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The term “cauliflower ear” refers to a deformity that is directly caused by trauma to the ear. Blunt force trauma is the most common type of trauma to cause this deformity, which is why athletes who are involved in physical contact sports are typically the most commonly affected by cauliflower ear. Cauliflower ear is best described as the bumpy, thick appearance of the ear. Blunt trauma to the ear can lead to a blockage that prevents blood flow to the entire ear and damages the tissue causing cauliflower ear. While repeated hits to the ear (think boxing matches) is the most common cause of cauliflower ear, any type of trauma or infection to the ear can be a cause: a car accident where the side of the head or ear was hit, a fall, or an infection to the ear lobe that caused a growth that blocked the blood flow.
While prevention is possible for those participating in contact sports by wearing the correct protective headgear, unforeseen accidents and repeated injuries can result in cauliflower ear. The initial symptoms of this ear condition are similar to the symptoms that would be common with blunt trauma elsewhere on the body. Swelling, bruising, discoloration, and a shriveled up appearance are common and should not be ignored. It is important that people who wish to have treatment for cauliflower ear turn to an expert surgeon. Dr. Maurice Khosh is an experienced facial plastic surgeon with distinguished expertise in ear procedures. Dr. Khosh can repair cauliflower ear by grafting or shaving cartilage and restoring the ear to its natural shape and form.
While cauliflower ear can be quite unsightly, it can also be a very painful condition. Blood flow that is cut off from the ear or that forms into a hematoma needs to be drained in order to reduce inflammation and prevent infection. Cauliflower ear can also lead to hearing loss if it goes untreated, making this condition serious enough that it warrants specific treatment. If you or someone you know suffers from cauliflower ear, please contact Dr. Maurice Khosh in New York for advanced otoplasty techniques to restore the beauty and function of your ear. | <urn:uuid:6c9e23a0-945e-43d2-b31d-4b81a251133d> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | https://www.facedoctornyc.com/blog/cauliflower-ear-treatment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446710962.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20221204040114-20221204070114-00642.warc.gz | en | 0.95488 | 440 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Definition - What does Buddha mean?
Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was born into a royal family about 2,500 years ago. His father was King Shuddhodhana, ruler of Kapilavastu (now a part of Nepal). Buddha's birthname was Siddhartha Gautama. The name, Siddhartha, is a combination of two Sanskrit roots: siddha, meaning "achieved," and artha, meaning "what was sought after." Hence, it means "he who has achieved his goals." Upon attaining enlightenment, Siddhartha came to be known as Buddha, which means "The Awakened One."
Though Buddha is not directly involved in yoga philosophy, both Buddhism and spiritual yoga practice share the goal of enlightenment and spiritual liberation. Many yogis will practice Buddhism in conjunction with their yoga practice.
Yogapedia explains Buddha
Siddhartha was inspired by an ascetic who was on the path to spiritual liberation. At 29 years old, he left his palace, his wife and his child to find out how to overcome suffering, or duhkha. He practiced different forms of meditation and underwent fasts with not even water drink.
After arriving at Bodh Gaya, Siddhartha sat under a fig tree and decided to remain there until his questions were answered. After several days of deep concentration, fasting and mindful meditation, Siddhartha found the answer. He understood how to relieve suffering.
Upon attaining enlightenment when he was 35 years old, Siddhartha came to be known as Buddha. The tree under which Buddha attained enlightenment is called the Bodhi tree.
Following his enlightenment, Buddha came up with and preached the Four Noble Truths to his disciples:
- The truth of suffering
- The truth of the cause of suffering
- The truth of the end of suffering
- The truth of the path leading to the end of suffering
This fourth truth refers to the Noble Eightfold Path, which is considered the heart of Buddhist practice. It is also referred to as the middle path. To achieve enlightenment, one must follow these eight disciplines:
- Right understanding
- Right thought
- Right speech
- Right action
- Right livelihood
- Right effort
- Right mindfulness
- Right concentration
Buddhism and yoga are similar in many ways. Both aim at developing compassion, spiritual enlightenment and liberation. Both consider dharma to be the fundamental law of the universe. Both perceive karma as the cause behind a human's rebirth. They also both work to liberate the practitioner from struggle and worldly suffering. For this reason, yogic practitioners follow the path of Buddha and some Buddhists practice yoga. | <urn:uuid:e7be929a-d1a7-4abf-b0f7-56fc6de120f9> | CC-MAIN-2017-51 | https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/5275/buddha | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-51/segments/1512948514051.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20171211203107-20171211223107-00176.warc.gz | en | 0.97035 | 551 | 3.5 | 4 |
EPISODE 246: Can Kids Learn Mindfulness?
with Susan Kaiser Greenland
Prefer to download? Download
Children around the world are suffering from learning, development, and behavioral problems at record rates. Mindfulness can be taught as a secular way to train the mind and body to assist our youth.
Mind-body wellness is typically something we explore as adults, but it’s never too early to start, and the sooner and the better. Our guest this week is an expert on teaching mindfulness to young people, and for any parent, educator, or soon-to-be caregiver, this is a must-listen.
What You’ll Learn:
- How mindfulness can be described as a quality of intention, balance and compassion as we navigate through life
- Or as a stance of attention where we not where our intention and state-of-mind is in real time
- Why social and emotional learning in schools can be a great help in working through some of the bigger problems with developing children
- How secular mindful practices can be quickly and openly adopted in school systems
- Why it’s important to take a few deliberate breaths before you leave the house, say goodbye, start or end your day
- How to have kids identify the eye color of friends, teachers, and you so that it acts as a forcing function for concentration
ABOUT OUR GUEST
She was a co-investigator in a multi-year, multi-site research study at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center/Semel Institute on the impact of mindfulness in education. She has spoken at the Mind & Life Institute; the University of California at Los Angeles; the University of Massachusetts; the University of Kansas; Columbia University; Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; San Diego Children’s Hospital; the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California; the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in Barre, Massachusetts; the National University of Singapore; Mahidol University, in Bangkok; Casa Tibet, in Mexico, and many other prestigious institutes in the United States and abroad.
Her work has been covered by The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, National Public Radio, various yoga journals, and CBS Morning News.
Links & Resources:
- Caffeinated Tea
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- Leave us a Review on iTunes
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TAKE THE NEXT STEP! Join Absolute Yoga’s 200-Hour Hot Yoga Alliance accredited course in beautiful Koh Samui, Thailand. Sign up now and get an early discount!.
This training is for:
- Serious students who want to teach
- Passionate yoga practitioners
- Students who want to share hot yoga with the world
Next course starts in October! | <urn:uuid:b3b6f342-6814-4696-9878-e7e7134ed695> | CC-MAIN-2018-09 | http://www.yogabody.com/episode-246/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-09/segments/1518891813088.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20180220185145-20180220205145-00047.warc.gz | en | 0.920733 | 572 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Weaving Structure & Image 2
Weaving is an ancient and fundamental process used through out the world to produce clothing, shelter, ritual items, and objects of self-expression. In this intensive hands-on class students learn the basic techniques of cloth weaving and explore the ways in which this medium can be used to express personal content and conceptual meaning. This class specifically focuses on the interplay of structure and image in the woven surface. Unlike the applied imagery achieved through painting or printing, the interaction of multiple threads allows for a structural approach to imagery that can produce subtle, yet visceral results. Techniques include image-making techniques: hand-painted warps, pick-up, double cloth, and woven structures for dimensional surfaces. Students learn to create innovative weave structures using the computer design program, WeaveMaker Pro. | <urn:uuid:6e057b91-fffa-4ac4-99b5-6246306cc942> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cca.edu/academics/textl/curriculum/fall/210 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708690512/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125130-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.89632 | 163 | 3.484375 | 3 |
In November of 1820, a seafaring expedition went all wrong when a whale repeatedly attacked and sank the whaling ship the Essex. The young captain, George Pollard Jr. and the crew were stranded on three 20-foot boats for months. A few of them survived.
Pollard had told the full story to fellow captains over a dinner shortly after his rescue and to a missionary named George Bennet, and to Bennet it seemed like a confession. Certainly, it was grim: 92 days and sleepless nights at sea in a leaking boat with no food, his surviving crew going mad beneath the unforgiving sun, eventual cannibalism and the harrowing fate of two teenage boys, including Pollard’s first cousin, Owen Coffin. “But I can tell you no more—my head is on fire at the recollection,” Pollard told him. “I hardly know what I say.”
The story of the Essex crew inspired Herman Melville to write a novel about a whale hunter, which was not well received and only sold a few thousand copies in his lifetime. Read the whole story at Smithsonian's Past Imperfect blog. Link | <urn:uuid:3b24d9dd-b80a-47ee-8671-3a9e4987e12b> | CC-MAIN-2014-41 | http://www.neatorama.com/2013/03/01/The-True-Life-Horror-that-Inspired-Moby-Dick/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-41/segments/1410657121288.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20140914011201-00177-ip-10-196-40-205.us-west-1.compute.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984743 | 236 | 3.125 | 3 |
Researchers at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University have developed a new low-cost method for reducing arsenic in paddy field soils.
The interdepartmental research project involved students from Environmental Science and Biological Sciences, including two undergraduate students.
“Rice is a very important crop, and is the main staple food for more than half of the world’s population,” explained PhD student Williamson Gustave (pictured above, left).
“However,” he continued, “rice consumption poses a health risk as most paddy fields are contaminated with harmful heavy metals such as arsenic, and because of this many contaminated paddy fields are being abandoned, since the removal of heavy metals from soil is difficult and costly.”
Gustave and his team have devised a low-cost and effective method to remediate arsenic in paddy fields, employing soil microbial fuel cells to simultaneously reduce arsenic and produce electricity.
“The electricity produced by the fuel cells can be used to power small devices, such as sensors for environmental monitoring in remote areas,” Gustave explained.
Their method is detailed in a paper, entitled ‘Arsenic mitigation in paddy soils by using microbial fuel cells’, published in Environmental Pollution, one of the top journals for environmental science research.
Experiments were mainly performed in the Environmental Science labs at XJTLU, and involved a field trip to an arsenic-contaminated paddy field in Shangyu, Zhejiang Province (pictured above), through a collaboration with Dr Jun Zhang, associate professor at Nanjing Agricultural University.
The interdisciplinary project, funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, was supervised by chemist Dr Zheng Chen, and co-supervised by Dr Sekar Raju, an environmental microbiologist.
Zhaofeng Yuan, PhD student, was second author on the paper, and undergraduate students Yuxiang Ren and Jinjinyuan Liu were co-authors.
By Danny Abbasi; photos provided by Williamson Gustave
For more information about the departments of Biological Sciences and Environmental Science, including programmes of study, visit their official webpages. | <urn:uuid:94dc8eb8-3f20-4aad-a67d-dbf72783470c> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | http://www.xjtlu.edu.cn/en/news/2018/06/xjtlu-researchers-develop-new-method-to-tackle-soil-pollution | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267156314.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20180919235858-20180920015858-00462.warc.gz | en | 0.953306 | 445 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Winter means wet, cold and in some places freezing weather. The most important practice to combat Mother Nature during the winter months is planning. Keep up to date with weather reports in your immediate area, if snow or ice is predicted, plan to leave earlier or arrive later.
Always put safety first:
When traveling on icy roads, slow down, increase following distance, and avoid any changes in speed or direction. If chain laws are active, consider finding a safe place to park until restrictions are lifted and roads are cleared.
- Consider your load. If you are empty or hauling a light load (20,000 pounds or less) your stopping distance will increase and your stability will decrease: NHTSA
- Be aware of fast-freezing road surfaces like bridges and overpasses: Icy Road Safety
- Wait out the weather at a truck stop, parking lot or rest area.
- Be sure to inform the agent and customer when stuck in a weather delay.
Know your equipment:
There are many factors that affect a skid; including speed, road surface, tires, wind speed, weight and the load’s center of balance.
Follow these links for more tips and information on driving during winter weather:
- National Safety Council: National Safety Council
- Chain Laws, American Trucking Association: American Trucking Association
- Truck Snow Chains: Snow Chains
- Smart Trucking: Smart Trucking
Follow this checklist to prepare for winter driving:
- Always perform a pre-trip inspection before leaving.
- Check windshield wiper blades to ensure they work properly.
- Check tire pressure; under or over inflation can reduce the tires gripping action.
- Scrape ice and snow from every window, exterior mirrors and the hood of the truck.
- Always use safety belts, both lap and shoulder straps.
- Always drive with your lights on, low beams are often more effective than high beams in heavy fog or snow.
- Keep the fuel tank at least half-full; the extra volume can reduce moisture problems with in a fuel system and adds extra weight to the vehicle making the truck less susceptible to high wind gusts.
- Stop often in safe areas to make sure snow and ice does not accumulate on the tractor, trailer or exterior lights.
- Drive slowly, remember posted speed limits identify the maximum speed allowed in ideal weather conditions. Law enforcement can write citations to drivers if weather conditions warrant a slower speed.
- Never be a “sitting duck,” remember, Landstar does not allow parking on the side of any road or interstate unless it’s a true emergency.
- Be alert to other drivers, anticipate vehicles coming from side streets and increase following distances.
- Don’t use a cellular phone or a hands free device to make a call when driving in ice or snow. Even with hands-free options, driving during inclement weather should be done with no distractions.
Additional sources for winter driving safety:
American Trucking Association, Snow Removal Laws by state: American Trucking Association
Winter Driving 101: Trucks & Winter Driving
Join the Landstar Safety Thursday Conference Call on the third Thursday of every month at 12 p.m. (noon) ET, dial 877-717-5921. | <urn:uuid:fd31696f-53fa-4895-9f51-dc51228d3d9d> | CC-MAIN-2017-51 | http://leasetolandstar.com/tag/blog-posts/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-51/segments/1512948589512.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20171216220904-20171217002904-00439.warc.gz | en | 0.891732 | 675 | 2.609375 | 3 |
This week’s question comes to us from Dan in Oregon:
What is the difference between 50 Ohm and 75 Ohm Coax?
Hi Dan, thank you for this excellent question. This topic comes up quite frequently because a vast majority of electronics manufacturers fail to adequately explain the difference between the two types of coax and precisely why their equipment needs one type over the other. I will try my best to define some of the most critical concepts regarding coaxial cable technology — no engineering background required 🙂
First, we need to define what an Ohm is and what exactly it measures. An Ohm is a unit of resistance — that is the resistance to the flow of electrical current through a circuit. In the most basic applications, where we are dealing with DC or Direct Current electricity, such as that from a typical 12-volt car battery, we are measuring the resistance in Ohms. However, the second we try and send AC or Alternating Current through a circuit, we are no longer measuring resistance, we are measuring impedance.
Alternating Current (AC) is more complex because it is not merely the magnitude (relative strength) of the signal that is being assessed, but the phase of the signal as well. An AC signal (waveform) is constantly switching its phase between negative and positive a certain number of times per second. For regular 120-volt house electricity, it changes phase 60 times per second. This is often abbreviated as 60 Hz.
The complex relationship between this magnitude and phase means that an AC circuit’s impedance consists of 3 essential components that are resisting the flow of the alternating electrical current. The first is resistance, which we just mentioned. The second two components are comprised of the circuit’s inductance and capacitance. Inductance essentially measures voltage(s) that are induced (created) in the circuit from the electrical current’s magnetic field. Capacitance effectively measures the electric charge that is stored in the circuit from the presence of these voltage(s). The combination of the circuit’s inductance and capacitance together is called reactance.
It’s not just household power that operates using AC — practically everything in our tech-driven society uses Alternating Current in the form of Radio Frequency (RF) energy. Your favorite AM radio station operates at a frequency of around 1 MegaHertz (MHz) or 1-million cycles per second. Your cell phone may operate at 900 MHz or 900-million cycles per second. To properly transmit these high-frequency RF signals, you have to have a medium of some sort that can deal with the complex interaction of resistance, inductance and capacitance. In most cases, we utilize coaxial cable.
Coaxial cable is comprised of three main components. In the middle of the coaxial cable is what is known as the center conductor. It can be made of either solid or stranded wire and is typically a mix of Aluminum and Copper. Surrounding the center conductor is something called the dielectric. The dielectric acts as a buffer of sorts to keep the center conductor isolated and straight. It usually is comprised of some blend of plastic and/or foam. Finally, on the outside of the dielectric is the coaxial cable’s shield, which is usually a combination of Copper and Aluminum foil and/or wire braid. The shield is then coated by something like PVC to insulate it from the environment.
|Coaxial Cable Cutaway (Source: Wikipedia)|
Now, not all coaxial cable is created equal and that is where the coaxial cable impedance comes into play. It is the coaxial cable’s physical characteristics that will determine its impedance. According to Wikipedia, “The characteristic impedance of the coaxial cable (in Ohms) is determined by the dielectric constant of the inner insulator and the radii of the inner and outer conductors.” The cutaway drawing above is helpful in visualizing these characteristics. With these details in mind, over time, the industry settled on two characteristic coaxial cable impedances for the vast majority of applications (>90%): 50 Ohm and 75 Ohm.
First, let’s look at 50 Ohm Coaxial Cables. Experimentation in the early 20th century determined that the best POWER HANDLING capability could be achieved by using 30 Ohm Coaxial Cable, whereas the lowest signal ATTENUATION (LOSS) could be achieved by using 77 Ohm Coaxial Cable. However, there are few dielectric materials suitable for use in a coaxial cable to support 30 Ohm impedance. Thus, 50 Ohm Coaxial Cable was selected as the ideal compromise; offering high power handling AND low attenuation characteristics.
With 50 Ohm Coaxial Cables being the best compromise solution, practically any application that demands high power handling capacity, i.e. 100 watts or more, will use 50 Ohm Coaxial Cable. A good rule of thumb is that any device that functions as a transmitter or transceiver tends to use 50 Ohm Coaxial Cable. This includes devices such as CB/Ham Radios, Broadcast Radio/TV Transmitters, Wi-Fi and Cellular Phone Repeaters and 2-Way Radios (Walkie Talkies).
At Amphenol Cables on Demand (www.CablesOnDemand.com), we offer a plethora of 50 Ohm Coaxial Cable solutions. RG-58 Coaxial Cable is perhaps our most popular “gold standard” 50 Ohm Coaxial Cable product, because it provides acceptable performance for most applications at a very low price. Our next most popular is RG-174 Coaxial Cable. RG174 is great because it is so thin, i.e. 1/8th of an inch, allowing it to be used in real tight spaces such as feeding a GPS navigation antenna into a vehicle. For customers that want the absolute highest power handling capacity (1000 watts or greater), RG-213 Coaxial Cable is the way to go. RG213 is our thickest coaxial cable at nearly half an inch.
For unique situations in which the cables must withstand extreme temperatures (i.e. up to 200 degrees Celcius), such as military and aerospace applications, we offer PTFE Teflon insulated coaxial cable products like RG-188 Coaxial Cables and RG-316 Coaxial Cables. These high-temperature coaxial cable offerings can handle extreme swings in temperature time and time again, such as those experienced when a plane takes off, ascends to 30,000 feet and then descends to land repeatedly.
However, not every case warrants high power handling, so 50 Ohm Coaxial Cable is not appropriate for every application. When the objective is to ensure that the signal gets through the cable in the most efficient way possible, losing very little signal strength in the process, 75 Ohm Coaxial Cable is the way to go. A good rule of thumb is that if the device being connected via coaxial cable is a receiver of some kind, 75 Ohm Coax is ideal. This includes devices such as Satellite and Cable TV Receiver Boxes, High Definition Televisions, AM/FM Radio Receivers and Police Scanners.
Another interesting application for 75 Ohm Coaxial Cable isCoaxial Digital Audio. This is the orange or black colored RCA jack commonly seen on HDTV’s, BluRay Disc Players and other Home Theater Gear. It is sometimes labeled as S/PDIF Out. It transfers the 5.1 Channel Dolby Digital Surround Sound signal to the home theater system for decoding and playback into the various speakers. Digital signals generally look like a square wave instead of the typical sine wave seen with analog signals like AC power or analog radio/TV.
The so-called “enemy” of a square wave digital signal is capacitance (remember this one?). This is because increased capacitance tends to “store” the peaks of the square waves, skewing the shape of the square to look more like a straight line. When this happens, the receiver has trouble reconstructing the signal after it has traveled down the coax. Technically 93 Ohm Coaxial Cable has the lowest capacitance of any type, but 93 Ohm Coax is rare and expensive. Thus, 75 Ohm Coax is the closest fit, offering not only low signal attenuation (loss), but also relatively low capacitance.
This combination of low attenuation and capacitance effectively make 75 Ohm Coaxial Cable the cable of choice for practically all types of digital audio, digital video and data signals. This is why every cable TV company uses 75 Ohm coax for distributing its digital video channels as well as its broadband internet data signals. Direct broadcast satellite dishes and over-the-air HDTV antennas also require 75 Ohm Coaxial Cable to ensure that all of the digital channels transfer down the cable with the lowest loss and distortion possible.
While we do not offer the typical RG-6 Coaxial Cable with Type F Connectors used for cable and satellite TV applications, we do offer RG59 Coaxial Cables with BNC Connectors for other analog and digital video applications. We sell a lot of these cables to radio and television broadcasters and production companies to interlink their equipment. Older analog TV cameras and monitors in the studio will use RG-59 Coaxial Cables and newer digital TV cameras and monitors will use RG-59 as well for a high-quality digital video signal type known as the Serial Digital Interface (SDI).
Finally, one last crucial point in regards to coaxial cables. The Impedance of the various devices being connected as well as the Coaxial Cable itself must match. So if you are, for instance, connecting a 75 Ohm video camera connection to a studio monitor, the coaxial cable must also be 75 Ohm AND the connectors on the coaxial cable (i.e. BNC connectors) must be 75 Ohm in Impedance. Every single time you have a mismatch in impedance, say between a 50 Ohm Coaxial Cable and a 75 Ohm Coaxial Connector (i.e. BNC), a standing wave develops.
A standing wave is a signal reflection that is essentially wasted. Every time a 50 and 75 Ohm Impedance mismatch occurs, about 5% of the signal is lost. These losses add up and can eventually degrade the signal to the point that it is unrecoverable or distorted. Some coaxial cable manufacturers will cut corners in this regard. The BNC connector, pictured above, was invented by our parent company, Amphenol, before World War 2. It is extremely popular, but most people don’t realize that they come in two versions: 50 Ohm and 75 Ohm. All of our coaxial cables at Cables on Demand always have the proper impedance matched connectors to line up with the coaxial cable being used.
One can view our entire selection of Coaxial Cable products at Cables on Demand by visiting our website (www.CablesOnDemand.com). I hope this blog post helped clarify any questions you may have regarding coaxial cable impedance and types. If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at: [email protected].
The Cable Guy | <urn:uuid:57e09efe-1c29-49f8-a086-e1bb5dd552c9> | CC-MAIN-2021-39 | http://cablesondemandblog.com/wordpress1/2014/03/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-39/segments/1631780055808.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20210917212307-20210918002307-00380.warc.gz | en | 0.930985 | 2,355 | 3.625 | 4 |
For Private Circulation Only
In this Issue
Freshwater biodiversity assessments in Western Ghats
The IUCN commissioned an assessment of freshwater molluscs recently, based on which the species have been categorised for conservation status -Threatened/ Endangered/ Least Concern etc., and for distribution. This study was nested within a larger review of status of freshwater fishes, dragonflies, damselflies and aquatic plants in the Western Ghats.
The report records seventy seven species of freshwater molluscs in the Western Ghats. Seven species have been categorised as Threatened as per IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria (IUCN 2001), 51 species as Least Concern, and 19 species as Data Deficient. Endemicity was observed to be relatively low: 36% of freshwater molluscs, as compared to 76% for terrestrial molluscs. An assessment of threats shows habitat modifications are lethal to species that have adapted to live in specialised niches. Pollution, unsustainable harvesting, invasive species of aquatic flora and fauna, mining, urbanisation are some of the threats recorded in the assessment.
Aravind NA, who was one of the authors of the report, has been studying terrestrial and freshwater molluscs of the Western Ghats for ten years. His concern is that there is a deficiency of studies on mollusc ecology, threats and ecosystem services they provide; though references to historical data on the distribution and taxonomy of mollusc species are available. According to him ecological analysis is important: the Western Ghats is a complex of freshwater ecosystems and habitats like lakes, temporary pools, brackish water, streams, crevices of rocks besides streams, river beds; and what affects one species can be a commentary on the health/ vulnerability of the ecosystem-and its capacity to provide parallel services for human use and wellbeing. As per the IUCN report, pointing to the tangible and economic benefits of keeping an ecosystem and its component biodiversity alive is an explicit reason for this assessment. In this framework, molluscs form an important component of monitoring programmes that rate water quality and status of aquatic systems; especially bivalves, since they accumulate toxic substances to a greater extent than other organisms.
To understand the possible import of environmental changes on mollusc biodiversity and vice versa, ATREE has recommended research on ecology and ecological significance of molluscs, distribution and studies on population trends. Keeping in view that these are uncharismatic species that we are talking about, ATREE has recommended educating local communities regarding the significance of molluscs in their backyard, species-specific conservation programmes, and inclusion of molluscs in the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 and other policies for their conservation. For the full IUCN report, go to http://data.iucn.org/dbtw-wpd/edocs/RL-540-001.pdf
Indian biodiversity on a portal
The ATREE-managed India Biodiversity Portal that employs GIS techniques to present biodiversity information of the subcontinent now has a new improved map platform (http://indiabiodiversity.org/map#) that is easier to browse and search. This citizen science initiative works better with contributions from users and inputs into documentation, research, education, sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity.
We have introduced two new sections of data, under Checklists and Species Pages. The checklist section (http://indiabiodiversity.org/browsechecklists) currently has a compilation of more than 250 species checklists from a wide range of taxa and across different geographies.
The latest section on species pages (see box and http://indiabiodiversity.org/speciespage/species/list) is designed in accordance with global standards of species information. In addition to taxonomy, description, ecology and conservation information, the species pages also has a field called Occurrence Records which integrates species location information from the map and checklist information.
Also, the general interest section introduces the News section, with a compilation of biodiversity news from all leading regional and national dailies, updated every day. The Events section compiles information on the latest conferences and workshops that may be of interest to researchers and students of ecology, environment and conservation. We also have an all-new Opportunities section that compiles a list of the latest jobs, internships and scholarships in biodiversity and related fields.
IBP now works in collaboration with the Western Ghats Biodiversity Open Collaborative Information System (http://thewesternghats.in/). Both portals share the same platform, enabling smooth and rapid exchange of data. IBP is actively exploring partnerships with other portals and groups to share biodiversity information. Look out for the workshop on Biodiversity Informatics being organised by the Western Ghats Portal in November.
Dung beetle taxonomy made easier on IBP
ATREE's Insect Lab has prepared species pages for about 90 species of dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae:Scarabaeinae), available on http://indiabiodiversity.org/speciespage/species/list.
These pages provide compiled information on a taxon, including valid name string of the species, description, distribution, images, synonyms, type locality, type depository, literature and related links. The information will include images of important distinguishing characters that will make identification of each species much easier. The Lab is in the process of developing species pages for all dung beetles of the Indian subcontinent.
Accepting community role in forest management
On 2nd October 2011 the district administration of Chamrajanagara distributed Community Forest Rights under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) to Soligas adivasis of 25 gram sabhas of Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary and adjoining areas. This came after four years of sustained effort by Soligas to gain rights to forest produce, conservation, management and to cultural sites. The implementation of FRA in the district had so far only been restricted to granting of individual rights to cultivable land, under which 1500 households had been awarded land rights. However, forest community rights, which include the right to access and market forest produce like nellikai, honey, lichen, and collect firewood; rights to fish in water bodies in the protected area; rights to graze; have been denied to forest dwelling communities living in protected areas. Soligas, who have been dwellers and custodians of the BRT forested areas for centuries, who have cultural sites of worship that include trees, streams and stone formations within the sanctuary, can now legally collect firewood and non timber forest produce.
However, the most significant right under the community forest rights has less to do with the sustenance and livelihoods, and more to do with a bottom up model of governance. Section 3(1)(i) of the Act, enables the gram sabha to constitute committees for the management and conservation of the area of their CFR. In the long history of rights denied, this is likely to have the most impact because not only does it bring the community together in collective decision making, it also gives Soligas a say in how the forests are managed and used by different stakeholders. This provision will require that the Forest Department, which has been used to taking decisions in a unilateral manner, and communities, which have by and large played a passive role of being on the receiving end of these decisions, change the way they engage with each other.
The Soliga vangaurd on inclusive forest management
While the Soligas have protested against the declaration of BRT as a Tiger Reserve (BRT was declared a tiger reserve in 2010) and the implied access restrictions, they have also proposed an alternative community- based management regime that would address their needs as well as of tiger conservation. They further refined their ideas in a two-day workshop on community-based conservation, held on the 12th and 13th of July 2011 in BRT Wildlife Sanctuary. The workshop, organized by ATREE, Vivekananda Girijana Kalayana Kendra (VGKK), Kalpavriksh and Zilla Budakattu Girijana Abivrudhi Sangha (ZBGAS), aimed to come up with a collaborative conservation plan for BRT that would include local and scientific knowledge. It was attended by over 200 people, including Soligas, conservationists, ecologists, social scientists, and policy analysts.The Forest Department, although invited, was not represented at this event.
The participants put together a work plan on how the community might contribute to the critical aspects of governance and management, ecological conservation, and livelihood security using the provisions of the FRA and the Wildlife Protection Act. The Soligas have proposed a three-tier hierarchy starting from a podu/ settlement level committee, to taluka and sanctuary level. This would, according to them, ensure representation from the village level to Forest Department. As a first step, they constituted a 22 member working committee to oversee the community-based management plan. An advisory committee consisting of NGO and civil society groups such as ATREE, VGKK, Kalpavriksh, Nature Conservation Foundation, Vasundhara,and independent conservationists and social scientists such as Ravi Chellam and Urmila Pingle. The plan will be shared with gram sabhas for comments and approval, and also with the Karnataka Forest Department for their essential inputs. Such a collaborative plan could be a model for other protected areas in the country.
The recent award of community forest rights in BRT, combined with the groundswell of support for a collaborative and inclusive management plan heralds a new phase in protected area management in India.
Policy workshop on REDD+
ATREE and Noragric, UMB, The Norwegian University of Life Sciences, organised a policy dialogue on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) Plus for an audience of policy makers, academics, media persons, NGO leaders and others at the India International Centre, Delhi on 14th July 2011.
REDD proposes to increase the value of standing forests by creating a financial value for the carbon stored in trees. REDD+ seeks to include conservation and sustainable forest management efforts in this evaluation on the principle that a unit of carbon saved by checking deforestation is equal to a unit of carbon added due to conservation and afforestation measures. This dialogue was deemed relevant given that there have been growing reservations by different stakeholders regarding the efficacy of REDD in reducing overall global emissions, on its funding mechanisms, on its impact on biodiversity as well as on forest dependent communities. At the same time, the governments of both collaborating organisations – Noragric and ATREE – are highly committed to the idea of REDD: Norway, through being its biggest donor, and India through its affirmation to REDD+. The objective of the dialogue was to share insights from current global and national research, and discuss the challenges and potential for implementing REDD plus in India.
The Chief Guest H.E. Ms. Ann Ollestad, Ambassador of Norway to India, made the inaugural remarks. Shri B M S Rathore, Joint Secretary, MoEF, introduced the Green India Mission, and its REDD+ component.
The dialogue was chaired by Prof. Kanchan Chopra, (former Director, Institute of Economic Growth). Chetan Agarwal, Winrock International, India, Dr. Sharachchandra Lele, ATREE, and Dr. Arild Vatn of Noragric were the main speakers. Their presentations were followed by a discussion led by Nitin Sethi from Times of India, and Vikram Dayal from Institute of Economic Growth.
Vembanad: Workshop on democratic governance
The Government of Kerala is proposing a Vembanad Kol Eco Development Authority (VEDA), the main purpose of which will be conservation of Vembanad wetland ecology and sustainable use of the wetland resources using legal mechanisms, and through active coordination with all its stakeholders. Since VEDA’s mandate clearly states consultation with stakeholders, and since the government is contemplating a structural and functional model consisting of only senior bureaucrats, ATREE organised a consultative workshop with the three tier panchayats and municipalities around Vembanad Lake, on democratic governance for Vembanad. This one-day workshop was held on 26 August at Alleppey.
Participants to the workshop analyzed rules and regulations, including Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification 2011, Wetlands (conservation and management) rules 2010, The Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, 2008, as would be applicable to Vembanad and VEDA. On the basis of this discussion, participants unanimously passed a resolution stating that the proposed VEDA should have adequate representation of the primary stakeholders and panchayat leaders of the area for planning, developing and managing this wetland. They also recommended that the state government should conduct enough consultations at the field level, to consolidate the views of all concerned, before finalizing the structure and functions of VEDA. The resolution has been forwarded to the Chief Minister of Kerala, with copies to the Secretary and Director of the Department of Environment and Climate Change, for necessary action.
CEPF-ATREE Western Ghats Grants: Last round
CEPF-ATREE RIT completed screening Recognitions and external review of applications for the last round of CEPF-ATREE Western Ghats Grants (http://www.atree.org/wgcall). Seventeen Small Grant applicants and 10 Large Grant applicants were invited for direct presentations on 17th-18th August 2011. Of these, the Review Committee http://www.atree.org/reviewers approved funding for nine Small Grant applications, and invited eight Large Grant applications to submit full proposals.
These projects will add to the 30 Small Grants and 20 Large Grants currently being implemented in the landscape (http://maps.atree.org/cepf_sites.php).
Nagendra, Harini has joined the Scientific Steering Committee of the Global Land Project (http://www.globallandproject.org/) and the Scientific Committee of DIVERSITAS, for a three-year term, beginning January 2012. She finds this an opportunity to shape a focus on issues of interest, including urban monitoring, and greater consideration of the social-institutional linkages, especially in South Asia.
Ms. Anjali Pal, Receptionist, Bangalore
Mr. Jagdish M. R., Senior Research Fellow, Bengaluru
Dr. Pashupati Chaudhary, Visiting Fellow, Gangtok
Ms. Priti Gururaja, Senior Research Fellow, Bengaluru
Dr. Sarala Khaling, Regional Director, Eastern Himalayas office, Gangtok
Dr. Sumit Sen, Fellow, Gangtok
Gupta, A. and N. Kakati. 2011. Community engagement for conservation in Kaziranga National Park. The Rhino. Journal of Kaziranga Wildlife Society Vol 17.
K. S. Seshadri and T. Ganesh. 2011. Faunal mortality on roads due to religious tourism across time and space in protected areas: A case study from south India. Forest Ecology and Management 262: 1713–1721.
Krishnakumar, K., A. Ali, B. Pereira and R. Raghavan. 2011. Unregulated aquaculture and invasive alien species: a case study of the African Catfish Clarias gariepinus in Vembanad Lake (Ramsar Wetland), Kerala, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 3(5): 1737-1744.
Lele, S. 2011. Re-reading the interdisciplinary mindscape: a response to Redford. Oryx 45(3): 331-332.
Lele, S., A. Kothari, Roma, A. Saikia, R. Rebbapragada, V. Kiro and J. Ete. 2011. Misreading the Issues and the Landscape. Economic and Political Weekly 46(22): 107-108.
Pashupati Chaudhary, Suman Rai, Siddhant Wangdi, Akai Mao, Nishat Rehman, Santosh Chettri and Kamaljit S. Bawa. 2011. Consistency of local perceptions of climate change in the Kangchenjunga Himalaya landscape. Current Science 101(4): 504-513.
Ravikanth G., Srirama R., Ganeshaiah K.N. and Uma Shaanker R. 2011. In pursuit of a universal barcode of plants: peril of followers? Current Science 101(3):269-271.
Shivanna, K. R. 2011. Pollen pistil interaction: A complex mating game required for fertilization in flowering plants. Journal of Palynology 46: 97-120.
Papers in edited books
Lele, S., I. Patil, S. Badiger, A. Menon and R. Kumar. 2011. Forests, hydrological services, and agricultural income: A case study from Mysore district of the Western Ghats of India. In: Environmental valuation in South Asia (eds. A. K. E. Haque, M. N. Murty and P. Shyamsundar). Pp.141-169. Cambridge, U.K. Cambridge University Press.
Hiremath, A. 2011. Alien species - Can they be stopped? In: The Hindu Survey of the Environment 2011
Lele, S. 2011. Rethinking forest governance: Towards a perspective beyond JFM, the Godavarman case and FRA. In: The Hindu Survey of the Environment 2011
Rai, N. 2011. Looking beyond Protected Areas to save species. In: The Hindu Survey of the Environment 2011
Harisha, R.P, Ramesh Kannan, Aravind. N.A, Ravikanth.G. (2011). Uses of wild edible plant resources by forest dependent communities in southern India. National Conference on Science of Climate Change and Earth’s Sustainability: Issues and Challenges, September 12, 2011, Lucknow, India.
Lele, S., A. Kurien. 2011. Interdisciplinary analysis of the environment: Insights from tropical forest research. 6th International Conference on Environmental Futures (6th ICEF). Organised by Foundation for Environmental Conservation and Newcastle University Newcastle, UK. 18-22 July 2011.
Talks/ presentations by staff
Gupta, A. Conservation, development and human needs: Community priorities in fringe villages around Kaziranga National Park, Assam. ‘Poster Presentation’ at Students Conference on Conservation Science held in Bengaluru, 14-17 September 2011.
Harisha, R. P. 2011. Uses of wild edible plant resources by forest dependent communities in southern India at National Conference on Science of Climate Change and Earth’s Sustainability: Issues and Challenges, organised by The Society of Earth Scientists, India. 12-14 September 2011, Lucknow.
Lele, S. 2011. Forest hydrological services and socio-economic impacts: Insights from the Western Ghats. Invited lecture at Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA), Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. 19 July 2011.
Lele, S. 2011. India’s carbon sink policy. At Southern Regional Workshop on Climate Change organized by Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Delhi Science Forum and All India People’s Science Network. Hosur, Tamil Nadu. 7 July 2011.
Lele, S. 2011. India’s policy towards REDD+: Dense Forest Ahead! Policy Dialogue on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD). Organised by ATREE and Noragric. New Delhi. 14 July 2011.
Lele, S. 2011. Interdisciplinarity in environmental research: Or how the social is intertwined with the technical. Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. 19 July 2011.
Lele, S. 2011. Re-thinking forest governance in India: Relating theory to practice. ATREE, Bengaluru. 13 July
Lele, S. 2011. TEEB India: Concerns, gaps, and way forward. At National Workshop on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)- India Study. Organised by Ministry of Environment and Forests and Indian Institute of Forest Management. Bhopal. 15-16 September 2011.
Ravikanth, G. Prospecting for natural products using ENM. At a three-day workshop on Products from natural resources: Prospecting and utilization. Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore. 27 to 29th July 2011
Siddappa Setty R., gave eight talks on Environment and sustainable use of natural resources for Gram Panchayat representatives from Gadag, Gulburga, Yadgir, Chitradurga, Dharwad and Davangere district at Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Rural Energy and Development, Bengaluru, from July to September 2011.
Lele, S. 2011. Panelist in panel discussion on Beyond Science: Conservation and Activism. 2nd Student’s Conference on Conservation Science (SCCS). SCCS-Bangalore. 16 Sept 2011.
Kannan, R, C. Shakleton, Uma Shaanker, R, and Ganeshaiah, K. N. (2011).Reconstructing the history of lantana introduction and spread in India. 11th International Conference on Ecology and Management of Alien Plant Invasives, August 30, 2011, Szombathely, Hungary.
Agasthyamalai CCC: Be a better ancestor campaign during Aadi amavasa festival at Sorimuthayan Temple, which is located in Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve.
Vembanad CERC: Sixty students of the Jalapaadom Wetland Club, their teachers and concerned citizens revisited the Punnamada Lake after the Nehru Trophy Boat race and removed boatloads of plastic waste thrown by visitors. This anti-plastic campaign was organised on Independence Day.
Charkha Awards for journalists (reported late): ATREE is supporting the Charkha Awards for journalistic writing in Kannada, on scientific and social developments on the environment. The awards are instituted by CDL – Centre for Development Learning. Swetha Pangannaya from Vijay Karnataka received the 2010 award on environmental writing for her article on e waste dumping.
Partnership with Wipro: ATREE has entered into partnership with Wipro Earthian Awards for schools and colleges. The Earthian programme invites papers on thoughts, approaches and possible solutions on nine key challenges/themes in the area of environment and related social issues. A special award, TN Khoshoo-Earthian Trophy will be given on thecriteria of do-ability and potential impact of the idea submitted.
Charkha Awards for journalists
(reported late): ATREE is supporting the Charkha Awards for journalistic writing in Kannada, on scientific and social developments on the environment. The awards are instituted by CDL – Centre for Development Learning. Swetha Pangannaya from Vijay Karnataka received the 2010 award on environmental writing for her article on e waste dumping.
Partnership with Wipro: ATREE has entered into partnership with Wipro Earthian Awards for schools and colleges. The Earthian programme invites papers on thoughts, approaches and possible solutions on nine key challenges/themes in the area of environment and related social issues. A special award, TN Khoshoo-Earthian Trophy will be given on the criteria of do-ability and potential impact of the idea submitted.
GIS mapping gaining popularity. Economic Times. 13 October 2011.
Some freshwater molluscs in Western Ghats under threat. The Hindu. 10 October 2011.
Union govt coaxing State on heritage tag. Deccan Herald. 16 September 2011.
Changing climate a hot topic among Himalayan villagers, study finds. National Geographic. 12 Sept 2011
Is JFM relevant? Down to Earth. 15 Sept 2011.
Environmental disaster in the making: Ecologists blast Posco. Hindustan Times. 23 August 2011.
Students trained to assess impact on biodiversity. The Hindu. 28 July 2011.
Call for an eco-friendly festival inside forest. The Hindu. 18 July.
Sankey tree-felling misguided. Deccan Herald. 14 July.
Restrict use of fossil fuel. The HIndu. 8 July.
Co-existing with the Tiger | iGoa. The Navhind Times. 9 July.
Western Ghats fails to get heritage tag. Times of India. 1 July 2011
Check the latest issue of Nesara –bilingual newsletter of DBT’s Natural Resource Awareness Club at http://atree.org/newsletters/Nesara/nesara-apr-jun-v2_2-2011.pdf
Agasthya at http://atree.org/newsletters/agasthya/Agasthya_5-2.pdf
Royal Enclave, Sriramapura
Jakkur Post, Bangalore 560 064
Above Brahmakumari, Development Area
Tel: +91-3592-206 403
2nd Floor, 1, K Commercial Complex
Birbal Road, Jangpura Extension
New Delhi 110014
Tel: +91-11-2432 3133
Dr. Kamaljit S. Bawa (Chairman)
Dr. K. N. Ganeshaiah
Dr. R. Uma Shaanker
Dr. S. N. Rai
Mr. Darshan Shankar
Ms. Rohini Nilekani
Dr. Surinder M. Sehgal
Dr. Jeta Sankrityayana
Ms. Seema Paul
Ms. Pheroza J. Godrej
Dr. K. S. Jagadish
Mr. A. N. Singh
Dr. Ganesan Balachander
Dr. Gladwin Joseph (ex officio)
Dr. Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan (faculty)
Dr. Dan Martin
Dr. Jagmohan Maini
Dr. Peter Raven
Dr. R. A. Mashelkar
Dr. Gladwin Joseph (Chair)
Dr. Bejoy Thomas
Dr. Seema Purushottam
Dr. Siddhartha Krishnan
Dr. Siddappa Setty
Dr Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan
Dr Sarala Khaling (ex officio)
Sridhar R Iyengar (ex officio)
Convenors and Programme Leaders
Dr. Jagdish Krishnaswamy,
Ecosystem Services and Human Well-being
and Convenor, Suri Sehgal Centre for
Biodiversity and Conservation
Dr. Sharachchandra Lele,
Forests and Governance and Convenor,
Centre for Environment and Development
Dr. Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan
and Dr. Ankila Hiremath,
Ecosystems and Global Change
Dr. Shrinivas Badiger
Land Water and Livelihoods
Dr. Aravind N. A.,
Coordinator, Academy for Conservation
Science and Sustainability Studies
This newsletter has been put together from reports by ATREE folk. Design and layout is by Salil Sakhalkar. Editing by Samuel Thomas, Meetu Desai. | <urn:uuid:e27f4eca-4613-4651-93f9-765252a93879> | CC-MAIN-2021-21 | https://atree.org/newsletters/atree_branches/abv8_3_web.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-21/segments/1620243988858.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20210508091446-20210508121446-00237.warc.gz | en | 0.891356 | 5,777 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Our Fiction collection's imaginative and inspirational works tell tales of human culture--The people, places, and events that define humanity. Why Fiction
We generally define “fiction” as a literary creation based on imagination rather than fact. However, the word derives from an ancient Latin root that means “to make by shaping.” So it is that fiction, in the guise of allegories and parables, is commonly used by spiritual masters to direct their cultures toward enlightenment. The bible is filled with such fables. Campfire teachings of aboriginal wise ones also relied on the power of myth to convey essential precepts to their students.
Surely, the shaping of society would be better accomplished through serious discourse than via flights of fancy.
Or would it? You see fiction’s power lies in its implausibility. In order to engage in a fictional tale, we must first suspend our culturally imposed assumptions of what is true. Thereafter, we listen with unfettered ears. We see through untrammeled eyes. And our hearts embrace possibilities that are otherwise unthinkable when perceived through the limitations of fact-based “reality.” Thus unhindered, the human soul is free to peruse the extraordinary.
It’s no wonder, then, that our most heroic aspirations spring from this medium of conscious disbelief… that our greatest inventions come from the realms of “what if”… and our highest visions for humanity often begin with “once upon a time.” Dare I suggest that today’s fiction may be tomorrow’s promise?
Award Winning Author
— Kitty Roxanna Connell
The Last Guardian
Run away… run away and hide! the voice in her head screamed. Summoning every ounce of power and courage Mienya possessed, she manipulated her own energy to flare around her. Learn more
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Lorcan's Bane: a tale of peril & the right use of magic
Kitty Roxanna Connell
Eight hundred years ago and half a world away, Mirren gives little thought to the new religion. She is a healer and mystic for whom magic is the natural result of her kinship with Earth
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Cries of a Dying Nation
The nations of Atlantis prepare for the impending arrival of the warrior race from Anu. Forewarned by the spiritual beings that protect and guide the world of Gaia Learn more
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Gift of the Lotus Flower
The Saga of the last thirty years of Atlantis continues as the temple children enter into the awkwardness and insecurity of adolescence. The nations of Gaia have grown desperate Learn more
Add to Cart | <urn:uuid:c1809def-ecd5-445f-bf6b-fc00bb23a945> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tendrilpress.com/index.php/bookstore/fiction | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700984410/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104304-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922203 | 545 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Physical Education AS/A2 Level at Baysgarth School
A-level PE offers the greatest depth of Physical Education knowledge available. Students study a huge range of topics from Physiology and anatomy, to Psychology, Acquisition of skills, History of sport and Sport in Society. These topics are all covered in great depth and assessed through external modular tests in January and June.
The course is mainly theoretical, with 75% of the total mark coming from the theory exams. The final 25% is made up of coursework and practical elements. Students must be highly competent in two sporting disciplines to achieve highly in A-level PE.
Currently we offer Lifeguarding as one of the student’s two sports, allowing them to gain their National Pool lifeguard Qualification and therefore gain employment as recreation assistants, as well as generating marks for their A-Level PE. A-level PE is taught through a range of different teaching styles, including times where students will study independently, or will be required to research areas that have been taught in greater depth.
Students who take A-Level PE must be aware of the academic qualities needed to succeed, and hard work is expected at all times throughout the course. Students must learn to be independent; self-motivated and well organised to make the most of A-Level PE. Students who successfully complete the course open the door to a huge range of careers in sport, physiology, medicine, uniformed services and psychology.
Students taking sport, either as A-Level or OCR Technicals, will open up a range of career opportunities from sport, physiology, medicine, uniformed services and psychology. Some of the most common career paths that students follow after A-Level study include becoming PE Teachers, Coaches, Joining the RAF, Army or Navy, Physiotherapy, Police, Fire service, Nursing, Sports Development, Sports Psychology, Child Psychology and Sociology. The range of topics offered to students who study sport means that they will have a large range of careers available to them.
How to apply
If you want to apply for this course, you will need to contact Baysgarth School directly. | <urn:uuid:cca78524-b18e-42b1-b2f9-a5835166af1a> | CC-MAIN-2018-51 | https://www.ucasprogress.com/course/2334248/physical-education-asa2-level | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-51/segments/1544376827252.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20181216025802-20181216051802-00366.warc.gz | en | 0.953385 | 438 | 2.828125 | 3 |
A meta-analysis comparing the sensitivity of bees to pesticides
- 2.7k Downloads
The honey bee Apis mellifera, the test species used in the current environmental risk assessment procedure, is generally considered as extremely sensitive to pesticides when compared to other bee species, although a quantitative approach for comparing the difference in sensitivity among bees has not yet been reported. A systematic review of the relevant literature on the topic followed by a meta-analysis has been performed. Both the contact and oral acute LD50 and the chronic LC50 reported in laboratory studies for as many substances as possible have been extracted from the papers in order to compare the sensitivity to pesticides of honey bees and other bee species (Apiformes). The sensitivity ratio R between the endpoint for the species a (A. mellifera) and the species s (bees other than A. mellifera) was calculated for a total of 150 case studies including 19 bee species. A ratio higher than 1 indicated that the species s was more sensitive to pesticides than honey bees. The meta-analysis showed a high variability of sensitivity among bee species (R from 0.001 to 2085.7), however, in approximately 95 % of the cases the sensitivity ratio was below 10. The effect of pesticides in domestic and wild bees is dependent on the intrinsic sensitivity of single bee species as well as their specific life cycle, nesting activity and foraging behaviour. Current data indicates a need for more comparative information between honey bees and non-Apis bees as well as separate pesticide risk assessment procedures for non-Apis bees.
KeywordsToxicity Environmental risk assessment Apis mellifera Apiformes Pollinators Comparative ecotoxicology
We are very grateful to the EFSA Bee Working group (Robert Luttik, Franz Streissl, Csaba Szentes, Agnes Rortais, Gèrard Arnold, Jos Boesten, Mark Clook, Jacoba Wassenberg) for their comments and suggestions and to Stephanie Bopp and Sotirios Vasileiadis for reviewing part of the manuscript. We very much appreciate the constructive and helpful comments of Rachel Sharp (EFSA) and the three anonymous reviewers.
The publication was drafted under the sole responsibility of the authors and is not considered as an EFSA output. The positions and opinions presented are those of the authors alone and are not intended to represent the views of EFSA.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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6 Scary (but real!) Facts about Clean Water
The air is crisp, the leaves are turning, pumpkin spice treats fill the shelves of our favorite coffee shops. You know what that means: Halloween is almost upon us! There’s something about this spooky holiday that we just can’t get enough. Is it all the candy? The fun costumes? The scary tales? We don’t know, but we sure love it.
It’s the spookiest time of the year, but do you know what’s more scary than crooked-nose witches and hairy spiders? The number of people that still don’t have access to clean water (hint hint: it’s 663 million!). This number is so high that it’s hard to wrap our heads around it. So here’s a list of spooky (but very real) facts about clean water that will scare the living daylights out of you!
- There are more people without clean water than there are people checking their Instagram accounts everyday.
Instagram is one of the most popular social networks in the world, especially among young adults. When Millennials are not photographing, boomeranging, or streaming their lives on the platform, they still engage with pictures and videos created by friends, influencers and their favorite brands. So, it’s not a surprise that 500 million people check their Instagram accounts every single day. The surprising (and saddening) fact is that almost 200 million more people live their lives without clean water on a daily basis.
- People who don’t have access to clean water could fill every seat at Yankee Stadium for 33 years.
Baseball has been America’s favorite pastime for decades, with the New York Yankees being one of the country’s most popular teams. The number of people who currently don’t have access to clean drinking water is sufficient to fill out the entire Yankee Stadium every single day for the next 33 years. We can’t even imagine how many boxes of Cracker Jack this would actually entail.
- There are many people in the United States without access to running water
It’s easy to associate lack of clean water and sanitation problems with developing countries. But the problem exists here in the United States too. There are 1.6 million people living without indoor plumbing. Currently, more than 6% of people living in Alaska doesn’t have running water or a sewage system. While 13% of Native Americans have no access to safe water or wastewater disposal.
- 663 million people holding hands can form a circle around the Earth… 28 times!
Our planet is pretty big. Having enough people to hold hands and form a circle around the Earth once would be remarkable enough. But if the number of people who currently don’t have access to clean drinking water hold hands, they can circle the Earth 28 times!!!
- The number of people without clean drinking water is greater than the population of the United States, Canada & Mexico combined.
The United States is the third most populated country in the world. There’s an estimated 326 million people living here. Our neighbors, Canada and Mexico, have a total population of 36 million and 127 million, respectively. If we tally up everybody living in North America, from Tapachula to Ulukhaktok, we would get around 486 million people. That’s a whole lot of people but still less than the amount of people with no clean water. Holy mackerel!
- There are more people with iPhones than with access to clean water.
Apple products, particularly the iPhone, are ubiquitous and loved by so many that we stopped to wonder: is it possible that the number of people with an iPhone is higher than that of those with access to clean drinking water? The answer is yes. There are more than 700 million iPhones currently in use worldwide, surpassing by almost 50 million the number of people who don’t have proper water and sanitation. Now, that’s what we call a reality-check!
Those were some pretty scary facts, but Halloween is not made only of spooky things. There is plenty of fun and treats too! The good news is that we can change that! We can give clean water to people who need it, and it doesn’t take much. For every GiveMeTap bottle you buy, we give 5 years of clean water to a person in Africa! Even better news: you now have the opportunity to come to Ghana with us! So, take your iPhones out and create a Story about it. This is so Instagram-worthy!!
Author: Paula Jackler
Originally published on: https://givemetap.myshopify.com/blogs/stories/5-spooky-and-real-facts-about-clean-water
GiveMeTap is a social startup working to give every human being access to clean water. We sell BPA-free bottles, and each bottle sold gives 5 years of clean water to a person in Africa. We also have partnerships with restaurants and cafes, where GiveMeTap customers can refill their water bottles at no charge.
Join us in this mission! | <urn:uuid:c7bfcd7d-36dd-4be9-a7bd-985e7d7ed965> | CC-MAIN-2018-43 | http://ripplezoo.com/2017/10/28/6-scary-but-real-facts-about-clean-water/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583510866.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20181016180631-20181016202131-00536.warc.gz | en | 0.942493 | 1,078 | 2.859375 | 3 |
One of the earliest books about Auschwitz was written by Dr. Miklos Nyiszli and first published in the Hungarian language in a Budapest newspaper from February 16, 1947 through April 5, 1947. My copy of the book, which is entitled Auschwitz, a Doctor’s Eye-Witness Account, was first published in English in 1960. In his book, Dr. Nyiszli describes his work as a pathologist, who assisted Dr. Josef Mengele by doing autopsies for his experiments in the Gypsy Camp at Auschwitz II, aka Birkenau. I also blogged about Dr. Nyiszli’s book here.
Yesterday, I blogged about the experiments allegedly done by Dr. Mengele in Block 10 in the main Auschwitz camp, according to information given to students by a tour guide. Not according to Dr. Nyiszli, who wrote about Dr. Mengele doing medical experiments only at Birkenau. He did not mention that Dr. Mengele worked at the Auschwitz main camp.
On page 31 of his book, Dr. Nyiszli wrote that “Three categories of experiments were performed here (in the Gypsy camp): the first consisted of research into the origin and causes of dual births […] The second was the search to discover the biological and pathological causes for the birth of dwarfs and giants. And the third was the study of the causes and treatment of a disease commonly called “dry gangrene of the face.” According to Dr. Nyiszli, this disease was “exceptionally rare,” but in the Gypsy Camp, it was “fairly common.” Dr. Nyiszli wrote that “the syphilis rate in the Gypsy Camp was extremely high” and from this it had been deduced that “dry gangrene of the face” was related to “hereditary syphilis.” Other writers refer to this disease as “Noma.”
Dr. Nyiszli wrote that he arrived at Auschwitz on a train with other Jews from Hungary in May 1944; he went through a “selection” at which Dr. Mengele asked for doctors to volunteer to work as doctors. Dr. Nyiszli was the only doctor, out of 50 doctors on that transport, who volunteered.
Because he volunteered to help the Nazi doctors, Dr. Nyiszli was given civilian clothes, and allowed to sleep in the “twelfth hospital barracks,” instead of being put into the quarantine barracks. The twelfth hospital at Birkenau? Yes, Dr. Nyiszli wrote that “The head doctor of barracks hospital number 12 was Dr. Levy, professor at the University of Strasbourg…” | <urn:uuid:a201ed17-76b1-45a3-958e-0351f9229820> | CC-MAIN-2015-18 | https://furtherglory.wordpress.com/tag/gypsy-camp/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-18/segments/1430455162832.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20150501043922-00012-ip-10-235-10-82.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980183 | 579 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Julius Caesar is one of those rare elects of the history, whose image does not tarnish in the time, and whose fame is going through centuries. He is an outstanding military leader, not less outstanding statesman, a versatile genius - the not challenged verdict of a number of generations. In the frame of such epithets and in the glare of such assessments, Caesar went down in history. The military-political and literary activities of Caesar, his outstanding abilities, and finally, his bright personality attracted and attract historians. Julius Caesar seizes the hand of the writer and holds the attention on his personality, no matter how he took the time. Thus, the paper presents the main stages of the life and work of the dictator and gives them the analysis relying on ancient sources in order to determine what brought to the historical significance of Caesar and how it influenced the society.
The youth of Julius Caesar was during the first civil war in Rome, and the dictatorship of Sulla. Being the offspring from a noble patrician family of Julio he aspired to power and glory, and the satisfaction of his ambitions already in his youth. When Caesar was not yet twenty years old, he had been subjected to political repression by the dictator Sulla, as he was the nephew of the famous Gaius Marius and son-in of Cornelius Cinna - the Sulla's main rivals in the fight for power. Only thanks to the patronage of influential relatives Caesar received forgiveness.
After being the dictator a few years, Sulla renounced his powers in favor of the restoration of the republic. The interesting story is related with his departure. When after the resignation, Sulla was walking around Rome, one young man threw a stone at him, Sulla said that because of people like him, the next dictator would not give up his power. Thus, Caesar's youth was at the terrible times of civil war, in the era of proscriptions and dictatorships. It had left a mark on his consciousness.
Generally, the first civil war, dictatorship, the triumvirate, the second civil war and the rise to power of Caesar, all this was a consequence of the crisis of the republic. The fact is that the Roman Republic was created as a polis state, and when Rome expanded and a large number of new areas became the part of it, including far away from Italy, the republican unit did not meet the new challenges. All this was exacerbated by the struggle within the Roman society. Against this background, Caesar began his career.
Shortly before the election of Caesar as a consul or shortly after that, emerged the circumstance, which had a decisive importance for the further course of events: three political figures of Rome - Pompey, Caesar and Crassus - concluded a secret agreement (the initiative is usually unequivocally attributed to Caesar), known in literature as the first triumvirate. This "alliance of three" (triumvirate) broke the resistance of the Senate oligarchy and, making Caesar the consul when he was 59, established the de facto dictatorship of its members in the republic. The establishment of triumvirate has traditionally been considered one of the major political successes of Caesar. Thus, three the most powerful men in the country decided the future of the distribution of posts even before the elections. And all of this is framed by the democracy. It had the great importance for the future. Later, this will repeat not just once or twice in the history of civilization, when decisions will be made, and then they will be given a legitimate appearance.
Additionally, having chosen Gaul as the province after his consulship, therefore Caesar opened the era of the Gallic Wars. But among the rich and varied arsenal of political and diplomatic methods used by the Caesar, was gradually distinguished one slogan particularly carefully cultivated by him, which was a mild and fair treatment to the enemy, especially the defeated, - the slogan of Mercy (dementia). However, it became crucial only in the era of the civil war, but undoubtedly appears earlier during the stay of Caesar in Gaul.
When carefully reading the "Notes," it is not difficult to see how increasingly frequent and insistently is said about the mercy of Caesar year by year . This trait is now declared as indisputable, self-evident, and as the long and widely known. And Aulus Hirtius comes to considering even barbaric, cruel deeds of Caesar towards defenders of Uksellodun as unable to shake supposedly existing general opinion about the natural gentleness and justice of Caesar. Thus, the slogan “dementia” becomes consciously held principle of Caesar’s diplomacy and politics. And this slogan has yet to play a special, exceptional and at the same fateful role in the history of all further activity and life of Caesar.
Despite the often used cruelty, Caesar was still one of the first to understand that it is better to be merciful with the defeated and to conquer them not only with the sword but also with the culture. To be fair, it is important to mention that Alexander the Great came to the same conclusions, but the implementation of the Romans turned out to be better. The significance is that such policy of Caesar’s followers has led to the Romanization of Western Europe.
However, allegedly uttering the historic phrase "The die is cast," Caesar nonetheless passed the Rubicon with his staff. Plutarch even informs even such a detail: the famous phrase was said in Greek. By the way, if it was ever said, it is quite plausible, as the phrase is a quotation from Menander whom Caesar knew and even liked. Furthermore, Plutarch and Suetonius mention any miraculous signs that accompany the passing, as if justifying that fatal step. Julius secretly sent to Ariminum - the first major city in Italy, which lies on the road from Gaul - a small detachment of the most valiant soldiers and centurions armed only with daggers to capture it with surprise attack without the noise and bloodshed. Caesar himself spent the day in front of everyone and even was present at the exercises of gladiators. By the evening, he took a bath and then had dinner together with the guests. When it got dark, complaining of malaise or simply asking to wait him, he left the room and guests. Taking with him the few closest friends, he went to Ariminum in the hired a carriage first intentionally (in another version - getting lost) in the wrong way, and only at dawn overtook the cohort expelled forward at the Rubicon River.
This small and hitherto unremarkable river was considered, although, the boundary between Cisalpine Gaul and Italy itself. The passage of that border with the troops actually meant the beginning of the Civil War. Therefore, all historians unanimously note Caesar’s hesitation. Thus, Plutarch says that Caesar knew that the passage will be the beginning of disaster and how the offspring will appreciate that move. Suetonius says that Caesar turned to his companions and said that it was not too late to go back, but when they pass that bridge, everything would decide the weapon.
Caesar was not a pioneer; Sulla entered troops to Rome even before him. But it was Caesar who finally destroyed the republic. Thus, the significance is in the precedent of liquidation of the republican system and the destruction of democracy that Julius Caesar created.
Additionally, Caesar was surrounded by the honorary guard of the senators and knights; what is more, senators had to swear to protect his life. For one of the oldest holidays - Lupercalia, along with collegiums Luperci Quintiliani and Fabiani, now was created the third collegium - Luperci Iuliani. In all public places and shrines sacrifices and consecration to Caesar were performed; honor a variety of games were arranged in his honor throughout Italy, in the provinces and in all countries which were in friendship with Rome. The month Quintilis was renamed in July and one of the tribes received Iulia name, and finally, a number of temples, including one general – to Caesar (as Iuppiter Julius) and to dementia (as the Goddess of Mercy) were devoted to Caesar. All of that honors were decided to write with gold letters on silver columns, set at the foot of the Capitoline Jupiter.
Thus, the actual deification of Caesar does not cause any doubts. This question has repeatedly been raised in recent historiography; what is more, the most controversial can be considered the following point: whether Caesar has strived to being considered a God during his lifetime himself, or he still remained within the traditions and did not lose the political prudence and tact. Sometimes it is considered that the idea of deification is just the flip side of Caesar's passionate dreams of the royal diadem.
Geshe comes to rather compelling and interesting conclusions in his work specifically devoted to the study of this range of problems. Firstly, it is quite correctly points out that various authors often put different content to the term "deification" or, more precisely, mean acts of very diverse nature and importance by this term. So then it says, it is advisable to use two terms: "deification" and "idolization," setting definite and firm distinction between them.
By "deification" the author suggests to understand the awarding of honors in the same spirit as it is done with respect to the gods, but the esteemed in the sacral-legal sense is not included in the composition of state gods, reaching only a special honor and "increasing rank." Under the "idolization" should be understood an official, authorized by the sacred law and on the initiative of the state carried out the inclusion in the composition of the state gods. And in this case, all the requirements that characterize the position of the rest of the state gods must be fulfilled, ie, there must be:
- a cultic name,
- a place of worship and, finally,
- functioning, ie, cult sent by priest.
These formal conditions were of utmost importance in Rome, and without performing all three prerequisites, the "idolization" could not take place. Thus, leading own deification, Julius Caesar laid the cult of the monarch's sacredness.
Moreover, the Caesar’s rule became an important stage in Roman history and provided a transition from republic to an imperial form of government. Following the footsteps of Sulla, Caesar created a regime that was the first specific form of the Roman military monarchy, the transitional form of government, which had features of both the Republic and the Empire, but was neither the one nor the other in its pure form.
Finally, the underestimating of the danger from the conservative senate circles by Caesar, the insufficient strength of his social base located more in the formative stage, and the certain political miscalculations have led to the dictator's assassination and the fall of his regime. When the assassination was committed, in the Senate started a real panic. The Brutus attempts to appeal to the senators with the speech did not work, as everyone fled in terror. The panic and confusion spread quickly in the city. Everyone was tightly closing the doors, preparing to defend themselves even from the rooftops, though no one knew who was attacked and from who they should protect. Many shops were looted. Antony and Lepidus, as the closest people to Caesar, hid in someone else's houses. At the same time, the conspirators trying to attract the sympathy of the population, solemnly headed to the Capitol shouting that they killed the tyrant, calling for the restoration of "order of fathers". But the population, as Appian says, did not follow the conspirators. Thus, dying, Caesar became a martyr in the eyes of contemporaries and descendants, and that is what laid the foundation for future monarchies . Besides, the assassination of Gaius Julius Caesar became the reason for the resumption of civil strives, to the disintegration of the Roman Republic and the birth of the Roman Empire.
The Ancient Roman civilization is left in the past, but its achievements, in particular Julius Caesar’s, have a great influence on the society and that people enjoy today. The most durable innovation of Caesar is reform of the calendar in 46 year: the dictator has replaced the Roman lunar calendar, which lagged behind the real sun stroke, with Hellenistic solar calendar of 365 days, which was used until the reforms of Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. The calculations for the new calendar made the Alexandria astronomer Sosigenes, who was its main creator. Instead of 10, the year is now consisted of 12 months, and the month Quintilis, the birthtime of the dictator, was named Julius (or July).
Furthermore, despite his rough political activities and private life, Caesar found the time to practice in poetry, drama, philosophy and science. The most known his historical works are "Notes on the Gallic War" in 7 books and "Notes on the Civil War" in 3 books. Besides, he left for society the immortal aphorisms: "I came, I saw, I conquered", "Every Man is a blacksmith of his fate", "The die is cast" and many others. Its very name is firmly established in the languages of many countries. From the word "Caesar" came the German "Kaiser" and Russian "Tsar," i.e. dictator became the embodiment of a strong government.
In conclusion, Julius Caesar was a major historical figure, the extraordinary personality and has played an important role in the history of Ancient Rome and European civilization. He not only became one of the main founders of the Roman Empire and the instrument of Romanization of Western Europe, but also contributed to the formation of the political practices of Western civilization. Caesar managed to create an authoritarian regime, dressed in a Republican skin, and he tried to provide the regime with popular character, creating a heterogeneous social base. This is the main "phenomenon" of Caesar as a politician. However, it should be noted that in the creation of a new form of government (Caesarism) Caesar largely followed the practice of his predecessors - Scipio Africanus,
Marius and Sulla, and Pompey. Besides, a dictator undertook the reform of the calendar, contributed to the development of military art, created a particular style of military memoir literature. Thus, the role of Julius Caesar in the history of civilization, his contribution to the development of the political practices of the West, and his influence on the society should be recognized as substantial. | <urn:uuid:c749151b-19ed-4234-a928-e72ea2476423> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://primethesis.com/essays/history/julius-caesar.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610704835901.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20210128040619-20210128070619-00712.warc.gz | en | 0.976006 | 2,979 | 3.359375 | 3 |
UnNews:Mathematicians: 42 really the same number as 23
21 April 2007
PRINCETON, NJ -- Mathematicians have proved that 42 and 23, each long known to be the Ultimate and Second-to-Ultimate Answers to Life, the Universe and Everything due to their overuse, are actually both the same number.
Paul Johnston Dullford, a pure mathematician at Princeton University's Institute of Advanced Study of Advanced Study, uses the analogy of blind men examining a V-dub to explain the course of numerics until today. "One describes touching a tire, one describes touching a trunk, another describes the bonnet, yet another sadly is run over by the V-dub, because the secretly non-blind person drives off with the V-dub, but that's not important," he says. "They come up with different descriptions but they don't see the big picture. There is only one V-dub and they describe different parts of it."
Dullford's claim is this: 22 is the same number as 22 since 1) 2+2 = 4 = 2*2, and 2) 22 = 2*11 and 2+1+1 = 4 = 2+2. Likewise, 42 must be the same number as 23 because 1) 4+2 = 6 = 2*3 and 2) 42 = 2*3*7 and 2+3+7 = 5 = 2+3. Dullford explains that "7 is exempt from any addition" because 7 is what he calls a "lucky" number. He tried to explain the concept of "luck" to us, saying that "it's similar to Gel Man's concept of 'strange,' 'charm,' and 'beauty' quarks," but UnNews found it incomprehensible.
Dullford theorizes that 42 and 23 are part of a framework number (another incomprehensible concept) tentatively named M. When asked what M stood for by fellow mathematician Jack Wiston, he replied that M "stands for magic, mystery, or Monday, according to taste." He also added, "Some cynics have occasionally suggested that M also stands for 'murky,' because our level of understanding of the number is in fact so primitive."
Skeptics of M have joked that the "M" means "Moronic", "Microsoft" or "Grue", which really doesn't start with an M, which is the point since skeptics still think 42 and 23 are as different as M and G are. Some also suggest that the M is an upside down W, for "Wiston".
Skeptics also criticize that Dullford misspelled the physicist Murray Gell-Mann's name.
42 commented that "I told you so!" 23 commented that "That explains a lot."
Meanwhile Douglas Adams and Jim Carrey were unavailable for comment. Douglas Adams was busy pushing the daisies, while Jim Carrey was filming The Number 1337.
- Aloha Jacket is the author of: "Revolutionary mathematical advances prove two important numbers to be the same." The Guardian, April 20, 2007
- 6.5 billion people have authored: "Introduction to M (number)." Wikipedia, April 21, 1996 | <urn:uuid:4df16c66-fb7f-45a3-84b0-fd376526b059> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://en.uncyclopedia.co/wiki/UnNews:Mathematicians:_42_really_the_same_number_as_23 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131317570.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172157-00181-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961358 | 663 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Months after engineers resurrected the Hubble Space Telescope from the dead, the flying observatory is once again under threat. The spacecraft, which has been our eyes into the vastness of the cosmos, has gone into safe mode configuration suspending science operations forcing Nasa to launch an investigation.
“The instruments are healthy and will remain in safe mode while the mission team continues its investigation,” the American space agency said.
Nasa got the worrying ping at 1.46 am EDT on October 23 when Hubble’s science instruments issued error codes indicating the loss of a specific synchronization message. The message provides timing information that the instruments used to correctly respond to data requests and commands. The mission had then reset the instruments to resume science operations onboard.
However, the telescope went into safe mode on October 25 after the science instruments again issued error codes indicating multiple losses of synchronisation messages. The telescope team said that the science instruments then autonomously entered a safe mode state as programmed.
“Mission team members are evaluating spacecraft data and system diagrams to better understand the synchronisation issue and how to address it. They also are developing and testing procedures to collect additional data from the spacecraft. These activities are expected to take at least one week,” Nasa said in a statement on Tuesday.
NOT THE FIRST SETBACK
Hubble had gone dark in June earlier this year as well. The month-long shut down was owing to a faulty payload computer onboard Hubble that coordinates science operations. When the main computer failed to receive a signal from the payload computer on June 13, it automatically placed Hubble’s science instruments into safe mode, making it blind in space.
The Hubble has been in service for over three decades and has survived different teams and engineers over the years. The Hubble has faced several problems in the past as well when it was last repaired in 2009. The telescope earlier encountered problems related to its Imaging Spectrograph that suffered a power failure in 2004, followed by an electrical short in 2007 that affected its Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) — the primary camera for the telescope.
A LEGACY SPACECRAFT
The Hubble Space Telescope, which recently completed 30 years of service beyond Earth’s orbit, was first launched in 1991. The observatory has been key in some of the most significant discoveries of our cosmos, including the accelerating expansion of the universe, the evolution of galaxies over time, and the first atmospheric studies of planets beyond our solar system.
The ageing telescope will soon have a partner beyond Earth’s orbit as the James Webb Telescope launches in December. Once launched from French Guiana, the Ariane 5 rocket will deliver the telescope directly into a precision transfer orbit towards its destination, the second Lagrange point (L2). This point is four times farther away than the Moon, 1.5 million kilometres from Earth in the direction away from the Sun.
The James Webb Telescope, once up, will give a unique opportunity to study the origins of the universe taking over from the Hubble Space Telescope, which has remained the source of deep space observation for decades. | <urn:uuid:8e988954-6d8f-400e-9d2b-284e5ba416d6> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://chronicletodaynetwork.com/hubble-telescope-goes-dark-in-space-again-science-ops-shut-on-ageing-observatory/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764500641.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20230207201702-20230207231702-00708.warc.gz | en | 0.944715 | 627 | 3.015625 | 3 |
When you think about the winter season, you might think of warm fires, festive holiday decorations and spending time with family and friends. However, winter also brings darker evenings. For the more than 10 million Americans who suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD) each winter, these months can be especially difficult. Let's take a look at the signs and symptoms of seasonal depression — and what you can do to stay mentally and emotionally healthy.
What is Seasonal Depression?
Seasonal affective disorder (often called "seasonal depression") is a type of depression that presents only during certain times of the year — typically in the fall and/or winter. Experts don't know the exact causes of SAD, however, they hypothesize that it could be the body's response to the lack of sunlight experienced during the darker months of the year. These changes in sunlight not only disturb the body's regular circadian rhythm (impacting sleep patterns) but can also cause a drop in serotonin levels in the brain and trigger depression.
In order to be diagnosed with SAD, a patient must experience depressive symptoms for the majority of two consecutive winter seasons. Symptoms of SAD include fatigue, sleep disturbances, anxiety, feeling sad or hopeless, loss of interest in activities you typically enjoy and more. Seasonal depression can affect anyone, but those at the greatest risk are women, teenagers and those with a history of bi-polar disorder.
Tips for Staying Well This Winter
While there's no way to guarantee you won't develop seasonal depression, there are certainly steps you can take to support your mental health throughout the winter months. Even for those who haven't been diagnosed with SAD, these tips can be helpful for anyone who experiences an occasional case of the "winter blues."
- Get regular sunlight exposure. Exposure to sunlight — spending time outdoors or even simply from opening up the shades — is one of the most effective ways to treat SAD. Try to get some time outdoors in the sunlight every day. Getting sunlight exposure in the morning hours is especially helpful for boosting your energy and regulating your circadian rhythm, which can help with sleep issues.
- Consider light therapy. If you're struggling to get enough daily sunlight exposure this winter, you might consider photo-therapy (light therapy). Light therapy devices produce artificial light that mimics natural sunlight, which can stimulate your brain and trigger the release of chemicals that help regulate your mood. This can be a great tool to keep at your desk or another room where you'll spend significant amounts of time indoors this winter.
- Exercise regularly. Regular exercise is an important part of depression treatment, and it's no different for seasonal depression. This can be a great way to relieve symptoms of anxiety and, if you exercise outdoors, can also be another way to expose yourself to the sunlight. Whether it's hiking, biking or simply walking around the block, regularly moving your body this winter is a sure-fire way to improve your mood.
- Spend time with loved ones. As the days grow shorter and darker, it can be tempting to self-isolate at home. But spending time with friends and family is so important — and a great way to elevate your mood! Next time you’re feeling down, fight the urge to be alone and reach out to someone you trust — even just a quick phone call can brighten your day.
- Monitor your vitamin D intake. Some research indicates that a lack of vitamin D may contribute to the development of seasonal depression. If you suffer annually from SAD, talk to your doctor about increasing your intake of vitamin D.
Tips for Navigating Seasonal Affective Disorder
While there is no one-size-fits-all treatment for SAD, there are lifestyle changes and several other options to explore with your doctor including:
- Psychotherapy. A therapist can help you identify negative thought and behavior patterns and work with you to develop healthy ways to cope with your symptoms. If the first mental health professional you talk to isn’t a good fit, consider giving it another try with someone new — it can take a few tries to connect with someone!
- Medication. While not the first-resort for symptoms of the winter blues, if you struggle annually with SAD, antidepressants — such as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) — could be an effective treatment option. While antidepressants are effective for many people, it can take several weeks to see improvement. Your doctor can work with you to find the right medication for your needs and symptoms.
Everyone has down days — that's perfectly normal! However, if you think you could be suffering from SAD or another form of depression, talk to your doctor right away. With the right treatment, seasonal depression doesn’t have to leave you struggling until spring!
This article first appeared in the November 2022 edition of the HealthPerks newsletter. | <urn:uuid:ab6f8f8c-6f9e-423e-9ab8-dc714a6be559> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://www.elcaminohealth.org/stay-healthy/blog/seasonal-depression | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233510300.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20230927135227-20230927165227-00330.warc.gz | en | 0.948527 | 1,022 | 3.46875 | 3 |
Preventing Insect Bites
Hot, humid environments are breeding grounds for the types of mosquitos that carry disease such as Chikungunya, Dengue Fever, Malaria, and Zika. Malaria is the only disease where the right prophylactic medication, taken properly, offers protection from infection. There are no cures for any of these diseases, and although the symptoms are not usually life-threatening for healthy individuals, they can be extremely uncomfortable and in some cases, have lasting effects. (For more information about Zika and travel, see the Emergency Messages page).
Preventing exposure to mosquito bites is important to reducing one’s risk of exposure. Before traveling, review the precautions to prevent mosquito bites prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and mosquito-bourne disease prevention tips from the World Health Organization (WHO).
The CDC also provides tips on insect repellant use and safety, including the recommendation that you should apply sunscreen before applying mosquito repellent.
If you are concerned about a risk of exposure to a mosquito-borne illness, contact a specialist in travel medicine, such as Northwestern Medicine’s Travel Medicine Clinic or Glenbrook Hospital’s Travel Clinic. Pregnant women, or women planning to become pregnant planning to travel to a country with active Zika transmission, should consult with their OB/GYN. Travelers who display any of the symptoms outlined below should seek medical attention as soon as possible.
Chikungunya is most prevalent in South and Central America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Symptoms most associated with the virus are fever and joint pain. There is no vaccine to prevent the spread of chikungunya. Additional information on the virus can be found on the CDC’s website.
People who have contracted dengue typically experience symptoms similar to influenza. According to the World Health Organization, approximately half of the world’s population is at risk for dengue. The mosquito-borne viral infection is most commonly found in urban environments in tropical locations. Although there is no treatment for dengue, early detection can reduce mortality rates to below one percent.
According to data from the World Health Organization, over 90 countries have ongoing malaria transmission. However, most malaria cases are found in Africa, as the continent is home to 90 percent of reported cases. The first symptoms of malaria are normally fever, headache and chills.
Travelers to certain parts of South America (particularly in coastal areas of Brazil) and Africa are at risk for yellow fever. The yellow fever vaccine is the best protection against yellow fever disease, but it should be administered at least 10 days before travel for optimal results. However, because US-licensed yellow fever vaccine is out of stock, a limited number of clinics in the United States are now offering an equally safe and effective alternate vaccine, Stamaril. Find a clinic near campus or in your hometown by using the map feature on the prior link.
The Zika virus is an illness with generally mild symptoms, including fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes), which can last several days to a week. Currently, there is no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat Zika, but symptoms are rarely severe and hospitalization is uncommon. Zika is spread by mosquitos and therefore most prevalent in tropical environments. Travelers can limit their exposure to Zika (and other mosquito-borne illnesses like Malaria, Dengue Fever and Chikungunya) by taking precautions to prevent mosquito bites.
Zika is linked to a specific birth defect called microcephaly. Because of this link, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed specific guidance for pregnant women and women trying to become pregnant, warning them to avoid visiting places where the virus is currently circulating. The CDC has also issued information about the risk of transmitting Zika through sexual contact. Note that some locations may offer a reduced chance of exposure to Zika due to high elevation.
The CDC’s Zika destinations page is the most up-to-date resource for determining risks of exposure based on location. | <urn:uuid:4a2baa94-0621-4234-aaeb-caac0cfbbee2> | CC-MAIN-2018-43 | https://www.northwestern.edu/global-safety-security/health-safety/travel-health/preventing-insect-bites.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583515041.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20181022113301-20181022134801-00039.warc.gz | en | 0.934497 | 837 | 3.984375 | 4 |
Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/5/2005
Publication Date: 7/1/2006
Citation: Havstad, K.M., Schlesinger, W.H. 2006. Introduction. In: Havstad, K.M., Huenneke, L.F., Schlesinger, W.H., editors. Structure and Function of a Chihuahuan Desert Ecosystem. The Jornada Basin Long-Term Ecological Research Site. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 3-14.
Interpretive Summary: Interpretive summary not required.
Technical Abstract: Arid lands throughout the world, including lands at the border of arid regions, are increasingly subject to human impact, leading to degradation of soils, losses of plant production, and a diminished economic potential to support human populations. Focusing on the human impact and consequent losses in economic potential, we often call these changes "desertification." With the potential for global climate change, however, the definition of desertification and its potential must be expanded. Indeed, the 1992 United Nations’ Desertification Convention defined desertification as "land degradation in arid, semiarid and dry subhumid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities." It is more recently recognized that desertification involves human and environmental drivers but is a symptom evident at regional spatial scales that emerges from degradation at finer spatial scales. Assertions relative to an updated and revised paradigm regarding desertification have been developed. In l981, a group of scientists based in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and associated with New Mexico State University proposed a program of long-term ecological research in the Jornada Basin of southern New Mexico (USA) to gain a better understanding of processes that determine the structure and function of desert ecosystems. To an extent, this book represents both a synthesis of that effort and a benchmark of our progress over the last 23 years. In addition, this book draws on a longer history of research in the Jornada Basin that dates back to the early part of the twentieth century. Both the group and its mission have evolved since 1981, but an initial motivation for our studies was the dramatic, historic records of vegetation change in the Jornada. | <urn:uuid:68d79754-708b-483c-9c17-f55a26d88a56> | CC-MAIN-2022-27 | https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publication/?seqNo115=179613 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-27/segments/1656103036363.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20220626010644-20220626040644-00518.warc.gz | en | 0.890306 | 503 | 3.3125 | 3 |
Compass, from China or Japan, 1800-1920
In Traditional Chinese Medicine there is a belief that the surrounding environment impacts on the health of an individual. This compass is used to ensure that a person's house is positioned in harmony with the universe.
- Oriental Medicine
- Object Number:
overall (standing up right): height = 30 mm x diameter = 400 mm, 0.966 kg
overall weight: x x , , .97kg
- geomantic compass
- furnishing and equipment
- measuring device - instrument
- magnetic compass
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Our records are constantly being enhanced and improved, but please note that we cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information shown on this website. | <urn:uuid:38cdc449-d0c2-4e50-b866-07d0bb1d75d1> | CC-MAIN-2019-43 | https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co122655 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-43/segments/1570987756350.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20191021043233-20191021070733-00422.warc.gz | en | 0.833005 | 210 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Many People enjoy swimming and don’t think of the dangers of drowning. Everyday in the United States nine people drown. The statistics are quite alarming, especially for parents with young children. Realizing the risks and potential dangers can go a long way in preventing pool accidents. See NBC Today Show on Pool Drownings On Rise
- Drowning is the second leading cause of accidental injury-related death among children 1-14 years of age.
- Drowning is the leading cause of accidental injury-related death among children 1-4 years of age.
- Among children 1-4 years old, monst drowning occur in residential swimming pools.
- Nineteen percent of child drowning fatalities take place in public pools with certified lifeguards on duty.
- In nine out of ten child drowning deaths, a parent or caregiver claimed to be watching the child.
At the law firm of Brannon & Brannon we help hundreds of accident victims every year, and we know the importance of injury prevention. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of safety tips to help avoid swimming pool accidents.
Hanging out by the swimming pool can be one of the most enjoyable parts of summer. Follow these tips to help make sure your summer is a happy and healthy one for you and your family.
POOL SAFETY TIPS
- Never leave children around water (even if they know how to swim, and regardless of whether or not you are at a public or private pool).
- Install a phone by the pool or keep a cordless phone nearby so that you can immediately call 9-1-1 in the case of an emergency.
- Learn CPR and post instructions and numbers for local emergency agencies near the pool.
- Enclose the pool on all sides with a self-locking gate, and keep all furniture away from fence so children cannot climb over the fence.
- Keep toys away from the pool when you’re not using the it. Toys can attract children to the water.
- Pool covers should be completely removed before using the pool, and put back on and secured correctly when not in use.
- If a child is missing, check the pool first, every second count in drowning.
- Avoid horseplay and running near pool areas.
- Never dive into a swimming pool where you don’t know the depth.
- Follow all rules posted at public pools and only swim when a lifeguard is on duty.
You can find many more safety tips online as well as devices to help make your residential pool a safe zone for your children. If you, or your child, suffered injuries due to a swimming pool accident, you may have a valid claim. Get answers to your questions and learn you legal rights with a free consultation from the attorneys at Brannon & Brannon. | <urn:uuid:2704712b-2aa9-4863-8b24-0848aee6fbe3> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://www.brannoncanhelp.com/blog/2012/07/child-drowning/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593657129257.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20200711224142-20200712014142-00587.warc.gz | en | 0.919809 | 581 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Anhedonia: the inability to experience pleasure from activities usually found enjoyable.
Although by no means an expert on anhedonia (or much else), I believe that it is a concept quite important when it comes to making a diagnosis of depression although the precise hows and whys of connecting anhedonia to other symptoms are still the source of some discussion .
The paper from Vicki Bitsika & Christopher Sharpley brings the concepts of anhedonia and depression into view with autism in mind. Based on the analysis of self-reported symptoms on the "Depression subscale of the Child and Adolescent Symptoms Inventory (CASI-D)" for 70 males diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 50 asymptomatic controls matched for age, authors reported that: "The MDD [major depressive disorder] profiles for the ASD participants were dominated by anhedonia."
Accepting that the label of autism seemingly very rarely exists in a diagnostic vacuum (see here) and that there is still some debate about whether comorbidity is just that or something rather more integral to parts of the growing pluralisation of autism (see here), the Bitsika/Sharpley paper is a potentially important one. Getting into the nitty-gritty details of how issues such as depression manifest on top of a diagnosis of autism is important as per the discussions by Vannucchi et al (see here) on the "atypical presentation" of bipolar disorder with Asperger syndrome in mind. Knowing for example, that anhedonia might be more characteristic of MDD in cases of autism or even more centrally to autism , may offer not only a more detailed perspective on screening for and managing such issues as and when they occur, but also a little bit more detail about the mechanisms through which such symptoms may come about.
Music: Mercury Rev - Goddess on a Highway.
Gaillard R. et al. Anhedonia in depression. Encephale. 2013 Sep;39(4):296-305.
Bitsika V. & Sharpley CF. Differences in the Prevalence, Severity and Symptom Profiles of Depression in Boys and Adolescents with an Autism Spectrum Disorder versus Normally Developing Controls. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education. 2015; 62: 158-167.
Vannucchi G. et al. Bipolar disorder in adults with Asperger׳s Syndrome: A systematic review. J Affect Disord. 2014 Jul 8;168C:151-160.
Chevallier C. et al. Brief report: Selective social anhedonia in high functioning autism. J Autism Dev Disord. 2012 Jul;42(7):1504-9.
Bitsika, V., & Sharpley, C. (2015). Differences in the Prevalence, Severity and Symptom Profiles of Depression in Boys and Adolescents with an Autism Spectrum Disorder versus Normally Developing Controls International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 62 (2), 158-167 DOI: 10.1080/1034912X.2014.998179 | <urn:uuid:362bc5e3-201c-4140-9cda-039ca3bbbaaa> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | https://questioning-answers.blogspot.com/2015/03/is-anhedonia-key-component-of-depression-in-autism.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257645604.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20180318091225-20180318111225-00607.warc.gz | en | 0.895561 | 645 | 2.703125 | 3 |
"Oh, no man knows
Through what wild centuries
Roves back the Rose"
All That's Past: Walter de la Mare
Take a look at the history of samplers through the ages, and investigate the different styles and techniques used in their construction at different periods of time.
The term sampler comes from the Latin exemplum meaning 'an example to be followed, a pattern, a model or example'. It is believed that, although the earliest dated samplers and references to them come from the 16th century, they probably were stitched long before this time.
The first known dated English sampler was made by Jane Bostocke in 1598 to celebrate the birth of her daughter (or possibly niece) Alice Lee, and is housed in the sampler collection at the Victoria and Albert museum. This sampler is covered with random motifs in a variety of stitches and shades, and includes metal threads, pearls and beads.
It is believed that the early samplers were sewn mainly by women, rather than by young girls as were those of a later date, and were intended truly as examples, both of designs and of different stitches, such as cross stitch, eyelet, Algerian eye, long armed cross etc. These long, narrow band samplers contain a variety of different designs, alphabets, and sometimes cut or pulled thread work. Many consist of elaborate scrolled designs in double running or Holbein stitch.
Later in the 17th century the style changed to spot samplers, random motifs worked in silk, which were often intended to be cut out and appliqued onto bed hangings or other furnishings. During this period printed pattern books became available, so samplers lost some of their use as works of reference. Many of the designs from these books can be seen repeated in English samplers from this time onwards.
From the mid-eighteenth century, it became more common for young girls to work samplers as part of their education, of which needlework formed a major part! These samplers began to take on the form probably best known, with decorative borders, alphabets, motifs such as animals, flowers and houses, and they usually also contained some sort of verse.
Marking samplers included various alphabets in reversible stitches, crowns and coronets, which could be used to mark for identification of the household linens of the aristocracy. Other samplers contained pious verses or religious symbols, and yet others taught geography in the form of embroidered maps, or mathematics in the guise of cross stitch multiplication tables!!
During Victorian times, samplers became more pictorial, and metamorphosed into decorative articles to be hung by proud parents on the parlour walls! As the designs became more elaborate so the number of different stitches used was reduced, until generally only one stitch remained in use, thus ending up with the cross stitch samplers so well known today. | <urn:uuid:4c527c31-29a0-4999-8d20-0d6ebc0c57fa> | CC-MAIN-2015-22 | http://www.needleworksamplers.com/Simply_Samplers/sampler_history.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-22/segments/1432207928907.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20150521113208-00328-ip-10-180-206-219.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974333 | 616 | 3.6875 | 4 |
Following evidence that estrogen and vitamin D work together to promote bone health, new research from China now suggests that they could also help to stave off metabolic syndrome in postmenopausal women.
Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of risk factors — such as obesity, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar — that increase the likelihood that a person will develop type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and other conditions.
The recent study, which features in the journal Menopause, investigated estrogen and vitamin D levels and their link to metabolic syndrome in a group of postmenopausal women in Southern China.
The authors conclude that the findings “suggest a synergistic role” for vitamin D and estrogen deficiency in metabolic syndrome in Chinese postmenopausal women.
Altogether, 616 postmenopausal women took part in the study. Their ages ranged from 49–86 years, and none were taking estrogen or vitamin D supplements at the start of data collection.
The researchers measured the women’s blood levels of estradiol — the strongest of the estrogen hormones — and vitamin D, as well as risk factors for metabolic syndrome.
The team found a “positive correlation” between vitamin D and estradiol. In other words, women with lower levels of vitamin D tended also to have lower levels of estradiol, and women with higher levels of vitamin D tended also to have higher levels of estradiol.
The researchers also analyzed which metabolic syndrome factors most closely correlated with vitamin D and estradiol. They found that:
- Higher levels of vitamin D tended to accompany more favorable measures of blood pressure, blood glucose, and lipids.
- Lower levels of estradiol tended to accompany less favorable measures of blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglycerides.
In addition, the analysis showed that women with insufficient levels of vitamin D and estradiol were more likely to have metabolic syndrome than women with sufficient levels.
In another analysis, which involved ranking the women according to their vitamin D levels, the researchers found that low estradiol increased the risk of metabolic syndrome in women with insufficient vitamin D.
Metabolic syndrome comprises five risk factors: central obesity, high triglycerides, low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, high blood pressure, and elevated blood glucose.
To assess metabolic syndrome status for the recent study, the team used criteria from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) 2006 definition.
The IDF 2006 definition states that metabolic syndrome consists of central obesity plus any two of the other four factors.
Central obesity means that there is too much fat around the stomach area, which can raise the risk of heart disease to a greater extent than having too much fat in other parts of the body, such as the hips.
For central obesity in Chinese women, the IDF 2006 standard defines this to be a waistline equal to or greater than 80 centimeters (cm) or 31.5 inches (in). For white women in the U.S., this measure would be greater than or equal to 88 cm or 34.6 in.
For the other four risk factors, the IDF 2006 criteria that the researchers used were:
- blood triglyceride level of 150 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl) or higher, or receiving treatment for high triglycerides
- HDL cholesterol under 50 mg/dl or being in receipt of treatment for high HDL cholesterol
- blood pressure equal to or greater than 130/85 millimeters of mercury or being in receipt of treatment for high blood pressure
- fasting blood glucose equal to or greater than 100 mg/dl or being in receipt of treatment for diabetes
HDL cholesterol helps the blood to ferry cholesterol away from the arteries. Too little can increase the risk of heart disease.
Fasting blood glucose of 100 mg/dl can be an early sign of diabetes, which, in turn, can raise the risk of heart disease and other cardiovascular health problems.
Metabolic syndrome is a major public health issue. According to a 2015
Dr. JoAnn Pinkerton, executive director of The North American Menopause Society, says that the study shows that low estrogen appears to raise the risk of metabolic syndrome in postmenopausal women with insufficient levels of vitamin D.
She notes that the “Endocrine Society recommends vitamin D levels of 30 [nanograms per milliliter] for postmenopausal women.”
“Whether adequate levels of vitamin D improve nonskeletal cardiovascular or cognitive benefits remains the subject of debate, and answers await randomized clinical trial data.”
Dr. JoAnn Pinkerton | <urn:uuid:56dc89f6-8d55-4f6c-989b-70a9b6b0f333> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325465 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296950422.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20230402074255-20230402104255-00727.warc.gz | en | 0.917311 | 938 | 2.890625 | 3 |
There are three main types of distraction:
- Visual—taking your eyes off the road;
- Manual—taking your hands off the wheel; and
- Cognitive—taking your mind off what you are doing.
Distracted driving activities include things like using a cell phone, texting, and eating. Using in-vehicle technologies (such as navigation systems) can also be sources of distraction. While any of these distractions can endanger the driver and others, texting while driving is especially dangerous because it combines all three types of distraction. | <urn:uuid:c0ebc9d3-3527-44f5-8fe6-980ac1ba4d64> | CC-MAIN-2018-05 | https://phil.cdc.gov/Details.aspx?pid=13824 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-05/segments/1516084891196.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20180122073932-20180122093932-00541.warc.gz | en | 0.93738 | 108 | 3.59375 | 4 |
Bring Birds to the Garden
by Wendy Gasch, Horticulturist
Looking back over the past season, do you wish
you had more avian friends visiting your garden? It may be easier
than you think to encourage these feathered friends into your backyard.
There are three key elements needed to create a bird-friendly garden:
food, water, and shelter.
Adding bird feeders around the garden is
a great way to give birds the initial invitation. Selecting plants
that provide berries, seeds, and nuts during different seasons can
encourage them to be year-round visitors. Crabapples, viburnums and
cotoneasters are great berry-bearing plants. The Asteraceae family
of perennials, including coneflower, black-eyed Susan, and globe
thistle, also provides tasty treats for birds that enjoy seeds. Remember
that insects are food too - refrain from using insecticides and let
the bird population do the work for you.
Water can easily be added
to the garden with a pond or birdbath. During Wisconsin winters,
heated birdbaths are a great option for a year-round water source.
are great plants to provide sheltered nesting and roosting sites.
Leave a brush pile over the winter to provide additional shelter
from local predators.
By providing a few key elements it's easy to
transform the backyard into a fantastic habitat for birds.
Back To Article Index | <urn:uuid:40485e21-851f-4b78-9ce5-1ada5649592c> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://olbrich.org/education/bringbirds.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988720380.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183840-00207-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.894397 | 302 | 3.296875 | 3 |
This federal holiday is celebrated every 4th Thursday of November each year.
The First Thanksgiving painting, 1621.
Celebrated on the Fourth Thursday of November every year in the United States of America, Thanksgiving Day is a public holiday and considered a very special day when a Thanksgiving turkey is placed inside the oven in most homes in expectation of the very much looked forward to Thanksgiving Dinner which would bring many relatives, close friends and others to share in the festivities and the joys of the day.
The event originated as a harvesting festival which was to give Thanks for a bountiful harvest that would have been just concluded which is still the case in some agricultural areas of the United States of America.
It has been a national event and has been celebrated infrequently since 1789 as a precursor to a proclamation by the first President of the United States George Washington.
In 1863 during the American Civil War President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a National holiday on the last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day and “to give praise and blessings to our Father the Lord above who dwelleth in the Heavens” and since then the day has been celebrated all over the United States.
In October 1621 the “first Thanksgiving was celebrated with a few native Americans and a few pilgrims who had celebrated the feast which had lasted for three days and it is thought that this was the origin to what is being celebrated today with much joy and fun by all Americans.
Thanksgiving is a European practice and is known to have been first initiated by the Spaniards and the French around the 16th century which has been documented to be an age old tradition even in other communities who were in the habit of giving thanks for all that has been provided to them during the year by way of bountiful harvests and the opportunity to have food on the table.
It is also known that when the first permanent settlement at Jamestown, Virginia congregated it was completed with a Thanksgiving to thank the Lord for the opportunity to land in those fertile lands but later due to constant conflicts and the Indian massacre of 1622 the site was shifted to more secure locations.
Hence it is recorded that the history of Thanksgiving Day dates back centuries and has a very long tradition not limited to one group of European settlers but to most of who came across the Atlantic to make their home in the New World.
Specifically, the practice of Thanksgiving could be safely reverted back to about the early 1600’s and it has been an event in a particular day where different American communities especially those who arrived from Europe looked up to the Heavens as way of offering their Thanks to the One above for all what has been provided to them and even today it is the same initiative that is being conducted but in a more grandeur style in keeping with the times and the rich mixture of American culture which is prevalent in the United States of America in the present times. | <urn:uuid:5e54dd1c-d0d5-4c0a-bb84-c2b296631c2e> | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | https://www.federalholidays.net/usa/holiday/thanksgiving-day.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964358469.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20211128043743-20211128073743-00033.warc.gz | en | 0.986219 | 585 | 3.515625 | 4 |
By Debra Werner|February 2019
Weather forecasters are always hungry for more data. Over the last few years, they've learned that signals from GPS and rival constellations can tell them interesting things about the atmosphere. The question is whether cubesats and other smallsats can gather these radio occultation readings accurately enough. Debra Werner takes the measure of a congressionally directed pilot project that could provide the answer.
When radio waves pass through a planet’s atmosphere, the molecules and electrons bend the waves not unlike how a piece of glass or body of water refracts light. The denser the atmosphere, the more bending. NASA scientists famously put this principle to work in 1965 during the Mariner 4 mission. After passing Mars, the probe transmitted radio waves back toward Earth with the red planet partially blocking, or occulting, the path. This assured that some of the radio waves passed through the Martian atmosphere. The technique, called radio occultation, gave scientists their first precise measurement of the density of the Martian atmosphere.
Flash forward five decades, and Earth is now ringed with a constellation of 24 GPS satellites, plus rival constellations operated by China, Europe and Russia. Some microwaves from these satellites plow through the atmosphere including cloud cover to reach users on the ground, but some inevitably radiate past the curve of the Earth and into space. An instrument orbiting on the other side of the globe can catch these navigation signals. From the degree of bending, software on the satellite or on the ground can deduce moisture content, air pressure and temperatures at various altitudes, with each set of data called a sounding.
Scientists have long been intrigued by this technique, called radio occultation, but as recently as a decade ago, they were unsure of its precision in the lower atmosphere.
A turning point came after Typhoon Nuri struck the Philippines in 2008, explains meteorologist William Kuo of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, a Boulder, Colorado, nonprofit focused on research and training forecasters and young scientists. The storm originated in an area of the Western Pacific Ocean that was shrouded in clouds that blocked the view of the lower troposphere for weather satellites that rely on traditional microwave soundings to chart temperatures by measuring microwave energy emitted from the atmosphere and surface. Weather balloons, in theory, could have given clues about what was happening under the clouds, but the Pacific Ocean is vast and no balloons were in the area. U.S. and European weather models did not capture the moisture under the clouds and failed to predict the formation of Nuri, which exploded into one of the year’s strongest cyclones.
After Nuri, researchers led by Kuo were curious to see whether radio occultation could have shown the models what lay under the clouds. They acquired archived radio occultation readings of that area of the Pacific taken during Nuri’s formation by a constellation of NOAA and Taiwan-funded technology demonstration satellites called COSMIC, for Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate, and other satellites. Kuo and his team discovered that by adding radio occultation measurements from GPS into the forecast model, they could see spiral rainbands associated with the developing storm. The model was now able to predict Typhoon Nuri.
The Nuri study, often presented by scientists at conferences with a video of the decloaked rotation, helped NOAA and Taiwan’s National Space Organization win funding in 2010 and 2011 for a second generation of COSMIC satellites.
Small-sat entrepreneurs jump in
Now, entrepreneurs in the U.S., aided by a NOAA-managed pilot project, are racing to bring radio occultation to market and do it with smallsats and cubesats that are just a fraction the size of the COSMIC satellites.
Despite early setbacks, these entrepreneurs retain an unshakeable conviction that the technique can revolutionize forecasting and earn them a sizable share of what could be a multibillion-dollar global market for various kinds of commercial weather data, including radio occultation soundings.
NOAA, on orders of Congress, is doing what it can to nurture the industry through the 2-year-old Commercial Weather Data Pilot project. In September, NOAA awarded a total of $8.3 million in second-round contracts to three weather satellite startups: GeoOptics of Pasadena, California; PlanetiQ of Golden, Colorado; and San Francisco-based Spire Global. Their occultation readings will be fed into offline forecasting models so that results can be compared to those from operational models.
NOAA is hoping for better results this time than from the first round of the pilot in April 2017, when the agency did not receive enough soundings to assess the technology. GeoOptics, which received $695,000 in the first round, didn’t launch any satellites in time to meet the deadline. Spire, which received $370,000, provided some observations but not enough for a full assessment. NOAA decided to add PlanetiQ for the second round.
“We saw enough promise coming out of the first round that we knew it was worth at least doing round two,” says NOAA’s Karen St. Germain, a microwave remote sensing expert. “I am optimistic about it. They are probably going to get to a good capability that can be a part of the overall NOAA observation portfolio moving forward,” St. Germain adds. She directs the Office of Systems Architecture and Advanced Planning within NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, the agency that feeds observations from satellites and weather balloons into supercomputers running forecast models that the agency shares with meteorologists.
Watching all this closely are U.S. forecasters who are hungry for more and more occultation soundings, provided the accuracy of the data can be verified in part with the aid of COSMIC. In terms of forecasting value, the soundings from COSMIC have been “right up there with satellite infrared and microwave soundings, radiosondes and aircraft reports,” says Joseph Pica, director of the National Weather Service Office of Observations.
Fine-tuning multiday forecasts
Forecasters evaluated numerical weather models with and without COSMIC data and found the additional temperature and moisture data had the largest impact on multiday forecasts, providing the quality of a four-day forecast eight hours in advance and a seven-day forecast 15 hours earlier, says Lidia Cucurull, an atmospheric physicist and deputy director of NOAA’s Quantitative Observing System Assessment Program.
At its height, the COSMIC constellation produced 1,500 to 2,000 atmospheric soundings per day. Each sounding reveals pressure, temperature and humidity in an atmospheric column. Now, only one of the six COSMIC satellites works at all and it operates intermittently, which is why NOAA is preparing to launch a second COSMIC constellation.
If meteorologists had 100,000 radio occultation soundings, that “would double forecast accuracy,” predicts Peter Platzer, chief executive of Spire Global, which in 2015 became the first startup to operate a constellation of radio occultation cubesats.
While that degree remains to be shown, the forecasters I interviewed agreed that a higher number of soundings would improve forecasts dramatically, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere and over the oceans, areas that don’t receive as much attention from geostationary weather satellites or weather balloons.
NOAA will gauge the accuracy of the commercial observations gathered under the pilot project, while the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation, a research agency serving NASA, NOAA and the U.S. Defense Department, will assess their impact on forecasts.
“Different vendors may well deliver occultation observations that have different performance characteristics,” says St. Germain. “We want to understand the value they can provide.”
Much of St. Germain’s optimism can be traced to COSMIC. In 2011, the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts studied the value of various weather model inputs by removing specific datasets and gauging the impact on forecasts. When researchers compared forecasts with and without radio occultation, they found that the additional observations reduced forecast error by 10 percent. That impact reportedly impressed them, because radio occultation satellites provide only 2 to 3 percent of the observations fed into the forecast models.
A similar 2010 study by NOAA’s National Center for Environmental Prediction revealed radio occultation had the third highest impact per observation on a NASA Goddard Earth Observing Systems weather model behind radiosondes and ship buoys.
Pointing to that evidence, NOAA won congressional support for the second COSMIC constellation. COSMIC-2, a six-satellite constellation scheduled to launch into an equatorial orbit on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in 2019, possibly as early as April or May, will feed data directly into numerical weather models. If all goes according to plan, six COSMIC-2 satellites will capture a total of 5,000 soundings per day between 40 degrees north and 40 degrees south latitude, where much of Earth’s population lives. Those observations will be fed into forecast models within 30 minutes.
Within that coverage area, COSMIC-2 is focused on the tropics because that’s where the atmosphere holds most of its moisture and moisture “drives the global weather engine,” says Bill Schreiner, the COSMIC project director for the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Colorado.
COSMIC-2 is a paired-down version of the constellation that was originally conceived in 2010. At that time, managers envisioned following the first tranche of six satellites orbiting over the equator with a second six-satellite constellation, dubbed COSMIC-2B, with the satellites crossing from pole to pole. The United States and Taiwan canceled plans in 2017 to build those satellites, because neither government was willing to fund them.
Congress pushes for commercial sources
By the time COSMIC-2B was canceled, entrepreneurs were designing and building radio occultation cubesats and, in Spire’s case, operating them. The trend toward miniature electronics means companies can fit radio occultation receivers and powerful processers into satellites of 5 to 18 kilograms compared to the original COSMICs, each of which weighed about 70 kilograms. The new COSMICs will be even larger, at close to 300 kilograms, because each will carry redundant electronic components and extra scientific payloads. Congress, seeing progress on the commercial side, pushed NOAA to compare the cost and capability of commercial constellations with government satellites.
In a report accompanying a 2017 appropriations bill, Congress asked NOAA to provide a detailed comparison of the cost of acquiring radio occultation data from the COSMIC-2’s polar-orbiting constellation, including development, launch and operations, with commercial data sources, a comparison that led to the demise of COSMIC-2B.
Schreiner, the project director at the University Corporation for Atmsopheric Research, was sorry to lose COSMIC-2B. “It would have allowed us to provide excellent improvements to weather forecasting and to monitor the quality of commercial systems,” he says. “There is plenty of room for commercial data. Studies show significant impact from radio occultation even when you have 100,000 soundings per day.”
Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, were pleased Congress pushed NOAA to support their fledgling ventures. Jim Bridenstine, the Oklahoma Republican who was a member of the House of Representative’s Space, Science and Technology Committee before becoming NASA administrator last year, led the congressional campaign for commercial radio occultation.
Bridenstine found ready allies in the industry. “There’s no question you get more for your money with a commercial service,” says retired U.S. Navy Adm. Conrad Lautenbacher, a former NOAA administrator who now leads GeoOptics. “Federal government funding is essential for research, but the commercial sector is the most cost-effective provider of proven products and services.”
As of Dec. 5, Lautenbacher’s company was operating three 10-kilogram Cicero radio occultation cubesats with sensors it developed with the NASA-funded Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, a small spacecraft builder in Irvine, California.
GeoOptics’ shoebox-size satellites “produce data that compares very favorably with COSMIC-1 data,” Lautenbacher says.
Spire, meanwhile, operates a fleet of about 71 5-kilogram cubesats that it calls Lemurs. Each is equipped with radio occultation sensors in addition to Automatic Identification System receivers for maritime tracking. Spire also began installing Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast receivers for airplane tracking in its new cubesats in 2018.
“Our three-unit cubesats, the size of a wine bottle, track the weather, ships, planes and a whole bunch of other things,” Spire’s Platzer says. “They have higher-gain antennas than COSMIC-1 and two to three orders of magnitude more processing power.”
PlanetiQ has built three radio occultation satellites but not yet launched one. If all goes according to plan, PlanetiQ’s 12-unit cubesats, built to track radio signals from GPS as well as Russian GLONASS, European Galileo and Chinese BeiDou navigation satellites, will begin launching in 2019.
“We’ll get three up toward the end of the year on three different launchers,” says Chris McCormick, PlanetiQ founder and chairman.
McCormick, who led Broad Reach Engineering when it built radio occultation receivers for COSMIC-1, Germany’s radar satellite TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X, and others , is confident PlanetiQ’s commercial receivers will outperform COSMIC-1’s.
COSMIC-1 receivers were built in 2004, meaning the technology was selected around 2002.
“Sixteen years later, a lot of other things are better from an instrument perspective,” McCormick says. “Our antennas are actually bigger than COSMIC-1 antennas. We’ll have better signal-to-noise ratio, faster computers and we’ll be tracking most of the Global Navigation Satellite System signals not just GPS.”
The most striking difference between commercial radio occultation satellites and their government flown counterparts is the volume of precise, geographically dispersed observations they could potentially provide for weather and climate models. McCormick compares it to adding pixels to improve the resolution of an image. Worldwide, agencies launch 1,800 weather balloons, measuring temperature, pressure and humidity in an air column. In contrast, one PlanetiQ satellite will gather 2,500 soundings per day.
“We’ll get more soundings with one satellite than all the weather balloons and we are going to be launching 18 satellites,” McCormick says. That, says McCormick, is what’s needed to improve the precision and accuracy of forecasts.
Related TopicsWeather satellites
Radio occultation: How it works
Sensors mounted on satellites travelling in low Earth orbit continually observe radio signals broadcast by global navigation satellites in medium Earth orbit. For example, satellites in the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate, launched in 2006 by NOAA and Taiwan’s National Space Organization, orbiting 800 kilometers overhead acquired signals from GPS satellites in 20,200-kilometer orbits.
Each COSMIC satellite observed a GPS signal for about three minutes or one occultation before the spacecraft passed behind Earth where it could no longer see the GPS spacecraft. Software on the satellites and in ground stations measures how the atmosphere refracts GPS signals, providing precise observations known as soundings that reveal atmospheric temperature, pressure, density and water vapor in an atmospheric column. | <urn:uuid:55a16e99-e698-4f20-9ad1-d6e6e8ca8f3f> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | https://aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/features/proving-themselves/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178361723.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20210228175250-20210228205250-00511.warc.gz | en | 0.924881 | 3,313 | 3.921875 | 4 |
2.2 – Children’s rights questions
Look at the following five subjects below that could possibly be a child’s right: For each, answer on your worksheet yes or no whether you think that is a child’s right, then write your reason for thinking so.
|What children might want
|1. To have designer trainers
|2. To go to the cinema
|3. To have friends
|4. To stay over at friends’ houses
|5. To have privacy
Good, how did you find that exercise? Some of these examples are about building strong relationships, encouraging good self esteem and confidence with your children. This helps to build trust and honesty in your family and can help prepare your child for adulthood. Each family is different and individual – there are no right answers. These relate to what is important to you and your family. | <urn:uuid:3633cdd7-040b-4424-9a41-c66fc709e121> | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | http://www.singleparents.org.uk/2.2-childrens-rights-questions | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947476452.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20240304133241-20240304163241-00801.warc.gz | en | 0.954315 | 183 | 3.640625 | 4 |
Anger definition and way to stopAre you easily prone to anger even when you have to handle simple situations in your life? Then you must go through and follow these simple tips on how to manage your anger.
Anger is an emotional feeling that is really harmful to the health and is generally the outcome of your stressful life or frustration in life. In fact it is one of your greatest enemies that ruins your life. It is very easy to become angry on certain situations of life but it is not that easy to control your anger at times. However you should understand the fact that it is not that difficult to manage and control your anger. During many situations in your life you get stressed or frustrated and such frustrated feelings result in causing anger in you for no specific reason.
There are certain situations in your life, when you become outrage with anger and during such time you completely forget your surroundings and you even lose control on your emotions. Such an outrage anger badly affects the health conditions and when you are unable to manage your anger, your health conditions worsen day by day and thus results in the destruction of the self. Moreover, control-less anger even breaks many of your relationships and makes you aloof. So, for a healthy and harmonious living controlling and managing your anger is very essential. Here are few tips on how to manage and control your anger:
Simple tips on how to manage your anger
• All you need to do is first sort out and make a list of all such situations in your life that cause anger.
• Try to understand what is the cause of your anger in such situations so that once you understand the situations well, you can manage / control your anger the next time when you face such a situation
• At times, even after your continuous efforts to control anger, you find it difficult to deal with your anger and once again you become a victim of control-less anger. During such instances, just walk out of the place and sit in a calm and lonely place preferably in a garden or so where you get some soothing to your intense emotions.
• Try to calm down yourself in such a pleasant atmosphere and try to forget everything for some time and try to divert you mind. Concentrate on something interesting / refreshing to your mind. Once you come back to normalcy, you can get back to your place and continue with your work
• During some situations, when you feel that your anger is triggering, then avoid involving yourself in hot discussions or arguments as these further triggers your anger and make you a victim of anger. So keep yourself away from such hot discussions / arguments
• As you as you become a victim of intense anger or when anger attacks you, try to understand it instantly
• Once you understand that anger has attacked you, try to calm down yourself immediately by taking slow and deep breathes. Breathe in slowly, hold the breath for few seconds and then slowly breathe out. Repeat this for 3-4 times. This is one of the nice relaxing technique
• Try to keep yourself engaged in some of your interested activities or try to develop a hobby of your liking and keep yourself engaged most of the time in maintaining your hobby. This will give much relaxation to the mind and gradually you can get control over your emotions
• Last but not the least, is meditate at least 10-15 minutes a day. Start meditation under the guidance of an expert and then continue with it. This is the best way of having a control over your mind and emotions as well | <urn:uuid:4235a19c-69c9-4342-89f9-4a5bb18c35a7> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | http://www.assamspider.com/forum/769-Anger-definition-and-way-to-stop.aspx.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579250605075.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20200121192553-20200121221553-00063.warc.gz | en | 0.96013 | 706 | 2.921875 | 3 |
It might be a sphere a mile in diameter spinning to create gravity. The inside of the sphere would be covered with dirt, gardens, farms and living spaces. Lit from a central LED array to simulate sunshine. The people would be living there for generations. Herds of cows, chickens, sheep and pigs would be needed to be raised for food. Vast hemp fields could be planted to convert carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to oxygen.
At one end of the sphere looking outside would be the command center with landing pods. At the other end would be thrusters. Since the distance would be a minimum of 4 light years, the spaceship would take at least 8 years to get there if it traveled at half the speed of light. That's really fast. Perhaps an unreasonably fast speed. 40 years travel time if we went 1/10 of the speed of light. Still, that's really fast. | <urn:uuid:1f3fe683-8858-4b49-8859-0dd85d6f055d> | CC-MAIN-2014-41 | http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/3606228 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-41/segments/1410657137190.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20140914011217-00094-ip-10-234-18-248.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957375 | 183 | 3.375 | 3 |
by Jonathan Shoaf
PowerPoint gets a bad reputation from all the mind numbing presentations millions have been subjected to. This has less to do with PowerPoint's limitations and more to do with a lack of creativity on the part of many presenters. PowerPoint is a very powerful presentation tool that can be used to really enhance the way data is presented.
Think Outside the Box
PowerPoint is also useful for creating cool visual effects outside of a presentation. I often use it to organize my thoughts into visuals or to show someone a concept I'm working on. I also use it to create graphics for my e-learning modules.
This post will provide step-by-step instructions for how to create transparent graphics in PowerPoint and save them as a portable network graphic (PNG) file for use in an e-learning module. Transparency can really enhance the look and feel of your content. I will show you how to make a semi-transparent cloud like the one below.
Creating a Cloud
Let's go ahead and create a cloud. Do this by going to the Insert tab, choosing Shapes, and selecting the cloud shape.
Now adjust the colors and formatting to create a white cloud. To do this, select the cloud and then make sure the Format tab is selected. Change Shape Fill to white.
Next, adjust the outline by selecting Shape Outline and choosing the color gray.
Finally, lets make it a semi-transparent cloud. Right click on the cloud and choose Shape Format. Select the Fill options. Look for the Transparency setting and set it to 50%. This will allow part of the background to come through the cloud when we place it on another image.
Saving the Cloud
The cloud has been created in PowerPoint. Now we need to get it out of PowerPoint and into a format we can use. Right click on the cloud and select Save as Picture. For the Save as type, choose PNG Portable Network Graphics Format. This graphic format works on all of today's browsers and will preserve the transparency settings. JPG and many of the other formats will not preserve the transparency. Click Save to save the file.
Now that you have the cloud graphic outside of PowerPoint , you can use it with your e-learning development tool to create transparent effects.
The background without clouds:
The background after adding PowerPoint clouds: | <urn:uuid:f4200be4-2e50-4e59-aa4c-6cee57261e1f> | CC-MAIN-2017-13 | http://blog.integratedlearningservices.com/2011/10/creating-transparent-pngs-in-powerpoint.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218189525.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212949-00630-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.88235 | 477 | 3.3125 | 3 |
01-08-2010, 07:19 AM
This is my best definition of what it means when a hunter describes all the symptoms of buck fever.
Buck Fever is the nervous, shaking, pounding heart, short of breath feeling, fully loaded with an adrenaline rush in your body.
I know other hunters may explain it a little differently but this is what happens during buck fever and this is why it happens.
Buckfever is a condition caused by nervous confusion of excitement mixed with fear.
Buck Fever is a very real condition within all hunters however, time, confidence in ones self and experience will help you overcome it.
When a hunter sees the game he is seeking come into view a natural release of adrenaline begins as his heart begins to beat a little faster with excitement,
at that point Buck fever is determined by whether the animal comes closer or drifts casually out of sight.
If the animal leaves the hunter goes right back to a normal but if the animal begins to move in closer the fear of the kill becomes active and the body releases an increased amount of adrenaline causing what we refer to as an adrenaline rush. That's when the heart begins to beat at a faster rate which causes the pounding heart and the hunter now begins to breathe deeper and faster.
The fear of the kill is when a hunter struggles to overcome seeing the animal die in his presence.
I hope this helps shed a little light on why it's difficult sometimes to maintain complete control.
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the outcome of the vote. | <urn:uuid:ef2edcc3-9e20-4a4c-b828-5ee6b0910315> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.deerhuntersclub.com/forums/bow-hunting/5155-tips-please-2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988718303.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183838-00381-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944236 | 335 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Change Facilitation Exercises in General
Reflection exercises, because of the freedom of expression they encourage, can be particularly useful in both change-planning and team-building meetings. They typically all encourage participative teamwork and consensus, and most assist with change-program planning. They can be a powerful tool for:
- getting people thinking fast about their situation
- getting people to produce their “front of mind” thinking about the situation, as opposed to having them respond to structured questions in an analytical way
- enabling people to exchange with colleagues about what’s going on
- encouraging people to think broadly and conceptually, to see the wood for the trees
- to get some delicate subjects on the table in a non-threatening way
- providing groups with a vehicle for broad discussion, artistic license, and a way to get their message across that is less threatening than more structured or formal presentations
For all the above reasons, reflection exercises are powerful facilitation tools, and can help guarantee that nothing important will be overlooked because it’s unmentionable or not politically correct.
Since reflection exercises are intended to produce valuable input to planning, team-building and other processes, the small workgroup and plenary session output should generally be captured in written (on a facilitator handout or on flip chart) or electronic (on a USB Key or laptop file) form so it can be kept and analyzed or referred to as the process progresses.
Make sure that as a facilitator you feel you have the skills, experience and necessary level of neutrality to lead the exercise you chose. If you are in any doubt consult an experienced professional.
Exercises in Plenary or Small Groups
The advantage of working in plenary session (when the entire group is in the room) is that everyone participates in exactly the same discussion and, in some circumstances, this can bring the group to a conclusion fairly rapidly. The disadvantage of working solely in plenary can be that:
- for any group of more than four or five people, it’s difficult for the facilitator to ensure that every participant says what’s on his or her mind
- in the event of disagreement, the number of participants can lead to a lengthy debate, with some participants being marginalized
- on occasions, discussions in plenary are can be more superficial than in small groups where every participant will likely want to and be able to participate
- the facilitator must deal with a large number of individual inputs, as opposed to dealing with one consensus input per small discussion group.
For these reasons it is often best for an exercise to be done first in small workgroups and the results then compared and discussed in a plenary session.
Small workgroups (2 to 7 people) should typically be made up either of people of similar background and experience or a mixed cross-section of the participants.
- Groups that mix people from varying backgrounds will generally provide a forum for a broad exchange of ideas and viewpoints: the product of each group is likely to resemble that of the others.
- Groups of people with similar backgrounds, for example old versus young, marketing versus operations, long-service versus short-service, etc. will generally provide differences of vision from group to group that can be contrasted and resolved in a plenary discussion session. In these cases, it’s important to spend time in plenary session to make sure that everyone’s perceptions are fully explored and that all can share a common vision of where we are and where we have to go.
In many cases it’s desirable for the facilitator to pre-select group members, assigning each person to a pre-planned group.
An alternative is to have groups of two or three work together without leaving the plenary room table. This can be a quick way of doing an exercise while leading to good discussion and reducing the number of inputs to the facilitator.
Caution should be exercised not to create groups of one, nor any group small enough to feel threatened by those in authority or by others. It is important that reflection exercises produce rich input for group discussion, and not accidentally damage the positions or careers of any participant: it’s the facilitator’s responsibility to encourage consensus and not division, and it is usually better to be safe than sorry.
The Top Dozen L&C Change Facilitation Exercises
These exercises are among those that have proved most popular over the years to L&C change-program facilitators. They vary in their uses, and these are broadly described below:
More specific suggestions as to how and when to use each exercise appear in each specific exercise file.
The exercises are set up in Word to permit adaptation to specific circumstances and groups. Many of them can also be used outside a meeting context, for example to gather input from participants on stakeholders, critical success factors etc. for analysis and subsequent discussion
Please note that this material is the copyright of L&C Leading Change Advisors Inc and that is a trademark of L&C Leading Change Advisors Inc. It can be used under license | <urn:uuid:65673561-537b-4d8d-82be-02b7a90f851c> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://landcadvisors.com/lc-change-facilitation-exercises/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703507045.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20210116195918-20210116225918-00378.warc.gz | en | 0.943208 | 1,045 | 2.515625 | 3 |
December 1 was World AIDS Day, marking forty years since symptoms were first reported. Over 36 million people have died worldwide from AIDS-related illnesses.
The death rate is slowing as effective drug treatments gain wider distribution. But the inequity that long fueled the AIDS epidemic still exists, with punishing consequences, particularly for the people of southern Africa. The persistence and the vastly unequal impacts of the ongoing AIDS epidemic serve as a warning as the new Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus makes its way around the world.
Little is currently known about this newly-identified SARS-CoV-2 variant referred to as Omicron, particularly whether it spreads more easily or if it can cause more severe COVID-19. What we do know is thanks largely to its rapid identification by scientists in Botswana and South Africa.
“I think they need to be celebrated for that because there wasn’t a cloud of secrecy around this particular variant,” said Fatima Hassan, founder of Health Justice Initiative.
Rather than being celebrated, though, the nations of southern Africa are being isolated. The United States quickly implemented a travel ban, barring anyone from eight southern African nations from entering the country. Brazil, Canada, the European Union, Iran and the U.K followed suit.
“An uneven travel ban was slapped on many countries in southern Africa,” Hassan said. “It is actually quite racist.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa responded to the bans, “The emergence of the Omicron variant should be a wake-up call to the world that vaccine inequality cannot be allowed to continue. Until everyone is vaccinated, everyone will continue to be at risk. Instead of prohibiting travel, the rich countries of the world need to support the efforts of developing economies to access and to manufacture enough vaccine doses for their people without delay.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres slammed the travel bans as “travel apartheid,” which only serve to exacerbate the growing global divide caused by vaccine apartheid. In a recent opinion piece, World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the hoarding of surplus vaccine doses by wealthy nations with populations that are highly vaccinated, including with booster shots, “morally repugnant and epidemiological madness.”
It would be easier to vaccinate the world than to try in vain to block COVID-19 variants from crossing borders. Omicron is a case in point; as the New York Times detailed this week, the variant was already present in the Netherlands before its existence was announced in Africa.
Travelers on airplanes from South Africa carried the variant to Europe, where the hodgepodge of conflicting national travel restrictions already in place and inadequate quarantine protocols led Dutch officials to force many potentially Omicron-positive travelers to depart for their final destinations, accelerating the new variant’s spread.
Pharmaceutical corporations that are profiting off of the pandemic are slowing vaccination in poor and middle-income countries. With patents on the vaccines, companies like Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna are using intellectual property protections to block the sharing of their secret vaccine formulas.
Journalism professor Steven Thrasher sees a parallel between the role of Big Pharma now with COVID-19 and how the Global South, and primarily southern Africa, was and continues to be afflicted by AIDS:
“Today there is no reason why anybody should be dying of AIDS. It is a slow-moving virus and so from the time we know someone is infected, we can give them all the support they need. We have the science for it. We have the medicine for it. It is merely a matter of protecting capitalism and the profits of pharmaceutical companies,” Thrasher said on Democracy Now! “We are seeing very similar dynamics again now with COVID-19… we have the vaccines, we have medications that are very effective and they are again being held from the Global South to protect the profits of pharmaceutical corporations.”
Over a year ago, South Africa and India proposed that the World Trade Organization temporarily suspend TRIPS, or Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, to speed COVID-19 vaccinations worldwide. President Joe Biden was applauded last May for supporting the waiver. Amnesty International, along with members of the U.S. Congress and many labor, health and other civil society groups delivered a petition signed by over three million people to the White House last week, noting, “six months later, in the absence of U.S. leadership to deliver a waiver deal, the European Union, on behalf of Germany, plus Switzerland and the United Kingdom have blocked progress.”
People over profit must be the guiding mantra as we soon enter the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Without immediate action, we could well be dealing with COVID, just as we still battle AIDS, for the next forty years.
Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan
Originally published on as The Viral Underclass: COVID-19 and AIDS Show What Happens When Inequality and Disease Collide | <urn:uuid:e95d4492-91c6-4f43-9f25-cc20770f334a> | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | https://www.milwaukeeindependent.com/syndicated/aids-omicron-americas-pharmaceutical-apartheid-creates-viral-underclass/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947476180.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20240303011622-20240303041622-00413.warc.gz | en | 0.954252 | 1,056 | 2.75 | 3 |
Merging memory and computation, programmable chip speeds AI | Robotics
The chip, which works with standard programming languages, could be particularly useful on phones, watches or other devices that rely on high-performance computing and have limited battery life.
The chip, based on a technique called in-memory computing, is designed to clear a primary computational bottleneck that forces computer processors to expend time and energy fetching data from stored memory. In-memory computing performs computation directly in the storage, allowing for greater speed and efficiency.
The announcement of the new chip, along with a system to program it, follows closely on an earlier report that the researchers in collaboration with Analog Devices Inc. had fabricated circuitry for in-memory computing. Lab tests of the circuitry demonstrated that the chip would perform tens to hundreds of times faster than comparable chips. However, the initial chip did not include all the components of the most recent version, so its capability was limited.
In the new announcement, researchers in the lab of Naveen Verma, an associate professor of electrical engineering, report that they have integrated the in-memory circuitry into a programmable processor architecture. The chip now works with common computer languages such as C.
“The previous chip was a strong and powerful engine,” said Hongyang Jia, a graduate student in Verma’s group and one of the chip designers. “This chip is the whole car.”
Although it could operate with a broad range of systems, the Princeton chip is intended to support systems designed for deep-learning inference — algorithms that allow computers to make decisions and perform complex tasks by learning from data sets. Deep learning systems direct such things as self-driving cars, facial recognition systems and medical diagnostic software.
Verma said that for many applications, the chip’s energy savings would be as critical as the performance boost. That is because many AI applications are expected to operate on devices driven by batteries such as mobile phones or wearable medical sensors. The Apple iPhone X, for example, already has an AI chip as part of its circuitry. But, both the energy savings and performance boosts are only of use if they can be accessed by the broad base of applications that need them — that is where the need for programmability comes in.
“The classic computer architecture separates the central processor, which crunches the data, from the memory, which stores the data,” Verma said. “A lot of the computer’s energy is used in moving data back and forth.”
In part, the new chip is a response to the slowing promise of Moore’s Law. In 1965, Intel founder Gordon Moore observed that the number of transistors on integrated circuits doubled about every year, and the industry also noted that those transistors became faster and more energy efficient in the process. For decades, these observations, which became known as Moore’s Law, underpinned a transformation in which computers became ever more powerful. But in recent years, transistors have not kept improving as in the past, running into fundamental limitations of their physics.
Verma, who specializes in circuit and system design, thought about ways around this squeeze on the architectural level rather than the transistor level. The computation needed by AI would be much more efficient if it could be done at the same location as the computer’s memory because it would eliminate the time and energy used to fetch data stored far away. That would make the computer faster without upgrading the transistors. But creating such a system posed a challenge. Memory circuits are designed as densely as possible in order to pack in large amounts of data. Computation, on the other hand, requires that space be devoted for additional transistors.
One option was to substitute electrical components called capacitors for the transistors. Transistors are essentially switches that use voltage changes to stand for the 1s and 0s that make up binary computer signals. They can do all sorts of calculations using arrays of 1 and 0 digits, which is why the systems are called digital. Capacitors store and release electrical charge, so they can represent any number, not just 1s and 0s. Verma realized that with capacitors he could perform calculations in a much denser space than he could with transistors.
Capacitors also can be made very precisely on a chip, much more so than transistors. The new design pairs capacitors with conventional cells of static random access memory (SRAM) on a chip. The combination of capacitors and SRAM is used to perform computations on the data in the analog (not digital) domain, yet in ways that are reliable and amenable to including programmability features. Now, the memory circuits can perform calculations in ways directed by the chip’s central processing unit.
“In-memory computing has been showing a lot of promise in recent years, in really addressing the energy and speed of computing systems,” said Verma. “But the big question has been whether that promise would scale and be usable by system designers towards all of the AI applications we really care about. That makes programmability necessary.” | <urn:uuid:f8921d20-97e4-4fb9-8861-b07f14f55226> | CC-MAIN-2019-13 | https://www.prosyscom.tech/robotics/merging-memory-and-computation-programmable-chip-speeds-ai-robotics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-13/segments/1552912202704.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20190323000443-20190323022443-00464.warc.gz | en | 0.962383 | 1,053 | 3.59375 | 4 |
Since the 1950s, California has been a global leader in efforts to limit and then eliminate emissions from motor vehicles.
But with hazardous and choking air pollution in its major cities, not to mention traffic jams to rival any in the world, China may prove to be the Golden State's equal—and perhaps even surpass it in regulating vehicles and their operation.
The latest foray is a long-term plan to impose a congestion charge on all vehicles entering the capital city of Beijing, possibly including a lottery to determine when those vehicles could legally be driven within the city.
According to a story on Bloomberg News two days ago, Beijing's city legislature has asked its government to draw up details of a plan to use "economic measures" to limit vehicle use within the capital city.
The legislature now views air pollution, chronic congestion, and a lack of parking as serious impediments to efficient management of the city of 11.5 million residents.
While a few Indian cities actually have worse air, China's smog is much publicized. Its severity was underscored when authorities cracked down on thousands of factories in the prelude to the Beijing Olympics, offering residents their first successive weeks of clean air in years.
china traffic main 630
Over the past five years, the number of cars in Beijing has risen to 5.6 million, nearing next year's cap of 6 million vehicles set by the city authority some years ago.
The city has had a quota system for issuing registrations for new vehicles since 2011.
But while the Beijing lottery gives highly favorable treatment to electric cars, almost half of the special plates issued in October for "new energy vehicles" remained unused by their expiration in April.
Congestion charges now exist in a few European cities, led by London, where it costs almost $20 to bring a conventional vehicle into the central city during business hours on weekdays.
Zero-emission vehicles are presently exempt from the congestion charge, making them popular with commuters into England's capital, and a similar provision might be included in any Beijing congestion-charge pricing.
The challenges to selling plug-in cars in China are largely the same as they have been in the U.S. and other countries: high cost, lack of public charging infrastructure, and concern over the long-term life of their battery packs.
BYD e6 electric taxi in service in Shenzhen, China
BYD, the Chinese maker that's the world's largest seller of plug-in vehicles—it sold more than Nissan and Tesla did in 2015—has seen far more success with plug-in hybrids than with battery-electric vehicles.
Buyers presumably saw plug-in hybrids as the better bet precisely because they had gasoline engines, meaning that while they received the same benefits as true zero-emission vehicles, they didn't actually ever have to be plugged in to receive the incentives.
China has long wanted to have a major footprint in the world's electric-vehicle industry, seeing it as a way to leapfrog established global automakers.
But BYD has stumbled in plans to export electric passenger vehicles to North America, and is now focusing on all-electric buses, where it is seeing some success.
Other electric-car brands in China are often joint ventures between Chinese and global makers, increasingly sold under new brands indicate their status as new-energy vehicles.
None of those vehicles have been notably successful, due to consumer resistance. | <urn:uuid:71d65e9e-4c0e-48b6-9f66-e0e4a04ce53b> | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1104182_china-mulls-congestion-charge-quotas-in-beijing-for-emission-traffic-woes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947473472.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20240221102433-20240221132433-00001.warc.gz | en | 0.96655 | 695 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Peat moss is a more complicated topic than is generally considered. Its composition varies from place to place, and harvesting methods play a big role in its sustainability. Most peat moss is not sterilized, but it is essentially free of harmful elements, such as insects or pathogens, and even contains beneficial microorganisms. You have a lot of variables to consider for such a simple product.
What Peat Moss Is
Peat moss is different from country to country because of the way it forms. Peat bogs are saturated with water and stagnant, which produces an environment that is poor in oxygen. Because many soil microbes need oxygen to survive, peat bogs have only low levels of soil microbes, and the dead plant matter that accumulates breaks down very slowly. This partially decomposed plant matter is peat moss. However, what type of plant matter it is varies depending on the region and what types of plants grow in it.
Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss
Canadian sphagnum peat moss is one of the most commonly used types of peat moss and has a number of advantages. It is harvested sustainably, and studies have found that sphagnum peat moss contains beneficial microbes. These microbes, able to survive the low oxygen environment of the bog, include Penicillium, Streptomyces, Arthrobacter and Trichoderma and can benefit the plants for which the moss is used. However, different types of peat moss have different levels of protection. The older the peat moss gets and the more decomposition it sustains before harvesting, the less disease suppressant properties it will have. Lighter “blonde,” fibrous peat moss, harvested from the surface of the bog, is the only kind that retains the amount of microorganism necessary to inhibit diseases and that lasts for around 6 to 10 weeks.
Uses in Gardening
Peat moss is used in gardens to amend soils, provide aeration and create good drainage. It’s an ingredient in many potting soils and mixes and a carbon source for composters. It is sometimes used as a surface mulch, but this is its best use. Peat moss pulls water away from plants and can be used to create good drainage if mixed into soil, but as mulch it dries out and begins to repel water. It doesn’t bring a lot of nutrients to bear, but it is good for growing mixes when you’re starting seeds or cuttings.
Sterilization and Pasteurization
Most companies neither sterilize nor pasteurize peat moss. Not only is sterilization an expensive process, but sterilizing would eliminate the beneficial microorganisms that inhibit some diseases. However, because of the environment from which it comes, peat moss is largely free of pests and diseases.
How to Grow Big Onion Bulbs
Onions are a member of the allium family, as are garlic, leeks, shallots and chives, and are popular in all sorts of... | <urn:uuid:c4c4867b-c23a-4d2c-8ef0-b69daad6c64d> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | http://www.ehow.com/info_8074994_peat-moss-sterile.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886117519.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20170823035753-20170823055753-00579.warc.gz | en | 0.946784 | 625 | 3.53125 | 4 |
Business Result Pre-Intermediate Unit 6
Choose a few of the things below and work together to agree on at least one comparison between those things:
Business meetings in your country/ Business meetings in another country
PowerPoint presentations in your country/ PowerPoint presentations in another country
Advertising in your country/ Advertising in another country
Emails in your language/ Emails in English
Polite language in your language/ Polite language in English
Working for a foreign company in your country/ Working for a domestic company
Working in a large company/ Working in a small or medium-sized company
Being a middle manager/ Being an executive
Being an employee/ Being self-employed
Being a casual worker, freelancer or temp/ Having a permanent contract or job for life
Teleconferences/ Video conferences
Being sacked (= being fired)/ Being made redundant (= being downsized)
Demotion/ Losing your job
Civil servant/ Office worker in the private sector
The HR department/ The R&D Department
Tell the class some of your opinions and see if they agree
What language could you use to give your opinions, e.g. in the sentence
“… being freelance is more stressful than having a permanent job”
What phrases for giving opinions, asking for opinions, agreeing and disagreeing can you think of using the following words?
Listen to tapescript 32 and see if you can add any more language to the boxes above.
Have the same discussion in groups and see if you have the same opinions.
PDF for easy saving and printing: agreeing on comparisons | <urn:uuid:d6e53f7b-dd42-401a-96cf-514bac59992b> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | https://tefltastic.wordpress.com/worksheets/business-esp/business-result-pre/bus-result-u6/agreeing-on-comparisons/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579250610919.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20200123131001-20200123160001-00392.warc.gz | en | 0.879587 | 326 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Does the thought of creamy, chewy wheat berries, roasted nuts, and dried fruit—spiced with cinnamon and sweetened with honey—make your mouth water? In the Eastern Orthodox Church, that’s a heretical move.
Orthodox Christian families honor the memory of deceased loved ones with a special dish called koliva. This ritual, common in the Balkans (especially Greece) and Russia, employs the whole grain of the wheat plant to symbolize everlasting life. These starchy “berries” give koliva a firm bite and subtly nutty, earthy flavor.
Mourning families prepare the dish by adding raisins, which represent life’s sweetness, as well as spices like cinnamon and anise as symbols of plenty. They then mix in some combination of sesame seeds, almonds, parsley, pomegranate seeds, honey, Jordan almonds, and ground walnuts. Topping the commemorative dish is a blanket of confectioner’s sugar, to represent resurrection and abundance. A cross often graces the top, sometimes accompanied by the initials of the deceased.
Scholars believe koliva dates back to the early years of Christianity, but some medieval manuscripts assign the dish divine origins. A 14th-century Byzantine Greek service book includes a story in which the pagan Roman emperor Julian sought to undermine Lent by contaminating Constantinople’s food supply with animal blood. Saint Theodore came to the rescue, revealing the recipe for koliva to an archbishop in a dream and thus saving Christians from eating unholy food.
Today, Orthodox Christians make koliva to usher in Lent and for special Saturdays throughout the year, called Saturdays of the Souls. At memorial services, mourners serve it on doilies. They also bring the dish to church at designated times throughout the year following a funeral, and on subsequent anniversaries of a loved one’s death.
Despite koliva’s inventory of tasty ingredients, it is meant to be eaten solemnly in conjunction with rituals. As one Greek Orthodox woman wrote in response to an article that showcased koliva as a dessert as well as a sacred dish: “It is prepared during requiem and memorial services for the departed, and not as the end of a stuffing feast topped with whipped cream! What’s next? Dinner at a cemetery?”
Need to Know
Koliva is a sacred dish in the Eastern Orthodox faith. If you're curious about the ingredients, you can make an ordinary rendition of a sweetened wheat berry dish from recipes online. | <urn:uuid:c867430d-6791-49f4-8e91-d1b1b9e4b41a> | CC-MAIN-2018-43 | https://www.atlasobscura.com/foods/koliva-greece-balkans | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583512014.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20181018194005-20181018215505-00544.warc.gz | en | 0.894914 | 531 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Ethiopian highlanders defy long held notion of oxygen
Unlike the adaptation of the Andean people, this group, which lives at 11,000 feet, has virtually the same blood as those at sea level.
By Guy Gugliotta
The mathematics are inescapable. The higher the altitude, the less oxygen the air will hold, and the more difficult it is to breathe. Either the body adapts or the person dies.
For decades scientists accepted an "Andean man" model for acclimatization: The body at altitude will grow a higher concentration of oxygen-absorbing red blood cells to mop up scarcer oxygen from rarified air.
Add bigger lungs and deeper breathing, and equilibrium is re-established. The result is a blocky fellow with a washtub chest, like the musicians who play the panpipes and wooden flutes of Andean mountain music.
"Their lungs are 25 percent bigger than ours," said Case Western Reserve University anthropologist Cynthia Beall. "Andean highlanders are very distinctive."
Earlier this month, however, Beall and five colleagues reported on another distinctive people -- a community of Ethiopians who live at 11,650 feet, and whose blood, by several common measures, is exactly the same as if they lived at sea level.
"I'm flabbergasted; I don't see how they do it," said exercise physiologist David Martin of Georgia State University. "I'm left with a dozen questions. It's a fascinating kind of story."
And it is not just a curiosity. For Martin, a consultant for USA Track & Field, and others like him, the extraordinary success of African distance runners -- principally Ethiopians and Kenyans -- has been a source of wonder ever since barefooted Abebe Bikila won the 1960 Olympic marathon.
Is there a secret that others cannot possess?
"Efforts to find a genetic explanation have been dismal failures," said Dallas cardiologist Ben Levine, an expert in exercise medicine. "My personal opinion is that these successes are cultural. A distance runner in Ethiopia or Kenya is a national hero."
In an online article to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Beall's team reported on 300 people living in the Semien Mountains about 300 miles north of Addis Ababa.
Testing showed they had neither elevated red-cell concentrations nor low levels of oxygen saturation in their blood -- two key indicators of the Andean model.
"We were stunned," Beall said. "The Ethiopians are finding the same amount of oxygen we find, even though the amount of oxygen in the air they breathe is two-thirds of what we have at sea level."
Humans transport oxygen via hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that binds to oxygen molecules and moves them from the lungs to muscles and other tissues. At sea level, between 95 and 97 percent of the body's hemoglobin is saturated with oxygen during every breath.
At altitude, reduced oxygen logically means lower oxygen saturation. In the Andes, highlanders compensate by producing more red cells to create a heightened "hemoglobin concentration" -- a higher proportion of red cells in the blood. That way the blood has more hemoglobin to sponge up scarce oxygen.
Lowlanders need at least 10 days for this process to begin. In the meantime, however, they will acquire the other characteristic of high altitude survival -- deeper and more frequent breathing. The Andean barrel chest comes from being born and raised at altitude.
Scholars were satisfied with this explanation until studies in Tibet in the 1970s showed that highlanders there had both low hemoglobin concentrations and low oxygen saturation levels. In theory, the Tibetans should have been oxygen-starved.
"But they breathe faster, and there's also some evidence that they are better able to modulate blood flow," Beall said. "When they exercise, their blood flow increases more rapidly, so they may have a larger cardiac output. We don't really know."
The Himalayan research triggered a debate over a possible evolutionary explanation for high altitude adaptation.
The Andeans, whose lowland ancestors migrated from Asia perhaps 16,000 years ago, adjust to altitude essentially the same way as any lowlander would today -- and it is not a perfect solution.
"Creating more red cells is a pathological response," said Temple University anthropologist Charles Weitz. "If you have too many red cells, the blood's too thick, and it's like pumping oil. Eventually you have to move downhill."
Tibetans or their ancestors, however, have been in Asia for 1 million years or more -- time enough, some scholars theorize, to evolve a different approach.
A recent gene study. Which brings to mind if it is fair to be born uniquely superior genetically and have that superiority continuously prevail in competition. It raises the bar for sure but ????
Very interesting. I suspect that conditioning and adaptation over several generations are very relevant. The diet may well add to the issue. Wonder what it is? I have eaten their vegetarian food and it is delicious. The kef grain is delicate and more easily digested.
FYI. Volume (what I develop a lot of) is not the only criteria. Conditioning including endogenous-internal- breathing and cellular enhancement are the others. With volume comes depth and ease. If the lifestyle is easy including hard work but little distress to head one towards hyperventilation. Having BOTH volume AND conditioning is optimal.
This may well support my postural thesis as the Kenyans run like they were taking off from an airplane runway. Up, not forward, but UPward. I've always admired them as the best breathers. My vote would be posture, diet, lifestyle (including exercise), attitude. I suspect now that "PROGRESS" has discovered them, that they will deteriorate rapidly and not be so far ahead of the competition if at all.
Whatever the O2 source, clearly O2 is the key
By the way. April 2016. Our Optimal Breathing Kit has been integrated into the Doctorate program for Advanced Athletic Training (DAT) at the University of Idaho. This is the first Advanced Athletic Course in the USA. Sports induced breathing problems | <urn:uuid:300caf56-c7ca-4fb9-a1e4-873f1f3cd438> | CC-MAIN-2020-10 | https://breathing.com/blogs/respiratory-chemistry/ethiopian-highlanders | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-10/segments/1581875145869.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20200224010150-20200224040150-00139.warc.gz | en | 0.955154 | 1,286 | 2.8125 | 3 |
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