ZHEZJAZGAN, KAZAKHSTAN- OCTOBER 29: Expedition 49 NASA astronaut Kate Rubins talks to her family via satellite phone shortly after she Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos, and astronaut Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) landed in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016 (Kazakh time). Rubins, Ivanishin, and Onishi are returning after 115 days in space where they served as members of the Expedition 48 and 49 crews onboard the International Space Station. (Photo by Bill Ingalls-NASA via Getty Images)
NASA Astronaut Votes from Space
Election Day is November 3, 2020. As that deadline approaches, Americans who live all over the world are taking advantage of early voting in record numbers. But what if you're an American in space who can't make it to a ballot box?
NASA Astronaut Kate Rubins committed to voting from Space prior to her mission to the International Space Station. Now that she is safely 248 miles above the Earth, she cast her ballot yesterday. In an interview with AP before her mission, Rubins spoke out about the importance of voting, "It’s critical to participate in our democracy,” Rubins said. “We consider it an honor to be able to vote from space.”
This is not a new tradition. Since the 1997 legislation, "Vote While You Float" allowed Americans in orbit to cast their ballots, Astronauts have been proud to exercise their right to vote, while on the job. The first astronaut to vote in space was Doug Wolf on board the Russian Mir Space Station. Astronauts are given the standard issue absentee ballot registration form and they are to pick what elections they will be voting in prior to departure.
STS-86 crewmember David Wolf, the first American to vote in space, relaxes in the Spacehab module while Space Shuttle Atlantis was docked to Mir (10/16/1997)
Every single election, whether its local or national, is equally important. These astronauts have already dedicated their lives to representing our country in research and more in space, it is truly honorable that they choose to exercise their right to vote while so far away. Join Astronaut Rubins in 2020 and make sure you can cast your ballot this year. Head to Vote.gov to make your plan.


Air Pollution – April 8, 2020
In today’s Science Wednesday, we’d like to discuss air pollution and COVID-19. A new study put out by researchers at Harvard called, “Exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 mortality in the United States”, investigates whether long-term exposure to fine particulate matter increases the risk of COVID-19 deaths in the US. These fine particulates are referred to as PM2.5, meaning particulate matter (PM) that has a diameter less than 2.5 micrometers, or, about 3% the diameter of a human hair (see the image below). These particulates come from fuel combustion, like automobiles, refineries and power plants, as well as some indoor sources like tobacco smoke. Breathing in these microscopic pollutants inflames and damages the lining of the lungs over time, weakening the body’s ability to fend off respiratory infections.
Data on particulate matter and COVID-19 deaths were collected from nearly 3,100 U.S. counties through the first week of April. Results show that, indeed, in areas with higher levels of air pollution, the mortality rate also increases. In fact, a person living for decades in a county with high levels of fine particulate matter is 15% more likely to die from the coronavirus than someone in a region with one unit less of the fine particulate pollution. Using Manhattan as an example, had it lowered its average particulate matter level by just a single unit, or one microgram of particulate matter per cubic meter of air, over the past 20 years, there would have been nearly 250 fewer deaths by this point in the outbreak. The results from this study underscore the importance of continuing to enforce existing air pollution regulations to protect human health – both during and after this pandemic. While the study is just restricted to the US at the moment, other countries around the world with high levels of air pollution (e.g., China and India) should heed this warning as well.
Read more about the study here: https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/covid-pm


Introductioncourt, in law, official body charged with administering justice. The term is also applied to the judge or judges who fill the office and to the courtroom itself. Courts come into existence when legal relations are no longer entirely a private matter. Thus, courts do not exist in a society governed by vendetta, and they are of little consequence in one where composition for wrongs is the rule. In addition to law courts there are ecclesiastical courts, arbitral tribunals (e.g., for labor cases), administrative tribunals, and courts-martial (see military law).
See also conflict of laws.
Sections in this article:
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Legal Terms and Concepts


Some diamonds are more than 3 billion years old, two-thirds the age of the Earth. There are a few "youngsters," though, which are only 628 million years old.
The majority of diamonds were formed more than 100 miles below the surface of the Earth, some as deep as 400 miles down.
Diamonds are mined in about 25 countries and on every continent except Europe and Antarctica.
Think diamonds and you imagine a colorless gem. They actually come in lots of different shades; colored diamonds are called "fancies."
A law in 13th-century France decreed that only royalty could wear diamonds.
Diamonds can withstand extremely high temperatures and that makes them ideal for use in windows, in industry and in space probes, including the 1978 Pioneer space probe to the surface of Venus.
From Leviev's Vivid Collection: a 5-carat blue diamond ring. Add another 2 carats for the pink pavé diamonds on the band.
The largest rough diamond ever found was the Cullinan, 3,106 carats, discovered on Jan. 26, 1905 in the Premier mine of South Africa. It was cut into nine major stones, including the largest in existence--the Cullinan 1, or Great Star of Africa--at 530.2 carats. Today it's mounted in the British Royal Scepter, which is housed in the Tower of London.
To produce a single 1-carat diamond, 250 tons of earth are mined.
Until the 18th century, diamonds were mined primarily in India. Now Australia produces the greatest number of diamonds, and Botswana leads in terms of the value of production.
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ET fails to phone home, for now
The hunt for intelligent civilisations outside our Solar System has stepped up a notch with a revolutionary new technique.
On Earth we are constantly broadcasting our presence on the planet into the universe in the form of radio waves, signals and more. Using this principle, a team of Australian astronomers has begun observing known planetary systems outside our Solar System to try and find signs of alien broadcasts and possibly discover an alien civilisation that is either knowingly or unknowingly revealing their location.
Known as Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), the technique combines the signal of several telescope to make them act as one giant telescope and looks at a miniscule portion of the night sky. In the first instance the team of astronomers at Curtin University’s International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research in Australia trained the Australian Long Baseline Array on the Gliese 581 plaentary system for a total of eight hours. They listenend in on a range of radio frequencies and, although they heard nothing, the team was able to prove that VLBI could be used to find extraterrestrial life in such a way.
A recent study suggested that each star hosts an average of 1.6 planets, so the team’s failure to find a signal is not disheartening. With millions of planets waiting to be discovered in the Milky Way alone, there are high hopes that continued observations will eventually turn up signs of an alien civilisation broadcasting their location into the universe.


In American culture, isn’t Thanksgiving a celebration of the historical success of the settlers who built their land? In the book of Joshua, in the Bible, we first learn of the children of Israel who settled the land under his leadership. Wasn’t the city of Fort Worth, Texas founded as a monument in honor of the first American settlers in that territory? The Fort Lauderdale area was known as the "New River Settlement" before the 20th century. In the 1830s, there had been approximately 70 settlers living along the New River.
Throughout history, people have migrated from one land and settled in another. Never in history has the migration of a people and their settlement in another land been met with opposition like that raised against the Jews returning to Israel. How ironic that the Jews’ return to our own homeland is branded as an injustice. Judea and Samaria are the heartland of Israel; some call them “the West Bank.” This very area is the home of the Jews.
There is no people in the world who have a stronger claim to their homeland than the Jews do to Judea and Samaria. All of Israel is significant to the Jewish people, but Judea and Samaria are at the core of our national heritage.
35 years ago, Ron Nachman and the Tel Aviv group climbed up a barren hilltop in the Shomron and set up a tent that became Ariel. Ariel means “Lion of God,” and it was a name applied to Jerusalem and its Temple in the days of the Bible.
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Over the past 35 years, that barren hilltop has developed into a thriving dynamic city in Israel – but some still call it a “settlement.” Today, Ariel has a population of 22,000 residents in addition to a university with 16,000 students and faculty. A four-lane highway connects Tel Aviv to Ariel via a 30-minute drive, yet some still call that a “settlement.” Ariel has its own kindergartens, schools, high school, libraries, swimming pools, supermarkets, and medical clinics. In the mornings, there are traffic jams coming into Ariel as thousands commute to its university from around the country.
Two weeks ago, Ariel's founder, Ron Nachman, was laid to rest on a hill overlooking the city that he built. Thousands came from around the country to pay their respects to Ron Nachman, including Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government ministers. One friend from America eulogized Ron and his leadership, likening him to Joshua Bin Nun who led the nation into this land many years before.
Although many people picture Jewish settlers in the West Bank as religious fanatics (like me), most Ariel residents are secular. Many anti-Israel propagandists will say that the Jewish settlements exist to the detriment of local Arab development. But in fact, the Jewish development of Judea and Samaria has brought great benefits to Arabs who live in this region. Thousands of local Arabs (“Palestinians,” if you like) earn high paying Israeli salaries at workplaces that the BDS movement boycotts.
Some refer to writing like this as “hasbara,” but it is simple truth. Jewish settlements are a good thing, and they have brought blessings to the region. Ariel is a success story - as is Jewish settlement throughout Judea and Samaria.
The time has come to change the narrative. Israel does not need to apologize for settling its own land.
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Your Middle East.
DON'T MISS Isolationist Israel?


Many different welding processes are available for you to learn as a useful trade skill. These processes can be used on both metals and non-metals. The most common processes are MIG, TIG, stick, and flux-core processes. The different processes are different, and each process is designed to perform certain functions or jobs depending on your line of work.
Welding generally uses the metal wire for heating purposes. The process is not just limited to a metal wire. There are other methods such as plastic, wood, and many others that are used in these processes. It is not as much of a problem with metals and the use of metals because the metals are generally harder and a bit more pliable than some other materials.
Using MIG Welding
MIG processes are less susceptible to heat and vibration than TIG, you can generally get the job done without a lot of fuss. If you’re going to use the MIG machine, you’re less likely to suffer from the most common types of accidents, such as arc and melt burns. You’ll also want to make sure that your welders are operating at their best, otherwise, the quality of your work may suffer. You should be sure to inspect your machines for wear and tear regularly, to ensure that all the bolts are tight. Besides, the rod is supposed to move freely under the tension of the wire and not break or twist off the wire. Finally, keep in mind that there are limits to the heat that can be used and you should follow the manufacturer’s recommendations on this.
Another problem with MIG is the fact that when using PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, it is almost impossible to prevent the arc or melt burn. This happens because PVC bends easily, so it quickly warps and distorts. This can lead to a dangerous arc or melt burn; it’s one of the leading causes of accidental injuries on the job. To combat this problem, you can try a ‘thin’ arc, where the electrode tip is pushed into the PVC for several seconds before the weld is made. This helps make sure that the arc doesn’t reach the surface, causing a serious injury. Also, you should use high-quality wires, because they have a higher tensile strength than lower quality ones. The higher the tensile strength, the better your welding can be.
In addition to the tips mentioned above, you should also use appropriate protective gear when using the MIG process. This can include helmets and goggles, and possibly even gloves and eye goggles as well, but if you’re unsure you can visit this website for more information. You also need to make sure that your contacts are specifically designed for MIG and that you have some form of ventilation in your work area. At times, your eyes can dry out from working near the arc, so you should wear goggles. It’s also important to have a good, clean workspace because this process require some cleaning after the work is done.
What Is TIG Welding?
TIG welding is used to create joints where metals of different sizes and shapes would come together. It has a high melting point, so the materials that are welded must be hot enough so that the electrons within them are excited and this can give off a hot and bright light. The metal may be in liquid form, gas, or air. When the atoms of the metal move past each other to cause an electrical current to run through them, there is a spark of light that is created. This spark can also be caused by a moving object such as the metal being pulled by a magnet.
Since TIG processes require high temperature to cause the metals to bond with each other, it is usually not done with an arc machine. It can be done with one or two electrodes or with many smaller electrodes. Using multiple electrodes is better because it creates a more intense flame. The kind of material to be welded depends on the most convenient method. Metals like copper, stainless steel, nickel, aluminum, and zinc are more commonly used in these processes.
TIG can also be used to joint together metal sheets that are just glued together. This process is known as hot filler metal joining and the items that will be joined together can be made up of two materials that are already fused. One good thing about this process is that it is an open-air method, which means that the worker is not exposed to the danger fumes. Also, the worker is not affected by the ozone in the atmosphere during the process. Another advantage of this method is that it is relatively inexpensive and also fast. The entire process of TIG can be completed in less than two hours, which is much faster than the time that it takes with other methods of welding.
How to Arch Weld
Arc welding is the most popular form of the method used today and has been around for some time. However, a little over the past couple of years the popularity of arc welding has increased and it’s currently being used in a variety of ways. The biggest way to understand what we are talking about is by imagining welding a stick with an arc gun, but instead of forming a straight line the metal sticks to each other. The metal sticks can be made of metal or plastic so they don’t have to be smooth to be useful. The stick is held by a stick holder that is positioned underneath the workpiece.
When you heat the metal with a gas arc gun you will see a characteristic glow because of friction between the metal. This makes the metal shiny and gives you a good look at the process. The type of art that you are going to use depends on the size of the area you are working on. You will need a device such as a torch to get an even heat distribution throughout the entire surface.
This technique involves a safe and environmentally friendly method for heating up metals.
Many metals can be welded, and the commonest metals are aluminum, steel, nickel, copper, and stainless steel. The power supply is usually an extension of your existing electric supply or it can be a new source. Another advantage of arc welding is that you can work in many different directions. You can weld up to three sides of a piece of metal, regardless of the different directions, to form curves and beams. Finally, you can work with a variety of metals and this is done through an arc gun.


Read an Excerpt
I want to change the way you see the world. Specifically, I want to change the way you see the world map by focusing your attention on the blues that shade
70 percent of the image before you, and letting the earth tones fade. This shift in emphasis from land to water makes many trends and patterns of world history stand out in ways they simply cannot otherwise. Before the development of the locomotive in the nineteenth century, culture, commerce, contagion, and conflict generally moved faster by sea than by land. The opening of sea routes sometimes resulted in immediate transformation, but more often it laid the groundwork for what was later mistaken for sudden change. The best example of this is the trade networks of the Indian Ocean, the oldest of which were pioneered at least four thousand years ago by navigators sailing between Mesopotamia and the mouths of the Indus River. By the start of the common era two thousand years ago, the Indian subcontinent was a point of departure and destination for merchants and mendicants from across the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. This is all but unnoticed in the written record, which boasts of no figure comparable to a Gilgamesh or Odysseus, and despite a growing body of archaeological evidence, these undertakings remain largely unrecognized. As a result, the later arrival in Southeast Asia of Muslim traders from the Indian subcontinent and Southwest Asia, of Chinese merchants of various faiths, and of Portuguese Christians seem like so many historical surprises. Only the last were absolute newcomers to the Monsoon Seas that stretch from the shores of East Africa to the coasts of Korea and Japan. The others were heirs to ancient, interlinked traditions of seafaring and trade that long ago connected the shores of East Africa with those of Northeast Asia. This book shows many similar examples of maritime regions that were quietly exploited before events conspired to thrust them into the historical limelight.
Two questions merit consideration before taking on a maritime history of the world as either writer or reader: What is maritime history? and What is world history? The answers to both have as much to do with perspective as with subject matter. World history involves the synthetic investigation of complex interactions between people of distinct backgrounds and orientations. It therefore transcends historians’ more traditional focus on politically, religiously, or culturally distinct communities seen primarily in their own terms at a local, national, or regional level. As a subject of interdisciplinary and interregional inquiry, maritime history is a branch of world history that covers obvious topics like shipbuilding, maritime trade, oceanic exploration, human migration, and naval history. Considered as a perspective, however, the premise of maritime history is that the study of events that take place on or in relation to the water offers unique insights into human affairs. The maritime historian therefore draws on such disciplines as the arts, religion, language, the law, and political economy.
An alternative and perhaps simpler way to approach the question, What is maritime history? is to tackle its unasked twin: What is terrestrial history?— the view from the land being our default perspective. Imagine a world of people bound to the land. The ancient Greek diaspora would have taken a different character and been forced in different directions without ships to carry Euboeans, Milesians, and Athenians to new markets and to sustain contacts between colonies and homelands. Without maritime commerce, neither Indians nor Chinese would have exerted the substantial influence they did in Southeast Asia, and that region would have been spared the cultural sobriquets of Indo-China and Indonesia (literally, “Indian islands”)—in fact, the latter would have remained unpeopled altogether. The Vikings of medieval Scandinavia could never have spread as quickly or widely as they did and thereby altered the political landscape of medieval Europe. And without mariners, the history of the past five centuries would have to be reimagined in its entirety. The age of western European expansion was a result of maritime enterprise without which Europe might well have remained a marginalized corner of the Eurasian landmass with its back to what Latinate Europe called Mare Tenebrosum and Arabic speakers Bahr al-Zulamat, “the sea of darkness.” The Mughals, Chinese, and Ottomans would have overshadowed the divisive and sectarian polities of Europe, which would have been unable to settle or conquer the Americas, to develop the transatlantic slave trade, or to have gained an imperial foothold in Asia.
The past century has witnessed a sea change in how we approach maritime history. Formerly a preserve of antiquarian interest whose practitioners lavished their efforts on “ancient ships and boats, ship models, images, ethnography, lexicographical and bibliographical matters and flags,” maritime history once focused chiefly on preserving and interpreting material that was readily available. This directed historians’ attention to European, Mediterranean, and modern North American maritime and naval history. Maritime accomplishment was almost always viewed as a peculiarly European phenomenon that only attained real importance with Columbus’s epochal voyage to the Americas in 1492. In this telling, the story proceeded directly and exclusively to an explanation of how Europeans used their superior maritime and naval technology to impose themselves upon the rest of the world.
Taking Europe’s “classic age of sail” from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries as a model for the rest of maritime history is seductive but inadvisable. While the global change wrought by mariners and the dynamics of maritime Europe are of unquestionable importance to a proper understanding of the world since 1500, maritime achievement is more broadly spread and its effects more complicated than such a narrative suggests. European supremacy was far from inevitable. More important, the concentration on Europe’s past five centuries has distorted our interpretation of the maritime record of other periods and places and our appreciation of its relevance to human progress. No parallels exist for the almost symbiotic relationship between commercial and naval policy—what we might call a “naval-commercial complex”—characteristic of Europe’s maritime expansion. There is nothing like it in classical antiquity, in Asia, or in Europe before the Renaissance, and by the twenty-first century the close ties between national naval strategy and maritime commerce so prevalent in this age had all but vanished. The period of western Europe’s maritime dominance was critical, but it is a misleading standard against which to measure other eras.
This Eurocentric worldview was reinforced by the widespread belief among western historians that race was a sufficient explanation for “the inequality of various extant human societies.” In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the clearest material manifestation of racial superiority writ large was maritime power and Europeans’ ability to extend their hegemony overseas to create and sustain colonial empires half a world away. This gave rise to the ahistorical generalization that there are maritime people like the Greeks and British and nonmaritime people like the Romans and Chinese. Such assumptions mask complex realities. Put another way, the extent to which different nations rely on cars or planes depends on economics, industrialization, geography, and other considerations, and no one would think of ascribing car or plane use to racial or ethnic tendencies. In reaction to this assumption of an innate European and North American superiority at sea, a number of writers attempted to redress the balance by writing explicitly ethnocentric or nationalist maritime histories about non-Europeans. While these valuable correctives exposed previously untapped indigenous writings and other evidence of seafaring by people otherwise considered to have had little or no maritime heritage, they tended to create their own versions of maritime exceptionalism.
Even as this tendency was running its course, Fernand Braudel’s magisterial The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II (1949) ushered in a new approach to maritime history. Inspired by his brilliant analysis of the interplay between geography, economics, politics, military, and cultural history, maritime historians looking past nationalist paradigms have embraced the validity of treating seas and ocean basins as coherent units of study and the past half century has seen a surfeit of works examining individual oceans and seas. This is an enlightening exercise that enables us to consider cross-cultural and transnational connections without constant reference to the mutable fiction of political borders. At the same time, we run the risk of replacing a set of arbitrary terrestrial boundaries with an equally arbitrary division of the world ocean. There is little agreement about how to parcel the waters of the world into discrete, named bodies of bays, gulfs, straits, channels, seas, and oceans, and in practice sailors rarely recognize such distinctions drafted from afar. An ancient Greek epigram acknowledges the unity of the world ocean with stark simplicity:
All sea is sea. . . .
Pray if you like for a good voyage home,
But Aristagoras, buried here, has found
The ocean has the manners of an ocean.
This book is an attempt to examine how people came into contact with one another by sea and river, and so spread their crops, their manufactures, and their social systems—from language to economics to religion—from one place to another. While I have not ignored the climactic moments of maritime history, I have attempted to put them in a broader context to show how shifting approaches to maritime systems can be read as indicators of broader change beyond the sea. I have concentrated on a few themes: how maritime enterprise enlarges trading realms that share certain kinds of knowledge—of markets and commercial practice, or navigation and shipbuilding; how the overseas spread of language, religion, and law facilitates interregional connections; and how rulers and governments exploit maritime enterprise through taxation, trade protection, and other mechanisms to consolidate and augment their power.
I have sketched this history as a narrative to show region by region the deliberate process by which maritime regions of the world were knit together.
But this is not a story of saltwater alone. Maritime activity includes not only high seas and coastal voyaging, but also inland navigation.* Islanders may have obvious reasons to put to sea, but the exploitation of freshwater rivers, lakes, and canals has been critical to the growth of countries with large continental territories. The center of North America became economically productive thanks to its accessibility via the St. Lawrence and Welland Rivers and the Great Lakes, and by the Mississippi River and its tributaries. Neither corridor could have reached its potential without the development of maritime technologies—steam power in the case of the Mississippi, and locks and dams in the case of the Great Lakes.
If the geography of water, wind, and land shapes the maritime world in obvious ways, maritime endeavor becomes a determining force in history only when the right combination of economic, demographic, and technological conditions is met. Few fifteenth-century observers could have imagined the prosperity that would accrue to Spain and Portugal as a result of their navigators’ peregrinations in the eastern Atlantic. While they sailed in search of a route to the spices of Asia, they also came upon the Americas, a source of untold wealth in the form of silver and gold; of raw materials for European markets and new markets for European manufacturers; and territory—“virgin” in Europeans’ eyes—for the cultivation of recently discovered or transplanted crops like tobacco and sugar. Papal intervention in disputes over which lands would be Portuguese and which Spanish resulted in a series of bulls and treaties that partitioned the navigation of the non-Christian Atlantic and Indian Oceans between Portugal and Spain, and helps explain why the majority of people in South and Central America are Spanishor Portuguese-speaking Catholics.
A maritime perspective complicates our understanding of the “westward” expansion of the United States. California achieved statehood in 1851, two years after the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill, when the territory was virtually unknown to Americans back east and the number of United States citizens on the Pacific coast numbered only a few thousand. Thanks to the extraordinary capacity of the American merchant marine of the day, tens of thousands of people reached San Francisco by ship, a mode of transportation that was faster, cheaper, and safer than the transcontinental journey, although the distance covered was more than four times longer. The United States conquered the interior of the continent—what are today known as the fly-over states, but at the time could aptly have been called the sail-around territories—in a pincer movement from both coasts, rather than by a one-way overland movement from the east.
Yet for the most part, if ships, sailors, ports, and trades exist, the default tendency among most writers is either to celebrate them in isolation from the world ashore, or to acknowledge them only to explain particular events such as the arrival of the Black Death in northern Italy; the voyages of the Vikings to the Caspian and Black Seas (by river) and to western Europe and North America (by sea); the Mongol invasions of Japan and Java in the thirteenth century; or various other diasporas of people, flora, and fauna. But by situating our collective relationship to oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, and canals at the center of the historical narrative, we can see that much of human history has been shaped by people’s access, or lack of it, to navigable water. For example, given non-Muslim westerners’ ingrained impression of Islam as a religion of desert nomads, it seems remarkable that the country with the largest Muslim population is actually spread across the world’s biggest archipelago. There are no camels in Indonesia, but there are Muslims, and also Hindus—especially on the island of Bali—which is especially curious when one considers Hindu prohibitions against going to sea. If these two religions are so tightly bound to the land, how did they manage to cross the ocean? Have the religions changed over time? Or are our impressions about the nature of these religions wrong? As is written in the Quran, “Do you not see how the ships speed upon the ocean by God’s grace, so that He may reveal to you His wonders? Surely there are signs in this for every steadfast, thankful man.”
These “signs” indicate that mankind’s technological and social adaptation to life on the water—whether for commerce, warfare, exploration, or migration— has been a driving force in human history. Yet many mainstream histories are reluctant to embrace this. Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies gives barely a page to “maritime technology,” by which he means watercraft and not the ability to navigate or any associated abilities. What is curious about this is that maritime traffic was central to the diffusion of many of the technologies, ideas, plants, and animals that Diamond discusses in such illuminating detail, not only between continents but also within and around them. In all but ignoring the maritime aspect of his story, he essentially overlooks both the means of transmission and, in the cases of some very important inventions, the things transmitted as well.
To take another example, J. M. Roberts’s History of the World is, according to the author, “the story of the processes which have brought mankind from the uncertainties and perils of primitive life and precivilized life to the much
more complex and very different uncertainties and perils of today. . . . The criterion for the inclusion of factual data has therefore been their historical importance—that is, their effective importance to the major processes of history rather than intrinsic interest or any sort of merit.” Roberts acknowledges inland and saltwater navigation, stressing the importance of the former, for instance, in Russia’s eastward colonization of Siberia in the seventeenth century. However, he jumps to the ends without reference to the means, or the processes. He notes that from Tobolsk to the Pacific port of Okhotsk three thousand miles away there were only three portages; there is no discussion of the vessels used, the foundation of intermediate settlements, or the impact of river trade on the development of Siberia. He does not even name the rivers, which is rather like talking about the water route from Pittsburgh to New Orleans without mentioning the Ohio or Mississippi.
Had Diamond or Roberts written a century ago, their works likely would have incorporated considerably more maritime content. That they do not reflects changes in the public perception of the maritime world, for the merchant marine and naval services no longer hold the attraction for people that they once did, when ocean liners and freighters crowded the piers of Manhattan, Hamburg, Sydney, and Hong Kong. At the start of the twenty-first century, ships and shipping lines are the warp and woof of globalization. Ships carry about 90 percent of world trade and the number of oceangoing ships has grown threefold in the past half century. But the nature of shipping has led to the relocation of cargo-handling facilities to places remote from traditional port cities, while a growing proportion of the world’s merchant fleets has been put under so-called flags of convenience—that is, owners in search of less regulation and lower taxes have registered their ships in countries not their own. As a result, ships no longer stand as emblems of national progress and prestige as they did in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Although airplanes have replaced ships in most long-distance passenger trades—transatlantic, between Europe and ports “east of Suez,” or transpacific—more than fourteen million people annually embark on a sea cruise. This is far more than ocean liners carried before the passenger jet rendered them obsolete in the 1950s, when the names of shipping companies were as familiar as (and far more respected than) the names of airlines today. The idea that people would go to sea for pleasure was almost unthinkable even 150 years ago. The cruise ship industry, to say nothing of yachting and recreational boating, owe their growth to changes in economics and technology, social reform movements that ameliorated the often wretched conditions of sea travel for passengers and crew alike, and shifts in attitudes toward the natural environment of the sea. These also gave rise to the emergence of a conscious appreciation for the sea and seafaring in painting, music, and literature, and set the conditions for people’s interest in the sea as an historical space interpreted through museums, film, and books.
In fact we live in an age deeply influenced by maritime enterprise, but our perceptions of its importance have shifted almost 180 degrees in only two or three generations. Today we see pleasure where our forebears saw peril, and we can savor the fruits of maritime commerce without being remotely aware of its existence, even when we live in cities that originally grew rich from sea trade. In considering the course of maritime history, we must account for this change and remember that our collective relationship with maritime enterprise has undergone a profound metamorphosis in only half a century.
The idea for this book began to take shape while I was writing Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia—in essence, a collection of vessel biographies that sought to explore the reasons for certain ships’ fame or infamy and to situate them in a broader historical context. Some of these stories have obviously found their way into this work. But while ships are integral to the narrative that unfolds here, this book is less about ships per se than about the things that they carried—people and their culture, their material creations, their crops and flocks, their conflicts and prejudices, their expectations for the future, and their memories of the past. In considering the prospects for this undertaking, I have been guided by the words of the naval historian Nicholas Rodger, who has written: “A general naval history would be a prize of great value, and if the first person to attempt it should fail altogether, he may still have the merit of stimulating other and better scholars to achieve it.” The scope of this work goes well beyond naval history and entails correspondingly greater risks, but if nothing else I hope this book will inspire further exploration of this fascinating dimension of our common past.
“Superbly realized. . . . Elegantly written and encyclopedic in scope. [A] forceful reminder that the urge to ‘go down to the sea in ships’ has shaped civilizations and cultures in every period and in every part of the globe.” —The Wall Street Journal
“The Sea and Civilization is, without doubt, the most comprehensive maritime history ever produced. . . . An all-consuming vision oozes from Paine’s book. His passion is to tell the story of the sea. History is seldom written with that kind of passion today.” —The Times (London)
“The most enjoyable, the most refreshing, the most stimulating, the most comprehensive, the most discerning, the most insightful, the most up-to-date—in short, the best maritime history of the world.” —Felipe Fernández-Armesto, author of Millennium: A History of the Last Thousand Years
“Here is a story told with assurance and a refreshing perspective. . . . A bracing journey.” —The Dallas Morning News
A Choice Magazine Outstanding Academic Title Selection, 2014
“Fascinating and beautifully written. . . . An eloquent vision of how the sea served as a path to the modern world.” —Foreign Affairs
“Paine is full of such illuminating facts. . . . [He] forestalls any western bias with excellent chapters on Asian expansion. . . . ‘The sea held no promise for slaves, coolies, indentured servants, or the dispossessed,’ Paine reminds us, and while it is ‘fickle and unforgiving, it is a fragile environment susceptible to human depredation on a scale unimaginable to our ancestors.’ And yet, whose heart does not sing out when they see the sea? Our last resort, it still holds its promise and its power.” —New Statesman (London)
“A magnificently sweeping world history that takes us from the people of Oceania and concludes with the container. In contrast to most books on maritime history, the majority of The Sea and Civilization covers the history of the world before Columbus sailed the ocean blue and at least as much of the narrative focuses on Asia as it does on Europe.” —The Telegraph (London)
“An ambitious work. . . . Dense with facts and rich in detail that tells mankind’s story from the perspective of our relation to the seas—as well as lakes, rivers and canals.” —Asian Review of Books
“Brilliantly realized. . . . we have at last a responsible and persuasive explanation of the inextricable connection between the ocean and world civilization.” —Peter Neill, World Ocean Observatory
“Takes the reader through history via the seas . . . Paine’s highly detailed work encompasses a wide array of topics, from trade and the influence of the sea on warfare and political coalitions, to ship building techniques through the ages, to piracy and slavery. . . . Paine has compiled an invaluable resource for salty dogs and land-lubbers alike.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Paine deftly navigates the complexities of global culture to create an eminently readable account of mankind’s relationship to the sea. Both profound and amusing, this will be a standard source for decades to come.” —Josh Smith, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, editor of Voyages
“The Sea and Civilization presents a fresh look at the global past. Bringing to bear a formidable knowledge of ships and sails, winds and currents, navigation techniques and maritime law, Lincoln Paine offers a lively tour of world history as seen from the waterline. The result is a fascinating account, full of little-known episodes and novel insights. A major contribution.” —Kären Wigen, Stanford University, author of A Malleable Map
"Paine's a lyrical stylist, and the breadth of his historical vision is extraordinary." —David Mitchell, GQ


NASA sends Mona Lisa into space by LASER
Lunar orbiter's laser ranger becomes optical communicator
NASA has fired a greyscale image of the Mona Lisa to its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, as part of an experiment using optics instead of radio for deep-space communications.
Any space-watcher knows the frustration at the delays imposed by skinny radio channels in anything involving a deep-space mission. NASA is intensely interested in getting more bandwidth between Earth and space, since that would let it fetch more data from spacecraft, along with more and higher-resolution images.
Mona Lisa, with and without error correction. Source: NASA
As part of that effort, the space agency used a ranging laser that tracks the LRO to carry the Mona Lisa image on its 240,000 mile (386,000 km) journey.
The next generation satellite laser ranging (NGSLR) instrument used in the experiment was built to track the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) instrument on the orbiter. The digitized Mona Lisa piggybacked on the ranging pulses that measure the orbiter’s position.
MIT’s David Smith, principal investigator at LOLA, said that in the short term laser communications could act as a backup for the radios now used, while “in the more distant future, it may allow communication at higher data rates than present radio links can provide.”
This experiment, which sent a grey-scale Mona Lisa as an array of 152x200 pixels, only managed 300 bits/second. LOLA reconstructed the image based on the timing of the received pulses, and the spacecraft then retransmitted the image using its boring old-school radios so that earthside boffins could confirm La Gioconda made it back to earth safely.
Reed-Solomon coding was used to overcome interference caused by atmospheric turbulence.
NASS’s next laser communications experiment will be the Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration, which will try to achieve 20 Mbps transmission to the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, due to launch in May 2013.
The Earth-Moon distance achieved by this experiment is still far short of the record. In 2005, the Mercury Messenger spacecraft sent a laser message over a distance of 15 million km during an Earth fly-by.
NASA’s announcement is here. ®


Dynamics mean change and group dynamics means the change of behaviour through interaction in the group. As we know that students live in groups in school as their classroom, group of playmates, hobby club, science club, library etc.
It is natural that students interact with each other in groups to perform their needs, get information's, provide messages etc. As we know that human behaviour is not static, so when students interact in their group/groups with other members then the behaviour of members who constantly, interact, undergoes continuous changes. This kind of changing in behaviour of students due to their interaction in group with group members is called group dynamics.
We see that when teacher organize any group project work in classroom regarding any topic, then he/she formulates various groups and provide them project work/works. Students have to interact with the members of their group to perform various works of project, to get information, to seek help, etc.
Every group demands reciprocity among its members. Every group influences, to a great extent, the behaviour of its members. Students interact with the environment for their development. This development depends on social interaction. A teacher should study group dynamics to deal with various groups of students.
Now we shall discuss, how study of group dynamics help a teacher in classroom transaction:
1. To provide appropriate guidance to students for their adjustment:
If teacher has basic knowledge of group dynamics then he/she can provide appropriate guidance to his/her students for their adjustment. As we know that education aims to make socially adjustable citizen of the country, we want that our students should have positive adjustment with their friends, classmates, playmates and others.
Sometimes students can face certain problems regarding their process of adjustment. If teacher is well-equipped with the basic knowledge of group dynamics, if teacher knows how a student should interact with other members of his/her group positively then he/she (teacher) can provide proper guidance to students about their adjustment.
2. To improve the emotional and social climate of the class:
As we know that we can not even imagine organising participative, effective and armful teaching-learning process in the class which does not have proper emotional and social climate.
If the students of the class have negative attitudes about each other, if they act unsociably as enemies, if they do not care emotions, needs, expectations of others then we cannot expect a successful transaction of teaching-learning process in that kind of class.
Through the study of group dynamics, a teacher can guide his/her students for making proper adjustment and healthy interaction with each other. Teacher can improve the emotional and social climate of the class.
3. To improve group relations in the class:
We can see some particular patterns of relationship among the students of the class as-stars, isolates, mutual pairs, chains etc. If teacher has basic knowledge of group dynamics then he/she can provide a leadership role. The role of the leader is now shifting from authoritarian to a democratic and participatory one.
Teacher should try to encourage participation of students in all the school activities. If teacher has studied about group dynamics, then he/she can improve the climate of the students of his class by taking them into confidence.
Teacher can take his/her decisions democratically. By studying group dynamics, he/she can motivate students to participate in learning activities. Since group relation has an important role in teaching-learning process so a teacher should improve group relation in the class. For this improvement he/she should have knowledge of group dynamics.
4. To deal effectively with social groups:
Teacher has to organise various activities in various groups. To deal efficiently with social groups in classroom, in playground, in laboratory, in co-curricular activities, teacher should have study about group dynamics.
5. To have a thorough knowledge of the interaction process:
As we know that in a class we cannot find all the students of same qualities, needs, interests etc. They may be of different socio-economic background.
Teacher should try to ascertain positive interaction among these students. For this teacher should have a complete knowledge of group dynamics and the interaction process.
6. To remove conflicts and stresses in the group:
As we know that conflicts and stresses in the group, disturb the learning climate of the class. A teacher should try to remove these. For this a teacher should have study the group dynamic process.
As a whole, a teacher's work is not only to teach the students but him/her should work to create positive circumstances in the class which could motivate students towards participative and armful learns. For this kind of creation a teacher should have thorough knowledge of group dynamics which help a teacher in classroom transaction.


Should the U.S. be “scared of one guy with a laptop”? WikiLeaks’s release of thousands of classified U.S. diplomatic cables has frustrated governments around the world, including the U.S. The Justice Department is determining whether Australian citizen Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, along with whoever gave him the secret documents, can be charged under the Espionage Act.
The situation raises questions of press freedom in wartime and how technology has challenged the power of governments to keep information secret. Use these strategies to help your students understand the issues raised by the WikiLeaks case:
- Have students compare and contrast the facts of the Pentagon Papers case (New York Times v. U.S.) with the current WikiLeaks publication of secret documents.
- Play this conversation between Assange and a U.S. journalist, and have students vote in the accompanying poll about whether he violated the Espionage Act.
- Hold a mock trial presenting arguments on the question of whether Assange violated the Espionage Act.
If you are looking for additional materials, our Presidents and the Constitution, Volume I curriculum has a great lesson on President Wilson and the Espionage Act.
P.S. Thank you for your feedback! This week we created a separate Student Handout PDF (share it online with your students: http://bit.ly/WikiLeaksForStudents) and Teacher Answer Key for this lesson after hearing your comments from our web survey. Please let us know what else we can improve!
Posted in Constitution Courier eLesson


Researchers have combined two types of 3D-printing methods to develop a new technique to build therapeutic biomaterials from multiple materials. The research out of the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering paves the way for on-demand printing of complex artificial tissues for use in transplants and other surgeries, researchers said.
The team, led by Ali Khademhosseini, an engineering professor at the university, combined the concepts of stereolithography, which dates back to the 1990s, and digital photo-mask patterning, which dates back to the 2010s, he said.
Researchers at UCLA have developed a multimaterial 3D-printing process for biomaterials. The process combines two types of printing methods to rapidly print numerous hydrogel-based biomaterials at the same time. (Image source: UCLA Samueli School of Engineering)
Researchers developed an optical 3D printer with “one micro-fluidic chip to have multi-material printing,” he told Design News. “The chip allowed the passage of four different photo-crosslinkable inks while providing a cell-friendly environment,” Khademhosseini said. “The set-up provided rapid fabrication of multi-material constructs from cell-laden inks.”
In this way, researchers have demonstrated the first technique to use multiple materials for automated stereolithographic bioprinting—an advance over conventional stereolithographic bioprinting, which only uses one type of material. While the process Khademhosseini described uses four types of bio-inks, researchers said the process could use as many inks as needed for an application.
This multimaterial aspect of the process isn’t its only benefit, Khademhosseini said. Stereolithography-based 3D printing has higher printing resolution and a higher fabrication rate than common types of 3D-printing techniques, so the system also provides a rapid fabrication rate at a high resolution, or 50 microns, he said.
The UCLA team designed its system for small constructs and organoid systems, making it a good option for research-oriented tissue models, Khademhosseini said. The specific materials that the team used in its study are called cell-laden hydrogels that can be photo-crosslinked, which means that they are solidified when exposed to light.
Researchers first used the process to make simple shapes, such as pyramids. Later, they printed complex 3D structures that mimicked parts of muscle tissue and muscle-skeleton connective tissues, as well as shapes mimicking tumors with networks of blood vessels. These latter constructs could be used as biological models to study cancers, according to researchers.
The team tested the physical viability of their biomaterial structures by implanting them in rats and found that their bodies did not reject the printed objects, researchers added. For academic and translational research, scientists can use the system to fabricate organoids and organ-on-chip models in their work, Khademhosseini told Design News. “Such chips can be used to make drug-screening chips and disease models,” he said. Another application of the system could be to optimize ink systems for stereolithography 3D printing.
The researchers plan to continue their work to make it better suited to fabricate larger constructs and even more complex tissue systems, he said. The team published a paper on the work in the journal Advanced Materials, with Amir Miri—a postdoctoral scholar at Harvard Medical School at the time of the study—as first author. Miri is now a researcher at Rowan University.
Elizabeth Montalbano is a freelance writer who has written about technology and culture for 20 years. She has lived and worked as a professional journalist in Phoenix, San Francisco, and New York City. In her free time, she enjoys surfing, traveling, music, yoga, and cooking. She currently resides in a village on the southwest coast of Portugal.


Evaluation Use the following websites as final review of the respiratory system to aid in your studies. Explain the function of the larynx.
The reproductive system consists of the gonads; this includes the testes for men and ovaries for women. The pericardial cavity, pleural cavities, and the mediastinum cavity. Read and review the internet resources provided. You will need a computer with internet access 2. More essays like this: Retrieved from Nervous System: As the diaphragm contracts and relaxes, breathing takes place.
This system is the largest of the body Taylor T. Explain its importance in relation to respiration. Describe the structure and function of the cricoid cartilage.
Explain how gas exchange takes place at the cellular level. While you might not understand medical terminology a diagnosis can be easily obtained if you know all your symptoms and what organs or body systems are included in this pain.
Retrieved from Respriatory System: If you have any problems with the webquest, please contact your teacher for further guidance. The body is made up of eleven body systems.
For instance if you say your kidneys hurt but you are holding onto your stomach in pain the doctor will suggest the stomach or intestines are actually the root of the problem. When the diaphragm relaxes, carbon dioxide is pumped out of the lungs.
Task One Using the internet resources listed above, write down information so you can answer the following questions: The last system is the integumentary system which includes the hair, nails, and skin.
Hopefully now you have a better understanding of how the lungs work, how we breathe, and how important it is to protect our lungs with proper personal care and exercise. The two main cavities of the body include the thoracic cavity and the cranial cavity.
Studies of anatomy include: You may use the website for assistance if necessary. The nervous system consists of the brain, sensory organs, spinal cord, and the other nerves that connect the organs with the rest of the body Taylor T.
Discuss the function of the alveoli. When you have answered all of the questions, 5. Retrieved from Inner Body: The major organs in the thoracic cavity include: Get Full Essay Get access to this section to get all help you need with your essay and educational issues. There are several terms that describe different areas of the body.The anatomy and physiology of the respiratory system are extremely important to the human body.
It will give you a broad understanding of how the body obtains oxygen, removes waste products, and the importance of its vital function in keeping people alive.
Anatomy and Physiology of the Nervous System Essay Words | 4 Pages. the systems of the body. The way it does this is to communicate through nervous impulse which is very rapid and very specific. More about The Anatomy and Physiology of the Respiratory System. Anatomy and Physiology - Energy Metabolism Words | 6 Pages; Anatomy and.
Free Essay: A. ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY The Reproductive system’s main function is to produce offspring. Reproductive organs in males and females produce sex. The respiratory system is a complex organ structure of the human body anatomy, and the primary purpose of this system is to supply the blood with oxygen in order for the blood vessels to carry the precious gaseous element to all parts of the body to accomplish cell respiration.
The respiratory. Anatomy and Physiology Essay Sample Anatomy and Physiology are studied together but differ in many ways but go hand in hand in studying the human body. Anatomy is. Anatomy and Physiology; Anatomy and Physiology. WE WILL WRITE A CUSTOM ESSAY SAMPLE ON. to perform a named function/functions Even though the systems may seem very separate in their activities the digestive system and respiratory system both contribute to work together.
The systems cannot work by themselves as they both provide the.Download


The Portuguese CurrencyThe Portuguese escudo was the currency of Portugal prior to the introduction of the euro on 1 January 1999 and the removal of the escudo from circulation on 28 February 2002.
The escudo was subdivided into 100 centavos.
The word escudo derives from the scutum shield.
Note: The information in this site is for general guidance only. Users of this site are advised to take professional advice before taking practical tax decisions.
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Did you know there is DNA of misbehavior? In my teaching practice, I have found the only real way to implement effective strategies with children with difficult behavior is to understand the deeper levels of their misbehavior. Sounds complicated. But actually, it is not when you understand the DNA of misbehavior.
You can break it down into three simple elements:
So let’s break this down even further. Each piece of this “DNA” is critical to understand.
- A trigger is a thought about an event that activates an inappropriate response. So when a child is triggered there is the stimulus that sets in motion a thought and then they are triggered. It takes it from off to flipped on!
- A stimulus can be a time, place, a request, comment, body language, their nervous system, or chemical reactions – we could list and list and list what those stimuluses are. It is what sets off a thought that triggers the inappropriate response.
The thing to understand is that the trigger happens before the behavior. Repeat it with me. It happens BEFORE the behavior.
This is important. This is where we can actually find lasting and real strategies to working with Challenging and Difficult Behaviors.
But we can begin to get an idea of what might be triggering it by observing the behavior unfolding by what we see, what we hear, what we feel. And when I say feel – I am talking about the physical tactual realm.
These behaviors serve a function for the child. There are two basic motivations – to obtain or get something such as attention, materials, a beloved activity or they may be trying to avoid or escape something – again attention, materials, activity.
There are two outcomes after an inappropriate behavior:
- What you do as a teacher – you can do nothing, you can issue a consequence, or punishment and that has a very impactful place in how the child responses.
- What the child does – did your response reinforce the inappropriate behavior or diminish it?
So what we are looking for is- is your response reinforcing the inappropriate behavior or does it help to diminish it over time.
This is where classroom management succeeds or fails. Your response is either going to reinforce the misbehavior or diminish it.
Here’s the deal! Many times teachers don’t even know they are actually reinforcing the behavior they do not want! They have no idea that’s what they are doing.
The first step is to observe the trigger. This means noting what was happening just before the behavior began.
In my next post, I will share how to see the DNA of misbehavior clearly.
If you want to learn more about my complete system for dealing with Challenging & Difficult Behaviors Click: here.


Grants to Land Companies and RailroadsEdit This Page
From FamilySearch Wiki
To encourage settlement of large tracts of land, many colonies and states allowed land speculators, often organized as land companies, to purchase large tracts of land for resale to settlers. Records of these transactions may be difficult to obtain. They may have remained in private possession, or have been deposited in a state, local, or private archives or historical society. Some have also been published. The Family History Library has copies of some of these records (especially the published sources) such as the Susquehannah Company Papers. Land company records are generally listed in the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog under [STATE] - LAND AND PROPERTY.
RailroadsIllinois and Wisconsin. In 1862 the federal government did the same thing. The expectation was the railroads would quickly sell the land to settlers to raise the money to pay for the building of the railroad. However, in practice government conditions usually prevented, and railroads often chose not to sell the land. Instead, railroads usually used their land grants as collateral to obtain loans (bonds or government sponsored mortgages). Railroad land grants rarely resulted in records that are useful to genealogists. When the railroads sold or transferred parts of their land grants to individuals those sales were usually recorded in the appropriate county land office.
Different railroads had different land grant rules. The most well-known form of railroad land grant was made in a checkerboard pattern along the line of the first tracks (see illustration). In 1862 the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads were orginally promised ten miles of checkerboard land on each side of the tracks, but to help meet expenses, ten was changed to twenty miles on each side in 1864. Because of the checkerboard pattern twenty miles would result in ten railroad blocks on each side of the tracks, and the federal government would keep most of the non-railroad blocks of land. The 1864 law also give the railroad the mineral rights to their land as well. If a railroad failed to meet certain requirements such as a completion deadline these land grants could be forfeited.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "Land and Property." United States Research Outline. Salt Lake City, Utah: Intellectual Reserve, Inc., 1988, 2002.
- ↑ Wade E. Hone, Land and Property Research in the United States (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1997), 153.
- ↑ Terry Cox, "Railroad Land Grants Explained" in Collectible Stocks and Bonds from North American Railroads: Guide with Prices, 2nd ed. at http://www.coxrail.com/land-grants.htm (accessed 8 July 2009).


Welcome To 2016-2017 STEM Explorations
Thank you to all who participated in our November 19th, 2016 Sonya Kovalevsky Day Program!
Click here for photos from the event
Montgomery College's Sonya Kovalevsky Program is the result of a combined effort among the college's SEM (Science, Engineering, and Mathematics) Departments and MCPS (Montgomery County Public Schools), with additional collaboration and support from UMD and USG. The Sonya Kovalevsky Program seeks to increase middle school girls' interest, confidence, and competence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Sixth grade girls will apply to the program by completing the online form, which includes an essay. The program provides participants with innovative learning opportunities (see below) while helping them to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills. The long term goal of this program is to create an annual cohort of middle school girls we can track and support in purusing STEM studies into high school and college.
This expanded program evolved from Montgomery College's annual Sonya Kovalevsky Day, which is designed for Montgomery County 8th grade girls and their mathematics teachers. This annual event has been taking place at Montgomery College since 1996 as part of the College's commitment to increase the number of women pursuing the sciences and mathematics at the post-secondary level. Women are underrepresented in science, engineering, and mathematics post-secondary education programs of study and professions. Educational experts point to middle school as the vulnerable period when girls start choosing not to take elective math and science courses, and studies suggest that children's beliefs about their abilities are central to determining their interest and performance in different subjects, the classes they choose to take, the after-school activities they pursue, and ultimately the career choices they make. Sonya Kovalevsky Day workshops focus on applying math, problem-solving, and analytical skills and promoting STEM career awareness. Additionally, there have been specific workshops for teachers involving innovations in pedagogy and technology.
Funding and support for the annual event has come from Montgomery College's Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Area (Rockville), Academic Initiatives and MC/MCPS Partnerships, the Montgomery College Foundation, the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) Tensor Foundation, and the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Montgomery County Inter-Branch. Additional funding from an AFCEA-Bethesda grant in 2012 has enabled the expansion of the annual one-day conference to year-round activities for middle school 7th and 8th grade girls. Because of this generous funding, there is no fee to participate in the program.
Thank you to those who participated in the Sonya Kovalevsky Day on November 15, 2014. Photos of the day's events may be viewed if you click here.


With the recent delay in the nomination of a new Secretary of Labor and no new head of OSHA in place, we are concerned that OSHA continues to designate its workplace crystalline silica regulation as a top agency priority at a time when silica Personal Exposure Limits (PELs) are already in place and OSHA has failed to make the case for new regulations. This new OSHA regulation will have negative economic and market use impacts on the breadth of the masonry industry, affecting acquisition and handling of raw materials, manufacture and handling of the product, insurability, and installation. A rush into this rule will result in a misguided regulatory focus that can destroy the masonry industry and tens of thousands of jobs. OSHA even admitted, with its own numbers nearly a decade ago when this rule was first proposed, that the economic cost of new rules would be nearly $650 million (extremely conservative) and it would only create benefits of $232 million.
What is Crystalline Silica?
- Silica is one of the most abundant substances on earth. It is most commonly found as sand or Quartz. Silica is ubiquitous on construction sites by virtue of its presence in many commonly used construction materials including: concrete, bricks, rocks, and stones.
- Construction activities that can generate/spread silica dust include but may not be limited to: jackhammering, grinding, tuckpointing, milling, rock crushing, drywall finishing, earthmoving, sawing, and drilling.
OSHA’s Current Requirements:
- Silica is measured by a Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL), which is the maximum amount of silica to which a worker may be exposed to during an 8-hour shift of a 40-hour week.
- OSHA’s PEL for silica exposure in construction is 250 micrograms per cubic meters of air. General industry’s PEL is set at 100 micrograms per cubic meter of air.
- In construction, employers are required to ensure that employees are not exposed to silica levels above the PEL by using administrative or engineering controls. However, protective equipment (e.g., respirators) or other protective measures can be used to keep workers’ exposure below the PEL whenever implementing controls are not feasible.
OSHA’s Proposed Rulemaking Includes:
- A significant reduction of the PEL level (when control measures must be taken) down to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air across all industries.
- The introduction of a new “action level” (where constant monitoring must begin) of 25 micrograms per cubic meter of air.
- Detailed requirements to use dust controls for specific construction operations.
- A requirement to provide respirators to workers when dust controls prove ineffective.
- The introduction of “regulated areas” where exposures may be above the PEL and worker access to these areas is controlled.
- Training requirements for workers covering operations that result in silica exposure and ways to limit exposure.
- A requirement to provide medical exams for workers and maintain their records for 30+ years.
Concerns with OSHA’s Proposed Rule:
- OSHA’s proposed crystalline silica rule is potentially the most far-reaching regulatory initiative proposed by OSHA for the construction industry.
- OSHA has not met its burden of demonstrating that the proposal is technologically and economically feasible.
- In addition to the significantly decreased PEL, OSHA’s proposal prescribes control methods that contradict existing safety practices, raising concerns that the agency did not adequately consider unique factors associated with the construction industry. For example, not only are tasks and activities highly variable and changing constantly as projects progress, but workers themselves frequently move among jobs and even employers.
- OSHA has not explained how a drastically lower PEL/action level will effectively reduce the number of silica related illnesses and deaths. The agency itself has admitted a failure to properly enforce existing standards, while the CDC has reported a 93 percent drop in silica-related deaths between 1968 and 2007.
- OSHA estimates the rule will result in approximately $1 billion a year in costs to the industry while generating $8 billion in benefits. This stands in stark contrast to industry studies that show OSHA has underestimated the cost of the proposed rule by approximately a factor of five. We now estimate a cost to the construction industry of roughly $5 billion per year.
- The coalition has serious concerns that the construction industry will be saddled with onerous new requirements at a time when most segments of the industry have not yet recovered from the economic downturn. OSHA’s proposed silica standard may substantially alter the industry’s competitive structure.
- The Construction Industry Safety Coalition is asking Congress to ask OSHA to answer very important, pertinent questions on the feasibility and need for this new rule before funding is allowed to be used for its implementation.
- Silica has been listed on OSHA’s regulatory agenda for more than a decade.
- A SBREFA panel was held in 2003.
- A proposal went to OMB in February 2011.
- The proposed new rule was announced on August 23, 2013.
- The proposed new rule was published in the Federal Register on Sept. 12, 2013. [at 78 Fed. Reg. 56274]
- OSHA’s deadline to submit comments on the proposed new rule was February 11, 2014. [Docket No. OSHA-2010-0034]
- Public hearings began March 18, 2014; Post-hearing data and information was due June 3, 2014; Final briefs, arguments, and summations were due on July 18, 2014.
- Final Rule was released by OSHA on March 24, 2016.
- MCAA and our partners in the Construction Industry Safety Coalition actively participated in the public rulemaking process every step of the way and submitted data driven comments showing that this rule is both technologically and economically infeasible.
- Final Rule was set to go into effect for the construction industry on June 23, 2017.
- On April 6, 2017 OSHA delayed enforcement of the final rule until September 23, 2017.
Letters to Congress
- Support Senator Hoeven’s Amendment to Suspend the Silica Rulemaking letter to Members of the Senate Appropriations Committee
- Notice of Intention to Appear at Informal Public Hearing letter to The Honorable David Michaels, Ph.D., MPH
- Occupational Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica letter to William Perry, Acting Director, Directorate of Standards and Guidance
- Occupational Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica letter to Jeff Buczkiewicz, President, MCAA
- Occupational Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica letter to The Honorable David Michaels, Ph.D., MPH


Background Tukong MusoolTukKong Musool is a martial arts discipline created during the cold war in South Korea. At the time of it’s creation, South Korea’s national sport (Taekwondo) was felt to have become more of a sport & not as useful in practical military situation.
In 1978,President Park Jung Hee ordered the creation of a new martial art form that would be superior to North Korea’s Kuek Sool. The man Assigned to this task is the president of the Tukkong Musool Association(TGMSA),Grand Master Chang Soo Ok. At the time, he was the master of the 27th special army troops against terrorism.
Krav-Maga historyImrich (Imi) Sde-Or*, founder of Krav-Maga, was born in 1910 in Budapest, which at the time was one of the centres of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He grew up in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, in a home where sports, law, and Central European education were equally respected. Samuel Lichtenfeld, Imis father, was undoubtedly quite a unique figure. At age 13 he joined a traveling circus, and for the next 20 years engaged in wrestling, weightlifting, and various demonstrations of strength. For him the circus was also a school, where he met people involved in a wide variety of sports, including some quite unusual ones. These people taught Samuel what they knew including various martial arts.


The Queensland government’s dam expansion plans could prove unequal to the task of preventing the damage caused by severe flooding events in future.
The Queensland government has unveiled the measures it is considering to reduce the impact of heavy storms and flooding,in the state including alterations to the Wivenhoe Dam and the construction of as many as eight new dams.
Premier Campbell Newman said that the government had identified eight locations where the construction of dams had the potential to safeguard thousands of houses and businesses.
These potential dam sites include upper Brisbane River near Linville, the Cooyar Creek near Bernarkin National Park, Emu Creek near Harlin, the Bremin River near Mount Walker, the Stanley River near Peachester, Tenterhill Creek near Gatton, Lockyer Creek near Murphy’s Creek and Cressbrook Creek near Kipper.
Other measures could include raising the level of bridges beneath Wivenhoe Dam, which was built across the Brisbane River to protect south-eastern Queensland in response to disastrous flooding in 1974.
“Before the next wet season, south east Queensland residents should have confidence in the fact that if there is a flood event, dam operating decisions will always place greater value in life, then people’s homes, businesses and livelihood – and then public roads and bridges,” said Energy and Water Supply Minister Mark Mark McArdle.
The government’s announcement comes just as the approach of Tropical Cyclone Ita further highlights the vital importance of storm and flood prevention measures as a result of rapid climate change.
Ita has already compelled the government to evacuate low lying areas between Port Douglas and Cape Grenville, which is the cyclone’s expected landfall site, while Premier Newman has urged those residing along the coast not to “underestimate the rain,” and promptly leave their homes when urged by authorities.
While the state government is currently pursuing damage mitigation measures in earnest following severe flooding in Brisbane several years ago, some critics say that these efforts will likely only have limited impact on major population centres in the south-east of Queensland.
Chas Keys, a flood management researcher and consultant who is an Associate of Risk Frontiers at Macquarie University, said flood levels in southern Queensland will only be brought down by modest amounts by the measures, given that the eight potential new dam sites are primarily sited on creeks which command only small proportions of the catchment system.
Much of the rain which fell during the 2011 floods fell well below the sites outlined by the Queensland government, over areas including Lockyer Creek, Bremer River and Oxley Creek.
According to Keys the chief cause of the flooding disaster of January 2011 was the imprudent decision to pursue residential and commercial developments on low-lying flood plains, pointing out that even Premier Newman acknowledges that it is well-nigh impossible to fully flood-proof Brisbane and Ipswich given their geographic particulars.


Banana is the common name of a genus of tropical herbaceous plants. It can grow from 3 to 9 m and belongs to the family of the lily and the orchid.
Diarrhea is a condition of frequent bowel movements with three loose or liquid each day. A prolonged period of diarrhea may result in dehydration due to fluid loss.
Infections by bacteria such as Salmonella or Escherichia coli are the most common causes of acute diarrhea. Patients with acute diarrhea usually are recovered within a week or 2 with or without medication.
Some researchers suggested that symptoms of diarrhea accompanied by blood in the stool is also a sign of colon cancer.
On finding a natural source with no side effects for the treatment of diarrhea associated with enteral feedings remains a problem for clinicians, researchers evaluated the effects of flakes in controlling diarrhea in critically ill patients receiving enteral feedings.
Both banana flakes and medical treatments reduced the severity of diarrhea in critically ill tube-fed patients.
* Most children (60%) had no pathogens isolated from stools, 17% had rotavirus, 5% Vibrio cholerae, 4% Salmonella group B, and 11% had enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli infections.
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Back to Kyle J. Norton Homepage http://kylejnorton.blogspot.ca
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.
(1) Banana flakes control diarrhea in enterally fed patients by Emery EA1, Ahmad S, Koethe JD, Skipper A, Perlmutter S, Paskin DL. (PubMed)
(2) Clinical studies in persistent diarrhea: dietary management with green banana or pectin in Bangladeshi children by Rabbani GH1, Teka T, Zaman B, Majid N, Khatun M, Fuchs GJ. (PubMed)
(3) Beneficial role of green plantain [Musa paradisiaca] in the management of persistent diarrhea: a prospective randomized trial by Alvarez-Acosta T1, León C, Acosta-González S, Parra-Soto H, Cluet-Rodriguez I, Rossell MR, Colina-Chourio JA. (PubMed)


This is why I hate buffets: Too many food choices make my head spin. For weight control, I prefer the out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach — keep the oversized muffins and pepperoni pizzas out of the house altogether. Call me rigid, but it seems to work.
Apparently, mice have similar issues, according to a study published in the journal Endocrinology.
The study tried to tease out the relative importance of genetics vs. environment when it comes to obesity risk. So, baby mice born to mothers with a defined high-fat or low-fat diet were randomly assigned to one of three diet groups: either a high-fat diet, a low-fat diet or to an “eat what you want” diet in which they got to pick and choose among the various options.
Researchers from Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine report that: “Offspring displayed negative outcomes of increased body weight, body fat, serum leptin, and blood glucose levels when given the choice diet compared with offspring on the [low-fat diet].”
This begs the question whether a child’s environment can indeed trump genetics when it comes to obesity.
The Virginia Tech news release quotes one of the study authors who wraps up the findings simply:
“We like variety,” said Deborah Good, an associate professor of human nutrition, foods, and exercise at Virginia Tech. “But when there is a choice, we eat more than when there is not any variety.”
Though the study was done using mice, it can help inform researchers of how human’s natural environment can affect food choices and ultimately a person’s weight. In a country where one-third of adults and 17 percent of children are obese, understanding the root causes of the problem is imperative.
One apparent upside found among mice in the choice group, according to the report: they had “improved energy expenditure” compared to the low-or high-fat diet groups. “Essentially,” the news release says, “the mice burned more energy as they wandered around and evaluated which food they were going to eat.”
This recalls the food and environment research of Brian Wansink, a professor of consumer behavior at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. A recent Psychology Today article on how we eat (and overeat) called, “Why Out of Sight is Really Out Of Mind,” discusses how we can slip into mindless eating in a world where food is everywhere. But there are ways to eat smarter, if you think about what you’re doing:
Wansink found that slim people approach an “all you can eat” buffet by “scouting out” what is available — “getting the lay of the land,” as it were — before they grab their plates and pile on food. They are also more likely to sit facing away from, and to choose a table farther away from a buffet; more likely to choose small plates; and, if eating Chinese food, eat with chopsticks.
Jean Fain, a Harvard Medical School-affiliated psychotherapist who runs “mindful eating” training sessions, has offered some tips on how to curb excessive eating, particularly during the holidays, when tables are brimming with tempting sweets and heavy dishes loaded with nostalgia. In a December post, she wrote:
If you find yourself automatically reaching for another piece of pumpkin cheesecake, step back from the dessert table and ask yourself: “How do I feel? What do I need? Do I really want another piece of cheesecake?” If you do, by all means, enjoy. But if you feel full, better to interrupt the automatic urge for more. It’ll taste better when you’re hungry. What’s more, a short interruption can give you back control.


COVID-19 Immunity: Harvard Study Shows That COVID-19 Patients Who Undergo Cytokine Storms Likely To Produce Fewer Memory B Cells
: A new study led by researchers from Harvard have shown that high levels of certain cytokines may also prevent individuals who are infected with COVID-19 from developing long-term immunity as affected patients were observed to make very few of the type of B cells needed to develop a durable immune response.
It has already been known that the release of massive amounts of proteins called cytokines can lead to some of the most severe symptoms of COVID-19. When large numbers of immune cells release cytokines, this increases inflammation and creates a feedback loop in which more immune cells are activated and this is sometimes called a cytokine storm. Unfortunately these cytokine storms also leads to lesser relevant memory B cells from developing.
The study findings were published in the journal: Cell https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(20)31067-9.pdf?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867420310679%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
Co-senior author Dr Shiv Pillai, a Professor at Harvard Medical School and member of the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT, and Harvard told Thailand Medical News, "We have seen a lot of studies suggesting that immunity to COVID-19 is not durable because the antibodies decline over time. This study provides a mechanism that explains this lower-quality immune response."
The researchers focused on germinal centers ie the areas within the lymph nodes and spleens where B cells, the immune cells that produce antibodies, differentiate. Differentiation and changes in antibody genes are required to build immunity to an infectious agent.
Co-senior author Dr Robert Padera, a Pathology Professor at Harvard added, "When we looked at the lymph nodes and spleens of patients who died from COVID-19, including some who died very soon after getting the disease, we saw that these germinal center structures had not formed "We decided to determine why that's the case."
As the COVID-19 disease is so new, animal models for studying COVID-19 infection were not yet available at the time the team began their study. The researchers instead gained insights from previous studies involving mouse models of other infections that induce cytokine storm syndrome ie a malaria model and one of bacterial infection in which germinal centers were lost.
Typically in individuals with severe COVID-19, one of most abundant cytokines released is called TNF. In the infected mice, TNF appeared to block the formation of germinal centers. In previous cytokine storm models, when the mice were given antibodies to block TNF or had their TNF gene deleted, the germinal centers were able to form.
Interestingly when the researchers studied the lymph nodes of patients who had died of the disease, they found high levels of TNF in these organs. This led them to conclude that TNF may be preventing the germinal centers from forming in people with COVID-19 as well.
Dr Pillai said, "Studies have suggested this lac
k of germinal centers happens with SARS infections. We even think this phenomenon occurs in some patients with Ebola, so it was not surprising to us."
The team also studied blood and lymphoid tissue from individuals with active infections who were in different stages of COVID-19. They found that although germinal centers were not formed, B cells were still activated and appeared in the blood, which would allow the patients to produce some neutralizing antibodies.
Dr Padera, "There is an immune response. It's just not coming from a germinal center."
Dr Pillai added, "Without the germinal centers, there is no long-term memory to the antigens."
Significantly he stressed that studies of other coronaviruses that cause colds have suggested that someone can get infected with the same coronavirus three or four times in the same year.
It should be noted that the study findings also has implications with regards to COVID-19 Immunity
development and the strategies being deployed to incite the right kind of immune responses.
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Definition of auxesis
n. - A figure by which a grave and magnificent word is put for the proper word; amplification; hyperbole.
The word "auxesis" uses 7 letters: A E I S S U X.
No direct anagrams for auxesis found in this word list.
Adding one letter to auxesis does not form any other word in this word list.
Shorter words found within auxesis:
ae ai ais as ass ax axe axes axis axises eau eaux es ess ex is issue sae sau sax saxes sea seas sei seis sex si sis six sixes sue sues us use uses xi xis xu
List shorter words within auxesis, sorted by length
Words formed from any letters in auxesis, plus an optional blank or existing letter
List all words starting with auxesis, words containing auxesis or words ending with auxesis
All words formed from auxesis by changing one letter
Other words with the same letter pairs: au ux xe es si is
Browse words starting with auxesis by next letter
Previous word in list: auxeses
Next word in list: auxetic
Some random words: rya


Learn Geology online from top institutions
Learn Geology online from top institutions: Economic Geology, Environmental, Geochemistry, Hydrogeology, Geophysics, Glacial Geology.
Mountains 101 “University of Alberta”
Mountains 101 is a broad and integrated overview of the mountain world. This 12-lesson course covers an interdisciplinary field of study focusing on the physical, biological, and human dimensions of mountain places in Alberta, Canada, and around the world. Specifically, we’ll study the geological origins of mountains, how they’re built-up and worn-down over time; we’ll learn about their importance for biodiversity and water cycles, globally and locally; we’ll explore their cultural significance to societies around the globe, and how that relationship has evolved over time; and we’ll learn how mountains are used, how they’re protected, and how today they’re experiencing rapid change in a warming climate.
Big History – From the Big Bang until Today “University of Amsterdam”
Welcome to this Big History course! In this course, renowned scientists and scholars from the University of Amsterdam and beyond will take you on a journey from the Big Bang until today while addressing key questions in their fields. After completing this journey you will have developed a better understanding of how you and everything around you became the way they are today. You will also have gained an understanding of the underlying mechanisms that have helped shape the history of everything and how they wil help shape the future. Last but not least, you will have developed the skill to use this knowledge to put smaller subjects into a bigger perspective with the aid of the little big history approach, which can help you develop some new ideas on these smaller subjects.
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The Dynamic Earth: A Course for Educators “American Museum of Natural History”
The AMNH course The Dynamic Earth: A Course for Educators provides students with an overview of the origin and evolution of the Earth. Informed by the recently released Next Generation Science Standards, this course examines geological time scales, radiometric dating, and how scientists “read the rocks.” We will explore dramatic changes in the Earth over the last 4 billion years, including how the evolution of life on Earth has affected its atmosphere. In addition to looking at geology on a global scale, participants will take to their own backyards to explore and share their local geologic history. Course participants will bring their understanding of the dynamic Earth – along with content resources, discussion questions, and assignments – into their own teaching.
The Science of the Solar System “Caltech”
Learn about the science behind the current exploration of the solar system in this free class. Use principles from physics, chemistry, biology, and geology to understand the latest from Mars, comprehend the outer solar system, ponder planets outside our solar system, and search for habitability in our neighborhood and beyond. This course is generally taught at an advanced level assuming a prior knowledge of undergraduate math and physics, but the majority of the concepts and lectures can be understood without these prerequisites. The quizzes and final exam are designed to make you think critically about the material you have learned rather than to simply make you memorize facts. The class is expected to be challenging but rewarding.
Planet Earth. and You! “University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign”
Earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain building, ice ages, landslides, floods, life evolution, plate motions—all of these phenomena have interacted over the vast expanses of deep time to sculpt the dynamic planet that we live on today. Planet Earth presents an overview of several aspects of our home, from a geological perspective. We begin with earthquakes—what they are, what causes them, what effects they have, and what we can do about them. We will emphasize that plate tectonics—the grand unifying theory of geology—explains how the map of our planet’s surface has changed radically over geologic time, and why present-day geologic activity—including a variety of devastating natural disasters such as earthquakes—occur where they do. We consider volcanoes, types of eruptions, and typical rocks found there. Finally, we will delve into the processes that produce the energy and mineral resources that modern society depends on, to help understand the context of the environment and sustainability challenges that we will face in the future.
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