text
stringlengths 198
630k
|
|---|
1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Xavier, Francisco de
XAVIER, FRANCISCO DE (1506–1552), Jesuit missionary and saint, commonly known in English as St Francis Xavier and also called the “Apostle of the Indies.” He was the youngest son of Juan de Jasso, privy councillor to Jean d’Albret, king of Navarre, and his wife, Maria de Azpilcueta y Xavier, sole heiress of two noble Navarrese families. He was born at his mother’s castle of Xavier or Xavero, at the foot of the Pyrenees and close to the little town of Sanguesa, on the 7th of April 1506, according to a family register, though his earlier biographers fix his birth in 1497. Following a Spanish custom of the time, which left the surname of either parent optional with children, he was called after his mother; the best authorities write “Francisco de Xavier” (Lat. Xaverius) rather than “Francisco Xavier,” as Xavier is originally a place-name. In 1524 he went to the university of Paris, where he entered the College of St Barbara, then the headquarters of the Spanish and Portuguese students, and in 1528 was appointed lecturer in Aristotelian philosophy at the Collége de Beauvais. In 1530 he took his degree as master of arts. He and the Savoyard Pierre Lefèvre, who shared his lodging, had already, in 1529, made the acquaintance of Ignatius of Loyola—like Xavier a native of the Spanish Basque country. Ignatius succeeded, though in Xavier’s case after some opposition, in gaining their sympathy for his missionary schemes (see Loyola, Ignatius of); and they were among the company of seven persons, including Loyola himself, who took the original Jesuit vows on the 15th of August 1534. They continued in Paris for two years longer; but on November 15th, 1536, they started for Italy, to concert with Ignatius plans for converting the Moslems of Palestine. In January 1537 they arrived in Venice. As some months must elapse before they could sail for Palestine, Ignatius determined that the time should be spent partly in hospital work at Venice and later in the journey to Rome. Accordingly, Xavier devoted himself for nine weeks to the hospital for incurables, and then set out with eight companions for Rome, where Pope Paul III. sanctioned their enterprise. Returning to Venice, Xavier was ordained priest on Midsummer Day 1537; but the outbreak of war between Venice and Turkey put an end to the Palestine expedition, and the companions dispersed for a twelvemonth’s home mission work in the Italian cities. Nicolas Bobadilla and Xavier betook themselves first to Monselice and thence to Bologna, where they remained till summoned to Rome by Ignatius at the close of 1538.
Ignatius retained Xavier at Rome until 1541 as secretary to the Society of Jesus (see Jesuits for the events of the period 1538–41). Meanwhile John III., king of Portugal, had resolved on sending a mission to his Indian dominions, and had applied through his envoy Pedro Mascarenhas to the pope for six Jesuits. Ignatius could spare but two, and chose Bobadilla and a Portuguese named Simão Rodrigues for the purpose. Rodrigues set out at once for Lisbon to confer with the king, who ultimately decided to retain him in Portugal. Bobadilla, sent for to Rome, arrived there just before Mascarenhas was about to depart, but fell too ill to respond to the call made on him.
Hereupon Ignatius, on March 15th, 1540, told Xavier to leave Rome the next day with Mascarenhas, in order to join Rodrigues in the Indian mission. Xavier complied, merely waiting long enough to obtain the pope’s benediction, and set out for Lisbon, where he was presented to the king, and soon won his entire confidence, attested notably by procuring for him from the pope four briefs, one of them appointing him papal nuncio in the Indies. On April 7th, 1541, he sailed from Lisbon with Martim Alfonso de Sousa, governor designate of India, and lived amongst the common sailors, ministering to their religious and temporal needs, especially during an outbreak of scurvy. After five months’ voyage the ship reached Mozambique, where the captain resolved to winter, and Xavier was prostrated with a severe attack of fever. When the voyage was resumed, the ship touched at Malindi and Sokotra, and reached Goa on May 6th, 1542. Exhibiting his brief to D. João d’Albuquerque, bishop of Goa, he asked his permission to officiate in the diocese, and at once began walking through the streets ringing a small bell, and telling all to come, and send their children and servants, to the “Christian doctrine” or catechetical instruction in the principal church. He spent five months in Goa, and then turned his attention to the “Fishery Coast,” where he had heard that the Paravas, a tribe engaged in the pearl fishery, had relapsed into heathenism after having professed Christianity. He laboured assiduously amongst them for fifteen months, and at the end of 1543 returned to Goa.
At Travancore he is said to have founded no fewer than forty-five Christian settlements. It is to be noted that his own letters contain, both at this time and later on, express disproof of that miraculous gift of tongues with which he was credited even in his lifetime, and which is attributed to him in the Breviary office for his festival. Not only was he obliged to employ interpreters, but he relates that in their absence he was compelled to use signs only.
He sent a missionary to the isle of Manaar, and himself visited Ceylon and Mailapur (Meliapur), the traditional tomb of St Thomas the apostle, which he reached in April 1544, remaining there four months. At Malacca, where he arrived on September 25th, 1545, he remained another four months, but had comparatively little success. While in Malacca he urged King John III. of Portugal to set up the Inquisition in Goa to repress Judaism, but the tribunal was not set up until 1560. After visiting Amboyna, the Moluccas and other isles of the Malay archipelago, he returned to Malacca in July 1547, and found three Jesuit recruits from Europe awaiting him. About this time an attack upon the city was made by the Achinese fleet, under the raja of Pedir in Sumatra; and Xavier’s early biographers relate a dramatic story of how he roused the governor to action. This story is open to grave suspicion, as, apart from the miracles recorded, there are wide discrepancies between the secular Portuguese histories and the narratives written or inspired by Jesuit chroniclers of the 17th century.
While in Malacca Xavier met one Yajiro, a Japanese exile (known to the biographies as Anger, Angero or Anjiro), who fired him with zeal for the conversion of Japan. But he first revisited India and then, returning to Malacca, took ship for Japan, accompanied by Yajiro, now known as Paul of the Holy Faith. They reached Kagoshima on the 15th of August 1549, and remained in Japan until the 20th of November 1551. (See Japan, § viii.) On board the “Santa Cruz,” the vessel in which he returned from Japan to Malacca, Xavier discussed with Diogo Pereira, the captain, a project for a missionary journey to China. He devised the plan of persuading the viceroy of Portuguese India to despatch an embassy to China, in whose train he might enter, despite the law which then excluded foreigners from that empire. He reached Goa in February 1552, and obtained from the viceroy consent to the plan of a Chinese embassy and to the nomination of Pereira as envoy. Xavier left India on the 25th of April 1552 for Malacca, intending there to meet Pereira and to re-embark on the “Santa Cruz.”
The story of his detention by the governor (officially styled captain) of Malacca—a son of Vasco da Gama named Alvaro de Ataide or Athayde—is told with many picturesque details by F. M. Pinto and some of the Jesuit biographers, who have pilloried Ataide as actuated solely by malice and self-interest. Ataide appears to have objected not so much to the mission as to the rank assigned to Pereira, whom he regarded as unfit for the office of envoy. The right to send a ship to trade with China was one for which large sums were paid, and Pereira, as commander of the expedition, would enjoy commercial privileges which Ataide had, ex officio, the power to grant or withhold. It seems doubtful if the governor exceeded his legal right in refusing to allow Pereira to proceed; in this attitude he remained firm even when Xavier, if the Jesuit biographers may be trusted, exhibited the brief by which he held the rank of papal nuncio, and threatened Ataide with excommunication. On Xavier’s personal liberty no restraint was placed. He embarked without Pereira on July 16th, 1552. After a short stay at Singapore, whence he despatched several letters to India and Europe, the ship at the end of August 1552 reached Chang-chuen-shan (St John Island) off the coast of Kwang-tung, which served as port and rendezvous for Europeans, not then admitted to visit the Chinese mainland.
Xavier was seized with fever soon after his arrival, and was delayed by the failure of the interpreter he had engaged, as well as by the reluctance of the Portuguese to attempt the voyage to Canton for the purpose of landing him. He had arranged for his passage in a Chinese junk, when he was again attacked by fever, and died on December 2nd, or, according to some authorities, November 27th, 1552. He was buried close to the cabin in which he had died, but his body was later transferred to Malacca, and thence to Goa, where it still lies in a magnificent shrine (see J. N. da Fonseca, An Historical and Archaeological Sketch of Goa, Bombay, 1878). He was beatified by Paul V. in 1619 and canonized by Gregory XV. in 1621.
In appearance Xavier was neither Spanish nor Basque. He had blue or grey eyes, and fair hair and beard, which turned white through the hardships he endured in Japan. That he was of short stature is proved by the length of the coffin in which his body is still preserved, less than 5 ft. 1 in. (Fonseca, op. cit. p. 296). Many miracles have been ascribed to him; an official list of these, said to have been attested by eye-witnesses, was drawn up by the auditors of the Rota when the processes for his canonization were formed, and is preserved in manuscript in the Vatican library. The contention that Xavier should be regarded as the greatest of Christian missionaries since the first century A.D. rests upon more tangible evidence. His Jesuit biographers attribute to him the conversion of more than 700,000 persons in less than ten years; and though these figures are absurd, the work which Xavier accomplished was enormous. He inaugurated new missionary enterprises from Hormuz to Japan and the Malay Archipelago, leaving an organized Christian community wherever he preached; he directed by correspondence the ecclesiastical policy of John III. and his viceroy in India; he established and controlled the Society of Jesus in the East. Himself an ascetic and a mystic, to whom things spiritual were more real than the visible world, he had the strong common sense which distinguished the other Spanish mystics, St Theresa, Luis de Leon or Raimon Lull. This quality is nowhere better exemplified than in his letters to Gaspar Baertz (Barzaeus), the Flemish Jesuit whom he sent to Hormuz, or in his suggestions for the establishment of a Portuguese staple in Japan. Supreme as an organizer, he seems also to have had a singularly attractive personality, which won him the friendship even of the pirates and bravos with whom he was forced to consort on his voyages. Modern critics of his work note that he made no attempt to understand the oriental religions which he attacked, and censure him for invoking the aid of the Inquisition and sanctioning persecution of the Nestorians in Malabar. He strove, with a success disastrous to the Portuguese empire, to convert the government in Goa into a proselytizing agency. Throughout his life he remained in close touch with Ignatius of Loyola, who is said to have selected Xavier as his own successor at the head of the Society of Jesus. Within a few weeks of Xavier’s death, indeed, Ignatius sent letters recalling him to Europe with that end in view.
Bibliography.—Many of the authorities on which the biographies of Xavier have been based are untrustworthy, notably the Peregrinaçam of F. M. Pinto (q.v.), which minutely describes certain incidents of his life in the Far East (especially in Japan and Malacca). Xavier’s extant letters, supplemented by a few other 16th-century documents, outweigh all other evidence. It is perhaps noteworthy that Xavier himself never mentions Pinto; but the omission may be explained by the numerous gaps in his correspondence. A critical text of the letters, with notes, bibliography and a life in Spanish, will be found in Monumenta Xaveriana ex Autographis vel ex Antiquioribus Exemplis collecta, vol. i. (Madrid, 1899–1900), included in Monumenta historica Societatis Jesu. For translations, The Life and Letters of St Francis Xavier, by H. Coleridge, S.J. (2 vols., London, 1872), is useful, though the historical commentary has little value. There are numerous older and uncritical biographies by members of the Society; best and earliest are De vita Francisca Xaverii . . . libri sex, by O. Torsellino (Tursellinus) (Antwerp, 1596; English by T. F., The Admirable Life of St Francis Xavier, Paris, 1632); and Historia da Vida do Padre Francisco de Xavier, &c., by Lucena (Lisbon, 1600). Later works by the Jesuits Bartoli, Maffei, de Sousa, Poussines, Menchacha, Léon Pagès and others owe much to Torsellino and Lucena, but also incorporate many traditions which can no longer be verified. St François de Xavier, sa vie et ses lettres, by J. M. Cros, S.J. (2 vols., Toulouse, 1900), embodies the results of long research. The Missionary Life of St Francis Xavier, by the Rev. H. Venn, prebendary of St Paul’s cathedral, London (London, 1862), is polemical, but contains an interesting map of Xavier’s journeys. For a non-partisan account of Xavier’s work in the East, see K. G. Jayne, Vasco da Gama and his Successors, chapters 25–32 (London, 1910); and Otis Cary, A History of Christianity in Japan (2 vols., London, 1909). (K. G. J.)
- See R. S. Whiteway, Rise of the Portuguese Power in India (London, 1898), appendix A. The question is complicated by the fact that the Sixth Decade of Diogo do Couto, the best contemporary historian of these events, was suppressed by the censor in its original form, and the extant version was revised by an ecclesiastical editor. |
Bright halos around distant quasars
This mosaic shows 18 of the 19 quasars observed by an international team of astronomers, led by the ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Each observed quasar is surrounded by a bright gaseous halo. It is the first time that a survey of quasars shows such bright halos around all of the observed quasars.
The discovery was made using the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope.Telif:
ESO/Borisova et al.
|Yayın tarihi:||26 Ekim 2016 12:00|
|Frame rate:||30 fps|
|Tür:||Early Universe : Galaxy : Activity : AGN : Quasar|
|Kategori:||Quasars and Black Holes| |
The world as it is today is virtually a flat surface upon which all the activities are conducted in a near similar fashion. This is to mean that the contemporary era has been heavily characterized by globalization. Technological supremacies and any affiliated dominances have been quashed out by the improvements that have brought about globalization. The two articles discussed herein explain in greater lengths the importance of technology and computational advancements in the establishment of new world orders.
First-Class Online Research Paper Writing Service
- Your research paper is written by a PhD professor
- Your requirements and targets are always met
- You are able to control the progress of your writing assignment
- You get a chance to become an excellent student!
Summary of the article ‘It’s a flat world after all’
The article tends to expound into great lengths the importance of technology in the establishment of globalization that has characterized nearly all the activities of the world today. The root cause of globalization s arguably advancements in the technological sector especially the computer network. An outsourcing research carried out on the technological savvy town of Bangalore, India has acted to prove these claims. According to the results of the interviews, technological advancements such as increased broadband connectivity, undersea cable wiring, cheapening of computers and subsequent widespread distribution, explosion of remote software , establishment of research engines such as Google, and adoption of proprietary software have all played big parts in the globalization process. The idea of a flat world can be likened to the functioning of the giant flat screen television (biggest in Asia) used by Infosys Technologies in the town of Bangalore. As a result f technological revolutions the year 2000 marked off a globalization agenda where platforms that invited intellectual works and ideas were formed. The information placed on these platforms could later on be disseminated and later reorganized thereby creating a variety of ideas. Bangalore is a typical outcome of a successful agglomeration of these technological advancements. Added to this, the globalization process was characterized by their distinct phases; country based, industry based and lastly individual based phases. The first phase was characterized by countries trying to own resources as well as subject other coutries to imperialistic ideas. The second phase was majorly based on industries identifying suitable markets and labor sources. The third and last phase is reported to ongoing and aims at creating the world to be like a tiny platform whereby countries like Bangalore, Berlin and Chicago for instance could coexist freely as if they were in one geological sphere of influence. By this I mean that these towns could work like they are next door neighbors even though they are distinctly apart in terms of their geographical positions. Key to the globalization agenda are ten important processes otherwise referred to as flatteners. They are arranged systematically to depict he changes that have come over time. First was the flattening of the Berlin Wall that allowed the thought of the whole world as a single space leading to processes such as increased computer interfaces. Second was the publicizing of Netscape which allowed for modifications in the internet business as well as occurrence of the dot com bubble. Third was the workflow process. The next six processes of outsourcing, off shoring, open-sourcing, in sourcing, supply chaining and informing helped create collaborative measures that flattened the world even more. The last flattener was the steroids which increased wireless communication thereby allowing the creation of a turbo charger which enabled the performance of any flattener anywhere at any time and by using any device. The result was a collaborative research criterion that formed basis for globalization. The flattening of hierarchies implies that the dominance of the western countries is soon being leveled out by the fast growing eastern cultures. Remember it is the eastern sphere that is initiating the third phase of globalization. Of importance are the side effects that come with the rapid globalization. First, there is an increased wave of terrorist groups who benefit from these technologies to organize themselves. Then there is the threat of hackers who generate very dangerous viruses that might threaten the whole globalization process especially where computers are used. Technology has therefore transformed the large fields of business, governance and societal actiivities into newer levels.
Summary of the article on ‘The world's not so flat after all’
In this case, however, the author argues that even though globalization has borne positive results, it should not be overemphasized. Global integration could face s tiff tests of individual countries being largely discordant in their activities. Globalization tends to assume the complete interaction of ties ignoring the independence of each country i.e. the variability in the economic activities and priorities. Cross border ties are positive (as expressed by most authors) but could also have their negative sides. In globalization, it is important to consider the origin of the prevalent technologies and subsequently the target regions (where) used. As evident from the poor penetration levels of Google (a search engine giant) in the Russian market, it is important that we acknowledge the fact that globalization, in part, is influenced by physical locations and as such the assumptions of reduced distance levels should be ignored. The fact that countries are devising nationalistic networks to help in their development seems to down play the overemphasis that has been accorded to globalization whereby the one-size-fits-all-countries strategy has been used extensively.
As it is clear from the two articles, divergent views on the issue of globalization and its resulting features are discussed in various measures. According to me, the first article (It’s a flat world after all) summarizes all the aspects of globalization in the most concise manner. Of importance is the fact that technological advancements play the greatest part in the globalization process that has by far characterized the contemporary world. Every invention made in the technological field seems to have a repercussion on the globalization agenda. This article tends to explain the relevance of technology in the globalization process with the requisite clarity. For sure, technological advancements are the major causative agent of globalization. (Odedra-Straub, Okot-Uma & Cyranek, 1995) |
Birth Name: Miles Dewey Davis III
Date of Birth: May 26, 1926
Place of Birth: Alton, Illinois, U.S.
Date of Death: September 28, 1991
Place of Death: Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Miles Davis was an American musician, bandleader, and composer. He was the son of Cleota Mae (Henry), a music teacher and violinist, and Miles Dewey Davis, an oral surgeon. He had four children.
Miles’ paternal grandparents were named Miles Dewey Davis and Mary Francis Jones or Luster. Miles’ grandfather Miles was born in Georgia. |
More than 50 million people worldwide currently are refugees, asylum seekers or internally displaced within their own countries, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday, in a new report released to mark World Refugee Day.
That figure is more than the entire population of Spain, South Africa or South Korea, or more than double the population of Australia.
The 51.2 million registered for 2013 is also 6 million more than the 45.2 million reported in 2012, according to the UNHCR’s annual Global Trends report — a big jump in the wrong direction.
The huge increase was driven mainly by the war in Syria. Major internal displacement was also seen last year in Africa, in the Central African Republic and South Sudan, where conflicts have taken on an increasingly ethnic nature.
“We are seeing here the immense costs of not ending wars, of failing to resolve or prevent conflict,” said U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres.
Civil war in Syria has created the worst refugee crisis in 20 years, aid agencies have warned, with no end to the conflict in sight.
Since March 2011, more than 2.5 million Syrians have fled abroad and another 6.5 million have been internally displaced. That means a third of the country has now been forced to leave their homes.
With an average of 6,000 people fleeing every day in 2013, Antonio Guterres, the UN’s refugee chief, said refugee numbers had not risen “at such a frightening rate” since the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
Aid agencies are calling it the worst humanitarian disaster in recent history.
According to the UN’s Relief and Works Agency, Jordan is currently home to more than 584,000 Syrian refugees, including around 100,000 in the Zaatari refugee camp alone. Turkey hosts the second largest number, with 634,900.
Lebanon, which had a pre-Syrian war population of just over four million, is now sheltering nearly a million refugees. (The number hosted by Lebanon as a ratio of its population would be equivalent to nearly 15 million in France, 32 million in Russia or 71 million in the United States!) |
Improvements in technology have allowed us to come a long way since the days of our ancestors, which is made exceptionally clear by our developments in the realm of healthcare. There are so many ways that healthcare providers can use information technology to their advantage, so we’ll cover a select few here.
Final Source blog
Many industries depend on their IT working properly to function as intended, and healthcare is among them. Prior to 2009, information technology had failed to take root, but with the passing of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act), the health industry is much more involved and reliant on IT than it has ever been before.
There is no denying there is a standing partnership between IT and Healthcare. With costs inflating at a nearly-uncontrollable rate the healthcare industry has started to lean on IT to try and make the delivery of care more efficient. Today, we’ll take a look at healthcare IT, and how the industry is working to use innovative new technologies such as machine learning to provide operational efficiency resulting in better care.
The medical field has spawned all kinds of new technology that takes patient care to the next level. Regulations demand that even smaller practices need to make the jump to electronic medical record systems (also known as electronic health records). These EMR/EHR solutions provide an interface that give providers and patients a way to keep themselves connected to each other--a tool to promote a more efficient delivery method for these services. We’ll take a look at these EMR and EHR solutions that are hosted in the cloud, giving your organization more information to make an educated choice on implementing this software.
Mobile? Grab this Article! |
Stress Fracture of the Lower Back
Very active adolescents that play high volumes of sports involving end of range lower back movements (think gymnastics, dancing, tennis, surfing, fast bowlers in cricket, volleyballers …) are prime candidates to develop stress fractures in their lower vertebrae. The part of the spine called the pars interarticularis gets overloaded and the bone undergoes a stress reaction or a hot spot on the bone. These can be quite painful. Stress reactions in the spine usually occur down the bottom of your lower back at your 4th or 5th lumbar vertebra. This usually presents in active adolescents as localised lower back pain with no particular mechanism of injury, and it gets worse with activity (especially the sport in question) and better with rest.
What is a stress reaction versus a stress fracture?
Normal bone health relies on constant remodelling of the bone. It is constantly being broken down and rebuilt in a healthy manner. When this mechanism gets thrown out by too much heavy compressive load, the bone begins to develop a stress reaction. If allowed to continue, the bone will eventually weaken to the point where a fracture occurs, which generally does not need much force.
Stress fractures most commonly occurs at the pars area in the spine. All engineers know that structural vulnerabilities occur in the small links that join big parts together and the spine is no exception to this rule. The red line in the below picture is where the pars is.
You can see from this picture that each vertebra has a big body at the front and a long spinous process at the back that is linked via a relatively small area called the pars interarticularis. This is the smallest and weakest link in the vertebra, especially in activities that extend and rotate your back, and this area is vulnerable to stress reactions and can eventually result in a stress fracture or spondylolysis.
So what causes the stress reaction to begin with?
- Activities that put a lot of stress through the pars interarticularis in your lower back. This is generally activities where you are extending, side flexing and rotating your lower back such as:
- Fast bowling in cricket
- Serving in tennis (second most common overuse injury in tennis)
- Specific tricks in gymnastics or acrobatics
- Figure skating
- Degenerative changes in your lumbar spine, natural ageing of the lumbar vertebra as well as osteoarthritis (Link) can lead to stress fractures and spondylolisthesis
- Genetics – some people are born with thinner pars regions than others
How do physios treat this condition?
The first part of treating this condition is an accurate diagnosis and treatment plan. A thorough clinical subjective and objective examination are required and in symptomatic adolescents <18 years old, further scans such as a bone scan, CT SPECT or MRI may be necessary. For adults scans are rarely necessary. Physiotherapy treatment is the cornerstone of treatment and the vast majority of cases will make a full recover with the right physiotherapy treatment alone
Physiotherapy treatment will be split into 3 phases after an accurate diagnosis is made. First up is a period of relative rest for 4-12 weeks depending on symptoms. Phase two is the rehabilitation phase, focusing on progressive strengthening and low impact aerobic exercise. The third phase is working on returning the patient to their chosen sport or activity. In total the whole timeframe for treatment is generally between 3-6 months
During the period of relative rest, the focus is on offloading the stress in your lower back at the pars area (from the anatomy before). This will mean no sports, running or exercise classes and avoiding end-of-range motion of your lumbar spine. During this phase we also begin core activation and bracing, and education about correct postures to maintain during everyday life. If the pain is still severe after 2-4 weeks, we may also consider using a brace to ensure that the fracture site is being offloaded and to help with stabilising your spine.
Once you have close to full lower back range of motion without pain, we can progress to the rehab phase. During the rehab phase we will progressively increase your core and postural strength by adding in exercises like planks, side planks, core exercises using a swiss ball and lower limb strengthening as well.
Next, we will start to integrate sports specific movements into your regime. This will mean more dynamic core exercises such as woodchops, multidirectional lunges, and a return to run program all with correct core control and alignment to minimise the pain. We will also look at sport specific activities. If you’re a fast bowler in cricket, the lower lumbar rotation can be a risk factor so we may need to take a look at your bowling action and training load, and come up with some ideas to unload the lower back. |
So lets dive in
The Processor Object in the perfomance counter gives us a complete details on how our processor that is driving our computer is being used. If you are using a Multi Core processor you will see the instances of the each and every core of the server, and selecting the appropriate counter we can even calculate on how each individual CPU is being utilized.
And now if we go to the description of the counter (%Processor Time) in the Processor Object you will get it as
% Processor Time is the percentage of elapsed time that the processor spends to execute a non-Idle thread. It is calculated by measuring the percentage of time that the processor spends executing the idle thread and then subtracting that value from 100%. (Each processor has an idle thread that consumes cycles when no other threads are ready to run). This counter is the primary indicator of processor activity, and displays the average percentage of busy time observed during the sample interval. It should be noted that the accounting calculation of whether the processor is idle is performed at an internal sampling interval of the system clock (10ms). On todays fast processors, % Processor Time can therefore underestimate the processor utilization as the processor may be spending a lot of time servicing threads between the system clock sampling interval. Workload based timer applications are one example of applications which are more likely to be measured inaccurately as timers are signaled just after the sample is taken.
So we can generally take this Processor Time Counter as a Bench Mark in understanding the utilization of our Processor.
Suppose lets think over a standalone server we have hosted multiple SQL Instances and one of the Instance is consuming most of the CPU, or some antivirus or some Disk Backup is consuming the processor leading to the CPU Bottle necks for the other instance. If at that point of time if we are logged on to the server and if we see the task Manager and if we sort out the processes on the basis of the CPU we will be able to identify the process. What if it is happening daily at midnight when you have to go to sleep. How you are going to Monitor it?
The first thing that will come into your mind is configuring a Data Collector Set, Now what are you going to add in it?
So the solution is we have this object called Process. This Process object has the instances of all the process that are running over the server. And this counter has the objects which give us the Properties and the Settings that these processes are consuming. You will find so many Counters in the Process object, but today our main discussion is over Processor Time.
If you look into the description of the Process (%Processor Time) it looks like
% Processor Time is the percentage of elapsed time that all of process threads used the processor to execution instructions. An instruction is the basic unit of execution in a
computer, a thread is the object that executes instructions, and a process is the object created when a program is run. Code executed to handle some hardware interrupts and trap conditions are included in this count.
Now this Processor time counter under the Process Object gives the amount of CPU this Process is taking individually. This value is calculated over the base line of
(No of Logical CPUS * 100), So this is going to be a calculated over a baselin of more than 100.
Lets think you are using a QUADCore System, so the baseline over which this Value is going to be calculated is 400. So now if we run the Datacollector Set and capture all the Process and sort them by the order of their Processor time, we will come up with the Process that is taking the most CPU in the server.
There may come up a condition that this Value is more than 400 ie. more than (No of Logical CPUS * 100) this indicates that the Process is extensively using Multithreading and using the Processor to more than its capacity. |
I have previously written about the cyclical pattern of school performance. Generally, in first semester, students will get off to a blazing hot start. September is a cinch. The start of October is a breeze. But somewhere along the way, the momentum begins to shift. Homework is completed less often, tests are no longer being studied for, and school somehow has become more “annoying,” “boring,” or any other similar descriptor.
The key question in this formula is “How can a student sustain this fantastic start to the school year and avoid a drop off?” The answer is awareness, identification, and practice. When Peyton Manning joined the Denver Broncos, he insisted that the Broncos keep a staff member to on a ladder behind him to film every single practice rep that he took. This would be hundreds and hundreds of dropbacks and passes each day. He would then watch them all, analyze them, and work to emulate the very best practice reps that he identified each time.
This is the essence of the process that must be mirrored with students. When they are doing well– in September and early October– it helps to increase their awareness. Have a period of reflection at the end of each week. Discuss the successes of the week: the work habits that occurred and how successful the week was. This is a tough task to pull off for a parent, but it can be done by an older sibling, trusted teacher, or an academic coach. This will increase a student’s awareness.
In this process, it is important to identify specific strengths. What is the student doing effectively? How can they maintain these habits? It may even help to write these habits down. That way, if a student does begin to lose momentum, you have a tried and true formula for them to review later in the semester. Instead of school struggles being abstract and frustrating, there will be a defined list of steps to take in order to steady school performance. Even better, the strengths and work habits that they identified will be in their own words.
Finally, students need to practice. This requires mental and physical energy. Students need to work to maintain the successes that they are having and each week continue to increase awareness around their school successes, identify the exact measures they are taking, and then continue to practice these skills. This process is not particular to school. It is relevant for any skill: hitting a baseball, learning to play guitar, practicing a scene. However, it is not often that schools emphasize becoming better at organizing folders and a backpack or managing one’s time efficiently on game days or practice days.
By creating a concrete list of successes when things go well, students will always have this list for future use. Often times, students can get stuck in long term thinking patterns like, “My whole semester is ruined. I can’t get these grades up.” This can result in a shutdown. Instead, it’s effective to have small steps that seem more manageable and realistic to complete. It is important to not only celebrate successes but also to capture the moment in time and use it to continue to grow. |
It is easy to get confused by the many types of therapies available since they all treat different needs and provide distinct health benefits. Both may have the same goal but use different techniques to relieve pain and restore function. Several types of massage use different healing approaches and focus on different parts of the body. A massage therapist is well-trained to address the needs of their clients or patients. They may apply strong or gentle pressure to the joints and muscles to ease pain and tension. In this article, we will be looking at five key differences between muscle therapy and massage therapy.
Massage therapy is used to manipulate soft tissues in the body including joints, ligaments, tendons, and muscles. It helps reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety and stabilizes the client’s mood. In contrast, muscle therapy is used on people who experience pain or lack of motion resulting from a strain or a critical event such as an accident. It helps an individual manage an existing condition and increase the range of motion. Muscle therapy could also be used to provide daily exercises and education in injury prevention. It may help minimize inflammation and increase circulation of blood to the soft tissues.
- Techniques Used
During massage therapy, a therapist uses deep circular movements, long strokes, kneading, and passive joint movements. All these techniques are meant to help you relax as they increase the blood flow and stimulate nerve endings. This type of massage is usually done to the whole body but a client may choose to have partial massage therapy. A massage therapist will begin on your back before flipping over at halfway point. You can always ask your therapist to use firm, medium or light pressure depending on your preferences.
On the contrary, muscle therapy targets the inner layers of your connective tissues, muscles, and tendons. It is primarily centered on the manipulation and stretching of muscles. Unlike massage therapy, it uses more pressure to relieve pain. The techniques used in muscle therapy facilitates healing by releasing areas in your tissue or muscles that contracted.
Physical therapists and massage therapists both care about helping their clients relieve pain and regain their functionality. However, physical therapists bear much responsibility as they help improve movement and manage pain. They go through a longer period of education to learn everything essential on how to help different patients. Massage therapists may begin practicing much sooner but take a shorter time to complete their professional courses. This means that a physical therapist has much responsibility as they go beyond the normal massage techniques to restore mobility and improve body function.
- Doctor’s Prescription
Physical therapists who perform muscle therapy must be licensed and need to have graduated from an accredited physical therapy school before sitting for the Physical Therapist Examination. Their primary goal is to restore function since they are taught how to fix a particular problem related to muscle movements in the body. Because of this reason, they may require a doctor’s prescription to identify the primary problem and work towards recovery. Licensing laws for massage therapists may vary by state or country. However, the common requirements include graduating from a massage therapy school. Some start practicing earlier because they take a shorter time to complete their courses. Unlike muscle therapy, massage therapists do not need a doctor’s prescription because they focus primarily on relieving stress and some forms of depression.
- Cost of Therapy
The average cost for massage therapy is estimated at $60 per hour but the price may vary significantly depending on the region. Muscle therapy sessions use more trigger point techniques including some neuromuscular therapy. Because of this reason, they tend to be priced higher than massage therapy. On average, muscle therapy is estimated at $100 per hour and may vary by state or region. Urban areas are generally pricier because of the higher costs of operations. You can always call a few therapists who offer similar services to compare their prices and other details you might require.
Although both muscle therapy and massage therapy work towards relieving pain, stress and other forms of depression, they use different techniques to achieve their primary goal. Understanding the different types of massage helps address your primary problem and reduces the confusion that arises when choosing between different types of massage. Both massage and muscle therapists focus on their scope of work based on their clients’ needs. It is always important to talk to your therapist so that they can apply little or more pressure to suit your preferences. |
First, you can include as many paragraphs as possible depending on the ideas that you have.
However, many teachers allow their students to select their own topics. With a persuasive essaythe sentence structure is more in the form of a complete sentence instead of a question.
And remember to add any other great suggestions in the comment section below. Persuasive Essay Ideas on Controversial Topics Federal tax money shouldn't go to bail out any financial institutions U.
After all, a report is more fun and engaging for students if they enjoy the topic that they have to research and write about. Every persuasive essay has: For example, a student taking a British literature course would most likely not compose a report on the topic of salmon migration. Therefore, the process of selecting a thesis topic will likely involve some revision.
Quality Guarantee We have an exceptional team of proficient writers with a vast experience in writing quality academic essays. Other teachers will want a project that both informs and persuades.
I walked into the cafeteria. The best way to know if a topic sparks curiosity is if the topic sparks curiosity in the writer. Formatting is one of the steps on the way to your desired grade. Call or email us today at PREP or info applerouth.
A properly drafted evaluation will go like this: Is Mike Tyson still a superstar. Many instructors require that students have their college research paper topics pre-approved before beginning to gather their research or before they begin writing the document.
The student then writes about the research and draws a conclusion through an often-subjective lens of personal experience and opinion.
It concentrates on what makes two things similar or different or various combinations of differences and similarities. For example, if a topic is "apples," then students should write essays to address some sub-topic relating to apples. Aggro berlin kollegah dissertation change myself essay writing.
Next, as the student outlines and drafts the report, the student needs to ensure that the project follows the topic closely. For instance, if the thesis statement were "The quality of life of nursing home residents is improved by having pets in the nursing home," the topic is having pets in nursing homes.
If you have a task to prepare a culture essay, use the following samples to understand how it should look like. They are prepared by professional writers who specialize in Philology and Writing.
If you have an exact topic to write about, you can use those samples as a guide for structure. Writing Topics. Do you want to inspire your students to write great narratives, essays, and reports?
Check out these grade-specific writing topics organized by mode (explanatory, creative, and so on). Essay Topics by Category. There are plenty essay types, and the character of their topics depends on the specifics of each paper.
While persuasive and argumentative essay topics may seem to be identical, cause and effect and narrative essay topics are completely different. Today I’d like to share a mash-up of creative writing prompts. There are no rules. Write a poem. Write a short story.
Write an essay. Aim for a hundred words or aim for a hundred thousand. When writing the essay, you’ll first need to state your own opinion, then develop evidence to support that opinion. These reasons and examples (evidence) should convince readers to believe your argument.
I know this quick definition gives you the basics, but you should know more about persuasive writing before you attempt to write your own essay.
5 College Application Essay Topics That Always Work. Here are 5 places to find great college essay topics your own life experience: 1. Memorable meals When you write about difficult topics—mistakes, learning, making a difference—it is very tempting to start talking in clichés, or to end in a .Subjects to write about in an essay |
I need to create an buffer around a point which is 3.58km x 3.0km. i.e I need two sides of the buffer to be 3.58km long and the other two sides to be 3.0km --> making a rectangular shape. I am finding this task difficult as the buffer area is not an equal area. does anyone know how to do this?
I have tried to, however There are a few issues I face with this.
Firstly, my coordinate reference system is in degrees not meters. Would it be accurate if I was to convert the CRS from WGS84 to once which uses meters instead of degrees. then type in the specific dimensions I want --> save the shapefile and then convert it to WGS84.
Secondly The buffer tool does not have a viable option to input two data points. Would I need to save the data points (i.e 3.58km x 3.0km) In Excel and save it as a text file then upload it and enter that data set into the buffer tool? |
This is the key finding of a new report released Monday from federal researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST, which is a branch of the US Commerce Department whose functions include measuring the accuracy of facial-recognition algorithms that companies and researchers submit to the lab.
When tasked with matching a picture of a person wearing a digitally added face mask to a different photo of the person without one, the most accurate facial-recognition algorithms failed to make a correct match between 5% and 50% of the time, according to the report. Generally speaking, most of the algorithms tested had failure rates of between 20% and 50%, Mei Ngan, a computer scientist at NIST and an author of the report, told CNN Business.
The identification issues make sense, as facial-recognition systems typically work by comparing measurements between different facial features in one image to those in another. Blocking off part of the face means there is less information for the software to use to make a match.
It highlights a unique challenge the tech industry is already working to confront as the pandemic continues. While the technology is controversial, with a number of companies recently rethinking providing this technology to law enforcement, it’s used in a range of products and services, from using your face to unlock your smartphone to passing through a security checkpoint.
For their report, the researchers created nine different black and light blue mask shapes to account for the ways mask shapes vary in the real world and used them to hide part of a person’s face in a photo. They then compared a digitally masked photo of each person with another, unmasked photo of the same person. They also conducted a test of the algorithms on both sets of photos with no virtual masks.
In all, they tested 89 algorithms on more than 6 million photos featuring a million different people. The photos came from two sources: applications for US immigration benefits, which were used as the unmasked images, and photos of travelers crossing a border to enter the US, which were given a digital mask.
NIST found that the best of these algorithms -— which were submitted to the lab before mid-March — failed just 0.3% of the time when tested on these same sets of photos without the digital masks. With the digital masks on, however, error rates climbed to 5% among these same algorithms.
An obvious shortcoming of the report is that NIST didn’t test the algorithms on images of people who were actually wearing masks — Ngan said the digital approximations of masks were used due to time and resource constraints. On the plus side, it allowed researchers to quickly get a sense of the effect of masks on the algorithms, but real masks fit differently on different people. It’s still unknown how texture or patterns might affect accuracy of facial recognition software.
“That’s something we want to look at,” Ngan said.
Some companies have said their facial-recognition technology can work with masks, and Ngan said she’s heard from developers who are working on algorithms meant to make this possible — perhaps by training an algorithm with lots of images of people wearing actual masks, or by targeting the region of the face above the middle of the nose.
That’s a focus for Marios Savvides, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who studies biometric identification. He said a person who’s wearing a mask can be essentially invisible to a facial-recognition system, as it doesn’t even detect a face in the first place. He thinks the region of the face that includes the eyes and eyebrows tends to change the least over time, which makes it a good part of the face to use when trying to identify a person whose mouth and nose are hidden.
The NIST report is the first of several that the lab plans to issue about how facial-recognition algorithms identify masked faces. In the fall, Ngan said, NIST expects to release a report on the accuracy of algorithms that were specifically created with the intention of spotting people in masks. |
To be precise, what does contesting a shot mean?
This is an important question since contesting a field goal shot is the defensive action most directly linked to the offensive scoring actions.
“To contest” has several different meanings. The one most fitting here is “to oppose especially in an argument”.
Given this, contesting a FG shot simply means opposing it. Or putting pressure on the shooter so that she can’t shoot the way she would ideally shoot if there was no defense. This is done to lower expected value of the FG shot.
There are two types of this pressure:
- Temporal pressure.
- Spatial pressure.
As is often the case in space/time issues, spatial pressure and temporal pressure are two sides of the same thing – a complementary pair, that is.
Temporal pressure is a condition where in order to avoid or ease the spatial pressure, the shooter abandons her preferred timing and/or movement patterns. In other words, as the defense closes out on the shooter, she in some way rushes her shot.
Spatial pressure affects the movement patterns of the shooter and/or the motion of the ball. This can happen in two ways: indirectly and directly.
Indirect spatial pressure means that to avoid a defender’s touching the ball, the shooter goes away from her preferred movement patterns. A defender can create indirect spatial pressure with hands or with the body.
- If he’s trying to reach the ball – or to touch it – she’s pursuing the ball.
- If she goes so near the shooter that the indirect spatial pressure is primarily due to the positions of her trunk and/or her arm, she’s jamming the shooter.
- To soar means to jump as in order to block the shot after the shooter has released the shot.
Direct spatial pressure means that the defender touches the ball during the FGA and affects its motion.
- If this happens while the ball is still in the shooter’s hands, we call it brushing.
- If the shooter has already released the ball, it’s a swat. (We don’t call it a block because a tag may also be something that’s usually called a block.)
This implies that all FG shots are contested to a degree. To divide them into two categories – contested and uncontested – is to present a false dichotomy. The rate of contesting is a continuum, not an on/off thing.
That is because the shooter always perceives the defense in some way. At the very least, there is always some temporal pressure on her. Even if there are no defenders anywhere near her right now, they just might start closing out on her.
This in turn implies that the rate of contesting on most FG shots is usually not determined by anything that could be measured objectively. Rather, it is the shooter’s perception that determines the amount of both the temporal pressure and the indirect spatial pressure.
In other words, it doesn’t matter as such how close the defender comes to brushing or swatting the ball. What matters as such is how the shooter perceives the situation and how she consequently changes the FG shot.
Of course, this changes if there is direct spatial pressure – or if the defender manages to actually brush or swat the ball.
These theoretical musings have several practical implications regarding coaching.
- The statistics regarding contesting should be approached cautiously. Among other reasons, that is because the stats do not into account the shooter’s perception.
- An elementary part of shooting practice should be learning to adapt to variable contesting. This means shooting versus variable defense, instead of versus air.
- An elementary part of the defense practice should be learning to brush and swat FG shots without fouling.
- Also, a part of the defense practice should be learning to manipulate the shooter’s perception of the contesting. Sometimes it is beneficial to exaggerate the possibility of the direct spatial pressure, sometimes it is beneficial to play it down.
- There is no one optimal way to contest FG shots – for example, to close out. Rather, what the defender should do depends on multiple factors: the defender’s qualities, the shooter’s qualities, the team’s defensive tactics, the opponents’ offensive tactics, the game situation.
This post was published on February 27 2020 and revised on September 13 2020. |
Even more expensive than manuka honey, Sidr honey also known as Ziziphus honey has gained a lot of popularity these days. The Arabian world trust it for a reason!
It was mentioned in the Qur’an, and the prophet recommends it for any kind of illness of the body.
‘Honey is a remedy for every illness and the Qur’an is a remedy for all illness of the mind, therefore I recommend to you both remedies, the Qur’an and honey.’
It is claimed to be good for liver problems, stomach ulcers, respiratory infections, diseases resulting from malnutrition, digestive problems, constipation, eye diseases, infected wounds and burns, surgical wounds (lice C-section), promote speedy recovery after childbirth, facilitates menstruation, (with various herbs). It can be used against epilepsy, strengthened the immune systems, to promote general health and vitality.
The honey is a monofloral honey. The bees collect the nectar of an ancient tree, the Sidr tree.
The SIDR tree
• Also known as Lote tree, Christ’s Thorn, Jujube, Nabkh, Elb, Ber, Bairi tree. Quite a lot of names!
Sidr is the formal Arabic name and comes from the name of the Sidr tree that is mentioned in the Holy Quran.
Elb – is the local name of the tree and is most commonly used in Arab world.
Ber or Bairi Honey it is called in Urdu.
Sidr tree is also called Jujube tree. But surely is not the same. The Jujube tree is Ziziphus jujuba and the Sidr tree is Ziziphus spina-christi. They are indeed related, both subspecies of Ziziphus.
• Botanical name: Ziziphus spina-christi
• It’s an evergreen tree that grows in coastal, desert, and semi-desert areas. It is native to Northern and tropical Africa and Southern and Western Asia.
It grows in valleys up to an elevation of 500 m. We can meet it in India, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Egypt, Libya, Sudan, and the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula.
It grows extensively in the eastern part of Yemen. Which is why sidr honey is known by many, only as Yemen honey.
• The Sidr tree is a sturdy and deep-rooted tree which has withstood the devastating floods of Eram at Ma’arib Yemen along two other trees: Tamarisk and Mustard Tree. Sidr belongs to the “Ziziphus” family of plants. The average tree size normally between 7-8 meters hight.
• The branches are soft with gray-yellow color and the flowers are yellow.
• The fruits of sidr trees are round and yellowish but turn to a more reddish color when mature. They have a very high-energy value, though there are other fruits more valuable: dates, figs, raisins, and few other dried fruits.
The sidr fruit was the first thing Prophet Adam (pbuh) ate when he was made to descend to earth. The tree was used during the time of King Suleiman (pbuh) and the Pharaohs used it to build palaces and temples.
• It is an ancient tree, mentioned four times in the Qur’an. In Sura Saba, it is mentioned as an earth tree while in other Suras, it is mentioned as a paradise tree (Sidrat al-Muntaha). Allah has mentioned this tree to emphasize its beauty, strength and grandeur (Saba 15,16; Waqia 27-33; Najm 7-18).
According to some traditions, Jesus’s Crown of Thorns was made from the branches of this tree.
Health benefits of sidr tree
The whole tree has medicinal values:
– The leaves are used as a herbal shampoo, to treat dandruff, head lice, swollen eyes, abscesses, furuncles and counter obesity. Mixed with warm water the leaves are used to clean the body since they are a disinfectant and the oil from the resin is deodorant.
– The wood ash is used for the treatment of snakebites.
– The fruits have a very high energy value.
– The seeds are rich in protein;
– The leaves are rich in calcium, iron and magnesium.
– The root, stem bark are also used in various medicinal preparations.
Other known medicinal uses include as a stomachic, an appetizer, an astringent and also as a cough medicine.
Famous areas for producing sidr honey
Among the most famous areas in Yemen for producing Sidr honey are Doan in Hadramout, Gardan, Bayhan in Shabwa. In all these areas honey bees feed themselves exclusively on the nectar of the Sidr trees.
Perhaps the best known place, which produces the most famous honey is the Do’an Valley, in the valley of the Hadramaout desert, east of Yemen. Every year, thousands of semi nomadic beekeepers come here, to offer their bees plenty of food to make the best honey in the country. Here is the picture is the valley, courtesy of http://www.yemensidrhoney.com/ and http://y-honey.com/Wadi-doan.aspx.
The sidr honey
It’s a thick honey with a rich, lavish and buttery sweet taste. It has a golden light color, which darkens and tends to redness over time. While fresh and newly produced, it reminds you of the same aromatic smell of Sidr tree in the month of October, the season when Sidr tree is flowering.
There are different types of sidr honey, differing from one region to another, with differences in taste, color, aroma and density. But all of them share the exquisite taste, splendid aroma, and all of them are very expensive.
According to the Laboratory of CETAM, France, after it analyzed samples of Yemeni Sidr Honey Royal Quality from 2017 in order to certify its monofloral authenticity, here are some of its characteristics:
water content: 14.2 %
electrical conductivity: 974 μS.cm-¹
sucrose amounts: 0.11 %
glucose: 25 %
It contains a higher content of antioxidants, compared to other honeys, and a high proportion of metals.
According to tests carried out by the laboratory technician Zabihullah Ahmed Reda at Miracle Healing in Kuwait – quality control department, Sidr honey doesn’t change when exposed to heat, whether low, medium or high and even at the temperature of 80° C.
The HMF (an indicator of the adulteration of honey with invert syrups – syrups of glucose and fructose), did not rise in Sidr honey except for two degrees or three degrees, while in the other types of honey it rose and reached up to 30 and even 50 degrees (in ppm) at temperature of 70-80° C within half an hour.
A 10 years old sample of Sidr honey, stored in sealed glass, was examined in the same laboratory from Kuwait, and it showed no changes in the chemical composition, quality specifications and HMF percentage.
Allah swt said about bees: “From their bellies comes a drink of varying colours, containing healing for mankind. There is certainly a sign in that for people who reflect.” (Surat an-Nahl: 69)
Where can we find it?
There are several online shops selling really expensive sidr honey. It reaches $200 for one kilo. There are also people selling it on ebay, but one cannot tell if it’s the real thing.
Or, from Do’an Valley, in the valley of the Hadramaout desert, east of Yemen, the most famous sidr honey: Raw Yemeni Honey (Sidr, 285g) or from a different producer, Yemen Sidr Honey LLC: Pure Yemen Sidr Honey. Also available at Amazon.com (see picture below).
Also coming from the Arab world, the most famous of all seeds: the black seeds Nigella Sativa: Nigella Sativa, the black seeds, can cure every disease. Come on… and then read the other articles on it, you’ll surely be impressed.
Why is it that expensive?
Firstly, because it’s a monofloral honey, and this means the bees can collect the nectar only for one month, in October, the flowering time. The production season continues only for 40 to 60 days in a year, and that is a very short period. The efforts to prepare the apiaries take very high costs.
Secondly, it is considered medicinal honey, just like manuka, and therefore highly priced.
“man pouring honey” picture credit Michael Keith Manges via flick.com licensed under CC;
“thorn crown” picture credit Waiting For The Word via flick.com licensed under CC;
“Ziziphus spina-christi in Ein Hoquq” by Hanay – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons;
“fruits of Ziziphus spina-christi” by Ariel Palmon – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons;
“flowers of Ziziphus-areva-israel” by Dov Grobgeld. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons |
Today it’s Independence Day in the United States, a remembrance of the day in 1776 when Americans declared their independence — although a took a few more years to secure it. Liberty is highly prized in our nation overall and referred to as a blessing in the preamble to our Constitution.
But it’s not like we invented freedom. Not by any means.
From the moment that God put the first husband and wife, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, He gave them free will. That meant they could choose to follow His instructions or — as happened — stray off that path. One way or another, it was their choice.
Throughout Scripture, there are numerous other references to our free will. For example:
“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20).
“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).
“But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says. Whoever will listen let them listen, and whoever will refuse let them refuse; for they are a rebellious people’ ” (Ezekiel 3:27).
“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love” (Galatians 5:13).
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” (Revelation 3:20).
Yes, God carries out His sovereign will, but within those parameters, He allows His children a great deal of freedom to choose for themselves.
That means that each and every day, moment by moment, we are faced with choices. We have the God-given freedom to follow His path for our lives or to reject it for our own selfish purposes. We can make mistakes, of course — because of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus and God’s grace — but we’re always moving toward His will or away from it. Using our own free will.
Oh, how true this is in marriage!
No, I can’t control my spouse. Our mates have their own free will. However, I can choose how I approach my husband, our marriage, and even the sexual intimacy within. I can select attitudes, behaviors, and reactions that either comport with God’s calling for my life or stray from what He wants for my marriage.
I have the free will to make my marriage better, inasmuch as it depends on me.I have the free will to make my marriage better, inasmuch as it depends on me. Click To Tweet
Ask anyone who had a bad marriage and ended up with a better one, and I bet they’d tell you things began to improve when they took responsibility for their own actions. Whether that was expressing their desires or explaining their concerns; becoming more vulnerable or setting boundaries; seeking outside help for depression or anxiety or simply learning to be happy.
Rather than waiting for your husband to fix everything on His end, or for God to swoop down like a genie and magically answer all your prayers, start with you. How can you use the freedom God gave you to make different choices today that will benefit your marriage and/or your marriage bed?
You don’t have to go from zero to sixty overnight. Just start moving in the right direction. Step by step, choice by choice, you can walk the path of freedom toward greater marital health. At the very least, your own heart and soul will benefit.
CLICK THE BANNER FOR MORE INFO ABOUT MY NEW BOOK! |
All humans make mistakes, unfortunately, Holden Caulfield is notorious for committing one too many. J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye appears to be a long string of consecutive failures for the protagonist. The novel describes his attempt to reconcile with these failures and find a path that suits his qualities and desires. However Holden can not find a way to succeed and even Mr. Antolini says, “This fall I think you’re riding for – it’s a special kind of fall, a horrible kind. The man falling isn’t permitted to feel or hear himself hit bottom.
He just keeps falling and falling” (187). This whole fall that Holden is heading on seems to have started with the flunking out of school. Holden’s largest failure appears to be his inability to apply himself at school and achieve an educational degree. Dropping in and out of school results in immediate consequences such as wasting his parent’s money and receiving much criticism from family and friends. He won’t be able to make any long term friends by switching schools every year and will continue in the cycle of academic failure unless he decides to change.
Holden’s parents might finally get fed up with his lack of effort in school and cut off the flow of parental funding and make him live on his own. Holden will find it tough to live on his own since he had trouble with those few lonely days living in hotels without a support group. It will also be difficult for Holden to find a job since some type of degree is required for most jobs. Holden must adjust to this new lifestyle of self sufficiency that does not come natural being raised in a rich family. After several years, the long term effects begin to set in.
He will regret not taking the opportunity to receive an education, but can not go back to get a degree because he has to work several jobs to keep up with the expense of living in the big city. Holden will have faced alienation from past friends and acquaintances as he is labeled a misfit and failure by those who were once close. Holden will realize that he has to change in order to become accomplished and this might have to include accepting some of those phony attributes that control society and its mannerisms. One change he has to make is learning how to apply himself at one aspect of his life. He did ot strive to do well at Pencey and that has led him down the wrong path. Often when one does not apply themselves at school, it can spread to other areas of their life. Holden may soon not try hard at anything else he does, hence prolonging the eminent fall he is “riding for. ” Holden must be able to learn from his failure and change in order to avoid future mistakes that may follow. So far the only way Holden has learned is from trial and error, and he has suffered many tragedies because of this method. Without love and care, Holden finds himself lost and he eventually visits an old teacher, Mr.
Antolini for guidance. Mr. Antolini reinforces the importance of school and how it is significant to Holden personally, “… apply yourself in school. You’ll have to. You’re a student – whether the idea appeals to you or not. You’re in love with knowledge” (189). One can tell from the novel that Holden is intellectual but it seems that he picks and chooses when and what he wants to learn. Mr. Antolini urges him to continue his education till he discovers that special kind of information that is dear to him and stimulates his thirst for knowledge.
Working hard for an education pays off because one achieves satisfaction and enjoyment in life after accomplishing something great they have worked on. Hopefully Holden has benefitted from these learning experiences and sets himself on track to attain a diploma and continue to pursue knowledge that makes one both wise and powerful. At this point in his life Holden is just confused and overwhelmed with growing up and having to enter adulthood. He is afraid of what he doesn’t understand and reverts to a cynical view of society to shield himself from the painfulness of growing up.
Holden wishes he could live in a simple and understandable world but he must face the realities of life and the complexities that come with it. Confronting failure is often the most difficult thing to do especially at a young age for adolescences, however education is able teach not only book work, but life values as well. By obtaining an education, Holden will be able to transgress his previous conceptions about society and learn to succeed in the rapidly changing society he is thrown into. |
Bachelor of Environmental Planning
The Bachelor of Planning degree provides a broad education in environmental planning. The focus is on understanding the relationship between people and the environment and on reducing the environmental impact of human activities. The study of planning examines public processes that improve the quality of decisions affecting the environment. Responsible planning integrates various private and public interests and identifies viable, workable options. Planners play a vital role in decision-making processes concerning the future of human settlements, resource management, environmental protection, human health and well-being, economic development, and many other areas. Ultimately, the work of planners becomes part of, or a catalyst to, public policy. |
From Windows to Mars: New Applications of Liquid Crystals
One of the grand current research challenges is to improve the energy efficiency of residential and commercial buildings, which cumulatively consume more than 40 percent of the energy generated globally. In addition to improving comfort of inhabitants and mitigating the growing energy consumption problem, new building materials and technologies could provide a safe strategy for geoengineering to mitigate the global climate change. This tutorial reviews recent progress in developing such advanced materials using liquid crystalline self-organization for templating order of nanoparticles like nanocellulose, which is often derived from wood or even dirty feedstocks like waste. By using chemical and bacteria-enabled processing, nanocellulose can be used to fabricate broadband photonic reflectors, thermally super-insulating aerogels, solar gain regulators and low-emissivity coatings with potential applications in windows, roofs, walls and other components of buildings envelopes. These material developments draw inspiration from advanced energy management found in nature, such as nanoporous photonic structures that evolved in cuticles of beetles. Fabrication of such materials takes advantage of mesoscale liquid crystalline self-assembly, which allows for pre-designed control of cellulose and other nanoparticle orientations at the mesoscale. With the potential fully realized, such materials could one day transform the current energy-lossy buildings into energy plants on Earth and possibly even enable extraterrestrial habitats. For the liquid crystal research field, these new building-related applications present a major beyond-displays opportunity on the applied side of research spectrum. |
Objective: Laryngeal cancer is an important oncologic entity, whose prognosis depends on establishing appropriate preventive and diagnostic measures, especially in populations at higher risk. Methods: Epidemiologic information including worldwide incidence, prevalence, burden of health loss (disability-adjusted life year; DALYs) and mortality of larynx cancer was obtained from the Global Health Data Exchange (GHDx) database. Results: The current incidence, prevalence and mortality of laryngeal cancer are estimated at 2.76 cases/year per 100,000 inhabitants, 14.33 cases/year per 100,000 inhabitants and 1.66 deaths/year per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively, averaging 3.28 million DALYs each year. Incidence and prevalence have increased by 12% and 24%, respectively during the past 3 decades, whilst mortality has declined by around 5%. The epidemiologic burden of this malignancy is approximately 5-fold higher in males and increases in parallel with ageing, peaking after 65 years of age. Both incidence and mortality rates are higher in Europe and lower in Africa, but the ratio between deaths and incidence is the highest in Africa. Incidence has gradually declined in Europe during the past 3 decades, whilst it has increased in South-East Asia and Western Pacific. Cigarette smoking and alcohol abuse contribute for about 90% of overall worldwide mortality for laryngeal cancer. Conclusions: Laryngeal cancer still poses a high clinical and societal burden, with an escalating temporal trend not expected to reverse soon.
|Titolo:||Updates on larynx cancer epidemiology|
LIPPI, Giuseppe (Corresponding)
|Data di pubblicazione:||2020|
|Appare nelle tipologie:||01.01 Articolo in Rivista| |
Title: Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes
Author: Maria Konnikova
Published: December 31, 2013
I picked up Maria’s book after reading nearly every column she’s written for the New Yorker. She does a tremendous job of applying scientific discoveries to practical, real-world use cases. I’ve quoted her articles several times in some of my published pieces including my article on reading retention.
Her book, Mastermind, was yet another shining example of how Maria can combine science and real-world application to help you improve your thinking in some way. Drawing upon stories from the famous detective Sherlock Holmes, Maria provides detailed instructions on how to improve your thinking. She touches on how to become a better observer and how to draw upon past experiences and elements in your “brain attic” (a collection of experiences and facts similar to Mozart’s bag of memories) to form better conclusions. The end goal is to ultimately make better decisions and avoid mental biases like the Availability Heuristic and the Confirmation Bias.
One aspect of the book that I found interesting was Maria’s instructions on how to separate yourself from your work. In a world of constant connectivity, being able to take a step back and involve yourself in something else has a direct correlation with your happiness and how well you’re able to solve problems. According to Maria, the best activities have the following attributes:
It needs to be unrelated to what you are trying to accomplish (if you are solving a crime, you shouldn’t switch to solving another crime; if you are deciding on an important purchase, you shouldn’t go shopping for something else; and so on).
It needs to be something that doesn’t take too much effort on your part (if you’re trying to learn a new skill, for instance, your brain will be so preoccupied that it won’t be able to free up the resources needed to root through your attic; Holmes’s violin playing—unless you are, like him, a virtuoso, you need not apply that particular route).
It needs to be something that engages you on some level (if Holmes hated pipe smoking, he would hardly benefit from a three-pipe problem; likewise, if he found pipe smoking boring, his mind might be too dulled to do any real thinking, on whatever level—or might find itself unable to detach, in the manner that so afflicts Watson)
If you’re interested in the science of thinking and how your brain formulates opinions and decisions, I’d highly recommend giving Mastermind a look. |
As I tossed back at my advisor in my thesis defense, this question in short comes down to the eye of the beholder. To Greeks, the Argead king may have been Greek, but usually just when he insisted upon this right. To Macedonian kings they sure were Greeks, to the Macedonians themselves they were not. Yet they are notably included in the Iliadic tradition of Greeks. Philip married women who clearly were barbarians, yet also a woman who traced her lineage to that great Greek hero Achilles and lived in the same mixed state as he, all the while holding a majority vote on the Amphyctonic council through his position as tagus of the Thessalian League. Although this quagmire of evidence leads nowhere or in circles quite quickly, there is much that suggests that Macedonia was in fact Greek-esque, but resembled the less civilized, Homeric kingdoms of Greece, rather than truly civilized peoples.
One of the leads I would like to know more about is marriage practice in Macedonia. By all accounts men were permitted to have multiple wives if they could take care of them and Philip went so far as to marry in order to solidify his conquests and allies. There was differentiation between prostitutes and wives, but other than that I have been unable to make out much. In contrast, each Greek group had their own practices, and while some were eccentric, they were also largely monogamous. From this angle, Macedonians were not Greek.
A second, non-Greek, aspect to the Macedonian identity was the distinct lack of poleis. There were some of these city-state units, but they were usually reduced solely to the city limits, while the surrounding farmland, which was always the second constituent piece of a polis, became property of the king who then distributed that land amongst his supporters. Such was the case with Amphipolis and the Olynthian League on the Chalcidice. Macedonia did have limited representation in the form of the Army Assembly and the King often yielded to the political wisdom that consulting and heeding advisors often resulted in smoother function of the kingdom, but he didn’t have to.
In short Macedonians were not Greek, but they were Greek enough to push that identity when it suited their needs. All of this took place while keeping a distinct ethnic identity. |
Main Article Content
Hepatitis B (HBV) infection is an important public health concern all over the globe. As a result of its asymptomatic nature, its prevalence among apparently healthy individuals becomes relevant for studies. Hence the prevalence survey of hepatitis B virus was conducted among apparently healthy young individuals. A total of two hundred samples were screened from volunteer subjects for Hepatitis B surface Antigen (HBsAg), using the one step immune-chromatographic test strip manufactured by Dia Spot® Diagnostics. Questionnaires were administered to obtain relevant information and demographic data. Overall result showed that 11 (5.5%) of the subjects tested were found to be positive. The highest prevalence was found among subjects aged 22-26 years with 7.8% prevalence compared to those aged 12-21 years with 4.4% prevalence (P=0.1012); (p˃0.05). Based on demographic factors, female workers tend to demonstrate high positivity of 12.5% compared to male with 10.0% prevalence, (P=0.4929); (p˃0.05). Subjects involved with risky behavioral pattern by the use of unsterilized objects recorded a high prevalence of 5.3%, (P=0.5748); (p˃0.05) among female subjects. Serum Alanine amino-tranferases result showed no significant difference among the positive subjects. The results showed some measure of prevalence among the study population. It therefore becomes pertinent that the community be enlightened on the possible risk of infection by the virus. Efforts should be made to ensure vaccination against this infectious agent is intensified.
Sharma R, Sharma CL, Khajuria R. The knowledge, attitude and practices regarding HBV infection of married women in the reproductive age group living in cantonment Area Sunjawan Jammu. Journal of Med. Educ. Res. 2004;6:127–130.
Okonko IO, Okerentugba PO, Adeniji FO, Anugweje KC. Detection of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) among intending apparently healthy blood donors. Nature and Science. 2012a;10(4).
World Health Organization (WHO). 2019-Fact Sheet Global Hepatitis Report; 2019.
Kire CF. The epidemiology and control of hepatitis B in Sub Saharan Africa. Prog Med Virology. 1993;40:143-56.
World Health Organization (WHO). 2009-Fact Sheet Global Hepatitis Report; 2009.
Esan AJ, Omisakin CT, Ojo-Bola T, Owoseni MF, Fasakin KA, Ogunleye AA. Sero-prevalence of hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus co-infection among pregnant women in Nigeria. American Journal of Biomedical Research. 2014;2(1):11-15.
Zuckerman AJ. More than third of world's population has been infected with hepatitis B virus. BMJ. 1999;318:1213.
Ezegbudo CN, Agba MI, Agbonlahor DE, Nwobu GO, Igwe CU, Agba MI. The seroprevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen and human immuno deficiency virus among pregnant women in Anambra state Nigeria. Shir E-Medical Journal. 2004;5:20–22.
Uneke CJ, Ogbu O, Inyama PU, Anyanwu GI, Njoku MO, Idoko JH. Prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen among blood donors and human immunodeficiency virus infected patients in Jos, Nigeria. Mom do Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 2005;100:13-16.
Kramvis A, Kew M. Epidemiology of hepatitis B virus in Africa, its genotypes and clinical associations of genotypes. Hepatol Res. 2007;37(Suppl 1):9–19.
Donbraye E, Japhet MO, Adesina AO, Abayomi OA. Prevalence of asymptomatic hepatitis B virus surface antigenemia in children in llesha, Osun State, South-Western Nigeria. Afr J Micro Res. 2014;8(23):2329–2331.
World Health Organization (WHO). 2001-Fact Sheet Global Hepatitis Report; 2002.
Shabir Lakhi, Yolan Banda, Kasonde Bowa, Sten H. Vermund, Joseph Mulenga, David Chama, Benjamin H. Chi. HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C in Zambia. 2011;3(3):269–274.
Ndako JA, Amina Y, Josphine OA, Olaolu DT, Akande TA. Hepatitis B virus infection among alcoholic consumers at a local community, North-East Nigeria. Journal of Natural Sciences Research. 2013;13(3): 23-29.
Umolu PI, Okoror LE, Orhue P. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seropositivity and hepatitis B surface antigenemia (HBsAg) among blood donors in Benin City, Edo state, Nigeria. African Journal of Health Sciences. 2005;5(1):55–58.
Ugwuja E, Ugwu N. Seroprevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen and liver function tests among adolescents in Abakaliki, South Eastern Nigeria. The Internet Journal of Tropical Medicine. 2010;6(2).
Okonko IO, Okerentugba PO, Akinpelu AO. Prevalence of HBsAg among attendees of ARFH Centre in Ibadan, Southwestern Nigeria. American-Eurasian Journal of Scientific Research. 2012b;7(3): 100-105.
Olokoba AB, Salawu FK, Danburam A, Desalu OO, Olokoba LB, Wahab KW, Badung LH, Tidi SK, Midala J, Aderibigbe S, Abdulrahman MB, Babalola OM, Abdukkarim A. Viral hepatitides in voluntary blood donors in Yola, Nigeria. European Journal of Scientific Research. 2009;31(3):329-334.
Alli JA, Okonko IO, Abraham OA, Kolade AF, Ogunjobi PI, Tonade OO, Ojezele MO, Nwanze JC. A serosurvey of blood parasites (Plasmodium, Microfilaria, HIV, HBsAg, HCV antibodies) in prospective Nigerian blood donors. Research Journal in Medical Sciences. 2010;4(4):255-275.
Ejele OA, Ojule AC. The prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) among prospective blood donors and patients in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Medicine. 2004;13:336-338.
Abdalla F, Mwanda OW, Rana F. Comparing walk-in and call-responsive donors in a national and a private hospital in Nairobi. East African Medical Journal. 2005;82(10):532-536.
Buseri FI, Muhibi MA, Jeremiah JA. Sero-epidemiology of transfusion-transmissible infectious diseases among blood donors in Osogbo, South-West Nigeria. Blood Transfusion. 2009;7(4):293-299.
Uneke CJ, Ogbu PU, Anyanwu GI, Njoku MO, Idoko JH. Prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen among blood donors and HIV-infected patients in Jos, Nigeria. Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz Rio de Janerio. 2005;100(1):13-16.
Okonko IO, Udeze AO. Detection of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) among pregnant women attending Antenatal Clinic at O. L. A. Catholic Hospital, Oluyoro, Ibadan, Oyo State, Southwestern. Nature and Science. 2011;9(11):54-60.
Soriano V, Young B, Reau N. Report from the International Conference on Viral Hepatitis; AIDS Rev. 2017;19:1-13.
Hollinger FB, Liang TJ. Hepatitis B virus. In: Knipe DM et al., (Editors). Fields Virology, 4th Edition. Philadelphia: Lippincott William and Wilkins. 2001;2971-3036.
Mehmet D, Meliksah E, Serif Y, Gunay S, Tuncer O, Zeynep S. Prevalence of Hepatitis B infection in the Southeastern region of Turkey: Comparison of risk factors for HBV infection in rural and urban areas; 2005.
Balogun TM, Durojaiye IO, Sagoe A, Emmanuel S. Seroepidemiology of hepatitis-B surface antigenaemia in HIV positive patients. West Africa Journal of Medicine. 2010;29(3):169–173.
Olubuyide IO, Ola SO, Aliyu B, Dosumu OO, Arotiba JT. Hepatitis B and C in Doctors in Nigeria. Nigerian Quarterly Journal. Medicine. 1997;90:417-422.
Ola SO, Odaibo GN, Olaleye DO. HCV and HBV infections in Nigerian patients with liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Nigerian Quarterly Journal of Medicine. 2004;14:3-4.
Lawal OA, Bakarey AS, Uche LN, Udeze AO, Okonko IO. HBV infection among intending blood donors who incidentally tested positive to HIV antibody in two blood banks in Ibadan, Nigeria. World Applied Science Journal. 2009;7(10):1269-1274.
Agbede OO, Iseniyi JO, Kolawole MO, Ojuawo A. Risk factors and seroprevalence of hepatitis B surface antigenaemia in mothers and their pre-school age children in Ilorin, Nigeria. Therapy. 2007;4(1):67-72.
Udeze AO, Aliyu AS, Kolawole OM, Okonko IO, Sule WF, Akanbi K. Hepatitis B surface antigenaemia and risk factors of transmission among apparently healthy students of University of Ilorin, Ilorin-Nigeria. Scientia Africana. 2012;2(11):1-8.
Ndako JA, Onwuliri FC, Banda JM, Alejolowo OO, Fajobi V, Olapade DO. Risk factors and prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) among apparently healthy volunteers in an urban setting, North-Central Nigeria. International Journal of Science. 2016;5(3):9-15.
Goni BW, Yusuph H, Mustapha SK, Sahabi MA, Gwalabe SA, Tahir A, Bakki B, Kida IM. Hepatic transaminase and alkaline phosphatase enzyme levels in HIV/HBV co-infected and HIV mono-infected patients in Maiduguri, Nigeria. 2013;4(16):530-534. |
Editor's note: This story was originally published on August 9, 2015.
Fresh air, the smell of pine trees, the sounds of birds chirping and brooks babbling — all of these have helped American city-dwellers unwind for generations. But in the era of Jim Crow segregation, nature's calm also gave African-Americans a temporary respite from racism and discrimination.
Those fortunate enough to afford a resort stay could visit relatively well-known getaways like Martha's Vineyard's Oak Bluffs, or Idlewild in Lake County, Mich. But tucked into a narrow canyon at the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains about 40 miles from Denver was the lesser-known mountain resort called Lincoln Hills. The only black resort of that era west of the Mississippi, Lincoln Hills provided a safe haven for middle-class African-Americans to play and relax under the pines.
They needed it. In the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan ran Colorado. Klan-affiliated politicians controlled the state House of Representatives. The governor was a Klansman; so was the mayor of Denver. It wasn't uncommon for the terrorist group to march through the streets in white robes and those sinister pointy-hat masks, sticking crosses in the lawns of black families, setting them ablaze.
This was the environment that Gary Jackson's great-grandparents and grandparents endured. The 69-year-old Denver County judge talks about the discrimination his relatives faced, despite their educational attainment and middle-class status. So when an opportunity arose for Jackson's great-grandfather to buy property in the mountains, away from it all, he didn't hesitate.
In 1922, two black developers purchased 100 acres of land that had been blighted by decades of gold and silver mining (part of the reason it was available to African-Americans in the first place). It was divided into lots and sold on credit. Five dollars a month for 20 months could get you one of the nicer plots. Jackson's great-grandfather purchased several and built cottages. Some were sold off but, almost 90 years later, two are still in his family.
The cabin Jackson owns is right near the entrance to Lincoln Hills, above railroad tracks where trains piled high with coal pass frequently. The California Zephyr cuts through here, too, carrying passengers from San Francisco to Chicago, with a stop in Denver. It's from that train that Jackson's cabin got its moniker — Zephyr View — coined by his Uncle Johnny in the early '50s.
The nickname stuck. You'll find it emblazoned on a red wooden sign above the cabin's sliding glass door. Another sign hangs over the bathroom, part tongue-in-cheek, part reminder of a not so distant past. COLORED RESTROOM, it reads.
When Jackson was a child, Lincoln Hills was his summer playground. As an adult, he came to understand its significance. "For us kids, it was just a fun, safe place to go. But for my grandparents and great-grandparents, it was a shelter from harsh times — a place to get away from harsh realities of Denver in the '20s and '30s: segregation, discrimination, not being treated equally."
Generations of Jackson's family — great-grandparents, grandparents, uncles, cousins, children and grandchildren — have spent summers here, mostly outside, lounging on the giant front deck, barbecuing on the recently finished back porch, hiking the hills and cooling off in South Boulder Creek.
There were other fun things to do in Lincoln Hills, too. In 1928, a man named Obrey Wendell "Wink" Hamlet built a six-bedroom lodge, as well as 20 rental cabins and a tavern/ice cream parlor/dance hall. African-American luminaries like Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes and Lena Horne made the trek to spend a restorative week in the woods. At its height, Jackson says, there were as many as 5,000 visitors coming up to Wink's Lodge over the course of a summer. It closed in 1965, but the building is still there, and it's on the National Register of Historic Places.
Jackson points out that the success of Wink's Lodge points to another benefit of Lincoln Hills. Not only was it a place of respite — it was also an economic resource. Here, African-Americans like Jackson's great-grandfather could buy property that would increase in value. They could build and sell cabins as a commercial venture. And, with all the tourists and visitors it attracted, Wink's Lodge was an economic driver for the area. The American dream, Jackson calls it.
Only a handful of black families still own cabins in Lincoln Hills. After desegregation, it was no longer a destination for the African-American middle class to summer. But a decade ago, black entrepreneur and Colorado native Matthew Burkett saw the Lincoln Hills property advertised on a flier in a grocery store. Burkett and his partners were looking for land to create a fly-fishing resort. When he called to find out more, he learned that the only other people expressing interest were sand and gravel company owners.
In 2007, Burkett purchased the property and went to work restoring land that had been neglected for years and used on and off by big industry. It's now in operation as the Lincoln Hills Fly Fishing Club, but Burkett has also partnered with the Boys & Girls Clubs and the YMCA to bring kids, especially low-income kids of color, up to the woods. He says it's his way of keeping Lincoln Hills' legacy alive.
You won’t find a paywall here. Come as often as you like — we’re not counting. You’ve found a like-minded tribe that cherishes what a free press stands for. If you can spend another couple of minutes making a pledge of as little as $5, you’ll feel like a superhero defending democracy for less than the cost of a month of Netflix. |
1. They don’t give up easily:
Confident people will do what they can with their abilities to crack what’s in front of them. They keep trying and don’t call it quits easily.
2. They don’t Bully people Intellectually:
Intellectual Bullies don’t agree with anyone. They will never admit they are wrong. They have a blatant disregard for other's opinions and views. But confident people are not intellectual bullies. They accept when people or situations prove them wrong. They focus on “What is right” instead of “I am right”. It’s one of the defining traits of truly confident people.
3. They take Responsibility:
Confident people take responsibility for themselves, including their health and character. They take responsibility for the mistakes made. They apologize when needed.
4. Water Under the Bridge:
Confident people forgive and let go. They don’t hold on to grudges, judgments, negative criticisms, negative people.
5. They Listen:
Confident people don’t brag. They let other people express their thoughts and views. They show genuine interest in knowing and listening to others.
6. Not Intimidated:
Intrinsic validation matters to highly confident people. They don’t get intimidated by others. They don’t speak badly of others to make themselves look better. Also, confident people have a close circle of people who truly matter to them. They value and respect their opinions. They don’t worry about what others think.
7. They ask for help:
Confident people are not always “I can handle it all”. They will not hesitate to ask for help when needed. They don’t consider vulnerability as a weakness.
8. Live. Let Live:
Confident people are effortlessly cool and collected. They don’t show-off or make efforts to boast themselves. Confident people will let other people be themselves. Confidence flows even with their dressing and body language. They Live and Let Live. |
Last Tuesday – 2nd June – was a public holiday, this time to mark La Festa della Repubblica, which is effectively ‘first cousin’ to La Festa della Liberazione celebrated annually on 25th April. Back then we were in the depths of the coronavirus crisis, with fear and uncertainty running high and stringent quarantine restrictions still firmly in place, so this year’s Liberation Day celebrations were a muted and sombre affair, the poignant irony of the anniversary, which marks Italy’s liberation from the forces of fascism in 1945, all too apparent to a nation in tight lockdown [Irony and Inspiration].
Some six weeks later, with coronavirus apparently in retreat, the stripped-back, mask-clad celebrations to mark this year’s Republic Day seemed similarly loaded with symbolism as the country stood poised to return the following day to some kind of normal life, and to exercise once more those basic constitutional freedoms that for three months it had put on hold (as specifically provided for in the constitution, incidentally). For it was on June 2nd 1946 that in the first free national vote since 1924 – held, too, on the basis of universal suffrage and with an eighty-nine percent turnout – the people elected the Constituent Assembly whose primary function was to draft the constitution that came into force on 1st January 1948. The five hundred and fifty-six members of the Constituent Assembly came from all walks of life and held views that covered a broad political spectrum, but the one thing they all shared was their bitter hatred of fascism. Thus the core principles of democracy, popular sovereignty, peace, equality and freedom were declared the foundations on which the Republic would be established.
Ah, yes. The Republic: 2nd June is better known as Republic Day rather than Constitution Day because on that day in 1946 a national referendum was also held in which the electorate were invited to decide on the form of government they wanted, a monarchy or a republic. And by 54% to 46% the people voted to abolish Italy’s eighty-five-year-old monarchy in favour of a republic. This represented a complete volte-face on the part of the Italian people. Back in 1861, the first king of the newly united Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II, was hailed as a national hero in light of his central role in Italy’s unification. Indeed, together with the military and political heroes of the Risorgimento, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Benso Cavour and Giuseppe Mazzini, he shares the epithet ‘Fathers of the Fatherland’. And it was in gratitude for Vittorio Emanuele’s contribution to the creation of the modern-day Italian nation that the gargantuan Vittoriano, which is also known as the Altare della Patria (Altar of the Fatherland), was built in the centre of Rome in 1885. So it is slightly ironic that it is at this monument to the united Italy’s first monarch that wreaths are laid, flags are raised, and march-pasts and fly-pasts conducted – all in commemoration of the day on which the country voted to oust his successors just two generations later.
The reason for the dramatic change in fortunes of the House of Savoy is quite simple: the monarchy had become fatally compromised by King Vittorio Emanuele III’s tolerance of Mussolini and his regime throughout the fascist era, not helped by his public refusal in 1943 to accept any responsibility for Italy’s catastrophic circumstances at the time in having appointed Mussolini prime minister in 1922. In the absence of any moral legitimacy and with the Allies and the Partisans driving the Nazis and the Fascists into retreat, it was clear that it would be impossible for Vittorio Emanuele to hold any meaningful role in post-war Italy, so he reluctantly gave in to pressure from the Allies and in 1944 transferred his powers (but not the title of King) to his son Umberto who became Regent. However, while Umberto was not as badly tainted by fascism as his father (largely because the King had not allowed his son to become involved in the exercise of power), he was personally, politically and militarily ill-equipped to rally meaningful support for the crown. The King made a last-ditch attempt to save the monarchy (and so keep the Communists at bay) by formally abdicating in favour of his son on 9th May 1946, even though he made it publicly known that he considered Umberto unfit to rule. Even though he enjoyed the support of the Catholic church (who preferred to frame the republic vs monarchy debate in terms of Communism vs Catholicism) and despite attempts to curry favour with all sides by granting pardons to criminals and agitators while handing out titles to regional notables, it all came as too little too late: preparations for the referendum were already well underway. In the end, Umberto II’s reign came to an end when the republic was declared, ending his reign after just thirty-four days, even though he disputed the outcome of the referendum, defiantly characterising it as a coup d’ètat. In a rare moment of insight and statesmanship, however, he rejected the suggestion that he should proclaim a rival government outside Rome, start a civil war in which the army would fight to save the Savoy crown: “My House united Italy. It will not divide it.”
It is to their shame, therefore, that neo-fascist protesters in Rome this weekend have not learned the lessons of history and so do not share the insight of that earlier Fascist sympathiser as they seek to destabilise their wounded nation at a time when not since 1946 has unity been more vital.
Image courtesy of Andreas Solaro/AFP – http://www.thelocal.it |
In this lesson, students will study the life of Samuel Adams. They will learn about his role as a leader in the American opposition to British tyranny, hopes for a new American government, methods of persuasion for the Revolutionary cause, and much more.
Handout A: Samuel Adams (1722–1803)
Handout B: Vocabulary and Context Questions
Handout C: In His Own Words: Samuel Adams and Resistance to Tyranny
Samuel Adams: Loaded Words and Phrases Cards
Introductory Essay: Explaining the Founding
Additional Classroom Activities
Glossary of Eighteenth-Century Definitions |
October 17 11am MELBOURNE TIME
The IPA for Beginners
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a chart of symbols that represent the human speech sounds. Each one has its own symbol and its unique voice, placing and manner combination. The IPA allows linguists to transcribe words in any human language.
In this session, Lyn will outline the various aspects of the chart to give educators a working knowledge of what the IPA is and how it can and can’t be used.
First Session: Thursday October 15 5:30pm-6:30pm MELBOURNE TIME (register for that one here)
Second Session: Saturday October 17 11am-12pm MELBOURNE TIME
Twice a week, Lyn Stone will do a live, 60 minute session on a particular topic via Zoom.
The cost is AUD$30 + GST and will include a presentation, some handouts and a Q&A session.
The first meeting will be at 5:30pm on Thursdays, with a repeat session at 11am on Saturdays (MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA TIME).
Both will be live. Due to time constraints, recordings will not be available afterwards. If you miss a session, we will refund you or place you in a repeat of that session, should we decide to repeat.
Topics will vary, and Lyn will also take subject requests, but here is the agenda for October, click on the ones you like: |
1 edition of Religious education found in the catalog.
|Statement||National Curriculum Council.|
|Contributions||National Curriculum Council.|
|The Physical Object|
|Number of Pages||18|
Children can additionally receive, on a voluntary basis, a religious education, either at school in private religious school, or outside of school, in their religious community, if they are in a public State school. How do societal issues-socialoppression, poverty, politics-affect what we teach, how we teachit, and how people learn? Prayer services using a variety of styles of prayer inspire teens to worship. Over 10 years has passed since then and the textbook is still used as basic book on religion. Pakistan[ edit ] In PakistanMuslim students must take Islamic studies from primary to higher education.
Education in Germany still embodies the legacy of the Prussian education system introduced by Frederick the Great in There has been considerable debate about the usefulness of the "Moral" subject, primarily due to the strict exam-oriented marking-schemes. Students are also educated about morality in a number of different faiths and their moral codes. A Lebanese public school may give, or not give RE classes, which regard the predominant religion of the population in the area the school is located in.
Part 1 - An historical analysis of religious education in the public sphere 1. Students also learn about religious change in Ireland, meaning in life, religious and non-religious responses to the search for meaning, atheism, agnosticism and other forms of belief. There has been considerable debate about the usefulness of the "Moral" subject, primarily due to the strict exam-oriented marking-schemes. They work diligently on assignments.
The Federal Theatre, 1935-1939
life of a nun
St. Ludgers Catholic Church, Germantown, Henry County, Mo.
Control of cellular growth in adult organisms
Test Best on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills
A hard man to beat
The first annual report of the British Charitable Society
Sir Andrew Macphail
Mathematical games, a job creation project in special and primary schools
The bed and breakfast house
The fight to the finish.
saddle of queens
storage of large woodworking projects during assembly and finishing stages
Voices of contemporary glass
What and when arethey ready to learn? Muslim students instead partake in Islamic Studies lessons. Students Each year, in every grade level, doctrinal lessons on all four pillars of the Catechism of the Catholic Church deepen age-appropriate understanding.
Religious classes are not obligatory, nor banned, and they are not replaced by "ethics" classes. This is an opportunity for students — not only from the Los Angeles Archdiocese but throughout California and the western states — to come together and share in Liturgy, workshops, entertainment and to experience the energy of a Youth Day Rally.
Children who are part of no mainstream religion this applies e. However, the state subsidizes private teaching establishments, including religious ones, under strict conditions of not forcing religion courses on students and not discriminating against students according to religion.
This is a great set up for anyone looking for ideas on the spot and at the last minute. Schools are required to teach a programme of religious studies according to local and national guidelines.
Thus, the author' idea was reflected in the book as a religion textbook at school. I put together this collection of Hail Mary activity ideas to help you introduce the prayer to students so they can meditate on the meaning of Students also learn about religious change in Ireland, meaning in life, religious and non-religious responses to the search for meaning, atheism, agnosticism and other forms of belief.
Over 10 years has passed since then and the textbook is still used as basic book on religion. The subject consists of the study of different religions, religious leaders, and other religious and moral themes. Lebanon[ edit ] Being a secular country, with no state religion, Lebanon is expected to have a neutral position regarding religious education in its schools, which is not the case in the country, as well as many European and American countries.
This method, indeed, lays the foundation of non-tolerance at the school age. A student can receive religious education according to his or her own religion if the denomination is registered in Finland.
The Humanistischer Verband Deutschlandsan atheist and agnostic association, has adopted to the legal setup of the churches and is now allowed to offer such classes. Still the best bargain for adults around, wrapped into a three-day weekend!
The root of the problem 2. In this classic text, Thomas Groome asks and answers these centralquestions, providing a comprehensive integration of the history, theory, and practice of modern religious education for a newgeneration of educators. Use St.This printable mini book about Saint Joseph is the perfect addition to your Catholic religious education class.
Catholic kids Religious education book color the pictures as they learn about Saint Joseph. This printable mini book about Saint Joseph is the perfect addition to your Catholic religious education class.
Jan 10, · A basic how-to guide for religious education this book is not. However, I feel strongly that anyone involved in Christian religious education should encounter Groome's work because he so clearly delineates and discusses the foundational questions that inform our practice in religious atlasbowling.com by: Our Religious Education website for Schools and Parishes has moved to become an integrated part of our main website: atlasbowling.com, but don’t worry, special school and parish pricing will still be atlasbowling.com read the important FAQs and answers below before going.
The Catholic Preschool and Primary Religious Education Curriculum for Ireland () was approved by the Irish Episcopal Conference and granted the Decree of Recognitio by the Holy See in It is the curriculum from which Grow in Love, the new Religious Education series for Catholic primary schools, is written.
The aim of the Catholic Preschool and Primary Religious Education Curriculum is. Two editions of Sheikh Abdul Hadi’s book, ‘Basics of Religious Education’, have been sold out. By the grace of Almighty Allah, this book has been very popular and it is in high demand in the USA and many other countries.
On this Jalsa (), the 3rd edition of this book has been printed in copies, and its first copy is submitted. This book will be vital reading for academics and researchers in the fields of religion and religious studies, education, philosophy of education and religious education, and will also be of great interest to teachers and policy makers working in the field of religious education in the public sphere. |
Once a connection between the server and browser is established, and a public key encoded in the certificate is sent from the server to the browser, the browser needs to generate a symmetric key for encryption of the data that will be transmitted further. Here, browser and the server both will compare their lists of available encryption algorithms(Cipher Suits) and choose the strongest one they both support for symmetric encryption. Nowadays modern Browsers and Servers usually use three algorithms for this:
For IIS webserver, you can force your webserver to use only 256-bit encryption. In case of Unix based servers, available ciphers usually depend on an openssl library. Hence, if your website is hosted on a server whose webserver supports 256-bit encryption such as Apache 2.X, then site visitors that use a Firefox browser will have their transactions with your site protected by 256-encryption. Thus with the right combination of Web browser and Web server, you can establish a 256-bit encrypted secure connection.
How would Browser know whether to generate a 256 Bit key or 128 Bit?
For any secure website, click on padlock sign, if you see cipher suite AES_128_GCM ECDHE_ECDSA under Connection tab.
That means, both server and browser have negotiated to use cipher suite AES_128_GCM. They will use 128 Bit Encryption with ECDHA_ECDSA key exchange. |
On May 26th, over 900 people gathered in the Mira Costa High School auditorium to view the screening of the documentary Most Likely to Succeed. This was sponsored by both MBEF and the PTA. It is a film that was featured at this spring’s Sundance Film Festival and is a very hot topic in educational conversations today. The film focuses on the idea of student-centered or project-based learning, and spends a lot of time focused on how students learn at a charter school in San Diego called High Tech High School.
So, you may wonder why a public school district would show a film about a charter school. My philosophy, and I believe I am joined by MBEF and PTA on this, is that whenever you can get almost 20% of your parents to view a film about education and talk about education, it is a win for the community. We have never been afraid of new ideas here in MBUSD. If you have ever been to one of the TEDx conferences that we host each fall, you know that. While some of the ideas may be a bit farfetched for us, I learn every single time I hear about new ideas and I know many of our parents and teachers do as well.
The big push in the film is that as we move further and further away from our industrial age, we move further and further away from jobs that are industrial age related. The film contends (and I agree) that computers and robots will be taking over almost all mundane tasks in the years to come. The film featured seminal historical moments: (1) when Garry Kasparov was beaten by “Big Blue” from IBM in chess, and (2) when Ken Jennings was beaten by “Watson” in Jeopardy. Both chess and Jeopardy are far beyond the mundane, yet we are already at a point when computers can outperform the best humanity has to offer at both activities. So what’s left for us? Creativity, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking about everything.
The film strongly advocates moving away from teacher-centered education where teachers give information to students and students give them back that information on tests. You know we have been saying this for a long time. The film advocates students collaboratively pursuing rigorous, meaningful and relevant learning.
Writing Workshop, our K-8 writing curriculum, is designed around these principals. Students self-select the topics about which they write. They collaboratively work with the teacher as a coach to learn how to improve their writing. If you have been following the math instruction we are implementing, you see the same thing. We are moving away from students learning an algorithm from the teacher and repeating that on questions 1-39 odd, and moving towards students working collaboratively to solve one or two larger problems together. This is what the new California State Standards are all about and I endorse it. We applaud classes like our new Robotics class, our new Fab Lab, our award winning science classes, Maker Space, Model United Nations, Mustang Morning News, our student newspapers, and so many others where students lead the learning, students do the work, and students have a final product to show. I am very proud of what our teachers are doing in this area, and I am committed to seeing even more of this happen. The next generation science standards are coming out in the 17-18 school year. They are pushing the idea of experimenting more and more in science classrooms, and lecturing less and less. They are using the terminology “lab then blab.” It sounds funny, but it is exactly the kind of student-centered learning we are talking about.
So, I encourage you to see the film if you get a chance when it comes out on video. I encourage you to talk about student-centered learning with your children. I encourage you to thank the teachers who are pushing your students to be active learners in the classroom. That is what we want to see and I do appreciate all of our teachers who have made so much progress towards this goal. |
Study links mutations in notch gene to role in B cell cancers
Notch is one of the most frequently mutated genes in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common leukemia in adults in the United States. It is also often mutated in other common B cell tumors, such as mantle cell lymphoma. However, the role of Notch in these cancers has been uncertain. Now, a collaborative effort between investigators at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Harvard Medical School provides new insights into how Notch drives the growth of B-cell cancers. The teams report their findings in Cell Reports.
The researchers found that in B cell tumors, mutated overactive versions of the Notch protein directly drive the expression of the Myc gene and many other genes that participate in B cell signaling pathways. Myc is a critical gene in governing cell proliferation and survival, activities that it carries out by regulating the expression of other genes involved in cell metabolism.
B cell signaling pathways are the current targets of several therapies used to treat B cell malignancies such as CLL. "An important translational implication of this research is that we hope that by combining Notch inhibitors with drugs that target B-cell signaling we can better treat these B-cell cancers," said senior author Warren Pear, MD, PhD, a professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Penn Medicine. "Although this is true of many transcription factors, it has been difficult to develop therapeutics that directly target the Myc protein, an alternative approach may be to target the proteins that regulate Myc expression." Notably, multiple Notch inhibitors are in various stages of clinical development as potential cancer therapies.
The mechanism used by Notch to regulate Myc in B cells is distinct from the mechanism used in other cell types, such as T cells, where Notch also regulates Myc. The team found that Notch uses different regulatory switches in the genome, called enhancers, in different cell types. This raises the issue of why evolution would select for this complexity. One reason may be that Myc needs to be under very tight control in each cell. For example, in the mouse model of Notch-induced T-cell leukemia, the Penn group previously found that the difference between inducing a T cell tumor or not is a doubling of Myc transcription by Notch. As Notch appears to use cell type-specific machinery to regulate Myc, it may be possible to target the Notch-Myc signaling path in a way that does not disrupt this path in other cell types.
Another surprising finding was the direct link between Notch and genes involved in other B cell signaling pathways. For example, Notch activates genes involved in B cell receptor signaling, which is an established drug target in these B cell cancers. The challenge now will be to understand what this might mean for treatment of patients with Notch-activated B-cell leukemias and lymphomas. The team plans to test the synergy between Notch and B-cell signaling inhibitors. If they find a relationship, the next step would be to stimulate interest in a clinical trial. |
During my visit to Haiti two years ago I had the privilege of visiting two hospitals: L’Hôpital Albert Schweitzer (HAS) in Haiti’s Artibonite Valley and L’Hôpital Sainte-Thérèse in Hinche, Haiti. Many of the patients at both hospitals, I learned, walked or took public transport over long distances for quality hospital care. As the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haitians need many more hospitals and health workers to care after their sick. There are currently only six health workers for every 10,000 Haitians according to USAID. And, Haiti has the highest rate of infant, child, and maternal mortality in the Western Hemisphere. Most Haitians live on less than $1 a day and their life expectancy is only 64 compared to 74 for its neighbor, the Dominican Republic.
Quality health care in Haiti continues to be one of the country’s greatest problems. In fact, Haiti only spends 6 percent of its expenditures on health care and relies heavily on international funding.
Continue reading Residents in Southern Haiti Receive New Access to Quality Health Care
As we sat with an expecting mothers’ group in Okhla slum in south Delhi with Save the Children India we learned that the government provides a countrywide incentive program for women to deliver their babies in a hospital as opposed to delivering at home. While monetary payment to give birth in an institution would help many poor Indian families particularly those who are migrant workers and slum dwellers it isn’t a foolproof way to entice expectant mothers into government hospitals.
Some still believe the traditional way of delivering at home with a midwife is far better than delivering in an institution. This goes back to a wide-held belief that many believe hospitals are intended solely for people who are sick and pregnancy isn’t seen as a sickness. Couple this with a healthcare system with great faults and many expectant Indian mothers opt for home deliveries despite the risk of losing their babies or even losing their own lives.
India, despite its soaring economic growth, spends less than 1% of its GDP on healthcare. In a country with 1.2 billion people this is certainly problematic especially as most healthcare is sought out at private clinics despite the high cost of services. Government run hospitals are in bad condition with routinely absentee doctors and a lack of medicines and medical supplies. Christopher Werth, an International Reporting fellow, recently reported for the BBC about India’s healthcare dilemma. |
Determining whether or not a suspect was present at the scene of a crime can be a very powerful piece of information in a criminal case. Information of this sort can help in making the decision on whether or not to pursue a lead or provide supporting evidence for prosecution.
It is common for a suspect to say that they were not present at a crime scene and that they were elsewhere at the time that a crime was committed. In order to test whether or not this is true, we can test whether material found on the clothing worn by the suspect at the time of the crime includes traces of the crime scene or the site of their alibi. One of the approaches available to do this is to study mineral grains, often found in the form of mud on shoes.
It is possible with automated SEM + EDS with feature analysis to analyse large collections of grains collected from both the suspect and the alibi site to see if there are any similarities between them. A particularly good way of doing this is by looking at quartz grains. Quartz grains are very commonly found in nature and are quite hard wearing. This means that their shapes hold information on their history which will differ from one location to another. By using chemical information to identify which grains are quartz and measure morphology information from those grains it is possible to very quickly and effectively characterise what a population of grains from a given site looks like. These can then be compared and a decision made on whether the suspect was likely to have been at the site in question. |
Aggtelek National Park is located in the northern part of Hungary along the border of Slovakia. The park covers an area of 76.80 square miles (198.92 sq km).
The national park combines natural facets of wilderness and wildlife above ground while featuring a system of caves scattered across the park.
There are 280 different caves blanketed across the park’s boundaries. The caves all vary in sizes as well as differ with cavern features and characteristics. The terrain is primarily comprised of limestone.
The caves are part of the Aggtelek Karst and continue across the border into the Slovak Karst. Collectively, the caves and karsts are recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Aggtelek is also rich in cultural heritage featuring a number of castles, palaces, forts, museums, and forts.
The terrain above ground is also exciting serving as habitat for a variety of wildlife species. Some of the more hopeful sightings include the gray wolf, Eurasian lynx, red deer, and the wild boar. Birdwatching is also a popular activity featuring the eastern imperial eagle, saker falcon, kingfisher, and many others.
Sightings of wildlife above ground are some of the highlights for many travelers. However, the 280 different caves of Aggtelek are what draws most people to visit the park. Exploring the caves is the highlight for most people.
Baradla Cave is more officially known as the Baradla Domica cave system. It is part of the larger Aggtelek Karst and system of caves found in the national park and spreading into Slovakia.
The entire cave system stretches across 15.84 miles (25.5 km) and extends into neighboring Slovakia. From within the national park, visitors can explore the primary channel over a distance of 4.3 miles (7 km). It is the largest and most majestic cave in Hungary.
There are a few large chambers along the path which averages about 33 feet (10 m) in width and 23 to 26 feet (7 to 8 m) high. The cave provides excellent displays of stalactites and stalagmites as well as other cavern features.
The Peace Cave is an attraction for those who seek the therapeutic properties which seem to be associated with the cave. The cave serves as a sanatorium for the purpose of helping those with asthma.
The Peace Cave is not known for displaying traditional cave formations with the biggest interest being more aligned with hopeful health benefits.
It is amazing how many different cultural and historical treats are located within the boundaries of the park. The Pauline Monastery and the L’ Huillier Coburg Castle are two of the favorite attractions, however, there are multiple manor houses village museums, old churches, and other monasteries.
Trails of Aggtelek National Park
Hiking the trails of Aggtelek National Park is the most popular activity visitors leverage to engage the wilderness and natural facets of the park. There are numerous hiking trail options available to explore the park.
Baradla Cave Trail: There are three different guided tours ranging from 4 to 7 hours depending on the amount of time you want to spend in the cave.
Aggtelek serves to protect the extensive cave system and the enchanting Baradla Cave. The park authorities also created zones of the park which may only be explored on designated paths so to protect the wilderness and habitats that support the wildlife.
The park is also the first park in Hungary that collaboratively protects abiotic values, architectural features, and the referenced cave system.
- Baradla Cave
- Peace Cave
- Historical and Cultural features
- Aggteleki Nemzeti Park, Park Site, http://anp.nemzetipark.gov.hu/index.php?lang=en, retrieved August 2020.
- Britannica, Aggtelek Caves, https://www.britannica.com/place/Aggtelek-Caves, retrieved August 2020.
- Itinari, The Miraculous Nature of Aggtelek, https://www.itinari.com/the-miraculous-nature-of-aggtelek-6hg6, retrieved August 2020.
- National Parks Traveler, Exploring the Parks: Hungary’s Aggtelek National Park, https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2014/02/exploring-parks-hungarys-aggtelek-national-park24657, retrieved August 2020.
- Our Wanders, Visit Aggtelek National Park, Hungary, https://ourwanders.com/aggtelek-national-park-hungary/, retrieved August 2020.
- UNESCO, Aggtelek National Park, https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/1332, retrieved August 2020. |
How Does the COVID-19 Pandemic Affect the 2020 Census?
March 30, 2020
The decennial Census is a critical, constitutionally mandated exercise to ensure fair distribution of the over $675 billion in federal funds, grants, and support to states and their local neighborhoods. This funding supports critical programs and investments, such as schools, infrastructure, and hospitals. The information that is collected is also used to determine how many seats each state will have in the United States House of Representatives. Everyone living in the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and the five U.S. territories is required by law to be counted in the 2020 Census, regardless of your housing or immigration status.
Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Census Bureau has made a number of adjustments to their operations throughout the country in order to ensure a complete count while prioritizing public safety. During these challenging times, it's important to know what these changes mean for our students, staff, and local community members so that everyone is fully counted in the 2020 Census. As of March 27, the following changes have been implemented.
Columbia University remains committed to ensuring that everyone is counted, and to keeping our neighbors informed about updates coming from the Census Bureau. If you wish to respond online or by phone, please visit https://my2020census.gov/ or call (844) 330-2020. For more information on the new deadlines and further changes to Census operations, click here. |
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- When Clark Colton wrote a proposal to make a complicated heat exchanger accessible to students by remote control over the web, his only goal was to see whether it would be useful for one of his courses. He never envisioned that the machine would quickly find applications in two additional MIT courses and one at the University of Texas at Austin.
Heat exchangers, which involve separate streams of hot and cold fluids, are "everywhere," said Colton, a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering. In chemical plants and power plants, air conditioners and refrigerators, one fluid is used to change the temperature of another. For example, the hot water exiting a power plant can be cooled by proximity to a stream of cold water.
Because heat exchangers are important in the chemical engineering curriculum, one that could be operated by students over the web might be useful, Colton thought. So with funds through MIT's I-Lab and I-Campus initiatives, he bought a heat-exchanger system modified by its manufacturer to be suitable for remote control.
He knew, however, that it could not yet be operated remotely on the web. The machine didn't come with the software to do so. Enter Rubaiyat Amin Khan, a graduate student in civil and environmental engineering who wrote the software that allowed an interface with the web. Khan earned his master's degree for this accomplishment, which he did in about a year.
Last November Colton and Khan decided it was time to test the now web-friendly machine in an undergraduate course on heat and mass transfer. Students were asked to solve a problem by accessing the machine, changing certain variables as it ran, and noting the consequences. "This first trial was an extended homework problem," Colton remembers. "Even though the web site was rudimentary at that time, we learned a lot about how students respond to that kind of environment and what improvements they would like."
"Prior to this project I did not fully appreciate the value of exposing our students to equipment on the web," he continued. That changed when the heat exchanger went online. Colton was surprised by the extent of students' enthusiasm, even though he himself finds running the exchanger "a bit addictive, actually. It's really fun." As a result, "I think this approach has real potential for lecture courses that do not have a lab component. Without going to a lab, students can work with real equipment and compare its performance to the theory they learn in class."
Feedback has been quite positive, Colton said, except when students run into software or equipment failures. "Then they get very frustrated, so there's a premium on reliability," Colton said. Although his team has solved several key problems, the system does not yet run 24 hours a day because time is allotted for equipment maintenance.
ADD TWO COURSES
Richard West, a participant in the Cambridge-MIT Institute, was one of the juniors taking the course last fall. He wrote Colton about a problem he'd found in the system: the temperature of the hot water oscillated widely. He discovered that "we had not yet learned how to properly control the system," Colton said. So when West asked if he could work on the problem as a UROP project, the professor said yes.
Over Christmas West borrowed a textbook on process control, "and then it was a case of experimenting and trying various things," he said. By February 2002 the problem was solved.
And that introduced yet another application of the equipment. Colton, Kahn and West already knew that the heat exchanger was useful for online experiments on heat transfer; now they realized that it could also be used to teach students about process dynamics and control.
End result: this spring the heat exchanger was used in two additional MIT classes. In the Chemical Engineering Processes Laboratory, it was used as a vehicle for preparing a technical report to satisfy the Phase 2 writing requirement. It was also used in Process Dynamics, Operations and Control, an undergraduate course taught by Barry Johnston, a senior lecturer in chemical engineering. Some 125 MIT students have now used the machine.
Thanks to a serendipitous e-mail, the heat exchanger was also used in a University of Texas, Austin, class this semester. Last winter UT Professor R. Bruce Eldridge sent an e-mail to Dean of Engineering Tom Magnanti asking if anyone had any quality multimedia content in heat transfer. The note eventually found its way to Colton, who asked Eldridge if he'd like to use the web-controlled heat exchanger in his course.
UT students have only recently completed their assignment using the machine, so Colton hasn't gotten any extensive feedback, but "no problems were reported and Eldridge has asked if he can make it a permanent part of his course."
More information on the heat exchanger project, including a video of the equipment, is at http://heatex.mit.edu. The work is part of MIT's I-Lab project, which is funded largely by Microsoft through the I-Campus initiative. |
Ohio Reading Road Trip is designed to provide middle school language arts teachers with materials, tools and training that engage students, motivate them to read, and improve the literacy skills they'll use for a lifetime.
Ohio Reading Road Trip Professional Development Workshops take place throughout the state in early 2004.
Graduate credit is available to teachers through the Wright State Online Course.
Chapbooks should be fun, not frustrating! Creating Chapbooks gives easy, step-by-step instructions and a form teachers can download and follow.
Extension Activities provide teachers with online plans that increase students' knowledge and appreciation for novels, short fiction and poetry.
What are the greatest challenges you face in teaching literacy skills? ORRT has answers and resources for teachers who want help in Middle School Literacy & Reading/Writing Workshop.
The Ohio Reading Road Trip Instructor's Guide is online; download your copy today.
In partnership with the Ohio Arts Council, ORRT is providing twenty two-week Resident Author Programs in low-wealth schools. Take a look at the project and read about student and teacher response to this incredible opportunity.
Technology canand isrevolutionizing teaching and learning. Using Technology in the Classroom offers information on what's available, how to incorporate technology into your classroom and where to find more information.
Need to provide some incentive to students? Writers' Thoughts on Writing has information from Ohio Authors and writers from a number of fields on how they write and tips new writers can try for themselves. |
For peoples native to the region of the Western Great Lakes, wild rice or manoomin is an essential spiritual, economic, and material resource. The rice harvest itself and the social gatherings that happen around the harvest are essential components of communal life for these tribes.
For peoples native to the region of the Western Great Lakes, the fruit of a certain grain that grows in the shallows of lakes and slow rivers is called manoomin, the “good berry” or “fruit” that was granted to the people of the land by the spiritual sources of life. Known in English as wild rice, manoomin was and still is a staple food, but it is also a powerful emblem of the particular peoples of the region and of their relationship with the natural and spiritual dimensions of life. The Menominee people of Wisconsin have such a special relationship to this plant that they take it as their name: they are literally “the people of the wild rice.”
Today, as in generations past, entire communities venture off to their rice camps in late August and September, where they harvest green rice, dry it, parch it, “dance” or “jig” it to loosen the grain from the hull, and winnow it. The harvest is carefully controlled by an ethical relationship with the plant, supported by its myth of origin and a long natural history of cultural value.
From the days when Native people supplied Europeans at the trading posts of the fur trade, wild rice has provided Native communities in this region with an important source of commercial income. However, since the 1970s, when a domesticated strain of wild rice was developed, agro-business economic development projects of cultivating “paddy rice” have failed in Native communities, where the relationship with the plant is not an economic relationship with a commercial crop, but rather a spiritual relationship with an important source of community identity and well being.
Manoomin might even be called a sacred food among the Ojibwe people and their neighbors. No ceremony or public gathering will be without a feast, and no feast will do without a number of manoomin dishes, be it a picnic or powwow, a graduation party or funeral wake. Often a “spirit dish” of each food will be prepared, and upon the blessing of the food, will be quietly placed in a field for the spirits.
The traditional way of harvesting manoomin in canoes is also central to the lives of these Western Great Lakes communities. The weeks of late summer and early fall are perhaps the most special time of the year because of their association with the rice harvest. As time draws near, reservation communities buzz with talk of the quality of the year’s crop, of where and when people will journey to the rice fields for harvest. Many Native people who live far away in urban areas will return to the lakes and streams of the reservations especially for the rice harvest. The village of Ball Club on Minnesota’s Leech Lake Reservation honors the plant each year at this time, during its traditional Mi-gwech Mahnohmen Days, its “Thank you Manoomin” Powwow. |
Formal musical composition in the tradition of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Dvorak (to mention only a representative selection from a vast array) took a turn for the worse in the early 1900s. “Modern” music as it was then and has remained, consists of the following styles:
Gloomy music for a gloomy day/event/epoch — sometimes vocalized for extra dreariness.
Hyper-caffeinated cacophony for noise addicts.
Ponderous musical platitudes, piled high and at great length.
Random noise and random silence, in various proportions.
Throw in dissonance, atonality, lack of rhythm — and just plain non-musicality — and you’ve got “modern” music. |
If you are a beginner in fishing, then you must be wondering why fishermen are called anglers. Some people think that angler is just another name for fishermen while some have no idea at why some fishermen are referred to anglers. Although most people use these words interchangeably, thinking that it means the same, these two words are different from each other. All anglers are fishermen, but not all fishermen are anglers.
Who is a fisherman?
A fisherman is someone who captures fish and other creatures from a body of water or gathers shellfish. This term can also be used to refer to recreational fishermen, and it is a broad term that refers to both men and women. The word fisherman is a general word and refers to any person who is involved in fishing. In other words, it refers to all types of fishing.
Fisherman use bait and any other thing that can catch fish mainly for consumption, not for fun or sporting. When they go out to fish, their main goal is to catch as many fish as possible to maximize profits. For the fishermen, not catching fish means no income, and for that reason, they have invested heavily in buying state of the art fishing equipment to increase their chance of finding fish species that they are looking for.
To most fishers, fishing is their full-time job. A vast majority of them earn a living from fishing, and they have put a lot of effort to make their fishing successful.
Who is an angler?
An angler is a fisherman who uses a fishing technique known as angling. Angling is a type of fishing that uses fish hooks. The hooks are usually attached to the fishing line. The line is then attached to the fishing rod. The hook is often dressed with bait or lure to attract the fish to bite. An angler fisherman uses angling techniques to attract and catch fish. Angling is mainly used for sport fishing, but in some cases, commercial fisheries also use angling methods such as trolling and long lining to attract and catch fish.
Unlike fishermen, who fish to catch and eat or selling fish, anglers fish mainly for sport and fun. In most cases, they usually free the fish once they have achieved their goal.
What is the main difference between an angler and fisherman?
The main difference between a fisherman and an angler is the technique used in fishing. While fishermen use many methods to attract and catch fish, anglers use specific hooks and lines to attract trophy fish. Fishermen use many fishing techniques, including the use of traps, nets, cages, and much more to catch fish.
Another big difference between the two is the purposes of fishing. The main objective of fishermen is to catch as many fish as possible for mainly for personal or commercial use. As such, they have invested heavily in buying quality fishing equipment to enable them to catch large volumes of fish with ease. On the other hand, anglers mainly catch fish for sport and fun. They practice catch and release and rarely throws one in the cooler unless the fish is injured or it is too tasty to let it go. Most of them only fish catch trophy-sized fish. They are not trying to catch fish to eat but only for sports. Once they accomplish their objective, they usually release the fish back to the water.
Fishermen usually target a wide variety of fish to maximize their profits. Most of the fish in large vessels that can hold huge amounts of fish at a time. Additionally, they often spend a lot of time in the sea or lake fishing. On the other hand, anglers only target a specific type of fish at a time, and they would not consider their fishing expedition successful until they capture the trophy fish that they were. Their main aim is to catch trophy fish either for fun or for sports.
Another key difference is the bait used. Fishermen prefer to use live bait or lure to attract fish, while anglers mostly use artificial bait. The reason why many fishermen prefer to use live bait is to attract as many fish as possible at a single moment. Anglers, on the other hand, prefer artificial lures because it is long-lasting and very effective in attracting the fish species that they are targeting.
How to become a pro angler?
1. Buy all necessary fishing gears
You can only fish if you have fight fishing gears. So, before you think of anything else, go to your nearest store that sells fishing accessories and buy all the necessary pieces of equipment that will help make your fishing fun and smooth. Necessary gears that you need to have include road and reel, line, tackle, bait, lures, castable fishfinder, and tackle bag.
2. Learn how to fish
Once you have bought all necessary fishing gear, the next crucial thing to do to become a pro angler is learning proper fishing techniques. You can go for fishing classes, or you can ask a friend or a family member who is pro in fishing to help you. You can also talk to fish professionals in your area for tips and advice.
3. Focus on a different species
The difference between an ordinary fisherman and a professional fisherman is their ability to catch a particular fish species successfully. Unlike fishermen who target multiple fish species, anglers usually focus on specific species. So, try to choose a particular species like bass then master the technique needed to capture it.
4. Compete in fishing tournaments
Another great way to become a professional angler is by participating in fishing tournaments. This way, you will get to learn fishing techniques that you did not know. Additionally, you will also get to meet and interact with professional anglers who will share tips and tricks that will help sharpen your fishing skills.
In conclusion, from the above discussion, it is now clear that anglers are a type of fishermen who use specialized fishing equipment known as hooks and lines to attract and catch fish. They also focus on catching a specific fish species as opposed to many fish species. Lastly, they catch fish for sport and fun and usually free them after they have accomplished their goal. |
The Uyuni Salt Flat is one of the top tourist attractions in Bolivia. The salt lake is located in the south-west of the country, close to neighboring Chile. With an area of around 11,000 km², the Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt lake in the world. The salt pan is at an altitude of 3,650m above sea level. About 40,000 years ago the Lake Minchin was at this place, which slowly dried up and turned into a salt desert. The salt crust is up to 90 m deep. Gases and sources can still be seen at the so-called ojos (eyes). The salt lake is around 135 kilometers wide and 112 kilometers long. The amount of salt in the Salar de Uyuni is estimated at 10 billion tons. Salt is broken down on the edge of the salt pan.
The salt lake was named after the city of Uyuni, which is located east of the lake. The town was built in 1889 as a military base in the Saltpeter War against Chile. Bolivia lost the war and lost its access to the sea. The small town with around 20,000 inhabitants now lives from tourism, which attracts visitors from all over the world. Uyuni is cold and dry, a difficult environment for plants. There are few trees to be seen in the city. The center is at the intersection of Av. Acre / Av. Potosi. There are bigger buildings and a beautiful clock tower there.
Uyuni is the starting point for tours on the salt lake. There are many hotels, shops and restaurants, an airfield and many tour operators who drive their off-road vehicles to the places worth seeing on the salt pan.
The Uyuni Railway Cemetery is the city's most famous attraction. The construction of the railway line was started in 1872 and was used to transport goods from the mines to the port of Antofagasta on the Pacific. After the war against Chile, the port city belonged to the neighboring country. From 1940 the mines were no longer profitable and the railway line was no longer needed. The trains were parked in Uyuni and have been rusting outside the city gates ever since.
The "Cementerio de trenes" railway cemetery is a popular photo opportunity for tourists and Uyuni's number 1 Instagram spot.
There are multi-day tours on the Salar de Uyuni. The accommodations are often very modest, better accommodations are usually available at an additional cost. There are slopes for all-terrain vehicles on the salt lake. The cheapest providers often have the worst vehicles and the most primitive accommodations. It's worth checking out the cars and accommodations before booking. You can find various providers on the Internet, where you can check the route, price and performance in advance.
The rainy season is between November and April, when a thin layer of water forms on the surface, transforming the lake into a gigantic mirror. If the water is not too high, you can still drive over the salt pan. Therefore, you can actually visit the Salar de Uyuni all year round.
Isla Incahuasi is located in the middle of the salt lake. It is the main attraction of the Salar de Uyuni. The island is significantly higher than the flat salt pan and offers a great view over the salt lake and the surrounding mountains. The Isla Incahuasi is well developed, there is a tourist center and hiking trails. The island is famous for its up to 10 m high cacti of the species Echinopsis atacamensis, which can live up to 1,000 years.
On the Salar de Uyuni there are other sights, such as the island of flags. Visitors from all over the world have left the flag of their homeland at this place. The result is a colorful sea of flags that has become a popular Instagran spot. The salt hotel and the salt production are also shown to tourists on most salt lake tours.
About 230 kilometers southwest of Uyumi is the area "Sol de la Manana" with the Laguna Colorada. A reddish lake with bubbling mud. If you drive a little further you come to Chile. A few kilometers across the border is a field of hot geysers that spray steam and boiling water into the sky. The El Tatio geyser is the most famous in the region.
Welcome to Uyuni
The Uyuni Salt Flat is one of the top tourist attractions of Bolivia. The barren area magically attracts adventurous tourists. The largest salt lake in the world and its surroundings offer great landscapes with impressive nature. |
One of the common animals in my yard and garden is the flatworm. Strictly speaking, “the” flatworm here in New Zealand is actually multiple species—possibly up to a hundred—but they have been poorly studied, so it’s unclear just how many species there are.
Flatworms are some of the most impressive predators in the garden, able to consume prey up to 55 times their own size. That’s the equivalent of your house cat taking down a female elk. They eat snails, slugs, and earthworms, digesting them externally before sucking them up with one or more mouths located midway along their bodies.
I love to find flatworms around the yard. They come in striking colours, and some have lovely brown stripes—the orange Australian flatworm (Australoplana sanguinea) is most common in my garden, followed by the relatively nondescript brown New Zealand flatworm (Arthurdendyus triangulatus). Like the slugs they eat, they prefer damp places, and they protect themselves with a layer of mucous. Flatworm mucus is stickier than slug mucous, and they use it to attach themselves to their prey during feeding.
New Zealand is full of non-native invasive organisms, but New Zealand flatworms are one of the few organisms that have turned the tables and become pests overseas. They are easily transported in potted plants, and have successfully invaded Ireland and Scotland. Though there was widespread panic at first about their potential to threaten the local ecology, they appear to have caused little damage to earthworm populations in the UK. Like most cold-blooded animals, their appetites are small. Far from being a devouring hoard, each flatworm can manage, on average, just one earthworm per week. And if they don’t manage to find an earthworm every week, it’s not a problem—they can go a year without eating. |
Most people seem to assume that a metaphor is simply a clever form of expression, a fancy dress for a naked truth. When confronted with a metaphoric expression, they simply strip off the clothes in order to see the concrete, literal truth.
If anyone makes too big a fuss about the metaphor itself, he is rebutted with the unanswerable, “But it’s just a metaphor!” This phrase really means, “The metaphor is unimportant; what really matters is the literal meaning underneath all the frippery.”
But is this really true? Is metaphor just a frilly waste of time that obscures the truth? Or is metaphor something more?
The answer to this question is rather important since human expression depends so heavily on metaphoric and figurative expressions. Most significantly, the primary way that Jesus explains his purpose and ministry is through metaphor.
For instance, in John 6 Jesus goes out of His way to declare Himself the Bread of Life–and to make clear that this is not just a figure of speech, not “just a metaphor.” He says in 6:35 that He is the True Manna, the “bread that came down from heaven” (6:41). But Jesus is a person, the Son incarnate in humanity–so in what way is He also bread? If we can answer this question, then we will learn something essential about metaphor.
More Bread than Bread
From the context of John 6, we can certainly conclude that Jesus is not simply drawing an analogy between manna and Himself–He is not merely saying that both He and manna came from heaven and so they are similar. Finding such analogies is the most basic function of metaphor, but in the way that a stove’s basic function is to boil water. If we stop exploring the capacities of our oven when the water is hot, we will woefully misunderstand and misuse our stoves. So it is with metaphor.
Jesus is obviously claiming a more intimate link between Himself and the bread from heaven. He claims that in some way, He really is bread, as well as a human being: “My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink” (6:55). In no uncertain terms, Jesus declares that He is not speaking in “just metaphors”; He is not finding clever similarities. Rather, He is making a bold declaration about who He really is, about His purpose and being.
The real shock comes not when Jesus says that He is bread, but when He says that He is a better kind of bread than the manna that fed the Israelites: “[My flesh] is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever” (6:58). Bread is really bread, but Jesus is even “breadier.”
The audience understands that Jesus is making this very claim. Their frustration at this “hard saying” (6:60) comes from the cannibalistic ultimatums that Jesus makes: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (6:53). These confused disciples fall away because Jesus demands that they eat human flesh and blood. Not one of those who hear Jesus brush off the difficulty of his teaching by declaring it “just a metaphor.” Instead, many of them cease to follow Jesus from that day.
The Loaf Glorifies
In John 6 Jesus teaches us the true purpose of metaphor: to reveal deep truths that cannot be expressed in straight, literal prose. Metaphor unveils the hidden heart of reality to our dim eyes. Literal expository language will exhaust itself before the fullness of human knowledge can be expressed. When literal speech fails us, we turn to metaphor–so we may express higher truths, not lesser.
But this is only one lesson we learn about metaphor from John 6. The second lesson has to do with transfiguration: not only does metaphor take us to the heart of reality, it also transfigures the objects it uses.
Consider Jesus’ metaphor. When He compares Himself to a loaf of bread, He uses a common, everyday object to open our eyes to who He truly is, to what He really is. The simple, round loaf transfigures Jesus from a dusty teacher with no credentials to the Real Food, the Real Staff of Life. Through metaphor, humble bread lifts the veil from our eyes, helping us see the world a little bit more as God sees it.
The Glorified Loaf
It is vital that we realize that the bread is glorified through this process as well. Though still a common object, bread now forever testifies though its very breadiness–through its very existence–to the Real Food and Drink of Jesus Christ. Bread transfigures Jesus, and in turn Jesus glorifies bread. This is how metaphor works, two objects mutually glorifying each other. And this is how the Trinity works as well, each Person giving glory and honor to the others out of sacrificial, other-focused love (John 13:31-32).
Jesus’ metaphor points us to the Lord’s Supper. At that Table, we really do eat Christ’s flesh and drink His blood, in some tangible, material way. If the Bread and Wine are “just a metaphor”–that is, merely a clever turn of phrase–then they could not be the source of eternal life, as Jesus declares them to be (John 6:58). If we are to have eternal life, we must eat this Flesh and drink this Blood, or else we “have no life in [us]” (John 6:53).
We eat the flesh and blood of Christ in order to become like Him. And having eaten and drunk, we also become like the bread and wine–we become metaphors that reveal the true nature of Christ to those around us. As Christians, we also must transfigure Jesus with our humble, common lives–with our loaf-lives. Through humble faith and fierce, sacrificial love, we testify to the True Bread of Life who gave Himself for the world.
“Unless you change and become like little loaves, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of a loaf of bread is the greatest in the kingdom” (cf. Matt. 18:3-5). |
During the last years, technology has achieved changes in different sports, and swimming is no exception. Trainers around the world have adapted a new fashion to their training plan in which they make their swimmers practice in a countercurrent pool.
The pools are regularly 50 by 25 meters, 50 meters by 25 yards, and 25 by 25 yards. The measures depend on the size of the land on which it will be built, the local climate, and the level of athletes who will use the pool. In these types of pools, which are smaller and more compact, the swimmer must swim against the current to maintain a good body position.
They originated in the late 80’s as a training alternative for open waters without the need to swim in the sea or make bell turns. These pools attracted attention mainly from high performance athletes; however, it also sparked interest in people who simply wanted to learn to swim or to recover from injury. Although it is very different to swim in these types of pools than to swim in short or long courses, the countercurrents have benefits that are worth making themselves known.
Posted on May 5 2019 by
The construction, installation, and maintenance of common pools are quite expensive. If it is a roofed complex, external factors – such as heating, air conditioning and lighting – will increase the total cost of the energy of the place. A pool of common competition of 25 yards costs $ 56,250 approximately. On the other hand, although it generally depends on the brand, the total price of installation and maintenance is just over $ 20,000.
Maintaining outdoor pools can also be complicated when they are in places with extreme weather. As mentioned earlier, roofed pools are usually more expensive; therefore, sometimes building an outdoor is a better option if you have a lower budget.
The problem is that when it is too cold or there are storms, training should be interrupted. Although, the countercurrent pools can be used 365 days a year, regardless of time or place. The engine produces heat and reuses it as energy; the maintenance depends on the pumps that generate high temperatures.
In addition, some of the pools include a thermal cover that keeps it at the ideal temperature, regardless of the weather.
Traditional pools require a large lot and several months to be built; while installing a countercurrent pool in the garden takes a couple of days, and a minimum space of 9 by 14 feet. Similarly, the size varies by brand but the most popular measures are 7 by 12 and up to 10 by 15 feet with a maximum depth of 50 inches.
Inclusive, one can choose the appropriate measures with respect to the objective that will be given to the pool. For example, a smaller and shallower pool could be suitable for beginners and small children. When they are learning to swim in an Olympic or semi-Olympic pool, it is common to get very nervous and easily overwhelmed by seeing the pool too long or feeling very deep.
It is worth mentioning that the countercurrent pools are much more ecological than the standard pools, since they require less space, water, and energy.
Currently, competitive trainers are adding pool sessions against their current practices. The feature that highlights these pools is that the current can be controlled manually. The swimmer can do technique exercises at a gentle pace with the coach or instructor standing only a few steps away.
Nowadays, there are sub-aquatic cameras and mirrors (even for the back style) that can be placed inside or outside the pool. Thanks to this, the swimmer can see exactly what he is doing and the coach can stop him at any time to correct. On the other hand, swimming at a faster pace can help train endurance and speed. Some countercurrents are designed for elite swimmers and can reach a speed of up to 100 yards for 51 seconds.
However, if the rhythm that was programmed is too fast, the swimmer may realize that he will be moving backwards until he accelerates his own style and can stay in the flow.
Why does this matter? When an athlete is pushing her body to the limit (or beyond) each and every day, every little bit counts. No doubt, your swimmer’s body is exhausted after each workout. Promoting better recovery from those intense workouts will prepare your swimmer’s body to attack the next practice.
Chocolate milk is touted as an excellent recovery drink in numerous studies. (Check out this presentation from USA Swimming on the benefits of chocolate milk.) The main reason is that chocolate milk provides the right amount of protein and carbs, yet is easy to find and affordable. Plus, it tastes great.
Throughout history, technology has modernized swimming. Hydrodynamic caps and goggles, plain bathing suits, extra training sessions and new pools have resulted from these advances. It has been proven that the countercurrent pools improve the aquatic performance in swimmers of any level.
However, the inability to train key points of competition such as submarines, laps, and underwater arrows, can never supply training in a regular pool.
[ajax_load_more id=”5305766340″ container_type=”div” post_type=”post” posts_per_page=”3″ scroll=”false” button_label=”More Posts” data-repeater=”template_6″ data-transition=”fade” data-images-loaded=”false”] |
Depending on the treatment type and quality, digested or stabilized sludge can be applied to public or private lands for landscaping or agriculture.
Sludge that has been treated (e.g., co-composted or removed from a planted drying bed, etc.) can be used in agriculture, home gardening, forestry, sod and turf growing, landscaping, parks, golf courses, mine reclamation, as a dump cover, or for erosion control. Although sludge has lower nutrient levels than commercial fertilizers (for nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, respectively), it can replace them fully or in part. Additionally, treated sludge has been found to have properties superior to those of fertilizers, such as bulking and water retention properties, and the slow, steady release of nutrients.
Solids are spread on the ground surface using conventional manure spreaders, tank trucks or specially designed vehicles. Liquid sludge (e.g., from anaerobic reactors) can be sprayed onto or injected into the ground.
Application rates and usage of sludge should take into account the presence of pathogens and contaminants, and the quantity of nutrients available so that it is used at a sustainable and agronomic rate.
The greatest barrier to the use of sludge is, generally, acceptance. However, even when sludge is not accepted by agriculture or local industries, it can still be useful for municipal projects and can actually provide significant savings (e.g., mine reclamation).
Depending on the source of the sludge and on the treatment method, it can be treated to a level where it is generally safe and no longer generates significant odour or vector problems. Following appropriate safety and application regulations is important. WHO guidelines on excreta use in agriculture (Volume IV) should be consulted for detailed information.
Operation & Maintenance
Spreading equipment must be maintained to ensure continued use. The amount and rate of sludge application should be monitored to prevent overloading and, thus, the potential for nutrient pollution. Workers should wear appropriate protective clothing.
Although sludge is sometimes criticised for containing potentially high levels of metals or contaminants, commercial fertilizers are also contaminated to varying degrees, most likely with cadmium or other heavy metals. Faecal sludge from pit latrines should not have any chemical inputs and is, therefore, not a high-risk source of heavy metal contamination. Sludge that originates at large-scale wastewater treatment plants is more likely to be contaminated since it receives industrial and domestic chemicals, as well as surface water run-off, which may contain hydrocarbons and metals. Depending on the source, sludge can serve as a valuable and often much-needed source of nutrients. Application of sludge on land may be less expensive than disposal.
This is the first book to compile the current state of knowledge on faecal sludge management. It addresses the organization of the entire faecal sludge management service chain, from the collection and transport of sludge, to the current state of knowledge of treatment options, and the final end use or disposal of treated sludge. It presents an integrated approach that brings together technology, management, and planning, based on Sandec’s 20 years of experience in the field. It also discusses important factors to consider when evaluating and upscaling new treatment technology options. The book is designed for undergraduate and graduate students, engineers, and practitioners in the field who have some basic knowledge of environmental and/or wastewater engineering.STRANDE, L. ; RONTELTAP, M. ; BRDJANOVIC, D. (2014): Faecal Sludge Management. Systems Approach for Implementation and Operation. London: IWA Publishing URL [Accessed: 16.07.2014]
This report gives an overview on the use and disposal of biosolids/sewage sludge in the US between 1998 and 2010.U.S. EPA (1999): Biosolids Generation, Use, and Disposal in the United States. Washington: United States Environmental Protection Agency URL [Accessed: 26.05.2019]
Guidelines for the safe use of wastewater excreta and greywater. Volume IV. Excreta and Greywater Use in Agriculture
Volume IV of the Guidelines for the Safe Use of Wastewater, Excreta and Greywater recognizes the reuse potential of wastewater and excreta (including urine) in agriculture and describes the present state of knowledge as regards potential health risks associated with the reuse as well as measures to manage these health risks following a multi-barrier approach.WHO (2006): Guidelines for the safe use of wastewater excreta and greywater. Volume IV. Excreta and Greywater Use in Agriculture. Geneva: World Health Organisation (WHO) URL [Accessed: 09.05.2019] PDF |
This topic covers the different trendline options that are available in Office.
Use this type of trendline to create a best-fit straight line for simple linear data sets. Your data is linear if the pattern in its data points looks like a line. A linear trendline usually shows that something is increasing or decreasing at a steady rate.
A linear trendline uses this equation to calculate the least squares fit for a line:
where m is the slope and b is the intercept.
The following linear trendline shows that refrigerator sales have consistently increased over an 8-year period. Notice that the R-squared value (a number from 0 to 1 that reveals how closely the estimated values for the trendline correspond to your actual data) is 0.9792, which is a good fit of the line to the data.
Showing a best-fit curved line, this trendline is useful when the rate of change in the data increases or decreases quickly and then levels out. A logarithmic trendline can use negative and positive values.
A logarithmic trendline uses this equation to calculate the least squares fit through points:
where c and b are constants and ln is the natural logarithm function.
The following logarithmic trendline shows predicted population growth of animals in a fixed-space area, where population leveled out as space for the animals decreased. Note that the R-squared value is 0.933, which is a relatively good fit of the line to the data.
This trendline is useful when your data fluctuates. For example, when you analyze gains and losses over a large data set. The order of the polynomial can be determined by the number of fluctuations in the data or by how many bends (hills and valleys) appear in the curve. Typically, an Order 2 polynomial trendline has only one hill or valley, an Order 3 has one or two hills or valleys, and an Order 4 has up to three hills or valleys.
A polynomial or curvilinear trendline uses this equation to calculate the least squares fit through points:
where b and are constants.
The following Order 2 polynomial trendline (one hill) shows the relationship between driving speed and fuel consumption. Notice that the R-squared value is 0.979, which is close to 1 so the line’s a good fit to the data.
Showing a curved line, this trendline is useful for data sets that compare measurements that increase at a specific rate. For example, the acceleration of a race car at 1-second intervals. You cannot create a power trendline if your data contains zero or negative values.
A power trendline uses this equation to calculate the least squares fit through points:
where c and b are constants.
Note: This option is not available when your data includes negative or zero values.
The following distance measurement chart shows distance in meters by seconds. The power trendline clearly demonstrates the increasing acceleration. Note that the R-squared value is 0.986, which is an almost perfect fit of the line to the data.
Showing a curved line, this trendline is useful when data values rise or fall at constantly increasing rates. You cannot create an exponential trendline if your data contains zero or negative values.
An exponential trendline uses this equation to calculate the least squares fit through points:
where c and b are constants and e is the base of the natural logarithm.
The following exponential trendline is shows the decreasing amount of carbon 14 in an object as it ages. Note that the R-squared value is 0.990, which means the line fits the data almost perfectly.
This trendline evens out fluctuations in data to show a pattern or trend more clearly. A moving average uses a specific number of data points (set by the Period option), averages them, and uses the average value as a point in the line. For example, if Period is set to 2, the average of the first two data points is used as the first point in the moving average trendline. The average of the second and third data points is used as the second point in the trendline, etc.
A moving average trendline uses this equation:
The number of points in a moving average trendline equals the total number of points in the series, minus the number you specify for the period.
In a scatter chart, the trendline is based on the order of the x values in the chart. For a better result, sort the x values before you add a moving average.
The following moving average trendline shows a pattern in the number of homes sold over a 26-week period. |
Frank Lloyd Wright
Hanna House Collection
In 1935, Paul and Jean Hanna commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design their home to be built on the Stanford University campus. Construction, begun in 1937, continued in four stages over 25 years. The house was the first structure in the world to use Frank Lloyd Wright's hexagonal grid system, which has subsequently been used widely in American architecture.
The materials in the Hanna House Collection include correspondence, blueprints, drawings, photographs, and other records relating to the planning, design and construction of the campus home of Professor and Mrs. Paul R. Hanna. The collection focuses on the Hanna's work with architect Frank Lloyd Wright extending from the initial planning of the house through later renovations. Also included is a plaster star burst medallion, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, from the proscenium arch of the Louis Sullivan designed Garrick Theater in the Schiller Building (1892) in Chicago. |
Description of Ankh
The Ankh is a symbol of life and is often referred to as “The Key of Life” or the “Cross of Life.” It is viewed as a symbol of the earthly journey, and a reminder of mortal existence and what comes after death. One of the more ancient and well-known symbols, the ankh is often seen on temple walls and jewelry. Many also see it as a good luck charm. However, its main association is with the afterlife.
General Egyptian description Egyptian hieroglyphics are arguably one of the most famous examples of symbolism across history. Created by the ancient Egyptians, this served as their formal writing system. Hieroglyphics can be dated back to the 32nd century BC, and perhaps even earlier. Evidence demonstrates that this writing system continued into the Roman period of 4th century AD. However, much of the knowledge of hieroglyphics and their meanings were lost after the end of pagan temples in the 5th century. There was no existing knowledge of what these symbols meant, how they were meant to be read and their significance. Hieroglyphics were decoded in the 1820s with the aid of the Rosetta Stone by Egyptologist Jean-François Champollion. These symbols are not just phonetic sounds or symbols. In fact, they are a combination of different elements. As Jean-François Champollion discovered, hieroglyphics are a “complex system” that encompasses “figurative, symbolic, and phonetic all at once.” For many Egyptians, this form of writing was seen as the “words of God” and thus used by priests. Generally, hieroglyphics in cursive form were used for religious texts and engraved into wood or written on papyrus. They are written in rows or columns and can be read either left to right or right to left. The direction can be established by seeing which way the human or animal figure face at the beginning of the line. |
Our Teaching and Learning Vision
We believe that "Every aspect of every child matters" and therefore are committed to developing the whole child. We pride ourselves in getting to know each child as an individual — their preferred learning style(s), their strengths, areas for development, their likes and dislikes, and even their interests outside of school. With this knowledge we aim to provide a learning environment and plan a curriculum that will enable each child to be the very best they can be. For children to learn effectively, the curriculum must be relevant, the learning fun, and the environment stimulating. This includes our provision of extra curricular activities and school trips. In order to plan effectively to meet each child’s needs, there must be effective assessment that directly informs planning and teaching. Assessment is a combination of formal and informal assessment, and we are committed to involving children in their own assessment.
This philosophy is visualised using the following formula: |
The placenta, a temporary organ, has a crucial role to play in pregnancy. It nourishes the fetus, also bringing oxygen and removing waste for the mother’s kidneys to dispose of. This essential organ also regulates hormone production throughout pregnancy and is responsible for sustaining the pregnancy. The placenta, attached to the baby via the umbilical cord, is born shortly after the birth of the baby.
We know that with the exception of just a few species, all mammals, including herbivores, consume their placenta as an innate behavior after giving birth to their young. Some say the behavior, also known as placentophagy, satisfies a nutritional need of the mother. Others claim it is a way for the animal to clean their nest in an effort not to attract predators. While at first glance, the cleaning-of-the-nest theory makes sense, we know that animals whose young can walk immediately after the birth, such as horses or giraffes, still consume their afterbirth with great enthusiasm even though they could just walk away from the birth site to a perceived safer location. Similarly, monkey species also engage in placenta consumption even though they could let the placenta fall to the ground below away from their tree-top birthing location.
If mammalian mothers only consume placenta as a way to clean the nest site, why don’t they take the time to lick up the blood and other fluids from giving birth? What are they gaining from the practice? And finally, if most other mammals do it, why don’t humans eat placenta after birth?
The Fire Hypothesis:
Last spring, I had the pleasure of attending PlacentCon, a conference for birth workers that hosted many presentations centered around the placenta and placentophagy. The conference, held in Las Vegas, had speakers from a variety of specialties, but one of the most memorable talks was given by Dr. Daniel Benyshek, medical anthropologist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Dr. Benyshek, along with researcher, Sharon Young, discussed their work with the groundbreaking placebo VS. placenta study currently underway at UNLV. When asked about why humans don’t innately engage in placentophagy, Dr. Benyshek had a fascinating hypothesis.
He explained that as a species, early humans probably did consume their placenta after birth. When fire was discovered millions of years ago, trees, absorbing heavy metals from the earth, were then burned. As a result, expecting mothers were around smoke and inhaling it regularly. While we know that the placenta does not act like a filter, holding onto toxins, it does have difficulty ridding itself of heavy metals. As the women were around smoke more and more, their placentas had increased levels of cadmium and lead. Upon ingesting their placentas after giving birth, women began either getting very ill or dying, and over time, we evolved to discontinue the practice. For the same reason, in present day, it is thought that cigarette smoking in mothers is a contraindication of placenta encapsulation.
Though there is research supporting the benefits of placentophagy in new mothers, the body of research is small and incomplete. The anecdotal evidence, however, showing that placenta encapsulation can help ease a new mother’s transition into motherhood is overwhelming. Women who consume their placentas often report:
- less incidence of iron deficiency
- more energy
- less fatigue despite irregular sleep
- increased milk supply
- enhanced mood
- decreased postpartum bleeding
Whatever the cause of placentophagy in the animal kingdom, it’s clear that moms from across the world are pleased with the results from utilizing their placenta for postpartum recovery. It’s exciting to see more research developing about this practice. Stay tuned in 2016 for the results of UNLV placenta VS. placebo study to be published! |
BY MICHELLE ANDREWS | We’ve made great progress treating people who are infected with HIV, but if they get cancer they’re less likely to get the care they need, a recent study found.
Researchers examined treatment for a variety of cancers, including upper gastrointestinal tract, colorectal, prostate, lung, head and neck, cervix, breast, anal and two blood cancers. With the exception of anal cancer, treatment rates differed significantly between HIV-infected people and those who weren’t infected, according to the study.
For example, 33 percent of patients with HIV and lung cancer failed to receive any treatment for the cancer compared with 14 percent of those who weren’t infected. Similarly, 44 percent of people who were HIV positive didn’t receive treatment for upper GI cancer versus 18 percent of those who weren’t infected with HIV. Twenty-four percent of men with prostate cancer who were HIV positive didn’t get treatment compared with 7 percent of non-HIV infected men.
Cancer treatment was defined as radiation, chemotherapy and/or surgery.
“To have made such great strides with treating HIV only to have them succumb to cancer is devastating,” said Dr. Gita Suneja, a radiation oncologist at the University of Utah’s Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City and the lead author of the study. It was published online this month in the journal Cancer.
The study used the National Cancer Data Base to analyze treatment for adults younger than 65 who were diagnosed with any of the 10 most common cancers to affect HIV patients between 2003 and 2011. The study included 10,265 HIV-infected adults and 2.2 million without HIV.
The data base, which is sponsored by the American Cancer Society and the American College of Surgeons, captures roughly 70 percent of newly diagnosed cancer cases in the United States.
The study noted that more than a third of the patients with HIV had stage 4 cancer — cancer that has metastasized — when they were diagnosed, while only 19 percent of those without HIV did.
Improvements in antiretroviral therapy to treat HIV have helped reduce the incidence of cancers such as Kaposi sarcoma that are closely linked to AIDS, but rates for other cancers often associated with normal aging have increased among HIV patients. In addition, people with HIV have a higher incidence of some lifestyle-related cancers, such as lung cancer, which could be linked to higher rates of smoking. Cancer is now the second most common cause of death among HIV-infected people, behind AIDS-related causes.
HIV patients are more likely to be uninsured or underinsured, and lack of coverage can affect access to cancer care. But having insurance didn’t eliminate the problem: privately insured people with HIV were significantly more likely to be untreated for many cancers than were privately insured people without HIV, the study found.
“We know that people with Medicaid or who are uninsured receive subpar cancer treatment, and that’s a big public health issue,” said Suneja. “But even factoring that in, HIV-infected people are still less likely to receive cancer treatment. That means there are other drivers that we couldn’t measure in the study.”
Disparities in cancer treatment could exist for several reasons. For one thing, for most cancers there are no national treatment guidelines for HIV-infected patients, Suneja said. One of the few exceptions is anal cancer, the only cancer for which the study found little discrepancy in treatment among HIV-infected and non-infected patients. According to the research, the difference among those not receiving treatment was 4.8 percent for HIV patients versus 3.1 percent for others.
For other cancers, “the oncologist may pause and ask, ‘Does the HIV infection mean they shouldn’t get standard cancer treatment?’” Suneja added. |
Isaiah 50:5 The Lord GOD has opened My ear; And I was not disobedient Nor did I turn back.
The opening of the ear builds on the imagery of awakening the ear in verse 4. Coupled together with the obedience, the language of obedience and loyalty points us to the picture of servant-hood. Isaiah portrays the Messiah as the Servant. So here we have an allusion to the Messiah in the form of a servant (see Philippians 2:1-10). This picture of the servant, having his ear opened is powerfully illustrated by the servant who rejects freedom and out of love for his master, he dedicates himself to his service forever:
Deuteronomy 15:16 “It shall come about if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you; 17 then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also you shall do likewise to your maidservant.
The opening of the ear was a sign of servant-hood forever. He vows obedience and loyalty because of his love for the master. This is the key to successful Christian living and is the difference between law and gospel. When under the law, slavery is compulsory, necessary to pay off indebtedness. Under the gospel, slavery is voluntary, responsive to the love and favor of the master.
See also Psalm 40:6; Isaiah 35:5
Isaiah 50:6 I gave My back to those who strike Me, And My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting.
This passage reflects extreme humiliation. All three pictures speak of punishment and humiliation. First, the striking of the back. Here the picture of flogging and whipping begins the picture. This is a punishment reserved for the disobedient servant and the criminals. the Servant of Isaiah begins His suffering.
The picture continues with the imagery of the plucking of the beard. In Middle Eastern and ancient culture facial hair was a sign of power and position. Plucking the beard would be a distinctive humiliation. Here is what Adam Clarke says about Isaiah 7:20 and the shaving of hair and Middle Eastern culture:
To shave with the hired razor the head, the feet, and the beard, is an expression highly parabolical, to denote the utter devastation of the country from one end to the other; and the plundering of the people, from the highest to the lowest, by the Assyrians, whom God employed as his instrument to punish the Jews. Ahaz himself, in the first place, hired the king of Assyria to come to help him against the Syrians, by a present made to him of all the treasures of the temple, as well as his own. And God himself considered the great nations, whom he thus employed as his mercenaries; and paid them their wages. Thus he paid Nebuchadnezzar for his services against Tyre, by the conquest of Egypt, Ezekiel 29:18-20. The hairs of the head are those of the highest order in the state; those of the feet, or the lower parts, are the common people; the beard is the king, the high priest, the very supreme in dignity and majesty. The Eastern people have always held the beard in the highest veneration, and have been extremely jealous of its honour. To pluck a man’s beard is an instance of the greatest indignity that can be offered. See Isaiah 50:6. The king of the Ammonites, to show the utmost contempt of David, “cut off half the beards of his servants, and the men were greatly ashamed; and David bade them tarry at Jericho till their beards were grown,” 2 Samuel 10:4,6. Niebuhr, Arabie, p. 275, gives a modern instance of the very same kind of insult. “The Turks,” says Thevenot, “greatly esteem a man who has a fine beard; it is a very great affront to take a man by his beard, unless it be to kiss it; they swear by the beard.” Voyages, i., p. 57. D’Arvieux gives a remarkable instance of an Arab, who, having received a wound in his jaw, chose to hazard his life, rather than suffer his surgeon to take off his beard. Memoires, tom. iii., p. 214. See also Niebuhr, Arabie, p. 61.
The humiliation is completed with the universal humiliation of being spit upon. All of these so closely fit the experience of Christ that we see not simply a generic description of suffering on part of God’s servants, nor only a description of Isaiah’s suffering, but a looking ahead to the suffering of Christ.
Isaiah 50:7 For the Lord GOD helps Me, Therefore, I am not disgraced; Therefore, I have set My face like flint, And I know that I will not be ashamed.
Any suffering accomplished in the cause of the Lord GOD is not shameful. No matter the degree of physical humiliation, it is redeemed by the mighty hand of God. So the suffering of God’s servants is never for naught.
the New Testament perspective on suffering is framed by the suffering in Christ, seen as sharing in the suffering of Christ: 1 Peter 4:1 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, and 1 Peter 4:16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.
The setting of the “face like flint” refers to the hardening of the will and physical preparation for the physical blows to the face (Ezekiel 3:8).
Isaiah 50:8-9 He who vindicates Me is near; Who will contend with Me? Let us stand up to each other; Who has a case against Me? Let him draw near to Me. Behold, the Lord GOD helps Me; Who is he who condemns Me? Behold, they will all wear out like a garment; The moth will eat them.
The comparison here is between the persecutor and God. “If God be for us, who can be against us” as Paul declares in Romans 8. In fact Romans 8:28 ff is a great passage that corresponds to this passage. Jesus says it this way: 4 “I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. 5 “But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him! Luke (12:4-5)
Isaiah 50:10-11 Who is among you that fears the LORD, That obeys the voice of His servant, That walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God. 11 Behold, all you who kindle a fire, Who encircle yourselves with firebrands, Walk in the light of your fire And among the brands you have set ablaze. This you will have from My hand: You will lie down in torment.
It seems a simply straightforward declaration of those belief vs. unbelief. Verse 10 describes the believers response. Verse 11 describes unbelief. A believer trusts God and turns to Him as the light, even when he finds himself in darkness. The unbeliever is described as attempting to light his own fire, a clear description of self-sufficiency. His light is all that he has, and as a result of his rejection of God, he receives judgment. |
Have you ever wondered what causes that popping sound when you crack your knuckles?
Ever wondered why do people even crack their knuckles in the first place? You’d find this article very educating.
If you’re a knuckle-cracker, you know how it goes:
Sometimes you just don’t feel right until you pull, bend, or push your fingers until they pop and you’re flooded with satisfaction.
On the other hand, if you’re not prone to cracking your knuckles, the urge might seem bizarre or even a little gross.
What causes that popping sound?
For decades, scientists have been trying to figure out what goes on physically to elicit that signature popping noise. A recent study in PLOS ONE has cracked, so to speak, the code behind this weird bodily function, revealing that the sound happens as a result of an air bubble that forms when a joint is pulled apart.
The process is technically called “tribonucleation,” or the quick separation of two surfaces followed by a cavity formation, say the researchers in the study.
A team of University of Alberta researchers had a study participant place his fingers into a tubular finger trap one at a time. A cable attached to the finger’s tip then slowly pulled until a knuckle cracked.
The cracks were caught on MRI video so researchers could investigate what was going on, and each happened in the space of one frame (a.k.a. in 310 milliseconds).
While research from 1971 suggested the popping sound was due to the collapse of pre-existing bubbles in joints’ synovial fluid, this finding confirms a 1947 study that found it’s actually the creation of bubbles in the synovial fluid that causes the noise.
Think of synovial fluid as the lubricant that exists between two joints. It’s necessary for proper joint and bone movement and comfort.
The joint separates, a dark bubble appears in the intervening fluid, and then everything settles back into place.
Although the joint looks like it’s back to normal, it has to undergo a refractory period before it can crack again.
“The fluid takes time to refill and create the same dynamics it had before,” says Michael Suk, M.D., chairman of the department of orthopedic surgery at Geisinger Health System. “It’s like pouring oil through a very small hole in an hourglass—it takes time for it to fill up again.”
Why do people even crack their knuckles in the first place?
“There’s both a mental and physical component,” says Suk. “From a mental standpoint, it’s almost a nervous habit for some people, much like drumming their fingers or biting their nails. I think to some degree, there’s a feeling associated with doing it as a mental stress reliever.”
Meanwhile, “from a physical standpoint, I think what this study shows is as you create space in the knuckle, you’re decompressing the joint,” says Suk. “In many cases, that can result in greater fluid movement in the joint itself, so your finger feels less constrained.”
Are some people just not capable of doing it?
Although it seems like some people can crack their knuckles without an issue and others can’t no matter what, that’s likely not the case. “If we understand joints to be what they are, everyone has the potential to crack their knuckles,” says Suk.
“The difference is that some people have a lower threshold of pressure for separating them, but others require much more force to create the separation.” Don’t take that as license to apply a ton of pressure just to hear the pop, though.
“There have been some reports that people can tear or stretch tendons based on how they crack their knuckles,”says Suk. “Some people pull, while others bend their fingers. Depending on how forcefully you do so, you can injure your hand.” |
Philanthropy means donating or using private funds or charitable contributions from individuals or institutions to contribute to the public good. Collecting cans for a food drive, participating in a walkathon raising money for a local organization, assisting an organization with grant writing, or donating money to a local cause are all examples of philanthropy! Even if you do not have the resources to give yourself, you can spend time organizing and encouraging monetary or in-kind donations from those who do.
Some professions in this pathway include impact analysts at philanthropic venture firms, employees for foundations of companies, donor relations for nonprofits, and grant writers.
Philanthropy is important; most organizations need money and in-kind donations to advance their mission. By helping in that, you are helping to address causes by aiding the organizations to carry out their mission, which in turn can help other Pathways of Community Engagement.
Learn More and Get Involved
Good for Youth Good for Families Good for Seniors
- Donate locally. If you have a favorite organization, donate funds or check with their organization to see if they are accepting in-kind donations. Use a search engine to find local organizations that are addressing issues you care about. Your local organizations need money and in-kind donations and the effect your donation can have on your local community can be deeply impactful.
- Plan a crowd-funding campaign or donation drive.
- Set a goal. Decide how much you want to raise or collect.
- Spread the word, whether in-person or via social media. Make sure you have a clear way for them to donate.
- Give people a good reason to donate. Explain the importance of the organization you are helping and demonstrate how the organization impacts your local community currently.
- Be thoughtful about where your money and donations are going. Use an organization like Charity Watch to guide you in making smart decisions.
- Apply to the UServeUtah Youth Council if you are a 16-22 year-old Utahn interested in this pathway. You can create a project within this Pathway of Community Engagement to help your local community! |
AdministratorSeptember 15, 2020 at 1:16 pm
- Project executed along agile principles can also fail and face issues like missed deadlines, over budgeting, and changed requirements.
- While agile pushes back on documentation, it identifies it as an essential model of communication.
- Agile expects the plan to change with the requirement and feedbacks.
Agile is a methodology to manage a project that uses iterative and incremental approaches during project execution. Organizations across the globe have been using agile to boost their project success. While Agile is widely used, there are several misconceptions related to the methodology.
Due to its flexibility, people often relate agile with a lack of planning or structure. While it is essential to understand what agile is, it is also crucial to understand what agile is not. This is the area that we will focus upon in this iteration of agile learning.
1. Not a Silver Bullet
Like all other project management methodologies and techniques, agile does not guarantee the success of the project. Project executed along agile principles can also fail and face issues like missed deadlines, over budgeting, and changed requirements. Like any other project management methodologies, it is essential in agile project management to bring the development team and the client close and provide all the indispensable resource to the development team.
2. Not Anti-Documentation
Agile manifesto values working software over comprehensive documentation. However, this has led to the misinterpretation that agile is anti-documentation. This is not correct. A better way to put it would be that agile does not prefer documentation just for the sake of creating documents. While agile pushes back on documentation, it identifies it as an essential model of communication.
3. Not Anti-Planning
This myth may be farthest from the truth. Agile includes a lot of planning, ranging from daily planning in the form of daily standup to bi-weekly iteration planning and long term release planning. However, it is essential to note that Agile is anti-static planning. This means that agile expects the plan to change with the requirement and feedbacks.
4. Not Undisciplined
The flexibility offered by agile is often identified as a lack of discipline. However, agile is a very disciplined way of project management and includes:
i. Upfront testing
ii. Regular feedback
iii. Regular delivery of product iteration
iv. Constant analysis and updates in the plan
5. Not Anti-architecture
The 90s saw a great rush in the development of big, complex structures. However, these architectures were complex, expensive, and hard to maintain. Agile reintroduced the culture of keeping things simple. However, agile is not entirely devoid of architecture and includes serious thinking. It just identifies that the best way to build a system is to make it simple.
6. Not an Excuse for Poor Quality
The whole objective of executing projects through MVPs is to deliver products quickly while ensuring that the minimum quality standards are met. Agile, in no way support the delivery of substandard results. The iteration plan should include sample checks for each iteration.
7. Not about Isolation
While agile supports the idea of downscaling for efficiency, it does not promote isolation. Agile is not about product owner or scrum master hiding the team and often promotes interactions between teams. We have already mentioned that it is essential in agile execution to bring the development team and the client closer and facilitate fluent communication between the two and other units.
8. Not About Rituals
The iterative approach of agile should not be confused with being a ritual. If any step loses its utility during project execution, it should be eliminated or modified to deliver better results.
9. Not About Stuff from the Book
Very often, due to an inaccurate understanding of agile, organizations do things by the book. Story, points, velocity, POs, Scrum Master, user stories, etc. are items used by the agile team, but they are not the definition of agile. Teams fail when they pay more attention to these activities rather than understanding their work.
So this is it! This is an extensive list of things that agile is not. If you are planning to try agile, it is essential to kill any misconception about the methodology. Don’t opt for agile project management just because everyone uses it or because it seems to deliver better results. You need to ask yourself if you need agile.
Log in to reply. |
As much as everyone agrees that bullying is bad, children, parents and teachers sometimes fall into the trap of believing it’s a normal part of childhood – like a rite of passage or initiation – and that there is nothing much they can, or should, do.
Education expert Dr Gillian Mooney, Teaching and Learning Manager at The Independent Institute of Education, shares some often-believed myths with us and warns against this outdated way of thinking.
1. FALSE: “Adults should stay out of it when children are bullied”
Don’t think that children should “work it out”. Adults must become involved. Teachers can monitor bullies to deter bullying behaviour. Principals can discipline. Parents can report to schools.
2. FALSE: “Boys are the most likely victims”
Both boys and girls are equally susceptible to bullying, although perhaps in different ways. Both boys and girls are the targets of physical bullying. Girls are more likely to experience relational, sexual and cyberbullying.
3. FALSE: “Children should just toughen up”
This myth is a hangover from ideas like “boys will be boys”. Bullying can cause real harm and should not be ignored.
4. FALSE: “Bystanders should stay out of it when they witness bullying”
Evidence suggests that bystanders are also affected by witnessing bullying. Observers also give bullies the audiences that they crave, and legitimacy if they do not sanction the behaviour. Children can be taught to reduce bullying by noticing, reporting and intervening.
5. FALSE: “It is easy to spot a bullied child”
Children do not report everything that happens in their lives to their parents. Adults need to find ways to make reporting bullying easier for children and to follow up effectively when they do.
I would like to add:
6. FALSE: “Bullying is about a kid being beaten up”
Not true. Bullying is when anyone, or a group, pick on someone else – whether it’s physical, emotional, social or virtual (cyberbullying). Deliberately ridiculing someone, publicly or privately humiliating someone, excluding someone socially and breaking down someone’s self-worth are all equally as damaging as physical harm.
Culled from Parent24 |
Adaptations in the Community
Your home is easy to change, but you may be wondering about your neighborhood. Most likely, your community has many features you may not have noticed before to help you get around and stay active.
Canes help people with vision loss get around without sighted assistance.
Accessible Pedestrian Signals
In today’s age, when cars are getting more and more quiet, it is becoming critical that engineers and city planners think about the safety of pedestrians with physical impairments, including low vision. In many cities, older, smaller street signs are being replaced with larger ones to help those with vision loss, and difficult street crossings are being outfitted with Accessible Pedestrian Signals (APS). APS provide sound and/or tactile information, which works with visual pedestrian signals to let pedestrians who are blind or have low vision know when the WALK signal is on. Audible APS signals include sounds such as a rapidly repeating tone, speech message, or birdcall. New types of APS provide a pushbutton locator tone that repeats once per second to help blind pedestrians find pedestrian pushbuttons, which often must be used to activate a WALK signal and to program enough time into the cycle for pedestrians to cross the street.
APS provide information to help people with vision loss recognize the beginning of the walk interval and begin crossing the street at the correct time. Pedestrians who enter the crosswalk during the flashing or steady DON’T WALK signals are not crossing legally in most states, so it is important to begin crossing when WALK is displayed. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires access to the public right-of-way for people with disabilities. If you’re an independent traveler with a visual impairment, some intersections will pose little difficulty for you, but there are many situations in which the information provided by the WALK signal and/or an APS is necessary. These might include locations where the signal cycle is complex and difficult to determine by listening, where special pedestrian phases are installed, or where traffic is intermittent and does not provide good cues.
If you feel there is an intersection or crossing in your neighborhood that needs an accessible pedestrian signal, request one by writing to the jurisdiction in charge of signals in your community.
As always, it’s best to learn how to take advantage of APS and other street-crossing skills from an Orientation and Mobility (O&M) Specialist.
For More Information:
- Accessible Design for the Blind. About Audible Pedestrian Signals. An overview of the types of APS you might encounter in your neighborhood.
All Aboard: Accessible Mass Transit
Public mass transit is one of the best and safest means of travel for people with vision loss. Here’s what you need to know to get the most out of what options are available to you.
Get on the Bus
Many people with vision loss make regular use of their local bus system. It’s inexpensive, drivers are usually prepared to offer assistance when necessary, and it requires no reservation or special arrangements. Still, it’s very important to plan for trips ahead of time when using the bus. Call the bus company or public transit authority and get correct information about what bus you need to take, at what time, and on what side of the street you need to wait. Without these details, you might easily take the wrong bus…or the right bus going the opposite way! Confirm with the bus driver that you have the right bus before you board to avoid such mishaps. Also, be sure to have the correct change for bus fare, a list of phone numbers in case of emergency, a cell phone (or money for a pay phone).
Public transportation helps people get around independently.
Again, the bus driver is there to help. Ask him or her to give you a heads-up when the bus is approaching your stop.
Door-to-Door: Para Transit
This curb-to-curb service is designed to meet the needs of individuals who find it difficult or logistically unfeasible to use the services of the regular bus system offered by their home town or city. (In some areas, conventional public transit is simply unavailable.)
Typically, Para Transit services require that you fill out an application, which provides specifics on your disability and how it affects your ability to use mass transit. Some services require an in-person interview as well. Once you are certified for Para Transit service, you are free to use it, although many require calling ahead to provide time and destination.
Regulations for Para Transit vary depending on where you live so be sure to contact your local transportation authority for more information, such as certification, fares, and scheduling requirements.
For More Information:
- Easter Seals Project Action. Travelers Database Search. Searchable by city, state, or zip code, the National Accessible Travelers Database helps you find accessible transportation options in your area.
William Earl Tucker Video |
Wei Ba was born in Juyang, Jiyin, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, and worked as a military officer and a non-military official in the Changle Palace. Coming from a family known for their social graces over many generations, Wei Ba always handled people following the principle of forgiveness.
Wei Ba lost his parents at an early age and lived with his brothers. All the neighbors were always envious over how harmonious the brothers were with each other. During the early years of the dynasty, Wei Pa passed the second-degree examination under Manchu rule.
When Emperor Liu Zhao began his reign, Wei Ba was promoted to be the prefect in Julu. During his tenure, he always gave his subordinates the opportunity to admit their mistakes and make up for their misbehavior when they did something wrong. Even if they didn’t admit their mistakes right away, he would console them and convince them to face up to them before punishing them.
At times, officials would gossip to Wei Ba about others, but he never responded to such talk. He would only talk about the good qualities of others rather than the bad ones. Due to his influence, the ones who had gossiped about others felt ashamed and stopped talking about people behind their backs.
As the story of Wei Ba’s benevolence spread, all the other officials and Wei Ba’s subordinates wholly respected him. In the 16th year of Yongyuan, approximately A.D. 75, Wei Ba was assigned as the supervisor of the construction of a mausoleum.
The construction started during a harsh winter when the ground was frozen, so the construction was extremely slow. Because of this, the palace officials came down several times to punish the local officials in charge of the effort.
However, Wei Ba never reprimanded them. He only comforted them, saying: “I’m sincerely sorry if you feel insulted by the palace officials.” The local officials were grateful for his understanding and made every effort to work harder. Eventually, the construction progressed several times faster than expected.
Everyone has shortcomings. Everyone sometimes makes mistakes. People won’t truly obey you when you use power to pressure them. One can win people’s trust only if one treats them with respect and forgiveness.
Wei Ba gained the respect, trust, and obedience of others because he considered the other party’s perspective and understood them. In a word, forgiveness can win people’s hearts. |
As you probably know by now, Muay Thai (or Thai boxing) is one of the most popular and useful martial arts in the MMA. Due to its unique combination of punches and kicks, Muay Thai is very useful in MMA fights, which often utilise such techniques as those taught in Muay Thai.
Muay Thai is one of the best striking martial arts for MMA. By knowing how to strike with eight different limbs, and how to clinch, will help with the transition to MMA a lot.
In order to give you a broader look into the topic, we are going to analyse the differences between these two sports and tell you how Muay Thai can benefit your MMA career. So, if you ever wondered whether Muay Thai is good for MMA, you’ve come to the right place to find out.
Table of contents:
- Historical Development and Generalized Differences
- Practical Differences
- Fighting Benefits of Muay Thai
Muay Thai and MMA: Historical Development and Generalized Differences
Muay Thai (Thai: มวยไทย), literally “Thai boxing”, is an Oriental martial art and combat sport that originated in Thailand somewhere during the 18th century. It is a full-contact discipline that is also known as the “art of eight limbs” and is heavily reliant on the use of fists, elbows, knees and shins. It originated as a fighting technique to be used in wars, Muay Thai soon became a fighting sport used outside its original setting.
After more than a century of development in the Far East, Muay Thai became extremely popular in the West during the 20th and 21st centuries, when Western practitioners that came from Thailand started using the discipline in kickboxing and MMA competitions, thus introducing and popularising Muay Thai in the West. Muay Thai is, today, a global combat sports practiced around the world and is internationally governed by the IFMA.
Mixed martial arts originated as mixed combat sports in Ancient China and Ancient Greece. The Chinese combat sport of Leitai is one of the first mixed combat sports and utilised elements of different kung fu styles, boxing and wrestling.
In Ancient Greece, such an example can be found in the art of pankration, a very specific martial art that combined boxing – which was very popular in Ancient Greece – and wrestling – which probably originated in Mesopotamia or Ancient Egypt.
Pankration was extremely popular (even the most popular sport, according to some historian) in Ancient Greece and there is vague evidence that similar mixed combat sports were practiced in Ancient Japan, Egypt and India.
Different hybrid martial arts developed as centuries passed, but despite a large number of historical influences, modern MMA is considered to stem from Brazilian jiujitsu and vale tudo; the latter is yet another full-contact hybrid combat sport that originated in Brazil. Vale tudo events date back from the 1920s.
MMA events continued to develop as decades passed until 1993, when the first official global MMA event – the UFC 1 – was held in Denver, Colorado. This is the official “birth year” of MMA and one of the most important events in the evolution of mixed and hybrid combat sports.
UFC 1 was televised and it was in a review by critic Howard Rosenberg that the term “mixed martial arts” appeared for the first time. And the rest is history.
This covers the essentials. As you can see, Muay Thai and MMA are quite different, although they have certain similarities. Their historical backgrounds and their approaches are very different, which is an important thing to know.
Muay Thai and MMA: Practical Differences
Now that we have analysed the historical and theoretical differences, we’ll get down to the more practical elements – the fighting. In this section, we shall discuss the main differences between Muay Thai and MMA when it comes to the fights themselves.
Although they might seem similar to you, the basic stances in Muay Thai and MMA are very different. Of course, there is no generalised rule, especially in MMA, where the fighters use modified stances that fit their personal fighting styles. The stances are more unified within Muay Thai, but that cannot be applied to MMA.
Traditionally, Muay Thai’s stance is straightforward; the hips and the torso are completely straight, the chin is tucked in and the posture is completely straight.
Because it depends on kicks, the stance in Muay Thai puts more weight on the back foot than the front foot; that is to enable for a faster and more powerful shot. MMA stances, on the other hand, tend to be wider, more forward with the body tilted slightly down and the hands held loosely in front of the fighter’s head.
This, of course, has its practical reasons – it enables a better defence against a takedown, it allows the fighter to jump out of the way of strikes, but also to jump in for a potential attack. As we can see, the differences are not the same and this is the result of the different approaches these two sports have.
There is also a very big difference in fighting range between Muay Thai and MMA. Because of the different approaches, Muay Thai fighter fight differently than MMA fighters. The two sports are just different and although you have to beat your opponent in both of them, how you do it varies a lot.
Muay Thai fighters fight at close range. A fighter tends to stick close to his opponent and just linger around, waiting for his turn. They don’t jump around and rarely retreat. They could be compared to two medieval knights having a one-on-one sword fight.
On the other hands, MMA fighters tend to jump around. They retreat a lot, they use a lot of wide stances and jumps, all to get a better position; this is due to the fact that MMA allows different moves and attacks, a lot of which are not permitted in Muay Thai.
If we continue our comparisons, MMA fighters could be compared to a pair of fencers, who use their legs to jump around and find an opening for their attack.
As for the footwork, the differences aren’t that vast, but the approaches are. Muay Thai is an art that requires patience. Thus, a fighter has to adapt his footwork to patiently follow the opponent and his movements in order to find the right moment to strike. MMA’s approach is completely different, as MMA is not a sport that likes patience.
MMA fighters move a lot, they jump and generally try different angles and positions to get into a better position. The movements themselves aren’t that different, but there are enormous differences in the way the fighters utilise these movements.
Defence shows some of the biggest differences between these two sports. On one hand, you have Muay Thai – a standing martial arts that rewards patience and less movement. The defence in Muay Thai is based on block as retreating is generally frowned upon and considered as being against the spirit of the art. Also, since there are no ground moves in Muay Thai, there are no ground techniques when it comes to defence.
On the other hand, you have the high-paced, aggressive and flexible MMA, which rewards movements, retreats, jumps, etc. You can jump around, pull back, go into attach – MMA rewards every good move. Plus, there is a lot of ground fighting in MMA, which means that there are also ground techniques in defence.
Now, let us see some of the best and most common defensive approaches in Muay Thai and MMA, disregarding MMA’s ground defence, of course:
|Blocking with shins||Jump away tactic|
|Leaning back from kicks||Takedowns|
|Blocks with high guard||Head movement (sometimes)|
|Clinch when in range and strop strikes||Angles|
The clinch occurs when one fighter grabs and tries to control his opponent’s body at close space so as to throw strikes more freely (in MMA, a fighter can use the clinch to shoot for take-down or force a submission).
MMA clinching is not the same as clinching in Muay Thai. Not the least. Using a Muay Thai clinch – often called a ‘Thai Clinch’ or a ‘Thai Plum’ – in MMA consists of someone getting both his hands behind an opponent’s neck.
This is only a simplified version, as the actually Thai clinch is much more complex; that is just one of several possible positions in a classical Muay Thai clinch.
Muay Thai fighters tend to fight for their position — getting both hands inside the other’s arms from which you can grab the neck to throw knees to the body/face or utilize a number of different elbow strikes.
But, the Thai Plum is literally just a fragment of a Thai clinch and that is a bit sad, because the actual Thai clinch is a largely underutilised area of Muay Thai that can give you a lot of tricks to utilize in MMA when in the clinch.
Sadly, MMA fighters only know of that form of clinch and it is the only form of Muay Thai clinching used by actual MMA fighters. MMA fighters will typically go for the two hands behind the neck position and then start levelling their knees.
But, if you’re using that technique against someone who knows how to fight, against a Muay Thai specialist, you’ll achieve next to nothing simply because it’s too easy to defend against that position if you know what you are doing.
Fighting Benefits of Muay Thai
In this section, we are going to tell you how and why Muay Thai is goof for MMA. Although they are different arts, Muay Thai can offer a lot to an MMA fighter and vastly improve his fighting technique. So, by analysing the differences and benefits of Muay Thai techniques when compared to standard MMA techniques, we are going to show you why Muay Thai can be so beneficial.
Elbow shots are very important in both Muay Thai and MMA. But, while they form an essential part of your technique in the former, they are usually just supplementary shots in the latter. Yet, Muay Thai has far more elegant and effective elbow strikes than you will usually see in the MMA, which means that your MMA skills can vastly benefit from having a good elbow technique.
And although MMA fighters tend to use elbow strikes in clinches, the elbow strike is still highly underused in MMA, both in the implementation of the techniques, the timing (when to use them), and the types of shots. This is where Muay Thai can help you overcome the difficulties and become even better.
Muay Thai is much more beneficial for knee shots than regular MMA, so if you train Muay Thai as part of preparing for MMA, you might have a solid advantage. Why is that? The knee is an essential weapon in Muay That; the fighters approach the fight with a number of different types of knee shots thrown from the leading leg or back leg.
You can fire a leading leg knee shot from a stance or incorporate knee strikes from the clinch. Knees are quite common in MMA too, but only the upward variety and only from the clinch position by the person who manages to do a Thai plum (see above) Rarely, if at all, do you see any other type of knee strike used in MMA besides the flying knee strike and that is exactly why Muay Thai is beneficial for MMA, as it can drastically improve your knee techniques.
Muay Thai is a martial art where kicks are essential. In fact, they are so essential that one could say that Muay Thai completely depends on kicking. As such, Muay Thai emphasizes the usage of kicks in a fight. You can already imagine how a martial art so focused on kicking can improve your kicks; MMA also uses a lot of kicks, but there is no emphasis on that part, like there is in Muay Thai.
Common kicks are the body kick and the leg kick. Teeps (the push kicks from front or rear legs with the foot in a vertical position) are also heavily utilized as are side teeps (teeps where you step aside and push out with your body in a horizontal side stance). Head kicks are also thrown, although not as much as in some other Oriental martial arts.
You typically don’t see much variation beyond the Thai round kick. MMA, on the other hand, incorporates a number of different kicks, from the Thai style round kicks to and assortment of different Karate kicks like spin kicks, side-kicks, etc.
The Thai teep is not actually utilised in MMA because it’s simply too easy to grab the leg for a take down in such a situation. Kicking in MMA is understandably much more risky than it is in Muay Thai, simply because there is a chance of your opponent going in for a takedown if your kick is caught or your miss. Leg kicks are the least risky and the most often thrown kicks in MMA, so you can focus your Muay Thai exercises on them.
Although Muay Thai is actually ‘Thai boxing’, punches are very underused in this martial art simply because they are scored less than successful kicks; the goal is to win, so the fighters chose shots that can give them more points. On the other hand, despite not being focused on boxing, MMA fighters tend to use punches and boxing techniques a lot more than Muay Thai fighters, who restrain from using their hands in combat.
Still, the punching style in MMA is visibly different than the one in Muay Thai. Namely, MMA fighters tend to run forward when striking, then engaging in the clinch or jumping backward or to the side to avoid counter attacks. Muay Thai fighters, on the other hand, will stand firmly in front of each other and trade shots, be they punches or kicks (see above).
Muay Thai boxers tend to “gather” shots and block them, waiting for their turn to fully explode with a good counterattack; MMA fighters rarely do so. So, combining these two elements can be very useful in developing a strong boxing technique.
Conclusion: Is Muay Thai Good for MMA?
This conclusion has two aspects. One concerns whether Muay Thai is beneficial for MMA and the answer is – yes, it is. As you’ve seen in the paragraphs above, Muay Thai has several fighting benefits, more elegant shots and more possibilities, but is limited to fighting on one’s feet.
So, while it does have its benefits, you have to know that you need to improve your ground fighting as well, which means that you will have to take on another martial art (or combat sport) for that aspect.
The second aspect is the question – which is better? The answer is not straightforward and it all depends on you and your approach. You have to know what you want, what you want to improve and how you want to develop your fighting techniques.
Based on your preferences, you will decide for yourself which one you prefer, Muay Thai or MMA, because each one of them offers something, so it’s up to you to make the final choice.
Well, that covers the basic differences between Muay Thai and MMA. If you want to know more about the world of martial arts, please follow us and see you next time.
If you found this article helpful, be sure to check out following articles: |
Document:Logistical and Technical Exploration into the Origins of the COVID-19 virus
★ Start a Discussion about this document
Logistical and Technical Exploration into the Origins of the Wuhan Strain of Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Raising the odds of an accidental release, researchers from China’s only BSL-4 lab in Wuhan were reported to have particularly sloppy field research methods, being both bled and peed on by local bats that host coronaviruses remarkably similar to the Wuhan Strain COVID-19. And they’ve also been reported to smuggle used research animals out of their labs, selling them for cash on the street. Perhaps unsurprisingly, in mid February the Chinese Ministry of Science sent out a directive to all its labs emphasizing the importance of carefully handling bio-infectious agents and alluding to slack oversight and past lapses, even mentioning coronaviruses specifically.
Mistakes may have been precipitated by the need to quickly finish research that was being rushed for John Hopkins’ Event 201 which was held in October 2019 and meant to gameplan the containment of a global pandemic. Research may also have been hurried due to deadlines before the impending Chinese New Year – the timing of these events point to increased human error, not a globalist conspiracy. Beijing has had four known accidental leaks of the SARS virus in recent years, so there is absolutely no reason to assume that this strain of coronavirus from Wuhan didn’t accidentally leak out as well. This is unlikely to be a plot twist in one of the novels Tom Clancy wrote after he started mailing it in.
Simply and horribly, this is likely to become another Chernobyl or Fukushima – a catastrophic illustration of mankind’s hubris and intransigence clashing with Nature, as fate again reaps a once unimaginably tragic toll.
Given that this outbreak was said to begin in late December when most bat species in the region are hibernating and the Chinese horseshoe bat’s habitat covers an enormous swath of the region containing scores of cities and hundreds of millions people, the fact that this Wuhan Strain of coronavirus, denoted as COVID-19, emerged in close proximity to the only BSL-4 virology lab in China, which in turn was staffed with at least two Chinese scientists – Zhengli Shi and Xing-Yi Ge – both virologists who had previously worked at an American lab which had already bio-engineered an incredibly virulent strain of bat coronavirus – the accidental release of a bio-engineered virus from Wuhan’s virology lab cannot be automatically discounted, especially when the Wuhan Strain’s unnatural genomic signals are considered.
2 February 2020 UPDATE
A probable smoking pre-print has been released, by the National Natural Science Foundation of China:
“In summary, somebody was entangled with the evolution of 2019-nCoV coronavirus. In addition to origins of natural recombination and intermediate host, the killer coronavirus probably originated from a laboratory in Wuhan.”
In a predictable turn, that article has been removed and both researchers have since deleted their profiles off of the ResearchGate site completely. Furthering the appearance of a cover-up, back on January 2nd, the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s director sent out a memo forbidding discussion of an “unknown pneumonia in Wuhan” after ordering the destruction of all related lab materials a day earlier, making it abundantly clear that the Chinese government knew about this outbreak long before they took any steps to contain it, or made any public announcement.
These propaganda efforts have been bolstered by possible collusion from American scientists, some of which is detailed below – but also most notably by one Peter Daszak, who had been publishing papers on coronaviruses alongside the primary Chinese person-of-interest, Zhengli Shi, for years. Perhaps most notably, Daszak is listed as a co-author in the paper first documenting the isolation of a coronavirus from a bat that targets the ACE2 receptor – just like COVID-19 – research done in Wuhan’s virology lab and supervised by Zhengli Shi, and led by a second suspect Chinese researcher who you’ll meet below. At best, Daszak is perhaps acting as an unwitting agent of the Chinese government, but regardless holds an enormous conflict-of-interest. And if nothing else, it is wildly irresponsible to speak-out against the possibility that the virus got out of a lab when a natural origin has not been conclusively demonstrated. Daszak’s statement in The Lancet is either incompetence, or is meant to be a smokescreen for the wanton hubris and greed that have fueled the gain-of-function research detailed below: As one possible related project which may have overlapped with this one, coronaviruses have been seen as a viable vector for an HIV vaccine for years – a project with hundreds of millions of dollars dangling over it.
And unfortunately Daszak is far from alone, there are countless “journalists” mindlessly regurgitating statements from the Chinese government and the WHO with no effort to fact-check whatsoever, as well as “scientists” whose real job is running PR for pharmaceutical and research companies who have spent weeks serving China by making extraordinarily misleading and overconfident statements to the public about the origins and capabilities of this virus. And it should be noted that in 2018, the esteemed scientific journal Nature – which has published numerous articles speciously claiming this virus is definitely natural – was revealed to have buckled to censorship demands from the Chinese government, killing over 1,000 articles to placate their Chinese partners.
Many involved in this dissimulation are effectively acting as agents of a foreign government, and they have left most Americans entirely unprepared for the tragedy that’s beginning to occur in our nursing homes and hospitals. If the idea that just maybe this thing came from a lab had been part of the national dialogue from the start – wouldn’t everyone have been much more cautious and open to social distancing and other limitations once the need arose?
And so being an offshoot of this sort of vaccine program, possibly as a Red Team designed to build defenses and therapeutics against, is just one possible gain-of-function pursuit that would fit some of the unusual genomic and logistical picture below. Whether or not it was the exact target of the Wuhan lab’s genomic tinkering – the reality is millions of dollars of funding from multiple world governments have poured into this research, funding that’s dangled over these scientists as they’ve chased it like Icarus, this time not just risking their own lives – but hundreds of millions of others as well.
Subsequently, we are calling for an immediate end to dual-use gain-of-function research.
Assembly of the first DNA virus from scratch
In 2002, Stony Brook first assembled a DNA virus from scratch, building a polio-virus, and providing proof-of-concept for the creation, alteration, and manipulation of DNA-virus genomes. Two years prior, a separate team had already built an simpler RNA-virus from scratch – choosing to engineer a coronavirus from the ground up, and even swapping out its vital spike-protein genes to make it more infectious. And a generation earlier, artificially enhancing selection by intentionally infecting countless series of lab animals with different viruses is understood to have created the H1N1 Swine Flu. Its Franken-genome has a mysterious untraceable genetic parentage and a “clear unnatural origin,” and H1N1 became the poster-child for a moratorium against gain-of-function research – experimentation that seeks to increase a pathogen’s virulence, creating a more effective double-edged sword to counter and learn from. A ban that was in place for years, but was recently lifted by the American government. In the case of H1N1, it wasn’t a question of if it’d escaped from a research laboratory, only whether it’d been designed as part of a weapons system, or been part of a vaccine trial. >
When a virus manages to infect a new species of host it’s known as a zoonotic jump, a process that generally takes months or even years to complete. The first stage is when a virus infects one individual in a new host species, which is typically a dead-end the first time it happens since there’s no way for the virus to be adapted to a different species’ biology. The second stage of a zoonotic jump is when the virus manages to move from the first new host into more hosts of the new species, which results in some temporary transmission in a localized area – these are known as endemics and generally fizzle out the first few times they happen as the virus adapts to its new host species, and mutations win or lose the survival battle. The final stage, the only time a zoonotic jump is considered complete, is when there’s sustained host-to-host transmission in the new species. These zoonotic jumps have some predictable characteristics, the primary one is that adapting to a new host inevitably requires mutations that weren’t optimal in the old host. And so the virus gets weakened as its initially attempting to jump into a new host species, which is why the above sequence of steps – one new host, a few new hosts that pass it among themselves temporarily, and then finally sustained transmission – takes at least several months if not years to play out, since a good bit of time is required for all three steps to occur. Viral trial-and-error is required for the virus to find the right mutations that will allow it to prosper in a new host species, it’s never been known to just happen magically all at once.
The improbability of the virus emerging naturally
And so assuming that COVID-19 emerged naturally in a matter of weeks in the middle of a massive urban metropolis the size of New York City, when the host population of bats was hibernating anyways, requires completely ignoring everything we know about how viruses transfer between species. Not only was Wuhan’s population not interacting with bats since they hardly interact with humans in urban situations to begin with, but any possible host bats were sleeping in their caves anyways. And not only would the circumstances of this transfer require rewriting the textbooks on zoonotic jumps if it occurred it all, but beyond that: supposedly not only did a zoonotic jump happen instantly without the necessary steps, but when it hit humans it was extraordinarily virulent from the start, something that’s supposed to take an extensive amount of time to ever happen as mutations go through selective trial-and-error. This trial-and-error takes time and is why viruses have never made a zoonotic jump and been instantly virulent in a new host species like COVID-19 has been in humans. Nothing we know about how viruses naturally make zoonotic jumps point to that happening here.
The H1N1 affair
Tinkering with viral genomes is not anything new, but is not something that has ever been fully embraced by the scientific community at large. About a decade ago, two separate research teams successful tweaked the genome of the H5N1 Bird Flu in just two spots and then passed it through ferrets until it became both airborne and pathogenic to mammals, creating a virus that “could make the deadly 1918 pandemic look like a pesky cold.” This involved selecting for a mutation that allowed the virus to access a receptor that’s found in ferret lungs, and was alarming enough that the research was urged to be published without revealing the specific methods involved and data collected – however it appears that only the most technical details were left out, and most of the research is freely available.
The Gain of Function research ban and its reinstatement
By 2015, conducting research that was met with an enormous amount of concern, scientists at UNC had successfully created a “chimeric, SARS-like virus” by altering the viral genome of a Chinese bat coronavirus’s spike-protein genes – sequences that code for the spikes that poke out from surface of viruses and allow them to unlock entry into hosts, in this case making the bio-engineered coronavirus incredibly contagious. This research raised eyebrows since it was clearly gain-of-function research, a practice banned in America from 2014 until December 2017 when NIH lifted the ban, specifically to allow research on this sort of virus. Looking at UNC’s gain-of-function research on coronavirus spike-proteins, which received its funding just before the ban was implemented and was only allowed to go forward following a special review, a virologist with the Louis Pasteur Institute of Paris warned: “If the [new] virus escaped, nobody could predict the trajectory.”
But then oddly, in late January right as the pandemic was blooming, Dr. Ralph Baric claimed in an interview that people should be more concerned with the seasonal flu – despite having personally overseen the controversial engineering of a hyper-virulent strain of batty coronavirus just a few years back. Immediately discounting the burgeoning outbreak of an unknown coronavirus as a non-event seems particularly troubling for someone who’d trained two Chinese scientists on how to make hyper-virulent coronaviruses, especially when it’s hard to imagine that Dr. Baric was unaware his past colleagues were now working at the Wuhan Virology Lab, the epicenter of the outbreak. Highlighting the dissembling absurdity of this statement, based on reporting from Who: the Wuhan Strain COVID-19 appears to be thirty-four times more lethal than the seasonal flu.
The BSL-4 Wuhan lab and the 'Wet Market'
“an open culture is important to keeping BSL-4 labs safe, and he questions how easy this will be in China, where society emphasizes hierarchy. ‘Diversity of viewpoint, flat structures where everyone feels free to speak up and openness of information are important.'”
This lab is at most 20 miles from the wet market where the virus had been assumed to have jumped from animal to human. However the idea that a Chinese lab could have a viral sample escape is well-documented – as mentioned, one lab in Beijing has had four separate incidents of the SARS virus leaking out accidentally.
Notably, the first three known cases from early December had no contact with that market, and roughly one-third of the initial exposed cohort had no direct ties to Wusan’s wild meat wet-market, the original presumptive source of the virus. And in mid February, reporting indicated that COVID-19’s patient zero in fact had no connection at all with the wet-market. This is reinforced by the fact Chinese research has also concluded that COVID-19 “may have begun human-to-human transmission in late November from a place other than the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan.”
Zoological origins of the virus still unknown
Since its discovery, scientists have been unable to fully determine the zoological origins of COVID-19, it was initially thought to have passed through snakes, but now all that’s agreed upon is that it’s mostly bat in origin. This inability to derive an exact zoological source is exactly what would be expected if the virus had been artificially engineered to target humans as UNC already has, this doesn’t prove an artificial nature – but it is consistent with one. Although there has been speculation that pangolins may have been the missing vector, the only data about the pangolin virome wasn’t entered into NCBI’s system until late January, and couldn’t possibly have been collected any earlier than late September 2019, and doesn’t fully answer the vector question anyway. And further research examining the regions of the genome that best show genetic heritage indicated it was “very unlikely” that similarities between their spike-protein genomes of COVID-19 and pangolins, where they share the most similarities, was due to the virus passing through pangolins at all.
As explained in Nature, COVID-19’s Franken-genome combines a cornucopia of distinct genetic markers from each of the three other distinct branches of the coronavirus family tree, but is distinct enough from all of them that it in fact forms its own clade . Along those same lines, a full-genome evolutionary analysis of COVID-19 published in The Lancet concluded, “recombination is probably not the reason for emergence of this virus” since it seems that the Wuhan Strain isn’t a mosaic of previously known coronaviruses, but instead draws from distant, discrete parts of the coronavirus family tree – not how these viruses naturally evolve. Because even mixing and matching coronavirus genomes from every known zoological virus, scientists couldn’t find any possible combination that would explain those regions of the Wuhan Strain’s genome. The Lancet muses that a mysterious animal host could still be out there, however since they’ve already searched through every known possibility and been unable to find a match, another obvious explanation is that bio-engineering accounts for the inexplicable nucleotide signature of the Wuhan Strain’s genome
COVID-19 targets the ACE2 receptor
Early research found that COVID-19 targets the ACE2 receptor, which seems to be distributed in roughly equal proportions across global populations, indicating that the Wuhan Strain was likely developed as part of a defensive gain-of-function project possibly linked to immunotherapy or vaccinations – never meant to leave the lab, but meant to serve as a Red Team to fight back against, not as an offensive weapon targeting one specific global population. But counter-intuitively, researchers have pointed out that the most critical sections of the COVID-19’s protein-spike genome don’t match the previously reported pattern that would be expected for optimal binding to the specific ACE2 receptors found only in humans and ferrets, which indicates that these particular segments wouldn’t have been directly genetically engineered to increase virulence.
And yet this is exactly what researchers looking to design something for a “safe” vaccine candidate to target would engineer, and doesn’t rule out a scenario where the virus was passed through a series of ferrets. The research team in fact notes that its spike “appears to be the result of selection on human or human-like ACE2 permitting another optimal binding solution to arise,” failing to directly mention that the only other human-like receptors are found in ferrets – which have frequently been used for years in vaccine trials for viruses with this sort of protein-spike, and is exactly how the H5N1 Bird Flu virus was altered to make it airborne. And so the Wuhan Strain’s unique affinity for the human ACE2 receptor, which a pre-print reports to be 10 to 20 times greater than SARS, may be the exact type of vaccine-related accident that led to the moratorium on gain-of-function research in the first place and caused scientists to unsuccessfully call for the research around H5N1 to be partially sealed-off.
COVID-19 transmissable before host shows symptoms
The Wuhan Strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, appears to be transmissible even before its host shows any symptoms at all, making temperature-scanning at airports ineffective since hosts appear to be contagious for about a week before any symptoms emerge. This is in stark contrast with SARS, whose hosts weren’t contagious until they were symptomatic, allowing for its relatively quick containment. This chart is not from a peer-reviewed source but was claims to capture the comparative rates of infections between recent outbreaks. A recent pre-print now gives COVID-19 a rating of R4, meaning each host passes the virus on to four new victims, a rate significantly higher than any past global viral outbreak.
The successful end results of the aforementioned bat coronavirus bio-engineering research at UNC that was critiqued for being too risky in 2015, was published the following year and described the successful bio-engineering of a highly-virulent coronavirus derived from bats which was achieved by tinkering with its spike-protein genes. In this paper, researcher #8 is listed as one “Zheng-li Shi” who’s listed as being attached to the “Key Laboratory of Special Pathogens and Biosafety, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China.”
Zhengli Shi seems to have returned to Wuhan at some point since 2016, specifically to the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s Disease Engineering Technical Research Center, since she then appears in this September 2019 paper on the human behaviors most likely to lead to bat-borne coronavirus exposure in southern China, and also in the paper claiming that this coronavirus was bat in origin, which was peculiarly submitted in coordination with the announcement of the outbreak. Very, very peculiarly. She also appears in this pending preprint on the current outbreak of COVID-19 , just a small sample of the dozens of coronavirus-related papers she’s published over a three decade career.
Not only does Zhengli Shi provide a direct chain of expertise tying the already successful bio-engineering of a virulent bat-based coronavirus at UNC directly to the BSL-4 virology lab in Wuhan, but back in January 2014 she’d received a $665,000 grant from NIH for a study titled The Ecology of Bat Coronaviruses and the Risk of Future Coronavirus Emergence (NIAID R01 AI1 10964) as well as $559,500 more from USAID for a study titled Emerging Pandemic Threats PREDICT_2China (Project No. AID-OAA-A-14-00102). Beyond this American funding specifically into viral diseases zoonotically transferring from animals to humans which would slipped in just before the ban, over the years she’s also received around $3 million in grants to study these zoonotic viruses from China and other countries, and has served on the editorial board of several virological research magazines. More of her research into the intersection of coronaviruses like the Wuhan Strain and their epidemic potential was funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Threat Reduction Agency, and U.S. Biological Defense Research Directorate of the Naval Medical Research Center.
And so a scientist who’s been prolifically involved with studying the molecular interaction of coronaviruses and humanity, spending decades and millions of dollars, and having even helped build a hyper-virulent coronavirus from scratch at UNC – just so happens to be working at the only BSL-4 virology lab in China that also just so happens to be at the epicenter of an outbreak involved a coronavirus that’s escaping zoological classification, and has other unnatural characteristics that will be discussed below.
Another Chinese virologist, Xing-Yi Ge, appears as an author on the 2016 UNC paper and is also attached to the lab in Wuhan. Previously in 2013, he’d been the very first scientist to successfully isolated a SARS-like coronavirus from bats which targets the ACE2 receptor , just like our present virus, the Wuhan Coronavirus COVID-19 uses. And it turns out that sections of the Wuhan Strain’s ACE2 receptor’s genes are unique: they’re almost identical to SARS’s spike-protein genes – despite the fact that almost none of the two coronavirus’s genomes are similar anywhere else at all . Beyond that, although the Wuhan Strain’s spike-protein genome differs from SARS in four out of the five most important genomic spots that determine binding to the ACE2 receptor, they surprisingly don’t effect the protein-spike’s shape. And in an even bigger coincidence, these four spots also code for the outside region of the spike that allows entry into cells, and do not effect it either – allowing the Wuhan Strain to still use the ACE2 receptor to unlock cells while possibly gaining additional capabilities. The odds that this concordance was bio-engineered into the virus are several orders of magnitude more likely than for this to randomly have evolved in nature, and is exactly the sort of process used to make the H5N1 Bird Flu airborne and highly pathogenic.
Numerous videos purportedly from inside hospitals in Wuhan depict a crisis that is far greater than the numbers released by China to date. There is widespread but unverified online reporting that Wuhan crematoriums have been running 24/7, which is consistent with a recent peer-reviewed study that claims that as of January 25, Wuhan had over 75,000 infections when the official number was just 761 . Chinese language social media also reflects a sense of panic and desperation that is highly discordant with the numbers being released by the Chinese government. Who, notably, are refusing any direct assistance from the American CDC. (Evidence that China is vastly downplaying this pandemic’s severity: Example 1. Example 2. Example 3. Example 4. Example 5. Example 6.)
Some of the dystopian carnage creeping across China may be due to the fact that much of China’s population may have already been exposed to coronavirus infection via SARS or other less notorious strains, which would allow the Wuhan Stain COVID-19 to use antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) to much more efficiently enter into cells , and then become much more virulent since this enhancement hijacks the body’s preexisting immune response to coronavirus infections and allows easier entry. However whether or not people have been exposed to a coronavirus infection before, once it’s been circulating in a population for long enough the Wuhan Strain may be able to reinfect its own past hosts and use this molecular hijacking on antibodies left from its own previous infection to become far more virulent, regardless of whether or not someone has been exposed to other coronaviruses before COVID-19. And early reporting from Chinese doctors indicates that re-infections of the Wuhan Strain are far more lethal than the first . More evidence that ADE is occurring is its much higher affinity for the ACE2 receptor and far higher viral loads compared to SARS – both of these may be due at least in part to ADE allowing COVID-19 to much more efficiently bind to and enter cells. And another hint that the Wuhan Strain may be using ADE to more effectively attack its host is the fact that it seems to be targeting its host’s neurological systems, which is explored in depth below. A final clue is the fact that children seem to be far less effected by the Wuhan Strain COVID-19, a phenomenon that’s found in Dengue Fever, which is one of the classic examples for ADE.
Similarity to HIV
Another peculiar characteristic is COVID-19’s similarities 31 January 2020HIV. And so although another since-retracted pre-print noted several very short genomic sequences in COVID-19’s spike-protein gene that look far more similar to sequences found in HIV than to other coronaviruses – critics quickly pointed out that the shared homology didn’t reach statistical significance. However a closer look at the data reveals that there were a few small shared genomic segments that, despite being physically separated from each other along each strand of DNA, all worked together to code for the Wuhan Strain’s protein-spike’s crucial receptor binding site. Something that is highly unlikely to have happened by chance. And despite most of its protein-spike being shared with SARS, these substituted segments weren’t shared at all – nor were they found in any other coronavirus. One possible but likely reason for these HIV-like segments is that they were meant to be epitopes, or molecular flags meant to mark intruders for a vaccine to target – meaning the Wuhan Strain was built as a monster for a specific vaccine to hunt. It is mathematically possible for this to happen in nature – but only in a ten-thousand bats chained to ten-thousand Petri dishes and given until infinity sense. Alternatively, this pattern could also be produced by infecting a room full of ferrets with a bespoke coronavirus and sifting through the wreckage for your genomic needle.
Critics have brushed off the Wuhan Strain’s shared homology with HIV as statistically insignificant, however clinical reporting indicates that the Wuhan Strain may be using this shared HIV homology to attack CD4 immune cells just like HIV does, as an unusually high percentage of patients are showing low white blood cell counts, especially the sickest ones. This pathogenicity may well be due to the unique HIV-live genomics of the Wuhan Strain, as one white-paper by LSU’s professor emeritus of Microbiology, Immunology, and Parasitology who’s also a Harvard-educated virologist with a PhD in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics notes: “This is the first description of a possible immunosuppressive domain in coronaviruses… The three key [mutations] common to the known immunosuppressive domains are also in common with the sequence from [the spike-protein]. While coronaviruses are not known for general immunosuppression of the style shown by HIV-1, this does not rule out immunosuppression at the site of active infection in the lung, which would prolong and potentially worsen infection at that site.” And early research has indicated that this unique region may make COVID-19 up to 1,000 times more likely to bind to human cells than SARS, which could be due to either this homology or to ADE, or some combination of these or other factors.
Even more troubling, a peer-reviewed study noted that one particular part of the Wuhan Strain’s spike-protein genome also wasn’t found in any of its relatives, “and may provide a gain-of-function to [COVID-19] for efficient spreading in the human population.” And according to that paper, this particular type of furin cleavage site makes similar viruses both more pathogenic and more neurotoxic. Additionally, this particular type of cleavage site is a hallmark of being passed through a series of animal hosts in a lab. Evidence for the Wuhan Strain’s neurotoxicity arrived in late February, in a published paper which notes that “the most characteristic symptom of COVID‐19 patients is respiratory distress, and most of the patients admitted to the intensive care could not breathe spontaneously.” Combined with the observation that “some COVID‐19 patients also showed neurologic signs such as headache, nausea and vomiting,” this paper asserts that since SARS was found heavily concentrated in the brainstems of its autopsied victims, COVID-19 is also probably crossing the blood-brain barrier and killing its victims not just via pneumonia, but also by causing neurological respiratory failure. Indicating that ADE may be occurring, but at a much faster rate than nature allows since reinfections of Dengue Fever that use ADE typically have years pass between them.
And it should be noted that SARS – much ballyhooed as a close relative to the Wuhan Strain – didn’t notably effect white blood cell counts. Additionally, clinical treatment guides published online in late January by established Chinese medical sources note the progressive reduction of white blood cells, as well as the importance of monitoring this decline. And reporting from Thailand indicates that adding a cocktail of two different anti-HIV drugs to the typical flu treatment regime seemed to effectively knock back the Wuhan Strain. Additionally, one of the only autopsies performed outside of China to date found that the deceased had a severely depleted white blood cell count. These lowered counts may come from this shared similarity with HIV, or it could also be the result of ADE as well, since this phenomenon primarily targets white blood cells for its hijackings and may help explain why consecutive infections are so lethal.
In a highly concerning turn, scientists have noted that the Wuhan Strain can have a “striking” short term rate of mutation which doesn’t indicate an artificial origin but captures the unique threat posed by this coronavirus regardless of its providence, since a faster mutation rates makes it more likely this virus can dodge testing and neutralize vaccines. Something there is already early evidence for. Further concerning are reports out of China that even patients who appear cured still harbor COVID-19 in their system, and although the full implications of this are not yet known – none of them are good.
A worst-possible mutation rate scenario
One of the worst possible scenarios for COVID-19’s mutation rate would be if it falls into the Goldilocks range that would allow it to form mutant viral swarms: too many mutations will cause a virus to eventually implode, not enough allows host immune systems to catch-up, but if things are just right mutant swarms can form and spread across host populations, burrowing into host nervous systems and causing permanent neurological damage. Mutant swarms form when a virus produces mutationally-damaged copies of itself inside a host, some of which aren’t infectious but find their way into the nervous system where they burrow in causing damage, and others that combine with complimentary broken copies inside host cells to produce working infectious copies of the virus. So a host can not only become crippled with neurological issues, but also still be producing infectious copies of the virus. And it seems as if COVID-19 has many characteristics that indicate the potential to form mutant swarms: the “striking” mutation rate mentioned above and the fact a second widespread mutated strain seems to have already emerged in Washington State with many other isolated strains reported elsewhere, crossing between species is another factor and a dog in Hong Kong appears to have tested positive, the fact that the Wuhan Strain can infect not only the respiratory tract but feces as well – multi-organ involvement is an important contributor to viral swarms, and finally the markedly viral load rate of COVID-19 compared to SARS – SARS produced a viral load several times lower which decreased over time, while COVID-19 produces a “very high” viral load that appears to increase over time and can peak several orders of magnitude higher than SARS was measured to reach. And alarming evidence that this phenomenon is occurring emerged from a Chinese pre-print which noted that over one-third of the roughly 200 patients studied has some neurological symptoms, with nearly half of the most severe patients exhibiting neurological issues. And further evidence for the possibility of both mutant swarms and ADE is witnessed by a study published in Lancet, which notes that the case fatality rate in Wuhan could actually be as high as 20% – the outbreak’s epicenter would be expected to have the highest rates of both phenomena as different of the Wuhan Strain infected and reinfected overlapping hosts.
Another exceptional and atypical trait of the Wuhan Strain COVID-19 is that not only does it form its own clade, it’s calculated to have diverged from SARS and its other sister coronaviruses some 260 years ago. And yet in all that time, while it every other branch of the coronavirus tree was busy branching-off into countless variants, if it emerged naturally, COVID-19 somehow spent a quarter of a millennium as the lone known example of its clade, somehow not mutating into related lineages in all that time. Another simpler explanation is that this apparent hereditary distance and genetic uniqueness is just the result of being altered in a lab. And although two distinct strains of COVID-19 have been identified, there’s no reason to believe this mutational differentiation happened before contact with humans in the winter of 2019. Additionally, when neutral sites, the specific points in the genome which most reliably show evolutionary change, were examined: COVID-19 looks even more evolutionarily distant from any of its possible relatives, which would make sense if all that evolutionary distance was gained by artificially accelerated generational turn-over in a lab.
Also giving credence to the idea that the Wuhan Strain was bio-engineered is the existence of a patent application registered to a scientist from Wuhan that looks to modulate a coronavirus’ spike-protein genes – the precise region altered by Zhengli Shi at UNC to make a hyper-virulent strain of coronavirus, and whose alteration and adaptation would explain the Wuhan Strain’s unusual behavior as discussed above.
And curiously, the head of Harvard’s Chemistry Department, Dr. Charles Lieber, was arrested in the midst of this outbreak on charges that he’d been accepting millions of dollars in bribes from the Chinese government. According to his charging documents, Dr. Lieber first went to the Wuhan University of Technology (WUT), in November 2011 to participate in a nanotechnology forum, which was when he was recruited into a bribery scheme that would net him several million dollars to “establish a research lab and conduct research at WUT,” which became known as ” Joint Nano Key Laboratory,” as well as mentor and advocate for graduate students. By 2015, Dr. Lieber appeared to be fairly intimately involved with what seemed to begin as simply a nanotechnology lab, but now had shifted to involve biology as well, since he described visiting the lab multiple times per year “as we try to build up the nano-bio part of the lab.” Whether or not this nano-bio part of the Nano Key Laboratory is related to Wuhan’s BSL-4 virology lab isn’t clear, however if the Wuhan Strain was bio-engineered, technology classified as “nano-bio” would’ve almost certainly played a role.
Given the above facts, either:
- A coronavirus spontaneously mutated and jumped to humans at a wet market or deep in some random bat cave which just so happened to be 20 miles from China’s only BSL-4 virology lab, a virus with an unusually slippery never-before-seen genome that’s evading zoological classification, that may be as much as twenty-times more contagious than SARS and whose spike-protein region which allows it to enter host cells holds an unique HIV-like signature with the concomitant clinical response, that somehow managed to infect its patient zero who had no connection to this market, and then be so fined-tuned to humans that it’s gone on to create the single greatest public health crisis in Chinese history with approaching 100 million citizens locked-down or quarantined – also causing Mongolia to close its border with its largest trading partner for the first time in modern history and Russia to ban Chinese citizens from entry into their country.
- Chinese scientists failed to follow correct sanitation protocols possibly while in a rush leading up to an international virological conference and during their boisterous holiday season, something that had been anticipated since the opening of the BSL-4 lab and has happened at least four times previously, and accidentally released this bio-engineered Wuhan Strain – likely created by scientists researching immunotherapy regimes against bat coronaviruses, who’ve already demonstrated the ability to perform every step necessary to bio-engineer the Wuhan Strain COVID-19 – into their population, and now the world. As would be expected, this virus appears to have been bio-engineered at the spike-protein genes which was already done at UNC to make an extraordinarily virulent coronavirus. Chinese efforts to prevent the full story about what’s going on from getting out are because they want the scales to be even since they’re now facing a severe pandemic and depopulation event. No facts point against this conclusion.
An immediate international moratorium on all dual-use gain-of-function research must be instated and all existing experimentation must be autoclaved, only greed and hubris have ever been served by attempting this type of genetic manipulation. Humanity does not need a vaccine against HIV derived from a coronavirus, nor do we need to be tinkering with genetic material that holds the potential to wipe a significant percentage of us off the face of the Earth.
Failure to embrace such a ban may effectively become a death sentence for our species, assuming we aren’t already on our last mile.
Sign the petition to end gain-of-function research here
Medium user @siradrianbond provided all information regarding Dr. Zheng-li’s extensive grant funding.
- The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2
- Gain function flu studies
- GLOBAL ESTIMATES OF OCCUPATIONAL ACCIDENTS AND WORK-RELATED ILLNESSES 2017 - pdf
- Origins of 2019-NCoV XiaoB Res
- Don’t buy China’s story: The coronavirus may have leaked from a lab - New York Post 22 February 2020
- Coronavirus ‘lab leakage’ rumors spreading - Asia Times 17 February 2020
- How deadly pathogens have escaped the lab — over and over again - Vox 20 March 2019
- Genomic characterisation and epidemiology of 2019 novel coronavirus: implications for virus origins and receptor binding - The Lancet 22 February 2020
- Big Eared Horseshoe Bat Range - Wikipedia
- Twitter post @jenniferatntd 17 February 2020
- Google search - peter daszak" "zhengli shi"
- Isolation and characterization of a bat SARS-like coronavirus that uses the ACE2 receptor - Nature 30 October 2013
- Scientists ‘strongly condemn’ rumors and conspiracy theories about origin of coronavirus outbreak - Science 19 February 2020
- Towards a Coronavirus-Based HIV Multigene Vaccine = ResearchGate June 2006
- Bill Gates Predicts An HIV Vaccine By 2030 - Bloomberg 23 January 2015
- An Unacceptable Breach of Trust - Inside HigherEd 3 October 2018
- Reinstate the global moratorium on "gain-of-function" research
- Poliovirus Baked From Scratch - Science 11 July 2002
- On the Origin of the H1N1 (A/USSR/90/77) Influenza Virus = Microbiology Society 1 October 1981
- The Reemergent 1977 H1N1 Strain and the Gain-of-Function Debate - American Society for Microbiology
- Should scientists self-censor their H5N1 research - Dallas Morning News
- Airborne transmission of influenza A/H5N1 virus between ferrets. - PubMed 22 June 2012
- Lab-Made Coronavirus Triggers Debate - The Scientist 16 November 2016
- NIH Lifts Funding Pause on Gain-of-Function Research - The NIH Director 19 December 2017
- Tweet by David R Martinez - 29 January 2020
- WHO Announces Coronavirus Mortality Rate Has Jumped to 3.4 Percent National Review 3 March 2020
- Inside the Chinese lab poised to study world's most dangerous pathogens - Nature 23 February 2017
- How China’s Coronavirus Is Spreading — and How to Stop It - Foreign Policy 26 January 2020
- Wuhan seafood market may not be source of novel virus spreading globally - Science 26 Jan 2020
- First coronavirus patient had NO connection to Wuhan seafood market - so did the disease start elsewhere? - Daily Mail 18 February 2020
- Decoding the evolution and transmissions of the novel pneumonia coronavirus (SARS CoV 2) using whole genomic data - ChinaXIV 21 February 2020
- Functional assessment of cell entry and receptor usage for SARS-CoV-2 and other lineage B betacoronaviruses = Nature Microbiology 24 February 2020
- Genomic and protein structure modelling analysis depicts the origin and infectivity of 2019-nCoV, a new coronavirus which caused a pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan, China - bioRxiv
- The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2 - Scripps Research Institute November 2019
- Animal models for SARS and MERS coronaviruses - HHS Public Access 9 June 2015
- Coronavirus up to 20 times more likely than SARS to bind to human cells, study suggests - South China Morning Post18 February 2020
- Comparative rates of infection chart
- Estimating the effective reproduction number of the 2019-nCoV in China - medRiv 11 January 2020
- SARS-like cluster of circulating bat coronavirus pose threat for human emergence - HHS Public Access 21 December 2015
- Twitter post about Zhengli Shi appointment - 12 February 2020
- A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin - Nature 3 February 2020
- Jennifer Zeng Twitter post - 12 February 2020
- Discovery of a novel coronavirus associated with the recent pneumonia outbreak in humans and its potential bat origin
- solation and characterization of a bat SARS-like coronavirus that uses the ACE2 receptor - Demantic Scholar 2013
- Genomic characterisation and epidemiology of 2019 novel coronavirus: implications for virus origins and receptor binding - The Lancet 22 February 2020
- Evolution of the novel coronavirus from the ongoing Wuhan outbreak and modeling of its spike protein for risk of human transmission - Science China Life Sciences Vol 63 Issue 3
- The real number of coronavirus cases is more than 75,000, according to a scientific model that says the outbreak will double in size every 6.4 days = Business Insider 1 February 2020
- Molecular Mechanism for Antibody-Dependent Enhancement of Coronavirus Entry - Journal of Virology 2015
- Chinese doctors say Wuhan coronavirus reinfection even deadlier - Taiwan News 14 February 2020
- Uncanny similarity of unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV spike protein to HIV-1 gp120 and Gag - bioRxiv
- Ferret models of viral pathogenesis - ScienceDirect May 2015
- Scientific Puzzles Surrounding the Wuhan Novel Coronavirus - The Epoch Times 2 March 2020
- Coronavirus far more likely than Sars to bond to human cells due to HIV-like mutation, scientists say - South China Morning Post 27 February 2020
- The spike glycoprotein of the new coronavirus 2019-nCoV contains a furin-like cleavage site absent in CoV of the same clade - ScienceDirect Vol 176 April 2020
- Generation of a Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A Virus from an Avirulent Field Isolate by Passaging in Chickens - Journal of Virology 2001
- The neuroinvasive potential of SARS‐CoV2 may play a role in the respiratory failure of COVID‐19 patients - Journal of Medical virology 27 February 2020
- [https://thorax.bmj.com/content/59/3/252 Role of lopinavir/ritonavir in the treatment of SARS: initial virological and clinical findings ] - Thorax BMJ Joutrnals Vol 59 Issue 3
- Scientific Puzzles Surrounding the Wuhan Novel Coronavirus - The Epoch Times 3 February 2020
- Cocktail of flu, HIV drugs appears to help fight coronavirus: Thai doctors - Physicians Weekly 3 February 2020
- Pathological findings of COVID-19 associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome - The Lancet - Respiratory Medicine 18 February 2020
- Model of antibody-dependent enhancement of dengue infection - Scitable - Nature Education
- ‘Striking’ coronavirus mutations found within one family cluster, Chinese scientists say - South China Morning Post 3 February 2020
- Scientists Warn: You Can Catch Coronavirus More Than Once - Neoscope 22 March 2020
- Coronavirus: Traces of virus found in patients who have recovered - New Zealand Herald 21 February 2020
- How Mutant Viral Swarms Spread Disease - Scientific American 14 September 2015
- Emergence and Transmission of Arbovirus Evolutionary Intermediates with Epidemic Potential - ScienceDirect 11 June 2014
- Viral load of SARS-CoV-2 in clinical samples - The Lancet 24 February 2020
- Clinical progression and viral load in a community outbreak of coronavirus-associated SARS pneumonia: a prospective study - The Lancet 24 May 2003
- Neurological Manifestations of Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: a retrospective case series study - medRxiv 25 February 2020
- Real estimates of mortality following COVID-19 infection - The Lancet 1 March 2020
- Analysis of Wuhan Coronavirus: Deja Vu - virological.org 29 January 2020
- Genetic Characterization of Betacoronavirus Lineage C Viruses in Bats Reveals Marked Sequence Divergence in the Spike Protein of Pipistrellus Bat Coronavirus HKU5 in Japanese Pipistrelle: Implications for the Origin of the Novel Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus - Journal of Virology
- On the origin and continuing evolution of SARS-CoV-2 - National Science Review 3 March 2020
- Coronal virus genetic engineering protein and use thereof - Europe PMC 27 December 2005
- Harvard chemistry chief’s arrest over China links shocks researchers - Nature 3 February 2020
- Russia Bans Chinese citizens from entering the country - BNO Newsroom twitter post 18 February 2020
- Another bombshell - Jennifer Zeng twitter post 16 February 2020 |
From Generation to Generation
Each time you transfer wealth to another person, the transfer is potentially subject to federal transfer tax, in the form of gift or estate tax. The federal transfer tax system is designed to impose a tax on each and every generation (e.g., father to son, son to grandson, etc.).
The transfer tax system accounts for the fact that a transfer might “skip” a generation by passing from parent to grandchild, for example. This is accomplished by imposing an additional tax whenever transfers of wealth are made to persons who are more than one generation below the taxpayer (e.g., father to grandson). This additional tax is called the generation-skipping transfer tax (GSTT). GSTT is imposed at the highest estate tax rate in effect at the time of the transfer (45% in 2009). These taxes can take an enormous bite whenever wealth is being handed down, and eventually eat away a family’s fortune. This can be troublesome to individuals with substantial wealth who would prefer to have their legacies benefit their own family members. It’s from these circumstances that the dynasty trust (or Generation-Skipping Trust) evolved.
A dynasty trust is created to provide for future generations while minimizing overall transfer tax. With a dynasty trust, you would transfer assets to the trust. The trust then provides for future generations for as long as it exists. Although the trust assets effectively move from generation to generation, there are no corresponding transfer tax consequences.
John and Mary, a married couple, own property with a net value of $3 million, which they would like to pass on to their children and future generations. Three potential scenarios are as follows:
Scenario 1-Mary and John leave $3 million outright to their two children.
Scenario 2-John and Mary leave $3 million to a trust for the benefit of their two children and then distributed to grandchildren.
Scenario 3-John and Mary leave $3 million to a dynasty trust created in a state that has no rule against perpetuities.
Assume that a generation is 26 years, the estate and GSTT exemptions are $1.5 million, the estate tax rate is 45%, the growth rate is 7%, principal is not spent, and state variables and income taxes are ignored.
In scenario 1, $3 million passes to John and Mary’s children free from estate taxes. In 26 years, the money grows to approximately $17 million, but after estate taxes are deducted, John and Mary’s grandchildren receive approximately $11 million.
In scenario 2, $3 million passes to the trust free from estate taxes. In 26 years, the money grows to approximately $17 million. 26 years later, approximately $101 million is distributed to John and Mary’s grandchildren.
In scenario 3, $3 million passes to the dynasty trust free from estate taxes. In 26 years, the money grows to approximately $17 million. 26 years later, money grows to approximately $101 million. And 26 years beyond that, the money grows to approximately $587 million that can provide benefits to John and Mary’s great-grandchildren and beyond.
Thus, the use of multigenerational estate planning techniques can provide massive benefits for growth and protection of your assets as they pass from one generation to the next.
With Offices in Madison, WI and Evansville, WI, the attorneys at the Wilson Law Group assist clients with Estate & Business Planning, Probate & Trust Administration, Elder Law and Medicaid Planning throughout Southern Wisconsin including Verona, Middleton, Sun Prairie, Cross Plains, Oregon, Black Earth, Janesville, Jefferson, Fort Atkinson, Baraboo, Reedsburg, Richland Center, Mount Horeb, Monroe, Beaver Dam, Dane County, Rock County, Green County, Iowa County, Richland County, Sauk County, Columbia County, Dodge County and Jefferson County. |
Public spaces deliver a glimpse into the lives of their towns — who’re those built for, who has the get entry to, and who can sense a experience of consolation and safety. Public sanitation services may as properly be a microcosm of the same sentiments.
This piece derives from my experience in the course of the instruction of model City Sanitation Plans in two cities along the Ganga basin. Primary studies, among past due 2017 and early 2018 in Bijnor (Uttar Pradesh) and Bodhgaya (Bihar), confirmed the functional status and considerable utilization of Public Toilets (PTs), Community Toilets (CTs), and urinals in those cities.
Interviews with relevant government officials, avenue vendors, families, targeted group discussions with self-help businesses, and a survey of the general public sanitation offerings brought about us remaining in on 47 attributes beneath five middle additives to categorize these services as sanitary or no longer.
Location, signage, presence of ramps and dustbins, amenities like water, lighting fixtures, hand-wash, the fame of the flush tanks, presence of open defecation (OD) and urination (OU) in/around the premises and connection to containment tanks were some of the attributes considered.
The 5 additives had been:
Along with inadequate or dysfunctional lavatory structures, and the presence of OD and OU, a key situation turned into the fundamental technique to these public sanitation offerings: designed often to be used by adult adult males.
This interpretation of the services as male-centric became highlighted by means of the absence of dustbins internal lady booths, no childcare facilities, and rampant open urination by using adult males, in particular on the walls and inside the public regions outdoor the urinals or maybe the rest room complexes.
No sanitation for ladies
In Bijnor, our primary studies discovered that there had been no provisions for menstrual hygiene products throughout PTs and CTs, while over forty percent of sanitation offerings showed proof of OD and OU round the bathroom premises.
In Bodhgaya, in which a UNESCO World Heritage website online — the Mahabodhi temple — is located, less than 10 percentage PTs had dustbins while none of the CTs had them. Also, wherein toilet complexes did have booths for otherwise-abled human beings, these have been getting used for garage functions.
This skewed truth was now not remoted from the extra substantial governance gadget it was entangled in. Government departments chargeable for sanitation paintings in each the cities did not have any woman officers all through the length of our research.
Caretakers for the general public sanitation offerings have been normally males handling each the male and woman rest room booths. In Bodhgaya, for example, less than 10 percent PTs had lady caretakers assigned for the woman cubicles while in Bijnor there have been none (Outside the emphasis of this piece, but public sanitation services in our u . S . Frequently follow a gender binary restrained to male/lady and not using a space for greater genders).
Another thing of this tale comes from the absence of menstrual hygiene control at an all-girls faculty in Bodhgaya. Discussions with some female contributors of the school found out that they hesitated to talk about it with their senior faculty and predominant, all of whom were men.
Inadequate to absent infrastructure and no secure areas for applicable conversations can cause social exclusion and violence. Focused institution discussions with self-assist organizations and household surveys revealed how “risk” in the course of open defecation is skilled and expressed via women and men.
For the previous, it is perceived as risk from wild fauna like snakes and scorpions or a torrential downpour. For ladies, it blanketed harassment from males, and fear of relieving themselves throughout sunlight hours and being discovered (a right away effect is the changing in their eating/consuming conduct to ensure that they relieve themselves at some stage in darkish).
Returning to the beginning of this piece, public areas give us a glimpse into how our cities live. Let us create more spaces for inclusion, no longer exclusion. |
Black is having something of a moment. A perennial mark of elegance and sophistication in modern design, art, and fashion, black has somehow only grown in popularity over the last decade, seducing interior designers and architects into applying abundant swaths of black in private and public commissions. In residential design, black has evolved from an accent hue, something to be used sparingly and judiciously, to the main event, yielding everything from striking all-black rooms to elegant black-clad contemporary houses. And now, comes Vantablack, billed as the earth's blackest black, capable of absorbing 99.965% of light—in short, a really, really black black.
Vantablack—the name is an acronym of Vertically Aligned NanoTube Arrays—isn't a paint so much as a coating, created three years ago by scientists at the UK chemical firm, Surrey NanoSystems, which calls its trademarked creation the 'darkest man-made substance' on earth.' That substance is the end product of tubes of carbon atoms—nanotubes—spaced perfectly apart, allowing incoming light to stay trapped between their blade-like forms. One square centimeter of Vantablack consists of about one billion carbon nanotubes. According to Surrey NanoSystems, Vantablack is 'the closest thing to a black hole we'll ever see,' a description that proved inviting enough for the British artist Anish Kapoor—his award-winning installations have included, among other visual spectacles, a massive whirlpool of black water churning in the ground (Descension)—to quickly acquire the exclusive creative rights to Vantablack, ensuring his status as the only artist on the planet allowed to use Vantablack in his work. So much for art being democratic.
The British conceptual artist, Anish Kapoor, has acquired exclusive rights to Vantablack, making him the only artist on earth allowed to use Vantablack in his work. |
In China, we live the peaceful life, which is owing to the policemen and soldiers’ protection, so that we can live with happiness and enjoy the comfortable life. But in many parts of the world, life is not easy for people to live, such as the poor areas, where people are facing war and starvation. Some developed countries offer them the chance when these refugees come to the rich areas.
In most western countries, the governments welcome the refugees’coming and are willing to give them some help. These refugees offered the chance to work and their children can share the education right. The United Nations have been working so long to fight for the refugees’ right. As a result, they named June 20th as the World Refugee Day, in the hope that these poor people could get help from other countries.
Though peace is the main theme today, for some countries, people are still fighting for the country’s unity, so the civil war happens, which brings great suffer for the ordinary people. We are lucky to born in a peaceful country and feel so appreciate to the thing we have now. |
Minerals are important for growth & development as well to regulate vital life processes. They regulate acid-base balance in body. They are essential for transmission of nerve stimuli, muscle contraction, cell membrane permeability and maintenance of osmotic pressure & water balance.
Foods that predominantly contain acid forming minerals like sulphur, phosphorus and chlorine produce acidic reactions in the body. Specific foods are milk, cheese, pulses, meat & eggs. Sodium, potassium, magnesium, iron and calcium produce alkaline ash. Most of the fruits and vegetables produce alkaline reaction. Most of the minerals if taken in excess result in undesirable effects. Excess calcium predisposes renal calculi or hypercalcemia. Excess iron results in hemosiderosis & liver damage.
Some minerals in excess quantity may create imbalance and result in reducing utilization of other minerals where as some produce toxic reactions. Sources of minerals and effects of their inadequacies
|Mineral||Sources||Effect of inadequacy|
|Calcium & Phosphorus||Milk Group
Meat & Fish group
Green Leafy Vegetables
Legumes & Nuts
Cereals & Grains
Poor Blood clotting
Fish, Milk . Poultry
Fruits and Vegetables
|Fluid & Electrolyte |
Lately, media outlets have been giving some attention to the 150th anniversary of General William T. Sherman’s infamous march through Georgia that took place in 1864, minimizing, of course, the barbarity and criminality of his campaign. You only have to read the letters and diaries written at the time of the actual events to learn the truth of the matter, however, and memoirs written long after the fact can be just as truthful. Contemporary official military correspondence and reports document the fact that Sherman shelled Atlanta without notice, deliberately aiming his guns over the Confederate lines of defense and firing into the residential and business areas of the city, killing civilians there. Mrs. Robert Campbell, who fled her home in Bolton, Georgia to take refuge in Atlanta, recalled that during the shelling in 1864, “A shell killed a newborn baby and its mother in a house adjoining mine. I hastened into a bomb-proof, as fast as possible. As I entered the door to this shelter a sixty-pounder fell almost at my feet. Suppose it had burst, where would I have been?”
Any honest person who takes the time and trouble to study the war of 1861-1865 cannot help but perceive a striking contrast between the conduct of the Northern forces (the so-called “Grand Army of the Republic”) and the Confederate troops. The campaigns of Sherman and Sheridan were not the only demonstrations of savagery by the northern army, in whose operations the practices of wanton destruction, pillage and abuse of civilians were widespread and often systematic from beginning to end, and characterized by a ruthlessness that was all the more monstrous because it was directed at fellow Americans.
On December 11, 1862, after U.S. forces drove back the defending Confederate troops from Fredericksburg, Virginia, the town was thoroughly and pillaged and vandalized. Even churches were defaced and looted, and valuables were stolen from the Masonic lodge in which George Washington had once been a member. Colonel William Davie DeSaussure of the 15th South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment was proud of his men who, despite their own lack of food and clothing, contributed several hundred dollars for the relief of the civilians of Fredericksburg, “pitiable refugees” whose homes and been plundered by the Federal soldiers who occupied the town.
In the summer of 1863, the 15th S.C. Infantry Regiment was in Pennsylvania with the Army of Northern Virginia under the command of General Robert E. Lee. Lee’s ragged, malnourished men were suffering from scurvy, and their horses were starving. In dire need of food, clothing, and equipment, the army foraged extensively in Pennsylvania, obtaining essential military supplies including horses, mules, wagons, shoes, and livestock, and helping themselves to such in Federal property in government warehouses and depots. Lee, however, instructed his men to pay for anything they took from civilians. A newspaper reported, for example, that the entire stock from a boot and shoe dealer’s store in Mechanicsburg was cleaned out by soldiers who paid the merchant $4,000 in Confederate money for the footwear. Anyone who declined payment was nevertheless issued a copy of a receipt. Lee also issued an order which forbade “the wanton destruction of private property.” His hungry soldiers often availed themselves of large amounts of poultry and livestock from houses and farms while foraging for subsistence (not spoils), sometimes without paying, but these orders were generally followed, especially as far as “wanton destruction” was concerned.
Franklin Gaillard, a Confederate officer from South Carolina who served in Lee’s army, wrote home to his son on June 18, 1863, that General Lee had “issued very stringent orders” concerning the treatment of private property. Gaillard added: “He is very right for our Army would soon become demoralized if they were allowed to do as many of them would like to. Many of them think it hard that they should not be allowed to treat them [the Pennsylvanians] as their soldiers treated our people.”
While the Confederates were in control of Gettysburg, they searched the town for horses and foodstuffs, but, with few exceptions, left most other civilian property undisturbed. A Confederate officer there, Captain Barziza, described the contrast between Gettysburg and Fredericksburg:
Whilst in Gettysburg, I could not but remark the difference between the conduct of our army and that of the enemy in invading our country. Here stood the town, after three day’s hard fighting around and in it, almost entirely untouched. No wanton destruction of property of any description could be seen; no women and children complained that they were homeless and beggars. Then I called to mind the scenes around the city of Fredericksburg the winter previous; private houses sacked and burned, books, furniture, and everything perishable utterly destroyed; women flying from burning houses with children in their arms, and insult and outrage at full license. |
Hiller Family History
14-Day Free Trial
Hiller Name Meaning
Southern English: topographic name for someone living by a hill. See Hill 1. German: metronymic from Hille, a pet form of the female personal name Hildegund (see Hilke). North German, Frisian, and Dutch: from a masculine personal beginning with the Germanic element hild ‘strife’, ‘battle’. German: variant of Hüller (see Huller).
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press
Similar surnames: Heller, Hilmer, Hillen, Hille, Holler, Huller, Hilger, Tiller, Haller |
Most Android smartphones and tablets use either an Intel Atom processor or an ARM-type processor, which may be made by one of over a dozen component manufacturers from across the world such as Qualcomm, Samsung, Nvidia and MediaTek. Let's put the Intel Atom processor to one side and consider the ARM processor business: ARM Holdings is the owner of the ARM designs but rather than design and build processors, as Intel does, instead ARM designs the processors and then licenses these to various manufacturers across the world. This ingenious business model means that ARM takes on the risk of a developing a processor core and the electronic component manufacturers take on the risk of building the hardware.
ARM offers a number of different licenses depending on what the component manufacturer wishes to do, but the usual format is an initial sum, which provides access to ARM engineers and the designs, followed by a license agreement based on the market value of the processors being built, usually between 1% to 2%. ARM's licenses vary from a pre-designed component ready for manufacturer to the ability to use the architecture as the licensee sees fit. This is how the outgoing Qualcomm Krait architecture and Apple Swift processor designs work; they're based on the ARM Cortex-A15 designs but with the manufacturers' own implementation. One key point here is that ARM's license fees vary according to the complexity of the design and support required. Fortunately, multiple copies of the same design (in other words, dual, quad or more core processors) don't usually cost more than a single license, but combining two architectures in a big.LITTLE processor does increase costs (although ARM offers a discount). ARM do, however, charge a royalty for every chip used, so if the MALI graphics chip is used, this also incurs a license fee. Some modems contain ARM processor cores, too; in 2013 ARM explained that most smartphones contained between three to five of their cores and there's every chance that this number has increased since then. The more complex the System-on-Chip, or SoC, the higher the licence fee to ARM Holdings.
The improvements to system performance through having those high performance but thirsty processor cores, combined with reduced battery consumption (when using the lower powered processor cores) makes the big.LITTLE approach worth the additional license fees. ARM are able to add value to the SoC manufacturers' product and these recurring license fees is what allows the business to continue to develop processor cores; next year's ARM Cortex-A72 is shaping up to be a very powerful chip indeed, almost four times quicker than the Cortex-A15. |
Oral cancer screening is really important because it vastly improves the chances of successful treatment. Statistics show that early diagnosis can increase the chance of survival from around 50 per cent to 90 per cent. Screening enables us to use the latest technology to identify changes in the mouth and abnormalities with the soft tissue long before they become visible to a dentist’s eye. This means that we can arrange further tests and reach a diagnosis as early as possible. Screening only takes a few minutes and there’s nothing to be worried about, as the process is completely pain-free.
What are the symptoms of mouth cancer?
The most common symptoms of mouth cancer include red and white patches in the mouth, abnormal swelling in the mouth or throat and mouth ulcers that take a long time to heal. Sadly, by the time symptoms become detectable, many cases of mouth cancer have already advanced fairly quickly. This is why screening and regular check-ups are so important.
How do you check for oral cancer?
We carry out checks for mouth cancer as part of routine check-ups. However, screening is more effective for oral cancer detection because the technology we use is much more advanced than human vision and it can identify changes in the soft tissue at a very early stage.
In the event that we detect abnormalities or a patient displays symptoms of oral cancer, we arrange further tests, which are used to confirm or rule out a diagnosis. We work with other health professionals to support patients and we do everything we can to ensure that patients understand what is going on and what happens next. |
In the name of fitting into the fashion trends, we often tend to make fashion mistakes that we later regret. However, wearing ill-fitting shoes is one mistake that has more severe side effects than a mere cringe-worthy photo.
Many people make the mistake of wearing ill-fitting shoes and suffer consequences like calluses, blisters, and corns. However, there are other more severe side effects such as falling, foot deformities and even an inability to walk independently.
So, while it may seem like a significant decision, walking around in a pair of cute shoes just to look ‘good’ could result in something more serious than a small blister. You can be promoting a potentially long term foot problem. What’s more, even seemingly sensible shoes can cause problems further down the line.
If you have pain when you wear certain shoes, no matter how sensible the shoes may seem, you could be at risk. Remember that your shoe size can change depending on the shoe itself and that your shoe size can also change as you age.
Still convinced that you aren’t doing much harm by wearing a poorly fitted shoe? Then you need to take a look at this list of the eight dangers of wearing ill-fitted footwear.
Peripheral neuropathy has been evident in studies examining the effects of poorly fitted shoes. In 2017, a study examined a set of seniors that had a history of calluses, corns and other signs of poorly fitted shoes. These corns and calluses develop from the pressure placed onto the foot. According to the study, 86% had been wearing the incorrect shoe size. Moreover, almost 40% of those patients had signs of peripheral neuropathy. This condition causes painful. Sensations in the feet and is characterized by the pins and needles sensation as well as a decreased ability to sense or feel where their feet actually were.
In 2018, a study examined the connection between shoes, feet and connected issues. The review included people from all ages and also included people that had already been diagnosed with diabetes, as well as those who did not have a history of medical issues.
The results indicated that more than 60% of the participants did not have properly fitted shoes.
The results further indicated that those with improper shoes had pain, corns, calluses, and hammer toes.
Overall Life Quality
Living with pain can significantly affect the overall quality of a person’s life. If you have pain when you are on your feet, you will be less inclined to join enriching social activities, and your family life can suffer as well. You may be hesitant to exercise, which can damage your overall health as well.
If you consistently wear poorly fitted shoes, you risk losing your independence once you reach old age. This is because certain resulting foot conditions can lead to an inability to rely on your feet, and you can become prone to falling and lose your independent mobility.
This is a condition that results in pain in the ball of the foot. Unlike many other foot problems associated with wearing shoes that are ill-fitted, or that are too small, this condition does not leave any physical signs that it is developing. With metatarsalgia, components in the foot such as nerves and bones become damaged from wearing shoes that are too tight.
If you are experiencing numbing in your feet, burning toes or tingling feet, then you could be at risk of Morton’s Neuroma. With this condition, the sheath surrounding the nerves can thicken in response to poorly fitted shoes. When you are seeking out new shoes, it is best to get the insight of a professional. This way, you can avoid purchasing the wrong footwear for your feet, and you can avoid risking damage to your feet.
When shopping for new shoes online, be sure to visit trusted shoe suppliers like AlegriaShoeShop.com that offers you quality shoes and guides to choosing the right shoes.
Whether you are shopping for a new shoe online or browsing a store, you should always ask for assistance in finding the right shoe for your foot. If you are already experiencing problems like the ones listed above, then you should seek out the advice of a qualified professional such as a Certified Pedorthist. When you visit a Certified Pedorthist, be sure to make an appointment for the later afternoon so that the specialist can see your feet when they are swollen after the day and at their largest size.
How to Find the Correct Shoe
When you seek out a professional expert for a shoe fitting, you will have your feet measured. This is the only way that you can be sure to find the best fitting shoes for your feet. You will need to measure both the width as well as the length of your foot. While these measurements will help you in finding the correct shoe size, you need to bear in mind that all brands and styles of shoes may require a different size. So it is best if you can try on the shoe, feel how your feet feel within the shoes and then make your decision. Never rely solely on the numbers.
You should have just enough room between the shoe and the end of your longest toe, approximately half the width of your thumb. If your feet are pushing against the side of the shoe, then you should look for wider shoes. Furthermore, take care to avoid shoes that cause immediate friction for your feet. If you feel pressure on your heels or the top and tips of your toes, then that is not going to be a smart decision for your feet, and you will suffer further down the line.
Our feet carry us on a daily basis. Therefore it is crucial to give them shoes that fit well. |
Name something car people find least interesting and hate spending money on. How about lubricating oil, for starters? It’s as critical as the materials a powertrain is made from but spanks your wallet, so it’s tempting to buy the cheapest available. Does it matter what you put in your engine, differential or gearbox? Definitely. It’s crucial.
Modern lubricating oil is complex stuff and, in some ways, works at a molecular level much like the machinery it protects. It consists of base fluid (oil) and additive packages, chemical cocktails that, among other things, turn a lubricant from a monograde oil into a multigrade. The first multigrade was launched by Duckhams in Europe in 1951 but, until then, all oils had been monograde.
Before then, cars used a lower-viscosity engine oil in colder winter months to allow it to flow freely enough. That would need changing to a higher-viscosity grade in the warmer summer weather, when viscosity would drop, reducing the oil’s ability to prevent wear. A rating system devised by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) identifies the viscosity of lubricating oil, so a car may have run SAE 30 in the winter and SAE 50 in the summer, for example. The bigger the number, the higher the viscosity. Multigrades make the changes unnecessary and, along with other additives, make an oil much more robust and last for much longer.
Multigrade oils are thin enough at low temperature to flow well when a powertrain is cold, then increase viscosity when it heats up, to maintain protection. Rather than using a single number, an oil’s specification now reads something like SAE 10W-40. The ‘W’ stands for ‘winter’, representing the viscosity when cold, and the second number is the viscosity when hot. The amount by which oil can change its viscosity is measured by lubricant makers using the viscosity index. The change in viscosity is controlled by viscosity modifiers (VMs), chains of polymer structures with molecules that grow larger as the oil heats up to maintain viscosity and then shrink again as it cools.
VMs are prone to damage, whereby the polymer structures can be literally sheared, or chopped up, by the very components they are trying to protect. When that happens, they become less effective and the oil is less able to provide protection. Chemists are continually developing new VMs that are more resistant to shear and able to increase the range of the viscosity index to provide better performance over a wider temperature range.
As multigrades have evolved, lubricant manufacturers have been able to create low-viscosity oils like SAE 0W-40 to combat internal drag in an engine designed for it, reducing fuel consumption and CO2. That doesn’t mean it’s okay to fill an engine designed for SAE 10W-40 with 0W-40, though – quite the opposite. The best bet is to always stick to the specification given in the car’s handbook and not ask advice on your favourite online forum.
Additive packages are filled with other goodies, too. For instance, dispersants prevent the build-up of sludge, corrosion inhibitors stop rust, antioxidants protect oil from degrading through oxidation, alkalines neutralise the build-up of acids and extreme pressure agents help driveline oils cope with huge loads in geartrains, to name but a few. |
Aims of the department
The Geography Department at BGN aims to inspire geographers who admire the 'awe and wonder of the planet', aspire to understand, enquire, question and appreciate the interactions of people and landscapes at local, national and global levels. Through investigation of topical issues students are encouraged to develop empathy towards people living in different spatial locations, socio-economic environments and cultures different to their own.
Students are encouraged to be actively involved in their own learning through developing decision making skills and responsibility for the planning and direction of their work.
Key Stage 3
Students follow the revised National Curriculum Programmes of Study in which they study units of work in Physical, Human and Environmental Geography. Students learn that the natural world is under constant change and how people affect various environments. Within the programme of study students have opportunities for investigative enquiries, decision making and role play. They also develop practical and thinking skills through the interpretation and analysis of cartographic and graphic data. They have the opportunity to take part in some local fieldwork and they make use of ICT in their work. The course is an excellent foundation for GCSE Geography in Key Stage 4.
Key Stage 4
GCSE - Students follow the AQA Syllabus. Modules of work are completed in Physical Geography and Human Geography. The course flows naturally from work completed in Key Stage 3. There are opportunities for fieldwork and recently we have spent three days on the south coast completing a study into coastal features and processes.
Key Stage 5
'A' Level students follows the AQA Syllabus. A range of both Physical and Human Geography topics are followed and these are examined in Yr 13. Students also complete one piece of coursework, up to 4,000 words, on a topic of their choice. There are fieldwork opportunities during the course and in recent years students have completed a local river study and trips to London to examine the impacts of regeneration. |
Positive Action is a comprehensive, school-based program for kindergarten through 8th grade students, which promotes learning through enhancement of self-concept. Positive Action operates on the philosophy that thoughts lead to actions, actions lead to feelings, and feelings lead to thoughts. When this cycle is positive, it is maintained intrinsically because self-efficacy is a robust motivator.
Positive Action consists of 140 scripted, age-appropriate lessons lasting approximately 15 minutes. Lessons are delivered by a school teacher, external instructor, or in an alternative setting two to four times per week. The program aligns with existing academic standards and affords the flexibility of customization for chosen outcomes. The curriculum is comprised of six units, encompassing the conceptual foundation of the program, developing habits for healthy mind and body, personal management and self-control skills, building beneficial relationships, understanding responsibility and self-awareness, and goal-setting and achieving. In addition to classroom coursework, Positive Action consists of additional kits for school administration and counselors in order to coordinate efforts and affect the school climate overall.
The Blueprints Model Program qualifying studies included two randomized trials. The first trial, beginning in 2001 in Hawaii, followed first and second grade students to fifth and sixth grade in 2006. In the second trial, students in Chicago, IL were monitored from third grade in 2004 to eighth grade in 2010. Research methodology and program implementation were similar in both trials. Schools were matched on several variables, including demographics, school size, disciplinary referrals, and standardized achievement scores. Then, matched pairs were randomly assigned to either the program implementation condition or control condition.
Results revealed significant positive effects on antisocial behavior, academic self-efficacy, and skills for social interaction in schools that implemented Positive Action compared to those in the control condition. In Hawaii, schools observed significant reductions in suspensions and absenteeism as well as improvements in academic proficiency and school supportiveness among their students. These effects were maintained through the one-year post implementation follow-up. Additionally, in Chicago, students displayed greater academic motivation and schools demonstrated lower normative support for aggression. Moreover, both trials exhibited improved social interaction skills among students who received the program. |
Quay Smathers played and sang the traditional music of Western North Carolina for over 65 years, and for much of that time was a leading force for its preservation. His love of the old-time music embraced both the secular and sacred traditions in the region. The Dutch Cove Stringband, which he formed with his three daughters, encouraged the revival of interest in the older-style string band music, which had begun to lose ground to more modern bluegrass sounds.
At the same time, he strove to keep alive the tradition of Christian Harmony shape-note singing, which he’d learned as a child in Haywood County. He learned to sing shape notes from his mother and at singing schools. His singing style was deliberate in tempo, intense, and subtly ornamented.
In the years after World War II, interest in shape-note singing fell off significantly and there was concern that the tradition would die entirely in Western North Carolina. At this point, Smathers became a tireless advocate and teacher of the tradition. He taught and encouraged his children to sing shape notes and travelled regularly outside the area to conduct workshops and classes. As a direct result of his efforts, more and more visitors from outside the community began to attend shape-note singings at Morning Star Methodist Church in Canton and at the elementary school in Etowah.
As a teacher, Smathers maintained rigorous standards. He expected his students to learn the history of the Christian Harmony and to sing in the style of their elders. “If I teach it I want to teach it right. If some of these younger singers can hear some of these older ones, then it will begin to rub off on them and they are going to understand all about it.” Quay Smathers received the North Carolina Heritage Award in 1991. |
Charles Grant Blairfindie Allen (February 24, 1848 - October 25, 1899) was a science writer, author and novelist; an able upholder of the evolution doctrine and an expounder of Darwinism.
Born near Kingston, Ontario, Canada, the son of an emigrant Anglo-Scottish Protestant minister, he studied in the United Kingdom and France and in his mid twenties became a professor at Queen's College in Jamaica.
Despite his religious father, Allen became an agnostic and a socialist. After leaving his professorship, in 1876 he returned to the UK, where he turned his talents to writing, gaining a reputation for his essays on science and for literary works.
His first books were on scientific subjects, and include Physiological Æsthetics (1877) and Flowers and Their Pedigrees (1886). He was first influenced by associationist psychology as it was expounded by Alexander Bain and Herbert Spencer, the latter often considered the most important individual in the transition from associationist psychology to Darwinian functionalism. In Allen's many articles on flowers and perception in insects, Darwinian arguments replaced the old Spencerian terms. On a personal level, a long friendship that started when Allen met Spencer on his return from Jamaica, also grew uneasy over the years. Allen wrote a critical and revealing biographical article on Spencer that was published after Spencer was dead.
After assisting Sir W. W. Hunter in his Gazeteer of India in the early 1880s, Allen turned his attention to fiction, and between 1884 and 1899 produced about 30 novels. In 1895, his scandalous book titled The Woman Who Did, promulgating certain startling views on marriage and kindred questions, became a bestseller. The book told the story of an independent woman who has a child out of wedlock.
Another work, The Evolution of the Idea of God (1897), propounding a theory of religion on heterodox lines, has the disadvantage of endeavoring to explain everything by one theory. This "ghost theory" was often seen as a derivative of Herbert Spencer's theory. However, it was well known and brief references to it can be found in a review by Marcel Mauss, Durkheim's nephew, in the articles of William James and in the works of Sigmund Freud.
He was also a pioneer in Canadian science fiction, with the 1895 novel The British Barbarians. This book, published about the same time as H.G. Wells's "The Time Machine", also described time travel, although the plot is quite different.
Many histories of detective fiction also mention Allen as an innovator. His gentleman rogue, the illustrious Colonel Clay, is seen as a forerunner to later characters. In fact, Allen's character bear strong resemblance to Maurice Leblanc's French works about Arsene Lupin, published many years later.
Allen was married twice and had one son. He died at his home on Hindhead, Haslemere, Surrey, England on October 25, 1899. His unfinished novel "Hilda Wade" was completed, at his request, by his friend Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes.
An annual festival celebrating Canadian mystery fiction is held annually on Wolfe Island, near Kingston, Allen's birthplace. |
Published on 30 October 2019
Not everyone finds reading easy, that's why we have books that are specially designed to help readers build their confidence.
Our Reluctant readers collection contains engaging stories and books specially designed to help make reading a little easier for people with Dyslexia. Coincidentally, October is Dyslexia awareness month, so we thought we would tell you a bit more about them!
What is Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a common learning difference where people may have difficulties with reading, spelling, writing and pronouncing words. However, people with Dyslexia can be creative, innovative and good problem solvers! It can present differently for individuals and is genetic.
Microsoft recently launched a short 'course' with information and videos of first-hand accounts.
Dyslexia awareness: In partnership with Made by Dyslexia
What makes a book Dyslexia friendly?
Increased spacing between the letters and words.
Illustrations complementing the storyline.
Unique font that emphasises shapes, length, and increases spaces. Find out more about Dyslexie font here
Some have tinted or cream coloured pages which may ease visual stress.
For a picture book that children with Dyslexia can identify with, Indigo solves the pzulze tells the story of Indigo, a young girl with Dyslexia and overcoming reading challenges.
Books by publishers 4U2READ and Barrington Stoke in the reluctant readers (RR) collection have some of the features mentioned above, examples include;
Dragon by Hilary McKay
Monster busters by Cornelia Funke
Don't forget eBooks
All library members can access Borrowbox and Wheelers eBooks with their membership number. Font size and background colour can be adjusted to suit your reading preferences!
Don't forget borrowing is free with your free library membership! |
The history of dentistry (PART 1)
To talk about the history of dentistry we would need to look back almost 14,000 years ago, as it was recently discovered that a man from the paleolithic era had a primitive root canal made on a cavity he was suffering. The discovery has shaken everything one was thought about pre-historic dentistry. The procedure was likely done with small, sharp stone tools to remove the infection from the teeth.
There’s evidence of dentistry from Egypt at around 2,600 B.C. A group of researches found ancient medical texts detailing a bunch of oral problems and their treatment (although not all were effective). Then, we have Hippocrates in 460 B.C. talking about the link between certain foods and the loss of teeth.
Gold was used by the Romans to make fillings for rooted canals and to cover broken teeth. At the same time, there is evidence that points out China and India had developed something akin to toothpaste for their dental needs.
It was until 1250 when french barbers started to specialize as something regarded as dentists. Oral hygiene during the middle ages was very basic. Teeth were cleaned with pieces of linen or sponge, or by using toothpicks. Meanwhile, in the Aztec and Mayan empires, pieces of jade would be inserted on teeth for aesthetics. They also used seashells hammered into the jaw as dental implants.
The Little Medicinal Book for All Kinds of Diseases and Infirmities of the Teeth (Artzney Buchlein), the first book devoted entirely to dentistry, is published in Germany in 1530. Written for barbers and surgeons who treat the mouth, it covers practical topics such as oral hygiene, tooth extraction, drilling teeth, and placement of gold fillings.
Pierre Fauchard, a French surgeon published The Surgeon Dentist, A Treatise on Teeth (Le Chirurgien Dentiste) in the 1700’s. Fauchard is credited as being the Father of Modern Dentistry because his book was the first to describe a comprehensive system for the practice of dentistry including basic oral anatomy and function, operative and restorative techniques, and denture construction. His book also includes the statement that sugar derivative acids such as tartaric acid are responsible for dental decay.This century was the turning point for dentistry… because until that point most people thought cavities were the result of a “worm” that would eat their way through the teeth. The evil “tooth worm”! Sometimes even witchcraft was thought to be at fault for tooth pain and cavities in Europe.
By 1790, the first dentist chair and toothbrush were created and then in 1839 the first dentistry school was opened. We will stop here because most of the modern advances started to develop after this. Stay tuned for the second part of this blog post! |
Cochlear Implant User Can Hear Music Thanks To New Strategy
A technological advancement for cochlear implant users is in the works for those who would like to hear an improvement in music, according to a new research.
"A cochlear implant is a small, electronic device that lets a person who is profoundly deaf or hard of hearing perceive sound," said the University of Washington. "One piece is placed on the skin behind a person's ear, while another portion is surgically inserted under the skin. The implant works by directly stimulating the auditory nerve, bypassing damaged portions of the ear. The implant's signals are sent to the brain, which recognizes the signals as sounds."
UW scientists developed a new way for users to pick up on the sounds of musical melodies and notes. They did this by developing a processing approach to detect pitch and timbre in songs.
"Pitch is associated with the melody of a song and intonation when speaking," said UW. "Timbre, while hard to define, relates most closely to the varying sounds that different instruments make when playing the same note."
Researchers practiced their technique on eight cochlear-implant users by playing the common melody of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". According to the study, "They found that timbre recognition - the ability to distinguish between instruments - increased significantly, but the ability to perceive a melody was still difficult for most people."
The researchers hope to mend the signal processing to make it compatible with cochlear implants that are already on the market so users can improve their music listening experience.
"With cochlear implants, we've always been oriented more toward speech sounds. This strategy represents a different way of thinking about signal processing for music," said Jay Rubinstein, a UW professor of otolaryngology and of bioengineering and a physician at the UW Medical Center in a news release.
The pitch and timbre technique lets users help distinguish the recognition of various musical instruments something that standard cochlear implants don't have to offer.
"This is the first time anyone has demonstrated increased timbre perception using a different signal-processing system," said Rubinstein.
The findings are published in the journal IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering. |
“Yoga helped me to find solutions that I was too stressed to discover”
Yoga is a form of exercise focusing on both physical and mental health.
This type of activity provides many benefits to our bodies as well as our minds and souls.
According to the research done by PLOS ONE in 2017, practising yoga can decrease the symptoms of mental health issues such as depression.
Yoga increases body awareness and calms the nervous system. It also helps you to improve your concentration.
We prepared a list of yoga positions to help with improving your mental health.
Better known as the Child’s Pose, Balasana is a simple yet effective pose to boost mental health.
It was proved in an article published by Harvard Medical School that this yoga position helps to achieve a sense of calmness and stability.
Balasana keeps the body energised while making the abs toned and good-looking.
Yoga instructor, Kimberly Terry says it is a perfect position for people who suffer from a lack of sleep and anxiety.
Mrs Terry comments:
“Balasana promotes the parasympathetic nervous system. It may also relieve insomnia.”
Besides being beneficial for mental health, it also opens up the hips and releases the tension from the hips.
Known as the Crescent Moon Pose or the high lunge, this yoga position improves the blood circulation in the body.
This lunge variation helps to reduce stress and anxiety.
The Crescent Moon Pose stimulates the body to achieve calmness and relaxation while building mental focus.
Moreover, Anjaneyasana stretches your body, including the hips, legs, arms and back.
It is definitely a worth-trying position for those struggling with mental health problems.
This yoga position is also known as the popular Tree Pose.
It is a basic position that helps you to achieve both physical and mental stability.
The Tree Pose stimulates the body to release emotions and cool you down.
This pose helps with mental health in many ways – mainly it helps with concentration and improves self-esteem.
After this yoga position, you will feel rejuvenated and positive.
Also known as the Butterfly Pose, this position opens up the hips, as when we feel stressed, our bodies tend to tighten the muscles.
It actually helps to de-stress, release the tension and reflect.
The Butterfly Pose includes some elements of meditation, which also provides benefits for mental health.
Baddha Konasana helps you to achieve mental stability and feel light and relaxed.
Better known as the Half Moon Pose, it is not a position for beginners as it requires a lot of stability.
However, it has a lot of benefits. This yoga position helps to relax all of the muscles.
Ardha Chandrasana is a calming pose ideal for people struggling with stress and anxiety.
Doing this pose improves both mental and physical balance, as well as fighting the symptoms of depression and self-doubt.
It also definitely raises self-awareness and boosts your confidence.
Also known as the Cobra Pose, Miss Marta Wawrzyniak, a former IB Student likes this pose a lot as it helped her with stress and anxiety.
“It puts pressure on your back, giving you the opportunity to stretch the muscles there and think”, Marta comments.
Her journey with yoga started when Marta was put under a lot of pressure before her final exams.
“I need to say, this was one of the best decisions I made in my life.”
“Yoga is an amazing way to take you out of the current problems and helps you clear your mind.”
“Yoga helped me to deal with my problems, to find solutions that normally I was too stressed to discover.”
Ardha Pincha Mayurasana
The other name for this position is the Dolphin Pose and it has several benefits for mental health.
Having your head down increases blood flow in the brain, improving your concentration.
Moreover, the Dolphin Pose can reduce the symptoms of depression and insomnia.
It is definitely a more complicated position than the others listed in the article.
Although, it is definitely a great yoga position to help with mental health once you get to grips with it.
Known as the Camel Pose, it is a great position to release stress and uplift your mood.
For beginners, it might be an uncomfortable experience to hold this position for longer than a couple of seconds.
However, it is definitely a must to try Ustrasana if you struggle with any mental health issues.
It is believed that this position helps to release bad emotions from the body.
Many yogis call this asana the Warrior Pose. It is a relaxing exercise that helps with mental health.
The Warrior Pose helps to de-stress and focus on the breath.
It works as an anti-depressant and helps you to fight with stress, self-doubt and depression.
This yoga position helps with mental health, as it makes you more confident and it raises your body awareness.
The original Virabhadrasana includes three different variations, which all help to fight mental health problems.
Commonly referred to as the Corpse Pose, it is undeniably the most comfortable and effective yoga position.
Still, Savasana is quite beneficial when it comes to mental health.
Yogis very often use this position at the end of each practice. It helps to pay attention to the breath and relax.
Corpse Pose boosts self-esteem and confidence, as well as increasing the blood flow.
It also helps with several mental health problems, such as depression, insomnia, or anxiety.
Mrs Kimberly Terry shows us the connection between yoga and mental health issues:
“For anxiety and stress, we want to calm the nervous system, which potentially can help other mental health issues.”
There are many more other yoga positions that help with mental health than we listed above.
These include Garudasana (the Eagle Pose), Chakrasana (the Circle Pose) and Matsyasana (the Fish Pose).
Overall, it can be stated that yoga is a way of exercising that is beneficial for both physical and mental health. Give these recommended poses a try and you will see the difference for yourself. |
Humans have been blamed for the disappearance of species before but never quite like this. Scientists at the University of Oxford have found evidence that two species of bacteria are merging into one. The two species are swapping genetic material at such a high rate that they are on the road to sharing a single, common genome. Their genetic merger is probably the result of being thrust into a new environment - the intestines of heavily farmed chickens, cattle and other domesticated livestock.
The two bacteria in question - Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli - are two of the most common causes of gastroenteritis, or food poisoning, in the world. They infect a broad range of animals including mammals, birds and even insects. The two shared a common ancestor and their housekeeping genes - essential genes that are always switched on - are about 87% identical. They are currently recognised as separate species but it looks like some populations are headed back towards a unified direction.
To swap or not to swap
Classifying bacterial species and building family trees for them is never straightforward. Unlike multi-celled creatures, which must content themselves with passing genes on to their offspring, bacteria can happily trade genetic material with their neighbours through a process called conjugation.
Earlier experiments from the lab of Martin Maiden showed that C.jejuni and C.coli are indeed exchanging genetic material. Samuel Sheppard, working in Maiden's lab, carried on the work by comparing the sequences of seven housekeeping genes in almost 3,000 samples from the two species, taken from a wide range of locations.
Sheppard found that the two bacteria do still maintain a reasonably distinct identity. Most of the combinations of sequences could be assigned to one or the other, although 11% of those classified as C.coli contained genes that were donated from C.jejuni. Clearly, the genes of the two bacteria are clearly mingling, and more often than not, it was a one-way swap, with C.jejuni donating genes and C.coli receiving them.
The analysis also revealed that C.coli has split into three distinct genetic lineages and the first and largest group was the heaviest importer of C.jejuni genes. Almost 19% of its genes came from C.jejuni and unlike the other two groups, it donated a fair few genes in return.
Sheppard suggests that this swapping is a recent development. The fact that the other two C.coli groups participate in the exchange to a much lesser extent suggests that it started happening after the three lineages split. The imported genes were almost all identical to their counterparts in C.jejuni suggesting that they hadn't had time to change in their new hosts.
The analysis showed that the first lineage of C.coli is converging with C.jejuni at high speed, about four times faster than the rate of change that separated the two species in the first place. Unless some strong evolutionary pressure prevents C.jejuni sequences from taking hold in C.coli, Sheppard thinks that the two species will inevitably converge into a single entity - a case of "despeciation" in progress.
The two species originally split as they came to colonise different and physically separated habitats. For example, C.jejuni is the dominant species in wild birds while C.coli rules the guts of pigs. However, certain hosts provide them with a chance to mingle and these include the chickens and cattle that are so intensely reared by humans. The digestive systems of our livestock brought the physical barriers that separated the two species crashing down, allowing them to trade genes after millions of years of separation.
The genetic sequences of a C.jejuni sample can give away the identity of the host animal it came from. And when Sheppard analysed the genes that had found their way into C.coli, he found that they were indistinguishable from those hailing from farm animals. However, he cautions that the theory still needs to be tested more carefully and we will need an even wider range of samples to do it.
Sheppard suggests that these hybrids may become more and more common as human activity degrades environments that have acted as barriers between closely related species. At the same time, we create new habitats like intensive farms and the drainage areas from mines, that could provide new opportunities for hybrids to exploit.
Reference: doi:Sheppard, S.K., McCarthy, N.D., Falush, D., Maiden, M.C. (2008). Convergence of Campylobacter Species: Implications for Bacterial Evolution. Science, 320(5873), 237-239. DOI: 10.1126/science.1155532
Images: Chickens by Martin Maiden and Campylobacter by De Wood and Chris Pooley |
Whether it is a useful path to get from one place or another, or a pretty, winding path designed purely to meander through plants, creating a path can add a new dimension to your garden.
Plotting Your Garden Path
A hosepipe is helpful in plotting the course of a path, especially if you want the path to curve. Lay your hose down on the ground and arrange it so that it meanders in a pleasing way.
If you have enough length of hose, you can use it to mark out both sides of the path. Use a yardstick or large rule to make sure the width of the path is even all the way along.
Special road marking spray paint or even a trail of household flour can also be used to mark out the path.
If you have a small garden, you can create an illusion of space by widening the path at a curved corner.
Paving Materials for Your Garden Path
Depending on the purpose of the path, there are a number of options for materials to use. If the path is going to be used daily as an important route from one place to another, then you need to use a sturdy material that is well bedded down. If it is an ornamental path then you don’t need to be so careful.
Brick Garden Paths
Bricks can be laid in a variety of patterns for a range of effects. A traditional herringbone pattern will suit a cottage garden, while staggered lines can be used to great effect in a more modern setting. Be sure to purchase proper paving bricks, as they are made to withstand foot traffic and the elements much better than wall bricks, which will break up after a while.
Paving Slab Garden Paths
Slabs are a sensible choice if the path is going to see a lot of foot traffic. Concrete slabs will not be slippery in wet weather, and if you bed them in with sand and cement they won’t move or get overgrown with weeds. Slabs can be used in a more informal way too though, for example as stepping stones with gravel, moss or grass in between.
Flag Stone Garden Paths
A patchwork path of flags is a beautiful addition to any garden. Creating a flag path is a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle without knowing what the picture is of! It’s a challenge to fit in the different sized and shaped pieces of stone, but when you’re done you’ll feel a real sense of achievement. Flags can also be used as stepping stones through a gravel path, across a lawn or interspersed with moss.
Gravel Garden Pathways
A gravel pathway is one of the quickest and easiest to create, and there are a wide variety of stone chipping’s available. Don’t choose stones that are very small, as they will get picked up by muddy or wet shoes too easily.
Beach pebbles, slate chipping’s in a variety of colours, sparkling white chips, and stones in a huge range of colours are available. For a really natural looking path through a shady grove you could even use bark chipping.
Preparing the Ground
Once you’ve planned the route of your path and selected the material, you can get started on actually creating the path.
Dig up any turf or plants as necessary, and use a flat shovel or mattock to dig out a trench for your path. For a decorative path dig out the depth of the block/slab plus 2 inches if using sand. For stone chipping’s and other loose materials, you will need a two to three inch layer.
For paths with heavy foot traffic, you will need to dig out an additional 4 inches and fill with broken stone or scalping’s, then compact it down with a hired wacker plate.
Even if you are not adding this base it is a good idea to compress the soil under your path so that you don’t get uneven lumps and bumps when the ground naturally compresses over time.
Laying the Garden Path
Laying Weed Block and Edging Strips
If you are using loose chipping’s, you will need to dig out a small trench on either side of the path for edging. You can use stone, brick, metal, wood or plastic edging strips. Put down a layer of landscaping fabric or weed block to stop any weeds growing up through the path, and put down your edging if required.
Laying a Sand Base
Spread a layer of sand over the fabric and use a rake or piece of wood to work it level. If you are laying slabs or flags between chipping’s, lay down the slabs in place first then fill in around them with your chipping’s. For a path of pure chipping’s, fill in between your edging with chipping’s and rake them level.
Slab, Flag and Block Pathways
For slab, block or flag paths, lay your stones in your chosen pattern, being careful to make sure they are level with one another and pressed down into the sand firmly. A few sharp taps with a paving maul or rubber hammer will help without damaging the pavers or stones.
If you are laying a sturdy path with sand and cement to withstand heavy foot-traffic, see our Laying a Patio project for more help and advice.
Use the wacker again to compact the blocks and get them to settle in place, or stomp on them up and down several times. Spread fine sand over the finished path and brush over to get it to go down into the gaps between blocks.
Do You Want Moss?
If you want moss to grow in the spaces between your stones, fill in the spaces with some soil and place the moss around. If possible, it is cheaper and easier to gather moss that you already have growing somewhere, but if you don’t have any there are a few types of moss and low creeping plants usually available in local garden centres.
Stepping Stone Garden Paths
To make a stepping stone path in a lawn, simply lay your stones in place, making sure that they are positioned so that you can comfortably walk along them. Cut around each stone in turn with a knife or spade, move the stone out of the way and lift up the turf to the depth of the stone. Put a layer of sand in the bottom of the hole to level it, and sit your stone in place, stamping hard to get it to sit firmly in place.
Other projects that you may be interested in could be laying a driveway or path, how to lay patio slabs correctly, how to lay block paving correctly, How to lay a solid shed base and how to correctly point a patio. Using these projects together will give you additional information on laying a path. |
Afghanistan is an economically downtrodden country that relies highly on farming and livestock. There was an astronomical decline in the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country in the last two decades of the 20th century. The contributing factors included disruption in trade and transport, and loss of capital and labor. The economic activities were widely interrupted by the Soviet invasion and civil war, which were responsible for the mass destruction of the country’s limited infrastructure. However, the fall on the Taliban forces in 2001 and infusion of billions of US dollars improved trading significantly. Trading is mainly done with neighboring countries.
History of Afghanistan Trade, Exports and Imports
Although Afghanistan is rich in natural resources, very little has been done to explore them. Some of these resources are extensive deposits of natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, chromite, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, and precious and semiprecious stones. However, the country’s rugged terrain and lack of transportation network restrict trade activities. In the 1980s, export of natural gas was at its peak, with $300 million in export revenues annually. However, 90% of this revenue was utilized for the payment of imports and debts to the Soviet Union. The Afghan economy also rode on goods smuggled into Pakistan.
Afghanistan Trade, Exports and Imports Statistics
There is not enough information and guaranteed statistics available about the economy of Afghanistan, but here are some estimates:
Exports: $603 million (2008)
Imports: $8.27 billion (2008)
Exports-to-GDP ratio: 3,5 % (2008)
Imports-to-GDP ratio: 47,6 % (2008)
Trade-to-GDP ratio: 51,1 % (2008)
(Note: Trade-to-GDP ratio = (Exports + Imports) / GDP)
The major export partners of Afghanistan include (figures as of 2008):
The major import partners of Afghanistan include (figures as of 2008):
Afghanistan Trade, Exports and Imports Commodities
The following are the major commodities that form the basis of Afghanistan’s economy:
Export commodities include opium, fruits and nuts, handwoven carpets, wool, cotton, hides and pelts, precious and semi-precious gems.
Imports include machinery and other capital goods, food, textiles, petroleum products. |
- 0 kr
Python is a programming language that has gained a lot of ground. We offer both introductory and advanced courses that give you the knowledge and possibility to work with
this powerful language. Python is a powerful and adaptable programming language with support for several different programming paradigms, such as object oriented and
functional programming. It is a programming language which has grown strong, and applications like Google, YouTube and Dropbox are written in Python.
Our intro courses in Python teach you the basics you need to start working in Python. Or if you have worked in Python for a few years and want to take your skills to the next level,
we have your back. In addition to our scheduled Python courses in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmoe, we can also adjust the courses for your company and give them on site.
Please contact us for more information. |
BPA health risks: UCSD researchers uncover new information
New research published in the journal PLOS ONE, suggests BPA could harm health once it’s metabolized. According to researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, the real threat of the chemical comes once it’s broken down in the body and interferes with the endocrine system.
The finding is concerning, considering more than 90% of Americans show exposure to BPA at varying levels. But the finding could also lead to ways to promote health, according to the researchers.
BPA has been shown to disrupt the endocrine system in animal studies. There is concern that the chemical might be a contributor to childhood obesity, developmental defects, cancer and other health problems because it interferes with estrogen signaling. Exposure in utero has also been suggested to possibly contribute to male infertility.
What that means is that the chemical in plastic and a wide range of consumer products can disrupt the hormone system in ways that are especially worrisome for infants, children and babies in the womb. The possible harm from BPA is what led the FDA to ban the BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups. Some countries have been strict about banning the chemical.
3D model shows BPA metabolite strongly binds with estrogen receptors
In the newest study, researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine use a 3D model to find how BPA is metabolized in the body
What they discovered is that it’s not BPA itself, but a metabolite that strongly binds to estrogen receptors.
Scientists knew that BPA itself attaches weakly to estrogen receptor, leading them to suspect something else was going on.
According to Michael E. Baker, PhD, UCSD professor of medicine, and Charlie Chandsawangbhuwana, a graduate student in the UCSD Department of Bioengineering, a compound given the name MBP was previously discovered by researchers at Hiroshima International University that is a metabolite of BPA. Scientists knew MBP has a greater affinity for attaching to estrogen receptors but how that happens wasn’t pursued.
The UCSD researchers picked up on the study and took it further. They found out both ends of the MBP molecule interact with estrogen receptors in the same way as estradiol. BPA only attaches at one end, explaining its weak connection.
Estradiol is a steroid hormone that’s important for fetal growth. The hormone is also important for normaldevelopment of the sex organs.
"In other words, MPB is basically grabbing onto the estrogen receptor with two hands compared to just one hand for BPA," said Baker in a press release. "Two contact points makes a much stronger connection."
Instead of measuring BPA levels in the body, the authors say measuring MDP levels in the blood and urine might give a better indication of the health effects of the compound.
What it also means is that new therapies for cancer could be developed. Understanding how BPA is metabolized and how it binds to estrogen receptors could help treat some forms of breast and prostate cancer.
The chemical BPA is found in hard plastics, linings of canned food, dental sealants, and sales receipts on thermal paper, making exposure difficult to avoid. There has also been concern about how the chemical leaches into the environment and into the soil and waterways.
"One could use MBP, which has a novel structure, as a template to develop a new class of chemicals that could bind to the estrogen receptor with high affinity," Baker said. "The goal would be to have these chemicals inhibit the action of estradiol instead of activating the estrogen response. These chemicals could control unwanted growth of estrogen-dependent tumors."
The importance of the study is two-fold. The UCSD researchers may have uncovered a new way to treat some forms of cancer. On the other hand, they've shown that the health harm from BPA might happen after the compound is metabolized in the body. Another recent study, published in PLOS ONE, found 'compelling' evidence that the chemical can cause birth defects and miscarriage.
Image credit: Morguefile |
All teachers are engaged in differentiated professional learning and development. Those with similar goals are ‘buddied’ with another staff member.
This video illustrates
Domain 5: Professional capability and collective capacity
- Organisational structures, processes and practices enable and sustain collaborative learning and decision making
- Access to relevant expertise builds capability for ongoing improvement and innovation
This video also illustrates
Domain 2: Leadership for equity and excellence
- Leadership builds collective capacity to do evaluation and inquiry for sustained improvement
- The deprivatisation of classroom practice is embedded across the school
- Working with a colleague enables clarity of focus and direction linked to outcomes
- Frequent, structured observations to gather evidence and follow up discussions support improvement
- Allocation of time and resource support the implementation of school-wide processes
Things to think about
- What structures, processes and practices support continual learning and collaboration in your setting?
- What else could you consider? |
Cognitive Bias as a Measurement of Emotional States in Dogs
Abstract: Cognitive bias can be used when determining emotional states in animals by assessing the animal’s perception of an ambiguous stimulus. In the concept of animal welfare, both physical health as well as mental health of animals are involved. Therefore, cognitive bias can be a valuable tool in order to measure the mental health of an animal. The aim of this paper is to summarize and discuss how cognitive bias tests have been used to assess emotional states in dogs. Cognitive bias tests in dogs have been used to evaluate the emotional state of a dog with behavioural problems. It has also been shown to be useful when studying the effect of enrichment in the form of natural behaviour, such as being allowed to use its olfactory sense to a greater extent. Additionally, the connection between personality and cognitive bias is discussed. Hence, assessing the emotional state of dogs can be valuable in a welfare perspective.
AT THIS PAGE YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE ESSAY. (follow the link to the next page) |
It is sometimes difficult to be inspired when trying to write a persuasive essay, book report or thoughtful research paper. Often of times, it is hard to find words that best describe your ideas.
EssaysAdepts now provides a database of over 150,000 quotations and proverbs from the famous inventors, philosophers, sportsmen, artists, celebrities, business people, and authors that are aimed to enrich and strengthen your essay, term paper, book report, thesis or research paper.
Try our free search of constantly updated quotations and proverbs database.
Letter "B" » baseness
«It is because nations tend towards stupidity and baseness that mankind moves so slowly; it is because individuals have a capacity for better things that it moves at all.»
«Life is not an easy matter... You cannot live through it without falling into frustration and cynicism unless you have before you a great idea which raises you above personal misery, above weakness, above all kinds of perfidy and baseness.»
«Nothing is more repugnant to me than brotherly feelings grounded in the common baseness people see in one another.»
«National character is only another name for the particular form which the littleness, perversity and baseness of mankind take in every country. Every nation mocks at other nations, and all are right.»
«When you know what men are capable of you marvel neither at their sublimity nor their baseness. There are no limits in either direction apparently.»
«There is a law of neutralization of forces, which hinders bodies from sinking beyond a certain depth in the sea; but in the ocean of baseness, the deeper we get, the easier the sinking»
«In the ocean of baseness, the deeper we get, the easier the sinking.»
«There can be a true grandeur in any degree of submissiveness, because it springs from loyalty to the laws and to an oath, and not from baseness of soul.» |
Tourism is an important tool to fight hunger in the kingdom of Swaziland
The Cost of Hunger in Africa (COHA) survey, part of the African Union Commission initiative to enable African nations to quantify the human and economic costs of malnutrition within their borders, fou
The Cost of Hunger in Africa (COHA) survey, part of the African Union Commission initiative to enable African nations to quantify the human and economic costs of malnutrition within their borders, found that malnutrition follows most Swazis throughout their life.
Despite being the smallest country in the Southern hemisphere, Swaziland more than makes up for its lack of size with a hugely diverse range of attractions and activities.
As one of the few remaining Executive Monarchies in Africa, culture and heritage are deeply engrained in all aspects of Swazi life, ensuring an unforgettable experience for all who visit. As well as the rich culture, the overwhelming friendliness of the people makes all visitors feel truly welcome and very safe. Add to that a stunning landscapes of mountains and valleys, forests and plains; plus wildlife reserves across the country that are home to The Big Five, and you have all that’s best about Africa in one small but perfectly formed and welcoming country.
Tourism is an important tool to fight hunger in the kingdom
Swaziland’s reliance on international donors has averted famine but masked the reality of chronic food shortages and widespread malnutrition and stunting, according to a new study released by the government and the World Food Program (WFP).
The COHA study was undertaken by Swaziland’s National Children’s Coordinating Unit in conjunction with the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, which sought data on the true cost of hunger on the Swaziland economy. The ministries of agriculture, education and finance partnered with WFP to coordinate the first survey of its kind in the country.
“Swaziland is among the first four countries to complete the Cost of Hunger process. Others include Egypt, Ethiopia and Uganda. Eight more have just begun. The Swazi government has been fully supportive of the initiative and a key participant,” Julia Cocchia, a consultant with WFP Swaziland, told IRIN.
Children first to suffer
WFP noted that the high cost of hunger is undermining the impoverished country’s economy and is tied to social and individual regression. “A large proportion of costs related to under-nutrition are met by the families themselves as often these children are not provided with proper health care” the report concluded.
The most dangerous time for a Swazi is after birth through a child’s first five years; malnutrition is responsible for 8 percent of child mortalities. Due to Swaziland’s patchy health system, one-third of ill children do not receive medical care, the survey found, while 69 percent of cases of child under-nutrition are not treated.
“You can spot the children who have not eaten,” said Thandi Simelane, a fifth-grade teacher in Manzini. “Their eyes droop. They cannot concentrate. They haven’t any energy. Often they have flus because their bodies haven’t the nourishment to fight off viruses. They don’t keep up with their studies. The parents don’t have money to pay school fees just as they don’t have money for food, and we lose these children. It is not that they drop out of school because they cannot study, but it is part of the overall poverty of the family.
“There are some neighborhood care points where they children can get a meal, but these are mostly pre-school children. There are no government-supported food feeding schemes in Swaziland. What food there is comes from fees paid by parents and donors,” said Simelane.
Life does not improve for the malnourished as they grow older. The effects of under-nutrition, the report notes, “exacerbate the problems in social integration and increase or intensify poverty. A vicious cycle is perpetuated as vulnerability to malnutrition grows.”
Forty percent of adult Swazis are stunted, largely due to malnutrition at an early age, with effects that are likely follow them throughout life.
The levels of illness and physical impairment caused by stunting represent a major crisis for the small country of about one million people. The 37 million working hours lost due to malnutrition-related mortalities in 2009 (the period analyzed by the survey) cost the country US$40 million, or 1.4 percent of its GDP. In addition, about $92 million was lost in 2009 as a result of child under-nutrition, equivalent to 3.1 percent of GDP.
Economic Planning Minister Prince Hlangusempi Dlamini, whose ministry was a principal partner in the survey, noted of the survey data: “The saddest thing is that this cycle [of malnutrition] is not limited to the life cycle of each individual, but affect that person’s children, who will pass it on to yet another generation.”
The report noted, “In Swaziland, the results of the study strongly suggest that to achieve sustainable human and economic growth, special attention must be given to addressing nutrition in the early stages of an individual’s life.”
Recommendations put forward by the report call for massive spending on nutritional interventions, but do not acknowledge Swaziland’s inability to finance such interventions without a significant reordering of public spending and international donor help. |
It’s a computerized medical record that is created in an organization that cast care, such as hospital and doctor’s surgery. Electronic medical records will be part of a health information system which allows storage, retrieval and modification of records.
The (EMR) electronic medical records is a huge knowledge database that is given to medical and clinical records of patients in the hospital. The EMR allows access to complete information data of patient that will provide high quality, efficient and cost effective patient care.
Euro webs (EMR) electronic medical record is web-based system that means you access it anywhere and by using any operating system.we are vendors in Europe webs for electronic medical records (emr) solutions and health information management system for patients.
If you have any inquiry for emr software or you need a free quote, please fill the information below: |
How can educators create equitable and anti-racist teaching practices and learning environments so that students have the safety to learn in the comfort of their own skin? Join us for a conversation with educator and antiracist Dr. Dena Simmons to explore the power and purpose of education for social change.
During this webinar, we will:
- Explore how educators can empower students to work towards healing and social change
- Learn how Facing History engages educators in a critical examination of social-emotional learning with an equity and justice lens
Captioning will be available during this webinar, which takes place from 7–8pm ET/6–7pm CT/4–5pm PT. This is a live-only event and will not be available for on-demand viewing.
At the conclusion of the webinar, you will be able to download a certificate of completion from the webinar console showing one hour of participation. Check with your school district in advance of the webinar to ensure that the professional development credit is accepted.
About the Presenters
Dena Simmons, Ed.D., is an activist, educator, and student of life from the Bronx, New York. She is the Assistant Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and an Associate Research Scientist at the Yale Child Study Center. She writes and speaks nationally about social justice and culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy as well as creating emotionally intelligent and safe classrooms within the context of equity and liberation. She is the author of the forthcoming book, White Rules for Black People (St. Martin’s Press, 2021).
Pamela Donaldson is the Program Director for the Cleveland office of Facing History and Ourselves. As a longtime professional development provider and educator, she is experienced in designing and facilitating curriculum and implementation in the humanities, as well as topics touching on youth empowerment, equity, and justice. |
In an unbelievable turn of events, school is out, probably for the summer, in March. During times of upheaval, the CBE encourages families to maintain a balanced and consistent routine for children; including regular sleeping and eating times, breaks for activity and outdoor time, and healthy boundaries on screen time.
They have also created a webpage to help kids from kindergarten to grade nine continue and supplement their learning at home. This page offers a variety of educational ideas to support literacy, numeracy and wellness at home, as more long-term educational programming is considered.
To discover more about what material is covered in each grade in Alberta, you can also see My Child’s Learning: A Parent’s Resource.
Learning at Home With the K-12 Alberta Curriculum:
Looking for more tips on how to keep your kids occupied during the COVID-19 crisis? Find our best ideas, activities and inspiration here!
Although we do our best to provide you with accurate information, all event details are subject to change. Please contact the facility to avoid disappointment. |
The two most important things that all parents can do to help their child develop literacy skills are talking and reading. Why is talking to and with your child so important to literacy? It’s simple. While “reading†is about being able to pronounce words on a page,†literacy†is about understanding what those words mean. Therefore, the first and most important element in literacy is oral language. Hearing spoken language is how children who hear Chinese learn to speak Chinese, and children who hear English learn to speak English. The difference in number and variety of words that children hear is why some begin school with a huge number of words in their vocabulary and some with regrettably few.
Talking with your child:
From infancy on, parents can help their child develop a rich vocabulary by narrating. Talk about what you are doing and why you are doing it.
As your child becomes more verbal, ask open ended questions. Those are ones that cannot be answered by a simple yes or no – “What do you want to do when we go to the park today?†rather than “Do you want to ride the train at the park?†Follow up and elaborate, “The train is fun, isn’t it? What is your favorite thing about the train?†If the child says “the whistle†you can elaborate on that theme, “When the engineer blows the whistle I have to put my hands on my ears because it is so loud. I think it makes almost as much noise as the train that we hear at your school.†Engineer, loud, almost, noise – those are all vocabulary that the child is absorbing. If he doesn’t already know what one of those words means, he will begin to figure it out from the context. In time, probably without your noticing it, he will incorporate those new words into his own speech.
A word of warning: Listening is as important as talking. Be sure to give your child space to tell you his own ideas, and let them guide some of your conversation.
Another kind of talking â€Telling stories:
Stories are another great way to encourage oral language. Children are a very nonâ€judgmental audience. Just start telling a story and see where it leads you. Ask children for their input and incorporate their ideas into the story, “Where do you think the rabbit was hiding?†“What do you think she wanted for her birthday?†“Who do you think was knocking on the door?†These kinds of questions help children develop problemâ€solving and critical thinking skills as well as creativity.
Reading to your child:
Reading to your child is important on so many levels. It shows children that you value reading. It introduces them to new vocabulary. It helps them develop a sense of story structure and sequencing– beginning, middle and end, first, next and last. It enhances imagination. It teaches them that reading can answer questions and provide information – the basis of research. It also provides an opportunity for that precious oneâ€onâ€one cuddle time that builds strong parentâ€child bonds.
As you prepare to read, talk with the child about the book, “The title of this book is If You Take a Mouse to the Movies. It was written by Laura Numeroff. The pictures were drawn by Felicia Bond. We have another book with the same author and illustrator. Do you remember what it’s called? It had a mouse on the cover too. That’s right, it’s If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. It was a funny book. Do you think this one will be funny too? Let’s see.â€
Often, in picture books the illustrations are as important to the story as the words. You may want to talk with the child about the illustrations as you read, or you may want to read the story through once and then reâ€read it, taking time to look at the illustrations and talk about them. This talking through the book is particularly important for young children, as it adds the element of oral language, but even as you graduate into reading chapter books with older readers they will also enjoy and benefit from “book discussionsâ€. Be careful not to let any of this take away from the fun of reading though. If your child prefers hearing the story with no interruptions, honor that preference. The most important thing about helping a child learn to read is that he/she enjoys books. A child who loves books will be motivated to read.
What about ABCs?
Have you noticed that your child began “reading†environmental print, such as the Chikâ€filâ€a, MacDonald’s or Toy Story logos, at an early age? I call that reading, because it shows the ability to recognize that a symbol stands for something else, and isn’t that what reading is? The fact that they recognize environmental print shows us that children easily learn those things that are meaningful to them. Therefore, a good place for them to beginning recognizing letters is with the letters in their name. Start with the first letter in the child’s first name. Label the child’s possessions with his/her name or first initial. (Use a capital letter for the first letter and lower case for the other letters, so that your child learns it correctly and doesn’t have to unâ€learn how to write it). Write it on artwork. Write it in the sand at the beach or with chalk in the driveway. As you go through your day, make a game of finding
that letter on signs, magazine covers, newspaper headlines, pizza boxes or cereal boxes. Later you can move on to other letters in the child’s name, the names of family members, favorite stores and restaurants, ball teams, or whatever is meaningful to your child.
Rhyming calls attention to the sounds in words. Look for some of the many wonderful rhyming books that are available to read with your child. (Here You can find a booklist with suggestions). As you read, point out the rhyme. Ask your child to help you think of other words that
rhyme. Again, only play this game for as long as it is still fun.
Reading and writing go hand in hand. Children’s first writing may not look like real writing to you, but it is an important step, showing that they understand that marks on a page represent words. Children typically go through several stages of “writing†before they are ready to write recognizable words. Show an appreciation and encouragement for each stage. Another good practice is to model the uses of writing, “We’re out of milk. Let’s add it to our grocery list.†Whenever you are modeling writing, or responding to your child’s request about how to write a word, remember to use capital and lower case letters correctly to avoid confusing the child. |
The parameter identification of permanent magnet motors is needed when a new motor prototype must be quickly analyzed. The parameter identification can be performed with complicated tests using inverter and a driving machine, or using simpler methods that do not need any inverter supply and prime movers. This paper focuses on a fast identification of the motor back-emf voltage constant using the HBM Gen3i data recorder. The motor is rotated by hand with just one twist of the wrist and the method is able to get very good results even for non-sinusoidal motors.
Due to their high torque density and higher efficiency with respect to other motor types, Permanent Magnet (PM) motors are able to create energy savings in a number of applications. The advancement of Adjustable Speed Drives (ASD) has caused PM motors to have expansion in many fields. Some of these fields include: traction, automotive, renewable power generation, electrical mobility, compressors electric aircraft and home appliances . DifferentPM machine designs are adopted to fulfil the application requirements. The rotor design determines the topology of the PM machine. The most common PM machines are Surface Mount (SM) PM machines, Interior Permanent Magnet (IPM) machines (single layer and multilayer rotors), inset PM machines, flux-concentrating PM machines and so on.
The application engineers who must implement specific motor control strategies need parameter identification procedures to get the motor parameters. The motor parameters that are usually used in motor control are: stator resistance, stator inductances and the magnets flux linkage (or the back-emf constant). The stator resistance and inductance can be obtained very quickly with line-to-line impedance measurement for different rotor positions or through a short-circuit test. The magnets flux is usually obtained by means of a no-load test (hereinafter called as conventional method); the Motor Under Test (MUT) is rotated by a Driving Motor (DM). The magnets flux is calculated from the induced voltage at the machine terminals and the electrical speed.
This paper proposes a very simple method for the identification of the PM motors magnets flux using the HBM Gen3i data recorder. Respect to the conventional method, the proposed method does not need a DM and it can be applied to PM motors having non-sinusoidal back-emf voltages. The paper is organized as follows. First, the conventional method is described in Section II. Then, the proposed method is analyzed in Section III. Section IV concludes the paper. |
Courtesy of accesshealthcareservices.com
Many people experience “winter blues.” The weather turns cold and all they want to do is eat all their favorite comfort foods and hibernate. While this is normal, especially for people living in the Midwest, it can also be a sign of something else.
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that's related to the change in seasons that happens around the same time every year. Symptoms, which include tiredness, lack energy, depression, moodiness, and lack of concentration, usually start in the fall and continue into the winter months. However, SAD can also cause you to feel down or depressed in the spring or early summer.
According to Mayoclinic.org, symptoms may include:
Health care professionals aren’t exactly sure why some people suffer from this malady and others don’t. It could have something to do with individual’s biological clock, or circadian rhythm. The reduced level of sunlight in fall and winter may disrupt the body's internal clock and lead to feelings of depression.
Another cause could be the serotonin levels in the body. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that affects mood. Serotonin is produced by sunlight, so the reduction of sunlight could cause a drop in serotonin levels and could trigger depression. The changing seasons can also disrupt melatonin levels, which plays a role in sleep patterns and mood.
If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, you should see your health care provider. They may prescribe medication, light therapy, or psychotherapy.
For more information about SAD, visit mayoclinic.org. |
The Texas Railroad Commission permitted oil and gas producers to destroy $750 million worth of natural gas in a single year, and despite the pleas of royalty owners and environmentalists, it allows that waste to continue.
The three elected officials who supervise the oil and gas industry in Texas are mandated to promote efficiency and minimize waste but have issued permits allowing drillers to burn billions of dollars’ worth of natural gas through a process called flaring over the past seven years.
Last week, commissioners finally began considering new rules to stop it, but it doesn’t look good.
First, a quick lesson on flaring. Oil wells also produce natural gas, much to the chagrin of the driller who wants only oil. This associated gas must go somewhere, and when there are no pipelines, drillers ask the Railroad Commission to burn it off with flares.
TOMLINSON’S TAKE: Energy execs need market overhauls to fight climate change
Anyone driving through South or West Texas at night has seen these huge flames. Refineries also use flares to burn off dangerous gases, so they also are common along the Houston Ship Channel.
Natural gas contains methane, a gas six times more harmful to the climate than carbon dioxide. Getting rid of methane is essential, and capturing it can generate additional revenue. But lately, drillers have been in such a rush to pump oil, they are not waiting for gas pipelines.
The commission almost never has rejected a flaring permit. Since the fracking revolution kicked off in 2013, commissioners have allowed flaring to increase four-fold, and drillers have burned enough gas to meet Texas’ power, heating and industrial needs for three years, state records show.
The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, a nonpartisan group that researches industry trends, calculated Texas drillers flared gas worth $749.9 million in 2018 alone.
“The RRC’s duty to address waste in oil and gas production is not only a legal requirement but also a practical imperative that is becoming more and more critical for the financial future of Texas,” the group concluded. “It needs to recalibrate itself and align its actions with its critical responsibility to protect the public.”
Commission Chair Wayne Christian formed a task force to recommend what should be done about flaring. Outgoing Commissioner Ryan Sitton oversaw a study. Oil and gas lobbyists and environmentalists drafted their own reports.
The hyperanalytical Sitton devised what he calls a flaring intensity benchmark, which is a ratio of gas flared to barrels of oil produced. He thinks it’s a fair measure of efficiency, if not necessarily the best measure for environmental or royalty owner protection.
Sitton calculated that Texas has one of the best flaring intensities in the world, which prompted him to ask whether the commission should impose additional regulations that may hurt Texas’ competitiveness in export markets. Reducing flaring will cost money, and foreign producers flare like maniacs.
Environment Texas, meanwhile, argued that flaring hurts the environment, wastes energy and signals the industry’s long-term decline. If drillers must flare to make money, then the industry is doomed. The commission should phase out flaring forever, the group concluded.
Lastly, a group of seven trade associations calling itself the Texas Methane and Flaring Coalition has a plan that it says will reduce flaring through minor tweaks to the current permit process. The coalition predictably argues that additional regulation will cost Texas jobs.
The Railroad Commission, which desperately needs a name change because it has nothing to do with railroads anymore, is supposed to strike a balance between energy production, environmental impacts and financial royalties. We need oil and gas. We need to fight climate change. Drillers should not cheat mineral rights owners.
TOMLINSON’S TAKE: Oil companies need a nudge, or more, to stop flaring waste gases
Christian, a former lawmaker known for conservatism and religious fundamentalism with no industry background, has signaled a historic shift away from being in the pocket of drillers to worrying about royalty owners and investors.
“We cannot continue to waste this much natural gas and allow the practice of flaring to tarnish the reputation of our state’s thriving energy sector to the general public and investors on Wall Street,” he said after Tuesday’s hearing. He called on commission staff to prepare proposals by the fall.
Environmentalists sighed in dismay, the commission remains uninterested in climate change. Lobbyists for drillers and royalty owners girded for a fight.
If Christian’s new rules mean less gas is flared, that is a great outcome, but that’s not the long-term problem.
The world is moving away from fossil fuels, especially oil. Natural gas will remain important, but demand will fade. The commission needs to manage not only the end of flaring but the safe winding-down of oil and gas in Texas to a much smaller industry.
Rather than worry about investors, commissioners should worry about Texas.
Tomlinson writes commentary about business, economics and policy. |
Public Private Partnership (PPP)
As per the planning commission, Government of India the definition of Public Private Partnership (PPP):-
“Public Private Partnership means an arrangement between a government/statutory entity/government owned entity on one side and a private sector entity on the other, for the provision of public assets and/or public services, through investments being made and/or management being undertaken by the private sector entity, for a specified period of time, where there is a well defined allocation of risk between the private sector & the public entity & the private entity receives performance linked payments that conform (or are benchmarked) to specified & pre-determined performance standards, measurable by the public entity or its representative”
Infrastructure Development Authority (IDA) has been constituted under the chairmanship of the
Chief Secretary, Government of Bihar under the Bihar State Infrastructure Development Enabling Act
2006 to provide for the rapid development of physical and social Infrastructure in the State and to
attract private sector participation in designing, financing and construction of Infrastructure Projects.
It is the nodal agency for PPP initiatives in the State. |
Latvian Air Force 1918-40
1. Junkers CL.I
Serial no. 10, Latvian Aviation Park, 1920. Aircraft is finished overall in Natural Metal. No serial number is carried. The early style of Latvian Ugunskrusts insignia is used with the hooks of the cross pointing in an anti-clockwise direction and is in Dark Red. It appears on a White circle on the fuselage sides and on White panels on the wings. This machine crashed early on in its career with the Latvians. The remains of the fuselage were repainted after 1921 with a later style of markings, and used as an airman's funeral carriage.
2. de Havilland DH9a
Serial no. 1, Latvian Aviation Regiment, late 1920s. Aircraft is Light Grey overall. Struts are Varnished Wood. The later style of Latvian Ugunskrusts insignia is used with the hooks of the cross pointing in a clockwise direction and is in Dark Red, though no White discs are used as was usual at the time. Serial number is Black. Wing crosses are displayed asymmetrically.
3. Ikars I-5 II
Serial number unknown, Aizsargu Aviacija (Latvian National Guard Aviation Branch), 1933. Aircraft fuselage is Natural Varnished Wood with Natural Metal forward fuselage and cowling. Flying surfaces are Clear Doped Linen. This aircraft used a marking based on a traditional Latvian ornament, the Auskelis, which was a Dark Red and White cross with swallow-tail tips. This was then superimposed onto a Latvian military Jack in Dark Red and White. This marking was used in six positions. The Ikars I-5 II was designed by Karlis Irbitis and built in 1926 by Nikolajs Pulins, who owned this aircraft. As an early member of the AA, he loaned it to the organisation, but it was later bought by them in 1933 when a flying training course was instituted. The flight instructor who trained over a dozen pilots in the I-5 was Alfreds Paulovskis, a former Aviation Regiment pilot.
4. VEF Irbitis I-12 (Single-seat version)
Serial no. 17, 1st Squadron, Aizsargu Aviacija
(Latvian National Guard Aviation Branch), 1938. Aircraft Dark Green overall, with Light Grey lower surfaces. The later style of AA markings with a simplified Auskelis cross in Dark Red on a White disc are used in six positions. Serial number is Black with a White outline. The AA had four I-12s, two of which were converted to single seaters with gun cameras for elementary air combat training.
The illustrations above are all taken from our Air Force Special No. 5 - The Latvian Air Force from 1918-1940.
All pictures and text © Blue Rider Publishing 2013 |
Specially trained dogs could provide a significant breakthrough in the fight against coronavirus.More than a dozen dogs are being taught how to identify the odour in humans and they could be dispatched before Christmas to places like airports or a sports stadium.The project, which has government support, is underway in a secluded corner of Buckinghamshire.
It’s being run by the charity Medical Detection Dogs, which has the Duchess of Cornwall as its Royal Patron.Camilla was shown how the trials are working on Wednesday and how the dogs are being taught how to recognise the odour of the virus.Researchers have already established that Covid-19 has its own odour.
If these trials are successful, the dogs could search up to 250 people at a time.It means they could be targeted at passengers disembarking from a plane arriving from a high risk country - or for a crowd of spectators attending a sports event.The dogs have already shown how they can detect cancer in human samples, malaria or low blood sugar levels in diabetes patients.In the trials, the dogs are given samples of socks, a t-shirt and a face mask from people who have tested positive for coronavirus.
If the trials are approved, dogs could be trained within two weeks.Camilla watched a demonstration as Asher - a working cocker spaniel - identified COVID from a range of samples in front of him.She wore a face visor in public for the first time, choosing it over a face mask to help communicate better with the researchers and dog handlers.The Duchess was also shown a mock-up airport queue or waiting room where the dogs can identify a passenger who has coronavirus.
It is a type of screening which could work to compliment NHS testing.
Airports, and other areas with high numbers of people, have shown huge interest as it could help them get their businesses back to near-normal levels.The dogs are rewarded with a toy or a treat if they correctly identify the Covid odour.However, the researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine desperately need more human samples and have been hampered by the drop in infection rates in e population over the summer. |
The draft review Towards an Assesment of the State of UK Peatlands defines what is meant by peatlands in the UK, and describes issues relating to the definition and mapping of peat and peaty soils and their associated vegetation. The report includes available data and information sources and where possible quantifies the nature of UK peatlands and the extent of our knowledge of peatlands distribution and conditions.
- Download the scientific review Towards an Assesment of the State of UK Peatlands.
Please note, the views expressed in this review are those of the authors. The IUCN UK Peatland Programme is not responsible for the content of this review and does not necessarily endorse the views contained within.
This Review is being led by the Soils, Uplands and Lowland Wetland Lead Co-ordination Network of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). |
Subsets and Splits
No saved queries yet
Save your SQL queries to embed, download, and access them later. Queries will appear here once saved.