All living things need calcium, yet even though calcium is an abundant mineral, it often comes in a form not easily absorbed by consumers. This same goes with plants.
Although a bit of calcium exists in quality gardening soils, it is very often not “bioavailable” to the plants growing there.
What can you do to ensure that your plants contract plenty of calcium from the soil?
In this article, we will discuss various calcium sources and explain the ways in which calcium can affect plants.
We will also present some sound advice about soil amendments supporting the efficient delivery of calcium. Read on to learn more.
You Can Find Calcium Everywhere
Calcium exist in great amounts in different places. In fact, it is the fifth most abundant element. It is typically sourced as a mineral in gypsum, dolomite, and calcite.
It is copious in sedimentary rocks such as limestone and marble.
Calcium also appears in multiple compounds. Some of the most common include:
- Lime – Calcium Carbonate
- Plaster of Paris – Calcium Sulfate
- Various Fertilizers – Calcium Phosphate
- Vitamin Supplements – Calcium Gluconate
- Substances for Ice Removal – Calcium Chloride
Although calcium comes profusely in many forms, not all can be absorbed by people, animals, and plants.
How Calcium Affects The Soil
For plants to be healthy, they must have the basic element, calcium. This naturally occurring element is frequently used as a soil modification for altering pH levels.
When calcium is added to the soil, it works in combination with other elements to create a variety of chemicals, all of which affect other chemical interactions.
One common use of calcium is the mitigation of damage that is caused by fertilizer overuse. [source]
Some Fertilizers Include Calcium As A Buffer
There are several ways in which soil pH is affected by the addition of calcium. Soil that has high calcium content usually has an alkaline pH.
Those possessing low calcium content are generally acidic. Alkaline soils with a pH value of 7.2 or higher cannot absorb calcium.
When this is the case, the excess calcium in the soil becomes combined with other elements and creates insoluble compounds.
Plants cannot absorb these compounds. Furthermore, plants can restrict and regulate intake of calcium to a narrow range.
This function limits the amount of benefit a plant can glean from increased levels of calcium in soil. [source]
Calcium & Chemical Interactions
When there is more calcium than can be absorbed in the soil, the excess combines with other elements and creates insoluble compounds.
This results in a restriction of the availability of elements, such as iron, boron, and phosphorous, that are necessary for plants to thrive.
Additionally, any of the following elements in excess can inhibit calcium absorption:
Potassium, calcium and magnesium should co-exist in adequate proportions. An excess of any of these nutrients would dissolve others resulting to either calcium or magnesium deficiency and more.
Calcium, as an acidic element may be compounded with other elements to reduces its acidity before it gets mixed with the soil. This process is known as liming.
The combination of cal-mag and calcium supplements for plants make a good liming material which comes in different forms such as the crystalline calcium carbonates, also known as the calcitic limestone.
On the other hand, crystalline calcium-magnesium is commonly known as dolomite lime.
The Solubility Of Calcium
When soil is very acidic, with a pH level of 7 or below, cations (combinations of positive ions) of aluminum and iron have greater solubility.
This results in restricted calcium absorption as these ions combine with calcium molecules in the soil.
This is damaging because acidic soil generally has very low calcium levels. Interference by aluminum and iron cations only worsens this problem.
An effective solution is to add gypsum to the soil. This will increase both the calcium level and the pH level of the soil, making more calcium available for plants.
Solubility Of Alkaline Substances
If soil pH levels are high, excess calcium becomes combined with other chemicals that may be present. For example, calcium frequently combines with boron and phosphorous.
This hampers plants from being able to absorb these elements.
If there is too much boron or phosphorous in soil, plants may suffer from discolored leaves and stunted growth.
It is possible for boron and phosphorous to reach toxic levels in soil. When this is the case, an application of calcium can help prevent damage to plants.
How Does Calcium Help Plants?
Just as calcium helps people and animals build and maintain strong bones and teeth, it helps plants build and maintain strong cell walls.
Therefore, it is so important for quality, nutritious soil to be rich in calcium balanced properly with other elements – both biotic and abiotic.
Abiotic elements are non-living elements in an environment (e.g. sun, wind, and rain). These must be considered when determining the nutritional value of soil.
For example, rain/water is vital in the process of calcium uptake because sufficient water is necessary to carry calcium throughout the plant to provide nutrition.
If a plant receives too little water, it will also receive too little calcium. For this reason, if your plants are showing signs of calcium deficiency, you should first examine your watering schedule.
If it seems your plants are adequately watered, examine the condition of your soil and determine the steps needed to increase the availability of calcium to your plants.
What Does Calcium Do For Plants?
In addition to building strong cell walls to help your plants stand up straight and tall, calcium also carries other nutrients along with it by binding to them.
Additionally, it acts to counteract organic acids and alkali salts in the soil. In short, calcium is a very important vitamin supplement for plant growth in your garden.
If your plants are deprived of calcium, they will suffer from growth problems. Furthermore, leaves may wither and turn brown.
Other possible victims of blossom end rot due to lack of calcium include squash, cucumber, and melon fruits.
You may be able to reduce blossom end rot by giving plants the correct nutrient solution.
In celery, you will see “black heart.” In cabbage, calcium deficiency results in internal tip burn.
How To Add Calcium To Soil
Lime is an excellent supplement for increasing calcium levels in soil.
Add eggshells to your compost heap to add calcium to soil.
Want big, tasty tomatoes?
Crushed eggshells planted with your tomato seedlings will give them a boost of calcium.
Some gardeners use half eggshells as starter cups for their seeds.
This is easy to do. Just place the half eggshells in an egg carton, add a bit of potting soil, and plant your seeds. Water as usual.
Transferring your seedlings in eggshells to your garden is very simple.
Just lift the shell from the carton, crush it just a bit, and plant it for beautiful, healthy tomato plants!
Calcium Can Be Absorbed Through Leaves
If you see signs of calcium deficiency in mature plants, you can boost calcium levels by spraying a calcium solution directly onto the plant.
Calcium can be absorbed through the plant’s leaves.
To use the foliar feeding method, mix a solution using a gallon of water and half an ounce or a full ounce of calcium nitrate or calcium chloride.
Spray this solution evenly over your plants. Take special care to be sure that new growth is well saturated.
Calcium Is A Universal Necessity
It’s easy to see that proper calcium levels are essential to a healthy, thriving garden.
Follow the advice presented here to make sure your plants are getting the proper dose of calcium and all the benefits it provides.


What is Kubernetes? Container, Orchestration, Platform
What is Kubernetes?
Kubernetes is a versatile, extensible, open-source stage for overseeing containerized responsibilities and administrations that work with revelatory arrangement and mechanization. It has a vast, quickly developing biological system. Kubernetes administrations, backing, and devices are generally accessible.
The name Kubernetes begins in Greek, which means helmsman or pilot. K8s, as a shortened form, comes about because of tallying the eight letters between the “K” and the “s.” Google publicly released the Kubernetes project in 2014. Kubernetes joins more than 15 years of Google’s experience running creation responsibilities at scale with best-of-breed thoughts and practices from the local area.
What are containers?
They are an innovation that permits the client to split a machine to run more than one application (on account of interaction holders) or working framework example (on account of framework compartments) on similar parts and equipment while keeping up with disengagement among the responsibilities. Compartments are an advanced method to virtualize foundation, more lightweight methodology than conventional virtual machines: all holders in a single host OS share the part and different assets, require less memory space, guarantee more noteworthy asset usage, and more limited startup times by a few significant degrees.
Containers have become famous because they give additional advantages, for example:
- Coordinated application creation and arrangement: expanded straightforwardness and proficiency of compartment picture creation contrasted with VM picture use.
- Consistent turn of events, incorporation, and organization: accommodates dependable and successive holder picture construct and sending fast and productive rollbacks (because of picture unchanging nature).
- Dev and Ops detachment of concerns: make application compartment pictures at construct/discharge time instead of arrangement time, decoupling applications from the foundation.
- Discernibleness surfaces OS-level data and measurements, yet additionally application wellbeing and different signs.
- Ecological consistency across improvement, testing, and creation: Runs something similar on a PC as it does in the cloud.
- Cloud and OS dispersion convenience: Runs on Ubuntu, RHEL, CoreOS, on-premises, significant public mists, and elsewhere.
- Application-driven administration: Raises the degree of deliberation from running an OS on virtual equipment to running an application on an OS utilizing intellectual assets.
- Inexactly coupled, circulated, versatile, freed miniature administrations: applications are broken into more modest, autonomous pieces and can be sent and overseen progressively – not a solid stack running on one major single-reason machine.
- Asset segregation: unsurprising application execution.
- Asset use: high productivity and thickness.
How Kubernetes works
A functioning Kubernetes arrangement is known as a cluster. You can picture a Kubernetes bunch as two sections: the control plane and the register machines, or hubs.
Every hub is its Linux® climate and could be either a physical or virtual machine. Every hub runs units, which are comprised of compartments.
The control plane is liable for keeping up with the ideal condition of the bunch, for example, which applications are running and which holder pictures they use. Register machines really run the applications and responsibilities.
Kubernetes runs on top of a working framework (Red Hat® Enterprise Linux®, for instance) and associates with cases of compartments running on the hubs.
The Kubernetes control plane takes the orders from a chairman (or DevOps group) and transfers those directions to the register machines.
This handoff works with a huge number of administrations to consequently choose which hub is most appropriate for the assignment. It then, at that point, distributes assets and doles out the units in that hub to satisfy the mentioned work.
The ideal condition of a Kubernetes group characterizes which applications or different responsibilities ought to be running, alongside which pictures they use, which assets ought to be made accessible to them, and other such arrangement subtleties.
According to a framework perspective, there is little change to how you oversee compartments. Your authority over holders simply occurs at a more significant level, giving you better control without the need to micromanage each different container or hub.
Your work includes designing Kubernetes and characterizing hubs, units, and the compartments inside them. Kubernetes handles arranging the compartments.
Where you run Kubernetes is dependent upon you. This can be on uncovered metal workers, virtual machines, public cloud suppliers, private mists, and mixture cloud conditions. One of Kubernetes’ key benefits is it deals with various sorts of frameworks.
Basic definitions of Kubernetes
A bunch of hubs that run containerized applications oversaw by Kubernetes.
A Pod gathers at least one container, with shared capacity and organization assets and a determination for how to run the holders. A Pod’s substances are consistently co-founded and co-booked and run in a common setting. A Pod models an application-explicit “sensible host”: it contains at least one application compartment, which is moderately firmly coupled. In non-cloud settings, applications executed on a similar physical or virtual machine are undifferentiated from cloud applications executed on a similar intelligent host.
- Master node
a.k.a. control plane
The arrangement layer gives interfaces to characterize, send, and deal with the lifecycle of holders.
- Worker Node
Each laborer hub can have applications as holders. A Kubernetes bunch normally has various laborer hubs (somewhere around one).
- Programming interface server
The essential control plane segment uncovered the Kubernetes API, empowering correspondences between bunch segments.
A control plane daemon that screens the condition of the group and rolls out all fundamental improvements for the bunch to arrive at its ideal state.
- Container runtime
This is the product that is liable for running containers.
Kubernetes upholds a few holder runtimes: Docker, containers, CRI-O, and any execution of the Kubernetes CRI (Container Runtime Interface).
A specialist that sudden spikes in demand for every hub in the group. It ensures that holders are running in a Pod.
The kubelet takes a bunch of PodSpecs that are given through different instruments and guarantees that the holders depicted in those PodSpecs are running and sound. The kubelet doesn’t oversee holders who Kubernetes did not make.
The Kubernetes order line apparatus, kubectl, permits you to run orders against Kubernetes bunches. You can utilize kubectl to send applications, assess and oversee group assets, and view logs.
Kube-intermediary is an organization intermediary that sudden spikes in demand for every hub in your bunch, carrying out a piece of the Kubernetes Service idea.
Kube-intermediary keeps up with network rules on hubs. These organization rules permit network correspondence to your Pods from network meetings inside or outside of your bunch.
Kube-intermediary utilizes the working framework bundle sifting layer in case there is one, and it’s accessible. Something else, Kube-intermediary advances the actual traffic.
The Container Network Interface is a determination and a bunch of apparatuses to characterize organizing interfaces between network suppliers and Kubernetes.
The Container Storage Interface is particular for information stockpiling devices and applications to incorporate with Kubernetes groups.
Why do you need Kubernetes, and what can you do with it?
Compartments are a decent method to package and run your applications. In a creation climate, you need to deal with the holders that run the applications and guarantee that there is no vacation. For instance, if a holder goes down, another compartment needs to begin. Wouldn’t it be simpler if this conduct was taken care of by a framework?
That is the way Kubernetes acts the hero! Kubernetes furnishes you with a structure to run circulated frameworks versatilely. It deals with scaling and failover for your application, gives organization examples, and that’s just the beginning. For instance, Kubernetes can deal with a canary organization for your framework without much of a stretch.
Kubernetes furnishes you with:
- Administration disclosure and burden adjusting:
Kubernetes can uncover a holder utilizing the DNS name or utilizing their own IP address. On the off chance that traffic to a compartment is high, Kubernetes can stack adjust and convey the organization traffic, so the sending is steady.
- Capacity coordination:
Kubernetes permits you to naturally mount a capacity arrangement of your decision, like neighborhood stockpiles, public cloud suppliers, and the sky is the limit from there.
- Mechanized rollouts and rollbacks:
You can depict the ideal state for your sent compartments utilizing Kubernetes, and it can change the genuine state to the ideal state at a controlled rate. For instance, you can computerize Kubernetes to make new compartments for your sending, eliminate existing holders and receive every one of their assets to the new compartment.
- Programmed canister pressing:
You furnish Kubernetes with a group of hubs that it can use to run containerized assignments. You disclose to Kubernetes the amount of CPU and memory (RAM) every compartment needs. Kubernetes can fit compartments onto your hubs to utilize your assets.
Kubernetes restarts holders that fall flat replaces compartments, kills compartments that don’t react to your client characterized wellbeing check, and doesn’t publicize them to customers until they are prepared to serve.
- Mystery and design the executives:
Kubernetes allows you to store and oversee delicate data, like passwords, OAuth tokens, and SSH keys. You can convey and refresh privileged insights and application setup without reconstructing your compartment pictures without uncovering mysteries in your stack arrangement.
Coming up next are the primary components of the Kubernetes engineering:
- Hubs and groups (figure)
The underpinning of the Kubernetes configuration are bunches. The hubs that make up the groups each act as a solitary register have (virtual or actual machine).
An expert hub goes about as the bunch's war room, and a few laborer hubs circulate, run, and keep up with containerized applications on each group. A scheduler administration that is controlled by the expert hub robotizes holder organization relying upon engineer determined sending prerequisites and accessible processing power. Every specialist hub has the holder the board innovation, like Docker, as well as a product specialist called a Kubelet that gets and does orders from the expert hub.
With the utilization of kubectl, an order line interface (cli) that connects straightforwardly with the Kubernetes API, designers can oversee bunch exercises.
- Organizations and cases (programming)
Holders that are important for a unit share similar organization and processing assets. Furthermore, Kubernetes involves cases as the unit of versatility: in the event that a compartment inside a unit gets more traffic than it can make due, Kubernetes will copy the case to different hubs in the bunch. Along these lines, it's smart to keep cases little and fill them with just the vital holders.
The containerized application is made, kept up with in a running state, and constrained by the sending. The number of clones of a case that ought to be running on the group is determined. The organization will fabricate another unit assuming that a current one fizzles.
Container orchestration with Kubernetes
Kubernetes organization permits you to assemble application benefits that range different holders, plan those compartments across a bunch, scale those compartments, and deal with the strength of those holders after some time. With Kubernetes, you can move toward better IT security.
Kubernetes likewise needs to incorporate with systems administration, stockpiling, security, telemetry, and different administrations to give an exhaustive holder foundation. When you scale this to a creative climate and different applications, unmistakably, you need various, colocated holders cooperating to convey the individual administrations.
Linux holders give your microservice-based applications an optimal application organization unit and independent execution climate. What’s more, microservices in compartments make it simpler to coordinate administrations, including capacity, systems administration, and security.
This altogether increases the number of holders in your current circumstance, and as those compartments amass, the intricacy likewise develops.
Kubernetes fixes a ton of normal issues with compartment expansion by arranging holders together into “cases.” Pods add a layer of reflection to assembled compartments, which assists you with planning responsibilities and offers important assistance types—like systems administration and capacity—to those holders.
Different pieces of Kubernetes help you balance loads across these units and guarantee you have the right number of compartments rushing to help your jobs.
With the right execution of Kubernetes—and with the assistance of other open-source projects like Open vSwitch, OAuth, and SELinux—you can arrange all pieces of your holder foundation.
Kubernetes and development
Run Kubernetes locally and at the edge
MicroK8s is a creation grade, CNCF-ensured, lightweight Kubernetes that sends a solitary hub group with a solitary order. It’s a Linux snap that runs all Kubernetes benefits locally on any working framework supporting snaps, including 20+ Linux appropriations, Windows and macOS.
MicroK8s is the most straightforward appropriation of Kubernetes and destroys the hindrance of a section to compartment organization and cloud-local turn of events. In light of its little impression, it is ideal for groups, workstations, CI/CD pipelines, IoT gadgets, and little edge mists.
Run Kubernetes on your framework of decision
Send Canonical’s Charmed Kubernetes, a profoundly accessible, unadulterated upstream, multi-hub Kubernetes group. It’s a completely mechanized, model-driven way to deal with Kubernetes that deals with logging, checking, and alarming and gives application lifecycle computerization capacities.
It’s tried across the most extensive scope of framework. It sends on uncovered metal, private and public mists, alongside Kubernetes, Canonical backings a rich environment of various bits of programming that can be incorporated from the stack up. Standard is one of Microsoft’s essential advancement accomplices.
Allow a professional to manage your Kubernetes cluster
If you don’t want to go through the stress of recruiting your own K8s cluster of specialists? Get true serenity and spotlight on your business by utilizing our demonstrated involvement with Kubernetes arrangements and activities.
Some agencies offer a completely overseen administration which deals with the perplexing activities that many may come up short on the abilities to do, like introducing, fixing, scaling, checking, and updating with zero personal time.
If you have groups constructed, we can oversee them for you. We can likewise assemble and oversee them for you, giving the keys over when and in case you’re prepared to take full control.
What is not Kubernetes?
Kubernetes is anything but a conventional, comprehensive PaaS (Platform as a Service) framework. Since Kubernetes works at the holder level instead of at the equipment level, it gives some commonly material highlights normal to PaaS contributions, like organization, scaling, load adjusting, and allows clients to coordinate their logging, observing, and alarming arrangements. Be that as it may, Kubernetes isn’t solid, and these default arrangements are discretionary and pluggable. Kubernetes gives the structure squares to building engineer stages. However, it protects client decision and adaptability where it is significant.
- Doesn’t restrict the kinds of utilizations upheld. Kubernetes means to help an amazingly different assortment of jobs, including stateless, stateful, and information preparing jobs. On the off chance that an application can run in a compartment, it should run extraordinary on Kubernetes.
- It doesn’t convey source code and doesn’t construct your application. Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) work processes are dictated by association societies and inclinations just as specialized necessities.
- It doesn’t give application-level administrations, for example, middleware (for instance, message transports), information preparing structures (for instance, Spark), data sets (for instance, MySQL), reserves, nor bunch stockpiling frameworks (for instance, Ceph) as underlying administrations. Such segments can run on Kubernetes and can be gotten to by applications running on Kubernetes through compact components, such as the Open Service Broker.
- It doesn’t direct logging, checking, or cautioning arrangements. It gives a few reconciliations as evidence of ideas and instruments to gather and fare measurements.
- Doesn’t give nor order an arrangement language/framework (for instance, Jsonnet). It gives a decisive API that might be focused on by discretionary types of revelatory details.
- Doesn’t give nor embrace any complete machine design, support, the board, or self-mending frameworks.
- Furthermore, Kubernetes is certainly not a simple organizational framework. Indeed, it dispenses with the requirement of the organization. The specialized meaning of coordination is the execution of a characterized work process: first, do A, at that point B, then, at that point C. Conversely, Kubernetes includes many free, composable control measures that consistently drive the present status towards the gave wanted to state. It shouldn’t make any difference how you get from A to C. Brought together, and control is likewise not needed. This outcome is in a framework that is simpler to utilize and all the more impressive, vigorous, tough, and extensible.
Since it offers various critical advantages, the Kubernetes stage has acquired ubiquity.
- Transportability. From virtual conditions to exposed metal, holders are convenient in different settings. You might run containerized applications on K8s across different settings in light of the fact that Kubernetes is upheld by the super open mists as a whole.
- Expansion and joining. The arrangements you as of now use, like logging, checking, and cautioning frameworks, may be in every way coordinated with Kubernetes. A rich and rapidly extending environment is being created by the Kubernetes people group, which is dealing with various opensource arrangements that supplement Kubernetes.
- Reasonableness. Your IT spending is inside your control on the grounds that to Kubernetes' underlying asset streamlining, robotized scaling, and adaptability to execute jobs where they add the most worth.
- Adaptability. Applications worked for the cloud scale on a level plane. Kubernetes utilizes "auto-scaling," naturally making more holder occurrences and extending in light of interest.
- Programming interface based. The REST API is the foundation of Kubernetes. Programming might be utilized to deal with each part of the Kubernetes framework.
- Consolidated CI/CD. The structure, testing, and sending of projects to creation conditions are undeniably computerized utilizing the DevOps technique known as CI/CD. Kubernetes and CI/CD are being coordinated by organizations to fabricate adaptable, load-responsive CI/CD pipelines.
Kubernetes use cases
Building a cloud stage to offer inventive financial administrations
Emirates NBD, probably the biggest bank in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), required a versatile, tough establishment for computerized advancement. The bank battled with moderate provisioning and a perplexing IT climate. Setting up a worker could require two months while making changes to enormous, solid applications required over a half year.
Utilizing Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform for holder organization, combination, and the executives, the bank made Sahab the primary private cloud run at scale by a bank in the Middle East. Sahab gives applications, frameworks, and different assets for a start to finish advancement—from provisioning to creation—through an as-a-Service model.
Emirates NBD further developed cooperation between interior groups and accomplices utilizing application programming interfaces (APIs) and microservices with its new stage. What’s more, by embracing nimble and DevOps improvement rehearses, the bank diminished application dispatch and update cycles.
CI/CD - programming improvement lifecycle
Kubernetes additionally carries impressive advantages to Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment or Continuous Delivery approach (you can peruse more about CI/CD in our blog entry). This is a sensible continuation of the utilization cases introduced in focuses 1 and 2. Once an application is conveyed into tasks, how it works should be checked continually. That is as well as get-together clients’ criticism and growing new highlights. Regardless of whether it’s for trying, incessant deliveries, or sending more up-to-date forms of an application, Kubernetes simplifies things and is more reasonable.
AI and Kubernetes
AI strategies are presently broadly used to take care of genuine issues. Triumphs have come in various fields- - self-driving vehicles, picture acknowledgment, machine interpretation, discourse acknowledgment, game playing (Go or poker). AI models have beaten even people in games like Go, which was once thought to be excessively troublesome a game for machines to break. Besides, AI could prompt genuine forward leaps in distinguishing malignant growth and medication revelation. The business world has not neglected to get in on the innovation, by the same token. To name three behemoths, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon have all effectively utilized machines, while different organizations are contributing vigorously to help their AI capacities.
However, the way toward building a viable AI model and utilizing it underway is confounded and tedious. Building an application that can dependably perceive whether a picture presents a feline or a canine is a valid example. As a matter of first importance, a huge dataset of pictures labeled “feline” or “canine” should be transferred. Then, at that point, an undeveloped AI model is prepared to characterize the information in numerical terms; prepared, that is, to perceive the pictures that are neither in the preparation nor in the test dataset. After the model is prepared, it is executed in an application that will be made accessible to people in general.
As should be obvious, it sets aside an effort to utilize an AI-prepared model in an application. This way, numerous organizations might want to work on this cycle and make the existence of information researchers or ML engineers simpler by acquainting a tool stash to accelerate the entire interaction. Along these lines, the number of tasks important to convey such an application will be essentially diminished, shortening the application’s ideal opportunity to showcase. In this situation, undertakings can outfit the force of Kubernetes, as every one of the estimations important to prepare the ML model are performed inside the K8s bunch. The information researcher or ML designer will just have to clean the information and compose the code. The rest will be dealt with by a toolbox dependent on Kubernetes. Such tool stash is now accessible available: Kubeflow by Google and CodiLime spin-off Neptune both ring a bell. The expanding interest for AI-controlled arrangements will, without a doubt, additionally advance the appropriation of Kubernetes.
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JAMESTOWN – Second graders at Love Elementary School recently created life-sized replicas of the human body part of their English Language Arts curriculum.
Students traced their bodies on paper, cutout organs, colored the organs and placed them in the correct place on their “bodies.”
During the ELA unit of the human body, students studied how the body began as cells and built to a system.
Students learned about the respiratory, digestive, excretory, muscular and nervous systems.
After they understood the jobs of the systems, students learned how to keep their body healthy and read nonfiction passages or listened to fiction stories supporting body systems and healthy habits.
The goal of the human-sized replicas are to give students a hands-on experience of what their organs are, and where they are located in the body.
“This activity allows students to experience what they have learned and discussed in class,” said Mrs. Sisley-Kazelunas the teacher who ran the unit. “Students are able to have a better understanding of their body, how it works, and how to take care of it by creating a paper model of themselves.”


In this era of plug and play, copy/paste programming, many programmers do not take the time to hone their coding skills, which can be detrimental to their career. In this article, we explore what is meant by coding skills, why it matters, and how a person can acquire, nurture, and improve their coding skills.
I gave a few lectures in late 2018 at colleges in Chennai and Computer Society of India, thanks to Dr. Govindarajalu. This article is a summary of one of the presentations. It is primarily meant for my fellow programmers who seek to level up and those who aspire to become programmers or just starting out.
1. Programming ca. 2019
Today we cannot imagine programming without google and Stack Overflow! Online sources provide us with reference material, and also solutions to about 80% of the problems we need to solve while developing any software.
A large number of Open Source software provides us a wealth of components that can be “assembled” to build software quite easily and rapidly. Developing an application has become something like that of putting together a dinner with a meal kit.
Programming is made simpler by IDEs that has become very powerful. In addition to the enormous tooling, they also provide smart code completion, snippets etc. Some also provide AI based assistance!
If machines and the internet can do a lot of programming for us, the question then becomes, are coding skills even necessary?
2. The 10x Programmer
Some say the notion of a 10x programmer – the one who is 10 times as productive as the rest of the team – is a myth. But we all know that few programmers stand out exceptionally from the rest.
What does it take for an average programmer to become a 10x programmer? Is it even possible? I think it is possible to get close, provided these two conditions are met:
- Have a genuine passion for computing and solving problems. If you just do programming for a paycheck, examine yourself and try to cultivate interest. Programming should be fun!
- Attempt to continually improve coding skills.
3. What are Coding Skills?
I have been saying “coding skills” a few times already, but what does it mean? Is it just programming? No! There are several aspects to coding skills than just typing away on a computer!
I have divided the skills into nine aspects, across three tiers. The top tier is all acquired skills, meaning they are not usually taught in schools and colleges. They have to be intentionally practiced. The middle tier is mostly taught in formal Computer Science education. The bottom tier includes lots of soft skills that comes mostly with experience.
Precise Coding: Precision does not happen by chance. The ability to deliver according to specifications, and with high quality is the hallmark of 10x programmers. Always design before you start coding. I believe the best tools for design are notepad and pen. Keep one handy always! Adhere to KISS and DRY principles.
Fast Coding: The ability to code fast not only helps to win programming contests, but it is also very helpful in the workplace! Businesses have timelines and the best programmers thrive under pressure. In early 2013, Marissa Mayer, the then CEO of Yahoo!, locked 18 of us in a room and gave us the mandate to deliver an end-to-end native ads solution in 2 months. We did it in 43 days! The ability to code fast came in handy for many of us.
Practical Coding: Almost every top programmer is a hacker. The ability to experiment a lot, tinker with many technologies and open source libraries etc. will help you find simple solutions to complex problems that are highly practical.
Math: Mathematics is the foundation of Computer Science. It is good to brush up on Math skills once in a while in order to be really good at programming. From understanding computational complexity to applications in Cryptography, Blockchain, Video encoding, to name a few, Math skills are essential to propel a developer to the next level.
Data Structures: These are the heart of a program. Eric Raymond, in his seminal work, “The Cathedral and The Bazaar”, says that “Smart data structures and dumb code works a lot better than the other way around”. Data structures can make or break a system, and top programmers pay very careful attention to choosing proper data structures or designing one.
Algorithms: These are the brains of a program. Most of the time, simple well-known algorithms are enough to solve problems, but sometimes you will have to tweak existing algorithms or invent a new one. A very very small percentage of developers work on sophisticated algorithms that require skills such as dynamic programming. For the rest of us, there is a wealth of open source libraries and APIs available. Even then, to pick the best one to use, a sound knowledge of algorithms and complexity analysis (run time, storage etc) is essential.
Communication: Almost every great piece of software is developed in a team setting, whether it is open source or big corporations or a startup. Having worked with many teams, I posit that being able to communicate well is as important as coding itself. If there are n people in a team, the number of communication channels become O(n^2), which often leads to a lot of chaos in larger teams. Being able to describe your work, as in documenting code or publishing a blog article is also a very important skill to develop.
Discipline: A good piece of code reads like a poem. To develop a beautiful piece of software, you need to have serious discipline: the ability to break down tasks, set goals, have focus and get “in the zone”, follow coding standards and best practices, continuously refactor and follow through to completion.
Tooling: Top developers excel in creating tools that automate tasks and help in productivity. Skills like shell scripting enable a developer to build tools not only for their own purpose, but could also help the organization tremendously!
4. Why Coding Skills Matter?
Now that we have seen what coding skills are, let me give you a few thoughts on why they really matter at this time and age.
It can help you build things. As an engineer, you want to be able to confidently design and build systems. Having good coding skills will empower you to do that and achieve your goals. As an entrepreneur, it gives you infinite potential to bring ideas to life without having to depend on others (at least during initial stages)!
It helps you solve complex problems. You can really think big! With strong coding skills and breadth of experience, you will be able to architect systems that impact millions of people and solve problems at a global scale.
It helps you in your career. Needless to say, top programmers are recognized in every company. They go on to become architects and the go-to guys for solving company-wide problems. Many teams and even companies are built around people with exceptional coding skills.
It helps you to get jobs. Many companies incorporate programming tests to find out skill levels. If you ‘practice’ coding and problem solving, it should be relatively easy to crack these tests.
It helps you to win hackathons! Hackathons are fun events that unleash creativity and help build things. Having good coding skills will help you translate your dream project to reality faster and win hackathons and earn you fame and fortune!
5. How to Improve Coding Skills?
Cultivate Passion for Coding: Coding is a channel to express creativity. It is a means to build useful things. Many programmers who are starting out can get really frustrated understanding concepts like recursion, and can easily give up. Don’t!! Even seasoned programmers have difficulties with advanced topics, and they have gone through the same path as you. Instead of giving up, focus on small wins. It will boost your confidence!
Hard Work: Surprise! Surprise! There is no shortcut to becoming an expert programmer. Similar to how top athletes continuously train, you have to continuously practice programming. Malcolm Gladwell tells us about the famous (or infamous) 10,000-hour rule, that is, to become expert in any field, you will have to work on it full time for 10,000 hours. It actually is true in the field of Computer Science and programming.
Become a Polyglot: Different languages serve different purposes. It is always good to know more than one language, as you would be able to solve many different types of problems. Many modern languages are derivatives of C, and hence learning C is very helpful.
Practice on Coding Sites: There are several online coding practice sites available today. I personally prefer Codesignal, Hackerrank and Project Euler. Although several of these sites are geared towards interview practice, the advantages go far beyond that. I usually hang around on these sites and solve at least 1 or 2 problems every week, as it is fun, very rewarding, and extremely satisfying when I occasionally finish in top 10 ;) It definitely keeps you sharp and gives you the mental energy to tackle challenging problems at work.
Competitive Programming: Taking part in programming contests is a great way to improve fast coding skills. There are several contests available at different levels. ACM ICPC is famous in universities. If you are in college, join or form a team to compete! Hackathons are routinely run in communities and corporations. Join one and hack on!
Communicate: Participating in forums such as Stack Overflow is a great way to improve technical communication skills. Not just ask, but also contribute, even a little! Write technical articles – maintain a blog, post in medium.com or LinkedIn. Attend technical talks & meetups.
Develop Hobby Projects: Last, but not least, developing hobby projects is a great way to improve coding skills. Many useful tools and applications began as hobby projects. It is also a great exercise in product development – you define the scope and can develop at your own pace!
Coding skills really matter in this era of ubiquitous computing. Paying attention to improving your coding skills will help in your career and enable you to build extraordinary things!
Thanks for reading this article. I would love to hear any feedback you may have. If you find this article useful, and you think it will help your colleague, friend, or classmate, please share or tag them.


About this course
This course introduces the definition and methodology of data mining as well as the major data mining techniques. Association analysis concepts, its applications, clustering concepts, applications and issues are discussed.
What you will learn
By the end of this course, you should be able to
- Define the various aspects of data mining
- Describe the data mining methodology i.e. CRISP-DM framework
- List the pre-requisites and limitations of data mining
- Interpret the results of association analysis
- Assess applications of association analysis
- Assess applications of clustering
- Interpret the results of clustering
You must complete an online quiz with a passing score of 50% (i.e., 5 out of 10 questions). You will be given multiple attempts to achieve the passing score. The system will only capture the highest of the scores.


How to make a connection is overall one of the easier reading comprehension standards to teach in first grade.
Making a connection requires students to find similarities between their own personal experiences (background knowledge), things they have read in other books (texts) and things that are going on around them in their community.
We typically refer to these kinds of connections as:
- text to self
- text to text
- text to world
Making a connection is an activity that can be done with every single read aloud.
It can (and should) be done whole group, in small group, with partners, in literacy stations and during independent reading.
It's also a great skill for parents to work on at home.
What do First Grade students need to know about Making Connections?
Here are a few ways that students can make a connection to themselves:
- recalling personal feelings, thoughts or memories and comparing them to the story elements of the text (character, setting, events, etc.)
- using a shared experience or memory to build empathy for a character
Text to text connections can include comparing story elements between texts such as characters, setting, events, genre, etc.
Connections between texts and the world/community can be a bit more challenging. With first grade students, it’s easiest to focus on comparing:
- past, present and future
- levels of society (community, state, region, country or world)
Teachers can help students make connections with their texts by:
- Modeling their thinking during a read aloud and verbalize their connection to the text
- Having students explain their connections to the class
- Brainstorm possible connections to common past experiences
- Use sentence stems such as “This reminds me of…”
- Ask probing questions like “What does this make you think of? Why?”
How to Introduce Making Connections Questions for First Grade
If you teach lower elementary, then you know that there is SO much that goes into the comprehension of a book. First grade students are learning so much at this age and even listening comprehension requires their little brains to work so hard.
Why do I bring this up?
Because I want you to think about how hard they are ALREADY working when they are listening to a read aloud and when you use a mentor text to introduce a NEW SKILL, most students’ brains go into overload!
So what should we do instead?
Start with a non-text activity. Let me introduce you to a new kind of “slideshow”.
I like to use interactive slideshows/powerpoints. My slideshows always follow this order:
- Teaching Slides: Introduces students to WHAT the skill is
- Guided Practice: Introduces students to HOW to apply the skill
- Interactive Practice: Gives students an example and allows them to PRACTICE the skill in an easy and concise way
Make a Connection Non-Text Activities for First Grade
After we practice the slideshow, then we practice building our making connections muscles with some guided and independent practice using a NON-TEXT ACTIVITY such as a station game.
Non-text activities are a HUGE asset to first grade students because it allows them to build and flex their making predictions muscles before we ask them to apply those skills to a text!
How to Complete the Activity
We will do this activity together as a group first, then it will move into our guided reading stations where students will complete it independently!
I've found the best and easiest way to do this is with images of connections that my first grade students know a lot about.
My students do this Making Connections activity (seen on the right). We do one together as a class for guided practice.
For this activity, students must correctly draw a card and analyze the two images. Then I have students write about what they think the two objects have in common (their connection).
What I like most about this activity is that students have to write “because”. I feel like making students explain their thinking is a key component of any good reading comprehension activity.
After we do this activity together, it goes into their stations for Guided Reading.
The best part about this activity is that you can leave it out for several weeks because each time students can choose a new set of pictures!
Mentor Texts for Making Connections in First Grade
A mentor text is an incredibly powerful tool for teaching reading comprehension skills!
The problem that many teachers run into with mentor texts is that there are SO MANY different skills you can teach with the same mentor text….
Sometimes we try to do TOO MUCH and we overwhelm our students!
Let me introduce you to a Comprehension Focus Question (CFQ).
A CFQ is one question that you focus on through the entire text!
It simplifies things for you and your students. (more on that later)…
But let's take a minute to dispel so myths about mentor texts..
A mentor text is NOT a book that you read once and put it away.
A mentor text is a book that you read once, then refer back to again and again and again.
The greatest benefit of a good mentor text is that after you have read it once, when you refer back to it, you aren’t reading the entire book again, you are simply referring back to one or two pages.
It will save you SO much time.
AND students are already familiar with the story line meaning that already have a foundation for whatever comprehension skill you are about to dive into!
How to Boost Comprehension for Predictions
Comprehension Focus Questions
As I mentioned, a Comprehension Focus Question (CFQ) is a very focused and intentional comprehension goal for an activity, a week or even a unit.
If you have done your research and you understand your learning standard, the vocabulary and what students need to know…
Then it becomes very easy to choose a goal (or a comprehension focus question).
But, why do you need a comprehension goal?
To stay FOCUSED!
Not just for you, but for your students also!
Let’s look at an example. Let’s say that this week you are focusing on how to make an inference. Well, there are about a hundred different ways you can make an inference and a CFQ allows you to focus on one area at a time.
Example CFQ: “How Did The Character Change From ___ To ____?”
In this comprehension focus question, you and your students are focusing in on the characters of the story.
The great thing about CFQ’s is that the next time you pull out this mentor text, you can choose a different CFQ to focus on while still practicing how to make an inference!
Another great strategy that falls right in long with mentor texts and comprehension focus questions is sentence stems.
A sentence stem is a phrase that your first grade students will use to answer a comprehension question.
Sentence stems are designed to get students to answer comprehension questions more fully rather than giving one word answers.
Sentence stems encourage students to explain their thinking.
I like to have a list of sentence stems next to my table that are specific to each comprehension skill. I stick to one or two stems per skill for the entire year because I want my students to be consistent. (This also makes it a lot easier for them)
If we are sticking with our Make an Inference example, I would use the following sentence stems:
I Think ___ Because____.
I Read This ____ So I Think _____
Make Connections Activities for First Grade
All of the activities that you found in this post, both printable and digital, along with UNIT LESSON PLANS can be found in my Making Connections Bundle here.
You can save up to 20% by purchasing the items together, but you can also purchase individual items to better fit your needs!


For many of us, we have heard the phrase “fair trade” tossed around here and there at various craft shows, local ministries, non-profits, and even in nation-wide corporations. We all feel much better when we know what we are buying is fair trade. We feel a sense of social responsibility to buy all products marked “fair trade.”
But wait. Do we even know what “fair trade” means? Do we really know why we should feel good after purchasing a fair trade product?
By definition, fair trade is when a fair price is paid for a product and the money paid is given directly back to the product’s producer in a developing country. Not only that, but most fair trade partnerships also help promote clean and sustainable environment practices as well as produce higher quality products than most factory-produced items.
Too often, buying and selling is based simply on pushing products and driving profits. Typically, when I stand in the grocery isle or shop for clothing online, I’m not always thinking about the long chain of individuals my cereal or pair of pants went through to make it available for purchase. If I did, I would realize that many workers at the beginning of the chain are not getting their fair share of profits. The individuals who make the products often receive unfair compensation for their work.
This is why fair trade is so important to helping stabilize and support developing countries.
The World Fair Trade Organization lists 10 Principles of Fair Trade that help us better understand how it is positively impacting the world. Just a few of these important principles:
- Opportunities for disadvantaged workers
- Transparency and accountability
- No discrimination, gender equity, and freedom of association
- Good working conditions
- No child labor or forced labor
You can check out the full list of fair trade principles and learn more about what you can do to help here: http://wfto.com/fair-trade/10-principles-fair-trade
When we buy fair trade products, we are not only helping small-scale workers around the globe, but we are also empowering them to use their talents and skills to make a livelihood. While charity and donations are helpful to third-world workers, it is even better if we can help support them in their occupation, which in turn promotes long-term relief.
All of Elevāt’s products are fairly traded. We can rest assured that when we purchase a product, our money goes directly back to the woman who made it - helping to support her family and livelihood.
Fair trade partnerships make it possible to truly make a positive difference in the world and enjoy quality, beautiful products while doing so!


The NHS reports that 1 in 5 women in the UK are currently affected by PCOS, but what do we really know about the condition? It’s imperative that women have a clear understanding of their reproductive health. here, we explain everything you need to know about PCOS
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a health problem that affects 1 in 10 women of childbearing age. This September Is Polycystic Ovary Syndrome awareness month, where we promote further knowledge and research into this little-understood disease.
What is PCOS and how does it affect women?
Women’s reproductive processes are largely controlled by hormones. Polycystic ovary syndrome is a condition which affects women’s hormone levels, specifically involving the production of androgen — male hormones. This imbalance can lead to irregular periods, meaning that your ovaries are not releasing eggs regularly.
Many people think that having PCOS means that you will have cysts, but this is a myth. The follicles are underdeveloped sacs, and typically eggs will form within them, but in cases of PCOS these sacs cannot release the egg, inhibiting menstruation as a result.
How to identify the symptoms
Although most women with PCOS show symptoms during their late teens or early twenties, it can affect you at any age. The severity and range of symptoms experienced is likely to differ between people, but some of the possible signs to look out for include:
- Irregular periods, or a lack of any menstruation
- Issues with getting pregnant — in PCOS, you are not ovulating/ ovulating irregularly
- Hair growth which can be excessive on the chest, face, buttocks or back
- Weight gain
- Hair loss or thinning hair
- Acne or noticeably oily skin
You should contact your GP if you have experienced any of these symptoms. The problem that many women face with PCOS is that it is often misdiagnosed with a whole array or other conditions that can mimic the symptoms, making the diagnosis a long, difficult process sometimes.
Niamh, 22, described her experience and diagnosis:
“I’d experienced severe cramps that were getting in the way of my normal routines, as well as period irregularities, so I was really concerned at the time.
“Before the PCOS diagnosis, my doctor suggested trying over the counter painkillers, but after few trips back to the surgery I was finally told that I had the condition”.
You should familiarise yourself with your body and what’s normal for you, and if you have any concerns, your GP should be your first port of call.
Some of the most common symptoms of PCOS include heavy or irregular periods, which can be hard to manage. Your period shouldn’t get in the way of your normal routine, so make sure you look for the right product for you, with the correct absorbency for your flow. Non-applicator tampons are a great alternative to regular tampons, and they come in a wide range of absorbencies too. By finding the absorbency that suits your individual flow, you won’t have to worry about leaks.
There is no cure for PCOS, but the symptoms can be managed. After a woman is diagnosed with the condition, various medications might be prescribed by a doctor following diagnosis. Clomifene is usually the first option prescribed to help ovulation resume, or metformin, used commonly to treat type 2 diabetes, can be given to women — although for PCOS it is used ‘off-label’ as it isn’t actually licensed for treating the condition in the UK. There’s also medication options for targeting other PCOS symptoms such as acne and unwanted hair loss/growth.
Becca, 24, spoke about the treatment options following her PCOS diagnosis: ”People are very unaware of how different the symptoms can be, and treatment needs to be quite personalised”. As well as the options we’ve discussed, there are treatments based on naturopathy that women could opt for. For PCOS, it is important that as women, we deconstruct the ‘one size fits all’ approach to managing the symptoms, both visible and not. Becca added that ”it is possible for treatments to mask your symptoms rather than alleviate the root of the problem — and some women don’t even get a PCOS diagnosis before they’re offered medication for the signs”.
PCOS and fertility
For many women, fertility after a PCOS diagnosis is a big concern, but the condition doesn’t have to affect it. With treatment in place, getting pregnant naturally is possible, and there are multiple medications which are commonly prescribed to treat symptoms but also to stimulate fertility. A fertility specialist will be able to provide more guidance for women who have PCOS and struggle to conceive naturally. Positive steps to pursue for managing symptoms and boosting fertility include modifying your diet and lifestyle. Some women do require further help to get pregnant in PCOS cases though, and in vitro fertilisation might be recommended.
Getting pregnant naturally is still possible, however, and PCOS doesn’t always affect women’s fertility the same way.
Dismantling the taboo
Unfortunately, PCOS is rarely discussed, so people tend to know very little about how it affects our bodies. Jade, 23 described her frustration during her PCOS diagnosis: “From my experience, PCOS isn’t treated with enough sensitivity, and as few of the symptoms are visible, people can often pass it off as period pain, which makes you feel invalid”. She added, “I went through so many tests, from bloods to thyroid examinations, with no clear diagnosis, it felt like I was just being passed back and forth between doctors”.
As every woman experiences the symptoms of PCOS differently, experiences can vary from person to person and some may only suffer mild symptoms. All of the women that we spoke to expressed an unawareness of the condition prior to their diagnosis, and this poses the issue of education — should schools be sharing more with their female students on this, in order to develop better understandings of our intimate health? Tackling a taboo of this nature is essential, in order to help women normalise their experiences and seek the right guidance and healthcare.
This September, let’s not be afraid to discuss PCOS– it’s important to know what’s normal for your body and talking about it is the first step!
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Angered by the abusive behavior of American soldiers occupying the city, Mexicans in Taos strike back by murdering the American-born New Mexican governor Charles Bent.
The eldest of four brothers who all became prominent frontiersmen, Charles Bent began his involvement with the Wild West in 1822, when he left Virginia at the age of 23 to become a trader for the Missouri Fur Company. When that company was destroyed by cutthroat competition from John Jacob Astor’s powerful American Fur Company, Bent became a trader on the Santa Fe Trail. Building outlets in the Mexican cities of Santa Fe and New Mexico, and an Indian trading post on the Arkansas River called Bent’s Fort (in modern-day Colorado), Bent and his business partners eventually created the largest mercantile firm in the Southwest.
Bent’s financial, political, and personal interests increasingly began to center on Taos, New Mexico. In the 1830s, he moved there and married Maria Ignacia Jaramillo, a wealthy widow from a prominent Mexican family. Bent’s new wife and his considerable wealth helped him win acceptance among the Mexican political elites, and he became a close associate of the New Mexican governor, Manuel Armijo. However, when war between Mexico and the U.S. broke out in 1846, Bent revealed his true colors by welcoming General Stephen Kearney’s largely bloodless conquest of New Mexico with open arms. Kearney awarded Bent by appointing him to the governorship.
Kearney and most of his soldiers then moved on to take California, leaving the new governor to fend for himself, and Bent soon discovered that his behavior had earned him many enemies in Taos. Many of the Mexican families naturally resented the American conquest of their home, and the Taos Indians had long disliked Bent because of his trade relations with their northern enemies. The small force of American soldiers left behind to maintain order exacerbated the bad feelings by treating the Mexicans with undisguised contempt.
On January 19, 1847, the people of Taos struck back. A violent mob attacked a Taos home that Bent was visiting, murdered his guards, and then killed and scalped Bent. Dragging Bent’s mangled body through the streets of Taos, the mob called for a full-scale rebellion against the American occupation, and by the end of the evening, 15 other Americans had been killed. Those who survived fled to Santa Fe to sound the alarm. Within two weeks, the American Colonel Sterling Price had quelled the rebellion and executed the supposed ringleaders. With the end of the Mexican War in 1848, New Mexico and all the rest of Mexico’s old northern frontier became the American Southwest.


Resources and More Information
One of the quickest and easiest ways to find the answers to your questions about organ transplantation and donation is by looking on the Internet. If you do not have Internet access at home, you can go to your public library. There is a wealth of information available online. Below are some links to a few good places to start.
You can also download our comprehensive donor guide here.
The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)
This site can help patients through the transplant process. It includes information about the waiting list, Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) policies, the matching process, patient and professional profiles and resources for information.
(888) 894-6361 | www.UNOS.org | UNOS Patient Website: www.transplantliving.org
National Kidney Foundation
American Diabetes Association
US Department of Health and Human Services
This site is sponsored by the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and provides access to the Government’s information on organ and tissue donation and transplantation. Patients can find answers to frequently asked questions, public affairs and legislative updates, links to other websites and a glossary. There is also a section addressing myths about organ donation and information about various educational events and grant programs. You can download organ donation cards and brochures and order organ donation pins and bumper stickers to use as handouts for community activities to promote organ and tissue donation
A website with support and resources for people with kidney disease
The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients
This site contains information about the organization, what it does, transplant statistics and research resources.
Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN)
This site educates, informs and clarifies some of the complexities of the organ transplant process for all those affected by or interested in organ donation and transplantation.
American Society of Transplant Surgeons
American Society of Transplantation
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Living Organ Donor Advocate Program
NATCO, The Organization for Transplant Professionals
National Institutes for Health (Kidney and Urologic Diseases)
National Kidney Foundation
National Living Donor Assistance Center
What Every Patient Needs to Know. Talking About Transplantation. United Network for Organ Sharing, 2004. Call 1-888-894-6361 or visit www.transplantliving.org
Partnering with Your Transplant Team. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2004. CalI1-888-ASK-HRSA (275-4772) or e-mail email@example.com
Pharma Patient Assistance Directory. Describes programs offered by pharmaceutical companies to patients who need financial assistance for prescription drugs. Call 1-800-762-4636 to request the directory


On Friday, September 16th 2016, Mrs. Miller’s class wrote a classroom constitution in honor of Constitution Day. We discussed the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and finally the Constitution. The students understand a constitution to be a ‘plan for the government of a country. We talked about our classroom as being a community of which we all are a part. The students then worked in groups to discuss and draft ideas for our own constitution. After much deliberation, the students decided to ‘adopt’ the example as our own. As each student wrote the adopted constitution on notebook paper, I wrote our final copy on bulletin board paper. Each third grader then officially ratified our classroom constitution by putting their own “John Hancock” on the bottom of our final copy.


Obesity is quite a common health problem that is associated with having a higher than normal percentage of body fat. Having a body mass index of 30 or more is the indicator that is used to diagnose obesity. In the US, almost 40 percent of all adults are obese. Unfortunately, obesity can lead to more health problems, including diabetes, high blood pressure, infertility, and arthritis, among others. Therefore, if you are obese, it is imperative for you to work with a reliable Ashburn wellness center to cut the excess weight. If you are not obese, it is advisable for you to take some deliberate steps to maintain a healthy weight. Below are some tips for obesity prevention in adults.
Avoid Processed and Sugary Foods
Consumption of processed food is one of the main causes of obesity. This is because most processed foods are rich in sugar, fat, and salt. Such foods can encourage you to overeat. Besides, the body usually converts excess sugar to fat, which is deposited in the various parts of the body and consequently contributes to obesity. Therefore, avoiding such food is the first deliberate step you should take to prevent yourself from gaining unhealthy amounts of weight.
Avoid “Bad” Fats
Bad fats such as saturated fats and artificial trans fats are a major cause of health problems such as obesity and clogged arteries. However, the truth is that the body still needs some fats to function properly. Luckily, not all fats are bad for your health. Omega-3s and unsaturated fats are examples of healthy fats whose effects are known to be positive. For instance, healthy fats play a significant role in fighting fatigue, managing moods, and improving cognitive functions.
Eat More Fruits and Vegetables
Eating plenty of vegetables and fruits can go a long way in providing you with reasonable amounts of calories without putting you at risk of overeating and gaining excess weight. The recommended intake of fruits and vegetables should be five to nine servings daily.
Take in More Dietary Fiber
Research has shown that eating dietary fiber can go a long way in helping people to manage weight. If you take a fiber complex supplement for at least three times per day, you can lose up to 5 percent of your body weight within three months.
Engage in Regular Physical Exercise
A sedentary lifestyle is also a major factor that contributes to obesity. It is the main reason why a lot of people end up eating more calories than their bodies can burn. By engaging in regular physical exercise, you can burn more calories and consequently prevent yourself from becoming obese.
The Bottom Line
Overall, it is apparent that that obesity is quite a common health problem affecting almost 40 percent of adults in the US. Obesity is associated with diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and even arthritis. Luckily, it is an issue that can be prevented. If you are looking for a reliable weight loss clinic that can help you with maintaining a healthy weight in Ashburn, VA, Nova Physical Wellness Center is an excellent wellness center to consider. Feel free to consider them today for more information about their practitioners and services.


From the City of Austin:
Results from a comprehensive study found that more than 80 percent of materials in the community’s trash could have been recycled or composted.
The 2015 Community Diversion Study was initiated by the City Council as part of its vision for reaching Zero Waste in Austin. Austin Resource Recovery worked closely with a private firm to develop the study by broadly measuring recycling, composting and other diversion activities throughout the city. Data collection focused on Austin homes, businesses, apartments and commercial properties.
“To ensure this Study was as comprehensive as possible, we looked at more than just recycling. City and contractor staff worked diligently to measure the results of reduction, reuse, donation and other activities in our community that result in fewer materials being sent to landfills or incinerators,” said Aiden Cohen, Environmental Conservation Program Manager for Austin Resource Recovery.City of Austin
Overall, the study concluded that Austin’s community-wide diversion rate is about 42 percent. This Zero Waste initiative’s goal for 2015 is 50 percent diversion. More specifically, the study revealed that businesses and apartments generated more than 85 percent of the discards in our community. City-collected materials from single family homes are less than 15 percent of the total trash and recycling generated in Austin. Additionally, about 37 percent of materials sent to area landfills could have been composted.
“I’m extremely encouraged by the results of this study,” said Austin Resource Recovery Director Bob Gedert. “The report has provided us with valuable data that shows us how we are doing and where we need to improve as a community in order to reach Council’s vision of Zero Waste.”
The results of the study, including the data and related calculations, are available online. Staff contends that the methodology used could be replicated in future years to measure progress towards Zero Waste goals.
The study’s results serve as a starting point for potential policy and program recommendations to accelerate Zero Waste in our community. To learn more about Austin’s Zero Waste initiative, visit austinrecycles.com. For a copy of the 2015 Diversion Study visit http://AustinTexas.gov/2015DiversionStudy.
About Austin Resource Recovery
Austin Resource Recovery provides a wide range of services designed to transform waste into resources while keeping our community clean. Services include curbside collection of recycling, trash, yard trimmings and large brush and bulk items; street sweeping; dead animal collection; household hazardous waste disposal and recycling; and outreach and education. In December 2011, the Austin City Council approved the Austin Resource Recovery Master Plan, which is the City’s roadmap to Zero Waste. The City of Austin is committed to reducing the amount of waste sent to area landfills by 90 percent by 2040 or sooner. For more information, visit austinrecycles.com.


An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: An international team of researchers led by Princeton physicist Zahid Hasan has discovered a quantum state of matter that can be “tuned” at will — and it’s 10 times more tuneable than existing theories can explain. This level of manipulability opens enormous possibilities for next-generation nanotechnologies and quantum computing. Hasan and his colleagues, whose research appears in the current issue of Nature, are calling their discovery a “novel” quantum state of matter because it is not explained by existing theories of material properties. The classical phases of matter — solids, liquids and gases — arise from interactions between atoms or molecules. In a quantum phase of matter, the interactions take place between electrons, and are much more complex.[Hasan] and his colleagues arranged atoms on the surface of crystals in many different patterns and watched what happened. They used various materials prepared by collaborating groups in China, Taiwan and Princeton. One particular arrangement, a six-fold honeycomb shape called a “kagome lattice” for its resemblance to a Japanese basket-weaving pattern, led to something startling — but only when examined under a spectromicroscope in the presence of a strong magnetic field […]. All the known theories of physics predicted that the electrons would adhere to the six-fold underlying pattern, but instead, the electrons hovering above their atoms decided to march to their own drummer — in a straight line, with two-fold symmetry. The decoupling between the electrons and the arrangement of atoms was surprising enough, but then the researchers applied a magnetic field and discovered that they could turn that one line in any direction they chose. Without moving the crystal lattice, [one] could rotate the line of electrons just by controlling the magnetic field around them.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.


Release No. 93-031STS-55 ASTRONAUTS TO DOCUMENT EARTH OBSERVATIONS
Low Earth orbit gives space shuttle astronauts a unique vantage point from which to observe and document photographs a variety of meteorological, environmental, oceanographic and geological features for scientific researchers back home.
STS-55 will not be an exception. The nine-day mission will orbit at an altitude of 160 nautical miles and an inclination of 28.45 degrees, taking the astronauts over the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Red Sea, and the Himalayas to the north and over Asuncion, Paraguay; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Brisbane, Australia, to the south.
The photographic documentation of Earth observations is dependent on several factors including lighting, crew activities and weather. A change in the launch time could affect the daytime lighting conditions at planned observation points. Steering maneuvers may turn orbiter windows away from the Earth. Crew activities with higher priority often are rescheduled during missions, thus precluding planned Earth observations, and clouds frequently interfere with the planned photography.
Still, Earth Observation is a favorite activity for astronauts, and crew members usually return from space with hundreds of photographs and thousands of feet of film. A large assortment of cameras, lenses and films are carried on each shuttle flight, and astronauts participate in a series of science training sessions before their mission so they can optimize the limited observation time. The STS-56 crewmembers, for example, took more than 6,000 photographs on their nine-day flight last week, including a duststorm that stretched from Mongolia east to the Aleutians and south to near the Hawaiian Islands, and an eruption of Unzen Volcano in southern Japan.- more -
For STS-55, the subjects chosen for thorough Earth observation include the weather effects of the Benguela Current on the coastal desert of Namibia, geological features such as the meteorite impact crater occupied by Lake Bosumtwi in Ghana, volcanic eruptions of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines and lakes within the Cameroon Volcanic Line, from which poisonous gases emanated in 1984 and 1986, killing hundreds of people. Other subjects chosen for thorough Earth observation are
Lascar Volcano, Chile -- Lascar Volcano, located 170 miles from Calama, Chile, erupted April 20 sending a smoke and ash plume an estimated 40,000 feet in the air. Since that time, preventive measures in the surrounding area have been intensified as authorities evacuate residents of nearby communities. A thick lava layer has closed the International Highway linking the El Loa Province and Salta, Argentina. Lava also has contaminated the drinking water for surrounding communities, and the smoke and ash cloud has drifted over several Argentine provinces including Tucuman, Salta and Santiago Del Estero, where skies are cloudy and strangely colored. Chilean officials have stated that the volcano has not been behaving normally. Photographs taken during STS-55 will help characterize the situation.
The Sudd Swamp, Sudan -- The hydrology/ecology of the Sudd Swamp and proposals for reducing the overflow from the White Nile river system into the swamp have been studied for years. An author of a book on this subject, soon to be published by the Cambridge University Press, has requested shuttle photographs for use as illustrations in his book. Overall interest in the area has heightened in recent years because of the great expansion of the swampland. Before 1960, the area was estimated at approximately 13,000 square kilometers, but today the estimate has increased to 29,000 sq. km. Shuttle photographs have great value for illustrating this change. Future space photographs will record the effects of a new canal being constructed which should reduce the overflows from the White Nile and increase the amount of arable land. The area inundated by water spilling not only varies over years but also expands and contracts with the seasons. Shuttle photographs acquired during dry as well as wet periods can be compared.
Panama -- The Panama Canal, an 80-km shortcut linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, is a major route for world shipping. Gatun and- more -
- 3 -
Madden Lakes supply water for operation of the locks and ships'
boilers, but rapid deforestation of the watersheds of these lakes is resulting in erosion and siltation. Water storage capacity is declining. At this time, rainfall is the only means of replenishing the lake. Environmentalists are interested in assessing the damage caused by deforestation and in tracking the rate at which deforestation is occurring.
The Irrawaddy River Basin, Burma -- The Irrawaddy River Basin and Delta in the heartland of Burma have been undergoing rapid deforestation and land use changes. Land erosion, river bed siltation and estuary sedimentation are the result. Shuttle photographs will aid in documenting the progress and consequences of changing land use patterns and deforestation.
The Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz -- Even before the recent invasion of Kuwait, researchers estimated that 250,000 barrels of oil polluted the Persian Gulf yearly from tanker spills, bilge pumping and wellhead leaks and spills. It takes more than five years for all the water in the Gulf to circulate completely through the narrow Hormuz Straits and be replaced by new water. The inflow of fresh water from the Tigris-Euphrates Basin is progressively reduced as the water supplies cities and vast agricultural developments. The result is progressive pollution of the water body, visible along the coastlines since the enormous war-related oil slick moved from the north to the south end of the Gulf. The post-fire landscape appears different in numerous details from the pre-war landscape. Soot and oil from the oil well fires completely blankets hundreds of square kilometers of the desert surface around Kuwait. Shuttle photographs will continue to be useful in determining the extent of the damage.
Lake Volta, Ghana -- Lake Volta, a large dammed lake, has been difficult to successfully photograph from space. The dam on Lake Volta supplies about 92 percent of all the electricity used in Ghana, Benin and Togo and a lesser amount for Burkina. The water level of Lake Volta is very low as a result of the drought that has impacted most of the countries on the southern fringe of the Sahara. The drop in water level has forced a cut in hydroelectric power generation. The dam is now producing electricity for only about two hours a day. Any photographs of the region will be useful.
El Chichon Volcano, Southern Mexico -- The first historic eruption of- more -
El Chicon started on March 29, 1982, and created a massive cloud of ash, some of which fell on Texas and Louisiana. This previously inconspicuous volcano now has an enlarged crater that can be easily seen from space. A series of photos over the next few years will help document revegetation of the devastated area.
Cameroon/Benue Rift Valley -- The Gotel/Shebshi/Mandara Mountain Ranges, also known as "the Cameroon Line" are volcanic in origin. With the exception of Mt. Cameroon, located near the coast, the volcanoes are inactive. In August 1984, an explosion in Lake Monoum produced shock waves and a 5-meter water wave that flattened vegetation around the lake. A poisonous gas cloud in the area caused the death of 37 people, and the lake water remained reddish for an undocumented period of time. A similar incident occurred in August 1986 at Lake Nios, which is located in the same volcanic mountain chain as Monoum. An explosion in the lake released poisonous gas fumes that blew over a nearby village killing more than 1,200 people. These incidents and the 1982 eruption of Mt. Cameroon have stimulated scientific interest in the region, but, because the area is frequently cloud-covered, there are very few oribtal photographs of it.
Following each mission people working on the Space Shuttle Earth Observations Project catalog each photograph for an electronic data base which is used by hundreds of researchers. SSEOP personnel also describe and analyze many of these photographs for their scientific colleagues, students and the public.
Another Earth-observing system, the Modular Optoelectronic Multispectral Scanner, will be carried on STS-55 as part of the second German Spacelab but outside it on a unique support structure. The instrument, known as MOMS-2, combines a digital camera with a four-band electromagnetic spectral sensor. An improvement over the MOMS-1 camera operated on STS-7 and STS-41B, the MOMS-2 camera takes stereo images. Using this advanced system, researchers will be able to derive digital terrain models containing such thematic information as the location of iron-bearing rocks, the discrimination of stressed and flourishing vegetation, and land use.- end -
- end -


Editor's note: New information that has come to light casts even more doubt on the validity of the "Amelia Earhart image." Read Live Science's coverage here.
A newly found black-and-white photo taken on the Marshall Islands may help solve the mystery of Amelia Earhart's disappearance, but not everyone is convinced that the famous aviator is in the photo.
The 80-year-old photo shows what may be Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, surrounded by a group of people on a dock on Jaluit Atoll in the Marshall Islands in 1937, according to History channel researchers, NBC reported today (July 6). The researchers suggest that Earhart was taken hostage by the Japanese, who had a military presence there.
However, experts contacted by Live Science say they'll need to learn more about the photo and the History investigation before saying whether the evidence meets scientific scrutiny. [Photos: The Incredible Life and Times of Amelia Earhart]
"The new photo has certainly caused a stir," Richard Jantz, director emeritus of the Forensic Anthropology Center at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who is also studying Earhart's disappearance, told Live Science. "I look forward to their putting it out before the scientific community, so we can see what they did and how they did it."
Other experts had a more skeptical take.
"What bothers me is that it is a side view and not a full lateral/side at that," Ann Ross, director of the Forensic Sciences Institute at North Carolina State University, told Live Science in an email. "A frontal view would be necessary for a good image comparison."
Earhart set several aviation records for speed and distance in the early 1930s, including her famous solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932 — the first time a woman had accomplished such a feat, Live Science previously reported.
But her disappearance during a later adventure — her goal to become the first female pilot to fly around the world — continues to intrigue the public and scientists alike. Earhart and Noonan began the 29,000-mile (46,000 kilometers) journey hugging the equator from Miami on June 1, 1937. After flying for 29 days on her plane, the Electra, they landed in Lae, New Guinea, in the Pacific Ocean.
The duo planned to fly to Howland Island, but weather, and possibly a damaged radio antenna and inaccurate maps, seem to have led them astray. They were last heard from on July 2, 1937. The United States declared her dead on Jan. 5, 1939, but her remains were never found.
The newly recovered 8-by-10-inch (20 by 25 centimeters) photo is dated to 1937, and was reportedly taken by a U.S. spy keeping an eye on the Japanese military in the Marshall Islands, History channel investigators told NBC.
History's researchers discovered the photo in a U.S. National Archives file. Former FBI Executive Assistant Director Shawn Henry will describe the investigation during the 2-hour History special "Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence," airing at 9 p.m. EDT/ 8 p.m. CDT Sunday (July 9).
In the photo, a woman with a short haircut that resembles Earhart's is seen sitting on the dock. She is also wearing pants, as Earhart often did, and the proportions of her body match those from other photos of Earhart, Henry told NBC. Nearby, a man who resembles Noonan (he has the same prominent nose and receding hairline) stands next to a group of people, Ken Gibson, a facial recognition expert, told NBC.
But Ross said this analysis was open to interpretation. [7 Extreme Female Explorers]
"The image of Noonan is very dark and you cannot see any facial features," Ross said. She added that she's not certain how common short haircuts for women were during that period. Moreover, Earhart's posture does not suggest she was being held hostage, Ross said.
"I would say this is not convincing nor is it definitive," Ross said.
On the right side of the photo, the Japanese ship Koshu tows a barge with a plane-like object on it, which photo analysts estimated to be 38 feet (11.5 meters) long, the length of Earhart's Electra. The analysts added that the photo does not appears to be doctored, NBC said.
If the individuals in the photo really are Earhart and Noonan, then perhaps the team survived a crash-landing in the Marshall Islands, as islanders say they did, NBC reported. The events were even memorialized in postage stamps released by the Republic of the Marshall Islands in 1987 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of her last flight.
"We believe that the Koshu took her to Saipan [in the Mariana Islands, about 1,800 miles/3,000 km northwest of the Marshall Islands], and that she died there under the custody of the Japanese," Gary Tarpinian, the executive producer of the History special, told NBC.
It's unclear whether the U.S. government knew who was in the photo, NBC said. Its news team reached out to the Japanese foreign ministry, the Japan Ministry of Defense and the National Archives of Japan, and all three organizations said they had no evidence that Earhart was in their custody, NBC reported. Still, it's possible that such records were lost, NBC noted.
There are myriad ideas on what happened during Earhart's last flight. The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), a Pennsylvania-based group, has floated the idea that Earhart and Noonan ran out of fuel and landed on Gardner Island (now known as Nikumaroro), about 400 miles (640 km) south of Howland Island, where they died as castaways.
The group, in conjunction with National Geographic, is now bringing forensic dogs to Nikumaroro to sniff for human bones, and to see if any such bones match those of Earhart and Noonan, Live Science previously reported.
Original article on Live Science.


About this book
Richard M. Golden Possibly the most famous event in Louis XIV's long reign (1643-1715) was the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, issued by the French king on 17 October 1685 and registered five days later by the parlement of _Paris, a sovereign judicial institution having jurisdiction over approximately one-half of the kingdom. The Edict of Fontainebleau (the Revocation's technical name, derived from the palace southeast of Paris where Louis had signed the act) declared illegal the public profession of Calvinist Protestantism and led perhaps as many as 200,000 Huguenots/ as French Protestants were known, to flee their homeland. They did so despite royal decrees against emigration and the harsh punishment (prison for women, the galleys for men) awaiting those caught escaping. The Revocation is a landmark in the checkered history of religious toleration (or intolerance); Huguenots, many Roman Catholics, and historians of all persuasions have heaped scorn on Louis XIV for withdrawing the Edict of Nantes, issued by his grandfather, Henry IV (1589-1610). King Henry had proclaimed the 1598 Edict to be both "perpetual" and "irrevocable. " Although one absolutist king could not bind his successors and although "irrevocable" in the context of French law simply meant irrevocable until superseded by another edict, historians have accused Louis XIV of 2 breaking faith with Henry IV and the Huguenots. Louis did only what Henry prob ably would have done had he possessed the requisite power.
Edict of Nantes Migration french huguenot
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Cyclopædia of Political Science, Political Economy, and the Political History of the United States
PATENT OFFICE. Although the issue of American patents is nearly coeval with the government of the United States, the first creation of the patent office, with a commissioner of patents, dates from the year 1836. Prior to that date patents were issued directly by the department of state. By act of July 4, 1836, an office denominated the patent office was created, to be attached to the department of state, and a fire-proof building for its use was provided for. The chief officer, styled the commissioner of patents, was required to perform all acts touching the granting of patents for new and useful inventions, with a salary of $3,000, and seven clerks. Patents were to be signed by the secretary of state, and countersigned by the commissioner. The number of patents issued in the earlier years was very small, varying, from 1837 to 1847, from about 400 to 600 per annum; but since 1865 the business has enormously increased, until now the number of patents annually issued is about 16,000, with fees (averaging $35 for each patent) amounting to about $800,000 per annum. The patent office is not only self-supporting, the fees paying all running expenses, with the salaries of some 350 clerks, but it actually pays into the treasury of the United States an annual surplus of about $200,000. It has been urged with some force, that the inventors of the country should not be taxed beyond the actual cost of administering the business connected with the registry of patents, and that a large reduction of patent fees ought in equity to be made.
—By the act of 1836 patents were granted for fourteen years, with the right of extension for seven years longer, at the discretion of the commissioner of patents. In 1861 the law now in force was enacted, making the term of original patents seventeen years; and no extension for patents granted since March 2, 1861, is allowed except by special act of congress. A very few patents have been thus renewed, and many more have been asked for, upon the plea of insufficient remuneration to their owners. The last patents extendable by the patent office expired in 1875.
—The commissioner of patents is appointed by the president and senate for no definite term of office, with a salary of $4,500. He is aided by an assistant commissioner (salary, $3,000) three examiners-in-chief (salary, $3,000 each), one examiner of interferences (salary, $2,500) and twenty-five examiners (salary, $2,400 each), each of the twenty-five having charge of one of the following distinct classes of inventions: 1, agriculture; 2, agricultural products; 3, metallurgy, brewing and gas; 4, civil engineering; 5, fine arts; 6, chemistry; 7, harvesters; 8, household; 9, hydraulics and pneumatics; 10, carriages, wagons and cars; 11, leather-working machinery and products; 12, mechanical engineering; 13, metal-working, class A; 14, metal-working, class B; 15, plastics; 16, philosophical; 17, printing and paper manufacturing; 18, steam engineering; 19, calorifics, stoves and lamps; 20, builders' hardware, locks and surgery; 21, fabrics and textile machinery; 22, fire-arms, navigation, signals and wood-working; 23, trade marks and labels; 24, designs and sewing machines; 25, milling. Besides these, there are about 300 assistant examiners, clerks, messengers, etc., the annual salaries of the office reaching $537,000 per annum.
—The commissioner of patents is required to make an annual report of the business of the office, with a list of patents issued during the year. This valuable series of reports began with 1837, and for a series of years included a report upon arts and manufactures and upon agriculture in one annual volume. With the year 1849 began the issue of the agricultural report in a separate volume, which was continued until 1861, after which the commissioner of patents no longer issued an agricultural report, the department of agriculture having been created in 1862. The series of patent office reports, issued annually with specifications and [sometimes] drawings, was continued until 1871 (the set, 1837-71, numbering sixty-five volumes on Arts and Manufactures, and thirteen volumes on Agriculture), after which the method of publication of patents was radically changed, the annual reports being succeeded by the following publications: 1. Specifications and Drawings of Patents issued from the United States Patent Office, May 30, 1871, to December, 1883. Of these, 196 volumes in quarto (weekly for the first year, monthly from July, 1872,) have been issued. 2. Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office (weekly) January, 1872, to December, 1883, 24 vols. 8vo. This contains the full list of patents, decisions in patent cases, etc., with drawings in reduced size. 3. Annual Report of the Commissioner of Patents. These contain, since 1872, a bare list or index of patents annually issued, without specifications or drawings, but with references to the Official Gazette and monthly volumes of specifications, and a statement of the aggregate business of the office for the calendar year. Besides these, the office has issued a "Subject-matter Index of Patents for Inventions issued by the U. S. Patent Office from 1790 to 1873," 3 vols., Washington, 1873. There should also be noted as covering the comparatively small record of inventive art from 1790 to 1837, "A List of Patents granted by the U. S. from April 10, 1790, to Dec. 31, 1836, with Appendix of Reports of the Patent Office in 1823, 1830 and 1831," 8vo., Washington, 1872. Pamphlets containing the patent laws, the rules of practice in the patent office, etc., are furnished to all applicants.
—The patent office building was burned in December, 1836, with the models accumulated, many of which were replaced by act of congress. Again, in 1877, a part of the office, with several thousand models, was destroyed by fire, but the loss was largely repaired by the manufacture of new models.
—On the creation of the department of the interior in 1849, the patent office was transferred to that department, where it now remains, all patents being signed by the secretary of the interior, and countersigned by the commissioner of patents. The patent office, with its vast accumulation of 275,000 models, occupies the larger portion of the great marble building known as the interior department. The arrangement and display of models of patents in its long halls is extensive and interesting, and the heavy additions of each year will soon require much more space than is now at command.
—The following is a list of commissioners of patents, with the commencement of the term of service of each:
A. R. SPOFFORD.
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