,” Serra explained. “So I was telling the class about how the schools were in São Tomé or Southeast Asia [where I also taught] and students Meghan Brennen, Julia Lima and Andressa Oliveira said ‘We should go there.’”
The country of São Tomé sits on two islands just over 100 miles off the western African coast. A former Portuguese colony that only gained its independence in 1975, São Tomé’s inhabitants still almost exclusively speak the Portuguese language.
The island has slightly fewer than 200,000 residents according to the CIA Factbook and includes just one city, its capital – São Tomé. By virtue of the country’s small size, Serra was able to build numerous connections with local citizens while he worked there.
As the trip has come together it has benefited from Serra’s connections as he has been able to use them secure unique opportunities for his students.
“He was able to develop all these relationships and we decided to go there because it looked so cool and amazing,” said junior Gabby Oliveira. “Now, instead of being tourists, because he knows everyone there, we’re going to be integrated into the culture. That will be pretty cool.”
Serra hopes the trip to such a predominantly Portuguese-speaking country will show students the importance of the language they learn in their classes.
“When I was learning English in school, I always felt a little frustrated because, I thought, I live in this small town in Portugal, I will never use English again in my life,” he said. “I was always like ‘why am I learning this?’ But I realize now by experience that you will use that forever. I thought that they should have the experience of using Portuguese in a place where nobody speaks English.”
While the students do experience the Portuguese language, members of the group are also hoping to bring attention to a part of the world that few associate with Portuguese culture.
“Anything international gets attention so I think a lot of people will be interested by [the] Portuguese [language] in Africa,” said Brennen. “A lot of people, including myself, never lined those things up so I think this will bring awareness to the fact that the language is bigger than Portugal or Brazil.”
The Portuguese Overseas group will be hosting fundraisers throughout the year to help its families pay for the trip. The group is also accepting donations through its Go Fund Me page. To donate visit www.gofundme.com/portugueseoverseas. For more information on the group, visit asoliveira2017.wixsite.com/portugueseoverseas.


Half a century ago, a nearby cluster of stars appeared to astronomers as a single glowing ball of gas.
As recently as 15 years ago, scientists realized it was in fact a cluster of stars but were convinced they all must have formed at the same time and with the same composition.
Now astronomers at Baltimore's Space Telescope Science Institute have found evidence that one cluster may actually be two, one a million years older than the other, in the process of merging. The clusters are 170,000 light years from Earth in an area known as the Tarantula Nebula.
The finding announced Thursday could help scientists better understand the environments in which stars form. It could also help them piece together what they are seeing occur in faraway galaxies, in which they can observe what the early development of the universe was like.
"We have sophisticated models, but they fail to explain many of the things we look at," said Elena Sabbi, the lead scientist in the study, published Aug. 1 in Astrophysical Journal Letters. With the understanding that some large star clusters may be a combination of smaller clusters, "you can also explain why these systems are so dynamic and evolved," she said.
Sabbi, with a group of collaborators from the telescope institute and in England and Spain, began exploring data from Hubble Space Telescope observations in November. They were comparing two sets of data collected years apart, looking for movement in stars that appear to have been ejected from clusters of stars.
In the process of studying those "runaway" stars, Sabbi noticed an unusual shape to the cluster, as well as a large number of stars within it. Instead of being spherical, it had a sort of tail emanating from it that contained stars older than the others. And instead of having just a few thousand stars, it had 10,000, she said.
Both characteristics contributed to the finding that the cluster may have been the product of an interaction between two star clusters.
The research is only a pit stop on the way to what scientists hope will be more findings related to the "runaway" stars. Jay Anderson, another scientist at the telescope institute, who did not work with Sabbi on the report, said learning more about those stars and about star cluster development and interaction is important in understanding more about what happens when stars are formed in the first place.
"When you see a cluster, you have to ask the question: Is this all the stars that formed together or just some small remnant of all the stars that formed together?" Anderson said. "We want to understand, how long do stars stay close to where they started?"
Star formation is a busy field of astronomy — scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced Wednesday the discovery of a galaxy cluster 5.7 million light years away that contains a galaxy producing about 740 new stars per year, more than any other galaxy known to scientists.
Sabbi said studying the relatively nearby galaxy containing the star clusters she examined can also help teach lessons useful in exploring more distant bodies. The star-forming region the Tarantula Nebula, properly known as 30 Doradus, has long been a focus of study for scientists for that reason.
"It takes many billions of years for the light to come from faraway galaxies to us," Sabbi said. "We don't have the resolution to study details of those processes."
While Hubble was vital in Sabbi's research, the planned James Webb Space Telescope could help advance it even further, Anderson said. While Hubble's instruments observe space in wavelengths of near-ultraviolet light, light visible to humans and near-infrared light, Webb will observe infrared light.
That will allow it to look through much of the dust and gas that blocks Hubble from observing more stellar activity, he said. Webb is expected to launch around 2018.
"It will allow us to see even more stars than Hubble can see, and we'll be able to see the center of the galaxy better," Anderson said.


issue 219 - May 1991
The people of the Amazon have left few historical records.
This is because most of their artifacts were made from wood and other
organic matter which would have rotted or disappeared. But attempts
are now being made to reveal the history of the forest and its people.
1 CHANGING FOREST
Recent scientific discoveries show that, far from being 'ageless', the Amazon rainforest has undergone dramatic natural transformations. The most notable were during the Ice-age. At this time the world's tropical regions became cooler and drier. The forest shrank and broke up, the savanna grasslands expanded. The small patches of forest or 'refugia' that remained did not all evolve in the same way, with the same vegetation or animal life. So, when the forest eventually came together again there was great genetic variety within it.
2 ARRIVAL OF HUMANS
Humans are only recent arrivals in the forest. They first crossed the frozen Bering Straits into North America about 30,000 years ago - reaching the lowlands and forests of Latin America between 15,000 and 20,000 years ago. People first started farming and settling on the Amazonian floodplains some 5,000 years ago. Few settlements were static: groups would migrate long distances through the forest, little of which was left completely untouched. Conflicts between groups were regular occurrences. The more archeologists discover about the forest the clearer it becomes that estimates of how many people were living in the Amazon before the arrival of Europeans will have to be revised upwards - to perhaps as many as 15 million.
3 EUROPEAN 'DISCOVERY'
Soon after Columbus first set foot on American soil Pope Alexander VI divided the uncharted lands of the 'new world' between Spain on the Pacific coast and Portugal on the Atlantic coast. This happened at the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. Quite coincidentally, most of the Amazon Basin fell within the area designated for Portuguese colonization. Initial contacts between Portuguese explorers and the Indians were fairly friendly. They focussed on the extraction of brazilwood - used to produce dye - after which the Portuguese 'colony' was named. The people were, of course, named 'Indians' by Europeans because of their mistaken belief that they had landed in India. Why the river was named the Amazon remains uncertain, but it seems likely that it was because women warriors resembling those in Greek mythology were thought to live there.
4 RED GOLD RUSH
The first European to navigate the Amazon was actually Spanish. Francisco de Orellana travelled downstream from Peru in 1542. For the next 150 years Portuguese interest in the Amazon was largely limited to unsuccessful attempts to recruit Indian labour ('red gold') for sugar plantations on the coast. But the indigenous peoples were not interested in working as wage labourers and violent conflicts ensued. The only Europeans to actually explore the rainforest were Christian missionaries - particularly the Jesuits. But in 1777 the first systematic attempt to develop the region was devised by the Portuguese Marquis of Pombal, mostly out of fear of encroachment by the Spanish, Dutch and British. He created the Companhía Grão Pará e Maranhão in imitation of the British East India Company as a state-backed entity to stimulate and monitor trade in the eastern Amazon region.
5 RUBBER BARONS
A small trade in rubber had already begun during the eighteenth century; by 1800 Belém was exporting 450,000 pairs of rubber shoes to England. But it was only after Charles Goodyear accidentally discovered 'vulcanization' in 1842, and the industrial revolution increased demand for rubber products, that the Brazilian 'boom' got underway. Rubber trees existed nowhere else in the world. Commercial houses, initially financed by the British, extended credit to labourers who penetrated the furthest reaches of the Amazon in search of rubber trees. Once there, the seringueiros (rubber tappers) were ensnared in debt bondage to the estate owners, the seringalistas, who sold basic necessities to them at grossly inflated prices. The wealth of the trade reverted mostly to Manaus and Belém, and there was no attempt to establish rubber-based industry in the Amazon itself. The trade collapsed during the First World War with the development of rubber plantations in Asia from plants smuggled out of the Amazon.
6 LAND OF DREAMS
The great naturalists Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland travelled to the Amazon in 1799. This was to inspire botanists and explorers throughout the nineteenth century to roam the forest - to the displeasure of the Portuguese prior to Independence in 1821. These explorers returned with fantastic tales. The Amazon became the focus of nineteenth century romantic interest in the notion of the 'natural state' and 'the noble savage'. Mark Twain wrote: 'I was fired with a longing to ascend the Amazon. Also with a longing to open up a trade in coca with all the world. During months I dreamed that dream.'
7 EMPIRE OF SCHEMES
The US Navy conducted the first survey of the navigability of the Amazon in 1849. The first steamboats - which made it easier to ascend the river against the current - began operating in 1853. Growing US interest in the Amazon found one expression in US involvement in the revolution in the rubber-rich region of Acre, which in 1899 declared independence from Bolivia and finally became part of Brazil. The first of many US businessmen to devise grandiose schemes in the Amazon, Percival Farquhar, managed to raise $70 million in Europe for a variety of projects, including the completion of the Madeira-Mamoré railway in the middle of the jungle. It cost 6,000 lives to construct. Farquhar was ruined by the collapse of the rubber boom.
8 MILITARY MANOEUVRES
Since the 1930s - and the 'New State' established by the military President Getúlio Vargas - the modern invasion of the Amazon has progressed along largely 'strategic' and 'geopolitical' lines. Particularly since the military coup in 1964, the 'incorporation' of the Amazon into Brazilian territory has been the main motive behind Government policies encouraging the colonization and deforestation of the area. Thus much of the initial deforestation in Rondônia and Pará took place around 'Development Poles' constructed by the Government from 1966 onwards. These were combined with a preference for 'big projects', building roads, dams and other debt-inducing industrial enterprises largely with the backing of multinational lending agencies like the World Bank.
This account is based substantially upon S Hecht and A Cockburn, The Fate of the Forest, Verso, London, 1989.
This first appeared in our award-winning magazine - to read more, subscribe from just £7


Amnesty would be unfair to those who seek to earn citizenship
For the next two weeks, Ja'von spends his time after school, and before football practice, studying for this one test. During his break period at work, Ja'von studies for this one test. The past two weekends, Ja'von has broken two dates with his girlfriend Chenille, so that he could study-for-this-one-test. The day finally comes for Ja'von to take the test, and he is ready! Ja'von spends his last 45 cents on a pencil from the library, in order to ensure that he is fully prepared to pass the test.
Fifteen minutes into the test, a student named Wyatt walks in to the classroom. Wyatt needs the same grade as Ja'von on the same history exam, in order to graduate from high school as well. Wyatt tells Mr. Menendez "I overslept because I was hanging with my friends, and I do not have a pencil because I spent my last forty-five cents on a pack of gum." Mr. Menendez instructs Wyatt to take a seat, and then Mr. Menendez continues monitoring the class.
Ja'von is breezing through the test, and everything that he has worked hard for is paying off! Ja'von raises his hand to indicate to the teacher that he is finished, and Ja'von tells Mr. Menendez "I know I got an [A] because I studied very hard." Wyatt, the other student, has not written anything (no pencil or knowledge of the subject) and raises his hand as well. Wyatt tells Mr. Menendez "I did not study because I think the test is unfair, and Mr. Menendez, I demand that you let me use Ja'vons pencil to write down the answers that he wrote on his test, so that I can copy it on my own test to turn in for the same grade?"
Without hesitation, Mr. Menendez instructs Ja'von to hand over his pencil (which Ja'von paid for), and his test (which Ja'von studied to pass) to Wyatt. Now both Ja'von and Wyatt were given the same guidelines to look over and study for the test, and both needed the same outcome to graduate.
My question to the reader is this: is it morally right, or even justifiable that Mr. Menendez has rewarded Wyatt, who refused to put in any time or effort to study, with the same grade that Ja'von worked hard to achieve?
I use this scenario as an example for the thousands of American citizens who complete the naturalization process each year. These men and women have worked very hard to achieve the right to be called an American citizen. Amnesty to Illegal Immigrants promotes a reward based system similar to that of Mr. Menendez's reward system in the scenario. Like Ja'von in the scenario, the Legal Immigrant in America has sacrificed a great deal to earn citizenship. Unfortunately the Illegal Immigrant, much like Wyatt, seeks only to by pass the entire process of naturalization and demand a right or privilege that was not earned.
There should be no double standard on the issue of immigration in the United States of America, and amnesty to illegal aliens only hardens the slap in the face towards the many Americans who have waited years to gain citizenship. God bless those who have a desire to come to this land of opportunity through a legal process. The audacity that people can take to the streets to advocate for supporting a criminal act is absurd, and those who came here legally should stand against such an assertion.


Forgetting a child in a hot back seat can prove deadly
Sizzling temperatures are cause for concern
Temperatures are rising, and experts warn of the dangers involved in leaving infants and toddlers trapped in sizzling automobiles.
It doesn't take a 100-degree day to make it dangerous for children inside the car.
If a child is warmly dressed, he or she can still die of hyperthermia at 50ºF.
At 75ºF, it only takes 15 minutes for a child to die of heat in a car.
Experts warn that rolling the windows down doesn’t prevent car seats, upholstery and other interior items from heating up -- making the warm air inside the car deadly to children, disabled adults and pets.
It happened to Justin Marson.
His daughter, SaraCorinne, was left inside a car for three hours.
"My wife and I had a horrible miscommunication," Marson said Wednesday.
The nine-month-old girl was napping in her car seat in August 2008 when the couple pulled into their home.
"We both thought the other transferred her from the car seat to her crib. When we realized the mistake, she was clinging to life," Marson said.
SaraCorinne was airlifted to an Oakland hospital, suffering from organ failure and a high fever.
Doctors told the Marsons the girl would live three days.
Four years later, SaraCorinne has recovered from organ failure, but still suffers from brain damage.
At least one baby or toddler dies in a hot car each week from April to October.
Eight have died in the United States in the past seven days. The latest was Tuesday when a toddler was left inside a car in Tennessee.
A study by San Francisco State University found within 10 minutes, the temperature inside the car will increase 19 degrees. After 20 minutes, it jumps another 29 degrees.
Parking in the shade or rolling down windows will not keep the car cool enough to keep your child safe.
Signs of heat stress and heat sickness are different in small children from the signs one might detect in older children or adults.
Sleepiness and crankiness are most commonly observed – and people often shrug those off as common behaviors.
Because many babies fall asleep in moving cars and are often cranky when awakened, parents miss the signs of dehydration or heat sickness.
It's tragedy that can be avoided.
"It's hard to talk about, but I don't want other parents to go through what we have," Marson said.
Marson now works with a non-profit organization called Kids and Cars. They work to raise awareness of children safety around vehicles.
The organization knows new parents suffer from exhaustion due to the lack of sleep, hormone changes in their normal routine. Any one of these changes can cause a parent to be forgetful when they least expect it.
The organization states even the best parents can overlook a sleeping baby in a car; and the end result can be injury or even death.
Kids and Cars offer these tips to parents.
-put something in the back seat of a car that requires you to open the back door everytime you park - cellphone, employee badge, handbag, etc.
-Keep a stuffed animal in your child's car seat. Place the stuffed animal in the front seat when your baby is in the car seat.
-Ask you baby sitter or childcare provider to call if you child has not arrived on time.
-Avoid cell phone calls and texting while driving.
-Make it a routine to open the back door of the car every time you park to check that no one has been left behind.


World Learning Instruction Must Be Made Priority in Schools, Community
There is so much in which our schools and community must invest in order to better support, educate, and equip its students and residents. However, funds are often limited and it is easy for even the most essential needs to go unmet. As it pertains to education, one of the first areas to be overlooked or underfunded, is also one of the most foundational for socioemotional development.
Simply put, World Languages are an integral part of a well-rounded education. To ‘educate’ is from the Latin, meaning to lead out. To lead out of narrow and dark ways of thinking, opening hope and possibility. What we once thought might be a panacea for a democratic world, the internet, has opened so many opportunities that take advantage of people’s fear. Using half-truths and slippery language people who don’t look or sound like us are demonized, ridiculed, and disregarded. Most of us have participated.
And in this disconnected, connected world – teaching a World Language and Culture is one of the best ways to combat the fear that lives deep inside each of us. It lights a path to seeing the other as a human; our brothers or sisters. Studying another language and culture helps us to see other ways of existing within and contributing to our one world.
Imagine if every school and community viewed World Language Instruction as a celebrated foundation for learning, instead of just a requirement, or even worse, an elective. Where studying other cultures was seen as a rich and valuable experience with benefits for everyone. This shift in mindset would immediately impact our appreciation for other cultures, and instill compassion for others who, though different, share much of our underlying values. In our current social climate, this could not be more vital.
While languages are most easily acquired by the young, they are important and relevant at any age. World Language offerings benefit all learners, not just those bound for post-secondary institutions. Learning another language offers a window to the world, improved use of one’s first language, improved memory, support for critical thinking and problem-solving. This can lead one to wonder why we aren’t investing more in this critical area of education for our nation.
World Language Instruction is a fundamental and valuable resource. The benefits go beyond the typical need for college entrance where you most often find high schools providing Spanish and French, and some regions and specialty schools offering German or Latin. And yet still, there are some places lucky enough to have expanded offerings, like Chinese, Arabic, Japanese, Russian, Italian, Korean and more. What does world language instruction look like in your school? In your community? Could expanding your offerings bring cohesion in the wake of division and distrust?
The World of Learning Institute began as a service for small and rural schools and has grown to support a variety of schools, districts and service agencies to expand opportunities for students to learn world languages. For more information about providing World Languages for schools and districts that are accessible, affordable and suitable for all ages, visit: www.worldoflearninginstitute.com
Find more about Dr. Mulroy HERE


Breathing, which is a vital bodily function, has innumerable advantages. The process of breathing helps in delivering oxygen to every part of the body. Effective breathing can improve many body functions from cognition, digestion, sleep, immunity, to beating stress levels. It can also help you feel mentally clearer and reduce stress. (Also read: Are you breathing right? Know the incredible benefits of pranayama)
According to Nathan Gallagher, Breathwork specialist and founder of Breath By Nathan, "Our breath influences our nervous system, immune system, cognitive function, heart rate, energy production, emotional regulation, mental health and more. With an average of 25,000 breaths each day, we have a very large opportunity to positively influence our whole state of being."
He explained 8 reasons breathing is a superpower:
1. You can travel back into your past to process, integrate and heal emotional trauma.
2. It is the ultimate chill pill. You can hack your stress response and down-regulate your nervous system to relax on command.
3. Almost 70% of the toxins in your body are released through breathing alone.
4. You can focus the infinite power of the conscious mind by observing & bringing conscious awareness to the breath.
5. It is a gateway and entry point into the vastness of your subconscious mind.
6. You can boost your energy levels on command by extending and accentuating your inhalation.
7. By extending and slowing down your exhalation, your breath acts as a powerful and natural sleeping pill.
8. Just 5 minutes of deep and slow breathing has been shown to significantly reduce anxiety and psychological stress.


We all have heard the line that "Unity is the best policy" but then also we Indians then also fight with each other we are like brothers and sisters then why don't we behave as brother and sister with each other why we are against each other on even very small topics which can be solved even from a talk of 5 minutes with each other.
If we are united then no one can even see us with the eyes of aggression no one can do nothing of us and our country. As you can see in the pic that the 3 people in cartoon are united then nothing happened to them this law is valid every where but the problem is we Indians are not united properly.
|Unity is the best property|
Actually the problem is not that we are not united we are united but not in a proper manner we are united on the basis of the following:-
Caste, Religion, Origin , Local language, State,City etc.
We people use to make friends not by seeing the qualities of an individual but by viewing the caste, Religion, Origin etc of an individual.In our country the caste and religion of an Individual are more dominating then the qualities and qualifications of a person. As many of the great people say that an individual becomes great due to his hard work and efforts not from his birth.
If we start making friends or any other relationships without knowing the caste or religion of an Individual then we are really starting a good relationship and really putting a step forward towards betterment of our country by uniting our country.


Each time you do it, say things differently.
Do you sound clear, professional, and credible, or not. And, here it is: But, test yourself and see. So that they can learn to settle differences and avoid war Put together: And, how was that experience.
Finally, a third way to figure out your WHY is to…Google it. The key is to open your lessons with that underlying theme, rather than with the strict definition.
The WHY is the emotional pull. It familiarizes the one who is administering for the vacancy although conveying a nature of viewing of what is about to follow in the curriculum vitae. You have only one chance to make a first impression, and spelling errors could make you look unprofessional.
Take a piece of paper, fold it into six parts and write the following words one on each part: Now, it is rehearsal time. How about the protest at Tiananmen Square. She may supply practical tips, pointers and insights that you could not possibly have thought of on your own -- and help make your nice email even nicer.
It is succinct and gets right to the point of who you are addressing. Teach them how to triangulate information or better yet, start by asking them better ways to find information.
Introduce the American Civil War, where brothers often fought brothers. It explains why their products are simple, intuitive, and user friendly—and why they have wildly succeeded in a competitive industry.
The goal is to keep the letter no longer than one screen length. Proofread and edit your email carefully, as much for spelling and grammar as tone.
Students then use a working calculator to find the sum. Lesson Plan Preparation Print a copy of the downloadable worksheet for each student.
So, you get the clear structures, plus the simple sentences, and that gives you more confidence, and they choose you for that professional opportunity. Jane Did Jane do something wrong in her introduction email. Let me introduce myself… Oh, and I forgot to actually introduce myself.
Strive for a conversational tone, as if you were having lunch with one of your co-workers in the company lunchroom. How to introduce yourself in English.
There are many tips that I can give you to help you in the interview like have a good firm handshake, repeat their name and use it so that you remember it, speak positively and in a friendly tone.
Do you know how to write an introduction email? Find out how to introduce yourself in an email and what you should definitely not say. How to introduce yourself in an email, how to write the message, subject lines, greetings, closings, and examples of formal and casual email introductions.
When you’re introducing yourself, What to Write When You Have to Quit Your Job via Email. I agree with Holly. My original purpose in creating the one sentence lesson plan was to help busy and veteran professors, who just need a focus for their lesson. Aug 08, · Email is a quick, efficient way to respond to job postings, but because it’s so easy, dozens of other applicants are using it, too.
When introducing yourself in an email response to a job ad, it’s crucial to grab the employer’s attention right away and use that interest to entice him to give your cover letter and resume a closer look. How to Write the Perfect Farewell Email and Go Out In Style - Without Pissing Anyone Off.
Samples & Advice to Stand Out – for the Right Reasons.How to write an email introducing yourself for a job


Add To Favorites
Subscribe to some great fun by making your own magazine. Turn a new page on literacy skills as your kids' creativity becomes the cover story.
Magazines usually focus on an activity or hobby, such as stamp collecting, crafts,or sports. Create a magazine on a subject that interests you. Make up a name for your publication. Celebrate Make Your Own News Day in September or feature your ideas any day!
Fold several sheets of white paper in half, book-style. With Crayola® Washable Markers, write the name of your magazine at the top of the cover.
Use Crayola Scissors to cut out pictures from recycled magazines. Glue them on your magazine cover with a Crayola Glue Stick.
Write your stories on the inside pages. Draw or cut out more pictures to illustrate them.
Create a table of contents listing what's inside your magazine.
Make copies so family and friends can "subscribe" to your new publication.
Let's make something!
Make a patch of color with Crayola® Color Switchers™ Markers. Flip the marker and apply the special color switcher tip
Add To Favorites
Learn the alphabet-or decorate fancy letters-with this vanishing act! Crayola® Erasable Colored Pencils lend a new spin
Wiz kids stretch their language skills with this fun and friendly wizard. Kids make their own wizard and magic wand to i
What sounds do letters make? Which words begin with which letters? Young children who sort and fill fun Alpha-Pockets wi
Hand-drawn comics tickle funny bones and promote literacy. Kids build organization skills and boost brain power as they
Send holiday greetings for Diwali, the Hindu year-end celebration. You'll brighten someone's day with light and good wis
Make your own travel journal, diary, or even autobiography. Create a cool blank book to fill with your sketches, stories
This project was inspired by Lenni Lenape story telling. Encourage children to tell their own stories through pictograph


Folks have been all a-twitter about the giant fossil rabbit found on the Spanish isle of Minorca during the past week, but there was another oversized mammal announced in the same issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology that has so far gone unnoticed. About the same age as the behemoth bunny, this other giant lived alongside some of our own close relatives in northeastern Africa. If the suggestions of the scientists who discovered it are correct, this creature might best be described as the “bear otter.”
The bones of the enormous otter were found in the 3.2 – 3.4 million year old deposits of Dikika in Ethiopia’s Afar Valley. Among paleontologists, this area is best known for discoveries of early humans – such as the juvenile Australopithecus afarensis named “Selam” – but these rocks have also yielded remains representing other parts of the local fauna. One, a raccoon dog named Nyctereutes lockwoodi, was just described last year, and the otter was another previously-unknown component of the ancient ecosystem.
Described by Denis Geraads, Zeresenay Alemseged, René Bobe, and Denné Reed, the otter has been given the name Enhydriodon dikikae. A partial skull, a portion of the lower jaw, a humerus, and a few femur fragments are all that have been found so far. That is not very much to go on, but the authors of the new paper argue that this otter was quite unusual.
“The most striking feature of the [partial skull] is its very large size,” Geraads and colleagues state, “more suggestive of a bear than of a modern otter.” If *Enhydriodon dikikae *had a skull proportioned like its living relatives, the whole head would have been nearly ten inches long. This is about three inches longer than the skull of the largest living otter - the appropriately-named giant otter of South America - and may indicate that the bear otter was well over seven feet long.
Exactly how big the whole animal was, though, is difficult to say. No total length estimate was provided, and, based upon comparison of molar size with other otters, the scientists gave a wide weight estimate of about 200 to 400 pounds. More precise estimates of this large otter’s size will have to await further material.
How this otter made its living is also unclear. The authors of the new study suggest that the bear otter was more terrestrial than modern otter species, but their reasoning suffers from two significant flaws. First, citing a 2008 study of fossil otter femurs by paleontologist Margaret Lewis, Geraads and co-authors state that the femur fragments of their new species are anatomically similar to the femur of a large fossil otter found in Hadar, Ethiopia and designated AL-166-10. The femurs from the two species are quite similar, but it actually argues *against *the bear otter spending more time on land. Lewis found that AL-166-10 possessed features associated with a semi-aquatic lifestyle, perhaps similar to that of living sea otters.


There is no specific time that it is safe to leave a urinary tract infection untreated, as any delay in treatment can lead to serious complications, according to the Mayo Clinic. Infected individuals should visit a doctor as soon as possible after symptoms appear to quickly stop the infection before it spreads to the kidneys and causes further, possibly irreversible, damage.Continue Reading
According to the Mayo Clinic, an untreated urinary tract infection can cause permanent kidney damage and make a woman more susceptible to recurrent urinary tract infections. In pregnant women, a urinary tract infection can cause premature delivery. Antibiotics are used to treat urinary tract infections; typically, symptoms alleviate within one to three days after the start of treatment. However, it is important for patients to complete the entire course of medication to ensure that the infection is completely gone.
According to the U.S. Department of Women's Health and Human Services, urinary tract infections are caused by bacteria entering the urinary tract. This can occur as a result of wiping from back to front after a bowel movement, having sexual intercourse, waiting too long to pass urine or using a diaphragm. People experiencing signs of a urinary tract infection, such as pain during urination, foul-smelling urine and pressure in the lower belly, should see a doctor for a full evaluation.Learn more about Gastrointestinal Issues


PAST a new electron microscope, a spectrophotometer, and sundry
laboratory equipment, you will find Antonio Pena Diaz squeezed into
an office not much bigger than a closet.
One of Mexico's leading microbiologists and past president of
the Mexican Academy of Scientific Research (he stepped down in
February), Dr. Pena is catching up on some electronic mail from a
doctoral student in the United States. And he's brainstorming about
what might be dubbed a "hemispheric free-trade agreement for
Scientists figure that if the industrialists in gray suits can
pull off a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), so can the
lab boys in the white coats.
"We're in a period where the economic borders are disappearing.
Why not the scientific borders?" asks Pena, director of the
Institute of Cellular Physiology at the National Autonomous
University of Mexico.
"Instead of duplicating efforts, we should be cooperating
across borders and getting better use of limited resources. The
idea is to foster an environment for collaboration throughout the
hemisphere," he says.
Pena is co-chairman of a group of scientists from 11 nations
advocating what's known as the Western Hemisphere Science
The initiative calls for creating better communication and
cooperation by setting up computer networks to exchange
information. It wants to encourage governments and international
institutions to provide scholarship money and fund collaborative
research efforts that draw on the expertise of several nations. The
long-term goal is to set up a Pan American Research Foundation.
This is not a scheme by underfunded Latin American scientists to
grab funds and ideas from supposedly "rich" northern neighbors,
Pena says. US and Canadian scientists are also advocates of the
initiative. And Organization of American States and United Nations
representatives are on the steering committee.
"In many Latin American nations, there are world-class
scientists in specific fields. Of course, you won't find excellence
in every discipline, in every country," says Francisco Ayala,
president of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science and a genetics researcher at the University of California,
There are also sound economic reasons for the initiative. Dr.
Ayala says there's a tendency for Latin American graduate students
to automatically go to the US or Canada, without realizing a top
scientist and program exist in a neighboring country. "It's easier
and cheaper for a student to go from Bogata to Caracas than to the
US," he says.
The subject of the group's first collaborative effort will be
biodiversity. A hemispherewide conference is planned for late June
in Manaus, Brazil. Pena says he'd rather be focusing on basic
science. But other topics are more easily funded. "Biodiversity is
a topic with a lot of activity now in various countries," Ayala


For twenty years Beggar the dolphin was a local icon and tourist attraction. He lived in the Intracoastal Waterway around Nokomis and the Casey Key area. His body was found near the Albee Road Bridge, a spot he could often be found begging and doing tricks for food. He was so successful with this pursuit that he spent more time attempting to get food from humans than foraging on his own and had very little interactions with other dolphins.
Mote Laboratory has studied Beggar for quite some time to illustrate how humans can hurt wild animals. His habits landed him in study after study in scientific papers around the world so scientists could learn more about the effects of feeding wild animals and dolphins. Thanks to the Marine Mammal Protection Act, feeding dolphins can land someone a fine up to $100,000 plus a year in jail.
In a news release, Gretchen Lovewell, head of Mote’s Stranding Investigations Program said “We can’t say which of these many injuries was the ultimate cause of death for Beggar but all of our findings indicate that he was in poor health for a long time and that his interactions with humans played a role. Boat strike wounds, fishing hooks and line in his stomach-even the squid beaks we found-all of these things indicate that he was spending more time attempting to get food from humans that foraging on his own.”


What is a denture?
A denture is a prosthesis that is used to replace an entire set of teeth for either the top or bottom jaw. Dentures are indicated when a patient has lost all of their teeth on either the top or bottom or both. There are several different options when it comes to dentures, and all of them offer different advantages. A typical set of dentures takes anywhere from 4-8 appointments to fabricate correctly depending on your unique situation. There is a tremendous amount of work that goes into properly making a quality denture.
full mouth implant retained fixed denture or hybrid Denture
This is a type of restoration that can replace all the teeth in an arch by using a series of 4-6 implants. After the implants are osseointegrated, a full arch prosthesis is made and either cemented or screwed onto the implants. This is a fixed denture that stays in place and is not removed by the patient. The obvious advantage to this type of restoration is the idea that it does not need to be removed from the patients mouth. This is also the restoration that will feel and function the most like a patients natural teeth.
An over denture is a great option for many patients. This type of prosthesis aims to please those who want more stability than a typical denture, but who don't want to make the investment from a hybrid type denture. An over denture is made to look much like a typical denture however it is combined with a few implants (usually 2-4) that are fitted with an o-ring type attachment. Once the patient places their overdenture into their mouth, they are able to "snap" it into place using the ball and o-ring attachments that have been placed on the implants. This as you can imagine will increase the stability of the appliance significantly! PS- Typical dentures can usually be retrofitted into an over denture scenerio! So, if you have a set of typical dentures, and retention is a problem for you, we would love to talk to you about retro-fitting them into stability!!!


アスペルガー症候群の教育支援に役立つ文化体系の考察 : オタク文化の一つであるコミックマーケットの体系から Considerations as to Cultural Systems Serving as Educative Support for Asperger's Syndrome : From the System of the Comic Market that is One of the Otaku culture
In recent years, attention has been focused on support for persons with Asperger's Syndrome (AS). This report discusses materials prepared from studies of the culture of Comic Market (Comiket) which is one of the Otaku culture to help in preparing special support education environments for AS persons who have lost their sense of presence. Document research has shown that the system of the Comiket that is one of the Otaku culture may function as a place that AS sufferers who have problems related to theory of mind can easily rely on. In addition, it is thought that a series of circle activities may provide hints on how AS sufferers can regain a sense of presence. The author thinks that AS research into Otaku culture is very significant towards each individual AS sufferer regaining a sense of presence, participating in society and building human relations.
人間関係学研究 18(1), 21-32, 2012


As the authors of a recent study published in BMJ attest, society’s red-haired members don’t always get a fair shake. Hoary stereotypes, such as the idea that redheads are also hot heads, are mixed together with actual physiological differences — such as a heightened sensitivity to pain. Now science is getting a better understanding of redheaded physiology than ever before.
In numerical terms, people with red hair are a decided minority. They comprise just 2-6% of the population of the northern hemisphere and 1-2% worldwide. It’s genetics that make them such rare birds. (More on Time.com: How to Keep Surgeons From Leaving Things Behind)
The carrot-top coloration is caused by a gene on chromosome 16 that affects the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) protein, which often leads to the redheads’ characteristic pale skin and light eyes, as well as a sensitivity to ultraviolet light — which is why they must slather on the sunscreen when they go outside. Because the gene is recessive, both parents must carry it in order for a red-haired child to be born. That’s not difficult — 80% of the global population carries the redheaded gene even most if they do so invisibly. (More on Time.com: The Top 10 Redheads)
For those few who do have the redhead phenotype, the physical challenges go beyond the occasional sunburn — something that surgeons well know. And that’s what the BMJ authors sought to explore in their meta-analysis, or survey of the existing scientific literature
Operating room docs, for example, have long reported that redheads appear to need more anesthetic than others. The new study suggests that that observation is an accurate one — mostly. Those with the MC1R mutation are more sensitive to opiate pain killers — which means they’d actually need less — but less sensitive to other types, most notably lidocaine injections. One study which used heat-related pain as its litmus of overall sensitivity showed that redheads indeed felt things more acutely and unpleasantly, probably because the MC1R mutation releases a hormone that stimulates a brain receptor associated with pain regulation. (More on Time.com: Study: Researchers Identify Hundreds of Gene Variants That Contribute to Height)
Redheads are also said — anecdotally at least — to be more susceptible to hernias. The study did not establish that conclusively, but it did find a tangential link between chromosome 16 and a condition called brittle cornea syndrome, the sufferers of which have a slightly elevated hernia risk.
Less substantiated by the study was the belief that people with red hair are more susceptible to hemorrhages. A survey of tonsillectomy patients found that about 7% of both red-haired and control patients experienced post-surgical bleeding. And in a study of the blood coagulation of 50 women, half of whom were redheads, there was no difference in clotting.
Overall, the researchers concluded that even if redheads require a little extra handling on the operating table, trepidation among surgeons had more to do with stereotypes than with clinical evidence.”It would seem that the reputation of people with red hair for having increased perioperative risk is without any basis in fact and should only be used as an excuse of last resort by surgeons defending problematic bleeding or recurrent hernias,” concluded authors, Andrew L Cunningham and Christopher P Jones. Take that, blonds and brunettes!


Sydney, city (1991 pop. 26,063), Cape Breton Island, N.S., Canada, on the northeast coast at the head of the South Arm of Sydney Harbour. It is the port and the commercial, trade, and industrial center in a former coal-mining area. The city has steel mills and plants manufacturing wood, aluminum, food products, and chemicals. Sydney was founded (1783) by United Empire Loyalists and was the capital (1784–1820) of Cape Breton prov. St. George's Church (1786) is one of the oldest Anglican churches in Canada.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Canadian Political Geography


Digital integrated circuits used in data storage and computing make up a large part of the global market in semiconductor chips, which has an annual volume of more than US$450 billion. Improvements in the performance of digital integrated circuits rely on advances in spintronics—or spin electronics—which studies the intrinsic spin of electrons and the associated magnetism in solid-state devices.
Led by Assoc Prof Gao Weibo, a research team at NTU’s School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences and School of Materials Science and Engineering, together with colleagues from the Singapore University of Technology and Design, has won substantial funding from Singapore’s National Research Foundation to develop high-performance spintronics devices.
The five-year programme, called “The next generation of spintronics with 2D heterostructures”, aims to develop spintronics devices based on next-generation van der Waals materials, which are strongly bonded two-dimensional (2D) layers of materials such as graphite that are bound in the third dimension through weaker van der Waals forces.
“We are studying the fundamental physics behind van der Waals-spintronics devices to develop a new generation of highly efficient, low-power and low-cost electronics with great economic potential,” says Assoc Prof Gao.