text stringlengths 199 648k | id stringlengths 47 47 | dump stringclasses 1 value | url stringlengths 14 419 | file_path stringlengths 139 140 | language stringclasses 1 value | language_score float64 0.65 1 | token_count int64 50 235k | score float64 2.52 5.34 | int_score int64 3 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Definition of Metabolic process
1. Noun. The organic processes (in a cell or organism) that are necessary for life.
Category relationships: Being, Organism
Specialized synonyms: Cellular Respiration, Internal Respiration, Respiration, Basal Metabolism, Fat Metabolism, Glycolysis
Terms within: Anabolism, Constructive Metabolism, Catabolism, Destructive Metabolism, Dissimilation, Katabolism, Citric Acid Cycle, Krebs Citric Acid Cycle, Krebs Cycle, Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle
Generic synonyms: Biological Process, Organic Process
Derivative terms: Metabolic, Metabolize
Metabolic Process Pictures
Click the following link to bring up a new window with an automated collection of images related to the term: Metabolic Process Images
Lexicographical Neighbors of Metabolic Process
Literary usage of Metabolic process
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Science by American Association for the Advancement of Science (1922)
"Just as the various steps in the metabolic process are dependent on those which preceded them, so when an organism becomes differentiated into parts, ..."
2. American Medicine (1906)
"... distinctly separate from growth and atrophy permits the former to be regarded as one intimately combined and normal metabolic process in a working cell, ..."
3. Lectures on the Physiology of Plants by Sydney Howard Vines (1886)
"We see, then, that for each metabolic process there are three cardinal points of temperature; the minimum- or zero-point at which the performance of the ..."
4. Crossing Over: The Basics of Evolution : Workbook for Teachers by Edith Dempster (2006)
"Animal cells use oxygen during the metabolic process called cellular respiration. ... During daylight, green plant cells make sugar by the metabolic process ..."
5. Fundamentals of Human Physiology by Roy Gentry Pearce, John James Rickard Macleod (1916)
"If we take such a metabolic process as that which carbohydrates undergo, we should expect that the conditions which determine whether glycogen shall be ..."
6. Milk by Paul Gustav Heinemann (1919)
"Pediatric literature for many years has been made the battlefield for controversies regarding the nature of the metabolic process and the character of the ..." | <urn:uuid:ae12456f-a7a2-4864-bcbb-069df99aa579> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.lexic.us/definition-of/metabolic_process | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00004-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.888979 | 504 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Blackburn is a municipal, parliamentary, and county borough, situated midway between Preston and Burnley- about 11 miles from each town-and, as a centre of population and commercial activity, occupies the first position in North-east Lancashire. It is a very old town, but only within modern times, and mainly through prosperity in the cotton trade, have its laurels been won and its status made consequential. From a stream called Blake-water or Blake-burn, which flows out of the heights of Oswaldtwistle, runs through a portion of Blackburn, and afterwards debouches into ther river Darwen, the town evidently derived its name. In Saxon times Blackburn was held by King Edward the Confeasor. The earliest reference to it, which confirms the fact of this possession, is contained in the Domesday Survey. " King Edward held Blacheburne" says the Norman record, and tBen it defines the area thereof as "two hides and two carucates of land." Anciently, the land here, as well as that of adjoining districts, chiefly eastward, constituted what was known as Blackburnshire. One of the " hundreds " into which the county of Lancaster is divided, and which includes the land of the " shire" mentioned, goes by the name of Blackburn. The population of the entire hundred of Blackburn is 502,499. By the Blackburn Corporation Act of 1892, which came into operation in 1893, the area included withia the borough of Blackburn (comprising the civil parishes of Blackburn and Little Halwood, and parts of those of Livesey, Lower Darwen, and Witton) was constituted one township or civil parish, designated Blackburn. At the time of the census of 1891 this area contained 24,471 inhabited houses, aad 120,064 population, but the above figures relate to the parishes as exiating previously to the alteration. A range of high land passes through the parish, the trend of it being from Whalley to Billinge Hill. The town of Blackburn is located partly in a hollow and partly on the sides of high, semi-environing land. Owing to the great quantity of smoke which exhales from the chimneys of mills, workshops, &c., the aspect of the town is sombre and heavy; otherwise, through the vale-like, hill-flanked configuration of its position, the scene would be quite picturesque. A considerable quantity of the land around Blackburn was, up to a comparatively recent period, in a bleak, poor condition: much of it is now within the sphere of cultivation and practical productiveness. In various parts of the parish slate of a grey colour is got; at the southern side coal is found; and formerly-many years ago-there was an alum mine in working order in the suburb of Pleasington, on the western side. In 1617, when King James I. visited Hoghton Tower (a fine old structure between Blackburn and Preston), he was taken to view the alum works in Pleasington. The diary of a local gentleman, who was at the Tower when James was there, contains this quaint record of the event:- " Aug 16. About 4 o'clock the King went downe to the Allome mynes, and was there an houer, and viewed them preciselie." In 1642, during the Civil War, James, Earl of Derby, at the head of an army of 5000 Eoyalists, unsuccessfully attacked Blackburn; the "greatest execution" being done, as an old chronicler oddly describes it, by a ball whicli entered a house near the church and " burst out the bottom of a frying-pan." The Earl of Derby, in 1643, entered and for a short time occupied the town with a body of Royalist troops. In 1892 the rateable value of the borough, for county purposes, was £4:68,574. Blackburn was made a parliamentary borough in 1832, under the Reform Act of that year, and it is represented by two members. By a charter dated 28th August, 1851, Blackburn became a corporate borough. Its corporation is at present composed of a mayor, 14 aldermen, and 42 councillors. Extensive drainage and other sanitary works, as well as many miscellaneous public improvements, have been carried out by this body. Blackburn Poor Law Union consists of 24 townships. On the southeast side of the borough there is the Union workhouse, a building opened in 1864, at a cost of nearly £30,000, and possessing accommodation for 700 inmates. New offices for the Union were opened in 1889. The County Court (for recovery of debts, &c.) is held every Monday, in a buildine specially erected in 1861-62, and including registrar's offices, at a cost of £3000. The jurisdiction of the court applies to or is co-extensive with the townships forming the Poor Law Union. A Court of Quarter Sessions was established here in 1886. Under the Local Government Act of 1888 Blackburn became a county borough. The textile manufacture of the place was commenced about 1650. For the weaving of a check cloth composed of linen and cotton-dyed in the warp or the woof portions so as to alternate the colours- Blackburn was first noted. The check cloth was supplanted by one of a grey description. Then calico weaving came to the fore. In 1764 James Hargreaves, a Blackburn carpenter, invented the spinning jenny, which greatly accelerated the manufacture of cotton goods here. In 1826 power looms were introduced, and tlieir appearance greatly exasperated the operatives, who sought revenge by the smashing of machinery, &c. From 1851 to 1861 there was much prosperity in the local cotton trade; the prosperity went on at a liigh rate, almost without interruption, mill and house property underwent a great development, and there was an increase in the population of the borough equal to about 37 per cent. during that particular decade. In what was known as the " cotton famine " Blackburn was very severely hit. At the worst period of the trouble-in December, 1862-more than half of the population were living on the subscriptions of the charitable and the relief administered by the Poor Law Guardians. In 1878 there was much commotion in and about the town; the local cotton operatives struck against a proposed reduction of wages, rioting followed, and in the course of it a suburban residence was burnt down, and the military had to be called out to restore order. There are in Blackburn 110 mills and sheds set apart for cotton weaving; they contain 64,000 looms, and the operatives employed in connection therewith number between 25,000 and 26,000. The spinning department embraces numerous establishments, which at the end of 1892 contained 1,335,414 spindles, and employed about 10,000 operatives. Since 1870 the spinning trade has been somewhat 178 on the decline. Blackburn is noted for its inventors and mechanics-a class who have principally manifested then-ability and enterprise in the improvement and construction of power looms. The chief mechanical trade is that of loom-making-a trade which includes or combines the making of winding, warping, and sizing machines. Railway accommodation is good and extensive. The first line made was from Blackburn to Preston; it was opened in 1846. A great development has since taken place. The Lancashire and Yorkshire, the London and North-Western, the Midland, and the Great Northern companies all put in an appearance-here. A very spacious new central station was completed in 1888. A steam tramway runs through the principal streets. A similar tramway, opened in 1881, connects Blackburn with Over Darwen, and there are also lines to Church, &c. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal-an important inland waterway-goes near the town. The public buildings are numerous and excellent. In the centre of the borough there is the Town Hall, a structure in the Italian style of architecture, which was opened in 1856, and which cost, with its fittings, about £50,000. Within this building are the council chamber, a fine assembly-room, court-rooms, offices for the various corporate departments, the police, &c. The magistrates forming the borough bench sit daily in one of the courts. The county magistrates meet every Wednesday, in a court-room separately located from this building. Not far from, and on one side of, the Town Hall, stands tho Market House-a commodious structure opened in 1848 at a cost of about £8000. Between the Market House and th& Town Hall there is the Market Square, the formation of which, along with the purchase of contiguous property for extension purposes, cost about £20,000. A first-rate market for farm produce, &c., is held every Wednesday and Saturday, and there is a great market on alternate Wednesdays, from the first Wednesday before 2nd February to Michaelmas. Fairs for horses, cattle, Yorkshire cloths, &c., are annually held on May 11 and 12, and on October 17. Horse fairs are likewise held on the second Monday in June and the first Wednesday after October 16 in each year. The Exchange is situated at the north-western angle of the Market Square; the whole of the design has not yet been carried out, but the building, so far as it has been constructed, is a fine one. In the immediate neighbourhood of the Town Hall there are, in one edifice, the Free Library and the Maseum-originally opened in 1862 in the Town Hall, and removed in 1874 to the building now occupied by them, which was specially erected for their requirements, and opened in the year last named. Here also, in addition to books, curiosities, &c., is the nidus of an art gallery. In the same street as the Free Library and Museum, and directly opposite, are the School Board's new offices, opened in 1891. There are in Blackburn 47 elementary schools- 45 under voluntary management and 2 under the Board- and in addition a day industrial school, with accommodation for 200 truant children. In the latter half of 1892 the total number of children on the rolls was 24,135, or one in five of the whole population, and the average attendance was 18,377. The expenditure of the School Board for the year ended 29 September, 1892, including interest on and repayment of loans on capital charges, for erection of school buildings, new offices, &c., was equivalent to a rate of 2'18d. in the on the rateable value of the borough. There is a School of Art and Science at Sudell Cross, and in another part of the borough-Blakey Moor-a Technical School is in course of erection. The foundation stone of this school was laid by the Prince of Wales in 1888 ; the cost of the site was upwards of £5000, and the construction of the edifice-will, it is estimated, involve an expenditure of £25,000. Public baths erected by the corporation, at a cost of £3500, were opened in 1868. The Infirmary, a noble-looking pile of masonry, in the Italian, styIe, occupies a commanding eminence on the south side of the town. It was founded by a donation from Mr William Pilkington during his mayoralty in 1856-57, and many subscriptions, &c., were added to his initial gift. The building was opened during the " cotton famine." The total cost of it, including recent additions and internal fittings, has been about £35,000; the endowment fund is £60,000; and the annual income and cost of management amount to something like £6500 each. There are three-theatres and numerous clubs-political, social, and literary- in the town. The Orange Hall was opened in 1890. Journalism is represented by two evening dailies and two weekly papers. Corporation Park is on the northern side of the borough, on a fine slope of Rividge Hill. It is about 50 acres in extent. The land was purchased in 1855 by the Corporation for £3237. The same body afterwards laid out the grounds-making beautiful walks, drives, fountains, lakes, &c.-at a cost of about £20,000, and in 1857 the park was opened. From the top of it there is a fine view of the town and the surrounding districts. Many new buildings-mansion-like residences, villas, terraces, &c.-have been erected in the neighbourhood of the park, and this side is the most attractive or fashionable residential part. Blackburn Gas Lighting Company was founded in 1819; in 1877 the whole of its buildings, plant, &c., were purchased by the Corporation. The works of the old water company, established in 1848, became by purchase the property of the Corporation in 1875. The gathering ground for water is about five miles south-east, and the supply is good. The out townships of Lower Darwcn, Livesey, Witton, and Little Har-wood are provided with water by the Corporation from the same source. The local charities are numerous, and almost all of them are of modern foundation. The nucleus of the Lancashire Independent College, at Whalley Eange, near Manchester, was formed in Blackburn. An institution designated the Independent Academy was established here in 1816, by the Congregationalists, with the object of educating young men for the ministry of their denomination, and the work of it was continued until 1843, when its professors and students were transferred to the College at Whalley Eange. A free grammar school was founded and endowed in 1514 by Thomas, Earl of Derby, in connection with his chantry in Blackburn Parish Church. This was superseded by a grammar school which Queen Elizabeth founded and endowed in 1567-a school which, with the exception of requiring a small gift by each pupil to the master at Shrovetide every year, had to be " free to all the world." The first Sir Robert Peel, who was born at Peel Fold, near Blackburn, was educated at this old establishment. Robert Bolton, a notable Puritan divine, and one of the most erudite men of his generation, was likewise a scholar here; as also was Anderton, who subsequently went to Christ's College, Cambridge, and was termed, on account of his eloquence, "The golden-mouthed Anderton." The present grammar school building is quite a modern one; it was completed, along with the headmaster's house, in 1885, the total cost being about £7000. In the borough of Blackburn there are now 67 places of worship-viz., 21 Episcopalian, 10 Congregational, 3 United Presbyterian, 2 Baptist, 9 Wesleyan Methodists, 5 United Methodist Free Church, 6 Primitive Methodist, 5 Roman Catholic, 1 Society of Friends, 1 Sweden-borgian, 1 Wesleyan Free Church, 1 Catholic Apostolic, 1 Salvationist, and 1 Undenominational. The original parish church was, it is conjectured, built about the year 596. In the reign of Stephen (1135-54) it was supplanted by a new one. This second structure was replaced by a third in or about the year 1350. And the third was superseded by the present building, which was erected in 1820-26, at a cost of £26,000. In 1875 the parish church was entirely renovated and reseated. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Manchester. According to the most reliable records, there have been from 1070 (earliest available date) up to now 34 rectors and vicars of Blackburn; the present vicar being the Rev F. A. R. Cramer-Roberts, D.D., who was instituted in 1887, and simultaneously made coadjutor-bishop of the diocese of Manchester. There is a cemetery, open to all denominations, about a mile on the north-eastern side. The cost of purchasing the land and laying out the same was about £18,000, and the ground was opened for burial purposes in 1857. All the banking, postal, telegraphic, and telephonic facilities reckoned essential to a large modern business centre exist at Blackburn.
The Registers of Blackburn 1600-1660, are available to browse online.
Directories & Gazetteers
Transcript of the entry for Blackburn (St. Mary) from Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, 1848
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Lancashire newspapers online: | <urn:uuid:ffe81275-e244-4db2-ae73-5f4fa3ce8270> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ukga.org/england/Lancashire/towns/Blackburn.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00040-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9768 | 3,465 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Bank Guarantee is an instrument issued by the Bank in which the Bank agrees to give guarantee against the non-performance of some action of a party. The amount of guarantee is called the ‘guarantee amount’. Usually, the Bank Guarantee is for a specified amount, which is a percentage of the total money required for the contract. The guarantee is issued upon receipt of a request from ‘applicant’ for some purpose/transaction in favour of a ‘Beneficiary’. The ‘issuing bank’ pays the guarantee amount to the ‘beneficiary’ of the guarantee upon receipt of the ‘claim’ from the beneficiary. This is called ‘invocation’ of the Guarantee.
Types of Bank Guarantees:
Bank Guarantees (BGs) are broadly classified into Performance and Financial BGs
Performance Guarantee are the ones by which the issuing bank, also known as the Guarantor, guarantees the ability of the applicant to perform a contract, to the satisfaction of the beneficiary.
Financial Guarantees are used to secure a financial commitment such as a loan, a security deposit, etc. These are issued on behalf of brokers, in lieu of the security deposit that needs to be paid at the time of becoming a member of the exchange. For example, guarantees of margin money for stock exchanges.
Other types of BGs are as Follows
- Bid Bond Guarantee
- Advance payment Guarantee
- Guaranty for warranty obligation
- Payment Guarantee/Loan Guarantee
- Deferred payment Guarantee
- Shipping Guarantee
- Trade Credit Guarantee
Difference between a Bank Guarantee and a Usual Guarantee
- A bank guarantee is not directly governed by Sec. 126 whereas a usual guarantee is governed by Sec. 126 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.
- A bank guarantee is a contract involving two parties i.e. the bank and the beneficiary whereas An ordinary guarantee is a tri-partite (3 parties) agreement involving the surety, the debtor and the creditor
- The bank guarantee is independent of the main contract where as in an ordinary guarantee, the contract between the surety and the creditor arises as a subsidiary to the contract between the creditor and the principal debtor.
- Bank guarantees generally have a time limit within which they are functional where as an ordinary guarantee does not have any time limit before which the debt has to be claimed.
Use of Bank Guarantee
A bank guarantee might be used when a buyer obtains goods from a seller and runs into cash difficulties and can’t pay the seller. The bank guarantee would pay an agreed-upon sum to the seller. Similarly, if the supplier was unable to provide the goods, the bank would then pay the purchaser the agreed-upon sum. We could say that, the bank guarantee acts as a safety measure for the opposing party in the transaction. | <urn:uuid:f46ef78b-6cc9-49f5-866d-af64c3e088af> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://priyankablogthoughts.com/bank-guarantees-bgs-types-use-of-bank-guarantees/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00089-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957662 | 600 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Learning Objectives22––22After you have read this PPT, you should be able to:Discuss why human resources can be a core competency fororganizations.Define HR planning, and outline the HR planning process.Specify four important HR benchmarking measures.Identify factors to be considered in forecasting the supply anddemand for human resources in an organization.
Learning Objectives (cont’d)22––33Discuss several ways to manage a surplus of human resources.Identify what a human resource information system (HRIS) isand why it is useful when doing HR planning.
Human Resources as a CoreCompetency22––44Strategic Human Resources ManagementOrganizational use of employees to gain or keep a competitiveadvantage against competitors.Core CompetencyA unique capability in the organization that creates high valueand that differentiates the organization from its competition.
Possible HR Areas for Core Competencies22––55 Figure 2–1
HR-Based Core Competencies22––66Organizational CultureThe shared values and beliefs of the workforceProductivityA measure of the quantity and quality of work done,considering the cost of the resources used.A ratio of the inputs and outputs that indicates the value addedby an organization.Quality Products and ServicesHigh quality products and services are the results of HR-enhancements to organizational performance.
Factors That Determine HR Plans22––88 Figure 2–3
Linkage of Organizational and HR Strategies22––99 Figure 2–4
Human Resource Planning22––1010Human Resource (HR) PlanningThe process of analyzing and identifying the need for andavailability of human resources so that the organization canmeet its objectives.HR Planning ResponsibilitiesTop HR executive and subordinates gather information fromother managers to use in the development of HR projectionsfor top management to use in strategic planning and settingorganizational goals
Typical Division of HR Responsibilitiesin HR Planning22––1111 Figure 2–5
Human Resource Planning (cont’d)22––1212Small Business and HR Planning IssuesAttracting and retaining qualified outsidersManagement succession between generations of ownersEvolution of HR activities as business growsFamily relationships and HR policies
HR Planning Process22––1414HR StrategiesThe means used to anticipate and manage the supply of anddemand for human resources.Provide overall direction for the way in which HR activities will bedeveloped and managed.OverallOverallStrategic PlanStrategic PlanHuman ResourcesHuman ResourcesStrategic PlanStrategic PlanHR ActivitiesHR Activities
Benefits of HR Planning22––1515Better view of the HR dimensions of business decisionsLower HR costs through better HR management.More timely recruitment for anticipate HR needsMore inclusion of protected groups through planned increases inworkforce diversity.Better development of managerial talent
Scanning the External Environment22––1616Environmental ScanningThe process of studying the environment of the organization topinpoint opportunities and threats.Environment Changes Impacting HRGovernmental regulationsEconomic conditionsGeographic and competitive concernsWorkforce composition
Employers’ Use of Part-Time Workers22––1717 Figure 2–7Source: Adapted from “”Part-Time Employment,”(NY: The Conference Board, n.d.) vol. 6 #1.
Internal Assessment of theOrganizational Workforce22––1818Auditing Jobs and SkillsWhat jobs exist now?How many individuals are performing each job?How essential is each job?What jobs will be needed to implement future organizationalstrategies?What are the characteristics of anticipated jobs?
Internal Assessment of theOrganizational Workforce22––1919Organizational Capabilities InventoryHRIS databases—sources of information about employees’knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs)Components of an organizational capabilities inventoryWorkforce and individual demographicsIndividual employee career progressionIndividual job performance data
Forecasting HR Supply and Demand22––2020ForecastingThe use of information from the past and present to identifyexpected future conditions.Forecasting MethodsJudgmentalEstimates—asking managers’ opinions, top-down or bottom-upRules of thumb—using general guidelinesDelphi technique—asking a group of expertsNominal groups—reaching a group consensus in open discussion
Forecasting HR Supply and Demand22––2121Forecasting Methods (cont’d)MathematicalStatistical regression analysis—Simulation modelsProductivity ratios—units produced per employeeStaffing ratios—estimates of indirect labor needsForecasting PeriodsShort-term—less than one yearIntermediate—up to five yearsLong-range—more than five years
Forecasting HR Supply and Demand22––2323Forecasting the Demand for Human ResourcesOrganization-wide estimate for total demandUnit breakdown for specific skill needs by number and type ofemployeeDevelop decision rules (“fill rates”) for positions to be filled internally andexternally.Develop additional decision rules for positions impacted by the chaineffects of internal promotions and transfers.Forecasting the Supply for Human ResourcesExternal SupplyInternal Supply
Forecasting HR Supply and Demand22––2424Forecasting External HR SupplyFactors affecting externalNet migration for an areaIndividuals entering and leaving the workforceIndividuals graduating from schools and collegesChanging workforce composition and patternsEconomic forecastsTechnological developments and shiftsActions of competing employersGovernment regulations and pressuresOther factors affecting the workforce
Estimating Internal Labor Supply for a Given Unit22––2626 Figure 2–9
Managing Human ResourceSurplus or Shortage22––2727Workforce Reductions and the WARN ActIdentifies employer requirements for layoff advance notice.60-day notice to employees and the local community before a layoff orfacility closing involving more than 50 people.Does not cover part-time or seasonal workers.Imposes fines for not following notification procedure.Has hardship clauses for unanticipated closures or lack of businesscontinuance capabilities.
Managing Human ResourceSurplus or Shortage22––2828Workforce Realignment“Downsizing”, “Rightsizing”, and “Reduction in Force” (RIF) allmean reducing the number of employees in an organization.CausesEconomic—weak product demand, loss of market share to competitorsStructural—technological change, mergers and acquisitions
Managing Human ResourceSurplus or Shortage22––2929Workforce Realignment (cont’d)Positive consequencesIncrease competitivenessIncreased productivityNegative consequencesCannibalization of HR resourcesLoss of specialized skills and experienceLoss of growth and innovation skillsManaging survivorsProvide explanations for actions and the futureInvolve survivors in transition/regrouping activities
Managing Human ResourceSurplus or Shortage22––3030Downsizing approachesAttrition and hiring freezesNot replacing departing employees and not hiring new employees/Early retirement buyoutsOffering incentives that encourage senior employees to leave theorganization early.LayoffsEmployees are placed on unpaid leave until called back to work whenbusiness conditions improve.Employees are selected for layoff on the basis of their seniority orperformance or a combination of both.
Managing Human ResourceSurplus or Shortage22––3131Downsizing approaches (cont’d)Outplacement services provided to displaced employees to givethem support and assistance:Personal career counselingResume preparation and typing servicesInterviewing workshopsReferral assistanceSeverance paymentsContinuance of medical benefitsJob retraining
Dealing with Downsizing22––3232Investigate alternatives to downsizingInvolve those people necessary for success in the planning fordownsizingDevelop comprehensive communications plansNurture the survivorsOutplacement pays off
Assessing HR Effectiveness22––3333Diagnostic Measures of HR EffectivenessHR expense per employeeCompensation as a percent of expensesHR department expense as a percent of total expensesCost of hiresTurnover ratesAbsenteeism ratesWorker’s compensation per employee
Overview of the HREvaluation Process22––3434 Figure 2–10
Assessing HR Effectiveness22––3535HR AuditA formal research effort that evaluates the current state of HRmanagement in an organizationAudit areas:Legal compliance (e.g., EEO, OSHA, ERISA, and FMLA)Current job specifications and descriptionsValid recruiting and selection processFormal wage and salary system • BenefitsEmployee handbookAbsenteeism and turnover controlGrievance resolution processOrientation program • Training and developmentPerformance management system
Using HR Research for Assessment22––3636HR ResearchThe analysis of data from HR records to determine theeffectiveness of past and present HR practices.Primary ResearchResearch method in which data are gathered first-hand for thespecific project being conducted.Secondary ResearchResearch method using data already gathered by others andreported in books, articles in professional journals, or othersources.
HR Performance andBenchmarking22––3737BenchmarkingComparing specific measures of performance against data onthose measures in other “best practice” organizationsCommon BenchmarksTotal compensation as a percentage of net income before taxesPercent of management positions filled internallyDollar sales per employeeBenefits as a percentage of payroll cost
Doing the Benchmarking Analysis22––3838Return on Investment (ROI)Calculation showing the value of expenditures for HRactivities.A = Operating costs for a new or enhance system for the time periodA = Operating costs for a new or enhance system for the time periodB = One-time cost of acquisition and implementationB = One-time cost of acquisition and implementationC = Value of gains from productivity improvements for the time periodC = Value of gains from productivity improvements for the time periodBACROI+=
HR Business Performance Calculations22––3939 Figure 2–11aSource: Adapted from Jac Fitz-Enz, “Top 10 Calculations for Your HRIS,” HR Focus, April 1998, S-3.
HR Business Performance Calculations22––4040 Figure 2–11bSource: Adapted from Jac Fitz-Enz, “Top 10 Calculations for Your HRIS,” HR Focus, April 1998, S-3.
Doing the Benchmarking Analysis22––4141Economic Value Added (EVA)A firm’s net operating profit after the cost of capital (minimumrate of return demanded by the shareholders) is deducted.Cost of capital is the benchmark for returns for all HRactivities.Utility analysisAnalysis in which economic or other statistical models are builtto identify the costs and benefits associated with specific HRactivities
Human Resource InformationSystems22––4242Human resource information systems (HRIS)An integrated system of hardware, software, and databasesdesigned to provide information used in HR decision making.Benefits of HRISAdministrative and operational efficiency in compiling HR dataAvailability of data for effective HR strategic planningUses of HRISAutomation of payroll and benefit activitiesEEO/affirmative action tracking
Uses of an HRInformation System(HRIS)22––4343 Figure 2–12
Designing and Implementing anHRIS22––4444HRIS Design IssuesWhat information available and what is information needed?To what uses will the information be put?What output format compatibility with other systems isrequired?Who will be allowed to access to the information?When and how often will the information be needed?
Accessing the HRIS22––4545IntranetAn organizational (internal) network that operates over theInternet.ExtranetAn Internet-linked network that allows employees access toinformation provided by external entities.Web-based HRIS UsesBulletin boardsData accessEmployee self-serviceExtended linkage | <urn:uuid:9efc6645-b297-46a4-a3cd-172fec9b4fdd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.slideshare.net/sorab1/strategic-human-resources-management | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397428.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00171-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.840621 | 2,385 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Bangladesh was mired in a political crisis heightened by the wide-scale August 17 attacks by Islamic militants involving hundreds of small, near-simultaneous bombings throughout the nation. Journalists covering the bombings and their aftermath said they were more vulnerable than ever to violent reprisals.
Bangladesh was already one of the most dangerous countries for the press in Asia, according to CPJ research. Even by that poor standard, death threats and physical attacks against journalists spiked in 2005. Traditional enemies of the press such as criminal gangs, underground leftist groups, police, politicians, and student activists continued to lash out at journalists. The newer and potentially graver threat from radical Islamist groups exacerbated the treacherous landscape.
In May, CPJ named Bangladesh one of the world's five most murderous countries for journalists. Nine journalists were killed over five years, eight of them in the lawless southwestern Khulna district, which is rife with criminal gangs, outlawed political groups, and drug traffickers. Seven of the victims received death threats beforehand. Investigations into the murders have yielded no convictions.
Journalists in rural provinces faced threats from the growing number of illegal groups. In February, the Janajuddha faction of the outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party sent death threats to eight journalists in the southwestern city of Satkhira. The Janajuddha called the journalists "class enemies" and threatened them with execution because of their reporting on the faction's leader.
In September, five of the same journalists and four others received pieces of white cloth, symbolizing funeral shrouds, accompanied by letters co-signed by the outlawed Islamic militant Bangla Bhai and the radical movement Ahle Hadith. These letters warned journalists not to write about their groups' activities and threatened to kill ethnic Hindu reporters.
The Bangladeshi press operates largely without direct government interference, and it routinely exposes government corruption. But retaliatory physical attacks and threats occur frequently and with impunity. Despite promises from officials to track down those responsible for the attacks, little is done to punish offenders—even in high-profile murder cases.
The February murder of Sheikh Belaluddin illustrates the seemingly intractable pattern of impunity. A journalist with the conservative national daily Sangbad, Belaluddin died after a homemade bomb detonated outside the Khulna Press Club. A breakthrough in the case was reported in July, when a former leader of the Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of the Islamic fundamentalist political party Jamaat-e-Islami, confessed to taking part in the deadly bombing. Yet three weeks later, the suspect was freed on bail, and his whereabouts were unknown, according to local press reports.
Belaluddin's murder shocked the nation's press, prompting protests and briefly uniting the country's polarized journalists. Editors from across the political spectrum came together to form a new group, the Forum to Protect Journalists, which rallied in the capital, Dhaka, soon after Belaluddin's killing. The protesters marched to the National Press Club and called for justice in all of the murdered journalists' cases. But longstanding divisions kept the forum from following up with more action, local journalists said.
The government has professed a commitment to solving the 2004 murders in Khulna of veteran reporter Manik Saha and editor Humayun Kabir Balu. Arrests have been made in both cases, but family members are skeptical about the proceedings and don't believe that the masterminds have been apprehended, according to The Daily Star of Dhaka and CPJ sources.
Police brutality was a continuing problem, particularly for photographers covering the country's growing political tensions. In May, baton-wielding riot police on the Dhaka University campus beat seven photographers and camera operators who were covering protests. When journalists staged their own demonstration in July to protest the mistreatment, intelligence officers assaulted nine photojournalists in full view of police.
Islamic militant activity in Bangladesh is on the increase, according to local and international news accounts. Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party rose to power in 2001 through an alliance with conservative Islamic parties. Her government had flatly denied the existence of militant groups, saying that journalists reporting on the trend were engaged in "informational terrorism."
Covering this emerging story in the face of official denials carried risks for journalists. Government leaders harshly criticized a January New York Times Magazine article that described the rise of militant Islamism. Intelligence officers questioned and harassed people interviewed for the article and journalists who cooperated in its reporting. The family of Time reporter Saleem Samad was among those targeted. In June, four men identified as cadres of Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), an outlawed militant group headed by Bangla Bhai, attacked Janakantha reporter Shafiqul Islam in the northwestern town of Rajshahi because he had helped other journalists report on the JMJB's activities, according to The Daily Star.
The government was finally forced to confront the rise in radical groups' activities after the nationwide attacks on August 17. In a well-coordinated, half-hour-long series of strikes, hundreds of small bombs exploded across the country, killing at least two, injuring hundreds, and dealing a heavy psychological blow to the nation. The Supreme Court, the Foreign Ministry, airports, and at least seven press clubs were targeted in the bombings, which went off in 63 of the country's 64 districts. Leaflets said the bombs were a message from the banned Islamic militant group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) to Western leaders to leave Islamic countries. The leaflets also called for the establishment of Islamic sharia law.
Militant groups made use of the media to publicize their ideas, according to local news reports. The popular daily Prothom Alo reported in late 2004 that radical groups were increasingly using the media to recruit and spread propaganda about jihad. "Books, magazines, and cassettes are on sale in the capital urging people to join in a jihad," according to Prothom Alo. Books with titles such as "Why Should We Participate in Jihad" were selling briskly.
An imprisoned journalist was released in April. Authorities freed Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, editor and publisher of the weekly tabloid Blitz, after he spent 17 months in jail awaiting trial on sedition charges stemming from his attempt to travel to Israel in November 2003 to participate in a conference with the Hebrew Writers Association. Bangladesh has no formal relations with Israel, and it is illegal for Bangladeshi citizens to travel there. The initial charge of violating passport restrictions was later dropped in favor of the more serious sedition charge.
Choudhury told CPJ that, because the sedition charges were pending, he was forced to appear in court once a month. He said that his passport was not returned, and that he was still at risk; after the August bombings, he received threatening letters from radicals. Choudhury relaunched the weekly Blitz in October.
Joynal Hazari, the member of parliament accused of ordering the savage beating of reporter Tipu Sultan in 2001, continued to elude justice as legal proceedings against him stalled. Despite the many delays, Sultan focused instead on journalism, covering the news for Bangladesh's most popular daily, Prothom Alo.
Sultan told CPJ that four years after thugs smashed the bones in his right hand in retaliation for his reporting on local corruption, he was excelling professionally and investigating many of the paper's lead stories. CPJ honored Sultan for his courage with an International Press Freedom Award in 2002. | <urn:uuid:00bc3247-0c3d-4194-96cb-d75fc0afaa99> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://cpj.org/2006/02/attacks-on-the-press-2005-bangladesh.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00021-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96742 | 1,554 | 2.609375 | 3 |
The West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) is a manatee, and the largest surviving member of the aquatic mammal order Sirenia (which also includes the dugong and the extinct Steller's sea cow).
The West Indian manatee is a species distinct from the Amazonian manatee (T. inunguis), and the African manatee (T. senegalensis). Based on genetic and morphological studies, the West Indian manatee is divided into two subspecies, the Florida manatee (T. m. latirostris) and the Antillean or Caribbean manatee (T. m. manatus). However, recent genetic (mtDNA) research suggests that the West Indian manatee actually falls out into three groups, which are more or less geographically distributed as: (1) Florida and the Greater Antilles; (2) Central and Northern South America; and (3) Northeastern South America.
Like other manatees, the West Indian manatee has adapted fully to an aquatic life style, having no hind limbs. Pelage cover is sparsely distributed across the body, which may play a role in reducing the build-up of algae on their thick skin. The average West Indian manatee is approximately 2.7–3.5 m (8.9–11 ft) long and weighs 200–600 kg (440–1,300 lb), with females generally larger than males. The largest individual on record weighed 1,655 kg (3,650 lb) and measured 4.6 m (15 ft) long. This manatee's color is gray or brown. Its flippers also have either 3 or 4 nails so it can hold its food as it is eating.
As its name implies, the West Indian manatee lives in the West Indies, or Caribbean, generally in shallow coastal areas. However, it is known to withstand large changes in water salinity, and so has also been found in shallow rivers and estuaries. It can live in fresh water, saline water, and even brackish water. It is limited to the tropics and subtropics due to an extremely low metabolic rate and lack of a thick layer of insulating body fat. While this is a regularly occurring species along coastal, southern Florida, during summer this large mammal has even been found as far north as Dennis, Massachusetts and as far west as Texas.
The Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris), a subspecies of the West Indian manatee, is the largest of all living sirenians. Florida manatees inhabit the most northern limit of sirenian habitat. Over three decades of research by universities, governmental agencies, and NGOs, has contributed to our understanding of Florida manatee ecology and behavior, which is more than we know about any other sirenian species. They are found in fresh water rivers, in estuaries, and in the coastal waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Females usually have their first calf when they are about 7 or 8 years old. Normally they only have one calf every three years because manatees nurse their calf for 1 or 2 years, but there are rare occurrences of twins. When a calf is born, they usually weigh between 60 and 70 pounds and are between 4 and 4.5 feet. The family unit consists of mother and calf, which remain together for up to 2 years. Males aggregate in mating herds around a female when she is ready to conceive, but contribute no parental care to the calf. Florida manatees may live to be greater than 60 years old in the wild, and one captive manatee -- "Snooty" Snooty -- has lived for 63 years. In captivity, West Indian Manatees live up to 28 years. The biggest single threat to Florida manatees is death from collisions with recreational watercraft. Large concentrations of Florida manatees are located in the Crystal River area and also Wakulla Springs regions in central and north Florida. The best time to see the Wakulla Springs manatees are in November and December, and in the spring for the Crystal River manatees.
The other subspecies of the West Indian manatee is sometimes referred to as the Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus). Antillean manatees are sparsely distributed throughout the Caribbean and the Northwestern Atlantic Ocean, from Mexico, east to the Greater Antilles, and south to Brazil. They are found in French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad (however there has been a lack of recent sightings), Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico, Trinidad, Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. Historically, Antillean manatees were hunted by local natives and sold to European explorers for food. Today, they are threatened by loss of habitat, poaching, entanglement with fishing gear, and increased boating activity. Several of Sirenian International's scientists study Antillean manatees in Belize, which may be the last stronghold for the subspecies. Funds for research, education, and conservation projects are desperately needed in other Central American nations. | <urn:uuid:1873aa5b-1190-4714-8787-10c27fe6e728> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.inaturalist.org/photos/135114 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398216.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00022-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949564 | 1,094 | 3.796875 | 4 |
Do You Recognize the Early Warning Signs of Glaucoma?
Nearly three million people in the U.S. are estimated to have glaucoma, but only half of those are aware they have the disease. It can’t be cured — but it can be treated if it’s detected early enough. Learn more about the early warning signs of glaucoma.
January is Glaucoma Awareness Month, and the perfect time to create awareness, considering early-stage glaucoma has few, if any, symptoms. Over 120,000 in the U.S. are blind from glaucoma — between 9-12% of all blindness cases, reports the Glaucoma Research Foundation, and there is currently no known cure. Seniors are at high risk for glaucoma, which is why it’s of critical importance to get regular eye examinations from an optometrist, particularly if you or your loved ones show any early warning signs or are in a high risk group.
Symptoms of Glaucoma
Glaucoma is a group of diseases that affect the optic nerve and lead to irreversible vision loss. Different types of glaucoma present alternate warning signs — and sometimes there are no symptoms, particularly in open-angle glaucoma, the most common form of the disease. However, if you experience any of the following symptoms, you should seek immediate help:
1. Loss of peripheral or side vision.
This is usually the first sign of vision loss due to glaucoma.
2. Seeing halos around lights.
If you see rainbow-colored circles around lights or are unusually sensitive to light, it could be a sign of glaucoma.
3. Vision loss.
Especially if it happens suddenly.
4. Redness in the eye.
Sometimes accompanied by pain, which may be a sign of injury, infection, or acute glaucoma.
5. Eye that looks hazy.
A cloudy-looking cornea is the most common early sign of childhood glaucoma.
6. Nausea or vomiting.
Especially when it accompanies severe eye pain.
7. Pain in the eye and in the head.
This often occurs in angle-closure glaucoma, a type of glaucoma which can develop quickly.
8. Narrowing of vision (tunnel vision).
You may start to lose vision around the edges of your visual field.
Who Is at Risk for Glaucoma?
One of the keys to glaucoma prevention is knowing whether you or your loved ones are at increased risk. Those with a higher risk should get a complete eye exam every one to two years, recommends the Glaucoma Research Group. You may be at risk for glaucoma if you:
- Are of African-American, Asian, Hispanic, Inuit, Irish, Russian or Scandinavian descent.
- Are over age 40, and particularly if you are over age 60.
- Have a family history of glaucoma.
- Have poor vision, particularly if you have extreme nearsightedness or a very thin cornea.
- Have diabetes.
- Have hypertension or extremely low blood pressure.
- Take certain steroid medications, such as prednisone.
- Have had an eye injury in the past.
Though most types of glaucoma cannot be prevented, early detection and ongoing monitoring of eye health can limit the vision loss caused by glaucoma. Stay aware of the risks and symptoms, and “keep an eye” on your visual health.
Have you or a loved one been affected by glaucoma? Did you have any early warning signs? Share your story in the comments below.
We Can Help! Our local advisors can help your family make a confident decision about senior living.
Incoming search terms:
- signs of glaucoma
- early signs glaucoma
- glaucoma warning signs | <urn:uuid:a7c39eea-2e36-48ba-b324-9f8fbb978e02> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.aplaceformom.com/blog/01-18-13-early-warning-signs-glaucoma/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397864.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00140-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.897623 | 837 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Sucking on a dummy could cure Britain's three million snorers
A device that resembles a baby’s dummy could help tackle snoring.
It works by pulling the tongue forward during sleep so that the airways are kept clear.
Before going to sleep, the patient sticks the tip of their tongue to a suction pad on the part of the dummy that sits inside the mouth.
Before going to sleep the patient sticks the tip of their tongue to a suction pad on the part of the dummy that sits inside the mouth
A large plastic cover sits over the front of the teeth and holds it in place during sleep — just the same as a baby’s pacifier.
In the middle is a hollow ‘bulb’ which protrudes through the lips.
The patient squeezes the bulb so that the air escapes and it creates a vacuum, and pops the tip of their tongue inside.
When they let go, this seals the tip of the tongue in the bulb, so that the tongue stays pulled forward when they go to sleep.
Holding the tongue in a forward position means the airway does not get blocked when all the muscles around the throat relax during sleep, which is what causes heavy snoring.
The device, which costs £70 and is the same size as a normal baby’s dummy, could help many of the estimated three million people in Britain who suffer with the snoring condition sleep apnoea.
As sleep begins, the muscles in the airway relax and drop down towards the tongue.
For most people this does not pose a problem, but in sleep apnoea it leads to a complete collapse which shuts off breathing for at least ten seconds.
It also triggers the sound of snoring as air vibrates against the soft tissue that stands in its way.
Sufferers of sleep apnoea can feel exhausted during the day, putting them at increased risk of accidents
Once the brain realises breathing has stopped it sends out a signal for the airway muscles to contract again.
This opens the airway and the sufferer normally wakes with a jolt.
Sufferers can feel exhausted during the day, putting them at increased risk of accidents.
Left untreated, sleep apnoea can raise the risk of high blood pressure and heart attacks.
For over 25 years, the most common form of treatment has been Continuous Positive Airway Pressure, or CPAP, a therapy which involves wearing a mask over the nose and mouth during sleep.
The mask is attached to a machine that pumps air into the nose and mouth, keeping the airways open. But some people find the mask cumbersome and it must be worn every night.
Research suggests nearly a third of CPAP patients never use the device, or abandon it within 12 to 15 months.
The dummy device, called the Good Morning Snore Solution, could be a more convenient alternative. In a Canadian study, a group of 32 chronic snorers were given the dummy for one night.
The results, published in the Journal of Sleep and Breathing, showed that in more than a third of volunteers the number of times they woke due to disturbed breathing fell by more than half, compared with when they did not use the device.
The number of times they snored also fell, by an average of around 40 per cent.
At the end of the study, more than 70 per cent of the volunteers said they would like to continue using the mouthpiece.
However, Dr Adrian Williams, from the London Sleep Centre, said that more studies are needed to prove the effectiveness of the dummy, and cautioned that similar devices are ‘not tolerated very well by patients’.
Meanwhile, U.S. scientists have revealed that women who suffer from sleep apnoea suffer more damage to their brains than men with the condition.
Researchers at the University of California studied the amount of white matter in men and women with sleep apnoea.
White matter represents the wiring of the brain and connects cells to each other.
The study of 80 people, published in the journal Sleep, noted that women with sleep apnoea had less white matter in the areas of the brain that control decision-making and mood.
Previous studies have shown that women with the condition are more prone to depression.
The team are still unclear of the relationship between these brain changes and the condition.
They say: ‘What we don’t yet know is did sleep apnoea cause the brain damage, did the brain damage lead to the sleep disorders, or do the other factors, such as depression or cardiovascular issues, cause the brain damage, which in turn leads to sleep apnoea.’
The comments below have not been moderated.
The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.
We are no longer accepting comments on this article. | <urn:uuid:996280b0-9793-4d47-a15d-635135d75258> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2255457/Snoring-Sucking-dummy-cure-Britains-million-snorers.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490 | 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 | 0.9567 | 1,018 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Chloe Jones, a 10 year old female from London asks on December 4, 2006,Why do trees lose their leaves?
viewed 13339 times
A quick websearch yields lots of answers. There are many reasons, but probably the main one goes like this. In winter, it's colder and darker than in summer. Since the leaves are the energy factories for trees, creating sugars from sunlight, carbon dioxide and water, they need warmth and light to work properly. As winter comes, the days get shorter and colder and the leaves cannot produce as much energy any more. Also, as winter comes so does lots of snow and wind and then the leaves can become a problem. If they catch too much snow or wind, a branch could break off, or the whole tree could be blown over. For these reasons, it's better for the tree to just get rid of its leaves for the winter months and shut down. When the days start getting longer and warmer, it puts out fresh new leaves. A good explanation can be found at Why do leaves fall off Trees? in A Year in the Wonderland of Trees
Note: All submissions are moderated prior to posting.
If you found this answer useful, please consider making a small donation to science.ca. | <urn:uuid:6735084d-96f1-4e07-907f-4a5cf9447771> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.science.ca/askascientist/viewquestion.php?qID=3731 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402516.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00069-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965 | 256 | 3.53125 | 4 |
Author Bruce Brown explains his motivation behind "Gordon The Giraffe"
An author’s love for his gay brother, along with the dying man’s last wishes, provides powerful motivation for a new children’s book, “Gordon The Giraffe,” about tolerance.
In an interview with San Diego Gay & Lesbian News, author Bruce Brown talks about how he was inspired by his dying brother and his lifelong struggle as a gay man. Brown says his brother had the same wants and desires of ordinary Americans, the right to marry and the right to adopt and start a family. His brother also faced trials and tribulations as a gay man, and Brown wanted to call out those who promote hatred and discrimination.
SDGLN: What message do you want children to get from Gordon the Giraffe?
Bruce Brown: “Gordon the Giraffe” is a message of tolerance. Clearly it is a message of gay tolerance, but honestly it’s simply message of tolerance could be applied to many things. The thing I love about this book is that it states that even though you see someone different in your eyes, have you ever considered they see you as different through their eyes. So, in the end, being different from each other is something that is not only normal, but should be accepted and embraced.
SDGLN: How did your brother come to inspire you to write a children's book about tolerance?
BB: My brother was diagnosed with HIV and as he started to decline in health, he spoke to me about doing something with my books other than entertain. He asked me before he passed away to do a book that would do just that. As an all children’s graphic novelist it seemed natural to do a book for children. My brother had always wanted the right to marry and even adopt a child and start a family. So, from that desire of my brother, "Gordon The Giraffe" arose.
SDGLN: Were you ever bullied as a child or were you made to feel like you were different than others?
BB: No, I wasn’t really bullied as a child. The bullying factor came from experiences my brother told me, he had, as a gay man. He had spoken of times when he was harassed and even feared for his safety at times because he was gay. So, I wanted to incorporate that into the book.
SDGLN: Was there a specific reason Africa was chosen as the location and giraffes as the species?
BB: Yes, I always wanted to do a book based in Africa for it always seemed to have a sense of mystery to me. I chose to do the story as an African folklore tale. The giraffe’s were chosen because I thought Gordon, in the book, would need to rise above hatred and to do so you must have a big heart. I loved the idea of saying in the story that the creator of all things gave giraffes such a big heart that he had to make their necks so high so that they could see all the beauty in the world.
SDGLN: Is this children's book targeted to gay parents or a mainstream audience?
BB: Gordon is unique in that is a book coming out of the comics industry in that it is solely targeted for gay parents. But honestly, its message of tolerance could be enjoyed by the mainstream audience. I want to applaud Arcana Studios for taking a chance on this very unique book and the message it embraced.
SDGLN: Where do you live and what do you do for a living?
BB: I live in Springfield, Ill., and I actually test voting systems for a living. I have been writing graphic novels for nearly seven years now.
SDGLN: What is your next project?
BB: I am the creator/author of the Howard Lovecraft series. I am now finishing up and starting production on the third book in that series; "Howard Lovecraft & The Kingdom Of Madness."
SDGLN: Do you have a personal message to the world?
BB: In a way, "Gordon the Giraffe" story is my message. I loved my brother and saw all trials and tribulations he went through in being a gay man. Though we live in modern times, hatred and discrimination of people who are different unfortunately is still prevalent in the world. I always think of that quote from Edmund Burke, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” So, “Gordon the Giraffe” is not only my message to that, but also calling it out.
The paperback book, which will be published on Sept. 11, can be pre-ordered for $5.95 on Amazon. Click HERE.
Ken Williams is Editor in Chief of SDGLN. He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org, @KenSanDiego on Twitter, or by calling toll-free to (877) 727-5446, ext. 713. | <urn:uuid:1ad8ab51-343d-4871-adce-d10b0230cfd4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://sdgln.com/news/2012/08/13/childrens-author-bruce-brown-tolerance-gordon-the-giraffe | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00093-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978678 | 1,032 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Stone net weights are found in Oklahoma but are limited in their distribution. They appear most frequently in southeastern Oklahoma, especially in McCurtain County, and along the Red River valley as far west as Lake Texoma. They probably occur in other localities in the state, but the distribution of this artifact is not well known.
These stones, here termed net weights, are also referred to as "notched pebbles," "notched cobbles," "fishing weights," etc., and were presumably used to weight fishing lines or fish nets. Our information about fishing equipment in prehistoric times, however, is limited, and it is possible that these items were used for some other purpose besides fishing weights.
The artifacts here classed as net weights are represented by essentially three kinds of weights: 1) notched pebbles or cobbles; 2) grooved pebbles or cobbles; and 3) Waco net weights.
Notched cobbles are probably the most common type. They were made from a rather flat pebble or cobble by taking a hammerstone and making notches in opposite sides of the cobble so the line-tie would be secure and the weight would not be lost. A few percussion blows with a hammerstone would batter or indent the cobble
edge producing a satisfactory notch. Such weights could be made quickly from flat cobbles that would be available in stream gravels or elsewhere. Examples of notched cobbles are illustrated in Figure 19a-e.
Grooved cobbles were also used. These are more rounded or egg-shaped cobbles that were too thick to be notched, so they were roughly grooved with a pecking hammer to provide a string groove around the stone.
The third type of weight is commonly known as the Waco net weight, named after Waco, Texas. This type, illustrated in Figure 19f, is more common in Texas but does occur occasionally in Oklahoma along the Red River valley, especially in the Lake Texoma locality. The Waco weight is made from a small rounded pebble or stone that was carefully selected for its shape or was sometimes partly shaped to form a thick oval which was then grooved lengthwise completely around the stone. The Waco weights are more consistent in size and general form than either of the other types.
The stone net weights appear in an Archaic context in Oklahoma. They are found in the middle and late Archaic period and are probably to be associated also with the early Caddoan occupations. | <urn:uuid:7579e894-6037-4dff-a97b-71c37595813f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ou.edu/cas/archsur/OKArtifacts/weight.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397864.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00141-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985335 | 513 | 3.421875 | 3 |
If the materials used in the plant construction such as cement, sand, aggregate etc. are not of good quality, the quality of the plant will be poor even if the design and workmanship are excellent. A brief description regarding the specifications for some of the construction materials is provided below to assist with selection of the best quality materials. The list of construction materials is given in Table 3.1.
The cement to use in the plant construction must be of high quality Portland cement from a brand with a known reputation. It must be fresh, without lumps and stored in a dry place. Bags of cement should never be stacked directly on the floor or against the walls to protect the cement from absorbing moisture before use.
Sand for construction purpose must be clean. Dirty sand has a very negative effect on the strength of the structure. If the sand contains 3% or more impurities by volume, it must be washed. The quantity of impurities especially mud in the sand can be determined by a simple test using a bottle and clean water. For the test, the bottle is half-filled with sand, filled with clean water, and then stirred vigorously. Allow the bottle to sit stationary to allow the sand to settle. The particles of sand will settle first while mud particles will settle last. After 20-25 minutes, compare the thickness of the mud layer to the sand inside the bottle are; the percent of mud should be less than 3% of the overall volume. Course and granular sand can be used for concrete work however fine sand is necessary for plastering work.
Gravel size should not be too big or too small. Individual gravel diameter should not be greater than 25% of the thickness of concrete product where it is used. As the slabs and the top of the dome are not greater than 8 cm (3") thick, gravel should not be larger than 2 cm (0.75") in size. Furthermore, the gravel must be clean. If it is dirty, it should be washed with clean water.
Water is mainly used for preparing the mortar for masonry, concrete and plastering work. It is also used to soak bricks/stones before using them. Water is also used for washing sand and aggregates. It is advised not to use water from ponds and irrigation canals for these purposes, as t is usually too dirty. Dirty water has an adverse effect the strength of the structure; hence,
water to be used must be clean.
Bricks must be of the best quality locally available. When hitting two bricks together, the sound must be crisp or clean. They must be well baked and regular in shape. Before use, bricks must be soaked for few minutes in clean water. This will prevent the bricks from soaking moisture from the mortar after laid in place.
3.6 Cobble Stones
If cobble-sized stones, 7.5-30 cm (3-12”) in diameter are used for masonry work, they must be clean, solid and of good quality. Cobbles should be washed if they are dirty. | <urn:uuid:ce47625f-d80a-4cfd-bcc6-3a8fac8aa97a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blog.paksc.org/2011/10/12/selection-construction-materials-biogas-plant-construction-manual-fixed-dome-digester/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399428.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00037-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930627 | 622 | 3.140625 | 3 |
10 Activities to Encourage Self-Expression
With hormones wreaking havoc on your preteen's emotions, it's essential for her to have an outlet for communicating personal feelings. Whether you watch from center stage or behind the scenes, let these engaging activities facilitate self-expression in your tween:
- Move Your Body. Encourage your child to crank up the tunes and dance! It shakes off stress, keeps kids fit, and it's just plain fun. He may only do this when you're not looking, but that's fine. Or try a dance-based game for your video-game system (such as Dance Dance Revolution for PlayStation).
- Use Your Words. Help your child create a private Web page or blog to share thoughts and get feedback from family and friends. (Review Internet safety rules regularly.) Start a family newsletter full of interviews, flashbacks, and individual updates.
- Start an Art Studio. Shape a new morning mug, or braid a friendship bracelet. The whole family can design faux stained-glass windows with special peel-off paint, and change them every season. With no rules to conform to, crafty activities like these inspire your tween to convey ideas without restraint.
- Celebrate Style. Some days she dons a flow-y floral blouse — other days, black and baggy garb. Gauge how she feels by noticing the clothes and accessories your middle schooler wears. While you may need to enforce a basic dress code to banish age-inappropriate choices, allow as much leeway as you can.
- Support Sports. Sports are a healthy way for passionate preteens to express determination and release stress. Solo activities like biking, surfing, or martial arts let him gain focus and confidence. Team sports foster a sense of camaraderie through cooperation and fair play.
- Be the Teacher. Mentoring younger children is a helpful way for tweens to foster healthy relationships while learning to articulate concepts in elementary terms. These encounters embolden quiet kids, launch dialogue, and require give and take.
- Capture Snapshots. When your tween gets sick of posing for you, invite him to step to the other side of the lens and start snapping. Experimenting with light, shadows, color, and subject will let him convey distinct moods.
- Go Outdoors. Whether urban or rural, your environment offers opportunity for creativity. Plant a garden, and watch it grow from seed to supper or sapling. Hike to the top of a mountain or the roof of your apartment building, and sketch the skyline.
- Take a Tour. Ask your child for a guided tour of his classroom, library, or recreation center. It will make him feel knowledgeable, while giving you the inside scoop. Did he show you his painting, but say the one next to it is "way better"? Clue in on the things he overlooks, as well as those he shares.
- Go Digital. Equip your tween with the tools to make a video documentary about current passions: endangered animals, program cuts at school, or the skate park that still hasn't opened. Stage a screening for classmates or relatives.
Recommended Products for Your Child Ages 11-13 | <urn:uuid:6b7ea9fd-ccc3-4c1d-9f5f-0e556823a628> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/social-emotional-skills/10-activities-to-encourage-self-expression | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00075-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92604 | 656 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Many Hot Water Heaters Set Too High, Upping Burn Risk
Burns are nasty injuries — they're painful and, if you're not careful, they can quickly get infected. Two children die from burn injuries every day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A surprising number of these deaths originate with tap water that is way too hot.
The problem, a new study suggests, is that many water heaters are set dangerously high.
Wendy Shields is a scientist at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health who studies home injury risks. Shields wanted to look at home water heaters because she says she couldn't understand why tap water burns are still common, causing an estimated 1,500 hospital admissions and 100 deaths per year.
You see, back in 1988, the Consumer Product Safety Commission recommended that water heater manufacturers preset the maximum temperature at 120 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent burns. And the manufacturers voluntarily followed those recommendations — supposedly.
But a lot of people have continued to be scalded by water coming from the shower or tap. "We expected to see a drop off in burns after the old heaters were phased out," Shields tells Shots, "but that hasn't happened."
So Shields and her colleagues surveyed nearly 1,000 homes in Baltimore to find out whether water heaters were actually set at 120 degrees. They found that the heater setting was unsafely high in 41 percent of the homes, including 27 percent with temperatures at or above 130 degrees Fahrenheit.
"This is really dangerous for an older person or a young child," Shields says.
Young children are especially at risk for scald burns because their skin is thinner; the elderly are also at a higher risk because they can be less sensitive to temperature, so may be slower to move away from the scalding water.
The problem in many homes, Shields says, is that most water heaters don't even have a thermostat that adjusts to a specific temperature.
So, to avoid tap water burns, Shields recommends testing your water heater by letting the hot water run from the tap for three minutes, then checking the water temperature with a candy thermometer. "If it's too hot, lower the gauge on the heater," she says. "Then test it a second time to make sure you've really gotten it down to 120 degrees."
The study appears in the March issue of the Journal of Burn Care & Research. | <urn:uuid:1f74fca6-3add-4a9c-afb9-1538175e4d27> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://publicradioeast.org/post/many-hot-water-heaters-set-too-high-upping-burn-risk | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00049-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965727 | 491 | 3.3125 | 3 |
Planning Your Future
The uses of robots and robotic systems in manufacturing are growing at a phenomenal pace. Also increasing rapidly are the job opportunities for trained people in this career field. Since robots are primarily used to achieve higher levels of productivity and more competitive product costs, those skilled trades people who know how to design, set up, operate, or maintain this type of equipment are highly valued by their employers. This translates into interesting and varied work, excellent job security, and higher incomes.
Industrial automation is a reality for both large and small-scale manufacturing. Indeed, smaller companies are taking advantage of the reduction in cost of linking large scale computing power to industrial robots. Using industrial automation has also become an alternative to outsourcing production to cheaper locations - usually in other countries. Industrial robots give them reliable, cost effective production that is less prone to interruption and that is expandable at little extra unit cost. Compared with the problems of managing outsourcing, industrial automation looks like a good bet.
People working in the field of industrial robotics can typically enjoy incomes ranging from $30,000 to more than $100,000 per year. Those individuals who simply operate robots will see earnings toward the lower end of this spectrum while technicians, designers and engineers will earn at the higher income levels and beyond. People who work in the field of robotics will likely find that they have their choices of work locations because of the wide-ranging demand for their talents and their skills. Those people who enjoy technology and continual improvements in that technology could find industrial robotics to be the field that will meet their personal interests and needs.
Many of the students who enrol in our program are skilled trades people, such as electricians, millwrights, maintenance mechanics, etc. Although these students may have excellent "hands-on" skills, they often lack the advanced technical knowledge, and College credentials, to progress further in their field. Our program is the ideal solution for trades people who are looking to upgrade their skills and experience. Many of the better-paying technical service, installation, maintenance, and design positions that are available require higher levels of understanding of robotics and automation. Our program prepares graduates for this exciting field, while allowing them to continue to work while they complete their course of study. | <urn:uuid:5455384a-1d16-4a71-b23f-073c36a221e2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.onlinerobotics.com/future_planning.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396147.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00180-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9648 | 452 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Vestigial Arguments About Vestigial Organs Appear in Proposed Texas Teaching Materials
As documented in our Texas report, the evolution-related instructional materials proposed for use in Texas don't just contain errors about the origin of life or embryology. Some of the publishers also proposed materials that make inaccurate claims about vestigial organs and the evidence for common ancestry.
One curriculum even resuscitates long-debunked claims that the coccyx, appendix, tonsils, and many other functional organs are "vestigial," failing to mention that these organs are now recognized to have important functions (e.g. appendix, coccyx, tonsils, etc.) or are not generally regarded as evolutionary holdovers (e.g. male nipples).
What Does the Evidence Say about Vestigial Organs?
Textbooks often present purportedly vestigial organs as evidence for common descent. The appendix is probably the most commonly cited organ which is purportedly an evolutionary holdover from our quadruped ancestors. Other allegedly vestigial organs that appear in textbooks include tonsils, the coccyx, or male nipples.
These popular arguments for evolution from vestigial organs are highly inaccurate. For example, the appendix serves as a storehouse for probiotics and also provides a variety of immune-related functions, helping to produce and train white blood cells, as well as playing an important role during fetal development. In light of this evidence, Duke University immunologist William Parker observed that "Many biology texts today still refer to the appendix as a 'vestigial' organ" and thus "it's time to correct the textbooks."
In addition to the appendix, examples of structures previously considered to be vestigial include:
The tonsils: At one time, they were routinely removed. Now it's known they serve a purpose in the lymph system to help fight infection. The coccyx (tailbone): Rather than being vestigial, this is a vital bone required for the human bipedal body plan. It is used for the attachment of muscles, tendons, and ligaments which support the bones in our pelvis. Male nipples: Even under an evolutionary paradigm, male nipples are not an evolutionary holdover. They are a simple consequence of the mammalian body plan and development, and are not considered 'vestigial'.
Textbooks rarely inform students about the important functions of these allegedly vestigial organs and instead simply cite them as evidence for common ancestry.
What Do Proposed Supplemental Materials in Texas Say?
As noted, publishers have proposed instructional materials to the Texas State Board of Education that present inaccurate, misleading, or one-sided information about vestigial organs. By doing so, these publishers have failed to follow state science curriculum standards, which call for materials that help students "analyze, evaluate, and critique scientific explanations by using empirical evidence, logical reasoning, and experimental and observational testing, including examining all sides of scientific evidence of those scientific explanations, so as to encourage critical thinking by the student."
Here is a run-down of the inaccurate information presented:
In a section titled "Evidence for Evolution," materials submitted by Apex Learning make long-debunked popular arguments for evolution from vestigial organs. The materials claim that the coccyx, appendix, tonsils, and many other functional organs are "vestigial" but fails to mention that these organs have important functions (e.g. appendix, coccyx, tonsils, etc.) or are not evolutionary holdovers (e.g. male nipples). The diagram below shows these claims:
School Education Group (McGraw Hill)
This publisher shows the appendix and states "Vestigial structures are structures that are reduced forms of functional structures in other organisms" and "Evolutionary theory predicts that features of ancestors that no longer have a function for that species will become smaller over time until they are lost."
As noted, Duke University immunologist William Parker observed that "Many biology texts today still refer to the appendix as a 'vestigial' organ" and thus "it's time to correct the textbooks." Hopefully this will happen in Texas. | <urn:uuid:a67db71c-acd6-4c13-bfb0-77b508e3d84d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/06/vestigial_arguments_about_vest047341.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00005-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928807 | 849 | 3.5625 | 4 |
Eating disorders are serious medical conditions that can dramatically affect a person’s self-esteem and overall health. Fortunately, there are ways to prevent eating disorders.
When a person has an eating disorder, her view of food and weight are often skewed. An individual with an eating disorder may literally starve herself because she thinks she’s fat, or she may eat abnormal amounts of food and then make herself vomit. Often, a person with an eating disorder finds it very difficult to return to a normal pattern of eating. Left untreated, however, an eating disorder may lead to permanent body damage or even death. Typically, eating disorders are much easier to prevent than they are to treat. Here are some good ways to help prevent eating disorders:
1. Be Aware
Learn about eating disorders and what causes them. Learn about the consequences of living with one as well. If you understand the attitudes and misconceptions that surround food and weight, you may be less likely to develop an eating disorder. This awareness may also help you to avoid encouraging dangerous food-related attitudes in friends and family members.
2. Redefine the Road to Happiness
It is dangerous to equate a certain weight or body type with feeling happy or complete. Likewise, seeing a particular diet as the ultimate answer to all of your problems sets you up for potential disaster. Find other things that make you happy, such as helping others, laughing with friends, walking in your garden, or even settling down with a good book. Encourage your loved ones to do the same.
3. Eat a Balanced Diet
If you want to prevent eating disorders, it’s a bad idea to label certain foods as off limits or bad. For optimal health, you need to consume well-balanced meals. Avoiding one type of sustenance can start an unhealthy emotional tug of war with food, and can even stimulate cravings that could lead to binge eating. If you’re watching your weight, or a loved one is, don’t cross all carbs of the menu, for example. Instead, choose healthy carbohydrates and cut your portion sizes.
4. Drop the Judgments
Many people judge others by their appearance, often without consciously meaning to do so. You can help to prevent eating disorders by kicking the habit and encouraging others to do the same. Remember that a person’s weight, body shape and other physical attributes don’t indicate whether or not she has a nice personality or good character. Avoiding these types of snap judgments may help to prevent eating disorders and also boost your own self-esteem.
5. Reject Damaging Media
On a daily basis, you may see, read and hear television and radio images that support the idea that a person should be thin no matter what. You’ll find such messages on billboards, in newspapers and in magazines too. Often, they feed into the connection some people make between weight and happiness. Don’t be afraid to speak out against damaging advertisements. Write a letter to the editor of the magazine or the manufacturer of the product in the advertisement. Speak out against ads that encourage dangerous views about weight and food. Lastly, go ahead and turn the TV or radio off if a commercial or program bothers you or a loved one.
If you believe you or a loved one may be at risk for developing an eating disorder, contact a doctor for help. There are many ways a doctor can help before the problem gets serious. If you have legitimate weight loss concerns, a nutritionist may suggest ways to lose weight without damaging your health. | <urn:uuid:ec88aea8-2d05-4448-a269-232c26d210df> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.3fatchicks.com/5-ways-to-prevent-eating-disorders/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402479.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00052-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9544 | 725 | 3.546875 | 4 |
Spread the word
Public awareness is really important to securing the future of our bumblebee populations. We want everyone in the UK to know about bumblebees, their important role as pollinators of food crops and wildflowers, and the potential impact of their continuing declines.
Most importantly we want people to know that by working together we can all help to save the sound of summer. You can help us to deliver this message in your local area in the following ways. Click here to download a role profile for spreading the word.
Give a bumblebee talk to a local interest group.
Are you part of a gardening group or do you know of a local club that arranges a regular programme of talks for the public? If so, why not volunteer to give a talk about bumblebees and the work of the BBCT? We can provide PowerPoint resources and briefing materials and we be happy to work with you in the run up to your event if you have any questions or concerns. A narrated version of the talk is also available, which you can simply play to your audience, or listen to for practice.
Submit an article about bumblebees to your local newspaper/ magazine.
If you have a talent for writing, why not use this to raise awareness locally. This can be a good way to reach an audience that might not visit a nature reserve or be interested enough/ have the time to attend a local talk. We can provide draft text and images for the article or provide comments on the article if you would prefer to draft it yourself. If you enjoy this, why not contribute to a regular column about bumblebees or bee-friendly gardening.
Help us to reach out online.
Are you a regular blogger? We have recently launched our Bees for Everyone forum with threads on a number of bumblebee topics. We hope that this will become a popular space for everyone to chat about the bees in their gardens and we need some bumblebee enthusiasts to support our outreach team by posting comments and answering questions. This is your opportunity to get involved without leaving the couch!
“Bumblebees are lovely little creatures - their bright stripes and gentle buzz bring colour and sound to our summer gardens. They are also very important because they pollinate our wildflowers and crops. Sadly things aren't going well and some species are threatened with extinction.
I'm really concerned by these declines and I'm pleased to support the work of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust." | <urn:uuid:b7828dca-baf9-468a-ab37-1732e3189468> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://bumblebeeconservation.org/get-involved/volunteering/spread-the-word/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00141-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950572 | 504 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Dr. Miguel AlcubierreThe New Scientist article Science: Surfing to the stars on warped space said
The creators of Star Trek apparently knew a thing or two. According to one researcher in Britain, faster-than-light travel using the kind of “warp drive” used on the USS Enterprise could be achieved without changing the laws of physics.
“I was watching Star Trek and I thought there must be a way to do this right”, says Miguel Alcubierre of the University of Wales in Cardiff. His method relies on modifying space-time: the three familiar spatial directions, with time as the fourth dimension. Previously, researchers have imagined travelling faster than light by travelling through a ‘wormhole’, a shortcut through space-time that connects widely separated regions of the Universe. Alcubierre’s method is neater, however; it involves making the space-time near a spaceship expand and contract.
Dr. Miguel Alcubierre is a Mexican theoretical physicist. Born in
Mexico City, he moved to
Wales in 1990 to attend graduate school at the
University of Wales,
Cardiff, UK. He received his Ph.D.
for research in
numerical general relativity in 1994.
After leaving Wales in 1996, he worked for a time at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam, Germany, where he developed new numerical techniques to describe the physics of black holes. Since 2002 he has worked at the Nuclear Sciences Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where he conducts research in numerical relativity, the effort to employ computers to formulate and solve the physical equations first proposed by Albert Einstein.
Miguel is best known for his Alcubierre drive, a theoretical means of traveling faster than light that does not violate the physical principle that nothing can locally travel faster than light. He authored The Warp Drive: Hyper-Fast Travel Within General Relativity. Watch or listen to his presentation on Simulation of Binary Back Holes at KITP Conference: Gravitational Interaction of Compact Objects. Listen to his Potsdam-3+1 Group Report which discussed the 3+1 decomposition of the Einstein field equations in relation to Colliding Black Holes: Mathematical Issues in Numerical Relativity. Read the Discovery Channel article Warp Drive. He appeared on the Discovery Channel special How William Shatner Changed the World.
He coauthored Symmetry without Symmetry: Numerical Simulation of Axisymmetric Systems using Cartesian Grids in International Journal of Modern Physics D, Test-beds and Applications for Apparent Horizon Finders in Numerical Relativity in Classical and Quantum Gravity, The 3D Grazing Collision of Two Black Holes in Physical Review Letters, and Gravitational Collapse of Gravitational Waves in 3D Numerical Relativity and A Conformal Hyperbolic Formulation of the Einstein Equations in Physical Review D.
Miguel’s solitary wave solutions of the Einstein field equations offer the unexpected possibility that general relativity may prove consistent with the experimentally verified non-locality of quantum mechanics. This assuages the fear that quantum non-locality would ultimately require abandoning the mathematical structure of relativity. | <urn:uuid:911daee8-1736-4f10-bb92-41954d304f13> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://lifeboat.com/ex/bios.miguel.alcubierre | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396945.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00025-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909729 | 670 | 3.421875 | 3 |
Learn strategies to locate and control pests in Minnesota's rural and urban areas.
We have a fourfold approach to pest management: prevention, early detection, rapid response and integrated pest management.
Prevention begins with excluding new invasive species from Minnesota. Pest risk assessments are a way to evaluate the chances that a pest will become established in Minnesota. Pest risk assessments help us prioritize those that will be a concern in our state. Education is also important in prevention; such as educating the public on risks of transporting pests in firewood.
Detection surveys help find pests before they become established. We do detection surveys for gypsy moth, emerald ash borer and sirex woodwasp.
If an invasive pest is detected in Minnesota, we have response plans to quickly determine the extent of the infestation and containing it to limit the spread. Response plans are modeled after the Incident Command System.
Established plant pests result in significant economic and environmental damage each year in agronomic and horticultural crops as well as in natural and recreational areas. Losses occur from pest damage as well as from costs associated with actions taken to mitigate that damage. Integrated Pest Management is a balanced approach to pest management which incorporates the many aspects of plant health care/crop protection in ways that lessen harmful environmental impacts and protect human health by providing effective management tools for producers, land managers, governmental agencies, schools, communities and home owners. The Noxious & Invasive Weed Unit handles IPM of weeds for the MDA.
Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA), 625 Robert Street N, St. Paul, MN 55155-2538, firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:291b0a85-eef5-4bb9-98f4-b0c3e4264b20> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mda.state.mn.us/plants/pestmanagement.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392159.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00189-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930671 | 343 | 2.765625 | 3 |
2011 Skyscraper Competition
Osama Mohamed Elghannam, Karim Mohamed Elnabawy, Mohamed Ahmed Khamis, Nesma Mohamed Abobakr
The city of Cairo, in Egypt, has become one of the most polluted cities worldwide. The idea behind this proposal is to recycle the city’s waste and use it as building material for large-scale development that could eventually become a city in itself.
The project is composed of an exoskeleton where different types of living and working units could be plugged-in. Each unit is designed with a specific program in mind – from small ones for single families to large ones for recreational areas such as parks and sports facilities. Hundreds of terraces are used for agriculture and rainwater collection, while specific sites are used to bury organic waste and produce biogas, electricity, and fertilizers. | <urn:uuid:89f82817-4fb4-4d2b-83ea-a243a4eddb5d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.evolo.us/competition/seeds-of-life-skyscraper/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00080-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940771 | 177 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Transportation in the Washington, DC metro area has a complicated organizational structure on account of the fact that the area covers two states (Maryland and Virginia) as well as the District of Columbia itself. There is one regional transportation operator , and many of the local governments in the region operate their own services as well.
The regional operator is the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), best known as Metro. Prior to WMATA’s establishment by Congress in 1967, the area’s streetcar and bus lines were operated by various private companies. Ground was broken on the Metrorail system in 1969 and it opened on March 27, 1976. Today, Metrorail has 91 stations and 117 miles of track, with one extension under construction. Metrorail carries more passengers than any other rapid transit system in the United States except New York City, with over 217 million passengers using the system in fiscal year 2012.
WMATA also operates fixed route bus service under the Metrobus banner. Metrobus was founded in 1973 when WMATA bought out the four remaining bus companies that were still operating in the area. WMATA now operates a fleet of over 1,500 buses on over 300 routes to over 12,000 bus stops throughout the region, providing transportation to over 133 million people each year. Metrobus operates an environmentally friendly fleet with many compress natural gas, hybrid diesel electric, and clean diesel burning buses.
In addition, many of the local governments in the region, such as Montgomery County in Maryland and the City of Alexandria, operate their own bus systems within their jurisdictions in coordination with WMATA. There are also two local commuter rail systems. MARC trains operate from Union Station to Maryland and West Virginia, while Virginia Railway Express trains operate from Union Station to Virginia.
Regional transportation in the Washington, DC area is overseen by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). WMATA was founded in 1967, began construction on the Metrorail system in 1969, and began operating Metrobus in 1973. Today, Metrorail is the second busiest subway in the United States and Metrobus has one of the largest fleets in the country.
The DC Circulator is managed by the District Department of Transportation and WMATA and operated by First Transit. Service began in 2005 on two routes and service was gradually expanded to include five routes serving all four quadrants of the city. Circulator buses do not operate on a fixed schedule. Instead, they use a headway based schedule; each route operates every 10 minutes during its hours of operation. The service used Van Hool A300Ks and Van Hool A330s until 2015, at which time New Flyer XDE40s were introduced to the Circulator fleet.
Ride On is the county operated bus system in Montgomery County, MD. It is one of the largest medium sized transit agencies in the United States, operating over 80 routes with a fleet of over 500 buses based at three garages throughout the county. Service began on March 31, 1975. In the spring of 2000, two buses were repainted silver to commemorate Ride On's 25th anniversary. In 2015, three buses were given a special 40th anniversary wrap to commemorate that anniversary.
DASH is the bus system operated by the Alexandria Transit Company, a non-profit organization wholly owned by the City of Alexandria. It was founded in 1984 to supplement the WMATA Metrobus routes running within Alexandria. It now has 10 routes served by a fleet of over 100 buses. DASH isn't just a name, it is actually an acronym that stands for Driving Alexandrians Safely Home.
Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission (PRTC) is the transportation system serving Prince William County and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park in Virginia. PRTC operates two services. OmniRide is a commuter bus service operating from Prince William County to downtown Washington, DC and other employment centers in Northern Virginia. OmniLink is the local bus service within Prince William County, operating both fixed routes and demand-response service. PRTC was established in 1986.
MARC is MTA Maryland's commuter rail system connecting Baltimore and Washington. MARC also operates a third line to Frederick, Brunswick, and eastern West Virginia. MARC operates 93 trains a day over its three lines. Since December 7, 2013, limited Penn Line service has also been available on the weekends.
Virginia Railway Express (VRE) was launched in the summer of 1992 on two routes, connecting Washington, DC to Manassas and Fredericksburg. Service runs on weekdays only. Ridership has grown quickly since the service was launched, and VRE's fleet is now entirely multi-level in order to handle this high level of demand. Service was extended to Spotsylvania in November 2015. VRE is owned jointly by the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission and the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission. | <urn:uuid:66308558-5ea0-4dd3-b76e-e1c2299e675a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://orenstransitpage.com/transit-photography/united-states/washington-dc/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00008-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965881 | 1,000 | 3.203125 | 3 |
In his first report to Mexico, Serra tells of the Indian population around San Gabriel. He says it is larger than at any other Mission, though, unfortunately, of several different tribes who are at war with one another; and the tribes nearest to the sea will not allow others to fish, so that they are often in great want of food. Of the prospects for agriculture he is most enthusiastic. The location is a well-watered plain, with plenty of water and natural facilities for irrigation; and though the first year’s crop was drowned out, the second produced one hundred and thirty fanegas of maize and seven fanegas of beans. The buildings erected are of the same general character as those already described at San Carlos, though somewhat smaller.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF MISSION SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA.]
[Illustration: REAR OF CHURCH, MISSION SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA.]
[Illustration: RUINS OF THE ARCHES, MISSION SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA.]
[Illustration: MISSION SAN GABRIEL ARCANGEL.]
When Captain Anza reached California from Sonora, by way of the Colorado, on his first trip in 1774, accompanied by Padre Garces, he stayed for awhile to recuperate at San Gabriel; and when he came the second time, with the colonists for the new presidio of San Francisco, San Gabriel was their first real stopping-place after that long, weary, and arduous journey across the sandy deserts of Arizona and California. Here Anza met Rivera, who had arrived the day before from Monterey. It will be remembered that just at that time the news came of the Indian uprising at San Diego; so, leaving his main force and the immigrants to recuperate, he and seventeen of his soldiers, with Padre Font, started with Rivera for the south. This was in January, 1776. He and Rivera did not agree as to the best methods to be followed in dealing with the troublesome Indians; so, when advices reached him from San Gabriel that provisions were giving out, he decided to allow Rivera to follow his own plans, but that he would wait no longer. When he arrived at San Gabriel, February 12, he found that three of his muleteers, a servant, and a soldier belonging to the Mission had deserted, taking with them twenty-five horses and a quantity of Mission property. His ensign, Moraga, was sent after the deserters; but, as he did not return as soon as was expected, Anza started with his band of colonists for the future San Francisco, where they duly arrived, as is recorded in the San Francisco chapter.
In 1777-1778 the Indians were exceedingly troublesome, and on one occasion came in large force, armed, to avenge some outrage the soldiers had perpetrated. The padres met them with a shining image of Our Lady, when, immediately, they were subdued, and knelt weeping at the feet of the priests.
In October, 1785, trouble was caused by a woman tempting (so they said) the neophytes and gentiles to attack the Mission and kill the padres. The plot was discovered, and the corporal in command captured some twenty of the leaders and quelled the uprising without bloodshed. Four of the ringleaders were imprisoned, the others whipped with fifteen or twenty lashes each, and released. The woman was sentenced to perpetual exile, and possibly shipped off to one of the peninsula Missions. | <urn:uuid:e5189c02-8069-4990-9783-91739ca0bff4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bookrags.com/ebooks/13854/52.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392069.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00122-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97881 | 733 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Our emphasis on paleoclimate stems from the simple fact that most of our knowledge of Earth's climate variability originates from paleoclimate studies of times older than 1 kyr. The historical record of climate is short, spanning about 0.00002% of Earth history. To get a full picture of how Earth's climate operates it is essential to look into the past. Besides, the past has been extraordinarily interesting with climate varying between states of severe glaciation and global warmth and everything in between. We are also keenly interested in future climate variabilty, particularly in regions that are susceptible to climate change.
There are many tools for studying climate. Our approach has mainly been to use and develop climate models. This approach is motivated by the fact that climate models are: | <urn:uuid:984cbb51-5da0-4759-ad7e-4973ce2afd49> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.earth.lsa.umich.edu/paleoclimate/research.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399385.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00040-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957814 | 156 | 3.359375 | 3 |
No doubt, the water situation in Southern California is confusing.
One report says we have a two-year supply. While this may be true, other customers in the Central Valley are being cut off.
Our water comes through many channels: from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the Colorado River, and through groundwater that is stored below the Prado Dam. And, of course, what we capture when it rains as a community and what we capture in our own backyards.
The bottom line: We live in a desert and it seems silly to landscape with plants that are heavily dependent on water. While Gov. Jerry Brown asks us to cut back by 20 percent, it's a good idea to get ready for more severe circumstances.
One way to save water is to make the best use of what you're already using. Transpiration and evaporation make the water we've applied disappear into the atmosphere.
Transpiration is not something you can see – but you can certainly feel it. Stand under any large shade tree and it's instantly 20 degrees cooler there. That's because a large tree will draw up thousands of gallons daily and transpire it through its leaves.
Trees are nature's air conditioners, cooling the surrounding air with moisture. It does no good to lose one or prune large trees severely – you'll only be heating up your house.Most trees will get the moisture they need by reaching their roots deep into the soil.
Speaking of deep, you can save water by watering deeply. Deep is different from the daily sprinkle you apply to the surface of the soil.
Surface water not only runs off the top of soils and into storm drains, it also evaporates in a day or so. Deep watering single plants with a slow hose turned to a trickle gets moisture down into the depths of the soil.
Furthermore, when most of the moisture is found below the root zone of plants, it trains plant roots to grow deep, away from the surface where they are dependent on daily watering.
If you're not up to installing drip irrigation or soaker hoses, you can simply place your garden hose next to a plant and turn the water barely on. The slow output lets moisture spread deep in the soil, and little is lost to evaporation.
It may take an hour or so to thoroughly water plants like fruit trees, but they'll get the deep drink they're after.
You can further save the water in the soil from disappearing by applying mulch. Mulch makes a huge difference. Not only does mulch suppress weeds, it prevents soils from drying out.
Mulch like you really mean it. Get a truckload from a local mulch supplier or have a yard or two delivered. Apply mulch 3 inches deep around most plants, but keep it away from the crown of plants; too much moisture there can harbor disease.
Lay off the rake and power blowers. When leaves fall in your garden beds, leave them there. Better yet,rake the leaves from the lawn and throw those in your beds.
Consider gravel that just as easily suppresses evaporation as forest products do. And while we are on the subject of rocks, decorative boulders make a good mulch.
Seriously. You may have noticed the soil is almost always moist under a large rock or boulder. If you use boulders in your landscape design, place one next to a plant that needs consistent moisture – the plant will find that moisture under the rock it grows next to.
Contact the writer: email@example.com | <urn:uuid:7cd694f7-abbb-4a3c-b43b-b530c4b535af> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ocregister.com/articles/water-600830-moisture-deep.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396959.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00029-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952124 | 729 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Climate Change Shuffles the Deck for Fishery Managers
Time to update U.S. ocean law
Black sea bass at Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary, Georgia.
In 2012 and 2013, sea temperatures along the New England coast spiked, shattering records that stretch back a century and a half. As the waters warmed, fishermen hauled in some unexpected catch, including species that are normally found far to the south.
Maine fishermen found longfin squid far north of their normal range south of Cape Cod. A Rhode Island fisherman was shocked—almost literally—to see in his net the Atlantic torpedo ray, a southerly species capable of discharging an electric jolt. An angler in Massachusetts even pulled a sailfish—usually associated with warm Gulf Stream waters—from the Cape Cod Canal.
Although some of these unusual catches are likely just one-off events, scientists have found that many of these incidents indicate a larger and important trend of fish species moving as climate change heats our oceans.
Fish species moving north as oceans warm
One of those fish on the move is the black sea bass, which has long been important for commercial fishermen across the mid-Atlantic and the southeast and is a favorite target of recreational anglers, especially in the Carolinas.
Fisheries managers, who use scientific surveys to set sustainable catch limits for black sea bass, allotted the quota for catches to fishermen in the region where, based on historical data, they assumed the fish would be found. But the fish had other plans.
Analyses of catch data and scientific surveys found the sea bass population moving north along the coast over the years as sea temperatures rose. Now, commercial fishermen in New England are catching black sea bass they aren’t allowed to sell, while those from North Carolina must steam north to find enough fish to use their quota.
This regulatory mismatch creates headaches for fishermen, but it’s not the only concern fisheries managers have. When a fish species enters a new ocean ecosystem, it is often vulnerable to overfishing and depletion because it will be on the fringe of its environmental tolerance. Additionally, the effects on predator-prey relationships and competition among species can create other problems. For example, black sea bass prey on lobsters—an obvious cause for worry if you’re a lobsterman.
Good management puts ecosystems first
Fisheries managers and scientists are beginning to grapple with these issues as they find more examples of fish on the move. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration worked with researchers at Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey, to produce an interactive tool on fish and warming called OceanAdapt, which provides some practical and reliable information about where different species have been found over time. The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council hosted a groundbreaking workshop on climate change and its effects on fishing, and the resulting report included important recommendations.
One of the best ways to help fishing communities deal with the challenges of climate change is by implementing the “big picture” approach known as ecosystem-based fisheries management. Under this system, managers can better assess the likely effects of warming waters and the arrival of new fish species. Equipped with the best ecosystem science, officials can proceed with caution before allowing fishing, ensuring that new fisheries will be sustainable for the long term.
The Magnuson-Stevens Act is approaching its 40th anniversary and could use an update. It’s time for a new focus in fisheries management. Learn more at pewtrusts.org/healthyoceans.
Peter Baker directs The Pew Charitable Trusts’ ocean conservation work in New England.
Reasons major U.S. fishing law should shift to big picture management | <urn:uuid:8512cf6e-fcd6-4e75-91e9-1f3197618270> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/analysis/2016/02/23/msa-40-climate-change-shuffles-the-deck-for-fishery-managers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397428.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00197-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923568 | 751 | 3.390625 | 3 |
Their Cultural Heritage and Its Transformation
Iranians possess such an “enormous national pride,” says Parviz Saney of his fellow countrymen, that they “as a whole never acknowledge defeat.” While this inner strength has often served them well in the darker periods of their twenty-five hundred years as a people, it is also their greatest failing. According to Saney—a law professor, author, and former university academic vice-chancellor—Iranians “easily distort facts and figures to prove success in everything they do.” They do this “without realizing that they are distorting the truth” or because of “feeling that what they do is morally justified!”
This penchant for distortion is rooted deeply in the Iranian national psyche and culture, explains Saney in his monumental history, The Iranians: Their Cultural Heritage and Transformation. While he may take Iranians to task for their faults of arrogance and self-deception, the professor, who left Iran three years after the 1979 Islamic revolution and now lives in the United States, is also immensely and justifiably proud of the accomplishments and contributions of the descendants of the ancient Medes and Persians. His work is part homage to their former glory, part lament for what has been taken from them by a tyrannical regime, and part prayer for a time when they will rise to “revive the pride, prosperity and peace the Iranians rightfully deserve.”
Most of Saney’s book is devoted to those times of pride and prosperity that typified imperial Persia. That era began with Cyrus the Great, who, in the sixth century before the common era, set out to “conquer the whole of the then existing known world.” The empire continued to grow until the Arab conquest a thousand years later. This grand march was interrupted by Alexander the Great, and although he may have conquered Persia militarily, its people and culture eventually won over and absorbed the conquerors. Such is and was, argues Saney, the strength, depth, and vibrancy of this ancient and persistent civilization.
Just as they survived Alexander and his Greeks and Macedonians to rise phoenix-like and build the Parthian and Sassanian empires, so, argues Saney, did Iranians maintain their identity under Arab, Mongol, and Turkish rule. They eventually broke free under the Safavids in the 1500s and the Qajars in the 1700s to build modern Iran. A child of the old regime that fell to the ayatollahs in 1979, Saney has nothing good to say of the country’s current rulers, whom he chides for having brought about a “mournful existence” for his people.
Saney’s work is, on the surface, a tour of the history and contributions of an ancient and continuing civilization. The Zoroastrianism and Mithraism that provided the fire for that civilization, believes Saney, still exists just beneath the veneer of the Shi’a brand of Islam that forms the basis for the current theocracy. He believes that the positive values and forward-looking perspectives of those early philosophies will eventually win out over the dark cult of doom and martyrdom that lies like a cloud over his country.
Saney’s hopes and history aside, it is his insight into the Iranian national psyche that makes his book of special value and relevance in the current and highly charged political climate, in which politicians in Tehran, Tel Aviv, and Washington rattle nuclear sabers and threaten Armageddon. For those who desire to understand Iran, they will find no better primer than this volume.
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The author of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have his/her book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Review make no guarantee that the author will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255. | <urn:uuid:ce46eea4-645c-4e0a-a87e-b48c75f919e9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/the-iranians/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396538.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00096-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959005 | 840 | 2.875 | 3 |
Always wear thick gloves and safety goggles when reglazing or repairing a damaged window containing broken glass.
A broken window is both a security risk and a safety hazard.
Replacement glass, new sprigs - angular metal nails (wooden frame), wire clips (metal frame), adhesive tape (optional), glass cutter (optional), hammer, pliers, pincers, putty(wooden frame -ordinary putty or metal frame - metal-casement putty), putty knife, primer (either wood-oil based primer or metal-aluminium based primer), thick gloves, goggles.
If you need to secure the surface prior to replacing the glass, use a sheet of hardboard and secure with battens to the outer frame. It may be possible to tape polythene to the surface and cover the area. This will prevent rain entering the premises, but hardboard is more secure if it likely to be in position for a while.
If there is a crack rather than a break, use a clear adhesive waterproof tape along the cracks. This will give a temporary repair which should prove barely visible from the outside.
Break out the broken window pane, using a hammer and pliers, and carefully catch and dispose of the glass, wrapping it in several layers of newspaper. It is sensible to use sticky tape in a star shape across the glass surface. This will stop the glass fragmenting too much when you tap it out. It may be necessary if there are some jagged pieces to grip each piece and remove separately. If the glass is cracked but not broken, use a clear adhesive waterproof tape along the cracks.
Use a glass cutter to score the surface around the edge of the glass. Tap out each broken section, using the adhesive tape as guides. If the job is not on the ground floor, try to have somebody helping and make sure the space below the window outside is completely clear. Levering out pieces around the edge will also break out putty.
If the putty is old and dry it will usually give way fairly easily. Sometimes the job is more time consuming as the old putty will need to be cut away with a woodworking chisel or a chopping knife, which is a straight-bladed knife with a thick back for hammering.
There will be sprigs (headless nails, which are small and wedge shaped) along the rebate which held the glass in a wooden frame. Pull them out with pincers. Before replacing glass, clean the rebates thoroughly and seal. Take care not to use too much force if you are replacing a pane in a multi-paned window, to avoid cracking an adjacent pane. Putty will soon become denatured and fall out if put on to bare wood. Use medium grade glasspaper to smooth the surface, before painting the rebate using an oil-based wood primer.
In a metal frame there will be spring clips to remove. Make sure all old putty is cut out and the rebates are level and clean. The metal clips will be replaced once the glass is in position, therefore make sure the holes in the frame are clear. Paint the rebate, using an aluminium based paint on metal.
Have the glass cut so that it is easy to fit. Measure the inside of the frame, including the rebate along the width and height. Take care and check the measurements, remember the glass should not have to be forced in, but must also sit comfortably inside the rebates. Allow approximately 3mm space all the way round if fitting into a wooden frame, due to wood naturally contracting and expanding. The width should be the first measurement stated when ordering. If you are using patterned glass, make sure you check the direction of the pattern run before it is cut. Buy the glass of the same thickness as that removed, but if this is not known most windows can be 3mm or 4mm. Larger windows should use 6mm thickness. As a general rule:
3mm is suitable for windows with a surface area equivalent to 1 square metre (10.75 square feet). 4mm is suitable for windows with a surface area equivalent to 2.6 square metres (28 square feet).
6mm is suitable for windows with larger surface areas.
Do you have a question or comment about this topic? Click here to post your question/comment.
|Subject||Posted By||Replies||Posted at|
|There are currently no related questions for this topic.
Click here to post your question/comment. | <urn:uuid:c2c2bd51-4f85-4b69-afcf-7a366569d9fe> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.diynot.com/pages/wd/wd001.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00190-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917864 | 921 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Known to the Nepalese as Sagarmatha, which means “Goddess of the Sky,” Mount Everest holds a fascination among adventurers as the ultimate mountain-climbing achievement. Situated in the Himalayan range along the border between Nepal and Tibet, Everest’s superlative height among the giants of the Himalayas adds to both the allure and the challenge of climbing it. At an elevation of 29,029 feet (8,848 meters) above sea level, its summit straddles the upper-limits of the
troposphere, where the low density of the air imposes a formidable physical challenge for climbers, even with the aid of oxygen. Furthermore, Everest’s location makes it susceptible to the effects of the Asian monsoon, whose seasonal shift in wind direction brings blinding blizzard conditions and hurricane-force winds during the summer months. Because of this, most ascents are attempted during a very short window of time—typically during the month of May—after the winter season and before the onset of the monsoon.
After 3 decades of attempts on the mountain, New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first known climbers to successfully scale Everest on May 29, 1953. But while Hillary and Norgay often receive the credit, they were actually part of a much larger team led by British Colonel John Hunt.
Of all the factors that can make or break an attempt to climb Everest, the weather is perhaps the most critical. Hunt described the challenges in his 1954 book,
The Conquest of Everest: “So climbing Everest takes a long time...And in the final stages particularly, the saving of time is vital, not only because of physical deterioration but also because of another factor, the most important of all—weather.”
Hunt knew that regular weather reports would be essential to the team’s efforts and had arranged to have specialized forecasts supplied by the Indian Meteorological Service broadcasted daily by the All-India Radio and BBC Overseas networks.
The broadcasts began on May 1, 1953, more than 2 weeks after the team had established Base Camp at an elevation of 17,900 feet. The forecasts, as Hunt described, “foretold daily ‘snow showers’ with accuracy but monotonous regularity, useful to ourselves but giving little idea to other listeners to the trials and handicaps these ‘showers’ were proving to be to the toiling carries in the Icefall and the Cwm.” The Khumbu Icefall and the Western Cwm (pronounced “koom,” a Welsh word meaning valley) are two critical areas the climbers had to traverse on their way to the summit.
By May 10, members of the team who worked to clear a passage through the Icefall and Cwm encountered what Hunt described as “a depressing period,” due to the unrelenting daily snow showers: “On May 10th and 11th it snowed heavily from about midday until after dark, leaving a mantle of snow over a foot deep to be plowed through in the intense heat which filled the Cwm each morning, unrelieved by the faintest breeze. On the second of these days, Ed Hillary’s party took no less than 4 and a half hours between Camps III and IV, a journey which in fair conditions would be covered by a laden man in under 3 hours.”
As their journey progressed, the team was buoyed by a change in the weather. The relentless snow showers had ended, giving way to clear afternoons and the ability to push forward with greater speed and ease than before.
As Hunt and other team members waited at camp in the days before the final assault to the summit, they listened with more than a casual interest to the weather reports on the radio to learn what conditions awaited them. Tuning their shortwave radios one evening they heard the following:
This is the Overseas Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. Here is the weather forecast for the Everest Expedition, valid for twenty-four hours commencing 12.00 hours G.M.T. or 17.30 hours Indian Standard Time...There will be mainly overcast skies with occasional thunderstorms, accompanied by moderate to heavy snow showers...Winds in free air at 29,000 feet above sea level will be mainly westerly at 35-40 miles, and the temperature in free air at the same altitude will be -16 to -12°F.
The team composed of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay was actually 1 of 2 pairs of climbers Hunt chose to attempt a final assault on the summit. The first pair, Charles Evans and Tom Bourdillon, came within 300 feet of the summit on May 26 before they had to turn back due to problems with their oxygen equipment. In his own account of the final assault in Hunt’s book, Hillary describes how he awoke “feeling very cold and miserable” in the early morning hours of May 27. “The relentless wind was blowing in all its fury and the constant loud drumming on the tent made deep sleep impossible,” he wrote. “Reluctantly removing my hand from my sleeping bag, I looked at my watch.
It was 4 a.m. In the flickering light of a match, the thermometer lying against the tent wall read -25° Centigrade.” Strong winds kept Hillary and Norgay from continuing until the following day, when they were able to climb to a height of about 27,900 before camping for the night. At 6:30 on the morning of May 29, they set out for the final assault on the summit. “The weather for Everest seemed practically perfect,” Hillary recalled of their final hours toward reaching their goal. “Insulated as we were in all our down clothing and windproofs, we suffered no discomfort from cold or wind.” At 11:30 a.m. local time, Hillary and Norgay took the final steps up a snowy ridge and stood, for the first time, on top of the world.
In more than half a century since their accomplishment, nearly 2,500 people have followed in Hillary and Norgay’s footsteps to reach the summit of Everest. However, considerable risks remain, not the least of which is the weather. Of the 210 people who have lost their lives attempting to climb Everest, 15 perished during the tragic 1996 climbing season, including 4 members of an expedition of which journalist Jon Krakauer was a member. Krakauer, who was on assignment for Outside magazine when “a rogue storm that blew in without warning” claimed the lives of his companions, went on to tell a more detailed account of the ordeal in his 1997 New York Times best-selling book, Into Thin Air. The passage that begins Krakauer’s book—taken from a 1938 volume by British mountaineer Eric Shipton titled, Upon That Mountain—seems as relevant to Hillary and Norgay’s pioneering achievement in 1953 as it does today:
The truth of course lies in the fact that, at altitudes of 25,000 feet and beyond, the effects of low atmospheric pressure upon the human body are so severe that really difficult mountaineering is impossible and the consequences even of a mild storm may be deadly, that nothing but the most perfect conditions of weather and snow offers the slightest chances of success, and that on the last lap of the climb no party is in a position to choose its day.
Weatherwise Contributing Editor SEAN POTTER is a Certified Consulting Meteorologist (CCM) and science writer who currently divides his time between the Washington, D.C., area and New York City. | <urn:uuid:afda8855-7da5-46b5-b2a9-6fb557157d41> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.weatherwise.org/Archives/Back%20Issues/2009/May-June%202009/full-retrospect.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397842.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00169-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966971 | 1,604 | 3.515625 | 4 |
June 7, 2014 11:02:52 PM
A woodpecker may not make a good football mascot, but Mississippi State University researchers think this bird's shock-absorbing beak may help them design a better football helmet.
Lakiesha Williams, assistant professor of agriculture and biological engineering in the university's Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, led the study of the woodpecker's beak. Researchers found that the shock a woodpecker absorbs while pecking is typically 10 times greater than anything a football player is likely to experience.
"We learned the woodpecker's beak is a well-defined shock-absorbing system," Williams said. "We hope to establish design principles inspired by nature that will help us make light-weight, shock-absorbing materials that provide better protection on point of impact."
Williams directed Nayeon Lee, MSU biological engineering doctoral student, in the study. Lee reported that a red-bellied woodpecker's beak repeatedly strikes a tree trunk at the speed of 14-16 miles per hour. This is similar to the speed professional football players run on the field. It is also the speed considered in standard requirements for designing football helmets.
But while the speed is the same, the impact is much different.
Head injuries in humans can happen at 9 Gs, or gravitational forces. Brain trauma typically takes place between 80 and 100 Gs. The woodpecker can handle 1,000 Gs.
According to the study, a woodpecker's beak is made up of three layers. The outer layer is made up of a protein called keratin. The middle layer is foam. The inner layer is bony. Each layer blends into the next.
"The outer layer has the same texture as a human fingernail. There are scales on this layer that fit together in an overlapping pattern. Those scales are much denser than the scales found in other bird beaks," Lee said. "There is a wavy gap between the scales. That gap is three times wavier compared to other bird beaks, like a chicken or toucan. The squiggly design of this gap helps absorb shock."
The middle layer binds the outer and inner layers. The inner layer, also denser than that found in other bird beaks, helps make the beak strong. It also guides the shock wave through the head.
The results of this study were recently published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface and contributed to a patented idea.
Mark Horstemeyer, MSU Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems chair in computational solid mechanics and professor in mechanical engineering, co-directed Lee on the study. He has successfully patented specific shock-mitigating materials and methods found in nature for use in man-made design principles.
The study has inspired new research projects for the team. Lee will now focus on computational modeling of the woodpecker's entire head. This puts the woodpecker in a virtual environment to see how it absorbs shock through its whole head and body. She will also continue to focus on the beak's middle layer to learn more about it. As this research continues, Lee, Williams and Horstemeyer see promise in applying these principles to man-made design in football helmets and beyond.
The study also addresses an Experiment Station research priority to prevent disease, injury and disability, subsequently enhancing the quality of life for Mississippi residents. | <urn:uuid:0e96d791-0989-4378-874f-09ffe9c01b9c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cdispatch.com/printerfriendly.asp?aid=33982 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00051-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945446 | 701 | 3.421875 | 3 |
As a boy growing up during the late 1950s and 1960s in southwest Atlanta, Marc Stewart didn’t have to go far to find treasure.
He put a metal detector he received to good use.
“I found belt buckles in our front yard,” said Stewart, now 58.
Besides weapon parts, Stewart salvaged other accoutrements of Civil War soldiers: Buttons. Bullets. Insignias.
After a career in the U.S. Navy, Stewart now is an aviation artist, depicting planes locked in combat over the Pacific Ocean during World War II.
The Newnan, Ga., businessman also created two paintings from his childhood memories.
One, “The Battle of Utoy Creek,” depicts Union soldiers from Kentucky attacking a hill held by Kentucky Confederates.
“That was right behind our house,” said Stewart. “I put the trenches where I knew they were on the hill.”
The neighborhood along Cascade Road was a great place to grow up, the artist said.
“I don’t think anyone really knew about it,” Stewart told the Picket.
He was referring to the Battle of Utoy Creek during the Atlanta Campaign.
From late July to late August, Federal troops made several thrusts toward the vital Rebel rail line in nearby East Point. Ultimately, victory had to come elsewhere, forcing Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood to evacuate Atlanta.
With the exception of a few historic markers along busy roads, a visitor won’t glean much Utoy Creek battle history and context.
Atlanta’s gorgeous Cascade Springs Nature Preserve (left) has no interpretation of the Aug. 6, 1864, battle that occurred among its rolling hills and trails. One sign warns against disturbing the soil for relics.
About a mile to the northeast, Beecher Hampton Nature Preserve, which includes a bike trail and Lionel Hampton Park, makes no mention of an array of rare Federal trenches (second photo, above).
“It is as good a set of trenches as I have seen anywhere,” said Barry Brown, heritage tourism specialist with the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
The trenches, hunted out for relics, continue toward the southwest corner of Westview Cemetery.
Brown, who then worked for the Georgia Civil War Commission, was awarded the 2007 Governor’s Award for efforts to help preserve Civil War sites. From 2001 to 2003, he coordinated the acquisition of 100 acres of historic land along Lionel Hampton bike path and Utoy Creek.
Co-author Brown included Stewart’s battle scene in the updated “Crossroads of Conflict: A Guide to Civil War Sites in Georgia,” which will have a second edition this summer.
Utoy Creek is an Atlanta battle of which few have heard.
The seminal “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War” makes scant mention. A National Park Service (NPS) summary makes no guess at casualties.
Regardless, the siege of Confederate lines made for at least two wonderful stories.
First, a brief history of the battle.
By early August 1864, Hood has suffered defeats at Peachtree Creek, Atlanta and Ezra Church, not far from Utoy Creek.
Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman had failed to get around Hood’s left flank at Ezra Church. He wanted to extend his right flank to hit the railroad between Atlanta and East Point.
He transferred Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield’ s Army of the Ohio from his left to his right flank and sent him to the north bank of Utoy Creek, according to the NPS battle summary.
After movements Aug. 2-5, Schofield (right) had to regroup his forces.
“The delay allowed the Rebels to strengthen their defenses with abatis, which slowed the Union attack when it restarted on the morning of the 6th. The Federals were repulsed with heavy losses by Bate’s Division and failed in an attempt to break the railroad,” according to the NPS.
On Aug. 7, the Union troops moved toward the Confederate main line and entrenched. Here they remained (photo below, trenches) until late August. Sporadic fighting occurred in the area for a couple more weeks.
Eventually, Sherman forced Hood to evacuate Atlanta after a loss at Jonesboro, south of Atlanta. The Yankees seized the railroad, cutting off Hood’s supply line.
Historians and experts somewhat disagree on the importance of Utoy Creek.
“Union troops charged uphill at well-entrenched Confederate lines and didn’t make it,” said Brown. “Sherman didn’t write it up in his memoirs.”
That wasn’t unusual. Sherman didn’t write much either of a costlier setback at Kennesaw Mountain six weeks earlier.
“Utoy Creek was a Federal defeat, but it was a small battle by any measure,” said Charlie Crawford, president of the Georgia Battlefields Association.
Maj. Perry Bennett, an Army historian with the 335th Signal Command in East Point, believes the battle was a bigger deal.
“The last 35 years I have been researching this,” said Bennett, who grew up in Atlanta and says he found three cannonballs in a Utoy Creek tributary when he was 12.
“Utoy Creek is described as a skirmish,” said Bennett, president of the Utoy Cemetery Association, which maintains a cemetery containing graves of Confederates who died in the area. The cemetery adjoins a church that served as a Confederate hospital during the battle and Federal siege.
“When you read the Official Records, your eyes become open,” said the major, who is writing a book manuscript on the topic. “This was a significant battle.”
Bennett is critical of Schofield, who contends the general had “the short man’s complex” and incorrectly blended units of the 14th and 23rd corps before the Aug. 6 attack.
“Sherman was exasperated,” said author and historian Stephen Davis. “The Confederates could extend the line as fast as the Federals could envelop it.”
Opposing Schofield’s much larger force in the Cascade nature preserve were about 3,600 Rebels on “no-go terrain.”
Instead of attacking, as they did in July, the Confederates sprang a trap on the Union troops, according to Bennett, forcing the forces in blue to withdraw after heavy fighting.
Bennett numbers the Union dead at 850, with about 1,000 wounded. Prisoners and regimental colors also were taken. About 35 Confederates were killed, and several hundred wounded, he added.
According to the GBA’s Crawford, Confederate casualties were about 30, Federal about 300. “The Federals probed the ever-lengthening Confederate line for several days in early August, with total Federal casualties for 4-7 August being around 815, Confederate about 385,” he told the Picket.
Much of the Utoy Creek battlefield sits in a verdant section of Atlanta featuring upscale neighborhoods and parks.
I walked the Cascade Springs Nature Preserve, where dog walkers roam trails. A spring house greets visitors in a ravine.
Portions of the battlefield and entrenchments also lie beneath John A. White Park and Greenwood Cemetery. A marker denotes a site on the 17th tee of “Tup” Holmes Golf Course off Campbellton Road (photo, above).
Willis Mill Road, named for a family that lived in the area during the Civil War, runs just east of the nature preserve.
Davis has researched a “bombproof” or “dugout” the family huddled in during the Atlanta siege and Battle of Utoy Creek. He determined it was located east of the nature preserve.
Davis studied notebooks and a ledger, kept at the Atlanta History Center, produced by Wilbur George Kurtz, a well-known artist-historian.
In 1932, Kurtz interviewed an older woman who recalled the bombproof.
“Mrs. D.E. Herren says that her father and some of the neighbors decided that to refugee before the advance of military operations would entail great hardships—certainly a loss of property, and the question of where to go and what to do when they got there, seemed unanswerable,” Kurtz wrote. “Deciding to weather the storm, they thought of the bombproof cellar, and built this shelter some days before the fiery blasts began sweeping across the fields.”
Up to 26 people huddled inside at the height of the fighting in western Atlanta.
“It was a big hole in the ground,” said Davis, whose works include “Atlanta Will Fall: Sherman, Joe Johnston, and the Yankee Heavy Battalions.”
Jacob Dolson Cox (left), a Union general, referred to the Willis family as the Wilsons in his memoir.
Cox on Aug. 11, 1864, wrote “In this bomb-proof four families are now living, and I never felt more pity than when, day before yesterday, I looked down into the pit, and saw there, in the gloom made visible by a candle burning while it was broad day above, women sitting on the floor of loose boards, resting against each other, haggard and wan, trying to sleep away the days of terror, while innocent-looking children, four or five years old, clustered around the air-hole, looking up with pale faces and great staring eyes as they heard the singing of the bullets that were flying thick above their sheltering place.”
Crawford and Bennett related another interesting story regarding the battle.
According to Crawford, the surviving Federal trenches may have been the headquarters for the 14th Army Corps, commanded by Brig. Gen. John McAuley Palmer.
“Palmer said he wouldn’t submit to Schofield’s orders because of date of rank,” Crawford said. After a flurry of messages among Palmer, (Maj. Gen. George) Thomas, Schofield, and Sherman, Palmer resigned and went back to Illinois. It’s a fascinating incident that influences the Utoy Creek battle.”
“Palmer was not a West Pointer, which also played into the argument,” said Crawford.
“It goes to tell you how screwed up Schofield’s plan was at Utoy Creek,” Bennett said about the flap, adding Schofield sent orders to Palmer’s subordinates during the faceoff.
Bennett said he devised staff rides for Army officers to study the tactics at Utoy Creek, including trench operations.
The conclusions: Mixing corps cost the Union unit integrity, Schofield did not have good intelligence on the enemy and Sherman goaded him to make an ill-fated attack at Utoy Creek.
The Army major quotes advice he said Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant once gave to Sherman.
“Never call an attack an attack if it is not successful.”
"Battle of Utoy Creek" painting courtesy of artist Marc Stewart; top trench photo, courtesy of Barry Brown.
• Part 1 of the Picket report on Utoy Creek | <urn:uuid:69add542-82f7-48b1-8f5f-abcfcb8f0d8a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://civil-war-picket.blogspot.com/2011/05/utoy-creek-atlanta-civil-war-battle-of.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392159.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00108-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964943 | 2,393 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Hugo De Vries
Hugo De Vries (February 21, 1848 – May 21, 1935) was a Dutch botanist and one of the first geneticists. He is known chiefly for suggesting the concept of genes, rediscovering the laws of heredity in the 1890s while unaware of Gregor Mendel's work, for introducing the term "mutation", and for developing a saltationist theory.
- Physiologic facts concerning the origin of species in nature were unknown in the time of Darwin. . . The experience of the breeders was quite inadequate to the use which Darwin made of it. It was neither scientific, nor critically accurate. Laws of variation were barely conjectured; the different types of variability were only imperfectly distinguished. The breeders' conception was fairly sufficient for practical purposes, but science needed a clear understanding of the factors in the general process of variation. Repeatedly Darwin tried to formulate these causes, but the evidence available did not meet his requirements.
Quetelet's law of variation had not yet been published. Mendel's claim of hereditary units for the explanation of certain laws of hybrids discovered by him, was not yet made. The clear distinction between spontaneous and sudden changes, as compared with the ever-present fluctuating variations, is only of late coming into recognition by agriculturists. Innumerable minor points which go to elucidate the breeders' experience, and with which we are now quite familiar, were unknown in Darwin's time. No wonder that he made mistakes, and laid stress on modes of descent, which have since been proved to be of minor importance or even of doubtful validity.
- Species and Varieties: Their Origin by Mutation (1904), The Open Court Publishing Company, Chicago, p. 5-6
- To put it in the terms chosen lately by Mr. Arthur Harris in a friendly criticism of my views: "Natural selection may explain the survival of the fittest, but it cannot explain the arrival of the fittest."
- Concluding sentence of his work Species and Varieties: Their Origin by Mutation (1904), The Open Court Publishing Company, Chicago, p. 826. | <urn:uuid:263a83c8-6e91-41b9-85db-82c898816b16> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hugo_De_Vries | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397562.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00074-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971229 | 448 | 3.46875 | 3 |
[ An image of Seollal ]
Hello, those who love AT&D Korea. Jan 23rd is indeed Seollal ! It is considered one of Korea's biggest holidays, and it can be seen as January 1st in the lunar calendar, in other words, Korea's New Year.
On this day, all the people go back to their hometowns, gather around with their families and relatives, pay respect to their ancestors , and eat Tteokguk in a sense that they grow one year older (Oh, in Korea, when the newyearcomes , everyone grows one year older all together). For Tteokguk, people chop bar rice cakes and put them in a soup. Since bar rice cake is white and long, people eat it in a sense that they begin the first day of the New Year cleanly and that they hope for longevity.
In the Korean New Year's Day, people often enjoy various traditional games such as neolttwigi and a game of yut . To that extent, the Korean New Year's Day is a very merry day and a day to feel the beauty of Korea's unique traditions.
In the Korean New Year's Day, it is the traditional courtesy to wear hanbok, and you would be able to see often that people bow before their elders.
Below is the Presidential Council on Nation Branding's posting that introduces the inherent meaning of Korean greetings. How about we greet each other with "Annyeonghaseyo",or"Saehae Bok Mani Badu Seyo" on this Seollal?
Saehae Bok Mani Badu Seyo. :)
The Korean Way of Greetings
Korean greeting words convey hope for the well-being of others
"Annyeonghaseyo" is the most common greeting in Korea. Greetings are the words or phrases used to inquire after the health of people we meet or to start a relationship with someone we are meeting for the first time. It is not clear when "annyeonghaseyo" became the most common greeting of Koreans. As "annyeong" means "comfort without trouble", the greeting "annyeonghaseyo" conveys hope for the well-being of other people.
Letters are a type of written communication in which greeting words are often used. Letters written in hangeul (Korean alphabet) during the Joseon Dynasty often began with such phrases as, "I was happy to receive your letter and to hear you are getting along well", "I am writing to make sure you are well", or "I wonder if you are doing well". From these, we can estimate changes in Korean greeting words over time.
In addition to the most common greeting, "annyeong", Koreans use a variety of other greeting words according to the person addressed and the situation. People commonly say "Nice to meet you" or "How do you do?" to people they meet for the first time. The greeting words for old acquaintances also vary depending on their ages and circumstances. They include "It's been a long time Since We Met" and "How have you been doing?" When addressing parents, people say, "Have you slept well?" To a person older in age whom the speaker meets occasionally, they ask, "Have you eaten?" Farewell words also vary. In addition to the standard, "Annyeonghi gyesipsio (Please stay safe / stay in peace)", people say "Have a good sleep" or "Have a pleasant time".
Greetings vary by region
Korean greeting words vary depending on the region, with the difference observed in the expression and nuance between regional dialects. For example, in rural areas, people often say "gyeseyo (Is anybody home?)" when they visit a neighbor's house. The owner of the house then responds by saying, "Who is it? " They exchange these questions not to confirm the presence of the owner of the house, but to induce conversation in a natural way. The word "gyeseyo" is actually pronounced differently in different regions. People in Chungcheong Province draw out the word, making it sound like "gisyu" As well, "gyeseyo" pronounced in short length with a rising intonation is close to the dialect of the Yeongseo region in Gangwon Province. Moreover, some regions use entirely different expressions altogether. On Jeju Island, for example, people say "Otteong sarajimsukka? (How have you been getting along?)"
Greeting words reflect Koreans' care for others
Despite this diversity, Korean greeting words have one thing in common. Whatever forms they take, the words inquire after the health of the person addressed and convey the speaker's hopes for that person's comfort and well-being. By asking people how they have been getting along or whether they have had a good meal, Koreans try to confirm the welfare of others. In this way, greeting words are not a mere formality but reflect the nature of Koreans and the way they approach their relationships.
Read More ☞http://bit.ly/AC8wy1
The memorial service table : http://adamsribs.us
Tteokguk : http://blog.naver.com/angelblog/80101529387
Neolttwigi : http://confucius.washington.edu
Game of Yut : Ohmy News
An image of Seollal : Korea Tourism Organization
I am one of the main communicators of AT&D Korea. I am very excited to support you to know about Korean technology, design and culture. Also, I hope you become familiar with it. I like to communicate with people, therefore, if you want to have a conversation with Korean advanced technology, let's have a talk through SNS!
- Stay on topic and do not spam.
- Emoticons are fun, but actual thoughts are appreciated.
- Refrain from abusive language.
- Post only in English, as this is an English language community.
- Do not share pages or media unrelated to the topic you are commenting on.
- Do not request or mention illegal download/streaming services.
- No graphic content allowed.
- Respect the right of other users to share their opinion. Arguments are welcome, fights are not.
Comments which break the rules will be erased. Repeated rule breaking will result in blacklisting.
Forget the Games You Play Alone. This is the Golden Age of Social Games.
[ Rule the Sky ] What are the best-selling games in Korean app stores? "Rule the Sky", "Every F,...More
Subscribe to HanCinema Pure to remove ads from the website (not for episode and movie videos) for US$2.99 per month (you can cancel anytime).
The first step is to be a member, please click here : Sign up, then a subscribe button will show up. | <urn:uuid:e0a873e6-2003-4f0e-acda-a6717c1ea020> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.hancinema.net/korean-new-year-seollal-is-coming--37820.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00112-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946228 | 1,444 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Who Invented Baseball
Baseball’s history is fascinating, and a lot of politics is involved, which seems sad for a game that is America’s national pastime and has been for nearly 200 years. Nobody knows who actually invented baseball but a couple of names, Abner Doubleday, and Alexander Cartwright have been linked with the sport.
In 1905 Albert Spalding, formerly a star pitcher and the man who created the Spalding sporting goods company organized a commission of former baseball executives and US senators to investigate who invented baseball. The Mills Commission took three years to deliberate and in 1908 published a report claiming Abner Doubleday as the inventor of baseball in Cooperstown in 1839.
Doubleday was a West Point graduate who went to become a decorated war hero of the United States who served in the Mexican-American War, the American Civil War, and various Indian Wars. The Mills Commission decided after hearing the testimony of a single witness, Abner Graves, that Doubleday invented baseball, wrote the rules of play, and designed the diamond field on which the game is played.
Sadly this history of baseball has been completely overturned as a hoax perpetuated by Albert Spalding who founded the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, and who it is now believed was desperate to create an inventor of baseball who may have lived in Cooperstown, and to ensure that baseball was forever considered an All American game invented in the US.
In fact, Abner Graves shot and killed his wife only a year after testifying and spent the remainder of hi life in a mental institution so has been discredited as a reliable witness. As well, Abner Doubleday isn’t believed to have ever been in Cooperstown, and never mentioned any claim to inventing baseball and isn’t known to have ever played the game.
Instead, the truth of the invention of baseball is a much simpler story about Alexander Cartwright and the New York Knickerbockers who used to play rounders in the 1840s, but needed a set of rules that could be used for interclub games. Cartwright and a committee from the club published their rules in 1845 and the very first game played under the new rules took place in 1846 on the 19th June between Cartwright’s Knickbockers and a rival team, the New York Nines.
Alexander Cartwright was a lifelong promoter of the game, who in the 1850s travelled from New York to California introducing baseball to every town he stayed in, and then when he retired from business moved to Hawaii and setup a baseball league in Honolulu which is the direct ancestor of today’s Major League Baseball.
Who Invented Baseball | <urn:uuid:4a532607-37ef-46d3-94d9-383a94aeda47> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://who-invented-baseball.blogspot.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399425.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00194-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980257 | 561 | 3.625 | 4 |
MSU lands first drone
Farmers can now get a birds-eye view of their fields – in full HD – thanks to Michigan State University landing its first drone.
MSU researchers are using its first unmanned aerial vehicle to help farmers maximize yields by improving nitrogen and water management and reducing environmental impact such as nitrate leaching or nitrous oxide emissions.
For this initiative, MSU’s UAV measures how crops react to stress, such as drought, nutrients deficiency or pests. The drone flies over the field documenting the field’s status – down to centimeters. The portrait gives farmers details on the current health of their crops.
Armed with this knowledge, farmers can quickly pinpoint problem areas and address them with a precise rifle, as opposed to, a shotgun approach, said Bruno Basso, MSU ecosystem scientist.
“When you have a cut and need disinfectant, you don’t dive into a pool of medicine; you apply it only where you need it and in the quantity that is strictly necessary,” said Basso, who is also a professor at MSU’s Kellogg Biological Station. “Rather than covering the entire field with fertilizer, it can be applied exactly where it’s needed. We basically try to do the right thing, at right place, at the right time.”
The UAV has three sensors: a high-resolution radiometer; a thermal camera, used to monitor plant temperature and hydration; and a laser scanner, which measures individual plant height in centimeters. Unlike planes, the drone can fly at low altitudes (less than 100 feet) and in most weather conditions as long it is not very windy, covers a pre-programmed pattern on autopilot and provides more accurate data in a cost-effective manner.
“The UAV is like an X-ray,” Basso said. “Before we can diagnose the problem, we need to collect as many details as possible.”
The response to light varies among plants based on their health. Through combinations of spectral reflectance bands, researchers can determine the plants’ main source of stress, such as water or nitrogen.
With X-rays in hand, Basso, part of MSU’s Global Water Initiative, can plug in the data into the System Approach for Land-Use Sustainability model. SALUS is a new generation crop tool to forecast crop, soil, water, and nutrient conditions in current and future climates. It also can evaluate crop rotations, planting dates, irrigation and fertilizer use and project crop yields and their impact on the land.
The combination of drone and SALUS allows farmers to maximize their efforts in a sustainable fashion. They can distinguish plants that need water or nitrogen, and treat their plants – rather than their entire field – immediately.
“It’s based on actual need, not on tradition, not on history or a plan recommended by someone else,” Basso said. “It’s what plants need now and is the ultimate in sustainability.”
This isn’t scientific theory, either. This is what’s happening in the farmers’ own fields, playing out in terms of profit per acre and preserving their environment, rather than in laboratories.
“You have to use technology to help improve people’s lives,” Basso said. “The combination of UAV and SALUS is powerful and accessible.”
Deploying the UAV to aid farmers is serving as the inaugural use of MSU’s drone. Basso is open to sharing it with others and collaborating on new research. The potential of drones has yet to be maximized, he said.
Basso’s research is funded in part by the National Science Foundation. | <urn:uuid:4ea8dab1-c285-4b1a-bf95-e63d7851bedc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2013/msu-lands-first-drone/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00185-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939705 | 788 | 3.40625 | 3 |
Pennsylvania Hearing Screening Requirements for Newborns and School-Aged Children
The following information summarizes hearing screening programs for newborns and school-aged children.
The information has been collected by researching individual state statutes, regulations, policy documents, and by contacting each state. The information is reviewed on an annual basis. Please be advised that regulations and policy may change at any time, so always check with your state for the most up-to-date information.
The Department of Health will develop a program to screen all newborns in the Commonwealth for hearing loss before leaving a hospital and to screen all newborns who are not born in a hospital within the first 30 days of life.
The Department will provide information and instruction to the parents of all newborns and infants on the merits of having the hearing screening performed and of receiving follow-up care.
Standards and protocols are not addressed by law/regulations.
Every hospital in the Commonwealth shall report to the Department of Health the number of newborns and infants screened and the results of the screening. The Department of Health, based on this information, shall report to the General Assembly every January 1 the following:
- The number of hospitals conducting hearing screenings during birth admissions.
- The number of live births in hospitals.
- The number of newborns screened during birth admissions.
- The number of live births in a location other than a hospital.
- The number of newborns born in a location other than a hospital screened within 30 days of the date of birth.
- The number of newborns born in a hospital who passed and the number who did not pass the birth admission screening, if administered.
- The number of newborns born in a location other than a hospital who passed and the number who did not pass a screening within 30 days of the date of birth, if administered.
- The number of infants who returned for follow-up rescreening.
- The number of infants who passed the follow-up rescreening.
- The number of infants recommended for monitoring, intervention and follow-up care.
Each year, pupils in kindergarten, special ungraded classes and grades 1, 2, 3, 7, and 11 shall be given a hearing screening test.
Who Can Screen
School nurses and medical technicians (properly trained health room aide) shall perform hearing tests on each school age child.
Training for Screeners
Training for screeners is not addressed by law/regulation.
Type of Testing
An individual pure tone audiometer or other screening equipment approved by the Department of Health shall be utilized for hearing screening tests. Frequencies of 250, 500, 1,000, 2,000 and 4,000 cycles per second shall be employed in screening testing.
Equipment standards are not addressed by law/regulation.
Follow-up Protocols & Documentation
School nurses/school nurse practitioners are responsible for referring any pupil found to have failed the threshold test for further evaluation. Referrals should be made by personal contact with a parent, followed by written notification using Parent/Guardian Notification. Report from the physician or the hearing specialist should be completed on the Physician/Hearing Specialist Report and returned to the school nurse.
For further information on hearing screening requirements, visit these websites:
Questions regarding state advocacy issues? Call ASHA at 800-498-2071 and ask for the State Advocacy Team. | <urn:uuid:a1f7a0db-7ee4-442f-be14-6aa46eb1f939> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.asha.org/Advocacy/state/info/PA/Pennsylvania-Hearing-Screening-Requirements.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398075.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00190-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929148 | 696 | 2.765625 | 3 |
In addition to the current epidemic of vitamin D deficiency, say another epidemic—an epidemic of autism—was upon our children? What if the autism epidemic began at the same time the epidemic of vitamin D deficiency began? What if both epidemics had worsened in unison? What if one theory explained all the unexplained facts about autism?
What if both epidemics had the same root cause: sun avoidance? What if both were iatrogenic, that is, medical advice to avoid the sun had caused both epidemics? Be warned, what follows is not light reading—autism is not a light disease.
Does The Vitamin D Theory Best Explain Autism?
The theory that vitamin D deficiency, during pregnancy or childhood, causes autism is just a theory. However, the theory has a plausible mechanism of action, explains all the unexplained facts about autism, subsumes several other theories, implies simple prevention, and is easily disprovable—all components of a useful theory. A genetic lesion (abnormality) in some component of the vitamin D system—a lesion vitamin D's unique pharmacology could overcome—would explain why monozygotic (identical) twins are highly affected while fraternal twins are not. Varying brain levels of activated vitamin D during later life would explain why some identical twins get severe disease while others are barely affected. Falling vitamin D levels over the last 20 years due to sun-avoidance explain autism's rapid increase in incidence during that same time. The very different effects estrogen and testosterone have on vitamin D metabolism may explain why boys are much more likely to get it than girls are. Lower vitamin D levels in blacks may explain their higher rates of autism. The vitamin D theory has tenable explanations for all the epidemiological features of autism. | <urn:uuid:8409b3d9-f657-44c6-9e09-4ec36539ea0b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.empowher.com/autism/content/vitamin-d-theory-autism | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403825.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00192-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938363 | 358 | 3.265625 | 3 |
And it's not just that many teens are couch potatoes, the academy argues in the July issue of Pediatrics: TV advertising drives sales of junk food, children and teens tend to snack while watching TV or online, and late-night use may interfere with sleep.
"We've created a perfect storm" of conditions that predispose young people to obesity, said lead author Victor Strasburger, MD, of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, N.M.
"We couldn't do a worse job as a society if we tried," he told MedPage Today.
The academy's policy statement calls obesity "a clear and present danger" to children and teens and says that evidence linking excessive TV with obesity is now "persuasive," although the role of other media remain unclear.
Currently, the researchers found, U.S. children and teens spend an average of seven hours a day using various forms of media -- more time than they spend doing anything except sleeping.
Physicians and other health professionals can play a role, the academy said, by encouraging parents to monitor children's TV viewing, teach them about good nutrition, and discuss the impact of food advertising.
They should also continue to urge parents to limit non-educational screen time to no more than two hours a day, and avoid putting TV sets and internet connections in children's bedrooms, the statement suggests.
"Docs need to be asking at least two media questions at every well-child, well-baby, well-adolescent visit," Strasburger said. "How much entertainment screen time does the child or teenager spend per day and is there a TV set or internet connection in the bedroom?"
Among other things, the policy statement urges:
- Bans on advertising of unhealthy food to children and teens
- Restrictions on interactive food advertising to children via digital media
- Support for research into the health and psychosocial effects of heavy media use in children
- More media resources for children that encourage them to choose healthy foods
- Parental limits on screen time
Strasburger said the policy statement is not an example of "nannyism" run wild.
Among other signs of the times, he noted that 75% of American youngsters now have a TV in their bedroom. "The evidence is clear and convincing that that puts children at risk for obesity," he said.
Among the content they see on those screens, he noted, are thousands of ads every year for fast and junk food. "Food marketers spend $10 billion a year targeting children and teenagers," he said. "There's a significant relationship [with obesity] and it has to stop."
Indeed, a study appearing in the same issue of Pediatrics found that food commercials touting fast and junk foods influenced children's food choices – skewing them toward high-fat and high-carbohydrate items, according to Emma Boyland, PhD, of the University of Liverpool in England, and colleagues.
And the effect was greater for children who watched more than 21 hours of TV a week, they reported, compared with those who watched less.
Interestingly, those children also had a significantly greater body mass index (at P<0.05) than those who were less frequent viewers, Boyland and colleagues reported.
The findings came from an experiment in which 281 children, ages six to 13, were twice shown an episode of a popular cartoon, separated by two weeks.
In each case, the cartoon was preceded by five minutes of commercials – for toys at one showing and for food (mainly snacks and fast food) at the other, the researchers reported.
After each showing the children were given lists of various food items, both branded and unbranded, and asked what they'd like to eat. They were more likely to pick unhealthy foods after they had watched the food commercials, the researchers found.
The policy statement had no external support. Strasburger said he had no conflicts.
The authors of the study of commercials did not report any external support. They said they had no conflicts.
- Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and Dorothy Caputo, MA, RN, BC-ADM, CDE, Nurse Planner
PediatricsSource Reference: Strasburger VC, et al "Policy statement -- Children, adolescents, obesity, and the media" Pediatrics 2011; 128: 201–208.
PediatricsSource Reference: Boyland EJ, et al "Food commercials increase preference for energy-dense foods, particularly in children who watch more television" Pediatrics 2011; 128: e93–e100. | <urn:uuid:09978731-293e-460f-813a-12fefda21fb9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pediatrics/Obesity/27280 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403823.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00030-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960382 | 946 | 2.875 | 3 |
Overview of the plant life of the Scarborough area
Fynbos, Strandveld and Seashore Vegetation
By Nick Helme
Scarborough lies near the southern tip of the Cape Peninsula, an area renowned for its exceptionally high plant diversity, and for the high proportion of species that are endemic (restricted) to the area. Three primary vegetation types (Fynbos, Strandveld and Seashore Vegetation) are present in the immediate area, with numerous different plant communities (rocky outcrops, wetlands, dunes, etc) making up these three vegetation types. It is estimated that about 800 – 1000 indigenous plant species occur within a 1km radius of Scarborough, including about 30 which are found only on the south Peninsula. Many are extremely cryptic, or occur in low numbers, and even an observant walker is likely to notice a maximum of only about a third to half this number on any particular day.
Scarborough is firmly nested within the Fynbos biome, located within what is now known as the Core Region of the Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR). The GCFR is one of only six Floristic Regions in the world, and is the only one largely confined to a single country (the Succulent Karoo component extends into southern Namibia). It is also by far the smallest floristic region, occupying only 0.2% of the world’s land surface, and supporting about 11500 plant species, over half of all the plant species in South Africa (on 12% of the land area). At least 70% of all the species in the Cape region do not occur elsewhere, and many have very small home ranges (these are known as narrow endemics). Many of the lowland habitats are under pressure from agriculture, urbanisation and alien plants, and thus many of the range restricted species are also under severe threat of extinction, as habitat is reduced to extremely small fragments. Data from the nationwide plant Red Listing project indicate that 67% of the threatened plant species in the country occur only in the southwestern Cape, and these total over 1800 species! The southwestern Cape is a major national and global conservation priority, and is quite unlike anywhere else in the country in terms of the number of threatened plant species.
At a finer scale the Cape Peninsula itself is an international “hotspot” of plant diversity, with about 160 endemic plant species (i.e. species found only in this area). This high figure is a function of various factors, including the fact that the area was isolated from the rest of the Cape Fold Mountains by higher sea levels that covered much of the Cape Flats not too long ago (in geological terms), high topographic diversity, strong rainfall gradients and various soil types.
The soils in the mountain area are primarily white, acid sands derived from weathered Peninsula formation sandstones, and they are very infertile, with poor agricultural potential. The coastal sands are more alkaline, and slightly more fertile. Richer shale and granite derived soils do not occur in the area, although there are ferricrete (koffieklip) patches near Redhill.
The three main vegetation types in the area are Cape Flats Dune Strandveld, Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos, and Cape Seashore Vegetation.
Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos is present on the acid sands all over the Peninsula, and is the vegetation type on the Redhill Plateau behind Scarborough and in most of the Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) south of Scarborough. Cape Flats Dune Strandveld is still widespread on the west coast of the southern Cape Peninsula, from Chapman’s Peak to Cape Point, and is restricted to areas of alkaline (marine) sands. Cape Seashore Vegetation occupies the coastal fringe, and is well represented in the Scarborough area.
Cape Flats Dune Strandveld has been classified as an Endangered vegetation type on a national basis, and is severely threatened on the Cape Flats itself, where it is rapidly disappearing. Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos is also technically classified as an Endangered vegetation type, but this is because of the very high number of threatened and localised plant species in the unit, rather than the actual percentage of habitat remaining (the latter being the reason for Cape Flats Dune Strandveld). Some 93% of its total original extent remains, virtually 100% is protected (mostly within the TMNP) and the national conservation target of 30% has been far exceeded. Cape Seashore Vegetation is not regarded as threatened.
Four plant Species of Conservation Concern (SCC; previously known as Red Data or Red Listed species) are commonly found within the Scarborough area, including Leucospermum conocarpodendron ssp. viridum (kreupelhout; Listed as Near Threatened), Liparia parva (dwarf mountain dahlia; Vulnerable), Podalyria sericea (Vulnerable) and Serruria villosa (Rare).
Fynbos is a fire driven ecosystem, and is well adapted to regular fires every 8 to 20 years, in contrast to the Strandveld and Seashore Vegetation types, which do not require fire for optimal ecological functioning (and hence generally do not burn, or burnt at lower frequencies). In the long term absence of fire the Fynbos plant community will change to more closely resemble a thicket, with many species becoming locally extinct, and longer lived or resprouting species dominating. This can be seen within Scarborough, where things like the kreupelhout (pincushion) slowly die out after more than 30 years without fire (their seeds sit underground in ant nests, awaiting fire to stimulate their germination). Fires at the appropriate frequency, and at the appropriate time of year (late dry season) result in a community initially dominated by annuals, geophytes (bulbs) and resprouters, and the slower growing reseeders (like many Protea or Leucadendron species) only become prominent in the third year after the fire, and may not set seed for the first time until four years after the fire, which is why too frequent fires can also lead to local extinction of species. The longer a Fynbos system sits without fire the more fire prone it becomes, with the accumulation of dead wood providing a handy fuel load. This self regulating system eventually tips over into a thicket habitat that can survive without fire, but if reset by fire will then usually follow the normal recovery route, becoming Fynbos again after a few years.
Nick Helm is a Local Scarborough Resident; botanist and planthunter, based in the Cape Floristic Region, but happy to venture anywhere else that’s biologically interesting. Nick can be contacted by email. Email Nick. | <urn:uuid:a874112d-5b85-408d-b360-69ba39c527e5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://scarborough.org.za/eco-info/fynbos/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394987.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00147-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940135 | 1,417 | 3.5 | 4 |
Beginner classes are for dancers with little to
no dancing experience. Tap, Jazz, and Ballet
are learned in beginner classes. They perform three dances at the recital. Social instruction and turn taking
are taught in this level as well as beginning tap and
ballet technique that is added onto in more advanced levels. Jazz technique is
started by the implementation of beginning jumps, turns, and basic movement coordination.
INTERMEDIATE AND ADVANCED BEGINNER:
Advanced Beginner levels are a continuation of the basics learned in Beginner classes. With the addition of Lyrical and Poms,
these classes also do Ballet, Tap, and Jazz. These class levels do four dances at the recital. Poms is a fun way to learn
a different kind of jazz dance movement that helps with cheerleading and dance team practices later on. Technique is continually
enhanced by workshops available to dancers in these classes. Multiple turns and more difficult jumps are learned in Jazz class.
Tap technique is improved through various rhythm exercises as well as learning the different ‘time steps.'
ADVANCED AND UPPER ADVANCED:
These two levels are for
experienced dancers. They both do Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Lyrical, and Poms; performing four dances at the recital. These classes
are high powered and move fast. Workshops help these dancers advance in their skills, but they also practice outside of class.
Multiple new turns and jumps are learned in these levels as well as increased ballet technique. Tap skills are challenged
and improved by faster routines, more rhythmic steps, and intricate patterns. These classes are great!
PRIVATE LESSONS, Pre-pointe, Pointe and HIP-HOP
Dancers in the Intermediate,
Advanced, and Upper Advanced classes have the opportunity to audition for small groups, private lessons,and advanced classes.
These dancers show increased skill and motivation. Through these classes, they explore their dance discipline further, possibly
compete,and also perform what they learn at the annual recital.
Younger dancers wishing to
strengthen their technique have the option of taking a Pre-pointe class will develop the muscles and vocabulary skills need
to advance on to advanced classes including Pointe. | <urn:uuid:a30dab95-4204-453e-a7b0-cb3522a494fc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.happyfeetdance.net/id4.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00189-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940667 | 476 | 2.609375 | 3 |
If you want to understand China’s reform-era growing pains you can do a lot worse than dig into the coal industry. Coal powers China’s industry, pollutes its environment, and is the site of conflict for the state and private entrepreneurs – each eager to monopolize control of a precious resource.
Tim Wright of the University of Sheffield has made the Chinese coal industry the focus for research stretching over the last few decades. Much of that research appears in his new book “The Political Economy of the Chinese Coal Industry: Black Gold and Blood Stained Coal.”
China Real Time recent caught up with Mr. Wright to discuss the challenges facing China’s coal industry — from safety to corruption to power shortages — and how long the country can count on its stores of coal to fuel its fast-burning economy. Edited excerpts:
Why is coal mining so important in China?
Coal provides around 70% of China’s energy supplies. So it has been central to China’s rapid – and energy intensive – economic growth. Coal is also one of the major causes of pollution and environmental degradation in China, as well as a large contributor to the country’s increasing carbon emissions. Finally, the industry provides employment for well over five million workers.
Coal mining is an area where there’s been a struggle between the state and the private sector?
Since the middle of the last decade, many commentators inside and outside China have seen a trend towards “the advance of the state and the retreat of the people” (or the private sector). The attempts by central and provincial governments to control myriad small mines, especially in Shanxi, has been a major example of this and, from late 2008, the Shanxi government began a policy where the large mines owned by the province took over the small private mines. This was strongly resisted by the mine owners, many of whom were inter-provincial investors particularly from Wenzhou in Zhejiang.
The attempt to control the private sector is also about controlling the social and environmental costs of mining?
Yes, it is not simply a struggle for control. There are real safety and environmental issues involved. Small private mines certainly tend to be less safe than the large mines, and also lack the resources to tackle environmental pollution – for example by washing the coal. These factors form at least the pretext for the government’s policy.
Corruption seems to be a big part of the story?
Two factors – the high profits to be made from coal, and local governments’ control over most of the licenses necessary to mine it – make corruption both inevitable and widespread. The phenomenon is known as “official-coalmine collusion” and is often exposed in the aftermath of disasters in mines operating illegally under the protection of local governments or individual officials.
But the moralistic tone used by the Chinese press to address the issue doesn’t tell the whole story. First, corruption apart, the small mines play an important part in income and employment generation for many inland areas with few other opportunities; so there is resistance to their closure beyond that just from the owners. Second, the chronic underfunding of local government in China forces local authorities to look for other sources of revenue, so it is in their institutional – as well as personal – interest to support the local mines, even against the wishes of central government.
How have workers fared in the reform process?
Coal mine workers went through a difficult period in the 1990s. They had been the aristocrats of the working class under the planned economy but the low price of coal and the mines’ economic difficulties meant that their incomes rose less than those of other workers. The boom in coal prices and coal profits in the 2000s has, however, provided the resources to increase wages, and there has been a big improvement over the past few years, even if miners still grumble that they lag behind other workers, for example in the electric power industry.
Premier Wen Jiabao spent new year 2005 underground with some miners. Has the central government been able to get to grips with safety?
There has been a spectacular improvement in China’s coal safety record over the last decade – the number of deaths has fallen by about two-thirds during a period when output has more than doubled. Although one has to remain skeptical about the details of the official statistics, at least a major part of the decline in fatalities does reflect a real improvement. This improvement has been due to a number of factors: high profits creating the resources to invest in safety; the beginnings of labor shortages allowing workers to demand better conditions; the higher priority put on social and safety issues by the Wen Jiabao – Hu Jintao government; and collaboration with foreign safety experts.
China’s economy seems to suffer from regular power shortages, what’s the reason for that?
Partly it is just the phenomenal rate of growth of the Chinese economy (which has mostly been concentrated in high energy using sectors) putting pressure on energy supplies. But beyond that it reflects a struggle between the coal and electric power industries over the price of coal supplied to the power stations. The power stations, who have to accept electricity prices fixed by the state, have argued that they cannot afford the ever-increasing price of their main fuel, coal. The state has attempted to pressure the mines to supply coal at cheaper prices, but of course this has reduced the mines’ incentive to produce, resulting in occasional shortages and power cuts.
How much coal has China got left? Any chance of a switch toward significant imports?
China has large amounts of coal left – certainly well over 100 billion tons. But at its very high level of production – not far behind the rest of the world put together – there has already been talk of the resources running out, or at least becoming increasingly expensive to mine. Already imports have increased sharply – from only around 10 million tons a year in the early 2000s to well over 150 million tons by 2010. However, because of China’s massive use of coal, it is almost inconceivable that a major part of its demand could be fulfilled by imports – 150 million tons accounts only for 2 per cent of China’s coal consumption, but close to 20 per cent of global coal trade. For the same reason, China cannot fill the gap with oil imports. So if it is to reduce its reliance on domestically-produced coal, China will have to look for other sources of energy – optimistically renewables but perhaps more likely nuclear power.
– Tom Orlik | <urn:uuid:a60f3910-9403-41d4-8d7c-0fd026f56c41> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2012/02/02/eight-questions-tim-wright-black-gold-and-blood-stained-coal/?mod=google_news_blog | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403825.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00077-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967738 | 1,342 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Summertime is a time of great peril for young children as we are often unaware of how much body fluid they have lost through sweating. Dehydration happens quickly. If may occur due to hot weather and or over dressing your child. Babies are unable to regulate their body temperatures which means they are more effected by extreme heat than older children.
Preventing dehydration while inside:
Dress baby in a nappy and singlet and sleep her in a nappy and light wrap. Sleep and play in a cool room. Sometimes keeping the windows closed will keep out the searing heat but if there is a cool breeze open windows for a cross-current where possible. Offer extra fluids - cool boiled water in a cup or bottle. Check that baby has frequent wet nappies. If the urine is thick or smelly increase baby’s fluid intake. Outside: Keep baby out of direct sun and protect from reflective heat or glare off the sand, water or concrete. Avoid going out between 10 am and 4 pm. Wear a hat, long sleeves cotton top and trousers and stay in 100% shade where ever possible. With older children - Slip, Slop and Slap .
Signs of dehydration:
Children becomes limp and lethargic. Fontanel in babies becomes sunken. Urine becomes dark, thick and smelly. Skin if pinched and raised remains raised.
Tips: When traveling with young children always carry with you a bottle of water (cooled boiled water for babies).
Remember: Dehydration is extremely dangerous for small children if baby don’t respond or refuse to take fluids seek medical help immediately.
If you would like more information on this and other similar topics our E-books are packed full of practical parenting tips. Down load an E-Book specifically related to your child's age group through Publications at Our Shop.
How Cradle 2 Kindy Can Help
Cradle 2 Kindy specialises in care and advice for children from birth to five years old covering topics such as health and safety, breast and bottle feeding to weaning and starting solids.
Call now for a personal consultation from one of Cradle 2 Kindy’s parenting coaches.
Also see: What happens at a Coaching session?
More Articles on Health
Disclaimer: Article on our website are for education
purposes only. Please consult with your doctor to make sure this
information is right for your child.
All articles on this website have a copyright. The use of any material must have permission from Cradle 2 Kindy Parenting Solutions. | <urn:uuid:8da8cb92-c83f-460d-8655-e21172aeef7a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cradle2kindy.com.au/_bpost_1159/How_to_Prevent_and_Treat_Dehydration_in_Children | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398209.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00097-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931575 | 529 | 2.765625 | 3 |
March 30, 2008
Sugar: Your Sweet Tooth Craves It, but Your Body Doesn’t Need It
By Julie Deardorff
Sugar, sorry to say, can make us sick. The most popular alternative, artificial sweeteners, have long posed health concerns and may lead to weight gain.Enter stevia, a calorie-free herb said to be up to 300 times sweeter than sugar.
In what will surely spice up the decadeslong debate over sugar substitutes, companies as large as Coca-Cola and as obscure as Seattle-based Zevia say stevia's time has come. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration isn't about to make things easy for consumers worried about sugar intake and often confused by the options.
Stevia has been used as a sweetener for hundreds of years in Paraguay and Brazil and has been added to soft drinks, ice cream, pickles, candies and breads in Japan since the 1970s.
But the FDA has not approved it as a food additive, citing safety concerns. The European Union and Canada also don't allow food companies to add stevia to products.
"Reports have raised concerns about control of blood sugar and the effects on the reproductive, cardiovascular and renal systems," the FDA wrote in a warning letter to Hain Celestial, which included stevia as an ingredient in one of its teas.
But stevia, also called stevioside, is widely available - and perfectly legal - in the United States when it's purchased as a dietary supplement. It often can be found just a few aisles away from Equal, tucked among the vitamins, minerals and herbs. The sweet- leafed herb, derived from the bushy South American stevia rebaudiana plant, also is easily obtained via the Internet.
Stevia proponents believe this nonsensical situation - stevia is acceptable as a dietary supplement but not as an ingredient - has kept Americans in the dark about the herb's candylike leaves, which can have a menthol-like bitter aftertaste. When used in low amounts for sweetening, stevia has zero calories, is not carcinogenic - on the contrary, it has been shown to reduce breast cancer in rats - and does not accumulate in the body, proponents say.
The lethal dose is very high, according to Belgian researcher Jan Geuns, author of "Stevioside: A safe sweetener and possible new drug for treatment of the metabolic syndrome," a paper he presented at the 2006 American Chemical Society national meeting.
"Stevia is completely safe," he said.
What worries stevia critics is that Americans tend to have a problem with moderation. Stevia might be fine if it's used twice a day in a cup of tea. But "if stevia were marketed widely and used in diet sodas, it would be consumed by millions of people and that might pose a public health threat," said the consumer watchdog group Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Regardless, Americans want a natural alternative. Nearly 7 of 10 U.S. adults say they want to cut down or avoid sugar completely, according to the market research firm The NPD Group, a concern that has driven up the use of artificial sweeteners. But two-thirds are concerned about the safety of sweeteners, according to another report.
The two leading chemical sweeteners, aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal) and sucralose (Splenda), have been approved by the FDA, but are still highly controversial.
Whole Foods says it won't carry products containing sucralose, which is made by chlorinating sugar, because it believes many of the safety studies were commissioned by those who had a financial interest in its approval. And the granddaddy of the group, saccharin (Sweet'n Low), is a petroleum derivative that has been banned in Germany and France for almost a century.
"I've seen a shift in consciousness" about sugar substitutes, said Ann Louise Gittleman, author of "Get the Sugar Out" (Random House, $13.95). Gittleman recently updated her 1996 book to include more information on high-fructose corn syrup as well as sugar's effect on aging and cancer.
"It's part of people becoming more aware of toxins in the environment on all levels," she said. "Try as we might, you can't trick the body or Mother Nature."
When we do try, by using no- or low-calorie artificial sweeteners, for example, it often backfires. A recent study by Purdue University researchers showed that artificial sweeteners can make you fat because the body is programmed to associate sweet tastes with calories consumed. When the natural connection is broken - false sweetness isn't followed by lots of calories - the metabolic system is confused and people may eat more, or expend less energy than they normally would, said study co-author Susan Swithers.
Cue stevia. For Jessica Newman, 37, the intensely sweet leaf that can be dropped in tea, coffee or oatmeal was exactly what she needed to break her daily habit of five Diet Cokes.
An attorney, mother of three and marathon runner in Seattle, she fueled herself on diet soda and Powerbars, but longed for a healthy alternative to artificial sweeteners.
When she found stevia, she became such a proponent that she, along with her husband, Derek, and their friend Ian Eisenberg, developed a stevia-based dietary supplement called Zevia. The five- calorie sugar-free beverage, which is essentially a soft drink but can't be labeled as such, has no artificial flavors, food dyes or phosphoric acid.
Demand has been brisk; Zevia is in a dozen states and within a month is expected to be available at Sunset Foods stores in Chicago's north and northwest suburbs. Newman says they've received e-mail orders from every state and currently are offering a free six- pack to those willing to pay the shipping charges.
"Many of the people who are responding to Zevia already know about stevia and the dangers of artificial sweeteners," Newman said. "We think we're offering a choice to kick the diet soda habit. We call it "nature's answer to diet soda."'
Coke, meanwhile, has filed several dozen patent applications for the ingredient and teamed up with Cargill to develop its own stevia product called Rebiana. It plans to introduce Rebiana in countries where the ingredient is already approved and petition the FDA to allow stevia to be used as a food additive.
"Stevia is wonderful; it has no glycemic properties, actually enhances blood sugar balance, is high in soluble fiber, and full of antioxidants," said Chicago nutritionist Bonnie Minsky of Nutritional Concepts.
But not everyone wants to give up an occasional Diet Coke. Fifteen-year-old Christine Elizabeth Cauthen started a Facebook group called "I Drink Artificial Sweeteners and I'm Proud of It" after a friend planned to swear them off because studies have linked them to cancer.
"If you think about it, a lot of things in life cause cancer," Cauthen said in an e-mail. "I don't see anything wrong with having (Diet Coke) every once in a while."Stop! Don't reach for that diet soda!
Although we all would be healthier if we cut sugar and sweeteners out of our diet, it's a tall order. Humans are hard-wired for sweetness.
But since 1985, the annual per-person consumption of all added sugars - everything from beet sugar to high-fructose corn syrup - has climbed 30 pounds, from 128 pounds to 158 pounds. The result of this national sugar rush is an epidemic of inflammatory-related disorders, obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
"Most Americans taste buds are so completely out of whack that we don't know what tastes sweet," said Connie Bennett, author of "Sugar Shock" (Penguin, $14.95) "When you kick artificial sweeteners or sugar, your taste buds begin to change. Vegetables such as celery, jicama and sweet potatoes taste much better and more interesting."
Tapering down is your best bet, because stopping "cold turkey" may cause withdrawal symptoms, sometimes severe. Here are a few ways to get started.
-"Unless there's an overwhelming reason (such as diabetes) to cut sugar consumption quickly, begin by avoiding sugary snacks, foods and drinks until dinner," said nutritionist Bonnie Minsky of Nutritional Concepts in Chicago. "Eating protein three times daily and substituting sugary snacks with nuts/seeds/dried fruits will prevent blood-sugar lows. Look forward to one sugary "treat (dark chocolate) after a balanced dinner. Keep cookies, cakes, and candies out of the house."
-To wean yourself off diet soda, stick to two a day and don't drink it between meals to satisfy thirst, said Ann Louse Gittleman, whose book "Get the Sugar Out" (Random House, $13.95) contains 501 ways to reduce sugar consumption. "If you drink it with food, you might be tempted to have something more nutritious. But don't use (soda) as a stimulant to keep you going."
-Drink half your body weight in ounces of water; when you crave something sweet, eat something sour, such as a pickle. Also, suck on cinnamon sticks or cloves, Gittleman said.
-If you're a real sugarholic, substitute two pieces of dried fruit, a fig or date. "Eat a little of everything and a lot of nothing," Gittleman said. "And eat it after a full meal where you have fat and protein to prevent your blood sugar from dipping."
-Delay, distance and decode your craving, Bennett advised. "If you want diet soda, first get a glass of water. Then distance yourself from the tempting soda machine."
-Find an acceptable alternative. Gittleman recommends Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice tea and carbonated or regular water with a slice of lemon or orange.More choices to help you move away from sugar
Although sugar is still sugar, the following can be used in small amounts in place of artificial sweeteners until you're ready to give it up altogether. The products below are available at most health food stores and gourmet or specialty food stores. Online, visit localharvest.org. Check Asian or Mediterranean grocery stores for ground date sugar. Prices listed are approximate.Brown rice syrup
Amber colored, with a mild butterscotch or caramel-like flavor; it's about half as sweet as sugar and is gluten free, according to Connie Bennett, author of "Sugar Shock." The syrup is made by fermenting cooked brown rice with enzymes. After straining off the liquid, the process converts the rice starches into about 50 percent soluble complex carbohydrates, 45 percent maltose and 3 percent glucose.
Cost: $5 to $6 for 16 ounces.Real maple syrup
A little drop goes a long way. It's made by boiling down maple sap and contains a full complement of minerals and is particularly rich in potassium and calcium, said Ann Louse Gittleman, author of "Get the Sugar Out."
Cost: $7 to $10 per pint.Honey
Although it has more calories and raises the blood sugar even more than white sugar, Jonny Bowden lists raw, unfiltered honey in his book "The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth" (Fair Winds Press, $24.99) because it contains enzymes and phytonutrients and has some reported medicinal benefits. But it could cause allergic reactions to pollen-sensitive individuals.
Cost: $3.50 and up - way up - for 16 ounces.Blackstrap molasses
Another Bowden favorite, molasses is the thick syrup that's left after sugar beets or cane is processed for table sugar. Blackstrap contains the lowest sugar content of the molasseses and has a bitter- tart flavor. It has good-for-you ingredients, but few consume enough of the strong-flavored syrup to benefit.
Cost: $5 to $6 for 16 ounces.Sorghum syrup
The National Sweet Sorghum Producers and Processors Association makes this very clear: Sorghum syrup is not the same as molasses, a byproduct of the sugar-making process. Sorghum syrup comes from sorghum cane: Juices are extracted and then concentrated through evaporation. Genuine sorghum contains nutrients such as iron, calcium and potassium. The association recommends substituting sorghum cup for cup in any recipe or dish that calls for molasses, honey, corn syrup or maple syrup.
Cost: $8 to $12 for 16 ounces.Date sugar
If you simply can't do without sugar, this is Gittleman's favorite stand-in. It's made from pulverized dried dates; although it has the consistency of sugar, it isn't refined like sugar. It also contains fiber and is high in many minerals. One tablespoon of date "sugar" is counted as one fruit exchange in the diabetic exchange system. Because it has an intense flavor, you might be inclined to use less.
Cost: $6 to $8 for 12 ounces.
Artificial sweeteners have been hailed as an effective way to cut calories and control weight, help manage chronic conditions such as diabetes and potentially prevent cavities.
But some contend that the ubiquitous pink, blue and yellow packets can be just as harmful as sugar.
Mounting research, meanwhile, shows they can actually trigger carbohydrate cravings and lead to weight gain.
Here's a quick look at three common sweeteners approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Aspartame (NutraSweet and Equal)
Aspartame, a general all-purpose sweetener in foods and drinks, is 200 times sweeter than sugar. Despite concerns that aspartame is linked to a host of ailments, including cancer, autoimmune disorders, digestive distress, mood swings and joint pain - and efforts by two states to ban it - the FDA says the sweetener is safe unless you have a genetic disorder of metabolism known as phenylketonuria.
Saccharin (Sweet'N Low, Sweet Twin)
Saccharin is 200 to 700 times sweeter than sugar. A petroleum derivative, it is found in gum, cosmetics, baked goods, tabletop sweeteners, soft drinks and jams.
In 1977, the FDA proposed a ban on saccharin because of concerns about rats that developed bladder cancer after receiving high doses of it.
The National Cancer Institute cleared saccharin of the charge, but it is banned in foods in Germany and France.
Sucralose is 600 times sweeter than sugar on average and is marketed as a "no-calorie sweetener" even though it contains 96 calories a cup, said Ann Louise Gittleman, author of "Get the Sugar Out (Random House, $13.95) Made from table sugar, sucralose adds no calories because it isn't digested in the body.
Although some report digestive distress, especially constipation and headaches, concerns also have surfaced over long-term safety. Whole Foods won't carry products containing sucralose because the company doesn't believe there's enough balanced information. But in 1999, the FDA allowed sucralose as a general-purpose sweetener in all foods. | <urn:uuid:90e9ab9d-e320-4e5a-8245-cb097b12a148> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1318170/sugar_your_sweet_tooth_craves_it_but_your_body_doesnt/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00045-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952223 | 3,205 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Regarded from the point of view of scientific productivity, the Vatican is the busiest scientific workshop in Rome. Scientific materials of the highest order and in astonishing abundance are stored up in the palace, access to them is easily obtained, and the conditions for work are most favourable. Apart from the most modern scientific theories, for which of course the Vatican treasures offer no materials, information on all branches of human knowledge may be found there. The sources which the Vatican affords for the history of the sciences have heretofore suffered from a great, and to some extent absolute, neglect. This remark applies with special force to philosophy, theology, history, literature, philology in all its branches, jurisprudence, geography, ethnology, and art, for all of which categories the most important materials are to be found here. (Concerning the manner of handling these sources, see INSTITUTES, ROMAN HISTORICAL.) Despite the depressed financial position of the Curia, the pope annually increases his appropriations for the cultivation of science within the walls of the Vatican ; this offers clear testimony as to the attitude of the Church towards scientific pursuits. Over this research she exercises only remote supervision; the investigator is at perfect liberty to pursue his studies, all facilities and guidance being given him. One need only recall the names of Bethmann, Munch, Mommsen, Duchesne, Kehr, Lämmer, Sickel, Pastor, and dozens of others, turn to their works, and learn their views, to be convinced of the scientific liberality of the Vatican ; (Cf; Walsh, "The Popes and Science. The History of the Papal Relations to Science during the Middle Ages and Down to our Time", New York, 1911.)
It was only natural that the Church from the first centuries of her existence should devote great care to the collection of all important documents and to preserving them in the manner then customary. There is very little information to be found concerning the manner and extent of these archival collections, since the documentary treasures of early Christianity have been lost. Extensive remains of documents antedating the thirteenth century no longer exist, and of the papal registers of the preceding period we retain only scanty, though valuable, remnants [cf. the interesting and comprehensive work of Wilhelm Peitz, "Das Original-register Gregors VII im Vatikanischen Archiv (Reg. Vat. 2) nebst Beiträgen zur Kenntnis der Original-register Innocenz' III. und Honorius' III. (Reg. Vat. 4-11)", Vienna, 1911 (Sitzungsberichte)].
The existence of the Vatican secret archives really began with Innocent III (1198), so that it possesses the documents of seven centuries. The abundance of the materials requires, in view of the prime importance of the institutions, a special, though quite summary treatment. A fairly reliable estimate of the arranged documents -- an appraisal of their value can be only provisionally attempted as yet -- has established the fact that there are in round numbers 60,000 volumes, cassettes, and bundles. In the cassettes are frequently many dozens of separate documents; in the bundles of Acts from 100 to 200 letters with their enclosures are occasionally found; while the huge folio volumes of the registers of the fourteenth century contain as many as 2000 documents and even more. It is thus impossible to furnish even an approximately accurate estimate of the number of letters, reports, documents, protocols, minutes, etc. in every stage of preparation, which are contained in the secret archives. Were there not every guidance to this vast collection of valuable materials scholars would find their task of research almost impossible. However, in the working-room of the assistant archivist is a whole library of Indices (681 in number), which have been compiled during the last 300 years for the convenience of the administration and, in individual cases, for the use of scholars. In 1901 a guide to this labyrinth of Indexes was issued under the title, "Inventarium indicum in secretiori Archivo Vaticano unica serie existentium". Gisbert Brom (Guide aux Archives du Vatican, 2nd ed., revised and augmented, Rome, 1911) also gives excellent notes on the contents of the various divisions of the Indices. Besides many others, Johannes de Pretis (1712-27), his brother Petrus Donninus de Pretis (1727-40), and Josephus Garampi (1749-72) did especially important work on the Indices. Garampi and his assistants wrote out 1,500,000 labels, which (pasted into 124 huge folio volumes) form an inexhaustible mine. Felix Contelori (1626-44), in addition to work on the Indices, arranged and copied the most imperilled documents of the archives. By the recent publication of his "Manuductio ad Vaticani Archivi Regesta ", Gregorio Palmieri, O.S.B., has supplied a very useful help to the study of the "Regesta". The Indices are alphabetical or chronological repertories, which must be regarded exclusively as pure administrative helps, not as aids to scholarly investigation (see Brom, op. cit., 7-14).
Passing over the Guardaroba and Biblioteca Segreta, "which have none other than a nominal existence ", and the still uninvestigated portions of the Archivi dei Memoriali, del Buon Governo, and dell' Uditore SSmo., the following are the chief groups of the archival materials:(a) Archivio Segreto;
(a) Archivio Segreto
The whole archive is called Archivio Segreto, from the name of its oldest portion, which, however, retains its specific name. It contains seventy-four armari , or presses, in which are:
The archival materials, collected by the Avignon obedience during the Avignon exile (1305-76) and the time of the Schism, together with the administrative acts of the County of Venaissin, form the Archive of Avignon, which was gradually (the last portion in 1783) transferred to Rome. The series of the "Introitus et Exitus" found in this section, of the "Obligationes et Solutiones" and of the "Collectoriæ Cameræ", together with the "Diversa Cameralia" and the "Introitus et Exitus" of the Archivo Segreto form today the Archive of the Apostolic Chamber.
(c) Archive of the Apostolic Chamber
The four chief portions of this archive have just been mentioned. These are by no means four complete series of volumes; on the contrary, very important and extensive portions of this archive are bound up with the volumes of the Avignon Registers, while other documents must be sought in other places. Consequently, the making of an exact inventory of all cameral acts is urgently called for. In the section "Obligationes et Solutiones" some of the volumes belong to the Apostolic Chamber and some to the Chamber of the College of Cardinals.
(d) Archive of Sant'Angelo
Sixtus IV, Leo X, and Clement VIII are the founders of this archive, since it was their opinion that the most important documents and titles of possession of the Roman Curia would be best preserved in Sant'Angelo, as the strongest bulwark of Rome. In 1798 the contents of the archive were transferred to the Vatican, where they received special quarters under the name of "Archivio di Castello", and are still kept separate. In the capsul and fasces of this archive a great variety of things are treated.
(e) Archive of the Dataria
The three great sections of this archive contain:
(i) the Register of Petitions (Register Supplicationum), which begin with 1342;
(ii) the Lateran Register of Bulls, which contains the Bulls sent out by the Dataria between 1389 and 1823;
(iii) the Briefs the Datania, a name which is not quite exact. These Briefs, as distinguished from those mentioned above (a, 4), were issued in answer to petitions.
(f) Consistorial Archive
Such of the archival materials as are found in the secret archives (the other portions are in the archives of the Consistorial Congregation in the library ) consist of the "Acta Camerarii" (1489-1600), "Acta Cancellarii" (1517-64), "Acta Miscellanea" (1409-1692), and "Acta Consistorialia" (1592-1668; 1746-49).
(g) Archive of the Secretariate of State
Despite the great gaps to be found in this section, this archive possesses the greatest importance for the political and ecclesiastico-civil history of modern times. It includes the following subdivisions:
(i) Nunciatures and Legations -- Germania (1515-1809), -- Francia (1517-1809), -- Spagna (1563-1796), -- Polonia (1567-1783), -- Portogallo (1535-1809), -- Inghilterra (1565-1689; 1702-04), -- Genova (1572-84; 1593-1604), -- Venezia (1532-34; 1561, 1562, 1566-1798), -- Napoli (1570-1809), -- Colonia (1575-1799), -- Monaco di Baviera (1786-1808), -- Paci, that is negotiations for various treaties (1628-1715), -- Svizzera (1532-1803), -- Firenze (1572-1809), -- Savoia (1586-1796), -- Avignon (1564-1789), -- Fiandra (1553-1796; to which section also belong five bundles of letters embracing the years 1800-09 and 1814 and 1815), -- Malta (1572-1792), -- Bologna (1553-1791), -- Ferrara (1597-1740), -- Romagna (1597-1740), -- Urbino (1664-1740), -- Diversi, that is copies of letters and other things, all of which refer to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. From this list one may see both the richness and the great importance of this division.
(ii) Letters of Cardinals. -- This contains the correspondence between the Secretariate of State and the various cardinals for the period from 1523 to 1803. Here are thus contained both the minutes of the letters dispatched and the originals of letters received from the cardinals. There are, besides, in this collection numerous letters from princes, legates, bishops, etc.
(iii) Letters of bishops and prelates. -- The letters of the bishops and prelates contain not only ecclesiastico-political but also purely political information, so that they possess a high value for profane history. The original letters and the minutes of the answers dispatched extend from 1515 to 1797.
(iv) Letters of princes and titled persons. -- Many distinguished personages (including bishops and prelates ) are found among the writers of this collection of letters, which contains a large series of volumes with answers. The division extends over the years 1513-1815, and has been as yet little availed of.
(v) Letters of private individuals. -- Most of the documents of this collection emante from the pens of those who, while in communication with the Curia, do not belong to the above-named categories. To a great extent the writers are private people. There are, however, some letters from bishops, prelates, and nobles, which should have been included elsewhere. The letters extend from 1519 to 1803.
(vi) Letters of military men. -- Here are collected all the documents connected with the history of the Curial wars between 1572 and 1713.
(vii) Varia Miscellanea (not to be confounded with other Vatican Miscellanea). -- Besides numerous volumes containing transcripts of Acts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there are here collected all those documents which could not well be included in the other divisions: instructions, travelling experiences, concordats, tractates of all kinds, diaries of conclaves, etc. The whole collection is of great importance.
(h) Various Collections
The "Varia Miscellanea" have absorbed the Biblioteca Ceva as well as the chief portion of the Biblioteca Ciampini. The Biblioteca Spada, in so far as it is yet in the archives, was embodied in the nunciature of France. The following, however, remain independent collections:
The estimate of 60,000 volumes, cassettes, and bundles of Acts, contained in the archives, does not include such huge collections as that of the Buon Governo and other smaller collections. The following list, giving the number of volumes arranged according to the collections, conveys an idea of the extent of the archives:
The above-named collections thus include in the aggregate 35,000 volumes in round numbers. Of loose parchment and paper documents, letters, and similar papers there are 120,000 -- a fairly trustworthy estimate. Consequently, although the collections already accessible by no means reach the expectations which have been entertained regarding the extent of the archives, it is yet evident that the supply of materials is extraordinarily great. A great proportion of the volumes are in the largest folio form and of unusual thickness. The contents of the volumes are of great importance, inasmuch as the questions treated are of vast interest. All these considerations render the Secret Archives of the Curia by far the most important archives in the world. Other collections not mentioned by Brom have been acquired in recent times. From the Santini effects 200 volumes of Acts of the Datania were purchased in 1909. On 13 April, 1910, a number of parchment documents were acquired from a family in Terni. The historically famous scheme of Curial reform from the pen of Cardinal Sala (under Pius VII ) came into the possession of the archives on 18 June, 1910. On 15 December, 1910, the Holy Father presented three volumes which are registered under Malta 124 A, 124 B, and Arm. II, vol. 178. On the same date a certain Santarelli donated five volumes treating of the College of Writers of Briefs, and on 25 February, 1911, all the papers of Cardinal Mattei passed into the possession of the archives. In conclusion, it must be remarked that the Registers of Briefs, mentioned above (a, iv), have not passed definitively into the possession of the archives, but have only been deposited there; while the Indices, without which the use of the former is scarcely possible, have been again withdrawn. Those engaged in research must, therefore, apply to the archivist of Briefs, one of the officials in the Secretariate of State.(3) The Administration of the Archives
The scientific management of the archives is entrusted to a cardinal with the title of archivist of the Vatican Secret Archives. All economical questions, such as the salaries of the officials and the expenditure necessary from time to time, are referred to the Prefecture of the Apostolic Palaces. The archives have, therefore, no regular budget for expenditure. The practical administration is entrusted to the assistant archivist, who issues all instructions to the other officials. He is assisted by a secretary, who, besides fulfilling other duties, supplies information concerning research work and other scientific qu sita . Five writers ( scriptores ) are engaged on the making of inventories and the superintendence of all transcripts to be dispatched to scholars dwelling outside Rome. To these officials is also entrusted the administration of certain important sections of the archives. The work-room is placed under the charge of two custodians ( custodes ), of whom one is the director of the Scuola Paleografica of the archives. Of the five bidelli , or servants, one is capo sala , that is, it is his special task to register the number of the manuscript required, to deliver it to the student, and to receive it back at the conclusion of the period of study. For the repair and rebinding of injured volumes and the restoration of documents two ristauratori have been appointed. A special clerk is employed exclusively with the pasting on of the number labels and with the pagination of all the codices which previously were without page or folio numbers. Finally, there is a porter who watches over the entrance door in the Torre dei Quattro Venti.
Besides the work-room, the office of the assistant archivist, and the old work-room, fifty rooms (including a large number of very extensive halls) are under the charge of the administration. The sixty places (usually all occupied) in the work-room can be increased to eighty to accommodate an unusually large body of investigators. In exceptional cases, women are permitted to study in the archives. The working year extends from 1 October to 27 June. During the working year 1909-10, 6018 application forms for volumes were received; during the year 1910-11 only 4800. The difference is due to the fact that since October, 1910, it has been allowed to apply for two or even three successive manuscripts on the same form -- a privilege which was not previously allowed. The last inventory was made in July, 1910.(4) History
Concerning the earliest attempts to create archives in the Vatican, the reader is referred to the work of the present writer on the Camera Collegii Cardinalium (1898), which treats also of the creation of an archive of the Sacred College. In the years 1611-13 Paul V had the present archive buildings constructed by the cardinal librarian, Bartolomeo Cesi; these are situated at the western narrow side of the Salone Sistino, the hall of state built by Sixtus for the library. The same pontiff devoted large sums to the perfecting and repair of the materials. This Secret Archive of the Vatican was from the very beginning regarded as an administrative institution for the facilitation of Curial affairs. Consequently, it was so planned as to answer the needs it was intended to fill. When subsequently, during the heated literary warfare against the Protestant innovations, it became necessary to make the collected treasures accessible to the great historians of that age, it lost nothing of its original character. In his work, "Costituzione deli' archivio Vaticano e suo primo indice sotto il Pontificato di Paolo V, manoscritto inedito di Michele Lonigo" (Rome, 1887), Gasparolo gives an accurate description of the collections deposited in the archives at its foundation. Since that time the following important collections have been added: the Archive of the Secretary of State in 1660; Archive of Avignon, of which the last portion was added in 1783; Archive of Sant' Angelo, 1798; Archive of the Congregazione del Buon Governo, 1870; Archive of the Dataria, 1892; Borghese Archive, 1893; Archive of Memorials 1905; Archive "dell' Uditore Santissimo", 1906; Consistorial Archive, 1907; and the Archive of Briefs, 1909 (cf. Marini, "Memorie istoriche degli Archivi della Santa Sede', 1825). (Concerning the opening of the secret archives see INSTITUTES, ROMAN HISTORICAL.)
By Motu Proprio of 1 May, 1894 (Fin dal principio), Leo XIII founded in the Vatican Archives an institute for palæography and diplomatics, his Decree being published on 15 May in a letter to Cardinal Hergenröther , the learned archivist of the Church ("Leonis papæ XIII allocutiones, epistolæ, etc.", Bruges, 1887, 76). In the "Studi e documenti di storia e di diritto", VI (1885), 106-08, the text of the "Ordinamenti per la Scuola di paleografia presso l'archivio Pontificio Vaticano" may be found. The first professor was Isidoro Carini, whose successor is (1912) Angelo Melampo. Lectures are delvered thrice weekly from November to June, and students who successfully compete in the written and oral examinations receive a diploma in archival research and diplomatics (cf. Carini, "Prolusione al corso di paleografia e critica storica, inaugurato nella pontificia scuola Vaticana il 16 Marzo, 1885", Rome, 1885; "Argomenti di Paleografia e Critica Storica trattati nella Pontificia Scuola Vaticana ne' tre corsi del 1885, 1886, 1887", Rome, 1888). For the extensive works of organization, the activity of the leading archivists in the preparation of the Indices, the nature and contents of the many hundreds of Indices, the reader is referred to Brom, op. cit.(5) Apart from the secret archives
There are in the Vatican Palace other archives, which may be divided into ecclesiastical, juridical, ecelesiastico-political, and purely administrative archives, according to the bodies to which they belong. Most important historically is that of the Apostolic penitentiary; the older collections, of which until recently scholars knew nothing, are kept in the Vatican. The large archive of the Sacra Rota Romana, which is of fundamental importance for juridical questions and the history of jurisprudence, is accommodated in a small annex in the Vatican Gardens, adjacent to the entrance to the museum. All the collections of the archive of the Secretariate of State antedating 1860 are included in the secret archives; later papers are preserved in a special archive on the third story of the palace, where is also the archive of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs. This archive admits no investigator, and questions on particular points addressed to it by scholars have failed to receive pertinent answers. As may be deduced from the already published earlier Acts of the archive of the Papal Ceremoniare, the volumes of this archive contain very interesting information. The extremely valuable archive of the Cappella Sistina , the papal choir, is deposited in the Vatican Library, though only in the character of a loan. Special archives are possessed by the administrations of the majordomo, the maestro di camera, the master of the sacred palace, the administrations of the Peterspence, the Elemosineria, the Computesteria, the Floreria, the maestro di casa, the three corps of guards, and the gendarmes. Other archives are too unimportant for mention here. There is at present some thought of gradually uniting with the secret archives the most important of the above collections and other ecclesiastical archives existing in Rome outside the Vatican.
The Vatican Library is the first among the great libraries of the world in the importance of its materials, but in the number of its manuscripts a few libraries surpass it, and in the number of printed books it is surpassed by many. This condition but accords with its historical development: the Vatican was founded as a manuscript library, has always been regarded as such, and is today administered as such by those in charge. The printed books which have been acquired, either through inheritance, or gift or by purchase, are intended solely to facilitate and promote the study of the manuscripts. This fact must be borne in mind to understand the attitude of the administration of the library. (Consult Barbier de Montault, "La Bibliothèque Vaticane et ses annexes", Rome, 1867. A number of essays on the library are contained in: "Al Sommo Pontefice Leone XIII. Omaggio giubilare della Biblioteca Vaticana", Rome, 1889; "Nel Giubileo Episcopate di Leone XIII. Omaggio della Biblioteca Vaticana", Rome, 1893. The former contains the pertinent literature.)(1) The Manuscripts
The whole fund of manuscripts may be divided into closed (historical) and open collections. The former are collections which came to the library complete, and are administered as one entity. As no additional manuscripts from the same sources can henceforth be obtained, these collections form a unit with a numerus clausus . The open collections are those to which are added new acquisitions made by the library (either separately or a few together), which do not form a complete collection in themselves. Separated according to the languages of the manuscripts, there are sixteen open, and thirty-six closed, divisions; the open all bear the name of "Codices Vaticani", while the closed are known according to their origin. Scientific access to these treasures is facilitated by the Indices, concerning which we shall speak below. The following details, based on information supplied by Father Ehrle, S.J., prefect of the library, are the most accurate that have ever been given of the Vatican collections. The figures for the open collections represent the state of the library on 1 December, 1911; owing to the acquisition of new manuscripts, these figures are gradually increasing, especially those for the first two categories-Latini and Græci.
The total of the collections reaches 40,658 manuscripts, to which must be added between 8000 and 10,000 manuscripts in the two Barberini archives, and still awaiting detailed examination and arrangement. There are, therefore in the Vatican Library some 50,000 manuscripts ; the first sixteen sections are the above-mentioned open collections; the others are all closed. The collection of Manuscripta Zeladiana was given to Toledo, while the printed books of the same collection remained in the Vatican Library. The Codices Vaticani in various languages are traceable to the old collections of the library of the fifteenth century or to the growth of the library ; to this collection new departments have been gradually added.(2) Printed Books
No exact calculation of the number of printed books has been yet undertaken. Estimates conscientiously made yield the following figures:
The total of printed books is thus in round numbers 350,000, which may be said to constitute a very considerable library. The Consultation Library is, as its name suggests, composed of works which immediately promote or facilitate the study of the manuscripts. The Prima Raccolta is the collection of books which was formed in the Vatican between 1620 and 1630; in the Raccolta Generale are gathered all the works (arranged according to the various branches of knowledge ) which have been secured by the Vatican at any period or will hereafter be secured, provided that they do not specially pertain to the Consultation Library. The name of the other collections are quickly explained: Barberini, because it emanated from the princely house of that name; Palatina, because it came to Rome from the Heidelberg library of the Elector Palatine (Palatinus elector); Zeladiana, because it belonged to the effects of Cardinal Zelada; Mai, part of the effects of Cardinal Mai. Among all these books are found a larger percentage of rarities than is usual in comprehensive libraries.(3) The Accommodation of the Manuscripts and Books
The manuscripts are accommodated in their old, low-sized, painted wooden cases, which are distributed along the walls of the halls of the library. When removed from the cases the greatest care is necessary lest anything should be lost. As there are various ways in which damage might be done to the manuscripts, the library administration has prevailed on the Prefect of the Apostolic Palaces to establish eight fire-proof magazines into which they may be transferred. For these magazines have been utilized a portion of the old reading room, the room of the cardinal librarian, and two other rooms. This alteration was made possible only by the removal of the Vatican Printing Office into new quarters. As the halls of the printing office lay below the old reading-room, and right beside the rooms in which the Bibliotheca Barberini has been accommodated, these halls were easily annexed to the library. The new reading-room was then established on the ground floor, and fitted with a water-power elevator for the transferring of manuscripts from the magazines situated immediately overhead; this afforded greater security and convenience, the manuscripts being more promptly procured. All these innovations were of great importance for the promotion of studies. The reading-room is convenient to the Consultation Library, and contains almost twice as many desks as the old reading-room.
All the work in the new magazines was completed at the beginning of 1912, and the transference of the manuscripts begun. The two Barberini Archives now stand on the third floor of the new magazines. In consequence of this reconstruction work, the printed books will be arranged as follows: Among the smaller rooms of the former printing office is a cabinet for the Prefect of the Library, a hall for the Bibliotheca Mai and other rooms in which the Heidelberg books (Palatini) and portions of the Raccolta Generale are to be accommodated. Two halls will be devoted to the Biblioteca Barberini, a book collection of very high value. In the hall of the Consultation Library with its two antechambers will be placed, in addition to the Consultation Library proper, the Autori Classici and the two departments of biography and history (the Collezioni Generali). To the old presses for the manuscripts in the state-halls of the library, now vacated, will be transferred the collections on canon and civil law, the works on art and its history, and the remainder of the Raccolta Generale, in so far as it is not accommodated in the old printing offices.(4) Inventories and Catalogues
Inventories and Catalogues which are essential for the guidance of the reader, are available for both manuscripts and printed books. They are either in manuscript or printed. Those for the manuscripts consist of 170 volumes of manuscript and 17 volumes of printed inventories. The preparation of the Latin inventories was begun in 1594. All the inventories are in the reading-room ; catalogues for the printed books are to be found partly in the reading-room, and partly in the Consultation Library.
The preparation of manuscript catalogues for special divisions of the manuscripts was begun at an early date. All of these are still retained in their manuscript form; their printing was commenced as early as the seventeenth century. For example, Anastasius Kirscher published a catalogue of the Coptica Vaticana in his "Prodromo Coptico" (1636); in the years 1675-93 appeared a detailed catalogue of the Hebraica by Giulio Bartolocci, in 1747 the catalogue of the Capponiana, and in 1821 that of the Cicognara collection. Apart from these and similar publications, there are in the reading-room fifteen volumes of printed inventories of manuscripts : (1) Mai, "Catalogus codicum Bibliothecæ Vaticanæ (Orientalia)" (1831). (2-4) Assemani S.E. and J.S., "Bibliothecæ apostolicæ Vaticanæ Codicum Manuscriptorum Catalogus": I, "Codices Ebraici et Samaritani" (1756); II, III, "Codices chaldaici sive syriaci" (1758, 1759). (5) Stevenson (sen.), "Codices Palatini græci" (1885). (Cf. Syllburgius, "Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum græcorum in Bibliotheca Palatina Electorali" in "Monumenta pietatis et literaria virorum . . . illustrium selecta", Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1702.) "Codices græci Reginæ Sueciæ et Pii II" (1888). (6) Feron and Battaglini, "Codices Ottoboniani græci" (1893). (7) Stornajolo, "Codices Urbinates græci" (1895). (8) Stevenson (jun.), "Codices Palatini latini", I (1886). (9) Salvo-Cozzo, "Codici Capponiani" (1897). (10) Vatasso and Franchi de' Cavalieri, "Codices Vaticani latini", I (codd. 1-678), 1902. (11-12) Stornajolo, "Codices Urbinates latini", I (1902), codd. 1-500; II (1912), 500-1000. (13-15) Marucchi, "Monumenta papyracea ægyptia" (1891). "Monumenta papyracea latina" (1895). "Il grande papiro egicio della Biblioteca Vaticana" (1889).
There are in addition six special catalogues, not compiled by the officials of the library : (1) Poncelet "Catalogus Codicum hagiographicorum latinorum" (1910). (2) "Hagiographi Bollandiani et Franchi de' Cavalieri, Pius. Catalogus codicum hagiographicorum græcorum" (1899). (3) Ehreneberger, "Libri liturgici manuscripti" (1897). (4) Forcella, "Catalogo dei manoscritti riguardanti la storia di Roma, che si conservano nella Biblioteca Vaticana" (4 vols., Rome, 1879-85). (5) Bertini, "Codici Vaticani riguardanti la Storia Nobiliare" (Rome, 1906). (6) Crispo-Moncada, "I Codici Arabi, nuovo fondo della Biblioteca Vaticana" (Palermo, 1900).
The volumes by Stevenson on the Codices Palatini have been revised by de Rossi, who prefixed his renowned treatise: "De Origine, Historia, Indicibus Scrinii et Bibliothecæ Sedis Apostolicæ Commentatio", pp. cxxxii (cf. also de Rossi, "La Biblioteca della Santa Sede Apostolica ed i Cataloghi dei suoi manoscritti", 1884). Four other inventories on the Codices latini, Urbinates græci, and Vaticani græci are in the press. A further volume on the Vaticani latini and one on the Borgiani arabici are also in preparation. For the books of the consultation library there is an exhaustive card catalogue according to the system of Staderini. For the collections of the Prima Raccolta there are seven folio volumes of Indices, and for these two volumes of inventories. A manuscript catalogue of the incunabula ("Editiones Sæculi XV Bibliothecæ Vaticanæ", in large folio), in three volumes with appendix, also stands in the consultation library. Of the exceedingly valuable Miscellanea bequeathed by de Rossi there is a bulky manuscript inventory of 1898 and an alphabetical index. The Biblioteca Barberini has its old excellent catalogue in imperial folio, ten of the volumes being accessible to the public. For the other departments there are also catalogues, e.g. twenty volumes for the Raccolta Generale, a catalogue of the Zeladiana in Cod. Vat. Lat. 9198, etc., which upon request is placed at the disposal of scholars in exceptional cases. Among the printed catalogues of books is that of Enrico Stevenson, Jun., "Inventario dei libri stampati Palatino-Vaticani" (1886-91). The authorities of the Vatican Library are preparing (1912) a "Catalogo dei cataloghi mss. della Biblioteca Vaticana", which will be of high scientific and practical interest. It will show that as early as the sixteenth century the Vatican Library possessed catalogues of such perfection that we admire them even today.
All readers who wish to use only printed literature are carefully excluded from the library. In view of the exclusively manuscript character of the Vatican as a scientific institution, this is readily comprehensible. The accommodations of the Vatican Library are entirely inadequate to meet the demands of the general public in search of printed books. Should the Vatican Library thus lose its unique position, the other large libraries of Rome instituted for the consultation of printed books, would suffer. Furthermore, the present conditions have been sanctioned by the past, and have been fully tested by experience. (Consult Ehrle, "Zur Gesch. der Katalogisierung der Vaticana" in "Historisches Jahrbuch der Görres-Gesellschaft", 1890, 718-27.)(5) Manuscript-repairing and Bookbinding Department
The Vatican has always possessed a bookbinding department, and also a department for renovating manuscripts as well as the skill of the period allowed. In the last decades special chemico-scientific attention has been devoted to the preservation and freshening of faded parchment manuscripts as well as to the preservation of paper manuscripts whose existence is wholly or partially threatened by a corroding ink. One of the most successful library boards in these investigations is that of the Vatican, which has since 1896 extensively employed every discovery that contributed to the preservation of its manuscript treasures. At the proposal of the prefect of the Vaticana an international conference to consider the question of the preservation of manuscripts assembled at St. Gall in the summer of 1898, and its consultations were attended with the greatest success (cf. Posee, "Handschriften-Konservierung. nach den Verhandlungen der St. Gallener Internationalen Konferenz zur Erhaltung und Ausbesserung alter Handschriften von 1898, sowie der Dresdener Konferenz deutscher Archivare von 1899", Dresden, 1899). A series of model restorations were made in the Vatican repair-shop, not only of its own valuable manuscripts, but also those of ecclesiastical possession elsewhere. In his "Note upon the Present State of the Vercelli Gospel" in the "Second Report of the Revision of the Vulgate" (Rome, 1911, pp. 20 sqq.), Abbot Gasquet describes a particularly difficult work of this kind. Besides these works, which are performed by specially trained and careful workers, the binding of the manuscripts is also undertaken, the arms of the reigning pope and of the present cardinal librarian being placed on the binding. The coats of arms are omitted from the covers of printed books. A fire, which broke out in this shop some years ago, caused little damage, but it led to the introduction throughout the whole library of mechanical appliances against fire. In this respect the Vatican surpasses every other library.(6) The Publications of the Vatican Library
The administration of the Vatican Library makes it its aim, since the fundamental reorganization of the whole institution by the prefect, Father Ehrle, S.J. (who resigned his place voluntarily to Father Ratti of Milan in 1912), to employ officials with a view to their own literary productions. This policy, which in a comparatively short time has produced splendid results, has made possible six great undertakings of fundamental importance for science. The first collection bears the title: "Codices e Vaticanis selecti, phototypice expressi, jussu Pii Papæ X, consilio et opera procuratorum Bibliothecæ Vaticanæ. Series major". This work deals with the most important and beautiful manuscripts of the Vatican ; by phototype reproduction, these become accessible to persons unable to visit Rome. Eleven volumes of this collection have appeared: (1) "Fragmenta et Picturæ Vergilianæ codicis Vaticani 3225" (60 francs; edition exhausted); (2) "Picturæ, Ornamenta, complura scripturæ Specimina codicis Vaticani 3867, qui codex Vergilii Romanus audit" (100 francs; edition exhausted); (3) "Miniature del Pontificale Ottoboniano: codex Vat. Ottobon. 501" (25 francs); (4) "Bibliorum SS. Græcorum codex Vaticanus 1209 (codex B) Pars prima: Vetus Testamentum", I, 1-394 (230 francs); II, 395-944 (320 francs); III, 945-1234 (150 francs); "Pars altera: Novum Testamentum" (170 francs); the scientific introduction to this work will appear in 1912; (5) "Il Rotulo di Giosue, codex Vatic. Palat. graecus 431" (160 francs); (6) "L'originale del Canzoniere di F. Petrarca, codex Vatic. 3195" (100 francs); (7) "Frontonis aliorumque fragmenta, quæ codice vaticano 5750 rescripto comprehenduntur" (300 francs); (8) "Il menologio greco dell' imperatore Basilio II (976-1025), cod. Vatic. græcus 1613" (400 francs); (9) "Cassii Dionis Cocceiani Historiarum Romanorum lib. LXXIX, LXXX, quæ supersunt, cod. Vatic. græc. 1288. Præfatus est Pius Franchi de' Cavaliere" (50 francs); (10) "Le Miniature della Topografia Cristiana di Cosma Indicopleuste, cod. Vatic. græc. 699. Con introduzione di Msgr. Cosimo Stornajolo" (120 francs
The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed between 1907 and 1912 in fifteen hard copy volumes.
Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.
No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.
Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912
Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online | <urn:uuid:0efb136e-8e1f-4aec-a8aa-d007a8c84b43> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=11932 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397744.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00085-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909017 | 9,325 | 2.859375 | 3 |
A mother massages her baby's foot.
- The definition of a foot is the end or last of something or 12 inches.
- An example of foot is the part of the body that goes in a shoe.
- An example of foot is the bottom of a bed.
- An example of foot is the length of a ruler.
- Foot is defined as to walk, dance or go via the feet, or to pay for something.
- An example of foot is to hike up a mountain.
- An example of foot is to pay the entire dinner bill for a group of people.
- the end part of the leg, on which a person or animal stands or moves
- a thing like a foot in some way; specif.,
- the part that a thing stands on; base
- the lowest part; bottom: the foot of a page
- the last of a series: go to the foot of the line
- the part of a sewing machine that presses down on the cloth as it is moved forward and stitched
- the part of the body of a mollusk that is normally muscular and ventrally located, used for attachment, burrowing, and locomotion, or, as in cephalopods, serving as the basis for the arms, tentacles, eyes, and mouth
- the end of a bed, grave, etc. toward which the feet are directed
- the end opposite to the end designated the head: at the foot of the table
- the part of a stocking, boot, etc. that covers the foot
- a unit of length in the FPS system, equal to 12 inches or yard (0.3048 meter): symbol, ?: abbrev. ft: pl. sometimes following a number [50 foot of lumber] and always in attributive use [a six-foot athlete]
- Brit. foot soldiers; infantry
- pl. foots the sediment in a liquid: usually used in pl.
- a group of syllables serving as a unit of meter in verse; esp., such a unit having a specified placement of the stressed syllable or syllables
Origin of footMiddle English fot ; from OE, akin to German fuss ; from Indo-European an unverified form p?d-, variant, variety of base an unverified form p?d-, foot, to go from source Sanskrit pad-, Classical Greek pous, Classical Latin pes
- to dance
- to go on foot: now rare exc. in phr. foot it: see below
- to move ahead, esp. with speed: said of a sailboat
- to walk, dance, or run on, over, or through; tread
- to make or repair the foot of (a stocking, etc.)
- to add (a column of figures) and set down a total: often with up
- ⌂ Informal to pay (costs, expenses, etc.): to foot the bill
a foot in the door
- walking or running
- going on; in process
on the wrong foot
put one's best foot forwardInformal
- to do the best that one can
- to try to appear at one's best
put one's foot down
put one's foot in it
put one's foot in one's mouth
- on the surface of the ground; on the floor, etc.
- in the way
- The lower extremity of the vertebrate leg that is in direct contact with the ground in standing or walking.
- A structure used for locomotion or attachment in an invertebrate animal, such as the muscular organ extending from the ventral side of a mollusk.
- Something suggestive of a foot in position or function, especially:a. The lowest part; the bottom: the foot of a mountain; the foot of a page.b. The end opposite the head, top, or front: the foot of a bed; the foot of a parade.c. The termination of the leg of a piece of furniture, especially when shaped or modeled.d. The part of a sewing machine that holds down and guides the cloth.e. Nautical The lower edge of a sail.f. Printing The part of a type body that forms the sides of the groove at the base.g. Botany The base of the sporophyte in mosses and liverworts.
- The inferior part or rank: at the foot of the class.
- The part of a stocking or high-topped boot that encloses the foot.
- a. A manner of moving; a step: walks with a light foot.b. Speed or momentum, as in a race: “the only other Democrats who've demonstrated any foot till now” (Michael Kramer).
- (used with a pl. verb) Foot soldiers; infantry.
- a. A unit of poetic meter consisting of stressed and unstressed syllables in any of various set combinations. For example, an iambic foot has an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable.b. In classical quantitative verse, a unit of meter consisting of long and short syllables in any of various set combinations.
- Abbr. ft. or ft A unit of length in the US Customary and British Imperial systems equal to 12 inches (0.3048 meter). See Table at measurement.
- foots Sediment that forms during the refining of oil and other liquids; dregs.
verbfoot·ed, foot·ing, foots
- To go on foot; walk. Often used with it: When their car broke down, they had to foot it the rest of the way.
- To dance. Often used with it: “We foot it all the night / weaving olden dances” (William Butler Yeats).
- Nautical To make headway; sail.
- To go by foot over, on, or through; tread.
- To execute the steps of (a dance).
- To add up (a column of numbers) and write the sum at the bottom; total: footed up the bill.
- To pay; defray: footed the expense of their children's education.
- To provide (a stocking, for example) with a foot.
Origin of footMiddle English fot, from Old English f&omacron;t; see ped- in Indo-European roots. Usage Note: In Standard English, foot and feet have their own rules when they are used in combination with numbers to form expressions for units of measure: a four-foot plank, but not a four feet plank; also correct is a plank four feet long (or, less frequently, four foot long). When foot is combined with numbers greater than one to refer to simple distance, however, only the plural feet is used: a ledge 20 feet (not foot) away. At that speed, a car moves 88 feet (not foot) in a second.Our Living Language In certain contexts, some people in New England and the South use constructions such as three foot and five mile in place of Standard English three feet and five miles. Some speakers extend this practice to measures of time, as in He was gone three year, though this is not as common. See Note at plural.
top: a human foot
bottom: on a sewing machine
- (countable) A biological structure found in many animals that is used for locomotion and that is frequently a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg. transl.
- A spider has eight feet.
- (countable, anatomy) Specifically, a human foot, which is found below the ankle and is used for standing and walking. transl.
- Southern Italy is shaped like a foot.
- (uncountable, often used attributively) Travel by walking.
- We went there by foot because we could not afford a taxi.
- There is a lot of foot traffic on this street.
- (countable) The base or bottom of anything. transl.
- I'll meet you at the foot of the stairs.
- (countable) The part of a flat surface on which the feet customarily rest.
- We came and stood at the foot of the bed.
- (countable) The end of a rectangular table opposite the head. coord.
- The host should sit at the foot of the table.
- (countable) A short foot-like projection on the bottom of an object to support it. transl.
- The feet of the stove hold it a safe distance above the floor.
- (countable) A unit of measure equal to twelve inches or one third of a yard, equal to exactly 30.48 centimetres. usage coord.
- The flag pole at the local high school is about 20 feet high.
- (military, plural only) Foot soldiers; infantry. coord.
- King John went to battle with ten thousand foot and one thousand horse.
- (countable, cigars) The end of a cigar which is lit, and usually cut before lighting.
- (countable, sewing) The part of a sewing machine which presses downward on the fabric, and may also serve to move it forward.
- (countable, printing) The bottommost part of a typed or printed page. coord.
- (countable, prosody) The basic measure of rhythm in a poem. transl.
- (countable, phonology) The parsing of syllables into prosodic constituents, which are used to determine the placement of stress in languages along with the notions of constituent heads.
- (countable, nautical) The bottom edge of a sail. coord. transl.
- To make the mainsail fuller in shape, the outhaul is eased to reduce the tension on the foot of the sail.
- (countable, billiards) The end of a billiard or pool table behind the foot point where the balls are racked.
- (countable, botany) In a bryophyte, that portion of a sporophyte which remains embedded within and attached to the parent gametophyte plant.
- (countable, malacology) The muscular part of a bivalve mollusc by which it moves or holds its position on a surface.
- (countable, molecular biology) The globular lower domain of a protein. coord.
- (countable, geometry) The foot of a line perpendicular to a given line is the point where the lines intersect.
- Fundamental principle; basis; plan. (never used in the plural)
- Recognized condition; rank; footing. (never used in the plural)
- (unit of length def.): The ordinary plural of the unit of measurement is feet, but in many contexts, foot itself may be used ("he is six foot two"). This is a reflex of the Anglo-Saxon (Old English) genitive plural.
- It is sometimes abbreviated ', such as in tables, lists or drawings.
(third-person singular simple present foots, present participle footing, simple past and past participle footed)
From Middle English, from Old English fōt (“foot”), from Proto-Germanic *fōts (“foot”) (compare Scots fit, West Frisian foet, Dutch voet, German Fuß, Danish fod), from Proto-Indo-European *pṓds (compare Hittite pata, Latin pēs, pedis, Tocharian A pe, B paiyye, Lithuanian pāda (“sole (foot)”), Russian под (pod, “ground”), Ancient Greek πούς, ποδός (poús, podós), Albanian shputë (“palm, foot sole”), Armenian ոտն (otn), Sanskrit पद् (pád)).
- A surname. | <urn:uuid:9c249156-762d-4ccf-9fd9-684be1addac3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.yourdictionary.com/foot | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00199-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.89229 | 2,522 | 3.46875 | 3 |
Everybody’s going green these days, and it’s been reported that even the soldiers in Australia will soon be joining the movement. The Australian National University (ANU) have managed to create wearable lightweight solar panels that convert light directly into electricity using SILVER solar cell technology. Designed for the Department of Defense, these silver cells have a bendable radius of around a few centimeters, which allow it to be used as part of the soldier’s gear.
The wearable solar panels can be placed on soldier’s helmets, on their fronts, their back packs, on their weapons, and even their tents. And if you’re wondering why the army would want to equip its troops with solar panels – this would mean that they won’t have to rely on carrying around disposable batteries anymore.
Just to operate all the equipment a soldier carries would require about half a kilogram of batteries – solar panels would eliminate that need, which will allow soldiers to move faster and with ease. The electricity generated can also be used to power equipment carried by civilians, which could be useful in certain situations. Hopefully going green will make the soldiers less effective when it comes to fighting long battles during the night. | <urn:uuid:a1ab1cd9-675d-4bdb-84d6-d1837604e52d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/08/australian-soldiers-to-be-powered-by-the-sun/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395166.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00171-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968734 | 246 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Using SPSS and PASW/Chi-Square
The Chi-Square test is used when trying to find a relationship between two nominal or ordinal variables. To reiterate, a nominal variable is one that is only measured by naming categories such as class, quality or kind. An ordinal variable is similar to a nominal variable, but the categories can be put in an order (e.g., ranked highest to lowest).
To calculate Chi-Square, we use a cross-tabulation, crosstab for short, which shows the frequencies of joint occurrences between two variables.
The hypothesis we will test in this chapter is whether or not there is a relationship between religious affiliation and belief in the afterlife. We will test this using an alpha of .05. To do a Chi-Square test in SPSS, complete the following steps:
You must have two nominal variables from a single sample that you can use to see if there is a relationship between them. For this example we will use religion (relig) and belief in the afterlife (postlife). For this example religion is the independent variable and belief in the afterlife is the dependent variable. This will be important later.
To run the test, select: Analyze → Descriptives → Crosstabs.
Once you click Crosstabs, a window will pop up where you will enter your chosen variables to be tested. Select the independent variable (relig) to go in the column and the dependent variable (postlife) to go in the row.
Next, click the statistics button and check the Chi-Square box.
Hit continue and then click on the cells button and check observed, expected and column percentages.
Then hit OK and an output window with the resulting cross-tabulation will pop up.
Next you must interpret the data. At the bottom of each column and end of every row there is a total for that specific group. The bottom right cell is the total number of cases in the sample. In each cell, it shows the observed joint occurrence between the two variables and the expected occurrence based on the totals that were observed. If there is NO relationship between the variables, the observed and expected frequencies will be the same. For our example, this is clearly not the case. They are different but we must look at the last box from our output window to see if our relationship is legitimate or if it was due to sampling error.
As we stated in the beginning, our alpha is .05. If the “Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)” for the Pearson Chi-Square statistic is less than .05, there is a relationship between the variables based on the level of confidence we stated in the beginning. As seen in the table below, the Chi-Square significance value is .000 which is less than our value of .05 which shows that there is a relationship between one’s religion and their belief in the afterlife.
Finally, we interpret the test in everyday terms, which also means we look more closely at the crosstab table as well. In the crosstab table it is clear that Protestants and Catholics are much more likely to report a belief in the afterlife than are Jews or Nones. Thus, we can say, “Jews and the non-religious are significantly less likely to believe in an afterlife than are Protestants and Catholics.” Do note that care must be taken in interpreting Chi-Square crosstabs as it is not always perfectly clear where the significant differences between scores lie.
Chapter contributed by Sarah Friswell. | <urn:uuid:34d3ba15-afd9-4041-a755-bd2f2265f6cc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Using_SPSS_and_PASW/Chi-Square | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391634.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00074-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937632 | 732 | 4 | 4 |
The science mission began roughly 90 days after the spacecraft was captured into orbit about Mars. The primary science phase lasted for 917 Earth days. The science orbit inclination is 93.1 degrees, which results in a nearly Sun-synchronous orbit. The orbit period is just under two hours. Successive ground tracks are separated in longitude by approximately 29.5 degrees and the entire ground track nearly repeats every two sols, or martian days.
During the science phase and extended mission, the thermal emission imaging system takes multi-spectral thermal-infrared images to make global maps of the minerals on the martian surface, and also acquires visible images with a resolution of about 18 meters (59 feet). The gamma ray spectrometer takes global measurements during all martian seasons. The Mars Radiation Environment Experiment collected data on the planet's radiation environment.
Communications Relay information | <urn:uuid:c10649a1-1e12-4ccf-b630-3edadd33f18a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/mission/timeline/mtscienceops/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397213.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00166-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904022 | 180 | 4 | 4 |
When the Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, landed on Meridiani Planum in January 2004, it quickly found what it had been sent from Earth to find: evidence of liquid water in the Martian past.
Opportunity was targeted on Meridiani because remote sensing from orbit by the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor showed that portions of Meridiani contain up to 20 percent gray crystalline hematite at the surface. Hematite is an iron-oxide mineral, and on Earth the gray crystalline variety forms mostly in association with liquid water.
On the ground, Opportunity discovered the hematite lies within BB-sized spherules, dubbed "blueberries" by scientists. Blueberries that litter the surface at the landing site are embedded within outcrops of soft, layered sandstone rocks.
As geologists reconstruct it, the blueberries formed when strongly acidic groundwater drenched the basaltic sandstone, which was rich in goethite, another iron-bearing mineral. The water altered the goethite into hematite, forming spherules within the rocks. Then, over unknown ages, as the acid-rotted sandstones weathered away, the tougher spherules came free and collected on the surface.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University
Browse Image | Medium Image | Full Res Image | <urn:uuid:29f1e3fe-bf92-437e-b83f-cb6bd8744853> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/?ImageID=5260 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00128-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906934 | 287 | 4.1875 | 4 |
Even the most patient and mild-mannered of us can often find our tempers frayed at holiday time. But many people have a short fuse at the best of times.
Here is a tip for identifying what is usually the source of a short temper, and an excellent helpful hint for overcoming it.
Short tempers are often the result of perfectionism and anxiety. (For some help letting go of perfectionism during the holidays, see Transcend the Need for Perfection This Holiday Season.)
Here is the most important antidote to a short temper:
Be aware that you are not perfect.
Short-tempered people look for the same high standards and perfectionism in others as well as in themselves. As a result, they anger easily and are always on edge. For this kind of person, it is important to realize the true nature of humankind; they need to understand that they themselves are not perfect. If they are incapable of realizing this, they will be given opportunities to allow them to come to this conclusion as a result of external events. Something is sure to happen to wound their pride.
Perfectionists dream of doing things perfectly, and often they have succumbed to the illusion that they themselves are indeed perfect. In other words, they are people who aim for things that it is beyond their ability to attain. The higher they reach, the more pain they will feel when they fall. When something occurs to teach them that they are not perfect, the shock affects them deeply. It may be the result of some personal failure, or they may have this experience through receiving help from other people in a time of illness or some other misfortune. This mind of experience will allow them to realize their own imperfections. Some kind of failure will occur to make them see they are not perfect, resulting in their becoming kinder to others.
Adapted from Tips to Find Happiness, by Ryuho Okawa (Lantern Books, 2004). Copyright (c) 2004 by Ryuho Okawa. Reprinted by permission of Lantern Books.
Adapted from Tips to Find Happiness, by Ryuho Okawa (Lantern Books, 2004). | <urn:uuid:3516c554-87cd-4a60-a8d8-320efa13dff9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.care2.com/greenliving/overcome-a-short-temper.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00044-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967735 | 439 | 2.640625 | 3 |
GLOBAL: More extreme weather in poorer countries
Friday, December 14, 2007
Developing countries top a 2008 Climate Risk Index released in the Indonesian island of Bali, where the United Nations climate change conference is taking place.
The index shows that less developed countries often suffer more from storms, floods and extreme weather than industrialised countries, according to Germanwatch, the development non-governmental organisation that produced the study.
The findings of the index should give impetus to the negotiations in Bali to draw up a new climate deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and at the same time draw attention to helping poorer countries adapt to the effects of climate change, said Sven Harmeling, senior advisor on climate and development at Germanwatch.
Munich Reinsurance, one of the world's biggest insurance companies, provided the data for the study, based on weather events in 2006.
The insurance company, along with the UN University Institute for Environment and Human Security, the World Bank, the UK-based Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and India's Tata Energy Research Institute, also launched an initiative at the conference to raise funds for climate insurance for the poor in the developing countries.
Thomas Loster, managing director of the Munich Reinsurance Foundation, said climate-risk insurance was an important tool for helping the poor adapt to climate change. "The Munich Climate Insurance Initiative was officially presented to the conference and, subject to endorsement, will seek to raise money from industrialised countries to underwrite insurance for the affected poor in the developing countries."
The World Bank noted in its flagship report in 2007 that the lack of subsidies or at least start-up costs, had prevented several pilot initiatives to reduce uninsured risks in smallholder agriculture from taking off.
The Philippines, the Democratic Republic of Korea and Indonesia top the 2006 Climate Risk Index list, while Honduras, Nicaragua and Bangladesh get the top three slots on a list ranking the impact of extreme weather events from 1997 to 2006.
"Extreme weather events play an important role not only in climate-change science, but also in public discussions about the impacts and consequences of global warming," said the Risk Index study.
The index was compiled using data on four indicators: total number of deaths, deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, losses in million US$ of purchasing power parities, and losses per unit of Gross Domestic Product.
Numerous events in 2007, like the large-scale flooding in the Sahel or the devastating cyclone in Bangladesh, have "reminded the world of the necessity to prepare for disasters and mitigate the long-term consequences of climate change", said Germanwatch's Harmeling.
"The 10 natural disasters with the highest number of victims in 2007 occurred in poor countries," Loster confirmed. "There was only one among them that was not due to weather events. Climate change entails more frequent weather extremes, and poor people are particularly vulnerable."
Although an individual extreme event cannot be linked directly to man-made climate change, the study pointed out that the likelihood of occurrence increased with rising temperatures.
The scientific community have advised a 25 to 40 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 to avoid a rise of two degrees Celsius in the global temperature.
That kind of warming is expected to destroy 30 to 40 percent of all known species, with bigger, fiercer and more frequent heat waves, floods and droughts.
The Bali negotiations will try to work towards a new deal for cuts after 2012, when the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol expires.
The Protocol is a commitment made in 1997 by 36 industrialised countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least five percent against a 1990 baseline, and forms part of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
This is an international environmental treaty produced at the Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The treaty is aimed at reducing emissions of greenhouse gases to combat global warming.
The 10 countries most affected by extreme weather events in 2006
The 10 countries most affected by extreme weather events from 1997 to 2006 | <urn:uuid:9f6ded94-95f4-44c7-aa17-fe7eafc0120b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://wow.gm/asia/indonesia/bali/article/2007/12/14/global-more-extreme-weather-in-poorer-countries | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397748.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00061-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938508 | 838 | 2.625 | 3 |
Dial or dash?
Union forces used two types of telegraphy: the dial (or Beardslee) and the Morse. The dial telegraph could be set up quickly, giving it great flexibility. Operators needed to be literate but not as highly trained as Morse operators. Chief Signal Officer Albert Myer advocated the dial system; the Military Telegraph Service used the Morse system. In his letter, Capt. C. M. McClure praised the capabilities of the Beardslee system, which had been successfully employed at Fredericksburg. By the end of 1863, however, the Signal Corps moved towards the Morse system with its relatively stronger signal strength. When Secretary of War Stanton removed Myer as chief signal officer in November 1863, the military primacy of the Morse telegraph was complete.
National Archives, Records of the Office of the Secretary of War | <urn:uuid:fe25b271-94da-4f91-9df6-f6e9188f676b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.digitalvaults.org/record/11807.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00198-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966018 | 174 | 3.53125 | 4 |
Charles Cotterell's Arithmetical Compendium
In 1667, Sir Charles Cotterel (1615–1701), an English courtier and translator, suggested a calculating instrument, called arithmetical compendium (Instrument for Arithmetick). It was a combination of Napier's rods with a bead abacus, used to avoid writing down the partial products of multiplication using the rods. Cotterel's idea however was published several years later, circa 1670, when the scientific instrument maker Robert Jole (brother in the Clockmakers' Company, based in London), produced his version of the device (see the lower photos).
The arithmetical compendium of Cotterell, made by Robert Jole (© National Museums Scotland)
The instrument has a boxwood case (184 mm x 59 mm x 19 mm), brass binding pieces and engraved paper, there is a separate silvered brass tool, for pushing beads and lifting out rods.
The user of Cotterell's device would slide a window up and down to expose different parts of the times table, reading off the multiplicand on the edge of the instrument frame.
The box is inscribed with the text The Index of ye Quotient The Index of ye Multiplier Divisor Multiplic and The Fore Rule. The separate brass tool is inscribed with the text Robert Jole att ye Crowne Nere ye new Exchainge fecit. | <urn:uuid:85608f88-48d8-4851-9fef-9a43a2bc7966> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://history-computer.com/CalculatingTools/Gadgets/Cotterell.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396029.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00039-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912228 | 304 | 3.171875 | 3 |
This slide shows a comparison of rift zones on the three largest terrestrial planets. The Venus SAR image is of Devana Chasma as it runs from Theia Mons in the north to Phoebe Regio in the south. On Earth, digital topography and bathymetry are used to create this shaded relief portrayal of the East African rift system as it runs north and intersects at the Afar triple junction with the oceanic spreading centers of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The Mars image is a Viking image mosaic of the Valles Marineris system.
Mars image obtained from the Mars Multi-Scale Map, Calvin Hamilton (Los Alamos National Laboratory). | <urn:uuid:717c2557-5105-44c1-8793-66f2960779a7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/slidesets/venus/slide_40.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395166.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00185-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.891232 | 137 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Transposable Elements Are Key to Genome Regulation
by Jeffrey P. Tomkins, Ph.D. *
In the age of 'omics' research, such terms as genome, transcriptome, and proteome now describe aspects of vast molecular networks in the seemingly infinite complexity of how DNA functions in the cell. Adding to these areas of research is yet another field that has emerged over the past decade called the 'mobilome.' The term mobilome refers to a category of transposable DNA segments—sections of DNA that in some cases can excise themselves and move around in the genome (called transposable elements), sometimes taking other pieces of DNA with them. One area of research related to the mobilome—that is completely destroying one of the sacred cows of evolution—is the idea that transposable elements are nothing but useless 'junk DNA.'
Evolutionists once thought that transposable DNA elements, originally labeled 'jumping genes,' were merely the ancestral vestiges of viruses that, ages long ago, infested and bloated genomes. Much to the chagrin of evolutionists, the past decade of research has clearly shown that transposable elements play vital and purposeful roles in regulating how genes and the genome function. Moreover, they specifically play key roles related to the type of context in which a cell is located (i.e., tissue type).1, 2, 3 In fact, a high-profile research paper titled "Transposable Elements Re-Wire and Fine-Tune the Transcriptome" was just published in the journal PLoS Genetics.4 The transcriptome refers to the sum total of the protein coding and regulatory RNAs that are copied from various genes across the genome when they are activated in the cell.
One of the most interesting facets of how transposable elements are key to life is the fact that they are now implicated as critical regulatory features in mammalian embryo development. A recent 2012 study in the journal Nature, that was discussed in another ICR news story, showed that transposable elements are required for the beginnings of life in the earliest stages of embryo development.5, 6 Adding to this amazing discovery is yet another recent report in the journal Nature Genetics showing that a family of transposable elements in mammals contribute hundreds of genetic features called 'enhancers' that modulate gene expression in placental cells.7 The placenta connects the developing embryo to the uterus in mammals to uptake nutrients from the mother, exchange gasses (oxygen and carbon dioxide) with the mother, and to remove waste from the developing embryo's tissues. So not only are transposable elements critical DNA features in the developing embryo, but also in the life-support tissue that interacts with the mother.
The fact that extensive research is showing that transposable elements are essential to many aspects of gene and genome function illustrates the failure of evolutionary dogma that originally interpreted these as seemingly useless genetic artifacts. Far from being useless baggage in the genome, transposable DNAs are decisively proving to be central to life. Clearly, they are uniquely designed and highly-engineered elements of DNA expertly integrated into the incredibly complex function of the genome as programmed by God the Creator.
- Shapiro, J. A., and R. von Sternberg. 2005. Why repetitive DNA is essential to genome function. Biological Reviews. 80 (2): 227-250.
- Faulkner, G. J. et al. 2009. The regulated retrotransposon transcriptome of mammalian cells. Nature Genetics. 41 (5): 563-571.
- Mourier, T and E. Willerslev. 2009. Retrotransposons and non-protein coding RNAs. Briefings in Functional Genomics and Proteomics. 8 (6): 493-501.
- Cowley, M. and R. J. Oakey. 2013. Transposable Elements Re-Wire and Fine-Tune the Transcriptome. PLoS Genetics. 9 (1): e1003234. Posted on January 24, 2013.
- Macfarlan, T. S. et al. 2012. Embryonic stem cell potency fluctuates with endogenous retrovirus activity. Nature. 487 (7405): 57-63.
- Tomkins, J. 2012. Transposable Elements Key in Embryo Development. Posted on icr.org July 25, 2012.
- Chuong, E.B. et al. 2013. Endogenous retroviruses function as species-specific enhancer elements in the placenta. Nature Genetics. 45 (2013): 325-329.
*Dr. Tomkins is Research Associate at the Institute for Creation Research and received his Ph.D. in Genetics from Clemson University.
Article posted on March 27, 2013. | <urn:uuid:afc5efa5-3937-482f-924c-0e9bc020ccd7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.icr.org/article/7388/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00119-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903862 | 979 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Your high school years can be some of the most
important years of your life. It is important that
every student makes the most of every opportunity
they get during these years to ensure they finish
their school years successfully. The following page
will outline the basic steps students should undertake
during their studies both at home and at school,
as well as tips on exam preparation and techniques.
For any questions, tips or advice from other current
students, please visit our Community
(in general) top
WHEN SHOULD I START STUDYING
|Here's 6 steps to get you started...
|1. Decide that time-management is important
- it enables you to satisfy, efficiently and effectively
your needs and wants.
|2. Evaluate your study needs - requirements
for each subject in terms of assignments, difficult
of subject, etc....
|3. What are you doing now - analyse
your current time usage, where does your time go?
|4. Plan a new timetable. What is the
purpose of a timetable? EFFICIENCY, ORGANISATION,
|5. Revise that timetable - after 1
to 2 weeks.
|6. Set us a special pre-exam timetable.
|PREPARING TO STUDY
|Find a good place to study. This means
a desk with nothing on it except what you need for
the task you are going to work on. Move everything
out of the way. You want to concentrate on one thing:
STUDYING. Have a regular time and place for studying.
Make sure you have the following:
- Solid flat surface you can write on. - Clear
everything off your desk except what you are working
- Good lighting - Not too bright, not too dim
- Chair - A regular chair that is comfortable.
Avoid strain and fatigue
- Books - Have all necessary text books and reference
- Supplies - Pens, ruler, calculator, etc...
- Clock - Helps you manage time, or timing yourself
doing past papers
- Eliminate all distractions - Classical music
played softly may help
- Computer - If needed
|APPROACHES TO LEARNING FOR HSC STUDENTS
- The last few months of Year 12 are crucial and
experts recommend changes in study methods and
patterns to ensure the maximum amount of information
is absorbed during that period.
- Students must capitalise on the study methods
they have found most effective as well as looking
at different approaches to prevent boredom.
- Students need to develop their own individualised
study programs. Copying other students' routines
may not best suit your needs.
- In the case of studying texts, stand up and
read aloud - this will help you visualise what
- One senior lecturer stated that preventing boredom
in the final weeks is vital. It is suggested that
you should review what you know rather than try
to cram in more information.
- Be proud of your achievements. Knowing that
you have mastered a difficult concept should give
you something to draw pride, strength and confidence
|1. LISTEN ACTIVELY in class, using
four steps - TILE (tune-in, investigate, listen, estimate).
|2. Make active NOTES, in your own words,
in class, highlighting points by using headings, sub-headings,
underlining and diagrams (avoid sentences).
|3. Re-read your notes as soon as possible
and make a SUMMARY on the back of the page.
|4. A SUMMARY must be brief and must
act as a key to recalling other material.
|5. Make a further brief OUTLINE of
the summary, listing only key headings.
|6. REVISE the material several times,
well in advance of exam time.
|7. Make a REVISION STUDY TIMETABLE.
|8. When REVISION, use active methods
- questioning: looking at how the topic is organised;
pretending to explain it to someone else; imagining
the exam questions you might get; etc...
|9. PERSONALISE the material (give it
your frame of reference and your associations).
|10. Use memory tools for complex lists,
- Acrostics (eg - Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit)
- Acronyms (eg - ROYGBIV (colours of rainbow))
- Tree Diagrams
- Visual Associations and Humour
- First Letters of List of Points
|11. When READING (notes from textbook)
read with a purpose.
|12. Have your notes in clearly labelled
folders in a quiet, well-lit, comfortable, tidy and
|13. Practice a RELAXATION technique
daily and start revision sessions with it.
|14. Be aware of NEGATIVE thoughts.
Allow the thought to finish. Then repeat a positive
statement to yourself. If a negative thought persists,
then use your positive statement as a daily GOAL or
|15. Five weeks before EXAMS are due,
make a new revision timetable, allocating times to
cover various topics and subjects.
|16. Now REVISE by using tour notes,
summaries and outlines together.
|17. Avoid last minute CRAMMING as much
as possible. Keep your sleep, relaxation and recision
|18. ANTICIPATE the EXAM PAPER format
(using past papers)
|19. IN THE EXAM, read actively (underline
key words; allocate time to various parts of the paper;
write rough point outlines of essay answers)
|20. When writing ESSAYS, have a clear
INTRODUCTION, BODY and CONCLUSION. State how you will
answer the question and what points you intend to
make. (Don't just tell a story or list your information
without regular reference to the question.) Use your
information to SUPPORT your points.
|21. Keep and use your sense of humour.
|TIMETABLE / SCHEDULE
|With a timetable or schedule, you will
be able to keep track of work that needs to be done.
You may order the tasks which have more priority over
others and it will help you keep focus on what you
have to be doing. It is important you keep track of
every single task you have.
|You may have a very open timetable,
which just states the task given and the due date,
or you may have a very specific timetable which is
very detailed and tell you exactly what needs to be
done on what day during a certain time period.
|With a timetable you will be able to
manage time effectively, allowing you to have more
freedom while achieving your tasks.
|Example of an Open timetable:
| Work to be done
|Listening can sometimes be the hardest
skill of all to learn and to refine. Think about it.
When your teacher is bawling you out for something,
how often do you actually listen? Most of the time
your brain has gone off duty while your mouth is saying
'Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know'. How often, when you're
bored in class, have you drifted off into a daydream,
only to come back to consciousness and realise that
you haven't heard a thing?
Listen consciously, actively, to everything that's
said to you. Even though you won't like some of
it, you will remember it. Try listening for ten
minutes to a conversation on the bus, or perhaps
between your parents. Then sit down and write down
the major points of the conversation. This will
begin to fine tune your listening skills so that
even boring material delivered in class is recalled
- Make it a habit
- Concentrate on what the topic going on in class
is. No daydreaming
- You can not listen if you are talking
- Review what the main points covered in the last
- During class, relate what you have already learned
to the syllabus
- Take notes on the main points
- After class, review your notes and think about
what was covered in class
- Re-write your notes
- Highlight, underline important ideas and vocabulary
- If you have a choice, try to sit near the front
of the class, you can usually listen better if
you are in the front
- Good listening mean you are paying attention
- Listen carefully to what the teacher says about
an assignment and write it down in your assignment
notebook right away
|Especially when we're young, we think
we'll remember information just by listening. This
may be true to a certain extent, but it won't earn
you the highest HSC score you deserve. In class, while
you're reading, while you're studying, take notes
constantly. This doesn't mean writing down everything
you hear or read. It means taking down the most important
points in your own words. At the end of the day, read
through your notes and revise them. Mark key points
wind important facts with a highlighter. File the
notes in organised folders.
- use loose-leaf pages
- spread your notes out - don't skimp on paper
- write on one side only
- put a new point on each line
- notes come from asking questions - ask questions
for points in the syllabus that you don't understand
- indent points relating to main points
- keep notes brief - phrases rather than sentences
- use abbreviations
STUDYING (at home)
| HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR MEMORY
- Think about what aspect of your memory you hope
to advance. If you just want to recall somebody's
name or always forget to turn off the stove, don't
bother with mnemonic techniques. These teach you
elaborate methods of memorising mind-bogglingly
long lists that you will never use again. Use
pen and paper!
- If you're not listening, you won't remember
it later. Your state of mind, level of alertness
and, to a minor expert, you age affect your memory.
Being stressed, tired, unhealthy and distracted
means you concentrate less, as does chronic pain,
depression and altered hormone levels.
- To remember a piece of information, you need
to "mark it" by thinking about it differently
before you toss it into the filing cabinet of
our mind. For example, to remember the number
"08301974", you might think of it as a story that
starts at "08:30am in the year 1974".
- To remember somebody's name, listen to what
it is rather than getting distracted by the way
he combs his hair over his bald patch. Ask him
to say his name again, spell it of clarify its
pronunciation. Refer to his name in conversation.
The more times you hear or repeat his name, the
more likely you are to remember. Get a visual
link between the name and the face.
- A good night's rest will do wonders for your
- It is easier to recall information when you
are in the same state you learnt the information
in. If you find out a fact when you are drinking
tea at home, you will remember better doing the
|All year round >> Six weeks
before the exam >> Two weeks before >>
Just before >> In the exam room
|All Year Round
Six Weeks Before The Exam
- Revise well and test yourself as you go
- Precise revision timetable
- Work through past exam papers or questions in
- Keep physically fit. Eat and sleep regularly.
Take daily exercise. Learn how to relax. Cook.
- Anticipate the format of different exams
- Learn material differently for different subjects
and for different exam styles (short-answer, essay,
- Practice timing yourself in exams
Two Weeks Before
- A new revision timetable, aimed at covering
all topics in the time
- Look for gaps in knowledge
- Test yourself on topic summaries
- Concentrate on:
- vocabulary, technical terms, definitions
- summaries of points
- formulae, rules, diagrams, charts, maps
- ability to understand relationships
- Time yourself in writing essay-type answers
- Lengthen the revision periods slightly
- Nervousness is common. Use a relaxation strategy
to overcome it
- Devise another timetable, based on the order
and spacing of your exams
- Recite and test (don't just read). Use your
summaries actively, especially your "summaries
- Minimum of cramming because of prior preparation
| HOW TO RELAX ON EXAM DAY
- Don't listen to your friends - steer clear of
people who will stress you out and undermine your
confidence before and after the exams.
- Don't hang around after the exam, ring your
friends later - after you've had a swim or a jog.
- Flip through and read the paper. Start with
the easiest question and do it first as a confidence
- If you get a question that completely stumps
you, get a piece of paper and write down any words
that pop into your head which relate to the subject
- one word may lead to another which could jog
- If you are still stuck, move on and come back
to the question after finishing everything else.
- Do relaxation exercises before, during and after
the exam. Be still, notice what you can hear and
what you can smell, but let nothing disturb you.
Notice your breathing and draw in fresh air to
give your system more oxygen.
- As you deepen your breathing you will become
- "Succeed In Exams, Triumph In Tests" by
Jean Robb and Hilary Letts (Hodder Headline Australia)
- Sunday Life from The Sunday Telegraph, April 2
- "Focus on HSC: parents and student lecture"
by EdAssist, University of Sydney
- "Excel HSC Survival Guide" 2001 Edition | <urn:uuid:aa5a7a93-7993-43c4-8e54-15efbe5e2926> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.boredofstudies.org/studying.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393093.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00148-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.893709 | 2,999 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Cancer can call upon a bewildering array of genetic tricks to wreak havoc, but Yale researchers show in the August 8 online edition of the journal Nature that the disease can become dependant upon a tiny gene that allows it to adapt and proliferate.
The identification of such an “oncogene addiction” within a tumor means that researchers have a potentially new and valuable therapeutic target with the potential to cripple the deadly disease.
“If we show that a cancer is addicted to a particular gene, it means that we have a prime target to attack and treat it with drugs,” said Frank Slack, professor of molecular cellular and developmental biology and Director of the Cancer Genetics and Genomics Program at Yale Cancer Center.
Slack, senior author of the paper, and colleagues looked specifically at the action of a particular microRNA, a class of tiny RNAs that has been shown to regulate the expression of genes. In laboratory tests, the micro-RNA called miR-21 has been found to be overly expressed, or active, in nearly every form of cancer tested. However, its effect on living organisms had not been determined.
The researchers found that mice bred to over express miR-21 developed a form of lymphoma. However when the gene was inactivated in the mice, tumors completely regressed within days. The results are the first to show that cancer can be addicted to microRNAs and that their absence can cripple cancer.
“Our understanding of ‘oncogene addiction’ in cancer has major potential to change the way we target and treat cancer, with a new emphasis on targeting and inactivating microRNAs,” said Thomas J. Lynch, Jr., MD, Director of Yale Cancer Center and Physician-in-Chief of Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven.
Pedro P. Medina and Mona Nolde of Yale are also authors of the study.
The study was funded by the McDonnell Foundation, The Hope Funds for Cancer Research and a pilot grant from Yale Cancer Center. | <urn:uuid:9b4c8c6d-6f17-4ebf-af51-1c2bf9799d7e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://news.yale.edu/2010/08/08/cancer-s-addiction-spurs-new-treatment-hopes | 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 | 0.950631 | 422 | 3.140625 | 3 |
A frustrated mother from Centennial, Colo., recently complained about her young son crying in the car on the way home from school each day. Worried, the mother spoke with teachers, volunteered in the classroom and regularly watched her son happily learning and playing on the school’s online cameras. After several weeks of investigation and study, the mother determined her son was experiencing an emotional release after the strain of the school day.
Although it was a relief to this mother to know the crying after school was not caused by something more serious, the back seat breakdowns gave her a lot of stress. To help maintain her own sanity, she set out on a mission to help her son learn new ways to find release from his negative emotions.
“Self-care means choosing behaviors that balance the effects of emotional and physical stressors,” writes licensed psychologist and author Christine Meinecke, Ph.D., at psychologytoday.com. "Also essential to self-care is learning to self-soothe or calm our physical and emotional distress.”
A commonplace mistake many make is depending on a parent, friend or partner to soothe pain. Of course, many loved ones are happy to help comfort those in times of need. The mistake is in believing others are obligated to be a constant font of emotional support, notes Meinecke.
“Self-soothing is a basic skill important for emotional and physical well-being,” writes Karyn Hall, Ph.D., for validatingparenting.com.
Here are five different strategies to consider when learning to self-soothe:
1. Physical activity
When people get angry or stressed they often feel an abundance of energy and high cortisol levels develop in the brain. Neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley have found that chronically elevated levels of stress hormones in the brain, which are intended only for short-term duty in emergency situations, can lead to physical damage of brain cells. Regular physical activity is one of the more effective ways to reduce stress and lower cortisol levels.
“Physical activity stimulates various brain chemicals that can leave you feeling happier and more relaxed than you were before you worked out,” states a report by the Mayo Clinic on managing anger.
Woody Livingston, of Glendale, Ariz., has found this advice to be personally effective: “When you grow a garden you can work out stress or frustration when needed," Livingston said.
For adults, exercise can be as simple as playing a favorite sport, jogging, cleaning, walking a dog, jumping on a trampoline, biking or playing on a playground would be more effective activities for younger children.
2. Relaxation tools
Relaxation tools are those designed to help decrease the heart rate and slowly release negative emotions. They are intended to help individuals develop a sense of calmness and well-being. For example, soothing music is a therapy tool commonly used in hospitals to address physical, emotional, cognitive and social needs of individuals.
“Music therapy has a wide range of applications,” reports Dr. Walter Quan, Jr., Oncologist-Hematologist of St. Luke’s Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio. “We see some patients whose blood pressure does come down and seems to stay down through regular use of music therapy.”
“Music has the power to help you fight stress and even manage pain, and healing music works whether you prefer heavy metal, country, opera, or something else entirely,” writes Madeline Vann, MPH, for the website EverydayHealth.com.
- Michelle Singletary: Should you replace your...
- Utah's Joy Bossi receives National Garden...
- Raising citizens: Tips to help parents teach...
- Deseret Industries provides fresh start for...
- Amy Choate-Nielsen: Bubbles, boopies and...
- Dave Ramsey says: You might not need life...
- Tip for living: Building peace and resolving...
- LDS family stars in new TLC show, stresses...
- Immigration ruling called hurtful, a... 75
- Meet the retired nurse who pays women... 22
- Disney 'princess culture' may not be... 12
- How the tech industry grew a rural Utah... 11
- LDS family stars in new TLC show,... 9
- Raising citizens: Tips to help parents... 7
- 'Warriors Over the Wasatch' on track to... 7
- Hollywood's treatment of the disabled... 6 | <urn:uuid:78271dd3-4e73-48c7-8b7b-f0bf5d06be66> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865600452/Self-care-Finding-tools-to-handle-difficult-emotions.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395613.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00133-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942475 | 935 | 3.234375 | 3 |
The Battle of 73 Easting was a decisive tank battle fought on 26 February 1991, during the Gulf War, between American-British armored forces and those of the Iraqi Republican Guard. The battle took place several hours after the Battle of Al Busayyah. It was named for a UTM north-south coordinate line (an "Easting", measured in kilometers and readable on GPS receivers) in the featureless desert that was used as a phase line to measure progress of the offensive.
The main U.S. unit in the battle was the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (2nd ACR), mainly a reconnaissance element of VII Corps. The corps's vanguard also included the American 3rd Armored Division (3rd AD) and 1st Infantry Division (1st ID), and the British 1st Armoured Division (1 AD).
On the night of 23/24 February, in accordance with General Norman Schwarzkopf's plan for the ground assault called Operation Desert Sabre, VII Corps raced east from Saudi Arabia into Iraq in a maneuver later nicknamed the "Hail Mary." The Corps had two goals: to cut off Iraqi retreat from Kuwait, and to destroy five Republican Guard divisions near the Iraq-Kuwait border that might attack the Arab and Marine units moving into Kuwait to the south. Initial Iraqi resistance was light and ineffective and the 2nd ACR did not see much fighting until 25 February.
Watch the Video of Desert Storm Tank Battles (Battle of 73 Easting) | <urn:uuid:d14ef390-f132-4ee5-8bc1-b709d360d8b5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://gulfwar1991.blogspot.com/2010/10/desert-storm-tank-battles.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392527.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00110-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97845 | 302 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Modest power audio amplifiers for driving small speakers or other light loads can be constructed in a number of ways. The first choice is usually an integrated circuit designed for the purpose. A typical assortment can be seen on this National Semiconductor page. Discrete designs can also be built with readily available transistors or op-amps and many designs are featured in manufacturers' application notes. Older designs employed audio interstage and output transformers but the cost and size of these parts has made them all but disappear. (Actually, when the power source is a 9 volt battery, a push-pull output stage using a 500 ohm to 8 ohm transformer is more efficient than non-transformer designs when providing 100 milliwatts of audio.) As a general rule, transformerless low power speaker projects will work better with 4.5 or 6 volt battery packs of AA, C, or even D cells than 9 volt rectangulars.
Here are a few easy-to-build audio amplifier circuits for a variety of hobby applications:
This simple amplifier shows the LM386 in a high-gain configuration (A = 200). For a maximum gain of only 20, leave out the 10 uF connected from pin 1 to pin 8. Maximum gains between 20 and 200 may be realized by adding a selected resistor in series with the same 10 uF capacitor. The 10k potentiometer will give the amplifier a variable gain from zero up to the maximum.
Here is a simple amplifier for boosting the audio level from low-power sound cards or other audio sources driving small speakers like toys or small transistor radios. The circuit will deliver about 2 watts as shown. The parts are not critical and substitutions will usually work. The two 2.2 ohm resistors may be replaced with one 3.9 ohm resistor in either emitter.
The circuit above shows a 4-transistor utility amplifier suitable for a variety of projects including receivers, intercoms, microphones, telephone pick-up coils, and general audio monitoring. The amplifier has a power isolation circuit and bandwidth limiting to reduce oscillations and "motorboating". The values are not particularly critical and modest deviations from the indicated values will not significantly degrade the performance.
Three cell battery packs giving about 4.5 volts are recommended for most transformerless audio amplifiers driving small 8 ohm speakers. The battery life will be considerably longer than a 9 volt rectangular battery and the cell resistance will remain lower over the life of the battery resulting in less distortion and stability problems.
The amplifier may be modified to work with a 9 volt battery if desired by moving the output transistors' bias point. Lowering the 33k resistor connected from the second transistor's base to ground to about 10k will move the voltage on the output electrolytic capacitor to about 1/2 the supply voltage. This bias change gives more signal swing before clipping occurs and this change is not necessary if the volume is adequate.
As before, the two 4.7 ohm resistors may be replaced with a single 10 ohm resistor in series with either emitter.
The above circuit is a versatile audio amplifier employing a low cost LM358 op-amp. The differential inputs give the amplifier excellent immunity to common-mode signals which are a common cause of amplifier instability. The dotted ground connection represents the wiring in a typical project illustrating how the ground sensing input can be connected to the ground at the source of the audio instead of at the amplifier where high currents are present. If the source is a power supply referenced signal then one of the amplifier inputs is connected to the positive supply. For example, an NPN common-emitter preamplifier may be added for very high gain and by connecting the differential inputs across the collector resistor instead of from collector to ground, destabilizing feedback via the power supply is greatly reduced.
|My utility amplifier was built into an aluminum Bud box and eventually ended up bolted to the bottom of a shelf as shown. The well-behaved and ready-to-go amplifier is really handy.|
As is often the case, the circuit values are not critical. Other op-amps will usually work but a bit of experience may be necessary if problems develop. The two 4.7 ohm resistors in the emitters may be replaced with a single 10 ohm resistor in either position - I just like the symmetry!
Here is a simple audio amplifier using a TL431 shunt regulator. The amplifier will provide room-filling volume from an ordinary crystal radio outfitted with a long-wire antenna and good ground. The circuitry is similar in complexity to a simple one-transistor radio but the performance is superior (with the exception of the amazing one-transistor reflex ). The TL431 is available in a TO-92 package and it looks like an ordinary transistor so your hobbyist friends will be impressed by the volume you are getting with only one transistor and the amplifier may be used for other projects, too. Higher impedance headphones and speakers may also be used. An earphone from an old telephone will give ear-splitting volume and great sensitivity! The 68 ohm resistor may be increased to several hundred ohms when using high impedance earphones to save battery power.
|Here is the amplifier used to boost the output from a simple crystal radio. The volume control is at the bottom left and the other components are on the terminal strip at the bottom of the picture. This is a really quick and easy audio amplifier!|
A class-A audio amplifier is pretty wasteful of power but when plenty of power is available the simplicity is attractive. Here is a simple darlington transistor example intended for use with a 5 volt power supply:
This circuit and the following aren't for beginners; they are of limited usefulness and require an understanding of the underlying principles and potential applications. They all pass DC through the speaker which is wasteful and can cause problems for the inexperienced builder. If built without variation, they should perform as described but make sure to read the text.
The 5 volts should be provided by a regulated power supply. The efficiency is below 25% and significant DC current flows in the speaker and that additional power should be figured in to the power rating of the speaker. But look how simple it is! The voltage gain is only about 20 and the input impedance is about 12k. The schematic shows two values of bias resistor to be used with the corresponding speaker impedance. With the 150k bias resistor and 8 ohm speaker, the circuit draws about 210mA (1 watt) and can deliver about 250 mW to the speaker which is plenty of volume for most small projects. The speaker should be rated at 500 mW or more and should exhibit a DC resistance near 8 ohms (perhaps 7 ohms). Check the candidate speaker with an ohmmeter; much below 7 ohms will cause excessive current draw. With the 220k resistor and 16 ohm speaker, the circuit draws about 100 mA (500 mW) and delivers about 125 mW to the speaker. The 16 ohms speaker should be rated at 200 mW or more and exhibit nearly 16 ohms of DC resistance. (Most small speakers have a DC resistance near the rated impedance and that resistance is used to set the quiescent current level in this circuit.) Other NPN darlington transistors will work but choose one that can dissipate 1 watt minimum. Most power types don't need a heatsink but tiny TO92's might overheat.
If the inefficiency of the class-A hasn't dissuaded you yet, here is a 4-transistor amplifier suitable for small signals:
The input impedance is about 5000 ohms and the frequency response is flat from 30 Hz to over 20,000 Hz. With the 8 ohm speaker the current drain is about 215 mA and the gain is about 1700 (64 dB). With the 16 ohm speaker the current gain is about 110 mA and the gain is about 2500 (68 dB). A volume control may be added by connecting one end of a 5k potentiometer to ground, the wiper to the amplifier input. The other end of the pot becomes the input.
Lets face it; just about any of the various IC audio amplifiers make more sense than this inefficient design. But, this circuit uses parts with only 3 legs. Umm, it doesn't use large capacitors except for the power supply bypassing. Lets see, its more fun-ariffic. Well, lets see if we can come up with a project that takes advantage of the inefficiency:
So, what is it?
It is a modulated light sender! Connect the input to an audio source or microphone (a speaker will work) and the audio will amplitude modulate the light intensity. The inefficiency of the class-A works in our favor now, lighting the lamp to mid-brightness with no audio present. Actually, with a 4.7 volt bulb, the lamp will be near full brightness and will be "overdriven" on sound peaks. A higher voltage bulb will last longer but will be dimmer. Try a 6.8 volt bulb as a compromise. With a sensitive detector like a phototransistor, this communicator will work several hundred feet (at night). Best range is realized if the bulb is mounted in a typical flashlight reflector and the detector is similarly mounted. The input capacitor is reduced to .01 uF to give the amplifier a high-pass character to compensate for the slow response of the bulb. The audio will sound a bit muffled, anyway. The clever designer could use this amplifier for the receiver, too, switching the speaker to the input for transmitting and to the output for listening. If you choose a detector with good infrared response, like a pin photo diode, you can add plastic IR filters to block out ambient light and make the communicator harder to see at night.
Increasing the voltage to 12 VDC, replacing the bulb with a 3 watt, 16 ohm speaker and replacing the .01uF with a 1uF gives an audio amp that will deliver nearly 1 watt of audio power. The speaker will get warm, however! (Due to the nearly 2 watts of DC power in the speaker coil.) | <urn:uuid:074c3898-1cb0-4e1f-9357-0b9449b2c343> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://radiobuilder.blogspot.com/2010/02/audio-amplifier6-simple-circuits.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397111.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00071-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913493 | 2,086 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Optimizing Skewed Joins
A join of 2 large data tables is done by a set of MapReduce jobs which first sorts the tables based on the join key and then joins them. The Mapper gives all rows with a particular key to the same Reducer.
e.g., Suppose we have table A with a key column, "id" which has values 1, 2, 3 and 4, and table B with a similar column, which has values 1, 2 and 3.
We want to do a join corresponding to the following query
- select A.id from A join B on A.id = B.id
A set of Mappers read the tables and gives them to Reducers based on the keys. e.g., rows with key 1 go to Reducer R1, rows with key 2 go to Reducer R2 and so on. These Reducers do a cross product of the values from A and B, and write the output. The Reducer R4 gets rows from A, but will not produce any results.
Now let's assume that A was highly skewed in favor of id = 1. Reducers R2 and R3 will complete quickly but R1 will continue for a long time, thus becoming the bottleneck. If the user has information about the skew, the bottleneck can be avoided manually as follows:
Do two separate queries
- select A.id from A join B on A.id = B.id where A.id <> 1;
- select A.id from A join B on A.id = B.id where A.id = 1 and B.id = 1;
The first query will not have any skew, so all the Reducers will finish at roughly the same time. If we assume that B has only few rows with B.id = 1, then it will fit into memory. So the join can be done efficiently by storing the B values in an in-memory hash table. This way, the join can be done by the Mapper itself and the data do not have to go to a Reducer. The partial results of the two queries can then be merged to get the final results.
- If a small number of skewed keys make up for a significant percentage of the data, they will not become bottlenecks.
- The tables A and B have to be read and processed twice.
- Because of the partial results, the results also have to be read and written twice.
- The user needs to be aware of the skew in the data and manually do the above process.
We can improve this further by trying to reduce the processing of skewed keys. First read B and store the rows with key 1 in an in-memory hash table. Now run a set of mappers to read A and do the following:
- If it has key 1, then use the hashed version of B to compute the result.
- For all other keys, send it to a reducer which does the join. This reducer will get rows of B also from a mapper.
This way, we end up reading only B twice. The skewed keys in A are only read and processed by the Mapper, and not sent to the reducer. The rest of the keys in A go through only a single Map/Reduce.
The assumption is that B has few rows with keys which are skewed in A. So these rows can be loaded into the memory.
The skew data will be obtained from list bucketing (see the List Bucketing design document). There will be no additions to the Hive grammar.
Implementation: Starting in Hive 0.10.0, tables can be created as skewed or altered to be skewed (in which case partitions created after the ALTER statement will be skewed). In addition, skewed tables can use the list bucketing feature by specifying the STORED AS DIRECTORIES option. See the DDL documentation for details: Create Table, Skewed Tables, and Alter Table Skewed or Stored as Directories. | <urn:uuid:1509a7b1-ca69-4a8b-a54f-b290892e6237> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/Hive/Skewed+Join+Optimization | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402699.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00005-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93567 | 836 | 2.5625 | 3 |
The number of great white sharks is on the rise off both the east and west coasts of the United States, two new studies show.
The species had been feared to be in decline, but the research suggests conservation efforts have given great whites a boost.
"It's a good news story and one we don't hear often enough with sharks," said George Burgess, a researcher at the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
SEE ALSO: Image Gallery: Great White Sharks
Despite their name recognition, the sharks made infamous by the movie Jaws are rather mysterious in the wild, and it's difficult for scientists to get a handle on their population size.
Great whites are generally solitary creatures that spread out widely. Populations typically don't aggregate around regular feeding areas, especially along the East Coast. With adults sometimes growing to be more than 20 feet (6 meters) long, great white sharks are not easy to capture, and unlike whales and other marine mammals, sharks don't need to go to the surface to breathe.
"They're rare animals," said Tobey Curtis, a shark researcher at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office in Gloucester, Mass., who led one study on great whites off the East Coast, published in the journal PLOS ONE this month. "They're not commonly seen, and it takes a lot of effort to track down verified records of sightings and fishery captures."
A rise in the East
Curtis and his colleagues compiled 649 confirmed records of western Atlantic great white sharks from the years 1800 to 2010, through sources as varied as commercial catch data, fishing tournament results and newspaper articles. The group said their records make up the largest dataset of great white sharks ever collected for the region.
The team didn't have enough information to estimate a real number for the area's shark population, but they were able to establish a relative trend. Their analysis suggests the great white shark population took a dive in the 1970s and 1980s with the expansion of recreational and commercial shark fishing. But sightings of the species started to rise again after conservation and management efforts took effect in the 1990s.
The study also identified patterns showing where the sharks tend to move throughout the seasons. They like Florida waters in the winter and move northward in the spring, sometimes traveling to places as far as Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada.
Burgess, who was involved in Curtis' study, separately led another investigation published in PLOS ONE this month to estimate great white shark populations off the coast of California. Unlike their counterparts on the East Coast, West Coast great whites tend to gather around feeding hot spots where seals and sea lions congregate. (Right now, on the East Coast, the only place to reliably spot the sharks is off Cape Cod, thanks to a gray seal comeback over the last several years, which has attracted great whites to the region.)
Burgess said he found that earlier reports about the demise of great white sharks had been overstated. His data suggested that California populations are on the rise — perhaps 2,000 individuals strong. In contrast, an earlier study from researchers at Stanford University suggested that just 219 great white sharks lived in the region.
The researchers can only cautiously declare victory for conservation efforts. Sharks and other elasmobranchs — a group that includes rays and skates — all share biological traits that make it difficult for their populations to recover from sharp declines. They grow slowly, reaching maturity at a late age, and because females are fertilized internally, they can only have a limited number of offspring at a time.
And without much historical data, scientists also have difficultly establishing a baseline against which to measure their conservation success.
"They're back on the way up, but to be honest, I don't think any of us know what 'up' is," Burgess told Live Science. "The fact is, we have no real idea what [the population] was before we started screwing around with the environment on both coasts."
- Sleeping Black Hole Awakens to Devour Doomed Star
- What Is a Paramecium?
- No Flu Nasal Spray Next Season: Why Is This Vaccine Not Working?
- Caribbean Sea's Curious 'Whistle' Detected from Space
This article originally published at LiveScience here | <urn:uuid:3be0c951-369b-4dad-8c21-615f7324ea5a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://mashable.com/2014/06/23/great-white-shark-population-us/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00098-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960678 | 887 | 3.390625 | 3 |
Manual handling is a major cause of workplace injury and disease in the health industry, yet many manual handling injuries are highly preventable. Injuries arising from manual handling may be acute or chronic and may affect almost any part of the body. Acute injuries include sprains and strains, cuts, bruises, fractures and dislocations. Chronic injuries (gradual onset and developing over time) include hernias, low back pain, sciatica, capsulitis and occupational overuse syndrome.
Back injuries such as sprains and strains are the most common manual handling injuries, followed by injuries to the shoulders and arms. Most injuries tend to develop over time as a result of an accumulation of small incidents rather than one major accident.
This training program has been designed to assist managers, supervisors, staff and
occupational health and safety committees and OHS Representatives within Health Services to
prevent manual handling injuries, and to meet their legislative requirements. | <urn:uuid:4cbbfc16-2196-4be4-8d57-94da1be1bed4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nswhealth.moodle.com.au/DOH/Manual_Handling.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00191-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930458 | 192 | 2.84375 | 3 |
The Highlanders' Removal
Growth and Development
Founding of Harvey Settlement
A fourth party of settlers, totalling approximately 137 farm labourers and tradesmen hailing primarily from the northeastern Border region of England and Scotland, disembarked at Saint John on 14 July 1837. Intending to join the Stanley settlers, they travelled to Fredericton aboard the steamboat Waterwitch only to learn that the New Brunswick Land Company had stopped all work at the settlement until the arrival of the newly-appointed commissioner, Richard Hayne. The immigrants took shelter in the newly-constructed Fredericton hospital and discussed their options.
The next day they met with Lieutenant-Governor Sir John Harvey, L. A. Wilmot, and other prominent government men. The settlers stated their wish to remain together, and were promised a tract of land, at a reasonable rate, located on the new post road leading from Fredericton to St. Andrews. In August, they started work on their 25 lots, clearing approximately one and one-half acres on each and constructing log cabins. Over the winter months, most of the immigrants found shelter in Fredericton, but the following April, they took up their land at Harvey settlement, located approximately 25 miles southwest of the city. The settlers named their new home in honour of the Lieutenant-Governor. | <urn:uuid:a3341852-e2f8-4584-84cd-fa84f57eab65> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://archives.gnb.ca/Exhibits/PlannedSettlements/TextViewer.aspx?culture=en-CA&t=Stanley&p=14of20 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394937.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00195-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966505 | 273 | 3.5 | 4 |
(the latter form,
as a neuter noun of the third declension, is common in the oblique cases and
in the plural), a Roman measure of surface, 240 feet in length and 120 in
breadth, containing therefore 28,800 square feet (Varr. R. R.
1.10; L. L.
5.35 M. ; Colum. R. R.
Plin. Nat. 18.9
, cf. § 178;
Quint. Inst. 1.10.42
15.15). It was the double of the Actus Quadratus,
and from this circumstance, according to
Varro and Columella, it derived its name (as if from junctus
). The word is really, however, a by-form of jugum;
and Pliny's etymology is far preferable:
“quod uno jugo boum in die exarari posset.” The jugerum was
not, like the ACTUS
a measure of
length as well as of surface; the contrary notion rests only on a single
passage of Pliny, who describes the vale of Tempe as ferme sesquijugeri latitudine
is here, no doubt, translating from a Greek source, and uses jugerum
loosely as the equivalent of πλέθρον
n.). The uncial division [As] was applied to the jugerum, its smallest part
being the scrupulum of 10 feet square = 100 square feet. Thus the jugerum
contained 288 scrupula
(Varr. R. R.
l.c.). The jugerum was the common measure of land among the Romans. Two
jugera formed a heredium,
a hundred heredia
Two jugera were the traditional amount of land given to
each citizen in old times as heritable property (Varr. l.c.;
Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome,
2.156 if., and
Appendix i.). The jugerum was a little over 2 roods 19 perches, or almost
5/8 of an English acre; see the Tables. (Cf. Hultsch, Metrol.
p. 69; Mommsen, R. H.
1.195=1.162, tr. Dickson; Rudorff, | <urn:uuid:9c94ad74-147d-4325-b8cc-562556598e6f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0063%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DI%3Aentry+group%3D3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397562.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00187-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.813012 | 517 | 3.5 | 4 |
Mrs. Sai Sai recommends:
You Can Eradicate Poverty
See how you can get involved with SKS to empower the poor through micro-credit.
Want your ad here?
'Mudupu' literally means to fold. When we are in trouble, we take a coin and tie it up in a clean cloth (at one of its end) with a declaration in front of Sri Venkateswara (His picture or idol), that if we come out of our problem, we will make a pilgrimage to His abode and pay Him some amount or some article in kind.
Since Mudi means to tie, mudupu is a tied folded cloth. Mudupu is also a symbolic request to Him to tie us to His apron and protect us.
Rich or poor, all differences vanish when we visit Him. He is the Lord of all riches, savior of the poorest of the poor. All chant or call out aloud the sacred name, Govinda, which means one who destroys sins.
"Edukondalavada, Venkata Ramana, Sankata Harana, Vaddi Kasulavada, Apada Mrokkulavada, Adugadugu Dannalavada, Govinda, Govinda' is the usual refrain of the devotees, as they climb up the hill or wait in the queue for a brief glimpse of Him. | <urn:uuid:e6075200-f2ff-4502-974c-bcc0e6324f8f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ammas.com/topics/Spirituality/a146971.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396027.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00132-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.890141 | 292 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, affects about one in three adults in the U.S. Researchers in the lab of Agnieszka Balkowiec, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of integrative biosciences in the OHSU School of Dentistry, have contributed their expertise to a project led by Fawzy Elbarbry, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmacy at Pacific University, resulting in an important new discovery that has implications for prevention and treatment of hypertension. The study, “Modulation of Arachidonic Acid Metabolism in the Rat Kidney by Sulforaphane: Implications for Regulation of Blood Pressure,” was recently published in ISRN Pharmacology, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal.
Using spontaneously hypertensive rats, the researchers demonstrated blood pressure-lowering benefits of sulforaphane, the main active ingredient of cruciferous vegetables, such as cauliflower, bok choy, and broccoli. The current study is the first to link sulforaphane with a specific metabolic pathway that, ultimately, leads to a significant decrease in blood pressure.
“While the effective concentration of sulforaphane used in our study significantly exceeded the concentration that is possible to achieve from an average daily consumption of cruciferous vegetables, a beneficial cumulative effect of a diet rich in these vegetables is likely,” Dr. Balkowiec said.
Anke Vermehren-Schmaedick, Ph.D., a research associate in the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the OHSU School of Medicine was also an author on the study. | <urn:uuid:86fd4096-23c3-45d6-93cf-90c5543188a4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ohsu.edu/blogs/researchnews/2014/05/28/study-compound-found-in-broccoli-and-cauliflower-lowers-blood-pressure/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397864.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00121-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927806 | 340 | 2.71875 | 3 |
This movie sequence from Cassini shows dark drapes in the inner strands of the F ring caused by the gravitational influence of the shepherd moon Prometheus (86 kilometers, 53 miles across).
Prometheus appears first in the sequence, interior to the F ring, and Pandora (81 kilometers, 50 miles across) follows along outside of the ring. Radial structure in the bright core of the ring is visible throughout the movie.
Prometheus orbits closer to Saturn, and thus faster, than the icy particles that make up the F ring. The moon passes comes closest to the ring at "apoapse", when it is farthest from Saturn. It is during these apoapse passages that Prometheus has its greatest influence on the fine ring material. With time, the ring material previously affected falls behind so that on the next apoapse passage of Prometheus, a new gore in the inner ring material is made. The material closer to Prometheus orbits the planet faster than the material closer to the bright F ring core. The gores, together with the sheared-out material due to differential orbital motion, create the dark, diagonal drapes.
Several background stars are seen moving across the field during the movie.
The visible light images in this sequence were acquired using the narrow angle camera on April 13, 2005 from a distance of approximately 1.2 million kilometers (700,000 miles) from Saturn.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The imaging team consists of scientists from the US, England, France, and Germany. The imaging operations center and team lead (Dr. C. Porco) are based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. | <urn:uuid:ea3296f9-31eb-4fda-bb9a-5d8d623ecfc0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ciclops.org/view.php?id=1361 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394987.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00200-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901402 | 393 | 3.5 | 4 |
Watery ‘Oil Spill’ at Nesmith Library
by Lynne Ober
Debbie, 7, drew a beautiful flower in a flower pot and then, with water drops, turned it into an abstract picture.
It may be winter school vacation, but kids everywhere are still learning. The multimedia room at Windham’s Nesmith Library was filled to capacity for a family science program hosted by New Hampshire Public Television’s educator Heather Mason.
The room was quiet as participants watched a video about pollution in the sea as told through the eyes of a seal and the ocean. Then Mason asked the children what they learned about pollution and why it was important to all of us to keep the earth clean.
Mason’s delivery was both calming and energetic as she talked about water and its importance to man and creatures. The kids watched her intently and waved their hands eagerly so they could answer a question. But it wasn’t all talk. Everyone got to dig in and learn about water and its properties.
The first experiment was to color on paper towels with markers and then to slowly drop water from droppers onto the drawings to watch what water did to the colors. The kids were amazed to learn that water dropped on red had a different reaction to water dropped on blue or green or black.
They learned about the challenges of managing an oil spill. Given two cups they were told to fill both with water and then to add oil to one of the cups. Mason encouraged them to talk about the differences when the oil was added. Next they added feathers and other materials to the cup with the oil. Again they talked about what they saw. Mason, who used to teach school and holds a master’s degree, was able to lead a lively discussion about how the materials changed when they were covered with oil.
Mason said she’s taught for a while and when the position opened at New Hampshire Public Television to teach educational programs to kids and adults, she jumped at it. “It’s been a lot of fun and I enjoy taking learning out into New Hampshire communities.”
The next step was to remove the oil-covered feathers and materials and try to remove the oil from them. Finally participants were tasked with removing the oil completely from the water. The kids chimed in with quick and funny answers about what was challenging with these problems.
Once the oil spill was cleaned up, it was time to move onto floods. Participants had to estimate how many drops of water an object would hold before a flood occurred. Although that bottle top looked very small, as the participants slowly dropped water, counting each drop, they were amazed at how much water it took to fill the bottle cap. Mason urged them to watch the water slowly and to be able to describe the shape of the water just before the flood and to talk about what water looked like just before a flood.
The last experiment provided each participant with something to take home and watch. Each child got a clear plastic cup. Half a paper towel that was soaked with water and then wrung out was placed in the bottom of the cup. Three kidney beans were placed on the paper towel and the cup was covered with plastic. Once the cup got home, three holes were to be punched in the top. Participants were told to put in a teaspoon of water if the towel got dry and to watch their kidney beans.
New Hampshire Public Television provided books for every youngster who participated.
Aidan, 6, and his brother, Blaise, 7, work on their water properties experiment.
Maya Entertains Windham Seniors
by Doug Robinson
Sponsored by the Windham Recreation Department, dynamic one-woman show Maya entertained several dozen seniors as she sang the songs of the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s and danced her choreographed routines.
The seniors sang along with Maya as they listened to various tunes of big band, ballads and Broadway. Songs from the play Cats, Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole put smiles on every face. As a one-woman show, May uses multiple costume changes, props and audience participation to “add flavor, variety and excitement” to her shows.
During and after her performances, the seniors showed their appreciation with thunderous applause, laughing and cheers.
John Ricci and Shirley Pivovar enjoy a moment of dance while Maya sings Nat King Cole’s popular song, Unforgettable.
Eddie Ferreira has Maya singing up close and personal while his wife Shirley (left) looks on.
Meet the Pelham School Board Candidates
by Diane Chubb
This year, the Pelham School Board has two open seats – for a one-year and a three-year term. The election will be held on Tuesday, March 11 at Pelham High School.
Linda Mahoney is up for re-election and is opposed by former school board member Ray Perry for the three-year term. Lorraine Dube, Joe Farris and Linda Koehler seek the one-year term.
Each candidate was asked a series of questions. Below are their entire responses.
Q. Please provide some background information – how long have you been in Pelham, what do you do for work, what work have you done with the schools, do you have children in the school system, etc.
Joe Farris: I have lived in Pelham all my life, 37 years. I have a bachelor,s degree in engineering from UMass Lowell. I have three young children, two of which are in the school system, Jeremy and Isabella. I am owner/manager of two small businesses which keep me busy. My lovely wife, Heidi, is a stay-at- home mom and does about twice as much work as I do!
Lorraine Dube: I have lived in Pelham for about 50 years, and I have family members in the school system. I am retired and have approximately 11 years, experience as an instructor in the Pelham school district. I hold a master of education degree from Cambridge College. I recently initiated the process for stopping the school buses from idling on our school property, so that our children and staff would not breathe the toxic fumes emitted by the buses. In order to become informed, I have attended most school board meetings for about 3 1/2 years. I have walked through our schools with the Budget Committee, head of the school maintenance department, and fire chief to experience and understand the state of the buildings and obtain information regarding needed repairs, safety, and maintenance. I have volunteered at various school activities such as bake sales, staff volleyball for Easter Seals, PTA, volunteered to help first-graders learn to read, and tutored a former student at no charge to help him prepare for college.
Linda Mahoney: Married, 23-year resident, three children ages 13 and 17 (attending Pelham public schools) and 20-year-old (2005 PHS graduate). I work as a paraprofessional (special education assistant) at the Dr. Lewis Soule Elementary School in Salem, NH. Currently serving my third year on the School Board as vice chairman. As school board member, I served a year on the Budget Committee, CIP, serving my second year on the Elementary School Council, sat on the most recent Superintendent Search Committee, as well as, several other committees.
Ray Perry: My wife, Lori, and I moved to Pelham in 1988. We moved here from Salem because it was an affordable and commutable community to our jobs in Massachusetts. I currently work for an electronics company based in Nashua as a systems engineer and manager. I am also a part-time instructor for Johns Hopkins University where I completed my master of science degree in systems engineering. When we moved to Pelham, the schools were not a factor in our selection. We heard Pelham offered similar education with other schools in the area. Commuting to work required us to find private daycare and kindergarten that fit our work schedules. It wasn,t until our girls (Courtney a PHS junior and Shannen a PHS sophomore) were in kindergarten that we got involved in the community. Lori became a Girl Scout leader and I served on the Sherburne School Council and both of us on the PTA. We were appreciative of the education and spirit the Sherburne School staff and administrators gave to the children but we very concerned with the overcrowding at the school. In 2001, I was elected to the Pelham School Board. I had many assignments including chairman, vice chair, BUDCOM representative (two years), teacher contract, support staff contract, SAU chair, vice chair and Pelham School Board,s representative to the Cooperative High School Planning Board. I also lead the SAU superintendent search and participated in principal selections for the Memorial and High School. I left the board at the end of my term for work-related matters and had hoped to run for the co-operative school board if the co-op had been approved. During my time on the board, I believe I sought alternatives that were in the best interest of the community, students and school district employees. I showed leadership, teamwork and most of all an ability to look at all aspects of the school district, not just those that were of interest to me. When I brought my concerns to the board; I stood behind board decisions even when they conflicted with my point of view. I am seeking this office because we need PSB members who will unite around board approved decisions, plans and vision for the school district.
Linda Koehler: We moved into Pelham over 20 yrs ago. My husband, Fred, and I have been married for 25 years. We have three children. Evan, 21, is a junior at Temple University. He is currently studying at Temple,s Tokyo campus, majoring in film and Asian studies. Ryan, 19, is a freshman at Rennsellaer Polytechnical Institute in Troy, New York. He is majoring in mechanical engineering; he plays on the men,s varsity lacrosse team. Emily, 17, is a junior at Pelham High School; she plays varsity field hockey and lacrosse, is on the French Naional Honor Society, planning to go to college for a degree in
business. I am a licensed and registered occupational therapist, employed by Home Health VNA, Lawrence MA. I received my BS in OT with a minor in psychology at Boston University. Over the past 20 years, I have been involved with the Pelham School District. I coached field hockey for 14 yrs at PHS and Memorial. Have been on all three school councils, past president of the Pelham Memorial Booster Club and have been an active volunteer in the schools for the past 15 years. I was also on the NHIAA field hockey committee. Currently, one of the chairs for “Voices for Pelham Education” and on the PHS council.
Q. Are you in favor of the four-school model being supported by the School Board? Why or why not?
Ray Perry: The four-school model addresses overcrowding in all of our schools, not just the high school. I am supportive of the plan because it brings a long range plan and solution that is long overdue. Although details of how a kindergarten fits into the four-school model are not fully understood, the plan is very attractive. I commend the PSB for unanimously agreeing to this plan in July, 2005 and seeking architectural plans and land selection for the voters to decide on.
Linda Koehler: Yes, the proposed four-school model is the best plan that our school board has developed in the past 20 years. It will not only solve our current overcrowding issues at two schools but is projected to take care of our student needs for grades R - 12 for the next 30 years.
Joe Farris: I am not in favor of the four-school model at this point because I don,t feel as if I have enough information. I would like to see if there are better options. I do know that we need to look toward the future for expansion but I also do not want to drive people out of their homes because they can,t pay their taxes. I know it,s easy to say we ,need, a fourth school but I also know of at least one family that absolutely can,t afford the tax increase, and I,m sure there are more families out there in the same situation. However, if we find that a fourth school is needed, I will work to build it as efficiently as possible.
Lorraine Dube: I do not favor the four-school model because I do not believe the average taxpayer can afford it. A professional from the architect firm has been working on the total operating costs for the new high school on the school website. However, his figures are incomplete, as are the tax impact per thousand costs, and tax impact figures for an average home of $362,000. The architects stated that a high school addition and renovation was a possible option. However, (except for Mrs. Mahoney), the school board does not want to offer that less expensive option to the voters. When the board presented a high school addition/renovation option in a public meeting, they had added the cost of building a new middle school to the total cost. This action made the addition and renovation option appear to be more expensive than it actually was. A high school renovation and addition project should not include the added cost of building a middle school. We do not need a new middle school or a new high school. Instead, we can build beautiful new classroom additions, temporarily use green, formaldehyde-free modular classrooms when needed, and maintain our schools better than we have done in the past.
Linda Mahoney: Would I love a new high school? Absolutely. However, given the state of the economy, I cannot in good conscience support a plan that could put a large segment of our community in financial hardship. The 25-year bond payment added with the increased operational costs that will be incurred by adding a 190,000-square-foot high school while operating our other three existing schools (a budget that continues to grow annually) will create an overwhelming burden on our taxpayers. From 2001 through today, our operational budget has doubled to $24 million. With regards to the $3 million proposed land purchase, if voters are not going to be able to afford to build a new high school, that $3 million could be well spent toward renovating and expanding our existing high school to accommodate future growth. It is essential we balance the educational needs of our school district with the taxpayers, ability to fund them if we plan on making positive progress. It is not right to place an undue hardship on one segment of our community for the benefit of another.
Q. Space is a big issue facing the Pelham School District. There is overcrowding at the high school and middle schools, and the elementary school is near capacity. Large classes are getting ready to enter the elementary school. What do you see as the solution to these problems?
Linda Koehler: The problem is twofold. The space issue needs a long term solution (the four-school model) not a short term band-aid fix with additional modular classrooms, that is detrimental to our students, education and fiscally irresponsible to the taxpayers. Also, we need to address the need for additional teachers, keeping the teacher/student ratio at the state,s minimal standards.
Lorraine Dube: As I have previously mentioned, I support a high school renovation and addition for our high school. By the time this can be presented to the voters as a viable option, we will be close to the time the Pelham Elementary School bond will be paid. If we temporarily use green, formaldehyde-free modular classrooms at the high school for overcrowding, we could begin the new high school addition when the elementary school bond is paid. The addition would provide brand new classroom space for our students to enhance their learning environment and keep our taxes affordable. Regarding Memorial School, we have a large class moving into sixth grade next year. We will need “green” modular classrooms to eliminate overcrowding there until a future date when we can build an addition. Eight modular classrooms at Memorial School would provide space for 200 more students than the building currently holds. The modulars are an efficient and affordable way to provide valuable, air-conditioned, well-lighted classrooms for our children. They provide flexibility to accommodate variable populations. Many towns use them, including Windham and Salem. With the modulars in place at Memorial School, our elementary school would be able to serve grades one through four, as originally intended. The elementary school will accommodate 1,000 students, so even if we had some large classes entering the elementary school in future years, we would have adequate space for four grades. The aforementioned approach would provide our students with much needed classroom space, use the current land we already own, and keep our taxes affordable so that we can all enjoy living together in our wonderful town. I believe the majority of our taxpayers could afford this solution rather than to take on the expense of building new schools and buying new land that we do not need.
Ray Perry: I took some time to meet with the superintendent and each of the principals to receive firsthand insights on the overcrowding challenges at each school. They are already starting to deal with this situation. At the elementary school, enrollment is estimated to be at 980 students next year. That is 20 students from the designed capacity. There are some immediate changes that can take place. Student-to-teacher ratios could increase (more kids per class). Art, enrichment and music rooms could be taken as grade level rooms. This would put us back to the “Sherburne School” overcrowding solution by placing the art, music and enrichment program on carts and these teachers would rotate to the students. We could also sacrifice common areas and other work spaces to build smaller work areas.
Pelham Memorial School is already over capacity. The upcoming sixth grade is the largest class on record in Pelham. We will be approaching 100 students over capacity at that time. Currently, the school has shifted to the art and health class to carts and is utilizing the stage area for classroom activities. Other than place a few other classes on carts, use the cafe, or split the school into double sessions, we are running out of realistic options. Safety is going to be a big concern. This is all the more reason to support the four-school model. Pelham High School speaks for itself. It is time to move on. By the way, the modular classrooms are leaking! What is causing overcrowding? We have an attractive town that people want to move to. Projections from multiple sources indicate an increase in number of students in the upcoming years. We can argue which number is correct but the trend is up and we already have too many kids in the school district for the current buildings to handle. From a taxpayer perspective, I know the four-school model is a difficult decision to make. There are advantages to doing it now. The state has a high contribution rate that will save us 33 percent for building aid; construction costs are not rising as they were, and bond rates are low. The land is an excellent site to build on with low risk of additional site preparation cost. Remember, it isn,t just a high school problem it is a three school problem! The four-school model reuses our existing facilities while adding an excellent high school to our town that will support us for the next 30 years.
Linda Mahoney: The school board should be pursuing solutions that actually have a chance of being realized in this community. Otherwise, we are merely dreaming and dreaming won,t do our students any good. Our previous school board spent years dreaming of a cooperative high school with Windham while making our kids sit in an unsafe school. Now, we have the current school board that dreams of a brand-new $48 million school project while our kids must sit in overcrowded conditions. Dreaming has cost this town millions and it is time to wake up. I would support a renovation/addition similar to the renovation/addition plan presented to us by Marinace Architects which addressed our facility needs and move our six-classroom modular building (accommodating 150 students) to Memorial School. This would provide the necessary relief to Memorial and the necessary financial relief to our taxpayers by not overburdening them at one time. In studying our historical enrollment growth, together with future growth trends, the need for a new 1,200-student high school is questionable. Also, when the current fou-school model was adopted, kindergarten was not the issue it is today. With kindergarten now in the equation, the configuration of needed school district space changes and very well could change the idea that the new proposed high school is the best path forward.
Joe Farris: Well, if there is any possible way to competently educate our children in a three-school model using the existing land I think this would be the best route. The operating costs would be much less in the years to come. Along with saving on the land, we would also save on heat, electricity, water, maintenance (both indoor and outdoor), busing, personnel and so on. It,s clearly cheaper to operate three schools than four.
Q. Aside from space, what do you believe is the biggest issue facing the Pelham schools, and what do you propose as a solution.
Lorraine Dube: One of the biggest issues facing the Pelham schools is our lack of progress and our inability to always convey accurate information to the voters. Our school boards must more accurately provide viable choices and information to the voters for major undertakings such as I have mentioned regarding the additions, renovations, and “green” modular classrooms. When a school board only presents their personal choices over and over to the residents, and the residents reject the ideas again and again, we lose valuable education opportunities, time and money. Although they may be well-intentioned, these actions inhibit progress. The land on the ballot for a new high school is another example where our board needs to provide more accurate information to the public. Our board has stated that we would lose the land to developers if we do not buy it this year. There is an issue regarding eminent domain for that land, and we do not know if developers would be interested in buying it, since eminent domain cases could be held up in court for an undetermined amount of time. One method to solve the problem would entail sending accurate flyers and/or surveys to residents to inform them of all our viable options for very important projects, and to seek their opinions. Perhaps providing a way for residents to send their email addresses to a school board site would enable the board to send out mass emails to residents to inform them about various issues. Press releases in local newspapers would be another option, as well as continued press releases on the Pelham Message Board.
Linda Koehler: The curriculum issue always needs to be addressed. This unfortunately is directly tied into the space/teacher needs which drives the scheduling at the schools and availability for type/number of classes that we can offer our students.
Linda Mahoney: Our school district will be faced with implementing and funding our own pre-school/kindergarten services that we currently share with Windham for children identified as having an educational disability. Windham is seeking withdrawal from SAU 28, which, if passed will require Pelham to find a suitable location for our own SAU. The Legislature and Deparrtment of Education is pressuring the remaining towns to offer public kindergarten that, to many, is an unfunded mandate. We must continue to protect our rights as provided us under the constitutional amendment Article 28a and advocate on behalf of our community. Most importantly, each year the school board is faced with the challenge of garnering support from the community. It is extremely difficult to sustain positive momentum with the trust of the community when the school board makes unwise decisions, such as, moving forward with a special election for a failed contract. While I fully support teachers (I work with teachers every day and understand their challenges), it doesn,t serve the school district well to disenfranchise the voters who we need support from. The time has come for our school board to get realistic in our community,s ability to fund projects, until then, we will continually waste time, money and effort promoting what we all would love to have, but cannot afford. Once that is realized, our challenges will be more easily realized.
Ray Perry: I think we have lost sight of what the mission of our school district is and its impact on the town. We must provide a balanced education for the children. This education prepares them for whatever life has in store for them. We want our schools to be safe and promote community spirit. At the same time, we want to be fiscally responsible to the taxpayer. We have become a divided town and we must bring the town together, work on setting a clear vision for our education system. As a school board member, I need your support in creating this vision so I can lead and make decisions to bring you budgets, plans and student achievement that demonstrates we are meeting our school district goals.
Joe Farris: I think it,s important our teachers have every opportunity to focus on their job, teaching academics.
Q. The line of communication between the town and the residents is always being questioned. How do you propose to improve communication between the town officials/school board and the residents?
Linda Koehler: I feel it is very important that any board in our town provide concise and accurate information to the public. Unified and con-conflicting information needs to be provided; school board members should not be giving out conflicting information/personal agendas once the board has voted on issue. This only “muddies the waters;” misinformation is counterproductive and costly to the taxpayers.
Linda Mahoney: Communication has always been an important focus for me. After strong resistance from the school board, I was able to convince them to allow a public forum at the start of our meetings. Improving communication to the public and among town officials is easy and we have the ability to communicate at our fingertips. The problem is we need to improve the desire to communicate. Much to my disappointment, the special election for the teacher,s contract was very poorly advertised. Simple signage would have gone a long way in informing the voters of this very important vote. Again, it is the desire to communicate that appears to be the bigger problem than the ability to communicate.
Joe Farris: It is important to get feedback from the residents. Heck, they are the ones who vote us in! How can we represent them unless we hear from them? I don,t think we should judge the feelings of the town solely on the “Thumbs up/Thumbs down” section of the paper. The town Website would be a great line of communication and of course, annual meetings.
Ray Perry: Communication has always been a challenge in the community. As I indicated in the last question, a clear vision is needed. This will help the community understand why the PSB is asking for their support on various efforts. It is also important that the students and staff share in the responsibility of communicating to the public. Positive efforts on their behalf need to be showcased. We have many things to be proud of and I appreciate everyone who makes the effort to share these events with the public. I will respond to questions posted on the message board or through private e-mails. Any correspondence will be done factually and respectfully.
Lorraine Dube: Our town officials and school board can communicate with residents via press releases in local newspapers, as well as continue to provide press releases on the Pelham Message Board and perhaps create an official town site in case the current message board ceased to exist. They could also announce in press releases that if residents wanted to be apprised of various issues, the residents could provide their e-mail addresses to the town and/or school boards, so that the town and school could send mass e-mails. I also would investigate the cost of nonprofit bulk mail status costs for mailings for very important events. Perhaps if the town boards and school district shared the cost, it would be more affordable. Signs at major intersections and the town plaza would be helpful in keeping residents informed about important events. We could investigate grants that may exist to purchase a lighted message sign like the one the police department uses. The town and school boards will have to get together to discuss the most efficient and cost effective methods.
Q. It is likely that the Windham School District will vote to study the dissolution of the SAU. What is your opinion of this proposed split and how do you think it will affect Pelham?
Linda Mahoney: Sharing our SAU services with Windham is no longer providing either town with the benefits it once did. Both towns have grown to the point where our individual needs require more attention than one superintendent can humanly provide. It is in Pelham,s best interest to support this split to ensure our educational community will continue to receive the attention it requires and deserves. Our share of the SAU budget continues to increase. Pelham voters do not have any control over our share, which is currently set at $601,199 for 08/09. Will it cost Pelham more than that to operate our own SAU? The findings from a study committee that could be formed, if approved in March by Windham, will determine the impact the dissolution will have on the individual towns.
Ray Perry: Sadly, I believe Windham will dissolve their involvement with SAU 28. It is going to have negative implications on our town. First we will need to find an office space for the SAU. Second we will have to pay for full-time heads for human resources, special education and administrative support. These positions are currently cost-shared with Windham. Third, we will not have the opportunity to benefit from pilot programs offered in a school before they are adopted by our district.
SAU costs are currently controlled by the joint SAU board. During my time on the PSB, SAU 28 was one of the most cost-efficient SAUs in New Hampshire. In my meeting with the superintendent, we discussed this situation and discussed the positive side of having our own SAU. This SAU will be focused on Pelham,s priorities and would devote their time and energy finding ways to meet our objectives.
Joe Farris: Like it or not, Pelham is a big town now! If we run this school system on our own, our decisions will be solely for the good of the Pelham students.
Lorraine Dube: We have enjoyed a number of years sharing our SAU with our good neighbors in Windham. However, since Windham has expressed a desire to separate, it is time for us to each have our own SAU. While it will cost each town more to have a separate SAU, Pelham does not appear to have much choice if Windham chooses to break away. Since Windham has chosen to split first, they bear certain legal responsibilities relevant to the dissolution of the SAU and the effects of it on Pelham. We each have our own business manager and currently share a superintendent, assistant superintendent, a human resources professional, and we employ others there. With a smaller number of children in our own SAU, we may find that we won,t need the same staffing level, and that may reduce the cost of some responsibilities. We must find a suitable location for new SAU offices now. It appears that we may have at least a couple of choices regarding where to locate our own SAU offices. We have classroom space available at the former Sherburne School which might offer a possible location if our town government was open to that idea. Years ago, the SAU offices were in a house located where the Citizens Bank is currently situated, and at another time, they were in a ranch-style house on Route 38 (Bridge Street). It seems there are private homes available for purchase if the district wants the SAU to be located in a former private home, as it was in previous years. Of course there may be other ideas and I would be interested in hearing about them.
Linda Koehler: At this point in time, I do not feel that I have enough information on this issue to confidently answer this question. We need to see what the voters of Windham decide to do first.
Q. It would seem that there are many opportunities for the school to work with the town on issues like recycling, creating a “green” environment, and cross-educational opportunities with the library. What kinds of programs would you like to see the school district develop in connection with the town?
Joe Farris: As a small business owner, I know how important it is to run an operation efficiently an utilize all of your resources. As a school board member, I would use my experience to think “out of the box.”
Lorraine Dube: I believe recycling and creating a green environment are worthwhile endeavors for all of us. I located an on-line company that pays cash for some (not all) used or new books and they pay the shipping. There are book recycling options online that provide opportunities to support charities, also. Our schools could work with the library to participate in these worthy causes to make money for our schools and library, to help others in various charities, and to eliminate unwanted paper and books. Our high school students could participate as part of their community service projects, and all of our students can experience the wonderful reward of knowing they are helping others. I have read about high-tech garbage recycling programs in Germany, Japan and the United States, where jobs and new fuel can be created and the environment can be cleaner by reducing air pollution and hazardous waste (such as that posed by batteries in landfills). Regarding this garbage recycling, our schools could work with the town and library to learn more about our possibilities of creating new jobs, new fuel, cleaning our environment and showing our students that they can make a difference. What a great legacy our students could leave to our town and the world by being a part of this wonderful movement. The possibilities seem endless!
Linda Mahoney: In an ongoing effort, as opportunities arise, I am sure the school district will continue to work collaboratively with the town, such as, combining our purchasing power to obtain better pricing. The school district continues to open its doors to the Parks and Recreation Department and for various town and community functions. We also combine our resources for the annual issuance of the Voter,s Guide. I would like to have a program implemented that would prove very helpful to new residents. We could offer a “Welcome Packet” offering a wide-range of information on town and school services, departments, town government, voting and elections and other important and helpful information.
Ray Perry: As a school board member, it would be my job to encourage, and promote “green” programs that add environmental benefit and cost advantages to our town and schools. I,m glad to see the schools implementing recycling programs that are both educational and have potential revenue streams. This type of program gives our students responsibility for protecting our environment. I am supportive of new programs like geothermal heating and cooling systems. However, these are investments that require analysis to understand the return on investment as well as the ultimate long-range savings to the community. Our district must also be more aggressive seeking federal and private grants that will assist in the creating and execution of “green” programs in our town. Other simple things like, shutting off lights and regulating temperature changes in the building should show direct savings to our operating cost. Lights are easier to control. Unfortunately, our buildings and modular classrooms have poor insulation and air circulation. Modifying our building to gain heat savings would require modifications to our building infrastructure. As we build new buildings, I support looking at new materials that are ultimate energy savings. Regarding cross-educational opportunities, at a recent school board meeting, one of the improvements areas mentioned was giving students more exposure to classic literature. This seems like an excellent area to start a joint project.
Linda Koehler: I think the town/school/community may need to form a study group to solidify what types of programs each would like the other to be involved with. This is not just a school-driven issue. Our schools should maximize the use of what every department has to offer. Sometimes it is just a matter of sitting down and communicating with each other, then developing programs from there. The Conservation Committee could be a great resource for some of our science classes. While computer courses offered to residents at the schools might be another way to connect the schools/town/community. We are a town with a lot to offer, consolidating our resources would be a way to start.
Candidate,s Night will be held on Monday, March 3, at Pelham Elementary School at 7 p.m. It will also be broadcast on PTV. This is another opportunity for residents to ask the candidates questions about their positions on school issues. | <urn:uuid:23f89ab4-6339-4da8-8190-b04024fbf29f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.areanewsgroup.com/archives/2008/0229/PWN.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396459.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00018-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975754 | 7,683 | 2.71875 | 3 |
The Federal Housing Administration does not lend money directly to home buyers. Instead, it insures the mortgages approved lenders provide so that low- and medium-income borrowers can have access to more flexible and affordable mortgages. However, the FHA requires that all properties meet its minimum property standards (MPS), which are designed to protect the FHA's investment in a mortgage. Most of these standards are included in federal and local building codes. The main difference between general building codes and the FHA's minimum property standards is the MPS regulate the durability of a house's fixtures. FHA loan applicants for properties that do not meet FHA building specifications can apply under HUD's 203k program for funding to finance necessary improvements.
FHA houses must provide users with an adequate amperage for the appliances in the home. The FHA recommends 200 amps, though 60 amps are allowed for existing homes. If a house requires several breakers to disconnect the power, a new panel must be installed with a single main shut-off breaker.
Wood must be treated with a chemical barrier against termites and damage by decay. This includes the use of pressure-treated wood and soil treatment.
FHA-approved homes must comply with energy-efficiency rules. These regulations vary with changes in the law and advances in technology. You can find more information on specific guidelines by area and building method in the National Association of Home Builder's Manual on Insulation for Homes and Apartments.
Windows and Doors
Windows and doors must have appropriate weatherstripping, provide adequate insulation, be in good working order and lock securely. Doors that open to the outside must also be rated as safety doors.
Properties with FHA-insured mortgages must comply with FHA durability standards. This is the main difference between FHA minimum property standards and general building code specifications. For example, roofs and attics must have a remaining physical life of at least two years, according to FHA minimum standards.
- building inspector,woman image by Greg Pickens from Fotolia.com | <urn:uuid:45759050-0af4-47ac-805c-e48011c1c648> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://homeguides.sfgate.com/fha-building-specs-7351.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396538.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00058-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939899 | 414 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Developments in the macroeconomy have inevitable consequences for agriculture. Key factors linking agriculture to the U.S. and global macroeconomy are exchange rates, international trade, foreign and domestic income, employment, interest rates, and energy costs. International and domestic macroeconomic shocks can cause major changes in the values of these indicators, resulting in changes in a country's agricultural prices, production, consumption, and trade.
ERS work covers research and analysis on the effects of macroeconomic conditions on U.S. and international agriculture, including impacts of the recent economic crisis and the factors in commodity price increases. ERS provides data sets on exchange rates and on macroeconomic indicators for a number of countries, and takes a lead role in preparing USDA's 10-year baseline projections on major agricultural commodities in the United States and selected countries. | <urn:uuid:b8f347fe-92d4-4de6-bea7-eccf6d7bfbc0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/international-markets-trade/macroeconomics-agriculture.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00193-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.891202 | 166 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Resource Center OLLibrary
PERIOD IV. 1763-1789. THE REVOLUTION.
Chap. I.--Causes of the Revolution, p. 101.
Chap. II.--The War.
I. From the Opening of the War to the Declaration of Independence, p. 111.
II. From the Declaration of Independence to the Invasion of Georgia.-- War chiefly in the North, p. 119.
III. From the Invasion of Georgia to the Close of the War.-- War chiefly in the South, p. 133.
Chap. III.- The Adoption of the Federal Constitution, p. 148.
Chap. IV.- Condition, at the Close of this Period, of what Is now the United States, p. 150.
Chronology, p. 154.
DISTINGUISHED FOR THE REVOLUTION.
EXTENDING FROM THE PEACE OF PARIS, IN 1763, TO THE INAUGURATION OF
GEORGE WASHINGTON AS THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE
UNITED STATES, IN 1789.
CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION.
1. THE attempt of England impose taxes upon her American colonies without their consent, led to a revolution which resulted in their independence, and the establishment of a republic under the name of the United States of America.
2. The late war left England oppressed with a heavy debt,1 and the ministry determined that the American colonies, in whose behalf the war had been in part undertaken, should be taxed to bear a portion of the
1 At the Peace of Paris (1763) the English national debt amounted to nearly £129,000,000, or $645,000,000.--Knight's History of England.
QUESTIONS -- 1. What caused the American Revelation? In what did the Revolution result? How had the late war left England? What did the English ministry determine?
PERIOD IV. 1763-1789. THE REVOLUTION.
burden. The colonies were now suffering from their own losses in the war; and they owed but little to the mother country. They had been drawn into the previous bloody and expensive wars on England's account, and if she had espoused their cause in the last great struggle, the monopoly of colonial trade amply repaid her. Besides, this war had been connected with European complications, and Great Britain had willingly entered into it, in the hope of humbling her ancient rival, France. Excepting Georgia, all the colonies had been established without aid from the treasury of England, while that nation had imposed restraints upon their commerce and manufactures, and had exposed some of them to the peculation and tyranny of royal governors, after having wrested from them their charters. Yet at this time the colonists had no desire to renounce their allegiance to England. Nor had they ceased to cherish sentiments of filial regard towards the mother country, and to speak of that country under the endearing appellation of home.1
3. Scarcely had the ratification of peace given to the colonists promise of a season of prosperous rest, when the British Parliament (in 1764), at the recommendation of George Grenville, then prime minister, first formally declared its intention of raising a revenue from America; and, at the same time, imposed duties upon certain colonial imports.
4. The next year this declaration was followed up by the passage of the Stamp Act, which ordained that upon
1 Yet the Americans were jealous of English interference with their rights. During the French and Indian War, the British ministry endeavored to enforce more rigorously the oppressive Navigation Acts (see p. 34, ¶ 4). The issuing of Writs of Assistance (in 1761), for this purpose, had excited great opposition. These writs permitted custom-house officers to search, and to call upon others to assist in searching, wherever they pleased, for goods which they suspected had been introduced into the provinces without the payment of duties. The people felt that any menial of the crown, influenced by more suspicion, malice or revenge, could, arming himself with one of these writs, invade the sanctity of their homes. Measures were taken to test the legality of the writs before the Superior Court in Massachusetts. At this trial James Otis, a distinguished lawyer of Boston, eloquently advocated the people's cause; and although writs were subsequently issued, they were seldom executed. The elder President Adams says of the orator, on this occasion, "Otis was a flame of fire. With a rapid torrent of impetuous eloquence, he hurried away all before him. American independence was then and there born. Every man of an immense crowded audience appeared to me to go away, as I did, ready to take arms against Writs of Assistance."
A similar spirit of resistance to English interference in colonial matters was manifested in what is known as the Parsons' Cause, in Virginia. Tobacco was the currency of the colony. Salaries were paid in it. To relieve the people, in years of scarcity, the legislature had passed a law permitting cash, at the rate of twopence a pound, to be paid instead of tobacco. The clergy resisted this law; and, through their influence, the king withheld his signature and, consequently the law was void. Yet, when the clergy claimed the difference between twopence a pound and the enhanced price of tobacco, their claim was resisted, and they brought an action for damages in a Virginia court, held at Hanover Court-House. The question involved was really between the colonial legislature and the king. Patrick Henry a young lawyer of twenty-seven, then without distinction, pleaded the cause of colonial and here he first exhibited that wonderful eloquence which made him the foremost orator of the Revolution. He uttered the same bold truths that, two years before had made the royalists declare Otis "the great incendiary of New England." The jury awarded damages of one penny, to conform, to the letter of the law -- its spirit had fled before the eloquence of Henry.
QUESTIONS. -- From what were the colonies now suffering? Into what had they been drawn on England's account? What would repay England for espousing the colonial cause in the late war? Why had she willingly entered into it? To what extent had England aided in establishing the Colonies? What had been her course towards them? What was the feeling in the colonies towards the mother country at this time? 3. What did Parliament declare soon after the ratification of peace? 4. When was the Stamp Act passed? What did it ordain?
CHAPTER I. CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION.
all business documents and newspapers stamps1 should be fixed, which the colonists were obliged to purchase of the government, This act denied to those who violated it the privilege of a trial by the usual courts and judges of the colonies. When news of its passage reached America, general indignation spread through the country. The colonies had no representation in Parliament, and they maintained that taxation and representation are inseparable. Resolutions were passed against the act by most of the colonial assemblies.2
5. The assembly of Virginia was the first to meet. Resolutions, introduced into the House of Burgesses by Patrick Henry, the youngest member, evinced a settled purpose of resistance to unjust taxation. They were violently opposed, but were carried through by the bold and powerful eloquence of Henry. In the heat of the debate, he boldly, asserted that the king had acted the part of a tyrant; and, alluding to the fate of other tyrants, he exclaimed, "Caesar had his BRUTUS, Charles I. his CROMWELL, and George III. --" here pausing, till the cry of "Treason, treason!" from several parts of the house, had ended, he added -- "may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it!" These resolutions went forth, and roused the people to a stern determination in defence of their rights.
6. Before Massachusetts had heard of the action of Virginia, her legislature, at the instance of the eloquent James Otis, had issued a
1 Stamps for different articles paid different prices. For a diploma or certificate of a college degree, two pounds were charged; for a license for selling wine, twenty shillings; for a common deed, one shilling and sixpence; for a newspaper, one halfpenny to a penny, &c.
2 The Stamp Act passed Parliament by an overwhelming majority. Yet America found some friends in that body. When the bill was brought in, Charles Townshend, in advocating it, exclaimed, "These Americans, planted by our care, nourished by our indulgence, protected by our arms, until they have grown to a good degree of strength and opulence -- will they now turn their backs upon its, and grudge to contribute their mite to relieve us from the heavy load which overwhelms us?" Colonel Barre caught the words, and, with a vehemence becoming a soldier, rose and said, "Planted by your care! No! your oppression planted them in America. ... They nourished by your indulgence! They grew by your neglect ... They protected by your arms! They have nobly taken up arms in your defence." . . . The night after this act passed, Dr. Franklin, who was then in London, wrote to Charles Thomson, afterwards Secretary of the Continental Congress, "The sun of Liberty is set; the Americans must light the lamps of industry and economy." To which Mr. Thomson answered, "Be assured we shall light torches quite of another sort;" thus predicting the convulsions which were to follow.
QUESTIONS. -- What did it deny? Effect in America of the news of its passage? What did the colonists maintain? What was done by most of the colonial assemblies? 5. What resolutions were passed by the Virginia assembly? What is said of Patrick Henry in connection with these resolutions? 6. What course did Massachusetts take?
PERIOD IV. 1763-1789. THE REVOLUTION.
circular letter, inviting all the colonies to send delegates to a Congress which should meet in New York, to deliberate upon the common welfare. The legislature of South Carolina, led by the patriotic Christopher, Gadsden, was the first to respond to the call of Massachusetts. "Massachusetts," said Gadsden, "sounded the trumpet, but to South Carolina it is owing that it was attended to."
7. In the midst of a constantly increasing excitement, delegates from nine colonies1 assembled in New York, October 7, to consult for the general safety. This convention, known as the Colonial Congress,2 drew up a Declaration Of Rights, asserting that their own representatives alone had the right to tax them, and their own juries to try them. A petition to the king, George III, and memorials to Parliament, were also adopted.
8. The popular excitement continued to increase. Stamp officers were insulted, their property was destroyed, and they were compelled to resign.3 The act was to go into operation on the first day of November; but on that day scarcely a sheet, of all the bales of stamps that had been sent to America, could have been found in the colonies. They had either been destroyed, secreted, or returned to England. The day was kept as a day of mourning. The bells were muffled and tolled. Vessels displayed their flags at half-mast. At first there was a general suspension of all business which required stamped paper, but in a short time it was determined to disregard the act, and affairs resumed their usual course.
9. About this time associations, under the title of Sons of Liberty, were formed in the colonies, to oppose the unjust and. arbitrary measures of the British government. The principal merchants agreed to import no more goods from England until the odious act should be repealed. Societies were also instituted, the members of which resolved to forego all the luxuries of life, rather than obtain them from England.4
1 The unrepresented colonies were North Carolina, Virginia, New Hampshire, and Georgia. The last two sent in their adherence to the action of the Congress; the first two, though prevented from sending delegates, were in sympathy with the movement.
2 This was the first Congress purely American in its origin and object. A union of the colonies was first suggested by William Penn, in 1697. In 1722 Daniel Coxe, of New Jersey, made a similar suggestion; and, in 1754, Franklin, as has already been stated (p. 88,¶ 7), proposed a plan of union, on the recommendation of the English ministry.
3 In Boston the stamp officer was hanged in effigy, on an elm that ever after was known as the Tree of Liberty. It stood near the comer of Essex and Washington Streets.
4 These societies included both sexes. The members denied themselves the use of all foreign articles of clothing; carding, spinning and weaving became the daily employment of women of fashion; sheep were forbidden to be used as food, lest there should not be found a sufficient supply of wool. To be dressed in a suit of homespun was a sure passport to popular favor.
QUESTIONS. -- What course did South Carolina take? 7. When, where, and for what purpose did the Colonial Congress assemble? now many colonies were represented? What did this Congress draw up? What adopt? 8. What is said of popular excitement? Of stamp officers? Of the day when the Stamp Act was to go into operation? What effect had the Stamp Act on business in the colonies? 9. What is said of the Sons of Liberty? To what did the principal Merchants agree? What societies were instituted?
CHAPTER I. CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION.
10. Alarmed at these vigorous measures, British merchants and manufacturers soon began to feel the necessity of uniting with the colonies in petitioning Parliament for a repeal of the obnoxious law. Fortunately for the interests of both the colonies and the mother country, a change in the administration of England took place about this time. To the new ministry it was obvious that measures must be taken either to repeal the odious statute, or compel America to submit by force of arms. Mr. Pitt and Edmund Burke were among the foremost advocates of repeal, which was at length carried (1766), but only by accompanying the repealing act by a declaratory act, asserting the right of Parliament "to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever."
11. The joy of the colonies at the repeal of the Stamp Act was unbounded. They manifested, in various ways, their gratitude to Pitt and others, who, in Parliament, had advocated the cause of America. The declaratory act, asserting the supremacy of Parliament, was thought to be a mere reservation to save the pride of parliamentary authority, and it gave but little uneasiness. The old feelings of filial attachment to England revived, and commercial intercourse was speedily resumed.1
Before the passage of the act the colonies had been disposed to make a distinction between duties on imports, or external taxation, and internal taxation, such as was imposed by the Stamp Act; and, though levying duties on imports had been regarded, like all restrictions upon trade, as an oppressive exercise of authority, yet it had led to no outbreak.
12. The discussions growing out of the Stamp Act had modified and defined colonial opinions on the authority of Parliament, and the colonies were now ready to deny the right of that body to tax them in any form, or even to legislate for them. No representation, no taxation, had grown into the cry, No representation, no legislation.
13. The year the Stamp Act passed, Parliament required the colonies to furnish quarters and supplies to British troops
1 Scarcely less lively was the feeling of satisfaction among the friends of America in London. Regarding Mr. Pitt as chiefly instrumentaI in the repeal, they crowded about the door of the House of Commons to receive him; and, in the language of Burke, "They jumped upon him like children on a long-absent father. They clung to him as captives about their redeemer. All England joined in his applause." London warehouses were illuminated, and flags were displayed from the shipping in the Thames.
QUESTIONS. -- 10. What effect did these measures have? What change took place in England about this time? What was obvious to the new administration? When was the Stamp Act repealed? By what was the repeal accompanied? 11. Effect in the colonies of the repeal of the Stamp Act? -- What distinction in taxes had the colonies been disposed to make? 12. What change of colonial opinion had taken place in regard to the authority of Parliament? 13. What requisition did Parliament make on the colonies?
© 1999, 2000, 2001 for NEGenWeb Project by Ted & Carole Miller | <urn:uuid:c86c21aa-b62b-4f58-8780-fa6b2c14be3f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/topic/resources/OLLibrary/goodrich/ghus100.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404826.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00164-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978128 | 3,491 | 3.515625 | 4 |
What is Eight queens puzzle?
The eight queens puzzle is the problem of putting eight chess queens on an 8x8 chessboard such that none of them is able to capture any other using the standard chess queen's moves. The queens must be placed in such a way that no two queens would be able to attack each other. Thus, a solution requires that no two queens share the same row, column, or diagonal. The eight queens puzzle is an example of the more general n queens puzzle of placing n queens on an nxn chessboard, where solutions exist only for n = 1 or n >= 4.
Figure 1: 8x8 chessboard for 8 queen problem.
Solution of this problem:
Place eight queens on the chessboard such that no queen attacks any other one. A mouseclick on any empty field of the chessboard puts a queen into this field.
You can solve This puzzle by using Backtracking algorithm. Backtracking is a process where steps are taken towards the final solution and the details are recorded. If these steps do not lead to a solution some or all of them may have to be retraced and the relevant details discarded. In theses circumstances it is often necessary to search through a large number of possible situations in search of feasible solutions. This trial and error process is illustrated here by a discussion of a particular problem, that of the eight queens.
In the Eight Queens problem the challenge is to place eight queens pieces from the game of Chess on a chessboard so that no queen piece is threatening another queen on the board. In the game of chess the queen is a powerful piece and has the ability to attack any other playing piece positioned anywhere else on the same row, column, or diagonals. This makes the challenge quite tricky for humans who often declare after several failed attempts "there can't be any solution!".
However There are 92 possible ways of arranging Eight Queens on an 8 x 8 ChessBoard such that none of them attacks another. Actually, the number of unique ways in 12, but by reflection/rotation/inversion, we get 92 possiblecases. A lot of the solutions are mirror images of each other.
All of the solutions can be found using a recursive backtracking algorithm. The algorithm works by placing queens on various positions, adding one at a time until either eight queens have been placed on the chess board or less than eight queens are on the board but there are no more safe positions left on the board. When the latter situation is reached the algorithm backtracks and tries another layout of queens.
Code to solve this Puzzle:
Step 1: First off all Create Open new project. Pick one panel, one button and one label on the form.
Step 2: Create the class for ChessBoard (See in the attechment).
Step 3: Crete the class for queens (See in the attechment).
Step 4: Write the following line of code on the form load.
private void Form1_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
MessageBox.Show("Add 8 queens to the board so that no queen attacks the other");
cb.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
} Step 5: Write the following line of code on the Button click event. this code is used to solve the puzzle.
private void Button1_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
Label1.Visible = true;
if (i < cb.Solutions.Count)
cb.Cells = cb.Solutions[i];
i += 1;
i = 0;
Step 6: Now debug the application.
Figure 2: 8x8 chessboard.
Step 7: Now mouseclick on any empty field of the chessboard to puts a queen into this field.
Figure 3: Yellow queens are placed on proper place rather red_blue queen is not.
If you are not eligible to solve this puzzle then click on solve button you will get 92 solutions and 12 distinct solutions like as follows:
Click on solve button to find new solution again and again up to 92 solutions. | <urn:uuid:a7d375fa-7732-473e-87ba-aa87e668cabc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/uploadfile/prathore/eight-queens-puzzle-and-its-solution-using-C-Sharp-net/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403823.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00145-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908067 | 846 | 3.5 | 4 |
Roget's Int'l Thesaurus
Fowler's King's English
The King James Bible
Brewer's Phrase & Fable
Frazer's Golden Bough
Shelf of Fiction
Ten Days That Shook the World
> Chapter 11. The Conquest of Power
Ten Days That Shook the World.
The Conquest of Power
App. XI, Sect. 1
DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLES OF RUSSIA
App. XI, Sect. 2
The first Congress of Soviets, in June of this year, proclaimed the right of the peoples of Russia to self-determination.
The second Congress of Soviets, in November last, confirmed this inalienable right of the peoples of Russia more decisively and definitely.
Executing the will of these Congresses, the Council of Peoples Commissars has resolved to establish as a basis for its activity in the question of Nationalities, the following principles:
(1) The equality and sovereignty of the peoples of Russia.
(2) The right of the peoples of Russia to free self-determination, even to the point of separation and the formation of an independent state.
(3) The abolition of any and all national and national religious privileges and disabilities.
(4) The free development of national minorities and ethnographic groups inhabiting the territory of Russia.
Decrees will be prepared immediately upon the formation of a Commission on Nationalities.
In the name of the Russian Republic,
Peoples Commissar for Nationalities
President of the Council of Peoples Commissars
The Central Rada at Kiev immediately declared Ukraine an independent Republic, as did the Government of Finland, through the Senate at Helsingfors. Independent Governments spring up in Siberia and the Caucasus. The Polish Chief Military Committee swiftly gathered together the Polish troops in the Russian army, abolished their Committees and established an iron discipline .
All these Governments and movements had two characteristics in common; they were controlled by the propertied classes, and they feared and detested Bolshevism .
Steadily, amid the chaos of shocking change, the Council of Peoples Commissars hammered at the scaffolding of the Socialist order. Decree on Social Insurance, on Workers Control, Regulations for Volost Land Committees, Abolition of Ranks and Titles, Abolition of Courts and the Creation of Peoples Tribunals . (See
App. XI, Sect. 3
Army after army, fleet after fleet, sent deputations, joyfully to greet the new Government of the People.
In front of Smolny, one day, I saw a ragged regiment just come from the trenches. The soldiers were drawn up before the great gates, thin and grey-faced, looking up at the building as if God were in it. Some pointed out the Imperial eagles over the door, laughing . Red Guards came to mount guard. All the soldiers turned to look, curiously, as if they had heard of them but never seen them. They laughed good-naturedly and pressed out of line to slap the Red Guards on the back, with half-joking, half-admiring remarks .
The Provisional Government was no more. On November 15th, in all the churches of the capital, the priests stopped praying for it. But as Lenin himself told the
that was only the beginning of the conquest of power. Deprived of arms, the opposition, which still controlled the economic life of the country, settled down to organise disorganisation, with all the Russian genius for cooperative actionto obstruct, cripple and discredit the Soviets.
The strike of Government employees was well organised, financed by the banks and commercial establishments. Every move of the Bolsheviki to take over the Government apparatus was resisted.
Trotzky went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the functionaries refused to recognise him, locked themselves in, and when the doors were forced, resigned. He demanded the keys of the archives; only when he brought workmen to force the locks were they given up. Then it was discovered that Neratov, former assistant Foreign Minister, had disappeared with the Secret Treaties .
Shliapnikov tried to take possession of the Ministry of Labour. It was bitterly cold, and there was no one to light the fires. Of all the hundreds of employees, not one would show him where the office of the Minister was .
Alexandra Kollontai, appointed the 13th of November Commissar of Public Welfarethe department of charities and public institutionswas welcomed with a strike of all but forty of the functionaries in the Ministry. Immediately the poor of the great cities, the inmates of institutions, were plunged in miserable want: delegations of starving cripples, of orphans with blue, pinched faces, besieged the building. With tears streaming down her face, Kollontai arrested the strikers until they should deliver the keys of the office and the safe; when she got the keys, however, it was discovered that the former Minister, Countess Panina, had gone off with all the funds, which she refused to surrender except on the order of the Constituent Assembly. (See
App. XI, Sect. 4
In the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Supplies, the Ministry of Finance, similar incidents occurred. And the employees, summoned to return or forfeit their positions and their pensions, either stayed away or returned to sabotage . Almost all the
being anti-Bolshevik, there was nowhere for the Soviet Government to recruit new staffs .
The private banks remained stubbornly closed, with a back door open for speculators. When Bolshevik Commissars entered, the clerks left, secreting the books and removing the funds. All the employees of the State Bank struck except the clerks in charge of the vaults and the manufacture of money, who refused all demands from Smolny and privately paid out huge sums to the Committee for Salvation and the City Duma.
Twice a Commissar, with a company of Red Guards, came formally to insist upon the delivery of large sums for Government expenses. The first time, the City Duma members and the Menshevik and Socialist Revolutionary leaders were present in imposing numbers, and spoke so gravely of the consequences that the Commissar was frightened. The second time he arrived with a warrant, which he proceeded to read aloud in due form; but some one called his attention to the fact that it had no date and no seal, and the traditional Russian respect for documents forced him again to withdraw .
The officials of the Credit Chancery destroyed their books, so that all record of the financial relations of Russia with foreign countries was lost.
The Supply Committees, the administrations of the Municipal-owned public utilities, either did not work at all, or sabotaged. And when the Bolsheviki, compelled by the desperate needs of the city population, attempted to help or to control the public service, all the employees went on strike immediately, and the Duma flooded Russia with telegrams about Bolshevik violation of Municipal autonomy.
At Military headquarters, and in the offices of the Ministries of War and Marine, where the old officials had consented to work, the Army Committees and the high command blocked the Soviets in every way possible, even to the extent of neglecting the troops at the front. The
was hostile, refusing to transport Soviet troops; every troop-train that left Petrograd was taken out by force, and railway officials had to be arrested each timewhereupon the
threatened an immediate general strike unless they were released .
Smolny was plainly powerless. The newspapers said that all the factories of Petrograd must shut down for lack of fuel in three weeks; the
announced that trains must cease running by December first; there was food for three days only in Petrograd, and no more coming in; and the Army on the Front was starving . The Committee for Salvation, the various Central Committees, sent word all over the country, exhorting the population to ignore the Government decrees. And the Allied Embassies were either coldly indifferent, or openly hostile .
The opposition newspapers, suppressed one day and reappearing next morning under new names, heaped bitter sarcasm on the new regime. (See
App. XI, Sect. 5
characterised it as a combination of demagoguery and impotence.
From day to day (it said) the Government of the Peoples Commissars sinks deeper and deeper into the mire of superficial haste. Having easily conquered the power the Bolsheviki can not make use of it.
Powerless to direct the existing mechanism of Government, they are unable at the same time to create a new one which might work easily and freely according to the theories of social experimenters.
Just a little while ago the Bolsheviki hadnt enough men to run their growing partya work above all of speakers and writers; where then are they going to find trained men to execute the diverse and complicated functions of government?
The new Government acts and threatens, it sprays the country with decrees, each one more radical and more socialist than the last. But in this exhibition of Socialism on Papermore likely designed for the stupefaction of our descendantsthere appears neither the desire nor the capacity to solve the immediate problems of the day!
Conference to Form a New Government continued to meet night and day. Both sides had already agreed in principle to the basis of the Government; the composition of the Peoples Council was being discussed; the Cabinet was tentatively chosen, with Tchernov as Premier; the Bolsheviki were admitted in a large minority, but Lenin and Trotzky were barred. The Central Committees of the Menshevik and Socialist Revolutionary parties, the Executive Committee of the Peasants Soviets, resolved that, although unalterably opposed to the criminal politics of the Bolsheviki, they would, in order to halt the fratricidal bloodshed, not oppose their entrance into the Peoples Council.
The flight of Kerensky, however, and the astounding success of the Soviets everywhere, altered the situation. On the 16th, in a meeting of the
the Left Socialist Revolutionaries insisted that the Bolsheviki should form a coalition Government with the other Socialist parties; otherwise they would withdraw from the Military Revolutionary Committee and the
Malkin said, The news from Moscow, where our comrades are dying on both sides of the barricades, determines us to bring up once more the question of organisation of power, and it is not only our right to do so, but our duty . We have won the right to sit with the Bolsheviki here within the walls of Smolny Institute, and to speak from this tribune. After the bitter internal party struggle, we shall be obliged, if you refuse to compromise, to pass to open battle outside . We must propose to the democracy terms of an acceptable compromise .
After a recess to consider this ultimatum, the Bolsheviki returned with a resolution, read by Kameniev:
considers it necessary that there enter into the Government representatives of
all the Socialist parties composing the Soviets of Workers, Soldiers and Peasants Deputies who recognise the conquests of the Revolution of November 7ththat is to say, the establishment of a Government of Soviets, the decrees on peace, land, workers control over industry, and the arming of the working-class.
therefore resolves to propose negotiations concerning the constitution of the Government to all parties
of the Soviet,
and insists upon the following conditions as a basis:
The Government is responsible to the
shall be enlarged to 150 members. To these 150 delegates of the Soviets of Workers and Soldiers Deputies shall be added 75 delegates of the
Soviets of Peasants Deputies, 80 from the Front organisations of the Army and Navy, 40 from the Trade Unions (25 from the various All-Russian Unions, in proportion to their importance, 10 from the
and 5 from the Post and Telegraph Workers), and 50 delegates from the Socialist groups in the Petrograd City Duma. In the Ministry itself, at least one-half the portfolios must be reserved to the Bolsheviki. The Ministries of Labour, Interior and Foreign Affairs must be given to the Bolsheviki. The command of the garrisons of Petrograd and Moscow must remain in the hands of delegates of the Moscow and Petrograd Soviets.
The Government undertakes the systematic arming of the workers of all Russia.
It is resolved to insist upon the candidature of comrades Lenin and Trotzky.
Kameniev explained. The so-called Peoples Council, he said, proposed by the Conference, would consist of about 420 members, of which about 150 would be Bolsheviki. Besides, there would be delegates from the counter-revolutionary old
100 members chosen by the Municipal DumasKornilovtsi all; 100 delegates from the Peasants Sovietsappointed by Avksentiev, and 80 from the old Army Committees, who no longer represent the soldier masses.
We refuse to admit the old
and also the representatives of the Municipal Dumas. The delegates from the Peasants Soviets shall be elected by the Congress of Peasants, which we have called, and which will at the same time elect a new Executive Committee. The proposal to exclude Lenin and Trotzky is a proposal to decapitate our party, and we do not accept it. And finally, we see no necessity for a Peoples Council anyway; the Soviets are open to all Socialist parties, and the
represents them in their real proportions among the masses .
Karelin, for the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, declared that his party would vote for the Bolshevik resolution, reserving the right to modify certain details, such as the representation of the peasants, and demanding that the Ministry of Agriculture be reserved for the Left Socialist Revolutionaries. This was agreed to .
Later, at a meeting of the Petrograd Soviet, Trotzky answered a question about the formation of the new Government:
I dont know anything about that. I am not taking part in the negotiations . However, I dont think that they are of great importance .
That night there was great uneasiness in the Conference. The delegates of the City Duma withdrew .
But at Smolny itself, in the ranks of the Bolshevik party, a formidable opposition to Lenins policy was growing. On the night of November 17th the great hall was packed and ominous for the meeting of the
Larin, Bolshevik, declared that the moment of elections to the Constituent Assembly approached, and it was time to do away with political terrorism.
The measures taken against the freedom of the press should be modified. They had their reason during the struggle, but now they have no further excuse. The press should be free, except for appeals to riot and insurrection.
In a storm of hisses and hoots from his own party, Larin offered the following resolution:
The decree of the Council of Peoples Commissars concerning the Press is herewith repealed.
Measures of political repression can only be employed subject to decision of a special tribunal, elected by the
proportionally to the strength of the different parties represented; and this tribunal shall have the right also to reconsider measures of repression already taken.
This was met by a thunder of applause, not only from the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, but also from a part of the Bolsheviki.
Avanessov, for the Leninites, hastily proposed that the question of the Press be postponed until after some compromise between the Socialist parties had been reached. Overwhelmingly voted down.
The revolution which is now being accomplished, went on Avanessov, has not hesitated to attack private property; and it is as private property that we must examine the question of the Press .
Thereupon he read the official Bolshevik resolution:
The suppression of the bourgeois press was dictated not only by purely military needs in the course of the insurrection, and for the checking of counter-revolutionary action, but it is also necessary as a measure of transition toward the establishment of a new régime with regard to the Pressa régime under which the capitalist owners of printing-presses and of paper cannot be the all-powerful and exclusive manufacturers of public opinion.
We must further proceed to the confiscation of private printing plants and supplies of paper, which should become the property of the Soviets, both in the capital and in the provinces, so that the political parties and groups can make use of the facilities of printing in proportion to the actual strength of the ideas they representin other words, proportionally to the number of their constituents.
The reëstablishment of the so-called freedom of the press, the simple return of printing presses and paper to the capitalists,poisoners of the mind of the peoplethis would be an inadmissible surrender to the will of capital, a giving up of one of the most important conquests of the Revolution; in other words, it would be a measure of unquestionably counter-revolutionary character.
Proceeding from the above, the
categorically rejects all propositions aiming at the reëstablishment of the old régime in the domain of the Press, and unequivocally supports the point of view of the Council of Peoples Commissars on this question, against pretentions and ultimatums dictated by petty bourgeois prejudices, or by evident surrender to the interests of the counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie.
The reading of this resolution was interrupted by ironical shouts from the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, and bursts of indignation from the insurgent Bolsheviki. Karelin was on his feet, protesting. Three weeks ago the Bolsheviki were the most ardent defenders of the freedom of the Press The arguments in this resolution suggest singularly the point of view of the old Black Hundreds and the censors of the Tsarist régimefor they also talked of poisoners of the mind of the people.
Trotzky spoke at length in favour of the resolution. He distinguished between the Press during the civil war, and the Press after the victory. During civil war the right to use violence belongs only to the oppressed . (Cries of Whos the oppressed now? Cannibal!).
The victory over our adversaries is not yet achieved, and the newspapers are arms in their hands. In these conditions, the closing of the newspapers is a legitimate measure of defence . Then passing to the question of the Press after the victory, Trotzky continued:
The attitude of Socialists on the question of freedom of the Press should be the same as their attitude toward the freedom of business . The rule of the democracy which is being established in Russia demands that the domination of the Press by private property must be abolished, just as the domination of industry by private property . The power of the Soviets should confiscate all printing-plants. (Cries, Confiscate the printing-shop of
The monopoly of the Press by the bourgeoisie must be abolished. Otherwise it isnt worth while for us to take the power! Each group of citizens should have access to print shops and paper . The ownership of print-type and of paper belongs first to the workers and peasants, and only afterwards to the bourgeois parties, which are in a minority . The passing of the power into the hands of the Soviets will bring about a radical transformation of the essential conditions of existence, and this transformation will necessarily be evident in the Press . If we are going to nationalise the banks, can we then tolerate the financial journals? The old régime must die; that must be understood once and for all . Applause and angry cries.
Karelin declared that the
had no right to pass upon this important question, which should be left to a special committee. Again, passionately, he demanded that the Press be free.
Then Lenin, calm, unemotional, his forehead wrinkled, as he spoke slowly, choosing his words; each sentence falling like a hammer-blow. The civil war is not yet finished; the enemy is still with us; consequently it is impossible to abolish the measures of repression against the Press.
We Bolsheviki have always said that when we reached a position of power we would close the bourgeois press. To tolerate the bourgeois newspapers would mean to cease being a Socialist. When one makes a Revolution, one cannot mark time; one must always go forwardor go back. He who now talks about the freedom of the Press goes backward, and halts our headlong course toward Socialism.
We have thrown off the yoke of capitalism, just as the first revolution threw off the yoke of Tsarism.
If the first revolution had the right to suppress the Monarchist papers,
then we have the right to suppress the bourgeois press. It is impossible to separate the question of the freedom of the Press from the other questions of the class struggle. We have promised to close these newspapers, and we shall do it. The immense majority of the people is with us!
Now that the insurrection is over, we have absolutely no desire to suppress the papers of the other Socialist parties, except inasmuch as they appeal to armed insurrection, or to disobedience to the Soviet Government. However, we shall not permit them, under the pretence of freedom of the Socialist press, to obtain, through the secret support of the bourgeoisie, a monopoly of printing-presses, ink and paper . These essentials must become the property of the Soviet Government, and be apportioned, first of all, to the Socialist parties in strict proportion to their voting strength .
Then the vote. The resolution of Larin and the Left Socialist Revolutionaries was defeated by 31 to 22; the Lenin motion was carried by 34 to 24. Among the minority were the Bolsheviki Riazanov and Lozovsky, who declared that it was impossible for them to vote against any restriction on the freedom of the Press.
Upon this the Left Socialist Revolutionaries declared they could no longer be responsible for what was being done, and withdrew from the Military Revolutionary Committee and all other positions of executive responsibility.
Five membersNogin, Rykov, Miliutin, Teodorovitch and Shiapnikovresigned from the Council of Peoples Commissars, declaring:
We are in favour of a Socialist Government composed of all the parties in the Soviets. We consider that only the creation of such a Government can possibly guarantee the results of the heroic struggle of the working-class and the revolutionary army. Outside of that, there remains only one way: the constitution of a purely Bolshevik Government by means of political terrorism. This last is the road taken by the Council of Peoples Commissars. We cannot and will not follow it. We see that this leads directly to the elimination from political life of many proletarian organisations, to the establishment of an irresponsible régime, and to the destruction of the Revolution and the country. We cannot take the responsibility for such a policy, and we renounce before the
our function as Peoples Commissars.
Other Commissars, without resigning their positions, signed the declarationRiazanov, Derbychev of the Press Department, Arbuzov, of the Government Printing-plant, Yureniev, of the Red Guard, Feodorov, of the Commissariat of Labour, and Larin, secretary of the Section of Elaboration of Decrees.
At the same time Kameniev, Rykov, Miliutin, Zinoviev and Nogin resigned from the Central Committee of the Bolshevik party, making public their reasons:
The constitution of such a Government (composed of all the parties of the Soviet) is indispensable to prevent a new flow of blood, the coming famine, the destruction of the Revolution by the Kaledinists, to assure the convocation of the Constituent Assembly at the proper time, and to apply effectively the programme adopted by the Congress of Soviets .
We cannot accept the responsibility for the disastrous policy of the Central Committee, carried on against the will of an enormous majority of the proletariat and the soldiers, who are eager to see the rapid end of the bloodshed between the different political parties of the democracy . We renounce our title as members of the Central Committee, in order to be able to say openly our opinion to the masses of workers and soldiers .
We leave the Central Committee at the moment of victory; we cannot calmly look on while the policy of the chiefs of the Central Committee leads toward the loss of the fruits of victory and the crushing of the proletariat .
The masses of the workers, the soldiers of the garrison, stirred restlessly, sending their delegations to Smolny, to the Conference for Formation of the New Government, where the break in the ranks of the Bolsheviki caused the liveliest joy.
But the answer of the Leninites was swift and ruthless. Shliapnikov and Teodorovitch submitted to party discipline and returned to their posts. Kameniev was stripped of his powers as president of the
and Sverdlov elected in his place. Zinoviev was deposed as president of the Petrograd Soviet. On the morning of the 5th,
contained a ferocious proclamation to the people of Russia, written by Lenin, which was printed in hundreds of thousands of copies, posted on the walls everywhere, and distributed over the face of Russia.
The second All-Russian Congress of Soviets gave the majority to the Bolshevik party. Only a Government formed by this party can therefore be a Soviet Government. And it is known to all that the Central Committee of the Bolshevik party, a few hours before the formation of the new Government and before proposing the list of its members to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, invited to its meeting three of the most eminent members of the Left Socialist Revolutionary group, comrades Kamkov, Spiro and Karelin, and ASKED THEM to participate in the new Government. We regret infinitely that the invited comrades refused; we consider their refusal inadmissible for revolutionists and champions of the working-class; we are willing at any time to include the Left Socialist Revolutionaries in the Government; but we declare that, as the party of the majority at the second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, we are entitled and BOUND before the people to form a Government .
Comrades! Several members of the Central Committee of our party and the Council of Peoples Commissars, Kameniev, Zinoviev, Nogin, Rykov, Miliutin and a few others left yesterday, November 17th, the Central Committee of our party, and the last three, the Council of Peoples Commissars .
The comrades who left us acted like deserters, because they not only abandoned the posts entrusted to them, but also disobeyed the direct instructions of the Central Committee of our party, to the effect that they should await the decisions of the Petrograd and Moscow party organisations before retiring. We blame decisively such desertion. We are firmly convinced that all conscious workers, soldiers and peasants, belonging to our party or sympathising with it, will also disapprove of the behaviour of the deserters .
Remember, comrades, that two of these deserters, Kameniev and Zinoviev, even before the uprising in Petrograd, appeared as deserters and strike-breakers, by voting at the decisive meeting of the Central Committee, October 23d, 1917, against the insurrection; and even AFTER the resolution passed by the Central Committee, they continued their campaign at a meeting of the party workers . But the great impulse of the masses, the great heroism of millions of workers, soldiers and peasants, in Moscow, Petrograd, at the front, in the trenches, in the villages, pushed aside the deserters as a railway train scatters saw-dust .
Shame upon those who are of little faith, hesitate, who doubt, who allow themselves to be frightened by the bourgeoisie, or who succumb before the cries of the latters direct or indirect accomplices! There is NOT A SHADOW of hesitation in the MASSES of Petrograd, Moscow, and the rest of Russia .
We shall not submit to any ultimatums from small groups of intellectuals which are not followed by the masses, which are PRACTICALLY only supported by Kornilovists, Savinkovists,
and so forth .
The response from the whole country was like a blast of hot storm. The insurgents never got a chance to say openly their opinion to the masses of workers and soldiers. Upon the
rolled in like breakers the fierce popular condemnation of the deserters. For days Smolny was thronged with angry delegations and committees, from the front, from the Volga, from the Petrograd factories. Why did they dare leave the Government? Were they paid by the bourgeoisie to destroy the Revolution? They must return and submit to the decisions of the Central Committee!
Only in the Petrograd garrison was there still uncertainty. A great soldier meeting was held on November 24th, addressed by representatives of all the political parties. By a vast majority Lenins policy was sustained, and the Left Socialist Revolutionaries were told that they must enter the government .
See next page.
The Mensheviki delivered a final ultimatum, demanding that all Ministers and
be released, that all newspapers be allowed full freedom, that the Red Guard be disarmed and the garrison put under command of the Duma. To this Smolny answered that all the Socialist Ministers and also all but a very few
had been already set free, that all newspapers were free except the bourgeois press, and that the Soviet would remain in command of the armed forces . On the 19th the Conference to Form a New Government disbanded, and the opposition one by one slipped away to Moghilev, where, under the wing of the General Staff, they continued to form Government after Government, until the end .
Announcement, posted on the walls of Petrograd, of the result of a meeting of representatives of the garrison regiments, called to consider the question of forming a new Government. (See
App. XI, Sect. 6
Meanwhile the Bolsheviki had been undermining the power of the
An appeal of the Petrograd Soviet to all railway workers called upon them to force the
to surrender its powers. On the 15th, the
following its procedure toward the peasants, called an All-Russian Congress of Railway Workers for December 1st; the
immediately called its own Congress for two weeks later. On November 16th, the
members took their seats in the
On the night of December 2d, at the opening session of the All-Russian Congress of Railway Workers, the
formally offered the post of Commissar of Ways and Communications to the
which accepted .
Having settled the question of power, the Bolsheviki turned their attention to problems of practical administration. First of all the city, the country, the Army must be fed. Bands of sailors and Red Guards scoured the warehouses, the railway terminals, even the barges in the canals, unearthing and confiscating thousands of
of food held by private speculators. Emissaries were sent to the provinces, where with the assistance of the Land Committees they seized the store-houses of the great grain-dealers. Expeditions of sailors, heavily armed, were sent out in groups of five thousand, to the South, to Siberia, with roving commissions to capture cities still held by the White Guards, establish order, and
Passenger traffic on the Trans-Siberian Railroad was suspended for two weeks, while thirteen trains, loaded with bolts of cloth and bars of iron assembled by the Factory-Shop Committees, were sent out eastward, each in charge of a Commissar, to barter with the Siberian peasants for grain and potatoes .
Kaledin being in possession of the coal-mines of the Don, the fuel question became urgent. Smolny shut off all electric lights in theatres, shops and restaurants, cut down the number of street cars, and confiscated the private stores of fire-wood held by the fuel-dealers . And when the factories of Petrograd were about to close down for lack of coal, the sailors of the Baltic Fleet turned over to the workers two hundred thousand
from the bunkers of battle-ships .
Toward the end of November occurred the wine-pogroms (See
App. XI, Sect. 7
)looting of the wine-cellarsbeginning with the plundering of the Winter Palace vaults. For days there were drunken soldiers on the streets . In all this was evident the hand of the counter-revolutionists, who distributed among the regiments plans showing the location of the stores of liquor. The Commissars of Smolny began by pleading and arguing, which did not stop the growing disorder, followed by pitched battles between soldiers and Red Guards . Finally the Military Revolutionary Committee sent out companies of sailors with machine-guns, who fired mercilessly upon the rioters, killing many; and by executive order the wine-cellars were invaded by Committees with hatchets, who smashed the bottlesor blew them up with dynamite .
Companies of Red Guards, disciplined and well-paid, were on duty at the headquarters of the Ward Soviets day and night, replacing the old Militia. In all quarters of the city small elective Revolutionary Tribunals were set up by the workers and soldiers to deal with petty crime .
The great hotels, where the speculators still did a thriving business, were surrounded by Red Guards, and the speculators thrown into jail. (See
App. XI, Sect. 8
Alert and suspicious, the working-class of the city constituted itself a vast spy system, through the servants prying into bourgeois households, and reporting all information to the Military Revolutionary Committee, which struck with an iron hand, unceasing. In this way was discovered the Monarchist plot led by former Duma-member Purishkevitch and a group of nobles and officers, who had planned an officers uprising, and had written a letter inviting Kaledin to Petrograd. (See
App. XI, Sect. 9
) . In this way was unearthed the conspiracy of the Petrograd Cadets, who were sending money and recruits to Kaledin .
Neratov, frightened at the outburst of popular fury provoked by his flight, returned and surrendered the Secret Treaties to Trotzky, who began their publication in
scandalising the world .
Bolshevik order. A proclamation of the Committee to Fight against Pogroms, attached to the Petrograd Soviet. (See
App. XI, Sect. 11
The restrictions on the Press were increased by a decree (See
App. XI, Sect. 10
) making advertisements a monopoly of the official Government newspaper. At this all the other papers suspended publication as a protest, or disobeyed the law and were closed . Only three weeks later did they finally submit.
Still the strike of the Ministries went on, still the sabotage of the old officials, the stoppage of normal economic life. Behind Smolny was only the will of the vast, unorganised popular masses; and with them the Council of Peoples Commissars dealt, directing revolutionary mass-action against its enemies. In eloquent proclamations, (See
App. XI, Sect. 12
) couched in simple words and spread over Russia, Lenin explained the Revolution, urged the people to take the power into their own hands, by force to break down the resistance of the propertied classes, by force to take over the institutions of Government. Revolutionary order. Revolutionary discipline! Strict accounting and control! No strikes! No loafing!
Appeal of the Petrograd Soviet, the Petrograd Council of Professional Unions, and the Petrograd Council of Factory Shop Committees, to the Workers of Petro. grad, urging them to work hard and not to strike. (See
App. XI, Sect. 13
On the 20th of November the Military Revolutionary Committee issued a warning:
The rich classes oppose the power of the Sovietsthe Government of workers, soldiers and peasants. Their sympathisers halt the work of the employees of the Government and the Duma, incite strikes in the banks, try to interrupt communication by the railways, the post and the telegraph .
We warn them that they are playing with fire. The country and the Army are threatened with famine. To fight against it, the regular functioning of all services is indispensable. The Workers and Peasants Government is taking every measure to assure the country and the Army all that is necessary. Opposition to these measures is a crime against the People. We warn the rich classes and their sympathisers that, if they do not cease their sabotage and their provocation in halting the transportation of food, they will be the first to suffer. They will be deprived of the right of receiving food. All the reserves which they possess will be requisitioned. The property of the principal criminals will be confiscated.
We have done our duty in warning those who play with fire.
We are convinced that in case decisive measures become necessary, we shall be solidly supported by all workers, soldiers, and peasants.
On the 22d of November the walls of the city were placarded with a sheet headed
The Council of Peoples Commissars has received an urgent telegram from the Staff of the Northern Front .
There must be no further delay; do not let the Army die of hunger; the armies of the Northern Front have not received a crust of bread now for several days, and in two or three days they will not have any more biscuitswhich are being doled out to them from reserve supplies until now never touched . Already delegates from all parts of the Front are talking of a necessary removal of part of the Army to the rear, foreseeing that in a few days there will be headlong flight of the soldiers, dying from hunger, ravaged by the three years war in the trenches, sick, insufficiently clothed, bare-footed, driven mad by superhuman misery.
The Military Revolutionary Committee brings this to the notice of the Petrograd garrison and the workers of Petrograd. The situation at the Front demands the most urgent and decisive measures. Meanwhile the higher functionaries of the Government institutions, banks, railroads, post and telegraph, are on strike and impeding the work of the Government in supplying the Front with provisions . Each hour of delay may cost the life of thousands of soldiers. The counter-revolutionary functionaries are the most dishonest criminals toward their hungry and dying brethren on the Front .
OMMITTEE GIVES THESE CRIMINALS A LAST WARNING.
In event of the least resistance or opposition on their part, the harshness of the measures which will be adopted against them will correspond to the seriousness of their crime .
The masses of workers and soldiers responded by a savage tremor of rage, which swept all Russia. In the capital the Government and bank employees got out hundreds of proclamations and appeals (See
App. XI, Sect. 14
), protesting, defending themselves, such as this one:
TO THE ATTENTION OF ALL CITIZENS.
THE STATE BANK IS CLOSED!
Because the violence exercised by the Bolsheviki against the State Bank has made it impossible for us to work. The first act of the Peoples Commissars was to
DEMAND TEN MILLION RUBLES,
and on November 27th
THEY DEMANDED TWENTY-FIVE MILLIONS,
without any indication as to where this money was to go.
We functionaries cannot take part in plundering the peoples property. We stopped work.
The money in the State Bank is yours, the peoples money, acquired by your labour, your sweat and blood. C
Save the peoples property from robbery, and us from violence, and we shall immediately resume work.
EMPLOYEES OF THE STATE BANK.
From the Ministry of Supplies, the Ministry of Finance, from the Special Supply Committee, declarations that the Military Revolutionary Committee made it impossible for the employees to work, appeals to the population to support them against Smolny . But the dominant worker and soldier did not believe them; it was firmly fixed in the popular mind that the employees were sabotaging, starving the Army, starving the people . In the long bread lines, which as formerly stood in the iron winter streets, it was not
which was blamed, as it had been under Kerensky, but the
the sabotageurs; for the Government was
Sovietsand the functionaries of the Ministries were against it .
At the centre of all this opposition was the Duma, and its militant organ, the Committee for Salvation, protesting against all the decrees of the Council of Peoples Commissars, voting again and again not to recognise the Soviet Government, openly cooperating with the new counter-revolutionary Governments set up at Moghilev . On the 17th of November, for example, the Committee for Salvation addressed all Municipal Governments, Zemstvos, and all democratic and revolutionary organisations of peasants, workers, soldiers and other citizens, in these words:
Do not recognise the Government of the Bolsheviki, and struggle against it.
Form local Committees for Salvation of Country and Revolution, who will unite all democratic forces, so as to aid the All-Russian Committee for Salvation in the tasks which it has set itself .
Meanwhile the elections for the Constituent Assembly in Petrograd (See
App. XI, Sect. 15
) gave an enormous plurality to the Bolsheviki; so that even the Mensheviki Internationalists pointed out that the Duma ought to be re-elected, as it no longer represented the political composition of the Petrograd population . At the same time floods of resolutions from workers organisations, from military units, even from the peasants in the surrounding country, poured in upon the Duma, calling it counter-revolutionary, Kornilovitz, and demanding that it resign. The last days of the Duma were stormy with the bitter demands of the Municipal workers for decent living wages, and the threat of strikes .
On the 23d a formal decree of the Military Revolutionary Committee dissolved the Committee for Salvation. On the 29th, the Council of Peoples Commissars ordered the dissolution and re-election of the Petrograd City Duma:
In view of the fact that the Central Duma of Petrograd, elected September 2d, has definitely lost the right to represent the population of Petrograd, being in complete disaccord with its state of mind and its aspirations and in view of the fact that the personnel of the Duma majority, although having lost all political following, continues to make use of its prerogatives to resist in a counter-revolutionary manner the will of the workers, soldiers and peasants, to sabotage and obstruct the normal work of the Governmentthe Council of Peoples Commissars considers it its duty to invite the population of the capital to pronounce judgment on the policy of the organ of Municipal autonomy.
To this end the Council of Peoples Commissars resolves:
(1) To dissolve the Municipal Duma; the dissolution to take effect November 30th, 1917.
(2) All functionaries elected or appointed by the present Duma shall remain at their posts and fulfil the duties confided to them, until their places shall be filled by representatives of the new Duma.
(3) All Municipal employees shall continue to fulfil their duties; those who leave the service of their own accord shall be considered discharged.
(4) The new elections for the Municipal Duma of Petrograd are fixed for December 9th, 1917 .
(5) The Municipal Duma of Petrograd shall meet December 11th, 1917, at two oclock.
(6) Those who disobey this decree, as well as those who intentionally harm or destroy the property of the Municipality, shall be immediately arrested and brought before the Revolutionary Tribunals .
The Duma met defiantly, passing resolutions to the effect that it would defend its position to the last drop of its blood, and appealing desperately to the population to save their own elected City Government. But the population remained indifferent or hostile. On the 31st Mayor Schreider and several members were arrested, interrogated, and released. That day and the next the Duma continued to meet, interrupted frequently by Red Guards and sailors, who politely requested the assembly to disperse. At the meeting of December 2d, an officer and some sailors entered the Nicolai Hall while a member was speaking, and ordered the members to leave, or force would be used. They did so, protesting to the last, but finally ceding to violence.
The new Duma, which was elected ten days later, and for which the Moderate Socialists refused to vote, was almost entirely Bolshevik .
There remained several centres of dangerous opposition, such as the republics of Ukraine and Finland, which were showing definitely anti-Soviet tendencies. Both at Helsingfors and at Kiev the Governments were gathering troops which could be depended upon, and entering upon campaigns of crushing Bolshevism, and of disarming and expelling Russian troops. The Ukrainean Rada had taken command of all southern Russia, and was furnishing Kaledin reinforcements and supplies. Both Finland and Ukraine were beginning secret negotiations with the Germans, and were promptly recognised by the Allied Governments, which loaned them huge sums of money, joining with the propertied classes to create counter-revolutionary centres of attack upon Soviet Russia. In the end, when Bolshevism had conquered in both these countries, the defeated bourgeoisie called in the Germans to restore them to power .
But the most formidable menace to the Soviet Government was internal and two-headedthe Kaledin movement, and the Staff at Moghilev, where General Dukhonin had assumed command.
Proclamation of the Commission of Public Education attached to the City Duma, concerning the strike of school-teachers, just before the Christmas holidays. The Duma had been re-elected, and was composed almost entirely of Bolsheviki. (See
App. XI, Sect. 17
The ubiquitous Muraviov was appointed commander of the war against the Cossacks, and a Red Army was recruited from among the factory workers. Hundreds of propagandists were sent to the Don. The Council of Peoples Commissars issued a proclamation to the Cossacks, (See
App. XI, Sect. 16
) explaining what the Soviet Government was, how the propertied classes, the
landlords, bankers and their allies, the Cossack princes, land-owners and Generals, were trying to destroy the Revolution, and prevent the confiscation of their wealth by the people.
On November 27th a committee of Cossacks came to Smolny to see Trotzky and Lenin. They demanded if it were true that the Soviet Government did not intend to divide the Cossack lands among the peasants of Great Russia? No, answered Trotzky. The Cossacks deliberated for a while. Well, they asked, does the Soviet Government intend to confiscate the estates of our great Cossack land-owners and divide them among the working Cossacks? To this Lenin replied. That, he said, is for
to do. We shall support the working Cossacks in all their actions . The best way to begin is to form Cossacks Soviets; you will be given representation in the
and then it will be
Government, too .
The Cossacks departed, thinking hard. Two weeks later General Kaledin received a deputation from his troops. Will you, they asked, promise to divide the great estates of the Cossack landlords among the working Cossacks?
Only over my dead body, responded Kaledin. A month later, seeing his army melt away before his eyes, Kaledin blew out his brains. And the Cossack movement was no more .
Meanwhile at Moghilev were gathered the old
the moderate Socialist leadersfrom Avksentiev to Tchernovthe active chiefs of the old Army Committees, and the reactionary officers. The Staff steadily refused to recognise the Council of Peoples Commissars. It had united about it the Death Battalions, the Knights of St. George, and the Cossacks of the Front, and was in close and secret touch with the Allied military attachès, and with the Kaledin movement and the Ukrainean Rada .
The Allied Governments had made no reply to the Peace decree of November 8th, in which the Congress of Soviets had asked for a general armistice.
On November 20th Trotzky addressed a note to the Allied Ambassadors: (See
App. XI, Sect. 18
I have the honour to inform you, Mr. Ambassador, that the All-Russian Congress of Soviets on November 8th constituted a new Government of the Russian Republic, in the form of the Council of Peoples Commissars. The President of this Government is Vladimir Ilyitch Lenin. The direction of Foreign Affairs has been entrusted to me, Peoples Commissar for Foreign Affairs .
In drawing your attention to the text, approved by the All-Russian Congress, of the proposition for an armistice and a democratic peace without annexations or indemnities, based on the right of self-determination of peoples, I have the honour to request you to consider that document as a formal proposal of an immediate armistice on all fronts, and the opening of immediate peace negotiations; a proposal which the authorised Government of the Russian Republic addresses at the same time to all the belligerent peoples and their Governments.
Please accept, Mr. Ambassador, the profound assurance of the esteem of the Soviet Government toward your people, who cannot but wish for peace, like all the other peoples exhausted and drained by this unexampled butchery .
The same night the Council of Peoples Commissars telegraphed to General Dukhonin:
The Council of Peoples Commissars considers it indispensable without delay to make a formal proposal of armistice to all the powers, both enemy and Allied. A declaration conforming to this decision has been sent by the Commissar for Foreign Affairs to the representatives of the Allied powers at Petrograd.
The Council of Peoples Commissars orders you, Citizen Commander, to propose to the enemy military authorities immediately to cease hostilities, and enter into negotiations for peace.
In charging you with the conduct of these preliminary pourparlers, the Council of Peoples Commissars orders you:
1. To inform the Council by direct wire immediately of any and all steps in the pourparlers with the representatives of the enemy armies.
2. Not to sign the act of armistice until it has been passed upon by the Council of Peoples Commissars.
The Allied Ambassadors received Trotzkys note with contemptuous silence, accompanied by anonymous interviews in the newspapers, full of spite and ridicule. The order to Dukhonin was characterised openly as an act of treason .
As for Dukhonin, he gave no sign. On the night of November 22nd he was communicated with by telephone, and asked if he intended to obey the order. Dukhonin answered that he could not, unless it emanated from a Government sustained by the Army and the country.
By telegraph he was immediately dismissed from the post of Supreme Commander, and Krylenko appointed in his place. Following his tactics of appealing to the masses, Lenin sent a radio to all regimental, divisional and corps Committees, to all soldiers and sailors of the Army and the Fleet, acquainting them with Dukhonins refusal, and ordering that the regiments on the front shall elect delegates to begin negotiations with the enemy detachments opposite their positions .
On the 23d, the military attaches of the Allied nations, acting on instructions from their Governments, presented a note to Dukhonin, in which he was solemnly warned not to violate the conditions of the treaties concluded between the Powers of the Entente. The note went on to say that if a separate armistice with Germany were concluded, that act would result in the most serious consequences to Russia. This communication Dukhonin at once sent out to all the soldiers Committees .
Next morning Trotzky made another appeal to the troops, characterising the note of the Allied representatives as a flagrant interference in the internal affairs of Russia, and a bald attempt to force by threats the Russian Army and the Russian people to continue the war in execution of the treaties concluded by the Tsar .
From Smolny poured out proclamation after proclamation, (See
App. XI, Sect. 19
) denouncing Dukhonin and the counter-revolutionary officers about him, denouncing the reactionary politicians gathered at Moghilev, rousing, from one end of the thousand-mile Front to the other, millions of angry, suspicious soldiers. And at the same time Krylenko, accompanied by three detachments of fanatical sailors, set out for the
breathing threats of vengeance, (See
App. XI, Sect. 20
) and received by the soldiers everywhere with tremendous ovationsa triumphal progress. The Central Army Committee issued a declaration in favour of Dukhonin; and at once ten thousand troops moved upon Moghilev .
On December 2d the garrison of Moghilev rose and seized the city, arresting Dukhonin and the Army Committee, and going out with victorious red banners to meet the new Supreme Commander. Krylenko entered Moghilev next morning, to find a howling mob gathered about the railway-car in which Dukhonin had been imprisoned. Krylenko made a speech in which he implored the soldiers not to harm Dukhonin, as he was to be taken to Petrograd and judged by the Revolutionary Tribunal. When he had finished, suddenly Dukhonin himself appeared at the window, as if to address the throng. But with a savage roar the people rushed the car, and falling upon the old General, dragged him out and beat him to death on the platform .
So ended the revolt of the
Immensely strengthened by the collapse of the last important stronghold of hostile military power in Russia, the Soviet Government began with confidence the organisation of the state. Many of the old functionaries flocked to its banner, and many members of other parties entered the Government service. The financially ambitious, however, were checked by the decree on Salaries of Government Employees, fixing the salaries of the Peoples Commissarsthe highestat five hundred rubles (about fifty dollars) a month . The strike of Government Employees, led by the Union of Unions, collapsed, deserted by the financial and commercial interests which had been backing it. The bank clerks returned to their jobs .
With the decree on the Nationalisation of Banks, the formation of the Supreme Council of Peoples Economy, the putting into practical operation of the Land decree in the villages, the democratic reorganisation of the Army, and the sweeping changes in all branches of the Government and of life,with all these, effective only by the will of the masses of workers, soldiers and peasants, slowly began, with many mistakes and hitches, the moulding of proletarian Russia.
Not by compromise with the propertied classes, or with the other political leaders; not by conciliating the old Government mechanism, did the Bolsheviki conquer the power. Nor by the organized violence of a small clique. If the masses all over Russia had not been ready for insurrection it must have failed. The only reason for Bolshevik success lay in their accomplishing the vast and simple desires of the most profound strata of the people, calling them to the work of tearing down and destroying the old, and afterward, in the smoke of falling ruins, cooperating with them to erect the frame-work of the new .
is thirty-six pounds. [ | <urn:uuid:761da8ca-f5ec-45a7-9aa7-5b583431d8f8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bartleby.com/79/11.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00163-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954978 | 11,566 | 2.578125 | 3 |
An astronaut-focused history of NASA's first 30 years.
Hersch (Science, Technology and Society/Univ. of Pennsylvania) debuts with an analysis of the astronauts as a special subset of professional skilled laborers, along with an examination of their part in the evolution of the technological systems developed for the Apollo program and beyond. The author shows that pilots recruited into the program under the original military test-pilot profile maintained a stranglehold on the flight schedule during the entire period of his study, and he discusses their relations with competing contenders as if they were involved in labor disputes. The shuttle program of the 1980s was still piloted by veterans like Richard Truly, who had been recruited in the ’60s. Hersch documents a series of struggles for control of flying seats among administrators, pilots and astronaut-scientists or engineers. Original NASA Mercury Seven astronaut Deke Slayton, rejected as a pilot for health reasons, and his second-in-command, Alan Shepard, refused to allow non-test-pilot-trained astronauts on “hazardous missions”—and by their definition, almost all missions were hazardous, including those of the shuttle. So NASA's efforts to recruit civilian scientists to the program were undermined, and seats on nine of the moon shots were allocated by the end of 1966. Knowing they would never fly, the scientist-astronauts called themselves “the excess eleven.” Hersch shows that this kind of conflict helped shape the evolution of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. However, the experimental pilots were also a vital part of the program, assisting with equipment design and redesign to ensure project safety. The importance of their training and experience was validated time and again.
A provocative effort to cast new light on the NASA program. | <urn:uuid:7b63b07a-c61c-4671-bcba-face5b8b5188> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/matthew-hersch/inventing-american-astronaut/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399428.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00102-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972542 | 363 | 3.140625 | 3 |
On 3/12/2013 8:06 PM, Math Guy wrote: > Looking for some thoughts about how to understand this problem. > > A closed loop (an irregular ring) is defined by a set of n points in > space. > > Each point has an (x,y,z) coordinate. The points are not co-planar. > Typically, this ring would approximate the perimeter of a horse saddle, > or a potato chip. The number of points (n) is typically from 6 to 12 > (usually 9) but will never be more than 16.
As in the case of the other reply, I am the last person who should be answering your question.
What you are describing with this statement is typically called a "saddle point" (someone should add an entry at wikipedia for "potato chip point")
There are specific analytic functions and specific methods for curvilinear approximation that would be helpful to you if you had constraints to choose such functions and if you were fortunate enough to find someone who knew methods that might apply.
Since neither of those conditions are satisfied by me, let us think about the problem in some other way.
If you look at the picture on the wikipedia page, you will see that the saddle is enclosed in a convex rectilinear region. So, you would want to do something along those lines in order to frame the problem.
Next, notice that a line segment connecting the maximum points of the concave up curve and a line segment connecting the minimum points of the concave down curve give you a basis for constructing a tetrahedral convex domain. You may need to add points at the extrema once the rectilinear region is determined in order to do this.
Suppose now that you find the centroid of the tetrahedral domain.
If you now form triangles from the line segments of the cyclic polygonal line forming your ring to the centroid of the tetrahedral domain, you will have some structure based on the saddle point geometry you are claiming to approximate with your statement (my other reply did not even try to address this since my first thought was simply any "area" for any configuration of n points in space based on triangular surfaces -- that is why I snipped the beginning of your post).
Once again, you need to look at variations with respect to the centroid. Your polygonal boundary may not be as symmetrical as a "horse saddle". If it is, you might be restricted to vary only along the normal to the "top" and "bottom" surfaces of the rectilinear boundary which passes through the centroid.
If you want to vary off of such a line for any reason, consider forming an ovoid region inscribed in the tetrahedron, having the same ratio of axes as the rectilinear region, and oriented to have its axes coherently aligned with the rectilinear region. Then your variations will have some constraint within the tetrahedral region that reflects the external constraint used to orient your tetrahedral geometry. This will prevent you from varying too far from your intended "shape".
Actually, once you have determined the ovoid that could be inscribed, use a smaller ovoid (the golden ratio is always the aesthetic choice since there is no notion of "correctness" available to us) so that your variations are sufficiently distant from the tetrahedral boundary. | <urn:uuid:c4719628-0f0a-494c-9f0a-fd943ac8503b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://mathforum.org/kb/message.jspa?messageID=8626343 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404405.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00182-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956208 | 706 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Read-Aloud Lesson: Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez
Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez | 800L
- Learning Goal
- Identify the actions Cesar Chavez took to help farmworkers, the results of those actions, and the historical significance of those results.
- Part 1: Approximately 40-45 minutesPart 2: Approximately 15-20 minutesPart 3: Approximately 15-20 minutes
- Necessary Materials
1. Detailed lesson plan
2. Graphic organizer for guided practice
3. Independent student worksheet
Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez
This lesson is a close reading of the entire text. So it’s important to engage students often, to enhance their learning. Here are two tips:
- When you ask the more complex questions from the lesson, ask students to “turn-and-talk” or “buddy-talk” before answering.
Once you are deep into the lesson, instead of asking students every question provided, ask them to share with you what questions they should be asking themselves at that point in the text. This is also a great opportunity to use "turn-and-talk."
- Suggested teacher language is included in the lesson.
- We recommend you read the book once to your students, either the day or morning before teaching the lesson.
- This research-based, read-aloud lesson may seem long. Why do students need the lesson to be this way?
Part 1: Teacher Modeling and Questioning
Write the following student-friendly learning goal on the board, then read the learning goal out loud with the class:
We will explain what Cesar Chavez did to try and help farmworkers, and why it is important to history.
Point out Arizona and California on a map or a globe. (A map is provided here for your convenience.)
Students answer (may vary):
- Cesar liked to sleep outside.
- Cesar had brothers, sisters, and cousins.
- Cesar thought the whole world belonged to his family.
Part 2: Guided Practice and Discussion
Part 3: Student Independent Practice
Texts & Materials
(To see all of the ReadWorks lessons aligned to your standards, click here.) | <urn:uuid:94885cd4-36b9-492c-92db-1bfc0f31f872> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.readworks.org/lessons/grade4/harvesting-hope-story-cesar-chavez/read-aloud-lesson | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00080-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903418 | 476 | 3.75 | 4 |
What can I do on the last few days of school? This year (my first as a teacher), my exams were over, projects were completed, and my grades were turned in. But after that it was hard to keep the students focused.
—Angie, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Time is a precious commodity. It’s hard to understand why some teachers stop their class activities several days before the last day. Everything is packed up and put away, the bulletin boards are down, and students sit around in “study halls,” even though they don’t have anything to study. (Although sometimes packing up before the last day is necessary. When we were changing buildings for a renovation project, we had to have things packed up by the last week for the maintenance staff to move). It’s hard to justify to parents and students why students should come to school on the last days of the year, if all the students do is watch movies, do busywork, talk to each other, or roam the halls.
Here are some learning-related alternatives:
- You could ask them to work in groups to come up with a “guide” for next year’s class—something like The Top 10 Things You Need to Know About Chemistry Class or Physics Class FAQs (and Answers). You could make this open-ended or assign different topics to the groups (e.g., lab safety, study skills, lab procedures, difficult topics, or how to use a science notebook). You may need to model a few appropriate ideas before they start. The groups could share and debrief with each other. This could also be an informal evaluation survey, since you’ll get to see what they thought was essential or important enough to share. And be sure to share a composite list with your students next year on a bulletin board or via your website or blog.
- Try out a new technology tool with the students. For example, lino is a web-based communication system mimicking sticky-notes on a bulletin board. The instructor creates a board and shares the URL with students who can post notes on it. Students work in teams using a computer, and can see what others are posting in real time. Then you debrief as a class or in larger groups, with all of the notes visible on screen. TodaysMeet is a Twitter-like application that captures what people are thinking during an event (the backchannel). If you show a video, for example, students can add their questions and comments (140 characters) as they watch. Of course, you can monitor these conversations to follow along and to add your own ideas. Both have a basic free version that requires instructors to log in. I’m sure that students would catch on quickly, and you could decide if this is worth using next year.
- Vocabulary games, such as variations on Jeopardy or Pictionary. Some take a while to create, but a card sort or word splash is easy to put together. In charades, each team creates a pantomime of a vocabulary term or science process (it’s amazing what they can do with mitosis or Newton’s laws). Have a few prizes if you feel the need.
- Lab activities or online simulations you wanted to do during the year but didn’t have time.
- Some teachers give an end of year survey to students and debrief on the results.
Be cautious about having students assist with lab cleanup. You’ll have to supervise both those who are helping you and those who are not.
Keep the last day in mind as you start next year. Take photos or videos of activities and equipment during each unit, and have students write the captions at the end of the year. Prepare surveys and vocabulary activities in advance.
If grades are turned in, it may be hard to get students to participate especially if the whole year focused on points that “counted” for every activity. But I suspect that most students would rather have some sort of planned activity (even though they might grumble about it). In my school, the last day was a half-day to give out report cards and tie up loose ends. So I found the next-to-the last day was the more challenging one. | <urn:uuid:77dd9162-ee48-49fd-ac62-8d86b2171666> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://nstacommunities.org/blog/2011/07/02/eoy-activities/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398216.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00048-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970422 | 886 | 3.140625 | 3 |
A: There are several types of freezes, explains Brent McRoberts of Texas A&M University, and they are classified according to their severity. “In general terms, a hard freeze occurs when the air temperature is 26 degrees or lower for at least four hours. Because of the cold temperatures, it usually means that many types of plants and most seasonal vegetation will be destroyed.”
Q: What are the other types of freezes?
A: A light freeze occurs when the temperature gets between 29 to 32 degrees, and this kind of freeze can kill tender plants but not harm others, McRoberts adds. “A moderate freeze occurs at 25 to 28 degrees and this can destroy most types of vegetation, especially fruit plants. All freezes are tough on plants, but a hard freeze is the worst. It is often called a ‘killing freeze’ because it kills most of the plants affected. Hard freezes are common in northern states and higher altitudes, but usually only several will occur each winter in most parts of Texas.” | <urn:uuid:7064f992-fc98-487f-8835-d3c170e819bf> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://thekatynews.com/2014/01/10/weather-whys-what-is-a-hard-freeze/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397748.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00077-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958175 | 211 | 3.59375 | 4 |
Sohl, F. (2009) Comparison of the Jovian and Saturnian satellites. European Space Agency (ESA-ESTEC), Research and Scientific Support Department (RSSD) Open Seminar , 2009-12-11, Noordwijk, the Netherlands.
Full text not available from this repository.
The understanding of outer planet satellites has improved considerably, when the Voyager spacecraft flew by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, followed by the advent of the Galileo spacecraft in the Jovian system (1995-2003) and the Cassini spacecraft in the Saturnian system (since 2004). We will be discussing geophysical constraints on the interior structure and composition of selected Jovian and Saturnian icy satellites and investigate conditions under which potentially habitable liquid water reservoirs could be maintained. Active volcanism on Io and tectonic features on Europa emphasize the importance of tidal heating in the Jupiter system, maintained by gravitational interaction due to the resonant orbits of Io, Europa, and Ganymede (Laplace resonance). Ganymede is strongly differentiated and possesses a self-sustained, dipolar magnetic field. Magnetic induction signals were observed at Europa, Callisto, and possibly Ganymede, suggesting the presence of globe-encircling, briny reservoirs of liquid water below the surface. Saturn's largest moon Titan is intermediate between Ganymede and Callisto in respect to its radius, mean density and degree of internal differentiation. Titan is likely to harbour a cold, extended internal liquid reservoir, similar to the large icy satellites of Jupiter, but more enriched in ammonia. Enceladus' south pole hot spot and associated water-vapour plumes may be caused by localized tidal heating above a liquid water reservoir in contact with silicate rock below. Interior models of icy bodies would certainly benefit from future geophysical exploration, which would include gravitational and magnetic field sounding from low-altitude orbit and close flyby, combined with altimetry data and in-situ monitoring of tidally-induced surface distortion and time-variable magnetic fields. Additional important constraints are provided by the surface geology, spectral properties, and chemistry of each individual satellite.
|Document Type:||Conference or Workshop Item (Lecture)|
|Title:||Comparison of the Jovian and Saturnian satellites|
|Keywords:||Outer planet satellites, interiors, surfaces, tides, water oceans, Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Enceladus, Titan|
|Event Title:||European Space Agency (ESA-ESTEC), Research and Scientific Support Department (RSSD) Open Seminar|
|Event Location:||Noordwijk, the Netherlands|
|HGF - Research field:||Aeronautics, Space and Transport (old)|
|HGF - Program:||Space (old)|
|HGF - Program Themes:||W EW - Erforschung des Weltraums|
|DLR - Research area:||Space|
|DLR - Program:||W EW - Erforschung des Weltraums|
|DLR - Research theme (Project):||W - Vorhaben Vergleichende Planetologie (old)|
|Institutes and Institutions:||Institute of Planetary Research > Planetary Physics|
|Deposited By:||Frank Sohl|
|Deposited On:||05 Jan 2010 13:41|
|Last Modified:||05 Jan 2010 13:41|
Repository Staff Only: item control page | <urn:uuid:f7448069-884e-4ecb-a223-9dff8d75fa8e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://elib.dlr.de/61802/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394414.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00067-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.801048 | 748 | 2.515625 | 3 |
“Late at night, I cried. When I thought about who I used to be and what I used to be able to do, I felt frightened and alone. Then the self-pity would kick in, and that made me feel ashamed,” writes author Kara Swanson. After her brain injury, Kara experienced significant bouts of depression, especially early on in her recovery. But over time, she learned to manage it, to accept who she was now, and to create a fulfilling life for herself.
What exactly is depression?
Depression is sadness than can last a few days or weeks, or a long time. It can also manifest as a loss of enjoyment in life, even in the activities that once gave a person great joy and sense of self. It is characterized by feelings of sadness, despair, and discouragement. It often follows a personal loss or an injury, like TBI. When someone’s life has changed drastically, it’s normal to feel depressed. It is not a sign of weakness, nor does it represent a moral failure. It is definitely not something to be ashamed of.
Depression can result from the chemical changes in the brain itself. It can also be a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder. If the depression becomes extreme and affects the way you live your life, it may become pathological. Seeking help early is crucial.
Signs and symptoms
When recognized early, depression is easier to treat. Family members — and individuals with brain injury — should watch for these common signs:
Depression can sometimes be a double-whammy. While depressed, you don’t have the energy or confidence to do what you need to do to try to feel better. Here are a few strategies that people with post-TBI depression have suggested:
For Kara and others with brain injury, the good news is that depression after a brain injury often goes away on its own or can be treated successfully with medication or non-traditional means like yoga or meditation.
Depression is usually treated with medication and/or counseling by a trained professional, but without treatment the symptoms can last longer and may return. Chronic depression can cause low self-esteem and poor quality of life. Treatment is usually quite successful, so there is little reason to delay seeking help.
“One of the most important steps in recovering from any traumatic event,” wrote Kara, “is realizing that you need help — that you can’t always make it by yourself — and then finding the strength to seek it out.” | <urn:uuid:8e076dd7-1eed-40a9-a3af-0dce5c6d0202> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.brainline.org/landing_pages/categories/depression.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398075.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00196-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962801 | 522 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Burlington, Vermont, already considered to be one of the United States’s most environmentally progressive cities, has added another line to its impressive green resume. Just recently, the city finalized its transition to relying 100% on renewable resources for its energy.
Burlington is Vermont’s large city, though that in itself is no big feat – the city has a population of just 42,000. Then again, very few communities of even this size have managed to disassociate themselves from fossil fuels. In order to adequately tackle climate change, cities – big and small – need to prioritize finding and utilizing alternative energy solutions.
Burlington had expressed a desire to commit to 100% renewable energy for more than a decade, but it became a real possibility when analysts discovered that it was not only a smart environmental choice, but financially viable, too. In the long run, both the city and residents will not be paying more for clean energy than they were when buying fossil fuels.
The 100% mark was made possible when the Burlington Electric Department bought hydroelectric technology stationed on the Winooski River near Burlington’s border. The power created by water supplements the city’s existing wind technologies, as well as a biomass facility that harvests energy from leftover woodchips supplied by the region’s logging industry.
Vermont on the whole, however, intends to follow Burlington’s lead in adopting more renewable energy. The state has declared a goal of having renewable resources provide 90% of the energy before the year 2050. Residents are so supportive of this effort that utility companies are going out of their way to accommodate alternative energy to their customers.
In truth, Burlington does rely on some fossil fuels for energy when the renewable resources aren’t readily available – sometimes the wind is too weak to generate much power, for example. To cover these times, they will purchase energy created with non-renewable resources to provide the city with electricity. When the wind is strong, however, Burlington will trade the excess energy to other towns to make up for its deficits. Overall, Burlington energy authorities explain, the city sells more of its own (clean) energy than it buys from other communities.
For this reason, some environmentalists say that Burlington’s “100%” rate is a bit of stretch and deserves an asterisk next to it. Sill, an asterisk is better than the effort that most American cities have put in thus far. By turning its attention to cultivating energy from water, wind and biomass, Burlington is showing the rest of the country that renewable energy is not only possible, it’s affordable. As the rest of Vermont begins to follow suit, hopefully other states will catch on as well. | <urn:uuid:2724fdf5-f710-47dc-a0d1-b6fd3e718c39> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.care2.com/causes/burlington-vermont-is-now-100-powered-by-renewable-energy.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399385.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00099-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965978 | 561 | 3.203125 | 3 |
This composite image is taken from a three-dimensional simulation performed to help scientists better understand the sequence of events that led to the containment failure of the Baneberry underground test in December 1970.
Full size image available here.
As the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA's) Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) Program prepares to move into its second decade, the users of ASC's enormous computers also prepare to enter a new phase. Since its beginning in 1995, the ASC Program (originally the Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative, or ASCI) has been driven by the need to analyze and predict the safety, reliability, and performance of the nation's nuclear weapons and certify their functionality--all in the absence of nuclear weapons testing. To that end, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia national laboratories have worked with computer industry leaders such as IBM, Intel, SGI, and Hewlett Packard to bring the most advanced and powerful machines to reality.
But hardware is only part of the story. The ASC Program also required the development of a computing infrastructure and scalable, high-fidelity, three-dimensional simulation codes to address issues related to stockpile stewardship. Most important, the laboratories had to provide proof of principle that users could someday have confidence in the results of the simulations when compared with data from legacy codes, past nuclear tests, and nonnuclear science experiments.
Efforts are now successfully moving beyond that proof-of-principle phase, notes Randy Christensen, who leads program planning in the Defense and Nuclear Technologies (DNT) Directorate and is one of the founding members of the tri-laboratory ASC Program. Christensen says, "With the codes, machines, and all the attendant infrastructure in order, we can now advance to the next phase and focus on improving the physics models in our codes to enhance our understanding of weapons behavior." Livermore's 12.3-teraops (trillion operations per second) ASC White machine and Los Alamos's 20-teraops ASC Q machine are in place, and the next systems in line are Sandia's 40-teraops ASC Red Storm and Livermore's 100-teraops ASC Purple. "In anticipation of ASC Purple in 2005, we are shifting our emphasis from developing parallel-architecture machines and codes to improved weapons science and increased physics understanding of nuclear weapons," adds Christensen. "We are taking the next major step in the road we mapped out at the start of the program."
A Long and Winding Road
"Ten years ago, we were focused on creating a new capability, and the program was viewed more as an experiment or an initiative," says Mike McCoy, acting leader for DNT's ASC Program. "Many skeptics feared that the three-dimensional codes we were crafting, and the new machines we needed to run them on, would fail to be of use to the weapons program." These skeptics had three areas of concern: First, would the new three-dimensional codes be useful? That is, would the code developers, working with other scientists, be able to develop new applications with the physics, dimensionality, resolution, and computational speed needed to take the next step in predictivity? Second, would the computers be reliable and work sufficiently well to grind through the incredibly complex and detailed calculations required in a world without underground nuclear testing? Third, would the supporting software infrastructure, or simulation environment, be able to handle the end-to-end computational and assessment processes? For that first decade, the program's primary focus was on designing codes and running prototype problems to address these concerns.
A snapshot of dislocation microstructure generated in a massively parallel dislocation line dynamics simulation.
Full size image available here.
"Sophisticated weapon simulation codes existed before the ASC and Stockpile Stewardship programs," says Christensen. "However, because of the limited computer power available, those codes were never expected to simulate all the fine points of an exploding nuclear weapon. When the results of these simulations didn't match the results of the underground tests, numerical 'knobs' were tweaked to make the simulation results better match the experiments. When underground nuclear testing was halted in 1992, we could no longer rely so heavily on tweaking those knobs."
At the time that underground testing ceased and NNSA's Stockpile Stewardship Program was born, Livermore weapons scientists were depending on the (then) enormous machines developed by Seymour Cray. Cray designed several of the world's fastest vector-architecture supercomputers and introduced closely coupled processors. "We had reached the limits on those types of systems," says McCoy, who is also a deputy associate director in the Computation Directorate. "From there, we ventured into scalar architecture and the massively parallel world of ASC supercomputers--systems of thousands of processors, each with a large supply of local memory. We were looking at not only sheer capability--which is the maximum processing power that can be applied to a single job--but also price performance. We were moving away from specialized processors for parallel machines to commodity processor systems and aggregating enough memory at reasonable cost to address the new complexity and dimensionality."
Not Just Computers and Codes: Making It All Work
Designers and physicists in the tri-laboratory (Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia national laboratories) Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) Program are now using codes and supercomputers to delve into regimes of physics heretofore impossible to reach. What made these amazing tools possible were the efforts of the computer scientists, mathematicians, and computational physicists who brought the machines and the codes to the point of deployment.
It wasn't easy. Throughout the era of testing nuclear weapons, approximations were a given for the computations. When calculations produced unusual results, scientists assumed that lack of resolution or faithful replication of geometry or faithful physics models or some combination were the culprits. "It was assumed that, no matter how big the machines were at that time, this inaccuracy would remain a given," says Mike McCoy, deputy associate director of Livermore's Computation Directorate. "But this concern was greatly mitigated, because testing provided the 'ground truth' and the data necessary to calibrate the simulations through the intelligent use of tweaking 'knobs.'"
When testing was halted, the nation's Stockpile Stewardship Program came into being. Scientists now needed to prove that computer simulation results could hold their own and provide valuable information, which could be combined with data from current experiments and from underground tests to generate the necessary insights.
To bring such parity to computer simulations in the triumvirate of theory, experiment, and simulation, code designers had to address three concerns. First, could supercomputing hardware systems be built to perform the tasks? Second, could a workable simulation environment or support infrastructure be created for these systems? Third, could the mathematical algorithms used in the physics codes be scalable?
Bringing on the Hardware
The move to massively parallel processing supercomputers in the late 1980s was followed by the cessation of underground testing of nuclear devices in 1992 and the start of science-based stockpile stewardship. The ASC Program required machines that could cost-effectively run simulations at trillions of operations per second (teraops) and use the terabytes of memory needed to properly express the complexity of the physics being simulated. This requirement forced a jump to massively parallel processing supercomputers that were, above all, scalable. In other words, these machines needed to be able to run large problems across the entire system without bogging down from communication bottlenecks, which led to the development of high-performance interconnects and the necessary software to manage these switches. Demands on hardware grew, and now the ASC Program at Livermore juggles three technology curves to ensure that users will have the machines they need today, tomorrow, and in the future. (See S&TR, June 2003, Riding the Waves of Supercomputing Technology.)
Creating an Infrastructure
Without a proper infrastructure, the ASC systems are little more than hard-to-program data-generation engines that create mind-numbing quantities of intractable, raw data. The infrastructure (sometimes called the supporting simulation environment) is what makes the terascale platform a real tool. The infrastructure includes improved systems software, input and output applications, message-passing libraries, storage systems, performance tools, debuggers, visualization clusters, data reduction and rendering algorithms, fiber infrastructure to offices, assessment theaters, high-resolution desktop displays, wide-area networks with encryption, and professional user consulting and services at the computer center--all focused on making the machines and codes run more efficiently.
(a) When the Cray-1 machine was installed in 1981, it was one of the fastest, most powerful scientific computers available. The last Cray obtained by Lawrence Livermore, in 1989, had 16 central processing units and about 2 megabytes of memory. (b) Nearly a decade later, the massively parallel 10-teraops ASC White arrived at the Laboratory as part of the National Nuclear Security Administrationís Advanced Simulation and Computing Program.
Full size image available here.
The infrastructure has evolved in balance with the hardware. In 1999, for example, 2 terabytes of data from a three-dimensional simulation might have taken 2 or 3 days to move to archival storage or to a visualization server. By the end of 2000, that journey took 4 hours. Today, those 2 terabytes can zip from computer to mass storage in about 30 minutes. Similar efficiency and performance improvements have occurred with compilers, debuggers, file systems, and data management tools as well as visualization and distance computing. Remote computing capabilities within the tri-laboratory community are easily available to all sites.
Designing Codes and Their Algorithms
Over the past few years, the ASC Program has developed some very capable three-dimensional codes and has maintained or further developed supporting science applications and two-dimensional weapons codes. Because of the enormous size of the computers and their prodigious power consumption, notes McCoy, the applications themselves are generally ignored by the media in favor of headline-producing computers. But if the truth were known, it is these codes and the people who build them, not the computers, that are the heart and soul of the ASC Program. "The computers come, and after a few years, they go," says McCoy. "But the codes and code teams endure." The greatest value of the ASC Program resides in these software assets, and this value is measured in billions of dollars. The backbone of these scientific applications is mathematical equations representing the physics and the numerical constructs to represent the equations. To address issues such as how to handle a billion linear and nonlinear equations with a billion unknowns, computational mathematicians and others created innovative linear solvers (S&TR, December 2003, Multigrid Solvers Do the Math Faster, More Efficiently) and Monte Carlo methods (S&TR, March 2004, Improved Algorithms Speed It Up for Codes) that allow the mathematics to "scale" in a reasonable manner. Thus, as the problem grows more complex, processors can be added to keep the solution time manageable.
The challenge was to move into the world of massively parallel ASC systems in which thousands of processors may be working in concert on a problem. "First, we had to learn how to make these machines work at large scale," says McCoy. "At the same time, we were developing massively parallel multiphysics codes and finding a way to implement them on the new machines. It was a huge effort in every direction."
As the machines matured, the codes matured as well. "We've entered the young adult years," says McCoy. "ASC White is running reliably in production mode, with a mean time to failure of a machine component measured in days, not hours or minutes. The proof-of-principle era is ending: The codes are deployed, the weapon designers increasingly are using these applications in major investigations, and this work is contributing directly to stockpile stewardship. With the upcoming 100-teraops ASC Purple, we believe that in many cases where we have good experimental data, numerical error will be sufficiently reduced to make it possible to detect where physics models need improvement. We have demonstrated the value of high-resolution, three-dimensional physics simulations and are now integrating that capability into the Stockpile Stewardship Program, as we work to improve that capability by enhancing physics models. The ASC Program is no longer an initiative, it's a permanent element of a tightly integrated program with a critical and unambiguously defined national security mission."
Looking forward, Jim Rathkopf, an associate program leader for DNT's A Program, notes that with the arrival of Purple, codes will be able to use even higher resolution and better physics. "Higher resolution and better physics are required to reproduce the details of the different phases of a detonation and to determine the changes that occur in weapons as they age and their materials change over time."
Predicting Material Behavior
It's exciting times for scientists in the materials modeling world. The power of the terascale ASC machines and their codes is beginning to allow physicists to predict material behavior from first principles--from knowing only the quantum mechanics of electrons and the forces between atoms. Earlier models, which were constrained by limited computing capabilities, had to rely on averages of material properties at a coarser scale than the actual physics demanded.
Elaine Chandler, who manages the ASC Materials and Physics Models Program, explains, "We can now predict very accurately the elastic properties of some metals. We're close to having predictive models for plastic properties as well." Equation-of-state models are also moving from the descriptive to the predictive realm. It's possible to predict melt curves and phase boundaries from first principles and to predict changes in the arrangement of atoms from one crystalline structure to another. For example, scientists are running plasticity calculations to look at how tantalum moves and shears, then conducting experiments to see if their predictions are correct. Using this process, they can determine basic properties, such as yield strength.
With the older descriptive modeling codes, scientists would run many experiments in differing regimes of temperature and pressure, then basically "connect the dots" to find out what a metal would do during an explosion. Now, they can perform the calculations that provide consistent information about the entire process. "It's a new world," says Chandler, "in which simulation results are trusted enough to take the place of physical experiments or, in some cases, lead to new experiments."
In the future, ASC Purple and the pioneering BlueGene/L computer will contribute to this new world. BlueGene/L is a computational-science research and evaluation machine that IBM will build in parallel with ASC Purple and deliver in 2005. According to Chandler, BlueGene/L should allow scientists to reach new levels of predictive capability for processes such as dislocation dynamics in metals, grain-scale chemical reactions in high explosives, and mixing in gases. Chandler says some types of hydrodynamics and materials science calculations will be relatively straightforward to port to the BlueGene/L architecture, but others, particularly those involving quantum-mechanical calculations, will require significant restructuring in order to use the architecture of this powerful machine. This is a challenge well worth the effort, because of the unprecedented computer power that BlueGene/L will offer to attack previously intractable problems.
"Nearly a half century ago," adds Chandler, "scientists dreamed of a time when they could obtain a material's properties from simply knowing the atomic numbers of the elements and quantum-mechanical principles. That dream eluded us because we lacked computers powerful enough to solve the complex calculations required. We are just now able to touch the edge of that dream, to reach the capabilities needed to make accurate predictions about material properties."
Leaping from Milestone to Milestone
With the birth of the Stockpile Stewardship Program (SSP), the need for better computer simulations became paramount to help ensure that the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile remained safe, reliable, and capable of meeting performance requirements. The tri-laboratory (Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia national laboratories) Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) Program was created to provide the integrating simulation and modeling capabilities and technologies needed to combine new and old experimental data, past nuclear-test data, and past design and engineering experience. The first decade was devoted to demonstrating the proof of principle of ASC machines and codes. As part of that effort, the program set up a number of milestones to "prove out" the complex machines and their advanced three-dimensional physics codes.
In thermonuclear weapons, radiation from a fission device (called a primary) can be contained and used to transfer energy for the compression and ignition of a physically separate component (called a secondary) containing thermonuclear fuel.
Full size image available here.
The first milestone, accomplished in December 1999 by Livermore researchers on the ASC Blue Pacific/Sky machine, was the first-ever three-dimensional simulation of an explosion of a nuclear weapon's primary (the nuclear trigger of a hydrogen bomb). The simulation ran a total of 492 hours on 1,000 processors and used 640,000 megabytes of memory in producing 6 million megabytes of data contained in 50,000 computer files. The second Livermore milestone, a three-dimensional simulation of the secondary (thermonuclear) stage of a thermonuclear weapon, was accomplished in early 2001 on the ASC White machine--the first time that White was used to meet a milestone.
Livermore met a third milestone in late 2001, again using ASC White, coupling the primary and secondary in the first simulation of a full thermonuclear weapon. For this landmark simulation, the total run time was about 40 days of around-the-clock computing on over 1,000 processors. This simulation represented a major step toward deployment of the simulation capability. The quality was unusually high when compared to historic nuclear-test data. A detailed examination of the simulation results revealed complex coupled processes that had never been seen. In 2001, ASC White was also used by a Los Alamos team to complete an independent full-system milestone simulation.
In December 2002, Livermore completed another milestone on ASC White when a series of two-dimensional primary explosion calculations was performed. These simulations exercised new models intended to improve the physics fidelity and quantified the effect of increased spatial resolution on the accuracy of the results. The first production version of this code was also released at this time to users. Yet another Livermore team used ASC White to perform specialized three-dimensional simulations of a critical phase in the operation of a full thermonuclear weapon.
In 2003, Livermore teams completed separate safety and performance milestones. For the performance milestone, one team worked remotely on the ASC Q machine at Los Alamos to conduct a suite of three-dimensional primary explosion simulations in support of a Life Extension Program (LEP). Moving even farther from proof-of-principle demonstration and closer to deployment, a code team worked with the LEP team to accomplish this milestone, which addressed complex technical issues and contributed to meeting SSP objectives.
"We accomplished major objectives on time--with the early milestones demonstrating first-of-a-kind proof-of-principle capabilities," says Tom Adams, an associate program leader for DNT's A Program. "Achieving these milestones was the result of an intense effort by the code teams, who were assisted by dedicated teams from across the Laboratory. ASC milestones have now transitioned from these early demonstrations to milestones focused on improving the physics fidelity of the simulations and supporting stockpile stewardship activities. We are now in the position of delivering directly to the SSP."
Adams adds that the upcoming ASC Purple machine is a significant entry point. "Purple is the fulfillment of one of the original goals of the ASC Program, which is to bring a 100-teraops system to bear on stockpile stewardship issues. We need Purple to perform full, three-dimensional simulations for stockpile stewardship on a business-as-usual basis. With Purple, we'll have the computing power and the codes needed to begin to address challenges in detail. Similarly, BlueGene/L will extend material models." And, beyond Purple? Petaops (quadrillion operations per second) systems will allow weapons designers and other users to address the fundamental underlying sources of uncertainty in the calculations. The goal is to be prepared to respond to technical issues that might arise because of component aging or new material requirements in the stockpile.
Delivering the Goods
ASC simulations play a key role in stockpile assessments and in programs to extend the life of the nation's arsenal. Each year, a formal assessment reports the status of the nation's stockpile of nuclear warheads and bombs. (See S&TR, July/August 2001, Annual Certification Takes a Snapshot of Stockpile's Health.) This process involves the three national weapons laboratories working in concert to provide a "snapshot" of the stockpile's health. Together, Livermore and Los Alamos are developing an improved methodology for quantifying confidence in the performance of these nuclear systems, with the goal of fully integrating this methodology into these annual assessments. The new methodology, known as quantification of margins and uncertainties (QMU), draws together information from simulations, experiments, and theory to quantify confidence factors for the key potential failure modes in every weapons system in the stockpile. (See S&TR, March 2004, A Better Method for Certifying the Nuclear Stockpile.)
The assertion that the nuclear explosive package in a weapon performs as specified is based on a design approach that provides an adequate margin against known potential failure modes. Weapons experts judge the adequacy of these margins using data from past nuclear experiments, ground and flight tests, and material compatibility evaluations during weapons development as well as routine stockpile surveillance, nonnuclear tests, and computer simulations. With the cessation of underground nuclear testing, the assessment of these margins relies much more heavily on surveillance and computer simulations than in the past and therefore requires the simulations to be more rigorous and detailed.
Because no new weapons are being developed, the existing ones must be maintained beyond their originally planned lifetimes. To ensure the performance of these aging weapons, Livermore and Los Alamos weapons scientists use QMU to help them identify where and when they must refurbish a weapons system. When needed, a Life Extension Program (LEP) is initiated to address potential performance issues and extend the design lifetime of a weapons system through refurbishment or replacement of parts. For the W80 LEP now under way, results from ASC simulations are weighed along with data from past nuclear weapons tests and from recent small-scale science tests. These results will support certification of the LEP.
Using today's ASC computer systems and codes, scientists can include unprecedented geometric fidelity in addressing issues specific to life extension. They can also investigate particular aspects, such as plutonium's equation of state, scientifically and in detail, and then extend that understanding to the full weapons system. The results of these simulations, along with data from legacy testing and current experiments, improve the ability of weapons designers to make sound decisions in the absence of nuclear testing.
As computational capability increases, designers will have a more detailed picture of integrated weapons systems and can address even more complex issues--for example, how various materials fracture--with even higher resolution.
Right Answers for Right Reasons
Even as inaccuracies due to mathematics and numerics are being resolved by running simulations at ever higher resolutions, the question remains: If a simulation result is unusual, how do scientists know whether it is a problem due to inadequate resolution or simply an error, or bug, in the coding?
According to Cynthia Nitta, manager of the ASC Validation and Verification (V&V) Program, an effort was established by the ASC Program to rigorously examine the computational science and engineering simulation results with an eye to their credibility. "Can we trust that the results of simulations are accurate? Do the results reflect the real-world phenomena that they are striving to re-create or predict?" asks Nitta. "In the V&V Program, we are developing a process that should increase the confidence level for decisions regarding the nation's nuclear stockpile. Our methods and processes will establish that the calculations provide the right answers for the right reasons."
The verification and validation (V&V) process ties together simulations and experiments using quantitative comparisons.
Full size image available here.
The verification process determines whether a computer simulation code for a particular problem accurately represents the solutions of the mathematical model. Evidence is collected to ascertain whether the numerical model is being solved correctly. This process ensures that sound software-quality practices are used and the software codes themselves are free of defects and errors. It also checks that the code is correctly solving the mathematical equations in the algorithms and verifies that the time and space steps or zones chosen for the mathematical model are sufficiently resolved.
The validation process determines whether the mathematical model being used accurately represents the phenomenon being modeled and to what degree of accuracy. This process ensures that the simulation adequately represents the appropriate physics by comparing the output of a simulation with data gathered in experiments and quantifying the uncertainties in both.
Nitta says, "Computer simulations are used in analyzing all aspects of weapons systems as well as for analyzing and interpreting weapons-related experiments. The credibility of our simulation capabilities is central to the credibility of the certification of the nuclear stockpile. That credibility is established through V&V analyses."
Terascale--A Beginning, Not an End
With the proof-of-principle phase ending and new codes being deployed, what does the future hold? With the arrival of the 100-teraops Purple in 2005, many simulations become possible, including a full-system calculation of a nuclear weapon with sufficient resolution to distinguish between phenomenological and numerical issues. But, as McCoy, Christensen, and others point out, 100 teraops is just the beginning.
The Terascale Simulation Facility (TSF) at Lawrence Livermore will have two machine rooms for housing ASC Purple and BlueGene/L.
Full size image available here.
The ASC Program plans to increase the level of confidence in predictions that such simulations can bring as well as increase the predictive capability, by tying together simulations and experiments even more closely and quantifying the uncertainty of the simulated results.
We're positioning our science codes to run on the Purple and BlueGene/L machines so that we can understand the physics in even greater detail," says Christensen. "It's been a challenging journey over the past decade: In the ASC Program, we've demonstrated that we can acquire and use the world's most powerful computers to perform three-dimensional calculations that capture many details of weapons performance. Now, we must look toward the next goal, which is to be able to predict weapons behavior and quantify the confidence we have in that prediction. If the past decade is any indication--and we believe it is--this is a goal we can, and will, indeed attain."
The Department of Energy's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. | <urn:uuid:ca909645-ee5d-46a1-a355-bc333c26ac1a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eurekalert.org/features/doe/2004-06/dlnl-ssc061404.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393533.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00095-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938082 | 5,561 | 3.03125 | 3 |
The latest news from academia, regulators
research labs and other things of interest
Posted: June 23, 2006
First quantum dot display manufactured
(Nanowerk News) QD Vision, Inc. announced it has manufactured the world's first quantum dot display ("QD Display"). The company said the monochrome display demonstrates the manufacturability and commercial feasibility of quantum dot technology as a foundation for the next generation of displays.
The 32-by-64-pixel, red, monochrome QD Display is the size of a cell-phone screen and approximately one-sixteenth of an inch thick. Its simple device architecture features a layer of quantum dot material sandwiched between two semiconductor regions. The light emission originates from the quantum dots - tiny (approximately 5 nanometer) inorganic semiconductor nanocrystals, which are synthesized by chemists at QD Vision's advanced QD Display prototyping facility.
"Production of our first QD Display is an important step toward our goal of developing a commercial manufacturing process for quantum dot displays. We are focused on enabling efficient production of the highest-quality displays by continuing to improve on our proprietary materials, developing easily implemented display fabrication techniques, and selecting the right mix of strategic partners." said John Ritter, QD Vision's Executive Vice President of Product Development and Operations.
QD Displays are positioned to be the optimal technological mix of high performance, reliability, and manufacturability. Because of a quantum dot's unique physical properties, QD Displays have the potential to deliver a superior visual and user experience over liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) by producing brighter, richer and more accurate colors while consuming less power. QD Displays are intrinsically more reliable and manufacturable than new display technologies based on organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) because they are based on stable, inorganic, solution-based materials.
Source: QD Vision
If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on reddit or StumbleUpon. Thanks!
Check out these other trending stories on Nanowerk: | <urn:uuid:a97967ef-ba78-4a6b-941e-63964c369713> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=593.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00199-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.883584 | 429 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Print this page.
Home / Browse / Gender / Female / Dodd, Sonora Louise Smart
Sonora Louise Smart Dodd is known as the “Mother of Father’s Day.” She began trying to make Father’s Day an officially recognized holiday in 1909.
Sonora Smart was born on February 18, 1882, in Jenny Lind (Sebastian County), the daughter of William Jackson Smart, a farmer and Civil War veteran, and Ellen Victoria Cheek Smart. She was the oldest of six children and the only girl. When Smart was five years old, her family left Arkansas and settled in Spokane, Washington, where she lived for the rest of her life. In 1898, her mother died in childbirth, and Smart helped her father raise her younger brothers.
Smart married John Bruce Dodd, an insurance agent, on November 4, 1899, and they had a son, Jack Dodd, in 1909. In 1909, Dodd heard a church sermon about Mother’s Day, which had recently become a recognized holiday, and she wondered why there was no Father’s Day. On June 6, 1910, Dodd suggested establishing such a holiday to the Spokane Ministerial Association and the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). The first Father’s Day was celebrated in Spokane on June 19, 1910, fourteen days after Dodd’s father’s birthday.
Although the proposed holiday gained many supporters over the years, including Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Calvin Coolidge, it took several decades to be nationally recognized. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared June 19 of that year to be Father’s Day. Finally, in 1972, President Richard M. Nixon made Father’s Day a permanent national holiday to be observed annually the third Sunday of June.
In addition to her work establishing Father’s Day, Dodd was an artist and a poet, and she wrote a children’s book about the Native Americans of Spokane.
Dodd died on March 22, 1978, and is buried in Greenwood Memorial Terrace in Spokane.
For additional information:“Arkansas Native, Proposer of Father’s Day Dies at 96.” Arkansas Gazette, March 23, 1978, p. 16A.
“Sonora Louise Smart Dodd.” Father’s Day. http://www.fathersdaycelebration.com/sonora-louise-smart-dodd.html (accessed June 19, 2016).
“Woman Who Celebrated First Father’s Day Dies.” Arkansas Democrat, March 23, 1978, p. 5B.
Magdalena TeskeNorth Little Rock, Arkansas
Last Updated 6/19/2016
About this Entry: Contact the Encyclopedia / Submit a Comment / Submit a Narrative | <urn:uuid:c463c8dc-0df9-40bd-9e84-6b1113a41ad2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2762&type=Gender&item=Female&parent=&grandparent= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397795.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00000-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95992 | 587 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Creating a Distribution List
Users often have more than one distribution list. So, it is common for a user to create a subdirectory in his or her home directory on AFS called, for example, "dl", "dists", or "dlists." In the following example, we assume that Joe User (ju33) has a subdirectory called "dlists" in which he places his distribution lists. He decides to create a distribution list or "dlist" for a group of colleagues who are interested in special education. His distribution list file is called "specialed.dl" and looks like this:
; Errors to Joe's mailbox
; Distribution list for special-ed colleagues
hgCdemail@example.com (Hal's new addrs),
Comments and blank lines
Comments are ignored when email is sent to a dlist; they are for your information only. There are two types of comments possible in distribution lists: semicolons and parentheses. The first and fourth lines in Joe's file are semicolon comments; they explain what the other lines do and must start at the beginning of a line (you cannot insert a semicolon in the middle of a line to start a comment). Blank lines, such as line three above, can be inserted anywhere in the distribution list file to improve readability. The eighth line above has a comment in parentheses after an address. This is also an acceptable form of commenting, but you still need to follow the address line with a comma.
The second line in Joe's file begins with the words "Distribution-errors-to:" (note the colon at the end). This line has to come before the "Distribution-content:" and tells the Message System to return to Joe any error notices generated by the addresses in the dlist. An error notice is generated when mail cannot be delivered to an address included in the distribution list (e.g., a recipient's account may no longer be active). By having rejected mail returned to himself, Joe will be aware of any updates he must make to the dlist.
The presence of the "Distribution-errors-to:" line also avoids another problem. Suppose another user on the dlist, such as eeKr, sent mail to the dlist and generated an error notice because one of the pieces of mail was undeliverable. Ordinarily, the error notice would go back to eeKr because he sent the mail. However, since the undeliverable address is on Joe's dlist, the error notice goes back to Joe, the person who maintains the distribution list. The "Distribution-errors-to:" line ensures that no matter who uses Joe's dlist, any error notices go back to Joe, who can then correct the list.
If no "Distribution-errors-to:" line appears in a dlist, the Message System will form an address from the name of the owner of the dlist file (usually, the owner is the person who created the file). For example, if Joe did not include a "Distribution-errors-to:" line in his dlist, the address to which error notices are sent would be "firstname.lastname@example.org". In Joe's case, the end effect is the same with or without his "Distribution-errors-to:" line, as long as he remains the owner of the file.
There are conditions under which ownership of the dlist file can change. For example, some text editors cause the owner to become the person who last edited the file. If you omit the "Distribution-errors-to:" line from your dlist, you should check the dlist file periodically to see that you are still the owner (by typing "ls -l" filename), particularly if more than one person is maintaining the dlist. In addition, other users may want to do more complex routings of error notices as described in the section on "Advanced examples." In those cases, an automatically-formed address would not necessarily correspond to what the user would have specified in the "Distribution-errors-to:" line.
The fifth line in Joe's file begins with "Distribution-content:". This signals the beginning of the list of addresses that are part of the special education distribution list. The addresses must be separated by commas. If an address appears on a line by itself (as in the example above), a comma should appear at the end of the line. Addresses may also be placed one after the other instead of on separate lines as long as they are separated by commas, as in this example:
Placing each address on a separate line makes the distribution list easier to correct and maintain. Remember that mail aliases cannot be included in distribution lists unless you are using dlc to maintain them.
Capitalization in distribution lists
The tags that begin with "distribution" in dlists, such as "Distribution-content:" and "Distribution-errors:", can be capitalized in any way without disrupting mail service. However, what follows the colon after the tag is usually a mail address and should be typed exactly as it would appear in a message-sending window.
Protections for distribution lists
The directory that contains a distribution list must allow any Andrew user (system:anyuser) or the mail system (postman:dlist) to read and lookup the files contained there. For instructions on how to update these permissions, see the AFS Directory Access Rights document.
For Joe's dlist directory, the protections would need to be:
% fs la dlists
Access list for dlists is
[your user ID] rlidwka
Giving "system:anyuser" read and look-up rights to the directory where the dlist is stored allows any Andrew user in the dlist to be able to read the file and see who else is on the list. The protections for his home directory must have at least look-up access for "system:anyuser" for this instance.
If you want people to be able to send to your dlist but not be able to view who else is on the dlist, you can remove the permissions for "system:anyuser" on your dlist directory, and give "postman:dlist" read access to both your dlist directory and to your home directory. The protections for this would be:
% fs la dlists
Access list for dlists is
[your userID] rlidwka | <urn:uuid:9ef0630f-fae6-4763-a57f-ea5c10ad9ec8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cmu.edu/computing/email/mail-groups/dlists/creating.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394605.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00101-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930422 | 1,349 | 2.59375 | 3 |
A huge canvas spread between two banks of lake Lagoda in Russia, reminds us of a sailing ship, being carried by the wind. At a time of huge demand for new solutions in the field of renewable energy sources, architect Laurie Chetwood suggests a literal wind dam, that captures and channels the wind into a turbine. Far different from normal generators, this idea will certainly be, if nothing else, controversial.
In fact, one of the inconvenients of turbine generators, placed on top of metal towers is the fact that they ruin the surrounding landscape: aeolian parks, which contain dozens of these towers, are just like forests made out of steel. Trying to solve this problem, the author of this project tried to combine engineering with sculpture, with accent on the latter. He is, actually, the first to admit that its shape came to be, as a result of wanting to be functional, but also out of a desire to create something rather sculptural: like a bird that dips its beak in the water, no more than a dot in the landscape.
This system consists of a canvas, with 25 metres in height and 75 metres in width, suspended by cables that channel the wind into a central opening, connected to a turbine that is also suspended. According to scientific studies, its concave shape is particularly effective in capturing the wind. Its similarities, in shape, to a water dam gave the project the nickname wind dam. Its construction is schedule to start in 2008 and, if everything runs smoothly, there already are plans to build another dam in the same area.
However, not everyone is keen on this idea and controversy has arisen. Some claim the 'dam' is a fraud, as it lacks any sort of undertanding of the basic principles of fluid dynamics. According to these, what makes any dam work is a difference in altitude (when it comes to water) and a difference in pressure when it comes to wind. In a ship's sail, the difference in pressure is small, nevertheless, its area is broad, which gives it impulse.
That having been said, at the present time, the canvas will only increase the wind's speed, not its pressure, seeing as the system will only work as an ordinary aeolian generator. The only thing innovative about it, then, is its shape... | <urn:uuid:b32d577a-2f7c-44ad-abd3-a371c75e9ef9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://obviousmag.org/en/archives/2007/11/wind_dam_a_new_eolian_generator.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00151-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967715 | 472 | 3.15625 | 3 |
The deadly hemorrhagic fever Ebola was first discovered in 1976, and it has haunted the public imagination for twenty years, ever since the publication of Richard Preston’s “The Hot Zone.” Yet, in all that time, no drug has ever been approved to treat the disease. Now the deadliest outbreak yet is raging in West Africa, and there are no real tools to stop it. (Supplies of the experimental drug administered to two American patients have already run out.) The lack of an Ebola treatment is disturbing. But, given the way drug development is funded, it’s also predictable.
When pharmaceutical companies are deciding where to direct their R. & D. money, they naturally assess the potential market for a drug candidate. That means that they have an incentive to target diseases that affect wealthier people (above all, people in the developed world), who can afford to pay a lot. They have an incentive to make drugs that many people will take. And they have an incentive to make drugs that people will take regularly for a long time—drugs like statins.
This system does a reasonable job of getting Westerners the drugs they want (albeit often at high prices). But it also leads to enormous underinvestment in certain kinds of diseases and certain categories of drugs. Diseases that mostly affect poor people in poor countries aren’t a research priority, because it’s unlikely that those markets will ever provide a decent return. So diseases like malaria and tuberculosis, which together kill two million people a year, have received less attention from pharmaceutical companies than high cholesterol. Then, there’s what the World Health Organization calls “neglected tropical diseases,” such as Chagas disease and dengue; they affect more than a billion people and kill as many as half a million a year. One study found that of the more than fifteen hundred drugs that came to market between 1975 and 2004 just ten were targeted at these maladies. And when a disease’s victims are both poor and not very numerous that’s a double whammy. On both scores, a drug for Ebola looks like a bad investment: so far, the disease has appeared only in poor countries and has affected a relatively small number of people.
It’s not just developing nations that the system disserves, however. In recent years, the rise of drug-resistant microbes has made the antibiotics we use less effective and has increased the risk that an infectious disease could get out of control. What people in the West need, health officials agree, is new drugs that we can keep in reserve against an outbreak that regular antibiotics can’t contain. Yet, over the past thirty years, the supply of new antibiotics has slowed to a trickle. “Antibiotic resistance really has the potential to make everything about the way we live different,” Kevin Outterson, a co-director of the Health Law program at Boston University and a founding member of the C.D.C.’s working group on antimicrobial resistance, told me. “So we need to stoke the pipeline.”
The trouble, again, is the business model. If a drug company did invent a powerful new antibiotic, we wouldn’t want it to be widely prescribed, because the goal would be to delay resistance. “Public-health officials would appropriately try to limit sales of the drug as much as possible,” Outterson says: a good public-health policy; a bad investment prospect.
So how can we get the drugs we need without magically transforming the industry that develops them? The key is to reward companies for creating substantial public-health benefits. And the simplest way to do this would be to offer prizes for new drugs. Outterson describes one scenario: “The government would make a payment or a stream of payments to the company, and in exchange the company would give up the right to sell the product.” The drug company would get paid, and would avoid all the expenses of trying to push a new product (which you don’t want with a last-resort antibiotic, anyway). Society would get a new drug, and public-health officials would be able to control how it was promoted and used.
Prizes aren’t a new idea—in the seventeen-hundreds, the British government successfully used a prize to find a method for measuring longitude at sea. But, in the past couple of decades, they’ve become more common, with prizes being offered for things like innovations in private space flight and an arsenic filter for safe drinking water. The Obama Administration has been especially active in this area, offering more than a hundred and fifty prizes for a range of technological breakthroughs. Economists on both the left and the right see them as a useful way to spark innovation. They’re cost-effective, since you have to pay only if the product works. They’re well suited to encouraging investment in public goods—like antibiotics and vaccines—where the benefits of an innovation aren’t reaped only by those who use it. (My family is safer if yours is vaccinated.) They rely on existing infrastructure. And, in economic jargon, they harness market forces by “pulling” research into neglected areas.
The up-front costs of a prize system would be substantial—a recent report commissioned by the F.D.A. estimated that it would cost a billion dollars to get a great new antibiotic, factoring in tax credits. But we’d save lives by developing the drugs we need and taking measures against future disaster. The alternative is pretty grim: a system that, when it comes to some fierce mortal perils, is leaving a lot of blood on the floor. ♦ | <urn:uuid:cc772618-0fd5-4753-8e0f-458282ce8767> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/25/ebolanomics | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397744.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00002-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967199 | 1,183 | 3.265625 | 3 |
The public has had a hard time accepting government claims that dispersants used to fight the Gulf of Mexico oil spill are safe, but scientists Tuesday told a presidential commission studying the disaster that much of the fear is unfounded.
Mathy Stanislaus, the Environmental Protection Agency's assistant administrator for the Office of Solid Waste, said the EPA is putting a lot of effort into easing public fears about the dispersants and other toxic effects of the spill response.
"While the use of dispersants represents an environmental tradeoff, it's important to understand that oil is the No. 1 enemy and dispersants are not as toxic as the oil they break down," Stanislaus said. "Dispersants break down over weeks rather than persisting for years as oil might."
Stanislaus said EPA tests of Corexit, BP's chosen dispersant, have found that it is comparable to other, previously approved dispersants. But he emphasized that more testing is needed, and in the meantime the EPA has gotten BP to reduce the amount of the dispersant being used.
That raised this question from commission co-chairman and former EPA Administrator William Reilly: "You say 40 percent of oil is dispersed naturally and oil is more toxic than the dispersants. So, why restrict the use of it so heavily if that's the case?"
Christopher Reddy, an associate scientist of marine chemistry and geochemistry at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said the use of surface dispersants is extremely typical and well understood to be safe, but some concern remains about their use in the sea's depths.
Ed Overton, professor emeritus of the Louisiana State University department of environmental sciences, said all six elements found in Corexit have been deemed safe for use in food and food packaging. He said the one element that used to be part of Corexit and was found to have had carcinogenic qualities has since been removed.
"Misinformation is driving the apprehension" over damage to the environment, Overton said. Both scientists lamented some alarmist statements from colleagues saying the Gulf could be irreparably damaged for decades.
But nervousness about chemicals used to fight the spill and dispose of oil waste was not limited to a confused public. Even Reilly expressed concern that the chemicals are being applied for "cosmetic" reasons, and said he'd like the commission to make recommendations about the use of dispersants quickly.
Reddy held up a textbook on the use of surface dispersants to emphasize how well-understood that application is. But he said he's interested in seeing more testing of subsea dispersants, and Overton said that too little is known about the impact of dispersants on deep ocean organisms.
Reddy said he is also concerned about the total amount of dispersants used, which is unprecedented. He noted that 1 million gallons of dispersants have been applied to the Gulf of Mexico to fight this spill, more than the amount of oil spilled in any single accident in U.S. waters in nearly 20 years prior to the BP disaster.
Reilly also said the dispersants' unknown effect on fisheries is troublesome.
"You know a lot of fishermen have very strong reservations about dispersants, that it hides the oil under the surface and makes it hard for the fish to avoid it," Reilly said. "That's what we found in Prince William Sound" after the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker spill in Alaska, during Reilly's time as EPA chief.
David Hammer can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org or 504.826.3322. | <urn:uuid:19bbe578-b018-48b5-8290-22d7b4e9f35d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/07/presidential_oil_spill_commiss.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393146.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00025-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963243 | 723 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Long-haul optics refers to the transmission of visible light signals over optical fiber cable for great distances, especially without or with minimal use of repeaters. Normally, repeaters are necessary at intervals in a length of fiber optic cable to keep the signal quality from deteriorating to the point of non-usability. In long-haul optical systems, the goal is to minimize the number of repeaters per unit distance, and ideally, to render repeaters unnecessary.
The main challenge facing developers of long-haul optics (and also the so-called ultra-long-haul or ULH optics) involves the loss inherent in the materials used in fiber optic cable. To some extent this loss can be overcome by increasing the brilliance of the optical signal at the input end, but this brute-force approach has limited practicality. Repeaters can be used to boost the signals at intervals along the transmission route, but this is costly, and the maintenance of such repeaters is difficult in underground or undersea fiber optic cable runs. This has resulted in a quest for the development of super-transparent substances that transmit energy at optical wavelengths with exceptionally low loss.
An indirect contributor to fiber optic cable loss is the fact that all transparent materials transmit energy at slightly different speeds, depending on the wavelength. This is the same effect that causes a prism to split white visible light into its constituent colors, and takes place because the index of refraction is dependent on the wavelength. This is observed as a "smearing-out-over-time" effect in long fiber optic cable runs, unless the energy for each signal can be kept within a narrow range of wavelengths. Engineers have developed schemes such as wave-division multiplexing (WDM) and dense wave-division multiplexing (DWDM) in an attempt to minimize this problem. | <urn:uuid:43cc06f7-fc3f-4f0f-905a-517697dc42c0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/long-haul-optics | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00192-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90932 | 368 | 3.640625 | 4 |
Living in the deep reaches of outer space, in Texas. Via Popular Science:
It’s not going to send anyone to deep space. But it does give us a tantalizing look at what it’ll look when NASA does take the next steps in space travel.
Engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center and experts Johnson Space Center in Houston are tinkering with the spaceship mockup, deciding the right size, necessary equipment, and everything else that’s going to make a mission to Mars, a near-by asteroid, or the second Earth-Moon Lagrangian point (277,000 miles away from Earth) as pleasant as possible.
The team’s also planning what [devices] will be sent along and built in. One is a 3-D printer, which would allow astronauts to create any tools they need right on the spot. There’s also greenhouse for astronauts to grow their own and food, and a barrier of water on the outside that could be used to shield explorers from cosmic rays.
Latest posts by JacobSloan (see all)
- For Sale: Poveglia, The Haunted Italian Island With A Chilling History - Apr 20, 2014
- Lab Is Missing 2,000 Vials Of The Deadly SARS Virus - Apr 19, 2014
- Essential Vitamin B3 May Have Arrived From Space On Meteorites - Apr 18, 2014 | <urn:uuid:3e20f71b-b7f0-4dbb-a249-94a164643acc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://disinfo.com/2012/10/nasa-building-a-prototype-deep-space-habitat-in-texas/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397744.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00137-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924628 | 287 | 2.984375 | 3 |
One of the things we look forward to every fall is visiting the apple orchard. Since it's still too early to pick apples, we settled for making our own apple trees from toilet paper rolls, tissue paper, and a bingo marker. This 3-D apple tree craft is so easy that my preschoolers could do it without help and so cute that they wanted to make an entire forest of them.
To make our apple trees, all we needed was green tissue paper, a red bingo marker, empty cardboard tubes, and a scissors.
We started by making our "apples" by stamping red dots on the green tissue paper. I'd recommend putting something underneath because the ink soaks through the tissue paper.
Next we cut some slits from one end of the paper tube and bent them back to create the branches.
We crumpled the tissue paper loosely ...
and set it on our tree. You could use a little glue to secure it if you wanted but I just tucked some of the tissue paper inside.
Our favorite apple tree books:
The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons This book about nature and the changing seasons focuses on a young boy and a very special apple tree.
The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall Two sisters rejoice as the colorful blossoms on their tree develop into big, red, and ready-to-pick apples. This concept book describes how things grow.
Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins Ten red apples hanging on a tree. Yippee, fiddle-dee-fee! But they are not there for long. Horse, cow, donkey, pig, hen, and the other farm animals each eat one.
paper plate apple tree. | <urn:uuid:14ef9046-9b31-46e5-bf80-99ae050c10a3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.readingconfetti.com/2013/09/easy-apple-tree-preschool-craft.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397428.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00189-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946877 | 355 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Albert Han, Pre-Arts (Music)
Use of electronics in urban music
To study how urban music (eg hip hop) and music technology coincide. Hip-hop is completly electronic with spoken word, this music could only have come with the advancments in music technology. Study with local artists as well as readings and much listening research will be done. Then an album will be recorded using techniques that are used in contemporary urban music. Much research has already been done and the album has bits already in the working process, lack of equipment is causing great delays in the progress. | <urn:uuid:e7300e6b-aa8e-430e-99b9-f81401280186> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.washington.edu/cartah/projects/06spring/han.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395992.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961625 | 120 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Houston’s freeway system includes 575.5 miles of freeways and expressways in the 10-county metro area. The State of Texas plans to spend $5.06 billion on Houston area highways between 2002 and 2007. Houston freeways are heavily traveled and often under construction to meet the demands of continuing growth. Interstate 45 south has been in a continuous state of construction, in one portion or another, almost since the first segment, the Gulf Freeway—Texas's first freeway—was opened in 1948. Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) planners have sought ways to reduce rush hour congestion, primarily through High-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes for vans and carpools. Timed freeway entrances, which regulate the addition of cars to the freeway, are also common. Houston has an extensive network of freeway cameras linked to a transit control center to monitor and study traffic. One characteristic of Houston's freeways (and Texas freeways in general) are its frontage roads (which locals call "feeders"). Alongside most freeways are two to four lanes in each direction parallel to the freeway permitting easy access to individual city streets. Frontage roads provide access to the freeway from businesses alongside, such as gas stations and retail stores. New landscaping projects and a longstanding ban on new billboards are ways Houston has tried to control the potential side effects of convenience.
Houston has a hub-and-spoke freeway structure with multiple loops. The innermost is Interstate 610, forming approximately a 10 mile diameter loop around downtown. The roughly square "Loop-610" is quartered into "North Loop," "South Loop," "West Loop," and "East Loop." The roads of Beltway 8 and their freeway core, the Sam Houston Tollway, are the next loop, at a diameter of roughly 25 miles. A proposed highway project, State Highway 99 (The Grand Parkway), would form a third loop outside of Houston, though some sections of this project have been controversial. As of 2007, the completed portion of State Highway 99 runs from just north of Interstate 10, west of Houston, to U.S. Highway 59 in Sugar Land, southwest of Houston, and was completed in 1994. The next portion to be constructed is from the current terminus at U.S. Highway 59 to State Highway 288 in Brazoria County.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas, or METRO, provides public transportation in the form of buses, trolleys, and lift vans.
METRO began running light rail service (METRORail) on January 1, 2004. Currently the track runs approximately 8 miles (13 km) from Downtown Houston to the Texas Medical Center and Reliant Park. METRO operates an extensive park-and-ride bus system to serve many of Houston's outlying suburban areas. Most of the park-and-ride buses run in barrier-separated high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) lanes that provide direct service from park-and-ride parking lots to major employment destinations. Prior to the opening of METRORail, Houston was the largest city in the United States without a rail transit system.
Following a successful referendum held locally in 2003, METRO is currently in the beginning design phases of a 10-year expansion plan to add five more sections to connect to the current rail system. An 8.3 mile (13.4 km) expansion has been approved to run the service from the Uptown District (the Galleria area) through Texas Southern University, ending at the University of Houston campus.
Houston is served by two commercial airports—the largest of which is the George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). The airport is the 7th-busiest in the United States for total passengers, and 16th busiest worldwide. Houston is the headquarters of Continental Airlines, Bush Intercontinental is Continental's largest hub, with more than 750 daily departures (more than 250 of which are Continental flights).
Bush Intercontinental currently ranks second in the United States for non-stop domestic and international service (221 destinations), trailing only Atlanta Hartsfield with 250 destinations. The United States Department of Transportation has also recently named Bush Intercontinental one of the top ten fastest growing airports in the United States.
The second-largest commercial airport in Houston is the William P. Hobby Airport (named Houston International Airport until 1967). The airport operates primarily small to medium-haul flights and is the only airport in Houston served by Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways.
The third-largest airport and former U.S. Air Force base, Ellington Airport (formerly Ellington Field), is primarily used for government and private aircraft. At one point, Continental Express operated flights across the city to Bush Intercontinental primarily for residents of southeast Houston and Galveston County. Passenger flights ended on September 7, 2004.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the state of Texas selected the Houston Airport System, which manages Bush, Hobby, and Ellington, as Airport of the Year for 2005, largely because of its multi-year, $3.1 billion airport improvement program for both major airports in Houston.
The following publicly-owned airports are in the Houston area:
The following privately-owned airports for public use are in the Houston area:
The Houston Air Route Traffic Control Center stands on the George Bush Intercontinental Airport grounds.
Amtrak, the national rail passenger system, provides service to Houston via the Sunset Limited (Los Angeles–New Orleans), which stops at the Houston Station on the north side of the Downtown area. The station saw 10,855 boardings and alightings in FY 2006.
Greyhound Lines operates services from five train stations:
In addition, Greyhound operates services from two stops :
Greyhound also operates services to stops within the Greater Houston area, including:
El Expreso Bus Company operates services to a station in Houston adjacent to the Greyhound Station.
Tornado Bus Company operates services to two stations in Houston , with one along Airline Drive and one along Harrisburg.
In the 1990s various bus companies began operations in the East End, serving Mexico and other parts of the United States from East End terminals.
VivaAerobus, a Mexican airline, operated a bus shuttle between Austin-Bergstrom International Airport South Terminal and the Omnibus Mexicanos Bus Terminal in eastern Houston for VivaAerobus passengers on flights going to and from Cancun and Monterrey. On May 16, 2009, VivaAerobus stated it would cease passenger operations at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on May 31, 2009. The airline blamed the pullout in part on the outbreak of the swine flu, which caused an unprecedented decrease in demand for service.
Texas Department of Transportation statistics said that in an eight county area including Houston, between 2003 and 2008, around 100 pedestrians died and 1,175 were injured in accidents every year. Mark Seegers, a spokesperson for Harris County commissioner Sylvia Garcia, said in 2009 that the county does not build sidewalks since it does not allow automobiles, the predominate form of transportation in the Houston area, to go from place to place. Robin Holzer, a transportation advocate with the Citizens' Transportation Coalition, criticized the emphasis on automobiles, saying "The people on foot and bike are trying to go to the same schools and restaurants and shops as people in cars are going to."
In 2005 the Houston-Galveston Area Council identified several communities in Harris County considered to be among the most hazardous to pedestrians. Many of them, including Greenspoint and Gulfton, are located outside of the 610 Loop. In 2009 the lobby group Transportation for America said that the Houston area was the eighth most dangerous area for pedestrians in 2007-2008. | <urn:uuid:f0af0d38-3105-40d7-93d7-2ca9ab902b3d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.thefullwiki.org/Transportation_in_Houston | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399522.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00086-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950752 | 1,588 | 2.75 | 3 |
For the person responding, can you please explain the logic of how you set up the equation.
Thank anyone who responds in advance
Q) The sum of two numbers is 15. Three times one of the numbers is 11 less than five times the other. Find the numbers.
*from the back of the book, I already know that the answer is 6, 7,
What I put together was
3x=5x-11 but considering that there are two number to answer for, I realize I am wrong. | <urn:uuid:cd9622e2-4365-4e71-b974-f8ce2b03deff> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://mathhelpforum.com/algebra/56332-easy-word-problem-has-me-stumped-print.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395166.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00067-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942901 | 107 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Coffee lowers risk of prostate cancer: StudyMay 21st, 2011 - 4:51 pm ICT by IANS
New York, May 21 (IANS) Men who are heavy coffee drinkers are at lower risk for prostate cancer, says a study.
The researchers found that those who consumed six or more cups a day were almost 20 percent less likely to develop prostate cancer over two decades than those who drank none, according to New York Times Friday.
Scientists at Harvard University followed 47,911 men who periodically described their coffee consumption.
More important, the heavy coffee drinkers were 60 percent less likely than the non-drinkers to develop a lethal form of the disease, it said.
Even men who drank just one to three cups of coffee benefited: They were nearly 30 percent less likely to develop lethal prostate cancer, the study said.
It did not matter whether the coffee was caffeinated or decaffeinated.
The study, published online Tuesday in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute, is one of the first to link coffee consumption to a lower risk of prostate cancer.
“We’re not yet telling men to drink more coffee,” the daily quoted the lead author of the study Kathryn M. Wilson, research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health, as saying. “But there’s mounting evidence that if they do, they don’t have to worry about it,” she said.
Coffee is a major dietary source of antioxidants, and other studies have suggested that drinking it is associated with health benefits, including a lower risk of Type 2 diabetes.
- Coffee lowers risk of dying - May 17, 2012
- Coffee 'cuts advanced prostate cancer risk' - Dec 08, 2009
- Coffee may protect against cancer of the uterus - Nov 23, 2011
- Diet fizzy drinks, artificial sweeteners 'do not raise obesity, diabetes risk' - Apr 19, 2011
- Moderate drinking after heart attack lowers death risk - Mar 28, 2012
- Coffee and tea 'cut heart disease risk' - Jun 19, 2010
- Wine a day ensures healthy old age in women - Nov 17, 2010
- Coffee Helps In Fight Against Cancer - Jun 23, 2010
- Coffee Reduces Cancer Risk Says Researchers - Jun 23, 2010
- Coffee can cure hepatitis C - Jun 08, 2011
- Moderate tea, coffee consumption reduces heart disease - Jun 19, 2010
- Smoking fathers pass on damaged genes to kids - Jun 25, 2012
- Drinking coffee offers protection against head and neck cancers - Jun 23, 2010
- Coffee, soft drinks not linked with colon cancer risk - May 08, 2010
- Coffee, soft drinks not tied to colon cancer risk - May 08, 2010
Tags: 911, antioxidants, cancer study, coffee consumption, coffee drinkers, decades, diabetes, dietary source, harvard school of public health, harvard university, health benefits, journal of the national cancer institute, m wilson, national cancer institute, new york times, prostate cancer, research fellow, school of public health, type 2 diabetes, wilson research | <urn:uuid:2b74c553-1d17-4036-90da-9634c74612e2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/health1/coffee-lowers-risk-of-prostate-cancer-study_100537609.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396459.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00044-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932327 | 640 | 2.5625 | 3 |
If there is a weapon that reflects our times, it is the improvised explosive device (IED). These weapons come in myriad forms– whether it's the suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest approaching a checkpoint in Afghanistan, the command-detonated roadside bombs encountered by troops in Iraq or, indeed, the seizure of passenger planes in mid-air by hijackers to be used as flying bombs – as occurred on 911.
Most often on this blog, when we’ve provided commentary on the work of the UN Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) it’s been with reference to its Group of Government Experts’ efforts on cluster munitions. However, the CCW is a framework treaty that contains five protocols, two of which – Amended Protocol II on mines and booby traps, and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war – have active sub-processes of their own.
Last week, in a discussion facilitated by the Swiss, states party to Amended Protocol II began a discussion about IEDs. Presenting were Chris Clark from the UN Mine Action Service, Richard Moyes from UK NGO Landmine Action, Erik Tollefsen from the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, and Colin King, an independent explosive ordnance consultant.
An IED is
“A device placed or fabricated in an improvised manner incorporating destructive, lethal, noxious, pyrotechnic, or incendiary chemicals or explosives and designed to destroy, incapacitate, harass or distract. It may incorporate military stores, but is normally devised from non-military components.” (IED Factsheet)Colin King observed there has been an evolution of attacks using IEDs over the last few decades. In the 1970s, non-state armed groups like the Irish Republican Army (IRA) really did have to improvise using commonly available materials such as nitrogen-based chemical fertilizers, stolen blasting caps and mechanical or electronic timers cannibalized from devices like alarm clocks. The IEDs tended to be unreliable, and to have uncertain effects in terms of explosive yield and signature. In other words, these types of IED were low-tech, basic weapons not particularly well suited to their targets.
The 1970s seem rather halcyon days now. Armed groups making and deploying IEDs in conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have become highly sophisticated in terms of funding and organisation: as their experience and access to materials began to match the scale of their ambitions and inventiveness, it has made life increasingly hazardous for both soldiers and civilians.
The IRA’s best chance of destroying a vehicle in Britain or Northern Ireland in the 1970s, for instance, was by physically attaching a time-delay bomb. More recently, insurgents in Iraq and many other places have long had access to shaped-charge explosives like the High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) rounds launched from rocket-propelled grenade launchers. But in recent years they’ve also been able to hold of explosively formed penetrators able to destroy modern armoured vehicles - potentially from a significant distance, we were told. And along with the technology, methods of attack involving sophisticated means of coordination have made counter-measures against IEDs a difficult cat-and-mouse game for military forces.
And, as Richard Moyes pointed out, IEDs are certainly an issue in humanitarian terms too. Landmine Action’s research into incidents of explosive ordnance based on English language news reports of 1,836 incidents in 38 countries over six months revealed that 60 per cent related to IEDs causing many civilian deaths and injuries.
It’s a moot point what the CCW can actually do – if anything – about IEDs, not least because the primary makers and users of IEDs are armed non-state actors, not governments bound by agreements like Amended Protocol II. And, as the International Committee of the Red Cross pointed out, there isn’t anything especially novel about the fact a munition is improvised from a humanitarian law perspective. IHL rules still apply.
Nevertheless, in a ‘food for thought’ paper for the meeting, the Swiss set out some possible avenues for discussion about specific measures such as:
“What are specific best practices to cut the supply?Certainly last week’s CCW talks didn’t come up with any clear answers about what to do next. But, as presenters like King pointed out, a lot of IEDs are ‘local manufactures’ – mass produced, but using parts like abandoned or stolen military munitions. Artillery shells have become a favoured source of explosive for many roadside or vehicle-borne IEDs in Iraq, for instance.
• What can be done in order to avoid that AXO, UXO, badly managed stockpiles, and commercially available products provide the explosives)?
• Could the CCW APII work towards a best practice guide for the improved storage, security, and transport of explosives?
• What mechanisms would help better controlling the manufacture and trafficking of explosives?
• Are there different approaches to deal with IEDs under domestic criminal law?”
So, governments undertaking practical work at the national level to tighten up stockpile management and storage of explosive material in places under their jurisdiction or control would be an important start. Another thing states can do is to join and fully implement the CCW’s ERW protocol to ensure that unexploded and abandoned ordnance is cleared up quickly, and not diverted to putting the bang into IEDs. Not sexy stuff, but worthwhile.
Image: IEDs made from military munitions found in Baghdad (retrieved from Wikipedia Commons, sourced in turn from U.S. Department of Defense). | <urn:uuid:2f0045cb-701d-4896-b133-893af87a05f8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://disarmamentinsight.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403825.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00148-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946608 | 1,168 | 2.515625 | 3 |
THERE was a poet who had acquired the spotless eye of truth, and he believed in the Buddha, whose doctrine gave him peace of mind and comfort in the hour of affliction. It happened that an epidemic swept over the country in which he lived, so that many died, and the people were terrified. Some of them trembled with fright, and in anticipation of their fate were smitten with all the horrors of death before they died, while others began to be merry, shouting loudly, "Let us enjoy ourselves today, for we know not whether tomorrow we shall live"; yet was their laughter no genuine gladness, but a mere pretense and affectation.
Among all these worldly men and women trembling with anxiety, the Buddhist poet lived in the time of the pestilence, as usual, calm and undisturbed, helping wherever he could and ministering unto the sick, soothing their pains by medicine and religious consolation. And a man came to him and said:
"My heart is nervous and excited, for I see people die. I am not anxious about others, but I tremble because of myself. Help me; cure me of my fear."
The poet replied: "There is help for him who has compassion on others, but there is no help for thee so long as thou clingest to thine own self alone. Hard times try the souls of men and teach them righteousness and charity. Canst thou witness these sad sights around thee and still be filled with selfishness? Canst thou see thy brothers, sisters, and friends suffer, yet not forget the petty cravings and lust of thine own heart? Noticing the desolation in the mind of the pleasure-seeking man, the Buddhist poet composed this song and taught it to the brethren in the vihara:
"Unless you take refuge in the Buddha and find rest in Nirvana,
Your life is but vanity-empty and desolate vanity.
To see the world is idle, and to enjoy life is empty.
The world, including man, is but like a phantom, and the hope of heaven is as a mirage.
"The worldling seeks pleasures, fattening himself like a caged fowl,
But the Buddhist saint flies up to the sun like the wild crane.
The fowl in the coop has food but will soon be boiled in the pot;
No provisions are given to the wild crane, but the heavens and the earth are his.
The poet said: "The times are hard and teach the people a lesson; yet do they not heed it." And he composed another poem on the vanity of worldliness:
"It is good to reform, and it is good to exhort people to reform.
The things of the world will all be swept away.
Let others be busy and buried with care.
My mind all unvexed shall be pure.
"After pleasures they hanker and find no satisfaction;
Riches they covet and can never have enough.
They are like unto puppets held up by a string.
When the string breaks they come down with a shock.
"In the domain of death there are neither great nor small;
Neither gold nor silver is used, nor precious jewels.
No distinction is made between the high and the low.
And daily the dead are buried beneath the fragrant sod.
"Look at the sun setting behind the western hills.
You lie down to rest, but soon the cock will announce morn.
Reform today and do not wait until it be too late
Do not say it is early, for the time quickly passes by.
"It is good to reform and it is good to exhort people to reform.
It is good to lead a righteous life and take refuge in the Buddha's name.
Your talents may reach to the skies, your wealth may be untold-
But all is in vain unless you attain the peace of Nirvana." | <urn:uuid:18b1ebf3-ca92-4992-aee1-745dee1bda68> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://sacred-texts.com/bud/btg/btg44.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404405.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00122-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962446 | 814 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Indonesian, an Austronesian language, is a standardized form of Malay and is spoken throughout Indonesia. About 30 million people speak Indonesian as their first language and a further 140 million speak it as a second language. Indonesia is a linguistically diverse region where the Indonesian language acts as a lingua franca, even though there are more native speakers of Javanese - about 75 million.
During the time Indonesia was a Dutch colony, the Latin alphabet was introduced to write Indonesian and a number of Dutch spellings were used. This alphabet was called ejaan lama (Old Script) in Indonesian.
In the 1930s, as part of the independence movement, the Indonesian language was standardised and the term Bahasa Indonesia was adopted as the name of the language.
In 1947 the spelling of oe was changed to u. Then in 1972 a set of official changes to the Indonesian spelling system were introduced by former president Soeharto. The major changes included changing ch to kh, dj to j, j to y, nj to ny, sj to sy, and tj to c.
|A a||B b||C c||D d||E e||F f||G g||H h||I i||J j||K k||L l||M m|
|N n||O o||P p||Q q||R r||S s||T t||U u||V v||W w||X x||Y y||Z z|
Semua orang dilahirkan merdeka dan mempunyai martabat dan hak-hak yang sama. Mereka dikaruniai akal dan hati nurani dan hendaknya bergaul satu sama lain dalam semangat persaudaraan.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason
and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Information about Indonesian
Indonesian Electronic talking dictionaries
Kursus Bahasa: Sistem Penyelenggaraan Kelas
Online Indonesian translation | <urn:uuid:29d5b11d-4723-4a98-b312-0042aa3d2c69> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.omniglot.com/writing/indonesian.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403502.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00137-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.8523 | 463 | 3.515625 | 4 |
NEW YORK (Nov. 25)
Did you know that Thanksgiving is really a Jewish holiday?
Although Thanksgiving is not on the Jewish calendar, historians believe that Sukkot may have inspired America’s favorite farewell to fall, often nicknamed “Turkey Day.”
Today Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November, but President Franklin Roosevelt didn’t propose this timing until 1939.
It was Abraham Lincoln who made Thanksgiving a national holiday. Roosevelt actually changed Lincoln’s decree that Thanksgiving be observed on the last Thursday in November, which may fall on the fifth Thursday of the month.
The pilgrims’ invited local Indians to the first Thanksgiving during the fall of 1621. Historians speculate that this celebration occurred somewhere between September 21 and November 9, but most likely in early October, around the time of Sukkot.
“Originally, Sukkot entailed a pilgrimage to Jerusalem,” says Greene, who believes the two holidays share much in common.
The Puritan Christians who landed on American shores seeking religious freedom were called pilgrims, in deference to their journey from England. Their dream of finding a place where they’d be free to worship as they pleased is a recurrent theme in Jewish history.
After their pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the ancient Israelites lived for a week in temporary huts while giving thanks for a plentiful harvest. Likewise, during their first winter in Massachusetts, the pilgrims dwelled in makeshift huts, wigwams that the Indians helped them build.
While Sukkot remains a seven-day observance, the first Thanksgiving celebration continued for three days, a time frame more similar to the Jewish harvest festival than today’s Thanksgiving dinner, which often begins in late afternoon and ends several hours later.
With its pumpkin pies and cranberry garlands, Thanksgiving mirrors many of Sukkot’s customs and culinary themes.
Burghardt says she is amazed at how many of the same foods are connected to both holidays.
Piping hot casseroles brimming with vegetables and fruit grace the American and Jewish harvest tables, as do pastries that are filled with apples, nuts, pumpkins and squash. Stuffing one food inside another as a metaphor for abundance is the hallmark of Sukkot cuisine.
Yet there’s nothing more opulent than the elaborate bread stuffings found inside Thanksgiving turkeys. Burghardt’s favorite dishes at both holidays are hearty and basic. When entertaining, she starts with her harvest vegetable soup, which sets a homey tone.
“Sometimes we roast sweet potatoes outside on the grill just because it’s past the season and therefore fun,” she says. “I make my applesauce from scratch.”
Greene enjoys transforming traditional Thanksgiving recipes into kosher cuisine.
“I like mixing new and old world themes,” she says.
One of her favorite recipes is glazed turkey with fruit-nut stuffing. Bursting with so much produce, it’s a one-dish harvest festival. Because the pilgrims and Indians shared roasted corn during the first Thanksgiving, Greene’s double-corn bread is a fitting choice. It is soft and moist, almost like a kugel.
Harvest-time cranberry relish is always a big hit at Greene’s house.
“Several years ago, I invited a family of Russian-Jewish immigrants to celebrate their first Thanksgiving. While they adored traditional American foods, they were especially fascinated with the taste and bright color of cranberries.”
But since the two holidays are so close in time, is there any reason for American Jews who celebrate Sukkot to pay homage to a second harvest festival six weeks later?
“Participating in Thanksgiving is how we feel American,” says Greene, a former food columnist for the Baltimore Jewish Times, who used to submit a Thanksgiving story every year.
She agrees with Burghardt that Thanksgiving is a lovely experience. It’s an easy holiday to include friends and neighbors of other faiths.
“While Thanksgiving is not technically a Jewish holiday, it’s not a Christian one either,” says Burghardt. “It’s a great equalizer with a multicultural theme.”
Although Burghardt believes that Thanksgiving with its chocolate turkeys and pilgrims lacks Sukkot’s depth, Greene feels there’s something spiritual about the whole country partaking in a communal meal, even though menus and customs vary from home to home. At her table, she asks guest to share one thing for which they’re grateful.
“Like Sukkot, at Thanksgiving you’re supposed to invite people to share abundance with your family,” says Burghardt. “You can’t serve too much food. Could there be anything more Jewish than that?”
HARVEST VEGETABLE SOUP
From “Jewish Holiday Traditions,” by Linda Burghardt
3 cups chicken stock
2 medium potatoes, diced
1/4 cup diced onions
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup corn kernels
1/2 cup lima beans
1/2 cup diced zucchini
1 large leek, diced
1/2 cup stewed tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1. Combine all ingredients-except for salt, pepper and parsley-in a large saucepan and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Add salt and pepper.
3. Pour into a large tureen or individual bowls and sprinkle parsley on top.
Yield: 6 servings
The following 3 recipes are from
“The New Jewish Holiday Cookbook,” by Gloria Kaufer Greene:
GLAZED TURKEY WITH FRUIT-NUT STUFFING
2 Tbsp. canola oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, diced
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup sugar
11/2 cups cranberries
12 pitted prunes, coarsely chopped
6 dried apricots, coarsely chopped
1 cup raisins
3 medium apples, cored and diced
11/2 cups chopped nuts
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/8 tsp. ground ginger
Salt and pepper to taste
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1. In a medium-sized saucepan saute the onion and celery in oil over medium-high heat, stirring until tender but not browned. Transfer to a large bowl. Set aside.
3. Mix in prunes, apricots and raisins. Remove from heat. Transfer mixture to bowl containing onion and celery. Cool to room temperature. Add remaining stuffing ingredients and mix well.
1 12-14 pound turkey, completely defrosted in refrigerator
1. Clean turkey well and discard giblets. Rub skin with canola oil.
2. Fill the body and neck cavities of the turkey with stuffing, allowing room for expansion. Tuck the legs under the band of skin or tie legs together with heavy cord. Skewer or sew neck skin closed against the body. Place turkey, breast up, on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Roast in a preheated 325 degree oven for about 3 hours.
Yield: 10 servings
DOUBLE CORN BREAD
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1/3 cup canola oil
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat an 8-inch square baking pan with no-stick spray.
2. In a medium bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center, and add eggs, oil and canned corn. Beat wet ingredients with a fork to combine them, then incorporate dry ingredients. Stir only until all ingredients are completely moistened and combined.
3. Spoon mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cut into 16 squares and serve directly from the pan.
HARVEST-TIME CRANBERRY RELISH
1 medium-sized navel orange
1 12-ounce pkg. fresh cranberries, sorted, rinsed and drained
1 medium-sized apple, cored and cut into eighths
1 medium-sized pear, cored and cut into eighths
1/4 cup walnut pieces
1/4 cup dark raisins
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1. Use a sharp knife to remove the colored part of the orange rind. Set aside. Remove and discard the white pith. Cut orange pulp into chunks.
2. Put orange rind and pulp into food processor fitted with the steel blade with the remaining relish ingredients. Pulse the mixture until ingredients are finely chopped but not smoothly pureed.
3. Chill relish covered for several hours, stirring occasionally until the sugar completely dissolves and flavors blend.
Yield: about 31/2 cups | <urn:uuid:b38ccd95-de59-4a7e-82fe-553bb9c830fc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.jta.org/2003/11/26/jewish-holidays/sukkot/holiday-feature-thanksgiving-may-have-roots-in-a-jewish-holiday-sukkot | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397567.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00143-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916428 | 1,962 | 3.609375 | 4 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.