text
stringlengths 185
593k
| url
stringlengths 15
3.92k
| source
stringclasses 1
value | estimate_token_length
int64 103
593k
| score
float64 2.58
5.22
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
Lunar and solar halos are caused when light passes through ice crystals formed in clouds through the sky.
Credit: Shingo Takei
On a perfectly still winter night, the famous constellation Orion shone around a beautiful lunar halo in a photograph taken by a Japanese amateur astronomer.
The image shows the stars of Orion, the mighty hunter in the top right, along with the constellations Taurus (the bull) above it and Canis Major (the big dog) below it. The three constellations surround the glowing lunar halo in a stunning photo taken by astrophotographer Shingo Takei from Japan's Nagano prefecture.
Lunar and solar halos are caused when light passes through ice crystals formed in clouds in Earth's atmosphere. Ice crystals in a high, thin layer of cirrus clouds bend the light at a specific angle like a lens. Since each crystal has a similar hexagonal shape, light that enters typically refracts 22 degrees, creating the round halo shape. Such halos are fairly common in the night sky.
A beautiful but less common type of halo can occur when light is bent at 46 degrees. While the process is similar, it occurs when light enters one side of the crystal and exits from either the top or bottom of the crystal. The light is refracted twice, creating a larger halo around the sun or moon.
Editor's note: If you have an amazing skywatching photo you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at [email protected]. | http://www.space.com/13867-lunar-halo-orion-skywatcher-photo.html | fineweb | 1,471 | 3.578125 |
There are nothing but opportunities for those students thinking about careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). The field continues to shift, just as student perceptions do. That is why Destination Imagination, National Girls Collaborative, National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity, and Educational Research Center of America (ERCA) are collaborating on a research project focused on high school students’ perceptions of STEM careers.
In previous research, the Student Research Foundation found that the majority of STEM students (51%) saw their STEM courses as “extremely” or “very important” to their future careers. The ultimate objective is to stimulate a dialogue on career pathways among parents, teachers and students.
By including your students as part of this important research project, you can help them:
- further consider their strengths, interests, and the career options open to them;
- receive targeted information from colleges, universities, career and technical schools, and other postsecondary institutions seeking to recruit students with their specific interests, talents, skill sets, and career goals; and
- gain more access to postsecondary scholarship opportunities.
Please watch your in-box during the back-to-school season for a package from The Research Consortium on STEM Career Pathways. If you want to make sure you receive this package, please fill out this simple online form or email us at [email protected] to make sure you’re on the list! Thank you for participating! | http://www.marylanddi.org/dihq/educator-survey-do-you-see-your-students-in-future-stem-careers/ | fineweb | 1,526 | 2.796875 |
An ingredient commonly found in curry powder could make the world a safer place as well as a spicier one, researchers say. Circumin, the main chemical in the spice turmeric, can be used to create a cheap way of spotting explosives, according to research presented to the American Physical Society. The chemical—already known for its anti-cancer properties—changes its light-emitting property as it encounters molecules of explosive material in the air, reports the BBC.
"If you have a gram of TNT, and you sample a billion air molecules from anywhere in the room, you'll find four or five molecules of TNT—that's the reason they're so hard to detect," the lead researcher told the conference. "The US State Department estimates there are up to 70 million land mines throughout the world. We need a very portable, field-deployable sensing device which is cheap, very sensitive, and easy to handle." | http://www.newser.com/story/114903/curry-spice-can-spot-explosives.html | fineweb | 897 | 2.890625 |
Real time means that responses occur in time, or on time. With non-real-time systems, there is no way to ensure that a response occurs within any time period, and operations may finish much later or earlier than expected. In other words, real-time systems are deterministic, which guarantees that operations occur within a given time. Real-time systems are predictable.
For a system to be a real-time system, all parts of it need to be real time. For instance, even though a program runs in a real-time operating system, it does not mean that the program behaves with real-time characteristics. The program may rely on something that does not behave in real-time such as file I/O, which then causes the program to not behave in real-time. | http://www.ni.com/documentation/en/ni-daqmx/latest/measfunds/realtime/ | fineweb | 738 | 3.21875 |
'Demon Reptile' Is Not a Missing Link
by Brian Thomas, M.S. *
The skull of a previously unknown dinosaur with interesting teeth and a unique head shape was uncovered in Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. The technical description that appeared in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B claimed that this creature bridged a gap between fundamentally different kinds of dinosaurs.1 One news blog did not mince words: "New dinosaur species is a missing link."2
But is it really? How was its "missing link" status determined? Was it simply declared a missing link whether or not this was empirically established?
Named Daemonosaurus ("demon reptile"), the dog-size dinosaur was found in what was called a "Late Triassic" rock layer. The skull and first few vertebrae of this interesting creature had a handful of features in common with a group of dinosaurs called "neotheropods." Theropods had lizard-like hips—as opposed to the bird-like hips of other dinosaurs—and walked on two feet. Neotheropod specimens, often with fewer "fingers" than other theropods, are mostly found in the Jurassic and Cretaceous rock layers that lie above Triassic beds in many locations.
But other features of the Daemonosaurus skull were dissimilar to neotheropods, looking more like "basal theropods." This term refers to the belief that certain theropods evolved earlier, leading to their placement at the "base" or trunk of an evolutionary tree diagram.
The study examined 319 characteristics, such as tooth shape and size, skull height and length, and the sizes and shapes of various holes in the skulls called fossae and fenestrae. These characteristics were then fitted into a "most likely" evolutionary tree diagram, which ended up showing Daemonosaurus on its own "branch" that extended backward in evolutionary time to the supposed origin of the "first" theropod dinosaurs.
The researchers compared Daemonosaurus to Tawa hallae, another dinosaur discovered at Ghost Ranch a couple of years ago.3 According to its technical description, Tawa was supposed to clarify "early" dinosaur evolution. But if it did, then why did authors of this later Daemonosaurus study admit "that theropod dinosaurs had a more complex evolutionary history prior to the origin of Neotheropoda than previously inferred"?1
The study authors wrote, "Daemonosaurus is most closely related to the clade Tawa + Neotheropoda."1
They described three somewhat obscure characteristics shared by Daemonosaurus, Tawa, and neotheropods, including a depression on their vertebrae and a protrusion on their jawbone. But one could find three characteristics in common between any set of animals with similar body plans, illustrating why no ancestor-descendant relationship was established by such a comparison.
After all that work, the researchers did not name a dinosaur from which or to which Daemonosaurus evolved. What does it link to if it is a missing link? The report merely listed characteristics in common or not in common with other groups of dinosaurs, then force-fitted those characteristics into a preconceived evolutionary model.
Evolutionists quibble over which dinosaur belongs on which evolutionary branch, but there is still not one example of a continuous series of transitioning dinosaur forms, let alone one that ascends the geologic column to show that the transitions progressed with time. All the dinosaur data, however, fit easily in the creation model, which actually predicts what is observed—no transitional features, just fully formed creatures fossilized mostly in a cataclysmic global flood.
Daemonosaurus is not a missing link. Instead, it looks like a separately created dinosaur—or a variety thereof—with all its features well-integrated and none of its features in a state of transition.4
- Sues, H.-D. et al. A late-surviving basal theropod dinosaur from the latest Triassic of North America. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Published online before print April 13, 2011.
- Landau, E. New dinosaur species is a missing link. CNN news blog. Posted on news.blogs.cnn.com April 12, 2011, accessed April 19, 2011.
- Thomas, B. New Dinosaur Causes New Confusion. ICR News. Posted on icr.org December 18, 2009, accessed April 19, 2011.
- In fact, like the Tawa hallae discussed in the reference 3 article, Daemonosaurus was also described as having a "mosaic" of attributes. Sues et al wrote in their paper: "The differences in the form (fossae versus fenestrae), position (centrum versus centrum and neural arch) and number (one versus two) of pneumatic features among basal theropods show the mosaic acquisition of pneumatic features in the cervical vertebrae of these dinosaurs."
Image credit: Copyright © 2011 The Royal Society. Adapted for use in accordance with federal copyright (fair use doctrine) law. Usage by ICR does not imply endorsement of copyright holders.
* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.
Article posted on April 27, 2011. | http://www.icr.org/articles/view/6063/268/ | fineweb | 4,955 | 3.390625 |
From Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia
Cat food refers to either the slop you eat only because you're extremely hungry and nothing else is immediately available, or the kibbles and pulled bits that keep cats alive and allow them to reproduce and eventually take over the world. This article discusses the latter.
edit What is Cat Food?
Cat food comes from Cattus Stimualosis, a weather extreme-tolerant plant found in Africa. According to archaeologists, native tribes planted this throughout the continent for thousands of years so they wouldn't have to worry about feeding their cats as they migrated from place to place. Nowadays, megacorporations grow and harvest the plant on massive farms all over the world to meet global cat food demand. Most cat food sold in stores is flavored and/or mixed with various meats so cat owners won't have to hold their noses while feeding it to their cats.
edit Manufacturing Process
It all begins on the farm. Year-round, cat food seeds are planted in the ground by illegal aliens, women, children, and uneducated laborers who couldn't learn how to do anything else. After a few months of feeding, fertilizing, weeding, and applying pesticides to the field of cat food, combine harvesters sweep the mature stalks off the field and take the harvest to the on-site processing center. The machines at the processing center clean, rinse, roll, then press the stalks into the basic shape of cat kibbles. The kibbles then bake in a special oven for 24 hours. After baking, the batch of kibbles goes to a flavoring center located in the center of a city with at least one million residents so highly trained experts can add vitamins, minerals, flavors, and preservatives to help support a cat's overall health. If the intended product is plain old dry cat food, it is finished at this point, and the cat food is bagged and boxed for retail sale. If the cat food is meant for a wet mix, the flavored kibble goes to a meat tips addition line where copious amounts of fish, beef, chicken, pork, and venison are mixed with the dry cat food and then bagged, canned, and boxed to be sold at retailers worldwide.
edit How Cats Get Cat Food
Many people think cat food is simply given to cats, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. Cats get their food in many different ways:
Since humans created cats and are the only ones who can make cat food, cats have an arsenal of tricks up their sleeves for getting it from them. One way is to beg their owners (people) for food when humans don't give it to them in a timely manner. Since not all cat owners actually feed their cats, cats often use something called "Telekeneedconsumablesplease", and any selfless and kind folk within 100 meters of the call epicenter will bring the cats some cat food. The most extreme method, however, is getting humans to worship them as gods. Since cats are the most ferocious killing machines on the face of the planet, they are able to extort cat food from fearful worshippers even when they don't really need it to survive. This method reached the height of its popularity among cats and people in ancient Egypt, but it is very rarely observed today.
edit The Wild
In the wild, cats eat Cattus Stimualosis to stay alive when humans aren't around to give them cat food. This is how big cats get their cat food: first, gazelle and antelope feed on Cattus Stimualosis. Second, the big cats eat the gazelle and antelope. The cat food the gazelle and antelope ate are what actually sustain big cats. Small cats use a similar method, except they get the cat food from smaller animals that eat Cattus Stimualosis and sometimes just consume the plant stalks themselves.
It has been noted that the bee population has been declining while the global population of feral cats has been increasing. One theory based on this information is that some cats subsist entirely on bees and eat human-manufactured cat food only to please their human owners so the cats will always have the luxury of someone serving them. | http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Cat_food | fineweb | 4,022 | 2.78125 |
This is the
second month for both Craftsman and Scientist so the ideas here are limited. Go
back to last month’s Baloo. There were a lot of ideas there. CD
Baltimore Area Council
Ask any boy what a scientist is and he can tell you.
A scientist is the guy who sends men to the moon, and who builds space ships
that travel to distant planets to send back pictures for them to study. A
scientist is a person who builds lasers and atom-smashers, and computers. A
scientist makes and designs all kinds of neat inventions.
Ask the same boy what makes the scientist any
different from anyone else and he may not be able to answer. Perhaps most people
wouldn’t be able to answer. The answer is that as a person the scientist is no
different from anyone else, but when he is working he questions everything and
makes tests and experiments to make sure things are true. If he can’t explain
something, he makes up a hypothesis. If one hypothesis doesn’t work, he looks
for another, until he finds one that can be proven over and over again by
Visit an eye specialist and find out
how the eye works.
Have a visiting scientist demonstrate
an experiment related to the badge requirements.
Visit an airport and ask an expert to
explain flight principles.
Have a slow-motion bicycle-riding
contest to demonstrate balancing skills.
Do some of the experiments found in the
Webelos Scout book.
Practice balance skills.
Make some optical illusions and show
how the eyes converge.
Discuss various branches of science and
how they differ.
Study fog and how it is formed.
Invite a weather expert to talk to the
Den or visit a weather station to learn about weather and air pressure.
Make Crystals You Can Eat
you’ve ever eaten rock candy or spooned sugar onto your morning cereal, then
you’ve come face-to-face with crystals. Ice, table salt, glassware and sugar are
just a few of the many substances that make up crystals. The best way for
Webelos Scouts to learn how crystals are formed in nature is to perform an
experiment to make crystals.
Pour one cup of water into a small pan. Cover and bring it to a boil. Turn off
the heat and add two cups of cane sugar. Stir until dissolved. Let cool. Pour
sugar solution into a tall glass. Tie a piece of clean white string to a pencil
or stick and place the stick across the glass so that the string hangs down into
the liquid. Put the glass in a cool place for a few days. In a short time small
crystals will form along the sides of the glass. Soon they will begin to cling
to the string. After several days, large crystals, hard as a rock, will have
formed around the string. Lift the string out of the glass and taste some
delicious homemade rock candy.
Unlike living things, crystals grow by adding layer upon layer of their own
substance to the exterior surface. In growing, tiny atoms in a crystal naturally
arrange themselves in planes or flat surfaces. They eventually form a geometric
pattern in space. Some crystals arrange themselves in a six-sided structure;
others in ten-sided or twelve-sided formations. It is impossible to see these
tiny atoms when you look closely at a crystal, but the sparkling light you do
see is caused by reflection from many inner surfaces of the crystal.
Many minerals found in the outdoors are crystals, too. Quartz, mica, gold,
silver, and graphite are some of these. If you are hiking in the woods and find
a shiny stone embedded in a duller one, then you’ve probably discovered quartz.
If the shiny stone peels in layers, then you’ve found mica. Take a good look at
all the crystals that you find. Examine them under a magnifying glass, and hold
them up to the light. You will have begun the exciting study of crystals.
Vinegar combined with baking soda produces carbon dioxide, a colorless, odorless
gas. This is what you breathe out when you exhale. It is also the gas that gives
soda pop its fizz. Try these experiments with distilled white vinegar.
Genie of the Bottle
a tablespoon of baking soda in a bottle. And vinegar and quickly fit a balloon
over the rim of the bottle while the mixture is fizzing. Use a balloon that has
been blown up before so that it will stretch easily. The carbon dioxide produced
will inflate the balloon.
Stir a teaspoon of soda in a glass of water. Drop in some buttons and pour in
vinegar to make the buttons bounce to the top. Bubbles of carbon dioxide that
have formed are lighter than water and these bubbles lift the buttons. They will
bounce up and down for quite a while. Add more vinegar when they slow down.
Boiling Water with Ice
show that the boiling point of a liquid depends on the atmospheric pressure. try
this experiment. Use a heatproof glass container (like a Pyrex coffee maker)
with a stopper Boil a half inch of water and when some of the steam has escaped,
stopper the container and turn it upside down. Now put an ice cube on top of the
inverted container. Presto! The water begins boiling again. Why? Because the
cold of the ice cube has lowered the air pressure by condensing the water vapor
left in the container. As the air pressure is reduced, the boiling point of the
still hot water drops and the water boils.
make a geyser, fill a shallow pan nearly full of water. Put an inverted glass
funnel in the water, with a nail under one side to raise it. Heat the water. As
the steam is generated, air bubbles force water out of the neck because the
water pressure becomes higher than the atmospheric pressure.
two matching drinking glasses. Light a candle in the bottom glass and place it
over a piece of thick, damp paper. Put the other glass on top. When the candle
flame goes out for the lack of oxygen, the glasses will be “welded” together.
The heat from the candle drives out enough air so that atmospheric pressure
holds the glasses together.
Tent Flattening Trick: Fold a 5” x 8”
piece of paper into a pup tent shape and place it on a table. Now blow through
the tent. Does it blow away? No? Why not? The moving air stream through the tent
brings down the air pressure. The greater pressure above the tent pushes it down
and prevents any horizontal movement.
Swinging Ping-Pong Ball
ping-pong ball, Adhesive tape,
foot of thread or string, Faucet
the string to the ping-pong ball with tape. Turn on the water to form a steady
stream. While holding the string, flip the ball into the water from a few inches
away. Not only will the ball stay with the string at an angle, but you can draw
the ball up the stream almost to the faucet.
What happens: The water, streaming around
one side of the ball, exerts less pressure than the air which surrounds the
other side. Even though you can feel the resistance of the water as you draw the
ball upward, the air pressure is still stronger, as the experiment proves.
straws, Pop bottle, Clay
When you drink something with a straw, do you suck up the liquid? No! To prove
this, fill a pop bottle with water, put a straw into the bottle, the seal the
top of the bottle with clay. Taking care that the straw is not bent or crimped.
Then let one of the boys try to suck the water out of the bottle. They can’t do
Remove the clay and have the boy put one straw into the bottle of water and the
other on the outside. Again, he’ll have no luck in sucking the water out of the
What happens: In the first experiment, the
air pressure inside the straw is reduced, so that the air outside the straw
forces the liquid up the straw. In the second experiment, the second straw
equalizes the air pressure in your mouth.
Air Cannon Hockey: This game will
demonstrate air pressure. Use round cardboard oatmeal boxes. Cut a hole the size
of a penny in the tops. Fasten the lid back to the box tightly. Use a table for
the field, with a goal at either end. Have a boy sit at each end of the “field”
with a cannon (box) and put a ping-pong ball in the middle of the table. By
tapping the back of the box and aiming it at the ball, try to score by putting
the ball through your opponent’s goal. The Webelos leader can demonstrate the
effectiveness of his oatmeal box cannon by using it to put out a candle. Fill
cannon with smoke, then aim at candle, tap back of box, and flame will be put
out. These cannons are effective up to about six feet.
Hot Air Balloon Power: Divide Cub Scouts
into two or more teams. Each player is given a balloon, which he blows up and
holds by the neck until his turn. A raceway is defined for each team and a
ping-pong ball is placed at the beginning of each raceway. Team players take
turns letting air escape from their balloons, blowing the their team’s ball down
the raceway. The winner is the team that blows the ping-pong ball the furthest
down the raceway. | http://usscouts.org/bbugle/bb0411/bbw2.html | fineweb | 8,648 | 3.28125 |
Sciatica is a common condition that affects the sciatic nerve, which runs from the lower back down the back of each leg. It is characterized by pain, numbness, and tingling in the lower back, buttocks, and legs. Sciatica can be caused by a variety of
Gout is a type of arthritis that is caused by the buildup of uric acid in the body. It is a painful condition that can affect any joint in the body, but is most commonly found in the big toe. Symptoms of gout include sudden
Seizures are a common neurological disorder that can affect people of all ages. Seizures can range from mild to severe and can be caused by a variety of factors. It is important to understand the causes of seizures in order to properly diagnose and treat
Rheumatism is a term used to describe a wide range of conditions that cause pain and inflammation in the joints, muscles, and other tissues. It is a chronic condition that can affect people of all ages, but is more common in adults. Symptoms of rheumatism
“Take Control of Your Mental Health: Unlock Your Potential with Tips and Strategies!” Mental health is an important part of overall health and wellbeing. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that affects the central nervous system. It is characterized by recurrent seizures, which are episodes of abnormal electrical activity in the brain. Epilepsy can affect people of all ages, but it is most commonly diagnosed in children and older adults.
“Protect Yourself and Your Loved Ones: Understand What Viruses Are and How They Impact Human Health.” Exploring the Latest Research on Viruses and Their Impact on Human Health Understanding the Different Types of Viruses and Their Impact on Human Health The Basics of Viruses: What | https://tripint.com/category/news/health/ | fineweb | 1,823 | 2.828125 |
NEED TO KNOW ABOUT LEARNING KNOWLEDGE
Life is about learning and growth. If you thought learning is one aspect confined to humans, you cannot be more wrong. Even animals try to learn knowledge, in their own ways.
While humans and animals may learn somewhat similarly, the difference lies in our ability to grasp.
Animals, for instance, learn about surviving on their own. Their knowledge is limited to get food, space, and mate. While that’s a common trait even humans have, we follow a specific process to learn.
In short, we can describe the process as one which involves absorbing the information, processing it and then retaining it during training. In the absence of any one of these, we wouldn't be able to learn.
Learning language, for instance, involves understanding what others are saying, processing the signs and then retaining those specific sounds.
For a baby, they process and learn these sounds, and then try it out on their own - which is the training phase. It's how everybody learns a new language.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TEACHING AND TRAINING
Yes, teaching and training are different. You could learn through teaching, but if you aren't training, you wouldn't know how to learn knowledge.
For instance, you can learn about buoyancy and swimming but unless you get to a pool to be trained by an instructor, you wouldn't know how to swim.
Motor learning, for instance, helps you to change and learn from experiences. It helps you to improve the accuracy of your movements and be more active on the tennis court.
This is also why you steadily improve your reflexes when playing tennis, as you develop your motor skills. If you want to learn knowledge, you need to take the right steps.
As motor learning is relatively permanent, you do not forget your skills, just like you can ride your bicycle even after years of riding one. Tennis players who practice hours on the tennis court every day can look to improve their reflexes, timing and organization abilities.
It also helps tennis players to improve their anticipation level, understand movements better and aid in preparation.
It's why we need active learning strategies. It helps us get problem-based learning, peer learning and group discussions which can give us the practical experience we need to deal with complex concepts.
Using strategies to ‘open up’, the classroom will also have some lively discussion and debate encouraging peer learning and helping foster engagement.
THE 3 THEORIES OF LEARNING
Let us take a look at the three in detail and what it takes to learn the language.
What is Behaviorism?
Most often, we continue to do a certain act, which we repeat till it becomes automatic. This observable change in our behavioral pattern is what we know as behaviorism.
So, when you learned the maths multiplier table in your school, it is a trait of behaviorism. You can only do that with the right amount of practice.
What is Cognitivism?
When you take into account your cognitive abilities to learn something new, it is known as cognitivism. For instance, learning your second language is a form of cognitivism.
It happens because of a conscious and reasoned effort on your part to understand something new.
What is Constructivism?
If you are looking to understand how knowledge is constructed, and obtain the information through your experiences, you can call it constructivism.
In short, you get to learn something after you try and apply it to your own life experience. For instance, you might not have got the physics problem taught in school.
However, when you managed to apply it to a real-life solution from your own life, you could grasp it quickly.
What is Knowledge management?
Knowledge and learning management is what we should be looking for. It's an integrated approach to help you learn knowledge faster, and here, grasp a new language quicker.
It helps to do this by creating situational awareness, and opening up smoother communication channels. The focus is on creating an environment that is conducive to learning, helping your brain process information better.
Students, after all, cannot be expected to leave colleges fully taught and trained, and ready to take on any work. Yes, it is possible but it is highly unlikely.
A knowledge learning center can help you learn knowledge quicker. For instance, they can help you download the right knowledge management strategy pdf.
knowledge management book pdf , With the right learning resources, getting hold of a new language will be quicker. And if you can practice it on others, you will find that you can start speaking it fluently too, before you know it | https://tutorroom.net/en/education-platforms/need-know-about-learning-knowledge/ | fineweb | 4,610 | 3.40625 |
Describes a kind of value.
To style your document, you need to work with values of different kinds: Lengths specifying the size of your elements, colors for your text and shapes, and more. Typst categorizes these into clearly defined types and tells you where it expects which type of value.
Apart from basic types for numeric values and typical types known from programming languages, Typst provides a special type for content. A value of this type can hold anything that you can enter into your document: Text, elements like headings and shapes, and style information.
#let x = 10 #if type(x) == int [ #x is an integer! ] else [ #x is another value... ] An image is of type #type(image("glacier.jpg")).
The type of
int. Now, what is the type of
int or even
#type(int) \ #type(type)
In Typst 0.7 and lower, the
type function returned a string instead of a type. Compatibility with the old way will remain for a while to give package authors time to upgrade, but it will be removed at some point.
- Checks like
int == "integer"evaluate to
- Adding/joining a type and string will yield a string
inoperator on a type and a dictionary will evaluate to
trueif the dictionary has a string key matching the type's name
ConstructorIf a type has a constructor, you can call it like a function to create a new value of the type.
Determines a value's type.
#type(12) \ #type(14.7) \ #type("hello") \ #type(<glacier>) \ #type([Hi]) \ #type(x => x + 1) \ #type(type)
valueanyRequiredPositionalPositional parameters are specified in order, without names.
The value whose type's to determine. | https://typst.app/docs/reference/foundations/type/ | fineweb | 1,578 | 2.609375 |
Article written by guest writer Rin Mitchell
What’s the Latest Development?
An international survey revealed that in developing countries nearly 50 percent of men and one in 10 women use tobacco. The Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), examined "smoking trends among people ages 15 and older from 16 countries, estimating that there are 852 million tobacco users in these countries." Reportedly, “the numbers call for urgent changes in tobacco policy and regulation in developing nations. While tobacco use is declining in industrialized countries, it remains strong — or is even increasing — in low- and middle-income countries, a trend the authors attribute to powerful pro-tobacco forces worldwide.”
What’s Big Idea?
In response to the results of the largest survey on global tobacco use, the World Health Organization is warning smokers of the reality of tobacco use. “Most tobacco users smoke cigarettes: 41% of men and 5% of women, but other popular forms of tobacco include cigars, chewing tobacco and water pipes. Already, nearly 6 million people die from tobacco-related causes each year.” | https://bigthink.com/ideafeed/biggest-survey-on-global-tobacco-use-gives-warnings | fineweb | 1,098 | 2.8125 |
Ghana’s economy is not able to support a robust research and development infrastructure. Scientific developments are modest and focus on the most critical practical concerns. The major research establishment is located in Ghana’s three universities and in government departments and public corporations. Research in the physical sciences is heavily focused on agriculture, particularly cocoa. The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi concentrates on civil and industrial engineering and medicine. The Ministry of Health also has an active research agenda, which is complemented by World Health Organization activities. Social sciences focus on economic and development issues. The Institute for Statistical, Social, and Economic Research at the University of Ghana has conducted numerous surveys on rural and urban production and income patterns and on household economies and child welfare. The government statistical service carries out demographic and economic research into such areas as income distribution and poverty. Demographic issues are also investigated through the Population Impact Project at the University of Ghana. Education research and development forms another major concern and is the focus for activities at Ghana’s third higher education facility, the University of Cape Coast. | http://www.spyghana.com/ghana/the-state-of-the-physical-and-social-sciences/ | fineweb | 1,324 | 2.59375 |
Video:Learn Japanese: When to Write Hiragana, Katakana, or Kanjiwith Ayaka Hills
The Japanese language includes three different ways of writing: Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. Each of these Japanese scripts is appropriate at different times. Learn how to use and recognize Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji .See Transcript
Transcript:Learn Japanese: When to Write Hiragana, Katakana, or Kanji
I’m Ayaka Hills of Hills Learning in New York for About.com. In this video, I am going to explain when Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji are used; and how to tell the difference between the 3 character sets.
Japanese Scripts Represent Different Parts of the LanguageJapanese is written in a combination of Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. Kanji represents ideas or objects. Hiragana typically expresses the grammatical concepts between them. Katakana is used for words of foreign origin or for emphasis. Unlike Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana characters represent one syllable and have no meaning other than the representation of sound.
Japanese Scripts Have Different Styles and ShapesIf you're a beginner of the Japanese language, you can easily tell the character sets apart. For example, Hiragana characters are more round and have less edges compared to Katakana. Kanji are more complex characters of Chinese origin.
Here is a set of Hiragana characters. Here is a set of Katakana characters. Here is a set of Kanji characters. Thanks for watching. To learn more information on Japanese, please visit About.com. | http://video.about.com/japanese/Learn-Japanese---When-to-Write-Hiragana--Katakana--or-Kanji.htm | fineweb | 1,495 | 3.96875 |
There are many natural ways to prevent constipation from your life. Every age group can have constipation in their life. In the USA, about 2.5 million people visit their doctor yearly due to constipation. Constipation develops due to the infrequent bowel movements or releasing of stools that remain for several weeks. In this article, you will see the easy treatment method to prevent constipation.
What is Constipation?
Constipation occurs due to the less movement of the bowel. It is one of the frequent gastrointestinal diseases. You find difficulty and pain in passing the stool when you feel an urge. It is because your feces (undigested food) becomes hard and dry. You always experience that your bowels remain left during defecation (discharge of feces from the bowels). Bowel movements depend from person to person. Some people have at least three bowel movements in a week. While others may have only one or two times a week or several times a day.
How does your digestive system work?
Constipation is related to how well your digestive system is working. So, You need to understand how the digestive system works. When you eat food, it goes into the small intestine. It absorbs all the necessary nutrients from the food. The undigested food moves to the colon (large intestine). The colon eliminates water from the undigested food and leaves a solid substance. The stool is a hard solid substance. When a person gets constipated, their stool takes a large amount of time to pass out from the large intestine. Since the colon absorbs water from the stool, it becomes dry and hard. So, you can feel difficulty and pain in releasing stool, which leads to constipation.
When to see a doctor if you are unable to prevent constipation?
A healthcare professional will ask about your lifestyle, eating habits, and other medical conditions. You may need to visit a doctor or consult with a doctor online if you see the signs and symptoms of constipation.
Symptoms of Constipation
Following are the symptoms of constipation includes:
- Having less than three bowel movements a week
- Hard or dry stools
- Having difficulty or pain in releasing stool.
- Pain or cramps in the stomach
- Nausea and feeling of bloating
- The sensation of an incomplete bowel movement.
- If you take help to empty your rectum, such as by applying pressure on your abdomen with your hands.
If you have two or more symptoms, you can work on the treatment to prevent constipation.
Causes of Constipation
Many causes can lead to constipation. Here are the most common reasons that people experience:
Lack of enough water in the body causes constipation. It is one of the most significant reasons. The intestines of the digestive system absorb the water from your body to fulfill the required level of liquids. Your stool becomes harder and harder as you avoid drinking recommended water according to your body’s needs.
- Lack of fiber in a diet:
Fiber is an essential nutrient for your body. It helps to maintain bowel movements. Low or no fiber amount in your diet can result in constipation.
- Gastrointestinal disease:
The difficulty of defecation (discharge of feces) is due to the problem in the gastrointestinal system. Fistulas, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), hiatal hernia, lactose intolerance, and celiac disease cause constipation.
- Lack of exercise:
Avoiding daily exercise can lead to constipation. Sitting on a seat for several hours without rest, lying in a bed, or not doing any physical activity can result in chronic constipation.
It reduces the working progress of bowel movements.
- Avoiding the urge to defecate:
Resisting and not allowing stool to pass when you feel an urge causes constipation. Generally, people ignore the signal of bowel movements when they are at work.
- Stress or Anxiety:
When you are feeling anxiety, stress, insomnia, and depression causes constipation.
- Thyroid gland disorder:
If the quantity of thyroid hormone in the body is low, it leads to digestive disease.
- Nerve or spinal cord injury:
When neuromuscular disease, Parkinson’s disease, spinal injuries, and sclerosis occur. The pelvic floor muscles contract. Thus, it develops the stool harder with time.
- Intestinal Blockage:
A blockage develops on any part of the large intestine. A blocked intestine can cause constipation.
Once the women become pregnant, their hormone level would increase. They can experience constipation. During pregnancy, around 16 to 39 % of people get constipated. It is because the fetus applies pressure on the bowel. Pregnant women may have constipation up to three months after the baby’s arrival.
Some medications show an adverse effect on your body that causes constipation. Narcotic pain medication, antidepressants, iron supplements, antacids, opioids, antihistamines, and overuse of laxatives lead to constipation.
Natural Ways To Prevent Constipation
Following are the natural ways to prevent constipation from your life:
1.Enough Water Intake
You should take the recommended (at least 8 to 10 glasses) amount of water daily to prevent constipation.
2. Intake of fiber in the diet
According to the research, men need around 30 to 38 grams of fiber. While for women, the daily intake would be 21 to 25 grams at least. It can also help to prevent constipation.
Do at least 30 minutes of regular exercise. Avoid long sitting. You can also walk in the park.
4. Add Fruits and Vegetables
Divide your eating time into four and take a small meal at a time. You can add fresh fruits and vegetables to your diet. The foods that have a good proportion of fiber that helps to prevent constipation include:
- Green leafy vegetables
- Beans, Lentil and peas
- Brown bread
- Citrus fruits
Following are the foods that you may need to avoid during constipation:
- Junk foods
- Red Meat
- Processed food
- Milk and dairy products
- White bread
5. Control Your Daily Life Stress & Anxiety
You can consult a professional provider if you have repeated stress or anxiety due to workload or other problems. Removing stress can help to prevent constipation.
6. Do not avoid the signal to pass stool:
You do not need to avoid the toilet when you feel the urge to pass stool.
7. Avoid using phones or tablets during bowel movements:
Focus and concentration are required when you try to release your stool. So, do not take phones into the toilet.
You can follow the above natural ways to prevent constipation. Some medications may be required if you have chronic constipation. You can schedule an online appointment with a doctor.
Constipation may develop for a short or long-term time frame. When you see a sign of trouble while passing stool for more than two to three days, you experience constipation. A healthcare professional will recommend specific medicine and ask you for changes in your daily lifestyle to prevent constipation. | https://umbrellamd.blog/7-natural-ways-to-prevent-constipation/ | fineweb | 6,834 | 2.890625 |
The latter portion of the Pleistocene Epoch in New England saw the creation of Buzzards Bay through the interplay of glacial and oceanic processes. Beginning approximately 50,000-70,000 years ago, the edges of the continental ice sheet covering much of northern North America began to fluctuate, leaving linear masses of gravel, sand, and silt (known as moraines) to mark former extents of the ice. One such moraine forms most of the eastern shoreline of Buzzards Bay visible in this astronaut photograph.
In addition to the moraines, the melting ice sheet produced extensive plains of outwash composed of mixed sediments and ice that bordered the bay to the northwest and west. Melting ice blocks in the outwash deposits formed distinctive circular features called kettle lakes (or holes). Numerous examples of kettle lakes are visible to the northwest of the Cape Cod Canal. Finally, waters released from the melting ice sheet raised sea level by 60-120 meters (198-396 feet) and drowned preexisting outwash channels (visible as linear embayments along the western shoreline). Buzzards Bay attained its broad current configuration approximately 15,000 years ago; the current sea level was present approximately 3,500 years ago.
The modern Buzzards Bay is approximately 45 kilometers (28 miles) long by 12 kilometers (8 miles) wide and is a popular destination for fishing, boating, and tourism. The Cape Cod Canal allows for passage between Buzzards Bay and Cape Cod Bay to the northeast (not visible); the wakes of numerous pleasure craft appear along the length of the Canal. The combination of shallow depth, tidal action and surface waves promotes mixing of the estuarine waters leading to a productive aquatic ecosystem. The dynamic nature of the Bay’s waters are visible in this astronaut photograph as surface wave reflectance patterns around Stoney Point Dike and in the kettle lakes. Like many estuaries, however, increasing development and land-use change by the surrounding communities are accompanied by nutrient runoff leading to eutrophication (an increase in nutrient levels leading to oxygen depletion) in the smaller embayments. Decreases in eelgrass, scallops, and herring have also been noted, but direct cause-and-effect relationships are not clear. Coordinated management efforts in Buzzards Bay have helped to decrease shellfish closures, conserve habitat for sea birds, and preserve open space. | http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=5792 | fineweb | 2,419 | 4.09375 |
The Guardian reports that a 33-foot (10-meter) long humpback whale was freed from a net off Australia’s Gold Coast on Wednesday morning. The animal had apparently gotten trapped in a net that is used to keep sharks from entering the region’s popular swimming beaches.
The marine mammal was rescued by crew members from the Sea World Research and Rescue Foundation, a nonprofit supported by Sea World Gold Coast Australia, according to the insignia visible in the above video.
According to the institution’s website, “A team of highly skilled staff, headed by Director of Marine Sciences, Trevor Long, are on call 24 hours each and every day with resources and specialised equipment to ensure rescue operations can be initiated quickly and efficiently.”
Amanda Keledjian, a marine scientist at the nonprofit Oceana in the U.S., told Ocean Views that extracting whales from nets is difficult, dangerous work. “People have to be really careful to follow all protocols that they’ve been trained to do, to not create more problems for the animal,” she said.
Keledjian said such rescue efforts by trained handlers do tend to be successful the majority of the time, although sometimes they aren’t able to completely remove all of a net, which can weigh an animal down.
When it comes to rescuing whales stuck in nets or fishing gear, timing is critical. If a whale gets material wrapped around their tail, they could swim around for weeks, before falling too tired to feed itself, she said. If it had gear around its head, it might perish sooner.
“If it’s stuck in a net, as long as it can breathe at the surface it could hang out there for a long time,” said Keledjian. “If the net were anchored the whale would have to fight to stay on the surface, which would be similar to a human trying to swim with a huge weight attached.”
Keledjian said research shows that individuals from more than 2/3 of all large whale species have been entangled in nets or fishing gear around the world. The biggest culprit is not nets that protect beaches, but fishing equipment, she said, especially when active fisheries overlap with important whale habitats.
“Trap pot gear in Alaska and New England is especially problematic, and it can be especially dangerous for rescue crews given rough seas,” she said. “A lot of effort goes into such rescues.” | http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2013/08/15/humpback-whale-freed-from-shark-net/ | fineweb | 2,326 | 2.796875 |
Symmetry is all around us. Our eyes and minds are drawn to symmetrical objects, from the pyramid to the pentagon. Of fundamental significance to the way we interpret the world, this unique, pervasive phenomenon indicates a dynamic relationship between objects. In chemistry and physics, the concept of symmetry explains the structure of crystals or the theory of fundamental particles; in evolutionary biology, the natural world exploits symmetry in the fight for survival; and symmetry—and the breaking of it—is central to ideas in art, architecture, and music.
Combining a rich historical narrative with his own personal journey as a mathematician, Marcus du Sautoy takes a unique look into the mathematical mind as he explores deep conjectures about symmetry and brings us face-to-face with the oddball mathematicians, both past and present, who have battled to understand symmetry's elusive qualities. He explores what is perhaps the most exciting discovery to date—the summit of mathematicians' mastery in the field—the Monster, a huge snowflake that exists in 196,883-dimensional space with more symmetries than there are atoms in the sun.
What is it like to solve an ancient mathematical problem in a flash of inspiration? What is it like to be shown, ten minutes later, that you've made a mistake? What is it like to see the world in mathematical terms, and what can that tell us about life itself? In<em>Symmetry, Marcus du Sautoy investigates these questions and shows mathematical novices what it feels like to grapple with some of the most complex ideas the human mind can comprehend. | https://vdoc.pub/documents/symmetry-a-journey-into-the-patterns-of-nature-h1ch0uqi6nc0 | fineweb | 1,596 | 3.09375 |
Changing regex delimiters
Typically, when performing a substitution, you would use the
:s command followed by a regular expression that’s delimited by slashes
/ and followed by any flags, such as
g to replace all occurrences on the line. For example:
But did you know that the regular expression delimiter can be anything and is not limited to
/? This command is equivalent:
Whatever character you use after the
s is considered the delimiter. You can use almost any character except
|. Why would you care to use a different delimiter? Because then you don’t need to escape the slash.. For example, replacing a file path: Instead of:
You can use
# as your delimiter and skip escaping the
/ which makes for something far easier to parse:
We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!
Let us improve this post!
Tell us how we can improve this post? | https://vimtricks.com/p/changing-regex-delimiters/ | fineweb | 851 | 2.828125 |
Memorial to the victims of the Holocaust
Memorial to the victims of the Holocaust Shoes on the Danube embankment
For 14 years now, on the embankment of Budapest, right next to the magnificent Parliament building, there is a memorial, which the Argumenty i Fakty newspaper once called “the most poignant monument in the world.” On the very edge of the shore there are 60 pairs of cast-iron boots in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.
Arrow Cross Party
Budapest managed to avoid the mass execution of Jews until 1944 – this year the local Arrow Cross party came to power, supporting the views of Nazism, in particular, on the destruction of the Jewish nation.
Most members of the Arrow Cross party were ordinary Hungarian workers, but in total, all segments of the population were represented in this party – both officers and peasants, inclusive. In 1944, its founder, Ferenc Salashi, contacted the Nazi government directly and received support from him. Just yesterday, living as one people, after winning the elections (“Arrow Crossed” received 70% of the seats in parliament), Budapest changed instantly. The mass deportation of Jews and Gypsies to concentration camps in Germany and numerous massacres of civilians began.
Often Jews were brought from all over the country on trucks to the banks of the Danube.
They were asked to take off their shoes, leave their shoes, then loaded onto barges and taken away in an unknown direction. Often, bare-shod people were lined up along the river bank and shot in the back.
The shoes that the victims left behind were either used by the Nazis themselves or sent for sale – in the fifth year of the war, this was a valuable commodity that was always in demand.
In just the five months the Arrow Cross were in power, about 10,000 people were killed in the city in the course of the march and more than 80,000 were sent to concentration camps.
The idea of this memorial belongs to director Ken Togay. He invited the sculptor Gyula Power to cast iron 60 pairs of shoes – exact copies of those worn in the 1940s. These are men’s shoes, and women’s shoes, and children’s shoes – worn out, worn shoes that people left on the eve of their death.
Next to this exposition is a long 40-meter bench with commemorative plaques in three languages - Hungarian, English and Hebrew. | https://vsuete.com/memorial-to-the-victims-of-the-holocaust/ | fineweb | 2,314 | 3.21875 |
, Ohio State University
[Host: Chris Neu ]
The most energetic phenomena in the cosmos are often revealed through their gamma-ray emissions. Observing gamma-rays up to ~100 GeV requires a space-born observatory. The Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope
(FGST) was launched in June 2008 and is beginning its third year of observation of a mission that will last at least 5 years. The primary instrument on FGST is the Large Area Telescope (LAT), which is sensitive to gamma rays from ~20 MeV to over 300 GeV. The current status of the Fermi mission will be discussed along with results from a variety of astrophysical topics including the search for indirect evidence of dark matter.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Physics Building, Room 204
Note special time.
Note special room.
To add a speaker, send an email to
Please include the seminar type (e.g. Colloquia), date, name of the speaker, title of talk, and an abstract (if available). | https://web.phys.virginia.edu/Announcements/talk-list.asp?SELECT=SID:1892 | fineweb | 925 | 3.015625 |
Dr. Vivek Goyal
, Boston University
[Host: MIller Eaton]
In conventional imaging systems, the results are poor unless there is a physical mechanism for producing a sharp image with high signal-to-noise ratio. In this talk, I will present two settings where computational methods enable imaging from very weak signals: range imaging and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) imaging.
Lidar systems use single-photon detectors to enable long-range reflectivity and depth imaging. By exploiting an inhomogeneous Poisson process observation model and the typical structure of natural scenes, first-photon imaging demonstrates the possibility of accurate lidar with only 1 detected photon per pixel, where half of the detections are due to (uninformative) ambient light. I will explain the simple ideas behind first-photon imaging and lightly touch upon related subsequent works that mitigate the limitations of detector arrays, withstand 25-times more ambient light, allow for unknown ambient light levels, and capture multiple depths per pixel.
NLOS imaging has been an active research area for almost a decade, and remarkable results have been achieved with pulsed lasers and single-photon detectors. Our work shows that NLOS imaging is possible using only an ordinary digital camera. When light reaches a matte wall, it is scattered in all directions. Thus, to use a matte wall as if it were a mirror requires some mechanism for regaining the one-to-one spatial correspondences lost from the scattering. Our method is based on the separation of light paths created by occlusions and results in relatively simple computational algorithms.
Related paper DOIs:
Friday, April 12, 2019
Physics Building, Room 204
Note special room.
To add a speaker, send an email to
Please include the seminar type (e.g. Colloquia), date, name of the speaker, title of talk, and an abstract (if available). | https://web.phys.virginia.edu/Announcements/talk-list.asp?SELECT=SID:3593 | fineweb | 1,871 | 2.6875 |
Prepared by Elisabeth Lindsay.
is a tongue-in-cheek, colloquial term for mail sent via postal service, as opposed to e-mail sent over computer networks. The analogy, of course, refers to the comparatively slow delivery times of regular mail versus electronic mail. Although the term was not coined by genealogists, they certainly may share the sentiment.
In the past, regular mail was the only option available to genealogists, requiring a degree of patience. In today's digital age, many genealogists have become accustomed to conducting their correspondence via e-mail and requesting information online. When an individual or repository accepts submissions and requests only through regular mail, it can be disappointing and "snail mail" viewed as more than a slight inconvenience.
<< The Genealogy Guide
<< Archived Materials | https://wiki.genealogytoday.com/snail_mail.html | fineweb | 828 | 3.078125 |
12.1 Is the world ‘analog’?
In general, we can imagine representing information in terms of some form of analog or digital signal. The digital data stored on a CD will normally have been produced using analog to digital convertors which are fed with amplified signals from microphones. The original microphone signals are obviously ‘analog’ — or are they?. . .
Modern physics is largely based upon the concept that the world behaves according to the rules of Quantum Mechanics. One of the axioms of this is that all forms of energy behave as if quantised. This gives us the well-known (although not well understood!) ‘wave—particle duality’. Statistically, the behaviour of physical processes can be described in terms of things like waves and continuous functions. Yet, when we examine any process in enough detail we can expect to see behaviour which it is more convenient to describe in terms of distinct particles or ‘packets’ of energy, mass, etc.
When the Compact Disc system was originally launched some people criticised it on the grounds that, ‘Sound signals are inherently analog, i.e. sound is a smoothly varying (continuous) pattern of pressure changes. Converting sound information into digital form “chops it up”, ruining it forever.’ This view is based on the idea that — by its very nature — sound is inherently a wave phenomenon. These waves satisfy a set of Wave Equations. Hence we should always be able to represent a given soundfield by a suitable algebraic function whose value varies smoothly from place to place and from moment to moment. Since the voltage/current patterns emerging from our microphones vary in proportion to the sound pressure variations falling upon them it seems fairly natural to think of the sound waves themselves as having all the properties we associate with ‘analog’ signals, i.e. the sound itself is essentially an analog signal, carrying information from the sound sources to the microphones. But how can sound be ‘analog’ if the theories of quantum mechanics are correct?
The purpose of this section is to show that the real world isn't actually either ‘analog’ or ‘digital’. Analog and digital signals are no more than mathematical representations of reality, useful when we want to process information. In fact we could say the same thing about the ‘waves’ and ‘particles’ we use so much in physics. Although it's easy to forget the fact, both waves and particles are mental models or ‘pictures’ we use to help us grasp how the real world behaves. Although useful as concepts, they don't necessarily ‘really exist’. To illustrate this point, imagine a situation where we are given a working electronic circuit board without being told anything about it and asked, ‘Is this an analog or a digital circuit?’ How could we tell? Of course, we could probably decide by looking to see if the circuit contained any integrated circuits, reading their type numbers, and looking them up in a book! (We can also guess that if the circuit doesn't contain any integrated circuits, it's probably not digital) However for our purposes, this would be cheating. The real question is, ‘Can we tell just by looking at the kinds of electronic signals being passed around between components on the board?’
If we connect an oscilloscope we can watch how some of the voltage or current levels in the circuit vary with time. In most cases, the shapes of the waveforms we'd see on the oscilloscope would quickly show whether the signal was digital or analog.
Digital signals will often show ‘square’ shapes. The signal voltages tend to spend most of the time near one or the other of two particular levels, switching between them relatively quickly. Analog signals sometimes show no obvious patterns, although in some cases they show a simple recognisable shape like a sinewave. As a result we can sometimes form an opinion about the type of signal by seeing if we can recognise the waveforms. But is there a more ‘scientific’ — i.e. objective — way of deciding? Is their an algorithm or recipe which would always be able to tell us what form a signal is taking?
At first it might seem as if this problem is an easy one. When we look at them on an oscilloscope, digital signals can look nice and square, analog ones tend to look like bunches of sinewaves or noise. Unfortunately, when an information channel is being used to its limits the situation can be less clear. When a digital signal is transmitted at very high bit-rates, the rising and falling edges of each level change tend to become rounded by the finite channel bandwidth. As a result, the actual transmitted voltage fluctuations may not display an obviously digital pattern.
In a similar way, some analog waveforms may show fairly square patterns. For example, the output from a heavy rock band, compressed by studio equipment, can have a ‘clipped’ look similar to a stream of, slightly rounded, digital bits. Also, if an analog channel is being used efficiently every possible waveform shape will appear sometimes. As a result, the waveform will sometimes look just like a digital one.
We can't know with absolute certainty, just by examining a real signal pattern for a while, whether it carries information in either digital or analog form — although we can be fairly confident in many cases. We use voltage patterns (or currents, etc) to carry information in various ways, but the terms ‘digital’ or ‘analog’ really refer to the way we process information, not some inherent property of the voltage/current itself.
For most purposes this lack of absolute knowledge doesn't matter. But it serves to make the point that digital and analog signals are idealisations. Any real signal will have both analog and digital characteristics.
Content and pages maintained by: Jim Lesurf ([email protected])
using HTMLEdit and TechWriter on a StrongARM powered RISCOS machine.
University of St. Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, Scotland. | http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scots_Guide/iandm/part12/page1.html | fineweb | 5,938 | 3.828125 |
- 1 School Improvement Partners (SIPs) e-newsletter: Autumn 2009
- 2 Primary: Use of key mathematics materials
- 3 Primary: Supporting SIPs to challenge and support improvement in the EYFS and key stages of transition
- 4 Primary: Using CLLD resources to support self-evaluation
- 5 Primary: Launching 'priority learning' local authorities
- 6 Secondary: The role of the SIP in specialist school re-designation
- 7 Secondary: Assessing pupils' progress in ICT
- 8 Secondary: Delivering the behaviour challenge
- 9 Secondary: Modern Foreign Languages – the role of SIPS
- 10 Cross-phase: Addressing disproportionality in school attendance
- 11 Narrowing the Gaps for underachieving, disadvantaged children
- 12 What Works Well
- 13 SIPs and pupil referral units
- 14 RAISEonline: new reports to support the 2011 target setting process
- 15 Narrowing the Gaps: Targeting the underachievement of vulnerable groups
- 16 Masters in Teaching and Learning
- 17 Key events
- 18 Key resources
- 19 Information, advice and guidance
SIPs and pupil referral units
This guidance is primarily designed to assist School Improvement Partners (SIPs) deployed to pupil referral units (PRUs) in England. It may also serve as a useful prompt for discussion between SIPs, headteachers, management committees, parents and local authorities (LAs).
The National Strategies has been supporting SIPs deployed to PRUs through its programme of continuous professional development over the last two years. This guidance draws the focus of this work together and is presented in two parts.
- Part 1 includes prompts to be considered and addressed by the SIP when deployed to a PRU together with a sample SIP report for a PRU.
- Part 2 includes a DVD-ROM containing a range of resources, source materials and additional guidance which SIPs and others may find useful.
- When deployed to a PRU what are the some of the main areas that SIPs will need to focus on with PRUs in order to promote effective school improvement?
- How can the SIP best get behind the efforts of the PRU to improve their provision and raise standards of attainment and achievement?
- What are the issues I should pay particular attention to when deployed to a PRU?
- How should I report my judgements in the related SIP report? | http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110809101133/http:/www.nsonline.org.uk/node/251186?uc=force_uj | fineweb | 2,270 | 2.953125 |
FORMS OF STORY Flashcards
What are Myths?
Myths are stories that try to explain HOW OUR WORLD WORKS and HOW WE SHOULD TREAT EACH OTHER. They are usually set in times long ago, before history as we know it was written
- Traditional tales based on the traditions and beliefs of people
- Were originally told orally
- Usually teaches a lesson
- Often use animal characters to symbolize or represent human qualities
What are Legends?
Legends are also fictional stories, but they are different from myths.
Legends are BASED ON REAL PEOPLE who lived in more recent times and are mentioned in history. Legends are told for a purpose and are based on facts, but they are not completely true.
What’s a Fable?
A fable is another type of story, also passed down from generation to generation and told to teach a lesson about something. A fable usually ends with a moral, or a short sentence with a lesson about life.
What are Fables?
Fables are often about animals, plants, and natural forces, like thunder or wind, that can talk and act like people. The most famous fables were written by a man from ancient Greece called Aesop. We know them as Aesop’s Fables, and he wrote more than 600 of them, including “The Tortoise and the Hare.”
What are Fairy Tales?
Fairy Tales are stories written specially for children, often about magical characters such as elves, fairies, goblins and giants. Sometimes the characters are animals.
Most fairy tales were passed down orally before being written. Many of these stories were collected by Hans Christian Anderson and the Brothers Grimm and written down for future generations.
- Includes gods and goddesses, super beings and heroes
- Explains natural events
- Magical creatures
- Teaches a lesson
- Based on real people who may have lived a long time ago
* Tells about their heroic actions or deeds
- Main character must solve a problem
- Superhuman ability
- Animals act like people
- 3 of fewer characters
- Ends with a lesson or moral
- Aesop wrote many fables
- Repetition of 3 and 7
- Magical elements
- Once upon a time
- Happily Ever After
- Often from Europe | https://www.brainscape.com/flashcards/forms-of-story-5795501/packs/7629728 | fineweb | 2,097 | 3.390625 |
Bristol Swifts website aims to provide a range of practical information and advice about swifts and what can be done to help them.
The Common Swift (Apus Apus) is the most aerial of all birds and spends most of its entire life on the wing, flying continuously day and night. In its lifetime a bird may fly a distance of some 4 million miles, which is equivalent to flying to the moon and back again eight times. A swift only lands after 2-3 years where it returns to the general location of its birth to find a mate and raise its own family.
For many the sound of a “screaming party” of swifts is the quintessential sign that summer has finally arrived. They can be quite frenetic at times, like screaming little black demons, hence their old-fashioned name ‘Devil Birds’. We might think of them as a British bird, but in fact they only spend about three months with us, arriving in late April or early May to raise their young and leaving by early August. The remaining nine months are spent in Central and Southern Africa.
After a 6000 mile journey back from Africa, they can be seen gathering first over Chew Valley and Blagdon Lakes near Bristol. There they feed up on the newly hatched flies that have emerged from the water in their millions. Once they have regained their strength after a few days they start to return to their traditional nesting locations. This is summed up beautifully in Ted Hughes poem ‘Swifts’
They’ve made it again,
Which means the globe’s still working, the Creation’s
Still waking refreshed, our summer’s
Still all to come
Swift breeding cycle
Clutch normally 2-3 white eggs (May-June)
Incubation period 19-21 days (mostly hatching mid June)
Fledging is 5-8 weeks (late July-early August)
One year old birds return in July to suss out colonies, but don’t stay long and never start nest building.
Two year old birds arrive from mid May onward to look for a suitable nest site, find a mate and begin nest building.
Three year old birds return in early May to breed for first time.
Swifts are almost entirely dependent on our buildings for their nesting sites, squeezing into small nooks and crannies generally under the roof tiles or soffits. Unfortunately when older buildings are refurbished these little openings are often inadvertently sealed up by the homeowner and the nest sites are lost forever. To make matters even worse virtually all new buildings are extremely wildlife “unfriendly” with no spaces available for birds to nest.
If a few nooks and crannies are left open or swift nest boxes installed, either internally or externally, swifts will have a place to nest. Swifts increase the colony size by moving to adjacent areas. So if there are no swifts spotted either nesting or in screaming parties in the area then it may be difficult to attract them. This is a major consideration when siting new nest boxes.
Swifts are extremely site faithful, so once they have found a suitable nest site they will continue to use it for the rest of their lives. Some colonies are very old indeed and have been used by successive swift generations for tens if not, hundreds of years. Their dependence on our buildings makes them very vulnerable to any sort of disturbance, so once a colony has been destroyed it makes it very difficult for them to find a new home and a whole breeding season can be lost forever.
Trying to find swift nest sites is not easy. They fly so quickly that they can be very difficult to locate. If you are trying to find an existing swift nest site then here is a link with a few tips.
Swifts numbers are declining for a variety of different reasons, but one that all the experts can agree on, is the lack of suitable nest sites available to them. Like so many other small birds, swift numbers have declined sharply in recent years. Between 1995 and 2018 their numbers have fallen by as much as 58%. Such a decline has led to the species being Red-listed in the fifth Birds of Conservation Concern report, and classified as Endangered in the second IUCN Red List assessment for Great Britain.
Perhaps you want to help maintain a local colony or maybe try to attract swifts to nest at your own property? Whatever it is we can offer you some advice and guidance. | https://www.bristolswifts.co.uk/swift-info/ | fineweb | 4,218 | 2.9375 |
heliostat, instrument used in solar telescopes to orient and focus sunlight along a fixed direction. A typical heliostat consists of a flat plane mirror and a curved parabolic mirror. The plane mirror is mounted along an axis parallel (i.e., equatorial) to Earth and rotated slowly by a motor to reflect light from the Sun. The parabolic mirror focuses the reflected rays into the telescope along a fixed direction while the Sun traverses the sky. Therefore, as the telescope’s field of view rotates, different celestial objects move quickly into view.
Portable heliostats are useful in studying solar eclipses because they eliminate the need to mount telescopes equatorially. Larger models, installed at permanent positions around the world, have also been employed to track both the Sun and the stars. See alsocoelostat; siderostat. | https://www.britannica.com/science/heliostat | fineweb | 834 | 3.796875 |
Jewish Synagogue - Kerala
Kerala's rich historical and cultural past makes the state a unique place to visit. Every step you take in the state instills in you a further sense of admiration for the abundant historical and cultural wealth of the state. The monuments of the Kerala include temples, churches, mosques, forts, palaces, houses and mansions. All these monument together help in reconstructing the bygone era.
Some Monuments of Kerala
Chottanikkara Temple - Dedicated to Goddess Bhagavathy, the Chottanikkara temple is believed to be an ideal destination for all those who are suffering from any kind of mental illness. The goddess here is worshipped in three forms - as Saraswati in the morning, as Bhadrakali at noon and as Durga in the evening. At each time, the goddess is draped in a different colour of attire. The image of goddess is not fixed in the ground, rather it stands on a mound of sand. The temple is located on the outskirts of Kochi.
Guruvayoor Temple - This is one of the most important religious monuments in Kerala and is dedicated to Lord Krishna. The image of the Lord here is believed to be around 5000 years old and the legend behind it invokes a mixed sense of mystery and devotion. The Guruvayur Temple of Kerala is known to have played host to the maximum number of marriages and rice feeding ceremonies. The highlight of the temple are the dhawjastambha, deepastambha and the Sree Kovil (where the main deity is placed). Images of Ganapathy, Ayyappa and Bhagavaty are also worshipped in this temple.
Sabarimala Temple- Unlike the Guruvayur Temple where only Hindus are allowed, the Sabarimala Temple gives access to devotees of all religion. Also, it is open for darshan for only specific period of time in the year. However, strict rules have to be followed in order to visit this temple which is located amidst wilderness atop a 950 m hill. The temple is dedicated to Lord Ayyappa, son of Lord Shiva and Vishnu (in form of Mohini).
Vadakkumnathan Temple - This Shiva temple boasts of being built by none other than the creator of Kerala state itself, Parsurama. Another feather in the cap of this temple is that it is one of the largest temples in the state, spreading across in an area of 10 acres. The renovation work on the original structure was done by Shakhthan Thampuran, a faithful devotee of Lord Shiva. There are images of Ayyappa and Lord Rama along with Shiva here. Adi Shankaracharya is believed to have spent his last days in this temple. A unique feature of this temple is that the Mahalingam of Shiva is never visible since it is covered in huge mound of ghee which is as high as 11 feet. A portion of mound is considered around 1000 years old, still there is no stench emitting from it. This is despite Kerala's warm climate. Visit the temple which is located in the downtown Thrissur. The festival of Thrissur Pooram is also an attraction here.
Cheraman Juma Masjid - The Masjid is located in the Kodungallor and claims to be the oldest one in the country and second oldest one in the world. It was built in 628 AD, in Al Hijra 7, which means that the construction was done just seven years after Prophet Mohammed migrated to Medina. The architectural style of the mosque is typical Hindu style. This is so because at that point of time, there was no other architectural style in prevalence. The name of the mosque derives from the name of the king who converted to Islam after marrying the sister of Jeddah King. Before he died, he gave his brother in law the possession of a number of letters he had written to the kings of Kerala seeking their help to spread Islam in the state. The Jeddah king arrived in Kerala and with the assistance of the king of Kodungallor built this mosque. A recently conducted naval exercise revealed a startling discovery. The prayer room inside the mosque was the highest place in Kodungallor!
St. Sebastian Church - This church is located 22 km north of Alappuzha and is highly revered by the Christian population of the state. It was established by the Portuguese missionaries and is quiet well known for its 11 day festival of St Sebastian in the second week of January. Quiet a few peculiar practices mark this festival, for example, the devotees crawl on the knees from the church to the beach (Urulu nercha) to show their respect for the saint. Also the offering made include gold and silver replicas of human limbs, bows and arrows. Moreover, the pilgrims of Sabarimala consider a holy dip in the tank of the church extremely auspicious. A perfect example of religious unanimity.
The Churches at Muttuchira - The churches at Muttuchira in Kottayam district are a group of three churches located in the same compound but built during different times. They are symbolic of the evolution of the church architecture in Kerala. The oldest one depicts the Neo Boroque style of architecture.
Aranmula Temple- Located at a distance of 16 km from Tiruvalla, the Arnamula Temple is dedicated to Lord Krishna. The temple is believed to be built during the Mahabharata era. The annual snake boat race conducted here is not just a competition, rather it is a an attempt to recapture the cultural glory of the past.
Jewish Synagogue - The Jewish Synagogue is the oldest one in the entire common wealth nation. The structure was built in the year 1568 and later rebuilt by the Dutch. The synagogue has in its possession the scrolls of the Old Testament and the copper plates, which recorded the grants of privilege, given by the Kochi rulers. Moreover, there are several exquisitely wrought gold and silver crowns presented to the synagogue by the various patrons. Another attraction of the synagogue are the blue Chinese tile that make for an engrossing sight. The synagogue is open everyday barring Saturdays and Jewish holidays from 10 am to 12 noon and 3 pm to 5 pm
Forts & Palaces
Bolghatty Palace - This palace, which has now been converted into a KTDC hotel, was constructed by the Dutch in 1744 and served as the Governor's residence. The hotel stands comfortably on an Island by the same name and is a two storeyed structure with historical portraits adorning the walls. A ferry ride to the Boghatty Island is extremely enjoyable experience.
Alwaye palace - Standing on the banks of river Periyar, the Alwaye palace has now been converted into a Guest House. The circular verandah provides spectacular view of the surroundings along with the Periyar river.
Bekal Fort - Amongst the best preserved forts in Kerala, the Bekal Fort claims to be 300 year old. The fort was supposedly constructed in 1650s by Sivappa Naik of the Ikkeri dynasty. Later on, the fort also passed into the hands of Hyder Ali, Tipu Sultan and Britishers. The fort was primarily built as a defensive structure and therefore has no palace inside. There is an old mosque near the fort which is believed to have been constructed by the Mysore forces.
Krishnapuram Palace - Situated at a distance of 47 km from Alappuzha, the Krishnapuram palace was constructed by Marthanda Varma in the 18th century. The palace today serves as an archaeological museum displaying the largest mural panels of Kerala. Other items on display include antique bronze sculptures, paintings, ceremonial utensils, oil lamps, fine miniature figures and small stone columns carved with serpent deities. A recently erected Buddha mandapam houses a statue of Buddha.
Mattanchery Palace - This is also a Dutch Palace (though it was originally built by the Portuguese) located in the Ernakulam district of Kerala. The palace today houses rare regalia of the Raja of Kochi including coronation robes and palanquins. Another attraction of the palace are the mural depicting scenes from Ramayana and Krishna leela. The palace is open everyday for public except Fridays from 10 am to 5 pm.
Hill Palace Museum - Built in the year 1865, this was the official residence of the royal family of Kochi. Today, the palace is a Heritage Museum and displays all sorts of royal relics including the royal furniture and the 'simhasana' (the throne or the king's chair). Other articles on display include 19th century paintings, murals, sculptures in stone and plaster of Paris, manuscripts, inscriptions and coins. Moreover, there are also antique pieces of pottery and ceramic vases from China and Japan, rock cut caves from the early iron age, wooden temple models and models of objects from Mohanjodaro and Harappa. The museum is open from 9 am to 5 pm every day except Mondays.
Arakkal Palace & Kannur Fort - Arakkal Palace, located 3 km from Kannur, holds the distinction of being the only royal residence of Muslims in Kerala. The Kannur Fort, also known by the name of St Angelo's Fort was constructed in 1505 by a Portuguese called Don Francisco De Almeida. Later, the Dutch conquered the fort and sold it to the king Ali Raja of Arakkal kingdom. The palace and the fort are close by and are under the care of ASI. It is also believed that the fort has a secret underground tunnel through the sea that leads to the Thalessery palace which is 21 km away.
Koyikkal Palace - This palace was built sometime around 15th century and housed the Perakom Thavazhi (the maternal lineage), particularly Umayamma Rani of the Venad royal family who ruled the land between 1677 AD and 1684 AD. Today, the two storeyed structure of the palace houses a Folklore Museum as well as the Numisamtics Museum. Items on display in the Folklore Museum include quaint musical instruments, occupational implements, household utensils, models of folk arts etc along with old manuscripts and dress material made of the bark of trees (Maravuri). The Numismatic Museum exhibits coins from different parts of the world as well as different eras. The palace is located at a convenient distance of 18 km from Thiruvanantpuram.
Houses, Bungalows & Memorials
Vasco House - This 16th century structure was supposedly the residence of the Portuguese sailor, Vasco da gama. It is located inside the Fort Kochi in Ernakulam. Highlight of the house include European glass paned windows and Balcony cum Verandas.
Thakur House - Originally the residence of the managers of National Bank of India during the British era, the Thakur House today is possessed by a respectable tea company. The house is a standing reminder of the architecture of the colonial era. The house was earlier known as Kunal or Hill Bungalow.
Pierce Leslie Bungalow - This 19th century bungalow initially belonged to Pierce Leslie & Co., the famous coffee merchants. The structure is a classic example of a combination of an architecture that is a mix of Portuguese, Dutch and local influences. The highlights of the house are wood panel roof of the ground floor, arched doorways, carved doors and spacious rooms. Water front verandas are also interesting to roam around.
Koder House - Named after its constructor, Samuel. S. Koder of the Cochin Electric Company, the Koder House was built in the year 1808 AD. The House is located in the Ernakulam district and is a wonderful example of the change of architectural style - from colonial to Indo-European architecture. The chess board pattern of floor, the red brick facade and the wooden bridge that joins the house to other structures across the street are some of the quiet interesting aspects of the house
Bishop's House - Constructed in the early 16th century, the Bishop's House served as the residence of the Portuguese Governor. It is perched over a small hillock and is marked by typical Gothic arches. Additionally, the circular garden path that leads upto the main entrance is another attraction. It was earlier known by the name of Dome Jos Gomes Ferreira who was the 27th Bishop of the Diocese of Cochin.
Bastion's Bungalow - This one is the official residence of the sub collector of Ernakulam. It was built in the middle of the 17th century and depicts the Indo European style of architecture. The name of the Bungalow is drawn from the site where it stands - the Stromberg Bastion of the old Dutch fort. This bungalow is believed to have secret tunnel, however, till date none of them has been discovered.
Gundert Bungalow - Gundert Bungalow was the residence of Dr. Hermann Gundert, a scholar who successfully compiled the first Malayalam dictionary, from 1839-59. Also, it was in this bungalow that Malayalam's oldest newspaper 'Paschimodayam' (also published by Gundert), developed. The bungalow is a typical colonial mansion with deep eaves, wide verandah and huge doors. Today, a technical training institute is being run in the Gundert Bungalow.
Mannadi - This is a memorial of the erstwhile diwan of the Travancore state, Veluthampi Dalawa, who gave up his life fighting for the freedom of his land against the mighty Britishers. The memorial, today reminds the visitors of the great courage shown by the diwan in face of extreme pressure.
Chittur Garumadam - This is yet another memorial that remembers a highly revered poet saint, Thunchath Ezhuthachan. He authored the well known 'Adhyatma Ramayana'. Thunchath Ezhuthachan is also credited for translating Mahabharata into Malayalam. The Garumadam displays items like a 'srichakra', some of the idols worshipped by him, wooden slippers used by him and a few old manuscripts are exhibited here. The day of Vijaydashmi sees hundreds of children being brought to the Gramudom for a ritualistic initiation of learning. The Gramodam is located on the banks of Solkanasini river (destroyer of sorrows) in the Pallakad district of Kerala. | http://www.indialine.com/travel/kerala/monuments.html | fineweb | 13,510 | 2.65625 |
5 Uses of Photorealistic Rendering
For creating a perfect image, photorealistic rendering is a practical option that has found use in several different fields. The first step in rendering is to building a wireframe model, then the outer layers, including texturing, shading, and shadows. This helps you build the image according to your own, particular design. Why would someone use photorealistic rendering rather than photography? Sometimes it’s not possible to get the shot you want or need. Some of the areas that use photorealistic rendering are architecture, entertainment, video games, simulators and design visualization.
In architecture, renderers were previously used to add the layers, to make a finished picture by hand. Now, it’s done on the computer, and generally it’s much more cost-efficient. Additionally, by building a 3D model and adding animation, clients have the opportunity to see their project from every angle, including overhead and inside. These ‘fly-by’s’ help visualize exactly what the client is in for, and it’s less expensive to make corrections on a rendering than an actual building.
2. Movie and Television Special Effects
There’s hardly a dramatic film or television show currently airing that doesn’t use some form of photorealistic rendering. Sometimes they’re more obvious, like scenes with cars that turn into gigantic robots or thousands of battling warriors. Other times, it’s more subtle, where the effects may simply add texture to the scene, like clouds and shadows. It’s also used for removing things from scenes that shouldn’t be there (like an airliner soaring through the sky behind a Roman period piece or an aluminum ladder from an ancient pirate ship).
3. Video Games
Rendering has made tremendous strides in the area of video gaming. In the last 10 years, the graphics in video games have gone from clunky and slow to smooth and extremely realistic. Driving emulates actual driving (only, generally faster.) The cars look much more like real cars, and the backgrounds often incorporate real backgrounds. Fantasy games display battles where characters and settings look real. Sports games, modeled after real moves and plays, look more and more starkly realistic.
Flight time can be costly, as it involves expensive airplanes, but potential pilots have a new option in that they can use a less costly simulator. The risks are minimized, too. Simulators don’t have accidents or catch dangerous up-drafts. Another potentially risky area that simulators have helped newcomers is in driving, in particular race driving. The other cars are virtual, as are the threats, and to roll a simulator is far less likely.
5. Design Visualization
One realm where photorealistic rendering seems to be exploding is in design visualization. Just as it’s more cost effective to change a virtual building than an actual one, when companies seek to bring out a new product, it just makes more sense to utilize a computer artist or designer who can give a perfect visual model, available for market testing or in-house research-and-development. This applies to things as small as food packaging to cars, or as large as popular theme parks and their rides. | http://www.steves-digicams.com/knowledge-center/how-tos/video-software/5-uses-of-photorealistic-rendering.html | fineweb | 3,186 | 2.953125 |
University of Phoenix
Queanna Booth, Marilyn Lee,
Virginia Ortega, Shniqua Smith, Linda Van
Scholars note the important role that attachment plays in the development of an infant. Mary Ainsworth, a pioneer in the study of attachment describes attachment as an emotional bond between persons who binds them through space and time. Attachment is the basis for social skills. (As stated by Vaughn) According to Vaughn, through loving interactions between infants and parents and through parents understanding their infant's unique needs and temperament, attachment is developed. As infants interact with caregivers, they are building the foundation of their emotional and social abilities. The relationship between the parent and child is influences the infants' social abilities. How secure that relationship is will have a persuasion on the rest of the child's life.
The physical impact of neglect and bonding during the developmental stages of infancy and early childhood can be positive and negative. Neglect has a negative physical effect on childhood development in the event that the child is unable to form attachments. In order for attachment to develop normally, there are crucial periods during which bonding experiences must be present. The lack of attachment causes mild interpersonal discomfort to profound social and emotional problems. As stated by Perry, Runyan, and Sturges (1996).
Bonding has a positive effect on childhood development. According to Perry et al. (1996) Holding, gazing, smiling, kissing, singing and laughing all cause specific neurochemical activities in the brain. These neurochemical activities lead to normal organization of the brain systems, which are responsible for attachment. Problems with bonding and attachment can lead to a fragile biological and emotional foundation for future relationships. Neglect and bonding are particularly important focuses of attention for three reasons. First,... | http://www.studymode.com/essays/Infancy-And-Early-Childhood-193446.html | fineweb | 1,936 | 3.40625 |
Homegrown climate models 'set India's record straight'
[NEW DELHI] A set of climate models has challenged projections of runaway greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in India over the next few decades.
Although India's GHG emissions are projected to grow almost four-fold in the next decades they are likely to remain below the world average, according to the results of five models released last week (2 September).
Such projections are in contrast to international estimates suggesting alarming emissions increases as India develops, say Indian environment ministry officials.
For example, Nicholas Stern, director of the UK-based London School of Economics Asia Research Centre cited figures of eight tonnes per person and total emissions of 12 billion tonnes by 2030 for India in a recent (15 July) speech to the United Kingdom's Chatham House.
India's average emissions per person from all five new models is 2.1 tonnes in 2020 and 3.5 tonnes in 2030, nearly four times that of the current level of 1.5 tonnes but still below the current world average of 4.2 tonnes. Total GHG emissions in the new models are an average of 5.2 billion tonnes by 2030.
"So far, researchers from developed countries have been driving the climate change debate through models that do not capture national realities," Jairam Ramesh, India's minister for environment and forests, said at the launch of the models.
"The result has been several implausible estimates of India's future GHG emissions trajectory — leading to suggestions that the key to global climate stabilisation is legally binding restraints on India's GHG emissions," he added.
"We can no longer depend on derived science from the West."
Three models were developed by the National Council of Applied Economic Research, The Energy Resources Institute (TERI), Integrated Research and Action for Development and Jadavpur University with funding from India's environment ministry.
Another model was developed by TERI based on India's submissions to the 2008 UN climate summit in Poznan, before the country had its own detailed studies. The fifth model was released by international consulting company McKinsey & Company in the same year.
All five models use India's greenhouse gas data up until 2006 and extrapolate figures until 2030/31. Four of the five models assume no new GHG mitigation policies.
"India's GHG emissions are not poised for runaway growth," the report concludes.
A separate report released by the Ministry of Environment and Forests last month (11 August) says India's forest cover is increasing every year and helping to neutralise 11 percent of the country's GHG emissions by absorbing carbon dioxide. Is there any other reason given for why the emissions will be lower than predicted, eg. greater than expected development of clean energy?
But Delhi-based nongovernmental organisation the Centre for Science and Environment says that some of the assumptions in the models are inaccurate, particularly projections in the McKinsey model that energy consumption will quadruple to 5.5 billion tonnes by 2030. Other energy consumption patterns do not predict such massive expansion, it says.
Link to full report[3.41MB] | https://www.scidev.net/global/climate-change/news/homegrown-climate-models-set-india-s-record-straig.html | fineweb | 3,178 | 3.03125 |
Hi! I’m Molly Ferrill, a National Geographic Explorer with a focus on documenting wildlife and environmental issues. This week I’ll be taking over Sigma’s Instagram account with some photos from my recent project in Myanmar.
People and elephants have had a unique relationship in Myanmar for generations. Elephants play a key role in daily life and several industries in Myanmar. Until very recently, timber elephants were used as a major part of the country’s extensive logging industry. Elephants also carry spiritual significance in Myanmar. Long ago, special white elephants were kept by royalty and worshipped as sacred. Even now, white elephants are seen as a symbol of peace and prosperity. This belief in the value of elephants also extends to wild elephants: In some places, people still refer to them as “respected elders”.
Recently, however, the traditional role of both wild and domesticated elephants in Burmese society has started to change. The timber industry is in decline, and elephants are beginning to have a new and controversial role in tourism. A rapid increase in development has begun to encroach on the natural habitat of the many wild elephants in the country, leading to a new issue of human-elephant conflict in some areas. Supported by a grant from National Geographic, I set out to document the relationship between people and elephants in Myanmar at this pivotal turning point in the country’s history.
Sigma sponsored this project with lenses that were invaluable in capturing the shots I envisioned. I used the Sigma 35mm F1.4 ART DG HSM | Art lens to shoot the above image of an elephant and oozie (elephant trainer) in a logging camp, which was published in National Geographic France last month.
I captured this image far out in the mountains surrounding Taungoo, Myanmar, a region where elephants have been used to log the forests for generations. Often times, elephants and children growing up in the timber camps will be paired at an early age, forming a bond that will continue until they both become old enough to work together logging the forest.
Since I took this photo, a logging ban has been agreed upon in Myanmar and this type of traditional logging work has almost entirely disappeared. The ban presents an economic challenge for the thousands of people and elephants that had been working in the logging industry, but it’s also is a very important step to reducing the unsustainable rate of deforestation in the country. I decided to use the Sigma 35mm ART series lens to capture this photo because I wanted to take advantage of its quick, sharp focus in order to show the details of the elephant and oozie as they worked. Although working with a prime lens can be more challenging than usual when your subject is a moving elephant, the 35mm is versatile on my full frame camera and allowed me to get both the closer detailed shots and some wider shots of the whole scene. | https://blog.sigmaphoto.com/2017/the-elephants-of-myanmar/ | fineweb | 2,922 | 2.578125 |
The U.N. Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, is in full swing now, aiming to reach consensus and agreements on addressing the climate challenge by its close on December 9. While there are high expectations, people also realize that this is not an easy issue to tackle. Uncontrolled, man-made carbon emissions, which climbed to a new record of 30 billion tons worldwide in 2010, are at the core of the climate change dilemma. Curbing this trend is not only a daunting multisectoral task that demands sophisticated technical solutions, but its complexity is intensified by disagreements among countries on the size of the problem and what to do about it.
Climate change should matter to all of us, since changing weather patterns, including more frequent extreme climate events (e.g., the 13 warmest years on record have been in the last 15 years) and natural disasters (e.g. in some regions the number of particularly large hurricanes has increased), negatively impact the lives and well being of ALL people—the raison d’être of development. In this context, climate change should be seen as a critical health challenge that demands increased attention and management. Why?
A landmark 2009 report by The Lancet Commission documented how climate change over the coming decades could have a disastrous effect on health conditions across the world. There are both direct and indirect health threats through changing patterns of disease, water and food insecurity, vulnerable shelter and human settlements, extreme climatic events, and population growth and migration.
But, as the report highlighted, while vector-borne diseases will expand their reach and death toll as a result of climate change, the indirect effects on potable water, food security, and extreme climatic events are likely to have the biggest negative effect on health conditions.
If the negative impacts of climate change are not mitigated, they will only exacerbate existing global health inequities, particularly affecting the poorest and less developed countries, such as those in Sub-Saharan Africa. Indeed, these impacts on the social determinants of health have the potential to magnify vulnerability among the poorest African communities, which are already easy prey to a variety of shocks—economic, health-related, natural disasters and armed conflicts—which tend to perpetuate poverty across generations, increase ill health and disability, and cause premature mortality undermining competitiveness, employment and wealth creation.
Focusing on climate change and the potential negative health sequelae and mounting a preemptive and sustainable response to limit their damage is critical to reduce vulnerability, build resilience, and contribute to realizing the full potential of Africa’s economic and social transformation in the 21st Century.
The management of climate change impacts will require the adoption and adaptation of multisectoral approaches coupled with participation, collaboration, and consensus between governmental agencies, civil society, private sector, local governments, communities, and international organizations to formulate and implement policies aimed at reducing carbon emissions, particularly in fast-growing cities, which account for two-thirds of energy demands and emissions.
In the health sector, we need to transcend traditional biological and medical approaches by focusing on the social determinants of disease to better understand how climate change impacts health. This will enable us to define more effective responses—that can complement and maximize other efforts such as technical solutions to reduce emissions and measures to mitigate the negative impact of climate change on the population. In order to help reduce vulnerability and build resilience in countries, it is imperative we continue supporting countries to ensure that strengthened and well-operating public health systems (e.g. basic public health laboratories and epidemiological surveillance systems and epidemiological intelligence capacity) are developed and maintained to anticipate, prevent, and deal with adverse health outcomes associated with climate change. Although the task at hand is difficult, it can be accomplished if we start acting now.
Related blog post: http://blogs.worldbank.org/health/crying-wolf-contagion-is-a-real-threat | https://blogs.worldbank.org/nasikiliza/climate-change-and-health-does-it-matter | fineweb | 4,341 | 3.3125 |
OverviewRed Butte is the highpoint of the Red Buttes Wilderness, a relatively small wilderness of 20,000 acres that straddles the Oregon-Californa border in the Siskiyou Mountains. The peak is adjacent to a twin summit of nearly equal height, as a result the peaks are often known collectively as the Red Buttes. The jagged appearance of the two summits and their bright red color make them some of the most recognizable peaks in the Siskyous, and are easy to identify from many others peaks in the region.
The bright red color of the Red Buttes is a result of weathering. The Red Buttes are composed of peridotite, an ultramafic rock with a high olivine content. When exposed to the elements peridotite turns from its natural green color to bright red and orange.
As with most regions within the Siskiyous, the Red Buttes contain extraordinary biodiversity. This is due in part to the nature of the Siskiyou Mountains. A large portion of the crest of the range trends east to west, therefore the Siskiyous act as a natural land bridge for species to intermingle. Here vegetation native to the great basin can be found growing alongside ferns and other coastal species. This is also due to the unique soils found here, the soils in the Red Buttes wilderness are composed primarily of broken down serpentine and peridotite, which are toxic to most plants. The few plants that can survive here do not have to compete with other species, so are much more prevalent here than in other regions.
The original proposal for the Red Buttes wilderness included an additional one hundred thousand acres and would have extended from Grayback Mountain in Oregon to near the Klamath river on the far southern slopes of the Red Buttes. The proposal was shut down due to the value of the area's timber. Today this area is known as the Kangaroo Mountain Roadless Area and despite the lack of formal preservation, still retains many wilderness qualities. For this reason the Red Buttes region is a deceptively wild and vast wilderness with tremendous solitude potential, and not the small pocket wilderness it appears to be on the map.
Siskiyou Wilderness. The bright red peridotite and serpentine rock was sliced up by glaciers into many barren exposures and outcrops. The effects of glaciation are also evident in the numerous sub-alpine lakes in the region, the most scenic of which is Elk Lake located at the base of the north face of the Red Buttes.
Views from the summit are expansive. To the south the high peaks of the Marble Mountains stand out with Boulder Peak most obvious. Slightly east of the Marbles Mount Shasta is plainly visible. To the east the higher gentler peaks of the Siskiyous are visible in the foreground with Mount Mclouglin behind. To the west the Jagged crest of the Siskiyou Wilderness is visible with the awesome Preston Peak standing most prominent.
From the North:
From I-5 North or South near Medford follow signs West to the town of Jacksonville. Once heading in this direction for about 8 miles(highway 238) through the town of Jacksonville, you will reach the settlement of Ruch. Once in Ruch you will turn towards an Upper Applegate pointer for approximately 19 miles. At the end of Applegate Lake you will reach a T-shaped intersection. From here turn left onto Applegate Road for 1.2 miles to a gravel intersection. Continue straight on Road 1050 for 0.9 miles and then fork to the right onto Road 1055 for 10 more miles. This will put you at Cook and Green Pass with the Trailhead for the PCT. High Clearance would be helpful for this drive but a sedan could be driven with some skill.
From the South:
From Yreka head north on I-5 to the junction with Highway 96. Follow 96 for 43 miles to the town of Seiad Valley. In Siead Valley turn north on Seiad Creek road toward the Red Buttes. Stay on this road for 12 miles, the road has one turn off that some might mistake as the main drag, when in doubt head straight and do not make any right turns. Eventually the road becomes forest route 45N20. 12 miles will put you at Cook and Green Pass with the trailhead for the PCT. The road is well graded gravel and should be passable to any vehicle.
ApproachesFrom the PCT trailhead at Cook and Green Pass the first step in reaching the summit is to head west toward Bee Camp near the base of the mountain. There are two options for this.
PCT option: 3.4 miles and 2200 feet of elevation gain with 200 feet of loss to the summit. (3 miles and 1100 feet of elevation gain with 200 feet of loss to Bee Camp.)
The trail begins by climbing through a dense forest before rounding a corner into the more sparse peridotite region. At this corner is the first view of the peaks. The PCT continues to climb to the crest of the ridge to the turn off to Echo Lake. From the turnoff the trail descends 200 feet to Bee Camp at the base of the Red Buttes.
Road option: 3.7 miles and 2000 feet of elevation gain to the summit. (3.3 Miles and 900 feet of elevation gain with no significant loss to Bee Camp.)
From Cook and Green Pass an unmaintained road branches west toward the peaks. A sign states that the road is "not maintained for travel". Despite this warning the road is not as bad as advertised, a passenger car can make it about half a mile up the road without risking damage, and a high clearance vehicle can go quite a bit further, possibly to the base of the mountain depending on the skill of the driver. The road climbs a short distance to a corner where the first view of the peaks comes out, then becomes quite rough for a section traversing somewhat level before becoming smooth again near Bee Camp.
Middle Fork Applegate option:
In the early season before the road to Cook and Green Pass opens a third option may be possible from the Oregon side beginning from the Cook and Green Pass Trailhead (note: this is not the same thing as the PCT trailhead located at Cook and Green Pass, this trailhead is at a low elevation on the Middle fork of the Applegate River). The trail climbs 3500 feet from the Applegate River before merging with the PCT at the Echo Lake turnoff. Check out this map to get a rough idea of the route.
.4 miles with 1100 feet of elevation gain from Bee Camp to the East Summit
From Bee Camp begin heading toward the base of the east summit. The first section is very brushy and there does not appear to be any reasonable way around it, so simply pick a line and plow through. Once through the first section of brush, begin heading directly toward the base of the cliffs on the east summit. Skirt below the cliffs to avoid the worst of the manzanita, some bushwhacking will still be required but this is mostly boulder hopping. From here gain the east ridge and follow it to the east summit. A few moves of class 3 are required along the ridge.
On the summit is a summit register with paper scraps and no notebook, a wind break and a geocache about 15 feet to the west.
From the east summit, the west summit looks like it could be higher. Most maps show the summit as the east peak, but if attaining the true highpoint is your goal visiting both is worthwhile to remove any doubt. The traverse to the west summit involves descending and re-climbing about 200 feet along terrain similar to what was encountered along the east ridge. No significant brush should be encountered, when in doubt stick to the north side of the ridge. Some class 3 scrambling will be required on this traverse.
The Red Buttes are located partially within the Red Buttes Wilderness and partially within the Kangaroo Mountain Roadless Area. The wilderness area contains no special regulations other than standard wilderness ethics. Most of the approach described here is within the Kangaroo Mountain Roadless Area.
Wilderness permits are not required however campfire permits are required if you plan to have a campfire or use an open flame stove.
The roads on either side of Cook and Green Pass close during the snow season, consider the approach from the Middle Fork of the Applegate described above during this time.
Camping should be allowed anywhere on national forest land unless otherwise posted. Camping at Cook and Green Pass is an option, though no water is available. Bee Camp is a better option, and has several springs for water. The summit is also home to a wind break rock wall if one desires to camp up there.
Contact and links
Happy Camp Ranger District
63822 Highway 96
P.O. Box 377
Happy Camp,CA 96039
Klamath National Forest
1312 Fairlane Road
Yreka, CA 96097
Applegate Ranger District
6941 Upper Applegate Road
Phone: (541) 899-3800
Rogue River/Siskiyou National Forest
PO Box 520
Phone: (541) 858-2200
Additions and Corrections[ Post an Addition or Correction ] | http://www.summitpost.org/red-buttes/227772 | fineweb | 8,696 | 3.4375 |
Many countries around the world experience heat waves.
Temperatures can hit alarmingly high levels that are destructive to humans. This may continue on throughout a few days and nights.
Heat waves make us feel lethargic and tired, as well as affect our cognitive functioning. Have you ever wondered how your body manages extreme temperatures and why heat is so deadly? Let’s find out in this article.
How Temperature Affects Us
The typical temperature of our bodies usually swing between 36 and 38 degrees celsius. When our temperatures remain in this safe range, it allows biochemical reactions to operate normally.
This is essential for our cells and organs to function properly. When we experience extreme heat, causing our core temperature to shift away from the regular range, our body triggers physiological responses to return the temperature back to status quo.
Imagine how a thermostat works - when the indoor temperature deviates from the ideal level, the cooling system activates to bring it back to normal.
How Our Body Cools
Sweat is our body’s first response to rising temperatures. When this occurs, heat dissipates from our skin and extremities, like our hands and feet. Sweat produced evaporates on our skin and removes heat as a result.
Although this is an effective method, it also requires an immense amount of water per hour when there is extreme heat. We need to constantly refill our body’s water store in order to make sure that we can keep going safely. Think of it like a water tank that eventually runs dry if no water is replenished.
When we run out of water, we become unable to sweat and cool down. Gradually, our organs may overheat. We need to drink water and consume salts and electrolytes to maintain regular blood acidity that is necessary for our cells to work.
Each organ reacts differently to extreme heat.
Our heart is the core of our body. Blood needs to move from the central organs to the periphery in order to sweat and cool down, which may cause the red flushes in people who are overheated.
This leads to a dip in blood pressure in our core organs. In order to maintain blood flow to these key organs, our heart tries to make up for it by increasing our heart rate. If this is coupled with excessive water loss, our blood pressure will fall to dangerous levels and lead to fainting or heart failure.
Another key organ in our body, the brain, also suffers from temperature stress. A hike in temperature disrupts the communication between the nerve cells.
When you’re dehydrated, it also causes electrolyte imbalances that can disturb cell communication in the nerve and muscle cells. The effects are exacerbated over time. Eventually, it can lead to more headaches and anxiety.
Air conditioners are extremely helpful in helping our bodies to cool down. You can reduce temperature stress by staying in a cool air-conditioned room. If you're wondering about its importance - can you imagine if your aircon was not cold one day, or if they didn't exist? It would prove fatal. | https://www.81aircon.com/blogs/air-conditioners-a-life-saving-appliance | fineweb | 3,016 | 3.75 |
The Columbian ExpositionBy Frank Swanson
In 1890, Chicagoans scored a surprising coup when they beat out New York, St. Louis and Washington, D.C., for the privilege of hosting the World's Columbian Exposition. With this honor, citizens of this still-young city stepped into the global spotlight and accepted the challenge of organizing a world's fair that would outdo the immensely successful Paris Exposition of 1889, which premiered the Eiffel Tower among other modern wonders. At stake was not only Chicago's reputation, but that of the entire nation.
Envisioned as a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's voyages, the exposition was set to open in 1892, giving the fair's organizer's barely two years to turn swampy Jackson Park on Lake Michigan into a vast showplace for international commerce, culture, science and technology. The fair's Director of Works Daniel Burnham, architect of some of Chicago's first skyscrapers, enlisted a who's who of American architects and planners, including Frederick Law Olmstead, designer of New York's Central Park. Together they and an army of laborers and craftspeople transformed a desolate lakefront into a Beaux Arts wonderland destination with soaring columns, classical statuary and majestic domes.
The cavernous Manufacturers and Liberal Arts building, crowded with the latest products of an industrial society, was at the time the largest building ever constructed. Electric boats glided across a lagoon encircling a bucolic wooded island, and at night, a dazzling array of electric lights outlined each building and illuminated the grounds, a sight unlike anything most fairgoers—accustomed to kerosene lamps and natural gas flames—had ever encountered.
In contrast to the monumental architecture and edifying exhibits of the main fairgrounds, the exposition's Midway Plaisance was packed with fun things to do, including concessions designed to look like villages from exotic lands along with America's answer to the Eiffel Tower—the world's first Ferris wheel, an awesome, 260-foot-tall steel contraption with 36 cars, each one large enough to carry 60 passengers.
Today, few signs of the great fair remain. Most of its marvels were temporary steel-framed structures with wooden exteriors coated in staff, an easily molded stuccolike material. What's more, a period of labor unrest following the fair coincided with a suspicious fire that destroyed many of the fair's grandest buildings. Even the Ferris wheel's novelty faded, and it was eventually dynamited and sold for scrap.
The only major exposition building left behind in Jackson Park, the Palace of Fine Arts, now houses the Museum of Science and Industry . Olmstead's lagoon and wooded island remain, though somewhat altered, along with a one-third scale replica of “The Republic,” the 65-foot-tall gilded statue of a woman in robes and armor that presided over the exposition and came to symbolize its grandeur.
But the fair's legacy extends far beyond its scarce physical remnants. The Field Museum , then called the Columbian Museum of Chicago, was established to house the exposition's biological and anthropological exhibits, and the current Beaux Arts home of The Art Institute of Chicago in Grant Park was built for the exposition's scholarly meetings.
The exposition's influence can be seen in everything from electricity delivered via alternating current to modern theme parks. American companies debuted such now-familiar products as Cracker Jack, Cream of Wheat and Juicy Fruit gum at the fair. And what carnival would be complete today without a Ferris wheel or a ride-packed midway, a word that entered English courtesy of the exposition's Midway Plaisance?
With the fair's success, Chicago elevated itself among the world's great cities and thumbed its figurative nose at Eastern naysayers. The city pays tribute to this historic event within its municipal flag; of the four red stars prominently arrayed across the flag's center, one represents the World's Columbian Exposition.
AAA’s in-person hotel evaluations are unscheduled to ensure the inspector has an experience similar to that of members. To pass inspection, all hotels must meet the same rigorous standards for cleanliness, comfort and hospitality. These hotels receive a AAA Diamond designation that tells members what type of experience to expect.
Members save up to 10% and earn Honors points when booking AAA/CAA rates!Embassy Suites by Hilton Chicago Downtown Magnificent Mile
511 N Columbus Dr. Chicago, IL 60611
Illinois sales tax is 6.3 percent; cities and counties impose additional increments. The Chicago area has a lodging tax of 17.4 percent.
Mercy Hospital & Medical Center, (312) 567-2000; Northwestern Memorial Hospital, (312) 926-2000; Resurrection Medical Center, (773) 774-8000; Saint Anthony Hospital, (773) 484-1000; The University of Chicago Medicine, (773) 702-1000; University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System, (866) 600-2273.
111 N. State St. (lower level) Chicago, IL 60602. Phone:(312)781-1000
O'Hare International Airport (ORD)—17 miles northwest of the city—is served by major domestic and foreign carriers. Midway International Airport (MDW), though smaller and serviced by far fewer carriers than O'Hare, is closer to the Loop—only 8 miles southwest of downtown.
Chicago is served by major car rental agencies. Arrangements should be made before you leave on your trip; your local AAA club can provide this assistance or additional information. Hertz, (312) 372-7600 or (800) 654-3080, offers discounts to AAA members.
Chicago Union Station, 225 S. Canal St., is the city's main train depot and Amtrak's local hub. Trains run to both coasts and well into the South, with stops at most major cities along the routes; phone (800) 872-7245.
Greyhound Lines Inc. has its station at 630 W. Harrison St.; phone (312) 408-5821 or (800) 231-2222.
Taxis are readily available in Chicago.
Transportation by train and bus is available in Chicago. | https://www.aaa.com/travelguides/chicago-il/the-columbian-exposition | fineweb | 5,992 | 3.328125 |
Over 20 million people in the US have diabetes mellitus. It is the leading cause of kidney failure, blindness, and adult amputations. Overall, it costs the nation over $100 billion annually. Diabetes Mellitus results from a deficiency of insulin which is required to remove sugar from the blood. Type 1 is due to a destruction of beta cells within the pancreas by an autoimmune reaction. Type II results from chronic resistance to the action of insulin and the pancreas’s inability to produce enough insulin. There are many causes of diabetes, many of them lifestyle related and new research is showing that early respiratory infections and cell signaling play a key role.
“Recent observations have suggested that common infections during the first year of life have a protective effect. A study of 58 insulin-dependent children was matched with 172 non-diabetic children. Analysis of both groups showed that respiratory infections had the most marked protective effect later in life. infections during the first year may protect by modifying the lymphomatic response to subsequent immunological challenge. A link with decreasing early exposure to common infectious disease could account for the rise in the incidence of diabetes over the past 30 years” – Archives of Diseases in Childhood
Recent advances in molecular biology and neuro-endocrinology have shown that insulin deficiency may be due to a breakdown in the communication and signaling mechanisms associated with the central nervous system and metabolism. Healthcare is now changing its focus from treatment of metabolic disorders with drugs and chemicals to shifting towards procedures that will restore and maintain the normal communication and control the systems of the body.
Your spinal cord acts as a river between your brain and all the other vital organs and tissues in your body. When your spine is perfectly inline, the nervous system pathways are protected and function optimally. When certain stresses act on the spine, vertebrae can lose their proper position, shift out of place, and cause a subluxation. This subluxation will turn down the energy and signals sent out to the vital organs and tissues including the pancreas. Spinal nerve interference has been documented by leading scientific researchers to be a contributing factor of endocrine and metabolic disorders including diabetes. Removing these subluxations and nerve interference can improve your pancreatic function and reduce the risk of diabetes. | https://carlson-chiropractic.com/vertebral-subluxation-and-diabetes/ | fineweb | 2,485 | 3.375 |
What Is Piezoelectricity: Part 1. Ear-Piercing Sounds Harvested for Energy. Engineers have figured how to harvest energy from sound; a neat physics trick that could soon lead to quieter jet engines, heavy construction equipment and factory machines, and perhaps a new way to generate wind power.
Separate teams of investigators have developed prototype devices that create small amounts of energy, just enough to run sensors inside noisy places. These sensors can then be used to actually dampen the sound of the noise itself, according to Stephen Horowitz, a research engineer at Ducommun Miltec, an aerospace contractor based in Huntsville, Ala. Market forces sap the power from electric utilities.
Two seemingly unrelated announcements drew much attention in the electric utility industry recently.
First, the Edison Electric Institute, the trade group for the U.S. electric utility industry, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) jointly recommended (PDF) changing how utilities should be regulated. Second, Duke Energy announced it will sell 13 Midwest merchant power plants. These announcements are actually related because they both result from the same dramatic changes affecting the electric utility industry. As Bob Dylan aptly noted, "the times they are a-changin'. " Regulators and other stakeholders must be prepared to address these changes. Under the traditional business model, electricity usage grew steadily. But this traditional model is crumbling, due to several factors:
Search: piezoelectric. ESA - The Energy Saving Assocation - Bumpy Energy. Tuesday 3rd December 2013 Piezoelectric materials produce electricity from pressure or stress - as we have seen before it could be steps as people walk, or the weight of vehicles as they travel over the material.
Sounds good but it is costly to implement. Hence it is good news that a Mexican entrepreneur Héctor Ricardo Macías Hernández has shown ingenuity in creating his own system that generates electricity from traffic flow on the roads. The system uses small polymer tire-like ramps embedded into the road, rising about 2 inches (5cm) above the road. Air is forced through bellows attached to the underside of the ramp, and through a hose to be compressed in a storage tank. Passing vehicles could soon be lighting our cities. Innowattech breakthrough in alternative energy from road traffic. Aprovechan el tránsito vehicular para generar electricidad. New Inexpensive Technology Generates Electricity from Vehicle and Pedestrian Traffic.
Wallowing in traffic seems like an enormous waste of time and resources.
But what if you could generate a little power during your daily commute? A Mexican entrepreneur has developed technology that collects electricity from the movements of vehicles and pedestrians, and since the device works with existing roads and sidewalks, the system could be an excellent way to capture the forces of current transportation networks without great expense. Developed by Héctor Ricardo Macías Hernández, the system is comprised of a polymeric material that is elevated several centimeters above street level. As cars or walkers depress the ramp, pressure is exerted on a set of bellows below. The bellows contain air that is then forced through a hose and sent to a turbine.
Low-cost system uses passing vehicles to generate electricity. Over the years, various researchers have developed systems in which the weight transferred through cars' wheels onto the road – or through pedestrians' feet onto the sidewalk – is used to generate electricity.
These systems utilize piezoelectric materials, which convert mechanical stress into an electrical current. Such materials may be effective, but they're also too expensive for use in many parts of the world. That's why Mexican entrepreneur Héctor Ricardo Macías Hernández created his own rather ingenious alternative. In Macías Hernández' system, small ramps made from a tough, tire-like polymer are embedded in the road, protruding 5 cm (2 in) above the surface. Inicio - Investigación y Desarrollo. Electricity generated from weight of traffic and pedestrians. Mexican entrepreneurs developed a system capable of using the vehicular flow to generate electric energy.
This development has the potentiality to produce sufficient electricity to power up a household through a device that "catches" the force of the moving cars. "This is a technology that provides sustainable energy and could be implemented at low prices, since it's a complement of already existing infrastructure: the concrete of streets and avenues," Héctor Ricardo Macías Hernández, developer of the system, said. He added that at a global level there are no records of similar projects, with exception of an English patent, but with the difference that in the European country piezoelectric floors are used, which are too expensive for developing countries.
Manchester United's stadium gets a high tech upgrade. This article was taken from the November 2013 issue of Wired magazine.
Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online. In April this year, the Manchester Evening News reported that Manchester United had commissioned an acoustic engineer to survey Old Trafford, to find out why 75,000 football fans were producing so little noise. NASA Piezoelectric Autonomous Responsivness (Plane Flapping Like a Bird) Under Pressure: Piezoelectric Energy To Be Generated By Paris Marathoners. By Ryan Koronowski.
Energy from speed breakers using piezoelectric crystal. The Big Question: Will piezoelectricity ever become a viable source of electricity. September 7th, 2013 By Kelly The ever increasing demand for power has made us look out for alternate forms of renewable energy like solar power, hydro-electric power, geo-thermal power and wind power etc.
One such renewable source of energy that has been gaining popularity over the past few years is the Piezoelectric Technology that generates power from the electromagnetic properties of some minerals found on earth. The basic principle behind Piezoelectricity is simple. Certain electromagnetic materials can generate electric fields when subjected to mechanical stress. Take for instance a floor or staircase fitted with this technology to harness the pressure caused by footsteps and convert the same to electricity. Piezoelectric straw-covered skyscraper harvests energy.
Under Pressure: Piezoelectric Energy To Be Generated By Paris Marathoners. Generate Electricity as You Walk the City. Tokyo Train Station Testing Power-Generating Floor. Clean Power Published on December 4th, 2008 | by Ariel Schwartz Yesterday, we took a look at how piezoelectrics— crystals or ceramics that generate voltage when mechanical stress is applied— could allow cell phones to be powered by sound waves.
Energy-Generating Floors to Power Tokyo Subways japan east rail corporation, jr east, piezoelectric floors, energy generating floors, human powered motion, passengers power train station, – Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Gree. When the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) decided to invest in alternative energy sources, it only had to look to its users for the perfect source of energy.
Recently the company decided to update their Tokyo Station with a revolutionary new piezoelectric energy generating floor. The system will harvest the kinetic energy generated by crowds to power ticket gates and display systems! Piezoelectric flooring is a technology with a wide range of applications that is slowly being adopted in the race to develop alternative energy sources. Assemblyman Gatto wins funding for initial piezoelectric test. Interesting press release from Mike Gatto: After two years of work, Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles) has found a new partner in the fight for green transportation and domestically produced alternative energy.
Building on an idea of Gatto’s, the California Energy Commission (CEC) has announced that it will fund preliminary research on the potential of using California’s roadways to generate green electricity. The research will focus on the large-scale energy-harvesting capabilities of piezoelectric materials, which are currently used in everything from lighters to smart phones. The research stems from a bill authored by Gatto, AB 306, which passed the legislature in 2011 with bipartisan support but was vetoed by Governor Brown because of a lack of funding for the project. In the veto message, the Governor encouraged Gatto to work through the CEC’s grant process to obtain funding for the project, and a year later, the assemblyman has successfully secured the funding. ENERGY HARVESTING FROM AIRPORT RUNWAY. Abstract: Systems: Introduction to Piezoelectric Transducers. Gatto's bill would tap roads for renewable energy - LA Canada. A bill by Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Silver Lake) would take the power of the road for renewable energy.
The bill, one of many the Gov. Jerry Brown is wading through in the wake of the legislative recess, would require the California Energy Commission to explore the possibility of generating green electricity from passing cars, trucks and trains. The legislation centers on what’s called piezoelectric technology, where censors are placed under a roadway and the vibrations produced by vehicles are converted into electricity. Gatto said this technology is already being used in other countries.
Bill Finds An Unlikely Renewable Energy Source: Non-Hybrid Vehicles. Assemblyman Mike Gatto has introduced AB 306, the Roadway / Highway Electrification Act pilot. As of press time, the Sierra Club has taken no official position on it, but may be reviewing it in the coming months. New Bill Could Allow California to Harness Power Otherwise Lost as Cars Travel Over Pavement. New Piezoelectric Railways Harvest Energy From Passing Trains.
Piezoelectric Energy-Generating Roads Proposed for California Gatto. These Exercise Machines Turn Your Sweat Into Electricity. Walk into a spinning class at the New York Sports Clubs' facility on Eighth Avenue and West 23rd Street in Manhattan and you'll find 20 sweaty people furiously pedaling their stationary bikes. Look closely and you'll notice something unusual about this workout: Each of the bikes is attached to a black box with wires running out of it. The box is a compact generator that converts the motion of the wheels into electricity, which is then fed into the power grid, offsetting some of the club's energy use. For these gym-goers, it's not just about their cardio fitness; their sweat is helping to make the planet a bit greener.
By adopting power-producing exercise machines in this way, gyms can promote themselves as environmentally friendly and also reduce their electric bills. At least three start-ups in the United States are now selling equipment to retrofit aerobic machines—stationary bicycles, elliptical trainers, and steppers—into electricity-generating gear. Boesel can't wait. Award-winning energy harvester brings practical applications closer. Making Piezoelectricity a Daily Part of Our Lives. » Energy Harvesting Pike Research. In the near future, energy harvesting (EH) technology will power an increasing number of consumer and industrial products that are untethered or need to become disconnected from the electrical outlet.
This technology, which converts ambient energy to useable electrical energy, represents an attractive alternative to battery power for portable devices. Already, consumers and industries alike consider the environmental and economic costs of changing and maintaining batteries for portable devices to be excessive. A retrofitted energy harvester for low frequency vibrations. California highways may soon produce their own power. For many people, the sight of Los Angeles freeways during rush hour is a striking reminder of how rampant our fuel consuming ways have become. Piezoelectric roads for California. Innowattech - Energy Harvesting Systems. Satellites Predict City Hot Spots - Space News. | http://www.pearltrees.com/shankargallery/piezoelectric-transportation/id5340530 | fineweb | 12,094 | 2.984375 |
Journal of Teacher Education 2014 Loughran 0022487114533386. What Is Digital Literacy? Ava reads at Indian Run Elementary School in Dublin, Ohio.
The school integrates iPads, laptops, and books into reading time. —Maddie McGarvey for Education Week Digital Literacy: An Evolving Definition While the word "literacy" alone generally refers to reading and writing skills, when you tack on the word "digital" before it, the term encompasses much, much more. Sure, reading and writing are still very much at the heart of digital literacy. Digital Literacy Definition and Resources. What is Digital Literacy?
The ability to use digital technology, communication tools or networks to locate, evaluate, use and create information. 1The ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a wide range of sources when it is presented via computers. 2 A person’s ability to perform tasks effectively in a digital environment... Literacy includes the ability to read and interpret media, to reproduce data and images through digital manipulation, and to evaluate and apply new knowledge gained from digital environments. 3 What is a Digital Learning Librarian?
The Digital Learning Librarian at the University of Illinois works collaboratively with librarians and faculty to create tools that help to integrate the library into the teaching and learning process. One result is the creation of online resources that focus on infusing library and information skills with instructional technology to help individuals obtain digital literacy. Digital Literacy Fundamentals. Introduction Today’s youth are often called ‘digital natives’ by adults because of the seemingly effortless way they engage with all things digital.
It’s easy to see why: Canadian youth live in an interactive, “on demand” digital culture where they are used to accessing media whenever and wherever they want. Instant-messaging, photo sharing, texting, social networking, video-streaming, and mobile Internet use are all examples where youth have led the charge in new ways of engaging online. But this enthusiasm masks a potential problem: although young people don’t need coaxing to take up Internet technologies and their skills quickly improve relative to their elders, without guidance they remain amateur users of information and communications technology (ICT), which raises concerns about a generation of youth who are not fully digitally literate, yet are deeply immersed in cyberspace.
A basic question, then, is what exactly is digital literacy? What Digital Literacy Looks Like in a Classroom. Published Online: October 29, 2014 By Brianna Crowley If students are “glued” 24/7 to their mobile devices, why is it necessary for schools to teach digital literacy?
Communication Learning. 7 Reasons Why Digital Literacy is Important for Teachers - Blog. Share on social: The meaning of "digital literacy" has shifted over the years.
While there was a time when job candidates were encouraged to list "Proficient at Microsoft Word" on their resume, now such skills are considered standard. This shift toward a technologically savvy workforce has permeated the classroom as well. It makes sense to assume that the more digitally literate our teachers are, the more they'll employ these skills in the classroom, which will in turn foster a strong sense of digital citizenship in our students.
Developing Reflective Practice : Learning about Teaching ... John Hattie & His High Impact Strategies. John Hattie synthesized over 500,000+ studies related to student achievement in his book Visible Learning.
He showed that teachers can make a difference despite other circumstances that may impede learning. In fact, Hattie found that most teachers have some degree of impact on their students’ learning. Poutiatine et al 2012 New Directions for Teaching and Learning. Self Directed Learning Merriam Bierema. Mediabias. Alike short film. RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms. Ken Robinson - Do schools kill creativity/ TED Talks (English subtitles) Carol Dweck: The power of believing that you can improve. APA Style Tereora College Media Studies by Tiffany Andrews on Prezi. News Quality.V5. | http://www.pearltrees.com/t/professional-identity/id17590825 | fineweb | 4,173 | 3.28125 |
Family : Dilleniaceae
Text © Pietro Puccio
English translation by Mario Beltramini
This plant is native to China (Yunnan), India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam, where it grows in the humid evergreen forests mainly along the banks of the rivers.
The genus is honoured to the German botanist Johann Jacob Dillen (Latinized in Dillenius), (1687-1747); the Latin name of the species “indica” = of India, refers to one of its origin places.
Common names: chulta, dillenia, elephant-apple, hondapare tree (English); chalta (Bengali); babau, graine bourrique, pomme d’éléphant (French); chilta, girnar, karambel, hondapara, outenga (Hindi); fruta-estrela, árvore-da-pataca, árvore-do-dinheiro, bolsa-de-pastor, dilênia, flor-de-abril, maçã-de-elefante (Portuguese); manzano de los ele- fantes (Spanish); Chalthafrucht, Elephanten- apfel, Indischer Rosenapfel (German).
The Dillenia indica L. (1753) is an evergreen or semi-evergreen tree with a roundish crown, tall up to about 25 m with a reddish brown smooth bark which tends to flake off; the young branches are tomentose.
It has intense green coloured leaves, glossy on the upper side, alternate, usually grouped at the apex of the branches, of elliptic-oblong or obovate-oblong shape, 15-40 cm long and 7-14 cm broad, with prominent parallel lateral nervations and indented margins; the 2-6 cm long petioles are grooved and pubescent at the base.
The flowers are solitary, terminal, hanging on an about 8 cm long peduncle, great up to about 20 cm of diameter, with five roundish sepals, concave, thick and fleshy, 4-6 cm long, of a pale green colour. The corolla, formed by five white obovate petals, 7-10 cm long and 6-8 cm broad, surrounds several yellow stamina which form a compact mass on which stand out the white lanceolate styles, radially placed and about 2,5 cm long.
The fruit is an aggregate fruit with a diameter of 5 to 15 cm which comes from the enlargement of more ovaries, 15-20, with persistent fleshy sepals, indehiscent (it does not open when ripe), with 5 or more, reniform, of brown colour, seeds per each ovary. It easily reproduces by seed, which germinates in about one month at 20-25 °C, and by cutting; when by seed, the first fructification takes place after 8-10 years.
Very ornamental plant for its foliage, the great and perfumed flowers and the globular fruits, it is often utilized as shade tree in parks and gardens. It may be cultivated in the tropical and subtropical climates zones, with low temperatures which are not to be less than +10 °C, even if it may survive, for a short time, at temperatures close to the -2 °C. It prefers sandy, neutral or acidic, maintained wet, soils; if kept dry in winter, it may loose the leaves.
The fleshy sepals, with a pleasant acidulous flavour, are consumed raw or cooked, or utilized for preparing preserves and jellies and for aromatizing the curry; also the fruits are consumed, even if in lower quantity and mostly cooked, as they have a decidedly acidulous taste; they are slightly laxative, so it is better not to abuse of them.
The leaves, the bark and the fruits are utilized in the traditional medicine especially as anti-inflammatory; the juice of the fruit is utilized for preparing cough syrups and, blended with water and sugar, for reducing the fever, the bark for poultices for the arthritis.
Laboratory studies have evidenced also an anti-leukaemic activity of extracts from the fruits, due probably by the presence of betulinic acid.
The wood is compact and durable and has a moderate utilization in the buildings and for fabricating cages, plywood and other objects.
Synonyms: Dillenia speciosa Thunb. (1791); Dillenia elongata Miq. (1858).
The photographic file of Giuseppe Mazza | http://www.photomazza.com/?Dillenia-indica&lang=en | fineweb | 3,744 | 2.984375 |
Celebrating the 35th anniversary of the freedom to read
Banned Books Week: Sept. 24–30
More than a book a day faces expulsion from free and open public access in U.S. schools and libraries every year. There have been more than 10,000 attempts since the American Library Association (ALA) began electronically compiling and publishing information on book challenges in 1990. Thirty-five years after the first observance of Banned Books Week there are still attempts to remove books from public library shelves.
In one case, the Plymouth-Canton school district in Michigan considered banning both Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” and Graham Swift’s “Waterland” after complaints from some parents of objectionable content.
Both books were eventually allowed to stay on school shelves after a review committee heard from teachers, students and parents in support of the books during public meetings.
But, unfortunately, even with the help of outspoken supporters, books are still being removed.
'The ability to read, speak, think and express ourselves ... is a right'"Forever" by Judy Blume was one of more than 70 titles a Fayetteville, Ark., mother requested be removed in 2012. Twenty-five years earlier, the book was restricted in the Park Hill (Mo.) South Junior High School library because the book promotes "the stranglehold of humanism on life in America."
"Throughout history, there always have been a few people who don’t want information to be freely available. And this is still true. We hope to remind Americans that the ability to read, speak, think and express ourselves freely is a right, not a privilege," said ALA President Jim Neal. "The reason more books aren’t banned is because community residents - with librarians, teachers and journalists - stand up and speak out for their freedom to read. Banned Books Week reminds us that we must remain vigilant."
The ALA and the Ramapo Catskill Library System are endorsing the observance of Banned Books Week Sept. 24–30, an annual celebration of our right to access books without censorship. This observance commemorates the most basic freedom in a democratic society – the freedom to read freely – and encourages us not to take this freedom for granted.
'Cornerstone of democracy'“Banned Books Week is about choice and respecting the rights of others to choose for themselves and their families what they wish to read,” said Robert Hubsher, executive director of the Ramapo Catskill Library System. “Book banning and challenging has a domino effect. If we stand by and let the first book come off the shelf, we run the risk they will all come tumbling down. American libraries are the cornerstones of our democracy. Libraries are for everyone, everywhere. Because libraries provide free access to a world of information, they bring opportunity to all people.”
Challenges and attempts to remove books during the past year are as strong as ever. Challenges are defined as formal, written complaints filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness.
About 70 percent of challenges take place in schools and school libraries.
According to James LaRue, director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom, the number of challenges reflects only incidents reported, and for each reported, four or five remain unreported.
"We are as busy as we’ve ever been in fighting censorship attempts in schools and libraries," LaRue said. "Libraries are no longer simply about books - but also about DVDs, videogames and online information."
Young adult titles "Young Adult books are challenged more frequently than any other type of book," said Judith Platt, chair of the Banned Books Week National Committee. "These are the books that speak most immediately to young people, dealing with many of the difficult issues that arise in their own lives, or in the lives of their friends. These are the books that give young readers the ability to safely explore the sometimes scary real world and allow them the freedom to read books that are relevant for them, and to be able to make their own reading choices.”
In recent years, the majority of the most frequently challenged books in libraries have been Young Adult (YA) titles. The top five most challenged books in 2016 reflect a range of themes, and consist of the following titles:
1. "This One Summer" by Mariko Tamaki
2. "Drama" by Raina Telgemeier
3. "George" by Alex Gino
4. "I Am Jazz" by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings
5. "Two Boys Kissing" by David Levithan
Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the ALA, the Association of American Publishers, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the National Association of College Stores. It is endorsed by the Library of Congress Center for the Book.
Read onNow, more than ever, celebrate the freedom to read at your library. American libraries are the cornerstones of our democracy. Libraries are for everyone, everywhere.
Is your favorite book safe?
Don’t close the book on your freedom to read.
Because libraries provide free access to a world of information and they bring opportunity to all people.
Remember, think for yourself and let others do the same.
Elect to read an old favorite or a new banned book this week.
This article was provided by the the Ramapo Catskill Library System, which represents more than 50 library systems in Orange, Rockland, Sullivan and Ulster counties. These include the libaries in Chester, Florida, Goshen, Greenwood Lake, Monroe, Tuxedo Park, Warwick and Woodbury. | http://www.pikecountycourier.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20170923/OPINION02/170929984/0/11/Celebrating-the-35th-anniversary--of-the-freedom-to-read&template=printart | fineweb | 5,600 | 2.890625 |
Infrastructure, Social Structure and Superstructure of Ancient Sparta
$19.95 Buy and instantly download this paper now
The paper relates that Spartan culture is a great example of how a society's infrastructure will directly affect both its social structure and superstructure. Furthermore, the paper relates that Spartan culture also serves as a warning that any society that becomes too rigid in its structure and too static in its values will not last long when confronted with more agile and adaptable cultures. This paper explores why Sparta became the Hellenic army par excellence, how this worked to create a very specific social structure founded on martial values, and, finally, how that social structure would ultimately be the undoing of the culture.
From the Paper:"Like most Greek states of the Archaic and Classical Era, the Spartan city-state was a militaristic one. Sparta, however, took the idea to its extreme. In order to become the best soldiers, Spartan citizens had to dedicate their entire lives to the occupation. In fact to be a soldier - a hoplite - was the full infrastructure of Spartan society. While most Greek city-states looked down on labor, physical work, and even working for profit, they still had to work for a living, produce something. "The Spartans alone had no need to earn a living and devoted themselves exclusively to military training" (Kagan, 2004).
"Burckhardt describes the Greeks as a people who came to believe that competition and conflict - the struggle or agon- was one of the highest values in life. "This way of life was incompatible with any economic activity; the agon occupied the whole of existence" (Burckhardt, 1998). While this can be found in their love of sports like wrestling, and the Olympic Games in general, and even in the pride they took in outfitting triremes or their own armor, one citizen trying to outdo the other, these activities were all centered around the individual. But in Greek culture the individual was always subordinate to the state, and the agon between states is war."
Sample of Sources Used:
- Burckhardt, Jacob, The Greeks and Greek Civilization, St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Ave, New York, NY 10010, 1998.
- Kagan, Donald,The Peloponnesian War, Penguin Books, 80 Strand, London, WC2R 0RL, England, 2004.
- Prins, Harald& McBride, Bunny, Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge, www.amazon.com/Anthropology-Challenge...A.../113394132X
- Runciman, W.G.,Greek Hoplites, Warrior Culture, and Indirect Bias, The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 4 No. 4, Dec. 1998.
- Talbert, Richard, The Role of the Helots in the Class Struggle at Sparta, Historia: ZeitschriftfurAlteGeschichte
Cite this Analytical Essay:
Infrastructure, Social Structure and Superstructure of Ancient Sparta (2013, December 16) Retrieved December 07, 2023, from https://www.academon.com/analytical-essay/infrastructure-social-structure-and-superstructure-of-ancient-sparta-153770/
"Infrastructure, Social Structure and Superstructure of Ancient Sparta" 16 December 2013. Web. 07 December. 2023. <https://www.academon.com/analytical-essay/infrastructure-social-structure-and-superstructure-of-ancient-sparta-153770/> | https://www.academon.com/analytical-essay/infrastructure-social-structure-and-superstructure-of-ancient-sparta-153770/ | fineweb | 3,197 | 3.21875 |
Trade Association is an association of traders or producers engaged in the same line of trade whose major aim is to protect and safeguard the interest of their members as well as their business. Examples are M.O.A.L.S (Motorcycle Operators Association of Lagos State)
Table of Contents
FEATURES OF TRADE ASSOCIATION
- Membership is voluntary
- They are regionally based
- Its main aim is to protect or safeguard the interest of members
- It is financed from the subscriptions paid by members.
FUNCTIONS OF TRADE ASSOCIATIONS
- They assist needy members financially and morally.
- They ensure uniformity in the mode of operation of their trade
- Provision of information (i.e. trade/technical/credit information) for members.
- Settlement of dispute among members.
- Education of members about latest developments affecting their trade.
- Fixing of minimum prices for their goods/services.
- Promotion of research work for the benefit of all members.
- Ensuring the maintenance of high standard in the quality of goods/services.
- Regulation of the activities of members and maintenance of professional ethics.
- Safeguarding and advancing the common interest of members.
- Serving as trade referees, especially on home trade
- Liaising with the government on policies affecting their trade and their trade members e.g. by acting as pressure groups.
DISADVANTAGES OF TRADE ASSOCIATION
- They sometimes restrict entry into their trade.
- They reduce supply of goods in order to create artificial scarcity, thereby linking prices
- They can hold the community to ransom, thereby causing crises (eg transporters)
- State five functions of trade associations
- List four features of trade association.
CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE
A chamber of commerce is a voluntary association of businessmen, tradesmen and entrepreneurs from different commercial fields or various lines of business in a town, city or country who have come together to promote trade, commerce, industry, agriculture and mining in a particular town, city, area or country e.g. Lagos Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (LCCIMA).
A chamber of commerce is not restricted to a particular trade (i.e. it embraces all industrial commercial activities such as manufacturing trade, transport, banking etc.
FUNCTIONS OF CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
- They organize trade fairs and exhibitions
- They promote both home trade and foreign trade
- They co-operate with other chambers of commerce.
- Collection and dissemination of information to all members and the general public
- They settle disputes among members.
- They advise government on matters of trade.
- They issue certificate of origin.
- They act as pressure groups
- They act as watchdog in the administration of government laws
- Education of members through seminars conferences etc.
This is an association of producers that come together for the mutual economic and trade benefits of members.
AIMS AND FUNCTIONS OF MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION
- They promote trade both local and foreign
- They act as a pressure group
- They attract foreign investors
- They ensure the production of standard goods
- They promote export of manufactured goods.
- State five functions of chamber of commerce.
- Give two differences between a trade association and a chamber of commerce.
GENERAL EVALUATION QUESTIONS
- List eight means of payment in business
- Give five reasons for the protection of consumers
- State five measures taken to protect consumers
- What is a channel of distribution
- Explain five advantages of home trade over foreign trade
- Which union is formed by the workers of firms of similar lines of business to cater for their interests (a) Co-operative (b) Firms (c) Employee’s (d) Trade
- A voluntary body formed by members of a particular branch of trade or industry to represent the interest of members is known as (a) Industrial association (b) Co-operative society (c) Manufacturers’ association (d) Trade association.
- Which of the following advises members on tariff and currency regulations of other countries (a) Employers association (b) Trade union (c) Consumer association (d) Chamber of commerce
- Which of the following is a voluntary association of businessmen and professionals formed for the purpose of promoting trade (a) Labour union (b) Employer’s Association (c) Chamber of Commerce (d) Wholesaler’s Association
- Which of the following is a duty of the Employers Association (A) Procuring raw materials at regular intervals (b) Establishing a uniform wage scale (c) Negotiating with the government on sales (d) Discharging workers when production is low.
- What is a trade association?
- State four features of a chamber of commerce | https://www.acadlly.com/trade-association-chambers-of-commerce/ | fineweb | 4,679 | 2.734375 |
Climate and soil in the region are ideal for grape growing and development of the wine industry particularly in the Tikves area where influences of the Continental and Mediterranean climate are colliding. Several interesting facts related to the climate:
Mixed influence of Continental and Mediterranean climate with warm days and cooler nights, combined with terroir rich in carbonates and minerals and small percentage of rainfall, leads to concentration of acids and sugars providing lush color and intense wine aroma. Number of sunny days in the year is 260
Average annual temperature is 13,6 degrees °C.
Temperatures in summer rise above 40 degrees °C.
Tikves region is the driest area in the Balkan Peninsula.
Povardarie winery does not own vineyards and is buying the grapes from individual producers – farmers, long term partners.
Macedonia has around 24.000 ha of vineyards. Its territory is divided to 16 wine districts.
Most frequent soil type is alluvial eroded carbonate soil, and flooded alluvium.
Macedonia produces around 245.000 tons of grape equaling to 220 million liters of wine and consumes around 10 million liters annually or around 5% of the production.
Grape and wine production represents 17-20% of GDP and is second ranked export product after tobacco.
This area is perfect for growing Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Vranec and Pinot Noir of the red, and Chardonnay, Zilavka, Smederevka, Traminec. Riesling, Sauvignon Blank and other white varieties.
Of the indigenous varieties Macedonia has Stanushina which is characterized with dark red color with shades of orange. This variety produces light refreshing wines with aromas of strawberry, good acidity and weak tannins.
Most widespread varieties of wine grape in Macedonia are Smederevka and Vranec.
Smederevka is indigenous Balkan variety which gives easy to drink, refreshing and harmonic wines with specific taste and smell of the variety and greenish-yellow color.
Vranec is most famous and widespread red variety in Macedonia and constitutes 80% of the red varieties. It is indigenous Montenegrin variety that produces wine with dark ruby red color, characteristic mixed aroma of prunes, blackberries and raspberries, full body, soft tannins and unique long finish. | http://www.povardarie.com.mk/region | fineweb | 2,247 | 3 |
14. The Right to Seek a Safe Place to Live. If we are frightened of being badly treated in our own country, we all have the right to run away to another country to be safe.
Some of these rights seem so basic one wonders why they were required to be stated at all. But 70 years after these rights were agreed to, we still need to be reminded. The Right to Asylum is a basic human right, which bestows upon us the right to be free of persecution. And it requires the signatories of the Declaration of Human Rights to duty to help provide a safe harbor for those that would be persecuted, harmed or killed from the place they are fleeing. | http://www.project1948.ngo/peace-journal/2016/2/12/30-days-of-human-rights-article-14-the-right-to-seek-a-safe-place-to-live | fineweb | 635 | 3.140625 |
Today there is a growing community of human rights activists in the U.S., around the world, and especially in Palestine-Israel whose behavior mirrors and extends King’s confrontation with injustice in their own efforts to break the silence on the injustice of the cruel, oppressive Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian people. They realize that by maintaining a deafening silence, mainstream U.S. media and political leadership keep large segments of the U.S. population ignorant about the true nature of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice, and human rights. Few Americans know that the Palestinian freedom struggle has been predominantly nonviolent for the vast majority of Palestinians, and has always been grounded in some of the same principles expounded by Martin Luther King, Jr.
In his “Letter,” King identifies four basic components of a nonviolent campaign: “collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action.” So what are the facts of the Israeli injustices against the Palestinian people? For more than 62 years beginning in 1948, reminiscent of the ethnic cleansing experienced by Native Americans, Palestinian Muslims and Christians (the indigenous descendants of the first Christians) have suffered as the Israeli government expels them from their homelands, creating the state of Israel upon the 500-plus Arab-Palestinian towns and villages. The suffering continues under a 42-year Israeli occupation marked by land confiscations for settlement building and wall construction and by restrictions on movement: to work, markets and water; to agricultural land and olive trees; to health facilities and educational institutions; and to Christian and Muslim religious sites, all but destroying family ties – discrimination similar to America’s segregated past. The separation wall and Israeli-only roads and settlements in Palestine divide populations racially for the benefit of illegal Israeli settlers (echoes of apartheid South Africa). Israel’s apartheid system has caused thousands of civilian deaths, many of them children, and widespread human rights violations. While the injustices mount, Israel has defied rulings by the International Court of Justice, violating more than 65 UN Resolutions and the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Americans have been led to believe that Palestinians have not been “honest partners for peace.” The truth is, however, negotiating for their freedom has been a daunting task. Palestinians have experienced the same broken promises, “blasted” hopes, and deep disappointments that King describes in his negotiations with Birmingham’s white leaders. President Clinton’s famed Oslo Peace Process began in 1993 with negotiations between Palestinian and Israeli leadership and the promise to end Israel’s occupation and the formation of a Palestinian state. Essential to these negotiations, however, was a blatant imbalance of power: on the stronger side, the nation of Israel, militarily superior and prosperous, supported by the wealth and power of the U.S., controlling more than 78% of original Palestine; on the weaker side, the Palestinians, barely surviving and holding on to the remaining 22% of land. Currently, Palestinian leadership has refused to return to negotiations due to Israel’s unwillingness to abide by past agreements and to cease expanding illegal settlements. Israel has scoffed at and dismissed longstanding U.S. policy of ending illegal Israeli settlement expansion in Palestine, a policy that President Obama attempted but failed to enforce upon Israel.
Surviving this imbalance and the suffering it causes has been traumatic for Palestinians, requiring unimaginable resources of strength and faith. King would have identified with their plight and their need to find ways to cope with and confront their circumstances in ways that enable them to sustain themselves. King describes the process of self-purification as self-analysis and a way of discovering the extent to which he and his fellow protesters were prepared to endure the ordeals of their nonviolent actions. For many Palestinians, their lives as devoted Muslims and Christians make self-purification through fasting and prayer a much-practiced tradition and surely one that has empowered them during nearly 100 years of suffering and injustice. One ultimate self-purifying act within Palestinian society is articulated in the recent Kairos Document by Palestine’s Christian leadership, a document that proclaims “that our Christian word in the midst of all [the tragedies in our lives], in the midst of our catastrophe, is a word of faith, hope and love.” http://www.voltairenet.org/article163282.html
While Americans know well the direct action tactics of the movement King led, little do they know about the decades of Palestinian engagement in nonviolent, civil resistance for justice and freedom. As far back as 1902, Palestinian villagers, in what is now Israel, staged peaceful protests against confiscation of their land by European Zionist settlers. From 1987 to 1993, during the largely nonviolent mass movement of the First Intifada, Palestinians were involved in mass public demonstrations, refusing to pay taxes, boycotting Israeli goods and facilities, and planting olive trees on land confiscated by Israelis. But the most effective resistance to Israeli expulsions, expansionism, and occupation has been their refusal to stop “living in their homes, going to school, eating and living.” According to Palestinian scholar and human rights activist Mazin Qumsiyeh, “this colonial occupation wants all Palestinians to give up and leave the country. . . . When Shepherds . . . go to their fields despite repeated attacks by settlers and even the attempted poisoning of their sheep, that is non-violent resistance. When Palestinians walk to school while being spat on, kicked and beaten by settlers and soldiers, that is non-violent resistance. When Palestinians spend hours at check points to get to hospital, their farm land, their work, their schools, or to visit their friends, that is non-violent resistance.” http://www.qumsiyeh.org/palestiniannonviolentresistance/
More recently, Palestinians, along with Israeli and international activists, are resisting by protesting the construction of the separation wall that is stealing more of their land. In February, demonstrators in the village of Bil’in cleverly invoked Hollywood, reenacting the film Avatar by dressing up as the blue Na’vi natives opposing the encroaching occupation of an Alien (human) corporate empire. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Chw32qG-M7E Israel’s typical response to these nonviolent protests and others by Palestinians against home expulsions in East Jerusalem includes shooting rubber bullets and live ammunition, tossing tear gas, and showering protesters with sewage – the Israeli equivalent of Alabama’s Bull Connor. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC1xG4j5kdA&feature=related
While dozens of Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations are participants in this nonviolent, civil rights movement, the international community is also supporting the campaign by heeding the call of Palestinian Civil Society in 2005 for boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. This international campaign (inspired by the international BDS campaign against apartheid South Africa) is the most politically and morally sound civil resistance strategy for ending Israeli occupation of Palestine until Israel complies with International Law and Universal Principles of Human Rights. Closer to home, human rights activists here in Minnesota recently received extraordinary support at precinct caucuses for the “Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign: Divest for Justice in Palestine,” a campaign calling on the state of Minnesota to divest from Israel Bonds.
King’s appeal to the Birmingham clergy, pleading with them to break their silence and speak for justice, is equal to the pleas of the Palestinian Christian leadership of the Kairos Document as they call on Christians and Muslims, Palestinians and Israelis, and the world community for a serious commitment to justice and freedom for the Palestinian people. Furthermore, King is critical of the lax leadership of his fellow clergy and reminds them of the early Christians; they, too, struggled against injustices and endured criticisms but remained steadfast in their beliefs, thus, determined to transform “the mores of society.” How ironic that the descendants of the first Christians, the Palestinian Christian leadership, find themselves repeating the struggle for justice of their ancestors. Today this is their message to the world: “These days, everyone is speaking about peace in the Middle East and the peace process. So far, however, these are simply words; the reality is one of Israeli occupation . . . [and] deprivation of our freedom.”
Sanna Nimtz Towns, Ph.D., is a Retired Teacher and has traveled twice to Palestine-Israel, in 2005 on a research-related St. Paul Schools Travel Grant for teachers and this past summer. Much of her work on Palestine-Israel involves educating others and especially students about the conflict. | http://www.insightnews.com/commentary/5648-king-and-the-palestinian-struggle-for-freedom | fineweb | 9,204 | 3.1875 |
Author: Laura Devaney
Imagine the future
It is not a matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’ governments, industry and society will transform to a low carbon bioeconomy. Developments across research, policy and markets represent key steps in realising your future biobased morning routine.
In the bioeconomy, dependence on fossil-fuels is reduced, whilst still achieving economic growth. Therefore, renewable biological resources, such as plants and seaweed, are converted into food, feed and bio-based products. The future bio-economy also draws upon ideals of the ‘circular economy’ where the waste of one sector represents a valuable input to another: for example, forestry pulp is used to produce bio-energy. Innovation, knowledge and value addition represent essential building blocks of the future biobased society. “The transition to a sustainable low-carbon bioeconomy is just around the corner for Europe” says Dr. Laura Devaney from Teagasc in Ireland.
It’s 2050 and people managed to transform to a bioeconomy. Waking up, your house feels nice and warm as your home anaerobic digester heats your house using food waste and grass biomass resources. You consider your options for a delicious, healthy and sustainable breakfast, deciding on a protein shake derived from dairy by-products and a seaweed-based supplement for an extra boost of antioxidants. You brush your teeth with your trusty bioplastic toothbrush and shower using a range of biobased cosmetics derived from marine discards. You drive to work in the local biorefinery, a centre that processes waste and other biological materials to create food, bioenergy and many other products. Your car is of course also powered by biofuel, produced from recovered vegetable oil…
The above scenario may seem overly optimistic, but it may be closer than you think. More than 98% of the energy and chemicals used in the year 2000 were derived from fossil-fuel based resources. By 2100, more than 95% of chemicals and polymers can, and must, derive from renewable resources. As a society, we are facing escalating challenges: climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation, resource scarcity, food security, economic sustainability and growing populations. The need to transition to more sustainable, low carbon ways of living is increasingly recognised.
The bioeconomy concept offers one possible way to address these challenges. It is not a matter of if, but when, society makes this transition. The bioeconomy is gaining traction worldwide, coming to the forefront in key policy documents at both global and EU scales. At the European level, the current bioeconomy is estimated to provide employment for over 22 million people, with a turnover of approximately €2 trillion (EC, 2012).
These lucrative markets producing biofuels, biofertilisers, biochemicals and bioplastics are only beginning to be exploited. The opportunities available are endless and exciting, including the use of agricultural by-product and even pest species for chemical biorefining. We can use side-streams of food production for pharmaceutical, cosmetic and bioenergy creations. The extraction of valuable proteins and bioactives from underutilised marine resources and fish processing discards can also be valorised.
This article was written by Dr. Laura Devaney, Dr. Áine Regan, and Dr. Maeve Henchion who are involved in bioeconomy research projects within Teagasc. Teagasc is the agriculture and food development authority in Ireland. Its mission is to support science-based innovation in the agri-food sector and the broader bioeconomy that will underpin profitability, competitiveness and sustainability. Fill out the ‘get in touch’ section below if you have any questions after reading this article.
O’Connor, K. (2015) Sustainable polymers for packaging, presentation at Food Processing Waste: Maximising Hidden Resources for Sustainable Food Processing Conference, University College Dublin, Dublin, 10th July 2015 [Online] Available at: http://www.ucd.ie/t4cms/KOConnor.pdf (accessed: 14/10/15). Click here. | https://www.tasteofscience.com/articles/609/imagine-the-future.html | fineweb | 4,043 | 3.109375 |
Winter began with record low temperatures and ended on record highs.
The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research has released its climate summary for winter.
Climate scientist Georgina Griffiths says temperatures in May fell to 2 degrees celsius below average, June and July were 1°C below, but August was 1.7°C above average.
Freezing cold southerlies, snow and frost were felt across much of the country in June.
But northerly winds meant the second half of August was particularly warm, with Timaru recording the warmest temperature at 22.2°C .
NIWA says Gisborne had the highest one-day rainfall. A Civil Defence emergency was put in place when 205 millimetres fell in late June.
Tornadoes damaged properties in Kaitaia, Cromwell and Opunake, while high winds and heavy rain caused havoc in Gisborne, Northland, Wellington and Wairarapa in July.
Of the six main centres, Auckland was the warmest and Christchurch was the coldest. | http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/15316/winter-a-season-of-extremes | fineweb | 946 | 2.8125 |
January 7, 2011
Circumcision Prevents HPV
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A new study reveals circumcision may prevent the spread of the human papillomavirus (HPV).
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection. There are more than 40 HPV types that can infect the genital areas of males and females. These HPV types can also infect the mouth and throat. In women, a high-risk HPV infection can be a precondition for cervical cancer.Previous studies have shown that male circumcision reduces the prevalence of high-risk HPV infection in men. For this study, researchers assessed participants who were enrolled in two randomized controlled trials in Rakai, Uganda. They found circumcision in HIV-negative men provides protection against the transmission of HPV to HIV-negative women.
The studies enrolled HIV-negative men and their female partners between 2003 and 2006. Men were assigned to undergo circumcision immediately (the intervention group) or after 24 months (the control group). HIV-negative female partners were tested for HPV at the beginning of the study, at 12 months and at 24 months.
Results showed women who were with a male partner who was circumcised (in the intervention group) had a 23-percent lower risk of being infected with high-risk HPV.
The study authors write, "Along with previous trial results in men, these findings indicate that male circumcision should now be accepted as an efficacious intervention for reducing heterosexually acquired high-risk and low-risk HPV infections in men who do not have HIV and in their female partners. However, our results indicate that protection is only partial; the promotion of safe sex practices is also important."
SOURCE: The Lancet, January 2011 | http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1975639/circumcision_prevents_hpv/ | fineweb | 1,775 | 2.765625 |
Figure 1.9. Changes in physical and biological systems and surface temperature. Background shading and the key at the bottom right show changes in gridded surface temperatures over the period 1970 to 2004 (from the GHCN-ERSST dataset). The 2*2 boxes show the total number of data series with significant changes (top row) and the percentage of those consistent with warming (bottom row) for (i) continental regions; North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and Polar Regions; and (ii) global-scale: Terrestrial (TER), Marine and Freshwater (MFW), and Global (GLO). The numbers of studies from the seven regional boxes do not add up to the global totals because numbers from regions except Polar do not include the numbers related to Marine and Freshwater systems. White areas do not contain sufficient observational climate data to estimate a temperature trend. | http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg2/en/figure-1-9.html | fineweb | 899 | 3.46875 |
Incense has been used in the worship of God since the time of Moses, and its use is commanded by God (Exodus 30). Clouds of incense symbolise the glory of God that is present as we worship Him. When the Priest directs the incense towards the worshipers he is paying homage and respect to the image of God in each one of us. Let's learn about what incense is, how it is used in worship, and its historical significance.
What is incense?
It is a material consisting of aromatic gums and spices that produces a fragrant smoke when burned. The ingredients are usually frankincense (a fragrant gum resin chiefly from East African or Arabian trees), styrax (a resin from trees of the witch-hazel family), benzoin (a resin from trees in S.E. Asia), and cascarilla bark (a west Indian shrub) combined in various proportions. Other substances often used in incense include balsam, cinnamon, myrrh, sandalwood and musk.
Remember that ‘frankincense’ was one of the gifts brought to Jesus by the three wise men from the East (Matthew 2:11).
Incense is used by placing it in a censer with burning charcoal, which makes a beautiful fragrance waft up.
The censer is a small bowl or basin hanging from three chains. The chains have bells attached to them, so that when the censer is swung or rocked back-and-forth it creates a sweet sound as it fills the room with incense.
The basin represents the sacred womb of the Mother of Christ this bears the divine coal who is Christ, Who fills the whole universe with fragrance.
The twelve bells on the censer represent the twelve apostles proclaiming the joy of the Gospel to the ends of the earth, and the three chains represent the Trinity.
The incense symbolises the rising of our prayers to God.
In Psalm 141:2 we read:
Let my prayer be set before You as incense.
The significance of ‘fragrance’
As a rose that is crushed produces a powerful fragrance, even more so, the Body of Jesus when broken on the cross for our salvation produced the sweetest fragrance this world has ever experienced. Ephesians 5:2 says:
Christ loved us and gave Himself for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
We should remember the words of 2 Corinthians 2:14-15:
God uses us to make the knowledge about Christ spread everywhere like a sweet fragrance. For we are like a sweet smelling incense offered by Christ to God, which spreads among those who are being saved and those who are being lost.
A prayer from the ancient liturgy of St. James says:
Receive from us, your unworthy servants, O Lord, this incense for a fragrant sacrifice, and make fragrant the stench of our soul and body.
John of Kronstadt once said:
The fragrance of incense reminds us by analogy of the fragrance of virtue, and by contrast of the evil odour of sins.
One supplicatory Canon has this prayer:
Jesus, sweet scented Flower, make me fragrant.
The concept of the fragrant offering has also been incorporated into the liturgy:
For the precious gifts here offered... let us pray... that our God who loves mankind, Who has received them into His holy and heavenly altar for a sweet-smelling savour of spiritual fragrance may send down upon us divine grace and the gift of the Holy Spirit
Incense is also used in the funeral service: the body of the deceased is censed to pay respect to the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Incense as a confession of faith
In the Roman Empire subjects of Caesar were required to throw a pinch of incense into a fire which burned in front of his statue acknowledging Caesar to be their true lord. The early Christians refused to do this and were thrown to the lions.
Burning incense before Jesus is a public confession of faith in Him as our true Lord.
Incense in the Bible
When God gave Moses instructions for the Tabernacle that was built in the wilderness, he was told to build an altar of incense immediately before the Holy of Holies. An offering was to burn continually on the coals of fire. Exodus 30 contains instructions for building an altar for the burning of incense. Exodus 30:7-8 reads:
Every morning when Aaron comes to get the lamps ready, he is to burn sweet-smelling incense on [the altar]. He must do the same when he lights the lamps in the evening. This offering of incense is to continue without interruption for all time to come.
There were regular times during the day when it was specifically attended. The continually rising smoke symbolized the prayers of God’s people. It was the custom in the Old Testament for one priest to be selected by lot each day to offer incense to God.
In Old Testament thought, the presence of God is regularly connected with a cloud, like when Moses met God in a cloud (Ex.19:16), and when a cloud overshadowed Christ at His Transfiguration, the voice of God spoke from the cloud (Mark 9:7).
Saint Symeon of Salonika writes:
Like a cloud also the incense is offered, symbolizing the Holy Spirit and the transmission of His divine grace and fragrance.
In Luke 1:8-23 we read the story of the Priest Zechariah — husband of Elizabeth — who was to be the father of John the Baptist. In the story it was the day when Zechariah had been selected to perform the incense offering. While he was attending to the incense in the Temple the Angel Gabriel appeared to him and foretold the birth of a son.
In the Revelation of John 8:3-4:
And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer: and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God.
We see here that incense represents the prayers of the saints, both those in heaven and those on earth, rising up to God as a fragrant offering of thanksgiving, as they sing the song, “Worthy is the Lamb.” | https://www.thegoodshepherd.org.au/incense | fineweb | 5,794 | 3 |
How to Manage Pests
UC Pest Management Guidelines
Darkling beetle adults are from 0.13 to 0.25 inch (3.5 to 6 mm) long and vary from black or bluish black to rusty brown. They may be hidden by dust or a thin veneer of soil. Larvae are cylindrical, wirewormlike, soil-inhabiting worms that are light yellow to dark brown and range from 0.03 to 0.33 inch (0.8 to 8 mm) in length. They are often referred to as false wireworms.
Development from egg to adult may require 50 days during summer. Eggs hatch in 3 to 6 days and there can be five larval instars. The pupal period lasts 8 days or longer. Beetles are frequently numerous in spring and early summer and may be seen running on the ground but are more frequently found under clods or organic debris during daylight hours.
Damage is often caused during the seedling stage of plant growth. Young plants may be girdled or cut off at or below the soil surface. After the plants reach a height of 5 to 6 inches, darkling beetles are usually not a problem.
Start inspecting plants for darkling beetle damage along with other pests and their damage when the crop emerges. Treat if darkling beetles are causing a reduction in stand of the young plants. Infestations are frequently spotty, and damage and treatment may be confined to field margins or specific portions of the field.
UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines: Dry | http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r52301311.html | fineweb | 1,365 | 3.265625 |
Let us explore what semiology is made of and see how we can connect these conclusions to music.
Semiology is broken into the signifier, the signified, and the sign. Roland Barthes describes their relationship in his essay “Myth Today”:
“For what we grasp is not at all one term after the other, but the correlation which unites them: there are, therefore, the signifier, the signified, and the sign, which is the associative total of the first two terms”.
The example Barthes uses is a bouquet of roses (signifier) conveying passion (signified) with the sign being the “associative total” of the roses and passion.
What adds another layer to this semiotic relationship is how the signifier and signified work to create a sign. If there are multiple signifieds for a signifier, a sign does not reveal itself. Put one signified in, however, and a sign arises.
Barthes makes note of this with an example: “…take a black pebble: I can make it signify in several ways, it is a mere signifier; but if I weigh it with a definite signified (a death sentence, for instance, in an anonymous vote), it will become a sign”.
Generally, musicians are not ones to label their music. They often defy such a prospect openly. If labeling were to happen semiotically speaking, the signifier would have one signified. A sign, then, would be present. Is this push to defy categorization a push against one’s music becoming a sign?
That would imply that a sign carries negative connotations; as if signs are used to propagate the profit of record executives. But are signs used exclusively for financial and marketing situations?
A band could signify a particular thought process that coincides with a scene of musical people that also signify the same thing. It opens happens vice versa as well. The sign works in a communal way, bringing like minded semiotic systems together.
And yet was not that what happened with the previous example? Even if it is under the guise of big business, at its base is the same musical-cultural semiotic event.
Nevertheless, music can and does have multiple interpretations. Does that mean that there is less of a sign? Maybe a music can exist as many signs because people settle with different signifieds for the same signifier. That would imply everyone is hearing the signified in the same way. Are we really?
This, along with semiology in general, begs to be explored. | https://cjeller.wordpress.com/2016/10/16/unlabeled-and-unsigned/ | fineweb | 2,384 | 2.890625 |
Coral Reefs are some of the most fascinating, important, and vulnerable ecosystems in the world. They hold a high environmental value due to species abundance and biodiversity, containing more species per unit area than any other marine environment. Healthy reefs also contribute to local economies through tourism and fishing. Over the past few decades, coral reefs have been degrading due to climate change and other anthropogenic causes such as overfishing and pollution. Hughes et al. (2012) evaluated the composition of assemblages in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef using multiscale sampling and analyses determined that the assembly rules, a set of ecological rules determining patterns of assemblage composition, of corals in the Great Barrier Reef are flexible, and do not change in response to latitudinal climatic drivers. Because the diverse pool of species they sampled are able to assemble in different configurations across a large range of environments, Hughes and colleagues support the hypothesis that coral reef assemblages will change extensively in the future, but not necessarily collapse due to climate change as long as greenhouse gas emissions are reduced sufficiently.—Kelsey Waite
Hughes, T.P., Baird, A.H., Dinsdale, E.A., Moltschaniwskyj, N.A., Pratchett, M.S., Tanner, J.E., Willis, B.L., 2012. Assembly rules of reef corals are flexible along a steep climatic gradient. Current Biology 22, 736-741.
Hughes and colleagues studied regional scale patterns in the composition of coral reef formations in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. They used a multiscale sampling approach in which 33 reefs, within five different regions, were sampled over a 12-month period. The coral composition, as well as the number of coral colonies and percent of coral coverage was taken at each reef. Over 35,000 colonies were categorized into 12 ecologically relevant groups (taxa) depending on their physiology, morphology, and life history. The variation in abundance of each of these 12 groups was then analyzed across the five regions.
Coral assemblages have two main habitats: reef crests (1–2m depth) and reef slopes (6–7m depth). The characteristic faunas of reef crests and reef slopes differ greatly. Hughes et al. suggest that assemblages do not show an increasing or decreasing trend with latitude or latitude-related temperature gradients since different taxa flourish while others decrease or remain constant in abundance as the environment changes. On crests, 9 of the 12 taxa varied among the five regions, while 7 out of 12 varied on the reef slopes. Only one of the 12 taxa was uniformly abundant on both the crests and slopes, the other 11 taxa showed significant spatial variation. Hughes and colleagues suggest that this spatial variation may be due to disturbance events such as cyclones, crown-of-thorn starfish predation, episodes of bleaching, or to pulses of recruitment by more dominant species. | https://climatevulture.com/2013/04/03/great-barrier-reef-corals-show-flexible-assembly-rules-across-a-steep-climatic-gradient/ | fineweb | 2,928 | 3.875 |
End of preview. Expand
in Dataset Viewer.
No dataset card yet
- Downloads last month
- 32