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Dining in Rio | A Parker Pick | Cruise News | Best Salsa
A Victory for Cheese Choice
Recently, the Food and Drug Administration got nervous about food-borne illnesses and floated the idea of a zero-tolerance policy that would outlaw selling any cheese made from unpasteurized milk, including Parmigiano-Reggiano and Swiss Gruyère. When the Feds started talking about cheese in language they usually reserve for drug dealers, you might have wondered if something was awry in Washington. The government, though, claimed it had scientific evidence that raw-milk cheese was a menace to society.
In response, a group of cheesemongers, cheesemakers and cheese lovers formed the Cheese of Choice Coalition to defend these strange, stinky and delicious dairy products. One of its first moves was to ask a microbiologist at the University of Vermont, Dr. Catherine W. Donnelly, to take a hard look at the scientific record. Donnelly has now finished her work, to be released later this month. While Factors Associated with the Microbiological Safety of Cheeses Prepared from Raw Milk: A Review may not be the season's sexiest page-turner, Donnelly's demonstration of the way scientific studies were misused to give raw-milk cheese a bad rap does make fascinating reading. In case after case of food poisoning from cheese tainted with salmonella, E. coli or other pathogens, Donnelly points to factors other than unpasteurized milk: contamination during or after cheese making, careless milk storage, poor sanitation practices. In fact, her analysis raises the possibility that raw milk is actually safer than pasteurized, because it contains microbes that fight dangerous bacteria.
The only raw-milk cheeses U.S. law now permits for sale are those that have been aged for at least 60 days. Pro-pasteurization forces argue that this restriction is insufficient, citing an experiment showing that raw-milk Cheddar inoculated with E. coli remained tainted even after two months. Donnelly pulls that study apart too, pointing out that the dose of E. coli was far higher than any that would naturally occur in milk.
An advance copy of Donnelly's review is already in Washington, where it seems to have hit its mark: Agency sources have told the coalition's cochairman, K. Dun Gifford, that the FDA is holding off on enacting the ban until it can give the issue a closer look. In the meantime, artisanal American cheesemakers are working up a set of self-imposed quality-assurance standards. By policing themselves, they hope to keep the cops off their cheese.
Bookmark: Taking the Cake
Some artists use paint, some clay; Margaret Braun works in sugar. Braun creates vividly hued cakes extravagantly adorned with edible pearls, scallop shells, tassels and swags, and topped with chalices or crowns. (Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick commissioned one for their wedding.) Braun's new book, Cakewalk, reveals her inspirations, from Antonio Gaudi's architecture (F&W once sent her to Barcelona to create a cake) to the Argo cornstarch box. An entire 60-page chapter focuses on decorative elementsdoves, paisleywith photographs superimposed on illustrations in a fun, eye-popping way. Lucid, step-by-step instructions bring Braun's cakes (almost) within reach of ordinary cooks, who shouldn't have any trouble with her chapter on simple, homey sweets, like her grandmother's cherry crescent cookies. Paging through Cakewalk while nibbling one of those cookies might be less ambitious than constructing one of Braun's King-Arthur-on-Ecstasy cakes, but as armchair adventures go, it's hard to beat.
This gleaming chrome machine, the latest espresso maker from Gaggia, is notable for more than its Tin Man hat. With a professional-style handle to release pressurized water, the Factory, as it's called, makes eight cups of rich, foam-topped espresso ($620; 800-500-6309). It may look high-tech, but it's not, compared to Gaggia's Synchrony ($1,200), which grinds the beans, makes the coffee, then cleans the grounds to get ready for the next cup, all at the touch of a button.
Monica F. Forrestall
Drinks: Malt Master
Even in a business noted for colorful personalities, Jim McEwan stands out among Scotch distillers. An Islay native who worked his way up to master distiller at Bowmore, McEwan won his employer many awards through his experiments with older whiskies and new kinds of casks (port, Bordeaux). A sort of ambassador of whisky appreciation, McEwan radiates a passion for Scotch that has made converts worldwide.
Now McEwan has set a new challenge for himself: reviving a defunct distillery. Early this year, a group of private investors acquired the Bruichladdich Distillery, which had been closed since 1995, and hired McEwan to start it up again. McEwan plans to make "a pure whisky, the old-fashioned way," without chill-filtration or caramel coloring. The news both excited and teased whisky connoisseurs, who will have to wait years for McEwan's first spirits to mature. But he has something to help them pass the time; with the acquisition came thousands of casks that have been aging for years. McEwan drew on those to bottle three distinct expressions of Bruichladdich. The 10-year-old whisky carries a whiff of sea air, while at 15 years, it turns warm and toasty. The 20-year-old has rich, sweet aromas of ripe fruit and lemony shortbread. "I want to let the character of each whisky come through," McEwan says, "to show the stillman's craft in the glass" (www.bruichladdich.com).
Address Book: Rio de Janeiro
For a city whose name is synonymous with sensualism, Rio has only recently become enamored of its restaurants; people do most of their eating at open-air bars, lunch counters and elbow-to-elbow cafés. But Cariocas are becoming as passionate about restaurants as they are about the bossa nova; I even got dining tips from fellow tanners at Ipanema Beach.
Careme is a cheery (if tiny) new bistro with walls the color of yellow bell peppers. But the real exuberance is in Flavia Quaresma's wonderful French-inspired cooking. Tomato and basil consommé is garnished with chèvre agnolotti; an herb-crusted leg of lamb is sumptuously paired with eggplant charlotte and hazelnut sauce (14 Rua Visconde de Caravelas, Botafogo; 011-55-21-2537-5431).
Satyricon was just remodeled after two decades; now the setting's as fresh as the Italian-accented seafood. Fish comes in every guise imaginable: carpaccio of tuna or amberjack; salt-crusted pargo; pargo baked with tomato and hot peppers (192 Rua Barao da Torre, Ipanema; 011-55-21-2521-0627).
Cafe Laguiole is the power brokers' downtown lunch choice. The wine list is the main draw, from deep holdings in Pétrus to affordable Sicilian reds. Deraldo Bonfim's cooking reflects the influence of France and other global cuisines in such dishes as quail in sweet-and-sour sauce and chicken stew with cachaça (63-A Rua Sete de Setembro; 011-55-21-2509-7215).
Restaurants: Parker's Hometown Hang
Although he can (and does) eat all over the globe, influential wine critic and F&W contributing editor Robert M. Parker, Jr., is particularly happy at a restaurant called Charleston in his hometown, Baltimore (1000 Lancaster St.; 410-332-7373).
If chef Cindy Wolf is daunted by cooking regularly for one of the world's most famous palates, her bold, confident approach doesn't show it. A few Parker favorites that reflect Wolf's predilection for full-on flavors are crispy cornmeal-crusted oysters with lemon-cayenne mayonnaise and a fried green tomato "sandwich" with lobster and lump crab hash. (Wolf, by the way, also does well by her city's ubiquitous staple, the crab cake.)
The wine list at Charleston wins Parker's accolades as well. Assembled by Tony Foreman, Wolf's husband and partner, it's among Baltimore's best, notable for its reasonable prices and impressive selection, says Parker. Even small sections such as "Italian Whites" showcase top producers like Schiopetto, Valentini and Jermann. Of special note are Foreman's Rhône pages, with an impressive 22 vintages of sought-after single-vineyard Côte Rôties from GuigalLa Mouline, La Turque and La Landonne. And, as of this fall, Charleston customers looking for a great bottle to take home can walk up the block to Bin 604, a new retail wine venture from Foreman and fellow oenophile J. Miller. The store will specialize in hard-to-find wines from around the worldat some very fair prices, if Charleston's list is any guide (604 Exeter St.; 410-576-0444).
Travel: Free at Sea
Someone at Norwegian Cruise Line evidently endured one too many "formal nights with the captain." Just look at the line's first specially designed Freestyle ship, Norwegian Sun, setting sail for New York City from Southampton, England, this month. Specifically created to pluck passengers from assigned-table, 6:30-sharp, dress-code dinnertime purgatory, Norwegian Sun has nineyes, ninerestaurants, not counting the Internet café or the wine bar. There's Ginza for teppanyaki and sushi; Las Ramblas for tapas; Pacific Heights for California-style pizzas; Adagio for posh Italian; East Meets West for the obligatory Asian fusion (complete with a pick-your-own-lobster tank). The ship offers die-hard traditionalists two old-style formal dining rooms, one traditional, one contemporary. With two more Freestyle ships on the way, Norwegian is betting heavily on the modern palate of its passengers.What next? Floating farmers' markets? (800-327-7030).
Taste Test: Salsa
Since it's so easy to make your own salsa when tomatoes are in season, it's no surprise that in an F&W staff tasting of store-bought products, our favorites offered something extra: vegetables roasted over an open flame, unusual varieties of peppers or tart green tomatillos.
|Product||Staff Comment||Interesting Bite|
|Coyote Cocina Fire-Roasted Salsa||"I'd put this on anythingbread, chips, chicken, veggies."||Was invented at chef Mark Miller's Coyote Cafe in Santa Fe from chipotle chiles and fire-roasted tomatoes.|
|Green Mountain Gringo Salsa||"Tastes bright and fresh."||Made with tomatoes, tomatillos, jalapeños and pasilla peppers in the back of a Vermont grocery store.|
|Valley of Mexico Fire-Roasted Salsa||"Good texture and body; well-rounded blend of smoke and heat."||A straightforward mix of roasted tomatoes and jalapeños with a curveball thrown in: sesame oil.|
|Frontera Hot Habanero Salsa||"You can taste the flowery flavor of the habaneros."||Chef Rick Bayless of Chicago's Frontera Grill fell in love with the fiery taste of roasted habanero salsa in the Yucatán, where it's a staple.| | <urn:uuid:816b64d6-ef48-498a-81e8-8ac4575f6ca2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/september-2001 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397842.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00155-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927912 | 2,552 | 2.515625 | 3 |
As temperatures drop this week to levels that seem, unfortunately, more like December, keep chanting that the wind isn't as chilly as it used to be.
At least that's the official line from the National Weather Service, which began using a new formula this year to calculate the windchill index.
The index is supposed to gauge what the wind makes the temperature feel like. But after a year of study, the weather service acknowledged what many people felt in their bones all along: Windchill temperatures sometimes seemed a bit exaggerated. The new scale took effect Nov. 1.
"We think people will now take it more seriously," said Maurice Bluestein, a professor at the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology in Indianapolis, who helped develop the new scale.
Thursday's low temperature is forecast to be about 10 degrees Fahrenheit, with winds that could reach 20 m.p.h. Those conditions last year would have resulted in a windchill of 24 degrees below zero. The new formula says the windchill will be a comparatively balmy 9 degrees below zero.
Temperatures through the weekend should give people plenty of opportunity to get used to the new calculations. Although the weather service doesn't predict wind speeds more than a day in advance, it says the low temperatures should be 5 to 10 degrees this weekend.
Besides being more in line with what the wind really makes the temperature feel like, the new scale will help provide accurate alerts to the risk of frostbite. Rapidly dropping skin temperature is the real danger of wind combined with cold air.
For example, if the air temperature is zero degrees Fahrenheit, with a wind of 15 m.p.h., frostbite would develop within half an hour. If the air temperature is minus-20 degrees with a wind of 15 m.p.h., frostbite would develop in 10 minutes.
The weather service changed its formula to make the evaluation of that threat more accurate.
"Our main mission is to warn people when weather conditions are dangerous," said Mark Tew, a meteorologist with the weather service.
People in better health are affected differently by wind and cold weather. The new scale, like the old one, is weighted toward people in the worst shape and most susceptible to the effects of bad weather.
Windchill is something that only people and animals have to worry about. Wind will make water pipes or car radiators cool down to the air temperature faster, but inanimate objects will never cool down to less than the air temperature.
Your body, on the other hand, creates a natural pocket of heat around you. Wind pushes that pocket of warmth away and your skin temperature drops more rapidly than it would in calm conditions.
The formula the weather service has discarded was based on experiments done in 1945. They didn't have anything to do with body heat or skin temperature. Researchers in the Antarctic set out containers of water under various weather conditions to see how quickly the water temperature dropped.
"What they did was cutting-edge science in their day," Tew said.
But containers of water aren't similar to human skin. The new scale uses factors such as the modern heat transfer theory to look at how quickly pockets of body heat get whisked away by the wind and how that results in a drop in skin temperature.
Windchill can cause real hazards for people who don't pay attention to it, since it affects how quickly your skin temperature drops in cold weather--so experts say it's important to heed warnings about windchill.
And that's easier to do if a windchill of 9 below zero really feels like 9 below zero. The older scale might have made people think they could withstand cold temperatures better than they really could.
The updated scale uses computer models and measurements not available when the weather service began using the old formula. To check theories and models against real life, scientists put people in a wind tunnel, turned down the heat and blasted them with different wind speeds while monitoring their skin temperatures.
The new index is also based on wind speed closer to the level of the human face--5 feet off the ground, instead of 33 feet, where the weather service usually measures wind speed.
The National Weather Service's Web site is at www.nws.noaa.gov. Click on Winter Weather Awareness for more information about the new windchill index. | <urn:uuid:c2b65ecb-0b0a-4c3e-955f-ddac7c00df3b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2001-12-27/news/0112270300_1_skin-temperature-wind-bad-weather | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393997.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00122-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950861 | 889 | 2.90625 | 3 |
NASA Space Tech Program Selects Technologies For Development And Demonstration On Suborbital Flights
WASHINGTON -- NASA'S Space Technology Program has selected 14 technologies for development and demonstration on commercial reusable suborbital launch vehicles.
The selected proposals offer innovative cutting-edge ideas and approaches for technology in areas including active thermal management, advanced avionics, pinpoint landing and advanced in-space propulsion. They also address many of the high-priority technology needs identified in the recent National Research Council's Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities report. These payloads will help NASA advance technology development needed to enable NASA's current and future missions in exploration, science and space operations.
"These technology payloads will have the opportunity to be tested on commercial suborbital flights, sponsored by NASA, that fly up to and near the boundary of space," said Michael Gazarik, Director of NASA's Space Technology Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The flights will ensure the technology fidelity before they're put to work in operational systems in the harsh environment of space."
Proposals for this solicitation were received from NASA centers and other government agencies, federally funded research and development centers, educational institutions, industry, and non-profit organizations. NASA's Flight Opportunities Program sponsored this solicitation in collaboration with NASA's Game Changing Development Program.
Following their development, selected technologies will be made available to the Flight Opportunities Program for pairing with appropriate suborbital reusable launch service provider flights. The Flight Opportunities Program provides opportunities for technologies to be demonstrated in relevant environments, while fostering the development of commercial reusable transportation to near space.
Awards will range from $125,000 to $500,000 with a total NASA investment of approximately $3.5 million. Payloads are expected to fly in 2013 and 2014. Proposals selected for contract negotiations are:
-- "Demonstration of Vertically Aligned Carbon Nano-tubes for Earth Climate Remote Sensing," Howard Todd Smith, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
-- "Facility for Microgravity Research and Submicroradian Stabilization using sRLVs," Scott Green, Controlled Dynamics, Inc., Huntington Beach, Calif.
-- "Enhanced Thermal Switch," Douglas Mehoke, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.
-- "Autonomous Flight Manager for Human-in-the-Loop Immersive Simulation and Flight Test of Terrestrial Rockets," Kevin Duda, Draper Laboratory, Inc., Cambridge, Mass.
-- "Armadillo Launch Vehicle Attitude Knowledge Capability Enhancement Using Advanced Micro Sun Sensor," Sohrab Mobasser, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif.
-- "Demonstration of Variable Radiator," Richard Kurwitz, Texas A&M University, College Station
-- "Dynamic Microscopy System," John Vellinger, Techshot Inc., Greenville, Indiana
-- "Design and Development of a Micro Satellite Attitude Control System," Manoranjan Majji, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, N.Y.
-- "Suborbital Test of a Robotics-Based Method for In-Orbit Identification of Spacecraft Inertia Properties," Ou Ma, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces
-- "Fuel Optimal Large Divert Guidance for Planetary Pinpoint Landing," Behcet Acikmese, JPL
-- "SwRI Solar Instrument Pointing Platform," Craig DeForest, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas
-- "Saturated Fluid Pistonless Pump Technology Demonstrator," Ryan Starkey, University of Colorado, Boulder
-- "Electric-hydrodynamic Control of Two-Phase Heat Transfer in Microgravity," Boris Khusid, New Jersey Institute of Technology, University Heights, N.J.
-- "An FPGA-based, Radiation Tolerant, Reconfigurable Computer System with Real Time Fault Detection, Avoidance, and Repair," Brock LaMeres, Montana State University, Bozeman
For information about NASA's Flight Opportunities Program, visit:
For information about Game Changing Development, visit:
For more information about NASA's Space Technology Program, visit:
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What is the Fed: Financial Stability
The Fed’s day-to-day activities of conducting monetary policy, supervising and regulating banks, and providing payment services all help maintain the stability of the financial system. Sound monetary policy helps promote a stable, low inflation environment and dampen business cycle fluctuations, which reduces financial market turbulence and helps keep financial institutions healthy. Supervision and regulation are essential for keeping banks safe and sound. The Fed’s role in the nation’s payments system provides for the smooth execution of billions of transactions every day.
During periods of acute financial strain, these activities may not be sufficient. At such times, the stabilizing actions of a central bank take on critical and immediate importance, as we learned in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in September 2001 and during the recent financial crisis. When the financial system is experiencing great shock, the Fed is equipped to take extraordinary action to keep disruptions from spreading within the financial sector and from spilling over to the broader economy. Specifically, the Fed is prepared to provide liquidity, that is, emergency access to cash, to financial markets and institutions in a number of ways. These include temporary adjustments in the duration or size of open market operations, lending through the “discount window” to eligible financial institutions, through special lending facilities to other institutions, as well as other extraordinary measures. This is why the Fed and other central banks are known as “lenders of last resort.”
Temporary Open Market Operations and Discount Window Lending
The Fed can step in on an emergency basis as lender of last resort, providing liquidity to the banking system.
When the normal functioning of financial markets is disrupted or when banks and other depository institutions are experiencing unusual stress, financial institutions may be hard pressed to get the funds they need to finance day-to-day operations. Private credit markets may seize up, making loans unavailable at reasonable prices. The Fed can step in on an emergency basis as lender of last resort, providing liquidity to the banking system. The Fed can serve this function in a number of ways. It can buy government securities on the open market, thereby injecting money into the banking system. Reserve Banks can lend directly to depository institutions, transactions known as “discount window” loans. The day after the September 11 terrorist attacks, discount window lending totaled more than 200 times the daily average for the previous month. In such a crisis situation, the Fed’s role as liquidity provider helps to restore confidence in the financial system by enabling banks to meet their short-term payment obligations.
In normal times, banks borrow from the discount window only when they are having trouble raising funds in the private markets. But when the interbank lending markets are severely impaired, as happened during the recent financial crisis, the discount window can become the primary source of funds for many banks at the same time. To make it easier for banks to borrow through the discount window during the crisis, the Fed implemented a number of changes. These included reducing the difference between the interest charged on discount rate loans and the Fed’s target for the federal funds rate, extending loans for longer periods, and conducting auctions for discount window credit. As financial conditions improve, these relaxed terms for discount window lending are being gradually phased out.
Special Lending Facilities and Extraordinary Measures
The Fed’s response to financial instability must also take into account the evolution of the financial system over time.
The Fed’s response to financial instability must also take into account the evolution of the financial system. That system has changed considerably in recent decades. Nonbank financial institutions and securitization markets now play a major role. In such a rapidly changing environment, the severity of the recent financial crisis prompted the Fed to step beyond its traditional role as lender of last resort to banks. To stabilize the financial system, the Fed implemented several extraordinary measures. These included creating a number of temporary emergency lending programs to provide funding to nonbank financial institutions, such as primary securities dealers, money market mutual funds, commercial paper issuers, and purchasers of securitized loans. In addition, to prevent the failure of institutions whose collapse would have threatened the entire financial system, the Fed worked with the U.S. Treasury to provide financial support. These extraordinary measures were undertaken under section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act, a special provision that permits the Fed to lend to individuals, partnerships, and corporations in “unusual and exigent circumstances.”
Financial Regulatory Reform
Under the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, the Fed must obtain approval from the U.S. Treasury before using its extraordinary lending authority.
The recently enacted Dodd-Frank Act changes the Fed’s authority to carry out emergency measures. Under the new law, the Fed must get approval from the Treasury Department before exercising its extraordinary lending authority. In addition, the Fed may extend credit under section 13(3) only under a program with broad eligibility. It can’t create programs designed to support individual institutions. To increase transparency, the Fed must identify discount window and special lending program borrowers after designated periods. To strengthen oversight, the Government Accountability Office is auditing the Fed’s discount window and emergency lending programs.
Through its membership in the newly created interagency Financial Stability Oversight Council, the Fed will help identify potential risks to the stability of the financial system and develop measures to control those risks.
The Federal Reserve’s Policy Actions during the Financial Crisis and Lessons for the Future, speech by Donald L. Kohn, Vice Chairman, Federal Reserve Board of Governors, at the Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, May 13, 2010.
Federal Reserve’s Exit Strategy, testimony by Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman, Federal Reserve Board of Governors, before the Committee on Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC,
February 10, 2010.
Liquidity Provision by the Federal Reserve, speech by Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman, Federal Reserve Board of Governors, at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Financial Markets Conference, Sea Island, GA, May 13, 2008.
September 11, the Federal Reserve, and the Financial System, speech by Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., Vice Chairman, Federal Reserve Board of Governors, at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, February 5, 2003.
Any questions? Contact us. | <urn:uuid:be0014e3-d0ee-4183-ae99-c5d6a3989375> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.frbsf.org/education/teacher-resources/what-is-the-fed/financial-stability | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393997.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00117-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935995 | 1,300 | 3.15625 | 3 |
FoodCORE and FoodNet: Complementary Collaborations in Connecticut
In 2012, CDC scientists monitored between 16 and 57 potential food poisoning clusters each week and investigated more than 200 multistate clusters nationwide. Two of CDC’s food safety programs partner with 15 jurisdictions to get ahead of stubborn foodborne outbreaks: FoodCORE and FoodNet.
What is the difference between FoodCORE and FoodNet?
FoodCORE is one of the newest and most promising programs at CDC. Seven FoodCORE centers, covering about 14% of the US population, work together to develop new and better methods to detect, investigate, respond to, and control multistate outbreaks of foodborne diseases.
FoodNet, established in 1996, is an active population- based surveillance system that collects information in 10 states and covers 15% of the US population. It estimates the number of foodborne illnesses, monitors trends in incidence of specific foodborne illnesses over time, attributes illnesses to specific foods and settings, and disseminates this information. One of the states where these two programs overlap is in Connecticut.
How do FoodCORE and FoodNet work together in Connecticut?
FoodCORE and FoodNet work together seamlessly and they complement each other’s missions. Since becoming a FoodCORE center in January 2012, Connecticut has been able to quickly and easily acquaint itself with the program. In part, this is a result of the existing infrastructure already in place through FoodNet and a 17-year collaborative effort between the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) and Yale School of Public Health.
Quyen Phan, an epidemiologist with the Connecticut DPH, commented that “the existing partnership between DPH and Yale paved the way for rapid formation of a student interview team composed of Yale public health students. After our first year, we have seen over 80% of Salmonella cases interviewed compared with about 50% in previous years.”
FoodCORE and FoodNet enhance foodborne disease surveillance and outbreak detection and response in Connecticut by working cohesively without duplicating or replicating efforts. FoodNet Program Coordinator Sharon Hurd made the observation that “if not for FoodNet, FoodCORE might not have thrived in its first year as it has; conversely, if not for FoodCORE, FoodNet might not have continued to make the strides that it is known for in Connecticut.” These programs are now intertwined and will undoubtedly continue to serve one another to protect the health of Connecticut’s residents.
Click here to view FoodCORE and FoodNet: Complementary Collaborations in Connecticut [1 page]
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From press release
The discovery of spawning Asian carp in the Wabash River shows the crisis is advancing on multiple fronts and demands aggressive and immediate action to deal with the Asian carp crisis, says a coalition of national and Great Lakes groups.
The carp were found downstream of a floodplain that separates the Wabash from the Maumee River and Lake Erie, near the city of Fort Wayne, Ind., according to recent press and congressional statements.
The discovery and acknowledgment of the finding by the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee comes a week after the committee announced a live Asian carp was found just 6 miles from Lake Michigan in Chicago’s Lake Calumet. The 3-foot-long, 20-pound sexually mature male was the first Asian carp found beyond the last locks protecting the Great Lakes, and miles beyond the electric barrier meant to keep the devastating fish out of the lakes.
The discovery of a spawning population of Asian carp in the Wabash River is of particular concern because of the possibility the Wabash could flood into the Maumee River in Indiana. The Maumee River flows to Lake Erie and is identified by carp specialists as an ideal habitat for Asian carp.
“There is a lack of coordination and transparency in the current system, and this current finding in the Wabash River highlights the breakdown in this system,” said Kristy Meyer, director of Agricultural & Clean Water Programs of the Ohio Environmental Council. “Lake Erie is well over a billion dollar fishing industry, and in Ohio, a $10.75 billion destination stop. Now, more than ever, the state and federal agencies must stop the finger-pointing and get their act together before these natural wonders become desolate carp ponds.”
The groups say the latest finding signals the immediate need for effective leadership on a crisis that has moved well beyond the control of the federal agencies tasked with handling it.
“We’re being outmaneuvered by a fish and can’t afford to play catch up,” said Joel Brammeier, president and CEO of the Alliance for the Great Lakes. “We need leadership to anticipate, align and activate on where the carp are going to be—not where they’ve already been.”
Andy Buchsbaum, regional executive director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes office, said: “The battle to protect the Great Lakes from the Asian carp is now being fought on multiple fronts, and we need a strategy that reflects that. The clock is ticking, and we need to get this process back on track. We have solutions. It’s high time we used them.”
The groups emphasized their support for legislation introduced June 30 by U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), and U.S. Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.). The bill calls on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expedite and complete a study within 18 months on the feasibility of permanently severing the Mississippi River and Great Lakes basins. The physical separation of the two major watersheds is seen as the only permanent solution to keeping Asian carp and other invasives from traveling between them.
“We applaud Sens. Stabenow and Durbin in calling for swift action to protect the Great Lakes from the threat of Asian carp,” said Max Muller, program director for Environment Illinois. “A physical barrier to prevent the spread of these invasive giants is imperative, and study on the best approach should begin immediately. We cannot afford any further delay if we are to avoid a nightmare scenario in the Great Lakes.”
Henry Henderson, Midwest director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said: “This new discovery shows just how quickly invasive species problems can spiral out of control. We now see direct threats to two of the Great Lakes. We cannot afford foot-dragging and confusion about the problem or the solutions. It is time for focused, determined action, which requires direct and firm engagement from the White House.”
Coalition members sent a letter to President Barack Obama June 29 calling on him to appoint a “federal incident commander” to oversee and coordinate the federal response to the carp crisis. The groups say the federal response has fallen far short of expectations and has had numerous costly missteps, among them:
→ The corps’ delay in starting a congressionally-ordered and funded separation study, originally authorized in 2007.
→ Failure to quickly and completely disclose environmental DNA evidence of Asian carp in Lake Michigan and the Chicago Waterway System, despite having collected data since summer 2009.
→ Suggesting that other invasive pathways, such as bait trade and intentional release, could be responsible for carp presence despite obvious evidence of wild populations.
→ Failure to develop a channel-by-channel plan for the Chicago Waterway System, where eDNA evidence has shown Asian carp to exist.
→ Questioning the science and veracity of eDNA evidence.
→ Failure to continue eDNA testing during June despite multiple positive hits in the Chicago Waterway System above the electric barrier in spring 2010. No eDNA monitoring is currently being conducted by the corps.
“Agencies aren’t finding the fires, let alone putting them out fast enough,” said Jennifer Nalbone, director of Navigation and Invasive Species for Great Lakes United. “We need Asian carp prevention elevated to the president now.”
Jill Ryan, executive director of Freshwater Future, agrees. “With so much at stake and the fish moving toward us on multiple fronts, now is the time for clear leadership to coordinate the efforts to track and stop these fish from establishing in the Great Lakes,” she said. “Our Great Lakes provide so much to our economies, our recreation and our way of life that we can’t let a lack of leadership allow these fish to win the day.”
John Goss, executive director of Indiana Wildlife Federation, said: “Indiana must take no chances that the Wabash River could provide an escape route for Asian carp, and appropriate steps must be taken soon.”
“This new discovery ups the ante,” said Glynnis Collins, executive director of Prairie Rivers Network. “We need an aggressive, thorough short-term response, while moving with urgency and purpose toward the only permanent solution to this crisis: physical separation of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River system.”
The coalition includes the Alliance for the Great Lakes, Environment Illinois, Freshwater Future, Great Lakes United, Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, Indiana Wildlife Federation, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Ohio Environmental Council, Prairie Rivers Network and Sierra Club.
Max Muller, program director for Environment Illinois, can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org.
From the July 7-13, 2010 issue | <urn:uuid:bb2fca74-f4a8-4f09-9be7-7a32efa86ede> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://rockrivertimes.com/2010/07/07/environment-illinois-asian-carp-spreading-threaten-to-outmaneuver-feds/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396147.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00163-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929102 | 1,431 | 2.625 | 3 |
May 1, 2009
A NASA spacecraft gliding over the surface of Mercury has revealed that the planet's atmosphere, the interaction of its surrounding magnetic field with the solar wind, and its geological past display greater levels of activity than scientists first suspected. The probe also discovered a previously unknown large impact basin about 430 miles (690 kilometers) in diameter - equal to the distance between Washington, D.C., and Boston.
The data come from the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging spacecraft, known as MESSENGER. On October 6, 2008, the probe flew by Mercury for the second time, capturing more than 1,200 high-resolution and color images of the planet. The probe unveiled another 30 percent of the planet's surface that previous spacecraft had never seen and gathered essential data for planning the remainder of the mission.
"This second Mercury flyby provided a number of new findings," said Sean Solomon, the probe's principal investigator from the Carnegie Institution of Washington. "One of the biggest surprises was how strongly the dynamics of the planet's magnetic field-solar wind interaction changed from what we saw during the first Mercury flyby in January 2008. The discovery of a large and unusually well-preserved impact basin shows concentrated volcanic and deformational activity."
The spacecraft also made the first detection of magnesium in Mercury's thin atmosphere, known as an exosphere. This observation and other data confirm that magnesium is an important part of Mercury's surface materials.
The probe's Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer instrument detected the magnesium. Finding magnesium was not surprising to scientists, but seeing it in the amounts and distribution observed was unexpected. The instrument also measured other exospheric constituents, including calcium and sodium.
"This is an example of the kind of individual discoveries that the science team will piece together to give us a new picture of how the planet formed and evolved," said William McClintock from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He suspects that additional metallic elements from the surface, including aluminum, iron, and silicon, also contribute to the exosphere.
The variability that the spacecraft observed in Mercury's magnetosphere - the volume of space dominated by the planet's magnetic field - so far supports the hypothesis that the great day-to-day changes in Mercury's atmosphere may be a result of changes in the shielding provided by the magnetosphere.
"The spacecraft observed a radically different magnetosphere at Mercury during its second flyby compared with its earlier January 14 encounter," said James Slavin from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "During the first flyby, important discoveries were made, but scientists didn't detect any dynamic features. The second flyby witnessed a totally different situation."
The spacecraft's discovery of the impact basin, called Rembrandt, is the first time scientists have seen terrain well-exposed on the floor of a large impact basin on Mercury. Volcanic flows usually completely bury landforms such as those revealed on the floor of Rembrandt.
"This basin formed about 3.9 billion years ago, near the end of the period of heavy bombardment of the inner solar system," said Thomas Watters from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. "Although ancient, the Rembrandt basin is younger than most other known impact basins on Mercury."
Half of Mercury was unknown until a little more than a year ago. Globes of the planet were blank on one side. Spacecraft images have enabled scientists to see 90 percent of the planet's surface at high resolution. The spacecraft's nearly global imaging coverage of the surface after the second flyby gives scientists fresh insight into how the planet's crust formed.
"After mapping the surface, we see that approximately 40 percent is covered by smooth plains," said Brett Denevi of Arizona State University in Tempe. "Many of these smooth plains are interpreted to be of volcanic origin, and they are globally distributed. Much of Mercury's crust may have formed through repeated volcanic eruptions in a manner more similar to the crust of Mars than to that of the Moon."
Scientists continue to examine data from the first two flybys and are preparing to gather more information from a third flyby of the planet September 29.
"The third Mercury flyby is our final dress rehearsal for the main performance of our mission, the insertion of the probe into orbit around Mercury in March 2011," said Solomon. "The orbital phase will be like staging two flybys per day and will provide the continuous collection of information about the planet and its environment for one year. Mercury has been coy in revealing its secrets slowly so far, but in less than 2 years the innermost planet will become a close friend." | <urn:uuid:803cacb7-4383-4055-b73d-64d2d124abe2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.astronomy.com/news/2009/05/messenger-spacecraft-reveals-a-dynamic-mercury | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394414.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00161-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949603 | 963 | 3.578125 | 4 |
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell William Blake
The following entry presents criticism of Blake's prophetic prose poem The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93). See also, Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion Criticism.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, started in 1790 but probably not completed until 1793, represents for many critics William Blake's finest achievement and certainly his most innovative work both thematically and stylistically. It not only broke with the past on many levels but was also an important first step in the articulation of Blake's philosophy and the creation of his new universe, both of which would be expanded in the writing that followed, particularly The First Book of Urizen (1794) and The Four Zoas (1796-1807?). The Marriage of Heaven and Hell defies easy interpretation just as it defies neat categorization as any one genre. Thus, commentary has focused as much on the structure of the text as on its influences and themes.
Blake had established himself as an author and engraver during the previous decade and had produced the treatises There Is No Natural Religion and All Religions Are One around 1788 using his unique method of illuminated printing. Songs of Innocence and The Book of Thel followed the next year. Although his time-consuming process of engraving, printing, and hand-coloring each copy produced texts of extraordinary beauty, circulation was necessarily limited, which prevented Blake from achieving either the reputation or the income level his work properly merited. His early association with Emanuel Swedenborg's New Church—the extent of which is still debated—provided one of the most important influences on The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Blake's disenchantment with the increasing rigidity of Swedenborg and his followers made them the primary targets for much of The Marriage's parody and satire. Meanwhile, his political philosophy took shape within a circle that included some of the leading radicals of the day, such as Joseph Priestley and Thomas Paine.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is a satiric attack on orthodoxy in general and on the Swedenborgians in particular, but it is also an extended description of the educational and developmental process by which the poet-prophet is created. In addition, it is a revolutionary prophecy, written against the historical backdrop of political upheaval in America and in France. The Marriage begins with a poem, "The Argument," in which Blake introduces his prophetic character Rintrah; it ends with another poem, "A Song of Liberty," in which Blake celebrates revolution and foresees a new age of political and religious freedom. Between these two poems is a series of prose doctrinal statements, each followed by a "Memorable Fancy," which comments on the preceding statement while parodying Swedenborg's "Memorable Relations" from the latter's Heaven and Hell. Throughout the work, Blake presents a series of contraries—Heaven and Hell, Good and Evil, Angel and Devil, Reason and Energy—but then appears to reverse the traditional values associated with each term, thus celebrating Energy, Evil, and even Satan himself. Most critics today reject such a reading as simplistic and insist that, rather than merely inverting the terms of the contraries, Blake was questioning both terms and exploring the limitations of each. The "Proverbs of Hell" section contains some of the most outrageous and most widely-quoted passages of the entire text, among them: "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom," "The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction," and "Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires."
The critical debate surrounding The Marriage of Heaven and Hell has been varied and heated over the last one hundred years and shows no sign of abating. Critics differ on the degree of irony Blake employed in some of his bolder statements, questioning when Blake is speaking ironically as the Devil and when he is speaking as himself. They disagree on whether Blake was an innovative revolutionary who mercilessly ridiculed dogmatic religion and rebelled against convention in both art and politics, or if he was merely one of many products of his revolutionary times.
Another area of intense critical debate involves the various influences on the author and, in turn, on the text. Swedenborg's Heaven and Hell is the most obvious source and target of The Marriage's satire and parody. Although Blake directs some barbs at Milton as well, critics seem to agree that their tone is one of gentle irony as opposed to the vicious ridicule he reserves for Swedenborg. Other critics have suggested the writings of Boehme and Paracelsus as inspirations for The Marriage, as well as Lavater's Aphorisms on Man, Spenser's The Faerie Queen, and Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. In terms of form, The Marriage has been called "structureless," but it has also been compared to "the A B A of the ternary form in music"; in this structure, the development of a first theme is followed by the development of a second theme. The work then returns to the first theme (or some variation of it). Others scholars have claimed that the poem draws on dialectic, on a well-established satiric tradition, on the elementary school primer, and on the chapbooks and political tracts of the time. Still other critics insist that it stands alone in its structure and that there has been nothing like it before or since.
SOURCE: "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell," in William Blake: A Critical Essay, John Camden Hotten, 1868, pp. 204-27.
[In the following excerpt, Swinburne ranks The Marriage of Heaven and Hell as Blake's greatest work]
In 1790 Blake produced the greatest of all his books; a work indeed which we rank as about the greatest produced by the eighteenth century in the line of high poetry and spiritual speculation. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell gives us the high-water mark of his intellect. None of his lyrical writings show the same sustained strength and radiance of mind; none of his other works in verse or prose give more than a hint here and a trace there of the same harmonious and humorous power, of the same choice of eloquent words, the same noble command and liberal music of thought; small things he could often do perfectly, and great things often imperfectly; here for once he has written a book as perfect as his most faultless song, as great as his most imperfect rhapsody. His fire of spirit fills it from end to end; but never deforms the body, never singes the surface of the work, as too often in the still noble books of his later life. Across the flicker of flame, under the roll and roar of water, which seem to flash and to resound throughout the poem, a stately music, shrill now as laughter and now again sonorous as a psalm, is audible through shifting notes and fitful metres of sound. The book swarms with heresies and eccentricities; every sentence bristles with some paradox, every page seethes with blind foam and surf of stormy doctrine; the humour is of that fierce grave sort, whose cool insanity of manner is more horrible and more obscure to the Philistine than any sharp edge of burlesque or glitter of irony; it is huge, swift, inexplicable; hardly laughable through its enormity of laughter, hardly significant through its condensation of meaning; but as true and thoughtful as the greatest humourist's. The variety and audacity of thoughts and words are incomparable: not less so their fervour and beauty. "No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings." This proverb might serve as motto to the book: it is one of many "Proverbs of Hell," as forcible and as finished.
It was part of Blake's humour to challenge misconception, conscious as he was of power to grapple with it: to blow dust in their eyes who were already sandblind, to strew thorns under their feet who were already lame. Those whom the book in its present shape would perplex and repel he knew it would not in any form have attracted; and how such readers may fare is no concern of such writers; nor in effect need it be. Aware that he must at best offend a little, he did not fear to offend much. To measure the exact space of safety, to lay down the precise limits of offence, was an office neither to his taste nor within his power. Those who try to clip or melt themselves down to the standard of current feeling, to sauce and spice their natural fruits of mind with such condiments as may take the palate of common opinion, deserve to disgust themselves and others alike. It is hopeless to reckon how far the timid, the perverse, or the malignant irrelevance of human remarks will go; to set bounds to the incompetence or devise landmarks for the imbecility of men. Blake's way was not the worst; to indulge his impulse to the full and write what fell to his hand, making sure at least of his own genius and natural instinct. In this his greatest book he has at once given himself freer play and set himself to harder labour than elsewhere: the two secrets of great work. Passion and humour are mixed in his writing like mist and light; whom the light may scorch or the mist confuse it is not his part to consider.
In the prologue Blake puts forth, not without grandeur if also with an admixture of rant and wind, a chief tenet of his moral creed. Once the ways of good and evil were clear, not yet confused by laws and religions; then humility and benevolence, the endurance of peril and the fruitful labour of love, were the just man's proper apanage; behind his feet the desert blossomed; by his toil and danger, by his sweat and blood, the desolate places were made rich and the dead bones clothed with flesh as the flesh of Adam. Now the hypocrite has come to reap the fruits, to divide and gather and eat; to drive forth the just man and to dwell in the paths which he found perilous and barren, but left safe and fertile. Churches have cast out apostles; creeds have rooted out faith. Henceforth anger and loneliness, the divine indignation of spiritual exile, the salt bread of scorn and the bitter wine of wrath, are the portion of the just man; he walks with lions in the waste places, not worth making fertile that others may reap and feed. "Rintrah," the spirit presiding over this period, is a spirit of fire and storm; darkness and famine, wrath and want, divide the kingdoms of the world. "Prisons are built with stones of Law; brothels with bricks of Religion." "As the caterpillar chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs on, so the priest lays his curse on the fairest joys." In a third proverb the view given of prayer is no less heretical; "As the plough follows words, so God rewards prayers." This was but the outcome or corollary of his main doctrine; as what we have called his "evangel of bodily liberty" was but the fruit of his belief in the identity of body with soul. The fear which restrains and the faith which refuses were things as ignoble as the hypocrisy which assumes or the humility which resigns. Veils and chains must be lifted and broken. "Folly is the cloak of knavery; shame is pride's cloak." Again; "He who desires but acts not breeds pestilence." "Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires." The doctrine of freedom could hardly run further or faster. Translated into rough practice, and planted in a less pure soil than that of the writer's mind, this philosophy might bring forth a strange harvest. Together with such width of moral pantheism as will hardly admit a "tender curb," leave "a little curtain of flesh on the bed of our desire," there is a vehemence of faith in divine wrath, in the excellence of righteous anger and revenge, to be outdone by no prophet or Puritan. "A dead body revenges not injuries." Sincerity and plain dealing at least are virtues not to be thrown over; Blake indeed could not conceive an impulse to mendacity, a tortuous habit of mind, a soul born crooked. This one quality of falsehood remains damnable in his sight, to be consumed with all that comes of it. In man or beast or any other part of God he found no native taint or birthmark of this. Upon all else the divine breath and the divine hand are sensible and visible.
The pride of the peacock is the glory of God;
The lust of the goat is the bounty of God;
The wrath of the lion is the wisdom of God;
The nakedness of woman is the work of God.
All form and all instinct is sacred; but no invention or device of man's. All crafts and creeds of theirs are "the serpent's meat:" and that a man should be born cruel and false is barely imaginable. "If the lion was advised by the fox he would be cunning." Such counsel was always wasted on the high clear spirit and stainless intellect of Blake.
We have given some of the most subtle and venturous "Proverbs of Hell"—samples of their depth of doctrine and plainness of speech. But even here Blake rarely indulges in such excess and exposure. There are jewels in this treasure-house neither set so roughly nor so sharply cut as these; they may be seen in the Life, taken out and reset, so as to offend no customer. And these sayings must themselves be read by the light of Blake's life and weighed against others of his words not less weighty than they. Apology shall now and always remain as far from us as it was in life from Blake himself; to excuse and to explain are different offices. To plead for his acquittal on the base and foolish ground that he meant no harm, knew not what he did, had no design or desire to afflict or offend, is no office for his counsel; who must strive at least to speak not less frankly and clearly than did Blake when he could speak in his own cause. Neither have we to approve or condemn; but only to endeavour that we may see the right and deliver the truth as to this man and his life. "That I cannot live," he says, in the Butts correspondence, "without doing my duty to lay up treasures in heaven, is certain and determined, and to this I have long made up may mind. And why this should be made an objection to me, while drunkenness, lewdness, gluttony, and even idleness itself does not hurt other men, let Satan himself explain. The thing I have most at heart—more than life, or all that seems to make life comfortable without (it)—is the interest of true religion and science." His one fear is to "omit any duty to my station as a soldier of Christ;" a fear that "gives him the greatest torments;" for "if our footsteps slide in clay, how can we do otherwise than fear and tremble?" And such books as these were part of his spiritual taskwork. From whencesoever the inspiration of them came, inspiration it was and no invention. He is content with that knowledge; and if it please the hearer to call it diabolic, diabolic it shall be. If he has a devil, he will make the most and the best of him. If these things come from hell, let us look to it and hold them fast, that we may see what it is that divides hell from heaven.
As a new heaven is begun, and it is now thirty-three years since its advent: the Eternal Hell revives. And lo! Swedenborg is the Angel sitting at the tomb: his writings are the linen clothes folded up. Now is the dominion of Eden, and the return of Adam into Paradise; see .
Without Contraries is no progression. Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human existence.
From these Contraries spring what the religious call Good and Evil. Good is the passive that obeys Reason.
Evil is the active springing from Energy.
Good is Heaven. Evil is Hell.
THE VOICE OF THE DEVIL.
All Bibles or sacred codes have been the causes of the following Errors.
- That man has two real existing principles—viz., a Body and a Soul.
- That Energy, called Evil, is alone from the Body; and that Reason, called Good, is alone from the Soul.
- That God will torment Man in Eternity for following his Energies.
But the following contraries to these are True.
- Man has no Body distinct from his Soul, for that called Body is a portion of Soul discerned by the five Senses, the chief inlets of Soul in this age.
- Energy is the only life, and is from the Body; and Reason is the bound or outward circumference of Energy.
- Energy is Eternal Delight.
Those who restrain desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained; and the restrainer, or reason, usurps its place and governs the unwilling.
And being restrained it by degrees becomes passive, till it is only the shadow of desire.
The history of this is written in Paradise Lost, and the Governor, or Reason, is called Messiah.
And the original Archangel, or possessor of the command of the heavenly host, is called the Devil or Satan, and his children are called Sin and Death.
But in the Book of Job Milton's Messiah is called Satan.
For this history has been adopted by both parties.
It indeed appeared to Reason as if Desire was cast out; but the Devil's account is, that the Messiah fell, and formed a heaven of what he stole from the Abyss.
This is shewn in the Gospel, where he prays to the Father to send the comforter or Desire, that Reason may have Ideas to build on, the Jehovah of the Bible being no other than he who dwells in flaming fire. Know that after Christ's death, he became Jehovah.
But in Milton the Father is Destiny, the Son a Ratio of the five Senses, and the Holy Ghost, Vacuum.
NOTE.—The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels and God, and at liberty when of Devils and Hell, is because he was a true Poet, and of the Devil's party without knowing it.
Something of these high matters we have seen before, and should now be able to allow for the subtle intricate fashion in which Blake labours to invert the weapons of his antagonists upon themselves. Neither can the banns of marriage be published between heaven and hell with the voice of a parish clerk. This prophet came to do what Swedenborg his precursor had left undone, being but the watchman by the empty sepulchre, and his writings as the grave-clothes cast off by the risen Christ. Blake's estimate of Swedenborg, right or wrong, was, as we shall see, distinct and consistent; to this effect; that his inspiration was limited and timid, superficial and derivative; that he was content with leaves and husks, and had not the courage to examine the root and the kernel of things; that he clove to the heaven and shrank from the hell of other men; whereas, to men in whom "a new heaven is begun," the one must not be terrible nor the other desirable. To them the "flaming fire" wherein dwells a God whom men call devil, must seem a purer element of life than the starry and cloudy space wherein dwells a devil whom they call God. It must be remembered that Blake uses the current terms of religion, now as types of his own peculiar faith, now in the sense of ordinary preachers: impugning therefore at one time what at another he will seem to vindicate. Vague and violent as this overture may appear, it must be followed with care, that the writer's intensity of spiritual faith may be hereafter kept in sight. The senses, "the chief inlets of soul in this age" of brute doubt and brute belief, are worthy only as parts of the soul. This, it cannot be too much repeated and insisted on, this and no prurience of porcine appetite for rotten apples, no vulgarity of porcine adoration for unctuous wash, is what lies at the root of Blake's sensual doctrine. Let no reader now or ever forget, that while others will admit nothing beyond the body, the mystic will admit nothing outside the soul. That the two extremes, if reduced to hard practice, might run round and meet, not without lamentably curious consequences, those may assert who will; it is none of our business to decide. Even granting that the result will be about equivalent if one man does for his soul's sake all that another would do for his body's sake, we might plead that the difference of thought and eye between these two would remain great and important. Indulgence bracketed to faith and vivified by that vigorous contact with things divine is not (we might say) the same, whether seen from the actual side of life or from the speculative, as indulgence cut loose and left to decompose. But these pleas we will leave the mystic to advance, if it please him, on his own behalf.
A MEMORABLE FANCY.
As I was walking among the fires of hell, delighted with the enjoyments of Genius, which to Angels look like torment and insanity, I collected some of their Proverbs: thinking that as the sayings used in a nation mark its character, so the Proverbs of Hell show the nature of the Infernal wisdom better than any description of buildings or garments. When I came home, on the abyss of the five senses, where a flat-sided steep frowns over the present world, I saw a mighty Devil folded in black clouds, hovering on the sides of the rock; with corroding fires he wrote the following sentence, now perceived by the minds of men, and read by them on earth:—
'How do you know but ev'ry Bird that cuts the airy way
Is an immense world of delight, clos'd by your senses five?'
Here follow the "Proverbs of Hell," which give us the quintessence and the most fine gold of Blake's alembic. Each, whether earnest or satirical, slight or great in manner, is full of that passionate wisdom and bright rapid strength proper to the step and speech of gods. The simplest give us a measure of his energy, as this:—"Think in the morning, act in the noon, eat in the evening, sleep in the night." The highest have a light and resonance about them, as though in effect from above or beneath; a spirit which lifts thought upon the high levels of verse.
From the ensuing divisions of the book we shall give full extracts; for these detached sections have a grace and coherence which we shall not always find in Blake; and the crude excerpts given in the Life are inadequate to help the reader much towards a clear comprehension of the main scheme.
The ancient Poets animated all sensible objects with Gods or Geniuses, calling them by the names and adorning them with the properties of woods, rivers, mountains, lakes, cities, nations, and whatever their enlarged and numerous senses could perceive.
And, particularly, they studied the genius of each city and country, placing it under its mental deity.
Till a system was formed, which some took advantage of and enslaved the vulgar by attempting to realize or abstract the mental deities from their objects: thus began Priesthood,
Choosing forms of worship from poetic tales;
And at length they pronounced that the Gods had ordered such things.
Thus men forgot that All deities reside in the human breast.
From this we pass to higher tones of exposition. The next passage is one of the clearest and keenest in the book, full of faith and sacred humour, none the less sincere for its dramatic form. The subtle simplicity of expression is excellently subservient to the intricate force of thought.
A MEMORABLE FANCY.
The Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel dined with me, and I asked them how they dared so roundly to assert that God spoke to them; and whether they did not think at the time that they would be misunderstood, and so be the cause of imposition.
Isaiah answered, 'Ί saw no God, nor heard any, in a finite or organical perception; but my senses discovered the infinite in everything, and as I was then persuaded, I remain confirmed, that the voice of honest indignation is the voice of God. I cared not for consequences, but wrote.'
Then I asked, 'Does a firm persuasion that a thing is so, make it so?'
He replied, 'All poets believe that it does, and in ages of imagination this firm persuasion removed mountains. But many are not capable of a firm persuasion of anything.'
Then Ezekiel said, 'The philosophy of the East taught the first principles of human perception. Some nations held one principle for the origin and some another. We of Israel taught that the Poetic Genius (as you now call it) was the first principle, and all the others merely derivative, which was the cause of our despising the Priests and Philosophers of other countries, and prophesying that all Gods would at last be proved to originate in ours, and to be the tributaries of the Poetic Genius. It was this that our great poet King David desired so fervently and invokes so pathetically, saying by this he conquers enemies and governs kingdoms; and we so loved our God, that we cursed in his name all the deities of surrounding nations, and asserted that they had rebelled; from these opinions the vulgar came to think that all nations would at last be subject to the Jews.
'This,' said he, 'like all firm persuasions, is come to pass, for all nations believe the Jews' code and worship the Jews' God, and what greater subjection can be?'
I heard this with some wonder, and must confess my own conviction. After dinner, I asked Isaiah to favour the world with his lost works. He said none of equal value was lost.
Ezekiel said the same of his....
(The entire section is 8396 words.)
SOURCE: "The Thief of Fire," in Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake, Princeton University Press, 1947, pp. 194-201.
[In this excerpt, Frye describes The Marriage of Heaven and Hell as a work that both participates in and departs from the tradition of English satire associated with Swift, Sterne, and others.]
The central idea of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, to put it crudely, is that the unrest which has produced the French and American revolutions indicates that the end of the world might come at any time. The end of the world, the apocalypse, is the objective counterpart of the resurrection of man, his return to the titanic bodily form...
(The entire section is 3391 words.)
SOURCE: An introduction to The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake, University of Miami Press, 1963, pp. 8-31.
[In this excerpt Emery finds The Marriage of Heaven and Hell chaotic in form yet full of energy and an important first step in the creation of Blake's universe.]
Blake had not yet created his new universe when, in 1790 (or thereabouts—its date is not certain), he set about his Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Yet, insofar as the work represents an ordering of a chaos of ideas and a firm statement of a position never afterward to be negated, it is an important initial step toward that creation. It is, as it were, a...
(The entire section is 7912 words.)
SOURCE: "An Audience for The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,'' in Blake Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1, Fall, 1970, pp. 19-51.
[In this essay Howard claims that The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is not addressed to the orthodox in general, but rather very specifically to the members of the New Jerusalem Church and the Joseph Johnson circle.]
Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell pleases critics for its "blistering ridicule of the wisdom that dwells with prudence, with its rowdy guffaws at the doctrines of torturing hell and a boring heaven,"1 and it has been shown by scholars that the...
(The entire section is 14419 words.)
SOURCE: "Bible of Energy: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell," in The Visionary Company: A Reading of English Romantic Poetry, Cornell University Press, 1971, pp. 64-70.
[In the following excerpt, Bloom situates The Marriage of Heaven and Hell in the historical context of revolution both in America and in France during an age fearful of the energy that Blake celebrates.]
As The Book of Isaiah gathers to its judging climax, a red figure comes out of Edom, moving in the greatness of his strength. His garments are like those of one who treads in the wine vat, the day of vengeance is in his heart, and the year of his redeemed is come. This apocalyptic figure is...
(The entire section is 2589 words.)
SOURCE: "Dialectic of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell," in William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Chelsea House Publishers, 1987, pp. 49-56.
[In this seminal essay on the contraries, originally published in 1971, Bloom contends that The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is dialectical in both form and content.]
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell assaults what Blake termed a "cloven fiction" between empirical and a priori procedure in argument. In content, the Marriage compounds ethical and theological "contraries"; in form it mocks the categorical techniques that seek to make the contraries appear as "negations." The...
(The entire section is 3142 words.)
SOURCE: "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell," in William Blake, Hutchinson University Library, 1975, pp. 70-84.
[In the following excerpt Nurmi focuses on The Marriage of Heaven and Hell as a philosophical manifesto that goes considerably beyond mere satire.]
During the time Blake was producing Songs of Experience, he was also writing and etching a work of a very different kind, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, begun, as indicated in a chronological reference in the text, in 1790 but not completed until 1792 or 1793. It is a strange work, a kind of philosophical manifesto, partly in satiric form, affirming the polar nature of...
(The entire section is 6184 words.)
SOURCE: "Milton as a Revolutionary," in Angel of Apocalypse: Blake's Idea of Milton, The University of Wisconsin Press, 1975, pp. 188-219.
[In the excerpt below, Wittreich treats The Marriage of Heaven and Hell not as satire, but as prophecy.]
"The prophetic poet," Angus Fletcher has written, "is uniquely sure of himself, and this he shows by allowing his utterance to be enigmatic and obscure on its surface, knowing that the immediate surface of the riddle is supported by an underlying clarity."101 Since the time of Alexander Gilchrist, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell has received special acclaim...
(The entire section is 14143 words.)
SOURCE: "Blake's News from Hell: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell and the Lucianic Tradition," in ELH, Vol. 43, No. 1, Spring, 1976, pp. 74-99.
[In this essay Tannenbaum examines The Marriage of Heaven and Hell less as polemic than as satire, situating it firmly in the Lucianic or "News from Hell" tradition.]
Yet what can satire, whether grave or gay?
It may correct a foible, may chastise
The freaks of fashion, regulate the dress,
Retrench a sword-blade, or displace a patch;
But where are its sublimer trophies found?
What vice has it subdu'd? whose heart reclaim'd
(The entire section is 11167 words.)
SOURCE: "Roads of Excess," in William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Chelsea House Publishers, 1987, pp. 103-17.
[In this essay, originally published in 1985, Gleckner studies The Marriage's allusions to Spenser and Milton to determine when Blake is speaking ironically and when he is speaking "in his own voice. "]
Frye's fine essay entitled "The Road of Excess" was succeeded a year later by Martin Price's book To the Palace of Wisdom. Although the latter does not refer to the former, both titles come from one of Blake's famous Proverbs of Hell in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom."...
(The entire section is 6072 words.)
SOURCE: "Contrary Revelation: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell," in Studies in Romanticism, Vol. 24, No. 4, Winter, 1985, pp. 491-509.
[In this essay, Miller questions the critical assessment of The Marriage as a revolutionary document, suggesting instead that it is far more paradoxical than the usual manifesto.]
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell holds a special place in the Blake canon. It marks the transition from the early works, in which Blake's poetic vision is articulated primarily in single lyrics or groups of lyrics, to the prophecies, where that vision assumes narrative and systematic form. A convenient point of entry to the later...
(The entire section is 8414 words.)
SOURCE: "The Context of Blakean Contraries in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell," in Essays in Literature, Vol. 21, No. 1, Spring, 1994, pp. 43-53.
[In this essay Stewart challenges the usual interpretations of the term "marriage" and explores the importance of the ideas of Behmen (Boehme) as a source for The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.]
One of the most problematical aspects of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is the term "marriage." How are we to interpret it? In the biblical context of two becoming one flesh,1 or in the more modern context of two joined in equal harmony? The statement "Without Contraries is no progression....
(The entire section is 5710 words.)
Bloom, Harold. Blake's Apocalypse: A Study in Poetic Argument. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1963, 454 p.
Explores The Marriage of Heaven and Hell as a satiric response to the writings of Swedenborg.
Butler, Marilyn. "Art for the People in the Revolutionary Decade: Blake, Gillray and Wordsworth." In Romantics, Rebels and Reactionaries, pp. 39-68. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981.
Looks at Blake's commercial success in the first half of the 1790s and his subsequent decline in popularity as his radicalism caused him to fall out of step with the mainstream.
(The entire section is 831 words.) | <urn:uuid:474792ba-34b0-40b7-a458-9310fb87a3b1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.enotes.com/topics/marriage-heaven-hell/critical-essays | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00020-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96489 | 7,333 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Unique Borneo trip aims to protect little known Sun Bear
The label reads, "Please look after this bear. Thank you." It worked for Paddington but can it work for the Sun Bear of Borneo?
You may not have heard of the Sun Bear. They are the smallest of all species of bear, they like to live in trees, and yes, they do eat honey. Their existence is being threatened by loss of habitat through deforestation, poaching and uses in Asian medicine. So, some people in Borneo have said enough is enough. In 2008, the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC) was born. In August 2012, Kevin Albin who runs a trekking and expedition company, Let Loose with Adventure, will be leading a group to work at the Centre to continue this work.
The Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre was created by a group of people who wanted to help the bears including Siew Te Wong who has been studying them for a number of years. The Centre aims to provide care, rehabilitation and release of orphaned and captive sun bears as well as addressing the lack of knowledge and awareness. They are getting ready to open to the public by building public access into the forest such as walk ways and observation platforms.
Kevin Albin received the Bronze in the World Guide Awards in 2011 and will be donating his winning bursary to the project. "This is a great opportunity to help a little known and very cute bear," said Kevin who is looking for people to join him. Those working at the sanctuary will have a 'behind the scenes' opportunity to see the bears, their care, feeding and play time. Participants will undergo jungle training as the work is in the rainforest and visit the orang-utans who have a sanctuary next door. The fifteen-day trip will finish with a light aircraft flight into remote forest and a trek to a village of the Kelabit tribe.
For more information, visit letloosewithadventure.com. | <urn:uuid:9ab07bba-9efc-4e5d-8992-c135285e1e99> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.easier.com/98270-borneo-trip-sun-bear.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00166-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977495 | 412 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Collapse of the corals, which was due to agricultural run-off, was first noted between the 1920s and 1950s. According to New Scientist
, strong storms can damage and kill the corals, but the nutrients from the run-off allows seaweed to move into the corals, preventing coral from regenerating.
University of Queensland scientist, Dr George Roff, told EScience News
"Corals have always died from natural events such as floods and cyclones, but historically have shown rapid recovery following disturbance. [Studies] suggest that the chronic influence of European settlement on the Queensland coastline may have reduced the corals ability to bounce back from these natural disturbances."
Scientist began observing and studying the coral again in the 1980's. A group of University of Queensland researchers began drilling sediment cores, 6.5 to 16.5 feet long, from the seafloor at Pelorus Island. They were able to reconstruct the history of the reef and found that the same deterioration and collapse which had occurred previously is happening again. Since 1985, nearly half of the previously observed coral has vanished. Researchers believe that rate is likely continue if immediate countermeasures are not put into place.
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill marine biology professor, John Bruno, told ZME Science
“In 2007, we first sounded the alarm that the Great Barrier Reef, and Pacific reefs in general, were not as pristine and resilient as a lot of people wanted to believe. But still, this is really shocking to me.”
The recent study, which was conducted by the Australian Institute of Marine Science
(AIMS) and the University of Wollongong, showed that the Great Barrier Reef has lost half its coral cover over the last 27 years. The majority of the coral loss is in more shallow waters. The study showed that coral at depths of 30 meters or more remains relatively healthy.
Pim Bongaerts, a University of Queensland professor, told CNN
"We have found their deep reef zone is hardly disturbed at all. In fact the most striking thing is the abundance of coral on the deep reef. What has blown me away is to see that even 70 to 80 meters down, there are significant coral populations." | <urn:uuid:7c0bff84-cb9a-4523-910a-33eeb0d1118b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/336462 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397748.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00190-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974985 | 454 | 3.734375 | 4 |
- freely available
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2012, 9(12), 4346-4364; doi:10.3390/ijerph9124346
Abstract: The gravity models are commonly used spatial interaction models. They have been widely applied in a large set of domains dealing with interactions amongst spatial entities. The spread of vector-borne diseases is also related to the intensity of interaction between spatial entities, namely, the physical habitat of pathogens’ vectors and/or hosts, and urban areas, thus humans. This study implements the concept behind gravity models in the spatial spread of two vector-borne diseases, nephropathia epidemica and Lyme borreliosis, based on current knowledge on the transmission mechanism of these diseases. Two sources of information on vegetated systems were tested: the CORINE land cover map and MODIS NDVI. The size of vegetated areas near urban centers and a local indicator of occupation-related exposure were found significant predictors of disease risk. Both the land cover map and the space-borne dataset were suited yet not equivalent input sources to locate and measure vegetated areas of importance for disease spread. The overall results point at the compatibility of the gravity model concept and the spatial spread of vector-borne diseases.
The observed spatio-temporal patterns of vector-borne diseases (VBD) are the response to a wide variety of factors, notably those affecting the ecology of vectors, hosts and pathogens, impacting their demography and the species balance of ecosystems and shaping human exposure to pathogens.
The spatial nature of VBD risk factors has encouraged the use and development of spatial analysis tools to deepen the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of disease spread, to elaborate prevention and/or action plans and to detect changes in spatial spread of disease. The latter aspect is one of special relevance as climate change may induce expansion and/or translocation of disease epidemic foci. In this respect, both, vector/host habitats and human settlements can be conceived as spatial entities interacting with one another in the context of a given landscape configuration. Hence, spatial notions of common use in landscape ecology like distance, contiguity, cover fraction, etc. are applicable in disease modelling when the focus is laid on ecosystems hosting disease vectors and their relation to human settlements.
Therefore, modelling the spatial spread of VBD where the involved organisms have a well-defined habitat should be supported by existing techniques of spatial interaction analysis. This study presents the implementation of a spatial interaction model that aims at relating VBD risk to the location of vector/host habitat with respect to urban areas. The chosen modelling framework is the gravity model (GM) which, despite being the most widely used spatial interaction model , has not been tested in modelling VBD.
The implementation of the GM was made on the spatial spread of nephropathia epidemica (NE) and Lyme borreliosis (LB) in Belgium. Both diseases have gained much attention in recent years as abnormally high incidences have been reported in Belgium and other European countries [2,3]. The causal agent of NE is the Puumala virus (PUUV) hosted by the bank vole Myodes glareolus. LB is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, transmitted to humans during blood meals of the tick Ixodes ricinus.
Based on current knowledge on NE and LB transmission mechanisms, this study aims at testing the suitability of the GM concept in modelling the spatial spread of these vector-borne diseases. The study responds to the growing need of innovating methods and datasets in VDB surveillance in a period of marked alterations in the usual pattern of VBD .
2. NE and LB in Belgium
LB and NE are zoonotic diseases resulting from two different but related transmission mechanisms. The bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi is the causal agent of LB and Puumala virus (PUUV) causes NE, a mild form of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. The pathways of both pathogens converge in the vegetative system that hosts their reservoirs.
The specific vector of PUUV in Western Europe, the bank vole (Myodes glareolus), is a native rodent species in temperate forests. B. burgdorferi is transmitted to humans by means of bites by ticks of the genus Ixodes. Besides its prominent role in the transmission of PUUV, the bank vole is known to be an important reservoir in the transmission chain of B. burgdorferi, especially during the ticks’ larval and nymphal stadia. Other vertebrates like rodents, deer, hedgehogs and birds as well as vegetation characteristics are part of a complex system that influences the interaction between infected ticks and humans.
Belgium is a Western European country with temperate climate, a warm summer and no dry season . Many vegetated areas in the country provide the environmental conditions to be the habitat of vector and host organisms for PUUV hantavirus and B. burgdorferi. The vegetated areas as well as the country’s population density are heterogeneously distributed throughout the country.
Public awareness and scientific interest concerning LB and NE have risen in recent years as consequence of a notable increase in the number of reported pathological cases and the higher frequency of observed outbreaks [2,7,8,9]. Figure 1, based on reports by the Belgian Scientific Institute of Public Health (IPH) , illustrates that the NE and LB reported cases manifest remarkable differences across the temporal dimension and that important outbreaks are observable for both diseases. It will be shown further on that the reported cases are not randomly distributed. While the incidence of NE is larger in the southern part of the country, the number of LB cases is much larger in northern Belgium.
3.1. The Gravity Model
GM is the most widely used formulation of spatial interaction analysis and is applied in an extensive range of study fields. The denomination of the GM is owed to its resemblance to Newton’s law of universal gravitation. In its generic form, the GM states that the attraction force aij between two entities i and j is directly proportional to their masses, mi and mj and inversely proportional to the squared distance separating them, dij, as presented in Equation 1 .
Analogies to this concept have been proposed for applications in domains like trade modelling, transportation networks, migration flows, biodiversity monitoring , plant diseases , etc. Several applications are related to human health issues like access to primary health services , exposure to pollutants and, in epidemiology, the spread of diseases like measles , influenza [17,18], cholera or Hodgkin’s lymphoma .
The implementation we tested in this study aimed at modelling the disease risk at municipal level, expressed as number of cases per 10,000 inhabitants. The hypothesis behind this implementation is that disease risk is primarily driven by the intensity of interaction between humans and vegetated systems functioning as habitats for NE and LB vectors and hosts. The choice of a spatial interaction model for this analysis, and GM in particular, results from conceiving urban areas and vegetated areas as spatial entities; thereby, acknowledging the importance of the location of these entities with respect to one another.
The formulation of the GM tested in this study is presented in Equation 2.
Several studies have shown the importance of the location of residential areas with respect to forests as risk factor [21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28]. The distance separating urban settlements and forests is also a determinant of the flow of visitors to green areas for recreational purposes .
The surface covered by vegetative systems is also an important determinant of the magnitude of disease risk and incidence . Besides the ecological effects related to the size and degree of fragmentation of ecosystems, these attributes of vegetated areas affect the kind and intensity of interaction humans have with them. For instance, the size of vegetated areas is an important determinant of the attraction value of green areas .
Accounting for human activities and their relation to disease risk is a complex matter and no single model element is able to represent this complexity. Nonetheless, it is known that certain occupational groups are highly exposed to tick-bites and/or rodent-borne pathogens. Case-control studies report that foresters, hunters, farmers, amongst other professions, present specially high disease risk as consequence of intensive interaction with the habitat of vector organisms [33,34,35,36]. The connection between occupation and disease risk supports the consideration of the variable F in the model as proxy of the exposure to NE and LB pathogens linked to professional activities, as it represents the share of activities like forester, hunter or ranger in the economic structure of the municip
The estimation of the gravity model parameters was conducted on the log-transformed form of Equation 2, as shown in Equation 3 (same symbology as in Equation 2), by using a generalized linear model (GLM). A binomial distribution was used to model the variability of the number of cases in a cohort composed by the population in risk per municipality. This value is expressed as f(R) in Equation 3. The link function was the natural logarithm.
Opting for GLM to estimate the parameters of Equation 3 implies that the error distribution is not expected to follow a normal distribution, which is likely the case when modelling rate quantities . Details on the estimation of the covariates in Equation 3 are presented in the remainder of this section. Section 3.2 deals with the criteria and methods to estimate the response variable R. Section 3.3 and Section 3.4 are devoted to describe the criteria and data sources for estimating the area and location of vegetative systems V and population related aspects (P and F ), respectively.
3.2. Disease Risk Estimator
Epidemiological records provided by the Belgian Institute of Public Health (IPH) were processed in order to compute values of disease risk. These estimations of risk were used as dependent variable when fitting the model. Various disease risk estimators exist, several of them being based on Bayesian statistics. We followed the method proposed by Marshall to compute a local Empirical Bayesian Estimator of risk (EBE).
The selection of a Marshall’s local estimator to assess risk dynamics in NE and LB is justified by the spatial nature of the triggering factors of disease outbreaks; i.e., it is very likely that large variations in terms of risk are present across the country and that neighboring municipalities exhibit similar risk conditions as risk will be greatly influenced by spatially meaningful factors (e.g., landscape aspects, forest characteristics, etc.).
The neighborhood relations among municipalities was established by following a First Order Queen contiguity criterion, i.e., two municipalities were considered neighbors when their borders shared at least one point.
Marshall’s algorithm is represented by the following expression :
The estimation of person-years at risk ni in Equation (4) was based on demographic data per municipality concerning the number of inhabitants per age and sex classes obtained from official statistical data sources [6,38] and on the breakdown of reported cases per age and sex class provided by the IPH . The value of ni resulted from a weighted summation in which weights were assigned in function of the contribution of each sex and age class to the overall number of reported cases.
EBE values were computed for NE and LB for all municipalities. The estimation of model parameters was done on a sample of 10% of the municipalities. The sample municipalities were chosen such that the whole range of variability of EBE values was represented. The adequacy of the model was tested then against the totality of municipalities.
3.3. Area and Location of Vegetative Systems
Many studies inform on the habitat preferences of the organisms involved in the NE and LB transmission mechanisms. For both diseases the forested areas, and particularly the broad-leaved forests, are the most notorious landscape feature associated to disease risk [30,33]. The set of land cover classes inducing high incidence of LB is larger as more organisms are involved in LB transmission mechanism and ticks are found in a wide range of environment conditions like heathland, coniferous forests, urban green areas, etc. .
Information on location and area of vegetated systems can be extracted from land cover maps or remotely sensed datasets. In this study we evaluated both and generated various vegetation maps that were tested as input in the model. Each of these tests is further referred to as a modeling formulation.
The CORINE land cover (CLC) map was chosen in virtue of its Europe-wide scope in terms of coverage and methodology. The CLC map considers three forest types, broad-leaved, mixed and coniferous, as well as other vegetation classes of relevance for the organisms involved in NE and LB. Each forest type was tested individually as well as combinations of forest types reported to influence NE and/or LB occurrence . In all cases, the vegetation maps included also the following classes: natural grasslands, moors and heath-lands and transitional woodland-shrub, as these may host ticks and rodents as well. This resulted in six binary vegetation maps presented in Figure 2.
As for remotely sensed datasets, we utilized the most commonly used vegetation index obtained from space-borne observations: the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). The NDVI is computed by normalizing the difference between reflectance values in two regions of the electromagnetic spectrum captured by space-borne sensors and sensitive to vegetation activity. The NDVI is built as:
The three dates indicated in Figure 3 correspond to the weeks 15, 25 and 35 and can roughly be associated to the green-up, climax and declining phases of the vegetation growing season. As illustrated in Figure 3, the first date marks, for both diseases, the beginning of the period of highest occurrence. Around week 25 the highest occurrence of NE has been reached and LB cases show an increasing trend that reaches a maximum around week 35.
On the basis of the NDVI values, binary maps were produced separating areas below and above a critical value. The evaluated NDVI critical values range from 0.6 to 0.9 representing increasing levels of vegetation greenness and abundance. The binary maps showing areas above and below the critical values are presented in Figure 4.
3.4. Human Population
The location of urban centres was determined using the CLC map; particularly, the classes labelled as continuous and discontinuous urban fabric . Mapping the urban areas allowed the computation of Euclidean distances separating these areas and the vegetated areas located within a defined maximum distance. The maximum distance was set to 20 km, as this threshold exceeds the distance reported by previous studies as determinant for attracting visitors to forests [29,42] or for probable contact with disease vectors [22,28].
The allocation of population at risk for each urban centre was made by disaggregating the estimated population at risk per municipality (Section 3.2) over the urban centres in proportion to their area size.
In order to account for the elevated exposure to pathogens associated to certain professional activities [33,34,35,36], the fraction of companies (F) devoted to crop and animal production, hunting and related services and forestry and logging was tested as covariate in the model. The value of F is meant to be a proxy for exposure related to professional activities at municipal level. It was derived from national statistics per type of economic activity according to the NACE-BEL classification system .
The methodological approach presented in the preceding sections is summarized schematically in Figure 5. The four frames shown in Figure 5 represent the major methodological phases. The first frame refers to the derivation of risk patterns from epidemiological records, the adjacency connections among municipalities and the spatial distribution of population. The second frame shows the criteria and data sources used for the generation of vegetation maps, and the third and fourth frames are related to aspects of the human population that may affect disease risk. The last step in the scheme of Figure 5 refers to the goodness of fit assessment in which the different modeling formulations were compared. The comparison criterion was the Akaike information criterion (AIC) and the estimation of spatial autocorrelation of residuals by means of the Moran’s I parameter .
4.1. Disease Risk
The computation of EBE values revealed heterogeneity in risk grade for both diseases across the country. Figure 6 shows map representation of these values. These maps indicate that for NE, southern Belgium is the most important risk area, especially the region along the Franco-Belgian border. The NE risk grade seems to diminish as one moves in the north-east direction departing from the area of highest risk. The infection risk for LB is spread over a larger part of the country being the most remarkable areas the Walloon region (southern Belgium), including the area where the highest infection risk of NE is located; and northeastern Belgium. The values depicted in Figure 6 were used as reference values when estimating model parameters and when evaluating the models’ goodness of fit.
The spatial distribution of disease risk shown in Figure 6 was the basis for the selection of municipalities to be sampled. As stated earlier, the main criterion to select municipalities was the representativeness of the whole range of disease risk grades for both diseases. The area covered by the sampled municipalities is presented in the map in Figure 7.
4.2. Model Selection
The plots in Figure 8 show the Akaike information criterion (AIC) for each of the tested modelling formulations. Following the criterion of selecting the lowest AIC values, Figure 8 (A and C) shows that obtaining vegetation maps from NDVI values at week 25 leads to more adequate modelling formulations than NDVI at weeks 15 or 35. Moreover, these plots suggest that the spatial spread of NE and LB can be associated to areas with, respectively, NDVI ≥ 0.9 and NDVI ≥ 0.85 in the period of full vegetation development.
Figure 8(B and D) shows, for NE and LB respectively, the AIC values of the GM when the vegetation maps were derived from the CLC map. The best modelling formulations were obtained when using the broad-leaved forest class for NE and the combination of all forest classes for LB. These results are in accordance with other studies referring that broad-leaved forests is the most important landscape feature related to NE and that the spatial spread of LB is associated to a larger gamma of land cover classes [30,33].
The model formulations with the lowest AIC were selected for further analysis. Non-significant predictors were removed from the models (significance as ρ < 0.001) and model parameters were recalculated where applicable. The final GM equations as well as map representations of the modelled EBE values and the model residuals are presented in Figure 9.
A visual inspection of the maps in Figure 9 suggest the suitability of the models to segment the country into sub-areas in function of disease risk. The most notorious homogeneous risk zones, represented in the reference maps of Figure 6, are identifiable also in the modelled EBE maps and the residuals across the largest part of the country are smaller than 1 standard deviation. The map of residuals also showed that areas with the largest residuals were commonly located in areas of high disease risk, i.e., the model succeeded in locating the high risk areas but there, the modelled EBE value is lower than the reference value.
The root mean squared deviance (RMSD), also indicated in Figure 9, reflected a better fit of the GM for modelling NE with vegetation maps derived from MODIS NDVI as compared with the utilization of the CLC map. In either case, the RMSD is not larger than the standard deviation of EBE values across the country. The Moran’s I value indicated a higher degree of spatial autocorrelation in the former model, which means a more clustered pattern in the spatial distribution of residuals. As for LB, the RMSD in both formulations is practically the same and does not exceed the value of standard deviation either. As was the case for NE, the most important difference in the LB model formulation lies in the spatial autocorrelation of residuals.
The results presented in the previous section verified the adequacy of the concept behind the GM for applications in spatial epidemiology. The suitability of the GM concept is based on the fact that the two diseases under study have a twofold connection with vegetated systems. Firstly, they are the habitat of vectors and other organisms, hence the importance of mapping and measuring vegetation systems. Secondly, human exposure to vector-borne pathogens is greatly determined by the way and intensity of interaction between humans and vegetated systems, and this in turn is shaped by parameters defining the attractiveness of green areas to humans like distance, size, composition, etc.
Our results showed that both land cover maps and space-borne data sources can serve the purpose of locating vegetated systems influencing the spatial spread of disease. In both cases we obtained satisfactory results in the segmentation of areas in function of disease risk grade. As can be observed in the maps of residuals of Figure 9, most of the inaccuracies in the modelled values are underestimations of the actual risk values and are located in areas of epidemiological importance. This can be related to the fact that the reference EBE values are influenced by remarkable outbreaks in both diseases reported in different moments throughout the period 2000–2010. Modelling inter-annual differences in the spatial pattern of risk can be the subject of future research and would favor the use of remote sensing to detect changes in vegetation systems.
Figure 10 illustrates the clear connection between the size of vegetated areas and risk grade for both diseases. Figure 10 also shows that municipalities in the quartile of highest risk for NE and LB are those where the fraction of companies exerting forestry-like activities is higher than in the other three quartiles. These facts explain why these two variables were repeatedly found significant in the tested modelling formulations.
Furthermore, Figure 10 also shows that the average population size in the quartile of NE highest risk is lower than in other areas of the country. Despite the correspondence between these variables, P was not found a significant predictor of NE. This apparent contradiction is related to the scale of the analysis and the relation between P and the other variables in the model, V and F . Figure 11 shows the bivariate relation between the NE model variables when the vegetation map was derived from MODIS imagery. It follows from the scattering patterns that P has some degree of colinearity with variables whose contribution to the model were more significant, V and F . In contrast, the relation between the variables V and F does not describe a recognizable pattern, hence the modelled EBE values is the result of the interaction of these variables and the average distance between urban and vegetation entities. This result must not be interpreted as a lack of relevance of the population size as determinant of disease risk rather refers to the impact of the scale of the study. Changing the scale at which the entities are observed can result in different interaction patterns between variables .
For both diseases the Moran’s I value for residuals was higher when vegetation maps were derived from MODIS NDVI. This can be related to inherent differences between a land cover map and vegetation maps defined in terms of NDVI values. In the former case, the vegetation classes are defined in function of the species composition of the vegetation community, whereas in the latter case the leading determinant is vegetation abundance and density, regardless of species composition. Therefore, when using a land cover map, all patches complying with the target cover class are considered in the model even if they are not large and/or dense enough to represent significant disease risk. This can result in a more heterogeneous distribution of residuals across the study area. On the other hand, using land cover maps has the advantage of preventing the confusion between vegetated areas with relevance to disease vectors and other vegetation classes with less importance for the disease under study.
The two LB models presented in Figure 9 differ in the set of significant covariates composing the GM equations. The equation based on MODIS imagery is defined in terms of V,P and F whereas the equation obtained when using CLC is built on V only. This difference may be explained by a combination of factors. Firstly, zones of elevated LB risk can occur in the context of highly fragmented forest but also in landscapes characterized by large unfragmented forest cover. The finer resolution of CLC map (cell size equal to 100 m) may allow the detection of smaller vegetation patches as compared with MODIS images (cell size equal to 250 m). Thus, the model based on MODIS imagery may need more covariate to reach a high level of accuracy. Secondly, since no distinction is made between vegetation classes when the model is based on MODIS imagery, the application of the NDVI threshold criterion may lead to selecting epidemiologically non-relevant vegetation classes. Additional covariates may then be needed to account for this source of uncertainty. This does not occur when using CLC because one can be certain that forests are the only vegetation class used.
Finally, it is important to stress that the results on significance of predictors and suitability of data sources may not hold for studies made at other scales. This study aimed at results at country level. Studies focusing on sub-national or regional scales may have more detailed information at disposal, hence the setting of the model may differ. For instance, forest accessibility, management regime or ownership may determine the importance of vegetated areas in human exposure to pathogens together with the attributes considered in this study (size, location, composition). The notion of distance can be refined by incorporating friction factors related to the quality of roads, topography, accessibility, etc. Also, research towards the most suited exponent for the distance factor in the GM might result in more accurate treatment of the effect of distance between urban and vegetated areas on disease risk spread. This is beyond the objectives of this study.
This study aimed at evaluating GM as an approach to model the spatial spread of VBD, particularly NE and LB in Belgium. The results led us to the following conclusions:
Information on location, size and composition of vegetated areas is of great importance in modelling the spatial spread of NE, LB and other VBD. Our results show the suitability of both static (land cover maps) and dynamic (space-borne datasets) data sources to derive that information and incorporate it as input of the models.
Accounting for habitat conditions is of paramount importance when attempting to model VBD. Nevertheless, the models should be enriched by including variables that may come from domains different than ecology or biophysics but that inform on human exposure to pathogens. In the particular case of NE and LB, previous studies highlighted the elevated risk associated to certain occupational groups. Our results showed that data on the number of active companies per branch of the economy at municipal level can provide a significant covariate of risk grade.
Spatial interaction models have been applied in a large variety of domains where distance and attracting attributes of entities are relevant. The results obtained in this study support the idea of adopting GM or other forms of spatial interaction analysis to model the spread of NE and LB risk and encourage the investigation of the applicability of spatial interaction models in the study of other VBD.
This research has been supported by the KU Leuven (project IDO/07/005). Piet Maes is supported by a postdoctoral grant from the “Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO)-Vlaanderen”. Willem W. Verstraeten is supported by a Vidi grant (864.09.001) from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).
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© 2012 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). | <urn:uuid:875c3ea6-f108-4c4c-8e13-936b4d92d9a0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://mdpi.com/1660-4601/9/12/4346/htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00058-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90028 | 8,593 | 2.578125 | 3 |
A mythical creature, part horse and part man. Centaurs were noted for their
warlike and amatory exploits, which are depicted in artistic representations
through the centuries. In the 8th century BC, the
centaur is shown as a human being in front with the body and hind legs of
a horse. As time progressed, he became a man to the waist only.
|Stone carving from the Parthenon in Athens showing
a centaur (left) fighting a lapith (a legendary human). The battle
between lapiths and centaurs was told in a Greek story.
minor planet (Encyclopedia of Science) | <urn:uuid:22ddfcfd-03cd-4d3e-974e-f8082f24ae81> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia_of_history/C/centaur.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397565.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00131-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960396 | 134 | 3.6875 | 4 |
Guide to Public Libraries
Public Libraries in Western Australia
The 232 Public Libraries within Western Australia offer a wide range of resources and services for people of all ages, including:
- Books for recreation and information
- Newspapers and magazines
- Reference resources, including encyclopedias and directories
- Access to State Library website and a range of online databases
- Internet facilities
- Large print books
- Talking books and DVDs
- Music CDs, Games and Jigsaws
- Books and other resources in 50 community languages other than English
- Resources for learning a language
- Community and local history information
- Photocopying facilities
- Resources and services for children and young people
- Services for Seniors
- Services for a multicultural Western Australia
- Services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
- Assistance with literacy and numeracy
- Services to people with disabilities
You are entitled to join your local public library. All you will be required to do is show identification and proof of your current address. There is no charge to join your local public library. If you are under 18 years of age your parent or legal guardian may need to be present when you join.
Please check with your local library for more information on becoming a member and to discover the range of materials and services it provides. If your local public library does not have what you are looking for, the staff may be able to request it for you from another library on inter library loan. You can use our catalogue to find information both at the State Library and throughout the public library network by selecting the "Entire State Library of WA Collection" option, or just materials in the public library network by selecting "Public Library Stock".
Locating your local Public Library
The Australian Libraries Gateway is a free Web-based directory service which has information about more than 6,300 Australian libraries, their collections and services.
To find a library using the gateway, enter the library name into the Name box, select WA for the Location, and select public for the Library Type. If you do not know the name of your library, simply leave the Name box blank (choose WA and public) - this will return a list of all public libraries in WA. From this list you will find:
- Library branch name, & related libraries
- Address and contact information
- Library catalogue
- Opening hours
You could also choose to use the map to find libraries in regional Australia. Click on "Use the map to find libraries in regional Australia", and then select WA and public, then select the Region you are interested in.
Search the Australian Libraries Gateway.
Public Library Address Labels
Here is an easily formatted list of public library addresses for creating postage labels for contacting public libraries in Western Australia.
Download the public library addresses csv file.
The State Library has implemented a Data Quality Improvement Project in order to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the data contained in the library catalogue. Questions, comments, or errors in records can be forwarded to: email@example.com
Public Libraries and Us
The State Library:
- provides public library collections of catalogued books and other materials, and
- facilitates the provision of the a wide range of information services
to the people of Western Australia through a State-wide network of public libraries managed by local government.
between State and local governments, and other participating bodies, is
maintained and developed through consultation, joint decision making
and agreed standards. A range of training programs are provided to
improve the range and level of services offered by public libraries.
Page last updated: Wednesday 6 March 2013 | <urn:uuid:19550fbe-685b-440d-af2a-8a3e6b3abbb9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://slwa.wa.gov.au/find/guide_to_public_libraries | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00053-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907728 | 743 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Location map for eastern Yosemite Valley. Selected major trails are in purple.
Detailed map of the Yosemite Falls trail.
|Note that Yosemite Falls drops off a cliff even though there's a
deep valley right next door.
Notches like this are described as "mysterious" by one well-known book on Yosemite. They're mysterious only if we discount the obvious idea that they are former valleys. The cliff on the left has such ragged fracture surfaces that it seems quite possible that this is a former valley blocked by a landslide.
The map above, showing the area above the falls, shows clear evidence of an abandoned incised drainage (green). How this drainage came to be abandoned is uncertain, but it may have been blocked by stagnant ice or by glacial deposits now eroded away.
Yosemite Falls is the highest waterfall in Yosemite. The total drop is 740
meters or 2425 feet. The upper fall is 1430 feet (435 m), a series of
cascades drops 675 feet (205 m) and the lower falls drops 320 feet (98 m).|
There is actually a higher free-falling waterfall in Yosemite. A small ephemeral fall, Ribbon Falls, drops 1612 feet off the cliffs west of El Capitan. It is the highest free-falling waterfall in North America.
|Looking west down Yosemite Valley from near Yosemite Falls|
|Lower Yosemite Falls.|
|The trail to the top of Yosemite Falls starts half a mile down-valley from Yosemite Creek, zigzags up a talus pile and then follows a ledge to Columbia Rock, about 1000 feet above the valley floor.|
|Hikers at Columbia Rock|
Panorama from Capitol Rock. Half Dome is at left center and Glacier Point is the massive buttress in center.
|From Columbia Rock the trail runs slightly downhill to the base of Yosemite Falls.|
|Looking up Upper Yosemite Falls.|
|Once at the base of Yosemite Falls, the trail ascends the Talus Pile from Hell, an endless series of switchbacks but offering great views as compensation. This view is looking into Little Yosemite Valley.|
|As the trail ascends, Half Dome comes into view.|
|About halfway up the upper falls.|
|Upper Yosemite Valley.|
|This picture and the one below show the steep joint sets that define the walls of Yosemite Valley.|
|Below: Looking up the Talus Slope From Hell. Not only are the switchbacks forever, but the trail is beaten to a pulp and rocky.|
Near the top, the high Sierra come into view.
Below: Last glimpses of Yosemite Falls from the trail.
|Above: Looking back down the trail notch.||Below: the ragged walls of the cliff at the top of the talus slope strongly suggest the scar of a rockfall.|
Left: The end draws near.|
Below: And suddenly, there it is.
|Yosemite Valley from the top of the trail.|
|The high Sierra are still snow-covered in June. 9000-foot Mount Starr King is the conical peak. It's 2000 feet lower than the distant peaks but looks higher because it's closer.|
|Half Dome is half hidden on the left. Mount Clark (11522 ft, 3512 m) is the sharp distant peak.|
|Even with a handrail, the trail down to the overlook at the top of the falls is not for acrophobes.|
|Yosemite Falls and the valley floor half a mile below.|
|The cascades have cut an amazingly narrow cleft in the rocks.|
|Yosemite Creek on its way to the edge. The vertical joints that shape the valley walls are visible in the wall at right. A steep west-dipping joint set defines the wall while subhorizontal joints extend along the wall. The subhorizontal joints control some of the steps in the valley walls.|
|Massive talus cone on the far side of the valley.|
|On the low ridge separating the ascent chute from Yosemite Creek.|
|Above: The valley of Yosemite Creek.||Below: Footbridge over Yosemite Creek.|
Left: Looking upstream from the bridge|
Below: Looking downstream.
|Flattened xenoliths in the granodiorite.|
|Looking down Yosemite Falls and over the edge.|
|Flattened xenoliths in the granodiorite.|
Creating a panorama that spans large horizontal and vertical angles is reminiscent of the old comment about a dog walking on its hind legs: it's not so much surprising that it is done well, but that it is done at all. This is a composite from several different nearby vantage points. Half Dome is at upper left, Glacier Point is the promontory across the valley and Sentinel Dome is the snow-covered bare summit, the highest point on the skyline.
|Late afternoon view down the trail notch.|
|Lip of Yosemite Falls|
|Late afternoon views of the falls on the descent.|
|Half Dome and upper Yosemite Valley|
|Left and below: about the only place to get a complete view of the entire falls is from a short spur just beyond Columbia Rock where there is an overlook into the Cascades and Lower Yosemite Fall.|
Lower Yosemite Falls.|
Below is a composite of the entire falls system. The footbridge below Lower Yosemite Falls is visible at extreme lower right.
|Late afternoon views from Columbia Rock In the cleft near the center of the photo at left and below is Sentinel Falls.|
Late afternoon panorama from Capitol Rock. The deeply embayed south wall of the valley at right is obviously the result of multiple landslides and rockfalls.
Created 30 January 2006, Last Update 01 July 2012
Not an official UW Green Bay site | <urn:uuid:90a4c668-37a5-4061-bd40-c1d740901f81> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/VTrips/YosemiteFalls.HTM | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392159.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00117-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.899916 | 1,232 | 2.796875 | 3 |
This Policy Brief is designed to raise awareness of the current and future economic circumstances of older women, and the ways in which Social Security reform can help alleviate their unmet needs. It considers the gaps in benefit adequacy and economic security that are not addressed by current Social Security reform proposals and then suggests a series of modest, low-cost reforms to help close these gaps. If our proposals are adopted, Social Security reform will not only close the long-run financial deficit, but it will also greatly reduce the future poverty status of older women, particularly those who live alone. This is an opportunity for progressive reform as well as for budgetary balance.
The Social Security program was designed over 60 years ago for a world in which mothers worked at home, raised children, and were widowed young, but not divorced; where fathers worked in industrial settings; and where both men and women had much shorter life expectancies at older ages than those of succeeding generations. Back in 1935 the founders of Social Security did not anticipate that women would become the major beneficiaries of the program. Increasingly, women rely on Social Security as the major source of their economic security at older ages, much more so than do men. Therefore, women are the group with the most to gain or lose from reform of the Social Security system and modification of its benefit formulae.
Future women beneficiaries will be different. Women’s lives are changing rapidly in many ways. More women work outside the home today, and about half of all marriages end in divorce.
Increasing numbers of children grow up in a single-parent family, typically that of the mother. The higher future benefits expected for women with their own careers in the labor market need to be balanced against the potentially bleak economic situation in old age for a large and growing number of divorced and never married women. | <urn:uuid:2fd86b42-df42-4ce5-b00a-7fae17800b43> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://crr.bc.edu/working-papers/social-security-reform-improving-benefit-adequacy-and-economic-security-for-women/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404826.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00143-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972599 | 368 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Nearly everyone agrees that the U.S. immigration system should provide visas for entrepreneurs who want to start businesses in the U.S. and employ American workers. However, convoluted immigration laws make it difficult for some entrepreneurs to launch their business while they’re in school and remain lawfully in the U.S. after they graduate in order to run them. A new report by the Kauffman Foundation entitled Reforming Immigration Law to Allow More Foreign Student Entrepreneurs to Launch Job-Creating Ventures in the United States describes the obstacles student entrepreneurs’ face.
According to coauthor Anthony Luppino, “American colleges and universities are uniquely positioned to educate students on principles of entrepreneurship and innovation and give them opportunities to translate that knowledge into commercial ventures that create jobs and spur economic growth.” But U.S. immigration laws discourage or prevent student entrepreneurs from realizing their dreams.
Multiple sources have documented the fact that immigrants are highly likely to be entrepreneurs and job creators. According to a 2011 report from the Kauffman Foundation, “immigrants were more than twice as likely to start businesses each month than were the native-born in 2010.” A June 2011 report from the Partnership for a New American Economy found that more than 40% of the 2010 Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children, and the newest Fortune 500 companies are more likely to have an immigrant founder.
Several top universities are nurturing and encouraging aspiring entrepreneurs. For example, Harvard Business School and Cornell University host programs that allow students to present their business proposals to industry experts. Participants in the Entrepreneurship Scholars (E-Scholars) Program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City launched approximately 50 new businesses in a year and a half. But, because of complex rules in our immigration system, foreign born, aspiring and current entrepreneurs may be unable to establish their businesses and work for them. One E-Scholar who filed two patents and helped establish two companies cannot stay in the U.S. to operate them. Ironically, he can get a visa to work at another firm, but not the ones that he himself started.
The restrictions on student visas make it very difficult, if not impossible, for students to start their own businesses. Students who enter the U.S. on F-1 student visas face barriers to launching their own businesses. They are generally only admitted for the duration of their studies and don’t have the right to remain in the country beyond that. They are generally prohibited from off-campus employment, including self-employment. And it is also difficult for students to obtain H-1B visas after graduating if they are their own employer.
The report makes several recommendations to improve immigration law in order to ensure that the U.S. is able to “capitalize on the value and enormous job-creating potential that exists in foreign student entrepreneurs across U.S. campuses.” | <urn:uuid:b648e7a0-a835-465e-85c4-d6398b441ae3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://immigrationimpact.com/2012/08/22/immigration-law-curbs-foreign-student-entrepreneurship/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00046-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966911 | 590 | 2.546875 | 3 |
In Ever Loving
Violet Maude Handscomb
Who was Drowned in the
Ferry Boat Disaster at Fen Ditton
June 10th 1905 Aged 22 Years
The Ferry boat tragedy occured when some drunken undergraduate students attempted to climb aboard the already full 'Plough Ferry' at Fen Ditton shortly after the May boat races had taken place in nearby Cambridge.
As the ferry overturned, Violet was one of three women who drowned and lost their lives that day.
Today the River Cam appears to be a relatively tame and easy river to cross, but in Edwardian times it was wider and shallower and edged by fen and bog, making it extremely hard to cross. Wagons, livestock and pedestrians used the ferries to traverse the river at this time.
Bate's Ferry on the site of Victoria Bridge: a ferry by the Fort St. George ~ replaced by a footbridge in 1927.
Dant's ferry replaced by the Cutter ~ Pye ~ footbridge, between Pembroke and Emmanuel Boat Houses.
Horse Grind ferry at Chesterton by the Green Dragon pub.
B.Jolley's ferry from the Pike and Eel pub.
Ditton Plough ferry.
All of these were known as 'Grind' ferries, because they were pulled across by a chain wound by hand. The Horse Grind ferry was unusual in that the grind was powered by a horse. | <urn:uuid:d2a0e8d3-d6a8-4e60-b5a0-e4e868b43ced> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://sleepinggardens.blogspot.com/2012/08/ferry-boat-drowning.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00022-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978198 | 293 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Wow! One of the most famous star explosions captured by the Hubble Space Telescope — several times — shows clear evidence of expansion in this new animation. You can see here the Homunculus Nebula getting bigger and bigger between 1995 and 2008, when Hubble took pictures of the Eta Carinae star system. More details from one of the animation authors below.
“I had the idea to check the Hubble image of Eta Carinae because I know this star rather well,” wrote Philippe Henarejos, one of the authors of the animation, in an e-mail to Universe Today. Henarejos has written several times about the star for the magazine he edits, Ciel et espace (Sky and Space) and also published a French-language book on star histories.
“Telling this story, I realized that astronomers knew for a long time that the Homunculus Nebula was expanding. Also, I knew that the HST had taken many photos of this object since 1995. So I thought that thanks to the very high resolution of the HST images, it could be possible to see the expansion.”
Along with colleague Jean-Luc Dauvergne, Henarejos tracked down two images in the archives and searched for a fixed object that wouldn’t be moving as the expansion occurred, which they decided would be two stars close to the border of the field of view. Then Dauvergne found a third image that clearly showed the expansion happening.
The two gentlemen then verified their findings with astronomer John Martin from the University of Illinois, who maintains a page on Eta Carinae. “He told me that the expansion is real,” Henarejos said.
Eta Carinae mysteriously brightened about 170 years ago, becoming the second-most luminous object in Earth’s night sky. Then it faded 150 years ago. Astronomers are still examining the system to see what might have caused this. | <urn:uuid:81cc6d4b-bf51-4b42-8434-f8517921e54f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.universetoday.com/116932/famous-hubble-star-explosion-is-expanding-new-animation-reveals/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398216.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00168-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950855 | 409 | 2.578125 | 3 |
|DOH Home >> Press Releases|
PO Box 360
Trenton, NJ 08625-0360
|Clifton R. Lacy, M.D. |
For Further Information Contact:
But, while warm weather is a perfect setting for outdoor eating, it also provides ideal growing conditions for the bacteria and viruses that cause food borne illness.
It is well known that people should wash their hands before preparing food and that individuals with gastrointestinal illnesses should not be involved in food preparation. But what may not be widely known is how long food can remain outdoors in hot weather before it becomes a health risk.
During these warm weather months, food should only remain in temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit for up to one hour and in temperatures below 90 degrees Fahrenheit for up to two hours.
Commissioner of Health and Senior Services Clifton R. Lacy, M.D. reminds New Jersey residents to take a few simple steps to reduce the risk of food borne illness.
“In the summer, it is especially important to follow safe food handling practices. Harmful organisms can grow quickly when foods are in hot environments for extended periods,” Commissioner Lacy said. “Keep perishable foods stored at proper temperatures in a refrigerator or in a cooler with ice to prevent microorganisms from growing. Cook meats and poultry thoroughly to kill microorganisms that may be present.”
Some 76 million Americans get sick, more than 320,000 are hospitalized, and 5,000 die each year from food borne illnesses, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The most common infections are those caused by Campylobacter, Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 – organisms that are found in animals. Norovirus, another common cause of illness, is spread person-to-person, and is not found in animals.
Food borne illnesses can cause fever, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting and dehydration. In some cases, they can cause more serious health problems, even fatalities. For example, infection with E. coli O157:H7 can cause severe, bloody diarrhea, kidney failure, other severe complications and death.
The Department of Health and Senior Services offers these suggestions for reducing the risk of food borne illnesses:
For more information on summer food safety, visit the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention web site, http://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety.
Department of Health
P. O. Box 360, Trenton, NJ 08625-0360 | <urn:uuid:ecbec5fc-c902-46a7-b67f-3b3dc843c12e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.state.nj.us/health/news/2004/view_article4a65.html?id=1942 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397565.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00060-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907523 | 520 | 2.953125 | 3 |
A. Nitrogen - 78% - Dilutes oxygen and prevents rapid burning at the earth's surface.
need it to make proteins. Nitrogen cannot be used directly from the air.
The Nitrogen Cycle
is nature's way of supplying the needed nitrogen for living things.
B. Oxygen - 21% - Used by all living things.
Essential for respiration.
It is necessary for combustion or
C. Argon - 0.9% - Used in light bulbs.
D. Carbon Dioxide - 0.03% - Plants use it to make oxygen. Acts as a blanket and prevents the escape of
heat into outer space. Scientists are afraid that the buring of fossil fuels such as coal and oil are
adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
E. Water Vapor - 0.0 to 4.0% - Essential for life processes. Also prevents heat loss from the earth.
F. Trace gases - gases found only in very small amounts. They include neon, helium, krypton, and xenon.
Table of Contents ||
Past, Present, and Future ||
Up, Up, and Away || | <urn:uuid:8e6956fb-433e-4d03-8a5f-e2433924b802> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://teachertech.rice.edu/Participants/louviere/comp.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396887.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00014-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.844212 | 237 | 3.5 | 4 |
Hawa Mahal (or Palace of Winds) was built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Singh as part of City Palace. It was an extension of the Zenana (women) chamber. It's purpose was to allow royal ladies to observe everyday life in the street below without being seen.
It is a five storey high red sandstone structure complete with over 950 windows. The breeze (or hawa in Hindi) circulates through these windows giving the palace its name. Tourists are not allowed to go inside the palace. | <urn:uuid:9cb98b3d-9334-4cd7-85df-a8cf9ac74a0a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.fortchandragupt.com/hawa_mahal_jaipur.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397864.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00058-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966087 | 109 | 2.828125 | 3 |
NASA plots daring flight to Jupiter's watery moon
Mar 4, 6:07 PM (ET)
By SETH BORENSTEIN
WASHINGTON (AP) - NASA is plotting a daring robotic mission to Jupiter's watery moon Europa, a place where astronomers speculate there might be some form of life.
The space agency set aside $15 million in its 2015 budget proposal to start planning some kind of mission to Europa. No details have been decided yet, but NASA chief financial officer Elizabeth Robinson said Tuesday that it would be launched in the mid-2020s.
Robinson said the high radiation environment around Jupiter and distance from Earth would be a challenge. When NASA sent Galileo to Jupiter in 1989, it took the spacecraft six years to get to the fifth planet from the sun.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute astronomer Laurie Leshin said it could be "a daring mission to an extremely compelling object in our solar system."
Last year, scientists discovered liquid plumes of water shooting up through Europa's ice. Flying through those watery jets could make Europa cheaper to explore than just circling it or landing on the ice, said NASA Europa scientist Robert Pappalardo.
NASA will look at many competing ideas for a Europa mission, so the agency doesn't know how big or how much it will cost, Robinson said. She said a major mission goal would be searching for life in the strange liquid water under the ice-covered surface.
Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb said going to Europa would be more exciting than exploring dry Mars: "There might be fish under the ice."
NASA's Europa website: http://1.usa.gov/1lxcQCd
Seth Borenstein can be followed at http://twitter.com/borenbears
|Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All right reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.| | <urn:uuid:4deb864d-5eef-49ef-bea1-9ed3e866e00f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140304/DACB5P9O0.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402746.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00039-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905109 | 392 | 3 | 3 |
GE Policy Alliance Position Paper Executive Summary
The Genetic Engineering Policy Alliance is a coalition of organizations and businesses advancing precautionary policies around genetic engineering in agriculture. We work to protect farmers from economic loss due to unwanted contamination from genetically engineered crops; promote the public’s right-to-know about the presence of genetically engineered crops in our food and agriculture; and safeguard the environment and public health from damage due to exposure to genetically engineered crops and food.
Concerns About GE in Agriculture
Genetic engineering (GE) in agriculture is one of the most contested technologies of the past half-century. Used to change the DNA of plants and animals by moving genes from one species to another, GE produces organisms that do not occur in nature and cannot be developed through natural plant breeding techniques. Since the advent of commercial production of GE crops in 1996, more than 100 million acres of these crops have been planted in the U.S., the bulk of which are soy, corn, canola and cotton that are used primarily in processed human foods and animal feed. GE ingredients are present in an estimated 70% of all processed food in the U.S.
GE technology is marketed as a way to improve crop yields and reduce pesticides, but to date these promises have proven elusive or short-lived at best. Conversely, the economic, health and environmental risks associated with the technology have generated profound concerns among farmers and consumers.
Legal and Financial Burdens for Farmers. Contamination of non-GE crops by GE crops is virtually impossible to control. Contamination can present legal and financial burdens for farmers who knowingly grow GE crops as well as those who produce GE-free crops. Several of California’s most important export markets have labeling laws, thresholds and restrictions on GE imports, and in some cases complete bans on GE foods and crop production. In the event of GE crop commercialization or unwanted GE contamination, these markets have indicated that they will impose severe restrictions or even discontinue trade with California. This warning was borne out when a 2006 long grain rice contamination incident caused all of California’s major rice markets to close their markets to U.S. long grain rice and implemented mandatory testing of all California’s rice exports. Rice farmers sued the manufacturer, Bayer Corporation, but questions of liability and compensation for lost revenue from these incidents have yet to be resolved.
There are a growing number of well-documented adverse environmental effects of the use of GE in agriculture. Studies show that over time, GE crops can lead to increased herbicide and pesticide use and the use of more toxic chemicals. Reasons for this include: GE technology exacerbates the problem of the evolution of weed and insect resistance to pesticides due to natural selection by creating a reliance on a single herbicide used in conjunction with herbicide resistant crops, or in the case of the Bt insecticidal GE crops, exposing target insects to the continuous presence of the Bt toxin in the GE plant itself. Herbicide tolerance can also be transferred when GE crops cross-pollinate with their wild relatives. Herbicide resistant crops themselves can also become weed problems in farm fields, along roadsides, railways, and in the wild. GE crops with built-in pesticides can lead to the development of resistance in target pests, rendering the pesticide trait ineffective and again leading to the use of more toxic pesticides. GE crops can also harm non-target animal and plant species, including endangered or sensitive native species. Finally, genetic contamination threatens the integrity of indigenous and heirloom plant varieties as well as species in areas of the world where important crop genetic diversity exits.
Public Health Risks.
Despite the widespread prevalence of GE ingredients in most processed foods in the U.S., alarmingly little research has been conducted to ensure that GE organisms are safe for people to eat. The growing body of independent peer-reviewed scientific research shows that health effects from consuming GE foods include allergic reactions, toxicity, and modified organ and cellular functioning, structure and growth. GE foods are not required to be labeled in the U.S, making it impossible to trace detrimental health effects to consumption of these foods. Consumers who wish to avoid GE foods must purchase certified organic products, which are more expensive and thus less accessible to low-income communities. Finally, the increased pesticide use often associated with GE crop production exacerbates threats to the health and safety of farm-workers and nearby communities that are already exposed to toxic agricultural chemicals.
GE Crops Producing Drugs and Industrial Chemicals.
Two special classes of GE crops, called ‘pharm’ and industrial chemical crops pose unique risks to public health, the environment and the economy. These GE crops are genetically engineered to produce pharmaceuticals or industrial chemicals such as plastics, detergents, vaccines, hormones, and antibodies. GE food crops that contain pharmaceuticals or industrial chemicals are of great concern because they contain compounds not intended and often not safe for general human consumption. This combined with the many opportunities for contamination of the food supply make these crops arguably the most dangerous of all genetically engineered crops.
Inadequacy of Existing GE Regulations
The federal government has implemented neither mandatory environmental or human safety testing requirements for any GE crops nor labeling regulations for seeds or food. Biotechnology companies are permitted to determine what, if any, safety studies are performed and how they are conducted. The locations of thousands of open-air field trials of experimental crop varieties are unknown, and the National Academy of Science and the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Agriculture have raised grave concerns about the inadequacy of the oversight of these field trials.
Importance of California
As the country’s largest producer of both conventional and organic crops, California is firmly at the center of the growing debate over GE. Although GE crops comprise very little of the state’s agricultural acreage, many of California’s most common crops are currently being field tested throughout the state. As of October 2006, there were 1,294 issued field trial permits for 48 crops in California alone, including lettuce, strawberries, wine grapes, rice, tomatoes, walnuts and more. The potential introduction of GE versions of common California crops has raised concerns among farmers, both organic and conventional, about contamination of their products and loss of critical markets. An herbicide resistant GE variety of one of California’s main exports, rice, had been federally approved for market but not yet produced commercially due to widespread consumer rejection. The State of California has no policies dealing with GE crops.
Beginning in 2004, several California counties and cities moved to fill the federal and state regulatory shortcomings by enacting precautionary local ordinances restricting GE crop production, arguing that local governments have the right to protect their economies, public health and ecosystems. In response, in the 2005/06 legislative session, powerful biotechnology industry and agricultural interests introduced a bill that would have pre-empted local authority over seed and crop restrictions. Though this attempt failed due to a groundswell of opposition from public interest organizations, citizens, and elected officials around the state, it dramatically underscored the need to enact effective state policies that address the widespread concerns over genetic engineering in agriculture.
Recommendations for California
The Genetic Engineering Policy Alliance believes it is essential and timely to enact California policy that protects farmers, consumers and the environment from certain risks inherent in GE agriculture. Because the technology involves living organisms that reproduce and spread through the environment, and can thus contaminate non-GE plants, farmers and the public should know where they are grown and what seeds and plants contain GE material. Because some consumers prefer to not eat GE foods, and since most consumers want to know if GE ingredients are present in their food, they should have access to information about what foods contain GE ingredients. Because there are likely to be unforeseen consequences of this relatively new technology for farmers, consumers and the environment, there should be remedies in place to clarify the burden of liability. Finally, some classes of GE crops are simply too risky and should be prohibited. | <urn:uuid:60036c6a-15fd-4811-a1ac-09e454b4c94b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.gepolicyalliance.org/position_paper.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397636.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00063-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942359 | 1,615 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Dike - a crack in the rock that became filled with magma, then cooled. They formed when Stone Mountain had cooled partially from the outside and some cracks reached down to the still - liquid magma. You can determine the relative age sequence of dikes by studying how they cross-cut one another.(picture)
Exfoliation - peeling that occurs on the surface of a massive body of rock. When Stone Mountain formed deep underground, it was under a great deal of pressure. Later, erosion removed the many miles of rock that had covered the mountain, causing relief of the pressure. As the rock "loosens up" due to the relief of pressure, it peels, or exfoliates. Exfoliation first appears as small depressions in the rock, and enlarges to form natural steps. (picture)
Rock - an aggregate of minerals that has a consistent composition
throughout an area large enough to depict on a geologic map. Rocks fall
into three classes:
Metamorphic - formed by recrystallization in the solid state (without melting) due to heat and pressure. Most common group in Atlanta area.
Sedimentary - formed from sediments laid down by water or wind,
then compacted and cemented underground. Not found in Atlanta area; nearest
localities are Cartersville and Macon.
Gneiss - (pronounced "nice") - a metamorphic rock characterized by bands or layers of light and dark minerals. Most common rock type in the Atlanta area, seen at Peachtree Center MARTA station, Clairmont Road at I-85, etc. | <urn:uuid:07c07722-9986-4276-ada1-23e616d70aa4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.fernbank.edu/Geology/GEOWEB/StoneMt/StoneTerms.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00085-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956681 | 335 | 3.75 | 4 |
The main Institute is located next to the Karalee site and all F1 crossing and important breeding lines are developed on this site. The site is a work in progress due to its history of being used as a pine plantation and there have been issues with this. In more recent times we have been very successful in growing our research lines to their potential and have had the ability to use the site for rust studies.
The site is supplied by a 120 ML dam and the University has evolved our watering techniques to minimise water use but maximise its effectiveness.
Karalee has a number of tunnel houses where both horticulture and cereal plant breeding is conducted all year round.
Lansdowne has a number of Faculty of Agriculture and Environment projects but on the majority is used by the Institute for turf and Fee-for-Service cropping.
The turf area has been recently expanded and improved for use by major companies to evaluate their products and for turf species breeding. There is a state-of-the-art irrigation system used to water these areas and assistance in equipment has been provided by major golf clubs and equipment suppliers.
There are both warm season grasses (eg. couch, kikuyu and buffalo) and cool season grasses (eg. bents).
John Bruce Pye Farm
This University of Sydney farm is now part of the Faculty of Agriculture and Environment Farm Network. J. B. Pye Farm is used for large-scale cereal breeding trials and fungicide trials. Majority of the farm is now a sustainable farming project where Agriculture is collaborating with Vet Science for the benefit of a developing farm network in NSW. | <urn:uuid:dc32fe51-2b4f-4244-b1ed-04065effff23> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://sydney.edu.au/agriculture/plant_breeding_institute/locations/field_sites.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00079-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966015 | 334 | 2.5625 | 3 |
NASA is trying to built up suspense with this "media advisory":
1) NASA, NASA Announces Dark Matter Discovery, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/aug/HQ_M06128_dark_matter.html
which says simply:
Astronomers who used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 21, to announce how dark and normal matter have been forced apart in an extraordinarily energetic collision.Hmm! What's this about?
Someone nicknamed "riptalon" at Slashdot made a good guess. The media advisory lists the "briefing participants" as Maxim Markevitch, Doug Clowe and Sean Carroll. Markevitch and Clowe work with the Chandra X-ray telescope to study galaxy collisions and dark matter. Last November, Markevitch gave a talk on this work, which you can see here:
2) Maxim Markevitch, Scott Randall, Douglas Clowe, and Anthony H. Gonzalez, Insights on physics of gas and dark matter from cluster mergers, available at http://cxc.harvard.edu/symposium_2005/proceedings/theme_energy.html#abs23
So, barring any drastic new revelations, we can guess what's up. Markevitch and company have been studying the "Bullet Cluster", a bunch of galaxies that has a small bullet-shaped subcluster zipping away from the center at 4,500 kilometers per second. Here's a picture of it from the above paper:
To help you understand this picture a bit: the official name of the Bullet Cluster is 1E0657-56. The "exposure" for this X-ray photograph taken by Chanda was apparently 0.5 million seconds - 140 hours! The distance scale shown, 0.5 megaparsecs, is about 1.6 million light years. The cluster itself has a redshift z = 0.3, meaning its light has wavelengths stretched by a factor of 1.3. Under currently popular ideas on cosmology, this means it's roughly 4 billion light years away.
Anyway, what are we seeing here?
You can see rapidly moving galaxy cluster with a shock wave trailing behind it. It seems to have hit another cluster at high speed. When this kind of thing happens, the gas in the clusters is what actually collides - the individual galaxies are too sparse to hit very often. And when the gas collides, it gets hot. In this case, it heated up to about 160 million degrees and started emitting X-rays like mad! The picture shows these X-rays. This may be hottest known galactic cluster.
That's fun. But that's not enough reason to call a press conference. The cool part is not the crashing of gas against gas. The cool part is that the dark matter in the clusters was unstopped - it kept right on going!
How do people know this? Simple. Folks can see the gravity of the dark matter bending the light from more distant galaxies! It's called "gravitational lensing". Here are the mass density contours, as seen by this effect. I guess Clowe took this photo using the Hubble Space Telescope:
So: X-rays show the gas in one place, but gravity shows most of the mass is somewhere else - two lumps zipping along unstopped. That's good evidence that dark matter is for real.
For more try these:
3) M. Markevitch, S. Randall, D. Clowe, A. Gonzalez, and M. Bradac, Dark matter and the Bullet Cluster, available at http://www.cosis.net/abstracts/COSPAR2006/02655/COSPAR2006-A-02655.pdf
4) M. Markevitch, A. H. Gonzalez, D. Clowe, A. Vikhlinin, L. David, W. Forman, C. Jones, S. Murray, and W. Tucker, Direct constraints on the dark matter self-interaction cross-section from the merging galaxy cluster 1E0657-56, available as arXiv:astro-ph/0309303.
5) Maxim Markevitch, Chandra observation of the most interesting cluster in the Universe, available as arXiv:astro-ph/0511345.
6) M. Markevitch, A. H. Gonzalez, L. David, A. Vikhlinin, S. Murray, W. Forman, C. Jones and W. Tucker, A textbook example of a bow shock in the merging galaxy cluster 1E0657-56, Astrophys. J. 567 (2002), L27. Also available as arXiv:astro-ph/0110468.
7) Eric Hayashi and Simon D. M. White, How rare is the Bullet Cluster?, Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. Lett. 370 (2006), L38-L41, available as arXiv:astro-ph/0604443.
The first of these is, alas, only the abstract of a talk. But it's worth reading, so I'll quote it in its entirety here:
1E0657-56, the "Bullet Cluster", is a merger with a uniquely simple geometry. From the long Chandra X-ray observation which revealed a classic bow shock in front of a small subcluster, we can derive the velocity of the subcluster and its direction of motion. Recent accurate weak and strong lensing total mass maps clearly show two merging subclusters, including the host of the gas bullet seen in X-rays. This cluster provided the first direct, model-independent proof of the dark matter existence (as opposed to any modified gravity theory) and a direct constraint on the self-interaction cross-section of the dark matter particles. I will review these and other related results.
The Bullet Cluster is not the only direct evidence for dark matter. In fact, last year folks claimed to have found a "ghost galaxy" made mainly of dark matter and cold hydrogen, with very few stars:
8) PPARC, New evidence for a dark matter galaxy, http://www.interactions.org/cms/?pid=1023641
However, Matt Owers informs me that the consensus on this ghost, VIRGOHI 21, is that it's hydrogen stripped off from a galaxy by the "wind" it felt as it fell into the Virgo Cluster. This effect is called "ram pressure stripping" - the gas of a galaxy can be stripped off if the galaxy is moving rapidly through a cluster, due to interaction with the gas in the cluster.
Nonetheless, dark matter is seeming more and more real. It thus becomes ever more interesting to find out what dark matter actually is. The lightest neutralino? Axions? Theoretical physicists are good at inventing plausible candidates, but finding them is another thing.
Since I'd like to send this off in time to beat NASA, I won't say a lot more today... just a bit.
Dan Christensen and Igor Khavkine have discovered some fascinating things by plotting the amplitude of the tetrahedral spin network - the basic building block of spacetime in 3d quantum gravity - as a function of the cosmological constant.
They get pictures like this:
9) Dan Christensen and Igor Khavkine, Plots of q-deformed tets, http://jdc.math.uwo.ca/spinnet/
Here the color indicates the real part of the spin network amplitude, and it's plotted as a function of q, which is related to the cosmological constant by a funky formula I won't bother to write down here.
You can get some nice books on category theory for free these days:
10) Jiri Adamek, Horst Herrlich and George E. Strecker, Abstract and Concrete Categories: the Joy of Cats, available at http://katmat.math.uni-bremen.de/acc/acc.pdf
11) Robert Goldblatt, Topoi: the Categorial Analysis of Logic, available at http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/cul.math/docviewer?did=Gold010
12) Michael Barr and Charles Wells, Toposes, Triples and Theories, available at http://www.case.edu/artsci/math/wells/pub/ttt.html
The first two are quite elementary - don't be scared of the title of Goldblatt's book; the only complaints I've ever heard about it boil down to the claim that it's too easy!
You can also download this classic text on synthetic differential geometry, which is an approach to differential geometry based on infinitesimals, formalized using topos theory:
13) Anders Kock, Synthetic Differential Geometry, available at http://home.imf.au.dk/kock/
He asks that we not circulate it in printed form - electrons are okay, but not paper.
Next I want to say a tiny bit about Koszul duality for Lie algebras, which plays a big role in the work of Castellani on the M-theory Lie 3-algebra, which I discussed in "week237".
Let's start with the Maurer-Cartan form. This is a gadget that shows up in the study of Lie groups. It works like this. Suppose you have a Lie group G with Lie algebra Lie(G). Suppose you have a tangent vector at any point of the group G. Then you can translate it to the identity element of G and get a tangent vector at the identity of G. But, this is nothing but an element of Lie(G)!
So, we have a god-given linear map from tangent vectors on G to the Lie algebra Lie(G). This is called a "Lie(G)-valued 1-form" on G, since an ordinary 1-form eats tangent vectors and spits out numbers, while this spits out elements of Lie(G). This particular god-given Lie(G)-valued 1-form on G is called the "Maurer-Cartan form", and denoted ω.
Now, we can define exterior derivatives of Lie(G)-valued differential forms just as we can for ordinary differential forms. So, it's interesting to calculate d ω and see what it's like.
The answer is very simple. It's called the Maurer-Cartan equation:
dω = - ω ^ ω
On the right here I'm using the wedge product of Lie(G)-valued differential forms. This is defined just like the wedge product of ordinary differential forms, except instead of multiplication of numbers we use the bracket in our Lie algebra.
I won't prove the Maurer-Cartan equation; the proof is so easy you can even find it on the Wikipedia:
14) Wikipedia, Maurer-Cartan form, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurer-Cartan_form
An interesting thing about this equation is that it shows everything about the Lie algebra Lie(G) is packed into the Maurer-Cartan form. The reason is that everything about the bracket operation is packed into the definition of ω ^ ω.
If you have trouble seeing this, note that we can feed ω ^ ω a pair of tangent vectors at any point of G, and it will spit out an element of Lie(G). How will it do this? The two copies of ω will eat the two tangent vectors and spit out elements of Lie(G). Then we take the bracket of those, and that's the final answer.
Since we can get the bracket of any two elements of Lie(G) using this trick, ω ^ ω knows everything about the bracket in Lie(G). You could even say it's the bracket viewed as a geometrical entity - a kind of "field" on the group G!
dω = - ω ^ ω
and the usual rules for exterior derivatives imply that
d2ω = 0
we must have
d(ω ^ ω) = 0
If we work this concretely what this says, we must get some identity involving the bracket in our Lie algebra, since ω ^ ω is just the bracket in disguise. What identity could this be?
THE JACOBI IDENTITY!
It has to be, since the Jacobi identity says there's a way to take 3 Lie algebra elements, bracket them in a clever way, and get zero:
[u,[v,w]] + [v,[w,u]] + [w,[u,v]] = 0
while d(ω ^ ω) is a Lie(G)-valued 3-form that happens to vanish, built using the bracket.
It also has to be since the equation d2 = 0 is just another way of saying the Jacobi identity. For example, if you write out the explicit grungy formula for d of a differential form applied to a list of vector fields, and then use this to compute d2 of that differential form, you'll see that to get zero you need the Jacobi identity for the Lie bracket of vector fields. Here we're just using a special case of that.
The relationship between the Jacobi identity and d2 = 0 is actually very beautiful and deep. The Jacobi identity says the bracket is a derivation of itself, which is an infinitesimal way of saying that the flow generated by a vector field, acting as an operation on vector fields, preserves the Lie bracket! And this, in turn, follows from the fact that the Lie bracket is preserved by diffeomorphisms - in other words, it's a "canonically defined" operation on vector fields.
Similarly, d2 = 0 is related to the fact that d is a natural operation on differential forms - in other words, that it commutes with diffeomorphisms. I'll leave this cryptic; I don't feel like trying to work out the details now.
Instead, let me say how to translate this fact:
into pure algebra. We'll get something called "Kozsul duality". I always found Koszul duality mysterious, until I realized it's just a generalzation of the above fact.
How can we state the above fact purely algebraically, only using the Lie algebra Lie(G), not the group G? To get ourselves in the mood, let's call our Lie algebra simply L.
By the way we constructed it, the Maurer-Cartan form is "left-invariant", meaning it doesn't change when you translate it using maps like this:
Lg: G → G x |→ gx
that is, left multiplication by any element g of G. So, how can we describe the left-invariant differential forms on G in a purely algebraic way? Let's do this for ordinary differential forms; to get Lie(G)-valued ones we can just tensor with L = Lie(G).
Well, here's how we do it. The left-invariant vector fields on G are just
so the left-invariant 1-forms are
So, the algebra of all left-invariant diferential forms on G is just the exterior algebra on L*. And, defining the exterior derivative of such a form is precisely the same as giving the bracket in the Lie algebra L! And, the equation d2 = 0 is just the Jacobi identity in disguise.
To be a bit more formal about this, let's think of L as a graded vector space where everything is of degree zero. Then L* is the same sort of thing, but we should add one to the degree to think of guys in here as 1-forms. Let's use S for the operation of "suspending" a graded vector space - that is, adding one to the degree. Then the exterior algebra on L* is the "free graded-commutative algebra on SL*".
So far, just new jargon. But this lets us state the observation of the penultimate paragraph in a very sophisticated-sounding way. Take a vector space L and think of it as a graded vector space where everything is of degree zero. Then:
Making the free graded-commutative algebra on SL* into a differential graded-commutative algebra is the same as making L into a Lie algebra.This is a basic example of "Koszul duality". Why do we call it "duality"? Because it's still true if we switch the words "commutative" and "Lie" in the above sentence!
Making the free graded Lie algebra on SL* into a differential graded Lie algebra is the same as making L into a commutative algebra.That's sort of mind-blowing. Now the equation d2 = 0 secretly encodes the commutative law.
So, we say the concepts "Lie algebra" and "commutative algebra" are Koszul dual. Interestingly, the concept "associative algebra" is its own dual:
Making the free graded associative algebra on SL* into a differential graded associative algebra is the same as making L into an associative algebra.
This is the beginning of a big story, and I'll try to say more later. If you get impatient, try the book on operads mentioned in "week191", or else these:
15) Victor Ginzburg and Mikhail Kapranov, Koszul duality for quadratic operads, Duke Math. J. 76 (1994), 203-272. Also Erratum, Duke Math. J. 80 (1995), 293.
16) Benoit Fresse, Koszul duality of operads and homology of partition posets, Homotopy theory and its applications (Evanston, 2002), Contemp. Math. 346 (2004), 115-215. Also available at http://math.univ-lille1.fr/~fresse/PartitionHomology.html
The point is that Lie, commutative and associative algebras are all defined by "quadratic operads", and one can define for any such operad O a "dual" operad O* such that:
Making the free graded O-algebra on SL* into a differential graded O-algebra is the same as making L into an O*-algebra.
And, we have O** = O, hence the term "duality".
This has always seemed incredibly cool and mysterious to me. There are other meanings of the term "Koszul duality", and if really understood them I might better understand what's going on here. But, I'm feeling happy now because I see this special case:
Making the free graded-commutative algebra on SL* into a differential graded-commutative algebra is the same as making L into a Lie algebra.
is really just saying that the exterior derivative of left-invariant differential forms on a Lie group encodes the bracket in the Lie algebra. That's something I have a feeling for. And, it's related to the Maurer-Cartan equation... though notice, I never completely spelled out how.
Addenda: Let me say some more about how d2 = 0 is related to the fact that d is a canonically defined operation on differential forms. Being "canonically defined" means that d commutes with the action of diffeomorphisms. Saying that d commutes with "small" diffeomorphisms - those connected by a path to the identity - is the same as saying
d Lv = Lv d
where v is any vector field and Lv is the corresponding "Lie derivative" operation on differential forms. But, Weil's formula says that
Lv = iv d + d iv
where iv is the "interior product with v", which sends p-forms to (p-1)-forms. If we plug Weil's formula into the equation we're pondering, we get
d (iv d + d iv) = (iv d + d iv) d
which simplifies to give
d2 iv = iv d2
So, as soon as we know d2 = 0, we know d commutes with small diffeomorphisms. Alas, I don't see how to reverse the argument.
Similarly, as soon as we know the Jacobi identity, we know the Lie bracket operation on vector fields is preserved by small diffeomorphisms, by the argument outlined in the body of this Week. This argument is reversable.
So, maybe it's an exaggeration to say that d2 = 0 and the Jacobi identity say that d and the Lie bracket are preserved by diffeomorphisms - but at least they imply these operations are preserved by small diffeomorphisms.
© 2006 John Baez | <urn:uuid:64948668-df22-4816-8d07-3f0e4351ee34> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/week238.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398873.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00135-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923068 | 4,419 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Malawi’s children comprise nearly half of the country’s total population. In 1987, 48 per cent of the total population was under the age of 15. The dependency ratio was 103 children under the age of 15 for every 100 persons 15 to 65. The strain of such a large number of children on the overall economy creates problems impossible to solve – from education to adequate health care. Three of every ten children will die before they reach five years of age and thirty percent of the remaining number will die before they reach the age of ten. One missionary reported many Malawians used to number, instead of naming, their children until they were two years old. A proper name was not given until then because of the probability of an early death.
In spite of the health threat to survival, most children go about their play time with little apparent concern for the future. They are very inquisitive and exceptionally creative; whether rolling a old tire along the road, making a galimoto (car) from cast off coat hangers, or using the available hangers, as well as some old wire and pieces of cloth to create the finely tuned instruments of what sounds like a full blown orchestra.
Often we ask the question, "What do the teenagers do?" Perhaps the answer comes in a realization that adolescence does not exist in many cultures. Adolescence is primarily a phenomena of western culture and of recent appearance in history. In the Malawian culture, children begin taking on adult responsibility around the age of ten. Girls carry water, prepare meals and help with the babies from a very early age. Boys work in the fields, carry wood and carry out adult responsibilities long before the teen years. It is estimated that half of all women in Malawi are married by the age of 17. The birth rate is 7.6 births per woman. | <urn:uuid:c8b75c4b-5c43-4457-91e3-6efa50e82039> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.malawiproject.org/about-malawi/children/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396029.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00103-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959069 | 374 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Simple Definition of strudel
: a German pastry made of thin dough rolled up with fruit filling and baked
Full Definition of strudel
: a pastry made from a thin sheet of dough rolled up with filling and baked <apple strudel>
Did You Know?
The word strudel first appeared in English in the late 19th century, but the confection the word refers to is likely much older. The strudel is Austrian in origin, and its name comes from the German word Strudel, meaning "whirlpool" - which the pastry resembles when cut to reveal its thin sheet of dough rolled around the filling. Strudels can be sweet or savory, but the sweet apple strudel is the most famous.
Origin and Etymology of strudel
German, literally, whirlpool
First Known Use: 1881
Learn More about strudel
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about strudel
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up strudel? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible). | <urn:uuid:7de6640b-78f4-4f23-9a07-50116da859fc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/strudel | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395613.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00070-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920779 | 233 | 3.140625 | 3 |
What is the Renaissance? rebirthThe Renaissance was the “_____________” of culture (art, music, radeetc) and t_____________. It was a time period where thec_______________ were reborn right after the lack Plague/Death lassicsB_______________. When someone refers to the classics of theRenaissance it means that the people of Europe brought back ideas Rome Greecefrom __________________ and ________________. They alsostarted to believe in humanism which is that all people have potential and that they__________________________________________________ should live for today not just their afterlife__________________________________________________________.
Michelangelo:The Italian Sculptor & Painter • Lived: 1475 – 1564 • From: Florence, Italy • Personality/Training: Bad temper, ambitious, & religious, studied art, sculpture and painting • Talents/Achievements: Painter & Sculptor. Show emotion, human beauty, & very lifelike. Influenced others. Greatest achievements: Pieta, David, Moses & the Sistine Chapel (which caused him to go blind) of Rome.
Titian:The Italian Painter• Lived: 1488 - 1576• From: Italian Alps• Personality/Training: Generous & Persuasive. Studied painting, especially frescos in Rome and Florence• Talents/Achievements: Used great color and very light brush strokes that made his work look like it was alive and gave humans personality. Paintings dealt with myths, Bible stories, portraits of royalty. His work with color and brushstrokes used today.
Miguel Cervantes:Spanish Writer• Lived: 1547 - 1616• From: Madrid, Spain• Personality/Training: Adventurous, Courageous, Funny, but not trustworthy. Studied with humanist priest, but most was his own experiences• Talents/Achievements: Writer good at satire (make fun of something). He wrote many plays, poems, & novels. Don Quixote was his most famous. It makes fun of knights and Spanish society
Leonardo da Vinci:Italian Renaissance Person• Lived: 1452-1519• From: Florence, Italy• Personality/Training: Brilliant, independent, curious about the world & a vegetarian. Studied art, music, math, anatomy, botany, architecture, & engineering.• Talents/Achievements: A painter, sculptor, architect, & engineer. He sketched many inventions that were far ahead of his time, Made the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, etc. Shows perspective, balance, detailed, & a rich use of light, color, & shade.
Albercht Durer:German Artist• Lived: 1471 - 1528• From: Nuremberg, Germany• Personality/Training: Loved fashion, intelligent and very confident. Studied goldsmithing, painting, math, Latin, literature, printmaking, & traveled a lot.• Talents/Achievements: He blended German painting with techniques of perspective and idealized beauty. He was great at engraving and woodcuts. He painted religious
Nicolaus Copernicus:Polish Scientist• Lived: 1473 - 1543• From: Torun, Poland• Personality/Training: Very creative and a free thinker. Studied medicine, law, and astronomy at the University of Krakow.• Talents/Achievements: He studied what he really saw in the sky. The earth revolves around the sun. The theory was attacked by the church, but accepted by many scientists and our modern science is based off of it.
Andreas Vesalius:Belgian Scientist• Lived: 1514 - 1564• From: Brussels, Belgium• Personality/Training: Hardworking, curious, confident, and sometimes very gloomy. Studied stray animals and got his medical degree.• Talents/Achievements: He was a great observer and studied dead human bodies and made important discovers such as, the human heart has 4 chambers. He wrote the first medical textbook with illustrated drawings.
Isabella I:Queen of Spain • Lived: 1451 - 1504 • From: Castile, Spain • Personality/Training: Intelligent, strong-willed and a devoted Catholic. Very little school (normal for women of the time) Studied Latin, art and court affairs • Talents/Achievements: Very forceful and held her own in court politics. United Spain when she married Ferdinand. Sponsored Columbus and helped to reinforce Catholicsm in Spain.
Elizabeth I:Queen of England• Lived: 1533 - 1603• From: London, England• Personality/Training: Strong minded and independent, but flexible and a good listener who gave good advice. Highly educated and spoke 5 languages.• Talents/Achievements: She changed the policies and strengthened England’s economy. Inspired many and supported the theater, education, culture, trade, and exploration. Under her rule England became rich and powerful.
Willliam Shakespeare:English Poet & Playwright• Lived: 1564• From: Stratford-on-Avon, England• Personality/Training: Quiet & a bit mysterious, good observer, and had a great sense of humor. Studied Latin, classical literature, and acting.• Talents/Achievements: An actor, poet, and playwright. He had a way with words and understanding human behavior. People admired his poetry and flocked to see his 38 plays. Many of them are still popular today. | <urn:uuid:7591b6bd-6ebc-4e65-9b11-cb6509aff7bf> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.slideshare.net/krice/figures-for-ren-dinner-web | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00156-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944038 | 1,143 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Earlier on the Melissa & Doug blog, we shared a few ways to enjoy our puzzle-themed printable. One idea was to have a puzzle treasure hunt! Our guest blogger Joyce (Childhood Beckons) expanded on this concept in her recent blog post: Counting by 10’s Puzzle Hunt!
Here’s how the educational scavenger hunt works:
1) Divide your puzzle pieces into 10 separate envelopes (she used one of our
100 piece puzzles so that each envelope contained an equal number of pieces).
2) Create rhyming clues for all of the places you want to hide the pieces (her examples are below, OR print your own using her blank printable template).
3) Place the clues inside the envelopes, and hide them throughout the house!
4) Once everything is set-up, ask your child to go find the clues to help build their puzzle! (This is perfect for cold, or rainy days as your child can run around a bit and get some energy out!)
5) Once all the pieces are collected and before you begin to assemble your puzzle, use this as an opportunity to practice “counting by tens”.
Now, put together your puzzle and enjoy!
For more puzzle play activities, check out these related blog posts:
- 5 Social Skills Learned from Puzzles
- 3 Extension Activities for Floor Puzzles
- Create-Your-Own Puzzle Printable (Plus 3 Activity Tips!)
* * *
Joyce is the mom behind Childhood Beckons, where she encourages parents to focus on their families and the childhood that beckons them. Her motto is “Childhood is calling my son to play and explore. And childhood is calling me to help him on his journey.” She enjoys discovering creative ways to play and learn and passing along her family’s favorites. You can find Joyce on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Shop the Story | <urn:uuid:32dc05f6-b2dc-4199-9aef-f37cb92fc47f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blog.melissaanddoug.com/2013/02/01/puzzleplaypuzzlehunt/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=6952e6b5fb | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00018-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928427 | 396 | 2.53125 | 3 |
The American Red Cross aims to help people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies in a variety of ways. Dedicated employees and volunteers meet the basic needs – shelter, food, and clothing – of those affected by natural and manmade disasters, communicate emergency messages between those serving in our Armed Forces and their loved ones back home, and teach lifesaving skills like water safety, first aid, and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) to community members of all ages.
But the American Red Cross can only do so much. At some point we – the people the organization has informed and trained and supported – have to do our part. So that we can respond swiftly and appropriately should an unavoidable crisis affect us, we need to build emergency preparedness kits, create disaster action plans, stock first aid kits, and review first aid skills. And so that we can lessen our risk of suffering from an (in many cases) avoidable crisis – such as a heart attack caused by an unhealthy lifestyle, for example – we need to take prevention into our own hands.
So today, in honor of Heart Health Month and Valentine’s Day, here are a few tips to help you strengthen and protect your heart.
- Visit your doctor for an annual check-up, even if you feel healthy.
- Maintain a healthy weight for your height and build.
- Exercise (at a moderate intensity level, or working up to a moderate intensity level) at least 30 minutes a day, five days a week.
- Make healthy food choices (fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, and non- or low-fat dairy) and avoid processed food as often as possible.
- Drink more water and cut down on salt consumption.
- Manage blood pressure and control cholesterol by eating foods low in saturated and trans fats.
- Quit smoking.
- Stay positive. Make small changes, one at a time if necessary, and recognize that the journey is toward a healthy lifestyle, not a perfect lifestyle.
- Give yourself credit. Set small goals and reward yourself (with treats other than sweets) when you reach them.
This year, be your own Valentine and give yourself the gift of a healthy heart!
As always, knowing how to recognize the signs of a heart attack and perform CPR can save lives and are therefore of the utmost importance. Click here to find an American Red Cross First Aid and CPR class in your area.
Source: University of Wisconsin Health
Filed under: Uncategorized | <urn:uuid:321a7bc2-8e95-4a80-b1a1-cc7f6e138012> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://redcrosschat.org/2014/02/14/be-your-own-valentine/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00134-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93446 | 516 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Jane Goodall: 50 Years at Gombe
In some ways it's hard to imagine that 50 years have passed since Dr. Jane Goodall, scientist, animal rights activist and conservationist, first visited Gombe and began studying chimpanzees in the wild. Yet, so many things have changed since her groundbreaking observation that chimpanzees make tools and hand down the knowledge of how to do this from generation to generation -- formerly thought to be a uniquely human attribute.
As this year is the 50th anniversary of Dr. Goodall's first visit to Gombe, the Jane Goodall Institute issued Jane Goodall: 50 Years at Gombe. The book not only celebrates the amazing achievements of Dr. Goodall's life, but also provides an update on innovations related to her work, and the work of others like her.
The most striking facet of this book is the discussion of Dr. Goodall's current work. Did you know that for the last 24 years, Dr. Goodall has spent less than three weeks in any one place? For a woman known for her patient observations of animal behaviour over hours and hours of sitting quietly in one place, this seems impossible! However, Dr. Goodall recognized that leaving her work at Gombe in the hands of others, and taking up the torch of raising global awareness was the best thing she could do to help ensure the long-term survival of chimpanzees, and all Great Apes, in the wild (thus, defining Dr. Goodall as a true hero in my book).
The book reveals the extent of Dr. Goodall's current reach, scope and on-going belief in humanity, despite the horrors in animal treatment she's witnessed. Dr. Goodall identifies four reasons for hope: the human brain (a dandy device, isn't it?), the resilience of nature (as they say, the earth will recover from our reckless disregard for nature -- we just won't be around to witness it), the determination of young people and the indomitable human spirit. Along these lines, Dr. Goodall's "Roots and Shoots" program inspires and supports young people around the world in taking action in their communities. Youth choose projects that show care and compassion for the human community, animals and the environment.
Dr. Goodall also came to realize that growing populations and deep-rooted human problems, such as poverty, needed to be addressed in conjunction with animal and habitat conservation. This is where her TACARE program (pronounced "Take Care") and innovations in technology come to play. The program works to link conservation to poverty alleviation (very different than the "prosperity comes from resource extraction" model we've grown so used to) by fostering "community-centered conservation activities that seek to preserve and restore the environment while helping villagers meet basic needs, such as education, health care, clean water, and arable land."
One use of innovations in technology to help achieve ecological balance for human populations in poverty with animal populations is with geographic information systems mapping and analysis. These tools are used to document and better understand how human communities and animals like chimpanzees compete for space:
"...scientists meet with villagers, and together they pore over satellite maps and discuss how the forest has dwindled over the decades, how wildlife and people use the land now, and what might be the best use of given areas -- including conservation -- in the future."
In addition to this important work to cultivate the well-being and prosperity of human populations, Dr. Goodall is still crusading on behalf of chimpanzees and other endangered animals who are poached in the commercial bushmeat trade, locked up in cages for medical research, or sold for entertainment purposes. "Every year, poachers kill thousands of chimpanzees," and given that there are less than 300,000 left in the wild, this has a devastating impact.
Dr. Goodall's 50th anniversary tour recently brought her to Canada -- specifically to Calgary -- to share her ongoing work and rally people like you and me to act to end the devastating effects poverty has on human and animal populations around the world. After all, Dr. Goodall's life to date is a reminder of what one person can accomplish in the struggle for animal and human rights.
"So, let us move forward with faith in ourselves, in our intelligence, in our indomitable spirit. Let us develop respect for all living things. Let us try to replace violence and intolerance with understanding and compassion. And love." - Jane Goodall
This review also appeared on GreenHeroes.tv
Read Melanie Redman's blog Folks Gotta Eat on rabble.ca. | <urn:uuid:d603b495-88a2-45a0-b64c-1c55f3c1f47e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2010/11/jane-goodall-celebrates-50-years-activism | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397748.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00180-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938893 | 948 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Another term for termite.
- The skeletons of outsized Victorian sofas and armchairs lies dotted around the parquet floors, their chintz entirely eaten away by white ants.
- Apart from the problems with the Tiwi Aborigines there were the white ants and the occasional cyclone which made life rather difficult.
- The lodge is built from cypress pine, a standard building material in the mallee country, due largely to its resistance to white ants.
For editors and proofreaders
Syllabification: white ant
Definition of white ant in:
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed. | <urn:uuid:7dc6e94d-2d15-4b29-b90d-9971a4aa1fb9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/white-ant | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00190-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918065 | 150 | 2.671875 | 3 |
changes color to show the population of enslaved and free blacks in the North vs. the South. Students can read actual interviews with ex-slaves, including a few who escaped on the Underground Railroad. Afterwards, students are encouraged to imagine their own stories and write their narrative online, which could potentially appear on Scholastic.com.
The Scholastic teacher’s activity guide includes a collection of images, documents, and interviews of people who lived through this historic time and also a lesson plan helping to explain the Fugitive Slave Act of 1854.
Renita Burns also reported for this story. | <urn:uuid:c27d8954-1191-450b-ba93-2f2cdd2317dd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.blackenterprise.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/online-lesson-plans-make-black-history-interactive/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00172-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95794 | 123 | 3.765625 | 4 |
Ability to resist invaders | Researchers hope to find animals with chromosomes that offer nematode resistance
VANCOUVER — The growing problem of parasites resistant to chemical treatments might have a genetic solution.
Farmers need a long-term strategy to enhance an animal’s ability to tolerate the negative effects of worms and eventually develop resistance through genetic selection or vaccines, says French researcher Nathalie Mandonnet of Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA).
An animal has two mechanisms to defend itself against parasites: tolerating the infestation or either preventing its entry or expelling it once it gets inside.
“There is a lot of knowledge, but depending on the population of parasites, the mechanism of resistance is not always the same,” Mandonnet told the World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production, which was held in Vancouver Aug. 17-22.
Early animals could live with parasites, but the balance of nature was disrupted once they were domesticated and selected for better growth and other economically valuable traits. Researchers think that genetics could restore the equilibrium between host and parasite.
Certain tropical breeds of goats and sheep are known to have parasite resistance.
However, genomic information is limited, especially for goats. As well, a single animal may have to fight off a number of different worm species.
Nevertheless, farmers could look for resistant strains of animals and introduce integrated control that could include drugs to fight parasites.
“The farmer has to combine two or three solutions,” Mandonnet said.
Producers could also try grazing two different species or breeds of animals in a single pasture as well as offer improved nutrition. This helps reduce the effects of parasite loads because the animals are consequently healthier and more productive.
Resistance has also been found against gastrointestinal parasites in certain breeds of sheep, said Valentina Riggio of the Roslin Institute and the University of Edinburgh.
European researchers have found some spots on sheep DNA that appear to offer resistance to parasites. They found markers near chromosome 13 as well as other chromosomes that may offer resistance to parasites that sheep pick up when they graze pastures.
“We did identify regions of interest for resistance to nematodes in Scottish Blackface sheep,” Riggio said.
“We were curious to see if we could identify chromosomal regions across populations.”
Selection for nematode resistance has mainly been based on the use of fecal egg counts. However, this is costly and time consuming and may not indicate which worms the animals picked up. A better approach would be to select animals that carry resistance.
Data was collected on 750 Scottish Blackface lambs, 2,370 Sarda-Lacaune backcross ewes, 1,000 Martinik Blackbelly-Romane cross lambs and 64 Texel lambs. The animals came from different environments, which was done to see if animals might develop resistance on a regional basis.
All animals were genotyped using a 50k SNP chip.
Some SNPs were found to be im-portant for more than one trait within the same parasite species, although the significance varied with the trait. Researchers found eight SNPS associated with strongyles and nematodes, common worms that infest livestock.
Research showed it was easier to predict resistance to parasites when the animals were closely related, but with current technology it was less successful in finding resistance genes among crossbreds. | <urn:uuid:bfd8c28a-b9b4-4089-b346-c45c964f0b99> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.producer.com/2014/08/experts-study-genetic-parasite-resistance/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00065-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957427 | 712 | 3.34375 | 3 |
The Irish Monasteries
The Irish Church was largely independent of the structure and influence of Rome; hence it developed along its own, idiosyncratic lines. At the heart of the Irish Church were the Irish Monasteries, which served as the center of both religious and social life in Ireland. The typical monastery was like a small village, with huts and small houses surrounding the central church. Here the Irish monks dedicated themselves to the preservation of western classical learning.
In the 12th century, the great European monastic orders were introduced to Ireland: the Cistercians, Franciscans, Dominicans, and Augustinians built enormous monasteries, abbeys, and priories throughout Ireland. Cromwell's razing of the Irish countryside and the Catholic church in the 17th century destroyed many of these buildings, but their ruins remain today--evidence of an Ireland that is no longer.
Inisfallen Abbey, founded in the early 7th century. Located on a small island in the middle of Lough Leane, Co. Kerry, the Abbey is one of the great seats of Irish learning. Here the "Annals of Inisfallen," one of the crucial texts of early Irish history, was composed. Most of the current ruins date to the 12th century, but some much earlier remains can be found. | <urn:uuid:22d561b2-96c9-4549-9f49-869e99bcef22> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ireland.wlu.edu/irish_monasteries1.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398209.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00201-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974841 | 273 | 4 | 4 |
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Constraints on sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa
Constraints on sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa are legion. Some are general and others are sectoral or specific. Some are local while others are national or regional. It must also be admitted that, prior to the adoption of the current sustainable development paradigm, Sub-Saharan Africa lagged behind other regions in food security, standard of living, and various aspects of development. Consequently, the adoption of a new development paradigm that places more emphasis on environmental resource conservation does not eliminate the existing constraints on development. Rather it requires more interdisciplinary or systems approaches, greater sensitivity to environment in policies, strategies, planning, and execution of development programmes, and stringency in defining the characteristics and nature of technologies that can be used to ensure the maintenance of environmental quality and the conservation of natural capital stock, which is imperative for sustainable development.
The general constraints on sustainable development are political, socio-economic, and technological in nature.
THE COLONIAL LEGACY. At the time when explorers established contact with Africa and pushed further inland and developed a lucrative trade in spices, ivory, and forest products in exchange for alcohol and various manufactured goods, the prevailing development ideology in Europe was based on the Old Testament idea expressed in Genesis that God gave man "dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Consequently, it was generally believed that humans had the right to exploit the natural resources of Africa and other parts of the world as desired. No serious effort was made to conserve natural resources until late in the eighteenth century when it was observed that with the extinction of the dodo in Mauritius it became necessary for measures to be taken to ensure the survival of diverse species of organisms through the establishment of reserves. The establishment of colonial spheres of influence and the arrival of Christianity, which in some areas preceded colonial administrations, dealt a death blow to the appreciation of even ecologically sound sustainable traditional or indigenous resource management strategies, practices, systems, attitudes, and behaviour patterns in African culture. This was most pronounced where these practices were applied as taboos associated with traditional African religion. It is not surprising, therefore, that taboos dealing with hunting and fishing were abolished outright and in agriculture such practices as intercropping were regarded as primitive. With colonialism came changes in the African perspective of looking at things, Westernization, and the propensity for consumption patterns of a more materialistic kind that are satisfied only with imports of food and manufactured goods, leading to increasing dependence on the developed countries.
POLITICAL INSTABILITY. NO sustainable development can be achieved in Sub-Saharan Africa with the kind of endemic political instability that has been the order of the day since independence in the 1960s. The instability is not unrelated to the artificial boundaries cutting across ethnic groups or groupings of incompatible people in the same country. Although inter-tribal wars were in existence before colonial administrations were established, there are indications that Europeans actually encouraged inter-tribal conflicts that supplied captives or prisoners to be sold in the slave trade. Moreover, the divide-andrule policies prior to independence often led to incompatibilities and unequal development among different areas or peoples lumped together in the same country. Coups and frequent changes in government have resulted in inconsistencies in policies and development programmes and a lack of continuity in development activities, all of which are incompatible with sustainable development. Figure 7.5 shows the extent of political instability in African countries, as indicated by the numbers of military regimes, by civil strife, and by stages in the democratization process.
CORRUPTION AND DEFICIENCIES IN GOVERNANCE. It has been indicated earlier that one aspect of modernization is the collusion between the elite or politicians in power in African countries with businessmen or agents of the former colonial powers and, in fact, other countries to ensure that certain development activities are executed in ways that are of mutual benefit to the individuals or businesses involved, often to the detriment of the common people in the African countries concerned. It is also well known that, while some African countries are unable to allocate funds to vital development projects, some of the politicians are busy stashing millions of dollars of ill-gotten money in Swiss banks or in investments in property in foreign countries. Related problems are a lack of accountability, waste, and a lack of grass-roots democratic institutions and participation in decision making. In the past, more emphasis was given to top-down approaches to extension work and development programme execution. It is only recently that emphasis is being given to bottom-up participatory approaches.
Fig. 7.5 Stage of democratization, civil stability, and economic status of African countries, October 1992 (Source: L 'Express, Paris, 8 October 1992))
DEFICIENCIES IN PLANNING. Sustainable development necessitates the adoption of holistic or systems approaches, which call for multidisciplinary interaction involving all relevant disciplines and ministries simultaneously working together in the planning process in an integrated manner. In sustainable development, environmental concerns are best integrated into the programme at the planning stage, when measures are taken to ensure the compatibility of all sectoral plans and the integration of environmental and developmental concerns at all stages. This necessitates special training and orientation of all concerned.
INAPPROPRIATE POLICIES AND STRATEGIES. Concern about the environment must be embodied in development policies and strategies. In other words, policies must be formulated in relation to the objectives to be achieved, and the strategies to be adopted must aim at a range of alternative strategy options that ensure conservation of resources and as far as possible enhancement of the quality of the resource base.
DEFICIENCIES IN LEGAL AND LEGISLATIVE SUPPORT OF DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES. There is need for economic incentives and legal and legislative instruments as a back-up for development projects in which maintenance of environmental quality and the conservation of resources are given high priority. Without such instruments, it would be difficult to ensure the achievement of resource conservation and environmental quality and to take the necessary measures to enforce compliance. In developing such legal and legislative instruments, it would be necessary to develop appropriate guidelines based on ecological and economic principles.
LACK OF EFFECTIVE REGIONAL INTEGRATION AND COLLABORATION ;IN DEVELOPMENT. Since the 1960s when many African countries became independent, all regional R&D organizations such as the CCTA (Commission for Technical Cooperation in Africa), EAFFRO (East African Freshwater Fisheries Research Organization), and related inter-territorial research organizations have broken down. Yet, with the small size of many countries, the limited resources available, the potentialities for sharing information, and experience and participation in R&D activities of mutual interest, there is no reason why African countries should be more strongly linked to their former colonial masters than to their African neighbours. This is the case not only in trade but sometimes also in the sharing and exchange of information on natural resources management and utilization. Even political and economic organizations such as OAU (Organization of African Unity), ECA (Economic Commission for Africa), and ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) rarely function as well as intended.
Socio-economic constraints on sustainable development include deficiencies in education and training, the lack of an effective campaign of public enlightenment and orientation, poverty, unfavourable economic conditions, and limitations in financial support.
Doubts continue to be expressed about the relevance of African education at all levels to the requirements of human resource and institutional capacity-building for innovative R&D in African countries. Sustainable development calls for environmental education at all levels and the development of appropriate curricula in science and technology embodying various aspects of natural resources conservation and management. The recommended ratio of 60:40 of students in science and technology to arts and humanities, respectively, in African schools and universities is rarely achieved at all levels in any African country. There are also deficiencies in the education of women, with the number of women at all levels far below the number of men, especially in the sciences.
With the change in development paradigm, there is a need for a public enlightenment campaign aimed at creating better awareness about sustainable development, what it is, what it entails, and the role of the masses in ushering it in sooner rather than later in Africa. Special training courses need to be developed in environmental monitoring, resources inventorying, and environmental impact assessment.
The prevailing poverty and adverse economic conditions in African countries owing to heavy debt burdens, unfavourable economic effects of structural adjustment, and two decades of continuing decline in commodity prices have left African countries with limited funds to maintain adequate levels of relevant R&D activities, to purchase, repair, and replace scientific equipment, as well as to acquire journals and literature in relevant scientific disciplines.
Development involves the application of science and appropriate technologies to the conservation, management, processing, and rational utilization of natural resources. Since most African countries have neither the critical mass of trained personnel in many fields and at different levels, nor the institutional capacity for the generation and adaptation of technologies in order to make them appropriate for executing development programmes, self-reliance and success in development have eluded them. In the past, many development projects have been either disappointing or total failures owing to attempts at horizontal transfer of technologies and use of inappropriate technologies in location-specific situations. Moreover, because sustainability was not an explicit objective of development projects, no serious effort was made to choose and develop technologies that ensure economic viability, ecological soundness, and cultural acceptability.
Specific or sectoral constraints
In addition to the above general constraints on sustainable development, there are sectoral constraints on agriculture, including forestry and fisheries, industrial development, and mining.
Constraints on agriculture
The major constraints on sustainable agricultural production in tropical Africa are physico-chemical, biological, and socio-economic in nature. They are listed in table 7.4.
Constraints on industrial development
Constraints here are of three types, namely: environmental and natural resource constraints, technical and technological constraints, and socio-economic constraints.
The environmental and natural resource constraints include: high levels of environmental pollution and an inability or lack of means
Table 7.4 Constraints on agricultural production in tropical Africa
|Unfavourable climatic conditions include:|
|- rainfall that is unreliable in onset, duration, and intensity|
|- unpredictable periods of drought, floods, and environmental stresses|
|- reduced effective rainfall on sandy soils and steep slopes|
|- high soil temperature for some crops and biological processes (N-fixation)|
|- high rates of decomposition and low level of organic matter|
|- cloudiness and reduced photosynthetic efficiency|
|Most soils of the humid and subhumid tropics|
|- are intensely weathered, sandy, and low in clay|
|- have very low cation exchange capacity (CEC) and thus also less active colloidal complex|
|- have very low inherent fertility (except on hydromorphic and young volcanic soils)|
|- have very high acidity and sometimes high surface temperatures|
|- are extremely subject to multiple nutrient deficiencies and toxicities under continuous cultivation|
|- have very high P-fixation|
|- are extremely leached, and thus at high risk of erosion under prevailing rainstorms|
|- have serious salinity problems under poor irrigation management|
|- unimproved crops and livestock|
|- low yields and low potential|
|- susceptibility to disease and pests|
|- high incidence of disease, pests, and weeds owing to environment that favours these phenomena|
|- drastic environmental changes, brought about by human activities that have adverse effects on ecological equilibrium|
|- small farm size, more drastically reduced by population pressure|
|- unfavourable land tenure systems, often resulting in fragmentation of holdings|
|- shortage of labour|
|- lack of credit and low income|
|- poor marketing facilities and pricing structure|
|- high cost and extreme scarcity of inputs|
|- poor extension services|
|- illiteracy and superstition, which sometimes hamper adoption process|
|- poor transportation|
|- inappropriateness of inputs|
|- lack of package approach to technology, development, and use|
Source: Okigbo (1982).
for enforcing safety standards; dependence on imports for a substantial proportion of raw materials and equipment needed in industries; and limited allocation of resources for the conservation of natural capital stock and environmental protection.
Technological and technical constraints include: dependence on imported equipment, which often does not meet safety standards in the originating countries; lack of adequate capabilities for the maintenance and repair of equipment; deficiencies in human resources development, experience, and training; and limited research in promoting energy efficiency and the use of alternative energy resources.
Socio-economic constraints consist of: a lack of clear-cut industrial policies and strategies for sustainable development; high priority given to heavy industries at the expense of agricultural and light industries based on available renewable natural resources; high priority given to the achievement of rapid economic growth at the expense of environmental quality; limitations in industrial managerial experience; inability to monitor, control, and enforce environmental safety standards, and deficiencies in legal and economic instruments to support these; use of subsidies to promote practices that are environmentally degrading; the existence of poverty among large segments of the population, with markedly unequal distributions of wealth; and deficiencies in legal provisions for the protection of workers and for ensuring a safe and healthy work environment.
Constraints on mineral industry development
Constraints on sustainable development in the mining industry, as in industry, consist of environmental and resource constraints, technological and technical constraints, and socio-economic constraints.
Environmental and natural resource constraints consist of: a lack of adequate environmental safeguards to minimize environmental damage and degradation, especially in several sectoral development activities including road construction and open-cast mining; the fact that mining activities and practices sometimes cause gullies and considerable damage to the landscape and surrounding useful land; deficiencies in laws and regulations concerning the safety and protection of workers; considerable amounts of sediments and waste released into rivers and streams where they pollute the environment; limited provision for environmental rehabilitation of mined sites.
Technical and technological constraints may arise because mining, except for semi-precious stones, is often under the monopolistic control of multinational companies that conduct very little research and training in the host countries. The main constraints include: a lack of improved technologies for small-scale mining; limited endogenous capabilities for exploration and mining R&D activities; the monopolization by multinationals of information on reserves and characteristics of mineral resources; limited research on the rehabilitation and afforestation of mined sites; limited capabilities for attaining a reasonable level of minerals-based manufacturing to ensure the realization of the benefits of the value-added.
Socio-economic constraints include: deficiencies in policies that give multinationals control of relevant information on mineral resources; limited capabilities in mineral resource economics and the ecological economics of mineral resources; deficiencies in legal instruments; deficiencies in policy research; a lack of provision for the effective monitoring of environmental impact and the enforcement of regulations; frequent fluctuations in commodity market prices; and the social problems of female-headed households resulting from the migration of men to mines in southern Africa.
Sustainable development in Africa can be achieved only where appropriate policies, strategies, and priorities in research and development are carefully chosen and adhered to with the continuous commitment and allocation of resources and the creation of an enabling environment by governments. The elements of necessary ingredients for such sustainable development are briefly summarized below.
The adoption of a holistic or systems approach in planning, policies, and R&D
Sustainable development applies to the conservation, management, and rational utilization of natural resources in such a way as to maintain the integrity of each ecosystem, support all life, ensure no loss in biodiversity, and prevent environmental degradation. This calls for compatibility in sectoral development programmes in such a way that activities in any one sector do not have adverse environmental impacts, which would make it difficult to achieve the desired sustainable management of resources in any other sector now and in the future. For this to be successful it must involve the interaction of relevant disciplines in the planning and policy formulation stages, and in all stages of research and development (R&D) activities at local, national, regional, and global levels.
Conservation and development
There is need in all countries to adopt an environmental perspective in the management of natural resources in development programmes so as to ensure that conservation goes hand in hand with development in order to enhance sustainability. Conservation is defined as "the rational use of the earth's resources to achieve the highest quality of living for mankind" (UNESCO/FAO 1968), with the additional qualification that the quality of life also should apply to humans and to other organisms since this is the way to ensure conservation of biodiversity. When environmental quality is good for the survival of humans and other organisms then it is obvious that the environment is being given the due consideration it deserves in development if the earth is to function largely as a self-regulating planet.
Sustainable development calls for the adoption of a holistic and integrated approach in natural resource management. Opportunities for this exist in the following situations:
The adoption of an integrated land-use plan in which integrated watersheds as units for planning and development are a component entails the development of a master plan that provides for all the competing multiple land-use options, ranging from land for wildlife reserves and forest plantations to land for mining and human settlement, at least at national and regional levels.
Traditional and modern systems and technology
The integration of traditional, modern, and emerging resource management systems and technologies is one way of ensuring the relevance of technologies to the farmer's needs and circumstances, thereby facilitating rapid and widespread adoption. It involves the integration of desirable compatible elements of the different technologies in order to achieve sustainability. This approach also ensures that systems of production and their component technologies are ecologically sound, economically viable, and culturally acceptable.
Cropping systems and animal production systems
The integration of production systems involving, for example, the integration of arable (field) crop production with agro-forestry species in hedgerows and sometimes also with livestock into agrisilvopastoral systems can achieve a wider spectrum of objectives than can any of the systems alone.
Pest and disease management systems
Reliance on environment-polluting pesticides and chemical control in pest management can be minimized by mixing different strategies that interact synergistically to produce the desired effects. The combination of compatible chemical, biological, physical, and/or cultural methods in the control of pests and diseases aims to reduce reliance on any one method that, when used alone, may have adverse environmental effects - e.g. using a resistant variety and a few sprays of dilute chemical pesticide, instead of high concentrations and several sprays of more pesticides, which causes environmental pollution.
Species of crops and/or animals
Growing different species of crops or using different species of animals can ensure higher and more stable yields over time than growing only one commodity.
Alternative energy systems
It is necessary to develop alternative energy systems because reliance on fuelwood as the main energy source will not only lead to depletion of fuelwood resources and deforestation but also cause erosion and desertification.
Monitoring of resources and environment
For sustainable development to succeed, there must be monitoring of the status of various natural resources and analyses of the data in order to predict the likely consequences of environmental change in the future. Related to this is the inventorying of natural resources so as to determine changes in biodiversity causes and remedial measures.
Regulatory and guidance measures
Monitoring provides the basis for legislation and enforcement measures for protecting the environment. The results can also be used to guide actions to be taken or to enforce related laws and regulations.
Education, training, and orientation priorities
The existing educational curriculum needs to be modified so as to facilitate the provision of environmental education at different levels and the provision of training in environmental monitoring and assessment, in addition to orientation of the public so as to enhance popular participation in sustainable development projects. Any effort aimed at combating the development of inappropriate attitudes or standards as a result of the influence of the media can best be achieved through the educational system, formally or informally.
The above strategies are by no means exhaustive. It would be necessary to take appropriate measures to see that there are in place policies, strategies, technologies, systems, and other actions that are needed for combating or eliminating any of the constraints identified above.
Benneh, G. 1993. Population, environment and sustainable development in Africa. Paper presented at the General Conference and 25th Anniversary Celebration of the AAU, University of Ghana, Legon, 13-18 January.
Chapman, J. D. 1969. Interactions between man and his resources. In: Committee on Resources and Man, NAS-NRC, Resources and Man: A Study and Recommendations. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman, pp. 31-42.
Constanza, R. 1991. The ecological economics of sustainability: Investing in natural capital. In: R. Goodland, H. Daly, S. el Seraty, and B. von Droste (eds.), Environmentally Sustainable Economic Development: Building on Brundtland. Paris: UNESCO, pp. 83-92.
Daly, H. E. 1991. From empty world to full world economics: Recognising an historical turning point in economic development. In: R. Goodland, H. Daly, S. el Serafy, and B. von Droste (eds.), Environmentally Sustainable Economic Development: Building on Brundtland. Paris: UNESCO, pp. 29-40.
Droste, B. von and P. Dogse. 1991. Sustainable development: The role of investment. In: R. Goodland, H. Daly, S. el Seraty, and B. von Droste (eds.), Environmentally Sustainable Economic Development: Building on Brundtland. Paris: UNESCO, pp. 71-82.
Dube, S. C. 1988. Modernization and Development - The Search for Alternative Paradigms. Tokyo: UNU, and London: Zed Books.
Goodland, R. 1991. The case that the world has reached limits: More precisely that current throughput growth in global economy cannot be sustained. In: R. Goodland, H. Daly, S. el Serafy, and B. von Droste (eds.), Environmentally Sustainable Economic Development: Building on Brundtland. Paris: UNESCO, pp. 15-28.
Goodland, R., H. Daly, S. el Serafy, and B. von Droste (eds.) 1991. Environmentally Sustainable Economic Development: Building on Brundtland. Paris: UNESCO.
Holdgren, J. P., G. C. Daily, and P. R. Ehrlich. 1995. The meaning of sustainability: Bio-geophysical aspects. In: M. Munasinghe and W. Shearer (eds.), Defining and Measuring Sustainability: The Biophysical Foundations. Tokyo: United Nations University Press, and Washington D.C.: World Bank.
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IUCN/UNEP/WWF. 1991. Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN/UNEP/WWF.
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Okigbo, B. N. 1982. Agriculture and food production in tropical Africa. In: The Development Effectiveness of Food Aid in Africa. New York: Agricultural Development Council, pp. 11 68.
Ominde, S. H. 1977. The integration of environmental and development planning for ecological crisis areas in Africa. In: K. W. Deutsch (ed.), Eco-social Systems and Eco-politics. Paris: UNESCO, pp. 115-130.
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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cuyahoga Community College has received a $1.18 million grant from the National Science Foundation to prepare Cleveland Metropolitan School District students for technological careers.
Tri-C’s Youth Technology Center will administer the grant for SAY-YES!, the STEM Academy for Youth featuring Youth Essential Skills.
The three-year project, which began this month, focuses on high-risk, underrepresented high school students. They will be enrolled in college-level courses and after-school activities, including math and robot programming. Mentors will help them with courses and advise them on how to continue on to a two- or four-year degree in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
High school teachers will receive technical training in teaching STEM courses, Tri-C said.
“We are pleased to partner with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District for this innovative project, which is designed to enable high school students to successfully pursue post-secondary STEM studies when they arrive in college, rather than enrolling in remedial coursework,” Tri-C President Alex Johnson said in a news release.
This is the third National Science Foundation award the Tri-C Foundation has received for its Youth Technology Academy since 2006. Its first award, Robotics Corridor Collaborative, an after-school robotics and math program, motivated high school students to pursue technical and engineering studies.
Its second award, Cleveland’s Pathway to Engineering Degrees, started last year. It includes summer activities and will provide a path from high school to associate degree to bachelors degree in technical and engineering programs.
Tri-C said 10,000 students in northeast Ohio participate in its youth and early college programs while in high school. | <urn:uuid:0e3d776e-c85b-4a7f-ac39-da49ef40c431> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/08/cuyahoga_community_college_rec_1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00188-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962271 | 355 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Gypsophila.—Of value for table bouquets, etc. They will grow in any soil, but prefer a chalky one. The herbaceous kinds are increased by cuttings; the annuals are sown in the open either in autumn or spring. They bloom during July and August. Height, 1 ft. to 3 ft.
Habrothamnus.—These beautiful evergreen shrubs require greenhouse culture, and to be grown in sandy loam and leaf-mould. The majority of them flower in spring. Height, 4 ft. to 6 ft.
Halesia Tetraptera (Snowdrop Tree).—This elegant shrub will grow in any soil, and may be propagated by cuttings of the roots or by layers. The pendent white flowers are produced close to the branches in June. Height, 8 ft.
Hamamelis (Witch Hazel).—An ornamental shrub which will grow in ordinary soil, but thrives best in a sandy one. It is increased by layers. May is its season for flowering. Height, 12 ft. to 15 ft. H. Arborea is a curious small tree, producing brownish-yellow flowers in mid-winter.
Harpalium Rigidum.—A hardy perennial, producing very fine yellow flowers in the autumn. It will grow in any good garden soil, and may be propagated by seed sown in early autumn, or by division of the roots. Height, 3 ft.
Hawkweed.—See “Crepis” and “Hieracium.”
Heaths, Greenhouse.—For their successful growth Heaths require a well-drained soil, composed of three parts finely pulverised peat and one part silver sand, free ventilation, and a careful supply of water, so that the soil is always damp. If they suffer a check they are hard to bring round, especially the hard-wooded kinds. Some of the soft-wooded Heaths, such as the H. Hyemalis, are easier of management. After they have flowered they may be cut hard back, re-potted, and supplied with liquid manure. The stout shoots thus obtained will bloom the following season. (See also “Ericas.”)
Hedychium Gardnerianum.—A hothouse herbaceous plant, delighting in a rich, light soil, plenty of room in the pots for the roots, and a good amount of sunshine. In the spring a top-dressing of rich manure and soot should be given. From the time the leaves begin to expand, and all through its growing stage, it needs plenty water, and an occasional application of liquid manure. The foliage should not be cut off when it dies, but allowed to remain on all the winter. While the plant is dormant keep it rather dry and quite free from frost. It may be increased by dividing the roots, but it blooms best when undisturbed. July is its flowering month. Height, 6 ft.
Hedysarum.—Hardy perennials, requiring a light, rich soil, or loam and peat. They may be raised from seed, or increased by dividing the roots in spring. H. Multijugum bears rich purple flowers. Height, 6 in. to 3 ft. | <urn:uuid:d118798f-63f8-4ba4-b8e0-83973254e129> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bookrags.com/ebooks/11892/67.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00138-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940585 | 693 | 2.671875 | 3 |
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Science Articles for Kids - Includes information about the Sun’s magnetic poles changing, space travel, a rare lobster, Kepler telescope problems and our science newsletter for kids.
Science Current Events – Sun’s Magnetic Poles are due to switch polarity soon.
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Current Events in Science – Kepler’s Space Telescope NASA’s top planet hunting telescope was launched on March 6, 2009 is having trouble and focusing on distance solar systems.
Science Trivia Science page includes information about the discovery of Pluto, cave formation, Mammoth Cave, our skeleton, Genghis Khan, industrial revolution, and much more.
Science Inventions A science studying electromagnetic radiation discovered radio waves that led to the use in RADAR in tracking ships.
Kids Science Newsletter Our FREE science newsletter is published each month during the school year. The newsletter includes science news, trivia, and a fun activity. | <urn:uuid:3cddd703-5c68-4555-83c7-583f2b9595e8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.kids-fun-science.com/science-articles-for-kids.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396459.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00005-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924195 | 584 | 3.453125 | 3 |
Tens of thousands of readers have studied and applied this practical guide to instruction in argumentation and communication since it was first published in 1961. In this fourth edition - the 50th Anniversary Edition - authors Jon M. Ericson, James J. Murphy, and Raymond Bud Zeuschner have made significant revisions to improve the depth, flow, and clarity of this popular debater's handbook.
With straightforward explanations and specific applications geared toward contemporary debate practice, this compact volume offers students and teachers clear-cut assistance in resolving the key problem faced by debaters: the need to present arguments forcefully and cogently while reacting effectively to criticism.
Beginning with a candid explanation of the basic principles of debate, The Debater's Guide then introduces the steps to building a case, from reviewing strategies for refutation and defense to engaging in cross-examination, solid research, and critical thinking. It advises readers on a wide range of important topics, from budgeting time in a debate to speaking in outline form by using a well-organized series of explanations, specific examples, and graphic presentations related to both policy and value issues. The authors apply these concepts to a variety of formats and situations commonly found in high school and collegiate debating.
Avoiding jargon and complex theory discussions, The Debater's Guide offers sound advice on presenting an effective case in oral discourse, helps students build their understanding of how and why debate functions, and provides a solid foundation for success in any format. This new edition is an excellent choice for classroom use as well as a valuable hands-on tool during debates.
©1987, 2003, 2011 The Board of Trustees, Southern Illinois University (P)2012 Redwood Audiobooks
Report Inappropriate Content
If you find this review inappropriate and think it should be removed from our site, let us know. This report will be reviewed by Audible and we will take appropriate action. | <urn:uuid:a3cec522-1a2e-4d7e-9ecf-d1e0908238bc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.audible.com/pd/Self-Development/The-Debaters-Guide-Fourth-Edition-Audiobook/B00AZ47BSU/ref=pd_rsp_tl_rd_4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397428.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00062-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9334 | 383 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Information for the Public
An Ebola public information line has been established by Carolinas Poison Center. The number is 1-800-222-1222, and callers should press 6 for questions about Ebola.
Ebola is only contagious after the onset of symptoms. The incubation period before symptoms may appear is 2-21 days, with 8-10 days being the most common. Ebola is spread through unprotected contact with blood or body fluids from someone who is infected. Anyone who becomes ill within 21 days after traveling to an affected area in West Africa should contact a healthcare provider right away and limit their contact with others until they have been evaluated.
Ebola is spread through direct contact (through broken skin or through your eyes, nose, or mouth) with
- Blood and body fluids (like urine, feces, saliva, vomit, sweat, and semen) of a person who is sick with Ebola.
- Objects (like needles) that have been contaminated with the blood or body fluids of a person sick with Ebola.
Ebola is not spread through the air, water, or food.
There is no FDA-approved vaccine available for Ebola. Experimental vaccines and treatments for Ebola are under development, but they have not yet been fully tested for safety or effectiveness.
Symptoms of Ebola
- Fever (greater than 38.6ºC or 101.5ºF)
- Severe headache
- Muscle pain
- Abdominal pain
- Unexplained bleeding or bruising
To protect yourself from Ebola
- DO wash your hands often with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
- Do NOT touch the blood or body fluids (like urine, feces, saliva, vomit, sweat, and semen) of people who are sick.
- Do NOT handle items that may have come in contact with a sick person’s blood or body fluids, like clothes, bedding, needles, or medical equipment.
- Do NOT touch the body of someone who has died of Ebola.
Have you been to an affected area or in contact with a potential Ebola case?
If you have been to Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, or Nigeria in the past month, there is a possibility that you may have been exposed to Ebola. All persons arriving in North Carolina who traveled to an affected region within 21 days and either had contact with a known or suspected Ebola case; worked in a healthcare setting in an affected region; or participated in funeral rites in an affected region should contact their local health department or the Communicable Disease Branch epidemiologist on call to undergo a thorough risk assessment.
Please complete the International Travel Self Reporting Form if you have been to an affected region, intend to travel to an infected region, or have been exposed to a potential Ebola Case.
CDC travel restrictions
CDC urges all US residents to avoid nonessential travel to Democratic Rebublic of Congo, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone because of unprecedented outbreaks in those countries. CDC recommends that travelers to these countries protect themselves by avoiding contact with the blood and body fluids of people who are sick with Ebola. For more detailed information, please visit the CDC Travel Health Notices webpage: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices.
Additional Ebola Information and Resources
- General Information About Ebola
- Ebola Fact Sheet
- Advice for Colleges, Universities and Students About Ebola in West Africa
- CDC on Ebola Outbreak
- Advice for Healthcare Workers | <urn:uuid:b8952494-f4fb-44f4-8ce0-5bc76276cbc8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.uncp.edu/site-section/environmental-health-safety | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402746.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00114-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924007 | 710 | 3.046875 | 3 |
The bulbs of Narcissus longispathus begin to sprout leaves and floral scapes in late February. Each individual bulb produces one scape, which bears a single, distinctive, bright yellow flower that blooms between March and late April to early May. The flower lasts for around 17 days (3) (4) (8).
The flowers of Narcissus longispathus are ‘self-compatible’, meaning that the flowers may be pollinated using pollen from the same flower, or from another flower on the same plant. More frequently, however, Narcissus longispathus is pollinated by small, solitary bees, such as Andrena bicolour, which inadvertently transfer pollen between different plants as they forage (4) (6) (8).
Narcissus longispathus develops fruits between April and May, which are usually shed by early June. The seeds are buoyant and have a thick coating, which means that while most seeds fall directly to the ground beneath the parent plant, some seeds may be dispersed by water (4). The flowers and fruits of Narcissus longispathus are often eaten by the caterpillar larvae of Trigonophora flammea, and by beetles such as Tropinota squalida (8). | <urn:uuid:4a06159a-0abc-4161-b7c9-e3ac79b72c58> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.arkive.org/narcissus/narcissus-longispathus/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404405.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00175-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9546 | 268 | 3.6875 | 4 |
Fall 2007 Issue
Live and Learn
Earlier this year, researchers from the American Cancer Society began enrolling 500,000 adults across the country in its Cancer Prevention Study-III (CPS-III).
The enrollment officially kicked off March 30 during Relay for Life on Barry University’s main campus, which was one of the first sites in the country to begin the enrollment. This historic study will help the American Cancer Society better understand the lifestyle, environmental and genetic factors that cause or prevent cancer, and hopefully eliminate cancer as a major health concern for future generations.
CPS-III will build on data from three previous studies from the American Cancer Society, the first of which began in the 1950s. These studies, which include Hammond-Horn, CPS-I, and CPS-II, have played a major role in the understanding of cancer prevention and contributed significantly to scientific literature as well as the development of public health guidelines and recommendations.
The American Cancer Society estimates that nearly 1.4 million people living in the U.S. will be diagnosed with cancer in 2007, and that nearly 565,000 will die from the disease. Scientific evidence suggests that about one-third of cancer deaths are related to nutrition, physical inactivity, and overweight or obesity. | <urn:uuid:c6e01ba9-4caa-44a9-9ada-1c4b228a6a46> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.barry.edu/magazine/fall2007/headliners/livelearn.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396959.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00006-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961038 | 258 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Hundreds of home videos along with thousands of miniature banners have been stowed aboard NASA's first test flight of a rocket designed to replace the space shuttle. Their journey onboard the Ares I-X will be lofted by a booster assembled from parts previously flown on 30 shuttle missions, including the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Scheduled to lift off Tuesday morning, weather permitting, from a modified shuttle launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Ares I-X development flight test will not enter space. Rather, the two-stage rocket will follow a 28-mile-high, five-minute flight profile while more than 700 sensors record the vehicle's performance.
Only the Ares I-X first stage, a four-segment solid rocket booster borrowed from the shuttle program and amended with a simulated fifth segment to replicate the Ares I flight configuration, is to be recovered after it parachutes to an ocean splashdown. The second stage, which is made up of mockups including a simulated Orion crew exploration vehicle and launch abort tower, will be left to sink into the Atlantic.
As NASA's first opportunity to test a new rocket designed to carry astronauts to orbit, the primary goal of Ares I-X is to collect data needed to validate the agency's computer and wind tunnel models, while giving the team experience with preparing and handling a booster other than the space shuttle, which will be retired over the next year or two.
Dubbed the "first flight of a new era," the symbolic nature of the Ares I-X launch has not escaped NASA's attention.
From the top...
Standing 327 feet tall, Ares I-X is the tallest rocket now in service, rivaled only by the U.S. Saturn V and Soviet N-1 moon boosters last flown in the 1970s.
Giving Ares I-X much of its height is its upper stage built from steel "tuna can" rings stacked atop each other and topped by empty replicas of the capsule and escape tower that would support an astronaut crew. Although it is to be lost at sea, this upper stage simulator (USS) also carries the most visible markings identifying the rocket as part of NASA's new Constellation program in the form of four six- foot emblems.
Positioned under an equally large American flag decal and below the NASA insignia are three emblems designed for the space agency by graphic artist Mike Okuda, who is perhaps best known for his design work on multiple "Star Trek" television series and movies. Though not the first of his emblems to fly on a spacecraft, Ares I-X will be the first vehicle to fly emblazoned with Okuda's Constellation, Ares and Ares I-X logos.
"I can't tell you how proud it makes me to help represent all the men and women who have worked so hard on this program and this flight test," shared Okuda in an e-mail to collectSPACE.com. "Honestly, I never expected to see any of these emblems on actual flight hardware, and it was a real thrill when I first learned that they'd be on this vehicle."
While the other logos may go on to fly on other rockets, at the bottom of the line of emblems is the blue, red, yellow, gold and white insignia that Okuda specifically designed for Ares I-X.
"The emblem is an attempt to illustrate the tremendous propulsive power required for space flight," he said of his design, which features a view from below Ares I-X as it lifts off. "[It] is intended to resemble the Ares project logo. However, the Ares I-X mission patch uses a circular background shape, to distinguish it from the rounded triangle used for the various [other] Constellation program emblems."
Above and behind the insignia decals inside the mockup crew capsule are markings of a different type, though also intended to represent the men and women who worked on the program.
"If you could go inside the rocket, most of the team at the very top of the crew module signed their name or left a message," Jon Cowart, Ares I-X deputy mission manager, revealed to collectSPACE.com. "I think my favorite one is 'Hello fishies, we come in peace.' So, when this thing hits the water and sinks to the bottom of the ocean, any of the literate fish will know."
...to the bottom
Though the team's signatures will be lost to the sea, they will not be without a memento of their work, added Cowart.
"We've also stowed on-board some flags," he said. "We've got enough in there to give most of the team members."
The 3,500 miniature banners were packed in the rocket's first-stage fifth-segment simulator, below the parachutes that will slow the splashdown and enable their recovery.
Continue reading at collectSPACE.com about the historic hardware that Ares I-X is fly atop, as well as the hundreds of home videos aboard.
- Video - Ares I-X Rocket Rolls to Launch Pad, Test Flight Plan
- What to Watch For During NASA's Ares I-X Rocket Test
- Video Show - NASA's Vision for Humans in Space
Copyright 2009 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:6bba8725-9782-44d0-828b-a4212032498f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.space.com/7450-nasa-ares-launch-historic-hardware-commemorative-payload.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00000-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945276 | 1,095 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Q: I have a pair of umbrella cockatoos that are 7 years old. The female has laid eggs twice, but they have been infertile. It is now springtime here, and the male is very aggressive. It seems as though the female does not want to go into the nest. The male enters the nest. Is something wrong?
Kashmir Csaky explains:
Yes, your hen might not be healthy or they are not cycling together, and the bond between them might not be strong. You have had two clutches of infertile eggs and the female is reluctant to go into the nest. This is an indication that the pair might not have successfully copulated in the past. When one bird is cycling faster than the other, the best way to get the birds in sync is to encourage them to work their nest. You can accomplish this by making the wooden opening to the nest box small so that the birds will have to chew at the opening to gain entrance. Thus slowing down the eager bird and stimulating the bird that is not ready to nest.
Getting cockatoos to cycle together is very important. When pairs are not cycling together, the males are more likely to kill their mates. The deaths normally take place inside the nest box, so the design of the box should allow the female an avenue of escape. A T-shaped nest box with two entrances on the front is not very effective. The male can stand between the entrances and prevent the female from exiting, trapping her at the bottom of the nest. A nest box with openings in the front of the box and on the side increases the odds that the hen can escape. Once they are able to go inside the nest, make certain that both entrances are large enough to allow for a quick escape. Place a divider in the middle of the box to help prevent trapping of the hen by an aggressive male. | <urn:uuid:f466a73e-ea0d-4572-972b-609b9444cc50> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.birdchannel.com/bird-breeders/bird-experts/kashmir-csaky/cockatoos-cycling.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00195-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969178 | 384 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Outlining Your Personal Needs
Exactly how much you should consume per hour in a race like a marathon is a function of several factors: how long you will be out there racing, how "hard" you'll be racing (intensity), the conditions of the race, and finally what you personally can eat with success.
Use the Marathon Carbohydrates Per Hour selection chart to identify a starting point for your calories per hour. The chart works by syncing calories per hour based on your intensity level. The harder you are running, in general, the fewer calories you are able to consume. Conversely, the longer you will be out on the course (4, 5 or 6+ hours), the more calories you will need over time to continue your effort.
The Green=Good label is the ideal place to start estimating your carbohydrate needs. The Light Green=Good/Light label is also okay, as it follows the "slightly lighter is better" approach, allowing you to add more nutrition as required. The Yellow / Orange / Red sections show how you move further out the carbohydrates/hour spectrum and at what point you might run into difficulty.
Testing Your Nutrition Plan
The chart above isn't perfect, and some of you will undoubtedly fall into an outlier position despite this plan based on experience and through coaching runners. Regardless, you won't know what's right for you until you actually test it out.
In order to properly test your nutrition plan, you need several things to be lined up. First, you need a long run of at least 90 minutes on the schedule. Second, you need to map out exactly how many calories you will be taking in to cover the duration of the run. Third, you'll need fluids to keep you hydrated and help you process the carbohydrates you are ingesting. Fourth, and final, you'll need a rhythm in which to take your food.
While everything else is simple, the rhythm is actually a critical part of how you'll proceed. From a hydration perspective, you should be taking in some water every 10 to 15 minutes minutes (as you feel thirsty). Your nutritional rhythm depends on how many calories you are taking in and in what form.
If you are opting for a gel form (easy to digest and carry), and you are looking at 200 calories per hour, then you can do:
- a 100 calorie gel every 30 minutes with water; water rest of the time.
- alternate water and 50 calories of sports drink every 15 minutes, with a 100 calorie gel at the 45-minute mark.
There is no one single right way to sync your fuel; create a plan and put it to the test in your next long run and then tweak it from there. You might need more water, fewer/more calories, different calories/flavors later in the day, perhaps even some caffeine to keep you sharp.
Your Nutrition Portability
Having nutrition is one thing; taking it with you is entirely different. Your plan is only as good as your ability to execute it, and odds are your long run route doesn't have permanent aid stations manned with volunteers and ice water. As such you'll need to plan out how to have access to your nutrition.
Option #1: I personally use and recommend The Fuel Belt, an elegant solution for carrying your fluid and caloric needs on a long run or even race day. There are multi-bottle options with different packs and pockets to hold all your stuff, and it doesn't bounce. You can learn more at www.fuelbelt.com and you can use the code MNation to save 20 percent off any purchase there.
Option #2: Use your car as a central point and run out/back or a butterfly pattern route to get the miles in without getting too far from your car.
Course Resource Research
Once you have a basic plan and have tested it out during multiple long runs, then you can begin to formulate a plan for race day. Remember that each race is different in terms of aid station placement and what they offer at each station, so be sure to check the official website. Then you can head out to the store and pick up the items so you can begin to incorporate those specific items into your own rhythm.
This is a critical part of your preparation as it will help you determine exactly what / how / when you'll be fueling on the big day. Note that it might take one or two long runs for your body to "like" the different fuel source, so don't give up on it right away.
Finding your personal fueling pattern isn't easy, but once you have built it out you can get down to the business of really racing and chasing your marathon potential.
Marathon Nation is the home of Coach Patrick and his real-world,pace-based marathon training system. Download one of our free resources, findyour personal marathon training schedule or share your training and racing with our growing community of runners. Find more quality articles and video analysis resources online at Marathon Nation: www.marathonnation.us.
Training for a marathon? Download our free PDF guide that will walk you through the most critical parts of the pre-marathon experience. You can register to download it from Marathon Nation.
Looking to improve your overall running? Download a free copy of our 29 Tips to Transform Your Running eBook. | <urn:uuid:9dd12d66-552a-44bd-b703-37d2a2b3e45a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.active.com/nutrition/Articles/How-to-Create-Your-Marathon-Nutrition-Plan.htm?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397213.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00126-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948765 | 1,087 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Confirmed: Sprawl and Bad Transit Increase Unemployment
Since the 1960s and the earliest days of job sprawl, the theory of “spatial mismatch” — that low-income communities experience higher unemployment because they are isolated from employment centers — has shaped the way people think about urban form and social equity.
But it’s also been challenged. The research supporting spatial mismatch has suffered from some nagging flaws. For example, many studies focused on job access within a single metropolitan area, so it wasn’t clear if the findings were universal. Other studies looked only at linear distance between jobs and low-income residents, not actual commute times. In addition, researchers including Harvard economist Ed Glaeser have argued that it’s difficult to determine whether neighborhood inaccessibility causes higher unemployment, or whether disconnected areas attract more people who have trouble finding work.
A new study [PDF] from researchers at the U.S. Census Bureau, the Comptroller of the Currency, and Harvard University, however, addresses those shortcomings and confirms the original theory of spatial mismatch: Geographic barriers to employment — sprawl, suburban zoning, poor transit — do indeed depress employment levels.
This carefully controlled study looked at a sample of 247,000 lower-income workers in nine U.S. metros in the Great Lakes region of the Midwest. The study only looked at low-income workers who had a consistent work background — in other words, few gaps in employment. The authors also limited the study to people who had been laid off as part of a mass downsizing following the recession, not people who parted with their employer voluntarily or through any fault of their own.
Researchers used local travel data to model morning rush hour commute times by both car and transit from different neighborhoods to job centers around the sample cities, creating a metric they call “neighborhood accessibility.” Controlling for other factors, they found that a 50 percent increase in neighborhood accessibility led to a 4.2 percent shorter period of unemployment overall. For job seekers who found work that paid at least 90 percent of what their old job did, the effect was larger — people in accessible places were unemployed for 7 percent less time than people in inaccessible places.
People able to commute long distances by car before being laid off found new jobs sooner, and were more likely to find a job that nearly replaced their previous income.
Black and Hispanic workers, women, and older workers were affected the most by spatial mismatch, the researchers found. While black people tend to live in neighborhoods with higher job accessibility by car, because they are more likely to live near downtown, researchers found that they are far more likely to rely on transit, which limited accessibility and put them at greater disadvantage.
In its coverage of the study, the Economist suggested that spatial mismatch — a problem imposed by a combination of job sprawl, suburban zoning, lack of affordable housing near job centers, and inadequate transit — is a “recipe for unemployment” in America, where most jobs are out of reach via transit.
Hat tip: David Stone | <urn:uuid:fbbc155e-872d-40e9-b6d7-79cfe6e68995> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://usa.streetsblog.org/2014/10/30/confirmed-sprawl-and-bad-transit-increase-unemployment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397562.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00172-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965548 | 629 | 2.578125 | 3 |
NASA is preparing to test an inflatable structure that might one day be used to establish an outpost on the Moon.
Created by NASA contractor ILC Dover LP, the pumped-up structure sits poised for tests at the agency's Langley Research Center in Virginia.
"Right now it is a concept demonstrator," said Inflatable Structures Project Leader Karen Whitley. "We use it for publicity and tours and exhibits for senior staff. We've had several congressmen come here to see it."
The inflatable structure is made of multilayer fabric and looks like an ungainly white robot with legs. The main unit is 12 feet in diameter and 18 feet tall. It has a volume of about 1,600 cubic feet and is connected to an airlock, also inflatable. The two spaces are essentially pressurized cylinders, connected by an airtight door.
Judith Watson, the Structure Material Mechanism project lead at Langley, said her team is drawing plans to conduct structural tests on the prototype in the coming months.
"We also want to look at logistics: how well this is actually going to package up, how much mass it actually has, how do you arrange the internal parts [to create] sleeping quarters, walls and floors," Watson told SPACE.com. "Those are some of the issues we're going to be tackling in the next year or two."
Inflatable structures are just one of the construction types NASA is considering for an outpost on the Moon.
"There are quite a few different options that they're looking at," Watson said. "They're not restricting themselves to expandable structures."
Whitley says the biggest advantage of expandable structures is they can be compressed into a small volume for launch.
NASA envisions a lunar outpost as being a testing ground in preparation for a longer journey to Mars.
"The idea behind us having an outpost on the Moon is to give us a chance to practice and learn before we go to Mars," Watson said. "The Moon is a lot closer...We have the ability to try out the technology in a safer environment before we send people on a three plus years mission to Mars, where they have no backup."
NASA says testing of inflatable habitats on the Moon could begin in 2020. As currently envisioned, a lunar outpost would begin with four-person crews making several seven-day visits to the Moon until their power supplies, rovers and living quarters are operational.
The mission would then be extended to two weeks, then two months and ultimately to 180 days.
In a related development, NASA will team up with the National Science Foundation to begin field testing of a similar inflatable structure in Antarctica either later this year or early next year.
NASA faces competition for setting up a lunar outpost from at least one private company. Austin's Stone Aerospace, Inc, in Texas recently announced plans tocreate a lunar mining station to prospect for frozen water and other resources by 2015.
Another company, Bigelow Aerospace, plans to launch free-floating modules to create an orbital habitat that could support visiting crews of up to three people by the end of the decade.
- VIDEO: Tour NASA's Inflatable Lunar Module Prototype
- Bigelow Aerospace Sets a Business Trajectory
- All About the Moon | <urn:uuid:f03d8e9e-1620-47f2-a455-d151a11da750> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.space.com/3613-nasa-tests-inflatable-lunar-shelters.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404405.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00003-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95306 | 673 | 3.140625 | 3 |
According to data, around one in 10 children aged between five and 16 is affected by some form of mental health problem, with more than a million children having some form of diagnosable mental health problem at any one time.
With research revealing that one in two adults with a mental health problem first experienced symptoms in their teenage years, and three-quarters before their mid-20s, it is hoped that this investment will go some way towards forming a solid early intervention strategy.
Ministers have said that the money will be spent over a three-year period and will focus on intervention so that conditions such as depression and self-harm can be dealt with in their early stages.
The government added that some of the money will also be spent on additional training for both NHS staff working with young people and teachers, social workers and counsellors whose job role involves working with the younger generation.
Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister has said that the issue can’t be left to drift or rely on adult services as a ‘cure all’ for much longer, and the money being invested today will work specifically for children on therapies that have been proven to work.
“Mental health must have the same priority as physical health. Giving children the treatment they need as soon as they need it will help ensure that millions of children suffering from a mental health problem will have a fairer opportunity to succeed in life.” He said. | <urn:uuid:01fb41fe-5328-44ef-86c0-bbf26466abed> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/blog/2012/03/01/the-government-pledge-to-invest-22m-in-child-mental-health-services/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00034-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982917 | 295 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Gabriel Metsu (January 1629, Leiden - buried Oct 24, 1667, Amsterdam), Dutch painter, was the son of the Flemish painter Jacques Metsu (c.1588-1629), who lived most of his days at Leiden, where he was three times married. The last of these marriages was celebrated in 1625, and Jacomijntje Garniers, herself the widow of a painter with already three children, gave birth to Gabriel.
According to Houbraken Metsu was taught by Gerard Dou, though his early works do not lend colour to this assertion. He was influenced by painters in Leiden like Jan Steen and Jan Lievens, later by Frans van Mieris the Elder.
Metsu was registered among the first members of the painters' corporation at Leiden; and the books of the guild also tell us that he remained a member in 1649. In 1650 he ceased to subscribe, and works bearing his name and the date of 1653 support the belief that he had moved to Amsterdam. In Leiden it was told Metsu left a brothel at six in the morning and took a prostitute to the Academia. Before he moved to Amsterdam Metsu was trained in Utrecht by Jan Baptist Weenix and Nicolaus Knüpfer. | <urn:uuid:dfae0f5e-1eca-49b3-a05c-866b44cc73c6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.gabrielmetsu.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397748.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00193-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986692 | 274 | 2.625 | 3 |
Marijuana and the Brain, Part II:
The Tolerance Factor
The architects of marijuana prohibition have long maintained that tolerance to cannabis means the same thing as tolerance to addictive drugs like cocaine and heroin - that users need more and more to get high, driving them to crime and desperation. Now, the federal government's own research indicates that precisely the opposite is true. Science has finally caught on to what tokers have known all along: With marijuana tolerance, you have to smoke less to get high! High Times correspondent Jon Gettman explains the latest findings and how they discredit the government's drug policy.by Jon Gettman
One of the safest qualities of THC, delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary psychoactive substance in marijuana, is the natural limit the body places on the drug's effects.
It has long mystified scientists how most individuals can consume enormous quantities of marijuana with few or no obvious ill effects. But the explanation will not surprise regular marijuana users.
Early researchers were often alarmed by this, believing that this tolerance was a warning sign of dependence or addiction. Tolerance generally describes the condition of requiring larger doses of a drug to attain consistent effects. While tolerance to marijuana has never exactly fit the classic definition, some form of tolerance to pot does develop.
Regular users of marijuana frequently claim that this tolerance reduces troublesome side effects, such as loss of coordination. They also claim that tolerance to marijuana develops without risk of dependence.
Cynics have argued that tolerance to marijuana is proof of dependence, and proof that the drug is too dangerous to be used safely and responsibly.
Science has finally proven otherwise. The cynics have been wrong, the pot-smokers have been right. Tolerance to marijuana is not an indication of danger or dependence.
This conclusion also adds credence to anecdotal accounts of marijuana's therapeutic benefits by patients suffering from serious illnesses.
YOUR BRAIN IS PROGRAMMED TO PROCESS POT
The recent discovery of a cannabinoid receptor system in the human brain has revolutionized research on marijuana and cannabinoids, and definitively proven that marijuana use does not have a dependence or addiction liability ("Marijuana and the Human Brain," March 1995 High Times). Marijuana, it turns out, affects brain chemistry in a qualitatively different way than addictive drugs.
Drugs of abuse such as heroin, cocaine, amphetamines, alcohol and nicotine affect the production of dopamine, an important neurotransmitter which chemically activates switches in the brain that produce extremely pleasurable feelings. Drugs that affect dopamine production produce addiction because the human brain is genetically conditioned to adjust behavior to maximize dopamine production. This chemical process occurs in the middle-brain, in an area called the striatum, which also controls various aspects of motor control and coordination.
Dr. Miles Herkenham of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and his research teams have made the fundamental discoveries behind these findings, and finally contradicted well-known marijuana cynic Gabriel Nahas of Columbia University. Supported in the 1980s by the antidrug group Parents Research Institute for Drug Education (PRIDE), Nahas has long argued that marijuana affects the middle-brain, justifying its prohibition.
Now Herkenham and his associates have proven that marijuana has no direct effect on dopamine production in the striatum, and that most of the drug's effects occur in the relatively "new" (in evolutionary terms) region of the brain - the frontal cerebral cortex. There is now biological evidence that far from being the "gateway" to abusive drugs, marijuana is instead the other way to get high - the safe way.
THC: DOSE AND EFFECT
The effects of marijuana share certain properties with all the other psychoactive drugs - stimulants, sedatives, tranquilizers and hallucinogens. Scientists are just now figuring out how marijuana users manipulate dosage and tolerance to manage those effects.
Small doses of THC provide stimulation, followed by sedation. Large doses of THC produce a mild hallucinogenic effect, followed by sedation and/or sleep. The effects of mild "hypnogogic" states produced by THC are often undetected, contributing to mood variations from gregariousness to introspection.
The effects of marijuana can be sorted into four categories. First, there are modest physical effects, such as a slight change in heart rate or blood pressure and changes in body temperature. Tolerance develops to these effects with familiarity and/or regular use.
Tolerance next develops to the depressant effects of marijuana, particularly to its effects on motor coordination. However, tolerance to these effects depends on the quality of the marijuana consumed as well as the frequency of use. THC is one of several cannabinoids in marijuana. While it is the only cannabinoid to produce the psychoactive or stimulative effects, another cannabinoid, named cannabinol (CBN), produces only the depressant effects. CBN is generally present in low-potency marijuana, or very old marijuana in which the THC has decayed; it accounts for the generally undesirable effects of bad pot. While cannabinol gets someone "stoned," THC gets them "high."
After a while, tolerance develops to even the stimulative effects of marijuana. Experienced users learn that there is an outer limit to how high they can get. Paradoxically, this limit can only be exceeded by lower consumption.
Patients who require marijuana for medical purposes generally discover what dose provides steady maintenance of therapeutic benefits and tolerance to the side effects, both depressant and stimulative.
MARIJUANA TOLERANCE: EQUILIBRIUM, NOT ADDICTION
Research into drug tolerance is in its infancy. There are actually three forms of tolerance. Dispositional tolerance is produced by changes in the way the body absorbs a drug. Dynamic tolerance is produced by changes in the brain caused by an adaptive response to the drug's continued presence, specifically in the receptor sites affected by the drug. Behavioral tolerance is produced by familiarity with the environment in which the drug is administered. "Familiarity" and "environment" are two alternative terms for what Timothy Leary called "set" and "setting" - the subjective emotional/mental factors that the user brings to the drug experience and the objective external factors imposed by their surroundings. Tolerance to any drug can be produced by a combination of these and other mechanisms.
Brain receptor sites act as switches in the brain. The brain's neurotransmitters, or drugs which mimic them, throw the switches. The basic theory of tolerance is that repeated use of a drug wears out the receptors, and makes it difficult for them to function in the drug's absence. Worn-out receptors were supposed to explain the connection of tolerance to addiction. This phenomenon has been associated with chronic use of benzodiazepines (Valium, Prozac, etc.), for example, but not with cannabinoids.
An alternative hypothesis about how dynamic tolerance to marijuana operates involves receptor "down-regulation," in which the body adjusts to chronic exposure to a drug by reducing the number of receptor sites available for binding. A 1993 paper published in Brain Research by Angelica Oviedo, John Glowa and Herkenham indicates that tolerance to cannabinoids results from receptor down-regulation. This, as we shall see, is good news. It means that marijuana tolerance is actually the brain's mechanism to maintain equilibrium.
THE N.I.M.H. TOLERANCE STUDY
Herkenham's team studied six groups of rats. They compared changes in behavioral responses with changes in the density of receptor sites in six areas of the brain. One group of rats was the control group, which were given the "vehicle" solution the other five rat groups received, but without any cannabinoids. In other words, the control rats got a placebo; the other rats got high. A second group was given cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive cannabinoid. The third group was given delta-9 THC. Three other groups were given different doses of a synthetic cannabinoid called CP-55,940, with a far greater ability to inhibit movement than delta-9 THC. CP-55-940, a synthetic isomer of THC, was developed as an experimental analgesic.
First, the study determined the effects of a single dose of each compound compared to the undrugged control group. Rats receiving the placebo and the CBD displayed no sign of effects. The animals receiving the psychoactive cannabinoids, THC and CP-55,940, "exhibited splayed hind limbs and immobility."
Anyone who has eaten too many pot brownies should have some idea of the condition of the rats after their initial doses. The human equivalency of the doses of THC used in this study would be in excess of a huge brownie overdose.
A single 10-milligram dose of nonpsychoactive CBD for a one-kg rat actually increased the density of receptor sites by 13% and 19% in two key areas of the brain: the medial septum/diagonal band region and the lateral caudate/putamen - both motor-control areas.
A single 10-mg dose of delta-9 THC had no change on receptor-site density. A single 10-mg dose of CP-55,940 produced a drop in the density of receptor sites, to 46% and 60% of the control group's levels.
The effect the drugs had on motor behavior was observed daily, and at the end of the study the rats were "sacrificed" (killed) and the density of the receptor sites in various areas of their brains was determined.
What effect did the daily injections have on the various rats' behavior? According to the researchers, "The animals receiving the highest dose of CP-55,940 tended to show more rapid return to control levels of activity than did the animals receiving the lowest dose, with the middle-dose animals in between."
The groups receiving CBD showed no changes in receptor-site density after 14 days. All the other groups exhibited receptor down-regulation of significant magnitudes.
The changes consistently followed a dose-response relationship, especially in regard to CP-55,940. The high-dose animals had the greatest decrease (up to 80%), the low-dose animals had the lowest reduction (up to 50%), and the middle-dose group exhibited an intermediate reduction (up to 72%). The delta-9 THC group exhibited receptor reductions of up to 48%, comparable to the lowest dose of CP-55,940.
The conclusions of the researchers: "It would seem paradoxical that animals receiving the highest doses of cannabinoids would show the greatest and fastest return to normal levels [of behavior]; however, the receptor down-regulation in these animals was so profound that the behavioral correlate may be due to the great loss of functional binding sites." In other words, when the rats had had "enough," their receptors simply switched off.
HOW TO STAY HIGH: LESS IS MORE
The NIMH tolerance study confirms what most marijuana smokers have already discovered for themselves: The more often you smoke, the less high you get.
The dose of THC used in the study was 10 mg per kilogram of body weight, a dose frequently used in clinical research. What is the equivalent of 10 mg/kg of THC in terms of human consumption?
While most users are familiar with varying potencies of marijuana, many are only vaguely aware of differences in the efficiency of various ways to smoke it. Clinical studies indicate that only 10 to 20% of the available THC is transferred from a joint cigarette to the body. A pipe is better, allowing for 45% of the available THC to be consumed. A bong is a very efficient delivery system for marijuana; in ideal conditions the only THC lost is in the exhaled smoke.
The minimum dose of THC required to get a person high is 10 micrograms per kilogram of body weight. For a 165-pound person, this would be 750 micrograms of THC, about what is delivered by one bong hit.
The THC doses used on the NIMH rats were proportionately ten times greater than what a heavy human marijuana user would consume in a day. Assuming use of good-quality, 7.5% THC sinsemilla, it would take something like 670 bong hits or 100 joints to give a 165-pound person a 10 mg-per-kg dose of THC.
Obviously, the doses used are excessive. But the study indicates that the body itself imposes an unbeatable equilibrium on cannabis use, a ceiling to every high.
According to Herkenham's team: "The result [of the study] has implications for the consequences of chronic high levels of drug use in humans, suggesting diminishing effects with greater levels of consumption."
Tolerance and the quality of the marijuana both affect the balance between the two tiers of effects: the coordination problems, short-term memory loss and disorientation associated with the term "stoned" and the pleasurable sensations and cognitive stimulation associated with the word "high."
The distinction between the two states is nothing unique. Alcohol, nicotine and heroin can all produce nausea when first used; this symptom also disappears as tolerance to the drug develops. To conclude that marijuana users consume the drug to get "stoned" would be as accurate as asserting that alcohol drinkers drink in order to vomit.
One result of the NIMH study is that there is now a clinical basis for characterizing the differences between these two tiers of effects. In clinical terms, the effects of one-time (or occasional) exposure are referred to as the acute effects of marijuana. Repeated use or exposure is referred to as chronic use.
In addition to the now-disproved claims of dependence, opponents of marijuana-law reform always refer to the acute effects of the drug as proof of its dangers. Prohibitionists believe that tolerance is evidence that marijuana users have to increase their consumption to maintain the acute effects of the drug. No wonder they think marijuana is dangerous!
Marijuana-law reform advocates, more familiar with actual use patterns and effects, always consider the effects of chronic use as their baseline for describing the drug. "Chronic use" is just regular use, and there is nothing sinister about regular marijuana use.
Most marijuana users regulate their use to achieve specific effects. The main technique for regulating the effects of marijuana is manipulating tolerance. Some people who like to get "stoned" on pot, which (unlike the initial side effects of other drugs) can be enjoyable. These people smoke only occasionally.
People who like to get "high" tend to smoke more often, and maintain modest tolerance to the depressant effects. But this is not an indefinite continuum. Just as joggers encounter limits, regular users of marijuana eventually confront the wall of receptor down-regulation. Smoking more pot doesn't increase the effects of the drug; it diminishes them.
The ideal state is right between the two tiers of effects. One of the great ironies of prohibition is that most marijuana users are left to figure this out for themselves. Most do, and strive for the middle ground. Some just don't figure it out, and this explains two behaviors which are identified as marijuana abuse.
First is binge smoking, often but not exclusively exhibited by young or inexperienced users who mistakenly believe that they can compensate for tolerance with excessive consumption. The second behavior these new findings on tolerance explain is the stereotype of the stoned, confused hippie. According to this NIMH study, tolerance develops faster with high-potency cannabinoids. People who have irregular access to marijuana, and to low-quality marijuana at that, do not have the opportunity to develop sufficient tolerance to overcome the acute effects of the drug.
Another popular misconception this study contradicts is that higher-potency marijuana is more dangerous. In fact, the use of higher-potency marijuana allows for the rapid development of tolerance. Earlier research by Herkenham established why large doses of THC are not life-threatening. Marijuana's minimal effects on heart rate are still mysterious, but there are no cannabinoid receptors in the areas of the brain which control heart function and breathing. This research further establishes that the brain can safely handle large, potent doses of THC.
Like responsible alcohol drinkers, most marijuana users adjust the amount of marijuana they consume - they "titrate" it - according to its potency. In the course of a single day, for example, the equilibrium is between the amount consumed and the potency of the herb. Tolerance achieves the same equilibrium; over time the body compensates for prolonged exposure to THC by reducing the number of receptors available for binding. The body itself titrates the THC dose.
TOLERANCE, DEPENDENCE AND DENIAL
Herkenham's earlier research mapping the locations of the cannabinoid brain-receptor system helped establish scientific evidence that marijuana is nonaddictive. This new tolerance study builds on that foundation by explaining how cannabinoid tolerance supports rather than contradicts that finding.
"It is ironic that the magnitude of both tolerance (complete disappearance of the inhibitory motor effects) and receptor down-regulation (78% loss with high-dose CP-55,940) is so large, whereas cannabinoid dependence and withdrawal phenomena are minimal. This supports the claim that tolerance and dependence are independently mediated in the brain."
In other words, tolerance to marijuana is not an indication that the drug is addictive.
Norman Zinberg, in 'Drug, Set and Setting' (Yale, New Haven, CT, 1984), explained that the key to understanding the use of any drug is to realize that three variables affect the situation: drug, set and setting. It is now a scientific finding that the pharmacological effects of marijuana do not produce dependency. The use and abuse of marijuana is a function of behavior - interrelated psychological and environmental factors.
Addictive drugs affect behavior through their effects on the brain "reward system" - the production of dopamine, linked to the pleasure sensation. This brain "reward system" has a powerful influence over behavior. Dependence-producing drugs - drugs that, unlike marijuana, affect dopamine production - eventually exert more influence on the user's behavior than any other factor. The effect of addiction on behavior is so profound as to create a condition called denial, in which someone will say or do anything to continue access to the drug.
Denial is a characteristic of drug abuse, and it is largely cultivated by the effects of various drugs on the brain reward system. Herkenham's research provides a clinical basis for claims that denial is not a characteristic of marijuana use.
THE POLICY IMPLICATIONS
This is devastating to opposition to the medical use of marijuana, which is solely based on challenges to the credibility of personal observations by patients exploiting marijuana's therapeutic benefits.
John Lawn, then-administrator of the DEA, had this to say in 1989 about the credibility of marijuana's medicinal users when he rejected the recommendation of Administrative Law Judge Francis Young that marijuana be made available for medical use: "These stories of individuals who treat themselves with a mind-altering drug, such as marijuana, must be viewed with great skepticism...These individuals' desire to rationalize their marijuana use removes any scientific value from their accounts of marijuana use."
As a result of this new research at the National Institute of Mental Health, there is no scientific basis for that sort of prejudice on the part of our public servants. Just as marijuana users have been accurate in describing the tolerance and dependence liabilities of marijuana for over 20 years, patients who use marijuana medicinally are accurate in describing the therapeutic benefits they achieve with their marijuana use.
Constant therapeutic use of marijuana represents a third tier of effects from the drug, a tier once thought unimaginable because of the now-discredited fear of addiction. At this level, tolerance compensates for virtually all marijuana-related impairment of motor coordination and cognitive functions. The result is a therapeutic drug with wide applications and few debilitating side effects.
The outer limits of being high are reached when natural systems decide that the needs of the body supersede the wants of the mind. The third tier represents the most noble effects of marijuana: comfort, care and treatment for people with genuine needs.
The discovery of the cannabinoid receptor system was a revolutionary event of profound significance. These new findings on tolerance may presage further revolutionary developments from the laboratories of NIMH in the next few years - such as the natural role of the cannabinoid receptor system and the brain chemical which activates it.
Meanwhile, advocates of marijuana-law reform must learn to use the latest research as a tool to demonstrate that marijuana users have been right for a long, long time. The remaining challenge is to confront the irrationality of America's current public policy.
[End]Text file of this article
Information about the acceptance of Gettman's petition in 1998..
Marijuana, Science, and Public Policy, an extensive collection of material prepared over the years by Jon Gettman about his rescheduling petition.
What about more recent reports marijuana increases dopamine production?
Reprinted without permission from High Times (though we did send them a message about it). For subscription or other information e-mail firstname.lastname@example.org.
Marijuana and the Human Brain (Part 1), by Jon Gettman
More information about addiction and dependence
to the Articles page.
This URL: http://www.pdxnorml.org/brain2.html
More information about addiction and dependence
to the Articles page.
This URL: http://www.pdxnorml.org/brain2.html | <urn:uuid:72975358-ee03-4f17-9555-babbb8fc9077> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.marijuanalibrary.org/brain2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00173-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939103 | 4,409 | 2.84375 | 3 |
|FORECASTING TRICK SERIES:|
TIMING A FRONT
METEOROLOGIST JEFF HABY
This 10 part series will detail forecasting tricks that can be used to try to outforecast MOS. Outforecasting
MOS is an important skill for a forecaster. MOS stands for
Model Output Statistics and they are used
as a guide for
temperature prediction and
precipitation prediction by forecasters. Model consensus is the average of the high
temperatures, low temperatures or precipitation amount predicted by several forecast models.
PART 4: TIMING A FRONT
The time of the day a frontal passage occurs will have a significant influence on the forecast. It will have
an influence on the temperature and precipitation forecast. The high temperature tends to occur in
the afternoon while the low tends to occur in the early morning. A front can alter this tendency. The time
of the day the front passes will determine how much this tendency is altered. Precipitation
character can be influenced by front timing.
The first step to timing a front is to determine the approximate time the front should pass using
each forecast model. Write down the approximate hour that the frontal passage should occur and also
determine the model consensus of frontal passage time. Note how much variation there is in the models. They
may all have a similar passage time or there could be an outlier. Next, read the forecast discussion
from the NWS for information concerning the frontal passage and when they have determined it is most
likely to occur. Once you have determined when you think the frontal passage is most likely then you
are ready to determine how it will influence the high and low temperature.
Here are some rules of thumb with cold fronts:
1. A morning cold front can significantly cool the high temperature from that experienced the previous day.
2. If the cold front moves in during the late afternoon then the front will not cool the high temperature
for that day nearly as much as compared to a cold frontal passage earlier in the day.
3. The second night after a cold front passage tends to be colder than the first night. This is because the
winds tend to be lighter the second night, skies tend to be clear and most of the
Cold Air Advection has
occurred by that point.
4. Temperatures behind a cold front tend to cool most when the front moves in during the late afternoon
5. The greatest temperature drop with a cold front tends to occur immediately after frontal passage. The temperature
drop is more gradual several hours after frontal passage.
As mentioned a front can cause high and low temperatures to occur at untraditional times of the day. In
the case of a cold front the high temperature may occur just before frontal passage while the
low temperature occurs at the very end of the forecast period. If the cold front is not strong enough then
the warming from solar radiation may overtake the cooling from Cold Air Advection. For example the temperature
is 50 F in the morning, the cold front passes, temperatures fall into the mid-40s by noon, in the afternoon
temperatures warm to the low 50's. In this case the high still occurred at the traditional time of the
day but the cold front caused the high to be lower than would be the case without the cold front. In the
case of a very strong cold front then the high will almost always occur just before frontal passage with
the low occurring at the end of the forecast period. Pay close attention to how strong the front is as
it approaches and ask yourself how the front will influence the temperature. MOS will often have a
terrible time handling the temperature changes with a frontal passage.
Here is how the timing of a front can affect precipitation:
1. The time that precipitation occurs is often linked to the time of frontal passage.
2. Storms tend to be stronger when the cold frontal passage occurs in the afternoon or evening. This is
because the air can get more
unstable out ahead of the front (i.e. daytime heating).
3. Rainfall tends to be heavier with a slower moving front. Note how the models are handling the speed
of front movement.
4. More people will tend to notice precipitation if is occurs in the morning rush hour or afternoon
rush hour. If timing of precipitation occurs at this time then give the precipitation more emphasis
in the forecast.
When the next front approaches keep the tips above in mind. The emphasis has been on cold fronts but
warm fronts and occluded fronts can be just as important. Note how a warm front or occluded front will
impact the temperature and precipitation forecast also. Your forecast knowledge will help you
outforecast MOS when fronts move through. | <urn:uuid:0bed5c08-1a1d-4d94-841f-d339cad8a0fd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.theweatherprediction.com/habyhints2/424/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397842.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00024-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.899111 | 995 | 3.4375 | 3 |
A VBA Function can be created either within a single form or report or in a stand-alone module, which can then be called from anywhere in the database. The key difference between a Sub() and a Function() is that functions return a value.
Syntax [Public | Private ] Function name([arg_List]) code_block [name=expression] End Function Key Public Extend the scope of this function to all procedures in the project. Private Restrict the scope of this function to procedures within the same module. name The name of the function. arg_List Argument variabless passed to the function, comma separated. By default, each local variable=argument (ByRef) To have each local variable=value of the argument prefix the argument with 'ByValue'. code_block Program code expression The value to return.
Dim intResult as Integer intResult = DemoFunc(5,10) msgbox intResult Function DemoFunc(x,y) DemoFunc = x + y End Function
Most functions can be used in both VBA and in a query by adding the function (and it's parameters) to the 'field' line in the query design view.
For example using the builtin Format() and DateDiff() functions:
If one or more table columns are used as function parameters, then the function will return a different value for each row of the result set. So the query above will return different results for every row in the table that has a different Purchase_Date.
When a function is used that has no parameters such as Now() then it will return the same value for every row returned by the query. Some VBA functions will be considered 'unsafe expressions' when used within an SQL query.
You can prefix the expression with a meaningful name or allow Access to assign a name automatically Expr1: , Expr2: ...
“Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight” ~ Bill Gates
Format - Format a Number/Date/Time.
Now - Return the current date and time.
Sum (SQL) - Add up the values in a query result set. | <urn:uuid:ee47847f-4d2f-4c07-8ae7-40a7b43ab6af> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ss64.com/access/syntax-functions.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396538.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00070-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.751565 | 446 | 3.15625 | 3 |
A Description of Egypt Under the Principate
[Introduction (adapted from Davis)]:
Roman rule was established in Egypt after Octavian (Augustus) displaced the
last ruler of the Ptolemaic line, the famous Cleopatra VII. It proved to be a great
and rich province for Augustus, who organized the country not so much as a Roman Province
but as the emperor's own special domain land. In Egypt, the Emperor was considered
the successor of the ancient Pharaohs; his deputy - the prefect - ruled the country with
an authority permitted to few other governors.
Strabo, Geography, c. 22 CE
XVII.i.52-53, ii.4-5; XVIII.i.12-13:
At present [in Augustus's time] Egypt is a Roman province, and pays considerable
tribute, and is well-governed by prudent persons sent there in succession. The governor
thus sent out has the rank of king. Subordinate to him is the administrator of justice,
who is the supreme judge in many cases. There is another officer called the Idologus whose business is to inquire into property for which there is no claimant, and which of
right falls to Caesar. These are accompanied by Caesar's freedmen and stewards, who are
intrusted with affairs of more or less importance.
Three legions are stationed in Egypt, one in the city of Alexandria, the rest in the
country. Besides these, there are also nine Roman cohorts quartered in the city, three on
the borders of Ethiopia in Syene, as a guard to that tract, and three in other parts of
the country. There are also three bodies of cavalry distributed at convenient posts.
Of the native magistrates in the cities, the first is the "Expounder of the
Law" - who is dressed in scarlet. He receives the customary honors of the land, and
has the care of providing what is necessary for the city. The second is the "Writer
of the Records"; the third is the "Chief Judge"; the fourth is the
"Commander of the Night Guard." These officials existed in the time of the
Ptolemaic kings, but in consequence of the bad administration of the public affairs by the
latter, the prosperity of the city of Alexandria was ruined by licentiousness. Polybius
expresses his indignation at the state of things when he was there. He describes the
inhabitants of Alexandria as being composed of three classes, first the Egyptians and
natives, acute in mind, but very poor citizens, and wrongfully meddlesome in civic
affairs. Second were the mercenaries, a numerous and undisciplined body, for it was an old
custom to keep foreign soldiers---who from the worthlessness of their sovereigns knew
better how to lord it than to obey. The third were the so-called "Alexandrines,"
who, for the same reason, were not orderly citizens; however they were better than the
mercenaries, for although they were a mixed race, yet being of Greek origin they still
retained the usual Hellenic customs.
Such, then, if not worse, were the social conditions of Alexandria under the last
kings. The Romans, as far as they were able, corrected -- as I have said-many abuses, and
established an orderly government -- by setting up vice-governors, nomarchs, and
ethnarchs, whose business it was to attend to the details of administration.
Herodotus and other writers trifle very much when they introduce into their histories
the marvelous, like (an interlude) of music and song, or some melody; for example, by
asserting that the sources of the Nile are near the numerous islands, at Syene and
Elephantine, and that at this spot the river has an unfathomable depth. In the Nile there
are many islands scattered about, some of which are entirely covered, others in part only,
at the time of the rise of the waters. The very elevated parts are irrigated by means of
screw pumps. Egypt was from the first disposed to peace, from having resources within
itself, and because it was difficult of access to strangers. It was also protected on the
north by a harborless coast and the Egyptian Sea; on the east and west by the desert
mountains of Libya and Arabia, as I have said before. The remaining parts towards the
south are occupied by Troglodytae, Blemmyes, Nubians, and Megabarzae Ethiopians above
Syene. These are nomads, and not numerous nor warlike, but accounted so by the ancients,
because frequently, like robbers, they attacked defenseless persons. Neither are the
Ethiopians, who extend towards the south and Meroë, numerous nor collected in a body; for
they inhabit a long, narrow, and winding tract of land on the riverside, such as we have
before described; nor are they well prepared either for war or the pursuit of any other
mode of life.
At present the whole country is in the same pacific state, proof of which is that the
upper country is sufficiently guarded by three cohorts, and these not complete. Whenever
the Ethiopians have ventured to attack them, it has been at the risk of danger to their
own country. The rest of the forces in Egypt are neither very numerous, nor did the Romans
ever once employ them collected into one army. For neither are the Egyptians themselves of
a warlike disposition, nor the surrounding nations, although their numbers are very large.
Cornelius Gallus, the first governor of the country appointed by Augustus Caesar,
attacked the city Heroöpolis, which had revolted [in 28 B.C.], and took it with a small
body of men. He suppressed also in a short time an insurrection in the Thebaïs which
originated as to the payment of tribute. At a later period Petronius resisted, with the
soldiers about his person, a mob of myriads of Alexandrines, who attacked him by throwing
stones. He killed some, and compelled the rest to desist.
To what has been said concerning Egypt, we must add these peculiar products; for
instance, the Egyptian bean, as it is called, from which is obtained the ciborium, and the
papyrus, for it is found here and in India only; the persea [peach] grows here only, and
in Ethiopia; it is a lofty tree, and its fruit is large and sweet; the sycamine, which
produces the fruit called the sycomorus, or fig-mulberry, for it resembles a fig, but its
flavor is not esteemed. The corsium also (the root of the Egyptian lotus) grows there, a
condiment like pepper, but a little larger. There are in the Nile fish in great quantity
and of different kinds, having a peculiar and indigenous character. The best known are the
oxyrhynchos [the sturgeon], and the lepidotus, the latus, the alabes, the coracinus, the
choerus, the phagrorius, called also the phagrus. Besides these are the silurus, the
citharus, the thrissa [the shad], the cestreus [the mullet], the lychnus, the physa, the
bous, and large shellfish which emit a sound like that of wailing.
The animals peculiar to the country are the ichneumon and the Egyptian asp, having some
properties which those in other places do not possess. There are two kinds, one a span in
length, whose bite is more suddenly mortal than that of the other; the second is nearly an orguia [six feet] in size, according to Nicander, the author of the Theriaca. Among
the birds are the ibis and the Egyptian hawk, which, like the cat, is more tame than those
elsewhere. The nycticorax is here peculiar in its character; for with us it is as large as
an eagle, and its cry is harsh; but in Egypt it is the size of a jay, and has a different
note. The tamest animal, however, is the ibis; it resembles a stork in shape and size.
There are two kinds, which differ in color; one is like a stork, the other is entirely
black. Every street in Alexandria is full of them. In some respects they are useful; in
others troublesome. They are useful, because they pick up all sorts of small animals and
the offal thrown out of the butchers= and cooks= shops. They are troublesome because they
devour everything, are dirty, and with difficulty prevented from polluting in every way
what is clean and what is not given to them.
Herodotus truly relates of the Egyptians that it is a practice peculiar to them to
knead clay with their hands, and the dough for making bread with their feet. Caces is a peculiar kind of bread which restrains fluxes. Kiki (the castor-oil bean) is a kind
of fruit sowed in furrows. An oil is expressed from it which is used for lamps almost
generally throughout the country, but for anointing the body only by the poorer sort of
people and laborers, both men and women. The coccina are Egyptian textures made of some
plant, woven like those made of rushes, or the palm tree. Barley beer is a preparation
peculiar to the Egyptians. It is common among many tribes, but the mode of preparing it
differs in each. This, however, of all their usages is most to be admired---that they
bring up all children that are born. They circumcise the males, as also the females [i.e., cliterodectomy], as is the custom also among the Jews, who are of Egyptian origin, as I
said when I was treating of them.
Private Life in Egypt Under the Empire.
Most of the letters here given explain themselves. They are from papyri of the
Imperial period, found at the Egyptian town of Oxyrhynchos, and serve to give a curious
and valuable light upon the life of an obscure provincial community, circa late third
& early fourth centuries A.D.
The Oxyrhynchos Papyri.
Dioscorides, logistes [Davis: a high local magistrate in Roman Egypt] of the
Oxyrhynchite nome. The assault at arms by the youths will occur tomorrow, the 24th.
Tradition, no less than the distinguished character of the festival, requires that they do
their uttermost in the gymnastic display. The spectators will be present at the two
At a meeting of our body a dispatch was read from Theodorus, recently chosen in place
of Areion, the scribe, to proceed to his highness, the Prefect [of Egypt] and attend his
immaculate court. In this dispatch he explained that he is victor in the games and
exempted from inquiries. We have, therefore, nominated Aurelianus to serve and we send you
word accordingly that this fact may be brought to his knowledge, and no time be lost in
his departure and attendance upon the court.
To Aureleus Theon, keeper of the training school, from Aurelius Asclepiades, son of
Philadelphus, president of the council of the village of Bacchias. I desire to hire from
you Tisais, the dancing girl, and another, to dance for us at the above village for
fifteen days from the 13th Phaophi by the old [Egyptian] calendar. You shall receive as
pay 36 drachmae a day, and for the whole period three artabai of wheat, and fifteen
couples of loaves; also three donkeys to fetch them and take them back.
Chaereman requests your company at dinner, at the table of the lord Serapis at the
Serapeum, tomorrow the 15th, at 9 o'clock.
Herais requests your company at dinner, in celebration of the marriage of her children,
in her house tomorrow, the 5th, at 9 o'clock.
Greeting, my dear Serenia, from Petosiris. Be sure, dear, to come upon the 20th for the
birthday festival of the god, and let me know whether you are coming by boat or by donkey,
in order that we may send for you accordingly. Take care not to forget. I pray for your
To Flavius Thennyras, logistes of the Oxyrhynchite district, from Aurelius
Nilus, son of Didysus, of the illustrious and most illustrious city of Oxyrhynchos, an egg
seller by trade. I hereby agree on the August, divine oath by our lord the Emperor and the
Caesars to offer my eggs in the market place publicly for sale, and to supply to the said
city, every day without intermission; and I acknowledge that it shall be unlawful for me
in the future to sell secretly or in my house. If I am detected in so doing, I shall be
liable to penalty."
I married a woman of my own tribe . . . a free-born woman, of free parents, and have
children by her. Now Tabes, daughter of Ammonios and her husband Laloi, and Psenesis and
Straton their sons, have committed an act that disgraces all the chiefs of the town, and
shows their recklessness; they carried off my wife and children to their own house,
calling them their slaves, although they were free, and my wife has brothers living who
are free. When I remonstrated, they seized me and beat me shamefully.
On the fourth of this month, Taorsenouphis, wife of Ammonios Phimon, an elder of the
village of Bacchias although she had no occasion against me, came to my house, and made
herself most unpleasant to me. Besides tearing my tunic and cloak, she carried off 16
drachmae that I had put by, the price of vegetables I had sold. And on the fifth her
husband, Ammonios Phimon, came to my house, pretending he was looking for my husband, and
took my lamp and went up into the house. And he went off with a pair of silver armlets,
weighing forty drachmae, while my husband was away from home. | <urn:uuid:60b0662b-b321-44f5-9053-1c83c133b664> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/romanegypt1.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403502.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00172-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969218 | 3,156 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Wildlife officials will test specially designed snake traps in the Everglades in a bid to control the growing python population.
The Burmese python regards the Everglades as an all-you-can-eat buffet, where native mammals are easy prey and the snakes have no natural predators. According to a study, mammal sightings in the area are down sharply.
Officials have already tried radio tracking collars, a massive public hunt and even snake-sniffing dogs to curb the invasive species.
Now they will try snaring them in a five-foot-long cagemade from galvanised steel wire, with a net at one end.
A field station for the National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) will focus on a natural enclosure that contains five pythons.
They will try baiting the traps with the scent of small mammals such as rats, which they will try camouflaging as pipes or other small, covered spaces where pythons like to hide, said John Humphrey, a biologist at the research centre.
Humphrey developed the trap in collaboration with Wisconsin-based Tomahawk Live Trap, which is working on a licensing agreement to sell the traps along with other snake-handling equipment such as tongs, hooks and secure bags.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) received a patent for the trap in August.
Carol Bannerman of the USDA's Wildlife Services and Animal Care, told Sky News it is also working on a plan to combat an infestation of brown tree snakes on Guam.
The test would involve dropping dead, frozen mice containing doses of acetaminophen - an active ingredient in popular pain reliever Tylenol - from helicopters where the snakes are most prominent. | <urn:uuid:2ac9d284-bbad-4c27-86d9-ac19cc43e880> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://news.sky.com/story/1146924/everglades-pythons-new-trap-to-catch-snakes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397565.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00194-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921838 | 354 | 2.828125 | 3 |
How to Draw Flowers and Plants". Flower Image Gallery Publications International, Ltd.Learn how to draw a rose and other flowers and plants with our step-by-step instructions.
Bring out your inner artist as you learn how to draw a rose. See more pictures of flowers. From the deepest valleys to the highest mountains, flowers and plants can be found in all shapes, sizes and colors. On the following pages, you can bring out your inner artist as you learn how to draw flowers and plants. The easy, step-by-step instructions on the following pages will teach you how to draw everything from daisies and daffodils to strawberries and spider plants. Each drawing begins with a few simple shapes printed in red ink. The following steps also show the earlier drawings in black and the new marks and shapes in red. A blank space near each step lets you practice your drawing skills. When you have finished, use a pen or fine felt-tip marker to darken the pencil marks that make up the finished drawing. Untitled Document.
How to Draw the Nose. Update 09-26-2012 – Above is a video version of this tutorial.
For more video tutorials visit Proko.com and subscribe to the newsletter In this tutorial I will go over the structure of the nose and give detailed information about the bridge, ball, and nostrils of the nose. At the end, I will show a step by step of a nose drawing. The Major Planes When drawing the nose, I’ll usually start by indicating the 4 major planes – top, 2 sides, and bottom.
Anatomical Information I think the anatomical shapes in the nose are really interesting. The Minor Planes It’s important to memorize the subtle plane changes in all the different part of the nose. Minor Planes of the Bridge. Drawing Lessons - How to Draw the Portrait - Drawing Figure - Drawing Still Life.
The drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. Drawing Lessons - How to Draw the Portrait - Drawing Figure - Drawing Still Life. Lessons. Lessons. How to Draw Eyes. For a video version of this tutorial visit www.proko.com/how-to-draw-eyes-structure This tutorial is a continuation of How to Draw the Head from Any Angle.
I will go over the structure of the eye and detailed information on drawing the brow ridge, eyeball, eyelids, eyelashes, iris, cornea, and pupil. The Basic Forms The Eyeball The part of the eyeball that is visible (technical term is Sclera) is commonly called the ‘white of the eye’. The biggest mistake you can make is to leave the ‘white of the eye’ white, when the entire eye is in shadow. The Iris, Cornea, and Pupil Structure of the Iris and Cornea The Pupil It’s important to remember that the pupil is on the iris, not the cornea. Shading the Iris, Cornea, and Pupil Understanding the structure of these forms is important for when you start shading them.
The Eyelids Eyelids Are Not Flat Also, the lids have some thickness to them, so showing the bottom plane of the top lid and the top plane of the bottom lid is very important. How to Draw Ears. For a video version of this tutorial visit www.proko.com/how-to-draw-ears-anatomy-and-structure In this tutorial I will go over the parts of the ear and suggest an easy way to remember all these complex shapes.
At the end, I will show a step by step of an ear drawing. Basic Forms The simplified volume of the ear is very much like a megaphone. This is easier to see from the back, where the concha is like the tubular part and the helix is the lip part of the megaphone. Just Remember “why?” At first glance the shapes in the ear seem random and confusing. Placement of the Ears The ears lie in the middle third of the face. In Perspective During an up-tilt or down-tilt the placement of the ears is very important since doing it incorrectly can break the illusion of a tilt. Anatomical Information Shading the Complex Forms of the Ear Concha. | <urn:uuid:1f1773bf-3ef6-4f65-927e-20e89e7eca65> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.pearltrees.com/holop_jo/piirustus/id4326072 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392527.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00072-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900005 | 890 | 2.75 | 3 |
- Buyers Guide
Getting The Low Down on Dielectric Constant
Dielectric constant is an important number for specifiers of printed-circuit-board (PCB) materials. As detailed in the previous blog, it is often the first number that a circuit designer sees when sorting through PCB materials, and it is a number that designers count on across a wide range of operating frequencies. But what about circuits that must provide reliable performance at lower frequencies, for example in very-high-frequency (VHF) and ultra-high-frequency (UHF) ranges? Does the dielectric constant or Dk of a PCB material behave the same way at lower frequencies as at microwave frequencies?
As mentioned previously, most PCB materials are anisotropic, and the Dk of a PCB material can easily be three different values for the three different axes of the material. The Dk value of some PCB materials can also be nonlinear with frequency, with different Dk values at lower frequencies versus higher frequencies. Rogers has characterized its PCB materials extensively through measurements, and developed a set of Design Dk values which are average Dk values proven effective when used in design and with software design tools. These Design Dk values can typically be applied over a wide range of frequencies, although they tend to have somewhat different values at lower frequencies than at higher, microwave frequencies. In fact, a curve developed for Design Dk versus frequency (see figure) tends to be linear across most of the frequency range covered, with some nonlinear traits at lower microwave frequencies.
Of course, a number of different measurement methods are used to determine the Dk of a PCB material, and those Dk values can differ from lower to higher frequencies, depending upon the test method applied. In reality, the “dielectric constant” for a PCB material is not a constant value but exhibits some nonlinear characteristics. The nonlinear trend of Dk versus frequency at lower frequencies is different for every material, so it is not possible to generalize any type of Dk behavior at lower frequencies, or with different types of copper, or different material thicknesses.
When a dielectric material, such as a PCB material, is exposed to an electric field, the material’s molecules are polarized, creating electric dipole moments and increasing the total electric flux, D, of the material. The equation for D in terms of the electric field intensity, E, is simply
D = εE
where ε is not necessarily the dielectric constant but represents the complex permittivity of the material. The parameter εr , of course, is well known as the relative permittivity or dielectric constant. This simple equality for D has other components, such as a polarization vector, associated with the material, as well as a property known as electric susceptibility. Electric susceptibility is a complex variable related to the dielectric material’s storage and dissipative characteristics relative to E. It is a multiplier for the polarization vector, which describes how the dipole moments react to the electric field in regards to the different axes of the dielectric material. A dielectric material known to be anisotropic has a polarization vector with different values for the different axes of the material.
Complex permittivity, ε, is related to the electric susceptibility and has real and imaginary components. The real component is related to the material’s dielectric constant, εr, while the imaginary component is related to the material’s loss tangent, tanδ, or dissipation factor, Df. In a way, the real component can be thought of as impacting the energy storage capability of the material while the imaginary component is related to the material’s dissipative characteristics.
Most microwave PCB materials are formulated for low dispersion and for minimal change in Dk with frequency. But, as noted, Dk is not really a constant and it will change with frequency. The reason for this is the dipole moments within the material, set up within the molecular structure of the dielectric material and reacting to the presence of an applied electric field. As the electric fields increase and decrease as a function of frequency, the material’s dipole moments will be established and will then relax. At higher frequencies, the electric fields increase and decrease at faster rates, and the time required for the dipole moments to relax becomes significant and the supplemental electric flux due to the dipole moments goes through an adjustment period.
At DC and lower frequencies, the dipole relaxation time has no effect on augmenting the electric field for the dielectric material. At higher, microwave frequencies, however, the effect can be significant. As the simple plot of Dk with frequency for a generic dielectric PCB material shows, the material’s dielectric “constant” will change with frequency and with some of the related, affecting phenomena. The plot shows how dielectric constant can change with frequency, considerably more at higher, microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies than for frequencies in the very-high-frequency (VHF) range from 30 to 300 MHz and the ultra-high-frequency (UHF) range from 300 MHz to 3 GHz.
The simple plot is a curve regarding a generic material. Its Dk is changing more at microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies than at other lower frequencies and can, in fact, be somewhat nonlinear over some of these higher-frequency regions. This is a valid trend for most materials, but materials which are formulated for high-frequency applications have more stable Dk versus frequency trends in the microwave and millimeter-wave frequency regions. The values of Dk presented on PCB material data sheets are frequency-dependent, and the values of Dk and Df for a PCB material can often vary quite widely when the same material is characterized at different test frequencies. It is also important to understand that many microwave PCB materials have E fields that primarily use the z-axis of the material, but some applications may call more for the x-y dimensions of the PCB material. A PCB material’s Dk values are determined not only at different frequencies but with different test methods, some better at lower frequencies and some better at higher frequencies. All of these factors can play a hand in the Dk value appearing on a data sheet for a given dielectric material. Rogers Corporation has performed extensive evaluations of their dielectric PCB materials and has developed curves of Dk with frequency for most of its materials, available free upon request.
The next blog will examine another critical PCB material parameter, the dissipation factor, Df, and how it can be interpreted by high-frequency circuit designers when sorting through their next batch of candidate circuit-board materials.
Plot of a Dk / Df vs. Frequency curve for a generic material
Using a generic material, this plot shows the change in dielectric constant for a PCB material from its lowest frequencies to its highest frequencies, with the effects of the material’s dipole moments.
Do you have a design or fabrication question? John Coonrod and Joe Davis are available to help. Log in to the Rogers Technology Support Hub and “Ask an Engineer” today. | <urn:uuid:3035c672-a2b3-45e4-9c1a-bb3d2c679313> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.microwavejournal.com/blogs/1-rog-blog/post/20300-getting-the-low-down-on-dielectric-constant | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396459.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00043-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92154 | 1,487 | 3.015625 | 3 |
When Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New Jersey in October of 2012, much of the state’s infrastructure took a significant hit.
Power went out for millions. Transit came to a halt as roads and rails were littered with debris or covered in water. Cell phone communications were disrupted.
One thing that didn’t: The state’s weather and climate network, which operated at nearly full capacity for the entire duration of the storm, delivering critical weather data to forecasters and emergency managers as the storm bore down on New Jersey.
“Sandy was its shining day,” said David Robinson, the state climatologist at Rutgers University.
Robinson’s office has quietly built one of the most robust state weather and climate monitoring systems in the country – a collection of dozens of weather stations that monitors and transmits weather data in a constant stream and has come to be relied upon by both the public and private sectors alike.
His office recently relaunched the website for the New Jersey Weather and Climate Network – njweather.org – increasing the amount of data available to the public twenty-fold.
“We have five-minute data. You can follow a squall line through the state now,” Robinson said. “This is something we’ve never had before. We were beginning to do this just before Sandy, but we’ve been waiting to do it 24/7 until we had the server capacity.”
The data provided by Robinson's office is used daily by local and state government agencies and the National Weather Service, as well as those in the private sector such as insurance agents, roofers, lawyers and gardeners, Robinson said.
"We didn't realize how many people were relying on our soil temperature data until we relaunched the site and people had trouble finding it," he said.
The revamped site allows users to access more than one billion records of current and past New Jersey climate data. The site features both localized forecasts and tools to create customize and export maps, interactive graphs and spreadsheets.
“The goal has been to make that intersection between weather and climate,” Robinson said. “The weather data we grab this hour immediately becomes climate data the next hour.”
The New Jersey Weather And Climate Network is available at www.njweather.org. | <urn:uuid:14592537-49c0-4d7f-99bd-3038662c7302> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nj.com/weather-guy/index.ssf/2014/06/nj_climatologists_office_makes_major_expansion_to_weather_climate_data_offerings.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399522.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00082-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971914 | 484 | 2.5625 | 3 |
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Coloring Pages: Lighthouse
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The main goal of Drama and African American Folktales is to address the social development needs of my students. This particular curriculum will combine dramatic, cultural and academic elements. I will work to make my fifth-grade students culturally aware of their heritage, therefore building their self-esteem.
I have selected African-American folktales because that topic will give my students a universal foundation. African-Americans, African-Caribbeans,and Hispanics usually are of African descent.: consequently my students will discover more similarities about themselves, as opposed to the differences they seem to readily point out.
This curriculum unit will give my students a sense of sharing, community, and trust. Drama and African-American Folktales will foster interpersonal relationships between the students. Each lesson will be treated as a.workshop. Social development is the key. My students will work on skills in sensitivity, self-control. communication, decision-making, and problem-solving. Each student ought to be feeling good about him or herself, being responsible, and accepting differences in others. The workshop process is the key to their social development, not the play itself.
Drama and African American Folktales is designed to help the fifth grade classroom teacher explore the cultural heritage and social needs of the student population in the New Haven Public School System. The students in my classroom should become more aware of their link to Africa, their own cultural identities, and the cultural heritage of others. The “acting out”part of the folktales ought to allow my students to exhibit appropriate types of social behavior in order to be a part of a culminating performance.
This curriculum unit will show how to use the works of traditional or contemporary folktales in my classroom. The workshops will be implemented over a period of 15 weeks, preferably from October to February. I will be teaching from this curriculum unit once a week. The month of February is usually a celebration of Black History in our New Haven Public School System. A performance will be presented in February as a result of these drama workshops. Elements of the performance selected will grow out of the Afro-centric experience, but it should also reflect the American experience as a whole. The folktale’s message ought to be universal.
I have selected three cultures and three styles of dramatic form. The culture and acting style will be combined in the workshop. Drama and African-American folktales—will be devoted to scene study for children and will be used during Reading or Language Arts period. The three elements tobe taught in my curriculum unit are Narration and Africa, Comedy and Jamaica, and Acting through Dance—Caribbean Music.
I am most concerned that my students discover the link between learning and social skills. They need to recognize that learning is an integral part of their lives. My job as their teacher is to bring life. into their school subjects. The classroom should be an active environment. Drama allows students to bring the printed page of any subject to life.
“The best-known literature about Africans’ enforced exile in the United States has led some to assume that slaves were discovering literature for the first time, but a portion of the oral literature used in Africa to teach and preserve their group history later became written literature. In Mester Sudan these histories were called ‘tarikhs”, the Arab word for history. In other parts of Africa they were called chronicles. Later, Africans in the United States started both an oral and written tradition with the slave narratives. They were written with a desire to be set free. The narratives became the literary expression of the Africans brought to the United States.”1
- (1) Recognize that the history of narration in the Afro-centric communities goes back to Africa. “It is generally assumed that the Africans sold as slaves came from an oral culture and its traditions. The nations of the Nile Valley, such as Egypt,. Ethiopia, and the Sudan, and the independent states of inner West Africa had a strong literary tradition. Documents of this tradition still exist. While it is generally true. that the first shipment of slaves from Africa came from West Africa, a serious study of Portuguese and the Arabs along the coast of East Africa shows that after1600 East Africa, with its headquarters on the island of Zanzibar, became a slave market almost as large as West Africa. A large number of its slaves were sent to South America, especially Brazil, and some went to the Caribbean Island and to the United States.
I have chosen Narration and Africa for the first ten weeks of my workshop classes. Since the performance will be based on the African narrative,” Anansi and His Gourd of Wisdom,” the students need to truly understand and gain knowledge of this literary genre.
- (2) Identify three cultures of African descent.
- (3) Recognize folktales as a model for drama. Recognize African folktales as a literary genre.
- (4) Identify four common characteristics of African narratives.
- (5) Name at least two styles of acting.
- (6) Locate Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and Africa on a map or globe.
- (7) Name at least two dance styles of African-Caribbean or Puerto Rico.
- (8) Narrate parts of an African folktale.
- (9) Tell an African folktale.
- (10) Participate in performance of an African folktale.
Next, the workshop will include lessons on comedy and Jamaica. I chose comedy as an acting style became the work I do with them should reflect the interests of young people. What child doesn’t love to laugh? Much of what they enjoy watching is comic, so this seems a natural choice. By introducing comedy to my students I bring drama to a level they are familiar with. Ask any student for their three favorite television shows, and the answer will either come from television sitcoms or animated television programs. Also, I selected Jamaica as figure for study became the African-Caribbean students in my classroom love sharing the traits of their homeland or their parents’ homeland. The Puerto Rican students relate to the Jamaican culture, and many of my previous students have talked about the similarities between the two island cultures. The African-American students love hearing about another way black people live or sound in another country.
Finally, the last two workshop lessons will have the students engaging in dance and listening to the music of the Caribbean. The music my students will be dancing to in this workshop will be used for the final performance.
The strategies I have. selected will build a foundation for a theatrical performance that can be presented at any Brotherhood, Multi-cultural, or Black History assembly at an elementary school. This strategies may be followed or altered as the teacher sees fit. They are intended only as a guide for my curriculum unit. Many of the activities can be done during other subjects or time periods, or can be used during lessons from Project Charlie or Second Step (the social development curriculum for New Haven elementary public schools). I will use a number of these strategies, if not all in most of the future productions my classroom will present during up-coming Black History or multi-cultural assemblies- I recommend thinking carefully about the folktale selected to be performed. Make sure there is a theme that is universal, and does not isolate a particular group of people. The workshops and performance are meant to create educated, confident,and proud performers with a knowledge of their cultural heritage to be enjoyed by the whole audience.
The African folktale my students will be working on is called “Anansi and His Gourd of wisdom.” The version of this African folktale was given to me by a fellow African American artist. I have. also a different version by a fellow Hispanic artist, his version was told to me orally. Neither artist had any idea who actually wrote the version of the African folktale they shared with me. This information should be shared with my students. They will realize the tale I am sharing with them was given to me in the same African tradition of our ancestors. I will read a basic version of “Anansi and His Gourd of wisdom.”
- (1) Read and reread the African folktale that is to be performed. My job as the teacher is to model the way the material is to be presented - No, I do not mean line readings. Each student will have to do his or her part in his or her own unique style or personality. But I will have. to model the reflection, the energy, and the social behavior that is required of the performance. My students enjoy hearing my version or version of the parts they are going to play. By reading the folktale over and over again, you remind the students what they liked about the folktale in the first place and they also may make new and different discoveries about that same folktale each time they hear it done again. I remind myself to try the way I tell the folktale each time. At the beginning of each workshop I will reread or retell the folktale. By the third or fourth workshop, I will choose a student to read the folktale or tell it in his or her own words, whichever the child is comfortable with.
By the time we perform this folktale many things will have changed and will have. been added.
The African folktale will be read as follows:
(Teacher) The time is before the 1700’s. The place is Africa. There once was a great spider named Anansi. The great spider Anansi noticed one day how people other than himself were beginning to use wisdom. This did not suit him at all. He wanted to keep all the wisdom for himself. So he collected all the wisdom and put it into a large gourd. He then hung the gourd up on the wall of his house. But . . . he feared the house wasn’t safe enough. So . .. he decided that he would hide it in the bush . . . no man could find it. But he must first to sleep. (Say this in a whisper). The next morning Anansi arose very early took the gourd from the wall and accompanied by his son Anansi went forth into the bush sh sh sh. They came to a tall pale tree. . .Anansi thought if he put the gourd on top of the palm tree it would be QUITE safe. So he began to climb the tree. But the gourd was slung in front of him and it kept getting in his way. He could not make any progress. Now the son of the spider had been watching for some time and finally cried out, “Father, why not sling the gourd over your back. ” Anansi answered, “My son, you are right, your words show to me that it is better for many people to have wisdom rather than one. For alone I should not have thought of that. ” So Anansi the great spider opened the gourd and scattered the wisdom all over the ground so that he who wants wisdom could gather it at will.
Knowing that this will be the folktale presented for the performance, I will have to decide how the folktale will actually be presented at the culminating performance.
In “Anansi and the Gourd of wisdom” script I have adapted two major speaking roles, two minor speaking roles, and the rest of the folktale is done with the class performing the lines in unison. Basically, there is something that can be done by each and every one of my students, and if the student does not like to perform in front of an audience, there is make-up, music,and art that is to be done. No student should feel he or she does not belong.
- (2) Decide which roles the students will benefit the most from while we are working on this production. Remember the main objective is to address the development of the social needs of my students. As a result, I look at the personalities of my students, think of their strengths and weaknesses,and apply the social skills they will be working on to the role they will be playing in this workshop. When I refer to “role,” it may be a performance role or a technical role. What I mean is, I must decide where my student fits in. How will the student most benefit from this way of learning? Make sure the child is working on a happy production. Try to avoid situations or”roles”, where the child can be humiliated or embarrasses.
A. “Trust”—The students will stand in a tight circle, one student will stand in the middle of the circle with his or her eyes closed. The teacher will spin the student around in a circle. The student has to fall back freely as the students in the outer circle pass the child around slowly. This exercise must be done in total silence- Each student has to concentrate on the situation. After 4 or 5 students have experienced the activity, they will share their feeling with the group. Some students will discuss what it felt like to be in the outer circle. Social skills developed are trust,sensitivity, self-control and silent communication.
- (3) Explore which theater activities will be most suited for the workshop presented that day. Here are some examples of theater activities that incorporate social development skills.
B. “Statue.”—One child sits completely still on a chair, no facial expression or movement of the body. Another child approaches the chair; he or she tries to get the “statue” out of the chair by using words, ONLY words; the child should be instructed not to touch the “statue” at all (you may have to repeat this twice to more aggressive students); the words should lead the”statue” out of the chair. for example, yelling words like “Fire!” “Excu-u-u-se me!” or telling jokes to make the “statue” laugh hysterically. Social development skill is self-control.
C. Real Fast or Re-e-e-e-e-l-l-l-y Sl-o-o-o-w. Students use lines from the folktale they are performing and say the lines extremely fast or extremely slow. Social development skills are concentration, self-control,sensitivity to others, and self awareness. (Also, a great exercise for memorizing lines).
D. Charades. Students really enjoy this game and I get improvisation out of them without scaring them with the word “improvisation.
” Social development skills are sharing, community and self-esteem.
E. Rapping. Students share raps based on African narratives that they wrote themselves. Social development skills are community, sharing, self-discipline, and self-esteem.
F. Role-playing (Family). Student can discuss and brainstorm about family expectations for the following people: a girl (age 11), a boy (age 9), a mother, a father, and maybe other relatives living at home, such as older sisters and brothers, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Encourage class discussion on the different populations that make up their own families. Have students role-playing familiar family situations, problems, or crisis. Social development skills are stress responsibilities, attitude, behavior,decision-making and sharing.
The purpose of these theater games and others is first to introduce to my students the uses of theater games as effective and exciting learning tools; second, to present these games within the context of theater,reading, and language arts. Theater games attempt to duplicate “real life.”I have to be selective about which games to use for which lesson; I should have full knowledge of the process or the environment (the folktale) I am trying to recreate. The theater game for that workshop must be relevant to the purpose of that days lesson. Students enjoy theater games and”playing “ because they are familiar with games that involve the players operating under specific rules, to gain goal. All my theater games used for my curriculum unit must involve social development skills and elements of “real life.”
One of the most important elements of the rehearsal process is the use of improvisation. As a result, role playing will be a theater game that should be used quite often. Role playing is important for the social development process because it encourages decision making on the part of the student.
- (4) Give children the opportunity to work with other theater exercises not only during reading and language arts, but also during art, social studies or history. This curriculum unit is designed to enhance the teaching of drama by integrating this art form into reading and language arts, but if I am working on a social studies or history lesson that involves Africa, why not use this unit? By using it during reading, language arts, social studies and history the students conceive drama as being interdisciplinary. It is not merely doing a play or performance—the study of theater utilizes the work of all fifth grade subjects. It links learning to society or community,therefore strengthening their social development skills.
- ________During the first few workshops on narration I can teach geography lessons on Africa during social studies and history. West Africa or Ghana will be my choice of study, because it is believed that the Anansi folktales originated in Ghana. Hopefully, I can get a musician-storyteller from West Africa named Max Amoh, he works at the African Studies Department at Yale University. He is not only a good choice for story-telling, he is also an excellent resource for social studies. He leads a summer institute on Africa for teachers at Yale.
- a) Art Activities—(1) Have students draw pictures of the map of Africa and indicate where Ghana or West Africa is. (2) Make a large mural indicating how narratives travel from people to people through Africa. (3) Set up a display of products made from wood or minerals from Africa.
- ____b) Social Studies or History. (1) Make a chart comparing early African ancestors to African slaves to African-Americans during the Civil Rights Movement to the African-Americans of today. (2) List ways in which African-American, African-Caribbean, and Hispanic customs are used in your family. (3) Write a narrative as a member of an African tribe and tell your experiences to your classmates. (4) Role-play the responsibilities and decision making by an early African family in their everyday life. Include roles for leadership and division of work. (5) Exchange letters with class in West Africa. Explore other areas of meeting African people.
I have dealt with the cultural and academic elements of the first part of my curriculum unit. Now for another element, drama and/or performance; this is a major key in my students social development growth. Now my students have. a foundation for performance from my preview workshop which included their academic disciplines (language arts and reading) and cultural awareness (through history and social studies). They can now start the rehearsal and artistic process for performance.
The best way to have my children give an enjoyable, educating, entertaining performance is through my well thought out design. Many teachers who have not worked in drama, think that a play is just for “fun.”
Acting—I will explain to my students that the purpose for performing “Anansi and His Gourd of wisdom “ is to experience a sense of joy and fulfillment when approaching a role or piece of work creatively. (I am very enthusiastic about this topic since I spent my college years doing theater.)
The goal of my student as actor is to “merge your whole self with another self.” What could be more exciting for my students? I will suggest to my students to always deal with real “truths.” Realism is the foundation for good dramatic instruction. Without realism, you get the”cardboard” acting I have seen in so many school plays. The rehearsal part of my workshop will come after the lesson of that week. But as we. get closer to the performance, most likely in the middle of January, the whole workshop will deal with rehearsal and the technical aspects of the performance. Talent and intelligence should be encouraged when the student is working on his or her character. The student’s ability to put into practice what was taught about social development skills will now be in focus.
After I have my students’ attention and commitment to play out their “roles,” I must be committed to them in play out of my “role.” Once I am in rehearsal process, I now become the director. (I often have to point this out to my students during this type of project) This means I look at my students as individuals in an artistic manner. Some of my slow learners or difficult students give “award winning “ performances. You would be surprised to see what your children can do when given the chance to fly.
- a) Visualization—”Smell” the perfume, “See” the money.
- b) Saying your lines in your own words.
- c) Saying your lines in a normal speaking voice to a friend in class, your teacher.
- d) Association—Relate the situation in the folktale to a real experience.
- e )Talk about the mood of the folktale.
- f) Imagination—Relate it to daydreaming.
- g) Know your character—Give Anansi, or even the palm tree a distinct personality.
There will be some students who will not wish to perform. I never insist on a performance from a student. I believe. theater is truth. Theater is freedom. If I am forcing my student to perform, I am not respecting his or her feelings. If a student does not want to perform, I put that student in charge of costumes, make-up visual arts, music, sound or props. All of these are ways my student can express his or her commitment to “Anansi and His Gourd of wisdom.”
- a) Know the folktale (background information, moral implications, and experience behind it).
- b) Have. a vision. Try to make my students’ performance very unique.
- c) Have a style.
- d) Be critical. Here you have to know when to be gentle or firm with your young actors.
- e) Appreciate their achievements.
- Any teacher designs his or her own Anansi story. Look how I change the basic folktale. Have students offer ideas also.
- African or Caribbean music is played at the beginning.
- Students who have been designated as dancers enter through the audience. (I also like to use a first or second grade class for this, along with my students.)
Anansi and His Gourd of wisdom, the time is before the 1700’s. The place is Africa.
(The stage is bare. Actors dressed in black enter in a semicircle. Moved by the African drumming, dancers dance to their places on stage.)
There once was a great spider named Anansi. (Anansi enters using spider-like movements.)
The great spider Anansi noticed one day how people other than himself were beginning to use wisdom. This did not suit him at all. (Anansi stomps in rhythm along with this line.) He wanted to keep all the wisdom for himself.
I think I’ll get me some of this wisdom.
So Anansi comes in to a forest. (Actors and dancers keep swinging arms wildly.) He comes upon a woodcarver who is carving a funny wooden face next comes upon a beautiful young artist who is painting all the animals of the forest. finally, he comes upon an old woman who is weaving YARDS and YARDS of magnificent cloth. Anansi SAYS!
I think I’ll take all of his wisdom, and hers and hers. (grinning)
Once again, Anansi wanted to keep all the wisdom for himself. So he collected all the wisdom and put it into a large gourd
He then hung the gourd up on the wall of the house. (All the actors run and stand side by side with arms straight in the air and fingers pointed upward.)
But . . . (Actors swing bodies round and round flapping arms toward audience) he feared his was not safe enough.
I’m not putting my gourd in there, it doesn’t look safe. Un huh! No Way!
So he decided if he would hide it in a bush sh sh . . . (Actors curve back and arms toward audience quickly) no man could find it.
I’ll put my gourd in there. I bet it’s safe. (Aside.) Don’t you think I should put my gourd in this bush? (Anansi puts gourd over arms, out comes the actors as snake from the tight semicircle)Snake:S s s s s s s s s. . . . Anan s-s-s-e-e-e-e-e. Give me s-s-s. . . s-s-s. . . some. . . s. . . s-s. . . dom. (Anansi screams and runs around the bush.)
Anansi decided he would put his gourd into the wilds of the jungle. (Actors now wave their arms from side to side).
I think I’ll put my gourd in here. What do you think, Son? Oh, Son? Son? (So enters stage with spider-like movements.) Do you think I should put my gourd in that jungle?
I don’t know Papa. It looks pretty scary to me. (Aside) Don’t you think it looks pretty scary?
Oh, be quiet. What do you know? This is a great place to put my wisdom. I will continue on from here. Any teacher can develop a folktale into a play. Remember to read through the folktale over and over, along with your students. If you encourage ideas from your students, the motivation,interest, and insights gained by your students will be my reward for my efforts on addressing social development issues.
Drama as a learning tool in the classroom adds a holistic approach to education. A sequence of lessons will be scheduled in this order.
Here are some descriptions of my ideas for lessons for Drama and African-American Folktales: Addressing the Social Development Needs of my students is designed for !the 1993-1994 school year. The unit will be used from October to February. Some Sample Descriptive Lessons:
After my students have mastered the objectives for acting instruction, they can work on a particular style of acting. I have selected comedy for my students. Now my students will learn, discuss, and experience the comic aspects of African American folktales. The students should now be able to fully understand the literary elements of African American folktales through their lessons on narration. Now they are ready to start some acting! Acting itself can bring students joy, excitement, a higher self-esteem, and a sense of accomplishment.
- Sample Lesson 1—”Narratives” (Reading Period) Oral reading lesson. I will read an African Folktale from African Folktales—Traditional Stories of the Black world. Introduce and talk about Anansi.
- Sample Lesson 2—A theater activity on trust will be done. “Narratives” (Reading Period). Oral reading of “Anansi and His Gourd of wisdom” students will recite the folktale.
- Sample Lesson 3—”Narratives” (Social Studies and History Period) Students will read information about west Africa, Ghana in particular. Students will do an activity. Students will relate “Anansi and His Gourd of wisdom” in relation to Africa.
- Sample Lesson 4—”Narratives” (Language Period) Students will discuss the relationship of Anansi and his son. Students will write about family situations at home. One student will tell “Anansi and His Gourd of wisdom”in his or her own words. Students will discuss oral speaking.
- Sample Lesson 5—”Narratives” (Reading Period) Students will read “Why the Mosquito Buzzes in People’s Ears” in large group. Students will improvise community relations, based on the folktale.
- Sample Lesson 6—”Narratives” (Art Period) Students will say “Anansi and His Gourd of Wisdom” in unison. Do an ant activity.
- Sample Lesson 7—”Narratives” (Social Studies and History Period) Students will read about African life of their ancestor, their customs and traditions.
- ”How African folktales fit into this tradition?” A theater game relating to this topic.
- Sample Lesson 8—(Social Studies and History Period) Compare African-American,. African-Caribbean, and Hispanic life. Students will look at slides, a filmstrip, or a video that looks at these populations. A Social Studies activity.
My lessons on Comedy and Jamaica will focus on the cultural identities of Jamaicans or west Indians. I will not deal so much with the geography of Jamaica, but I will work with the development of an appreciation for the beauty of the people and their language. The students will act out “Anansi and His Gourd of wisdom” in class. This will be done after the students have demonstrated comprehension of the selected Jamaican phrases. I will be adding to the Anansi folktale.
- a) Students will create characters and situations that are funny.
- b) Students will be made aware the humor comes from playing the reality. You never act funny! You are funny because of a believable circumstance.
- c) Students will become aware of Jamaican customs.
- d) Students will compare cultural differences and similarities of the Jamaican community with the other cultural groups in my class.
The last workshop lessons will be included in Acting through Dance —Caribbean Music. Hopefully, Shari Caldwell, Michelle Edmonds, or Paul Hall can come in and introduce basic African dance moves (I have worked with all of these dancers they are not only top notch African dancers, but they also work very well with children.) I will encourage the children to create their own unique style and personality to their characters’ dance performance. This is a significant part of the curriculum unit, but it is also the smallest section. Why? I have found in the past that fifth graders are uninhibited when it comes to dancing and rhythm and dance. They are introduced to my African Americans and Hispanic children at an early age(at least the students that I have worked with in the past). Consequently,movement can be introduced just days before a performance and they usually do well. Caribbean music will be played because of the previous lessons on Comedy and Jamaica.
- a) Students will listen to a Jamaican folktale performed by Shawn Willis, a storyteller who performed a Jamaican folktale for my after-school enrichment program in 1992. She will discuss Jamaica and her heritage with the students. She will perform a folktale. Usually, she asks students to improvise certain parts of the folktale when she is finished. Finally,she recommends a list of books for the students.
- b) Students will act out characteristics of the Jamaican culture through improvisation. They will not be stereotypes. The activity is intended to give students a chance to explore the customs of another culture.
- c) Students will perform “Anansi and His Gourd of wisdom” and the folktale will include words or phrases from the Jamaican culture.
Drama and African American Folktales: Addressing the Social Development Needs of My Students. will fit well into my students’ academic program for next year. This unit will end with a performance for the Brotherhood Assembly at our school. Anansi folktales provide memorable characters who are involved in some comical situation, witty exchange, or moral dilemma, and will stimulate my students’ imaginations, learning, and hopefully their ambitions.
- a) Students will identify different music styles of the Caribbean-African people, for example, Calypso, Reggae, Cha-Cha, and Merengue.
- b) Students will be able to relate situations, characters, or moods in the folktale to the type of performance music.
- c) Students will learn how rhythm and dance add to the mood of a play.
Students will master the necessary steps or movement needed for performance.
Students will listen to music from the Caribbean.
- 1. Ask students to share dance or movement that is done in their homes or communities.
- 2. Have students name favorite dancers from the entertainment industry.
- 3. Have students watch a small performance(very small) from the guest dance teacher.
- 4. Give more background information on Jamaica.
1. Caribbean music or live musicians.
2. Map of Jamaica.
- 1. Explain the need and importance for dance in “Anansi and His Gourd of Wisdom.”
- 2. . Explain that people of African descent all have. different styles of dance,but they are all an very creative. Name them.
- 3. Explain that their dancing is an act of individual self-expression.
- 4. Have students dance. Guest teacher will give instructions for the choreography.
1. Students can identify different styles of dance in the Caribbean.
2. Students will explain why dance is important in theater.
3. Students will perform dance taught in the lesson.
4. Students will dance freestyle.
- 1. Student will act out folktale read in-class.
- 2. Student will demonstrate comprehension of the dialogue in “Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears.”
- 3. Student will respond to questions based on dialogue and paraphrase dialogue.
Warm-up Activity—Students will play a theater game for ten minutes. For example, one student is sent out of the room while the other students focus on an object in the room (maybe they pick a chair). They let the student enter the class. They clap hands as the student moves closer to the object. If the one student discovers the object by the sounds of their claps, they applaud wildly.
Dialogue, paraphrase, adaptation, dialect, improvisation. Write vocabulary on board with definitions. Discuss words.
Students will discuss the title of “Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears” and look at the illustrations of the folktale. They will predict what happens in the tale.
Tell students that “Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears” is a West African Folktale.
Explain that we will be making an adaptation from the folktale. Have students share what they know about African American folktales and Jamaica.
Web their answers on the board.
Have students read parts of the dialogue aloud. The teacher will provide as narrator for the parts that are in quotes. Allow the students to read parts of their, choice. The teacher will model some lines, giving an emphasis on a Jamaican dialect and greetings.
Make a list describing the character of the mosquito. Tell students to describe and predict what the mosquitoes personality, speech, physical appearance and mood will be like when acted out.
Have students summarize the folktale by re-calling main events. Groups of students will act out events rising improvisation.
Handman, Wynn. Modern American Scenes for Student Actors. U.S. A. and Canada: Bantam Books. 1978. This book has scenes and monologues for students actors.
Kennedy. Adrienne. In One Act. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,1988. This is a book of plays that would be good for nontraditional casting.
Seto, Judith Roberts. The Young Actor’s Workbook. New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1979. This is a guide for teaching acting to children.
Wilkerson. Margaret. Nine Plays by Black Women. New York: New American Library, 1986. This book has information about African American Female playwrights and exciting plays by these writers.
Ekwensi, Cyprian. An African Night’s Entertainment. Nigeria: African Universities Press, 1962. This is an entertaining and challenging African folktale for young people.
Handman, Wynn. Modern American Scenes for Student Actors. U.S.A. and Canada: Bantam Books, 1978. This book has scenes and monologues for students actors.
Seto, Judith Roberts. The Young Actor’s Workbook. New York: Grove. Press,Inc., 1979. This can be fun for young readers interested in drama.
Contents of 1993 Volume III | Directory of Volumes | Index | Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute | <urn:uuid:d8694789-a205-4207-be24-3f107ca97586> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1993/3/93.03.04.x.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397565.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00076-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949939 | 7,801 | 3.3125 | 3 |
The nation of Israel remains a bastion in the Middle East for its democratic form of government and rights allowed to all members of society, including Arabs, to express differing views. But, a move on the part of several members of the Knesset to criminalize Arab beliefs regarding the founding of the state of Israel would undermine democracy. Many Israel Arabs regard the date of the founding of Israel as a day of mourning and term it, “nakba.” Under the proposed legislation would make criminal celebrating “Nakba Day” with sentences of up to three years for those who seek to express their disapproval of the nation of Israel.
We Americans lived through “McCarthyism” in the fifties when those who spoke liberal ideas were deemed to be “communists,” forced to sign loyalty oaths and many lost their jobs or were sent to jail. The nation of Israel is a strong democratic society and it can withstand some of its citizens celebrating a day of mourning.
Israel educators might invite Arab speakers into their schools to discuss why they are celebrating “Nakba Day” and ask permission to discuss with Muslim students why Israel should exist. | <urn:uuid:b11fbc94-923d-4dbd-a925-7672916804a8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://theimpudentobserver.com/world-news/israel-legislators-seek-to-stifle-free-speech/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397567.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00009-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969361 | 244 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Efficient energy use, or simply “energy efficiency”, is the goal of efforts to reduce the amount of energy required to provide products and services.
Energy Efficiency is the first step towards managing energy responsibly. Here is a quick guide for reducing energy demand and consumption. These small changes translate to immediate savings and are often painless to make. It just requires awareness and discipline in behavior. | <urn:uuid:a8183d4d-b159-48ae-9d40-423a2c68dc5b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://houstonrenewableenergy.org/renewable-energy/energy-efficiency/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00097-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941537 | 80 | 2.96875 | 3 |
These young people learn new skills at each meeting. They are exposed to color, fabric, and design. They receive the satisfaction of seeing their projects evolve into beautiful works of art. Our youngest member sits on mom’s lap, learning to manipulate needle and thread - a future applique quilter! Our senior quiltmaker is seventeen and already creating her own quilt designs. But our members are not limited to girls the boys also join in.
Our kids also learn the importance of helping other children. The chosen charity for the Young Piecemakers is UCLA Medical Center. The children create quilts and donate them to children exposed to HIV/AIDS.
The response from nearby guilds and communities have been very generous. Everything is free to our children and no membership fees. We are solely dependent upon donors. Even the great teachers we feature donate their time to the children.
Even though the love of quilting has gained more popularity, quiltmakers are still a very small portion of the art world. Did you know that only three percent of these quiltmakers are under the age of 40 years? Most of today’s youth have never known a family member to take up a needle for the fun of it! Quilts hold stories. Quilts hold memories. Quilts hold families for generation. Without our young people to embrace the art of quiltmaking there will be too few quilts to comfort those in the feeling of warmth and love of generations past.
Quilts cross all barriers of class, age, and ethnicity. They are proof of our unity and life as Americans Every quilt reflects the personality and passion of its creator. Each day a quilt is completed, another story is written into our history and a centuries-old tradition continues.
It is the goal of the founders of The Young Piecemakers Quilt Guild to promote the love of quilting and to give children of all ages the opportunity to express themselves positively in an environment free of violence and turmoil. We encourage volunteerism as our members wrap others less fortunate in our communities with blankets of love. We bring fun and empowerment to all its members.
Studies have shown that art programs really can have a strong positive impact on our youth, and quiltmaking is no exception. Quiltmaking is no longer meant to be merely a bed cover. It has been revolutionized into an exciting new art form - fiber art.
The Young Piecemakers Quilt Guild strives to show the important contribution young people can make through their skills as quiltmakers and artists.
Our young members create quilts as:
- records of continued traditions
- symbols of family and community
- works of art
We are delighted to see our kids transform into productive, contributing members of our communities.
We see their:
- sense of accomplishment
- increased self-esteem
- compassion for giving comfort to those in need
- involvement in the arts
- participation in exhibitions and shows
Young Piecemakers Quilt Guild
P.O. Box 77113
Corona, CA 92877
for entry forms and more info
Renee' Noflin, President
Lynette Therance, Vice Presidet
Precious Noflin, Secretary
Gladys Lewis, Treasurer
Sue Moore, Public Relations Laison
Ida Berry, Creative Advisor
Lynette Therance, Graphic Design/Advertising Coordinator | <urn:uuid:1f3586eb-d838-46a9-81e6-6cf12345acbf> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ypqg.org/whatwedo.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396222.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00048-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946397 | 693 | 2.6875 | 3 |
||Students at Festus High School pair off to practice active listening skills, an essential part of being a Transformer.
Every day, kids experience bullying – that’s why the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri joined with local schools to educate kids on how to intervene. Transform UR Future (TUF), equips students with tools so they can be more than just a bystander and it’s working at one Jefferson County high school.
TUF expands upon Girl Scouts’ Project Anti-Violence Education Program (PAVE) with a focus on bullying prevention and intervention. PAVE is a program designed to educate, empower and assist young people, K-12, in understanding and dealing with aggression and violence; to teach healthy relationship skills and help young people develop into strong and confident leaders.
“This is the kind of program that helps kids deal with some of the worst things that can happen to them in school and in life – being bullied,” said Bonnie Barczykowski, CEO, Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri.
A prime example is Festus High School. There, Girl Scout Outreach Program Managers Kelsey Horne, Libby Kindle and Jillian Richardson led a group of 25 Transformers through the PAVE program. They discussed verbal and silent communication skills, how to offer praise to acknowledge and reinforce what children discuss during lessons, how use personal stories to engage students during discussions and more.
TUF focuses on a trio of schools within a district--a high school combined with an elementary and a middle school. The schools work together to implement PAVE and other Girl Scout anti-bullying programs.
A key TUF component is the Transformer. Transformers are high school aged female and male students who learn the PAVE curriculum, classroom management and presentation techniques to prepare them to deliver three PAVE sessions to elementary school students. As Transformers, students will also receive three to four leadership skill-building sessions, fulfill volunteer or service hours and will be eligible for college scholarships. Transformers act as peer mentors to the younger students, helping to transform their attitudes about violence and bullying.
Lindsay Burch and Taylor Noll, two new Transformers, explained why they joined.
“I wanted to reach out to the younger grades so they feel comfortable talking about bullying and so they have someone to communicate with,” Burch said.
“I know people who have been bullied,” Noll said. “I wanted to hear about TUF and see what it is all about.”
Before lunch, Horne, Kindle and Richardson asked the students to pair off and answer one of two questions to practice active listening skills. The pairs had to note how each partner responded, both verbally and non-verbally.
Examples of PAVE topics include – bullying, cyberbullying, Internet safety, conflict resolution, peer pressure, inclusion, diversity and healthy relationships.
Program funding comes from the generosity of our community partners. It is important for Girl Scouts to raise money so programs like PAVE can be offered to schools and organizations at no cost.
Earlier this month, Festus High students led their first PAVE sessions at Festus Elementary School. They worked with kindergarten through third-grade students on conflict resolution. Horne said the younger students were prepared, listened well and were excited to participate.
The high school Transformers took the initiative in the classrooms, creating a game out of “Stop, Say, Listen and Think,” one of the conflict resolution activities.
“It’s Stop the conflict, Say how you feel, Listen to the other person and Think about a solution,” Horne explained. Early reports from the elementary school counselor indicate the game has started to solidify the concepts in students’ minds.
On May 8, Girl Scouts will host a PAVE Rally in downtown St. Louis. This event focuses on the importance of bullying prevention efforts in schools, communities and homes. In previous years, the event drew nearly 5,000 attendees, including elected officials. This year, TUF students will take part in the planning and implementation of this community event. An additional PAVE Rally will be held in Hannibal on May 1 in conjunction with TUF schools in that community.
Other parts of PAVE include Be a Friend First (BFF), an eight-week program where smaller groups of girls in grades four through eight focus on bullying behavior and relational aggression between girls. BFF shows girls how to build and maintain healthy friendships during the sometimes difficult middle school years.
Ninety-seven percent of teachers in PAVE report that students follow classroom rules better and 98 percent report students have better control of their tempers in class.
“We are always striving to make sure TUF students are in the same three classrooms on each visit, for consistency and to give the kids familiar faces,” said Horne.
PAVE launched in 2000 as a pilot project in Girl Scout councils nationwide as part of a National Institute of Justice grant. Since its inception, Girl Scouts has served more than 300,000 young people through PAVE programs in eastern Missouri. | <urn:uuid:71758a3d-7258-4a81-b2b6-a83707c96eda> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://girlscoutsem.org/News/News-Releases/ID/18/Festus-High-School-students-engage-in-Transform-UR-Future-program.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396945.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00083-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955061 | 1,047 | 2.921875 | 3 |
“Negro slavery is contrary to the sentiments of humanity
and the principles of justice.”
The Abbé Henri-Baptiste Grégoire (1750–1831), a Catholic priest and bishop, was a leading French abolitionist at the turn of the eighteenth century, a participant in the Revolution of 1789 and member of its governing assembly, and a supporter of the rights of Jews and free blacks in France and its colonies.
Shortly after being ordained, his first published essays from the 1770s concerned equal treatment under law for the Jewish population in France. Grégoire supported the French Revolution of 1789 and was elected as one of the few clergymen to the Estates-General, the revived French Assembly. He served in several public offices in the following decades and was elected Bishop of Blois. Grégoire was an early supporter of abolition, a stance that led to later clashes with Napoleon and the Bonapartist regime. He met Julien Raimond, the Haitian advocate for racial reform, in 1789 and supported Raimond’s work to convince the Assembly to strike racially discriminatory laws in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (Haiti). Grégoire supported the Haitian Revolution of 1791. The Constituent Assembly’s law to grant the same rights to some free men of color in French colonies was made in 1791 on his proposal.
Grégoire joined the Société des amis des Noirs (Society of the Friends of Blacks) in 1787 and began writing abolitionist pamphlets. Thomas Jefferson, then living in Paris as American minister, was invited to join the society at the same time, but declined. Grégoire’s full-length work An Enquiry Concerning the Intellectual and Moral Faculties, and Literature of Negroes was first published in 1808. The first edition in English, the complete text of which is included here, was brought out in 1810 by Brooklyn printer Thomas Kirk. It was translated by David Bailie Warren, the acting American consul in France at the time.
The book was an immediate rallying point for the nascent abolitionist cause in America. As the long listing of dedicatees (many of whom were still living when the book went to press) shows, the English abolitionist movement was considerably larger and more established than its counterpart in America at this time. Britain had abolished the slave trade the previous year, and America’s ban on the importation of slaves began in 1808.
In his book, Grégoire systematically refutes all the major arguments for the inferiority of blacks, countering them with examples showing how blacks and black societies possess the same elements of intellect and civilization found in white societies. Its examples of African-American achievement, especially the biographical listings in Chapter VII, remained a standard source for abolitionist writings throughout the nineteenth century.
In his arguments supporting black intellect, leadership and initiative, Grégoire’s examples of the Haitian Revolutionary leaders Toussaint L’Ouverture and Ogé won him no favors in Bonapartist France, which had quickly moved to repress the Revolution in Haiti and reinforce the rights of slaveholders. Grégoire’s relationship with both the Church and the French government remained strained for the rest of his life due to his progressive views.
The works and achievements of most of the writers cited—Equiano, Ignatius Sancho, and Phyllis Wheatley, for example—would have been known in transatlantic intellectual circles of the time, though their accomplishments had not been systematically documented in this manner. In one sense, Grégoire’s book is the first volume of African-American literary criticism.
Thanks to Rare Books and Special Collections Librarian Jeffrey Makala for suggesting and helping to make this book available in electronic form. The project could also not have been completed without the work of Tony Branch from the Systems Department, and Kate Boyd, Deborah Green (2007, MLIS Library Science), and Laura Coleman (2007, MLIS Library Science) from the Digital Activities Department.
The monograph was scanned on a flatbed Epson Expression 10000 XL scanner using SilverFast scanning software. Deborah scanned the images as color TIFFs at 24-bit and 300 ppi. From the TIFFs she created high-quality JPEGs and added the preservation metadata to the TIFF and JPEG images. Laura Coleman OCR’d the text with OmniPage Pro, creating text files, to make the pages full-text searchable. The JPEGs and text files were then uploaded to CONTENTdm. The TIFFs will be maintained as the archival masters on a SAN server, backed up to DVD and tape.
Laura began creating a home page for the collection, which Stewart finished, adding a table of contents page for easy accessibility to the different chapters. (This page has been replaced by the table of contents in the book’s CONTENTdm viewer.) Jeffrey wrote an introduction to the book. Kate Boyd created metadata in an Excel file for bookmarking the individual chapters in CONTENTdm. The metadata records follow the Western States Best Practices Dublin Core format and were uploaded as a tab-delimited file at the same time as the images. Kate reviewed the collection and uploaded the images to the CONTENTdm database. | <urn:uuid:a1b8770a-e914-4366-a0ad-6862f8ea3147> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://library.sc.edu/digital/collections/gregoireabout.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00030-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956694 | 1,111 | 3.765625 | 4 |
One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is a technique for studying the relationship between a quantitative dependent variable and a single qualitative independent variable. Usually we are interested in whether the level of the dependent variable differs for different values of the qualitative variable. We will use as an example real data from a study reported in 1935 by B. Lowe of the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station.* Perhaps this originated at coffee break one morning. Donuts are traditionally a fried food and as such absorb some of the fat they are fried in. The amount and type of fat absorbed has implications for the healthfulness of the donuts. This study investigated whether there was any relationship between the quantitative variable "amount of fat absorbed" and a qualitative variable "type of fat". (Unfortunately we do not know just what the fats were. You could think of them as corn oil, soybean oil, lard, and Quaker State.) You can find the data at our site as a plain text file and as an Excel spreadsheet.
ANOVA is commonly used with experimental studies and that is the case here. The experiment consists of frying some donuts in each of four fats. Twenty-four batches of donuts were prepared and six randomly assigned to each of the four fats. The results, in grams of fat absorbed for each batch, and as they might commonly be laid out on a page were:
We can compare the four fats by performing an analysis of variance or by constructing four parallel boxplots.
To construct boxplots for the four types of fats we need to first create the following table:
To create boxplots, select Chart Wizard, then in chart type select line, click on Next, choose Data Range as the above entire table, click on Rows, finally press Finish. Next right click on each line of the graph, select format series and choose none option for line. Also clear the gridlines by rightclicking on one of the gridlines and click on clear. Next right click on any point on the graph, choose format data series, then select options, click on high-low lines,and Up-down bars to get the following (simplified) boxplots:
It certainly looks like more of Fat 2 gets absorbed while Fat 4 seems least absorbed. But wait a minute! If we repeat the experiment we would most likely get different numbers. Could this change the rankings of the fats? Is it possible that all four fats are absorbed to about the same degree and we are just seeing random fluctuations from one assignment of batches to fats to another? To see if that is likely we do a hypothesis test. The null as usual is backwards: we hypothesize no difference among the fats. As always, the null provides a specific model with which we can play "what if". If the null were true, would such differences be ordinary or extra ordinary?
Now we need to perform one way ANOVA using Excel. Select Tools, then Data Analysis, choose Anova:Single Factor, press ok, then select Input range as the whole table given on Excel spreadsheet excluding the column of rows, next tick mark on labels and then press ok to get the following output:
Anova: Single Factor SUMMARY Groups Count Sum Average Variance Fat1 6 1032 172 178 Fat2 6 1110 185 60.4 Fat3 6 1056 176 97.6 Fat4 6 972 162 67.6 ANOVA Source of Variation SS df MS F P-value F crit Between Groups 1636.5 3 545.5 5.406342914 0.006875948 3.098392654 Within Groups 2018 20 100.9 Total 3654.5 23
The P-value of 0.0068 is for a test of the hypothesis which says that the mean amount of fat absorbed is the same for all four types of fat. Because it is so small, we reject the hypothesis of equal absorption.
Like any statistical test, this one is based on some assumptions. We will only mention the ones we can check with software. These are two: that the numbers for each fat are normally distributed and that they share a common variance. We can check these roughly from the boxplots. There we see roughly similar spreads and no serious departures from normality.
*Our source is Chapter 12 of Snedecor and Cochran, Statistical Methods (7th. ed.), 1980, Iowa State University Press, Ames, IA.
© 2008 statistics.com, portions © 2007 Robert W. Hayden and used by permission | <urn:uuid:505f7e98-a1ec-4a08-a6c6-243c98e220b0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://courses.statistics.com/software/Excel/XL1way.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397744.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00155-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904823 | 926 | 3.953125 | 4 |
California, home to 4,200 native plants, has 200 invasive plants trying to choke them out of existence. While the California Invasive Plant Inventory tries to educate and inform the gardening public about these plants, they are still planted in landscapes today. Learning how plants that are invasive work is one way to learn how to stop them. Always pick native plants over invasive species to plant in any garden.
The Calla lily, Zantedeschia aethiopica, is listed as an invasive plant in California (Cal-IPC inventory rating of Limited). It is a perennial that grows around the coast of northern and southern California and in the San Francisco Bay. While most gardeners grow this lily as a garden plant to decorate their landscape, the invasiveness comes from prairies and the wetlands. Propagation of the calla lily is through seeds and through rhizomes.
The scarlet wisteria, Sesbania punicea, is also known as red sesbania and is classified as invasive in California (Cal-IPC inventory rating of High). It is a shrub that is deciduous and found in the Central Valley riparian section of the state, choking the access spots to the river. It has also been named as a cause of erosion, flooding and eradicating some native plants from the area.
Canary Island Date Palm
The Canary Island date palm, Phoenix canariensis, is classified as an invasive in the state of California (Cal-IPC inventory rating of Limited). It is a tree that has started to cluster form in southern California. It is an invader of stream corridors and has such a dense canopy in its form that it is choking out native plant growth. Orchards are also affected by the widespread growth of this date palm.
Soft brome, Bromus hordeaceus, is classified as a California invasive plant (Cal-IPC inventory rating of Limited). It is a grass that takes over the land that has low fertility and will out-compete with native grasses in the same area. It can spread wildly and hedge out some rare plant species with its rapid growth.
Giant dracaena, Cordyline australis, is also known as the New Zealand cabbage tree and is a California invasive plant (Cal-IPC inventory rating of Limited). It is growing in forests of Salt Point State Park and Redwood National Park. What started as an ornamental tree in the landscape is now infesting through birds distributing seeds.
Halogeton, Halogeton glomeratus, is an invasive plant in California (Cal-IPC inventory rating of Moderate). It is an annual that can be seen throughout the state in salt grass or desert shrubs. It is invading disturbed sites so that it can prevent more desirable native plants from growing. Not only invasive, it is toxic to livestock. | <urn:uuid:59863c45-1f82-4efc-a1ec-b392e34d7d71> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.gardenguides.com/89921-list-invasive-plants-california.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396959.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00021-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95587 | 591 | 3.4375 | 3 |
02/02/11 When the winter temperatures drop, staying warm and dry can be a challenge. And with severe weather expected in the days ahead, state health officials recommend Hoosiers protect themselves by preparing for the cold.
Extremely cold temperatures, ice, and snow can pose hazards both indoors and out. Outdoors, serious health problems can result from prolonged exposure to cold, namely frostbite and hypothermia. Indoors, improper use of portable heating equipment can lead to fire or dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. Food safety issues can also arise should the electricity go out resulting in the loss of refrigeration.
Tips for staying warm and safe while at home include:
- Use fireplace, wood stoves, or other combustion heaters only if they are properly vented to the outside. Exercise caution when heating with these devices, as well as propane appliances, and older wall or floor gas furnaces.
- Never use a charcoal or gas grill indoors—the fumes are deadly.
- Check that you have a working carbon monoxide detector.
- Never leave lit candles unattended.
- Keep as much heat as possible inside your home. Check the temperature in your home often during severely cold weather.
- Leave all water taps slightly open so they drip continuously.
- If the power goes out, note the time of the outage and have a plan to keep perishable food cold. Potentially hazardous foods, including meat, dairy, eggs, and cooked vegetables need to be stored at or below 41 degrees Fahrenheit.
“It’s critical to have a plan in place for if you are without power and heat for an extended period of time,” said State Health Commissioner Gregory Larkin, M.D. “Exposure to cold can cause life-threatening health conditions, such as frostbite or hypothermia.”
Frostbite is an injury to the body that is caused by freezing; frostbite causes a loss of feeling and color in affected areas, often the nose, ears, cheeks, chin, fingers, or toes. Frostbite can permanently damage the body, and severe cases can lead to amputation.
Hypothermia, or abnormally low body temperature, is a short-term, but serious condition that can occur when a person is exposed to cold temperatures for an extended period of time. When a person’s body temperature gets too low, it can affect the brain, making the victim unable to think clearly or move well.
Hypothermia is particularly dangerous because a person may not know what is happening and won’t be able to do anything about it.
“Stay indoors whenever possible during a winter storm,” said Dr. Larkin. “If you must go outside, be sure to dress in layers, cover your head, face and mouth, and wear water-resistant coats and boots. Never ignore shivering—it’s an important first sign that the body is losing heat. Persistent shivering is a signal to return indoors.” | <urn:uuid:bb99fa12-19f5-4e9c-8d32-c62fbf984db9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://am1050.com/2011/state-health-officials-urge-hoosiers-protect-cold-weather/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397565.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00005-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929754 | 623 | 3.203125 | 3 |
As climate changes, British butterfly packs its bags to head North
Rising global temperatures may prompt some species to seek different evironments in order to survive. That's what scientists believe is happening as Britain's Brown Argus butterfly begins showing up in increasing numbers in northern regions of the United Kingdom.
New research in the journal Molecular Ecology used genetic studies to show that the Brown Argus is colonizing areas further north. The study shows that the butterfly is adapting to different habitats. Evidence suggests that the species itself has some pre-existing variation in terms of its habitat preferences which may be helping it evolve to meet the demands of a warmer climate.
"To our knowledge, this is one of the first studies to identify genetic evidence for evolutionary change associated with range shifts driven by recent climate change," said James Buckley, a researcher in Bristol University's School of Biological Sciences.
- MCW researcher is lead author of genetic study on most common type of hearing loss
- Researchers find new genetic target for treating PTSD
- A simple numbers game boosts a child's math ability, researchers say
- New device shows promise in protecting athletes from sports-related brain injuries
- The science of coffee: Chill the beans, scientists say
- MCW heart researcher wins Steve Cullen Scholar Award
- Medical frailty can be reversed, new study finds
- UW prof named Pew scholar in biomedical sciences
- MCW's Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin endowment awards nearly $750,000
- Gene sequencing predicts which bladder cancers will respond to drug | <urn:uuid:0adc0bd1-d99a-4556-93af-bd979b0921c3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/134838523.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396887.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00102-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909819 | 310 | 3.640625 | 4 |
Enjoy flavorful spring asparagus from your backyard with this simple vegetable gardening how-to from ReMarthable Contest finalist Kendra Lord.
Tools and Materials
- Asparagus crowns
- Select a gardening space that is in full sun, keeping in mind that asparagus plants can grow as tall as 6 feet and could shade the rest of your vegetables if not positioned correctly.
- Using a trowel, dig furrows that are 6 to 8 inches deep and 3 to 5 feet apart.
- Set asparagus crowns upright in furrows, with the roots spread evenly. Cover with 2 inches of soil, creating a mound. As spears grow through the soil, gradually fill in with more soil and keep plant well watered.
- In early spring each year, plants will begin producing shoots. During the first season after planting, let your asparagus grow into ferns. During the second season, harvest selectively for only a two-week period, being careful not to over-pick and stopping when new shoots appear thin and spindly. In the third season, harvest asparagus plants for a full six to eight weeks. The plants should continue to produce spears for approximately 15 years.
Got questions about this article or any other garden topic? Go here now to post your gardening ideas, questions, kudos or complaints. We have gardening experts standing by to help you! | <urn:uuid:da16f252-45d4-4bd8-b73f-38d42ff457ed> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://gardenclub.homedepot.com/how-to-plant-asparagus/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399106.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00052-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928429 | 288 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Researchers at Ruhr-Universitat Bochum have created a bio-based solar cell capable of generating a continuous electrical current of several nanowatts per sq cm. The new approach avoids damage to the tapped photosynthetic cells, an issue that has plagued previous attempts to harness nature's "power plant."
While the technology is still in its infancy, bio-based solar cells could offer several advantages over photovoltaic systems, namely greater efficiency and the fact that they are not dependent on silicon and expensive rare earth metals. On the downside, the systems developed thus far are not very durable and do not produce much power.
Past attempts at harnessing the process of photosynthesis to generate electricity have concentrated on tapping in to only one of the two steps known as the Z-Scheme.
The Z-Scheme is the process of photoreduction where light energy is converted to chemical energy in two steps or photosystems. When a plant, algae or cyanobacteria absorb a light photon an electron within photosystem 2 (PS2) is excited and attains a higher energy level. This unstable electron is transferred via a series of redox reactions down the electron transport chain before entering photosystem 1 (PS1).
In a first, the team at RUB, led by Prof Wolfgang Schuhmann and Prof Matthias Rögner, has integrated both PS1 and PS2 into a photovoltaic cell. Rather than capturing electrons at either the PS1 or PS2 stage of photosynthesis, as has been the approach in previous bio-based cells, they have used the charge separation between the two photosystems to create an anode and diode, generating continuous electrical current through a redox hydrogel when exposed to light.
To achieve this, the team isolated the two photosystems in thermophilic cyanobacteria found in hot springs, which are attractive because the extreme environmental conditions they exist under makes their photosystems relatively stable. These photosystems were then embedded into redox hydrogels with different potentials developed by the team. The result is a system that generates electricity rather than converting carbon dioxide into oxygen and biomass.
This approach also seems to overcome problems experienced by other researchers at the University of Georgia (UGA) and Stanford University, where cells rapidly deteriorate rendering them useless within as little as a few hours.
“The system may be considered a blueprint for the development of semi-artificial and natural cell systems in which photosynthesis is used for the light-driven production of secondary energy carriers such as hydrogen,” says Prof Rögner. | <urn:uuid:ee27f7dd-8d9c-4cbd-9238-d9e8a9bb633f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.gizmag.com/cyanobacteria-bio-based-solar-cell-rub/30142/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00000-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948857 | 537 | 3.921875 | 4 |
John Phillip Reid. Patterns of Vengeance: Crosscultural Homicide in the North American Fur Trade. Pasedena: Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society, 1999. 248 pp. $40.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-9635086-1-4.
Reviewed by Michael A. Bellesiles (Emory University)
Published on H-Law (March, 2002)
For these be the days of vengeance
For these be the days of vengeance
John Phillip Reid, the Russell Niles Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, is one of the most productive, intelligent, and imaginative legal historians at work. In this remarkable and important new book, he examines the relations between British and American fur traders and Indians.
Reid demonstrates two significant points. First, that Native Americans had autonomous legal systems, though they were not always recognized as such for not being written. Second, that the white Americans and British adapted to and occasionally adopted Indian legal understandings in their crosscultural relations. Both are ideas expressed in part by previous scholars, but never before to my knowledge with such clarity and precision.
Reid is a very careful historian who acknowledges the limitations of his evidence. Indian law was not written, so his is an interpretation of that law based on their recorded actions. As a consequence, "there are questions that cannot be answered because not enough of the domestic law of the nation being discussed is known." The historical record is occasionally silent; "the law of some nations is completely unknown" (p. 20). Reid works to fill these blank spaces by analogy, while admitting that such an approach has its flaws.
As many scholars have recently noted, none so ably as Laura Kalman, legal historians have been stuck for too long in "law-office history," the process, in Reid's words, of "rummaging through history and picking out bits and pieces to sustain an argument about current law" (p. 16). At the same time, western history is only now breaking out of an Anglo-centric view of frontier development that failed to appreciate fully the nature of Indian society. "At the very least," Reid writes, "one hopes that historians of the transboundary North American Indians will cease assuming that the Indian nations had no law" (pp. 21-22). "Indians had law--at least two kinds. One was international law, the law by which the nations regulated their conduct toward one another. The second was domestic law, the law of the Blackfoot, of the Flatheads, of the Crees and of all the Indian nations" (p. 40). "Not known, because not looked for," to use T. S. Eliot's wonderful line.
Reid looks, meticulously. "Murder," he reminds the reader, is not the killing of another person, but "the unlawful killing of a human being" (p. 24). That distinction is vital, for when we read an account of a white trapper "murdered" by the Indians, the first question we should ask is whether that is the correct choice of words. Calling the killer a "murderer" rather than a "manslayer" is a judgment rather than a statement of fact. It seems almost too obvious, though far too often ignored, that the killing may have been justified in the eyes of the society on whose land the killing occurred. Once we accept that Indians had laws, we start to see evidence of that system of justice in most accounts from the West.
Clearly, the cultural values of the native people should be taken into consideration. James P. Ronda has noted that Europeans in the Pacific Northwest complained constantly of the Indian predilection for stealing, failing to make any effort to understand the Indian perspective. In reference to the theft of some axes by the Chinookans, Ronda writes, "the Chinookans believed those who had large numbers of axes or other valuable goods should be willing to share with those having only a few. What the furious partners saw as a theft, Indians viewed as a sensible redistribution of surplus goods."
Reid offers the example of horse theft. For the white man whose horse is stolen, theft is theft. But, Reid asks in reference to a specific case, "What if Bannocks thought taking horses from aliens and adding them to the Bannock nation's stockpile was a national good?" (p. 25). If the "crime" occurred on Bannock land, and the Bannocks perceived the act as a positive one, can we as historians speak of a "crime"? When the U.S. Customs Service seizes goods, are they committing a crime? Are nations excused on the basis of bureaucracy? Reid asks obvious questions that have somehow avoided the comprehension of many previous historians of the American West. For instance, were not trappers who took game or migrants who took wood from Indian lands thieves?
Just when the reader starts to think that Reid is presenting a romantic vision of Indian life, he hits home with a notably unsentimental portrait of an Indian atrocity or act of real stupidity. He employs the same precision when addressing the cruelties of the whites. But he takes seriously the notion that these lands belonged to the Indians.
Whenever Indians and Europeans came into contact, their different conceptions of law came into conflict. The European legal structure generally demanded some sort of hearing and the punishment of the guilty person or persons. Indian responses to crime in the northwest demanded retribution. Indians viewed the individual who had committed a crime as part of a group, that group being responsible for the actions of each of its members. A common mistake among historians is viewing European law as normative. For the North American whites, there were excusable acts of murder that carried no punishment. Such a concept was alien to Indian perceptions of justice. On the other hand, white society in the early nineteenth century tended to punish murderers with death; Indians often accepted recompense in the place of retribution.
Sometimes whites adopted Indian notions of vengeance consciously in an effort to deal effectively with them; at other times they unreflectively took up the worst qualities of that vengeance. An example of the latter came in 1823 when Colonel Henry Leavenworth of the U.S. Army responded to an attack on some trappers by a few Arikara by stating to the Secretary of War, "bear in mind that it is not only an individual but the whole A'rickara nation that owes us blood" (p. 29). Often whites "applied no law except the drumhead law of the jungle," as when they hanged Indians without reference to the legal system of either nation (p. 41). And then these very whites would express shock that the nation of the victim would seek vengeance.
There was certainly a great deal of room for misunderstanding. Few people "coming from a European legal culture were able to comprehend the Indian doctrine that liability for homicide was fixed by one principle and one principle only--causation" (p. 44). Those who had caused the death, even if by unintentional accident, were responsible. "A person did not have to take specific action to incur liability. Passive causation triggered the same vengeance as active causation" (p. 82). Many Indians made the connection between the arrival of whites and the spread of contagious diseases, holding all whites equally liable for having caused so many deaths. Reid cites one instance when the Hudson's Bay Company was blamed for the death of a group of Indians who drowned on their way to trade with the Company. Since the Indians would not have been on that stretch of river but for the Company trading post, the Company bore responsibility. "Facts, circumstances, and defenses that would in European law mitigate a homicide, such as that the killing was an accident, done in self-defense, committed without intent or malice aforethought, or not 'designedly,' were immaterial in any of the Indian laws that are known. Causation was the single probative factor" (p. 45). White contemporaries often failed to understand the Indians because they did not expect to. "People they expected to be 'savages' acted like savages, as should be expected, and to look for other motivations was a waste of time. Everything was superstition and blind vengeance" (p. 88).
The Indians had similar difficulty understanding the whites' notion that one should investigate the causes and circumstances of a killing. Reid offers several fascinating examples of this confusion of legal attitudes, as when one drunken Chippewa accidentally shot a white. "The Chippewa, knowing he was the cause of the fur trader's death, waited patiently to be executed," alcohol consumption or any other factors being irrelevant (p. 46). But instead of seeking vengeance, the fort commander determined that it was an accident and set the confused Chippewa free. On other occasions whites refused to accept the sacrifice of another member of a tribe from which a manslayer had originated, as when one British agent "demanded the application of individual guilt and would not accept collective liability, which ... he made no attempt to comprehend." This official wrote, "I then informed him that it was not our Laws that the Innocent should suffer for the guilty ... to which he replyed that by the Laws of their Nation one of the same Blood was equally satisfactory." As Reid adds, "The crosscultural misunderstanding was complete" (pp. 49-50). In this instance the killer's uncle committed suicide to atone for his nephew's act. The British realized that they had no choice but to accept this suicide as justice, though they could not begin to understand it.
Even when they could not completely understand them, British and Americans adopted Indian vengeance policies, though usually in a one-way fashion. When an Indian killed a white person, whites often accepted the payment of a blood debt, though they generally preferred that it was the person who committed the crime who paid with his life. On the other hand, when a white person killed an Indian, whites often would attempt to persuade the affected nation to take some other form of recompense. The Hudson's Bay Company became particularly adept at "adopting the principles of Indian international law. It judged success not by Christian or common-law standards of punishment, but by the precepts of Indian liability" (p. 135). The Company "wanted Indians to accept compensation when one of their people killed an Indian, but would themselves accept compensation only for injuries less serious than homicide" (p. 115). However, those whites making use of Indian concepts of justice refused to acknowledge that they were doing so, even when employing the language of the Indians in "covering the dead" and "filling the Callumet."
Reid makes a distinction between "payback vengeance" and "principled vengeance." The former is revenge, the second is based on a conception of maintaining social equilibrium. Whites and Indians practiced both, but the Indians did not approve of the former, as it could create a cycle of violence. The point of "principled vengeance" was to resolve a conflict; payback simply evened an imagined score and brought only individual satisfaction. Among southeastern Indians, killing a member of another tribe was essentially a declaration of war. "This was true even of a killing in retaliation for homicide--a payback killing--because in international law a retaliatory killing was never privileged" (p. 68). Not only does Reid grant Indians the respect they deserve for having international law, but he precisely defines its workings from white records that usually cannot begin to grasp what is going on among the Indians.
All parties in the West found advantage in the Indian notion of compensation. For the Indians, compensation restored "social harmony or international peace" (p. 108). Many of these "nations were so small and so closely connected by travel, commerce, and marriage that compensation for homicide was almost a national necessity. Otherwise there might have been constant warfare" (p. 109). Though they did not have to worry about the latter point, Americans and British found compensation useful for maintaining peaceful relations with the various native peoples. "Although negotiations could be protracted and bitterness could arise over excessive demands, compensation had the advantage of being a practice everyone could understand, whether or not everyone accepted its legitimacy. It could end a conflict and even erase bad feelings" (p. 108).
All documents are subject to suspicion, though in different ways. Massacres are constantly reported in letters, whose accounts are regularly discovered to have been untrue. (See, for instance, pp. 176-77.) Published memoirs often record acts of amazing heroism and bloodbaths that cannot be validated by contemporary sources. Some of these reported slaughters exceed the estimated population of the people in question. Even while using such sources, Reid notes their unreliability. For instance, he notes that James Pattie's narrative is unreal and "too bloody." Pattie "had an astonishing number of deadly encounters with Native Americans," killing 110 Papagoes in a single morning (p. 36). There are accounts of scores and even hundreds of Plains Indians killed in battle. Not only do these stories seem unlikely for the amazing ability of the whites to mow down their enemies with few losses themselves, but also because most estimates have placed the number of warriors at such times in the tens rather than hundreds. Disease reduced these tribes to a shadow of their former size. For instance, by 1837 there may have been just one hundred Mandan left alive, which would translate into no more than thirty warriors. More believable is a Hudson's Bay Company force of sixty-five men, one of the largest they ever gathered, which set out in 1829 to recover some property from the Clatsops and "ended by killing four Indians, burning an entire village, and scattering the Clatsops to such an extent there was no one with whom the British could deal" (p. 146).
Patterns of Vengeance is equally refreshing for its focus on Canadian history, demonstrating the many opportunities for research available to the north. Reid seeks to dispel a long-standing perception of the Canadian side of the border as relatively more peaceful than the United States--although, in the process of making that point, he provides some indication that there were some substantial differences. As with U.S. officials, the favorite mode of justice among Hudson's Bay Company officers was summary. The Company proved more efficient in extracting vengeance than their American counterparts because "Company employees obeyed orders long after Indians and most free trappers would have gone home" (p. 139). Americans worked mostly for themselves. To the north, trappers worked directly for the Company, a centralized monopoly with powerful government support, and understood that they could be cut loose if they did not adhere to instructions. The Indians understood that the Company's vengeance was more certain than that of the Americans, which limited Indian violence. If angry with a particular tribe, the Company closed forts, cut off trade, and was even known to pay "a neighboring nation to make war on Indians who resisted demands for satisfaction" (p. 148). In short, the Company put the Indians with whom they traded in a dependent relation.
The Company also exerted a restraining influence on its trappers, though, for they did not want vengeance to interfere with trade. Whereas it was important to teach the Indians occasional lessons through acts of violence, the Company still needed those Indians as suppliers and guides. They sought peaceful solutions whenever possible, as when one agent reported that he feared some Indians "would shoot at us in desperation, and thus oblige us to fire upon them--a thing we ardently wished to avoid" (p. 162). The Company's agents liked to fire off their cannon as a demonstration of power that would not hurt anyone. Such displays usually worked, and Canada avoided the outrageously irrational slaughters of Indians that the U.S. Army inflicted at the Washita and Wounded Knee, for example. To this extent, the Canadian frontier may have been less violent than that of the United States, though more comparative work is clearly called for.
That is a minor qualification; for Reid's point is that violence is misrepresented on both sides of the border; understated to the north, exaggerated to the south. Reid quotes the American trapper Robert Newell "to remind us that fur traders and trappers went into the mountains neither to fight nor to make war." Newell wrote, "The trapper's first policy is to get furs, to trade and induce the Indians to work, trap, hunt, etc. and on as reasonable terms as possible" (p. 209).
Some may question whether Reid has, as he states, confused rationalization or racist blather with necessity when whites claimed to use vengeance in order to meet Indian expectations. Such doubts may be aroused by claims that "severity of vengeance constituted leniency measured by the bloodshed it prevented" (p. 191). But, as Reid argues, "Vengeance was the method. It was not the end. The purpose was to keep the fur trade open" (p. 191). The evidence seems overwhelming that it was not sensitivity which led the employees to the Bay Company to avoid bloodshed, but trade. As Peter Skene Ogden wrote, "I will not hesitate to say I would most willingly sacrifice a year and even two to exterminate the whole Snake tribe, women and children excepted, and in doing so I am of opinion I could fully justify myself before God and man" (p. 195). But he appreciated that the Company's interest precluded such a satisfying course. In this context, it may seem a pity that the United States did not grant a monopoly in its fur trade.
In his foreword, Martin Ridge correctly identifies the core value of this marvelous book: "In a way, Reid has opened a Pandora's box regarding the British and American responses to Native American homicide. In the end he asks his readers to ponder the following question: Whose world, the Native American's or the white's, was based on a morality of vengeance?" (p. 15). Patterns of Vengeance is a well-written, provocative, and highly significant work of original scholarship that will, I believe, become an appreciated classic in the field of legal history.
. James P. Ronda, Astoria and Empire (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990), 229, quoted in Reid, p. 26.
. On this notion of causality in a different culture, see Bruce M. Knauft, Good Company and Violence: Sorcery and Social Action in a Lowland New Guinea Society (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985).
. Russell Thornton, American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population History Since 1492 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987), 98.
. Edith I. Burley, Servants of the Honourable Company: Work, Discipline, and Conflict in the Hudson's Bay Company, 1770-1870 (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1997).
If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at: https://networks.h-net.org/h-law.
Michael A. Bellesiles. Review of Reid, John Phillip, Patterns of Vengeance: Crosscultural Homicide in the North American Fur Trade.
H-Law, H-Net Reviews.
Copyright © 2002 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit, educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For any other proposed use, contact the Reviews editorial staff at firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:b3f65e57-be17-416b-86ca-c993ef15ce77> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=6046 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397428.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00066-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964977 | 4,043 | 2.609375 | 3 |
After a detailed look at the data they conclude quite properly:
There is no evidence yet of any trend in tropical cyclone losses that can be attributed directly to anthropogenic climate change.They do speculate about a link based on the conclusion of IPCC 2007:
The IPCC states that humans have, “more likely than not”, contributed to the trend towards intense tropical cyclone activity since the 1970s. Therefore, any increase in losses could, more likely than not, be partly related to anthropogenic climate change. . . we advance the premise that if losses are affected by natural climate fluctuations, they are also likely to be affected by additional global warming due to anthropogenic climate change. This premise is supported by indications that the intensity of tropical cyclones is affected by anthropogenic climate change.This is a valuable paper not just because it replicates our work (but of course that is nice to see). The authors also do a nice job clearly distinguishing what can be shown with available data versus what remains in the area of speculation. | <urn:uuid:16675050-4573-453e-ac01-9c72560007b4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://rogerpielkejr.blogspot.com/2009/06/schmidt-et-al-replication-of-pielke-et.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404405.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00118-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953301 | 208 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Verbal Behavior and Communication Training
Contribution to Book
International Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders
J.L. Matson & P. Sturmey
Communication deficits are a defining characteristic of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Thus, it is not surprising that improving communication skills is the primary focus of virtually all early intervention programs for children with ASD. Many of the most effective teaching strategies for building language come from the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA) (see Matson, Benavidez, Compton, Paclawskyj, & Baglio, 1996 for a review). ABA-based intervention programs typically use well-established behavior-analytic teaching/intervention techniques such as positive reinforcement, shaping, prompting/prompt fading, chaining, extinction, imitation, modeling, and other behavioral procedures to teach communicative behavior to children with ASD.
Higbee, Thomas S. and Sellers, T. P., "Verbal Behavior and Communication Training" (2011). SPED Faculty Publications. Paper 563. | <urn:uuid:168ccff0-f64c-4fab-b6b2-6567c1a000e0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/sped_facpub/563/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394987.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00161-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.792019 | 223 | 3.59375 | 4 |
Learn How To Count Time As A Drummer
One of the main jobs as a drummer, is to be able to count, and stay in time. This is the one skill that most musicians need to have in a drummer. So what happens if you are asked to play half time, or double time? Would you be able to deliver? We all know that we should play the drums with a metronome, now we just have to define the note values. Counting can sometimes seem like a very difficult thing to do; however, it’s actually very easy. By taking things slow, you will see how easy it actually is to count every type of time signature.
How Time Signatures Work
Notes, Bars, Measures, time signatures …
Before we start out with counting, I feel I should explain what each term means. Feel free to read my article on drum notation; this may give you a more in depth looks on things. A note, in drumming terms, is basically a stroke. It can be on any drum, cymbal or pad, and can be long or short. It is the symbol used to represent a stroke on the drums. A bar is the same thing as a measure. It is the space in which the beat is played. A time signature is a fraction that tells you how many notes is a measure. Here is a very basic diagram for you.
Although the most common time signature you will see is 4/4, there are many others out there. As a drummer you should become familiar with each, and learn to count every one. Time signature fractions usually look like this: 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 7/8, 9/8
The number on top will show you how many notes there are per bar., while the bottom number (or denominator) will show you the value of the notes you are playing. A little confused? Let me show you what I mean. The bottom number indicates the value of notes you are counting the time signature at. Look at this:
1 --------------------------Whole Note
2 --------------------------Half Note
4 --------------------------Quarter Note
8 --------------------------Eight Note
12 -------------------------Sixteenth Note
So, let’s break a few down. The most common time signature for most rock beats is 4/4. The top number is 4, which tells us there are 4 notes to the bar. The bottom number is also 4, so, looking at the chart, we see that these are quarter notes. Therefore, this signature has 4 quarter notes per every bar. What about 7/8? Well, the top number tells us there are 7 notes, and the bottom number tells us they are eighth notes. Therefore, 7/8 has 7 eight notes.
This does not mean you can only play 7 eight notes per that bar, or 4 quarter notes for every bar, this just gives you the guideline to count the measure. In 7/8 for example, you could play seven 16th notes, however, you would count it as 7 eight notes.
Quarter notes- Now that we have a bit of a grasp on time signatures, we can get into counting them! This is very easy, simple count the number of notes. So for 4/4, we would count 1 - 2 - 3 - 4. That’s all you need to know about counting quarter notes.
Eight notes- Again, eighth notes are very simple as well. There are 2 ways to count it. You can simply count out the notes, 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8. Or you can make it a little simpler, and count half the notes, 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &. This way is more common, as it is easier to count, and easier to read.
Sixteenth Notes- You use the same concept to count 16th notes too. However, the more notes you play, the harder it is to fit all the numbers in. Especially if you are playing at a faster tempo. To fix this, we will simply cut the time down. Instead of counting 16, 16th notes, count 4 quarter notes. Say it out loud to keep yourself on time. 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a. You will get confused if you start saying numbers with more than one syllable, mistaking each syllable for one note. This is why we use e’s, a’s, and &’s. They seem to flow of your tongue a lot easier.
Triplets- Counting triplets is simple once you get the feel for it. A triplet is simply playing a group of 3 notes in a given beat. There are two ways you can count this as well. You can count it like this 1 - Trip - Let. Or like this 1 - 2 - 3. Either way works. With this example, you will notice that the first note of each triplet will change in regards to where it is played.
Odd Times- Counting odd time signatures is where it gets a bit trickier. Not in the way you count it mind you, but in the way you think about it. Normally, your mind is used to counting in fours. When you start experimenting with different time signatures, you will notice the rhythm does repeat itself early, or later. (Depending on the beat) Just take your time, and remember to count out loud.
Counting these beats is very easy to do. Like all the other beats, just count the number of notes in the signature. So for example, 5/4, you would count: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5. You would repeat this after the 5th beat. For 7/8, you would count: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7. Remember what I said about syllables? The word seven has 2 syllables, which may mess you up. So, instead of saying the word seven, try shortening the word to just sev.
I hope this has helped you out with your counting!& It is a tricky category to explain in writing, but I think it is pretty straight forward. Remember to always count aloud when you are practicing. It will help you stay on time, and prevent you from messing up. Also, feel free to come up with your own words for counting you can use what ever you like. These are the most commonly used methods, but I have heard others making up their own ways, which work just as well. Feel free to email me if you have any comments or further questions about counting!
By: Dave Atkinson
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Learn To Play Drums The Easy Way - Do you want to learn how to play the drums? Think it may be too difficult or require a lot of coordination? I've got great news for you! The truth of the matter is - if you can count to four, you can play the drums! | <urn:uuid:1ca2d850-14cc-403c-9987-3beee5e6c02a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.rockdrummingsystem.com/underground/drum-lessons/learn-how-to-count-time.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397111.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00177-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948044 | 1,650 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Lord Howe Island was first discovered by Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball, commander of the First Fleet ship, Supply, in 1788, while en route between Sydney Cove and the penal settlement of Norfolk Island. Ball named the uninhabited island after British Admiral Richard Howe, and the sea stack situated to the island’s south Balls Pyramid, after himself.
The island was first settled in 1834 when three couples arrived from New Zealand. In the ensuing years, Lord Howe acted as a provisioning station for ships travelling between Sydney and Norfolk Island, and for whaling ships. The native fauna – which hitherto had no fear of man – was easy to catch and most of the island’s endemic birds were driven to extinction during this period.
By the 1870s, whaling was waning and the islanders turned to the collection and export of Kentia Palm seeds to the European indoor plant market to support the local economy.
Tourists first came to the island around the turn of the 20th century by ship and visitation boomed post World War II with the arrival of the flying boats, which operated out of Rose Bay in Sydney. An airstrip was opened in 1974, enabling twin-engine planes to begin flying to the island. | <urn:uuid:044e3031-1227-4bf7-b093-263ab06031f2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.lordhoweisland.info/history-sustainability/history-of-lhi/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00140-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975073 | 253 | 3.78125 | 4 |
This devotional was written by Kelly McFadden
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. —Proverbs 16:18
The story of theTitanic was legendary well before the 1997 movie appeared on the silver screen. Even before the Titanic sailed, this ship was destined to be legendary. It was the largest, most luxurious ship of its time. So confident in its structure, the Titanic’s builders did not include enough lifeboats in order to preserve more room on deck for passengers. It has been reported that one man said, “God Himself couldn’t sink this ship.” Known as the “unsinkable ship,” the Titanic set sail on her maiden voyage one hundred years ago in April 1912. Convinced that it was invulnerable, the ship’s crew sent its passengers back to their cabins, even after striking an iceberg. We know the rest of the story. The Titanic sunk. Over 1,500 people died in the icy water of the North Atlantic the nightTitanic went down.
In this age of technology and invention, it is easy to think we don’t need God. People continue to become more and more self-reliant. Sometimes, it can be hard to see why we need God when we can do so much on our own. As people, we seem more capable than ever before. Never in history have the words “self-made” rung so true. Look around you; we have forgotten our need for the Lord.
However, the Bible warns us that pride comes before a fall. Lessons from history have shown us that pride catches up with us. The proud tend not to account for their weaknesses. It is usually these weaknesses that come back to haunt the proud and lead to their demise. “Let the nations know they are merely human,” sings David in the Psalms. Don’t become like the Titanic. Beware of feeling and thinking that nothing can stop you, that you are unsinkable. Keep in mind that not one passenger on the Titanic expected to perish on the voyage.
There is such thing as ungodly pride. This is the pride that does not recognize the need for your Savior. The hardest part about this pride is that, too often, by the time it is recognized, it’s already too late…we are already falling.
1. What are ways you have become a believer in yourself rather than a believer in God?
2. Ask God to reveal the prideful areas in your life. | <urn:uuid:a68fd204-2c3e-47f0-ac18-114c7bfabb92> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/homeword/homeword-april-10-2012.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397797.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00149-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974773 | 531 | 2.71875 | 3 |
C++ inherited from C its three memory storage types: automatic storage (also called stack memory), static storage for namespace-scope objects and local static objects, and the free-store(also called the heap), which is used for dynamically-allocated objects.
In many cases, this diversity complicates things. For example, in mobile platforms such as Symbian, free-store objects are mandatory due to the system's tiny stack size. Likewise, garbage collectors and smart-pointers require that objects be allocated on the free-store exclusively. But in other cases, you want to ensure that objects are neverallocated on the free-store. The following sections show how to enforce such class-specific memory usage policies.
How do you ensure that objects of a certain class are allocated on the free-store exclusively? Similarly, how can you encourage automatic and static storage types for a given class while disabling free-store allocation?
Enforce memory allocation policies by controlling the access type of a class's member functions. | <urn:uuid:5bc9a1be-23e0-4fe5-857c-9332ecfdab8e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.devx.com/cplus/Article/27898 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392527.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00084-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924497 | 205 | 3.46875 | 3 |
|Scientific Name:||Amblyopsis rosae|
|Species Authority:||(Eigenmann, 1898)|
|Red List Category & Criteria:||Near Threatened ver 3.1|
|Reviewer(s):||Smith, K. & Darwall, W.R.T.|
|Facilitator/Compiler(s):||Hammerson, G.A. & Ormes, M.|
This species is listed as Near Threatened because: extent of occurrence is less than 20,000 sq km; area of occupancy is unknown but exceeds 10 sq km; number of locations is uncertain but more than 10; distribution is not severely fragmented; population size is unknown but probably exceeds 250 mature individuals; and trend in habitat quality, number of subpopulations, and probably population size appears to be slowly declining. Thus the species meets some, but not all, of the criteria for Vulnerable status.
|Previously published Red List assessments:|
|Range Description:||Range includes the Springfield Plateau of the Ozark Highlands in southwestern Missouri, northwestern Arkansas, and northeastern Oklahoma (Brown and Willis 1984); this region is drained by the White, Neosho, and Osage rivers (USFWS 2011).|
|Range Map:||Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.|
|Population:||Ozark cavefish are consistently seen at 16 of the 41 known "active" sites (USFWS 2011). Based on groundwater recharge zones, the number of locations (as defined by IUCN) is more than 10.|
Total adult population size is unknown. "A range-wide estimate of countable cavefish using the most recent population monitoring numbers suggests 213 individuals. It is generally acknowledged that this species is a groundwater obligate and this estimate does not reflect actual numbers. Biologists only count fish in accessible reaches of caves and wells, and are unable to access groundwater conduits where fish may be distributed throughout." Source: USFWS (2011).
Just two caves represent approximately 80 percent of the countable cavefish (USFWS 2011).
This species currently exists in 41 caves and wells, whereas historically it occurred at about 52 sites (see USFWS 2011). However, the majority of the 41 sites have not had confirmed cavefish sightings for at least six years (USFWS 2011).
"There is no evidence over the past year to indicate population declines. However, 17 of 35 occupied sites have not had a documented cavefish in 6+ years. Sufficient documentation does not exist at this time to indicate whether the loss of these sites is indicative of large-scale population declines or site-specific declines at the extant localities." Source: USFWS (2011).
Trend over the past 10 years or three generations is uncertain, but area of occupancy and abundance probably are slowly declining. "Using monitoring numbers and professional judgement of cavefish biologists for determining population trend, six populations have declined, 25 are undetermined, and 10 are stable. Of populations that are undetermined and/or unoccupied, infrequency of survey and site accessibility issues may be contributing factors." Source: USFWS (2011).
|Current Population Trend:||Unknown|
|Habitat and Ecology:||Habitat includes dark cave waters, primarily clear streams with chert or rubble bottom, occasionally pools over silt or sand bottom. See Willis and Brown (1985). See Lister and Noltie (no date) for detailed information on the characteristics of occupied and unoccupied habitat.|
|Movement patterns:||Not a Migrant|
|Major Threat(s):||Threats include water pollution from agricultural and urban sources, flooding by reservoirs, closing of cave entrances, accidental spills of contaminants along transportation routes, restricted habitat, and heavy use of some sites by cavers (Willis and Brown 1985, Brown and Todd 1987, Aley and Aley 1997, USFWS 2011). Water quality threats are typically from non-point sources and difficult to regulate (USFWS 2011). Increased groundwater withdrawals for home, community, and agricultural use, depletes groundwater and limits available habitat (USFWS 2011). Several populations have been extirpated as a result of stocking of trout, filling in of cave/sinkhole entrances, contaminant spills, or flooding by reservoirs (USFWS 2011). Possible reduction of bat populations resulting from white-nose syndrome is regarded as a potential threat (USFWS 2011).|
|Conservation Actions:||Conservation needs include restricting human access to subterranean habitat and protecting watershed from pollution.|
|Citation:||NatureServe. 2014. Amblyopsis rosae. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014: e.T1079A19032420.Downloaded on 01 July 2016.|
|Feedback:||If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown on this page, please provide us with feedback so that we can correct or extend the information provided| | <urn:uuid:80f9c15c-f36c-43e9-9e84-f4373d9df3be> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/1079/0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403502.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00114-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.865106 | 1,045 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Noun phrases (grouping together a collection of words to act as one noun) are one of the keystones of academic writing. They allow you to pack a lot of information into a few words, a function which is extremely helpful when writing to a word count, or when trying to make a piece of writing concise. Additionally, once you recognise that strings of words (noun phrases) represent ideas which cannot be broken down, you may start to read texts in a different way, reading for 'chunks' of information rather than reading individual words.
To illustrate what noun phrases are and why they are useful in
To guide students through a series of exercises which will help them to practise constructing and deconstructing noun phrases.
'A noun' is the generic name we give to a word which names a person,
place, object, thing, concept or event. Whilst there are some
exceptions to the rule, this basic description works in most cases.
However, in academic writing, using one word or one noun is not always
enough. Quite often we need to describe a place, object, person,
concept or event with more than one word, in order to convey a complete
message. For example, 'The Francis Bancroft Building'.
In this example, it was not enough for Lucy to say 'building' as there are many buildings on the Mile End Campus. Juan needed to know exactly which building she was talking about. Lucy therefore modified the term 'building' with the words Francis and Bancroft. Collectively, the three words behave as one. This is, in essence, a noun phrase; a collection of words which work together.
Read the sentences below and identify which sentences have noun phrases and which do not. Put a tick or a cross in the appropriate button, before checking your answer with the feedback.
The People's Palace is in the Queen's Building.
The teacher told the students to be quiet.
The James Mason Lecture Theatre is in the Francis Bancroft building.
The Cultural and Social Anthropology Department deal with the many aspects of the social lives of people around the world.
The English for Academic Purposes Modules run by the highly qualified teachers in the language and learning unit, are available to all students of Queen Mary University of London.
Science and Engineering degrees are run by the school of Science and Engineering.
All of the sentences contain a noun phrase, although sentence 2's
noun phrases are in fact just one word.
Sentence 1: The People's Palace The Queen's Building
Sentence 2: The teacher The students
Sentence 3: The James Mason Lecture Theatre The Francis Bancroft building
Sentence 4: The Cultural and Social Anthropology Department The many aspects of the social lives of people around the world
Sentence 5: The English for Academic PUrposes Modules The highly qualified teachers in the Language and Learning Unit
Sentence 6: Science and Engineering degrees The school of Science and Engineeing
Not all noun phrases are preceded by an article (see sentence 6). You will have to apply the rules of articles to any noun phrase that you use. For more information, take a look at the articles learning object.
As already shown, using one noun is not always sufficient to convey
a full message. Quite often nouns needs to be modified (have
information added to them) in order to communicate the full message.
Such information can be added before, or after the main noun.
Imagine you were standing in a bicycle shop, trying to buy a bike which was not out on display, but which was in a catalogue (which you had left at home). You would need to give a considerable amount of information to the sales assistant, so that when s/he went into the stock room to get the bike for you, they would know exactly which bike you were referring to. If they did not have all of the necessary information, they would have to keep coming back to the shopfloor to ask you questions about the bike.
I want to buy the bike.
I want to buy the mountain bike.
I want to buy the red, mountain bike.
I want to buy the red, Marin, mountain bike.
I want to buy the red, Marin, women's, mountain bike.
I want to buy the red, 17" frame, Marin, women's, mountain bike.
I want to buy the lightweight, red, 17" frame, Marin, women's, mountain bike.
I want to buy the expensive, lightweight, red, 17" frame, Marin, women's, mountain bike.
I want to buy the expensive, lightweight, red, 17" frame, Marin, women's, mountain bike [with the shimano gears].
I want to buy the expensive, lightweight, red, 17" frame, Marin, women's, mountain bike [with the shimano gears and disk brakes].
I want to buy the expensive, lightweight, red, 17" frame, Marin, women's, mountain bike [with the shimano gears, disk brakes and front suspension].
I want to buy the expensive, lightweight, red, 17" frame, Marin, women's, mountain bike [with the shimano gears, disk brakes, front suspension and alloy pedals].
I want to buy the expensive, lightweight, red, 17" frame, Marin, women's, mountain bike [with the shimano gears, disk brakes, front suspension, alloy pedals and Bontranger tyres].
All of the information which has been added between the word 'buy' and the word 'with', is the noun phrase. Any information after the word 'with' is part of a prepositional phrase. Linguistically speaking, this prepositional phrase is a separate entity. However, for the purposes of 'chunking' ideas and conveying a complete message you should think of it as being part of the noun phrase, as it gives information about the main noun 'the bike'.
Modify the noun phrase 'the lecturer' by adding information in between the words 'the' and 'lecturer'.
Try to think of distinguishing features which could separate one of your lecturers from another. For example, which subject they teach, or personal characteristics such as young, old, friendly, well spoken, fat, thin, female, male, tall, short etc.
A possible answer could be, 'the history lecturer'
The , lecturer
A possible answer could be, 'The young history lecturer'
The , , lecturer
A possible answer could be, 'The young, friendly, history lecturer'
The , , , , lecturer
A possible answer could be, 'The young, friendly, Oxford educated, history lecturer'
The , , , , , lecturer
A possible answer could be, 'The helpful, young, friendly, Oxford educated, history lecturer'
In the following exercise we will look a little closer at the grammar of noun phrases.
Look at the noun phrase 'I want to buy the expensive, lightweight, red, 17" frame, Marin, women's, mountain bike'. Answer the questions beneath by putting a mark in the correct check box.
The head noun is the only word in the phrase which is obligatory.
That is, it is the only word which cannot be removed.
For example, in the noun phrase 'The Excellence in Writing Course', 'Course' is the only word which cannot be omitted. The other words in the phrase give additional information which, although essential for conveying a message, could be added in a separate sentence, just as we saw in the cartoon at the start of this learning object.
A: I'm going to do the course
B: Which course?
A: The excellence in writing course.
Q1) Look at the example of the noun phrase about the mountain bike. Which is the head (main) noun?
The main noun is 'bike'.
Q2) What is the position of the words 'expensive, lightweight, red, 17" frame, Marin, women's, mountain' in the sentence? Do they appear before or after the main noun?
Q3) What type of words are expensive, lightweight, red, 17" frame, Marin, women's, mountain?
Grammatically speaking, these words are both nouns and adjectives.
However, the nouns are acting as adjectives in this noun phrase,
because they are modifying the head noun 'bike'.
Adjectives: expensive, lightweight, red.
Nouns: frame, Marin, women, mountain
Noun phrases can also be made by adding information after the main
Q: Who is your history teacher?
A: My teacher is the young one educated at Oxford.
In this example, 'educated at Oxford' comes after the noun 'teacher', rather than before it. Whilst the information comes after the noun, the idea in the words 'educated at Oxford' is still vitally important to the description of the teacher. In fact, the phrase the young one educated at Oxford acts as one complete idea.
Another way to create a noun phrase is to add a prepositional phrase (as seen in the example of the mountain bike). In this example, the preposition 'in' and the words 'the kitchen', are all fundamental to the idea being expressed. They cannot be separated from each other.
Q: Where is the book?
A: The book is on the table in the kitchen
Q: Which table?
A: The table in the kitchen
Other ways of creating noun phrases include using an 'ing' form after the noun. In this example, an 'ing' form has been used after the noun, but again, the ideas are linked and should not be separated.
Teacher : I became really irritated with the amount of mobile phones ringing during the lesson today.
The following exercises will open in an external window.
Put the parts in order to make a noun phrase which gives information after the main noun. Use the examples above to help you.. When you think your answer is correct, click on "Check" to check your answer. If you get stuck, click on "Hint" to find out the next correct part.
The book published by Cambridge University Press
The man wearing the cycling shorts is the one who takes me for
My laptop is plugged into the socket in the bedroom.
The student who did exceptionally well in their exam is the one at the back chewing gum.
You need to put your empty wine bottles in the bin marked 'glass'.
In the following activity you will learn how to identify the head noun of a noun phrase. This will help you to deconstruct the noun phrase, which in turn will help you to feel more confident about building them.
Look at the sentences below and decide which word is the main noun in the noun phrase. Tick the correct option and then check your answers with the feedback.
1. Government web activity was frozen during the general election campaign.
2. Mouse-wielding civil servants across Whitehall are engaged in a frantic rush to archive old pages full of defunct policies.
3. The Downing Street site has undergone a few changes too.
4. She swallowed the dog which ate the cat which ate the bird which chased the spider that wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her.
In the last activity in this Learning Object you will start to focus on noun phrases in a longer piece of text. This is more reflective of the tasks you will have to carry out when writing at university.
Read the following extract and try to identify all of the noun phrases. Write your answers in the text box beneath before checking your answers with the feedback.
Autonomous learning has been defined as ‘the ability to take charge of one’s own learning’ and it is associated with students taking a more active role in the learning process (Holec, 1981). The autonomous learner is viewed as an ‘independent, self-directed life-long learner’ (Betts, 2004). These students, therefore, do not confine themselves to the material being taught, but rather take an active role in seeking and processing information and developing transfer skills to apply information in a broader context for their own needs or interests (Chan, 2003). For the purpose of defining someone as educated, they must be able to incorporate new information with old, actively engaging in the process of learning, rather than simply learning content (Barr and Tag, 1995; Cross, 1999; Greene, 1988; Howell, 2002, 2006). Suggested modes of promoting learner autonomy include tiered assignments (with one assignment building on the foundation of the previous), flexible groupings (which allows for students to pick and choose within assignments) (Betts, 2004), and problem-based learning (students are given the opportunity to engage in independent problem solving) (Van Den Hurk, 2006). The education process should be viewed as long-term aptitude development effort that seeks to foster personal preparedness for later stages of life (Jimenez Raya and Perez Fernandez, 2002). Therefore, it is important to identify methodological/pedagogical frameworks that foster the development of learner autonomy.
[Autonomous learning] has been defined as ‘[the ability to take
charge of one’s own learning]’ and it is associated with [students
taking a more active role in the learning process] (Holec, 1981). [The
autonomous learner] is viewed as [an ‘independent, self-directed
life-long learner’] (Betts, 2004). [These students], therefore, do not
confine themselves to [the material being taught], but rather take [an
active role in seeking and processing information and developing
transfer skills to apply information in a broader context for their own
needs or interests] (Chan, 2003). For [the purpose of defining someone
as educated], they must be able to incorporate [new information with
old], actively engaging in [the process of learning], rather than
simply learning [content] (Barr and Tag, 1995; Cross, 1999; Greene,
1988; Howell, 2002, 2006). Suggested [modes] of promoting [learner
autonomy] include [tiered assignments] (with [one assignment building]
on [the foundation of the previous]), [flexible groupings] (which
allows for students to pick and choose within assignments) (Betts,
2004), and [problem-based learning] (students are given [the
opportunity to engage in independent problem solving]) (Van Den Hurk,
2006). [The education process] should be viewed as [long-term aptitude
development effort that seeks to foster personal preparedness for later
stages of life] (Jimenez Raya and Perez Fernandez, 2002). Therefore, it
is important to identify [methodological/pedagogical frameworks that
foster the development of learner autonomy].
In conclusion, this learning object has shown the importance of noun
phrases. It has also highlighted how using a long noun phrase can
enable you to write sentences which are compact, and which contain a
considerable amount of information without being incredibly complex. It
has also illustrated that recognising noun phrases can shape the way in
which you read text thus enabling you to be more critical in your
For further reading about noun phrases, follow the links below:
UCL Internet Grammar
The University of Southampton
Vandiver, D. M. & J.A. Walsh. (2010). Assessing autonomous learning in research methods courses: Implementing the student-driven research project. Active Learning in Higher Education 11/1. pp 31 – 42.
© Jessica Cooper/ Queen Mary University of London /photograph used under creative commons attribution license courtesy of Dr Jibba / comic produced with the use of Make Beliefs Comix.. | <urn:uuid:7369daa1-dca2-4958-a90b-98bb5688d5b0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://aeo.sllf.qmul.ac.uk/Files/NounPhrases/Noun%20Phrases.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396222.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940931 | 3,315 | 3.90625 | 4 |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |
Overlearning is a pedagogical concept according to which newly acquired skills should be practiced well beyond the point of initial mastery, leading to automaticity. Once one has overlearned a task, one's skill level is higher than the challenge level for that task (see Control region in the graph). The Yerkes–Dodson law predicts that overlearning can improve performance in states of high arousal.
Rohrer et al. define overlearning as “the immediate continuation of practice beyond the criterion of one perfect instance." Past research has referred to overlearning as an effective means of moving information learned “from short-term memory to long-term memory." [How to reference and link to summary or text] Overlearning has also been found to ensure “long-term retention” and “leads to greater recall," however these benefits have not been consistently found to be “long-lasting." [How to reference and link to summary or text] Rohrer et al., noted that the results of their study found that the benefits of overlearning in recall performance “dissipated within several weeks." These findings are supported by Driskell et. al, who found that “the benefits of overlearning may dissipate at longer retention intervals." These results demonstrate that overlearning “may be advisable in certain instances,” such as “for learners who seek only short-term retention." To enhance long-term retention, one could employ the use of “distributed practice”, which spaces out post-criterion practice “across multiple sessions, rather than concentrating it all into one session” .
Overlearning has been found to “boost subsequent test performance” and thus these strategies are used “frequently in education and training” programs to allow students to retain large amounts of information in a short period of time that will be used shortly after.
Analyzing overlearning Edit
There are two procedures used to analyze overlearning, the “duration-based procedure” and the “criterion-based procedure." The duration-based procedure manipulates “the number of learning trials for each degree of learning,” while criterion-based involves “participants studying or practicing until they reach a criterion of one perfect trial before stopping or continuing." The duration-based appears to be more popular in overlearning studies than is the criterion-based .
Further research Edit
Studies done on overlearning have not explored in depth the benefits of the method on mathematics, as most research has been done using verbal memory tasks. Rohrer and Taylor studied the “retention of mathematics knowledge” and concluded that “distributed practice” resulted in “retention of mathematics” and overlearning did not . Further research in the subject of mathematics needs to be done.
- ↑ Csikszentmihalyi, M., Finding Flow, 1997
- ↑ Long, Martyn (2000). The Psychology of Education, Routledge.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Rohrer, Doug, Kelli Taylor, Harold Pashler, John T. Wixted and Nicholas J. Cepeda (2005). The Effect of Overlearning on Long-Term Retention. Applied Cognitive Psychology 19: 361-374.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Rohrer, Doug, Kelli Taylor (2006). The Effects of Overlapping and Distributed Practise on the Retention of Mathematics Knowledge. Applied Cognitive Psychology 20: 1209-1224.
- Mandler, G. (1962). From association to structure. Psychological Review, 69, 415‑427.
|This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).| | <urn:uuid:2a5691b0-e3e2-42dc-b453-0de14b086943> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Overlearning | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399428.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00176-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915128 | 797 | 3.890625 | 4 |
Ultra Orthodox name children after Holocaust victims
Israelis, whether Holocaust survivors themselves or the heirs of survivors, commemorated Holocaust Remembrance Day this past week by honoring the victims who suffered at the hands of the Nazis.
For the ultra-Orthodox, Holocaust Remembrance Day does not happen once a year, but it is something they carry with them from one generation to the next. There isn’t a family member in these communities who hasn’t named someone after a murdered relative.
“In every home the children are living monuments. We live the Holocaust anew every day,” said Yisrael Gliss, an Israeli Haredi journalist. Gliss responded to continual complaints that the ultra-Orthodox do not respect Holocaust Remembrance Day by standing when the siren sounds or taking part in public ceremonies.
Ultra-Orthodox Jewry is in the process of recovering its communities, which were once a thriving part of European society.
“I remember how my father, who was in Auschwitz, would tell us about the Jews who asked, ‘Don’t forget to say Kaddish for us,’” said Rabbi Meir Bar Haim. “Our Kaddish has been around for generations,” he said. Rabbi Bar-Haim is founder of the Israeli army’s ultra-Orthodox unit and spoke to hundreds of soldiers on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
His speech came amidst the new rise in Zionism amongst the ultra-Orthodox.
Rabbi Dunner says that the families of many yeshiva students come to live in Israel not because of anti-Semitism, but because of a return to Zion.
From his perspective the Holocaust’s most important lesson for the Jewish people is that “we must be prepared. When something like that starts, then it will be necessary to go to the Land of Israel,” he said. | <urn:uuid:50e9f73a-3e85-4ba7-ba26-202ab589b946> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/12421/Default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397636.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00114-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939191 | 395 | 3 | 3 |
Some things in life are worth learning before it's too late—like the locations of your water and gas shutoff valves. Now granted, these shutoff valves are often hidden in some dark, creepy corner of the house. But if a water pipe springs a leak, knowing where the shutoff valve is could save you thousands in water damage repairs. What's more, you can't make those major plumbing repairs or improvements unless you first turn off the water. The same goes for turning off the gas—though with some strict safety precautions, which we'll talk about later.
Home water and gas systems contain two types of shutoff valves: main or master shutoff valves for stopping the flow of gas or water to the entire house, and individual or supply shutoff valves for specific appliances and fixtures. We'll look at both types and tell you how to identify them (since they often look similar), where they are and how to operate them.
You'll notice this story contains a lot of “oftens,” “usuallys” and “almost always's.” That's because valves vary greatly in location, shape and number, depending on the age of your house, the local codes and which part of the country you live in. This article covers the basics of each system.
Houses with natural gas have a main shutoff valve (Fig. A) located just before the gas meter. This valve, often called the street-side valve, is normally a rectangular nub (Photo 1). When the long side of the nub or handle is parallel to the incoming gas line, it's open and the gas is flowing. When it's turned a quarter turn, perpendicular to the incoming pipe, it's closed.
The street-side main shutoff valve must be opened and closed with a wrench, and, truth be told, gas companies don't want you operating this valve; they only want their own employees, plumbing and heating contractors and fire department personnel to use it. They'd rather you use the house-side main shutoff valve located after the meter (Photo 2).
This house-side valve—usually a ball valve—may be located where the pipe first enters the house or farther down the line, but it will always be located before the first appliance. If iron pipe is transporting the gas, it's often black; this differentiates it from similar-shaped, gray galvanized water pipe.
If your home is newer and you find a flexible copper pipe running from the meter into your utility room, you probably have a higher pressure gas system. In this case, your inside main shutoff valve (Photo 3) is probably near your furnace or water heater, just before it enters a flying saucer–shaped doodad called a pressure regulator. There's also a chance your home—especially if it's older—doesn't have a house-side main shutoff valve.
Well, don't just sit there; get up and locate those valves! Then tag 'em as we explain in Fig. B. In addition to the house-side main shutoff valve, individual gas appliances should have a service or appliance shutoff valve (Fig. A) that's immediately accessible, in the same room and within 6 ft. of the appliance. These valves allow you to stop the flow of gas to your dryer, oven, furnace, water heater or gas fireplaces to make repairs or new installations without cutting off gas to your entire home.
Most service valves are single-lever ball valves; again, handle parallel to the line means gas is flowing, perpendicular means it's cut off. On dryers and ranges, this valve is usually hidden behind them and can only be reached by sliding the appliance out from the wall. This service valve will usually be at the end of a fixed pipe and connected to a flexible supply pipe called an appliance connector. Take care not to kink or pinch this flexible pipe.
When you repair or replace a gas appliance, use these shutoff valves to stop the flow of gas. (Most pros replace the flexible connector when they replace the appliance.) If you discover you have a faulty supply valve, or your system doesn't have one, turn off the gas using the house side main shutoff valve.
For those with propane or liquefied petroleum gas, there's a main shutoff valve on the tank itself, and usually a main shutoff valve somewhere before the first appliance. Some valves (both gas and water) manufactured before 1980 contain a lubricant to help the valve seal better and operate more smoothly. In many cases, this lubricant will have hardened or reacted with the gas to make the valve difficult to turn. Applying gentle heat with a hair dryer and working the valve open and shut in stages will usually free it up again. Sometimes you need to use a pliers to free the stuck handle.
Important! Now that you know where your gas valves are, also know this: it's not always safe for you to turn these valves off in an emergency. When gas reaches a certain concentration in a room or house, the slightest spark can set off a tremendous explosion. A light switch or telephone—even static electricity from your clothes—can produce such a spark.
If you're working near the main or individual gas valve and clearly know the source of the gas leak and that gas hasn't been leaking for long, shut off the valve and get out. But if you're uncertain of the source or how long the gas has been leaking, clear yourself and your family out and call the gas company or fire department from a neighbor's house (not your own—remember, phones can generate sparks!). Always err on the side of caution.
It’s a good idea to get ready for gas emergencies before they happen, because sometimes projects involving gas lines don’t go as planned. When a gas project goes bad, that’s not the time to be searching for the right tool to shut the gas off at the meter. A good strategy is to buy an emergency gas meter wrench shutoff tool and secure it to the meter as shown in Photo 4. Pick one up at a home center for about $12.
Also note: When you shut off main or individual gas valves, you'll be extinguishing the pilot lights to certain appliances. Many newer appliances have “pilot light–less” electronic ignition systems, but if you have older appliances, you'll need to relight the pilot lights. Most appliances have clear relighting directions on a label near the pilot light or in the instruction manual.
But some pilots are pretty darn hard to reach. If you're uncomfortable with relighting the pilot light, hire a plumber or call your local gas service company.
Figure A: Typical Gas System
This illustration shows how gas is brought into the house from the street. You can find a larger version of this image in the Additional Information.
Figure B: Gas System Inside the House
This illustration shows how gas is delivered in the house. Once you've located your main shutoff valves, label them. You can find a larger version of this image in the Additional Information.
Almost all water meters have one main shutoff valve directly before the meter and another directly after (Photo 5). Where the meter is located depends on the climate in your area.
In cold climates (Fig. D), the meter and main shutoff valves are located inside, usually in a basement or other warm area to prevent freezing. In milder climates (Fig. C), the meter and its two shutoff valves may be attached to an exterior wall or nestled in an underground box with a removable lid.
Between the water main in the street and the meter, there's also usually a buried curb stop valve (accessible only by city workers wielding special long-handled wrenches) and a corporation stop, where your house water line hooks up to the water main. Your city absolutely doesn't want you messing around with these last two valves.
They prefer you turn your water off or on using the main valve on the house side of the meter. This valve will normally be a gate-type valve, with a round knurled handle, requiring several full clockwise rotations to turn off. In newer homes, it could be a ball valve.
In addition, most houses built today have small, localized shutoff valves called fixture supply stops (Photo 7) installed on the supply lines leading to toilets, faucets, dishwashers, washing machines, water softeners and water heaters. These supply stops usually have a small round or oval handle that you turn clockwise two to four full turns to shut off the flow of water. Many older homes have them only at toilets, if at all. This can lead to great family discord, since working on a single drippy faucet can require shutting off water to the entire house at the main valve, leaving everyone shower-less, flush-less and waterless. With supply valves, you can turn off the water to a single fixture while fixing or replacing that faucet.
If your plumbing system lacks supply stops, install them when you shut off the main valve to repair a sink, toilet or appliance. Eventually you'll have supply stops at every fixture, and your family won't yell at you every time they see you with a wrench in your hand. Remember, fixture supply stops must be easily accessible; you can't drywall or plaster over them without installing an access panel to reach them.
Supply stop problems
Be aware of these common problems with fixture supply stops: Many water supply valves drip when turned off and then back on again after an extended period of disuse.
To fix a drippy supply valve, try gently tightening the packing nut (Photo 7) with a wrench, or opening and shutting the valve several times until the drip stops. If a supply valve simply won't stop leaking, your only option is to replace it—which will require shutting off the main valve. In cold climates, most people remember to close the supply shutoffs for their outdoor spigots to prevent freezing, but many then forget to open the outside spigot to drain the remaining water.
If the water trapped between the spigot and supply shutoff valve freezes, it can burst that section of pipe. Since there's no water flowing through this short damaged section of pipe, there are no obvious leaks or sign of damage—yet. But when you turn the supply valve back on in the spring and pressure returns to that pipe, the burst section of pipe will leak like crazy—and often go unnoticed for hours or days. One plumber told me he's made dozens of repairs dealing with this mistake.
Finally, many icemakers and furnace humidifiers are fed by small flexible copper tubes that are connected to larger copper pipes via a very small T-handled device called a saddle valve (Photo 8). These valves essentially bite into the larger pipe to feed the smaller one. Leaky saddle valves are a major cause of residential water damage and are no longer code-compliant in many areas. If you have saddle valves, replace them with standard supply stops.
Figure C: Typical Warm-Weather Water System
This illustration shows how water comes into the house in warm climates. You can find a larger version of this image in the Additional Information.
- Figure A: Typical Gas System
- Figure B: Gas System Inside the House
- Figure C: Water system for warm climates
- Figure D: Water system for cold climates | <urn:uuid:9daba470-77c3-4222-8493-870be122a370> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.familyhandyman.com/plumbing/valves/how-to-locate-your-gas-shutoff-valve-and-water-shutoff-valve/view-all | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00066-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94675 | 2,357 | 2.71875 | 3 |
The Lined seahorse typically reaches a length of five to seven inches, although they have been reported to reach a length of eight inches. In almost all cases, the males outgrow the females. In the wild, the Lined seahorse has a lifespan of approximately one to four years; however, in captivity their lifespan usually is four years. They have a broad color spectrum, ranging from black, grey, brown, and green, to orange, red, and yellow. However, their colors may change due to an altercation in their environment, diet, anxiety or stress level, and/or mood. The Lined seahorse is brawny and upright in appearance, and their armor-like body is followed by a prehensile tail. The Lined seahorse uses its infamous tail to grasp onto its environment composed of seaweed and coral. When a Lined seahorse is very young (two weeks to four weeks), the tail is extremely limber. Typically, the tail is curled forward; the tail is seldom found aligned. The seahorse's body is enclosed into a skeleton-like outer layer that is composed of approximately fifty bony plates that are rectangular in shape. The eyes of the Lined seahorse can concentrate together, or they can operate independently of one another. Unlike the female Lined seahorses, the males have a pouch on their abdominal side that is utilized in reproduction. The Lined seahorse may be considered sexually mature as early as four months; however, it is typically about eight months.
Habitat and Distribution
Hippocampus erectus is found in the Atlantic Ocean, spotted as far north as Nova Scotia, Canada, and as far south as Venezuela in South America. They can be found on the east coast of America in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and North Carolina, as well as in the waters surrounding Mexico and the Caribbean. Species found in Brazil seem to be of a different species, however, more research is needed to determine. The Lined seahorse is native to the following locations (alphabetical order): "Belize; Bermuda; Canada (Nova Scotia); Costa Rica; Cuba; Guatemala; Haiti; Honduras; Mexico (Veracruz, Yucatán); Nicaragua; Panama; Saint Kitts and Nevis; the United States; and Venezuela." The species is common in depths of water up to seventy-three meters. The habitat of the Lined seahorse consists of marine vegetation, such as "mangroves, seagrass, sponges, and floating Sargassum." Depending on the season, the species can be found in shallow waters or deep waters in "channels of bays, along beaches, or in or near salt marshes, and over oyster beds and weed-covered banks." In the winter, the seahorses are more prominent in deeper waters, versus warmer months, where they can be found in shallow waters in the various types of aquatic vegetation mentioned above.
The Lined seahorse utilize their elongated snouts in order to consume their prey, consisting primarily of minute crustaceans. The seahorse sucks its prey through their tubular snouts. The Lined seahorse is highly accurate if its prey is within one inch from their snout. A growing hippocampus erectus may feed continuously for up to ten hours a day, engulfing approximately 3,600 baby brine shrimp. In order to capture their prey, the seahorse employs color changes to camouflage oneself with his/her surrounding environment.
Like all species of seahorses, the Lined seahorse reproduces sexually, laying eggs every season. In addition, as with all other seahorses, the male is the parent that looks after the newborn seahorses. The male seahorses have a pouch (called a brood pouch ) used for incubation of the 250 to 650 eggs the female "sprays" into the male's "pocket." The number of eggs the female produces varies, depending on the size of the seahorse. The eggs laid by the female are incubated in the male's marsupial-like pouch for approximately 20 to 21 days until hatching; once hatched, the seahorses are considered embryos until they are capable of swimming on their own. When this time finally approaches, the male latches his prehensile tail onto a supportive object while he braces back and forth, until the developed seahorses escape from the pouch. The bracing continues until all seahorses have successfully escaped the pouch. H. erectus newborns are approximately 5/8 of an inch and do not reach maximum size until they are 8–10 months of age. The juvenile seahorses quickly adapt the characteristic of the adult Lined seahorse. However, unhatched seahorses that have died will create a gas within the male's pouch. Soon after, the male seahorse inevitably floats to the surface, only to become easy prey in the marine food chain.
A unique characteristic of the H. erectus (and other species of seahorse) is that they practice monogamy: the male and female seahorses choose partners that they will continue to mate with for their lifetime. The monogamous characteristics of the Lined seahorse include ritual dances with their partner that they perform every morning. These dances establish their permanent relationship as mates. If a male or female Lined seahorse should lose their partner for any reason, it takes time before they replace their mate.
The Lined seahorses are weak swimmers; hence why they use their snouts to suck in their prey since they are not speedy enough to hunt or chase. The Lined seahorses propel their bodies forward through their dorsal and pectoral fins, which they move rapidly back and forth.
In addition to monogamy, the Lined seahorse also cues into sound-making in the mating process. The seahorses have a crown-like bony crest called a coronet located on the backside of their head at the edge of the skull. The coronet resembles a star pattern and is attached rather loosely. As a seahorse lifts its head, the edge of the skull slides beneath the coronet and out when the seahorse bows its head. As the skull's edge slides beneath and out from the coronet, a clicking sound is produced. Mating seahorses swim slowly together, alternating their clicking sounds, until they embrace one another. Once the male and female seahorse embrace, the sounds from both the male and female unify, indistinguishable from one another. This action creates louder, consecutive sound, further establishing their bond.
The minimum habitat requirements suggested for the Lined seahorse consist of a tank 18 inches vertical in height and 20 to 25 gallons for a pair, 30 to 40 gallons for two pairs. The tank should be kept at a constant aquatic temperature between 72 and 77 degrees Fahrenheit (22 to 25 degrees Celsius).
- ^ Froese, R.; Pauly, D.. "Hippocampus erectus Perry, 1810 Lined Seahorse". FishBase. http://www.fishbase.org/summary/speciessummary.php?id=3283.
- ^ Rosamond Gifford Zoo Volunteers (July 23, 2005). "Lined Seahorse". http://www.rosamondgiffordzoo.org/assets/uploads/animals/pdf/LinedSeahorse.pdf.
- ^ a b c "H. erectus". Seahorse Source, Inc. 2005. http://www.seahorsesource.com/erectus.html. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f Gardiner, Nick, University of Michigan. "Hippocampus erectus". Animal Diversity Web. http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Hippocampus_erectus.html. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
- ^ "Hippocampus erectus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Version 2011 Project Seahorse 2003. http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/10066/0.
- ^ a b c d "Lined Seahorse". Chesapeake Bay Program (Bay Field Guide). http://www.chesapeakbay.net/bfg_lined_seahorse.aspx?menuitem=14400.
- ^ Project Seahorse Team". "Introduction to seahorses". Project Seahorse. http://seahorse.fisheries.ubc.ca/node/354. | <urn:uuid:aa738027-9018-4764-8ad4-a9e1d84a4258> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://eol.org/data_objects/14851478 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399425.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00068-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93887 | 1,810 | 3.484375 | 3 |
The Great Law of Peace
Meet Ben Franklin, Hiawatha, Columbus and many others as the origins of our Constitution is revealed by the Iroquois Confederacy. Ages 11 to Adult
Pocahontas on Trial
Is the legend fact or fiction? Under the guidance of our judge, the audience become attorneys, jury and witnesses to decide what really happened in Jamestown. Ages 11 to Adult
My Name is Sacajawea
Meet Sacajawea, a Shoshone Indian who traveled with Lewis and Clark and her baby, Pomp as you share in song, her story and the story of why we sing to plants. Grades 3 and up.
A participatory Game Show using information about the Constitution, government, Native Americans, Explorers and the 13 Colonies. Everyone will be amazed at how much they know…or should know. A good companion to THE GREAT LAW OF PEACE. Ages 11 to Adult
Lucy Bagby and The Fugitive Slave Law
Learn the true story of Lucy Bagby, a runaway slave who was captured amid protests of abolitionists, and returned to her Master. She was the last fugitive to be surrendered by the North under the Fugitive Slave Law during the Civil War. Sing along with Wade in the Water, Follow the Drinking Gourd
, and other period songs
Grades 3 to adult, families
America, Many Crayons, One Box
Solve a mystery and sing along to discover that America is just like different crayons all in one box. Explore the many gifts of the immigrants and realize that the best of all cultures is what makes us Americans. Grades K-4 & Families. | <urn:uuid:9af8150f-26d7-4c96-8d52-c300e30e01fd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.kulturekids.org/social-studies-literature/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408828.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00156-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935989 | 345 | 3.203125 | 3 |
The Citizen’s Guide to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Financial Report of the U.S. Government presents the Nation’s financial position and condition of the U.S. Government and discusses key financial topics, including continuing economic recovery efforts and fiscal sustainability.
Despite the severe economic downturn and recession that began at the end of 2007, the instability of the financial markets in 2008, and the necessary measures taken to help the economy recover in 2008 and 2009, the economy began to grow again in FY 2010. After falling by 2.7 percent during FY 2009, real Gross Domestic Product (GDP)1 rose at an average annual rate of 3.2 percent over the four quarters of FY 2010; the economy added 691,000 private nonfarm payroll jobs during FY 2010, after losing 6.3 million private jobs from private nonfarm payrolls during FY 2009. Increased Federal tax receipts and a decline in outlays resulted in a narrowing of the primarily cash-based U.S. budget deficit from $1.4 trillion to $1.3 trillion in FY 2010 while net operating cost increased significantly from $1.3 trillion to $2.1 trillion due in large part to increased estimated costs for federal employee and veteran benefits. See ‘Where We Are Now’
Some Government programs act as “automatic stabilizers,” helping to support the economy during a downturn by increasing spending and reducing tax collections. This support is “automatic” because increased spending on programs like unemployment benefits, Social Security, and Medicaid and a reduction in tax receipts happen even without any legislative changes in policies. These automatic stabilizers had caused deficits and net operating costs to surge in recent years, but should decline as the economy recovers.
Policies enacted to foster economic recovery, including the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA), the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA), and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act or ARRA ), continue to affect the Government’s financial position. Implementation of these and other initiatives represent unprecedented efforts to stabilize the financial markets, jump-start the Nation's economy, and create or save millions of jobs. Already, the Government and the taxpayer have begun to see returns on some of these investments as evidenced by substantial repayments made under the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). See ‘The Economic Recovery Effort’
While the Government’s immediate priority is to continue to foster economic recovery, there are longer term fiscal challenges that must ultimately be addressed. Persistent growth of health care costs and the aging of the population due to the retirement of the “baby boom” generation and increasing longevity will make it increasingly difficult to fund critical social programs, including notably Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Chart 2 shows this growing gap between receipts and total spending, indicating that, as currently structured, the Government's fiscal path cannot be sustained indefinitely (see Chart 2). See 'Where We Are Headed'
This Guide highlights important information contained in the 2010 Financial Report of the United States Government. The Secretary of the Treasury, Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and Acting Comptroller General of the United States believe that the information discussed in this Guide is important to all Americans.
1Real GDP measures the value of final goods and services produced in the economy, adjusted for changes in the overall price level (i.e., for inflation). (Back to Content) | <urn:uuid:13570b11-ef74-483a-ba24-19cbf71e6c10> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://fms.treas.gov/finrep10/citizenguide/fr_citizen_guide.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00107-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937268 | 712 | 2.59375 | 3 |
What it is: Animated Atlas: The Growth of a Nation is an animated video that teaches students about American expansion. The video allows for interaction as it plays. Students can click on any state to learn more about when and how it became a state.
There is also a great interactive time line at the bottom of the animation that students can explore more in depth. I really like the look of this website, it makes me nostalgic remembering the computer activities I used as a kid. I can’t guarantee that our students will get such a kick out of the graphics. The ten minute presentation takes students from the original 13 states and shows them the gradual expansion.
At any point students can click on a territory or state for more information. The time line pointer moves along with the presentation but students can click on a date for more information. The interactive time line goes from 1790 to 2000.
How to integrate Animated Atlas into the classroom: This interactive is a good one for helping students to visualize the expansion of the United States from the original 13 colonies. The site is packed full of information with the ability to learn more about a time period, state, or territory.
Use this site as an overview of the growth of America. If students aren’t loving the graphics, have them gather information and create a 2009 (almost 2010!) version of the site. This site could be used whole class with an interactive whiteboard but I think it would allow for more exploration as a center activity or individual computers.
Tips: When you play Animated Atlas you have several options: play all the way through, 1789-1853, The Civil War, and Post Civil War. This makes it easy to chunk the lesson or split students into groups. | <urn:uuid:8da22235-368b-4161-b162-0c9ed9d0e629> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://teaching.monster.com/training/articles/9309-animated-atlas | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00054-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927787 | 353 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Solar power as a renewable energy
How to cover world energy demand
The sun is one of the most promising sources of power for replacing fossil energies. Solar power is abundant, inexhaustible and free and is more predictable than wind energy. Thus, solar power is destined to be one of the technological options that will contribute massively to covering worldwide energy demand with high environmental “profitability”.
The energy value of solar radiation can be leveraged directly or converted into other forms of useful power by means of solar technologies. Solar power presents a broad number of technological options with developments that must be promoted. In the case of thermoelectric solar power, mention should be made of the first commercial plants now operating and the progress made in large-scale heat storage systems.
In this way, the technological evolution of solar power and the increasing cost of fossil fuels will permit competitive medium-to-long-term solutions in thermosolar or hybrid plants versus fossil or renewable forms of energy.
A clear example of the development of solar power is Spain, where four determining factors converge: major technological progress by dint of the research and development projects carried out in the Solar Platform of Almeria (PSA); abundant solar resources; legislation that permits a reasonable payback on the promoter's investment; and an industrial sector that is interested and involved in R&D&I projects.
Thus, in Spain, concentrated solar power (CSP) has embarked upon an evolution similar to that of wind energy, and is no doubt one of the forms of power of the future. | <urn:uuid:9227cd3a-d562-4fab-a1c3-2c1146a0dfa5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.torresolenergy.com/TORRESOL/solar-energy/en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402746.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00029-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915886 | 318 | 3.234375 | 3 |
In the medieval cult of saints and relics, saints and items related to them were revered for their holiness and renowned for their miraculous powers. The vast varieties of relics gained such fame that over time that they developed a following that seems to the modern eye more related to the magical than to the religious. Boccaccio was well aware that this strong belief system could be turned to the advantage of crafty, skeptical men who profited from ingenuous superstition or, as in the case of Frate Cipolla (VI.10), are almost outwitted themselves.
The two novellas in which Boccaccio satirizes the cult of saints are I.1 and II.1. The first tells of Ser Cepperello who, despite his wicked life, is honored in death as a Saint. By implying that God works miracles through him, the author underscores the unpredictability of miraculous events. Similarly in II.1, the cathedral bells ring "of their own accord" at the death of a poor manual laborer named Arrigo, an event taken by the townspeople as proof of his saintliness. Martellino, having entered the crowd of worshippers disguised as a paralytic in order to approach the "saint," is attacked by the crowd. In tale's conclusion, however, Martellino and his companions go unpunished and even receive new clothes. The unfolding of events suggests an overturning of the lesson of the Decameron's initial novella and encourages the reader to see Arrigo's spontaneous canonization as false.
Popular faith in relics is addressed in VI.10 in which Frate Cipolla dupes the gullible Florentines with his "holy articles" and powerful rhetoric in exchange for their money. Although illiterate, they consider him as talented as Cicero himself, standing there with the "coals over which St. Lawrence was roasted."
This superstition in saints appears also when Panfilo tells that they pay an annual fee in the name of St. Anthony, for him to "protect [their] oxes, asses, pigs, and sheep from harm." Judging from similar customs mentioned by Dante (Paradiso 29.124ff.) and Masuccio Salernitano (tale 18 of his Novellino, ca. 1476), it would seem that this was an enduring object of satire.
Prayer also functions as a form of religious superstition. In II.2 Rinaldo d'Asti recites prayers in honor of St. Julian each morning for protection in his travels. Rinaldo's happy ending, after grave misfortune, is portrayed in Boccaccio's tale as possibly - though not unambiguously - the result of coincidental rather than actual belief in ritualistic prayer.
A comparable turn of events appears on the seventh day, that devoted to tricks. The first novella of this day features Monna Tessa, "of great intelligence and perspicacity," who convinces her husband to exorcise the "werewolf" outside their door with a "fine and godly prayer." In this episode, Boccaccio alludes to several magical/superstitious practices. Monna Tessa feigns fear of the werewolf, or fantasima, the legendary "animal resembling a satyr, or cat monkey, which goes around at night causing distress to people," and sets up an ass's skull on a stake. Though this had been an ancient rite to protect one's crops, Monna Tessa uses the skull to signal to her lover whether her husband is home. She also recites prayers against the werewolf with Gianni to communicate information to her lover, who is behind the door. To placate Gianni, she tells him that before going to bed she recited the Te lucis, a hymn attributed to St. Ambrose that was thought to invoke God's help against nocturnal spirits. The main prayer of this story, with which the couple "exorcises the werewolf," ridicules religious superstitions. The efficacy of this prayer (much like the prayer of Lady Matilde taught to Gianni by the laud-singers of Santa Maria Novella) is negated by Boccaccio's offhanded comments throughout. | <urn:uuid:f5b18b35-d89c-4fa4-9d42-2f426ed83d93> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/society/magic/religious_superstition.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397865.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00155-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973079 | 880 | 2.703125 | 3 |
In honor of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week (February 22 – 28), we are investigating what some of the most current and effective therapies for treating this devastating disease.
As yoga has been met with open arms here in the West, medical science has also been quick to embrace this 5,000-year old Indian tradition. Recently, yoga has been used to address the psychological factors that enable a full-blown eating disorder like anorexia or bulimia. In fact, some of the most prominent eating disorder treatment centers in the country, like the Renfrew Center in Coconut Creek, Fla., and New York Presbyterian Hospital in White Plains, N.Y., incorporate gentle, meditative yoga courses into their regular treatment plan.
Yoga has become such an effective recovery tool for those with an eating disorder because it subtly teaches acceptance of the body’s physical and psychological limitations and it also helps to engender an intimate connection between the mind, body and spirit. For someone with an eating disorder, this awareness translates into greater respect for their body and more compassion for how they perceive their entire self.
In fact, a 2005 study in the journal Psychology of Women Quarterly found that women who routinely engage in a mind-body practice like yoga were more satisfied with their body and exhibited less eating disorder symptoms than women who were runners, bikers or did some other form of aerobic activity. This is not to say that yoga can prevent an eating disorder, but it does show that yoga’s beneficial side effect of positive self-esteem can curb the self-loathing and critical voices that are hallmark features of eating disorders.
Yoga’s ability to tune the practitioner in with their breath, their body, their thoughts and emotions without the reflection of a mirror enables the student to connect with the sensations she is experiencing, listen to them and then respond in a way that is self-explorative. For instance, a woman who is bulimic might learn to respond to the emotions that trigger a binge by staying present in the moment, observing what she is feeling rather than reacting to them with food.
It is important for any woman or man interested in learning yoga as a way to recover from an eating disorder to seek out a qualified instructor that is supportive and encouraging. The individual might want to consider meeting with the instructor beforehand to introduce herself and explain to the teacher why she is coming to yoga.
Yoga’s almost magical ability to alert us to tune in with our inner self is no short of true transformation. For anyone who has or continues to suffer from an eating disorder, this powerful shift in how we see ourselves is an integral part of the journey to recovery. | <urn:uuid:14ee752f-ff75-4081-b192-8e531ce8e4ec> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/02/yoga-a-new-way-to-treat-an-eating-disorder/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396147.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00136-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967599 | 542 | 2.65625 | 3 |
What are ‘probiotics’? They are ‘live micro-organisms or microflora’ that live in your gut. Even though they are considered bacteria, they are a good bacteria that help to aid in digestion, promote and contribute to balanced intestinal tract. Why is this important? Without a healthy balance there are a number of chronic illness ailments that can develop such as Crohn’s Disease, Irritable Bowel Sydrome (IBS), some cancers and ulcerative colitis just to name a few. Did you know that when you take an antibiotic to combat a bacterial infection it kills the bad germs but it also kills the good bacteria a.k.a. protibotics. Without supplementation it takes three to four months for the body to regenerate enough probiotics that were killed by the antibiotic. Scientific studies have shown that probiotics are the key to better health.
So how does a person get more of these good guys? There are some yogurts that have them, however, if these bacteria are not protected they are actually killed off in your stomach by the acids your body produces. There are supplements in pill form, but depending on how your body digests foods and supplements they can actually come out the way they went in and there raw gourmet healthy chocolates. Healthy chocolate encapsulates these probiotics and protects them from being killed off in your gut as discovered by Ghent University.
The goal is to get probiotics into your system and to their intended destination, your colon, so that they can flourish by multiplying and ultimately help you to feel better because probiotics help to stimulate your immune system. Stress, lack of sleep and poor diets aid in helping you to ‘not feel so good’ and is almost like rolling out the red carpet to chronic illness.
Studies have shown that individuals who have been pro-active to ingest more probiotics are not only helping their digestive system but have also become healthier. Probiotics also assist those who may be lactose intolerant, help your oral health, kidney stone development, hypertension, some cancers, elevated blood cholesterol and there are some studies to have shown to play a role in reducing childhood allergies.
How do you get your probiotics? If you have tried yogurts and pill supplements with little or no results then why not try delivering probiotics to you system through a chocolate supplement. You are in control of your life and your health by making choices everyday. Lets face it, when your health stinks, life stinks. Become pro-active and get serious about your overall wellness because probiotics are the key to better health.
Source: US Probiotics | <urn:uuid:af9d53aa-3b4c-4db4-a13d-94d74880ed74> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://gourmethealthychocolates.com/2011/01/03/probiotics-are-the-key-to-better-health/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403823.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00041-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959574 | 543 | 2.75 | 3 |
Graphs show many things. However, sometimes the graphics are quite incomprehensible. In such situations, technical indicators are of great benefit to investors. They analyze the change in price and transfer it into a format that is much easier to understand.
Technical indicators are based on mathematical equations which calculate new values and place them on the chart. A typical example of it is the 'moving average'. In this case equations calculate the average price of a currency pair and book the values down on the chart in the form of a line.
When the price of the specified tool changes, the corresponding value of the indicator changes as well. As you can see as a whole this indicator smooths the movements and abrupts sharp changes because following the standard it is based on for a longer period of time. But still it follows the basic movement of the currency pair.Read more: TECHNICAL INDICATORS
This indicator is considered as the most fundamental of the trend indicators, especially because it shows on the one hand the direction of movement of the tool and on the other the potential levels of support or resistance. Moving average uses the average price of the currency pair at closing (but can also use the price at opening or closing) and books it down on the graph.
The result is a fairly tight line. You can influence on the values of the indicator as you reset the frame time which is used for average price at closing. In short periods moving average is sharper , while longer periods make it smooth. Read more: MOVING AVERAGE – INDICATOR
Oscillating indicators as their name implies, are indicators moving back and forth while the prices of currency pairs rise and fall. Oscillating indicators can help you determine how strong is the current trend of movement of the currency pair and also if this trend is in danger of losing the power of moving and reverse this movement.
When the Oscillating indicator moves too high, it is assumed that the currency pair is overbought (i.e too many people have made their purchases on the currency pair and there are not enough other buyers on the market to continue to move the price upwards) .This shows that the currency pair is exposed to the risk of lossing its power of movement up and turning the movement back. Read more: OSCILLATING INDICATORS
Bollinger band trends is a trend indicator which shows two things - the direction and the volatility of currency pairs. The indicator consists of two bollinger bands, from the lower and the upper side of a moving average. Bollinger bands are based on standard on a 20-bar moving average.
Standard deviation is a statistical term that measures the deviation in the case of different prices at closing in relation to the average price at closing. The upper part is based on two standard deviations above the 20-period moving average, the lower one is based on two standard deviations below 20-period moving average. Read more: Bollinger bands - Indicator
CCI is Oscillating indicator that can show you how bullish or bearish traders are to the market of a currency pair and estimated strength of these sentiments. By using CCI you can see the volatility of the currency pair, the same way as you see it by using bollinger bands.
How to construct CCI
CCI is based as on the average value of past price movements as well as on how much longer these price movements remained away from the average value . Thus traders receive indication of how volatile these price movements were . If the average price of a currency pair increases the CCI will also rise. Read more: COMMODITY CHANNEL INDEX (CCI) – INDICATOR | <urn:uuid:08aa839d-fbdb-49c7-b41d-635a66742f28> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://fxtradings.net/platforms/indicators.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404826.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00189-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936432 | 745 | 2.734375 | 3 |
A NEW LOOK AT SOME ANCIENT CARPET FRAGMENTS
Preface to the Exhibition
Notwithstanding more than 100 years of investigation and the collection of a
significant amount of data, little positive provenance information has yet emerged
to pinpoint the origins of most Oriental carpet designs. Progress has been made
on several fronts particularly the recognition these designs did not exist in
a vacuum and must be studied by taking other decorative arts into account. Clues
garnered from diverse objects such as pottery and other findings from pre-historic
archaeological excavations; metalwork from the bronze age and later periods;
calligraphy from 9th century; architecture beginning in the 12th century; miniature
painting from the 13th century and book-binding and wood-work from the 14th
century have encouraged a number of important insights. However, the origins
of the designs found on historic and later complex patterned weavings still
remain mysterious and undetermined.
Obviously the weavings themselves hold the greatest store of facts to assist
in unraveling these questions
and it is there more concentration must be applied.
This can be done in several ways. The first is by the employment of the various
analytic techniques developed by cutting-edge forensic sciences. Utilization
of these new tools will facilitate the identification of important key elements
that have hereto remained hidden. Once this is accomplished the sources of the
raw materials and their various production methods will become identified. Collating
these results will provide statistical profiles and examples, even those that
formerly appeared unrelated, could then be grouped together based on verifiable
criteria. These scientific findings, rather than the less positive comparisons
of technique and design used today, will definitely improve chances for solving
Similar intensive studies of the existent raw materials like wool, dyestuffs
and water supplies, which are still present in the eastern Mediterranean areas
where many of these historic weaving are believed to have produced, is a second
area of inquiry. Collecting and comparing these results to those gathered
from the weavings themselves will undoubtedly add other valuable criteria
for these profiles. In conjunction with scientific field investigation, a
far more intensive search, both above and below ground level for historic
weavings will also add new examples to the relatively small number now known
and likewise assist in answering these questions.
However the third and perhaps the easiest - a re-examination of the small
number of known historic weavings – can also yield new findings and
discoveries. Since the first two are beyond the possibilities of this writer
and The Weaving Art Museum at the present time, this third method has been
chosen to present our Sixth Exhibition “A New Look At Some Ancient Knotted-Pile
Carpet Fragments”. The examples selected for this inquiry come from
the largest and most comprehensive grouping of early historic cut-pile carpets
- The Lamm Collection. Both individually and as a group these wondrous little
fragments provide a valuable source of material to answer the intriguing question:
What were the origins of Oriental carpet designs?
The Lamm fragments are preserved in the collections of two Swedish museums
and one of them, the National Museum in Stockholm, published a selection of
them in a small catalog titled “Carpet Fragments”(1). While the
largest is not even a quarter of foot square, their importance to carpet studies
is nevertheless well known to motivated researchers and carpet cognoscenti
although they are virtually unknown elsewhere despite this publication almost
twenty years ago. It is also for this reason The Weaving Art Museum has decided
to make them available now and this presentation will allow viewers a unique
trip back in time to glimpse and wonder at their beauty and history.
In addition, their re-examination will provide some new ideas concerning both
their own inter-relationships and those they maintain with other historic archetypal
weavings. But most significantly it will shed some new light on the difficult
questions surrounding the origins of some later knotted-pile and flat-woven
Oriental carpet designs and types.
Before beginning a short commentary on the collection’s history and
a brief description of some technical terms necessary to understand them,
I would like to take this opportunity and express my thanks and gratitude
to Ms. Margareta Nockert of the National Museum in Stockholm and Ms. Marianne
Erikson of the Rohsska Museet in Gothenburg, who provided access to the respective
textile collections under their curatorial authorities. Without their help
I would not have been able to examine and photograph the examples published
in the “Carpet Fragments” catalog, as well other historic textiles
conserved in their museum’s collections.
An important part of this re-examination was making new structural analyses
and in doing so there were deviations from those previously published by Lamm.
I have noted where these occurred and will explain the relative importance
of making structural analysis later.
For this online exhibition a baker’s dozen of 13 examples from the
Lamm Collection have been chosen and each of these is presented as a separate
Plate in the exhibition. Along with them a number of additional ancient weavings
from other sources are also included and they appear as figures used in the
text. Most of these are knotted-pile but a few are slit-tapestry or soumak
and these different techniques, in addition to other relevant comments, will
be noted in the short descriptions accompanying each figure illustration.
Also, when appropriate, other weavings that demonstrate connections to the
Plates or figures will be referenced and illustrated.
A Brief Note on the Lamm Collection
All the fragments published in “Carpet Fragments”, which were
only a small portion of his collection, were collected by the Islamic art
scholar Carl Johan Lamm during his extended stays in Cairo, Egypt during the
1930’s.(2) Most of these were first published in the 1937 Yearbook of
the Swedish Orient Society where Lamm used them solely as secondary source
material to place the Marby Rug, which had been recently discovered in a Swedish
church, “…in the early evolution of Oriental carpet knotting.”(3).
This online exhibition will focus only on some of them leaving the rest and
the Marby rug aside for now.
Only black and white illustrations accompanied Lamm’s 1937 commentary
and it was not until the “Carpet Fragments” catalog was published
in 1985 that color pictures of these important fragments of carpet weaving
history became available. In preparing this exhibition for The Weaving Art
Museum, the photographs used to make the digital scans were the photographs
taken while this author was in Sweden. These, more than the ones in the printed
catalog, more faithfully reproduce the colors and details of the original
weavings and are reproduced here for the first time.
Thirty-five of the 40 examples from the Lamm Collection published in the
“Carpet Fragments” catalog are now in the National Museum and
the five others in the Rohsska Museet, in Gothenburg. Lamm’s original
commentary included drawings of reconstructions showing how he thought these
carpets might have originally looked along with his observations and structural
analyses. The inclusion of structural analysis and many of his ideas about
Islamic Art were far ahead of many of his contemporaries and prove Lamm’s
prescience in not only having collected these “scraps” but realizing
how important they were to the history of pile carpet weaving in the Near
East. It is unfortunate other carpet scholars, like von Bode, Sarre and Erdmann,
are much more well known and it is my personal hope this small presentation
will introduce Lamm and his work to a new generation of collectors and a wider
audience of the general public.
The Plates and the 27 other fragments not illustrated here were all purchased
in Cairo and, while Lamm provided no exact provenance for them, he did indicate
they were most probably found in al-Fostat.(4) This is the name given to the
oldest part of Cairo where both ancient rubbish heaps and tombs have been
located and it is interesting to note Lamm suggests his purchases more than
likely came from the former and not the latter type of location. But wherever
these rare pieces were found one important fact does remain - each one is
In the ensuing 70 plus years since their first publication only a few other
equally historic examples of cut-pile carpet have yet to surface. This has
guaranteed them and their first custodian, Carl Johan Lamm, a very special
place in the history of Near Eastern knotted-pile carpet weaving. The valuable
information they convey comes from a time-period that would be all but lost
without them and remains their own, as well as Carl Johan Lamm’s, greatest
contribution to the study of oriental carpet design.
A Brief Explanation of Structural Analysis
Structural analysis is a notation process used to delineate the exact textile
techniques used to produce a weaving and to describe the materials used in
the production process. Here is a list of the key terms used in this presentation
and an explanation.
- A carpet is technically not a weaving but rather a process of knot tying.
These knots are tied onto a structural foundation that has two main components,
warp and weft. The knots of various colored threads are tied onto pairs
of adjacent warp threads according to the dictates of the pattern. It is
the two ends of the knots that make the pattern. Each row of knots is held
in place by the weft thread, the second component. There are two main types
a. The Symmetric knot: this type of knot, also known as the
“Turkish” knot, is technically described as discontinuous knotted-pile
wrappings done on adjacent warp threads,(fig.1)
which provide the pattern element of the weaving. The structural
components, the warp and weft, are hidden from view but necessary, for without
both of them there could be no structural integrity to the weaving. Basically
the weaver wraps different colored threads around two adjacent warp threads
to form each knot in a horizontal grid that progresses as each succeeding
line of the pattern is completed one by one and knot by knot. These knots
are very similar to the individual pieces of tile in a mosaic and when viewed
in their entirety the overall pattern of the design is produced.
b. The Asymmetric knot: this type of knot, also known as the “Persian”
knot, is technically described as discontinuous knotted-pile wrappings done
on adjacent warp threads, which provide the pattern element of the weaving.
However unlike the symmetric knot, where the two ends of each knot completely
encircle each warp thread and therefore appear between them giving a symmetric
appearance, only one side of the asymmetric knot thread completely encircles
a warp thread and the other warp is only partially
encircled. This asymmetry gives this knot its name and if the left warp
is completely encircled (fig.2)
, the term open right is used. When the right warp is completely encircled
(fig.3) it is known as open left and in both instances a warp
thread always appears in-between the two halves of each knot. The
structural components, the warp and weft, in common with the symmetric knot
are also hidden from view. But they are just as necessary, for without both
of them there could be no structural integrity to the weaving. Basically
the weaver wraps different colored threads around only one of the adjacent
warp threads and under the next to form each knot in a horizontal grid that
progresses as each succeeding line of the pattern is completed one by one
and knot by knot. Again in common with the symmetric version, each of the
knots are similar to the individual pieces of tile in a mosaic and when
viewed in their entirety, the overall pattern of the design is produced
- There are two other types of weavings that need explanation here. These
are known as flat-weaves and they, unlike knotted-pile, are weavings in
the truer sense of the word. Both of them, soumak and kelim, have long histories
of use and it is believed they pre-date knotted-pile weaving. They are:
a. Soumak: Unlike knotted-pile soumak is a flat-weave, ie.
there is no knot or pile. Its proper terminology is discontinuous weft wrapping.
Here two wefts are used, one is structural and the other creates the pattern.
The structural weft passes over and under each successive warp thread, running
in one continuous line over the loom width from edge to edge of the
). The pattern weft is discontinuous, appearing on the face of the weaving
only where it is necessary to form the pattern. To do this it wrapped around
one warp then passes over several adjacent warp threads and is then wrapped
around another one, this process continuing as determined by the requirements
of the pattern. It is then cut and re-inserted when necessary to complete
the pattern or left uncut and ‘floated’ across the warp thread
until the pattern dictates its use again. The cutting or floating always
done on the back-side of the weaving. There are many forms of this technique
and they are described numerically, ie. fractionally for instance 4/1 or
3/2. The first number signifying how many warp threads are passed over and
the second number how many are then wrapped. So a 4/2 soumak weave would
imply the pattern weft would pass over 4 adjacent warps then be wrapped
around the fourth and third warps and then re-emerge to repeat this procedure.
A 3/2 soumak weave would mean 3 warps are passed over and the pattern weft
would be wrapped around third warp and back under two. Soumak is capable
of creating a fine yet quite strong weaving an account of the presence of
both pattern and structural wefting. Because of this it was often the technique
chosen to make covers and saddle-bags.
b. Kelim: Like soumak weaving, kelim or slit-tapestry, the technical
name for this technique, creates design by using pattern weft threads, again
there are no knots. However, there are only the discontinuous pattern wefts,
there are no structural ones. It is called slit-tapestry because at each
color join the adjacent warp threads are not attached or held together in
any way and this produces the characteristic slit(fig.5).
The pattern weft passes over and
under successive warp threads and is turned back and under a warp wherever
the design dictates a color change: The next color would then begin on the
first adjacent warp thread. These slits and the absence of structural weft
create a weaving that is not strong or suited to most utilitarian purposes.
It is believe slit-tapestry was the first loom weaving technique as it is
very well suited for use on the first type of upright loom, the warp weighted
one. These very simple structures were not framed on four sides allowing
the warps to be attached at both ends but rather were warp-weighted, ie.
clay weights were attached to the bottom of warps that had been grouped
together. This system, though primitive, provided the loom tension weaving
requires. Evidence of the warp-weighted loom has been archaeologically determined
back as far as the 7th millennium B.C. The kelims made on these looms could
never have been intended for anything other than decorative hangings or
covers as warp-weighting combined with the lack of structural integrity
inherent in slit-tapestry would not allow any others requiring more stress
resistance. It is therefore easy to surmise slit-tapestry was developed
solely for this purpose - creating complex patterned weavings. The earliest
kelims were the first weavings to have complex patterns as an integral part
of their structure rather than to have the patterns applied, ie painted
or drawn, onto them.
- There are two different ways of spinning the threads, both structural
and pattern, used in both knotted-pile and flat-weaving. When spun, each
threads direction of spin is technically described as ‘S’ spun
when it is twisted to the right and ‘Z’ if twisted to the left.
When a strand of thread (known as a
single ply) is combined with others, the process of twisting them together
or plying, was always done in the opposite direction to their spinning.
This was done to increase the structural integrity of the combined or plied
a. S ply: If the plying is done to the right (or clockwise)
it is called ‘S’ ply (fig.6)
b. Z ply: If the plying is done to the left (or clockwise) it is called
‘Z’ ply (fig.7)
1. Lamm, Carl Johan “Carpet Fragments – The Marby rug and some
fragments of carpets found in Egypt” Nationalmuseum, Uddevalla 1985.
2. ibid. pg. 6.
3. ibid. pg 9.
4. ibid. pg 9.
WRITTEN AND CURATED BY JACK CASSIN
Text ©2003 WAMRI - The Weaving Art Museum and Research Institute.
All Rights Reserved. For any problems with this site contact: firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:a93efc1c-d7d0-4de7-8ec3-8d6c30953c7d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.weavingartmuseum.org/wamri/preface.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00081-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949879 | 3,840 | 2.875 | 3 |
The principal control is the point of tangency of the red line
. Drag it anywhere on the black circle.
You can vary the central angle of the light red segment with the "segment angle" slider. The allowed range is limited to 0.2 to 6 radians.
You can choose the segment base with the "segment base" setter bar. If it is
, then the segment is included when you sweep a radius clockwise from
. If it is
, then the segment is included if you sweep a radius clockwise from
With the "vertex angle" slider, you can vary the angle of intersection of the lines on which
are found. It has a maximum value of 3 radians. If it is zero, the lines are parallel.
The segment theorem may be stated as follows. Given two lines
tangent to a given circle
, at point
construct a tangent to
. Construct a circle through
such that the central angle of arc
is a predetermined angle. For any choice of
, this circle will be tangent to two fixed circles that are also tangent to both
. Note that there are other circles that are tangent to the red circle and lines
, but they are not fixed when
In this Demonstration, circle
are black. The segment whose chord is tangent to
is light red, and the circle of this segment is red. The two fixed circles that are tangent to
and the red circle are light blue. The tangent point can be moved anywhere on
A proof of the segment theorem appears in . It is used to prove, among other things, the Feuerbach theorem. The segment theorem is also used to prove the Feuerbach theorem in non-Euclidean space in . | <urn:uuid:ca4c228e-5ab3-4ba5-b79f-8531255d91ef> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/SegmentTheorem/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394987.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00089-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.888518 | 369 | 3.6875 | 4 |
The 8 Components of Coordinated School Health
Parent and Community Involvement in Schools
Partnerships among schools, families, community groups, and individuals. Designed to share and maximize resources and expertise in addressing the healthy development of children, youth and their families.
Healthy School Environment
The physical, emotional, and social climate of the school. Designed to provide a safe physical plant, as well as a healthy and supportive environment that fosters learning.
Planned, sequential instruction that promotes lifelong physical activity. Designed to develop basic movement skills, sports skills, and physical fitness as well as to enhance mental, social, and emotional abilities.
School Health Services
Preventive services, education, emergency care, referral, and management of acute and chronic health conditions. Designed to promote the health of students, identify and prevent health problems and injuries, and ensure care for students.
School-site Health Promotion for Staff
Assessment, education, and fitness activities for school faculty and staff. Designed to maintain and improve the health and well-being of school staff, who serve as role models for students.
School Counseling, Psychological, and Social Services
Activities that focus on cognitive, emotional, behavioral and social needs of individuals, groups, and families. Designed to prevent and address problems, facilitate positive learning and healthy behavior, and enhance healthy development.
School Nutrition Services
Integration of nutritious, affordable, and appealing meals; nutrition education; and an environment that promotes healthy eating behaviors for all children. Designed to maximize each child's education and health potential for a lifetime.
Coordinated School Health Education
Classroom instruction that addresses the physical, mental, emotional, and social dimensions of health; develops health knowledge, attitudes, and skills; and is tailored to each age level. Designed to motivate and assist students to maintain and improve their health, prevent disease, and reduce health-related risk behaviors. | <urn:uuid:8906bfeb-47a9-416b-8194-18bd99329bff> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cdph.ca.gov/PROGRAMS/SCHOOLHEALTH/Pages/MoreAboutSHC.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00186-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952831 | 387 | 3.5 | 4 |
Individual differences |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |
Biological: Behavioural genetics · Evolutionary psychology · Neuroanatomy · Neurochemistry · Neuroendocrinology · Neuroscience · Psychoneuroimmunology · Physiological Psychology · Psychopharmacology (Index, Outline)
In control theory, a control system is a device, or set of devices to manage, command, direct or regulate the behavior of other device(s) or system(s).
There are two common classes of control systems, with many variations and combinations: logic or sequential controls, and feedback or linear controls. There is also fuzzy logic, which attempts to combine some of the design simplicity of logic with the utility of linear control. Some devices or systems are inherently not controllable.
The term "control system" may be applied to the essentially manual controls that allow an operator, for example, to close and open a hydraulic press, perhaps including logic so that it cannot be moved unless safety guards are in place.
An automatic sequential control system may trigger a series of mechanical actuators in the correct sequence to perform a task. For example various electric and pneumatic transducers may fold and glue a cardboard box, fill it with product and then seal it in an automatic packaging machine.
In the case of linear feedback systems, a control loop, including sensors, control algorithms and actuators, is arranged in such a fashion as to try to regulate a variable at a setpoint or reference value. An example of this may increase the fuel supply to a furnace when a measured temperature drops. PID controllers are common and effective in cases such as this. Control systems that include some sensing of the results they are trying to achieve are making use of feedback and so can, to some extent, adapt to varying circumstances. Open-loop control systems do not make use of feedback, and run only in pre-arranged ways.
Logic control systems for industrial and commercial machinery were historically implemented at mains voltage using interconnected relays, designed using ladder logic. Today, most such systems are constructed with programmable logic controllers (PLCs) or microcontrollers. The notation of ladder logic is still in use as a programming idiom for PLCs.
Logic controllers may respond to switches, light sensors, pressure switches, etc., and can cause the machinery to start and stop various operations. Logic systems are used to sequence mechanical operations in many applications. PLC software can be written in many different ways – ladder diagrams, SFC – sequential function charts or in language terms known as statement lists.
Examples include elevators, washing machines and other systems with interrelated stop-go operations.
Logic systems are quite easy to design, and can handle very complex operations. Some aspects of logic system design make use of Boolean logic.
- For more details on this topic, see Bang–bang control.
For example, a thermostat is a simple negative-feedback control: when the temperature (the "process variable" or PV) goes below a set point (SP), the heater is switched on. Another example could be a pressure switch on an air compressor: when the pressure (PV) drops below the threshold (SP), the pump is powered. Refrigerators and vacuum pumps contain similar mechanisms operating in reverse, but still providing negative feedback to correct errors.
Simple on–off feedback control systems like these are cheap and effective. In some cases, like the simple compressor example, they may represent a good design choice.
In most applications of on–off feedback control, some consideration needs to be given to other costs, such as wear and tear of control valves and maybe other start-up costs when power is reapplied each time the PV drops. Therefore, practical on–off control systems are designed to include hysteresis, usually in the form of a deadband, a region around the setpoint value in which no control action occurs. The width of deadband may be adjustable or programmable.
Linear control systems use linear negative feedback to produce a control signal mathematically based on other variables, with a view to maintain the controlled process within an acceptable operating range.
The output from a linear control system into the controlled process may be in the form of a directly variable signal, such as a valve that may be 0 or 100% open or anywhere in between. Sometimes this is not feasible and so, after calculating the current required corrective signal, a linear control system may repeatedly switch an actuator, such as a pump, motor or heater, fully on and then fully off again, regulating the duty cycle using pulse-width modulation.
When controlling the temperature of an industrial furnace, it is usually better to control the opening of the fuel valve in proportion to the current needs of the furnace. This helps avoid thermal shocks and applies heat more effectively.
Proportional negative-feedback systems are based on the difference between the required set point (SP) and process value (PV). This difference is called the error. Power is applied in direct proportion to the current measured error, in the correct sense so as to tend to reduce the error (and so avoid positive feedback). The amount of corrective action that is applied for a given error is set by the gain or sensitivity of the control system.
At low gains, only a small corrective action is applied when errors are detected: the system may be safe and stable, but may be sluggish in response to changing conditions; errors will remain uncorrected for relatively long periods of time: it is over-damped. If the proportional gain is increased, such systems become more responsive and errors are dealt with more quickly. There is an optimal value for the gain setting when the overall system is said to be critically damped. Increases in loop gain beyond this point will lead to oscillations in the PV; such a system is under-damped.
Under-damped furnace exampleEdit
In the furnace example, suppose the temperature is increasing towards a set point at which, say, 50% of the available power will be required for steady-state. At low temperatures, 100% of available power is applied. When the PV is within, say 10° of the SP the heat input begins to be reduced by the proportional controller. (Note that this implies a 20° "proportional band" (PB) from full to no power input, evenly spread around the setpoint value). At the setpoint the controller will be applying 50% power as required, but stray stored heat within the heater sub-system and in the walls of the furnace will keep the measured temperature rising beyond what is required. At 10° above SP, we reach the top of the proportional band (PB) and no power is applied, but the temperature may continue to rise even further before beginning to fall back. Eventually as the PV falls back into the PB, heat is applied again, but now the heater and the furnace walls are too cool and the temperature falls too low before its fall is arrested, so that the oscillations continue.
Over-damped furnace exampleEdit
The temperature oscillations that an under-damped furnace control system produces are unacceptable for many reasons, including the waste of fuel and time (each oscillation cycle may take many minutes), as well as the likelihood of seriously overheating both the furnace and its contents.
Suppose that the gain of the control system is reduced drastically and it is restarted. As the temperature approaches, say 30° below SP (60° proportional band or PB now), the heat input begins to be reduced, the rate of heating of the furnace has time to slow and, as the heat is still further reduced, it eventually is brought up to set point, just as 50% power input is reached and the furnace is operating as required. There was some wasted time while the furnace crept to its final temperature using only 52% then 51% of available power, but at least no harm was done. By carefully increasing the gain (i.e. reducing the width of the PB) this over-damped and sluggish behavior can be improved until the system is critically damped for this SP temperature. Doing this is known as 'tuning' the control system. A well-tuned proportional furnace temperature control system will usually be more effective than on-off control, but will still respond more slowly than the furnace could under skillful manual control.
- Further information: PID controller
Apart from sluggish performance to avoid oscillations, another problem with proportional-only control is that power application is always in direct proportion to the error. In the example above we assumed that the set temperature could be maintained with 50% power. What happens if the furnace is required in a different application where a higher set temperature will require 80% power to maintain it? If the gain was finally set to a 50° PB, then 80% power will not be applied unless the furnace is 15° below setpoint, so for this other application the operators will have to remember always to set the setpoint temperature 15° higher than actually needed. This 15° figure is not completely constant either: it will depend on the surrounding ambient temperature, as well as other factors that affect heat loss from or absorption within the furnace.
To resolve these two problems, many feedback control schemes include mathematical extensions to improve performance. The most common extensions lead to proportional-integral-derivative control, or PID control (pronounced pee-eye-dee).
The derivative part is concerned with the rate-of-change of the error with time: If the measured variable approaches the setpoint rapidly, then the actuator is backed off early to allow it to coast to the required level; conversely if the measured value begins to move rapidly away from the setpoint, extra effort is applied—in proportion to that rapidity—to try to maintain it.
Derivative action makes a control system behave much more intelligently. On control systems like the tuning of the temperature of a furnace, or perhaps the motion-control of a heavy item like a gun or camera on a moving vehicle, the derivative action of a well-tuned PID controller can allow it to reach and maintain a setpoint better than most skilled human operators could.
If derivative action is over-applied, it can lead to oscillations too. An example would be a PV that increased rapidly towards SP, then halted early and seemed to "shy away" from the setpoint before rising towards it again.
The integral term magnifies the effect of long-term steady-state errors, applying ever-increasing effort until they reduce to zero. In the example of the furnace above working at various temperatures, if the heat being applied does not bring the furnace up to setpoint, for whatever reason, integral action increasingly moves the proportional band relative to the setpoint until the PV error is reduced to zero and the setpoint is achieved.In the furnace example, suppose the temperature is increasing towards a set point at which, say, 50% of the available power will be required for steady-state. At low temperatures, 100% of available power is applied. When the PV is within, say 10° of the SP the heat input begins to be reduced by the proportional controller. (Note that this implies a 20° "proportional band" (PB) from full to no power input, evenly spread around the setpoint value). At the setpoint the controller will be applying 50% power as required, but stray stored heat within the heater sub-system and in the walls of the furnace will keep the measured temperature rising beyond what is required. At 10° above SP, we reach the top of the proportional band (PB) and no power is applied, but the temperature may continue to rise even further before beginning to fall back. Eventually as the PV falls back into the PB, heat is applied again, but now the heater and the furnace walls are too cool and the temperature falls too low before its fall is arrested, so that the oscillations continue.
It is possible to filter the PV or error signal. Doing so can reduce the response of the system to undesirable frequencies, to help reduce instability or oscillations. Some feedback systems will oscillate at just one frequency. By filtering out that frequency, more "stiff" feedback can be applied, making the system more responsive without shaking itself apart.
Feedback systems can be combined. In cascade control, one control loop applies control algorithms to a measured variable against a setpoint, but then provides a varying setpoint to another control loop rather than affecting process variables directly. If a system has several different measured variables to be controlled, separate control systems will be present for each of them.
Control engineering in many applications produces control systems that are more complex than PID control. Examples of such fields include fly-by-wire aircraft control systems, chemical plants, and oil refineries. Model predictive control systems are designed using specialized computer-aided-design software and empirical mathematical models of the system to be controlled.
- Further information: Fuzzy logic
Fuzzy logic is an attempt to apply the easy design of logic controllers to the control of complex continuously-varying systems. Basically, a measurement in a fuzzy logic system can be partly true, that is if yes is 1 and no is 0, a fuzzy measurement can be between 0 and 1.
The rules of the system are written in natural language and translated into fuzzy logic. For example, the design for a furnace would start with: "If the temperature is too high, reduce the fuel to the furnace. If the temperature is too low, increase the fuel to the furnace."
Measurements from the real world (such as the temperature of a furnace) are converted to values between 0 and 1 by seeing where they fall on a triangle. Usually the tip of the triangle is the maximum possible value which translates to "1."
Fuzzy logic, then, modifies Boolean logic to be arithmetical. Usually the "not" operation is "output = 1 - input," the "and" operation is "output = input.1 multiplied by input.2," and "or" is "output = 1 - ((1 - input.1) multiplied by (1 - input.2))". This reduces to Boolean arithmetic if values are restricted to 0 and 1, instead of allowed to range in the unit interval [0,1].
The last step is to "defuzzify" an output. Basically, the fuzzy calculations make a value between zero and one. That number is used to select a value on a line whose slope and height converts the fuzzy value to a real-world output number. The number then controls real machinery.
If the triangles are defined correctly and rules are right the result can be a good control system.
When a robust fuzzy design is reduced into a single, quick calculation, it begins to resemble a conventional feedback loop solution and it might appear that the fuzzy design was unnecessary. However, the fuzzy logic paradigm may provide scalability for large control systems where conventional methods become unwieldy or costly to derive.
Since modern small microprocessors are so cheap (often less than $1 US), it's very common to implement control systems, including feedback loops, with computers, often in an embedded system. The feedback controls are simulated by having the computer make periodic measurements and then calculate from this stream of measurements (see digital signal processing, sampled data systems).
Computers emulate logic devices by making measurements of switch inputs, calculating a logic function from these measurements and then sending the results out to electronically-controlled switches.
Logic systems and feedback controllers are usually implemented with programmable logic controllers which are devices available from electrical supply houses. They include a little computer and a simplified system for programming. Most often they are programmed with personal computers.
Logic controllers have also been constructed from relays, hydraulic and pneumatic devices, and electronics using both transistors and vacuum tubes (feedback controllers can also be constructed in this manner).
| Concern has been expressed that this article or section is missing information about: applications of control systems.|
This concern has been noted on the talk page where it may be discussed whether or not to include such information.
- Control theory
- Feed forward (control)
- Perceptual control theory
- Distributed control system
- PID controller
- HVAC control system
- Droop speed control
- Sampled data systems
- Coefficient diagram method
- Networked control system
- Hierarchical control system
- Motion control
- Good Regulator
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Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. See talk page for details. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010)
- Semiautonomous Flight Direction - Reference unmannedaircraft.org
- Control System Toolbox for design and analysis of control systems.
|This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).| | <urn:uuid:59829967-c6c1-4a80-b1e2-203ff952be83> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Control_system | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396887.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00177-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922553 | 3,487 | 3.125 | 3 |
Falcon-AO, a prominent component of Falcon, is an automatic ontology matching system that helps actualize interoperability between (Semantic) Web applications that use different but related ontologies. Recently, it has become a very practical and popular choice for matching Web ontologies expressed by RDF(S) and OWL. Falcon-AO is implemented in Java, and presently, it is an open source project under the Apache 2.0 license.
Introduction to Semantic Web Vision and Technologies - Part 4 - Protege 101 (Screencast) - Blog - Semantic Focusby parmentierf
Many applications that process multimedia assets make use of some form of metadata that describe the multimedia content. The goals of this document are to explain the advantages of using Semantic Web languages and technologies for the creation, storage, manipulation, interchange and processing of image metadata. In addition, it provides guidelines for Semantic Web-based image annotation, illustrated by use cases. Relevant RDF and OWL vocabularies are discussed, along with a short overview of publicly available tools. | <urn:uuid:d507623f-725c-4ba4-8359-a395e39800cb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blogmarks.net/marks/tag/owl,rdf | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392069.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00181-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.858452 | 222 | 2.671875 | 3 |
asian correspondant reported that as Japan moves away from nuclear it is turning to natural gas. And not just any form of natural gas. Japan is looking for methyl hydrates which are abundant below the deep cold waters of the Earth’s oceans. “Two state-owned companies have begun work on prospective natural gas drill sites off the coast of Japan. The Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation are drilling in separate locations for methane hydrate – a form of semi-solid natural gas. If successful, Japan would be the owner of the world’s first seabed methane hydrate production.” These specific deposits could supply Japan’s needs for 14 years. Following the Fukushima disaster and the closing of most of Japan’s nuclear plants, the country is desperate to find reliable sources of 24/7 energy to ensure its electric power requirements. Rather than depend on foreign sources for supply, the country is looking at using its own resources to substitute for those reactors.
MacCleans said bye-bye, oil sheiks of the Middle East. The magazine looks at the oil and gas boom in North America (the Canadian oil sands and the shale gas finds in Canada and the US) and their sudden impact on the world energy equation and energy independence for North America.
Meanwhile The Global Warming Policy Foundation looked at the implications of the global shale gas revolution for Russia’s Gazprom. Until now, Gazprom has had a stranglehold over natural gas supplies to Europe through its pipeline control. Can this control continue in the face of shale gas finds in Europe and potential liquified natural gas (LNG) imports from North America and Australia? “Gazprom is a central pillar of Putin’s power. But globally, the gas industry is changing, moving on to new technologies and new sources of natural gas. If Russia is unable to keep up, it will be left behind once again.”
The same source also told us that England’s Blackpool shale gas reserves may be large enough to meet its energy needs for 70 years.
The Latin American Herald Tribune informed us that wind will supply 15% of Mexico’s electricity by 2020. By that date total installed wind power capacity in Mexico will reach some 12 GW.
Building wind farms off the east coast of the United States will be risky said The Daily Mail. Experts predict that in 20 years half of the proposed wind turbines off the US Atlantic and Gulf coasts could be damaged by hurricanes which are common to the areas each year. ‘Hurricanes pose a significant risk to wind turbines off the U.S. Gulf and East coasts, even if they are designed to the most stringent current standard,” say researchers at Carnegie Mellon University. Currently there are plans to build large wind farms off the coasts of Texas, Massachusetts, New Jersey and North Carolina.
Der Spiegel wrote that the European Union’s carbon emissions trading system isn’t working. The EU expected that an efficient carbon trading market would reduce the amount of greenhouse gases. But so far it isn’t working. The price for emissions certificates has plunged to around €8 ($10.60) per metric ton, a development that is actually making coal more attractive than renewable energy. This should be a warning to Australia who’s carbon tax is set to start in July at $35 (€28.67) per metric ton. The German paper also reports that Germany’s energy revolution is being undermined by the plunging value of the emissions certificates. Revenues from the certificates were to help fund the transition from nuclear to renewable energy. But so far “the outlook for the fund remains bleak for 2012, given that the income from emissions trading has fallen short of predictions.”
The Global Warming Foundation wrote about Germany’s energy transition fiasco. “Germany’s phase-out of nuclear energy is not even near of being finalised, yet there is a growing threat that it will be abandoned. There are more and more signs that the transition from a nuclear to a 35 percent renewable energy supply by 2020 is not going to work.” Germany’s obstacles to attaining its goal include citizen opposition to wind turbines, a national grid that is already facing bottlenecks and shutdowns, the inability of the grid to accommodate new wind and solar installations, and the decommissioning of coal and nuclear plants. As a result, whereas two years ago the country had a reserve electricity capacity of 13.8 GW, this buffer will be gone by 2015. Click Green picked up on this theme saying that Germany’s offshore energy plans are stalling because of the lack of power lines.
This week saw a study analyzing the impact of Canada’s ethanol policy on the livestock and meat industry. The authors conclude that the Canadian ethanol industry has been created and supported by federal and provincial subsidies, grants and mandated usage of the product in gasoline. As a consequence, it created a subsidized competitor for Canadian feed grains. The effect has been to create reduced incentives for livestock production in Canada. The study found that ethanol production increased the price of feed grains in eastern and western Canada; reduced livestock feeding margins and losses for Canadian producers; and will result in a serious reduction in feed availability in eastern Canada which , in turn, will result in a dramatic reduction of cattle and hog feeding in eastern Canada. The study’s take: “Governments must realize that the red meat industry developed over a long period of time; if it were to drastically decline, it would take a very long time to return.“
Domestic Fuel directed us to a website that lets us know everything we wanted to know about algae. Called AllAboutAlgae.com the site discusses the potential of algae-based products to provide sustainable and scalable sources for energy and fuel. Algae-derived products such as biodiesel, aviation fuel, biochemicals, animal feed and nutritional supplements.
OILPRICE had a post on the positive impact of green energy on the world’s poor. In a nutshell, in the poorest parts of the globe renewable energy, and particularly solar, is a way of solving their present, low-tech energy crisis. The article talks about how solar is changing the lives of electricity deficient peoples in Africa, Asia and Central America.
Sri Lanka: coal or renewable energy – what is the solution? Deutsche Welle delved into the dilemma facing Sri Lanka and similar countries which do not have domestic fossil fuel resources and are facing higher and higher costs of importing coal, diesel and natural gas to produce electricity. Their alternative is to start to build a large renewable energy infrastructure (solar, wind) and turn the economy and lifestyle in a new direction. The problem is compounded by insufficient electricity grids and a lack of energy infrastructure. Right now the country is moving in both directions: building new coal plants while adding wind farms and solar installations. While Sri Lanka might prefer renewable energy, the country cannot give up fossil-based fuels entirely because its energy needs are simply too huge. Yet with the price of coal rising, driving by demand from China and India, the country wonders how much longer it can afford to continue to rely on fossil fuels. The island receives large amounts of sunlight, the coasts and the Indian Ocean present a unique opportunity to generate hydropower, and wind and tidal power are also strong possibilities. Renewable energy may be its only option in the long run. | <urn:uuid:340837ff-fc71-4f8f-84bc-5aa880a7c36c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.anthropower.com/the-energy-blog-world-the-week-in-review-33 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00184-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946183 | 1,535 | 2.625 | 3 |
Drive Around the World has three principles.
1. BE RESPECTFUL
2. BE KNOWLEDGEABLE
3. BE CURIOUS
Drive Around the World team members are always interested in sharing their experiences. During the LONGITUDE expedition, the team will encounter a variety of geography, climates, and cultures that aim to enhance first-hand experiences in your classroom. The team invites students and followers to ask questions. Questions can be directed to expedition team members or the people they meet, such as research scientists, farmers, families, guides, museum curators, and other teachers.
Encourage your students to ask a question, and join us in our journey as we drive your classroom around the world. | <urn:uuid:af7ea80d-40b7-4f84-b736-1a18878e57c2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.drivearoundtheworld.com/education/teacher.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396875.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00178-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944942 | 146 | 3.140625 | 3 |
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